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Time of the Gods: Into the Amber Age

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sidestory said:
It's not that, it's (at least for me) boring because we already know how the system works, what you have to do and what you have to avoid to be successful if you are a hero spirit, that is why I would consider it simple less interesting then the other options,

not to mention Law maker would make us a full time civilisation spirit, which means more growing through micro management and less through actions, which I consider for the potential of this setting a safe but boring choice for a character
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For the sake of your spirit not dying really fast, I suggest you toss most of your preconceptions about how much DE X, Y, and Z will reward. I borrowed a lot from AN's mechanics to make this, but for any DE formula, expect them to be different, enough that a direct translation of Harzivan to this ruleset would lose him some thousand or so average DE/turn (I dialed back quite a bit on the self-synergizing nature of some traits and actions, and added [data expunged] to add an extra element to Faith spirits' turn considerations).

EDIT: Continuing because I like to ramble, I rebuilt a lot of the things you thought you knew so that even though you still get to have the same setting and same general mechanics, there are a number of curve-balls I've included for both types of spirit so you don't feel like you've got this run in the bag, too.
 
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[x] The Cold Dark (Presets: Arctic, Hills, Island)
I'll trust you on this Pande, but this comes with the expectation you'll help make this interesting and not just be a murderhobo spirit all the time. I want to eventually get to the point where we are controlling a civ and building things, and have more interactions with our priests.
 
Powerofmind said:
You can affect a negotiation with a gift (that's where craft and art help if you didn't pick up any performances), but gifts don't give permanent aspects to other spirits or gods. At most they give them boosts, such as a particularly ornate stone disk containing the complete anthology of the spirit you're gifting it to raising their Shrine and giving you an edge in a negotiation.
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C'mooon people.

It even has diplomacy and Relationship bonuses.
What are y'all waiting for.
Let's Craft some Amber Roses etc.

Vote Crafting.
It's what Waifus crave!
 
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sidestory said:
not to mention Law maker would make us a full time civilisation spirit, which means more growing through micro management and less through actions, which I consider for the potential of this setting a safe but boring choice for a character
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Nono, you're not thinking creatively enough here.
Imagine for a second: Lawmaker Fear Spirit. "You have broken my laws and are therefore subject for an immediate execution via lightning bolt."

While God of Laws, Civilisation and Non-Dickery is the most obvious paths for a Lawmaker spirit, saying it is the only one is a bit silly given the amount of Lawful Gods of Evil fiction has shown as well as the commonly cited "Law of the Jungle". It is by far the most likely outcome given how SV usually votes, but that is a problem with us and not the option itself.
 
Omegahugger said:
Nono, you're not thinking creatively enough here.
Imagine for a second: Lawmaker Fear Spirit. "You have broken my laws and are therefore subject for an immediate execution via lightning bolt."

While God of Laws, Civilisation and Non-Dickery is the most obvious paths for a Lawmaker spirit, saying it is the only one is a bit silly given the amount of Lawful Gods of Evil fiction has shown as well as the commonly cited "Law of the Jungle". It is by far the most likely outcome given how SV usually votes, but that is a problem with us and not the option itself.
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Or you could be Yahweh and regularly turn random-ass people into pillars of salt for looking back. Divine punishment is practically the staple move for Old Testament God, any faith he got was practically incidental to creating a tornado of fire, dissolving people into ash on a regular basis, and leading the 12 tribes in a no quarter for anyone invasion of the fertile crescent.
 
Powerofmind said:
Why does nobody trust me when I tell them I've tried to ensure nothing is going to be exceedingly dull. Unless you decide to do a silly and become Hephestus and have no ability to do anything but craft, you should still be able to have a fair amount of fun with a craft-start character.
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If your Craft focused character is weak? You're doing it wrong.

Or, your technology is only sufficiently advanced when you don't need magic.
 
