College of Magic Comments 3

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Marvelous Miscreant wrote

Since this whole part of the training is more a mental and emotional hurdle, I'd say potentially yes on the first one. This part is in no way supposed to be a straight up fight, unless losing/winning in a fight is what the character needs to change. And then only if its not an actual fight, but more of an abstraction, like fighting your inner demons or fighting a literally impossible to beat enemy

Yeah, this just goes to show that I need to put a little more thought into this, but then again, there are mental-based Soulswords too.... Hmmmm, those could be fun to use...

[Marvelous Miscreant]

If you can work a fight into growing as a person it'll work.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Hey Marv, how much is this plot upgrade supposed to be? Like, at what level should I be operating when all this is through.

How strong do you want us to get?

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Hmmm, that's hard to answer. Basically after both parts of you're training you should be at a level where you can cast just about any spell you can think of provided you have the mana. The tricky bit is, that you won't be able to use all that power effectively right off the bat. This kind of increase will come as a bit of a shock and will require some adjusting to till you can use it with precision. Of course that'll only take until the approximate turning point in the battle that's to come.

So, in short. You'll be very powerful, just not all at once.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

All right, then here's what I'm thinking of (and I might be copying/referencing something I read a long time ago. If so, I forgot what it was): I'm going to have an MCA student utilize their Soulsword into making Asoka and Piper go into separate trances where they learn about themselves and become better people that way, as well, little challenges could croop up in order to stop them, but those would be minor puzzles and games of chance (E.G. Sudoku, poker, 52 card pickup, mahjong, etc).

MCA Student: Saotome Aya
Soulsword: "Kokoro"
Released State - 'Mirror, Kokoro'
-A gilded mirror that appears to be highly polished to the point where you can see your reflection from a hundred metres away
-Effect: Anyone who looks into the mirror goes into a mental world of Aya's creation with random puzzles and games scattered throughout until Aya lets you out.

Do note that if you're powerful enough, you can break out without Aya's permission. Thus she can capture Piper and Asoka, but not the Headmaster or any of the leaders of the wings of the school. Aya is best at mental games like those noted above rather than actual physical combat but is still pretty strong as a student of MCA.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Love it, go for it.

[Tsubasa & Wen Tien]

Thinking about it, Marv, please narrate Piper. I just can't figure out how to do it well without feeling like I'd be messing up.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Sure, don't worry about her.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

From the Notes of Billy Bishop: The Black Manor.

When Grandfather returned from the dead to establish his kingdom, he was not just a simple shade or a body animated by magical power. He legitimately returned from beyond the veil of death, the only person in the history of our world to have achieved such a feat. The knowledge he gained from his time on the other side allowed him to establish our way of life. Having seen the very face of death, he gained an intimate understanding of it. The art of Necromancy was born of his experiences.

Past the veil of death, the souls of the dead wander until they find The Path. The Path is long and grey, and the farther along you walk the more the world you know fades away. Upon walking far enough, they will find the gate of a large Black Manor.

The Manor is not the final destination of a soul, simply a way point. A rest stop, presided over by The Lord, on the road to the final reward. The Lord is a very stern but polite.... something. Grandfathers description is vague. If a soul does not wish to move on, because of a fear of what comes next, a trauma that makes them unable to progress, or the simple want to wait for someone, the Lord Allows them to remain in his house. Some of these souls he eventually offers the title and duty of Knight.

The Knights are the first among the dead, the Lord's loyal servants. They guide lost souls to the manor, deliver his messages in the living world, keep the manor, and hunt his enemies. The Knights are semi-corporeal, but limited in the amount they can interact with the world of the living. They can touch no one, unless willing touched first. They can take nothing, period. They may speak, but they can not speak of the manor to those that do not know of it. No one is sure how many Knights are in existence, but Grandfather described them as incredibly powerful.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Truly a fascinating history...how do you come up with this stuff?

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

I start with what needs to happen, then work backwards until it make's sense.

For example, Billy needs to become much more powerful, but in a way that doesn't feel cheap. What could I do?

I remembered a few times in the story Billy mentioned or made oaths about some vague "Black Manor", the same way other people would use "God almighty."

So, what would the black manor be? Well, it's part of Billy's religion so surly death lives there. But which death? I can't just have the death of Billy's world show up, that would be unbelievably convenient.

So, The Lord of the Black Manor would have to be the death of all things, the uberdeath. But wait, why wouldn't all cultures know about him? And what about all the other afterlives? And how would Billy recognize this guy so that I don't have to have him exposit about what he is?

Well, the manor is just a sort of stopover point that put's people on the right path. And Billy knows about it because the King f his Country actually talked the Lord into letting him come back.

Hey, that sounds like a great origin for necromantic magic, I'll run with that.

No, no, I can't have the big man come out to train Billy himself. That would be dumb. That would be like some bad fantasy novel. Well, surely this guy must have people working for him. But how do I limit that guy from just fixing my problem? Well, slap on a rule about that. And a few more, why not, they make sense. And where would he get them? From the Manor guests who don't want to leave, which conveniently sets up something I want to do later.

And they want Billy, because he already knows about the black manor and so it wouldn't be breaking any rules to tell him. Among other reasons....

And I've come full circle.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Guys, be honest. Am I just a terrible GM? I keep telling myself to keep this rolling but...I'm too easily distracted by other things. Same thing happened with my first RP.

[Zaleramancer]

You are fine.

I've got the attention of a rabbit, but I seem to be doing fine.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

You aren't terrible. I've seen terrible, you ain't it.

You could stand to be tighter with your pacing, and you could do more toward making the world breath. Also, I kind of feel dividing the schools based on elements was a bad move because the difference between throwing a fireball and throwing an ice ball are negligible when it comes to the magic used.

On the other hand, you can find a school for the occult, or a children of the gods, or a magic school RP on any crappy Freeform RP site on the net and it pretty much always goes the same way: Zero plot, lot's of drama, lot's of nothing but talking about how awesome your character is. You at least have a plot to push us along. That alone put's you head and shoulders above most.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

Ok, so I'm not absolutely terrible, but still. I'm not exactly the most ...um.....what's the word? Attentive? Detail-Oriented?

Whatever.

Point is, I need to focus. And as much as I would love to say something like. "I'm going to be better about it" or "I'm going to try harder." I cannot say so with honesty. Though I will say you have given me something to think about.

I might just be acting overly melodramatic tonight. I don't know, my head's all over the place and I find myself reflecting to much on my mistakes. And boy are there a lot of them.

Characters I failed to do anything with. Plot points that never really came to fruition. mechanics I worked in but forgot. Oh and let's not forget my narrating blunders....

Anyways, I'm just going to go think. I'll probably forget all this in the morning anyways and be back to my regular self again.

[Zaleramancer]

I understand.

[Gentleman Vaultboy]

Marvelous Miscreant wrote

Characters I failed to do anything with. Plot points that never really came to fruition.

 Find me a GM where this hasn't been the case.

[Marvelous Miscreant]

"Needless to say...I do not have a good answer for that. So, I'm defaulting to geeky references."

GV used Logical Statement.

It was super effective.

Marv's Stupor has dissipated.

[Celadon's Penultimate]

 I want to see if I can't add some more now. Where do you think would be a good place to start?

[Ericus Europaeus (Bug)]

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