Battleworld [Discussion Thread]

Holy shit, I have been out of touch lately. I have no clue what I am supposed to be doing anymore. Does this even have a storyline.

Are you talking to yourself? Those are questions only you can answer.

It's...a sandbox RP. You make your own part in the story by reacting to what others are doing, and the GM makes occasional events you can interact with, that's it. There's not necessarily any over-arching plot structure at all outside of events run by the GM and plans made by the player.

Did you not know this when you signed up? It's cooperative story-making.

edited 16th Apr '17 9:05:20 AM by Dblade26

Well.....Fuck. I'm just lost.

Well, who have you interacted with? What sort of relationships can you build from other characters?

What does Death the Horseman and the rest of New Shanghai have to offer Battleworld? What do they want? How can they get it? Who will they have to ally with/fight against to get what they want?

Not sure about anyone else here, but I know absolutely nothing about your group, so these are probably questions no one else can answer for you.

That timeskip post was absolutely sublime, Liz. You really captured all of their voices well. I mean, I know they're unvoiced, but you somehow did it anyway, which is quite a feat.

Thanks darkside. I wasn't sure if I quite pinned their voices outside the obvious quote grabs, so it's good to hear that I did well.

Sorry, must sleep, will answer later, catch up on posts, when more time.

@ discord: I suppose its about time that I should. Admittedly, if my horrible schedule slippages is any indication, my time tends to be sporadic so I am not sure how much I will contribute to a chat. If nothing else I suppose I can read the logs and generally lurk.

@ vampire: Days ending so its probably better to wait til tomorrow. Hmm, I'd like to keep the city intact for as long as possible, if possible, but we can do some border skirmishes or something.

@ King Bradley interrogation: I like to imagine while team RWBY grills the "pirate king" about the unlikely hood of the Cure bringing only a single villain with a group, the Joker is in the room laughing his ass off while Virgil just sighs and keeps to himself.

@ morality: Those last posts kind of left me sad. I mean showing approval of what is essentially WMD going off and killing countless people is something a Bond villain should be doing, not 007 himself. I mean, can you imagine Daniel Craig watching a nuke go off in Russia and smiling. That's a million people being written off as nothing.

And Misaki too. I mean the first post was "Wow, that's absolutely beautiful, a memorial for the dead of Battleworld where regardless of chunk or affiliation, all can come together to pay their respects and mourn. That sense of loss that unites all of them, and to stand that symbol in opposition to the Cure." "Except the Empire, fuck the empire" "oh...so we are not all united. There is still that us and them mentality..."

To help put it in perspective. The Empire killed between 3,000,000 to 14,000,000 non-combatants. They captured 20,000 to 410,000 thousands women with the express purpose of using them as sex slaves. Hiroshima and Nagasaki claimed the lives of around 200,000 people. The Japanese war crimes is absolutely tragic. What happened to the Japanese people is also absolutely tragic. Its all bad, there is no good when people suffer, at least there shouldn't be.

I know I know, its just a game. No one really dies or gets hurts, no need to take things so seriously. I dunno, its just kind of heart breaking to see characters who are suppose to be the heroes be so callous at a million people dying.

It's honestly more akin to Bond watching Blofeld's Volcano Base blow up and smiling.

Which he's done.

It's the Death Star, mate. A military warship. There aren't any innocents on it, just enemy combatants. We've cheered it's destruction like three times already.

And besides, it was still in the process of firing. If it wasn't destroyed, then the planet full of actual civilians would have.

@Neet: You make a fair point, one that Misaki agrees with more than she doesn't. The "some monsters are best left forgotten" line is supposed to be Misaki empathizing with what some of the more vengeful groups must be thinking.

The point she's making in not including the Galactic Empire is one of sheer practicality. Adding the names (at least right here and now) would do more harm than good. Too many people despise the Empire, and it wouldn't help HGT or Battleworld's unity to honor the dead at the expense of the living.

