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Hello everyone ! This skirmish is part of the 2022 Skirmjam, found here >>5255912 .
To participate, post a character template and get a trip.
>Name/Nickname:
>Presence:
>AP:
>Bag: 0/?
>Trait:
>Bio, if needed
>Customized Demon: create your own abomination. Use the provided hex in the player’s guide for scale and post it alongside your template. Note that this has no effect on gameplay for now.
Update schedule will normally be once per day, with votes locked at 12pm, EST by a post saying “Player phase over.”. Processing is expected to take around two hours. Please refrain from posting if the latest QM post does no say “New Player Phase !”
I’m also going on record saying that players can join or exit the Thicket, but that all exits are final, and that there cannot be more than 12 Demons in the Thicket at once.
Since I have a time limit, Turn 1 will be tomorrow at 12pm. In the meantime, ask questions and interact with each other if you want. I will however post a part of the map tonight at 12pm so you can choose your starting positions and have a day to ask questions related to the map and its navigation. Consider it a Setup Turn.
Hopefully this first skirmish of mine goes well. Since I am participating in the jam, you can trust that this will not flake randomly. I’ll also try and stick to my rhythm, and inform players whenever I find myself running late.
Feel free to post questions here, of course.

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There’s a small crowd around the landing site. Demons come to chat, bet, and gawk. New DJs having an open-entry Thicket to stress-test their abilities are not uncommon, but it always draws in the same types. There’s a betting booth set up a fair way away from the estimated impact zone, on whether something will go wrong and what will. Maybe the DJ slips, maybe the newbies overcrowd the Thicket. There’s also bets for how much is brought out, how many demons get “smoked”, and if someone is going to successfully bring out the Golden Fruit.

The Jeneral is young. In fact, his appearance says a lot about him. When you look straight at him, he appears like this weird squid-like thing with long stretchy tentacle limbs fiddling with his booth. But if you look from the corner of your vision, you can glimpse a young, nerdy boy with ginger hair and acne, but only for an instant. This means he is either very powerful or very strong-willed. Both of which bode well for you.
He’s flanked by two intimidating figures. One is a ball of darkness from which poke out two white horns and two red eyes. The other is a large Demon, easily twice the size of the average denizen of Hell.

The time has come. Every sensible demon stands well away from the marking, which are themselves quite generous, as the DJ’s booth starts spitting out a random string of noises, which are soon overpowered by a high-pitched whine, as a point of light appears in the darkness above and starts falling. The savvier demons turn away and shield their visual organs as the white orb smashes into the ground in a deafening crash.
The first sound following the landing is an undignified cheer from the DJ as he raises his tentacles in the air and high-fives the dark ball, which grows a small limb of its own for the occasion. It is followed by various cries of pain as a number of unprepared, careless or thrill-seeking demons regrow their hearing and eyes.

You can finally lay eyes on the prize. At least most of it. The thicket is, predictably, not all that thick, with a lot of open somewhat safe ground, the odd bush sprouting here and there, and a few trees surrounded in shrubs. You can see fruits and berries every which way, but the center of the thicket is oddly opaque, though you can make out a small barrier of trees. The ground itself seems to darken towards the center, as if to serve as a reminder that losing the rhythm further in will be much more painful.

As you make your way to the front, you are reminded that Thickets always draw in a diverse crowd, from newbies to gang members looking for recruits, to other runners, some conversing and making bets, most more knowledgeable than you are. Knowing is half the battle and there may be interesting things sprinkled in. There is still a bit of time left. It could be worth it to OBSERVE or LISTEN, but you are now out of time for doing much else.

>>5273755
>This is the beginning of the Setup Turn. You can now see most of the map, as well as your starting points, the first and twenty-fifth columns. Please post your starting position when joining from now on, preferably using the same system (Column - Row).

>You can still perform one OBSERVE or LISTEN action, as you won’t start moving until next turn.

>Good luck, have fun, and don't hesitate to ask questions.

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Rolled 1 (1d6)

>>5273756
>Name: Sergeant Slider
>Presence: 20
>AP: 6
>Bag: 0/10
>Trait: Quick

>Start at 1-3
>LISTEN to the thicket, trying to drown out the noise around, try to hear anything stirring inside

>>5273904
From what you can tell, if there is something or someone inside the thicket, it has not been affected by the impact and is not moving or stirring. If anything, the entire thicket is an eerily silent foil to the bustling of its surroundings. Nothing but the creaking of live wood, irregular and coming from everywhere. It sure sounds empty. It should be empty, as thickets this small do not have guardians. But then again, there is also a bet on that going on somewhere behind you. You can't hear more as an obnoxiously loud conversation breaks out near you.
“Man, do you see those trees? They look just like pear trees, but a lot bigger. Does the JUMP style really allow you to not climb before gathering?”
“Yeah, but you can still do it from a tile away!”

Thanks for playing, and nice character design! Are those wheels or sleds ?

>>5273988
They are intended to be horns but they can be whatever you want them to be

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>>5273755
>Name/Nickname: Sounor Norsou
Presence: 25
AP: 6
Bag: 0/5 (Small)
Trait: Tough
Bio: A bald old man in a purple robe with a wooden staff and a gray beard.
"C'mon Satan, please let me out of the burning lake of sulfur already... It was just shellfish!! I was a priest for 75 years!! And I've been here for 1,443 years, 18 days, 5 hours and 7 minutes. I know, because every time I forget how long I've been in hell, you send a man with a clock for a face to beat me and tell me how long I've been here. Please stop sending giant birds with giant dicks to rape me..."

>Start at 25-11
>OBSERVE the lone bush to the southwest of me

>>5274551
Many demons would consider Sounor lucky. Most demons do not get special attention, and simply find themselves in hell one day. The general belief is that there is no one in charge of Hell, not Satan, Beelzebub or the like, only perhaps other things poking a limb or sensory organ through for reasons beyond comprehension.

