The Undying Hunt - Creation Station & Sign Ups

11/25/22 // a small announcement:

outside of those i've spoken to and given extensions, i'm going to hesitantly classify the undying hunt as "closed" since the opening post is up and brainstorming/plotting is underway! i'm going to prefix the roleplay with by invitation only, however, with the caveat that anyone can join in on the narrative with us-- but our 'marked' ones are currently full! if you'd like to join in, post a skelly sheet here, and we'll storm to see where we can fit ya in.
 
hmmm well, blood moon, blood magic, blood sacrifice, methinks it all entails the bloodlust that characterizes a bersekers rage state. since that rage state is the seat of a berserkrs power, i guess it's a blessing in itself from their holy and revered patron of the blood moon. does that jive yer biscuits?

ah, ok i see wym!! i'd prefer not to reference it as a 'blessing' tho

(tryna keep /most/ terminology exclusive to races and shifters already have their blessing!)

i'll chew on dat too
 
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@rissa Sorry if im bothering. Is the new skeleton sheet i posted ok? If not i can figure something out!
 
@rissa Sorry if im bothering. Is the new skeleton sheet i posted ok? If not i can figure something out!

Not a bother at all, you just keep coming up with concepts that make me think deep about the lore, narrative, and gameplay I envision!

I think fortune telling and outcome alteration is an interesting choice, but I'm going to ixnay the ability to manipulate/alter another person's karma. Here's the tricky part though, and why something like this and a power like telekinesis is hard to do in a group roleplay: you're entirely dependent upon your fellow players.

Due to this being a power that needs cooperation, I'm actually going to leave this up to them: how they feel about someone altering their outcomes and luck, their reservations, concerns, excitements, and any comments or suggestions. @Marceline @Lisianthus @Flame @MiharuAya @TheSly @tilucki
 
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@rissa Sorry if im bothering. Is the new skeleton sheet i posted ok? If not i can figure something out!

Not a bother at all, you just keep coming up with concepts that make me think deep about the lore, narrative, and gameplay I envision!

I think fortune telling and outcome alteration is an interesting choice, but I'm going to ixnay the ability to manipulate/alter another person's karma. Here's the tricky part though, and why something like this and a power like telekinesis is hard to do in a group roleplay: you're entirely dependent upon your fellow players.

Due to this being a power that needs cooperation, I'm actually going to leave this up to them: how they feel about someone altering their outcomes and luck, there reservations, concerns, excitements, and any comments. @Marceline @Lisianthus @Flame @MiharuAya @TheSly @tilucki
Well, I'm theoretically fine with it. It's creative and definitely something that can work well in a story, if for nothing else than to be an innate watsonian Ctrl+Z in the case that something goes sideways and needs redoing, in that sense it can probably make for some really neat and cool moments with tension.

As I understand it, though feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted, the power can probably fit into the same or similar narrative slots as someone who can travel time and basically get a do over, except this power has more flair, and those are always interesting to include in stories because beyond whatever engaging character the power is attached to, it's also just in itself an exciting tool even if it were to not be attached to said character.

This is all a very long-winded way of saying "Yeah, sounds neat.".

I do have some minor concerns, such as: "What happens if the power would require cooperation from another player but they aren't available because life?", but they are all minor ones that usually only apply in fringe cases that may not come up. Could certainly just be filed under "Burn that bridge when we get to it".
 
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I do have some minor concerns, such as: "What happens if the power would require cooperation from another player but they aren't available because life?", but they are all minor ones that usually only apply in fringe cases that may not come up. Could certainly just be filed under "Burn that bridge when we get to it".

This was a concern of mine as well. Player autonomy is important to me, but so is the flow of the narrative. I suppose once we hear from everyone else, we can come up with a range of what would be acceptable and what wouldn't be.
 
Ahhh, Yeah. The power i put with jilliel is one that kind of exists elsewhere and so i altered and toned down a bit. I know its a bit of a weird power, so i figured giving it to someone who has very little interest in that power unless itts needed and might help it balance out a bit. Im ok if the power gets denied, im sure i can come up with another! Worst case i can just go for something much simpler.

