I came up with the idea of the mechanics of calculated "self-writing" stories while I was doing forum role-playing games. The text format of the game imposed certain restrictions on the use of systems tied to dice rolls. A specific platform is required with support for such a function, the course of the game is littered with questions “should I roll a die”, the throw messages themselves, after which you still need to insert your master’s word, and only then can the player write a meaningful post describing what happened.
You can deal with all this in different ways, but such “battle with the interface” seemed not entirely justified and I wanted to think in the direction of something light, which is always at hand. So that there is ease of verification of the results, along with their some unpredictability. Here the gaze fell (figuratively speaking) on the usual Calculator application.
Plotfinder
Then I came up with, probably not quite what corresponded to the original message, however, at least, it resulted in a plot generator.
The idea came out like this: we take several characters in the story and assign them numbers (for example, they will be two-digit - from 11 to 19), then we indicate the theme of the story (detective, western, horror, science fiction) and write down, so to speak, plot vectors - 9 basic association words. By following certain rules, we ensure the interaction of characters, generating new objects and developing the plot.
An example (aka the first test of the idea)
Characters:
12 - little girl,
15 - her sister,
17 - maniac.
Theme: Horror
List of associations: 1 - fear, 2 - mystery, 3 - darkness, 4 - cold, 5 - flock, 6 - corpse, 7 - laughter, 8 - death, 9 - illness.
We have decided on the starting point, but how to interact? We have a calculator and an idea for an intuitive approach. It was decided to act according to the following principle - if two objects establish a certain “positive” connection between themselves, then we multiply them by each other, if “negative”, then we divide the initiator by the object of applying his efforts.
Having decided on the rules, we begin to generate a plot by inventing the first operation with our objects:
Maniac, quite expectedly, wants to kill the little girl's sister = 17 / 15 = 1,13
And now the main thing: we look at the association table, taking the first digit of the result of the interaction for interpretation. If necessary, we involve subsequent ones in order to come up with some kind of result, and it is desirable to generate a new object.
It turns out that "1-1-3" is "fear-fear-darkness". Just fear, perhaps, does not give anything here, but the addition of darkness already suggests an idea. Thus, it was decided to describe it as "the maniac planned to kill her at night and now he is waiting for the onset of darkness", and we get a new object 1,13 - night.
Now let's continue, this time selecting a new pair of objects:
Little girl talking to her sister in the evening = 12 x 15 = 180
It turns out “fear-death” and “the girl tells her sister her dream, in which she saw how she was being killed.”
New object 180 - sleep.
Let's see what happens next:
Sister makes fun of a ridiculous dream = 15 / 180 = 0,083
"8" is "death". “But internally, she is still frightened by what she heard and decides to be careful.”
0,083 - caution.
Sister tries to be careful = 15 x 0,083 = 1,245
"Fear-mystery-cold". Actually, she's just scared and she can't sleep, no new objects came up.
At night, the ill-fated maniac attacks his sister = 17 / 15 = 1,13
It turns out that the “night” object has already been wound up, this seems to be not enough, and we consider the numbers of the “night” object, deciding that the sister is running away from the attacker. It was decided to replace "night" with "run away".
The little girl, meanwhile, is dreaming = 12 x 180 = 2160
"Secret-fear". "The girl wakes up from what she sees."
2160 - wake up.
Sister keeps running for her life = 15 x 1,13 = 16,95
"Fear-corpse". "He hides in a closet and finds a skeleton there."
16,95 - skeleton.
Sister examines the skeleton = 15 x 16,95 = 254,25
"Mystery-flock-cold." "The bones are cold."
Little girl looking for her sister = 12 x 15 = 180 (dream)
Here are the options - maybe she quit this business and fell asleep, but if we are not satisfied, then we go down to the numbers: “fear-death”. Perhaps she hears something, she begins to thrash with horror and she locks herself in the room.
At this point in history, I interrupted in order to evaluate what is happening. Some associations, at first glance, led nowhere, as they were essentially a repetition of the very theme of horror: fear and secrets, for example. Therefore, I decided that the associations, if possible, should be different in meaning from the topic itself, in order to be more useful.
One of the interesting consequences was that the numbers of objects often help to think of additional strokes, for example, a maniac decided to attack at night, and the night was 1,13, that is, at one in the morning, 13 minutes. The effect of gradual “burrowing” into the problem is also interesting - the character does one thing, gets the second, follows this second, gets the third, and so on. Also, how a change in the general context changes the weight of association words during the same operations.
After that I created a second test:
Characters:
13 - wolf,
18 - prince,
11 - princess.
Theme: Fairy tale
List of associations: 1 - deeds, 2 - life, 3 - miracle, 4 - story, 5 - object, 6 - reflection, 7 - transformation, 8 - campaign, 9 - death.
The wolf attacks the wandering prince = 13 / 18 = 0,72
"Transformation-life". "The wolf did not expect it to be a prince, but the hero was not at a loss and caught the wolf alive."
0,72 - wolf caught.
The princess heard rumors about the capture of a wolf by the prince = 11 x 0,72 = 7,92
"Transformation-death." “She remembered that she had read somewhere about such wolves - they turn into werewolves, and when this happens, the prince may not be lucky.”
7,92 - werewolf.
The princess goes to warn the prince = 11 x 18 = 198
"Affairs". "But there are too many things to do in the palace, it's better to send a messenger."
198 - messenger.
The messenger went to the prince = 198 x 18 = 3564
"Wonder-object-reflection". "The messenger suddenly came across a magical book on the way, which clouded his mind when he opened it."
3564 - magic book.
The wolf is trying to escape from the prince = 13 / 18 = 0,72
But this is the “wolf caught” event we already have, and it fails. A curious math emerges.
The wolf is trying to negotiate with the prince = 13 x 18 = 234
"Life is a miracle story." “The wolf asks to be released, in exchange for a promise to miraculously come to the rescue in a difficult situation. The prince believes and lets go.”
234 - agreement.
After the second test, it became clear that such plot construction can be played not only by making successive events together with other players, but also alone, say, if a person only has a calculator, and all sorts of sudoku, solitaire and other available entertainment do not bring joy. In general, if you think about it, the digital calculating device is a very common platform - more common than cubes, built into almost every gadget.
The result of an operation with two objects can be calculated by any participant, and the history of values is traceable - it can be restored, and even experiment with forecasting.
A separate role of the master for such a game was no longer required, and besides, it turned out such an entertaining “uniquely calculated randomness”, instead of random die results. Which gave unpredictable in advance, but subsequently the same outcomes for the same interaction - revealing a certain unified chemistry-physics of processes or even fate. The game stimulated the search for new solutions: if one method does not work, then come up with another - with something else to interact with. For example, the wolf could not run away from the prince, but, for example, run away to the princess or werewolves, following other paths of history. At the same time, with the same constancy with which water extinguishes fire, the wolf, one way or another, is destined to be caught by the prince, as long as they remain who they are.
By the way, you can calculate such outcomes to immediately illustrate:
The wolf is trying to escape to the princess = 134 = “deeds-story-miracle” = “while the tsarevich was doing business, the wolf overheard the conversation about the fact that there is a flying carpet somewhere here”.
The wolf runs away to the werewolves or turns into a werewolf = 102,96 = “deeds-life-death” = here it can be interpreted in different ways: “busy in escaping”, “ran away safe and sound”, “transformed and now brings death”.
The werewolf attacks the prince = 0,44 = "story-story". Well, let's say - "the prince realized that he was faced with a creature from legends ...". That is, perhaps the prince will remember about the aspen stake, which is used to kill such evil spirits (yes, werewolves are not vampires, but such were my first associations) or call the werewolf by name, which will stop the attacker and lead to a conversation between them.
