The Wayhaven Chronicles: Book Three (WIP -FINAL DEMO)

Out of curiosity bc I’ve seen talking of different personalities around LI’s… has anyone ever changed the way they play their detective from what they originally imagined?

For example: I usually play my mc’s all sarcastic in most interactive fictions and chaotic etc, however when I began the first book and felt drawn to Adam I felt like the sarcasm wasn’t really gelling with him?? Idk how to explain it but I wanted my mc to be more serious and less on your face so I changed her.

I have fun being a stoic mc with A as his and my mc (Dinah) are so emotionally constipated around each other it’s just lol.

I did make another mc for mason who is sarcastic and I enjoy that one too.

Also played every other route including the LT (which I dislike veryyyy much haha) however Dinah is my main MC and is stoic, neat & loves order- A’s match made in heaven lmao.

So yeah did anyone’s mc change or deviate from the first conception in your mind and if so, why? Again, this is purely me being curious and wanting to also find out more about mcs before book 3 comes out :heart:

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Oh yeah, in a big way.

Took more than ten different MCs for me to find one where I actually didn’t mind playing A’s route. I tried all kinds of personality types before settling on an extremely laid back MC that just shrugs off most things that happen to her. Even she changed, though. She started out as very by-the-book, but that didn’t mesh with her carefree attitude, so now she’s extremely not by-the-book. She also started out as not very impulsive, but, again, her way of handling everything has made her quite impulsive. So she’s snarky, impulsive, friendly, easy-going, and fairly optimistic. She’s also my “best” team player.

My N-mancer was hard to pin down, too. I found his route kind of meh, so I stuck him with a willful, combative, friendly-but-intimidating MC that is pretty hilarious to play. She’s fun and ignores all of his suave crap. She just kind of shakes her head and keeps going. She thinks he tried too hard, lol.

My F-mancer… I can’t remember how she started, really. I think she’s pretty much how I planned her? Very young, lazy, incompetent, snarky, and perfectly willing to let UB do all the work while she coasts. She doesn’t scare easily, so that’s even more fun.

My M-mancer is quite different. I started her as being snarky (I’m a smartass, so my characters tend to default to being one, too, when I first start them), but after developing her, and her past, she’s really not snarky at all. Unless it’s inappropriate, then she snarks. Deadpan. She was always intimidating, but she was far less friendly when I planned her. She’s middle-of-the-road now. She’s also becoming more of a team player, but that’s UB’s influence rather than her natural state of being. She struggles with the heart stat, vacillating between emotional and logical–just depends on the situation.

I had a MC for the LT, but I ditched her. I can’t stand playing the LT. I love it when my husband plays it, though, because it makes me laugh!

And I wonder if the demo has changed at all… I should play it and find out…

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Thank you! I appreciate the links you provided on the LT because I was so confused as to how that’ll even work. It makes a bit more sense to me now.

@EvilChani

Ah, what glorious drama that F will potentially influence with their remarks! During Book 2, F can make a comment to A, saying, “A could play the third wheel.” I couldn’t believe that they actually said that; it actually made me feel bad and angry on A’s behalf.

This is very true; if it was a genuine accident, then I agree that it would be considered a childish reaction on their part. Then again, on Verda’s route, once they learn that Eric is supernatural, they probably won’t even care too much.

:joy: I typically get positive results (or at least the MC I play for A considers them positive), but for M, the MC I was playing for them just found M annoying and was secretly hoping the worst for them, so now I have to replay M’s route with a MC that enjoys chasing (for more than sex) and doesn’t take their comments seriously. I dislike M’s route the most so far because we don’t have any bone-crushing comebacks for him in Book One. I’ve never been able to get past Book One for M.

This would’ve been amazing if that were the case! I give immense props to you and anyone else that’s able to deal with M; all of you are troopers. Your MC, who is with Mason, is going through it! She’s not upset that she’s allowing herself to continue going through that instead of cutting sex off with Mason and resigning herself to just being his friend until the story decides otherwise?