The power isnt as capable as a time traveler or a fix brst case iutton. When i wrote it, i made it with an understanding that if a person is dying, there is no fixing that. Jilliel could help people avoid outcomes that canlead to death, but not outright stop. An example being that if a person is stabbed a bunch, she would have no way of helping where as if before the j stabs are applied, she could make it less likely the knife connects. Its a weird example. She can not make a re-do.

Is the character herself ok?

@rissa @TheSly
 
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Ahhh, Yeah. The power i put with jilliel is one that kind of exists elsewhere and so i altered and toned down a bit. I know its a bit of a weird power, so i figured giving it to someone who has very little interest in that power unless itts needed and might help it balance out a bit. Im ok if the power gets denied, im sure i can come up with another! Worst case i can just go for something much simpler.

The power isnt as capable as a time traveler or a fix brst case iutton. When i wrote it, i made it with an understanding that if a person is dying, there is no fixing that. Jilliel could help people avoid outcomes that canlead to death, but not outright stop. An example being that if a person is stabbed a bunch, she would have no way of helping where as if before the j stabs are applied, she could make it less likely the knife connects. Its a weird example. She can not make a re-do.

Is the character herself ok?

@rissa @TheSly

ye, Jilliel herself is good to go! I just wanted to get feedback from everyone else in regards to her powers and abilities, since this rp will be heavy in collaboration.
 
Erm idk, karmic balance seems like a headache to balance on top of everything else, just because it's such a unique power. And somehow it doesn't even seem as powerful as it sounds, Jilliel is so young and isn't even interested in using her own power. Respectfully, it's almost complicated for no reason if that makes sense, jumping through loopholes and pulling on imaginary strings just to alter one single event in one specific person or objects existence. I also get the vibe Jilliel would have to be a safe distance away or have some kind of protective barrier to use her power safely, out of harms way, in some cases at least, seeing as she's so young I assume she can only alter one persons fortune at a time and the more impactful her alteration, the heavier the chains are.

Feels like Jilliel is essentially tying her hands behind her back by using this karmic chain link. I mean it's a dope idea, sounds awesome, I can respect the creativity. Attaching karma to chain-link anomalies, a little blood magic and all of a sudden you've got someones whole shit wrapped around your fingers. Pretty sweet, could karmic balance help my character win the lottery? @Jig The Zom-B =p
 
Erm idk, karmic balance seems like a headache to balance on top of everything else, just because it's such a unique power. And somehow it doesn't even seem as powerful as it sounds, Jilliel is so young and isn't even interested in using her own power. Respectfully, it's almost complicated for no reason if that makes sense, jumping through loopholes and pulling on imaginary strings just to alter one single event in one specific person or objects existence. I also get the vibe Jilliel would have to be a safe distance away or have some kind of protective barrier to use her power safely, out of harms way, in some cases at least, seeing as she's so young I assume she can only alter one persons fortune at a time and the more impactful her alteration, the heavier the chains are.

Feels like Jilliel is essentially tying her hands behind her back by using this karmic chain link. I mean it's a dope idea, sounds awesome, I can respect the creativity. Attaching karma to chain-link anomalies, a little blood magic and all of a sudden you've got someones whole shit wrapped around your fingers. Pretty sweet, could karmic balance help my character win the lottery? @Jig The Zom-B =p
Jilliel cannot sadly just give luck. she has to take an opposite luck of similar value to balance it. She could technicaly give the luck to win the lottery if your character had just been hit by massive unluck and also before your character has drawn their number. Even then, as she is still very young and her power incomplete, she would likely break most of her fingers shifting that level of fortune.
 
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Jilliel cannot sadly just give luck. she has to take an opposite luck of similar value to balance it. She could technicaly give the luck to win the lottery if your character had just been hit by massive unluck and also before your character has drawn their number. Even then, as she is still very young and her power incomplete, she would likely break most of her fingers shifting that level of fortune.

Karmic Balance, or fortune manipulation, sounds pretty wicked sweet. An active power like that for a witch has a lot of potential to kick-ass, so I like that you made Jilliel out to be this carefree spirit that's not really interested in magic and just wants to hang out and explore places and take naps, pretty harmless overall. The relationship with her guide is also interesting, I'm curious what kind of fortune manipulation spells Jilliel could learn, or any that could potentially exist.
 
