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Messages - Cthuluzord

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316
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 18, 2011, 11:09:04 PM »
Alright, so here is how No Evil works.  The seed-AI gave you the whole skinny:

The “No Evil” strain is a constantly mutating nanotoxin with a preprogrammed strategy of multi-stage attack.  The need to reconfigure individual nanobots, adapt to the individual morph/mind of the victim, and maintain a low-key presence to avoid detection means that the virus has a high latency period lasting anywhere from 3-5 months.

Structurally, the No Evil virus resembles a microscopic fractal.  It has the ability to reassemble itself on the quark level to suit specific tasks.  However, limited energy production means that these reconstructions take time and must be followed by period of recharging (through ambient heat collection) before an individual bot can begin acting upon its environment again.

STAGE ZERO: CONTAINMENT

Due to its ability to reconfingure on the molecular level and maximize its effectiveness, there are few options for transporting the No Evil nanovirii in an inert state.  The nanobot fractals would make short work of even a diamond container.  No Evil can only be transported frozen near zero-degrees Kelvin or within a complex containment field.  The enormous energy cost of each method are the surest sign of a No Evil container, but one would first have to know what they were looking for.

STAGE ONE: SCOUT

Upon release, the No Evil virus starts as a self-replicating scout swarm. It will map out any habitat in which it is released whilst giving out false mesh ID’s identifying itself as standard cleaner swarm. Priority mapping is given to areas of high traffic and any access jacks available. This stage only takes a few hours.

STAGE TWO: HIVE CONSENSUS

After the scout has been completed, No Evil will swarm a centralized location.  In order to maintain maximum stealth, the virus limits self-communication to this very confined range. Each bot will link into a computational matrix whose sole purpose is to develop a strategy for total infiltration.  When a plan of attack is finished (usually within seconds due to quantum computation speed), the swarm will use its isolated location to self-replicate according to projected needs.  The few moments this process takes is, in fact, the final opportunity transhumans will have to totally prevent infection.  An EMP charge, guardian swarm, or plasma burst grenade could wipe out the infection completely during this stage.

STAGE THREE: DELIVERY

According to the population surveyed, No Evil will split into multiple swarms with delegated tasks.  Reconfigured sabateour swarms will infect habitat systems to disable InfoSec detection, then self destruct.  This allows large swarms to hide in any hard access jacks used on the facility: ectos, backup stations, secure servers, etc.  Other swarms will reconfigure as Proteans and begin manufacture of the chemical DMSO, a carrier substance designed for dermal delivery.  This slippery, clear substance found on handrails, shower floors, and beds is one of the few noticeable signs of No Evil incursion.  The energy required for this process means that it can take weeks.

Whether attacking synths through jacks or bios through DMSO, No Evil will opt for quantity over distribution.  The bots will assemble into a number of grouped cells so as to have sufficient numbers for immediate action upon infection of a morph.  This circumvents the need for large, attention-grabbing replication processes in the body itself.  It also means that not everyone jacking into a certain port or touching a certain wet spot will be infected; No Evil spreads itself thin.  In the long run, this means tracing the delivery path of the virus is very problematic, even if transhumans are aware of intrusion.

STAGE FOUR: STACK ATTACK

Upon entering a morph, No Evil will morph into a swarm of Nutcracker nanotoxins and another Protean swarm.  Due to the shifting nature and novelty of No Evil, medichines as yet have no templates for recognizing or fighting the infection.  The nutcracker swarm will immediately begin degrading the diamond lattice of the cortical stack’s case, but rather than full degrading the device, the following Protean swarm will redesign and reconstruct the tech in the wake of the nutcrackers.  The new stack’s exterior will have a two-way interface with sensors built to detect upload.  Once finished, the Protean will go dormant and reconfigure (see stage seven).