I definitely agree with this coming off as sexual harassment or pressuring A to do things they aren’t ready to do. I typically don’t have my MC flirt with Adam for this very reason; he isn’t ready for a relationship or anything sexual. I think my MC flirted boldly with him twice because that’s in character for her to do so in those moments, but other than that, she’s supposed to be an understanding person who intuitively understands what people around her might be feeling. Overall, she’s understanding of A not being ready for anything, even though they desire the MC. That’s what “chasing” is considered for this character: going at Adam’s pace and not getting upset that he’s conflicted and will pull away. She sounds like his therapist. :rofl:

I fully understand your character’s being who they are, especially because it sounds like you’ve spent a lot of time creating them. I wonder if there will be a way to let A or M know that it’s just a social event and that we are expected to bring a guest. Because that doesn’t seem like a proper date to any of my MCs, that is how I’m going to have them all interpret it. Would Dezh or Z do that, or are they fully adamant on not asking M and A for anything?

Ugh, it was wishful thinking, but you’re right. Honestly, you would think that because we are Rebecca’s child, they would be tempted to be kinder, but they just can’t help themselves. I wish the MC could’ve been unbothered by A trying to monopolize the investigation. That wouldn’t imply that we blindly carry out what A commands, just that the MC doesn’t give a damn about what A is saying and then goes off on their own until A compromises.

Your husband has the right idea! I was just thinking about creating another LT route doing exactly this. His gameplays seem to be so enjoyable.

That’s ironic because I intend on having my MC’s for N and F torture them as far as denying a relationship for however long I can.

As for the love triangle in general, it’s not really causing a lot of angst, at least from my perspective. My MC wants A and finds N annoying. I just ignore the dialog claiming my MC’s heart is fluttering around N because it’s not. N is actually terrifying in the LT (I haven’t finished their individual route, so I don’t know if they still act like this) route because they pop into the dialogue when I thought we had escaped them and they just assume a lot when it comes to the MC. They anticipate us sitting next to them, hanging out at the carnival, etc. My MC hasn’t even shown any interest (despite what the dialogue claims), so she’s confused. :rofl:

That’s understandable; my thought process is influenced by F calling things how they see them, M being blunt to the point of verbal brutality with the MC, and the MC being able to sort of guilt-trip A for how they act and constantly contest A’s opinions and decisions. It just seems fair if the MC were held accountable for the shady actions they partake in, whether they mean to hurt someone or not.

In general, I really hope this doesn’t sound like I’m upset; in fact, I’m totally cool with the way the author ultimately chooses to write the story as a whole. Whether I believe a different course of action should be taken or not

Definitely, for M in particular. The MC I had for him didn’t like him and was praying for his downfall. So I created a different MC who enjoys the chase and doesn’t care about M’s verbal attacks. With that being said, if there is the option to snark at M, he’s taking it!

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From what I understand, it is what Mishka has intended that MC have feeling for both A and N and the MC start dating N during that route.

For my N-mancer in particular, I recently decided to do an impulsive character for that route. I usually do cautious OC but I find an impulsive character fits well with N.

For my A-mancer, it’s more related to how she approach the romance. During the first two books, she’s shy during those scenes but comes Book 3, she’s more forthcoming. :laughing:

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True, but that doesn’t help my MC any, it just adds to the sense of guilt and annoyance she feels over the whole situation. :sweat_smile: It would be easier to block A out of her mind (which she is seriously trying to do) if A was more of the A-route A.

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I’m aware; it’s just me playing around and ignoring that as much as possible. It makes the LT more enjoyable.

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@mordorintrigue

Yeah, I read that and got pissed off on A’s behalf. It was a shitty thing to say, but F often just says whatever they think.

That’s one reason why my M-mancer isn’t all that close to him–she doesn’t need his “help”, which just ends in pissing Mason off more and driving him even further away from her. A’s the safest one for M because A literally could not give less of a shit what they do as long as they do their jobs. For my A-mancer, M is her bestie, which works for her, because she doesn’t want anyone’s “help” either.

On Verda’s route, I think it’s a good thing that he learns. That was how it was going for Dezh (and I was kind of eager to see Verda’s response when he finally learns about Eric, which considering how Sera likes to drag things out, that’ll probably be in b7, lol.

You don’t really get any good comebacks for M at all. It’s just how that path goes.

The way Dezh sees it is this: Mason wanted no-strings sex with her. She figured it was going to be a one-and-done thing, and as soon as he was done, that’d be the end of it and he’d be on to someone else. When he wanted it again, it was a shock for her. But she gave it. And she started realizing she didn’t feel just lust for him, but knows how he feels (well, how she thinks he feels based on what he’s said to her) and knows it will never be more than sex.

