/tg/ - Traditional Games

../burichan.8.cssme="robots" content="noarchive"/> /tg/ - Traditional Games

/tg/ - Traditional Games

Posting mode: Reply

I'm going to publish that news post I wrote back in December soon.
EDIT: Note my liberal definition of "soon."

File :1234943583.jpg-(50 KB, 400x393, barilan_internet-thumb.jpg)

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)02:53 No.3747106

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/3734899/
>>3742406
More of the Internet setting. Currently discussing rules and classes, but since I'm not very good with that stuff, I'll just write some fluff to get you guys started:

---

"I found it. Two pages from here. Let's do this."

My heart was beating like crazy as I followed him through the link. This was the biggest thing we had ever done, likely bigger than anything we would ever do after this. It was bigger than Google: We had entered it and survived, several others had, but who before us had ever even thought about the idea of controlling an Old? Well, not so much controlling - I think it's impossible - but directing, guiding its wrath to where we want it to go.

A few more links, and... There it was. Beyond the thick data mist, I could see a black shadow moving. Three small, red dots were glowing at its top: The eyes. It was truly an impressive sight: The first time I had ever really observed one. We had seen an Old before, once, but that time we just concentrated on getting away from it.

"Is the bait ready?", I asked Jake, our surfer, though I knew the answer. We had been planning this for weeks, after all: This thing had been sighted a month ago, rampaging, getting dangerously close to human settlements and smaller webforts. We had been sent by SomethingAwful to help in fending off the creature. We had met with Jake around here - a weird guy, but you'd have to be, if you preferred wild web over webforts - and come up with a nice cunning plan to send the Old into someplace safer to fuck up things.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)02:53 No.3747107

The beast was moving. It had discovered our bait, and had the intention of destroying it. The bait would be living humans: A couple other experienced surfers, trolling and flamebaiting the thing to follow them, then using prepared escape routes to get the hell out of there, while our crackers would shut down the links with firewalls. By the time the links opened again, the creature would hopefully have gotten bored about us, and gone searching for other stuff to destroy.

Our Instant Messenger crackled up: "We see it, it's coming!", a calm voice said from the other side. "It's almost time now...". The Old was running away from me now, and fast: I could barely see it anymore. Everything was working as plann-

It stopped. "Wait, it stopped," the IM said.
"What's it doing?", I asked. It was hard to see from here.
"Looks like it's... Hesitating. Why would it hesitate?"
"I think it's on to us," Jake said. His face, normally so calm and collected, was full of fear and concern. "We should abort. We should get the hell out of here."
"No!", I protested. "This is way too important. Countless people's lives are on the line here..."
"It's moving again!"

I looked: They were right. After a moment of hesitation, the thing was on the move again, heading towards our baits. "Okay... Almost time now... Now!", the IM told me. "Wait..."
"What? What's wrong?"
A silence. Then, a whisper: "The link's gone."
"What?!"
Neville the cracker looked back, towards our escape link. "Here, too!" I looked too, and caught his eye: All colour had flushed away from his face. "We're trapped."

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)02:54 No.3747111

Trapped. Here, on a small website, alone with an Old. "Since when could Olds shut down links?"
The Instant Messenger was filled with whimpers and screams of help. Then, one last scream cut short, and silence.
"We have to get out of here!"
"Neville!"
"On it!"

There wasn't much time. The shadow in the mist, having slaughtered the poor surfers, had turned its red gaze towards us, and was running. Closer, closer. "Come on!"
"Not enough time!", Neville cried out. "I'd need minutes to open one!"
"Can you open to Google?"
"Yes, but-"
"DO IT!"

Opening a link to Google only took some seconds, but there were the obvious, very real and very dangerous hazards. Still, it was only an uncertain death, infinitely better to the certain demise at the hands of an Old. When the link opened, we jumped through in an instant, and ran. The Old was so close now, there would be no time closing the link, or even shutting it with a firewall. It followed us.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)02:54 No.3747116

It was a constantly shifting void, full of links opening and closing randomly, inhabited by monsters from our worst nightmares. Our hacker, May, put up the strongest firewall she had, and we barely managed to slip past the few creatures that happened to be right at the other side when we entered: They gave chase at first, but then the Old appeared, and apparently they decided it would present a much more delicious target. As they swarmed over it, we jumped through the first link we found, and May firewalled it before anything could follow.

The mission was completed... Adequately. The Old was now trapped in Google: Even those nightmare things probably couldn't stop it, and it would sooner or later find its way out, but hopefully it would do so in some safe place. As for us, we had popped out straight to yet another dangerous, unexplored part of the deep web. How we got out, that is a story for another day.

Glossary:
- Webfort: Large, heavily fortified human settlements, formed on the most popular old websites.
- Surfer: Short of web surfer. Equivalent to a ranger. Know the Internets like their own pockets.
- Hacker: Equivalent to cleric. Defensive buffs and healing. Other powers depend of their deity.
- Cracker: Equivalent to mage. Mostly offensive attacks and buffs, but epic level crackers can also open temporary links. (These characters are all on such levels of power.)
- Old: Remnants of the original Internet, from the fifties or whatever. Smart, wise, and powerful, but set upon just destroying everything out of spite.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)03:41 No.3747378

I think druids are a problem, when we're talking about classes. None of the concepts just seem to fit them.

Also hacker is a bit too wide of a term for a cleric, since mostly everything that's got to do with changing and manipulating the Internet would be a form of hacking, and so many classes would, by this term, be counted among hackers.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)04:09 No.3747554

>>3747378
>I think druids are a problem, when we're talking about classes. None of the concepts just seem to fit them.

Then there are no druids. Simple as that. We don't need to forcibly mash up every regular class to this new concept: We take what works, modify them a bit, and then create entirely new stuff to replace the old things that didn't work and had to be scrapped.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)04:26 No.3747673

TRAVEL ADVISORY

Due to increasing AI activity on Highway SIGMA#5A (see referenced image) this area is currently off limits until the zone is cleared of hostile activity. Hostile contacts not limited to: Milbots, Civbots, Searchspiders, and assorted Cybers of medium threat rating. In the meantime, highway SIGMA#6A is still available for usage and is regularly being patrolled.
-----
TRAVEL ADVISORY

Link cluster designated "Rulf's Hub of Fun" has been declared inoperable following a large battle between DRUDGE and CNN forces. No available personnel are available to make repairs. Use links at own risk.
----
TRAVEL ADVISORY

Webfort Valve has declared that Highways OMEGA2F and SIERRA ZETA are now clear for travel and utilization. Valve Forces ask that travelers do not carry weaponry in a threatening stance or deadly force will be utilized. See attached pic for desired carry stance.

-----
TRAVEL ADVISORY

Following the destruction of CHINANET and many of the webforts contained therein, refugees are moving across link system DELTA DELTA to EUROCOM. EUROCOM has taken precautions and shut down all travel, further bolstered in their logic of at least one report of an Old attacking refugees.

-----
TRAVEL ADVISORY

2ch is officially declared off limits to 4chan and it's affiliates until further notice. 2ch patrols and guard personnel have begun indiscriminately firing on CHINANET refugees. Given the unsafe conditions, this ban on travel will most likely exceed 3 weeks.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)06:42 No.3748369

I stared in astonishment as my employer typed the name of her destination to the search bar.

"But, that's... That's in CHINANET. Are you telling me that we risked our asses to get over here just so that we could become Old food right afterwards?!"

"You were told the job was risky," she told me, as the link opened. We jumped in, as fast as we could: Our hacker, a fellow named Biggs, was the last, the firewalls already breaking up under the relentless assault of the monstrous denizens of this place. "Besides, the Olds have moved on. They destroyed the place, and there's nothing here left for them."

"Then what's there left for us?"

"You'll see." As we stepped forth, a scene of total destruction welcomed us. All signs pointed that this had once been a thriving community, a great and glorious webfort - reduced to nothing but broken data, glitches, bugs, and a very occasional intact file, which we all gathered up. Most links were gone: Pretty much the only way to CHINANET was now through Google, which wasn't an option for most people, especially since there was nothing left here.

"We were promised great riches and glory for this job," Biggs said. "Pardon me for doubting you, boss, but I don't see any of either around here."

"Don't doubt me," Alex just said, in her regular stoic way. "You'll get your riches yet. Now stand back." We did so, as she produced an old data key from her pocket, resulting in a silent gasp of surprise from my lungs and a couple of impressed whistles from other members of our party. "Is that a sign-up key?", I asked. She nodded, as a new portal, this one of bright orange color, opened up in the thin air.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)06:42 No.3748372

Sign-up keys were rare: They were the only way to access someone's personal computer, other than being that computer's owner yourself, unless you wanted to try and get through some top-security virus protections and firewalls. There was a very high chance that even the Olds couldn't breach through. Most people would never find the way back to their own computers - they usually even had no idea of where to look.

