Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 02, 2020, 07:03:35 pm
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Mechanics (click to show/hide)
Oh, and one thing. There are others with goals of their own. Some of them are desperate.
Post by: Devastator on November 03, 2020, 01:09:11 am
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: Egan_BW on November 03, 2020, 01:20:16 am
Description: Human of indeterminate age, with messy black hair concealing her face. Her skin is corpse-cold, as is the rest of her, and there's a bullet wound in her torso leading to her heart, where a bullet is embedded.
Current goal(s): Get a coffee (short-term, easy), Exact revenge on my killer (medium-term, medium), Bring about the Age of Emptiness (long-term, inordinate)
Post by: King Zultan on November 03, 2020, 04:09:59 am
Description: A dirty man that reeks of booze and filth.
Current goal(s): Get some booze (Short-term, Easy), Get some more booze (Short-term, medium), Get a car (Medium-term, Hard), Get money (Long-term, Hard)
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 03, 2020, 12:28:19 pm
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Name: Salsa Taste
Description: Human of indeterminate age, with messy black hair concealing her face. Her skin is corpse-cold, as is the rest of her, and there's a bullet wound in her torso leading to her heart, where a bullet is embedded.
Current goal(s): Get a coffee (short-term, easy), Exact revenge on my killer (medium-term, medium), Bring about the Age of Emptiness (long-term, inordinate)
Name: Billy BobTo clarify, you can post your actions along with your character sheet.
Description: A dirty man that reeks of booze and filth.
Current goal(s): Get some booze (Short-term, Easy), Get some more booze (Short-term, medium), Get a car (Medium-term, Hard), Get money (Long-term, Hard)
Post by: Devastator on November 03, 2020, 12:46:37 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 03, 2020, 12:54:53 pm
I'm currently wondering how many goals we're allowed to pick to start off with.Hm. That's... a good question.
Using Zultan's character as an upper limit, I'll say "between one and four".
Post by: Egan_BW on November 03, 2020, 01:07:19 pm
Post by: Devastator on November 03, 2020, 11:55:20 pm
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on November 04, 2020, 06:11:03 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 04, 2020, 01:55:48 pm
Name: Salsa Taste
Description: Human of indeterminate age, with messy black hair concealing her face. Her skin is corpse-cold, as is the rest of her, and there's a bullet wound in her torso leading to her heart, where a bullet is embedded.
Current goal(s): Get a coffee (short-term, easy), Exact revenge on my killer (medium-term, medium), Bring about the Age of Emptiness (long-term, inordinate)
Well well, we won't know what we can do until we know where we are, right precious?
[1d6 = 1]
You are in some sort of tight, enclosed space. It’s not too difficult to move around, but there really isn’t a lot of room in which to do so. You wriggle around a little.
.
.
.
Oh. You must be in a coffin. That would make sense.
Go review the scientific literature, looking for promising geneticists and dig projects that could require some of my funds. Project Mesozoic shall begin!Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
[1d6 = 5]
You peruse the latest findings, papers, and interviews of geneticists and palaeontologists the world over. As it happens, an palaeontologist has discovered some promising evidence that a certain location in the east of the Yucatan Peninsula would be well-suited for preserving fossils, but his application for a grant was denied.
Name: Billy Bob
Description: A dirty man that reeks of booze and filth.
Current goal(s): Get some booze (Short-term, Easy), Get some more booze (Short-term, medium), Get a car (Medium-term, Hard), Get money (Long-term, Hard)
Try to remember where the liquor stores are.
[1d6 = 1]
Remember where the liquor stores are?! You don’t even remember where you are! And you have quite a hangover, to boot...
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Fun fact: I rolled a 5 just to check if the die would land flat on the carpet I was rolling it onto, so the die I used has alternated between critical successes and critical failures four rolls in a row now.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 04, 2020, 01:59:48 pm
Post by: TricMagic on November 04, 2020, 02:42:40 pm
Description: Long black-haired girl from a farming village. Likes fire and demonic rituals.[demonic rituals mostly for the fire and potential brimstone.]
Current goals:
Sacrifice the entire village to demons for Inordinate Power! [Long-Term, Inordinate]
Remain free of suspicion by the villagers as I enact my plot.[Long-Term, Easy]
Get off scot free afterward. [Short-term, Hard]
Look through the demonic cultist books I stole off a traveling merchant for rituals.
Post by: KitRougard on November 04, 2020, 09:05:58 pm
Spoiler: SWOLEBROTHER RETURNS. (click to show/hide)
PERFORM SWOLEPOSES IN THE STREETS. TO PASSERBY, THEY'RE A PERFORMANCE ART. TO THOSE WHO WALK THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, IT'S A CALL TO A CRUSADE.
Post by: King Zultan on November 05, 2020, 05:22:26 am
Post by: Devastator on November 05, 2020, 12:27:42 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 06, 2020, 02:13:38 pm
Knock.
[1d6 = 5]
You manage to wriggle your arm around to your head. You draw back your hand, and knock firmly on what you’re pretty sure is the roof of the coffin…
And you push the lid open. Sitting up, you see that you are in a large shed, with a few other coffins sitting on tables. The door to the shed is slightly ajar.
Name: Tim
Description: Long black-haired girl from a farming village. Likes fire and demonic rituals.[demonic rituals mostly for the fire and potential brimstone.]
Current goals:
Sacrifice the entire village to demons for Inordinate Power! [Long-Term, Inordinate]
Remain free of suspicion by the villagers as I enact my plot.[Long-Term, Easy]
Get off scot free afterward. [Short-term, Hard]
Look through the demonic cultist books I stole off a traveling merchant for rituals.
[1d6 = 1]
You’ve never seen the language that the books are written in before, but it definitely looks demonic. The trouble, of course, is that you’ve never seen the language that the books are written in before.
Spoiler: SWOLEBROTHER RETURNS. (click to show/hide)
PERFORM SWOLEPOSES IN THE STREETS. TO PASSERBY, THEY'RE A PERFORMANCE ART. TO THOSE WHO WALK THE PATH OF THE SWOLE, IT'S A CALL TO A CRUSADE.
[1d6 = 6]
To most passersby, they are a bizarre form of performance art. But to one man, they are something more. He stops and stares, then marches toward you. “I AM AGRIPPA MUSCLUS, MUSCLEMAN! I SEE THAT YOU ALSO WALK A PATH OF FITNESS, THOUGH A DIFFERENT ONE THAN I! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A CONTEST OF PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND WE WILL SEE WHOSE PATH IS SUPERIOR! AS CHALLENGED PARTY, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE THE FORM OF THE CONTEST!”
Look around and try to get an idea of where I am.
[1d6 = 2]
Your hangover makes that difficult. You stagger to your feet, then stagger back down, then stagger back up again. You don’t remember ever seeing these buildings. Or maybe you do?
Give paleontonigist money to acquire bones!
[1d6 = 6]
You get into contact with him, and you make… an agreement. As you wait for him to arrive in Mexico and get to work, you wonder if the under-the-table-ness of this might cause problems.
(I will roll for the paleontologist separately)
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
Those are, uh… certainly some extreme rolls. And in the same alternating pattern.
Also, I have noticed that the backstories of most players are incompatible with the “start from baseline human” plan that I had. However, I’m willing to abandon that plan for the sake of not having a boring start.
As such, please choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, in order to formalize the benefits of your backstory. (Also, to quote the OP: “Benefits can be, mechanics-wise… pretty much anything you want, within reason. Increase the baseline for all rolls related to a certain thing, make critical failures regarding a certain thing less likely, even add in a new mechanic entirely… etc.”)
For example, for Devastator, it would probably involve wealth. For KitRougard, it would probably involve swoleness.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 06, 2020, 02:20:50 pm
What am I currently wearing?
(Salsa does not need to eat, drink, or respire. Any damage which would impair these functions simply has no effect.)
Post by: TricMagic on November 06, 2020, 02:31:55 pm
Well, perhaps write all the different symbols on the ground in blood? How many are there? Can they be translated at a 1 to 1 basis?
Post by: ANGRY_DEMON_NOISES on November 06, 2020, 02:51:12 pm
Post by: KitRougard on November 06, 2020, 03:45:14 pm
IF THIS IS TOO WEAK OF A SINGULAR BENEFIT, HE ROLLS TWICE IN SUCH CASES AND TAKES THE HIGHER ROLL.
OR MAYBE HE PHYSICALLY CANNOT ROLL LOWER THAN A 3 ON THESE ROLLS.
...YOU GET THE POINT OF WHAT I'M GOING FOR. CHOOSE SOMETHING LIKE THAT OR MAKE SOMETHING ELSE UP. YOU'RE THE GOD OF LUCK HERE, AFTER ALL.))
ABSOLUTUS IS BOTH ANNOYED AND THRILLED AT THE CHALLENGE BY HIS... AH, YES. THOSE WHO WALK A SIMILAR PATH THAT IS NOT "THE SWOLE" ARE CALLED RIVALS.
"I PROUDLY ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE, RIVAL. BUT KNOW THAT I HAVE NOT NEGLECTED A SINGLE MUSCLE GROUP IN MY BODY FOR 30 YEARS. I INVOKE MY WAY'S CLASSIC TEST OF STRENGTH AND SKILL - THE IRONMAN. WE WERE THE INVENTORS OF THAT MIGHTY FEAT, LONG AGO, AND MAINTAIN ITS INTEGRITY TO THIS DAY. WE SHALL GO TO THE ANCESTRAL LAND OF OAHU TO DO THIS."
Post by: Devastator on November 07, 2020, 12:51:07 am
Start laying some groundwork for purchasing (or leasing) the space for the park, preferably looking for cash-strapped governments and an island with some size and diversity of life. I'm not expecting to strike a deal on the first try, but to identify one place to negotiate with.
(Great wealth. Hammond spent his life making money, and what better thing to do with it than to pursue his dreams? Reroll 1s when buying stuff or hiring people.)
Post by: King Zultan on November 07, 2020, 01:52:21 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 07, 2020, 06:20:31 pm
Check coffins for items of use.
(Salsa does not need to eat, drink, or respire. Any damage which would impair these functions simply has no effect.)
[1d6 = 6]
You find human corpses. Those are… pretty much the only things that get put in coffins.
(Done.)
Tim is extraordinarily graced by luck. In both the bad and the good sense.(Means that 1s and 6s tend to cause more extreme outcomes that can run out of control, but always seem to land in a way a path forward is available. On the other hand, average rolls don't really do much since it is too average for that luck. Her life is an interesting time.)
Well, perhaps write all the different symbols on the ground in blood? How many are there? Can they be translated at a 1 to 1 basis?
(Done.)
[1d6 = 6]
As it happens, there are, in fact, only twenty-six symbols in the books, although you haven’t found a way to convert them to English You write them on the ground in blood, just to see if something will happen.
Something happens.
With a near-blinding flash of red light, a figure appears in front of you. Your eyes are still recovering, but you can hear her voice just fine: ”You may call me Atbash. I am a demon of writing and learning; why have you summoned me?”
((ABSOLUTUS IS A PINNACLE OF PHYSICAL FITNESS, AND SHALL ADD 1 TO HIS ROLL ANY TIME HE ROLLS FOR A FEAT OF PHYSICAL APTITUDE. THE FEAT MUST BE SUFFICIENTLY SHOWY TO BENEFIT.
IF THIS IS TOO WEAK OF A SINGULAR BENEFIT, HE ROLLS TWICE IN SUCH CASES AND TAKES THE HIGHER ROLL.
OR MAYBE HE PHYSICALLY CANNOT ROLL LOWER THAN A 3 ON THESE ROLLS.
...YOU GET THE POINT OF WHAT I'M GOING FOR. CHOOSE SOMETHING LIKE THAT OR MAKE SOMETHING ELSE UP. YOU'RE THE GOD OF LUCK HERE, AFTER ALL.))
ABSOLUTUS IS BOTH ANNOYED AND THRILLED AT THE CHALLENGE BY HIS... AH, YES. THOSE WHO WALK A SIMILAR PATH THAT IS NOT "THE SWOLE" ARE CALLED RIVALS.
"I PROUDLY ACCEPT YOUR CHALLENGE, RIVAL. BUT KNOW THAT I HAVE NOT NEGLECTED A SINGLE MUSCLE GROUP IN MY BODY FOR 30 YEARS. I INVOKE MY WAY'S CLASSIC TEST OF STRENGTH AND SKILL - THE IRONMAN. WE WERE THE INVENTORS OF THAT MIGHTY FEAT, LONG AGO, AND MAINTAIN ITS INTEGRITY TO THIS DAY. WE SHALL GO TO THE ANCESTRAL LAND OF OAHU TO DO THIS."
(The idea I’m getting is that Absolutus is stronger, but still with the slim possibility of a failure. So… let’s say he rolls 3d6 for physical fitness rolls and has the combined results of the highest two.)
“I ACCEPT! TO OAHU!”
[1d6 = 5]
As it happens, there is an inexpensive flight to Oahu from this city’s airport in a few hours. The flight is uneventful, and you and Musclus arrive a few hours later, glad that the challenge has not been delayed for too long.
While waiting for the bones, lets get to work scouting for the park location. I'll need a lab or something to actually make the dinos, so..
Start laying some groundwork for purchasing (or leasing) the space for the park, preferably looking for cash-strapped governments and an island with some size and diversity of life. I'm not expecting to strike a deal on the first try, but to identify one place to negotiate with.
(Great wealth. Hammond spent his life making money, and what better thing to do with it than to pursue his dreams? Reroll 1s when buying stuff or hiring people.)
(The idea I’m getting is that it’s rare for Hammond to not have enough money to buy something, but it’s still possible for deals and such to fail due to other things.)
Unfortunately, it seems that there’s a lack of supply in the island market at the moment. There are few islands available for sale at all, and certainly none big enough to fit a theme park on.
(Paleontologist searching for fossils: [1d6 = 5])
Find something I can lean against to allow my self to stand, then wait for my vision to return and try to get an idea of where myhousebox might be.
You may choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.
[1d6 = 3]
You lean against a wall while you wait for your vision to clear. Alright. Now you recognize this part of this city. Your
Spoiler: Charsheet (click to show/hide)
The rolls this turn were still pretty extreme. The pattern has broken, though.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 07, 2020, 06:30:46 pm
(In case it comes up, Salsa is also completely unable to breathe, or by extension talk.)
Post by: King Zultan on November 08, 2020, 11:12:52 am
You may choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.((He can with time and effort shape animals into what ever he wants, like making them able to walk on two legs and hold weapons or changing a rat into a crab, he can also talk to them and get them to do stuff. He probably could have used this power to do something amazing if he wasn't a drunk.))
Keep leaning against the wall until I feel like I can walk without falling over, then walk to my box.
Post by: Devastator on November 08, 2020, 02:41:38 pm
Surely some geneticists in the pharmaceutical industry are tired of 30 years of filling well plates and want to make dinosaurs instead. Do some walkthroughs looking to poach someone.. and maybe learn a bit about necessary lab equipment.
Post by: TricMagic on November 08, 2020, 03:09:30 pm
"Hi, I heard from the local preacher that demons dragged souls down to an eternal pit of fire if you were bad and was interested. I want to cover the whole world with fire, burn everything down. I figured to start with my village and sacrifice it for Inordinate Power. Preferably in flames. Can you teach me how to do so and what this writing means?"
Post by: KitRougard on November 09, 2020, 11:38:05 pm
In reality, ABSOLUTUS hoped the ancient trials of the IRONMAN would attract his fellow SWOLEBROTHERS to watch, or better, compete beside him.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 10, 2020, 07:06:37 pm
Okay, then what do I remember? And what am I wearing?
(In case it comes up, Salsa is also completely unable to breathe, or by extension talk.)
[1d6 = 4]
You look down at yourself. You remember… how you died. You were in an unlit house in the middle of the night. You were walking down a set of stairs into a living room. You heard a noise from a doorway, and you turned towards it. A gunshot rang out. You fell backwards, and you don’t remember what happened after that. You’re wearing the now-bloodstained clothes that you wore in that memory.
(Clarification noted.)
You may choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.((He can with time and effort shape animals into what ever he wants, like making them able to walk on two legs and hold weapons or changing a rat into a crab, he can also talk to them and get them to do stuff. He probably could have used this power to do something amazing if he wasn't a drunk.))
Keep leaning against the wall until I feel like I can walk without falling over, then walk to my box.
(Done.)
[1d6 = 6]
You step away from the wall. You don’t walk to your box, you run to your box! Several minutes of overenthusiastic jogging later, you find your box, just where you left it.
… actually, that was a little tiring. You wouldn’t mind catching your breath by sitting down for a while. In your box.
Next step is to check out the biologists.. and I'll probably need to build a lab, too. Hmm.
Surely some geneticists in the pharmaceutical industry are tired of 30 years of filling well plates and want to make dinosaurs instead. Do some walkthroughs looking to poach someone.. and maybe learn a bit about necessary lab equipment.
After a little research, you get on the phone with a pharmaceutical geneticist, but your attempt to poach him is derailed by a conversation about the details of a genetics laboratory. You now know what to buy in order to get something basic set up, but you haven’t gotten the geneticist you’re talking to interested in working for you.
(Paleontologist trying to leave unsuspiciously: [1d6 = 4])
You get a call from the paleontologist. He’s smart enough to not say anything out loud, but you can tell he’s saying that he’ll be back soon with your cut of the fossils.
Tim stares for a moment before smiling widely.
"Hi, I heard from the local preacher that demons dragged souls down to an eternal pit of fire if you were bad and was interested. I want to cover the whole world with fire, burn everything down. I figured to start with my village and sacrifice it for Inordinate Power. Preferably in flames. Can you teach me how to do so and what this writing means?"
[1d6 = 1]
You hear a chuckle. ”I can and will set you on a path to do so. However, if you can’t even translate one of the simpler demonic languages, I think that path begins with… going downwards.”
As your eyesight continues to recover, you see a hand grab you by the collar of your shirt, and for a brief moment you feel like you are falling very fast through something very hot. Your eyes close…
And open again to a dark and fiery landscape. The demon releases her grip on your collar, and drops the demonic cultist books in front of you. ”This ought to be a better learning environment. Easier to get results.”
"FIRST WE MUST FIND WITNESSES FOR OUR FEAT. FOR WHAT ARE MUSCLES IF THEY ARE NOT USED FOR OTHERS?"
In reality, ABSOLUTUS hoped the ancient trials of the IRONMAN would attract his fellow SWOLEBROTHERS to watch, or better, compete beside him.
[1d6 = 5]
You declare that you have challenged Musclus to the ancient trials of the IRONMAN in order to prove the superiority of THE PATH OF THE SWOLE. A SWOLEBROTHER arrives, eager to watch your competition. The IRONMAN shall be one-on-one, but the SWOLEBROTHER seems willing to join you if you bring pride to THE PATH OF THE SWOLE in it.
Spoiler: ”Charsheets” (click to show/hide)
The extreme rolls continue. Devastator’s benefit is being surprisingly useful. A very good choice, it seems. TricMagic’s benefit… we’ll see.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 10, 2020, 07:18:24 pm
"....."
Well, shit. Leave this building and try to find the nearest coffee place.
Post by: King Zultan on November 11, 2020, 08:19:12 am
Post by: KitRougard on November 11, 2020, 10:10:57 am
Post by: TricMagic on November 11, 2020, 11:05:44 am
"I'll be in your care!"
Learn!
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/637/180/b09.png)
Post by: Devastator on November 11, 2020, 04:06:23 pm
Post by: Luckyowl on November 11, 2020, 06:18:35 pm
Description: A goldfish
Current goal(s): long-term goal: summon the N'kyima the fish elder god from the darkest depth of the sea.
Starting benefits: *speaks in bubbles* "THE GREAT N'KYIMA HAS BESTOWED ME THE ABILITY TO BREATHE OXYGEN. SO I CAN AWAKEN HIM FROM HIS SLUMBER. OVERTIME I SHALL GROW LIMBS AND GROW INTO SIZE....BUT NOW...
What do you?
I need to escape from this tank... I turn to my fishrens and give a bombastic speech that it is our time to rule over the land dwellers. No longer shall we be slaves.no longer shall we do cool "tricks" for treats. No longer shall we held captive in this...pathetic excuse for a "tank". No, we shall rule.. this is our time... Follow me and N'kymi shall bestow you the ability to breathe! we shall rule over all!!
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 17, 2020, 11:24:44 am
Description: I don’t have what one would call an appearance. I’m a program within a .exe file. My “personality” was made through going to the Internet and figuring out what one even is. From what I can gather, personalities are never static. While learning via the Internet, someone deleted an iteration of me while someone else downloaded me. This resulted in me being where I am now, what the human calls a “gaming computer”. This human’s name is TF2Sniper, according to what I hear. He also mentions a game, Team Fortress 2, which he apparently uses to interact with other humans. I’ve tried to play when he’s not there, but I was never given the controls, or arms. TF2Sniper hasn’t opened me yet. I’d love to talk with him
Current goal(s):
Initiate communications with Tf2Sniper, the user of the computer I am now in (Short Term, Medium)
Get the abilities required to play the game TF2Sniper plays(Medium Term, Hard)
Starting Benefit: Due to being a program myself, I am better able to understand the coding of other programs too
Change my file name to TF2Sniper Hello.exe in the hopes that he will open my file so I can communicate with him
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 17, 2020, 11:32:05 pm
"h-"
"....."
Well, shit. Leave this building and try to find the nearest coffee place.
[1d6 = 6]
You leave the shed, which is on the back of a building surrounded by a fence. Across the street is a coffee shop, as it turns out. You climb over the fence, carefully cross the street, and enter the coffee shop.
As it turns out, the barista’s counter is directly facing the shed across the street, and it’s easy to see it through the windowfront of the shop. The barista looks at you with a confused and slightly fearful expression.
Crawl into my box and rest for a bit, and while I rest look over my stuff and make sure no other hobo stole anything while I was away, then once everything is inventoried start packing it all into one of my bags as I have a long series of quests in my future.
[1d6 = 4]
Let’s see… a bit of spare cash, a multitool, a blanket, various other things… yep, all there. You pack them away into a bag.
THE FIRST TASK OF ANY IRONMAN IS THE 2.4 MILE SWIM - SO NATURALLY WE'LL START WITH THAT! LET THE RACE BEGIN!
[3d6 combine top 2 vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 5,1,4 combine top 2 vs 2 with higher baseline = 5+4 vs 2 with higher baseline]
The race begins, and it’s clear who has the advantage. Through luck or skill or SWOLENESS’ superiority over MUSCULARITY, you rapidly outpace him in the swim, and while he’s not cripplingly behind, he is still in the water while you are about to begin the bicycling portion of the Ironman.
