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On the shoulders of giants: a new multiple choices LP!
- Thread starter Curufinwe
- Start date
Multiple Sarcasm
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
Psst. By the way, I'm totally thinking there's no enemy in the caves, the poor guy just went bonkers after being lost in the darkness for so long and the 'watchers/schemers' were their interpretations of the evil magics called 'echo'. But you didn't hear that from me. To victory! Rawr!
Our most defining trait if fire. It's also our only religion. Besides, our name MUST refer to the fire spirit, to ensure we keep having the protection of the fire spirit.
I say Sons of fire, or Servants of fire, or People of the Flame
And I think in the caverns there might be some small tribe who saw us, got scared, and went deep inside and it's living there. That, or the dwarves XD. Or goblins. You get my gist...
I say Sons of fire, or Servants of fire, or People of the Flame
And I think in the caverns there might be some small tribe who saw us, got scared, and went deep inside and it's living there. That, or the dwarves XD. Or goblins. You get my gist...
Esquilax
Arcane
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2010
- Messages
- 4,833
I agree, we must allude to the fire spirit as that is what identifies our people. However, I'd like a name that's more elaborate and refers to our mountain origins/obsidian stones as well. Surely we can think of something a bit more imaginative? What about the following:
Black Embers/ Ebon Embers
Crimson Light
Redmount Tribe
As for the vote, I'm voting for A.
I think we should go this route because I think that whatever is inside those caves, the fire spirits will be the ones to aid us. The caves represent the dark and the unknown - fire shines light upon darkness and discerns the truth. Taking advantage of the black stone will allow us to call upon the fire spirits to get a better look at the situation in the future. Right now I don't want to risk sending a larger, more well-armed group of men off to die. We would be left vulnerable - if the barbarians catch us while our pants our down, it would be devastating. We still know nothing about the outside world or the proximity of those around us.
newcomer
Learned
- Joined
- May 23, 2012
- Messages
- 919
This game looks interesting.. I think I will take part from now onwards.
Referring back to the person who returned from the cave, may I know the physical appearance of the man before his back cracked?
What I meant is something like this:
- Small cuts? or noticable large cuts?
- Anything that looks like "bite-marks" by large animals?
- Lost limbs? Blindness? ect?
- Blood coming out from eyes, nose, ect.
Until I receive the above information, I am strongly against exploring the cave due to the potential dangers present.
If this cave might be a future mining site, wouldn't exploring it with lots of fire results in casualties from gases?
Currently I vote for A in hopes of primitive charcoal production, though it might still be a long way to go...
Referring back to the person who returned from the cave, may I know the physical appearance of the man before his back cracked?
What I meant is something like this:
- Small cuts? or noticable large cuts?
- Anything that looks like "bite-marks" by large animals?
- Lost limbs? Blindness? ect?
- Blood coming out from eyes, nose, ect.
Until I receive the above information, I am strongly against exploring the cave due to the potential dangers present.
If this cave might be a future mining site, wouldn't exploring it with lots of fire results in casualties from gases?
Currently I vote for A in hopes of primitive charcoal production, though it might still be a long way to go...
B - Let's go all in.
Ah, but that is not the question the update asks us 
We're sort of acting as the tribe's guiding spirit who determines whether the fire keeper, father or elder drums up the courage and eloquence to speak.
Does seem to be an awful lot of people registering to vote in this (don't worry newcomer you check out with your CKII knowhow). Sort of disappointed there aren't more Codex old guard getting in on this great LP. Would be fun seeing HHR trying to steer us away from the cultivation of grain for all eternity or Cleve trying to whip our manboons into shape.
We're sort of acting as the tribe's guiding spirit who determines whether the fire keeper, father or elder drums up the courage and eloquence to speak.Does seem to be an awful lot of people registering to vote in this (don't worry newcomer you check out with your CKII knowhow). Sort of disappointed there aren't more Codex old guard getting in on this great LP. Would be fun seeing HHR trying to steer us away from the cultivation of grain for all eternity or Cleve trying to whip our manboons into shape.
