Kabbalah Quest 2.0: The Ten Pillars
Blurb:
In Kabbalah Quest...
Blurb:
In Kabbalah Quest...
Kabbalah Quest 2.0: The Ten Pillars
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Original Post
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Kabbalah Quest 2.0: The Ten Pillars
Blurb:
In Kabbalah Quest 2.0, you play as a nascent Angel, newly born into the world. You have no idea who or what you are, and it is in this handicapped state that you must try and find your place in a world of nightmares and dreams. Will you make allies or enemies? Will you build a stronghold that towers over the world, or will you set out to find the truth behind your birth? The Da'at World has many mysteries, and perhaps the greatest one is that of the absent Angels. You have the potential for great power, but will you manage to realize it before you die?
Foreword:
So! Once upon a time, I started a quest. It was called Kabbalah Quest, and it had some... well, a lot of problems to tell the truth. This is my attempt at salvaging all of the work I put into it. And so, without (much) further ado, I present to you, Kabbalah Quest 2.0: The Ten Pillars!
Explanation:
...Okay, you probably want to know a bit more than that. So first off, this quest draws heavily from the Kabbalah for inspiration and themes (albeit heavily reinterpreted). Second off, I'm going to try and have you guys figure out how this world works in character; if this isn't working out, tell me. I'm a newb at QMing, and I need feedback to get better. Third of all, this world runs to at least some degree on narrative conventions, so Rule of Cool is in play. I'm not sure how big of a deal it is, but it is there - not to mention the other implications. Other than that... nothing else really. Oh! Do feel free to ask questions or offer suggestions; I'm new at QMing, so I'll probably miss stuff.
Blurb:
In Kabbalah Quest 2.0, you play as a nascent Angel, newly born into the world. You have no idea who or what you are, and it is in this handicapped state that you must try and find your place in a world of nightmares and dreams. Will you make allies or enemies? Will you build a stronghold that towers over the world, or will you set out to find the truth behind your birth? The Da'at World has many mysteries, and perhaps the greatest one is that of the absent Angels. You have the potential for great power, but will you manage to realize it before you die?
Foreword:
So! Once upon a time, I started a quest. It was called Kabbalah Quest, and it had some... well, a lot of problems to tell the truth. This is my attempt at salvaging all of the work I put into it. And so, without (much) further ado, I present to you, Kabbalah Quest 2.0: The Ten Pillars!
Explanation:
...Okay, you probably want to know a bit more than that. So first off, this quest draws heavily from the Kabbalah for inspiration and themes (albeit heavily reinterpreted). Second off, I'm going to try and have you guys figure out how this world works in character; if this isn't working out, tell me. I'm a newb at QMing, and I need feedback to get better. Third of all, this world runs to at least some degree on narrative conventions, so Rule of Cool is in play. I'm not sure how big of a deal it is, but it is there - not to mention the other implications. Other than that... nothing else really. Oh! Do feel free to ask questions or offer suggestions; I'm new at QMing, so I'll probably miss stuff.
Last edited:
Interested, but there's nothing really to respond on yet.
Mechanics
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Mechanics:
Overview:
Kabbalah Quest 2.0 should generally let the mechanics take a backseat to the actual story, serving more as rough guidelines than anything else. This basically means that if you guys try to do something, I'm not going to look at the stats and say 'yeah, you can't craft that in time', or 'you can only shape X amount of material per minute'. Instead, I'll probably do something like make the work shoddier, and more likely to fail if you guys end up pushing the boundaries of a skill. I will tell you guys about that, however. Social interaction should be entirely roleplay based, without bothering with stats (though I will use them as a rough guideline for how likely something is to work). In addition to that, while there are a bunch of mechanics and they can be kind of complex, you really don't need to know most of it; a lot of it just serves as guidelines for me and as a way for people to get a rough idea of how stuff works for more complex plans.
Level:
Levels are something of a necessary evil; you need them to play a quest, but they can get in the way of a story (unless the quest is just about level grinding). Because of this, I'm going to essentially be awarding levels as prizes for various things; killing monsters is one of the most obvious, but building something really cool or helping someone else out also counts. This also helps because it means that the method of progression is not locked in stone, so you guys can do whatever you want. As such, if you guys feel that I should be giving more levels out for a certain task, feel free to tell me so (however, please provide the rationale behind a request; it makes it much easier for me to understand where someone is coming from). Your character starts at level zero, but level one hundred is not the level cap.
Attributes:
When I was pondering on the mechanics of this quest, I hit upon the idea of simplifying the usual six attributes (Dexterity, Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) down to two different attributes: {Body}, and {Mind}. {Body} and {Mind} essentially serve as the base numbers which are modified by skills and attributes, and are only rarely used on their own. As one might expect, the {Body} attribute deals with things like taking a hit, swinging a sword, and balancing on a tightrope. The {Mind} attribute is again fairly straight forward; it deals with things like willpower, intellect, and even how good you are at negotiation. Your character starts with ten points to distribute between {Mind} and {Body} and gains one more every level.
Soul Points and Hit Points:
Soul Points essentially serve as the 'MP' of Kabbalah Quest, while HP serves as the, you know, HP. However, I wanted to do something different for the MP equivalent which in this setting essentially represents the power of your soul - so I made it so that you die (or at least faint and start taking damage) when you reach zero SP. As an important side note, there are some skills that draw from HP instead of SP when cast or allow you to tank damage by spending SP instead of HP. Another rather important detail is that there are a bunch of skills that modify HP and SP, both positively and negatively. Regeneration only works when doing nothing related to the Stat's Attribute, so you only regenerate HP when you aren't doing anything physical and you only regenerate SP when you aren't doing anything mental. There are some skills and traits that allow you to bypass this however, though the regen rate is often severely decreased. There is also the fact that once you get below half your SP or HP capacity, you start taking penalties to your attributes. So if you have 10 points in {Mind} and no modifiers, you have 100 SP. So then you spend 60 SP on a Skill activation, leaving you at 40 SP. You then do (((max SP/2)-current SP)/5) to get the penalty to the associated Attribute. So, in this case you would would do (((100/2)-40)/5), which gets you 2, which means you take a temporary penalty of -2 to your {Mind} Attribute. In other words, every (5*Multiplier) Stat points you are below the half way mark, you take a -1 penalty to the associated Attribute. There are skills that affect this, and perhaps the most common is one that changes the (max SP/2) part to (max SP/4) for SP only.
