The Last Poster Wins [v31]

[Neo Emolga]

Hahaha I bet. It's always really entertaining from the DM's side.

It does make me wonder what a Stalkers RPG campaign run by YOU would be like... >:3

[Noblejanobii]

It does make me wonder what a Stalkers RPG campaign run by YOU would be like... >:3

Oh man, I've definitely thought about it, and I can say it'd probably look fairly different. Gore, violence, etc. typically aren't my cup of tea but that doesn't mean I'm afraid to delve into the darker elements of things. I think it'd be a lot more of a fantasy-oriented setting though. So it'd probably more akin to like... the False Hydra from D&D in terms of tone and setting. The Stalkers actually remind me a lot of the False Hydra, and one of these days I'd love to have it as a villain in one of my D&D campaigns, but the players I typically play with aren't much into that so alas, it remains to the side. So perhaps if I were to ever run a Stalkers campaign, I could do something akin to the False Hydra as the main villain.

The False Hydra, for those unaware, is a homebrew D&D monster that's regarded as one of the most terrifying beasts ever conceived. There's different interpretations of it, but the general concept is as follows:
1) The False Hydra is a creature born of malice and deception. It forms as a mound of flesh deep underground below a heavily populated city where, once its fed enough off this deception, it will grow its first head. The first head will then burrow towards the surface and, upon reaching said surface, will begin to sing.
2) The False Hydra's song makes it imperceptible to any that hear it. The song literally blocks the Hydra from detection. Additionally, if you were to chance a glimpse of it while it wasn't singing, you'd instantly forget you saw it and repress any memories regarding it as soon as it resumes singing.
3) The False Hydra has to stop singing in order to eat. The heads feast on humans, and it eats pretty indiscriminately. Another side effect of the song is that it causes people who hear it to rationalize the sudden disappearance of a person who's been eaten.
4) After eating enough humans, it'll grow another head, up to seven, and once it gets large enough, it'll burst forth from the ground and sing a new song.
5) This new song puts everyone within a five mile radius into a trance. Those that successfully resist the trance are then hunted down by those in the trance and killed. Once they've been purged, the tranced then carry the False Hydra to the next town, where it can continue to devour others to quell its endless appetite.

I had a character for a D&D campaign once that was a False Hydra survivor. His town was in the process of being devoured and his sister was one of the first victims. He and his family rationalized that she had gone off to join a nearby order of clerics but when she wasn't answering any of their letters, my character got suspicious. This plus the rampant paranoia he was experiencing and seemingly random quickly scrawled notes saying "beware the singing" and "i SAW it eat her", he decided to go consult with his sister. However, once he was outside of the False Hydra's range, all the memories suddenly unrepressed themselves and he realized the truth of what happened.

Some campaigns have the False Hydra permanently wipe memories, and a neat idea I'd had was to have a deaf NPC who everyone said was just the town crazy, but who actually was the only person in-town that knew the truth of the situation because, being deaf, they can't hear the song. Stuff like that I think could make for some interesting Stalkers campaign concepts, if I were to ever run one.

[Neo Emolga]

That hydra sounds terrifying. But yeah, like you said, being around that thing is a good occasion to not have ears! xD

For me, I try to modify my Stalker creation formulas around just because I don't want it to get too predictable. A lot of the story behind them gets created in advance, but some bits of it gets created along the way. And then sometimes I make a mistake and try to cover my butt by improvising for it. Usually I can pull it off without anyone noticing, though. ;3

[Chakramaster]

Everyone could probably have their own creative iteration of Stalkers. Or some mini game. It just takes a lot of work

[Lychee]

I guess so! But which parts have to stay the same for it to still be considered stalkers-esque and not a horror mystery?
The gameplay processes? The setting? The writing style?

[Neo Emolga]

I guess so! But which parts have to stay the same for it to still be considered stalkers-esque and not a horror mystery?
The gameplay processes? The setting? The writing style?

I feel what really defines it is the gameplay style. While it has almost always been associated with horror themes, save for Squawkers, it's really the whole PMD combined with mystery and puzzle solving that sets it apart from everything else out there.

I mean heck, Xanthe was able to map out and create an entire season all on her own. And she had a unique style to it and still it totally worked great, so it's a very adaptable system that works with different styles. I also like the fact it feels a bit more open world and not very linear.

[C0L0R3D]

Yeah, major props to her for that. The reason I ever got hooked on Stalkers was due to me just falling head over heels for how everything was so cleverly written and done with what looked to barely be a hitch. And it turns out the half wreck of S5 was in the works when I first dropped by, so I was in on the action before I could even think about it.

As much as I'd love to make my own Stalkers literation in some way, I'm 99% confident it's nowhere near as easy as Neo makes it look. There's a lotta planning that goes into this kinda stuff, and while I think I could make a good season things could go awry in a heartbeat.

[Voltaire Magneton]

Maybe you can share your ideas in the future. As they say, the more the merrier! (but idk im not neo lmao)

[Chakramaster]

Yup I'm sure Neo is all for new ideas. Heck I bugged the absolute mess out of Neo when he revealed the first Stalkers game. Wanting to help with the next xD.

[C0L0R3D]

Very true, very true indeed! Sharing fun ideas I have is always fun to do, but my head is filled with 50% Stalkers and 50% of all things related to Contests and Showcases. As many ideas as I could shovel out on the latter topic, not many folk would probably be interested in going around grabbing ribbons and keys when they'd rather be solving murders.

Not that nobody would be interested at all! And no, I see no way for the two to mix in a way I could work with.