Another consequence was that the sequence of mathematical operations can be separated from a specific plot log and considered in a different context. Therefore, with the next test, I decided to try to invert the characters and themes, trying to keep the same interactions whenever possible:
Situation one. The wolf attacks the prince wandering through the gloomy world of horrors = “laughter-mystery” = “the prince is horrified, but the wolf laughs and tells his secret — he is a man and the prince is not his enemy.” The event did not occur, so go to the princess follows the prince = "she is afraid that he has gone alone into the infectious forest." An event occurs contagious forest. What is the prince doing in the forest - "he went into the darkness, hunting a flock of shadow creatures." Appeared shadow creatures. The wolf runs away = "finally laughing, he melted into the darkness."
Situation two. The maniac wants to kill his sister again, although this time they were in a fairy tale = “the plan he came up with turned out to be very complicated, for a start he decided to get acquainted.” Event acquaintance. Girl talking to her sister = “decide to go on a journey.” Event journey. Sister thought and she doesn't really like this idea of travel = "suddenly a stubborn girl shows her sister a magical book, reads the lines, and then she is picked up and carried away by a magical whirlwind - now the sister has to go in search." Well, and so on ...
Strain 33
Time passed and one day there was another annual contest of tabletop role-playing games game chef. I decided to write a system about this too, if the proposed contest theme inspires me. The conditions of the competition implied that in their works it was necessary to build on two or three abstract pictures from the proposed set - no matter what exactly they would become in the end and how they would be perceived. The topic hooked me and the output turned out to be a “contagious role-playing” game dedicated to the confrontation of various metaphysical viruses that seep into reality - “Strain 33”. Here it is based on the mechanics of the “computed plot”.
I will analyze how the individual competitive pictures-ingredients influenced the result. Although, of course, it is difficult to make out what each particular image has become and how exactly they have influenced, but nevertheless.
I'll start with a picture of the contest theme. Looking at it, I immediately saw that it was very suitable for my “associative calculator”. The concept of two possible interactions on which the main process is based was just read here: characters and other objects have special digital indices and can interact either positively (then the indices are multiplied) or negatively (the indices are divided one by the other). Another image of the topic resulted in a decrease / increase in the index of the object at certain points.
But the main point is what happened when the theme image was superimposed on one of the ingredients:
Viruses of the concepts of other worlds, penetrating into reality. Thus, the theme reflects the uncertainty of the outcome of the conflict that accompanies the gameplay, the little man in the picture seems to be torn between whether to stay in the real world or go to alternative ones (or rather, which of the alternative worlds to go to).
I wanted to make a game about viruses for a long time (albeit about ordinary viruses), but something was missing. And now, looking at a worm crawling out of an apple, I remembered this idea, and in combination with the theme, the association developed into a metaphysical epidemic that captured the real world.
The other three ingredients are also somehow reflected in the game.
I associated the left image with something like the outcome of a certain search in total darkness - you can find light (life, meaning), or you can find something bad (shadow, death, oblivion). In the game, this turned into 8 achievements to find to capture reality and some special thing that you don’t need to find, as it leads to the death of objects or the elimination of participants.
The central image was associated with some kind of protection or defensive reaction. In combination with viruses, this association immediately brings up the idea of immunity. Thus, the bad thing that the metaphysical virus does not need to find is the immune response of reality, leading to the death of the carrier of the virus. In addition, developing the idea of protection, I introduced the rule that the achievements found must be sacrificed, thus protecting the carrier of the virus from the action of the immune response.
The right image prompted me to leave that original mode of generating a plot for one person as a bonus, already without a viral flavor, but with the idea of \uXNUMXb\uXNUMXbfinding achievements taken from there. The picture, as it were, indicates that a plot is crystallizing / building up in a person’s brain (here, apparently, it was remembered that one of the common types of plot construction is called a “snowflake”).
