39,327
edits
Systems Malfunction: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.SystemsMalfunction 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.SystemsMalfunction, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 36:
* [[Big Word Shout]]: This being a LARP, there's plenty of opportunity for the players to get in on this.
* [[Black and Gray Morality]]: The closest thing to good guys in the setting are the forces of the benign dictatorship who are trying to control galactic society for the greater good. On the other hand, you have DEMONS TRYING TO RAPE THE MULTIVERSE. Every shade of dark-gray in between is represented as well.
** It's notable that the "black" part of this comes mostly from completely inhuman entities like [[Our Demons Are Different|demons]], [[Cosmic Horror|incomprehensible]] [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|aliens]], and [[AI Is a Crapshoot|insane computers]]. When you look at just the human side of the story, it becomes much more of a [[Gray and Grey Morality]]: With the exception of a few [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]] (see below), most humans (and Xel, Celestials, etc.) can't be described as entirely good or entirely evil. The [[
** It is possible to play a heroic character, just don't expect to survive long.
* [[Chewing the Scenery]]: This is the inevitable outcome when you have non-actors engaging in what is essentially dramatic improv.
Line 71:
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Malcolm [[De Salvo]]. Martin Lyesmith and Vivian/Lucian Delacroix come close, but they at least LOST something meaningful. (Lyesmith was forced to [[Temporal Paradox|go back in time]] and [[By His Bootstraps|rebuild his empire from scratch]], and Delacroix did suffer the indignity of [[Death Is Cheap|losing]] [[Cloning Blues|a clone duplicate]].) [[De Salvo]] got away with his many, many crimes scot free.
** [[De Salvo]] didn't exactly escape retribution. He was [[Kill It With Fire|immolated]] TWICE, and [[No Range Like Point Blank Range|fatally shot point blank in the face]] immediately after one occasion that could be considered the character's second of two very distinct [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|crowning moments of awesome]]. [[Cloning Blues|However, thanks to cloning technology, he survived all of this with little more permanent damage than a lingering sense of existential angst.]]
** Xeer came VERY close to fitting this trope, but doesn't quite make it: He never actually suffered ANY retribution for all the horrible, absolutely unforgivable things he did, including but not at all limited to [[Villainous Demotivator|constantly beating his only two allies]], [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder|betraying and eventually murdering two of his former allies]], and [[Cold
** Xeer really wasn't that bad, however--[[Ax Crazy|space geologist cum mass murderer William Flagg]] simply went into an extended period of rehab, and is doing much better now, thank you. The same cannot be said for his many, many victims.
* [[Magitek]]: Aetherial machines are rare in-universe, but tend to be pretty significant when the pop up. Psionically powered machines such as the Amplifier Jackhammer also exist.
Line 78:
* [[Instant Awesome Just Add Dragons]]: On exactly two occasions, actual reptilian fire-breathing dragons have appeared in game, [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere|randomly appearing on a planet and kicking ass before flying off]]. The game creator's ''only'' explanation as to why dragons even exist in the Systems Malfunction setting? [[Rule of Cool|"Because dragons are cool."]]
** Averted with the Aether Nightwyrms, as their existence in the setting actually has an in-game explanation. Though despite their draconic appearance, they're technically [[Our Spirits Are Different|spirits]], not actual dragons.
* [[Magnificent Bastard]]: Martin Lyesmith, Vivian/Lucian Delacroix, and the entire Page and Stanslick families, among others. Carter also has shades of this despite being the [[Designated Hero]]. Morgan Robespierre's whole appeal is that he SEEMS like this to his supporters, though he's really much more of a [[Complete Monster]]. Most of all, Sigmus the Fallen is the definitive Magnificent Bastard, with shades of [[Anti
* [[Mini Mecha]]: Jackhammers are 9-foot tall 2-ton powered armors, which can be specialized for nearly any combat role. [[Humongous Mecha]] are also present in-universe, it's just hard for these to be represented in a [[LARP]].
* [[Mix and Match Weapon]]: The abovementioned Chainsword is one. There's also a Sniper Rifle/Longsword combo, an Anti-Tank Rifle/Greatsword combo, and the Xel Force Cube which can function as a dagger and a psi-gun. A Scientist-class character could conceivably make one using the custom weapon creation rules.
Line 119:
* [[Spirit World]]: The Aether is basically this.
* [[Street Samurai]]: Was one of the five original character classes. Characters of that class invoke the trope to varying degrees depending on their skill selection, installed cyberware, etc.
* [[Stupid Evil]]: [[Ax Crazy|Jack Phantom]], [[Sinister Minister|Reverend Langston]], [[Punch Clock Villain|Morton]], [[Vigilante Man|Martin]] [[Nightmare Fuel
** The RIA's mass-produced Replicant agents, the Midnight Sons' Sub-Dominant slave guards, and the Collective Automata's exterminators are all [[Informed Flaw|supposedly unintelligent]] [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|according to their game stats]], but they almost never say or do anything stupid.
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: The two best examples: One character trying to start a wildfire (for legitimate tactical reasons) decided to do so by [[Playing With Fire|going right up to a car's gas tank and using pyrokinesis to light it on fire]]. It's notable that with his powers he could've lit the car on fire from a safe distance, with absolutely no drawbacks to doing so. Another character was trying to repair a damaged power station and decided to [[Shock and Awe|use his own body to complete a broken circuit]], even though all he had to do to get the power going again was press a switch in another area of the station to turn on a backup generator. Oh, the best part? Both of these characters were, [[Informed Ability|going by game stats alone]], [[Know
** One early character was a vampire who decided to drink the blood of a [[Physical God|GOD]] of ICE AND LIGHT. He immediately froze, shattered, and exploded.
*** Subverted when another, much smarter vampire later on tried the same thing- and on [[Kill It With Fire|an elemental god of FIRE]], no less- only this vampire knew that it would kill him, and did so anyway to gain a portion of the god's power and knowledge, having [[Thanatos Gambit|already ensured]] [[Death Is Cheap|that he'd come back to life later]]. It actually worked out for him pretty well.
** Several characters have died solely because of their inability to use or understand subtlety, for instance a bounty hunter who decided to announce "I'm here for the reward on your head" to his target, or a [[Informed Ability|stealth assassin]] who [[So Much for Stealth|loudly yelled]] [[Captain Obvious|"I'm a STEALTH ASSASSIN here to kill you all"]] [[What an Idiot!|to a room full of intended victims who outnumbered him by about seven-to-one]].
** This more fits into [[Death By Materialism]], but one character witnessed a soldier [[Eaten Alive|being devoured whole]] [[Nightmare Fuel|by a swarm cloud of ravenous cybernetic insect-bats]] and decided to run INTO the swarm cloud instead of away from it because, hey, some of that soldier's gear and money was still intact and he just had to try and get his hands on it!
* [[World of Badass]]: The character creation system ensures that, even if a given character is not a robot, vampire, cyber-angel, cyborg, psionicist, or magician, they are at the very least a [[Badass Normal]].
| |||