Bork Lazer

KARSTS - A World Beyond Eons

_{/\/ Whimsical Ventures of Fantastical Retrofuturism /\/}

18th of Uulu Ut, 3 A.R (After Reseph)

Dreams are the poems of the mute, the paintings of the blind and the music of the deaf. It is a master of your body but a prisoner to your unconscious whims. This time, though, you are falling. Endlessly towards a dodecahedron in the void. It whispers to you in seductive equations, to subsume into code and become one with it. Like the crowing of a dawnwing, Qud’s discordant melodies rouse you from your peaceful chrysalis of slumber.

You awake in one of the sandstone abodes of Hasgahem, a village situated on the canyon springs. Fishing lines dip inside scillintating mineral pools, eddies of azure gas swirling in their depths. Thatches of gnarled dogthorns provide plentiful shade from the sweltering sun.

As you recollect your memories like the fragmented remains of a jigsaw, you piece together the present. A trio of dromads, members of the expedition you were hired for, debate over the intricacies of wine trading in the wake of a cooling fireplace. Around you are meandering slopes of salt-encrusted rust, red rims etched down into bands of baked sediment. Further out, you take note of the distant surroundings.

To the west lies the eternal expanse of Moghra’Yi, the Great Salt Desert. The alien Spindle erupts in the northeast and cuts through the heavenly firmaments of Qud’s dappled sky. Qud’s jungles swarm the southeastern landscape over fossilized silver ruins of yore. The Chrome Ruins preside over the east and beyond that, violet clouds thunder ominously over the radioactive Deathlands.

Your stomach rumbles. A shrill series of barks alerts you to atention. Alu, the raccoon leader of the expeidtion, invites you over to join the caravan in morning repast. Your appetite cannot deny his request as you walk over to them and listen in on the discussion. Whilst they argue, you peruse the texts that lay on the thatched brinewood table to refresh your memory of the land.

Whilst you have successfully arrived at Qud, your journey in this fabled land hasn’t ended. It has merely begun.

Live and drink, wayfarer.

---

Karsts is a linear science fantasy roleplay with elements of open-world sandboxing based on the fictional setting portrayed in the indie roguelike, Caves of Qud. Set in a distant post-apocalyptic future where the epoch of humanity has passed into mere myth; mutants, sentient fauna and flora along with extra-planetary beings pick over what remains of godlike civilizations shrouded by millenia of refuse. Multiple disasters, minor and world-shattering, over the aeons have driven the world into a quasi-medieval state where forgotten technology is slowly being rediscovered and repurposed.Those unblemished and genetically pure are known as True Kin and have survived in self-sustaining Eco-Domes, independent arcologies built from forgotten technology. Right now, society is in a precarious state of teetering between extinction and renaissance and no one knows which way the balance will tip.

One of the most prominent regions in this world is called Qud. Every wayfarer has their own words for how to describe Qud. Dangerous. Alluring. Bountiful. Beautiful. Horrifying. Captivating. It’s majesty knows no bounds yet chance is a cruel mistress here as one second of carelessness could lead to your death. It's ruins are the stuff of legend, attracting adventurers like a glowmoth towards a candle. You find yourself in this mythical land after becoming a member of a dromad funded archeological excursion, whether on purpose or by mistake. The reward was one part of your reason for joining but moreover was the mystery of Qud itself.

Don't fool yourself. You're no savior. You're no hero. You are not a legend. Well, not yet. Perhaps, you could become one.

In summary, think of this setting as the crazed lovechild of Gamma World and Dune who simultaneously had an affair with Adventure Time. It is a land of a thousand tales, stories of transhumanist philosophy, sentient agriculture, extraterrestrial archeology, political diplomacy, cuisine escapades, sapphic romance and cave spelunking. It’s experimental. It’s idiosyncratic. It draws from many places but creates its own path.

In terms of the genre, as implied in the subtitle as well as in the prior paragraphs above, this will be science fiction with a twist of pulp fantasy and a dash of classic action-adventure Indiana Jones thriller sensibilities.

If you’re still interested in joining this RP, please read on down below.

Map

Player Guidelines and Rules

- Have fun.

- Treat others with respect as how you would want to be treated yourself, unless you have a massive inferiority complex, which in that case, don’t. This is a RP where outside of IC, we provide a friendly environment where players are free to engage and discuss with one another without fear of being drawn into toxicity. If anyone is acting in a manner that is disrupting the RP and causing other players to be uncomfortable, you will be ex-communicated to another dimension.

- Be fun and be open to worldbuilding. Forging your own headcanon, creating your own factions or suggesting ideas is wholeheartedly encouraged. A key part of Qud is that it is a land of mystery where not even its most distinguished scholars have documented all of the world’s enigmas. Qud is vast and mysterious enough that reasonably any suggestion or theory could fit inside its vast smorgasbord of deliciousness. However, consult with the GM before suggesting or integrating lore within IC that provides systemic changes to the world itself.

- Standard conventions of roleplaying apply which means no metagaming, godmodding, munchkining, 4th wall breaking or inclusion of 18+ content that would violate RPG’s TOS in your IC posts. Note that mature themes do not mean writing graphic erotica.

- Think fun. When creating your character, your character shouldn’t be your standard fantasy hero or adventurer who is seemingly an expert in every field possible with some arbitrary weakness. I want real, fleshed out characters that have lived a life in this world and treat what would be strange to us as mundane. I want dynamicity. I want depth. I want so much depth that I could dig through your character’s backstory and find myself in China.

- Cooperation and communication are essential in this roleplay. Collaborative posting, although not essential, is allowed and encouraged if you are willing to do so. I will not force players to engage in collabs at any time during this RP.

- Know how to have fun with your post lengths. The writing I expect from players is quality over quantity with adherence to efficiency. I do not care how many words you write, although, this does not mean you can write one sentence and expect to get away with it. The minimum is one paragraph but I expect any player who joins this RP will know what expectations to set for themselves.

- There is no such thing as a posting schedule. That being said, players are expected to communicate frequently to the GM and other players if they are unavailable or have lost interest in this RP. Failure to do so after two weeks will result in the player being exiled to a chromatic plane of existence.

- Worship fun and feel free to sacrifice your character to maintain your personal autonomy of free time whenever you feel like it. You have no obligation to remain a member of this RP and you can freely request for your character to be shelved at any time. Do note that you can only make one character for this RP.

- You must accept the fact that I will be unfair to you whenever possible and that durian is the superior fruit to all other fruits in existence.

---

---

Currently looking for 4-5 players to respond or more. If there are enough responses, I will create the IC.

Wal Quest - Interactive Post Apocalyptic Quest

[1] - Take your clan’s insignia and mould it into an eyepatch.

---

They’re not as well stocked as Dorfen merchants but you’re lucky you didn’t lose any of your fingers in the fall. With some leftover pipe cleaner and silly string, you manage to make a rudimentary eyepatch. You wipe a smear of glue on the bottom of the paper flower and stick it in front of the patch. It’s not a work worthy of a papersmith, by far, but nevertheless, a quiet sort of pride swells in your chest. You gently wrap it around your head, slotting it gently into the bony crevasse where your left eye used to be.

After that, You keep asking when you can leave and it’s always the same response combined with the constant prodding and testing that makes you feel like one of those caged monstrosities from Pets N Animals.

It’s after the fifth day that you decided enough was enough. The taste of pre-packaged lunchables crusted your tongue and in spite of your politeness, there was only so much prodding and medical examinations you could handle. As you step off the bed, rest rust cakes your joints as your muscles . You stretch out your arm, rotating it experimentally. The stings of pain erupt periodically every time you pull your arm too fast or in a certain direction. At least you can finally stop lying in this damn bed.

The door at the end of the hallway bangs open as one of the child helpers you see scurrying and busying other patients comes towards your bed. Instead of holding a tray full of syringes and bottles of pills, he held something that was wrapped in a thick orange Sham-Wow. He stopped at the front of your bed, looking reverently towards you in a way that made your skin crawl.

