Weird & Wonderful Wavelengths (Variety Show s1e4)

Take it Easy my Brother Charlie

Reruns

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Sometimes you just have to take it easy.

I haven't posted in a while, so this is just a collection of random slush pile stuff.

Heaven is here (and it has a waitlist)

I will come back to this idea after I've read TechGnosis and/or some of Erik Davis' other stuff.

A kaiju born from the insemination of a planet by tungsten rod kinetic bombardment.

If history recorded myriad Mandela Effects, generation over generation, how would we ever know? Collectively, the world is waking up to the hyperreality of its own creation, history and the present reality rewriting itself in real time.

The gods of this world are created every time someone says "I wish I had someone to talk to about this".

Under what conditions would ants or other insect-life "go to war" against humanity? What would that look like?

How can an "intelligent" carnivorous plant compete against animals? Plant as trap as dungeon as system. Something like a literal or symbolic pitcher plant?

Noah's ark did not succeed, the world starts over with new animals. The old animals in cryogenic slumber in the deep ocean.

Alien and monstrous things?

God's Breath as a Hilbert Space wave medium as a means of travelling at faster than light speeds, outside spacetime as we know it, powered by an engine of Oneness and Love.

Some ghosts are not of people, but dead ideas, emotions, memories, and dreams.

A world of intelligent birds. The PCs are humans isekaid into this world that was not designed for them, that they barely understand, and with limited means of communication. They exist on the fringe of this alien avian world, in its seedy underbelly. Elements of cyberpunk, and a more modern kind of existential and/or cosmic horror.

In Jewish mysticism, the things a mother sees or imagines before conception influence the nature of the child. A species or magic of resonance, a genetic encoding or universal consciousness driven by imagination.

Gold or some other metal or material that's a piece of the sun.

Magic pinocchio / scarface dummy carved from "the world tree", yggdrasil, etc.

Semiurge did a post inspired by this one

Undeath as an absolute ignorance towards one's own non-existence.

Roving gangs of raptor-like salarymen.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil and the forbidden fruit were not plant life at all, but skeleton and heart, the conscious awareness that to live is to end many lives while only living one, to mutilate and destroy bodies not unlike one's own.

Weird Seasons

"Seasons" caused not by change in energy, but other cyclical processes with different effects (or epiphenomenon of regular seasons). See Weird Colors.

• Different chemical composition of the air.
• Bacteria or Fungal blooms that dye surfaces or the atmosphere different colors. Change the "taste" of the air and other things.
• Major biome changes.

Soft Math

Let's take a quick break from all this heavy stuff. Sit back, relax, enjoy the smooth dulcet tones of soft math.

If you actually are interested in what Uncertainty is about, without all the baggage and preconceived notions and nonsense that comes with a pop sci understandings of quantum physics.

Game Stuff

Setting or mechanics meant to explain and explore complectity, the complexity of stateful systems.

Game mechanics involving touch.

OSR/fantasy classes:

• The Carnival King
• The May Queen
• The Fool

FIST Setting

Our universe is colonized by the USA (United Spacetimes of America), who have used bribery of world leaders and propaganda to enact a soft power takeover. FIST and CYCLOPS must work together, in secret, and with limited outside support, to take down USA.

• MC Bradley Buzch: Appropriative skater-punk / graffiti artist (JSRF-style) sponsored by Anheuser-Busch-Americorp NLC (non-liable company).
• Amerikarate™ Master: From the Mars colony on America XXX, an assimilated alien and master of the ancient authentic martial art Amerikarate™.
• Nono the Non-Euclidean Clown and the Stormfront Circus.
• Mecha-Franklin.

And finally, since you've all been asking for it and waiting so patiently, on to the main performance of the night... Pigs.

MINECRAFT▸ Pigstep ▸ Curly remix

I'm not even into Minecraft but this is good. Also, there actually will be pigs if I ever write the Animism Setting.

Third Factions for FIST

Another FIST-related post, this time a set of "Third Factions", inspired by some conversations we were having on the FIST discord server. FIST (the faction in the setting) feels heavily inspired by the paramilitary factions in the Metal Gear series (I get them all confused...), a sort of anti-establishment but mostly not quite radical group, with CYCLOPS being more like an extension of the CIA or other pro-status quo groups by way of GI Joe's Cobra. You could sort of flatten it into a good guys / bad guys type thing, but I like that the books keep it relatively unconstrained and you can make a lot of interpretations out of it. But either way, binaries tend to lead to binary thinking, so I thought it might be interesting to conceive of "third factions" for FIST; not just in the sense that they are more factions, but specifically in that they should represent some ideology that might be contrasted against some interpretation of FIST and CYCLOPS. Of course, you could just throw them all together too, why not?

Figured I'd give the new FIST module a plug while I'm at it.

PRIME: Recently IPO'd social experience-making cult phenomenon quickly taking the world by storm. Augmented reality ARG, dating app, social media network, and lifestyle philosophy, existing equally in and of the physical world and the metaverse. An alien superorganism refugee cleaning up the world and protecting it from eldritch threats. It accrues human capital and mindshare, and wealth, hunting wild corporations and fishing fringe religions for survival. It is planning for the future, cultivating a hyperconscious noosphere, terraforming the world for something beyond human conception.

RANGER: Anarcho-socialist commune colonists of dreamspace. They inadvertently protect the world from astral aliens, but this is not their purpose. Wary of outside Orders imposing onto them, they'll bind FIST and CYCLOPS alike in gordian knots if threatened. A loose collection of "non-violent" mathemartists and morphengineers not to be trifled with.

LOOP: Fringe timelooping radicals who loop not though linear time, but through the cyclical nature of things; the patterns of myth and history and human behavior. They are always one step ahead of every market trend and every fascist regime and every disaster, because they've seen it all before. Seeking to break free from the root of human suffering, they have no time for the petty and mundane concerns of any given present, or the immediate consequences of their actions. They operate in a paradox, desperate to break free from the cycle, yet the closer they come to achieving their goals, the less they can rely on their experiences to guide them.

USA: The United Spacetimes of America. An imperialist intermultiversal civilization of Americas and its colonies. They use entire universes as nodes in a network monitoring and predicting all financial transactions. They did not understand the observer dilemma of what they had created, a divine fiat economy; an extradimensional god of capitalism. Full of extraneity and innovation, equal parts gaudy and beautiful, functional yet straddling obsolescence, undeniably evil, yet comfortable for those within its span.

HEART: Empathy extremist runaways from illegal military experiments. Exposed to mind-altering substances from unknown places, they have a sense of empathic awareness that has atrophied in the rest of us; a higher emotional consciousness not unlike the gap between animal and human intelligence. They exist in solitude, in inaccessible places, overwhelmed by the suffering and callousness of the rest of the world like a foul stench or repulsive image of a rotting corpse or an arrhythmic loud beep. Meanwhile, in their corners of the world, they build a utopia and commune with higher lifeforms, who have developed ways of dealing with uncontrolled anti-empathic animal populations like baseline humans.

EXIT: Cult of nihilists, most of whom have committed shameful or violent acts, seeking a kind of redemption, tenuously coupled to wealthy narcissists seeking immortality, and a minority of some desperately depressed. They intend to pierce the film between life and death, popping consciousness like a bubble. Their research extends across quantum physics, philosophy, theology, psychopharmacology, extreme sports, or anything else which might enlighten the way beyond conscious existence. Their aims are personal, but if popping the bubble affects everyone else as well, so be it, what difference does it make?

EDIT: Almost forgot! If you like this post and are new to my blog, check out my previous post of 5 FIST Characters. I made them just from random rolls from the main FIST book, but gave them original codenames and writeups to make them suitably Weird & Wonderful.

5 FIST Characters

I've been growing interested in FIST, a rules-light RPG with a very Metal Gear Solid vibe, but in a way that feels true to Kojima and not just derivative, and taking other influences from the likes of Lovecraft, GI Joe, and Doom Patrol, which of course drew my attention even before I saw it referenced as an inspiration.

I may want to do a bigger FIST post down the line, or maybe a micro-setting using FIST as the core system, but in the mean time, here is my attempt at a few premade characters randomly generated:

Codename: Anti-Mutant P

Tachyonic "mutant" whose DNA was chipped and blasted with psychonine, the nucleotide from the center of all spacetimes, reduced like a block of marble into the teleological True One towards which all life unknowingly aspires. It modulates itself with genetic blocks like a robot via horizontal gene transfer, imposing its nature onto what it appends.

Role:

Icon (5): Terraform the world into a Dadaist, Surrealist, Psychedelic ecosystem.

Traits:

Veteran (97), Mutant (51)

Inventory:

Assault Rifle

Toxic Grenade

Attributes:

0 FORCEFUL, -1 TACTICAL, 0 CREATIVE, 0 REFLEX, 1 ARMOR, 8 HP

Codename: MATRIX Dominatrix

ENM Switch and sapiosex terrorist triggering sensory meridians and erogenous zones in a Multisensory Autonomic Tantric Rigging Idiosyncratic Xenophilic field of flavors and pheromones, whispers and whimpers, hallucinated handcuffs, and indecent illusions. A decimated duo warmongering the noosphere.

Role:

Avenger (1): Their Lover was modified by CYCLOPS into a necroneiropath, aggressively consensually, yet nonetheless they seek revenge.

Traits:

Illusion (40), Lover (45)

Inventory:

Whip

Silver Handgun

Attributes:

0 FORCEFUL, 0 TACTICAL, 1 CREATIVE, 0 REFLEX, 1 ARMOR (protecting others), 10 HP

Codename: Spoiled Kool-Aid

They used to work in the KSF (Kraft Special Forces), but turned whistleblower when they learned about the military-funded Kool-Aid experiments. This is also the source of their addictions.

Role:

Wildcard (9): Multi-substance abuser who mixes their substances into Kool-Aid, and this is an important part of the ritual of their addiction. In their drug-addled state they believe themselves to be the Kool-Aid Man, and when they burst through objects they yell "Oh yeah!"

Traits:

Turncoat (91)

Heavyweight (34)

Inventory:

Enemy Uniform

Shotgun

Attributes:

0 FORCEFUL, 1 TACTICAL, 0 CREATIVE, 0 REFLEX, 0 ARMOR, 12 HP

Codename: Deep Indigo

An Artificial Empathy (AE) android. The pocket dimension is where they store the bad emotions, which they photograph before deleting the memory. The invisibility cloak is for emotional support.

Role:

Chessmaster (2): Use the pocket dimension in their head as a Phantom Zone Prison for the most despicable despots.

Traits:

Retreat (63)

Empathy (23)

Inventory:

Durable Camera for memories

Invisibility Cloak

Attributes:

-1 FORCEFUL, 0 TACTICAL, 1 CREATIVE, 0 REFLEX, 0 ARMOR, 10 HP

Codename: Nate Nickel

They see themselves as a super-statistician who leverages their brilliance towards both intimidation and negotiation, but actually most of their skill comes down to their mindreading and bombsuit. Their only weakness in such matters is their unwillingness to be perceived as anything other than a statistical genius.

Role:

Gladiator (3): The warrior they model themselves off of is the statistician, writer, sports analyst, and professional poker player Nate Silver. They use their knowledge of stats along with their mindreading and bomb suit to be the best bluffer.

Traits:

Detonator (18)

Mindreader (49)

Inventory:

X-Ray Specs

Bomb Suit

Attributes:

1 FORCEFUL, 0 TACTICAL, -1 CREATIVE (+1 mindreading for specific info), 0 REFLEX, 2 ARMOR, 11 HP