The Pit => Rec Room => Topic started by: Hibou on June 06, 2015, 07:12:34 pm
Title: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [On Vacation]
Post by: Hibou on June 06, 2015, 07:12:34 pm
Welcome to Hibou's RP Workshop! Yeah, that's right. I'm bringing these threads back in style.
Current Active RPs -None RPs in Development -[In Full Swing] Technomancer -[Forming Ideas] That TSS RP -[On The Back Burner] Suburbia Other Stuff (http://i.imgur.com/ERXmAwu.png)
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop
Post by: Hibou on June 06, 2015, 07:12:52 pm
So, this is what I'm going for in my new RP idea: Suburbia. The players have just moved into a particularly unassuming neighborhood in a quiet, suburban town. Everything is normal, the sun is shining, and the birds sing their merry song each morning. It's not that weird, either; the people are nice enough, and all the clocks tick the right way in time. However, as the players will begin to learn, with each passing day things have been getting rather strange. The first bout of changes have already happened: A string of disappearances in the neighborhood with no trace of a suspect or even a struggle. And that's only the beginning.
Coming to a forum near you sooner or later.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop
Post by: Siege-Loli on June 08, 2015, 02:42:17 am
Hibou your swag has now been confirmed. Suburbia sounds like a wonderful idea and I hope it's like Call of Cthulhu but in the modern era.
Either way, sounds cool and I look forward to it.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop
Post by: Hibou on June 09, 2015, 02:29:52 pm
It's time for a Hibou Co. Certified Development Update
On Suburbia
So, my plan for the RP is to be a little more open ended than TSS was. The players will be free to do pretty much whatever they want. That doesn't mean the RP won't have plot, however. I'll be dropping bits and pieces of leads and hooks for the chunks of plot I'm putting around the town. A lot of the stuff is pretty wacky, and it's hard to tell who you can trust around here, but hopefully it will be engaging and interesting.
On to the Game Mechanics
KEEPING TRACK OF ALL YOUR MARBLES
There are three main stats you want to keep track of. RESPECT, CONNECTIONS, and FRIENDLINESS. Each one is affected by your job, as well as different events here in Suburbia. But before we get to that, let me explain these stats.
RESPECT is how much people respect you. It'll help keep your SUSPICION low and make people more likely to do what you tell them to. This is a more forceful trait, and abusing it can cause it to become lower. You can earn respect by doing good deeds around the neighborhood, showing your aptitude as a leader, or just doing insanely well at your job. Do things that people could respect, and your RESPECT stat will increase.
CONNECTIONS is how well connected you are. CONNECTIONS will help you get information, promotions, and favors in Surburbia. You can get connections through your job or attending social events that occur in the neighborhood. Using your CONNECTIONS will cause the stat to decrease, though, so you'll want to use them sparingly. Or not.
FRIENDLINESS is how well you get along with other people. This makes people more likely to talk with you in the first place, pay more attention to your good deeds, and will help increase your CONNECTIONS and RESPECT quickly. FRIENDLINESS can't be used directly, and as such it simply decays over time. Keep it up by talking with other people, sending gifts, and being a good neighbor.
IT'S NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND LOLLIPOPS
There are some negative stats you'll also want to keep track of in Suburbia.
SUSPICION is how suspicious you appear to other people. This can rise if you don't participate in your daily ROUTINE very often. People who are suspicious of you will be more likely to report you to the authorities if you do something unusual, and people are less likely to trust you if you are very SUSPICIOUS. Keep it low to avoid the eye of the law and maintain the support of your neighbors. Or at least prevent them from kicking your door down and torching your house.
INJURY is how injured you are. There's no health potions in Suburbia, so you'll have to either see a doctor, go to the hospital, or just rest at home to heal your wounds. This is also used to factor in sickness you might pick up as you go around, like tetanus or the flu. If it gets too high, you might pass out or even die. Big surprise there, right?
INSANITY is, as you could imagine, how sane or insane you are. The higher it gets, the less sane you are. For the majority of the game, if you play things safe, this will be rather low. As it gets higher, however, you might start experiencing nightmares, hearing voices, full visual hallucinations, or even black out for short periods of time. If it gets too high, you'll go absolutely bonkers and lose control of your character for a short while. This is increased by witnessing or experiencing things that are very, very out of the norm. This can be lowered by seeing a psychologist, talking with friends, enjoying a day at the park, or anything else that brings your character back to earth.
