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White Spirit Drops
cee89f
>>85998
=(
... eh. Guess it's better to know for sure... and collaborative storytelling is really difficult if the players/writers start butting heads... Disappointing, but understandable.
Thanks for the two threads that y'all did manage to get out before this happened.
Some final thoughts that have been brewing in my head for a while:
I really enjoyed this quest, particularly regarding how faction inter and intra-play worked. The Tozols in particular - since there were so few of them - were all connected to each other in some significant way that meant the team's dynamic would shift heavily if one of them died. (EX: Baj was the child of two of the Tozols, and the lover of a third. Had he died, they would lose their xenopsychological "expert", and three of their soldiers would be emotionally compromised. Look at each of the Tozols and you notice they ALL connect like that to the others in some way) Piyerra and Radde were both integral to the other's proper functioning due to their psychic link. Had Eskia died, Tactica Command would have been unable to properly lead since the Astranians don't take orders from robots (and as Astranian Turn 1 demonstrated, they would push back against its orders every chance they got). However, had Tactica Command been destroyed, the Astranians would be led by an arrogant sloth who didn't give 2 shits about anything going on on the planet's surface.
Each of the factions had believable strengths and weaknesses that, in theory, would allow each to show their full range of power without overwhelming the other factions.
The Scellor probably got beat down the hardest, but I think it's partly because their abilities were the most limited, and partly because of how the three races were originally designed.
The Scellor were originally an RPG-style protagonist: ignoring the fanservice aspects, their appeal came in large part from building up their character's powers over time and discovering more of the world around them. The Tozols were similarly designed to grow and progress in power and skill, but they were also meant to be put into this exact scenario: outnumbered, no chance of reinforcements, low on supplies, and outgunned. On the other hand, the Astranians are designed to operate in a grimdark science fantasy where everything is covered in blood and drinking deep of death, where your best chance for survival is to grind your enemy down until it's nothing but a greasy smear on your boot. The Tozols and Astranians were made to fry bigger fish than the Scellor.
What really hurt the Scellor, however, was the fact that both the Tozols and the Astranians had hard counters to psionics, their most useful ability.
What this ultimately means is that while the Astranians and Tozols were in places where they could fully stretch their muscles from the get-go, the Scellor were not. This probably would've changed as the game went on and each side began to lose more resources, but as-is, the Scellor were pretty screwed.
The three authors had their own quest-telling style that clashed a bit in places (especially the Ayaar prisoner - she seemed more like Mitzi than Piyerra, Radde, Maolla or even the Ayaar leader to me) but overall it made for a varied, interesting read. Jukashi's sections were funny, light-hearted and really showed off his characters. Radde's speech about saving the entire universe from entropy was great, and probably one of the best parts of the quest. LW's sections were dark, bloody and gritty, and it left the astranians feeling very... well, dark and bloody :p TP's sections were gloomy and gray, appropriate given the situations the Tozols found themselves in. They also, however, showed off his characters' ranges quite nicely and despite the gloomy atmosphere I never felt like they were completely hopeless.
As many have noted previously in the thread, Scellor turn 1 was probably the biggest misstep: it was the first (and only) time where the faction's aggressive move felt like an overall loss for the faction. Jukashi, I've noticed, likes to experiment with his quest mechanics and visual cues. Ultimately, though, this bit the Scellor in the ass, since the questgivers were working in a system they barely understood (i don't think anyone called the necklace as being a symbol of justice)
The winner... eh, nobody really got far enough ahead to declare one side or another the 'winner'. If pressed, I'd say the Tozols, as they had the fewest losses.
As for the overall narrative... I put the Astranians as the "villains" as we played. They felt in many places like the Star Destroyer in the opening of A New Hope: they were an overwhelming force pounding hard on their thoroughly underequipped foes. They were trying to sieze the spire 'just because' and their forces were in large part either arrogant, lazy or cowardly. It also makes sense that they'd be the least sympathetic since the Tozols were a tightly-knit unit that was defending their de facto home out of duty and loyalty, and the Scellor were out to save the whole dang universe from dieing. (that speech was pretty much perfect, btw) I recall LW saying somewhere that the Astranians were meant to be both an- and pro- tagonists in equal measure, and it really shows here.
I put the Scellor as the "heroes" since their goal here was to save the entire universe. It was an understandable goal, it was delivered to near-perfection by a character who had up until that point seemed like the silly, playful one, and it was an appropriately far-reaching goal for a race of all-but-immortals.
The Tozols were my favorite of the three factions. Their force numbered 8, which allowed for their strong character dynamics, aesthetic personas and personalities to shine through.
Speaking of, characters were REALLY strong here. Jukashi's were probably the best imo, but nobody was phoning it in on this one. LW integrated his characters perfectly into the story such that they acted as unintrusive exposition while still showing off their personalities (take a look at the squad analysis back in thread 1, you'll see what i mean). Jukashi's were probably the most fun, Radde in particular owned every scene he was in and Piyerra was a great straight man to his zany...ness. As I've said before, TP's Tozols were all well-designed characters with a tightly knit group dynamic. All 8 of them felt unique and likeable in their own ways and I think you deserve kudos for that. An ensemble cast is not easy to pull off.
In conclusion, you guys are all awesome and I wish you three all the best in whatever you do next.
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