Quest General CYOA Thread

[Husky_Khan]

Looks like it could be the solid base for generating non-standard NPC's and/or Companions for all manners of hostage crisis, survival horror, and contemporary open world action settings with RPG elements (Far Cry/The Forest) etc. Though sadly the options beyond the first one have less direct association with that concept of character generation.

 

[UberIguana]

I found this one while looking for CYOA's involving dimensional travel.

It even comes with a built-in explanation for all those shitty SI fics that start with the MC chatting with an ROB.

 

[Yinko]

I found this one while looking for CYOA's involving dimensional travel.

It even comes with a built-in explanation for all those shitty SI fics that start with the MC chatting with an ROB.

Would you take the Planeshift option even though it says you have to work for your power? It would certainly make the sacrifice power easier, since you could go to a world with very gullible people (Demolition Man for instance) and drain a few and then leave. Then just enroll in some school for mages and spend a few decades studying your way to being a propper wizard.

 

[UberIguana]

Would you take the Planeshift option even though it says you have to work for your power? It would certainly make the sacrifice power easier, since you could go to a world with very gullible people (Demolition Man for instance) and drain a few and then leave. Then just enroll in some school for mages and spend a few decades studying your way to being a propper wizard.

It doesn't technically say you can go to known fictional universes, but that is what I'd read into it. The picture used looks to be from Sliders anyway, so that's one cluster of possible dimensions, at least one of which had magic. Finding and identifying useful dimensions might be its own problem too.

Having to work for your power probably means you can't just go to some fantasy universe at exactly the right moment and swipe godhood from the overly ambitious badguy or something. If you try I'd guess it won't work for whatever reason. Spending years studying magic would fit the 'earned' part of gaining more power. Then again, the wizard giving you this power is doing it for his own amusement, so if you take the boring path you might find obstacles being dropped on it.

Ultimately I'd go for Planeshift just because it opens up possibilities none of the others do.

 

[Yinko]

at least one of which had magic.

Three that I remember: the one with the super villainous magic user (which was ambiguous as to whether or not the magic was science), the one with the dream manipulators, and the one with the blind seeress.

I'd say:

Immortality: Sacrifice -0 =15
Enchantment: Planeshift -0 = 15
Lvl 1: Mindhand, Perfect Sight, Float -3 =12
Lvl 2: Perfect Form, Haste, Boost Strength, Blink -8 = 4
Lvl 3: Counterspell -4= 0

The three body options will make me pretty set for the multiverse, the multiverse will solve any weaknesses with the sacrifice form of immortality. Counterspell is a "just in case" for running into other magic out there, while blink and mindhand are good utility spells.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I found this one while looking for CYOA's involving dimensional travel.

It even comes with a built-in explanation for all those shitty SI fics that start with the MC chatting with an ROB.

Hmm...

Immortality: Bound
Least distasteful option.

Spells
Lvl 1
Stem Bleeding
Least Shifting x2, thalassodromeus sethi, crocodylus acutus
Shield

Lvl 2
Perfect Form
Blink

Lvl 3
Regenerate
Golem

Enchantment: Planeshift

Shapeshifting doesn't seem to be enough of an advantage over least shifting, only the mass really matters as you only get one species. I want one form that can fly and one that can prevent drowning. No existing bird or bat fits the weight range needed (nevermind insects) but the Thalassodromeus is a pterodactylid roughly at the right size, and Crocodylus is an alligator that hits that sweet spot, though a full-grown male will get much bigger. Granted both will be a bit attention-grabbing but I suspect most other forms would be too. I was considering going for a shark but, in a pinch, the Acutus can handle both fresh and salt water, due to having salt glands that can clean out its system in salty water. That adds significantly to its utility, and it can hold its breath for a couple of hours, up to eight if calm and not swimming or fighting, so if I haven't managed to use Blink to teleport out of trouble in that amount of time, a shark probably won't have any advantage. Additionally, being an alligator it's hella tough.

Stem Bleeding is necessary to get the maximum advantage out of Regenerate, otherwise the patient/myself might die before regeneration heals the damage. With those two together I become a useful White Mage archetype. Blink and Shield are get-out-of-trouble cards. Perfect Form is a quality-of-life enhancement.

I had to think long and hard about which enchantment to pick, which is the hallmark of a good CYOA. I really wanted the apprentice but I can probably find that elsewhere. You can pretty much find all of them elsewhere except for the Plane Shift so it's really the only logical option. Bonus Points and Teleport... neither one was appealing. I mostly wanted the apprentice because I fear where the ROB might send her off to next if I didn't rescue her.

That means I had to take either golem or dominate to have somebody carrying my giant chest around for me and golem seemed like a better choice for joining a party of fellow adventurers. As a white mage with halfway decent defensive options who brings my own meat shield, I like my chances of finding a group.

I decided to forgo any of the disadvantages though the drama for Hunted would make for a much more amusing actual story if I were writing one. Dogsbody is probably what I'd pick IRL, if I'm immortal ten years is no big deal though the ROB doesn't seem totally on the level.

