WritesNaughtyStories
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Everything posted by WritesNaughtyStories
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Getting into the story is the big thing. Get a name and a description and jump in with a post at the outpost. We've been adding Aspects and stunts as they evolve in the fiction and I think that has worked very well. I expect this young woman has had soft sheets, new clothes, eaten regularly (as do even the poorest citizens) and air that's warmed in winter and cooled in summer. There are comforts and safety that are part of the Hive that are not available to the Union. For your Trouble, I would suggest things to point at being a sheltered young woman who finds herself in a very different world. Stuck between worlds is close, but doesn't quite get to the discomfort of a hardscrabble existence of living in shipping containers with people who yell, cry and fuck for all kinds of reasons. Kuzko from Emperor's New Groove comes to mind. Or a proper French lady who finds herself in a Viet Minh village in Vietnam. How's this for why you didn't fight the Kaiju two days ago: you were with the reaction force that showed up to deal with LUST DF and were ordered to stay, "protect the outpost from Kaiju and Union rebels". One BioFrame isn't really enough to do that job though, is it? -
It's a GM "trick" that no matter what the players do, some predetermined thing happens. The classic is in a dungeon there's an ogre. Doesn't matter what door you go through, the ogre is behind that door. In this case, as Emily pilots Scyllia up the river a Kaiju heads out of the ocean towards your outpost. What happens next is up to you and @WickedCadrach. Magda will begin to fade into the background because with a second player she's less useful. Though I love the character and her relationship with Emily, I hate the meta of the GM having a player character. If you are interested in playing the scion, may I suggest Fallen Hive Elite as your high concept?
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I have no position on what BioFrame your scion ends up with beyond the one you like. If that's the lonely one back at the Firebase, groovy. If that's trucking off behind Scyllia in one you had all along, great. If one gets delivered tomorrow morning, also cool. If there's one that gets shot out from under you and you take something else, that's just as good. Scyllia is tiny, less than half the size of most other BioFrames. There is no stand-up fight that is safe for her. You will end up with a BioFrame, just not one that fights Scyllia. Here's a thought: what if a quantum Kaiju shows up while Emily and Magda are sneaking up the river? Lots of things can happen and we'll see where the fiction leads.
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This is precisely the kind of thing I'm suggesting. I doubt the Hive's BioFrame locked down is much more complicated that a shutdown switch. Pilot jumps in, thumbs it on, and goes. Hive command gets a notice that the frame has been activated and the monitoring begins I'd warrant, but the competent scion with infiltrators would, I expect mount up. Except that they know it pings command and everyone is watching. If they're on the fence and decide to interrogate the pair, the frame sits idle and only the young commander knows. Which is functionally the same thing as the BioFrame being delivered later. I kind of like the BioFrame getting delivered later, though. I think it adds evidence that the Hive commander and/or CEO are planning on not defending the outpost.
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Cortex Steampunk Game 1 OOC Discussion
WritesNaughtyStories replied to IsabellaRose's topic in TTRPG Club's Discussion
Seasonal heads up: for the next two months we're all going to see our usual schedules interrupted. Holiday parties, traveling, guests and panic cleaning before they arrive are going to kick most of us out of our usual writing times and headspaces multiple times before the middle of January. Even though I am only spectating, I'm eager to see this take shape and watch the ensuing drama unfold. -
It's a ton of stuff. You feeling like your character and input shapes the game matters. I want you to have a frame you love and do cool shit, but I don't see a good way to get you involved until after this clandestine operation if there's a functional Hive BioFrame at the outpost. If Magda and Emily Stealth past your character, you end up doing nothing until they return to secure the outpost with the carrier and four frames and a fight ensues. If they get caught, your character has to not be in their frame so you can talk and then head back with them (or wait and do the turncoat thing) and they jail break your character's frame. By pushing your chacter's frame aside for this scene, I think there's a much more likely interaction as your character helps them sabotage the e-blocker dosing. Then your character's frame can be delivered, you can know they're coming back, and turn on the Hive mid fight. We can do that, or use some of the stuff in the spoiler and your character can have the heartwarming interaction with the already liberated frame.
