non lore-Sci-fi, gamma world, fantasy-ish mashup

[greenknightfury]

 

OK I follow what your saying, basicly that with a really advanced level of technology even cheap toys would potentially have very capable/advanced AI routines?

 

If that's the case I *so* see examples that would make great scenarios. The psych(ie shrink) bot that's gone insane, killer toys, etc.

 

Ooh yes! Also some amusing ideas:

 

A killbot type that just wants to be loved. It acts like the AI teddy bears; always asking for hugs, wanting to snuggle, acting terrified of anything remotely startling or scary to a child (but going totally kill-mode if whoever it is attached to is in actual danger), always wanting to have a tea party/get a story read to it.

 

An OCD cleaning bot (perhaps one of the riding vacuums seen so much in various buildings) that is constantly moaning about the dirt and grime of the wastes, occasionally just snapping and having to clean a person(knocking them down and causing some damage)/area all the while yelling "Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Must clean! Make it sparkle!", always begging for detergent and Abraxo.

 

A delusional tour guide bot; leading people through tours of the ruins of the building it is assigned to, completely ignoring the damage around it and declaiming about the (often now buried or missing) exhibits or decor.

[devinpatterson]

Ooh yes! Also some amusing ideas:

 

A killbot type that just wants to be loved. It acts like the AI teddy bears; always asking for hugs, wanting to snuggle, acting terrified of anything remotely startling or scary to a child (but going totally kill-mode if whoever it is attached to is in actual danger), always wanting to have a tea party/get a story read to it.

Do you remember the "Texas Teddy" from the Sunset thread (did I ever post the video)? I think that would be a great loving kids toy/homicidal killing machine. I rigged him/it to a protectron skeleton so it doesn't really have any hug animations, but maybe I could make one.

 

Video:

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjSp9LHeTBk

 

 

 

An OCD cleaning bot (perhaps one of the riding vacuums seen so much in various buildings) that is constantly moaning about the dirt and grime of the wastes, occasionally just snapping and having to clean a person(knocking them down and causing some damage)/area all the while yelling "Filthy! Filthy! Filthy! Must clean! Make it sparkle!", always begging for detergent and Abraxo.

Did you ever see one of those floor cleaners (maybe in a janitorial closet, might have been one in Reppcon)? Those always looked like bots to me, might make a good base. I can get him to move around, but it doesn't have any proper limbs to animate. Which is still cool, but if not, the next one would be a mr handy variant. I learned how to make it swap out items on the fly and I don't see why we couldn't have him holding a vacuum hose that plugs right into his body/chasis when he finally breaks and needs to clean his "filthy" comrades. In the mean time we can have him/it with his/its broom as your walking along, or a rag or any number of cleaning supplies.

 

A delusional tour guide bot; leading people through tours of the ruins of the building it is assigned to, completely ignoring the damage around it and declaiming about the (often now buried or missing) exhibits or decor.

And always admonishing you for not watching your step near the exhibits, straying too close to important artifacts, abusing company equipment if you open a vending machine etc.

 

All good stuff :smile:

 

I'v gotten some more anthropomorphic animal resources and like gamma world I think the intelligent mutant animals should play a large role in teh world. I was also thinking that we had animal genes introduced to the surviving population at large primarily as custom designer genes to fit with the cyberpunk style. And I still think that's a great angle, I mean if you have cash, are jaded and the technology is readily available why wouldn't someone have cat eyes, or leopard skin, canine teeth etc.

 

But I was thinking we can combine that with two other explanations. Some viruses co-opting and passing along genetic material happens naturally. Perhaps a mutated version of one that was originally a medical retro virus used for implantation of beneficial genes (cosmetic, longevity, genetic repair of some congenital disorders, etc) has gone completely off the rails and jumped the species barrier. As it jumps from host to host, some of the previous's hosts genes go along for the ride. So some other animal genes get dumped into the genetic pool.

 

The second reason is a little more dark/sad. But instead of just designer genes providing some of the more outrageous and fashionable animal traits, maybe advanced animals were grown and genetically enhanced as companions of various types. For someone that has money to burn, $100,000 for a genetically enhanced golden retriever with an IQ of 60 (or 70 or 80) and rudimentary speech, could be a must have. I could actually see a lot those those for very lonely but well to do people that want companionship.