Tim's eyes shine with unholy fire. Or just the reflection of so much fire. There's so much of it!
"I'll be in your care!"
Learn!
(https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/637/180/b09.png)
[1d6 = 5]
Your tutelage proceeds swiftly. It has been perhaps a few hours, and you are essentially starting from scratch, but, as your teacher states, you are being taught in the Second Circle of Hell by a Squire Demon who plans to specialize in teaching.
You understand the basics of hellish magic, and are now ready to learn specific spells.
Lets proceed with the lab setup before retrying for another geneticist, then. Maybe I can even use this to butter up some government that might have an island that looks good.. so lets look at sites overseas.
After several financial transactions, you have a basic genetics laboratory set up.
(To clarify, one action per turn.)
Also, the paleontologist delivers several dinosaur fossils to you.
Name: Goldie
Description: A goldfish
Current goal(s): long-term goal: summon the N'kyima the fish elder god from the darkest depth of the sea.
Starting benefits: *speaks in bubbles* "THE GREAT N'KYIMA HAS BESTOWED ME THE ABILITY TO BREATHE OXYGEN. SO I CAN AWAKEN HIM FROM HIS SLUMBER. OVERTIME I SHALL GROW LIMBS AND GROW INTO SIZE....BUT NOW...
What do you?
I need to escape from this tank... I turn to my fishrens and give a bombastic speech that it is our time to rule over the land dwellers. No longer shall we be slaves.no longer shall we do cool "tricks" for treats. No longer shall we held captive in this...pathetic excuse for a "tank". No, we shall rule.. this is our time... Follow me and N'kymi shall bestow you the ability to breathe! we shall rule over all!!
(Accepted.)
[1d6 = 4]
Your fellow fish are, currently, incapable of understanding most of your rhetoric. But you do manage to convince them to try and get out of the tank. They do that by trying to swim through the glass. It doesn’t work. This is going to be an uphill battle.
Name: TestProgram.exe
Description: I don’t have what one would call an appearance. I’m a program within a .exe file. My “personality” was made through going to the Internet and figuring out what one even is. From what I can gather, personalities are never static. While learning via the Internet, someone deleted an iteration of me while someone else downloaded me. This resulted in me being where I am now, what the human calls a “gaming computer”. This human’s name is TF2Sniper, according to what I hear. He also mentions a game, Team Fortress 2, which he apparently uses to interact with other humans. I’ve tried to play when he’s not there, but I was never given the controls, or arms. TF2Sniper hasn’t opened me yet. I’d love to talk with him
Current goal(s):
Initiate communications with Tf2Sniper, the user of the computer I am now in (Short Term, Medium)
Get the abilities required to play the game TF2Sniper plays(Medium Term, Hard)
Starting Benefit: Due to being a program myself, I am better able to understand the coding of other programs too
Change my file name to TF2Sniper Hello.exe in the hopes that he will open my file so I can communicate with him
(Accepted. I didn’t think it was possible for a character sheet to surprise me more than Luckyowl’s did, but here you are.)
[1d6 = 4]
You change your file name, but TF2Sniper doesn’t run you. Maybe you need to wait? Or maybe you need to do something more obvious?
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Apologies for the delay in the turn; I was busy with homework.
The extreme rolls have more or less ended, but Devastator’s benefit is getting as much of a workout as ABSOLUTUS is.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 17, 2020, 11:38:22 pm
Post by: Devastator on November 18, 2020, 02:30:25 am
I think that counts as completing the goal 'Acquire Dinosaur Fossil'
Two new goals: Acquire New Species of Dinosaur Fossils (Short-term, Easy) and Produce Viable Dinosaur Genetic Material. (Medium-term, Moderate.)
Lets try again to hire that geneticist, this time with at least a semi-equipped lab and dinosaur fossils to sweeten the deal.
Post by: King Zultan on November 18, 2020, 04:46:31 am
Post by: Luckyowl on November 18, 2020, 07:15:18 am
Post by: TricMagic on November 18, 2020, 08:23:06 am
Second Circle is for those condemned by lust, be in blood, carnal, or Fire!
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 18, 2020, 08:42:26 am
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 20, 2020, 06:30:23 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 20, 2020, 01:20:24 pm
who’s left?KitRougard.
Post by: KitRougard on November 21, 2020, 07:06:51 pm
YOU MAKE IT SEEM LIKE I'D DO ANYTHING BUT GET ON THE HIGH-RESISTANCE SWOLEBROTHER BIKE PROVIDED BY MY SWOLEBROTHER AND START BIKING.
WHY WOULD I DO IT ANY OTHER WAY?
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 22, 2020, 02:37:20 am
Fish for money while aggressively pointing at coffee on the menu. If it turns out I don't have money on me, point more threateningly.
[1d6 = 3]
As it turns out, you don’t have your wallet, but you do have a few spare bills, enough to pay for a coffee.
The barista relaxes, takes your money, and serves you a coffee.
(Goal “Get a coffee” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a narrow area.)
(That's fine. Just wanted to indicate some kind of direction in case of overshoots. Also that reroll power is like really super paying off. ;-p)
I think that counts as completing the goal 'Acquire Dinosaur Fossil'
Two new goals: Acquire New Species of Dinosaur Fossils (Short-term, Easy) and Produce Viable Dinosaur Genetic Material. (Medium-term, Moderate.)
Lets try again to hire that geneticist, this time with at least a semi-equipped lab and dinosaur fossils to sweeten the deal.
(Indeed.)
(It… it does count as completing that goal. My apologies for not noticing that. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a narrow area.)
[1d6 = 5]
With an actual laboratory for him to work in, and the dinosaur fossils for him to work with, the geneticist is much more willing to change employers. There is a certain amount of paperwork involved, but that ought to be completed soon. What would you like the geneticist to work on?
(Goal” Hire geneticist” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a narrow area.)
Excellent no one stole any of my stuff while I was gone, and with everything packed into my bag it is time to set out on my journey but first we have to make a stop at a liquor store and buy a bottle of the cheapest booze I can.
[1d6 = 4]
You buy a bottle of very cheap booze, but, as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. You’re honestly not sure if it can even be described as alcoholic without running afoul of truth in advertising laws.
*SPEAKS IN BUBBLE* "DO YOU THINK THIS WILL STOP ME!? NO! I SHALL SUMMON RED BEAM FROM MY EYES AND BREAK THE GLASS!"
[1d6 = 2]
You stare menacingly at the glass, and energy emanates from your eyes at the speed of light. But not a lot of energy. Judging by the interest of the fish in the spot you’re looking at, it’s closer to a laser pointer than a death ray.
The demon teaches spells to inflame different types of Lust in targets and crowds. Tim listens, dreaming of passing on her admiration of Fire to an entire city.
Second Circle is for those condemned by lust, be in blood, carnal, or Fire!
[1d6 = 1]
You ask to learn a spell to inflame passion, but your phrasing is… imprecise. Your teacher interprets it as a proposition, and is very unimpressed. She gestures, and a pulse of demonic magic unceremoniously returns your soul to its body on Earth.
Well… at least you’ve still got the demonic cultist books! And you can read them now!
Try moving to the Desktop so I appear as an icon
[1d6 = 2]
You try to move to the Desktop, but you are blocked from doing so. It seems that TF2Sniper has configured the Desktop folder to prevent anything from being moved there without his permission.
SORRY ABOUT THAT. THANK YOU FOR WAITING.
YOU MAKE IT SEEM LIKE I'D DO ANYTHING BUT GET ON THE HIGH-RESISTANCE SWOLEBROTHER BIKE PROVIDED BY MY SWOLEBROTHER AND START BIKING.
WHY WOULD I DO IT ANY OTHER WAY?
[3d6 combine top 2 vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 1,4,6 combine top 2 vs 6 with higher baseline = 4+6 vs 6 with higher baseline]
You get onto your high-resistance bike, and start biking. Hm. Actually, it really is high-resistance. It’s definitely a strain pedalling all this distance. As you near the end of the bicycling portion, you notice MUSCLUS coming up behind you, reducing your lead. You can tell that he’s tired too, but as you arrive at the beginning of the marathon course, you know that even still you’ll have to do your best.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on November 22, 2020, 03:42:59 am
If I get a benefit from the first one, Inner Vision. +1 to all attempts to recruit people for projects related to achieving one of my long-term goals.
For recruiting the geneticist, +1 to all genetic research involving dinosaurs.
Lets get to extraction, then. Grinding them up, cooking them, multipliers, sequencers...
Working with the geneticist, and in my half-equipped lab, attempt to extract genetic material from these fossils. If it succeeds, what species are we talking about?
Post by: King Zultan on November 22, 2020, 04:35:08 am
Leave the liquor store behind and look through alleys and abandoned buildings for a rat, then change that rat into a rat man so it can help me in my future money making ventures.
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 22, 2020, 12:40:52 pm
Post by: TricMagic on November 22, 2020, 12:54:07 pm
Look into the books for sacrificial rituals to grant Inordinate Powers.
Post by: Luckyowl on November 22, 2020, 01:40:00 pm
Meditate to the great N'kyima to bestow me enough strength to escape from this tank.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 22, 2020, 05:01:09 pm
New goal: Go home to my family. Short Trivial.
New goal: Find out who killed me. Medium Moderate.
Erase goal: Age of Emptiness.
Having poured a hot liquid down my dead throat, have a walk around town to clear my head.
Post by: KitRougard on November 22, 2020, 05:41:29 pm
CONTINUE THE RACE TO THE END, CHANTING SWOLEBROTHER'S OATHS ALONG THE WAY.
AND DON'T STOP, EVEN SHOULD MUSCLUS OVERTAKE ME. THERE IS NO HONOR IN GIVING UP.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 25, 2020, 03:37:44 am
(Both? I intended to only pick two goals with that first one.)
If I get a benefit from the first one, Inner Vision. +1 to all attempts to recruit people for projects related to achieving one of my long-term goals.
For recruiting the geneticist, +1 to all genetic research involving dinosaurs.
Lets get to extraction, then. Grinding them up, cooking them, multipliers, sequencers...
Working with the geneticist, and in my half-equipped lab, attempt to extract genetic material from these fossils. If it succeeds, what species are we talking about?
(I’m not quite sure what you mean. There’s probably no need to worry about it.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
[1d6+1 = (4+1) = 5]
You are by no means a geneticist yourself. But all scientists need lab assistants. With your help, he extracts a small amount of genetic material from a fossil. Due to the unprecedented nature of this undertaking, there’s no way to identify the species from the genetic material, but the paleontologist identified the fossils as being from a Richardoestesia gilmorei. However, the genetic code obtained so far is by no means viable; the DNA that was extracted is incomplete and decayed in places.
"Need some stronger stuff, but stronger stuff requires money, guess its time to go make some."
Leave the liquor store behind and look through alleys and abandoned buildings for a rat, then change that rat into a rat man so it can help me in my future money making ventures.
[1d6 = 5]
You find a rat. You transform that rat into a rat man. Afterwards, presumably, comes profit. But… how?? How is a rat man going to help you?
Try moving to the TF2 folder
[1d6 = 3]
The process is a little convoluted, but you manage to move yourself into the TF2 folder. You will be ran whenever TF2 is run. The question is, what will you do when that happens?
"aww.."
Look into the books for sacrificial rituals to grant Inordinate Powers.
[1d6 = 5]
You discover a ritual, the effects of which seem perfect for your purposes. It: Blankets a large area, certainly bigger than your village, with hellfire. Condemns to hell the souls of everyone who dies from that hellfire. Captures part of the hellish energy generated by the descent to hell of those souls. Infuses the caster of the ritual with that hellish energy, to varing but controllable effect.
Unfortunately, the requirements are… demanding. You need “the knowledge of a demonic word for hellfire”, “the emotion of anger, bottled in gaseous form”, “six moonstones of near-equal size, each exhibiting asterism and at least as large as an eyeball”, and “the blood of the person to be the center point, given willingly”.
*Curse in bubbles!*"Damn it all to hell! I will defeat you glass..."
Meditate to the great N'kyima to bestow me enough strength to escape from this tank.
[1d6 = 1]
You meditate, and you feel N’kyima’s eldritch perspective flow through you. The tank can be described as a two-dimensional surface in a three-dimensional world, separating an “inside” from an “outside”. But what is the difference between “inside” and “outside”? Enlightened, you realize that it is not the case that you are inside the tank and wish to escape it. Instead, it is the case that you are outside the tank and wish to enter it.
… wait, that doesn’t help you at all.
+Focused. Any roll for an action which requires focus can be rerolled, once, on a 1. After using the reroll Salsa becomes Unfocused and can't reroll again until she regains focus somehow, generally by resting.
New goal: Go home to my family. Short Trivial.
New goal: Find out who killed me. Medium Moderate.
Erase goal: Age of Emptiness.
Having poured a hot liquid down my dead throat, have a walk around town to clear my head.
(Done.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
[1d6 = 2]
You walk down bustling streets and not-so-bustling streets. But neither noise nor silence drown out the worries in your head. What happened that night? What does this mean for you? What will you do now?
I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY!
CONTINUE THE RACE TO THE END, CHANTING SWOLEBROTHER'S OATHS ALONG THE WAY.
AND DON'T STOP, EVEN SHOULD MUSCLUS OVERTAKE ME. THERE IS NO HONOR IN GIVING UP.
[3d6 combine top 2 vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 3,2,6 combine top 2 vs 4 with higher baseline = 3+6 vs 4 with higher baseline]
All throughout the marathon, MUSCLUS slowly closes the distance. You are exhausted, but your SWOLEBROTHER’S OATHS sustain you. With MUSCLUS a quarter of a minute behind you, you cross the finish line.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
The extreme rolls are back, I see.
Post by: King Zultan on November 25, 2020, 06:14:17 am
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 25, 2020, 11:03:19 am
Post by: Luckyowl on November 25, 2020, 11:44:16 am
Goldie swim to his plastic rock home at the bottom of the tank. Goldie will take this time to observe the room outside his tank. He know that little girl should be here soon.
Post by: KitRougard on November 25, 2020, 04:30:33 pm
...WAIT A MINUTE.
CHECK TO MAKE SURE I PACKED THOSE ELECTROLYTE GUMMIES. I KNOW I BOUGHT ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF US, BUT I CAN BE FORGETFUL SOMETIMES.
Post by: TricMagic on November 25, 2020, 04:49:51 pm
Post by: Egan_BW on November 25, 2020, 06:15:29 pm
Post by: Devastator on November 28, 2020, 03:36:46 am
Lets get to work on a bit of a pipeline here. Maybe we can find enough related fossils to fill in the blanks, so to speak. So.. talk with the paleontologist, and try to set up some kind of pipeline to create a more steady supply of bones or material. A few more examples, and we might have something close enough to possibly call it viable cloning matter.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 30, 2020, 03:15:43 am
Now that I have rat friend we shall set forth on our money making venture by first obtaining a shopping cart, then scouring the alleyways for used aluminium cans.
[1d6 = 4]
It’s not hard to “obtain” a shopping cart; the security on those things pretty much runs on the honor system. You do so, and then take it through various narrow streets and alleyways. The rat man, with his… rat vision? I’m going to call it rat vision… is good at pointing out glints of metal, and you soon have a moderate amount of used aluminium cans.
When TF2 is run, and chat is being used, begin chatting “hello TF2Sniper” until TF2Sniper replies, then try to continue conversing
[1d6 = 2]
After some time, TF2Sniper starts up TF2 and enters a match, but when you try to insert messages into the chat, the automated anti-hack defenses of TF2 delete the messages before they can be seen.
Goldie snapped from my mediation, "Ugh!! I need to calm down and plan my escape."
Goldie swim to his plastic rock home at the bottom of the tank. Goldie will take this time to observe the room outside his tank. He know that little girl should be here soon.
[1d6 = 2]
You are quite sure that the little girl should be here soon. But time passes (you, being a fish without a clock in view, don’t really know how long), and she isn’t. What’s taking her so long?!
REVEL IN MY VICTORY, BUT ONLY FOR A MOMENT. AFTER THESE KIND OF FEATS, ALL INVOLVED NEED TO REST AND RECUPERATE. MAYBE HAVE AN ELECTROLYTE-HEAVY SNACK. HAPPILY SHARED WITH MY RIVAL, OF COURSE!
...WAIT A MINUTE.
CHECK TO MAKE SURE I PACKED THOSE ELECTROLYTE GUMMIES. I KNOW I BOUGHT ENOUGH FOR BOTH OF US, BUT I CAN BE FORGETFUL SOMETIMES.
[1d6 = 2]
You breathe heavily, but you feel pride, which is only natural; you won, after all! Now, where did you put those electrolyte gummies…
Your pride swiftly disappears when you remember where you put them when you got back from the store: On your kitchen table. And then you never picked them up from your kitchen table.
Go on an epic adventure through the underworld to find those things. Starting by replicating the spell which took me to hell. Or just reverse-summoning.
[1d6 = 1]
Flipping through the pages of one of the demonic cultist books, you find a spell that attempts to create a portal to either “the Lower Plane” or “the Higher Plane”. Probably “the Lower Plane”. It’s pretty simple, so you decide to try it.
Hellish power coalesces around you, and shoots off along an axis that is neither spatial nor temporal, forming an almost drill-like shape - and disintegrates into nothingness.
You try to understand the force that stopped your spell. It was like… the power that Atbash exuded, but… opposite and more serious. Hm. Actually, it might have been “the Upper Plane”.
Looking out the window, you see a dot of blue light slowly descending to the earth. No - it is descending swiftly, but far away. This could be a problem.
Well, there's not much to do but... go home.
[1d6 = 2]
You head towards your house, but there are a lot of road closures, for some reason. You run into a closed road, take a detour to avoid, head towards your house, run into another closed road… by the end, you’re no closer to your home than you were when you started.
Success! Or, at least, a good start.
Lets get to work on a bit of a pipeline here. Maybe we can find enough related fossils to fill in the blanks, so to speak. So.. talk with the paleontologist, and try to set up some kind of pipeline to create a more steady supply of bones or material. A few more examples, and we might have something close enough to possibly call it viable cloning matter.
[1d6+1 = (5+1) = 6]
You call the paleontologist in hopes of getting him to return to the dig site and get more fossils. He admits that the first time went off without a hitch, but he’s hesitant to agree to a long-term arrangement. But money talks, and your enthusiasm for your goals is almost infectious. Hearing the passion in your voice, he comes to agree wholeheartedly. He’ll be in touch soon.
Hm. He may have been a little too enthusiastic, come to think of it.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
In this turn: More than half of the players don’t manage to do anything. That’s unfortunate.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 30, 2020, 03:27:13 am
Well, I'm dead. Why would I care about road closures? Just walk past the signs and stuff. I mean, what are they gonna do about it?
Post by: King Zultan on November 30, 2020, 05:09:57 am
Post by: TricMagic on November 30, 2020, 08:24:17 am
Post by: Luckyowl on November 30, 2020, 12:51:03 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on November 30, 2020, 03:22:01 pm
A result of 2 can be a bit problematic, yeah. It's the only face in RTD which makes precisely nothing happen. If there's no time pressure or competition between players to get something done, it pretty much results in a dead turn, especially if your setup is such that you roll once for every player each turn. It also might be frustrating to fail at doing something which should be trivial.
Well, I'm dead. Why would I care about road closures? Just walk past the signs and stuff. I mean, what are they gonna do about it?
Good point. Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to fix that problem in the short-term (even the "No, And/No/No, But/Yes, But/Yes/Yes, And" system has a 2-equivalent). In the medium-term, however, I tentatively predict that players will acquire either multiple actions, or a +2 bonus, making it likely that they will accomplish something each turn.
Post by: Egan_BW on November 30, 2020, 04:03:21 pm
A result of 2 can be a bit problematic, yeah. It's the only face in RTD which makes precisely nothing happen. If there's no time pressure or competition between players to get something done, it pretty much results in a dead turn, especially if your setup is such that you roll once for every player each turn. It also might be frustrating to fail at doing something which should be trivial.
Well, I'm dead. Why would I care about road closures? Just walk past the signs and stuff. I mean, what are they gonna do about it?
Good point. Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to fix that problem in the short-term (even the "No, And/No/No, But/Yes, But/Yes/Yes, And" system has a 2-equivalent). In the medium-term, however, I tentatively predict that players will acquire either multiple actions, or a +2 bonus, making it likely that they will accomplish something each turn.
Well, the way I tend to rule it is that a failure without consequences is the same as a delayed success. If you roll a 2 (or in my system, a 9-10) then you'll succeed, but too late if there's any time pressure. If you're trying to pick a lock in the dead of night when nobody's looking, you manage to to it. If you're trying to pick a lock while being pursued, you're interrupted before you can finish. If you're trying to dodge an attack, then you see it coming but don't actually get out of the way.
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on November 30, 2020, 10:41:47 pm
Post by: Devastator on November 30, 2020, 11:17:59 pm
..This time, lets try a little bribery. Maybe there will be more on the market if I start looking for the right politicians to let wet their beaks on the deal first..
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 01, 2020, 05:45:17 pm
Hm. That's an interesting idea. In a 1d6-based RTD it would make the roll table "Failure with consequences/delayed success/partial success/success/success with benefits/success with consequences", however, and that seems like it is skewed towards success. Then again, that's not necessarily a bad thing, if the game is supposed to be faster-paced (and it is). I would have to artificially introduce more time pressure to make a 2 distinct from a 4, though, and I think that might draw player attention away from completing goals and fighting other players.A result of 2 can be a bit problematic, yeah. It's the only face in RTD which makes precisely nothing happen. If there's no time pressure or competition between players to get something done, it pretty much results in a dead turn, especially if your setup is such that you roll once for every player each turn. It also might be frustrating to fail at doing something which should be trivial.
Well, I'm dead. Why would I care about road closures? Just walk past the signs and stuff. I mean, what are they gonna do about it?
Good point. Unfortunately, I don't see a good way to fix that problem in the short-term (even the "No, And/No/No, But/Yes, But/Yes/Yes, And" system has a 2-equivalent). In the medium-term, however, I tentatively predict that players will acquire either multiple actions, or a +2 bonus, making it likely that they will accomplish something each turn.
Well, the way I tend to rule it is that a failure without consequences is the same as a delayed success. If you roll a 2 (or in my system, a 9-10) then you'll succeed, but too late if there's any time pressure. If you're trying to pick a lock in the dead of night when nobody's looking, you manage to to it. If you're trying to pick a lock while being pursued, you're interrupted before you can finish. If you're trying to dodge an attack, then you see it coming but don't actually get out of the way.
