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Dec 30: More Project Information
13 years ago
General
|█████|BODY
| █████|MIND
| █████|SOUL
█ I'm a bit mentally exhausted, was a bit of work pushing through the last few XXXmas commissions that I wanted to do. Was fun doing them overall, but repetition gets to a person after awhile!
█ I need to write up a sort of commission FAQ to go along with my TOS, I'll probably do that next before opening up my comic project to be commissioned into.
█ Okay brain dump time again. This will likely be the last one before I actually open up the commissions. This one is not where you request to be in it. None of what I spill out is necessarily final, as I might change things if I feel a better idea/logic can apply.
First I'll be changing the stats & rolls. On the comic page itself I'll have some kind of display that will show who rolled what and what needed to be rolled to 'pass' This probably means I'll be creating icons for people who get involved in the comic. I'll probably make them in a way so they can be used as FA icons and the like if people wish to do so. These icons will probably be offered up as 'normal' commissions for something like $5 probably, but would be included for whoever ends up being part of the comic. I digress.
The rolls will still be done on six sided dice (I do have access to twenty sided ones, but that would just over complicate everything for me). Will follow something more logical to other dice games and have 1 as a 'critical failure.' A 6 will imply success, and will allow for a secondary roll to determine the level of success; of course in 'unwinnable' situations, the roll will determine how well the person will have resisted in that situation.
"Player" Mechanics
Since people can't directly participate in the events of the comic, I decided to have a roll determine if a person will take a more safe or more risky action. It will be a behavior roll based on the stat of "Cautiousness" and will range between 0 and 6. If a person has a cautiousness of 3, then any roll of 1-3 will have the person take the safer action, where as 4-6 will be the riskier option. This means a person with a 0 for caution will always take the riskier option, and a person with 6 will always take the safer path. This roll will be used by 'Squad Leaders' to determine where a group goes, or if a person is isolated they'll make the choice on their own. This isn't a combat roll, and will be replacing the 'insight' stat that I had set up.
Ego mechanics have been changed slightly, ego will be a bonus on top of a d6 roll. People can have an ego of 0 (extremely likely to follow orders) to 6 (likely to give out orders) So a 6 ego has a range of rolls from 7 to 12, and a 0 ego has a range of 1-6. Leaders will be picked at the start from the highest egos (equally high egos will be rolled against each other if necessary) When the group is faced with decisions, the leader will roll against everyone else. Those who end up rolling higher than the leader may buck the order given based on the "Cautiousness" stat.
Fitness mechanics will be changed in the same way, in where the stat will be a bonus on top of a d6, and it's also a range of 0-6. There's three specializations of strong, agile, vigor. On the relevant checks on strength, reflex, and endurance the highest of two rolls will be picked.
"Group" Mechanics
Enduring Technologies will send out units to conduct various tasks and the like, which will be formed by the following:
Master - Leads the unit.
Second - Second in command, referred to as "master" in the absence of the Master
Private - 6 to 10 "soldiers"
There will also be a retrieval unit that will be called in to collect whatever is caught or needs evacuating. These people generally won't be at risk or involved in the action, they sort of drive the vehicles and look after containment units.
The Master and Second carry hard-programmed slave balls for the purposes of capturing targets or disciplining subordinates. They are keyed to the wielders and the Second's cannot be used on the Master ranks.
All ranks carry an energy based stun gun, as well as three latex 'grenades' that stick and ensnare targets in a short range (about 2 meters / 6 feet radius) The grenades are reusable if they hit no living target reverting back into a sphere, otherwise will cocoon the victim to allow for transport.
The uniforms worn have mild resistance to blunt, slashing, piercing, elemental damage, and have gradual self-repairing technology. A helmet and oxygen supply can be added to the uniform for more hazardous atmospheric conditions.
When traveling the Master's position will be behind whoever has been assigned to the front. This person is determined by whoever has the least amount of caution who isn't in command. Everyone else will be sorted due based on their cautiousness rolls. High caution will be placed in the rear of the group. By default everyone else will protect the Master and/or Second. If both the Master and Second are caught/indisposed the rest of the group will likely panic and break apart unless someone else in the unit rolls a 6 for ego and rolls higher than everyone else.
"Combat" Mechanics
Rolls will be done against static numbers, or counter rolls.
