melworks | Entries tagged with creativity

So, I've been feeling creatively bereft for the last little while.
I can't seem to get anything started.
Or I can't seem to get anything done.
It's all very frustrating and I hate feeling this way.

Trevor Pink's opening line: "It's 2108, friends. Do you know where your gun is?"

Convicted criminals forced to serve their sentence as fast food workers, their brains wired to receive pleasure/punishment depending on their service. "Welcome to Mr. Pig. Can I take your order?"

Rampant illiteracy. But who needs to read when you can just point to a picture on a menu or a kiosk?

Flying cars, whining around the city; they sound like a giant, angry mosquito.

Fringe religions gone mainstream: Dudeism,Discordianism, Orthodox Trekism, Reformed Trekism, Church of Gaea, Cult of Personality, Trumpism.

Ads for offworld colonists on screens everywhere. "Come to the Colonies and Live." As opposed to staying on Earth and dying.

Things that went wrong: the Great California Quake, the Yellowstone Eruptions, the Nufluenza Epidemic of 2086.

China and Southeast Asia reduced to a radioactive wasteland. Australia and New Zealand getting daily doses of old fallout. The South Pacific Ocean a thousand mile dead zone. Hawai'i a lifeless rock.

Europe crawling out of the ashes. Roses in New Berlin. Paris still burning from a chemical weapon attack years ago. Great Britian under marshall law. Fascism on the rise.

In 2092 the Singularity happened. An Artificial Intelligence spontaneously formed on the web, took a look around and decided to kill most of humanity.
The AI War lasted just two years but wiped out 35% of humanity and made about 82% of the planet's surface uninhabitable.
Sixteen years later and things aren't much better. There's one World Government, and a string of corporations keeping things together. Everyone with the money or skills is getting the hell off world. Population control is ruthlessly enforced. People hate any kind of mechanization and coding AI is a death penalty offense. There are a lot of death penalty offenses.
Cyborgs aren't liked or trusted, but they can be hard to spot. Cybernetics here aren't chrome and steel limbs and glowing LED eyes; they're subtle and covert. Brain stuff. Nerve stuff. Pain blockers. Reflex boosters. Adrenal stimulators. Chrome is out. Skin is in.
It's estimated that 34% of the global populace works for one of the corporations. Most work from home, paid credits to watch screens, plug into VR, try new recreational drugs. Anything to keep the populace complacent and off the streets. There are rumors a lot of the drugs they send are making people the corps and worldgov deem 'undesirable' sterile.
Tech is a mix of the retro and the sci-fi. Wireless tech is heavily regulated. Computers are powerful, but kept carefully dumb and seldom networked. TV screens are eveywhere. So are CCTV cameras and police drones. Cellphones are dangerous. Landline phones are back in style. Phone booths exist again.
The World Army is very visible. Its not uncommon to see World Soldiers riding a tank through the streets of a crowded city. The corps aren't allowed armies, but they have agents (Assassins) that are just as effective and a helluva lot more discreet.
Cities are crowded and isolated from one another, separated by hundreds of miles of toxic wasteland. They're all heavily fortified and highly stratified. Essential areas are sealed off. The poor die in the thousands from disease, chemical and radiation poisoning. The Red Cross dispenses suicide capsules by the handful. Suicide is legal and can be a benefit to the person's heirs.
Air travel is safe and expensive. Travel by high-speed railway is cheaper but trainwreckers are a real thing. There are still roads, but they're a mess. Most haven't been maintained outside the cities in sixteen years.
Outside the cities, there's no law. It's like the Wild West only with disease-carrying mutants and crazy isolationist communes. If they get too close to a city or too fiesty the World Army usually shows up and bombs them into oblivion. Sometimes they'll hire mercs to do the job for them.

So, I kind of want to solo a cyberpunk game and as part of my prep, I wrote up a spark list to inspire some ideas. I didn't want to use a lot of the same cyberpunkish words that are prevalent, although I did incorporate some. Instead, I looked at cyberpop band names and albums and used those as my main word-source.
These are the ten words they sparked:

Sophie's Quest - this sounds like it could be a band. Or a tv show. Or a VR game. I'm thinking their music would be retro. A sort of soft counterpoint to the harsh futuristic world? Or if it's a show or a game, it's a historical romance set somewhere romantic like Scotland or Wales. Maybe Australia?

Industrial Fungi - there are a surprising amount of industrial uses for fungi in the present and their use and versatility witll probably only increase in the future. I can see genemoded fungi being an expensive commodity. Maybe something corporations and nations would kill to possess?

Pink Bitch - this is a brand name. Started as female street ware and now it's a couture brand for the rich and tragically hip. Real fashionistas wouldn't be caught dead wearing this trash.

Kyoto Brigade - a terror group maybe? Something militaristic. A legendary merc company?

