IRC Nobilis OOC

[Darkened]

Spoiler: Original Post

So, I've finished my grad school applications and actually feel like running things for once.

However, I'm... not a fan of Pathfinder, never found Fate super-fun, though I have some experience with it and am not very big or well read on WoD and don't care to become so. I won't be running any of those.

And I'm really in a huge mood to run Exalted (I might be persuaded for either 3e or a 2e modified engine to take some from 3e, but it's unlikely this early.)

So, I'd like to run something a little more indie. Maybe something people don't know as well, but something that's a solid, fun experience nonetheless Obviously concept is variable at this point. Game style, etc would be up in the air a bit as well. A way to make sure players can find the books they need will be found.

I don't really care if we go NSFW (Unless I end up running GSS, in which case there's no way in hell anything NSFW is happening)

So... Options. (This list is not exhaustive, merely things I'm at least passingly familiar with and books I have.

Nobilis: From the writer in Exalted that did Malfeas, Sidereals (1e) and iirc a lot of the raksha concept, comes Nobilis. A game about playing god. You play humans (or caves or fictional characters or computers or whatever) that got given a shard of power by an impossible vast entity. Largely that entity wants you to guard its body while it goes off and fights together with everything in a war against Creation.

Engage in politics, warfare, subterfuge and anything in between.

Chuubo's Marvelous Wish Granting Engine is a lot like Nobilis. Given that it has the same author and a lot of the same rules, this shouldn't be surprising. However, it's something akin to a Nobilis 3.5e and is absolutely the sexiest most beautiful RPG I've ever played. Instead of gods in an epic war, you're playing the day to day lives of various godlike entities as they struggle with everyday problems (like losing homework, finding a friend a birthday present, getting a part-time job, growing up and turning into a 30000 mile long snake or realizing that the president of the chess-club is actually Death and you already agreed to play him next Tuesday)

Tenra Bansho is, well, one of the most popular Japanese Tabletop Roleplaying Games. Described as "Hyper-Japanese" it takes everything from 90s anime to Kurosawa to traditional folk-religion and blends them into a beautiful mess of a setting featuring samurai, giant robots, marauding demons, doctors that fill their bodies with dangerous magical bugs for power and so many other things. This would probably be a somewhat shorter campaign, since that's what the rules seem best adapted for.

Golden Sky Stories is another Japanese game from the author of Maid. This time you play various animals as they run around a small town in the Japanese countryside helping people and being heartwarming. By animals, I naturally mean you can turn into children, because that's what animals do. Duh. Think Natsume Yuujinchou or Miyazaki at its most mellow.

Double Cross: And here comes a Japanese 'superhero' rpg. It's very very shounen action and also looks to be pretty fun. I have the books but have relatively less experience with them.

I'm open to other suggestions though.

So, any interest?

So this is going to be a somewhat Sandboxy Nobilis campaign using standard chargen and rules.

A lot of the plot should come from imperator and chancel creation, as well as the characters themselves. More details forthcoming.

Current Players:
Gibbousmoons
Ai
Johnny
Kitsune
As of Awful Timing: Eve Casshan

Your Imperator
Chancel- tentative


Session Logs:

Spoiler: Intro Arcs

The Excrucian Shop:
A Small Problem in the City
Hard Sell
Into the Shopping Labyrinth
Ai's Investigations and Johnny's Adventures
The Cost of Victory and Johnny at the Hole in the World

Reflecting:
Side Session: The Shopfox
Ai's Gardening Adventures, Waiting For Johnny and Collecting Dragons
Kitsune Should Feel Guilty About This and Raiders of the Lost Johnny
Awful Timing, Johnny's Return, Scouting Fox and Ai And Johnny's Reunion*
Actual Boss Battle
Secretary Hunter Casshan, The Date P.1 and Gambles and Decisions

* Johnny's Return, Scouting Fox and Awful Timing happen at the same time, Kitsune and Casshan meet together and join Actual Boss Fight while Johnny moves to Ai and Johnny's reunion before they appear in the boss fight together)

Current Arc:
Rebuilding and Conversations 1 2 3
Melodrama
The Fox Mother Part 2
Casino in Practice
Asking Mother Part 2
Paradigmatic Differences
Party Games - With This, That Shop You decided to Ignore is Probably fine

Spoiler: House Rules

Divine Health levels may be bought with CP. (1 or 2?)

