'Splaining Away Mr. A

[Sicon112]

I expect you to be curious. How could you not be?

But do try to respect their decision, and just leave it as one of the game's unresolved mysteries.

I probably will HAVE to, though not through any choice of my own. my mind is currently screaming in agony because I HATE doing this...

[BlackWolfe]

It is true that Mr. A was more 'fun' than the Cabal. The Cabal had like... serious motivations and hopes and dreams and stuff. Mr. A just yelled at things.

I guess next time we need to include a comic relief character in our moody faction. I don't think Morgan made a single joke.

The Cabal made me seriously think about what it would take for me to trust them, based on what I know of their histories. In the end (before the Cthulhu announcement) I decided that since every single member of the Cabal manipulated people as a core of their canon stories that absolutely nothing would make me trust them.

Then their decision to join with us against Cthulhu made me amend "nothing" to "almost nothing".

[Jeroic9]

I personally believe people liked him simply because he was fun.

Well, that's certainly a thing. He's entertaining and familiar to boot.

[Connor Fallon]

In retrospect, while having the Cabal made up mostly of villains made sense -- the ones we picked (with the exception of Moriarty, who never stopped being a self serving prick) were often villains partially by circumstance -- it would have been a good idea to mix in some other characters to mix up the group a bit. No matter how much we knew they grew, the fact is it is frustratingly reasonable to wonder "Well, maybe their growth is a PLOY."

At the time though, those selections seemed natural. Their lives really were so much better here. We should have picked some heroes for which that was true, as well, though, as there certainly were a few. Even some of the ones which we used could have served that role with a small tweak.

Hindsight =)

[Rick Healey]

I guess we could have brought over Tess Durbeyville from Tess Of The D'Ubervilles. Given that the whole theme of that book was a combination of You Can't Fight Fate and It Got Worse, her life would have been better here almost by default. This also would have tied into the "more female characters" thing.

The problem is? I don't know if anyone besides me actually read that book... and I hated it. Though I remember it well because pretty much every essay I wrote in my senior year of high school invoked a parallel to either that or Wuthering Heights (and, very occasionally, to both).

[Tom]

I always get that confused with Hound of the Baskervilles.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Like Sicon, I found Mr. A relatable/understandable... and once I started interacting with him directly, it became a lot of fun to try to humanize him.

Plus the Cabal came off on their first appearance as super-evil, and I don't like changing my mind about things without good reason... and due to probably my paranoia, I didn't get enough "good reason" until Cthulhu-- and even then not until I had confirmation that the letters they carried didn't somehow bely their seemingly-noble actions in helping Adell.

But yeah, like others said, it just seemed more sensible on a self-preservation level to follow A. Plus he was adorable. None of the Cabal were adorable. (Well, Erik came close, but Adam was more adorable, and I was still seething at him for trying to manipulate Adam.)

[Dana]

Personal opinion time!

I don't think he did manipulate Adam. I think he saw a lot of himself in Adam, and wanted Adam to work for what he thought was justice. They both came from worlds where they were despised not for the nature of their person, but for the way they looked. This world was the first chance for both to become a more fulfilled person.

And I don't doubt that Erik thought that Adam's play was good. Did you see how Erik's Don Juan opera was received in his story? Brilliant, but unintelligible by those watching. He likes the weird, avant-garde stuff.

[Tom]

Maybe there is stuff in the undiscovered Cabal chats regarding the way the Phantom felt about Adam! If only there were some way to find out.

Oh well!

[Connor Fallon]

Personal opinion time!

I don't think he did manipulate Adam. I think he saw a lot of himself in Adam, and wanted Adam to work for what he thought was justice. They both came from worlds where they were despised not for the nature of their person, but for the way they looked. This world was the first chance for both to become a more fulfilled person.

And I don't doubt that Erik thought that Adam's play was good. Did you see how Erik's Don Juan opera was received in his story? Brilliant, but unintelligible by those watching. He likes the weird, avant-garde stuff.

Yeah, this is also how I interpreted it. In a way, Qara, the way you referred to it as "manipulation" is another example of the whole "well they are villains so the default perspective is the bad one" scenario they got stuck with.

Which, pouring my heart out into the cabal appeals like Morgan emails and the Phantom letter, was heartbreaking )=

[narrativedilettante]

Which, pouring my heart out into the cabal appeals like Morgan emails and the Phantom letter, was heartbreaking )=

You broke my heart, too, Connor.

[Connor Fallon]

Which, pouring my heart out into the cabal appeals like Morgan emails and the Phantom letter, was heartbreaking )=

You broke my heart, too, Connor.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I BROKE SOMEONE'S HEART

SUCCESS! THOSE EMAILS DID MATTER AFTER ALL! seriously I worked so fraking hard on some of them

[eli_gone_crazy]

Which, pouring my heart out into the cabal appeals like Morgan emails and the Phantom letter, was heartbreaking )=

You broke my heart, too, Connor.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I BROKE SOMEONES HEART

SUCCESS! THOSE EMAILS DID MATTER AFTER ALL! seriously I worked so fraking hard on some of them

Yeah, you pissed me off in that one email.
I was so mad at Morgan for being so dense.

[S_o_S]

Maybe there is stuff in the undiscovered Cabal chats regarding the way the Phantom felt about Adam! If only there were some way to find out.

Oh well!

Tom, is subtlety your middle name or something? For you are the most subtle man alive.

[Rick Healey]

Maybe there is stuff in the undiscovered Cabal chats regarding the way the Phantom felt about Adam! If only there were some way to find out.

Oh well!

Tom, is subtlety your middle name or something? For you are the most subtle man alive.

But what if I was to tell you that I hid the key to them in ROT13 in one of my forum posts? Would that be subtle?

... okay, I didn't actually do so. But what if I told you I did?

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Then we would immediately do a sweep on all your posts and run them through every possible cipher decoder in existence. Some of us probably will ANYWAY, and will do the same with all the GMs' posts, now that you've put the idea in our heads.
I kid.
Mostly.

[Tom]

I was subtle enough to pass in your chat for a while. I was subtle for a year and a half! I've earned the right to be coy.

[S_o_S]

I was subtle enough to pass in your chat for a while. I was subtle for a year and a half! I've earned the right to be coy.

But I was being serious... Mostly.

[Blurred_9L]

So, I remembered something. In the video after the second wall piece was adquired (the one Enlil got), Mr. A was mad, and he seemed to be... producing lightning. When we asked about it, I believe we were told various reasons, but I want to hear what you got to say...

So, the lightning was out of anger or something entirely different?

[Rick Healey]

Lightning?

You thought that was lightning?

We should be so lucky.

[narrativedilettante]

Lightning?

You thought that was lightning?

We should be so lucky.

...You're not going to tell us what it was, are you?

[Scarab]

Lightning?

You thought that was lightning?

We should be so lucky.

...You're not going to tell us what it was, are you?

I really have no idea what else it could be besides lightning Reality warping stuff?

[Rick Healey]

I see dil has learned about me at this point.

Thing is, it's important to stoke the imagination, and not let yourself be restricted with merely the obvious possibility.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Translation: he just said it to troll us. I'M ONTO YOU.

[Flitterbie]

Translation: he just said it to troll us. I'M ONTO YOU.

Unless it really wasn't lightning, and he said it KNOWING WE WOULD THINK HE WAS TROLLING.