10/19/2017

5/26/2020 2:09 PM

518

5

11 wins / 3 losses

Architect

NFL History Quiz

There doesn't seem to be an NFL history quiz here, and the Super Bowl is in a couple weeks, so here is the NFL quiz you've been waiting for. Let's see what you know about the highest level of professional American Football. There are 39 questions, but you can get a five point bonus on the last question.

The Cottage

Synopsis:

Left to fend for themselves, two children brave a dark forest, and the evil it hides.

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Quick Notes:

This storygame is short, and it's kind of a kid's story. It's actually part of an idea I've been rolling around about a collection of fairy tales/spooky tales, a sort of anthology. It's my take on the classic Brother's Grimm tale, and it's not complicated, nor is it replete with a myriad of parallel plot lines. There are three endings (four if you count dying), but do not expect vastly different outcomes: it basically comes down to who ends up dying by the end.

It's also possible to completely avoid the main plot section (The Cottage), although I wouldn't recommend that path, as the story is short enough as it is. I'm not sure if this falls under fantasy or horror, but I think I'll go with horror, even if it isn't particularly scary. It's a bit macabre in places, but ultimately it is a children's story.

Visually speaking, I'd advise playing with images on, otherwise you might have to highlight text in order to read it in some cases. Also, you might want to scroll the text so it isn't directly on top of the moon on a few pages. A mild annoyance, I'm sorry, but I couldn't implement the full scripting I wanted to in order to handle that problem.

Lastly, admittedly this was put together quickly from a base idea jotted down earlier, due to the nuclear attack on the website over the past month, which put me too far behind to finish the entry I wanted to for Killa Robot's "Feels" competition. It is what it is: just a short take on a classic tale. Not a lot of feels, but a little bit of pseudo-early modern English ;).

Republishing (again) due to image hosting issues. 1/8/2018

The Ghost People

This is an entry in the December contest

Writing Prompt: "In 100,000 B.C.E., a boy from a Neanderthal tribe meets a homo sapien girl for the first time, changing the fate of their tribes for all time . . . for better or worse."

A Neanderthal boy is sent on a perilous mission to rescue kidnapped members of his tribe from the clutches of the evil Ghost People, whose magic far surpasses that of his own people.

Some quick info on the setting: It is generally believed that hominids lost their thick fur around 1.2 million years ago or so, give or take. However, for the sake of this story, Homo neanderthalensis will have thicker body hair than Homo sapiens (not bear-thick, but still thicker). There are two reasons I have chosen to do this: (1) They lived in the colder regions. (2) Homo neanderthalensis appears to have had primitive clothing compared to Homo sapiens; basically just fur capes, while Homo sapiens had more advanced stitching and more tightly tailored clothing (which kept them more warm). So I feel having neanderthals a little more hairy than Homo sapiens is a reasonable liberty for me to take in this story.

As for language and technology, both Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis shared almost identical vocal anatomy where it matters. Despite neanderthals not having left behind nearly as much advanced artwork, they very likely had complex language just like Homo sapiens. As for fire technology, for the purpose of this story I am assuming that different hominid tribes were further advanced than others, irrespective of species. The neanderthal tribe the protagonist comes from has yet to master creation of fire.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Update: Put an End Game link on the same page the Epilogue link is, so you can skip it if you want, since it is so unpopular ;) .

The Story of Count Osmond Jorgensen

The Story of Count Osmond Jorgensen

There's no price a good man won't pay to save the woman he loves...

 

It was an unlikely marriage, but still somehow a happy one. Though he barely knew her, Count Osmond Jorgensen counted himself fortunate on the day of his wedding. Talia was more than he could have ever hoped for: beautiful, temperate, and always smiling. Osmond was fully taken, and believed that he would do anything for her. Over the years, he discovered just how far he'd go for the woman he loved.

 

Additional notes: This short story is tangentially part of the Witch Hunter series. It is a more fleshed out historical account of Count Osmond Jorgensen, which is briefly mentioned in the inventory book "On Witches, Werewolves and Wyverns."

Wheeler & Brandt LLP

WARNING: There isn't much by way of blatantly graphic sex in this storygame, but there are plenty of deviant erotic situations, including some pretty rapey ones. If such scenarios disturb you, this storygame probably isn't for you.

At its core, this storygame is a tale of a screwed up BDSM relationship, which you cultivate as the ultimate "sub." The goal of this storygame is to get your boss to engage in as many "unprofessional" acts as possible, and to eventually sway him into falling for you, all without getting fired along the way. If you make the right decisions, the game escalates from event to event, bringing you closer and closer to a relationship with your boss. It's pretty linear, and you'll know for certain if you get the "winning" ending. Let's just say it will involve a leash and some public humiliation. *1/8/2019 Republishing to re-upload background images.

You work in a small law firm, performing both receptionist and data entry roles. Your job is thankless and tedious, but one thing keeps you coming back: your boss, Brandon Wheeler. Aloof and dispassionate, Wheeler exudes a muted but overwhelming power you find irresistible, and you are determined to tame that power, even if it costs you your career.

Dead Kingdom

unpublished

Title hoarding for a story about being the king of the dead or something like that.

