Nobilis

Aye. I guess it'd be pretty hard to see what is coming, since Nothing is coming. Huehuehue.

Anyway, wordplay aside, I am going to see if I can make a character from a visual novel into a Nobilis sheet. Or is Chuubo better for cross-overs? Since it seems to be popular for such things.

Chuubo's is certainly more popular for such things, because it has more potential powersets and lets you load in the kind of personal story you want them to go through, but there's nothing inherently wrong with using Nobilis.

I see. Well, I guess I will give Chuubou a shot then whenever my wallet gets filled.

Basically the character I am talking about is a villain. Reinhard Heydrich from Dies Irae to be precise. His desire is to remake the universe so that he can battle for eternity. Eternal conflict to be precise.

He is a bit like an Actual in the sense that he absorbs everything. Or rather, anything that he kills or destroys becomes a part of his Legion and he can use their skills as he pleases.

So he basically swarms his opponent with an army. Doesn't help that they are removed from the cycle of life and death either, so when you "kill" them, they just come back after regenerating. As long as Reinhard is alive, they cannot truly die.

But to be fair this only happens when he ascends to godhood. So Excrucian seems to fit. What would the equivalent be in Chuubou?

Aaand I bought the third edition. Will buy 2e next month along with Chuubou. :P

(You know, I think my first exposure to Nobilis was someone statting up Katawa Shoujo characters as Powers.)

Chuubo's is essentially a High School AU of Nobilis, so it's got Excucians as well. Because it's a generally Lighter and Softer setting, some of them have gone native so you have some perfectly ordinary people who happen to have eyes full of fallen stars, but the ones that haven't are basically The Wild Hunt. They're good with horses and bows and swords and hunting you down. Some are necromancers and some have magic powers of disguise and some can make minions out of dirt and shadow and some are just really good at hurting people. They haven't gotten a lot of focus beyond "they show up sometimes to hunt down and kill someone or something." I expect that'll change if the region they go a-hunting in gets a sourcebook.

The thing that more closely fits the role Excrucians play in Nobilis is the Bleak Academy. If you leave reality behind and go out where things get weird, and then go further still, you can find the Bleak Academy. It's divided into four sections: the Colloquium of Magi, where you go if you haven't declared a major yet, the College of War and Nightmare, where you go if you want to make blasphemous creations probably for use in assaulting the world, the College of Natural Philosophy, where you go if you want to talk about how existence and hope and knees are lies blinding us to the True Thing, and the College of Emptiness and Dream, where you go if you want to remake the world. I'm thinking that last is going to be what interests your guy.

edited 10th Mar '16 7:41:59 PM by rikalous

HEH! There is something amusing about Reinhard sitting on a schoolbench and studying how to make the world "better".

Although he'd probably fit as an Archangel of Hell, what with his quote "I love everything in existence". Only problem being that when he says love, he means destruction. Good thing he can destroy everything for eternity then since it'd just be restored due to his Law. :P

I can totally see that conversation happen in Emptiness And Dream, with Mercurius being the teacher. Although ir probably tackles far weirder subject. :P

So is there some sort of Gift or Treasure that'd explain his Legion ability mechanics-wise?

Come to think of it. Is there a policy for linking to youtube? Rather tempted to link to the conversation in question but I am not sure if that'd be against the rules.

Edit: Here is a Gift I was thinking of for Mu: Basically making the time it takes to do something into nothing. That is to say making the action instant. Or something along the lines of teleportation where the distance between A to B is made into zero.

Or perhaps that'd be something that comes naturally due to the Estate? But needing to use MP instead.

edited 11th Mar '16 4:56:09 AM by EvilMegaCookie

Hm. Might not be that great of an idea to pick World-Breakers Hand. But it would be possible to do something like that with the Estate, right? Albeit far less powerful.

Another one I was thinking of was just to make Mu one stealthy fucker. Basically abuse his Estate like all hell where you can't see, hear, feel, interact or even recognize his presence. A bit like the Vanishing Point from Bleach I guess. Only ramped up.

Going back to the villain sheet: What points would you give Reinhard's Treasure? It is basically the Lance Of Destiny. It can mark someone with a Stigmata which basically means that when they die, they become a part of his Legion. Can also fire a beam of light that destroys souls.

Other than that he can combine the abilities of those in his Legion to produce a variety of effects. To always be faster than the opponent, never miss and erase their existence in one blow as long as they have a history. He can combine these three into a OHKO.

Aaaand it can only be wielded by the most charismatic person in the world. Which he is in Dies Irae but that might not be true in Nobilis or Chuubou. Mostly because I suspect there is a Nobilis Of Charisma or a Gift that puts his to shame. Lol.

Edit: Welp. Should've written Gift instead.

edited 11th Mar '16 7:24:20 AM by EvilMegaCookie

Well, I have changed my mind. I will let Mu be an Exrucian or something like that. But one that just stayed outside the war. Is there any timeframe given for it? Then I could perhaps determine whether Mu had developed its conscious enough to make the decision.

Does a Exrucian that has no interest in destroying the world and being actively opposed against its fellows trying to do so sound crazy? :P

Especially Raginhart. Because screw that guy.

edited 13th Mar '16 4:04:58 PM by EvilMegaCookie

Excrucians - at least Deceivers, I'm not sure about the others because there's a Diary of Deceivers but not a Workbook of Warmains or whatever - do exist that aren't really super invested in the destruction of the world. Maybe they've got friends or family on what is nominally the other side, maybe they know intellectually that stuff like Puppies or Coffee is a lie but it's a very nice lie, maybe it just doesn't seem worth all the effort.

