Vorstallen Magic Preparatory - The Third-Best School for Young Mages in the Nation! Enrol Today!
- Thread starter occipitallobe
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
- Location
- Bologna
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
Guess It's finally time to vote. Been following from the beginning, more or less, but this is the instance that would make or break my enjoyment of the story.
The forgiving Trait is really horrible, and while backing down with Negotiations could be ok, Madavian owing Thomas a favour is unacceptable. I'd much rather have him on our side.
Also we aren't really making an enemy here, we are just attracting the attention of someone who decided by himself that he would be our enemy. We would have had trouble with him sooner or later anyway. This is on our terms, and with us having an advantage right at the beginning
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
Guess It's finally time to vote. Been following from the beginning, more or less, but this is the instance that would make or break my enjoyment of the story.
The forgiving Trait is really horrible, and while backing down with Negotiations could be ok, Madavian owing Thomas a favour is unacceptable. I'd much rather have him on our side.
Also we aren't really making an enemy here, we are just attracting the attention of someone who decided by himself that he would be our enemy. We would have had trouble with him sooner or later anyway. This is on our terms, and with us having an advantage right at the beginning
- Location
- Straya
Oh wow, Indecisive and Untrustworthy is winning much more than I thought it was. Here are some of the less pleasant things about it.
Firstly, it locks your Relationship with Sunette, who is one of your two Friends. Sure, you get Abraham to replace her, but it leaves you without an intelligent, bookish friend in the longterm. You'll have to go find an entirely new friend, which isn't necessarily an easy call for someone like Ulos.
Secondly, it means Ulos's relationships are going to be essentially all Acquaintances with a few Close Friends to round it out. Having a wide circle of Friends who can do useful things for you is basically out - you get a small clique of super-close friends and a bunch of people you just only know. This is very useful if you need someone to throw a punch for you, but less useful if you need a wide-ranging net of research buddies to maximise your knowledge.
It also means you need to be really careful asking for aid. If Ulos asks for help in a serious matter (he won't break off a Relationship because Madavian didn't help him wash the dishes, for instance), it means he's decided this matter is worth the friendship. If you use this frivolously, or ask someone to do something they're not likely to do, you can lose those hard-won friendships really, really quickly.
Firstly, it locks your Relationship with Sunette, who is one of your two Friends. Sure, you get Abraham to replace her, but it leaves you without an intelligent, bookish friend in the longterm. You'll have to go find an entirely new friend, which isn't necessarily an easy call for someone like Ulos.
Secondly, it means Ulos's relationships are going to be essentially all Acquaintances with a few Close Friends to round it out. Having a wide circle of Friends who can do useful things for you is basically out - you get a small clique of super-close friends and a bunch of people you just only know. This is very useful if you need someone to throw a punch for you, but less useful if you need a wide-ranging net of research buddies to maximise your knowledge.
It also means you need to be really careful asking for aid. If Ulos asks for help in a serious matter (he won't break off a Relationship because Madavian didn't help him wash the dishes, for instance), it means he's decided this matter is worth the friendship. If you use this frivolously, or ask someone to do something they're not likely to do, you can lose those hard-won friendships really, really quickly.
Combining "Threaten Thomas" with "Indecisive and Untrustworthy" could be very risky imo.
As I understand it, Going with "Threaten Thomas" would mean Thomas will try to get at us in any way he can. And since he can't go after our funding or go after us too directly (if we keep Madavian as a friend and we stay in the teachers' good books) the easiest way to do so would be to go after our friends.
"Indecisive and Untrustworthy" would steer us in the direction of having a few really good friends. Which could make us extra vulnerable to having people mess with out friends. He could, in theory cripple our whole socia network by putting just one or two friends out of commission for a while.
As I understand it, Going with "Threaten Thomas" would mean Thomas will try to get at us in any way he can. And since he can't go after our funding or go after us too directly (if we keep Madavian as a friend and we stay in the teachers' good books) the easiest way to do so would be to go after our friends.
"Indecisive and Untrustworthy" would steer us in the direction of having a few really good friends. Which could make us extra vulnerable to having people mess with out friends. He could, in theory cripple our whole socia network by putting just one or two friends out of commission for a while.
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- Location
- va
[X] Spin a Lie
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
- Location
- Straya
Let's also talk about the other two options and their advantages as well.
Cowardly Betrayer opens new Actions. Ulos will be braver and able to take more risks. While this isn't always positive, he's conservative by nature. Taking on the Necromancer (if he decides to go ahead with it) will require bravery and risk-taking. In the long term, this Trait offers riskier actions with more reward. It synergises with Threaten Thomas really well as well. After all, if you're going straight conflict you're going to need to take some risks, and it'll open riskier (but more effective) options to beat your new Rival.
