Mid-Range Game 39: For Science

[BrightnessRadiant]

MR39: For Science!

 

  "Scissors." 
   He reached out a gloved hand, blood dripping to the floor and spattering his boots. He didn't look up from the dissected body on the table before him. Miranda picked the scissors from the tray and handed them to the doctor, hands trembling as she watched him take the gleaming silver tool from her. His steady hand moved to make the cut. Miranda let out a small gasp, bringing him to a stop. 
   "Do you need to leave the room, Miranda?" 
   The doctor spoke quietly from beneath his mask. Miranda's heart beat wildly and she didn't make a sound.
   "Send me another to take your place. You're relieved for the day."
   Moments later she leaned against the door of her room, trying to calm her stomach. Nope. She lost what food she'd eaten that day. Shaking, she wiped her mouth with her sleeve and collapsed on her bed across the room. Something had to be done about this. Dissection after dissection and still nothing satisfied the doctor. Everyone knew that epics were horrible people but that didn't mean it justified cutting them open to see how they worked...did it?
   "I have to stop it." 
   Opening the drawer in her end table she pulled out a pad of paper and a pen and began writing. 
                      ~~~
   Trying to steady her breathing, Miranda knocked on the office door. The doctor's voice beckoned her inside.
   A clock ticked on the wall, the only sound in the room besides that of papers shuffling on the heavy wooden desk. It was a nicely furnished room with a dark velvet chair in the corner, a pretty green rug on the floor and a dark wooden bookcase lining one wall. A tank of fish sat next to the chair, the filter causing bubbles on top that made the fish curious until they forgot what they were doing. Fish don't have the greatest of memories. 
   The doctor glanced up from his desk in the center of the room.
   "Are you feeling better? Please come in."
   Miranda swallowed and stepped forward, handing the doctor the note she had written.
   "What's this?"
   "I'm leaving."
   The doctor looked at her in shock.
   "You're what?"
   "I need to get away from here for a while. I want to go on the next expedition you send out to find epics for your….research." 
   The doctor's expression changed from concern to consideration. 
   "I...see." 
   He removed his glasses, hooking the end of the frame in his lip as he thought. Did he suspect something? Miranda counted to ten to distract herself and still her nerves. He sat quietly for a moment, the ticking of the clock seeming to grow louder and louder in Miranda's ears before the silence was broken.
   "Very well. You've been my best assistant." 
   He put his glasses back on and set to writing on a clean sheet of paper, signing it when he was finished.
   "Give this to Arone straightaway. I believe his team is leaving for Newcago first thing tomorrow morning."
   Miranda reached out and took the paper, sighing in relief and turning to leave. Just after the paper left his fingers, the doctor gripped her wrist, causing her to look back at him. He stared her in the eye, his cold blue gaze feeling as if it would pierce through her.
   "Be careful."
She nodded. Leaving the room, she closed the door behind her and exhaled. She wasn't sure if those words had been meant as well wishes or a threat. Did he suspect her intentions? Either way she was leaving. She would find a way to put an end to this. Even if it meant having to find an epic to help her.

_________________________________________________________________

Welcome to MR39! The game will begin on Friday the 13th at 1 PM CST. Good luck!  The game is set sometime before the events of the book Steelheart but after Steelheart has taken over the city of Newcago. So basically before the beginning of book 1 minus the prologue.

 

Rules:

• This will be a MR with 48 hour cycles

• The elims have a separate doc to discuss and they have one kill per cycle

• Open PMing (only 1 on 1) All PMs must include myself and Fifth Scholar (IM)

• Tied lynch ends in a no lynch

• No minimum vote requirement 

• When a player dies their items are removed from the game 

Actions:

• You may only take one action per cycle 

• Elim kill counts as an action

• You may use an item 

• You may target a player and attempt to steal their item

• You may choose to guard yourself against an item being stolen

 

Factions:

 

• Loyals - you are loyal to the doctor and will see your mission done when you find all of the traitors

• Traitors - you win when you kill or outnumber all of those who are loyal to the doctor

 

Items:

 

• Gun - one time use, may kill any player you target unless they're protected by the vest

• Bullet proof vest - one time use, protects against any attack excluding the lynch (passive ability but if activated by an attack it will cancel out your other action if you took one)

• Knife - wounds a player of your choice, blocking their action for that cycle (may be used once per round)

• Binoculars - may spy on a player's action, seeing whom they targeted and with what action (may be used once per round) Both the elim kill and the gun will show up as an attack if the binoculars spot it. It will not specify which one it was.

• Smoke Bomb - You cannot be observed with Binoculars. Using this doesn’t consume your action.