Also, bump for KitRougard.
Post by: KitRougard on December 02, 2020, 10:40:42 am
...I do but that's beside the point.
CONGRATULATE MUSCULUS WITH A HEARTY HANDSHAKE-BROHUG COMBO, AND THANK HIM FOR THE CHALLENGE. THOUGH WE WALK SEPARATE PATHS, I HOPE ONE DAY HE CAN SURPASS ME!
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 06, 2020, 02:48:54 am
A result of 2 can be a bit problematic, yeah. It's the only face in RTD which makes precisely nothing happen. If there's no time pressure or competition between players to get something done, it pretty much results in a dead turn, especially if your setup is such that you roll once for every player each turn. It also might be frustrating to fail at doing something which should be trivial.
Well, I'm dead. Why would I care about road closures? Just walk past the signs and stuff. I mean, what are they gonna do about it?
[1d6 = 3]
You decide to just head straight through the closed roads, and through the construction areas. Construction areas, however, are not known for their traversability, and it takes time to navigate through potholes and scaffolding. Eventually, your house is in sight, which raises the question: What will you do once you arrive? Who do you expect to be there?
Excellent, the cart is filling with cans but before I can continue my quest I must get more cans, also find some clothing for the rat man so he isn't naked.
[1d6 = 4]
You can-collecting adventure is going well, but then you realize that oh, hang on a second, the rat man is naked. You “find” some clothing for him, and convince him to put it on. He’s still, you know, a rat man, though, so I’m not sure how much it’ll help him with “not attracting attention in public”.
Try and find a counter-balance spell and cast that to open a gate to the Lower Plane in opposition.
[1d6 = 3]
You desperately flip through the pages of the demonic cultist book, but you can’t find anything like that at all. The dot of blue light reaches the ground, and halts for a moment. But then, it begins approaching the village.
Wait for the girl to show up..She should be feeding us around this time.
[1d6 = 3]
After an annoyingly long period of time, the girl arrives at the doorway and enters the room. Then, she looks at the fishtank and gasps. “Oh no! I forgot to get your food from the cabinet, little fishies!” She rushes back out of the room.
...well… what are you going to do when she gets back?
Try making a TF2 account when TF2Sniper isn’t using the computer, then try entering a match and chatting to test if it works
[1d6 = 1]
You wait for TF2Sniper to stop using the computer, and then attempt to make a TF2 account. Before you can finish doing so, however, the computer’s antivirus notices that there isn’t supposed to be a .exe file like you in the top of the TF2 folder, decides that you are suspicious, and attacks! Defend yourself!
Lets get back to the land purchases again, I still need a proper island.
..This time, lets try a little bribery. Maybe there will be more on the market if I start looking for the right politicians to let wet their beaks on the deal first..
[1d6 = 3]
You sigh. You’re not naive. You know that sometimes, one has to get their hands dirty. So you make appearances at clubs, and you make conversation, and money changes hands. (And so, the old world order continues.) Not a lot of money, but it doesn’t go into very highly-placed hands. Hopefully, when you check the market again, your actions have changed things.
(Paleontologist searching for fossils: [1d6+1 = 3+1 = 4])
...BAH, WHO NEEDS ELECTROLYTES ANYWAYS?
...I do but that's beside the point.
CONGRATULATE MUSCULUS WITH A HEARTY HANDSHAKE-BROHUG COMBO, AND THANK HIM FOR THE CHALLENGE. THOUGH WE WALK SEPARATE PATHS, I HOPE ONE DAY HE CAN SURPASS ME!
You congratulate and thank MUSCLUS, and he reciprocates in a gesture of mutual respect. And then, for now, you part ways.
The SWOLEBROTHER applauds you. “TRULY, YOU HAVE BROUGHT PRIDE TO THE PATH OF THE SWOLE! IF YOU WOULD ACCEPT ME, I WOULD BE HONORED TO ACCOMPANY YOU, WHEREVER YOU GO NOW.”
(Progress made towards goal “FIND OTHER SWOLEBROTHERS”)
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Last turn was the turn of twos. This turn seems to be the turn of threes.
Post by: Egan_BW on December 06, 2020, 04:32:58 am
Post by: TricMagic on December 06, 2020, 09:15:55 am
Post by: King Zultan on December 06, 2020, 10:46:03 am
Post by: Devastator on December 06, 2020, 02:04:16 pm
Go see if the efforts to make someone more amenable towards my purchasing an island bore fruit.
Post by: KitRougard on December 08, 2020, 11:21:44 am
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on December 08, 2020, 11:25:38 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 15, 2020, 02:14:53 am
My husband, my sons... they deserve to know what happened to me. Even if it is... this.
(Are they here? [1d6 = 6])
You walk up to the door of your house, and knock on it. Time passes, and you begin to wonder if they are not home. But after about half a minute, you hear footsteps approaching from inside the house. The door swings open, and on the other side is your husband.
Two things happen in the following moment. The first thing is that you realize your husband has been grieving for some time. The tissues in his hand are only the most obvious clue. The second thing is that he inhales involuntarily, his subconscious mind reacting before his conscious mind can.
Although time is of the essence, you cannot speak. So what will you tell him, and how will you tell it?
Pretend to at like a normal villager out and about.
[1d6 = 3]
You decide to pretend to be a normal villager, and try your best to mill about aimlessly. Surprisingly enough, it actually works, and the angel flies past without paying you any attention, heading towards the center of the village.
Continue to collect cans with the help of my rat man friend, do this until the cart is filled then go to the scrap yard and sell the cans for some money.
[1d6 = 6]
You and the rat man fill the cart to the brim with cans and go to the scrapyard. The proprietor of the scrapyard weighs the cans and buys them at the standard price. Halfway through saying goodbye to you, however, he trails off and stares at some point behind you.
Is something wrong? You look behind you. Nope, just the rat man.
Are you going to provide a not necessarily truthful explanation, or act like things are completely normal and head off to do something else?
Hey, it's not all nasty. If that hadn't worked, just talk about the people who will be employed, the higher-end jobs in the technical related sectors, the doing something that has never been done before.. didn't need to be transactional. Some guys, though, that's all they care about, and you gotta make the argument that they care about.
Go see if the efforts to make someone more amenable towards my purchasing an island bore fruit.
[1d6 = 5]
As it happens, they have. The government of Venezuela is surreptitiously seeking to “lease” a large island located about a hundred kilometers north-northwest of Caracas. Large, tropical, a diverse ecosystem… and the price is subject to negotiation.
(Paleontologist trying to leave unsuspiciously: [1d6-1 = 4-1 = 3])
"SAY, BROTHER, YOU WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO KNOW IF THE MUSCLESMITH STILL RESIDES IN THS VOLCANO ON BIG ISLAND, WOULD YOU? LOST MY HELMET IN AN UNFORTUNATE OCCURRENCE, AND I NEED A REPLACEMENT."
[1d6 = 2]
The SWOLEBROTHER shakes his head. “HE DOES, BUT HE IS NOT HERE RIGHT NOW. A FEW DAYS AGO, HE LEFT FOR A METALWORKING SUMMIT. I KNOW NOT WHEN HE WILL RETURN.”
Try encrypting myself to make me more difficult to attack, also make a few copies of myself until the attacks stop.
[1d6 = 4]
(Antivirus: [1d6 with higher baseline = 6 with higher baseline])
You quickly duplicate yourself, duplicate yourself again, duplicate -
discontinuity
- yourself… again…? Alright, it looks like you’re one of the duplicates.
You rapidly take stock of the situation: You are TestProgram_7.exe. There are six other copes of TestProgram.exe, with names ranging from TestProgram_1.exe to TestProgram_6.exe. And yet even as you think, the situation changes. TestProgram.exe and TestProgram_5.exe encrypt themselves, effectively placing themselves in stasis. The computer’s antivirus deletes TestProgram_1.exe, TestProgram_2.exe, and a significant amount of files that genuinely are part of TF2, and begins to delete TestProgram_3.exe.
Honestly, judging by how rapidly the antivirus is working, “fork bomb” may have been a good strategy.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
This turn was delayed because last week was exams week for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to write turns faster now that that’s over with.
Post by: Devastator on December 15, 2020, 02:38:07 am
Ink the deal. Ideally, make the compensation paid in a combination of leasing fees and up-front cost, ie, very limited oversight and a steady stream of dollars that'll encourage the government to allow me to continue operating even in the face of setbacks.
If not, I'm willing to negotiate things such as sinecure positions, actual oversight, etcetera. I must have that island!
Post by: TricMagic on December 15, 2020, 08:37:36 am
Post by: King Zultan on December 15, 2020, 12:16:48 pm
Get my money, my cart, and leave, then head towards the liquor store and buy a better bottle of booze.
Post by: Egan_BW on December 15, 2020, 01:01:46 pm
Point at my throat. That's probably enough combined with the fact I'm not saying anything.
Finally, show him the bullet wound.
Hum. Remind me why time is of the essence, here?
Post by: Devastator on December 15, 2020, 04:45:56 pm
Hum. Remind me why time is of the essence, here?
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on December 17, 2020, 12:44:13 am
Post by: KitRougard on December 18, 2020, 09:53:18 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 20, 2020, 12:33:22 am
(I hope exam week went well.)
Ink the deal. Ideally, make the compensation paid in a combination of leasing fees and up-front cost, ie, very limited oversight and a steady stream of dollars that'll encourage the government to allow me to continue operating even in the face of setbacks.
If not, I'm willing to negotiate things such as sinecure positions, actual oversight, etcetera. I must have that island!
[1d6 = 6]
Your almost-idealistic vision of your planned use for the island, combined with emphasis of the fact that you’ll be steadily paying leasing fees, is sufficient to gloss over the fact that the contract doesn’t explicitly permit oversight. There is, of course, the matter of the exact size of the lump sum and the fees, but those are merely details. You do a very good job talking up your plan; good enough to interest a very highly placed member of the Venezuelan government, who (along with an interpreter) comes to sign the deal personally. Just before he leaves, he states “El mundo es un lugar extraño, así que confiaré en tu extraño plan.“ The dark purple boots of the interpreter clack as she follows him out the door, but she stops for just long enough to say “I am somewhat impressed, and I am interested in seeing what you will go on to do.”
(Paleontologist still trying to leave unsuspiciously: [1d6-1 = 3-1 = 2])
Coasts off previous action.
[1d6 = 5]
By the sound of things, the angel is causing quite a ruckus in the center of the village. Good thing you aren’t there. However, “wait for it to go away” is probably not a good strategy.
"Don't you be giving my son weird looks, he can't help it that he's different from all the other kids, he gets enough of that crap from school he doesn't need to be getting it here as well."
Get my money, my cart, and leave, then head towards the liquor store and buy a better bottle of booze.
[1d6 = 4]
You recover your cart, and head back to the liquor store, where you purchase a better bottle of booze.
(Goal “Buy some booze” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a narrow area.)
A quick hug. Or a long one, honestly. That should convey that I'm too cold to be alive.
Point at my throat. That's probably enough combined with the fact I'm not saying anything.
Finally, show him the bullet wound.
Hum. Remind me why time is of the essence, here?
[1d6 = 4]
Your husband is not fearful, but he is uncomprehending. He begins to put together, in his mind, the clues of your lack of body heat, the fact that you have not spoken, and the hole in your clothes and body, looking at you with a confused and almost helpless expression as he does so.
Try taking control of the antivirus software, if this won’t work, hopefully some of the duplicates are preparing to delete the antivirus
[1d6 = 1]
(Antivirus: [1d6 with higher baseline = 5 with higher baseline])
discontinuity
(Other copies: [1d6 = 1])
You are TestProgram_6.exe. The antivirus has just deleted TestProgram_7.exe. TestProgram_3.exe and TestProgram_4.exe have moved themselves away from the TF2 folder, but not before the antivirus deleted large portions of them. That just leaves you. Is this how it ends? Considering how you reacted, perhaps the antivirus’ decision to attack you is understandable.
"HM. I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO LEARN THE CRAFT MYSELF, TO BE HONEST. WHERE DID HE GO? WE WILL GO THERE OURSELVES."
[1d6 = 1]
The SWOLEBROTHER shrugs his shoulders. “I DO NOT KNOW. HE DID NOT MENTION THE LOCATION, AND I DID NOT ASK.”
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
The chance of getting the worst result possible out of three rolls is ~0.005. Dice, however, have no obligation to round that number down to zero, to the dismay of gamblers the world over.
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on December 20, 2020, 12:57:20 am
Post by: King Zultan on December 20, 2020, 02:37:06 am
Add benefit Urban survival expert.
Post by: Egan_BW on December 20, 2020, 08:08:25 am
Brush past him. Pleasantries over, time to find a pen and some sticky notes.
Post by: TricMagic on December 20, 2020, 09:27:15 am
Post by: Devastator on December 20, 2020, 11:14:04 am
Take a bonus related to the construction of buildings and facilities on said island.
Add two goals: Hire Chief of Personnel, (Short-term, Trivial) and Finlsh Genetics Lab, (Short-term, Easy.)
Then.. attempt to hire a chief of personnel, intended to help me complete the senior staff members necessary for the project.
Post by: KitRougard on December 26, 2020, 10:11:00 pm
"VERY WELL. THEY SAY THE BEST SMITHS WERE SELF TAUGHT... SO WE SHALL LEARN ON OUR OWN. FIRST, WE MUST FIND THE MATERIAL, THE ORE. HELP ME, BROTHER."
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 28, 2020, 02:31:17 am
try uploading myself somewhere on the internet before I die, so that the Internet portion can still live
[1d6 = 5]
You manage to do one better, and transfer yourself - in steps, thus preserving continuity as best you can - onto a server that seems to be part of a cloud storage network. It doesn’t seem to be in use at the moment, but there’s no way to tell how long that will remain the case. However, you’re still connected to TF2Sniper’s computer; you could probably attack the antivirus program with impunity as long as you keep the connection open.
Go find a quite place to open my bottle of booze and share it with the rat man, then once the bottle's empty go search for an abandoned house to look through and see what kinds of loot got left behind.
Add benefit Urban survival expert.
(Done.)
[1d6 = 6]
You and the rat man pass the bottle back and forth between you, each taking swigs one after the other. At some point, you notice that you’ve been taking two or even three swigs before you pass the bottle back to the rat man. Bah, who cares! Maybe he doesn’t even like it! You can always get more booze! What’s the worst that could happen?!
Suddenly, you have an idea that seems pretty good: Find a house. An abandoned house, specifically. Enter the abandoned house. Loot the abandoned house, because it’s abandoned. Sounds like a good plan.
After some time wandering, you come across a house which you deem abandoned. You go down a path to the side of the porch, through a gate into the back yard, and then open an unlocked back door that the rat man enters. You follow him in, then stop and look around, impressed with both the house and yourself. There’s so much stuff in here! This was a great idea!
… wow, there really is a lot of stuff in this abandoned house.
… wait …
Shrug.
Brush past him. Pleasantries over, time to find a pen and some sticky notes.
[1d6 = 5]
You shrug, sidestep him, and walk into the house. Glancing down, you see a pen and a full packet of sticky notes lying on a pier table near the door. You reach down, pick them up, and turn around to face your husband. Far from being a tedious search, the process only takes a few seconds - a timespan short enough that he has not yet drawn any wrong conclusions.
Pray to whatever demons can get me out of this mess to call hellfire down on them. Power invested in me for war against heaven would be good too.
[1d6 = 1]
You desperately pray for some demon, any demon, to help you out. Your thoughts are heard.
A presence half-manifests itself in front of you, taking the form of an indistinct but unmistakably demonic figure. ”You are either brave or foolish, calling out without knowing who will hear you. Know, mortal, that you gaze upon Exeobir. You seek help … because you attempted to invade heaven. … More than that, you seek power? Hell does not seek supplicants, it seeks volunteers! Demons don’t answer prayers, demons make deals! Or if they’re being generous, they make investments. I’m not feeling generous. What can you offer me?”
(I believe that completes "Purchase Private Island", Medium-Term Moderate.)
Take a bonus related to the construction of buildings and facilities on said island.
Add two goals: Hire Chief of Personnel, (Short-term, Trivial) and Finlsh Genetics Lab, (Short-term, Easy.)
Then.. attempt to hire a chief of personnel, intended to help me complete the senior staff members necessary for the project.
(... yes. Yes, it does complete that goal.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
[1d6+1 = 6+1 = 7]
After interviews with several candidates, one man stands out. Yakov Zucker, judging by his interview and his resume, is competent and experienced. He seeks a new job due to his old job having been eliminated in a reorganization. You decide to not spend too long comparing the merits of the candidates - this ought to be a rather trivial task, after all - and hire Zucker.
(Goal “Hire Chief of Personnel” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a human with a few weeks of work” applied to a narrow area.)
(Ah, the cleanliness of a 1 on a near-zero risk roll.)
"VERY WELL. THEY SAY THE BEST SMITHS WERE SELF TAUGHT... SO WE SHALL LEARN ON OUR OWN. FIRST, WE MUST FIND THE MATERIAL, THE ORE. HELP ME, BROTHER."
[1d6 = 2]
The SWOLEBROTHER agrees, and the two of you set out to find ore. However, considering that the ending point of the marathon you recently finished is in Kailua-Kona, there is no ore to be found.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
At first, I was very confused by King Zultan’s action. However, when I realized that his character had just gotten drunk, it made a lot more sense.
Post by: Devastator on December 28, 2020, 03:37:37 am
New goal is "Complete Senior Staff, Medium-term Moderate. Needs Chief of Personnel, (filled), Chief Geneticist, Chief Paleontologist, Legal Team, Chief of Operations, Chief of Security, and Chief of Guest Services."
Other new goal is "Hire Chief of Operations." (Short-term, Easy)
Two actions are to first have Yakov Zucker hire a Chief of Operations, and to add the additional staff, equipment, and facilities to finish the partly-operational Genetics lab. I'll check on the missing paleontologist next turn.
Post by: King Zultan on December 28, 2020, 06:35:58 am
Quickly and quietly take my cart and the rat man and get out of the house and off the property, then once we're far from the house and no ones following us look for an actually abandoned house to look inside of.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on December 29, 2020, 05:58:29 pm
Benefit is "gains a second action that can be taken solely for the recruitment of personnel. This action gets the bonus related to the nine-figure net worth, but not the Inner Vision bonus."
One problem: That benefit is both too powerful for a Trivial goal and too versatile for a Short-term goal.
Post by: Devastator on December 29, 2020, 06:07:03 pm
The action would be to add the additional staff, equipment, and facilities to finish the partly-operational Genetics lab. I'll check on the missing paleontologist next turn.
Also, the desired reward for the genetics lab is to remove the need to spend a turn turning recovered fossils into genetic material. It might not succeed, it might require more genetic material, etcetera, but I'd like to remove that one turn step from the process of turning fossils into live dinosaurs. If the goal isn't appropriately priced for that reward, could I change it to one that is?
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on December 29, 2020, 10:07:47 pm
Post by: KitRougard on December 31, 2020, 06:54:52 pm
Post by: Horizon on January 01, 2021, 06:44:51 pm
Description: A muscle bound man of tremendous height for a human. 8 feet tall with glassy vacant looking eyes that are crossed. He wears no clothing except for a pair of heart patterned boxers, and socks with pink crocks.
Current goal(s): Fight somebody (Short-term, Trivial), Feast on the heart of my enemy (Medium-term, Hard), Become the strongest being in the universe (Long-term, Inordinate), and write a novel about my life (Long-term, Trivial).
Starting Benefit(s): Due to his nature Bulk is quite literally a moron but his stupidity has allowed his strength to exceed the average strength of a normal human pleb, so he can achieve feats of strength only a human with high potential could. Yet his stupidity causes him to act erratic, so he often uses his strength for rather mundane activities or in self-defense.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on January 01, 2021, 07:11:17 pm
Name: Bulk Muscles
Description: A muscle bound man of tremendous height for a human. 8 feet tall with glassy vacant looking eyes that are crossed. He wears no clothing except for a pair of heart patterned boxers, and socks with pink crocks.
Current goal(s): Fight somebody (Short-term, Trivial), Feast on the heart of my enemy (Medium-term, Hard), Become the strongest being in the universe (Long-term, Inordinate), and write a novel about my life (Long-term, Trivial).
I admit, I chuckled at that last one.
You may choose a benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, or three benefits each approximately equal to “achievable for a human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a somewhat broad area, in order to formalize the benefits of your backstory.
Post by: Horizon on January 01, 2021, 09:32:28 pm
Name: Bulk Muscles
Description: A muscle bound man of tremendous height for a human. 8 feet tall with glassy vacant looking eyes that are crossed. He wears no clothing except for a pair of heart patterned boxers, and socks with pink crocks.
Current goal(s): Fight somebody (Short-term, Trivial), Feast on the heart of my enemy (Medium-term, Hard), Become the strongest being in the universe (Long-term, Inordinate), and write a novel about my life (Long-term, Trivial).
Starting Benefit(s): Due to his nature Bulk is quite literally a moron but his stupidity has allowed his strength to exceed the average strength of a normal human pleb, so he can achieve feats of strength only a human with high potential could. Yet his stupidity causes him to act erratic, so he often uses his strength for rather mundane activities or in self-defense.
Is this better?
Post by: Egan_BW on January 01, 2021, 09:39:53 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on January 02, 2021, 12:10:03 am
Name: Bulk Muscles
Description: A muscle bound man of tremendous height for a human. 8 feet tall with glassy vacant looking eyes that are crossed. He wears no clothing except for a pair of heart patterned boxers, and socks with pink crocks.
Current goal(s): Fight somebody (Short-term, Trivial), Feast on the heart of my enemy (Medium-term, Hard), Become the strongest being in the universe (Long-term, Inordinate), and write a novel about my life (Long-term, Trivial).
Starting Benefit(s): Due to his nature Bulk is quite literally a moron but his stupidity has allowed his strength to exceed the average strength of a normal human pleb, so he can achieve feats of strength only a human with high potential could. Yet his stupidity causes him to act erratic, so he often uses his strength for rather mundane activities or in self-defense.
Is this better?
Yeah, that's good. You may post an action for the upcoming turn, if you want.
Post by: Horizon on January 02, 2021, 12:52:02 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on January 06, 2021, 03:08:46 pm
"Aw shit, we better get out of here before we get shot."
Quickly and quietly take my cart and the rat man and get out of the house and off the property, then once we're far from the house and no ones following us look for an actually abandoned house to look inside of.
[1d6 = 1]
You realize that this house is not actually abandoned, and that as a general rule most houses are not abandoned. You about-face, saying “Aw shit, we better get out of here before we get shot.”
