Adventurer's Guild Adventurer's Guild - OOC Room

[Nahrenne]

The Guild doesn't expect its adventurers to be ordinary people.

Their philosophy is that if you're too ordinary, maybe you're not cut out to be an Adventurer.

It's frankly not that much more difficult than the Hunter Exam (in Hunter x Hunter) or the Beacon academy exam (in RWBY) or even Naruto's chuuni exam.

In order to be an adventurer, your character must have somehow broken past the "ordinary person" label.

Ah, but aren't the chuuni and Beacon Academy exams done in teams?
'-'
As well as with all of their tools and weapons?

X

 

[Moshi]

Ah, but aren't the chuuni and Beacon Academy exams done in teams?
'-'
As well as with all of their tools and weapons?

X

^---

No matter how skilled you are, you can't cut without a blade, nor shoot without a bow. What isn't possible simply isn't possible.

 

[Bochi]

What happens when the bridge quest is done btw

You didn't know? That's when the bridge quest begins!

...Sorry, you walked right into that.

 

[GM]

Ah, but aren't the chuuni and Beacon Academy exams done in teams?
'-'
As well as with all of their tools and weapons?

X

*nodsnods* I can see that!

Speaking from GM's in character (IC) perspective:

Much of the World of Tonia is wilderness.

You won't always be around civilization or friends or allies.

Being an adventurer in AG means going off to strange lands (often alone) — and surviving no matter what you come across. The forests around Scribel are as mild as it gets, but in most other places, you will often find yourself in situations where you're terribly outmatched. If you fought a Roc and your weapon shattered, now you need to escape. Most likely, you'll end up in the wilderness far away from home, surrounded by strong monsters, and nobody friendly in sight. Surviving in the wilderness for 2 weeks is a basic skill, just as is escaping from danger.

The Rank E exam is structured in a way that forces you to focus on survival and escaping from danger. Killing is intentionally left out of the exam, and characters have their equipment taken away from them so they can't use killing as their solution to everything.

I need adventurers to prove to me that they aren't just good at killing.

I need them to prove to me that they can survive no matter where I send them — whether it's the demon continent or the deserts of endless sand.

If you can't prove to me that you can survive wherever you go — then I won't give you your rank.

---------------

^---

No matter how skilled you are, you can't cut without a blade, nor shoot without a bow. What isn't possible simply isn't possible.

^^ We have 2-3 characters who passed the exam already?

I'm sure it's more doable than you think, even with a more ordinary character.

From an IRL survivalism perspective, you don't even need to eat for two weeks. Fasting that entire time is totally manageable. However, most characters who took the quest figured out some way to make a trap to catch animals or find something to eat.

You technically don't need to kill anything in this quest if your character is sufficiently sneaky and familiar with the forest.

 

[GM]

In either case, I think we have more people who would like alternate exams?

So far it's @AliceShiki -- anyone else?

I think it's probably good to come up with alternate exams.

Or maybe a different E rank region with a different exam.

But I'm thinking that "survival" will definitely still be a major theme regardless of the smaller details.

 

[Moshi]

Being an adventurer in AG means going off to strange lands (often alone) — and surviving no matter what you come across. The forests are Scribel are as mild as it gets, but in most other places, you will often find yourself in situations where they're terribly outmatched. If you fought a Roc and your weapon shattered, now you need to escape. Most likely, you'll end up in the wilderness far away from home, surrounded by strong monsters, and nobody friendly in sight. Surviving in the wilderness for 2 weeks is a basic skill, just as is escaping from danger.

The Rank E exam is structured in a way that forces you to focus on survival and escaping from danger. Killing is intentionally left out of the exam, and characters have their equipment taken away from them so they can't use killing as their solution to everything.

I need adventurers to prove to me that they aren't just good at killing.

I need them to prove to me that they can survive no matter where I send them — whether it's the demon continent or the deserts of endless sand.

If you can't prove to me that you can survive wherever you go — then I won't give you your rank.

Time to make another character then...

^^ We have 2-3 characters who passed the exam already?

I'm sure it's more doable than you think, even with a more ordinary character.

From an IRL survivalism perspective, you don't even need to eat for two weeks. Fasting that entire time is totally manageable. However, most characters who took the quest figured out some way to make a trap or find something to eat.

