@JonathanHobbs Hey.

@BESW Hi!

I assume you have brilliant new insights into your character.

Oh, and @BrianBallsun-Stanton, you're probably safe for a bit; Hobbs and I synchronized last night.

@BESW (Safe from what?)

@BESW I have had her only on the back of my mind today actually! Though I have been trying to figure out her personality at least a little.

@JonathanHobbs Starts getting obvious about here.

Continued for days.

@JonathanHobbs My usual strategy for walking players through PC creation isn't very helpful here, as it starts with "what was her childhood like?"

@BESW Very quiet and then suddenly noisy.

Then I ask about her parents, her siblings, her hobbies, what she wanted to be/do when she grew up...

To be quite honest I could say she was conscious the entire time she was growing, but yearned not for motion like a person would, but for sunlight, and that was all she needed. If I rolled with that, I could say she has patience such that one could say "Wait here for me, I'll be back soon" - then walk off, forget or be unable to return, and she'd be sitting there quite patiently for a day or two.

Except now she has a Desperate Quest.

Yes

Well, let's see if working with the mechanics can't help flesh out the personality, since the other way 'round is kinda difficult at the moment?

And I think this woman has a rather solitary existence, though she might have a yearning to meet others of her kind.

Sure

I was hoping that would provide some greater direction for me actually.

So put yourself together a GDocs file and we'll start.

Also, relevant: terraria.wikia.com/wiki/Blade_of_Grass

(I am not suggesting she has such a thing and I think she shouldn't, but this is funny to me)

Heh.

lol

the blade of grass

a semi strong weapon as I recall

Oh, and as you're trying to craft her personality, think about the kind of personality and skills that would be useful for fighting the Shadows.

@trogdor It's the most powerful midgame sword, and it has the longest reach of any sword bar one.

yeah, but there are definitely better

like the combination of the cobalt mithral and adamantite ones

@BESW ... phosphoresence? :P

@trogdor Oh, yeah, I wasn't counting the post-Hell expansion section of the game 8)

ah

personally

I like glaives better

talk about ranged melee

I used swords for a bit, when I was playing that.

then I found a demon glaive thing

I used that for a while till said expansion

when I discarded it for the ones you get from those ores

@JonathanHobbs [poke] Link a GDoc?

@BESW Hm? What do you mean?

@trogdor I varied a lot too personally! I would have a sword and glaive and ball-on-chain and a couple of spells.

ah

I carried one melee and one ranged weapon

Give or take depending on the armory available at that stage 8)

devoted the rest of my quick slots to all the tools and a couple spells

Traditionally, CharGen for this game has involved the player creating a GDoc file in which to write the mechanics (aspects, skills, stunts) and linking it so everyone can see.

Then we talk in chat about what he should put down.

but what those weapons, tools, or spells were did change often enough

@BESW Very well, one moment.

@BESW docs.google.com/document/d/…

lol

(She may genuinely have no name)

(but it would be more useful to give her one)

High Concept prompt: If someone who knew your character well were asked to describe her quickly, what would they say?

Protector of the Forest?

That's a great start.

(thing is I don't know her well yet)

hm

Put it down, and we'll probably add a word or two to it later.

If I made her forceful I could imagine saying: patient but insistent are traits of hers. She can wait for a very long time - could wait longer than most - but won't. She exists because of something very important. She almost certainly has racial memory derived from her ancestry, and so would simultaneously feel like someone extraordinarily new to the world, and someone who has been here a very, very long time. And old people don't take shit.

I like it.

You've got some good aspects in there too; something about being old and inexperienced, maybe.

She is, also, a plant. Plants can live for a very, very long time. She would have a much different relationship to time than someone who lives only fifty years.

(it is possible she will grow and age and develop bark and become something much less human, but that's another matter altogether)

Other plants live and die very quickly, growing, flowering, and seeding between spring and fall before they die in the winter.

That is true.

Her immediate trouble is basically Earful of Squirrel.

