Post by tradingcardgamer on May 3, 2013 20:11:49 GMT -5
Finally back from my trip! And now to respond to all of the discussion while I was gone, and I do have to admit that I was worried of what would be thought by everyone else at this stuff. And yeah, I know it's all ridiculous. That is a bit of the idea. Also, this is stuff that’s been in Ness’ backstory from the beginning.
First, CT, I do understand your concerns you originally voiced. I know I'm keeping stuff from you guys in the narrative (is that something you don’t like or that you think I should dial down, BTW?), because that's kind of also the idea, but so that you guys know what's up I'll give you a bit of a rundown here. What SF surmised wasn't far from the truth- Ness' version of Earth is quite different from regular Earth, as are the inhabitants. The biggest thing is that it is quite a bit like the anime- in fact, on Ness' earth "King of Games" (Yu-Gi-Oh! as in the anime) is based on the real-life (although very, very long ago and fairly dramaticized) exploits if a real person. The pointy hair isn't a constant thing for everyone- it's due to the effects of Duel Energy, which is something that clumps around those who are important to the "plot" of the world, and especially those who are highly in touch with Duel Monsters. Every world has it, but not usually in any high quantity- it's even in SBURB, where it's repurposed to be used as Flux's "Metaphlogiston"- albeit not functioning mostly like its natural effects.
Its main natural effects are, first and most obviously, a slight warping of physics around the affected, causing improbable jumps and heft in situations where it's needed (I.E. when Ness used the Axe of Mefist that one time and when he jumped to the First Gate). It doesn't happen all the time, so it's not like Ness can just run around carrying a giant sword and jumping chasms all day, but it happens when it's needed and unexpected. You can probably guess, this is supposed to be reflective of "Anime Physics". A noticeable side effect of high Duel Energy concentrations is that the warping effect centers, for some reason, on the affected's hair, causing unusual size, shape, and coloration without being unduly heavy. On Ness' earth, showing this in public is considered one of the highest social offenses and therefore courtesy dictates that they must wear a special hat that uses a healthy dose of handwavium to compress the hair under it. You’ll recall that Ness’ was just destroyed. Other effects include warping luck of the draw (not ANYWHERE near Light or Fate level, just in the realm of the anime’s “Believing in the heart of the cards” and, like the physics warp, only in unexpected emergencies) and a tendency to call attacks and be excessively dramatic when excited or facing a challenge.
The “Spirit Revival” is another thing that comes from Ness’ world, and it’s a mixed basket to be sure for the user. Of course, it has a good side- it revives the user, and with a couple spiffy perks to boot. It also has a large number of downsides. I’ll admit I’m making up a fair bit of this with the little knowledge we have of a comparable process in the anime, but the fact remains that it is a thing that is true within his mythos. Here’s my version of the process, feel free to comment on it (or any of this)- Ness, or anybody who is aware of the fact and has the Duel Energy levels to execute it, dies. As in (in SBURB) without being revived by an SBURBan method. Instead of dying, the person fuses with their Spirit Partner (the Duel Spirit that is the Ka of their soul, which is something everyone has- it just doesn’t become anything tangible usually.) with their Ba, their life energy. This revives the person, but as a Duel Spirit.
Because for narrative purposes just dropping dead and poofing into a card would be boring, here’s where my ideas come in and also nerf it a bit. The user doesn’t simply fuse- they must prove themselves worthy of it, through a challenge. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what that challenge is, but I will because I want to- a duel with their own evil. Or their Spirit Partner, I haven’t ironed that detail out yet. Should they win, they return to life fused as one.
There are obvious downsides to this. The biggest one, of course, it the fact that their link to the world is a small piece of plastic-coated paper. Anybody with the Duel Energy to pull it off (which would also be bolstered by the fact that they don’t just have a connection to Duel Monsters, they are the connection) could project themselves into physical form easily, and for more narrative purposes they would have to all/most of the time. There’s also the fact that they’re now a Duel Spirit, which despite the fact of them having whatever cool (or not, as the case may be) powers of their Monster form can be a problem in that it’ll mess with SBURB’s scripts all to hell because it’s only programmed to deal with vanilla humans (stupidly).
Also, I am aware that Dream players aren't supposed to be knocked out. The effect of [Dream Journal] is supposed to be that it doesn't "knock out" the target as such, but causes them to focus inward to an extent that it appears they are unconscious, and for most purposes are, but they're actually viewing their entire self laid out to view- therefore it's very Dreamy, given that it uses both "focus" and "systematization." There’s also an effect of the ability that didn’t come into play here that both the caster and the target are affected, and both are in the target’s mind or the caster’s mind, depending on the caster’s choice.
It is something I plan to be a big point that reusing his same Duel Monsters repeatedly isn’t going to fly when he does stuff. He’s going to have to learn that, and to come up with things of his very own. Of course, there are other ways to do stuff with Duel Monsters than creating things with [Living The Dream]. Namely using them for the intended purpose of playing the game (which, by the way, is serious business to Ness, given that his entire world revolved around it). Also, when did he start “pulling things out of his deck” before? If you mean when he was throwing stuff around at imps, he was throwing literal cards, as in the pieces of paper with images on them, from his Deck Modus.
(Also a side note- Jeremy was never meant to be like Joey. I used the last name, yes, because I dunno. Why not. And also he’s a Duel Monsters fan, but from a “normal” Earth and therefore without any of the same stuff that Ness has. That is as far as the relation goes.)
