#if somebody doesn’t ask for crit you don’t need to give it good rule of thumb

[sassygwaine]

thinking about how all my life the way i talk (/write/communicate) has been made fun of:

i talk like a dictionary

i talk like an encyclopedia

i talk like a thesaurus

i talk like a teacher

i talk like i think i’m better than everyone else

that all slowed down into adulthood bc people generally understand it’s weird and a dick move to comment on people’s speech

however i did get one a couple months ago that i can’t stop thinking about:

i write (talk/communicate) like i get a good grade in therapy

bc here’s the fuck of it, and something a lot of people who are familiar with me know: i write how i talk, i write how i experience the world, even if i’m using characters to do it, fiction to do it

and after so long of searching for ways to talk about my experiences, to understand what the hell is going on in my head, to have compassion for all the ways those are different for others, to have that reduced to a fucking meme is a gut punch

[itsbenedict]

No Driver’s License: Session 36

No Driver’s License is a Madoka Magica game I’m running for five players, using a homebrew of Yaruki Zero’s Magical Burst system. It follows five magical girls as they deal with an upheaval in the world’s magic system caused by some strange new three-eyed Incubators. They have to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and how to put a stop to the cycle of despair.

I post session logs and omakes weekly sporadically, both as a reference for the players and for anyone who wants to follow along with the party’s misadventures.

[adventure log- read from the beginning]

[session 35]

Last time on No Driver’s License, the party managed to beat what should be the final combat encounter. They caused Honoka Midarezaki to witch out, leaving behind only Katou Kimiko, and... well, is that going to be enough? Because... Emiko beat Ibara to snagging Kimiko’s Soul Seed, and the situation might demand further defusing.

So, the big question- are we reviving Kimiko, here?

Emiko vehemently denies any intention of doing so, but... well, Fumi-chan’s still being a little shit.

Ibara points out that they’ve got other options on hand, but Tama-chan refuses to do the reviving, too- she intends to just put her on ice and keep her from reviving indefinitely. And... Nishi’s on her side, here. That leaves zero willing Incubators.

Emiko’s in no hurry, though- she’d rather just have everyone here back the fuck off, please.

There’s more arguing that wants to happen, largely because Emiko and Sakura want to do it- which Ibara is opposed to doing here, now. Yukari and Makoto are more or less behind her, on that count.

Emiko ends up agreeing- she would rather not bring Kimiko back to life here, surrounded by enemies and liable to panic and lash out.

Tama-chan and Nishi try to urge the team to take out Emiko while they have the chance- they sort of haven’t been around for any of the... learning about the cannibals and how they’re maybe redeemable, and just see a chance to put a stop to them. Yukari explains that they want to recruit the cannibals, which... the Incubators are rather surprised by. She explains her plan, but Tama-chan has doubts.

Meanwhile, in the rocket, Makoto and Sakura are catching Hekima up on the situation with the cannibals. She, like Tama and Nishi, is not convinced recruitment is viable- but for different reasons.

Sakura explains that they intend to rewire magic itself to not work that way. Her plan for that, though, is pretty ambitious- her step 1 is “use magic to bootstrap a superintelligence, and have that fix magic for us”.

Answering her questions means looping her in on... the whole Hell Engine thing, and the Devil, and they’re not sure whether to divulge all that right now. An inquiry re: her personal motivations is made, wherein she affirms that all she wants is to survive.

Sakura only then notices Nishi’s presence, and asks her some questions about hacking the Hell Engine to rewire magic.

Hekima keeps pushing to be told about their mysterious source of Grief relief, not allowing the subject to be changed. They’re... still not sure if she can be trusted, though.

Sakura’s ensuing Heart roll is... middling. Hekima doesn’t exactly react angrily to that, but...

Back at the ranch- I mean, back on the moon but like a dozen meters away- Yukari and Tama-chan are still going at it over the cannibal plan.

Ibara tries to get things back on track.

That’s... good enough for Yukari, who tries to cement that stance. If she can prove they don’t need to eat anyone anymore, will Emiko commit to not doing soul cannibalism?

Emiko’s not really ready to commit to anything, and she’s worried everything is a trick, and doesn’t like how Yukari won’t actually explain what the plan is. Ibara tries to put it in plain language, which gets her a little more cooperative.

Yukari and Ibara describe the Hell Engine and the Devil in... terms vague enough to not give Emiko enough information to fuck with them, but enough to give her something to work with. Emiko’s final stance here is... she isn’t going to just immediately go along with it. She’s going to go home, revive Kimiko, and talk with her and Yoshe as a team about whether this is a good idea, before committing to anything.

