[OOC] Battle Toyale — Christmas Rumble!

[Shinny]

Welcome to The Battle Toyale, Christmas Rumble Edition!

What?

The Battle Toyale is a portmanteau of the phrase "battle royale" and the word "toy", and the best way to summarise it is: an all vs all tournament of characters that were turned into toys. A being known only as 'The Toymaster' arranges for this yearley tournament to decide which type of toy breaks the sales figures for the next year.

Okay, what are the rules?

• Show Basic Decency
  This should be self explanatory. We're all here to literally smack toys together and have a good time, don't forget that there's people on the other end of the screen. I have a zero-tolerence policy when it comes to this, be reasonable or you will be thrown out.
• Your Character Scales to Toyversal
  Your character's strengths and their abilities should be things that would be features on a toy, even if said features might violate health and safety on multiple levels. Your character will not be able to demolish the toy store unless they do something profundly stupid, like shoot a fire extinguisher. Think Small Soldiers!
• Your Character Does Not Come Here Of Their Own Free Will
  This is a fight for survival, and while you the player might be willingly joining, your character will not. 'I am so powerful I could escape this easily but decided to play along' is fucking CRINGE.
• This is PVPVE
  Trying to cooperate to escape the store will get you killed. Peace is not an option.

I'm interested, how do I sign up?

Post a character in the character tab! If you want to include an image, it does not need to be of them as a toy, but that'd be cool if you can. Include a summary of their character and what they can do as their toy, the more exact you are then the better things turn out should there be an OOC disagreement.

I'm not sure, when do sign ups end?

Sign-ups offically end on December 1st, but I will give leeway depending on the circumstances.

INFORMATION

The Store

The toy store is approximately 4645 square meters in size, or 50,000 square feet. The store is stocked to the brim with toys, and begins in a pristine state at the beginning of the fight. There are no humans or other animals in the store in the time of the fight, but there are rumours of monstrosities hidden in the nooks and crannies of the store. Don't let that discourage you!

The Artifacts

In a change of pace, The Toymaster has opted to introduce artifacts into the mix of this round. These legendary items will grant powerful bonuses to those who wield them, but the user must fight to secure their grip on the artifact — lest it be ripped from their fingers by another. It is not clear what these artifacts are, but their appearance and nature will become apparent when you get close to the marked spots on the map.

Toy Stats

The make of a toy can influence its stats. I have made a few examples below, and this is more of a ballpark estimation than anything, but if you have any specific materials you want me to vet, then please by all means ask!

• Cloth: The lightest of materials, it grants a major speed boost and a medium resistance to fire (thanks asbestos!) But overall its defences are the lowest of the listed materials. The speed boost is lowered in water. Cloth toys can also 'heal' via re-acquiring their stuffing and putting it back into their body.
• Plastic: The second lightest of materials, it grants a minor speed boost. It also has the second worst overall defences, including a vulnerability to fire. Plastic toys are the fastest in water, and can 'heal' by attaching limbs of other plastic toys to themselves, although this is not a foolproof process.
• Ceramic: The second heaviest of materials, this also puts it in the second slowest catergory and slowest in water. Ceramic has the second best defence in all regards, but in exchange their ability to repair damage is limited to the usage of glue.
• Metal: The heaviest of the material, metal has the best and offense compared to all the other materials, but this comes with two major caveats. Metal toys are unable to repair any damage without the use of an artifact, and they cannot swim outright.

Meta

The round order is 'Semi-Flexible': People can post in any order they wish, but they can only post once per 'round'. At the end of the round I will act as GM to introduce environmental changes and new hazards. I will update the map each turn, not only to reflect player positins, but reveal things such as artifacts and new hazards.

[Divorarel]

Count me in.

[Circ]

Sure, why not!

Circ, icon of the amaranthine flame akindle beyond the substrate sublime shall project into the Toyverse and roam the store's aisles as a 14-inch-long squishable, stretchable, malleable, squeezable, morphable, goo-barfing, pint-size hyena-dragon. Naturally the goo is toxic and very likely lead-based, apt for a 1980s vintage collectable action figure. Children love the bold blood orange flavor!

