Persona 3: Echoes

[The Oldman]

?/?/?​

Hate.

Towards your neighbors. Towards your brothers. Towards your acquaintances. Towards your friends. Towards your workmates. Towards your sovereigns. Towards your subordinates. Towards the people you pass by the street. Towards the people you do not know. Towards the people whose opinions differ from yours.

And most of all, Hate towards yourself.

You can't stop yourself from feeling Hate. Hate is a part of all humans. Where did their greatest technological advances come from if not from war, one of the many expressions of humanity's Hate for themselves? The act of Hating one another is only natural, so why deny it? Why deny what makes you human?

Why deny the course of nature? Why deny your true feelings?
The ultimate desire of mankind…
Denial does not equate erasure. Those who repress their true feelings simply throw them onto a corner, letting them rot and fester.
Is to be given death?
And what if there was a single corner in existence where feelings were discarded? Where all of humanity's Hate gathered?
If such is the case, then death they shalt be given.
This is not simply a hypothetical problem. There is only one corner in existence. Where all of humanity converges.
I will provide only what my children ask of me.
In the Collective Unconscious, the Sea of the Soul...

Erebus stirred.

+===============+
April/6/09
Late Night​

"Master, is your mind truly set on this course of action?"

A hunchbacked old man with a long nose and bloodshot eyes spoke as he looked towards a blue butterfly.
The butterfly simply disappeared in response.

He could not fault him. After doing what he did, his grasp on this world was tenuous at best, so his interactions were brief for his lack of power.
He gave a long suffering sigh.

"Then I, Igor, shall undertake this task you have given me."

Soon, the train where his new guest was currently on board would arrive to its destination. Truly, his master was cruel. To assign such a fate to that young man…

But if this was the only option left to them to ensure the survival of mankind, then he would comply.

 

[The Oldman]

Persona 3: Echoes

Welcome one and all, to P3 Echoes. I am The Oldman and I shall be your guide.

You are currently looking at a revised and improved version of the rules and basic points of this quest, which now includes an index and links to Omakes and Mechanincs.
I admit I was an idiot. Not reserving some posts prior to the first vote to place those things, but oh well, c'est la vie.

Basic things about this quest

1. The story will be the same for the most part, but there are some changes spread around to spice it up. However, you will not be able to notice truly major changes unless you decide to ask the right questions at the right time. Don't worry, it won't be difficult. The only way you can miss out on them is if you act like the original protagonist.
   
   
2. Romantic Social Links are not a necessity to reach Max Social Links. They will provide a bonus to interactions in Tartarus but will be difficult to maintain. You can be a scumbag and try two timing, three timing, or just plain bed all the ladies without them noticing as in the game, but may God have mercy on your soul if they find out
   
   
3. The quest will deal more with themes of denial and "Letting go" as opposed to the original themes of Persona 3. As such, be careful when mentioning truths that others do not like about themselves. That being said…
   
   
4. Don't be afraid to confront your friends and say things that will hurt your relationships on the short term if it will strengthen them on the long term or prevent unpleasant events. Among those are Junpei hating you for being "The Hero", Shinji having killed Ken's mom and being a suicidal idiot because of it or the fact that you run on the power of friendship AKA The Social Link system and the possibility of using Personae of the same Arcana to understand
   
   
5. You get infinite restarts. Because I am that good a guy...most of the time.

Index

Prologue, The Magician:
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]
{17 (DEAD END 1: Pressure Overwhelming)}
[17] [18] [19]

Chapter 1, The High Priestess:
[20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [...]

Mechanics and Info

Solemn Vow of Truth:

Spoiler

@The Oldman (hereafter referred to as the QM) solemnly vowed to tell no lies (Unless they are a Joke, identified by the usage of this [] smiley) no matter what.

This does not, however, mean that the QM cannot deceive the questgoers, as he reserves the right to give partial truths, incomplete answers and any form of misleading actions that do not involve lying.