Doing What She Had To has its weaknesses - being more forgiving and less judgemental and suspicious means you're not going to catch betrayals as easily, but being less judgemental and more forgiving means you're less likely to see negative Relationship steps, allowing you to maintain more Relationships and have a broader range of not-so-close Friends. It opens the door to an Ulos with a strong array of allies (none of whom are too crucial), which diversifies the risk he faces. It also preserves your Relationship with Sunette, giving you three Friends at the close of this Crisis, which is a pretty powerful short-term gain.
Cowardly Betrayer opens new Actions. Ulos will be braver and able to take more risks. While this isn't always positive, he's conservative by nature. Taking on the Necromancer (if he decides to go ahead with it) will require bravery and risk-taking. In the long term, this Trait offers riskier actions with more reward. It synergises with Threaten Thomas really well as well. After all, if you're going straight conflict you're going to need to take some risks, and it'll open riskier (but more effective) options to beat your new Rival.
Doing What She Had To has its weaknesses - being more forgiving and less judgemental and suspicious means you're not going to catch betrayals as easily, but being less judgemental and more forgiving means you're less likely to see negative Relationship steps, allowing you to maintain more Relationships and have a broader range of not-so-close Friends. It opens the door to an Ulos with a strong array of allies (none of whom are too crucial), which diversifies the risk he faces. It also preserves your Relationship with Sunette, giving you three Friends at the close of this Crisis, which is a pretty powerful short-term gain.
Umi-san
Procrastinating.
- Location
- ꙮ
Your analysis of "Threaten Thomas" applies to all choices except Negotiate.
That's possible, but putting one or two people "out of commission" would likely result in expulsion of the people it can be linked to. A better criticism is that having fewer friends decreases our ability to create a wider friend pool that can more easily resist negative rumors. A response to that is that having fewer, deeper friendships means that we're more able to ignore negative rumors because our deep ties are unlikely to be troubled by them.
I'm the kind of person who prefers fewer, deeper friendships. So the question is therefore whether it's better to steal his stuff and have the public not know of the situation or to bring it up to the teachers, which publicly airs this issue.
asphaltus
Never bought a physical comic book
- Location
- New Delhi
That's the way it should be. Keep them close those who trust, and a basic acquaintance level for others. We are not a social butterfly, because that's Mandavian's job. The friends we will have never betray us, and we can spend a greater time powering ourselves up and integrating with the teachers.
Ulos is Hermione, Mandavian is Ron, and Thomas is Harry. (or something like that). It is the Harry Potter option, and I'm absolutely positive that this is the decision to make.
- Location
- USA
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
[X] Threaten Thomas
After thinking it over and having the QM speak for it changed my mind. Also, that favor owed to Thomas makes Negotiate less than preferable.
For the other vote, I think along a similar line. I don't get along with many people and I would do anything for a friend.
[X] Threaten Thomas
After thinking it over and having the QM speak for it changed my mind. Also, that favor owed to Thomas makes Negotiate less than preferable.
For the other vote, I think along a similar line. I don't get along with many people and I would do anything for a friend.
- Location
- Chicago
I have an idea for a variant of spin a lie. We could rough up Abraham a bit ourselves then spin the entire incident as self defense. The story would be that after ruining his room failed to break him the enraged Thomas attacked Abraham in the showers. Thomas mostly won the fight, but Abraham got a lucky hit in. What do you guys think?
- Location
- Brazil
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Threaten Thomas
Forgot to put X in the boxes.
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Cowardly Betrayer
[X] Cowardly Betrayer
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FullNothingness
Mostly DHMO.
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
Ultimately it seems to me that we aren't going to be winning over any Narubite types regardless, might as well not try. And this option does give us some decent stuff.
As for the Sunnete response. Her cautious trait was always going to make relying on her going to backfire sometime. OTOH +30 on rolls when we really need it is pretty huge.
[X] Indecisive and Untrustworthy
Ultimately it seems to me that we aren't going to be winning over any Narubite types regardless, might as well not try. And this option does give us some decent stuff.
As for the Sunnete response. Her cautious trait was always going to make relying on her going to backfire sometime. OTOH +30 on rolls when we really need it is pretty huge.
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Doing What She Had To
There are plenty of good options for Thomas to be threatened with, not less that his roommates side of the room is trashed and his isn't. Combine that with Abraham having a bruise or two on him, and it starts to look really awful as Narubite bullying gone out of control so early.
Doing what she had to, because empathy is a thing. Some friends are good for certain situations, and other's just aren't. The thing to do isn't avoid being friends with them at all, but to be adaptive and just not rely on them in such circumstances where they'll struggle. Like how relying on Madavian to be a study partner likely wouldn't end well for us, given his low will power. However with his reckless and high social stat, there are plenty of things where he does excel.