Every 2 15 destiny circles in a project will earn a player 1CP.

Completing a 45-75 Destiny project will earn a player 1 permanent point of one of the four main stats. (IE: +1 Treasure).

CP earned via destiny rather than project completion may not be spent on improving base stats.

 

[gibbousmoons]

I'd be interested in a Nobilis thing. I've never played it before but it looks very interesting. What kinds of plots have you thought of?

 

[UrsaTempest]

...well, I already have Chuubo book.

 

[mishie]

Nobilis looks pretty fun, although I would be fine way pretty much any of them if you're running them in IRC.

 

[gibbousmoons]

Oh, and I'll be fine with either irc or post-format.

 

[Darkened]

Nobilis is very very context dependent. A lot of character generation will incidentally end up creating a ton of plot hooks depending on what estates people choose as well as your estate/imperator/etc.

I do have a few story arcs in mind.

An inquisition style arc where one of Lord Entropy's Powers visits your chancel and you need to A: protect it from him, B: convince him that your imperator isn't really a mimic and you don't all need to be killed horribly and C: make sure he's treated as befits his station is one that comes to mind. Very much a blend of diplomatic entanglements with quietly pushing problems away.

I'm a big fan of devils, so if you go that route for imperator I'll probably do a lot with trying to let you do the project to heal her.

I am also a big fan of self-motivated characters, and Nobilis' project system works very well for generating a plot around what the characters want to do.

For Chuubo's I'd like to consider running Glassmaker's Dragon, though if people want to avoid that or go for a non-miraculous campaign I'd be happy to do something about exorcists running around in Arcadia or something akin to the Halloween Campaign.

For GSS and Tenra I'd probably run one of the plots that came from the kickstarters, though I do have a campaign outline hanging around for Tenra about the players getting caught up in a battle between two daimyo, each trying to buy a supremely beautiful kugutsu to make her their bride, as well as the mysterious forces working in the background that each keep trying to push the conflict up higher and higher.

I'm... not actually really sure what I'd run with Double Cross, as I said, I know little about it at the moment.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, so it looks like that's 2 for Nobilis and 1 for Chuubo's. Since Chuubo's is literally a Nobilis module that took on a life of it's own, let's say we're going with Nobilis for now.

There's 1 vote for IRC, one no preference and one no comment.

So for now, it looks like a Nobilis IRC game is the way to go.

theweepingman, gibbousmoons, mishie

All characters will take the part of a single Familia Caelestis with an imperator in common. The setting will be used as written. I expect time to be divided between your chancel and Earth.

For chargen, I'll be using the standard rules as outlined. (IE: 8 points of passions and skills 13+treasure points of bonds and afflictions, 7 points of estate properties and 25 character points). If you want a custom gift, feel free to write it up but ask me here or on IRC before adding it to your sheet.

The Lifepath is optional, especially if you already have a concept in mind, but it's nifty so I'd suggest checking it out if you're not sure what you might want to play or run.

Aside from this, things are pretty negotiable. What content would you like to see in a game? What would people prefer not be in the game?



I'll be around on IRC and in this thread if anyone has any questions or comments.




Sign-ups are still open. No players will be confirmed until I see at least a partial sheet. I'd like 3-5 players.

Currently there's no deadline for anything. I'll set one when I have at least one finishedish sheet in front of me.

 

[gibbousmoons]

All characters will take the part of a single Familia Caelestis with an imperator in common. The setting will be used as written. I expect time to be divided between your chancel and Earth.

Click to shrink...

I'm going to be learning as I go, so to put this in broader terms there'll be one boss we're all explicitly working for, we'll be part of the same adventuring party, and we'll be splitting our time between our secret world and Earth.

