Alright, bear with me, but I'm trying something different. I'm going to do a public round robin session.

I'm starting with Jade.

Pick one person who helped you save someone's life in time's past.

Seeing as Inoue is the only other one to have written a description of herself. I pick her.

Jioni, your turn.

Pick one person you do not trust. You perversely know them better, or think you do, as a direct result.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Thu 04 July 2019.

William

Perfect.

William Poe, your turn now.

Name someone who has fallen asleep around you, knowingly or not.

I choose Steve that lazy prick is always sleeping on the job.

Steve: The GM means one of the other players, idiot.

Hey! There will be no 4th wall breaking here Steve! Anyway speaking in multi color is hard. My choice is the girl named after the stone that likes GREEN!

Larry: And smells of WAFFLES!
This message was last edited by the player at 04:32, Fri 05 July 2019.

Understood.

Roman, your turn.

One of the other players stood up to you and your Mons when you were thinking of beating their ass, and they did so in a way that you respect. Who was it?
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Fri 05 July 2019.

In reply to Giratina (msg # 7):

Let's say Jade. Yeah the monk did it.

I see that Jade is really popular. Let's see if that's about to change.

Inoue, you are last to be up but yours is a two-parter, and part one is a whopper.

You have picked up a small cult following (called a "cult" only because it is not large enough to be mainstream - to you, that's undoubtedly your faith...through a local lens).

They are lucky, often have a surplus of material goods to freely donate, and a problem holding on to membership.

You choose whether they are close (you will meet them on the road a lot as companions) or far (scattered all over the United Kingdoms and mostly settled down).

Then choose 2 positives: luckier, prophetic, party-animals, insightful, hard-working, persuasive, or devoted.
    Devoted (if taken) increases their surplus but replaces their tendency to desert with a problem with feeding themselves, because they value the group and/or you above themselves.

Then choose 2 negatives: short-handed, enthralled, stoners, unhygienic, violent, selfish, or judgemental.
    Judgemental (if taken) replaces the tendency to desert with a dogmatic view, meaning they aren't so much following you as you are following them.
        Judgemental overrules Devoted's defect.
    Violent, meanwhile, is both a service and a curse. They can do violence on your behalf, but sometimes do violence when you don't want it.

Then give an elevator pitch as to why they are the way they are - one paragraph, maybe two. I'm asking a lot of you, admittedly, but you have a hand in making your faith, and that's a gift, I hope. Inoue succeeded beyond her expectations - these are the results she may not have wanted, but they are what she has.

When you are done, I will ask everyone a question, and then I will ask you one more.

Trying to drag me from my unproductive depressive spell kicking and screaming I see.

I would like my "cult" to be close, prophetic, hard-working, short-handed and stoners.

Inoue's faith originates from the snow-choked northlands, so remote that much of modern religion has passed it by. Its history is somewhat murky, but a close resemblance suggests that it may have split off from or perhaps even been the ancestor to what is known in modern times as the Old Way. The faith dictates no laws nor claims any authority; it simply describes tenets derived from observation of the world as it is and suggests modes of behavior to benefit all.

Inoue's faith is shamanic, viewing the Legendaries not as apexes of their respective fields to aspire towards but as personifications of nature to commune with and work aside. The faith has a particular respect for Giratina; in fact, much of Inoue's faith could be said to center on Giratina in that it encourages personal and spiritual growth as a method of happiness in life and stroking the world-furnace's flames in death. It has a strong emphasis on the flow of power between man and 'mon although, unlike the established Old Faith, places much less value on crude personal strength and so has few Taskmasters among its ranks. Instead, by communing with and understanding their connections with nature and the spirits that oversee it, many become Oracles and Channelers.

No faith is without a dark side, and Inoue's is no exception. In order to commune with spirits, Inoue's faith has a tradition of inducing trance with the burning of powerfully hallucinogenic and addictive herbs. The fumes of these herbs resonate with the ghost anima, breaking down one's spiritual barriers. This allows visions from the gods but also leaves one vulnerable to possession by spirits that may be less than friendly -- or unwilling to give the body back once they have imparted their knowledge.