The nutcrackers will continue up the stem to the stack itself, using quantum computing capabilities to map the ego contained within.  The alien nature of No Evil allows it to selectively abrade certain links within the diamond lattice framework. The nutcracker swarm will attack only those areas of the mind used strictly for processing sensory information: visual and auditory encoding, kinestetic awareness, olfactory recall, etc.  While the one-way design of the stem prevents alert to the morph, the wireless coordination required of the Nutcracker swarm might cause minor interference withing the morphs mesh AR. Users might complain of sunspot interference or get their software checked, but nothing will be found. This process takes days.

At the end of Stage Four, the infected has essentially been unknowingly alpha forked.  The backup link is still active, still feeding information to the stack, but the consciousness within the stack has been “blinded” to this input, so to speak. The two way stem, while keeping the ego in the flesh or cyberbrain unaware of any change, provides distance that was never intended for the ego of a cortical stack. In short, all ability to receive or transmit information of any kind has been psychosurgically removed from the stack, yet its consciousness is still powered on. The fork within the stack is essentially trapped in a sensory-deprived hell where they can’t even hear their own screams.

STAGE FIVE: DORMANCY

Truly the most nefarious display of No Evil’s sick intelligence, all swarms will cease any activity except reconfiguration after the stack has been psychosurgically altered. This stage can go on indefinitely, the infected completely unaware that somewhere inside their head a version of their consciousness is silently going mad in an endless, incomprehensible vacuum.  This stage lasts until the transhuman, according to his or her regular routine, schedules a backup upload.

STAGE SIX: BACKUP OVERWRITE

Unless the victim is lucky enough to be very rich and very, very paranoid, an infected transhuman’s scheduled backup is a date with death. Typical backup insurance requires an overwrite of previous files in order to maintain corporate server space. Files overwritten with a mind amputated by No Evil’s stealth psychosurgery will forever be without the ability to process, perceive, or develop new sensory stimuli. Any attempt to resleeve them will result in a total catatonic state. If the true reason for this is discovered, any psychosurgery engaged to re-implement input/output processing will completely alter the person’s personality; how we see and speak to the world makes up a large part of a person’s identity.  Furthermore, “turning the sound back on” will likely only result in the deafening shrieks of a crazed mind bursting into reality for the first time in what feels like years.  All that will be achieved is the embodiment of a person driven mad in a never-ending night.

Sensors in the redesigned stem will know once backup overwrite has been achieved. They will then cease dormancy and enter stage 7.

STAGE SEVEN: EGO CLEANSING

The victim still exists in the flesh/cyberbrain of whatever morph was initially infected even after backup.  But after upload, No Evil recognizes that total, permanent death is now likely an option and goes about seeking that end.  The Protean swarm in charge of redesigning the stack’s exterior in stage four typically has plenty of time to reconfigure and prepare for this moment.

In biomorphs, No Evil assumes the form of a vicious Disruptor nanotoxin and begins abrading the myelin sheath on all sensory nerves in the brain.  This action is clearly and openly hostile, so Medichines can have a substantial affect on the speed of this process. However, the fractal nature of No Evil’s nanobots and the months of undetected study from within the host’s system make sure that defensive measures are no match. At best, a well-defended biomorph will be rendered totally catatonic within a week and left to starve to death on the floor.

Synthmorphs face even faster destruction. The susceptibility of cyberbrains means that No Evil can transform into a deadly combination of Sabatour bots armed with Scorcher algorithms.  No Evil can completely burn out a cyberbrain in a number of hours after the upload trigger, and the nuclear power source mean the victims get to exist in their own personal hells for decades rather than days.

This stage is quite painful, confusing, and debilitating to those undergoing infection.  Frankly, it is a horrifying thing to behold, which in turn leaves witnesses understandably scared for their own safety.  Once undergoing a deep scan (which will show nothing), any “uninfected” members of a habitat entering stage 7 will likely perform an emergency back-up, thus speeding the process.

