June 6, 2019 at 12:03Calculated plot or role-playing infection
I came to the idea of the mechanics of calculated "self-written" stories while I was engaged in forum role-playing games. The text format of the game imposed certain restrictions on the use of systems tied to dice rolls. It requires a specific platform with support for such a function, the course of the game is cluttered with the questions “do you need to roll the dice”, the throwing messages themselves, after which you still need to insert your master’s word and only then the player can already write a meaningful post describing what happened.
You can deal with this all in different ways, but such a “battle with the interface” seemed not entirely justified and I wanted to think in the direction of something easy that is always at hand. To present the simplicity of verifying the results, at the same time as they are somewhat unpredictable. Then my gaze fell (figuratively speaking) to the usual “Calculator” application.
Further, it was probably not entirely thought up that corresponded to the original message, however, at least, this resulted in a plot generator.
The thought came out like this: we take several characters in the story and assign them numbers (for example, they will be two-digit from 11 to 19), then we indicate the theme of the story (detective, western, horror, fantasy) and write down, so to speak, plot vectors - 9 basic word associations. Fulfilling certain rules, we ensure the interaction of actors, creating new objects and developing the plot.
Example (he is the first test of the idea)
Actors:
12 - a little girl ,
15 - her sister ,
17 - maniac .
Theme: Horror
List of associations: 1 - fear, 2 - mystery, 3 - darkness, 4 - cold, 5 - pack, 6 - corpse, 7 - laughter, 8 - death, 9 - illness.
We decided on a starting point, but how to interact? We have a calculator and the idea of an intuitive approach. It was decided to act on the following principle - if two objects establish some kind of “positive” connection between themselves, then we multiply them by each other, if “negative” we divide the initiator into the object of applying his efforts.
Having decided on the rules, we begin to generate a plot by inventing the first operation with our objects:
Maniac, quite expectedly, wants to kill the sister of a little girl = 17/15 = 1.13
And now the main thing: we look at the table of associations, taking the first digit of the result of the interaction for interpretation. If necessary, we attract the following in order to come up with some kind of result, but it is desirable to create a new object.
It turns out that “1-1-3” is “fear-fear-darkness”. It’s just that fear, perhaps, doesn’t give anything here, but the accession of darkness is already suggestive. Thus, it was decided to describe this as “a maniac planned to kill her at night and now expects darkness”, and we get a new object 1.13 - night .
Now let's continue, this time choosing a new pair of objects:
A little girl in the evening talks with her sister = 12 x 15 = 180
It turns out "fear-death" and "the girl tells her sister her dream, in which she saw how she was killed."
New object180 - a dream .
We look at what happens next:
Sister ridicules an absurd dream = 15/180 = 0.083
“8” is “death”. "But inwardly, all the same, he is afraid of what he heard and decides to be careful."
0,083 - caution .
Sister tries to be careful = 15 x 0.083 = 1.245
"Fear-mystery-cold." Actually, she’s just scared and she can’t fall asleep, no new objects were thought up.
At night, an unfortunate maniac attacks his sister = 17/15 = 1.13
It turns out that the object “night” is already wound up, this seems to be not enough and we look at the numbers of the object “night”, deciding that the sister runs away from the attacker. It was decided to replace “night” with “run away”.
The little girl, meanwhile, has a dream = 12 x 180 = 2160
"Secret-fear." "The girl wakes up from what she saw."
2160 - to wake up .
Sister continued to flee = 15 x 1.13 = 16.95
"Fear the corpse." "Hid in a closet and finds a skeleton there."
16.95 - skeleton.
Sister examines the skeleton = 15 x 16.95 = 254.25
"Mystery-pack-cold." "The bones turn out to be cold."
A little girl is looking for a sister = 12 x 15 = 180 (dream)
Here are the options - maybe she left this thing and fell asleep, but if we are not comfortable, then we go down to the numbers: “fear-death”. Perhaps she hears something, she starts pounding with horror and she locks herself in the room.
In this part of the story, I interrupted in order to evaluate what happens. Some associations, at first glance, did not lead much, since they were essentially a repetition of the very theme of horror: fear and secrets, for example. Therefore, I decided that associations should, if possible, have a different meaning from the topic itself, in order to be more useful.
One of the interesting consequences was that the numbers of objects often help to think up additional touches, for example, a maniac decided to attack at night, and night - 1.13, that is, at one in the morning, 13 minutes. The effect of gradual “digging” into the problem is also interesting - the character does one thing, gets the second, follows this second, gets the third and so on. And also how changing the general context changes the weight of the word-associations during the same operations.
After that, I created a second test:
Actors:
13 - the wolf ,
18 - the prince ,
11 - the princess .
Subject: Fairy tale
List of associations: 1 - deeds, 2 - life, 3 - miracle, 4 - story, 5 - subject, 6 - reflection, 7 - transformation, 8 - campaign, 9 - death.
Wolf attacks the wandering prince = 13/18 = 0.72
, "Turning-life." "The wolf did not expect this to be a prince, but the hero was not taken aback and caught the wolf alive."
0.72 - the wolf is caught .
The princess heard rumors about the capture of the prince by the prince = 11 x 0.72 = 7.92
“Transformation-death”. “She remembered reading somewhere about such wolves - they turn into werewolves and when this happens, the prince may not be lucky.”
7.92 - werewolf .
The princess is going to warn the prince = 11 x 18 = 198
"Cases." "But there are too many occupations in the palace; it is better to send a messenger."
198 - the messenger .
The messenger went to the prince = 198 x 18 = 3564
"Miracle-object-reflection." “The messenger suddenly stumbled on a magical book en route, which clouded his mind when he opened it.”
3564 is a magic book .
The wolf is trying to escape from the prince = 13/18 = 0.72
But this is already an existing event, “the wolf is caught”, and he does not succeed. A fun math looms.
The wolf is trying to negotiate with the prince = 13 x 18 = 234
"Life is a miracle story." “The wolf asks to let him go, in exchange for a promise to miraculously come to the rescue in a difficult situation. The Tsarevich believes and lets go. ”
234 - agreement .
After the second test, it became clear that you can play such story-building not only by taking successive events together with other players, but also alone, say, if a person has only a calculator, and all sorts of sudoku, solitaire games and other available entertainments do not bring joy. In general, if you think about it, digital calculating device is a very widespread platform - more common than cubes, it is built into almost every gadget.
Any participant can calculate the result of an operation with two objects, and the history of values is traceable - it can be restored, and even experiment with forecasting.
A separate master role for such a game was no longer required, and besides this turned out to be such an entertaining "uniquely calculated random" instead of random cube results. What gave unpredictable in advance, but subsequently identical outcomes for the same interaction - revealing a certain unified chemistry-physics of processes or even fate. The game stimulated the search for new solutions: if one way does not work, then come up with another - what else to interact with. For example, a wolf could not run away from the prince, but, for example, run away to the princess or werewolves, following other paths of history. At the same time, with the same constancy with which the fire extinguishes the water, the wolf, one way or another, is destined to be caught by the prince while they remain who they are.
By the way, you can calculate such outcomes to immediately illustrate:
The wolf is trying to escape to the princess = 134 = “deeds-story-miracle” = “while the prince was busy with affairs, the wolf overheard the conversation that there is somewhere a carpet-plane”.
The wolf escapes to werewolves or turns into a werewolf = 102.96 = “deeds-life-death” = here it is possible to interpret differently: “busy with escape”, “escaped safe and sound”, “turned and now brings death”.
A werewolf attacks the prince = 0.44 = "story-story." Well, let’s say, “the prince realized that he had encountered a creature from legends ...” That is, perhaps the prince will remember about the aspen stake, which kill such evil spirits (yes, werewolves are not vampires, but I got the first associations) or call the werewolf by name, which will stop the attacker and lead to a conversation between them.
Another consequence was that the sequence of mathematical operations can be separated from a particular plot log and viewed in a different context. Therefore, the next test I decided to try to invert characters and themes, trying to preserve the same interactions as possible:
The first situation. The wolf attacks the prince wandering through the gloomy world of horrors = "laughter-mystery" = "the prince is terrified, but the wolf laughs and tells his secret - he is a man and the prince is not his enemy." There was no event, so we go to the princess goes after the prince = "she is afraid that he left alone in the infectious forest." An infectious forest event occurs . What the prince does in the forest - "he went into darkness, hunts for a flock of shadow creatures." Have appearedshadow creatures . The wolf escapes = "finally laughing, it melted in the darkness."
The second situation. The maniac wants to kill his sister again, although this time they were in a fairy tale = "the plan he had invented came out very complicated, for a start he decided to get to know". Event acquaintance . Girl talking with sister = "decide to go on a trip." Travel event . The sister thought and she doesn’t like this travel idea = “suddenly the stubborn girl shows her sister a magic book, reads the lines, and then she picks up and carries her away with a magic whirlwind - now the sister has to go in search of”. Well and so on ...
Time passed, and one day there was a regular annual contest pen-and-role-playing games the Game Chef . I decided to write a system for this as well, if the proposed competitive theme inspires me. The conditions of the competition implied that in their works it was necessary to build on two or three abstract pictures from the proposed set - it does not matter what they will eventually become and how they will be perceived. The topic caught my eye and the result was a “contagious role-playing” game dedicated to confronting various metaphysical viruses that seep into reality - “Strain 33”. This is the basis of the mechanics of the “calculated plot”.
I’ll analyze how individual competitive picture-ingredients influenced the result. Although, of course, it is difficult to make out what each particular image has become and how exactly they influenced, but nonetheless.
I'll start with an image of the theme of the contest. Looking at him, I immediately saw that this is very suitable for my “associative calculator”. Here, the concept of two possible interactions on which the main process is based was read: characters and other objects have special digital indices and can interact either positively (then the indices multiply) or negatively (the indices are divided one into another). Another image of the topic resulted in a decrease / increase in the index of the object at certain points.
But the main point is what happened when the theme image was superimposed on one of the ingredients:
Viruses of concepts of other worlds, penetrating into reality. Thus, the theme reflects the ambiguity of the outcome of the conflict accompanying the game process, the little man in the picture seems to be torn between whether to stay in the real world or go to the alternative (or rather, which of the alternative worlds to leave).
For a long time I wanted to make a game about viruses (though about viruses ordinary), but something was missing. And so, looking at the worm creeping out of the apple, I remembered this idea, and in combination with the theme, the association developed into a metaphysical epidemic that captures the real world.
The other three ingredients are also somehow reflected in the game.
My left image was associated with something like the outcome of a search in pitch darkness - you can find light (life, meaning), but you can find something bad (shadow, death, oblivion). In the game, this turned into 8 achievements that you need to find to capture reality and some special thing that you do not need to find, since it leads to the death of objects or the elimination of participants.
The central image was associated with some kind of protection or defensive reaction. In combination with viruses, the idea of immunity immediately pops up on this association. Thus, the bad thing that a metaphysical virus does not need to be found is the immune response of reality, leading to the death of the virus carrier. In addition, developing the idea of protection, I introduced a rule that the achievements found should be sacrificed, thus protecting the virus carrier from the action of the immune response.
The right image prompted me to leave the initial plot generation mode for one person as a bonus, already without viral color, but with the idea of finding achievements taken from there. The picture, as it were, indicates that a plot crystallizes / builds up in a person’s brain (it seems that it was recalled that one of the common types of plot construction is called a “snowflake”).
The brochure with the resulting game is on my website, you can read it here:
STAMM 33
In general terms, it looks something like this - one player acts on behalf of the same horror, and fills the city with his characters and objects, interpreting the events through the prism of horrors. Others become carriers of other genres and settings - fantasy, cyberpunk, mutants, zombie apocalypse and so on. The vibes of these different dimensions interact in every possible way, change the real world and fight each other. The ultimate goal is to find pairs of numbers that are such artifacts-achievements and determine the winner.
It is better to play the company in the mode of confronting metaphysical viruses, so later in this article I will dwell in more detail on examples from the single, plot-building mode.
The theme for this story was just time . And here are the starting plot objects related to this topic:
Inventor 23
Clock 95
Reporter 13
Library 54
Oracle 67
Alien from the future 71
Associative vectors I picked up the following:
1. Drawing
2. Ring
3. Hook
4. Fight
5. Bond
6. Pride
7. Speech
8. Insult
9. Healing
What I do next - I begin with the composition of the plot. I select two objects and multiply their indices, if an action was thought out in which they somehow come together, or I divide one index into another if there is any conflict between them. The result is interpreted within the framework of the topic and those associations to which the result of the operation indicates.
In addition to the basic rules discussed at the beginning of the article, the search for achievements is also added here. This happens when pairs appear in the first 7 digits of the result number.
11,22,44,55,66,77,88 and 99 are achievements, if all of them were open, then the game ends. 33 - this is disintegration, in this case the word association is not used, both interacting objects are destroyed, which is accordingly described in the plot.
When you first open each achievement, you must definitely come up with a story object, its index will be the corresponding pair of numbers, not the whole number. If some achievement was already open, then the pairs of its numbers no longer matter. Pair 33 is an exception and is triggered every time it occurs again in history.
Here is the scenario that grew further from the proposed source data:
The inventor rummages through the old library, looking for information on creating a time machine.
23 x 54 = 1242
He came across several semi-decayed books, which contained ancient knowledge. Returning to the workshop, he drew a diagram of a device that would overcome the boundaries of time.
Time Machine Diagram 1242
An alien from the future arose in the middle of the city; he was entrusted with a mission to break the main city clock.
71/95 = 0.747368 The
newcomer does not manage to fulfill his plan: he made a little mistake with time and now the square with the clock is cordoned off, a festival is being prepared where the mayor will address the residents.
Mayor 0.747368
A reporter went to the inventor to interview. In the end, they began to meet, which led to the rings, the wedding and their child 299 .
While the months of marriage were going on, our inventor still tried to build what he depicted on the diagram.
23 x 1242 = 28566
He was able to assemble the device, but lacked some important detail, a stabilizer for temporary flows. Only recently, the inventor accidentally discovered this missing component - the usual gold ring.
So there is the first achievement unlocked! Time Machine 66 The
reporter, meanwhile, was raising a boy. In their father’s time machine (and often without father’s knowledge) they wandered through different eras - real and fictional.
Everything went fine until one day they were captured. The bloodthirsty pirate Captain Hook locked them in the hold of his brig. But the boy was smart, brave and resourceful - he deceived the captain, robbed him, and fled with his mother back in our time.
Now on their wall, in the living room, hangs a trophy - a magic cocked hat 3887!
An alien from the future reappeared in the city, now he is entrusted with meeting the local oracle.
71 x 67 = 4575 The
alien was framed and in the appointed place he was waited not by the oracle, but by members of the criminal syndicate. An alien from the future was captured by them and taken to the headquarters of the organization for interrogation.
Crime Syndicate 4575 The
head of the criminal syndicate, having tested his origin from an alien, is trying to persuade him to cooperate.
4575 x 71 = 324825 The
head of the syndicate is Captain Hook 324825 , pulled into our world by the Triangle. He believes that the Alien knows how to go back.
But back to the past, when the Mayor spoke in the square with a clock.
0.747368 x 95 = 70, 99996
Oh, this event was remembered by many. During the Mayor’s speech, the watch suddenly exploded, dotting the area with debris. Some eyewitnesses told how a stranger came out of the clouds of dust, looked around, and disappeared in a violet flash of light.
Now there is a memorial built in honor of the victims of the explosion. There were exactly twelve of them.
The watch is destroyed. Second achievement unlocked! Memorial 99
The stranger tried to escape from the cell where he was kept.
71/4575 = 0.015519
Now that the alien has a little time, his AI implant was able to draw up a diagram of the near future by analyzing all the data available in the memory banks. Having received this very accurate short-term forecast, the alien could easily escape from the dungeon.
Achievement unlocked!Implant with data about the world of the future 55
The boy put on a magic cocked hat and tries to unravel its secret.
299 x 88 = 26312
It turns out that this item subjugates the mind of the owner, while giving it a sense of superiority over others.
In this case, the object was not invented, just a refinement to the plot.
Captain Hook, meanwhile, is trying to find a reporter - he began to realize that the perpetrators of his movement were at the same time. They will answer for stole a cocked hat.
324825 x 13 = 4222725
As soon as the captain went on the trail, he was overthrown by one of the other ambitious members of the syndicate. The post of the head of the criminal syndicate was taken from Hook, seized and thrown into prison.
Achievement unlocked! Traitor 22
An alien from the future does not know what to do next and comes to the square, to the memorial, where in the past he made an explosion.
71 x 99 = 7029
Just on that day, the next date was marked from the time of the attack, several people gathered here and recalled those terrible events. The stranger listened to their conversation, and when they dispersed, he came closer. With a thoughtful look, he took one white flower from an abandoned bouquet.
7029 White flower
on a time machine the boy went to the future, having decided to steal a flying combat suit.
299 x 66 = 19734
He was a little mistaken in the calculations and arrived at a time when such suits were only prototypes. But he decided that this is even better - using the knowledge of time, you can lead this development and establish your own corporation.
Corporation 19734
Far in the future, a certain old man in a cocked hat, the head of the Skytech Corporation, gives an order to one mercenary. His task is to go back in time and arrange an explosion in the square with the clock.
299 x 71 = 21229 The
mercenary agrees. When he leaves, the old man rubs his hands with satisfaction: an explosion in the square will close the circle of paradoxes that has arisen and this option of the future will become the only true one.
When the reporter returned home, she did not find her son and began to search for him. At this moment the telephone rang, the subscriber called himself an oracle and warned that in a minute a fire would happen in their house. The reporter did not believe a single word and threw a tantrum.
67/13 = 5.153846
All on the nerves of a reporter ran out of the house, continuing to scream into the phone. At that moment, lava flows poured from the time machine, the inventor felt the heat too late - he rushed to the exit, but became entangled in the wires. Finally, having come to her senses a bit and turned around, the reporter saw a house in flames.
The time machine, the scheme of the time machine, and the inventor are destroyed.
Burnt house 5,153846
The reporter cannot get through to the oracle again. He himself finds her during the funeral and tells everything that he knows.
67 x 13 = 871 The
reporter is indignant to the core with the story of this man and believes that he is guilty of everything that happened. The Oracle is arrested and sent to the police station for trial.
Police Station 871
However, the oracle already knows that it will not fall into the site.
67/871 = 0.076923
And indeed, during a trip on the walkie-talkie, an urgent call arrives and the police turn off the road to prevent a bank robbery. In a hurry, they leave the keys to the handcuffs and the oracle gets out of the car.
Bank 0.076923 An
alien from the future all this time was making requests for the implant, trying to figure out what he should do now. Since it was not automatically returned, it means the customer deceived him. Or the customer himself was given incorrect information.
71 x 55 = 3905
The implant revealed a strange thing: on the one hand, its database contained information that the head of the criminal syndicate was actually a guest from another time (Captain Hook), and on the other hand, an analysis of the future indicates that the criminal syndicate has a new leader now, and the old one is locked in a dungeon.
Meanwhile, not everyone in the criminal syndicate is happy with the new chapter, so he decides to exponentially eliminate the former leader by strengthening his power.
22/324825 = 6.772877 The
captain holds proudly enough and expresses his contempt for the traitor, this is enough to split the syndicate - several people release Hook and leave the organization with him. This is how the Corsairs group is formed.
Achievement unlocked! Corsairs 77
In this newly formed group, a person suddenly comes in, who calls himself an oracle, he claims that he can help with information.
67 x 77 = 5159 The
oracle tells us that recently many false loops have formed inside time. Someone is trying to make a different version of the future using a plan that closes these loops in the right way. The trap is about to shut and the loop where they are now will cease to exist. The final point of this time is the meeting of the oracle with the Alien from the future, but the paradox of the situation is that to prevent the closure of this time loop, the oracle needs the Alien's knowledge about the future.
Paradox 5159
- So maybe we will just kill you, and that’s it? - offers the captain. "Corsairs" are ready to fulfill his order.
77/67 = 1,149253
- Then we will all disappear, and this story will never be written, - with these words the oracle spreads an old folio, which describes the adventures of the captain.
Achievement unlocked! The book about the pirate Hook 11 An
alien from the future understands that circumstances drove him into a dead end and decides to take risks in order to get at least some trump card in this game imposed on him. He goes to one of the local media, telling himself and his role in the events. By chance, he gives an interview to the same reporter.
71 x 13 = 923
At the beginning of the conversation, the girl thought that she was talking with another psycho, but her skepticism quickly disappeared when she heard about time travel, about a cocked hat, Hook and oracle. Everything told in a surprising way coincided with the current situation, now she guessed how everything happened.
Sensational interview 923
Reporter promises to publish an interview, and she goes to the burned house. She wants to find something important there that can help her fix everything.
13 x 5.153846 = 66.99999
In the garden, under a stone slab, she finds her old time travel diary.
Time Travel Diary 66,99999
“Yes, I already read this book,” the pirate grinned. “But if the truth is written there, then I already know what will happen, so the past will change.”
“It will not change,” the oracle answered gloomily. “In fact, you won’t come back.”
“I'm tired of your silly predictions,” said the captain, and taking out a pistol he shot into the oracle.
324825/67 = 4848.134
As soon as the oracle's body fell to the floor, a police detachment (acting on a tip from a criminal syndicate) burst into the room and an exchange of fire ensued. As a result, only Captain Hook appears alive, the police and the Corsairs were killed.
Oracle is destroyed. The Corsairs are destroyed.
A reporter is reading a diary.
13 x 66.99999 = 870.9998
Everything converges, she was not mistaken. Today, exactly one hour later, her version from the past with her son should appear in a city park, where they quarrel for the reason that one of the two of them mixed up the time coordinates.
Park 870,9998
At the right moment, the reporter rushed to the two figures that appeared on the path of the park and pulled out a magical cocked hat (which they had taken from the pirate and now carried home) from the hands of the last.
13 x 88 = 1144
This action produced an unexpected effect: the whole world around the reporter stopped, only she remained mobile ...
Last achievement unlocked! Frozen time 44
On this, all the achievements were collected and the game ended, leaving the ending of the story open.
Now we will generate another story, already in the genre of fairy tales .
This time, objects could only be destroyed through disintegration (achievement 33). It was understood that if some object would be destroyed just like that, according to the plot, then there remains the possibility of interaction with it.
And achievements were now considered separately, without participating in interactions.
Associations vectors:
1. Light
2. Poison
3. Fire
4. Escape
5. Mystery
6. Rain
7. Past
8. Reflection
9. Luck
Starting fairy-tale plot objects:
Fairy 54
King 81
Witch 17
Troll 22
Giant troll invades the lands where the fairy and her fellow tribesmen live.
22/54 = 0.407407
Little people can not oppose the giant and they have to leave their homes. They retreat to the thickets, where the ancient magic crystal is located.
Magic Crystal 0.407407 The
troll in this game is not an open achievement (although it is described precisely by a pair of identical numbers) and you can interact with it.
At this time, a witch digs out information about the ancient magic crystal of the fairies in old books. And of course it turns out that she really needs it. Well, it’s very very necessary. Give me two!
17 x 0.407407 = 6.925919
One important circumstance is mentioned in the book: a crystal can be found only during a thunderstorm; in normal weather, it is invisible. Well, for a witch this is not a problem, she just has a similar potion in her arsenal.
Bad weather potion 6,925919
Rumors about the appearance of a giant troll reached the king.
22 x 81 = 1782
This news was brought by one of the priests of the Sun, walking through the forest in search of the right herbs for the rite.
Priest of the Sun 1782
The King is disturbed by the alarming news and asks the priest for details.
81 x 1782 = 144342 The
priest said that the troll is about twenty meters high, its skin is gray, a bush grows on its back, and its eyes burn with green fire.
The king is in a panic - yes, it all fits together! There is an ancient prophecy that says that the sun goes out. And the first evidence is the arrival of a troll with luminous eyes.
Prophecy 144342
Achievement unlocked! Eclipse (44)
Fairy does not want to fly with the rest to the crystal.
54 / 0.407407 = 132.5455
It flies east, to the ruins of an abandoned temple that was burned in ancient times. Inside, on a dilapidated altar, a relic is stored, shining in the rays of the rising sun.
Holy Relic 132,5455
Achievement unlocked! Hope (55)
The king sends his best squad against the troll.
81/22 = 3.681818
The brave knights of the kingdom ride on horseback and rush towards the monster. The troll's eyes flare up with angry sparks and a cloud of green flame envelops the attackers.
The deceased detachment 3.681818
The witch came to the forest, where she activates the weather potion.
17 x 6.925919 = 117.7406
A thunderstorm hangs over the forest, lightnings sparkle, the wind rises, uneven streams of rain beat. From somewhere in the depths of the thicket light begins to flow, maybe it is a crystal?
Thunderstorm 117.7406
Achievement unlocked! Radiance (11)
Fairy flies into the ruins of the temple, to the sacred relic.
54 x 132.5455 = 7157.457
On the dilapidated wall, ancient bas-reliefs and letters are preserved, telling about how in the past, the priests of the Sun with the help of relics prevented the invasion of demons in this world. Fairy understands that she needs to find such a priest, perhaps he can drive the troll away.
Demons 7157,457
Fairy is looking for the priest of the temple of the Sun.
54 x 1782 = 96228
By a fortunate coincidence, she notices this man running out of the part of the forest that is covered by a thunderstorm. The priest followed the royal squad, and fled in horror after the troll burned them all down.
The fairy was able to explain to the wet adept that he must use the relic to expel evil.
Fear 96228
Achievement unlocked! Destiny (22)
Following the fairy priest finds a relic.
1782 x 132.5455 = 236196 The
priest studies the relic and inscriptions. Yes, now he recalls this long history, but he knows what the fairy does not know: after using this sacred object, rivers, forests and fields were poisoned for many years.
The priest decides that the cost of using the relic is too high.
The king is shocked by what happened, he is very scared and driven to despair.
81 x 96228 = 7794468
The royal alchemist has a way to solve one of the problems: he claims that since the royal detachment was destroyed by the troll, then you can use the powerful Machine the Day After Tomorrow, which turns back some details of the past. The machine works in an imperfect way, but the alchemist assures that according to his calculations, the removal of a dead unit from the past does not technically violate the normal course of time. True, there are only two charges left in the Machine, besides there is always a risk of temporal anomalies, but in this situation the king has no choice and he allows the experiment.
Everything seems to be going well and the deceased unit disappears from the past a few moments before they were enveloped in flames. Safe and sound they appear near the royal castle.
Alchemist 7794468
Achievement unlocked! Time (77) A
witch wanders in the middle of the rain, something shines ahead.
17 x 117.7406 = 2001.59
She found something, but it turned out to be not a magic crystal, but fluorescent mushrooms. Most likely poisonous.
Luminous mushrooms 2001.59 The
thunderstorm above the forest intensifies and powerful lightning strikes the magic crystal, destroying it.
117.7406 / 0.407407 = 288.9999 The
forest around the crystal instantly begins to wither, and the small luminous fragments scatter in all directions, but then they suddenly and soar into the sky, flashing thunderclouds. After this, the clouds become even darker and begin to grow, creeping even more across the sky.
Fading forest 288.9999
Achievement unlocked!Destruction (88)
Knowing that nothing can be decided by the troops, the king again asks for the help of the alchemist.
81 x 7794468 = 6313519 The
alchemist does not know what to do with the giant, but here the inhabitants of the kingdom notice a huge thunderstorm approaching from the side of the forest.
The alchemist conducts a ritual and finds out that the storm is caused by a witch's potion. He even knows whose exactly. The fact is that she ... his sister.
The alchemist reports the incident to the king and opens a portal to deliver it directly to the royal hall. This is what happens.
Portal 6313519 The
Witch is invited to dispel the effect of Weather Potions.
17 / 6.925919 = 2.45454
Yeah, of course, dreaming! The witch shakes luminous mushrooms prudently collected in the forest on the floor, watered them with a revitalizing potion and turns into a crow, flying out the window. Mushrooms grow in size, turning into a group of large monsters covered in poisonous spores.
The revitalizing potion 2.45454
Fairy is dissatisfied with the priest, believing that he is simply afraid to use the artifact.
54/1782 = 0.030303 The
fairy chastises the priest and tries to activate the relic herself. The priest of the Sun runs away, seeing that she cannot be stopped. The relic flares up and a fiery dragon begins to materialize in the sky above the destroyed temple.
Fire Dragon 0.030303 A
fairy-summoned dragon sets off in search of a troll.
0.030303 x 22 = 0.666666
A raging storm has a bad effect on the fire dragon and ultimately its flame goes out under the stream of rain. At the same moment, the sacred relic ceases to glow, darkness covers it. Fairy in confusion looks at what is happening. Darkness flows from the relic, flowing down. After that, the earth around the ruins begins to shake, deep cracks appear in it.
Earthquake 0.666666
Achievement unlocked! Darkness (66)
Demons crawl out of the cracks, preparing to fulfill the prophecy.
7157.457 x 144342 = 1033121 Effect 33
occurs : 7157.457 and 144342 are destroyed.
At that very moment, the ancient curse imposed on the relic expired: the Lord of the Gloom in ancient times quite a bit made a mistake with the calculations, now his prophecy was not destined to be fulfilled. Fiercely howling demons turned into lumps of ash that melted under the stream of rain.
The earthquake did not calm down immediately. Tremors reached the royal castle.
0.666666 x 81 = 53.99994
By that time this place was abandoned, people left it, fleeing the mushroom monsters.
The castle shook well several times, after which everything calmed down. When the king’s people finally ventured to return, they saw that the destruction was moderate. Gribomonstrov was littered with stones, and the main statue of the castle fell apart, and now in its place stood a crystal ... just like the one that the fairies had previously guarded.
New Crystal 53,99994
Final achievement unlocked! Renaissance (99)
On this, all achievements have been opened and one can put an end to history. At the same time, there is room for further development of storylines: what the witch is up to, where the troll is moving, whether the storm will end, where the fairies will live, what is the secret of the crystal, and so on.
Here I use such a simple game mechanic to create stories literally from nothing alone or in a company. It helps to warm up the imagination of even people far from board role-playing games, and is also great for arranging a joint story-building game in online chat rooms and forums. And only then I thought about telegram channels, where it can also be launched.
Based on this “role calculator”, I also developed a more extensive system, which implies the participation of the master of the game along with the players, and instead of multiplication / division, only multiplication is left. But that's another story.
You can deal with this all in different ways, but such a “battle with the interface” seemed not entirely justified and I wanted to think in the direction of something easy that is always at hand. To present the simplicity of verifying the results, at the same time as they are somewhat unpredictable. Then my gaze fell (figuratively speaking) to the usual “Calculator” application.
Plotfinder
Further, it was probably not entirely thought up that corresponded to the original message, however, at least, this resulted in a plot generator.
The thought came out like this: we take several characters in the story and assign them numbers (for example, they will be two-digit from 11 to 19), then we indicate the theme of the story (detective, western, horror, fantasy) and write down, so to speak, plot vectors - 9 basic word associations. Fulfilling certain rules, we ensure the interaction of actors, creating new objects and developing the plot.
Example (he is the first test of the idea)
Actors:
12 - a little girl ,
15 - her sister ,
17 - maniac .
Theme: Horror
List of associations: 1 - fear, 2 - mystery, 3 - darkness, 4 - cold, 5 - pack, 6 - corpse, 7 - laughter, 8 - death, 9 - illness.
We decided on a starting point, but how to interact? We have a calculator and the idea of an intuitive approach. It was decided to act on the following principle - if two objects establish some kind of “positive” connection between themselves, then we multiply them by each other, if “negative” we divide the initiator into the object of applying his efforts.
Having decided on the rules, we begin to generate a plot by inventing the first operation with our objects:
Maniac, quite expectedly, wants to kill the sister of a little girl = 17/15 = 1.13
And now the main thing: we look at the table of associations, taking the first digit of the result of the interaction for interpretation. If necessary, we attract the following in order to come up with some kind of result, but it is desirable to create a new object.
It turns out that “1-1-3” is “fear-fear-darkness”. It’s just that fear, perhaps, doesn’t give anything here, but the accession of darkness is already suggestive. Thus, it was decided to describe this as “a maniac planned to kill her at night and now expects darkness”, and we get a new object 1.13 - night .
Now let's continue, this time choosing a new pair of objects:
A little girl in the evening talks with her sister = 12 x 15 = 180
It turns out "fear-death" and "the girl tells her sister her dream, in which she saw how she was killed."
New object180 - a dream .
We look at what happens next:
Sister ridicules an absurd dream = 15/180 = 0.083
“8” is “death”. "But inwardly, all the same, he is afraid of what he heard and decides to be careful."
0,083 - caution .
Sister tries to be careful = 15 x 0.083 = 1.245
"Fear-mystery-cold." Actually, she’s just scared and she can’t fall asleep, no new objects were thought up.
At night, an unfortunate maniac attacks his sister = 17/15 = 1.13
It turns out that the object “night” is already wound up, this seems to be not enough and we look at the numbers of the object “night”, deciding that the sister runs away from the attacker. It was decided to replace “night” with “run away”.
The little girl, meanwhile, has a dream = 12 x 180 = 2160
"Secret-fear." "The girl wakes up from what she saw."
2160 - to wake up .
Sister continued to flee = 15 x 1.13 = 16.95
"Fear the corpse." "Hid in a closet and finds a skeleton there."
16.95 - skeleton.
Sister examines the skeleton = 15 x 16.95 = 254.25
"Mystery-pack-cold." "The bones turn out to be cold."
A little girl is looking for a sister = 12 x 15 = 180 (dream)
Here are the options - maybe she left this thing and fell asleep, but if we are not comfortable, then we go down to the numbers: “fear-death”. Perhaps she hears something, she starts pounding with horror and she locks herself in the room.
In this part of the story, I interrupted in order to evaluate what happens. Some associations, at first glance, did not lead much, since they were essentially a repetition of the very theme of horror: fear and secrets, for example. Therefore, I decided that associations should, if possible, have a different meaning from the topic itself, in order to be more useful.
One of the interesting consequences was that the numbers of objects often help to think up additional touches, for example, a maniac decided to attack at night, and night - 1.13, that is, at one in the morning, 13 minutes. The effect of gradual “digging” into the problem is also interesting - the character does one thing, gets the second, follows this second, gets the third and so on. And also how changing the general context changes the weight of the word-associations during the same operations.
After that, I created a second test:
Actors:
13 - the wolf ,
18 - the prince ,
11 - the princess .
Subject: Fairy tale
List of associations: 1 - deeds, 2 - life, 3 - miracle, 4 - story, 5 - subject, 6 - reflection, 7 - transformation, 8 - campaign, 9 - death.
Wolf attacks the wandering prince = 13/18 = 0.72
, "Turning-life." "The wolf did not expect this to be a prince, but the hero was not taken aback and caught the wolf alive."
0.72 - the wolf is caught .
The princess heard rumors about the capture of the prince by the prince = 11 x 0.72 = 7.92
“Transformation-death”. “She remembered reading somewhere about such wolves - they turn into werewolves and when this happens, the prince may not be lucky.”
7.92 - werewolf .
The princess is going to warn the prince = 11 x 18 = 198
"Cases." "But there are too many occupations in the palace; it is better to send a messenger."
198 - the messenger .
The messenger went to the prince = 198 x 18 = 3564
"Miracle-object-reflection." “The messenger suddenly stumbled on a magical book en route, which clouded his mind when he opened it.”
3564 is a magic book .
The wolf is trying to escape from the prince = 13/18 = 0.72
But this is already an existing event, “the wolf is caught”, and he does not succeed. A fun math looms.
The wolf is trying to negotiate with the prince = 13 x 18 = 234
"Life is a miracle story." “The wolf asks to let him go, in exchange for a promise to miraculously come to the rescue in a difficult situation. The Tsarevich believes and lets go. ”
234 - agreement .
After the second test, it became clear that you can play such story-building not only by taking successive events together with other players, but also alone, say, if a person has only a calculator, and all sorts of sudoku, solitaire games and other available entertainments do not bring joy. In general, if you think about it, digital calculating device is a very widespread platform - more common than cubes, it is built into almost every gadget.
Any participant can calculate the result of an operation with two objects, and the history of values is traceable - it can be restored, and even experiment with forecasting.
A separate master role for such a game was no longer required, and besides this turned out to be such an entertaining "uniquely calculated random" instead of random cube results. What gave unpredictable in advance, but subsequently identical outcomes for the same interaction - revealing a certain unified chemistry-physics of processes or even fate. The game stimulated the search for new solutions: if one way does not work, then come up with another - what else to interact with. For example, a wolf could not run away from the prince, but, for example, run away to the princess or werewolves, following other paths of history. At the same time, with the same constancy with which the fire extinguishes the water, the wolf, one way or another, is destined to be caught by the prince while they remain who they are.
By the way, you can calculate such outcomes to immediately illustrate:
The wolf is trying to escape to the princess = 134 = “deeds-story-miracle” = “while the prince was busy with affairs, the wolf overheard the conversation that there is somewhere a carpet-plane”.
The wolf escapes to werewolves or turns into a werewolf = 102.96 = “deeds-life-death” = here it is possible to interpret differently: “busy with escape”, “escaped safe and sound”, “turned and now brings death”.
A werewolf attacks the prince = 0.44 = "story-story." Well, let’s say, “the prince realized that he had encountered a creature from legends ...” That is, perhaps the prince will remember about the aspen stake, which kill such evil spirits (yes, werewolves are not vampires, but I got the first associations) or call the werewolf by name, which will stop the attacker and lead to a conversation between them.
Another consequence was that the sequence of mathematical operations can be separated from a particular plot log and viewed in a different context. Therefore, the next test I decided to try to invert characters and themes, trying to preserve the same interactions as possible:
The first situation. The wolf attacks the prince wandering through the gloomy world of horrors = "laughter-mystery" = "the prince is terrified, but the wolf laughs and tells his secret - he is a man and the prince is not his enemy." There was no event, so we go to the princess goes after the prince = "she is afraid that he left alone in the infectious forest." An infectious forest event occurs . What the prince does in the forest - "he went into darkness, hunts for a flock of shadow creatures." Have appearedshadow creatures . The wolf escapes = "finally laughing, it melted in the darkness."
The second situation. The maniac wants to kill his sister again, although this time they were in a fairy tale = "the plan he had invented came out very complicated, for a start he decided to get to know". Event acquaintance . Girl talking with sister = "decide to go on a trip." Travel event . The sister thought and she doesn’t like this travel idea = “suddenly the stubborn girl shows her sister a magic book, reads the lines, and then she picks up and carries her away with a magic whirlwind - now the sister has to go in search of”. Well and so on ...
Strain 33
Time passed, and one day there was a regular annual contest pen-and-role-playing games the Game Chef . I decided to write a system for this as well, if the proposed competitive theme inspires me. The conditions of the competition implied that in their works it was necessary to build on two or three abstract pictures from the proposed set - it does not matter what they will eventually become and how they will be perceived. The topic caught my eye and the result was a “contagious role-playing” game dedicated to confronting various metaphysical viruses that seep into reality - “Strain 33”. This is the basis of the mechanics of the “calculated plot”.
I’ll analyze how individual competitive picture-ingredients influenced the result. Although, of course, it is difficult to make out what each particular image has become and how exactly they influenced, but nonetheless.
I'll start with an image of the theme of the contest. Looking at him, I immediately saw that this is very suitable for my “associative calculator”. Here, the concept of two possible interactions on which the main process is based was read: characters and other objects have special digital indices and can interact either positively (then the indices multiply) or negatively (the indices are divided one into another). Another image of the topic resulted in a decrease / increase in the index of the object at certain points.
But the main point is what happened when the theme image was superimposed on one of the ingredients:
Viruses of concepts of other worlds, penetrating into reality. Thus, the theme reflects the ambiguity of the outcome of the conflict accompanying the game process, the little man in the picture seems to be torn between whether to stay in the real world or go to the alternative (or rather, which of the alternative worlds to leave).
For a long time I wanted to make a game about viruses (though about viruses ordinary), but something was missing. And so, looking at the worm creeping out of the apple, I remembered this idea, and in combination with the theme, the association developed into a metaphysical epidemic that captures the real world.
The other three ingredients are also somehow reflected in the game.
My left image was associated with something like the outcome of a search in pitch darkness - you can find light (life, meaning), but you can find something bad (shadow, death, oblivion). In the game, this turned into 8 achievements that you need to find to capture reality and some special thing that you do not need to find, since it leads to the death of objects or the elimination of participants.
The central image was associated with some kind of protection or defensive reaction. In combination with viruses, the idea of immunity immediately pops up on this association. Thus, the bad thing that a metaphysical virus does not need to be found is the immune response of reality, leading to the death of the virus carrier. In addition, developing the idea of protection, I introduced a rule that the achievements found should be sacrificed, thus protecting the virus carrier from the action of the immune response.
The right image prompted me to leave the initial plot generation mode for one person as a bonus, already without viral color, but with the idea of finding achievements taken from there. The picture, as it were, indicates that a plot crystallizes / builds up in a person’s brain (it seems that it was recalled that one of the common types of plot construction is called a “snowflake”).
The brochure with the resulting game is on my website, you can read it here:
STAMM 33
In general terms, it looks something like this - one player acts on behalf of the same horror, and fills the city with his characters and objects, interpreting the events through the prism of horrors. Others become carriers of other genres and settings - fantasy, cyberpunk, mutants, zombie apocalypse and so on. The vibes of these different dimensions interact in every possible way, change the real world and fight each other. The ultimate goal is to find pairs of numbers that are such artifacts-achievements and determine the winner.
It is better to play the company in the mode of confronting metaphysical viruses, so later in this article I will dwell in more detail on examples from the single, plot-building mode.
Game one
The theme for this story was just time . And here are the starting plot objects related to this topic:
Inventor 23
Clock 95
Reporter 13
Library 54
Oracle 67
Alien from the future 71
Associative vectors I picked up the following:
1. Drawing
2. Ring
3. Hook
4. Fight
5. Bond
6. Pride
7. Speech
8. Insult
9. Healing
What I do next - I begin with the composition of the plot. I select two objects and multiply their indices, if an action was thought out in which they somehow come together, or I divide one index into another if there is any conflict between them. The result is interpreted within the framework of the topic and those associations to which the result of the operation indicates.
In addition to the basic rules discussed at the beginning of the article, the search for achievements is also added here. This happens when pairs appear in the first 7 digits of the result number.
11,22,44,55,66,77,88 and 99 are achievements, if all of them were open, then the game ends. 33 - this is disintegration, in this case the word association is not used, both interacting objects are destroyed, which is accordingly described in the plot.
When you first open each achievement, you must definitely come up with a story object, its index will be the corresponding pair of numbers, not the whole number. If some achievement was already open, then the pairs of its numbers no longer matter. Pair 33 is an exception and is triggered every time it occurs again in history.
Here is the scenario that grew further from the proposed source data:
The inventor rummages through the old library, looking for information on creating a time machine.
23 x 54 = 1242
He came across several semi-decayed books, which contained ancient knowledge. Returning to the workshop, he drew a diagram of a device that would overcome the boundaries of time.
Time Machine Diagram 1242
An alien from the future arose in the middle of the city; he was entrusted with a mission to break the main city clock.
71/95 = 0.747368 The
newcomer does not manage to fulfill his plan: he made a little mistake with time and now the square with the clock is cordoned off, a festival is being prepared where the mayor will address the residents.
Mayor 0.747368
A reporter went to the inventor to interview. In the end, they began to meet, which led to the rings, the wedding and their child 299 .
While the months of marriage were going on, our inventor still tried to build what he depicted on the diagram.
23 x 1242 = 28566
He was able to assemble the device, but lacked some important detail, a stabilizer for temporary flows. Only recently, the inventor accidentally discovered this missing component - the usual gold ring.
So there is the first achievement unlocked! Time Machine 66 The
reporter, meanwhile, was raising a boy. In their father’s time machine (and often without father’s knowledge) they wandered through different eras - real and fictional.
Everything went fine until one day they were captured. The bloodthirsty pirate Captain Hook locked them in the hold of his brig. But the boy was smart, brave and resourceful - he deceived the captain, robbed him, and fled with his mother back in our time.
Now on their wall, in the living room, hangs a trophy - a magic cocked hat 3887!
An alien from the future reappeared in the city, now he is entrusted with meeting the local oracle.
71 x 67 = 4575 The
alien was framed and in the appointed place he was waited not by the oracle, but by members of the criminal syndicate. An alien from the future was captured by them and taken to the headquarters of the organization for interrogation.
Crime Syndicate 4575 The
head of the criminal syndicate, having tested his origin from an alien, is trying to persuade him to cooperate.
4575 x 71 = 324825 The
head of the syndicate is Captain Hook 324825 , pulled into our world by the Triangle. He believes that the Alien knows how to go back.
But back to the past, when the Mayor spoke in the square with a clock.
0.747368 x 95 = 70, 99996
Oh, this event was remembered by many. During the Mayor’s speech, the watch suddenly exploded, dotting the area with debris. Some eyewitnesses told how a stranger came out of the clouds of dust, looked around, and disappeared in a violet flash of light.
Now there is a memorial built in honor of the victims of the explosion. There were exactly twelve of them.
The watch is destroyed. Second achievement unlocked! Memorial 99
The stranger tried to escape from the cell where he was kept.
71/4575 = 0.015519
Now that the alien has a little time, his AI implant was able to draw up a diagram of the near future by analyzing all the data available in the memory banks. Having received this very accurate short-term forecast, the alien could easily escape from the dungeon.
Achievement unlocked!Implant with data about the world of the future 55
The boy put on a magic cocked hat and tries to unravel its secret.
299 x 88 = 26312
It turns out that this item subjugates the mind of the owner, while giving it a sense of superiority over others.
In this case, the object was not invented, just a refinement to the plot.
Captain Hook, meanwhile, is trying to find a reporter - he began to realize that the perpetrators of his movement were at the same time. They will answer for stole a cocked hat.
324825 x 13 = 4222725
As soon as the captain went on the trail, he was overthrown by one of the other ambitious members of the syndicate. The post of the head of the criminal syndicate was taken from Hook, seized and thrown into prison.
Achievement unlocked! Traitor 22
An alien from the future does not know what to do next and comes to the square, to the memorial, where in the past he made an explosion.
71 x 99 = 7029
Just on that day, the next date was marked from the time of the attack, several people gathered here and recalled those terrible events. The stranger listened to their conversation, and when they dispersed, he came closer. With a thoughtful look, he took one white flower from an abandoned bouquet.
7029 White flower
on a time machine the boy went to the future, having decided to steal a flying combat suit.
299 x 66 = 19734
He was a little mistaken in the calculations and arrived at a time when such suits were only prototypes. But he decided that this is even better - using the knowledge of time, you can lead this development and establish your own corporation.
Corporation 19734
Far in the future, a certain old man in a cocked hat, the head of the Skytech Corporation, gives an order to one mercenary. His task is to go back in time and arrange an explosion in the square with the clock.
299 x 71 = 21229 The
mercenary agrees. When he leaves, the old man rubs his hands with satisfaction: an explosion in the square will close the circle of paradoxes that has arisen and this option of the future will become the only true one.
When the reporter returned home, she did not find her son and began to search for him. At this moment the telephone rang, the subscriber called himself an oracle and warned that in a minute a fire would happen in their house. The reporter did not believe a single word and threw a tantrum.
67/13 = 5.153846
All on the nerves of a reporter ran out of the house, continuing to scream into the phone. At that moment, lava flows poured from the time machine, the inventor felt the heat too late - he rushed to the exit, but became entangled in the wires. Finally, having come to her senses a bit and turned around, the reporter saw a house in flames.
The time machine, the scheme of the time machine, and the inventor are destroyed.
Burnt house 5,153846
The reporter cannot get through to the oracle again. He himself finds her during the funeral and tells everything that he knows.
67 x 13 = 871 The
reporter is indignant to the core with the story of this man and believes that he is guilty of everything that happened. The Oracle is arrested and sent to the police station for trial.
Police Station 871
However, the oracle already knows that it will not fall into the site.
67/871 = 0.076923
And indeed, during a trip on the walkie-talkie, an urgent call arrives and the police turn off the road to prevent a bank robbery. In a hurry, they leave the keys to the handcuffs and the oracle gets out of the car.
Bank 0.076923 An
alien from the future all this time was making requests for the implant, trying to figure out what he should do now. Since it was not automatically returned, it means the customer deceived him. Or the customer himself was given incorrect information.
71 x 55 = 3905
The implant revealed a strange thing: on the one hand, its database contained information that the head of the criminal syndicate was actually a guest from another time (Captain Hook), and on the other hand, an analysis of the future indicates that the criminal syndicate has a new leader now, and the old one is locked in a dungeon.
Meanwhile, not everyone in the criminal syndicate is happy with the new chapter, so he decides to exponentially eliminate the former leader by strengthening his power.
22/324825 = 6.772877 The
captain holds proudly enough and expresses his contempt for the traitor, this is enough to split the syndicate - several people release Hook and leave the organization with him. This is how the Corsairs group is formed.
Achievement unlocked! Corsairs 77
In this newly formed group, a person suddenly comes in, who calls himself an oracle, he claims that he can help with information.
67 x 77 = 5159 The
oracle tells us that recently many false loops have formed inside time. Someone is trying to make a different version of the future using a plan that closes these loops in the right way. The trap is about to shut and the loop where they are now will cease to exist. The final point of this time is the meeting of the oracle with the Alien from the future, but the paradox of the situation is that to prevent the closure of this time loop, the oracle needs the Alien's knowledge about the future.
Paradox 5159
- So maybe we will just kill you, and that’s it? - offers the captain. "Corsairs" are ready to fulfill his order.
77/67 = 1,149253
- Then we will all disappear, and this story will never be written, - with these words the oracle spreads an old folio, which describes the adventures of the captain.
Achievement unlocked! The book about the pirate Hook 11 An
alien from the future understands that circumstances drove him into a dead end and decides to take risks in order to get at least some trump card in this game imposed on him. He goes to one of the local media, telling himself and his role in the events. By chance, he gives an interview to the same reporter.
71 x 13 = 923
At the beginning of the conversation, the girl thought that she was talking with another psycho, but her skepticism quickly disappeared when she heard about time travel, about a cocked hat, Hook and oracle. Everything told in a surprising way coincided with the current situation, now she guessed how everything happened.
Sensational interview 923
Reporter promises to publish an interview, and she goes to the burned house. She wants to find something important there that can help her fix everything.
13 x 5.153846 = 66.99999
In the garden, under a stone slab, she finds her old time travel diary.
Time Travel Diary 66,99999
“Yes, I already read this book,” the pirate grinned. “But if the truth is written there, then I already know what will happen, so the past will change.”
“It will not change,” the oracle answered gloomily. “In fact, you won’t come back.”
“I'm tired of your silly predictions,” said the captain, and taking out a pistol he shot into the oracle.
324825/67 = 4848.134
As soon as the oracle's body fell to the floor, a police detachment (acting on a tip from a criminal syndicate) burst into the room and an exchange of fire ensued. As a result, only Captain Hook appears alive, the police and the Corsairs were killed.
Oracle is destroyed. The Corsairs are destroyed.
A reporter is reading a diary.
13 x 66.99999 = 870.9998
Everything converges, she was not mistaken. Today, exactly one hour later, her version from the past with her son should appear in a city park, where they quarrel for the reason that one of the two of them mixed up the time coordinates.
Park 870,9998
At the right moment, the reporter rushed to the two figures that appeared on the path of the park and pulled out a magical cocked hat (which they had taken from the pirate and now carried home) from the hands of the last.
13 x 88 = 1144
This action produced an unexpected effect: the whole world around the reporter stopped, only she remained mobile ...
Last achievement unlocked! Frozen time 44
On this, all the achievements were collected and the game ended, leaving the ending of the story open.
Second game
Now we will generate another story, already in the genre of fairy tales .
This time, objects could only be destroyed through disintegration (achievement 33). It was understood that if some object would be destroyed just like that, according to the plot, then there remains the possibility of interaction with it.
And achievements were now considered separately, without participating in interactions.
Associations vectors:
1. Light
2. Poison
3. Fire
4. Escape
5. Mystery
6. Rain
7. Past
8. Reflection
9. Luck
Starting fairy-tale plot objects:
Fairy 54
King 81
Witch 17
Troll 22
Giant troll invades the lands where the fairy and her fellow tribesmen live.
22/54 = 0.407407
Little people can not oppose the giant and they have to leave their homes. They retreat to the thickets, where the ancient magic crystal is located.
Magic Crystal 0.407407 The
troll in this game is not an open achievement (although it is described precisely by a pair of identical numbers) and you can interact with it.
At this time, a witch digs out information about the ancient magic crystal of the fairies in old books. And of course it turns out that she really needs it. Well, it’s very very necessary. Give me two!
17 x 0.407407 = 6.925919
One important circumstance is mentioned in the book: a crystal can be found only during a thunderstorm; in normal weather, it is invisible. Well, for a witch this is not a problem, she just has a similar potion in her arsenal.
Bad weather potion 6,925919
Rumors about the appearance of a giant troll reached the king.
22 x 81 = 1782
This news was brought by one of the priests of the Sun, walking through the forest in search of the right herbs for the rite.
Priest of the Sun 1782
The King is disturbed by the alarming news and asks the priest for details.
81 x 1782 = 144342 The
priest said that the troll is about twenty meters high, its skin is gray, a bush grows on its back, and its eyes burn with green fire.
The king is in a panic - yes, it all fits together! There is an ancient prophecy that says that the sun goes out. And the first evidence is the arrival of a troll with luminous eyes.
Prophecy 144342
Achievement unlocked! Eclipse (44)
Fairy does not want to fly with the rest to the crystal.
54 / 0.407407 = 132.5455
It flies east, to the ruins of an abandoned temple that was burned in ancient times. Inside, on a dilapidated altar, a relic is stored, shining in the rays of the rising sun.
Holy Relic 132,5455
Achievement unlocked! Hope (55)
The king sends his best squad against the troll.
81/22 = 3.681818
The brave knights of the kingdom ride on horseback and rush towards the monster. The troll's eyes flare up with angry sparks and a cloud of green flame envelops the attackers.
The deceased detachment 3.681818
The witch came to the forest, where she activates the weather potion.
17 x 6.925919 = 117.7406
A thunderstorm hangs over the forest, lightnings sparkle, the wind rises, uneven streams of rain beat. From somewhere in the depths of the thicket light begins to flow, maybe it is a crystal?
Thunderstorm 117.7406
Achievement unlocked! Radiance (11)
Fairy flies into the ruins of the temple, to the sacred relic.
54 x 132.5455 = 7157.457
On the dilapidated wall, ancient bas-reliefs and letters are preserved, telling about how in the past, the priests of the Sun with the help of relics prevented the invasion of demons in this world. Fairy understands that she needs to find such a priest, perhaps he can drive the troll away.
Demons 7157,457
Fairy is looking for the priest of the temple of the Sun.
54 x 1782 = 96228
By a fortunate coincidence, she notices this man running out of the part of the forest that is covered by a thunderstorm. The priest followed the royal squad, and fled in horror after the troll burned them all down.
The fairy was able to explain to the wet adept that he must use the relic to expel evil.
Fear 96228
Achievement unlocked! Destiny (22)
Following the fairy priest finds a relic.
1782 x 132.5455 = 236196 The
priest studies the relic and inscriptions. Yes, now he recalls this long history, but he knows what the fairy does not know: after using this sacred object, rivers, forests and fields were poisoned for many years.
The priest decides that the cost of using the relic is too high.
The king is shocked by what happened, he is very scared and driven to despair.
81 x 96228 = 7794468
The royal alchemist has a way to solve one of the problems: he claims that since the royal detachment was destroyed by the troll, then you can use the powerful Machine the Day After Tomorrow, which turns back some details of the past. The machine works in an imperfect way, but the alchemist assures that according to his calculations, the removal of a dead unit from the past does not technically violate the normal course of time. True, there are only two charges left in the Machine, besides there is always a risk of temporal anomalies, but in this situation the king has no choice and he allows the experiment.
Everything seems to be going well and the deceased unit disappears from the past a few moments before they were enveloped in flames. Safe and sound they appear near the royal castle.
Alchemist 7794468
Achievement unlocked! Time (77) A
witch wanders in the middle of the rain, something shines ahead.
17 x 117.7406 = 2001.59
She found something, but it turned out to be not a magic crystal, but fluorescent mushrooms. Most likely poisonous.
Luminous mushrooms 2001.59 The
thunderstorm above the forest intensifies and powerful lightning strikes the magic crystal, destroying it.
117.7406 / 0.407407 = 288.9999 The
forest around the crystal instantly begins to wither, and the small luminous fragments scatter in all directions, but then they suddenly and soar into the sky, flashing thunderclouds. After this, the clouds become even darker and begin to grow, creeping even more across the sky.
Fading forest 288.9999
Achievement unlocked!Destruction (88)
Knowing that nothing can be decided by the troops, the king again asks for the help of the alchemist.
81 x 7794468 = 6313519 The
alchemist does not know what to do with the giant, but here the inhabitants of the kingdom notice a huge thunderstorm approaching from the side of the forest.
The alchemist conducts a ritual and finds out that the storm is caused by a witch's potion. He even knows whose exactly. The fact is that she ... his sister.
The alchemist reports the incident to the king and opens a portal to deliver it directly to the royal hall. This is what happens.
Portal 6313519 The
Witch is invited to dispel the effect of Weather Potions.
17 / 6.925919 = 2.45454
Yeah, of course, dreaming! The witch shakes luminous mushrooms prudently collected in the forest on the floor, watered them with a revitalizing potion and turns into a crow, flying out the window. Mushrooms grow in size, turning into a group of large monsters covered in poisonous spores.
The revitalizing potion 2.45454
Fairy is dissatisfied with the priest, believing that he is simply afraid to use the artifact.
54/1782 = 0.030303 The
fairy chastises the priest and tries to activate the relic herself. The priest of the Sun runs away, seeing that she cannot be stopped. The relic flares up and a fiery dragon begins to materialize in the sky above the destroyed temple.
Fire Dragon 0.030303 A
fairy-summoned dragon sets off in search of a troll.
0.030303 x 22 = 0.666666
A raging storm has a bad effect on the fire dragon and ultimately its flame goes out under the stream of rain. At the same moment, the sacred relic ceases to glow, darkness covers it. Fairy in confusion looks at what is happening. Darkness flows from the relic, flowing down. After that, the earth around the ruins begins to shake, deep cracks appear in it.
Earthquake 0.666666
Achievement unlocked! Darkness (66)
Demons crawl out of the cracks, preparing to fulfill the prophecy.
7157.457 x 144342 = 1033121 Effect 33
occurs : 7157.457 and 144342 are destroyed.
At that very moment, the ancient curse imposed on the relic expired: the Lord of the Gloom in ancient times quite a bit made a mistake with the calculations, now his prophecy was not destined to be fulfilled. Fiercely howling demons turned into lumps of ash that melted under the stream of rain.
The earthquake did not calm down immediately. Tremors reached the royal castle.
0.666666 x 81 = 53.99994
By that time this place was abandoned, people left it, fleeing the mushroom monsters.
The castle shook well several times, after which everything calmed down. When the king’s people finally ventured to return, they saw that the destruction was moderate. Gribomonstrov was littered with stones, and the main statue of the castle fell apart, and now in its place stood a crystal ... just like the one that the fairies had previously guarded.
New Crystal 53,99994
Final achievement unlocked! Renaissance (99)
On this, all achievements have been opened and one can put an end to history. At the same time, there is room for further development of storylines: what the witch is up to, where the troll is moving, whether the storm will end, where the fairies will live, what is the secret of the crystal, and so on.
Total
Here I use such a simple game mechanic to create stories literally from nothing alone or in a company. It helps to warm up the imagination of even people far from board role-playing games, and is also great for arranging a joint story-building game in online chat rooms and forums. And only then I thought about telegram channels, where it can also be launched.
Based on this “role calculator”, I also developed a more extensive system, which implies the participation of the master of the game along with the players, and instead of multiplication / division, only multiplication is left. But that's another story.