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Of Astora [Dark Souls/Pokemon]

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Is this what it feels like to be one of those QMs that gives bonuses for discussion?

Because yo, I worked on that update for almost a week :cry:

Notice me, senpai....s
 
Pandemonious Ivy said:
Is this what it feels like to be one of those QMs that gives bonuses for discussion?
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The responses to this update were probably cut down a bit because of the disconnect between the vote and the events; it felt very much like we would have seen an epic battle regardless of what we did, or at best, we were choosing between living or dying with only the barest hints of what was going to happen (and out-of-story, at that).

It would have probably helped if you had made the dice rolls you used to determine this public, before the update and after the vote-lock. Sensible Girl Quest and Ignition do this fairly well, where the author's vaguely titled forum rolls double as foreshadowing for any potentially out-of-the-blue events, and players can have that moment where they see a natural 1 and hope it wasn't for them.


The reason I hadn't posted after the mechanics update was exhaustion; failure chance to high, but from the voting I suspect I should have posted this anyway.
Pandemonious Ivy said:
Tamer's Signet Rings are used by the few non-nobles that are permitted by Astoran royalty to capture and/or own a personal yokai.
[...]
All +3 Rings are considered Concordian Bands and thus exclusively available to the Astoran Royalty.
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I wonder how much of a problem not being royalty will be in practice: how valuable is following the laws versus how valuable is getting to use one of types "Lightning, Dragon, Blessed, Chaos"? Or how well enforced the laws are versus how much they are used to mess with non-noble Tamers.

Pandemonious Ivy said:
There's a special technique a tamer can utilize with these rings where, again with either a subdued or willing yokai, they can merely mimic a core trait of a particular yokai without bonding with them.
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Is yokai mimicry limited by Ring tier like binding is? Aziel might have been able to save a life by haphazardly employing this technique.

Pandemonious Ivy said:
Risk comes into play when attempting this process on unwilling or resisting yokai, as they can often forcibly revert back to a solid form, disrupting the attempt. Depending on how violently they revert it could even cause damage to a tamer's Soul.
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This basically means that the usual method of Pokemon capture— weakening and then catching— is a terrible idea relative to the power of friendship, since eventually you're going to misjudge how weakened one is, or it's going to find some hidden reserves of strength, and you'll end up with a broken soul.

Pandemonious Ivy said:
The final and most dire risk presents itself whenever a warrior has more than 4 Rings with Bonded Yokai (or merely their Abilities) within. Each yokai puts a moderate amount of pressure and strain on a tamer's Soul, to the point where 4 yokai is the most a Soul can safely assimilate without tearing violently and producing a creature known as a Consumed which is completely ruled by the instincts of their yokai, while also experiencing mutations that reflect them as well. 5 Rings is the highest amount that's ever been observed with a stable and sane individual left at the end of the process.
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So if we don't care about being stable or sane and our instincts are already yokai instincts we can safely go up to 6 rings? The path of Red is paved with autism, after all.

bunch of players said:
Make a concord with the Mama.
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Pandemonious Ivy said:
Another risk comes in when attempting to use an insufficiently strengthened Ring to attempt such a capture. The standard Tamer's Signet Ring comes in the +0, +1, and +2 forms. All +3 Rings are considered Concordian Bands and thus exclusively available to the Astoran Royalty. Each tier of strength comes with a broadening of the types of yokai that can be captured safely as well as the yokai's strength themselves.
[...]
All Tiers up to Disappointing | Nature, Fire, Water, Raw +0
All Tiers up to Average | Stone, Steel, Aerial, Frost +1
All Tiers up to Elite | Rot, Deep, Fey, Crystal +2
All Tiers up to Legendary | Lightning, Dragon, Blessed, Chaos +3
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We only have a +0 ring. Do we know if we'll automatically fail/die by attempting a higher tier creature? Or are grit, luck, and hope enough to make up the difference?
 
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Mechanics Explanation
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    • Korkator said:
    The responses to this update were probably cut down a bit because of the disconnect between the vote and the events; it felt very much like we would have seen an epic battle regardless of what we did, or at best, we were choosing between living or dying with only the barest hints of what was going to happen (and out-of-story, at that).

    It would have probably helped if you had made the dice rolls you used to determine this public, before the update and after the vote-lock. Sensible Girl Quest and Ignition do this fairly well, where the author's vaguely titled forum rolls double as foreshadowing for any potentially out-of-the-blue events, and players can have that moment where they see a natural 1 and hope it wasn't for them.
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    I appreciate the feedback. Sometimes I get stuck writing and I follow the old adage "Just add ninjas". This time it happened to be a die roll to determine a Charizard but you get the point.

    I'll try to strike a balance between showing die rolls and showing narrative advancements, if it means more actual interactions with the players.


    I wonder how much of a problem not being royalty will be in practice: how valuable is following the laws versus how valuable is getting to use one of types "Lightning, Dragon, Blessed, Chaos"? Or how well enforced the laws are versus how much they are used to mess with non-noble Tamers.
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    In character, you know from history classes that a noble attempted a coup, long long ago, using one of the aforementioned yokai types, and the populace sent out to stop them nearly failed in the attempt. Since then all rings and all yokai are required to be registered. This is a practice that is treated with the utmost seriousness. Foreigners with a yokai of one of these types are not even allowed in the city, royalty or otherwise.