The stun guns for example will roll a player's fitness(agility) against the target's fitness(agility) to determine of the shot hit or is dodged. The stun gun will provide a +3 bonus to hit. So a person with 0 fitness can roll a 6 to have a total of 9. Which means they can hit a person with 6 fitness provided they roll 1 to 3. Once the target is hit, they need to get 10+ fitness(vigor) or be knocked unconscious.
The latex grenades work under a similar mechanic, which is fitness (strength) no bonus to hit vs target fitness (agility) if it hits the target is caught. Though a fitness (strength) check is made to see how long it takes them to be fully caught and safely moved. Course if a target is unconscious then all of it is pretty automatic.
Roll Bonus Ranks
+1 slight advantage, typically provided by the environment
+2 moderate advantage, typically provided by the environment
+3 good advantage, device assists.
+4 great advantage, device assists.
+5 best advantage, high powered device assists
+6 master advantage, 'unbeatable roll'
The +4 to +6 bonuses typically won't be used by the players unless the setup calls for them. Those bonuses will be used for the 'trap' end of the 'game'
█ That's actually quite a fair bit of mumbo jumbo, this part is for the actual 'ant colony' stuff.
The ant colony in question that's going to be infiltrated is one that sustains itself via subterranean farming. The diet consisting mostly of seeds and sugar when obtainable. The crops are grown using light from glowing molds, the mold itself grown via the wastes produced by the ants. A form of animal 'ranching' is used to produce sugar, which is done via assimilating other creatures into the hive. Captured animals are encased in a shell of chitin, and specialized organs from the encasement are used to extract and form a sugary substance for consumption by the colony. Captured animals are typically fed the surplus crops. It is an inefficient procedure overall, but the ants prefer the sugar produced as opposed to the seeds. This procedure is also applied to the members of it's own colony, but the purpose of using different animals is simply for different tastes and flavors. A sort of 'luxury' item overall. Those that don't produce a sugar that is appealing to the ants are repurposed into other roles.
All members of the colony can spray a resin for the purposes of construction or defense, as well as hold a general idea of how many members of the colony there are and their relative status. They're all relatively strong and quick, as well as armored. Some may have wings for additional mobility, but this is dependent on how active the ants are on the surface.
Ant types
Queen - lays eggs to expand the colony, pretty typical, every other ant is a kind of drone (female) as per typical of insect societies. The Queen has mental domination over the rest of the population, though not in the sense of direct control over every individual but rather instilling 'urges' into the various castes. As such each drone is a kind of individual but is constant being driven to complete any given task based on their abilities and the overall demands of the colony. So a suggestion of "need more food" and individuals will mentally shift over to that task until the queen's mental link 'hears' that enough drones are out trying to collect food. The central intelligence lies with her, though if she dies the colony can replace her by rearing up any one of her eggs to be a replacement. Though under such circumstances all non-native drones are excised from the colony or immobilized as they'll regain full sense of themselves and probably cause chaos otherwise.
Warrior - More physically strong and heavily armored than her sisters. Along with being able to produce a resin, can release a more refined web, as well as release an acid. Generally will try to capture outsiders to be assimilated
Maintenance - Multi-purpose ants who take care of the infrastructure of the colony on a whole. Builds, grows, forages, scouts.
Caretaker - Oversees the health of the queen, eggs, larva, and assimilates outsiders. Physically the 'smallest'
Cattle - Selected to process the excess grown crops into sugar for consumption by the rest of the colony. Outsiders placed in this role typically remain 'lean' as the chitin they are encased in will siphon out any excess sugars to be stored in the insectiod part of the body. The favored ones are usually located near the queen as her personal food source.
Outsider Queen - A queen may divert some egg laying tasks to an assimilated outsider, which she knows won't be able to subvert her rule in where a natural born drone might be able to. These can only produce one type of egg determined by queen before hand, typically the maintenance drones as they are the most needed and common.
Outsiders can otherwise take any other role to the fullest extent as determined by the caretaker ants.
Technology
The members of the hive are intelligence to use any manipulate most known forms of technology adeptly, though despite this most colonies tend to be completely devoid of technology. This is likely mostly due to the heavy reliance on the flexibility of the colony's bioengineering. The Queen can produce almost any kind of egg needed to fill any desired function. This can range from types of ants to biological structures to ventilate air, produce traps, store luminescent mold for better lighting, so on so forth. Some structures need 'maintenance' others simply grow into whatever is needed before 'dying' and becoming a permanent fixture. The make up and structure of any given colony is completely dependent on the Queen.
