BrokenPromise

RP Rules & Preferences - What do we look for nowadays?

I GM 90% of the RPs I participate in, and they tend to last a few years. As such, I can't say I've kept up on what's "meta" for most players, as the quantity of RPs I've participated in is relatively low compared to the time I've been on this forum. Though I will say there's a few differences between the RPs I make now VS the ones I made in the past.

The involvement of AI is a change. I don't consider it a very big one mind you. I've gotten pretty good at spotting AI writing but most don't really use it from my experience. I've seen it show up in other RPs, but my general feeling is that it shouldn't be used to write for you. If you don't enjoy writing you should probably find a tabletop game where you can RP without having to write anything. There are other points/observations I could make but I feel like most of us are on board with not using it to write your posts. I don't see an issue using it to generate images. Regardless if I rip an image off of a website or have an AI design a picture for me I'm "stealing" from artists. I tend to prefer non-AI generated images most of the time just because they don't look so generic. But it's a point of friction with some players, so it's something I try to be upfront about.

What players consider controversial is a pretty big change though. I feel like overall, players have become more open and enjoy socializing with other players. I've never been one to talk about myself too much, but many players like to talk about themselves in detail and often treat the RP group as a collection of friends. This isn't a problem usually, but you can run into some strange situations. On the less extreme end, people's political differences and opinions can surface. Something as trivial as opinions on universal basic income or what it means to be a woman can have your players going at each other's throats. You need to make it apparent that you aren't going to tolerate drama and need to set things up so that these sorts of situations do not arise or you have a way to deal with them. Fortunately, my players have been behaving themselves across my projects as of late

I've also observed that players, especially older ones, have become less adventurous. If you make an oddball RP that's just really strange and out there you can expect nobody to join it. Role players, and especially experience role players, have figured out what they like and aren't going to gamble on an RP they may not enjoy. I like to think of myself as an adventurous role player, but I've also noticed that my participation recently has been squarely in modern-paranormal-anime settings with a brief detour into an anime fantasy setting a few months back. I'll likely participate in something non-anime at some point, but I haven't seen anything grab me for a while.

There has been a slight up tic in superhero RPs very recently. The temptation is to point at The Boys ending or some Marvel IP to be to blame for this development. What people want to play is typically linked to what they see elsewhere. I don't think this superhero fad is going to last much longer though. These things tend to come in waves, and I'm sure they're going to get overtaken by fantasy or whatever else the next big media hit inspires. I say as someone running a psudo superhero RP. But I started mine before it was cool, or something.

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

Alright, here it is, the very last thing your espers/travelers need to be complete: Perks!

Honestly, I do not care for the name and it will likely be changed.

Regardless, perks are more intangible parts of your character. Is your character famous? Do they own a big house? Do they have a yandere boy/girl friend that can't decide if they love or hate your character? Do they have connections to factions outside their own? Do they have projects, aspirations, or dreams that they are working towards, and they have some measurable amount of progress that they've made? This is what the perk system is for: Tracking all of these ends that have resulted from your character existing in Pax.

SoM's goal is to be a little bit more sophisticated than it's predecessors. Rather than be 80-90% fighting in operations, there will be opportunities to build your characters reputation, livelihood, and chase their goals. Sometimes this will result in fighting, but not always. When your characters have downtime they will have the opportunity to pursue things that can shift the direction of the narrative.

Here's an example of what your character's perks might look like. If you wish, you may add them to your sheets:

Ashley Avenir:

Freelance Friendly E

Ashley’s interactions with the freelancers has made them view her positively.

Maverick Tolerant F

Ashley’s interactions with the mavericks have made the open to some dialog, despite being enemies.

Goblin Stayer X

Ashley might have slain some goblins in the sewer. Then again, she might not have.

Kobayashi Rika:

Prestige F

Rika’s parents were involved with the supernatural world before her. Who knows what sort of reputation has been placed on her?

Ninochka Yaroslava Nikiforov:

Mysterious F

The less a player gives a GM, the greater the desire is to do something WHACKY.

?????:

Alien Appeal F

Otherworldly creatures think tentacles are cute, apparently.

Marrie Knight:

GEMINI Friendly F

Marrie’s interactions with GEMINI have made them view her positively.

Maverick Friendly F

Marrie’s interactions with Maverick Alternative have made them view her positively.

Computer Virus D

A hard to remove, insidious virus that replicates across a system. It’s been let out of the bottle however, and cyber firms have started to take actions against it. It won’t work on harder computer systems without some upgrading, but it should help Marrie hijack less computer savvy individuals.

Roland Huang:

Mysterious F

The more a player gives a GM, the greater the desire is to do something WHACKY.

Alice Mason:

Arbiter B

Best not to say too much about this one.

Nukkelina Nieminen:

Monster Friendly F

Despite Nukkelina’s quest to recover her heart from a savage monster, she’s earned a reputation with Pax’s less desirables. Monsters will be more willing to speak with her even if they don’t align with Maverick Alternative.