Visitable Locations:

Spoiler

After school or on Sundays you may vote to go off somewhere to spend the day.
Different Events and Social Links might be available to you depending on where and when you go to one of these places.

The list is as found here.

Dead End Bonus:

Spoiler

After a Dead End, you will receive a "Gift" of sorts at the Quest Master's discretion.

You can either ask for:

A) A Glimpse of Something Larger:
One question, regarding ANYTHING YOU WANT which the QM will answer without settling for half-truths or incomplete answers (unless it directly relates to a MAJOR plot point), redeemable immediately after Philemon's Consultation Room.

B) A Moment of Victorious Clarity:
Automatically resolve the problem in the best way possible without ANY ill effects in the future, as well as an explanation as to why that was the best solution.

C) A Flash of Enlightenment:
A clue for the best course of action in a battle, redeemable at ANY BATTLE, so long as it's not against the last bosses.
You may only have ONE of these in stock. They also acquired through other means.

Unanimous Vote:

Spoiler

If all questgoers agree on a single plan and vote unanimously for it. They shall be given a bonus which the QM may chose at will. Needless to say, this bonus will be a high tier one.

If this Bonus is only on the individual level, then it shall be given at random to one of the first 10 questgoers who voted.

Modifiers:

Spoiler

A Modifier is a special Meta-Item held by individual questgoers. They are used to alter the result of a Roll made with a d100 and improve their odds.

Unless stated otherwise, these Modifiers shall only be usable in battle, after which, they will be discarded.

There are 2 types of Modifiers:

Non-Stackables: These Modifiers cannot be used alongside others in a single update.
One may only carry 3 of these at a time.

Vanilla: These Modifiers can be used alongside others is all possible ways, provided several questgoers agree to use their Modifiers together. Stacking them on top of each other on ONE roll to gain a massive bonus is an option, as is spreading them out on all the different rolls of an update.
With the exception of those gained through unanimous votes, you may only have one of these Modifiers.

Combat:

Spoiler

Due to the length of this mechanic's description, instead of explaining here, click on the following link to go to the post where it was first discussed.

Specializations:

Spoiler

The Skills and Traits of a character. They can be fighting skills, physical characteristics and particular abilities, but can also be all sort of stigmata.

Some are passive, others one has to trigger. Some are useful only in combat, others only in social events and for information gathering.

[REDACTED] Specializations:

Spoiler

These Specializations represent the major issues, traumas, complexes, awful personal philosophies and dark secrets a person has.

Only by lending a ear and intervening in some way can the possessors of these Specializations overcome the darkness within them.

Oops?:

Spoiler

The QM has made the decision to NEVER lie, but unfortunately, as he is only human, he is prone to make mistakes and contradict himself.

Should you point out one such mistake, quoting and explaining the contradiction, the QM will grant you a Roll Modifier of varying strength depending on how bad it was.

Typos in the updates are also counted for this mechanic and operate in the following way:

• If you find 5 typos. You get a +5 Modifier (Non-stackable)
  
  
• If you find another 5 you can chose to get another OR upgrade it to a vanilla +5 Modifier
  
  
• If you have a +5 Modifier and find another 5 you can get a +5 Modifier (Non-stackable) OR upgrade it into a +10 Modifier with 15 typos
  
  
• If you have a +10 Modifier and find another 5 you can get a +5 Modifier (Non-stackable) OR upgrade it into a +20 Modifier with 30 typos
  
  
• If you have a +20 Modifier and find another 5 you can get a +5 Modifier (Non-stackable) OR upgrade it into an AUTO CRITICAL HIT with 100 typos
  
  
• AUTO CRITICAL HITS obtained this way shall be used on the next battle roll

Cleaning up your room:

Spoiler

Whenever you have free time and are at the dorm, you may try to tidy up your room.

When you try to tidy up, a twenty-sided die and a ten-sided one will be thrown. The first one for success and the other for failure. The results of the second will be subtracted to those of the first and what comes out will be added to the Room Neatness.

