Virtue is its Own Reward 2.0 Discussion Thread

[Bob Schroeck]

Before the main thread gets filled up with comments, I figured I should launch this. I figure anything longer than "Cool, I like that", particularly
discussions/negotiations for plot directions, should be held here rather than interrupting the main thread.

Let me start with a general bitch-and-moan:

I definitely want in on this, but the device I thought to use last time -- Peggy is the transformee rather than me -- turned out to be surprisingly hard to
work with. So I'm trying to figure out which toon would work for me, and I'm not coming up with a good answer. Evangelia and Range Sabre aren't
getting much play since I got them to 50. My current playing priorities -- and thus the most likely candidates for the transformation -- are Looney Toons,
Kawaiiko-chan, and Negi-kun -- and I can't decide which one I'd rather explore.

Looney is a fair choice. And I already long ago started mapping out the territory for this transform long ago with my incomplete material for the Xanadu
project. But it would also be the expected thing. I'm not sure I want to do the expected thing.

Negi-kun would be fun, but the underage thing might make some plot aspects difficult to navigate.

K-chan is probably the most problematic. She shares the same underage thing with Negi-kun, plus she's a villain. Worse, a dominator -- if it's
anything less than fully my personality in charge, I probably wouldn't be able to beat her in a battle of wills in order to wrest control from her. In
that case, I'd essentially reduce my participation to writing about K-chan's adventures in Realworldland. But writing her would be fun. (And
I'm not sure how much fun writing about me forced to live with body of a 14-year-old blonde Japanese psychopath would be.)

I'm still musing over this.

Hm. Are we going to recapitulate the "meet in New Jersey" aspect of the original thread? That might have some bearing on who I finally choose.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Ankhani]

I'm quite amused at all this. Out of all the lot, we've got one person not waking up as a new girl... I may be the only one without an unexpected
gender change at this rate. You could go with Looney for the unexpected 'I'm Still A Guy' angle...

On another note, it seems we've a possible gathering of Ninja, somewhere. Of course, I wouldn't likely be actually on at the 'time' but I'd
try to keep characters logged on every so often. So I just need to actually write something, and I'll be there..
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Foxboy]

We weren't sure if you'd be joining us, so we had tentative plans for meeting in Toronto. But we had been thinking of in-character meet at Ninja
Restaurant in NYC for the Kunoichi as stated elsethread.

If you DID pick Doug, think of the drama potential in "I'm right where I'm supposed to be" versus "no, I'm not!"

Apparently most of the DW forum "Virtues" have at least SOME of the player still present.

The plan was for meeting at a landmark that is easily located from the air for fliers and well-known enough that a ground bound Virtue or his/her family can
find it.

Examples: USS Constitution, Boston

Statue of Liberty, NYC

Fort McHenry, Baltimore

Washington Monument, DC

That Museum From Rocky, Philadelphia
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Ankhani]

If you've any plans to make you can consider Rina possibly around. I'm quite poor in actually following through with these things, though getting
others to do the work for you is grand. ^_^
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

[Terrenceknight]

Hehe It doesn't matter where the meeting place is..Terr -will- show up there..probably late and with the phrase "Ok where the hell am I now"
Kinda like fox..I took advantage of the idea that your 'Alt' build is folded into your char as well when this happens.. So I snagged The Medicine pool
'As knowing significant first aid/CPR sorta stuff' Teleport pool to represent terr's 'Hibiki Syndrome' allowing him to traverse large
distances in a short amount of time. Presence pool to represent terr's ability to give off a terrifying aura and screams that can literaly insteall
terrifying fear into most people. And Energy mastery cause he's just that damn good with energy manipulation and generation

[ECSNorway]

Bob, here's a random crazy thought.

1) Evangelia would still be fun to have around, and a natural leader would be what's needed to coalesce the group.

Here's another random crazy thought:

2) What if you were, as mentioned in your v1 thread, at the toon selection screen... so you get stuck with a random selection. Or, say, Peggy's toon.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Merior]

More "Virtue Is It's Own Reward"?

YAY!

Ahem... Anyway it's good to see this is getting a restart. The last version was interesting, from the PoV of someone not directly involved with the
Legendary, so I'll be interested to see what you all make of it this time around.

My only regret is that I have no excuse to try getting involved, given that I play on the European servers, and that it'd be three am on a work day when
things happened... ;_;

[Bob Schroeck]

Norway, that does give me an idea, but I'm going to have to mull it over for a while. But basically, Bob/Raye like Spud/Rhea, except they switch bodies by
invoking the usual Transformation Sequence. Bob to Peggy: "Um, dear, I seem to be a magical girl."

Mm. Let me think on it. Maybe I can come up with something better. There's still something strangely attractive about the idea of writing K-chan...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Morganite]

I'm quite amused at all this. Out of all the lot, we've got one person not waking up as a new girl... I may be the only one without an unexpected gender change at this rate.

That's funny, I thought it seemed like there was *less* of that this time around. (Though Morgan is sort of half of one and half the other, since the *untransformed* form is the same...)

Besides, me changing genders is less "unexpected" and more "What took this so long?"

I actually feel almost boring being Alexis again... except all the reasons I had for picking her in v1 still hold true this time.

My only regret is that I have no excuse to try getting involved, given that I play on the European servers, and that it'd be three am on a work day when things happened...

Surely we can gloss over such minor details in the name of fiction?

-Morgan.

