Kawaii Rebirth

Game Master BastianQuinn

There are two canonical teens carried over from Season 1. I'm honestly not sure which you should be more worried about.

I was thinking: Purrful Friends suggests that Chessa has already transcended at some point (as her Transcendence Power is that she can flashback to do a special downtime action with it). Does that mean that she knows how to transcend? Or something else?

Tracy is the only one who cannot Transcend. You're working with your own magic this time around, so it's not something someone can show your character. Any of you other than Tracy can decide as a player that your character has figured out Transcending, or act out your character figuring it out on-the-go. There's no gatekeeping this Season. (Yes.)

Does it use up one of my dots to do it?

The Downtime action you roll while Transcendant still counts as a Transcendant action, and still ticks off one of your four boxes for the mission. (Yes.)

Do I gain the benefits of Tireless if/when I choose to activate it?

I feel it's easiest to treat "Your first and last Transcendant rolls count as recovery" as a purely mechanical effect. Otherwise, we're applying numbers to time travel and that's how you break time. (Yes.)

Also:

In order to stand a chance against the various threats the characters face, they will need to Transcend. Each PC can activate their transcendence once per mission. Describe your character's transformation, what do they look like as their true self? Once active, they receive all the associated bonuses and mechanics from the crew book and their playbook. While transcended, the PCs gain access to their armour uses, transcendent special abilities, the 3rd and 4th dots for action ratings, and gain increased effect level (to bring them up to the level of the supernatural threats in the world). While Transcended, the characters can perform super-human or magical feats that might otherwise be impossible.

Each PC has a transcendence track in their playbook. Every action roll made while transcended advances the PCs transcendence track by 1. Once the track is full, the player drops out of transcendence and cannot re-enter it for the remainder of the mission.
The track resets when the crew completes a mission.

"access to the 3rd and 4th dots" means even if your Forgive is level 3, you can only roll 3 base dice if you're Transcendant.

When you roll while Transcendant, you're using magic, so while you're rolling a skill like Forgive, you could fictionally be shooting love beams out of your fingernails. The fictional delivery of the roll doesn't have to make sense anymore. It still does the same kind of thing, like Confess still exposes your faults, but maybe it's a glowing spear of humility instead of words said out loud which I can interpret as that other move you were hoping not to have to roll.

Armour Resists a Consequence for free. No roll, no Stress.

Looks like a Confess roll from a Controlled position with Standard effect. This should clear the Despair obstacle. Dark Bargain: You've upset the junior cadet, who will pull rank, and become an optional, but threatening obstacle. (They'll start ticking a clock for each move that isn't used to clear them as an obstacle.)

Taking this move against the Bladebeast will allow the optional obstacle "bystander" to start ticking a 6-clock: suffocation.

So do I make the roll considering it applies to what I have already done? Or do I consider that set-up for making the roll?

You've said the magic words to qualify for that roll. You can say more if you want, or you can just roll.

Apologies for the dropped ball.

Not a problem. It gave me a chance to review the rules about saving innocents from the Darkness.

I hope things are starting to take shape. I'm excited to see where this goes.

Fair warning, given just how close Tracy is to Eclipse & just how close to the edge this scene is becoming, I can almost guarantee that I/we will be exploring that option soon.

If you are taking/sending notes on how well the game works Bastian, you might mention that having noticeably lower starting action ratings (at least lower than in Blades in the Dark & Scumm and Villainy seem to) all but demands more group actions, at least at the start. Assuming she survives, Tracy will be trying to act accordingly...

If she doesn't survive this, & the Bladebeast does, I have the beginnings of an idea for an Outsider character.

You do have 2 Social Links, each of which can recover 2 Stress. You just need a patented Anime Monologue that mentions Junpei in any way. Also, you have to fail an Eclipse roll to actually Eclipse, then have to take all that Stress again before you fall to Darkness.

