Theo Anders and the Black Exaltation[Worm/Exalted][Hiatus]

Eh, to be completely honest it kinda shows that you're new to this, especially with how you're characterizing some of the characters. But at the same time you've got a solid foundation of actually decent writing so learning how to not fuck up characters too much is something that will come with time and just learning how to write characters that you might not be too familiar with .

 

How you've shown it so far seems about right. It means that TDP is extremely quick and accurate at reading people's intentions in a broad, general sense. Notably, this effect can be replicated mundanely(difficulty 3) given a bit of time and skill to observe someone.

SCA is blatant magic that pulls information out of nowhere. Often it will effectively look like a more specific and detailed version of the first charm, but then other times it will tell you things you have no way of inferring. Dragon is an AI. Amy is romantically attracted to her sister. Thomas Calvert wants to take over the city. The trick is using it at the right time, because it is instant and not cheap.

SCA does function as a social perfect, but it is hilariously prone to failure. It also won't protect against most Master powers.

 

I don't think they are that dissimilar, but that's not the same as saying they should be mindlessly copied. Theo's basic game plan here is actually hilariously similar to the one Taylor stumbled her way into in Conquest Quest.

Now I feel strangely compelled to write some terrible crossover omakes once things are more established. But will it be The Locust Crusade: Brockton Bay Edition, or The Dark Prince vs. Firefly in an epic battle befriending seduction something?

 

Re-read stunt rules.

Like theonebutcher's subvote with the airquotes and attitude, 1-die stunts are adding good flourishes and embellishments to actions. Saying you punched someone with an extra twist to create a corkscrew punch isn't going to cut it.

'My hand drinks in the light of life,' you say as light flickers and swirls into nothingness around your fist in strange fractal patterns, 'Feel the cold hand of Death! Imploding Freezing Finger!' you yell and thrust your hand, hidden in the middle of a dark frosty cloud, into Armsmaster's stomach, where it instantly freezes and shatters the armor, leaving the man with heavy frostbite across his abdomen.

I'd say something along those lines is a good 1-die stunt. It's short, sweet (has a fucking killer G-Gundam reference) and has decent embellishment around the action itself. It can be a little wordier than that, especially if it's a social stunt.

Bii's 2-die stunt involves a good description the social environment around TDP while adding flourishes to his social actions. Its also a bit wordier allowing for more description. Don't go overboard. I'm not going to limit the word count but a 2-die stunt shouldn't consistently take more than 500 words. Bii's was ~300 words. There is an element of what's around TDP and using it to add even more awesome sauce to the plate of delicious ass-kickery.

3-die stunts are straight up wire-kung fu badassery. Moments worthy of legend and song. Poetry in motion. Bravery and bravado. A lengthy and awe-inspiring rendition of 'boop'-ing Behemoth on the nose with a grand daiklave before using that as a fulcrum to leverage yourself into the air and double kicking Alexandria in the face in order to propel yourself back into the hero-killer and hitting him with all the wrath of dead-titans that cannot die. These are not handed out like candy.

All of these are ultimately up to me to award dice for. You can suggest a 3-die stunt, but I might feel it's only a 2-die stunt. 1-die stunts are fairly easy to come by, but if it doesn't have an element of movie-action awesomeness to it, you might not even get that. Just bouncing off the wall isn't enough for a 2-die stunt. I awarded TDP a 2-die stunt earlier when he was shadow-swording. He flipped over the 'enemy's' strike ran a bit up the wall, flipped over the imaginary enemy keeping the shoulders at the same horizontal level, and spun like an upside down top of death. I used the environment to facilitate giving even more awesome to the action, and I was being a bit generous to myself.

=====

Its sorta come up twice. Once in the thread and once in IRC.

Its hard to write Nazis as people.

I'm in no way, shape, or form a Nazi sympathizer. I don't condone any form of discrimination over naturally occurring things (like race, gender, sex, or sexuality). I don't care about race, gender, sex, or sexuality. I don't like people discriminating against others for something that is impossible or difficult to change. I don't like being discriminated against.

