Alora Fane

Some thoughts regarding designing this project, Dreamons, around six areas that follow the same formula, with some ideas for each one that still need a lot more refining!

I feel like I have more clarity about my direction than before! I spent this week trying to work through some remaining fog.

(I wrote this 95% of this on Friday... but I'm finally getting around to finishing and posting it on Sunday! Pfff!)

This directly follows on from ∞ a post I wrote on Monday ∞, in which I talked about how this project could now be called Dreamons, and it could involve being a member of the 'Oneironauts' and travelling into people's dreams to save them from inner demons that are holding them back.

I was excited to do some actual making stuff, like revising mechanics or making story events and characters... but (these days at least) I can't really just dive in without doing some fairly thorough planning first. It takes time, but should save time in the long run.

I've been aiming to avoid a complex narrative, and I intend to stick with that, but I need there to be some compelling reason for things to be happening. I've been trying to come up with something that would hopefully be appealing to play, but straightforward to make; I want to find a path that's not fraught with the damn constant revisions and indecisiveness that's made everything take so long with both this and Atonal Dreams.

So: formulas! Or formulae. While 'formulaic' is pretty much always used as a criticism, formulae are common in media, as they're appealing to both creators and consumers. I've seen a bunch of YouTubers who create Pokemon-related content posting a lot about their invented 'regions', which each have familiar elements like eight gyms, an Elite Four, 'early route birds', and the like, just with some variation to make them (technically if not especially) original. That's an example of a formula.

(Memody: Sindrel Song's design also followed a repeating formula.)

What I have in mind for this is that there are six psychepelagos to explore, based on the elements - as described in Monday's post - and each follows the exact same pattern, just with different variables slotted in.

I'll describe here an idea for that pattern, though I'm still in the middle of brainstorming, so it's all still very much in flux:

From the hub, you'd approach one of six sleeping people; I think I will allow the player to tackle them in any order, with minimal statistical growth for the player character between them for balancing reasons. Somehow, you'd enter their psychepelago (I haven't yet decided on the lore mechanisms behind this).

Shortly after arriving, you'd encounter the Dreamer; that is, the sleeping person whose mind you'd entered. They'd talk about an Aspiration that they have - some goal or desire they'd want to reach or achieve - but they're held back by three negative beliefs. This encounter would play out like a combination of a conversation and a battle, where they'd say something and you'd be able to use one of your skills in response, instead of just selecting a text option. Some plot battles like these might be coded to use unique quips (the silly thing a character says when using a skill); I'll need to sort out exactly how that could work.

You'd convince - via the 'battle' - the Dreamer that you were there to help them. You'd travel together, and soon (as in, probably in the very next room) you'd reach something called the Aspire, which would be a pyramid - a spire - inside which the thing (or probably person) they're aspiring to reach can be found. It'd be locked, though, with a triforce-like icon (a triangle made of four smaller triangles) on it. (Though I wonder whether that icon effectively belongs to the Legend of Zelda even though, ∞ as the Triforce Wikipedia articles says ∞, it's been used throughout (especially Japanese) history and culture.)

[Thought while reviewing this before posting: maybe a three-petaled flower might be a better choice, then.]

You'd have to explore three smaller dungeons (in any order) which represent the three negative beliefs the Dreamer had previously mentioned.

Each of the smaller dungeons would have a different theme/concept behind it. It'd begin with a short bit of dialogue where the Dreamer would tell you why this is holding them back.

You'd then have to travel through the dungeon convincing people (or rather dreamons) in it. That is, winning battles. At the end would be a miniboss dreamon specifically related to the negative belief, who might have a special title like the guardian or something (though I've yet to decide on what this title would be). Converting this guardian (or whatever) would award you a triangle segment that'd then appear on the Aspire to show progress towards unlocking it.

With all three guardians convinced, you'd be able to enter the Aspire, which would be a single boss room where you'd face a boss dreamon representing the Dreamer's desire. You'd battle against them, but to make more use of the game's taming-over mechanics... well, two possibilities come to mind:

1. One is that someone, maybe a recurring villainous dreamon (who could go on to play some (penultimate) Final Boss kind of role later) would whisper something to the Dreamer, causing them to convert over to the 'dark side' alongside the boss. Then, the three previously-converted guardians would appear on your side, and together you'd convince the Dreamer that they were worthy after all. The idea being that you've transformed them from foes to friends, and they now give positive suggestions instead of negative ones like before.

2. Alternatively, the boss just summons the three guardians and you and the dreamer face all four at once. Could feel more challenging, but would be sort of undoing the player's previous achievements (taming the guardians).