Phoebe Selinas:

Famous Idol F

There isn’t much of an idol culture in the west anymore, certainly not in Pax. Yet Astra has managed to resonate with a few people. Astra can get into certain venues and those that recognize her (and enjoy her music) will be more likely to offer their assistance.

...Of course, this is a BP RP. More specifically, your characters are living in a world where a lot of entities want to see them die, fail, be miserable, and/or generally revel in the suffering of those around them. That is to say that while your characters can make plays to improve their positions in the world, something else is likely making plays against them.

In addition to perks, characters can get "quirks," or negative perks. These represent blemishes to your character's reputation, shortcomings in character or body, or other unseen dangers. The system does not really make a distinction between the two at this time, so you can put these quirks on your character sheet under your perks if you wish.

Ashley Avenir:

Madness C

Ashley can’t stop running into otherworldly entities, and it may be quietly taking a toll on her sanity.

Unwitting E

Ashley has a role in a plot she does not yet understand. The ones watching her plan to keep it that way.

Kobayashi Rika:

Unwitting F

Rika is part of a plot she does not yet understand. The ones watching her plan to keep it that way.

Ninochka Yaroslava Nikiforov:

Dubious Stranger F

Someone has it out for Nina.

???:

Debt F

You need to pay it back...

Marrie Knight:

Madness E

Summer is not good for one’s mental health.

Keyboard Opposition E

Making and spreading viruses is all fun and games until you anger the digital world, which Marrie has managed to do.

Roland Huang:

Dubious F

A mysterious quirk for our mysterious esper.

Alice Mason:

Madness XX

Only Oros the Mad is madder than Alice Mason. Well, unless you count Alice Parker…

Nukkelina Nieminen:

Madness F

Calling out the Grand Magistrate’s title is not something sane characters do.

Stolen Precious Thing F

Nukkelina had the precious thing stolen from her, and Reimu wasn’t the culprit. Her wooden mannerisms can cause some to worry and others will more easily mistaken her for a monster.

Phoebe Selinas:

Perfect Blue F

If you know, you know.

Do note that very little of this is going to do much of anything in this micro RP. But you never know.

Anyway, that's the full system explained at this time. Now all that's left is to deal with the aliens...

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

@Queen Arya I lied to you. The keyword you're looking for is "Greatclub," and you want your weapon's keyword to be Greatclub too.

Otherwise, looks like a fine esper, accepted, and she can sing her way to the character tab.

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

"You missed the perfect chance to make a wok pun, Rika. And for that, you have to die."

— Bionca Herrmann, Knight of Tonight

Bionca

"You didn’t think I’d continue sharing my stat block, did you?"

Cutlery met frying pan.

The frying pan made a dull ring when it bounced off of Rika’s greatsword. She was nearly overwhelmed by all she was forced to grapple with. An unfamiliar weapon in her hand, armor she was seeing for the first time, and a seemingly friendly woman possibly trying to cave in her skull. With everything to take in, her eyes flicked up to her opponent in an attempt to read their expression. She wasn’t all smiles anymore, though she didn’t look pissed off either. Rika had spent enough time on Pax’s streets to read a face. She knew the difference between the people that wanted you dead and the people that didn’t. But there was a rare type of person that was neither of those things. To contract killers and hired hands like that, this type of unsavory work was just a natural part of life. It was business. She couldn’t confirm that was what Bionca was, but it was what her behavior reminded her of.

"If you’re this dense, you can take a pan to the head." She spun the frying pan in her hand. "You just need to take a nap for a while."

The cook ninja didn’t reach for her knife yet. With her empty hand, she flicked a pouch into the air and swiftly pulled a wolf mask out of her bag and pulled it over her face. The next moment, the smoke bomb went off and flooded the area with smoke. Between all the external noises and the sand, it was difficult to tell what direction Bionca was coming from. But something was moving around in the sand, and it was coming closer.

"There’s an awful lot of us with dark purple text huh?"

— Iris Silk

Iris

Iris Silk
Max MP: 60 Current MP: 56 - 4 = 52
Casting: [Projectile] 0 + [Damage X] 6 - 2 (From Routine+) = 4

Gear: Goggles (Illusion Begone, then Witchsight) Food (6) Grenade (6) Smoke Bomb (6)

Leveraging: N/A

As Iris closed in, it was hard not to watch Nina as she took to the sky. She wasn’t super familiar with all the new esper’s abilities, and someone who offered to be the group’s shield wasn’t someone she expected to take to the sky. Espers were weird like that. They seemed to defy reality at every turn, more so than the monsters that visit their world.

The spectacle was too much for the turrets to ignore either. They immediately focused on Nina as she drew closer. Though as she neared the turrets, it looked like they were changing firing modes. The cube like barrel of one rearranged into a lattice, and fired a web of lasers at the airborne esper. Such an attack might have been avoidable at range, but at such close distances there was no opportunity to evade. The net struck Nina, but did not burn her. It didn’t even hurt. Rather, it seemed to inflate and turned into a hard light construct that spread across her torso. It closed around her shoulders and tried to lock together behind her back. A hard light construct was building itself around her body. Though the turret that did this to her had been struck by a salvo of plasma. The first round got the turret all jiggly, but then the follow up shot blew it apart. Slime was spread across the roof, and what used to make up the barrel rolled off the roof and into the sea below.