STAGE EIGHT: DENABILITY

After the largest possible portion of a habitat is rendered catatonic, No Evil will self-destruct.  Stack swarms will reduce to component parts, as will Saboteurs in synthmorphs.  The trace elements actually have the effect of further corrupting whatever processes haven’t yet shut down.  Disruption nanotoxins will migrate to the bladder and intestines before breaking down.  They have the additional cover of being dispelled via bodily functions.  Any non-integrated swarms will stop identifying as cleaner swarms and be consumed by the habitat’s actual cleaner swarms.

Thus, to a scavenger or survivor, a No Evil plague will look like everyone merely came to the conclusion that they should lay down and wait to die.

317
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 14, 2011, 11:44:25 AM »
New house-rule: any players that post on the forums in-character (as their PC, their muse, or some NPC they invent) get a free rez point.  I'm not putting a cap on this.

Rez points are rarer than gold and diamonds in this game. Come and get em!

318
RPGs / Re: Tournament Scenarios
« on: July 13, 2011, 05:36:35 PM »
We just did something like this in EP.  One of the players had to fight in a deathmatch and win because the prize was a massive favor from one the criminal organizations putting on the fight.

Jason was the one to fight, but he had no way of knowing who his opponent would be before the fight began.  So the rest of the crew (Thad, Aaron, and Ross). Went around the betting pit and gamed the odds, strategically being overheard talking about how Jason was doomed, had a cold, etc.  I treated like skill tests to get the odds up before they all put their credits on Jason.

Granted, none of that in any way improved Jason's chances of survival, but that is the RPPR way.

319
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 12, 2011, 06:36:30 PM »
Next game:

MEME HUNTER

The lead to Cloud 9 provided no information about No Evil, but Firewall agents ended up tipping the balance in a secret war between two powerful cartels and an illegal research group.  Now the agents are in business with Pax Familiae, the most unpredictable and mysterious criminal organization on Venus.  They bring her a neo-synergist name Fjalar Stefannson; she tells them what happened on Thought.  If Nine Lives doesn’t kill them first….

But what will Firewall think of such a deal? What kind of threat can No Evil possibly represent to justify such a deal with the devil? And how will the political unrest caused by the Consortium’s outrage affect the operation?

Is the virus even the top priority anymore with Augustine on the loose?

320
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 11, 2011, 11:41:56 PM »
So in the game tonight players...

...rescued a huge number of egos after only 40,000 or so of them died.

...promised to kidnap someone with experimental technology and give said technology to the person responsible for the death of those egos.

---adopted a german scientist.

---massacred a criminal organization down to the last man.

---released an AI convinced that Aaron is the messiah into an unstable mesh network.

---likely witnessed the destabilization of galactic government.

TOTAL SUCCESS!

321
RPGs / Re: Gencon 2011
« on: July 11, 2011, 02:31:56 PM »
That's a pretty good idea Tad.  For anybody playing in my A Dirty World game "The Dangers of Fraternization," here are the character options:

--A german bouncer
--A german Kabarett owner (female)
--An American MP SGT. (WWII beat cop kinda)
--An American MP LT. (more of a desk jockey
--A young Soviet Junior Sgt.
--A less-young Soviet Commissar

322
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: July 08, 2011, 12:25:40 PM »
So if we are going to go to every other week, it is probably important that I keep a record of where we are at.  Otherwise, Ross will have no idea what to write in the description when he posts the EP campaign in the future (scheduled for around the time the universe dies from heat loss).  But I don't want to just throw up the intro description for the game like I've been doing, all boring-like.  So I think we need an NPC reporter of some kind for the posts.  I'm fishing for ideas.

Somebody wanna let me role-play their muse and write its automated reports to firewall? Wanna hear what Augustine thinks about what is going on? Want proxies to IM chat about your progress? Do you guys prefer a news-service to report the overall impact of your covert operations? If so, do you want Space Bill O'Reilly or Neo-Keith Olbermann? Other suggestions?

I could even take requests per session and switch it up.  It could be a fun way to keep track of what we've done so far, and I promise to actually keep up with it.

323
I really can't express how psyched I am for this idea, but the real questions have yet to be answered...

Who will take up each position?

...and more importantly...