Sounor could probably make a lot of friends by allowing them to try and dismantle the clock man. Demons are usually very bored, and any scrap of resource is good to take. If only he could stop talking to the void about the shellfish.

Having a human-looking body is another oddity. In Sounor's case, it appears to be a cosmetic reminder rather than personal choice. Cosmetic being the word, considering that Sounor's frail appearance belies surprising resilience for a demon at his level.


The bush is an ordinary bush, quite the extraordinary sight in Hell. A closer looks brings into focus little dark-blue pearls nestled between the leaves. They looks like large blueberries, still glistening from morning dew. Sounor catches himself salivating. There is no food in Hell, most of the time, but Demons do not starve to death and are very bored, so that doesn't stop them from trying to make food.

Thanks for playing ! I'm ignoring the bird part, and giving some more context to the setting, but the rest is good for me. Also, I'll be redoing the sprite from a top-down view.

>>5274597
Why would you ignore the bird part? Jk, excited to play

>>5274876
Glad to hear it. Despite there only being two of you, I'll be moving ahead to Turn 1. I'll also maybe plop down a few NPC runners to compensate.

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>>5274903
Don't know if you already made a token for me but maybe you can put this guy to use

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Rolled 2 (1d4)

Finally, the DJ cracks his non-existent knuckles and starts his track. During the buildup, a few demons stand at the edge of the Thicket, getting accustomed to the rhythm and planning out their moves and goals.
The large red Demon next to the DJ snorts derisively as he looks at the four contenders.
It is time to dance !

>New Player phase !

>As a reminder, 1d4 determines Dance style, in the order they are introduced in the player sheet.. Match it to avoid damage or do your own thing if you believe it will work better.
>Be mindful of the movement efficiency modifier! For example, 1 AP in Jump style will no get you through one entire square, potentially throwing off your groove !

>Inactive players will automatically switch to the active Dance style to avoid unnecessary damage, because I'm not that mean.
>You can still ask questions and/or join anytime.

>This turn will last until tomorrow, 12pm EST (same as today).

>>5275019
I've made a model from scratch, but I can use this one starting next turn if you'd prefer.

On a more general note, the style for this turn is Jump !

>>5275022
Is it mandatory to adopt the Dance style that is introduced every turn, or can you keep the one you had from the previous turn? And on that note, Do we have to adopt "Jump", or do we have the option of not having a Dance style for this first turn?

>>5275022
Darn, 75% movement efficiency right away. While these giant blueberries are appealing, this old devil won't be happy until his curious itch gets scratched. And my sack ain't what it used to be, alright!?!

I know I won't make it all the way there because of the dance style, but I'm going to use all 6AP to get as close to Hex 19-9 as possible (similar looking bush to the one adjacent to me now, centermost movement.)

>Attempt to move 665666

>>5275025
Your model is fine, they're rather similar anyhow.

>>5275033
Looks like using a different Dance style results in taking damage

>>5275036
>Use Jump Style this turn like the lawful old man I am

Is it possible to roll in as a new player now?

>>5275059
>You can still ask questions and/or join anytime.
looks like it, yes

>>5275033
You can freely choose a Dance style from those available, no matter if they have appeared or not, but picking a different one than the DJ's choice will result in you taking damage during the next processing period.
On not having a Dance style, I guess you can just not have one. I didn't expect people to try so it wasn't mentionned, but I'll make it a temporary rule, see how it goes.

>Rule Change: Demons can choose to exit the Dance , forfeiting a part of the protection the DJ offers and its advantages, but also its drawbacks.
>No Style doubles damage taken for not being in sync, and has no bonuses or movement alterations.

>>5275036
I'll reiterate, obeying the Dance Jeneral/Commander is not mandatory. You have extra presence and are at the edge of the thicket. The damage will be mild.

>>5275059
Yep, this system is modular enough that new players can join in.
In fact, due to low player count, I'll let you join this turn if you post a complete sheet, starting location and actions instead of making you wait until the next processing phase.

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

>>5275022
>Match Jump Dance style
>4 AP: Move 233
>1 AP: Collect Fruit from tree at 2
>1 AP: Collect Berries from bush at 1

>>5275088
I AM A LAWFUL OLD MAN THANK YOU~~~

Something just broke and I'm not allowed to post pictures... Captcha defeated me several times in a row. Am I this retarded?

Very well then. It is wrong and I don't insist if you disallow it, but how about I post the info now and upload the image as soon as 4chan decides it's done humiliating me? Here's everything:
>Name: FIL (Stands for THE FLOOR IS LAVA)
>Presence: 20/20
>Bag: 0/5 (Small bag)
>Trait: Funky
>Bio: This little guy is fucked. Whoever made him (if ever), made sure he's suffering. Covered in a haze of heat, charred on the sides and with tears evaporating momentarily from his big sad eye, he's forced to float his body over a puddle of lava that follows him everywhere he goes. With no effect on his surroundings, obviously. His movement pattern is erradical, but reminds the jazzy dance of a bee on a hot summer day. As a matter of fact, his wings do look rather insect-y - but more like a primitive copy grown with thin "grow-yourself" crystals than genuine bug stuff. With no arms or legs or tentacles, it's rather hard to say why is he here with a bag and how's he gonna use it, but one thing is for sure: his mouth is dry and the fruits look so moist and juicy...
Starting position: 1-11, as close to the berry bush as possible
Actions: go take this berry like a wild creature I am. Fill my mouth with unimaginable pleasures and my mind with a new thought, something other than "THE FLOOR IS LAVA THE FLOOR IS LAVA" for once. Style: Jump because why the hell not

>>5275133
Welcome to hell

Alright, processing time.
Player phase over.