"That works."

Iris refocused her attention on the other turret. It wasn’t too hard, since Nukkelina’s puppets were offering to be fodder. Pekka had been a hair too slow to assist Nina, but they arrived on top of the ship to offer any other assistance she might need. The elite was shot at plenty, however. Though rather than being covered in a net, each little beam of light turned into a hardlight cube when it struck the elite’s shield. They spread across the surface and encumbered the puppet. It used its sword arm to cut away the ‘barnacles’ attached to its shield, and was at least slightly successful at doing so. But it was keeping everyone else free of them, so it was successful in assisting the front line. Iris was able to form a blob of black web in her hand and fling it at one of the smaller slime contraptions beside Tim. It was a direct hit, and it melted to the ground when it came in contact with the acidic strands.

The poor little minor puppet was far less successful in his mission. The ship looked like a giant crate and had no obvious openings other than the front ramp. Everything else was made of nearly identical cubes and it was hard to say what was a door and what was a panne. Puppets lacked many things, as well as a mind for reason. It awaited its next order, being unable to complete this task.

"It’s still difficult to approach the alien." Iris commented. "Even in the wind, his fumes don’t carry very far."

"L-Lucky number 7 anyone?"

— Dan Daggernose

Not all of the mavericks were assaulting the space ship though. Some were trying to intimidate their host, captor, or whatever role Daggernose played in this. Initially he was too mortified to respond to the outright hostility that was taking place. But after a few of the slime turrets blew up, Dan found his attention on the jellyfish girl.

"What?" It took him a moment to process what she was saying. "Why do you have an aquarium? Do you live in one?" His eyes moved back between the fight and Scypho. "What are you doing!?" It seemed like Dan was responding, though it wasn’t clear if any of the jellyfish’s words were intimidating him. "He must have stored them all on the ship. I’ve been hanging out in the hotel at night. H-he said he wasn’t interested in playing with humans, I had no idea he was doing this…"

"Sundays are for Mika."

— Mika Fang, Cerberus

Mika

Mika Fang
Max MP: 30 Current MP: 28 - 4 = 24
Casting: [Self] 0 + [Construction E] 4 = 4

Gear: Taser (3 shots) Mastermind (40 credits - 10 for 3 smoke bombs) Smoke Bombs (3/3 - 1)

Leveraging: Divination 12

The Mavericks were only half of the invasion party, however. More shots were aimed at the ramp’s other flank, but Jack was quick to erect a barrier. Maybe not the very fastest, however. One of her legs ended up getting hit by a few projectiles, and a few hard light constructs appeared on her leg. The vast majority appeared on the other side of the sand barrier she made.

"Huh…" Mika eyed the melody for a moment. Though Jack was quick to repeat Ashley’s orders to her. "I think I can do that." She looked at Alice and nodded, perhaps confirming that they would be moving up the ramp together.

"Weird, not trying to kill me? You’re more boring than I thought."

— Alice Mason

Alice's Stats

Alice Mason
Max MP: 80 Current MP: 68 - 6 = 62
Casting: Spawn (2), Ignite (4) = 6

Gear: Goggles (infrared Activated), Ka-Bar Knife (5/5 Durability)

Leveraging: N/A

Well, someone had to keep Tim busy, and if GEMINI was needing back up who was she to deny? Alice nodded back to Mika, and started to open fire at the wretched stinkbug. "You and I aren't finished yet, jackass!" She barked at Tim. The more time and more importantly, if she was being honest distance she could give to the others, the better.

Tim’s only retort was to point his palm at Alice. The strange apparatus that he held spun like a propeller, and her shots hit the spinning weapon. Mika shrugged her shoulders. It wasn’t exactly what she was expecting, but it would do.

Under the cover of their fire, she sprinted forward. Getting anywhere near the purple man would be a bit of an issue. She was further reassured when Jack’s bullet seemed to harmlessly rip through one of the jelly turrets. The response didn’t surprise Mika too much. Even though these guys called themselves aliens, they must have been creatures from another world. They were no different than monsters, if the effectiveness of Ashley and Iris’s attack was anything to go by.

She hopped into the air, and a giraffe appeared under her feet. It behaved like a ramp, allowing Mika to run up its neck and get to the roof. The larger turret on top was still firing on their position, but it seemed to be a little more confused now that the other turret was down and there were so many more people on the ship.

"I had a premonition about this…"

She reached into a pouch and drew a smoke grenade. She chucked it into the slime, and it poured smoke everywhere. Would Mika be able to see through it? Probably not, but it was so big she’d hardly have trouble hitting it. Her arcane claws cut into it, but it wasn’t something she could destroy herself. Not quickly.

