Cortex Game Interest Check

[Warning]

2 hours ago, IsabellaRose said:

I'm not trying to sound confrontational, but I'm afraid I might sound that way, so please just take this as an honestly curious question, because that's what it is.

If you weren't familiar with the references I posted in the original interest check, then what made you interested in joining this roleplay? 

I'm not familiar with any of the references, I didn't even know it was a requirement. Just thought I'd join the fun and join some people I know.

That said, I'm also not trying to ruin it for others either. I just like certain character types and try to see if they can fit in. So... Is that an issue?

[WritesNaughtyStories]

I agree with @IsabellaRose, this has drifted far from the idea that intrigued me. I came for a gritty vision of the expanding colony, the weight of technology and change as it runs against the untamed land. Where it feels we've ended up, there is no room for a nameless gunfighter to to walk into the street, spurs jingling, to face Dr. Loveless and his lightning gun to free the town from Loveless' cruel experiments.

I tried to provide a framework to create the specific character morph @Warning was describing that would fit the style of story Isabella had set out, but it has been pointedly ignored. Twice.

For the moment, I'll sit back and see what shakes out, but as this is currently described, it is a completely different game.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

12 hours ago, MagnificentBastard said:

Not sure what Prudence Lawton's legacy is? A Google search didn't help me either.

Prudence Lawton's tale can be found here:

https://ecchidreams.com/community/topic/9861-anamnesis-justice/

[IsabellaRose]

  

4 minutes ago, Warning said:

I'm not familiar with any of the references, I didn't even know it was a requirement. Just thought I'd join the fun and join some people I know.

That said, I'm also not trying to ruin it for others either. I just like certain character types and try to see if they can fit in. So... Is that an issue?

It's not necessarily an issue. It's just that I had a general idea of what kind of game I wanted to run, which I put out there with tons of references to give everyone an idea of what I wanted to run and see who would be interested in specifically that type of game using the specified rule set. 

So you can see where I might be slightly confused when it starts to change away from that and into something entirely different. 

Like I said, I enjoy being collaborative. I like anthros; I'm building a game with someone else that's almost exclusively anthro player characters. It just wasn't my vision for this particular game. I imagined something a bit more... science gone wrong, possible supernatural evil that might also just be mundane evil appearing supernatural... darker, maybe. More gritty with a more realistic take on steampunk tech and possible supernatural issues.

 

All that being said, I definitely feel like the two groups should be in completely different worlds. So I'll break the discussion and create a Cortex Game 1 OOC Discussion for the players in Group 1 and a Cortex Game 2 OOC Discussion for the players in Group 2.

We can build the separate worlds with the realities each group wants in those individual threads.

 

[Warning]

I am not TOTALLY ignorant of what you mean, though. And we're still in prep phase. Even if some seem to sound like the game is ruined before it even started, I do believe we're still talking about this and I'm also listening to what the group I was with says. Dream's idea seemed to work but then... not? I'm not sure what's going on that side.

Besides, do I look like I'm trying to force something here? Let's be honest. I gave an example of a steampunk character before and asked if she was allowed or not but no clear answers was given except "It is not exactly what I envisioned." Dream seemed to be on board with some anthro or at least kemonomimi kind of character, with lores.

I did mention science gone wrong but it's hard to say what it's about when it's not explained. Puppy was first one but I think what you see is more direct frankenstein monster stuff, electrical madness in this regard and other ancient movie references. Note that I merely gave examples and possibilities of explanations with it. Brainstorming.

So yeah, I don't think anything's decided yet as it still seems like we're in "setting" phase and seeing what works or not. I seemed to get good reactions for what I was saying so I thought I was on a good turn with my ideas until I'm told I wasn't. Opinions seem to differ from a person to another. I'm also searching on the human side anyway.

Edited 3 hours ago by Warning

[AsBloodTurnsEverCold]

Well as part of Group 2 I will admit that I do think it would be best to as close to the initial idea as possible personally. The character(s) I have in mind is with that in mind (or at least I think so).

