I should have time today for an hour or two of the Enchanted Forest. What do peoples' schedules look like?

lol

mine is pretty open

course I guess we are still meeting later today anyway?

Aye.

but I am fine with doing what little of our FATE game we can and doing my first session of FAE

in the same day

bleh. Okay.

3 rocket explosions later, let's try this thing again.

Step 1, draw for archetype, let's just see if that fits before getting into story

using the cards again?

yeah. My brain isn't telling me any fairy tale characters I want to play

The Heirophant.

oooh yes.

wait, no, fairy tales.

Upright:Reunion, nostalgia, childhood memories, innocence ... okay, so a kid.

fairy tales are always about borders... so therefore, the border of adulthood/innocence.

So theme of red riding hood.

combining wiht the previous, mmmm... yes, a novice in one of the clerical orders, before she takes her final vows...

what does she need from the forest...

Reversed: Unrealistic, jealousy, moodiness

the gretel story is about family/stranger trust...

riding hood is loss of innocence

Ah, this is once of the nastier clerical orders.

"Stay in the forest until Our Goddess tells you you may leave."

Trial of Faith

@BESW ping?

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Ummm. That's rather... vague.

@BESW yeah

having a hard time getting traction of "fairy tale"

exploring the theme of the border of innocence/adulthood

Okay, that's good.

with a potential input of The Hierophant

so the framing can be "Does she take her final vows?"

But your character's Reason To Be In The Forest needs to get more specific than that.

@BESW test of endurance?

Literally shoved into the forest, told to survive until called back?

A character should have a goal more proactive than 'wander until told to stop.'

mmm

yeah, always had trouble with that

there's always "find the macguffin'

what kind of clerical orders does your world have?

Nothing specific comes to mind.

poly, fake-poly, mono, animistic...

I think you might be able to make up pretty much anything

heck, I have visions that may or may not be coming from some kind of god or pantheon

The gods don't seem to have much direct play.

the point is

there isn't too much established there yet

I think

Generic no-sects-were-harmed Christian, actually-works Wiccan-type covens...

and he has been letting us come up with our own powers where magic is concerned

Yeah, the setting is more of an ethos.

mmmmmm

bleh. don't feel like exploring shamanism

Tvtropes random turns up "Trickster mentor"

... ugh

I'm really not finding purchase here.

Maybe Tarot isn't the way to start. Come in from a different direction.

lol

Is there a fairy tale / folk tale / fantasy trope you'd like to explore/take the piss out of?

I made plenty of characters that I was proud of withought Tarot cards

it will likely go smoother if you just think on it for a little

Brian has too, he just often uses Tarot to get his thinking jump-started when he's blank.

@BESW well, that's the question of tone

what tone does this game have? I have been trying to play it straight

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Silly concepts are serious business for the people who live them.

One moment.

Problematic's reflection on our session.

cause if we're going for silliness, we could play games with genre savvy

Genre savvy is totally a thing.

it is

Put it this way: There's a witches' gardening club that gets upset if their members grow un-poisoned apples, because then people will think witches aren't mean and nasty, and they'll get plagued by requests for love spells and teeth-whitening charms, and the witches will have to go live in remote out-of-the-way dead-ends like the sorceresses do; you never see a sorceress around anymore, do you? And why? They got good press.

So it's silly. really silly. But it's not silly to the people who have to live with it.

lol

mmm

Modern-day businessman suddenly thrust into the Enchanted Forest until he learns how to not be a jerk.

@Problematic I've read that book.

...twice. But once he was a deadbeat musician.

I've read that a few times too

trying not to plagarize too badly.

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Feel free to make no-<blank>s-were-harmed parodies.

Or, fairytale character thrust out of the Enchanted Forest and into modern day, only they finished their story and are back, but they see things through the filter of "I had my Character Growth Moment in New York City"

Is there a particular story you're trying not to plagiarize?

meta's dangerous.

naah, part of this is that I'm using a number of stories for my Real Game and I don't wan...

eeeeh

okay, right, we'll go with Tony Gregg

of Gateway to Elsewhere

Post-happily-ever-after characters...

