Editing Riley McArthur Notes (section)

=== Mechanical Notes ===

==== Superior Hapless Heroics ====
I want to touch on her superior skill - Hapless Heroics. It's a skill meant to represent that Riley's core is that of a big damn hero. Like a lot superior skills, it also sort of starts ceasing to make rational, human sense at level 3+. It's something like:

*Superior HH 0: you're a normal human who's rising to the occasion. Someone needs help, and all evil demands is that good men do nothing. So do something!

*Superior HH 1: At this level, you're the sort of person everyone comes to for advice. If people have problems, you're noticeably good at taking them away. It isn't like you can cure cancer or anything but maybe you can make the trauma of cancer less weighty - help people be at peace.

*Superior HH 2: You're a knight in shining armour, you're John McClane, Rambo, Zorro! The sort of paragon ideal that people think of when they say 'hero'. You can ride out and vanquish evil with aplomb. 

*Superior HH 3: You're a hero - one out of legend. King Arthur, blessed by the Lady of the Lake. Cu Chulainn and his indomitable prowess. Beowulf, grizzled badass. People might still be able to rationalise your capabilities as human...if they squint a bit and suspend their disbelief. 

*Superior HH 4: Now you're some sort of magical mythological (maybe even fictional) hero. Son Wukong, Krishna - Superman even! 

*Superior HH 5: You cease to have a problem with trouble. Trouble starts having problems with you.

But the superior part of superior skills doesn't always apply. I'm envisaging the Edge from Riley's skill isn't universally applicable. I mean, sure, at Superior Hapless Heroics 3, Riley could probably swim for miles, leap across roof tops and out-wrestle a bear (and she does know how to wrestle - I like to imagine hero training being a McArthur thing, even if they're not destined for it. Tradition!). But that doesn't mean she gets Edge in all circumstances. 
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I actually rather think she'd only get the Edge from her Superior skill if she's doing something heroic or hero-like. She gets her edge if she's standing up to someone doing something wrong, if she's doing something to help another person, if she's living up to her reputation! She gets her edge if she's being a hero. She wouldn't get her edge if she was being a bully - even if she's technically more than strong enough to physically intimidate a normal person twice her size...that doesn't mean she gets her edge. That might not even mean she gets to use her Hapless Heroics skill at all!

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==== Skaldic Heart ====

The move from "I read them all!" to Skaldic Heart was motivated by the realization that...the first skill really didn't fit Riley. After establishing her character in play, a bookish sort of 'solely mental' skill just wasn't her, and I couldn't actually imagine a scenario where she'd use the skill. Hence the change.
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Riley still works in the library and the new skill still reflects that. It just means that Riley doesn't love ''books'' anymore - she loves ''stories''.
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So that's Skaldic Heart in a nutshell. Riley loves listening to stories and reading them. She loves telling them, and singing them and epic poetry - things that can raise spirits or motivate people or just provide poignancy. 
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But more than that, sometimes knowing all those stories proves useful. Because they're stories about places. They're stories about people and how they did the impossible things they're known for. Which is the sort of thing that can be useful when things get weird or epic. 

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==== Rage ====

Riley's connection to Rage is deep and fundamental. It's a fuel, a source of strength, an overriding imperative, and at the core of her being. As a skill, Rage allows Riley to ignore distractions, and act without hesitation even in times of doubt or crisis. It lets her break mental bonds, and function even in the face of overwhelming opposition. It is a terrible and fearsome thing, and Riley can use this to intimidate and browbeat. Finally, Riley is fundamentally linked to the metaphysical force, and concept of Rage. She understands, implicitly, the nature of Rage and those things that have a similar connection. 

Consumed by her Kaiju Form, Riley's connection to Rage transitions into '''Superior Rage'''. Inhuman, and overwhelming - Superior Rage transcends the limits of Riley's normal skill. In addition to breaking mental bonds, Superior Rage can crush physical bonds: breaking out of mythical prisons, and sundering the strongest chains. She is a towering inferno, and utterly terrifying. And, more than that, she can wield Rage's signature lightning as her own.

Rage:
* Is representative of all 'negative' emotion.
* Is the element of physicality. 
* Deals in belief and certainty*
* Lords over lightning. 
* Can descend into madness. 


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==== Aspect: Blood ==== 
I also want to talk about Blood. Especially as Wyzard mentioned there isn't a lot of source material to draw on for its effects. So here's what Blood means to me, beyond its obvious physical being:
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Blood is your life force, vitality, your strength and your health. If your blood is poisoned, you're weak and sick. Without it you die. With it you're alive! '''Blood empowers'''.
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Blood is your lineage, your heritage, your birth right. The bastard son of a king is a bastard - his blood is diluted and impure perhaps, but it's still the blood of a king! You can claim power from your blood. And your blood can likewise shackle you to a fate or destiny carried forward by your bloodline - after all, power frequently has obligations. '''Blood is status'''. 
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Blood binds you to other people. You're bound by blood to your family - a bond that can never be broken. You can swear someone to be your blood brother, acknowledging a camaraderie that desires to never be broken by calling on blood's binding power. If there's bad blood between you and another, then they're your enemy because blood doesn't just bind friends and family but your nemesis as well. '''Blood is connections'''. 
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And from all of this, blood is about living things. It's not an omnipresent natural force. It's not the earth or the wind or gravity. It's not that far reaching. It's personal, intimate. Blood is about people: how they're related, and what they're capable of. 

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==== On changing aspects from Blood to Rage ==== 

I was motivated to change because of how Riley's shaping up in play. I was talking to Count about this when I realised that Riley hasn't turned out to be a leader - not like Ayumu is. Working with people and encouraging people to work together isn't her primary problem response. Riley's ended up as a character who shoulders burdens and tries to tackle things her way first and foremost. She might stand in front, but doesn't expect people to follow. So basically, I don't think she's really a Blood player insofar as how we've established Blood works (community, ties, etc).

Which left me wondering what I should actually switch it to - given that Blood doesn't really fit with Riley as she's turned out in play. She is a very...emotion driven character. She's passionate - very passionate - and she has a lot of verve. She hasn't turned out to be the sort of person who stops to consider all her options or all the consequences of what she's doing. And Riley does encourage people to be like that as well after a fashion. She wants to follow her dreams and likes to insist her friends follow theirs.

What made me consider Rage instead of, say, Heart for this (as a more positive, emotion-based Aspect) was Riley's response to her problems. When Riley's put upon, or pressured she gets...increasingly more negative. Which was kind of a weird realisation when I figured that out. As things get worse, she doesn't fall back on hope or love to pull her through. She gets scared and she runs (see her and her destiny), she gets upset and she cries (more than once) and if she can't do either, she gets angry and she breaks things until the problem goes away or the problem kicks her arse (as with the Ogres and the Rider). Basically, Riley is a bundle of joy and life and passion until things go bad. And then she gets horrible. Which is why Rage instead of Heart. 

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