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As for the Vulcans, no, I don't think it's religious. I think they use intellect boosters and a strict regimen of e-blockers, meditation and self regulation to make clear, optimal decisions based on facts, data and the clearest statistical predictions . They're dangerous because they're purists for themselves, but certainly will to use emo-drugs on others to get results. Maybe they have a monthly therapy session where they grab up a bunch of plebes and jack them full of combat drugs and throw them in a pit. While the patriots tear each other to bits, the Mentats help themselves to carefully calculated, but high, doses of AA and some party dolls who've been overdosed on AA. Come morning, steam's all blown off and everyone takes their blocker and gets back to work. These fuckers really are awful. Who thinks of this shit?
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Just to bump this since I made a MASSIVE edit to this evening's reply, reread my last, please.
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Probably before. Modern medicine uses propofol to keep memories from forming in the first place. That means hive pilots (or other Hive military) who are used against civilians, defenseless wastelanders, or whatever have no memory of whatever malfeasance they were party to on behalf of the Hive. Which means they can't blab. But I don't think it's something you can administer to large populations. I don't think it lasts for more than a hour a dose, so unless you have a way to give the whole city a shot or take a pill all at the same time it's going to have the desired effect. But pilots, hooked into their frames, can be injected as soon as you have them mount up. And, if you put multiple doses of the combat drug cocktail in the frame's life support system, you can give a new dose in plenty of time to extend its effect. As for your e-blocker free elite scion: did they get sent to the outpost not to be killed, exactly, but prove their loyalty to House and Hive? You probably don't have a BioFrame, they're "coming" but the lifter's down, so the rapid reaction force is on call to cover you until the lifter is fixed and the factory completes the Frames. So, here you are, commander without troops. Union BioFrames took on a fuck-off huge Kaiju, defending the outpost. By the time the rapid reaction force showed up, the Kaiju was dead and the RRF attacked the Union. Sound good? If so, two nights later, what are you doing?
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"Tractor?" Magda asked over a laugh, "My boy's a bulldozer more like." She offered, securing her bag to Scyllia's right hip. "It's just my clothes, but all I've got is one bag." The captain felt Scyllia's eyes on her as moved toward the Bio frame's hatch. Magda turned an eye to Patune. The big brute was likely to be pissed, but it was hard to guess at who. Mercifully it looked like the techs we're working on his railgun so he was distracted. "Hey Scyllia," she said stroking Scyllia's thigh, "I'm not here to steal your girl." She didn't add, 'but I'd sure like it if we could share'. Magda did tell the recon Frame, "Patune's probably going to be mad too." Payarkoon slithered through the entrance with surprising grace and ease. Inside the tight nerve center, Magda felt massive. Having felt the presence of Patune's mind through her mother since before birth, Magda's instinct was to caress the dark tendrils that would connect Emily to Scyllia to let the BioFrame know she was here and to let her probe her mind She fought that down. If Scyllia wanted her, she could find her through Patches. The switch was natural. This was official duty, and Magda's affection for the young officer went to the same place fear and memories of the brave fighters she'd lost went. Now there was a mission. The captain lay a gentle hand on the lieutenant's shoulder, "Where do you want me? Looks like kind of kneeling down in front and under you, or kind of laying on your back a little." As she settled into position, Captain Payarkoon answered about the new Frame. "No. We've been stretched so thin that Patune and Granite have been keeping it company. I haven't had a chance to get in it at all so I don't even know if it feels like a girl or not." "As soon as you're ready, Patches, let the carrier know I'm on board, and we're enroute." //Whatever chit chat you want, a piloting roll to get us down the mountain and a stealth roll to sneak up the river, plus whatever drama the rolls reveal.
