[X] [Iridian] Act
-[X] 5 of Clubs
[X] [Ratri] Pass
[X] [Moropóro] Pass
-[X] 5 of Clubs
[X] [Ratri] Pass
[X] [Moropóro] Pass
Sunday Morning Magical Girl Television Production Quest [Sparkle Stars]
- Thread starter Crimson Flight
- Start date
- Superhero
SpoopyGhost
Undead Demi Kuudere Tsundere
- Location
- Your Haunted Attic
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I quite enjoy this concept. Regardless of whether or not she is the one to grant Seok-hwi her power directly, it places Nana in a relatively unique position of being a mascot figure and a magical girl at once - but unlike the cases of existing precedent for that happening, she does not need to wait until the mid-season to make the leap from one role to the other. Spending the bulk of the episode in her hedgehog form only to transform at the end would make for a powerful moment, and I like the idea of the series having a somewhat misleading pre-release campaign where trailers and other promotional material treats Seok-hwi and Estela as the primary co-leads, while carefully concealing or avoiding showing Nana's human and magically transformed forms, to make the moment even more impactful.
Would it not make sense to use at least one face card for the opening scene? Clubs is the goal for the general episode, but the specific scene seems to be predicated on a 7 of Diamonds, which neither option satisfies.
@Crimson Flight May we use sparkle points to alter a scene's suit, not just those of the cards the characters play?
Furthermore, I feel that since clubs is associated with bonds between characters, using it in a purely solo scene would be pointless. The two most sensible options are either to have at least one additional character participate, or else keep Nana solo but change her card played to one of the Diamonds suit. Since the votes are trending in the direction of the prior plan, I will accordingly support this plan:
[X] [Iridian] Act
-[X] 4 of Clubs
[X] [Ratri] Act
-[X] Jack of Hearts
[X] [Moropóro] Pass
Additionally, I cannot find it now, but I thought I recalled mention of players also being able to influence or boost the scene through suggestions or playacting in addition to the raw cards played. While I imagine that must work differently in the intended tabletop setting than by quest, I still want to ask if attempting that would be welcomed here?
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Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
As much as I would like to say I'm doing it fresh, this is the premise of the current Precure season lmao. Komugi is a pet dog and main mascot who turns into the lead and she has drama with the main antagonist.
The scene card's suit sets the vibe of what's happening. In this case, it's diamonds, so a mascot and some merchandise fell from the sky and they look very marketable. You need a character to beat its number, otherwise the diamond suit will be the winning card. If I had played a clubs scene card and none of the characters could beat it, my card would have taken the scene but it would've contributed to the clear condition anyway.
So for example, if none of the characters best this diamond card, the scene is taken with diamond, and we're still zero towards the clear condition of the whole episode. If a clubs beats this card, the character takes the scene, we progress towards the clear condition, the character keeps that winning card for later to upgrade stats. If a non-club beats this scene, the character doesn't contribute to the clear condition, but they keep the card for upgrading their stats later.
It's a push and pull between having a character do something fun in the spotlight based on their suit, and having everybody try to work together to meet the clear conditions. Not taking a scene with the right suit is fine but it's definitely a trade-off there. Sometimes people have characters do things of the suit so play a lower card to make sure not to overtake the person they want to take the scene.
Bonds can apply to NPCs too. Random strangers, animals, etc.
Feel free to tell me what vibes you like to have in the scene but I don't think I've mentioned boosting anything based on that, and the book doesn't exactly have something explicitly laid out for such.
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'll close up votes in like 27 hours from now so we can see how a scene/turn resolves, feel free to continue asking me questions if you need any more elaborations.
SpoopyGhost
Undead Demi Kuudere Tsundere
- Location
- Your Haunted Attic
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I see. Regardless of precedent, this feels like a good direction for Nana.
I think I understand better now, thank you very much for the explanation.
My apologies, I must have mixed it up with something elsewhere.
Regardless, my suggestion was that since Nana has crash-landed in low-power mode, she is likely half-delirious and very much operating on instinct. With Seok-hwi playing a face card of hearts, the scene's focus is naturally on her kind side and empathy as she notices and gently approaches the injured hedgehog. Nana's clubs card still factors in, however, as she faces the dilemma of whether to trust this stranger, or keep her quills out to ward off the perceived danger, only to ultimately set aside her fear and choose what she really wants, in the start of a new bond. In essence, a further elaboration on ideas @SillyLittleCoffe suggested, that I was considering writing as a full scene if that would support the round. But since it does not actually work that way, and I do not want to step on your own toes as the quest writer, I will refrain.
