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[Talking about CYOAs] Silly Games for Silly People

124

Posts

  • TipharethTiphareth Registered User regular
    I am struggling with depression (I'm getting better though) so I don't want to commit to something I'm not sure I can see through. Both those ideas seems stellar though and definitely my jam, if I get brave enough to expose the world to my (awful) writing I would definitely love co-hosting something like that in the future. I couldn't say when that would be though.

  • BursarBursar Hee Noooo! PDX areaRegistered User regular
    I can write my way into a plastic bag, so that's something!
    Call me intrigued.

    GNU Terry Pratchett
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    Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
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  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Delmain wrote: »
    I could not write my way out of a plastic bag.

    If you want some help with the nuts and bolts though, I can absolutely be your guy. I thought about it when you posted that last week, but I figured you were more looking for someone who could help with the writing.

    Yes, I'd need help with both sides really. The vague idea about how to do load sharing is just that whoever gets the time posts an update - I used to use drafts quite heavily so maybe we would need to shift that out to Google Doc or something so that those wouldn't get wasted.
    Tiphareth wrote: »
    I am struggling with depression (I'm getting better though) so I don't want to commit to something I'm not sure I can see through. Both those ideas seems stellar though and definitely my jam, if I get brave enough to expose the world to my (awful) writing I would definitely love co-hosting something like that in the future. I couldn't say when that would be though.

    Glad you're on the mend. And the forum always seems to enjoy cyoas so if you have the time then they can't be any more of a hash than mine!
    Bursar wrote: »
    I can write my way into a plastic bag, so that's something!
    Call me intrigued.

    Awesome. Do you think you'd have the time to post a couple of updates a week. I found each one took an hour or so.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • zekebeauzekebeau Registered User regular
    Sadly I am in busy season and would not be available until May. :(

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    edited February 2019
    So occasionally I come very close to starting another game. I've written three or four badly thought out OPs for games and then hastily deleted them.

    Here is today's, that I came up with between experiments
    Introduction

    This world is not what it once was. We scrabble for enough to keep existing now, pulling roots from the muck, hunting for scraps of wood to burn, collecting the rains when they come. Survival is all we can hope for. Anything more than existence draws their attention. And when they come it is an end. Or at least the start of a new cycle. Yesterday we were fifty-seven. As the warm lights of dawn arrive though we are barely a dozen. In another time the fallen would have been buried and grieved for. Today we do not look back. We close our ears to the terrible sounds. We wrap tattered shirts around our faces to avoid the stench of death. And we walk. Away. We will last a few days yet with what we have. If we are lucky then perhaps this time we will strike the balance. Staying alive but staying small, quiet and invisible. Avoiding attention and earning our right to survive. We tell ourselves this lie as we search for place to stop. A place to rest. A place to start our scrabbling in the dirt once more.

    What Is This?

    This is a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) game. It’s sort of like a Play By Post but more freeform and with no defined player list. Every turn I’ll post an update, with a few options and then you lot get to decide what you would like to happen. With your choices determining the fate of one of the power hungry wizard apprentices. Anybody can jump in and have their say on the direction taken by the colony in a given turn. I'll go for whatever gets a majority.

    I also encourage you guys to post little side stories, or drawings or whatever. I’m just arbitrating, you're the voices inside the wizard's head. Also, it helps me to know what you guys want so I can swing my options to fit that better.

    I've done a few of these in the past. Space Australia told the noble tale of some space criminals on an alien world. Seven Wizards for Seven Apocalypses was a modern day retelling of Cinderella set in an inner city school in 1982

    The Rules

    The rules are fast and loose. I'll wait an arbitrary period of time for votes and then post an update based on the majority view.

    I don't plan to role dice, make a map or track numbers in this game. It's a fun* new spin on things.

    *lazy

    Can I Play?
    Yes, look for my latest post and submit your vote. Do it in red and bold so I can see it easily.