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forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
I've often put myself at risk, but never intentionally injured myself. I have certainly been hurt by dumb shit - took a galvanized trashcan lid to the mouth playing drunken frisbee in an alley, as an example - but the kind of hurt that self injury represents seems so much worse than anything I've suffered. -
forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
In the religious vein, I used to bum cigarettes from a priest who defrocked for fucking students but I'm kind of shitty because he never came on to me. What, am I that unattractive that a pervert priest was like, "Nah, I'm good." Intellectually I know that there are all kinds of more reasonable reasons. Didn't seem vulnerable enough, too likely to be a pain in the ass (not that way, you fucks) but there's a very real, "I'm hot too." feeling despite how horrible what he did was. -
forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
Good decisions are not my specialty. -
forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
It's a trick question. They're all places I have actually woken up. Bonus: I have gone down on a girl with both my sisters watching . That may be a new revelation. -
forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
a b Fair enough. "Let's play a game," he said in his best Jigsaw voice. Which place have I NOT come-to in after a night of drinking: a brothel the gutter a pig shelter -
forum game We listen and we don't judge
WritesNaughtyStories replied to Sariyah Nazakii Deirbrok's topic in Forum Games
I'm way too open and all the spicy, interesting stuff is already out there. -
I think (maybe in one of the discussions with DreamsnThings) we discussed the Hive ruling elite being very 'e-blockers for thee, but not me' minded. A possible character out of this mold is the idealist youth who sees the inherent hypocrisy of the system and rebels. Vi and Cait from Arcane, anyone? This exists in a limited way already, and it being expanded further makes a lot of sense. We've established that Hive frame pilots are given combat drugs to spur aggression and anger, so the Hive keeping a variety of e-cocktails for a variety of uses is a natural extension. Affection and arousal for those girls at the swanky investor soiree. And I think the A&A (Triple A?, I dunno what the name is, but this is absolutely the kind of thing that gets made to abuse people, gets adopted for recreational use and a street name) cocktail is a popular gray market item among the Hive elite. Memory blockers too. Probably hard to edit memories directly, but even now we can keep them from being formed. I wonder, do Hive pilots sometimes get shot full of that with their combat drugs? You know, just in case you had to torch a Hive outpost for the news reels? Do captured Hive BioFrame pilots often have gaps in their memories? Do they get used against the populace more often than anyone knows? Another option, the emo-man. Back alley emotion chef who sells very illegal emotion pills which are often of uncertain potency. Sure, 90% of business is AA, but people want all kinds of things. They may have blocker blocker and been weaned down secretly for years. Bet if the Hive police (and someone PLEASE tell me I can have Joseph Dredd here) get on to you, the wastes are the only option that's not the food vats. It's another Hive commoner, but with a very different experience getting to the Union. Do they, maybe, have some advice for LUST DF's plan to free the populace? Pushing on that the other direction, I think you find a part of the elite who see themselves as Mentats or Vulcans, and augment their intellect and obey a strict e-blocker regimen to make optimal decisions. I think they are the ones to be afraid of. It's not relevant to our story, but do they go on a purge of the Hive elite at some point? Once the Hive is focused behind their purposeful, heartless vision of purity, how does the rebellion change? Maybe. I don't think, given the amount of leverage the Hive has over useable resources, that they put those failed experiments in BioFrames. The Hive put them in their boots, patrolling the wastes to eliminate this pesky independents @WickedCadrach pointed out. Knowing they'll eventually get killed and don't have access to anything dangerous to the Hive, the Hive commanders trying to bury the illegal experiment don't have to worry much about them turning on them. The theory is the unmedicated withdrawal leaves them vulnerable and psychotic, thereby very likely to murder the wastelanders. Which is great, unless the Liberation Union find them. Emily, @WickedCadrach, how much easier is their detox? Did the Union learn anything from Emily's experience?
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@WickedCadrach, crispy and delicious! Thank you! @Icarian Dreams, again let me apologize for responding so poorly. I will plead having been THRILLED to see your interest and wanting to share what the game is. This says eloquently what I managed not to say at all. I was stuck at Eridani Light Horse and Hammer's Slammers which don't fit and I couldn't see my way to The Seven Samurai. The game and it's story has felt really small, desperate and intimate. This feels like the same scale. Something I've just realized is that all of the game takes place well beyond a Hive city. Are those giant domed arcologies like Mega-City one or something? I agreed early on that there are clearly factions and faults within both blocs but made a conscious choice not to suggest any. That was a mistake. I think Wicked has offered up some very interesting takes. A thought I had was the Hive's military special ops commanders (perhaps part of the same suits who show up in Wicked's cave colony) hire their teams out for "side jobs" for corporate espionage or internal political fights. I had a thought similar to Wicked's about the LU faction that thinks the Hive citizens are damaged beyond repair - essentially manufactured sociopaths who can't integrate. What does that pilot make of Emily, and Magda's relationship with her? I love the Kaiju supremacy. Is there a way they can become Beast Riders a la Rifts? And even if they can't, what do they make of LUST DF trying to preserve the Hive outpost?
