(no subject)
May. 31st, 2021 11:10 pmA couple months ago, several friends and I played a one-shot game of "Get In The Fucking Robot," a short DM-less game in which each player plays as a prospective robot pilot, facing off some imminent peril that requires them to get in the robot, while also dealing with some combination of apathy, alienation, and self-loathing that currently prevents them from getting in the robot. Characters gain confidence through scenes with other players; at the end of the game, the character with the most confidence points will eventually get in the robot. This will definitely result in their death, and quite possibly also in the end of the world.
This quote-unquote one-shot in fact resulted in three shots and an ongoing obsession. In an ideal world, we would already have a deal for a twelve-episode anime that we could watch on repeat and create several AMVs about; since this is not an ideal world I am instead simply replicating our extremely exhaustive narrative notes about depressed space whaling hoteliers undergoing painful personal growth, for posterity.
The Plot
Ostensibly, deep-space whalers are necessary in order protect the (space) shipping lanes from hostile space whale intrusions. It's sheer coincidence, of course, that a huge whale-industrial complex has sprung up around the profits derived from whale products. The standard technique for whale-hunting is for a space whaler to go out in a robot designed for the purpose; the robot allows the whaler to form a telepathic bond with the whale long enough to get it to stay there for the harpoon. In an ideal situation, the whaler will then break the telepathic link in time to avoid feeling the whale's death agonies. There are a lot of ways for this to go wrong, most of them fatal.
Forty years ago, the crew of one particular deep-space whaler ran out of money and was put into cryosleep by their corporate overlords until they could find an opportunity for them to pay off their debt. In the intervening time, space whales have become increasingly rare, and, as a result, the company has Pivoted. The whaling ship has been repurposed into a cruise ship called the Royal Regency Starpiercer -- and the remnant of the whaling crew has been defrosted along with it, to work off their corporate debt by helping to provide an Authentic Space Whaling Experience(TM) to wealthy tourists who do not, in any way, expect to encounter actual danger by way of an actual whale.
( The Whalers )
For a much shorter write-up that discusses the actual mechanics and gameplay experience, please go here for![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
catchaspark's fantastic play report.
( For the narrative that contains eighteen scenes and lovingly reported dialogue, click below. I'm not going to lie to you, this is more or less a novella )
( Some bonus features )
Some day we'll do the sequel game that's just a fun heist at Max VeloCon 3000!
Edited to add: ALSO this absolutely incredible art that is going on my wall
This quote-unquote one-shot in fact resulted in three shots and an ongoing obsession. In an ideal world, we would already have a deal for a twelve-episode anime that we could watch on repeat and create several AMVs about; since this is not an ideal world I am instead simply replicating our extremely exhaustive narrative notes about depressed space whaling hoteliers undergoing painful personal growth, for posterity.
The Plot
Ostensibly, deep-space whalers are necessary in order protect the (space) shipping lanes from hostile space whale intrusions. It's sheer coincidence, of course, that a huge whale-industrial complex has sprung up around the profits derived from whale products. The standard technique for whale-hunting is for a space whaler to go out in a robot designed for the purpose; the robot allows the whaler to form a telepathic bond with the whale long enough to get it to stay there for the harpoon. In an ideal situation, the whaler will then break the telepathic link in time to avoid feeling the whale's death agonies. There are a lot of ways for this to go wrong, most of them fatal.
Forty years ago, the crew of one particular deep-space whaler ran out of money and was put into cryosleep by their corporate overlords until they could find an opportunity for them to pay off their debt. In the intervening time, space whales have become increasingly rare, and, as a result, the company has Pivoted. The whaling ship has been repurposed into a cruise ship called the Royal Regency Starpiercer -- and the remnant of the whaling crew has been defrosted along with it, to work off their corporate debt by helping to provide an Authentic Space Whaling Experience(TM) to wealthy tourists who do not, in any way, expect to encounter actual danger by way of an actual whale.
( The Whalers )
For a much shorter write-up that discusses the actual mechanics and gameplay experience, please go here for
catchaspark's fantastic play report. ( For the narrative that contains eighteen scenes and lovingly reported dialogue, click below. I'm not going to lie to you, this is more or less a novella )
( Some bonus features )
Some day we'll do the sequel game that's just a fun heist at Max VeloCon 3000!
Edited to add: ALSO this absolutely incredible art that is going on my wall