Critical Hits with the First Roll will ignore the reduction of the Second Roll's value and instead add it to it's own, whereas Critical Failures with the First Roll will double the value of the Second Roll.
Critical Hits and Failures with the Second Roll don't do anything.

Every Sunday, Room Neatness is reduced by 10%.

If Room Neatness reaches 0%...

If you stay at 150% Room Neatness or more for a whole month, Reo's Neatness stat will rise by one.

Every time you clean up afterwards, you'll get a modifier on your success rolls, making it easier to clean up.

However. Cleaning up all the time is not going to be good, as you can't study or go to other places.
So a balance must be struck.

Colored Truths System:

Spoiler

A meta-mechanic to be used by questgoers when engaged in discussions.
It divides statements into three different types.
Gold. An absolute truth. Used for things that everyone knows with absolute certainty and without any half truths mixed in from the QM's part.
Red. A technical truth. Used for that which is true, but only to a certain degree or without any ways to be 100% sure at the time.
Blue. A possible truth. Used for speculation only.

The QM will gather whatever truths the questgoers make and place them in this page.

Other Links

Character Sheet:
[X]

Interludes:
[Zhuangzi's Butterfly]
[Friendship and Philosophy/Hopeful Despair]
[The Ineffable]

Philemon's Consultation Room:
[#1: Pressure Overwhelming]

Glimpses of Something Larger:
[What sets us apart from our predecessors in the Velvet Room?]

Omakes:
[The consequences of willful ignorance -by @Maromar]
[The consequences of not cleaning up -by @The Oldman ]

Below lies the Character Creation vote, left completely unchanged.
You don't need to read it, but probably should if you're new to this quest.

+===============+
​

With all that out of the way, let's begin character creation!
…What? You thought we'd stick to the personality of Minato Arisato/Makoto Yuki? No, that would only restrict us, and we don't want that.

Now then, first are the 3 original stats: Academics, Charm and Courage. You are currently rank 1 in each of them, with the max rank being 5.

You get 3 points which you may allocate as you please. They affect your actions in battle and some social interactions. Like information gathering, yo!
You don't need them to establish Social Links with Mitsuru, Fuka and Yukari, so don't make your pick to get to your "best girl" faster.

After that there are 5 more stats that define your personality. They will be mostly to determine the way I will be writing the main character and some social interactions.

• Self-esteem: The way you view and assert yourself.
  
  
• Quirkiness: Strange habits you took on. Could be anything from a verbal tick to sleeping between the mattress and the-box spring.
  
  
• Humor: Ability and willingness to joke around, make witty comebacks, find things amusing (except puns) and make people laugh. At higher levels you might even make Shinji roll on the floor cackling like a hyena.
  
  
• Neatness: How clean you are with your person, things and room. Don't worry, low Neatness does not turn you into a relative of Junpei or Maya Amano.
  
  
• Outlook: On life. Are you a cynic or an optimist?

These stats will be determined via dice rolls to add in a factor of randomness, but you may chose 2 of those to keep at high levels and 1 to do the opposite thing on another stat.

Finally, propose a name for our good hunter of shadows.

Best of luck, my friends. Vereor Nox.

[] Write in.

​

 

[veekie]

[X] Academics 1
[X] Charm 4
[X] Courage 1
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] High Humor
[X] Low Self-esteem

 

[The Oldman]

[X] Academics 1
[X] Charm 4
[X] Courage 1
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] High Humor
[X] Low Self-esteem

Click to shrink...

Hmm. A bold choice. What name do you propose good sir?

 

[WorthyStranger]

[X] Academics 1
[X] Charm 3
[X] Courage 2
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] High Outlook
[X] Low Humor
[X] Kei Minatoya

 

[TurtleDucks]

[X] Academics 2
[X] Charm 1
[X] Courage 3
[X] High Self-Esteem
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] Low Neatness
[X] Takumi Fujiwara

 

[Iandude0]

[X] Academics 3
[X] Charm 1
[X] Courage 2
[X] High Self-Esteem
[X] High Humor
[X] Low Neatness
[X] Ryan Phillip Emon

@The Oldman this looks very interesting. Will you be counting the votes by block (main 3 stats, personality stats and name).