General thoughts on combos:

Transform would appear to negate the physical issues of undying, assuming you don't mind spending all your time as an elemental. It doesn't appear to have a time limit.

Bound needs either Golem, Dominate, or Apprentice so you have somebody to carry your giant phylactery around.

 

[UberIguana]

My Low Budget Wizard:
Immortality: Sacrifice

Stem Bleeding (1/15)

Steel Skin (3/15)
Perfect Form (5/15)
Blink (7/15)

Transform - stone (11/15)
Regenerate (15/15)
Flight (19/15)

Enchantment: Planeshift

Drawbacks: Assassination +4 (19/19)

I like to make my CYOA builds for interesting stories (that I'll probably never write), rather than something optimal. Just say the ROB chose the build or something.

Sacrifice provides a long term moral dilemma: do I murder people to prolong my own life? Sure there are people out there who need killing, but that's a list that's easily expanded out of convenience once you start doing it. Friends and allies might get upset about it too. Once done it's also pretty self contained, so you don't need to worry about it for a long while.

Stem Bleeding, Steel Skin, and Regeneration are all for increased survivability. Other than Steel Skin they can also help out companions if and when it's needed. Perfect Form is just for quality of life. Blink is the bug-out option and for stealthier fast travel around populated regions.

Flight and Transform both allow for increased survivability (rocks don't need to breath, either in water or in hard vacuum) and greater mobility. Sure blink can get you most places, but not that fast and you need to constantly focus on your next move instead of just cruising. With these two you can turn into a chunk of stone and hurl yourself on a sub-orbital trajectory - or to another planet. If you try that last one you'd better pray your aim is good and crunch the numbers for a transfer first. Transform also says 'move through', so underground movement might be an option too.

I mostly chose this build as it technically allows for interplanetary flight. Earth to the Moon is ~7 hours at 1g constant acceleration/deceleration. Earth to Mars is as little as 4 days, assuming you aim and get the timing right.

Planeshift is the easiest way to constantly go on grand adventures without getting bogged down in consequences.

Assassination is because he said Earth. He didn't say this Earth, or that he'd be giving me a ride home. Cue adventure as I try and find my way back. There's the question of why the ROB wants this guy dead, but we can always handwave that as it being someone entirely deserving. Or maybe I just get dumped there and told to have at it or else. My life versus some random? Sorry, dude.

I would take Dogsbody too, but the 10 year time limit would slow the story down and smacks of piling on meaningless drawbacks for the sake of powerbuilding. The other 2 mean lasting commitments, which I'd prefer to avoid. On Call could make for interesting dilemmas that pop up from time to time. It also makes the initial ROB involvement meaningful, as he'll be back to cause problems. That's one of the big issues I have with fics that start with a chat with an ROB - it never amounts to anything. You never see them again, they never impact events beyond the prologue. You could have just fallen through a portal and gained mysterious powers and it would have worked just as well.

 

[Blasterbot]

Budget Wizard
Immortality Undying
Dogsbody +2
On-Call +1 enchantment
Enchantment Planeshift
Enchantment Bonus points
lvl 3 spells (16/25)
Counter spell
Regenerate
Fly
Blast
lvl 2 spells (8/25)
Steel skin
Boost strength
Haste
Blink
lvl 1 spells (1/25)
Arcane blast

right so Regeneration doesn't say it can't fix aging and those scars and aches that build up so I will be rolling with that. they explicitly mentioned that perfect form doesn't work for it. but as long as my body works fine I won't care about looking weathered and old. counter spell is big for anti mage work and great utility. my level 2 spells give a solid set of spells to work with. admittedly I am going to have to build up my body to make use of it. float and Blast are a good mobility option and a never be disarmed spell effectively. dealing with a task and then being his help for a decade for magic is fair. if I wanted to write a story he would mostly just be an old and irreverent quest giver. handing out a task to accomplish on a plane that usually isn't too difficult. but probably a bit tedious.

edited. swapped float for fly which is a straight upgrade and grabbed blast. now we got bang and boom options for attacks.

 

[UberIguana]

Budget Wizard
Immortality Undying
Dogsbody +2
On-Call +1
Enchantment Planeshift
lvl 3 spells (8/18)
Counter spell
Regenerate
lvl 2 spells (8/18)
Steel skin
Boost strength
Haste
Blink
lvl 1 spells (2/18)
Float
Arcane blast

right so Regeneration doesn't say it can't fix aging and those scars and aches that build up so I will be rolling with that. they explicitly mentioned that perfect form doesn't work for it. but as long as my body works fine I won't care about looking weathered and old. counter spell is big for anti mage work and great utility. my level 2 spells give a solid set of spells to work with. admittedly I am going to have to build up my body to make use of it. float and Blast are a good mobility option and a never be disarmed spell effectively. dealing with a task and then being his help for a decade for magic is fair. if I wanted to write a story he would mostly just be an old and irreverent quest giver. handing out a task to accomplish on a plane that usually isn't too difficult. but probably a bit tedious.

