[OOC] Accidental Magical Girl CYOA

[Landaus Five-One]

@skarsgard Thanks. :)

[GamerXZ]

I know this is a bit of an odd question but would it be ok to write my MG's backstory section from first person view?

[twave]

I know this is a bit of an odd question but would it be ok to write my MG's backstory section from first person view?

@GamerXZ

You wouldn't be the first. You won't do that for IC posts will you?

[GamerXZ]

<Snipped quote by GamerXZ>

You wouldn't be the first. You won't do that for IC posts will you?

@t2wave

Nope.

[Ariamis]

I know this is a bit of an odd question but would it be ok to write my MG's backstory section from first person view?

@GamerXZ

As long as regualer posts aren't done in the same way then sure.

[PlatinumSkink]

... Say, what time of the day is that meeting taking place, and how far would that loud Patron be able to be heard/seen by others in the city?

Very interesting post, though. Good luck, Penny and Beacon girls. Haha.

[PlatinumSkink]

Um. Excuse me, it has come to my attention that I've taken too many Benefit/Drawbacks, because I didn't understand that there was a limit.

"For categories representing a many different types of being or a loose organization, this base package may have benefits or drawbacks swapped with alternative options." - This implied to me that the base package, that is, the four things you get no matter if you want to or not, may be swapped.

"These categories may modify their base package with options. XXX - may take _ additional drawback(s)" - Is exceedingly weirdly worded, but it implied that one can modify the base package, which I assumed to be the four original things you get from any patron, by adding the amount of drawbacks mentioned. The meaning of this distinguished, this would then mean the line "After your initial package and benefit are chosen, you may gain an additional benefit for each additional drawback you take on" appears to have no limit.

However, having examined the character sheets of others, it has proven that one can pretty freely switch the two base benefits/drawbacks without any penalties whatsoever, which makes me seriously question why these four were forwarded like they were anything special if they can just be switched out whatever. Why not list them with the other options, then, rather than present them in any way? This realization meant, however, that the "may take _ additional drawback(s)" could not be referring to switching this. Meaning they're likely a limit, since "After your initial package and benefit are chosen, you may gain an additional benefit for each additional drawback you take on" implies one would freely take on drawbacks rather than benefits, which is exceedingly backwards but I seem to be the only person not to get it.

So, I seem to have bought too many benefits. Thing is, I WAS STILL ACCEPTED. This might just be because Western Robot didn't properly keep track of Benefits/Drawbacks of the players, but that's exceedingly weird because he once pointed out those that hadn't fully used their potential benefit/drawback situation. He even mentions "one free benefit from the Universal list, and can take extra drawbacks depending on their patron" thing, there, which I must have missed, but it implies he had that under check. So why didn't anyone mention I had gotten things wrong?

It makes me have to ask, HAVE I gotten things wrong? Or am I just confused? Is what I've taken somehow legal and I've just misunderstood everything?

I mean, I can pretty easily discard... let's say "Takes One To Know One", and "Marked" could have been switched to "Reasonable". Who needs a mark, anyway? Is that REALLY a Benefit? And knowing other Horror children isn't that important anyway. Knowing them isn't important to Asengav's goals. I'm pretty fond of all my Drawbacks, though. Do I need to discard two? Hmpgh. Suppose I could remove Big Brother, because I'm worried I might not properly roleplay it, anyway. And... hm. I could remove Empty Pockets. A multidimensional horror could probably get coins anywhere at any time. Not that Asengav's ever going to give Mariette money, anyway. Haha.

Anyways. Some clarification would be nice, because I'm confused as to why nobody has brought this up if I did this wrong. Thank you.

[Ariamis]

@PlatinumSkink
In my understanding:
1. Base benefits/drawbacks that come with the patron can be swapped with universal ones or additional patron list (the exact wording is that it depends on the type of patron, for example Beacon can't swap base package or something, but I think that's unnecessary).
2. There's one additional benefit that can be taken from the universal list or the additional patron list.
3. It is possible to take additional benefits from the additional patron list or universal with the limit depending on the type of patron, if they also take additional drawbacks with them.

Horror has base 2 benefits and 2 drawbacks, and when you add the bonus benefit it totals to 3/2. Horror patrons can have 3 extra benefits with 3 extra drawbacks for them. Your sheet has 6 benefits and 4 drawbacks, so you have taken 3 extra benefits and 2 extra drawbacks, one less than required. This means that you should either discard 1 benefit, or take an additional drawback.