“ Sa-samurai!” The boy gave a slight bow before gently offering you the bundle.“ The Pharmacist asked us to give you back your items. I do have to warn you, though. Some of your items didn’t make it through your...fall unscathed.”

How bad can it be? You unfurl the blanket. Most of your wargear is undamaged, with the minor scratch or dent.

Well, save for one.

[X] - Can it even be called armor anymore? The inch-thick pauldrons have been shaved down to a thin wisp. The plating around your gorget has been crumpled. The only thing that’s usable is the cuirass and even then, the holes peppered throughout are big enough to fit your pinky through.

[X] - Ivory Crane’s seen better days. The sword passed down from your father has been completely demolished, leaving little more than a torn handle with a bent chaffed blade. You doubt that it could even withstand one blow without breaking apart in twain.

How to make a good prompt?

I throw darts on a wall of sticky notes and perform whatever plans the dark deity watching over my life has for me.

Gauging Interest for RP Idea - Might Develop More In The Future

_{/\/ Whimsical Ventures of Fantastical Retrofuturism /\/}

18th of Uulu Ut, 3 A.R (After Reseph)

Dreams are the poems of the mute, the paintings of the blind and the music of the deaf. It is a master of your body but a prisoner to your unconscious whims. This time, though, you are falling. Endlessly towards a dodecahedron in the void. It whispers to you in seductive equations, to subsume into code and become one with it. Like the crowing of a dawnwing, Qud’s discordant melodies rouse you from your peaceful chrysalis of slumber.

You awake in one of the sandstone abodes of Hasgahem, a village situated on the canyon springs. Fishing lines dip inside scillintating mineral pools, eddies of azure gas swirling in their depths. Thatches of gnarled dogthorns provide plentiful shade from the sweltering sun.

As you recollect your memories like the fragmented remains of a jigsaw, you piece together the present. A trio of dromads, members of the expedition you were hired for, debate over the intricacies of wine trading in the wake of a cooling fireplace. Around you are meandering slopes of salt-encrusted rust, red rims etched down into bands of baked sediment. Further out, you take note of the distant surroundings.

To the west lies the eternal expanse of Moghra’Yi, the Great Salt Desert. The alien Spindle erupts in the northeast and cuts through the heavenly firmaments of Qud’s dappled sky. Qud’s jungles swarm the southeastern landscape over fossilized silver ruins of yore. The Chrome Ruins preside over the east and beyond that, violet clouds thunder ominously over the radioactive Deathlands.

Your stomach rumbles. A shrill series of barks alerts you to atention. Alu, the raccoon leader of the expeidtion, invites you over to join the caravan in morning repast. Your appetite cannot deny his request as you walk over to them and listen in on the discussion. Whilst they argue, you peruse the texts that lay on the thatched brinewood table to refresh your memory of the land.

Whilst you have successfully arrived at Qud, your journey in this fabled land hasn’t ended. It has merely begun.

Live and drink, wayfarer.

---

Karsts is a linear science fantasy roleplay with elements of open-world sandboxing based on the fictional setting portrayed in the indie roguelike, Caves of Qud. Set in a distant post-apocalyptic future where the epoch of humanity has passed into mere myth; mutants, genetic deviants and extra-planetary beings pick over what remains of godlike civilizations shrouded by millenia of refuse. Multiple disasters, minor and world-shattering, over the aeons have driven the world into a quasi-medieval state where forgotten technology is slowly being rediscovered and repurposed.Those unmutated survive in self-sustaining Eco-Domes, independent arcologies built from forgotten technology. Right now, society is in a precarious state of teetering between extinction and renaissance and no one knows which way the balance will tip.

One of the most prominent regions in this world is called Qud. Every wayfarer has their own words for how to describe Qud. Dangerous. Alluring. Bountiful. Beautiful. Horrifying. Captivating. It’s majesty knows no bounds yet chance is a cruel mistress here as one second of carelessness could lead to your death. It's ruins are the stuff of legend, attracting adventurers like a glowmoth towards a candle. You find yourself here after becoming a member of a dromad funded archeological excursion, whether on purpose or by mistake. The reward was one part of your reason for joining but moreover was the mystery of Qud itself.

