[Twi]Chronicles of the Impaler: Crisis of Infinite Draculas OOC

[darkblade]

Sorry I haven't been able to post any updates the last couple of days. I've been bed ridden with a dire cold. After I catch up with all the real life stuff that fell behind tomorrow I'll make sure to get a post in here.

[Colesign]

Let's not forget that the Dresden Files FATE system was modified from the game 'Spirit Of the Century', which I think was more lenient in terms of power levels.

We could just increase the Refresh 'Free Will Limit' a tad (to 15 or so).

Or is it more a matter of the power level of our characters mechanically steam-rolling over challenges within the FATE system?

Also: Hilarious, Cracklord: I'll respond to you and Indy Sunday...and maybe post some Richard Seaton stuff.

Edit: Or not. Moved back into my Dorm today. Tired.

Tomorrow then.

[Cracklord]

When upping a system, it's important you scale it in every aspect, not just in levels. A prime example is the most famous, the Diplomacy skill in DnD. After mid levels, by only basic exploitation you don't even need mind affecting abilities to make people do what you want. You just say something vaguely and they'll stop being in the process of lynching you for burning down their town, and start slavishly and fanatically following your every word.
So we have to raise the cap quite a bit. John Taylor, for example, can breeze through any normal investigation (locked room mystery? A few seconds concentration and it's solved), so you have to scale up the challenges, and do it in such a way that everyone doesn't have maxed out stats and come down to a 50/50 toss in every engagement.

[industrious]

Let's not forget that the Dresden Files FATE system was modified from the game 'Spirit Of the Century', which I think was more lenient in terms of power levels.

We could just increase the Refresh 'Free Will Limit' a tad (to 15 or so).

Or is it more a matter of the power level of our characters mechanically steam-rolling over challenges within the FATE system?

Also: Hilarious, Cracklord: I'll respond to you and Indy Sunday...and maybe post some Richard Seaton stuff.

Edit: Or not. Moved back into my Dorm today. Tired.

Tomorrow then.

The problem is that 15 refresh is too low. Ditto 20. At higher levels, the Dresden Files RPG simply states that such characters are "plot-device level," that putting stats down for them wouldn't be wise at all.

Except that our characters regularly spit in the face of plot-device level characters, beat them to a pulp, and come back for seconds.

[Cracklord]

And make them cry. So we'd have to rework the system quite a bit.

[Corvond]

No she wouldn't because she reads intent. Every-time you change your mind, the future changes, meaning that spur of the moment actions are as much a surprise to her as they are to those who can't see the future.
Also, thanks for killing Zim. I'll have the new character sheet up very soon.

[Colesign]

Mmmm. I defer to you guy's expertise.

Speaking of which, here's a (beginning of a) conclusion to the Richard Seaton 'Phyrexia Super-Duper Nightmare Arc' of Cracklord:

Spoiler

Show

In the Centaurus Spiral Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, nestled within a Nebulae of shimmering stardust, within the clusters of the seventeen emerald stars of the Green System, on the Planet Normalon, Dorothy Seaton and Richard Jr. were building a starship so that they could search for their mutual husband and father.

Normalon! A gentle planet, one that bore the marks of a triumphant Civilization, of evolved beings dedicated completely to the the ideals of Scientific Pursuit and peaceful meditation. Where each adult was the complete master of a field of science, knowledge imbued within them by cunning systems of education and the instant electronic imprinting of the total knowledge of their ancestors upon maturity. From the cradle to the grave, the Normalonians lived rationally calculated and quantifiably fulfilling lives.

And at some point, they had slipped into stagnation, and misplaced that spark, that drive which propels the younger more reckless races outward from their home...and leads to wonder and Sheer Astonishment!

When Richard Seaton unified the four species of the Green System, the warlike Kondals and Urvanians, the Porpoise-Men of Dasor and academic Normalonians...it was the best thing that had happened to those dusty elders of a gentle race for eons. They were faced with challenges once more, in new scientific paradigms, in mitigating the savagery of their planetary cousins, and in defending the universe from a thousand would-be galactic empires.

Thus the Normalonians were more than happy to help Dorothy build a packet-style spaceship to help search for her husband.

Dorothy stood on a balcony and watched as it took shape in the launch cradle, a thin spire of gleaming purple-transparent monopolium and programmable matter.