Personal computers could hold literally EVERYTHING inside them: At last we saw how rich and powerful we could potentially become.

We stepped through, and observed our new surroundings. It was neat, very clean, much more so than anywhere else we had ever seen, and we had seen a lot of stuff. Thousands of folders, hundreds of gigs worth of files, waited for us, everywhere we looked. Alex helpfully told us that most of the stuff was entirely worthless, nothing but text files concerning work or something equally boring, and directed us into those few folders that contained all the good stuff. While the rest of the group spread out for looting, I opted following Alex instead, as I was rather curious of her reasons and motives of coming here. She didn't seem to mind.

"So, whose computer was this?"

She didn't answer, and I didn't press the matter. We walked past several folders, until she finally picked one, a password protected. I couldn't make up the name, my language skills nonexistant, but she told me it said "For Alex". Inside, there was nothing but a single short video file. "That's meant for you, then?", I asked. The name of the folder was a bit of a giveaway.

"Strictly speaking, it was meant for my grandmother."

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)06:43 No.3748373

And she told me about the quest of her family, that had taken three generations to accomplish. This computer belonged to her great-grandfather, who had intended to post this video as a birthday gift for her seven-year-old daughter Alex, living with her mother in France. But then the Fall happened, and he had never had the time to do it.

She held a small data file for me to see. "What's left of my grandma," she said silently. "I don't think her father will gain peace until she has seen this video, and she won't gain peace until he has. So I brought her here. To watch this."

We watched the video together. It contained nothing but a short, chinese man telling how much he loved his daughter, but it was nonetheless very sweet.

With a blissful, content sigh, the file Alex was holding broke apart and vanished.

(For this to work, we'd have to make some reproduction rules.)

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)07:37 No.3748576

>>3747116
You forgot Virus riders. Those who tame and wield viruses. Also Cybers, those adapting servants of the Dark God who are mere grunt to be conquered in ADVENTURE on the safe outer rim but are OHGOGOHGOD and Cthulu-esqu near the center where the Dark God is powerful.. Also Moderators, who aren't moderators as we know them but only inherited the name and serve Internet Gods.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)07:39 No.3748582 >>3748576 I forgot many things, but none of them were mentioned in my story. Someone can do a more detailed version, if willing.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)07:47 No.3748633 Have we done anything more on the Tron cycle? Stated it?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)07:56 No.3748675

>>3748373
Okay, like someone mentioned: Reproduction.
Now in the past few threads people have mentioned this a lot but here's what I think should happen:
So as to prevent overcrowding, people only create new life when an old one is snuffed out. That means even if someone dies, if they have a "copy" at home like someone suggested (staying in a vegetative state due to the lack of a soul, think the "clone" spell from D&D) then no babies. In order to actually have a kid you need to petition your webfort, and if someone dies they may choose you and your spouse to supply the data for a new citizen. This means that like in life, they are basically a mixture of your and your spouse's genetics, with a few augmentations (read: bitchin' wolverine claws) thrown in. This may make it seem like children are quite rare, seeing as old age is now not really a problem, but the internet is SRS BUSINESS now in a srs way, so people will probably die fairly often, especially as colonization starts further toward the dangerous center of the internet (that's a good representation of the circular nature of our world in OP's pic there)

One thing I'd like to work out is, in the writefaggotry there was a lot of talk about links as ways to travel between webforts or portals to more nasty parts of the internet. Do these just function as teleporters or what?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:08 No.3748723

>>3748675
>Okay, like someone mentioned: Reproduction.

I like your way, and I think people should be required to ask for a permission to have children IRL too. Then maybe there wouldn't be as many people here either.

>One thing I'd like to work out is, in the writefaggotry there was a lot of talk about links as ways to travel between webforts or portals to more nasty parts of the internet. Do these just function as teleporters or what?

Links are the only way to travel between sites, as it was told in the beginning of the very first thread:

>Travel was done mainly through links. Unfortunately, this was far more difficult than it may sound, because while internal links at the same server - such as moving from /tg/ to /v/ - worked perfectly, everything else was seriously messed up: External links had warped and twisted into randomness, no one knew where they led to, and Cybers liked to pour inside from them occasionally.

Yeah, they're pretty close to teleporters I guess.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:19 No.3748771

>>3748723
So websites materialize as plains in space, with the size and content depending on where you are, and links act as either portals between them, or in the case of more unstable ones, portals into scary shit, this game's equivalents of dungeons, etc. Occasionally cybers on the other side'll find the link and pour out into more civilized land or /b/andits and /b/arbarians (we've still got those, right) or a rival webfort could attack. So webforts are the towns and castles, that would mean the more feral humans (said /b/arbarians) would live out on the great inter-wastes with the virii?

Plus: food. I don't think it should be necessary any more but people still eat digitized foods (cybers can be cooked but watch out, they may have malware in them) for enjoyment.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:28 No.3748810

>>3748771
More or less. Civilized people do live outside webforts too, though. Also, in the beginning, ALL websites were more or less scary shit: These days many of them have been purified and inhabited, but a large majority remains dangerous still.

And since you can't open new links, you may have to walk through countless random websites to reach your destination: The fastest route from 4chan to Wikipedia, for instance, goes through a random old thread of a random old forum, a certain Youtube video, and nineteen other equally random sites. It's like in our world, you might have to walk past a graveyard and video store to get home from school.

Even still, many places remain completely unexplored, or even shut down entirely: Like, you may have started up from a small cluster of websites with only a few lousy links to each other, and no way out - like an island in the middle of an ocean.

The only way to reach instantly and directly to the place you want is Google, and that place is dangerous as shit. Wouldn't recommend.

What I would recommend, though, would be to read those two threads in great detail, because most of this has been explained already.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:36 No.3748840

>>3748810
Skill: Surfing
When moving on larger, linked-filled websites (such as the dreaded Google or Yahoo) a surfing check is required (let's say for google DC 25, so only skilled surfers can consistently travel Google with few problems) to get to where you need to go. Fail the DC and you may end up on the wrong website, under attack by cybers, or, given the random nature of Google, even worse. It's pretty much the Warp of the internet.

Feat: I'm feeling lucky.
Prerequisite: 4 ranks in Surfing.
Benefit: Gain a +5 (is it too high or low? New at this) circumstance bonus on checks to traverse Google.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:52 No.3748910 Come on fa/tg/uys. CRUNCH THREAD MUST BE CRUNCHY

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:56 No.3748929

Just a random anon who does rules, voting against classes. They really, really aren't necessary. They make things easier, to an extent, but they can really bugger up a system. Freeform XP spending, some power categories which are unique (i.e. you can only choose one) to keep things simple if necessary.

System-wise, Mutants and Masterminds might actually be a good system to base it off. Attack bonus/defence bonus would do well to represent your basic capabilities beyond stats (Which'd need reshuffling), and the powers could represent all kinds of data-manipulation.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:56 No.3748932 >>3747554 I demand a god damn cypher rider class and a spider transport

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)08:59 No.3748947

>>3748932
We must have people riding spiders and throwing smaller spiders. So as messy as it its, I vote classes. Especially since we've already pretty much got the groundwork laid out. Also some people have already started posting feats, skills, and augmentations, so I think we should stick with 4e.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:02 No.3748959 Augmentation: Physical beauty 2 points Advantage: Sex-ay. +2 to charisma Disadvantage: You haven't really needed to learn much since you got by on beauty. -2 INT (you can buy off this disadvantage for another 2 points)

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:03 No.3748963

>>3748947

I'm gonna argue my point, Hard.

Have classes to the extent that each PC can only have one category of special powers. That makes sense. However, free spending of skill points, augmentation points etc would make this a better game.

Also an argument Against 4e. 4e is a game highly reliant upon battlemaps and miniatures. In a game like this, where geometry is vague at best, and user defined at worst, that just won't work. It'd be a better idea to base it off a more generic and free system, like Unisystem.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:04 No.3748965 >>3748947 This. It'd be too messy to start changing so important things at this point, all of sudden.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:06 No.3748978

>>3748965

At this point, the crunch is vague ideas at best. All of the "classes" suggested up till now could easily be turned into a category of power PC's could select from, while at the same time getting rid of the annoying, outmoded concepts of class and level. Free your minds!

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:07 No.3748986
File :1234966046.gif-(24 KB, 280x300, Lumen.gif)

Also, imagine a less weeabo version of THIS coming at you, throwing SMALLER digi-spiders.
I personally think that the virus rider, as he gains levels, should be able to do stuff like phase the virus through doorways that are too narrow for it, climb on walls, etc.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:12 No.3749012

How about a compromise? To use WoD as an example, it doesn't have Class and Level, by that name anyway, but the different types of supernatural and the defining stat (i.e. Gnosis) acts as an equivalent, but the freeform XP expenditure still keeps things interesting.

