In the near future video game tech gets pushed to a whole new level: Virtual reality? Augmented reality? No. Howabout code gaining tangible, physical form?
The largest game companies in the world have created a space for this to happen: The AdR arenas. Additive reality (AdR) translates computer code into a form that can actually be felt. It has weight, it can do real damage. This new level of gaming attracted a massive following, and now, AdR matches are held against the best gamers in the world. AdR stadiums exist in almost every town in every country all across the world.
There’s one thing that’s always constant though? No matter what, AdR constructs cannot leave the arena.
Whiiich is why it was weird, when some of them did.
People saw it, but it was never reported on the news. An entire industrial block was leveled by a mysterious force on the outskirts of Chicago.
One month after that, Kuragi Tech, the leading company making AdR games and products announced an international gaming tournament. A massive multiplayer free for all where the best gamers in the world would compete for prizes and glory in the largest AdR arena in the world, in Tokyo, Japan.
The purpose of the tournament? Well, face value, it’s for publicity, money, fame. No expense was spared, and hundreds of people were selected, all costs paid, to travel to the competition.
For those that know about Chicago, however, they can’t help but wonder if the tournament might be a cover for something else…
This idea is inspired by a cartoon called Glitch Techs, and I like the idea so much I decided to make a slightly more hardcore version. Your characters will be gamers selected by Kuragi Tech to compete in their tournament at the start of the thread in hopes of being one of the top scoring players and win a butt-ton of loot. Each gamer has their own specific play style: from weapon mods and armour, to battle pets, environment augmentation or power boosts. The choice is yours. AdR arenas can manifest any single reality from any compatible game and there will be a myriad of different challenges waiting for the players in this tournament. I’ll basically be pulling inspiration from all the games out there to create the arcs and levels for this rp.
After the tournament? Well…I guess you’ll find out.
Not too far in the near future, gaming has become a way of life. The technology now being produced has the ability to take tangible form in the real world. That being said, very few forms are actually permitted outside of the AdR arenas owned and run by the massive gaming companies that dominate global markets. VR projection is normal for communication, schooling and work. Most of the younger generations know at least a little coding. Computer technology has become so integrated, sometimes its hard to figure out what’s real and what’s just code.
A lot of schooling is now done in virtual modes, and faster, so school days are only about 4 hours long, and students are encouraged to teach and work together to pull the whole class through the material. The rest of the time if often spent honing practical skills, whatever skills: tech, science, sports, art, music, gaming. Students are allowed to create the lives they want rather than being forced into a mold and prepped for an industry. In most countries, virtual tech is very affordable, and companies like Kuragi offer free education programs along with gaming courses, so they always get the best pick of the talent coming into the pro gaming scene.
The AdR arenas
The AdR arena is where most of the training happens. Functionally, they are like sports arenas, with a central ring about the size of a football field, indoors and covered. There are smaller AdR rooms lining the outer ring of the structure and used for honing less-active skills, and for going through tutorials.
Kuragi Tech and other gaming companies
These are some of the largest, wealthiest companies in the world. They are all international, have a lot of different divisions and are responsible for all the most popular game titles. They generally back at least one pro gamer team each and are extremely influential from a global perspective. Like, election-swaying influential.
Not all of the choices they make are ethical, but for the most part, Kuragi Tech at least has a very noble reputation, and most people can’t find too much fault. Kuragi is one of the leading developers of new gaming tech and has the most advanced AdR arenas in the world. Not all the companies are as squeaky clean. Some have rumours floating around that they employ hackers and cyber spies to 1-up their competition, but nothing sticks of course. They’re way too rich for that.
Tech
Kuragi Tech has developed a series of tools and armour to protect their pro gamers in the AdR arena. K-Tech suits or just “Tech suits” protect users from almost any kind of AdR-generated damage, and this includes engagement with real life objects and elements. The suits are shock-absorbent, flame-proof, surge-protected and come with built-in vital monitoring. The suits are also designed to plug in all power ups and additions to the gamer’s person. These can be weapons, short term power and speed boosts, companion pets etc.