Every time he touches her, she figures it could be the last, so she has chosen to enjoy it for what it is (or her take on what it is), which is Mason banging her because he’s horny and she’s there and never says no. She doesn’t even believe he’s not banging other people.

So yeah, cutting off sex won’t work for her–it’s all she has and all she ever will have with him (as far as she knows). As long as she doesn’t have to see the other people she’s absolutely certain he’s screwing, she’ll keep saying yes when he wants sex. And keep boldly flirting with him. Head canon–when it’s “over” when them, she’ll ask for another team, because although she agreed to the meaningless sex, she can’t watch him be with someone else. Better to make a clean break than to have to watch the only man she’s ever loved and ever will love be with someone else. This is another reason, she’s cautious about getting too close to anyone else in UB (along with her abandonment issues, lol).

OMG, she totally does!! It’s an interesting way to play that route. Does she know that he’s already in love with her? Or is she unsure and just knows how she feels and that he has issues?

Asking Mason to do anything resembling a social event would be like asking him to turn on Avenged Sevenfold full blast into his ears while bathing with sandpaper, so Dezh wouldn’t even do that (she’s really worried about his hypersensitivity, so she doesn’t want to do anything that causes him that much irritation or pain).

The most she would do is tell the team as a whole that she’s got a dinner to go to and the circumstances behind it (Verda’s husband being a supernatural), and say she needs a supernatural to go with her. Then, she’d look the team over, make a face, and decide to ask Tane. If Mason volunteered, she wouldn’t say no, but she would never ask or even hint about it.

For Z… were it an option to approach it from that way, she would probably tell A. And grin and say if he doesn’t want her to end up being sold off, he could go with her. Otherwise, she’ll go alone. Though, I could see her asking Mason to go as a friend after the scene in the kitchen in the demo, and the whole “Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll end up suffering through something just as awkward for your sake one day too” bit. Hell, if he’d said that to Dezh, she might actually not have a problem asking him and say she was calling that in, but Mason never says anything all that nice to her, it seems, because she didn’t almost get him killed in b2 and can actually do her job!

They are. They’re all funny, including the LT, because he always has commentary about them. Plus, whenever I hit an overly flowery description of the sky, paint colors, etc., he just goes, “SKIP!!” and makes me skip out of that stuff.

:joy: So you just like maximizing the pain, huh? My F-mancer couldn’t drag it out, but I could actually see my N-mancer doing that to try to get Nate to stop being so over-the-top and prissy about everything. Though, that may just make Nate pitiful, and I couldn’t stand that.

OMG, that’s hilarious. And sad, lol.

Always a good choice! Dezh gets more and more genuine with him (unless she’s snarking about sex, anyway), and ruins all my fun.

That’s why she wrote A like that in the LT. Without changing his character somewhat, the LT would give no reason at all to want A, lol. In A’s solo route, once you choose it, you’re stuck with it, so A can be more difficult for longer.

Doing that makes the other paths more enjoyable, too!

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If it’s okay to ask, why don’t you do the solo A route if you don’t like the love triangle with N?

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Generally, my characters don’t deviate too much from how I planned to play them, but there were a couple of changes that I really liked.

First, my F-mancer Daigo. He’s physically big, loves working out and training, and is very skilled at combat. He even wanted to join the army to use his physical abilities to protect people. He’s also impulsive, he won’t think twice before entering a burning building to save people from the fire. So I thought to myself, would he be traumatized by Murphy’s kidnapping? Of course not, he’s recklessly brave and planned to join the army, why would he be traumatized, he’s too tough for that. Then I remembered a common trope in movies, on TV Tropes it’s called “Shell-Shocked Veteran”, and although of course it’s not as intense in Daigo’s case, he’s no veteran, but it still inspired me to give him a buried deep trauma from Murphy. This made him so much more interesting, one would expect such a tough guy to be fearless, but in reality he isn’t immune to feeling scared and helpless. He pretends that everything is fine, he wants to be the protector, he wants people to rely on him and he’ll never admit he has a weakness, but Felix sees right through his facade. My favorite scene was in the b3 demo, where he had something similar to panic attack when they were promoting the blood drive and Felix comforted him. It was the perfect scene for the character and for their romance!