You could have a powerlist for Hacking, Cracking etc, with people who select Cracking as a focus getting a discount buying cracking abilities, or whatever, but having the others available for a higher price. Seems a nice compromise, and is flexible enough it can be adapted to most concepts.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:12 No.3749014 >>3748986 I was thinking the virus is more of a steed/Kamen Rider style Hopper who supports the user with its own attacks, and cypher riders are like wild steeds or the East Asian dragons with no body that surf the net

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:15 No.3749030

>>3748978
While I don't condone switching systems at this point I do think that allowing plenty of customization in class is a good thing. i mean, hell, this is the internet, you can pretty much be what you want to be. Therefore I propose we have augmentations be an even more major part of the rules and not just restricted to making a race. Maybe you get AP (augment points) at each level and can use them to get various abilities within your general archetype (damage dealer, spellcaster, rogue type thing) We should try to make it fairly customizable. However I do think 4e is just fine. The internet HAS been translated into real geometry at this point. Explanation? FFS (For fun's sake)

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:18 No.3749040

>>3749030

Eh, maybe you're right. I'm one of those faggoty indie gamers, so perhaps Its just my gut Anti-D&D reaction talking. I just feel its wrong to take such an awesome, intuitive and out there concept, and then strap it to one of the more restrictive models of roleplaying system...

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:22 No.3749054

Hacker: The mage. They throw around aggressive code like no other, able to breach firewalls and mangle anti-virus ware with ease.

Coder: The cleric. They can make on the spot programs to repair code, bolster firewalls, and when needed, can turn their skills to the aggressive end, but not with the skill of a hacker

Cracker: The warrior class. They do not have the finesse of the hacker, instead using brute force to beat through code, and have some skill at creating short, and very mean, codes.

Surfer: Ranger type, as stated before

Troll: The bard. They use their effective social engineering skills (Hehe, yah right, but hey, this is a game) to garner favor or hatred amongst groups.

Lurker: The rogue of the world, they use undetection coding to sneak by even the most alert of cybers, and can implant viruses to really fuck things up.

Virus herder; Druid like class, their knack is creating and maintaining viruses, spyware, bots and a few cybers they can manage to get under their control.

So what do ya think?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:24 No.3749062

>>3749054
>So what do ya think?

It's very good apart from two things: First of all, fighters hardly need to be called by any other name, since their job is still pretty much nothing but smashing things. Secondly, trolls are evil by default, as well as stupid and/or offensive, while bards are supposed to be simply free spirits, and highly intelligent and inspiring - almost direct opposites of trolls, in fact.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:26 No.3749071 >>3749054 So I say replace those herders with the riders we had earlier (I'm guessing we can't really have druids here man, sorry) and the bards (screw 'em) with spammers, those guys who have many attacks to lower BW and cause slowdown and lockup.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:31 No.3749081

Indiefag here, withdrawing for now, although if the crunch begins to falter later on, I shall strike again.

A last word of advice- Focus on making the System work for the setting, not the other way around. If the setting and system conflict, alter the system rather than the setting. Seriously, if you get too attached to the 4e system, and bend the setting to fit it, you will destroy everything good and interesting about it and make it nothing more than a slightly different than usual D&D setting. And this setting deserves more than that.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:33 No.3749090

>>3749062

I was thinking of a name for a social sort of net name, and the only one that came to mind was troll. Maybe since the world is all fucked, some of them got their heads out of their asses and started to do good.

Thanks for your thoughts on it.

>>3749071

And why not have a druid like class? Instead of the "Stop fucking with my trees, no metal armor, etc, etc" we could have net tenders, people who work to maintain the coding of the site, and have some skills at manipulating that of others, to cause all sorts of shit, like cyberquakes, shitstorms, whiteouts, 404s, so on and so on.

Don't need to be the hippies in the trees.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:41 No.3749106

>>3749090
Ok, screw my previous statement, druids wouldn't be a bad idea. But I think herding cybers, virii, etc. is not what they'd want to do. Remember, this is just junk data given form. I think though that whereas surfers specialize in traversing the nasty parts of the net, these guys would bend it to their will using various scripts to rebuke, take over, or destroy the dangerous cybers therein.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:48 No.3749132 >>3749106 Nerd herders are really Script Kiddies.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:54 No.3749151

>>3749132

There ya go. Script kiddies are our virus, cyber, etc herders. They can not keep them active for long, too much a drain, but they are like summoners, able to bring them online when they are needed.

>>3749106

I think our druids name should be moderators. They are not able to use the mighty b& hammer quite yet, and are tasked by the arch-mod to maintain the realm while they take care of the trouble makers.

"Preserve the balance of the site. If it falls, so do we."

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:58 No.3749169 Why in the name of -fuck- are you using 4E for a game that isn't supposed to be confined by classes?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)09:59 No.3749172 haven't read the first thread, but this seems very Aargon Zark. OP, other collaborators, I suggest you track it down.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:02 No.3749189 >>3749169 Are you paying no attn There ARE classes We just also have augmentations

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:04 No.3749195 >>3749189 It is dumb to use 4E's class system for something that can easily be represented in systems WITHOUT classes because 4E's class system is rigid.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:06 No.3749199

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

4e is wrong for this game!

Its a game of new concepts, new ideas, new ways of doing things. Its a game with unlimited potential for greatness and glory

Why are you taking the most trite, clichéd and stupid RPG archetypes, and destroying all which is well and good in the setting to fit them in?

If you want to play D&D set in a computer, Play D&D set in a computer. But Don't fuck up a really, good, interesting idea. An indie style of game would work much better for this. Don't Rest Your Head in particular. Consequences for actions are very noticeable, and madness talents could easily be adapted into netwarps of various sorts.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:09 No.3749212 Exalted? Or, some other sort of WoD?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:10 No.3749215 ITT: A good campaign setting is set upon by indiefags

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:10 No.3749216 >>3749199 >>3749195 don't shit on this and make it a 4e hate thread

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:12 No.3749228 >>3749216 I don't hate 4E. It's that it's not suited for what you're trying to do, but you don't understand that - you are trying to make a square peg fit in a round hole.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:12 No.3749230

LOOK GUYS
We're not trying to reinvent the WHEEL with this.
I'm thinking what we're trying to do here is NOT make a whole new system, just a setting and new classes, cool stuff as such. It's NOT a core system, more like a splatbook. Correct me if I'm wrong, OP.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:12 No.3749231

>>3749216

There's nothing wrong with 4e in itself. Its a good system for running high fantasy adventures in a magical medieval world.

However, its the completely wrong system to use in regards to this setting, without tearing apart what makes the setting good.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:13 No.3749234 Why the hell didn't you guys co-opt ArtifIce?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:14 No.3749238

>>3749212

Yah know, I am thinking WoD as well.

The "augments" can just be merits and flaws, used with freebie points at character creation.

And WoD does have it's "classes' so to speak. Exalted has castes, Werewolf has auspice, Orpheus (If any of you played that) has... What sort of ghost type you are, forget the word for it, like a banshee, a skin rider, haunter, poltergeist and will'o'wisp

If we use WoD for the system, it also allows a great deal wider character range. Yes, a cracker (Cause fuck using fighter, I like that for the warrior name) can have skills in coding and such, they just do not have the knack for it like a proper coder does.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:14 No.3749239 >>3749230 You don't need to reinvent the wheel. That's not what were suggesting. Just base the system on something a little more flexible, a little more appropriate, than 4e.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:15 No.3749246 >>3749234 Not to kick up more shit into what is already a storm, but we could sue some stuff from that or its system or something. I think on another thread, the guy who made it said we could...

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:16 No.3749250 >>3749230 That's the thing you haven't quite got yet. If you're going to make this for 4E, you're either going to have to retrofit the setting to a ridiculous extent or fix the system so it does exactly what you want, neither of which are ideal.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:16 No.3749251 >>3749238 This is a good suggestion and you should feel good. Okay, pack it up, people. Let's head to WoD. All in favor?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:17 No.3749256 >>3749246 Check the Archive. The guy who made ArtifIce, Earthflame, said we could take whatever we wanted from those threads and PDF's to make this game. Quite a good bank of resources, really.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:17 No.3749261 >>3749239 >>3749250 Alright, you guys are right I guess. 4e won't cut it. I switch to back the suggestion of transfer to WoD.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:18 No.3749262 >>3749228 I am not that guy I am the VIRUS RIDER guy but still don't make this into a 4e shitstorm.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:18 No.3749265 >>3749250 ANYWAY, if anything this could work with the SPECIAL stystem since we use HP/MP and an action point system

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:18 No.3749268 >>3749261 With maybe some of Earthflame's excellent rules in and plenty of original stuff (I liked that BW system suggested by someone)

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:20 No.3749276 >>3749265 Oh god no. You have no idea how terribly SPECIAL plays out on paper.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:22 No.3749282 Why not use D20 Modern? Heck, most of the feats and such already posted in this and the older threads would fit right in there.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:24 No.3749288 >>3749276 It does? Fallout always seemed fun to me, didd not know that

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:25 No.3749291

>>3749282
d20 Modern isn't even close to as good as you think it is.