WHAT WILL OUR COSTUMES LOOK LIKE?!

324
General Chaos / Re: Image Thread
« on: June 29, 2011, 12:42:31 PM »
More neckerchiefs Ross! MORE NECKERCHIEFS!

325
RPGs / Re: Hunger Games and RPG's
« on: June 29, 2011, 12:37:32 PM »
Society collapsed in North America after a nuclear war.  A new society called Pan-em arose.  Pan-em is a dictatorship centered around the Capitol, and there are 13 districts of extreme poverty that serve this single city as its labor castes (i.e. one produces lumber, one produces food, the main character is from the coal mining community, etc).

74 (?) years before the books start, the districts rebelled.  The Capitol eventually regained control by eradicating District 13 off the map. In order to prevent rebellion in the future, harsher curfews and food shortages were enforced on each district, and the Hunger Games were invented.

The Hunger Games take place every year and operate as "a reminder to the lives lost in the rebellion." It takes the form Battle Royale meets reality TV.  Every child between the ages of 10 and 16 is eligible to play if they sign up for lots in the taesarae, which is a lottery where a family gets extra rations of grain for every time their kid signs up.  Each district sends one female and one male to the capitol.

At the Capitol, they are required to train in a weapon and outdoor survival techniques. They participate in a fashion show and TV interview. Then all 24 kids are transported to an Arena and forced to fight to the death.

In the center of the Arena is a massive pile of weapons where the best stuff is in the very middle, so there is usually a massacre as the most ruthless kids try to get the best weapons.  It is surrounded on all sides by a massive wooded area (usually) that is mined with every futuristic death trap imaginable. Lasers, genetically engineered swarms of smart animals, artificial volcanos, etc.

The best part (to me, at least) is the gifts.  The audience in the Capitol can pay money online to have weapons, medicine, or food dropped into their favorite players.  But since the Capitol is full of heartless, decadent fools, they will only help those who most entertain them.  So as they are murdering each other, the kids are manufacturing alliances, romances, rivalries, and anything else they feel will please the viewers, all just so they can get some medicine to stop their hallucinogenic wasp stings or whatever.

Anyway, that's all in the first book.  The second focuses on the main character having to go back to the game and third starts a new rebellion against the Capitol.  It think its insanely gamable because you could use the different skill sets of each district as classes.  You would also have the option of making it largely a PVP game by running one of the Hunger Games, or you could set up a campaign in the rebellion-mode.  There are all sorts of crazy monsters, jackbooted thugs, and devious traps to throw PC's up against either way.

326
RPGs / Hunger Games and RPG's
« on: June 28, 2011, 07:22:37 PM »
Has anybody out there read the Hunger Games series? I know its YA, but the writing ain't half bad and it gets as violent as any mature fantasy/science fiction book I've ever read. I just finished Mockingjay and it occurs to me that the setting would be ridiculously game-able as an RPG. 

So has anybody read the books? Think there would be a market for this among gamers?

327
General Chaos / Re: Project Zomboid
« on: June 27, 2011, 04:18:44 PM »
I bought my lifetime license already.  I hope they make the full version more compatible for MAC when it comes out, because even using the directions I have yet to figure out how to install the demo.  Still, the game sounds pretty awesome.  I especially love the fact the one CANNOT survive or "win" in any traditional sense. Very cool.

328
Role Playing Public Radio Podcast / Re: Vampires on Third
« on: June 21, 2011, 09:45:42 AM »
This is why RPPR needs its own weekly comic strip.

329
RPGs / CoC Etiquette Question
« on: June 17, 2011, 12:33:05 AM »
I've gathered that making up new monsters, tomes, and cults is not unheard of among CoC roleplaying, but what about deities? Is it okay to invent, for the purposes of a specific game, a new Outer God or Great Old One? Or would that be considered in bad taste?

