The Journeyman Project - Last Impression

Written by Reiko

Agent 5 Journal #4: "I'm almost done. All three robots are destroyed, and now the last thing to do is to catch up with Elliot Sinclair. My impression of him is that he's unstable and very dangerous. I was almost flattened by his robot, after all. He may be a genius, but his intelligence does us no good if he's going to interfere with the history that he helped make accessible."

Only one mission left to complete, and we come full circle back to where we started. For the second time, I jump to the NORAD base in 2112. This time, after the robot taunts me, I immediately put on my oxygen mask, and I'm no longer gasping or in any danger from the sleeping gas. I look around again, but this time I'm more careful about what I touch.

Those people didn't have oxygen masks handy...

To my left, there's a screen that shows me various areas around the base. I can tap through to see a wireframe layout of the base, and then I can see what look like feeds from surveillance cameras in various sectors of the base. One sector seems to have a large mechanical arm of some kind. One feed from Alpha sector seems to have some people passed out, presumably because the sleeping gas has permeated the base.

This plasma isn't hot enough to kill...?

I don't see anything else to do in here, so I open the door and step forward. Immediately I get a warning that I detect "plasma field buildup." That doesn't sound good. I turn to face the corridor and see the robot at the other end of it, shooting some kind of weapon at me! It shoots two or three times, and the projectiles look like large balls of fire, but it doesn't kill me; it just knocks my energy down by about 25%.

Later, when I replay, I make sure the Shield BioChip is active before I step out of the room, and that seems to help somewhat. I think I only lose about 10-12% of my energy instead. So maybe the shield absorbed half of the damage.

I figure out that I've arrived in Beta sector, and I can move around in the corridors between a few of the sectors. But many doors refuse to open due to a security alert, including the door that closed behind me, so I can't get back into the first room to look at the screens again. I was going to see if I could determine where the robot went.

I can see the robot, but I can't get to it.

As it turns out, it's not hard to figure out where the robot went. The other end of the corridor ends in a cross-corridor with a door at the end. The left turn ends at a door into Alpha sector that won't open, but through it I can see the robot and hear the computer announce that the nuclear launch code is wrong, and warn that the manual override station in Alpha 2 is unmanned. I think I need to get there and override the launch manually to keep the robot from launching the missile.

Maximum pressure does nothing right now.

The other end of the cross-corridor ends at a door into Epsilon sector that won't open, so I take the door going forward and proceed to the next door, which has a pressure lock. I have to decrease the pressure in the submarine dock in order to enter the room. Oddly enough, the verbal warning tells me not to increase the pressure to maximum, but nothing seems to happen if I do. It just seems to be something to slow me down, as I have to hold the down arrow for several seconds while the pressure slowly decreases far enough that the door will open.

The submarine dock holds a small pool and what looks like a large grabber arm. I think it's the same mechanical arm I noticed in the surveillance feed. I can't find anything I can interact with in this room. The side wall appears to have individual lockers with names on them, but none of them open. So I proceed into the next room.

Loading arm control screens.

This appears to be a command post overlooking the loading arm. I can turn on the screens, one of which shows the layout of the loader arm room, and the other one gives me a "Loading Arm Menu"; "Choose Input Mode": "Manual" or "Programmed". If I select programmed mode and hit Activate, the arm moves forward, appears to grab, and then moves back. But there's nothing there, so I don't accomplish anything. If I select manual mode, I just get an error screen that says "Waldo Glove Disabled". Sometimes, anyway. Sometimes it does the exact same thing as programmed mode.

There's another exit from the command post, which leads to another short corridor bounded by doors, which then leads to another T corridor with exits to various sectors. The loading arm seems to be Delta sector. The cross-corridor again leads right to Epsilon sector and left to Alpha sector. Unfortunately, all the rest of these doors are locked due to the security alert.

How to fail the NORAD mission.

Actually, the Alpha sector door is locked, but it also has a retinal scanner on it. When I trigger it, it says, "Please hold for ten seconds for Alpha sector retinal ID scan." I can back away to avoid the scan. If I stand still and let it scan me, it figures out that I don't belong there and triggers another security alert. I then hear that the nuclear missile has been launched, which fails the mission and causes me to be pulled back to the present automatically.

At this point, I got stuck. I didn't have any way through the door with the retinal scanner, and I hadn't found anything else to do in the NORAD area. Fortunately, Ilmari came to my rescue and confirmed that I had ended up in a walking dead scenario. I had missed something in a mission I did earlier. I am not pleased at the game design that allowed this to happen, but I'll save my detailed comments on that for the final rating. For now, Ilmari's hint pointed to the existence of another BioChip that I had failed to get from the robot at the Science Center, the first mission I completed. That meant some significant backtracking in order to fix my mistake. The rest of this post was written a few days after my initial exploration of the NORAD level above.