Traits:
Traits are weird. They're meant to serve as a way to incorporate special abilities and other things that can't be learned or improved on. For example, a fire elemental might be immune to fire and inflict fire damage to enemies. Some traits are related to membership in an elite group, or represent the favor of a particular person, or something of a similar nature. Many traits have mirrors in certain skills, such as the Trait [Fire Immunity] having a parallel in the Skill [Fire Resistance].
Skills:
Skills are strange, because they cover a much wider range of possibilities than what most people think of as skills. Some skills are things like [Crafting] or [Physical Damage Resistance], while other skills are things like [Shaping] or [Sorcery]. Skills are generally associated with a specific attribute, and they can have specialties. So for instance if you tend to mostly use your [Crafting] skill to build houses, you might start getting bonuses to [Crafting] when building houses. Skills will generally slowly progress in power and strength; however, every twenty levels they will radically improve somehow, opening up a new way to use the skill. When this happens you do however need to research the next level, so at lv. 19 you need to research lv. 20 to get the power boost. In addition to that, Skills actually have a level cap of one hundred; however, once you reach level one hundred, your skill will prestige and spawn a new, more powerful version at level zero. Prestiged Skills have a + in front of them dictating at what 'tier' they are; a plus essentially counts as +100 for the purposes of the Skill Level Max = Character Level * 2 rule. You can only learn a new skill if you don't already know an amount of skills equal to your level (innate skills such as Flight do not count for the purposes of this calculation). So at level 10 you can only know 10 different skills. When you naturally develop a skill yourself, you must first develop a complete Knack that you then research to upgrade it to a skill.
Sefira:
The Sephirot are... interesting. They come from Kabbalalistic Mythology, part of Judaism, and I'm trying to stay fairly true to how they work. However, this is not easy at all; the sheer number of headaches I have gotten trying to understand some of this stuff is... well. Its confusing, okay? But back to the point; when you make your character, you select one Sefira as yours, which you can never change. This then determines what kinds of future mystery powers you can unlock, as well as the initial Trait and Skill you are given. You do not get any of the special powers related to your Sefira at first; you have to go out and explore the world for more information before you can do that. However, those special powers? Totally worth it. Like, totally, totally worth it, especially in the higher levels.
Appearance:
{Appearance}... is a strange thing. It can play a role in interactions with weaker beings, but stronger beings see straight past such (semi) meaningless things. All beings have a feature that remains constant across all changes in {Appearance}, called a tell; for Angels, this is their wings. What they look like will depend upon your chosen Sefira and your initial choice of {Appearance}. While it is possible to alter how a Tell expresses itself, this is quite difficult to do for mid-level beings. In addition to that, only very powerful beings can freely change their {Appearance}; for most mid-level beings, anything that grants new abilities (size of a mouse, wings of a bird, etc) has to directly symbolize their inner-self. Notable is the fact that an {Appearance} will almost always represent some facet of a person's being, though not always an obvious one. However, the standard method of changing an {Appearance} is not the only way; there are skills that allow for shape shifting or the creation of illusions.
Labs and Bases:
Labs and Bases are basically a set of rules that are meant to deal with the bonuses that can be granted by having a set research area or a well defended base. In general, Labs will speed up research tremendously and are required for learning some skills. Some skills even require that you posses specific books or materials in your lab before you can research them. It is fairly easy to establish a Lab; you simply need to clear out and secure a structurally sound building that you can work in and keep notes in. However, the quality of the Lab contributes to how quickly research is performed in it, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that every time a skill hits the level before a level milestone (level milestones are levels at which skills get drastically more versatile or powerful, such as 20, 40, 60, etc.), you then need to research the next level to progress. So if you have a skill at lv. 19, you need to research lv. 20. Because labs grant decimal multipliers, you want a really low multiplier (i.e. 10% instead of 90%). As for bases, the most basic type you can build is a Safe Area, which basically reduces the chances of getting attacked by 50%. In general, you can build pretty much anything you want, and I'll come up with the stats to make it work the way you want it too (within reason).
Buffs and Debuffs:
Buffs and Debuffs are interesting things that serve a variety of purposes. Perhaps the most common are the ones related to eating and sleeping. You can choose not to sleep or eat, however every day that passes without sleeping or eating incures a -10% penalty to the related Attribute. In addition to that, eating a particularly good meal or getting a particularly good rest can give a small buff to your attributes.
Knacks:
Knacks are weird, but actually very important in this quest. They essentially serve as a way of keeping track of what your character is good at, without it actually directly affecting stats. They also serve as sort of prototype skill, in that before you naturally develop a skill you have to first develop a level 5 knack for something related. So having a Knack related to knowing a lot about a certain area could be turned into a Skill that makes you really good at surveying things. You may be thinking that Knacks are kinda useless if they don't affect stats; this would be wrong. Knacks are useful because they make me more likely to let you do something, or give you more detailed information, or whatever the case maybe.
Overview:
Kabbalah Quest 2.0 should generally let the mechanics take a backseat to the actual story, serving more as rough guidelines than anything else. This basically means that if you guys try to do something, I'm not going to look at the stats and say 'yeah, you can't craft that in time', or 'you can only shape X amount of material per minute'. Instead, I'll probably do something like make the work shoddier, and more likely to fail if you guys end up pushing the boundaries of a skill. I will tell you guys about that, however. Social interaction should be entirely roleplay based, without bothering with stats (though I will use them as a rough guideline for how likely something is to work). In addition to that, while there are a bunch of mechanics and they can be kind of complex, you really don't need to know most of it; a lot of it just serves as guidelines for me and as a way for people to get a rough idea of how stuff works for more complex plans.
