BastianQuinn's page

Some posts went up which I didn't notice. I'm working on an update.

"That's alright, I'll bide my time. I never understood 'shadow of doubt' either. Very messy, and the results come out a little..." The agent's hand traces a lazy circle around their temple. "Harvests the fruits before they're ripe in my opinion. Certainly faster-acting than 'heartBLEED'... By all means." The agent bows, and the gelatinous cube slides back toward the doorway they entered through.

There is nothing on this earth more gratifying than a summary from a player.

Correct, but let me clarify:

Also, long-time readers should know the dramatic irony in that this is Tomoyo's Magatama. I don't know if anyone else remembers much about the twins from Season 1...

The infinite threads of causality spread out before She Who Reads The Pattern. This moment is certainly a snarl in the weft of reality. There are threads everywhere. This weave has been tampered with before.

Outside, guiding innocents to safety, Junpei looks over their shoulder, hoping against reason that Salvia can handle the next five minutes better than they could.

A Transcendant Defy roll to paralyze agent Phil is Controlled Standard. A 5 would mean you can try something else, there's a minor complication, you suffer lesser Harm, or you end up in a risky position. You can Push Yourself or accept a Dark Bargain for another d6, and someone can Help for another d6.

The Dark Bargain I'm offering is that Brilliance gets a chance to run away.

Ao's working with what happened, so "A Date with Suzu" is going swimmingly, but "Awaken Matagama" did not happen as thought. I had not thought about the Shadow Animation effect being a standing enchantment, so that's definitely a character error.

Though, I do appreciate the hints given in return. Those are definitely intriguing.

Someone quietly following Ao knows tons about how the magatama work. There's something to the information you alluded to, but the thing that's in the way of Ao's Transcendence is his own confidence in doing so. I think the Guardian has an undefined move we can write about using the matagama with yokai or erohin.

To confirm, my previous study of the Magatama would be enough to Transcend now? Or should I roll something?

Absolutely.

You don't need to roll anything to transcend, but what do you want to do once Transcendent?

You have a moment to talk and observe. Get your bearings, figure out what just happened, and remember your mission is to recover the eggs. Everything else is gravy... As long as neither Erohin eclipses...

Thoughts? Questions?

Getting non-combatants out of the threat zone could be done from either door. The Erohin went in the front door, so it would make sense if Tracy wanted to work her way in from the back and help any surviving corporeal cultists.

Ah, looks like that was an edit. I wonder when that happened. I'll update the character sheets. Saves Tracy's Link.

Transcendence increases your overall Effect to make combat with the supernatural possible. The Social Link option only ignores Harm for 1 Action. I don't see anything about ignoring Harm when Transcendent in the base rules, Team sheet, or either of your character sheets. I'll probably spend one of Tracy's Links. We're looking at a Risky Standard 5. Dark Phil will be finished, but there will be some consequences.

It's all good. The game heavily favors teamwork. Tracy still has 3 Links. I just want to give Nobody a chance to choose how to assist the action... or to do something else.

You can only Push Yourself once per Action, and it's either +1D to your pool or trades one level of Position for one level of Effect. Either way, it will cost 2 Stress, the same as using a Link to ignore the Harm. You also can't Push Yourself if you're accepting a Dark Bargain, RAW. I think I forgot that last Action. Even if I were to let you trade Position for Effect twice, your Effect would be Standard, so it would not accomplish anything beyond finishing off Dark Phil on its own. You would need to come up with 3 ways to increase your Effect. A Set Up Action from someone else could also increase your Effect.

Brilliance is busy with the rest of Phil. Conquest is dealing with a dieing assassin. Neither is a Fallen Angel yet. Juiblex will get to spend all the consequences itself.

Also, your first Transcendent Action counts as a Recovery action. That was a 6, but not a crit, so 3/4 segments of your Recovery Clock get filled.

You're about to get yes-anded so hecking hard. Finishing off Phil's Shadow would be a Controlled Standard Defy Action; however, Alruna still has two level 1 Harm, you'd need to overcome both to have Standard Effect. Like before, you could trade Position, and maybe burn a Link, but that still gives us a Risky 5.

To bump your Effect up, this could be a Group Action with Nobody, but Alruna would take Stress if Nobody rolls a 1-3, and would still face the Consequences of a 4-5. Nobody would want to be sure they can roll a 6, or at least a 4-5. That would be different from Helping, which might also get you a 6, but unless we want to spend one of Tracy's Links, or someone else's, Help doesn't bump up the Effect.