Retinal BioChip item

I reload the appropriate save in order to go back to the science center after making the antidote. I quickly move to the electrical access room and electrocute the robot as I did before. This time, I carefully pull out all the BioChips that are available. The chip I was missing is, appropriately enough, the Retinal BioChip. (I have to wonder, though, how it manages to be effective. How can it know what an "acceptable vein structure" would be for any given retinal scanner lock? And why did the robot need it in the first place?) After returning to the Pegasus with six chips total, my score is at 50607.

How many BioChips can I grab in 3 seconds?

Actually, I barely managed to get all of them first try, and then I accidentally killed the program before I saved, so I had to do it again. Then it took me three tries to get all the BioChips. The auto-destruct sequence triggers quickly enough that it's really not very easy to get them all. I don't think I commented on it in the original post, but the first time I played through the sequence, I only got the Optical Memory chip and didn't realize more than one could be taken. I'd already tried multiple times even to get two chips, and then it turns out I still didn't get them all. That sequence is probably the hardest sequence to get right in the whole game.

After getting the chip I missed, then I have to play through the entire Mars sequence again. I know what needs to happen, so it only takes about 25 minutes to do the whole level, although for some reason I have a little more trouble with the Mastermind mini-game this time around. Eventually I get through it, grab the bomb, work my way through the maze, carefully use the ore crusher, blast off in the shuttle, and capture the robot. I make sure to get all the chips from this one too, of course, although this one has a duplicate chip (the Mapping chip) for some reason. That's especially pointless given that it'd be more difficult to get through the ore tunnel maze without already having the Mapping chip.

After two missions cleared and seven BioChips, now I have a score of 76915. This is significantly higher than the score I reported at the end of the previous post (60560). This is probably a combination of the 5000 point increase for the extra chip as well as more points for being faster at completing the missions. I've done the first two enough times now that I know what's necessary and what isn't.

The retinal chip at work projecting a simulated retina for the scanner.

Finally, back to the NORAD level. I start the same way as I did before, wearing the oxygen mask, and having the shield chip active when I face the robot's plasma blasts. I make my way through the pressurized room and along the corridors to the second Alpha door with the scanner. This time, I activate the Retinal chip before I trigger the scanner, and it does its thing.

The door opens to reveal the defense station. I walk in and trigger the screens. The left one shifts from a surveillance video of the other Alpha station to a close-up on the robot, who begins gloating at me about how he just broke the nuclear activation code and began the launch sequence for the nuclear missile strike. Am I too late? (Apparently the country it's aimed at is spelled Ghorbestan, although given all the typos, even that can't entirely be trusted.)

Apparently the writers couldn't spell "Addis Ababa" either.

I have only one way to stop the missile launch: I have to play another mini-game where I race to shut down several missile silos in quick succession before time runs out. To do this, I have to click on the trackball below the globe to move the cursor around the globe and select the correct silo site. Then a button appears on the right screen to deactivate it. Each time a silo is deactivated, the installation selects a different site, and the amount of time I have to deactivate it decreases, starting at two minutes and decrementing by 10 or 15 seconds each time down to only 30 seconds for the last one.

The US has eight silos (nine including Hawaii), but I only have to deactivate one of them.

I like this minigame in one way, because it requires some knowledge of geography. It just gives you a city and country, and you have to navigate around the globe to find the correct red dot that corresponds to that location. Some of the locations are reasonably uncommon, like Bangkok, Thailand. Some aren't even capital cities, like Bonn, Germany, although there's only one dot anywhere in the vicinity of Germany, so that hardly matters. The globe is tiny enough on the screen that there's not enough resolution to really make it interesting. I doubt that Pegasus Prime actually did this, but I could certainly imagine a remake that could offer difficulty levels by using more common or less common locations for the silos.

What I don't like about this minigame is the fiddly control of the trackball, though. The difficulty should be primarily in identifying the correct location, but instead, most of the difficulty is in actually selecting the location. The trackball is incredibly imprecise. Most of the time I found myself sliding back and forth around the vicinity of the right dot, trying to get the selector to stop in the right place. The mouse is way too sensitive in the game as it is, and the clicks are no better: often when I just need a single click to shift the selector over a small bit, it acts like I clicked and held for a moment, sliding it too far.

I've prevented the missile launch by deactivating too many silos.

Eventually I manage to get a bit better at controlling the selector, enough that I never run out of time. The robot tries to taunt me several times, telling me I'll never succeed, but I get the impression it's getting a little alarmed as I continue deactivating silos. After at least eight different silo locations, I reach the end. The screen shows a new message: "Maximum deactivation allotment exceeded. Global launch override safety feature engaged. ALL SILOS DEACTIVATED."

Now I've really made the robot angry. It's coming for me, so I'd better find a way to stop it like I did the other two. (As far as I can tell, though, it never shows up if I just wait in the Alpha sector.) I start making my way back along the corridor toward the original end of the station.

I'm trapped unless I deal with the robot right here.