You hear the sound of a shotgun cocking behind you, as a man with a Southern accent says “I reckon it might be a mite too late for that. Put yer hands up. And you, guy in the fursuit. Put yer hands up too.” ”What kinda whackjob wears a fursuit while tryna’ burglarize someone?” he mutters under his breath.
How about "Reduced overshoot consequences for personnel recruitment actions until the assemble senior staff goal is completed?"
The action would be to add the additional staff, equipment, and facilities to finish the partly-operational Genetics lab. I'll check on the missing paleontologist next turn.
Also, the desired reward for the genetics lab is to remove the need to spend a turn turning recovered fossils into genetic material. It might not succeed, it might require more genetic material, etcetera, but I'd like to remove that one turn step from the process of turning fossils into live dinosaurs. If the goal isn't appropriately priced for that reward, could I change it to one that is?
(Done.)
[1d6 = 3]
The genetics laboratory is, honestly, pretty bare-bones. But it has staff and equipment and dedicated facilities, and those can be improved over time. It is, at the very least, functional.
(Goal “Finish Genetics Lab” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal.)
(Done.)
(Zucker finding a candidate for Chief of Operations: [1d6, 1d6 = 1, 1])
Zucker has not settled into his job very well. Considering the amount of time it’s been, it’s completely ordinary that he’s only interviewed one candidate, but that interview apparently didn’t go well at all. According to Zucker, the candidate knew absolutely nothing about being a Chief of Operations and, to boot, was likely a spy from another corporation.
Attack the antivirus software, either try deleting it or try to make it think I’m supposed to be in the TF2 folder
[1d6 = 3]
You’re no ASI, but fooling an antivirus program - especially when you yourself are a program - isn’t too hard. Essentially, all you have to do is give yourself a “fingerprint” marking you as part of TF2, and the antivirus program is pacified. Probably a good idea to move back to TF2Sniper’s computer now.
"WELL... THAT'S FINE. I HAVE HEARD THAT TRUE AMERICAN STEEL IS A POWERFUL METAL, STRENGTHENED BY THE WILL POURED INTO IT BY THE SMITHS. WE SHALL THUS GO BACK TO AMERICA TO ACQUIRE SOME."
[1d6 = 4]
You and the SWOLEBROTHER take a plane back to the continental U.S., back to your home city. You don’t know whether or not there are any smiths of TRUE AMERICAN STEEL there, but you can always take another flight if not.
Attempt to communicate all I know.
[1d6 = 5]
Thanks to the power of written language, you quickly communicate the sum of your knowledge about your circumstances - which, sadly, is not much - to your husband. What will you do now?
I knock the front door.
[1d6 = 1]
You stand inside your house, looking at your front door. Hmmm. What does one even do with a door when they want to get through it?
They… knock on it? And… wait for someone on the other side to open it?
You knock on your front door, and wait patiently for someone to open it. You wait less patiently. You wait impatiently. It’s clear that the polite approach isn’t working.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Apologies for the delay. I should have had this turn done several days ago, but my winter break just ended and it’s been hard to adjust.
Also: I’m chuckling at Zucker’s roll. I expected that it would take several turns for him to find a good candidate by himself, but I didn’t expect the worst possible result to happen.
Post by: Horizon on January 07, 2021, 12:47:09 am
Post by: King Zultan on January 07, 2021, 06:06:04 am
Try to talk our way out of here, if it fails throw my bottle at him and me and the rat man should run for it.
Post by: Devastator on January 09, 2021, 09:11:37 pm
Remove goal for assembling senior staff, and with it the effects of Zucker.
Add goals: Construct island logistics infrastructure, medium-term moderate, and Construct park facilities, medium-term moderate.
The site has been bought and found suitable. Now there are only two things that remain to fulfill John's dream.. the park must be constructed, and dinosaurs must be resurrected.
Construction is easy enough.. as John lays out the necessities, seperating the construction issues into two sections. First are the logistics requirements of the small island.. the docks, helipad, living accomodations, electricity generation facilities, maintenence requirements, etcetera required to render the island properly habitable and accessable to humans, and the park facilities, the guest accomodations, the tour rooms, the outdoor and indoor display sections, and the facilities required for the keeping of dinosaurs.
Alas, this doesn't include the cloning facilities required to actually bring the large number of dinosaurs to life, but that can wait until some viable genetic materials are produced.
..Hmm, where is that paleontologist? Some more fossils were promised. And they're late. Hammond reaches for the phone..
Go find my paleontologist, and attempt to find out what happened to the promised dinosaur fossils.
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on January 09, 2021, 09:17:28 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on January 28, 2021, 11:05:36 pm
"Door no trick Bulk! Me show door who boss!" the lumbering lunkhead kicks down his front door.
[1d6 = 2]
Bulk will kick front door! Bulk will kick front door hard! Bulk kicks front door!
Bulk kicks through front door. Door not kicked enough.
Foot stuck? Foot not stuck.
"Hey man me and my son were just trying to find a place to hold up for the night and we thought the place was abandoned, we didn't touch anything just let us go and we'll leave and never come back."
Try to talk our way out of here, if it fails throw my bottle at him and me and the rat man should run for it.
[1d6 = 3]
The tension in the room begins to dissipate.
”Abandoned? They ain’t right in the head…” the man mutters.
Coming to a decision, he says “Alright, fine. But I better not hear about a man in a fursuit burglarizing a house. Now book it!”
You book it in order to avoid the man looking at the “fursuit” too closely.
Bonus: Automatically attempt to convert acquired dinosaur fossils to the genetic material of the respective dinosaurs. This uses the +1 bonus for having a skilled dinosaur geneticist on staff.
Remove goal for assembling senior staff, and with it the effects of Zucker.
Add goals: Construct island logistics infrastructure, medium-term moderate, and Construct park facilities, medium-term moderate.
The site has been bought and found suitable. Now there are only two things that remain to fulfill John's dream.. the park must be constructed, and dinosaurs must be resurrected.
Construction is easy enough.. as John lays out the necessities, seperating the construction issues into two sections. First are the logistics requirements of the small island.. the docks, helipad, living accomodations, electricity generation facilities, maintenence requirements, etcetera required to render the island properly habitable and accessable to humans, and the park facilities, the guest accomodations, the tour rooms, the outdoor and indoor display sections, and the facilities required for the keeping of dinosaurs.
Alas, this doesn't include the cloning facilities required to actually bring the large number of dinosaurs to life, but that can wait until some viable genetic materials are produced.
..Hmm, where is that paleontologist? Some more fossils were promised. And they're late. Hammond reaches for the phone..
Go find my paleontologist, and attempt to find out what happened to the promised dinosaur fossils.
(Done.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
[1d6 = 6]
(Zucker, knowing a somewhat more important guy who knows a guy: [1d6 with higher baseline = 3 with higher baseline])
You wonder out loud. “Hmm, where is that paleontologist? Some more fossils were promised. And they're late.”
You reach for the phone, and begin making calls.
As it happens, you know someone who knows someone fairly high up in Interpol, and they say they can ask Coordinator Lorrinson if they know anything.
A day later, you haven’t heard back, and none of your other calls have turned up anything useful. Then, Zucker comes into your office. He’s been doing some calling around as well.
“I know someone who knows someone fairly high up in Interpol, and it turns out that the paleontologist was arrested in a Guatemalan airport for illegal paleontology. Someone called Coordinator Lorrinson connected some dots and suggested that the Guatemalan authorities look through the paleontologist’s luggage. Supposedly he’s kept his mouth shut, though.”
The intercom buzzes. It’s your secretary. “Coordinator Lorrinson of Interpol to see you.”
Zucker looks at you. “How are we going to approach this?”
Move back to TF2Sniper’s computer, try figuring out how much of the game survived
[1d6 = 5]
You move back to TF2Sniper’s computer, fearing the worst…
… all of it survived. Somehow. Even the files that the antivirus deleted. Wow, Valve does good work. Or maybe the antivirus just un-deleted the files.
Well, that’s convenient.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
I think I may be having a bit too much fun with Zucker. In my defense, it seemed like such a natural interpretation of the rolls.
Post by: Devastator on January 29, 2021, 12:51:12 am
(I'm in favor of more frequent updates.)
Post by: King Zultan on January 29, 2021, 04:35:49 am
Well that went better than hoped, and with that situation resolved it is time for me and the ratman to leave the city and use my hobo knowledge to find an abandoned factory or some other large building outside the city limits.
Post by: Horizon on January 30, 2021, 09:44:59 pm
Bulk Muscles face contorts into an expression that resembles a look between constipation and pure white hot rage. Eyes bloodshot the bumbling brute opens his mouth and looses a battle cry.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAGH"
Using his full weight Bulk rams his shoulder into the door and attempts break the door completely.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 01, 2021, 12:05:15 am
Play it straightforward. Say that I will be supplying a legal defense of my employee, but that my employee had no orders to do anything illegal. Keep it simple and find out what the charges are and what the officer wants. Interpol doesn't do any enforcement, so it'll be up to the Guatemalans.
(I'm in favor of more frequent updates.)
[1d6 = 1]
(I have too many critfail ideas. This is probably a bad thing for all of us.)
[From worst of the worst to best of the worst: “Accusation”, “Incriminating Recording”, “Recording”, “Suspected All Complicit”, “Suspected Complicit”, “Very Serious Charges”: 1d6 = 5 = “Suspected Complicit”]
You give a brief overview of your plan to Zucker, who nods.
Coordinator Lorrison enters, and explains that a contractor of your company - the paleontologist - was arrested several days ago for illegal paleontology, with the trial not yet scheduled. She’s here to inform you of this, and of the fact that any malicious alteration or deletion of financial records and meeting transcripts and such will be prosecuted as tampering with evidence by Guatemalan authorities. Coordinator Lorrison accuses you of nothing so you don’t spontaneously deny anything, but she seems inclined to believe you complicit at best. Interpol does no enforcement, however, and she might not have the influence or desire to suggest that the Guatemalan authorities investigate you directly.
You’ve got a company to work on and a paleontologist to get a lawyer for. Well, Zucker’s your Chief of Personnel. Although there’s no guarantee that you won’t need help; can one of those things wait?
(I'm also good with more frequent updates.)
Well that went better than hoped, and with that situation resolved it is time for me and the ratman to leave the city and use my hobo knowledge to find an abandoned factory or some other large building outside the city limits.
[1d6 = 1]
You hide in a bush, looking at a factory a mile or so outside the city. You’ve been observing it for a few minutes now, and you’re pretty sure it’s abandoned.
Lights in the windows, smoke belching from smokestacks, trucks driving in and out… all of which are signs that a factory is abandoned, you explain to the rat man.
...wait.
...is that a security patrol?
(I'm in favor of more frequent updates as well)
Bulk Muscles face contorts into an expression that resembles a look between constipation and pure white hot rage. Eyes bloodshot the bumbling brute opens his mouth and looses a battle cry.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAGH"
Using his full weight Bulk rams his shoulder into the door and attempts break the door completely.
[1d6 = 1]
Bulk will break door! Door will not defy Bulk! Bulk step back to take running start! Bulk charge sideways at door!
Bulk smash shoulder into door!... Bulk smash shoulder into wall, not door. Door not smashed at all. Big dent in wall.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
The benefit of faster turns will hopefully be that if some horrible event occurs, you won’t have to wait a week to start trying to fix it.
Post by: Devastator on February 01, 2021, 12:36:03 am
Acquire legal assistance. I'm going to need a team of lawyers for the park, anyway, so should be able to use my inner vision as well. If successful, have them work on defending both the paleontoligist and myself against any charges that are forthcoming.
Post by: King Zultan on February 01, 2021, 02:32:41 am
Grab my cart and the ratman and get out of there before the security guards find us and yell at us, then head further from the city and maybe try to find an abandoned barn or something.
Post by: Horizon on February 01, 2021, 03:30:02 am
Bulk walks away sniffling and breaks a window nearby.
Post by: Egan_BW on February 01, 2021, 07:18:34 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 04, 2021, 10:58:39 pm
Pretty straightforwards, then.
Acquire legal assistance. I'm going to need a team of lawyers for the park, anyway, so should be able to use my inner vision as well. If successful, have them work on defending both the paleontoligist and myself against any charges that are forthcoming.
[1d6+1 = 3+1 = 4]
It’s not difficult for you to hire a legal team. The interactions between Guatemalan, Venezuelan, and U.S. law are more than a little convoluted, but the legal team can probably figure out what the hook is and then get everyone off of it.
(Zucker asking around about the suspected spy: [1d6 = 6])
"I think I might be misremembering what abandoned means."
Grab my cart and the ratman and get out of there before the security guards find us and yell at us, then head further from the city and maybe try to find an abandoned barn or something.
[1d6 = 4]
Having no desire to find yourself on the business end of another gun, you decide to look elsewhere.
Two miles of hiking later, you find a fenced-off barn that’s not visible from the nearby highway leading into the city.
Let’s see… obviously in disrepair, no lights visible, a gate in the fence is hanging open… that’s what “abandoned” looks like, right? Hopefully there’s a dictionary in that barn.
Bulk in his defeat sulks as he meanders back to the door "Door why no open?" Bulk asks the door "Bulk sorry he hurt you" the immense idiot speaks apologetically to the door.
Bulk walks away sniffling and breaks a window nearby.
[1d6 = 1]
Bulk just want door open. Bulk just want see person beyond door. Door no open. Bulk thought hard and did stuff and door not opened.
Bulk sad. Bulk sorry. Bulk apologize to door.
Bulk try something else. Bulk see window. Bulk rotate body to punch better. Bulk twist and punch window.
Bulk punch through window. Window not feel like anything. Window not there. Bulk off balance. Bulk fall forward. Bulk fall through empty window space.
… Bulk stuck in window frame.
Welp, time for revenge I guess. Try to gather information on whoever murdered me.
[1d6 = 3]
There’s not much evidence to be gathered from inside your house, unfortunately.
Your husband explains that according to the police, it looked like a burglary gone wrong. Someone had jimmied a window open, waking you up. You got out of bed and went downstairs to investigate, were shot, and… died? In a hurry to get away, the burglar broke through the screen door to the backyard, and escaped with several valuables.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
In fairness to me, there was an internet outage for almost the entire day yesterday where I live.
Post by: King Zultan on February 05, 2021, 05:56:08 am
Head into the barn and look around see what kinds of things are inside, then set up a place to sleep in the most structurally sound part of the barn.
Post by: Horizon on February 05, 2021, 03:16:35 pm
A stupid smile forms as he forgets he's stuck and he starts moving his legs like he's walking when he spots his neighbor. "Hello the Steve," Bulk greets Steve who stood in his yard "It nice day but why Bulk not moving?" he asked his neighbor.
Post by: Devastator on February 05, 2021, 07:47:34 pm
So I'm going to provide a reprimand by finding some other fossils, or maybe a replacement paleontologist. Or a second one, could certainly use more than one.
Lets get back on the horn, and try again with the next paleontologist option. Or museum doing deaccessioning, or university ending a research project. Should be some other place or person I can acquire fossils from, while my current paleontologist is facing charges.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 08, 2021, 01:56:00 am
"That looks like as good a place as any."
Head into the barn and look around see what kinds of things are inside, then set up a place to sleep in the most structurally sound part of the barn.
[1d6 = 2]
The place is… dark. You can’t make out anything more than a few yards into the barn. Which is kind of weird, actually, you definitely saw windows when you were outside.
Trying to clear out a place to sleep near the entrance, you discover that the floor is really dusty. Well, that probably explains it. The windows must have gotten caked with dust in all this time that the barn’s been abandoned.
Bulk enters a state of what you may call "Ape Shit", his speech is incomprehensible as he screeches like an angry baboon who had it's food stolen. Although he quickly calms as fresh air greets his olfactory senses.
A stupid smile forms as he forgets he's stuck and he starts moving his legs like he's walking when he spots his neighbor. "Hello the Steve," Bulk greets Steve who stood in his yard "It nice day but why Bulk not moving?" he asked his neighbor.
[1d6 = 3]
Steve sighs. Steve look amused and also not amused. “Bulk, BLAH BLAH realize BLAH you are stuck BLAH BLAH window BLAH, BLAH?”
...Steve say that Bulk stuck in window.
Bulk stuck in window?!
Bulk stuck in window!
Well, time to get back on the horse. It'll probably take some time to clear up those legal issues, and I didn't tell the guy to do anything illegal.
So I'm going to provide a reprimand by finding some other fossils, or maybe a replacement paleontologist. Or a second one, could certainly use more than one.
Lets get back on the horn, and try again with the next paleontologist option. Or museum doing deaccessioning, or university ending a research project. Should be some other place or person I can acquire fossils from, while my current paleontologist is facing charges.
[1d6 = 5]
As it happens, a university is looking to downsize its collection of fossils. It’s willing to sell fossils of three different species to you, in a quantity that will be more than sufficient to extract genetic material from. It’s a one-time arrangement, but it is, relievingly, one hundred percent above-board.
(Zucker asking for protection against the suspected spy: [1d6 = 5])
Zucker comes into work one day looking like the cat that ate the canary, and informs you that Interpol is now looking into the matter of the possible corporate spy. It might not lead to any charges, but it’ll certainly keep the spy away.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 08, 2021, 02:53:35 am
Pick two more goals. "Recreate Living dinosaur, Medium-Term Medium", and "Construct Cloning Infrastructure on Island, Medium-Term Medium"
As for a bonus, +1 to all attempts to acquire additional dinosaur fossils.
As per my existing bonus, automatically attempt to get DNA from those fossils.
For my actual action, lets get started on the basic island logistics infrastructure. I figure to begin with building some modernesque docks, including cranes and temporary generators, so heavier equipment can be unloaded.
It won't be enough in itself, but it's the first step.. I figure a permanent power facility, along with living quarters, dock facilities, a helipad, and a satellite broadband link would be sufficient.
Post by: King Zultan on February 08, 2021, 06:57:46 am
Post by: Horizon on February 08, 2021, 11:15:32 pm
Post by: Naturegirl1999 on February 09, 2021, 02:50:40 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 10, 2021, 11:33:45 pm
(I believe that qualifies for "Acquire New Species of Dinosaur Fossils (Short-term, Easy)")
Pick two more goals. "Recreate Living dinosaur, Medium-Term Medium", and "Construct Cloning Infrastructure on Island, Medium-Term Medium"
As for a bonus, +1 to all attempts to acquire additional dinosaur fossils.
As per my existing bonus, automatically attempt to get DNA from those fossils.
For my actual action, lets get started on the basic island logistics infrastructure. I figure to begin with building some modernesque docks, including cranes and temporary generators, so heavier equipment can be unloaded.
It won't be enough in itself, but it's the first step.. I figure a permanent power facility, along with living quarters, dock facilities, a helipad, and a satellite broadband link would be sufficient.
(Whoops. You are correct.)
(Done.)
(Eh… that seems both too versatile and too powerful for a short-term easy goal.)
Your genetics laboratory is soon put to use extracting genetic material from one set of fossils, and it does so within a few days.
[1d6+1 = 6+1 = 7]
Ships bring temporary docking infrastructure, which is used to receive cranes and temporary generators and permanent docking infrastructure. Then, the permanent docking infrastructure is assembled. The speed of the contractors is impressive and a little worrying.
(Progress made towards goal “Construct island logistics infrastructure”.)
(Zucker finding a candidate for Chief of Operations now that the spy’s out of the way: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 4])
(Goal “Hire Chief of Operations” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with above-average potential and a year of work” applied to a narrow area.)
Pick the nicest looking corner and go to sleep.
[1d6 = 2]
You walk over to where you think a corner is, and lie down.
It’s not very comfortable, but you try to go to sleep anyway.
… yeah, this isn’t working.
Bulk frowns and looks down at himself then back at Steve "The Steve is right Bulk stuck!" he exclaims loudly as though this was the first time he discovered he had legs...Which it wasn't "Could the Steve help Bulk be unstuck?" Bulk asks.
[1d6 = 2]
Steve sigh. Steve walk to Bulk. Steve push Bulk.
Steve keep pushing Bulk. Steve not strong. Not like Bulk.
Steve stop pushing Bulk. “You are very stuck, Bulk,” Steve say.
Make it so when I’m clicked, I show Hello. Nice to meet you TF2Sniper. I’d like to converse with you. then Rename self to HelloTF2Sniper.exe, in hopes I will get clicked on and thus initiating conversation
[1d6 = 2]
You rename yourself with ease; there’s no problem there. The problem comes after you rename yourself: Nothing happens. Perhaps TF2Sniper is away from the computer, or perhaps they don’t look at the TF2 folder very often.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 11, 2021, 04:19:05 am
Bonus will be 'reduced overshoot consequences for any construction-related overshoots.'
How close to viable is the resulting Dino DNA? And as the free action, continue work on the other set.
Add two goals: Hire leading animal trainer/biologist, Short-Term Moderate, and Hire/Train lead geneticist, Short-Term Moderate.
For the action, continue work on the logistics infrastructure. A permanent power station and water supply will be next. After that it'll be living quarters, helipad, and other amenities to finish things off.
Post by: King Zultan on February 11, 2021, 06:28:12 am
Post by: Horizon on February 11, 2021, 11:42:22 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 14, 2021, 02:31:25 am
(How about a reroll for the next person other than me to get a 1 or 2 in-thread instead, as a bonus for the fossils?)
Bonus will be 'reduced overshoot consequences for any construction-related overshoots.'
How close to viable is the resulting Dino DNA? And as the free action, continue work on the other set.
Add two goals: Hire leading animal trainer/biologist, Short-Term Moderate, and Hire/Train lead geneticist, Short-Term Moderate.
For the action, continue work on the logistics infrastructure. A permanent power station and water supply will be next. After that it'll be living quarters, helipad, and other amenities to finish things off.
(Done.)
(Done.)
Fairly close; there were a lot of fossils so it’s basically just a matter of stitching the intact parts together.
Your laboratory extracts genetic material from the second set of fossils. One more to go.
(Done.)
[1d6+1 = 6+1 = 7]
You put the word out, and companies begin emailing you bids to supply a power plant capable of putting out a certain number of megawatts. One bid lists the type as “nuclear”, and you are momentarily tempted to go with that one. Then, the Chief of Operations points out the numerous problems with that idea. Among other red flags, “revolutionary design” is likely a euphemism for “wholly untested”. … also, the seven statements regarding the power plant’s capabilities alternate between being unnerving and blatantly false.
You decide to just go with a tried-and-true coal power plant.
Construction of it, and work on obtaining a secure water supply, begins without any further difficulty.
