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Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Discussion Thread
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:34 am
by spiderwrangler
Feel free to use this thread for discussing any OOC chatter, strategy, etc.
Map of Castle explored thus far.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:38 am
by BadgeAddict
Here is the catalog for all that is Sam "Chaos Monkey" Griffin
► Show Spoiler
Game: Surviving Castle Heterodyne (SCH)
His Story: 25 years ago the Ministry of Research & Development started an underground experiment dubbed CKC-100 which stood for Clank Kid Care where the 100 stood for the number of orphans who were entered into the program.
The City at the time had found itself in dire straights as the cost to care for orphans continued to rise. This experiment was created to find out if highly advanced clanks could appropriately care for children as well as human parents could. Due to budget restrictions, the group of Clank-Parent, or CP, and their children were given renovated areas within the sewer system beneath the city. Each pair of CPs were given 10 children to care for and were to continue to care for them until they reached an age where they could care for themselves. Sadly, the current minister of R&D died soon after the program was initiated under suspicious circumstances and this program along with several others were lost under a mountain of boxes full of notes and papers.
The CKC-100 program continued autonomously for 20 years until the box of paperwork was found during a romantic encounter between two inventors in a long forgotten room down a previously sealed corridor in the East Wing of the building of R&D. Once the research was discovered and carefully gone through, several scientists set out to find these lost colonies of Clanks and Children to see if the program had had any success. As the groups were found one by one, the scientists realized that in some ways the program had been a dramatic success. The sewer system was significantly cleaner during the last 20 years than it had ever been since its original design. It was also found that the Rat problem that had for years pestered the Cities occupants had actually lowered 100% since the programs inception. The greatest effect that the program had was that, other than the initial cost of the highly advanced clanks that had been caring for the children, the programs cost was next to nothing and it had made 100 orphans completely disappear for 20 years.
After a few years of continued study into the effects on the children that were in the program, it was decided to remove the children currently in the program and attempt to insert them into the City in the hopes of showing how effective the program was. In an attempt to reintegrate the children into society several methods were used to introduce the children into reality. This was a reality which included information that the Clanks which had fed them and cared for them were in fact just machines. The several methods that were designed to reintegrate the children worked on 95 of the 100 children who easily and readily understood and accepted that they were part of a government program and were parented by machines. These 95 children were able to quickly find jobs and integrate themselves into society obtaining odd jobs in this field or that, though typically in the rat extermination fields as that is what they were best at.
The 5 children who failed and/or flat out refused to believe that their parents could be machines were put under a more rigorous method of reintegration, including the disassembly of the Clank Parents, in front of them. 4 of the 5 children who had previously been confused about the situation and perhaps at first cried out as the tools were taken to their CPs settled down quickly as the pieces they removed were slowly explained as to how they allowed the machines to seem to be alive. The last child, whose name is redacted in the classified documents showed at first pain and then confusion and finally anger as his Clank parents were slowly taken apart with screwdrivers and spanners and the pieces explained in full details. The child swiftly killed the 2 instructors, a swiftness that had allowed him to stay alive in a world rats beneath the city streets, and then escaped with the pieces of his now disassembled parents.
Into Adult-Hood: Upon fleeing the scene of his parents murder by the hands of scientists, (redacted) fled into the City streets and soon found himself studying to become a master at clockworks so that he could attempt to resurrect his parents. Five long years had gone by and (redacted) slowly learned to appear normal and sane among his colleagues in the field of Clockworks. He found however, that the other scientists in the field ignored him or simply overlooked him due to his lack in the height department. Several months of work later he successfully created his Clockwork legs which boosted him up to a place which was now less ignorable and avoidable. Deep inside his twisted and broken mind, his true desire burned hotly,which was to put his parents back together and destroy the people who had done this to them. His task was close at hand, he had learned nearly enough to finally fix his long dead parents, until the police came knocking at his door
Game Life: As a character tends to develop as you play them, so has this character developed for me. Essentially, Sam is a disgruntled dwarf of a man who has earned the nickname "Chaos Monkey" as chaotic situations seem to spring to life as he interacts with his environment.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:41 am
by nikohl
I imagine after the initial "who are you?!" period, and of course the standard sparky independence/paranoia wears off, that we'll actively work together... Am I correct in this assumption, or do you guys plan on being antagonistic/self-serving/etc?
I'm happy to move toward teamwork if everyone else is. Obviously with the requisite roleplaying to reach that stage.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:41 am
by LAYF
Reserved for Bunn Bunn
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:53 am
by WearsHats
Yeah, I am planning to try to work together. We may not always agree on what needs to be done, but I would generally like to cooperate. But there should also just be room for total wackiness and the occasional non-sequitur.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:58 am
by Nerre
BadgeAddict wrote:but if Nerre truly is insane, we may need to kill him off....to keep him from killing us...of course.
HELP!
I am just a poor, misunderstood city employee.