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I am not ignoring this. I am thinking carefully about each point, trying to isolate my bias and what is actually written, while secretly hoping @WickedCadrach has something super insightful to say. The first thing I need to say is, "I'm sorry I came across as simply dismissing everything you said." That was never my intent. My clearest thought on the actual suggestions is that I agree, that both the Liberation Union and The Hive are fractious amalgams of internal factions. I think this is ground ripe for investigation and would suggest those internal factions might be the most rewarding to think about and offer the most to the game without altering the basic conflict.
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I don't think it's a lost cause yet. The whole point of taking the outpost is to detox them safely, if you've started that process, you maybe able to help the Union successfully treat the outpost's population. Given what you've seen, what do you think an external faction looks like? How do they interact with the Hive and the Union? If you're convinced there's no point, it's a shame. Sorry it didn't fit what you can enjoy.
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The IC has pretty clearly established that detoxing from the e-blockers cold turkey is painful and terrifying. If your character had been stuck in the field long enough to run out of rations, those few days would be horribly traumatic. Facing that onslaught of emotions alone would leave anyone scarred. All they'd have is loneliness, fear and maybe the anger of betrayal made worse by hunger. How did they recover or willingly go off blockers again? I'm not saying no, I'm saying I don't see how it works. Give me a way it works with the established fiction and this is good The idea of a Hive citizen who intellectually sees the bullshit and knows they're going to be sacrificed, who saw the Liberation Union defend the outpost seems much more viable at first blush. Do you help Payarkoon and Kehrer sneak in and turn down the e-blockers in the food supply? I'm fine with you having started to wean yourself off e-blockers already, but where did you get the food? Are they the person in charge of the food factory? Are they a doctor? We haven't actually made a choice about if it's a single planet or not, but it feels like it's a single planet, probably Earth but it isn't clear. Hive BioFrames have control circuits that prevent them from being independent. The Union Frames are independent. They're fairly smart but more driven by instinct than rational thought. The synch with the pilot kind of provides a way to access the pilot's rational brain. I literally just made this up, but I think what's happening is the sexual stimulation kind of occupies the instinctive lizard brain the Kaiju rely on, so the pilot can interact with the higher brain? Something like that. A wild frame is mostly just a Kaiju. Up armored, but without the thought to use ranged weapons or strategies. But one could get loose. A Frame Wrangler becomes an interesting archetype. As for other factions. I expect the Liberation Union is a union, there are probably a variety of factions that agree the Hive sucks, but don't agree on much else. I don't think mercs make sense though - the Union has no way to pay them and the Hive has no interest in letting them exist. Why pay for what you can make citizens do while you maintain control. Pirates are a possibility, but who do they trade with? What do they steal? I think there may be some kind of "Gas Town" or "Bullet Farm" that aren't technically part of the union, but definitely need them to keep the Hive from destroying them. @WickedCadrach does any of what I've said make any sense?
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@WickedCadrach and I think it's really cool. The premise sounds a little silly, I know. It literally started as me joking about what kind of RP might attract interest, but no sooner than I made the wisecrack, than ideas started popping into my head. What has emerged is far richer, interesting and layered than I ever imagined. It's strangely personal, thanks to hugely influential character building by @WickedCadrachthat helped define the world as well. Please, read up, ask questions. Make suggestions. I encourage you to develop the setting with your character. If there is anything you need from us, I check in dozens of times a day. If I don't know, I'll probably ask you to make something up.
