Story Nexus Projects: What will YOU create?

Good inspirations. I never did read any Dresden Files myself but I got a kick out of the series. Personally another strong inspiration for me is Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series.

Sixth Tower is something I’ve been trying to work out a system for for a long time. First it was to be a chat room, then it became a forum, a table-top game, now a Varytale. Maybe it will become a StoryNexus in time. Similarly I experimented with City of Phire as a Varytale but think it’s going to work better in SN.

Anyway, I’m pointlessly rambling…

Hell.

Or to be more precise, a dark place where you can see nothing, hear nothing, and feel everything.

Jeff: Wanton Wicked was a rough number. But then, so was FRO!

I’ve been wanting to make something in the spirit of the sadly (… but unsurprisingly) forgotten 1988 political simulator Hidden Agenda for some time. It’s a little problematic, though, as the game is short and cycles are self-contained. And then there’s the issue of equipment (‘This hat is so impressive, it gives you Civilian Control of the Army +1!’), and of placing the player in a situation of power from the beginning (‘Until my Ambition gets new content, I’m just grinding Foreign Aid.’), and the setting probably needs to be updated (perhaps to the Middle East, but there’s a potential shitstorm for ya) and… well.

I love the post-revolutionary theme, though. Maybe I’ll keep that and move the game itself into a safer fantasy or sci-fi environment instead. But then there’s the issue of real life parallels… oi. (‘So you are saying that GLBT people are a race of anthropomorphic lizards?’)
edited by Cedric Appleby on 6/8/2012

A murder mystery set aboard a train that travels through lots of different worlds, fairy tales and myths on its journey to… Heh, working out some details. :)

The mention of World of Darkness made me think of Exalted. To be honest, I’ve been wanting to make a computer adaptation of it for a while (I think it could go a long way towards helping its broken-ness), and this could be a good start.

Murder on the Disoriented Express? Sounds good, but you’ll want to be careful with your focus. Decide early on whether the stuff going on inside or outside the train is going to be more important, and let the other serve as background.
edited by Patrick Reding on 6/9/2012

Dungeon-dependent town. You might have to populate the dungeon yourself. Or extermination if something goes out of hand.

“Instigate Pandemonium”
A mass haunting of this scale could lure the entire kingdom’s clergy to the town. Of course, to pull this off you need to get a lot of ghosts under your command. And make sure they don’t really get exorcised for good. And to make sure nobody will find out you staged this in the aftermath. And if the town is in disrepair, your reputation will be ruined.

An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Necromancy quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Leadership quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Cover-up quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Illusions quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Connected: Ancestors quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Reputation: Netherworld quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Town Appeal quality. You have been warned.

Nah, just kidding. I can’t pull that off. At least, not at this scale. But it is fun to dream, eh?
edited by Byron Man on 6/9/2012
edited by Byron Man on 6/9/2012

[quote=Byron Man]Dungeon-dependent town. You might have to populate the dungeon yourself. Or extermination if something goes out of hand.

“Instigate Pandemonium”
A mass haunting of this scale could lure the entire kingdom’s clergy to the town. Of course, to pull this off you need to get a lot of ghosts under your command. And make sure they don’t really get exorcised for good. And to make sure nobody will find out you staged this in the aftermath. And if the town is in disrepair, your reputation will be ruined.

An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Necromancy quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Leadership quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Cover-up quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Illusions quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Connected: Ancestors quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Reputation: Netherworld quality. An [color=rgb(153, 0, 204)]impossible[/color] challenge for your Town Appeal quality. You have been warned.

Nah, just kidding. I can’t pull that off. At least, not at this scale. But it is fun to dream, eh?
edited by Byron Man on 6/9/2012
edited by Byron Man on 6/9/2012[/quote]
I don’t know about that. If you can refine the idea down to its beating heart, I think you could put together something wonderful.

Now I need to start getting down ideas. And possibly pre-written stuffs. And how the system work. And motivation.

Begun a new venture! Doodle: Something about dungeons
Inspired shows your progress in the venture.
Nightmare is increasing…

So, I’ve worked a little more on my own story idea, and I’m not sure I’d have something like the ambitions, but I would have the player pick sides very early on. This choice will put the player down one of two paths fairly early on, and may dictate who they may do social actions with, but I do intend to eventually have both paths converge.

[quote=Byron Man][quote=Patrick Reding]
I don’t know about that. If you can refine the idea down to its beating heart, I think you could put together something wonderful.[/quote]

Thanks for the encouragement.
I suspect I will need a great deal of planning. Very careful planning, which I am not good at. Although what I scrapped up at so far is something like this:

[quote=]Motives, Motives

Now that you have set foot into the dungeon… perhaps you should consider why have you set foot into this wretched, dirty place. What was the reason, exactly?
[The Epic you pick will be your main focus of the game; your opportunities, contacts, and skills will be dedicated to said purposes. However, the other activities might provide much needed support to your focus.]

Epic: The Crawl of Age

Was it a bounty? An artifact? Or knowledge? Whatever you seek, the only way is down. [This epic focus on exploring the dungeon and interaction with adventurers.]

Epic: Paragon’s Flag

The prey of the great and the good shall flock to your flag, and this is the ground your flag will be set upon. But to what purpose? [This epic focus on populating the dungeon and interaction with denizens.]

Epic: Cornucopia City

Whatever this place is, it will be the roots to your dream, your vision, your ambition. [This epic focus on profiting from the dungeon and city building.]

