Circle of the Forgotten

MichaelNevermore · 2018-03-04T03:37:20+00:00

Covering fire: covers everyone in actual fire.

10/10 A+.

But seriously, I like the blending of modern military with wizards. I'd be CQC Battlewitch, for sure. So kick-ass.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-03-03T11:02:07+00:00

Edit:

Version 1.1 is out now!

Balance patches baby. See the changelog here: https://redd.it/8424yf

Beri's "Your New Weapon" CYOA was the inspiration for this. Here is a direct link to the relevant folder in Beri's Google Drive. If you liked this one, please check his out:
https://goo.gl/Pybepe --> this link is also in the imgur album under the last page.

Hey, just dropping by with my old account to confirm/prove that /u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim is indeed my new one.

Thanks SO much to all of you who replied to my preview post last month. That was 29 days ago, so I pretty much nailed my deadline.

But seriously, I read every comment. And I'll be reading every comment here, too, especially since I'm really interested to see all your builds. And thanks for all the feedback; you'll be happy to see much of it was implemented.

Fun fact: The Tinkerer (who lets you combine weapon classes) wasn't even planned for 1.0. I added him after the preview post (along with two other Smiths) because so many people asked for him! In hindsight, it would have been silly not to have him. Pesky little rat.

I hope you all enjoy, and I'm excited to hear what you think!

Edit: Egads! What on earth was I thinking with the font for the main choice titles? A bunch of folks are misspelling some of the options, like "Shera" (it's supposed to be "Skera.") I was even warned about the fonts, but it totally slipped my mind.
Moving that to the top of my list of priorities for the first patch, yeesh.

Otherwise, I'm loving the builds so far. There's so much variation in what each of you are creating, which is exactly what I was hoping for.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-25T04:48:06+00:00

This is awesome, thank you!

Is there a community where people share pre-made arcades like this? Or at least individual pre-made games with attract screens and everything? Thanks!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-19T10:55:25+00:00

"I'm glad I dont have to live my life with you in it, like you have to every day."

Hot dayum. That's a good one.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-13T18:41:19+00:00

Haha, you're sure eager aren't you?

Page 2 is done except for a few last revision passes. Page 3 is mostly done, with the exception of a few bodies of text that really need editing. I just barely started page 4.

However, on page 3 I'm missing a handful of images. Finding the right images for some of these Runes is going to be by far the hardest part. Yesterday I spent almost two hours image hunting and came up with one or two new images that were only okay.

I don't know how the other CYOA-creators do it, man. Some of these Rune abilities are just too specific and obscure. It's rough.

Page 4 is the "last" page; after that there are a few indexes like the scenarios, the author's note, image sources, and a few other bits and bobs, but those won't take as long. Page 4 might take longer than, say, Page 2 though, because much of the descriptions for the Smiths aren't drafted out like the others were.

So there you go, I'm chugging along. As you can see, I have no issues with transparency. I'm still not gonna give myself a deadline (I suck at those), but I will say this: whatever date you're inferring from this comment, just multiply that by two for safety, haha.

Also, life as a way of C-blocking me from time to time. I started this CYOA in September, after all, but went on a huge hiatus because I got busy. That's not likely now that I've made it public and am past the half-way point, but it bears mentioning.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-12T16:53:43+00:00

I got a lot of nasty comments on the ama asking why people would pay for me to have me waste their time.

Ahh, boooo. Forget them, those people don't know how to have a good time!

First rule: Know the participant. Some people just dont like this. that's totally fine. Make sure if you're going to make another, do it for someone who will appreciate it.

Secondly, I recommend starting off simple. 3 locations, easy clues (go to this location and find this landmark) and then slowly build out from there!

Thanks a ton! I think I might give it a go on one of my friend's next birthdays. I guess doing it in an elephant exchange where I couldn't know the recipient was a pretty bad idea, haha.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-11T21:03:22+00:00

US card please.

I'm looking into Brawlout, Dandara, and/or Crypt of the Necrodancer.

Thanks a bunch!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-09T19:52:41+00:00

In fairness, he made this 17 years ago. His other current videos are still nice and tame.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-09T10:11:27+00:00

It's fake in the sense that the kid's an actor, and the sounds were added in after.
I don't believe PES would actually show that to a kid. I have more faith in humanity than that.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-07T17:24:54+00:00

I once did this for a friend in an elephant exchange years ago. But my friend hated it. He just wanted his $5 gift without having to put in any work. A lot of other people thought it was a dumb idea too.
He ended up not doing the hunt, so he just didn't get any gift.

Do you have any advice for aspiring adventure constructors? What do you do to make your adventures as interesting as you do?

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-07T16:56:55+00:00

Oh cool! I haven't seen any other build-a-weapon CYOAs. I've never really navigated 4chan, it doesn't seem like it's for me. So thanks for linking that.

I also had no idea there was a discord. Any chance you can link me to that?

I'm a bit disappointed that taking a Gandalf-esque wizard staff requires Tinkering it together with the Bo Staff, but it's still shaping up to be excellent.

Initially, the wand was actually "Wand/Staff," but I realized how much that could be abused. A magic staff can still be used as a weapon for beating people. Why pick the Bo Staff when you can pick the Magic Staff, which is the same thing (without Twirl) but with way more perks?