I am not very surprised to encounter the robot once I step into the room just before the pressurized submarine dock. I look through the door and see it coming toward me. Once it's in front of me, I'm not allowed to move or turn away any more, so the only thing I can do is use the pressure controls. Well, low pressure won't do anything, but what about maximum pressure? I was warned that maximum pressure is pretty strong - is it stronger than a robot? Apparently yes! The robot crumples like a tin can. The door opens, and again I get a look at the robot's chips as it prepares to self-destruct. This one doesn't have anything that isn't a duplicate, though.

Mission complete.

And that's the end of the mission. The missile launch has been prevented. All I needed was the retinal chip, and then I played one minigame and solved one puzzle, and that's all. But before I go on, I'm going to go back and do the last puzzle a different way.

The loading arm grabs the robot.

When I get into the control room, instead of turning to face the robot at the door, I continue forward to the control station for the loading arm. Then when I face the room, the robot comes over to the window and starts pounding on it. It also taunts me again: "What do you think this is, human? A game?" (It didn't talk when it was at the door.) As quickly as I can, I trigger the loading arm screen, select Automated, and hit Activate. The arm reaches out, grabs the robot, and smashes it through the window, destroying it, and the mission completes as before.

So one of these solutions should be the "violent" solution, and one should be the "peaceful" solution. But honestly, both of these seem about equally violent to me. Both result in the destruction of the robot, and the loading arm solution also results in damage to the window. For next time, I'll complete the game both ways to find out which one is which.

BioChips: Interface, Mapping, Pegasus, Optical Memory, Retinal, Shield, Trace
Other inventory: Transport Card, Journeyman Key, Tranquilizer Dart, Antidote, Stun Gun, Wire Cutters, Maintenance Key, Access Card Bomb, Oxygen Mask
Time travel trips: 4
Score: 98570
Session Time: 1 hr 30 min
Total Time: 7 hr 15 min

Again there are typos in my screenshots! I called out the Addis Ababa one, but there are at least two others. Who can find them?

Deaths: 3 (total: 19)

Finding out first-hand how the colony was destroyed.

#17: (Thanks to MorpheusKitami for alerting me to this death.) I didn't try this last time, but if you don't take care of the bomb before entering the mining tunnels, then it will explode, destroying the colony. The ending is called "Explosion of Mars Colony": "Your expert sleuthing abilities have led you to the discovery of what actually happened to the Mars Colony." I assume we blow up with it.

Sure looks like the robot won this round with the door.

#18: If you wait too long at the door, the robot will eventually break it down. Somehow the robot is strong enough to break down a steel pressure door, but not strong enough to withstand the pressure that the door can withstand? Maybe it punches through it. Or maybe the writers were confused about this too. This ending is "Crushed by Robot": "Not even a 2000 lb. steel pressure door could keep the robot from losing this round. Winner by TKO: the robot." Right, so did the robot win or lose? I guess the lack of proofreading extends beyond just spelling errors.

The picture should really show Agent 5 with the oxygen mask on.

#19: If you wait too long at the window by the loading arm controls, the robot will eventually break it down too. This time, we're "Killed by Robot": "Next time you should have a plan before confronting a two-ton robot who wants to see you dead." So that means the robot weighs twice as much as that pressure door.

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: There's a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!

Monumental Heartbreak

I made it through Viridian Forest to Pewter City safely. The Pewter Pokémon Gym was open and available, but Lucky was in no condition to train there. Instead we made daily forays into the forest to train against other Caterpie and Weedle. Eventually Lucky evolved into a Metapod which was amazing to watch. At the time, I was so excited to see an evolution first hand. It was the direct result of our diligent training together and it felt great to see Lucky move into his next life stage, growing stronger before my eyes. This physical manifestation of growth and improvement encouraged me to take our training to the next step. It encouraged me to take my team to the Pewter City Pokémon Gym.
I walked in headstrong and confident that my team was ready to face the challenges ahead. I announced myself as a challenger. I waited for the trainers representing the gym to step forward. I expected to face more than one young man before challenging Gym Leader Brock, but apparently this young trainer was the only one representing Brock that day. He only had two Pokéballs at his side, but he assured me I was no match for Brock. He was about to prove it to me firsthand.
He tossed out a Diglett which popped up out of the dirt floor of the gym. Kiwi took to the air. If the Diglett knew any ground attacks they would be wasted on Kiwi while he remained airborne. Kiwi opened with our classic Sand-Attack gambit to kick as much dust and dirt up into the Diglett's eyes as he could. Kiwi took a few scrapes as he wore down the Diglett's accuracy, but eventually the Diglett was completely ineffective. I switched in Nibbles to tackle the Diglett into submission.
The Junior Trainer revealed his final Pokémon to be a Sandshrew. Its defense was formidable so I used Nibble to distract him with a series of disorienting glares before pulling Nibble out of the battle. Rascal jumped in to eagerly sweep through the defenseless Sandshrew, but I miscalculated. After two vicious slashes from the Sandshrews sharp claws, Rascal was down and out. Rascal slumped to the ground unconscious. My heart sank into my stomach and I felt faint. I failed Rascal.
It was in that moment of horrible defeat that it occurred to me that I should have used a potion on Rascal. I shouldn't have let him suffer those two powerful attacks head on. I should have sent in Kiwi to wear down the Sandshrew's accuracy. Lucky didn't stand a chance against this Pokémon if it took out Rascal so easily. Kiwi was my only chance to get out of this mess. I knew that if I didn't keep my head in the game, I might be saying goodbye to more than one Pokémon that afternoon. I tried to shake off my sorrow and focus on the battle ahead.
Kiwi was much faster than the Sandshrew. He kept firmly out of reach and launched a series of quick attacks on the Sandshrew to finish it off. The Junior Trainer conceded defeat, but it was I who felt defeated that day. This young boy had no idea I'd just recently vowed to never fight my Pokémon to the point of unconsciousness. Now, just days after determining the way I wished to train and respect Pokémon, my resolve was going to be tested. Rascal and I would have to part ways.
I explained this to the trainer who didn't quite understand, but he said the gym would be happy to watch after Rascal for me. Rascal was always enthusiastic about training and living here at the gym would be a fitting end to our relationship, so I agreed.
I took Rascal to the Pokémon Center and waited for him to recover from his injuries. I don't really know if he understood, but I explained to him that in order for us to grow stronger I would need to let him go. We had to follow different paths, now. I had chosen a training style where I would not let my Pokémon fall in battle and even though Rascal was my very first Pokémon companion, I could not go back on my conviction. We said our goodbyes. I released Rascal to the care of the Junior Trainer at the Pewter City Pokémon Gym and withdrew my challenge.