Epic: Deathtrap Abyss

You will make sure nothing good will come out of this. And while you are at it, make sure really bad things constantly pour out of this. [insert generic joke about Ambition: Enigma]

So - three main activities. Exploring. Populating. Building.

Crawl of Age? Exploring is important, but you need to train up your adventurers and give them a decent place to live in. More exploring, less of other two.
Paragon’s Flag? You are gathering monsters (army). But you need to feed them, with adventurers. Or if you are spreading peace and love, food from the town. More populating, less of other two.
Cornucopia City. You are using the dungeon as a clutch to prosper. Possibly a breeding ground for resources. An outlet for violence. More building, less of other two.
[/quote]

Now I need to start getting down ideas. And possibly pre-written stuffs. And how the system work. And motivation.

Begun a new venture! Doodle: Something about dungeons
Inspired shows your progress in the venture.
Nightmare is increasing…[/quote]

Oh my god this is like the exact opposite of the IOS game I’ve always wanted to make. My game is about an adventurer whose basically evil. He uses villagers for cannon fodder and is only an adventurer for the glory and gold. He spends most of his time financing the town he leeches off of so now one finds out what a bastard he is. I never thought of making the game the other way around. Kind of a Majesty meets Tropico sort of thing. Definitely cool.

Oooh, I’m envisioning a StoryNexus in the vein of Evil Genius / Dungeon Keeper. Rubs hands together, evilly

Dammit, now the ‘questions’ thread makes me want to, amongst other things, make a StoryNexus channelling Dexter and Beautiful Escape.
edited by lily on 6/10/2012

I woke up, and my Inspired is through the roof. I must write! I must write! D___ organization, I can always rewrite them when StoryNexus’s actually out!

[quote]What are you, exactly?

A malnourished and gloomy goblin darts by. When it (he? she?) set its eyes on you, it gawks in surprise. Very loudly. But why? Do you have an idea?
[This will allow you to choose your race. Choose carefully - your race determines many other’s reaction to you, and also your initial stats. You can decide on your history, origins and personality later; these can quite possibly stray from the stereotypes of your race.]

Because you’re a high and mighty high elf!

High and mighty indeed! Well, magically mighty. Elegant and refined, even though you sleep in treehouses and clothe yourself with leaves. Natural enemy of most undesirables too, which explain the gawking. [You will be proficient in most magic (except Necromancy) and well-respected by other race. On the other hand, you are fragile and disliked by the denizens.]

Because you’re refreshingly sane and normal

You speak normally without weird verbal tics. You can do everything just fine and not excel at it by defying all logic and expectations. You aren’t prejudiced or inclined to hug everything. A moon elf. [You will be a jack of all trades and a blank state socially. You will defined by your actions alone.]

Because you’re a fellow goblin!

Well, it is always nice to see a fellow friend here trying to survive. Let’s hope both of you won’t be slaughtered by these high and mighty elves. At least, you are quite capable of taking care of yourself… [You will be particularly proficient in Stealth. More importantly, you will be welcomed by the denizens and hated by the high elves. Note that quite obviously, your Epic and motive cannot be related to the extermination of the denizens, or your kin.]

Because that’s demon blood in your veins

People aren’t really that scared of gremlins. Like you. Quite friendly and inventive. Of course, your infernal heritage does stir up either awe or hate quite often. [You will be particularly well-versed in Lore and Engineering, and are forbidden from dabbling in Shamanism. Socially, you are shunned by the Church but welcomed by the Infernals.]

Because you are a big, scary beast!

So fearsome. So overly protective. These claws and possibly tooth. And so d___ hard to kill. It will take more than ten spears in your stomach to stop you. [You will be particularly good at Intimidation and beating people up, but are quite stunted in all magic. Furthermore, beastmen are generally disinclined toward being destructive, and motives such as world domination or destruction is quite barred from you.]

Because… is it drooling at you?

Oh god. You didn’t notice it earlier, but the townspeople was drooling at you. Elves gawk at your unobstructive ears. Beast and beastmen alike wag their tails at you. You don’t belong in this world. Why are you here? On dear god. Let’s hope you don’t get slayed for being an abomination. [Being a human here is exceptionally dangerous. Socially, you are beloved by all to the point of obsession. You are completely unversed in Lore, and you will have to rely on other’s help to succeed - whether they are denizens or adventurers or townspeople.][/quote]

Let’s tuck this one away for the future use. Now to write the rest and plan…

How much of the sludge they call coffee did you drink?!

I wanna play a goblin, I wanna play a goblin!

[quote=Lily Fox]How much of the sludge they call coffee did you drink?!

I wanna play a goblin, I wanna play a goblin![/quote]

Um… once per month, or less. And it is mostly watered down by milk and sugar.

Okay, I failed to communicate the allusion to darkdrop coffee - and it’s Inspiration boosting effects - effectively. I need to go back to Madam Failbetter’s School for Proper Young Writers.

[quote=Byron Man][quote=Lily Fox]How much of the sludge they call coffee did you drink?!

I wanna play a goblin, I wanna play a goblin![/quote]

Um… once per month, or less. And it is mostly watered down by milk and sugar.[/quote]

Coffee is icky. As a human I am offended by your out right hatred of my race.

The human race most definitely sounds like the most fun to play.

I’ve had this idea for a long while where you are part of a crew testing humanity’s first super-lūmen stardrive. Unfortunately interesting things happen when human beings go faster than light, or at least they happen using this method. Among other things, it caused the sun to go nova (or did it?). Now you have to find a habitable planet to live on, while dealing with the other interesting side-effects…