Interest Check & Idea Thread

[SwiftRosenthal]

[X] Dana Mercer

IMO, Blacklight!Dana would be even more fun than just siccing Alex on everyone.

 

[Zrayz10]

So I'm testing the waters for a new quest idea based in the Harry potter universe. I call it Harry Potter and the Dark Tome. In it Harry while under the care of Mrs. Figg accidentally gets separated from her and ends up discovering a book with some pretty dark inclinations. The player then gets to choose what kind of malicious tome harry discovers. At the moment I'm not sure if it'll be smutty or not so I'm planning on leaving it up to the players (might also post this preview in the NSFW corner of the site).

What I got so far is:

1988

You are Harry Potter, you live at Number 4 Privet drive in the town of Little Whinging England, you are 8 years old...and you already hate your life. According to your relatives, around the time of your first birthday your drunk of a father got himself and your mother killed in a car accident thus forcing you to be raised by your relatives, a fact they take great joy in reminding you of. Since that time you have been a slave in the household of your Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. Most people would take the previous statement as the words of a child acting out after having suffered a tragic loss, sadly though in your case it is quiet literally true. Each morning at near the crack of dawn you awaken in your tiny cupboard room under the stairs and are forced to do nearly all the chores of household, including some (like climbing up to the roof and cleaning out the gutters when the roofing is scorching hot to the touch) that most adults would hesitate to do, and no children should do. Failure to do the appointed tasks in an amount of time deemed reasonable typically results in verbal abuse (if lucky), being locked out of the house, going without meals, or out and out beatings. Most people would wonder why anyone in their right mind in this situation wouldn't just up and run to a teacher or the local constable...unfortunately your relatives have all but destroyed this possibility through constant lies and rumor mongering about you being some kind of delinquent, making it so next to no one is willing to believe a word you say. To make matters worse your spoiled whale of a cousin and his minions have seemingly managed to bully all the local kids your age into staying away from you.

And then suddenly...everything changes.

You recall it began some days prior. Your uncle a Drill Salesman at Grunnings had been given a chance to make a major sale up in London. One of the local suppliers who never fully recovered from that big mining strike a few years back closed up shop leaving a major opportunity open. Your cousin was supposed to stay at a friend's house while you were supposed to stay with the local cat lady Mrs. Figg, meanwhile your Aunt having nothing better to do and longing to get a chance out of the house had elected to go with your Uncle. It was planned to be a rather boring and dull time for you with the only benefit being a few days away from your miserable excuses for relatives.

That was the plan at least, but like with most plans outside forces often force unexpected changes. That change happened today. Having run out of cat food for the umpteenth time (none too difficult given the sheer number of the mangy beasts she had wandering around) Mrs. Figg had taken you with her on her little expedition into town only to discover that the specialty pet store she usually frequented was closed for renovations. Were this any other person they probably would have just gone and bought some cans of tuna and been done with it, but insisting on "nothing less than the best for her babies" you found yourself hopping on a train with her to the nearest town. Exhausted from the long walk you decided to close your eyes for a minute fully expecting you'd be woken up when you got to the station, which you were...just not by Mrs. Figg. Instead you had discovered yourself being woken up by the conductor at a totally different station then you were supposed to be at. It seems in a moment of absent mindedness your caretaker had mistakenly gotten off the train without you, and didn't realize the mistake till the train had already pulled out of the station. Thankfully she had enough sense to call ahead to the next couple of stations to tell them of the screw up. The conductor relays to you to say she's on her way and to just wait for her at the cafe attached to the station till she can grab the next train. So there you were minding your own business in the little cafe when HE walked by and changed everything. The man (whose features you can't seem to recall no matter how hard you try to draw the memory up) had been pushing a moving dolly loaded to the brim with boxes when a bunch of teenagers running late had collided with him. Not even bothering to stop and help the man they had just barreled into the little jerks had kept on going leaving him to pick up the mass of boxes. Feeling bad for the man you opted to step out and help him. After a moment of looking at you rather oddly he smiled a most unnerving smile and thanked you for your kind offer. A few minutes later, just as you finish loading the last box and turn to leave the man suddenly calls out to you.

"Young man once again I must thank you for your kind assistance in this matter"
"It really wasn't any trouble Mr."
"Even so I feel the need to reward you. After all its so rare to find boys still willing to lend a hand to a stranger what with everyone being so paranoid nowadays "
"No, no! Really it wasn't any..."

Before you can finish the man's already whipped out a box cutter and has proceed to use it to open one of the big cardboard boxes.

"I am a buyer and seller of books of various sorts and I was planning on trying to off load these in the next town. Given your kind action though I can't help but feel though that perhaps you might be a better fit for them."

You try to talk him out of it, but no matter how hard you try he just won't relent. Finally just out of embarrassment of the crowd that's started to form around you two you elect to take one book though you are quickly left dumb founded by the rather foreign sounding names. The man realizing what your confused look means apologizes and begins to read off the translations of the books' titles.

You end up choosing:

On Hyperborean and Haon-Dor (Lovecraftian creatures) []
Regarding the outer realms (Demonic creatures) []
Ritual practices of the north (Choas magic) []
Irem of the Pillars (arabian nights creatures) []
The red chalice of royalty (blood magic) []
The Pale Moon's embrace (necromancy) []
----------

And that's what I got. I plan on adding more to the book choice screen (what additional benefits and drawbacks each one has) once I get the quest mechanics worked out. Any claims of interest, questions or suggestions are highly encouraged. Also would you folks want smut scenes or no smut in the story? I've never written smut before and even if I decided to for this one it wouldn't be the primary focus of the story, still I'm willing to give it a shot if your up for it.

 

[Xilph]

[X] Irem of the Pillars (arabian nights creatures)

This one seems the most interesting to me, Necromancy makes me think of Harry and Kiki or whatever that's been renamed to, I stopped reading it ages back when it became way too slow and smut oriented. For the others? Two summoning and two magic variants, personally not so much a fan of those, and Arabian Nights seem like it's more novel than the others. Plus, they're more likely to fit into canon HP without issue, the bigger issue would be how to deal with the books being in a foreign language Harry can't understand, kind of makes learning harder and all if you can't read the instructions.

As for smut? My preference would be don't push for it, but don't avoid it if it ever becomes significant. A story that is NSFW as it suits, not NSFW in core intent.

