MARCH PLOTTING POST

[monstertruckers]

code

Hello Drifters, and welcome to the March Plotting Post!


March marks a busy month for the game: we’ll be holding our main game event around the 5th or the 7th (depending on schedules!) an ATP/EMP timed for the 8th to go up alongside the EMP comm post, and our second Test Drive Meme on the 15th!

As a reminder, players may tag either the game event OR TDM posts as they wish! If you post a top level in the TDM, please mark in the subject line that you are Currently In-Game. Both for the ease of book keeping, and to help new players figure out who is who! With this said, onto the major stops this month:

With the forest behind them the Convoy makes its way onto the grasslands. Powerlines dot the landscape, decorated with paper scraps. These papers contain messages from home, and can help stabilize Drifters from the effects of last month’s Moon Warp.

While on the move Drifters will encounter the ruins of old homes and stores, with plenty of Husks scattered around these dwellings. While the ruins can provide supplies and shelters, getting too close to the Husks can prompt either monster spawns from the Husks, or behavior changes in Drifters. (Your character may feel restless, on edge, and/or showing a psychological monster trait.) The Convoy has a fix for this in the form of a song played from speakers, but this only works when the Convoy is close at hand.

In addition there will be encounters with a new monster called bull gorgons, which can be harvested for meat but not without a fight! At the end of the month, the terrain will also get more marshy, and will be the perfect spot for a zolom attack. That’s right, the Final Fantasy 7 snake kaiju is going to make an appearance, and they hunt in a pack!

We’re also pleased to announce this is our first event monster month. And this month will be centered around the Harpy and Naga species. A monster transforming storm is going to rage through the grasslands. It temporarily (ie, for one month) imparts traits from one of these monsters if any Drifter stumbles into the storm. This will occur in both the main comms, and the TDM, so feel free to play either way!

As a last house keeping note, we are currently short on mod staff, so feel free to take a look at the Mod Contact page if that is something that sounds interesting!

And that is our route planned for the month! We hope you enjoy this event, and feel free to plan in the comments below!

NAVIGATION

Comments

EVENT FAQ

[monstertruckers]

Questions regarding the events for this month? Ask them here!

And to answer this question immediately: yes you may activate traits from your original monster list for the storm event. Naga and Harpy get the spotlight, but you can still use this prompt to further your original monster changes.

[solitarysoul]

for the notes from home, are these personal to the characters or could there also be just notes or papers that'd exist in their canon?

[bufudine]

Re: the monster transforming storm, while characters can temporarily gain harpy and naga traits, can characters also temporarily lose their current traits as a result of the storm?

Re: EVENT FAQ

[wereperrito]

For the messages from home, would the messages suggest that the people from home know that the Drifters are missing, or are they just general notes?

Additionally, will there be a moon warp this month?

[thetatters]

Questions from the resident octopus: Will the storm be a literal storm with rain? And will there be any bodies of water in the grasslands?

Re: EVENT FAQ

[constantvrunning]

What sorts of data-containing devices (or just, like, maps and such... a dictionary?) can be found in the houses?

[andnevermore]

On the subject of houses; will there be any books to be found among them, and what type of books? Blake would specifically be looking for fiction, but also keeping an eye out for anything that might tell her the history of this world.

[hexrot]

i'm back with my monthly: jayce is snooping for runes at the stop they make, is there anything of value that he would find/figure out if he looks hard enough? so far he's gathered what he can from the tdm and feb!

[taediosum]

For event monster transformations, are we limited in the number of traits that are activated?

Also, will the storm be a singular event, or an intermittent/recurring weather condition that drifters will have to watch out for?

[definitionofcrazy]

Can we assume that a reasonable selection of clothing can be found intact in the homes/stores?

Also, stupidly: Ya girl is still in Tropical Splash hell, do any of the homes and stores here have a reasonable number of non-flavored cigarettes or are they still hilariously awful?

[thelastb1]

Are players limited to only tagging into one out of the TDM and Event Log, or may they tag into both?

[serialmurderbot]

Since prompt one mentions reports on the moon! What kind of details might be included in that, if someone keeps listening? (i.e. does it mention the shattering, Moon Warps, etc?)

SecUnit | The Murderbot Diaries

[serialmurderbot]

PLOTTING TIME

I'll have solid ideas by the time the event proper happens, but two major things I want to do this month!

