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[LP CYOA] 傳

Grimgravy

Arcane
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Messages
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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire
I just LOVE how some of the most important votes are the most divisive, thus guaranteeing maximum butt-hurt.
 

Jester

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
1,493
I dont get updeate alerts for day or two and ... god dammit i hope that Mad one will be amused that we fought demons and killed imperial police chief, run from captivity, helped revolutionists and added half demon toad to our titles or else... That demon part
actually could work.
Tigranes said:
Playing a voice in someone else's head would actually be very entertaining

There is actually a P&P rpg based on that very premise (Better Angels). It is set in a world of superheroes/villains but the heroes and villains get their powers from angels/demons that "ride" in their minds. Each player gets to play as their character and as the devil in the mind of the player next to them, so you try to protect your character while damning your teammates. It can be a lot of fun with a veteran group though it can also be a pain in the ass to run as you can imagine.
IT could make for a very cool CYOA
Wait a sec does villains gets angel in their head, and heroes opposite? Dont see how that teammates damning part would work, unless the quest they wish for player to solve would be nightmare difficult. Reward postmortem glory etc. I see some types of characters who could still work. Running campaign divided as hero/villain and pet could be easier to play, still would need some work. It could keep the hero - familiar relationship dynamic with less of hassle to GM i guess.
Oh and i liked that 10000 ghost idea sounded awesome, that P&P campaign must have been hilarious.

Playing a voice in someone else's head would actually be very entertaining. Indeed, a CYOA where the Codex voters are divdied into two groups at the beginning, with one group voting on the voice's actions and one group voting on the host...
Nice idea i like it. Could be hard to do, but sound like funny. Would be even more hilarious if the votes of each group would be on other thred so second part wouldn't be sure what will happen.

Meh girl-BJT would do that too. But wouldn't it be fun to play the voice in someone else's head?
If you was at beginning of Epic you had your own personal voice riding Ean. Dex survives even reality hard drive wipe.
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
I don't suppose I can convince everybody to flop to what I've always been voting, E Bai Jiutian? Especially since treave said that it could definitely carry a whole LP.
It's actually been inside my ranked preference vote from the start. I don't suppose I could convince you to favor the black dragon society reload over this solo assassin reload?
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
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Tigranes, I have the tally list up here. Currently at 9 votes for, with 2 more conditional votes. And there are 11 votes against. If you vote for the reload, we will bet at 11 votes for due to a conditional vote kicking in at 10. Well, you know my arguments, so I've nothing more to sway you with.
 

Kipeci

Arcane
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
3,027
Location
Vicksburg
According to the tally that Absinthe put up earlier...

Current tally:

Reload - Back to BDS Escape - Make it happen:
Absinthe
Kipeci
Elfberserker
Rex Feral
TOME
Zero Credibility
A bear named spigot
Fangshi
Lambchop19

Conditional votes:
At 7 votes, Fangshi Reached
At 10 votes, Grimgravy
At 14 votes, MystiKnight

Onwards - Reload to assassinate instead:
Esquilax
kazgar
Kashmir Slippers
Nevill
The Brazilian Slaughter
LWC1996
Azira
Smashing Axe
ScubaV
RealDDc
Baltika9
 

Absinthe

Arcane
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Messages
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Jester, would you be willing to vote for a reload to a successful Black Dragon Society escape instead of taking this solo assassin reload? Our main reasons for the reload are: Actually progressing the main plot for once, and not losing the stuff we lose from going for the solo assassination. Here's what we fail from favoring solo assassination: Chanfeng quest, Cao'er meeting, Fire Temple challenge (timeskip is coming), Yunzi's goodwill (she wants us at Fire Temple challenge), Yuchang Sword & other possessions, Zhang Jue's demands (Don't lose the sword. Beat the eight sects.), Imperial Court rep (kinda important), and there's the punishment he's going to get for the assassination.

In essence, it's more interesting to take the Black Dragon Society path and see what happens when we actually manage to get ahead in the main quest for once than to vote for assassinating Taiye Hall's head and going to prison for some time.

Didn't treave say that the reload would only happen at fifteen votes in favor?
We'd only need 4 more votes for that. The conditional votes will kick in and put Black Dragon Society at 15.
 
