The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Yocherry

The glory of the battle, boss! The rush! The blood! The sweat! Getten beaten half-conscious with the bloodied handle of a laser rifle that's had all it's charges emptied into your own charred chest, and you get a lucky grab and toss them to the ground and bash them into submission against a rock while one've their hardened mates goes white and faints for the first time in their life! That's the stuff, boss. That's the stuff.

Lou and Duane

Duane keeps groaning about me dying and being killed and getting stabbed. Gosh! I don't want to brag, but I think I'm a better cook than that!

The Enervated Rat-Catcher

I ain't found no huntable rats in HQ, yet, and I figure, other agents ain't that many steps off that. Reckon I can just picture 'em wif all mucky hair and naked tails and little twitchin noses, all just waitin to be shot. Might get to sleep in there, too! Only fing that'll disturb me'll be the sounds of myself gettin killed by someone else, and that's the longest sleep of 'em all, so I win anyway, I figure.


((HOOOH, I'm excited!
I'll warn, just in case - I won't be available for the first few bits of next week. A couple days, really. But if things happen and I don't respond, well, there it is.))

That your character (I assume) was capable of a shedload of damage. Not so Mesa. She's just got a really weird and inefficient power, but I think it's more fun that way. =]

Dis is your 'at. You will take care of it. You will eat it. You will sleep on it- no, wait, sorry. ^_^;

Weirdly enough, there is precedent for 'PG leaves and hands their hat on to someone else'. We argued it out before, and Cassie made a very good PG. So I feel comfortable saying that Zingenmir can wear the Hat with pride a gruelling sense of duty.

hS

Here's the stuff I've noticed:

Littlefoot isn't a dinosaur any more



At least, not according to a new paper printed in Nature (TetZoo article, because 'Nature' is paywalled), which claims to make therapods (ie carnivorous bipedal dinosaurs) closer to ornithischians (ie smallish plant eaters) than to sauropods (ie long-necks). The trouble with that is that the two definitions of Dinosauria are:

"The last common ancestor of Triceratops and the common sparrow and its descendents."

"The last common ancestor of the original three dinosaurs (Megalosaurus, Iguanodon, Hylaeosaurus) and its descendants."

... neither of which includes sauropods under the new system! So Littlefoot is just a very large reptile. ^_^

(Okay, to be fair, the new paper proposed a new definition using the last ancestor of Triceratops, the sparrow, and Diplodocus, which loops him back in. But you've got to admit it's funnier this way.)

Croc-faced T. rex is back



A new report also in 'Nature' (but not paywalled this time) demonstrates that a close relative of T. rex had crocodile-like facial scales, not the bare skin or feathers some had assumed. The news article I read last night pointed out that the sensitivity of these scales could mean they were used in mating behaviour - so yeah, tyrannosaur makeouts.

(They still probably had feathered bodies, though.)

(Natural Geographic article on the subject.)

There and Back Again... Twice!



This unprepossessing sight is a SpaceX Falcon 9 first-stage booster, sitting pretty on the barge Of Course I Still Love You, having landed after boosting a satellite up to space. Not that special, SpaceX has pulled that trick off before - but that's the thing: so has this booster.

Yes, this is the refurbished, reloaded, and relaunched first-stage booster from the first successful barge landing. It's been launched not once, but twice - and has been successfully recovered both times. And that, I think you'll agree, is pretty spectacular.

You can watch the launch video here.

That's what's penetrated through to my awareness, but I'm certain there's more science news out there. Throw it out here if you've got it, folks.

hS

Apecian

Why? The second I heard, it sounded like a blast! Well, okay, after I looked up what the Hunger Games are. But, anyways, it's a chance to go up against other Agents and really cut loose and get a fun fight! What's not to love? ... Wait. You mean I'm not gonna get my regen or my Growth? Aaah, Truth.

Michael

It seems like an excellent exercise in the stealth required on the majority of missions. I also need to keep an eye on my partner. I heard about what these Games did to some of the participants in the last round, and I believe it would be best if that did not happen to him. ... Admittedly, there may be a slight inclination on my part to demonstrate the worth of knowledge as a tool on the field of combat. However, if there is, it is my tertiary concern.

((If Apecian gets blown up or skewered or something day one, I am absolutely blaming it on him forgetting that he only has one death in these games.))

Dafydd Illian

Funny story - I was talking to Undis Closed the other day about the second series of Ardolindi, and he just happened to mention that a new season of the Hunger Games was in the works. And then he just happened to mention that he wanted me to be in it again. And then he just happened to insist. So here I am.

Morgan

What can I say? There's just something about having a chance to wreak havoc that appeals to me. Hopefully I can come slightly higher up the charts this time.

Kaitlyn

Eee! This was so much fun last time! I can't wait to see what happens. I wonder where we'll be fighting?

Kyaris

I didn't actually particularly want to do this, but apparently it's traditional for the reigning champion to take part. I'm pretty sure that's not how the books went, but... well, it beats a week in the Sorting Room.

hS

While we wait for someone to volunteer to host this it's going to be me again isn't it?, this might be a good time to start the signups for Tributes.

I think my rules from last time were fairly uncontroversial: you can volunteer up to four of your own agents (ie, those for whom the writing rights are currently held by you), plus you can suggest as many of our NPC characters as you like, which can be used by the host to fill any gaps in the lineup.

The PPC Hunger Games run through this website, which takes the Tributes and shoves them through a brutal RNG until only one of them is still alive. In-universe, it's all taking place in a large holodeck - your agents will suffer, but take no lasting harm.

Last time I said Permission was required; this time I think we can dispense with that requirement, despite the broadcast being canonical. Consider it a weird sort of cowrite.

We've traditionally had pre-Games interviews with the tributes (just a quick spiel from them about why they're here), which are helpful for the host to get them in character; this would be a good time to write those, too.

hS

... that DrGonzo can't host these games because they won't have time until the summer, not because Huinesoron Hath Said So. :)

hS

I've been trying to get a character I like and it isn't working real well, and given this is to be daily for a span of months, I think I'm going to drop out too. I have too many other things on my plate.

He's a sniper, so he is incredibly squishy, but he is also the hardest hitter on the team. This is why I gave him the ability to let his meatshields teammates move on his turn (really useful when he is the first to act). He also gets a bonus to Defense for standing next to an expendable minion ally. Useful when even the nerdy Jedi has way more hit points than you do (not to mention the members of the team I call Wall Crew).

It's good to have bullet magnets friends.

-Phobos, on a hill a mile away

I only got to postulate on... thirtennth place, so I'll gess I'll sit it out, or will wait for if a place gets free later in the campaign.

But I still want to work on a character, and I'm on the lookout for advices. I want to build a type of hero like Infamous Second Son Conduits, with Electricity as energy type.

This got a bit bigger than I anticipated. I... Agh, I really hate to do this, but I don't think I can handle that many people. The idea was for a daily PBP, which would create a bit of strain if you're looking for something really casual. If you've already gotten a character sheet to me, or given me evidence that you're working on it, or just talked to me about what you want to do with a character, you're fine, but, uh... I really don't think I could do more than six people, seven at the very most.

Right, I've spoken with Huinesoron, and while I can't host these games, I am going to be running another round in the autumn. I'll have more closer to the time, but I'm honoured to have the chance to host a community event such as this.

I'll read that book carefully...

I'll be able to take a hit for an ally once per round, so I'll protect you. :)

Aaand remember about as much as you do. :(

From what I recall, the one I saw was specifically about the fall of Angkor Wat, which came about because of a combination of overconfidence and complexity addiction in the development of their water management system.

(Historical tangent below:)

According to the Elgoog the Great and Powerful, the Khmers built a series of reservoirs to prepare for the natural dry season, and connected them to the entire region. They relied on storing and the natural water they usually got in the rainy season with reservoirs to prepare for the dry season. They actually overdid it, changing the water content of soil of the whole region, but most scholars say that wasn't the cause of what followed.

What followed, it seems, was one of the biggest droughts Cambodia as a whole has ever seen to this day.

Given that they'd built their city to prep for a rainy season that never came, the empire eventually had to relocate their nobles, and bureaucratic difficulties ensued.


(Huh. Who'd've thought I'd seen the same documentaries as the Kurgan. Small world, this. :P)

First of all thank you for the concrit and I'm sorry it's taken me this long to reply.

1) Yeah, I know this. I know I know this, and yet somehow I completely forgot to do this. Thanks for pointing it out and I'm really annoyed looking back now that I did this.

2) SPaG. I'm improving, but I know that I'm still weak in those areas (was never really taught how to do it at school), but I'm trying to improve on it, so thanks for at the very least pointing out that I still have a ways to go.

3) Thanks, having some kind of response team is kind of what I want to do with Theo and Kaatah, although having one of them tag along on a mission would also be quite fun I think. "No Theo. You can't burn down the 'Sue, we're in Hogwarts." Could quite easily happen. I'm not sure if I'm getting confused or if I didn't quite explain it correctly in the prompt but Apollo and Kelly are my DMS agents who Theo and Kaatah are arriving to help. Originally I was going to have Kaatah do some training with them before Theo turned up, but now I'm considering just having them interact several times instead. Being half Welsh I'm always annoyed when people imply half my family used to live on the backs of aquatic animals, and I've seen the Forest of Dean placed in so many parts of Britain, it's probably happened at one point or another.

4) I understand where you are coming from and think I could have done a better job with that bit. Theo is a cyborg Mandalorian from the Star Wars universe (specifically The Old Republic), and even though his wife is a Jedi he is still rather suspicious of magic and the like, something that is still carried over into the PPC. I think I could probably write a funny scene with Theo complaining about having to use a normal flamethrower with its huge fuel tank etc. over his wrist mounted one and Kaatah getting exasperated over the whole thing. I'm definitely going to re-write this and try and work these bits out.

5) I mean a few feet above the forest floor. Sorry for the confusion once again.

6) I should probably stop relying on pop culture for those kinds of quotes (No, I haven't seen the original Star Wars trilogy. Yes I probably am some sort of heretic). Thanks

Novastorme

Mesa... isn't. Like, she really, really isn't. Forget gales, an overzealous fart could knock her over, poor thing. She's got some stats, yeah, but they're largely in Awareness and Agility, which aren't brilliant for combat except in the sense that she can dodge real good and her power requires a check against Insight to do anything. And her power's damage base when attacking anything is six.

First off, I want to second (third?) everything hS said. Very good information, that.

Secondarily, in general I feel like Non-action Departments offer a more "slice of life" experience. Very similar to what you might get in an Action Department interlude. You get to explore the zany happenings of the people who rarely leave HQ, but are just as insane as any assassin or bad-slasher.

Third and lastly, I highly recommend writing a Non-action Department if you want a change of pace from missions. It's a lot of fun.

-Phobos, Postmaster General

Mine cost a whopping 103 points to gain the level of invulnerability that I wanted. Practically zero skill points in anything other than punching people harder. =]

With real lava.

They just modeled it, but still. This makes my inner six-year old very happy.

--Key