If you -had- to use a d20 system, Star Wars Saga or Mutants & Masterminds are your best bets. SWS is d20 Modern minus most of the shit, but it's still a little restrictive.

Either way, d20 really isn't that great. It's just popular.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:25 No.3749292 'Nother anon suggesting move to WoD.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:26 No.3749294 >>3749288 Fallout IS great. But it has a computer dealing with all of the calculations that you need, which is why it has so many circumstance modifiers. SPECIAL's a straight port of the computer game - it doesn't work on paper because of that.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:27 No.3749304

I feel like the sites shouldn't be named after existing sites. They could be implied to be remnants of a given site's community or the inheritors thereof, but I feel like people should say "hey this organization kind of reminds me of SA" rather than "LOL I'M WORKING FOR LOWTAX GIMME TEN BUX".

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:31 No.3749313 Ok, we got two votes for WoD, and my suggestion for it, so we got three. Anyone have any other systems to use? I do not know about Earthflame, I never played the game myself so I am unfamiliar with the mechanics to it.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:31 No.3749315 What system is being used for this? Can't quite stat up classes until I know what we're using.

>>	IEatChildren 02/18/09(Wed)10:32 No.3749321 >>3749304 Whether or not the sites are named I think is up to the GM. Also throwing in my hat for nWoD.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:32 No.3749328

The big favourite seems to be WoD, although if people are still attached to D20, M&M is also a good option.

If you adapt it to WoD, you'd need to rework the stats and skills slightly, to make more sense in a digital context, as well as write out power lists for the various archetypes. However, an advantage to that is ArtifIce is also D10 dicepool based, so anything useful could be virtually directly imported.

M&M has the advantage of being semi-familiar to D&D players, although with a stripped down and more sensible version of the system. Its variable powers and equipment options would perfectly suit the flexibility of the concept.

However, one thing to consider is Tone. This game is quite dark, and while it is possible to run a dark game in M&M, WoD is more directly designed for it.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:34 No.3749339 >>3749321 Well yeah it's up to the DM I'm just saying don't use actual site names in the flavor text because that's going to come across as corny to some people who would otherwise appreciate the core concept.

IEatChildren 02/18/09(Wed)10:35 No.3749351

One of the reasons I like this so much is that it can be both dark AND high adventure type stuff. So yeah, it's fairly dark, but at the same time, like the internet, it can be epic, heroic, hilarious, or a whole lot of other things. The sheer FLEXIBILITY of the setting means that we can make the rules and then the GMs can just adapt it into any sort of feel they may want. But yeah, WoD is a good idea. With Earthflame's permission, we shall mix it with ArtifIce and our own rules and hopefully come out with something cool.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:37 No.3749355 >>3749313 http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/artifice/ArtifIce%20v2%20.pdf There's ArtifIce - it's based on a similar idea, at least, as it's a game about AIs.

>>	Earthflame !98PcYIvlCI 02/18/09(Wed)10:39 No.3749367 >>3749351 As I said, go ahead and pillage freely. ArtifIce was created for the convenience of /tg/, and if it can be of any help, I gladly contribute it.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:40 No.3749373

>>3749351
>The sheer FLEXIBILITY of the setting means that we can make the rules and then the GMs can just adapt it into any sort of feel they may want.

This right here is why I said not to use 4E. The rules are suited to one thing and one thing alone - fantasy.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:45 No.3749396

So, WoD. Following the classing model, we'd have five archetypes, although more or less works.

Hacking is an obvious one, disruptively changing the way the system works in order to favour your group.

Another option is working with the system, understanding the ways of the net, or the individual site, and non-disruptively altering them to help you.

Coding is a third, the act of creating new things, or augmenting what exists.

Thoughts?

>>	IEatChildren 02/18/09(Wed)10:47 No.3749414 >>3749396 Deletion is the act of destruction as coding is creation. Using antivirus, etc.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:50 No.3749426 >>3749396 Cracking's more appropriate but less immediately understood than Hacking.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:51 No.3749427

You ever try to see while going through a link? Ignore those old-wives tales about looking into a hyperlink directly. Open your eyes and ears. Feel the rush of data flowing past you both in and out like deep breaths of an Old on your face... Thats the path to knowing how to be a Prober.

It's a lost art, Probing. Way back before the fall it was as simple as putting a query to Telnet and see how many times that signal got bounced. These days, you pretty well are screwed when it comes to a link and the things dwelling in between. Unless you know how to Probe.

Sure, some call us fakes or crazies, thinking we're just dowsing for water and likely to open the maw to Google to the poor saps. But a good Prober can see beyond the HTML. We can hear the server's pulse. Its like a heartbeat, and we're the blood. It'd all look like gibberish to your average Script Kiddie, but I know it's ways. I can see where the old links go before I even step foot in them. Hackers and Coders can open links, certainly, but we Probers see where they are blind and hear where they are deaf.

Now, what's a server, you ask? It's where we are. No, not the page we're on. This is just a layer of reality painted onto the Servers we can understand. I'm talking about beyond this. I'm talking about that 'gibberish' before the site. Ach Tee Tee Pee, Colon Slash Slash, Dubyew Dubyew Dubyew.

Trust me. Where I'm gonna take you, kid... you don't need eyes to see.

[Currently thinking of a Prober as being along the lines of a mage in Cthulhu mythos. Seeing things beyond our realm of knowing (the websites) and delving into the underlying code (the servers, which are like the organs of the internet)}

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:53 No.3749434 >>3749427 ...awesome

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)10:59 No.3749459 >>3749427 You sir, are awesome. Prober HAS to be one of the types now. So, Hacker, Prober, Lurker, Coder, and.... What should the last one be?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:01 No.3749471 >>3749459 Probably a type that organizes the rest.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:02 No.3749475 >>3749471 >>3749459 He's like the crazy raving lunatic that you'd rather want on your side.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:05 No.3749500

>>3749459

One thing to remember is, If were going WoD style, types of power and types of player don't directly correlate. A specialist hacker might have a few Lurk type abilities, to allow them to get their work done while being undetected. Something to think about.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:14 No.3749563

An idea I had was for degree of detriment. "Crackers" (Not sure if correct terminology), who disrupt things, make a lot of "Noise" as it were, attracting things to them. Their powers are fast and effective, but not particularly subtle.

Hacking powers are more subtle than Cracking. Rather than breaking the code, the work partly with it, in order to disguise their changes. Slower, but with a similar degree of power and more flexibility, along with less noise.

Stealth/Lurk powers are essentially coding in a very weak sense. You can't create anything real, just illusions of what is or is not there. You can also make it like something real isn't there, and then sneak through the gaps. While a cracker or hacker would demolish a security system, a Lurker could stroll through.

Coding creates things which are real. They are tangible, and active, and can be pretty damn helpful in the long run. However, Coding also creates quite a lot of noise, both in the act, and in the code acting against the sites.

"Harmonisers" (Need a good tech name) are those who work with the sites, not changing anything as such, but simply shepherding the set processes towards a favourable conclusion. Their powers are slow, and not obviously powerful, but they are very quiet and subtle, able to operate without any disruption, and Eventually able to manipulate a system to almost any end.

Noise attracts cybers, viruses and other humans to the fact shits being fucked with, making it hard to use certain abilities while you're trying to be stealthy.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:16 No.3749575 >>3749563 Surfers, for those who work with the sites. Good a name as any.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:17 No.3749577 Currently looking over Artifice. The RAM/specialization system seems like it could be adapted to our use with some moderate modification. Plugins seem like they can just be ported in directly.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:19 No.3749598

We are the only ones left. My companion grievously wounded, and myself, in so far over my head I can no longer see the surface.
It has been three days since the link back was torn to pieces. Three days since our leader, ever so certain of his own power, was ripped to shreds alongside it, as the Old entered.

Since then, we have been running - but it is always ahead of us. Always there, waiting, whenever we think we have found safe storage, or a link collection. It killed my brother four hours ago.

And here we are, in a nook that can barely be called a site, where we ended up after desperately following the last link we could find - and it's coming. I'm sure of it.

I turn to my companion, the Prober, hired just for this mission - where all my scripts have failed, where every weapon I've thrown against it has been brushed aside like so much vapourware, does he have anything that can stop that thing?

He notices my attention, but he can hardly move. His eyes are almost glazed over, it's a wonder he could survive that last link. But his lips move, first in a terrible cough - is that blood? - but then to form words.

"Did you... did you notice? In the last link collection? They were all dead."

I respond, without thinking: "Not all of them! This one was still up, or we'd be dead back there!"

He grins. "Yes, this one was still up. Do you know" - he coughs again, his body already coming apart under the strain - "do you know why? It's the same. It's all the same... the same server."

Server? I've heard this word. Who hasn't? The underlying principle of reality, or so they say, but... can he actually see them?

"It's the same server, that is why it worked. We're, we're cut off. Together with it."

Cut off? We're all alone in a world with that THING, that Old? Then, it's all over. "Can we... can't we ever return?"

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:20 No.3749603

>>3749598
"It'll reconnect itself soon... but not soon enough. No, we end here." He smiles sadly at me, his eyes full of pain. "But, we can take it with us."

Take it with us? How could we possibly defeat something like an Old? It shrugs off even my strongest scripts! "We can't win against that thing!"

"Not against the old. Against the world. Come here, kid."
I approach. Hesitantly, at first, but then eagerly as I see the shining thing he pulls forth. I've never seen anything like it. It's like a script, but... no, it IS a script. Yet different from any I've seen.
"Take this, and... run it. Not against the Old. Against the world." He hands it over. I take it, eagerly. He continues, his last words: "But even so, ever since I found it, I never thought... I'd have to use this."

He falls. I know the Old is near, that it is coming for me, but now, I feel no fear. I instinctively know what to do with the "script" I have been given, so unlike any other.
I raise it, I "execute" it, as I mouth its true name, one that could terrify the bravest men, more, even the Olds.

Root command. 「killall -9」

I hear the Old in the distance. It does not matter. This site, no, this -server-, ends. And us with it.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:24 No.3749624 >>3749598 >>3749603 Probers are now GAR TIER.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:27 No.3749639 >>3749624 After reading this and the other threads, I am convinced that this must happen. YOU HAVE MY SWORD, CYBER WARS

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:28 No.3749649

Y'know I actually think that the Olds are featured a bit too much in the fluff. It's an awesome concept, sure, but they are supposed to be very evil and very powerful, and very rarely encountered.

Pretty much all the fluff is apparently about high-level characters anyway. I think we could use a few stories about low-level characters, struggling even against the weakest virii and cybers.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:30 No.3749658 >>3749639 Cyber Wars is more than a little cheesy name, IMO. We need something cooler and catchier.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:30 No.3749663 >>3749624 Not god tier... They merely have the ability to manipulate underlying code to great effect. And only if they have the scripts to run it. A frightening prospect, I am sure their mortality rate is through the roof though.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:32 No.3749674 >>3749663 Not god tier exactly, but very powerful nonetheless. There wouldn't be very many of them to begin with - a dozen, maybe - and the Internet is absolutely HUGE.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:33 No.3749675 Powers shouldn't be everything. There should also be people who don't fuck around with the code at all, but specialise in utilising scripts to optimal effectiveness. If it takes us beyond five archetypes, fuck the WoD format.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:34 No.3749680 Server Crash for a name?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:35 No.3749691 >>3749680 I like it. You have my vote.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:35 No.3749694 >>3749577 I also like the Parasiting mechanic - although I suppose in our case it'd be more like 'Data Salvage'. You destroy a Cyber, you may take some of its data and use it towards your own ends. This would account for the leveling/experience mechanic.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:37 No.3749701 >>3749680 Love it.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:38 No.3749705

>>3749675

Instead of screwing it, lets expand on it!

Only exalted uses just five archtypes for all.

Look at werewolf. You have breed, 3, tribe, 13, and auspice, 5. 3x5x13 = 195 different possible combinations for just what your player does.

We have how they manipulate code. Now we need how they learned, our Tribes, so to speak. The various sites they come from. Then, we need to add in something ti simulate breed. I'm thinking how human they are. Have they altered their own code time and time again, turning into a borderline cyber? You could have human, geek, and cyber. Each has it's own perks and flaws, like human are more handy socially, since it's hard to hold a conversation with someone who has as much metal/code sticking out as a toaster.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:41 No.3749717 Okay, Different origins should include: -Chan Conglomerate consisting of pretty much all chan culture boards -Goonia, remnants of SomethingAwful boards What other large internet communities are there?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:41 No.3749718 Well, I am heading to bed, glad some of you like the name I thought of. See ya folks around, hope this thread is still here when I get back

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:42 No.3749727

There's a division between Hackers, Coders and Probers.

Coders deal with the 'known' code. They add, alter and create code within the site framework. You need a weapon? See a Coder. You need a script? See a Coder. Basically, if you have 'blueprints' for the 'magic', Coders will do the task.

Hackers alter existing code on the fly. Where Coders work on Code that will stand the test of time and use, Hackers are your 'NEED IT NOW' guys.

However, both Coders and Hackers transform Code into things more tangible. The Prober, however, does the opposite. They deal in the realm only touched on by the previous two. Their skill is not with changing or creating Code, but using the existing architecture of the Internet and bend it to their whims.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:48 No.3749762 >>3749727 That makes a good degree of sense.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:53 No.3749790 >>3749727 And Crackers specialize in altering the code of enemies?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:54 No.3749799 >>3749790 Cracker is a sub-class of a hacker: Hackers are those who are good with altering the code in general, while crackers take it further and specialize in offensive stuff.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:58 No.3749815 What would the world look like?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)11:59 No.3749821 >>3749727 Coders see in C++ (and other assembly methods), and Probers see in DOS/Telnet?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:00 No.3749831 >>3749815 Kinda like that one episode of Futurama, but with a bit more GRIMDARK and such. On the whole, individual locations are up to the GM.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:00 No.3749832

>>3749649

Writefag reporting in... I have a great idea for a story about a normal family that is all contained within their home PC when the Fall happens (watching a VR movie or something). After the movie is over, they realize they can't jack out, but their firewall has kept them safe. They must then make an intrepid journey over the net to a webfort, bearing with them the key and links to their PC (which we've established as valuable.) OC is coming, I just have to write it.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:03 No.3749844 >>3749832 I support this. DO EET.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:03 No.3749845 >>3749717 GaiaOnline, Wikipedia, TvTropes, Youtube

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:07 No.3749864 >>3749845 Facebook, Myspace, Livejournal, certain webcomics with a large following.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:07 No.3749870 >>3749845 Some earlier stuff established that YouTube all went to hell.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:07 No.3749879 >>3749717 Myspace, Facebook, Ebaums, Newgrounds, Albinoblacksheep, Darknest, Dwarf Fortress forums (Come on, you all want to have an entire fortress done DF style)

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:08 No.3749883 >>3749717 >>3749845 >>3749864 But you will also have to remember that not everyone comes from webforts: There are also smaller settlements, smaller villages, a family or two per server, or just a hermit or two living alone. Equivalent to countryside.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:08 No.3749890 >>3749864 Oh gods! Girl Genius forums! Penny Arcade!

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:09 No.3749892

>>3749845
>GaiaOnline
While naive and immature for the most part, Gaians are useful because their habitat is the seconfd safest webfort on the Known Internet. However, an alliance with them is a very polarizing issue among those who hail from the Chan Nation.

>Wikipedia
Also called Library City, it's a useful repository for information.

>Youtube
The once entertainment-centric site has now become something of an educational place, teaching children of the new age what things used to be like.

>TvTropes
A wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:09 No.3749895

>>3749717

- Official government websites. Some would be relitively open and probably ripped to shreds by cybers and virii and hackers (oh my!), but others will be locked down tighter then a nuclear vault. These would represent all sorts of rich pickings, but trying to break into them might draw the attention of digital MIBs. The Government types may be attempting to rebuild the internet as it was, and prize stability and the rule of law - their forts are generally safe, but don't take kindly to outsiders. Not above hiring the occasional team from outside if the job is to risky for citizens.
- Media Conglomerates - the corporate descendants of Warner Bros, Murdoch Industries, universal music, daily newspapers and so on. Probably among the first to get pillaged once the Crash happened, but there may be rich pickings in the rubble. Or possibly raving salebots and proprietary software hi-jackers.
- Research / University Servers. these were made for/by the boffins developing new tech for the Net. they probably saw the crash happening before everyone else and made arrangements. Highly sophisticated code, but few in number. If they can be found, they might be willing to trade fresh code and data for wild virii and field knowledge of the Cybers and olds. Some of the most ancient organisations of this type may know more about the Olds then they are letting on.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:10 No.3749903 >>3749879 Oh, god, DF Forums would be run by Toady... Can you imagine Toady as a god? CAN YOU?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:12 No.3749910 >>3749892 TVTropes and Youtube ought to be switched.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:14 No.3749923

>>3749903

The DF forum are the closest thing to a return to reality as we know it. All biologic processes are accounted for, food needs to be grown, power needs to be collected if you wish to run a process....

Dear gods, it's almost like the Fall never happened on the DF forum.

Except you are a dorf.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:16 No.3749932 >>3749923 And a few nearby cybers have learned what a "Carp" is...

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:16 No.3749936 >>3749923 >Except you are a dorf. And carps have become killing machines. And there are rumours of things worse than what Google holds, sleeping in the depths of the server, awakening and destroying everything should they dig too greedily and too deep.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:17 No.3749942 >>3749923 Except when Toady messes up and a random wagon explodes. Then a giant voice booms "SORRY ABOUT THAT, REVERTING TO LAST VERSION."

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:29 No.3749998 >>3749936 Pray that /m/ or its allies defends you from the SGEs

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:29 No.3750002

>>3749936

Entire sub-fortresses have been lost before Toady was able to intervene, scouring that sections code clean of all data. His power is great, but sadly he is only able to effect the area inside his domain.

Some are willing to bet that is an Old managed to breach the Adamantite_wall.exe, he could be able to tear it apart byte by byte.

Sadly, he is too busy perfecting his creation to pay notice to the smaller cybers that manage to sneak through, using the link tunnels the site workers have created to reach to other sites, burrowing right through the underlying code, creating otherwise safe passages to near by sites.

The DF forums and /tg/ have a great alliance going, despite some complaints of 'Not Relevant" from the board members.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:32 No.3750009 Barbarian style characters come from /v/.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:35 No.3750028 >>3750009 /b/arbarians are already spoken for I suppose some /v/andals and /v/isigoths may be about also, however

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:39 No.3750052 >>3750009 No, they are /b/arbarians and /b/rigands. /V/agrants come from /v/.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:39 No.3750059 File :1234978778.jpg-(65 KB, 777x599, Main_frame.jpg) Rainmaker Entertainment's site must look like this. There is no other way.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:45 No.3750099 So what are the names for the various board members of 4chan? We have /b/arbarians, /v/andals... What are the others? Shall /tg/ be For/tg/uardians? Mecha be /m/echanics, /k/ be /k/illers?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:46 No.3750107

Some "classes" could be limited to certain boards. A "sourceror", for example, can be limited to 4chan and would be experts in in tracking, editing and salvaging data (could be a specialized subset of Surfer) hence bringing source to the Anonymous. Discworld reference is obviously intended.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)12:47 No.3750119 oooh, ok, archetypes are the Prober, hacker, etc etc, with the "auspice" being their knack? Surfer, bugger and the like?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:12 No.3750276 So do you get Augments at character creation only, or can you get more as you get more experience? Personally, I like the latter better. Convert salvaged data from defeated enemies into augments for personal use.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:15 No.3750292

>>3750107
This idea I don't exactly like. It forces the players to start their adventure in a certain place, or at the very least alter their backstory to fit it, if they want to be of a certain class.

But some classes could ORIGINATE from certain boards: The sourceror you mentioned, for instance, could come from 4chan, but everyone could have the potential of learning it, if they find a travelling sourceror to teach them, or bother taking a journey all the way to 4chan to take lessons.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:25 No.3750344 >>3750276 Both I think.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:27 No.3750349

Board-peoples, eh... /jp/sies wander from webfort to webfort with their carts, always taking it easy, never staying long in one place. Nobody really likes them and they have a reputation as thieves, but they do perform some useful services - mainly the deciphering of moonrunes, which sometimes tell of great troves of untouched content.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:27 No.3750351 TOADY IS WORKING WITH THE CYBERS, WITH THEM, HE KNOWS ABOUT THEM, HE KNOWS ABOUT THE CHAMPION SWORDGOBLIN, GODDAMNIT HEEE KNOOOOWS! I'M NOT CRAzadsaaaaazzaboo

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:38 No.3750411 >>3750402 Begone ghost of ServerCrash past

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:41 No.3750432

>>3750351

/m/ and Gearhead's community are closely allied, with the fourth generation roguelikes all being loosely affiliated and travelled between once a month by couriers.

The curses subforum has a little known link to an israeli newspaper profaning, and linking to /k/.

However, shit that far from home is much more capable of fucking you up, and /k/ is... not a good place to go.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:47 No.3750471

A crackle of static and milspeak broke the silence. IFF neutral, weapons and defense systems stand by, neutrals sighted, Stormfront insignia. Condition shift: yellow.

Drone guns and defense systems turned toward the arrivals. Secondary weapons started to come online. Webfort Valve rarely saw visitors, least of all from Stormfront.

A soldier stepped forward, dressed in a suit and mask similar to a series of games once made by Valve. He squaked several pieces of information to his walky talky, then addressed the visitors.

"Declare yourself. Stormfront personnel are not allowed within visual distance of Valve facilities and protected zones. Violation of the treaty will result if you do not withdraw yourself to a safe distance immediately."

"I have come to barter for weapons and equipment needed by webfort Stormfront. Will you allow us entry or will I be forced to file a complaint with his corpulence?"

The insult to the overlord was not unnoticed. Regardless the soldier produced a small information pad and flicked through it, checked the terms of the cease fire and treaty that Valve and Stormfront had signed many months ago.

"There is a provision here regarding aid in the event of emergency, is webfort Stormfront under some sort of threat?"

The man from Stormfront roared with laughter. His entire caravan laughed "Always a month or two behind, you Valve folks. Always a month or two."

"My boy, we're being sieged by /b/. If we don't stop them, they'll be here soon enough and you can ask them about the situation if you like."

The soldier grimaced through his mask. "I'll call the Overlord."

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:48 No.3750478

New idea: if we go class based, only two classes, you chose one. This limits the types of powers you can get under a point buy system.
Hacker: Defensive types, gets spells and whatnot that improve stats and defenses.
Cracker: Offensive types, uses scripts and cracks to deal damage.
Games: Alter the battlefield to some of the game's mechanics. For example Gears of War would make Waist High Walls give massive cover bonuses.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:54 No.3750514 >>3750478 Some Games become insanely imbal. I mean channeling any bullethells probably give you insane AC or its EQ

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)13:58 No.3750535 >>3750514 Gamers could give similar (but less) penalties to you. Channel Mushihimesama, your oppenent is fucked. But so are you.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:01 No.3750556

I think the game channeling is fairly bad idea. First of all, there are like zillion games out there, and figuring out rules for all of them would be a chore, to say at least. Secondly, channeling them would bring out massive bugs and glitches, because I don't think they're meant to work outside their own enviroment. Thirdly, it goes somewhat against the idea of the setting, IMO: This is about Internet, first and foremost, not games.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:04 No.3750574 I'm thinking either BRP or Traveller myself.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:05 No.3750581 >>3750556 Agreed. Server Crash is not about the vidya.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:07 No.3750593 >>3750556 Games'd just be something fun to do when your webfort isn't being OHGODTHEHOROR'd, though they could also be used as combat simulations, and of course some people would make stuff based off of various games (PortalGun.exe)

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:11 No.3750634 >>3750276 I'm thinking in the same ken as (forgive me for the comparison, but 3.5 is all I know.) feats. Some can be taken at any time, some can only be taken at character creation.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:11 No.3750640

I quite like the idea used in ArtifIce that skills are raised, not through putting up the skill itself, but by either raising the stat or going to a further level of specialisation. Its a mechanic I don't think I've seen before, but find interesting. Could Server Crash make use of it?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:17 No.3750679

>>3750634
Kind of, but not really. I think it's gonna be more of a pointbuy then something you get every so often.

>>3750640
I liked that as well. Not to mention plugins.

Things I think we can adapt from Artifice:
-Specialization
-Plugins
-Parasiting (the fluff if not the mechanic)

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:21 No.3750715

Alright, somebody archive this shit nao.

Okay, I want to convert BRP.

We need to come up with setting specific skills.

Computer Use is THE skill to have, because all "basic" actions require it, on some level.

I'm thinking everybody starts at 25% CU due to having a computerbrain in life and sort of being a program in and of themselves.\

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:24 No.3750723 I assume Programming is a modifier to all related actions, being that when you cobble together a program with YOUR MIND it isn't really programming? It an probably only be taken by PC's at GM fiat.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:28 No.3750750

>>3749012
>>3749012
Let's use WoD

Also for those forgotten:

Proxy: /b/arbarians use bizarre data to enter into the state of Proxy and its powers. The torrent of data produced protects them from many forms of attack, but as they use their gained powers this quality weakens.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:34 No.3750790

They hate me, you know.

I hear it in every word they speak to me. People move to avoid me when I have to leave my home, and defensive scripts are held like superstitious charms when I pass.

Why? Because I am the only man in this webfort and for a hundred links in any direction willing to work with Virii. That mad code that infects and destroys everything it touches is my stock and trade.

It doesn't have to infect you. There's something about it, something more in there then simple code. Men have lost their minds trying to understand even a simple worm. I work the twisted, insane code every day. I'm different, stronger, but I have to admit, I'm not exactly...myself anymore. But someone has to do it. Standard firewalls can only do so much against Virii, and there are places thick with rabid code that even the Olds know to avoid.

My door opens. Some young men are in need of some antivirus software. Whatever they're planning, it's made them desperate enough to come straight here. I take the order and step into the storeroom. A hundred hateful eyes stare down at me, a collection of digital daemons that chafe at their bonds, screeching in anger as I pass without looking. I don't plan on releasing them.

Not...today. Not until the time is right.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:34 No.3750792

Let's make a chart for Pogramming(not a typo) and Hackan/Crackan, that details the various modifiers for doing certain shit.

I'm thinking once a "net skill" reaches 70% the relevant "real world" skill rises to 5%, and can be rolled to, on a failed check, add itself to said failed check.

Is this balanced considering that by the time the players get this powerful, their need for better stuff/powers shall drive them to incur INSANE MODIFIERS?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:35 No.3750797 >>3750750 High level /b/arbarian need to be killed a couple of time to really dissapear.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:37 No.3750814 >>3750790 Is this for the virii riders? Either way, nice.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:38 No.3750820 >>3750814 See >>3749054 >Virus herder; Druid like class, their knack is creating and maintaining viruses, spyware, bots and a few cybers they can manage to get under their control.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)14:43 No.3750854 All of the classes mentioned so far sound like Junkers to me.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:00 No.3750982 >>3750854 That's because the new currency is Pix. The Cybers destroyed many things and more, so now data of porn, cuteness, music, old life is what is used in transactions. Everything else has uses.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:11 No.3751065

Wait. I'm confused now. I've been out a while and now I'm a bit lost. So are Virus Riders still a class? Do viruses still look like spiky spiders? Because riding a spider is awesome.

Also do we still have moderators, who just inherited the old name and are just priests of the Internet Gods (Pieces of the broken personality)?

And what about the Dark God? He still around?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:15 No.3751098

>>3751065
Don't think we're doing classes anymore. I believe we moved on to point buy.

The Internet Gods thing... Eh, I never really liked that in the first place. There is The Internet, the evil being which caused the entire scenario to happen. There are also certain individuals which have achieved godlike stature (Moot, Toady, etc.). That's the way I'd prefer, anyways.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:16 No.3751111

>>3750982
While it has been pretty much stated, ever since the first thread, that Pix and stuff are currency, I still think it's a problem that they have other uses as well: Entertainment. They can be used for trade, yes, but the actual currency should have no other uses beyond that: Be it dollars, gold pieces, bottlecaps, teeth, or anything else, you should have no reason to keep it around apart from exchanging it into goods and services.

This is how it has always been, and how it should be here too. We need something that's quite useless, common enough to get everyone some but not too common to cause an inflation, and preferably shiny.

If you're unwilling to change anything at this point, I'm not going to start arguing. I'm just saying.

>>3751065
>Wait. I'm confused now. I've been out a while and now I'm a bit lost. So are Virus Riders still a class? Do viruses still look like spiky spiders? Because riding a spider is awesome.

You can do that with certain feats and augmentations. Worry not.

>Also do we still have moderators, who just inherited the old name and are just priests of the Internet Gods (Pieces of the broken personality)?

I think moderators are now rulers and keepers of the law, with plenty power in their home, but not much outside it.

>And what about the Dark God? He still around?

Ehh, some of the gods are pretty dark, if that's what you mean.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:19 No.3751133

>>3751098
>The Internet Gods thing... Eh, I never really liked that in the first place. There is The Internet, the evil being which caused the entire scenario to happen. There are also certain individuals which have achieved godlike stature (Moot, Toady, etc.). That's the way I'd prefer, anyways.

The Internet is so huge and so different in many places, that when it became sentient, it had countless different personalities. The one causing the Fall was just one of them, and shortly afterwards, it was forced to split them into smaller entities in order to maintain what sanity it had. Some of them are good, others are evil, a few are just crazy, or otherwise weird. And yes, there were also several human beings who have ascended into godhood themselves.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:20 No.3751146

>>3751111
>>3751098
Really? So has the Cthulu-esque aspect gone now? You know what with the piece of personality who loathes humanity gone insane and creating Cybers that can adapt and transform to makes us suffer and die in the most horrible way we can and can't imagine? I liked the Dark God. So have we found a substitute or are we throwing the GRIMDARK out?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:24 No.3751182 >>3751146 I'm pretty sure GRIMDARK is here, just look at google or the center of the Internet. Dark God is here, but he's not alone. I think he's busy churning Cyber and battling his other self.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:25 No.3751191

>>3751146
Though the status of the gods, and whether any of them are really evil and stuff, is still debatable, the Olds remain and are here to stay: Being from the fifties, they are likely the oldest beings in the entire Internet, be them humans, gods, or even the Internet itself. They literally came from before the world. And they are evil assholes who just want to destroy things.

I think they fit to your description pretty well.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:26 No.3751202

>>3751146
No, no. The internet is still a living malicious being, and the dark depths of the internet are still full of Cybers. Olds serve as Lovecraftian Horrors. But you said Gods. There are none, just the internet at large and certain powerful individuals. Nor are there any 'clerics'.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:28 No.3751217

>>3751111

An option would be access to storage space, where people can keep their shit. We would have to work out where are Webforts and webs placed and from where is the extra space coming from, since more data=less free space.

An explanation for pix is this: When the Internet became SRS FAE BUSSINESS entertainment, emotions, childhood and old life went down the shitter. That's why people are willing to give useful things for an mp3 of electronica or kitten/ferret pics... but yeah mostly porn, sucks to have no body.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:29 No.3751221 >>3751202 Ah so it's still evil... it's just it's personality hasn't split?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:32 No.3751240 >>3751217 You could still wank it, I'm pretty sure orgasm has been program in there too, but you won't produce the usual fluid and I doubt you'll tire too. Oh man...

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:33 No.3751247

>>3751221
There appears to be some disagreement on the subject. I like the idea of the whole internet being HATEHATEHATE, but if we've moved on from that, I don't mind.

In either case, the internet fragments should have no impact on gameplay other than having created the current state of things. They're too big for players to comprehend.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:34 No.3751252

Actually, I liked the idea of the "Admins" just being the fragmented personalities of The Internet gathering together information about what it judges the most powerful entity in a place and assuming his identity. For example, people can end up meeting the actual moot, who is not insanely powerful at his home realm, but perhaps can leech on the ruling moot personality's power (since parts of their data match) to pull some extraordinary shit there, but more evil or paranoid of the personalities regard the actual individuals as fakes and do anything in their vast power to eliminate them, so some can even be renegade.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:37 No.3751282
File :1234989445.gif-(145 KB, 640x480, img-2.gif)

I think the internet should hate humanity with a true burning passion. I think hate should fill its being, spread thinly outside but concentrating mora and more closer toward the core. This would explain why cybers are dangerous and get worse closer in, and it would also be nicely grimdark.

Pic related, from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream the vidyagame.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:37 No.3751291 >>3751252 Since the people are just data, why not just have the fragments and the person merge?

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:38 No.3751300 >>3751247 Perhaps we should hold some sort of poll or something. For when we're finally done with the system and try to organize the fluff into something comprehensible instead of random thrown in ideas.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:40 No.3751316 >>3751291 Rumors say some people did pull that off, destroying the vast will of the personality fragment, taking its place and power. And that they are now attempting to infiltrate the mind of the central mind of the Internet itself...

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:42 No.3751334

>>3751282
Yeah this was the original idea behind the Dark God, but the idea of a split personality for the internet came first. The dark god would obviously be the biggest as the internet as a whole trapped humanity but the Dark God wants to go further and make them suffer as much as possible and then die for all that humanity has done to it, creating Cybers to find a way to do this. Plus there being some glimmering hope's kind of nice for the ADVENTURE part on the outer rim of the internet.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:44 No.3751355

>>3751282
This goes too far into GRIMDARK. Consider >>3749351

>One of the reasons I like this so much is that it can be both dark AND high adventure type stuff. So yeah, it's fairly dark, but at the same time, like the internet, it can be epic, heroic, hilarious, or a whole lot of other things. The sheer FLEXIBILITY of the setting means that we can make the rules and then the GMs can just adapt it into any sort of feel they may want. But yeah, WoD is a good idea. With Earthflame's permission, we shall mix it with ArtifIce and our own rules and hopefully come out with something cool.

If the Internet is a single entity, I don't think hate should fill its whole being like that. It could loathe humans, sure, but it should also have room for joy and amusement.

But if it's split into multiple fragments, of course, then one of them could be of pure hate like you described.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:44 No.3751361 >>3751282 Hey, I played that game. AM (main villain) is pretty much just what I think the dark god should be.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:47 No.3751376

>>3751355
In that case, I support the internet splintering. Hell it was already a lose conglomeration at best. The strain put in could easily break it from one personality. I mean, it's not like there's ONE "internet". Let's just have the nasty thing be the biggest server, and lie directly at the center of the image in >>3747106
It could be that big red spot.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:48 No.3751393 >>3747106 By the way, I support the world being in the general shape of the OP's pic.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:51 No.3751430 Has the autosage begun?

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:51 No.3751434

>>3751376
Speaking of center, I think at one point in one of the earlier threads, it was pretty much stated that the rims of the Internet are where the great civilizations and webforts reside, while the more center you go, the more dangerous it gets, until you get into pure nightmare territory. I'd like to disagree in this a bit: Most human settlements should be around in the middle ring, and while all the dangerous stuff should be in the center, the edges would be fairly dead and empty of life, full of scavengers.

Because I'm a big fan of logic, and it's just logical that the center of civilization is in the middle. But since it's even more logical that the cosmic horrors are in the middle (think of Azathoth, sitting in the center of the universe), I had to improvise a bit, and came up with this idea.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:53 No.3751440 >>3751393 Well it certainly helps with the whole outer rim thing. The closer you go to the little red spot the more evil it gets.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:53 No.3751442 >>3751355 .. if we could combine the other parts into a sort of ... True Internet...

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:53 No.3751446 Okay, we have a horrible mishmash of Allied Mastersystem and Mother Brain living in the center of the internet. Nice. Skills are capped at 70, forgot to add that before. Anyway, is the thing with, y'know. canonical.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:55 No.3751452 >>3751446 Was uninterested until I read this. HELS YES /tg/ this will rock

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:55 No.3751455

>>3751434
As for Google, it should be pretty much independent of that chart entirely, and exist as a sort of parallel universe to it. It'd allow you to move real fast from one edge to another, travel in seconds a journey that'd normally take months. But of course, most people would rather take the safer and slower route.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:55 No.3751457 >>3751434 >>3751393 Sounds good.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:55 No.3751459 >>3751434 So the purple dot would be some kind of wasteland ? You can find anything but you can also stumble into anything as well

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:56 No.3751465 File :1234990562.jpg-(27 KB, 475x272, Weir.jpg) >>3751455 True story

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:56 No.3751467 >>3751446 >the thing. I have no idea what you're talking about. Oh wait do you mean Candlejack. Oh fuck. Wait, I'm alr

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:58 No.3751484 >>3751446 >Anyway, is the thing with, y'know. canonical. Oh, it is. This setting needs its own version of HASTUR HASTUR HASTUR.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:58 No.3751485 >>3751467 Candlejack is a canon hast

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)15:58 No.3751487

>>3751434
I agree. Near the center would represent extremely popular, extremely potent, extremely dangeous sites like Google, where an Old ambush would be much more common. The outer rim would be the "dead links", sites almost no one goes to but scavengers that seek out links to new riches like search engines. Middle rings would be fairly popular sites with enough population to fend off attacks but also able to obscure themselves from sudden attacks.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:00 No.3751509

How split up is the internet? Just two parts or even more? Because if it's more... there could be another new secret organization (We made the Cult of the Dark God, those guys who want to get out of the internet, and the guys who want to keep everyone in) who wish to combine all the split parts to vanquish the evil internet.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:01 No.3751519 >>3751509 If it's split up, it should be quite a many parts. Like, a dozen or two. Otherwise we might as well keep it as a single entity, and that'd be just boring.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:05 No.3751549 We need to keep in mind that olds are not random encounters. They are beings of insane power - close to rock falls, everyone dies.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:05 No.3751552 >>3751485 JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I TOLD YOU ALL TO STOP SAYING CA- YOU AREN'T GETTING ME THAT EASILY YOU BASTARD!

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:06 No.3751562 THREAD IS AUTOSAGAN, ARCHIVE AND MOVE THE FUCK OUT!

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:08 No.3751589

>>3751509
Hmm...perhaps thousands? The Internet personality fragments could be representations of how people act on the internet - while there are genuinely nice people, most are assholes, so there are a lot of twisted fragments while the good ones are few. So the "cosmic horror" at the center could be a twisted reflection of mankind itself, an aggregate of thousands of trolls, given ultimate power and gone crazy with it.

This could also define the Old and Cyber behavior - they could be lesser personalities of the negative aspects of the internet. Most would be brutish as trolls are, but some would use subtler ways such as infiltrating a party in the guise of an experienced Hacker but instead placing virii on the programs they use and trying to open a link to their stronghold where Cybers can pour in.

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:10 No.3751597 "The page is collapsing! Someone make a link outta here, to another safe thread! Hurry!"

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:10 No.3751608

I've surfed with so many faces, been to so many places, delved into hell and back... but no one will compare to the friend I found in Frack.

We didn't know each other long. Our Webfort didn't take too kindly to Prober types. Too much 'bad mojo' as my mother put it. They were painted like crazed hermits, things to be whispered softly and invoked to curse others with bad fortune. Bad fortune was what happend to Frack. One day she just dumped out of a hyperlink onto my frame. She wasn't entirely what I had been taught a Prober was like. Sure, she was unkept and in disarray, clutching scripts I've still yet to come to grasp... and crazy. Very crazy. But she was far from being an old crone...

I'd saved her from the stonings, sheltered her. ANd in return, she taught me things. Things about the servers, the existance beyond we were premitted direct access to. Things about how to ping links, how to feel the breath of the datastreams... But more importantly... she taught me how far humanity can still go in this world...

She taught me that on our last day together. Some idiot had stumbled upon an old link in our Webfort. Bastard didn't realize it was directly into Google. In minutes, the Webfort was crawling... litereally crawling, as the Cybers and Virii poured out of that hellmaw and saturated every strand of code in the Fort... the place was lost... and those few still alive were trapped in the bowels.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:11 No.3751615

>>3751608
The clutch of us were barricaded behind some firewalls that we hastily threw together. People started glaring at Frack and I. They always felt she'd bring this upon us.

She murmured to herself for a while... seemingly oblivious to the situation. And then...

"Todd... I'm going out there. Here." And she pressed to my chest a java app. "This will get you and these ducks out of here and onto a safer server. Direct links won't work with this level of infestation, you'll have to use that..."

And she started to move to the door. "... Frack, what are you..."

"Just watch, duckling. Momma's gonna show you how to throw a party. She's going to invite some -very- special guests." She pulled out another script, one I hadn't seen before

"Frack... what is that..."

"Giantbait, sweetie. You do well not to imitate this trick. Now get going."

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:12 No.3751620

>>3751589
>Hmm...perhaps thousands? The Internet personality fragments could be representations of how people act on the internet - while there are genuinely nice people, most are assholes, so there are a lot of twisted fragments while the good ones are few. So the "cosmic horror" at the center could be a twisted reflection of mankind itself, an aggregate of thousands of trolls, given ultimate power and gone crazy with it.

I like this idea. It'd of course mean that not all of them are beings of cosmic strength. There would be demi-gods, walking among humans, going undetected by most; certain very powerful AIs and cybers, fighting them would be a challenge for very high-level parties; or just tiny and pathetic little buggers. Among others.

>This could also define the Old and Cyber behavior - they could be lesser personalities of the negative aspects of the internet. Most would be brutish as trolls are, but some would use subtler ways such as infiltrating a party in the guise of an experienced Hacker but instead placing virii on the programs they use and trying to open a link to their stronghold where Cybers can pour in.

Don't know about Cybers, but the Olds are a completely separate force: If they could hear you saying they're a fragment of the current Internet, they'd probably take it as a pretty big insult.

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:12 No.3751627

And with that she just stepped through the firewall like it wasn't there. I couldn't here her well... muttering her scripts "PROGRAM INITIATE. PEER TO PEER CLIENT. NETWORKING. KAH ZAH, LIEM WIRE, BIT TORMENT..."

Quickly I set to work running the Javascript. Indeed, feeling the data flow through the hyperlink, it was going to be rough, but it would take us safely out of here.

"What is she..."

I looked out... Data and entrails strung behind her as Frack walked further away from us. I could here her yelling... screaming at something.

"NO YOU IDIOT. I KNOW YOU'RE LAZY BUT THERES SOMETHING TASTY HERE!"

Thump. Like something striking against the entire site, we were rattled.

"YOU"

THUNK. Something wasn't right. The breeze from out beyond the firewall was changing... it wasn't like the putrid scent of google... this was... wrong.

"COME"

THUNK. Quickly I resumed the last setup needed, the link stabilized, and quickly I started shoving the survivors through, knowing they don't want to be here.

"HERE!"

Screaming. Noise. Like electirifed static, it wailed throughout the Webfort. But beyond the noise... was a sound... so beautiful... And with that sound, Frack blossomed, her entire body unfolded like a flower, showering pixels and gore all around... the ill wind howled, and I knew that something was coming... something I was not ready to see.

I ran through the javascript, shutting it down as I ran, but still that scent and sound followed me...

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:15 No.3751654 There's a new thread now: >>3751634

>>	Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)16:28 No.3751793 >>3751654 Phew, a link! Get through, before it closes!

Anonymous 02/18/09(Wed)17:19 No.3752395

As a system I'd go for Silhouette. It's a system intended for cyberpunk, is class free (xp spent on skills and stats), plus I've seen it with extra things tacked on working quite well (Such as a psionics system, it lacks a native magic system). Entirely d6-based.

Delete Post [File Only]
Password

Style [Yotsuba | Yotsuba B | Futaba | Burichan]