[Little Bird]

For clarification, the characters in this would all be toys? So abilities would scale to what a toy would have built into it? In esseence, it can do damage unto other toys and such but would be otherwise 'harmless,' save for its sentience.

Interesting.

[SleepyWrites]

COUNT ME IN

[Sky Blue]

Hell yes.

Human: 甲斐無し Pronounced Kai Nashi. (translates to useless)

Toy: Look up deeplus toy. He starts with all the weapons, and he is made of metal on the outside, but plastic on the inside. the weapons are all metal. He also has a face drawn on for the lols.

Face he drew on:


Kai was cast out By everyone he's ever met for being homeless, but when you're wanted by the police, there's not much you can do except leave and keep your family safe. Kai was wrongly accused. He was there when the murder happened. He saw it with his own eyes. It had been too late. He tried to tell the murderers to stop, but when they heard the sirens, the murderers ran. kai didn't. I'm innocent. he thought. They'll know who it was. and then he was on the run. That's when he found the toymaster. the toymaster offered him an escape from this life of cat and mouse. And without a second thought, he took it. now look where he was.

[BrokenPromise]

@Shinny



Our characters were turned into toys and put inside some weird death game in a toy store. But what sort of combat are we looking for here? Are we going to "play it straight" where everyone is more or less "human powered" relative to their size or are we going for lightly powered, heavily powered, or anime powered? There's a lot of wiggle room between "Don't blow up the store" and "be a dangerous toy."

Since our characters are toys, do they have human vitals? Will a gut wound cripple someone? Does a toy have to be totally destroyed or do they have a sort of heart/brain that needs to be destroyed to end the toy's life? Do they need to breathe and can they get tired?

Do you care where the characters in question come from? Is the toymaster just pulling these people out of a sort of multiverse and turning them into toys? Related to this, can toys have abilities/powers/magic that are similar to how they were before being a toy or would everything have to conform strictly to how they would function as a toy?

Is there going to be a character sheet?

[Shinny]

@Shinny



Our characters were turned into toys and put inside some weird death game in a toy store. But what sort of combat are we looking for here? Are we going to "play it straight" where everyone is more or less "human powered" relative to their size or are we going for lightly powered, heavily powered, or anime powered? There's a lot of wiggle room between "Don't blow up the store" and "be a dangerous toy."

Since our characters are toys, do they have human vitals? Will a gut wound cripple someone? Does a toy have to be totally destroyed or do they have a sort of heart/brain that needs to be destroyed to end the toy's life? Do they need to breathe and can they get tired?

Do you care where the characters in question come from? Is the toymaster just pulling these people out of a sort of multiverse and turning them into toys? Related to this, can toys have abilities/powers/magic that are similar to how they were before being a toy or would everything have to conform strictly to how they would function as a toy?

Is there going to be a character sheet?

@BrokenPromise

Quite a number of good questions! Let me go through them.