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We have free spots, as many spots as there are players. We're not using anything nearly as chunky as Lancer (although I LOVE that game, and while the graphics aren't as good as MechWarrior, check out Lancer Tactics on itch.io for a Lancer video game). We're using Fate. So Mecha in this game are Kaiju cyborgs that kind of synch with their pilots through sex. What that looks (and feels) like is wholly up to you. The short overview of the world building is that most of the world is controlled by a conglomeration of hypercorps and oppressive government agencies that control their population with emotion blocking drugs added to the food supply. Their mechs don't synch with their pilots, using (I guess) strictly digital brain interfaces so they're not as fast agile or independent as the Liberation Union's. The Liberation Union are the scrappy rebels. They are desperate to break the Hive's soul crushing hold on mankind. That's the elevator pitch. A quick catch up follows. @WickedCadrachand I are happy to answer questions. The story so far is that the Hive has built an outpost in the fast lane of Kaiju highway that has no defenses. Liberation Union Strike Team Delta Foxtrot, led by Captain Magda Payarkoon, sent their tiniest Mecha, a stealth unit named Scyllia, piloted by a former Hive citizen named Lt. Emily Kehrer, to recon the outpost. Turns out, it's a propaganda piece and the Hive is planning on letting Kaiju kill the entire population on film to justify greater military spending. A fight ensued and LUST DF managed to liberate a Hive BioFrame that can mimic the voices, electronic and transponder signatures of other frames and Kaiju. This new frame has no pilot. You may take it or create your own. Captain Payarkoon has hatched a plan to liberate the outpost and its citizens but the plan to reduce the emotion blockers is going to take 90 days. It's a long time to hold the outpost. In order to take the outpost Payarkoon has suggested Kehrer may need to pilot the new frame. She is not happy about the plan and Scyllia, who doesn't know yet will like it even less. Patches and Ya (Payarkoon's call sign, whi mean "grandma" in some mostly forgotten language) are planning on both riding Scyllia into the outpost to start reducing the e-blockers before the attack. Jump in, soldier The Liberation Union needs you.
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For the next hour Captain Payarkoon simply pushed the thing with the salute out of her mind. Her feelings had been hurt in the past - far worse, in fact - and her misery was not important enough to get clock cycles. There was, in fact, a war on and she was expected to fight it. When she crawled into the rack with an actual plan for how to take the Hive outpost she let herself be hurt and angry. Then she dissected it. Knowing it was just Emily being cheeky didn't help much, Knowing and feeling aren't the same thing, but it did let the Captain fall asleep. In the morning Magda gathered the techs and the even more meager resources they could provide them. "I need Patune's mass driver fully functional and that new frame completely jail broken - Kehrer hates it, but for a day she's going to have to ride it. You have 48 hours. Get everything you can working as best you can. Questions?" There were a few, mostly about priorities and what could be stolen from where to make things work. Magda did her best to answer them all clearly, wanting to leave as little to interpretation as possible. It's not that she doubted her people's interpretations, but much more that she doubted they'd have confidence in the interpretations and wouldn't do anything. Too often perfect judgement was seen as the ideal, when the initiative to do something, anything, was far more valuable. Once the techs were off Captain Payarkoon went hunting to Lieutenant Keherer. When she found the scarred pilot, Magda shoved aside her lingering annoyance, "Come on, Patches. You, me and Scyllia have a date with a bunch of Hive locals who need rescuing from kaiju and Hive neglect." The captain pointed toward the door, "Go get your girl prepped, I'll be along as soon as I get the others briefed." The Captain gave the pilot a minute to get on her way, then made a base wide announcement for an all-hands briefing in the carrier in 4 minutes. "Off the shitter and outta the showers, kids. Ya has important news to share." She described only what the available pilots and carrier crew needed to know and the context of holding the outpost indefinitely. When to dust off, where to put down which BioFrame. Again, there were questions,this time she spelled out what she could, but added, "IF something comes up, and we can be almost certain something will, do something. A decision will be better than nothing. We can't work from nothing,we can't correct nothing, but once we do a thing, we can react tot it. Clear?" Another few questions followed, but she was headed to the paddock, stripping her clothes off and jamming them into a waterproof bag as she approached Scyllia, "Hey pretty girl." She said, greeting the tiny frame, The captain continued, "Is your girl jacked in? Tell her I'm here?" "Patches, can I sure my kit to Scyllia's leg?" She called.
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Not guilty at the moment. Give me a bit though, I'm old and have made countless terrible decisions, I'm sure something will come up. Next poster would rather skip Hallowe'en than Christmas.