There are very few ways for this game to deal out Stress without you taking it intentionally. Most stress comes from Resisting, Pushing Yourself, Help, Group Actions, and Flashbacks which are all at your option. Your Obligation is the most likely thing to deal that deathblow, and only if you're Eclipsed, and therefore not recovering Stress from the end of the mission. (Which I think is hecking thematic.) You don't have to resist consequences, and Tracy is still in a controlled position for most social actions, and won't get any severe consequences.

The bad stuff that might happen (like, how you lose) is by causing the Darkness that Hunts track to tick forward. That happens at the end of each mission when:
- You do a mission at all
- You allow the Darkness' agenda to move forward
- You allow someone to become Eclipsed or allow someone to fall to Darkness
- You come closer to your Destiny as a team

Not digging the 50/50 chance if I just get 1 more dice, really not a fan of the 25% chance of success without it... and I feel like it's narratively appropriate to have what the Bladebeast said stress Chessa out.

Is there any other way, aside from Transcending to get more dice?

Also, I don't know if it's what's actually going on, but this gave me an idea for something I'd love to run if I were more capable. I've -really- been wanting to run an 'exorcist' game, and the themes here are really cool for a setup for a game with 'monster of the week' where 'feelings matter'.

Which is super cool.

?Related?: As a side note, a friend wrote a book a while back and I think it's free on kindle unlimited (if you have that), or 1.99 if you don't. It's got some really cool urban fantasy stories. (I'm Travis Staggs on the reviews if you want to see my review of it as well :P)

By misstep, I mean in word choice. A failed roll from a Controlled position only has consequences if you choose it. You'll have an opportunity to withdraw if you need to even on a 1. I only meant to point out that you're inside the back row cleric's (self-loathing) circle, and taking the wrong approach might trigger a nasty reaction. Being perceptive and asking the right kind of questions might help if you think you have the time.

No need to fear a low roll, just let her hear what she wants to hear in what you just said, and hope you don't need to elaborate before you get the chance to get a read on her.

I also have a book on Kindle. Under this pseudonym, or Sebastian Quinn anyway. It's science fiction. It's old though.

This next update will take a little time.

I need to make sure I'm up on all the "what happens when you complete a mission" rules. ~.n

Weird. I just noticed that the site doesn't show you who favorites your posts anymore, just when they were favorited.

Yeah, it's weird. Dunno whether I prefer it or not, so I haven't put in a bug report.

Looks like it's still supposed to, though. I'm not sure how to explain that stray comma at the start otherwise.

It used to, then it stopped. It's probably for the best that I don't know which of you don't love me enough. :p

It occurs to me that it might be a smidge difficult to draw closer to our Destiny as a team, or conversely, avoid that Destiny, as we don't seem to have one...

We've seen the world and the bare edge of its conflicts. Seeing my first, veiled performance of the Darkness and a profound failure to advance it's agenda, how would you characterize it, and what do we want the show's message to be about that conflict?

In this playbook, the Destiny is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's also probably a metaphor in the language of the gods. Something you obviously know you've got to do, you just can't figure out how in practical terms.

Coming up on the last chance to call out your xp prompts, found by hovering over XP, between the Stress and Harm areas on your character sheets. You'll gain one or two experience for each of those prompts after the Fallout.

At the end of each session, for each item below mark 1xp (in your playbook or attribute), if an item occurred multiple times, mark 2xp.

- You expressed your beliefs, drives, role, or background

- You struggled with issues from your obligation

- You played towards your promise or Eclipse This is the one that confuses me the most. Define 'played towards'?

Your Eclipse prompt is:
You aren't what they need you to be. You're week, useless, and unworthy of their friendship. They've given so much to you, and in return you give them nothing. You throw yourself into danger, desperately seeking any way you might possibly be of use.

If Tracy had Eclipsed, and then immediately engaged the bladebeast in physical combat, you could say that you have 'played towards' her Eclipse. You would have had no mechanical incentive to do so other than that XP prompt. -but yeah. I'd give you 2 XP to boop her snoot.