>>5275143
You're in for this turn. And yeah, the custom picture is optional. Yours is quite different from the rest, so I'll use a placeholder Demon Template for now, hopefully you can have better luck in the coming days.
Since its your first turn, I'll be positively interpreting your actions, but please use clear movement and action prompts, makes it easier to see how your AP distribution is supposed to go.
Also, please don't forget to roll your 1d6 for gathering. I'll do it this time.

Rolled 5, 6, 3, 6 = 20 (4d6)

NPC Gathering rolls. First 3 rolls get +2

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5276333

>>5275143
>>5276383
Also, congratulations, you've just required me to make up at least two new rules on the fly. Didn't think someone would actually try and eat the berries inside the Thicket.
The difference between bravery and foolishness is similar to the one between a wildcard and an idiot.
Processing complete, beginning writing !

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As the runners get down to business, it isn’t long before the sizzling and screaming starts. As per usual.
The Demon to the North-East makes it easy, going with the flow and picking through a bush with little damage and fuss, despite hopping around.

Sounor Norsou treks forward with a skip in his step, also in rhythm. He tries to glance behind the shade, but the dancing leaves him just enough focus to perceive the trees behind the wall of bushes, as well as a potential gap in those same trees.

But it doesn’t mean the bushes can be ignored, a fact Sergeant Slider graciously reminds everyone of when he makes his way through one, only to get pricked all over his body, resulting in oddly painful wounds which don’t seem to regenerate at all! And then, as he’s about to start harvesting, a root from the nearby tree he could swear wasn’t there before trips him up, causing him to stumble to the ground while thankfully avoiding the bush. After this however, he successfully harvests the bush he waded through with no loss and manages to snag what is perhaps an apple from the tree, unfortunately causing the other two to detach and splatter on the ground. The maybe-apple is a bright shade of red with a few touches of yellow sprinkled in, still slick with a bit of moisture, and topped off by a stem and a couple of leaves of a rich forest green color. It’s so perfectly spherical and shiny he could almost see his reflection in it!

The Demon to the South-West goes against the flow, deciding to make a razzia on the berry bushes near one of the trees as he gets into a groove of his own. As he deftly strips three berry bushes with almost not wasted motions, it becomes evident that he is not only a seasoned gatherer, but also using the Hardbass style! This does however come at a price, as his skin sizzles a bit. He however grits through the pain,

And then, a misshapen being stumbles into the arena, jumping haphazardly, but still in sync with the DJ’s beat as he wanders over to a bush, followed by a molten puddle, as he reaches for the yellow berries… and starts pigging out on them.

Oh.
As a crowd starts to form on the edge of the thicket closest to where the being is, it can hear a conversation as the berries settle in its stomach, causing a great rush of energy to flow through him. It gains 4AP for the next turn!
Maybe it’s because they’re the yellow ones, but they don’t seem to sit just right…? But they taste so tasty! It’s maybe the best food its ever eaten! So juicy and sugary!
“Did that guy just...?”
“Yep.”
“Oh. Do you think he knows?”
“No. And he doesn’t look like he cares.”
“We could try and get him to run out?”
“Are you nuts? I’m sitting here and enjoying the show, dude!”

New Player Phase !

Do point out any errors/unclear or downright forgotten details and I'll do my best to fix it.

This turn will last until tomorrow, 12pm EST, or about 22 hours from now. Good luck !

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>5276472
And now we dance.

>>5276503
Oh boy ! Hardbass time !

Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d6)

>>5276472
>Jump Style
>4AP: Move SW, NW, NW. Through the bushes and into that clearing. Let's take a peak in the dark...
>1AP: Pick fruit from tree to the North
>1AP: Pick fruit from tree to the South
Let me know if these moves aren't legal/need to be changed

>>5276503
>>5276513
Ah shit I made my moves before knowing we're in Hardbass. I'll just stay in Jump style for the climb-cancelling, Fruit-nabbing ability it gives me.

>>5276523
>>5276529
While there is not restriction on amending your actions during the Player Phase, so long as you keep it legible, I probably won't tell you if you're making "bad" moves. Most of the time, there's nothing stopping you from doing whatever you want. Only consequences, good and bad, I'll be there to dish out.

>>5276548
Dish it to me, daddy. I've been a baaad demon.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5276472
>Adopt Hardbass Dance style
>1 AP: OBSERVE this fruit tree, something is off here. I KNOW that root wasn't there before.
>5 AP: Move 61223


>Presence: 17/20
>Bag: 4/10 (6 yellow Berries, 1 red Fruit)

Now I'm sorry, I'll try to be clearer. Question: green numbers next to the character indicate spent AP, red - lost presence, yellos - buffs? And for the next turn I'll have 10 AP?

Uploading images is blocked due to "abuse", so for now I'm fine with being represented as a generic mook.

>Adopt Hardbass beacause we hard like that
>move 232333 (6AP)
>collect teh berries from 1 and 2 directions (red and yellow berries) and gobble them up too
Dice+1d6+2
Dice+1d6+2

>>5277321
Aren't I a retard indeed. Obviously I take the berries of one tile only - yellow, I think.
Apparently FIL is a retard too. Although he has much more of an excuse - he's tortured and most definitely out of his mind with thirst and hunger. And this feeling of satiation is as much pleasure as the creature can take. Probably. So the greed kicks in and the eye widens with passion of a gourmêt, a berry conuisseur, flight pattern becomes even more janky, though streamlined, speedy, thanks to the refreshing berries consumed, but also thanks to the head cleared of thought momentarily... This is pure bliss

>>5277321
>>5277353
The color of damage numbers is me trying to help reading comprehension by identifying damage types.
You, like Sergeant Slider up North, have taken Green Damage from the greenery of the Thicket.
Red damage is caused by the dangerous energies of the Thicket if you are not adequately protected.
So you do in fact have 10 AP for this turn, not 8.