 

I'm they would have been sterile pre-apocalyptic because it would be in the corps best interest to preserve themselves as the only suppliers. Sterility would be there "copy protection" from people breeding them. But mules are sterile and every now and then (like 1 in a million) a molly mule can give birth. In addition people do love to break copy protection. Perhaps home bio hackers or specialists in Hong Kong produce knock offs or charge a price to remove the copy protection of sterility. Stuff like that.

 

It's also possible that they (the corps) may not even make them sterile but rather spay/neuter them before they leave the factory farms.

 

But either way I think the most common would be domestic pets, with some more exotic ones available. Since we don't have many natural animal models except dogs (and rats), we won't have much variety until we can get some more. But it gives us another (non playable) race; Robot, cyborg, human (purestrain, slight enhancements), human (genetically designed or heavily enhanced, elders, squats etc), wastelander (minor mutations), mutant, anthropomorphic animal, intelligent animal (non playable, npc only).

[greenknightfury]

Love the idea of some intelligent animal NPCs; perhaps a telepathic intelligent dog companion, al-la the movie "A Boy and his Dog" which obviously inspired (or was in an eerie set of coincidences nearly identical to) several things in Fallout.

 

Beyond Boulder Dome has housecat models in it (as well as mutant strains) along with apes and mutant mountain lions, might be worth checking if they care to share their models.

 

Also the model of ravens should be easy enough, since they were a default creature of the game *heh*, which makes me picture someone having an argument with an intelligent raven.

 

Person:" So you see I'll pay you quite well if you bring me" *gets cut off*

 

Raven:*interrupting the person* "Us!"

 

Person: *sighs* "Alright, bring US the items on that list."

 

Raven:*mantling and squawking* "Don't forget to warn him(/her)!"

 

Person: *looks nervous* "Err, right. There might...possibly...be a group of crazed combat bots in the place. I'm sure that last merc was lying when he said that though."

 

Raven: *squawking loudly* "He was DYING! Of laser burns!" *turns toward player* "Ignore my idiot partner and go loaded for nasty bots, got it?"

[greenknightfury]

Also Texas Teddy would work great for it, hug animation would he a challenge true, *heh* I was picturing something more "nasty killbot" looking for my idea but that could work too. Would definitely be great for berserk killer toy though, especially if placed in someplace like a toystore, very good hidden enemy/jumpscare moment.

[devinpatterson]

Love the idea of some intelligent animal NPCs; perhaps a telepathic intelligent dog companion, al-la the movie "A Boy and his Dog" which obviously inspired (or was in an eerie set of coincidences nearly identical to) several things in Fallout.

Yeah I think so too (inspiration for fallout). I remember that the android had a glitch where it had this creepy smile (just on that one unit), even as it was busy throttling peeps.

 

Beyond Boulder Dome has housecat models in it (as well as mutant strains) along with apes and mutant mountain lions, might be worth checking if they care to share their models.

I was given permission to use the apes (I have plans to implement them in teh Burrows mod) so I suspect that if I request it, they would probably let me use the cats as well. I imagine a lot of the stuff for the burrows mod and the animals for this mod will share the same assets.

 

Also the model of ravens should be easy enough, since they were a default creature of the game *heh*, which makes me picture someone having an argument with an intelligent raven.

True, love the Ravens, and pound for pound (brain mass) are incredibly intelligent, use tools etc. And they have some intersting behaviors that can certainly add character, like drugging themselves with ants.

 

And a couple of variations on your partner theme could be fun too;

 

1. an animal kingpin of a gang or organization. Might be fun to hear this big build up of "the boss" only to see a raven, dog or some other unexpected leader. I mean it's all about the brains right? You don't have to personally have to be able to kick butt to be a kingpin, that's what the "muscle" is for.

 

2. What appears to be a companion to the boss (a dog, raven what have you), that the courier begins to realize is playing incognito during your discussions with the fake human boss. The courier begins to notice subtle clues (like the animal paying unusual attention to certain comments the courier makes) and not so subtle clues (the human your speaking with couldn't reason it's way out of a paper bag). At which point the courier can just speak directly to teh animal gaining some measure of respect for penetrating it's disguise/ruse.

 

 

Also Texas Teddy would work great for it, hug animation would he a challenge true, *heh* I was picturing something more "nasty killbot" looking for my idea but that could work too. Would definitely be great for berserk killer toy though, especially if placed in someplace like a toystore, very good hidden enemy/jumpscare moment.