Tracy has promised herself that she'll prove Nobody is the team's Kami. This is your chance! She's right there! How's Tracy feel about that? What's going through her head? How's she gonna get proof? What does Tracy think that means? If you can think of a few things you did or said because of that promise during this whole episode, then you'll mark 2 XP.

Feel free to change your promises between episodes, and anytime your character literally makes a promise to someone.

I've found that the world isn't really dystopian so much as utopian. The issue with Utopia is that it is one particular group's idea of perfect. Everything is in balance, everything is as it should be, yeah?

But the problem is that that creates people who don't fit in that world, whose world views challenge the established status quo. What's worse, is that the status quo leans away from concepts that we hold inherently dear within our own society (for the most part).

The thing that stood about the darkness to me is that it is inflicting its own worldview upon the world around it. In many ways, this echoes the sentiment of the setting as a whole, it's simply that their world view runs counter, creating a juxtaposition that allows you to play the two off of one another. If the Bladebeast weren't inflicting its worldview in the form of death and destruction, they would be a perfectly normal person by our societal standards. It's in inflicting their own brand of internal torment upon the outside world and lashing out that they became a creature of darkness. "An emotion that can't be contained any longer" seems like a very good 'edge' for the darkness, which leads to a large number of possible conflicts and motivations. This means that the darkness is inherently fractured and doesn't work as a single whole, which also plays off of the world... but that if they believe the world itself is the problem, then likely they can put aside their differences for the how to change it in the effort in simply seeing change.

You addressed a challenge with mystery or ostentatious action.

I did poke a darkness death cocoon... and I did choose to sneak my way into the middle of a location yokai dare not go...

You expressed your beliefs, drives, role, or background.

Where does one find 'Beliefs' and 'Drives'?
I feel I played up the fact that she felt uncomfortable in the yokai-free-zone.
I feel that I frequently came to the conclusion that my character longs for 'normal' relationships that have been ruined by the 'stupid rules'.

You struggled with issues from your obligation.

Only during the obligation section, when the distrust between herself and Sora prompted her to leave - which fed into later interactions. It definitely influenced her attitude towards the world, I suppose - though whether that's longterm, or just in this episode remains to be seen.

You played towards your promise or Eclipse.

The candy bar was chosen explicitly as the snack of choice to be the 'aha!' proof that Tracy would need to be certain that Chessa had been in the clubhouse the whole time.

I am also quite certain that I have no idea what you're talking about.

Uncle Ao is gone. :( He musta gotten eated on the egg mission.

Oh, we could totally do something about that as a post-credits scene...

I'll work something into this transition so that you have some opportunities for XP, Junpei. I don't want you left behind. You can still look at what you did in the obligation and downtime phases.

The team also gains XP for the team sheet by:
- Completing listed mission(s)
- Confronting the oppression and/or comforting those who suffer
- Explore the nature of Darkness and/or redeem those who have fallen
- Expressing the essential nature, origin, or destiny of the team

Speaking of comfort... I nominate Tracy as finding something to do with the survivor of this mission (webbed-friend). Like... A hospital. :P

You've got Niji-tan to pawn them off to if nothing else. They're just there if you want to farm xp out of them somehow.

Each prompt is either 1xp if you think it happened at least once, 2xp if you're sure it came up multiple times.

Iiii'm really not good at arguing my case on things like this.

Speaking of comfort... I nominate Tracy as finding something to do with the survivor of this mission (webbed-friend). Like... A hospital. :P

Funny you should mention that. It won't be tonight but I still have one more gameplay post I'd like to make before our next Obligation check.

Yeah, it was either that you were gonna need to help the random victim, or I was going to drop them off on Sora's doorstep like so many wanted birds, and then go fetch Sora and be like 'OH MY GOODNESS. AN INJURED HUMAN.'

:P

I'm not so sure that isn't the best answer anyway... ;)

I was actually thinking working on a new room might be a good idea if we were going to start inviting others to hide out with us myself.

I'm still here, but I'm having some difficulty making sense of the game mechanics.

