Kami's Dream (SAO/DanMachi)

[7734]

Grinning quietly, you opened the case cover for your new game carefully, dusting off your NervGear in the corner. You'd calibrated it earlier, putting it through the rigorous tests without any major bumps or bruises before buying the game outright. That game?

Sword Art Online: Garden of the Gods

SAO had been the marketing name of one of two 'viable' VRMMORPG engines, built around the mysterious AI project that everyone knew didn't exist, Cardinal. Personally, from a nerd standpoint, you could appreciate the game's elements of logic, the sheer millions of lines of code that went into the core structure of the system and the design.

More importantly, from the "I am a dude and don't get out enough" standpoint there were girls. Girls in fantasy armor. Girls in fantasy armor that one could judge it's effectiveness by how much skin was showing. Girls in battle bikinis who possibly shared your nerd views, unencumbered by the precepts of society! It was a dream come true! Most importantly, though, you could talk to these girls without your damnable acne scaring them off!

You weren't a NEET or Otaku or anything like that, but when your face normally had more zits per square centimetre than the moon had craters per square kilometer, you had 'bad acne' according to your doctor. A face like a Brillo pad might have made socialization hard, and nothing was as good as face-to-face communication, but in Full Dive you didn't need to worry about that!

Breathing deeply, you put aside your concerns and double checked your cables and disc. Green lights across the board, all systems go, time to do it!

"Link, Start!"

---

HELLO NEW PLAYER. WELCOME TO CHARACTER CREATION.

"Hello, game." you replied politely.

[1d100=20+100(circumstance bonus)]

NEW PLAYER, PLEASE ENTER YOUR NAME

"Yankeekitou."

PLEASE ENTER NAME; NOT USERNAME

"Settle."

BEGINNING CHARACTER GENERATION.
…
…
…
NOTE: THIS PLAYER HAS RECEIVED THE 'GOD' SUPERCLASS. ACCEPT [Y/N]

You shrugged. You knew from the literature that having a God, and their requisite Familia was a combination guild and party, as well as the only way to level up right off the bat. That said, the God-Players didn't actually get out that much, and were mostly in charge of keeping their Familias running at best efficiency.

Good thing you normally played Support classes.

"Yes."

THANK YOU. CHARACTER CREATION IS FINISHED

Spawning into the main plaza, you gasped as you looked up. A tower at least five hundred meters tall commanded the landscape, and among it's roots stood a city, bustling and thriving with the pulse of life given by a three million NPCs- and shortly later, a million players, logging in and spreading out earnestly.

"Hey! Hey buddy!" an NPC yelled at you, grinning. "I know a new God when I see 'em! Want some tips?"

Moving over to him, you nodded quickly. "Please!"

"Great!" the NPC, who you quickly discovered was another God via your HUD marking him as such. "First up, you're a god. Breath in, let it just wash over you. Feel that power? Good, don't forget it."

You raised an eyebrow. He just laughed at you.

"Some of us are too smart for our own good, some are too humble… it varies. Being able to keep yourself centered is important. Anyway, next item- your Domains and Abilities. Each god has at least two Domains, and as you grow as a God and gain Devotion, you get more Domains. Each Domain has three related Attributes, which are global effects for your Familia and any Followers you have of sufficient Devotion. Got that?"

"Do I have to do anything for that to happen?" you asked carefully.

"Yes and no. For your Familia, Abilities are like the wind- just another part of life. For your Followers, they need to know your name and hold to the tenancies of your Faith to gain Devotion."

"My faith?"

"The formal conditions you set out to codify your will. You don't need to do it, but it makes everyone's life simpler. Followers are really really useful, after all."

"So, followers?"

"Non-Adventurers who are sworn to your Faith in the interest of working with your Familia. They're helpful."

Nodding, you smiled. This was a really useful tutorial NPC!

"So, then- what's your name?" you asked, shaking your head. "I'm Settle."

"Patrarious, God of Teaching and Tutorials."

"Thank you for your time, Patrarious."

He laughed, smiling. "One last thing, Settle- when you want to introduce yourself formally, your Domains are your titles. Wear them with pride!"

Nodding as you walked away, you found a secluded little cafe. After picking out your Domains, you saw a popup block.

CONGRADULATIONS! ALL NON-BETA GOD CHARACTERS ARE ENABLED TO ONE FREE PERK

Picking your perk, you smiled. Things were going well today!

...

At that point, you saw the sky go red, and you hissed. You'd definitely spoken too soon here.