On Call gives you an extra Enchantment (last but one row), not an extra point for spells. The Enchantment for more spells gets you +8, not +1.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Oh, huh. I missed that On-call gave an enchantment instead of a spell. That actually makes it a bit more palatable.

This seems fun. I rather like the mechanic where what troops your horde has available are directly related to what kinds of herds you have as wealth.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Alright let's do this.

100 Coins... No Reading Ahead! But I guess there is... scrolling back up for final refinements. Entire post is a stream of consciousness.

Spoiler: CYOA Horde Building

Gifts and Flaws

Since any fictionalized version of me is flawless already it'll be hard to choose. I am four eyed IRL though so maybe being one eyed would be cool.

Nope. No it wouldn't, because I wouldn't be able to be an Archer. Sad. Speaking of which.

+ Archer (1 Coin)
+ Horselord (1 Coin)
These almost seem like it is required for any proper Golden Horder... uhhh Horselord. Don't want to go overboard even though Intimidating, Weaponer and Stealthy are all pretty neat. So I'll just choose one which is Stealthy. Seems more applicable to me as well.
+ Stealthy (1 Coin)

Herds and Banners

+ Common Herd (5 Coins)
+ Swift Herd (6 coins)

Again mandatory for a Horse Horde. I get a maximum of eight herds so I should at least get four I feel or else what am I even doing here when it comes to managing a proper Golden Horde? Actually I'll just double both. One more Common and one more Swift Herd. From the descriptions the others seem to alienate those on the Steppe. Steppe people aren't fans of Hunter or Food Herds so neither am I. Megafauna herds aren't stealthy unlike myself and just don't fit my mobility requirements. Spectral Herd is a bit too paranormal and out there.

+ Two Common Herd (10 Coins)
+ Two Swift Herds (12 Coins)

75 Coins Left!

Herd/Banner Upgrades

This is neat. Dogs make sense. Raptors makes even more cool sense. Paragon sounds really neat for worldbuilding and RP/Lore wise. Monstrous Blood? Mehhhh I'll pass. Drudges... again possible usefulness. I like the concept plot wise and it helps with the appeal of how 'diverse' some Mongol Hordes were, like those of Hulegu etc or like the Huns and such. Tinkers is neat but I'm not sure it fits my Horde aesthetic. Khesiks sounds amazing and I should have that. The Mongols had their elite Tumen after all and so will I! And War Wagons are awesome but I don't know if they fit my dynamic... or even if I have enough banner herds for it. Okay... here we go.

+ Khesik Common Herd (+4 Coins)
+ Watchdogs Common Herd (+2 Coins)
+ Raptors Swift Herd (+2 Coins)
+ Paragons Swift Herd (+3 Coins)
+ New Drudges Common Herd (+5 Coins - 1 Coin)

Also.. I want a Drudges herd so.... Imma adding another Common Herd... of POW's and/or Slaves. Good times! Overall cost will be... four more coins.

60 Coins Left!

Retinue

So for Retinue, Ideally I should have one for each Herd so that would be five Commanders. I would think at a minimum I need a Scout Leader for the Swift Herd, a leader for my Drudges and a leader for my Common Herd that isn't my Bodyguard.

Clan Sibling. Yessssss.... I like the RP'ing option here and how he's more sensitive to outsider influence than other retinue members.

Sworn Brother sounds great for the Drudges.

Strategic Consort sounds great for one of the Swift Herds!

Beast Shaman... I dunno. I don't really want the paranormal/magic going on. But he would be pretty useful and so would the thirty skinwalker types. I'll put this in the maybe category.

Hostage Princess... thanks but no thanks.

Hostage Engineer. We hobbled and abused him? Ehhhh pass. He'd be very useful but I found him somewhat unreliable.

Hostage Eunuch. Oh he died. Very sad. Very unfortunate.

Welkin Witch. Maybe I should get a Welkin Witch if only to counter all of the magic I am magic averse to. But she is DISQUIETING.

Raven Warrior. You seem nice. I'm sure your warmongering and death will be a better fit for another Clan. No hard feelings.

Mummified Abbott. Interesting concept actually. I don't know if I want him though he and his coterie would certainly be useful. Maybe category.

Oathbreaker Outlaw/Ghostly Bodyguard. Ehhhh I'll pass on both. Just not my thing.

Condor Kings sound awesome but I just don't see a use for them. Silver Knight is a cool concept as well but the powers he offers is pretty weird and not interesting.

Okay... One Sibling to Command the other Common Herd. I need a little Brother. Sworn Brother for the Drudges. Strategic Consort for the Swift Herd. And now Beast Shman or Welkin Witch... or Mummified Abbott. They are all pretty cool concepts. This is like tradition versus pragmatism. I can't choose both the Witch and the Shaman though I want both. Ehhhh I'll go Beast Shaman. I'm a traditionalist I feel so far. That pretty much closes off the Welkin Witch Option.