The second one is amusing, it’s my LT detective Elián. He has a great relationship with Rebecca, instead of being upset with her absence he was inspired by her hard-working attitude and she became his role model. He aspires to be a very skilled professional that work in a respectable field and to be admired by people for the important work he does. Because of all that, his reason for becoming a detective is to use his mind. But unlike Rebecca, he’s actually a natural social butterfly, very charming and friendly. Therefore, his strongest skill isn’t deduction and knowledge, but people and psychology, and that led to some funny moments. When he revealed his reason for becoming a detective, Adam was surprised and sort of questioned his intelligence by saying he’s more people orientated than knowledge focused. Nate quickly stepped in and complimented Elián for having great many skills to make up for Adam’s remark. But later during the research scene, Nate was also surprised that he chose research, because he thought Elián wouldn’t be interested in it. Basically, both of his potential boyfriends implied that he isn’t as smart as he thinks :laughing: I found it so amusing that I made it canon even though I never planned for him to be like that in the beginning. He also tried to stop Verda from learning the truth, but failed the stat check, so it also plays into the idea that Elián is not the sharpest tool in the box.

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I do this too, but for my brother.

Mine always do, but that’s because I intensely role play, so the characters get more and more developed each playthrough.

One of the most interesting was Riley who I intended to be shy, but now she’s just reserved to the point of being cold, and really doesn’t pick any flirt options at all. (And still isnt in a relatioship with F. :smiling_face_with_tear:)

Lukas whose my N-mancer actually spent a lot of time flirting with F in book 1 before throwing a curveball and ending up with N. Although that hasn’t changed in any of my playthroughs, it just wasnt what I intended.

Haha. Me too, that’s how Areylia started.

But being genuine with M can be fun too because they’re just so confused by it.

I also got this scene with Riley, and it was one of my favorites.

This is so funny. I love that.

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How do ya’ll manage to resist starting a relationship with F and N, I just can’t say no to them! :laughing: Even though I always claim that I love angst I still can’t turn them down. I only refused to date N on one of my two LT routes, but it makes sense on that route because of A. You have such a strong will! :muscle:

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I love it that I’m not the only one who does this. When I make a MC for a game, I need to know everything about them. It starts out with me feeling my way around them, then they just take on a life of their own, almost always at least somewhat different than I imagined.

That’s true. But so many times with Dezh, I’m like “pick the smartass option!” and she goes for genuine. Me: “Pfft.” The only time she’ll go smartass is sometimes with Adam–she respects him now, but she’ll get in his face if she disagrees with him. And she likes being inappropriate with M in front of N just to get him to be prissy about it, but as she likes N more, she’s even stopping that out of respect for his delicate sensibilities. Pfft.

M is cute when someone is being sincere, though.

Yeah, I intentionally made characters that would go along with dating F and N. Since it’ll take five freaking books to get a relationship with M, and at least that long to have it with A, I need to offset them with easier paths where my MCs can actually be happy!

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Its hard. I try to leave it up my MC, but Riley refusing F hurts sometimes.

That’s what I wanted, but instead I got Riley. She actually ended up being one of my all time favorite IF MCs, so I’m sticking it out with her.

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You know, now that I think about it, it might have been fun to have it so two of the MCs are the ones tormenting their LI with rejection, instead of the other way around. Where the MC is controlling the pace almost completely, instead of having to wait forever for the LI to decide they actually want the MC…

Dammit. My husband doesn’t do a N only run, but he has fun torturing N on his two LT paths.

There’s no way Jax would do that to Felix, but I wonder if I could get Triss to do that to Nate. Is N obviously hurt when your MC refuses them on that path?

I think so. Lukas doesn’t ever refuse Nat, but from my love triangke routes N does seem very visibly upset so I would assume they are on their solo routes as well.

I’m thinking of, too. Might be the only way to make N tolerable, to be honest.

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Yeah. Making a MC who is unimpressed with N’s “suaveness” and simply ignores it definitely helps, but it might be better to play it with the MC just flat out refusing N for as long as possible.

I think having this game force me into roleplaying a masochist is turning me into a sadist with its characters!

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LOL! It certainly can have that effect. I think I will actually try it, that way I can have a recent N character when Book 3 comes available.

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Interesting… I didn’t know you can refused. I thought Mishka default the MC to date N on LT route. :sweat_smile:

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