[Discussion] You Are a Rock

[Namohysip]

Hello! I am unable to stop working, and have decided, now that Dodra is complete, to finally get to a CYOA idea I've had in mind for a while.

This is the rules/discussion thread for this Choose Your Own Adventure story that's just game-like enough to be put in this thread as opposed to the fic thread. Maybe when it's all over, it can be migrated to the fics for people to read. But as of now? It's a game!

Here's how the game is going to go.

Well, "game."

It's going to be much like a CYOA, with timings where every other day I'll make a post, such that it's in response to what happened in the first one. Each post will be a little substantial, not too long, enough that it reaches a stopping point for more input from the audience. I'll be playing scheduling by ear for the first week or two just to get a good "feel" for what people want to see, and I might also adjust based on response volume.

You will be controlling a character, your "avatar," throughout this story. Every input from you all will contribute to how they behave, and it will be done in the following ways listed below. Each person may only post once between responses, and your actions will be limited to being able to only do one of these things, each, when relevant, per post.

Your actions are...

Decision
If there is a decision to do something, the decision with the most votes will be what your avatar will decide to do. This is the simplest part of any collaborative CYOA.

Considerations
At any point, you may also include "thinking" as part of your post. A single thought, vibe, and so on. This will be a thought in their minds, mostly at the forefront of their considerations. Your avatar will start with 2 "consideration" slots, and it may grow as the story progresses. Thinking is hard! Every "thought" will get 1 point of "lasting," which will decay after every post. A Consideration at 0 will be marked with a "!" to indicate that if it is not renewed, it will fade by the start of the next post.

Special Action
As the story progresses, your character will gain Actions. Specify a target or a way to do it, and it will be performed, so long as...

Rejection
If a Special Action is rejected by someone, it will not happen. Special Actions can be repeated by others and must be Rejected by an equal or greater number of people. Rejections can also be applied to Considerations, which will decrement their Persistence by 1 per rejection. However, if a Consideration is brought to 0 in this way, it will instead become Conflicted instead of fading entirely, still on their mind for the next post, but in a way that can be easily swayed by things that happen in the next post. It will then fade as normal so long as nothing lasting happens.

--

And that's it! Compared to other games that I do, this will be much simpler. Yes, there will be new complexities introduced as the story progresses, but it'll be nothing like Blacklight. After all, you're all only controlling one character!

Ah, and that leads me to my final twist in this CYOA.

Your avatar... will be a rock.

Spoiler: Special Actions

Lifesense
Passive
If you strike an enemy and they aren't defeated, you can learn about their remaining HP. You can also sense the life of others nearby if you Consider things about them...

Telepathy
Energy cost: 0
Action Limit: Unlimited
Target: Single (30 feet) or Everyone (30 feet)

You can talk! You may project your thoughts into a single target, or broadcast your thoughts for anyone in range to hear you.
Synergize
Energy cost: +1 to base energy costs of move
Action Limit: Must be used with an Attack. Not all Synergy combinations will work.
Target: Self

Tap into the power of a Claimed body's power and combine it with your regular Attacks for dynamic bonuses. Consider carefully how to use these advanced techniques, and be wary of the body's desires. Going against their interests may backfire...

Spoiler: Attacks

In this game, there will be five types of attacks.
1. Self. It only affects you.
2. Melee. It only can target things that are nearby, ~5 feet or so in range.
3. Ranged. You can target anything you see, ~30 feet or so in range.
4. Pulse. You target everything nearby, ~5 feet radius. These are split into Pulse and Pulse*, where the * indicates friendly fire.
5. Wave. You target everything you see, ~30 feet radius. Like Pulse, it has a * variant that has friendly fire to be wary of.

Known attacks:

Rocky Tackle
Melee
Energy: 1
Bonus damage: 1
Fling yourself like a tossed stone at a nearby enemy.

Aura Shroud
Self
Energy: 2
Effect: Lower Aggro
Hide in the shadows, making foes less likely to detect you.

Catapult
Melee
Energy: 2
Bonus damage: 2
Effect: Far travel
Fling yourself very far, potentially hitting an enemy in transit. Can also be used as a stronger Rocky Tackle.

Enervate
Ranged
Energy: 1
Status
Debilitates the enemy, making them perform badly in future exchanges. Fades over time. If it fully connects, gain 1 energy, and your next attack costs half energy, rounding down, as the Energized status.

Reaper's Harvest ~ Claim
Melee
Energy: 0
Status
If the target's HP is 0, overtake the target's body and claim their soul. The target's body becomes The Reaper's Avatar. You gain their max HP on top of your own and restore your energy by their remaining energy, but it is otherwise merely a vessel. You can only have a single Reaper's Avatar. If a new body is taken, the old body becomes lifeless stone.

-

Spoiler: Awakened Abilities

The power of a lost hero:
World's Guardian: Before an attack that deals damage resolves, you may sacrifice HP. In doing so, that attack gains 2 points in offense for each HP sacrificed. This attack cannot be used at 1 HP, nor can it take you below 1 HP.

The power of a resourceful jeweler:
Lifegem Essence: After expending Energy, gain HP by the same amount before discounts after the attack resolves. Cannot overheal, and HP is only restored after everything else of the attack is completed.