Episode 01 - Scene 1 Voting Tally
New
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The votes got screwy somehow but the voted cards are right.
Going forward I might change the task names to their non-Sparkle names just because the tally does not do so hot with Moropóro's ó.
Going forward I might change the task names to their non-Sparkle names just because the tally does not do so hot with Moropóro's ó.
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Episode 01 - Scene 1 Resolution
New
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Actions Taken
The scene card was a 7 of Diamonds, coupled with the Producer Attribute of 1 to give a value of 8.Iridian played a 4 of Clubs. Coupled with her attribute of 4 in Bonds, the resulting value is 8.
Seok-hwi played a face card: Jack of Hearts. With her attribute of 2 in Heart, the resulting value is 13.
Estela passed.
SEOK-HWI TOOK THE SCENE.
Scene 01
A lone figure ran along the dawn-lit sand.Surfboard in arm and wetsuit-clad, the messy-haired girl by the name of Hyeon Seok-hwi had awoken long before first light to catch the beach breaks of daybreak, Port Sangai's beautiful waves the dominion of her and her alone so early into the weekday morning. Few others in town would dare brave the cold darkness for a mere chance to surf, especially before a class, but to Seok-hwi, there was nothing else that made her feel so truly alive.
The sand between her toes. The breeze, salty and harsh. And the violent cold of the grand ocean, its immense power rumbling through her with every shining wave.
When she surfed, she felt one with the world. When she surfed, she could bridge the heavens and the earth. When she surfed, she had fun.
It was her daily ritual. Something that got her into groove for the day ahead.
Yet on this morning, it had not been the shimmering lights reflecting off white waves that captured her every attention. No, it was a light from above: a star that descended from way up-high, hurtling past the boundary of sky and sea. And when it crashed, with force and heat that lashed at her even far out in the water, what else could Seok-hwi do but go and see?
"Bro …"
Her voice trembled unbidden as she stopped at the edge of the glassy crater. The plush-like creature in the reddish sand was slumped over, barely stirring as water dripped over it from the sea. All it could really manage was a strange, whirring groan – the multicoloured items in its nubby little hands shaking with every sound.
It was cute. It was weird.
But most importantly, it was in pain.
Seok-hwi gently crouched down, one hand sliding her surfboard down the crater.
"... You hangin' in there, lil' dude?"
No response. Which made sense; the hedgehog might not have even understood her. Yet at the same time, she really needed it to give her one.
Because at this time, the tide would soon rise.
The board shook. "Can you move?"
Not even a sign of acknowledgement.
Seok-hwi breathed in.
Beyond the sand, the ocean was moving. With every minute, the edges of the waves she loved so much would come closer and closer, the waters advancing further and further. On a more normal day, she would've loved to feel the salt nip at her heels. But watching it slowly approach the crater, the water beginning to fill, she had much bigger and much more important fish in mind.
"Hang tight, I'm droppin' in."
She slid down the crater's edge, letting out an unconscious hiss of pain as the heat scourged her feet. The remnants of the explosion dogged her every move, but Seok-hwi kept going, pounding sand until she made it down to the poor little creature.
And as she tried to lift it up –
"Yeowch!"
Red dripped softly onto the sand.
Cradling the groaning creature against her, Seok-hwi could feel its sharp quills dig into her bare hands, breaking the skin to draw little globules of blood. Each and every one of its rainbow spines stood on end, jabbing painfully at her no matter where she touched. It was shocking, unexpected – took her by complete surprise! But even so, she didn't let go.
She couldn't let go. Not when it so obviously needed her help.
"Easy there, bro …"
Her feet carried her up and out of the crater, face scrunched tight as she held the creature and its belongings close. It hurt – it hurt a lot. Yet the blood dripping down her hands was nothing compared to what the little one was probably going through.
And if her hands and feet were the price she had to pay to help, well, she was breaking out the piggy bank. If there was anything she hated with the same intensity as her love for surfing, it was a poor injured animal, weird star from space or no.
"... It's all good, trust me bro."
Seok-hwi would make sure of it.
Slowly, acquiescently – the creature's quills settled.