Don't fool yourself. You're no savior. You're no hero. You are not a legend. Well, not yet. Perhaps, you could become one.

In summary, think of this setting as the crazed lovechild of Gamma World and Dune who simultaneously had an affair with Adventure Time. It is a land of a thousand tales, stories of transhumanist philosophy, sentient agriculture, extraterrestrial archeology, political diplomacy, cuisine escapades, sapphic romance and cave spelunking. It’s experimental. It’s idiosyncratic. It draws from many places but creates its own path.

In terms of the genre, as implied in the subtitle as well as in the prior paragraphs above, this will be science fiction with a twist of pulp fantasy and a dash of classic action-adventure Indiana Jones thriller sensibilities.

If you’re still interested in joining this RP, please read on down below.

Player Guidelines and Rules

- Have fun.

- Treat others with respect as how you would want to be treated yourself, unless you have a massive inferiority complex, which in that case, don’t. This is a RP where outside of IC, we provide a friendly environment where players are free to engage and discuss with one another without fear of being drawn into toxicity. If anyone is acting in a manner that is disrupting the RP and causing other players to be uncomfortable, you will be ex-communicated to another dimension.

- Be fun and be open to worldbuilding. Forging your own headcanon, creating your own factions or suggesting ideas is wholeheartedly encouraged. A key part of Qud is that it is a land of mystery where not even its most distinguished scholars have documented all of the world’s enigmas. Qud is vast and mysterious enough that reasonably any suggestion or theory could fit inside its vast smorgasbord of deliciousness. However, consult with the GM before suggesting or integrating lore within IC that provides systemic changes to the world itself.

- Standard conventions of roleplaying apply which means no metagaming, godmodding, munchkining, 4th wall breaking or inclusion of 18+ content that would violate RPG’s TOS in your IC posts. Note that mature themes do not mean writing graphic erotica.

- Think fun. When creating your character, your character shouldn’t be your standard fantasy hero or adventurer who is seemingly an expert in every field possible with some arbitrary weakness. I want real, fleshed out characters that have lived a life in this world and treat what would be strange to us as mundane. I want dynamicity. I want depth. I want so much depth that I could dig through your character’s backstory and find myself in China.

- Cooperation and communication are essential in this roleplay. Collaborative posting, although not essential, is allowed and encouraged if you are willing to do so. I will not force players to engage in collabs at any time during this RP.

- Know how to have fun with your post lengths. The writing I expect from players is quality over quantity with adherence to efficiency. I do not care how many words you write, although, this does not mean you can write one sentence and expect to get away with it. The minimum is one paragraph but I expect any player who joins this RP will know what expectations to set for themselves.

- There is no such thing as a posting schedule. That being said, players are expected to communicate frequently to the GM and other players if they are unavailable or have lost interest in this RP. Failure to do so after two weeks will result in the player being exiled to a chromatic plane of existence.

- Worship fun and feel free to sacrifice your character to maintain your personal autonomy of free time whenever you feel like it. You have no obligation to remain a member of this RP and you can freely request for your character to be shelved at any time. Do note that you can only make one character for this RP.

- You must accept the fact that I will be unfair to you whenever possible and that durian is the superior fruit to all other fruits in existence.

---

---

Gauging interest at the moment for this RP. Probably not going to make the IC anytime soon but just seeing if this attracts anyone.

Wal Quest - Interactive Post Apocalyptic Quest

“ Again” - [1]

---

He criticizes every blow you make, every step, even how fast your breathing. The memory of his blows, even with blunted cardboard edges, still stung your skin. Even though he wasn’t born in the Shogunate, he is the epitome of your ideals. Unyielding like stainless steel. Pliable as folded origami. Most of all, he is stationary incarnate, organisation and order embodied in his form and teachings.

Yet, through all the pain, you feel a small sense of nostalgia at simpler times when you were concerned about practicing your footwork and not about practicing sport. Where the worse you had to deal with was a grueling day of hacking at cardboard dummies instead of Smilers.