The power of Death's avatar, and the power of Life's disciple:
Boundary of Life and Death: Once, and only once, if your HP is reduced to 0, instead heal to half your max HP.

 

[Mirage]

Sentences I didn't think would apply to me last year: "Votes on the actions of a sentient rock"

From what's described here though, count me in! This looks fun and low stakes, and I'm very curious to see what you do with the concept

 

[StellarWind]

Certainly a boulder venture than most into interactive storytelling, and the CYOA format certainly provides for nothing being set in stone. One can certainly assume that if it keeps rolling, it would gather no moss. If it stalls, however, pushing it into motion again would likely be a truly Sisyphean task.

I can very well see how this could end with a gneiss work of narrative - maybe even metamorph into a true gem! - but on the other hand, it could very well end in the schist hitting the fan. It's a nice sediment that should not be taken for granite etc. etc. look, I know these last ones were a stretch, but at this point the avalanche of puns has already started, it is too late for the pebbles to vote.

... I'll just lith this here. Pardon the intrusion!

 

[Namohysip]

And so it begins! Check the neighboring thread.

I hope you suffer pun hell, Stel.

I'll be here to answer any objective questions, but otherwise, I am going to do my best to be an impartial observer in this thread.

 

[Mirage]

Put my vote in - this is my first time doing a CYOA on TR, so please let me know if I'm doing anything incorrectly ^^;

Thinking about our avatar's background story and whether we were once someone else and got turned into a rock, or perhaps we've always been a rock and were enchanted to life somehow

 

[Namohysip]

I've gotten a decent rhythm going. I think once 24 hours pass after I make my post, I'll start drafting out the next post, and then once I'm available, I'll post it. I'll make some changes based on new posts made between then and publication, of course. But that seems to be a good system.

 

[The Walrein]

I've been enjoying this so far! Two questions:

1. How does that -1 hp cash out, exactly? Are we visibly damaged in some way, or is our injury more... metaphysical? It would be useful to get a clue for how to heal it.

2. Can we use target ourselves with the Telepathy action?

 

[Namohysip]

1. There appears to be no visible damage, but you feel 'damaged' in the aura sense. The rock itself is not hurt yet.

2. Yes those are called Considerations

 

[Namohysip]

Oh, Negrek, that's a typo on my part. Not sure why I put Town there; City is actually correct. I'll edit that.

 

[Mirage]

I have a small question about the mechanics around Considerations and Rejections. Let's say we've got two Considerations in effect, like this:

- (!) I need to retrieve the crystal!
- (1) I need to hide!

If I make a Rejection for "I need to retrieve the crystal!", and a new Consideration for "I need to protect Millie!", does that instantly replace the crystal Consideration with the Protect Consideration for the next post? Like, after the next post, it would then read as:

- (!) I need to hide!
- (!) I need to protect Millie!

Or would the protection Consideration still be blocked, since that slot is occupied until the end of the next post?

- (!) I need to hide!
-

Likewise, what happens if I did that when they each have one turn left? Can a Rejection + Consideration replace those that are in the conflicted state, or do the conflicted Considerations still occupy the slot until the next post? Would it go from:

- (1) I need to retrieve the crystal!
- (1) I need to hide!

to:

- (!) I need to hide!
- (!) I need to protect Millie!

or would it instead be:

- (Conflicted!) I need to retrieve the crystal!
- (!) I need to hide!

?

 

[Namohysip]

If a post ends with (!) at the end, that is basically an alert that it will go away by the start of the next one if nobody refreshes it. So, before you even introduce the new thing, it will have already been gone.

Put another way, the (!) notation ONLY exists as an "end of post" checkup, and should not appear at a "Start of post" status in any substantial way.

Meanwhile, a Conflicted status is the equivalent to a (!) but in the starting post, and Conflicted! will never appear at the end of a checkup. It will instead make them more keenly aware of the issue, but wishy-washy on which way they'd go.

So put another way...

If something is a (!) there is no need to reject it. It will already go away if nobody refreshes it.
If something is a above (!) but is then Rejected into 0, it becomes (Conflicted!) in the opening post instead.
If other Considerations are introduced that are (1) or higher, and take up all Consideration slots, then anything that was (Conflicted!) is instead just removed outright.

--

Anyway, hi! Another thing worth noting... In this game, there will be five types of attacks. You have seen two of them.
1. Self. It only affects you.
2. Melee. It only can target things that are nearby, ~5 feet or so in range.
3. Ranged. You can target anything you see, ~30 feet or so in range.
4. Pulse. You target everything nearby, ~5 feet radius. These are split into Pulse and Pulse*, where the * indicates friendly fire.
5. Wave. You target everything you see, ~30 feet radius. Like Pulse, it has a * variant that has friendly fire to be wary of.

This will be added to the first post here.

 

[Mirage]

Oh, awesome! So then explicit Rejections seem like they're pretty much only required when we need to quickly change course and remove a Consideration that's above 1. That's good to know!