Level:
Levels are something of a necessary evil; you need them to play a quest, but they can get in the way of a story (unless the quest is just about level grinding). Because of this, I'm going to essentially be awarding levels as prizes for various things; killing monsters is one of the most obvious, but building something really cool or helping someone else out also counts. This also helps because it means that the method of progression is not locked in stone, so you guys can do whatever you want. As such, if you guys feel that I should be giving more levels out for a certain task, feel free to tell me so (however, please provide the rationale behind a request; it makes it much easier for me to understand where someone is coming from). Your character starts at level zero, but level one hundred is not the level cap.
Attributes:
When I was pondering on the mechanics of this quest, I hit upon the idea of simplifying the usual six attributes (Dexterity, Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) down to two different attributes: {Body}, and {Mind}. {Body} and {Mind} essentially serve as the base numbers which are modified by skills and attributes, and are only rarely used on their own. As one might expect, the {Body} attribute deals with things like taking a hit, swinging a sword, and balancing on a tightrope. The {Mind} attribute is again fairly straight forward; it deals with things like willpower, intellect, and even how good you are at negotiation. Your character starts with ten points to distribute between {Mind} and {Body} and gains one more every level.
Soul Points and Hit Points:
Soul Points essentially serve as the 'MP' of Kabbalah Quest, while HP serves as the, you know, HP. However, I wanted to do something different for the MP equivalent which in this setting essentially represents the power of your soul - so I made it so that you die (or at least faint and start taking damage) when you reach zero SP. As an important side note, there are some skills that draw from HP instead of SP when cast or allow you to tank damage by spending SP instead of HP. Another rather important detail is that there are a bunch of skills that modify HP and SP, both positively and negatively. Regeneration only works when doing nothing related to the Stat's Attribute, so you only regenerate HP when you aren't doing anything physical and you only regenerate SP when you aren't doing anything mental. There are some skills and traits that allow you to bypass this however, though the regen rate is often severely decreased. There is also the fact that once you get below half your SP or HP capacity, you start taking penalties to your attributes. So if you have 10 points in {Mind} and no modifiers, you have 100 SP. So then you spend 60 SP on a Skill activation, leaving you at 40 SP. You then do (((max SP/2)-current SP)/5) to get the penalty to the associated Attribute. So, in this case you would would do (((100/2)-40)/5), which gets you 2, which means you take a temporary penalty of -2 to your {Mind} Attribute. In other words, every (5*Multiplier) Stat points you are below the half way mark, you take a -1 penalty to the associated Attribute. There are skills that affect this, and perhaps the most common is one that changes the (max SP/2) part to (max SP/4) for SP only.
Traits:
Traits are weird. They're meant to serve as a way to incorporate special abilities and other things that can't be learned or improved on. For example, a fire elemental might be immune to fire and inflict fire damage to enemies. Some traits are related to membership in an elite group, or represent the favor of a particular person, or something of a similar nature. Many traits have mirrors in certain skills, such as the Trait [Fire Immunity] having a parallel in the Skill [Fire Resistance].
Skills:
Skills are strange, because they cover a much wider range of possibilities than what most people think of as skills. Some skills are things like [Crafting] or [Physical Damage Resistance], while other skills are things like [Shaping] or [Sorcery]. Skills are generally associated with a specific attribute, and they can have specialties. So for instance if you tend to mostly use your [Crafting] skill to build houses, you might start getting bonuses to [Crafting] when building houses. Skills will generally slowly progress in power and strength; however, every twenty levels they will radically improve somehow, opening up a new way to use the skill. When this happens you do however need to research the next level, so at lv. 19 you need to research lv. 20 to get the power boost. In addition to that, Skills actually have a level cap of one hundred; however, once you reach level one hundred, your skill will prestige and spawn a new, more powerful version at level zero. Prestiged Skills have a + in front of them dictating at what 'tier' they are; a plus essentially counts as +100 for the purposes of the Skill Level Max = Character Level * 2 rule. You can only learn a new skill if you don't already know an amount of skills equal to your level (innate skills such as Flight do not count for the purposes of this calculation). So at level 10 you can only know 10 different skills. When you naturally develop a skill yourself, you must first develop a complete Knack that you then research to upgrade it to a skill.
Sefira:
The Sephirot are... interesting. They come from Kabbalalistic Mythology, part of Judaism, and I'm trying to stay fairly true to how they work. However, this is not easy at all; the sheer number of headaches I have gotten trying to understand some of this stuff is... well. Its confusing, okay? But back to the point; when you make your character, you select one Sefira as yours, which you can never change. This then determines what kinds of future mystery powers you can unlock, as well as the initial Trait and Skill you are given. You do not get any of the special powers related to your Sefira at first; you have to go out and explore the world for more information before you can do that. However, those special powers? Totally worth it. Like, totally, totally worth it, especially in the higher levels.
Appearance:
{Appearance}... is a strange thing. It can play a role in interactions with weaker beings, but stronger beings see straight past such (semi) meaningless things. All beings have a feature that remains constant across all changes in {Appearance}, called a tell; for Angels, this is their wings. What they look like will depend upon your chosen Sefira and your initial choice of {Appearance}. While it is possible to alter how a Tell expresses itself, this is quite difficult to do for mid-level beings. In addition to that, only very powerful beings can freely change their {Appearance}; for most mid-level beings, anything that grants new abilities (size of a mouse, wings of a bird, etc) has to directly symbolize their inner-self. Notable is the fact that an {Appearance} will almost always represent some facet of a person's being, though not always an obvious one. However, the standard method of changing an {Appearance} is not the only way; there are skills that allow for shape shifting or the creation of illusions.