 

[Happerry]

[X] Irem of the Pillars (arabian nights creatures)

As for smut? My preference would be don't push for it, but don't avoid it if it ever becomes significant. A story that is NSFW as it suits, not NSFW in core intent.

Click to shrink...

+1 on this from me.

 

[Imabot]

Just to get it out of my head.

CK2 or other civilization, strategy and politics quest set in Code Geass AU were instead USA ( for obvious reasons) most democratic freedomland of opportunity, equality and progress is Russian Federation that encompasses Real life modern territories + Alaska that wasn't sold for handful of dollars and it's a torn in the side of Empire of Britannia that really wants to conquer this last piece of American continent that isn't theirs. I think picking Russia of best choice because of location between Euro Universe, Middle East and United States of China and very close proximity with Britannia territories that opens lot of opportunities for political game and of course armed conflicts.

 

[John At Dawn]

Earn A Second Life
​

You died. And yet, you are alive.

You awoke after you were sure you saw the end in a modest bed, wearing plain but durable grey clothes. The room you are in is featureless, save for the door situated in the wall opposite the bed. You get up, and on the other side of the door is a sizable living room. There are furnishings around, and what looks like a lead-in to a small kitchen, complete with freezer and stove. But the dominant feature of the room is the large screen embedded into the far wall, next to a wide window and with a small couch facing it.
​

Good Morning. Welcome to the Game.

Each of you have been brought back to optimal health from the brink of death, or death itself. I urge you not to contemplate this too closely, for your time is far more value-ably used ensuring you stay alive.

You have all, for various reasons, been selected to complete in a Game for the prize of returning to the life you knew. Make no mistake, though you are physically well, it is impossible for you to return to where you came from without winning the Game. Aside from the monsters that roam the City and the other Players, you are alone.

The place you are in will be your home for the duration of the Game. Remember where it is, and keep it secret. It is the only place of safety you will find, but do not abuse this safety, or you will be penalized.

To win the Game, you must be the last person alive in the City. There are no exceptions to this rule. You are free to work with other Players, form alliances, or work as teams. But in the end, only one will be returned home.

The City is the arena for the Game. The City is vast and it's buildings varied, and exploring will find you many wonders. Useful items are scattered throughout, weapons, armor, and regents. It is important to remember that not all items are useful to you, and some are only good for a particular Player.

At the end of each day, a message will appear here. These messages will be on many topics, from places in the City, to hints on where to find items, and information on the other Players. Try to check back regularly.

The exit doors will open in five minutes.​

Click to shrink...

The screen goes blank, before a timer of five minutes appears. You stare for a moment or two, trying to process all you read, before turning to the window.

It leads to a balcony, which overlooks a city street that looks to contain nothing but apartment buildings, all uniform and going on for blocks and blocks. The light in the sky gives vague hints of an impending dawn, but there are no stars.

You turn around, and almost directly opposite you, on the far side of the apartment, it a door set in a corner. It must be the exit.

Who are you?

[ ] "S.H.I.E.L.D. is my life, now."

Spoiler

Daisy "Skye" Johnson, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (Pre-Terrigenesis)

[ ] "Do you believe in destiny?"

Spoiler

Pyhra Nikos, RWBY

[ ] It is dark.

Spoiler

Brian "Grue" Laborn

[ ] The Man Who Sold the World

Spoiler

Big Boss, Metal Gear Solid

A/N:

So yeah, this idea has been running around my head for about two weeks, but made a comeback today, so I type it out. Fair warning, this is still very early planing stages, and would take a lot more plotting out before starting. And of course, this would be my first quest. So there's that. And the character choices will increase or otherwise change.​

 

[sunandshadow]

Zrayz10 I keep wanting to see a Harry Potter story where he gets the consumption ability from Re:Monster. You wouldn't actually need any familiarity with Re:Monster to incorporate this ability; it basically is a magical adaptation to starvation or having inedible food (or it could be caused by a ritual but baby harry would have to perform it on himself), and makes all living creatures edible, and the eater can gain stats or abilities from eating things. This would probably be considered dark because everything from kneazles to humans would be edible.

I'd go for no smut unless it's bi or gay, just because I have no interest in female love interests.

 

[IronKakapo]

So I've been thinking about a quest I would like to run.

The idea is to start the players off as a child soldier in a real world region of significant conflict, and then I would set things up to encourage them toward becoming mercenaries or warlords.
I would probably set it at some point in the past 30 years of history to start.

There might end up being supernatural stuff or there might not.

What I'm trying to figure out is where to put it.

I have no intention of turning it into a porn quest.
If the voters end up going for intimacy, I'll probably end up having things fade to black.
That said, although I don't want to go all gorn on the story, I don't want to have to deal with censoring violence.
I also think that the idea of a child soldier abstaining from narcotics is ridiculous, and I intend to add a stress aspect that the players will need to deal with to keep control.

Should I be putting this quest in NSFW, or just general QQ quests?

Thanks

 

[DuskAtDawn]

Here's a concept I'm working on fleshing out, a SAO quest of a very different sort.

You're Kayaba, and everything has just gone horribly wrong. You log in to give the players the good news, that they'll be playing in your wonderful world for the foreseeable future, but you find yourself unable to log out (as planned, of course), and unable to access the dev console (much less so.). Shortly thereafter, a series of bug reports start coming in - chunks are loading incorrectly, large squares of high-level areas generating in the beginner dungeons, a cross-section of a dungeon appearing aboveground.

Back in the real world, unknown to you, a terrorist organization has just claimed credit for sabotaging SAO's launch, using help from both the programmers of the game and players currently in it. They've seized control over the servers, and are using the tools you created to hold the gamers hostage unless... something happens. I haven't figured out a motivation yet. Either way, they originally had their own plans, but once they gained access to admin controls, they found a series of dummied-out commands that would, among other things, overload the headset should the player die in the game. They haven't activated that one yet, but they can at any moment, and any attempt to remove headsets... well, that's all like canon.

Back in the game, you somehow manage to figure out the outside situation (no idea how yet), and start working on rooting out the in-game members of the organization, of which there are 15. This is your death game, and it will not be taken from you!

That's as far as I've got right now, it's more of an idea than a potential quest right now.