She had written out the designs on classic foolscap, the contents of which lay scattered at her feet. The 'Starling' was designed with three things in mind: Engine power, defensive fields, and an enhanced sensor array, able to pick out a ship's energy signature from the core of a galaxy and project hard-light constructs across lightyears, able to take hits and run fast.

It's the same old story for a wife. Dorothy thinks. First you worry that your husband's a workaholic–which, to be fair, is something Seaton has a lot of trouble with–then you worry that he's abandoned you–which I couldn't help but imagine even though I know him really well–and then...

And then you worry that something's gone horribly wrong, and you call the police.

Except that there aren't any police out there who can track your Scientific Adventurer husband across the entirety of the known Cosmos.

...Dammit.

"Mom! Mom!"

Dorothy turned about to see Richard Jr. waft up the nearby repeller tube, dressed in swim trunks, soaking wet...and carrying a Normalonian green-skinned, subtly large-brained youth, whose left arm was dangling limply.

"Richard, what happened!" Dorothy asked, rushing over to her son's side.

"I..." Richard Jr. averted his eyes for a moment. "It was an accident. Dacel and Foros and Theti and I were playing in the distilled water pool...and I was playing with Dacel and...I hurt him by mistake."

Richard Jr. stared at the ground, looking at the gleaming brass vambraces fixed around his slender arms, the 6th Order Inhibitors that his father had quickly thrown together before blasting off for Earth to 'Put things in Order'.

It was only because of those two small pieces of apparel that Richard Jr. was able to grow and get along like a normal boy, filling out in size and gaining a bit more of his Father's features in a heart-aching fashion. But there were only a stopgap measure, a temporary measure for until Richard Seaton returned to fully cure his son of his...contagion.

Dorothy could still remember her utter helplessness at that time...snatched by tattooed commandos from her cheap flat in a strange, vulgar, bleak, and hostile future...being beaten and humiliated, and brought in chains to the temple of Chichen Itza and the Court of the Red Queen , a cold, evil, black-eyed cobra whose capered amongst a menagerie of insane bat monsters.

She remembered Seaton's Projection materializing, the tears in his eyes, struggling to keep it together as that bitch put a bayonet to her son's throat...the steely glint in his eyes as he began to put together a plan to safe them...and then the horror as his Projection was disrupted by the electronic war field of the Invading Britannians...as everything fell into chaos...and as a vampire guard, overcome by bloodlust, sank his teeth into her son's shoulder...

"Mom? Mom? Do you know where we can find a medkit? I...I want to make up for my screwup...by fixing Daxel's arm...can I do that for you, Daxel? I mean, if Mom lets me?"

"It's okay." the green skinned youth said, smiling: "I know it was an accident: you're a Heavy Worlder, and you're used to things being more durable: I've blocked out the pain with a mental technique I designed at age twenty, and with proper treatment, the fracture could heal fully. Besides...you don't know medicine: the First of Healing should take care of it."

"I know." Richard Junior said glumly, rubbing his face. "But...I need to help somehow. I need to do something good to make up for the bad. That's what good guys do!"

"Like your dad?" Daxel asks.

Richard Jr. frowned. "I guess."

"How about this, okay?" Dorothy says, kneeling down so that she matched the heights of both her son and the Normalonian kid. "Go the the First of Healing with Daxel, but then ask the First if you can help him tend to Daxel's arm: I'm sure he'll have something he could use your help with."

"Cool!" Richard Jr. and Daxel said simultaneously. With the rapid shifting of focus that's endemic to youth, they swiveled about and walked off towards one of the nearby hovercars, chattering about learning medicine, and talking excitedly about the rocket-ship taking shape far off in the launch cradle.

"I'm gonna be the Navigator! I'll plot courses and scan for stuff and everything!" Dorothy heard her son say.

"That's so scientific! Are you going to travel to Earth?"

"...Nah. Earth sucks."

To be continued! Will Dorothy Seaton be able to track down her missing Science Hero Husband? Will Richard Jr. be able to overcome his semi-vampiric condition! And what in all of the Cosmos has happened to Professor Seaton, Cosmic Explorer, Genius, and Champion of the Green System?

Tune in next week, for:

Terror of the Phyrexia Pirates!

[darkblade]

Another reminder than I can't archive that series with the others on Fanfiction.com. There is no Skylark or Overlord section to place it in and listing it as a Magic the Gathering story is just plain misleading.