Either way, after winning this battle, the Dreamer would have what they aspired to achieve, the dream would end, and they'd awaken and leave the hospital.

You'd begin the game with two skills: Attack (Discord/Gravitoom; basically "you are wrong") and Appeal (Harmony/Levitality; basically "I am right"). You'd learn a new single-element skill for completing each psychepelago (but could only equip six in total). The dreamer characters might earn new skills from the three guardians.

(Because elements are 'super effective' against themselves rather than another, acquiring a good Viscereal skill after the Viscereal area is complete might seem a bit unsatsifying, but since characters (or I suppose they're dreamons now) have three runes, it's not as if areas would have only single-rune opponents. Completing the Viscereal area, then, would allow you to more effectively convert Viscereal-runed dreamons in other psychepelagos. Makes sense, I think?)

I've spent a bit of time roughly sketching out some possible scenarios and characters for each of the six elements, though they're very vague and unfinished!

As a reminder, here are the six elements I'm using, and their associations; there are three pairs of opposites:

Viscereal is about the physical, straightforward, familiar, bodily desires, etc
Abstral, its opposite, is about change, potential, strangeness, ideas, creativity

Discord is about strife, conflict, dominance
Harmony is about peace, cooperation, submission

Gravitoom is about sorrow, seriousness, death, decay
Levitality is about joy, silliness, life, growth

Oh, also, a lore note: I've yet to decide on exact details about the six Alora Fane barbari races since some brainstorming last December where I revised them quite a bit but it wasn't well-received, but I know at least that this game will likely use exclusively members of the Bold race, who are essentially typical humans. In the original ideas for the Alora Fane races, I imagined different skin colours as representing separate races (tan for Bold, pale for Meek, black for Mhandisi), but I've now decided that there are three subraces of Bold with different skin colours, called either the Snowfolk, Sandfolk, and Soilfolk, or maybe Snowskins, Sandskins, and Soilskins, corresponding to pale, tan, and dark skins respectively.

Does anything about that register as racist to any of you? I imagine most of you are more attuned to such things than I am. I like that there are four four-letter words beginning with S that describe different colours of ground, and I don't think I've come across slurs involving any of those before, but I've been surprised before by what people have considered (potentially) offensive.

There are several reasons I bothered coming up with named subraces at all:

- One was because I don't like injecting real-world diversity into settings where it makes no sense (eg Asian hobbits), but since it's fantasy, the setting can be changed to allow for such things in a way that does fit.

- Another is for the race choice at character creation; asking if you're one of these pre-named subraces feels less weird to me than asking whether you're white, brown, or black.

- A third reason is that as there are six dreamer characters, and six possible race/sex combos, having one for each feels elegant to me.

ANYWAY. Six sketched-out character concepts! Each has a name beginning with the same letter as the element they're representing (and which are exactly six letters long), and I've given each a single-word descriptor for their Aspire which encapsulates their specific motivation and goal.

All are incomplete and vague - some moreso than others - so I'll need to do more brainstorming, and I'm very open to thoughts and suggestions (if I've even described my ideas well enough to be made sense of...). Some might change completely from what I present here:

Viscereal - The Aspire of Desire

Virgil (from virgin), a fairly ordinary Sandskin male, wants to find love (and sex). But:

He believes he's too ugly, and so he ventures into a gym/resort place full of pretty people (Babes and Hunks) and convinces them he belongs there? May end with him facing a dreamon that looks like his childhood bully, who put the idea in his head.

He believes he's too unsuccessful, so he must convince his colleagues at FarmCo. (a silly combination of farm and corporate tropes) that he deserves the Employee of the Year award. At the end, he faces a dreamon based on his boss.

He believes he's not normal, and has to attend a family gathering, where he has to show his many relatives that he's a standard member of society. The boss is a dreamon based on his mother or father.

Finally, inside the Aspire, he meets the girl, perhaps called 'Her' (either a specific girl he fancies or a representation of women in general), and has to convince her to his side (with the guardians on either side, as described earlier).

Abstral - The Aspire of Change

Alorea (from Alora (Fane) + lore), a Snowskin female, hopes to influence the world with her art. But:

She worries she's not original enough, and... must stand out among her peers at her art school and impress her teacher, or something?

She believes she's too different, and her art won't resonate with anyone, so she ventures into some psychedelic realm full of aliens who don't speak English, and manages to appeal to (that is, convince via battle) them, culminating in appealing to their leader... or something.

She's uninspired, and ventures to a realm of embodied ideas that she has to convince to come to her.

Finally, inside the Aspire, she... hmm. Despite being very Abstral myself (or to the extreme end of the Openness trait, which Abstral is based on), I've been finding this one especially tricky to know what to do with. I need to do more brainstorming.

Discord - The Aspire of Dominance (alt: Power)

Daiana (alternative 6-letter spelling of the regal Diana), a Soilskin female, wants to be strong, independent, on top and in charge. But:

She worries she's not strong enough, and must beat everyone else in some (debate-based?) arena/coliseum.

She believes she's not independent enough, and must... escape a dungeon or prison or something? Unclear.

She's not safe, and has to calm/defeat predators in a forest or something.

Finally, inside the Aspire, she... faces the Chief of her tribe of Blight Wolves, who she takes over from? Similarities to Collie. Again, vague, unclear, needs a lot of refining.

Harmony - The Aspire of Belonging

Hayven (from haven, heaven), a Snowskin male, wants a group he can call his own, so he decides to start his own religion! But:

He's not assertive enough, so he has to go around a village convincing people his religion is true (the original idea for Belief Battles/Frayth, so I could reuse some concepts from that for this).

He's not at peace, and has to calm some fiery dreamons or something.

(Unsure of a third!)

Finally, inside the Aspire, he... hmm. Again, very unclear here. I like the idea of reusing the forming-a-religion concept, though how that could tie to a specific anthropomorphised goal isn't obvious to me.

Gravitoom - The Aspire of Death

Gisele (alternative spelling of the ∞ eponymous protagonist of a ballet about ghosts ∞), a Sandskin female, is... depressed and wants to die?? But:

She's anxious, and must buy something mundane from a shop, but her social anxiety makes every encounter feel like some terrible battle...?

She's depressed, and... trapped in a dark cave or something?

Death is inevitable, and... undead in a crypt?

Finally, inside the Aspire, she... faces the Grim Reaper, but makes peace with the darkness instead and changes her mind? Or something?? Gravitoom is basically the domain of all suffering and mental illness, so this one's particularly tricky to know what to do with. Maybe something related to suicide is very unwise though (yes, 'maybe'), so I'll need to consider different ideas here.

Levitality - The Aspire of Glory

Lucian (means light; alt: Lucius), a Soilskin male, wants to be famous. But:

He's worried that he's not funny, so he has to go around a comedy club making people laugh.

He's worried he lacks charisma, so he has to work as a door-to-door salesman convincing people to buy some product.

He's worried he's not noticed, so he has to convince strangers on the street to check out his content (whatever that might be)... or something.

Finally, inside the Aspire, he... faces some celebrity he's looked up to since he was a child, or something?

Coming up with ideas is tricky because the basic gameplay - convincing others to join you via social skills - isn't as deeply ingrained in my mind as the idea of physically fighting things to reach a solution. So for a lot of them, I've had an idea, but can't easily imagine how it'd translate into convincing. I imagine it's something that'd become easier to conceptualise with practice. (You'd think after working with this general idea of side-swapping for years now, it'd be second nature to me, but apparently not.)

I've also been wondering whether having three sub-areas for each psychepelago would be overdoing it, and whether it'd be wiser to just base each psychepelago around a single idea (eg the Harmony one would be based around convincing people to your religion and nothing else)... but then would the boss battle just be a 2 v 1? Would they have some random minions with them? Doesn't feel as satisfying. And if I were to go with that instead, would the final boss of the area be a dreamon who's been holding the dreamer back, or the object of their desires, or a combination of both??

Anyway, brainstorming is a process, and I'm clearly in the middle of that with these ideas. Maybe you find seeing the process interesting, though, or can contribute ideas that could influence things in a direction you might like.

I actually only spent a couple of days - if that - brainstorming these ideas, hence their sketchiness. I spent longer composing a musical Main Theme I could use for the game and derive other themes from, and I'm really quite happy with what I came up with after endless tweaking! Maybe I'll post it on my Patreon soon (once I stop making tiny changes every time I come back to it).

8 COMMENTS

Kalin24~1Y

For the triangle lock, what if you rotate it so it points left? I don't think I've seen anyone use that before.

It could symbolize that the negative feelings are rooted in past trauma. And the center triangle is the path forward, but you can only see it when you stop focusing on the negatives.

Tobias 1115~1Y

Ooh, I like that! I was imagining the points filling in as you progressed, but with that it'd make more sense to have the three left arrows initially highlighted, but when all went out the single right arrow would glow and the others would fade or something.

Though right = forward progress isn't a universal (eg manga, though it's odd then that Mario plays left to right?), so maybe just upside down, so there'd be three arrows keeping you down at first and then one pointing up would be left at the end?