Behind Alruna's display, the headless shadow writhes. The vital stinger coils up behind her. Nobody can see this concealed attack, and Nobody can prevent it without breaking the constructicons' stride. Nobody is ever so good at taking care of these background details.

The dice are on the table. The jury is still out on what kind of Consequences there will be, or who needs to take Stress. What'cha got? Feel free to ask questions if the situation is not clear.

The French maid doesn't respond to Salvia. She just looks over to Ao and shrugs. Yuki, Ao, Suzu, Salvia, and Tracy head to the mock dungeon. The front entryway is open and deserted. There are a few other doors which presumably lead deeper into the dungeon. Even from outside, you can hear the roar of the manticore.

Suzu looks toward Salvia. Her tone changes to something unaffected and blunt. "Oh surely. Humans are dieing by the second. I'm taunting this one for his involvement in the events leading to this fight, this is a social exchange called banter which he instigated, perhaps unintentionally. By extension, I'm also highlighting social links for the benefit of my current master. Humans prefer conversations they think they're overhearing, and a truth they feel they've discovered. If you try to list off all the most important facts they get distracted by their own assumptions."

"Is your heart sealed to the Darkness? You see what others do not; you know what the absence of a shadow means; however, do you know what you propose to fight? I can follow you into the Darkness, but I cannot save you from your own choices. You don't have the time for me to adequately express the context of your actions, and it's much more personally rewarding to watch you figure it out yourselves."

When Ao and the maid reach the landing, Yuki scowls. "This isn't an enemy-of-my-enemy situation, Nakahara, especially that one. I haven't seen her ring recently, no telling who is holding her leash."

Suzu gives Ao's arm a pat and departs to approach Yuki, rocking her hips. "I notice we haven't seen your ring recently either. Maybe I am not the enemy of your enemy, but I am an ex of your ex. You look very tense, Mister Shirakawa. How long has it been? I remember all her favorite places. We were like twins."

Yuki stands like stone while Suzu tugs on the gunsmith's lapel. The incorrigible djinn slides a hand across Yuki's chest as she sidles around to peer at Ao over the hunter's shoulder.

In the rush of bodies, no one notices a French maid step up beside Ao. "A dangerous precedent we're setting today: stepping from forbidden lands to forbidden company. I do have assignments elsewhere, otoutosama, but I could hardly look myself in a mirror if I ever felt occupied by such pedestrian tasks. Getting in here? That was a pleasant challenge."

Ao remembers when Suzu still had trouble pretending to balance on two legs. It must be like riding a bike. A few years of practice and he sometimes forgot she didn't need to walk. "I'll bet you have something I can really sink my teeth into..."

Thank you for giving us an update, I'll let Tracy fade into the shadows and try to keep the twins safe. When you're ready, feel free to pop in whatever scene you feel confident acting in. Don't worry about where she was in between.

I think that means you did it?

What did we do to mitigate the effects of the two level 1 Harm? Was it trade position/effect and a Social Link?

I'm lost.

I'm not sure how to interpret all those dice. I may need to re-explain the situation and your options.

The enemies are kingdom hearts heartless, they're all in the dungeon. The silhouettes are just bystanders. The most obvious entrance to the dungeon is the room at the top left. Right now, the questions to answer are: Do you enter the dungeon, how, and is there anything you need to do before then.

I'm not counting Help or Resistance rolls towards the Transcendence limits. Gotta promote working together. I wanna see some sick combos.

Also, while it would not normally be a problem for the megazord to clear out a room full of putties, Alruna has 2 level 1 Harm tags, so your Effect is Limited. Fortunately, you're in a Controlled Position. You can trade Position for Effect, and go for Risky/Standard. Alruna, Chessa, or Tracy could spend a Link to ignore one of those tags.

The Darkness is on guard now. You'll likely face more than one Consequence if you don't get a 6. I'll take that Dark Bargain, though.

While an opening volley of tiny missiles(?) tears into the cardboard and craft paper dungeon, the shadowless human is enveloped by the gelatinous cube. The human grits their teeth, bubbles of air pushing out through his teeth as their clothes begin to disintegrate. Some kind of change is coming over the two of them.

Work together, figure out if and how you want to improve that 3. Meanstwhile, I'm going to hold off on fully resolving this Action until the tavern crew get a chance to enter the dungeon.