The one Enduring Technologies has targeted is one in where the Queen is deemed 'inexperienced' and 'unimaginative' making it more likely that it's capture would be possible.
Colony Structure
There's two identified possible entrances: A ventilation shaft, and the main entrance. Inside there will be farms, a nursery, storage, processing area, the royal chambers, and various tunnels connecting everything. Some of the tunnels themselves can shift/open/close depending on input from the members of the colony, part of the larger living mass. It's in these areas in where the tunnels themselves might be able to spray out resins/webbing/other like the warrior caste, but are totally mindless and are simply 'built' to the specification of the Queen.
Outsider Conversion
Incapacitated outsiders will be brought to one of the processing chambers, their immobilized bodies placed in an egg sack with their heads remaining on the outside. The egg will absorb / dissolve / excrete out any items that don't belong to the would be host, after which chitin will start growing over the skin of the captive. The caretaker ants will have a degree of control over the process to determine the final structure of the chitin shell, which will be determined by how the captive behaves during the process. The egg itself will produce a tendril that will present itself to the captive to drink and be sustained from, though it is part of the trap involved. Once the captive is thirsty enough to drink from the tendril, the resin produced from it will coat around the captive as well as sedating them. It's at this point the caretakers will apply a colony mask over the outsider's face, which will keep most of their consciousness submerged and largely susceptible to the Queens imposed impulses. Stronger willed individuals will be able to resist, determined by a fitness (vigor) check. A 10+ total check to regain some sense for a short period of time. (Those with a 3 or less fitness have no hope of snapping out of the colony's stupor unless rescued)
█ Only one last bit of stuff to brain dump, and that's the mission itself: Enduring Technologies wishes to capture drones, assimilated outsiders, eggs, and the Queen herself for science. Success rate for this initial mission is probably very low.
I'll need to put in some thought as to the exact structure, possible outcomes, and more mechanics of this project; as well as actually draw the thing out. I'm not sure what the price will be for those who want to participate, but there will probably be different price points which I'll have to figure out how to manage later.
| █████|MIND
| █████|SOUL
█ I'm a bit mentally exhausted, was a bit of work pushing through the last few XXXmas commissions that I wanted to do. Was fun doing them overall, but repetition gets to a person after awhile!
█ I need to write up a sort of commission FAQ to go along with my TOS, I'll probably do that next before opening up my comic project to be commissioned into.
█ Okay brain dump time again. This will likely be the last one before I actually open up the commissions. This one is not where you request to be in it. None of what I spill out is necessarily final, as I might change things if I feel a better idea/logic can apply.
First I'll be changing the stats & rolls. On the comic page itself I'll have some kind of display that will show who rolled what and what needed to be rolled to 'pass' This probably means I'll be creating icons for people who get involved in the comic. I'll probably make them in a way so they can be used as FA icons and the like if people wish to do so. These icons will probably be offered up as 'normal' commissions for something like $5 probably, but would be included for whoever ends up being part of the comic. I digress.
The rolls will still be done on six sided dice (I do have access to twenty sided ones, but that would just over complicate everything for me). Will follow something more logical to other dice games and have 1 as a 'critical failure.' A 6 will imply success, and will allow for a secondary roll to determine the level of success; of course in 'unwinnable' situations, the roll will determine how well the person will have resisted in that situation.
"Player" Mechanics
Since people can't directly participate in the events of the comic, I decided to have a roll determine if a person will take a more safe or more risky action. It will be a behavior roll based on the stat of "Cautiousness" and will range between 0 and 6. If a person has a cautiousness of 3, then any roll of 1-3 will have the person take the safer action, where as 4-6 will be the riskier option. This means a person with a 0 for caution will always take the riskier option, and a person with 6 will always take the safer path. This roll will be used by 'Squad Leaders' to determine where a group goes, or if a person is isolated they'll make the choice on their own. This isn't a combat roll, and will be replacing the 'insight' stat that I had set up.
Ego mechanics have been changed slightly, ego will be a bonus on top of a d6 roll. People can have an ego of 0 (extremely likely to follow orders) to 6 (likely to give out orders) So a 6 ego has a range of rolls from 7 to 12, and a 0 ego has a range of 1-6. Leaders will be picked at the start from the highest egos (equally high egos will be rolled against each other if necessary) When the group is faced with decisions, the leader will roll against everyone else. Those who end up rolling higher than the leader may buck the order given based on the "Cautiousness" stat.