 

[Negrek]

Since we've gotten to the "name your character" option screen at last, I figured it might be fun to discuss options. I put some I was batting around down below. A little hung up on wanting to do something clever and indirectly rock-related, but then running into the fact that our character probably wouldn't be looking to name themselves something "clever," heh. Ultimately I voted for Cobble because I think it's the most fun to say, but I figured it might be nice to coordinate so we're not stuck long-term with a name people hate. Happy to change my vote around if others have ideas they prefer! Naming things isn't my strong suit.

- Cobble
- Coke
- Bonk
- Sandy
- Crag/Craig

 

[The Walrein]

I'm reluctant to give up the mystique of being a nameless enigma, but admittedly not having a name eventually gets awkward. Cobble sounds like a fine name to me.

Edit: How about Cobble, The Great and Powerful? If we ever get telekinesis we could have a gimmick where we hide behind a curtain and manipulate a puppet or something.

 

[Mirage]

Sorry if I forced it too early... I thought it might be helpful to have a name to refer to our character. I personally quite like Cobble; not only is it nice to say and a rock pun (for cobblestone), but also has another pun in cobbling things together.

 

[Namohysip]

Aura Shroud and Catapult have been added to the Attacks section!

 

[Negrek]

Well, fuck, lmao. I'm definitely torn on fighting here vs going along with the knights. It wouldn't be surprising to me if they're bluffing about Millie... I suppose we could ask Lenora to call the place and ask to confirm their story? Though it wouldn't tell us much if she left at the normal time and all we know is she hasn't shown up at the gym since. With Lenora there it seems like we should have enough firepower to KO these guys here; even if she doesn't have her pokémon close to hand, I'm guessing she could go get them really fast. That would still leave the Millie problem, though; we could maybe hope to get more info out of one of these pokémon after we KO'd them, if, again, they even have her, but that seems a bit dicey.

What might be best would be to privately tell Lenora to get some backup and come find us in an hour or so, and then go along with the pokémon. Buuuut I can't think of any way that Lenora would be able to track us down, unless she was able to send one of her pokémon to shadow us or something? (Or shadow us herself, but I'm guessing something like a braviary might be better at discreet surveillance, heh.)

 

[Mirage]

Yeah, this is definitely a bit of a tough spot we're in depending on whether they follow through on their threat here, this might be the first time we're making a choice that directly results in a major consequence to the plot line.

Looking at our options, this might be getting too lawerly to work, but I noticed that the Prism Knights only mention the matter isn't one for humans. I wonder if they would object as much to us taking a single one of Lenora's Pokemon with us, as a bodyguard of sorts? Even a single helper could prove decisive if we have to defend ourselves.

But if we do ask her to tail us with one of her Pokemon, Lenora's actually surprisingly well equipped for it. Looking at her teams on Bulbapedia (from the PWT in B2W2, since we know the story takes place afterwards), not only does she have a Braviary, but her Watchog also has canonically excellent vision. Her Pokemon should be able to tail from quite far back and still see us clearly, so if we ask her to have us followed, I bet she'd be able to follow through on that.

Asking her to have us followed while she gets some help is the direction I'm leaning in... but I'll think a bit more about it today and post my final decision tonight.

Gotta tread carefully here!

 

[Mirage]

So after thinking about it and re-reading, I decided to try a riskier approach and bluff as though we have some position of rank over the Prism Knights. Although they keep trying to threaten and coerce us, they seem to know us fairly well, and they've also been strangely respectful in some areas, which implies they hold us in high regard for some reason. Maybe we were their former leader, or perhaps worked closely with whoever that was?

I figure, the worst that can happen is that they get irritated and take us anyway, in which case we're no worse off than if we left. We probably would want to telepathically message Lenora and ask her to tail us, which her Watchog at a minimum should be able to do quite well.

Best case, we actually did indeed hold some kind of authority over them, in which case we can bully them into revealing more about their organization (and guaranteeing Millie's safety).

Feel free to use a rejection on my telepathy if I'm reaching too far here!

 

[Negrek]

Sorry for disappearing on you! I've been traveling.

The impression I got was that this group definitely knows us, although based on the "we all stop meddling" comment it sounded to me more like we're part of some rival faction rather than the same group they're in. Which doesn't necessarily change the strategy, I think. We are probably someone important, and at least equal in rank to them, so blustering about what we'll do to them is at least worth a shot. I think what might be most important is for them to not figure out where/what our anchor is; probably until they do that they can't literally capture us, but if they know what rock we are they could probably knock us out and then carry us off.

I'm okay trying to intimidate them into spilling something and trying to buy us more time; just think we probably want to do something with Lenora somehow. Unfortunately if she, like, calls the police or sends her pokémon off to try and find Millie, that will definitely escalate the situation. Asking her to send her pokémon along as bodyguards seems like it could work? I kind of want to ask her to pick up a different rock than the one we're in and bluff that it's our new body--see what the Knights do with that information. But it would be a bit awkward to try and fit that all in in one post...

Man, idk. I like the idea of getting authoritative with the Knights and seeing what happens. I guess I'm going to ask her to pick up a different rock and pretend like it's us, and see what happens there, too. If we're pretty much stuck going with them or bailing, then we can ask her to send a guard of some kind.