Labs and Bases:
Labs and Bases are basically a set of rules that are meant to deal with the bonuses that can be granted by having a set research area or a well defended base. In general, Labs will speed up research tremendously and are required for learning some skills. Some skills even require that you posses specific books or materials in your lab before you can research them. It is fairly easy to establish a Lab; you simply need to clear out and secure a structurally sound building that you can work in and keep notes in. However, the quality of the Lab contributes to how quickly research is performed in it, so keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that every time a skill hits the level before a level milestone (level milestones are levels at which skills get drastically more versatile or powerful, such as 20, 40, 60, etc.), you then need to research the next level to progress. So if you have a skill at lv. 19, you need to research lv. 20. Because labs grant decimal multipliers, you want a really low multiplier (i.e. 10% instead of 90%). As for bases, the most basic type you can build is a Safe Area, which basically reduces the chances of getting attacked by 50%. In general, you can build pretty much anything you want, and I'll come up with the stats to make it work the way you want it too (within reason).
Buffs and Debuffs:
Buffs and Debuffs are interesting things that serve a variety of purposes. Perhaps the most common are the ones related to eating and sleeping. You can choose not to sleep or eat, however every day that passes without sleeping or eating incures a -10% penalty to the related Attribute. In addition to that, eating a particularly good meal or getting a particularly good rest can give a small buff to your attributes.
Knacks:
Knacks are weird, but actually very important in this quest. They essentially serve as a way of keeping track of what your character is good at, without it actually directly affecting stats. They also serve as sort of prototype skill, in that before you naturally develop a skill you have to first develop a level 5 knack for something related. So having a Knack related to knowing a lot about a certain area could be turned into a Skill that makes you really good at surveying things. You may be thinking that Knacks are kinda useless if they don't affect stats; this would be wrong. Knacks are useful because they make me more likely to let you do something, or give you more detailed information, or whatever the case maybe.
Last edited:
Character Sheets
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Character Sheets:
Distinction of Dust (PC):
This is here for formatting reasons.
Distinction of Dust (PC):
-
Level: 4
Mind: 7Body: 7
SP: 105
SPR: 21
HP: 70
HPR: 7 -
Angel of Keter: You are connected on a fundamental level with the Sefira Keter, and its light constantly replenishes your soul and washes away mental influence.
- Regenerate SP twice as fast.
- One and a half times the SP capacity.
- For the purposes of resisting mental manipulation, you have one and a half times your {Mind} Score.
- Automatically grants [Interaction] skill.
Tell (Wings): As an Angel, your wings are literal manifestations of your power. As such, they shine through no matter what form you take. They also allow you to fly.
- Grants [Flight] Skill automatically. -
Interaction (lv. 2): This is a skill granted to you due to your status as an [Angel of Keter]. Keter is the Crown Above, and as such it allows you to rise above both physical and mental influences.
- Allows you to spend 1 SP to negate 2 points of damage (increases every fourth level), allowing for the negation of up to 50% of an attack that would deal 7 damage, 25% of an attack that would deal 14, and 10% of any attack that would deal more than 14 damage.
- Allows you to spend 5 SP to decrease the DC of a mental influence attempt by 1. You can negate up to 55% percent of any attack (+2.5% each level).
Flight (lv. 3): The Flight skill takes advantage of your Angelic nature to allow you to soar above the clouds.
- 1 SP per two and a half minutes of Flight.
- Hovering in place doubles your efficiency (1 SP for five minutes).
- Sprinting doubles your movement speed but triples your SP consumption (3 SP for double speed).
- Flight speed is 130% of your normal walking speed.
- You cannot regenerate SP or HP while Flying, even if you are Hovering.
Wing Reinforcement (lv. 2): You have managed to isolate the pattern of [Light] that makes your wings solid when flying and figured out how to apply it on its own.
-Allows you to spend 1 SP to get 15 minutes of solid wings.
-Wings can be divided into bundles that can lift (bundle portion)(Weight(level*.2)) and deal (Body)(level*bundle portion) of damage each when attacking.
-Wing filaments can be extended to 170% of their normal length.
Meditation (lv. 4): Through long practice you have gained the ability to slip beneath the waves of your conscious mind and submerse yourself in the connection to the World Soul that all Mortal's posses.
- Through meditation you can unlock old memories and learn new information about others.
- Level increases how detailed the information is and decreases how rigidly defined the subject must be.
Cooking (lv. 0): You have learned to imbue your cooking with the very essence of your Soul, allowing it to recharge and revitalize others.
- eating a meal cooked with this skill restores (level*2) percent of your health.
- as the skill levels up, other buffs can be unlocked. -
Staff: You have no idea what this staff is or how works, only that it is somehow related to the Angels.
- You think that you can figure out what this Staff's purpose is along with how to use it.
- 20 hours of research time to develop without a lab. (14 out of 20 twenty hours complete, 6 hours remain.) -
Staff: You have no idea what this staff is or how works, only that it is somehow related to the Angels. It is made of pure white wood, and has some sort of blue crystal inlaid into it in a seamless pattern reminiscent of circuitry.
You have a book titled 'On the Metaphysical role of the Kabbalah in the Formation of Reality', by Seventh's Luck. Its writing style is strange and difficult to fully understand, though you feel you have made some progress.
You have a hefty book titled 'On the manipulation of the Soul's Light', by Fluted Circle.
-
Navigation, Grim Forest (Outskirts): ●○○○○
Navigation, Grim Forest (Caverns): ●○○○○
Navigation, Grim Forest (Outpost): ●●○○○
Artifice (Foci): ●○○○○
Artifice (Cartridges): ●○○○○
Knowledge (Kabbalah): ●●○○○
Knowledge (Artifice): ●●○○○
Knowledge (Magic): ●●●●○
Knowledge (Soul): ●○○○○
Hunting (Forest): ●●●○○
Exploration: ●●●○○
Stealth (Cave): ●●○○○
Stealth (Forest): ●○○○○
This is here for formatting reasons.