Ah, I gotcha. Not so much cute appearance but deadly, rather more something with a deadly appearance but cute? Sure we can make a particularly frighting brain bot (get some additional hardware in there, some bloody gel in teh brain case along with a pair of floating eyes, etc,) that just wants to be loved.

 

Also I totally forgot about one whole category of player character races teh synths, ala bladerunner. A completely synthetic biological android.

 

And a possible pitch for a new sub category of player bot. My initial idea when we first started the thread was a humanoid bot (pretty much our only choice really, at the time). But thanks to Jazzisparis, Jojash and Illyism, it might be possible to play a non humonoid bot. It's too early to tell all the snafu's but do you think that option might appeal to someone?

[greenknightfury]

 

True, love the Ravens, and pound for pound (brain mass) are incredibly intelligent, use tools etc. And they have some intersting behaviors that can certainly add character, like drugging themselves with ants.

 

And a couple of variations on your partner theme could be fun too;

 

1. an animal kingpin of a gang or organization. Might be fun to hear this big build up of "the boss" only to see a raven, dog or some other unexpected leader. I mean it's all about the brains right? You don't have to personally have to be able to kick butt to be a kingpin, that's what the "muscle" is for.

 

2. What appears to be a companion to the boss (a dog, raven what have you), that the courier begins to realize is playing incognito during your discussions with the fake human boss. The courier begins to notice subtle clues (like the animal paying unusual attention to certain comments the courier makes) and not so subtle clues (the human your speaking with couldn't reason it's way out of a paper bag). At which point the courier can just speak directly to teh animal gaining some measure of respect for penetrating it's disguise/ruse.

 

Either of these would be great, the second would be extra funny if the player had an intelligent animal companion, which very likely the real boss would assume is the real brains behind the player.

 

 

 

 

Ah, I gotcha. Not so much cute appearance but deadly, rather more something with a deadly appearance but cute? Sure we can make a particularly frighting brain bot (get some additional hardware in there, some bloody gel in teh brain case along with a pair of floating eyes, etc,) that just wants to be loved.

 

Also I totally forgot about one whole category of player character races teh synths, ala bladerunner. A completely synthetic biological android.

 

And a possible pitch for a new sub category of player bot. My initial idea when we first started the thread was a humanoid bot (pretty much our only choice really, at the time). But thanks to Jazzisparis, Jojash and Illyism, it might be possible to play a non humonoid bot. It's too early to tell all the snafu's but do you think that option might appeal to someone?

 

 

Yes a extra creepy/deadly brainbot would be great for it.

 

I think the choice to try some unconventional characters (nonhumaniod) would have lots of appeal.

[devinpatterson]

Yes a extra creepy/deadly brainbot would be great for it.

Sounds good. I'm doing some experimental testing on some new ghost people models for The Legend Of The Sierra Madre (co-author and general maker of weird cr*p, official title), and I'll see what I can whip up while I have blender open.

 

What do you think about a dual brain model? It's new/novel, but also has the advantage that it could explain the "I just wanna be loved" or "I'm frightened" one minute whith teh "I'm gonna rip your face off", attitude shift, the next minute. One could be a child's brain, neither has to be aware of the other, think of them more as a multiple personality disorder than two concurrent brains conscious at the same time.

 

Also could be good for a moral dilemma, because in this case the the child can't be held responsible for the damaged adult brain, yet it is obviously a potential slaughter waiting to happen.

 

I think the choice to try some unconventional characters (nonhumaniod) would have lots of appeal.

Could be interesting. And another facet or use could be to open up a new "class" a technomancer/robomancer, that may play some of the PC's activities through a remote controlled bot.

 

I was also pondering a bit of the origin story adn I have an idea that might be a good candidate. I picture someone that has been in VR from before the cataclysm (perhaps entering as a child) as a sort of justification for knowing *absolutely nothing* about the post apocalyptic world. Visually I could see exiting from a VR pod into a room within ruins of a city, with giant vines and foliage that has begun to retake the old concrete monuments of man.

 

I'm not completely sure on the back story. Maybe it's a hospital and the child was in a coma, with VR therapy rebuilding his/her cognition then everything went to hell and the VR pod disconnected fromt eh grid, just playing the simuations stored in it's memory until brain activity was normal. Maybe it's a more traditional vault/shelter scenario similar to ID's Rage. Maybe the child was just in his/her VR school program at home, when the S hit the fan and the VR pod went into a safety mode that lasted for years. I imagine we can come up with some interesting scenarios.

