We all just one day woke up like this in this endless labyrinth of a child's play place from McDonalds not just gone wrong, but gone nightmarishly wrong. Its said that everyday more people are introduced into Daedalus, this jungle of cheap plastic and painted metal and everyday more people die or go insane, their minds reaching a breaking point no longer able to grasp their new reality.
Of course, not all of us have gone insane, yet. Some of use have managed to carve out a little bit of the old world in places where the hell opens up into a wide open stage, big enough for a small settlement amiss all the insanity and chaos. Even more have tried to fortify their own small section of the labyrinth into makeshift camps from which to attack others for food, supplies and for captives.
No one knows where we are or why; some ramble that its the work of the great old gods, some rave of the work of scientists in the middle of a grand experiment, others desperately try to convince themselves its all a dream, something they can just wake up one day and forget. But its no mere dream.
Tis a nightmare.
A nightmare which has become our new reality.
And so it begins
Greetings and welcome to And So Daedalus Laughed, an RP based on this wonderful spam post ironically enough where people are trapped on a plane of endless McDonald-styled play places with slides, ball pits, rope bridges, etc called "Daedalus". Of course me being me, I decided to make it grimdark and ended up getting myself interested in making an RP. As for inspirations besides that post, I take from Mad Max, Lord of the Flies, Walking Dead, Fortnite, Fallout, basically survival and post apoc stuff.
The RP itself will be based around the day to day lives of a group of lucky (or unlucky depending on how you see it) people just trying to get by in Daedalus and not die horribly. Of course, that's all easier said that done seeing as Daedalus quite literally gives zero craps about the people who are trapped within it. Some might even say it does it for laughs.
If you have any question what so ever, feel free to ping me and I'll try to get back as soon as I can.
Rules
-- Standard Guild rules, I'm okay with violence and swearing and all of that but if there's any smut I am obliged to tell you to keep it in PM unfortunately.
-- GM and co-GMs are gods/monarchs/deities/glorious leaders/etc, our word is law and rules are subject to change without warning.
-- As GM I reserve the right to break my own rules if I deem necessary.
-- Please do make some good characters but you don't need to over do it, they can literally be normal people as I suspect much of the cast will be those lifted out of their daily lives; its character interactions that will come to define your character, not the character themselves.
-- Chars tab is for finished Characters only, keep all WIPs OOC and always put your edited CS in a new post rather then editing your old one since I do not want to have to fish through stuff.
-- Keep all drama IC or in PMs, I'm fine if the OOC get filled with shitposts, giggles and dank memes but there are better places for needless arguments. Also, don't be a dick.
What I'm looking for
I personally feel that this is more of an advanced RP as I expect players to be able to somewhat accurately portray insanity or the slipping of the mind. I'm not asking for a 100% medically accurate interpretation (as I myself would probably fail at that), but I'm also expecting something more than someone just shouting out random shit. As for post length, I'm thinking some more along the lines of a casual RP's worth. Take that as you will.
For that reason I'm asking for something of a more skilled RPer (especially those who are good with character development). I am going to be honest with you that I will probably end up being pretty strict GM wise and may induce railroading so if you dislike any form of that, I advise you not join. Not saying that's a 100% chance, but its always a possibility.
World Info
The main stage for our little show, Daedalus's appearance takes heavily from play places seen from McDonalds and family fun centers. However, its not a direct copy, many walk ways are wider and more things larger, slides are longer and ball pits deeper. The entire realm is a criss-crossing maze of walkways and paths that go on infinitely in all directions, some having something resembling supports while most are completely free floating. Stair, ladders, slides, rope bridges and ziplines provide means of going between going between the myriad of levels without having to jump down or climb up.
In some places, Daedalus's path ways link up into "Stages", large relatively open areas where most people attempt to set up camps or even settlements; not that some people just hunker down on a certain section of the play place.
However, not everything is quite the same and uniform in Daedalus, some part are clearly less maintained at least appearance wise, despite the fact there is no one to actually maintain it. Some parts are old and rusted and weak, while others are overgrown with nature that springs from somewhere in the endless void, providing people precious natural wood and sometimes fruit which could only other wise be obtained by Gifts. Stones have even been found on the uncommon occasion. Like wise, there are some places which are overrun with Savages who use Stages as a sort of hive breeding ground.
Beyond the plastic and metal is the endless void which has never been reached as Daedalus has no end. But yet there are still time of sun and times of moon with stars that never stay in the same place for two nights in the row. Its said that many stay relatively sane by finding solace in the beauty of Daedalus's dawn, twilight and star-lit sky.
As stated above there are people within Daedulus who believe this abstract plane of existence to be the work or gods or part of some elaborate experiment. This is partly due to the fact that everyone in Daedulus has lost their mind to some extent and that there are these "Gifts" which appear in places.
Gifts are basically from the beings beyond which contain things that would not normally be in play places and is basically what has allowed things like settlements and tribes to crop up. They contain the strangest of things most times, only rarely ever giving something of direct use like a combat knife or proper food, instead often being random bits of junk like wooden pallets, letter opening knives, bead necklaces, plaster of paris, a lot of random crap basically of the strangest nature. And because of the otherwise crude, ramshackle and cobbled-together nature of many of the creations within Daedalus, however, crafty individuals have managed to make some pretty spectacular things.
Gifts will always "spawn" on top of or next to wooden pallets in a place out of sight but nearby, sometimes there is no gift near a pallet meaning the wood itself is the gift. For this reason, some see these pallets as holy symbols.
There's two types of foods within Daedalus, three technically but the two main ones are Fafo and the natural food.
As we all know, real fast food can make you obeseness and all that fun stuff, but in Daedalus, it does more than that. Consumption of "Fafo" will turn you into one of the many beasts that wonder the painted metal jungle if eaten in great enough quantity. Everyone has eaten some Fafo, often thinking its a "safe" food source when they first arrive, however once they begin to feel something unholy within them, most stop eating it but there are those who continue to down it because they don't want to become monsters who eat human flesh but in turn become true monsters themselves, Savages.
For that reason, places that can produce their own food without relying on the machines that mysteriously produce a Fafo meal completely with drinks, sides and a tray, are very popular. That said, the Fafo machines commonly used as a source of easy materials, bar the "food".
Now the third option for many is cannibalism, the act of eating your fellow human. To newcomers, this is seen as a barbaric act of the worst degree but to those who've stayed in Daedalus, its just another part of life; you have a perfectly good source of meat and it ain't going to do much besides stink up the place if you leave it be. There's something of a debate between if eating the monsters counts as cannibalism as they are basically human under all of that.
They go under many names in many places, but the most common is "savages". These are beasts who were once human before the hellscape of Daedalus had its way with them, corrupting and mutating them into beasts with Fafo and insanity. That said, there are Savages who are clearly not human, even more animalistic in nature.
As is the norm in Daedalus, there are many stances and outlook on the Savages; some say they are beasts which must be killed and can be used for food, others go to great lengths to capture one and worship it like a living deity, the rare few "Tamers" have learned how to tame such creatures and bend their wills to their own, but those people are few and far between.
Of course, there are Savages who do not come from humans and instead seem to be a wide variety of animals, some of which have actually been tamed to a degree to be used by some (this is different than Tamers who can fully control the Savages). These tamed Savages are still dangerous and deadly, however they are domesticated to some degree by places with enough resources and those who are reckless enough.
Now for the part that a good deal of you have the most interest in. The equipments of war or "war gear" as its more commonly known in Daedalus is all of crude construction. Much of the things built are ramshackle and consisting of many different parts all attached with rope or glitter glue or some variation of those. They're also equally strangely decorated in an almost tribal fashion, feathers and bead necklaces adorn weapons along with colored marks of paint of some sort.
Armor wise, the most common material is plastic trays as metal is at a premium, especially seeing as forging is something almost nonexistent because many have no knowledge of metal working. Other common materials used include wood and bone although other more exotic armors are worn by certain individuals.
Ranged weapons are an uncommon sight; the most common of which are crude composite bows and even cruder arrows. Simple crossbows are used by the craftier bunch but large ballista-like machines used for defense are more common as they require less small pieces. While guns do exist, they most exist as crude cannons, unwieldy matchlocks and rough Eoka-like guns, almost exclusively used by the strongest of warlords and leaders given the rarity of ammunition.
((If you need help with weapon ideas, I'm more than willing to give some ideas. An important point here is that most things will not be typically "post apoc"-like given the lack of metal, adhesive, tools and other materials that things like Fallout have given the fact that we're all living in a glorified jungle gym from hell and the only way of getting other materials is through the Insane and even then you might not get what you want; basically think literally homemade and you're half way there.))
Sanity and Will are two major parts of both character creation and development. Sanity is the mental condition of your character at the outbreak of the RP and Will is something only for those who haven't slipped off the deep end.
Sanity works in a way that if you have higher sanity, your character will be able to have more rational thoughts and logical thinking but they will be unable to "see beyond the veil" and will be unable to see the more... supernatural elements of Daedalus. Low sanity works the opposite way, your rational thinking is greatly decreased as your character becomes something of a madman but can also gain insight onto the true nature of the plastic prison that surrounds them. It is said that the Insane will be preferred in the eyes of the creator with gifts while the Sane will be able to use those gifts more efficiently.
The levels of Sanity are: Sane, Slipping, Insanity, Lost.
It should be note that Insanity is the lowest you can go and still be considered "human" as being Lost means that you have become one of the Savages that roam the tunnels and bridges of the play place.
Will is something exclusively for characters who are not at the Insanity level and determines how fast your mind slips and how much you can mentally take before breaking down. Things that would normally shock someone (ie brutalized corpses out in the open, the Savages, the general feel of how much life has to to hell for them, etc) will take its toil and everyone in Daedalus will loose their mind at some point, the realm just naturally corrupts minds.
The levels of Will are: High, Average, Low
Both Sanity and Will have no "stats" behind them, instead I'm relying on the players to accurate portray and honestly play the two out.
Interested, may decide to RP as some 30 year old NEET (thanks to bad economy) whose lifestyle is very self absorbed. He believes that this place is great and a gift for all the bad things he had to go through on earth.
I got some monster ideas. Probably may conflict with your own direction since I like the idea of this RP being absurd as possible more than anything grounded in reality in any shape or form beyond internal consistency. Really i'll be so annoyed if people make characters who actually know what they are doing because that is so not what this RP needs.
-Pink slime
It's unknown where the pink slime came from. It may have seeped in from another dimension, it may be something Daedalus made because it wanted to. The facts of its origins are not important either way. What is important is that these monsters are extremely hazardous to your health and well being because the pink slime are globs of grounded meat that aggregate into larger and large floods of meat. Due to being unable to digest prey simply smother and suffocate food with their sheer mass much like a massive, C grade quality meat ameoba. The meatiness of the pink slime however, may make it good food. Shame no one really knows what's in it after everything it has eatan thus far. The pink slime notably has large, cartoonish googly eyes that it uses for decoration more than anything else and all sorts of teeth and bones it prods about the playplace with. Sometimes it spits these bones at its food to slow them down, as the bones tend to be all mushy and greasy. Oh god all the grease this thing leaves around. It's horrible!
-Big boys
Savages who eat their fafo regularly grow up to be big boys who are nice and strong. Big boys tend to just want friends, but also have a bad habit of eating their friends whenever they get hungry, so hopelessly gluttonous that any sense of free will in their diet has been long lost. Big boys have to crawl everywhere and often are unable to enter some parts of the play place limiting them to certain 'regions' where they can move about. They like ball pits and tend to make lairs in them. Also these lairs smell horrible. I'm honestly amazed how everyone hasn't gotten cholera yet in this place.
-Mascots
Savages wearing large, bulky costumes who run around trying to entertain people in the only way they know how or claiming they are trying to find help. Some of them are pedophiles, others are actually furry cosplayers while others still are very unfortunate employees who just wanted to get a living. Either way, you should kill anyone who goes around dressed up in some suit because they very well could be a savage and you'd never know. Some of them droll grease and shout slogans for fast food places that don't even exist, those mascots are much more dangerous and should get a supersized death for only $1.99.
@ArawakBarring the Mascot, I actually really like the other two.
My major concern is how exactly would one be able to kill a pink slime?
Would it be something of an uncommon danger which could only be killed via a fire-based weapon (something of an uncommon item in Daedalus)? Can they be beaten or cut to death or will they just turn into smaller chunks?
Also, for anyone wanting to come up with some monster ideas, Lovecraft and Bloodborne are terrific places to get some ideas in my opinion
Avoid it or kill it with fire is the only real way I can think of.
They'd be very rare and generally you'd know where one is lurking because they leave grease all over the place. So if things are greasy, you probably should consider going a different direction. (And you'd hopefully hear one lurking in a slide, really though going done a enclosed slide in this realm in general is a gamble since you never know if there's savages lurking at the end of that slide.
As for inspirations this does seem like a realm where things people have irrational fears of should lurk more than things that people have rational reason to fear. Like some balloon based monster or a creature that really likes to make clicking noises all the time and never stops following you. (and it's very hard to chase down and kill)
Lore wise I think the idea of any day and night or void should be dropped. It should just be playplace all the way down, up or in any direction for that matter where any sense of time is lost.
Some guy, he's like 30, has been out of a job for five years and has gotten a horrible sense of style in the mean time. Once he was a very good baseball player (back in highschool), it was like the height of his life since he spent much of his early 20's working at a department store managing inventory and not really working to any higher purpose. He got lazier in life due to not even being sure why he does what he does, just zombie walking through each day without much to really hold up himself. He has pretty much been living off money he made when he had a job for the past five years after being laid off and has been unable to find any calling in life. His egotism from high school has unfortunately carried over and instead of trying to find something new to do, believing that he is a victum of life and blames everything but himself for all his problems. He hated this day to day existence and had little support from friends (barely had any) or family (they live far away) to help him through his problems. In the 2010's he just played video games and got into online arguments on youtube until one day...
He woke up here. And he believes that he woke up from the nightmare that was his life on Earth. He always loved the play places at McDonalds, and for two decades that was taken from him. Now here he is, in a realm of endless time where he can play all day and night. Of course, he better shape up fast. Hopefully his teenage years as a good baseball player helps him in this place. Probably not. But hey, he has luck (plot armoring- he only dies if the GM allows it... Please don't, keeping him alive is better than having him dead) on his side and some of the most enlightened beliefs Earth has to offer.
I'm not sure what the other characters will be like so I may have made someone who is way out of his element here since I am not sure what sort of characters are appropriate here. Oh well. Just no elf OCs okay?
His mother told him to save his cash when he was young.
(so when he had a job for a several years, he actually accumulated savings because he lived at a very cheap place, ate fast food and shopped at the 99 cents store. I suppose that's one redeeming trait of him- he knows how to not blow his money on video games. Just play the free ones on the internet)
Despite that I suspect by 2016 he's probably in lots of loan debt and in threat of being evicted from a very cheap apartment. So ending up in the playplace is a godsend to him since it means he won't be on the streets.