Oh. I figured she would be too small for that now.

Oh, right. Um...

Bees?

role playing a sapling?

because she's now a plant lady rather than an ent. :) Maybe she's a dryad, or something, if not a Sylvari.

I figured you would cut to when she could at least move around

@trogdor Here's a visual

Bees would be easy to compel as a trouble, but could also be hilarious to invoke for advantage.

oh

so your human sized

Yes, or perhaps taller

it's a pretty good trouble

they could bother you any time

I will write down Earful of Bees

6'6'' to 7' seems good.

but you could possibly use them to bother others

The size of an unusually tall human.

though I may try to seek out some other trouble later

(pre-game, during chargen)

Aye.

I pick 7"

And troubles can always change over the course of play.

How many aspects do you want in total?

How many should I have?

As many as is useful to define her

High Concept, Trouble, and between one and three other aspects.

I will probably go for two or three then

(in addition to high concept and trouble)_

You can always add or change them.

Can I change them during the course of the game?

Yes; if you have a blank aspect slot you can fill it in mid-game.

the first session, you can change em around, after that it's when appropriate

For the first session, I'll let you adjust all your aspects on the fly. After that, you can modify one aspect at the end of each session.

But so long as you have blank slots, you can fill them in any time an appropriate aspect occurs to you.

I would suggest that one aspect be about the Shadows, and one be about the dichotomy of youth and age.

Hee. If you want to make her phosphoresce, give her the aspect "A Light in Dark Places."

@BESW Could that be a Shadow aspect too?

Exactly so.

It is done

I'm stealing "Awokek" as a name for... something. Someday.

@BESW Makes me think of a witch doctor with a gnarled staff wearing the skull of a very large bird for a helmet.

(or his deity)

Quercus stellata is (relatively) rare and small white oak.

(I'm thinking about names.)

"Stellata" isn't a half-bad start for a name.

Hm. Your other aspect should be about this: "Racial memory gives her the perspective of someone who has been here a very long time, and yet simultaneously is new to the world. She has both wisdom and naivety, or to put it another way, is old and inexperienced."

brb, semi busy

> The name refers to the use of the wood of this tree for fence posts. Its wood, like that of the other white oaks, is hard, tough and rot-resistant.

I like this plant.

I may give her the full name of Quercus Stellata.

@BESW ... in a phrase. Oh dear. "Old and Naive" misses the wisdom she no doubt has. Uh

Maybe something more along the lines of "From the Mouths of Babes"?

Wisdom and perspective of age and (in some cases) a detached perspective, but a lack of knowledge.

Old Thoughts, New Young Eyes?

@BESW That is movingly poetic. I just had to sit there a moment and absorb that. I'll take it.

And then I edited it.

New eyes means more: she is also, as the saying goes, a new pair of eyes on the situation

Okay.

Her racial memory is distinctly not her own memory. It's there, and accessible, but it is different from the memories of her own experiences. So - she brings new eyes to the content of her racial memories.

afk, running out for chips.

Back.

Welcome back!

Maybe I'm jumping ahead farther than I should but I think I'd like this lady's stunt to be concerning the fact she's a Protector of the Forest (an aspect we may have to... unpack?) and/or A Light in Dark Places

I may leave this one remaining aspect blank for now?

yes, you may.

excellent

Brb, I am going to cut up some vegetables

huh

the doc is saying I am signed out

Stunt-wise, aspects are good for inspiration but stunts don't have to be linked directly to aspects... though unusual stunts may need an aspect that justifies them.

but I am obviously signed in or I couldn't type here

or see what you typed just now

You can see a chat while totally signed out.

well

That's what "public" means.

in any case

I couldn't type

ah, ok I figured it out

it's mad that I am not signed in specifically to my email that is tied to it

I had simple incorrectly assumed it would be fine with me just being logged into SE

4d6

that is just too awesome

4d6

[bandwagon]

4d6

Okay who's the funny guy who glued that third one to the table?

