Messages

1

RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: November 10, 2017, 03:13:29 AM »

For your AI/Algorithm meets Lovecraft desires: https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2

Regardless of whether or not you agree about the severity, implications, or how to respond, a lot of legwork went into researching and outlining some of the weird automation....

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RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase

« on: March 08, 2017, 05:25:01 AM »

Looking for another kick in interest for AI craziness, check out the videos featuring Rob Miles on Computerphile: https://www.youtube.com/user/Computerphile/search?query=%22rob+miles%22

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General Chaos / Re: Image Thread

« on: April 08, 2016, 01:43:58 AM »

That whole Twitter account is pretty good. I especially appreciate the panicked Hardy Boys explosion book covers....

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General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?

« on: March 11, 2016, 09:40:39 PM »

After I spent 20 minutes in the line simulator,I finally got to play The Division for PS4.

I saw a couple screenshots and comments about this but not a robust explanation of what exactly happened. Anyone able to explain, I am curious what's up with it.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

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General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?

« on: March 10, 2016, 01:12:48 AM »

Stardew Valley has its hooks in me.  Just bought it this morning and must have play 6ish hours. It's just so... pleasant to play. At first I was rushing around trying to optimize, but then realized I could slow down and just take it day by day and enjoy it. Kind of fun to think about it from a storytelling side, like I was the character scrambling at first but then adjusting to rural life....

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RPGs / Caleb's Fantasy Civ Building Idea

« on: February 18, 2016, 06:32:29 PM »

Caleb has talked in a few of the episodes (starting with "Campaigns I Shan't Be Running") about the idea he had for a fantasy game about rebuilding a culture/society after they free themselves from slavery.  It really piqued my interest, at least as an intellectual exercise, for doing some of the planning.  In that I was wondering what suggestions people might have or recommendations for any resources to look through about how to run interesting communities (thinking also of the episode about community building).  Any suggestions?

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RPGs / Numbers Station Scenario

« on: January 30, 2016, 10:35:12 PM »

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever seen or run a scenario write up centering around numbers station(s)?  I'm keen on seeing what others might have done on this.  My Google searches have yet to turn much up....

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RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase

« on: January 18, 2016, 10:06:34 PM »

Okay, I'm in the super early brainstorming stages of a new campaign and am looking for input/ideas to build into it.  I'm wanting to plot out story arc/conflict revolving around the idea of the "big bad" being a meme evolving through the hypercorps/Planetary Consortium.  Inspiration has come from a couple major sources, Akaja from the Know Evil campaign, CGP Grey's "Thought Germ" video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc), and seeing how people spread misinformation in internet echo chambers.  As of right now, I know that I'm treading a really tough position of how to actually discover/fight a meme or something so nebulous, but I think that is also part of what makes it so terrifying.

Some of the structure/ideas I'm thinking:

• As with Akaja, no one "starts" the thing intentionally, it more or less arises from a series of events
• PCs would uncover the danger as they are undergoing other missions at which point their focus shifts to the meme fulltime
• The danger of fighting it head on (e.g. If someone is arguing something that is completely false and idiotic, you don't typically set up a debate with the most prominent figure on the opposing side for the risk of actually legitimizing what your are fighting, but more sinister than stupid)
• I'm thinking the x-threat piece comes in as it might be something of a singularity-seeking meme or essentially trying to turn all of transhumanity collectively into a TITAN-esque collective
• Before PCs uncover the "meme-ness" of it, they take down something only to see it pop up several other places (a la Hydra), leading to them delving into its true nature.
• Being a meme/thought-germ, it infects different hypercorps in different ways, perhaps leading to mini x-threats throughout the campaign.  This could lead to the struggle of balancing fighting the symptoms vs. the disease.

So those are some of the initial thoughts.  The overall concept is probably less than an hour old and I haven't slept on it yet (the time that things typically coalesce better for me), but I was eager to get input and thoughts from others.  Any ideas, especially on how to "beat" the meme or major flaws to avoid would be greatly appreciated.

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RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase

« on: October 22, 2015, 09:43:03 PM »

Have you read Think Before Asking? It's a free download so I would start there.

