GRcade

The year is 2118.

A network of omniscient Minds handles all governance. There are many thousands of Minds, each making decisions for the local region under their control. Their communiques are cryptic, their motives mysterious, their thinking strange and alien; but they are always correct, and humanity trusts them completely.

The Mind for Massachusetts, Beta, was the first on which all others were templated. She exists within the Computational Foundry, a titanic megastructure which was once, barely-recognisably, the renowned Miskatonic University in the college town of Arkham. Amongst other artefacts and infrastructure, it contains Beta's core, and the machinery to construct new Minds when needed. Humans are usually barred from this holy ground for Minds.

This morning you read a government job request. You would usually skim past these - yet more spam in your inbox - but you had never seen one marked "urgent" before. It was with some apprehension that you read its baffling and unsettling contents.

Beta wrote:PERSONAL COMMUNICATION [VERIFY SOURCE ########### OK] NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
===REQUEST FOR LABOUR===
CATEGORY: UNKNOWN
NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS: UNKNOWN
CONTRACT LENGTH: UNKNOWN
JOB-SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS: REPORT TO REGION 1--SECTOR 1--UNIT 1 IMMEDIATELY FOR SIGNALS PROCESSING TASK
CREDIT REWARD: ANY REQUESTED VALUE; SUPRABUDGETARY SPENDING AUTHORISED

Will you take the job?


How the game is structured:

• No PMs (apart from exceptions below). All discussion, plotting, and voting must happen totally in-thread.
  
  
• The Hacker is the leader of the informed minority. Bots are members of the informed minority. Techs are the uninformed majority.
  
  
• When the Hacker and the Bots have been eliminated, the Techs win.
  
  
• Each day (in real time), there are two turns. One runs from 10am til 2pm; the other runs from 6pm til 10pm. Each turn, the players must organise and count a public vote on which other player to delete, eliminating them from the game.
  
  
• At 10pm, I will organise a head-to-head mini-game between the Hacker & Bots (posting anonymously) and a champion, elected over the course of that day via public vote. If the champion wins they receive an extra nanomod (described below). If the Hacker wins, Beta's core systems will erode...
  
  
• Every player begins with a nanomod, a consumable special power. During each turn, every player can (but does not have to) choose to either: draw a new nanomod (discarding the one in hand if there is one); or: cast their nanomod for its effect (consuming it in the process). These actions take place via PM, though some effects are announced in-thread.

Currently in:

Oblomov Boblomov
DarkRula
Jenuall
Drumstick
Remi Dong
False
Moggy
Corazon de Leon
Denster
Errkal
OrangeRakoon
Lagamorph
Dual
Ironhide
Clarkman
Qikz
Mini E
Nun
Banjo
PaperMacheMario
Albear
Hexx
Parksey
Satriales
Tragic Magic
PsychicSykes
Minoru
Hyperion
Pancake
Sawyerpip
Roonmastor


This is an experimental game.

I have no idea how balanced it is or how long it will run for. I just wanted to experiment, mix up the format, and have some fun with the template. I look forward to feedback at the end, but I won't be making any changes during the game, so please wait until it's over to complain. There will be two more forum games with more traditional formats coming soon!


This starts Tuesday because I'm running a bit late for a Monday start. Sorry about that.

In.

Ooh consumable special powers sound like fun.

Looking forward to it!

IN

Wait, how have only 3 people posted in here yet there are so many people "in"?

Tragic Magic wrote:IN

Wait, how have only 3 people posted in here yet there are so many people "in"?

There was an announcement-of-an-announcement thread.

I'm not fully understanding it, but then this is something new. I'm sure it'll become clear once the first day is over.
"Let the games begin" "Let's get this party started" etc... etc...

Like the set up. Descriptions remind me of the Combine in HL2.

In.

Ooo interesting. I like the change up up of how thi gs are and the all chatter in thread thing. Hopefully it will prevent the usual silence in thread as a trusted group play the game for everyone else.

In, although if the game lasts more than a week then I'll be on holiday.

satriales wrote:In, although if the game lasts more than a week then I'll be on holiday.

A holiday eh? That’s just the sort of trick a hacker would pull.

I'm out.

Don't think I'll bother with this one as I probably won't be online at either 2pm or 10pm most days.

Ironhide wrote:I'm out.

Don't think I'll bother with this one as I probably won't be online at either 2pm or 10pm most days.

Are you sure? There's obviously still normal AYA? intrigue underneath it all, and most of the timings on the turn-based stuff isn't that strict -- you can obviously queue up an action or a vote between turns if you want, normal quality-of-life stuff. I think anyone who could play an AYA? game could play this. If you still want out though no worries, let me know!

I'll play, though I might not be incredibly active.

Interesting concept of not having PMs at all - let’s do this.

wINdows 98

Karl wrote:

Ironhide wrote:I'm out.

Don't think I'll bother with this one as I probably won't be online at either 2pm or 10pm most days.

Are you sure? There's obviously still normal AYA? intrigue underneath it all, and most of the timings on the turn-based stuff isn't that strict -- you can obviously queue up an action or a vote between turns if you want, normal quality-of-life stuff. I think anyone who could play an AYA? game could play this. If you still want out though no worries, let me know!

I'll still take part then, just don't expect much punctuality.

Ooh, ooh, in!

In.

I will take the job. I'll take one million credits as payment.

No wait, one billion credits.



How much is a credit worth?