ghostmiracles

[ghostmiracles]

The day I started posting about #chuubo's was the best day of my life.

[ghostmiracles]

Mid-March Thoughts on Arc Assignments

An update on the status of the Arcs.

Immortal Bindings - Gatekeeper (rough draft: part 1, part 2, part 3) Frantic Bindings - Gatecrasher (rough draft, as “Specialist”: here.) Sickly Bindings - Wounded Angel (part 1, part 2, part 3)

Immortal Knight - Allegory (rough draft: here.) Frantic Knight - Become Somebody (part 1, part 2) Sickly Knight - Star Quality (rough draft: part 1, part 2, part 3)

Immortal Otherworldly - Child of the Ash (part 1, part 2, part 3) Frantic Otherworldly - Spiritual (here) Sickly Otherworldly - Called Away (rough draft: here.)

Immortal Storyteller - Creature of the Light (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4) Frantic Storyteller - Creature of Fable (part 1, part 2, part 3) Sickly Storyteller - Creature of Delirium (rough draft, as “Alchemist”: 1, 2, 3, 4.)

Immortal Aspect - Chosen One (rough draft, as “Magical Hero”: 1, 2, 3, 4.) Frantic Aspect - the Ace (part 1, part 2, part 3) Sickly Aspect - Reality Syndrome (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5)

Immortal Shepherd - A Keeper of Gardens (part 1, part 2, part 3) Frantic Shepherd - Sentimental (part 1, part 2, part 3) Sickly Shepherd - Impresario (rough draft, as “Self-Made”: 1, 2, 3, 4.)

Immortal Emptiness - Indomitable (rough draft: part 1, part 2.) Frantic Emptiness - Troubled (rough draft, as “Renegade”: 1, 2, 3, 4.) Sickly Emptiness - Accursed (part 1, part 2, part 3)

Immortal Mystic - Primordial (part óynos, part dwóh, part tréyes, part kʷetwṓr) Frantic Mystic - Prophet (rough draft: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) Sickly Mystic - Awakening (substantial overlap with “Visionary”: 1, 2, 3.)

The previous version of this post was here; an earlier post, with more of the underlying reasoning, is here.

        Changes

As I discussed a while back, I think the Magisters of the Dark have “Prophet” instead of “Spiritual.” At the time, I was uncertain; eventually, I wound up committing.

Recently, while pondering the Arc set for Senyaza nephilim, it occurred to me that Actuals probably don’t need Creature of Delirium. Awakening covers the soul/body/mind theft that they’d need to do. A few rare Actuals will really miss the shapeshifting or magical girl transformations but … not all that many?

Trying to figure out what they actually have is a little harder.

Allegory has a lot of points in common but Actuals just aren’t allegorical.

The Ace is sort of half-right too; Actuals are randomly good at things, but they don’t feel right as super-competent beings.

Reality Syndrome works very well indeed except that it requires them to be training weird power sets, and the idea of Seizhi or Lilimund training to run (e.g.) the Wish-Granting Engine has some niche-protection issues. Let’s call that plan B, even though we don’t know plan A yet.

A Keeper of Gardens fits some of them but clearly not all; Awakening probably covers what we need there.

Impresario is pretty solid: it’s for characters from a strange place with a desperate need, and while none of its powers are actually perfect for Seizhi, Lilimund, or for that matter Senyaza nephilim, they’re all things that could be used in cool ways by any of them. Only the connotations of mastermindery are off here.

I really wanted Indomitable but don’t have a great justification for it.

So I think the conclusion is that they have Impresario (or maaybe Reality Syndrome, but I’m betting Impresario.)

The last change I’m making is switching out “Knave of Hearts” for “Star Quality” since Knave of Hearts is probably too specific a name.

               Character Types

Angels

Chosen One

Gatekeeper

Creature of the Light

A Keeper of Gardens

Example Characters:Jade Irinka

          Fallen Angels

Reality Syndrome

Wounded Angel

Allegory

Creature of the Light

Example Characters: Leonardo de Montreal before the Bleak Academy, the Mystery “Hoop Snake” (deduction from mechanical similarity.)

           Aaron’s Serpents

Child of the Ash

Called Away

Reality Syndrome

Allegory

Example Characters: Chuubo, Sal Caesar (sort of), the Mystery “Typhon” (deduction from snakiness).