---

VOTES

Domains (Choose two, cannot choose the same two twice, may only take Write-In once, text in parentheses is one Ability of three for the Domain)
[] Science (New Ways)
[] War (Honor Code)
[] Swords (Heron Dance)
[] Growth (Endless Potential)
[] Fertility (Bountiful Harvest)
[] Nature (Wood Step)
[] Charisma (First Look)
[] Negotiation (Balanced Offer)
[] Trade (Coin Sharp)
[] Medicine (Alchemist's Knowledge)
[] Healing (Triage Gift)
[] Death (For Whom the Bell Tolls)
[] Doom (Wyrding Way)
[] Grace (Nimble Hands)
[] Knives (Ballanced Throw)
[] Forging (Ringing True)
[] Mining (Earthsculpt)
[] Time (Aegis of History)
[] Insanity (Blue Eyed Rage)
[] Cooking (Safe Result)
[] Magic (Metamastery)
[] Law (Codex Eternal)
[] Pain (Sense Weakness)
[] Lightning (Sky's Messenger)
[] Wounds (Pale Blooded)
[] Light (Darksight)
[] Dark (Shadowalk)
[] Write-in (Subject to GM Veto)
-[] Write-in Atribute Name, and Description of Attribute. Subject to GM Veto

Gender
[] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.
[] Girl: A male-ish name hides the fact you are very much a girl with girl features. Fortunately, No Girls On The Internet helps keep the crap down and lets you hide with a mask under a mask.
[] ???: When Prof. Oak asks if someone's a boy or girl, they laugh unless he's asking you. Thin and leggy, you were cute until puberty hit you like a freight train in all the wrong ways.

Starting Perk
[] House: A house, located in a decent burg of the city. Kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, prayer room, and two bunkrooms for four are the main advantages of this choice, as well as about an acre of land for it's independent septic system.
[] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)
[] Gear: Three random Rare Items in a box for your Familia. All of them are worth at least Profit 5.

 

[7734]

To be entirely redone because the first round of this was a hot mess.

 

[7734]

Character Sheets

KAMI

Settle
Titles: Kami of Science and Magic
Familia Slots: 3/8 Filled
Domains
-Science
-Magic
Abilities
-Metamagic Mastery: Allows all Familia members to take one Metamagic Feat for free regardless of conflicting abilities or level requirements
-Thaumaturgy Sense: Grants all Familia members the ability Sense Magic (EX) and ties it to one standard sensory input at maximum detail level. Knowledge of interpretation is not included.
-New Ways: When any of your Familia attempts a Development action, gain +20 instead of base +5 per attempt. Stacks no more than 3 times.
-(???): Unknown

Hestia
Titles: Goddess of the Home and Hearth
Familia Slots: 1/8 filled
Domains
-Hearth
-Home
Abilities
-Belov'd Growth: Gives a flat +15% XP bonus to all Familia members
-Place of Sanctity: Triples area covered by Hallowed Ground
-Truce of Olympus: Familia members are not targetted by hostile <Surface> NPCs unless they begin hostilities.

FAMILIAS

-Familia Settle-

Athos, the Alchemist
-Class: Alchemist
-Combat Dice: 1d6+1
-Health: 10
-Role: Backline
-Gear Bonus: +0
-Skills
--Create Potion: As an Alchemist, this character can create potions of all types.
--Cast Battle Magic (E): This character can cast Battle Magic every fifth turn in combat at 1d6 to the Team Total and his personal target.

Asuna
-Class: Bandit
-Combat Dice: 2d6
-Health: 10
-Role: Frontline
-Gear Bonus: +0
-Skills
--Loot (B): As a Bandit, this character can find drops and loot in the most unexpected places.

Lizebeth, the First Blacksmith
-Class: Brawler/Smith
-Combat Dice: 1d6
-Health: 10
-Role: Frontline
-Gear Bonus: -1
-Skills
--Forge Item: This character, by being a Smith, may forge items of all types.
--(???): By being the first person to gain the Smith Class via quest, this character has gained a Skill!

-Familia Hestia-

Bell
-Class: Rouge
-Combat Dice: 2d6
-Health: 10
-Role: Frontline
-Gear Bonus: +0
-Skills
--Critical Strike (E): When this character rolls for combat, on rolls of 6 and higher a Critical Strike is performed dealing double damage for that dice.

 

[7734]

Reserved for General Mechanics

 

[7734]

Reserved for Q/A and General Items of Thread Importance.