Urist McLurker
Learned
The Obsidian Embers, I like that a lot. That gets my vote for the name. The only problem is that on a glance I read it as Obsidian Entertainment.
As for the choice, I'm always in favour of doing it 'larp-like', rather than using our super-duper knowledge of the future. Not so much what we would do with our knowledge we have, but what we would do if we had their knowledge.
The last time there was a good big choice thread like this, loads of people stopped lukring and registered to vote, a couple of them have been voting in this thread too IIRC. Nothing draws lurkers out more than giving them loads of choices.
As for the choice, I'm always in favour of doing it 'larp-like', rather than using our super-duper knowledge of the future. Not so much what we would do with our knowledge we have, but what we would do if we had their knowledge.
The last time there was a good big choice thread like this, loads of people stopped lukring and registered to vote, a couple of them have been voting in this thread too IIRC. Nothing draws lurkers out more than giving them loads of choices.
I don't think we have to larp here, and I would hope people aren't purposely dumbing down their choices because they're thinking "but thats what my preconception of a caveman would do!". We won't be getting options that are implausible or out of character for our society.
Multiple Sarcasm
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
I'd be partial to a small degree of larp where it comes to overall tone and direction. For now, we've been mechanically collecting techs with little to no pretext but random gifts from the GM. I'd rather our available choices stemmed from what we routinely do, what hardships we face or our religious notions, not metagaming opportunities. Even if none of the given choices in an update lead to anything useful from historical/tech point of view, but only serve to define us socially or culturally. Otherwise, what's the point? We accumulate useful techs until forever: The Game.
I also propose addition of random chance to the level of success (or failure) of most/all our decisions - rolled behind the scenes by Curifinwe upon the end of each vote. With a possibility to botch even a good decision entirely, causing it not simply to waste our time, but actively fuck us up. E.g.: (B) we send a large portion of our forces off into the caverns and - good news, everyone! - a raiding party from the north stumbles upon our settlement and defenders barely beat them back, sustaining heavy losses in population and allowing the raiders to get away with the knowledge of our existence and vulnerability. Or (A) the flames we set to protect us from evil cave spirits catch the shrubbery around our settlement, with equally grim results. Et cetera. Something to break the predictability.
I also propose addition of random chance to the level of success (or failure) of most/all our decisions - rolled behind the scenes by Curifinwe upon the end of each vote. With a possibility to botch even a good decision entirely, causing it not simply to waste our time, but actively fuck us up. E.g.: (B) we send a large portion of our forces off into the caverns and - good news, everyone! - a raiding party from the north stumbles upon our settlement and defenders barely beat them back, sustaining heavy losses in population and allowing the raiders to get away with the knowledge of our existence and vulnerability. Or (A) the flames we set to protect us from evil cave spirits catch the shrubbery around our settlement, with equally grim results. Et cetera. Something to break the predictability.
This isn't Civ. The whole point of collecting these techs are so that we aren't bumraped by disasters. Your acting like your bored because you've reached 120 with Small Guns and have a 95% hit rate to the eyes. It's early days to be getting bored and complacent yet. This "mechanical" tech "collecting" (I'd hardly call it mechanical, many of the techs have come at the expense of other ones and have caused social disruptions and changes within) will pay dividends when we meet our neighbours or a real disaster strikes. Did you want us to persist off zebra meet and roots while using clubs for the rest of the game while we tried to find as many things to worship as we could and train bears and became masters of percussion instruments?
You should be voting for the tribes best interests. Not picking wacky or LARP options for the hell of it or because you find being sensible too boring. And why do you think culture/religion/society is useless from a historical point of view? It's influences range from our bravery on the battlefield to our work ethic to our social structure. Even from a meta opportunity cost point of view, it's no necessarily "better" or "worse" than choosing an economic or military option.
I don't know about the random chance idea either. I'd prefer our results to be the direct consequences of our prior choices. Curufinwe flipping a coin to see if the barbarians descend upon our camp and rape the womenfolk while we're out exploring the caves sounds pretty lame to me. I like the current system of rationally debating over the best course and anything going haywire being our fault and from our poor choices, rather than a bad die roll.