1. Run-in with a Husk, including psychological changes! Probably not hive mind just yet, but going to amplify some of SecUnit's current paranoia. It'll spend some time off its game because of this, so it's a good opportunity to return the favor of fighting off monsters, or nudge it back into the Convoy away from the danger. Any efforts to get it to chill for five seconds are also a good vehicle for transitioning into talk about shows and media because it only has one way to calm down lol.

2. Temporary transformation! I'm leaning on naga side of things because that was my second choice, but I am thinking also about drawing on the raksura designs.

I think it would be kind of miserable to get wings in the middle of a high-winds storm, so I'd love to see this happen to someone even if it's not murderbot here.

Fighting with people is also always an option with it of course

[solitarysoul]

I'd like a chance to have Levi help SecUnit out.

also learn its name cause he'll have some amount of feelings about it

Goro Akechi | Persona 5

[undyingcrow]

Akechi is definitely going to run into some paper scraps of case files from the psychotic breakdowns case as well as perhaps one of the Calling Cards from the Phantom Thieves. I could be extra mean and make it Okumura's, too, because it would be very mean. :) Maruki's would also remind him of how much he misses working with Joker, though.

Akechi will definitely be ready and willing to fight some monsters and see no reason why they can't eat monster meat, but I think the scraps from home will further add to his unease. He'll likely want to search for clues and try to make sense of everything.

It doesn't sit right with him that bits of their home worlds are showing up in ruins.

He already suspects there's a cyclical nature to their time here and will be very on edge.

Also, he's going to probably get his BEEG WINGS and feathers in the storm and be confused about the feathers and if they are part of his base monster form or harpy traits.

Open to shenanigans, angst, bonding, and what have you! This lad is busying himself with detective work, but hasn't really lowered his guard much.

[bufudine]

If Akechi wants a buddy in eating monster meat . . . . . . :')

Serph | Digital Devil Saga

[bufudine]

(Usual cw that Serph is a demon cannibal yes I will use non-graphic language when referring to it in tags no it's not optional I have an opt-out here.)

Serph will be getting caught the monster transforming storm and will therefore be turning into a naga for the month. The main outcomes from the transformation is that he will not have any legs because it's becoming a tail and that he will have cold-blooded lethargy. As a result:

1) He can't drive his car and will be abandoning it to ride with Jack. This means eventually the homing signal will kick in and his car will be following the Convoy like a lost puppy.

2) Lethargy means that he'll be more prone to sticking near the Convoy this time (and being a very long snake means it'll be easier to literally trip over him) rather than more actively fighting, so if anyone wants to have more quiet hang out time he'll actually be available for it. (Though if you also want him for fighting, that can still happen!)

3) Lethargy also means that he won't be hunting monsters to eat as regularly as he normally would, leaving him occasionally weak with hunger. So if someone wants a buddy in eating monster meat or someone to test monster meat dishes on... P:

He'll also be checking in on people he encountered during the Moon Warp to see how they're doing.

Re: Serph | Digital Devil Saga

[constantvrunning]

Also turning V here into a naga! So that could be fun. (also-also amplifying the weretiger 'pack mentality' trait, which means V will actively seek out those they've interacted with before anyway. :P)

Maybe V could do some monster-baiting for him?

V (Songs for the Dusk OC)

[constantvrunning]

SMF here! (As usual, the permissions post is the top-pinned post on their journal, so feel free to click through if you haven't checked that out yet!)

And I was initially going to have V suffer whiplash/freak out about having been feral for a bit... but! Naga transformations! Because as everyone knows, cats are snakes. /joke

They'll be getting the venom and natural armor, but no tail, and will be keeping the weretiger traits they've gained so far. They're also trying to avoid the Husks and maybe get some meat for the Convoy why are they craving meat anyway...?

Characters they've gained stronger CR with thus far will have an easier time getting them to talk, as the 'pack mentality' trait starts coming into play.

Not planning on having them get notes from home, but they'll be around and can accidentally catch others' notes if your character loses them in a gust of wind or something.

[solitarysoul]

Levi's up for forming or joining a hunting party once people start going after monsters for food. Or more scavenging.

[thetatters]

John's whole vibe:

Eldritch entity attempts world domination, fails, gets bound to an asshole detective named Arthur, falls in (platonic?) love with him. Takes the name John Doe out of fondness for humanity. Wakes up in the jamjar having stolen Arthur's body. Tries to act casual.

In any crisis situation, John's first impulse is to run (protect Arthur's body!) and his second impulse is to do violence (he spent a long time in dog-eat-dog Hell). His third impulse is to do something merciful and kind, because fuck everyone who thinks he's not capable of it.

