Journey To The Outside

Angel of Fortitude again

The Angel of Fortitude and Chibi-Sa'a Lingurth.

The Granite Knight

Academics Skill: Wise Sports Skill: Tough and Strong as Anybody Favorite Foods: Tea, Rice, Noodle Soup Blood Type: O+ Animal: Ox Age: 18 An Interesting Fact About You: You have a secret love of romance novels. No one can ever know. Character Description ❀ You are a cursed knight who lives alone in a hut. You’re kind of young to be living by yourself, but you have such a look to you of extreme competence that no one dares to say anything. You’ve got the mien of someone much older than you are. That’s sort of your thing. You are competent and dependable and stoic. When Old Mrs. McGurt, with her weak eyes and bad hip, needs help getting to the doctor’s office, you’re there. When Farmer Tanaka needs an extra hand tilling the fields, you’re there. You don’t complain. Maybe you should? Maybe it would be good for you not to keep everything locked inside your stony exterior? ❀ That wasn’t a metaphor. Your skin is literally made of stone. Somewhere in your dramatic and sad backstory as the squire of an itinerant knight, you were struck by a terrible Outside curse. Your skin is thick and grey and hard, your face is marked like the side of a mountain. You’re self-conscious about it and that makes you mad. It’s hard being a teenager, and nobody understands. ❀ You’re going to tag along on your friends’ adventure because someone needs to protect them - from the dangers of the Outside and from themselves. They don’t know what it’s like out there. It’s your job to make sure they don’t find out. Sidebar: Shake it Up! For an atypical Granite Knight experience, pick 0-3 of the following: ❀ Instead of the young woman Oboliu Waite, you can be Dace Lillimut, a young man ❀ Instead of the squire to an itinerant knight, you used to be a superhero’s kid sidekick. ❀ Maybe you’re not 18, you’re actually thousands of years old. Wow. ❀ Your Curse isn’t stone-skin, it’s.... ✶ … a burning flame in your head that never goes out. ✶ … a transformative disease parasite that lets you grow tentacles. ✶ … lycanthropy. ✶ … a genius IQ that separates you from mortals.

Sidebar: Playing Dace Lillimut You’re a bit less stoic than Oboliu. Smiling comes easier to you and you’ve even been known, every once in a while, to laugh. Also, you are, most likely, a werewolf.

The Servant Prince

Academics Skill: Average Sports Skill: Average Favorite Foods: Gems, Diamonds, Wizard Blood Type: O+ Animal: Dragon Age: 14 An Interesting Fact About You: You are the disgraced heir of a line of Draconic Nobility. Character Description ❀ You used to be important. As the son of the Fifth Lord of the Polar Palace, you were destined to live a charmed life of duty and glory. You were to oversee a fief in your father’s domain and watch over the world from on high. But then, you made a mistake. You brought shame on yourself and your family. In his inimitable wisdom, your father stripped you of your titles and lands and banished you from his domain. You’re still a member of the spirit courts, but you are marked and disgraced and few will still take your calls. Now you live in a modest cottage in the Walking Fields, with only your most loyal servants to keep you company. It all seems sort of rough for a kid, but… that’s just how it is, you guess. ❀ You aren’t really a human. Most of the time you look like one, but, in fact, you are a coatl, a shapeshifting sky dragon. You can change your shape into any animal and even transform into an enormous feathered serpent with scales like rainbows. It’s a pretty cool thing to be! ❀ You’re going on this trip because you’ve been ordered to. Your brother, the Tlatoani of the Eastern Palace, has tasked you with aiding in this quest. If you find the Treasure, he says that it will go a long way to proving that you are ready to return to the Courts Innumerable. You’re much more concerned with what completing the quest will mean for you than the actual fulfillment of the quest, at least at first. Sidebar: Shake it Up! For an atypical Servant Prince experience, pick 0-3 of the following: ❀ Instead of Julian, you're Yurian, the Servant Princess. ❀ Instead of a quest to regain your honor, you’re on a quest to repay a debt. ❀ Instead of a shapeshifting dragon prince, you are… ✶ … an illusion-casting fairy prince. ✶ … a metafictional storybook prince. ✶ … an angelic warden. ✶ … a musical sea lord.

"An Unreliable Narrative" - A Prototype Welcome to Night Vale Quest Set for Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine (Part 3)

Storyteller 2:

Making Yourself Heard

15 or 25 XP Quest

It’s time to say something.  You can’t just dispassionately watch and report, you have to say something.  You have to become involved.

You’ve still got a job to do, but part of that job is now about reacting to events as they unfold.  You’ve just been observing, but even observing is affecting, and its time to consider whether you’re willing to just sit on the sidelines any longer.

After all.  People are counting on you.

✿ Making Yourself Heard (25 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You speak truth to power, revealing something that those above you would rather you not reveal.

You publicly call out a foe or rival

You overcome something that keeps you from speaking aloud

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ receive a compliment for a job well done

✿ align yourself with something weird, dangerous, or wicked

✿ warn of an impending doom

✿✿ relate your own past or situation to present events

✿✿ engage in a debate or argument

✿✿ say or do something you know will get you in trouble

✿ Making Yourself Heard (Simplified) (15 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You speak truth to power, revealing something that those above you would rather you not reveal.