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Absinthe

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Nim, we're kinda having an important vote now, so would you like to weigh in on this? We've basically got two main directions to go on this LP right now (after Jing got himself so ignominiously killed trying to threaten a city of crooks): Either we reload to a successful Black Dragon Society escape or we take this reload and change the last decision in favor of being a solo assassin. The biggest appeal of the BDS escape vote is to actually progress the main quest for once and get Jing back on track like we'd wanted. The main reason to go with solo assassin vote is to say "fuck it, we'll take the blows" and discover the wonders of prison life, failing our obligations, obtaining another timeskip, and being hated (-75) by the Imperial Court while Shun has to rescue us after we basically fail all our quests except new the recover Book & Sword one. Me, I favor reloading to Black Dragon Society and actually getting to talk to Chanfeng and also figure out what happened to Yunzi. It's the more interesting direction to me.

Tigranes, if you would so kindly oblige by voting in favor of the BDS reload, I'd much appreciate it. We're at 11 votes for (+ 1 conditional vote at 14) and 11 votes against right now.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
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Messages
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Fangshi, Grimgravy, MystiKnight, Elfberserker, bros, is there any way to persuade you to flop back to continuing onwards without any reloads to face our music and come out stronger than ever in spite of every adversity that comes our way? Chances are, with the type of crowd we're going to fall in with now after getting in good with Du Yao and offing the secret police chief, we will definitely meet Changfeng (and she'll be in condition to actually talk completely without a bleeding chest wound) and Yu on the road. Don't be tempted with taking the easy way out, this is not our Way. :salute:

Lambchop19, bro, after we get out of prison, we will be pulling all sorts of women, including Du Yao's hot-ass daughter. The Wudu Cult may actually be okay with us having a relationship with Quilin under these circumstances.
 

Fangshi

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Jan 9, 2014
Messages
1,997
Jester said:
Wait a sec does villains gets angel in their head, and heroes opposite? Dont see how that teammates damning part would work, unless the quest they wish for player to solve would be nightmare difficult. Reward postmortem glory etc. I see some types of characters who could still work. Running campaign divided as hero/villain and pet could be easier to play, still would need some work. It could keep the hero - familiar relationship dynamic with less of hassle to GM i guess.

I guess I didn't explain it too well so while we wait I can go into more detail. Umm incoming wall of text...

The basic premise of the game revolves around super villains (you can play as super heroes but it does not work quite as well for reasons I will explain). Basically all super villains are created through demonic possession of largely good people it then becomes a battle between the host who is attempting to minimize the damage done and the rider that is going for maximum destruction. The party is usually made up of these sorts of super villains; teachers, doctors, mechanics, just general people that are stuck in a bad situation. The rider ultimately wants to damn the soul of the host (damning a good man is worth more than collecting an evil soul) while the host ultimately wants to banish the rider in such a way as to permanently destroy it. Now in theory there is no middle ground here but in practice the two sides are forced to compromise, the human needs the demonic powers to protect both host and rider from other demons and from superheroes that are trying to kill or capture them. While the demon is only able to act with the host's consent so can't afford to directly antagonize them.

So you get a situation where the players start negotiating, the player controlling the demon tries to tempt the player controlling the host with little bits of power at first while the player controlling the host attempts to undermine the demon's long term goals by using the very powers of the demon to help people covertly. Additionally if the host does not do anything evil it weakens the demon and saps their own powers as well so they have to keep their rider strong and happy. Now there are two things that the riders really like (and will allow the player to retain their powers), one is evil (killing people, terrorist attacks and the like) the other is showmanship and this is where the super villain angle really gets good. Lavish costumes, secret bases, overly complicated plots and death weapons are all things that the riders love and if the host manages to play the game well then they can keep their rider happy with schemes and plots without actually committing irredeemable acts (after all if the hero stops their over complicated plan to destroy the world it is hardly their fault and the demon can't blame them..).

Now it is possible for the game to end with the victory of either party but I find that a certain equilibrium tends to develop (naturally as the GM I attempt to undermine this at every turn). This is where the external threats come in as some of the demons are in hosts that have no moral compunctions while angels have also entered the world to expel the demons.

Now the player can choose to just reject the demon but if they do so they lose all of their powers and the demon will just jump to a more willing body, a demon in the body of a truly evil person is an absolute terror, but is also portrayed as a more banal sort of evil. Since the two halves are working together the means the demon uses are far more subtle and are harder to uproot while also being much more powerful. These people could be world leaders or local authorities, cult leaders, respected doctors, serial killers and so on, the very worst of humanity but given great power that is easy to conceal.