 

But the key is a lack of any knowledge about his/her past or the world in general. We can get the same thing from a cryogenic chamber, which may work better depending on teh time period or even amnesia. But a complete blank slate (regardless of the cause) would go a long way toward settign teh tone for what will be new lore in a very different setting from fallout.

[greenknightfury]

Well one of the campaign settings Gamma World D20 gave gives a great origin for a totally Wasteland ignorant individual:

 

An AI controlled device meant for cargo teleportation was used as an emergency exit to a Vault (not stretching there, that's all you could call the described settlement/shelter) that was catastrophically damaged in the beginning attacks. The poor AI had no idea how to rebuild living things, so had to store their patterns for long periods of time until managing to contact another AI that knew how to produce living creatures; it was the center of a project to recreate extinct lifeforms and to maintain the environment of the domed-city attached to the dome in which a park full of the extinct creatures was supposed to be created (the city emptied because of radiation). They recreated the people within the domed-city, to the people it was as if they had stepped onto the teleporter and then suddenly found themselves in this new home.

 

We could even use the part I ignored in that description for those that aren't fully human, they were altered to try to make them better able to survive the new environment (and correct some of the glaring flaws of biological design as the AIs saw it). Those that are robots are easily explained as damaged (i.e. memorywiped) or newly constructed "soultech"(fully intelligent and emotional AI).

 

 

The V.R./Cryo/Stasis pod explanation also has some great potential though.

Edited December 30, 2013 by greenknightfury

[TrooperScooperMKII]

 

Yes a extra creepy/deadly brainbot would be great for it.

Sounds good. I'm doing some experimental testing on some new ghost people models for The Legend Of The Sierra Madre (co-author and general maker of weird cr*p, official title), and I'll see what I can whip up while I have blender open.

 

What do you think about a dual brain model? It's new/novel, but also has the advantage that it could explain the "I just wanna be loved" or "I'm frightened" one minute whith teh "I'm gonna rip your face off", attitude shift, the next minute. One could be a child's brain, neither has to be aware of the other, think of them more as a multiple personality disorder than two concurrent brains conscious at the same time.

 

Also could be good for a moral dilemma, because in this case the the child can't be held responsible for the damaged adult brain, yet it is obviously a potential slaughter waiting to happen.

 

I think the choice to try some unconventional characters (nonhumaniod) would have lots of appeal.

Could be interesting. And another facet or use could be to open up a new "class" a technomancer/robomancer, that may play some of the PC's activities through a remote controlled bot.

 

I was also pondering a bit of the origin story adn I have an idea that might be a good candidate. I picture someone that has been in VR from before the cataclysm (perhaps entering as a child) as a sort of justification for knowing *absolutely nothing* about the post apocalyptic world. Visually I could see exiting from a VR pod into a room within ruins of a city, with giant vines and foliage that has begun to retake the old concrete monuments of man.

 

I'm not completely sure on the back story. Maybe it's a hospital and the child was in a coma, with VR therapy rebuilding his/her cognition then everything went to hell and the VR pod disconnected fromt eh grid, just playing the simuations stored in it's memory until brain activity was normal. Maybe it's a more traditional vault/shelter scenario similar to ID's Rage. Maybe the child was just in his/her VR school program at home, when the S hit the fan and the VR pod went into a safety mode that lasted for years. I imagine we can come up with some interesting scenarios.

 

But the key is a lack of any knowledge about his/her past or the world in general. We can get the same thing from a cryogenic chamber, which may work better depending on teh time period or even amnesia. But a complete blank slate (regardless of the cause) would go a long way toward settign teh tone for what will be new lore in a very different setting from fallout.

 

Well, we're already planning a dual-brain bot for Mars..

There's also already a robot player race mod available.

[greenknightfury]

Yep I'd checked out that robot race mod before, never played it (it would make OWB way too immersion breaking, "What heart, brain and spine?!? I'm a robot!!!"). But that works nicely for the humanoid non-android bots for this, if we could get a compatibility set up for it (mainly for the "heals at electrical devices like they were water sources" effect and getting doctored by repair folks/effects).