It's an understatement to say that I was devastated. In that moment, I certainly regretted making it my personal goal as a trainer to not push my Pokémon too far. As Wolf had said, it's just part of the training to the average trainer. You win some and you lose some. But that just wasn't my way. I wanted to build a place where I could protect Pokémon and people would come from all around to study and understand them better. I had to be better than the average trainer. I had to hold myself to a higher standard. Pokémon would fight. They would fight to protect me in the wild, and they would fight for my dream in competitive matches. But I had to have limits. I had to take responsibilities for my failures and this was the only way I knew how to do that.
Rascal was the first of many such failures, and saying goodbye to my first Pokémon was certainly one of the most painful experiences as a Pokémon Trainer that I have ever faced. Back in those days in Pewter City, I questioned everything about my journey. I spent a long time just wondering if I should return to Professor Oak and give up. These thoughts just stemmed from the profound sadness and disappointment, though. Ultimately, I would move on. I would grow stronger and persevere.
Beyond the tremendous heartbreak of failing to protect my first Pokémon, I was also terrified of Brock. This failure humbled me tremendously. Everything I did going forward would be taken slowly and with greater attention to strategy. This included returning to challenge Brock. Without Rascal, my team had a gaping hole that needed to be filled. The only one who could fill that hole was Lucky and so we left Pewter temporarily to train like our lives depended on it. I would absolutely not lose another Pokémon in this city.

Current Team:

WOODEN HOUSE + DOWNLOAD + TOUR + CC CREATORS | The Sims 4 |

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Against Awards Shows

Image by Marco Recuay. Filed under Creative Commons. Some rights reserved. Source: Flickr

Another day, another controversy explodes on the Internet. Controversies, and the obsessive social media coverage that they receive have become almost synonymous with award shows. Why, with Kayne's arrogant interruption of Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus desperately trying to shock at the Video Music Awards, Ellen DeGeneres making an awful transvestite joke about Liza Minnelli at the Oscars, or Sofia Vergara's irony at the Emmys taken too seriously, we tend to forget that these shows are about the awards. It seems almost routine that these shows always provoke some controversy to tweet or blog about ad nauseaum. It's just so fascinating that in a post-Madonna age, liberal and conservative alike can still be offended, and even "outraged" (a terribly misused term), by a woman shaking her ass on TV.


I have the misfortune (or fortune, rather) of missing out on these controversies that will distract journalists from otherwise newsworthy stories, because I don't watch award shows. I don't see the point. They're really a waste of time, if you think about it, and I'm briefly going to articulate exactly why.



You're an observer, not a participant

I didn't get to vote in The Dark Knight for Best Picture. I didn't get to nominate Legend Of Korra: Book 2 for a Golden Globe. I'm not getting an award because I wasn't involved in any of the shows, nor are any of my friends and family. These decisions are all made by persons I'll probably never know. Of course, popularity can have an influence on the choices of those in charge, but the verdict ultimately lies with them. So why should I be involved? Why should I care? What good does it do for me?

Is it for validation? Can you only feel justified in liking art if it wins an award? I'll love Breaking Bad, regardless if it wins Best Drama. I'll abhor Gigi, even though it won Best Picture. I'll still listen to the Airborne Toxic Event, even if they never earn a Grammy. You should like art for reasons important to you, not to society, or those who claim to speak for it.

