Relative to the IC, he is very much a Be-er.
All I’ve got on him so far is what I’ve written above. He was friends with a world-renown archaeologist who was killed so as that the BBEG could get the prophecy. Now, he’s vengeful and ready to use any resource to stop the BBEG, even if it costs him his life. Later on in the story, he rediscovers a reason to live (perhaps he falls in love) which puts him in conflict with himself.
Okay, I can definitely see how the IC faces conflict around The Future – originally ignoring his own future (by being willing to throw his life away) and then later struggling with wanting a Future for himself. Plus, it sounds like he’s influencing the MC to consider the Future (prophecy, BBEG, Ragnarok, destiny to kill the IC, etc.). Definite strong influence around the Future there, which is the most important thing for the IC!
I was wondering about Preconception as the IC Issue (ignoring everyone’s warnings, doing whatever it takes to stop the BBEG). It seems like he might be challenging the MC’s own preconceptions of himself. And sort of bringing the MC out into the light where he has to face the prejudices of being Loki, destined to turn against the gods.
What makes Loki important enough for Baldur to risk contacting is Loki’s brain. He’s not only smart, he is a master of lateral thinking.
As such, the MC should have a problem-solving style of Holistic.
Is the MC Steadfast in this story?
No. He’s definitely not.
I’m thinking because the story starts in a mental health counselor’s office in Juvenile Detention with the MC talking about his brother’s death, Signpost 1 should be “Memories.”
Okay, cool. Then your earlier comment about “I don’t know what the MC is waiting for in his environment to start” has an easy answer: that doesn’t apply for a Change MC. Instead, the Change-Start MC sort of has a “hole in his heart” – he needs to Change by starting something. (In contrast, a Stop Change MC will often fit the idea of “having a chip on his shoulder”.)
With OS Concern: Obtaining, I end up with Consequence: Changing One’s Nature. I don’t know what to do with that.
Whomever fails to reclaim the prophecy suffers having their nature changed? Does losing Ragnarok count?
What happens if they don’t retrieve the prophecy? Do all the NGs end up dead? I’m pretty sure that would be a change of nature. Or maybe with the prophecy gone, none of them have their god powers and they’ll never get them back if they don’t get the prophecy back. How will failing to get the prophecy cause or prevent them Becoming into something else?
I don’t feel like losing Ragnarok works because that isn’t about the characters themselves changing. For that reason I’d say that feels more like losing something or failing to achieve (Obtain)…although you might be able to do something like, if the NGs fail they will lose god status and never be allowed into Ragnarok or something.
Becoming is the original (often better) terminology for Changing One’s Nature. Quoting you:
So, perhaps the Consequence is that the incarnates will all be murdered (being killed by someone definitely counts as having your nature changed). And more importantly, they will not Become gods.
EDIT: Ninja’d by Greg! Just want to add that Ragnarok could count if it changed the nature of the whole world. Consequences often deal with the whole story world. But, it sounds to me like Ragnarok is going to happen regardless of whether they recover the prophecy in Book 1, so that might not work as a Consequence.
One thing I forgot mention, Boone/Baldur (the IC) may actually be your Protagonist, if he is the one most actively pursuing the Story Goal of recovering the prophecy. It sounded like he was the one bringing Luke into it and pushing him to get involved.
Anyway, just something to consider – doesn’t affect the storyform.
mwahahahaha!!![quote=“mlucas, post:30, topic:1487”]
Just want to add that Ragnarok could count if it changed the nature of the whole world.
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Well there you go. That sounds good too.
I think it might be helpful to provide some sort of summary of what we’ve got so far. If I’ve missed something, please let me know.
?? Maybe conflict over whether and to what extent Loki should be involved
?? Perhaps Baldur has certain obligations to the other gods which he is going to have to break to get Loki involved
MC Issue: Denial - Denial of self. Martyr-syndrome. Failure to have properly grieved his brother’s death on account of his own guilt in that death
Looks great so far. Thanks for going the extra mile on the formatting! 
A lot to talk about so just going to fire off some points:
###For now don’t worry about…
I wouldn’t worry about Catalyst / Inhibitor or Unique Ability / Critical Flaw just yet. They can be fun to think about sometimes, and sometimes you’ll get one that totally seems to fit, but often they don’t become clear until later.
Cost is a price they pay in order to pursue the Story Goal. So maybe they’re doing things that have a negative impact on their futures (future friendships, giving up their idea of what their future was going to be, etc.). Unlike Consequence, you’ll see these negative things come to light throughout the whole course of the story.