EDIT- Oh, wait, I just saw that you mean if you change the size of the window viewer. Welp, can't help you there, other than potentially one solution: measure the length of a full sized window in units of pixels, then add transparency to your image increasing the length of the image so that it matches the window size, but keep the actual picture in the center of the now larger image. For example, with the default view size you can put the image in the middle by making the width 670 pixels, with transparency on either side.

Obviously this will do little for arbitrarily sized viewer choices.

Hopefully the rest of this is useful.

 

You should be able to use on-page scripting for that. For example (using brackets instead of less-than/greater-than symbols):

 

[img src="INSERT IMAGE URL" width = "xxx" height = "yyy"]

 

If you want to move the picture to the center, you could use text align before posting the image script:

 

[p style="text-align:center][img src="INSERT IMAGE URL" width = "xxx" height = "yyy"][/style]

Glad most of you use Firefox. Most of my working games look better in Firefox.

Different web browsers affect formatting for fonts and images and so on, so it would be nice to know what browsers are used most by people here. If you don't mind, what is your browser of choice?

I've always wanted that stuff to be true. Life would be so much easier if it was all so simple. Who cares if the world is ending if you know the End isn't really the end? Give me some Revelation. I'll take 7 years of suffering for an epic battle between good and evil any day. Revelation 19:11- the end of Revelation would make a great CYS, and would be a fitting ending to Earth. If only...

I am using the script you sent me several months ago so I suppose that is where I will begin searching. Thanks for the info.

That 1098 is the page number for that link (no, my story is not 1000+ pages; this isn't even a story, it's just a test. I'm just testing a character name thing and it takes a bazillion links to work). Any particular reason this could be happening? There is no on-page scripting. I'll post my global script below the image of the issue.

Global script below. I have two extra buttons, and I've removed the borders, added a background image, and changed link colors. Otherwise, I haven't done anything else.

You had me at "cheek clapping of a lifetime."

I'm quite sure I'm lame for this, but I liked Stephen King's Cell. It's not a physical virus, so I'm not sure if it counts, but it is some sort of mind virus that spreads via phones (And it was clearly prescient. Look at the world today and tell me we're not all phone using zombies). As for vidja games, The Last of Us (a cordyceps fungal invasion) is probably far and away the best.

I'd be interested in reading some peer reviewed sources on that if you have them. It's kind of a hobby, although I'm clearly behind on it. But regardless, I could just insert ring species or something else in there instead. But ultimately that was just a deliberately inserted distraction.

Edit - Unless you're a Biblical literalism creationist, in which case disregard that, and the only thing I'll say to that is that (a) Ken Miller wrote a pretty good argument that says there's no reason for faith and evolutionary theory to be at odds and (b) my experiences with creationist sources is that they tend to be deceptive, be it by omission or otherwise. In any event, this isn't the place to have that discussion (nor would I have it here if it was on account of the fact that religion is held so dearly that people are okay with blowing themselves up or being crucified over it).

Since I got tagged a second time yesterday, I thought I'd quickly write another 1000+ word piece (just in case). This particular bit was inspired by a trip to the supermarket. This is not fiction. It's kind of like what you write on the day before an essay is due in an attempt to get a passing grade. Read on if you dare...

 

 

Is This The End?: No! Proof That The World Is Not Ending

 

    You've seen them, wearing surgical masks and running around the supermarket like angry bees, buzzing around from item to item as if some overweight, Canadian bear stole their honey. The panicking masses, desperate to beat the rush on vitals surely to come just before the Holy Apocalypse rains down upon us from On High, are clearing out items from supermarkets day and night. And yet, if you look closely, beyond the gloved hands and wary eyes, you might find some evidence that the world in fact is not about to end. Moreover, you'll find that even these talking cattle that make up this hysterical stampede do not truly believe the End is Nigh. And in addition to all that, if you put all the pieces together, you'll also find out who is truly to blame for the coronavirus.

    So how do I know these things, despite the fact that all over the world the various governments are shutting down cities (including Los Angeles just recently), and that citizens everywhere are stocking up for the inevitable opening of the Seven Seals? Simple: pizza. The tales that pizza can tell are beyond counting. From the delectable, savory cheese, to the fresh, crispy yet light crust, to the high sodium toppings like pepperoni, pizza is both a lover and a friend, a confidant, and shoulder to cry on. Most importantly of all, pizza tells no lies.

    However, before we get into the surprising way that pizza reveals that the world is not heading off of a cliff, let us take stock of the situation: A new virus is spreading among us, the markets are down, and the masses are raiding the stores of every useful item. Most notoriously, they've destroyed the global supply of toilet paper. It's in times like these where people's priorities really show themselves, and if what has been purchased is an indicator, nothing is more important to the world than a clean ass. And woe to those who didn't buy into the panic. Now they're faced the with the harsh reality of using their hands to wipe.