+ Clan Sibling (5 Coins) + Intimidation (I like the idea of an intimidating younger sibling, improves character drama and dynamics)
+ Sworn Brother (7 Coins)
+ Strategic Consort (4 Coins)
+ Beast Shaman (6 Coins)

Current Horde!
1 Khesik Common Herd: 1000 Elite Bodyguard Horsemen
1 Watchdog Common Herd: 950 Basic Horsemen + 100 Elite Bodyguard (Clan Sibling)
1 Drudges Common Herd: 1000 ex-Imperial Horsemen + 100 Heavy Mounted Crossbowmen (Sworn Brother)
1 Paragon Swift Herd: 500 Light Horsemen + 50 Consort Escort Light Horsemen (Strategic Consort)
1 Swift Herd: 500 Light Horsemen
1 Beast Shaman: 30 Skinchangers

38 Coins Left!

Artifacts

Actually none of them except the Imperial Seal interest me. So I'm passing at the moment.

State of the Steppe

Oh I love this. Kinship Network sounds like a nice prequel for my sibling and I to follow the dream of our predecessors and unifying the Horse Banners. Just like the Mongols and Alexander the Great following Phillip II of Macedon etc. I actually feel like I have a lot of coins since I'm on Page Two so... I'll do some big purchases.

Kinship Network (10 Coins)
The Great Moot (5 Coins)
Factionalized (+2 Coins)

Both sound like great diplomatic RP'ing retinues. Also the Kinship Network basically stated that a Strategic Consort was involved. And Factionalized can lead to some great politicking, rivalry and lore building potential. Could it end with the unifying of the Clans or maybe a lot of internecine and Inter-Tribal Warfare to sort it out. Exciting stuff.
27 Coins Left!

Beyond the Steppe

This too is awesome! Being from the Frozen North myself, I want a positive North trait. Plus the Winter Comes and Terror Storms seem more intractable then the Army of Fire from the West... AND I SHOULD take at least one THREAT here I feel.

West: Threat: The Army of Fire (+8 Points)
North: Sleigh Raiders (4 Points): We will avert this outcome. There will be no WAR ON CHRISTMAS! Also maybe the Elves can aid us in our insufficient industry.
East: Inland Lake (2 Points)

So the big drawback beyond a deadly Army of Fire threatening us for the next generation is that I have to pass on the lucrative Oases of Trade which I would've taken happily. Hidden Paradise didn't interest me. The Eastern Inland Lake sounds like it has more potential anyways. Sleigh Raiders... it just... HAD to be taken. They're practically my brethren who, since they drive Sleighs... I actually am doubtful of their combat ability or utility south of the snow but hey, maybe their sleighs and reindeer are all terrain, who knows? Plus dream-herbs I guess. Ho-Ho-Ho!

27 Coins Left! (actually increased)

Whelp... I just saved 27 Coins... FOR SOME REASON.

The Empire: Threshold

I won't choose. I will let the dice roll choose.

1d4 = 3

The Wall

1d4 = 2

Fortified Marches

Whelp... Maybe that Engineer, Hobbled or Otherwise, Would've been good to keep around.

The Empire: Complications

1d5 = 4

The Salvation Sect

Hurm. I was hoping for a different one. Southern Clans and Martial Brotherhood would've been neat but I'm sure if I delve a little deeper, the Salvation Sect should offer some interesting roleplay opportunities. Slaughtering Peasant fanatics might seem easy at first, then as it goes on... who knows how it may affect us, especially the Drudges Banner. Plus the Wizard-Priests could be formidable, and their antipathy for "Wildings" like us could renew our resolve or motivate us to be even more bloodthirsty and lead us to whoever knows what unforeseen end. A super natural Messiah-Patriarch could be more dangerous than any Marshal or Emperor and a natural adversarial for both me, the magic adverse type and my Beast Shaman. Interesting how that may turn out.

The Empire: The Grand Marshall

1d3 =2

Full disclosure, I got the Bandit King first but after reading his description, the idea of him bribing away my retinue of my trusted Sibling, my Consort, the Shaman or my Sworn Brother didn't seem like it'd gain too much traction. Plus at this juncture, facing a Bandit King who has to enforce loyalty through bribes and blackmail instead of loyalty seems rather underwhelming, and anti-climatic after facing the Supernatural Messiah-Patriarch. JUST SAYING.

So I re-rolled and got the Polymath.

Now this is going to be an epic showdown. We're kind of opposites and we have different forms of intelligence. He's good with engineering and technology and strategy and tactics, well read and scholarly and even older than me. Truly a clash of civilizations will take place. PLUS there is still the Army of Fire to the West that threatens us both, some knockoff Bandit King that I ignored and the remnants of the Salvation Sect as well. Lots of plot points to explore.

But first... I have 27 Coins to Spend and I know how to WASTE THEM for maximum Plot Potential.

Final Coin Spending

Mummified Abbott (6 Coins): With the Salvation Sect and its Messiah-Patriarch, I think having a Mummified Abbott being able to discern the true divinity or truth of this Sect and its Messiah would be a great moment of plot and revelation. Plus it might give great backstory and interaction to the Abbott in case it turns out there is some sort of backhistory with the Messiah-Patriarch and said Mummified Abbott. Could be great stuff.