I don't think personally think the presence of Animal folk would be too much of a distraction as long as the origin and reaction is suitably mad science enough (which I did think Dream's origin fit well enough though maybe not the leading happy lives part and more isolated), but push comes to it I'd rather stick as close to what was proposed cause that's admittedly where my interest is. 

 

[IsabellaRose]

Yes, we are still talking, and nothing has been decided. That's why I was trying to clarify tone and intent. I had a vision for a game which I thought I outlined fairly well in my initial post. If the references were not familiar or seemed "ancient" then perhaps my idea is not something in which you'd be interested.

I guess that's the part that confused me the most - why join a game if you don't even really understand the premise or themes involved? If you posted saying you were going to start a game based on Wild Arms, even if some of my friends were joining the game, I'd just pass it by since I don't know anything about Wild Arms. 

Regardless, I just want to keep things from going too far off into the weeds from my original idea. I'm planning on running a game around the themes I outlined using Cortex rules, but I also have to be into it, or running it will not be enjoyable for me. 

We've come up with some amazing ideas for how to include things I would not have included in this game that can still fit into the tone and themes I envisioned. DreamsnThings' idea about an experiment gone awry, a population transformed, that's exactly the kind of weird science craziness that works. We'd have to figure out how or why people received specific animal traits, perhaps come up with a limited list of animals that were involved in the experiment, etc. 

I'm confident that we can create a game we'll all enjoy. But if we can't or if something just seems off, that's fine, too! If it feels like our ideas just aren't compatible, or my idea is limiting your creativity, or some of us just won't have fun, I'd encourage anyone who wants to spin this off into their own game with their own ideas to do so! I am not possessive of the initial idea, or any of the ones we've built up together. This site is for fun, escapism, entertainment, and we all share the same hobby! I want us all to have fun, and if it's not with me running this, you won't hurt my feelings :)

[Warning]

Dream's idea was basically that people got transformed into beasts. How that would end would probably be realistically not well. Think "the plague". There's almost no way these people now furry monsters would not be hunted down and killed. EVEN if one survived, assuming the gritty vibes of the theme, they wouldn't become a class job.

Still, there was something about animal ear/tail possible which I would not mind. I just don't want them to look like those moreau creatures with a face that only a mother can love. But if we assume that we had someone who had grown a tail or something, we probably have to assume that they wouldn't have a very good status in the world.

As for why I'm here, again, it's mostly to join something with others I know. It's less about the theme itself and more the players. Sometimes, you have to dig into something you don't know to see if that's something you can do. I was mostly interested in the wild west steam punk side of it because that's not far off of Wild Arms, just less fantasy.

I wasn't planning to make this colorful if it wasn't meant to be, anyway. If "anthros" are to be monsters of sort in this universe, assuming they even exist, I'll tread carefully. I just hoped to have one anyhow but apparently, chances of that happening are not very good. At this point, even rottypops from Shantae seems to make more sense... XD

[DreamsnThings]

22 minutes ago, Warning said:

Think "the plague". There's almost no way these people now furry monsters would not be hunted down and killed. EVEN if one survived, assuming the gritty vibes of the theme, they wouldn't become a class job.

the two big distinctions i intended for my version of this was that 1, it was cured/resolved fairly quickly on the contagious side of things and 2. was non lethal in the first place, im sure there would be an element of hostiles that would not like their existence, but i also dont think they would be kill on site, because well that would work for the wild west half of the premise, the technological steampunk side of the setting would play fairly nicely with that premise i believe

...i may be bias since my main portion of interest was in the steampunk portion and the specific time frame the comparison point was at

[Warning]

2 minutes ago, DreamsnThings said:

the two big distinctions i intended for my version of this was that 1, it was cured/resolved fairly quickly on the contagious side of things and 2. was non lethal in the first place, im sure there would be an element of hostiles that would not like their existence, but i also dont think they would be kill on site, because well that would work for the wild west half of the premise, the technological steampunk side of the setting would play fairly nicely with that premise i believe

...i may be bias since my main portion of interest was in the steampunk portion and the specific time frame the comparison point was at

I mean, the anthros wouldn't die from it but yeah, if they were treated but stuck as what they are, it would be fine. It seems the begged theme has to be pretty dark so what if the infected were captured, cured but kept prisoner or experimented on? As someone said, giving them a happy end might not be what's looked after here.