That agreed upon, it’s time to go home. Ibara goes and checks on the crew in the perfectly functional rocket ship they have, where they’re still trying to figure out Hekima.

WELL I SURE HOPE SO

Meanwhile, Yukari has one last thing to do before they take off. She wants to get Orino to shrink down the Hell Engine so it can be made portable- and more importantly, able to be hidden from the cannibals if they find out what it is. Seina helps her track Orino down with the pre-existing telepathy connection they made when they arrived.

Ibara and the others, though, are getting impatient- and Yukari can just teleport home, right?

So they... sorta take off without her. Sakura rolls a crit on Heart to pilot it home, and Ibara... assists.

That all goes... mostly well. There are some Things that happen when they land, but let’s resolve Yukari’s quest first:

Tama-chan is here chiding her and calling her an idiot, but mainly about the “telling the cannibals about important stuff” thing, and not the issue at hand. Yukari... takes it as kind of a revelation, though.

Yukari has a whole spiel about how she isn’t sure if Honoka still exists, what that relationship will be like, agonizing over that...

She goes on for a while about how maybe she’s broken and intrinsically evil and just ought to embrace her destiny as a plotting villain who doesn’t care about other peoples’ feelings. Tama-chan sort of ineffectually tries to derail that.

Yukari eventually comes down from her self-loathing high, and decides against pressuring Orino further. Tama-chan still isn’t happy about the cannibal plan, but acknowledges that she can’t really stop it, and vanishes. (By “vanishes”, I mean she self-destructs the Kyubey she’s piloting, and auto-recalls her gem to her base, but same deal plus some gold rings for Yukari.)

Meanwhile, on the way to Earth, some stuff happens. First, Makoto gets in contact with a friend:

Before I can show you what happens when they land, though, I need to rewind to a non-player omake that happened simultaneous with the session. 

Rather than paste the whole thing: Olivia Gumm is in the bunker, working on her manga. She’s mostly on track to meet her deadline, but then Takamine Mitsuki shows up, and starts to ask questions. Olivia draws a fantasy yuri manga which is supposed to be all-ages, but she’s not sure if the Takamines are traditionalists and isn’t sure whether to explain it to Mitsuki. 

Mitsuki turns out to be pretty open-minded when Olivia starts explaining, and from what she says about what her parents have said about the subject, Olivia won’t get in trouble for corrupting their daughter or anything. Mitsuki eventually runs off to ask her mom more about “homerphobia”, and- whoops, then Olivia breaks her pen.

Meanwhile, with Ibara’s delinquent buddies...

After some arguing over whether they’re going to go investigate, settled by Ibara’s sister Nano threatening to sic Ibara on them if they don’t quit making a ruckus, they go and find the source of the knocking.

The delinquents push past the barricade, ignoring Olivia’s horror at having broken Reiko’s rules, and find... no one. She’s missing. (She’s been kidnapped to the moon by the Devil.) Shibu fires off some texts to Ibara:

So, that’s what happened while they were gone. As they re-enter the atmosphere and regain cell reception, Ibara gets those texts.

Sakura lands the rocket in the Gyoen National Garden, the park where Reiko’s bunker is hidden. The thing’s decked out in Somebody Else’s Problem amulets, so they’re fine muggle-wise. Ibara heads down to check in on Reiko and the bunker inhabitants.

As it turns out, Shibu was able to keep Nails from contracting, despite Nails being extremely excited to be told that she has magical potential and could contract. So, that’s a bullet(?) dodged, at least. Everything down in the bunker seems pretty much fine.

Seina also heads down there- with Cho clinging to her arm, in front of her parents, an embarrassing situation that will be addressed in a couple sessions.

After checking on the bunker folk, Sakura is the first to head upstairs and outside, where she meets...

Sakura has... a bit of a breakdown, worrying about her purified trauma tracks. She’s worried about a feeling like life is pointless.

(Sheesh, Hekima.)

Sakura ends up asking Hekima to take a look inside her head, see if she can find out what witching did to her. Hekima is totally up for it, it seems.

They spend a while psychoanalyzing her, through Hekima’s maybe-not-super-reliable lens of pulling on true and false statements and guessing about the underlying neurology. Hekima’s verdict is that Sakura is just... very susceptible to emotional manipulation, prone to mood swings and wild behavior in response to minor stimuli. Hekima, as an old-school magical girl, is more than happy to catalogue her mental weaknesses.