[Cracklord]

Terror of the Phyrexia Pirates!

Excellent in a 'Slice of Life' kind of way (though for some reason in put me in mind of 'Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'), but I can't help but feel it lowers the tension significantly, even when used in point of contrast.

However, there is an 'Other' section. Why not use that? You should also consider archiving 'Mice in the Great Temple'.

[darkblade]

I can't find the "Other" section on the site.

Mice in the great temple? I don't remember that one.

[Cracklord]

So apparently it no longer exists. Well, that's that plan gone. There is a miscellaneous category, however.

[Colesign]

Excellent in a 'Slice of Life' kind of way (though for some reason in put me in mind of 'Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy'), but I can't help but feel it lowers the tension significantly, even when used in point of contrast.

However, there is an 'Other' section. Why not use that? You should also consider archiving 'Mice in the Great Temple'.

Actually, that's only the first part of my narrative. The later part will be much darker.

And sadder.

Spoiler

Show

The space-forsaken irony of if all was that the Starling's voyage ended only minutes after it began.

As Dorothy, Richard Jr., and a platoon of Kondalian Commandos blasted off in the slender craft, the sheer force generated from the disintegrating force of multiple uranium bars driving them out of the Green System at a speed compared to which the speed of light was but a snail's pace...

...their long range projections picked up the drive signatures of a spaceship. A large spaceship, a spaceship the size of a moon, lurking just outside the range of the planetary mass detectors of the Green System, in a parking orbit around a black hole and star double system, thick streams of plasma peeling off from the doomed sun and plummeting into that abyssal singularity of absolute negation.


The Skylark of Valeron! Dorothy thought. What caused Richard to pull that old bird out of hiding? Another alien menace? Have some Cloran remnants popped out of the woodwork? Or maybe it's the Pure Intellectuals! God, those ascended manchildren are so annoying...

...Why hasn't he contacted us? Is he hiding from us?

...blisters, don't let your worries keep you from acting!

"Set us on an Intercept Course." She said, staring at the visiplate projections and biting her lip. "Don't spare the power plants."

***

It was indeed the Skylark of Valeron, somehow dragged from it's hiding place in the Orion Nebulae and set in an orbit, a mass of machinery and power reactors and exciters and 6th Order Projectors, a moon-sized behemoth designed to blast it's way back from the far end of the universe and to imprison Ascended Beings, all it's functions guided by an Electronic Brain just barely below the threshold of intelligence, designed to work in tandem with it's pilot.

Matter and energy were merely building blocks to the mind that controlled it, all conjurable simply through the application of imagination and willpower, and limited only by one's power sources. And with several asteroid sized reactors burning huge blocks of uranium, and a Cosmic Energy Convertor that absorbed the energy of Cosmic Rays, the Valeron was not spoilt for power.

Dorothy looked at the dials at the control deck, frowning as she sorted through the alien measurements systems in her head.

That can't be right.

"Rovol." She asked, waving the young radiation technician over. "Do these reading mean what I think they mean?"

The newly instated First of Radiation scratched his head.

"This is quite curious...no, most curious indeed!!! The instruments are without error: the Valeron is currently drawing upon enormous amounts of energy!"

"And yet she's not moving." Dorothy said quietly. "He could be driving a Projection across a large amount of space..."

"There's no sign of any emanations from the Higher bands of Energy, thought." Rovol remarked, scratching his large skull, eyes gleaming at the scientific mystery before him.

Dorothy forced her voice to remain calm. "And it's doesn't explain why he hasn't contacted us. Why he hasn't bothered to inform us why he's alive.

"Raise communications." She said crisply.

She grabbed a microphone, it's wire connection snaking out from the nearby console.

"Richard. Richard Seaton. Are you there?"

Silence on the end.

"Richard...dammit ****, if you're there please answer me! This is Dorothy!"

Silence. The Valeron made no attempt to shift it's position, nor did the power readings coming from it change in any way.

"****...talk to me if your there. If you don't respond...I'm going to do something really, really stupid, you lug."

Silence. Then on the Etherwave receiver, a scratchy, hoarse voice rang out:

"...Dottie?" Richard said softly. "Dottie...what are you doing here? ....how did you find me, for that matter?"

