Kvankii-Peep game

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Revision as of 14:49, 27 April 2019 by Dave (talk | contribs) (PLOT 1.05 - Growing As A Mentalist)
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AKA: "a horrifying game idea" game

Setting: post-AIF

Referee: RooK

Player(s): Dave - playing the Cadbury's Telepathic Cream in a Kvankii Egg.



SETTING

Planet Zelatyce is not a happy place. It is a smallish and crudely terraformed world created as a planet-sized suburb of thriving and dynamic city planet in a cooler orbit (both in terms of radiation flux from the system's star and closer alignment to the best part of the Golidocks Zone) for people insufficiently wealthy to afford living in such an important place. After said dynamic world was hit with a nova bomb, which shunted a surprisingly large portion of the star's actively fusing mass through a heavily-shielded foldspace, Zelatyce found itself not-quite orbiting a not-quite star and without the economic or political reasons for existence it once had.

As a result, most of the population of Zelatyce fled. Not to anywhere, necessarily, just anywhere not on the permanent nighttime and increasing chill of Zelatyce. First were the people with ships. Then went the people who worked on building themselves ships. After a few decades, this winnowed down Zelatyce's population to about 10% of what it had originally been. The people that stayed had various reasons for staying. Some had been born there, and felt like they should not abandon their home. Others were less sentimental and more just plain stubborn.

Most people living on Zelatyce are deeply pragmatic, concerned with the arrayed and endless task of turning a planetoid-sized neighborhood into a self-sufficient interstellar space station as the atmosphere gradually sublimates away and the upper layers get increasingly colder from the reduced atmospheric insulation and almost-absent sunlight. Within the population also exists a clear vein of resentment. The earliest forms of that resentment was aimed squarely at the terrorists who had committed the act of planeticide, then shifted to those who were able to move on, and then finally ended up as a vague resentment for the structures of intergalactic society.

Quietly, there were some beings that chose to move to Zelatyce. There's always people looking for the darkest, most out-of-the-way places to get lost in, to hide. But there were also those who saw Zelatyce as an opportunity. Most important among these: some Kvankii-Lood, and some Trupepol.

These particular Trupepol are very far from Old Earth, and trying to stay beneath the notice of the flourishing Gaiamon Empire. Their mission is to try to help nurture the spark of public resentment into a purifying flame of anti-machinery reformation. Awkwardly, they have come to more fully understand the implications of this particular planet needing life support, so have tempered their course to specifically target thinking machines. This has yielded some promising (to them) trends of thought to not only mistrust robots, but to be fearful of having biological beings infested with machines that affect their thinking. Their cherished core is an anti-nanoscopic-robot movement.

The Kvankii were originally drawn to the misery of hundreds of millions of low-prospect biological sentients, plus the undefended bounty of megatons of construction material. However, the emergence of the anti-machine movement led to their calculations of the probable presence of Trupepol mentalists. Which in turn gave them a nasty idea to try. Which is, as is well known, the favourite kind of idea for Kvankiis.


CHARACTER(s)

AKA: A nasty idea.
AAKA: "Grald Zaidovitch"

Not sure if that's just the Trupepol name, or includes the Kvankii.
update: the Kvankii is named "Hurt Burnie"

Having brought in a specialized operation team, the Kvankii's have stealthily found a low-level Trupepol subject. They studied the subject in as much detail as their most paranoid mathematical models would allow, given the reality-warping capabilities of Mentally Based Abilities. This allowed them to create a terrifyingly accurate construct of the Trupepol's external appearance. They then subdued the Trupepol without it even realizing what had happened. They then transferred the Trupepol's brain into the not-skull of the terrifyingly accurate construct. The construct mediates all of the Trupepol brains standard sensorium. Moreover, the construct has at least one stage of mathematician in order to seamlessly edit the sensory experience to manipulate the Trupepol's understanding of reality.