           Magisters of the Light

Creature of the Light

A Keeper of Gardens

Awakening

Impresario

Example Characters: Principal Entropy, the Mystery “Harpy” (by mechanical similarity.)

               Magisters of the Dark

Creature of Fable

Prophet

Indomitable

Called Away

Example Characters: John Wicked, the Mystery Goblin (by mechanical similarity), Rinley Yatskaya

  Magisters of the Wild

Allegory

Indomitable

Primordial

Star Quality

Example Characters: the Mysteries “King Death” and “the Witch of the Far Roofs,” Zoe Rosewood (by mechanical similarity)

         Divine Imperators

Child of the Ash

Primordial

Called Away

Awakening

Example Characters:Jasper Irinka

      Actuals

Become Somebody

Gatecrasher

Impresario

Awakening

Example Characters: Billy Sovereign, Seizhi Schwan, Lilimund? (argument by mechanical similarity and direct relationship.)

       Warmains

Creature of Fable

Indomitable

Allegory

Impresario

I never fully cleared up my confusion about which Creature of X they have or whether they have Prophet instead of Allegory so eliminating this paragraph or changing Warmains is probably the next major thing that will happen here.

Example Characters: The Headmaster of the Bleak Academy (who wants to be a special snowflake with Creature of the Light but do I let him get away with it?), Mrs. Senko (who is not completely sure that she has Creature of Fable and not Creature of Delirium but is pretty sure that Orderic has Fable, so.)

          Deceivers

Awakening

Reality Syndrome

Star Quality

Creature of Delirium

Example Characters: Jasmine Apocynum, Iolithae Septimian, Genseric Dace, the Mystery “Hedge the Fang” (by mechanical similarity.)

    Strategists

Accursed

Gatekeeper

Troubled

Sentimental

Example Characters: Miramie Mesmer, Melanie Malakh

             Mimics

Wounded Angel

Gatecrasher

Creature of Delirium

Troubled

Example Characters: Leonardo de Montreal, Sphinx

         Tricky Stuff

Edony still appears to slot in as a Strategist. Maybe I’m more OK with this after doing Glitch?

There is still probably a “Zu” label with Chosen One, the Ace, Star Quality, and Creature of the Light, but it’s still also kind of tempting to make Natalia an angel and reconcile the two lists. I think Angels might be able to do without Gatekeeper, but not A Keeper of Gardens; Natalia is definitely a lot better with Star Quality than A Keeper of Gardens. So I think I can’t. But it’s so close!

So it’s hard.

Shounen is still troublesome, as I’m not sure he makes a good Deceiver or Wild Magister. I wonder if he’s a Zu too? Probably this is just a matter of thinking about him, though, and not about the world or the stats.

[ghostmiracles]

A Short Digression on Nose Fairies

Originally in Germany when people sneezed there were nose fairies that would fly into the nose. So people would say, “Gedsundheit,” or “God bless,” to keep them out. This worked because German nose fairies have very strict religious sensibilities. In America it is not that way. American nose fairies are not very religious. They observe a strict separation of nose and state, but also a strict separation of church and nose. This is because of capitalism. That is why you just have to say “Bless you.” It is also thanks to capitalism that American nose fairies are tired and overworked all the time. They don’t even really want to fly into people’s noses all the time. In fairness it is a pretty terrible job and I wouldn’t want to fly into people’s noses all the time either. If I had that job I would probably quit. I wouldn’t even need someone to bless me. However, if you want to bless me, that’s all right. Not only will it keep me from flying up your nose, it will also help protect against vampires!

(P.S. Xiyue Wang remains hostage in Iran, to general media disinterest. This has nothing to do with nose fairies, although if the media were to fly up their nose then that would probably help in pressuring the Iranian government to release him. Please consider that, media! It is a great way to branch out and keep millennials from killing your current business model.)

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (25)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Then, we built quest 5,

Finished the quest set off,

And summarized what we had!

Before starting work on a new character: Sal.

And, flailing some more at his stories.

Today, let’s get them into at least a temporarily acceptable shape!

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (24)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Then, we built quest 5,

Finished the quest set off,

And summarized what we had!

Before starting work on a new character: Sal.

Today, that character study … continues!

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (23)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Then, we built quest 5,

Finished the quest set off,

And summarized what we had!

Today let’s get into another character’s storyline:

The Antiquarian.     

Who, I think, after going over all of that, is going to be renamed the Wriggling Teacher.