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Prologue: Formation
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Prologue: Formation
Location:
Where do you awaken in the Da'at World? Each location has its own dangers, though the list is ordered such that the top is easiest and the bottom is hardest.
location
Manifestation:
How do you appear in your chosen location? Do you try to be flashy, or quiet? Both approaches have their advantages.
manifestation
Appearance:
What do you look like? What are you wearing? What gender are you? What is your name? Keep in mind that you have very low {Mind} and {Body} scores so you need to choose something mostly human, though some animal parts are okay. When choosing a name, something along the lines of 'Fires of Perfection' or 'Waters of Clarity' would be appreciated.
appearance
Sefira:
Which Sefira does your character preside over? This is a fairly big deal, so think carefully. While the chosen sefira has an effect on your skills, the largest effect is probably on your late game stuff.
sefira
Stats:
How do you divide up your ten points between {Mind} and {Body}?
stats
Location:
Where do you awaken in the Da'at World? Each location has its own dangers, though the list is ordered such that the top is easiest and the bottom is hardest.
[X] Rolling Plains: Easy; it's hard to die here without being very, very stupid. A peaceful, open plain set between a raging river dotted with crumbling outposts and a dreaded mountain fortress.
[X] Grim Forest: Easy-Medium; challenging, requires planning. A dark forest filled with all sorts of creatures, some friendly, some not.
[X] Red Jungle: Medium-Hard; Barely survivable with planning and luck. A jungle of rage and hate that wants to drown the world in blood.
[X] Silver Desert: Hard; Would not recommend. A desert of silver sand that misleads visitors with sadistic cruelty.
[X] Gleaming City: Hard; Would not recommend. A city of gleaming glass and metal, populated by horrible demons.
[X] Glass Canyon: Insane; You will die. Horribly. A canyon of polished rock outcroppings, upon which a silver wind plays a melody of madness.
[X] Grim Forest: Easy-Medium; challenging, requires planning. A dark forest filled with all sorts of creatures, some friendly, some not.
[X] Red Jungle: Medium-Hard; Barely survivable with planning and luck. A jungle of rage and hate that wants to drown the world in blood.
[X] Silver Desert: Hard; Would not recommend. A desert of silver sand that misleads visitors with sadistic cruelty.
[X] Gleaming City: Hard; Would not recommend. A city of gleaming glass and metal, populated by horrible demons.
[X] Glass Canyon: Insane; You will die. Horribly. A canyon of polished rock outcroppings, upon which a silver wind plays a melody of madness.
Manifestation:
How do you appear in your chosen location? Do you try to be flashy, or quiet? Both approaches have their advantages.
[X] Flashy
[X] Simple
[X] Quiet
[X] Simple
[X] Quiet
Appearance:
What do you look like? What are you wearing? What gender are you? What is your name? Keep in mind that you have very low {Mind} and {Body} scores so you need to choose something mostly human, though some animal parts are okay. When choosing a name, something along the lines of 'Fires of Perfection' or 'Waters of Clarity' would be appreciated.
[X] Write in
Sefira:
Which Sefira does your character preside over? This is a fairly big deal, so think carefully. While the chosen sefira has an effect on your skills, the largest effect is probably on your late game stuff.
[X] Keter: The Crown above the Kingdom, the Light of the Self. Keter is that which is unknowable; it is the crown above the mind, the incomprehensible. It is the portal through which the diminished light of God, the Kav, flows into the sephirot in order to be shaped. Keter is at its root about transcendence, about rising above the physical world to touch the incomprehensible.
[X] Chokmah: The Wisdom which arises from the Light, the Father of Inspiration. Chokmah is the spark of divine inspiration which arises from the formless light of Keter. It is the first stage in refinement for the light of God which flows forth from Keter. Chokmah has two attributes; drawing inspiration from nothing, and passing that inspiration on. Chokmah is about inventing new skills and ideas, and then passing those things on.
[X] Binah: The Intellect which watches the Shadow, the Mother of Contemplation. Binah is the process through which an idea is divined from another, and then further refined. It deals with comprehending the spark of inspiration passed on from Chokmah, and then fanning that spark until it is a raging bonfire. Binah is about learning and then refining an idea or skill, until it has been perfected and made greater than before.
[X] Tiferet: The Beauty of the Balance, and the Glory of the Throne. Tiferet is that which integrates the compassion of Chesed with the severity of Gevurah. It is the attribute of mercy, and the process by which two ingredients are made greater in the presence of the other. Tiferet is about synergy and conversion between states of being; it is where force becomes form. Tiferet is closely associated with steam, the combination of Chesed and Gevurah.
[X] Chesed: The Clemency of Life, the compassion of the Water. Chesed is the hand which bestows kindness upon all of creation; it is the inherent drive within us towards charity. Chesed makes no distinction between good or evil, giving freely to all. Chesed deals with things like healing and damage resistance. It is closely associated with water.
[X] Gevurah: The Judgment of Might, the severity of the Flame. Gevurah is the hand which separates the unworthy from the worthy. It is the condemnation of evil, and that which prevents the unworthy from freely partaking of the generosity of Chesed. Gevurah deals with things like damage enhancement, and is closely associated with fire.
[X] Netzach: The Victory of Eternity, the Conduct of Endurance. Netzach is the power and endurance through which one can overcome obstacles. It is the raw determination to keep going for all of eternity. Netzach is at its heart, Victory through confrontation. Netzach deals with overcoming limitations through effort.
[X] Hod: The Splendor of Acknowledgment, the Majesty of Acceptance. Hod is the ability to accept your limitations, and then reinterpret them so that they do not hold you back. If Netzach is the ability to apply power, then Hod is the wisdom to know when to use it. Hod is about understanding your purpose in life and then pursuing it with all your might.
[X] Yesod: The Foundation which Connects, the Channel of the Senses. Yesod is the channel through which the self interprets and connects to the world. It deals with the connections that underlie all of reality, and the interpretation thereof.
[X] Malkuth: The Kingdom below the Crown, the Shadow of the World. Malkuth is the Kingdom which you shape, it is the pane through which the Sephirot are given form and life. At its heart, Malkuth is about expression; it is the realm in which you express yourself, and it is the realm in which the rest of the Sephirot are expressed. Malkuth is about shaping the world with your actions and soul.