 

[7734]

THREAD OPEN FOR VOTES AND DISSCUSSION

AN: This Quest is going to be mostly narrative, and as such won't be too terribly 'difficult' in terms of writing out Bad Ends. THAT SAID- if you want to play this in Hardcore Mode, I will happily run it in Hardcore Mode. In support of this being a mostly narrative quest, asking questions is encouraged, and discussion is greatly apreciated. Omakes and other materials are also rewarded with things like Spells and Rare Items- and if anyone ever makes a 5k+ word Omake of reasonable quality, that's automatically a free Domain.

 

[Daskter]

Im guessing certain domains is more likely combo with others for more effects? Like idk magic and science

 

[Feng Lengshun]

[x] Light (Darksight)
[x] Dark (Shadowalk)

[x] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.

 

[7734]

Im guessing certain domains is more likely combo with others for more effects? Like idk magic and science

Click to shrink...

Certain Domains do scale well together, yes. That said, my two go-to examples are Law & Light (Law having a lot of Light effects, and Light having a lot of situational buffs Law's AoE effects can help make) as well as Time & Doom (Time gives access to most metrics of game tracking, ex Monster spawn times, while Doom gives ways of affecting the game world)

HOWEVER! Those two examples only have early-game synergy, and both sets of Domains tap out fairly early unless you're willing to make some drastic choices with how you handle Faith.

 

[TortugaGreen]

It's alive! Let's see here...
Would Construction be a valid domain? That is, the construction of new buildings. If it is, I'd expect it to work pretty well with Mining, as Mining seems like it would help a fair amount with procuring resources to build things and Construction would be helpful for setting up infrastructure.

 

[7734]

It's alive! Let's see here...
Would Construction be a valid domain? That is, the construction of new buildings. If it is, I'd expect it to work pretty well with Mining, as Mining seems like it would help a fair amount with procuring resources to build things and Construction would be helpful for setting up infrastructure.

Click to shrink...

Construction is in fact a valid Domain. It would also synch well with Engineering, Science, and a few other noncombat ones.

 

[moonberserker]

[X] Science (New Ways)
[X] Medicine (Alchemist's Knowledge)

[x] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.

[X] House: A house, located in a decent burg of the city. Kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, prayer room, and two bunkrooms for four are the main advantages of this choice, as well as about an acre of land for it's independent septic system.

I'm going for a alchemist oriented familia.

 

[Rotekian]

[X] Science (New Ways)
[X] Magic (Metamastery)
[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.
[X] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)

Let's combine science and magic and see what happens.

 

[veekie]

[X] Magic (Metamastery)
[X] Law (Codex Eternal)
[X] ???: When Prof. Oak asks if someone's a boy or girl, they laugh unless he's asking you. Thin and leggy, you were cute until puberty hit you like a freight train in all the wrong ways.
[X] House: A house, located in a decent burg of the city. Kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, prayer room, and two bunkrooms for four are the main advantages of this choice, as well as about an acre of land for it's independent septic system.

 

[TortugaGreen]

Well now that that's answered:
[X]Mining
So we can dig past problems and also get more rock than we'd normally know what to do with.
[X]Construction
To do something with all that rock, I am thinking mainly All The Walls and various infrastructure projects.
Gender... Meh, IDK, so that can be everyone else's choice.
[X]Cash
Getting basic, cheap equipment for use on the projects from construction. I would choose Gear, but that gives a few rare items rather than many mediocre ones, and the latter is far more useful for construction and mining projects usually (unless by rare items you mean a modern excavator or crane)

 

[slamer466]

[X] Science (New Ways)
[X] Magic (Metamastery)

[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.

[X] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)

Science and Magic. For when you want anything to work, and you want it to confuse every one who didn't work on it.

 

[NothingNow]

[x] Swords (Heron Dance)
[x] Knives (Ballanced Throw)
[X] Girl: A male-ish name hides the fact you are very much a girl with girl features. Fortunately, No Girls On The Internet helps keep the crap down and lets you hide with a mask under a mask.
[x] House: A house, located in a decent burg of the city. Kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, prayer room, and two bunkrooms for four are the main advantages of this choice, as well as about an acre of land for it's independent septic system.

 

[Khepri14]

Domains (Choose two, cannot choose the same two twice, may only take Write-In once, text in parentheses is one Ability of three for the Domain)
[X] Fertility (Bountiful Harvest)
[X] Cooking (Safe Result)

Gender
[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.