You technically don't need to kill anything in this quest if your character is sufficiently sneaky and familiar with the forest.

I just looked up the quests - one of them used magic, which makes a huge difference in the quest. The other survived due to not being unlucky enough to come across anything strong. Say what you want about "survival means knowing when to run", you can't run from something faster than you, in it's own home turf.

 

[Nahrenne]

*nodsnods* I can see that!

Speaking from GM's in character (IC) perspective:

Much of the World of Tonia is wilderness.

You won't always be around civilization or friends or allies.

Being an adventurer in AG means going off to strange lands (often alone) — and surviving no matter what you come across. The forests around Scribel are as mild as it gets, but in most other places, you will often find yourself in situations where you're terribly outmatched. If you fought a Roc and your weapon shattered, now you need to escape. Most likely, you'll end up in the wilderness far away from home, surrounded by strong monsters, and nobody friendly in sight. Surviving in the wilderness for 2 weeks is a basic skill, just as is escaping from danger.

The Rank E exam is structured in a way that forces you to focus on survival and escaping from danger. Killing is intentionally left out of the exam, and characters have their equipment taken away from them so they can't use killing as their solution to everything.

I need adventurers to prove to me that they aren't just good at killing.

I need them to prove to me that they can survive no matter where I send them — whether it's the demon continent or the deserts of endless sand.

If you can't prove to me that you can survive wherever you go — then I won't give you your rank.

Yes but even Bear Grylls wouldn't go into the wilderness without some tools, no matter how sparse his inventory needed to be.
'-'

There's also the dilemma of a magic user taking such an exam - they'd be able to use their magic as a weapon, whereas a warrior class would have literally nothing but their body. I find such a situation a bit unbalanced, unless you had an item/seal that restricted the use of magic for the exam. Again, though, that's unrealistic to any situation any adventurer would be in. What adventurer would take on a mission/quest without any weapons, equipment, or tools?
As analogies, it's like telling a scientist to conduct experiments without a lab or it's equipment.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion on it. I imagine other people will think otherwise with my analogies.

X

 

[Nahrenne]

In either case, I think we have more people who would like alternate exams?

So far it's @AliceShiki -- anyone else?

I think it's probably good to come up with alternate exams.

Or maybe a different E rank region with a different exam.

But I'm thinking that "survival" will definitely still be a major theme regardless of the smaller details.

I think having alternate exams would allow more diverse characters being made and played out by players, since then they wouldn't feel restricted by needing to have a certain ability - i.e. magic - or just not encountering anything at all in order to succeed.

X

 

[GM]

I just looked up the quests - one of them used magic, which makes a huge difference in the quest. The other survived due to not being unlucky enough to come across anything strong. Say what you want about "survival means knowing when to run", you can't run from something faster than you, in it's own home turf.

To be fair, as the author of the story, you have incredible control over how the story goes, and the world is at your fingertips.

The exam can be as easy as you want it or as hard as you want it.

It's not exactly a problem if your character decides to familiarize themselves with the exam location weeks / months in advance. They might find a strong-smelling herb that strongly deters XXX monster, or a special type of plant that does Z. If I were doing the quest with tree-hugger Okarin, I would probably have them befriend a nice forest animal/monster.

None of those things are outside of the bounds of the exam, and there's many ways to complete it aside from brute forcing punching and killing -- and in fact, that's kind of the goal of the exam. It's supposed to be different from your ordinary "Kill Goblins" quest.

I actually don't even mind characters cheating with some creative way.

Yes but even Bear Grylls wouldn't go into the wilderness without some tools, no matter how sparse his inventory needed to be.
'-'

There's also the dilemma of a magic user taking such an exam - they'd be able to use their magic as a weapon, whereas a warrior class would have literally nothing but their body. I find such a situation a bit unbalanced, unless you had an item/seal that restricted the use of magic for the exam. Again, though, that's unrealistic to any situation any adventurer would be in. What adventurer would take on a mission/quest without any weapons, equipment, or tools?
As analogies, it's like telling a scientist to conduct experiments without a lab or it's equipment.
Of course, this is just my personal opinion on it. I imagine other people will think otherwise with my analogies.