[X] Chokmah: The Wisdom which arises from the Light, the Father of Inspiration. Chokmah is the spark of divine inspiration which arises from the formless light of Keter. It is the first stage in refinement for the light of God which flows forth from Keter. Chokmah has two attributes; drawing inspiration from nothing, and passing that inspiration on. Chokmah is about inventing new skills and ideas, and then passing those things on.
[X] Binah: The Intellect which watches the Shadow, the Mother of Contemplation. Binah is the process through which an idea is divined from another, and then further refined. It deals with comprehending the spark of inspiration passed on from Chokmah, and then fanning that spark until it is a raging bonfire. Binah is about learning and then refining an idea or skill, until it has been perfected and made greater than before.
[X] Tiferet: The Beauty of the Balance, and the Glory of the Throne. Tiferet is that which integrates the compassion of Chesed with the severity of Gevurah. It is the attribute of mercy, and the process by which two ingredients are made greater in the presence of the other. Tiferet is about synergy and conversion between states of being; it is where force becomes form. Tiferet is closely associated with steam, the combination of Chesed and Gevurah.
[X] Chesed: The Clemency of Life, the compassion of the Water. Chesed is the hand which bestows kindness upon all of creation; it is the inherent drive within us towards charity. Chesed makes no distinction between good or evil, giving freely to all. Chesed deals with things like healing and damage resistance. It is closely associated with water.
[X] Gevurah: The Judgment of Might, the severity of the Flame. Gevurah is the hand which separates the unworthy from the worthy. It is the condemnation of evil, and that which prevents the unworthy from freely partaking of the generosity of Chesed. Gevurah deals with things like damage enhancement, and is closely associated with fire.
[X] Netzach: The Victory of Eternity, the Conduct of Endurance. Netzach is the power and endurance through which one can overcome obstacles. It is the raw determination to keep going for all of eternity. Netzach is at its heart, Victory through confrontation. Netzach deals with overcoming limitations through effort.
[X] Hod: The Splendor of Acknowledgment, the Majesty of Acceptance. Hod is the ability to accept your limitations, and then reinterpret them so that they do not hold you back. If Netzach is the ability to apply power, then Hod is the wisdom to know when to use it. Hod is about understanding your purpose in life and then pursuing it with all your might.
[X] Yesod: The Foundation which Connects, the Channel of the Senses. Yesod is the channel through which the self interprets and connects to the world. It deals with the connections that underlie all of reality, and the interpretation thereof.
[X] Malkuth: The Kingdom below the Crown, the Shadow of the World. Malkuth is the Kingdom which you shape, it is the pane through which the Sephirot are given form and life. At its heart, Malkuth is about expression; it is the realm in which you express yourself, and it is the realm in which the rest of the Sephirot are expressed. Malkuth is about shaping the world with your actions and soul.
Interaction (Keter): Interaction allows you to spend SP to no-sell attacks.
Taste (Chokmah): Taste allows you to get a rough idea of the underlying concepts behind something.
Sight (Binah): SIght gives you a rough idea of the stats behind something.
Flesh Flow (Chesed): Flesh Flow gives you minor shapeshifting, healing, and damage reduction.
Bone Block (Gevurah): Bone Block allows for minor bone manipulation (claws, etc) and attack enhancement.
Conversion (Tiferet): Allows you to manipulate reactions and state changes at a low level.
Endure (Netzach): Allows you to ignore a bunch of the penalties that comes with having low SP and HP.
Delay (Hod): Allows you to 'delay' damage from taking effect, spending SP to keep it in stasis.
Surveyance (Yesod): Allows you to see the web of connections behind reality.
Shaping (Malkuth): Allows you to spend SP to shape the world.
Taste (Chokmah): Taste allows you to get a rough idea of the underlying concepts behind something.
Sight (Binah): SIght gives you a rough idea of the stats behind something.
Flesh Flow (Chesed): Flesh Flow gives you minor shapeshifting, healing, and damage reduction.
Bone Block (Gevurah): Bone Block allows for minor bone manipulation (claws, etc) and attack enhancement.
Conversion (Tiferet): Allows you to manipulate reactions and state changes at a low level.
Endure (Netzach): Allows you to ignore a bunch of the penalties that comes with having low SP and HP.
Delay (Hod): Allows you to 'delay' damage from taking effect, spending SP to keep it in stasis.
Surveyance (Yesod): Allows you to see the web of connections behind reality.
Shaping (Malkuth): Allows you to spend SP to shape the world.
Stats:
How do you divide up your ten points between {Mind} and {Body}?
[X] Mind: (Write in number of points here)
[X] Body: (Write in number of points here)
[X] Body: (Write in number of points here)
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einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Bit more now
In case anyone is wondering what the Spoiler in the Sefira selection area is for... well, long story short someone pointed out that the rather vague descriptions I provided might not be enough. So I listed a rough outline of the possible skills you get depending on the selected Sefira, and let you guys decide how much information you want to make your decision on.
Pretty sure you meant bottom is least safe/most dangerous.
Farther is easier? Okay.
Man, all the sephirots are super-tempting and I'd be happy with any of them winning
[X] Red Jungle
[X] Flashy.
[X] Origin of Dawns: A small dusk-skinned woman, with the head of a spider and four large crystal wings sprouting from from her back. Instead of compound eyes however, she has orbs of shining fire.
[X] Keter
[X] Mind: 5
[X] Body: 5
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einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yep... Let me fix that. heheh,,,
Erm. No, let me fix that.
Thanks! Its nice to know that I did a good job of making them balanced. (Also, not to nitpick, but Sephirot/Sefirot is the plural of Sephira/Sefira)
Hmm... interesting.
Oh yeah, pretty picture for the thread would do well I think, so the Kabbalistic tree of life for the uninitiated. The ten circles are the sephirot iirc, with Keter being at the bottom?
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einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Keter is at the top actually, as it represents the 'Crown' above the 'Kingdom' (Malkuth). Also, your image is broken.Oh yeah, pretty picture for the thread would do well I think, so the Kabbalistic tree of life for the uninitiated. The ten circles are the sephirot iirc, with Keter being at the bottom?