Make each layer of the simulspace distinct and imperfect - TITANs be imperfect machine gods anyway, so there's something wrong with each layer. A color can't be rendered right, smells are wrong, all music sounds the same.

When they get out, introduce something that triggers memories of those flaws. Leave it ambiguous.

Thanks, really helpful and I just plotted out the rough idea for the story today and am excited to add in the details.  If it is a huge success I'll definitely look at sharing the work I pulled together.

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RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase

« on: October 16, 2015, 08:14:34 PM »

Looking for ideas to help flesh out a scenario I want to run.  It's a one-off for 4-6 hours spread over two sessions.  As far as inspirations, I'm pulling somewhat heavily from things like the Matrix, Inception, the Mall Cops game Ross recorded years ago, and the most recent Doctor Who Christmas special.

Rough outline:
The players are agents deployed to investigate an x threat that turns out to be a TITAN generated simulspace that basically hacks the brains of those who are in it to make it feel "real" (i.e. they don't think they are in simulspace).  The space is constantly being tweaked and modified to be as appealing as possible to the inhabitants so they don't realize it (a la DW and Mall Cops).  As the PCs investigate the situation there will be various levels of nested spaces (a la Inception) with the ultimate upshot being that they realize the game started with them already in the simulspace.  The goal will primarily be about "escaping" the nested spaces and trying to destroy whatever server bank the space is stored on. (I think Caleb actually had a similar element of nested spaces in one of his games).  The "lingering horror" I want to leave with the characters is the constant paranoia or question as to whether they "really" escaped or not.

"Scary" Bits (things I want to cause the players discomfort)

• Did they really make it out or not?
• As they are investigating and realize they simulspace adapts, can they really trust what they have discovered or is it just the space trying to entrap them further?
• What is the TITAN's purpose in it?  Ultimately I think this question is scarier if left unanswered (kine of incomprehensible Old Ones status)
• General backdrop of existential/perception horror.  What does it mean to give into/embrace the madness/simulspace?  What does it mean if one can't trust their own senses/perception? etc.

So that's a lot and pretty vague right now, but I'm looking for ideas on how to tighten it up and flesh it out.  My hope is to give only enough answers to get the players hungering for more and leave a lot of questions up to their imagination (without being frustrating).  So I'm definitely down to cut some stuff, but don't want it to devolve into a simple "here's a scary monster, find it's weakness then fight it."  I'm thinking about trying to tweak it a bit in play to emphasize or feed into the things players fixate on (as the TITAN would adapt the world to keep them trapped), but not sure how to play that out.

Any suggestions on how to bring this all together?

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RPGs / Re: Game Fodder / Story Fodder

« on: September 28, 2015, 02:50:45 PM »

So with the most reason of Doctor Who now on Netflix, I've "caught up" so to speak.  Say what you will about the show as a whole, but there are pretty consistently bits and pieces that are great for monsters or big bads, especially in horror games (weeping angels, the silence and the most recent Christmas special spring to mind)....

Building up my pool of ideas to pull from for a Halloween game coming up....

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General Chaos / Re: What are you reading?

« on: September 17, 2015, 02:12:58 AM »

Been waiting on Sevenses on hold for digital loan from the library.  Heard bits and pieces of a teaser and super interested to give it a read through....

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General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?

« on: September 09, 2015, 11:02:53 AM »

Started playing Binding of Isaac: Rebirth again, and it's definitely one of those "just one more run" games....

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General Chaos / Re: Accounts for fictional characters? Anyone else do this?

« on: September 03, 2015, 01:26:54 PM »

Hmm... never would have thought of this, but it gets me interested for giving players something to do between sessions (maybe some investigation-y type things), but would definitely take some effort and buy-in to not have it be cheesy.  Cool idea though....

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General Chaos / Re: What Vidja games are you playing?

« on: August 03, 2015, 08:03:13 PM »

Tales from the Borderland is ok, just nothing to write home about.

I would agree.  It's decent fun if you like the Borderlands style, but at the end of the day it's basically a bunch of cutscenes from Borderlands (in terms of quality).