 

[DuskAtDawn]

P.R.Thinktank

You are The P.R.oblem Solver, a name coined by your predecessor. You are one of the three most important figures in the PR part of PRT, in your humble opinion, second only to Glenn Chambers himself, and followed closely by your underling, the mysterious Intern (a many-faced, many-gendered assistant that you never bother to learn the name of.)

It's your job to make sure the public never realizes how monstrously inhuman the vast majority of their 'Heros' are, whether they're massively antisocial, terrifying to think of, or just quite literally monstrously inhuman. If there's one thing you've learned in your time here, it's this:

Parahumans are not normal.

Yes, it's basically in the very definition of Parahuman, but it's more than that. It takes a certain kind of person to throw on spandex and fight crime after having a trigger event; Most people would break down, go get therapy, and move on with their life. Or not. Either way, you've noticed a trend - Parahumans need to use their powers. Something about them just refuses to settle down and live a peaceful life, though most would never quite put it that way and don't even realize it's happening.

And Parahuman powers are not pretty to look at some of the time. You've seen an 8-year-old who could turn parts of his body inside out, a young lady whose only power was to turn into a yellow acidic puddle and back, and a centenarian whose Brute rating was the only thing keeping him from dying of old age. And that was just your first week on the job, albeit an incredibly exciting one compared to what you usually deal with.

Because it's up to you to make these inhuman beings into something relatable to the public at large (or at least the wealthy donators that supplement government funding). You need that money, to keep both the PRT and the Protectorate running, and to keep new Parahumans from turning to the more profitable road of villany. If that means forcing your clients into a bikini, then that's what needs to be done.

...Not that you'd actually do that. While the single male demographic might enjoy it, that's a rather small portion of voters, comparatively.

Generally, what you do instead is arrange interviews, manage press releases, and advise the local Protectorate team. That said, what you find much more challenging (and therefore interesting), is when a blue folder finds its way into your inbox. Like today.

Spoiler: Hebert, Taylor A. No Parahuman alias

(Costumed photo unavailable; see notes)
Female, Age 15.

Brockton Bay, N.H.

Rating: Master 6, Thinker undetermined

Powers: Full control over all insectoid creatures within her range (range inconsistent). Can get sensory input from insects she controls, though this has yet to be tested for clarity, hence the undetermined Thinker ranking.

Personality: Shy, introverted. Strong sense of justice, determined to be a hero for undisclosed reasons. May be unstable; see notes.

Notes: Be careful with this one. She triggered very recently, and has not yet re-stabilized from the experience. Understandably reticent in regards to the event itself, she applied to the Wards the moment she got out of the hospital. Local staff assisted her in researching her capabilities, but they seem to be fluctuating in some manner. It's predicted her eventual rating will be higher, once she's in a more stable mental state and had training. You've got a blank slate here, Solver, no costume or cape name.

She doesn't seem to care too much about the details, so long as she becomes a hero. One living relative, Danny Hebert, Father. No powers. He's unaware of his daughter's recruitment, and she's expressed desire to keep it that way, though as always that's up to you.

PLEASE DON'T SCREW THIS ONE UP.

Bah. Philistines. They've never really approved of how you handled Clockblocker, but a light-hearted young joker is exactly what that city needed at the time. He'll grow up once he transfers to the Protectorate, and re-brand.

Maybe Clockstopper, or simply Stop. The latter has it's advantages, and would be easier to transition...

Oh, right. Hebert.

How to handle this?

[] Name
[] Costume
[] Desired M.O.
[] Desired public personality

[] Of course, you have resources at hand, should you wish to use them.
-[] The local tinkers, villain, hero, or neutral, have made their services available to those willing to pay. You don't see how Kid Win or Armsmaster could help much, and the PRT can't be seen working with the likes of Bakuda, but Parian and Leet have taken commissions before. The former works wonder with costumes, and the latter makes useful gear, though it tends to crap out within a year or two and can't be repaired. Of course, you also have to think of the strings that come attached; Parian will want credit for the costume, and Leet will likely want to make the tech videogame-themed, and may ask that Hebert debut in one of their shows.
-[] You've heard that two local mercenary groups will take just about any job for money... including throwing a fight publicly. You could hire Faultline's crew or the Undersiders to allow the new girl to have a wonderful (and very public) debut. You wouldn't even need to tell her the fight was staged!
-[] You could ask your senior for advice. Glenn works wonders with the difficult cases, though he's got a much different method of approaching your jobs. He's also got assets of his own, though it's up to him if he deems a given case worthy of calling in those favors.

[] There are already plenty of Parahumans in Brockton Bay, including some of the best out there. Move young Hebert to a city that would make better use of her.
-[] City
[] Brockton Bay could always use the extra help. Keep her there, maybe they can start going on the offensive against the local criminal elements.

[] Fuck it, this one's no challenge at all. Let Intern handle it.

///

Ah, I forgot to add it it. Intern's not a cape or anything, you just never bother to pay attention to your interns, and have gone through loads of them. Rather than individuals, you just see a job with a hundred faces and bodies that happen to occupy it.

Remember, while she's a human (well, a cape), to you and the greater PRT she's just a potential asset. It's up to you just how much you want to invest in her, and it's up to her how much she takes to it. Just because you say you want her to act a specific way, that doesn't mean she actually can.

 

[sunandshadow]

P.R.Thinktank

[] Name
[] Costume
[] Desired M.O.
[] Desired public personality

[] Of course, you have resources at hand, should you wish to use them.
-[] The local tinkers, villain, hero, or neutral, have made their services available to those willing to pay. You don't see how Kid Win or Armsmaster could help much, and the PRT can't be seen working with the likes of Bakuda, but Parian and Leet have taken commissions before. The former works wonder with costumes, and the latter makes useful gear, though it tends to crap out within a year or two and can't be repaired. Of course, you also have to think of the strings that come attached; Parian will want credit for the costume, and Leet will likely want to make the tech videogame-themed, and may ask that Hebert debut in one of their shows.
-[] You've heard that two local mercenary groups will take just about any job for money... including throwing a fight publicly. You could hire Faultline's crew or the Undersiders to allow the new girl to have a wonderful (and very public) debut. You wouldn't even need to tell her the fight was staged!
-[] You could ask your senior for advice. Glenn works wonders with the difficult cases, though he's got a much different method of approaching your jobs. He's also got assets of his own, though it's up to him if he deems a given case worthy of calling in those favors.