Excellent work. Hard-working and short-handed cancel each other out, but your group is:
    Lucky, often has a surplus of material goods to freely donate, a problem holding on to membership, and are stoners.
    This means that when you lean on them, they will sometimes be able to have something that helps, sometimes have knowledge they shouldn't, sometimes are too damn high to meaningfully help (and that's when things are good), and when things go south you tend to lose people...and you don't have a lot of people to lose.
    Unreliable, but a good asset.

Now, for my question to everyone else:

Who wants to join this group?

Once I get an answer from the other four, I'll ask you one more question. This one will be much shorter and easier to answer.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:10, Fri 05 July 2019.

(I rather thought that rather than cancelling each other, it'd just mean that although they're hard workers there won't always be enough of them to get much done)

That's why they cancel out (sadly in favor of the defect), although I missed an obvious detail about that, so I am going to add a bit to that.

While Jade probably respects the "Cult" she will decline joining.

Alright we need a consensus.

Larry: We should join!

Steve: We should not.

Carl: ITS A CULT! DEMONIC RITUALS! HUMAN SACRIFICE! LETS DO THIS SHIT!

I join the cult...

....What do you mean there are no sacrifice? No satanic worship? I am APPALED! I DEMAND A REFUND! I SAY! good day to thee.

.... I quit the cult.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 01:56, Sat 06 July 2019.

Jioni doesn't do cults.

I'm going to move ahead and take a liberty that Roman's not interested either. Shame, although not completely surprising.

And now the last phase, Inoue.

Choose one person whose soul you have seen.

Oh, and Roman - I have a challenge for you that I forgot to give you, but alluded to.

You have some hangers on, about five goons and their Mons that have latched on to you. They are scum, but they are your scum. We are talking Rattatas, Zubats, and Koffings; Gen 1 Team Rocket quality goons, packing simple weapons and no armor.

Like Inoue, we are making your gang:

Pick two positives:
We're ten goons actually, We have actual weapons, We have armor, We have discipline, We are mobile, or We are rich
    "We have discipline" means that they lose their sole defect of being morally on the level of hyenas. They will still give you grief when to try to force your will on them.

And then pick one negative:
Short journeys only, Picky about weather/terrain, Commitment is hard, You owe someone bigger, Ain't got time to bathe
    "Picky" means that if EITHER weather or terrain isn't what they want, they don't follow. You can walk out alone in that crap - they are staying behind until it changes or a new route is suggested.

Your crew can be a pain in the ass, but this is what Jade stood up to, whatever you make them: you backed up by these guys.

Then explain in one, maybe two paragraphs what this represents. Why's your crew like this?
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:21, Sat 06 July 2019.

In reply to Giratina (msg # 18):

Good bet on the hard pass from me.

Positives:We have discipline, we are mobile
Negative:Picky about weather/terrain

  Roman is a low noble of his homeland(most likely Albion). One day he was bored and choose to leave to find a "new way". Like most who lose themselves Roman found himself surrounded by others that were like him. Or at least were at the time. He and his goons were working a protection racket of a small town. He and his Mons were enough by themselves, but he always took his goons. It was that day that Jade stood up to him.
       Shortly after he went traveling again to become who he knew he had to be. He started with a lot more goons. But as most of them saw how Roman was becoming they left. He became a small beacon of hope to those around him. His remaining five goons soon transformed as well. Becoming more like him because they either respected him or because they had nothing better to do. There is Brick, Zela, Jorge, Murrary, and Stu. Zela is the only female among these jackals or rather reformed jackals.

Very good. Simply awaiting Inoue's reply, and then I will go to Jade after a moment of review.

Actually, there are a few details I can pursue while waiting for Inoue to pick a soul she knows.

