Fate/Caótica (Multiplayer CYOA) [Fate Series/Others]

[Kanzaris]

Sense (Mind), thinking and feeling.

Self (Body), struggling and bleeding.
Spirit (Soul), striving and seeking.
Magic, burning bright.

Cutting through time, conquering space, we light a beacon in the night.
We call out to saviors and killers, heroes and braves, legends long faded, to cut through the dark and take their rightful place.

Heed my call, I beseech you. Plunge with me into the abyss.
Let us face the chaos of battle and its cruel bloodshed.
Together, we will seek out a wish.

A flame, consuming the world.
A flower, born from the remains.
A kindness, long awaited justice.
A Truth, hidden behind veils.

That is our desire. That is our wish for the Holy Grail.

United minds, we feel together.
Bodies side by side, we bleed together.
Two souls become one, we seek together.
Heed my call! Obey my magic! Sign the pact!

HERO OF LEGEND, COME FORTH!

-Fate/Caótica-

December 23rd. Today, your life will change forever, for good or ill. Today, the predictions of a centennial prophet will finally come true - and an unexplainable, wonderful phenomenon will become manifest. Its name is the Holy Grail, the legendary Cup of Wishes. Seven legends from the past will be summoned to fight for it and linked to a handful of modern souls. You are one of them. Together, you will fight for a prize beyond anyone's wildest dreams: A true, almost limitless wish. But to receive it, the six heroes you have not bonded with will have to be vanquished in combat until only one remains. Of course, neither they nor their Masters will go down quietly. What dream makes this wish worth killing for? What dream makes it worth dying for? Tell me your answer, and join this unprecedented contest, the Holy Grail War.​

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Premise and Rules:

-This will be a somewhat unusual Quest/Choose Your Own Adventure game, in the style of the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel. You will make choices to guide your Master throughout the war, hopefully towards victory, but potentially towards an untimely end at the hands of another player's Master.

-Submit a master for consideration. Seven (possibly eight) will be picked to participate in the Holy Grail War. Include a brief personal description (personality and abilities primarily, though physical appearance is of course helpful) and history, two preferred classes (standard only) and one backup third class (anything goes). Additionally, include their wish for the Holy Grail as well.

-Masters will receive servant character sheets containing basic details about their servants. More will be revealed over the course of play.

-There is only minimal plot armor. Courage and daring will not be punished, but straight up stupid choices will lead to a swift end, as no player will be favored over others.

-All servants will not be made equal, but no servant will be hopeless or gimped by a deliberately weak class container (looking at you, Assassin and Caster). Everyone will be capable of winning the war by fighting smartly but not necessarily perfectly.

-Those whose submissions are accepted will become Players, and have the right to unilaterally determine their own Master's course of action for a brief period after a choice is posted (usually 24-48 hours). Afterward, if no decision has been made, voting will become open to all readers (but not other Masters, for obvious reasons).

-Submissions may be posted here or sent to caoticahgw @ gmail . com. All masters will have their profiles publicly revealed once all seven have been chosen.

-Expect follow-up questions after submitting a Master, requesting both additional details about them as well as potential questions about narrative and tone. As updates will tend to be large and cover a solid chunk of narrative, with choices limited to important moments (look to F/SN for inspiration here), this is to ensure every Master is properly portrayed.

-This is my promise as Questmaster: the Holy Grail is real. A true miracle awaits the victor.

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~Questions and Answers~

Q: Can I request my favorite Servant?

A: No. I will select Servants to fit the themes of each Master and provide interesting narrative beats. Please don't ask for your waifu, because you will likely only set yourself up for disappointment. Wait and hope you are reunited instead.

Q: Will Servants be limited to canon choices only?

A: No. The Servants will most likely be brand new ones, never used in official Fate materials, as I prefer to write in my own style rather than copy someone else.

Q: Can I give my Master (Insert ability here)?

A: The answer is probably yes. In fact, you're encouraged to give your Master some remarkable skills, whether they are magical or mundane. Weaker Masters will NOT necessarily receive stronger Servants to 'balance' them. If you submit an ordinary high school student, expect them to be forced to make extremely hard choices to achieve victory in the war, balancing weakness out with ruthlessness. Of course, being a wielder of True Magic, or a True Ancestor, or anything else does not at all guarantee your submission will be chosen - I expect particularly strong characters to be interesting to write about and dynamic, and not just boring stat blocks.

Q: Does my Master have to be a Magus?

A: No. Civilians are fine too, so long as they are unique and entertaining.

Q: Is there something I should keep in mind when submitting a Master?

A: Be unique. Be interesting. Above all, make it clear and compelling why your Master is willing to fight, kill, and die for their wish. Your Master may not be consciously aware of their heart's desire at first, but Masters who truly have no wish for the Grail will be rejected outright without a second thought. Your Master will be one of seven protagonists in this story. Make them someone worth writing a book about.

Q: How many Holy Grail Wars have taken place in this world?