There are a lot of variations on the tech suits, but there is a base form: skin tight and ankle, wrist, to neck, with a chest plate, shoulder pads, gauntlets, knee pads, boots and belt. Clothes can be worn overtop of the suit and protected using the “shrink-wrap” shielding tech from the suit itself. Helmets are optional, and the communication headsets can be attached on one ear. The suits also come with visors or contacts to display in-game stats, teammate vitals and remaining in-game gear.
Everything the gamer uses is manifested through the suit. Specifically, through a chip set into the chest plate. It is very well-protected, but in extremely heated combat, the chip can become damaged. If it deactivates, all of the gamer’s tools will vanish and if the suit loses power, the gamer will no longer be protected in any way. Suits have an internal charge that allows them to keep up the AdR manifestations, but it is not infinite. Suits generally have an 8-hour lifespan and must be recharged again to continue battle.
The games
AdR is a fully-immersive, real-field, fully-body gaming experience. The players are basically athletes, and with the boosts from their tech, they are capable of super-human feats. With the tech, they can take massive amounts of damage and still be physically okay. The games come in every shape and form, with immersive AI Non playable characters (NPCs), shifting terrains, any type of gear and companion sprites.
The physical requirements of professionally-competitive AdR are extreme, and there is a general rule that you need to be over 18 to resister in international tournaments. That being said, gaming prodigies generally get a free pass regardless of age as long as they have a guardian’s permission. The games can be dangerous however, and most parents know it.
The games are very stable, and generally protected from modding by all but the very best coders. Modding a game or any AdR gear outside of employed K-tech staff is so severe a taboo, that the tech companies actually made it illegal.
In-game classes:
As a general rule, there are 3 classes in most of the games played, and therefore 3 classes to specialize in. HP is dictated by class. Healers and DPS receive 20hp, while tanks get 40hp. You will need to choose 1 class for the tournament, after that, double-classing with a tank gives you an hp of 30. You may only choose 2 classes, and only after the tournament.
- DPS: Stands for “Damage Per Second” These are your damage dealers, your glass canons, all stats poured into dealing damage as quickly as possible. As a result, they don’t have a lot of HP, armour or protective gear and can be vulnerable without a good team comp. General strategies for these players is to use the tank and support classes and strike targets strategically while avoiding agro (the attention and attacks of enemies). DPS class gets to roll a 1d8 for base attack.
- Tank: Nigh on indestructible, it’s the tank’s job to protect the other members of their team. Their stats are poured into armour, shielding and health. They generally have very little put into avoiding hits, but they can take a whole lot of them. These players secure key points on the map, set up the DPS players and protect support so they can do their job. Tanks can sub one of their weapon slots for an armour boost.
- Support: Heals, ally-buffs and enemy nerfs; there is no team without a good support. It’s the support’s job to make sure strategies execute well by timing their interventions, and to save the collective asses of their teammates if things go south. Healers can convert their base attack to a heal if they attack a player on the same team.
In-game gear
There are so many different powers and tools it’s impossible to name them all, but these items can be pulled from any game, they can be found in play, won through achievements or bought with point currency from getting highscores. There are three main categories, and a number of exceptions. In terms of amounts, for the beginning of the rp we will start with 2 weapons, one pet and three power ups, the pet can be exchanged for another power up. In-game gear can be changed before every battle, but for the tournament it will be locked in until the whole things ends.
Category 1. Weapons & tools
These are physical items the suit can manifest to help a player in PvP or PVE. They are used to defeat enemies, solve puzzles, and unlock gateways to advance through the AdR game. They could be any sort of weapon, keys, maps, gliders, environment effectors. The list is almost inexhaustible. A player can pick up and store as many non-combative tools as they like, but generally only 2 weapons can be stored.