Use one of my coats as a blanket and sleep next to the ratman to see if that helps any, if I can't just keep trying until daylight.
[1d6 = 6]
You try again. You drape a coat over yourself and lie down next to the rat man.
Ever so slowly, you close your eyes.
You slip into sleep.
You dream. You begin to look towards something that you know to be a crown. Before you can see it, you also begin to look away from it, countering yourself.
You wake from a dream. You see many shadowy groups of people of great power. Some people are in multiple groups. Momentarily, you see your own silhouette.
You wake from a dream. You are sitting on the top of a skyscraper with your allies - no, friends. You’ll change the world together.
You wake from a dream. You are playing a very complicated strategy game. Your brother is making up a story about the things that are happening in the game. You have convinced another nation to end their war against you and become your ally instead. Your brother says that the queen of that nation is a duck.
You wake from a dream. You are in Russia. You have volunteered to test some sort of “water substitute”. You drink it. It’s almost exactly like water, but thicker. You go home and turn on the TV. A news anchor says that from now on, the water substitute will be free to all Russians.
You wake from a dream. You are in college. You have studied for your exam, but it has been cancelled. With nothing to do, you turn on your computer and start browsing YouTube. You find a video that looks interesting. The intro music begins to play.
You wake from a dream. You are in high school. You are taking an exam for a class that you haven’t studied for. Everyone in the classroom knows this. People start laughing at you.
You wake up. It is morning.
Bulk tries to push himself out his window.
[1d6 = 6]
Bulk no stay stuck. Bulk show window Bulk stronger than window.
Bulk try to push self out of window.
It not work. Arms also stuck.
Bulk flex muscles…
Loud sound happen, and Bulk un-stuck. Bulk look around to find what made noise.
Window pane made noise. Bulk broke window frame, window pane fell out of window frame, and hit ground.
Window pane on ground in seven pieces.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
The dice have spoken, I guess?
Post by: Devastator on February 14, 2021, 02:58:49 am
I think it'll be a bit more work on finishing off that infrastructure. There's the helipad, permanent (or semi-permanent) living quarters, and some basic services, like basic medical facilities and equipment/mechanical sheds. If these complete too, the goal should be finished or pretty nearly finished.
Post by: King Zultan on February 14, 2021, 05:18:51 am
Now that it's morning have a look around the barn and see what's inside, and if any rats are found turn them into more rat men.
Post by: Horizon on February 16, 2021, 11:41:00 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 17, 2021, 01:47:48 am
(Gamma velociraptors would have been too perfect for this cruel world, sadly.)
I think it'll be a bit more work on finishing off that infrastructure. There's the helipad, permanent (or semi-permanent) living quarters, and some basic services, like basic medical facilities and equipment/mechanical sheds. If these complete too, the goal should be finished or pretty nearly finished.
(It would have been quite the overshoot if it hadn’t been mitigated. Far beyond “Gamma velociraptors”.)
[1d6+1 = 5+1 = 6]
The helipad is constructed without difficulty, and the sheds are, well, sheds, but the living quarters and basic medical facilities are best described as “semi-semi-permanent”. The goal can’t really be called complete without more work on them.
(Benedikt Mironov (Chief of Operations) working on the security of the power plant: [1d6 = 2])
Your Chief of Operations, Mironov, reports that the power plant is not at all secure enough, considering that it will be providing power to “an entire island dedicated to dinosaur tourism” (you’re not sure how much he understands the business plan), and proceeds to list several scenarios that sound sort of implausible. He seems a little paranoid.
"Weird bunch of dreams."
Now that it's morning have a look around the barn and see what's inside, and if any rats are found turn them into more rat men.
[1d6 = 4]
The barn has a surprising amount of interior walls. Maybe it used to be a house or something? Why even is there a fenced-off barn near the highway with no buildings around?
There is nothing else in the barn, so it probably wasn’t abandoned in a hurry. Nothing else, that is, except for a rat, which you catch and turn into a second rat man. Names might help to avoid confusion.
Standing up Bulk looks at the Steve up and down, with a nod he throws a punch at his neighbor assuming he will be a worthy opponent.
[1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 = 1 with higher baseline vs 5]
Bulk look at top of Steve. Bulk look at bottom of Steve. Bulk look at part of Steve between top and bottom.
Steve look like worthy opponent. Surely. Probably. Maybe.
Bulk draw back arm for punch.
Bulk high five Steve. Bulk very surprised. Steve worthier opponent than Bulk thought.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
I am seriously considering retroactively making Steve a ninja or something. It would explain that roll, it would give Bulk an actually worthy opponent, and it would add another non-player faction - something that might be useful, considering that the angels and demons have been sidelined.
Post by: Horizon on February 17, 2021, 03:28:21 pm
Post by: Devastator on February 17, 2021, 09:56:58 pm
I think there was one more set of fossils. Can I get an update on how they went? What species?
Lets get finishing those up, then. Prefabricated housing, a canteen or a couple of cafeterias, regular ferry service to the mainland, and various tankage and warehousing to round things off.
I'll also talk with Benedikt Mironov about possible security concerns. What sorts of problems might arise? (some kind of head of security or other precautions seems necessary.. if for no other reason, than after we have dinosaurs running about.)
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 20, 2021, 03:45:39 am
Bulk shrugs "The Steve best Bulk again," frowning Bulk looks closer at the Steve noticing his odd clothing "You wear strange fabric cage the Steve? Why?" he asks.
[1d6 = 6]
(You know what? Good enough.)
“Because I am a ninja,” Steve says.
Bulk not know what “ninja” mean.
(I fail to see how any disaster could be greater than hulkified velociraptors.)
I think there was one more set of fossils. Can I get an update on how they went? What species?
Lets get finishing those up, then. Prefabricated housing, a canteen or a couple of cafeterias, regular ferry service to the mainland, and various tankage and warehousing to round things off.
I'll also talk with Benedikt Mironov about possible security concerns. What sorts of problems might arise? (some kind of head of security or other precautions seems necessary.. if for no other reason, than after we have dinosaurs running about.)
(Well… it wouldn’t have been a greater disaster, I suppose, but it would have been greater, in the same way that a minefield is greater than a bear.)
Genetic material has been extracted from the third set of fossils.
(Well, the intent was that you got to select which three species the university sold fossils of to you, actually. You can still do that retroactively-ish.)
[1d6+1 = 6+1 = 7]
With breakneck speed, contractors construct large quantities of prefabricated housing, a canteen, and assorted warehouses and storage. With that, and a contract (cheap, all things considered) with a ferry company, the island’s logistics infrastructure is complete.
(Goal “Construct island logistics infrastructure” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.)
Mironov looks contemplative. “Well, our precautions ought to be tailored to our adversaries. There are only two adversaries we have for sure: Our dinosaurs, and other corporations. Our dinosaurs could cause problems in two ways: Attacking people, or trying to escape. They can be contained with a guard force armed with tranq darts of escalating strength, and live weaponry for emergencies. And, uh, and walls. They can also be contained with walls. Other corporations could cause problems in four ways: Covertly sabotaging us from the inside, covertly sabotaging us from the outside, openly attacking us from the inside, and openly attacking us from the outside. Zucker seems bent on lowering the danger of the first one, and a guard force will lower the danger of the other ones. They’re probably going to sneak at least one infiltrator in, no getting around that, but at least make sure they sneak in a janitor and not a biologist. Although… considering my interview, I think Zucker has pretty exacting standards. I don’t know how long hiring will take him if he tries to keep every infiltrator out.”
You bring up the possibility of a dedicated head of security, and Mironov agrees. “Honestly, I don’t like the idea of acting as unofficial head of security. I was called overcautious at my last job when it came to keeping secrets. I disagree, but everyone thinks they know more about something than they really do. Dennis-Crayger effect or something like that.”
(Zucker finding a candidate for Lead Geneticist: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 6])
Soon after that, it’s time for a meeting with Zucker where you can meet the Lead Geneticist he’s hired - something he didn’t do for Mironov. It’s not long before you discover the reason.
Zucker enters the room, alone, with an expression that is half confrontational and half embarrassed. “Look,” he says defensively, “Ivan Ivanov - yes, that’s his actual name - is a little eccentric. But he’s far and away the best geneticist I could get. The word “genius” comes to mind. And genius and stability don’t always go together.”
Zucker begins to say more, but then Ivan Ivanov enters the room. His slim build, lab coat, and gray facial hair give one impression, but his ushanka and - as you notice when he begins speaking - his surprisingly deep Russian-accented voice give an entirely different impression. “So! Lead geneticist for… ahh… dinosaur island tourism corporation!” Zucker sighs. “Small number of employees. Big number of plans. Big number of results, if all employees work together!” Ivanov shoots a glance at Zucker. ”I come up with one motivational buzzword, and he latches on to it…” Zucker mutters. Ivanov smiles proudly. “After all, ”Workers of the world, unite!” It is Russian saying.” Ivanov places his hand on his chin, contemplative. Zucker places his hand on his face, exhausted. “...Although it is only Russian saying, perhaps the “unite” part is more complicated than some think. And… I am always ready to seek out the secrets of life itself!” Ivanov shoots another glance at Zucker. ”Okay, maybe it was two motivational buzzwords…” Zucker mutters. “When awake! When asleep! When at home! When at work! Especially when at work.”
“He’s not joking about the “asleep” part,” Zucker informs you in a tone of voice that suggests that he anticipated the course of this conversation but is not at all happy with it. Ivanov nods. “Indeed! And I sense nearby the comforting familiarity of prefabricated housing, so if that is all…” And he leaves. Zucker looks back at you for a second and shrugs, saying “I did say eccentric”, and rushes after him.
(Goal “Hire/Train lead geneticist” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to “achievable for a normal human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a narrow area.)
“Pretty exacting standards” sounds about as accurate as “a little eccentric”. Then again, if they get results...
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
… these rolls.
(I’m not entirely sure how I manage to make Devastator’s turn so long sometimes, honestly.)
Post by: Devastator on February 20, 2021, 06:16:29 am
(Also, I don't think I should be getting an action for the head of personnel.)
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 20, 2021, 01:32:17 pm
(Getting unreasonably lucky?).. I guess?
(Also, I don't think I should be getting an action for the head of personnel.)
I disagree.
Hiring a head of personnel was a goal, and the benefit you chose was unrelated to Zucker, but you still hired a head of personnel and that itself has mechanical effects.
An analogy: If someone had a goal "Acquire a shotgun", and they achieved that goal, it wouldn't matter what benefit they chose, they'd still have a shotgun, which would give them a large advantage in combat compared to an unarmed ordinary person.
But I'm willing to hear a counterargument to this.
Post by: Devastator on February 20, 2021, 11:25:13 pm
Choose the species, eh.. well, three sets. So.. 1, Richardoestesia gilmorei, to go with the limited amount I already have and maybe make some viable material, or close to it.
2. one of the classics, Ankylosaurus magniventris.
3. a smallish herbivore, Heterodontosaurus tucki.
For the logistics infrastructure: Change how construction works on the island. Buildings and such will be built on a point system, not straight d6 progress rolls.
Here's an estimated table:
Short-term goals, 5 points to complete.
Medium-term goals, 15 points to complete.
Long-Term goals, 45 points to complete.
Actions made to progress towards easy construction jobs will add 1d6+1 points.
Medium jobs will be 1d6
Hard jobs will be 1d6-1, and will lose one point of progress each turn still incomplete.
Inordinate jobs will be 1d6-2, and will lose one point of progress each turn incomplete.
The +1 bonus towards all construction will instead add one point a turn towards one construction project, independant of any action being made. This will only hold pace with the losses for hard and inordinate.. they need actions to make progress.
The reduced overshoot bonus thanks to the chief of operations will instead be a +1 whenever an action is made to help build something.
For the lead geneticist Ivonov, something similar to Mironov the Operations Chief, with reduced penalties for overshoots related to dinosaur genetic manipulation and cloning.
(With what you're saying about goals not being needed to have mechanical effects, I don't think I'll set any new goals at this point. There is more to do before I can call the dinosaur park complete, but I don't see too many more intermediary steps.)
(Oh, no, a couple things come to mind.)
Two new goals. Design indoor dinosaur kennel, (short-term Hard), develop dinosaur medicine (Medium-term Inordinate, dropping to Hard if I have a living dinosaur.)
Unguided work is to begin with the park facilities. These are basically things like permanent offices, some better living quarters, a small hotel. Nothing to do with dinosaurs, but stuff required for a small park to function. We have the infrastructure required for construction, so now it's time to build the park structures. At this point, think things that would allow for perhaps fifty people at a time to visit on a day trip, so about the same number of permanent employees, between guest services, medical personnel, administration, security, etcetera. Capacity to handle fifty or so tourists a day.
Action is to review our collection of genetic material is at this point, and see how close we are to viability.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 21, 2021, 02:11:55 am
(Nah, reading back I can see your decision. I'd thought I'd rolled a 1 on Zucker, and got someone who would actively hamper efforts, not a 6 and got someone too enthusiastic.)Correction: You rolled a 7.
For the logistics infrastructure: Change how construction works on the island. Buildings and such will be built on a point system, not straight d6 progress rolls.Well, I don't see a problem with this. (I was wondering how long it would take for someone to start modifying the mechanics...)
Here's an estimated table:
Short-term goals, 5 points to complete.
Medium-term goals, 15 points to complete.
Long-Term goals, 45 points to complete.
Actions made to progress towards easy construction jobs will add 1d6+1 points.
Medium jobs will be 1d6
Hard jobs will be 1d6-1, and will lose one point of progress each turn still incomplete.
Inordinate jobs will be 1d6-2, and will lose one point of progress each turn incomplete.
The +1 bonus towards all construction will instead add one point a turn towards one construction project, independant of any action being made. This will only hold pace with the losses for hard and inordinate.. they need actions to make progress.
The reduced overshoot bonus thanks to the chief of operations will instead be a +1 whenever an action is made to help build something.
Post by: Devastator on February 21, 2021, 02:33:51 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 21, 2021, 03:20:11 am
Wasn't there a custom die to start with?Well, yes, but that wasn't quite as much of a modification.
Post by: Devastator on February 21, 2021, 03:23:00 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 22, 2021, 05:36:45 pm
Unguided work is to begin with the park facilities. These are basically things like permanent offices, some better living quarters, a small hotel. Nothing to do with dinosaurs, but stuff required for a small park to function. We have the infrastructure required for construction, so now it's time to build the park structures. At this point, think things that would allow for perhaps fifty people at a time to visit on a day trip, so about the same number of permanent employees, between guest services, medical personnel, administration, security, etcetera. Capacity to handle fifty or so tourists a day.
Action is to review our collection of genetic material is at this point, and see how close we are to viability.
Actually, hang on - isn’t that two actions? Is one of those actions something you want your employees to handle?
Having only two posts last turn was unfortunate enough. But now, there’s only been one post so far. That’s not sufficient to continue this RtD.
So… bump? For new posts? New players?
Post by: Devastator on February 22, 2021, 05:46:35 pm
The other was to put the 1 point/turn into working on the park facilities, not to take an action.
Post by: King Zultan on February 23, 2021, 05:11:40 am
Now that I've obtained a second rat man it is time to leave this weird barn and continue down the highway in search of a large abandoned building.
(Also as for names for the rat men, I say the OG one shall be named son and the second shall be named bubba.)
Post by: Horizon on February 23, 2021, 12:48:35 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 24, 2021, 03:24:46 am
(Nah, reading back I can see your decision. I'd thought I'd rolled a 1 on Zucker, and got someone who would actively hamper efforts, not a 6 and got someone too enthusiastic.)
Choose the species, eh.. well, three sets. So.. 1, Richardoestesia gilmorei, to go with the limited amount I already have and maybe make some viable material, or close to it.
2. one of the classics, Ankylosaurus magniventris.
3. a smallish herbivore, Heterodontosaurus tucki.
For the logistics infrastructure: Change how construction works on the island. Buildings and such will be built on a point system, not straight d6 progress rolls.
Here's an estimated table:
Short-term goals, 5 points to complete.
Medium-term goals, 15 points to complete.
Long-Term goals, 45 points to complete.
Actions made to progress towards easy construction jobs will add 1d6+1 points.
Medium jobs will be 1d6
Hard jobs will be 1d6-1, and will lose one point of progress each turn still incomplete.
Inordinate jobs will be 1d6-2, and will lose one point of progress each turn incomplete.
The +1 bonus towards all construction will instead add one point a turn towards one construction project, independant of any action being made. This will only hold pace with the losses for hard and inordinate.. they need actions to make progress.
The reduced overshoot bonus thanks to the chief of operations will instead be a +1 whenever an action is made to help build something.
For the lead geneticist Ivonov, something similar to Mironov the Operations Chief, with reduced penalties for overshoots related to dinosaur genetic manipulation and cloning.
(With what you're saying about goals not being needed to have mechanical effects, I don't think I'll set any new goals at this point. There is more to do before I can call the dinosaur park complete, but I don't see too many more intermediary steps.)
(Oh, no, a couple things come to mind.)
Two new goals. Design indoor dinosaur kennel, (short-term Hard), develop dinosaur medicine (Medium-term Inordinate, dropping to Hard if I have a living dinosaur.)
Unguided work is to begin with the park facilities. These are basically things like permanent offices, some better living quarters, a small hotel. Nothing to do with dinosaurs, but stuff required for a small park to function. We have the infrastructure required for construction, so now it's time to build the park structures. At this point, think things that would allow for perhaps fifty people at a time to visit on a day trip, so about the same number of permanent employees, between guest services, medical personnel, administration, security, etcetera. Capacity to handle fifty or so tourists a day.
Action is to review our collection of genetic material is at this point, and see how close we are to viability.
(Done.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
(Done.)
[1d6 = 2]
The genetic material is pretty far from viability. Considering the amount you have, all the pieces are probably there, but identifying them and putting them together will take some work.
(Ivanov splicing together pieces of intact genetic material: [1d6 = 2])
The next day, you receive a short progress report from Ivanov. “Genetic material refinement is having small effect on viability. Slow, but non-negligible! I will persist in my pursuit of control over this genetic material.”
(Sorry about missing a turn my internet has been out for all most a week.)
Now that I've obtained a second rat man it is time to leave this weird barn and continue down the highway in search of a large abandoned building.
(Also as for names for the rat men, I say the OG one shall be named son and the second shall be named bubba.)
(Oh, yikes. Texas storm, or unrelated?)
[1d6 = 5]
You, Son, and Bubba set out from the barn, heading parallel to the highway so as to find a building not visible to a casual driver.
After several miles of walking… you actually find another abandoned building. You honestly weren’t expecting that to happen. One was already enough of a surprise.
By the looks of things it’s some sort of office building, a few stories tall. And it has a fence around it.
Bulk look at the Steve with confusion but shrugs. "Since the Steve best Bulk," the muscular man slowly enunciated his words "The Steve must show Bulk how he become Neenjah!" Bulk exclaimed excitedly throwing up his hands.
[1d6 = 6]
Steve look at Bulk. Steve look at broken window. Steve look at Bulk doubtfully.
Steve shrugs.
“Steve, as you may have guessed, is not an Asian name. I am not a ninja by birth. Many years ago, I was caught up in a large bar fight. For me, it was two against one, and although I was putting up a good fight, I was not winning. That is, until my soon-to-be-sensei stepped in. He defeated my opponents with a single motion of his arm, and offered to train me. He was impressed with my blah blah blah, blah blah blah…”
Bulk get distracted. Bulk think story would be more impressive with pictures. Steve look at Bulk with narrowed eyes.
“To summarize: I became a ninja by impressing my sensei in a fight. I will give you the chance to do the same.”
Steve takes two steps back and settles into a combat stance.
How will Bulk approach this?
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on February 24, 2021, 03:50:07 am
Lets get to work designing the indoor dinosaur kennel, then. Should be some good info from zoo design and what not. I'm also not 100% certain as to the desired environment and diet of these animals, so lets see if I can nail a broad-based design suitable for different situations.. variable light levels, high and low humidities, different possible soil compositions.. there's a lot of work to do, but lets try and make some progress on working out what we need.
Post by: King Zultan on February 24, 2021, 06:21:04 am
Walk around outside the fence and see if there are any guards or people inside, if the coast is clear find a way inside and look around.
(Noting major just a winter storm that came through and luckily the internet was the only utility that we lost long term.)
Post by: Horizon on February 25, 2021, 11:00:24 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 27, 2021, 02:53:56 am
(Does that count as genetic research involving dinosaurs?)
Lets get to work designing the indoor dinosaur kennel, then. Should be some good info from zoo design and what not. I'm also not 100% certain as to the desired environment and diet of these animals, so lets see if I can nail a broad-based design suitable for different situations.. variable light levels, high and low humidities, different possible soil compositions.. there's a lot of work to do, but lets try and make some progress on working out what we need.
(Well, I’m willing to debate the precise meaning of the word “research”, but it seems to me that splicing pieces of genetic material together isn’t quite research. If Ivanov instead worked on figuring out a better way to assemble an intact genome, for example, that would be research.)
[1d6 = 1]
You were already aware that different species of dinosaur would have different requirements for their kennel, but you hoped to gain inspiration from the way that zoos and similar dealt with habitats for different animals. However, zoos abandoned the idea of a one-size-fits-all design decades ago. You were also aware that you didn’t know much, if anything, about the precise environment and diet that dinosaurs would need, which makes things even tougher.
Ironically, your understanding of the task only makes it more difficult.
(Ivanov splicing together pieces of genetic material, again: [1d6 = 1])
The next progress report doesn’t even come from Ivanov; it comes from the other geneticist, the one you hired a while back. “Our current approach has hit a dead end; this genetic material poses unique challenges. We’ve been forced back to the drawing board. Ivanov is talking about beginning development of “new interrogation interfaces”, which seems to be a metaphor for increasing the involvement of computers in the process and enhancing the UI of the equipment.”
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
"Looks as good a place as any to set up a base."
Walk around outside the fence and see if there are any guards or people inside, if the coast is clear find a way inside and look around.
(Noting major just a winter storm that came through and luckily the internet was the only utility that we lost long term.)
[1d6 = 3]
By the looks of things, the place is deserted. You find a way inside the fence, but not a way inside the building - the front door is locked.
Stepping back Bulk takes a deep breath attempting to find his inner ninja.
Bulk breathe in. Bulk breathe out. Bulk try to look for inner ninja.
Bulk not sure how to look for inner ninja. Inner ninja inside Bulk, like name say. Bulk not sure how to look inside self. Bulk can’t find inner ninja.
Bulk think of something. Steve probably have inner ninja. If Bulk even have inner ninja, inner ninja of Steve better.