And across the sea, the sun continued to rise.
~~~~~
The strange CD holder and its single occupant sat on the table in front of Seok-hwi, as mysterious as the means by which they had found their way into her house. They were harmless-looking objects (all pretty and rainbow), but it was hard to believe that there was nothing else to them given their descent from above the clouds. Where had they come from? Were they important? Did somebody make them? These were questions that flitted freely through the girl's mind, but if she wanted any sort of answer …
She looked over at her rumbling washing machine.
… Then she would need to wait first.
Spinning around inside – and having been doing so for the better part of a wash cycle – was the creature that Seok-hwi had rescued. The moment she brought it into her home, it had leapt out of her arms in a combination of confusion and curiosity, seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer variety of "stuff" on display. And before she could react, it had scampered into the washing machine, somehow turning on the fast wash in the process. Seok-hwi had made some loud noises of concern at the time – a few that sounded like "holy!" and "bro???", because creatures from space didn't seem very machine-washable – but soon enough she realised that the creature was perfectly unharmed, and actually appeared to be … enjoying the experience like one would a good shower.
Which was a huge relief. She wasn't prepared to see it get hurt again. Falling from the sky was more than enough of a rough ride for anybody, space creature or no.
The washing machine beeped.
"A most impeccable cleaning, guru," said the creature as it strolled out, its mastery of the human tongue shockingly evident. "We must thank you for the opportunity, guruguru."
"Dude, you can talk?!"
It waddled over to the other side of the table.
"Only as of quite recent, guru," it replied easily, sitting up and rubbing its nose. "Extrapolating from the provided linguistic data was … difficult in this state of ours."
A second of silence. Then Seok-hwi nodded, having decided that the existence of a talking plush hedgehog wasn't really that big a deal.
"You looked heaps grody there."
"Indeed, guru." Here, the creature seemed to hesitate. "However … we would like to apologise for the unbecoming behaviour. You were undeserving of such harsh treatment by our antennae, guruguru."
"No biggie." Seok-hwi smiled, waving it off with a bandaged hand. "S'long as you're good, I'd do it all again."
The creature was quiet. "... You would risk yourself for us so easily, guru?"
"Hm? Yeah, for sure."
She pulled over a plate of cheesecake, pushing it lightly across the table towards the hedgehog.
"But cheesecake cool? Don't have anything quick in the fridge."
It came closer, beady eyes glimmering quizzically as it made to sniff the cake. Then, under the girl's expectant gaze, it took a nibble. And another. And a third. And soon enough, it was chewing through the slices with all the ease of a hot knife through butter, relishing in every inch of cheesecake as if awakened to something greater.
"This is ambrosia!" the creature marvelled, any gloominess it may have felt disappearing beneath the stars in its eyes. "Lush and rich … we have never experienced such flavour, guru!"
Seok-hwi proudly crossed her arms. "Righteous, right?"
"Righteous by every definition," agreed the creature, almost piously. "Guru, to think we could receive so bountiful a blessing from you, we …"
It stopped, then made a cough-like noise.
"Apologies again, guru," it began again, nubby hands pressing together, "we have failed to properly acknowledge the good you are doing for us. It is clear that you hold great virtue, and to have formed this small bond with you … we are truly, truly thankful, guru."
"Just doing my part, bro," said Seok-hwi, running a hand sheepishly through her hair.
"No, you deserve all the praise, guruguru. So may we ask for our saviour's name, that you can be recorded in our memories for all of time, guru?"
"Seok-hwi," the girl answered. "Hyeon Seok-hwi. How 'bout you?"
"We are –"
The creature frowned. Or at least, did its best equivalent of one.
"Guruguru?" It spun around a full 180 degrees. "We do not … remember? We do not remember … anything, guru!"
Seok-hwi quietly watched as it scurried about. She was sympathetic to its sudden discovery of amnesia, of course, but seeing it jump from emotion to emotion … the cute movements as it tried to wrap its head around something … there was so much to the little hedgehog that was nostalgic to her. Right now, it really reminded her of –
"Nana."
The creature glanced up at her. "Guru?"
"Oh, that's my old dog's name," explained Seok-hwi. "If you have no name right now, then why not Nana? I think it's pretty gnarly."
"Nana …" It chewed the word in its mouth, panic forgotten. "It is gnarly indeed, guruguru."
