Generic Brainstorming!

[Jabberwocky]

You see here a distressingly furry hockey stick.

[Jabberwocky]

Quivering 3 +3 curling stones for throwing.

[Grimm]

You die...eh.

[nicolae]

d - a potion of curing (0 gold)

[Jabberwocky]

New weapon proposals.
Mid afternoonstar.
2ish in the morningstar.

[Pteriforever]

New uniques:

Rebecca Black -- better bring scrolls of silence.

Ebony Darkness Dementia Raven Way -- turns all your allies goffik.

Trollestia -- banishes you to the moon.

Herobrine -- likes to hang just outside your LoS while messing up the scenery.

[Grimm]

Rita - She will ticket you to death if she catches you standing still. She's lovely.

[Confidence Interval]

Did you know about this? I didn't know about this. Vaguely similar to a quokka...
...or is it an illusion?!

MARA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(mammal)

[Grimm]

So if the real Mara looks like a quokka...that must mean that QUOKKAS ARE THE REAL MARA. Mara is just a fake - A FAKE OF A QUOKKA.

[Confidence Interval]

So who's playing all the soccer? A team of Maras?

[Grimm]

Quokka soccer is Mara kicking himself - AS A QUOKKA. Which is actually who he really is.

[Confidence Interval]

"Henceforth it is the map that precedes the territory - precession of simulacra - it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map" - Jean Baudrillard.

Thus Mara, the simulacra of the quokka, is more quokka-like than the quokka ever was, ever could be.

[Grimm]

That is so true. So true.

He who lives looking for pleasures only,
his senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food,
idle, and weak, Mara will certainly overthrow him,
as the wind throws down a weak tree.
-The Buddha, _Dhammapada_, 1:7.
trans. F. Max Muller

We can now safely amend that to read "a quokka will certainly overthrow him".

[Confidence Interval]

He who lives looking for the Orb only,
lacking an amulet of clarity, gorging on permafood,
with low Dex and Str, a quokka will certainly overthrow him,
as the simulated wind throws down the simulacrum of a weak tree.

[Grimm]

I lolled.

[Grimm]

You think you safe? A quokka comin for you boy.

[Jabberwocky]

I diagnose a severe case of Yiufitis happening on this page.

[Confidence Interval]

I diagnose a severe case of Yiufitis happening on this page.

Corner's the best place for it.

[Stormfox]

That's just a Mara. The Mara is a river in Tanzania. (Or in Nunavut. Yes, there's two of them to mislead you!)

[Grimm]

Looks like there are a lot of Maras in LA - the capital of illusion.

[Confidence Interval]

Yes! "Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas Los Angeles [is] no longer real, but belongs to the hyperreal order and to the order of simulation." - Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

[Grimm]

Baudrillard is such a fake - and I mean that as a high compliment.

[Grimm]

New unique: Jean. He doesn't fight you, he just stands around drily observing that you're playing an illusory fictional game being simulated on an ordinateur, behind all of which lies no reality. Being constantly reminded of this saps your will to play effectively and you YASD to a hyperreal quokka.

[Confidence Interval]

New background suggestion: Flâneur. Strolls through the dungeon in order to experience it. S/he may or may not choose to descend through the levels of the dungeon. The Orb is of interest to the flâneur as a phenomenon rather than an end in itself.

Starting equipment
Flâneurs start with a +0 walking stick, bread ration, and 100 gold, before species variations.

Starting skills
Flâneurs start with 2 levels in Strolling, 3 levels in Detached Observation, and 1 level in Reflection, adjusted for species aptitudes.

[Grimm]

Starting equipment
Flâneurs start with a +0 walking stick, bread ration, and 100 gold, before species variations.

And a pack of Gauloises.

You see the Orb of Zot.
You contemplate the colossal destruction of life that results from its pursuit.
You feel vaguely contemptuous.
You light a Gauloise.
You make a moue.


New monster type: hyperreal. As with zombies, hyperreal versions exist of all living monsters. Thus there are hyperreal orcs, hyperreal harpies, hyperreal death oozes, ensovoorts. A hyperreal monster has exactly the same stats and behaviours as the normal version - the code for hyperreal monsters is identical to that for normal ones - yet the hyperreal monster is somehow, subtly, indefinably, more real than the normal version, while being at the same time less authentic.

[Confidence Interval]

New monster type: hyperreal.

"When Animal Kingdom opened in Orlando, populated by ‘real’ – that is, biological – animals, its first visitors complained that they were not as ‘realistic’ as the animatronic creatures in other parts of Disneyworld. The robotic crocodiles slapped their tails, rolled their eyes – in sum, displayed archetypal ‘crocodile’ behaviour. The biological crocodiles... pretty much kept to themselves." - Sherry Turkle, London Review of Books, vol.28 no.8, 2006

A hyperreal crocodile comes into view.
It seems... much more crocodile-like than the normal crocodiles.

