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Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character Quest (No SV, you are the Waifu)

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My first thought on seeing the other girls one the character list was; disgusting. I believe this was the correct response and will now read this work in hope that we are 'best girl'.

We shall have the most popular merchandise!
 
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Omake - Alliterate - Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character: The Role Playing Game: Session 0 Character Creation
  • Apocrypha
    • By (kind of) request, mostly repost with a few minor tweaks to suit the new flow and new starting and ending vignettes:
    (Edit- for original context, see the single page from here)
    Jonen C said:
    the inspiration
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    Elsewhere, at a large table piled high with books in a brightly-lit kitchen:

    Battle Action Harem Highschool Side Character: The Role Playing Game: Session 0 Character Creation

    "Great, everyones here. As I posted, we've got a new player joining the group for this campaign, so... uh... lets be nice this time."
    "...Uh, hi everyone! Thanks for letting me join your group."
    "Delighted to have you join us!"
    "Squeee! New friend! Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
    "Yeah, hi."
    "'Sup. So, you read the rules already, or...?"
    "Hi, please ignore him. You'll be fine, we can help."

    "Great! OK, characters. There are a few posts on the forums about some balance problems in this edition, but I'm sure we can work them out if we're all reasonable. Most everyone here has started talking about their characters on the Slack, you have any ideas what you want to play?"
    "Oh. Yes, I've been writing up her background. She's called Anna, she's just a regular girl from Canada. She's an only child, and is a bit sad about that, but her Mom seems sadder... Anna moved around a lot as a child, and just before everything went bad they had moved to-"
    "Yeah, that's great, he means what sort of Frame will you be piloting? Close combat? Though we could use a specialist sensor unit."
    "Oh, I'm not sure about that, the game is a bit more complex than anything I've played before..."

    "OK, well if anyone finishes their characters I'm sure they'll give you a hand, and I'll be over if I finish the Campaign Tone calculations."
    "I've finished! Koujirou is all written up already. You said we can use everything published per the RAW, Official Forum Post clarifications apply. I can help."
    "Err... I'm not sure that's the best..."
    "It's no problem, Anna will be kick-ass! I've got some cool ideas I couldn't fit on Koujirou."

    ---------------------------------------------------------

    "Welp... she wants to finish some sort of in-character character portrait first. IDK, I can't find any bonuses for doing that... maybe in the Players Supplement? Want any help writing up your character? "

    "Thankyou, but I know what I'm doing."

    "Uh... that's a lot of Personal Appeal modifiers you're stacking. And are you sure you really need to max Persuasion? Although... wait... the positive Ojou Archetype lets you use your highest Social skill check... hmm... on any roll to lead or aid your Obligation Group... if they have a relevant Attraction or Dependency. Wow. Really? Even like, Command checks? Even, to pick a completely random example, maybe Trauma Intervention rolls...?"

    "I guess. Yes, see, any Social check. As I said, I know what I'm doing. Why?"
    "Umm, no reason. Can I see the Mental Disadvantages section?"
    "Of course. I was just considering taking a few more Disadvantages myself. I would like some more Piloting, but I cannot choose."
    "Just take some Unknown disads. And are you sure you don't need help? See, just, it's a combat campaign, you always play social monsters, and I've read the Advanced Flight Tactics expansion, soo..."
    "Sigh. Go away and read the sections on Noble Inspiration, Special Manuever Chains and Unity Strikes again."

    ....

    "Whoa."

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    "Get away!"

    "No, see, you're wasting points..."

    "I'll build Setsuna how I want! ... Flying Kick... sweet! Hey, Improvised Weapon Mastery! I can use chopsticks to stab you!"

    "Ugh. Melee AND Unarmed? Please at least pick Combat Prodigy, so personal combat moves will apply in a Frame..."

    "No! I'm taking Elaborate Frame Design! I'll look sooo cool, your characters will all think I'm awesome."

    "Why are you even building a long-range Frame with all your melee skills? AGGH! Ow! What was that for?"

    ---------------------------------------------------------

    "Don't forget, the GM has said they give full downtime XP credit for backstories from the time you got the Core."

    "Hmm, ok, maybe, but I'd rather just be a good cook. Maybe I could catch and cook fish?"

    "...Fishing? Really? Oh, we're OK, it's already in your Traumatised Survivor background. Wasted points, IMO, but it's in a skills package. Cooking... mmm... here, see?! Elective class curriculum. No problem. I'm telling you, just buy Combat and Impeller skills as the cost is flat at chargen. You can cap them, those psychological traumas we maxed out on give a huge character point pool. In play, the Trauma Resolution mechanic will give sweet team XP once we start dealing with your PTSD. Even if the rolls fail, or worst case you don't get the Spotlight Episode mechanic on you quick enough, the Scarring will just boost your combat rolls vs AG higher!"

    "But... isn't there some sort of 'flip out go crazy' mechanic? I don't want to become an NPC!"

    "That Sandra character is a Social skillmonster, she'll have at least +14 to intervene if you have a Psychotic Break. More, if you use the... umm... aehuhuh... Special Relationships optional rules."

    "..."

    "See, Sandra bought all the 'nice' Social skill Backgrounds and Advantages at the highest level- Very Attractive, Great Hair, Glamorous, High Society, Charismatic, Influential... meaning she's devastating in that arena, though I made sure she still had enough skill points to be passable in a Valk frame. We'll get massive Command bonuses and Cohesion modifiers when she's Flight Leader.