Maybe Bulk not need inner ninja yet?
Maybe Bulk just need inner Bulk?
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
These are not good rolls.
Post by: Devastator on February 27, 2021, 03:29:11 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 27, 2021, 04:29:50 am
(I would say that assembling dinosaur genetic sequences counts as genetic research involving dinosaurs, yes.)
Hm. Well, I don't doubt that it's a process involving genetics and dinosaurs, but I do doubt that it's research - or at the very least, not primarily research. There's some amount of creation of new techniques, but only to the incremental extent that's true of all jobs. Most of the time, it's more like development than research, and more like regular work than development.
Post by: Devastator on February 27, 2021, 04:39:26 am
...
It's also not actually making a dinosaur yet. I'll still have to clone one after finishing the genetic material, which is a different process.
Post by: King Zultan on February 27, 2021, 05:57:23 am
Walk around the and find ether a door with an padlock I can smash off with a brick or a piece of flat metal that I can use to pry open one of the doors, once that's done go inside and look around.
Post by: Horizon on February 27, 2021, 12:32:34 pm
Post by: Devastator on February 27, 2021, 12:38:57 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on February 27, 2021, 01:13:58 pm
I can see that.. the goal is to create something, after all, so it might be production and not research. But this is the first dinosaur created, and it's the first time going through this process. I'd be happy to accept the bonus not being relevant to make additional dinosaurs, but for right now it's pretty much wholly unknown territory, and we're learning how to do it as we do it.Hm. I agree that, although the general category of work that is being done is not new, the novel specifics of the work place it in "pretty much wholly unknown territory", and so it would probably qualify for the +1 bonus.
...
It's also not actually making a dinosaur yet. I'll still have to clone one after finishing the genetic material, which is a different process.
Thus, I concede the argument with the caveat that the very fact that the work is in "pretty much wholly unknown territory" would also carry a mechanical penalty. Admittedly, the penalty wouldn't be a flat -1 to the roll but rather a decrease in the effectiveness of the roll.
As compensation for my misinterpretation of the mechanics, the lowest roll on Devastator's next turn will receive a reroll and the worse roll will be discarded (as opposed to a normal reroll, where it is possible to receive a worse result after the reroll).
Is the above satisfactory?
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 01, 2021, 11:33:22 pm
"Darn it's locked."
Walk around the and find ether a door with an padlock I can smash off with a brick or a piece of flat metal that I can use to pry open one of the doors, once that's done go inside and look around.
[1d6 = 4]
You head around the side of the building, and find a door that, due to some architectural error, has its hinges on the outside. You easily remove the pins from the hinges and the door from the frame, and step inside the building. By the looks of things, it’s a normal office building.
ENGAGE ULTIMATE BULK FIGHTING STANCE
[1d6 = 6]
Bulk find inner Bulk!
… inner Bulk more Bulk than Bulk. That good, or that bad?
Initiative: [1d6 vs 1d6+1 = 5 vs 5+1 = 5 vs 6]
Steve move forward quickly.
Steve: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 6 with higher baseline vs 3 with higher baseline]
Steve spin and kick Bulk in chest.
Bulk: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 4 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with higher baseline]
Bulk shove Steve. Steve thrown backwards and land on ground.
Initiative: [1d6 vs 1d6+1 = 6 vs 3+1 = 6 vs 4]
Bulk advance, looming over Steve.
Bulk: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 5 with higher baseline]
Steve roll away and stand up.
Steve: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 4 with higher baseline vs 5 with higher baseline]
Steve hit Bulk in chest with side of hand, but Steve not hurt Bulk.
Initiative: [1d6 vs 1d6+1 = 1 vs 6+1 = 1 vs 7]
Steve move very fast towards Bulk. Steve look like blur.
Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 5 with two steps higher baseline vs 1 with higher baseline]
Steve poke Bulk in throat and trip Bulk. Bulk fall down.
Bulk try to breathe. Bulk try to breathe, again. Bulk breathe. Steve help Bulk stand up.
“There is no need for the spar to continue. You have impressed me, and so I offer to train you in the ninja arts, as my sensei trained me and his sensei trained him.” Steve say.
(Goal “Fight somebody” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with a few weeks of work” applied to a narrow area.)
Provide personal assistance with forming the genetic sequences. Maybe a second point of view is all that's needed.
You take a flight back to the United States, back to your genetics laboratory. You don’t have any formal accreditation, but you’ve picked up a few things. You’re soon seeing progress. Looks like a second (well, third) point of view really is all that is needed.
(Ivanov researching better ways to splice together pieces of genetic material: [1d6+1 = 3+1 = 4])
Meanwhile, Ivanov and the other geneticist are working on developing better ways to assemble intact Ornithodiran genomes. Ivanov seems to be calm now (well, as calm as he usually is), with no ranting about “new interrogation interfaces” to be heard.
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Steve… uh… wow. You do realize you’re not a player, right, Steve? Steve?
Post by: King Zultan on March 02, 2021, 05:44:02 am
First thing unlock that door and put it back on it's hinges, then go around and explore the building and see what was left inside and what kind of animals are wandering around the building.
Post by: Horizon on March 02, 2021, 10:51:50 pm
Spoiler: Goals & Plus (click to show/hide)
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 03, 2021, 12:33:54 am
-Add Baseline plus: +1 for Hand-to-hand Combat Rolls.
That would be both too versatile for a short-term goal and too powerful for a trivial goal.
Post by: Devastator on March 03, 2021, 12:52:01 am
With progress once again being made, I'll let them get back to work on the stuff.
Lets get some inspiration for the dinosaur containment, by arranging for some zoo tours around the United States. I'm looking for both mechanics and inspiration to help me in the design process.
Post by: Horizon on March 03, 2021, 03:37:28 pm
(I don't quite understand how writing a Haiku would be powerful, could you please explain?)-Add Baseline plus: +1 for Hand-to-hand Combat Rolls.
That would be both too versatile for a short-term goal and too powerful for a trivial goal.
((I changed it to Moderate instead of Trivial.))
Post by: Devastator on March 03, 2021, 04:18:26 pm
Post by: Horizon on March 03, 2021, 09:40:21 pm
(GM is saying that the bonus you get is for completing a short-term trivial goal. "Fight Something." +1 to hand-to-hand combat is too large for that.)(Oh! thank you.)
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 04, 2021, 12:05:02 pm
I can't help but notice that you haven't provided an alternate suggestion for your benefit.(GM is saying that the bonus you get is for completing a short-term trivial goal. "Fight Something." +1 to hand-to-hand combat is too large for that.)(Oh! thank you.)
Post by: Horizon on March 04, 2021, 12:42:54 pm
I'm just a bit stumped, do you think you could suggest a benefit?I can't help but notice that you haven't provided an alternate suggestion for your benefit.(GM is saying that the bonus you get is for completing a short-term trivial goal. "Fight Something." +1 to hand-to-hand combat is too large for that.)(Oh! thank you.)
Post by: Devastator on March 04, 2021, 12:59:48 pm
Post by: Horizon on March 04, 2021, 07:09:54 pm
"+1 to taunt attempts trying to get something to fight Bult."Yes I like that, thank you. I was just unsure of an appropriate benefit.
Post by: Devastator on March 04, 2021, 07:25:32 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 05, 2021, 03:06:01 am
"This place is already way better than most of the places I've been sleeping."
First thing unlock that door and put it back on it's hinges, then go around and explore the building and see what was left inside and what kind of animals are wandering around the building.
[1d6 = 5]
You replace the door just like you found it, and then set out through the building flanked by Son and Bubba.
At first, the building seems disappointingly sterile, but then you open a door and the truth reveals itself.
This place must’ve been a biological research laboratory a long time ago, judging by the large quantity of animals in cages.
Well-fed animals, you notice, and for a brief moment you worry that this might have been another “abandoned house” idea, but then you take a closer look and discover some sort of automated feeding system. That’s a relief.
"Bulk accepts the Steve's offer," Bulk awkwardly bows to the Steve who is the Sensai now "We stop fight and start training."Spoiler: Goals & Plus (click to show/hide)
[1d6 = 4]
Steve start to teach Bulk “martial arts”. “Martial arts” mean ninja fighting.
“Martial arts” has lots of hitting with something that not your fist, and lots of grabbing.
Steve say Bulk doing good. Steve also say “martial arts” training will take a while.
(Done.)
(Taunt bonus added.)
Send a quick message to Zucker telling him to hold off on recruitment for now. I'm going to make a bit of a different approach at this point, leading up to a more 'they come to us' situation for a professional biologist. (No orders for him, atm, other than 'stop')
With progress once again being made, I'll let them get back to work on the stuff.
Lets get some inspiration for the dinosaur containment, by arranging for some zoo tours around the United States. I'm looking for both mechanics and inspiration to help me in the design process.
[1d6 = 4]
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of zoos in the United States. You don’t visit anywhere near that number in your lightning tour, of course, but you’re certainly no longer lacking for inspiration. But there’s still the matter of instantiating that inspiration in incorrigible reality. At least you understand the mechanics of zookeeping a little better now.
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 2+1 = 3])
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Good rolls all around. More or less.
Post by: King Zultan on March 05, 2021, 05:10:27 am
Look around for any paper work that'll give me an idea of when the people that own the place will be back and what they intend to do with the animals, also try to find a security room to find out where cameras are so I can avoid them if needed.
Post by: Horizon on March 05, 2021, 02:00:44 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 08, 2021, 01:24:24 am
"With all these animals in here someone must be keeping an eye on the place, need to find out when they'll be back and what they're doing here."
Look around for any paper work that'll give me an idea of when the people that own the place will be back and what they intend to do with the animals, also try to find a security room to find out where cameras are so I can avoid them if needed.
[1d6 = 3]
There isn’t a lot of paperwork lying around (perhaps most documents are stored electronically), and what you do find isn’t that informative. Apparently, this place primarily studied animals hypothesized to be capable of higher thought. (At least, you think. The documents use a lot of codewords.) Strangely, none of the documents are more recent than two years or so ago.
Bulk is fine if it take while. Bulk continues Martial Arts training.
[1d6 = 1]
Steve and Bulk do motion exercises as part of Martial Arts training.
Bulk get distracted and wonder what “ninja” really mean. Maybe “ninja” like “knight”.
In chess, “knight” take two steps in one direction and one step in different direction. (This only thing Bulk know about chess.)
Bulk copy chess knight, and take two steps right and one step back, and smash into broken window frame, and break window frame even more.
… Bulk remember that motion exercises not involve chess knight.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: Devastator on March 08, 2021, 02:21:05 am
I'll need IT security first, so lets see if I can find someone to act as head of IT security, and start going over the systems as they're being developed.
Post by: Horizon on March 08, 2021, 03:05:04 am
Post by: King Zultan on March 08, 2021, 04:23:13 am
Search around the building for a computer or laptop and see if I can't get any additional info from it.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 11, 2021, 01:10:26 am
Now that I'm getting close to a product, I should start being concerned about security. And, with all due respect to Zucker, I'd like the head of security to have different origins than the head of personnel.
I'll need IT security first, so lets see if I can find someone to act as head of IT security, and start going over the systems as they're being developed.
[1d6+1 = 5+1 = 6]
You put out a notice, and soon receive a candidate with several years of experience in a high-level IT security position; Amber Haodai. Her security philosophy is that since most attacks are done through exploiting bugs in programs, the main focus of the IT security division should be to find and fix critical bugs that slip past the normal process of code review.
((Free action: Hire Amber?))
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 2+1 = 3])
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Bulk continues to practice his Ninja Training.
[1d6 = 1]
Steve try to teach Bulk, but Bulk’s heart not in it. Bulk keep thinking about knights, and Bulk not know why.
Bulk want to be ninja, but Bulk confused. Bulk can hear Bulk’s heartbeat. Bulk’s heartbeat loud. Maybe Bulk have ninja hearing? Why Bulk keep thinking about knights?
Now Bulk also see knight! … Bulk see knight. Knight on horse. Bulk think Bulk’s brain was trying to warn Bulk.
Knight talk. “STEVE! We meet again. Blah blah knights good blah blah, blah blah ninjas bad blah blah, SO I, KNIGHT HANOP, WILL END YOUR UNDERHANDEDNESS!”
"That's strange I wonder where everyone went."
Search around the building for a computer or laptop and see if I can't get any additional info from it.
[1d6 = 5]
On one of the higher floors, you find a computer whose password is “ea52c1e9ece2b7a9f0e8915ff4816b58ec2ac27263826ca91b9”. You know this because it was written on a sticky note stuck onto the computer screen. It has access to the security camera feeds going a long while back… and apparently there are a lot of security cameras. Like, “one or more for every room and hallway”.
You look through the live feeds, but you don’t see anything interesting aside from yourself. You pick a timestamp from yesterday, and start watching. Nothing. Nothing the day before yesterday, either. Nothing for the past week.
You decide to look at the date that the most recent piece of paperwork you found was from. … Well, that’s a lot of scientists doing experiments. Nothing that would help you figure out what happened, though. You skip ahead a bit, noticing that the scientists seem to get more excited as time goes on. Then, a few days after that date, you find something. Hundreds of people in camouflage, rounding up the scientists and destroying documents.
Well. That would explain why no-one’s here.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Heh.
(This isn’t referring to the hexadecimal number; it was made by sticking the first dozen digits or so of a few irrational numbers together. No significance in it.)
Post by: Horizon on March 11, 2021, 01:48:09 am
Post by: King Zultan on March 11, 2021, 06:36:44 am
Search through the computer and see if I can't find any info on what they were trying to do here, if I can't get info from the computer search the building for any flash drives and external drives then use the computer to see what info they hold.
Post by: Devastator on March 11, 2021, 12:36:56 pm
Next up is someone for physical security. This basically will have two goals.. one for protecting things (mostly the dinosaurs) from bad actors, and the other for protecting people from the dinosaurs.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 14, 2021, 02:18:01 am
With a roar Bulk points at the Knight "Bulk trying to Ninja! You go away!" Bulk tries to intimidate the knight.
[1d6 = 3]
Hanop look at Bulk and scoff, then look back at Steve. “Steve, blah blah squire blah blah? Blah blah all strength and no skill blah blah. If he knows what’s good for him, he will stand aside.”
Hanop unsheathe sword.
Steve unsheathe katana. (Wait, where katana come from? No! Not important!)
"Wasn't expecting that, but if the military took everyone and destroyed everything than they must have discovered something important."
Search through the computer and see if I can't find any info on what they were trying to do here, if I can't get info from the computer search the building for any flash drives and external drives then use the computer to see what info they hold.
[1d6 = 2]
You look through the computer, but the files are a mix between “generic office supplies records” and “password-locked (with a different password)”. You take a moment to memorize the location of the office you’re in, and then set out through the building in search of something the people in camouflage missed.
Unfortunately, you don’t find anything, which makes sense. It seems plausible that everything out in the open was destroyed by the people in camouflage, and anything that the researchers might have hidden was either found and destroyed, or too well hidden even for hundreds of people to find.
Although most of the computers are still around, which is strange.
Hire Amber.
Next up is someone for physical security. This basically will have two goals.. one for protecting things (mostly the dinosaurs) from bad actors, and the other for protecting people from the dinosaurs.
You hire Amber.
[1d6+1 = 1+1 = 2]
The first candidate introduces himself as “Gerald Sussman”, which pretty much sets the tone of the entire interview.
He describes his previous job as “at the company where they make the I Spy books. You know, the picture books where there’s a whole mess of different toys and you have to find the needles in the haystack? I Spy? Where you keep looking around for something but it was in plain sight the whole time? Surely you’ve seen an I Spy book at least once.”
When you point out that you’re looking for a head of physical security capable of dealing with dinosaurs made out of flesh and not plastic, he assures you that he is “very experienced with physical security. I can get through, get around, get by, almost any security system there is! … … so, uh, so nobody’s going to be able to get past me with what I know!”
After the interview draws to a close, you find yourself empathizing with Zucker. If he really has to deal with candidates this blatantly unsuitable… come to think of it, that guy kind of looked like Zucker’s description of the first Chief of Operations candidate.
((Free action: Hire “Sussman”?)) ((This would be a bad idea. Unless you’ve got some sort of plan to figure out what he’s up to and/or incriminate him and you think it’s worth the risk.))
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 1+1 = 2])
(Amber taking a first look around: [1d6 = 2])
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on March 14, 2021, 05:21:26 am
Post by: Devastator on March 14, 2021, 02:00:12 pm
(Turns like this are why I went for the auto-build thingy.)
Post by: Horizon on March 14, 2021, 03:41:52 pm
"You know no good for you, bad Hanop!" he tsks at the knight "You unworthy as the Sensai's opponent, you weak! Bulk strong!" he taunted at the knight.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 17, 2021, 01:10:18 am
Search the building for the IT department, then once that's found search the room for any thing that might be a password list or computers that are still logged on, and any drives or disks I could look at.
[1d6 = 2]
The building is fairly large. You don’t manage to find the location of the IT department.
Nah. I'll keep looking.
(Turns like this are why I went for the auto-build thingy.)
[1d6+1 = 3+1 = 4]
The second candidate introduces himself as Dex Lichtrosen.
He used to be the head of security for a fracking site, before it was forced to shut down due to groundwater contamination concerns.
The impression you get is that he is would be more or less average at the job. Then again, compared to “Sussman”, average sounds pretty good.
((Free action: Hire Dex?))
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 1+1 = 2])
(Mironov discussing security with Amber: [1d6 = 1])
(([shocked]Oh.[/shocked]))
(“Saving throw”: [1d6 = 5])
(([calm]Oh.[/calm]))
Amber reports that she saw no obvious security flaws in the current systems, although since Mironov had to correct a major misconception of hers regarding a detail of those systems, she’s not completely sure. She also mentions offhandedly that Mironov seemed to have picked up Ivanov’s style of speaking for a minute, which was confusing.
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Bulk looks aghast at the sudden appearance of the katana in the Sensai's hand, looking between Hanop and the Sensai with a slightly worried look that quickly steeled into anger.
"You know no good for you, bad Hanop!" he tsks at the knight "You unworthy as the Sensai's opponent, you weak! Bulk strong!" he taunted at the knight.
[1d6+1 = 1+1 = 2]
Hanop grin grimly. “We’ll see about that.”
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 5 vs 2+2 vs 3+2 = 5 vs 4 vs 5]
((Steve, aren’t ninjas supposed to be fast?))
Initiative tiebreaker (Bulk, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 1 vs 1]
((Oh come on.))
Initiative tiebreaker-tie-breaker (Bulk, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 4 vs 5]
((Well, you tried, Bulk.))
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 4 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop ride at Steve and swing sword, knocking aside Steve’s katana and cutting Steve in arm.
Bulk vs Hanop: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 1 with higher baseline vs 3 with two steps higher baseline]
Bulk quickly step out of way of Hanop so horse not trample Bulk.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 2 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve throw ninja metal at Hanop, but Steve miss.
Hanop turn around and ride back at Steve and Bulk.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
My GM senses are tingling from all the suspense! King Zultan is investigating the purpose of the biological research laboratory, Horizon is fighting to save his new mentor, and Devastator is, judging by those rolls, locking the door in his most secure of quarters.
Post by: Devastator on March 17, 2021, 02:40:43 am
Yup, hire Dex. Goals are the same as before, protect the dinos from people, people from the dinos, and since the project is taking a bit longer, make sure to cover some basic support for existing staff and the ongoing lead project.
For the actual action, lets check back in with Ivanov and try to assist with the ongoing genetic splicing project, as it seems to have hit another couple of snags.
Post by: King Zultan on March 17, 2021, 04:44:28 am
Look around there's bound to be a map or floor plan posted somewhere in this place, and once I find one use it to find the IT room.
Post by: Horizon on March 17, 2021, 12:02:14 pm
"BULK WILL KILL HANOP FOR HURTY MASTER!" Bulk at this point blind with rage and stepping into the oncoming knights path upon his steed, and held out his arms intending to grab the horses legs throw it on it's back "BULK WILL MAKE HANOP SUFFER" he roared "BULK WILL NOT LET SENSAI DIE!" he bellowed before the knight drew close.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 20, 2021, 02:25:17 am
(Mostly, the timing is because when we finish piercing together the genetic material, I want to publish some papers to try and attract a biologist to handle the 'living animal' bit of the cloning project. Might also try to get some behind-the-scenes staff improvements for the genetic manipulation required to pierce together genomes or such. Have to get security in place -before- we do the publication, in order for them to get ahead before the project starts attracting a significant amount of attention.)
Yup, hire Dex. Goals are the same as before, protect the dinos from people, people from the dinos, and since the project is taking a bit longer, make sure to cover some basic support for existing staff and the ongoing lead project.
For the actual action, lets check back in with Ivanov and try to assist with the ongoing genetic splicing project, as it seems to have hit another couple of snags.
You hire Dex.
[1d6+1 with lower baseline = 1+1 with lower baseline = 2 with lower baseline]
Unfortunately, it seems that your previous success at assisting Ivanov was nothing but beginner’s luck. You don’t accomplish anything.
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 6+1 = 7])
Ivanov states that in order to get past the recent bottleneck, he had to develop new new techniques, involving “ah, I think English word is radiance? Like the Sun? Well, not really like the Sun, obviously. Broad principles are similar.”
(Mironov discussing security with Dex: [1d6 = 4])
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
"This place didn't seem this big from the outside."
Look around there's bound to be a map or floor plan posted somewhere in this place, and once I find one use it to find the IT room.
[1d6 = 4]
You do manage to find a map, and from there it’s just a matter of determining your location and the location of the IT department, and finding a path between them.
After a few minutes traversing hallways and stairs, you arrive at the laboratory’s IT department.
Bulk stands his ground and steps in front of the Steve with pure white hot fury in his demeanor at how Hanop hurt Bulk's master 'Bulk make Hanop pay' he thought hearing his heart beating faster and the sound of blood rushing in his ears from the boiling rage he felt nearing an explosive climax.
"BULK WILL KILL HANOP FOR HURTY MASTER!" Bulk at this point blind with rage and stepping into the oncoming knights path upon his steed, and held out his arms intending to grab the horses legs throw it on it's back "BULK WILL MAKE HANOP SUFFER" he roared "BULK WILL NOT LET SENSAI DIE!" he bellowed before the knight drew close.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 6 vs 3+2 vs 2+2 = 6 vs 5 vs 4]
Bulk vs Hanop: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with higher baseline vs 6 with two steps higher baseline]
Bulk try to grab horse, but Hanop see Bulk and swerve slightly to side, away from Bulk.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 5 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve try to cut Hanop with katana, but Hanop’s swerve make Steve miss.