Character details and the constructs mission parameters to follow.
Trupepol original: 25-point being. 2nd stage, at least one stage of Mentalist.
Kvankii construct: 31-point being, with no physical attribute being less than the Trupepol original. 2nd stage, at least one stage of Mathematician.


MENTALIST

Test occupation variant.

Intelligence Requirement:Simple (1)
Stage Stamina:1D-1 (0-5)
Maximum Stages:10
Bonuses:5 new Abilities from the MBA table

Essentially, for a stage of Mentalist you get to pick five (5) more abilities that you are capable of. When gaining a new stage, you can change selections from previous stages.

Mentally Based Abilities

Test Mentalist variant.

RANGE is still under development, because it needs tweaking.
COST is the number of points of Willpower sequestered by activating the ability.
STAGE is the minimum stage of Mentalist required to select the ability.

The duration for employing an ability is the duration that a being is willing (pun attempted) to be down that much Willpower.

It is possible to use an ability the drives a being to zero or lower Willpower, but the effect will be brief as the being will fall unconscious at the end of their turn and will not wake up until they regain positive Willpower again.

Regaining the spent Willpower is... something I have to work out. At least 1 point per hour. But maybe more, and faster. Perhaps by spending dice towards some cumulative total...

ABILITY TYPE RANGE COST STAGE
Read Emotion mental control perception 0 1
Alter Emotion mental control perception 1 2
Read Thought mental control perception 1 1
Alter Thought mental control perception 1 2
Read Memory mental control perception 2 2
Alter Memory mental control perception 2 2
Possess mental control perception 3 3
Hitchhike mental control perception 3 4
Spasm physical control perception 1 1
Limb physical control perception 2 1
Body physical control perception 3 2
Bonus to Movement +1 meter biological touch 1 1
Bonus to Physical Attribute +1 (Total < 7) biological touch 1 1
Bonus to Physical Attribute +1 (Total >= 7) biological touch 1 2
Negative to Physical Attribute -1 biological touch 1 1
Healing / Harming 1/die(pool) biological touch 1 1
Healing / Harming 1d6/die(pool) biological touch 1 2
Healing / Harming 1stam/turn biological touch 1 3
Telekinesis 100 N manifestations perception 1 1
Blunt Telekinesis ~4000 N - 1D Damage manifestations perception 1 2
Energy Manipulation - Attack 1d6 manifestations perception 1 2
Energy Manipulation - Absorb (4 pts) manifestations perception 1 1
Energy Manipulation - Generate 100W manifestations perception 0 1
Produce Noise - Non-specific clicks and wispers manifestations perception 0 1
Produce Noise - Mimic Voice +1 to Persuade manifestations perception 1 1
Produce Noise - Startling Roar / Scream manifestations perception 2 1
Produce Noise - Ear-Piercing Rukus manifestations perception 3 1
Fold Space 1m² manifestations perception 10 5
Shield (7 pts, duck buffer = awareness) manifestations touch 1 1
Shield (1 pt intermediats scale, manipulated) manifestations touch 2 3
Cryptic Hint prescience N/A 0 1
Good Hint prescience N/A 1 2
Juicy Morsel prescience N/A 2 3
Real Nugget prescience N/A 3 4
Totally Unfair Knowledge prescience N/A 4 5
Bonus to Hit +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Bonus to Duck +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Bonus to Parry +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Ranged Parry prescience N/A 1 2
Bonus to Sneak +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Bonus to Hide +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Bonus to Locate +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Bonus to Pilfer +1 prescience N/A 1 1
Mark prescience infinite 1 2
Telepathy miscellaneous perception 0 1
Neural Blast miscellaneous perception 1 2
Mental Veil miscellaneous perception 0 0
Mental Shield miscellaneous perception 1 2
Luck +1 any roll miscellaneous N/A 2 2
Bestow (give power to another) miscellaneous touch 3 3
Combine (+1 mentalist) miscellaneous N/A 3 3

2019.03.15 - The Terribleness Begins

  • deployed in the alley - with KG8E and 7B7
  • stooge tries to appear to revive Grald - no Oscars were awarded, but Grald doesn't notice
  • experience: realizing that Grald needs regular sleep
  • tavern gets remembered - Gorshum is summoned to get Grald operating again
  • make a plan to bother drug dealers
  • mugger (a real one) - chokes to death on a well-placed throat punch... eventually
  • m Alice bot - dubs Burnie as "confused monkey" and transforms med into tool kit
  • KG8E is unimpressed after 7 hours of quiet

PLOT 1.01 - Rabble Rousing Mentalists Versus Drug Pushing Robots

Burnee stands mostly-recovered after dealing with the mugger in his own way, having rendered Grald unconscious for the fight and the subsequent repairs. This region of apartment stacks is not popular, other than to transit towards more habited areas, so there is not much urgency. However, long gaps in Grald's memory has an increasing probability of making him too paranoid to function.


Is Grald's clothing bulky enough that I can hide the took kit? I know Burnee can prevent Grald from seeing it, but want to hide it from others too. Burnee hides it as well as possible and then sprawls on the ground and lets Grald wake up. He won't be able to see the new gear or the dead mugger. After a few paranoid looks around Grald will continue to the spaceport.


A closer review of Grald's clothing returns a command ping, which Burnee can handily wrangle past the simple verification block (the password was never changed from the factory default). It turns out that it's a utility tunic, designed to help carry implements and adjust for the varying levels of protection required in dodgy life support systems. When active, it has robotic filaments that enable it to form thermal layers or ventilation, as well as countless pockets. Amusingly, its current inventory includes some tools (small of the back), and 8 patches in the sleeves.

Basically, the first part is easily done.

As Grald comes to, he will also worry about the time elapsed, and considers checking his phone as he goes.


2019.03.20 - A Nerd and a Gun

  • get annoying warning from KG8E
  • hear a mind thinking chanting "ohshitohshitohshit" - tracked mentally up into the second level of a standard housing stack
    • Clocker - mavvice on the run from kvankiis
    • discovers that Grald is a Trupepol - plays nice
  • continue on to spaceport
    • get to the spaceport proto-habitat
    • head to the closest bar - Clocker startled by the number of people without nanoscopic robots
    • yiptak action - utilizes prescience duck

PLOT 1.02 - Gun Fondling and Awkward Silences

Clocker: "Let me make sure I understand this correctly. The plan is to try to recruit people to help fight Kvankiis, or something like that. If you can help me clarify that, I can run some probabilities for who we should talk to first in this fine establishment."

Coincidentally, Burnee reflexively does that very classifying algorithm. There are not a lot of great candidates, honestly.


"As much as I would like to get this show on the road, I'm at half stamina and it takes me a while to heal. I think I may head home and sleep this off. Want to meet here tomorrow and try again? Hopefully there won't be any evil Yiptaks in our way."


Clocker arches one pre-ear ridge. "Well, that sucks. I could probably speed up your recovery time if you would like, though not a huge amount because of your no nanoscopic robot rule. You must spend a lot of time lying low, afraid to do stuff." His large ears pivot about nervously. "Since I don't actually have any place to go, and I'm technically on the run from the Kvankiis, is it OK if I go to your place with you?"

Previously, Grald had only a vague sense of his stamina, and Burnee's stamina does not actually line up with his understanding of what his stamina was. If that aspect weren't odd-feeling enough, it might be even more odd when his apparent body returns to full health in 9 hours.