A brochure with the resulting game is on my website, you can read it here:
In general terms, it looks something like this - one player acts on behalf of the same horror, and fills the city with his heroes and objects, interpreting the events taking place through the prism of horrors. Others become carriers of other genres and settings - fantasy, cyberpunk, mutants, zombie apocalypse, and so on. The fluids of these different dimensions interact in every possible way, change the real world and fight with each other. The ultimate goal is to find pairs of numbers that are such achievement artifacts and determine the winner.
Metaphysical Virus Versus mode is best played in a group, so later in this article I'll go into more detail on examples from the solo, story-building mode.
Game one
The theme for this story was simply time. And here are the starting plot objects related to this topic:
Inventor 23
Clock 95
Reporter 13
Library 54
Oracle 67
Alien from the future 71
Associative vectors I picked up the following:
1. Drawing
2. Ring
3. Hook
4. Fight
5. Chains
6. Pride
7. Speech
8. Insult
9. Healing
What I do next is start writing the story. I select two objects and multiply their indices, if I came up with an action in which they somehow approach each other, or I divide one index by another if there is some kind of conflict between them. The result is interpreted within the framework of the topic and those associations indicated by the result of the operation.
In addition to the basic rules discussed at the beginning of the article, the search for achievements is also added here. This happens when there are pairs in the first 7 digits of the result number.
11,22,44,55,66,77,88 and 99 are achievements, if all of them were opened, then the game ends. 33 is disintegration, in this case the association word is not used, both interacting objects are destroyed, which is described in the plot accordingly.
When you first open each achievement, you must definitely come up with a plot object, its index will be the corresponding pair of numbers, not the whole number. If some achievement has already been opened, then the pairs of its numbers no longer matter. Pair 33 is an exception and fires every time it occurs again in history.
Here is the scenario that grew further from the proposed input data:
An inventor is rummaging through an old library, looking for information on building a time machine.
23 x 54 = 1242
He came across several half-decayed books that contained ancient knowledge. Returning to the workshop, he drew a diagram of a device that would allow him to overcome the boundaries of time.
Time Machine Diagram 1242
An alien from the future appeared in the middle of the city, he was entrusted with the mission to break the main city clock.
71 / 95 = 0,747368
The stranger fails to turn his plan around: he made a little mistake with the time and now the square with the clock is cordoned off, a festival is being prepared there, at which the mayor will address the residents.
City Mayor 0,747368
The reporter went to the inventor for an interview. They eventually started dating, which led to rings, a wedding, and their baby. child 299.
While the months of married life went by, our inventor still tried to build what he depicted in the diagram.
23 x 1242 = 28566
He was able to assemble the device, but some important part was missing, a stabilizer for time streams. It was only recently that an inventor accidentally discovered this missing component - an ordinary gold ring.
So there is the first achievement unlocked! Time machine 66
The reporter, meanwhile, was raising the boy. In my father's time machine (and often without my father's knowledge), they wandered through different eras - real and fictional.
Everything was going great until one day they were captured. Bloodthirsty pirate Captain Hook locked them in the hold of his brig. But the boy was smart, brave and resourceful - he deceived the captain, robbed him, and fled with his mother back to our time.
Now on their wall, in the living room, hangs a trophy - magic cocked hat 3887!
An alien from the future has reappeared in the city, now he is instructed to meet with the local oracle.
71 x 67 = 4575
The alien was framed and in the agreed place it was not the oracle that was waiting for him, but the members of the criminal syndicate. An alien from the future was captured by them and taken to the headquarters of the organization for interrogation.
Crime Syndicate 4575
The head of the criminal syndicate, having extorted his origin from the alien, is trying to persuade him to cooperate.
4575 71 x = 324825
The head of the syndicate is Captain Hook 324825, pulled into our world by the Tricorne. He believes that the Alien knows how to get back.
But let's go back to the past, when the Mayor of the city spoke on the square with a clock.
0,747368 x 95 = 70
Oh, this event was remembered by many. During the Mayor's speech, the clock suddenly exploded, littering the area with rubble. Some eyewitnesses told how a stranger stepped out of the dust clouds, looked around, and disappeared in a purple flash of light.