You should be voting for the tribes best interests. Not picking wacky or LARP options for the hell of it or because you find being sensible too boring. And why do you think culture/religion/society is useless from a historical point of view? It's influences range from our bravery on the battlefield to our work ethic to our social structure. Even from a meta opportunity cost point of view, it's no necessarily "better" or "worse" than choosing an economic or military option.
I don't know about the random chance idea either. I'd prefer our results to be the direct consequences of our prior choices. Curufinwe flipping a coin to see if the barbarians descend upon our camp and rape the womenfolk while we're out exploring the caves sounds pretty lame to me. I like the current system of rationally debating over the best course and anything going haywire being our fault and from our poor choices, rather than a bad die roll.
Hey, at least with all that we could probably get a bitching circus going before the Orc hordes reach is and flay the skin from our bones.
Just kill all non-pure homo sapiens and be done with it.
Multiple Sarcasm
Arcane
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 3,181
Funny. That is exactly my point. Right now, all we do is set research -> end turn -> set research -> end turn. And we do it all in anticipation of a threat that never comes, a hardship that never requires a specific tech we've acquired.
Didn't you say there are no "options that are implausible or out of character for our society"?
Has it influenced "our bravery on the battlefield to our work ethic to our social structure"? We have an elder council instead of democracy, but how would a different governing body affect anything we've been through, so far? There's footnote that we worship fire, but how has religion affected anything we've done?
That's the thing: I want them to.
That's the problem: the are no poor choices. And if there were, they'd be so obvious that they'd never win (and shouldn't) anyway. And so nothing ever tests what we've acquired.
Multiple Sarcasm, I do not think that there's no poor choices. In fact, if anything, I think there might be a LOT of disasters that can befall us. I fully expect us to be fighting tooth and nails in order to survive, and very soon.
Of course, it would take a truly disastrous event to have our budding civilization completely ruined, but still, it's not inconceivable that we will suffer heavy losses along the way. As such, we should think carefully of every choice.
Please note, for example, that this event that happened in the last update is different compared to what usually happens. This is not a: what shall we do in the next years type of event. No, this is a: What shall we do NOW event. An immediate reaction to something that happens. Choice C is, basically, do nothing. Choice A is, trust in our religious and fanaticism and hope it protects us. Choice B is, take up arms and go see what is up.
These events are drastically different from tech accumulation and such. Tech accumulation, as you call it, happens in "peaceful times", when there's not crisis at hand. But once there is a problem, these type of events happen and our reaction determines the future and prosperity of the tribe, and/or the possible choices we get.
Of course, it would take a truly disastrous event to have our budding civilization completely ruined, but still, it's not inconceivable that we will suffer heavy losses along the way. As such, we should think carefully of every choice.
Please note, for example, that this event that happened in the last update is different compared to what usually happens. This is not a: what shall we do in the next years type of event. No, this is a: What shall we do NOW event. An immediate reaction to something that happens. Choice C is, basically, do nothing. Choice A is, trust in our religious and fanaticism and hope it protects us. Choice B is, take up arms and go see what is up.
These events are drastically different from tech accumulation and such. Tech accumulation, as you call it, happens in "peaceful times", when there's not crisis at hand. But once there is a problem, these type of events happen and our reaction determines the future and prosperity of the tribe, and/or the possible choices we get.
So you decide to go and see what's up with the caves... very well, very well. Sorry about the late post, I wasn't home.
Regarding the question about the wounds on the crazed man: no gaping wounds, no bite marks. Just alot of scrapes and small cuts. Would have mentioned bigger things.
The old man's plea touched many hearts in the tribe, until both the fanaticism of the keepers and the fears of the elders were assuaged. An expedition, larger and better prepared than the small, lost one would brave the darkness and find out whatever was to be found inside the caves.
With the first light of a new day twenty of our best and bravest broke camp: two of the most zealous and experienced keepers of fire, ten militiamen with their obsidian weapons, five scouts with all their guile and three hunters who would deal with the potential feral beasts lurking inside or outside the tunnels.