    For example, if my last post ended with:
    A : Explore the eerily glowing tunnels beneath the ruined city
    B: Explore the eastern half of the ruins
    C: Butcher the fallen/sleeping great one
    D: Pray to the fallen/sleeping great one for revenge against the Red Tongues
    E: Move the rest of the survivors from the cliffs into the city and settle there

    Then you could say something like:
    E: That great one would have woken up by now if it was still alive and we know that we've attracted too much attention over at the cliffs

    How do we start?
    There are three initial decisions to be made. First, we need to start defining the manner of beast destroyed your last community, along with determining what useful ability or resource your band of survivors has? And where are you now?

    That means post a letter, a number and a symbol

    The Nature of the Beast (Part I)
    A: Formless
    B: Avian
    C: Fabricated
    D: Geometric
    E: Mammalian
    F: Mineral
    G: Herptilian
    H: Plant
    I: Other

    The Boon of the Survivors
    1: A terrible weapon from a previous age
    2: Maps of the world as it was
    3: Faith in a power beyond the beasts
    4: An acceptance of the merits of cannibalism
    5: A few basic tools, enough to start to rebuild
    6: Thick skin, more literal than metaphorical
    7: Wine

    The Immediate Surroundings
    £: A polar desert
    $: A shrivelled grassland
    %: A petrified forest
    &: An island of debris
    @: A salt plain
    *: A fallen metropolis
    #: A lush river valley

    I don't know what I'll do it with. I have some pretty loose ideas of where the story would go though.

    Mojo_Jojo on
    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    I've been pondering a zomb-pocalypse CYOA thing, but I don't think I've got the follow through to devote the time and effort to such an endeavor. And it seems that Zombies may be getting a bit played out.
    Random thoughts I put together, if anyone is interested.
    Start with a convoy running out of gas, three or four likely options for colonization are in range:
    1: Prison: Strong walls are secure and easily defended, but morale and food production suffer since the only protected arable land is a small exercise yard. Small rooms, lack of privacy and minimal resources will limit how well you can expand science and production. A well stocked armory escaped notice from looters. Being something of a landmark, it may attract attention.
    2: Gated community: Walls aren't as strong, but they're better than nothing. Sprawling walls may be hard to protect with limited numbers. Farming is easier since there are yards, but the houses need to be cleared before you can be secure in your walls. Well stocked cupboards provide an initial bonus to food reserves, and libraries boost research.
    3: Generic Suburbia: Bigger yards allow for more farming, well stocked garages for DIY types allow for an initial boost to production of goods. No walls to keep the mindless out though, or the other survivors. Lots of space to spread out for research or industry once that gets churning.
    4: The Mall: It's a mall. Huge initial boost to material reserves, but poor prospects for expanding past this initial boost without spreading the colony dangerously thin. Not much arable land in or around your average shopping mall. Large, well stocked, parking lot provides a lot of tech resources though, and if you can secure the entrances/loading docks it may not be too bad.

    Research was going to follow three trees with techs intermingling if you split research between multiple trees:
    Revival: Recover society, build it back as it was. Focus on guns and keeping vehicles working.
    Steam punk: We can't do electricity or tech like we had Before, but we can sure Evil Dead up a steam engine and a big blade on a car and chop up the mindless hoards. Gets you steampunk type lightning cannons, and the aforementioned Evil Dead mobile.
    Wyrd: Turns out, Zombie weren't the only change. Magic is making a comeback and those "Crystal Healing" nut jobs may have been onto something. Is it magic? Is it psychic abilities? Who cares, we learned how to throw fireballs.

    End Game Spoiler
    The type of zombie outbreak would have varied depending on which tech tree you followed the most. Are they biological zombies reanimated by a mutant plague (totally not developed by Umbrella Corp)? Self replicating tech/science zombies put together by a mad doctor (who is definitely not named Frankenstein) and unleashed on the world? Are they the risen dead serving an eldritch abomination from outside reality?
    Then my dedication to building intermingling tech trees falls apart or I get distracted by something shiny.