[Grimm]

New game: Hyperreal Crawl. It's basically Crawl, but it plays much more like you'd expect Crawl to play.

[Confidence Interval]

New forum contributor: Hyperreal Grimm. It is more Grimm-like than the "actual" Grimm and its posts say many more of the things you'd expect Grimm to say.

[nicolae]

I don't know much about postmodern philosophy, but something something Simulacrum joke.

[Confidence Interval]

I don't know much about postmodern philosophy, but something something Simulacrum joke.

A metajoke!

[nicolae]

I don't know much about postmodern philosophy, but something something Simulacrum joke.

A metajoke!

I never metajoke I didn't like!

[Confidence Interval]

I don't know much about postmodern philosophy, but something something Simulacrum joke.

A metajoke!

I never metajoke I didn't like!

Even better: a pun about a metajoke!

[nicolae]

Every time I read or hear a word beginning with meta- I always think "I never meta____ I didn't like!" I think I may have severe problems.

[Grimm]

Don't worry, they are only hyperreal problems.

[nicolae]

Don't worry, they are only hyperreal problems.

More like surreal problems.

[XuaXua]

Don't worry, they are only hyperreal problems.

More like surreal problems.

distressingly fur-real.

[Grimm]

New concept: sous-real.

[Confidence Interval]

New unique proposal: Sir Eel, champion of the electric eels. Watch out for his melting clock!

[Grimm]

Sir Reel, champion of the big fish.

[nicolae]

New canine monster, an andalusian hound, which moves in bizarre patterns, summons ants from its palms, and will always prefer to attack eyeballs even if the player is in LOS.

[Confidence Interval]

New canine monster, an andalusian hound, which moves in bizarre patterns, summons ants from its palms, and will always prefer to attack eyeballs even if the player is in LOS.

And it speaks in French, with subtitles.

[Grimm]

A surreal roguelike would just be the start. Next step: an abstract expressionist roguelike.

[Confidence Interval]

Let's cut the next comments short:
What about an [insert name of artistic movement] roguelike!

[Grimm]

I like the cut of your efficiency-minded jib. You've just saved us three days. Let's move swiftly on to the next joke sequence.

[Grimm]

I've got it!

"What about [thing] [other thing that is never seen in conjunction with first thing]?"

[schmoe]

The Beetle Tunnels

Home to beetles of all sorts, including boring beetles and others that make new tunnels. Has a new wall surface - earthen. Tunnels dug in earthen walls will cave-in and fill in over time. Most beetles can dig through earth. Is the home of the Chitin King - an extremely well protected, powerful beetle with a powerful grab attack that works similarly to constriction. The Chitin King's carapace (from dissection) can be enchanted into a new artifact, the Living Barrier. One of the big challenges of the level is to avoid being surrounded by burrowing beetles in collapsing earthen tunnels with limited LOS.

New beetles

Bombardier beetles - shoot exploding projectiles.
Globulous beetles - Move quickly and explode when destroyed (similar to gaseous spores)


New artifact:

Living Barrier - +4 large reflecting shield, functions as amulet of the gourmand.

[Grimm]

New unique for Beetle Tunnels: Ringo.

[mumra]

New unique for Beetle Tunnels: Ringo.

Why stop at Ringo?

John, Paul, George and Ringo always appear together, much like Duvessa and Dowan. When they're all together they're pretty much unbeatable.

Yoko is guaranteed to spawn on a nearby level. You have to lead her to John at which point they both turn neutral and leave the level. After this the band falls apart and the others enter a state of confusion and wander around aimlessly, at this point it's easy to pick them off individually.

[nicolae]

The Beetle Tunnels

Home to beetles of all sorts, including boring beetles and others that make new tunnels. Has a new wall surface - earthen. Tunnels dug in earthen walls will cave-in and fill in over time. Most beetles can dig through earth. Is the home of the Chitin King - an extremely well protected, powerful beetle with a powerful grab attack that works similarly to constriction. The Chitin King's carapace (from dissection) can be enchanted into a new artifact, the Living Barrier. One of the big challenges of the level is to avoid being surrounded by burrowing beetles in collapsing earthen tunnels with limited LOS.

New beetles

Bombardier beetles - shoot exploding projectiles.
Globulous beetles - Move quickly and explode when destroyed (similar to gaseous spores)

I would like to see more corpses that yield useful things when dissected/enchanted.

Also, I've seen a whole bunch of different ideas on how to implement bombardier beetles (even I have one), I think it's really cool how a bunch of different people can start with the same concept and get really different ideas. I see it a lot with god concepts, too.

[nicolae]

Spider's Nest needs some tougher monsters. It already has some wasps in it, let's include this one:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk.nyud.net/sci ... -legs.html