1. Jade and Inoue teamed up to save a life. Forge that tale, both of you.
2. Jioni knows Poe and distrusts the crazy bastard. Ask Poe to help with the circumstances of what inspired you to study him - he will also be giving you more information as needed, as you either get him pretty well or think you do.
3. Poe has seen Jade sleeping. Under what circumstances? Work it out.
4 (sort of). Roman had his...actually, this has been somewhat covered. But Jade has to officially sign off on the way that tale played out - I suspect she will.
5. Poe joined and then promptly left Inoue's cult because the voices in his brain told him this group was something it was not and he thought that sounded fun - while that results in a zero change of disposition, this does imply a story. He gave me a prototype tale (that or it's me saying my ideas are his) but it would need approval.

You can sort this out here in the public thread, or you can make a PM aimed at them and Yveltal (he needs to be a witness and perhaps a second source of questions about specifics, if he has any - he's pretty sharp).

On an emoji rated scale, this is what everyone so far's experiences with the others can be summed up as at the end of the first question round:

What they see      Inoue    Jade    Jioni    Roman    Poe
Inoue                           N/A      :D      XD       :D       :/
Jade                           :)       N/A     :/       :/       :/
Jioni                            :)       :)      N/A      :)       XD
Roman                       >:(      :D      :/       N/A      D:<
Poe                           :)       XD      :D       :D       N/A

Again, I don't care how many personalities he has, Poe does not have prior history with himself. No one is actually bound to this, as this is simply the lens coloring relationships. How they are actually employed in game may be vastly different - this is just the starting point.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:42, Mon 08 July 2019.

Opps, sorry, the assignment got lost in the shuffle.


Jioni's, I guess!

Poe you here?

Excellent. You'll have to work out with him why this is the case. My next question was going to be to Jade, and ask her who has been her traveling companion, but she has advanced knowledge on me, and she chose Poe.

So, my next question is aimed at Poe:

Who have you been watching secretly? You may not choose Jade.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:14, Mon 08 July 2019.

Are we all really here, I mean when you think about it what is here really?

Steve: I believe this Jioni is the guy spying on you.

Or has he!? Or have I been spying on him!? For he knows that I know that he knows that I know what he did.

Steve: And what was it he did?

That is for him to know and for me to find out!

Steve: Ok what about the Inoue's cult?

What about it, I remember these Zed heads showing up asking about the demonic cult. So I marched up to them and demanded my refund. This cult has no demons! No Sacrifices! They're just a bunch of hippies with drugs that don't do squat. Then the Zed's drew there weapons on me and I fled.

Steve: Finally, tell the audience how you met Jade.

So there I was surrounded by ninjas. Boo Diddley and I-Dio were down for the count and Face Biter was doing what Face Biter does best, biting my face. When suddenly like a green comet this blond kid comes out of nowhere crashing into my enemies. After defeating or enemies me and Green Girl became inseparable comrades who went out on glorious adventures for which we battled the foul dark forces and save the world.

Steve: You followed her against her wishes and kept on annoying her with the arguments you had with Larry and Carl. Then at night you were suppose to keep watch as she was sleeping but for some reason you decided to run off to the highest hill peek and howl at the moon. When we came back she was gone.

Hey some times a man has urges.

Carl: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNN!!!!!

Okay, that's extensive, and beyond the call of duty. Very good.

So, next question for Jade:

Who do you believe is doomed for self-destruction? You may not choose Inoue or Poe.

And one for Jioni:

Gain or upgrade up to two weapons you have. Any money you have spent on those weapons is refunded, and may be redirected.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.



I wanted to make a 5 row LOL but I am lazy.


* Edit *
Jioni is beyond hope.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Mon 08 July 2019.

Ah. That will make an interesting story as to how you drew that conclusion.

And while Jioni's busy on their project, I have one last question for Poe:

Poe is convinced that one person evidently dislikes and distrusts him. Who is it? It may not be Jade or Jioni.

Also, you get or upgrade up to two artifacts, as long as they are not weapons or armor...although you can upgrade Arcane Weapons.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:43, Mon 08 July 2019.

So there is Inoue who may or may not like me and then there is this Roman guy who I never met before. Who definitely hates me.

Steve: How does he hate you? You just said you never met.

Exactly!

Interesting, given that your character knows exactly who this guy that you are convinced doesn't like you is like himself. Perception/What Actually Happened, although he's right in that Roman defaults to not liking him. There's a story here.