X

That's true, but IRL survivalism classes are also taught in the setting of "what if you have little-to-no tools". The same two minutes in harsh weather, two days without water, and two weeks without food rules apply. Nobody would willingly put themselves in that kind of situation, but many people train for it.

Regarding the lack of weapons/equipment -- adventurer's end up in many more versatile situations, and a certain degree of flexibility is expected -- like the many incidences when a character is thrown in a cell and their weapon is taken from them. They end up escaping, but suddenly they're without a weapon.

In this sense, this is at least my view on the distinction between an adventurer and a "warrior" per say.

A warrior is expected to be able to fight in all situations (usually with their weapon).

An adventurer is expected to survive in all situations, with or without their weapon.

But I think that's just my view.

And yes, it isn't fair with regards to magic users and non-magic users.

I think having alternate exams would allow more diverse characters being made and played out by players, since then they wouldn't feel restricted by needing to have a certain ability - i.e. magic - or just not encountering anything at all in order to succeed.

X

I think that's fair. ^^

 

[Obscura_Luna]

I think for my character's exam, I'll just make him create tool from rocks and branches. It's doable for my char, but that is since my character is a hunter with survivalist training. I guess my only suggestion is that instead of alternate quest, why not just provide a kit? Like, maybe a set of normal equipment, like knife and rope, but nothing else.

 

[Epsil]

My character's exam will be when I start getting power

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

To be fair, as the author of the story, you have incredible control over how the story goes, and the world is at your fingertips.

The exam can be as easy as you want it or as hard as you want it.

My character is so ready to die for it!!!

 

[Moshi]

That's true, but IRL survivalism classes are also taught in the setting of "what if you have little-to-no tools". The same two minutes in harsh weather, two days without water, and two weeks without food rules apply. Nobody would willingly put themselves in that kind of situation, but many people train for it.

IRL survivalism doesn't involve monsters that can breath fire and fly faster than you can run.

To be fair, as the author of the story, you have incredible control over how the story goes, and the world is at your fingertips.

The exam can be as easy as you want it or as hard as you want it.

That's true, but I try to keep it realistic. If either of my characters find even so much as a bear while without equipment, they will die.

It's not exactly a problem if you character decides to familiarize themselves with the exam location weeks / months in advance. They might find a strong-smelling herb that strongly deters XXX monster, or a special type of plant that does Z. If I were doing the quest with tree-hugger Okarin, I would probably have them befriend a nice forest animal/monster.

"Try to befriend", you mean. I'm pretty sure that anything strong enough to protect Okarin would also not care about them at all. I mean, like you said, you could just "make it happen", but I tend to avoid those sorts of things.

And yes, it isn't fair with regards to magic users and non-magic users.

Anyway, that was just a bunch of stuff I wanted to complain tell you about. The long and short of it is that you can only survive if you can use magic, or have some sort of inhuman ability.

 

[Obscura_Luna]

While I'm also up for realism in my story, I'm still up to it for the exam with no equipment. This is just me, but I plan to make that one of the important point of my hunter's growth.

 

[GM]

IRL survivalism doesn't involve monsters that can breath fire and fly faster than you can run.

Yes, but this is also set in the beginner region where the weakest animals / monsters are.

Wouldn't the World of Tonia concept of "survivalism" also scale with the difficulty of the world? In a fantasy world, you would still have wilderness experts who taught survivalism classes and made recommendations on how to deal with the exact same situations... like if your boat sank and now you're stuck on an island.

The quest does not specifically mention exactly what kind of monsters are around, so there's enormous room for interpretation.

That's true, but I try to keep it realistic. If either of my characters find even so much as a bear while without equipment, they will die.

To be technically realistic, bears (and wolves) (on Earth) actually quite non-aggressive. Their danger is over-exaggerated in the media/fiction, and they generally attack when they feel surprised or threatened or provoked. Humans kill these animals more than these animals threaten humans.

Regardless — that IRL tangent aside — the average power level of AG's universe is evidently also slightly higher than Earth.

An average Level 4-5 character (i.e. city guard) is expected to have 1-2 skills, and they definitely aren't "normal Earth humans" anymore.