My political stance can be rather succinctly put as 'I want transgender same-sex married couples to be able to defend their pot plants with guns, without them judging me for wanting a traditional family (and a dog, because dogs are superior to cats) that I also would defend with guns.'

But I am trying to make these characters more than just bland cut-outs. KKK members or Neo-Nazis are people, deeply flawed and/or misguided, but people none-the-less. I'm not a skilled enough writer to make this easy on me. I just want to make it clear.

=====

Now that all of that has been said. I had an IRL friend over and meant to post this like an hour and a half ago. I'll be working on the snip from here on out.

 

Good to know that your political stance mention guns twice.

 

Don't worry with time and practice You'll be able to write the human side of the most monstrous characters.maybe it would help to create a thread where we discuss such characters in history and fiction.

 

Big supporter of 2nd Amendment rights. But then again, I was raised around guns, went to 'war' with bigger guns, came home and bought more guns because my oath doesn't expire just because I'm out of the military. And in order to avoid more modern political discussion that isn't related to the quest, 'Murica.

 

[X] Plan Snake

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.

[X] Socialize target: The Mayor and nuclear family, includes Rory (Triumph) and girlfriend Sam (Prism)
-[!] Start mapping out the social web from them.

[X] I am a humble but proud Prince. Generous to those who please me, terrible in my wrath to those who displease me.

 

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.

[X] Socializing targets to be determined later

[X] A Prince is the highest of noblemen, and noblemen should be loved by the peasants.

 

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.
[X] Socializing targets to be determined later
[X] I am a humble but proud Prince. Generous to those who please me, terrible in my wrath to those who displease me.

 

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.
[X] Socializing targets to be determined later
[X] I am a humble but proud Prince. Generous to those who please me, terrible in my wrath to those who displease me.

 

[X] Plan Bii

 

Last night was a but quiet huh?

 

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.
[X] Let the people come to you.
[X] A Prince is the highest of noblemen, and noblemen should be loved by the peasants.

 

[X] Plan Bii

 

[X] Plan Bii

 

See this here is the part where you lose all credibility.

You filthy dog lovers, I swear you'll be the first people we glass...

 

To the last, I struggle with the. For hates sake I spit.my last breath at thee. From Hell's Heart, I STAB AT THEE!!!!!

Cats are evil soul stealing devilspawn.

 

No cats are superior due to the fact that all cats love me and want to snuggle with me whereas most dogs are scared of me and don't let me pet them (unless I give them treats) or they bark at me

 

[X] Plan Bii

 

[X] Plan Bii

 

[X] Plan Evil

[X] She's set her boundaries, cultivating a good relationship will pay off in the long run. Pay enough attention to her that everyone (including Sabah) is sure of who she is there (and friends) with, but not enough to let everyone (including Sabah) think that you are there together.
-[X] "I hope you don't mind a little teasing." (use superpowers to figure out how far we can go)
-[X] Soon enough, she will ache for us.

[X] Socialize target: The Mayor and nuclear family, includes Rory (Triumph)
-[X] Start mapping out the social web from them.
-[X] It's nice to be on a first-name basis with powerful people.

[X] Secondary socialize target: The Stansfields (Including Dean as Dean)
-[X] "Sometimes it's nice to be an heir, isn't it?"
(Then Victoria comes over. "What are you two talking about?" -- "Oh, just putting on heirs.")

[X] Write-in
-[X] The major risk that I'm taking this evening is internal politics: inviting Sabah. Making the evening with Sabah go off flawlessly, ensuring that neither of us is embarrassed in public or private would be a very solid win.
-[X] I learned a lot today, let's not stop now. My goal tonight is to figure things out, not to make more waves.

 

This could go hilariously if we use the "Amazing what money can buy." excuse for why we went from fatkid!Theo to TDP: Triumph and his father could think that we're referring to a Cauldron vial.

[X] Plan Evil

 

More! i want more of these awkward Theo and Rory omakes,this a bromance in the making,built on the sticky and hard foundation of miscommunication.

 

What about socializing with Vicky and seeing if we can break her brain by showing off Sabah as our "date" so she starts getting all apologetic and "oh god I'm so sorry Theo I was wrong about you" or maybe we could start flirting with Panacea/Laserdream?