His knowledge of the human world is still foggy, and he's from 1934, so everyone's modern settings are foreign to him. Loves poetry, music, philosophy, and bickering. Performatively grouchy and prideful. His super nonsuspicious voice sounds like this. His laugh is worse.

Goals this month:

John is desperate to keep Arthur's body safe and unchanged. He's also desperate not to let anyone find out that he's 1. not human, 2. piloting a stolen human body, and 3. specifically a former evil god. I'd like to build tension here and give him chances to panic and lie. He might try to pluck his own Harpy feathers and need h/c.

His notes from home will be personal lore that he hurriedly destroys. Let me know if you'd like to get to a page before he does.

This month, he'll start to get temporary transformations when exposed to water. He'll very suspiciously hide from rain and might get stuck in a dangerous situation because he refuses to move out from under cover. Who wants to help him deal with his "fear of water"?

Lastly, when John touches a human corpse, he sees a vision of its death. He now has confirmation that all Husks and their monsters are former humans. Witness him touching a dead monster and it'll be clear something is going on.

[constantvrunning]

CORPSE LORE CORPSE LORE

Count me (well, V) in on witnessing that, as well as for whatever ensuing Alarm follows.

And V could try and lend a hand re: shelter from rain? They won't have a tail, so they could offer to drive him somewhere if it's not like. Completely inaccessible from the road.

They might also pass on the advice Serph gave them, concerning what good being afraid of the transformation itself does (i.e., not much). They just want to be helpful. :

Levi | Fear & Hunger 2: Termina

[solitarysoul]

Levi will be going on expedition to scout/loot buildings and hunt bull gorgons for meat. I'm not sure he'd figure out that the bulls are best for food, so he might need someone to suggest it to him but once he figures it out he'll be down for a hunting party or two over the month. He's found some amount of ammo for his rifle so he can use it and possibly show off that he used to be a sharpshooter during the war.
If one or more people that haven't been fighting want to go off to explore he may butt in and act as a guard for them. Its dangerous out there!

For the papers I'm not 100% sure, but if he can get canon but not personal notes funger2 has some notes and books that might be interesting to show up. (I don't THINK any of those have triggery material in them, but it is Fear & Hunger so be aware of possible content warnings if you go browsing that wiki.)
For more personal notes i'm not sure. maybe he passed some notes in class when he was at the orphanage or between soldiers at the war. I also realized that I could have orders show up...the order for his final suicide mission would really fuck him up.

Also not event related but Levi has a skin bible in his bags. It is what it says on the tin, a bible bound in skin, and I'm thinking of having some prompt where he's sorting belongings and has it out and visible. Because that's just normal, right? What do you mean your religious texts AREN'T made of flesh?

He is definitely getting caught in the storm (motorcycle doesn't offer much protection, after all). I'm thinking of giving him wings and a snake tail, maybe a beak and/or snake fangs too. In both his mostly-human form and the canine form he's got.
He's got to try flying. Maybe have him crash in high winds or something.

May add on some dog-like tendencies from the husks, because otherwise they're just going to make him paranoid and twitchy and possibly trigger PTSD episodes. Not sure if I want to play those, but if I do I'll make sure people know what they're getting into first.
I may give him some amped up version of the Cerberus Loyalty Compulsion where he's likely to obey everybody too. He's going to get that as a normal trait in about a month or so, but when that happens he'll be more limited to who he's following.

eta: feel free to reach out (or friend) me at connectivetrick or discord @ nvrknwsbst

Faith Lehane | Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel

[definitionofcrazy]

Faith is still not entirely processing the fact that her head came off during the last Moon Warp. She got better, but she's still reassessing this place and wondering if this is a "This is hell and she deserves to be here" situation. (She only knows one guy who's actually been to hell, and he's not around to ask)

As usual, the best therapy is violence, so she'll be throwing herself a little bit recklessly into the maiming of monsters. We have fun. Depending on the specifics of the notes from home, those also might do a number on her.

She might get a temporary touch of Harpy from the event, not sure yet. (It might be fun to give her false hope that she's got her slayer reflexes back only for them to go away again. Also her having nesting compulsions without realizing it would be hilarious.)

And finally: For her Dullahan template, I have her absorbing life force, and she's gonna start to experience The Hunger that goes with it as her first permanent/long-term behavior change. She won't know why. She's also gonna start feeling twitchy around anything made of gold, so if your character has any gold on their person, feel free to fuck up her day about it.