• I know this answer sounds like a meme but 'small soldiers' is a really great reference for the level of power I intend. Toys — and their weapons/abilities — will be able to damage other toys and the environment around them. If a character had an ultimate attack that blew up a planet via a giant energy orb, I would equate that to sometime like throwing a bowling ball and knocking down an entire shelf.
  I suppose on the scale you provided I would go heavily to anime powered, just so put every character on the same page. (Which is the real fun of the fight.)
• My answer to this is that they don't have human vitals, unless you're an operation kit or something like that. Damaging a toy will instead let the animated essence leak (which you can style as blood, molten plastic, anything!). The more of these, the more they will slow down as they ultimately fade. On a comparative scale I will say that toys can resist more damage than an equivalent human could. Removing a toy's head/equivalent thinking part, damaging them enough that their essence bleeds out, or rendering them unable to act, will be enough to render them inert/dead. At the same time, toys will also be able to stuff like graft limbs from other toys to themselves and repair themselves to 'heal' for the sake of furthering the fight. In terms of whether toys tire, I will tie that down to how much damage they take. They will need to breathe, this will become very relevant later on and it's a good thing you reminded me to bring that up!
• Frankly, where characters come from isn't something I am bothered by. You can tie it up in whatever universe you wish, the toymaster only care about choosing the toy for next year's sales. Some of the people in this thread have a linked multiverse, some of them don't! In terms of where I pin it, I put it in the Neo-Babylon universe I.E the thread that @Divorarel made, but the impact is so minimal it could happy anywhere, really.
• A character sheet is not going to be included, you can be as in-depth or vague as you wish. Being exact will be an advantage, however. I will also say a few things are worth bringing up as a start:
  What kind of toy are they? Action figure, gunpla, stuffed toy? The sky's the limit.
  What type of material are they made from?
  What features (abilities) are included?
  Where do you want to start? (I will randomise this but will give leeway if people want to start somewhere specific).
• This is a good question, and it has come up a few times so I am going to make a judgement below:

You can have abilities/power/magic relevant to your character, but you will have to justify it as features on your toy.
Example: If your character knows fire-magic, in toy form this could be related to them having a lighter feature (OSHA does not exist here).

Hopefully this answers all of them! If you have any new ones, please let me know.

[BrokenPromise]

@Shinny Boy, it's been a long time since I watched small soldiers.I may have to watch that again at some point. I recall it being a good B-movie.

I find the somewhat nebulous state of this "animated essence" a little concerning, but since this is going to be my first arena RP and it doesn't seem like we're meant to take much of anything too seriously, I'll just assume you know what you're doing and will make fair judgements regarding wounds. Otherwise that did answer my questions pretty completely. Thank you.

It may be a bit before I get a character sheet up, but it should be before the deadline.

[BrokenPromise]

@Shinny I started picking out materials for my toy and I do have more questions.

It's hard to deny the durability of a vintage cast-iron toy. If a stuffed animal or a plastic toy were to come up against something so durable, would they have any hope of damaging it? You mentioned that "The make of a toy can influence its stats in subtle ways", which almost suggests that whatever the toys are made of, their materials influence things like durability and flexibility but aren't necessarily equal to their IRL counterparts. Is that correct? Are more rigid toys able to move the way a toy with joints or softer materials would?

[Sky Blue]

@Shinny So, was I approved?

[Shinny]

@Shinny I started picking out materials for my toy and I do have more questions.

It's hard to deny the durability of a vintage cast-iron toy. If a stuffed animal or a plastic toy were to come up against something so durable, would they have any hope of damaging it? You mentioned that "The make of a toy can influence its stats in subtle ways", which almost suggests that whatever the toys are made of, their materials influence things like durability and flexibility but aren't necessarily equal to their IRL counterparts. Is that correct? Are more rigid toys able to move the way a toy with joints or softer materials would?

@BrokenPromise

I have given a ballpark of statistics for materials, hopefully that can give some guidelines on how each material works. But ultimately? Feel free to get creative with your toys, but try not to hyperfocus on the minutae of how they interact with one another. The toyalle relies on suspension of disbelief, but on a meta level I will be trusting the players to maintain the balance between fun and competetiveness. I'll allow quite a lot of things so long as it's aimed towards being fun and thematic and not for the explicit purpose of winning, if that makes sense.

@Shinny So, was I approved?

@Sky Blue

Please put your character in the character tab, then I will go over and approve!

[BangoSkank]

I love this idea.

I have three ideas and two questions. The questions kind of inform which idea I go for.

My Goofy Ass Questions

Question the 1st: What's your stance on Single Toy VS Toy Line

That is to ask; could I RP as say "A bag of Green Army Men" or "The Christmas 1996 GI Joe Assault on Bad Guy Castle Playset that fell in that little area behind the aisles and is only just now sitting in the clearance rack because nostalgia."

Question the 2th: What's your stance on known pre-existing franchise characters.