"I looked. With this spaceship I built. It wasn't hard." Dorothy said beneath clenched teeth. The two contradictory emotions of knee-quivering relief, and lip quivering anger built up within her chest, and she finally gave vent to both there emotions at once.

"What in Sam Hill, have you been doing, Richard? And why the hell haven't you contacted us! I was near sick with worry and fit to go into a screeching fit, you've been gone so long! And Richard Jr! Leaving him to deal with his...condition on his own!"

She struggled to rein in her ire.

"...I'm willing to listen. But you better hope that your explanation for you complete and utter absence from our lives is a good one: what is it? Galactic Invasion? Trapped in a pocket dimension? Time travel? Space Brambles?"

"..."

"I was going to come back as soon as..." Richard's voice trailed off.

Dorothy blinked once. She rubbed her face, and then...

"I'm coming over: open the docking seals."

"Dottie, no! It's not safe!"

Dorothy paused, then thought things through, and smiled a bit. "Whatever's wrong, it's something that you want to save my feelings from, the man keeping his secret from his wife to avoid damaging her constitution–you know, that schtick was old back in the 1920s."

"But whatever's going on," She continued, "It's obviously not too dangerous at the moment, or you'd be straightforward about it, and not all dancing around the topic. So here's how it is: let me in, or I'll blast my way in. Your ship's big enough: it can take it."

Dorothy paused, expecting a heated retort, or a precise scientific explanation of how the capabilities of the Valeron far exceeded that of her personal spacecraft.

"...Please don't come in." Richard said in a dull tone of voice. At the same time, lights lit up on the surface of the Skylark of Valeron, and the multiple docking doors slid open, huge pieces of machinery pushing aside plates of pure Isonon alloy, allowing the Starling to fly right in.

Dorothy felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.

When Richard Seaton folded on an argument that quickly...you knew something was wrong.

"Rovol." He said quietly. "Take Richard Junior to the Reactor hub and show him around. I need to speak with my husband alone first: I don't want anything to go wrong"

Rovol bowed. "If it be Graven Upon the Sphere, ma'am, it shall be done."

The First of Radiation left the command deck.

Dorothy groaned to herself quietly.

Then she straightened her head, stiffened her spine, and depressed several plungers and switches arranged in a fashion similar to the apparati of a Pipe Organ.

And the small, needle-like spaceship drifted in the the Skylark of Valeron's main docking bay.

[industrious]

Hey guys, bit of a question:

I vaguely remember this one quote that I really want to know where it's from. I'm kind of hoping someone will recognize it here. It goes something like:

You were expecting a revelation, a new piece of data that would change everything around you. There is no secret. It is only you.

[Cracklord]

That rings a bell, but I have no idea as to the place it came from.

Actually, that's only the first part of my narrative. The later part will be much darker.

And sadder.

I meant in style and tone, not in content.

[Colesign]

Mmm. The "Terror of the Phyrexia Pirates" bit was merely a joke and a bit of homage. Otherwise, The 'Skylark' series is one of the earliest pieces of space opera, running in it's various sequences from the 1910's to the early 60s. It's first installment was published in Amazing Magazine, right alongside the very first Buck Rogers serial. So in some of my words choices, I did try to evoke the grandstanding, purple prose style of "Doc" Smith. While also mixing things up with more serious narrative.

I leave it to your editorial eye to tell me whether my latest installment above feels more serious or not (there's still more to come).

Ultimately, I wanted to flesh out the character of Dorothy Seaton a bit here.

As far as female characters go, she has some of the characteristics of the 'housewife' archetype that bleeds in with the early 20th century cultural mores while being a brave, valiant woman that can gun down badguys with gritted teeth, and is a brilliant performing violinist.

But she tends to be overshadowed by her Husband, Richard "I Blow Up Galaxies" Seaton, for obvious reasons. So here, I wanted to write something with more of her perspective...and delve into her musical skills and how it's influenced her life.

...So yeah. There's all my current literary pretensions.

[industrious]

I want to say it's from the Dark Tower, but I can't put my finger to where, and I don't know if it is even in there. That's what's bugging me.

[darkblade]

Um, Zim is supposed to die so he can be switched out for another character slightly more appropriate to play around competent heroes and villains.

[Colesign]

Oh.

We could have Leavenworth's Talent reactivate, fatally delaying him, perhaps.