. . . Do you have any preferences for tone?

 

[gibbousmoons]

Been reading a little bit. You said that right now you want us to all have an Imperator in common, and from what I've read our choices in what we're Nobles of depends on who our Imperator is. Does that mean that you want us to coordinate or are we free to pick what we want and you'll assign us one?

 

[Darkened]

I'm going to be learning as I go, so to put this in broader terms there'll be one boss we're all explicitly working for, we'll be part of the same adventuring party, and we'll be splitting our time between our secret world and Earth.

Click to shrink...

Yes. You're all working for one Aslan and you get to spend time running between your private Narnia and Earth.

. . . Do you have any preferences for tone?

Click to shrink...

I'm bad at horror, but anything other than that works fine. I do tend toward sandboxy things. Active player motivations are easier than purely reactive ones.

A lot will depend on how your chancels are designed and what estates people pick. If you make your chancel a floating-sky kingdom of hope and stuffed bears that rush down to Earth to help people be happy, we're going to have a different game than if you make Narnia,

Been reading a little bit. You said that right now you want us to all have an Imperator in common, and from what I've read our choices in what we're Nobles of depends on who our Imperator is. Does that mean that you want us to coordinate or are we free to pick what we want and you'll assign us one?

Click to shrink...

Pick whatever estate you want and we'll work out what the imperator gave you those powers and what your chancel should be like after the fact.

 

[gibbousmoons]

This is what I've got so far. I'm going through the rule book and filling things out as I go. I'm on page 153 right now, is there anything wrong that you can see?

Spoiler

KEY XII: Hollyhock, key of destiny in the balance
Heart- my destiny "Will they find out?"
- becoming a hero
- it wasn't enough
Shadow- my struggles
- self-doubt

KEY XVI: Alyssym, key of destiny fulfilled
Heart- my destiny
- finally found power
- it wasn't enough
Shadow- [] "Is this all there is?"
- Was powerless and afraid
- bluffing for my life
- Disciples: hero league

Estate: Cowardice
Affiliation: An independent song. I've heard their calls and rejected them. I'll make my own legacy.

Passions_
- I believe in heroes (1)
- I can't stand to see an innocent in pain (0)
- I want to inspire others (1)
Skills_
- Bluffing (1)
- Intimidation (5)

Will: 8

 

[Darkened]

Passions and skills look right.

Okay, trying to go through step by step on the lifepath make sure everything works out:

So I'm guessing:

In step 1: You pick both both keys, neither of which adds anything to their shadow.
- "Becoming a hero" and "Finally found power" get written in.


You picked "something cool" ? (Strengthening a shadow)
- 1 shadow bullet point
--"Bluffing for my life" ?? It seems to fit, but that would make it the first bullet point (which doesn't really matter persay)

Your estate is from the Dark Side of Human Experience and Something You Live? (Strengthening a shadow, then the heart of hollycock)
-1 heart bullet point: "It wasn't enough" in Hollycock
-1 Shadow bullet point: not sure which

You picked "A Troubled Life" ? and ??
This strengthens 2 shadows probably?
-Probably "Was powerless and afraid"? for troubled life
-Unsure of which bullet point gets added for legacy

For affiliation you picked disciples
-This looks to go in the heart of Alyssym not the shadow.

Independent song gives you one bullet to Alyssym's heart.
-Adding "It wasn't enough" there


So, you look to have 4 bullet points in shadows to add besides disciples, and I only count 3.

And it looks like: this? Though presumably there's one more line drawn to your estate?

 

[gibbousmoons]

I'm going to do this again, and take more care.

 

[gibbousmoons]

Here's the revised sheet so far.

Spoiler

 

[tEN]

I'm interested but have shitty internet at the moment. I'll throw down a character when I am able to do so.