Right on cue, the slime seemed to spontaneously combust into flames. Alice aimed over with her rifle and unloaded a whole clip’s worth of ammo into it. While Jack’s bullets had little effect on the slime, Alice’s rounds made much larger holes in the gelatinous creature.

Alice hears the chattering of the lonely lunatic....

Put those infrared goggles on, babe.

And because she had infrared goggles she was able to aim around Mika who was fumbling around in the smoke. The turret was on its last legs.

Alice hears the chattering of the lonely lunatic....

Stay sexy.

Ever the charmer.

Meanwhile, Marrie had managed to successfully open up a portal a little ways inside the ship. Tim was briefly off pressure with Alice firing on the turret, and the alien hopped backwards to see what was going on. Though Tim hadn’t even arrived at the portal before Marrie fell through it.

Right into his purple haze…

Marrie feels her veins oxydizing....

This one seems friendly. Why resist?

Tim tipped his head, but that was all the time he was going to waste on being confused. He hoisted Marrie over his shoulder and power walked deeper into the ship. As he walked towards the back, more of those small slimes started to appear in the hallway.

"I’m back in B L A C K."

— Book Kidd

Kidd

Book Kidd
Max MP: 50 Current MP: 50 - 4 = 46
Casting: Casting: [Self] 0 + [Speedster C] 4 = 4

Gear: Clip Light (6) Disguise (6) Gift (6 Probiotic Supplements) Grenade (6)
Molotov (6) Smoke Bomb (6) Handcuffs (6)
Leveraging: N/A

"Well that’s not good!"

As soon as Kidd uttered those words, the ship started to rise into the sky.

"Well that’s really not good!" He started to run towards the portal. "Quick, they’re going to kidnap everyone!" He stopped mid sprint and ran back towards the magic circle he made. Kidd drew a candle stick from his cloak and placed it on the magic circle. "Gnyeh!"

As the ship tried to hover into the sky, rusty hands of blood and steel, as big as the espers themselves, rose out of the ocean. They clamped all over the underside of the ship in an attempt to hold it down. But the rust was flaking off the hands with every passing second.

"If we don’t get aboard that ship, they’re gunna start doing weird stuff!" Kidd huffed and puffed as he ran for Marrie’s portal.

Kurai Majokko: Tsundere Gekido

"You want a bus, I want a lesbian biker gang. We are not the same."

— Suki Oyama

Oros had moved to stand behind Kiyo so that she could see the computer screen. It was an impressive map that Kiyo had made, and she doubted it was the sort of thing you could make in an afternoon while drunk or playing videogames. "Oooohhhhh…" It was also kind of neat to see the map lit up with all the different colored pins. She didn’t know exactly how Kiyo had compiled all that information, but trusted it was probably just as effective as Kiyo seemed to think it was.

Nyxia was the next to speak. Of course, she had a problem with it. But it sounded like a genuine problem. Maybe. "Uh, well, the beach vacation we took over the summer wasn’t too bad, right? The night lasts a few hours. We can get pretty far away from Hibusa in that time. Even if it's just a weekly thing, it's gotta be better than what we're doing now."

Haruna seemed to favor an alternative approach. One that made Oros raise an eyebrow. Of course there were many, many, many problems with what Haruna was suggesting. Maybe the other detention club girls would be okay fighting the GEMs, but Oros had no desire to run into them again any time soon. Though if Haruna was that curious, the lot of them could just pound the shit out of Haruna to confirm if that worked or not.

…

Regardless, Oros would not be the one to suggest that idea.

Things got more theoretical when Suika got involved. Suika seemed to be suggesting some kind of passive farming strategy involving the GEMs killing the miseria for them plus removing Rei from the picture. It was an idea, but could they get Rei to leave? Oros was under the impression that she moved to this location for a specific reason. And about light girls killing miseria…

Shuuko was against all of it though. She started talking about black holes for some reason. Black holes were cool, but it wasn’t something that Oros could really wrap her mind around. A hyperdense mass that had a pull so strong that it pulled in light. By that logic, a black hole should be the brightest thing in the universe. Why was it so dark if it never released its light? If dark girls were black holes, then was the argument that they had more light inside them than light girls? It was interesting, but she didn’t see the value in this comparison.