And then... well, Hekima has her mancatcher around Sakura’s neck, and the thing to remember is that this sort of exploratory brain imaging stuff is not the primary function of the ability. The primary function of the ability is to forcibly read someone’s mind. When Sakura says she’s done and asks to be released...

They make contested rolls, and it’s close, but Hekima barely beats her.

(The ability description was cribbed from an unused character sheet Farn made, which I decided to remix a bit to make Hekima.)

So, the result of that is...

She tries to say “I can’t tell you that”, but fails, because that’s a lie- she can tell her that, she just won’t. Instead, she continues on the obfuscation tack.

Then Sakura tries to punch her, but fails her roll.

So... that’s not ominous.

Next time on No Driver’s License: Sakura and Yukari have a heart-to-heart over some curry, and Makoto pays a visit to the cannibals to see how their team discussion has been going. I’m sure this will all wrap up super-neatly.

[3d10fire-damage]

red sun summary (8/6/2020)

before setting out to finish some preparations for the impending riot, Elahe asked to talk with cluk. things had been kinda turned upside down for Elahe recently, and she had been looking troubled the whole way to Melu. zoroe checked with cluk to see that she was good to talk, then herded the others away to give them some privacy. “you lied back at the hideout, huh? you fooled me. you were always there to kidnap Amata.” after a thoughtful moment, cluk admitted that she had not been entirely truthful about her intentions with Amata, but there was nothing deceitful about her intentions with Elahe. Elahe took a deep breath and thanked cluk for admitting that, and said that they could move forward now. “you seem to be on this adventure, with a goal... my goal was serving the King because she helped me, but now i’m not welcome with her...” cluk assured Elahe that she was welcome here, with her. Elahe said that she didn’t know that she was ready to fight the King’s troops because she had friends there. cluk told her that she was scared too, and that she wouldn’t make Elahe fight. taking cluk’s hand, Elahe said she would think about it and let her know once the riot was over. then she kissed cluk’s hand and the two of them said their goodbyes.

the party headed to a tavern in the upper city. the tavern was empty save for a strong woman dressed in blue linen clothes and silvered armor. this was Dasari, the captain of the palace guard. she asked if the party was representing Kissare, seeming to recognize that there would be a cute sorceress and a cleric in the group. calypso didn’t quite understand the distinction between the two, since they both throw magic, right? cluk joked that she was the cute sorceress, and phosphorra said that the group didn’t have a cute sorceress. “cake pop, i think that’s you. you dork.” Dasari then cut to the chase, explaining that she would be backing the riot, as Kissare had ensured the riot’s success and because Melu’s princess wasn’t a good leader, apparently. the palace guard would intercept Melu’s army and hold the palace gate to let the party through. phosphorra asked Dasari if the party could request for her to redirect her forces and engage the enemy if necessary. Dasari said that her forces and Melu’s army were roughly equal in strength, so engaging in combat would be rough and that she would prefer to just stay near the palace.

in exchange for the palace guard’s assistance, Dasari expected compensation in the form of keeping the princess alive and not dethroned (she wouldn’t have power, but she would be there for symbolic reasons). more capable people would take over the rule of Melu, and there would be no overbearing influence from Abban Serru. the treaty would remain in place; basically, the status quo would be maintained. phosphorra asked if a parliament of some sort would be taking over, and Dasari said that she herself would be taking over. phosphorra wondered about civil unrest as a result of this, and Dasari said she would enlist an advisor or something to that effect. this conversation about leadership continued for a bit. calypso muttered that this was a lot more complicated that she would’ve expected. at one point Dasari told phosphorra “don’t tell us our own business.” calypso teased that phosphorra was a nerd for all of this, and phosphorra apologized and said she was just trying to help. zoroe asked to be sure Dasari was understanding Abban Serru’s part in all this, to which Dasari said yes, because she isn’t a fool. “i just want to be clear that a good relationship between Abban Serru and Melu is what will come out of this.” Dasari assured her that Abban Serru wasn’t getting kicked out, it simply wouldn’t have government control over Melu. she would not stop Abban Serru if they offered aid to the city. “meet us at the palace to finish this.”