• Strongbox - Cannot be stolen. You can store one item in the Strongbox. That item cannot be stolen while in the Strongbox. Putting an item in a strongbox does count as an action, but the item is still available for use on following cycles even if it is in the strongbox.

 

The Black Market: 

This will be a space where players can spend points earned from activity each cycle. Some items are only available in the black market and do not start out in game. There will be a limited number of items for the entirety of the game.

Point Gain:

Posting over 150 words in at least one RP post in a Cycle - 1 point

Making at least 2 posts contributing to discussion in a Cycle - 1 point

• The Black Market is not a place for charity, and besides, you’re all mercenaries. Points cannot be given to other players.
• If two people go for the same item and there isn't enough inventory then the person who put in the order first will get it. The person who didn't get it will retain their points.
• You will not be informed of who got what, but you will be able to see what went down in inventory on the next cycle. There is a set number of items at the start of the game and no more will be added.
• The black market does not count as an action and therefore the binoculars cannot see it.
• There is a 2 point cap that can be reached each cycle.

 

Order of Events:

Guarding an item/ strongbox

Stealing

Bullet proof vest

Weapon or elim kill

Smoke bomb

Binoculars

 

Inactivity filter: must post once per cycle or you'll be removed from the game

 

Player List:

Spoiler

1. StrikerEZ - the already suspicious

2. Kynedath - Remy Constantine 

3. DeTess - the unnamed deity

4. Stick - Stick!

5. Sart - the one who sends greetings

6. Butt Venture - Charley Rosen

7. Elandera - character pending

8. CadCom - character pending jr

9. Lemonelon - a happy lemon

10. Elkanah - Clark Narrow (kid from the streets)

11. Coda - Absodel (student of medicine)

12. Devotary of Spontaneity - Lieutenant Muave (experienced sniper)

13. Kidpen - mustached gma

14. Twibanu - unnamed seeker of secrets

15. A Joe in the Bush - Doc Olny (a mad scientist)

Links:

Spoiler

Cycle 1
Cycle 2
Cycle 3: Oh snap 
Cycle 4: Framed
Cycle 5: A mysterious Character
Cycle 6: Butt Hurt
Cycle 7: Lemon Juice
Aftermath
 

 

Rule Clarifications:

1. When targeting a player to steal an item, you may specify what item you're attempting to steal if you wish, but if they don't have that item then you will get nothing. If you don't specify then you will get one of their items at random unless they were guarding that item. 

2. You must choose which specific item to guard from being stolen.

3. You can steal as many items as you can get.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Elbereth

[StrikerEZ]

Signing up!!!

[Kynedath]

. . . I'll sign up for this one. It's been a very long time since I've played a game of SE, so I'll be rusty for the first while probably, but it'll be fun to get back in the game! at least for a little while. This game is starting right as my semester ends, but I unfortunately can't say for certain whether I'll be able to participate in any games after this one again. :'(

[DeTess]

Yep, I'll join as well!

Also, just to try to get it out of my system be fore we start, striker  

Edited December 7, 2019 by DeTess

[StrikerEZ]

1 hour ago, DeTess said:

Yep, I'll join as well!

Also, just to try to get it out of my system be fore we start, striker  

Wow I haven’t even said anything yet.

[Stick.]

Signing up as Stick! 

[Kynedath]

I'm assuming since you can steal items from other players just as an action, you can have as many items as you can steal, correct?

If so, then when stealing from a player with more than one item, will an item be chosen at random from their "inventory"?

The rules also state that :

20 hours ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

You may choose to guard yourself against an item being stolen

Does this mean you prevent any of your items being stolen or do you have to specify one item you don't want stolen?

Edited December 7, 2019 by Kynedath

[Sart]

Hello, I'm signing up.

[BrightnessRadiant]

23 hours ago, Kynedath said:

I'm assuming since you can steal items from other players just as an action, you can have as many items as you can steal, correct?

If so, then when stealing from a player with more than one item, will an item be chosen at random from their "inventory"?

The rules also state that :

Does this mean you prevent any of your items being stolen or do you have to specify one item you don't want stolen?

You can steal as many items as you can get, yes.

An item will be chosen at random unless you care to specify what item you're attempting to steal from them.

You will have to specify which item to protect.

[Kynedath]

2 hours ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

You can steal as many items as you can get, yes.

An item will be chosen at random unless you care to specify what item you're attempting to steal from them.

You will have to specify which item to protect.

So then if you specify an item you want to steal and they don't have that item but they have another one, will stealing from that person fail or will you steal their other item?