2019.03.29 - Paired Weapons

  • hiding and healing
    • leave clocker behind at space station
    • crazy furry zealot
    • fixing complete - makes a ring and an alter-ego
      • JODY
  • go back to bar
    • Clocker's not quite dead
      • give him a med kit
      • sneak out of bar to avoid stabby assholes
    • use control limb to instigate one stabby asshole's death by equidon
  • hide in spaceport stack - claim an empty room
  • HACKING = 1D/stage of mathematician + intelligence
  • go looking for a drug dealer to steal… a blaster
    • Burnee uses a fake cryptic hint to send Grald East
    • mr hyper bodyguard
    • cyborg drug dealer
      • runs away

PLOT 1.03 - Gun Juggling and Ominous Gaps In Conversation

Clocker assumes that you both want to leave the vicinity, and glides down the stairway. Together, Grald and Clocker scamper away from this stack back towards the relative safety of the spaceport village stacks.

Clocker: "You know, you're in really good shape for somebody not augmented by nanoscopic robots. Your respiration hardly belies any aerobic activity."


Grald stares at Clocker with a look of mild contempt. "Despite not knowing the meaning of at least three of those fancy words, I think I get your meaning. You know what the problem with you cybernetic monstrosities is? You think that anyone not infested with your robots is some sort of cripple. We're not handicapped. We can be in just as 'really good shape' as someone like you."

Then Grald opens up his phone to look up what the heck 'belies' means.


Considering the context, therefore assuming that Burnee has the phone thoroughly PWNed, he can have it say "belies" mean anything he wants it to.

Clocker appears unperturbed by Grald's peevishness. "I think I grok your philosophical opposition to nanoscopic robots, and appreciate that you have good reasons for those beliefs. However, you do yourself no favours by denying reality. The vast majority of beings, both biological and mechanical, choose to host nanoscopic robots because of the functionality they provide. Part of that functionality is generally improved physical capabilities, which is indisputable. The other part of the functionality is cognition aids, which is the part I gather that you are suspicious about. Which is fine. Personally, I am certain that the cognition is purely under my control. You have decided to not risk uncontrolled cognition, or possible malicious influence, which is fine - but that also means giving up the physical capabilities."

"If you intend to compete against augmented beings, you should be realistic about the challenges you face. So, yes, you are totally 'handicapped' - by definition. Perhaps not by the pejorative way you meant it, though. Think of it as 'more challenged'."


2019.04.03 - Predict That

  • where do we go now?
    • eye a trio of losers looking for a score
    • Clocker is so disgusted that he leaves
    • Burnee decides to turn on Clocker…
      • SPLUT
      • Turns out that Clocker was transmitting to the local militia.
      • They banish Burnee.
  • Slink off to rest
    • Encounter Vaazthii - angry mentalist
    • unpleasant conversation with KG8E
    • even more unsettling conversation with 7B7
    • heals while lying to Grald
  • heading back to the anti-tech stack
    • bypass an ambush stack
    • talk with Gorsham - get sent to the lookout level

PLOT 1.04 - Dar**en Droids Aren't Really A Thing, Right?

In the corner suit of the Lookout Level, Burnee/Grald shares the place with two other individuals. One Human, one Zygroten. They eye Burnee/Grald suspiciously.


The nature of that suspicion leaks out through their worried thoughts.

Zygroten: ...Is this guy for real? The Mentalists aren't going to like him using tech like that. Idiot. No way he's getting Mentalist training. And it's not like those blasters are accurate enough to fight anyone at ground level. Must be a noob...

Human: ...Don't know this goon. Is he a goon? It's not like we need another set of eyes up here - almost nobody comes here. Is he... Trupepol...?

Grald is somewhat comforted by their insular paranoia, and the sense that they don't talk to each other. He feels like he can fit in.

Burnee has a non-trivial urge to push them all over the edge, because they're obviously morons. Worse, they are oblivious to Grald's nominal purpose or capabilities, which means that the coordination of this entire sentry array is essentially non-existent, which offends mathematician sensibilities.


Grald: "Hey guys. I'm Grald. This seems like an very boring job. Are we, like, being punished or something?"

Meanwhile, Burnee makes Grald hear at the very edge of his perception a voice that says "Kill them... kill them both."