Fitness mechanics will be changed in the same way, in where the stat will be a bonus on top of a d6, and it's also a range of 0-6. There's three specializations of strong, agile, vigor. On the relevant checks on strength, reflex, and endurance the highest of two rolls will be picked.
"Group" Mechanics
Enduring Technologies will send out units to conduct various tasks and the like, which will be formed by the following:
Master - Leads the unit.
Second - Second in command, referred to as "master" in the absence of the Master
Private - 6 to 10 "soldiers"
There will also be a retrieval unit that will be called in to collect whatever is caught or needs evacuating. These people generally won't be at risk or involved in the action, they sort of drive the vehicles and look after containment units.
The Master and Second carry hard-programmed slave balls for the purposes of capturing targets or disciplining subordinates. They are keyed to the wielders and the Second's cannot be used on the Master ranks.
All ranks carry an energy based stun gun, as well as three latex 'grenades' that stick and ensnare targets in a short range (about 2 meters / 6 feet radius) The grenades are reusable if they hit no living target reverting back into a sphere, otherwise will cocoon the victim to allow for transport.
The uniforms worn have mild resistance to blunt, slashing, piercing, elemental damage, and have gradual self-repairing technology. A helmet and oxygen supply can be added to the uniform for more hazardous atmospheric conditions.
When traveling the Master's position will be behind whoever has been assigned to the front. This person is determined by whoever has the least amount of caution who isn't in command. Everyone else will be sorted due based on their cautiousness rolls. High caution will be placed in the rear of the group. By default everyone else will protect the Master and/or Second. If both the Master and Second are caught/indisposed the rest of the group will likely panic and break apart unless someone else in the unit rolls a 6 for ego and rolls higher than everyone else.
"Combat" Mechanics
Rolls will be done against static numbers, or counter rolls.
The stun guns for example will roll a player's fitness(agility) against the target's fitness(agility) to determine of the shot hit or is dodged. The stun gun will provide a +3 bonus to hit. So a person with 0 fitness can roll a 6 to have a total of 9. Which means they can hit a person with 6 fitness provided they roll 1 to 3. Once the target is hit, they need to get 10+ fitness(vigor) or be knocked unconscious.
The latex grenades work under a similar mechanic, which is fitness (strength) no bonus to hit vs target fitness (agility) if it hits the target is caught. Though a fitness (strength) check is made to see how long it takes them to be fully caught and safely moved. Course if a target is unconscious then all of it is pretty automatic.
Roll Bonus Ranks
+1 slight advantage, typically provided by the environment
+2 moderate advantage, typically provided by the environment
+3 good advantage, device assists.
+4 great advantage, device assists.
+5 best advantage, high powered device assists
+6 master advantage, 'unbeatable roll'
The +4 to +6 bonuses typically won't be used by the players unless the setup calls for them. Those bonuses will be used for the 'trap' end of the 'game'
█ That's actually quite a fair bit of mumbo jumbo, this part is for the actual 'ant colony' stuff.
The ant colony in question that's going to be infiltrated is one that sustains itself via subterranean farming. The diet consisting mostly of seeds and sugar when obtainable. The crops are grown using light from glowing molds, the mold itself grown via the wastes produced by the ants. A form of animal 'ranching' is used to produce sugar, which is done via assimilating other creatures into the hive. Captured animals are encased in a shell of chitin, and specialized organs from the encasement are used to extract and form a sugary substance for consumption by the colony. Captured animals are typically fed the surplus crops. It is an inefficient procedure overall, but the ants prefer the sugar produced as opposed to the seeds. This procedure is also applied to the members of it's own colony, but the purpose of using different animals is simply for different tastes and flavors. A sort of 'luxury' item overall. Those that don't produce a sugar that is appealing to the ants are repurposed into other roles.
All members of the colony can spray a resin for the purposes of construction or defense, as well as hold a general idea of how many members of the colony there are and their relative status. They're all relatively strong and quick, as well as armored. Some may have wings for additional mobility, but this is dependent on how active the ants are on the surface.