I know I've come late to the Lovecraft party, but after studying the history of the mythos for a bit, it seems that everyone's invited as long as they bring heaping helpings of MADNESS and DOOM. I don't see why people can't throw more contradictions into the already-confused mythos potluck so long GM's "don't negate" the mythos (i.e. "Actually, Azazoth is a pussy; this thing is really scary!"). In fact, I feel that new creations become necessary for real horror to occur in a CoC game once you've read the stories/sourcebook.  As Ross once told me, it is harder to be creeped out in game when that player voice in the back of your head is screaming, "Oh, that shit is definitely a Star Vampire. Buy a plane ticket and get the hell out of town. Game Over." Having versed myself more, CoC gaming seems to be moving towards the tactical decision of when to die/go crazy and away from the more character-driven logic of "OMG! WTF is that?! AHHHHH!" that I feel was Lovecraft's, and the system's, original vision. 

But looking at the GenCon boards, I don't see much in the descriptions promising "new terrors from beyond time and space." Even DG, which adds an interesting new take on human reaction to arcane horrors, seems to treat the deities of the mythos as if they were literally sacrosanct. I haven't heard of any publications expressly dedicated towards the publishing of new mythos deities for the game world.  My limited experience in gaming makes me suspect this might not go over well in mixed company, which I suppose is understandable.  The CoC gaming system is so powerful in part because it originated organically from fiction; perhaps that tradition should be honored. And who wants another of Dereleth's pansy-ass Elder Gods prancing around? Nobody yearns to hear their GM spout off about how the new guy is "like Hephaestus...WITH TENTACLES!"  Yawn.

I mean, if players wanted to live in their GM's personal horror mythos rather than Lovecraft's, they could have played another game, right? In short, my reading of Chaosium doesn't inspire the same eagerness to experiment as, say, Eclipse Phase does, where the GM section is basically, "Maybe the rogue AI's were cuddly and didn't really kill everyone. Who knows? Run with it!"

So I suppose I'm torn on the issue myself. What do you guys think? At what level of the mythos hierarchy should gamers say no more and leave it Lovecraft?

P.S. I'm totally going to try and come up with some new Outer God, regardless of what is said here and/or my massive potential for failure. I'm just curious as to what everybody else thinks.


330
RPGs / Re: Eclipse Phase
« on: June 08, 2011, 07:04:46 PM »
Hopefully, someone will survive getting off of Thought on Monday.  Since Bartelby has a TacNet, as long as one person gets their stack off the station in one piece, everybody will at least be able to catch up in terms of evidence and how they died.

Either way, it shouldn't take us too long to see how that plays out, debrief, and nominate for rez points.  Then we'll just being the merry chase to figure out what happened.  Here's the introduction to the plot thread y'all chose to follow last week.

THE BLACK CAT

FOR SERVICE: CONTACT LAM CONG DUNG OF GERLACH FOR TRANSPORT TO C-9 MANUFACTURER

This AR spime was attached to the dedicated fabricator for the Augustine AI on Thought, or what was left of Thought.  Lam Cong Dung, a cell leader in the Nine Lives criminal organization, was responsible for the shuttle that brought victims for Cognite’s experimentation, and now it appears she knows something about the manufacture of the AI. Considering the hellish events that occurred on the station, one could do worse for leads than a criminal mastermind responsible for an illegal machine intelligence.

But going after Lam means going after Nine Lives, the most feared criminal enterprise in the system.  Nine Lives doesn’t just kill you: they torture 200 forks of you and then reintegrate them into a single, insane mind.  They lock you in Kafka-esque hells through psychosurgery.  These are some bad people, and in the Morningstar Constellation, they are pretty much the only thing keeping the government independent of the Consortium. So, make that bad people with desperate, powerful friends.

Lam already knows something is up.  She wasn’t feeling great about the unusual number of crazies signed on for the last Amnesia Express, and then The Three-squared Chance never came back.  She’s on the run now, shutting down operations on Gerlach as fast as she can.

Will Firewall catch her before she ditches Gerlach for parts unknown? And if they do, will they get the information they need about the disturbing events on Thought, or merely entangle themselves in the seedy underworld of transhuman slavery?

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