I marked the recovered Stress for the twins. For that crit, I'll also reduce the Harm to level 1.

Nobody manages to put some distance between Aila and the growing collection of adversaries.

The human struggling against the two Dark cultists in the middle of the room is lifted by their arms and legs and hauled toward the manticore.

Tracy: You have 3 Social Links with Aila, who failed an untrained Flow Action (worst of 2d6).
Chessa: You have 2 Social Links with Aina, who failed a Defy Action (1d6).

Here are the descriptions of the things you can spend Links on:

Recover Stress: Spend 1 link to recover 2 Stress. This can affect you or the linked character at your option.

Shrug off Harm: Spend a Link with someone to allow them to choose a single Harm tag and ignore that tag’s penalties as long as they are Transcended.

Helping: You may spend a Social Link with someone to Help them without spending Stress, or needing to be there. Even with Tracy and Chessa Helping, Aila could not pass their Flow Action. Chessa can spend a Social Link to Help Aina's Defy Action...

Lending strength: When someone rolls a 4/5 result on an Eclipse roll, you may spend one Link with them to prevent them from passing into Eclipse.

When you Help, you can roll the die you're granting the other player, just to speed things along in PbP

A 1-3 on a Desperate roll is the worst outcome. The twins might end up rolling for Eclipse more than once trying to Resist two consequences.

Aila's Flow roll was the worst of two dice. The kind of Help that gives +1D would still be a 1-3. Do you want to use the Social Links to give them a fighting chance in Resisting, or, additionally, would Nobody like to Resist Aila's consequence for them?

One Dark cultist catches Aina's zweihander between two long daggers. The steel blade's sudden stop strikes her dominant arm numb. Is it broken? Dislocated? The cultist of Darkness doesn't even flinch, and a the shadow by the south door fires a bow. The arrow sinks into the wall behind Aina. Resist with Tundere if you dare, level 2 Harm: torn muscle. Resisting this Harm reduces it to level 1 Harm: dislocated shoulder. Either way, if she drops the sword and runs, she'll make it to her half of the wonder twin formation, but...

Nobody comes to Aila's aid with the other cultist, which snatches them up in a fold of umbral cloak. With a twist, it hauls them backwards, the dead silent cultist attempting to suplex Aila into the struggling manticore. Resist with Kuudere, Level 3 Harm: traumatized. Resisting this harm reduces it to Level 2 Harm: cowed. This Harm must be Resisted for Aila to have a chance to join Aina.

The gelatinous cube grows thin and tall, a number of stray objects swirling in the substance as if to lean in. "A new hunter? How desperate Vitality has grown." The bones and trinkets cast their own knife-like shadows, but the translucent cube does not.

A shadowless person with mousy hair slips in through the door the cube entered, stopping short when faced with the mess beyond. The person speaks to the cube almost fearfully. "I'm late, aren't I?"

If either of you Resists a consequence, you take 6 - your roll in Stress, and the Harm is reduced no matter what you roll. If Aina and Aila take more than 3 stress, they will roll for Eclipse. If Nobody still has 1 Social Link at that point, they won't Eclipse on a 4 or 5. The roll for Eclipse is your lowest Resistance. If they do not Eclipse, they will still be taking a second Harm, and will likely roll for Eclipse again. (once the grey Stress box is filled, any Stress or Harm takes another Eclipse Roll.) It all depends on who chooses to Resist what, and what the Social Links are spent on.

Let's start simple: Aina is too far to be helped without spending a Social Link. Is Aina Resisting the torn muscle? Will Nobody spend a Social Link to recover 2 Stress before she rolls?

All the inverted tokens were dead. I changed the corpses to skulls and removed the dead shadows.

Dark Phil sails through the cardboard and plywood divider that served as the far wall, taking one of the Dark cultists with him. An entire room full of Dark cultists turn toward Aila and the massive shadow now pulling itself out of the rubble at the base of the support beam he collided with. The Dark cultist in front of Aila lunges forward to grab the engineer.

Following on the heels of a distant crash, Aina is pulled from her immediate conflict by a horrific scream. she clears the distance to the door and kicks it open. She's now standing on the other side of the room full of Dark cultists. She would have to get past the one guarding her door before dealing with the one accosting Aila, not to mention the injured behemoth.

Likewise, Aila would need to avoid the cultist lunging at them and get through the cultist at the other door before reaching Aina.