[Shifter_Master]

@PlatinumSkinkIt was late in the day, near the same time the last meeting had happened. and I would assume anyone near the Park would have been able to see/hear Laat.

on to your character sheet: You are one benefit high but still have the option of taking an additional draw back to compensate for that. The limits on how many additional drawbacks you can select is mentioned on the first page of this as it is different for each patron.

Horrors can take an additional three draw backs, currently I can see you have only taken an extra two, Bane and Health sapping, That is the only things that I can see wrong, as it does state that the extra benefits and drawbacks can be from the Patrons unique list, or from the universal list.

[PlatinumSkink]

@Ariamis There's a few benefits/drawbacks I've taken that only applies to Asengav, as well. It's rather confusing to count when they're split up like that, I agree. Here's the full list.

Benefit - Drawback
Minions - Quick-Tempered
Marked - Insomnia
Creeping Doom - Bane
Takes One To Know One - Mind-Bent
Retrieval - Empty Pockets.
Mystic Might - Health Sapping
Mana Font - Big Brother
Reasonable

So, yeah. That's 8 Benefits and 7 Drawbacks.

Edit: ... So, is it just that everyone saw that and was like "yeah, that's alright" and didn't read on Asengav and so everyone missed it? ... Hahaha.

[Ariamis]

@PlatinumSkink
There's 2 benefits/drawbacks too many, that's right. Max amount you can have is 6 benefits and 5 drawbacks. And yes, I missed the patron-side ones. Real confusing.

[Shifter_Master]

@PlatinumSkink That does seem to be the case, I forgot that they were split up like that.

On the list you have given it is simple. You have two too many for both drawbacks and benefits.

Edit:Twice now I am only seconds behind @Ariamis

[Landaus Five-One]

@Ariamis Oh that's good I have the right amount of Drawbacks/Benefits for The Chaotic Seraph Angel. 6/5 anyway.

[PlatinumSkink]

@Ariamis Okay. I've removed Marked, Takes One To Know One, Empty Pockets and Big Brother. I'd like to think there's still an eerie air around Mariette, but it won't cause lesser monsters to fear her anymore. Knowing others are Horror minions could be useful, but eh, I'll deal with that like any other girl. Asengav now has money and won't be interfering quite as much with my personal life. Yupp.

Edit: I had Marked be switched to Reasonable, for clarification.

By the way, I've been meaning to ask. How should patrons be handled with allies? I've kind of skipped counting anything patron with Deni and Eli, but how do you reckon it should be, if we're to completely follow the rules? It doesn't say anything concerning patrons on the Ally perk.

@Shifter_Master And, heh, thanks for also taking the time. It's appreciated. Haha.

[Ariamis]

@PlatinumSkink
Honestly, even if Mariette's a bit gloomy, she seemed too cute to scare monsters. Besides, she has adorable monsters as her underlings, and they don't seem to serve out of fear. Big Brother also didn't seem like a fitting trait for your patron anyhow; Asengav seems like a more quiet observer.

Like Western Robot has said, Allies can be treated as complete characters, with their own patrons and everything; in that case the Allies perk can be rerolled. But if you want to keep the Allies perk, then the allies share the same patron that you have.

[PlatinumSkink]

@Ariamis I like considering Deni and Eli part of Mariette's character, and such don't want to make them complete. I don't like the idea of having a second character just to support the first. That said, I did wonder if they'll, like, have to have the same drawbacks/benefits or get to pick other ones or what. I don't necessarily want them to have Health Sapping just because Mariette has it, for instance.

[Ariamis]

You can choose different ones for them within the rules (base 3/2, max 6/5, from Horror list or universal and so on).

[PlatinumSkink]

@Ariamis Gotcha. I'll consider it. I don't want them to be as heavily loaded as Mariette is, but some of these things would be nice to have. Thank you very much for all the clarifications and help during this conversation. I'll now go do something else for a while.

... ... ... ... ... Um. They're technically benefiting from Reasonable and Creeping Doom, which are things Mariette bought for Asengav. Do I count these as obligatory Benefits that they have to have equivalent Drawbacks for? XD

Edit: Or maybe that'd be a sign that he's not as patient with mere underlings as he is with his champions. Hmmm. Heh. Well. Things to consider.