The Zygroten sneers. "Don't be so whiney. We are doing an important job. Just do what you can, but stay out of our way."

With a wary glance at the Zygroten, the Human regards Grald/Burnee with polite suspicion. "I'm Calmund, the snob-fest is Kella. What's your deal? Haven't seen you on goon rotation before."

KILL KILL KILL KILL


Burnee catches a flicker of reflected infrared coded Kvankiish. "Lookout duty? They're doing a great job."


An uncomfortable silence grips all three of you for a moment (Grald counting as only one, in this case). In that moment, another humans strolls in from the opposite direction, telekinetically juggling unactivated force blades. A spark of recognition flickers through Grald's biological memories - this is one of the "cool guys" that Grald has never actually met, and his flawed neuron-based recall system is unable to summon either name or certainty about gender. Calmund and Kella's demeanour changes dramatically.

Kella: "Rozale! No signs of trouble this direction, sir!" The Zygroten's muzzle quivers with a repressed eagerness. Possibly to sniff the mentalist's ass.

Calmund says nothing, but his posture straightens while trying to maintain a deferential expression.

Rozale's eyes flicker across the two, then takes a moment to contemplate Grald - a bit loudly. Right, Gorshum said that this fuck-up was up here now for some reason. What can he do again? Whatever it is, he's not very good at it to resort to trying to be a fighter. Maybe we can send him to die doing something dangerous... Then Rozale glances back at the attentive Zygroten. "Keep up the good work." Dog.


In the wake of Rozale casually sweeping out of the modified corner apartment, the leaky thoughts of Calmund and Kella almost suffocate Grald.

Kella: Rozale thinks I did good work! They're totally going to train me to use Mentally Based Abilities soon!

Calmund: There was something going on between Rozale and the new guy. And not, like, a cool thing. Are they rival mentalists? No, that doesn't make sense - Rozale clearly outranks somebody randomly posted to basic watch duty. Or do Trupepol even have ranks?

Kella is lost in an aura of smug self-satisfaction, while Calmund makes casual contemplative glances at Grald. Neither is being particularly observant about what might be going on down in the stack-gap alleys. Not that hey have any realistic chance to spot KG8E, but still.


2019.04.24 - The Beginning of the ARG/Machine War

  • continue watch - until the robots assault
    • ARG anti-robot-guys
    • bar-entrance robots (5 taking turns)
    • in the bar - Gorsham being interrogated by 3 robots
      • one big robot and two goons
    • Burnee hacks the two goons
      • causes them to accidentally shoot the big robot
      • freezes the two goons and blasts them
    • Rozale returns with the combat team to see the bar situation taken care of
    • Grald gathers some gear from fallen ARG
  • back up to the lookout
    • chat with KG8E

PLOT 1.05 - Growing As A Mentalist

Note: The MBA test list now includes shields.

Question on Energy Attack: Can I use it in conjunction with my blasters to just give one of them an extra 1D of damage?
Short Answer: Yes.
Longer Answer: The energy attack can be mingled with a range weapon discharge, but the keenly observant can notice the alteration.  If we were transcribing this to an animated adventure, there would be an angry pink aura around the usually baleful yellow blasts.

Part of Grald's mind is thinking, "I should pick up some healing powers. I'm doing more fighting, so I'm going to need more healing. And since I can't use the unfair machine healing stuff very well, maybe I should get some natural powers."


Burnee will make him feel slightly uncomfortable when he thinks that, as more healing implies he's taken more hits, which means more pain. Then as he's thinking of all the various powers, Burnee takes the discomfort away when he thinks about shields and duck. Not getting hit means he won't need healing.

Powers selected:

  • Read Thought
  • Alter Thought
  • Alter Memory
  • Physical Control Body
  • Telekinesis
  • Shield
  • Energy Attack
  • Mark
  • Bonus To Duck
  • Mental Shield