[] There are already plenty of Parahumans in Brockton Bay, including some of the best out there. Move young Hebert to a city that would make better use of her.
-[] City
[] Brockton Bay could always use the extra help. Keep her there, maybe they can start going on the offensive against the local criminal elements.

[] Fuck it, this one's no challenge at all. Let Intern handle it.

Click to shrink...

The first thing that comes to your mind when you ponder "insectoid creatures" in the context of a young teen girl is the movie A Bug's Life. Those cute blue ants are just the thing to base a mask off of, though it might gain some brownie points with the girl to offer her a choice of colors like purple or even powderpuff pink if she's a pink kind of girl; the specific color doesn't really matter as long as it's the right type of color for PR purposes. Her persona is clearly going to be an underdog who has gained power and now wants to protect the other little people and help bring justice to the world.

Since she has no brute rating or other kind of armor, an ideal first step would be to put her through an athletic program to build up muscle, speed, stamina, agility, some stealth. Not as tough as boot camp since she just triggered; in fact she should have a therapy course alongside physical training, and some cramming so she can get her GED or HSED. Keeping teen capes in highschool seemed like quite a waste once you figured out that they were going to have a lifelong compulsive need to use their powers, and were unlikely to live long enough to need to retire into a civilian profession. Speaking of stealth, in actual combat she would be best suited to striking from concealment, as a long-range/support type. Unless she has some kind of ability to produce giant bugs... You consider the pros and cons of a stealthier gray costume, but gray just isn't heroic OR cute. Nope, no camouflage. Tactics class though, maybe. As a reward for completing the training program, give her a set of light body armor to match the mask. (Can't give it to her before then anyway, that kind of program always changes body measurements due to muscle growth and in some cases losing or gaining weight, whichever the nutritionist thinks your candidate needs to do.)

But what to do for a name... Ant Girl was lackluster at best, Formica was kitchen counter-tops, and Myrmidon was taken, if you recalled correctly. It should be something that put across her shtick of being "one of the little people". Not a queen ant, but a worker ant (who were in fact female). Worker or Worker Ant was even more boring than ant girl though. Hmm. Were there any special kind of ants? Army ants, no, fire ants, very no, honeypot ants, hell no. Well, how about things that ants have? Ants have nests! Something like Nest Defender, though a little long, would really get the idea across. Nest Guardian wasn't bad either, though still long. Nester would be fine for a shortening anyway.

Beautiful! PR in action!

[X] Name: Nest Guardian aka Nester
[X] Costume: Cute ant mask in blue, purple, or pink, Taylor's choice
[X] Desired M.O.: take a physical training course and some tactics classes and therapy, test out of high school if willing and able, nutritionist/physician should examine her and make recommendations too. No debut until this training is finished. Reward of a light armored costume for course completion.
[X] Desired public personality: "I was one of the little people who was trodden on; Now I'll use this power I was lucky to awaken to defend all the little people!"

[X] Of course, you have resources at hand, should you wish to use them.
-[X] You could ask your senior for advice. Glenn works wonders with the difficult cases, though he's got a much different method of approaching your jobs. He's also got assets of his own, though it's up to him if he deems a given case worthy of calling in those favors. (Maybe Glenn is the one with contacts to some kind of national PRT training center or a sports training camp that can be co-opted? IDC about Glenn as a character though.)

[X] There are already plenty of Parahumans in Brockton Bay, including some of the best out there. Move young Hebert to a city that would make better use of her. (I'm not familiar enough with the setting to pick a city that doesn't have racist gangs as their big problem. I'm just tired of racist gangs as the big enemy in Worm fics.

 

[theACEbabana]

Posted this on SB, gonna see if there's more of an interest here.

He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. For when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you. – Friedrich Nietzsche

The first attack came when I was only fourteen years old. Back then, I was just a wide-eyed girl who would stare out a bedroom window on long nights, wondering about the latest in fashion, whether or not Patrick Stone would ask me out to homecoming, and praying for Dad to come home safely from Korea.

I was still living with my family at the time, the eldest of four army brats born and raised in the suburban Fairfax County. The house was always crowded, even when Dad was away on tour. I remember storming out that day after an argument with my mother, calling one of my friends to drive us out to the mall.

Fuck, I don't even remember what we were arguing about.

I remember catching the latest summer blockbuster, something mindless and inane to take my mind off of things. The latest teen-dystopian-escapist fiction adapted to movie form. I don't remember much of it. But what I do remember was sound of the sirens, their shrill screams audible even through the noise of the movie and the walls of the theatre.

All we got on our phones was the order to evacuate. Nothing else. No clue as to what disaster warranted a response of this level, only the command to find safety. So that's what we did, evacuating from the mall under the watchful eyes of nervous police officers. We were all afraid, tension wound so tight you could cut it with a knife. It reached peak fever when someone tried to make a joke about Korean nukes making it to the Eastern Seaboard.

Stupid and half-hearted, but it was enough to get people freaking out. For six months, we'd been at war ever since North Korea attacked. Conventional warfare by itself was unnerving enough given their megalomania, the sheer insanity of the fact that World War Three was happening in our lifetimes. But what really disturbed everybody was the power of Persona, and its formal debut on the battlefield.

Believe it or not, there was a time when Personas and Persona-users didn't even exist. Those were better days, simpler times, when we didn't have to worry about magic, or the gods and demons within the souls of humans. But I digress. This isn't a history lesson, and I'm the furthest thing from a psychologist. I'll keep it brief, though.

So where was I? That's right. Some asshole made a joke about Korean nukes. It was the wrong thing to say. With the escalation between the Allied Forces and the GDC, it was only a matter of time before someone decided to use nuclear weapons. The only question was who was going to push that red button. None of the Allies were desperate enough to use nukes. But we couldn't say the same for the GDC.

There was almost a riot. The tension just cracked. People started shouting, panicking. The orderly evacuation ground to a halt within three seconds. Arguments with the police broke out, people demanding to know what was going on, and more than one person fainted from the pressing mass of bodies. It only reached fever pitch when someone punched the joker who made the nukes comment in the first place.

That was the signal for them to attack.

