City of the Chosen: Discussion

[Steerpike]

Hey Raelifin, I think there may be a date-issue in Gyeong-su's back-story.  You mention that he was promoted in 1918; I assume you probably mean 918.

[Raelifin]

Hey Raelifin, I think there may be a date-issue in Gyeong-su's back-story.  You mention that he was promoted in 1918; I assume you probably mean 918.

Good eye. I forgot to mention that he's actually a time traveler who goes on wacky Back to the Future style hijinks. I've edited his backstory to reflect this. Thanks.

[Raelifin]

Good to see that you were able to play, Nomadic! Though your character is a bit of a violation of what I wrote earlier, I appreciate the way the naturalism-focus counteracts problems with futuristic tech. :)

[Nomadic]

If it is that's fine I can back out. I asked in the thread if it would be ok but I never got a response so I went forward with it.

[Raelifin]

Nonono. It's okay! I responded to you over here on the previous page, but as I just said, it works fine given the natural-human theme.

[spoiler=From page 3 of the discussion thread]

Are there any limitations on the time the person can come from? I was thinking it'd be cool to have someone from the far future (from a point where humanity is a type II or even type III civilization).

I'm going to have to say that there is a soft limit at about 100 years from now. While I think it'd be interesting to have characters from the deep future, I am concerned about the logistics of such a large future history and the weirdness that might result from questions about transhumanism, etc. Sorry, Nomadic.

[/spoiler]

[Nomadic]

Ok fair enough, will stick around.

[Raelifin]

@Nomadic:
Thanks. :)

@Xathan:
I think there's an error in your character background where it says "and #0467BC;listed by anyone that uses Soretti's protection". Also, I'm curious where Mr. Dante is from. New York? Chicago? Boston? L.A.?

@All:
I had a conversation via PM that makes me think it might be good to emphasize something that players may have missed. When you assign a character to an event, you cannot selectively reduce the elements that the character brings. For instance, if your character has the Youth trait, they grant +1 Blood to their group regardless of whether that's desirable or not. In this sense it is sometimes (but not generally) useful to have lower (including negative) elemental stats!

This is also why it's useful to have a collection of NPC allies that you can assign to events where your PC might not be a good fit.

EDIT: P.S. Smoke-dominant characters are really fun to write (or omit writing about  :wink:). I'm surprised nobody made any. (Except perhaps TMG's Juliet.)

[TheMeanestGuest]

Are events the only way we can 'mechanically' interact with the game world? That is, in a way that isn't purely fluff. Are we able to just give descriptions or orders for what our characters do in a given turn?

[LordVreeg]

This has been a good read so far, BTW.

[Raelifin]

@Vreeg: Thanks!

@TMG: Events are the primary way to mechanically interact with the world. You can also move items and equip characters. Some powers and items  (shapeshifting, conjuration, etc) give you extra choices you can make on a turn, as well. That being said, the world is not generated by an oblivious computer, your interactions with other players, backgrounds, and roleplaying/flavor text with your NPC allies will effect what events show up on any given turn.

Ideally, anything that (1) you as a player want to do and (2) your characters might want to do, should be reflected as an event on any turn. So for example, if you want to explore and your characters are willing to explore, you should have exploration events available. To this end, communicating your desire as a player via the "fluff" of your characters will have definite impact on how the game goes.

I know that that involves a lot of trusting me, as a GM. I'm trying to balance having interesting strategic choices with having a game that can adapt to lots of different situations without being super complex. Feedback is always appreciated. ^_^

[LordVreeg]

One of the most important things a GM has to have to function is the trust of the PCs.  The more of this they earn, the more they can create a world for the players.  Becasue it is the job of the GM to play, "the rest of the world".

[sparkletwist]

Becasue it is the job of the GM to play, "the rest of the world".

Lest I completely derail the thread, I'll just say... not always. :grin:

[Raelifin]

One of the most important things a GM has to have to function is the trust of the PCs.  The more of this they earn, the more they can create a world for the players.  Becasue it is the job of the GM to play, "the rest of the world".

It's worse for City because, in a very significant sense, I'll be controlling the attentions and choices (or at least restricting them) of the PCs. It's more like we're co-playing things because I'll essentially be setting up forks in the story and the players get to ouija-board the game towards their preferences.

Becasue it is the job of the GM to play, "the rest of the world".

Lest I completely derail the thread, I'll just say... not always. :grin:

Oh no you don't. Discussion of alternative game systems not directly connected to City can go elsewhere, thank you very much. :P

[Raelifin]

1st-Batch of the Chosen:

Player	Name	Primary Element	Age	Time Period	Homeland	Gender	Primary Ethnicity/Culture
Superbright	Layla al-Zakiyya	Dust	19-20	700s	Baghdad	Female	Arab-Persian
HippopotamusDundee	Saitoro	Dust	~26	1500s	Japan	Male	Japanese
TheMeanestGuest	Juliet	Blood	27	2000s	Western North America	Female	Canadian-American Caucasian
-	Riccara Vaillancourt	Frost	22	2000s	Maine, USA	Female	American Caucasian
BasnetI	Bastien "Mcgregor"	Frost	20	1900s	United Kingdom	Male	British
Nomadic	Jens Faber	Frost	27	Far future	Norway	Male	Scandinavian
-	Hong Gyeong-su	Iron	46	900s	Korea	Male	Korean
-	Oryx	Blood	16	Distant Past	Egypt	Male	African
-	Mary	Dust	33	1900s	India	Female	Indian (Gond)
-	Vitus	Smoke	?	100s	Rome	Male	Roman
Xathan	John Dante	Iron	24	1900s	America	Male	American Caucasian
-	The Medicine Man	Dust	50s?	?	Western North America	Male	Native American
-	Olga Surikov	Iron	27	1900s	Soviet Union	Female	Eastern-European
-	Jéssica	Blood	23	1900s	Brazil	Female	African-Brazilian
-	Emily White	Iron	47	2000s	Australia	Female	Chinese

Elements by character count:
Blood: 3
Iron: 4
Dust: 3
Smoke: 2
Frost: 3

7 Women, 8 Men.

Median age: ~26

[Rhamnousia]

Crap, I just realized I never added her history!