And with a glow comparable to the heavens from which it came, the newly appellated Nana smiled its biggest smile at the surprised Seok-hwi.
"From this day forth, we shall be Nana!" it declared. "Our memories may have been thrown astray, guru, but know that we will never forget the name you gave us, Hyeon Seok-hwi!"
It stepped up onto tippie-toes, leaning over the table to grab the CD holder.
"And as long as our bond remains, guru, we will one day return the favour." Nana dropped back onto four feet, gaze pointed for the door. "Until then, fare thee well, guruguru!"
Its destination set, and glancing back only once more, the hedgehog darted away.
Somewhat perplexed, Seok-hwi waved her own goodbye.
Then, a thought occurred to her.
"What was that, anyway?"
And, as her eyes sighted the hands of her clock, another thought.
"Oh, I'm gonna be hella late."
Summary, Explanations and Miscellaneous
Clear Condition Progress: 0/9 ClubsAs seen here, the highest value in the scene came from Seok-hwi's Jack of Hearts, which became the only card to take the scene. Only one card can take the scene, and while we may not have picked the one to progress towards the Clear Condition this time around, there's still more scenes to go. Also, because Seok-hwi played a face card, her actions in the scene were suitably dramatic and memorable to fit, as well as possibly being controversial for a Sunday morning children's television show. I have put details on how Controversy works in the rules, but the result of using a face card will be done at the end of the episode.
The producer as well as all the characters will have drawn a card into their hands after this scene. While I'll reiterate this information in the next update when we start voting on Scene 2, here's the current hands of each character so far:
Nana: 9 of Diamonds, 7 of Spades, 8 of Diamonds, 5 of Clubs
Seok-hwi: Queen of Spades, Queen of Diamonds, 3 of Hearts, Ace of Diamonds
Estela: Jack of Spades, 2 of Diamonds, 6 of Clubs, King of Hearts, 2 of Hearts
There are 14 cards in Part A left, 18 cards in Part B, and 4 cards in the producer's hand. When all are depleted, the episode will end.
I will reiterate this information for Scene 2 too.
Also regarding my writing for the scenes. In this one, I decided to go for prose just to introduce these two cast members as dramatically as I saw fit (and put in the slightly intense choices to fit the Jack of Hearts for Seok-hwi, because I'm pretty sure if I was the average parent I'd go "hm" at what I wrote here on 8.30am), but going forth it's also possible I might end up doing more episode summary-like writing, with dialogue script for key scenes. I'll stay with prose for now, but that choice appeals to me for its more TV-esque vibe. Feel free to give me your thoughts.
Ask me any questions for further clarification. I might've forgotten any considerations since writing this because I do have a cold right now. Also feel free to tell me your opinions on the direction this scene might've taken and characterisation choices.
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Kermie
We’re So Cooked(?)
- Location
- Somewhere On The Planet
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Holy— those Face Cards are definitely no joke. This was a wonderful character moment, however. It established Seok-hwi's soft side immediately, and her natural Magical Girl-ness.
I really loved the prose here! And Seok-Hwi's actions with the Face Card were lovely, and it was worth any controversy coming up.
We need to win next scene with a Clubs card, though. Just to get back on schedule and make sure we have good Ratings and Sparkle Points.
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Witnessing the push and pull between artistic ambition and the demands of selling toys on the mainstream TV network is what keeps me coming back to Sunday morning children's television every year.
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Even if you don't actually meet the Clear Condition it's not as big a deal, just getting cards towards it keeps our Ratings up.
SillyLittleCoffe
Magical Girl Enthusiast
I feel you. It can be fascinating to watch.
But also, guys, come on. Clubs clubs clubs from now on.
SolarGemX
The Crystalized Sun
- Location
- Somewhere in the Cosmos
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Probably. But well see what happens once the Producer draws their next card
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just so you don't need to worry too hard, roughly based on the rate of deck depletion, you have around 13 scenes left and you can basically guarantee two Clubs with the Jokers for both the cast and producer (they become relevant when transforming is necessary and the villains begin to move).
SillyLittleCoffe
Magical Girl Enthusiast
Oh thank goodness. I was genuinely worried there.
Crimson Flight
华裔机甲迷
- Location
- Victoria, Australia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean you might get unlucky and the needed cards don't pan out, but it does give some leeway.