Fortunately, a masked heroine is now aware of the issue. Nobody is in the room with the one remaining Dark cultist, but looking in the direction of the scream, Nobody sees a gelatinous cube squeeze its way out of a doorway. The eggs are only a few feet away, laying on a pillow. A normal person would not have the time to stow the eggs and effectively address the threats descending on the screaming human.

Answer the following question: how would either of them find the other? Yeah, I mean, you as a player could move them toward each other, but maybe you can think up a short cut that makes fictional sense, and avoid rolling an Action. Your answer may require a Flashback which would cost 0-3 Stress, or it might require a series of Actions, which may have Consequences. You've been racking up XP from Desperate Actions, but you might be low on resources you're willing to part with. In which case, you need Help so you can get higher rolls.

I'll tell you right now, running the shortest distance alone will be a series of Desperate Defy and Flow rolls with Harm as a likely Consequence. You'll probably survive, but you'll have to get familiar with how your Recovery Clock works.

Each time you fill your Recovery Clock, all of your Harm goes down 1 level. If it was level-1 Harm, it goes away. This will change a sprained ankle to a splint in fiction. Mostly, Recovery is a Downtime Action. Because your team is Tireless, your first and last Transcendent Actions are also Recovery rolls. If you don't use all of your Transcendent Actions by the end of the mission, you fill 2 segments of your Recovery Clock.

Will it be one that we are likely to hear about?

Not likely. I sold about 30 copies of my first book, Arcana Aeternum. (also comes in paperback) I've heard sales pick up around book 3. ;)

Thank you all for your kind words.

Arcana Aeternum is a science fiction book about life on a space arc. I wrote it seven years ago. It also comes in paperback. I think I sold thirty copies.

Our school is doing a brand change, and they thought maybe that could happen overnight. We've been developing tools just to make that possible in our maintenance window (in addition to making the actual changes). To make things worse, they've changed the color pallet to grey and yellow. Life pro tip: f!!% yellow.

Good news is that window is on the 30th, and my part is basically done now. Plus, afterward I have Fridays off because it'll be Summer.

Some of my other games have died, and most of the rest I've quit because I need to get started on my second book. I'll stick around here though.

Been a rough couple of weeks, but yes. Trying to let the things in the tavern settle before everything gets tipped over on its side. At first I was giving Ao time, but I should have posted by now.

Hoping to find time today.

Takara is about to respond to Tracy, but they seem to reconsider Salvia's words. "That's... an interesting thought. From what I've heard, the Erohin's world was desolate, almost uniform. Nothing did anything without one of them magic-ing it. They wouldn't be able to understand how our world pushes toward entropy. I got my position early on after things fell apart, and I can recall a particularly frustrating conversation about un-baking a cake. That was back before they had the gardens, so they were rationing out their magic for the war."

Family is also a kind of love. You're encouraged not to grow attached. That would be playing favorites. Pointing out a family resemblance might not get you in trouble, but Niji might not appreciate it. It's an artifact of their own inescapable transgression, because if they didn't like the sibling resemblance, they'd have asked to have it changed.

At first impression, Tracy seems too innocent to lean into Confess, but in play, she prefers to share her own experiences to draw parallels with someone over acting like she's in a position to absolve others.

Forgive, Defy, and Flow are generally assertive actions toward a goal, where Confess, Express, and Conceal tend to be maneuvers that change the situation. The last three, Perceive, Empathize, and Analyse, are passive actions that inform you about the current situation.

For what humans look like within Neo Jimazan, imagine it's a religious highschool forever, and money isn't an object. Anything you might have been self conscious of would have been wiped away, and anything you ever wanted was trivial and risk free to obtain. Your clothes are tailored to suit your obligation, hide any features you haven't asked to correct yet, and can be cut to a nearly infinite style catalogue... but it would be beneath a human to make their own clothes if their calling isn't a tailor, and even the tailor has forest critters or kobbler elves to make sure their product is of masterwork quality every time. Most of these costumes were conjured, in their home-made state, from nothing, for the purpose of this 'authentic LARP experience'.

Takara is in her forties, not that any of you would know. The work done on her to reproduce an androgynous highschool physique is an entire creepy pasta of body horror. She was a graduate student and a temp. A bystander's bystander. While the moon was exploding, she drove off into the sunset with Azu, still fighting a hangover from the rave the night before. She insists Azu's claims of a wild night are mostly drug flashbacks, and Azu's 'any port in a storm' attitude supports that.

