Alleyverse Character Discussion

[+Ark1002]

4 hours ago, Rushu42 said:

I'm not sure. By nature of her personality, most of Aln's character development happens internally, and I didn't feel much need to write it out. Probably the best place to look, though, would be her ongoing interactions with John Redleaf and others in the current main plot. If you need any further information, I'm happy to send you some of my thoughts on her personality and relationships. Thank you!

I'm really looking forward to whatever happens with Aln and John. Such a fun interaction.

[Rushu42 she/her]

8 minutes ago, RayOfSunshine said:

I'm really looking forward to whatever happens with Aln and John. Such a fun interaction.

Me, too. John's a very interesting character, especially since he appears so unpredictable. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to each of them in the aftermath of the war, and I do think that it'll provide some good opportunities for Aln to grow.

[+Ark1002]

4 minutes ago, Rushu42 said:

Me, too. John's a very interesting character, especially since he appears so unpredictable. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens to each of them in the aftermath of the war, and I do think that it'll provide some good opportunities for Aln to grow.

John has some serious issues. Immortality doesn't agree with him.

[AonEne he/him]

So how does submitting an OP character work? Because I have one whose point total is looking like it's gonna be high as heck, but I don't currently intend for him to fight much if at all, so that invalidates some of the extra stuff on the special OP character sheet. Some of the extra stuff is also "how are you going to interact with people and how much will plots revolve around you"-type stuff, and I don't want this guy to have anything revolving around him nor do I want interactions to be different from normal RP interactions, so. I need help.

[+Ark1002]

20 minutes ago, AonEne said:

So how does submitting an OP character work? Because I have one whose point total is looking like it's gonna be high as heck, but I don't currently intend for him to fight much if at all, so that invalidates some of the extra stuff on the special OP character sheet. Some of the extra stuff is also "how are you going to interact with people and how much will plots revolve around you"-type stuff, and I don't want this guy to have anything revolving around him nor do I want interactions to be different from normal RP interactions, so. I need help.

Me and Nohadon didn't use an OP sheet for Ronin.

We just used the regular.

[Voidus]

8 hours ago, AonEne said:

So how does submitting an OP character work? Because I have one whose point total is looking like it's gonna be high as heck, but I don't currently intend for him to fight much if at all, so that invalidates some of the extra stuff on the special OP character sheet. Some of the extra stuff is also "how are you going to interact with people and how much will plots revolve around you"-type stuff, and I don't want this guy to have anything revolving around him nor do I want interactions to be different from normal RP interactions, so. I need help.

Story purpose doesn't have to mean plots revolving around them, but an OP character should be more than just a regular character for interaction purposes, they should have some reason for existing in the RP so that other players can benefit from them in addition to their creator. If you just want a regular character but for them to be over the point total I'd say that's unlikely to be approved.

That being said, OP character approvals are a public affair so submit whatever kind of character bio you think is most likely to convey to people why they should approve the character, the one in the Index is just a guideline for things that would be helpful to include.

[AonEne he/him]

Can we define overpowered in this context?

Also, this is totally unrelated, but should we add RWBY to the Index? Considering that people have RWBY characters in the AV?

[MacThorstenson he/him]

35 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Can we define overpowered in this context?

Also, this is totally unrelated, but should we add RWBY to the Index? Considering that people have RWBY characters in the AV?

Op is any character over 150 points. 

If we decide as a community to add RWBY lore and Magic to the larger alleyverse then yes. 

But I would prefer to avoid adding another universe to the alleyverse unless the majority of the AV gets on board with RPing with it and them. 

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

12 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

If we decide as a community to add RWBY lore and Magic to the larger alleyverse then yes. 

I hate to be a wet blanket here but I don't like this idea. I have no clue what any of that is, and adding additional universes doesn't really make very much sense to me. I'd much rather explore the creation of original in-world magic if people want different stuff to play with, though honestly there is already so much to work with here.

[AonEne he/him]

14 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

If we decide as a community to add RWBY lore and Magic to the larger alleyverse then yes. 

But I would prefer to avoid adding another universe to the alleyverse unless the majority of the AV gets on board with RPing with it and them. 

