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Puella Magi Imperatrix Mundi, or: Wherein Half Of Japan Tries To Kill You

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For all our claims of being savvy and competent, we are sometimes no different from say, Sayaka, or Kyouko...

:V
 
Dark Ness said:
Homestly, I can think of lot of things to do with the more power option.

For one, we don't do fight terf wars. Why? Because if we do, everyone dies. And everyone else knows it. So, we could be like the boss everyone is afraid of. The Lung of PMMM. And/or, since we can breeze witches, that is what do. We collect soul gems, and we sell for stuff. Like some kind of soul gem broker. All kinds of interesing plotlines could come from that.

Or maybe even something different. Since we can't get involved, we could be some kind of mediator. Or maybe host an arena, who wins gets the terf. Or cool stuff like that.

I was looking forward to this, but it looks like it is too late.:(
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Yeah, and that's exactly the kind of thing I would have had to rearrange my plans to allow for, because otherwise you'd have been facing way too many enemies with bullshit hax powers that you'd be helpless against. The turf war is coming to you no matter what, since that's the starting premise of the quest. I need to make sure it's not pure luck whether you survive.

Otherwise, those are all great ideas that I may see if I can work into the quest one way or another anyhow. :)
 
Kosmos said:
Being the WMD everyone is afraid of is a good way to catch a bullet to the head when you're sleeping.

Standing out as a powerful magical girl, especially one with no true allies, is bad. We're gonna get ganged up on.
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That is why we make friends. The old fashioned way. The way we are going to have to if we go down any route but understand and I want more friends.

@Echo

I don't know if this will work for you, and I am obviously biased, but sometimes rolling with it is a good thing. In one of my quests, I did the same thing as you and made a bunch of hints Because the option I wasn't prepared for was winning. And it still won, and actually turned out well. It turned out much better then the ideas I had for the other options, actually.

One of the big things about being a QM is being able to adapt. We are going to surprise you, screw with plans without even realising it, and force you to just make stuff up. That is okay, every QM does it. The best way to avoid the player's messing with your plans, IMO, is to not have them beyond the vague and ill-defined. Never rely on the players making a certain, specific choice because they probably won't.

And while yes, you can railroad the players into what you have prepared for, but at that point, you might as well just write a story instead. Not that you are going to do that, but part of the quest format is its very freeform nature. If you look at just about any of the long running quests on this forum, none of the GMs expected it all to turn out like they did. And that's okay, that's how quests work. And when the quest goes somewhere you haven't prepared for, it is okay to make stuff up.

In a story, your plans should be like stone, clear, traceable, and firm. In a quest, however, they should be clouds. Easily blown away, changed, or reformed in new and interesting shapes. And that is good, because that is the point of quests. To weave a unique story, one no one predicted.
 
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Anyway, from what people have said I am reasonably confident that... at least 80% of what you're hoping for from the "more power" wish will be equally possible with o3o's write-in, with the bonus of no additional work for me and a few interesting narrative angles with some NPCs.

I just hate feeling like I'm forcing you into it. :(
 
Dark Ness said:
That is why we make friends. The old fashioned way. The way we are going to have to if we go down any route but understand and I want more friends.

@Echo

I don't know if this will work for you, and I am obviously biased, but sometimes rolling with it is a good thing. In one of my quests, I did the same thing as you and made a bunch of hints Because the option I wasn't prepared for was winning. And it still won, and actually turned out well. It turned out much better then the ideas I had for the other options, actually.

One of the big things about being a QM is being able to adapt. We are going to surprise you, screw with plans without even realising it, and force you to just make stuff up. That is okay, every QM does it. The best way to avoid the player's messing with your plans, IMO, is to not have them beyond the vague and ill-defined. Never rely on the players making a certain, specific choice because they probably won't.

And while yes, you can railroad the players into what you have prepared for, but at that point, you might as well just write a story instead. Not that you are going to do that, but part of the quest format is its very freeform nature. If you look at just about any of the long running quests on this forum, none of the GMs expected it all to turn out like they did. And that's okay, that's how quests work. And when the quest goes somewhere you haven't prepared for, it is okay to make stuff up.

In a story, your plans should be like stone, clear, traceable, and firm. In a quest, however, they should be clouds. Easily blown away, changed, or reformed in New and interesting shapes. And that is good, because that is the point of quests. To weave a unique story, one no one predicted.
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Sometimes, there is such a thing as too much freedom. If the QM gets fatigued from being forced to write what the QM doesn't want to write, the quest dies and nobody wins.

There needs to be a happy medium.
 
