Drunkard's Walk Forums

The Priest.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Revised vote totals are as follows:
          1.  (Dartz)               0.            1.  (Rob)               1.  (Jorlem)             1.  (Bob)  1.  (CD)                      0.                   2. (Seraviel, kestrel404)

...if this keeps up, we may have to do runoffs.

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

Yes, it does become hard with as many or more entries as posters

The Mechanatrix, Rocketeer, Builder, and to a lesser degree The Artist all seem to be variations on essentially the same theme, though not as much for the latter two since there's less of a distinct feel for the tech base of The Builder, and nothing but artistic attention to detail for Artist. Rocketeer and Mechanatrix are mainly a matter of gender and whether the previous life left us with more personal combat skills or command experience - I lean to Mechanatrix because command experience is probably more valuable in a build-your-own-city/empire/world game, which is also why I favor The Analog Computer of those that aren't mine, since previous duties would have included figuring out efficient logistical and military strategies given the included backstory. Also, she's a catgirl airship pilot inventor, and I can't imagine why anyone is not jumping at that combo immediately

TAC, The Patient One, and The Hierophant sort of form a similar stylistic group in my mind, with TPO being overt high-fantasy magic and monsters, JC having angels and so on, and TAC having 50s sci fi space magic that's largely the same dressed up in chrome and technobabble.

The Awesome is, at that point, odd man out with a lizard men/cyberpunk corp wars style, though you could just as easily argue The Artist stands alone as well, if you give him units like kinetic sculptures or Picasso Fish rather than explicitly mechanical devices.

Just a bit of discussion to hopefully help break the dead heat and/or attract some more interest.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

My take on them- shockingly enough!- is actually significantly different.  I don't really see the Artist or the Builder as being part of that particular theme, for one.
I'd classify our options in three basic groups.  First, the Science group- Builder and Awesome.  Hard technology of varying altitudes.  Builder is WW2-Korean War American technology, and I sort of imagined the Awesome as being half-Shadowrun cyber, half Lizardman Tony Stark.
Then you have the Pseudoscience group.  Mechanatrix, Rocketeer, and Analog Computer.  AC is, like you said, '50s space magic.  Mechie is more like 1800s clockpunk sky magic, and the Rocketeer is WW2 America, plus 1940s rocket magic.
PO, Hierophant, and Artist would be the Fantasy group... or perhaps 'Mystic' would be a better term.  Straight-up magic of different shades (specifically sorcery, faith/miracles, and crafting/applied feng shui).
I'd tell you which ones I like best, and which ones I think I can write the best... but I have no vote in this.  It's all on you guys.  There are a few that'd be easier than the rest, and there are some I'd enjoy more than others, but I can make any of these choices work.  With one exception, they all fit into their own niches astonishingly well, to the point where I'm currently thrilled to have started this on DW.
Also, I'm now imagining the Builder shooting down an Analog Computer flying saucer, building Area 51 to study it, and producing olive-drab knockoffs of it with white stars on the side. 

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

I can see where you're coming from on those - and in that it gives them more differentiation, I'd have to say I like those interpretations better for the most part. Movieverse Stark is pretty much where I pulled Knork's attitude from, though the armor for his corpsec heavies would be more along the lines of MADOX-01/ADPolice K-suits than Iron Man.

Edit: I think we need one more, though, even if it's not eligible as PC due to being over the time limit - a third for the hard(ish) science camp, basically. Maybe bio-tech and acid/chemicals? I don't have a solid image in mind, though I had been trying to come up with a more or less squiddy/crustacean option, the parts that didn't suck became The Patient One, aside from visual design. For giant enemy crabs, tentaculoid infiltrators, and acid-spitting sea cucumbers, if nothing else. It would be called something like The Leviathan, I suppose.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Since I can't vote for my own, I'll vote for The Rocketeer.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Just to get this moving, I'll change my vote to The Rocketeer so we have something approaching a quorum.
"Not this again!" Minerva said. "Albus, it was You-Know-Who, not you, who marked Harry as his equal. There is no possible way that the prophecy could be talking about you!" - Harry Potter and the Method of Rationality, Chapter 84

Message redacted on account of Manytales00.
(Looks like I need to go see The Rocketeer...)

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

I Choose The Rocketeer!

Thought waiting would bring more discussion, but oh well.

The Mechandrix

Voting is over.  The Rocketeer won, with a total of 3 votes.
I'll edit in the next post tomorrow.

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

Drat.

Eh, dieselpunk is cool too.

Edit: Rocket baby. Come on! We gonna fly...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Pity. Ah well, Rocketeer it is.

-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

The Rocketeer, huh?
Sha-la-la-la-la!