On a completely unrelated subject, [Love Me Tinder] is an awesome name for an ability. I applaud you for that, SF. On the subject of input- I don’t have much, I’m thoroughly enjoying your posts. The only thing I can think of is that he doesn’t show much in the way of traits of a native Void player, although I wouldn’t know what those traits would be.
First, CT, I do understand your concerns you originally voiced. I know I'm keeping stuff from you guys in the narrative (is that something you don’t like or that you think I should dial down, BTW?), because that's kind of also the idea, but so that you guys know what's up I'll give you a bit of a rundown here. What SF surmised wasn't far from the truth- Ness' version of Earth is quite different from regular Earth, as are the inhabitants. The biggest thing is that it is quite a bit like the anime- in fact, on Ness' earth "King of Games" (Yu-Gi-Oh! as in the anime) is based on the real-life (although very, very long ago and fairly dramaticized) exploits if a real person. The pointy hair isn't a constant thing for everyone- it's due to the effects of Duel Energy, which is something that clumps around those who are important to the "plot" of the world, and especially those who are highly in touch with Duel Monsters. Every world has it, but not usually in any high quantity- it's even in SBURB, where it's repurposed to be used as Flux's "Metaphlogiston"- albeit not functioning mostly like its natural effects.
Its main natural effects are, first and most obviously, a slight warping of physics around the affected, causing improbable jumps and heft in situations where it's needed (I.E. when Ness used the Axe of Mefist that one time and when he jumped to the First Gate). It doesn't happen all the time, so it's not like Ness can just run around carrying a giant sword and jumping chasms all day, but it happens when it's needed and unexpected. You can probably guess, this is supposed to be reflective of "Anime Physics". A noticeable side effect of high Duel Energy concentrations is that the warping effect centers, for some reason, on the affected's hair, causing unusual size, shape, and coloration without being unduly heavy. On Ness' earth, showing this in public is considered one of the highest social offenses and therefore courtesy dictates that they must wear a special hat that uses a healthy dose of handwavium to compress the hair under it. You’ll recall that Ness’ was just destroyed. Other effects include warping luck of the draw (not ANYWHERE near Light or Fate level, just in the realm of the anime’s “Believing in the heart of the cards” and, like the physics warp, only in unexpected emergencies) and a tendency to call attacks and be excessively dramatic when excited or facing a challenge.
The “Spirit Revival” is another thing that comes from Ness’ world, and it’s a mixed basket to be sure for the user. Of course, it has a good side- it revives the user, and with a couple spiffy perks to boot. It also has a large number of downsides. I’ll admit I’m making up a fair bit of this with the little knowledge we have of a comparable process in the anime, but the fact remains that it is a thing that is true within his mythos. Here’s my version of the process, feel free to comment on it (or any of this)- Ness, or anybody who is aware of the fact and has the Duel Energy levels to execute it, dies. As in (in SBURB) without being revived by an SBURBan method. Instead of dying, the person fuses with their Spirit Partner (the Duel Spirit that is the Ka of their soul, which is something everyone has- it just doesn’t become anything tangible usually.) with their Ba, their life energy. This revives the person, but as a Duel Spirit.
Because for narrative purposes just dropping dead and poofing into a card would be boring, here’s where my ideas come in and also nerf it a bit. The user doesn’t simply fuse- they must prove themselves worthy of it, through a challenge. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what that challenge is, but I will because I want to- a duel with their own evil. Or their Spirit Partner, I haven’t ironed that detail out yet. Should they win, they return to life fused as one.
There are obvious downsides to this. The biggest one, of course, it the fact that their link to the world is a small piece of plastic-coated paper. Anybody with the Duel Energy to pull it off (which would also be bolstered by the fact that they don’t just have a connection to Duel Monsters, they are the connection) could project themselves into physical form easily, and for more narrative purposes they would have to all/most of the time. There’s also the fact that they’re now a Duel Spirit, which despite the fact of them having whatever cool (or not, as the case may be) powers of their Monster form can be a problem in that it’ll mess with SBURB’s scripts all to hell because it’s only programmed to deal with vanilla humans (stupidly).
Also, I am aware that Dream players aren't supposed to be knocked out. The effect of [Dream Journal] is supposed to be that it doesn't "knock out" the target as such, but causes them to focus inward to an extent that it appears they are unconscious, and for most purposes are, but they're actually viewing their entire self laid out to view- therefore it's very Dreamy, given that it uses both "focus" and "systematization." There’s also an effect of the ability that didn’t come into play here that both the caster and the target are affected, and both are in the target’s mind or the caster’s mind, depending on the caster’s choice.
It is something I plan to be a big point that reusing his same Duel Monsters repeatedly isn’t going to fly when he does stuff. He’s going to have to learn that, and to come up with things of his very own. Of course, there are other ways to do stuff with Duel Monsters than creating things with [Living The Dream]. Namely using them for the intended purpose of playing the game (which, by the way, is serious business to Ness, given that his entire world revolved around it). Also, when did he start “pulling things out of his deck” before? If you mean when he was throwing stuff around at imps, he was throwing literal cards, as in the pieces of paper with images on them, from his Deck Modus.
(Also a side note- Jeremy was never meant to be like Joey. I used the last name, yes, because I dunno. Why not. And also he’s a Duel Monsters fan, but from a “normal” Earth and therefore without any of the same stuff that Ness has. That is as far as the relation goes.)
On a completely unrelated subject, [Love Me Tinder] is an awesome name for an ability. I applaud you for that, SF. On the subject of input- I don’t have much, I’m thoroughly enjoying your posts. The only thing I can think of is that he doesn’t show much in the way of traits of a native Void player, although I wouldn’t know what those traits would be.