A: None! No one has managed to create the Holy Grail before this day. For whatever reason, the three magical families involved in the 'classic' HGW's creation (the Einzberns, Tohsakas and Matous) never created their own Grail system. This could be out of discord, repeated failures in research, or any other reason - the specifics are left vague so as to enable anyone who wishes to submit a character belonging to the families to define them as they will.
​

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~Master Submission Template~

Name:
Physical Description:
Talents:
Background:
Favored Classes: (Two primaries, standard classes only) / (One secondary, extra classes allowed)
Personal Wish:​

[mAc Chaos]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened this thread, but it sounds pretty cool. Like a weird fusion of a Quest and an RP.

[Kanzaris]

I wasn't sure what to expect when I opened this thread, but it sounds pretty cool. Like a weird fusion of a Quest and an RP.

Something like that! In some ways, it's a good idea to think of this little project as a grand strategy game with remarkably entertaining turn writeups. Whereas most CYOAs emphasize 'micro' decisions where there are choices to be made every time something even a little bit interesting happens, here the focus will be on key decisions that can change the course of a character's story - whether it's coming up with a strategy to survive a battle, choosing to reject or accept an alliance, or deciding what to cook for dinner for a very important guest (...OK, that last one won't be considered a significant choice most of the time. But situations may arise where it actually matters!). A good reference would be the choices you can make in Fate/Stay Night, if every choice had multiple viable options instead of many of them being riddled with bad ends. I'm looking forward to seeing what sorts of Masters will be called upon to make hard decisions throughout the course of this Grail War!

[zikari8]

Seems pretty interesting and fun.

[Spartacus]

So basically, you (Questmaster) will write the scene, and as the player, we only need simply choosing the choice available to our respective character?

Might wanna try it out.

[Kanzaris]

So basically, you (Questmaster) will write the scene, and as the player, we only need simply choosing the choice available to our respective character?

Might wanna try it out.

Correct! This won't be as time-intensive as a full, proper RP would, though I expect it to be very dramatic and entertaining. I make no promises that someone won't end up staying up past their bedtime thinking about what the best possible choice might be, though.

[Draconic]

Can we use the Fate/Another Pretender rules to build our respective Masters? It looks like those would work really well here.

(We'd obviously have to right up our own Bio and Personality sections, but it would cover most possible abilities, including customized abilities.)

[Kanzaris]

Link me to them and I'll give them a look and see if they might work? I'm unfamiliar with that ruleset, but it could certainly be useful.

[Draconic]

Just did.

[Kanzaris]

Hmm. By all means, feel free to utilize the ruleset if it helps you orient yourself. Don't feel bound by it - you can possess more talents or advantages than would be mathematically possible under it, if it makes sense for the concept - but it can certainly be a good aid if you feel stuck or unsure about where to take things.

[hero]

i might give it a try.

It sould be great if you could share a little bit more, setting wise. For instance, the battlefield/city where the war will take place. That should be common knowledge for the masters, no? Will this be in Fuyuki or some other fictional/real place?

[Kanzaris]

i might give it a try.

It sould be great if you could share a little bit more, setting wise. For instance, the battlefield/city where the war will take place. That should be common knowledge for the masters, no? Will this be in Fuyuki or some other fictional/real place?

This won't take place in Fuyuki, no. The City has no name (or at least, a name not worth remembering), but it's something of an oddity - a massive metropolis housing millions of people, belonging to an european country that is otherwise tiny and unimportant in the grand scheme of things, born from becoming a very large business hub in the modern age. Its details are left deliberately undefined for the sake of giving the players a chance to add things they would like to see to it - for example, one of the submissions I've received via email wanted to know if there were large green spaces within it, which resulted in the creation of the City's Brilliant Park, a tourist attraction known for its massive giant trees that rise as high as some of the man-made skyscrapers. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to elaborate about? I find it more practical to answer targeted questions, as in any city this large, you can find just about anything by walking down the right alley. The real question is what you find interesting and would like to see used in the story itself.

[Spartacus]

Is there any deadline for the character submission? I work better under stress.

[Kanzaris]

Is there any deadline for the character submission? I work better under stress.

I'm thinking about ten days for submissions - possibly two weeks. While this is a bit short by BL standards, I expect the questions phase to possibly take a few days more beyond that, so there'll be some time to sharpen and refine concepts after the deadline. Don't worry too much about having a highly developed life history just yet. So long as there's a strong core I can work off of, that'll be enough for me to weave an interesting tale for your Master.

[Twelveseal]

Sounds interesting ~

[Faux]

Just sent a submission, it feels kinda barebones looking back on it though.

[Kanzaris]

Submission received! Would you like me to ask the questions I have about it here or via PM?

[Faux]

Via PM if It's not much of bother.

[Kanzaris]

Questions sent out! Apologies for the delay, today was a messy workday.

[Latch]

Instead of a Magus would something like a half blood from Tsukihime be acceptable as long as its interesting?