Fortunately, Miss second-in-command was there to bring the group back into focus. Sometimes, all you needed to do was strip away all the bullshit and put it out there in plain terms. "Yup!" Oros nodded like a bobble head. "It’s all just theory until we can prove any of it. We know we get stronger fighting giga miseria, but this bit of information about Boss Baby sucking the fun out of everything is new. If it turns out to be true, we can try fighting weaker miseria, or miseria that are closer, or letting light girls kill the miseria." After saying out loud, Oros paused. "Actually, it was my understanding that light girls are made of good emotions and they just kind of disintegrate them, where consuming and growing off of dark emotions is a dark magical girl thing. But none of this ever made any real sense to me, so maybe it's best to not think about too hard." It had been a while since Oros had fought solo as a dark girl. She had watched light girls fight miseria before, but it never made her stronger. "Anyway, we can try it, but unless it’s the city of light, I would think there would be some dark girls around that want that power for themselves. They uh, aren’t always the most friendly." It probably didn't need to be said. Black Gate was a confusing case and Oros still wasn’t sure how to feel about it. "But first we need a ride! And one that’s not going to draw a lot of unwanted attention. Or I mean, do we? Short of a bus I don’t think we’re going to find something that comfortably seats everyone and their, uh, accessories." Oros flicked her eyes to Nyxia’s gun briefly. "Aren’t school buses kind of a western thing anyway?" Even if they weren’t, the previous high school was razed to the ground. Though the new mansion did have a garage to house a car. It was empty, but they’d have a place to store a vehicle if they found one. "What about bikes? Motorcycles would be cooler but we're trying to keep a low profile."

South Town Scuffle: Two Wolves (Terry Bogard VS Broken Promise)

"Mmmmm, that was a nice nap. Did I oversleep?”

-Mika Fang

▶︎• ၊၊||၊|။||||။‌‌‌၊|• ?:??
_???

MP: 3/10
Swan Gauge: It’s empty now…
Magic Sense Buff: 2 turns left
Transform [Bear’s Strength] Buff: 2 turns left
Transform [Ostrage’s Speed] Buff: 3 turns left

Much like Mika, it appeared Terry wasn’t entirely out of tricks.

While she had managed to launch her spectral cat at him, she had not expected a swift, even stronger follow up after his last attack while she was locked in an uncancelable special. At least it didn’t hit her in the back again. It detonated beneath her, and both combatants flew back and away from their respective attacks. Mika got up again, but it was a little slower than last time.

Terry attacked first, the man’s seemingly boundless energy was no ruse. As Mika’s magic sense was still up, she was able to detect the incoming attack easily enough. But the last attack had not been kind to her, and a bone in her dominant arm must have developed a hairline fracture. Even though she was able to block the incoming blows, each one stung her arm. Just a little bit longer, she told herself. Spirits were swarming her position, but it was clear that Terry was building up to something too. Thus, Mika planned to meet it with an attack of her own. They both called out at the same time, and their words overlapped.

“Are you okay??”

"Your turn to die!”

[Self][Blink][Bend] : 1 MP, recover 1, 3/10 left

“Mahz says cars are cool too!”

-Oros the Mad

“Make you proud, huh?” Oros the Mad placed her hands on her hips. Obviously she was very, very happy that her plan was working out. But when could Oros leave well enough alone? “Hey, watch this!” The mad esper practically turned into a blur as she ran around a corner. Behind the buildings was a rather fancy looking sports car. Ken was looking it over, and looked like she was going to start smashing it with his big meaty fists. “I hate this minigame, but I’ve got your back, car!” With a wave of her hand, a giant hoop snake appeared around Ken’s waist and started rolling away. “That should buy me some time!” She dove through the passenger’s side window (which had been left open) and slid into the driver’s seat. She felt around the sun visor and grinned when the keys fell into her lap. The car rumbled to life moments later.

I’m gunna look so hot pulling up in this thing!

Unfortunately, everyone had used their cars to block off the street for the brawl. But to Oros, such roadblocks were a challenge rather than a hard rule. With a snap of her fingers, another snake appeared directly under her ride and shoved it into the air. It went just high enough to clear the back of a pickup truck before landing on the ground. The back fenders scraped the pavement and threw sparks everywhere. The bigger issue was that her parking spot was full. Mika and Terry occupied the center of the arena where Oros planned on parking.

Her plan hadn’t changed.

She dropped a gear and threw the car into a four wheel drift as it went skidding towards the combatants. Though as Oros drew closer, Mika vanished, and Terry shouted.

“BUSTER WOLF!!!”

Two tons of steel met Terry’s strongest attack. The center pillar between the front and rear door caved in. It bent in the center, like a boxer bracing for a blow to his rib cage. The air was filled with the sound of screeching metal, and the tires left the ground again. The convertible wasn’t sliding anymore, the blow had caused Oros’s sweet ride to flip through the air over Terry’s head. Chips of glass from the driver’s side window rained down around Terry, each sparkling like diamonds in the midday sun. The car rolled five times, at which point it was upside down and skidding towards the crowd. But it stopped well before hitting anyone. It was still only for a moment, before one of the fenders fell off. Oros was not in the car, because she had not worn her seatbelt and had been thrown free of everything.

And Mika?

She had been able to sense Terry’s buildup of power, and knew enough not to challenge it directly. She had anticipated she might have needed to make a quick escape earlier, and had summoned a watchful spirit cat for the express purpose of teleporting to it with her magic when the time was right. It seemed that Terry wasn’t the only one capable of being underhanded. No time to heal. Mika raised her weapons and stepped away from the edge of the improvised arena to continue fighting Terry. She rubbed her forearms together briefly, but it didn’t stop her bones from hurting.