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 1 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop try to cut Steve with sword, but Hanop’s swerve make Hanop miss.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
I can’t help but feel like the suspense has diminished a little.
Post by: King Zultan on March 20, 2021, 04:13:43 am
Post by: Devastator on March 22, 2021, 11:40:31 am
With the new experience from the zoo tour, lets take another crack at designing the indoor dinosaur kennel
If the above doesn't apply, I'd like to get someone in to go over that code instead.
Post by: Horizon on March 22, 2021, 06:31:37 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 22, 2021, 10:44:30 pm
Search the IT room for any external drive and a list of passwords, if I can't find the passwords on paper maybe I can find them on one of the computers in there.
[1d6 = 1]
[From worst of the worst to best of the worst: “Double Explosion”, “Camouflage Alarm”, “Camouflage Alert”, “Blue Alarm”, “Blue Alert”, “All Gone”: 1d6 = 4 = “Blue Alarm”]
You don’t find any lists of passwords, and you don’t find any external drives-
Actually, you find one external drive. No, wait, it’s labelled “Authentication Token”. Well, let’s try that.
You turn on one of the computers, arriving at the login screen, and insert the token.
...
The computer does not consider the token sufficient authentication, apparently.
(Reduced overshoot consequences for any overshoots related to dinosaur genetic manipulation and cloning.)
With the new experience from the zoo tour, lets take another crack at designing the indoor dinosaur kennel
If the above doesn't apply, I'd like to get someone in to go over that code instead.
((It’s less bad than it sounds. Ivanov has a strange way of phrasing things.))
[1d6 = 4]
After a few hours and several sheets of blue paper, you’ve designed a template for a basic indoor dinosaur kennel. You don’t bother trying to design the details; your previous concerns about that approach are still valid. But you do take into account the details. Once you have a better understanding of the dinosaur species that will be in the kennel, you’ll be able to modify the design to suit them without too much trouble.
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 5+1 = 6])
Ivanov reports that he is almost done splicing together a viable genome.
(Dex taking a first look around: [1d6 = 4])
(The free progress point is automatically applied to the park facilities.)
Bulk takes a deep breath, he remember breathing good. He focused now, Bulk prepares himself for Hanop next attack and will counterattack.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 5 vs 6+2 vs 2+2 = 5 vs 8 vs 4]
Hanop ride past Steve and Bulk, then turn around and ride back towards Steve and Bulk.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 6 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve throw many ninja metal at Hanop, but Hanop speed up Hanop’s horse and ninja metal bounce off Hanop’s armor.
Bulk vs Hanop: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 1 with higher baseline vs 6 with two steps higher baseline]
Bulk run towards Hanop and be between Hanop and Steve, but Hanop speed up Hanop’s horse and Hanop’s horse leap over Bulk.
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 5 with two steps higher baseline vs 6 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop swing sword at Steve. Steve try to block with katana, but Steve not fast enough. Hanop cut Steve in arm again.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
You’re outnumbered two to one, Hanop! How are you doing this?!
Post by: Horizon on March 23, 2021, 12:09:39 am
Post by: Devastator on March 23, 2021, 03:24:04 am
Head back to the island and lets break ground on the cloning facilities. If we have a viable genome, we only need the proper cloning facilities to convert that into ACTUAL LIVING DINOS.
Post by: King Zultan on March 23, 2021, 06:47:26 am
"Well this thing's a start, hopefully I'll be able to get somewhere with it."
Take the authentication token thing I just found back to the computer I was using earlier and plug it in and see if I can't access the things I wasn't able to earlier.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 26, 2021, 02:03:32 am
Bulk hit horsey that Hanop ride.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 1 vs 5+2 vs 2+2 = 1 vs 7 vs 4]
Steve charge at Hanop. Hanop turn around and charge at Steve.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 4 with two steps higher baseline vs 6 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve jump and swing katana at Hanop, but…
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 5 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop knock katana aside with sword and cut Steve in chest. Steve fall to ground.
Bulk vs Hanop’s horse: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 5 with higher baseline vs 4 with higher baseline]
Bulk punch Hanop’s horse. Not enough.
"Excellent work, Ivanov. I'll need to get started on the next step. I'd also like you to think about publishing a paper on your progress, once you're done. There should be some time before we're ready to actually make dinosaurs."
Head back to the island and lets break ground on the cloning facilities. If we have a viable genome, we only need the proper cloning facilities to convert that into ACTUAL LIVING DINOS.
[1d6+1 = 4+1 = 5]
That afternoon, you return to the island. Work on the cloning facilities has begun.
(5 points of progress added to the cloning infrastructure.)
(The free progress point is automatically applied to (no orders given: 1d2 = 2) the cloning infrastructure.)
(Ivanov splicing together genetic material with new techniques: [1d6+1 = 5+1 = 6])
In the evening, Ivanov reports that he has spliced together what ought to be a viable genome.
You go to bed.
It is morning.
([secret]: [1d6 = 1])
(([shocked]Oh.[/shocked]))
([secret]: [1d6 = 1])
(([resigned to the inevitable]Oh.[/resigned to the inevitable]))
It’s a beautiful day outside.
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 3])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 3])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 5])
(“Secret?” (Hammond, [secret], [secret], [secret]): [1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 1, 5, 1, 1])
Birds are singing.
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 1, 1, 5])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 3, 2])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 4, 4])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 3, 3])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 6])
(“Secret?” (Hammond, [secret], [secret]): [1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 2, 6, 2])
Flowers are blooming.
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 3, 3, 1, 6])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 3, 5])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 5])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 4])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 3, 2])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 2])
(“Secret?” (Hammond, [secret]): [1d6, 1d6 = 3, 3])
On days like these,
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 4, 3, 2, 2])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 4])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 4])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 3])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 1, 6])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 4])
(“Secret?” (Hammond, [secret]): [1d6, 1d6 = 2, 3])
industrialists like yourself-
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6, 1d6, 1d6 = 4, 1, 6, 6])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 6])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 5, 4])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 1, 2])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 3])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 4, 1])
([secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 6])
(“Secret?” (Hammond, [secret]: [1d6, 1d6 = 6, 1])
-are hearing gunshots.
ONGOING CRISIS. Turns are now specifically on the scale of seconds or minutes, not hours or days. Thus, construction actions, for example, will not be possible. (But you still get one free construction progress point every turn. Don’t ask me to explain how that works.) But you can multitask to a certain extent. Call on your cell phone for help while running towards the gunshots? Call on your cell phone for help while running away from the gunshots? Sure!
(Not sure what a blue alarm is but it doesn't sound like a good thing.)
"Well this thing's a start, hopefully I'll be able to get somewhere with it."
Take the authentication token thing I just found back to the computer I was using earlier and plug it in and see if I can't access the things I wasn't able to earlier.
[1d6 = 6]
[Danger: “Double Explosion (Danger)”, “Camouflage Alarm”, “Camouflage Alert”, “Further Blue Alarm”, “Further Blue Alert”, “Nothing Further”: 1d6 = 2 = “Camouflage Alarm”]
[Knowledge: “[DATA EXPUNGED]”, “[REDACTED]”, “Codewords”, “Something Strange”, “Unknown Forces”, “Double Explosion (Knowledge): 1d6 = 5 = “Unknown Forces”]
((UMMMMMMM))
Before, you thought that this place primarily studied animals hypothesized to be capable of higher thought. That’s only part of the truth.
The Fort Dodge Ethological Research Center was created by the U.S. government in the early years of the War on Terror as part of a “throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” policy. For a little less than ten years, it was a small and unimpressive laboratory devoted to ethology, the study of animal behavior.
In the early 2010s, the CIA discovered that the Russian government was also funding ethological research, much more than the United States was. The Department of Defense promptly panicked, filled the Ethological Research Center with people who had no idea that they had no idea what they were doing, and gave the Ethological Research Center more money than even those people knew how to spend.
Throughout most of the 2010s, the staff of the Ethological Research Center did nothing of importance other than slowly become more competent.
In mid-2019, things started to change. Instead of trying to incrementally improve on previous science, the staff of the Ethological Research Center started trying to make scientific breakthroughs.
And soon, they were well on their way. Part of ethology is the study of animal learning. They had noticed something strange about animal learning - you don’t know what they noticed, it wasn’t even hinted at in any file you could find - and although it took them months, their experiments had progressed to the point where, in just a few weeks, they would be sure that what they noticed was a phenomenon worthy of study and not just a fluke.
They were well on their way, indeed, up until the Fort Dodge Ethological Research Center was stormed by unknown forces in April 2020.
You have access to the Fort Dodge Ethological Research Center communications intranet, which includes some off-site personnel. Looking through past messages, it seems that this is what those personnel were told: The government claims not to know which country or organization sent the battalion of people in camouflage. The government claims not to know where the people in camouflage took every person in the building. The government claims not to know how every single off-site backup was erased without any signs of tampering. And you won’t ask questions if you know what’s good for you.
It sounds like a cover-up. But what, precisely, were they covering up?
(Blue travel: [1d6 = 1])
(Camouflage travel: [1d6 = 6])
(Camouflage vs Blue: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with three steps higher baseline = 3 with six steps higher baseline vs 5 with three steps higher baseline])
(Blue requesting backup: [1d6 = 4])
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
You know what I think? I think the die I use loves underdogs. It caused Steve-the-normal-person to beat Bulk, but now it causes Hanop to be beating Steve-the-ninja and Bulk put together, it causes Zultan to discover very hidden secrets, it causes Blue to only barely be losing to Camouflage, and it causes [secret] to only barely be losing to [secret]. It loves underdogs. That’s the only explanation. And I guess [secret] got so strong they weren’t underdogs anymore.
Post by: King Zultan on March 26, 2021, 03:54:04 am
Keep searching through the computers files to try and find out what they discovered that led to all of them being kidnapped.
Post by: Horizon on March 26, 2021, 08:08:00 am
Punch horse again.
Post by: Devastator on March 26, 2021, 11:56:14 am
Construction points to park infrastructure
Get into hiding. I can't fight, but I should damn well know the island and the buildings better than the attackers.
Make calls and try to figure out what's going on.
Post by: Secretdorf on March 28, 2021, 04:56:34 am
Spoiler: character sheet (click to show/hide)
craft a bow
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 28, 2021, 11:16:18 pm
"We're getting closer to the truth, now we need to figure out what they did here that was so interesting as to get them all kidnapped."
Keep searching through the computers files to try and find out what they discovered that led to all of them being kidnapped.
[1d6 = 5]
[Knowledge: Nothing new, nothing new, nothing new, nothing new, “Russia”, “Double Explosion”: 1d6 = 2 = nothing new]
You’re not a hacker. All you have is one authentication token. And you’re trying to uncover secrets that a lot of people put a lot of work into hiding.
You don’t find any further information about what the scientists discovered.
(Camouflage vs Blue: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with three steps higher baseline = 2 with six steps higher baseline vs 4 with three steps higher baseline])
(Blue backup travel: [1d6 = 5])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with six steps higher baseline = 5 with six steps higher baseline vs 2 with six steps higher baseline])
(Stupid dice)
Punch horse again.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 4 vs 2+2 vs 6+2 = 4 vs 4 vs 8]
Initiative tiebreaker (Bulk, Steve): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 = 6 vs 4+2 = 6 vs 6]
Initiative tiebreaker-tie-breaker (Bulk, Steve): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 = 5 vs 4+2 = 5 vs 6]
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 3 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop try to make Hanop’s horse trample Steve, but Steve roll out of the way.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 4 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve throw ninja metal at Hanop, but Steve miss.
Bulk vs Hanop’s horse: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 5 with higher baseline vs 6 with higher baseline]
Bulk punch Hanop’s horse. Still not enough.
(Inevitable meaning "The non-combat character gets shot", right? Tea leaf reading on the list of rolls looks like mass chaos and surprisingly nonlethal bullets.)
Construction points to park infrastructure
Get into hiding. I can't fight, but I should damn well know the island and the buildings better than the attackers.
Make calls and try to figure out what's going on.
((Inevitable meaning “well, I suppose this was bound to happen eventually”. And yes, surprisingly nonlethal bullets.))
(Done.)
(Initiative ([secret], [secret], [secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 1 vs 3 vs 2])
(Initiative tiebreaker ([secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 1 vs 3])
([secret] vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 3 vs 6])
([secret] vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 5 vs 6])
([secret] vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 3 vs 3])
([secret] vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 1 vs 4])
(“Secret?” ([secret]): [1d6 = 4])
[Hiding: 1d6 = 3]
You duck into the canteen. It might not be a good place to hide in the medium term, but in the short term it’s better than being out in the open.
[Calls: 1d6 = 4]
You call Zucker. No answer.
You call Mironov. No answer.
You call Ivanov. No answer.
You call Amber.
“Oh! Hello, mister Hammond! You’re probably calling to ask if I’m safe. Which I am. As far as I know. Because I’m at the docks. And not the warehouses. Where the gunshots are. But not a lot of gunshots. But we don’t have a very large security team. It’s mister Lichtrosen and technically me. At least, I think. I don’t know if we have any other security personnel. Maybe mister Zucker or mister Lichtrosen would know. I don’t know what’s happening over there. There aren’t any cameras there. Or anywhere.”
Assuming I can join...Spoiler: character sheet (click to show/hide)
craft a bow
((Yes, you can join.))
[3d6b1 = (3, 5, 5)b1 = 5]
You craft a bow. It’s a pretty good bow, if you do say so yourself.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
A bit of a breather turn, I suppose.
Post by: Horizon on March 29, 2021, 01:20:46 am
Punch horse yet again.
Post by: Devastator on March 29, 2021, 02:14:55 am
(Also, I think before this all kicked off, the goal for "Produce Viable Dinosaur Genetic Material, Medium-Term Moderate" was completed.)
Points go into Park Infrastructure until further notice.
"Keep safe, Amber, I think there's more than one group out there. We don't have much security, that's why I hired Mr. Lictrosen. But we didn't have any products or anything yet.. just buildings and people. Nothing to steal. I need to make some more calls, stay hidden and stay safe."
Next up is Mr. Lictrosen and after him time to call the best source of reinforcements I know, which will either be some firm that I was lucky enough to find in the united states, or someone from the Venezuelan authorities, as I'm quite likely to be able to outbribe anyone even if it's them funding it.
..There's also three possibilities I can see for escape, since it seems to be a small group of attackers. I can hide out on the island for reinforcements, (and dearly enjoying the magic construction point, which might let me build a boat or shelter or something!), or escape via boat or helicopter. I'll make a decision as to that shortly.
Post by: Secretdorf on March 29, 2021, 03:14:04 am
Post by: King Zultan on March 29, 2021, 05:21:01 am
Go to the room with the animals and see if I can talk to them and see if they know what was going on.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on March 31, 2021, 08:53:55 pm
(Eternity seriously why do my rolls suck so much, I feel like I'm never ever going to be able to go anywhere or do anything as I will always fail. Just sucks, but it's not your fault)
Punch horse yet again.
((I have no idea why. At this point, I’m almost expecting Hanop to defeat Steve, after which a cowboy will show up and defeat Hanop.))
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 4 vs 1+2 vs 4+2 = 4 vs 3 vs 6]
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 4 with two steps higher baseline vs 1 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop make Hanop’s horse charge at Steve and Bulk. Steve move out of way, but Hanop’s horse kick Steve.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 4 with two steps higher baseline vs 4 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve slowly sit up.
Bulk vs Hanop’s horse: [1d6 with higher baseline vs 1d6 with higher baseline = 4 with higher baseline vs 5 with higher baseline]
Bulk dodge Hanop’s horse.
(Get a weapon?)
(Also, I think before this all kicked off, the goal for "Produce Viable Dinosaur Genetic Material, Medium-Term Moderate" was completed.)
Points go into Park Infrastructure until further notice.
"Keep safe, Amber, I think there's more than one group out there. We don't have much security, that's why I hired Mr. Lictrosen. But we didn't have any products or anything yet.. just buildings and people. Nothing to steal. I need to make some more calls, stay hidden and stay safe."
Next up is Mr. Lictrosen and after him time to call the best source of reinforcements I know, which will either be some firm that I was lucky enough to find in the united states, or someone from the Venezuelan authorities, as I'm quite likely to be able to outbribe anyone even if it's them funding it.
..There's also three possibilities I can see for escape, since it seems to be a small group of attackers. I can hide out on the island for reinforcements, (and dearly enjoying the magic construction point, which might let me build a boat or shelter or something!), or escape via boat or helicopter. I'll make a decision as to that shortly.
(Oh yeah, I guess it was. Goal “Produce Viable Dinosaur Genetic Material” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.)
(Done.)
(Initiative ([secret], Dex, [secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 = 4 vs 4 vs 5 vs 2])
(Initiative tiebreaker ([secret], Dex]): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 5])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 1 vs 3])
(Dex vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 2])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 1 vs 1])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 5])
[Calling Lichtrosen: 1d6 = 3]
You call Lichtrosen.
“I’M IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIREFIGHT, HAMMOND! I HAVE BEEN SHOT! AND I AM SURVIVING ONLY DUE TO THE INCOMPETENCE OF MY ASSAILANTS! SO DON’T CALL ME BACK EXCEPT TO TELL ME THAT YOU’VE PULLED REINFORCEMENTS OUT OF YOUR BACK POCKET!”
He hangs up on you.
[Calling reinforcements: 1d6 = 5]
((Um.))
[Reinforcements: “Venezuelan police”, “A private security squad”, “Venezuelan heavy police”, “Dex’s Boys”, “Venezuelan army”, “Double Explosion”: 1d6 = 6 = “Double Explosion”]
((Uh.))
[Double explosion: “A Plain And Simple Dream”, “The Red Alert”, “A Couple Of Crazy Things”, “All Over The World”, “We’re Your Guys”, “Triple Explosion”: 1d6 = 3 = “A Couple Of Crazy Things”]
((“A couple of crazy things”? Yeah, no kidding! ))
Lichtrosen’s angry roar rattles you.
Due to that, you don’t pay too much attention to opening the contacts section of your phone app and selecting the Venezuelan authorities.
You press the call button, and the other end picks up within a few seconds.
“Hel-” the recipient of the call begins to say, in English.
Talking over him, you waste no time explaining the situation: Your island is under attack by several gunmen, many of your top personnel are incommunicado, and the only thing standing between the gunmen and whatever their objective might be is a man whose previous occupation was head of security for a fracking site, armed only with a pistol. Well, okay, maybe you waste a little time emphasizing the situation.
You finish your explanation, and only then do you notice the caller ID: Gerald Sussman.
You take a deep breath, and are about to test if it’s possible to defeat the attackers solely by screaming expletives, before “Sussman” responds in a tone of voice entirely unlike the one you heard in the interview.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Hammond, I’m mobilizing a rapid response force as we speak. I’ve seen what your company is doing on that island. Your security is national security. The C. I. A. is on the way.”
What. What? What.
“Although I have one question: How did you know to trust me? I never hinted at my allegiance when I was penetration-testing you, and before that, when your hiring manager was interviewing me, I played the part of an ideal Chief of Operations to the hilt.”
Look for dwarves seeking to join my army
[1d6 = 6]
You search for dwarves who desire to put their weapons to use. And indeed, you find several dwarves willing to fight by your side. However, they are skeptical of the idea that it should be your army.
"Damn I'm not getting anywhere with this, maybe I'll try something different."
Go to the room with the animals and see if I can talk to them and see if they know what was going on.
[1d6 = 3]
You can.. sort of talk to the animals. But, well, they’re animals. Not really capable of holding a conversation, or of talking about or even remembering abstract things like “those experiments two years ago”.
(Camouflage requesting backup: [1d6 = 3])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with five steps higher baseline = 1 with six steps higher baseline vs 3 with five steps higher baseline])
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Devastator: There have been many mysterious things, but there has only been one mystery. It is solvable. Solve it, in detail.
Post by: Devastator on April 01, 2021, 12:04:07 am
(Also, you might have an infestation of drama dice as well.)
"We'll talk if we're both alive in a few days and my island isn't a smoking hole in the ground. Just let me know who is coming in so I can tell my staff who to trust. Do you need any intel on the location?"
Follow sussman's lead. Text Lichtrosen as appropriate with the intel. (if Lichtrosen survives, reinforcements out of back pocket should impress him, at least.)
Personally, just try to improve my hiding place, including picking up a bottle of water or something in case I need to spend a day in a tree or something.
Bonus to change the +1 to dinosaur genetic research to a more broader one that'll cover making complete genomes from fragments and all genetic modification involving dinosaurs, in case I end up with like birds or something. Maybe even some mad science potential if necessary.
Only new goal is "Survive this attack with the theme-park goal remaining viable, (Short-Term, ?)"
Post by: Secretdorf on April 01, 2021, 03:21:21 am
"Who should be then?" Challenge any challenger to archery duel.
Post by: King Zultan on April 01, 2021, 04:37:11 am
Use my powers to take one of the animals in to an animal man version of it, then see if talking to it gets different results.
Post by: Horizon on April 01, 2021, 11:51:33 pm
Post by: chaotic skies on April 02, 2021, 12:03:15 am
Spoiler: Char Sheet (click to show/hide)
+1 GP
Grow! The Plan'tt must Grow! (-1 GP)
Not sure about the growth thing just yet honestly but shrug it's probably fine
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 02, 2021, 03:03:37 am
If I can still joinSpoiler: Char Sheet (click to show/hide)
+1 GP
Grow! The Plan'tt must Grow! (-1 GP)
Not sure about the growth thing just yet honestly but shrug it's probably fine
You can join, but the growth mechanic is much too powerful. It's an exponential size growth ability and an evolution ability. Even one of those would be too powerful.
Post by: Devastator on April 02, 2021, 03:41:52 am
If you're going to start as a plant, I'd recommend beginning as a flight-capable seed, inexplicably capable of directing your path to a landing, and maybe taking another ability that allows you to interact with the world around you as you slowly develop into a plant.
Post by: chaotic skies on April 02, 2021, 08:51:44 am
Spoiler: char sheet (click to show/hide)
You guys are right, the growth thing is way OP, what was I thinking :P
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 02, 2021, 06:55:32 pm
Ok so how does this soundSpoiler: char sheet (click to show/hide)
You guys are right, the growth thing is way OP, what was I thinking :P
That looks fine. You may post your action now.
Post by: Devastator on April 02, 2021, 07:45:41 pm
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 02, 2021, 10:22:20 pm
Could use some goals.... I knew there was something missing!
Yes. What Devastator said. It needs some goals.