The caves were soon reached, and the party paused in front of the various entrances. They all looked the same from outside, except from one entrance who was clearly bigger than the others, as tall as three of us combined; only exploration would give further information. The keepers stopped and lit a fire, praying to its spirit to help them in the dangerous hours or days that were in front of them. The spirit was spread to branches held by scouts and hunters, and the group prepared to enter.
The first choice was already upon them: how would they explore the caves?
A. The keepers spoke first: 'We should go in a single, big group. Who knows how deep the caves go, and how strange and confusing their turns will get. Only together do we stand a chance.'
B. The scouts disagreed: 'We should split and explore as many entrances as possible. If that man survived, there might be others inside who are still, somehow, alive. We need to do this quickly and thoroughly.'
C. The head of the militia, after surveying the area, said: 'We should split, yes, but not as the scouts say. If we go in small groups, if indeed there is danger inside the darkness it will easily overwhelm us. But going in as a single, big group is equally dangerous. We could get trapped inside, our only way of retreat unguarded. We need to keep at least five of us warriors here, keeping our entryway clear. Only then will our survival chances increase.'
Regarding the question about the wounds on the crazed man: no gaping wounds, no bite marks. Just alot of scrapes and small cuts. Would have mentioned bigger things.
The old man's plea touched many hearts in the tribe, until both the fanaticism of the keepers and the fears of the elders were assuaged. An expedition, larger and better prepared than the small, lost one would brave the darkness and find out whatever was to be found inside the caves.
With the first light of a new day twenty of our best and bravest broke camp: two of the most zealous and experienced keepers of fire, ten militiamen with their obsidian weapons, five scouts with all their guile and three hunters who would deal with the potential feral beasts lurking inside or outside the tunnels.
The caves were soon reached, and the party paused in front of the various entrances. They all looked the same from outside, except from one entrance who was clearly bigger than the others, as tall as three of us combined; only exploration would give further information. The keepers stopped and lit a fire, praying to its spirit to help them in the dangerous hours or days that were in front of them. The spirit was spread to branches held by scouts and hunters, and the group prepared to enter.
The first choice was already upon them: how would they explore the caves?
A. The keepers spoke first: 'We should go in a single, big group. Who knows how deep the caves go, and how strange and confusing their turns will get. Only together do we stand a chance.'
B. The scouts disagreed: 'We should split and explore as many entrances as possible. If that man survived, there might be others inside who are still, somehow, alive. We need to do this quickly and thoroughly.'
C. The head of the militia, after surveying the area, said: 'We should split, yes, but not as the scouts say. If we go in small groups, if indeed there is danger inside the darkness it will easily overwhelm us. But going in as a single, big group is equally dangerous. We could get trapped inside, our only way of retreat unguarded. We need to keep at least five of us warriors here, keeping our entryway clear. Only then will our survival chances increase.'
C
I want to be safe against possible attacks from behind. 5 people behind, the other inside in a single group.
B is not a very good choice. After all I do not expect to find any other survivors. If we do, great. But I'm not going to risk more people for that. That said, alone our people would be at the mercy of anything inside those caverns.
A sounds tempting. A big force, more easily able to deal with dangers. But what if we get attacked from behind? Ambushed by whatever inhabits this place? I think it's too risky
Anyways another word. This big, strong patrol is made up by 20 people. This means one thing. The previous patrols were most likely composed by 2-3 people, maybe 4
I want to be safe against possible attacks from behind. 5 people behind, the other inside in a single group.
B is not a very good choice. After all I do not expect to find any other survivors. If we do, great. But I'm not going to risk more people for that. That said, alone our people would be at the mercy of anything inside those caverns.
A sounds tempting. A big force, more easily able to deal with dangers. But what if we get attacked from behind? Ambushed by whatever inhabits this place? I think it's too risky
Anyways another word. This big, strong patrol is made up by 20 people. This means one thing. The previous patrols were most likely composed by 2-3 people, maybe 4
Urist McLurker
Learned
C
If we're dealing with a Shoggoth, all that means is that we're sending an even larger group of people into the meat grinder.Anyways another word. This big, strong patrol is made up by 20 people. This means one thing. The previous patrols were most likely composed by 2-3 people, maybe 4
Gonna go with C, too.
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