Riley McArthur Notes

This is a miscellaneous page for the various notes and text dumps I need to keep track of the things happening around Riley. There isn't going to be a lot of rhyme or reason to what's found on this page - it's just a repository for things I want to keep close at hand.

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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 rationalide 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.

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!

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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

Character Notes

Chat Handle: Riley's screen name is 'ace7egend'. She came up with it when she was seven - and while these days, she's vaguely embarrassed by it, she hasn't got around to changing it (and nor has she come up with anything better). To be honest, she's grown a little be attached to it after all these years. A more psychoanalytical soul might remark that her love/hate relationship with her pseudonym symbolizes the love/hate relationship she has with her heroic self.

Relationship Notes

Lilith

Riley and Lilith have a vague, semi-antagonistic relationship. She plays the overacted villain and Riley is inexplicably compelled to stop her latest scheme. But it's all good fun, right?

They might when Lilith built a deviant laser. Riley broke it. And afterwards, they stayed in touch.

Return to Riley's main page.