If I had such a creature, I therefore would have to live the dark reality of my fate in this regard. Just throwing ideas, of course. And yeah, the steampunk part is pretty cool. I like the character I found earlier but in such a setting, I am not sure how the character would go from dealing with such an event and turn to exist all steampunky.

Besides, you seem to have a good grasp of an idea with this so far so this is why I ask your opinion. I mean, at this point, it's fine if those characters are not liked by everyone. It's not expected from them to get lovey-dovey with everyone but a few. It's alright if most just yell at them, spit at them and treat them like trash if they must.

[IsabellaRose]

4 minutes ago, Warning said:

Dream's idea was basically that people got transformed into beasts. How that would end would probably be realistically not well. Think "the plague". There's almost no way these people now furry monsters would not be hunted down and killed. EVEN if one survived, assuming the gritty vibes of the theme, they wouldn't become a class job.

Still, there was something about animal ear/tail possible which I would not mind. I just don't want them to look like those moreau creatures with a face that only a mother can love. But if we assume that we had someone who had grown a tail or something, we probably have to assume that they wouldn't have a very good status in the world.

Like I said earlier, those ideas were touchpoints, thematic suggestions for how I imagined the world to be. We're not copying Wells' Moreau verbatim, nor any of the referenced works specifically. Those were a vibe check, an idea of the kinds of things to expect in the world. Weird science gone awry, tampering with nature and the potential dire consequences thereof, humans struggling to bring order in the wilds... anyways,

1 minute ago, Warning said:

At this point, even rottypops from Shantae seems to make more sense... XD

I don't know what that is.

 

But from here, let's head to the individual threads to build out the two separate worlds. And by all means, if one world sounds better to you and you're not in it, we can swap players between groups until we start Pathways. Once we do that, you're locked in! 

[WritesNaughtyStories]

17 minutes ago, Warning said:

I wasn't planning to make this colorful if it wasn't meant to be, anyway. If "anthros" are to be monsters of sort in this universe, assuming they even exist, I'll tread carefully. I just hoped to have one anyhow but apparently, chances of that happening are not very good. At this point, even rottypops from Shantae seems to make more sense... XD

Barring the notion that there was an industrial accident that created a horde of very unwelcome anthropomorphic animals, why not the Farmer idea that we suggested would specifically create the kemonomimi you initially mentioned. While I referenced Moreau, I said

Quote

I don't think that we have to go with the whole package of Dr. Moreau elevating animals. I think there's room for hybridization and "corrective" surgery to create the specific look @Warning is after.

Avoids the hassle of the absolute horror at such a massive disaster. Creates a level of begrudging acceptance, especially in the frontier areas, and at least a bit of government protection.

Isabella quoted it as well. But, I suspect, because it doesn't create a race of integrated, equal and accepted fur-folk, it isn't a solution.

[Warning]

3 minutes ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

Barring the notion that there was an industrial accident that created a horde of very unwelcome anthropomorphic animals, why not the Farmer idea that we suggested would specifically create the kemonomimi you initially mentioned. While I referenced Moreau, I said

Avoids the hassle of the absolute horror at such a massive disaster. Creates a level of begrudging acceptance, especially in the frontier areas, and at least a bit of government protection.

Isabella quoted it as well. But, I suspect, because it doesn't create a race of integrated, equal and accepted fur-folk, it isn't a solution.

I saw that message and unlike what you think, I didn't ignore it. I just didn't know what to think of it. You'll have to forgive me because I have no idea what it means and it's probably another reason why I did not respond to it. I'm legit trying to be fair to everyone here and give everyone a fair chance to give me their opinions, working together.