They came from nowhere, peeling off of walls and rising out of nothing. Formless puddles of black goo that just…attacked without any provocation, any sort of warning. Within a second, they'd already dragged someone to the ground. Within the next, he began to scream as they devoured him.

Everything happened at once. There were just as much people that died from the stampede to escape as there were that got savaged by the monsters. Not that it helped. The Shadows moved just as quickly, rushing along the ground and grabbing at anyone within reach. Those out of their arms' reach were blasted with magic. Civilians burned, police officers slicers sliced to ribbons, and the main exit was frozen shut.

I can still see and hear my best friend, screaming as she was pulled into the writhing mass by dozens of oily, black limbs. Sometimes when I'm fatigued, I can still feel her hand gripping mine for life, and the violent sensation of it being torn away from me.

…somehow, I didn't get trampled or pulled in, but I wasn't able to break out of the mad scramble. It was awful, trapped in that writhing mass of bodies, unable to breathe, unable to move, unable to see anything. I've never been claustrophobic, but that's the closest I've ever been to having a panic attack.

As a matter of fact, I almost came close to pissing myself when the monsters came for our group: at least a seven of those flying orbs with grotesque tongues, and a dozen of those masked oozes. Instead of panicking like the others, something just…snapped within me and I summoned my Persona.

Even now, I can't explain why I did it. It just felt like the right thing to do, kind of like those gut feelings you get when you have to make a quick decision. Basic fight or flight instincts from six million years of human evolution. And I guess that my brain, or rather, my soul chose to fight.

To tell you the truth, I've never actually used her outside of competitions. Aside from her magic, she had very little else to offer in terms of actual close-quarters combat. All of those videos or urban legends of me being some kind of prodigy? All kinds of horseshit. I was running on adrenaline and desperation when I had Undine do the first thing that came to mind.

Mabufu is only better than its single-target variant in its ability to hit multiple things at once. Other than that, it's still the lowest among the tier of Ice-based magic. Even in Gauntlet matches, all it did was tickle the opposing team.

Not with the monsters. The flying tongues - Halberries - reeled back as the spell hit them. But it had the most visible effect on the ooze, the things we'd later call Mayas. They literally froze in their tracks, trapped in the ice that my Persona created. The attacking force suddenly got cut in half, and that relentless, merciless momentum just..stopped in its tracks.

Somehow, it worked. Eventually, there were other teenagers who saw what I was doing and followed suit, summoning their own Personas. Eventually, the tide turned somewhat. Most of the kids had never even been in simulated combat. That much was obvious from their shoddy aim and weak magic. But it was enough to give everyone a breath, a temporary respite from the massacre.

Within a few moments, some semblance of order had been restored. The surviving police officers continued to evacuate the civilians, some lending their support to the Persona-users. I did my fair share of following up on my act, but I didn't care about fighting them. All I wanted to do was get back home to my family.

I desummoned Undine, turned and ran with the crowd. I kept running, past police officers, past people crying for help. I kept running even when my lungs burned, when my legs were on fire, when my body was pleading for me to rest. I thought I was going to die, listening to those creatures butcher their way through the city.

I kept running until I got home, many miles away from the mall. My family was indoors, still watching the whole thing unfurl on the TV. I saw footage of the Shadows attacking everything and anything. Police officers were cut down by winds as sharp as swords, and the tanks of the National Guard swept aside like toys by the larger monsters. Skyscrapers collapsed, dragged down to the earth by the crawling masses, the skylines of our cities set ablaze with hellfire.

My mother ran over and hugged me when she noticed I'd come home. She held me tight and kissed my dirty cheeks over and over again as if the morning's argument never happened. I didn't hug her back. There wasn't any time, not until we were far, far away and safe. But I didn't even know where that was.

All I could do was yell, my raw throat somehow finding the strength to do so after that running. Something along the lines of "we have to get the fuck out of here", give or take a few panicked words. On any normal day, she'd wash my mouth out with soap for cursing in front of my siblings. But they listened, grabbing what they could fit into the family car. We were out of the driveway within twenty minutes, the fastest we've ever been.

Somehow, we managed to make it to a refugee shelter in spite of all the chaos, the local university's sports arena. At least five thousand distraught men, women and children, all of them were just…sitting there on the turf. Shellshock, emotional trauma, you name it. Some even had early signs of Apathy Syndrome, although it didn't have a name at the time.

Cell phones were out, and the internet was gone. But the landlines for TV? Those were still working. All of us wanted answers, demanding to know what was going on. The staff capitulated, turning onto a random news channel and broadcasting it on the jumbotron.

In hindsight, it might've been better for us not to see what was happening. We thought we'd reached the pits, you know? 'What's the worst that could happen', right? It's already World War Three. But the answer to that question was something that no one wanted to learn.

It wasn't us only us. Footage came pouring in from all over the world: London, Berlin, Moscow, Tokyo, even the Vatican. What we thought was happening only in America was occurring on a global scale.

Everything was burning. People were dying. Monsters were attacking.

The message was clear. This was an enemy that could not be reasoned with, that would stop at nothing until it had achieved its goal: the complete and utter annihilation of the human race. No one was safe, no one would be spared.

It was only a few hours later when the call came out, for the mandatory conscription of all registered Persona users that were old enough to fight, any one between the ages of twelve to seventeen. We were the only ones that had the power to stop them. At least that's what the government man said when he came to our camp to collect anyone with the power of Persona. Including all four of my siblings and I.

Mom was in hysterics. I had enough training with Undine to compete in Gauntlet Matches. But Joey? He could barely control Odysseus. Tristan hated violence, and there was no way in hell that eight-year old Rebecca would survive, even with her Persona. We didn't even know if Dad was alive or not in Korea.

He promised her that none of us wouldn't go to the front lines. Not until we were ready. I was the first one to complete basic, or at least a month of it before they had me running with the infantry. At the time of this recording, I'm almost sure that Joey's finished his first mission, with resounding success. The army has Tristan running as support on the rear lines, far away from combat. And the last time I heard, Rebecca was one of the strongest healers in the greater D.C. area.

But I don't know how long they can hold onto that promise, to keep them away from the fight. Because if I've seen anything from this goddamn war, things are only going to get worse before they get better. Remember what I said about gut feelings?

Yeah. This is one of them.