GrayNine35~1Y

I think the game's layout as you've described it is pretty neat! Even though it was an addition you edited into the blog later on, I adore the idea of the petals: it would be a more unique visual than the triangles, you could see the individual petals of the lock wilt away individually, and you could potentially have some dreamers have more or fewer than three guardians for variety- adding or removing petals would fit much better than trying to add a fourth lock to the triangle emblem.

I prefer the first of the two ideas for the dreamer boss fights, personally. I think it could be narratively satisfying to see their negative ideas come back as positive ones to steer their lives around, and mechanically it could let you design bosses around assuming you have the toolbox of strategies that the guardians would provide you. As a third option, maybe the guardians could appear in the middle of the arena for you both to use? Every set of actions would involve you and the boss acting once each, but each of the guardians would get two actions each, one for each side- after all, working towards goals can generate positive *and* negative thoughts. Just a suggestion!

I haven't gotten a chance to comment on the elements until now, but I love the stylized letters that represent each one and how they contrast their opposite. I think Discord lacking any form of symmetry while Harmony has bilateral symmetry both horizontally and vertically is especially clever. I think these letters could make opposites on the UI more immediately apparent, and means players wouldn't need to think in terms of the full names, often 3+ syllables (usually in RPGs type names are kept to 1-2 or are abbreviated, I think Electric in Pokemon is probably the biggest exception).

If you want to avoid any parallels to any real world slurs with the Bold race names, I think Snowfolk and Soilfolk are perfect. The -skin names do remind me of a slur for Native Americans, and while more obscure, Sandfolk brings to mind... well, Google "sand slur." I don't think anyone would see these as real world parallels to those races per se, but if you want to avoid accidental connotations I think Snowfolk/Soilfolk/???folk (Sunfolk? Desertfolk? Shame there isn't really a synonym for sand itself...) would accomplish that.

I mostly like those base ideas for each dreamer so far. I feel like Gisele may be the weakest- the others feel fleshed out by their goals that the player can relate to and want the character to succeed in, whereas Gisele *only* seems to want to die. I think giving her something else to live for could add to her narratively - maybe finding what that is could be what either her guardians or Aspire could be about?

I'm looking forward to hearing the main theme! Your music has always been my favorite part of your games, and your main themes are always bangers.

I prefer the first of the two ideas for the dreamer boss fights, personally. I think it could be narratively satisfying to see their negative ideas come back as positive ones to steer their lives around, and mechanically it could let you design bosses around assuming you have the toolbox of strategies that the guardians would provide you. As a third option, maybe the guardians could appear in the middle of the arena for you both to use? Every set of actions would involve you and the boss acting once each, but each of the guardians would get two actions each, one for each side- after all, working towards goals can generate positive *and* negative thoughts. Just a suggestion!

I haven't gotten a chance to comment on the elements until now, but I love the stylized letters that represent each one and how they contrast their opposite. I think Discord lacking any form of symmetry while Harmony has bilateral symmetry both horizontally and vertically is especially clever. I think these letters could make opposites on the UI more immediately apparent, and means players wouldn't need to think in terms of the full names, often 3+ syllables (usually in RPGs type names are kept to 1-2 or are abbreviated, I think Electric in Pokemon is probably the biggest exception).

If you want to avoid any parallels to any real world slurs with the Bold race names, I think Snowfolk and Soilfolk are perfect. The -skin names do remind me of a slur for Native Americans, and while more obscure, Sandfolk brings to mind... well, Google "sand slur." I don't think anyone would see these as real world parallels to those races per se, but if you want to avoid accidental connotations I think Snowfolk/Soilfolk/???folk (Sunfolk? Desertfolk? Shame there isn't really a synonym for sand itself...) would accomplish that.

I mostly like those base ideas for each dreamer so far. I feel like Gisele may be the weakest- the others feel fleshed out by their goals that the player can relate to and want the character to succeed in, whereas Gisele *only* seems to want to die. I think giving her something else to live for could add to her narratively - maybe finding what that is could be what either her guardians or Aspire could be about?

I'm looking forward to hearing the main theme! Your music has always been my favorite part of your games, and your main themes are always bangers.

Tobias 1115~1Y

Thanks for the detailed comment!

I liked the triforce thing because it'd lock me into a set number of petals, otherwise there's the risk of falling victim to feature creep, getting overwhelmed, and giving up. Petals would be more appropriate for the setting, though I've been using flowers to mostly represent positive things, so it might be odd if you were actively trying to get rid of them. Someone else suggested the triforce icon could point in a direction that initially suggested backward movement but would point forward eventually, which I find intriguing. So maybe it'd be upside down, with three downwards arrows initially lit, but as you tamed the dreamons and removed them, the final upwards pointing arrow would be left.