    Now, she's got a solid Social skill base and modifiers against anyone, but if... heheuheh... if the Special Relationship umm... Attraction rules apply- then her entire Personal Appeal bonus applies to all her Social skill rolls, which would give her a huge bonus to Stabilise any Psychotic Breaks, and even treat your Trauma. Win-win, really."

    "..."

    "Really."

    "...OK. I guess you've read these rules more than me, I only really know Ryuutama and Golden Sky Stories. I'll trust you! What about your core? You've got hardly any weapons, and don't know how to use it at all".

    "Ahh... well. You see, the 'Clueless' background gives a scaling cost break for equipment and skills locked out at character gen, which this official forum reply shows stacks with the cost break for a fixed-spec 300 Core from the "Aces" splatbook. I need a 300 core 'cos of my 'Low Core Compatibility' disad... now I know what you're thinking- 'Prereqs!', right?- but, here, the 'Chosen One' restricted background from the GM section lets you ignore the skill and rank prereqs for any core. OK, that was written before the 300 Core rules came out, but it says any Core. Best part is- unlocking skills I already have neatly gets around the usual low Core compatibility XP cost penalty! You should see my final character sheet! I've projected it based on XP predictions. Here, look at the end of season 2, when I unlock..."

    ...

    ---------------------------------------------------------
    "You did what?!"

    "No, see, it'll be fine. Sandra has these enormous, massive-"

    "...Ugh."

    "No! Not those. Massive social skill modifiers. Especially If you're Dependent on her."

    "...Dependent. Right. And even if that's a good idea, somehow, to risk the whole group going down if Sandra does- and a teammate going down triggers a mandatory Stability Check, by the way- just how is that supposed to help with the PTSD nightmare you've apparently made of Anna's life?"

    "OK, obviously, we had to take the Traumatised Survivor background, to get access to a bonus Shattered-Psyche Level starting trauma. That, the point refund for Fragile Mental State, Unreality Bites, Hidden Trauma, Core Dependant, Damaged Naïf, Clams Up and Classified Background combined with Innocent Monster and Arrested Development nulling all her Social skills meant we could go for a 1% Core! And- get this- Anna has years of backstory to level it up."

    "You keep saying 'we'. Just how much input did Anna's player have? You know this is their first rules-heavy game."

    "Umm, they were right there? At the table? We even got Anna a point-sink Fishing colour skill, so you can't call me a minmaxer. Anyway. Sandra can Intervene in any PsyBreak rolls! Even treat the Trauma, we'll get team XP!"

    "OK, Mr Clueless. Just how are we supposed to know that Anna needs this help? With her background Top Secret, and Hidden Trauma meaning only one Trauma can be revealed per season, after the midway point?! And is this going to happen before or after her ten goddam HPPs Alpha Strike us all to subatomic particles during her inevitable Psychotic Break?"

    "...Four."

    "What?"

    "It's only four HPPs right now. I got a cost break by locking the other six, meant we could afford a starting Experimental Wave Technique Impeller skillset from the latest supplement. It'll be well worth it when-"

    "I just... can't right now. I just wanted the book to pick third-year Elective classes, but you know what? Forget it. All this? Everything? It's on you."

    "Uhh, actually, since you took the Onee-Sama archetype, moderate harm to team members gives you a Failed Responsibility penalty, sooo..."

    "...Dammit."

    ---------------------------------------------------------

    "So, everyones finished? Great! Maybe we can fit a quick intro session in... Hmm, you're all lining up for Orientation Assembly on the first day, best dress uniforms on. Yep, that works!"

    "Umm, actually, Anna can't be there, her Team Bond score is zero and her Social Isolation disad means she has no Character Bonds to invoke to start off in a Group Scene."

    "...Saywhatnow?"


    ​
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Also, another thing about Detachment Syndrome:

    Avalanche said:
    VS is unknown amongst first generation Valkyries, including every member of The Twenty, but common amongst second generation Aces after one year of service and near endemic for third generation Aces after one year of service. One proposed hypothesis puts forth that as adolescents possess a more malleable mental framework and lesser amounts of ordered information within their memories, the informational complexity of the human brain is reduced. This thus reduces the amount of time required to integrate the pilot into the frame, which has profound effects on the human ego as shown in the Guramann study.
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    Avalanche said:
    "If we found another way, I'd be first in line to demand it be implemented instead of this demented game of torture. We might… we're not military, really."

    Meyer pauses. You shift uneasily at the sudden change in subject.

    "I think… we, the Instructors, might be… happy about people like 'cadet' Malik. Doing what they do to help the people our normal regime can't. We try for the carrot and stick, but we… limp wrist the stick. None of us, here at least, really have the heart. Cereza has a hard enough time just trying to be mean already, Jane, Deepika… me. From what conventional military instruction looks like, we're already too soft and forgiving, but none of us–"

    Meyer abruptly shakes her head.

    "Sorry about that, Anna. What Malik said… I– we're not perfect or all knowing, and we can't even really bring ourselves to do what we objectively know is best for some of our cadets, so we let her do it instead."
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    Can the increased detachment be the result of UN following more and more militaristic, as opposed to "not actually military folks", mindset?
    So, like, first gen were whoever, second were military-ish, third were full-on Military Academies Warfare Fuck Yeah; thus frames optimizing more and more for, well, war.
    Thus increased performance under pressure: they performance measures probably tend to be more about performance in war-related situations, and militaristic approach works there well I guess.

    I wonder if the rivalry thingie stimulates growth outside of "fite gud" skillset in, say, art or science for Valkyries.
     
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