OTHER THAN THAT I AM UP FOR ANYTHING hit me up here, in DMs, or on my plurk at yonfellow

[taediosum]

i would love to get more faith cr this month since i fell off in feb, maybe arcade can spot her while she maims monsters for mental health?

jayce talis (arcane)

[hexrot]

this is jayce. he came from the world's most magically corrupt hole. it killed him last month by rotting him inside out! he's finally graduated as an undead corpse and on his way to his main monster, draugr! :') jayce is generally a sweet guy, very caring, big brother material forced to become Daddy except he's very likely to break down or have ptsd flashbacks that work like a shock collar. he is but Baby Girl who has just been through the horrors and may come off a bit cold/guarded/tweaky because of that, but get on his good side and you'll see Him under all the grime and magic rot.



messages from home: waiting on some people's questions to be answered which are also my questions, not really sure if jayce should get any! maybe from cait (little sister figure) and ximena (mommy) but not really sure yet. i'll think on it. a message from mom might do him some good. getting his old hextech files was an idea i had that he would try to burn right away— could be a good prompt for talking about the Dangers of Ambition if anyone is interested in arcane/jayce lore! LASTLY i could also think about the pages of jayce's notebook which is just funny/cute jayce lore, too! see his diary entries and his sassy science boy attitude way back when his face was still naked.

ruines/abandoned shops: i will always be up for scavenging!! jayce is going to look for more runes too, so if anyone would like to join him and run into monsters that way, i'd be down! he can SMASH or BLAST with his eldritch infected hammer!! it might be a good opportunity for him to get mortally injured and walk it off for once lmao..... he might end up eating the bull if it's further down his hunger itch for the month. and share it with serph!! and anyone else who wants to eat blood/guts/flesh!

monster storm event: for once i am not interested in giving jayce bird or snake features, so i'm sitting this one out but i'm so excited for future events like these!! instead i will be furthering jayce's draugr traits by focusing on hunger for flesh/blood, regeneration through consumption and deer antlers! he will start getting hungry again after his post-reanimation break from that, barf anything he eats that isn't raw and will notice blood quiiiiiiiite a bit more! he'll start looking sick and Not Well again which may be a point of concern. viktor will be his first pc feast and jayce may not feel comfortable chomping anyone else atm because it will be........... intimate vore................ but if we want some tension and conflict before that i am game. post feeding he will be 200% better he'll even look more alive!! ANYWAY he will also get these cute lil nubs on his head don't look at me anymore.

the talis archives: I FORGOT TO MENTION jayce made a post last month that had to do with gathering info about the marks people carry and the runes they came across back at the alter. that post is here and he might make another post this month to talk about that. feel free to handwave or throw things at him!!

i am liberos or owlshaped on discord! if you want to plot or chat through there by all means, feel free to add!!

[taediosum]

hi, i love this cr already,,, perhaps they can do something slightly less tragic this month. :') trading messages from home or scavenging (with optional mortal injury), maybe?

Jack Russell | Werewolf by Night | Yokai

[wereperrito]

Okay! Jack has the storm restlessness/storm form trait so when that storm hits, not only is one of his six fox tails turning into a snakey tail, he's gonna pop into a new shape! Entirely unwillingly! Say hello to labrador-sized, six-tailed, phantom-fire-dripping Jack the kitsune fox!

Outside of that, he's going to be scavenging with a will in the towns, adding some armoring to his VW bus, and fixing people's clothes per the message he just posted. It is entirely likely that he'll spawn a husk monster on accident and need rescued, because this is Jack's lot in life. I am still debating on a note from Ted or not.

He may try laying some traps when the convoy stops for the night and winding up with some mutated rabbits or something before the zolom attack, because Serph is not eating his porridge and he's trying to find SOMETHING to feed him with because he does not know Serph has been eating formerly-human monsters yet.

[serialmurderbot]

hey jack want to learn that secunits don't eat

Apollo Justice | Ace Attorney

[justiceobjects]

First off: I'm really sorry if anyone's hit me up on the last plotting post (or even the ones before the game started) and I didn't get to doing a thread with you! I definitely want to continue those plans, Apollo's definitely going to continue getting in trouble for a good long while yet.

Somehow Apollo has continued to dodge getting any monster changes so I'm going to switch that up for this month. He will not be finding any messages from home, and instead will start showing the psychological trait of... collecting things. He's going to find a coffee mug he's very attached to, and you can ply him with more mugs for goodwill or future favors.

