Enderlord's Random Banter #230 (Friendly warning: Might teleport. Don't get wet.)

[Bartmanhomer]

Well after so many months I finally start playing my solo D&D 3.5/Pathfinder game again. Right now I'm eating white rice with kidney beans and sausage cuts.

[Anonymouswizard]

Well after so many months I finally start playing my solo D&D 3.5/Pathfinder game again.

Have you considered playing with other people?

In terms of playing with other people, I'm trying to convince my friends to play a game of Shadowrun: Anarchy over the interwebs.

[Bartmanhomer]

Have you considered playing with other people?

In terms of playing with other people, I'm trying to convince my friends to play a game of Shadowrun: Anarchy over the interwebs.

I have considered that by so many times but every time I've play with other people the game died.

[Peelee]

Have you considered playing with other people?

In terms of playing with other people, I'm trying to convince my friends to play a game of Shadowrun: Anarchy over the interwebs.

Players couldn't make it for several months when it was a solo game, so adding more people into the mix seems optimistic at best.

[Bartmanhomer]

Players couldn't make it for several months when it was a solo game, so adding more people into the mix seems optimistic at best.

And this is where everybody lost interest in sticking around the game In the long run. I feel like that I'm being curse by a demon lord because of that reason.

[Anonymouswizard]

I have considered that by so many times but every time I've play with other people the game died.

That sucks. But I do think you'd have more fun with a group.

Players couldn't make it for several months when it was a solo game, so adding more people into the mix seems optimistic at best.

You think that's bad, my last group of one voted to kick me out for bad behaviour.

[Peelee]

You think that's bad, my last group of one voted to kick me out for bad behaviour.

I wouldn't want to be part of any club that would have so low standards as to have me as a member.

[Bartmanhomer]

That sucks. But I do think you'd have more fun with a group.

I wish I could believe you but I can't.

[Rater202]

I can sympathize with lack of drops.

Whenever I try to start a game either it dies from inactivity or fails to attract interest in the first place.

Raziere and I are talking about one idea I've had for a while in the Pokemon thread over in gaming but I don't have my hopes up that it'll end up being anything other than a discussion of ideas and light world-building.

...Unless people here would be interested in a free-form Cyberpunk/Biopunk style game involving taking down an unethical megacorp that turned you into a human/pokemon hybrid against you will while you decide how you feel about your new body, deal with new instincts, and decide whether to embrace it or try to have it reversed once the corp is taken down?

No? Okay.

When it comes to bodily modification, I'd like the end product to either be recognizably human in a way that seems typically human or else is obviously monstrous in some way.

A Risk of annoying Peelee by bringing up Marvel again, while I'd prefer to be Spider-Man, if I don't have the option to look fully human I'd rather be this:

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Than this:

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Is that weird?

[Anonymouswizard]

...Unless people here would be interested in a free-form Cyberpunk/Biopunk style game involving taking down an unethical megacorp that turned you into a human/pokemon hybrid against you will while you decide how you feel about your new body, deal with new instincts, and decide whether to embrace it or try to have it reversed once the corp is taken down?

You lost me at the bolded part. Like literally that one bit turns it from 'heck yeah' to 'ew no' for me.

Plus, well, most of my fantasies involve around replacing my body parts with better ones. After a sufficient testing stage I'd be signing up for late stage augmentation trials. This corp sounds like my kind of guys, in general.

It does annoy me that glasses are designed to sit that little bit out from your face, because as I've said I want to get lens mounts fixed to my face andf have (corrective) Molly Millions style lenses complete with HUD. Because I'm like 90% certain we have the tech to do that (we definitely do for Batou style lenses, which sit slightly further out) I'm trying to work out how to solve the tear problem, and I think you'd just sit them a millimetre or two further out than Molly's are and either have an open bottom or have a slit that you can pull back for drainage.

On the other hand, now I want to play Kamen Rider the RPG again.

[Rater202]

Well, I could describe it as "forcibly altered you with chemical and biological mods derived fro researching the biology and mechanics of various pokemon" but that amounts to more or less the same thing.

...Though now I'm imagining "cyborgs" whose arms at the elbow and legs the knee have been replaced with modified symbiotic beldoms that assimilate/replace/modify more and more of your body as they evolve(as the Lore is that Beldums evolve by merging together)

[Peelee]

A Risk of annoying Peelee by bringing up Marvel again

Eh, it clearly makes you happy, so I shouldn't grumble about it. I apologize.

[Sermil]

"Telling a programmer there's already a library to do X is like telling a songwriter there's already a song about love"
-Pete Cordell

[Lord Raziere]

Is that weird?

Sorry Rater I'd rather be the latter but then again that latter form is a beautiful female form so....I'm biased.

[Rater202]

Sorry Rater I'd rather be the latter but then again that latter form is a beautiful female form so....I'm biased.

No... No, trust me, she's not.

She has a nice body but she wears that mask for a reason. I'd share a picture but the wiki doesn't have any pictures of her without her mask other than the "Venomized Variant" cover and that really doesn't do justice to how horrifying her freaky spider-mouth is.

I'm not sure how she's capable of talking.

[Lord Raziere]

No... No, trust me, she's not.

She has a nice body but she wears that mask for a reason. I'd share a picture but the wiki doesn't have any pictures of her without her mask other than the "Venomized Variant" cover and that really doesn't do justice to how horrifying her freaky spider-mouth is.

I'm not sure how she's capable of talking.

I'll take your word for it.

But Rater c'mon, look at that reaction from Anonymous, your pokepunk game concept is too narrow. you may want to play as a transformed pokemon hybrid and exploring that stuff which is okay, but thats only one character concept, when in any given roleplay you want to make the number of available characters you can play as wide as possible. you had 'em at "biopunk/cyberpunk pokemon" which is modification enough for you to explore the plots and character you want without denying people what they want to play which might be different but just as thematically relevant to a cyberpunk pokemon setting.

[Rater202]

I'll take your word for it.

But Rater c'mon, look at that reaction from Anonymous, your pokepunk game concept is too narrow. you may want to play as a transformed pokemon hybrid and exploring that stuff which is okay, but thats only one character concept, when in any given roleplay you want to make the number of available characters you can play as wide as possible. you had 'em at "biopunk/cyberpunk pokemon" which is modification enough for you to explore the plots and character you want without denying people what they want to play which might be different but just as thematically relevant to a cyberpunk pokemon setting.

I'm willing to loosen up restrictions on player characters but there's only so much you can do before it stops being Cyberpunk Pokemon and starts being cyberpunk with pokemon stuff tacked on.

Like, considering that the Pokemon Word's equivalent of Smart Technology and/or AI is powered by ghosts, I imagine that a true cyborg character is probably possessed by a rotom in order to help their prosthetics and implants interface with their bodily systems.

[DataNinja]

I'm willing to loosen up restrictions on player characters but there's only so much you can do before it stops being Cyberpunk Pokemon and starts being cyberpunk with pokemon stuff tacked on.

Look, I've run multiple Pokémon tabletops - one even including human/Pokémon fusions. In general, though, barring a specific audience, if people want cyberpunk and whatnot exploration, they don't tend to want to do it in Pokémon. There're specific tones that each implies, and they tend to more-or-less run counter to each other.

[Lord Raziere]

Look, I've run multiple Pokémon tabletops - one even including human/Pokémon fusions. In general, though, barring a specific audience, if people want cyberpunk and whatnot exploration, they don't tend to want to do it in Pokémon. There're specific tones that each implies, and they tend to more-or-less run counter to each other.

Yeah, pokemon lends itself to a certain superheroic style to it. can't really be punk without a certain amount of powerlessness in the face of social issues far larger than yourself. thats why I want something less narrow and more open to things that....are a little more general.

[Rater202]

Look, I've run multiple Pokémon tabletops - one even including human/Pokémon fusions. In general, though, barring a specific audience, if people want cyberpunk and whatnot exploration, they don't tend to want to do it in Pokémon. There're specific tones that each implies, and they tend to more-or-less run counter to each other.

To be honest, the Cyberpunk elements came later.

I first had this idea when SwSh came out and I found out about the fossil pokemon.

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In Sword and Shield, the Fossil Pokemon are the result of someone who is either completly oblivious or just doesn't give a damn and is bad at covering her ass using outdated Fossil Revival technology that needs two fossils to revive the pokemon accidentally combining two differant species.

(Fossil Revival isn't cloning like in Jurassic Park, it's basically regeneration... Which raises questions about why there are cemeteries for Pokemon.)

I started thinking about the implications of this being possible.

And then I remembered Bill accidentally fusing himself with a Pokemon in a teleporter accident in the Gen 1 games.

And pretty much the whole gimmick with Detective Pikachu.

The idea of technology being deliberately to create true Hybrids...

And the idea of a Cyberpunk-Esque narrative coming from that feels natural. The hardest part is figuring out how exactly the Megacorp expects to profit from it...

...My brain is good at making connections, but the connections aren't always obvious to other people and don't always make sense when explain them.

[DataNinja]

...My brain is good at making connections, but the connections aren't always obvious to other people and don't always make sense when explain them.

Eh, it makes sense. My game involving them ran... uh, 4-5 years ago, so I guarantee it's an idea that's been floating around for a long time. Just... again, the tone people look for, and what they want to explore, there's probably not going to necessarily be a great deal of overlap for interested parties.

[Rater202]

Eh, it makes sense. My game involving them ran... uh, 4-5 years ago, so I guarantee it's an idea that's been floating around for a long time. Just... again, the tone people look for, and what they want to explore, there's probably not going to necessarily be a great deal of overlap for interested parties.

Yeah, this ever being more than a discussion is probably a pipe dream.

I like the idea of late-teens/young adults experimented on against their will escaping and trying to take down the people who did it.

I like the idea of someone finding out that their body mods, while given to them against their will, are something they've come to like.

The idea of "people are deliberately using this tech that combines species to make hybrids" seemed like a fit for that, but...