 

[mishie]

Spoiler: Projects

Key 6+13, cool, beautiful, describe, extraordinary, corrupting influence+botanists, faraway love, dark song.
Passions/Skills:
Passion: I want to learn hidden secrets (1)
Passion: Living life to the fullest (1)
Skill: Superior Persuasion (3)
Skill: Cool (2)
Skill: Shine (2)


Bonds/Afflictions: 2
Bond (3):I can't turn down a challenge
Bond (2): Go big or go bigger
Affliction (4): The bigger the risk, the better I am
Bond (1): I can't resist a good mystery
Bond (1): I have an adorable pet Mega Sandworm
Bond (2): Ruin is my precious hoard.


Estate Properties:
Chance is what makes things interesting in life (1)
Chance is dangerous to the ignorant and unwary (1)
Chance rewards those that live dangerously (3)
Chance can be manipulated by those that know how to use it (2)


Attributes:
Aspect: 1
Domain: 5
Persona: 0
Treasure: 0


Miracle Points:
5 AMP (5)
5 DMP (5)
5 PMP (4)
5 TPT (4)
Gift:
Active Immortality (6)
Luck (1)


Anchors:
Pet Mega SandWorm (Wondrous Anchor)
Ruin (Miraculous Anchor)


Name: Johnny
Appearance: http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1890142


Health:
Divine: [X] []
Tough: []
Normal: [] []
Affliction: Draconian Greed


Personal Destiny: 22
Projects:
"How I learned all about the ravens and started to study their questions"
"How I gained the trust and loyalty of a Yandere Dragongirl of Ruin" - 6 Destiny
"How we were able to create the greatest social enhancing gizmo for Casshan to stick in Johnny's head" - 2 Destiny

Loots:
Free watch (with nifty shooting star emblem) and cufflink.
Dragongirl (Ruin)
Ruined apartment complex
Flowered cutting from a dead tree in the middle of nowhere
Pet Mega SandWorm (Wondrous Anchor)
Ruin's Hoard


Super Awesome Mansion:
Appears to be a normal mansion from the outside, but the first floor is full of traps and has a Gorgon (Medi) guarding it. The stairs at the end that lead up just lead to even more traps as basically everything above ground is a fake. There's a secret passage in the library that leads to the next floor down.


The second floor of the mansion is mainly underwater, although is still well lit and decorated, the guardian of this floor is a Kraken (Krakl, name may change the future), the exit to the third floor is behind a large painting.


The third floor is a graveyard which has a lich (Macy) in it.


The fourth floor is a desert that somehow fits the sandworm inside it.


The fifth floor is a small cave with a bed of gold for Ruin.

 

[gibbousmoons]

I draw the bubbles, pick XII, and label the heart and shadow as My Destiny and My Struggles respectively. I fill in "becoming a hero" under heart, and "self doubt" and "changing hurts" under shadows. I pick Allyssym as my second key, label the heart as My Destiny, and leave the shadow nameless and empty as it says. The first bullet point under this heart is "man called a hero"

I note that these two keys are in conflict. This is because the character does not think he has achieved his destiny as it is defined. He is called a hero, acts like a hero, does the deeds of a hero, but can't accept that he is a hero. His destiny is achieved, but he works toward ever greater levels of hero, convinced that if he just pushes further, just saves this place, defeats this thing, he'll deserve it.

Because he doesn't feel like a hero, or a grand supernatural Noble. He just feels terrified and out of his depth.

Then I move onto Foundations. I have Hollyhock and Alyssym, so I can choose between In Love with Something and Epic, Inhuman, and Powerful. My character is filled with his devotion towards overcoming himself and becoming a hero on the inside as well as the outside. He's in love with heroism? I add "loves the concept of heroism"

Your Estate.
My estate prefers to come from either the Light Side of Human Experience or the Beautiful Side of the World, and is either Something You Live or Something You Can Describe.

I skip the first part, as I don't have any ideas. When I come to the second of the choices I get an idea that can fit in either category, either as the emotion of cowardice or the act of being cowardly. As he doesn't act cowardly, I choose the emotion of cowardice.