So, the new chart is as follows:

What they see----Inoue----Jade----Jioni----Roman----Poe
Inoue------------N/A------:D------XD-------:D-------:/ or :o (her choice)
Jade-------------:)-------N/A---->:(-------:/-------:D
Jioni------------:)-------:)------N/A------:)-------XD
Roman----------->:(-------:D------:/-------N/A-----D:<
Poe--------------:)-------XD------XD-------XD-------N/A

Inoue has ties to Jade and Jioni.
Jade has ties to Inoue, Jioni, and Poe.
Jioni has ties to Poe.
Roman has ties to Jade.
Poe has ties to everyone, although his tie to Inoue is indirect (she didn't actually meet him face-to-face prior to now).

I feel a good way to get a grasp on Jade is somewhere between her classes and skills. And I justify this with the note that her Guile is pathetic.

class (Aura Guardian, Chef, Skimisher, Researcher)

Skills

Acrobatics             Novice                 3D6
Combat                 Adept                4D6
Athletics                Untrained          2D6
Intuition                Adept                4D6
Medicine               Novice               3D6
Perception             Novice               3D6
General Ed            Novice               3D6
Intimidate             Pathetic             1D6
Stealth                  Untrained            2D6
Survival                Adept                  4D6
Occult Ed              Untrained             2D6
Pokemon Ed          Untrained            2D6
Tech Ed                 Untrained            2D6
Guile                    Pathetic             1D6
Charm                  Untrained            2D6
Command             Pathetic              1D6
Focus                    Novice               3D6
This message was last edited by the player at 22:15, Mon 08 July 2019.

But yeah! Everyone has Events that have happened with other people! In fact, all I need from Inoue is about ten names for her members (your group is pretty small - Short-Handed), and skills that reflect their spiritual, no-nonsense views of the world.

No, those traits are not mutually exclusive with being stoners. I lived on the edge of Mennonite territory - don't let those guys fool you: half of them were getting stoned privately. I learned everyone's dark side where I lived.

EDIT: But the names are higher priority. General Skills are optional.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:34, Tue 09 July 2019.

So I'm guessing XD = "finds them amusing" and :\ = ambivalence?

Also, can I gain one weapon and upgrade another?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Tue 09 July 2019.

The tier chart of positivity is " :)    :D     XD"

Of negativity, it is ">:(    D:<     DX"

No one got the last one on the negative chart. ":/" generally means "jury's still out."

"8D" and "I8<" were hypothetical.

So Jioni and Poe think very highly of each otherbut Jioni distrusts him?

It's how well you either "get" someone, or how well you think you "get" them. Usually, a positive relation means a positive disposition - you know them, or think you do, so you are actually either relaxed around them, or at least not fazed. It's mostly for my own references, really, and to help give everyone something to start from.

A negative disposition, on the other hand, usually means you don't "get" them, and think they are either weird or else kind of an asshole.

I feel like Jade's relationship to Inoue or Roman is already established/straight forward. I don't have any problem with Roman's story and Inoue and I working to save a life sounds straight forward enough unless we're looking for a more defined story there.


* Edit *
Giratina wants a name, and circumstances as to who we saved Inoue. So I guess I'll send you a PM momentarily.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Tue 09 July 2019.

Alrighty thank you for the clarification! &#128513;

In reply to Giratina (msg # 30):

it's interesting that Roman defaults to not liking him. This must be a story that Roman must tell me. Wanna spill Roman?

Roman: No not really.

Well how about you tell me anyway?

Roman:Um nope.

Why the heck not?

Roman: Because I have no clue boss.

Ok well who does?

Roman: I'm putting money on the guy talking to himself

Ummmmmmm…………..Does that mean me/us?

Roman: Nope just YOU!

Oh *sigh* close call...……...

And that means I guessed correctly half the reason why. Because so far, Roman keeps to themselves and their crew. The other half is because Poe is Poe, and requires an Occult Education roll rather than Intuition to read intentions.

Okay, that last sentence's part after the comma isn't quite true. But it could be!