As much as I like to highlight Misaki's stout nobility, there's some moves that even a True Good character can see as toxic. Know what I mean?

edited 19th Apr '17 1:03:31 PM by TheodoreHastings

Alrighty everybody! Now that Project Genesys has been activated, I should remind everyone the rules for those who can get a Mutant upgrade:

• 1: Only non-magical humans qualify for this mini-event. Monsters, demons, machines, or magical humans/creatures are not able to gain any Mutant abilities.

• 2: Players can choose however much or however little this Mutant-making mist affects chunks/characters. For those who control a chunk of demons/monsters/magicians/etc. this choice has already been made for you. For the rest, feel free to participate as much or as little as you like. Maybe your chunk got drenched in the stuff, or maybe the winds blew it completely away from everyone. At the end of the day, this event isn't being forced upon you.

• 3: New Mutants have an inferior level of powers compared to their Genoshan cousins. In other words, new Mutants can't do things like outrun Quicksilver, or regenerate faster than Wolverine.

• 4: The incoming chunks/chunkless groups that qualify are welcome to participate, but the time limit for admission is the evening of Day 4. Once the Genoshan Wedding gets underway, the mist will have completely dissipated into the atmosphere, and any incoming groups can't be affected.

• 5: Most importantly—ALL MUTANT POWERS MUST BE APPROVED BY MEANKEN BEFORE USE

Hope this helps. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Battleworld handles Project Genesys!

edited 19th Apr '17 8:08:48 PM by TheodoreHastings

@Neet: I am perfectly fine with having Dracula turn Susie into a Lady Bat if you don't want to play Susie anymore, but I don't think Dracula would just discard someone who loves being a vampire and idolizes Carmilla and Dracula as Susie is when he could instead send a random prisoner after making them a vampire.

edited 20th Apr '17 12:27:31 PM by GameGuruGG

It would be really out of character for Mao Xiaolian to just tolerate some border skirmishes. She's a tough bird, and if she has to wage war in this world, she will wage war.

Ugh. I really let time slip me by. So much to do so little time. Sending out uaa employees to the modern chunks under the guise of disaster relief can actually happen at any point during the day, so no rush on that. I do still got to tuck in Anri and take care of Fuyuki though. On the other hand, I suppose I can have Fuyuki take place during the day also, I just originally intended it to take place during the transition.

@wikkit: I guess with Koishi's powers, she is the one who really gets to decide the encounter. There is three assassins on the job and three scenes for her to creep on should she desire. Sorry for taking so long.

@ Meanken: If you are done with the Vaulthunters and Desperados, mind if I borrow them. I don't actually intend to keep them, but they both seem perfect for the race war should it happen. The vault hunters have already helped the resistance and Desperado was hired to start trouble there. Particularly, I would like them to be quasi public domain characters. Just set them up and then let who ever wants help give them an explosive exit from battleworld do so, especially since they are already suppose to be gone, players don't have to worry about pulling punches in a fight with them.

Also, can I actually keep Reisen around, and if so would it cost a wish. And since the UAA hired Axton, can the buy off some tech before they go?

@ GG: But that's part of the fun of meeting the sheep before lamb chops, haha. I do still like Susie, on the other hand I am interested to see you play her. So any choice you want is good.

@ Geek Code Red: But Blofield's base is, what, a couple hundred compared to a million. Unlike Blofield, the empire is the ruling government. For there to be a person in Blofields base, they had to go out of the way to be recruited by a secret organization and go along for their plans. For them to be a part of the empire, they had to decide to join the military. Which many people do, even if they disagree with governmental politics. People like Galen Erso, Bodhi Rook, Briggs Darklighter, Flynn, even Luke Skywalker was his life not completely derailed. Sure those listed defected, but they still put in their time, and I am sure there are more examples in the expanded universe that covers the viewpoint of the empire from inside the empire.

Any military installation has a ton of non combatants serving. Cooks, engineers, doctors, nurses, maintenance, sanitary workers, and that's assuming there aren't just the usual pool of civilians.