Or do you watch these shows to see artists that you admire finally get their due recognition? Well, that's fine and all, but chances are, you'll see other artists that you don't know or care about get their fair due as well. Think about it, do you really care about who wins Best Sound Editing at the Oscars? In most cases, the person or show you'll want to win, will only catch the spotlight for less than five minutes, and that's even if they win.

Yes, yes, and yes. I know that the People's Choice Awards, the Teen's Choice Awards, and the Kid's Choice Awards allow the public to vote online, and they deserve credit for that. However, that still doesn't fix the problem of sitting through so much boredom. (Well, the Kid's Choice Awards have slime, at least!) It's still people getting awards. No plot, no climax. Not to mention that you can't choose who gets nominated (as far as I know.) That being said, these viewer participation awards don't always select the best of choices, after all, One Direction won Favorite Band for 2014. It is also noteworthy that Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly suggested that public's participation may be more marginal than advertised,

"Let's be honest: As the very clear post-show disclaimer explained, a complex system of "E-Polls" and market research and extravagant math went into choosing the nominees you saw upon your screen. And that system led to a telecast in which praise was lavished on a crassly commercial cross-section of demographically advantageous properties starring celebrities who were willing to show up." ("The People's Choice Awards: You showed up? Here's a trophy!").

By the end of the day, you're watching people you'll never know hand each other awards for two to four hours. Awards that you, likely, had no real effort in giving.You're only real participation is as a view count.

Much of what's going on might not even be that relevant to you

Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Robin Thicke, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Beyonce are among the musical artists most represented by the Grammys as of late. This is one of the reasons I can't watch the Grammys, I don't listen to any of the new artists. Spinal Tap sounds better than a lot of what reaches Billboard these days. Now I'm not one of those retrophiles who hates new music simply because it's new. I love Nujabes, Airborne Toxic Event, DJ Okawari, and I even think that Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a little catchy. The singles "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele and "One Engine" by The Decemberists are excellent, while The Foo Fighters' Wasting Light was a great rock album. Simply because I don't particularly like any of the artists who often win Grammys doesn't make me better than those who do, it simply means that the Grammys aren't for me.

I referenced part of this problem earlier. Even if an artist I enjoyed was getting recognition, I'd have to wade through a bunch of other artists who I don't care for just to get there. The Video Music Awards may supposedly represent my generation, but they don't represent all of us. 

This even happens with the high-brow Academy. After all, how many of you actually saw Slumdog Millionaire, Nebraska, An Education, The Reader, or Michael Clayton before they were nominated for Oscars? Though, yes, these awards can help bring public attention to those lesser known films (which is a good thing), but again, is it necessary to watch the show just to get that? I think the press releases, critical reviews, and film festivals can get that much accomplished.

Don't even get me started on the Tony's. I know that I couldn't afford to see all of those shows on Broadway. Could you?

All of the results will be available online after the show.

I've hinted at this point before, but it needs repeating.

It's not as if, if you miss the show or forget to record it that you'll never get the results. You could easily save hours out of your evening and just get the results from Google. That's what it's all about, isn't it? The results: who won and who lost. Still want to see acceptance speeches or performances? Fine, look them up on YouTube. See how much time you've saved.

Again, I don't see the larger point in watching these award shows, you really get nothing out of it, aside from a chance to drool over your favorite celebrities. There's a channel for that, it's called TMZ, but I wouldn't recommend that you watch it.

I recognize that this essay has been rather, well, short, compared to my others, and I suppose it's because I don't feel the need to waste too much ink on convincing the Average Joe that watching celebrities congratulate each other is something that we see every day. No need to turn it into a televised event. That's just masturbation.


Bibliography:

"One Direction Wins Favorite Band At People's Choice Awards 2014" Perez Hilton. January 9, 2014. www.perezhilton.com

Pastorek, Whitney.  "The People's Choice Awards: You showed up? Here's a trophy!" Entertainment Weekly. January 8, 2009. popwatch.ew.com

Storium Theory: Limiting Your Limitations

Today, I'd like to write a bit about something that I think we all do as narrators from time to time: Limiting the options that players have for writing about a situation.

Limits are good. Limits, at their base, are a way of ensuring that the scene has focus. When we set up a challenge at all, we are putting limits on the scene in general - limits of saying "the scene is now about this problem, and it needs to be addressed." We're defining what the actual problem is, and to some extent unavoidably defining the sort of things that can be done to address the problem.

But it's important to recognize when we take these definitions too far.

I've been playing a roleplaying game outside of Storium recently, using some pre-prepared scenarios that I found, and I've been struck by something in reading those scenarios: Oftentimes, they focus extensively on what definitely won't work. They spend a lot of time discussing why the players should absolutely not try a particular tactic with a situation, and how many brick walls can be thrown in their way should they dare to attempt such a thing. They're not quite set up to allow only one path forward, but they dwell a lot on why solutions A, B, C, D, E, and F are all terrible ideas that will only increase the scenario's difficulty. They show the walls, not the paths forward.