Now there is a memorial built in honor of the victims of the explosion. There were exactly twelve of them.
The clock has been destroyed. Second achievement unlocked! Memorial 99
The stranger tried to escape from the cell where he was kept.
71 / 4575 = 0,015519
Now that the alien had some time to spare, its AI implant was able to map out the near future by analyzing all the data it had in its memory banks. Having received this very accurate short-term forecast, the alien could easily sneak out of the dungeon.
Achievement unlocked! Implant with data about the world of the future 55
The boy put on a magic cocked hat and tries to unravel its secret.
299 x 88 = 26312
It turns out that this item subjugates the owner's mind, while giving him a sense of superiority over others.
In this case, the object was not invented, just a clarification to the plot.
Captain Hook, meanwhile, is trying to find a reporter - it began to dawn on him that those responsible for his movement are in the same time. They will answer for stealing the cocked hat.
324825 x 13 = 4222725
As soon as the captain got on the trail, he was overthrown by one of the other ambitious members of the syndicate. Hook was stripped of his position as head of a crime syndicate, captured, and thrown into prison.
Achievement unlocked! Traitor 22
An alien from the future does not know what to do next and comes to the square, to the memorial, where in the past he made an explosion.
71 x 99 = 7029
Just on this day, another date was celebrated since the time of the terrorist attack, several people gathered here and recalled those terrible events. The stranger listened to their conversation, and when they parted, he came closer. With a thoughtful look, he took one white flower from the left bouquet.
White flower 7029
In a time machine, the boy traveled to the future, planning to steal a flying combat suit.
299 x 66 = 19734
He miscalculated a little and arrived at a time when such suits were only prototypes. But he decided that it was even better - using the knowledge of time, he could lead this development and found his own corporation.
Corporation 19734
Far in the future, a certain old man in a cocked hat, the head of the Skytech corporation, gives an order to one mercenary. His task is to go into the past and make an explosion in the square with the clock.
299 x 71 = 21229
The mercenary agrees. When he leaves, the old man rubs his hands with satisfaction: the explosion in the square will close the circle of paradoxes that has arisen and this version of the future will be the only true one.
When the reporter returned home, she did not find her son and began to look for him. At that moment, the phone rang, the subscriber called himself an oracle and warned that in a minute there would be a fire in their house. The reporter did not believe a single word and threw a tantrum.
67 / 13 = 5,153846
All nervous, the reporter ran out of the house, continuing to scream into the phone. At that moment, lava flows poured out of the time machine, the inventor felt the heat too late - he was rushing to the exit, but got tangled in the wires. Finally, having come to her senses a little and turning around, the reporter saw a house engulfed in flames.
The time machine, the time machine schematic and the inventor are destroyed.
Burnt house 5,153846
The reporter can't get through to the oracle again. He himself finds her during the funeral and tells everything he knows.
67 x 13 = 871
The reporter is outraged to the core by the story of this man and believes that he is guilty of everything that happened. The Oracle is arrested and sent to the police station for trial.
Police Station 871
However, the oracle already knows that he will not get into the precinct.
67 / 871 = 0,076923
Indeed, during the trip, an urgent call comes in on the radio and the police turn off the path to prevent a bank robbery. In a hurry, they leave the keys to the handcuffs and the oracle gets out of the car.
Bank 0,076923
The alien from the future has been making requests for the implant all this time, trying to figure out what to do now. If it was not returned automatically, then the customer deceived him. Or the customer was given incorrect information.
71 x 55 = 3905
The implant gave out a strange thing: on the one hand, information was found in its database that the head of the crime syndicate was actually a guest from another time (Captain Hook), on the other hand, future analysis indicates that now the crime syndicate has a new leader, and the old one is locked in a dungeon.
Meanwhile, in the crime syndicate, not everyone is happy with the new head, so he decides to exponentially eliminate the former leader, strengthening his power.
22 / 324825 = 6,772877
The captain is proud enough and expresses his contempt for the traitor, this is enough to split the syndicate - several people release Hook and leave the organization with him. This is how the group "Corsairs" is formed.
Achievement unlocked! "Corsairs" 77
In this newly formed grouping suddenly comes a man who called himself an oracle, he claims that he can help with information.
67 x 77 = 5159
The oracle talks about how many false loops have formed within time recently. Someone is trying to make a different version of the future with a plan that closes these loops in the right way. The trap is about to close and the loop where they are now will cease to exist. The final point of this time is the meeting of the oracle with the Alien from the future, but the paradox of the situation is that in order to prevent the closure of this time loop, the oracle needs the knowledge of the Alien about the future.
Paradox 5159
"So maybe we'll just finish you off, is that it?" the captain suggests. "Corsairs" are ready to carry out his order.
77 / 67 = 1,149253
“Then we will all disappear, and this story will never be written,” with these words, the oracle lays out an old tome that describes the adventures of the captain.
Achievement unlocked! Hook Pirate Book 11
An alien from the future understands that circumstances have driven him into a dead end and decides to take risks in order to get at least some trump card in this game imposed on him. He goes to one of the local media, telling himself and his role in the events. By chance, he gives an interview to the same reporter.
71 x 13 = 923
At the beginning of the conversation, the girl thought that she was talking with another psycho, but her skepticism quickly disappeared when she heard about time travel, about a cocked hat, Hook and an oracle. Everything that was said surprisingly coincided with the current situation, now she guessed how it all happened.
Sensational Interview 923
The reporter promises to publish the interview, and she goes to the burnt house. She wants to find something important there that can help her fix everything.
13 x 5,153846 = 66,99999
In the garden, under a stone slab, she finds her old time travel diary.
Time Travel Diary 66,99999
“Yes, I have already read this book,” the pirate chuckled. “But if the truth is written there, then I already know what will happen, so the past will change.
“It will not change,” said the oracle grimly. "Actually, you won't be coming back."
“I'm tired of your stupid predictions,” the captain said, and taking out a pistol, he shot at the oracle.
324825 / 67 = 4848,134
As soon as the body of the oracle fell to the floor, a police detachment (acting on a tip from the criminal syndicate) burst into the room and a shootout ensued. As a result, only Captain Hook is alive, the police and the Corsairs are killed.
Oracle destroyed. The Corsairs have been destroyed.
A reporter is reading a diary.
13 x 66,99999 = 870,9998
Everything fits, she was not mistaken. Today, exactly in an hour, her version from the past, along with her son, should appear in the city park, where they will quarrel for the reason that one of the two of them mixed up the time coordinates.
Park 870,9998
At the right moment, the reporter rushed to the two figures that appeared on the path of the park and snatched from the hands of her past self the magic cocked hat (which they had seized from the pirate and were now carrying home).
13 x 88 = 1144
This action had an unexpected effect: the whole world around the reporter stopped, only she remained mobile ...
Last achievement unlocked! Frozen Time 44
With this, all the achievements were collected and the game ended, leaving the ending of the story open.
Game Two
Now let's generate another plot, already in the genre Tales.
This time, objects could only be destroyed through disintegration (achievement 33). It was assumed that if some object is destroyed just like that, according to the plot, then the possibility of interacting with it remains.
Achievements were now considered separately, not participating in interactions.
Association vectors:
1. Light
2. Poison
3. Fire
4. The escape
5. Mystery
6. Rain
7. The past
8. Reflection
9. Luck
Starting fairy plot objects:
Fairy 54
King 81
Witch 17
Troll 22
A giant troll invades the land where the fairy and her tribesmen live.
22 / 54 = 0,407407
A small people can not oppose anything to a giant and they have to leave their native places. They retreat into the forest thickets, to where the ancient magic crystal is located.
Magic Crystal 0,407407
The troll in this game is not an open achievement (although it is described by a pair of identical numbers) and you can interact with it.
At this time, a certain witch digs out information about the ancient magic crystal of the fairy people in old books. And of course, it turns out that she really needs it. Well, this is very much needed. Give me two!
17 x 0,407407 = 6,925919
The book mentions one important circumstance: you can find a crystal only during a thunderstorm, in normal weather it is invisible. Well, for a witch, this is not a problem, she just has a similar potion in her arsenal.
Bad Weather Potion 6,925919
Rumors about the appearance of a giant troll reached the king.
22 x 81 = 1782
This news was brought by one of the priests of the Sun, who was walking through the forest in search of the necessary herbs for the rite.
Priest of the Sun 1782
The king is disturbed by the disturbing news and asks the priest for details.
81 x 1782 = 144342
The priest said that the troll is about twenty meters high, its skin is gray, bushes grow on its back, and its eyes burn with green fire.
The king is in a panic - yes, everything converges! There is an ancient prophecy that says that the sun will go out. And the first evidence is the arrival of a troll with glowing eyes.
Prophecy 144342
Achievement unlocked! Eclipse (44)
The fairy does not want to fly with the others to the crystal.
54 / 0,407407 = 132,5455
She flies east, to the ruins of an abandoned temple that was burned down in ancient times. Inside, on a dilapidated altar, a relic is kept, shining in the rays of the rising sun.
Holy Relic 132,5455
Achievement unlocked! Hope (55)
The king sends his best squad against the troll.
81 / 22 = 3,681818
The brave knights of the kingdom ride horses and rush towards the monster. The troll's eyes flare with angry sparks and a cloud of green flame envelops the attackers.
Lost Squad 3,681818
The witch came to the forest, where she activates the bad weather potion.
17 x 6,925919 = 117,7406
A thunderstorm hangs over the forest, lightning flashes, the wind rises, uneven jets of rain beat. Somewhere from the depths of the thicket, light begins to stream, maybe it's a crystal?
Thunderstorm 117,7406
Achievement unlocked! Shining (11)
The fairy flies to the ruins of the temple, to the sacred relic.
54 x 132,5455 = 7157,457
On the dilapidated wall, ancient bas-reliefs and inscriptions have been preserved, telling how in the past the priests of the Sun, with the help of a relic, prevented the invasion of demons into this world. The fairy understands that she needs to find such a priest, perhaps he can drive the troll away.
Demons 7157,457
The fairy is looking for the priest of the temple of the Sun.
54 x 1782 = 96228
By a happy coincidence, she notices this man running out of that part of the forest that is engulfed in a thunderstorm. The priest followed the royal party, and fled in horror after the troll burned them all.
The fairy was able to explain to the drenched adept that he must use the relic to banish evil.
Fear 96228
Achievement unlocked! Fate (22)
Following the fairy, the priest finds a relic.
1782 x 132,5455 = 236196
The priest studies the relic and the inscriptions. Yes, now he remembers this old story, but he knows something that the fairy does not know: after using this sacred object, rivers, forests and fields were poisoned for many years.
The priest decides that the cost of using the relic is too high.
The king is shocked by what happened, he is very scared and driven to despair.
81 x 96228 = 7794468
The royal alchemist has a way to solve one of the problems: he states that since the royal squad was destroyed by a troll, then you can use the powerful Machine of the Day After Tomorrow, which reverses some details of the past. The machine works imperfectly, but the alchemist claims that according to his calculations, the removal of the dead squad from the past does not technically disrupt the normal course of time. True, there are only two charges left in the Machine, besides, there is always a risk of temporal anomalies, but in this situation, the king has no choice and he allows the experiment.
Everything seems to go well and the dead squad disappears from the past a few moments before they were enveloped in flames. They appear safe and sound near the royal castle.
Alchemist 7794468
Achievement unlocked! Time (77)
The witch wanders in the middle of the rain, something glows ahead.