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

@Queen Arya Saturday works. I'll answer any questions you have.

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

@Queen Arya It's definitely past the opening stages of the RP. The beach trip facade has faded and a battle is taking place. Though I never meet my own deadlines and this could stretch out to the 4 month mark.

If you're okay with your character being an escaped esper (It's just come to light that an alien was abducting everyone) I can probably find a way to work you in if you can get a character sheet ready by the weekend. Otherwise, I can notify you when the real RP starts. Though that's going to be a ways off. Let me know what you'd like to do.

March of the White Rabbit: A Roll-Your-Own Magical Girl Roleplay

"Oh no, not my shadow self!"

— Ani

Ani?

Age: 24/11 | Gender: Female/Female | Illusion, Gravity
Body | Power of Friendship, Regeneration, Third Eye | Cradle
Coercion, Soul Jar, Martial Training, True Sight, Parasite, Gifted, Awareness, Overcity Shift, Mystic Artifact

Magical Overload, Cradle Supply, Connected, Gifted Item (Aigorost) | Monstrous Form, Exposed, Mercy, Distrust
Redirected Magic, Second Specialization | Non-Standard Limbs, Destroyer

STR: 05 | AGI: 04 | VIT: 05 | MAG: 03 | LCK: 03
+46
STR: 20 | AGI: 20 | VIT: 20 | MAG: 20 | LCK: 20

Remaining: 8 Gold, 30 Silver, 39 Bronze
Total: 12 Gold, 162 Silver, 183 Bronze

As splendorous as Mikayla’s display of magic was, she was getting totally mogged by the queen of hearts. Anyone she could talk to had been pulled into their private hell to suffer, if only for a moment.

Ani stumbled into a server farm. Plexiglass cases that reached towards the ceiling housed row after row of servers. Vibrant lights and bundles of wires flowed everywhere. There was a dull, persistent hum from all the hungry electrical components. Hundreds of tiny fans kicked on as soon as Ani arrived. She looked around herself, unsure what she was supposed to be doing. Then they appeared. Rather than confronting a dark version of herself, hundreds of faceless people appeared in the halls around her. From their chin to their forehead there wasn’t a single detail to be seen. Just a placeholder texture where her face could easily go. Even without their faces, it was plain to see that they were all someone’s ideal girlfriend. Store clerks, librarians, nurses, goth girls, and even exotic selections like kunoichi and sorceresses filled the spaces between the servers, which seemed to stretch on for infinity.

"Oh wow!" Ani placed her hands on her hips. "It’s all the people I try to impersonate!"

"Emphisis on try." One of the librarians had Ani’s voice. "An imposter is all you’ll ever be, and one that never quite lives up to the real thing."

"You could have been something original, something special." A kunoichi added. "But you choose to be a knockoff."

"You’re not even pretending correctly." A biker girl with Ani’s voice scoffed. "Do you even care?"

"I bet she doesn’t." A fem fatale added with a shake of her head. "Look at all that’s happened in Penrose? And here you are, finally choosing to show your face."

"Just stop already!" a Victorian woman shrieked. "The conclusion is upon us, and there isn’t a thing you can do to influence any of it!"

"You bring nothing to this place!"

"Give up!"

"Get out of here!"

Ani turned to each new voice that spoke up. She could feel the anger of the people around her, or maybe that was just the heat generated by the server farm. "There really isn’t much for me to do here, can’t deny that. I can’t really deny anything you’ve said." She sighed and folded her arms. "But I can’t just leave either. I have a story to tell."

A police officer laughed. "And what gives your story value?"

"Nothing you do or say will be remembered in a few months' time." A burglar smugly added.

"I guess I don’t really care." Ani shouldered her rocket launcher. "Maybe I won’t save the day or have my dreams come true. But I can’t stop either."

"Why not?"

Ani smiled. "You know, this conversation would have been a lot more interesting if it happened twenty minutes ago. But I’m as sure of my path as I can be, and none of you chumps can sway me. I’m going to finish, and you can’t stop me."

Then a giant chicken reached its head through what appeared to be a worm hole and pulled Ani back.

---

"Bitch, I am my shadow self!"

— Chloe Irving

Chloe Irving

03 03 03 03 03
10 10 06 17 04
23/12 | Babe/Baby | Spirit
Mystic orb, Gauntlets | Third Eye, Tentacles | Horror
Wings, Enhanced Outfit, Big Damn Hero, Blood Magic, Interdimensional Home, Sorcery, Enhanced Transformation
Dominator | Dark Weapon
Nagash

6 Gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze

While everyone was having fun contending with their shadow selves, Chloe was marching her army up to Covington tower. She had made it, finally, and looked up at the roof from her mount.

"Hah!" She grinned to herself. It seemed like all the fighting was happening on the top floor, or rather the roof. "Alright you buckets of bones! Let’s spring into action!"