Powerofmind said:
Or you could be Yahweh and regularly turn random-ass people into pillars of salt for looking back. Divine punishment is practically the staple move for Old Testament God, any faith he got was practically incidental to creating a tornado of fire, dissolving people into ash on a regular basis, and leading the 12 tribes in a no quarter for anyone invasion of the fertile crescent.
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You know what we could do with pillars of salt?

Make a Salt Temple. Or Salt Maces, or Salt shakers, or a Saltmine afterlife, or a Net of Salt to go with our mythical monomolecular net of entrapment, making them into a Double-Net of Divine Suffering/Punishment!

If only we could CRAFT stuff into something useful...
Instead of say we cfould Do/Legislate stuff, but with no one enforcing it. (or without Tools to enforce them)
Like a filthy (not at all, the Judicature is hilariously essential to Common Law nations) Lawgiver.

Hangwind said:
Do...do you remember our waifus from the last quest? One tried to starve us and the other thought of murder as a social activity!
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That was FUN.
Does no one else remember how adorable Spider-wife was, assassinating the River mother, foiling our plans of peaceful co-existence, seducing our sons so as to have Some part of us?

Good Godly times.

I was more focusing on y'know less Yandere characters, the type who would need to be won over by gifts, instead Yanderes pacified by restrained affection occasionally.

Also?
If we get good enough at sword making, we could invent a favour auction, where we gift various quality levels of weapons t o those who accomplish tasks/Quests for us.

Basically a type of CKII style cost/benefit action economy.
 
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Hangwind said:

If your Craft focused character is weak? You're doing it wrong.

Or, your technology is only sufficiently advanced when you don't need magic.
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The issue people are taking with this is more that they feel it would be 'boring easy' or 'dull' to play certain things, but that's only because they still think everything is going to be mostly identical, and they can still, for instance, play the 'ideal' route and once they hit a certain point it's gravy forever. Like I'd let you guys get away with that.
 
Hangwind said:
the other thought of murder as a social activity!
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To be fair, a large number of our village's wifes were obtained through raiding, so it's not like "murder as courtship" was an alien idea.

In other news, Omegahugger's totally willing to pick up Aspect of Love no matter what route we pick.
... Especially if we go Fear and/or Madness Spirit.
 
Powerofmind said:
Or you could be Yahweh and regularly turn random-ass people into pillars of salt for looking back.
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To be completely fair, it was looking back towards Sodom and Gomorrah after being explicitly told that if you did you'd die. Keep in mind that the only reason she didn't die along with the rest of them in the first place was because her husband was the one good man in the city. Not random at all.
Omegahugger said:
... Especially if we go Fear and/or Madness Spirit.
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Squid spirit, you mean.

Cuddlefish literally have it in the name. :V
 
Yorick's Skull said:
assasinating the River mother,
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Okay, to be fair? That's what I was hoping would happen.
Omegahugger said:
To be fair, a large number of our village's wifes were obtained through raiding, so it's not like "murder as courtship" was an alien idea.
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Oh, I can understand killing for love, don't get me wrong. Killing our enemies and bringing us their bodies, that's great! Hell, I'll take eliminating all rivals in a bloody night of knives. But using murder as a means to connect with the person you murdered, well, I have to draw the line somewhere.
chocolote12 said:
Not random at all.
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Especially when you consider that this was a city that had literally just turned out in a mob to rape guests of one of the judges of the city. And in fact had threatened to murder him if he didn't give them up. When that's the sort of place you long to be, well, I lose all sympathy for you.
 
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Oh, a new Amber Age quest. And from what I read, it will actually have more checks and balances, preventing the unstopping train people turned Harzivan into. :cry:

Damn, when I remember the quest, I think mostly about the story and the number of times I tried to curb the ambition of the three-headed snake and its numerous followers. Why the hell did they wanted a thirteen fold ascension when a six-seven one was already in our reach is beyond me.

@Powerofmind I hope this quest will turn excellent, we already tried awesome and brilliant the last time.