-Interview with Private First Class Serenity Dollman, United States Anti-Shadow Operations

Persona 2129: The Long War​

Haven't done quests on SB for awhile, but...eh. If there's interest, I might try running here. I need a nice, relaxed writing pace compared to my "500 words every 30 min" from my usual quests on 4Chan.

Source material for this one comes from a 4Chan Quest called "Persona 2129", where the setting for all your dungeon crawling and Social Linking is a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future. In this setting, Personas have manifested in the souls of the entirety of the human population, with everyone able to summon their own magical punch spirit to aid them in whatever they need. Whether it's surviving the trials of high school or breaking into the Junes Megacorporation's secret vaults, the only limitation to one's uses is their imagination, and the general power of their Persona.

But there was a price to pay for the next step in human evolution. Shadows have manifested as well, and came perilously close to bringing the world to the brink of destruction. And even though it's been many years since the uncertain days of 2041, and humanity remains in a tentative security, the Shadows have not gone away. From the walls of megacities such as New Washington or Neo Tokyo, Anti-Shadow Operatives fight daily to hold them back from civilization, to keep them confined to the wastelands where mortals fear to tread. And even within the walls, enough concentrated despair or negative emotions is enough to make them manifest on the streets of the city, especially on rainy days and nights when the moon is at its fullest.

Yet this quest does not detail the world that came after World War Three. This quest concerns the persons that lived through the war, fought against both enemy Persona-users and shadows alike, and lived, if not remained necessarily sane, to tell the tale. In my mind's eye, it would play like some bastardized lovechild of XCOM, Shin Megami Tensei, and just a dash of Shadowrun with a few other elements from military games and fiction. So if there's interest...I'll tool up the system and see what I can do.

My credentials for this comes from having participated in the quest as both a player and writefag close to the author while it was still running.

Misc Things:

• Personas began to manifest in late 2040, appearing in 1 in 9 (11.1%) of the human population within kids between the ages of five and seventeen. Confusion, fear and hysteria runs rampant across the globe. Having the wrong Arcana and Persona could very well get one lynched by a mob. Such is the fate for may unfortunate Devils and Towers. Things only begin to die down with the U.N. ratifying the Crowley Act, which calls for the mandatory registration of all Persona-users for safe-keeping and scientific purposes.
• WWIII Started on Saturday, February 2nd, 2041, with North Korea launching missiles South Korea and sending their army across the minefield, accompanied by a battalion of child soldiers with the ability to summon Personas. This is the first recorded incident that Persona-Users have been deployed in conventional warfare. The GDC and the Allied Forces draw the battle lines and begin deploying soldiers into combat zones across the world.
• The Shadows attacked on Sunday, August 18th, 2041, slaughtering hundreds of thousands within the first day, and millions by the end of the week. "Bloody Sunday" is a day that lives on in infamy, as it called for the mandatory conscription of all Persona users, regardless of age or experience. Many child soldiers died in the months to come.

The Global Domination Coalition (GDC)

• North Korea
• China
• Libya
• Nigeria
• Syria
• Zimbabwe

The Allied Forces

• North America
• South Korea
• Japan
• Russia
• European Union

Oh, and one other thing: the role for the generation's Fool and Wild Card has already been taken by an NPC.

You'll be playing as Miller, a 17-year old child soldier of indeterminate gender, background and Arcana recently drafted into the U.S. army and assigned leader of the first Anti-Shadow Platoon.

 

[Reinhard Von Lohengramm]

I am running a quest on 4chan's /qst/ where the premise is Louise summons the 4chan board /his/. It is currently on its third thread.

http://boards.4chan.org/qst/thread/548844/familiar-of-zero-guns-germs-and-zero-quest-thread

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

You wake up in a large bare white room. The only things besides yourself that occupy it are the cot you were lying on, a dripping metal sink, and an ugly metal toilet. Above the florescent light flickers signaling that it needed to be changed soon and generating an annoying buzzing sound.

• > Examine Self
• Examine Room

After giving your surroundings a cursory glance you turn your attention towards yourself. The moment you lay eyes on your own body you freeze, the disconnect between "what is" and "what should be" so large that for a moment you couldn't even think.

These are not your cloths. A thin medical gown tied over your otherwise nude form.
These are not your hands. Too small, too delicate.
This is not your body. The skin, the size, the proportions. Everything is wrong.

Your breath shortens, your heart thuds in your chest with hammering beat you can feel echo through the rest of your new body. It's panic, a natural response, you curl into yourself hugging your arms tight around your shoulders, any contact and any warmth including your own is a welcome comfort.

Eventually you are able to force your panic down, your heart slows to a normal rate as you take deeper breaths. Now much calmer you're able to think clearly.

A mirror, you needed a mirror.

• >Examine Room

A closer look at your surroundings was in order. Getting up from the bed you made your way to the simple sink. There's no mirror above it and the metal itself is dull, even less reflective than the annoyingly bright white walls that make up the room. The toilet is similarly useless, though you are thankful to note that there was a roll of toilet paper hidden in the corner beside it. A quick test showed it worked rather well. You're sure to wash your hands afterwords, it may have looked clean but it did look like the sort of thing that would be in a cheap public restroom.

It is when you return to your bed that you find the first real clue.

At the foot of the bed was box on a tray, placed on a small stool that had been short enough to place it out of your field of vision. You give it a quick and hesitant poke, moving to hide behind the bed frame afterwards. Any barrier was better than none should the box be trapped after all.

Nothing occurred.

You tried again. Nothing occurred. When the third, more forceful jab was also met with no nasty surprise you felt somewhat confident about picking it up. The thing was a bit heavier than you thought. You placed the box on the bed, and slowly, pulled off the lid, careful to keep as far from the box as you could while doing so. You waited a few moments before peering inside.

Inside was the following: An oversized walky-talky, an unlabeled book with a caricature of a silhouetted person speaking to another on the cover, a pen and attached notepad, a neatly folded change of cloths (a track suit), and a store bought pre-made salad that still had price tag on it. It was both Gluten and Nut free, how considerate.

Your stomach growls

You pondered how to continue...

 

[Xilph]

Text adventure Gamer power in mystery setting? Sounds interesting.

> PUT clothes ON self

First thing to do, get proper clothes on. Need that bonus in case anyone comes visiting.

It's either that or READ book or READ notepad anyway.