Though no sooner did Chloe announce her intent did it start raining ex-girlfriends. After fleeing from her shadow self escaping all the gravity magic, ‘Penny’ fell into the back of a gothizzar harvester like a comet. It’s cargo of bones erupted around her when she landed, and tiny chunks of bone rained down on everyone. The harvester groaned, and slowly straightened its legs after the surprise impact.

Chloe hadn’t quite noticed who landed in the harvester, but she had an idea. "There’s no way…" She pulled a broken wish bone out of her hair and approached the harvester. With the help of her tentacles, she scaled up the side of the thing and peaked inside, only to see that Penny was (rather infuriatingly) completely unscathed by the impact.

"I’d have brewed some coffee if I knew you were going to drop in."

---

"Bit late for a dark double intervention innit?"

"Oh no, she’s talking like a brit!"

— Su Fang & Mika Sarraf

Boteg's Scares

Age: 50(?)/13 | Gender: Female/Female | Air | Uniform
Fists | Focused assault, Power of Friendship, Dread wings, Avenger | Boteg
Hammerspace handbag, Enhanced Transformation, Enhanced Outfit, Overcity Shift, Sorcery, Gifted, Ally(Mika)
Focused, Subtle, Mana font, Mental link, Mystic might, Former Familiar | Limited, Alien mind, Paranoid, Vendetta, Former Familiar
Dragon Scale Pendant, Ether staff

STR: 03 | AGI: 05 | VIT: 03 | MAG: 07 | LCK: 04

STR: 04 | AGI: 14 | VIT: 04 | MAG: 24 | LCK: 04

Age: 16/13 | Gender: Female/Female | Beast/Water | Skimpy
Body | Tentacles | Dan
Enhanced Outfit, Sorcery, Healing Artifact, Power artifact
Dan stuff, Dan stuff
Edgy Equips

STR: 05 | AGI: 05 | VIT: 04 | MAG: 06 | LCK: 04

STR: 09 | AGI: 08 | VIT: 08 | MAG: 09 | LCK: 04

The hallways of the Golden Trove didn’t have an ounce of natural light in their hallways. They were lit with a soft defused light from overhead. It wasn’t especially bright, but it set the mood for the space. The ceiling panels glowed like paper lanterns, and the fine woodwork of the hallway was complemented. All of the edges had a glossy shine, while the valleys were suitably dark to show the depth of the ornate woodwork. The choice to make the Golden Trove the way it was had been something Su did for familiarity rather than a desire to attract customers. In the ancient world, the Chinese were the finest craftsmen. Some would say they were second to the Greeks, but they only got as far as they did after exchanging secrets with Chinese builders.

Though this was not a hallway that Su remembered building.

This hallway had fallen into neglect. The lights had mismatched warmth, and some of them flickered if they weren’t out entirely. The fine woodwork had been worn through in a reas. Neglect from the hotel staff and patrons alike damaged the fine woodwork. There were even outright holes in some of the walls. Su had heard that the Hotel had wound up in the hands of some horned drunk, and it didn’t appear that she had taken very good care of the place. This place wasn’t hers anymore, but it didn’t bring her any joy to see the place tarnished like this. She ran her finger along an engraving and drew it back when she got a splinter.

Earlier, a giant portal had swallowed up both Su and Mika. Their shadow selves hadn’t been expecting them to be knighted up, and were trampled by the horses as they reached for the duo. Their bodies disintegrated, and both Su and Mika tumbled and hit their heads at the same time. The armor flew off of their bodies as the horses charged off down a seemingly endless corridor.

Mika reached for one of the doors and pulled it open. Inside was a normal room, but it was the one where her friend Lupa had told her that she was leaving Penrose. While all the rooms looked the same, she knew this was the case for this room specifically because she could see herself breaking down inside the room. She quietly shut the door.

Meanwhile, Su opened a door that led to the graveyard battle with Soth. Amber’s body had been chopped up and reassembled into a new magical girl, and Helga was trying to stop her from killing the abomination. She shut the door and swung open another one, where Penny was outside Justine’s castle. She was stealing Amber’s ship, while Su took the throne room out of the overcity. She shut this door as well.

"Penrose hasn’t been very kind to us, has it?" Su asked without looking at Mika.

"Nope."

Mika opened another door, only now she was greeted by Katarina Nekrasova. This, too, looked like a room in the hotel. She was nestled amongst a heap of pillows that Mika had gotten from Dan’s paradise dimension. The corners of her lips curled into a smile, and she examined the room. Unlike the last one, it didn’t look like another was present in this room. Katarina sat up and locked eyes with Mika. She looked confused, but happy to see Mika’s face. Mika was about to step inside when Su pulled her back and threw the door shut.

"Mika, this place is dangerous!"

The cat girl scoffed. "I know!" She folded her arms. "It looked fun though."

"All the more reason to be careful."

"Like when it comes to helping your ‘friend’ summon a horror? Why do you only do dangerous things for other people?"