I can't wait to see where this goes.

Personally, I want someone with a high self-worth, and humor is always a favorite stat of mine if it's available. Neatness is just something I generally think is better off without, and being a slob sound hilarious. As for the main stats, I think he'd be fairly smart, and willing to help out people when the cards are down but tends to come off as an asshole because his humor tends towards a darker tone and/or is drawing from the fact that he's a foreign exchange student from America and people just don't get it.

I am interested to see how this goes, and wish you luck.

Edit: As it is, I wish you luck in your first quest.

 

[The Oldman]

@Iandude0 Yes, I'll count by block, although I believe that I'll put up a new vote to decide the name when I lock votes, as I just realized that EVERYONE makes a new name.

The tone of the jokes you make might end up depending on your Outlook, and if your Humor is high, it'll either transcend the language barrier or be understood in its entirety.

 

[Iandude0]

although I believe that I'll put up a new vote to decide the name when I lock votes, as I just realized that EVERYONE makes a new name.

Click to shrink...

You could just have that vote with the whole "signing the contract" bit that happens at the very start of Persona 3 and 4 (iirc). That would be a good place to put it and a good stopping point for an update.

 

[andy50]

[X] Academics 1
[X] Charm 4
[X] Courage 1
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] High Humor
[X] Low Self-esteem

 

[wdango]

Very nice. Watching this so hard.

No particular inclinations in regard to chargen at the mo'.

 

[Nidhogg]

[X] Academics 1
[X] Charm 3
[X] Courage 2
[X] High Self-Esteem
[X] High Humor
[X] Low Neatness

I'd like to explain my reasoning. Academics aren't likely to be immediately useful, and being what they are likely something that we can raise during the Quest.

Charm is the exact opposite, both being more immediately useful (e.g. Hey Yukari/Mitsuru/Fuuka would you mind helping us with our *insert thing we need help with*) as well as being something that is liable to be difficult to increase.

As far as Courage goes, I see it as a middle ground between the other two, both something we need but can do without temporarily, and something that is tough but possible to raise with a little effort. Of course all this depends entirely upon whether or not my interpretation is correct but it seems likely to me.

As for the Personality Traits. High Self-Esteem is important, and likely to be helpful toward making good use of our Charm and Courage, or even our Academics (e.g. Is the answer A or B? I'm sure it was A.). High Humor I chose again because it would make the best use of my choice of Stats (Charming people with jokes, laughing at danger or even ourselves when we mess up *and we will*).

As far as name goes I'm willing to go with whatever has the most votes, I'm not terribly good with names.

 

[The Oldman]

@Nidhogg this is SV. If you don't mess up, it'll be either because I'm too lenient or because it's a Christmas miracle. Also, whomever said that Charm only works on the ladies?
It'd do you well to remember that the Main 3 Stats will be used for combat as well, so don't think that they can help you out if you are alone.

 

[Nidhogg]

@The Oldman I didn't want to assume, but this really only helps make my case. Nice to know though, thanks! Also, does this mean we can talk either Shinjiro or Ken into *talking* about their problems with each other? Or would that require Solar-style social-fu? Actually every member of SEES has capital I Issues, so it is probably something we'll have to work at for a while, isn't it? Ah well, I'm in it for the long haul, here's hoping to a long quest!

 

[The Oldman]

@Nidhogg finding out their issues will require a high Social Link Rank (I'm thinking about 7, but I don't know for sure), realizing in-character that they have a lot of baggage, doing some sleuthing around AND confronting them about it.

This goes without saying, but you'll have to be careful with your wording and arguments to prevent a case of our own brand of Kyouplomacy, AKA Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome

 

[The Oldman]

Voting closes in 3 hours.
If anyone would like to vote or try to convince others to change theirs, do so now.