I'm picking up on it more as a (vaguely) codified freeform, and that may be where I'm running into the comprehension issue. So far, I'm picking up what seems like dice rolls at what might be the commercial breaks in an "episode".

There is an obligation roll, which sets your starting Stress.

You have Downtime rolls, which do good stuff for you.

There is an engagement roll, based on investigation, which establishes your starting position in the mission.

Then, while on the mission, there are obstacles between you and your objective which are cleared with rolls, but it's important to state your intent and hear back from me what your position and effect are (and if there are any dark bargains) before you roll. (More details on rolls during the mission can be found on the last page of this PDF.)

After the mission, there is a Fallout roll, which makes bad stuff happen.

Code zebra being the hypothetical instance of an actual survivor of an attack by an agent of the Darkness.

Your call as to how much of that you want to play out, or if we should just hand-wave the interrogation.

Thinking about it, I mainly had Tracy call him thinking that would most quickly address making certain the victim received proper medical attention. As much as it would be fun to pursue where this might be going, I didn't mean to derail things, hand-wave, please.

Chessa: I see 5 xp? You can put them all into your playbook, or put them towards a dot in any of your three action groups.

Tracy:
You addressed a challenge with compassion or honesty
Going for the Mercy objective qualifies, and I think you were pretty honest even if it wasn't in your best interest. 2xp
You expressed your beliefs, drives, role, or background
The conclusions you drew from the rose, and your use of it were very telling, and playing mommy with Perfection was one of the highlights of the episode. 2xp
You struggled with issues from your obligation.
Purifying the Darkness is always a priority for you, even when it complicates things. Contacting an enemy for help was bold and on theme.
You played towards your promise or Eclipse 2xp
You played towards your promise or Eclipse
Not sure...

Junpei, let me know if you'd like some help. I don't really second-guess these prompts. Gain the xp you feel is appropriate.

Team:
Completing listed mission(s)
I think you technically cleared both tier I missions. 2xp
Confronting the oppression and/or comforting those who suffer
Tracy fought systemic oppression from the inside, and the team chose to talk Petrichor down rather than murder her in cold blood. 2xp
Explore the nature of Darkness and/or redeem those who have fallen
I think we've discovered a lot about the Darkness, mainly because this is the first episode. There is, however, more work to be done before we call Petrichor 'redeemed'. 1xp
Expressing the essential nature, origin, or destiny of the team
We luck out here in that episode 1 is all about the origin of the team. 1 xp

So 6 xp for the team.

I look at these prompts mostly as a reminder of the direction of the game. Don't feel like I'm going to argue you down over whether or not you've backgrounded enough, just make sure to look back and reflect, and look forward at what you should do to best enrich the story by introducing more of your themes. Stir the pot. Get messy. Look back at these prompts whenever you're not sure what to do next.

I'm looking at 2/2/1/1, personally. :P Which is really only deeply important if I want to get shiny things now.

Speaking of said shiny things, I'm very interested in either raising Purrcieve to 2, or Analyze to 1. I'm really open to doing either, though... And I'm also into the idea of just banking the XP to get at things later (so like, 4 level up, 1 XP towards purrcieve, 1 towards analyze). Any opinions? (I hunger for statistical growth at all times. I am bad. :()

I'm looking at 2/2/1/1, personally. :P Which is really only deeply important if I want to get shiny things now.

*Deep shug* I only commented because you hadn't put any doots in your sloots, so I thought maybe you were looking for permission.

Speaking of said shiny things, I'm very interested in either raising Purrcieve to 2, or Analyze to 1. I'm really open to doing either, though... And I'm also into the idea of just banking the XP to get at things later (so like, 4 level up, 1 XP towards purrcieve, 1 towards analyze). Any opinions? (I hunger for statistical growth at all times. I am bad. :()

Well, both are scrute actions. Perceive is about the platonic ideal of something, or the big picture, where Analyse deals with the hidden secrets, or the fine details. I'm not really confident in my ability to perform the two distinctly 100% of the time, so the real choice is when do you want two dice? When you're taking a Perceive action, or when you're rolling your Kuudere resistance?