Regarding the Holistic MC, just be aware that you’ll have to write a holistic character, which might be challenging if you’re a more linear thinker. Also be aware that it will appeal to a smaller audience (because holistic thinkers can still make sense of linear thinking, while linear thinkers often go WTF? at holistic problem-solving). See here: https://narrativefirst.com/articles/predicting-who-will-listen-to-your-story
That said, The Matrix appealed to plenty of men despite being Optionlock-Holistic, so do what you want.
I think you have your MC throughline totally nailed; the Domain and Concern fit much better than you may realize. Definitely use the original terminology for Innermost Desires: Subconscious. I think he has subconscious grief and guilt over his brother’s death that ties into his denial of self, denial of his destiny, etc.
For the Relationship Story, throw away the idea of it being a battleground or argument between them, and just think of it only as about their relationship. Not even about the individual people, but about the relationship. Try to name the relationship (mentor/mentee? kindred spirits?) and see how it grows, what it becomes.
The RS Concern of Becoming (Changing One’s Nature) almost certainly has to do with conflict around what the relationship is becoming, how the relationship is changing. And their relationship faces conflict from responsibility – likely their responsibilities as incarnates but also, and most importantly for the RS, their responsibility to each other.
This story seems great! Though nothing in the storyform is ever written in stone, I like the Issues you have now – I was secretly hoping you’d pick RS Responsibility, for example. That leaves you with OS Issue of Morality, which I like even better than Self-Interest because of how the characters are positioned around Ragnarok: they all think they’re doing “what’s best for the world”. At least that was the sense I got.
Okay, so there are three directions we can go from here.
1.) We can start working on the Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response
or
2.) The four signposts for each through line
or
3.) Requirements/Forewarnings/Prerequisites/Preconditions - I believe we have to select one of them.
You said that we should avoid #1. So, #2 or #3 is next. Which one do you recommend?
Oh sorry, I just meant we should avoid #1 until the Domain & Concerns were settled on, and that we’d looked at Issues a little (though often you need to consider Problem quad to figure out Issue for sure).
So I actually think we should do #1 next. And if something doesn’t seem quite right, don’t be afraid to back up and consider a different Issue.
What are your thoughts on Problem/Solution/Symptom/Response? Maybe focus on one throughline at a time – we could start with either OS or MC. EDIT: Oh, remember to consider Problem both as a “drive” and as something that causes problems. I find that really helps.
Things are getting narrowed down enough that selecting one thing fills out most of the remaining unaddressed areas.
In this case, I’ve decided to go with RS Problem: Avoidance. The idea is that both the IC and the MC are avoiding their personal demons and, because neither one of them is a true honest broker in their relationship (they can’t be honest with each other because neither one of them is honest with themselves), their relationship is harmed. Avoidance acts as a drive in the sense that staying distracted (that is, driven) helps them avoid.
What do you think?
Hmm. Personally, I’d recommend to choose the RS Problem last, because for most people the RS is the hardest to work with. (You can keep your ideas at hand; it may turn out to work very well for the RS Problem to be Avoidance.) Also, are you aware that by selecting RS Problem of Avoidance, the OS Problem can only be Avoidance if the Outcome is Failure?
What are the ideas you had for possible OS or MC Problem (or Symptom or Response or Solution)? It’s okay to discuss different possibilities that look like they might work well, that can help suss out the right elements.
Just spitballing here…
Avoidance and Pursuit look interesting for the OS. Pursuit would be about pursuing Ragnarok, chasing down the incarnates, going after the prophecy. Avoid would be blocking the incarnates from coming into their powers by killing them, preventing the prophecy from being used, etc. Of the two, Avoid might fit as MC Problem better (in a Changed Resolve story, the MC will always share the same Problem/Solution as the OS). On the other hand, Avoid & Pursue might be Symptom/Response.
I also like Faith/Disbelief for the MC, for the reasons you’ve already discussed. Not sure if they would be Problem/Solution or Symptom/Response.
Conscience also might work for the MC, if he has a guilty Conscience about his brother, and that’s driving what he does. (We’d need to find more instances of Conscience at play though.)
Help seems interesting for the IC – needing & seeking Luke’s help, etc. Is he driven to help people in general, help the world, help the incarnates? Or is he more driven by pure vengeance?
Im not great at RS stuff and maybe missing your intent here, but wanted to discuss briefly. If their RS problem is avoid, maybe it works that each is avoiding a personal demon and affecting the relationship, but I think the idea is more that the relationship itself should be avoiding something…so maybe like, rather than avoiding personal demons, they’re avoiding the demons between them. Although you say they can’t be honest with each other, so maybe the relationship is avoiding honesty between them.