[Sofaspud]

Ankhani wrote:

---

I'm quite amused at all this. Out of all the lot, we've got one person not waking up as a new girl...

Hrm. Well, I didn't wake up as a new girl... neither did Rev. Or MD; as a Kheldian shapeshifter no longer limited by game mechanics, I think
he could best be described as 'gender-neutral', now, even if the personality is male and female. That's just my opinion, though.

Uni already *was* a girl, so while she woke up a girl, the term 'new' doesn't, I think, apply...

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Bob Schroeck]

Evil secondary thought:

Alistair shows up a day or so later, because the "real" Evangelia doesn't really need him any more and the copy might...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Acyl]

Sofaspud wrote:

---

Ankhani wrote:

---

I'm quite amused at all this. Out of all the lot, we've got one person not waking up as a new girl...

Hrm. Well, I didn't wake up as a new girl... neither did Rev. Or MD; as a Kheldian shapeshifter no longer limited by game mechanics, I think
he could best be described as 'gender-neutral', now, even if the personality is male and female. That's just my opinion, though.






Uni already *was* a girl, so while she woke up a girl, the term 'new' doesn't, I think, apply...

Whenever I get round to writing my bit, I intend to use Obsolete. While Obsolete is, of course, the robomaid...it's not as if Obsolete actually has any
female bits to speak of. Or any bits in particular, really.
-- Acyl

[CrimsonKMR]

I still haven't decided if I'm going to do a restart for Flame..

You know.. would it be wrong if I used Kevin Reich? An SI in a semi-SI story?
There is no coincidence, only necessity....
- Clow Reed

[Sofaspud]

Acyl wrote:

---

Whenever I get round to writing my bit, I intend to use Obsolete. While Obsolete is, of course, the robomaid...it's not as if Obsolete actually has any
female bits to speak of. Or any bits in particular, really.

... just every bit in general?

This is the robomaid powered by Our Friend The Atom, who constantly tinkers with herself, right?

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Logan Darklighter]

Bob Schroeck wrote:

---

Evil secondary thought:




Alistair shows up a day or so later, because the "real" Evangelia doesn't really need him any more and the copy might...

DOO EET!! ^_^

[Terrenceknight]

Oh man, I'm -loveing- reading all these ViiOR fics..Believe me I'd -so- throw something to gether if my brain would wake up and be of use ^_- lol

[WengFook]

I'd just like to say, Awesome work so far from everyone. I'm having loads of fun catching up on the thread when I get home from class. I especially
like the Rhea/Spud character, the split-personality-sharing-a-body schtick when done right is something to behold.

Does anyone actually have a long term goal for where the universe will go? I think that part of the reason the first version went off is because there was no
clear cut objective beyond meeting up to sort out what happened.
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[dark seraph]

long term goal...... no, not really, i'm just takeing as it gose

Edit:

liked your Terr

[Drenivian]

hm, I'm having a hard time deciding if i should throw something in or not this time. This time round I have a number of toons that would work instead of
being Shizuru again. If i do decide to, the forerunners in my head turn out to be, Shizuru, Drenivian, and Yozora Scimitar oddly enough.
*********************
In the epic rage of furious thunder
legends create their tales
when the twilight calls and the dark lord falls
our glory will prevail

[Bob Schroeck]

Rev, re the numbers in your latest post.

If I'm not misremembering, there are 12 servers. So, assuming your starting numbers of 130,000 subscribers and the 1/4 online, Virtue should have had only
2708 folks on, not 4500. Even with a bonus for popularity and whatnot, 3000 seems like a more reasonable number.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Sofaspud]

WengFook wrote:

---

I'd just like to say, Awesome work so far from everyone. I'm having loads of fun catching up on the thread when I get home from class. I
especially like the Rhea/Spud character, the split-personality-sharing-a-body schtick when done right is something to behold.




Does anyone actually have a long term goal for where the universe will go? I think that part of the reason the first version went off is because there was no
clear cut objective beyond meeting up to sort out what happened.

*blush* Thank you!

As for long-term goals, I do indeed have several. I'm approaching this as a character interaction piece rather than trying to decide on a full-on plot,
and obviously I'm not the only writer, so it's a bit of a challenge. But Rhea's goals are easy to define: she wants to either (a) go home, or (b)
find Lisa here.

Since it's more than passingly likely that Lisa is not coming to town (since Sweno was possessed by Clank), that leaves me with a fairly clear thing to
shoot for.

Getting there, of course, is the fun part.

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

[Rev Dark]

Bob,

Yes; I deliberately fudged the numbers on the high side to allow for player population densities. Though I did start to expand the mythology slighty to allow
for other forms of power to rise as potential adversaries.

Raye showed up at your door with a pet? Please tell me that it was not a penguin. I hope things work out as best they can.

Cheers,

Shayne

[Terrenceknight]

Terr: Rhea only wants to find LIsa? what am I? chopped liver? *sob*

lol, anyways I finaly tried my hand at this whole thing..but it feels so akward for meh 0_o

[Foxboy]

MY take on the "IC" thread is us "Feeling out" what's happened without right out SAYING that we've been changed.

As in IIRC, Bob's going to have Evangelia's "magical girl" power portfolio. AS in, Bob says the code words and is temporarily replaced with
Raye until the de-henshin happens.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Ankhani]

Well Terr, half the fun of this is waking up an entirely different person. It's bound to feel a little awkward when you just wake up.... And everything is
exactly the same. ^_^
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI