Spam has now been destroyed - you may safely return to your roleplaying.

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Thanks, old chap.

PS looks like Gross is missing in action.

We'll reconvene if and when he returns.

I'm back.

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Yay!

I was worried you'd been put in rehab.

Shall we proceed? Still keen? Questions, comments?

Nope, vacation. Well, I have a bit of story to kick off chapter two. It's a big one. By the way, what was the spam, exactly? I was gone from the day I posted until yesterday.

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The spam was under the name 'John Rambo' and it posted in-game to say thanks for great articles and how it agreed with what everyone said.

It was actually quite a charming little spambot.

Much nicer than the next one which claimed you had gay sex with it. Classic. If and when AIs achieve sentience, they'll probably, on balance, be replete with all the social skills of prepubescent trolls.

I already have a main character. I don't mind losing this round of the tournament with Rifa. I thought it'd be a tad cheesy to have one of my characters use a weapon that another character had created, but I also considered having the three of us flip coins, with more one side than another landing face up deciding the winner. Arthgon! Write your victory!

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You sacrificed Hassa and made the thunderbolt. So, Rifa + Thunderbolt = 2 npcs. And Animagus is already +1 mammoth.

But Rifa is the hero Gotham needs... She has her eye on the goal: Political unity of the tribes; Animagus can do that better because he's a big dumb nice guy with beastmaster powers and a sabretooth loincloth, and not an unmarried tomboy with ninja-powers.

She can have a couple of thunderbolt shard-daggers or something, if you like.

Btw, I apologise if I steamrolled over the PvP, or stole anyone's thunder. Please post Animagus' victory as though I hadn't moved on to the next match, if you like, Arthgon.
Or change Rifa's thinking if you like, Gross. Is she even capable of losing on purpose? Would she? Your call.

On purpose? No. Either a more skilled fighter or something involving gunpowder, a high-velocity ballistic, and a steady hand.

I intended for her to be nigh unstoppable, but I figure with evenly matched opponents (since they're both fighting in essentially the same way) all it takes is a mistake or two to turn the tide of a battle. As much as I wanted her to wield the Thunderbolt, I figured it'd just be odd - this is a game, and there's no reason why my own characters should hog all of the steel weaponry (nickel, iron, and some carbon due to the forging process...also hammer welding forms a layered steel {...a three-man blade, perhaps?}).

Though I knew keeping extra thunderbolt shards was a good idea. I'll take the opportunity to forge something for Rifa, then.

(One day, over 10 years ago, I found a meteorite in my backyard and had no idea what it was. A scratch test on a piece of ceramic revealed the presence of iron, so I thought it was hematite...that makes less sense now considering I didn't have to dig for it. I'll need to try finding it at some point.)

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Just wondering something: did they already used horses in that time? I cannot remember it at this moment.

Now, would it be okay that my character give the Thunderbolt sword a name or is it better that I keep it nameless?

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Ash: [talking to mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?

Well, everyone's been calling it The Thunderbolt since it was forged, because that's what Otro started to call it.

As for horses; horses existed, but domestication wasn't really known until at least 10,000 years ago for any animal. I wouldn't say people didn't try or succeed to ride horses, but if they did it was that one in a million rare encounter. What good are humans (to animals) if they can't reliably grow their own food?

Edit:

Hey, ytzk - what weapon would a warrior like Pyot be best at? Sure, he can use a sword...but what did he use back home? From how you wrote him, he seems to benefit from incapacitating his prey/an enemy before delivering the killing blow. What if he had a spiked hammer? Something made of steel with that much PSI at the tip would be absolutely lethal given an incapacitated foe and the standard defense materials of the day.

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Hey, sorry I'm behind on the posts. I'll get there soon.

On the matter of mounts, I rule there are tribes who specialise in ostriches, reigndeer, buffalo etc, but it is a rare achievement and usually a matter of hitching a ride with the herd rather than steering the animals. Horses are particular fast, fearful and (in those days) small.

Btw
Name: Pyot. Male. 17.
Subspecies: Australopithicus afarensis.
Territory: Mediterrannean swamplands.
Tribal Background: A very little people in a time of very big monsters, they focus on the little things:- insects, plants, poisons, disease, pressure-points etc. They are ferocious killers and religious cannibals but they look like children and they are always laughing and singing.
Personal Background: Grandson of the matriarch and a great warrior among his people. His motives are: to protect the elder, to sleep with the dancing-girl and to eat worthy enemies.
Special Attacks: Flying-Through-Canopy; Poison-Spike-Acupressure-Kung-Fu; Eating-Enemies-To-Gain-Their-Powers and; Seeming-Harmless.

To answer your question, Gross, he doesn't use a weapon usually, but if you want to make something out of iron, a grapple-hook for his ninja-rope would be favourite!

Oo! Oo! What about some thunderbolt tusk-guards for the mammoth? Now that would be awesome. For the record, Haedor is a four-tusked, five-year-old bull.

Why the hell do we think so alike? Four tusks, huh? Very cool, he's a rare one then.

I was trying to find a size comparison to build off of, given a mammoth's larger frame, and found this. Why would that happen?

Also, I ended up reading that modern elephants will attempt to bury their dead relatives as well as people they've killed by covering them with branches and dirt.

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Why would what happen? The heroin addiction or something about its appearance? It looks normal to me, for a muddy, asian elephant with no tusks.

We do think alike, old bean: The singsong was the second time in two pages that you did exactly what I what planning to do. The first time was the cave painting.

As for why we think alike: thunderbolt tipped mammoth tusks are self-evidently cool. The question is, why doesn't everyone think of that? And the answer is: they're not autistic enough.

And yeah, elephants are clever as. There was one in the 19th century (the golden age of elephant exploitation) which had a technique, and inclination, to pick up people and bite their heads off: Class act. They definitely visit their dead too; make sure you treat the old bones with respect!

As for four tuskers being rare; true. I think I recall them being more common over a million bc. But what the hell, exotic monsters everywhere is the name of the game.

I meant why would people force any elephant to take heroine in the first place? I know they're animal smugglers, but there would have to be a much less expensive way to keep an elephant under check than narcotic-laced berries. Seriously, forget being nice to the guy. Just make him a dope fiend.

Male asian elephants are starting to develop tusks just like the females do, which is either tiny non-visible tusks or complete absence. Survival pressure against having tusks, because of the ivory trade.

What was funny about it, however, was the application - BANANAS.

Thought of Haethor right away.

I found a link for an American mastodon skull that was just sold at auction with four tusks. The final price was over $3 million. There was indeed a species of mammoth that regularly had 4 tusks between 1-2 million years ago, but I would expect if extra tusks (being incisors) are anything like having extra teeth in a human, I'm all about it.

There was a, uh...Mammoth mammoth, that was found near the Songhua River. Both individuals found were about 17 feet tall and probably weighed about 34,000 pounds, making them the second largest land mammal ever - right behind the Paraceratherium, a.k.a the Giraffe Rhinoceros. I actually wanted a Paraceratherium in the RP, but they most likely died out about 23 million years ago and also lived mainly in Asia. There were some huge rhinos living in Eurasia within the game's time frame, the Elasmotherium. About as big as asian elephants.

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Cool.

Sri Lankan tusked elephants have been selected against for millennia because they're good luck for royalty. Of course now that they're so rare they're even better luck. Humans, eh?

As for the heroin bananas; giving an intelligent captive animal heroin isn't just being nice, it's being super-duper nice. I know I would rather deal with an elephant when it's full of opiates.

If you assume it is as clever as a person, and will never forget what has been done to it, opiates seem like an easy solution to keep it docile, especially if you can get it cheap because you're a black market chinese smuggler.

Consider the cost-benefit analysis:
Either 1) the cost of the junkie-berries straight from the vietnamese highlands and added to the price of delivery; 2) the cost of the specialised tranquilisers which must be carefully controlled to keep it just an inch from actual death but still asleep plus the vetinarian plus the extra equipment to lug around and care for a comatose beast, or; 3) the cost of replacing the thirty guys who had their heads bitten off by an insane god on a revenge fantasy plus the mercenary squad required to take it down.

Black market cannabis is cheaper than black market heroine, and even then, if you wanted to just feed the elephant straight THC and various other cannabinoids, you can dissolve the plant matter in butane and obtain "honey oil," which is even more concentrated than hashish. I'd rather give an animal something that won't cause a crippling physical addiction.

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Give me a day to catch up guys.

Sorry for the delays, be with you soon.

Before I am making mistakes in the story, those little tribe are those who have set the trap with the 'naked gods', right? Or is this the whole tribe who have left the cave to go somewhere else? (I truly hope that I make some sense)

This just to know if I am on the right page with you all.

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Ash: [talking to mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?

Cool. I have ruled that the entire tribe is travelling, simply because everyone is nomadic and they rely on each other for everything.

Staying in the cave for six months was an unusual event.

Speaking of relying on each other; Animagus is officially married to Fat Mama, Dancing-Girl AND the Best-Cook. By 'officially' I mean 'unofficially' because, as the alpha male, they just ended up sleeping with/beside him.

It is understood that Rifa is considered an honorific man, meaning she'll castrate anyone who tries it on with her.

It is also understood that the dancing girl is polyandronous, meaning she counts herself married to all of the guys, although most of the braves are asexual due to hormones reflecting their social status. The exception is Pyot because his people do not rely on social status to determine mating priveleges, but are instead what is known in biology as 'sneaky fuckers' meaning they go for it behind the alpha male's back.

Sorry to unexpectedly reveal that your character is now a husband and father, but I'm afraid that is the burden of leadership, not to mention adopting strays.

Okay? Questions? Comments?

Okay. Cool. I like it and the idea that Animagus is husband and father.

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Ash: [talking to mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?

To answer your IC question OOC,

Multiple Choices:

A) Find a defensible spot and fight.
B) Try to break free of the cordon surrounding you; south lies mountainous terrain, north and east lies open savannah, west lies forest (and the main force).
C) Separate the group into civilians and warriors; the warriors fight as the civilians escape.
D) Surrender and/or parley with the invaders.
E) Any combination of the above.
F) Anything else you can think of.

This is a roleplaying game. There is no one correct course of action; I'm waiting to see what you do before I decide what will happen next.

I will post IC a summary of Sun Tzu's Art of War for some general strategic advice.

You really mean that there will be no more chapters and that it is over? Aww..I really loved this game. If it is a yes. What now?

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Ash: [talking to mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?

Okay, well, to start, we really need at least three players so if Gross is fading out, then that's the end of that.

Secondly, if we're playing a game and not just telling a story, we need some numbers.

Hm, let's see. Shadowrun is my go-to system for character sheets.

120 character points to begin
Abilities cost 2 points each, but cannot be higher than than 6, nor greater than 30 total at creation (= 60 character points)
Skills cost 1 point each, or 2 pts for each point higher than the linked Ability.

Abilities: (examples of linked skills)
Strength - obvious. (Melee, hand-to-hand, throwing)
Body - size and physical resilience. (survival; athletics - swimming, running)
Dexterity - speed and accuracy. (dodge, stealth)
Charisma - mental/social influence. (negotiate - decieve, persuade; performance - music, dance)
Willpower - general mental resiliance. (cursing, counter-cursing)
Intelligence - including perception. (tracking, cooking, crafting, painting)

In all abilities and skills:
1 - 2 = novice, below average.
3 - 4 = about average.
5 - 6 = elite master.

To specialise in a kind of skill will give you +1 in that specialty and -1 in other forms of the same skill. So, Stealth 6, or Stealth (hiding) 5 (7). The specialty can be greater than the racial max.

EXAMPLE: the average Lost Boy.
Str - 4, Dex - 4, Bod - 3, Cha - 5, Wil - 2, Int - 5 (= 46 character pts)
Melee (spear)- 4 = 3(5),
Throwing (spear)- 4 = 3(5),
Unarmed (wrestling)- 4 = 3(5),
Athletics (running) 5 = 4(6) [3 + 2 + 2 = 9pts]
Survival - 5 [3 + 2 +2 = 9pts]
Dodge - 4,
Stealth (move silently) - 4 = 3(5),
Performance (storytelling) - 5 = 4(6),
Negotiate (decieve) - 5 = 4(6),
Crafting (spears) - 5 = 4 (6),
Tracking (humans) - 5 = 4(6),
Small Unit Tactics - 5,
Orienteering (east africa) - 5 = 4(6),
Superstition (cursing) - 2 = 1 (3) ( = 70 character points)

Languages: begin with Int x 1.5 (round down) free language points, and one character point each to raise values, so, lost boy = 5 x 1.5 = 7 [+ 4 remaining character points = 11]
Imperial language: 3
Native Plateau/group language: 4
Lost Boy gang dialect/code: 4

FINALLY, subspecies cost and bonuses/penalties.
Neanderthal: 5 char-points; +2 body, +1 strength, +1 willpower, -1 charisma, - 1 agility.
Australopithicus: 5 char-points; - 3 body, + 2 agility.
Erectus (Gog, Magog): 10 char-points; +4 body, +3 strength, - 3 agility, - 2 willpower, -2 intelligence.
Habilis (Korduk): 10 char-points, + 4 strength, + 2 body, - 2 willpower, - 2 charisma, - 1 agility.

Complicated enough for you? If we can puzzle out the maths, then we can actually have fair, but uncertain outcomes, and a more challenging game. What do you reckon?

While I prefer a story-wise RPG, I really like the idea of making such character sheets with those character points. I shall try to make a character sheet for Animagus.

Edit: I saw that there will be more chapters. Cool.

_________________
Ash: [talking to mirror] I'm fine... I'm fine...
[Mirror Ash jumps out of the mirror and grabs Ash]
Mirror Ash: I don't think so. We just cut up our girlfriend with a chainsaw. Does that sound "fine"?