That is to ask; could I RP as three of the Ninja Turtles from the Turtle Van box thing because some snot nosed kid kidnapped the Donatello figure. If you do not want recognizable brands would an obvious Knock Off expy be acceptable? Like instead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) could I use Bolivian Battle Toads with Attitoads (BBTA)

My Goofy Ass Ideas

Idea 1: Basically just Ninja Turtles in whatever number is acceptable. 1, 2, 3, or 4 or maybe that one Robot Turtle character. Idea being they're all plastic with plastic weapons and can exchange limbs. Wildly durable because their limbs just pop on and off with ease.

Idea 2: A box set of Warhammer 40K Imperial Troops. Number again dependent on what seems reasonable. If I get a higher number then part of the fun is getting to describe in Grim Dark terms the fate of little plastic men dying horrifically via just like getting knocked off a shelf or hit with one of those little plastic missiles that used to come in toys before a hundred kids choked on them.

Idea 3: My character Dangerrutito Fontainiuxic, basically a Power Ranger toy. Sort of Buzz Lightyear but not. Searching the toy aisles for his Zord and Battle Car and $1,500 dollar deluxe collectors edition Space Ship toy that he will either never find or not be able to open the box for or it's just hanging in mid air as a display and he can't get to it.

[Alucroas]

Are we allowed to bring characters who have destructive powers scaled down to toyverse size effects? Foe example: a missile fires from a toy hits a shelf, but the explosion is no larger than a firecracker, or a laser beam that is only strong enough to cut through paper, and leave a mild scorch mark on a steel shelf, but with prolonged application would be able to cut through the beam.

Basically, my brain is operating on less of a literal toy fight, but something with toysized effects, but if everyone is truly launching fake missiles, aka, plastic rods with nothing more than kinetic force behind them, then it would obviously be unfair if I brought the former into the fight.

[Sky Blue]

I think it's meant to be whatever a toy can reasonably hold. also do you know how toy lazers work? they're legit just light. i'm a science interest, so...

Then again i ain't the gm, so take what i say with a grain of salt.

[Alucroas]

I think it's meant to be whatever a toy can reasonably hold. also do you know how toy lazers work? they're legit just light. i'm a science interest, so...

Then again i ain't the gm, so take what i say with a grain of salt.

@Sky Blue

I was always operating on the silent assumption that we are to play actual toys, but it always helps me personally to ask for the sake of having something to weigh my own interest against.

[Shinny]

Are we allowed to bring characters who have destructive powers scaled down to toyverse size effects? Foe example: a missile fires from a toy hits a shelf, but the explosion is no larger than a firecracker, or a laser beam that is only strong enough to cut through paper, and leave a mild scorch mark on a steel shelf, but with prolonged application would be able to cut through the beam.

Basically, my brain is operating on less of a literal toy fight, but something with toysized effects, but if everyone is truly launching fake missiles, aka, plastic rods with nothing more than kinetic force behind them, then it would obviously be unfair if I brought the former into the fight.

@Alucroas

Yeah, this was more or less my intention. If they didn't then toys would take a long time to kill each other, and given the number of people I hope to throw into this mess, the faster things go the better for everybody.

I love this idea.

I have three ideas and two questions. The questions kind of inform which idea I go for.

My Goofy Ass Questions

Question the 1st: What's your stance on Single Toy VS Toy Line

That is to ask; could I RP as say "A bag of Green Army Men" or "The Christmas 1996 GI Joe Assault on Bad Guy Castle Playset that fell in that little area behind the aisles and is only just now sitting in the clearance rack because nostalgia."

Question the 2th: What's your stance on known pre-existing franchise characters.