21 Coins.

Imperial Seal (13 Coins): I figure I gain access to the Imperial Seal one of two ways... either through the Sworn Brother of this great Imperial General who defected to us. Or we got it from the Salvation Sect. Either way... holding the Imperial Seal should make for some great plot nuggets as we challenge the Polymath Marshal for power in the Empire. The conflict will not only be martial, but political as well.

8 Coins Left.

Well there's only one thing that costs eight coins.

The HUNTER HERD!

Hunter Herd (8 Coins): After I unify the Horse Banners into one force, the Beast Shamans Tribal Banner joins our Horde formally and now we have 300 Beasts or Beast Mounted Riders joining our force.

Banner Summation

Husky Khan:
Archer, Horselord, Stealthy (3 Points)

Retinue:
Clan Sibling (5 Coins) (Intimidating)
Sworn Brother (7 Coins)
Strategic Consort (4 Coins)
Beast Shaman (6 Coins)
Mummified Abbott (6 Coins)

Herd Banners:

First Banner: (Husky Khan)
1000 Keshik Elite Horse Riders (9 Coins total)

Second Banner: (Clan Sibling)
900 Common Horse Riders + 100 Elite Bodyguard + Watch Dogs (8 Coins total)

Third Banner: (Strategic Consort)
500 Light Horse Riders + 50 Allied Light Horse Riders + Paragon Swift Mount for the Khan (9 Coins total)

Fourth Banner:
500 Light Horse Riders + Raptors (8 Coins total)

Fifth Banner: (Sworn Brother)
1000 ex-Imperial Cavalry + 100 Heavy Mounted Crossbowmen (4 Coins total)

Sixth Banner: (Beast Shaman)
300 Hunter Riders (8 Coins total)

Extra Troops:
30 Skinchangers
10 Devoted Acolytes

Artifact:

Imperial Seal (13 Coins)

State of the Steppe

Kinship Network (10 Coins)
The Great Moot (5 Coins)
Factionalized (+2 Coins)

Beyond the Steppe

West: Threat: The Army of Fire (+8 Points)
North: Sleigh Raiders (4 Points):
East: Inland Lake (2 Points)

The Invasion of the Empire

Defense: The Wall
Defense: Fortified Marches
Complication: The Salvation Sect
The Grand Marshall: The Polymath

I'll see about doing a nerdy loreful write up later.

 

[Blasterbot]

Blaster's Horde

Traits
Grappler 99/100
Horselord 98/100
One Eye 99/100
Weaponer 98/100

The Herd Banners
8x Common herd with Paragon 26/100

Retinue
Beast Shaman 20/100
Strategic Consort 16/100
Strategic Consort 12/100
Hostage Princess 8/100
Ghostly Bodyguard 2/100


Artifact
Stele of the Fallen empire -3/100

State of the Steppe
Blood enemy 6/100

Beyond the Stepped
west Hidden paradise 3/100
north Frozen graveyard 2/100
east inland lake 1/100

The empire
The Wall
Fortified Marches
The Salvation Sect
The Patriot

Relatively simple plan. got me horde. the paragons get sacrificed to boost the herds and while normally me not riding the gifted paragon will result in making the banner unhappy the beast shaman will smooth that over. Plus all that sacrifice helps the skinshifters out. So I got 8000 well fed very good horsemen. 2 consorts will allow for some alliance building to happen. 100 Swift horses are useful and with my knowledge of animal husbandry we will be able to breed those numbers up. the hostage princess will be good for helping with translating the Stele into something we can use. she is weird and knows her letters and numbers. strange but useful here. Bodyguard will be the man who took my eye. however it happened it was done in a dishonorable way.

When it comes to the state of the steppes I chose the blood enemy because while he will be a tough fight we can definitely handle him. at only 50 points he is a horde that is half our size. that said he will be dedicated to killing us and ruining ours.

beyond the steppes the hostage princess can bring up trading with the hidden paradise since we can't live there and we can trade for some valuables with livestock. the frozen graveyard is something that can be investigated by the shaman for some interesting mystery box.

For the empire I set up the wall and fort combo because an undermanned wall is not gonna be enough to stop us and the forts while bad because we can't ignore them mean we can loot as we go. I picked salvation sect and patriot because they don't mix. This is gonna be the empire in a civil war while we raid their northern borders. ideally with some allied hordes coming along for the ride. obviously if we get to be too big a threat they will put aside their differences and fight us off. Still we got a path to success here. deal with the Blood enemy. gather our allies. profit.