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

Mawaru Penguindrum | Triple H

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (Interlude 2)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Then, we built quest 5 …

And handled some final details.

Without further ado, here’s the quest set that we’ve built:

~ The Metaphysical Investigations of Rinley Yatskaya ~

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (21)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

We worked on our set of Main Characters and concepts, tied them to Arcs and colors and archetypes, built Rinley’s storyline, and got most of the way through their quests.

Today, let’s build the fifth quest in their set!

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

@morishima_akiko ひまりんご旅に出る

Morishima Akiko: HimaRingo setting off on a journey

[ghostmiracles]

Chuubo’s Icons

A brief bit of history!

Chuubo’s has gone through four versions of its icons.

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (20)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

we built some connections between prospective Main Characters and Egyptian deities.

Then, we looked at what characters the campaign would have to have, pulled some out into a possible secondary campaign, and worked on assigning starting Arc colors.

Then, we explored some possible new characters for the secondary campaign, including the Mystery Typhon… but even after two different takes on her, we weren’t quite there.

Then, we finalized something like a concept there and looked at gender-balancing the default versions of our sets of eight characters.

Then, we assigned Arc colors and archetypes to the characters in the secondary campaign, and started talking about Rinley’s first story in that campaign.

Then we made a first stab at that story … and failed!

So we tried again!

and then did a couple more Rinley stories

and a couple more …

and took a brief break to sum up what we had.

Then, we sketched out the corresponding quest set.

Then, we figured out its metadata.

Then, we worked out the first quest!

Then, we started our work on the second, but, because I went into real detail on the design of the quest options, didn’t actually finish it.

Then, we just kept going!

And finally finished.

Then, we talked a bit about how to simplify the quest.

And did!

Then, moving a bit faster: the third quest, in regular and simplified form.

And the fourth!

Can I get the fifth one done today?

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (19)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

we built some connections between prospective Main Characters and Egyptian deities.

Then, we looked at what characters the campaign would have to have, pulled some out into a possible secondary campaign, and worked on assigning starting Arc colors.

Then, we explored some possible new characters for the secondary campaign, including the Mystery Typhon… but even after two different takes on her, we weren’t quite there.

Then, we finalized something like a concept there and looked at gender-balancing the default versions of our sets of eight characters.

Then, we assigned Arc colors and archetypes to the characters in the secondary campaign, and started talking about Rinley’s first story in that campaign.

Then we made a first stab at that story … and failed!

So we tried again!

and then did a couple more Rinley stories

and a couple more …

and took a brief break to sum up what we had.

Then, we sketched out the corresponding quest set.

Then, we figured out its metadata.

Then, we worked out the first quest!

Then, we started our work on the second, but, because I went into real detail on the design of the quest options, didn’t actually finish it.

Then, we just kept going!

And finally finished.

Then, we talked a bit about how to simplify the quest.

And did!

Then, moving a bit faster: the third quest, in regular and simplified form.

Today, let’s do the fourth!

        Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

The Horizon Campaign (18)

Link to the Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine RPG, on DriveThru

Link to Fortitude: the Glass-Maker’s Dragon, on DriveThru

Let’s talk some more about the Horizon campaign(s)!

Previously,

we built some connections between prospective Main Characters and Egyptian deities.

Then, we looked at what characters the campaign would have to have, pulled some out into a possible secondary campaign, and worked on assigning starting Arc colors.

Then, we explored some possible new characters for the secondary campaign, including the Mystery Typhon… but even after two different takes on her, we weren’t quite there.

Then, we finalized something like a concept there and looked at gender-balancing the default versions of our sets of eight characters.

Then, we assigned Arc colors and archetypes to the characters in the secondary campaign, and started talking about Rinley’s first story in that campaign.

Then we made a first stab at that story … and failed!

So we tried again!

and then did a couple more Rinley stories

and a couple more …

and took a brief break to sum up what we had.

Then, we sketched out the corresponding quest set.

Then, we figured out its metadata.

Then, we worked out the first quest!

Then, we started our work on the second, but, because I went into real detail on the design of the quest options, didn’t actually finish it.

Then, we just kept going!

And finally finished.

Then, we talked a bit about how to simplify the quest.

And did!

Today, let’s speed things up a bit.

Keep reading

[ghostmiracles]

[ghostmiracles]

[ghostmiracles]

Mawaru Penguindrum | Triple H