Magical Valkyrie Chronicles (A Tale of Magitech, Midterms, and Magical Girls)

Gnarker · Jul 23, 2016

notthepenguins said:
Also good god I let the character sheet languish un-updated for a while. No longer!

Cool. Say, can we submit ideas for spells or Arc release abilities yet? I've got a few that mainly build on the traits Fortune Favored, Interesting Times, and Directionless, as well as our Arc Release's ability to bring our own reality with us whereever we go.

- "Shortcuts"
Reactive skill. If we really need to get to somewhere, or away from somewhere else, no matter how impropable we will find a way. Eventually.

Essentially, turns us into the Protagonist of a Parkour Video Game. Think Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, or Mirror's Edge.

- Just in Time
Passive Skill. If we're needed somewhere, especially by our friends, we will come to the rescue at a dramatically appropriate moment. Wether we know that we're needed or not, or wether we want to or not for that matter.

- Untraceable
Passive Skill. Our sense of direction defies rational understanding. Hefty penalty to hostile efforts to track or find us.

- Slipping the Net
Passive Skill. Gives a bonus to avoiding attempts to contain or catch us, from evading enemies trying to herd us somewhere or block our way, to dodging hails of strikes or bullets.

- Chance Meetings
Passive Skill. You never know who you'll meet on the road of life. Bonus to random encounters that could be potentially friendly, helpful, or important in some way.

Lets us meet fellow Valkyries or other allies, or similarly plot-important characters, by chance. May synergize oddly with Just in Time

- Guidance
Active Skill. Subconscious flashes of intuition and random good luck give us dice boni towards accomplishing specific tasks, especially in skills that we're not trained in or when improvising.

Essentially a very budget Path to Victory. We may not know the actual effects In Character, only that it's in some way helpful. The dice boni are propably divided between a moderate straight skill bonus, mostly in order to let us perform untrained tasks with at least passable skill, and between rerolls or similar to help us not mess up.

- Havoc Field
Passive, Semi-Active, or Active Skill. Projects our odd luck around us onto others. Mostly, but not entirely, hits our enemies with bad luck, such as equipment failures or random clumsiness.

The Black Cat of Ill(?) Omen strikes again! Possibly it's active at a low level constantly, but can be amplified when we want. May hit friends with (far weaker) bad luck, or hit them with bad-luck-that's-actually-helpful (stumbling to dodge a sniper shot, for example), or very occasionally be helpful for an enemy.

- (Name Pending)
Reactive Skill. Lets us evade harm by happenstance or if we really push it, even (possibly preemptively) retconning reality on a limited scale.

Essentially Sidereal Dodging. Oops, you were trying to bomb our meeting? We actually decided to have it at the cafe around the corner instead of at our headquarters. May not leave us aware that we used this skill or against what.

- Disruption Field
Active Skill. Channels Entropy magic through our Arc Release in order to boost our resistance against foreign magic, possibly leeching energy out of it to use for our own.

A, propably weaker, copy of our Arc Releases unchosen other potential ability. Now this may be a bit cheesy, but it still strikes me as potentially feasible for our powerset and magic specialty.

Also, a question; How does our Internal Casting Focus interact with weapons? Can we, say, channel lightning through a melee weapon? Imbue thrown weapons with magical effects?

notthepenguins · Jul 23, 2016

Gnarker said:
Cool. Say, can we submit ideas for spells or Arc release abilities yet?

You can, but I'm not really gonna get into answering individual ones. Will consider though.

Gnarker said:
Also, a question; How does our Internal Casting Focus interact with weapons? Can we, say, channel lightning through a melee weapon? Imbue thrown weapons with magical effects?

Yes and no, respectively.

You've activated my trap card by which I mean you posted which means I can post the thing I realized I forgot to without triple posting.

So you made a nice big character analysis and that's pretty cool but it's not really on the scale that I intended the +dice to be for so here choose one of these three things. I might do something like this for future big omakes or analyses or something, I might not. We'll seeeee.

