Birthstone Spirits: The Second Revival

[birthstone_spirits]

Good question: This skip isn't going to be immediately right now. There will be a play by play introduction to training, specifically the first days of it. (They won't be meeting the old warriors by the way [I assume those were the predecessors you mentioned?] as they're essentially dead. Although you're more than welcome to introduce your character's guardian whenever it's convenient for you!)

This was just a heads up so that you could start mingling with people and playing with ideas as my hope is that the first few days of the academy will inspire quicker back to back posting and not the once a week/every two week pattern we've been on.

Also my thought is that they shouldn't be ready for real action only one month in. Many of them would probably still be floundering. There will be other skips of varying lengths with freeplay /subplots in between them. I'm just trying to ration out skips and events so that the group stays there for a long enough time in total to actually have made transformative gains. I also thought it would be fun to split that time up and play in between instead of sticking one big ol 8 month skip at the end of a scene.

[Fabricator]

That makes a great deal more sense than a random 1 month skip out of the blue, which is what it had first appeared to be. And it sounds good to have the odd time-skip to work through however long it'll take to train with our characters interacting in between.

The predecessors aspect may have been a misunderstanding on my part since I had thought that the founder of the academy was one of the previous warriors, like Haru. Though I do remember mention of him being the way he is due to having outlived the rest which would certainly explain why they wouldn't be there.

With regards to the guardians in that case I wasn't sure what the plan was with that since I didn't know if you'd already designed our mentors to throw at our characters and for us to basically deal with the hand we're dealt as they guide us on our journey.

Hopefully now that the Christmas lull has been and gone people may have a bit more time to write but January is also somewhat hectic due to the return to normal life.

[birthstone_spirits]

Oh okay so I gave a rundown on guardians a while back in ooc but this should help clarify that for sure:

The original month warriors had guardians (haru, ryou) folks who were 12 regular people who did terrible things before dying and we're given the opportunity to redeem themselves by dedicating their souls to this particular cause. So when the warriors complete their mission the guardians basically earn their right to pass on (they were stuck as immortals because they failed last time so they had to wait for these new warriors.) I left guardians very open ended so you could make your own (and have an opportunity to play a character from Aires). Introducing them is pretty optional as we can play the game without all of them being there. Besides it wouldn't be weird for some of them (though they are stuck as immortals) to simply decide to give up and not show. But if you wanted to take on a second character making a guardian would be a great way to do it!

[Fabricator]

I'm just reading back through the posts and I've found what you're mentioning. I had completely missed that due to vanishing just before that was posted and not having checked back through when I returned.

So do we each submit a new character to act in that role? or simply work them into our story? It does say to message you with our concept as well so I'll have a think and get something over when I can.

[birthstone_spirits]

You can submit a new character page and work them in at a time that seems reasonable. No hard rules on when they should spawn or not though. :) Also all the guardians know each other so when you introduce them you should message folks to plan how their relationships were when they last saw each other.

[chanelindistress]

HEATHER WANTS TO JUMP OFF A CLIFF!!!!

[birthstone_spirits]

Yass cliff diving, yas

[birthstone_spirits]

Hi friends, gm question that I'd love your insight on.

What do you think is the best way for us to develop and construct complex character relationships as we move further into the game?

So far I'm picking up a vague alliance between Heather and tallyho and a group wide distrust of Ron. But how can we get more concrete relationships brewing? Should we continue with Freeplay? Update our character relationship posts? Should I make vague relationship building prompts that people can sign up for like I do with subplots? Any guidance would help, I just want to make sure everyone gets the best game play. Let me know!

[Roku Mushabuki]

I'd be down with relationship building subplots. In the long going RPs that I've been in, we usually actively discussed our plans for our characters in the upcoming arcs with the other players in OOC. That way we could collaborate on future posts.

My plans for Ron is for him to start taking on a greater interest on the medicine/diseases of the world to better prep for his training. He's also going to become a bit more passive and less aggressive after the time skip. So instead of waving his gun around he would be more apt to ask questions. Although he'll still be tinkering on a new musket as to avoid sword training.

[birthstone_spirits]

So should we be making a "character development" board organized around the different arcs where people can freely discuss what character trajectory is happening?

Or should I, when pitching the general side plot events throw in other opportunities like:

"After a month with the group [Insert character Here] is starting to develop a small crush but is unclear on how to proceed."

And then someone signs up and privately coordinates with the player of whoever that character likes?

[chanelindistress]

Maybe we should do a character development board and discuss what we want for the characters.

@birthstone_spirits, I'm definitely down for what we discussed for Kibi and Heather. Like, I've been legit thinking about that and wanting it ever since. I envisioned and discussed with usernamesareadrag the possibility of Heather developing a bit of a crush on Dorian, but more importantly, I see Heather wanting to feel brave as opposed to acting brave. Yeah, she stepped to Ron when she felt it was needed and she's gone along with all of this, which is brave when considering the fact that she's in this other world and experienced something that normally, people would want to "nope" out of. But she's not secure in it. Her inexperience is obvious and for a girl like Heather, who likes definitely likes learning, she also likes knowing and not knowing makes her feel out of her element. To a degree, out of control, which is why she's going to want to put her all into training (with smart ass commentary because OMG this is a lot of work, and she'd forget that to be able to do all of the shit she thinks is cool she's gonna need to do continuous work lol). She's going to admire those who seemingly get it before she does or are better at it than she, and want to continously work to get on their level so that when it comes down to it, she'd feel like she could step in like Septimus and Dorian have done. She'd probably rush in without thinking first at that point, but she's got nerve, not a completely calculative personality.

[Roku Mushabuki]

I'm definitely looking forward to this camping night. It'll be nice to see what strengths all the characters will put in. Also, who's going to control the Cyclopean if they confront it?

[usernamesareadrag]

Hey there, Roku! I'm so glad that you're excited about camping. It'll be an interesting first real bonding experience for the characters, so I think it'll be fun. :D

When/If the Cyclopean appears, I think I'll have command over it or @birthstone_spirits. That being said, if you ever want to try anything crazy/out there with a monster of the week/villain let us know!

I'll be posting about Dorian and Jules' character goals I think by the end of the day. I'm so excited that everyone's been thinking about character arcs and relations! This is honestly a super skilled writing group, and I enjoy what everyone brings to it.

~Users

[birthstone_spirits]

Workin on a post. Having lots of technical difficulties (my laptop screen broke so im using an external monitor and my phone has now given out. Unlucky time of year! lol

[birthstone_spirits]

Will be posting this weekend. Bad things happening irl that have me swamped.

[Fabricator]

I am still here, sorry for my silence. Life has been rather hectic both in and out of work. And yay food poisoning.

[listentothetimpani]

Fabricator, et. all:

Undoubtedly, life has been doing it's best to kick the proverbially crap out of everyone here. The flexible understanding everyone seems to share regarding the silence on the board(s) and the lull in the role-play, should allow us to jump right back in when ready.

[birthstone_spirits]

@Fabricator @listen

I honestly get it. I trust that everyone here is still in the game despite all of our ridiculous life circumstances. It has been a very hard time in my life recently and at the moment I'm doing my best to overcome a few time sensitive issues so that I can spend more time on the things that make me happy. :)

[birthstone_spirits]

Woof. Finally on spring break.

[birthstone_spirits]

A friendly bump.