OOC chat

Yeah, I conceptualized it as being saved by 'luck' in dire situations, stuff like that.

I think that would make her a Famous Model (or something like that)!

I'm honestly uncertain if I should try to make a custom character sheet for this, the way Eltesla laid out her character seems fine enough.

I'm thinking of adding an aspect where Chimera is actually quite gifted with crafts, getting the idea for something "cool" (whether that be a weapon or some clothes) and making it. If anybody asks her to make something, she'll end up adding her own "cool" touches that they didn't ask for. However, Chimera does this to make cool things, not because she thinks tinkering itself is cool. In her ideal world, she wouldn't need to rely on external means, but she lacks the constitution to be her ideal hero. She does training to hone her physical and magical potential, to marginal effect.

As for Chimera's weapon, something like a mechashift scythe/gun weapon sounds like something she would use.

An incomplete draft, all names tenative:
Chimera Roosevelt
Abilities:
Chuunibyou Princess
+ Sagacious Words Unbound by Shame
Hands of the Mad Visionary
+ Thousand Secret Techniques (in the form of gadgets and such)
Alexandrine Lineage
+ Unnamed technique(s)
#1 fan of Unnamed Hero
Small and Cute
Unnamed Petalframe
+ Mechashift Scythe-Sniper Rifle
+ Unamed mech abilities

Flaws:
Unsatisfied with Her Level of Talent
Unnamed Rivalry
Youthful Ignorance

Some rule questions:
- The SRD says that the default rating is 13, and distinguishing characteristic is 17, I just want to clarify that it is different for this game.
- Do the petalframe/lineage abilities and any breakout abilities count towards the starting 12 ability slots? I just get a bit confused because there are a lot of different terms (ex. abilities, keywords, breakout abilities) flying around for things that seem to work the same way mechanically.
- Is there a limit to how many breakouts can be under one keyword? I figure that a lot of things about Chimera stem from her chuunibyou tendencies.

Oh, I think you're consulting a not-up-to-date version of the file. The latest edition, which you can download here, uses basically just multiples of 5 for starting ratings, bonuses, etc.

Again, 12 isn't a limit to the amount of abilities you can have, and let me try to clarify the terms: abilities are everything that describes what a character can do, they can be either stand-alone abilities or keywords, keywords can have breakouts as further specializations. There's no hard limit to how many breakouts a keyword can have.

I must say I'm intrigued about the Roosevelt alias... Is that some reference that flew above my head?

I don't think I was using an up to date edition, this one is a lot more clear. XD

Okay, going with the Maupin lineage then.


Regarding descent and skills, if basic academics are inappropriate, sure, let's drop them from Maupin. (This was meant to mean the general basic education, which in the past often suffered from gaps. But whatever.) I'm surprised about what is and isn't appropriate for a Lineage benefit, since Cleopatra's Lineage (which I originally considered) has this line:
So I'm now unsure whether Lineages are meant to be semi-mystified inherited talents, or things that also come from traditions of the family's education priorities.
I guess I'll try to go ahead with this for now then.

Here is my draft:Some questions and comments:
- What does the Culture Keyword cover? I know we should have them, so wrote one down based on country of origin, but I haven't found any listing of cultural competences in the Genre Pack.
- The rulebook states that characters are assumed to be sufficiently fluent in the base language of the campaign, so I'm assuming all foreign characters are at least bilingual (maybe trilingual) without dedicating a Keyword. (So I'm not shoving 'Cosmopolitan' into the current version of the draft.) Is this right?
- I wrote down Well-Rounded Education as a Breakout because it came naturally in the sentence, but I'm not sure if it was a bad/silly idea and I should undo that. What do you think?
- I'm still indecisive about whether to pick Allure or Magnetic Presence as the Breakout under Charisma. I might end up swapping the two (maybe even several times) before finalising.
- Is this a suitable example of a Community? (You mentioned we will eventually get the Division community afterwards, so given the origin I wrote down the old community, with which Claude will stay in contact anyway.)
- Should I just write 'Finesse', or narrow down to 'Combat Finesse' in the Breakout under Swashbuckler? I know an example character had Combat Prowess. I'm guessing I should narrow it down.
- I'm putting the main Improvement Points on the Concept Adjective and Noun, which puts them at an even level with the Petalframe Keyword. I am still unsure whether that was a silly thing to do.
- Apparently the Sidekick gets a separate pool of Improvement points. I'm spending those on the Occupational Keyword.
- Added a description of La Rose Verte. What do you think?

