Having trouble with Aspects

[Loki5654]

I like that.

[Ophidimancer]

Interesting take on it that I did not think of.  I love how this game is so flexible!  With this Aspect I see him as more of a panicky character now, fleeing at great haste to avoid discovery, but also aiding him in taking bird form to fly faster or even fight with panicked adrenalin.

[Loki5654]

That's how I see him, too. At least for the first part of his career. I eventually see him embracing his wereraven nature and his Trouble will have to change.

Here's my start on Phase 3:

"When a rare book of potential supernatural power is stolen, Wereraven Librarian Adrian Huggins must recover it before he loses his job and is exposed for what he truly is. But will Adrian succeed when he is up against a cabal of fellow were-creatures? Also, why does the Monoc Corporation seem so interested in the career of a simple college Librarian?"

[Todjaeger]

The idea sounds quite interesting.  A couple of things to consider though. 

Rather than have a High Aspect of "Wereraven Librarian", how does: "Bookish Scion of Huginn/Muninn" sound?  The Huginn or Muninn depending on whether one is descended from "Thought/Mind" aka hugr, or  "Memory" aka munr.  To my way of thinking, for someone as interested in books and collecting/keeping lore, then being descended from Memory would seem more apropros, but that is just my own personal opinion.

By having Scion in the High Aspect, that establishes ones relationship to one of Odin's Ravens, as well as providing a potential explanation for how/why one might occassionally suddenly start having feathers.  It also leaves plenty of room for hooks to any, every and all sorts of shenanigans that various Nordic groups might get into, or have been involved in.  And would explain why statuescue blond-haired, blue-eyed "women" might sometimes stop by and check the character out.

For the Trouble Aspect "Self-loathing Shifter" would work.  If one were willing to have a bit less (conscious) control over when/how one shifted between raven and human forms, then a Trouble Aspect which might work would be something like "Ignorant of the Family Conspiracy..." which can establish some lack of knowledge of what is going on, familial connections, secrets kept as well as links to ravens.

Definately interested in seeing/reading more about the character and his (mis)adventures.

[CMEast]

Perhaps when he and other were-ravens change, they store parts of themselves in a section of the Nevernever called the 'Never Moor'

In fact, that might be how were-ravens, as rare as they are, find each other.

[YuriPup]

At least reading your invokes and compels I think you're being a bit too strict. Some of your invokes and compels give a good example of how you mean an aspect, but I think, particularly for "Self-loathing shifter" you have a great aspect and your descriptions shoot you in the foot (claw?). They are way too limited.

I even think, looking at it more, that you're taking invokes and compels the exact opposite direction I would go in. An aspect is a part of personality that can both cause you trouble (getting you fate points) and give you opportunities where that facet becomes a strength and lets you spend fate points. You want to get them in play a lot. "Self-loathing shifter" any GM worth his salt is going to see that coming up in social situations. You're drinking a bit at a party? I am going to throw a compel at you that you drink too much*. You actually want your aspects to come into play a lot. It gets you fate.

Think to the books: how often does Harry use his "Epic Wise-ass" aspect? Think of how much of Harry's flavor is from that. Additionally he gets a ton of fate points from it--and a good thing too--he needs them to pull off all the stuff he does later in the book. Heck, you can do neat things like have your aspects work against each other (which I think is great). Say the GM invokes your Fight or Flight aspect while facing a scary bad. You could take it and then spend the fate on your "self-loathing shifter" to resist the compel because you hate shifting.

Here's the way I am handling one for my character: she's a mentorless wizard with a trouble aspect of "Doesn't know enough". Now that is nice and short, but a little to vague. So I will let the GM know that its not Ricki-Ticki-Tavi's "run and find out" or "curiosity killed the cat" but that she's operating from a place of ignorance.



*Depending on the situation I could then see compelling self-loathing shifter again to make you a maudlin drunk, or belligerent. Or just give you a temporary aspect of "Hung-over" for the next scene. 