I mean, the Church of the WhiteRose is already pretty accepted but that's fair.

15 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

Op is any character over 150 points.

Hmm. I may just have to give them really big weaknesses, because I can't think of anything that makes them different from any other character in terms of

6 hours ago, Voidus said:

...an OP character should be more than just a regular character for interaction purposes, they should have some reason for existing in the RP so that other players can benefit from them in addition to their creator.

It's sounding to me like OP characters have to have a purpose beyond "I want to write this", and this one doesn't. I just want to write something that happens to have an 800+ point total. RIP

3 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

I'd much rather explore the creation of original in-world magic if people want different stuff to play with, though honestly there is already so much to work with here.

I actually agree with this to an extent; it confuses me sometimes that we have non-Brandon stuff in here, but WoT, WH40K, Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY have all been implicated before. I'm fine with the AV creating its own magic, like Alleymatics/Voidmaking/Alleytraveling/the fourth-wall-breaking magic, because it makes sense and is creative, but some of it makes less sense to me. I don't argue with it because it already exists and I don't want to interrupt other people's fun, though. Just thought I'd bring it up.

9 minutes ago, ZincAboutIt said:

I have no clue what any of that is...

If you want, though, I can try to explain some of it. I highly recommend this series just in general, it's a really fun and awesome watch.

[+ZincAboutIt she/her]

7 minutes ago, AonEne said:

I actually agree with this to an extent; it confuses me sometimes that we have non-Brandon stuff in here, but WoT, WH40K, Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY have all been implicated before.

This also really confuses me. WoT I kind of get, because Brandon finished the series, but the rest is really random. 

7 minutes ago, AonEne said:

If you want, though, I can try to explain some of it. I highly recommend this series just in general, it's a really fun and awesome watch.

I'm good, but thanks for the offer!

[MacThorstenson he/him]

3 minutes ago, AonEne said:

It's sounding to me like OP characters have to have a purpose beyond "I want to write this", and this one doesn't. I just want to write something that happens to have an 800+ point total. RIP

Well why do you want to write it?

The issue is that there are a limited number of interactions that an OP character can have. People don’t tend to view them as people. They feel like more forces of nature and tend to be inaccessible. 

When it comes down to it, people psychologically aren’t built to have the power to destroy cities at their fingertips. Beings with that kind of power who use it cease to be human and unless they actively try to stay weaker then they are, it’s tough for them to interact with others, both because they don’t see the world through the same lenses, and  because other people don’t see them through the same lense. 

We make sure that people that have OP characters have a use for them, because otherwise they stagnate. If you have a specific way they can interact with people such that they don’t stagnate, then put that in the why box. 

If you want, PM me the idea for the character and i can try to help you develop it. I am a huge fan of OP characters, but I hope that OP characters are able to be good OP characters and not a way for people to exercise their fantasies of being able to completely control their environment. 

[AonEne he/him]

That's definitely, definitely not applicable for this character. I understand and agree with everything you said, but this guy doesn't have the power to destroy cities at his fingertips and I don't want to completely control my environment. To clarify, this is a poltergeist from Dreamer Earth. That's where most of the points come from, since they're listed as 800 all on their own (though if you ask me that feels a bit off, since things I'd say are equally powerful or more so are way lower). However, I of course wouldn't "possess" anyone except NPCs unless it was a specific occurrence worked out between me and the other person, which I'm assuming will happen rarely if ever. I don't currently plan on it.

Since I wanted them to have more nuance and actually be able to do things, I'm thinking of giving them a Zephyr Soulcaster and a pain-increasing painrial, both of which together make merely 35 points. I haven't yet delved too far into personality, skills or the like, still figuring that out, but he won't want to rule the world, I promise you.

@MacThorstenson

Edited August 14, 2019 by AonEne
@

[MacThorstenson he/him]

He’s a what from what?

*checked index*

When did that get added to the index? And how the storming heck is that 800 points?

How would you rank his abilities?

Having never even heard of this I am a tad confused about what it is. Could you describe them to me? Along with detail about range of possession, speed, anything regarding it. 