I've noticed a similar mindset subtly sneaking into Storium games at times. In our challenge setups or narration, we can sometimes spend time focusing on what won't work - on the walls set up in the way of particular solutions. Maybe we show the player characters trying a solution and discovering it won't work in the opening narration. Maybe we just describe something as impossible on the card or in the outcomes or in the narration.

Sometimes, this is fine. Sometimes, this is appropriate.

But it is definitely something we should question.

Storium works best, I have found, when players have enough information to focus their writing without limiting their ideas. That is: The problem is well-defined, but the solutions are left as open as possible given the problem at hand.

If the problem is a powerful wizard who the heroes need to get past to get to their goal, the solutions could potentially involve all sorts of things - maybe the heroes manage to fight the wizard and drive him away, maybe they evade his attacks and race beyond him into the fortress. Sometimes, limiting those options is perfectly appropriate...but it's important to be careful just how far you take the limitations. For instance, it might be appropriate to say that the party has to fight the wizard, because he's set up a magical barrier over the exit or because it's just too dangerous with him raining magic around the area. But further defining that the wizard is absolutely invulnerable to non-magical attacks himself is probably going to take it too far - it'll most likely make players of non-magical characters struggle a bit to figure out how to participate in the fight. Or, alternately, it might be appropriate to say that the wizard can't be killed and the characters need to escape - the wizard is just too powerful and his defenses too strong. But it'd take it too far to say that his attacks are unstoppable and his defenses are so strong he can't even be shaken by the characters at all, most likely, because again, it seriously limits what players can write and the ideas they can come up with for the scene. Some characters might have things they can realistically write to make just running away interesting, but others might really need to be able to provide some cover for the others or manage to disrupt the wizard for just a moment (or at least, attempt to do so and get turned aside, if they're playing a Weakness).

Similarly, consider an investigation. Maybe you're asking players to find information on a criminal gang that has troubled the area. That's fine. But if you go to the extent of saying that the other gangs in the area definitely won't share their information, or that police contacts are totally mystified and have no knowledge of the gang at all, well, that's probably going to cause people some trouble. You're limiting the ways that players can write the scene, and that's likely to make it tougher for them to come up with ideas.

Remember: Storium is about helping people write. The things that you put in your narration should encourage writing, not oppose it.

That's not to say that you should totally avoid limitations. Yes, there are times that they fit the story. If it's expressly established that the gang is totally new to the area, for instance, it makes sense that the heroes might not be able to trust contacts that would be working from existing knowledge...but how are the heroes able to get the information? Word the challenge in such a way that you reveal the possibilities rather than set up the walls. And don't just give one option! Show a wider field of openings, something that lets the players still have room to get creative on their own.

And remember to ask yourself: What is this challenge actually about?

In the case of the gang, for instance: Is the question really about who the heroes are able to go to for the information they need? Or is it just about what they are able to find out? If the latter...does it really matter whether they are able to use their contacts with the police? Or is the question just about whether they find information about the gang in the first place?

I want to be clear: Sometimes it does matter how the players are able to accomplish something. Sometimes that can be a problem you need to address as narrator. Sometimes it can cause trouble for a plot if players are allowed to do things a certain way, even if that way fulfills the overall concept of the challenge. That's very true.

But not all the time.

Not even the number of times we as narrators think it is true.

So...when you're setting a challenge up, take a good look over the card and narration associated with it. Look over what you've written, and ask yourself:

• Have I set up any limitations here I didn't intend to? Are there places where I suggest something is impossible where I didn't mean to?
• Have I set up limitations that I intended to...but that on second thought, really don't matter? Are there places where I have put limits that will make my players struggle to write, rather than providing useful focus?

If the answer to any of those questions is "yes," think about what you can do to open things up for the players. You still want the challenge to be focused...but focused and limited are two very different things.

Alumni Sian Knight Begins Job With Fat Kraken Studios.

Congratulations to our Alumni, Siân Knight for landing a job as an environment artist with Fat Kraken Studios!

Sian said,
'I am absolutely pleased Alumni Sian Knight begins job with Fat Kraken Studios and honoured to announce that I will be working as an Environment Artist at Fat Kraken Studios, who are working alongside Oddworld Inhabitants to create their latest upcoming title - Oddworld: SoulStorm!! 😱
I would like to thank all of the people who have given me opportunities along the way ever since the start of this year - I've almost given up several times... but you've gotta' be vigilant! Never give up!'

That's great advice.

Go Girl!

Missed Classic: Trinity - Fly Me To The Moon

Written by Joe Pranevich

Trinity continues to impress and depress me. Last time out, we witnessed the unexpected destruction of New Mexico thanks to a more powerful than expected nuclear test at the Trinity site. My guess was that we had finally found the "plot" of this game: to find out what interfered with the original test and put it right again. Do we have a time-traveling saboteur? Could he be related to that voice that keeps whispering bad "gnomon" puns in my ear? I have no idea, but it feels good to finally be discovering the plot after so much semi-random exploration.