Speaking of feature creep, any drastic revision of battle mechanics for certain encounters - like the guardians being in the middle - would fall under that, so I'm trying to avoid that where possible and minimise necessary work. The 4 v 2 would bother me if the guardians joined you but the dreamer defected, though other RPGs would have 3, 4, or 5 v 1 for most boss battles, so it's probably not a big deal. Especially if the boss had some skills that'd allow them to easily convert allies over to their side so there'd be a constant back-and-forth.

I appreciate that you noticed the symmetry (and lack thereof) for the Harmony and Dissonance letters! I pay attention to little details like that, and always wonder if anyone actually notices.

I've been thinking about the race names, and I'm aware of a couple of slurs with skin and sand in, but those are never the operating word. In the one that comes up when you google 'sand slur', it's very much the second word that's the issue, surely? In another, the skin is being compared to something disgusting, though do snow, sand, or soil themselves have any negative connotations? I suppose soil can refer to manure or staining, but it'd be an oddly ambiguous choice for someone aiming to be offensive (thinking of it in-universe as "what might someone come up with to insult a race?"). I just loved the fact that snow, sand, and soil are all four-letter S words for different colours of ground, so it's a shame that being even slightly similar to real-world racism would ruin that. And using -folk instead of -skin would imply they're from regions with those things, which isn't necessarily the case. Like calling redheads 'redfolk' or something (or more like 'firefolk' to match the use of a fantastical metaphor rather than a basic descriptor).

The Gravitoom scenario is the only one here where the dreamer is trying to escape their element rather than actualise it, as someone else also pointed out. They suggested something about taking responsibility, which is within the purview of Gravitoom, so maybe I'll try to work with that when I do more brainstorming.

I'll add the Dreamons Theme to my Patreon very soon, then!

Thanks for the detailed comment!

I liked the triforce thing /because/ it'd lock me into a set number of petals, otherwise there's the risk of falling victim to feature creep, getting overwhelmed, and giving up. Petals would be more appropriate for the setting, though I've been using flowers to mostly represent positive things, so it might be odd if you were actively trying to get rid of them. Someone else suggested the triforce icon could point in a direction that initially suggested backward movement but would point forward eventually, which I find intriguing. So maybe it'd be upside down, with three downwards arrows initially lit, but as you tamed the dreamons and removed them, the final upwards pointing arrow would be left.

Speaking of feature creep, any drastic revision of battle mechanics for certain encounters - like the guardians being in the middle - would fall under that, so I'm trying to avoid that where possible and minimise necessary work. The 4 v 2 would bother me if the guardians joined you but the dreamer defected, though other RPGs would have 3, 4, or 5 v 1 for most boss battles, so it's probably not a big deal. Especially if the boss had some skills that'd allow them to easily convert allies over to their side so there'd be a constant back-and-forth.

I appreciate that you noticed the symmetry (and lack thereof) for the Harmony and Dissonance letters! I pay attention to little details like that, and always wonder if anyone actually notices.

I've been thinking about the race names, and I'm aware of a couple of slurs with skin and sand in, but those are never the operating word. In the one that comes up when you google 'sand slur', it's very much the second word that's the issue, surely? In another, the skin is being compared to something disgusting, though do snow, sand, or soil themselves have any negative connotations? I suppose soil /can/ refer to manure or staining, but it'd be an oddly ambiguous choice for someone aiming to be offensive (thinking of it in-universe as "what might someone come up with to insult a race?"). I just loved the fact that snow, sand, and soil are all four-letter S words for different colours of ground, so it's a shame that being even slightly similar to real-world racism would ruin that. And using -folk instead of -skin would imply they're from regions with those things, which isn't necessarily the case. Like calling redheads 'redfolk' or something (or more like 'firefolk' to match the use of a fantastical metaphor rather than a basic descriptor).

The Gravitoom scenario is the only one here where the dreamer is trying to escape their element rather than actualise it, as someone else also pointed out. They suggested something about taking responsibility, which is within the purview of Gravitoom, so maybe I'll try to work with that when I do more brainstorming.

I'll add the Dreamons Theme to my Patreon very soon, then!

Naibos1~1Y

I like the story ideas for the six characters, except for Gravitoom - it's the only element that aspires to be less of itself. I don't think overcoming suicidal thoughts is a bad story per se, but regaining the will to live sounds more like a Levitality aspiration. What are the virtues of Gravitoom? Responsibility, Seriousness? So maybe a story of a character who has their head in the clouds to get down to earth, or a character that feels that nothing that they do matters learning that their actions have impact and permanence.