I'd like this character to be the Power of Cowardice

This means that I need to strengthen a shadow because cowardice comes from the Dark Side of Human Experience, and I need to strengthen Hollyhock because I took from Something You Live. I add "can't let them down", and "nothing's changed".

Origins. Humble Life, and a shadow of "Just want to go home".

Transformation. "I chose this." in heart.

Now I move onto Passions and Skills.

Passions_
- I believe in heroes (1)
- I can't stand to see an innocent in pain (0)
- I want to inspire others (1)

Skills_
- Bluffing (5)
- Intimidation (1)

Cool: free up to my Aspect trait (pg 178) added to what I buy, up to a max of 5
Shine: free up to my Persona trait (pg 196) added to what I buy up to max 5

Affliction (5): I can't use obvious, showy miracles.
Bond (3): I can't talk about my powers.
Bond (1): I have the new handheld game.
Bond (1): I can't hurt the helpless.
Bond (3): I can't stand to contradict people's high expectations.
Bond (1): I love sweet tea.

Properties of my Estate.
(3) Cowardice is a vivid imagination.
(2) Cowardice breaks people.
(1) Cowardice is surviving.
(1) Cowardice makes excuses.

Attributes_
Aspect 0:
Domain 5: [] [] [] [] []
Persona 2: [] []
Treasure 0:

MP_
Start with 5 MP for each Attribute. can buy 1 more of each for 1 CP. I bought one up.
Aspect: 6 (AMP) 6/6
Domain: 6 (DMP) 6/6
Persona: 6 (PMP) 6/6
Treasure: 6 (TMP) 6/6

Gifts:
Elusive (1 CP): Level 3 (Domain), Invocation: automatic, Range: self, Utility: limited, Common: yes. Acts as Lesser Preservation of Self.
Glorious (2 CP): Level 7 (Domain), Invocation: simple, Range: local, Utility: one trick, Common: yes. Acts as Major Creation of Emotion.

CP_
-3 gifts
-1 MP up
-21 Attributes

Name: Fredrick

 

[Darkened]

Looks good. Not entirely sure how much you'll get out of persona with cowardice as your estate, but if you have something in mind, that works.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, so I have three sheets with the Lifepaths done.

What days/times work well for people? I'd prefer to do things on the weekend, because they're relatively free for me and time zones are less of an obstacle. Other than that I have few to no real constraints.

 

[UrsaTempest]

Friday, or Saturday, upward from 00.00 GMT. Sunday before 08.00 GMT, but above 03.00 works for me.

 

[gibbousmoons]

I'm only reliably available from 12:30 AM onwards a few hours on the weekends. My work schedule is erratic.

 

[Darkened]

I'm only reliably available from 12:30 AM onwards a few hours on the weekends. My work schedule is erratic.

Click to shrink...

What time zone?

 

[gibbousmoons]

What time zone?

Click to shrink...

EST, sorry.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, it looks like this time on Sunday may be the only option?

5:30AM-8AM (GMT)

2:30PM-5PM (Tokyo)
12:30AM-3AMish (New York)
3:30PM-6PM (Aus)


Does this time zone look like it would work for everyone, or rather, about an hour and a half before the time of this post to about an hour after this post.

If this works, I'd like to go ahead and start next week.

Now, we're dealing with powers of:

Romance, Chance, and Cowardice

Which means that deep down fundamentally all of those estates tie back to the same Imperator. Going by the suggested rules, as I intend to, we're supposed to generate this imperator together.

The types are:
Angel
Devil / Fallen Angel
Magister of the Light
Magister of the Dark
Magister of the Wild
True God or
Aaron's Serpent

Of these, I think True God and Aaron's Serpent probably don't fit that well. If anyone has a strong desire to have one, that works, but I'd like to nix them. I'm also not a huge fan of magisters of the light plotwise and chance seems odd for an angel to me.

So, that would leave
Devil, Magister of the Dark or Magister of the Wild. I'll be happy with any of these, though if no one has any strong opinions I'd suggest Magister of the Dark.

Does anyone have any strong opinions any way?