No one Azu's ever spent any time with was a bad lay. Certainly not by her reporting. She's in her early thirties, but was caught in her prime, so most of her work has been preservation and ornamentation. Her job involves counseling and the emotion-free stimulation of the skin to release stress and naturally maintain serotonin and dopamine levels.

Niji is 18. He was a boy with effeminate interests who went to school with Theodore's human twin, and was Junpei's little brother. He has reason to hate the hunters.

Benji has a body in his fifties, but the mind of a twenty five year-old. He was playing the first season as a dating simulator, save scumming, and pretending to be an oracle until junpei pulled him into the game. He's spent the past ten years inside Fallout Pokemon.

"Doubt" Takara interjects. "I remember contradiction. I remember glass ceilings. I remember gaslighting, and unemployment, and processed foods. I remember walking alone on a dark street to get to the door only I have a key to so I can close my eyes. I remember the expectation to find a privileged guardian to carry my interests. At least these guardians have claimed us, and are way more capable than a chromosome could make someone."

Niji looks aghast, but bites their tongue.

"It's not ever going to be perfect." Takara looks grimly into a stranger's abandoned drink before taking a deep drink from it. "You don't think I get that I just got a golden ticket? I see that. I'm the furious potato man screaming about men's rights. I am legend. No, I get that." The energy drains out of the knight. "I don't have to give up the things some of you do to be left alone. But it'll just change again!- turned on its side by someone with a say. Maybe I think I should enjoy privilege while it's my turn? Sorry, kid. Don't meet your heroes."

The junior "I'm still reporting them."

"Oh, we're definitely both still reporting everything. If we're lucky, they won't cancel these things over your... protest."

Something like weeks. Gives ample time for Obligation, Downtime, and Flashbacks.

Oh dear, 'Theodore' is that graduate with the freshman friend...

What actions? You'd like me to move things along vis a vis their consumption and digestion? Separated party members and timing are an artform. ;P

While the grey box on your Stress bar is filled, you roll for Eclipse each time you would gain Stress and don't have enough boxes, or in addition to gaining Harm. The dice pool for Eclipse is your lowest Resistance.

You can use Social Links at any time to:

- Reduce Stress (yours or theirs) by 2.

- Ignore the effects of a single Harm tag (yours or theirs) while Transcended

- Help them without gaining Stress or even being in the room

- When they get a 4/5 result on a roll for Eclipse, you can prevent them from passing into Eclipse.

I don't actually know what tactic is 'optimal' but recall that Stress isn't a Consequence except in Obligation rolls, and the Obligation roll cannot force you into Eclipse (unless you're already Eclipsed, you erase all Stress between missions). You almost always have to choose to gain Stress.

So, say your Stress is full, you've rolled an Action, and you're about to take level 3 Harm. If you accept it, you'll need Help to roll any action, so you'd prefer to Resist that. Someone could use a Link to reduce your Stress by 2 right then, but at that point you still might overshoot your Stress, and would be out of Links. That's a 50/50 chance on the Resistance roll (if you have 1 die) to overshoot and have to roll Eclipse. Alternatively, you could take the Stress, have a slim chance of gaining 0 or 1 Stress, and save the Link to give you a 4-6 window of success if you overshoot. Then, if you roll a 6, you still have the Link, and then can recover 2 Stress.

This scenario is entirely different if you're the one with the Link. You can't boost your own Eclipse roll, so you'd recover your own stress and hope the dice like you.

Also, important note: Once you Eclipse, Gain and Recover switch meanings. You can use a Social Link to keep an Eclipsed character from going thermonuclear.

Chessa: That should be a Risky/Standard roll.

That's correct. They're not going to attack.

Chessa's move should also get everyone in the same building soon.

You know those scenes where one character is about to give up, and their friend's ghost or disembodied head either repeats something they said, or gives the distressed character a pep talk or something? You do that and they regain 2 Stress.

Apologies. Resistance always works, but you gain your 6 - your roll in Stress. The above rolls would result in 7 Stress. In that case, you are rolling for Eclipse. You may choose not to resist with any of the rolls you made. It is a mechanic from Blades in the Dark which wasn't altered in this hack.

Make sure you’re marking XP in the resistance group for any Desperate rolls you make. (I’ve marked three for Aila/Aina)

Getting caught up with work, should have an update in the next few days.