[Loki5654]

Todjaeger - The way I envision it, Odin's Ravens are both Thought AND Memory at the same time. It's just that when storytellers needed to distinguish Raven A from Raven B that they named them "Thought" and "Memory" separately. A descendant of either raven would be functionally similar. So I'm sticking with Hugin because I like the last name it gives the character. But maybe you are right that I could be a little more creative with my High Concept phrasing.

CMEast - That is a painfully lame pun. I look forward to using it often with great glee! It also touches on a subject about were's who "store" their extra mass/mind in a subpocket of the Nevernever. The short version is this: If a were-form whose animal form is smaller than their human form "stores" their extra mass in a small part of the Nevernever, would it be possible to "workout" (as in exercise) and increase the storage space by a small amount? Just enough to hold maybe, you know, CLOTHES?

But that's a discussion for another thread.

YuriPup - I see where you're coming from. But at this point I really like where the character is at conceptually and would like to see how it plays before making any major changes.

Everyone in General - What do you think the skill shift should be for his Raven form?

[wyvern]

Rank   Skills
+4      Scholarship
+3      Alertness, Investigation
+2      Deceit, Performance, Lore
+1      Athletics, Stealth, Survival, Weapons

I'd suggest the following for the skill shuffle:
+4: Alertness
+3: Athletics, Investigation
+2: Scholarship, Lore, Fists
+1: Deceit, Performance, Stealth, Survival

Dropping scholarship is kinda iffy, since it's one of your major skills... but many of its uses, such as research or computer use, would be rather trickier to use as a raven.  And doing that lets us bring up Alertness (Hey, there's a shiny over there!) and Athletics (ravens are relatively quick and agile).  Deceit and Performance could have stayed at two, but, well, clearly he just doesn't have much experience at being social while a raven, and we need to move something out of the way to fit in Scholarship and Fists.  Fists is, of course, replacing Weapons, and the remaining skills at level one stay where they are.  (Though remember the bonus to stealth from diminutive size...)

[Todjaeger]

Todjaeger - The way I envision it, Odin's Ravens are both Thought AND Memory at the same time. It's just that when storytellers needed to distinguish Raven A from Raven B that they named them "Thought" and "Memory" separately. A descendant of either raven would be functionally similar. So I'm sticking with Hugin because I like the last name it gives the character. But maybe you are right that I could be a little more creative with my High Concept phrasing.

I would need to reread the Prose Edda to know if they were actually different in terms of responsibilities, but assuming that they had the same capabilities, something like: Bookish Scion of the Huginn and Muninn, might be appropriate instead.  I definately recommend leaving in the Scion portion, as it establishes that the abilities are a result of lineal descent as opposed to what the Alphas did which was go out and actively learn how to become werewolves.  But then again, that is just my view, and it's a preference largely based on 'flavor'.

[Loki5654]

How about just "Scion of Thought and Memory"?

[HumAnnoyd]

How about just "Scion of Thought and Memory"?

Scion of Odin's Ravens?

[Todjaeger]

How about just "Scion of Thought and Memory"?

That could work too.  Though one of the first things which came to mind was the outcome of Bob and the cupcake hooking up and the cupcake having a kid

Scion of Odin's Ravens?

Sounds pretty good to me.  It conveys the whole raven and Norse link, and due to what the ravens do for Odin, the knowledge link.  Ultimately though, it's your character/game, whatever feels right to you.

[Loki5654]

I like "Scion of Odin's Ravens".

[Loki5654]

I still haven't come up with a Guest Star for my Phase 3, I'm thinking some were-whatever NPC. I'm thinking the Aspect from it should be "I Have a Destiny but I Don't Know Why"

Also, I'm switching out Deceit for Discipline. I don't picture Adrian be that good a liar, and I'd like him to have a decent shot at controlling himself.

I've asked a nearby group to let me observe a game they're having tomorrow and now I feel that I have enough character together to stand a decent chance if they ask me to join in.

[YuriPup]

Guest stars are your fellow PCs, so that you have some sort of connection that the GM doesn't have to create for you--and you can avoid the usual tavern/bar brawl to have the PCs meet each other.

So your guest stars will have to wait until you have some other characters fleshed out for your game.