Memories of a Forgotten Age
- Mera's sleep was restless and full of dreams; most of them have long-since faded, but one fragment, a moment from a life she never lived, has refused to... one that will prove relevant, if not necessarily pleasant.
A Twist of Fate
- The snarled skeins of destiny bend, dragging together those who might never have met. Happenstance will bring Mera's path in contact with that of someone who can give her a hand... though such aid often carries its own consequences.
A Flash of Lightning
- Shards of memory and half-forgotten instinct course through Mera, remnants of those who bore her Arc Release before her. Perhaps, from these, she can learn something. Though learning is rarely swift, and only sometimes pleasant.

Gnarker · Jul 24, 2016

notthepenguins said:
So you made a nice big character analysis and that's pretty cool but it's not really on the scale that I intended the +dice to be for so here choose one of these three things.

Ohhh? Even more unexpected, especially given that apparently I pretty much missed my mark. Now before I go into thinking about this, could you tell me if my ideas above are generally hitting the broad strokes of being viable and in-theme for us?

Memories
Information, mostly on the past and, if I'm getting this right, one about possibly an alternate timeline Mera? Hmm. Could be interesting, and seems indicative of character development. Could also shortcut a discovery plot.

Fate
An Ally, and consequences. Metagame analysis would indicate that this is the straightforward strongest effect, balanced by also having a cost. Given that I've seen a lot of Quests that were derailed by a flood of Omake rewards, I'm inclined to be careful and not choose this.

Lightning
Training, specifically unpleasant training. Useful, of course, but with this quest I find myself at least as interested in the story and character development as I am in the strategic optimisation and it's possible a power shortcut is going to derail that.

So on the first pass I'm leaning towards Memories. However, due to the above concerns I'm also considering gratefully declining in favor of simple bonus dice, honestly.

First off, though, questions:
- Do any of the choices stand a chance of derailing or cutting short plotlines that you've got planned?
- Would any of the choices support the character path of 'slowly starting to realize that being an MG is deathly serious, and then somehow having to come to terms with and learn to meet that responsibility'? By which I don't mean 'accelerate that plotline', I mean 'making it more nuanced and deep'. I don't like stories wasting plot potential by taking shortcuts, so I don't plan on causing that myself.
At the same time I should mention that I also generally like my stories to have happy endings no matter how difficult getting there is. As part of that, I'm also somewhat averse to permanent Character Deaths even if it would take comic-book level bullshit to accomplish that, if it's sold well enough, so if this Quest could head that way, I might be interested in any of the choices that could protect against that, though they're propably not that specific.
- Do you personally have a favourite? If so, why, if that wouldn't be telling too much?

A third possiblity that suggest itself while I'm thinking on this, I could let you choose according to what would best suit my projected character path and your intented developments. Including the option of not tellling me beforehand which you choose or what the choices do, and explicit permission on my part to delay, alter or nerf the intended reward as you see fit.

Lastly, a warning. While I wouldn't dream of knowing how to run this better than you, as mentioned above I saw more than one quest completely taken over by floods of Omake rewards. So if I were you, if in doubt I'd err on the side of caution when handing them out, and if necessary put a maximum cap on them.

notthepenguins · Jul 24, 2016

Gnarker said:
Ohhh? Even more unexpected, especially given that apparently I pretty much missed my mark. Now before I go into thinking about this, could you tell me if my ideas above are generally hitting the broad strokes of being viable and in-theme for us?

Being right is not really all that important to me.

I'm not particularly inclined to; these are all things that I've considered including anyway. And, to be frank, it lets me tweak them if need be.

To sum up, they're all useful, they all come with consequences, and none of them are something I consider particularly major or plot-defining. They're all things I've considered (or would consider) including on a 'while writing this update' basis, as opposed to larger story arc things.

Gnarker said:
- Do any of the choices stand a chance of derailing or cutting short plotlines that you've got planned?
- Would any of the choices support the character path of 'slowly starting to realize that being an MG is deathly serious, and then somehow having to come to terms with and learn to meet that responsibility'? By which I don't mean 'accelerate that plotline', I mean 'making it more nuanced and deep'. I don't like stories wasting plot potential by taking shortcuts, so I don't plan on causing that myself.

I wouldn't allow something like this to meaningfully derail important arcs.

Gnarker said:
- Do you personally have a favourite? If so, why, if wouldn't be telling too much?

Yes, but I'm not telling.

Gnarker said:
A third possiblity that suggest itself while I'm thinking on this, I could let you choose according to what would best suit my projected character path and your intented developments. Including the option of not tellling me beforehand which you choose or what the choices do, and explicit permission on my part to alter or nerf the intended reward as needed.

Nope, not allowing omake rewards like this to be significant enough to meaningfully affect character development paths in the first place.

Gnarker said:
Lastly, a warning. While I wouldn't dream of knowing how to run this better than you, as mentioned above I saw more than one quest completely taken over by floods of Omake rewards. So if I were you, if in doubt I'd err on the side of caution when handing them out, and if necessary put a maximum cap on them.

Oh, I'm quite aware. That's why I very much did not confirm I'd be doing this again. Their future inclusion is based on whether I like the content, whether I'm feeling like it at the time, and whether I have ideas that are interesting enough to be worth including but minor enough that I'd leave it up to a single person's input.

Their inclusion is also dependent on whether it becomes the same person over and over again; I'm not interested in giving any one person an outsized influence like that.

Gnarker · Jul 24, 2016

notthepenguins said:
I wouldn't allow something like this to meaningfully derail important arcs.

Alright. Thanks for laying those concerns to rest.
In that case, I'm propably most intrigued by Memories of a Forgotten Age. Though I'm open to the opinions of other people, and I'm equally still open to the possiblity of letting you choose yourself based on what you like best and what I've said about my preferences.

veekie · Jul 24, 2016

notthepenguins said:
Memories of a Forgotten Age
- Mera's sleep was restless and full of dreams; most of them have long-since faded, but one fragment, a moment from a life she never lived, has refused to... one that will prove relevant, if not necessarily pleasant.

OOC most interesting one, though poor Mera's going to have a restless night or three.

notthepenguins said:
A Twist of Fate
- The snarled skeins of destiny bend, dragging together those who might never have met. Happenstance will bring Mera's path in contact with that of someone who can give her a hand... though such aid often carries its own consequences.

Meeting a new 'friend'. Personal preference, since I like the characters so far.

notthepenguins said:
A Flash of Lightning
- Shards of memory and half-forgotten instinct course through Mera, remnants of those who bore her Arc Release before her. Perhaps, from these, she can learn something. Though learning is rarely swift, and only sometimes pleasant.

Past memory training montage....somehow I actually LIKE Mera not really knowing what the fuck she's doing with the Arc Release thing..

Gnarker said:
Alright. Thanks for laying those concerns to rest.
In that case, I'm propably most intrigued by Memories of a Forgotten Age. Though I'm open to the opinions of other people, and I'm equally still open to the possiblity of letting you choose yourself based on what you like best and what I've said about my preferences.

So in conclusion, your choice is perfectly great

Pyro Hawk · Jul 24, 2016

I'm pretty much agreeing with Veekie here... though unlike him, A Twist of Fate is my least liked option of the three...

veekie · Jul 24, 2016

Pyro Hawk said:
I'm pretty much agreeing with Veekie here... though unlike him, A Twist of Fate is my least liked option of the three...

Thats why I said it was a good choice to go with Memories. Pretty much everyone likes some background info, and it doesn't potentially annoy other players

notthepenguins · Jul 24, 2016

Well if I can't hurt it, maybe… You dart across the room, deliberately crossing your path across one of the conduits you found earlier. If I can make it smash those up, then...

Mera: 1d12 Base + 2d6 Footwork + 1d6 Crashing Wind Fist → 12 (4 + 2 + 5 + 1)
Demon: 1d12 Base + 4(d6-1) Strike (-1 penalty) → 20 (3 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 5)
12 < 20. Significant Failure. 1 slip.

Further thought is cut short as the demon's tentacle lashes out for you. You try to dodge aside, but it lands solidly with a burst of pain, and then you're flying through the air.

You hit the central column with a thud. Dazed, you struggle to your feet, gritting your teeth as you work suppress the pain in your side. And back. And tail.

Luckily, the demon seems to turn a bit slowly, so you have time to gather your thoughts… and glimpse the control panel next to you. Out of little more than a moment's whim, you smash your fist into the red button. And then you're diving, rolling away as the demon sweeps out with an overlong arm.

Demon: 1d12 Base + 4(d6-1) Integrity (-1 penalty) → 18 (8 + 3 + 4 + 2 + 1)
18 vs Difficulty 16. Success

There is a… silence, almost, a stillness in the magical flows that is almost physical, and the demon freezes. You aren't inclined to just watch it, however; instead, you take advantage of to enhance your...
[ ] speed.
[ ] strength.
[ ] endurance.

For a long moment, it remains still, but just when you're tempted to dart in and get a few free hits off it begins to move again… and its featureless head splits into a toothy, vertical… grin?

Nope nope nope nope nope! You leap aside as it strikes at you again, and the chase is on again. Scrolls I hope this works…

The ballroom was between sets, but still bustling with activity. Richly-dressed nobles mingled and spoke, murmurs kept from traveling too far by the enchantments on the room itself.

One small cluster of nobles, at the edge of the room, stared uncertainly as one among their number stopped mid-sentence. The pale woman wore an ornate blue dress, matching eyes of the same shade, and a jeweled hairpiece kept her long red hair up in a bun. It was to this hairpiece that her hand rose, touching one of the jewels.

"Ah… Lady Kana?" asked a man, dark-skinned and dark-haired, and clad in fine creams and tans. "Is everything well?"

She came back to herself and offered him an apologetic smile. "My apologies. I just remembered that I have an urgent engagement with Lord Haleam. I know it's terribly rude, but might I continue my story another time?"

"Of course." Another noble, a light-haired, gray-skinned uniformed woman, gave a short bow. "Feel free to call on us at any time you please."

The last of the four, a tall and broad-shouldered man with green hair and a deep tan, inclined his head. "I look forward to hearing the remainder at a better time, then."

She gave them a deep curtsy, then turned, making her way calmly - but swiftly - to the exit.

Inside, however, she seethed. How dare they? I gave them everything, and they waste my time and patronage by undertaking the procedure without my approval?

Alone in a hallway, she smiled cruelly. Well, I suppose I have been sparing in providing object lessons. But no matter; I can remedy that.

But first… to ensure that their failure does not spoil my plans.

She raised her hand, and a circle of silver rose from the ground beneath her, surrounding her. When it faded, she was gone, even traces of magic too faint to be sensed.

Your continued evasions have borne some fruit, but not nearly as much as you would care for - the facility is damaged, but most of the victims have been that central column or the walls. It seems to be careful with the vertical strikes you have been counting on - though whether that's because they are easier to dodge or because it is wise to your plan, you couldn't say.

Getting into its face could provoke a greater reaction, but… also make it more difficult to evade. And it is quicker than it has any right to be. Scanning the room again, you consider the situation. One of the doors, at least, is warped nearly off its hinges. You could probably break through there yourself with a spare few moments, or bait it into doing so. The other is damaged, but will certainly take more work to get through.

You reach out, trying to summon your Arc Release to you again, and… almost succeed. Or rather, you can feel it now, take hold and pull, but it doesn't come. Not quite there yet, I guess. Maybe if I let it keep smashing up the place, though…

Something tells you, though, some instinct you can't quite place, that you don't have much time. That you want to be out of this place, and quickly.

[ ] Stay the course. Keep trying to goad it into smashing up the place.
- [ ] At a safe distance.
- [ ] Get up close. It's risky, but so is drawing this out.
[ ] Change of plans - get out get out!
- [ ] The door almost off its hinges
- [ ] The dented one
[ ] ???
[ ] Something else - write in.

emeralis00 · Jul 24, 2016