[Qwertystop]

Yeah, pokemon lends itself to a certain superheroic style to it. can't really be punk without a certain amount of powerlessness in the face of social issues far larger than yourself. thats why I want something less narrow and more open to things that....are a little more general.

That fic I mentioned... yesterday? Day before? Arbitrary Execution. It's got more than a little of that sort of thing. More "corrupt bureaucracy" than "social issues", I suppose.

It really is quite good.

EDIT: Wait, no, I mentioned that in the Pokemon thread, didn't I. Current conversations are blending, I got confused. Link added.

[Rater202]

That fic I mentioned... yesterday? Day before? Arbitrary Execution. It's got more than a little of that sort of thing. More "corrupt bureaucracy" than "social issues", I suppose.

It really is quite good.

EDIT: Wait, no, I mentioned that in the Pokemon thread, didn't I. Current conversations are blending, I got confused. Link added.

Yeah, sorry about that.

Thank you again for the rec, BTW. Is interesting read.

[Peelee]

No... No, trust me, she's not.

She has a nice body but she wears that mask for a reason. I'd share a picture but the wiki doesn't have any pictures of her without her mask other than the "Venomized Variant" cover and that really doesn't do justice to how horrifying her freaky spider-mouth is.

I'm not sure how she's capable of talking.

She's not bad, she's just drawn that way.

[Rater202]

She's not bad, she's just drawn that way.

I'm aware of the reference you're making, but that's going into character rather than appearance and...

Susan's idea of "fighting crime" is to murder 12 random bankers--who had never been involved in or accused of any criminal activities or corruption--cocoon their bodies in webbing and string them up where all of New York City could see them.

Spider-Man came *this close* to just flat out executing her. Spider-Man took a bullet for Norman Osborn within an hour of Osborn murdering one of Peter's best friends in front of him, but he was willing to kill Susan.

She's drawn that way, but she's most certainly bad.

[Lord Raziere]

Yeah, sorry about that.

Thank you again for the rec, BTW. Is interesting read.

It truly is an interesting read. its not something I'd play, but it is something I'll read. I can relate to the protagonist, because they're doing what I'd probably do if I was a pokemon trainer. but without the conspiracy parts.

but yeah, I like the pokepunk idea, I just think it can be wider and have ways it can be done than Rater's. its just my idea is more of a "alternate reality pokemon/supernatural creature where this tech is common so its more of general society has changed" kind of thing and how that affects people on a large scale rather than a small scale, because for some reason I just find that more interesting and workable to my brain.

[Rater202]

It truly is an interesting read. its not something I'd play, but it is something I'll read. I can relate to the protagonist, because they're doing what I'd probably do if I was a pokemon trainer. but without the conspiracy parts.

but yeah, I like the pokepunk idea, I just think it can be wider and have ways it can be done than Rater's. its just my idea is more of a "alternate reality pokemon/supernatural creature where this tech is common so its more of general society has changed" kind of thing and how that affects people on a large scale rather than a small scale, because for some reason I just find that more interesting and workable to my brain.

Yeah, maybe you're right...

Pokempunk should be broader and the "young adults transformed against their will taking down the people who did it" should be some other fandom that meshes better with the setting?

Maybe Marvel? The Marvel 2099 AU is basically built for Cyberpunk, and Weapon Plus's standard operating practice is "kidnap people or brainwash volunteers for Super Soldier experiments, then enslave them as agents if they work out."

...Weapon V captures or dupes a group of Young Adults and uses them for testing known methods of modifying or enhancing symbiotes with their bio-suits, then Absolute Carnage happens and the Weapon V experiments are all shuttered leading to the test subjects being fitted with bomb collars and forcibly trained as a special task force for the kinds of operations Weapon Plus does stuff for, requiring them to fid some way to get the bomb collars off, escape, and figure out what to do from there?

That's a lot more versatile than Pokmon Hybrids. A straight Symbiote is an option, but so are powered armor, implants, and prosthetics. Bio-Mechanical constricts, weapons, integrating with technology.

...Of course, Weapon Plus is more Government Conspiracy than Corrupt Megacorp.

[Lord Raziere]

Rater, I don't know Marvel to that degree, you want me to play superheroes I got to be able to play whatever I want. I don't go to straight supers to have limitations on what I can make.

[Rater202]

That was mostly brainstorming

...Though that does mean that Marvel 2099 would be a better go-to than Weapon V for a Cyberpunk Supers game. Again, the setting is one where the Corrupt MEgacorps do whatever the hell they want and are literally the Government and the Law is enforced by privatized police forces, history prior to a certain point is forgotten, and all of the Outer Space and God Stuff is excluded becuase the planet has been locked away becuase of how screwed it is.

And 2099 has been rebooted often enough that I'm comfortable playing super fast and loose with it. It just boils down to what flavor of Punk you wanna focus on.

...And I'm now imagining a young woman who was crippled in an accident and converted into a cyborg using bio-mechanical prosthetics and plants made from the piece of the Carnage Symbiote that Alchemex has had locked deep in storage for the last eight decades becuase they didn't learn their lesson with what happened with Alea Bell.

God damn it, I already have too many characters I want to do stuff with.