on the way back to the embassy, phosphorra explained that she was concerned about the state the Melu leadership would be taking in the wake of this riot. it was pointed out that it couldn’t be much worse than it already is, considering how the King so easily moved in under the princess’s rule. calypso wondered why phosphorra even cared so much, since she doesn’t live in Melu. cluk added that the party would still be getting paid for doing this, so whatever, right? calypso also poked zoroe about being so interested in Dasari’s armor, since the cleric had taken a moment before leaving to ask where she got it. zoroe insisted that she was interested in the trends of the city. calypso was baffled by this, but let it go. before going back into the embassy, zoroe excused herself and stepped away from the party for a moment. again, calypso was confused but didn’t ask because she was getting impatient to punch things. khaela was in a similar mindset, and phosphorra mumbled “you could hit m-- uhh, you could hit cluk?” calypso raised an eyebrow to that, and cluk said that calypso could always hit her, also. “well, me and fangs are supposed to be fightin’ at some point...” “ohhh, you meant like, fighting.” calypso told khaela that they would throw some hands after this riot business. khaela said that her hands were only good for gripping large weapons, but calypso did not believe her.  “you're right, I'm fucking with you. i'm down to throw hands.” once zoroe returned, she appeared more calm than she had ever been.

returning to Kissare’s room, phosphorra said that she wanted to play the board game. Kissare, now dressed for battle in studded leather armor, announced that it was in fact time to plan things out. she explained some basics of how this would work (the mini-game rules). she said the enemy would target the two embassies and the temple complex, so at least one of those would need to be defended, and so leaving a rebel unit at each one would be a good idea. phosphorra worried that the rebel units would be overwhelmed, but Kissare said that no one really knew their numbers, so there wasn’t a way of knowing their strength beforehand. zoroe, phosphorra, and khaela deliberated on their plans, and meanwhile calypso did the Macarena and cluk played music for her (with some damn good Performance rolls). zoroe told them to keep it down. eventually the party reached a tie in the votes between two different plans, and cluk was the last to make a choice. “i’m the deciding vote? i have so much power... can i auction off my vote?” with rebel troops’ movements decided, the party headed to the city’s western gate where, finally, there was combat. Kissare was the one to act first, drawing out her (apparently magical) whip and looking to zoroe. “what do you want me to do?” zoroe, face flushed, said “whatever makes you happy..?” “okay, i’ll go fight somebody.” Kissare then proceeded to kick ass with her whip and a scimitar with a serrated edge. davke moved into the fray as well, but missed her attacks. cluk brandished her new sword taken from Laliya, House Edge, and got to work. one of the King’s troops ran up and missed Kissare (this would happen a lot. Kissare is a bad bitch). phosphorra bloodied another enemy with Fire Bolt. calypso made her way up to the enemy attacking davke and missed feinted twice, then landed two serious punches (one crit) to bloody them. zoroe tried to hit one of Kissare’s attackers with Sacred Flame, then hit cluk with a Healing Word. “thanks, mommy.” “never say that again.” khaela joined Kissare and smacked one of the enemies and nearly took her out. then she finished the job with a beautiful critical hit, and high fived Kissare. one of the others tried to retaliate on khaela, but zoroe prevented a hit with her Warding Flare. Kissare moved a bit, taking an opportunity attack in the process. with her whip she took the spear out of an enemy’s hand, because she rules. cluk winked at Kissare, who winked back. cluke used House Edge’s Ante Up ability, lifting the blade to her unarmed opponent’s chin and giving her a Look. somehow this intimidation didn’t work though, so cluk was like “then perish” and hit her. her opponent wiped some blood from her throat and told her she’d have to try harder than that. cluk then moved back, risking an opportunity attack but dodging it (”how big are her fists??).

phosphorra moved up to calypso and davke, dual casting Inflict Wounds. unfortunately she missed both of her targets, prompting calypso to be like “no, no, do it like this.” then punched twice more, killing one of the enemies. the heavily wounded woman picked her spear back up and chased after cluk, but failed to hit the bard. zoroe (perhaps in an attempt to impress Kissare) cast Fire Ball on a few of the enemies, luckily(?) missing calypso and taking out one of the enemies. Kissare shouted “PARTYYY” and zoroe thanked her. khaela got another crit on another enemy. calypso shouted that that was hot from across the battlefield. Kissare took out another enemy with her whip and whipped a second one. davke, saying “i’ll help you, cluk!” ran up and finished off the woman after cluk’s throat. cluk cast Shatter on the last of the opposition, and that was that. the party had taken the western gate.  after a moment, the party reconvened to do some more planning. khaela suggested that the party needed to be the ones taking on the bigger, more badass groups of enemies since they were stronger than the small units of rebel fighters. Kissare suggested that the party should try to take the city’s northern gate... and that is what will happen next time