Heh.

Dinner time! Ttyl.

Back. Ding, @BESW

[vibrates]

I'm thinking her top three approaches would be Careful, Clever, and Forceful, with either Careful or Forceful on top.

[status-VIBRATES]

nope

okay

(hey guys!)

Hi!

all 3 rolls were 1

One of them was -1.

as well as the aformentioned glued on 3rd

all of them were one

So they were "absolute" 1, I guess.

one just had a negative value

lol

@JonathanHobbs Soooo.

@BESW My thoughts exactly on Careful and Forceful, I was wondering which of the other three would be third and Clever might well do.

Does FAE come with descriptions of these approaches?

I'm not 100% sure what Careful would be like.

Page 18.

> Careful: A Careful action is when you pay close attention to detail and take your time to do the job right. Lining up a long-range arrow shot. Attentively standing watch. Disarming a bank’s alarm system.

Careful yes definitely.

carefully dogeing out of the way of a dire slugs attack

What do I assign? One +3, two +2s...?

+3, +2, +2, +1, +1, +0.

I have an anonymous sheep and an anonymous camel in my document. I love that they added that.

huh

I must be the sheep, because I see you and a camel.

I don't see a camel

@trogdor Do you see a sheep?

yeah

@trogdor No, you're the camel!

but I also see BESW

err wait

I just refreshed.

no I don't I just see Hobbs and a sheep

it's random, I believe

and not consistent

Girrafe now

@trogdor You are the anonymous camel

apparently

Be right back. Switching to my PC

I thought it would link my email name, or my SE name

but apparently not

maybe it's in my privacy settings somewhere, or something like that

it's actually due to a clever little hack

some time back

this guy figured out a way to create a public gdoc and embed it in an iframe on his site

so if you visited his site, you'd be visiting the gdoc

and back then, if you were signed in and visiting a gdoc, google happily told your email address and username to everyone else visiting the gdoc

Ohoh.

so he could do extremely good de-anonymisation

Usernames for everybody!

now, because of this exploit, goog only shows your username if you're explicitly on the gdoc's contributors list

And that would be why I've attached this account to Eric Merit Fairchild.

heh

...who lives in Tilbury Town.

@JonathanHobbs Yey!

@trogdor No. Your Stack Exchange login is entirely disconnected from your Google login, other than you use the same username and password on both. Logging in on one doesn't affect the other, your config and profile on one doesn't affect the other, etc.

@JonathanHobbs err..

it depends if you're using oauth or not

well, it's technically still true

even if you're using openid, logging on in one doesn't affect the other, configs and profiles are distinct, etc etc etc

@Sohum affect. um

kinda.

but in general yes?

oh, we're in here

ugh,

@BrianBallsun-Stanton Wibbly wobbly loggy inny?

::sigh::

@BrianBallsun-Stanton affect?

no

lol

I confused.

→ 11 messages moved to RPG General Chat

roight

@Sohum Not as confused as Brian.

@Sohum Thanks for the lesson! I was wondering about all of that.

@BESW apparently!

heh, np

little exploits like that interest me :P

@BESW Approaches done. I didn't know how to weigh up Flashy or Forceful...

They were even. But below quick.

(I think?)

Flashy or Sneaky, I think you mean.

Yes. That is what I meant.

Yeah, just pick one to be worse at. Perhaps the one that's harder for me to invoke your aspects against you on.

@BESW What do you mean..?

If you have an aspect that is obviously anti-sneaky, then give the Sneaky approach a +1 and Flashy a +0, and urge me to invoke your unsneaky aspect for a bonus (granting you an FP) on the opposing roll every time you try something sneaky.

Or more drastically, self-compel auto-failures without rolling.

Okay. She phosphoreces (or can do so?). That is both anti-sneaky and flashy, I guess, if she's trying to sneak through somewhere whilst phosphorescing.

She also has an Earful of Bees at the moment.