Tobias 1115~1Y

I was having similar thoughts about the Gravitoom one - that it seemed like trying to escape rather than actualise it - and I like the "nothing matters" leading to taking responsibility, as both of those are within its purview.

Though the Abstral one is also about making meaningful change, so I'd have to distinguish it from that somehow. Unless some of them overlapped and presented different angles of similar things, hmm...

Maniafig222~1Y

Interesting blog post, and fun to think about, because you crafted a very compelling formula.

I think the idea where you and the Guardians together fight against the Aspiration or the Dreamer the most interesting, rather than having the Guardians revert again.

I feel like you are making things a lot more complex by trying to tie everything into Alora Fane lore, what with the concept of factions like the Blight Wolves and all that. It sounds like it'll be a lot more difficult to write than the fun romp the Belief Battles thing sounded like.

The -skins suffix definitely is just an immediate no for me. Sandskin just sounds like an outright insult, as do Snowskin and Soilskin to a degree. Does it register as racist? Perhaps not, but it certainly reminds me of racism. The -folk suffix does this much less. Sandfolk still sounds rather iffy, but you can blame virulent racists for me having that connotation. They're always ruining perfectly good words and phrases. Don't forget there was a member on Fig Hunter who often complained about Muslims by calling them "sand niggers". Why the fuck was she not banned? FH is mindboggling to think about.

My thoughts after reading the aspirations were immediately "What if we inverted them?". What if instead of "I have to be more of my rune!" it was "I don't need to be more of my rune."?

So it's not "I'm too ugly/unsuccessful/weird" and it's "I don't need to be more beautiful/successful/normal to be appreciated"? Like, less about affirming that you are the super duper embodiment of your Rune, but more that we're all comprised of a mixture of all these facets, and those actually make us more well-rounded?

Like, for the R guy, it could be telling his family about a weird new hobby of his, and realising his family accepts him. Him feeling like he stands out negatively at work, but realising they appreciate that part of him and it makes him work better. The gym bit can already work as it is. Maybe the Final Boss isn't a girl he wants to woo, but an already existing relationship he's afraid is breaking apart because he's "been changing so much", except it turns out her problem was how self-conscious and reserved he was becoming?

For Abstral I'd think a parable about being afraid of selling out or becoming mainstream, basically losing one's integrity. "It's OK to like mainstream things" [But I have to be loyal to my niches!], "It's OK to take commissions from people" [But I have to create for myself!], "It's OK to crave financial stability" [But I can't be a sellout!]. Then the final boss is herself, who insists she's lost what it means to be an artist.

Discord feels like it writes itself with this paradigm, the character either is already a leader or about to become one, but isn't sure on how to best lead. "Vulnerability is a strength" [I can't be seen as weak!], "Co-operation is a strength" [It's every person for themself!], "Peace is a strength" [Conflict is eternal!]. The final boss could be a manifestation of the former leader who was a hardass, or a potential challenger to her authority, or a leadership dilemma she just can't resolve.

Harmony also feels easy, it's basically the inverse of Discord. "It's OK to care about myself" [Caring about myself is selfish!], "It's OK to do things on my own" [You must always foster community!], "Conflict can be positive" [No drama allowed, ever!]. The final boss could again be the character herself and her disappointment in how she's being led from ~the good and righteous path~. I know this lacks the religion thing, but "I want to found a religion!" is a weird and cultish aspiration anyway??

Gravitoom is already kind of like what I describe? Though I'm imagining maybe like a stodgy old academic sort, maybe a widow? "It's OK to be silly" [I have to be an example], "It's OK to indulge myself" [I must be ascetic], "It's OK to be happy" [Happiness gets in the way of progress]. The final boss of course could be the dead wife/husband, with the moral "It's OK to live and want more", that she doesn't need to constantly hold this weight around her neck, but should live the rest of her days as well as she can?

Then for Jolly, basically an inversion? A youth who has suddenly out of nowhere struck it big, is scrambling to make something of it, and now feels bound to this created persona of his. "It's OK to be serious, frank and genuine sometimes" [I have to be funny and sarcastic!], "It's OK to take it slow and smell the flowers" [I have to hurry!], "It's OK to be content with what you already have" [I must always chase more clout!]. Final boss could be himself, chastising how he's forsaking his would-be GRAND EPIC YOUTUBE CHANNEL vs realising that's way in over his head and the ephemeral nature of this success doesn't mean he can't still have a bright future.