Younger days. Unfolded days. You crack a smile as you twirl down into an overhead slash onto his shoulder, only for him to block it at the moment with the flat of his cardboard blade. You press downwards, gritting your teeth, biceps shaking in stress whilst he is still as a statue. He then opens his mouth.

" Samurai."

He repeats it again.

" Samurai. Wake up."

The dream crumbles like soggy paper as you com to. You wipe a strand of drool from your cheek, only to realise that an impish hand is currently jostling your shoulder. A bald head, like that of an egg, accompanied by brilliant green eyes stared back at you with curiosity. He was dressed in the same doctor's coat as your savior, only more oversized to the point where his sleeves drooped limply down his wrists. You blinked as he waved a flashlight in your eyes before nodding in approval and jotting down notes on a Etch-A-Sketch that hung from his neck. You frown, though not in disapproval. Children were expected to fight and train from birth, from the lowest of glue farmers to the highest of paper nobles, in the Shogunate. It was odd to see that this tradition was also present in other departments.

“ I apologise, samurai. Doctor Panadol asked me to bring these to you.” The child lifts an oversized aluminium dinner tray towards you. “ He is the man who saw to you earlier today.”

What lies in it is not food but eyes. Dozens of them with different colored pupils. You grasp at them carefully, expecting it to be flesh and blood, only for them to be unnaturally smooth and cold to the touch.

“ They’re fakes. All over the counter, of course. ” He bows again. “ I’ll leave you to your own privacy.”

The child leaves to yourself. The fake eyes dance in between your fingers as you look at them staring back at you with a plastic glint.

[X] - Leave your missing eye bare as a reminder of who you are.

[X] - Take your clan’s insignia and mould it into an eyepatch.

[X] - Accept the fake eye from the pharmamancer.

Open World Minimalism: World in Mist

Pebbles tries to headbutts his way through the window without causing injury to himself and then, walks through, pointing towards the Taco Bell staff.

" Don't give him his meal or else, I'll break your faces." His eyes then look towards Kirby. " Now, it's time for you to suffer the wrath of my knuckles."

Casual, really?

To be frank, I find the distribution of tags more interesting than the amount of posts or activity over time. There's perhaps minute differences you could find in the latter between each subforum whilst the former speaks to the overall enviroment of each subforum, trends and so forth.

Open World Minimalism: World in Mist

"You monster!" Pebbles takes the blood of the apothecary and wipes it on his face in a tribal pattern meant to intimidate and cause fear. He then attempts to follow the pink blob and give it a ferocious uppercut for its crimes of sarcophagy.

Casual, really?

@FinalPalladium I hope you don't mind me dropping this into your thread but out of curiosity, I bootlegged your code and replaced all of the necessary variables relevant for the Advanced Section to see if there were any statistical differences. Props to you. I recommend everyone take a look at their code if they are more curious about other aspects of the site in general. Really adaptable and easy to modify.

Few things to note. I am a dabbler in code and thus, my IDE was different to what the OP was using. I had to use html.parser instead of lmxl parser due to difficulties with my software. I also had difficulties with the matlibplot module that the OP used to visualize their data. Therefore, I used the painful process of manually shoving it all into Excel. Could have done a R Plot instead but eh. Anyway, here is the result.



There are a few differences and similarities of note. To begin.....

- We see a parallel scenario with Casual/Advanced Tags in the Advanced Section. Casual tags are commonplace whilst Advanced Tags are barely non-existent whilst the opposite exists in the data for the Casual section. This may imply that GMs use these tags as a way of quantifying themselves relative to the rest of the section.
- More even split of proportions between small group and large group in Advanced Section relative to Casual.
- Sci-Fi more prominent than Anime/Manga for Advanced.
- Top 4 genres are Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Fandom and Modern.

Might apply this code for Free if OP doesn't. Anyway, thought I do this and I was both mildly surprised and expectant of the results. Sorry if OP was in the process of doing one for Advanced.

Roleplayer Guild's First Pet Pageant!

puts away pet rock