Starting Perk
[X] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)

I wanna make ourselves like the Hostess of Fertility. Y'know, without the Yandere that was Freya.

 

[drake_azathoth]

Domains
[x] Growth (Endless Potential)
[x] Time (Aegis of History)

Gender
[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.

Starting Perk
[X] House: A house, located in a decent burg of the city. Kitchen, sitting room, bathroom, prayer room, and two bunkrooms for four are the main advantages of this choice, as well as about an acre of land for it's independent septic system.

I think Growth and Time are two of the best long-term domains. The house is an awesome recruitment tool, the idea is to get a Familia soonest and it helps just by keeping everyone we need to work with in roughly the same place at the end of the day.

 

[Umi-san]

[x] Growth (Endless Potential)
[x] Time (Aegis of History)
[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.
[X] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)

I have the same opinion as @drake_azathoth except that having a weekly profit sounds like something that's more likely to lead to better growth. The idea here is cumulative self-investment leading to a steadily increasing slope of growth. I also just prefer the detached, stable value of money. A house is only as valuable as the number of people renting a room in it; a familia is only as strong as the trust between its members.

 

[7734]

Counterpoint- Growth is a Domain focused on improving your Familia, Time is based around you giving bullshit Exalted tricks about understanding Cardinal to your Familia. They don't really synagize or help long-term growth.

 

[hcvquizibo]

[X] Science (New Ways)
[X] Magic (Metamastery)
[X] Boy: Settle's a fairly male name when put by your male face. It's not exactly a secret.
[X] Cash: A large, large amount of starting cash you're going to invest wisely. (Weekly Profit+4)

 

[tri2]

[X]Mining
[X]Construction
[X]Cash

 

[TortugaGreen]

I don't actually know enough about either setting to say whether X (variable) is a good idea or not, but I'd say there are two main types of domains available:
For short term, I expect things that give flat bonuses will work best. Things that give us and/or our followers a bonus to the sort of actions that allow us to produce more even when we have little resources. This I think will generally be combat skills and a few non-combat ones, mostly focussed on getting more results out of what we have. We will still grow faster having these than not having any, but it will I expect be a flat rate.
On the other hand, long term useful domains focus around expansion and growth. This is more-or-less all non-combat. Things like my Construction or a domain that helps with aquiring more people and the standard Forging and Mining are this: they allow incredible things when we have plenty of resources, but without that they don't do much. They also tend to build off of older work, so having a lot of buildings made thanks to the Construction domain will allow you to make buildings faster, as you have more workspace and resources, so while it gives little benefit at first, later on it will accelerate to very rapid growth. At this point something like an Administration or Logistics domain would be good as things have expanded far enough that it becomes an issue, but that is likely we'll outside this quest's scope.
Overall, I would prefer a more long term and non-combat focus, as my vote shows, but the best for getting the most results within a reasonable time (if time increments between votes aren't too long) is probably a combination of the two: decent short-term benefits but also lots of potential for growth.
Now, all of the above isn't actually accounting for everything, as I do not consider the interactions between domains, which make having two domains that help boost each other a substantial benefit. As such, the best domain choice overall is a domain with short term benefits and another that allows rapid expansion, but also work together. Something like Teamwork (a domain I just cooked up for this example that may or may not be valid, it would presumably help with a few people in a tight group but also with large armies or workforces) could also exist, which has solid potential as we get the basics set up but also use in expansion in the future.
I really have no idea what domains would work with this,but that sort of combination would be ideal.

Also, @7734 would the domain I mentioned (Teamwork, which I imagined as helping groups work towards a goal more efficiently through better communication and such) be valid?

 

[Umi-san]

Counterpoint- Growth is a Domain focused on improving your Familia, Time is based around you giving bullshit Exalted tricks about understanding Cardinal to your Familia. They don't really synagize or help long-term growth.

Click to shrink...

Growth doesn't help growth?
Bullshit exalted tricks don't help growth?? (also, what kind of tricks are we talking??)

What does, then?

Ah, not personal long-term growth but group long term growth?

Growth + Teamwork (from above) works well.

Growth + War (i.e. good at dungeons?) or Blacksmith (can make and sell gear) or Medicine (heal better)

What does Death offer? What does metamagic do?


For individual, I still think Time is useful. That and maybe balance or something that lets us use the timing. It would probably tap out quickly but only "tap out" in the sense that it will still provide the same bonus but not novel stuff.

Probably Alchemy + something else has the steadiest long-term growth. Any crafting thing + a utility, really, should be good.