What I mean here is. What does hybridization and corrective surgery means in this regard? Truly trying to understand it and if it works in a way to please everyone, maybe it's a thing we can work with. I am curious to hear if it would help me find a character based on that (tags can help a lot) or not. So yeah, please feel free to explain it for me.

Edited 1 hour ago by Warning

[IsabellaRose]

Let's move to the individual game threads and start building these two, separate worlds!

[Warning]

1 minute ago, IsabellaRose said:

Let's move to the individual game threads and start building these two, separate worlds!

I agree but I still value to hear what WritesNaughtyStories has to say considering it affects the whole lores altogether AND it's interesting. I saw the 2nd thread. I'm just finishing up here. After this is done, I will not be continuing on this thread if that's your wish. It's just, it wouldn't make sense to switch this at the end, mid discussion, imo.

[WritesNaughtyStories]

18 minutes ago, Warning said:

saw that message and unlike what you think, I didn't ignore it. I just didn't know what to think of it. You'll have to forgive me because I have no idea what it means and it's probably another reason why I did not respond to it. I'm legit trying to be fair to everyone here and give everyone a fair chance to give me their opinions, working together.

What I mean here is. What does hybridization and corrective surgery means in this regard? Truly trying to understand it and if it works in a way to please everyone, maybe it's a thing we can work with. I am curious to hear if it would help me find a character based on that (tags can help a lot) or not. So yeah, please feel free to explain it for me.

The idea is that by whatever means - crossbreeding (which creates some interesting questions to be sure), gene splicing, blood transfusions or potions made from the distilled essence of the specific animals, there's someone working on behalf of the army to create exactly the kind of kemonomimi you want. Maybe the serum doesn't work quite well enough and the not-Moreau surgically adds ears to create the kind of directional hearing bobcats have or tails to help improve balance for long runs like wolves. Maybe it's making a brain enhancement injection from the brains of dead humans that's applied directly to the animals' brains and the surgery in to make them more human so they're not as offensive to the other soldiers.

Point being, that there is someone, with a clear reason and purpose, tied directly to the proposed fiction, that makes exactly what you wanted in the first place.

The process is probably horrific and painful, acceptance not complete - kind of the supersoldier problem - and their place in society largely undecided, but certainly not good, and, without some kind of serious civil rights discussion, guaranteed to never get better.

Edited 50 minutes ago by WritesNaughtyStories

[Warning]

10 minutes ago, WritesNaughtyStories said:

The idea is that by whatever means - crossbreeding (which creates some interesting questions to be sure), gene splicing, blood transfusions or potions made from the distilled essence of the specific animals, there's someone working on behalf of the army to create exactly the kind of kemonomimi you want. Maybe the serum doesn't work quite well enough and the not-Moreau surgically adds ears or tails to help improve balance.

OH okay then. I mean, yeah, it's what I was thinking about, just differently. Inject something, turn someone into an anthro. Like, the basic rule here is that anthros WILL have a human past. Unless, I guess, we go the embryo path and they are born that way. During the puppy conversation, I spoke about messing up with DNA and weird science.

This is why I'm really asking (as I said at first) how far I push it. As Isabella said, there has to be a reason why something is, for lore reason. I am trying to avoid headaches, hence why I tried to make it that puppy would be a lone case without pregnancy possibilities. If we just go kemono, it could be born with a tail (tail bone) and ears with dna.

For the record, anthro/kemono isn't an obligation for me but Dream also mentioned interest in one so yeah, whether we go with the industrial disaster or the mad science. So I am just really playing along since it's my first field of interest. But again, I don't wanna go against people if they might not like it. Just trying to find a middle ground.

Edited 50 minutes ago by Warning

[SataiRolePlayingGuy]

Read over all this quickly.  The one downside about having yesterday afternoon off, is work was much more annoying today.  Thursday nights are also one of my worst nights for writing.  But will see about getting something in the group 2 thread either tonight or tomorrow hopefully.