  • jakobaggerjakobagger LO THY DREAD EMPIRE CHAOS IS RESTORED Registered User regular
    I am way too lazy to be involved in running these but I really like playing/reading them.

    As a dedicated wizard connoisseur, wizard world was so cool. Interesting setting on the 'surface' level, really cool weird stuff on the 'metaphysical' level - the connection between the two worlds etc - that I admit didn't always fully understand.

  • zekebeauzekebeau Registered User regular
    Both games were really cool and fun, if you have the itch @Mojo_Jojo I will certainly participate.

  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    D3# if we were going to do this thing. It sounds like a lot of fun to me Mojo.

    In fact I'm going to re-read space Australia a bit.

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  • zekebeauzekebeau Registered User regular
    B2* for me. Exploring and avoiding a super hawk.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    I'd have gone for D1*
    Because I'm curious what a geometric beast would be like, but I'd want a terrifying lostech weapon to keep me warm at night in our fallen metropolis.

  • zekebeauzekebeau Registered User regular
    Please, lost tech always breaks at the worst moment. Better map, we spend our day on the run, need to know where to run to.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    It's mostly my lack of time, or reliable time, that is the issue here. Stupid job.

    Also, picking #!? The obvious trap? Brave.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • discriderdiscrider Registered User regular
    Clearly we should start on the salt plain because it's easier to build up food stores when everything comes pre-salted

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Okay I snapped and put up a post for a new thing. It's probably a bit weirder and harder to define than my last few. I hope some of you stick it out!

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Wow, it's been 8 years since Space Australia.
    Time flies.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited January 2021
    I’m gonna do one of these soon.

    I tried one before about wrestling, but I got burnt out doing really long descriptions without getting a lot back out of it due to how simple I made the choices (it was just about voting who would win a match).

    There’s a real push and pull to these. You don’t want participants to feel like they have to do much, but you also don’t want to have to bring your A game to such a light thing, you know?

    That’s why, at least right now, I’m thinking of doing one about making a little farm. There would be a small grid, say, 8 by 8 like a chess board, and you would fill it out by deciding what to build or plant. I’ll roll up weather and events on a d6, and between us we’d see what we end up with after a year of play.

    For plot, such as it is, I’m thinking the farmer has just returned from a vague unnamed war, and everyone is trying to get back on their feet.

    My main caveat is, I can only write like, I don’t know, 200 words in a post. It’s as light for me as it would be for you.

    Edit: That’s an in-game year of play.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Thoughts?
    7l5r5019faji.jpeg

    Also there might be a twist but well, of course there is.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    I think given the popularity of Stardew Valley you're on to a winner right there

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Thanks Mojo. I’ll be stealing your voting options method, more or less.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Oh, I stole that from somebody else long before I made my first CYOA

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Thoughts of the day:

    A vote is worth 3 points. If you want, you can choose up to 3 options and spread your points between them.

    In addition, the top 2 voted options happen, though the 2nd option will be limited, lesser in comparison. So if you have, say:
    A. Plant strawberries.
    B. Plant tomatoes.
    C. Plant peas.

    You might end up with a full square of strawberries on the farm that will become a resource, and just a couple tomato plants in the farmer’s garden, which are more limited in use. No peas, as that lost the vote.

    This way you avoid the problem of the 51% victory, which can be especially saddening if the main vote was just to avoid a generally disliked 3rd option.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    Be careful about making processing each turn a massive pain in the arse for yourself.

    When I did the Wizards game I gave a bonus per vote that worked out quite well

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Yeah, I’ll think on it. I might still keep the top 2 go forward rule, maybe even just occasionally to mix it up.

  • AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    Yeah, I’ll think on it. I might still keep the top 2 go forward rule, maybe even just occasionally to mix it up.

    Occasionally is probably fine; it'd be restrictive in terms of what can be voted on on your end to do that every time.

    kshu0oba7xnr.png

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    You know, I said farm CYOA, but how do you all feel about a small tribe of named characters? Say, 7 folks.