-[X] The Cold Dark (Presets: Arctic, Hills, Island)
-[X] Elemental Spirit
--[X] Subtype: Water
 
Hangwind said:
Especially when you consider that this was a city that had literally just turned out in a mob to rape guests of one of the judges of the city. And in fact had threatened to murder him if he didn't give them up. When that's the sort of place you long to be, well, I lose all sympathy for you.
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Yes yes, my point wasn't so much 'random punishment' as the severity of the punishment for the act. Yes, it was basically a divine command, but idle curiosity, nostalgia (if you have any), or even wishing to take vindictive pleasure are all natural thoughts that would cross a person's mind in that situation. It's expected that disobedience brings punishment, but something is idle and harmless as looking getting rewarded with instant death is where the fear/faith dichotomy comes in.
 
I really wish the band wagon hadn't grown to such an extent, or that we had a sub-vote as of yet to determine (Crafting).

As such, I will continue to advocate for a dying cause, chanting the cadence of the Birken(Craft)head drill of the Truest and most Noble of Godly Callings, Craft.

"O take your chance in the thick of a rush, with voting all about,
Is nothing so bad when you've wagon to 'and, an' hug an' likin' to shout;
But to stand an' be still to the Crafter'ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew,
An' they done it, the Jollies -- 'Is Glories's Jollies -- Smith an' Tailor too!
Their work was done when it 'adn't begun; they was newer nor me an' you;
Their choice it was plain between sowin' in 'eaps an' bein' smached by the 'ammer,
So they stood an' was still to the Craft'ead drill, Smith an' Tailor too"

Not-Rudyard Not-Kipling
 
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I am little sad that people are voting for the same region as Brannjenessaga, but the opposite sort of spirit.
 
Yorick's Skull said:
I really wish the band wagon hadn't grown to such an extent, or that we had a sub-vote3 as of yet to determine (Crafting).
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To split the environ vote from the chargen vote would be incredibly bad, since it gives you guys the power to commit sudoku on yourselves by voting in a spirit who doesn't have the tools to survive in a given environ (have fun with that farming god in the Greenland-north range, where you grow pinecones for food).
redzonejoe said:
Is crafting laws an instrument? type of crafting?

[insert patrick here]
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You're a funny, sir.
 
Why are people seeing Water Spirit and Crafting as mutually exclusive? Seriously, any seafaring people have to be fairly adept at technology, at least technology for the sea. It's kind of absolutely necessary for getting beyond the primitive tribe stage of things.
 
Hangwind said:
Why are people seeing Water Spirit and Crafting as mutually exclusive? Seriously, any seafaring people have to be fairly adept at technology, at least technology for the sea. It's kind of absolutely necessary for getting beyond the primitive tribe stage of things.
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It's because the people pushing for the Water Spirit vote are banking on becoming a fear spirit, making crafting not very useful as one.

Though not all of them
 
Hangwind said:
Why are people seeing Water Spirit and Crafting as mutually exclusive? Seriously, any seafaring people have to be fairly adept at technology, at least technology for the sea. It's kind of absolutely necessary for getting beyond the primitive tribe stage of things.
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Eldritch abominations like them some unfathomable arcane devices, so as long as cold and dark and water win, I can support crafting.
 
Hangwind said:
Why are people seeing Water Spirit and Crafting as mutually exclusive? Seriously, any seafaring people have to be fairly adept at technology, at least technology for the sea. It's kind of absolutely necessary for getting beyond the primitive tribe stage of things.
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  1. Crafting is a skill
  2. Skills are tied to Avatar
  3. Water Spirit has no Avatar
It is not impossible to be a Craftsman as an Elemental Spirit, but out of all the initial options it is probably the least suited for it.
 
Omegahugger said:
  1. Crafting is a skill
  2. Skills are tied to Avatar
  3. Water Spirit has no Avatar
It is not impossible to be a Craftsman as an Elemental Spirit, but out of all the initial options it is probably the least suited for it.
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I assume we will end up getting ranks in avatar though. When is neglecting one of the key traits ever a good call after all?
 
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