    Is yokai mimicry limited by Ring tier like binding is? Aziel might have been able to save a life by haphazardly employing this technique.
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    It is not! See you can use your +0 Ring to gain an Ability of even a Mythical Yokai (with appropriate penalties of course) with little risk to yourself, at the cost of using a Ring and taking up space in your Soul that could've been reserved for an actual yokai.

    This basically means that the usual method of Pokemon capture— weakening and then catching— is a terrible idea relative to the power of friendship, since eventually you're going to misjudge how weakened one is, or it's going to find some hidden reserves of strength, and you'll end up with a broken soul.
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    To an extent, yes. With some yokai, they'd respect you for beating them, and you'd get a positive modifier for the roll. For others, they'd be resentful, and the roll would reflect that. Basically, tailor your approach to each individual. Some can be Power of Friendship captured, others only give you a chance after knocking them unconscious.

    So if we don't care about being stable or sane and our instincts are already yokai instincts we can safely go up to 6 rings? The path of Red is paved with autism, after all.
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    There's always a Path to Red. Either you get exceedingly lucky with each capture roll after 4, you manage to find alternative ways to try to replicate the process, or you suffer from Soul Tearing.



    We only have a +0 ring. Do we know if we'll automatically fail/die by attempting a higher tier creature? Or are grit, luck, and hope enough to make up the difference?
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    There's no automatically. There's a chance. Now, full disclosure, this is a Steel type that survived a Fire Blast, Flamethrower, and a Heat Wave at point blank range from a Charizard and still had the strength to end it with a single Head Smash.

    This is not a weak specimen of its kind. So chances are lower than they would've been if capturing an Aron was tried instead, but negative and positive modifiers may come into play depending on your approach.
     
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    • Pandemonious Ivy said:
    It is not! See you can use your +0 Ring to gain an Ability of even a Mythical Yokai (with appropriate penalties of course) with little risk to yourself, at the cost of using a Ring and taking up space in your Soul that could've been reserved for an actual yokai.
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    Ah, that wasn't clear at all, especially since the word "mimicry" is usually used for temporary or skin-deep things.

    Pandemonious Ivy said:
    [...]Basically, tailor your approach to each individual.
    [...]
    There's no automatically. There's a chance. Now, full disclosure, this is a Steel type that survived a Fire Blast, Flamethrower, and a Heat Wave at point blank range from a Charizard and still had the strength to end it with a single Head Smash.

    This is not a weak specimen of its kind. So chances are lower than they would've been if capturing an Aron was tried instead, but negative and positive modifiers may come into play depending on your approach.
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    Ok, so let's assume that the fact she's weakened and probably doesn't hate us is what makes this bond possible, but we're still at the point we'd need a 98+ roll to succeed. However, maybe with that and respect and willingness we will have a non-suicidal chance of success.

    So, what would a Steel-type mother of several abruptly-murdered children respond well to?

    My intuition says "Nothing. Maybe nothing ever again." but maybe someone else has ideas?
     
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    [x] Make a concord with the Mama.
    The Tamer's Signet ring bonds a Yokai's soul with your own. The Aggron is strong but near death. You are insignificant and weak but healthy. A balanace may be struck. It's dangerous, but if there is a single thing you can do for Miria... Even if it's just revenge.

    You understand the Matriarch. Duty beyond their own safety. Immense loss. Her screams sound just like your own, from only moments ago.
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    Vote locked.

    Update comes today or tomorrow at the latest.
     
    Pandemonious Ivy said:
    Miria, 3rd tier Riftwalker,
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    Okay, so there is such a thing as a Riftwalker, and they come in tiers. I wonder what Riftwalkers do. I hope that gets explained because I'm lost already. Presumably the presence of people who walk them implies the existence of rifts?
    They called the monsters known as 'yokai'.
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    Well, that's not good. It doesn't have a head. ...wait. Wait yes it does. That's... that's worse.

    Okay then we get some kind of dragon? Okay, it's Charizard, but I somehow didn't really understand just what was attacking when I read it. The combat was nice, the emotional reactions were good. But I feel lost and not sure what's happening narratively beyond 'shit be on fire, yo'.

    Anyways, that's me reading your quest. I know I didn't get around to it for a while after you asked, but I trust you'll agree I had a good reason for being busy with my own lately. ;)

    And it's midnight. Bedtime for me!
     
    rkyeun said:
    Okay, so there is such a thing as a Riftwalker, and they come in tiers. I wonder what Riftwalkers do. I hope that gets explained because I'm lost already. Presumably the presence of people who walk them implies the existence of rifts?


    Well, that's not good. It doesn't have a head. ...wait. Wait yes it does. That's... that's worse.

    Okay then we get some kind of dragon? Okay, it's Charizard, but I somehow didn't really understand just what was attacking when I read it. The combat was nice, the emotional reactions were good. But I feel lost and not sure what's happening narratively beyond 'shit be on fire, yo'.

    Anyways, that's me reading your quest. I know I didn't get around to it for a while after you asked, but I trust you'll agree I had a good reason for being busy with my own lately. ;)

    And it's midnight. Bedtime for me!
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    In my completely and totally innocent defense: yokai is a great catch-all term in a non-Pokemon universe.

    Also narratively, that's basically what happened.

    I'll try to take care of everything else soooooon!

    E: Turns out an update by tonight was unfeasible due to circumstances beyond my control and at least a couple within my control (apparently people need sleep?), but it's actually being worked on and shall be out soon. In exchange I'll probably stretch it and add more to it than I was originally planning.
     
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