At this point, I am most of the way through. I've solved (perhaps) four of the seven areas including Kensington Gardens, the South Pacific atoll, the Siberian steppe, and Nagasaki. Still to be conquered are an outer space segment, an unknown area, and the Trinity test site itself. I also know that I need to find a lizard for a magic potion, recover a magnetic meteorite from an impact crater, and maybe even deal with an injured wight. When we do these "Missed Classics", we aim to close out games in three posts. I hope I am not disappointing too many people when I say that we will have this one and at least one more, depending on how writing about the endgame goes.

"Ice ice baby. (Too cold, too cold.)" - Rob Van Winkle

To recap a bit, last time around I attempted to explore the second mushroom but ended up transported into orbit and a very quick death. I worked out with some experimentation that I could ride a soap bubble from the "Bubble Boy" in the wabe through the mushroom door and this would make surviving in space possible, but even then I could not work out how to get to a satellite that I see whizzing by before my eventual death. Having given this some thought, I am convinced that the magnet rock is my best bet since that may allow the bubble to steer itself towards the satellite. I'm a little unsure of the specifics because it seems too small and the distance seems too great for this to actually work, but this is a game with a 40-foot tall boy blowing bubbles so I'm willing to suspend disbelief. Digging around the rock didn't work and I think that I need to cool the rock down somehow, but I do not know how.

My first thought was to carry water to it. We have ample water nearby in the river and bog, but no watertight container. You'd think the cottage would have a cup or something, but you'd be wrong. The only other water I can find is the frozen icicles on the ceiling of the ice cave. With some experimentation, I discover that I can throw the axe to knock one down! I also score one point, so I must be on the right track. Unfortunately, the ice melts quickly and there is no way to get it to the meteorite without it melting.

As puzzles go, this was fun since I realized very quickly that we had four turns before the icicle would melt. The time-box helped to narrow down where we had to explore and I realized that it would re-freeze if we take the icicle to the top of the triangle at the center of the world. From there, I can make it to the crater only if I follow the exact shortest path. Still, that is not hard considering my experience at adventure game mapping and I place the cold icicle on the hit rock. It sputters and steams a bit, but the end result is that I lose the icicle but gain a magnet rock. Score!

Worked about as well as Reaganomics. 

The Final Frontier

My thought from last week was that once I made it to the satellite, I could board it. I had in mind something like the ISS (which had not been invented yet in 1986) or a half-remembered scene from Moonraker (not yet a decade old at that point). The good news is that the magnetic rock took me to the satellite as I expected, but once there I found nothing to do. There was no airlock or entrance hatch, only an automated defense satellite and an oncoming nuclear missile. The voice in my ear managed a Star Trek pun ("where gnomon has gone before"), but that doesn't help much.

One thing that changed is that I am now on the satellite and it is firing maneuvering thrusters to position itself. In the process, we are getting closer and closer to the white door. This is good since it means a way out! This is bad once you remember that the white door is the location of a nuclear explosion and the fact that we are going towards it means that this satellite will likely be blown to bits soon. Just before the missile hits, when the white door is closest, I pop the bubble with my spade. Instead of being suicide, the sudden pressure forces me to spring towards and through the door before I die of exposure to the cold of space. I still accomplished nothing, but at least I know how to get back to the wabe. I try the sequence again and again to find anything that I missed, but come up empty. Whatever I am supposed to do there, I don't think I am doing it yet. I restore.

 

Skink: noun; a smooth-bodied lizard with short or absent limbs, typically burrowing
in sandy ground, and occurring throughout tropical and temperate regions.

Tunnel Vision

One low-point last week was that I could not find the third mushroom, despite the fact that I had found it and wrote about it a post or two before. What happened? It's a combination of my writing being behind my playing, but also because I simply didn't keep the whole game in my head. I forgot that I saw it there even though I had it in my notes. In my defense, I was certain that the ossuary was underground and there was no way a magic shadow could reach there. Let's just say that I could have explored this area a while ago if it had not been for this mistake.

Passing through the door, I emerge at the eastern end of a long dark tunnel. This also happens to be the end with a nuclear bomb that will no doubt explode in a few minutes. In classic text adventure style, there is a disused lantern on the ground that I grab. Exploring west, I discover a walkie-talkie and a skink. If you are like me, you may have no idea what a "skink" is and may have resorted to Google. If so, you would have learned that a skink is a variety of lizard. I finally found my lizard! Or rather, I had found him because he immediately rushes off to the west. Before engaging in pursuit, I muck around with the walkie-talkie by extending its antenna and listening to some static. The signal doesn't reach well into the tunnels and the only word that I can make out is "eight", although eight what will have to remain a mystery… but I'd better hurry.