17 x 117,7406 = 2001,59
She found something, but it wasn't a magic crystal, but fluorescent mushrooms. Apparently poisonous.
Glowing Mushrooms 2001,59
The storm over the forest intensifies and powerful lightning strikes the magic crystal, destroying it.
117,7406 / 0,407407 = 288,9999
The forest around the crystal instantly begins to fade, and small luminous fragments scatter in all directions, but then abruptly and simultaneously soar into the sky, piercing thunderclouds. After that, the clouds become even darker and begin to grow, spreading even more across the sky.
Withering Forest 288,9999
Achievement unlocked! Destruction (88)
Knowing that the troops will not solve anything, the king again asks for the help of the alchemist.
81 x 7794468 = 6313519
The alchemist does not know what to do with the giant, but then the inhabitants of the kingdom notice a huge thunderstorm approaching from the side of the forest.
The alchemist performs a ritual and finds out that the storm was caused by a witch's potion. He even knows whose it is. The fact is that she ... his sister.
The alchemist reports the incident to the king and opens a portal to take her directly to the royal hall. And so it happens.
Portal 6313519
The witch is invited to dispel the effect of the Bad Weather Potion.
17 / 6,925919 = 2,45454
Aha, of course, dreaming! The witch shakes the luminous mushrooms prudently collected in the forest onto the floor, pours them with a revitalizing potion and turns into a crow, flying out the window. Mushrooms grow in size, turning into a group of large monsters covered in poisonous spores.
Revitalizing Potion 2,45454
The fairy is unhappy with the priest, believing that he is simply afraid to use the artifact.
54 / 1782 = 0,030303
The fairy reprimands the priest and tries to activate the relic herself. The Sun Priest flees, seeing that she cannot be stopped. The relic flares up and a fiery dragon begins to materialize in the sky above the ruined temple.
Fire Dragon 0,030303
The dragon summoned by the fairy goes in search of the troll.
0,030303 x 22 = 0,666666
The resulting storm has a bad effect on the fire dragon, and eventually its flame goes out under the rain. At the same moment, the sacred relic ceases to glow, it is covered with darkness. Fairy looks at what is happening in confusion. Darkness flows from the relic, flowing down. After that, the ground around the ruins begins to shake, deep cracks appear in it.
Earthquake 0,666666
Achievement unlocked! Darkness (66)
Demons emerge from the cracks, preparing to fulfill the prophecy.
7157,457 x 144342 = 1033121
Is effect 33: 7157,457 and 144342 destroyed.
At that very second, the ancient curse imposed on the relic expired: the Lord of Darkness in ancient times made a very slight mistake with the calculations, now his prophecy was not destined to come true. Howling furiously, the demons turned into clods of ash that melted under the rain.
The earthquake did not calm down immediately. Tremors reached the royal castle.
0,666666 x 81 = 53,99994
By that time, this place was abandoned, people left it, fleeing from mushroom monsters.
The castle shook a few times, after which everything was quiet. When the king's men finally ventured back, they saw that the destruction was average. The mushroom monsters were covered with stones, and the main statue of the castle fell apart, and now in its place there was a crystal ... just like the one that the fairies had previously guarded.
New Crystal 53,99994
Final achievement unlocked! Revival (99)
On this, all the achievements were opened and you can put an end to history. At the same time, there is room for further development of storylines: what the witch is up to, where the troll is heading, whether the storm will end, where the fairies will now live, what is the secret of the crystal, and so on.
Сonclusion
This is the simple game mechanic I use to create stories out of nothing, alone or in a group. It helps to warm up the imagination even for people who are far from table-role-playing games, and is also great for arranging a joint story-building game in Internet chats and forums. And just then I thought about telegram channels, where this can also be launched.
Based on this "role calculator", I also developed a larger system, in which the game master is assumed to participate along with the players, and instead of multiplication / division, only multiplication is left. But that is another story.
Source: habr.com