Blood enemy's Horde

traits
Rage 51/50
Intimidating 50/50

Herd banners
Monstrous Hunter herd Keshiks 35/50
Food Banner Drudge with dogs 29/50
Food Banner Drudge with dogs 23/50
Swift herd Drudge with raptors 16/50
Swift herd Drudge with raptors 9/50

Retinue
Clan Sibling has horselord trait (with the Monster herd) 4/50

Artifact
Horn of the Great Muster 0/50

So with the enemy we went more for numbers. getting the drudges while bad for quality allows him to get 4 points discounted. he needs intimidating to keep these guys in line. the clan sibling boosting the monstrous hunter herd keshiks is to give them a core unit that has quality. the dogs and raptors add additional weight of numbers to the horde and hopefully allow them to hunt enough to feed the monsters. unfortunately them being drudges means they won't fight to the death for him and I will likely absorb some of them into my own horde after we deal with him. the monsters are gonna have to be put down hard and they will be fiercely loyal. Gave the brother Horselord so he can have some greater control of the mounts and breed them even stronger.

 

[Bear Ribs]

This one seems fun, especially if you go in blind and don't read ahead before choosing. That said there's no real complexity to it, very short and simple. The world is more interesting than the mechanics.

Spoiler: A New (M)Age CYOA

Spoiler: Build

Blind run first time, I chose Traditional Gaming, Artwork, DIY, and Research as those are all things I do IRL. I chose to fight the Trance because I suspect that's what I'd do IRL, though looking at it, I think I would have preferred to embrace it, the results just look better and I'll take a perfect body over magic resistance, my other choices provide some good options for countering anyway.

Overall not a great matchup. DIY in particular is going to paralyze me, since any invention can never be replicated I'd wind up with choice paralysis, fearing to make anything lest it be vitally important later. Kinda like oversaving your megalixirs or fearing to expend that wand's magic charges.

Magesight is really nice and would definitely save me from some paranoid moments, being able to see whatever magical things are in range and automatically analyze and understand will make life much safer and easier. It pairs extremely well with Traditional Gaming's ability to bring Minis to life so with a bag of minis, I can readily carry around a range of counters to any potential hostile and use Magesight to instantly analyze know which mini is the best option.

The fact that the biggest weakness of my minis is that they can break almost makes DIY worth it though, the ability to repair broken things with a touch means I should be able to restore destroyed minis, saving a lot of effort and risk.

Art is kinda blah since you can't take anything out and anything inside isn't sentient. I guess it makes for good vacations... wait can I take things in? It looks like it from the pictures, this means I should be able to create an epic workshop for building things as long as I take all the materials in on me. Gonna to paint me up a fully automated machine shop and have it mill me some solid steel minis that will be far harder to break than plastic ones.

Or I could just make a far superior Galactic Starship Hotel in there....

 

[Blasterbot]

Traditional gaming, Anime, Computers, research. also Embraced it. So I am going to be putting a lot of time and effort into making various figures to have broad responses, get protag power neat. choice of 3 powers every day. probably usually going to stick with naruto. having an extra guy or 2 around to play tabletop with is great. plus the minis they work on count as mine for the power. other powers are fine too and I would prolly use them a bit for experimentation. Machine spirit is great. I get a pokemon. it has technopathy powers and will help me get better with tech. neat. Sharingan I mean mage sight means I am slowly going to learn all 3 powers permanently from anime protags, copy my machine spirit's abilities, and the figurine's abilities as I go. meaning I really am going to need to make more as time goes on to broaden the abilities. add on the embraced it new you body giving me the captain America treatment and damn. Hell I got a 3d printer at home so with the Machine spirit the sky is the limit as far as figurines go.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The Chosen One has arrived... no it's not you, you're their parent and you need to go about raising this kid right so they are Chosen to be Luke Skywalker instead of Anakin Skywalker.

Spoiler: Destined for Greatness

 

[Bear Ribs]

And a build, this is a mostly "Blind" run where I'm not reading ahead so I'm taking each section as it comes and seeing what rolls out.

Home
16 Decent Home
This is good, I don't want to be in town so I'm absolutely not upgrading, a small farm is ideal. Everybody knows farmers turn into awesome heroes.

11 Decent Marriage Perfect Marriage
Yeah, this is a quality-of-life enhancement for me. Having two superb role-models in their life is also going to be great for the kid so I wouldn't say this one's bad at all.

6 Decent Free Time
Y'know, I feel like the "Decent" options just have too much space applied to them. A 6 really shouldn't generate a middle option.

8 Decent Peers
How middle-of-the-road.

15 Decent Education
Yeah, the decent joke's getting old now.

13 Noble Pedigree
Well, finally an option that isn't just "Decent."

14 Amazing Vacations
I might have actually upgraded to this one. I don't care for vacations myself but seeing all over the world is going to be pretty useful for a future hero.

6 Decent Involvement
I mean this one only triggers anything but decent on natural 20s or 1s so this was a foregone conclusion.

Genetic Traits
Imma roll maximum traits here to see what happens. There's a slight favoring of good outcomes over bad in the statistics so this is decent strategy.

4 Social Disability
Not an ideal start. Our hero will have no idea what a girl's hinting at when she grabs his head and forces it into her chest.

18 Athlete
Much better.

18 20 Blessed
Oh hell yeah.

