You were at work yesterday, and someone in the computer department handed you a box. "It's a new user-friendly interface," he says. "Supposed to be the latest thing, has this Scriff Inside label on it. See what you can make of it, and bring it back when you know something. The state is donating a bunch of these for our students in the handicapped classes."
It hooks up easily enough to your computer once you get it home and out of the box, and it is easy to operate and very quick on the response. After you've played with it a bit, though, you knock over your coffee, which spills into the gadget. You get an unexpected shock, and black out.
You are now awakening. There is the sound of echoey voices from somewhere, as if perhaps from a hall outside a room. It is cool, but not cold; the surface beneath you is smooth, more like a rubber wrestling mat than anything else you can imagine, but not as grabby as rubber. Your eyes are still closed, and you are lying on your back. What do you wish to do?
--M. J. Young
Open my eyes, look around the room. Access the situation.
You appear to be down a vacant hallway in a mall, lying on the floor. The floor is made of some unusual material--a bit like those mats they use in Wal-Mart, soft underfoot but more like tile than rubber. The storefronts down here are dark and vacant, but there are people moving down the main corridor to your left. To your right there is a dark set of windowless doors. These are both a distance of several store widths away from you.
There is a glow directly above you; it appears to be coming from some sort of directory screen.
Scattered in this hall you can see those objects you put on your equipment list which were at your house but not on your person, including your clothes; you are wearing those pajamas. Judging from the variety of clothes people are wearing in the other hall, though, this is probably some sort of international mall--all different kinds of outfits are seen, some of which you've not seen before, others which are not much different from what you have with you, and some not much different from your pajamas.
Is there anything on your equipment list which was not at your house at the time you made the list, and if so, what, and where was it in terms of distance/direction from your house?
--M. J. Young
Gather stuff. Do I have a cart? Read the directory.
Assuming you mean, is there something like a shopping cart in the hall here, you don't see such a thing; you do have your quilts, and could bundle things in one of them.
The directory has the look of a map, with a pointer indicating your present location. The words are printed in English, and are mostly names of stores. They have a familiarity about them, in that some include in their names "footwear" or "clothing" or "restaurant" or "groceries", but none of the brand names are known to you.
There are also several symbols in various places, mostly around the edges, which do not seem to relate to objects on the map.
There are about thirty stores visible on this map; it appears to be a partial map of the mall, covering only part of one level, as the corridors lead off the edges and there are stairs, escalators, and elevators indicated.
It says that this is C-97.
--M. J. Young
Question: How do I carry everything?
Turn right, walk to and examine doors, turn a handle to see if they open. How many doors are there?
I don't know how you plan to carry everything. One of the questions on the equipment sheet was whether you were bringing suitcases, backpacks, duffelbags, wheelbarrows, wagons, or anything else in which to carry your things. Since we're still just starting, if you own anything like that and want to add it to your relatively light equipment list, I'll include it. On the other hand, you could probably bundle at least most of that in one of the blankets, and carry it in your arms like a bundle of laundry, or stack it on top of another blanket and drag it, at least until you find something else. Your choice.
The doors are the full width of the hall, six doors in three pairs, and are not locked; in fact, one pair swings open as you approach. Beyond them is a wider room, but more like a hall than a room, with about thirty elevators and accesses to four stairwells; some of the elevators are larger, marked "Cargo Capable". Beyond these is an identical set of doors. It is cooler in this hall than it is in the other area, and also quieter once the doors shut behind you.
--M. J. Young
I would like to add a large carry all blue barrel like gym bag. What else would be useful? I have no idea?
go to one stair well, and go up.
Equipment updated accordingly. You stuff things into the gym bag before heading for the doors.
As you step onto the stairs, suddenly you feel lighter, maybe half as light, as you did a moment ago.
You thus easily ascend the stairs to the next level, where your weight returns to normal. There are doors here, and the stairs continue upward.
--M. J. Young
continue upwards
Each time you step on the stairs themselves, you find yourself lighter as described previously; you return to normal weight as you reach the doors level. Each flight doubles on itself--that is, sixteen steps to a middle landing after which you turn around to continue up. The stairs are a good eight to ten feet wide.
The next landing is the same; the only difference is a number, which now reads "C-99".
Assuming you're going to continue upward until "something" happens, I'll need an idea of the relative desirability of various things happening. Things I can see possibly happening (in no particular order, but these have different probabilities of occurrence) include:
- You reach the top, that is, the stairs end; this might be a similar area to that in which you started, or it might be something different.
- The numbering system changes, such as advancing to the next letter.
- You encounter people moving on the stairs or landings.
