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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Best Ideas - Best Implementation (BIBI) Arms Race: Core Thread (Pre-game Turn 1)
« on: March 31, 2020, 08:24:50 pm »
Best Ideas - Best Implementation Arms Race
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Best Ideas - Best Implementation (BIBI) Arms Race. The true pinnacle of the genre, this is an Arms Race built around the best ideas the AR community has to offer - implemented in the best possible way.
In the shadow of WW2, four nations on an unmapped island in the South Pacific are compelled to battle to unconditional surrender because... reasons. While small in landmass, each nation possesses a unique soft sci-fi resource that'll give them an edge. Clever players can exploit these unique resources to create divergent and unique asymmetric weapons modern military commanders could only dream of!
Side A possesses Turbonium: a high energy organic compound. Usable in high performance super-fueled internal combustion engines, high velocity rifle rounds, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side B possesses Elastimere: a high elasticity natural polymer. Usable in high performance wind-up engines, high velocity crossbows, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side C possesses Photonics: a high sensitivity photo-reactive crystal. Usable in high performance solar-electric engines, high performance laser rifles, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side D possesses Adamantite: a high strength to weight ratio metal. Usable in high performance low-weight internal combustion engines, high penetration rifle rounds, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
To ensure maximum player investment, each side will have a name, flag, and general lore determined by the first person to post anything substantive in that side's thread. That side will be bound to that legacy, even if the GM and rest of the players never really understood it to begin with, and never further reference so-called 'fluff' after the initial 'contest.'
To ensure maximum intrigue, this is a 'high opsec' AR of course, with each side never fully becoming aware of each other's full equipment list and infrastructure. To fill out the starting equipment and infrastructure, there will be seven pre-game turns. During these precious pre-game turns, each side will get three designs a turn (because I like that idea) without the pesky interruption of battle-testing feedback. Without the burden of having to write battle reports, the GM should complete each pre-game turn in no less than a month.
After seven IRL months or so, combat will be enjoined and all parties who are still invested in this AR will discover if the GM can write a satisfying battle report (mechanically, narratively, and thematically). Two sides will discover that they squandered the last seven months building the wrong infrastructure and not enough of it. A third side will be reduced to one player on Discord who remembers this AR, but can't be bothered to write anything. The fourth 'winning' side will consist of two of the usual power-players from every other AR smugly patting themselves on back, and heckling the other three sides to vote.
(Now some people say, "GM, you already have two forum games running, including one you started last week and haven't updated yet." I tell those people that I am a high functioning adult capable of spinning multiple plates at once. I even won a highly competitive engineering internship in Shenzhen, China that begins next month! I'm so capable as a GM I wrote this entire game design in twenty minutes during my ongoing vacation. If you're gonna hate, I ain't got time for you.)
Side A Thread
Side B Thread
Side C Thread
Side D Thread
Discord
Map:
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Best Ideas - Best Implementation (BIBI) Arms Race. The true pinnacle of the genre, this is an Arms Race built around the best ideas the AR community has to offer - implemented in the best possible way.
In the shadow of WW2, four nations on an unmapped island in the South Pacific are compelled to battle to unconditional surrender because... reasons. While small in landmass, each nation possesses a unique soft sci-fi resource that'll give them an edge. Clever players can exploit these unique resources to create divergent and unique asymmetric weapons modern military commanders could only dream of!
Side A possesses Turbonium: a high energy organic compound. Usable in high performance super-fueled internal combustion engines, high velocity rifle rounds, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side B possesses Elastimere: a high elasticity natural polymer. Usable in high performance wind-up engines, high velocity crossbows, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side C possesses Photonics: a high sensitivity photo-reactive crystal. Usable in high performance solar-electric engines, high performance laser rifles, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
Side D possesses Adamantite: a high strength to weight ratio metal. Usable in high performance low-weight internal combustion engines, high penetration rifle rounds, high strength composite armor, or a high lethality warhead.
To ensure maximum player investment, each side will have a name, flag, and general lore determined by the first person to post anything substantive in that side's thread. That side will be bound to that legacy, even if the GM and rest of the players never really understood it to begin with, and never further reference so-called 'fluff' after the initial 'contest.'
To ensure maximum intrigue, this is a 'high opsec' AR of course, with each side never fully becoming aware of each other's full equipment list and infrastructure. To fill out the starting equipment and infrastructure, there will be seven pre-game turns. During these precious pre-game turns, each side will get three designs a turn (because I like that idea) without the pesky interruption of battle-testing feedback. Without the burden of having to write battle reports, the GM should complete each pre-game turn in no less than a month.
After seven IRL months or so, combat will be enjoined and all parties who are still invested in this AR will discover if the GM can write a satisfying battle report (mechanically, narratively, and thematically). Two sides will discover that they squandered the last seven months building the wrong infrastructure and not enough of it. A third side will be reduced to one player on Discord who remembers this AR, but can't be bothered to write anything. The fourth 'winning' side will consist of two of the usual power-players from every other AR smugly patting themselves on back, and heckling the other three sides to vote.
(Now some people say, "GM, you already have two forum games running, including one you started last week and haven't updated yet." I tell those people that I am a high functioning adult capable of spinning multiple plates at once. I even won a highly competitive engineering internship in Shenzhen, China that begins next month! I'm so capable as a GM I wrote this entire game design in twenty minutes during my ongoing vacation. If you're gonna hate, I ain't got time for you.)
Side A Thread
Side B Thread
Side C Thread
Side D Thread
Discord
Map: