Same way I played an awakened swarm of cats.
A lot.

>>20931788
Individual drones don't matter; they're replaceable and expendable.
Unless we're one of those hiveminds that gets more processing bandwidth with every unit that joins. Then we'd be more economical with our processors.

ALL GLORY TO THE QUEEN
NECTAR FOR THE NECTAR THRONE

>>20931788
>insect tits
but insects don't nurse

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Basically play it as a tabletop wargame instead of a role playing game.

>>20931799
How does that work?

>>20931992
Those house the muscles and anchoring ligaments for their wings. Duh.

Post the chameleon girl op. I totally love her.

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Like this.

http://skin-horse.com/

>>20932090
>Classification: Bees
Jesus christ how horrifying.

Depends. I assume I have complete control over 2 or more independance chunks of matter, otherwise I am just a robot or a normal multicelluar organIsm.

Do I understand that other sapirnts of worth do not follow hind mind rules, and so that murdering them is like murdering all of me?

In any event, I would treat my pieces as things worth keeping in general, but maybe worth sacing for a goal. Oh, and given the choice between damaging a friend seriously, and a piece of me. I would nominate my piece, generally because I probably can use my one shot effects just as well.

Also, I play my Druids with pets as a hive mind of sorts. Of course my Druid is a Queen.

>>20931788
GET READY FOR FUN, BECAUSE I WORK AS A BEE-KEEPER AND HONEY BEE RESEARCH ASSISTANT

The colony:
First and foremost, there is issue to be taken with the "hive-mind" as a word. "Hive" specifically relates to the man-made structure that your colony is living in. Wild bees do not have a hive. A tree stump is not a hive. A hive is man-made.
The use of "hive" for "hive-world" is completely appropriate.

The "hive-mind":or, as it should be called, the gestalt mind
Bees do not do what the queen tells them to. The queen lays eggs, and produces queen pheromone(s). That's about it. She also mates at one early point in her life. Queen pheromones are attractive to worker bees, and let them know that there a) is a queen, and, b) which member is a queen. The phero~s also keep bees calm-ish.

Bees do not have a telepathic hive-mind, as one individual insisted to me. They actually vote democratically for most important actions of the hive. A single bee is quite stupid, and will do a lot of stupid things. Get lots (try thousands) of bees together, and they're capable of decision making, like where a swarm will set up the colony, or what food resource is the one they should focus on.

>Forest of Pixiv

That'd be one weirdass fucking forest.

>>20932194
But how does this work?
Bees physically vote with their bodies. In a swarm, when they are deciding where to live, bees will venture from the swarm to find somewhere they think they should all live. When they get back they do their directional dance to tell the other bees where it is. The bee also picks up particulate of wherever it was. So, if it was in a chimney, the bees will know to look for something that smells like a chimney. The dance also varies according to "how good" the bee seems to think the house he found is.
They do this with food too. When a forager has nothing to do, it leaves the hive, finds food, and comes back. It then tries to convince other bees to go get more food with it. Their dance conveys the quality of food, the distance away from the hive, and the direction the food is in.

So. How does one roleplay the colony, or gestalt organism?
This is tricky. Obviously, something like tyranids are different from bees. There are examples of tyranids that were capable of communicating with humans (I think they were called Colossi?). Bees are very, very bad at communication with non-bees. You sort of... have to get a feel for it.
The best way I can think of is describe what the gestalt mind sounds like: Thousands upon thousands of voices, with the majority saying one thing, a noticeable population phrasing it differently, and a small population saying other things. PCs should have to pass tests (skill, will, ability, whatever) in order to understand the colony. The human mind is not designed for absorbing that much information at once, and as such, it would be enormously mentally taxing to do it for much more than a few sentences at most.

>>20932194

Your defination of hive might be like the scientific defination of theory. Completely ignored by everyone else.

That said, that bee information is awesome. I think that people assume that animals follow if you do less work, then you are in charge, rather then doing work that is still work for the whole, that isn't a leadership position.

>>20932263
It sounds cooler than a hive mind anyway. What would a bee's goals/motives be like if the individual workers had human-like intelligence?

>>20931788
I'm playing a collective psychic gestalt in a superhumans game. Collectively, they're hyperintelligent, share skills across the gestalt, and serve as the ideal support network for the rest of the party. We need a vehicle? A member of the Gestalt is pulling up. We need suppressive fire? On it.

The things I try to emphasized above all else are perfect teamwork and sharing. That's what a hive mind is. That's what a collective consciousness is. It's a society of whatever size it happens to be that has better teamwork than the best human team ever.

>>20932263
Bees are also remarkably uninterested in non-bees. There are several cases I can point to in which snails were propolised to the inside of the hive. Propolis is the substance that bees use to glue everything together. It's not quite wax, and it's not quite honey. It's a resin. If you leave bees alone, they leave you alone. Not the case with hornets.. This is why you can just reach on into a hive, stick your big hammy fingers into the comb, and calmly enjoy some honey that oozes out, and put the comb back. Wild bees are a little testy though - I wouldn't try it with a wild bee colony.

But, I digress.

The point of all this lecturing was that hive (insects) tend to behave this way: The individual has her little vote that they cast for what they want to do. This can be anything from what to eat, to who to attack. Some species of bees "mark" their targets - bumblebees do this. It's a pheromone that tells other bumbles to attack you. But that's not a reason to be afraid of bumblebees. They are one of the calmest, most friendly of bees. You can PET them. Wasps also have something that is colloquial called "rage pheromone" which is released upon them stinging something or getting squashed. You figure out what it does.

If PCs separate one member of the colony from the others, and talk to it alone, it should be remarkably child like. Talking to the colony as a whole would be one hell of an experience, considering the degree of telepathic bombardment the characters would be receiving.

collectively

>>20932333

This is a complicated question. Arguably, the beepeople would behave like a human city, but with a single goal: Survival.

Think about it, that's all bees are trying to do. They build a house, and then do their best to survive. What would a city be like if the entire city was comprised of beings of human intelligence, but their goal was utilitarian survival and success? Assuming they are interested in technology, their technological gains would be stupendous. Assuming they are non-technological, they would apply problem solving to things like food shortages.

Likely, it would be a super-organism that would specialize in defense and farming. An entire city that is devoted to making food, babies, and beating the shit out of things that try and get in that they don't like.

File: 1349029538529.gif-(2.41 MB, 320x214, the-bees.gif)

>>20932142
Find people with allergies and get in their eyes.

>>20932356
>Wasps also have something that is colloquial called "rage pheromone" which is released upon them stinging something or getting squashed. You figure out what it does.
Wasps are the only thing I'll ever be able to hate. I mean, I already knew that, but every time somebody mentions one of the stupidly fucked up things vespidae I shudder and think about how they will be the ones to kill me some day.

>>20932205
>weirdass fucking forest
was it literal?

>>20932393
They would make human infestations look tame by comparison.

>>20932401
What's interesting is not all wasps are threatening.

European hornets are fucking huge (so they're noisy as all fuck when they fly), and look like they're rip your face off, but they're relatively friendly, for a wasp. You have to bother them before they get interested in you.

>>20932445
Yeah. Yeah it's a pretty scary idea. It's party of the reason the concept of Tyranids and/or Zerg oh ho ho, implying they are not the same thing are so fucking terrifying.

>>20931788
The individual components of a gestalt superintelligence are, to a casual observer, completely indistinguishable from a fully independent organism. They appear to have their own personalities, motivations, habits, preferences, and so on and so forth. They may even at times work at superficial cross-purposes to each other.

However, everything that they do is productive towards a cohesive end goal. Every action they undertake either advances them towards a desired future position, or increases their capability to make such an advance. Every component intelligence is equipped with some ability that benefits the whole, and is motivated to use it in such a way that the goals of the whole may be advanced simultaneously to its own.

It is notable that this design describes not only an ideal organism, but an ideal society as well. In fact, it is my belief that a sufficiently organized society is indistinguishable from without from a gestalt superintelligence, and that a sufficiently large gestalt superintelligence is indistinguishable from without from a society.

>>20932462
For every species of non-threatening wasps in europe, there are 40 species with METAL STINGERS AND MANDIBLES living in my backyard, and at least 1 species that are forcefully impregnated by their 'brothers' before they even hatch.

When I play gestalts, I tend to play them as one person or being, or whatever, in multiple bodies. I play that up as a quirk whenever possible. If multiple members are in the same area, they speak and act in unison, cooperatively if need be. Depending on whether I'm alien, supernatural, or scientific in origin, I'll play up any other qualities of my species (assimilation if I'm play a borg-like gestalt, a hilarious inability to understand individual intelligences if I'm a bugger, etc._

>>20932263

Conversation wise, I think you'd get an (totally not unexpected) buzz, like opening a door to a dining room and hearing that low hum of conversation.

The direct conversation would be very similar to listening to a speech being given in the room; an moderately loud voice above the crowd, easy to hear when calm and the crowd agrees, but more and more difficult to make out as the crowd dissents or interjects. This can get to the point of being an unintelligible internal argument, but this isn't the scariest thing coming from an gestalt.

If you ever hear a clear voice, without the slightest hint of reverberation or contrary opinion, make sure you're on the right fucking side of the conversation... You're hearing a thousand-plus minds reach consensus, and conviction of that strength is a terror to behold.

>>20932356
Eh, probably need to mention Africanized honeybees here. We get them in the Southern US. Thankfully, I live in the upper Midwest and out of their normal range.

Bees are also prone to disease (chaulkbrood, veroa mites) and do not fare well in cold temperatures ( something like 40° F puts them into torpor). So, I think a hive mind character modeled around bees would also be a bit hypochondriac and frequently yelling for the thermostat to be turned up.

Also, gesalt vs. radio controlled robots needs to be understood to be different.

One is that you can take out the main thinker bit and render the whole group inactive to dead. Whereas for the other, you can only take out the egg layers, and the rest of the gesalt will kill you to benefit other gesalts that they are related to that you would other otherwise encounter.

If you're familiar with it, Mr. Monday's N00b of Clandestein setting actually has something like this called the Kakokin. They look like classical faeries, little one inch tall skinny people with dragonfly wings. They act as a gestalt mind and make tiny cities, typically hanging off the side of trees.

>>20932846
Thanks for this whole series of posts. Awesome stuff.

>>20933987
>and the rest of the gesalt will kill you to benefit other gesalts that they are related to
Sure this isn't overthinking it?

Bumping cause this has some really good stuff in it

Bump

I think it depends a lot on what the hivemind is comprised of. If it's insects, for example, roleplaying it might be more like roleplaying another insect race than a different kind of hivemind.

>>20931788
Collectively!

>>20931788
I'd play it like I had a little voice in the back of my head constantly giving out orders, I wouldn't be able to hear it directly but it would be like muttering the back of my mind until something was directed at me. If one of the members of the hive mind died I would react like someone just tried to crack my skull open. Feeling death and not dying isn't fun.

>>20932393

This whole thing strikes me as eerily similar to my experience with fa/tg/uys in Haven & Hearth.

They speak amongst each other fairly often, lead each other to better and better resources, can't really manage themselves all that well, often drown each other out with vocalizations, and occasionally pull surprises out of their collective ass with incredible violence/productivity/socializing skill.

Goddamn, the only thing that keeps them from being the bees of HnH is the in-fighting and odd outsider that doesn't understand why everyone's doing what they're doing but got an invite to the village anyway.

Having read through this thread and having looked at the information about bees we have, I figure a bee-based non-telepathic hive-mind-esque being would be, with human intelligence, pretty much a human. The main difference would be a very strong internal drive constantly pushing them to do their jobs for the hive. They don't relax unless needed to, and they're most jovial when gathering food or taking care of larvae or something like that. Sure, they'll talk to you, but unless they really need to they won't enjoy it much. Most likely they'd be rather isolated, keeping to themselves and seldom venturing far into societies alien to them unless it was decided by the majority that they need to be there for some reason or another, and even then they'll probably just want to go back.

This talk about insects reminded me of this species of ant that is constantly travelling around and destroying everything in it's path. That would be a terrifying anthropomorphic hive-mind army.

I'd rather play a single node.

And I'd play it like a member of Mars from A Miracle of Science.

And it would be FUCKING GLORIOUS.

>>20945742
communism wooo

>>20945780

I didn't want to say it, but... yeah, pretty much.

In honor of this fact, the egg-laying caste of the hivemind should be called the Marx-Mother.

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>>20945754
You, sir.
Your taste is excellent.

>>20945849

Thank you for the compliment, friend. I'll be honest, AMOS is one of those webcomics that everyone should read. It's not that long, it's entertaining, it brings up good points... I've heard people complain about the art, for whatever reason, but people always gotta bitch about something.

AMOS was my gateway into science fiction settings that weren't either star wars or star trek. And it was goddamn glorious.

Polite sage for off-topic.

>>20931992
Yes they do. But these tits produce honey, not milk.

Yes, the internal anatomy of the humanoid bee is fucked up.

>>20932266
>Allows people to use the word "theory" wrong without vehemently, possibly violently, opposing them at every step

Fuck you.

>>20945924
Actually, I'd say AMOS is on-topic, since it presents us with two different examples of hive-minds: Mars, which is of the all-are-equal variety, and Dryden, the robot with eyes and ears all over the solar system.
Favorite moment of the comic, as a matter of fact :
Dryden: "They disappeared below the horizon at Port Roche (a martian station) two minutes before I noticed them again near Earth."
Haas (mad scientist and BBEG): "! -- Dryden, Mars is currently more than FIVE light-minutes away from Earth!"

>>20932717
The smaller the insect is, the more horrfing and poisonous

>>20946003

Hmm, a fair point, I'd really never considered Dryden's network a hive-mind before, but it certainly does qualify, doesn't it? The eyebots aren't very smart, but each one DOES work together in concert with the others to form a whole greater than the sum of their parts.

>>20945960
>implying the world "theory" has no use outside of science
>implying scientists are good at science

Ugggh don't post a continually, monstrously pregnant bee monstergirl whose body is constantly wracked by her constant labour, and whose belly will never stop being bloated with young

You're giving me a boner

Stop

Just stop

>>20938259

... not really. If someone has mortally wounded you, wouldn't you try to kill them and draw resolve from the fact that they will likely to kill other people you like / are related to?

It's an attempt to reduce damage caused to your kith and kin.

No, seriously, I scrolled by that delicious, round, fertile, monstrously gravid belly again and had to start fapping.

You guys should change the OP pic. It's too arrousing.

>>20948389

does it make it better or worse if she can still fly and leads the swarm out to find a new nesting area?

>>20948547

4chan does not work that way.

I play them similar to how one would play an avatar of a god. Aware that he/she is only a physical representative of something larger and greater then itself. Lack of a personality, doing what is best for the hive. Maybe taking a consensus before making any important decisions. Lack of a sense of individuality.

>>20931992
Do you even nonhuman females? If it has a vaguely human face, arms, and bilateral symmetry, it has boobs.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/20931788/

This shit is awesome, vote it up.