How those skills are employed will certainly vary and depends on your creativity as an author.

"Try to befriend", you mean. I'm pretty sure that anything strong enough to protect Okarin would also not care about them at all. I mean, like you said, you could just "make it happen", but I tend to avoid those sorts of things.

I think we just have a difference in perspective? For me — my interest is in writing a story — and less so simulating an outcome.

Consequently, I develop my stories in ways that I think will lead to growth for my characters and demonstrate some aspect of a theme.

One of Okarin's major character themes is finding allies and friends in people that you would ordinarily expect it — so I would definitely pull a plot like a giant ostrich mother getting her eggs stolen by a giant Kukuu bird — and then spending the rest of the quest with Okarin + Giant Ostrich.

Anyway, that was just a bunch of stuff I wanted to complain tell you about. The long and short of it is that you can only survive if you can use magic, or have some sort of inhuman ability.

Alright! I'll think about it for sure! ^^ Thank you for the feedback, it's really valuable!

I'm also a little curious — exactly how were you planning on growing your character later?

The quests and almost everything gets progressively harder, so at least to me, the matter of growing your character is primarily a question of when you want them to demonstrate those major steps of growth?

 

[GM]

I think having alternate exams would allow more diverse characters being made and played out by players, since then they wouldn't feel restricted by needing to have a certain ability - i.e. magic - or just not encountering anything at all in order to succeed.

X

Going back to this -- would anyone like to find an unranked region so I can make another Rank E exam?

West / South / East?

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

It might be me stressing over semantics, but rather than the word "realistic" I aim for "believable", like all magic is unrealistic in my opinion, but I think i can try to squeeze someone for a "ah I can believe that"

 

[GM]

I also modified the wording of the Rank E exam to include a knife, and changed the word "tools" to "weapons".

​

Rank E Promotion Exam​
​ Sponsor​ Scribel City Adventurer's Guild​ Location​ Gem's Ravine (Northwest of Scribel)​ Objectives​ Survive for two weeks without any weapon except a knife.​ Travel through Gem's Ravine and climb Bighorn Mountain.​ Retrieve an egg from a Giant Kukuu Bird Nest.​ Return to Scribel City with the egg intact.​
Description​ So you think you're strong enough to be Rank E? Pfft~ Don't get too cocky just because you've beaten up a few goblins with a fancy sword! If you want to be Rank E, prove to me that you can survive in the wilderness without your precious weapons. I'll be confiscating those for safekeeping~ You can have a knife instead. Much of the world is wilderness and filled with monsters, so you won't survive for long if you can't handle a simple camping trip~! Of course, there will be monsters as you make your journey through Gem's Ravine. How will you handle them? At the end of the canyon, please climb Bighorn Mountain. A colony of Giant Kukuu Birds make their nests close to the peak. Kukuu Birds are known to kidnap eggs from other species and raise them as their own, so you'll find all sorts of random creatures wandering the mountain. Please retrieve an egg from a Giant Kukuu Nest and escape with it. You better keep it intact, or else you fail! Feeling confident yet? If you're not ready, come back and talk to me another day!​
Reward​ EXP: 400​ Money: 50G​ Items: Rank E Certificate Random Egg (it might hatch!)​

In my opinion, the exam becomes uninteresting if you give characters back their primary weapon -- because it essentially goes back to being a typical kill quest.

I think the exams should be difficult to some degree -- including from the author's perspective -- in terms of pushing you to write outside of your bounds in an area that you might not have originally anticipated going with your character.

I believe that almost anybody can get it to work; it just depends on how far you're willing to flex your creativity to come up with a solution.

Hopefully, everyone's characters are able to grow from the exam in some way.

 

[Generic.Archdemon]

Now! time to think of a way for Zorion to complete ALL the prerequisite quests without looking like psychopath...

 

[Moshi]

The quests and almost everything gets progressively harder, so at least to me, the matter of growing your character is primarily a question of when you want them to demonstrate those major steps of growth?

My current main - Nyx - is entirely focused on supplies and preparation (I mean, what else is an alchemist supposed to rely on?). Growth for him would mean crafting better equipment and potions. Maybe I'll have him take offensive magic at some point.