10 Animal Whisperer
Our kid is going to have a loyal animal companion, all to the good and quite heroic.

12 Creative
As an artistic type myself, I'm pleased to see my kid's taking after me.

3 Learning Disability
Am I raising Goku? Naw, I don't want this, in fact I'm swapping it for the opposite and getting Intelligent instead for my last 3 Fate Points. No idiot heroes for me.

14 Enchanted Bauble
8 Patron Beast
11 Taste of Victory
16 Fountain of Youth
4 Twin
I could use my free reroll anywhere here but honestly, none of these seem bad at all. I'll have the enchanted bauble grant toughness so my kid can take a hit and keep going, as that's a genetic trait I feel would have been really good to have.

Parenting Style
Lots of Rewards
Modest Strictness
Modest Freedom
Lots of Discipline

Essentially I'm going with high maintenance/high performance. My child will be raised to put out a lot of effort and get a lot from that effort, much as I've lived my own life. I don't like any of the extreme options here.

Teacher
Surprisingly, I've wandered into being able to get the best teacher, just from Intelligent, Lots of Discipline, and Decent Education I obtain the highest tier. I'm calling this bad design, as somebody making a more careful build instead of going in blind could easily get a tier 5 or 6 tutor but none exist.

However, I'm unsure I actually want the highest tier teacher. Domain Mastery is hideously expensive and from the descriptions of how other Masters will destroy you in a million different ways if you wantonly change reality because they love homeostasis, it seems risky. Also, the mastery doesn't grab me, I don't like how meta it is in this context and don't want my heroic child to become detached from the world and see other people as just NPCs to be manipulated.

Still, the extra points are good. Dues seems like a suitably heroic domain to make, ensuring that people get what they deserve and both kindness and evil are repaid to the giver, so I'll take that one and move to other areas.

I'm also going to unlock the Benecian Arts. I feel that's a good and balanced set of options for a hero, with a mix of healing, combat, and utility skills. Beastmaster and Horsemanship Synergize well with my child's Animal Empathy. Additionally, the range of travel-oriented skills seem like what my child would pick up on all our Amazing Vacations.

Domain: Dues
Horsemanship
Outdoorsmanship
Archery: Accuracy
Archery: Speed
Herbalism
Mokudan
Beastmaster

So our child enforces that everyone gets their just desserts with magic, is a fantastic rider, knows how to get along in the wild, is a great archer and fist-fighter, can train and tame virtually anything, and knows how to use herbs to heal. This is a well rounded hero.

Jobs
Animal Care (+5)
Extermination (+4)
One job involving violence against weak enemies to ensure my child gets properly blooded under reasonably safe conditions, and a peaceful (and high-profit) pursuit because my child shouldn't think every problem is solved by stabbing it.

Adulthood
So we've got 5 base, 5 inheritance, and 9 from jobs, that's 19 coins of stuff. I have to step ahead and see how many companions I have since I need to know how much to get. I feel like this is a pretty vast chunk of change and my child's going to be very well-equipped.

Provisions x4
Everybody gets at least a cheap armor, a weapon or two, and a few months worth of dried food.
Unicorn x4
My child's experience at animal husbandry on our farm has turned it into a Unicorn ranch, and we're skimming off several of our best to send them off. I'm unsure which skills count as "spells" for this purpose. In general this doesn't seem to be a magic system with, f'rex, healing spells, nor is there anthing that looks like it would let a Unicorn shoot lasers out of its horn or whatever.

I'm also going to presume anything that requires the Unicorn to use tools or items is off the table, so no alchemy even though that's the closest to healing magic. Also, it doesn't indicate that Unicorns can talk or even have human intelligence, so I'm not going to go with anything that requires that level of intelligence to function, such as Artifact Weapon which would require the Unicorn to intelligently decide what kind of equipment will be most suitable. My choices shalt be:

Material Mastery: By touching items with its horn, one unicorn improves their material and quality, ensuring superior equipment for the whole party.
Domain: Chance: One Unicorn is just really lucky and blesses the whole party with good fortune.
Plymorph: One Unicorn is a shapeshifter. This is probably better utility for the unicorn than the human, given the size limitation is based on math. However, it may be more worthwhile for the Unicorn to turn into, like, a hummingbird if it's smart enough to scout for us.
Mind Reading: One Unicorn can sense when our enemies have hostile or deceptive intent, and is trained to warn its rider. If Unicorns can actually talk this gains a lot more utility for us.

Armisian Armor
Our child gonna have the best protection we can manage.

Tower Shield
This one's going to our healer companion, who needs to be kept alive and doesn't fight so carrying a door around won't hinder her.

Tent (Large)
Sleeping out in the open is for people who enjoy mosquito bites and wet clothes. The tent load can be split up easily among four Unicorns who are each twice as strong as a horse.

Companions:
Cassandra Gilkes
Brings stealth options to the table my child lacks.

Mia Talpot
Team healer. Mia's vulnerable to the mental strains of seeing horrors of the world but the karmic power of my child's Dues Domain will help her with that. While my child does have some limited healing powers for herbalism, she's better at it and no party ever said they have too much healing.