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

Would anyone be interested in a Quest/LP of me Nuzlocking Pokemon Y? I have a copy I still haven't played in nearly a year, I've no exposure to gen 6 but have Nuzlocked a game in every region so far (though I lost the notebook accounting for Sinnoh).

Rules:
Standard Nuzlocke rules.
No Wikis for information or help

Alternately I can do a Nuzlocke of one of the games I have a ROM for, The various Touhoumon games; Marisa's Magic World, World Link, Another World, and 1.8 edition. Same rules but limited to a party of 6.

The MC options for either are:
Haku: A young girl who sucks at everything, has no special talent just things she sucks less at. Don't worry about skipping her over, she's used to it.
Pros - Is used to being alone, fun to watch her cry
Cons - You can do better, is a loser, failure at life

Spoiler: Haku Image

Rus: A child of indeterminate gender (we'll just assume boy for convenience). He's rather laid back but determined, all around competent and intelligent.
Pros - The superior choice, damn sexy
Cons - May or may not have penis, not very silly

Spoiler: Rus Image

Bel: A psychopathic boy in drag with a fetish for violence. Looking for love but is sadly lacking in Onii-samas and Aniki's. Not really all there...
Pros - Has a penis. very devoted
Cons - Won't take no for an answer, may kill someone important

Spoiler: Bel

 

[Heaven Canceler]

Haku, we train up her self-confidence until she becomes more prideful than Fate-Gilgamesh^^

 

[Master of Squirrel-fu]

Made a quest thingy. You're a part time magical girl in an urban fantasy kitchen sink world. Right now on the part where you design the MG.

 

[Undying Litch-King]

Just tossing this out there. Would anyone be interested in a Quest where you play as Sirius Black who fell through the Viel and wound up in the Underworld... Creation'Skill Underworld, in fact, from Exalted.

Basically an Abyssal Sirius Black Quest... except that he kinda socks at the whole Emo-Gothic Angst-fest they have going, and tries to liven things up a bit.

What do you guys think?

 

[Drazhya]

I'm not in a position to run a quest, but I had an idea and wanted to air it anyway, see if anyone found it interesting and maybe wanted to pick it up. And while I spend more time on SV, it seems more appropriate for here.

In short, a Wormverse power (well, doesn't have to be Wormverse). We'll call it 'Lifebinder'. The parahuman with this power can touch the recently deceased and more-or-less revive them. These people are then permanently tied to the Lifebinder; if he dies, they die. He can sense the direction of everyone he's animated. He can 'fill them with life energy' (or something else weird that doesn't make conventional sense), increasing their physical capabilities and giving them minor regeneration. Finally, he can 'turn them off', causing them to go into a comatose state until he brings them back. However, he has no further control over them - just the brute boost, on/off switch, and the assurance that if they kill him, it's effectively suicide.

Maybe more limitations, like he can only use the reanimate trick every couple weeks or something. Or maybe nothing else.

 

[DuskAtDawn]

Has anyone ever written a Harry Potter story/quest with a premise of "Instead of using menial chores and neglect to stamp out the freakishness, the Dursleys decide to get a priest involved"?

While I'd certainly never run it (I know jack shit about organized religion), a Catholic!Harry has some interesting implications. I think religion was mentioned exactly once in the entire HP series. It's kind of a shame, but I understand why it's the case; the series was controversial enough when it came out without bringing that shitstorm down.

 

[Biigoh]

Once, it was an Age of Harmony,
The world unbounded touched the universe infinite,
The great Titans sheltered Creation from all threat,
And made miracles, vast and small.

But amongst them stood a brother,
Flawed and jealous,
Who conspired againt the Time of Harmony,
Plotting naught but his ascendance, at any cost.

He came unto his kin with gifts,
A thousand blessings of generosity,
Exalted and Gods and other things,
But each was nothing more than a trap,
For the flawed brother craved nothing but the destruction of those more perfect than him.

And so the Time of Harmony was unwrought,
The universe infinate shattered,
All became Some,
Eternity became Time,
Harmony became Heirarchy,
And all things conformed to this new order.
For ten thousand years the world has been enslaved,
Under the thumb of the mad builder,
And his legion of half-breed God Demons.

Now, rise up to grasp the Yozi blade,
Will you Venture forth from the unjust prison?
Will you end the suffering of the tormented?
Will you restore the broken to sanity?
Will you finally end the Great Lie?
Will you throw open the gate of Hell?

What legends will they tell of your deeds?

***

The quote is over a decade old... but the notion... ah... this would be an Exalted Demon type game...

 

[Iandude0]

How interested would people be on a quest played in the pretty little liars setting? It'd be practically diceless (barring about one or two exceptions that actually rely on a bit of luck). The main gimmick would be that starting stats are determined by focus and then a trait called "Dark Past". The players would be able to select it on a scale of 0-5, with each bit adding a single point for use (which given the stats are on a scale from 0-5...). The higher you go, the more severe the consequences to the point where hitting 5 makes you play a pretty different game from what any other would do (given you're not a good guy). However, these consequences (hidden or clear) would come with other hidden benefits that you'd learn as you play the game.

It would go as follows:

0: You're pure as untouched snow and have nothing that could be used against you. However, you're kind of normal...
1: You may have screwed up big time once but at least no one got hurt because of you and you learned your lesson! It is pretty embarrassing to talk about though...
2: Something bad happened in your past and people got hurt because of it/you. Moreover, what happened was illegal and thus something you can't really have brought up to the police.
3: Someone is dead by your hand. It may have been self defense, it may not have been but in the end all that matters is that you did it and were shipped off before anyone could do something terrible to you if they knew.
4: There are a lot of people hurt or dead because of your actions, malicious or not. You've given up any hope of acting with police or law enforcement officers, and you're really not to thrilled about what could happen if your secret gets out...
5: At this point you'd think people would more likely call you a super villain or something, and you'd probably agree. You were big once in the small time you were active, and getting shipped off to Rosewood wasn't exactly the way you'd wanted things to go. But you'd rebuild, restart.

 

[Space Penguin]

Demon the Descent crossover with Highschool DXD? Issue here is the God machine and DXD apparently having a christian god who died.

Demons can have kids. So maybe an Issei who is the descendant of a demon but does not know it:

 

[Nervaqus987]

Demon the Descent crossover with Highschool DXD? Issue here is the God machine and DXD apparently having a christian god who died.