I know I said just hours ago that I wouldn't stop people from making bad decisions, but please, please reread your part of my last post and reconsider.

>>5276558
On that note, no.

That's it for Turn 2 !
Player phase over !

Rolled 5, 1, 4 + 2 = 12 (3d6 + 2)

NPC rolls

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The DJ’s tentacles dance around his booth as the rhythm get slower, and the sound bassier. It’s Hardbass time!
The Demon to the North-East keeps filling up his bag with berries, staying well out of range of anything dangerous, the Hardbass style helping compensate his rushed gathering as he walks around the bushes surrounding the tree.
Sounor pushes through the berry bush, getting unpleasant prickling wounds all over his body. Surprisingly, he does not gather it, instead pushing further in and attempting to gather fruits. What follows is a burlesque cartoon spoof composed of a great deal of tripping on roots, failing to grab fruits, accidentally letting them go and splatter on the ground, and a least on case of squashing them underfoot while jumping around like a geriatric idiot. And to top it all off Sounor hasn’t noticed the beat changed due to the fact he was busy hurting all over and is now a bit more charred around the edges. He makes it out with a single pear-like fruit for his troubles. At last, he gets a glimpse at…more trees. And something else. Something wrong, deeper in. The already low light inside the circle of bushes seems to fade even more, further ahead. The very ground changes and he can see shapes on the ground.
Sergeant Slider glares at the tree, then at the root. The root doesn’t move. There is no noise around save for the music in the background. As Slider turns to leave, he can’t help but notice a couple of low branches on the tree that, from this angle, almost look like they’re giving him the finger. How strange, he doesn’t remember that either. Maybe he wasn’t looking at the right angle?
The Demon to the South-West keeps styling on the competition as he turns back and ransacks another berry bush flawlessly. With his bag overflowing with loot, he decides to gorge on the remaining berries, before turning to salute the misshapen being in a surprisingly solemn fashion and exiting the thicket at full speed, as a crowd starts to gather around him.
The reason for his gesture is about to become all too clear for little FIL. He reaches the bushes, but fortunately has no time to swallow any more berries. Fortunately, because FIL discovers, much like the first demons to pillage a Thicket, that ingesting part of that very Thicket while still inside it is a very, very bad idea. By sheer luck, and perhaps some divine intervention, the berries he ate merely sublimate, scorching his insides, instead of turning into melting balls of what feels like lava as they char his insides for [turns] on end! He obviously loses health, and the bonus AP he had.

>>5277877
I’ll make a few notes here regarding difficulty.
Those were the light rules. Trees only inflict a point of damage per turn, instead of per tile. FIL’s little stunt doesn’t do damage over time because he ate FOUR berries and 4 damage a turn with no chance to do anything but quit isn’t fun. I’ll admit, I pity the character because he reminds me of Isaac somehow. That’s also why I didn’t roll for him. If I had, he would have eaten another 6 berries at least with the Hardbass boost, loosing half his total health in two turns. Again, under light rules. Under the first rules, that would have been straight up suicide. I sincerely hope no one else tries that so I don’t have to break my rule about giving you guys freebies too much. Also, do note that, as showed by our first exiting runner, exiting directly after or before the end of the next turn cancels that damage, obviously, so using those as a last turn sprint option is viable, if you’re willing to lose out on the resources.
But overall, this is a fun learning experience that I hope you are all at least enjoying somewhat!

>>5277877
Do we have a dance for this turn?

Rolled 2 (1d4)

>>5278510
Hell, I knew I'd forgotten something !
Here you go, sorry.

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5277877
>Adopt Jump Dance style
>4 AP: Move 333
>1 AP: Gather Berries from bush at 4
>2 AP: Move *Carefully* into the tile with the bush, trying not to scratch myself up


>Presence: 17/20
>Bag: 4/10 (6 yellow Berries, 1 red Fruit)

>>5277877
4AP move NW x3
2AP gather fruit from NE tree

>>5278935
Oh yeah, my roll.

Does ditching fruit to make room in the basket/bag cost AP? It's okay if it's a secret, I can wait until next turn to find out.

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5278937
Forgot to roll again

Sounor has been Jumping around this entire time... Does this wrinkly demon even know any other dances?!>>5278937

Rolled 2 (1d4)

Player phase over.
And just so I don't forget, here's the dance roll for turn 4

>>5279202
>>5278941
Well I guess you really are lucky, Sounor apparently doesn't need to know any other dance!

Rolled 3, 6, 3 = 12 (3d6)

Npc gathering roll.

As a side note, you guys have no clue how glad I am that damage is a fixed value and not something I'm rolling for.

>>5278939
Huh. I was expecting you guys to decide what to pick and not to pick ahead of time and keeping space for the good stuff, not doing inventory management on the fly.
I'll make something up. How about 1AP for handling 2 weight's worth of stuff ? That can mean retrieving it from the bag to eat it or throw it away. Let's see if it works balance-wise.

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Oh crap... Missed a player phase for today so it seems. Here's a picture at least

>>5279258
Thanks for the picture.
Yeah, I'm almost done writing for this phase. You're stuck in place, but are still following the stance, as I've said previously, so you aren't taking any unnecessary damage.
I've got extra time, so I'll try and get this little guy in for the beginning of turn 4, but it may have to wait until turn 5, I still want to post on time.

>>5279258
>>5279280
Also, do you have a bigger version of this picture ? Something either more zoomed in or higher quality would help me extract a better model.

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The Demon to the North-East keeps skipping around the tree and riffling through the bushes around it. Despite the bounty available to it, it does not use the Hardbass style. Nevertheless, his haul is still excellent, so much so that his cumbersome bag is now getting in the way! All in all, a great problem to have, especially down here.

Sounor trudges deeper into the forest, doing his best to jump over exposed roots, to concerningly little effect. There is always another root at just the right place to catch his feet, or a branch at the right height to whip across his face. One particularly heavy ranch seemingly appears out of nowhere right as he jumps, becoming responsible for the growing bruise on his bald head. Just as he finishes catching two maybe-apples and stuffing them into his bag, he feels it. A sudden shift in the atmosphere, the very air pressing down on him as his flesh begins to sizzle in spite of his dancing. There is a tree. A gigantic tree, many times the height of those around it and of a different species. A part of his mind wonders how it isn’t towering over the thicket outside. Outside, why did he think outside? He’s still in the thicket; his burning skin is a testament to that. But now the light is different, the darkness gone, leaving only the majesty of the tree, as if he had entered a house. Or a place of worship. The energies of creation are almost suffocating here, causing some sort of claustrophobia, as if the giant tree was staring down at him specifically. What to do?

Sergeant Slider finishes losing a staring contest with a tree, much to the tree’s delight, and moves towards the center, going back into Jump style. After a lackluster harvesting, he endures the pain of carefully pushing away the bush with his hands and arms as he squeezes through. The lost time is made up by the lost pain. Maybe.

FIL appears shell-shocked by the berries’ violent decomposition, and can do little more than instinctively follow the beat of the DJ.

Turn 4 is go !

Please stop ruining things. It's been horrible.

This guy also posted something similar in the other skirmish. Weird.

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>5279307
Shoot, I'm sorry, I forgot to keep track of how filled my bag is. Not sure how many dice to roll this turn either.

>Adopt current dance style
>3? 2? AP to empty my bag to 0
>1AP observe surroundings
>2 AP PICK FRUIT FROM LARGE TREE (If I'm still out of range, move NW by one hex)

>>5279307
Dance style for this turn?

>>5279202
>>5279904
It's youtube.com/watch?v=WX95vAckI1M JUMPING

>>5279904
>>5279923
Like Fae pointed out, I rolled for it when closing the Turn so I wouldn't forget, so we're on Jump again.
>>5279633
3 Fruits, 1 Yellow/Maybe-pears from Turn 2, 2 Reds/ Maybe-apples from Turn 3. At 1 weight per, emptying to 0 will cost 2 AP.

It is reasonable to suggest that FIL is no longer intrested in eating this place clean while he's still here... He'd rather have his lava on the floor and not in-his-damn-side.
As shocked he is by the amazing taste of sweet gifts of the Garden, it is clear that the most he may allow hi,self is sucking on these berries, cautiously, spitting them out on the first sight of something going wrong. And there's always a smart option - take what you can and leave...
>Presence 14/20
>bag 0/5
>Party on with Jump style
For this turn FIL will inspect the berries, collecting them cautiously and try to focus. Is it possible to use the food from the Thicket while still there and not get hurt?

move 1
collect berries
move 2
collect berries again (if it is ok, twice in one turn?)

And another question, being Janky, my movement modifier with Jump style is 150, is that so? My AP distribution for this turn will be 2AP to collect berries and, like, 1.5 for movement, and the rest for cautiousness and observing...

Rolled 2, 4 = 6 (2d6)

Rolled 2 (1d6)

>>5279307
>Still in Jump Dance style
>3 AP: Move 44
>1 AP: Gather Fruit from tree at 2
>2 AP: Move 3

>Presence: 17/20
>Bag: 5/10 (6 yellow Berries, 2 red Berries 1 red Fruit)

Player phase over.
To avoid confusion, I'll roll for style on the actual post instead of here, assuming I don't forget.

What a mess.
My PC has been slow for the past two hours, and it's driving me nuts tryikg to get this out. It's mostly done, but expect 20-30 minutes delay while I try and finish up/restart my PC.
Sorry in advance, people.

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Rolled 2 (1d4)

Back to Jump again. This thicket is surprisingly predictable. Let’s hope that lasts.
The Demon to the North-East is weighted down by his large bag, and with his refusal to go against the DJ’s orders, doesn’t manage to harvest anything this turn.
Sounor empties his bag on the ground before moving up near the tree and trying to jump on it. It doesn’t go well. Firstly because he looks like an idiot, secondly because the tree is way too high to be jumped on, and lastly because when he comes back down from his last jump, a large root sweeps his ankles and leaves him sprawled on the ground. The tree is sending a pretty clear message here. And Sounor’s skin is still burning. And he can’t actually see any fruits.
Sergeant Slider nabs another apple before he finally gets a glance at the roots and a glimpse of the giant tree they grow from. He’s still mostly in darkness, as he hasn’t crossed over into the center of the Thicket.
FIL decides to start harvesting berries and then not immediately eating them, which is a remarkable progress in terms of self-preservation instincts. He then decides to cross over the bush he just harvested to get at the bush right next to it, which is arguably a step back in terms of self-preservation instincts. He sits and think for a while as he suckles on a berry, checking how long it takes to start burning. That’s when it hits him. The other runner also ate berries, and they should be exploding right about now! But he can’t hear any agonized screams coming from that direction. Is it because he left before the thicket noticed? Speaking of noticing, FIL doesn’t think of turning around, when he perhaps should have.
As a reminder FIL, you can harvest from an adjacent tile. If you had typed:
>Harvest berries from bush located 1/ North
>Harvest berries from bush located 2/ North-East
You would have gotten both bushes while staying in place, which is what I think you wanted to do.

Almost an hour to resize a picture, open word, wait for qst to load and make a fucking post. Everything is so slow. I'm so fucking tired.

Rolled 6 (1d6)

>>5280660
>4 AP: Move 344
>1 AP: OBSERVE the Giant tree, trying to find any Golden Fruit
>1 AP: Attempt to Gather Fruits / Golden Fruits from the Giant Tree.


>Presence: 15/20
>Bag: 6/10 (6 yellow Berries, 2 red Berries, 2 red Fruits)

>>5280660
>Jump style
>Move 165544
Circumvent the tree, save 1AP to
>Inspect

Rolled 4 (1d6)

Yeah FIL be dumb like that. Or maybe he's got stuff on his mind - he's all about that lava biz that noone else seem to care about. Anyway, he's not giving up yet, despite looking a bit roughed up. Putting the slime-covered berries from his mouth back into the bag, he

Actions:
Collect red fruit from tile 2 (-1AP)
Move 612 carefully, trying to avoid the agressive local greenery(-1.5AP(probably rounds up to 2?))
Collect yellow fruits from bush at 6(-1AP)
aaand maybe look at the center of the Thicket... Everybody so hype about them Golden Fruits, maybe with some luck there'd be a clear path to one or two or five
>presence 12/20
>Bag 1/5
>Style Jump

>>5281814
While I have you here, I want to say a few things:
You harvested 6 berries last turn, since you could still reach the second bush, putting you at 3/5 weight.
You are the first case of me missing damage ! The two trees next to you should have done 1 each, but I'm going to say they weren't paying attention/ took pity on you. But you are going to get damage on the way out.
Also, I'm going to try and use the picture you sent, but it's really, really small so I'll have to improvise some details. A larger one would be better

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

Player phase over.
Hopefully this goes better than yesterday.
Rolling for NPC gathering, not for style.

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>>5281821
Oh crap, a lot of stuff totally goes over my head in this game... How do the harvesting rolls even work?
...and I missed with the first gather action in my turn, it was supposed to be "red fruits from bush at tile 1" because tile 2 has this fog of war thing. I guess It don' matter

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>5281814
This also means that the fruits from your second gathering (for which I'm rolling now) do not fit in your bag, since 2 fruits means +2 weight on top of the +3 from the berries. You can however keep holding onto them, at the cost that you can no longer use your arms/whatever counts as arms/maybe mouth in your case ? for anything, so no gathering, and no actions including your arms.

>>5281859
Hmm, I'm counting it as tile 1, but tile 2 would also have been valid. Point is, if there's something to gather and you have the action and the AP, your character figures it out.
Also, those are trees, but since we're luckily in Jump style, they cost 1 AP to gather instead of 2.
So you are harvesting from two trees, and they're even different types of fruits so you can taste different flavors !

Dice rolls are individual, 1d6 per harvest action.

>>5281876
Dam I just modified the intro picture you made with some questions.. totally forgot that 4chan denies me the right to upload images from PC. Crap. SO anyway:
1. Fruit Gathering costs 2AP with everything other than JUMP style - but either I'm blind (or plain dumb, and I'll be honest, it looks pretty realistic), or it's not stated clearly anywhere other than your last post
2. We are gathering multiple berries/fruits from a single tile, but how exactly do we know how many have we gathered?
3. Janky moveset doubles the movement speed for everything but hardbass, meaning with hardbass style it does nothing?

Thank you for the quest and your patience...
...and don't tempt me to do stupid things with that "flavour" comment, because I very much will. Stupid's my middle name after all

>>5281903
1. It was stated in the player sheet and I had NPC talk about it in character on that post.>>5273988 I agree than in both case, it's more about reducing by 1 AP (to 1 AP) rather than plainly stating it was 2 AP to begin with. Part of that comes from the fact I'm not allowed to modify the player sheet, which was made for the Jam a month or so ago, so it's one of the things that I'll change once this is over.
2. You are the one rolling 1d6 to gather. From the map, bushes have 6 berries, so it's 1 for 1, but tress have more precious fruits, and as is represented on the map only 3 of them, so rolling 2 means you get 1, rolling 3 means you also get 1, and rolling 4 means you get two, for example.
3. Another mishap of the sheet. Hardbass has no movement modifier, so it has a base movement efficiency of 100%, taken to 200% by funky.

I fully expected everyone to pick funky as it's probably quite imbalanced currently. I won't nerf it, I'll mostly make the other options better (percentages rather than fixed values, possibly).

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Rolled 3 (1d4)

The demon in the North-East does his thing. It’s become quite boring to watch, frankly.
Both Sounor and Sergeant Slider race around the tree to find the prize, and at last they find it. As they stand less than two meters apart, right next to the trunk, they both gaze upon the Golden Fruit.
The one and only Golden Fruit. Which really looks like an apple, frankly, but that’s not what we’re here for. The two Demons look at the fruit, then at each other. Well, this is awkward.
Neither spares a glance to poor FIL, who (which?) finishes filling his small bag and is left trying to hold onto two maybe-pears after getting whacked around by a few branches on the way.
With half the time elapsed, the situation in the thicket has become quite tense. Two runners after a single golden fruit, another runner now badly injured and with a thorny path left to travel to get out! Just, please ignore the maniac in the North-East corner, we’re trying to have a moment here, okay?
Never mind him, the audience is holding their breath! How can they see this when everyone is behind either a wall of bushes or inside a weird spatial anomaly? I’m…not quite sure, actually. Nevertheless, rest assured there is a lot of betting going on outside!
In the midst of all this excitement, the ball-shaped demon next to the DJ squints and says: “Didn’t that guy over there look different before?”. But the DJ is too busy, the large Demon at his side knows that not listening to the ball is best if one wants to stay sane, and the ball itself is next to a speaker, so his words do not reach anyone. The ball wobbles in what could maybe be considered a shrug under these circumstances. I mean, it’s a ball, so I’m interpreting it from context clues here! So it shrugs and keeps watching.

New Player Phase !

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>>5281973
>not listening to the ball is best if one wants to stay sane

Rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11 (3d6)

>>5281973
>DUMP ALL AP
>GRAB THAT FRUIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(I think 3d6 is right?)