He already tried to work together by trying to make light before the moss became brighter.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:01 am
by spiderwrangler
nikohl wrote:I imagine after the initial "who are you?!" period, and of course the standard sparky independence/paranoia wears off, that we'll actively work together... Am I correct in this assumption, or do you guys plan on being antagonistic/self-serving/etc?
I'm happy to move toward teamwork if everyone else is. Obviously with the requisite roleplaying to reach that stage.
The intent of the individuals that assigned you to Sector 8G was to knock you all back to 'junior sparks' to limit infighting and ego maniacal powergrabs. The first batch to go down to this newly discovered section of the Castle were a bunch of full power, full strength sparks. Turns out dumping a bunch of sparks in an remote area of the castle with limited resources is a recipe for spark on spark violence. As far as anyone on the surface knows, they killed each other off before the Castle got a taste of them. That inspired the mind wiping procedure. The last batch to go down was wiped too far... they didn't know how to do ANYTHING, and were promptly killed by the Castle. That's where your bunch comes in... wiped far enough to be manageable, and *possibly* make you reliant on others, but not so far that you die immediately. Not that you WON'T die... that's always a possibility...
That being said, you can be as nice or as mean to each other as you want as far as I'm concerned... I'll play it how you play it, but I'm assuming we are all here to have an enjoyable time.
The mind wipe doesn't affect other memories, so none of you are suffering from amnesia as such. You know that you've made impressive creations in the past, you just can't recall how. It's like riding a bike, except now your mind and body aren't able to recall what is needed to do it and you have to relearn how to balance and maintain momentum.
So technically, as of right now, to use Hiero as an example, he wouldn't know be able to recall how to use magnets and wires to generate current (which is why I just bypassed it as ranting). He recalls some information about how to store a charge in capacitors, and through exploration/crafting, etc., may regain knowledge about
Current Generation Generating Current.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - The Graveyard
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 10:06 am
by BadgeAddict
Welcome to the Graveyard.
Below is a record of death, how, why, where, when, etc
► Show Spoiler
spiderwrangler wrote:Ok. Last update. Then we wait until Alaen has a chance. I mean it. Anyone who posts before Alaen gets eaten by a grue. A grue that is TOTALLY waiting in the next room.
Nerre wrote:Hiero focuses on the moss and tries to find out more about it. Is it wet or does it grow in a rather dry way. Does it look natural or did some spark modify it? How does it react on us? Why did it start to glow but did not glow when we entered. He tries to cover it with another piece of moss, trying to find out how it reacts to darkness and what triggers it glowing brighter.
spiderwrangler wrote:A rampant grue rushes from the other room, knocking Sam over on it's way to Hieronymus and his moss experiment. It rends his head from his shoulders, throwing it against the nearest wall, then grabs his body and consumes it in one gulp, quickly enough that it is able to turn its head and catch Hiero's head in its jaws as it rebounds off the wall... a stupefied look locked on his face.
A section of wall opens up and a grappling hook shoots out yanks the grue out of sight, then the wall closes back up.
"Oh, hello dearies, I didn't hear you come in! Sorry about that grue, I don't know how it got in here! I'm part of the Castle... you may call me Castlina."
Hiero's Glowing Moss Toupee (blue) fell off when he was brutally ravaged by the grue, and is available for looting, but the rest of the party is too stunned to act. Except for August. He can totally do something right now if he wants to, so he could probably call dibs on that sweet toupee.
You were warned.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:00 am
by LAYF
BadgeAddict wrote:-SNIP-
@ nikohl: Yes, i assume we will eventually get towards working together....but if Nerre truly is insane, we may need to kill him off....to keep him from killing us...of course.
I second this notion, besides, if we work together we will need someone to use as a test subject mmmh?
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:04 am
by BadgeAddict
It's a little too late LAYF, as the insane one has been eaten by a grue.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:08 am
by LAYF
BadgeAddict wrote:It's a little too late LAYF, as the insane one has been eaten by a grue.
Woaaa... what happened? I'm gone for such a short time and the game thread explode.. damn... will have some catchin up to do... (Nice to see people being involved do!)
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 11:56 am
by BadgeAddict
I'm totally keeping him in the graveyard anyways.
Honestly, although nerre will be sad, leaving him dead is very much proof of the bad that will happen if you disobey. I also find that death makes games more real because..there are actually very few games in which the DM doesn't try to not allow it to happen. (aka: making death very rare)
Nerre, if you are a man, I would take your death and enjoy it, and maybe you can make a new character who isn't as crazy.
This is of course my opinion and I'm not trying to usurp the authority of the GM.
But, if i died because i didn't listen, I would happily accept my death as my punishment. I would take it like a man.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:02 pm
by spiderwrangler
BadgeAddict wrote:I'm totally keeping him in the graveyard anyways.
Honestly, although nerre will be sad, leaving him dead is very much proof of the bad that will happen if you disobey. I also find that death makes games more real because..there are actually very few games in which the DM doesn't try to not allow it to happen. (aka: making death very rare)
Nerre, if you are a man, I would take your death and enjoy it, and maybe you can make a new character who isn't as crazy.
