The Peerless Spirit

And, finally, here's a Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Doodle I did.

  An Octopus Singer, a Fortitude Rat, a few Octopus sketches, and a Horizon Ghost (the ghost I am the least happy with....).  

Sharktober 2024 - 17: Electric Shark

Struggled with #15 so decided to skip it for now. This idea appeared in my mind fully formed and took three minutes to draw.

Journey to the Outside

And the angel of the sun did fall. She fell, down, down, from the sky, and into the emptiness beyond the world, beyond the things that were good and real, out where only false and nonexistent things might live.

And then they knew what it was to know darkness, to know meaninglessness, to lose all hope. The world, the whole and breadth of it, knew what it was like to be without a sun.

But at the same time...

...and, perhaps, this was most surprising of all...

At the same time and for the first time, the emptiness beyond knew what it was to have a sun.

And the whole of it changed.

--- Journey to the Outside, a fan campaign for Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine

So, I've been working, off-and-on, for a while on an idea I've had to do a Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Epic Adventure campaign in the style of Journey to the West. I'm almost ready to get started running it, so I thought I'd share the stuff I've got so far. Instead of actually creating the mechanics for the characters, I'm giving descriptions and allowing the players to choose their Arcs on their own. I'll probably write up, at least, the starting Quests for each character, eventually, but I haven't gotten there yet. So far it's mostly just a list of characters and a bit of description for each one, and their variants.

Introduction

Jade Irinka is dead. The sun has fallen into the Outside and the world is reeling under a strange and alien sky. Each day a ball of blazing gas rises and sets, casting shadows and helping the plants to grow. But it is not the sun - and in their bones, the people of Town know it.

It is a mournful thing to live in a fallen world.

But there is hope. Or, rather, there is a chance for hope. Hope exists, but someone has to venture out into the Outside and get it. Someone has to go on a journey to save the world. And not just anybody: gods and monsters and villains… and also just some guy.

It sounds like it will be an Epic Adventure, doesn’t it?

Sidebar: Conventions

This campaign is an Epic Fantasy game featuring THREE Conventions, manifesting as level 2 Afflictions:

The stage may be small but audience is great

You are well known wherever you go

And

There’s always a place to stay when the weather gets bad

My fairly terrible Mignola-copying cover for a fictional Natalie Coutourier-starring Chuubo's comic called "Winter: Flowers in the Ice". I'm not done, but I don't know that I ever will be done so...

A Fortitude Rat from the upcoming Tabletop RPG "Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine" by Jenna Moran.  This, specifically, is my character Remy Chiaroscuro, an Ace/Creature of Fable from an RPG.net game.

See the Kickstarter here:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1710667762/the-chuubos-marvelous-wish-granting-engine-rpg

Quick doodle of a Fortitude Rat wizard I'm considering finishing up for wizardbattles. Maybe. Or not. I think I'm out of practice drawing wizards.

"An Unreliable Narrative" - A Prototype Welcome to Night Vale Quest Set for Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine (Part 3)

Storyteller 2:

Making Yourself Heard

15 or 25 XP Quest

It’s time to say something.  You can’t just dispassionately watch and report, you have to say something.  You have to become involved.

You’ve still got a job to do, but part of that job is now about reacting to events as they unfold.  You’ve just been observing, but even observing is affecting, and its time to consider whether you’re willing to just sit on the sidelines any longer.

After all.  People are counting on you.

✿ Making Yourself Heard (25 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You speak truth to power, revealing something that those above you would rather you not reveal.

You publicly call out a foe or rival

You overcome something that keeps you from speaking aloud

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ receive a compliment for a job well done

✿ align yourself with something weird, dangerous, or wicked

✿ warn of an impending doom

✿✿ relate your own past or situation to present events

✿✿ engage in a debate or argument

✿✿ say or do something you know will get you in trouble

✿ Making Yourself Heard (Simplified) (15 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You speak truth to power, revealing something that those above you would rather you not reveal.

You overcome something that keeps you from speaking aloud

You can earn one of these bonuses, for a total of up to 5 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿✿ show support for something weird, dangerous, or wicked

✿ experience a flashback about current events

✿ experience a presentiment of doom

✿✿ stick your nose where it doesn’t belong

✿✿ clash directly with an authority figure

✿ take action even though you know it’s probably a bad idea

Storyteller 3:

A Part of the Story

20 or 30 XP Quest

Now you’ve done it.  You went too far.  You’re no longer on the outside looking in.

Now you’re in the middle of it.  And backing away with your hands up isn’t going to get you out of this jam.  You’re going to have to actually do something here, you’re going to have to step from behind the microphone, even if its just for a few minutes.