You overcome something that keeps you from speaking aloud

You can earn one of these bonuses, for a total of up to 5 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿✿ show support for something weird, dangerous, or wicked

✿ experience a flashback about current events

✿ experience a presentiment of doom

✿✿ stick your nose where it doesn’t belong

✿✿ clash directly with an authority figure

✿ take action even though you know it’s probably a bad idea

Storyteller 3:

A Part of the Story

20 or 30 XP Quest

Now you’ve done it.  You went too far.  You’re no longer on the outside looking in.

Now you’re in the middle of it.  And backing away with your hands up isn’t going to get you out of this jam.  You’re going to have to actually do something here, you’re going to have to step from behind the microphone, even if its just for a few minutes.

✿ A Part of the Story (30 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You get last minute help from a friend or enemy

You are attacked in somewhere that you previously felt safe

You travel through a portal, dream gateway, or other liminal path away from the regular world

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ admit that you’ve been hasty

✿ propose a theory about the hidden truths begin events

✿✿ suggest a course of action to solve whatever issues are occurring

✿ are injured (or at least disheveled)

✿✿ give advice to a friend that gets them into trouble

✿ attempt to hide from events

✿ A Part of the Story (Simplified) (20 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You lose a friend because of advice that you gave them which turned out to be bad

You are attacked in somewhere that you previously felt safe

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 10 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ are injured (or at least dishevelled)

✿✿ suggest a course of action to solve whatever issues are occurring

✿✿ try to form an alliance with someone you’ve previously counted as an enemy

✿ attempt to hide from events

✿ refuse to admit that you’ve been hasty

And that’s it!  Arc complete!  You’ve stood behind your microphone, hidden behind your microphone, and then come out from behind your microphone!

What’s that?  The story’s not over yet?  There’s still a big emotional finale?  Alright.. well, we’ll, once more, finish that later.

Sharktober 2024 - 17: Electric Shark

Struggled with #15 so decided to skip it for now. This idea appeared in my mind fully formed and took three minutes to draw.

These are a couple of pictures I drew several (holy crap years ago.  Sticking them on Tumblr to share them with an associate.

I was in an Exalted phase at the time so I did a bit of Homestuck/Exalted fanart.  That's John Egbert as the Unconquered Sun and Dave Strider as Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich Soul of Malfeas.  I tried to do a Jade(As the Maidens) and a Rose (As one of the Deathlords) but couldn't quite get things working...  

I think the John is my favorite.  Lil' Cal Malfeas is a bit hard to decipher.

Luke Skywalker in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine

Today I was posting on a thread in RPG.net about using Canon Characters and Franchise Settings when, quite unexpectedly, I wrote this lengthy explanation of how Luke Skywalker would work as a Chuubo Main Character if Star Wars were a GMD-style campaign rather than a movie series.

I'm actually pretty happy with it, so I'm gonna put it here so I don't lose it.

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Let's imagine Star Wars wasn't a movie but a game like Chuubo.  You'd get a character playbook that says:

"Your name is Luke Skywalker, you're an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!  OR you could be:

Lulu Skywalker, an orphan farm GIRL with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!

Lu'twach Skeewakka, an orphan wookie with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!

Luke Amida, an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny to become an Ace Rebel Pilot!

Luke Skrontmeer, an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny that he's not sure of!

You'd get a list of generic but customizable starting Quests -- A Basic Quest that relates to being a farm boy out of your element; a Side Quest about befriending some droids, a Storyline Quest about being drawn off the farm and discovering a Wise Mentor.

You'd also get a generic Quest Set for someone on your Knightly path.  A very VERY quick Knight Arc Luke Quest set would be...

The Legendary Deeds of Luke Skywalker...

Knight 1:  Greater Things (Where you find a Mentor and are exposed to a new problem)

Knight 2:  The Dark Side (Where you discover your flaw and stumble because of it)

Knight 3:  Losing Things (Where you lose a mentor/lose faith/lose a hand)

And then the two optional:

Knight 4:  Get Back on the Horse (Where you get back into the path of Destiny)

Knight 5:  Balance (Where you face an Unbalanced Rival (a Walker in Darkness; like you but failing in their Vice) and defeat/befriend/mitigate them by your own control of your Vice)

Finally, you'd get some glimpses as to how this Quest Set can be arranged into Arcs that can be built into a campaign:

The Balance Arcs

Arc 1:  Luke Skywalker, A New Hope (Where the Jedi Knight finds that he is the only hope to keep the Rebellion from collapsing to the Evil Empire)

Arc 2:  Luke Skywalker, Among the Clouds (Where the Jedi Knight is Betrayed and Learns a Secret About His Past)

Arc 3:  Luke Skywalker, A Very Personal War (Where the Jedi Knight Must Find a Way to Bring a Star-Spanning War to a Close)

Arc 4+5:  Luke Skywalker, the Extended Universe (Where Other Things Happen - because I don't know the EU and can't really figure another whole Luke-centric Knight Arc out of the original trilogy)

So, if you lived in a world where Star Wars didn't exist but the Chuubo Star Wars game did, you could (By combining the Jedi Knight with the Smuggler, the Machine Conscience, the Rebel Noble, and (heck, maybe) the Treacherous Prince) approximate the entire plot of Star Wars just by going through those Arcs...  but you could also end up somewhere else entirely!  You'd have a general road map to a type of story without ever actually revealing more than a few landmarks of the story underneath.

And, finally, here's a Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Doodle I did.

  An Octopus Singer, a Fortitude Rat, a few Octopus sketches, and a Horizon Ghost (the ghost I am the least happy with....).  

Looking through some old stuff, I found this pile of adorable Yozis I doodled years ago.