 

[Chronobreak]

[X] Academics 4
[X] Charm 1
[X] Courage 1
[X] High Self-Esteem
[X] High Quirkiness
[X] Low Humor

I do Academics four, because I am extremely insecure about such things, if anyone else wants to, please bandwagon ^. I mean, ideally, blue hair will survive and have a life afterward.
Having self preservation amuses me. I would absolutely love for that to happen. SV woukd keep on pushing him into situations he iant confortable with!

I do not want to be a slob. Leaving food in my room overnight is enough to throw me into a fit.

SV needs more smart characters.

 

[The Oldman]

Only a little more left to go until votes are closed.

I made a choice. I won't close the voting for the Main 3 Stats until I get enough votes for them.
The personality stats are going to be what matters most for the update, so I'll count those instead.

Here's the tally so far:

High Self-Esteem: 4
High Quirkiness: 5
High Humor: 4
High Neatness: 0
High Outlook: 1

Low Self-Esteem: 2
Low Quirkiness: 0
Low Humor: 2
Low Neatness: 3
Low OTLK: 0

We need a tiebreaker for high Self Esteem and Humor. Volunteers?

 

[Chronobreak]

Ill go recruiting sir.

 

[The Oldman]

Ill go recruiting sir.

Click to shrink...

Much appreciated.

 

[emberofshadow]

[X] Academics 2
[X] Charm 1
[X] Courage 3
[X] High Self-Esteem
[X] High Quirkyness
[X] Low Neatness
[X] Takumi Fujiwara
PERSONA, PERSONA, PERSONA, PERSONA. SOCIAL LINK, SOCIAL LINK, SOCIAL LINK

 

[The Oldman]

Aaaalllright people, voting locked!
I'll begin rolling now. Here's how it'll be:

I will roll a 20 sided die for every stat.
If Self Esteem and Quirkiness rolls are below 15, I will perform a reroll.
If Neatness rolls above 5, I will perform a reroll.
All other stats will be left alone unless they are:

1. Lower than Neatness.
2. Only 1 or 4 points higher than Neatness
3. Higher than Self-Esteem or Quirkiness unless they are a Critical Hit
   
4. Only 1 to 4 lower than Self-Esteem or Quirkiness.

The Oldman threw 1 20-faced dice. Reason: Self-Esteem Total: 15

The Oldman threw 4 20-faced dice. Reason: Quirkiness Total: 43

The Oldman threw 3 20-faced dice. Reason: Neatness Total: 27

The Oldman threw 9 20-faced dice. Reason: Humor Total: 90

The Oldman threw 2 20-faced dice. Reason: Outlook Total: 22

 

[The Oldman]

Oh boy, this did not go according to plan.

Self-Esteem: 15
Quirkiness: 19
Humor: 8
Neatness: 1
Outlook: 9

This basically means that our main character is a total weirdo who isn't all that bothered by his state of mind, has an average sense of humor, does not particularly see life as anything other than itself, and IS practically Maya Amano 2.0 due to the Critical Failure on Neatness.

Uhhh...

Anyone want a reroll? Or should we go ahead, choosing this fate of our own free will?

 

[ChildishChimera]

Sure why not I trust the dice

 

[The Oldman]

You know...I think I'll mess around with those stats a bit. As Quest Master, I am allowed to bend the game as I please if it makes things interesting.

As Humor is one of the most requested stats, I will raise it to 15.
Quirkyness will be reduced to 16 and Self Esteem to 13 as a trade off.
The Crit Failure on Neatness will remain, but will be able to be raised a little bit to prevent Misturu from Executing us should she ever drop by.

So final stats are the following:

Self-Esteem: 13
Quirkiness: 16
Humor: 15
Neatness: 1
Outlook: 9

A guy that can take some verbal abuse unless it goes too far, has a couple of unusual hobbies, is fairly good with jokes and likes to have fun, believes that life gives you some and takes some, and is terrible at organization.

I think this to be an agreeable compromise. Wouldn't you agree?

Also, @ChildishChimera ...The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh away. But when it taketh...oh, lord deliver us all...

I will set to work now. Vereor Nox