Jilliel cannot sadly just give luck. she has to take an opposite luck of similar value to balance it. She could technicaly give the luck to win the lottery if your character had just been hit by massive unluck and also before your character has drawn their number. Even then, as she is still very young and her power incomplete, she would likely break most of her fingers shifting that level of fortune.

Karmic Balance, or fortune manipulation, sounds pretty wicked sweet. An active power like that for a witch has a lot of potential to kick-ass, so I like that you made Jilliel out to be this carefree spirit that's not really interested in magic and just wants to hang out and explore places and take naps, pretty harmless overall. The relationship with her guide is also interesting, I'm curious what kind of fortune manipulation spells Jilliel could learn, or any that could potentially exist.
I figured with a power like karmic balance, i had to take and tone it a lot. She can only manipulate 2 peoples karma at once. one hand for each, and between them give and take bad and good fprtune like in her assassin prompt. She can give another person someone elses bad fortune or turn it into its opposite value. Or take an object and impose bad or good onto it instead aswell and extract it. Like someone punching through a wall and instead of breaking through as they would normaly, all theyve done is hurt their hand. the bad luck of about to be broken shifted. The power can get more complex, but i wanna keep it simple as jilliel is still inexperienced. Her guide will see her grow eventualy.
 
@rissa The power doesn't really seem like a time alteration spell (if you look at it objectively) because events that have already taken place (if the character doesn't use her power beforehand) cannot be altered. There's no "going back" so to speak. You still have one shot at everything, you're just luckier or not luckier, by the sound of it. In a way it kind of reads like using luck or some pool of points in a tabletop system to insure a roll goes well, if we're looking at it mechanics wise.

Writing wise, it does seem a little bit like a headache. The way it's written, you obviously have the power to say "this can't be changed", and there's this whole ritual-type thing baked in and whatnot. It may not be time travel, so to speak, but it still gives you a clear view of what is going to happen, whether it's in the immediate future or not. That alone can be strong, at least balance wise, not even considering this karmic change thing, but it's even harder to get a group of writers to work together like this to make this power work. Future sight and whatnot works in other media because 1 author has a vision and can use it effectively and in interesting ways. It's a bit harder as @TheSly says to get everybody to work together to make this thing cohesive. The further ahead in the future it is and the more people involved, the messier it is to write it well, even if the one writing the character with the power is skilled.

Unless the power is vague or something, you have to know hard facts about the future and how to change them, and these visions sort of set that future in stone. Seems like a headache. If you wanna keep this like, luckiness changing stuff, I think that's fine, but maybe leave the divination out of it, and make it a sort of buff you can apply before you figure shit is going to hit the fan. It's a lot less interesting that way, but it doesn't leave the onus on everyone to write out on the guidelines of a divination.

Naturally if you approve it, I'll do my best to assist in making it work on my end (if my character is involved somehow) but in the end it's all up to you.
 
Im sorry if i have missread something. The power i wrote for jilliel wasnt with any form of future sight in really any capacity. It's just as that mechanic you mentioned of being able to alter a dice-roll more than anything. I wanted the power to be as friendly as possible for any interaction with it, so all i've done is leave it to, she can make someone unlucky before something she know's is coming, like someone trying to throw something at her or something? or like someone in a fist fight, just making one person more likely to land more punches than the other. Things like that i guess... A power that only really lasts aslong as jilliel is in contact with a person? i dunno. The power is super awkward addmitedly.

@Flame
 
Im sorry if i have missread something. The power i wrote for jilliel wasnt with any form of future sight in really any capacity. It's just as that mechanic you mentioned of being able to alter a dice-roll more than anything. I wanted the power to be as friendly as possible for any interaction with it, so all i've done is leave it to, she can make someone unlucky before something she know's is coming, like someone trying to throw something at her or something? or like someone in a fist fight, just making one person more likely to land more punches than the other. Things like that i guess... A power that only really lasts aslong as jilliel is in contact with a person? i dunno. The power is super awkward addmitedly.

@Flame
I see, well, if it's basically an immediate future luck buff type thing, it's pretty much what I suggested lower in my comment. If that's true, then it shouldn't be all that big a pain, and I'm on board with it.
 