[Ariamis]

Any benefits/drawbacks that are directly connected to the patron or their behavior (such as Reasonable and/or Creeping Doom) are shared between all patronees so they must have them as well.

[PlatinumSkink]

@Ariamis Hm. Alright, then. Well, then I submit for your consideration, since it has to be approved, I believe. Patron benefits and drawbacks for Deni and Eli.

Simple List of Benefits and Drawbacks

Creeping Doom - Instead of Minions. Free.
Reasonable - Instead of Marked. Free.
Takes One To Know One - Extra.
Genki Girl - Bought with Bane. (intended for Deni only)
Retrieval - Bought with Mind-Bent.
Magical Overload - Came with ally-perk, but left here for signification.

Quick-Tempered - Free.
Insomnia - Free.
Bane - Bought with Genki Girl.
Mind-Bent - Bought with Retrieval.
Monstrous Form - Came with ally-perk, but left here for signification.

Character Sheet descriptions

(creeping doom, reasonable and quick-tempered are already written on Asengav, as is the in-depth description of what being "amorphous harpies" actually entails)

Patron Benefits:
Takes One To Know One - There are two parts of Asengav’s power. The portals and the darkness. Deni and Eli are literally dripping with the darkness to their cores, and this has consequences. They feel the same energy if exposed to it in others. This allows Deni and Eli to see through the disguises of monsters and detect Horror champions should they touch or meet eye-to-eye. If they have a bane, they also get a rough idea of what it might be.
Genki Girl - Deni only. As Mariette’s scout, Deni’s filled with insurmountable amounts of energy and fortunately finds stealth-missions fun, and she can stalk targets for days upon end without getting tired or bored. It does mean that not actually doing anything engaging bores her extremely fast, now, but that was sincerely always the case. She’ll also never get tired mid-battle.
Retrieval - As with Mariette, should any of the two of them end up in mortal danger and it has the time to spare, Asengav might reach out through a portal and save them. Might. It’s a multidimensional being with plenty of other things on its mind. Saving underlings is significantly less important than saving champions. If they’re lucky, with other words.
Magical Overload - They’re amorphous harpies.

Patron Drawbacks:
Insomnia - With a horror as their patron, neither of the two monster girls have an easy time falling asleep. Something’s always clawing at their minds, whispering horrendous nothings, giving them terrible dreams when they do fall asleep. Neither of the two seems to ever want to go to sleep, staying up playing games or stalking targets outside, and this is a large part of that. But eventually, they have to…
Mind-Bent - Deni and Eli are both as mind-manipulated as Mariette. They think they’re following Mariette out of their own free will, but they’re really not. Their minds have a compulsion to follow Asengav and their current leader, Mariette, and although they can disagree with commands they can never even consider going against the cause. Any notion of such will send a pang of pain through their heads, punishing them for even thinking the thought. Should they ever fall out of favour with their horror overlord, they’ll find themselves quivering wrecks huddling forever in fear unless someone bends their minds back.
Bane - While Mariette is affected by both lit wax candles and cracked mirrors, Deni and Eli are more or less immune to the cracked mirrors. This is because they have no portal or dimension-travelling abilities of their own, which the cracked mirror bane is linked to. However, a lit wax candle is the bane of the darkness of Asengav, which Deni and Eli are the personifications of. The slightest light of such a candle or the smell of wax in their noses will cause burning pain, forcing them to flee. Being locked inside a room with lit wax candles will burn them alive and cause their amorphous bodies to melt. A much more extreme reaction than that which Mariette experiences.
Monstrous Form - They’re amorphous harpies.

...

I don’t think allies were supposed to have patron bonuses. Because, if it’s like this, I could say that I picked Deni & Eli to be the “more experienced magical girl” option and then just have them take the monster girl benefit/drawback, and then I have the exact same girl(s) but with two silvers and three bronze coins to spend on stats. Which isn’t fair, so I’m not going to. But, really.

Edit: Scrapped TOTKO being Eli only, she has enough of an advantage on Deni with the Third Eye already. XD
Edit2: Honestly, Eli could probably benefit from endless energy while stalking and fighting and such, too... but she's not a Genki Girl! Deni barely qualifies, too! XD