For context: Multiverser uses what's called a General Effects Roll; this often controls situations and outcomes relative to what the player character hopes will happen. Thus if you hope to meet a security guard, and you get a good GE roll, you will meet a security guard; if you get a bad roll in that case, you will encounter something else, possibly a criminal. If your hope is reversed, that is, you hope you will not meet a security guard, then you would meet one on a bad roll and not on a good one. Thus it helps me to know what you're hoping, thinking, expecting, fearing, et cetera, along with what you are doing. If you tell me, "I keep going up until X", whatever X is, I can then figure out how likely it is that X will happen based on my knowledge of the scenario and the roll of the dice.
--M. J. Young
go down and enter doors.
I was going to start at the top, work my way down and look for an office to "case" or go through. see what I could find. Do you get hungry?
You are starting to get a bit peckish--so yes, you get hungry eventually.
I'm not sure where "down and enter doors" is at this point. You started on level C-97, went up past C-98 to C-99. are you returning to C-97, or to C-98, or are you going below that?
You have not reached "the top" at this point.
Suddenly a group of mostly women bursts through the door and crowds past you on the stairs, chattering with each other about what they've purchased and what they still need to get. You hear several "excuse mes" as they jostle you on the steps in their rush to get past you. Again, they are wearing a great variety of styles of clothing, carrying what must be packages purchased in stores and purses of various styles.
--M. J. Young
Go back to where you started, then begin to look in the shops. What kind are they?
You return to the original floor, and move out into the main concourse.
It's like a mall, but moreso. There are all the usual mall-type stores--entertainment, electronics, clothing, knick-knacks, novelties, shoes, hats--plus restaurants, personal care (e.g., hairstyling), but also grocery stores, drug stores, professional offices, and many other things you would find in downtown areas.
Also, there are a lot of very high-tech, really futuristic, things here--what appear to be projected hologram advertising displays, for example.
--M. J. Young
(looking for job.)
Enter electronic store. Ask for manager. Ask if a job opening is open.
You find a store that sells what might be electronics--holographic projectors, chip readers, VR games, nanocomputers, and the like. The clerk, a young lady, asks if you're all right, and gets the manager for you.
You ask the manager whether he has any job openings, and he asks what background you have in cybernetics retailing. He also asks if you're all right, or whether he should call for medical services for you.
--M. J. Young
examine myself to see what is wrong. begin to look for an exit from this mall.
There is nothing different about you from before your recent accident.
How do you propose finding an exit? There were no exits marked on the directory you found, nor in the stairwells.
--M. J. Young
go north and look around.
You can't really tell which way is north, but you step out in the hall and turn right, up what seems a major concourse in the mall.
There are periodic cuts in the floor and ceiling. Although there appears to be a fine mesh net in each, it gives an open sensation, that you can see several levels of mall below and several more above when these appear. There are also occasional escalator-like moving ramps carrying patrons between levels. These have a bit of an incline to them, but are not nearly as steep as escalators; their surface seems to be of finely woven plastic or polymer, durable but flexible.
You also see more directory screens periodically.
--M. J. Young
enter nearest store and look around.
In order to describe a randomly chosen store, I need some idea of what it is you're hoping to get from this. That is, are you simply looking for a place to be unnoticed, or are you trying to get a better idea of what kinds of things are sold in this mall, or are you hoping to find something in particular, or some kind of thing, for sale? Would it suit you better to be in a drug store, clothing store, shoe store, medical service (e.g., Lenscrafters), kitchen supplies, beauty care, restaurant? The "randomness" in Multiverser is keyed to the desires and fears of the player--do things go they way you want, or do they go againt you, or are they irrelevant to what you want? Thus I have to connect with what you hope and fear in order to let you know what actually happens.
You are entering the store; I'll tell you what's in it once I know what your thoughts are in doing this.
--M. J. Young
I am just trying to find something to do. I don't think of myself as very creative. I've not really played a game such as thiss, I am trying to just trying something different, something I can react to or do.
You seem to have entered some sort of drug and medical supplies store. There are medicines on the shelves, in various forms, including pills, creams, liquids, lozenges, and more. There are also bandages and similar sorts of home health care items.
A man comes over to you.
"I'm a doctor," he says. "Are you looking for something for that tremor? Neurological, yes? Have you tried neural implants for it? Of course, if it's intermittent and you just need to control it temporarily, Nerocom is excellent." He picks up a bottle of pills from the shelf.
--M. J. Young
Ask the price of the Nerocam.
He passes a hand over the bottle, apparently activating a scanner of some sort.
"Thirty pills for five credits; if you need more than one a day you should probably see a doctor. Also, of course, if a doctor prescribes them, they cost less. Can I put these on your account?"
--M. J. Young
As mentioned in today's Blogless Lepolt, A Passing Moment, Scott Glenning will not be continuing his game coming here. Perhaps eventually the referee will go to him.
--M. J. Young