Category 2. Skills
These are generally non-tangible, but can be selected from a list that includes: speed boosts, power boosts, armour buffs, taunts, poisons, damage type shifts or reductions. They can also be boosted heal spells or status effect dispels. These are usually single use items or else skills with a cooldown (cooldown 2 rp post rounds). They can only be used for a limited time, that varies with the strength of the skill. Category 2 can be applied to category 1 or 3 objects, and can be used by all players, though each player is limited for the tournament to 3.
Category 3. Companion pets
Think pokemon. These are combative pets that can carry skills and abilities to help the player. Only one companion can be loaded at a time, though players can have up to three of them. For the tournament, they must choose one companion for the whole game, they can’t be bigger than the player and they are limited to non-flight mode. These pets have a limited hp and can be “killed” with a timed respawn before they can be put into play again (3 rp post rounds). The AI on these sprites can be fairly advanced, though for the tournament they will have their autonomy limited to direct orders from the player. Generally, companion pets have 10 hp to start, they role 1 d3 for damage OR they can have a single skill ability which can be used once per summon. They can be elemental and crit (do double your roll of damage) if they have an elemental advantage. If you have ideas on how to tweak this gimme a pm and we can talk.
AdR enemies
The AdR opponents are as varied as the games themselves. They can be any size and range from basic minions to top-level bosses. Everything but the most base-level minions have weaknesses which can be found and exploited. Many weaknesses are based on elemental type, but some involve the environment or placement of the enemy.
Hacking
If there is code, there will be hackers. K-Tech has thrown incredible resources into stomping out hacking insurgences, and these could be from simple game modders, to cyber-warriors trained to dismantle, steal or destroy the tech. There are a number of independent groups, all of them are underground. If you’re a hacker, you don’t tell people about it. The things they can do to AdR are incredible, but limited. AdR tech does have a set power capacity, so the max power limits of the tools and gear generally cannot be exceeded without causing extreme volatility in the chip function. Overloads can wreck the suit and even cause damage to the gamer. Some hackers have developed tools that allow them to mod terrain, change the behaviour of companion pets and re-write NPCs to ally with their goals. Tournaments are 100% hacking free. Everything and everyone is scanned before being permitted anywhere near the AdR arenas.
General
All of RPN rules apply
This is a positive space for all, there will be absolutely no bullying or harassment.
The gamers can technically be any age, but most of them are between 18 and 25.
Romance is allowed but keep it clean.
This is a team rp, so characters who are anti-social or don’t work well in a team won’t be good fits here. If you are making an antagonistic character, please put a lot of thought into how to make it fun for the other players to rp with them.
The writing style will be third person past tense.
I write for the long term, the stories are involved and I work to fit the plot to the characters I get, so if you commit, please give it a good honest shot and don’t drop before the first post. K?
I’m and generally pretty active and I’m looking for active players. Minimum two posts per week, but to start it will likely be daily.
There will be a discord to run side-interactions and talk character devo and plot. You don’t have to use discord, but not having it will end up being a handicap.
Coding is awesome, but the sheets need to be legible and easy to access, preferably on mobile and PC.
Your players are all pro gamers, so consider this when you are writing your CS. Characters from different backgrounds will be permitted once the tournament is over.
Technical play rules (combat only)
This rp will use dice mechanics for combat and the use of skills and tools. Basic skills are autohits on npc enemies, so you just need to roll for damage. I’ll allow you to set the hit ratio for more powerful skills, therefore you’ll need to roll something like a d2 to hit and then roll a high-numbered die for damage. I will tweak the choices if I think they are OP. There is a damage guide below to help you.
You can use one action per turn, so either a base attack or a skill. A pet is an additional entity that gets its own attack in addition to the player’s.
Basic enemies do not need a combat setting; however, they might appear as ads with a boss and need to be cleared with one action. If they are ignored, they can do damage to your characters.
For the beginning of the rp we will start with up to 2 weapons, 1 pet and 3 skills, you can trade your pet option for one more skill (explained in the lore), and tanks can trade 1 weapon for an armour piece that reduces damage taken.