===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

Well, I think that's more along the lines of Analog Computer space magic rockets, but it's got a happier, peppier sound to it than the only other "rocketeer-ish" song I can think of, Kate Bush's Rocket's Tail.


--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

You remember who you are.
You have a name- Joe Campbell.  You remember growing up in Queens/NewYork/America, a series of place memory/thoughts that are even now hopelessly entangled in your mind.  Your family was never rich- not even in your earliest days, when it seemed like everybody else was.  When the Depression hit, your parents were lucky; they kept their jobs, and your life stayed much the same.
You remember reading about the mysterious Rocketeer, that heroic figure who could fly through the air faster than any plane.  At the time, you wished you could do the same... and then the war started.  Like all the young men in your neighborhood, you enlisted.  Unlike them, you went into the Air Corps, instead of the Army.
Then you met a man named Cliff Secord, and your life changed forever.
By 1942, you were First Lieutenant Joe Campbell, First Aerial Infantry, US Army Air Corps- not just a Rocketeer, but second-in-command of the entire force.  You and the men rampaged across Europe, spoiling bombing after bombing after bombing.  Each of you was an ace several times over, responsible for saving hundreds of Allied lives.  Collectively, you were the nightmare of the Wehrmacht.
Then you took a bullet in the fuel tank over Munich.  Your world turned to fire... and then you were here.  Speaking of here, you wonder, where is here... and what in God's name is going on?
What do you do?

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

We have a frame of reference, so now it's time for Science! Experiment with the silver light. There was nothing to see around us before, and it's better to know what resources we already have before trying to explore.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

When all else fails, poke it!

Plan ClassicDrogn

While it might be nice to know whether an escape hatch is nearby in case of catastrophe, I suspect there isn't one. Plan ClassicDrogn
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Plan ClassicDrogn
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

Plan ClassicDrogn
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

It didn't take you long to figure out how to use the silver light.  On its own, it was just there, laying quiescent at the core of your being.  The barest whisper of willpower, though, and it positively leapt to obey your commands.  Within a short time, you'd figured out how to tap it, shape it, and move it as you will- easy enough, as the light seemed to want to be used.
Once you got bored with basic shapes, you inevitably decided to try something more... complex.
If you were corporeal right now, you get the feeling you'd be laughing.  As it is, the sphere that is you spins in amusement.
In 'front' of you (as good a term for it as any), a glowing zeppelin, its propellers blurs of silver light, coasts serenely through non-space.  Smaller silver dots, miniature rocketeers, zoom around it; for a moment, the sight reminds you of nothing more than your mother's kitchen, the wonderful roasts she used to make... and the flies that you and your brothers were always shooing out of there.
That errant thought... solidifies in your mind, gaining substance as your already-focused will comes to bear on it.  It ceases to be a hazy childhood memory, and suddenly becomes clear as day within your consciousness.  You relive the roast in perfect detail- the smell of it as it came out of the oven, the crispy texture of the cooked fat on the surface, the the taste of hot, dry meat drenched in rich gravy... Why, if you didn't know better, you could swear there was a roast like that right in front of you!
When you exited the memory, half of your zeppelin- and most of your rocketeers- had vanished.  In their place floated a bubble of silver light; inside of which, you instinctively knew, was a small island of reality, of existence.
You checked the contents of the bubble.  Inside was a worn ceramic plate, on which sat a slab of pork roast, freshly cooked, and drenched in gravy.
[You learned to control the Silver Light of Will!][You learned Muninn!]
[Will stat unlocked!][Memory stat unlocked!]
[Your Will has increased to 1!][Your Memory has been increased to 10!]
[You learned Conjuration!][Help Page Updated!][Muninn Roll: AUTO-SUCCESS!  Concept {Pot roast} developed!]
(Right, so we've gotten to the gameplay system.  Basically, Will... well, Will and the silver light, but that's not as punchy... is how you effect and create the world.  It's a form of reality manipulation.  In the absence of reality, it can simply create it.
The thing is, the silver light needs to be told what to do- and it's a stickler for detail.  It requires more precise guidance than any mind can give it, or it tends to ... make mistakes.You really don't want the silver light making mistakes.  Trust me on that.
Enter Concepts.  Basically, you take a simple idea- basically a noun (including noun forms of verbs- you would use 'movement' or 'motion', instead of 'to move')- from the mind of the player character, and expand it.  Make it larger, more exhaustive, more definitive than it was before, to the point where the PC can just tell the light 'See this?  Like that- specifically, like this example of that.'
At the moment, you know how to make Concepts by pulling them out of your memories.  This is Muninn, and requires you to make rolls off of the Memory stat.  The simpler and more fundamental the concept, the more likely the roll is to succeed.)What do you want to do now?

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My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

Concept Table : Concept Chair :
Concept Body
Concept Floor
Concept Bed
Concept Bedroom !