I feel like these in general line up better with the general philosophy of your works, so to speak. We shouldn't let our runes define us or feel obligated to be a more saturated version of ourselves than we actually are.

I also realise the "dark triad" has external final bosses, whereas the "light triad" has internal bosses! That was on purpose!

I wonder what you think!

Interesting blog post, and fun to think about, because you crafted a very compelling formula.

I think the idea where you and the Guardians together fight against the Aspiration or the Dreamer the most interesting, rather than having the Guardians revert again.

I feel like you are making things a lot more complex by trying to tie everything into Alora Fane lore, what with the concept of factions like the Blight Wolves and all that. It sounds like it'll be a lot more difficult to write than the fun romp the Belief Battles thing sounded like.

The -skins suffix definitely is just an immediate no for me. Sandskin just sounds like an outright insult, as do Snowskin and Soilskin to a degree. Does it register as racist? Perhaps not, but it certainly reminds me of racism. The -folk suffix does this much less. Sandfolk still sounds rather iffy, but you can blame virulent racists for me having that connotation. They're always ruining perfectly good words and phrases. Don't forget there was a member on Fig Hunter who often complained about Muslims by calling them "sand niggers". Why the fuck was she not banned? FH is mindboggling to think about.

My thoughts after reading the aspirations were immediately "What if we inverted them?". What if instead of "I have to be more of my rune!" it was "I don't need to be more of my rune."?

So it's not "I'm too ugly/unsuccessful/weird" and it's "I don't need to be more beautiful/successful/normal to be appreciated"? Like, less about affirming that you are the super duper embodiment of your Rune, but more that we're all comprised of a mixture of all these facets, and those actually make us more well-rounded?

Like, for the R guy, it could be telling his family about a weird new hobby of his, and realising his family accepts him. Him feeling like he stands out negatively at work, but realising they appreciate that part of him and it makes him work better. The gym bit can already work as it is. Maybe the Final Boss isn't a girl he wants to woo, but an already existing relationship he's afraid is breaking apart because he's "been changing so much", except it turns out her problem was how self-conscious and reserved he was becoming?

For Abstral I'd think a parable about being afraid of selling out or becoming mainstream, basically losing one's integrity. "It's OK to like mainstream things" [But I have to be loyal to my  niches!], "It's OK to take commissions from people" [But I have to create for myself!], "It's OK to crave financial stability" [But I can't be a sellout!]. Then the final boss is herself, who insists she's lost what it means to be an artist.

Discord feels like it writes itself with this paradigm, the character either is already a leader or about to become one, but isn't sure on how to best lead. "Vulnerability is a strength" [I can't be seen as weak!], "Co-operation is a strength" [It's every person for themself!], "Peace is a strength" [Conflict is eternal!]. The final boss could be a manifestation of the former leader who was a hardass, or a potential challenger to her authority, or a leadership dilemma she just can't resolve.

Harmony also feels easy, it's basically the inverse of Discord. "It's OK to care about myself" [Caring about myself is selfish!], "It's OK to do things on my own" [You must always foster community!], "Conflict can be positive" [No drama allowed, ever!]. The final boss could again be the character herself and her disappointment in how she's being led from ~the good and righteous path~. I know this lacks the religion thing, but "I want to found a religion!" is a weird and cultish aspiration anyway??

Gravitoom is already kind of like what I describe? Though I'm imagining maybe like a stodgy old academic sort, maybe a widow? "It's OK to be silly" [I have to be an example], "It's OK to indulge myself" [I must be ascetic], "It's OK to be happy" [Happiness gets in the way of progress]. The final boss of course could be the dead wife/husband, with the moral "It's OK to live and want more", that she doesn't need to constantly hold this weight around her neck, but should live the rest of her days as well as she can?

Then for Jolly, basically an inversion? A youth who has suddenly out of nowhere struck it big, is scrambling to make something of it, and now feels bound to this created persona of his. "It's OK to be serious, frank and genuine sometimes" [I have to be funny and sarcastic!], "It's OK to take it slow and smell the flowers" [I have to hurry!], "It's OK to be content with what you already have" [I must always chase more clout!]. Final boss could be himself, chastising how he's forsaking his would-be GRAND EPIC YOUTUBE CHANNEL vs realising that's way in over his head and the ephemeral nature of this success doesn't mean he can't still have a bright future.

I feel like these in general line up better with the general philosophy of your works, so to speak. We shouldn't let our runes define us or feel obligated to be a more saturated version of ourselves than we actually are.

I also realise the "dark triad" has external final bosses, whereas the "light triad" has internal bosses! That was on purpose!

I wonder what you think!