And remember, all your main stats can be positive or negative, and will affect your Suburbia experience accordingly. Keep them high, and your experience here in beautiful Suburbia will be fine and dandy.
In the next update I'll get into more depth about player jobs and maybe something about the actual town.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Hibou on June 12, 2015, 12:20:23 pm
It's time for a Hibou Co. Certified Development Update
On Suburbia
THE FIRST STEP TO GETTING SOME CASH Grocer - You start with high FRIENDLINESS and some CONNECTIONS from your little chats with people at the checkout line. People will also come to you asking for a deal on some food stuffs, give it to them and you'll earn some CONNECTIONS with the risk of raising SUSPICION.
Cop - POLICE! FREEZE! You'll start with some CONNECTIONS and high RESPECT. People will listen to a shiny badge, regardless of whoever's holding it. Your time in the force has given you some numbers to call on both sides of the law, but be careful who you're dealing with. You never know who could be watching you.
School Teacher - You have high CONNECTIONS and some FRIENDLINESS because of your many connections with graduated children and their parents. Be careful about not going to your job, however. Teachers are more noticeable if they're missing, but they do get more holidays off than the rest of the workforce.
Office Worker - Your job is paperwork. Always with the paperwork. You've got a lot of CONNECTIONS and some RESPECT for your smarts and for having a ton of friends at the office. You've even made some progress with getting your boss to like you. Friends in high places are worth a lot, and you'll work your way through the ranks faster, but you'll have a hard time raising FRIENDLINESS in the workplace because everyone's so standoffish.
I'm gonna halt development because I haven't seen much interest for the RP, and I don't wanna spend a lot of time doing something that you guys aren't interested in when I could be making something that you guys ARE interested in.
Just lemme know in the thread if you are or aren't interested, and maybe even drop a word about what you'd like to see happen with this RP or another one.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Siege-Loli on June 12, 2015, 12:32:34 pm
Hibou,
THE HYPE TRAIN IS REAL!
Also, can we get some more jobs maybe like a journalist.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Hibou on June 12, 2015, 02:45:23 pm
Yeah, totes. These are just a few preliminary jobs to show how occupations will affect your character in the world. More will come, soon.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Rhodri on June 13, 2015, 01:23:47 am
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Hibou on June 18, 2015, 08:43:26 pm
Time for a Hibou Co. Certified Out Of The Blue Gear Change
So, a few of you might have been wondering where the hell I've been the past few days and my answer to that is I've been playing a lot of games. Through that, I've inadvertently rekindled my burning love for sci-fi action.
That's right, I'm sticking Suburbia on the backburner and bringing Technomancer and That TSS RP back up to the loving spotlight.
I've got a few ideas about where I wanna take these two things, but for now I'm gonna gather my notes and get back to you on all that sweet, futuristic jazz in a bit.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 18, 2015, 08:54:07 pm
Is TSS Twin Suns? If it is hibou plz.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Interest Check for Suburbia]
Post by: Hibou on June 18, 2015, 10:21:42 pm
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Hibou on June 22, 2015, 08:19:15 pm
Time for a Hibou Co. Certified Development Update
On Technomancer: The Lost
So, here's what I've got from the last time I mentioned this concept Players are woken up out of a deep cryo sleep with little memory of their past, or how they got to where they are. Only one thing is certain: They are different. The players are given a special machine, implanted in their body, known as the Harmonic Electromagnetic Manipulator, or the H.E.M. This device has been tuned to a certain harmonic wavelength that allows the user to manipulate a certain element. These wavelengths are known as Harmonics. Harmonics can be things like Phosphor, the ability to create and guide fire. Or Suture, the ability to mend flesh almost instantly. These powers do work in reverse, as well. Phosphor technomancers can snuff out fires and even lower the temperature of the air, and Suture technomancers can re-open wounds and even turn flesh necrotic at their touch.
I don't actually have a setting, just a bunch more different Harmonics and some pseudo-science explaining how the H.E.M. implants actually work that I'll flesh out at a later date. And it's time to flesh out that pseudo-science and list some more Harmonics.
So, just to get it out of the way, let's talk about science.