Oh, and Jioni! Have you chosen your zero, one or two backup weapons yet? You are armed to the teeth with some powerful alchemical weapons, all of Fine quality.

Inoue has ties to Jade and Jioni. Mostly done.
Jade has ties to Inoue, Jioni, and Poe. Mostly done, see above.
Jioni has ties to Poe. Done.
Roman has ties to Jade. I only require a few details to touch up. I will ask later.
Poe has ties to everyone, although his tie to Inoue is indirect (she didn't actually meet him face-to-face prior to now). Jade and Inoue are resolved. He's working on Jioni now, and how he knows Roman well enough to be convinced that Roman doesn't like him is up in the air...especially give the attachments from Roman's side are pretty loose. Was it a self-fulfilling prophecy?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:11, Thu 11 July 2019.

Oh you never answered my question on the weapons, I thought you were talking it over with Yveltal

Upgrade one and get another? You can, and you get refunded for the mundane weapon's base cost.

No Legendary stuff though. You are not the bearer of Excalibur or Gae Bolg.

Lol well of course not.

Would it be possible to Upgrade my Honedge yo Fine without evolving it?

I'm going to go with no, on that one. It's already an awesome Mon in its own right. It does that when it becomes an Aegislash, anyways - which is admittedly some ways off.

A ranged weapon or two might serve you, or something that doesn't get -2 on all rolls when it goes down might serve you, though.

No plans on evolving it. And my Hand of Dreams is a ranged weapon.
Hmmm...I'll think on it though.

Also. What kind of move would a Master Hand of Dreams have?

That's annoying - I know I used to know what this item did, or where to find it, but I'm finding no data on it.

It's in my RTJ pm. Did you delete it?

Finally found it - wasn't where I thought it should have been.

It's Adept level move is probably something like Bash! or Wear Down, if I had to take a stab (again, not finding that part of it - the description of the weapon is spread out). So, the Master level move of a gauntlet would probably be Maul or Titanic Slam. The weapon does range as a built-in feature - the weapon ITSELF is quite literally designed as a back-up hand-to-hand option.

So, pretty much everyone is done.

Jade simply needs to divvy up $20000 worth of scrap Food and Medicine, and determine how she is transporting it. I suppose I could recommend a custom Rotom-F sworn to the pacifistic ideologies of the Celestine Pact.

Jioni just needs to build up his weapons, IF he decides to do so. He's got one (just needs elaboration), and he may have another if he wishes - Jioni is scary armed.

From Inoue, her faithful - names and brief descriptions. That's all.

Also, all character sheets on RPOL should be open for modification. Makes it easy for me to review what you have, can and can't do without digging through a million PMs and finding the data I need. Shorthand: Character sheets on RPOL lower the odds that I will kill your character on accident.

Once that's done, I am going to take a breather for about a week. Let my brain cool off while I try to determine how I'm going to start things. The beginnings are always the hard part.

I think I'm going to start everyone in the same place, and I think adventure one will be simply "Sunup to Sundown, A Day In The Life of a Mon Trainer"

Given what you are (protagonists of a tale), something screwed up WILL happen. Your days are never boring when I start "rolling the camera." Also, I need to coordinate with Yveltal to help me analyze your resources. While you have gaping holes here and there, for the most part, you guys are actually pretty well off, or can get that way quickly.

That's good. The more you have, the more I can target. That makes a better tale, I'd like to think.

Sorry about dropping off the face of the earth, Daughter had her tonsils removed and I'm about half as exhausted as she is. I'll try and get back to the backstory thing tomorrow if not tonight.

So, Siegfried is now the friend all of you always knew and that none of you particularly like, because he's always leaving after he does whatever, until now.

He's fought shoulder to shoulder with Jade, he considers Roman to be the smart one, and Poe bailed on him when he was trouble to go chasing butterflies or whatever Poe does.

So he sees this:

Jade     XD
Poe      D:<
Roman    :D

Because he remembers them,

And they see this:

Jade     ):
Poe      :)
Roman    ):

Mostly because they don't really know the guy.