... gods he's a boring character

Not familiar with that one, I'm afraid.

bleh. goals.

It doesn't have to be a physical MacGuffin, but there needs to be some purpose beyond "wander around until the Forest fixes me."

Play Cory Doctorow. Who knows what he found when he sailed off into the blogosphere.

yes.

A Wizard of Oz type origin could work, if you can also ground him in the fantasy world somehow.

yeah, that's the problem

It doesn't have to be fancy. "The talking gecko told me the King of the Enchanted Forest could help me get back home" would do fine.

yes.

Then the story is getting to the King, and the meta-story is whether by the time he gets to the King, he still wants to leave.

Of course, you still need a personality, but that could be grown out of how you got to the Forest in the first place.

yeah. goals are annoying

Anyway, I would start with either the kind of character arc I wanted to see, or the kind of goal I wanted to have.

yep

well, starting with goal, cause goal is hard

So far, we have:

as in from our PC's?

Aye.

I guess "find a place to call home" is me

Both Flurf and Kirby have "find a home" motifs.

lol

Flurf

Wil is looking to get control of his powers and his player is hoping he'll learn self-control too.

Sindaria has out-of-control powers, Charlin has no powers but thinks he should.

mmm, loss of innocence...

Charlin also feels abandoned by destiny.

red riding hood.

Sure, why not? Red riding hood as assassin.

of course there's...

why am I completely unsurprised at the ... volumes published at this?

lol

So, member of a monkish order of assassins, hasn't actually killed anyone yet. Is on a Mission! Her first real kill! She must kill... the witch known as Grandmother.

you mean red riding hood as assasin?

yes

Ooh.

Violence!

fantastic

try to burninate her

cdnimg.visualizeus.com/thumbs/bb/28/…

... oh come on

then throw some water, cause shes a witch

Yep

And of course, there's the obvious trouble.

Sier Wolf, an investigator from the palace...

@BrianBallsun-Stanton ...a matador is hunting her for her cape?

no.

lol

yes

I R MATADOR

come from the future to steal that cape there

....

So you've got Ms. Hood stalking through the forest seeking Grandmother, and Sier Wolf stalking Ms. Hood for... past crimes?

mmm

I think the point is that she hasn't done anything yet

she doesn't know obviously..

but he is looking out for it

and the wolf is seduction

Ah, Sier Wolf wants to compromise her, get a spy in the order of assassins.

lol

young girl, easily swayed

sorry

@trogdor ?

I was too easily brought to assume he liked younger women

Hmm.

It's a bit complicated, but it could work.

@trogdor PG-13 :)

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Thank you. We'll let the subtext speak for itself.

cause that means there isn't a single battle and her trouble's done

it's that he's following, looking for dirt and ways to subvert her.

@BrianBallsun-Stanton thats why I said sorry

which is trivially invoked as "oh gods he's here again"

other aspect...

A dab hand in the kitchen

remarkably domestic... for an assassin.

well we can assume that since she is only now on her first job

She probably made those cookies herself.

part of her apprenticeship may have involved the other service of cooking for higher rank members

Her best times at the monastery were in its kitchens. Cause religious-assasins are amazingly stuck up.

and yeah

there is also poison

Yes, so primary attack vector is likely poisoned cookies :)

maybe she doesn't like poison

a nice assassin tool

"no one should ever have to doubt my food. After they eat, I'll just stab them."

Hm.

does this work?

I'm liking the concept. It's a lot more violent than any other PC so far, though; as you develop her, maybe keep that in mind and be sure there's a good amount of non-physical options.

it seems like a good start to me

@BESW oh, I don't think violence is at the centre of the PC

Not saying don't make her violent, just that she should have other modes that are equally plausible/useful.

her question is "Can I actually kill someone?"

Okay, good.

@BrianBallsun-Stanton That is interesting, and really very fairy tale.