The clincher may be this: You've got enough xp to get a doot in Perceive and bank a doot in your playbook xp. Wow. Such doot. Much improve. Very shine. Wow.

XD. I was indeed looking for some degree of permission, but moreso, looking to see what others wound up with. My inner monster demanded 8 XP, my inner me was like 'No, no, you don't deserve 8 XP.' then it was like 'BUT PLAYBOOK ADVANCE' and I was like 'no... calm down.' 'Seven?' 'Maybe...' Then you were like 'Five..?' And I was like '...Siiiiix?' :P

This is very true. I feel that Analyze is inherently something that Chessa should get better at, but isn't good at. And becoming good at analyze also hurts her character a bit, because scrutinizing things totally tells her not to leap before she looks thoroughly. :P

So, I'm leaning towards your suggestion of 'much perceive, very closer to playbook advance.' Wow.

Still at work for yearly inventory, but it looks like I have enough XP to buy a dot in an action.
So I will put it in Kuudere and Flow.

Some help with XP prompts would be much appreciated at the moment. I'm not sure where I stand after how this all went.

You addressed a challenge with foresight or revelation
You revealed the heck out of Transcendence.

You expressed your beliefs, drives, role, or background
Playing into your relationship with Sora gave the newbies some insight into the first Season. You also made a show of being familiar with everyone on their first visit to the hideout.

You struggled with issues from your obligation.
You were sidelined because you felt personally connected to the egg situation...

You played towards your promise or Eclipse
Uhm... Cygnus hasn't gotten involved yet, and you took actions to that end. I'm not sure how to count that.

I see at least four. Hopefully that jogs some memories though.

Thanks. That helps.
What distinguishes between getting 1 or 2 XP from a prompt?

If you think it happened at least one time, it's 1 xp.

If you're sure it was more than once, it's 2 xp.

Nope...can't see anything else I can think applies. 4 it is.
Guess it's time to look at the exchange rates for XP to benefits.

My apologies. I missed several opportunities to pun with Chessa now that I've reread my post. I'm also likely to drop the 'v' on 'ver' to just become ffur. So like 'effurryone'. But I'm open to opinions on that :p

BQ: If I wanted to DM Girl By Moonlight, do you feel I would be better served by getting Blades in the Dark and reading it over to get a more sturdy feel for the system, or do you feel I should play it by ear and just use the admittedly small ruleset of the 'book' we have available through ActualFactual?

I don't own a copy of Blades in the Dark, but I have watched several podcasts. I do wish I had a copy. There are only a few things obviously missing from the playtest rules.

At work right now
I have both Blades in the Dark, and Scum & Villany
Will comment when I get home.

The short answer is that nothing not in the Girl by Moonlight rules set is necessary & the themes of the two are sufficiently different that I would almost recommend not reading Blades until and unless you have a firm grasp of what you want your game to be.
I have neither the time nor the energy to give you the long answer right now, as parent-teacher conferences were tonight and I am now exhausted.

[doubleooc]The LARP, which hasn't ended, involves 4 out of 6 Shuji eggs.[/double ooc]

Alright, that took a bit to get the tabs back open. Let's see what I can do here.

Tracy? Are we going to use your extra action to reactivate the Shrine of Eyes?

Yes.

Well, a Lounge & Kitchen would be particularly helpful if we are going to host an indeterminate number of guests for an indefinite amount of time, so Tracy will help out on getting that room cleared out/up & running.

Finally...

I think I'm going to sit this next mission out. At least in terms of actually going out there. I will keep track of things & see if I can't come up with some useful flashback action so-to-speak.
So, with that in mind, I will work on some kind of Social Link, probably with either Junpei or Senshiro, although I suppose that might also reveal more of the mystery that is Nobody...

Sorry for this dropping from my spotlight, I intended to make a post a bit ago, but things have been busy (I applied to a new game, making it that much more busy!)

There is also the option of the purification chamber, which makes things easier on lower tier missions, and likely has in character effects for Petrichor. :)