That is to ask; could I RP as three of the Ninja Turtles from the Turtle Van box thing because some snot nosed kid kidnapped the Donatello figure. If you do not want recognizable brands would an obvious Knock Off expy be acceptable? Like instead of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) could I use Bolivian Battle Toads with Attitoads (BBTA)

My Goofy Ass Ideas

Idea 1: Basically just Ninja Turtles in whatever number is acceptable. 1, 2, 3, or 4 or maybe that one Robot Turtle character. Idea being they're all plastic with plastic weapons and can exchange limbs. Wildly durable because their limbs just pop on and off with ease.

Idea 2: A box set of Warhammer 40K Imperial Troops. Number again dependent on what seems reasonable. If I get a higher number then part of the fun is getting to describe in Grim Dark terms the fate of little plastic men dying horrifically via just like getting knocked off a shelf or hit with one of those little plastic missiles that used to come in toys before a hundred kids choked on them.

Idea 3: My character Dangerrutito Fontainiuxic, basically a Power Ranger toy. Sort of Buzz Lightyear but not. Searching the toy aisles for his Zord and Battle Car and $1,500 dollar deluxe collectors edition Space Ship toy that he will either never find or not be able to open the box for or it's just hanging in mid air as a display and he can't get to it.

@BangoSkank

The last time I did this we had a Warhammer 40,000 combat patrol as one of the contestants, which in a way answers both questions at once. Just remember that conservation of ninjustu applies!

[Alucroas]

I suspect I'll have to modify this profile, but I did try to be as detailed possible as per the rules.

The Abomimable Alucroas

A 16 inch, quadrupedal black dragon made almost entirely of metal, featuring very large scales painted with a mixture of charcoal and ink. Alucroas’ eyes are counter-colored, consisting of a sapphire right and crimson left, both of which are capable of detecting thermal, as well as electrical energy, appearing as a strange blend of red and blue for objects such as lights, television, game consoles, and purple for living toys, though this only applies to ones containing electrical components. This uncanny sight appears to serve a mostly predatory function, and is indicative of Alucroas’ newly preferred diet of wires over flesh, and metal over bone. To this end, he has a modified mouth appendage that starts as a skull, complete with horns and jaws, and is attached to a 6.5inch cord of hyper-jointed metal, granting it adequate mobility.

His head also features 4inch horns, and his tail is 16 inches, ending in a 4 inch, slightly curved bone with a semi-blunt tip. While the topside of the tail is fully armored, the underside has exposed vertebrates. The scales function as a highly durable armor, and can open up slightly to secrete a thick, transparent slime, that in all likelihood is a form of glue that has mostly, but not entirely lost its adhesive properties.

The dragon’s wings are hidden in two slots on his back, and when unsheathed, fling a highly corrosive battery acid. Alucroas’ wingspan is roughly 2ft across, and due to his mostly metallic composition, is only capable of gliding a short distance, though he has a rather uncannily destructive habit of being able to violently yank himself against anything made of metal. This is because Alucroas is a lightning dragon, and his electromagnetic powers, though greatly reduced, have retained enough of their fundamental attributes that he is able to perform at minimum the more basic feats.

Consequently, and because the beast's “batteries” are globally spread throughout his body in the form of corrosive battery acid, the abomination is able to emit static electricity off any part of its body, and fire out a beam up to a maximum distance of five feet. Suffice to say, keeping this monster at a distance is critical to one's long term survival.

Aside from being about as visibly strong as one would expect from a cat-sized toy, Alucroas’ forelimbs possess two dark-green scars running from his triceps to the middle of his forearms underside. The scars can secrete a shimmering compound that is thick like gel, and sticky like glue. Inhaling the fumes of this weird substance has a disorienting, discombobulating effect on the senses of other toys, and fortunately only lasts for a few seconds, or for as long as physical contact is maintained, its presence within the body easily sneezed away like cardboard dust.

[BrokenPromise]

It was a busy week, but I still plan on joining this and made a bit of progress. Looks like I have plenty of time until the deadline anyway.

And just to make it clear in case anyone missed it...

Unlike the RPs that run in all the other sections of the forum, Shinny wants us to post our character applications in the character tab and not the OOC. They find this easier to keep track of. So if/when you are done with your character sheets, post them there.