✿ A Part of the Story (30 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You get last minute help from a friend or enemy

You are attacked in somewhere that you previously felt safe

You travel through a portal, dream gateway, or other liminal path away from the regular world

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 15 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ admit that you’ve been hasty

✿ propose a theory about the hidden truths begin events

✿✿ suggest a course of action to solve whatever issues are occurring

✿ are injured (or at least disheveled)

✿✿ give advice to a friend that gets them into trouble

✿ attempt to hide from events

✿ A Part of the Story (Simplified) (20 XP)

Major Goals

The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:

You lose a friend because of advice that you gave them which turned out to be bad

You are attacked in somewhere that you previously felt safe

You can earn each bonus once, for a total of up to 10 XP.

Quest Flavor

1/chapter, you can earn a bonus XP towards this quest when you:

✿ are injured (or at least dishevelled)

✿✿ suggest a course of action to solve whatever issues are occurring

✿✿ try to form an alliance with someone you’ve previously counted as an enemy

✿ attempt to hide from events

✿ refuse to admit that you’ve been hasty

And that’s it!  Arc complete!  You’ve stood behind your microphone, hidden behind your microphone, and then come out from behind your microphone!

What’s that?  The story’s not over yet?  There’s still a big emotional finale?  Alright.. well, we’ll, once more, finish that later.

Terrible doodle. Just... Awful.

These are a couple of pictures I drew several (holy crap years ago.  Sticking them on Tumblr to share them with an associate.

I was in an Exalted phase at the time so I did a bit of Homestuck/Exalted fanart.  That's John Egbert as the Unconquered Sun and Dave Strider as Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich Soul of Malfeas.  I tried to do a Jade(As the Maidens) and a Rose (As one of the Deathlords) but couldn't quite get things working...  

I think the John is my favorite.  Lil' Cal Malfeas is a bit hard to decipher.

Luke Skywalker in Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine

Today I was posting on a thread in RPG.net about using Canon Characters and Franchise Settings when, quite unexpectedly, I wrote this lengthy explanation of how Luke Skywalker would work as a Chuubo Main Character if Star Wars were a GMD-style campaign rather than a movie series.

I'm actually pretty happy with it, so I'm gonna put it here so I don't lose it.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Let's imagine Star Wars wasn't a movie but a game like Chuubo.  You'd get a character playbook that says:

"Your name is Luke Skywalker, you're an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!  OR you could be:

Lulu Skywalker, an orphan farm GIRL with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!

Lu'twach Skeewakka, an orphan wookie with a grand destiny to become a Jedi Knight!

Luke Amida, an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny to become an Ace Rebel Pilot!

Luke Skrontmeer, an orphan farm boy with a grand destiny that he's not sure of!

You'd get a list of generic but customizable starting Quests -- A Basic Quest that relates to being a farm boy out of your element; a Side Quest about befriending some droids, a Storyline Quest about being drawn off the farm and discovering a Wise Mentor.

You'd also get a generic Quest Set for someone on your Knightly path.  A very VERY quick Knight Arc Luke Quest set would be...

The Legendary Deeds of Luke Skywalker...

Knight 1:  Greater Things (Where you find a Mentor and are exposed to a new problem)

Knight 2:  The Dark Side (Where you discover your flaw and stumble because of it)

Knight 3:  Losing Things (Where you lose a mentor/lose faith/lose a hand)

And then the two optional:

Knight 4:  Get Back on the Horse (Where you get back into the path of Destiny)

Knight 5:  Balance (Where you face an Unbalanced Rival (a Walker in Darkness; like you but failing in their Vice) and defeat/befriend/mitigate them by your own control of your Vice)

Finally, you'd get some glimpses as to how this Quest Set can be arranged into Arcs that can be built into a campaign:

The Balance Arcs

Arc 1:  Luke Skywalker, A New Hope (Where the Jedi Knight finds that he is the only hope to keep the Rebellion from collapsing to the Evil Empire)

Arc 2:  Luke Skywalker, Among the Clouds (Where the Jedi Knight is Betrayed and Learns a Secret About His Past)

Arc 3:  Luke Skywalker, A Very Personal War (Where the Jedi Knight Must Find a Way to Bring a Star-Spanning War to a Close)

Arc 4+5:  Luke Skywalker, the Extended Universe (Where Other Things Happen - because I don't know the EU and can't really figure another whole Luke-centric Knight Arc out of the original trilogy)

So, if you lived in a world where Star Wars didn't exist but the Chuubo Star Wars game did, you could (By combining the Jedi Knight with the Smuggler, the Machine Conscience, the Rebel Noble, and (heck, maybe) the Treacherous Prince) approximate the entire plot of Star Wars just by going through those Arcs...  but you could also end up somewhere else entirely!  You'd have a general road map to a type of story without ever actually revealing more than a few landmarks of the story underneath.