[X] Doing What She Had To
There are plenty of good options for Thomas to be threatened with, not less that his roommates side of the room is trashed and his isn't. Combine that with Abraham having a bruise or two on him, and it starts to look really awful as Narubite bullying gone out of control so early.
Doing what she had to, because empathy is a thing. Some friends are good for certain situations, and other's just aren't. The thing to do isn't avoid being friends with them at all, but to be adaptive and just not rely on them in such circumstances where they'll struggle. Like how relying on Madavian to be a study partner likely wouldn't end well for us, given his low will power. However with his reckless and high social stat, there are plenty of things where he does excel.
- Location
- Straya
Vote counts are as follows.
Indecisive and Untrustworthy - 15
Doing What She Had To - 4
Cowardly Betrayer - 3
Threaten Thomas - 14
Commence Negotiations - 3
Spin a Lie - 2
While it seems fairly cut-and-dried as to which options are likely to win, I'm going to leave it open for another twelve hours or so (more if it ends up being close). For anyone who wants to push another option over the current set, it's an excellent time to put forward some arguments and rally some voters.
Both of these choices will have fairly large impacts on Ulos and the quest. The reaction to Sunette decides a lot about how we view people and make friends for the foreseeable future, and presently we're headed into a small clique of close friends with a side-order of massive (over?)reaction to people not helping Ulos out. If we want to be more chill (or want to go Gryffindor bravery over Hufflepuff loyalty), we might want to consider taking a different path.
Likewise, we're headed towards a major confrontation and maxing risk to try and max reward. If you're a fan of lower risk (and admittedly lower reward), you might want to advocate for a different path.
Indecisive and Untrustworthy - 15
Doing What She Had To - 4
Cowardly Betrayer - 3
Threaten Thomas - 14
Commence Negotiations - 3
Spin a Lie - 2
While it seems fairly cut-and-dried as to which options are likely to win, I'm going to leave it open for another twelve hours or so (more if it ends up being close). For anyone who wants to push another option over the current set, it's an excellent time to put forward some arguments and rally some voters.
Both of these choices will have fairly large impacts on Ulos and the quest. The reaction to Sunette decides a lot about how we view people and make friends for the foreseeable future, and presently we're headed into a small clique of close friends with a side-order of massive (over?)reaction to people not helping Ulos out. If we want to be more chill (or want to go Gryffindor bravery over Hufflepuff loyalty), we might want to consider taking a different path.
Likewise, we're headed towards a major confrontation and maxing risk to try and max reward. If you're a fan of lower risk (and admittedly lower reward), you might want to advocate for a different path.
Barondoctor
The things I chase come to me.
- Location
- The other side of the mirror
- Pronouns
- He/His/Him
[X] Threaten Thomas
[X] Doing What She Had To
Make enemy of an asshole? Check.
Ugh, fine, if we're locking Sunette out until / unless she comes up big for us, I'm voting nothing but investigate / friend Laila and things in that direction until that happens. Madavian needs our help if he's ever going to make anything out of himself, but we need someone to push us and challenge us on the friend side.
We've got Madavian the Optimist, Ulos the Realist, Sunette the Cynic, and Abraham the Apathetic.
We lock out Sunette, we need another one, or else we get unbalanced and crazy. Madavian's not a study partner, he's a talker. Sunette's not someone we take into danger, she's someone who helps us build our power so we don't need her in danger situations. Abraham covers us on the physical side. What part of "we need all these people" do people not understand here?
[X] Doing What She Had To
Make enemy of an asshole? Check.
Ugh, fine, if we're locking Sunette out until / unless she comes up big for us, I'm voting nothing but investigate / friend Laila and things in that direction until that happens. Madavian needs our help if he's ever going to make anything out of himself, but we need someone to push us and challenge us on the friend side.
We've got Madavian the Optimist, Ulos the Realist, Sunette the Cynic, and Abraham the Apathetic.
We lock out Sunette, we need another one, or else we get unbalanced and crazy. Madavian's not a study partner, he's a talker. Sunette's not someone we take into danger, she's someone who helps us build our power so we don't need her in danger situations. Abraham covers us on the physical side. What part of "we need all these people" do people not understand here?
FullNothingness
Mostly DHMO.
Making an enemy with resources while simultaneously blinding ourselves to betrayals might be a bad combination though. Trying to get someone to turn on us is a pretty obvious strategy and considering the Sunette action seems likely to be aimed at making more friends/allies in the future the problem only worsens.
Understanding I could live with, naivety is dangerous.