Abenanka "Chizuru" Kim'Unko - 2nd DraftAbenanka is the first daughter of the illustrious Kim’unko family, who lived as the guardians of the land long before Japan formally existed. She embodies her ancestors' spirit; precise, measured and fearless. She does not shy away from her duties, nor from her training. She engages in both scholarly and martial pursuits, though with a focus on her magical training, and strives to excel in everything she does. Only, excel she doesn’t.

While it’s certainly true that she takes well to her theoretical training, she struggles with the practical applications of such concepts. She struggles under pressure, and has trouble adjusting her pace to fit that of other people. Her earnest demeanour and straightforward goals earn her a lot of forgiveness though.

When she reaches her boiling point, Abenanka becomes withdrawn. She’ll try and find patches of greenery. She’s not good with animals, beyond birds, but she prefers the peace and quiet away from cities and people.AbilitiesSpiritual (20)
= Charms and Tokens +5
= Bird Affinity +5
Guide (15)
= Wilderness Expert +5
Kim’Unko Lineage (14)
= Barrier Expert +5
Linguist (12)
Martial Artist (11)
= Grappler +5
Snowdrop Lotus (8M)
= Digging Claws +5

FlawsBoiling Point (13M)
Unaccustomed to Cities (20)
Slow and Steady (11)

Thanks for the updated link!

As for the Roosevelt thing, I just thought of a coolish sounding name. It does happen to fit the time period, after all. Not knowing what the name's origin was, I looked it up and it turns the family started as Dutch immigrants (Rosenvelt), which I decided was as good a way as any to decide where she hailed from.

Anyways, I've submitted a character sheet, also posted below. Didn't assign improvement points yet, and still haven't decided on a suitable mech yet.

I did have a question about flaws: is the petalmark keyword (which starts at 5M plus any breakouts) meant to count for the flaw rating? I assume so, but just making sure.

Nice, I finished character!

About the the flaw question, I decide that they don't consider petalframe abilities, as they're higher than normal and will hardly be used against flaws (unless they hail from the petalframe itself), so no, they don't consider the petalframe keyword when assigning their rating.

And Tickettbror's character seems just fine too.

I added the custom Petalframe and Lineage to the Genre Pack thread. I trimmed down the Abilities listing to something more manageable, along with a minor adjustment towards being more theme than fine-grained enumeration. Does that look OK? Also, any commentary on the draft of the prose-and-stats upthread? @Moyreau

Sorry, didn't saw the post at the time.
- Yeah, everyone is fluent in Japanese and in their mother language;
- Indeed I messed up, the academics for the lineage is indeed suitable. I don't think well-rounded education is a good ability, it seems to me that it means your character has an average level of knowledge of common things, that's presumed from all characters and would hardly be used in a contest; it could be used on other knowledge-based contests with a Stretch, though;
- Yeah, the French nobility is a suitable ability.
- Finesse is good as an ability too.
- The descriptions of the lineage and petalframe are good too, just a heads-up: technically you guys will be piloting among the first petalframes (they're still prototypes), and the ones I listed as examples don't necessarily actually exist in the setting, so describing yours as based on them doesn't make much sense. That's very minor and irrelevant though, your character seems good for me.

It seems we got all characters done, and they all look great.

Some potential caveats though: Homura Kusakabe and Claude d'Armanngnac, with their heights of 183 and 185 cm would be seen as extraordinarily tall girls in the setting's time period, specially for the former (as a Japanese girl); if that's intended, that's then fine, I just wanted to keep sure we're on the same page.

Before I can start, I would just like you all to do this: pick a main motivation for your character, if she don't already have one, for participating on the Steel Petal Force and defending Tokyo - talking of which, I just wrote a draft about it, which is prone to receive more detail in the future, thus it's the ideal time for you/your characters propose any 'customization' for it. Besides that, any other shorter term goal for the PC would be nice, but not required.