Apollo will also get hit by the storm, but he's going to start growing dragon scales instead of showing anything specifically naga-esque, though it'd be easy to mistake it as a snake thing. I'm picturing it as a sort of half-scale growth going on, with red scales framing his face, trailing up his forearms, basically growing like they're reinforcing a lot of the thicker/rougher parts of the body while the softer, squishier areas still get to remain human-looking.

He's also going to start out refusing to eat monster meat, and I'm fully open to him being convinced otherwise should anyone want to tackle that one.

[taediosum]

yes hello arcade will definitely have the "eating monster meat is actually totally normal and not at all weird" conversation with him?

arcade gannon | fallout

[taediosum]

resident doctor who is still kind of dodging that label but will dutifully mend all your wounds anyway reporting in o7 

- as far as the messages go, i'm not sure i'll do a specific prompt for this but i would like to play around with it - either arcade finding someone else's notes or them finding his (though in his case it'll most likely be very boring/mundane notes from "family" that he will react very strongly to or incomprehensible research notes from his medicinal work)

- on that note, he collected some of the fancy crystal flowers from last month and has been trying to figure out if they have any medicinal use as anything other than a calmative (or if they can be made more effective as such), because making medicine from plants is his one!! job!! and by god he is going to find a way to do it. ...anyway, fellow smart people interested in talking about nerdy science things in the medbay?? (other people who just want to listen to a nerd talk about nerdy things?) potential willing test subjects?? i don't see this going anywhere significant atm but it could be a fun lil cr opportunity, idk. 

- always down for more scavenging in the ruins, especially when it leads to more dangerous/precarious situations. monster or husk run-ins are good, too. arcade will probably be poking around the latter, this month, to see if he can find any more of that graffiti or more ominous signage/signs of life. 

- he will also be getting caught in the storm, and getting the full naga transformation because it's snake month babeyyy. it'll be his first big horrific monster experience so i'd like to make it a complete disaster - getting stranded in some crumbling ruins during a crazy intense downpour, washed out in a mudslide, etc etc just struggling to survive the night while also struggling to comprehend new horrible monster body. 

on the lighter side, he will most likely need to hitch a ride with somebody or just hang out on the convoy more after this bc he can barely drive with feet, it's not going to work without them. 

- he should definitely get to fight a zolom in full snake form also. 

[bufudine]

Serph's also going to be getting caught in the storm and turning into a big ol' naga. Fortunately he's pretty accustomed to sudden monstrous transformations (given that it's the starting point of his canon), so he'd definitely be able to calmly help Arcade through it :^

Serph's also a cannibal so if that sort of thing is a hard No, I have an opt out

[flowersnjunk]

Oh man there's so much I wanna do this month!

-I would love for Eunie to get a bunch of naga traits, maybe not a full serpent body but definitely scales, forked tongue, venom, etc. Especially because she doesn't have a lot of defining celestial traits yet so this will just confuse her as to what she's actually turning into.

-Let's explore some ruins! Eunie is extremely skeptical about this whole going to nirvana thing, and she wants to learn more about the world she's been kidnapped to, so she wants to go digging for answers even if it means getting close to more husks, her least favorite thing ever so far.

-Zolom fight! She will never say no to violence and as a Xenoblade character it would be wrong to sit out fighting a bunch of giant monsters.

[electrifyking]

After the messages prompt, I imagine Akihiko is just going to fling himself at the Zolom; a kaiju sized murder snake that spits fire is a way better option than dealing with a letter from home.

He'd be so fine with someone doing cover fire while he is a ball of angry storm monster.

Akihiko Sanada | Persona 3

[electrifyking]

I. Am going to lean so hard into the Raiju "Restless/Agitated/Excitable during storms" and maybe even have him hit another monster form transformation during the worst of the storms. He's taking a break from stress baking pancakes in favor of FIGHT ALL THE THINGS! and venting out all his monster stress on any beast he finds.

So Zolom fights? Gorgon fights? Extra monster fights from bestiary? He'll be throwing himself into all of them. Getting a kind and supportive message from home sent from his foster family (and triggering his survivor's guilt) isn't going to help his mood any.

He might also be amiable towards sparring, but after his lightning surges from last month and loss of control is a little worried about damaging his sparring buddy. Someone is going to be suggesting lots and lots of monster hunts, to cope with whatever is going on with himself. Mostly I'll be using the events to keep furthering his Raiju traits!

[serialmurderbot]

I didn't want to overwhelm during the pancakepocalypse last time lol, but I'm down for so many fight threads yes please