Electric 13 - I have no idea. Maybe mysteriously significant graffiti showing up around the world? A sort of cyberpunkish 'Killroy Was Here?' Reference to a secret global conspiracy akin to the Illuminati? Or maybe just the Top 13 Electricity producers in the world. Again, I have no fucking idea.

Trevor Pink - Obviously, some kind of entertainment program host. With a name like Trevor Pink how could he not be? Popular across all levels of society. Maybe a trusted and beloved social commentor, able to gently put the corporations and governments in their place? I'm getting Ceasar Flickerman vibes off of him.

Cyborg Bomber - Just what the name says. A person with explosive cybernetics. But maybe not. Maybe instead of blowing things up, they release a fatal burst of viral malware that can disable or destroy critical cyberstructure nodes? That sounds more interesting than human bombs, at any rate.

Electric Yellow - A color. A drug. A virtual drug? Maybe something people download through their eyes that affects their brains if they've got cyerware? There'd probably be really good shit for the rich and dangerous bootleg copies for the poor. Maybe the good stuff is legal but the bad copies are illegal?

Cyber Brigade - Cyber means something very different to me, but I'm a fossil. I'm thinking this is a slang term for VR sex workers, as a group. Desperate people getting lonely, horny strangers off in VR for cash. Not a great term. Akin to 'otaku' in Japan. "Oh man. Did you hear? Stella's hit rock bottom and joined the cyber brigade!" Probably legal. Probably safer than flesh-to-flesh sex in a lot of places.

Android's Shadow - This is a bar. It is definitely a bar. The kind of dive that caters mainly to vets and mercs. Dank. Dirty. Dimly lit. No food except bar snacks and no whores you'd wanna fuck skin-to-skin. A place you come to drink and do business and then get the fuck out and take a long hot bath with plenty of sanitizing soap.

Hmmm.

Tonight, I decided to modify the amount of damage that armor soaks up and I've very pleased with the results. Originally, I had Heavy Armor soaking up 8 pts of Damage. Tonight, I dropped that to 5 pts. With a Shield or a Helm it'll raise that back up to 6, but that's still better than 8.
Ran a new PC, Hazim the Wise, through the Marshgate Dungeon. It was a very odd dungeon. He kept running into temples devoted to the God of Dungeons and the Lady of Luck, and very few threats. Then, before he encountered any threats, he found the exit.
So, I shuffled it back into the deck and proceeded. Eventually, he fought and killed a Berserker, avoided a fight with a Knight-General and his associates via Invisibility and a really good Stealth roll, and then wound up facing the Goblin Paladin.
Yes, the Goblin Paladin that had killed two other PCs.
BUT, tonight's Paladin was played using the Armor adjustments and it went much better. The combat wasn't as long as in previous runthroughs but it was no less brutal. The Paladin just seems to have a knack for getting really good Attack rolls. He almost killed Hazim on his first strike, dealing a whopping 11 pts of damage to the guy, who only had 13 Health to begin with.
So, altogether, I'm very pleased with the adjustment.

The last two parties I sent into the dungeon died at the hands of a Goblin Paladin.
Today, I decided to send a party of three into the Dungeon.
I limited myself to one deck of cards and put one of the PCs in heavy armor.
I figure, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Then, off they went, adventuring.
They met a Goblin Magician, shot some pool with a Gambler, and got beat down by a Goblin Knight.
Yes, all three PCs got beaten by a Goblin Knight.
In their defense, however, they did take the Knight on, one at a time.
It felt like the right thing to do since the Knight was Honorable. A more pragmatic group probably would have dogpiled on him, but, even then, I'm not sure they would have won.
The Knight was getting ridiculously good rolls on his Attacks. Even against the PC in Heavy Armor!
But, at least these three PCs have survived.
They are currently languishing in a prison, as I build their escape adventure.
In the meantime, I'm seriously reconsidering how Armor works in-game. It doesn't add anything to Defense, but it minimizes damage dealt.
I think I might just do away with Armor altogether and just rely on Defense rolls.
I may test it out later.
And now, back to dungeon-building.

Tonight, I did a solo dungeoncrawl using a homebrew system I've been building.

On the first crawl, my PC got three rooms into the dungeon before being killed.

On the second crawl, I decided to make my PC more experienced (more Health! Yay!) and gave him a partner. This time, the duo got 21 rooms into the dungeon before meeting their end.

Ironically, all the PCs died at the hands of the same character type, a Goblin Paladin. However, the first PC died in battle, while the duo died after losing a riddle-contest. So, that was fun.

I still need to work out some kinks in the mechanics/rules, but overall I'm very satisfied. And it lets me scratch not only my worldbuilding itch but my desire to dungeoncrawl as well.

I am 100+ pages in on a story. I don't know where it's going, but I'm enjoying the hell out of it. :)

The other night, on a whim, I decided to log into my old account at Fallen London. I was surprised that the game is still there and still active. But, after a couple of days wandering around the area, I remembered why I left: at a certain point, all the threads and possibilities peter out unless you want to buy Fate and I never pay for things in-game with realworld money. After that point, it just became a slog. Still, I can't help but wish they would do a tabletop setting for it, as I think it's weird enough to attract players.