EDIT: Kabbalah image added.
Any questions or.,,? (I'm currently stuck in school literally doing nothing, so any distraction is welcome.)
It works fine for me, so I really have no idea what the problem might be.
[X] Rolling Plains
[X] Quiet
[X] Light of Silence: A woman of unnatural beauty, more like a doll than anything else, with white hair and silver eyes. From her back sprout 7 wings that look to be made out of clear filament, glowing slightly and difficult to see without focus, that wrap around her like a cloak.
[X] Keter
[X] Mind: 7
[X] Body: 3
[X] Quiet
[X] Light of Silence: A woman of unnatural beauty, more like a doll than anything else, with white hair and silver eyes. From her back sprout 7 wings that look to be made out of clear filament, glowing slightly and difficult to see without focus, that wrap around her like a cloak.
[X] Keter
[X] Mind: 7
[X] Body: 3
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Not really a fan of the name.
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einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Its working now, so... huh. But yeah, I'm stealing that image; it looks really nice.
Hmm... interesting. Keter and Malkuth seem to be getting a lot of interest; I wonder if that's TGWP showing its influence? (Or maybe I just have a horribly small sample size...)
Darn; I liked the Doll bit
Importantish information! The current vote ends at 10:00 AM UTC -5.
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pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
Awaken in:
[X] Red Jungle: Medium-Hard; Barely survivable with planning and luck. A jungle of rage and hate that wants to drown the world in blood.
Manifestation:
[X] Simple
Appearance:
[X] Distinction of Dust: A woman of average height and slightly chubby build, with kindly mien. Her wings sprout from her back and fall over her like a downy, dust-patterned cloak, reaching to the ankles.
I want us to look completely unassuming. And then destroy everything just by looking at it!
Sefira:
[X] Tiferet
Depending on what reactions and state changes this means. Atomic-level control of chemistry/ physics? AWESOME.
Stats:
[X] Mind: 5
[X] Body: 5
[X] Red Jungle: Medium-Hard; Barely survivable with planning and luck. A jungle of rage and hate that wants to drown the world in blood.
Manifestation:
[X] Simple
Appearance:
[X] Distinction of Dust: A woman of average height and slightly chubby build, with kindly mien. Her wings sprout from her back and fall over her like a downy, dust-patterned cloak, reaching to the ankles.
I want us to look completely unassuming. And then destroy everything just by looking at it!
Sefira:
[X] Tiferet
Depending on what reactions and state changes this means. Atomic-level control of chemistry/ physics? AWESOME.
Stats:
[X] Mind: 5
[X] Body: 5
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Do you guys have a death wish? The only real way to survive Red Jungle is to leave it as soon as possible, then come back later and level it to the ground. I mean, I thought that the whole 'A jungle of rage and hate that wants to drown the world in blood' would be something of a turn off.
Well, the thing is that in a world of voluntary shapeshifters, very few people take first impressions for granted.
Well, the Atomic level stuff comes in the prestiged version of the skill, but the skill can still be pretty darn powerful; it lets you do things like move heat around to say condense water out of the air, freeze and boil a lake, all sorts of things.
If you didn't want us to vote for it you shouldn't have put it as an option. Blood for the blood god!
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
True... I may have made some mistakes with the place selection. But at least no one has voted for Glass Canyon, which would probably go something like this:
QM: "Okay, you materialize in a beautiful canyon with several different layers of colored rock, all polished to glass like smoothness by a gritty silver wind.
QM: "Now just let me make some rolls..." *rolls several hundred dice*
QM: "Okay, you are now insane, and you will mutate every hour unless you make a DC 75 {Mind} check. While insane, you can make an opposed check against the success of the person who drove you insane to try and shake it off. In this case, that is a DC 117 {Mind} check. Also, every time you fail the mutate check the isanity check increases in DC by 5."
Players: "...Wut?"
Importantish Information: The voting period has been (further) extended to 1:00 PM UTC -5 to allow for consensus to form on the matter of appearance.
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pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
It sounds like a challenge! Though - yeah. Maybe you shouldn't give us the option to start off in the MURDERDEATHKILLZONE.
At least we have a pretty face to see in the mirror, though!
Good enough for me!
Prologue: Formation [Vote End]
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Voting is now closed.
Winning Vote:
So. This was... sort of a problem, since there were several three way ties. To resolve these, I rolled dice. Simple, but effective.
Location:
You guys are officially insane for choosing this, but I guess its (partially) my fault for giving such weird options.
Manifestation:
Probably a good idea in a place like this.
Appearance:
Interesting. Do take note that is quite possible to change your appearance later once you learn how, and you can gain names as time goes on and you perform great deeds. (this option takes the name from @pantherasapiens's vote, and the appearance from @Mannan's vote.)
Sefira:
Hm. Keter; how interesting. Not the vote I was expecting to win; I figured that something like Malkuth, Yesod, or Gevurah would when I posted this. Eh, at least the Keter skills have some awesome opportunities for dramatic descriptions.
Stats:
Hm. Again, interesting; I would have expected a Keter build to be heavy on the Mind and low on the Body, but I suppose that given [Interaction] it makes sense to go for an even balance.
Huh. Well, I'm going to go get started on writing up Prologue: Manifestation.
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Prologue: Manifestation
einargs
Verified Spiller of the Egg Yolk
- Location
- The Egg Yolk, Outer Layer
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Prologue: Manifestation
Story:
You are [Distinction of Dust] and you have awoken in the [Red Jungle]. You are an [Angel], of the [Keter Host]. This is all that you know.
You have appeared in your location rather quietly, motes of light coming forth from thin air and spinning briefly before finally coalescing to form your current {Appearance}. You have taken the form of a woman of most unnatural beauty; your features are perfect, and there are no blemishes upon your skin. In fact, you are too perfect to pass as human; you fall within the 'Uncanny Valley' thanks to your impossibly regular features. Your hair, fingernails, and teeth are all made of pure, flawless white pearl, and your eyes are spheres of pure molten silver that glows from within. As you inspect your hands, you note that your veins are made of the same material as your eyes, and that it glows brighter when you draw upon your Soul.