Technomancer isn't running on a very hard science setting, unlike what I've been doing for TSS. Regardless, the HEM implants still work somehow. The main module, a compact supercomputer, is set into the body of the user in a certain body part. Some users opt to put it near their brains, increasing their ability to control the powers they wield. Put inside the torso, and the computer is much harder to knock out of operation. Inside their arms, the computer can use less power in sending signals through the nervous system and use that surplus energy to up the juice of the user's powers.
The Compact Harmonic Quantum Processor, the main computer for the Harmonic system, works not with bits but with qubits, as is characteristic of quantum computers. Instead of processing each memory qubit as a one or zero, it processes it as if the qubit were in all states at once, giving it four times the processing power of any conventional computer. It also makes it sound really cool.
The power source for the Harmonic system is a fluid known simply as Harmonic Fluid. The fluid is what makes the advanced manipulation of the physical world possible. When it is first produced, it is in an unset state. When exposed to a source of vibration, however, it will become set to that frequency. Now, when it is activated by running an electrical current through it, it will quickly vaporize into a mixture of chlorofluorocarbons, methyl chloride, and ozone. This gas is usually released through the users windpipe when they exhale. More importantly, it releases massive amounts of energy that is tuned to its set frequency. That energy can then manipulate elements of the world in ways that normal humans could not, such as manifesting fire or healing wounds.
Finally, the business end of the Harmonic system is the Inducer. Typically, Inducers are set in the hands of the user, where the energy produced by the sublimation of Harmonic Fluid can be harnessed into useful forms of change. It does this by directing the energy through fiber optic wire into either the palm or fingertips depending on the choice of the user. Inducers are helpful in their use of semiconductors to help control the flow of the harmonic energy coming through and keep the user's hands from exploding. Quite handy.
And now, let's get to the wonderful world of Harmonics.
Here's a couple you already know about,
Phosphor - Allows the user to manifest and manipulate fire and, to a lesser extent, explosions. This can be used in a variety of applications, but for most technomancers, it's used in its most raw and spectacular form. Flamethrowers and fireballs are the most useful within the armory of a Phosphor, but other applications can be found in and out of combat with enough creativity and knowledge of the environment.
Suture - This Harmonic is one of a family of Harmonics that don't explicitly have a use as a weapon. Sutures can fix up wounds very quickly on themselves, and some who have become quite in-tune with their HEM can even sustain themselves for brief periods of time while on fire or taking fire. This power extends beyond themselves, however, and Sutures can heal other fleshy friends and even do the opposite for fleshy enemies.
Mind - A strange one indeed, Minds can manipulate the short term and long term behaviors of those around them. Not much is known about the extent of these powers, but a Mind that has had enough experience using their HEM can become a force to render armies not only to their knees, but even turn them on eachother.
And there's more coming.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Perigrin on June 22, 2015, 08:29:24 pm
do eet.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Wayward Pilgrim on June 22, 2015, 09:24:50 pm
Technomancer certainly looks interesting, I'd probably go for being a Suture. Do you have other types of Harmonics planned?
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Wheel-Son on June 22, 2015, 10:27:26 pm
I'd do Mind or Suture, you should do it though.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Perigrin on June 22, 2015, 11:01:00 pm
I kinda want one with lightning/machinery.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Hibou on June 23, 2015, 11:22:06 am
There are, in fact, more coming, I just got lazy and didn't write them up yesterday. WHOOPS.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Siege-Loli on June 23, 2015, 11:41:50 am
Oooh, oooh Hibou-Senpai I have a couple of ideas though I don't have cool names for them like you can make up.
One is able to generate a field around themselves to speed up their actions significantly for a short period of time. The affect could be aimed at someone else and can either give the same effect or slow them down significantly.
The second is simply telekinesis that can either repulse something at high speeds (which could be also used to block if used swaggily) or draw something toward something else (which can be used craftily).
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Hibou on June 23, 2015, 12:19:27 pm
Time for a Hibou Co. Certified Development Update
On Technomancer: The Lost
In this update, I'll talk about EVEN MORE HARMONICS OH MY GOD and talk about the setting for the RP.
Self - This Harmonic's inducer actually isn't set inside the user's hands, but is instead spread throughout their muscles. This Harmonic allows the user to fun faster, jump higher, and hit harder than they would otherwise be able to do, so long as they're burning Harmonic Fluid. A user who is extremely experienced with this Harmonic could go from heavyweight champion to someone straight out of the Matrix.