While if it was necessary, that would be one thing, but in this case it wasn't. If bond sabotaged the Death Star and blew it up, it was done with the knowledge that with the limited power of the saboteurs, it was a necessary evil because they did not have an alternative. But the all powerful cure could have easily simply disabled the weapon or teleport them away. It was mass killing simply because he could and had no need for them anymore.

And even if you assume that all on the Death Star believed in the cause, and all non combatants were droids or non existent, and that the Death Star destruction was unavoidable. Its still one million people dying and Bond feeling good about it. While we cheer it in the movies, its because it is a movie. We know its fake and no one gets hurt, much in the same way we can laugh about driving on the sidewalk in GTA. But a character in universe doesn't have that luxury of just laughing it off because it is fiction. Bond feeling good about so much death is sociopathic.

This was exactly what Henry was warning about in the shuttle. People who label themselves as good have a habit of dehumanizeing their enemies as evil. When you stop seeing other people as human beings, thats when people are capable of some truly heinous things, like approving the mass killing of countless people.

Then again, James Bond seems to be a heroic psychopath. So perhaps that is par the course and completely in character.

@ Theo: But with the all inclusiveness things are pure. When someone asks "why are the empire on there?" The answer is simple. "Because this is a memorial for all the people who have died from being brought here to Battleworld."

By making a decision to not include people, you make the decision to say that there are those who deserve to be on the obelisk and those who don't, which then begs the next question, Who? "Why are the contractors on there? They took out a 1/5th of an entire continent killing millions of people!" "Why are the humans!? They brought a device meant to wipe us all out! Its only thanks to the Cure that we weren't. Or is genocide alright to be honored on the obelisk?" "Wait Bowser!? That guy was a villain, he shouldn't be on there." "You put monkeys on here!? You are putting the lives of our fallen family and friends in the same category as talking pets" "Not only animals, robots too. Don't you need to be alive to have died!" "Hey~, that jerk Jack shot me in the back with an icicle!"

Its admitedly a completely human response, it is right after the war, and admittedly it probably won't even come up. Since the Cure completely wiped them out to the last man, there is no one to mourne their dead.

@ Project genesys: Oh, wondered when this was going to come up. Interested to see what comes of it. Admittedly I fully intend to use it to give rediculous powers to be used for mundane purposes and generally just goof off with it. Off the top my head lets see, how about

Ryan Yamazaki, being in genosha at the time, receives the physical mutation of giant gravity defying female breasts (everything else stays the same). Support crew get powers ranging from shining light to light fog that all can be used to add special effects to a shot.

Bunny face nerd mook who got his hand cut off gets the power of light telekinesis for more star wars parody.

All of bishops support crew gets powers that help them survive the harshness of Outworld, except him who gets nothing.

Soul Sistas get voice that can go high enough to shatter glass but other wise unharmful

Takashi Miike receives physical enhancements so he can do a Ichi the killer cosplay.

Mask de Uh receives something like telepathy or invisibility, one of those usual power so he could tell his friends.

Dang no super powered cats huh?"

@ vampire: Hmm, not really feeling a full on invasion right now. Especially so soon after the Empire event.

edited 21st Apr '17 2:38:19 AM by ImmortalNeet

But it would still be out of character for Mao Xiaolian not to take advantage of someone's weakness, especially after a war in which she was neutral. This woman killed both her sister, crushing her skull with her cyborg hands, and her father. She came to power through regicide, and is the wife of Death himself. Yeah, she not taking advantage of a nation being weak from a war it just fought is out of character.

Yes, there was millions on the Death Star. Yes, many would have been support staff. But legally, morally, it doesn't matter.

They knowingly supported the running of a weapon designed to kill billions at a time.

You can't use the excuse that these people were just following orders, because both legally and morally, that excuse does not fly. Under the laws and conventions of war, any soldier, any support staff has the legal and moral duty to not follow an illegal order. Anyone aboard who does not immediately attempt to stop the firing of the Death Star is thus taking part in it's atrocity by their inaction. They are accomplices in the attempted destruction of a planet.

And yes, you have a point, we cheer because it's just a movie, but you know who also cheers? The Rebellion. They handed out medals. They held parties. They danced under fireworks. Compared to them, Bond's reaction is subdued.

And I've seen that video before, and it's fucking bullshit. One of the primary components of a sociopathy/psychopathy diagnosis is a complete lack of empathy. And if you watched any Bond film, you'd see how inaccurate that is. Even at Bond's coldest, he still has a heart. He still lays his life on the line for the good of people other than himself. He's detached, he's cold, he kills with barely a thought, but that's not enough to call him a sociopath.

Fucking hell, I pointed this out in my signup for him.

Look, I get where you're coming from, but none of the people aboard the Death Star can be called "innocent" (aside from prisoners, maybe). The Death Star's existence would be a war crime in our universe, and anyone assigned to it who didn't request a transfer or didn't do their best to sabotage it is complicit in said crime.

Yeah, sure, but this is a collaborative game. It'd be OOC for my characters to not do a lot of stuff, but narrative conventions (i.e I'm not the only one writing this story) makes it so I can't have them do something without working it out with the other player first.

@Neet All those powers are fine

@Vampire-It's sad, it really is. I was all prepared to give you a chance to reverse course and understand why I demand OOC approval from both parties for invasions. But then you went and defied my instructions to halt the invasion and basically started the whole thing right then and there.

Let me explain something and see if it gets into your thick skull. Neet is a very busy person. I know no direct details, but having R Ped with him for a couple of years at this point, I am aware that as a general rule, he does not have much free time to dedicate to this, or at least as much as he would like. In addition, as one of our starting players from way back when we started 2.0, he currently has a lot of things to do, as he himself said in his last post.

For you to completely ignore all of that and just start a major invasion that will demand a lot of his limited time and attention because you cannot understand a basic concept or abide by a rule that literally no one else in this RP has trouble understanding or sticking to is a dick move of the highest caliber. Any and all sympathy I have remaining for you is gone.

You were already on thin ice with me after all the shit we went through in the signups even before you decided to disregard GM instructions. I have no idea what went through your head that made you think you could just do that, but at this point, that's irrelevant and I honestly do not care. At this point, you may consider yourself booted and banned from the game. This is not up for negotiation or debate. Do not return and attempt to rejoin this game, ever.

edited 21st Apr '17 8:11:43 AM by Meanken

Just to keep my coplayers in the loop, these are the Chunks I'm sending Witches to on diplomatic missions. Please let me know if there are any objections.

Mitakihara, Castlevania, Zi-Jin Cheng, Santa Destroy and Themyscyra.

Of the Chunkless groups that are gonna be approached by Minna, SEES and James Bond are at the top of the list right now.

edited 21st Apr '17 3:51:45 PM by Lemurian

I'm cool with some visitors, Lem.

Say, speaking of Witches and diplomatic missions, is it okay if Undyne drops by Folkestone at some point in the day? I imagine that after her meeting with Gertrude a while ago, she'd like to get to know the land of trouserless girls with puppy dog ears a little better.

Thinking about it, maybe a visit to Zi-Jin Cheng might be a good idea for the same reason.

I was thinking up a solution for the problem that would have involved Mao Xiaolian staying in character while preventing the invasion from happening. If another party were to intervene, and back up Santa Destroy, yeah, she'd have to back off, if that party were strong enough.

I started the whole invasion because it seems logical and something she would rarely pass up in-universe at all. But since I am now banned, fine, whatever, I'll fuck off. But I had to have Mao Xiaolian stay in-character. Kind of a thing for me to make sure the characters I am R Ping as aren't OOC.

I thought this roleplay was solely about people killing each other!

......Wow. I'm in complete shock. You've clearly not been paying any attention whatsoever to the game or the idea behind it. If that's honestly what you thought, then we have nothing further to discuss.

@Lizard: Please do.