Heal, buff and nerf skills are considered category 2 tools, they have cooldowns or are single use EXCEPT if you are playing a support class, then your base attack can be shifted to a heal at will. Skills like shields can have a multi-round use, generally 2 or 3 post rounds.
Cooldowns and respawns are calculated based on rp post rounds, which will be dictated by posts from the gm (me). A new round begins each time I post.
Crit damage can be performed by exploiting an enemy’s weakness. Crit damage cannot be used on other players. If you attack a weak point, or with an element an enemy is weak to, you can double the damage you roll.
There are no rez skills in this game. If your hp drops to zero in combat, bad things happen. Your character will obviously not die and be removed from the rp, but they could sustain real damage outside of the tournament.
For any attack, heal, buff, nerf or status effect, a summary line should be placed at the bottom of the post. Order should be:
Name of player, action (attack/skill/heal), -> effect, to target
Example:
Bee attack -> 6 to Wolf #2
Or
Bee skill -> Elemental Switch (lightning) to Stella
Damage guide:
This is a base guide that you can use to create your skills and abilities. These are simple guidelines, and you can develop your own, but please make sure they are not OP.
Basic enemies: instakill and autohits expected. If I don’t give them an icon in my posts, they’re basic. No combat rolls needed and you can kill as many as is reasonable in a post turn.
Average starting miniboss hp: 20
Average starting boss hp: 40
Starting base attack skills (weapons, punching, casting): autohit 1d6, damage buffed attack = 1d10 (1d12 if the buff is used on a DPS class character)
Powered up attack (with a category 2 tool): 1d2 to hit, 1d20 on hit
Companion attack: autohit 1d3
Name:
Gamer handle: (what is your character called in game?)
Age:
Nationality:
National team: (optional, you can collaborate with the other players to have them be part of a gaming team that was invited to the event)
Game company backer: (this could be Kuragi Tech, or any other game company which you can write lore for if you want.)
Game specialty: (Team or solo? shooter, tower defense, RPG, RTS, survival etc.)
Appearance: (Can be photo, realistic, cartoon, anime, plz give artist credit where possible, but nobody’s gonna hate on you if you can’t)
Colour scheme: (What colours did you pick for your tech suit?)
Class: (DPS, Tank or Support) You can have 2, but it’s expected that people with one will be better at that one. No one can be good at all 3.
Play style: (what game skills and weapons does your character specialize in?)
Game tools:
Name of skill/weapon/pet:
Function/element: (what does it do, does it have an element or a passive skill?)
Cooldown/respawn (not applicable for weapons)
Out of game skills: (what can your character do irl?)
Personality: (min 2 paragraphs)
Character flaws:
Goals:
Backstory: (min 2 paragraphs)
Extra:
Example CS: (uncoded)
Name: Cody Blake
Gamer handle: Code_Bee (or just Bee to her friends)
Age: 22
Nationality: Canadian
National team: TBD
Game company backer: Kuragi Tech
Game specialty: Team FPS
Appearance:
Bee is fairly average in height and build. Her career as an AdR pro gamer means she is well-muscled and fit. She has light blonde hair buzz cut from the top of the ears down in a fade. The longer hair on top flops over into her blue eyes. Her face is round and friendly and she usually carries herself with a bounce, or else a relaxed, cocky saunter. Bee has a deeper voice than most girls and sort of a goofy back-of-throat chuckle when she’s happy.
Colour scheme: black and yellow
Class: DPS-support
Play style: Bee specializes in crit damage to weakpoints, preferring to analyze a target first before striking. Bee puts her skills into damage buffs and strategic power ups. Generally, she is a ranged player, but can go to the front if need be. She is fast and readily looks for ways to support other players before attacking on her own. She normally plays a backline DPS, a harasser, but her support game is on point.
Game tools:
Name of weapon: Pistol (short range)
Function: 1d6 base damage with a passive that gives a 2 hp boost to heal rolls
Name of skill: Elemental switch
Function: it can change the elemental type of any single weapon or armour, or give it an element if it doesn’t have one. Skill works on allies and enemies. Autohit.
Cooldown: 2 post rounds
Name of skill: Deflect
Function: 1d2 to hit, deflects any attack back to the source, if missed, Bee and any player she casts the skill for both split the damage.
Cooldown: 3 post rounds
Name of skill: Sticky bomb
Function: a bomb that can be thrown and adheres to enemies. 1d2 to hit, does 1 d20 damage.
Cooldown: 2 post rounds
Name of skill: Speed boost
Function: Increases movement speed, allowing for a chance to dodge anything but an AoE
Cooldown: 2 post rounds
Out of game skills: Bee is a bit of a coding whiz, and though technically modding games is illegal, Bee does have some effective theory code she’s been working on.
Personality:
Bee has a lot of energy. She gets easily excited, especially when someone else is excited. When not in game she tends to be all over the place, her attention darting from one thing to the next in a heartbeat. Said heart is in the right place though and she’s almost always friendly and approachable. Bee is 100% nerd, loving everything from games to science to cute, fluffy animals to food. Bee really, really loves food. It’s the best way to bribe her. The amount of energy she exhibits is fueled almost purely by passion. Bee has a passion for life that is hard to match. Since she was little Bee dreamed of being a hero, and, in the game world it’s sort of like she realized that. Bee is acutely aware of just how many people look up to her as a pro gamer and she does her best to be kind to her fans, and encourage those still learning.
On the field Bee can become a whole different person. She is focused, dedicated and plays with a frightening efficiency. Her enemy/map breakdown and tactical strategies have carried her team to a win many times before. Bee lives to play in a team and she’s never been the best in solo competitions.
Bee has few insecurities about her skills as a gamer, but as a person, she’s always wondering if she’s too much. Bee hates being alone; spending too much time in her own head freaks her out. Making Bee truly angry is hard to do: She treats everything like a game, but when it stops being a game? When someone could have been hurt by the actions of another person? That’s when Bee gets mad. That, and using her middle name. Call her by that and you die but you gotta find out what it is first.
Bee has led a fairly sheltered life up until this point. What comes for her in the future could really throw her off balance.
Character flaws:
Cannot sit still and focus,
Has a hard time being alone and this can affect performance
Has very little experience outside of gaming or school
Goals: To become a hero in the greatest capacity she can, and to find out what happened to her mom.
Backstory:
Cody Blake was born to a fairly average middle-class family in Toronto, Canada. Thanks to her mom working at Kuragi Tech, she was given access to the best virtual school programs available, and grew up surrounded by friends. Cody was very close with her mom. The woman was brilliant, and fun and encouraging. Cody remembers following her mother around like a duckling, wanting to do everything she did. Her dad had to get her a miniature pre-school computer just to keep baby Cody from messing up her mother’s work. Things changed after her eight birthday however, when her mom got a promotion. Suddenly she was hardly around. She stopped talking about her work, stopped smiling and spent a long time, sometimes days at a time, away from home. One day, while she was at the park, and Cody was trying out the code she had made for her new drone, a black car pulled up to the park bench. People got out of it, people in dark suits. Cody remembered watching them. Words were exchanged, and Cody’s mom looked back at her…just once.
Her mom got in the car that day, and that was the last Cody saw of her.
Cody was beside herself while the missing persons case was still open. She was frustrated that she hadn’t gotten the license plate of the car, or physical descriptions of the people that took her. They had all been wearing dark glasses. The only clue Bee had was an AI assistant her mother had coded herself, some of the memory files had been encrypted with something Bee, even after years of dedicated coding, couldn’t decipher. Cody still has the AI, now her own personal assistant, called Buzz. The case went cold years ago, but Cody still hasn’t given up, and she is willing to go through great lengths to get to the bottom of it.
Extra:
Cody has a personal AI assistant she named Buzz that manifests as a little hexagonal bee avatar, glowing blue above her shoulder. Buzz’s processing is fairly advanced and it is learning all the time.