Cathode - Cathodes are given the ability to manipulate electricity around them, and even produce it themselves. Cathodes can mess with electronics around them, scrambling computers, cameras, and even some weapons. They can also introduce more electricity into a system, usually through touch. This can manifest as a power surge or, with enough practice, a guided arc of electricity to fry their foes.
Ray - Rays are the close sibling of Cathodes. Rays manifest their Harmonic energy as photons instead of electrons, giving them the ability to manipulate light in all its forms. They can create blasts of lasers at any moment, and even cause more subtle changes such as bending light around them to appear almost invisible, banishing any light around them to create shadow.
Alloy - Alloys have been given the unique ability to manipulate metal. They will have more ease wielding swords, can better defend themselves from hailstorms of bullets, and can even grab a metal floor or wall and twist it to their liking. With enough experience, this can become more refined, and Alloys can build machines out of scrap with a simple touch.
Gas - You would hope that air is around you at all times. A Gas can change that with some ease. They can manipulate the air around them, in both position and pressure, to benefit themselves or others. With enough practice, Gases can even create their own atmosphere around them as they venture into deep water or the void of space.
Sonic - gotta go fast Sonics are tuned to the frequency of frequency. They can manipulate sound. This has a number of uses, including ultrasonic attacks to muffling the sounds of their own movement to even creating bursts of sound that can floor another person.
And now onto the SETTING
It's the future. You got that much. But it ain't a future of gleaming glass towers and utopia, no sir. Humanity has expanded to settle the stars, and had even set up a complex series of warp gates to get mail, supplies, and people between these distant stars in a timely manner. However, through a catastrophic event still under investigation, the gates failed and humanity was thrown into another dark age.
Population dense planets fell quickly to famine, frontier worlds went dark as they no longer received news from the core cities, and bandits, pirates, and marauders crept out of the shadows to wreak havoc on the civilized world as the enforcers could no longer mobilize.
Soon, the galaxy became two places, a dense bunch of worlds which could sustain themselves known as the Core, and the rest of the galaxy referred to as the Outer Ring. The Core experienced a semblance of normalcy, planets were close together enough that conventional starships could get supplies between planets in a timely manner. Life went on. In the Outer Ring, however, worlds were scrambling for resources. Stealing and killing just to survive. It is a jungle out there.
So, where do you come in?
The players start out on an abandoned space station, floating out in a particularly dead part of space. They will wake from a bunch of cryosleep pods with little idea of how they got there or what they're supposed to be doing. All they know is that they are different for they possess a HEM system, and will find that news still travels fast in the dark ages. Quickly, they will be thrown into a twisted plot as a few groups fight over the rights to possess the HEM system, and its wielder, either to disassemble them both to discover its secrets, or to worship it as the second coming of God himself.
And that's the end of this update, what you can expect in the next update is a few more Harmonics, a couple more bits about mechanics, and me answering questions. The majority of the work done will be behind the scenes as I put together a loose plot that you guys will hopefully choose to follow. Not that you have to, going off the map keeps me on my toes.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Hibou on June 23, 2015, 01:46:32 pm
Oooh, oooh Hibou-Senpai I have a couple of ideas though I don't have cool names for them like you can make up.
One is able to generate a field around themselves to speed up their actions significantly for a short period of time. The affect could be aimed at someone else and can either give the same effect or slow them down significantly.
The second is simply telekinesis that can either repulse something at high speeds (which could be also used to block if used swaggily) or draw something toward something else (which can be used craftily).
For the first one, Self kinda fills that gap. At higher levels of Self I'm sure that you could transfer some of your ability to another player, probably through contact.
For telekinesis, all of the Harmonics that deal with a physical element, Phosphor, Alloy, things like that, will have the ability to move something consisting of that element without touching it. Making a Harmonic that TKs everything just seems redundant and kinda draws the theme away from being "tuned" to a certain element.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Siege-Loli on June 23, 2015, 01:59:32 pm
Ok Hibou-Senpai, I understand *sniffle*. I'll just have to come up with better ideas.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Changing Gears]
Post by: Hibou on July 02, 2015, 12:37:25 am
Time for a Hibou Co. Certified Development Update
On Technomancer: The Lost
Considering it's been a week, I feel like I should've come up with more Harmonics, but alas that isn't the case. I do have some mechanics blocked out so I can give you guys some idea of how the RP is gonna play.
First things first, Harmonics.
Igneous - Gives the user the ability to move and shape stone, dirt, and sand. While some would wonder what use it has in the void of space, fighting aboard stations and ships, a creative HEM user would beg to differ.