This is of course my opinion and I'm not trying to usurp the authority of the GM.
But, if i died because i didn't listen, I would happily accept my death as my punishment. I would take it like a man.
Your point is taken, but ultimately it's kind of a crap way to die, and while I do want the possibility of death to be real (after all, there are always more sparks), I'd rather it not come based on whatever the opposite of 'deus ex machina' would be called. I'd much rather have any deaths mean something (as in ECR's Stonetear Clan games) than be seen as just being on the GM's whim. I've pmed Nerre, and the ball is in his court whether Hieronymus continues to be part of the party.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:21 pm
by LAYF
Well, I'll say one thing... updated do seem to happen really fast.. but let me get this to be sure;
You wish for us to hold to one post per update?
Just a request, could we make it so 1 post is what you wait for. but if others have posted after your first post, you are allowed one post to respond? so a maximum of 2 posts per player, but you'll only wait for the first before posting the "reserved" post?
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:25 pm
by nikohl
I took it to mean one "proper" action per update, plus talking back and forth like we have been doing.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:30 pm
by BadgeAddict
I'm guessing that what spiderwrangler means is to keep it to a certain number of actions per "turn".
because, if i try to to 5 different things between turns, then....its largely confusing.
Whereas talking is one thing, acting is another, so i take it to mean, 1 action per turn.
though, please correct me if i am wrong.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:35 pm
by spiderwrangler
Yes, depending on player activity, I should be able to update fairly quickly, but I don't want to my updates to outpace any one player. Number of posts you make between updates depends...
If it's just dialogue, feel free to post as much as you want, I don't plan on copying player dialogue into GM updates.
If you are attempting actions, or entering a new room, assume I'll have something to say about it. You can use the Move, Major, Minor system as a good rule of thumb. If I feel like you're trying to do to much, I'll limit your actions and make note of it in the update.
With the exception of the current one, I won't be reserving a post until all players have entered something.
If there are one or two players that haven't posted and I haven't 'reserved', you can assume I'm waiting for them, so try to be considerate of them as well and not attempt to do everything.
If we get to a point where all players are working on multi-turn crafting tasks, I will likely roll for a series of turns in one update (until one player completes their task) to keep crafting from being a back and forth of "I keep going." "You make progress." "Ok, I keep going."
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:47 pm
by BadgeAddict
would it be possible to allow "training"...So, currently, we each have our own skills, and as we learn more we will upgrade our skills and other skills. Would it be possible to use the same CP system to "train" and "learn" between each other in order to gain skills in things we don't have.
Assuming that you can only train someone up to your current level in a skill.
If so, would there be requirements such as.
Example: I'm about to disassemble something, i ask for nikohls help to "show/train" me in how to do this well.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 12:52 pm
by spiderwrangler
BadgeAddict wrote:would it be possible to allow "training"...So, currently, we each have our own skills, and as we learn more we will upgrade our skills and other skills. Would it be possible to use the same CP system to "train" and "learn" between each other in order to gain skills in things we don't have.
Assuming that you can only train someone up to your current level in a skill.
Sure, we can try anything. I'd have to think a bit about how to implement it, if someone wants to try, we'll make it work.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:05 pm
by LAYF
spiderwrangler wrote:-SNIP-
If there are one or two players that haven't posted and I haven't 'reserved', you can assume I'm waiting for them, so try to be considerate of them as well and not attempt to do everything.
-SNIP-"
okay, good to hear, because I'd like to read the posts of those before me without feeling time pressured, so that I may interact instead of just "solo play"
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:12 pm
by BadgeAddict
So...what are we currently waiting for? As i assume posting again would result in being eaten by the sibling of the other grue.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:27 pm
by spiderwrangler
LooksAtYouFunny wrote:spiderwrangler wrote:-SNIP-
If there are one or two players that haven't posted and I haven't 'reserved', you can assume I'm waiting for them, so try to be considerate of them as well and not attempt to do everything.
-SNIP-"
okay, good to hear, because I'd like to read the posts of those before me without feeling time pressured, so that I may interact instead of just "solo play"
Yes, I don't want you to feel rushed to post something...
@BadgeAddict - I'd probably limit the training to one level under the trainer, and greater difference in levels, the faster the training... something along the lines of (Trainer level - (Trainee level +1))= Training Efficiency
So right now, Ursula training you in Disassembly wouldn't help. (1 -(0+1)) = 0
Once she reaches another level in Disassembly, it would be (2 -(0+1))= 1
I'd have to figure out how Training Efficiency factors into gaining SP though...
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:28 pm
by spiderwrangler
BadgeAddict wrote:So...what are we currently waiting for? As i assume posting again would result in being eaten by the sibling of the other grue.
I'm giving Nerre a second chance. Waiting to hear from him.
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:49 pm
by nikohl
Bear in mind Nerre is often offline all weekend :S
Re: Surviving Castle Heterodyne - OOC Player Discussion Thre
Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:12 pm
by spiderwrangler
nikohl wrote:Bear in mind Nerre is often offline all weekend :S
I was not aware...