>>5282008
Oh yeah, meant to say to switch to Disco just to appease the DJ/god/(???).

Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)

>>5281973
>Adopt Disco Dance style
>0 AP: Let Sounor grab the Golden Fruit from the Tree.
>1 AP: Take the Golden Fruit from Sounor.
>1 AP: Make sure I take the Golden Fruit from Sounor.
>4 AP: Move 11

>Presence: 14/20
>Bag: 6/10 (6 yellow Berries, 2 red Berries, 2 red Fruits)

>>5282070
If I am misinterpreting the rules of the Dance, my intention is to Move North as much as my movement allows.

>>5282003
I mean, think about it! If a volleyball covered in your own dried blood started speaking to you, it wouldn't be good for your psyche. And that's a lot worse when you can't stay dead. You guys are probably going to see an example of that very, very soon.

>>5281973
Btw, why wouldn't I have Gathered the Fruit last turn? I had an action for it and ended my turn next to the Fruit: >>5280663

>>5282078
The tree is big.
The other trees you could jump into to save time, but this one is massive. The roots, at least the visible parts, extend about 3 tiles away, so the actual tree is ridiculous tall. I don't have a precise measurement, but dozens of meters tall. You could fit houses in the foliage tall. Getting to the fruit requires climbing the trunk until you reach the lowest branches, then keep climbing until you reach the height of the fruit, about 10-15 meters off the ground, and then make your way through the ever thinning branches which bend under your weight until you can reach out snatch it. And then you need to go back down without pancaking on the floor below.

So I'm afraid 1 AP doesn't cut it. And it's quite anticlimactic to just snatch it before you even see it.

And I saw you two on the same tile and told myself "Oh, it's on now !" and grabbed the popcorn to see how quickly you guys would start squabbling.

Things are going to get interesting!

I will have to think really hard if I want to "win" by being "smart" or have fun playing the game... Glad I got time to think

>>5282099
There's a reason this skirmish has no win condition. Winning or losing depends on you accomplishing your goals. Most Demons wouldn't dream of running to the center, and would consider filing a bag with berries success enough.
You can just leave and find a way to eat all this stuff without it melting a hole in your stomach. I think even the fruits' effect FIL would find very interesting for solving certain problems.
Also remember the additional notes of the Player Sheet at the beginning of the thread !

Player Phase over.

The disco style itself is slated for rework, as it doesn't have a beneficial effect. It's a remnant of a system where going through stuff cost more AP. So yeah, I'll have to do something about it if it gets rolled again.
In the meantime, I want you all to know that my new layer for this turn is called "The Shit has Hit The Fan".

And on that, I'll leave you all with this song while you wait.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2HH7J-Sx80

I should have made a playlist for this skirmish. Biiig missed opportunity, really.

Rolled 4, 3 = 7 (2d6)

Gathering roll for You-Know-Who.
Also, Sounor, have you been keeping track of your Presence ?

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Rolled 2 (1d4)

Someone has gotten the apple, and now things go pear-shaped.
While someone in the North-East is still out harvesting, having (thank Hell) finally finished his damned bag and getting ready to pack up and leave, a number of things happen.
Someone, namely Sounor, grabs the Golden Fruit. Climbing up and down takes most of their energy, especially as they have to adapt to a disco rhythm while walking on very frail branches.
And just as he comes back down, Sergeant Slider is right her to snatch the fruit away. Like stealing candy from a baby. Or an apple from an old man.
Just as Sounor tries to snatch it again, things go wrong. The pressure goes from massive and crushing to needle-tip focused. The entire atmosphere of the Thicket changes to something more hostile. There is anger in the air. A very directed anger, as it turns out.
Sergeant Slider ducks in time with the disco as he slides away. Allowing Sounor to turn and catch a glimpse of a giant branch coming towards his face.
Outside the Thicket, the ball wobbles (I don’t know, maybe it’s excited or amused or curious? I don’t speak ball, people, give me a break!) and speaks again: “He flew !”
And he, namely Sounor, flew indeed. Straight out of the center of the thicket and landing painfully on his back. Only GM intervention in assigning leftover AP a last-minute landing adjustment prevents a crash landing, which given Sounor’s wound-covered body, would almost certainly have been fatal.
As Sergeant Slider discoes away with his ill-gotten gain, FIL ponders a rather strange spectacle, alongside some of the audience.
A weakly, green-ish demon has rushed into the Thicket, using a style that hasn’t been used at all so far, in complete contradiction with the dance. The “Fire” Rock Style! The Demon screams wordlessly as he barrels into the nearby bushes, taking laceration after laceration until finally…
BOOM !
A detonation rocks the Thicket as the Demon’s skin ruptures in a fiery explosion, the consequence of the energies of creation overwhelming his Presence.
Call it a guess, but it may be time to leave, runners!
Turn 7 is go !
New Player Phase !

>>5283090
Time to Jump and Slide on out of here!
>Adopt Jump Dance style
>6 AP: Move 1166

>Presence: 13/20
>Bag: 7/10 (6 yellow Berries, 2 red Berries, 2 red Fruits, 1 Golden Fruit)

God damn, I'm both stupid and unreliable. Screw it. Time to run.

Move 555555 - 6 hexes, as far as possible with 2AP spent instead of 1 on extra care crossing the hex with a bush... I don't want to drop the fruit that I'm holding in my teeth...

Player Phase over.
Processing should be relatively quick today, so you might want to check in in an hour instead of two.

Ah shit I was too late. My bad.

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Rolled 2 (1d4)

It’s bug-out time for the runners!
Everyone is heading for the nearest exit as fast as their jumps can take them, safe for Sounor, who is still stunned by the impact yet is doing his best to stay in rhythm, and FIL, who (which?) discovers that the fruits in his mouth are very sturdy, unlike the berries, and uses them as a makeshift ram to push through the bushes.