Ant types
Queen - lays eggs to expand the colony, pretty typical, every other ant is a kind of drone (female) as per typical of insect societies. The Queen has mental domination over the rest of the population, though not in the sense of direct control over every individual but rather instilling 'urges' into the various castes. As such each drone is a kind of individual but is constant being driven to complete any given task based on their abilities and the overall demands of the colony. So a suggestion of "need more food" and individuals will mentally shift over to that task until the queen's mental link 'hears' that enough drones are out trying to collect food. The central intelligence lies with her, though if she dies the colony can replace her by rearing up any one of her eggs to be a replacement. Though under such circumstances all non-native drones are excised from the colony or immobilized as they'll regain full sense of themselves and probably cause chaos otherwise.
Warrior - More physically strong and heavily armored than her sisters. Along with being able to produce a resin, can release a more refined web, as well as release an acid. Generally will try to capture outsiders to be assimilated
Maintenance - Multi-purpose ants who take care of the infrastructure of the colony on a whole. Builds, grows, forages, scouts.
Caretaker - Oversees the health of the queen, eggs, larva, and assimilates outsiders. Physically the 'smallest'
Cattle - Selected to process the excess grown crops into sugar for consumption by the rest of the colony. Outsiders placed in this role typically remain 'lean' as the chitin they are encased in will siphon out any excess sugars to be stored in the insectiod part of the body. The favored ones are usually located near the queen as her personal food source.
Outsider Queen - A queen may divert some egg laying tasks to an assimilated outsider, which she knows won't be able to subvert her rule in where a natural born drone might be able to. These can only produce one type of egg determined by queen before hand, typically the maintenance drones as they are the most needed and common.
Outsiders can otherwise take any other role to the fullest extent as determined by the caretaker ants.
Technology
The members of the hive are intelligence to use any manipulate most known forms of technology adeptly, though despite this most colonies tend to be completely devoid of technology. This is likely mostly due to the heavy reliance on the flexibility of the colony's bioengineering. The Queen can produce almost any kind of egg needed to fill any desired function. This can range from types of ants to biological structures to ventilate air, produce traps, store luminescent mold for better lighting, so on so forth. Some structures need 'maintenance' others simply grow into whatever is needed before 'dying' and becoming a permanent fixture. The make up and structure of any given colony is completely dependent on the Queen.
The one Enduring Technologies has targeted is one in where the Queen is deemed 'inexperienced' and 'unimaginative' making it more likely that it's capture would be possible.
Colony Structure
There's two identified possible entrances: A ventilation shaft, and the main entrance. Inside there will be farms, a nursery, storage, processing area, the royal chambers, and various tunnels connecting everything. Some of the tunnels themselves can shift/open/close depending on input from the members of the colony, part of the larger living mass. It's in these areas in where the tunnels themselves might be able to spray out resins/webbing/other like the warrior caste, but are totally mindless and are simply 'built' to the specification of the Queen.
Outsider Conversion
Incapacitated outsiders will be brought to one of the processing chambers, their immobilized bodies placed in an egg sack with their heads remaining on the outside. The egg will absorb / dissolve / excrete out any items that don't belong to the would be host, after which chitin will start growing over the skin of the captive. The caretaker ants will have a degree of control over the process to determine the final structure of the chitin shell, which will be determined by how the captive behaves during the process. The egg itself will produce a tendril that will present itself to the captive to drink and be sustained from, though it is part of the trap involved. Once the captive is thirsty enough to drink from the tendril, the resin produced from it will coat around the captive as well as sedating them. It's at this point the caretakers will apply a colony mask over the outsider's face, which will keep most of their consciousness submerged and largely susceptible to the Queens imposed impulses. Stronger willed individuals will be able to resist, determined by a fitness (vigor) check. A 10+ total check to regain some sense for a short period of time. (Those with a 3 or less fitness have no hope of snapping out of the colony's stupor unless rescued)
█ Only one last bit of stuff to brain dump, and that's the mission itself: Enduring Technologies wishes to capture drones, assimilated outsiders, eggs, and the Queen herself for science. Success rate for this initial mission is probably very low.
I'll need to put in some thought as to the exact structure, possible outcomes, and more mechanics of this project; as well as actually draw the thing out. I'm not sure what the price will be for those who want to participate, but there will probably be different price points which I'll have to figure out how to manage later.
Anyways, were you going to post what the uniform/armor was going to be like before starting this project staffing? I'm sure some possible candidates have their own field wear, though not sure how compatible it may be with Enduring Tech's.
I'm going to be sorely tempted!