    This would be a mythical first tribe, with no history before them.

    The aim would be to create traditions, laws and beliefs over time in a fairly benign environment. There’d be trouble, from weather, animals, illness and the like. But there would be stretches of good times, and is more chill on average than not.

  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    I think I'm less clear on how the tribe idea works. I'm still pro farming.

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    I think I'm less clear on how the tribe idea works. I'm still pro farming.

    The pro farm will be starting relatively soon! Maybe Sunday?!

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Once I’m done with my normal farming sim game, I’m thinking of doing a road trip set in a modern fantasy world. Every vote option would be the consistent voice of one of four participant created characters. There might be a fuel gauge, but not much to keep track of. Unlike the farm game, you leave every problem behind, so participants can be a lot more gonzo with their choices.

    Thoughts?

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Once I’m done with my normal farming sim game, I’m thinking of doing a road trip set in a modern fantasy world. Every vote option would be the consistent voice of one of four participant created characters. There might be a fuel gauge, but not much to keep track of. Unlike the farm game, you leave every problem behind, so participants can be a lot more gonzo with their choices.

    Thoughts?

    We took your perfectly normal farm sim game and turned it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with mutant skeletons and undead cyborg zombies and then we poisoned some alcoholic hobos.
    I don't know how much further gonzo we could go, but I'm anxious to find out.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    see317 wrote: »
    Once I’m done with my normal farming sim game, I’m thinking of doing a road trip set in a modern fantasy world. Every vote option would be the consistent voice of one of four participant created characters. There might be a fuel gauge, but not much to keep track of. Unlike the farm game, you leave every problem behind, so participants can be a lot more gonzo with their choices.

    Thoughts?

    We took your perfectly normal farm sim game and turned it into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with mutant skeletons and undead cyborg zombies and then we poisoned some alcoholic hobos.
    I don't know how much further gonzo we could go, but I'm anxious to find out.

    I’m picturing like…
    Elf Ranger Art Student
    Dwarf Fighter Dropout
    Orc Bard Lit Student
    Goblin Wizard Applied Physics Student
    Drive a Volkswagen LT 40 powered by an elemental across Generic Not-Europe Land in search of booze, tail and glory.

  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    I am thinking about doing a JRPG-themed CYOA soon. I'm going to wait for A Peaceful Time to conclude, but I'm very excited. I'm not bringing a ton of pre-existing lore to it, just a head full of potentially cool scenarios. It's gonna be a bit less... hallucinogenic, but I'm going to try to focus on interesting voting options and player input opportunities.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited June 2021
    Delzhand wrote: »
    I am thinking about doing a JRPG-themed CYOA soon. I'm going to wait for A Peaceful Time to conclude, but I'm very excited. I'm not bringing a ton of pre-existing lore to it, just a head full of potentially cool scenarios. It's gonna be a bit less... hallucinogenic, but I'm going to try to focus on interesting voting options and player input opportunities.

    I want to add that I will be waiting about four months until I run one again, so there’s a big gap for this.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    I encourage all people to try their hand at running fun forum games

    Homogeneous distribution of your varieties of amuse-gueule
  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    I've been running A&O for over a week and I'm having a blast with it. I feel like I'm getting a pretty good spread of votes across the options in each post, which makes me think I'm doing a good job of giving interesting choices. I've got a number of plot events signposted and the world is starting to feel more defined, so hopefully coming events won't feel like they're out of left field.

    As the world becomes more real though, I feel like it might be time to come up with a map. Every good JRPG has a map screen! I might do something like Serpent's farm map where it's a bit abstract. Maybe load it up with fog except for the known areas.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

    You could use this if you don’t want to draw one.

  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    Okay, I was going to use Inkarnate + photoshop, but this is officially much cooler.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Oh dang what about a super villain CYOA?

    Choose a theme. Make a base. Repeatedly lose to different heroes, but keep inching closer to a win…

  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    That could be fun!

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    Throw Ardor & Obligation into the complete list would you?

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