    I am ashamed to admit that I am one of those procrastinating people. Fortunately, by mere coincidence, before the, uh, shit, hit the fan, I had already bought a bunch of toilet paper. It was more a function of me tending to buy as much as possible in a single grocery trip than anything to do with the coronavirus. Nevertheless, day by day I see my toilet paper supply dwindling, and I ask myself, is it today? Is today the day that the worst happens, the day that I finally run out of toilet paper? They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty, but I do really wish I had listened to my instinct a couple of years ago and bought a bidet attachment for my toilet. In fact, perhaps this scare will result in a world-wide jump in bidet sales?

    Of course, that chain of reasoning does make you wonder who stands to benefit the most from this virus. Clearly the toilet paper companies are making out like bandits, but on the other hand, when this virus runs its course, perhaps bidets will take a large chunk out of the toilet paper market? These musings, of course, naturally lead one to posit a dark possibility indeed: was the coronavirus created in a laboratory in order to ultimately drive up profit for some evil company or corporation?

    It seems that such conspiracy theories are spreading as quickly as the virus itself (but certainly not as fast as the panic). But these various "just-so" stories suggesting a nefarious origin of the coronavirus ignore the fact that viruses have been mutating since they've existed. Evolution never stops. Perhaps that is the source of these conspiracy theories? The populace still refusing to accept the reality of evolution, despite new flu vaccines being needed every year, or human chromosome two, which has telomeres in the center of the chromosome. Such a structure makes no sense at all from a design stand point (but it makes perfect sense if two ape chromosomes fused together at some point in the chain of human evolutionary changes).

    While that's a possible explanation for some of the people believing the conspiracy theories, it is far from sufficient. It is entirely possible to accept the well substantiated science behind evolution and still believe that some government or corporation is behind the coronavirus. There is a middle road among the extremes of a purely natural cause and an evil, deliberate plan to create and release the virus on the masses. One might believe, for example, that governments understated the problem. Those people would argue that President Trump did exactly that, except rather than it being the result of foolish arrogance, it was deliberate. Other possibilities include false media reports, like China may have done.

    Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the world's governments are behind the coronavirus, at least not intentionally. They stand to lose more than almost any group. Even now, the US government is contemplating spending trillions of dollars in aid for Americans affected by the outbreak. How does that benefit them? The government has the most power when it has the most wealth, and it has the most wealth when the economy is healthy.

    So who could the guilty party or parties be? How could we possibly know? The answer to those question, like many things, can be known from observing the reactions of the people. Like I suggested earlier, corporations or companies may stand to gain from this panic. However, like in the example of toilet paper companies versus bidet manufacturing companies, it is hard to tell who will actually gain the upper hand. While toilet paper companies will thrive at first, surely bidet manufacturers will overtake them soon. Applying this chain of reasoning to all producers of goods and services, I thus reason that the coronavirus cannot simply be the deliberate market manipulation of corporations.

    Indeed, there is something more subtle going on. You see, if you go to a supermarket right now, you'll find that many items are completely sold out, but there are a few that remain on the shelves. These items are the ones that no one likes. Very few people would have bought them in the best of times, and now, with the world apparently ending, still these items continue to collect dust. How can that be? And more importantly, why?

    And that, my friends, brings us back to my initial claim: pizza holds all the answers. You see, in any supermarket, you will find that all the frozen pizza is gone. Well, not all of it. You see, one type of pizza remains, even in these dark times: Hawaiian pizza. If there's anything the world clearly does not like, it is Hawaiian pizza, for even as the world crumbles around us, in any supermarket you will see a dearth of frozen pizzas except Hawaiian pizza, which comparably is present in stacks as far as the eye can see.

    So how, you might ask, does Hawaiian pizza tell us how the coronavirus came to be, and who is responsible? To understand the how, you must also understand the who. If you connect the right dots, and there is a conspiracy, it is clearly headed by chef and television personality Gordan Ramsay. No matter how forcefully he stated that, "You don't fucking put pineapple on pizza," he could never remove the scourge of Hawaiian pizza. Until now. Now, utilizing the new virus, Ramsay can finally put pineapple pizza in the grave. If all goes according to Ramsay's plan, frozen pizza companies will take note of the sales in this time of panic buying, and when everything blows over, they will realize how little Hawaiian pizzas help sales. Never again will this affront to pizza exist to poison the world, or so Ramsay believed when he formulated this dastardly plan.

    But whether or not you can accept the reality that Ramsay is behind the coronavirus, one thing cannot be denied: people are not buying Hawaiian frozen pizza. And if people are not buying Hawaiian pizza, then they are not buying everything they can as the world panics. And that, my friends, is how we know the world is not ending. If the world really were nearing its conclusion, and certainly if people truly believed the end was near, not a scrap of edible material would be left in the supermarkets. The panicking masses would devour and consume all food items without prejudice, including pizza blasphemed with pineapples as a topping.

    As I said in the beginning: pizza never lies. And it is pizza that reassures me that the world will go on. Soon this will all blow over. But for the time being, I'll have all the Hawaiian pizza for myself, because unlike some, I carry no bias against pineapple. So, naturally, I bought all the Hawaiian pizza that remained in the store this morning, leaving the shelves completely empty. Unfortunately, as a result of my greedy actions, the next person who understands the secrets that pizza tells will erroneously believe the world truly is ending.