"Earth below us / Drifting, falling / Floating, weightless / Calling, calling home"

Just to the west is the end of the line as the cave is sealed except for a tiny, lizard-sized crevasse. The skink runs there to hide immediately and I have no obvious way to get him out. This leads to a nifty little puzzle of "catch the skink" that goes something like this:

• The skink will flee from light, either the splinter or the electric lamp that I found in the tunnel. He's like a peaceful grue in that respect. 
• I can force him out of the crevice by dropping my splinter of wood in; it is too narrow to do the same with the lantern. Doing that causes him to race past me down the eastern tunnel I never see it again.
• If I (after a restore) place the lit lantern in the next room and repeat, the skink runs there and then immediately back. He's disoriented by all of the lights so I can pick it up! 
• Unfortunately, it wiggles out of hands nearly immediately although I get 1-2 turns to do something else with it. I try putting it in the bag and birdcage, but neither do the trick. 
• With no other option, I resort to killing the skink in the brief time that I am able to hold it. Killing it is vividly described, down to the way that your hand aches as you choke the life out of its innocent lizard body. For all the implied death in this game, killing this creature-- that would die in minutes anyway-- hurts.

I race back through the door before the bomb explodes and take stock. I have to use the new lantern to pass the wight; much like in Zork, the lantern only lasts a few turns so I need to carefully turn it off and on when I need it. I drop the lizard carcass into the potion and… absolutely nothing happens. Did I need a fresh lizard? I play through the tunnel segment again and again but find no way to capture the lizard and keep it alive. I resort to taking a hint-- my first for this game. The answer is that I was supposed to put the lizard in my pocket! It had no problem escaping from a paper bag, but a pocket? Sure. When I place it inside, the lizard calms down and seems to be happy to be carried. I return to the cottage and drop it in, but the same "nothing" happens and I get no points. What am I getting wrong?

I should have listened to you!

I take a second hint and discover that I missed or misinterpreted one of the magpie's messages: "Killed in the light of a crescent moon." That is obvious in retrospect, but I did not connect it with the lizard in specific and forgot about it entirely until now. Since I have to murder my lizard, where can I find a crescent moon? The tunnel section could have been at night, but since killing it there didn't work I am going to guess not. All of the other time periods have been daylight hours. Thankfully, the answer is obvious since there is one area that I have not "won" yet: space!

I ride my bubble back to the final frontier and verify that the moon is in fact a crescent from my perspective. I murder the lizard with the same heart-wrenching scene, but at least I got points for it. I follow the rest of the puzzle as before to dock with the satellite, ride it back to the white door, and then pop the bubble just before orbital armageddon. (Speaking of which, why would they bother to have nuked orbit? The satellite that I was on seemed like it fired lasers at missiles as an orbital defense system. That part makes sense, but nuking it seems overkill since a laser-satellite would be just as destroyed if you fired a conventional missile at it. I guess when all you have are nuclear-powered hammers, everything looks like a nail.) I drop my freshly killed lizard into the cauldron and it begins to smoke and bubble. I leave quickly and the cottage explodes, leaving nothing but the charred remains of the book and maps plus one intact cauldron. At the bottom of the cauldron is my reward: a single emerald.

It's kryptonite without the aftertaste.

I check my list of open puzzles but I have just about reached the end. All that remains is helping the wight and heading off to Trinity, but alas I think my own pity for the injured wight is my own and not Moriarty's. What's left? Eventually, I notice the color of the two boots on "my" corpse are red and green, the same as the colors of the two jewels that I have been (knowingly or unknowingly) chasing after, a red ruby and a green emerald. I also recall that there are recesses in each boot where you could hide something, but I never found anything that fit. I stick my new emerald in the green boot and it is absorbed instantly. The boot seems to hum with newfound power and tiny wings sprout from the heel. What does that give me? Flight? Speed? I'll have to get the matched set to find out.

Following the same path in my previous post to disguise myself as a corpse to ride the ferry, I slip through the mushroom door to the Trinity site. Before I go, I have a small crisis that I have far too many objects to carry at once and no idea what I will need on the other side. Should I take the axe or the spade? The walkie-talkie? I will have to restore if I bought the wrong kit, but clearly knowing what to bring is part of the "fun". Once at Trinity, I wait for the guards to leave and meet up with the roadrunner at the bottom of the tower. He hands over the ruby and I install it into my other boot. I get the same message about hidden power and little wings but nothing else obviously happens… until I try walking north:

Woosh! Desert streaks past in a dizzy rush of color.

I have super speed! Since last time out, the bomb exploded after only a few turns, I'll likely be able to explore more of the site and maybe, finally, figure out what this game is all about. But all of that will have to wait until next time when I (probably) will wrap up the game and provide a final rating. Note that as I end this session, I have 71 points which is only one more than what I had before. I'm worried that I forgot something since I did more than one point's worth of new stuff but if so it should be obvious soon enough.


Time played: 2 hr 30 min
Total time: 10 hr 10 min

Inventory: bag of crumbs, small coin (20p), red boot (with roby), blue boot (with emerald), bandage, burial shroud, credit card, wristwatch, birdcage with lemming, broken coconut, spade, silver axe (not all carried with me to Trinity, but which I can fetch if needed)

Score: 71 of 100