The End Discussion

Discussion in 'Roleplaying Forum' started by Grossenschwamm, Feb 18, 2013.

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  1. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    A game idea I've been mulling over for about a week now.

    The game takes place on Earth, and the planet's destruction is an accepted fact, expected to occur within a week from the game's start. When all players have taken their turn posting, a day has passed in-game. This may end up meaning the game can finish in exactly 7 days, though I won't push for that.

    You can choose to be yourself or someone you've made up.

    The time period of the game is effectively the present, so humanity has no way to escape the doomed planet. This obviously means people are varied in their reactions to the events, but bear in mind how little can occur within a week. As much as necessity is the mother of invention, how likely is it that any one person* can solve the problems of;

    • Getting a successful human breeding population off of Earth
    • Getting food humans can eat off of Earth
    • Finding a planet capable of sustaining human life off of Earth
    • Getting humans to that planet

    All in one week?

    The planet's inevitable destruction was discovered several months before when two comets collided, and their combined mass (about equal to the moon) was shown to be on an altered course to Earth that was 98.7% likely to occur.

    Seeing as the best solutions to humanity's plight were purely theoretical, a reasonable amount of people behaved...reasonably. As in, accepting their fate, making peace with their lives, etc. These people are the "Zen" class.

    A certain population began to panic, unable to reconcile their pending doom - they are the "Hamlet" class. You are clawing at your own past to right wrongs, or backtrack to see what choices could've been made to hypothetically improve your current nearly-over life, according to your perception of self.

    Certain others began acting out personal fantasies, treating their last days like a videogame. These are the "Id" class. The world is ending, why not rob a bank? Money's meaningless, who'd miss that useless paper?

    Yet another population of supremely paranoid individuals started leveling "I told you so's" at literally everyone else - they are "Dicks." Everyone ignored what you were saying. But who's wrong now?!

    Of course, those with a type of cosmology that reflects assumptions of an apocalypse used this real event as proof of their collective faiths, but still would act in accordance with the first four mentalities.

    So, are you:

    • Zen
    • Hamlet
    • Id
    • or a Dick?

    I'm sure there are further questions regarding the setting that I haven't addressed, or perhaps possibilities within the game I hadn't considered. However, *There's an as of yet unknown way to "win" this game. It's a team effort.

    Any takers?

    Some minor edits: size of comet, retraction of superfluous class description.
     
  2. Yuki

    Yuki Well-Known Member

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  3. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    Very nice.

    I made some minor updates to the original game description. I think the game might work well for between 3-5 players, so I'll want to see how many others jump on.
     
  4. ytzk

    ytzk Well-Known Member

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    Awesome concept. Count me in, with bells on.
     
  5. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    Well, we have the minimum. I'm leaving it open, but everyone involved at the moment is free to post a character sheet. Here's mine as an example:

    Howard
    Hamlet

    Obsessive researcher

    Bio;

    Howard has as much background in science as anyone without a degree in a single field can have. He regrets not applying himself to any one field sooner. Though he consciously knows he might not fare any better in finding a solution to The Exodus Problem, he unconsciously feels as though he's let the entire planet down by not putting himself out there. Sure, no one could've planned this, but that's no excuse to not have a plan for it.

    He's spent the last few months grabbing every piece of information relevant to getting people safely off of earth that he can, to somehow make up for his lack of practical experience.
     
  6. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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    Can I be a giant tentacle monster?
     
  7. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    I don't know why, but I was pretty sure you'd ask that.

    The answer is "no," because we don't have tentacle monsters in the real world. And you have to play a human.
     
  8. ytzk

    ytzk Well-Known Member

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    I'm having a lot of trouble creating a character.

    My first inclination is a Zen character who just meditates for seven days.

    But, if the goal of the game is really to escape, then unless someone plays a high energy physicist building a wormhole or an elite chinese politician billionaire with an arcship in the works, then I don't see it happenning.

    Little help?
     
  9. werozzi

    werozzi Member

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    I'm in.