@AonEne

Edited August 14, 2019 by MacThorstenson

[AonEne he/him]

They're noncosmere, from an Earth. I have no idea who added it or when, all I know is that it's there, and I've read the short story so I recognized it.

43 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

And how the storming heck is that 800 points?

*shrugs*

43 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

How would you rank his abilities?

Looking at the Index I'd say maybe around 100? Unsure. It depends on things.

43 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

Could you describe them to me? Along with detail about range of possession, speed, anything regarding it.

So they're basically ghosts who can only remember blurry half-details of their past lives, and have to possess people to think. When not possessing people they're invisible to anyone who's not another poltergeist (though Invested people might be able to, afaik nobody's written one in the Alleyverse yet so this is uncharted ground). Others see them as glowing blobs that move slowly (I want to say the glow is yellow, but I don't know if that's me remembering Dreamer or just a random headcanon I happened to have).

When possessing people they're just like that person, down to the voice, though facial expressions and other personal quirks could be their own and they have their own minds. They can sometimes use skills that that person has, though - iirc the protagonist was able to shoot a gun without having much prior experience? I need to grab this from my library again for a reread. It's unknown whether they would be able to use that person's magic, since this isn't connected to any other universe and therefore no one has magic, and I could see it going either way. They are able to leave a body and stop possessing anytime they want, which they call Bolting. They're also forcefully ejected when their host body dies.

While they're there, it's like the body's original owner is sleeping. I have no idea if this is an automatic, permanent state or if a poltergeist and the other person could coexist if the poltergeist let them stay awake (or if it was impossible for them to be 'put to sleep' by their nature, due to Investiture or magic or simply a strong will). However, getting into the body in the first place can be a struggle as they fight the intrusion subconsciously, though I got the impression it wasn't overly difficult since the characters were all doing it with relative ease. They only possess humans onscreen, but I assume they would be able to do animals. Maybe. Who knows. As for any other species, again, it's up in the air but I would assume they'd be able to unless it was something like the Phoenix or a DA department head or something of great mental power - anyone like that would probably be able to resist them entering in the first place.

Does that help? Any questions?

1 hour ago, MacThorstenson said:

Well why do you want to write it?

Forgot to answer this before, so I will now.

1. Firstly, I want another character. I only have one so far (and a half? Nah, LinBli is an NPC) and I want to write another.
2. As for why this specifically, I want to write something unique. This is pretty unique, possibly the most unique option I could've chosen considering the depth and variety of characters we have. There are some great Epic powers and stuff like that out there, and I know interesting ways of using Mistings, Ferrings, etc. exist, but I've written those before and other people have too. But nobody's written one of these.
3. This gives me a lot of flexibility in terms of character choices.
4. I don't have to decide what they look like, it's always changing! Which is a trivial thing but it does contribute a bit for me.
5. I want to write someone with some semblance of immortality as that lends itself to interesting things.

I'm not doing this to have an overpowered character; it just happened to be one. Unless you guys change the point number, an idea of which I'm a fan of, but I'll make it work either way.

Edited August 14, 2019 by AonEne
Brandon did create them, by the way. Thought maybe I should mention that just in case.

[kenod]

So personal guess for the 800 points, it's because they can essentially possess anyone, including PCs. Possessing NPCs probably wouldn't be that much of an issue, but being able to control and take over PCs would make them extremely unbalanced. I think a caveat of not being able to possess PCs (without permission) could drive the point cost down a lot, though that's just my personal opinion.

[AonEne he/him]

Just now, kenod said:

So personal guess for the 800 points, it's because they can essentially possess anyone, including PCs. Possessing NPCs probably wouldn't be that much of an issue, but being able to control and take over PCs would make them extremely unbalanced. I think a caveat of not being able to possess PCs (without permission) could drive the point cost down a lot, though that's just my personal opinion.

vvvvvvvvv

1 hour ago, AonEne said:

However, I of course wouldn't "possess" anyone except NPCs unless it was a specific occurrence worked out between me and the other person, which I'm assuming will happen rarely if ever. I don't currently plan on it.

I'd only possess NPCs or my own characters, except for contained experiences with permission given from the writer.

[kenod]

Just now, AonEne said:

vvvvvvvvv

I'd only possess NPCs or my own characters, except for contained experiences with permission given from the writer.

I know, which was why I added the caveat. The reason I talked about it was to explain what I think is the original reason behind the 800 points.

[AonEne he/him]

2 minutes ago, kenod said:

I know, which was why I added the caveat. The reason I talked about it was to explain what I think is the original reason behind the 800 points.

Gotcha. It's a probable reason, yeah.

Other than that all I can think of is maybe someone accidentally put an extra 0 on an 80.

[kenod]

2 minutes ago, AonEne said:

Gotcha. It's a probable reason, yeah.

Other than that all I can think of is maybe someone accidentally put an extra 0 on an 80.

Yeah. I actually think it's standard policy for all abilities that can interfere with other characters without any response, or those that would be impossible to use because of the nature of the RP, like how Foretelling is 500 points.

[MacThorstenson he/him]

I am asking the rest of the mod team their thoughts, but people lately have been raising questions/issues about why we have so many non Sanderson magic systems or things from really obscure books as the variety can be confusing for new people and others who haven’t read the books. 

[+Ark1002]

2 hours ago, AonEne said:

I actually agree with this to an extent; it confuses me sometimes that we have non-Brandon stuff in here, but WoT, WH40K, Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY have all been implicated before. I'm fine with the AV creating its own magic, like Alleymatics/Voidmaking/Alleytraveling/the fourth-wall-breaking magic, because it makes sense and is creative, but some of it makes less sense to me. I don't argue with it because it already exists and I don't want to interrupt other people's fun, though. Just thought I'd bring it up.

2 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

WoT is Brandon.

Warhammer was approved by the community. Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY... I'm not sure. All three of those I'd prefer to stay completely without. If the community voted to add one, I'd accept the decision, but I don't want it.

[AonEne he/him]

6 minutes ago, MacThorstenson said:

I am asking the rest of the mod team their thoughts, but people lately have been raising questions/issues about why we have so many non Sanderson magic systems or things from really obscure books as the variety can be confusing for new people and others who haven’t read the books. 

This is Sanderson. It's not cosmere, but he wrote it, like Reckoners or Alcatraz et cetera.

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Poltergeist

5 minutes ago, RayOfSunshine said:

Warhammer was approved by the community. Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY... I'm not sure. All three of those I'd prefer to stay completely without. If the community voted to add one, I'd accept the decision, but I don't want it.

That's fair. However, I feel like the Discworld is pretty deeply embedded *cough* Lopen being literal Death *cough*. Again, there wasn't a vote, but everyone was fine with the Church.

Edited August 14, 2019 by AonEne
Coppermind link

[kenod]

Just now, AonEne said:

This is Sanderson. It's not cosmere, but he wrote it.

I think that one might have been about the RWBY stuff?

1 minute ago, RayOfSunshine said:

WoT is Brandon.

Warhammer was approved by the community. Discworld, Ax's stuff, and RWBY... I'm not sure. All three of those I'd prefer to stay completely without. If the community voted to add one, I'd accept the decision, but I don't want it.

I don't think we really use Discworld anymore, I think that was only Lopen doing that, and given that he isn't active anymore it hasn't come up again. Other than that, Warhammer has been present for too long to just ditch (though I agree it can be weird/out of place at times). Ax's stuff is mostly really small stuff as far as I'm aware, just a new species, so that doesn't seem that bad to me since we've got a bunch of other homebrew species running around as well (Other side of the world).

[AonEne he/him]

1 minute ago, kenod said:

Ax's stuff is mostly really small stuff as far as I'm aware, just a new species, so that doesn't seem that bad to me since we've got a bunch of other homebrew species running around as well (Other side of the world).

Yeah I'm fine with Ax's stuff as well, just bringing it up because it was in the vein of the discussion.

Honestly even if it was Sanderson, I don't like the thought of someone controlling Death. That's way, way too OP.

2 minutes ago, kenod said:

I think that one might have been about the RWBY stuff?

Mac, can you clarify? I might've misinterpreted.