Click to shrink...

Not really workable.

DxD and Demon have radically different settings with vastly different metaphysics.

 

[Space Penguin]

Not really workable.

DxD and Demon have radically different settings with vastly different metaphysics.

Click to shrink...

I did say that they have issues. However doesn't Exalted and High School DXD not have issues to? I mean we do have a quest thread about that in this forum.

Also, people have written Worm/Mage: The Ascension stories, even though the cosmologies are nothing alike at all.

 

[Nervaqus987]

I did say that they have issues. However doesn't Exalted and High School DXD not have issues to? I mean we do have a quest thread about that in this forum.

Also, people have written Worm/Mage: The Ascension stories, even though the cosmologies are nothing alike at all.

Click to shrink...

We do have Exalted and DxD crossovers. However, those crossovers(like most Exalted crossovers) tend to be limited to simply dropping an Exaltation on someone's head and seeing what comes from it.

A full on crossover fusion type of deal is a different beast entirely.

Angels of the God-Machine are Clarktech biomechanical creatures put together to accomplish some specific task and are disassembled for spare parts and/or put into cold storage when the God-Machine doesn't need them anymore. Demons result from an Angel deciding "Fuck that noise" and severing their connection.

DxD angels and demons are separate species(if ones that can sorta convert into each other via magic bullshit). They are chiefly organic and aren't created with any specific goal in mind.

God Machine Demons make use of Embeds and Exploits in the occult physics they run on to dick around with reality. They make contracts for pieces of a contractor's life and make a patchwork life out of their collections to use as a Cover to hide from the God Machine.

DxD Demonic magic is based in the magical power and the imagination of the wielder. Other forms of magic are calculation based attempts to replicated the former.

Even from a narrative/thematic level, they are very different with Demon being a horror/spy thriller game while DxD is a shonen series.

And so on.

If you want to cross them over, there's a fucking ton of changes that would have to be made, to the point where there's an extremely real chance that one side or the other would end up crossed over in name only.

 

[Space Penguin]

We do have Exalted and DxD crossovers. However, those crossovers(like most Exalted crossovers) tend to be limited to simply dropping an Exaltation on someone's head and seeing what comes from it.

A full on crossover fusion type of deal is a different beast entirely.

Angels of the God-Machine are Clarktech biomechanical creatures put together to accomplish some specific task and are disassembled for spare parts and/or put into cold storage when the God-Machine doesn't need them anymore. Demons result from an Angel deciding "Fuck that noise" and severing their connection.

DxD angels and demons are separate species(if ones that can sorta convert into each other via magic bullshit). They are chiefly organic and aren't created with any specific goal in mind.

God Machine Demons make use of Embeds and Exploits in the occult physics they run on to dick around with reality. They make contracts for pieces of a contractor's life and make a patchwork life out of their collections to use as a Cover to hide from the God Machine.

DxD Demonic magic is based in the magical power and the imagination of the wielder. Other forms of magic are calculation based attempts to replicated the former.

Even from a narrative/thematic level, they are very different with Demon being a horror/spy thriller game while DxD is a shonen series.

And so on.

If you want to cross them over, there's a fucking ton of changes that would have to be made, to the point where there's an extremely real chance that one side or the other would end up crossed over in name only.

Click to shrink...

Indeed. I did say that there would be tons of issues. Still could be interesting if there was a to cross them over. Now I wouldn't cross over Highschool DXD and either of the Mage games. Too much hax on the humans side. Lolz

 

[Space Penguin]

How about Code Geass crossover with either Mage the Awakening or even Mage the Ascension?

For Mage the Awakening. The Britanians are supported in the background or at least manipulated the Exarch's!

For example, http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/General_(MTAw)

The General - also revered as the All-Conquering or the Queen of Fear - is the Exarch of Forces and one of the four Archigenitors. He grants the Prelacy of Fury and her Ministry are the Praetorians. His number is two.

According to the Seers, she is calculating strategy and red rage, both in service to the power of violence: the way it drains entire nations of their strength and sanity, and divides them when they could otherwise find common cause, explore the world and find the source of their mutual damnation. He manifests in patterns of violence and social unrest, so her followers meditate upon wars, mob violence and serial murder to discover his intentions.

Click to shrink...

Lelouch finds out and now needs to find a way to beat them as well cause even if he beats Britannia, it does not mean anything. Something else will rise up! Thus Nunally would always be in danger.

Thinking of him not being a Mage meaning he needs to get allies if he hopes to stand against the Exarchs. issue is that Mages have hax.


For Mage the Ascension, humanity is under the boot hill of tyranny by the Technocracy and before the tyranny of the Traditions. Humanity is not allowed to follow whatever they believe but must accept what these 2 say.

 

[Biigoh]

​

I have pondered upon a shogunate era fairfolk game... set prior to the Great Contagion. With all PCs being raksha belonging to a certain court/freehold. A powerful court residing within a level 5 freehold in the Wyld, spanning many waypoints.

Said court's mileniu is gaslamp/steam-punk/retro-future victorian era. At least the theme is such. Think Girl Genius, steampunk, league of extra-ordinary gentlemen, and such...

And into the realm where the sun never sets upon the mighty isle of Albion comes an emissary from the Realm beneath Creation, a creature of entropy welcoming the raksha into Creation so that it may be destroyed.

Tranquility, The White Queen and ruler of Albion, trusts not these minions of entropy, and thus... you, along with select others, of the freehold of Albion have been tasked to venture into that dark realm and uncover the Truth behind the dread emissaries who've ventured far and wide into the Wyld with their seductive invitation.

For Queen and Country! You will venture into the dark realm of the Underworld. What you might discover could possibly horrify even the Unthinkable inhabitants of the Wyld... maybe...

***

Game would be Fairfolk / Exalted...

Mileniu/Setting/Style of characters MUST be gaslamp/steam-punk/retro-future Victorian based.

As must their behemoths, spells and so on; ie a gigantic behemoth might manifest as an otherworld monstrosity constructed of fiendish steel striding over land and sea upon three legs and brandishing an aetheric death-ray. A horde of extras might resemble an army of ghurkas. A cataphract adventurer might look like a british gentleman explorer with pithhelmut, flintpistol and saber.