The other threat are the angels, again the angels tend to pick hosts that are good people and as such there is little internal conflict and they can be very powerful, a single such ascended superhero is able to wipe out an entire party if they do not hold back. But that is the catch, the heroes have to hold back as the angels must follow very strict rules or they will "fall" and can even become powerful demons if the swing is dramatic enough... (think Superman but with his powers tied to doing good deeds). The superheroes will attempt to capture and imprison the super villains however there is no guarantee that the rider will also be captured, it is free to jump to a new body so even a self sacrificing super villain has an incentive to avoid capture. Of course if the super villain is killed the rider will also escape so that is not an option either...

There are also the antiheroes which are individuals who have been tricked by their riders, they are possessed by demons that have convinced their hosts that they are angels and these riders get their hosts to hunt other super villains to reduce the competition a little.

Of course other super villains also pose a threat to the party as well. It is often all of these threats that keep the party together, they may not be friends or even like each other but they have almost no other allies.

Now the reason I say that you need a group of friends/veteran role players to run this system is not simply because the players can easily screw each other (which they can and are encouraged to do) but also because each player essentially shares their character with the person playing their rider, the player that plays the host will roll up a character and choose his/her moral and physical strengths and will then pass the character sheet over to the player that is running the rider who will then design the demon and set of the physical/moral weaknesses that the rider will attempt to prey on. Every player then plays as one host and as one rider. So you really need a group of people that trust one another and are willing to leave any conflicts at the table and really dive into their characters. Otherwise the whole thing falls apart.




Baltika9 said:
is there any way to persuade you to flop back to continuing onwards without any reloads to face our music and come out stronger than ever in spite of every adversity that comes our way?

Unfortunately not, I did give my word that I would vote for a rollback if Absinthe could get to seven people so I have to stand by it. That being said I am perfectly fine with either option and I am looking forward to whatever treave comes up with, I have near complete faith in his abilities and I have no problem playing jailbird Jing.


(Also I am kind of curious if Absinthe will pull this off, reminds me of all of those nineteenth century "fathers of nations" going around trying to drum up support for their causes, I can see it now "Absinthe, father of a nation rollback"...)
 
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Baltika9

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:lol: Yeah, we a have a lot of that in this thread, someone deciding to get some support for their undervalued option, and then hammer their point down 24/7 as much as possible.
 

kazgar

Arcane
Joined
Apr 23, 2008
Messages
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Location
Upside Down
Go away for a night and my vote become continue/reload assasination? my vote is continue/continue, and that's it, we're not dead, if we were dead the conversation would be different and treave would be less cagey about the options.

Absinthe should stop trying to redefine the options to reloads and changes are all that's available, the only person who should be doing that kind of thing is our glorious GM.

ONWARDS! (to the scene where Jing drops the soap)
 

Absinthe

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Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
Fangshi, Grimgravy, MystiKnight, Elfberserker, bros, is there any way to persuade you to flop back to continuing onwards without any reloads to face our music and come out stronger than ever in spite of every adversity that comes our way? Chances are, with the type of crowd we're going to fall in with now after getting in good with Du Yao and offing the secret police chief, we will definitely meet Changfeng (and she'll be in condition to actually talk completely without a bleeding chest wound) and Yu on the road. Don't be tempted with taking the easy way out, this is not our Way. :salute:
Aside from the strangeness of the "screwing yourself over is manly" argument (I'm a fan of the "screwing yourself over is stupid" argument, personally.), I really don't see the chances of Jing meeting Chanfeng. By which I don't mean "I think that's just not going to happen" but "I have no idea what basis you would have for any probability of this." Also, it's a reload either way (assassin choice is a reload too), so I wouldn't buy into this "No reloading" argument.

Lambchop19, bro, after we get out of prison, we will be pulling all sorts of women, including Du Yao's hot-ass daughter. The Wudu Cult may actually be okay with us having a relationship with Quilin under these circumstances.
:lol: This harem argument is getting ridiculous, but we know Chi Qilin is pretty much unaffected either way and that we're ruining chances with Yunzi, Cao'er, and possibly even Yifang (if you were going for that) by going for prison. As for Du Yao's daughter. Jing has no real standing with her.

Go away for a night and my vote become continue/reload assasination? my vote is continue/continue, and that's it, we're not dead, if we were dead the conversation would be different and treave would be less cagey about the options.
The assassination is still a reload, homes. It's just a question of which reload you prefer. Treave posted a teaser update, but the votes are still on for whether or not we actually want to take the assassination reload instead of the black dragon society reload.
 
