Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
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.
Alright, so. I should talk about what this Quest Set is “About” before I start making it, I think.
Since it’s the Cecil Quest Set, it’s going to be, primarily, about Strange Happenings and Emotional Reactions. It’ll be about mildly dealing with the strange and terrible, being filled with apprehension or worry or passion, about facing off against the dark monsters around you, and about finding a new boyfriend, or finding out about your own weird past or finding that maybe, just maybe, you were wrong about someone… who was still a total jerk.
Who else, other than Cecil might be on “An Unreliable Narrative” Arc? Fox Mulder is probably on either the Bindings or Otherworldly version of this Arc. Of the other characters of Night Vale, only Old Woman Josie seems to be on the the Cecil Arc*… probably a Shepherd or Mystic version of it. I’m not sure who else off the top of my head.
Anyways, quest by quest for the Cecil version of the set.
Storyteller 1:
This Quest is about simply dealing with strange happenstance. Weird stuff is going on, but that doesn’t mean you need to get all bent out of shape about it! Do what you’re doing. Talk about the weird stuff. You’ve got a job to do and you can’t let strange stuff get in the way. Sounds like a Work-and-Study Quest to me. Perhaps something like…
Stoic Witness
20 or 25 XP Quest
You’ve got a job to do.
The news won’t report itself. The bagels won’t bake themselves. There are strange things going on and you take note. You watch them. You talk about them. But you don’t let them side track you.
After all. People are counting on you.
✿ Stoic Witness (25 XP)
Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
You maintain your composure even as something world-changing and terrifying is happening just off screen.
You give up an opportunity for wealth, power, or happiness, because you have other duties to attend to.
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:
✿ go about your work day as usual
✿ take pride in a job well done
✿ spend time admiring something simple (a flower, a cup of coffee, a stray cat)
✿ describe something strange you witnessed to another person
✿✿ give a monologue of seemingly nonsensical gibberish, ostensibly about the nature of reality, but with deep metaphorical relations to current events
✿✿ give a monologue of seemingly nonsensical gibberish, ostensibly about the nature of reality, but apropos of nothing
✿ pretend that what you’re doing is more important than it is
Or, the shorter version....
✿ Stoic Witness(Simplified) (20 XP)
Major Goals
The HG can award you 5 XP towards this quest when:
You maintain your composure even as something world-changing and terrifying is happening just off screen.
You narrate the events of a phantasmagoric dream state as they occur.
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:
✿ talk about what’s going on around you
✿✿ talk about what’s going on with your everyday life
✿ spend time admiring something simple (a flower, a cup of coffee, a stray cat)
✿ describe something strange you witnessed to another person
✿ find yourself surrounded by water, snow, or strange mute children
✿✿ talk about things you cannot possibly know
✿ worry that you might be missing out on something because of work
Annoyingly, I didn't realize Tumblr wouldn't keep my coloring. Anyway....
One Quest down. I’m going to take another break… this was the first thing I did when I woke up!
* I thought, with its themes, some of the other Night Vale characters might fit… but really, Carlos is on a Scientific Adventure. The Apache Tracker was on a Heartwarming, Heart-rending Coming-of-Age Story Arc. Tamika Flynn is on a Secret History, and The Man in the Tan Jacket and The Faceless Old Woman Who Lives in Your House seem to be on Numinous Gardens Arcs. Intern Dana is probably on a Heartwarming, Heart-rending Coming-of-Age Story, too.
Okay, so I've been thinking about Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, and I've been thinking about Welcome to Night vale, and I've been thinking about how to combine Chuubo and Night Vale together. More specifically, I've been trying to think about Chuubo Quest Sets and just how tricky they are to make.
If you don't follow Welcome to Night Vale, it's one of the most popular podcasts ever, about(and I'll use the cliche description everyone uses from the first episode) "A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep": http://commonplacebooks.com/welcome-to-night-vale/
If you don't follow Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, it's an unreleased Tabletop RPG written by Jenna Moran, designed, primarily, for playing Miyazaki-inspired games, but its same sense of normalcy among the strange definitely can fit: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1710667762/the-chuubos-marvelous-wish-granting-engine-rpg
As a fun exercise that no one will ever get any use out of, I thought I'd mess around a bit with making a Cecil Quest Set, which I am going to tentatively call the Unreliable Narrative Quest Set.
Alright, so let's break down a Cecil Arc. In my mind, the Cecil Arcs of Welcome to Night Vale typically traverse a certain path:
Reporting: Cecil dispassionately observes and reports even momentous events, as if they are completely external to him.
Editorializing: Some crisis or issue strikes Cecil/Night Vale causing him express fear or concern OR state opinions that clash with official opinions
Becoming the Story: Cecil is, personally, drawn into events, whether it be physically, emotionally, or merely by association.
Human Interest: Cecil has some sort of personal revelation, emotional catharsis, or transformative event
A Return to Normalcy: Cecil settles back in, the revelations of the past ignored or integrated.
Now, for various reasons, I'm pegging Cecil as being on a Storyteller Arc, generally. The most obvious is the nominal relationship, but the authorship abilities of the Storyteller Arc, and the slow burn character development of its Quest set both fit the character, in my mind. As, Ms Moran said, he's almost a background character-type, not a lot of actual growth along his path for most of the story, except, perhaps, in short bursts.
Basically, the Storyteller Arc is as follows...
Doing your thing, being cool
Continuing to do your thing even as things start getting messy
Facing things outside of your expertise
Go for the gold, the biggest prize
Fall back to earth, rebuffed by your earlier overreach
It's not exactly a map, but it's not too far off. The overall shape of the Arc feels similar.
I think I should go to bed now... But I'll come back to this, i think. Maybe.
Well, maybe not.