Dark Ness said:
One of the big things about being a QM is being able to adapt. We are going to surprise you, screw with plans without even realising it, and force you to just make stuff up. That is okay, every QM does it. The best way to avoid the player's messing with your plans, IMO, is to not have them beyond the vague and ill-defined. Never rely on the players making a certain, specific choice because they probably won't.
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I understand that, yeah. And it's not like I couldn't adapt it's just... a blind spot I hadn't noticed in plans I thought were loose enough to handle any option available. Blah.
 
Kosmos said:
Sometimes, there is such a thing as too much freedom. If the QM gets fatigued from being forced to write what the GM doesn't want to write, the quest dies and nobody wins.

There needs to be a happy medium.
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Of course, there is. If the QM doesn't want to write then things tend not to well (but then again, I have been a QM for a year and I never want to write. Admittly, that is just because I don't like actually writing and putting my thoughts down, and I am stubborn)

But that is the question. @Echo do you not want to write or are not prepared. If it is the later, then we can wait while you get prepared. It is okay to take a day to think.

If you trully don't want to write, then well....
 
Your plan was judged by First Contact and found Wanting :V

Edit: I could wait for a day or two(However long is needed) for Echo to get his new plan together, Dunno about those other people though :V
 
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I can wait. I probably need to plan for my own quest some more anyway.
 
I'm kinda tempted to sorta... split the difference on the two wishes. The actual content of o3o's write in gives me a lot more to work with and I didn't have a firm idea of what wish magic it would give anyway--given that, at heart, it's still basically a wish for more power in a vague semi-directed sort of way I could just give it a power boost with a few bells and whistles and roll with it from there.

Either that or rethink what the result of just wishing for "great power" would end up being. I went for some obvious stuff but I could probably tweak it a bit... hm, I dunno.
 
Do what you think is right, and if you can't believe in yourself?

Believe in the You and the Us that believes in Yourself!!! :cool:
 
Honestly Echo, with your excellent characterisation of Yui, I'd be interested in this quest even if we didn't get to choose the wish. That's not really what drew me.

On power: I'd be surprised if someone like Yui, who seems to have connections to some large organisation (through family) was really only considering physical power. Maybe that can be a route to consider?
 
Echo said:
I'm kinda tempted to sorta... split the difference on the two wishes. The actual content of o3o's write in gives me a lot more to work with and I didn't have a firm idea of what wish magic it would give anyway--given that, at heart, it's still basically a wish for more power in a vague semi-directed sort of way I could just give it a power boost with a few bells and whistles and roll with it from there.

Either that or rethink what the result of just wishing for "great power" would end up being. I went for some obvious stuff but I could probably tweak it a bit... hm, I dunno.
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'Power' does not need to literally mean 'physical strength'.

Power is fairly abstract. Power is the way you exert force, both coercive and credible, to gain and maintain control over someone else.

Questions? Consult the dude in my avvie.
Will to power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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SystemicHatter said:
Honestly Echo, with your excellent characterisation of Yui, I'd be interested in this quest even if we didn't get to choose the wish. That's not really what drew me.

On power: I'd be surprised if someone like Yui, who seems to have connections to some large organisation (through family) was really only considering physical power. Maybe that can be a route to consider?
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Kosmos said:
'Power' does not need to literally mean 'physical strength'.

Power is fairly abstract. Power is the way you exert force, both coercive and credible, to gain and maintain control over someone else.

Questions? Consult the dude in my avvie.
Will to power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Hmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hm.

Actually, that gives me some interesting ideas for possible angles. Hmm.

Question: Is anyone opposed to me retaining some of the spirit of o3o's write-in regardless, and letting that flavor things a bit even if Yui ends up wishing for "power" rather than power toward a specific purpose?
 
Echo said:
Hmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hm.

Actually, that gives me some interesting ideas for possible angles. Hmm.

Question: Is anyone opposed to me retaining some of the spirit of o3o's write-in regardless, and letting that flavor things a bit even if Yui ends up wishing for "power" rather than power toward a specific purpose?
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Not really, no. Learning how to roll with the sucker-punches your players send your way will be useful, and this might be a good crash-course on that.

This can easily fall under "people not wishing for what they really want."

I wish you the best of luck!
 
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Muramasa said:
Isn't o3o's vote currently winning?
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If it is, it's probably because I panicked about not knowing how to handle the other leading option and got people to switch. :(

Part of the reason I'm tempted to just wing it is that the vote tallies are going to be nonsense at this point and I'd rather get back to writing rather than waiting on votes since it's the weekend and I have more free time to write.
 
Sepulchare said:
Go ahead Echo, Just be ready for us to derail any specific plans you may try to create :cool:
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@Echo
He's actually right, you know. Your players can and will derail any and all plots you try to manufacture. I think it's often more efficient to just simulate a large area instead of making individual little plots that your players will promptly derail.

Seriously, even with an open-world scenario, my players still managed to shock me in my most recent quest. (They accidentally averted the apocalypse while still in chargen due to something I hadn't expected at all)
 
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