    Mack
    Dick

    Mack is an internet cafe clerk, that of course, during the day, for after the sun falls he becomes somebody else; Spekter87, a shady internet figure, paranoid and fairly sure that everything the government does is part of a conspiracy.
    He's a short guy, with glasses and a black stained T-shirt that says "i believe" or some shite like that, he lives on his parents' house.
    As of late he has been looking for anagrams in the NASA's logo, in fear that they're conspiring and hiding the "alien" technology needed to save the world... Maybe...
     
  10. Yuki

    Yuki Well-Known Member

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    Guess I'm out then. At least it isn't Arthgon. Good luck guys.
     
  11. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    Re:

    If you change your mind within a day, Yuki, the game will still be here.

    Well, the goal isn't to escape. There's not a feasible way to put the necessary pieces together within 7 days. I put "win" in quotations because that'd be the best possible ending, but as of right now I don't personally know of a way to use modern tech and knowledge in a way that would allow humans to survive the destruction of the earth. Basically, it's a bonus as-of-yet unknown way to end the game. The best I can see right now is a solution that would work if it was known around the time the collision course was calculated, about 4 months before the game begins.

    Infrastructure, while still in place, has been nearly dead for weeks. However, the power going to media centers can still be turned on. Likewise, major scientific minds have abandoned their work due to not seeing a feasible solution unless they had a few more months at the least, but would willingly jump on a remotely viable solution. Money is worthless, and of course that means fat cats running power companies tend to shut everything down, since they've no hope of what money they're paid ever meaning something. However, there are certain places running on solar, nuclear, wind or hydroelectric power that are still active at this point.

    You can certainly still play a Zen class character, but in doing so you could be at peace with death, or at peace with whatever might happen through the actions of others or yourself - your character could actively help with the solution and yet remain Zen class simply because he/she is at peace with the result, no matter how catastrophic.
     
  12. Zanza

    Zanza Well-Known Member

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  13. ytzk

    ytzk Well-Known Member

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    Aww.

    Jack
    Zen

    cult leader

    bio,
    Born and raised a Dick, suffered a minor breakdown of Hamlet and a long rehabilition of Id, Jack usually divides his time between farming lentils and sitting quietly in his tent.

    The orthodox Buddhist 'cult' is quite benign and rational compared the the innumerable doomsday and suicide cults popping up everywhere and, running their own luddite farms, they have weathered the months of chaos almost unchanged, except for increasing their numbers tenfold, giving them a broad spectrum of talents and putting Jack in charge of his own little chapter.

    In the previous four months, they have also collected seeds, dna samples, live specimens, ecological data and random biographies for a huge database which, via the cult's influence in India, they hope to save for prosterity - human or otherwise - by launching it into space on modified ICBMs. More samples were sent to NASA, the League of Arab Nations, the EU and the DPRC, in the hope that this may help whatever secret and selfish projects they may have too.

    Having done his damnedest to liberate himself from the hopes and fears of his ego with intensive zen, he has decided to spend the final days offering comfort and assistance to others. With dozens of his students, he travels to the city with backpacks bulging with lentils, to offer free lunches in the park and instructions on how to calm the fuck down.
     
  14. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    It's been over 24 hours, and Yuki hasn't changed her mind. Let the game begin!

    I'll post the prologue.
     
  15. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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  16. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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  17. Wolfsbane

    Wolfsbane Well-Known Member

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    I wonder if you've simply missed me or if you're avoiding answering me out of spite...
     
  18. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    Not spite. We're taking our time posting turns - yesterday was the first time in a few days I could really post.

    The short answer is, the game closed on the 21st.

    That's also the long answer.
     
  19. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    Just so you guys know, the only reason I haven't posted a response to ytzk's post is we get one turn per day, but we're free to describe the previous day's actions after a turn in our following day.

    I'm just waiting for Werozzi to pop back in.
     
  20. Grossenschwamm

    Grossenschwamm Well-Known Member

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    I obviously wrote myself into a corner in this one. Sorry about that.

    My blunder aside, it looked a little interesting.
     
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