I am ok with it, when it comes to it controlling another character's fortune.I think that this Karmic Balance ability can be a highly broken one, because it's high risk, high payout kinda situation, where you will have to take an equivalent amount of the opposite luck, which makes it very powerful. I also understand that she is made to be a weak character at the start. As long as Jig can always maintain that in mind, I think it's interesting.

That said, I suggest a dice roll for this, to ensure that the amount of luck impacted is well within controlled means, and everyone can be on the same page for this.


Have a dice system which clearly states the amount of luck given / taken so players know how well to adjust to the buff.
 
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I am ok with it, when it comes to it controlling another character's fortune.I think that this Karmic Balance ability can be a highly broken one, because it's high risk, high payout kinda situation, where you will have to take an equivalent amount of the opposite luck, which makes it very powerful. I also understand that she is made to be a weak character at the start. As long as Jig can always maintain that in mind, I think it's interesting.

That said, I suggest a dice roll for this, to ensure that the amount of luck impacted is well within controlled means, and everyone can be on the same page for this.


Have a dice system which clearly states the amount of luck given / taken so players know how well to adjust to the buff.
just chiming in to say I think this is a good idea
 
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I'm just going to chip in with the quick note that, with all the power downs that are being suggested and thought about, some of them self-imposed asmittedly, Jilliel is going to end up being the weakest character by a landslide, I think.

I also kind of feel the need to point out, and feel free to correct me if I remembered this wrong, this RP is less supposed to be like a Tabletop RPG where abilities do certain things and are tied to actual numerical stats and whatnot and more a collaborative writing effort. This means that any given power, no matter how powerful the concept appears to be, is only ever going to be as powerful as the writing allows it to be. Meaning that we can just decide "Well, technically Jilliel could change this, but that would remove emotional impact/cheapen the moment instead of enhancing it, so let's not do that". There can't really be such a thing as an actually over-powered character if the point of the power isn't to be an actual power but rather, for lack of a better term, a literary device.

Having said that, I will go with whatever the majority chooses. I just felt I should bring that up.
 
I agree heavily with Flame and Lis. While I think it is an interesting idea, in my experience, powers that require cooperation from some or most of the group to implement effectively, can cause some issues. If it's not micromanaged, it sounds like it can become easily powerful. And overall, just seems like a lot of work to coordinate with everyone, who might not all agree. It's just my experience, but when I've seen this happen, usually the power ends up getting pushed aside, and not used. And, that would really suck for the character.

I would propose that it gets reworked, like Lis mentioned, at least for the fact that it seems there is quite a bit of confusion just even with what the power encompasses. Because, if it's not understood, it really has no chance.

But, no matter what, I will also do my best to help make it work. ^^
 
I'm just going to chip in with the quick note that, with all the power downs that are being suggested and thought about, some of them self-imposed asmittedly, Jilliel is going to end up being the weakest character by a landslide, I think.

Yep, solid point I was trying to make! However that's not necessarily a bad thing, it makes sense that Jilliel would be the weakest as she seems to be the youngest and most untrained with their magic. That's why I thought the relationship with her guide was interesting, and that it might help to come up with additional spells that revolve around the Karmic Balance concept.

I'm also under the same impression that powers and magic are essentially tools to help drive a narrative, but they're also treated in a similar manner a dungeon crawler RPG would handle them like Sly said.
 
For a literary tool, Jilliel's power can actually be, by far, the most powerful, as Miharu said. It is true that she starts off as weak, but she is by no means the weakest. Compared to my character? Jilliel's power set can actually do more damage than I can. It's literally a high risk with high payout ability when it is used correctly / completed. I have played with such a character before, and without understanding the amount of luck actually used / is backlashed back towards the character, it can also be heavily abused, hence the suggestion for Dice.


Luck is an arbitrary concept, and without proper structure, can cause a lot of confusion and turn super messy real quick. However, it is at the end of the day, just a suggestion.

I understand that this is not meant to be a heavy roleplay that requires dice and micro management.

I am just a nerd when it comes to nerfing characters. 💀


I am not saying dice is needed for everything, btw. Probably for major events. But to help someone to have better luck with lottery? I don't think that's needed
 
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