If I hadn't rolled up social disability, I would get my child three companions and probably go with Lucy May Porter for the boost to gear. As is we should have a reasonably balanced party between my twin children, one ranger, and one healer.


Overall I feel like this CYOA is kinda blah. The home life section is massively weighted towards everything being "decent" and middle of the road with no real surprises. The worldbuilding feels a little too vague, and the locations and companions are too generic and not quirky enough to really grab me. Yeah, they renamed ninjas "Satarians" but they didn't do anything to really differentiate Satarians from ninjas beyond the name. I think this would make for a painfully paint-by-numbers anime without any real hook to it.

 

[Bear Ribs]

Spoiler: Exploring a Fantasy World

This one seems fun, very pulp adventure. It feels just a little stingy though, there's way too many options I'd like to take that I can't get and it just doesn't give you enough for how many exciting things there are to find.

So, a build.
Sponsor: Myself
There seems to be no actual disadvantage to going it on your own and it frees me from political entanglements.

Locations
Enchanted Forest
Jungle Ruins
Settlement 06

The initial expedition is going to be to try to make contact with the locals, get more information from them, and then on a future expedition try looking at some of the biological marvels and mysterious geology once we have more of a foundation and perhaps a chance to resupply by establishing a trade relationship with the locals.

We'll start out exploring the Enchanted Forest and try to make contact with isolated tribes, then hit the Jungle Ruins on our way to Settlement 06 to meet with a larger, possibly more advanced civilization before swinging back to the portal.

This route plays to my own strengths of knowing a lot about woodcraft survival and avoids locations I'm not as good in, like deserts and tundra.

Equipment
Extra Supplies
Big Guns

The floatplane is tempting but it only flies for 40 minutes a day, and has to find a safe body of water to land in so it seems to me that it's going to be easy to crash and you really might only get ten or fifteen minutes of flight before having to veer off looking for a lake or river. The Recon Drone has the same problem, I don't feel I'll gain a lot of advantages from a drone if I have to keep it in sight at all times.
Since I'm hitting three locations, extra food and supply won't go amiss. While I'm avoiding the locations that look to have serious megafauna, an expedition like this is going to benefit from the protection of heavy firepower. Originally I thought of bringing gold to trade with, but I don't really have any certainty it will be a good trade good, while if it does turn out to be valuable it might well be so much gold as to draw very unwanted attention. Plus on an RP level, this is an expedition funded by myself. I can see myself swinging plenty of food and an assortment of rifles and shotguns, piles of gold not so much.

Companions
Ah, four just isn't enough, I want more. That's why we aren't bringing gold.

Billy Goss
Trevor Martin
Kate Martin
Mary Helsing
Anna Schorl

Kate Martin is the only medic so that's a must-have. Her brother seems reasonably useful so keeping the set feels wise, his ability to do recon will help a lot with not spooking the locals. Mary Helsing's linguistic skills are going to be invaluable once contact is made, and we'd be fools not to bring the single most expert person in the world on this new land.

Billy Goss is our survivalist since we're going through locations he specializes in, he was the one we traded the gold for because while I'm okay at survival, I'm nowhere near his level.

Good Events
The Spark
Useful Friend
The Tail
Lucky Coin

The Spark is just interesting and bringing magic back to our world is probably more valuable than anything else. Useful Friend is going to obviously be great since we want to make useful contact with the locals, and the Elf is going to be quite handy for surviving the trek. We'll find the coin in the ruins which helps with surviving the rest of the trek, luck never hurt in this kind of situation.

Pitfalls
Gremlins
Beary Angry
The Big Fight
Take the Long Way Home

Oh my. A lot of these are pretty bad. Take the Long Way Home works well since I have extra supplies and contact with two friendly locals to help stretch things. Plus it's two pitfalls all by itself. I have Big Guns so the bear isn't as big a threat as it would be to a less-prepared party, and we're also well equipped for surviving the big battle. The lucky coin will also give us an edge beating both out. I avoided the higher-tech floatplane, drone, and other gizmos so Gremlins won't hit my group as badly as it might another.

Mystery: Fountain of Life
Oh heck yes, nothing is more valuable than a longer life. Even a rumor of this will guarantee a second expedition with more funding, actually finding it and bringing life-extension water back home will mean we have more funding than the US military. Not to mention I have no real problems with getting younger myself nor giving up some of the serious permanent injuries I have.

 

[Bear Ribs]

 

[Bear Ribs]

Witch Awakening has updated to version 3.5: Heavy Metal and Witch Party. Our previous threadmarked version is deleted anyway so this should get the new Threadmark. Posted here in a spoiler for length and because, like the previous version, it's not exactly NSFW but has copious amounts of cleavage so use discretion.

Spoiler: Part 1

 

[Bear Ribs]

Spoiler: Part 2

There is also a "secret" page not normally posted with the rest that provides a few more options.

Spoiler: Hidden Data