Fluid - A Fluid can, as you would imagine, manipulate liquids. This includes water, but also includes coolant, hot coffee, and even molten metal. Anything that is in a liquid state of matter is of use to a Fluid.
And next, Mechanics.
While TSS had a more traditional dice-rolling combat resolution style, I think for Technomancer a more arcade-y style of combat would be appropriate. The reason for that spawned from a bit of lore I came up with in the shower.
Since HEM units are powered by a seemingly finite reservoir of Harmonic Fluid, how can they be used in the long term? The answer: Entropy. In a chaotic universe, entropy is high. The HEM unit, through some quantum mechanics and/or magic, can tap into the ambient entropy in the area and regenerate lost Harmonic Fluid. This ties into mechanics through the Creative Combat System.
Combos and kills that are accomplished outside of the usual shoot n' stab will generate chaos which, in turn, increases the local entropy levels. That allows the HEM unit to regenerate Fluid at an accelerated rate. While the reservoir usually takes around an hour to fully refill, in the heat of combat one could refill it multiple times over the course of a few minutes if their style of fighting is crazy enough. Creative Combat also gives the user more experience with their HEM than conventional combat, thus giving more power to their HEM unit, increasing its efficiency and allowing for more powerful attacks.
So I don't have much else planned for the next update, so expect to see an IC thread up soon for this once I work out the preliminary plot stuff.
Lemme know what you guys think of this stuff.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Arcade Wizards]
Post by: Six on July 02, 2015, 07:51:18 pm
What about a situation of two identical Harmonics going up against each other? Or the possibility of two people combining a Harmonic, to give some new, or unusual, effect?
Also Fluid Harmonics would technically be unstoppable against others HEM users, since they'd be able to drain the Harmonic Fluid from anyone (possibly able to recharge themselves with it?)
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Arcade Wizards]
Post by: Hibou on July 03, 2015, 12:49:39 am
What about a situation of two identical Harmonics going up against each other? Or the possibility of two people combining a Harmonic, to give some new, or unusual, effect?
Also Fluid Harmonics would technically be unstoppable against others HEM users, since they'd be able to drain the Harmonic Fluid from anyone (possibly able to recharge themselves with it?)
Well, I never actually planned on pitting HEM users against eachother, what with the HEM unit being a very rare piece of equipment that's only been installed in the players, and the players are working together to figure out who they are, what built them, why there's a ton of people trying to kill them, yadda yadda yadda...
...But now that you mention it, it would be really cool to see a fight like that. Kinda like Iron Man fighting his own suits or something. LET'S DO IT.
The Fluid harmonic doesn't work against Harmonic Fluid because... Reasons. Maybe it's because the Fluid is tuned to a different frequency than the Fluid's HEM unit is tuned to? Something like that. I'll work it out.
Combining Harmonics together sounds like a great idea, and something that I did plan to happen in the RP. Usually it would occur with two users interfacing with eachother's Units, probably through some form of physical contact, and then using their units together. For a single HEM unit to be tuned to two frequencies is impossible with their current setup, but with a little know-how I don't see why it couldn't happen.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Arcade Wizards]
Post by: Six on July 03, 2015, 12:56:39 pm
I'd say tuning a single HEM to two frequencies would perhaps be a little OP, seeing as they're essentially Gods by human standards even with a single frequency, unless a HEM unit with two frequencies was a little less effective at either of them? Combining HEM units through physical contact sounds real interesting though, since then you're limited by maintaining physical contact with another character, would there be any repercussions if the link was broken though?
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [Arcade Wizards]
Post by: Hibou on July 03, 2015, 07:32:50 pm
Getting two frequencies into your HEM unit would be the reward to some arduous quest, maybe even the main line, so don't worry about the OPness.
There would be some repercussions for losing contact while the HEM units are active and transmitting, probably something along the lines of the HEM units being knocked offline for a short period of time. If the conditions are right, the thing the two users were manipulating could explode too.
Title: Re: [DEV] Hibou's RP Workshop [On Vacation]
Post by: Hibou on July 06, 2015, 12:07:01 am
I'm going on vacation tomorrow, which means I won't have much time to actually write stuff down. So actual development will slow down during that period, but I'll have some time away from my usual haunts to seek out some inspiration for future stuff. I'll be back this Friday, so try not to miss me too much until then.