So she'll stealth/talk (cause that's what I default to)

Morality amid gore is quite Grimm.

but yeah, never killed anyone. This is her blooding.

This is the boundary of innocence and adulthood, and Sier Wolf is there to preserve or corrupt her innocence.

practiced stabbing on dummies and such

@trogdor Oh, she's well trained, and sparred daily.

But... well... there's a difference

yeah

of course

does the other aspect work?

no, hard to compel

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Where?

@BESW dab hand in the kitchen.

the hand in the kitchen one

I think

yeah

Hmmm.

I like the idea.

the problem is I don't want to push "sheltered upbringing"

cause that's already in high concept

it's that she relates to people by food, food's important to her

But I think it needs workshopping like Richard's literary aspect did.

lunchtime

@BrianBallsun-Stanton This. Run with this.

@BrianBallsun-Stanton How appropriate.

right

Other aspect: A way to someone's heart is through their stomach.

quite compellable

(mostly around food situations, but still)

...I'm getting Temple of Doom visions.

@BESW heh. Yeah, the amusing thing is that she ... doesn't think of it that way

like it's a common saying, and she totally thinks it means making friends by giving them food...

I suggest that she probably has snacks on her most of the time, for sharing.

(This would be a character note, not probably a mechanical effect.)

lol

in FATE those can be quite similar

@trogdor Shouldn't you be heading out soon?

yeah

see you

@BESW yep.

"oh Trogdor, you should be punctual"

sheesh

oh dear.

lol

heading out ^^

Okay, so assasins tend to dress in form-fitting clothing, nominally for teh-sexies, etc..

She's... kinda pudgy, actually

lol

Still fit, but what would be called "a hint of baby fat"

another way to play up innocence

Sounds good.

Why is the Wolf so interested in her that he'll follow her into the Forest?

@BESW She's the headmistress's granddaughter, he's... been suspended, and he needs to make good.

High value target, nothing to lose.

I suggest he has a personal connection to her.

works.

Headmistress of...? I thought he was from the Palace.

The "high value target, nothing to lose" can still be very useful, but making it personal opens up a lot more opportunity.

@BESW she.

but yes. mmm, ex-assassin? Maybe father?

no

Ah, he thinks she is his long-lost daughter. She isn't, but he thinks she is.

> Sier Wolf, an investigator from the palace...

@BESW yes, we're ..

argh

okay, headmistress's grandaughter is why she's a valuable target

I'm not trying to hold you to previous statements, it's a fluid process.

Just... trying to keep straight what's current.

yep

basically, i want to hold open the possibility of a crush or other romantic entanglement... either direction

Does her backstory include the actual grandmother/wolf thing, or are we just dealing with the RRH motifs?

I'm thinking he could be the guy who killed the wolf for her.

And now through the best of intentions he's become the new wolf.

@BESW motifs

cause no, that character has already lost her innocense

Okay.

mind you, he could have killed "the wolf" and has become one, probably due to city-crime or something

Use a light touch with the urbanization.

mmm

then ideas about sier wolf? he... needs to be something of a creep

I need more of a handle on the context, maybe.

RRH is part of a church-sanctioned assassin order, and SW is a royal servant who wants to get a spy in the order, right?

So we have church/state conflict inherent in their dynamic.

@BESW yes

that's in general, why he's in the forest. There's also a personal attraction between SW and RRH

because that seudction, lure of the stranger, is core to the story

Which would be why he's IN the Forest instead of waiting for her to come back out like any sane government agent would.

I'm seeing him as a hunter/tracker high concept, with a narrowed vision focused on his target.

Single-minded when it comes to the predator/prey relationship, which is how he views just about everything in his life.

@BESW yep

Confused because he's having a hard time seeing her as just prey.

He's getting "pack" vibes off her too.

He probably licks things.

Licking the tree or the leaf to get information.

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Is there some way we can scale back the Wolf? The way it's going now you're designing two PCs instead of a PC and a supporting NPC.