Hm. Perhaps it'd be best to say that Mu is something that aligns with what the Exrucians use, but isn't associated with them besides embodying Nothing.

And Reinhard using the abilities of his Legion would be Treasure 8, right? To use their miraculous effect in mechanics terms that is.

edited 13th Mar '16 5:24:51 PM by EvilMegaCookie

Here is a rather odd idea I had about resolving the confusion around Mu. How about it being some sort of Imperator rather than an Exrucian? Aaaand it then somehow along the way gets a soul and is then reincarnated as a human being.

So he or she could, through her life, discover her hidden (insert He-Man theme here) powers. And maybe go insane as I am not sure if they'd be able to handle Mythic Reality. Or was it that others would view them as insane and incompatible with society at large? Maybe it is both.

So maybe this reincarnated version of Mu would have some degree of insight on both realities but afraid to tell anyone else about it due to not wanting to be seen as insane.

Stat-wise I guess a reincarnated Mu would be 0 across the board. But if the trick I had in mind would have to work i'd probably need 3 in Persona atleast. Since if I am not wrong that is where you can manifest parts of your concept on your body.

Basically like Cold Touch from D&D but with Nothing instead. Although only being capable of affecting physical things and the area where he or she touches.

Does that sound plausible? :P

Chuubo's arcs matched to fictional characters. Part the second.

That is pretty interesting. I can see some traits being applicable to Machina (another character from Dies Irae). He'd most likely be an Accursed seeing as his body itself is a weapon that his soul just inhabits. Aaaand being able to punch things out of existence. Lol.

Edit: Reality Syndrome is definitely another that'd fit.

edited 16th Jul '16 7:57:02 AM by EvilMegaCookie

Glass-Maker's Dragon is in full-art backer preview status, with the buying public (as opposed to cheaty KS backers like myself) currently waiting on the art credits before it can go live.

Current look at arc assignments.

• Specialist is now Frantic Bindings (and called Gatecrasher).
• Knave of Hearts has taken the Sickly Knight slot.
• Alchemist is now Sickly Storyteller (and called Creature of Delirium).
• Magical Hero is still Immortal Aspect, it's just called Chosen One now.
• Reality Syndrome is now Sickly Aspect, in probably the biggest change (because it's directly modifying the corebook as opposed to the drafts).
• Self-Made is now Sickly Shepherd (and called Impresario).
• Renegade is now Frantic Emptiness (and called Troubled).
• Frantic Mystic is a new Arc called Prophet that hasn't been posted.
• Sickly Mystic is a refinement on Visionary called Awakening.
• Of a Certain Place is gone.

edited 15th Feb '17 6:29:39 PM by CountDorku

It has been a long, long time, with a lot of hardships, but I am unspeakably happy to let everyone know that the Glass Maker's Dragon has finally been released in ePub and PDF formats! Those who backed the kickstarter at the appropriate level should have a link to a free download in their mails.

God, it's been four years and several months. Time is truly cruel, perhaps Lexiarchos had the right idea of trying to end it. Now finally, we can move forward, unto an EOS-free future.

So, because I like Teen Titans, I did a thing.

edited 24th Apr '18 12:18:16 AM by CountDorku

I'm not sure I'm actually about to generate a constructive response here, but I like this content and wish to positively reinforce you sharing it with us. So,

"Heir to the gadgeteer legacy of Ned Kelly" is not a superhero origin I expected to see, so kudos for that.

I'm kind of surprised you've got two different characters learning sorcery. In my experience, a team this size generally just has the one designated magic guy.

Thanks! I'm actually starting to throw together ideas for a B-team to cover some other concepts. The Aspect-primary character, for example, wants to prove that Heart Is an Awesome Power, while the Mystic-primary one is a mysterious Doorstep Baby who may learn something interesting about her past.

I went for folk heroes or notable historical figures who built stuff and could justifiably have a bit of a mixed history: the Edisons have to deal with Thomas Edison being kind of a asshole, the Kellys keep their anti-authoritarian streak but were also founded by a murderer, and there are all kinds of things the Schmidts could discover in their history, even disregarding the obvious. (Which HG's probably should: one, that's a bit heavy, and two, it's also really thuddingly obvious and so not all that interesting.)

It seemed a reasonable way to connect the two, at least. There's nothing saying that the Child of Darkness actually has to learn anything from those experiences, and most of the time "using demonic power to rip things up" is going to have a higher success rate, so. There's that.

edited 28th Apr '18 1:45:07 AM by CountDorku

B-Team is nearly finished, starting here, btw. The lineup includes Robin and Superboy fighting over Batman's title, Tsuyu Asui as played by Karkat Vantas, Data meets Astro Boy, and Spider-Man trying to be ESB-era Yoda.

Also, my buddy and one-time GM FrivYeti is writing up a harem anime campaign, which is pretty hilarious.

Edited by rikalous on Aug 14th 2018 at 8:04:52 AM

So I'm going to be playing one of the stranger characters in a game on rpgnet.

Put it this way, my character portrait is this◊.

So I just popped in to check on that harem anime Chuubo's to see if it ever got finished. It did, and it turns out Dulcinea de Montreal is actually a nightmare beast that only thinks it's Dulcinea, and is going to learn how to have a life outside her duty by scientifically investigating people being interested in things and taking notes and case studies of her own interests.

Or in short: Best girl.

It also took me to The Monster Mash, which is about Rinley forming a band to reach the hearts of kaiju through music, and possibly through their own knack for turning into kaiju.