Su folded her arms. "I don’t know, Mika. I feel like taking you on was pretty dangerous for Boteg, Helga, and I. You could have been a spy for someone, or one of Justine’s thralls. I never treated you as a liability though. We made pizza, I spent time with you, and I allowed you to leave as you pleased."

"You were always sad, so sad!"

"Here we go again…" Su rolled her eyes.

"You were always sad!" Mika strained. She walked over to Su’s side of the hallway and threw open a door. Inside the rave was going on. While nothing catastrophic had happened yet, Su was clearly unhappy. She was leaning against a wall, annoyed. It had been Helga’s idea to come, but she hadn’t refuted it. Apparently the goal was to promote the Golden Trove, but monsters were a rowdy bunch. "You were sad here too! You-" Mika stopped when she noticed Su approached another Chinese themed magical girl. While they talked, the rave started to break down, and Su looked like she was really enjoying this woman’s company. Mika raised an eyebrow, But Su pulled the door shut before that particular scene could play out.

Then, Su stepped over to the opposite side and threw open a door. This time it showed a sad Dan and Dina looking on as Mika declared she would be leaving Penrose. "But you’re almost never sad, Mika. Despite this, you’re constantly looking for something better." Su slammed the door shut before looking at Mika again. "How did that turn out by the way? You seemed like you and Katarina were doing okay, but I noticed you were really interested in meeting a potential sister."

Mika lowered her brow. "I don’t care if I have a sister or not."

"Trust me, Mika." Su sighed. "That was very obvious."

It took Mika a moment to process what her mother was saying. "I need to keep my options open."

Su laughed, but it wasn’t friendly. "It could always be better, right Mika?"

"It’s better than getting stuck!" Mika hissed. "You can’t stop thinking about Amber! Me, Helga, the floozie at the rave, if we can replace Amber-"

"You can’t." Su said with a sigh. "You can’t replace her. Neither can Helga."

"So you’re just going to be sad all the time?"

"Should I be happy?" Su bit her lip. "I’ve made life as easy as I could for you, but you always want something else. Helga and I both wanted a woman that wanted neither of us so we’re trying to find her in each other, and despite all I’ve grown I still need the help of others to do anything." Su placed a hand on her head. "After everything Mariette did for me, I thought I could come here and do something for her. Not because I wanted to or because I was the best person for the job, but because it was something I could choose to do myself." She straightened her posture and placed her hands on her hips. "When I arrived in Penrose, I was a scared little bird that took orders from their superior. And after leaving Penrose, not much has changed. I was unhappy. I was tired of Helga and Boteg calling the shots. But you know what? I… I helped enable that." Her arms hung at her side as she looked down the corridor. "But I know what I want now. I want us to be a family. I know Helga isn’t Amber, and I hope when I return, we can have a talk. I think she kind of knows I’m not Amber either. But we both have parts of her inside us, and I do think we truly love each other." While she stared off, she added. "I’m a bit older than her, I need to reign her in. Just like Amber would have. And she needs to support me like Amber used to." After saying it, Su smiled. "No, I think she’s supported me better than Amber had in a lot of ways. I suppose I also took you for granted and was a bit sad to see how easily you left us."

Mika blinked. "Well…" She scratched the back of her head. "I don’t know what I want, but I know what I don’t want now." Mika took a step closer to Su and locked eyes with her. "I know I want you to be my mom. And Helga too, I like you both a lot, and I don’t want you to go away."

"That makes me happy to hear."

"I also kinda needed a break from Penrose." Mika hung her head. "I took you guys for granted too. I thought about you all the time. I never really had friends or parents, and I started to miss everyone. Traveling everywhere with Katarina was starting to get boring."

"You’re young, Mika." Su reassured her. "You’re allowed to change your mind. You don’t need to push Katarina away entirely either. A little distance might be what you both need right now, and you can always remain friends."

"You don’t need to prove yourself to us either." Mika waved her hand. "Helga and I love you."

"It’s not like that, Mika. When you went off with Katarina, you were partially doing that to prove something to yourself, weren’t you?"

She thought about Su’s words. "I kinda was, I guess."

"I needed to do this, Mika. But I’m very happy to have you here with me."

"You seem a little happier than normal."

Su grinned. "Maybe Mariette will be a little happier than normal once we rescue her from her ‘mother’ hmmm?"

Mika lifted a finger to her lip. "If we beat all the bad guys, and Marriette and I get married, would that make me a princess?"

"It might make you a queen."

"Hmmmm…"

The halls of the Shadow Trove didn’t seem as hollow anymore.

Symphony of Madness: Beach Trip

Time's up. Thanks to everyone who got their characters sorted before the deadline!

@Nakushita Add the following features to your esper.

INSTRUMENT:
Extra Appendages 10

STYLE:
Gelatinous Physiology 8

GENRE:
Routine Poison 2
Routine Transform 2
Routine Restrain 2
Routine Portal 2
Routine Blink 2
Routine AoE 2

Backup:
Cache 4

PR:
Skilled Charlatan 2
Silver Tongue 4