 

[UrsaTempest]

Huh. Turns out, creating romance goddess with lesbian undertone is actually doable in Nobilis.
EDIT: And now, Ai is Goddess of Lesbian Schoolgirls Lilies. Amazing.

Name: Ai Nitami
Appearance:

Spoiler

Sheet:
Wound:
- Normal: 2/2
- Tough: 2/2
- Divine: 0/2

Passion: I'll never lose hope (2)
Passion: I want to make everyone happy (1)
Skill: Persuasion (2)
Skill: Empathy (1)
Shine: 4
Will: 8/8

Bond: "I must play matchmaker." (1)
Bond: "I believe everyone is good, deep down." (2)
Bond: "I can't deny request made by pretty girl." (3)
Bond: "I will never back down on love." (4)
Bond: "I must take care and protect Hanako Nitami." (1)
Affliction/Divine Wounds: "I can't help but pursue my goal relentlessly using whatever I have." (2)
Unassigned 2 points of Bonds/Treasure.

Wondrous Anchor: Hanako Nitami, ex-spider, (adopted) little sister. (1)
- Power: Can see, mend, and break web of relationship.

General Destiny: 4
Project: "How I find someone to love."
Project Destiny: 15
- Dated Kitsune-chan/Taking first step in relationship. (3)
Project: "How I make lilies central to the lives of the chancel."
Project Destiny: 0

Estate:
"Lilies are devoted and pure and beautiful." (1)
"Lilies make love blossom between maidens." (3)
"Lilies fill the backdrop when people in love hold hands." (2)
"Lilies are transient." (1)

Aspect: 0 6/5
Domain: 2 6/5
Persona: 4 6/5
Treasure: 0 6/5

Active Immortality
Blessing of Lilies: Gaze at being, and wills it. Said being become lesbian schoolgirl.
Lesser Enchantment of Schoolgirl Lesbian;Miracles: 4, Persona;Simple;One Person;One Trick;Uncommon;1CP

 

[Darkened]

Okay, domain 4=12, persona 1=3
Active Immortality=6
+4 points on secondary stuff. Good there.

"Romance can heals broken souls." (1)

Click to shrink...

"Romance heals broken souls" would fit better.

Estate properties look good, skills look okay

Bond: "I am not alone." (2)

Click to shrink...

This one confuses me a little. What's the intent here? Is this a statement of ideals? A fear of being by herself? A physical property that Ai can't ever find time alone?

On the whole most of your bonds look to be statements of ideals. This works, but it might be a little limiting in practice. There's nothing else you want in terms of ability or pseudo-powers?

Granted, you could easily just reword a few.

"I am the best matchmaker ever" ends up being roughly the same as "I must play matchmaker" in terms of effects.

Anyway, not sure on the "I am not alone" bond, but other than that everything looks solid.


Any opinions on imperator type?

 

[UrsaTempest]

Imperator?
Well, Devil and Magister of Dark don't mesh with Ai, so that leaves Wild.

 

[Nolrai2]

Umm, I am proobly too busy to play in another game. But may I watch?

 

[Darkened]

I have no objections. I guess I can post the logs here if people want.

 

[Darkened]

Okay, we're going with a Magister of the Dark.

Then each player talks a little bit about what they think that Imperator
would be like and what they want their Avatar's relationship with
the Imperator to be like. The HG also talks a bit about what kind of
Imperator would be fun for the HG to play through. The HG takes a
phrase or sentence from each player's discussion, including their own,
and puts it in a neighboring bubble.
For example, a three-player game might wind up with:
ŠŠ Devil
ŠŠ gives some sort of power
ŠŠ kind of metal
ŠŠ like "the Devil went down to Georgia"
ŠŠ a red-head, of course.

Click to shrink...

Okay, my initial thought is someone that's always getting in trouble, showing up and bringing so many problems and constantly making everything escalate, the kind of cosmic being that just always goes to push the button and escalates, and then runs away from consequence, from completing things. Someone whose always getting wrapped up in strange circumstances and always running away as fast as it can.