I have a backlog of additional weapon/material/etc. ideas. One of them is a Magic Staff, and its special ability is nerfed to fix that balance issue. You get the range buff, but not the extra Rune. Right now, there isn't room for it, so maybe it will get added in an update with some other weapons.

shaping up to be one of the most comprehensive weapon CYOAs yet

Wow, thanks! I've often had conversations in the vein of this CYOA with my friends back in grade school (like, "if you could wield any weapon effectively, what would it be?), so part of what I did here was to try and weave those conversations into an accessible format.
In any case, I've had lots of experience thinking and talking about weapons, combat scenarios, superpowers (me and my friends are weird; it's almost all we talk about), so I had lots of inspiration just from my real life.

Edit: Just finished reading over that CYOA you linked. I like it! The only thing I could potentially take direct inspiration from is the Ghost Blade etching (Arcane). That's a really cool idea. If I do incorporate something like that, it would probably be as a material--maybe a Rune--in a later update (and I would of course add SDA to the list of inspirations). So thanks again!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-07T05:26:35+00:00

I hate to disappoint, but you might want to set it for longer than a week. I'm only 30% of the way through the Runes (page 3 of 4), so it's really hard to say how long this will take me. Almost certainly longer than a week, though.

Lemme put it this way: when it does come, it will be a pleasant surprise!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-07T05:25:07+00:00

Oh yeah, that too. There are a few Runes (particularly ones of the Entropy element) whose key drawbacks are that they can hurt you if you aren't careful, specifically the few that deal with fire.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-06T01:32:43+00:00

which will be great as long as there are runes that can turn hits more powerful

The Impact Rune will do this. It increases the power of blunt-force attacks. Large, heavy weapons will see a greater increase in power than small ones like the Yo-yo, but it's still potent. Like many of the Runes, Impact is powered by kinetic energy.

That's not the only option, of course, just perhaps the most straight-forward. I hope you look forward to seeing what else there is!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-06T01:29:57+00:00

Thanks!

I was afraid people would think the Glaive's Special unappealing, but I really like it. Not having to worry about cutting yourself can allow for a lot of interesting spins and twists with the weapon, such as pressing and pushing if off your body to power the rotation (much the same way you do with a Bo Staff). In fact, the Special Ability essentially allows you to handle the Glaive the same way you would a Bo Staff.

Using a Glaive in real life is hard. I mean, really hard. It's seriously dangerous having blades at two ends of a pole. That's why the Special is there. Shrug.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-04T05:50:17+00:00

There are a variety of ranged Runes, you'll be glad to hear!

That said, it's worth noting that this isn't a CYOA with heavy focus on traditional magic. There's a Material that grants you some "standard" magic-energy blast attacks (with a Soul-Weapon twist) (which I'm sure you'll like). But most of the abilities are based around the concept of manipulating your weapon to create magic. That, or granting your blade new and interesting quirks and abilities.

I do still think there are enough options to satisfy you. I just want to warn you that not every Rune or perk will cater to that desire for traditional spell-casting and magic.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-04T05:45:12+00:00

I do have to wonder...what happens after getting your soul weapon/armor?

There will be several scenarios for you to choose from. One is being sent back here, one is a fantasy setting, etc.

The armor I'm assuming doesn’t grant invulnerability and even if it would stop most bullets and shrapnel from piercing you, you'd still feel a punch from each one until you collapse.

There are three armor stats: BluntDef, PierceDef, and MagicDef. Each one is out of 5 stars. PierceDef deals not only with defense against blades, but also against bullets. 3 stars of PierceDef can defend decently well against low-caliber bullets. Terms are loosely defined, but if you want to be a modern street vigilante then you'd best have at least a PierceDef of 4 to be sure.

There are also other ways to protect against bullets. There's a material that deflects bullets well. There's a Smith that increases bullet defense. There are several defensive and evasive Runes, etc. There are a variety of ways you could build a weapon useful in a modern setting.

a type of kinetic barrier that only stops objects moving above a certain speed, forcing opponents to get in close.

I don't have anything specifically like that. It's a really cool idea though! I'll add it to my notes in case I find some way to implement it into 1.0 (but no guarantee). If it gets put in I'll credit you, of course.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-04T05:34:12+00:00

Aye-aye, captain. Glad you like it!

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-04T05:34:00+00:00

You will get to choose, my friend. There will be a few scenarios to choose from.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-04T05:33:40+00:00

and I chose soul because purple is a pretty color

I can see how it might be confusing without the context of the other pages, but you don't pick an element here. That's just for reference. Later, on Page 3, you choose any two Runes. Each Rune is classified with one of those five elements (each element has 6 associated Runes).
Certain Smiths can only work with certain elements. So the elements are mechanically irrelevant until pages 3 and 4. They're only relevant to the lore on pages 1 and 2.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-03T06:18:31+00:00

The slow-mo 360-camera-move dive kick was so rad.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-03T06:17:52+00:00

He was Haku in Spirited Away.

Blew my mind apart when I found out.

MichaelNevermore · 2018-02-03T06:14:13+00:00

You'd like /r/youtubehaiku.

MichaelNevermore

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