Bzzzzzzz.

Phosphorescing is very flashy.

> Flashy: A Flashy action draws attention to you; it’s full of style and panache. Delivering an inspiring speech to your army. Embarrassing your opponent in a duel. Producing a magical fireworks display.

So what do you recommend for my +0 and +1's? I am a little lost :(

I see I can either give her a flashy aspect with a +1 in flashy, and that's good, but it would also be good to have a flashy aspect with a +0 in flashy.

It's... up to you?

You can always fiddle later.

(end of each session lets you modify an aspect or switch the modifiers between two approaches)

So if I have an unsneaky aspect that you can compel (say, you compel that she phosphoresces whilst trying to hide in the dark), I could deliberately put a +1 in Sneaky so that you would compel that whilst I try to sneak, but I'd still have 1 better on the score than if I had a +0 there.

Or I could just make her Flashy for a +1 and ???

And have her be really bad at sneaking.

Yeah she probably is not sneaky

My thought was that if you want them to be more even, put the higher score (by 1) in the approach that's easier to invoke against (for -2).

@BESW Ah, I understand.

I may just put a +1 in both of those and say that she isn't Quick..?

Not being Quick would be... appropriate and ironic at the same time.

@BESW How so? :)

@JonathanHobbs The "quick" is the part of the fingernail that bleeds when you rip a hangnail.

("Quickening" is also a term for the very first noticeable movements of a fetus.)

I don't think I appreciate that on the same level you do xD

But I'll put a +0 in quick

3 refresh?

Aye.

ok

Stunt!

And between 1 and 3 stunts for free; after that you have to start spending Refresh.

Stunt templates (pp 31, 32).

> Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bit of gear, or are otherwise awesome], I get a +2 when I [pick one: Carefully, Cleverly, Flashily, Forcefully, Quickly, Sneakily] [pick one: attack, defend, create advantages, overcome] when [describe a circumstance].

> Because I [describe some way that you are exceptional, have a cool bit of gear, or are otherwise awesome], once per game session I can [describe something cool you can do].

So I can have 1-3 stunts and 3 refresh, or 4 stunts and 2 refresh, and so on?

Aye.

Or 5 and 1, but never 6 and 0

You can actually drop to 0 Refresh in FAE.

DFRPG was different.

Wait, no.

You're right, they changed it in the final.

So, what kind of actions/situations do you want Stellata to be comfortable/competent at/in?

@BESW Just taking a moment to read what Fate Core has to say on Stunts.

FAE's "Create a Rules Exception" stunts are once per session right?

Yes.

I just saw the Riposte example stunt: If you succeed with style on a Fight defense, you can choose to inflict a 2-shift hit rather than take a boost.

Yeah, Core is a bit happier to talk about unusual stunts.

That particular one is a classic example of currency equivalency.

I might go with something like: Because I am a Protector of the Forest, once per game session when I succeed with style on a Forceful defence, I can [something equivalent like inflicting 2 stress??] instead of taking a Boost.

But then I read that a Boost lets me place an aspect which is really useful!!!

Yeah, it's a call.

Maybe a Stunt which gives me a +2 to Forceful Defence when <something>?

@BESW What do you mean? (That might be a turn of phrase I'm not familiar with)

call = decision / judgement

As in "That's a tough call," or "It's your call."

See also "A call on the play."

I would personally say they are both balanced mechanically

an aspect can be used to give a plus 2, but it doesn't guarantee the 2 stress hit

It's a little more complicated than that.

The aspect can also be invoked and compelled for FP (both for and against), and the +2 free invoke can beef up a defense, attack, or advantage roll.

But yes, the instant no-extra-roll-needed no-countering-roll-need-apply stress is pretty awesome.

@BESW Is it too awesome?

no

@JonathanHobbs No, they're relatively balanced: it's a choice between guaranteed stress or much more versatile but non-guaranteed bonus.

cause the Aspect is a hell of a lot more versatile.