In any case, I was planning for Leavenworth to take Zim through the Transporter's Glass, and then from his Castle in Nahalla head to the Kingdom of Crystallia, where he would install one of the Crystillia Knight Fleshstones into Zim's body (they give the Knights of Crystallia shared vitality, strength, and speed, plus an empathetic connection, and could substitute for Zim's PAK.)

Nevermind that this would utterly offend every single tradition of Crystal Knighthood evar

This might also be a good way to put Zim on a Bus, i.e. Smedry leaves him stranded in his Secret Kingdom.

[darkblade]

Well that's up to Krausk. I think it's a bit early for the talent to return though.

[doliest]

Hey guys, bit of a question:

I vaguely remember this one quote that I really want to know where it's from. I'm kind of hoping someone will recognize it here. It goes something like:

You were expecting a revelation, a new piece of data that would change everything around you. There is no secret. It is only you.

Sounds like KOTOR 2 to me. Likely not it's origin, but Kreia says something very similar at the end of the game.

[industrious]

Found it.

Thank you, doliest.

[doliest]

Welcome. I only remembered because KOTOR II is one of my favorite games ever, and every single thing Kreia says is ingrained in my mind.

In other news, I finally own and have watched all of Doctor Who Series 6.
I have to say, I'm getting tired of Steve Moffat. Not as a writer, but as a 'Head' I'm getting tired of him. Not so much Smith, though I think Tennant would have worked better for Moffat's writing style.

[Colesign]

Smith is a wonderful Doctor, though I do agree that the plot arc of the last season was a bit rough: all the ingredients were good, but their execution was a bit rushed.

[Colesign]

There's an interesting dissonance between Smedry's behavior and McCoy:

I think it's due to the fact that Leavenworth Smedry comes from a young adult series, where young kids around 14 or 15 years of age are the protagonists, getting themselves into trouble and such. Thus any adult characters who aren't an annoyance tend to at the very least be reluctantly tolerant of young people taking risks (the fact that you don't see people get killed in these books helps as well).

Smedry, I think, has also had a run of bad luck in terms of how McCoy views him.

Regardless, Smedry is literally going to be giving his life to save Zim's here, of all the absurdities.

[Draxx]

Well, it's more to the point that Beast is from a universe where people die (not permanently), and get badly beaten frequently. He sees it as his job to keep that from happening. If someone pulls a gun on him, he'll assume they mean business, and go along with things until he can disarm them in a safe manner. Where Smedry tends to surf on a wave of pure audacity, that serves him well until the inevitable crash.

[darkblade]

I'm still not sure what to do with this. Krausk wanted to kill off Zim so he could play Tim Drake and you two are going to such extremes to keep him alive.

[Draxx]

Well, we can have him shipped off to be dissected. And anyway, it would be pretty out of character for us not to go to such extremes to keep him alive.

[Colesign]

Well, it's more to the point that Beast is from a universe where people die (not permanently), and get badly beaten frequently. He sees it as his job to keep that from happening. If someone pulls a gun on him, he'll assume they mean business, and go along with things until he can disarm them in a safe manner. Where Smedry tends to surf on a wave of pure audacity, that serves him well until the inevitable crash.

That's fair.

I'm still not sure what to do with this. Krausk wanted to kill off Zim so he could play Tim Drake and you two are going to such extremes to keep him alive.

Sorry.

Well, we can have him shipped off to be dissected. And anyway, it would be pretty out of character for us not to go to such extremes to keep him alive.

Pretty much.

Here' my suggestion for "Putting him on a Bus": ship him off to the Kingdom of Crystalia, to be implanted with a Fleshstone that'll substitute for his PAK.

Saves his life, but the Royal Knights of Crystallia aren't going to let him out of their sight for a good long while.

[doliest]

Yes, Dracula is going out of his way not to fight. Mixture of the 'Friendshipping' and more importantly, Alucard's seeming invincibility. No reason for him to exert himself in some massive confrontation that would serve no purpose, other than to waste energy.

Also, I'm on an anime kick now, so if anyone wants to recommend me something, I'll probably check it out.

[Colesign]

Just started watching Crest of the Stars.

It's pretty good.

And in terms of some suggestions for how to beat Alucard...

you could ask Van Helsing for help.

...He's got some plans. And you joining forces with him would acknowledge the already implicit fact that Cracklord is the big Villain of this game: sorry, Cracklord