The crowds. You can see them through the tinted windows of the car K-Tech sent to collect you from the hotel. So many people, cheering, pressed up against the barriers, holding signs, covered in the colours of their favourite players.
In your hand you hold a small card. “Lounge 5” is written on it in large, blocky letters. It’s where you’re supposed to go.
The car pulls up to the carpet. K-Tech blue. The colour reflected in the blue of the clear sky, but it’s the last you’ll see of the day-lit sky today. The arena is closed but AdR can mimic daylight easily enough.
On either side of the barriers your fans start to chant. The building laid out before you, at the end of the blue-sky carpet is white, rounded at its edges, with more blue reflected in the windows. Behind that, looming like a black shadow is the dome of the arena. You’ve never seen one so big. It looks like a planet rising up from behind the white stone. That’s where it’s all going down.
Deep breath, no pressure.
Over the speaker, the announcer says your name.
Showtime.
*~*~*
Bee couldn’t seem to get her heart rate under control, but it was because she was nervous. Oh no. Bee was excited. Ecstatic really. She got to meet the best gamers in the world, she got to play against the best gamers in the world. Whatever way you looked at it this was going to be one of the best days ever. She was sure of it.
Bee had chosen a casual outfit for this little “blue carpet event” K-Tech had arranged. Ripped jeans, her K-Tech hoodie tied about her waist and a yellow T-shirt with the grinning head of Felix the Cat on its front.
Her mind wandered. She'd always wanted to come to Japan, it was a shame she didn't have time to see anything...yet. She made a note to drag any other players out with her after the match. Whatever the outcome, Bee was determined to make this trip amazing.
The car pulled up and she drew in a deep breath.
Keep smiling Bee she thought to herself, but it wasn’t necessary. Bee didn’t need prompting.
The grin that appeared when the crowd cheered was genuine and Bee couldn’t have stopped even if she wanted to. She waved and posed, signing as many books/controllers/photos as she could before her handler ushered her on. People were waving plush honey bees and one of them was even thrown at the player. Bee caught it and gave it a good squeeze.
Man, this was fun.
As Bee reached the top of the steps, she stopped at the doors to look back over the crowd. She gave one last wave, still holding onto the teddy and pulling it away from the handler when he tried to take it. This was hers now.
“Bee. I calculate your room back home has precisely 0.83 cubic meters of space remaining for plush objects like this.”
The metallic voice sounded in her ear as her little AI’s construct body hovered beside her.
“Oh you sound like dad Buzzy.” Bee dismissed the companion with a wave. “Just enjoy this!”
“I am a computer, I do not experience joy.”
“Yeah, I’m still working on that bit of code bud. Hang in there.”
Bee couldn’t wait to see the arena, but first she would have a chance to meet some of the players in the lounge she’d been assigned to. Lounge 5.
She made her way down a rounded corridor. Some of the lounges were already occupied, the players relaxing or gaming or psyching themselves up for the match. Bee had never played in a free for all this big before. It was probably going to be complete chaos at first. Awesome!
“Oh! And here we are!” A large number 5 was painted in black on the door. Bee pressed the button on the side panel and the white glass slid aside with a woosh. Bee gasped.
“It’s glorious.”
The room was painted blue, with white furniture that included a long L couch, bookshelves with classic Kuragi titles, a pristine glass coffee table and mounted on the wall, the largest flatscreen Bee had ever seen. It was nearly floor to ceiling and the length of almost half the whole room. On the other half?
“A full kitchen complete with tons of snacks and a frozen yoghurt machine?! Pinch me.”
The counters were underlit with blue neon and aluminum-framed chairs sat at a short bar counter sectioning the kitchen off from the rest of the room.
There was a very short pause before Buzz chimed in.
“I am not able to pinch you—”
“Shhhh, it’s okay Buzzy.”
Bee wasted no time in crossing the white line that marked the threshold, throwing her bag down and helping herself to the frozen yoghurt, waiting for the other players assigned to her lounge to show.
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