You are clad in a simple white business suit, with a black button up shirt beneath. You are not buxom, and are in fact on the small size in the chest department, which you note with distinct apathy. Your wings are made of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of different fibers. They are clear, and emit an ephemeral light that hangs in the air around them. They emerge from your spine, phasing through your garments to do so. You can manipulate each one individually, and even lengthen them to some degree; you estimate that you can increase one strand in size by about 150%. You drag several strands across the ground, disturbing the undergrowth only slightly. You suspect that your wings will be useless as manipulatory appendages without packing several hundred together, and even then you feel that they would only be able to carry light weights.
You then turn your attention to the area which you are in. You know that it is the [Red Jungle] and that it can be quite dangerous, but you do not know exactly how dangerous that is. You can tell that you are fairly weak by most standards, but you do not know what those standards are. It is an incredibly frustrating feeling, knowing so little, but you bear it stoically.
You are in a rough clearing inside a thick jungle, filled with enormous trees. The trunks of the trees are enormous things, several meters in diameter. The bark is brown, but there are cracks which reveal a dark red surface beneath said bark. The arrangement is unpleasantly reminiscent of a scab over a freshly reopened wound.
The canopy above you (which you are fairly certain is only one of many, given how little light there is) is a light green color that is speckled with darker spots. Thick vines hang down from several branches, and you have a hard time seeing beyond around fifteen meters thanks to the lighting conditions. The ground beneath you is filled with dead leaves and fallen branches that rustle as you shift your weight.
What do you do now?
[X] Write in.
Notes:
So! You guys picked the [Red Jungle] which is basically the horror option of the three survivable choices. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy writing this part... *evil grin*
Also! I figure that I'll answer any questions about things that DoD can see without really doing anything, as I suspect that at some point someone is going to develop a plan based on some seemingly irrelevant detail that I didn't include in the scene description. So, yeah. I'll answer most reasonable questions, but things like 'Are those vines actually horrible monsters waiting to eat us?' or 'are those trees alive in a more animalian manner than usual?' are going to require a vote (and possibly a roll or two) to find out.
This is a pretty rough update without proof reading, but I figure that in a Quest that should be mostly excusable (I presume that you guys prefer fast updates over beautiful, lurid prose).
Story:
You are [Distinction of Dust] and you have awoken in the [Red Jungle]. You are an [Angel], of the [Keter Host]. This is all that you know.
You have appeared in your location rather quietly, motes of light coming forth from thin air and spinning briefly before finally coalescing to form your current {Appearance}. You have taken the form of a woman of most unnatural beauty; your features are perfect, and there are no blemishes upon your skin. In fact, you are too perfect to pass as human; you fall within the 'Uncanny Valley' thanks to your impossibly regular features. Your hair, fingernails, and teeth are all made of pure, flawless white pearl, and your eyes are spheres of pure molten silver that glows from within. As you inspect your hands, you note that your veins are made of the same material as your eyes, and that it glows brighter when you draw upon your Soul.
You are clad in a simple white business suit, with a black button up shirt beneath. You are not buxom, and are in fact on the small size in the chest department, which you note with distinct apathy. Your wings are made of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of different fibers. They are clear, and emit an ephemeral light that hangs in the air around them. They emerge from your spine, phasing through your garments to do so. You can manipulate each one individually, and even lengthen them to some degree; you estimate that you can increase one strand in size by about 150%. You drag several strands across the ground, disturbing the undergrowth only slightly. You suspect that your wings will be useless as manipulatory appendages without packing several hundred together, and even then you feel that they would only be able to carry light weights.
You then turn your attention to the area which you are in. You know that it is the [Red Jungle] and that it can be quite dangerous, but you do not know exactly how dangerous that is. You can tell that you are fairly weak by most standards, but you do not know what those standards are. It is an incredibly frustrating feeling, knowing so little, but you bear it stoically.
You are in a rough clearing inside a thick jungle, filled with enormous trees. The trunks of the trees are enormous things, several meters in diameter. The bark is brown, but there are cracks which reveal a dark red surface beneath said bark. The arrangement is unpleasantly reminiscent of a scab over a freshly reopened wound.
The canopy above you (which you are fairly certain is only one of many, given how little light there is) is a light green color that is speckled with darker spots. Thick vines hang down from several branches, and you have a hard time seeing beyond around fifteen meters thanks to the lighting conditions. The ground beneath you is filled with dead leaves and fallen branches that rustle as you shift your weight.
What do you do now?
[X] Write in.
Notes:
So! You guys picked the [Red Jungle] which is basically the horror option of the three survivable choices. I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy writing this part... *evil grin*
Also! I figure that I'll answer any questions about things that DoD can see without really doing anything, as I suspect that at some point someone is going to develop a plan based on some seemingly irrelevant detail that I didn't include in the scene description. So, yeah. I'll answer most reasonable questions, but things like 'Are those vines actually horrible monsters waiting to eat us?' or 'are those trees alive in a more animalian manner than usual?' are going to require a vote (and possibly a roll or two) to find out.
This is a pretty rough update without proof reading, but I figure that in a Quest that should be mostly excusable (I presume that you guys prefer fast updates over beautiful, lurid prose).
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pantherasapiens
you were always my best friend
- Location
- somewhere over your shoulder
What do you do now?
[X] Experiment with filament wings. Can they be used as short-to-medium range razor wire?
[X] Explore cautiously.
Keter gives us loads of effective defense, but we don't have much in the way of offense. In the Red Jungle, that could be a bad thing.
[X] Experiment with filament wings. Can they be used as short-to-medium range razor wire?
[X] Explore cautiously.
Keter gives us loads of effective defense, but we don't have much in the way of offense. In the Red Jungle, that could be a bad thing.