[BrightnessRadiant]

28 minutes ago, Kynedath said:

So then if you specify an item you want to steal and they don't have that item but they have another one, will stealing from that person fail or will you steal their other item?

If you specify and they don't have the item than you'll get nothing 

[Kynedath]

55 minutes ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

If you specify and they don't have the item than you'll get nothing 

Thank you so much for all your help, I greatly appreciate it oh great and powerful game master.

[+Ed Venture]

...well...why not? I’ll sign up. Can’t ever go wrong with a simple items game can you.

...no seriously, can you?

Sign me up as Charley Rosen - Tablecloth seller.

@BrightnessRadiant You might want to put me down as Butt Venture? Ookla season ends eventually and I don't want to cause too much confusion.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Ookla the Journey

[Kynedath]

Aw dip! I forgot I could be a specific character!

I wanna be Remy Constantine, a male French ex-patriate whose first love is the sea, whose second love I exploration of the unknown, whose ultimate role model is Meriwether Lewis and his Corps of Discovery, and whose ultimate goal in life is to see the age of exploration live again - but this time in the stars! Or at least, it was before the epics appeared. Now they want more than anything to find a way to rid the world of epics so humanity can focus on stories of adventure and exploration again!

Edited December 9, 2019 by Kynedath

[Elandera]

I'll sign up, character pending.

[CadCom]

signing up as well. Character also pending. 

[BrightnessRadiant]

18 hours ago, Kynedath said:

Thank you so much for all your help, I greatly appreciate it oh great and powerful game master.

Thank you for your questions! I greatly appreciate the feedback to clarify rules before the game starts or during the game, oh studious and clever game player.

[BrightnessRadiant]

I'm playing around with the idea of creating in game rewards as well as post game awards. Would anyone be interested in something like that? I'm considering giving items and benefits to players who are more active and attempt to meet special goals within the game. If anyone would be interested or curious I welcome feedback!

[Kynedath]

Im intrigued by the idea of in game rewards and milestones! I can see a lot of ways that would make things more interesting. I've never seen it in a game of SE before personally and I'm curious to see if and how it works out.

[BrightnessRadiant]

2 minutes ago, Kynedath said:

Im intrigued by the idea of in game rewards and milestones! I can see a lot of ways that would make things more interesting. I've never seen it in a game of SE before personally and I'm curious to see if and how it works out.

Good to hear! I'm considering giving out rewards to players each cycle for things like best rp and most game related posts etc. And giving them special in game rewards for that like extra items or specialty items that you can't get at the start of the game. Just to promote activity. And end game awards for stuff like best rp, most items stolen, etc.

[DeTess]

5 minutes ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

Good to hear! I'm considering giving out rewards to players each cycle for things like best rp and most game related posts etc. And giving them special in game rewards for that like extra items or specialty items that you can't get at the start of the game. Just to promote activity. And end game awards for stuff like best rp, most items stolen, etc.

I'd be careful about subjective stuff like 'best RP', but general rewards for activity can definitely work and can even add an interesting extra layer for analysis. LG30 used such a system, where activity allowed one to accrue points that they could use to buy a role later.

Edited December 9, 2019 by DeTess

[BrightnessRadiant]

1 minute ago, DeTess said:

I'd be careful about subjective stuff like 'best RP', but general rewards for activity can definitely work and can even add an interesting extra layer for analysis. LG30 used such a system, where activity allowed one to accrue points that they could sue to buy a role later.

Yeah that's a good point. Those were just thoughts off the top of my head. 

Huh that's an interesting system. I think that was Aman's game right? That was right before I joined.

[DeTess]

1 minute ago, BrightnessRadiant said:

Huh that's an interesting system. I think that was Aman's game right? That was right before I joined.

Yeah. IIRC, you got 1 point each cycle for posting at least 200 words of RP, and 1 point each cycle for making at least two posts of discussion. You could then use those to try to become a knight Radiant. Because the requirements where publicly known, you could also track how many points everyone had to determine who was likely to have a role. You could use a similar system here where you get 'requisition tokens' or whatever for activity which you can use to buy items.

[BrightnessRadiant]

1 minute ago, DeTess said:

Yeah. IIRC, you got 1 point each cycle for posting at least 200 words of RP, and 1 point each cycle for making at least two posts of discussion. You could then use those to try to become a knight Radiant. Because the requirements where publicly known, you could also track how many points everyone had to determine who was likely to have a role. You could use a similar system here where you get 'requisition tokens' or whatever for activity which you can use to buy items.

I really like that idea! Especially since they're going to Newcago and there is a black market system there in the books.

[Lemonelon]

This game is sounding great!! Must sign up