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Baltika9

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Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
No it's not a reaload. Jing got captured and KO'ed and dragged off to hell knows where. So we're continuing with what we've got.
And Changfeng is one of the most wanted people in the nation right now, so she will be chilling with the same crowd we will. Our paths will definitely cross. Unless Yu takes her away to a quiet country cottage and starts a family.
 

Absinthe

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Jan 6, 2012
Messages
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No it's not a reaload. Jing got captured and KO'ed and dragged off to hell knows where. So we're continuing with what we've got.
And Changfeng is one of the most wanted people in the nation right now, so she will be chilling with the same crowd we will. Our paths will definitely cross. Unless Yu takes her away to a quiet country cottage and starts a family.
stop the lies!
What lies? "D. Revote and reload." Going through with DB is going through with a reload. Either way, you are voting for a reload. It's just a question of which reload you prefer.
 

MystiKnight

Educated
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Jan 9, 2014
Messages
55
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Human Village, Gensoukyou
Fangshi, Grimgravy, MystiKnight, Elfberserker, bros, is there any way to persuade you to flop back to continuing onwards without any reloads to face our music and come out stronger than ever in spite of every adversity that comes our way? Chances are, with the type of crowd we're going to fall in with now after getting in good with Du Yao and offing the secret police chief, we will definitely meet Changfeng (and she'll be in condition to actually talk completely without a bleeding chest wound) and Yu on the road. Don't be tempted with taking the easy way out, this is not our Way. :salute:

I don't want the easy way out myself, but if we are so horribly gimped by continuing that the story becomes less interesting to me (Not that that could happen; treave is the most godly writer known to mankind) I rather reload and put us back to somewhere where the plot continues. Not flopping yet. Female BJ > Continue > Conditional 15th vote for Reload.

We're probably going to be ripped apart by Zhang if we continue, but that prospect is entertaining in it's own way.


Rex Feral, reloading is still an option. Seems to be a choice between "Continue" or "Reload back with Black Dragon Society escape without Gao Ying needling us" now. Obviously I like the reload so we can ditch the fail and talk to Chanfeng, Yunzi, and actually progress the main quest for once. There are about 6 votes for it now (counting yours), and 2 more flops to reload if we get enough votes.

Jing is still alive though, if you want to continue, but there's a time skip incoming (might be to Fire Temple challenge, or past that). Suffice it to say a lot of shit is getting fucked up if you continue.


Absinthe, plz. At some point you did change your mind to 'Jing is Dead', but I'm damn sure he's alive.

Just completely and utter fucked, but alive.
 

Baltika9

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Messages
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but a reload is when you die for reals and have to reaload because there is no other way forawrd. Because you're dead. But continuing with this Assassin means he is obviously alive, otherwise we wouldn't be able to continue. Because we're dead.
 

kazgar

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Messages
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Upside Down
No it's not a reaload. Jing got captured and KO'ed and dragged off to hell knows where. So we're continuing with what we've got.
And Changfeng is one of the most wanted people in the nation right now, so she will be chilling with the same crowd we will. Our paths will definitely cross. Unless Yu takes her away to a quiet country cottage and starts a family.
stop the lies!
What lies? "D. Revote and reload." Going through with DB is going through with a reload. Either way, you are voting for a reload. It's just a question of which reload you prefer.

DB isn't a revote, DB is currently canon, the results of our action have been applied to the character sheet (relationship changes with bandits, the city, and wudang) You're now asking us to roll back a couple of months, or possibly redo the last action that was applied, neither is necessary.

We completed our mission for the city , but have been captured, we continue on and see what the situation presents itself as. There's a good chance the BJ and Wu's will receive the goods as promised even if they can't find us, they may also look for us, who knows, lets find out.
 

Absinthe

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Messages
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Absinthe, plz. At some point you did change your mind to 'Jing is Dead', but I'm damn sure he's alive.

Just completely and utter fucked, but alive.
Certainly in the solo assassin update, Jing is alive. My only point is that we are still choosing the reload we want out of Jing's death.

DB isn't a revote, DB is currently canon, the results of our action have been applied to the character sheet (relationship changes with bandits, the city, and wudang) You're now asking us to roll back a couple of months, or possibly redo the last action that was applied, neither is necessary.
In a choice between canons, whichever choice happens, the other didn't. I suppose this is becoming some curious argument of semantics, but surely you are not denying that the DB scenario is still a scenario springing from a reload, yes?
 

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