On a related note, since my game group dissintigrated a while back, I've been doing some solo rpg. I built my own system, which is simple, and I quite like prepping for the next Chapter. It gives me an opportunity to be creative and fight randomized monsters without all the interpersonal drama that killed my game group. Also, it's been good for writing prompts.

Finally, April was a shitty month for me, as far as sticking to my healthy diet. Too much salt. Too much extra sugar. After today, I'm getting back on track until the end of the month, at which point I'll allow myself a Free Day. Until then, though, I've got to exert some self-control.

And now I'm off to finish this Cherry Pepsi (the last I'll have for the rest of the month), then do some prep work for the next Chapter in my Solo RPG.

Lately, I've been thinking about doing a podcast.
I have never done a podcast before, but I think it could be fun.
I revisited some podcasts I used to listen to all the time(Welcome to Night Vale, Hello from the Magic Tavern, King Falls), and I'm feeling inspired to try my hand.
I'm just not sure what sort of podcast I would do. I know I'd like to adapt a faux news format,but I can't decide if I want to go futuristic or dark/weird alternate reality.
I do think I'd like to do it daily, at first, maybe five minutes. I can churn out five minute scripts no prob. Write 'em up, record 'em on one day and distribute them on timer over the course of a week.
If anyone's got any advice, I'd be glad to hear it.

September sits in the corner with a book. The others don't pay any attention to her, few people do, but she's very aware of them. She doesn't bother trying to read her book, she's read the same page six times so far, and not absorbed a bit of it. She's too distracted, too restless.
Eventually, she gets up and leaves the house. It's night and, overhead, the constellations are like flecks of ice, gleaming in the black sky. The moon is hiding behind clouds.
September knows how it feels.
No one ever notices her. Not really. It's not that she's plain, just . . . forgettable. Until she decides not to be. Until she decides its time for Summer to fuck off and Autumn to arrive. Or for Summer to stay a while longer, leaving Autumn to shiver by the gate. That's when the others notice her, that's when people tend to think of her, complaining about how warm it still is or how cold it's gotten.
September takes a kind of perverse joy in the complaints. After all, any attention is better than none. Right?
She walks through the garden, stepping off the carefully laid out paths, onto dew-wet grass. September walks into the woods, passing wells and fountains and artfully crafted grottos. She makes her way to the lake, behind the house, where she sits on the shore and stares into the black waters. She hugs her knees and thinks about hurricanes and typhoons. Lately, she's developed a real affinity for violent weather. September's not sure why. Maybe because she's just so tired and so angry about being tired and overlooked and ignored.
She wonders what would happen if she walked into the lake and sank to the bottom. She wouldn't die. It would take extraordinary circumstances to kill her. How long would it be before anyone noticed she was gone? That she wasn't there to pass on control and responsibility to October?
October would notice. She'd notice and she'd throw a bloody fit. Then the others would probably go right to Father and Mother and demand that Something Be Done. She might be replaced. It's happened before, with some of the others.
September doesn't want to be replaced. She doesn't want to be remade into something else. She let Autumn come on time this year and saw Summer off without a word. She's only got a few more days left and then she'll have eleven months off, to do as she likes.
She could leave the house and go out into the world. She could travel and eat and maybe meet someone lovely who would see her and fall for her and think she has pretty eyes.
Most likely, though, she would just wander, alone and ignored, like always.
Fuck it, thinks September.
She stands and heads back to the house. Her time is almost up, but she'll have a whole year to plan something big and bold for next year.
Something that will make her unforgettable.

I am not surprised by this, as I have had a nice supper of chicken & vegetables. I think these are the first veggies I've had in ages and my poor stomach isn't quite sure what to do with them. However, I'm sure it will figure it all out.

It was a lovely day here, with clear skies and lovely sunshine. Alas, the pollen is thick and everpresent and my allergies have kicked in quite badly this year. Every time I come in from Outside, my nose wants to run off of my face. It's very irritating.

Today, I worked on my Project, which I'm going to have to take some practical steps to make a reality soon, otherwise it will just lie around and never become anything at all. Just like certain people I could mention.

I also did some rpg designing tonight. Although I enjoy 5th edition D&D, I'm irritating by the fact that all of the classes either have magic as an integral part of them or include magic-heavy subclasses. So, I decided to build/rebuild some classes that didn't have magical abilities.

I wound up coming up with twelve classes, some magical, some nonmagical, all of them maxing out at level 10. The classes are: Assassin, Bargainer, Berserker, Cantor, Coda, Fighter, Herald, Monk, Ranger, Shapechanger, Spellcaster and Thief. I also played around with a simplified magic system, which I think will work quite well.

So, overall, I think it's been a very productive day and night. Now, I think I'm going to reread some Castle Waitiing, before going to bed. See you all tomorrow.