>>5284154
Can we leave through any edge of the map?

>>5284235
Yup. Just run to a border hex and then move in a hexless space to exit.

>>5284127
Still not too late to grab some berries and run out. Just, tally up your presence first. There's a reason you got smacked.

Wasn't FIL supposed to be further away than he is on the map? Or the additional weight slows me down?Anyway:
Keep running 55555. 1 AP to be a little extra careful and 5 to run - with 150% movement efficiency it's gotta be enough to finally come back to the sweet embrace of hell with all things unholy. And immediately feast on dem trophies
>Presence: 11/20
>Bag: 5+1/5
>Style: Jump. It comes naturally to someone with LAVA for a FLOOR.

>>5284154
>Maintain Jump Dance style
>Get sick of Jumping for the next decade
>4 AP: Move 111
Time to leave this slice of heaven and get back to my hell hole.

>Presence: 11/20
>Bag: 7/10 (6 yellow Berries, 2 red Berries, 2 red Fruits, 1 Golden Fruit)

>>5284394
Jump has 75% movement efficiency, not 150%.

>>5284396
B-but muh janky funky dance style quirk thing...

>>5284394
>>5284396
No, no, FIL's right. I even checked his trait to make sure he had 5 AP...completely forgetting that he has funky. My mistake, but you both should be out this turn, so it thankfully didn't cause all that many problems.
I'm still waiting on Sounor, and my schedule is going to get iffy tonight, so turn processing and posting may be scrambled today.

Again, you two don't have to worry about that.

Well, that's long enough. I'll bot Sounor and have him exit either this turn or the next, since it has been three days and the Jam is coming to an end very soon. If he's around, he can maybe assume control back next turn and get out with something to show for this.

Also, I'm trying to decide what will happen to Sergeant Slider, since he did steal the Apple.

>>5287468
But did anyone from outside see me steal it? We certainly couldn't see the inside from the outside, even while attempting to.

>>5287485
I'm going to say that yes, since I kind of mentioned they could a few posts back. At the very least, I'm confident the ball sees all.
And someone could make the argument that the Thicket lashed out against Sounor, not you. I can see Big Red trying that, especially since there are rules to this, rules everyone needs to hold up. We'll see about it once the actual Thicket running is over.

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Rolled 3 (1d4)

Everyone but a still somewhat dazed Sounor is out. As Sergeant Slider steps out of the Thicket next to the DJ’s booth, he feels a gaze on him. It’s the ball thingy. Two red eyes with small white dots in the middle peer at him from the booth. They squint.
“Nice Golden fruit. Looks a bit too ripe, don’t you think ?”
Slider should choose his next words very carefully.

>>5287527
To my great regret, I cannot continue. My apologies. I guess that clockface man is going to be beating me senseless again until I can perfect my timing...

>>5287593
Well, I'll make one last post and skip ahead to the end of turn 10 so I can call an official end to this skirmish tonight.

>>5288590
>>5288590
Reading through it now, I realize I cacked out at the most anticlimactic moment possible. Got caught up with some BS irl, and I missed out on the best part of the quest :(. Sorry about that.

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Slider ignores the ball, surely bringing untold but undoubtedly terrible consequences upon himself, to be decided on whenever the ball wakes up next.

Sounor stumbles out without much fanfare
.
Soon after, the Thicket departs with little extra fanfare of its own and what an uncharitable observer would call a cheap-looking light show. But since any would-be uncharitable observers would now be lacking eyes, their advice doesn’t count. After a few onlookers are left holding their melted visual organs, the time has come to take stock of what has been accomplished.


This is the official end of Eden Down for now. No more turns, but I will give a fuller list of everyone’s inventory in a later post. I just want to have this done within delays regarding the Jam. If you have any remarks, criticism, be it justified or not, or just want to stay in character some more, go ahead and post it. Thanks for dancing !
And thank you for playing my first skirmish. And quest. At least I didn’t flake !

>>5288689
>Slider ignores the ball
I figured it wasn't time to post because you didn't say "New Player Phase".

I'd recommend having an updated ruleset, there were some Dances and perhaps other things that I'm not remembering that were different in the actual game.

Also, the colored numbers popping up on the map were confusing and unclear as to what they represented or where they came from. I eventually worked out that walking adjacent to trees causes damage, and not necessarily just walking in a bush (?). Clarity I feel was the biggest thing that could be improved on.

Please don't post giant unformatted walls of text like these:
>>5273502
>>5277877
>>5281973
>>5283090
It is very unpleasant to look at and read, and makes me not want to read an update. The text itself wasn't bad, it was the presentation of it.

Large bags are super punishing in this setting where you often have dances limit AP anyways, and did not seem anywhere near worth it to take.

Most Dances felt like a hindrance to my ability to act rather than as a different style of acting. Not sure if this was intentional or not. On the topic of Dances, having to calculate Move Efficiency based on the Dance every turn to figure out how much I can move is a bit annoying, perhaps using percentages isn't a good idea in this context. Also, I would have really appreciated if you announced which Dance was in effect each turn, whether you rolled for it or not. I don't like to have to go back to the rules every turn to see which Dance corresponds to which roll.

Having players create their own sprites is a novel idea, but as we can see, heavily limits the number of players you get. I wasn't even aware it was optional until later on, the character creation rules imply that it is not optional. Next time, I would recommend either providing sprites yourself, or making it explicitly clear that it is optional, and perhaps some brief instructions on how you want the sprites presented to you.

I appreciated the art, characterization, lore, and use of fog of war. You effectively made the central area seem eerie, mysterious, and dangerous, and the narration gave character to the setting. My character didn't play itself, and I needed to think about each of my turns, which I enjoy. I look forward to what comes next from you.

>>5288689
Thanks for running.