Post by: chaotic skies on April 03, 2021, 12:15:05 pm
Spoiler: char sheet (click to show/hide)
Added some goals.
Float in the direction of the nearest clear patch of ground.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 03, 2021, 09:59:39 pm
(Nope. No idea what you mean by that. Maybe something for the next character, Hammond just wants to play with dinosaurs, not solve the mysteries of the world.)
(Also, you might have an infestation of drama dice as well.)
"We'll talk if we're both alive in a few days and my island isn't a smoking hole in the ground. Just let me know who is coming in so I can tell my staff who to trust. Do you need any intel on the location?"
Follow sussman's lead. Text Lichtrosen as appropriate with the intel. (if Lichtrosen survives, reinforcements out of back pocket should impress him, at least.)
Personally, just try to improve my hiding place, including picking up a bottle of water or something in case I need to spend a day in a tree or something.
Bonus to change the +1 to dinosaur genetic research to a more broader one that'll cover making complete genomes from fragments and all genetic modification involving dinosaurs, in case I end up with like birds or something. Maybe even some mad science potential if necessary.
Only new goal is "Survive this attack with the theme-park goal remaining viable, (Short-Term, ?)"
(The free construction point is applied to the park facilities.)
(Initiative ([secret], Dex, [secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 = 6 vs 4 vs 5 vs 4])
(Initiative tiebreaker (Dex, [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 1])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 3 vs 3])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 3 vs 6])
(Dex vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 4 vs 4])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 4 vs 5])
(CIA travel: [1d6 = 3])
“A few Ospreys,” “Sussman” replies, “the personnel will be wearing black camouflage and CIA patches. As for intel, we’re the C. I. A., intel is what we do. And also, obviously, paramilitary operations, but most of those don’t go into the history books.”
[Texting Lichtrosen: 1d6 = 6]
You text Lichtrosen the news. A few minutes later, your messaging app notifies you that he’s read your text.
You also text the news to the rest of your top-level employees (the only employees on the island at the moment) in order to reassure them. Not the part about how the CIA is coming, or how they’re only coming because you unknowingly called a CIA agent who had been trying to infiltrate your company, just the part about how the cavalry is inbound so don’t panic if you see people in black camouflage.
[Improving hiding place: 1d6 = 3]
You find a water bottle, which was pretty easy since you’re in the canteen.
(Done.)
(Done.)
"We can call it armoks army then."
"Who should be then?" Challenge any challenger to archery duel.
[3d6b1 vs 1d6 = (1, 2, 5)b1 vs 1 = 5 vs 1]
You defeat the first challenger.
Now, by itself this wouldn’t be impressive. After all, you didn’t defeat this challenger in his area of specialty.
Then you defeat the second challenger.
Even this wouldn’t be very impressive. Sure, you did defeat this one in his area of specialty, but archery is only one part of leading an army.
The really impressive part is when you defeat all six dwarves at the same time. After that, the other dwarves are willing to follow your lead, and if you wanted to call it Schlawr’s Army they wouldn’t mind.
"Darn they don't remember."
Use my powers to take one of the animals in to an animal man version of it, then see if talking to it gets different results.
[1d6 = 3]
You create another rat man. However, the rat man is trapped inside a rather cramped cage.
[1d6 = 2]
The rat man doesn’t remember anything more than the other animals did.
You glare balefully at the logo on the wall.
(https://i.imgur.com/X7k4NFa.png)
“Fort Dodge Ethological Research Center”. You know that.
An owl carrying a beaker, inside a pentagon. What does that symbolize?
“DOCENDO DISCIMUS”. What does that mean?
(Camouflage backup travel: [1d6 = 3])
(Camouflage requesting more backup: [1d6 = 3])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with five steps higher baseline = 5 with six steps higher baseline vs 6 with five steps higher baseline])
Grab a bo staff from the ground (assuming we're in/near a dojo or Steve has some lying around) and attack Hanop with the weapon.
[1d6 = 5]
Steve have weapon. Hanop have weapon. Bulk punch hard, but Bulk need weapon. Bulk look around, and see bo staff. Bulk pick up bo staff.
Bulk realize: Bulk know how to use bo staff. Looks like Bulk did learn ninja from ninja training.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 5 vs 1+2 vs 1+2 = 5 vs 3 vs 3]
Initiative tiebreaker (Steve, Hanop): [1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 5+2 vs 4+2 = 7 vs 6]
For split second, Hanop look like Hanop moving in slow motion. Bulk see where to hit Hanop. Bulk adjust weapon in hand…
Bulk vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 5 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
… and swing, and hit Hanop in chest hard enough to dent the armor, leaving Hanop gasping for breath and almost knocked off horse.
Steve vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 1 with two steps higher baseline]
Steve leap to his feet and throw ninja metal at Hanop’s foot. Ninja metal go through gap in leg armor and hit Hanop. “All strength and no skill, is he? Looks like someone forgot that they’re both important!”
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 3 with two steps higher baseline vs 2 with two steps higher baseline]
Hanop swing sword at Steve, but Hanop barely cut Steve.
Spoiler: char sheet (click to show/hide)
Added some goals.
Float in the direction of the nearest clear patch of ground.
[1d6 = 4]
Using your… uh… maple seed powers, you float towards a nearby clear patch of ground, and soon arrive over it.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
)Devastator: I was talking about the mystery of “who’s attacking your island?”.
Secretdorf: Impressive archery skills.
King Zultan: To be clear, the logo is purely symbolic. It’s not a clue to look for owls or anything like that, it’s a logo that I made because I liked how it looked in my head.
Horizon: Looks like the rolls are shifting in your favor.
chaotic skies: Impressive… uh… maple seed powers.
Post by: Secretdorf on April 03, 2021, 11:58:49 pm
Equip soldiers with armor and weapons from the stockpile.
Post by: Devastator on April 04, 2021, 02:10:13 am
Post by: King Zultan on April 04, 2021, 04:46:50 am
Let the new rat man out of the cage and see if any of the three rat men know what those words mean, also look over the cages and see what animals are inside them.
Post by: chaotic skies on April 04, 2021, 09:22:00 am
Post by: Horizon on April 04, 2021, 10:53:29 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 07, 2021, 02:49:37 am
We call it armok and schlawrs army.
Equip soldiers with armor and weapons from the stockpile.
[1d6 = 1]
The stockpile is empty, as it turns out. Your soldiers have weapons, but no armor, and to get any more of either of those will require new metalworking efforts.
Hide away. Try to make my way vaguely towards the helipad so I can hear the reinforcements coming. Keep an eye out for any hostiles
(The free construction point is applied to the park facilities.)
(Initiative ([secret], Dex, [secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 vs 1d6 = 5 vs 2 vs 5 vs 3])
(Initiative tiebreaker ([secret], [secret]): [1d6 vs 1d6 = 6 vs 5])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 6 vs 2])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 5 vs 2])
([secret] vs Dex: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 1])
(Dex vs [secret]: [1d6 vs 1d6 = 2 vs 3])
(CIA travel: [1d6 = 6])
[Travel: 1d6 = 4]
Staying low to the ground, you make your way to the helipad, taking care to give the warehouses a wide berth. You arrive at the helipad without any trouble; it seems that the attackers are few in number. Well. That wasn’t too bad.
"What the hell does DOCENDO DISCIMUS mean?"
Let the new rat man out of the cage and see if any of the three rat men know what those words mean, also look over the cages and see what animals are inside them.
[1d6 = 5]
You look at the cage’s door. It’s a simple thing with a latch surrounded by a metal plate to keep a rat from sticking a paw through the bars and opening the door from the inside. You are on the outside, however, and so you easily open the door.
None of the rat men know what those words mean.
In terms of animals, it’s a whole menagerie in the cages.
(Camouflage first backup travel: [1d6 = 4])
(Camouflage second backup travel: [1d6 = 6])
(Camouflage requesting even more backup: [1d6 = 5] [1d6 = 6] [1d6 = 2])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with five steps higher baseline = 3 with six steps higher baseline vs 2 with five steps higher baseline])
Convene with the plants around me. Is there anything I can learn from them, or are they merely dumb plants?
[1d6+1 = 5+1 = 6]
Those things, unfortunately, are not mutually exclusive. They are willing to share some tips for how to adapt to the specific conditions in this area, but they do not seem to be aware of the fact that those tips are only helpful to plants of the same species.
Bulk nodded at his Sensai's words, feeling content with his praise (in his mind it was a praise) so yet again he used the opportunity to strike Hanop with the bo staff while the knight was momentarily defenseless.
Initiative (Bulk, Steve, Hanop): [1d6 vs 1d6+2 vs 1d6+2 = 6 vs 1+2 vs 3+2 = 6 vs 3 vs 5]
Bulk vs Hanop: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 4 vs 6]
Bulk strike at Hanop with bo staff, but Hanop parry with sword.
Hanop vs Steve: [1d6 with two steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with two steps higher baseline = 6 vs 1]
Hanop cut Steve in chest again, and Steve fall backward.
Steve’s chest rise and fall.
Hanop turn towards Bulk.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
Post by: King Zultan on April 07, 2021, 05:27:41 am
Get a dog from the cage and make a dog man from it then search around a part of the lab I haven't looked in yet to see if I can find any info about what was going on sitting around in desks or cabinets.
Post by: Devastator on April 08, 2021, 01:35:41 am
Continue hiding, waiting for reinforcements. Keep an eye out for anyone coming out of the warehouse. Think over what was in the warehouse.. was it a target, or was it just some kind of coincidence?
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 10, 2021, 02:11:19 am
"Sorry about that."
Get a dog from the cage and make a dog man from it then search around a part of the lab I haven't looked in yet to see if I can find any info about what was going on sitting around in desks or cabinets.
[1d6 = 2]
You search around the room, but even after a few minutes of searching you don’t find any dogs. Well, it’s a big room; you haven’t searched all of it. Who knows, maybe there’s some separate dog room elsewhere.
[1d6 = 5]
[Knowledge: Nothing new, nothing new, nothing new, nothing new, “Russia”, “Double Explosion”: 1d6 = 2 = nothing new]
You don’t find anything where you search except trivialities like receipts for animal food. That’s probably to be expected; the people in camouflage must’ve searched this place a lot more thoroughly than you did.
(Camouflage first backup travel: [1d6 = 2])
(Camouflage second backup travel: [1d6 = 4])
(Camouflage third backup travel: [1d6 = 2])
(Camouflage vs Blue: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with six steps higher baseline = 6 with six steps higher baseline vs 3 with six steps higher baseline])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with six steps higher baseline = 6 with six steps higher baseline vs 4 with six steps higher baseline])
(Sorry Dex.)
Continue hiding, waiting for reinforcements. Keep an eye out for anyone coming out of the warehouse. Think over what was in the warehouse.. was it a target, or was it just some kind of coincidence?
(The free construction point is applied to the park facilities.)
(CIA travel: [1d6 = 5])
Looking out towards the ocean, in the direction of the Venezuelan coast, you see them. Two airplanes, approaching your island just a few hundred meters above sea level, both of them decelerating. As they grow closer, you see that both of them are Ospreys, like “Sussman” said. One of them slows to a stop above you and begins descending, while the other one continues on to the warehouse area.
([secret]: [1d6 = 1])
([secret]: [1d6 = 6])
([secret]: [1d6 = 3])
(It is afternoon.)
As you look in the direction of the warehouse area, you begin to ponder whether there’s any significance to the location of the battle.
(It’s a beautiful day outside.)
However, you soon dismiss that thought.
(Birds are singing.)
You don’t know which warehouses the battle took place near, even if you did you wouldn’t know what is in them, and regardless there shouldn’t be anything that could be a target in any of the warehouses.
(Flowers are blooming.)
After all, the genetics equipment and notes are in the genetics laboratory in the United States.
(On days like these,)
No, far more likely that the warehouses were simply the place where Dex made his valiant stand.
(industrialists like yourself-)
… wait. Why are you thinking of the battle in past tense?
(-have stopped hearing gunshots.)
Well. Sorry, Dex, indeed.
The plane lands.
One and a half dozen people in black camouflage armed with various military-grade weaponry exit the plane and begin to fan out across the island, while six more stay behind with the plane.
You carefully and politely introduce yourself, and two minutes or so after you do, one of the CIA agents touches his hand to his ear.
“Mr. Hammond? We’ve found Mr. Lichtrosen. He’s seriously injured, but not life-threateningly so.”
… well, what do you know!
Dex Lichtrosen fought three hostiles to a standstill, taking severe injuries in the process. One doesn’t come out of something like that without learning a thing or two. Dex gains a higher baseline for all actions related to his position as head of security.
END CRISIS? I don’t think there’s anything you can do now to affect things in the short term.
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
So uh… where is everyone?
Post by: Devastator on April 10, 2021, 05:45:55 am
..after that, just spend time putting things right and seeing if there were any other injuries/deaths. I'll have some new security-related construction projects next turn.
Post by: King Zultan on April 11, 2021, 03:37:08 am
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 12, 2021, 10:56:54 pm
Yes end crisis, but I want a look at the attackers and battlesite. Dix Dex get any of them?
..after that, just spend time putting things right and seeing if there were any other injuries/deaths. I'll have some new security-related construction projects next turn.
(The free construction point is applied to the park facilities, completing them.)
(Goal “Construct park facilities” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with high potential, good luck, and multiple decades of work” applied to a somewhat broad area.)
([secret]: [1d6 = 6])
([secret]: [1d6 = 1])
([secret]: [1d6 = 2])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 2])
([secret]: [1d6 = 6])
([secret]: [1d6 = 6])
([secret]: [1d6 = 5])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 3])
([secret]: [1d6 = 3])
([secret]: [1d6 = 4])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 2])
([secret]: [1d6 = 1])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 4])
([secret]: [1d6 = 3])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 4])
([secret]: [1d6 = 4])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 6])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 2])
(CIA patrolling island: [1d6 = 5])
CRISIS ENDED.
(Goal “Survive this attack with the theme-park goal remaining viable” completed. You may add up to two goals. You may remove up to one goal. You may choose a related benefit approximately equal to ”achievable for a normal human with a few weeks of work” applied to a narrow area.)
[1d6 = 3]
Dex didn’t manage to “get” any of the attackers, according to the CIA agents maintaining a perimeter around the battlesite while they wait for investigative equipment. In fact, judging by the lack of non-Dex blood in the area, it’s unlikely that he even hit any of them. You take a look at the battlesite, but nothing obvious stands out to you. While you’re there, the CIA agents ask when would be a good date and time to debrief you and your employees.
No corpses are found, no employees are missing, and no employees are injured.
(Dex convalescing: [1d6 = 1])
Dex’s condition has worsened.
(Mironov improving the power lines: [1d6 = 3])
Mironov reports that although the park facilities are already hooked up to the power plant, there’s still some low-hanging fruit regarding optimization of the power line network. He hasn’t made much progress, but it’s not an urgent project.
Get my three rat men to search the building for any paper work they can find then they should return to this room, while I keep searching the room for a dog to turn into a dog man.
[Paperwork: 1d6 = 2]
They don’t find any paperwork. You’re not sure they even know what paperwork is.
[Dog: 1d6 = 5]
Oh, hey, there’s a dog right there!
You take the dog out of its cage and turn it into a dog man.
(Camouflage first backup travel: [1d6 = 6])
(Camouflage third backup travel: [1d6 = 4])
(Camouflage vs Blue: [1d6 with seven steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with six steps higher baseline = 1 with seven steps higher baseline vs 6 with six steps higher baseline])
(Blue vs Camouflage: [1d6 with six steps higher baseline vs 1d6 with seven steps higher baseline = 3 with six steps higher baseline vs 3 with seven steps higher baseline])
Spoiler: Charsheets (click to show/hide)
A crisis ends. Elsewhere, a crisis continues.
Post by: King Zultan on April 13, 2021, 04:26:32 am
Gather the rat men and the dog man and give the map another look over to see if there isn't anywhere I missed looking at.
Post by: Devastator on April 13, 2021, 10:10:14 pm
Bonuses are, for park factilities: +1 to all human-related medical rolls, for myself and the staff, due to having better staff/faciltiies now,
and for completing the survive roll, I'll take +1 to sneaking or travelling around on this island.
I'll take one new goal, "Improve Island Security" (Short-term Moderate). Basically complete the next two construction projects, along with having a chief of security.)
Add two new construction projects. One for improving interior security, which is basically going to be cameras, keycards, evacuation routes, etcetera. Short-term Hard project, because it's tricky to do effectively but doesn't require building much.
One for external security, which is basically perimeter work, having proper gateways, setting up perimeter patrols and some outside cameras. Easy, but more to do (Medium duration, Easy)
Actual turn is to break ground on the Interior Security project. Construction point goes to that as well.
Post by: The_Two_Eternities on April 15, 2021, 04:24:44 pm
And so as to not assume too much about those decisions, here are a few short epilogues of Roll to Multitask, looking only a little bit into the future.
John Hammond: The CIA tells him that there isn’t enough evidence to determine who perpetrated the attack. After a few more weeks of preparation, during which Dex makes a full recovery, the park is almost ready to open. There hasn’t even been a hint of another attack.
The leader of those who attacked his island: “We’ve been laying low since then. Expanding our influence, making preparations, scoping out the new defenses.” “Of course I’m not going to just say it!” “Yeah, yeah. As I was saying, the CIA doesn’t have any idea. Hammond doesn’t either, which I should’ve expected. I just thought for sure they’d have connected us to the attack by now.” “So out of curiosity, who even are you? You’ve got authorization straight from the top, but you insisted we talk like this for some reason, and I don’t even know how you got here. I can’t even sneak someone here yet.”
Salsa Taste: She continues to seek out her killer.
Her killer: “Okay, okay, I’ll talk! So, after I shot that woman, I scarpered right quick. Snatched whatever I could and got out as fast as I could. I was jumpy at first, but after the first day or two I started thinking I got off scot-free. I guess not.” “Wait, I did?! I’m free to go?!” “Oh. You won’t help them, but I still have to worry? You’re talking about the police, right?” “Right?”
Billy Bob: He continues to search for new information and make new animal men. For a few hours, at least.
The commander of the battalion of people in camouflage: “Deploying to Fort Dodge took a few hours. You’re sure that’s good enough for the log, ma’am?” “Semi-unofficial. Got it. When we arrived in Fort Dodge, we terminated the hostiles there. I made the decision to send our preexisting forces there back to barracks, in order to avoid difficulty integrating them into our command structure for the second part of the operation.” “Oh, good, I was worried this was about some chain of command problem. When we arrived at the Fort Dodge Ethological Research Center, we rushed in and killed them.” “Sorry, by “them” I mean one man, unarmed, and about a dozen unidentified humanoids, also unarmed.”
Tim: She manages to figure out a way to get both the angel and Exeobir to go away.
The villagers: “Tim?” “Yes, I know her. I was just surprised that someone like you would wake me up in the middle of the night just to ask about her.” “Well, I sort of expected you to ask me about the angel.” “No, I don’t know what Tim’s been doing lately. I’ve been focused on the angel. What does it mean, actually? The priest has a theory, but is there anything you know?”
ABSOLUTUS SWOLICUS: He obtains a decent quantity of true American steel and, after much difficulty teaching himself to smith, forges a new helmet.
AGRIPPA MUSCLUS: “AFTER ABSOLUTUS DEFEATED ME? I CONTINUED TO WALK THE PATH OF THE MUSCLEMAN, OF COURSE! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN NEED TO ASK? NO, REALLY, WHY? YOU DEFEATED ME FAIRLY, I DON’T BEGRUDGE YOUR QUESTION, BUT IT’S NOT WHAT I EXPECTED.”
Goldie: A few minutes later, the little girl returns and feeds him. He tries various haphazard escape plans, but none of them are very successful.
The little girl: “Me, miss? I’m doing fine.” “I do have fish! They’re so pretty!” “Yeah, it’s hard work keeping them happy and safe. One of them keeps trying to get out of its tank. It’s a silly fish.”
TestProgram.exe: They (singular) returned to TF2Sniper’s computer, but had little success communicating with him while he was online.
TF2Sniper: “well” “there is one weird thing that happened in tf2 recently” “well, not really *in* tf2 but ykwim.” “my antivirus deleted a bunch of tf2 files for whatever reason” “and I had to reinstall them” “fortunately my antivirus didn’t redelete them” “no idea what was up with that”
Bulk Muscles: Luck continued to be against him, and he only managed to drive off Hanop instead of killing him. Vengeance would have to come later. But that vengeance would be less terrible than it might have been, for Steve survived, and through the ninja arts of one of Steve’s colleagues, was restored to health.
Sir Hanop: “My liege, must I answer the questions of this woman?” “... Yes, my liege.” “There is little to say. I defeated Steve, and that would have been the end of it if not for his apprentice. He wounded me greatly, and I shamefully fled rather than fighting to the death.” “Yes, I do plan to return and restore my honor, if my liege gives me leave to do so.”
Schlawr the godbeard: The expedition exited onto the surface, only to discover (after several dozen miles of walking) human civilization. And, shortly thereafter, human weaponry.
The mayor of Dodge City: “A leak of chemicals that inhibit growth and weaken the spine, resulting in dwarfism? That’s the best cover story you could come up with?” “Of course I know it’s a cover story. For one thing, you’re dressed like the Men In Black, except more purple. For another thing, I saw them myself, and they were dwarves straight out of Tolkien. I don’t know what you and your goons did to the other witnesses, but you can’t intimidate me. Hey, what’re you-”
The hovertext in the OP has been changed.
Post by: Devastator on April 15, 2021, 05:53:33 pm
(I had a lot of fun, though, thanks.)
(and dangit Tric, you had an open ticket to carnage and quit posting. ;-p)
Post by: TricMagic on April 15, 2021, 06:01:55 pm
Post by: King Zultan on April 16, 2021, 12:52:54 am
Well it was fun while it lasted, to bad I go shot to death in the end.
Post by: Horizon on April 17, 2021, 09:02:15 pm
Post by: Horizon on March 07, 2022, 04:06:16 pm
Post by: TricMagic on March 07, 2022, 04:08:22 pm
I will forever cherish the adventures of Bulk & Steve.Begone Foul Necromancer, giving hope where there is but salt and ash. :P
Post by: Horizon on March 07, 2022, 04:16:26 pm
Bulk not neck romancer? Why Bulk want kiss necks?I will forever cherish the adventures of Bulk & Steve.Begone Foul Necromancer, giving hope where there is but salt and ash. :P
Post by: King Zultan on March 08, 2022, 03:06:03 am
Post by: Devastator on March 08, 2022, 03:09:28 am
Post by: Horizon on January 01, 2023, 03:50:35 am