Tobias 1115~1Y

I meant to reply to this last week, but got distracted away from story stuff so... I'm replying now!

If I were to reuse concepts like the Blight Wolves for this, it'd be due to efficiency (or you could say laziness); reusing things I've already come up with rather than spending time coming up with new ideas. Though I personally like it when concepts are reused between things set in the same world.

What's the main issue with the race names? Is it similarity to existing slurs, or acknowledgement of skin colour at all? How might you go about it, if you were to choose your skin colour from just three variations on a character creator? Would White, Brown, and Black also be racist? Should there just be colours with no associated words? I've been wondering whether to ask what strangers make about this (that is, Snowskin, Sandskin, Soilskin) on Reddit somewhere, though I'm not sure where (an indie dev community, or something like r/worldbuilding?).

(Personally I was imagining what kinds of names people might come up with to describe obvious physical differences in a universe without racism, so they're plain descriptors without value judgements, though of course it's impossible to shed real-world attitudes even if the fantasy worlds we visit don't have them.)

I read this comment last week and have been thinking about your suggestions for the scenarios a bit since then, and I think overall I'd say there's something like... a difference in worldview? That is, these ideas reflect how you see the world (or at least the impression I've got of how you see the world), which is different to how I see the world, or something?

I'd say your ideas are more mature, tending towards nuance and greys and something like self-actualisation, or diversity of thought or something like that, while my worldview tends to be more cartoonish, bright, 'stylised' in a sense, accentuating differences and using them to guide directions rather than trying to smooth them out. My runes would likely be AHG, for example, extreme values, while I suspect yours would be lowercase or x values?

So the impression I got from your ideas was of nuanced characters - which I recall you saying you preferring before - whereas the ones I had in mind for these were more like cartoonish distillations of concepts to illustrate the various facets of each element.

But you could also say that your ideas are that too, they just bring in opposites in ways mine don't, so...

I don't know. I suspect that your ideas might resonate more with people than mine. But I also feel that since they're not in alignment with the way that I think, I wouldn't be able to make them myself?

I've got some more technical stuff to do, so I'll probably focus on that for a bit while thinking more about what to do with these.

I do appreciate your suggestions though, in case that wasn't clear! They'd just be quite a shift from what I already have, rather than minor tweaks, so taking them into consideration is a non-trivial thing.

I meant to reply to this last week, but got distracted away from story stuff so... I'm replying now!

If I were to reuse concepts like the Blight Wolves for this, it'd be due to efficiency (or you could say laziness); reusing things I've already come up with rather than spending time coming up with new ideas. Though I personally like it when concepts are reused between things set in the same world.

What's the main issue with the race names? Is it similarity to existing slurs, or acknowledgement of skin colour at all? How might you go about it, if you were to choose your skin colour from just three variations on a character creator? Would White, Brown, and Black also be racist? Should there just be colours with no associated words? I've been wondering whether to ask what strangers make about this (that is, Snowskin, Sandskin, Soilskin) on Reddit somewhere, though I'm not sure where (an indie dev community, or something like r/worldbuilding?).

(Personally I was imagining what kinds of names people might come up with to describe obvious physical differences in a universe without racism, so they're plain descriptors without value judgements, though of course it's impossible to shed real-world attitudes even if the fantasy worlds we visit don't have them.)

I read this comment last week and have been thinking about your suggestions for the scenarios a bit since then, and I think overall I'd say there's something like... a difference in worldview? That is, these ideas reflect how you see the world (or at least the impression I've got of how you see the world), which is different to how I see the world, or something?

I'd say your ideas are more mature, tending towards nuance and greys and something like self-actualisation, or diversity of thought or something like that, while my worldview tends to be more cartoonish, bright, 'stylised' in a sense, accentuating differences and using them to guide directions rather than trying to smooth them out. My runes would likely be AHG, for example, extreme values, while I suspect yours would be lowercase or x values?

So the impression I got from your ideas was of nuanced characters - which I recall you saying you preferring before - whereas the ones I had in mind for these were more like cartoonish distillations of concepts to illustrate the various facets of each element.

But you could also say that your ideas are that too, they just bring in opposites in ways mine don't, so...

I don't know. I suspect that your ideas might resonate more with people than mine. But I also feel that since they're not in alignment with the way that I think, I wouldn't be able to make them myself?

I've got some more technical stuff to do, so I'll probably focus on that for a bit while thinking more about what to do with these.

I do appreciate your suggestions though, in case that wasn't clear! They'd just be quite a shift from what I already have, rather than minor tweaks, so taking them into consideration is a non-trivial thing.