Then, I would like everyone to establish a connection with at least one other character, the order being this:
Homura Kusakabe -> Abenanka Kim'Unko -> Chimera Roosevelt -> Claude d'Armagnac -> Homura Kusakabe

It mustn't be anything too complex or that goes back some years. Something simply like 'travelled together to Japan or the Capital to join the Steel Petal Force'.

On that same note, everyone is light on background for now, which is fine (and according to what I asked), my plan is to develop these as the game plays out, when it becomes necessary.

I understand that this height is remarkable, but it does happen in real. It's also about in the range of Martina Batini, which seems a fitting inspiration for a swashbuckler. (That being said, above-average height is a trend for my PCs, the 'normality' in your previous campaign was an outlier.)

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Unfolding what was briefly mentioned about motivation:

I see Claude as liking glory and attention and opportunities to show off (which all are in line with the values of French nobility), and so would be a pleasant position to take. Also, seems this Petal project is a joint project involving many countries, and that likely means the French monarch personally approved participation in this project, and probably thus tasked the noble families to contribute to it in some way.

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Regarding the connections, I'm not sure how to read the arrows, so I'm just going to post ideas for the two connections involving Claude; please correct me if one of them is extraneous.

Regarding Chimera Roosevelt: Since both of our PCs are from high-born families of Europe, perhaps they met at some royal court? Now, Claude is not royalty, and is a bit young (18-20 at the start of the campaign, perhaps a bit younger during the backstory event) to have a landed title (in the local system of titles anyway). I could imagine maybe Claude having a semi-ceremonial job relating to the royal guard at a court Chimera visited (at the risk of ominous parallels with the Rose of Versailles)? If we want some drama, perhaps at there was some incident culminating with Claude getting involved in a (nonlethal) duel that Chimera witnessed, or maybe was a Second in, or something?

Regarding Homura Kusakabe: this one is harder for me. A Japanese model . . . I guess that warrants some sort of coincidental encounter, maybe soon after arrival but before joining the unit? Or maybe the Joanine lineage offers some sort of connection to France?

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*Looks at the characters thread*
Aww, I was expecting that our commander would be able to compete with Kamiyama Seijuro visually.

All good by me. My intent with the arrows was that you would assign a connection to the character that your arrow is pointing at, and the character pointing an arrow at you would assign one to yours.

That's the general commander grandpa, not the division's commander (which I'm going to call captain to avoid confusion).

The other one, previously listed as 'Akira Hoshikawa' / 'Steward', the one that looks like the general commander's sibling? Or is that a yet-unlisted role that will be filled by a new character ranked as a captain?

It's unlisted, as he will show up after the first chapter~

For the record, I wasn't thinking of a duel with Chimera, but rather with some NPC adversary, most likely over someone's affections.

But what sort of loss and what sort of duel-in-quotes are you envisioning? It seems you might be having in mind something different from my idea, and I'd like to know more.

Also, do you want the butting heads thing to have already started as part of the background connection events, or are you just fereseeing it happening during the campaign?

Yeah, it's intentional. i think it'd be a part of her appeal :P

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Homura's main motivation is that she simply feels morally obligated to fight the shamons, playing into her main flaw Hero Complex, as well as her lineage. She can't sit by when she has the power to help. I say there's also a patriotic element to it, so she's proud to be able to serve her country like this.

As for a shorter term goal, maybe she wants to destroy a certain powerful shamon that tore apart much of Osaka, resulting in the death of her best friend. This would be somewhat before discovering she was a Seisha.

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Homura's connection to Abenanka... I suppose they could've met in the Academy that was mentioned in the IC thread and ended up hitting it off. Homura's fiery nature would balance out Abenanka's slower, more methodical nature and vice versa, though I imagine it'd also make them clash sometimes. Homura tends to use 'Chizuru' rather than Abenanka.
They probably could have met at some social event in Tokyo. Homura is "common" (possessing noble blood but not a house) but I imagine her burgeoning modeling career would give her the connections to be at the sort of events Claude would attend.

I kinda dipped that academy idea from the thread, meaning the characters wouldn't be required to attend any military academy before entering the force. They could though. Maybe the two of them met in another place some time back? I'm pretty sure there wasn't compulsory school in Japan in the time as we have now too.