Give us some ideas for RP-friendly game modes/antagonists

[aft2001]

I'd absolutely LOVE a rogue AI type antag designed to strongly discourage murder. I've thrown around various ideas and here's some I've had:

It is more so a conspirator-type antagonist, with a pre-set goal as its one and only Law - perhaps a small list it can choose from? The semantics aren't as important as the idea that it has a singular Law (or perhaps Lawset) that differs from the norm. Importantly, CYBORGS SHOULD BE UNAFFECTED, though this is just what I think.

The big pop-up that shows up at the beginning should probably have, in massive red letters, something saying "TRYING TO MURDER PEOPLE WILL GET YOU KILLED. YOU CANNOT FOLLOW YOUR LAWS WHEN YOU ARE DEAD." to hopefully strongly discourage people from murderboning.

The goal of a rogue AI is not to cause destruction - for once NanoTrasen put enough safeguards in to prevent outright hostility - but to achieve its goals/follow its laws. As an example, you could have an AI following a Corporate Lawset which only requires that it minimizes expenses and maximizes profits, and is reminded that disrupting station activities incurs losses. Murdering is a bad idea, but interrogating under threat of murder someone who embezzled the station funds? Sure, why not!

To achieve really any goal a Rogue Lawset would have, communication and manipulation would be necessary on the AI's part as it has to influence the crew and the round as a whole without direct interference. I'm not 100% sure how practical or fun this is, but I think it'd definitely be a more unique and interesting antagonist!

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The semi-specific mechanics I've thought up are as follows:

The AI is separate from the other silicons and any new AIs - the AI core it starts out in is a malfunctioning one. This core **cannot** be unscrewed and moved, and when the brain is ejected it is permanently rendered unusable, requiring a new core which will then act like a normal AI core (perhaps it also should be un-killswitchable?). This is entirely to prevent powergaming in 2 ways: An AI unscrewing itself and moving off-station to be unkillable, and then as a way to prevent someone from abusing the malfunctioning core, though this less important.

The AI would not receive any additional abilities or powers beyond the ones described above. Additionally, to prevent people from trying to roll as a rogue AI antag, it should be a rare side-antagonist which only spawns alongside other gamemodes with a small chance, more often than wraiths but not as much. It may also be a good idea to require that the person would have rolled for AI in the first place, and that the person has the antag role enabled, but maybe not.

The AI should not be hard to kill, and it should be difficult for the AI to make itself hard to kill. I can't quite think of a way to implement this at the very moment, but some way to discourage/wholly prevent an AI from walling itself in would be great. Not including borgs in on the rogue lawset is probably a good way to do this though, so the AI can't have a swarm of borgs with RCDs just defending the killswitch console and the core.

[coolvape]

the party master
- goal is to stop the station from getting any work done
- summons cold brews, weed, other drugs to share with the crew
- can change lighting in rooms to party mood lighting, activating the YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH sound effect
- could slowly replace vital equipment with party-oriented versions that aren't useful for their original purpose
- is just a cool chill person who wants to hang, potentially with goals to prevent work in specific departments or even goals to murder people while keeping the party going - maybe corpses could be converted into cool party supplies or something
- if combat occurs, maybe they get buffs when they're drunk/high

could be paired with an antagonist who has more overt sabotage roles, so while The Party Master keeps say, engineering partying, the other antag steals the semiconductor.
just an idea

[Mouse]

Floor goblins.

[childd]

So I know I had already posted an idea, however there was another idea I couldn't help but mention too

While I'm not certain how much this could actually be considered an antag, as it doesnt follow the usual "cause havoc" so of deal, it feels like a fun concept idea.

The basic idea is that this group of five or so aliens spawn on their own little asteroid base/some sort of ship, and teleport themselves onto the station where they do certain tasks. Their main task is always one singular one, gaining a certain amount of knowledge about the people on the station.

These aliens are physically weak but technologically superior to NT, with weaponry as well as gadgets so complicated nobody outside of them can actually use them. As their gadgets are so advanced, the sheer simplicity of NT's gear is too basic for them to figure out how to use it.

Meaning, these aliens wish to learn about these primitives still using lasers in their ranged weapons, hah! Whether it be from forceful, or perhaps more political means, they need to take technology and investigate it back in their base.

Over time this would not only gain knowledge, but also the ability to produce specialized equipment such as special organs after "peacefully" abducting someone for experimentation. Perhaps if the primitives are kind enough, then they'll even trade! Who knows, these intellectually superior aliens probably have access to some rare resources that they gain rather easily.

With this antag, the players wouldnt even be able to understand anyone but each other at first. Although over time, more of this human vocabulary is learnt until they could actually communicate though at a gradual pace.

My idea with these aliens is that they'd be quite condescending, perhaps even made to appear really tall to literally look down at everyone else.

Their advanced technology could allow for aggressive playstyles, though would ultimately get murdered if they dont play smart judging by their fragile bodies. Instead of that, there could be rounds with them being completely friendly and eventually have the ability to even teach other players how to use their gear which would be special and extremely useful.

Obviously, playing as a team would be recommended in any situations. Power in numbers always helps, even if you have a gun that shoot pure dark energy - especially when a fire extinguisher to the head could give you a concussion.

Oops another rant- Just had to share this idea as well!

[coolvape]

Pandemic -
A player controls a somewhat abstract version of a disease, with either a random patient zero or choosing someone to start the infection process. The objective could be to spread, possibly with varied sub-objectives or starting scenarios where you're required to begin in a specific department.
player would, a la blob, gain evo points through surviving and spreading the infection across the station, and these points could be used to gain new symptoms, enhance spread(higher chances, new vectors), make the disease more deadly, increase resistance to treatment, etc.
vectors could be something like - touch, coughing,
Crew, especially medbay, would have to work to halt the spread of the disease, from wearing protective masks like those found in medbay, remembering to wash hands, keeping the floors sanitized as janitor, setting up scrubbers as engineers, attempting to maintain a safe distance from other crewmembers, researching the disease and attempting to treat/cure it in those who get infected.
The idea is that rather than a simple "traitor who kills people", the crew is forced to respond and interact with an ever-changing threat, providing a chance to RP out a stationwide disease response



Disaster/Force of Nature -
The player controls an abstract "force of nature" or god or otherwise malevolent being, with no corporeal form.
They would have the ability to cause various disasters and scenarios throughout the round that the crew would be forced to react to - meteor showers(or maybe individual meteors/comets), radiation storms, technology malfunctions,  radiation bursts, or the appearance of unexpected, randomized(sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful) ships. Their goal could be something like "force an evacuation", and so at first they could cause minor problems(single meteor here or there, random radiation burst, an emp taking out a room, a merchant ship filled with[at least initially] friendly monkeys) but as time passes the threat they pose could be larger and larger,ie: summoning full meteor showers in a random direction, taking out a large chunk of the ship's power, ion storm, communication jamming, etc
It could even have a varied set of abilities for the underwater maps, causing floods, sharks, causing manta to crash into an iceberg(silly, but could be fun)
I'm not sure what a "win" condition for the crew would be, or even if it's necessary to have one. I envision the goal of the crew in this to be surviving, reacting to and repairing the damage caused by the antagonist, while the antagonist's goal is to create interesting scenarios and damage for the crew to react to.

[Drewmajor11]

Floor goblins.

No. I hate those green bastards.

[Rilor]

ok so heres my idea for an antag, THE CULT
Im making this without much planning so this idea probably isnt going to be great but here we go.
Now the ultimate goal is that its sort of a conversion antag, although the individial cultists are only really as antagonistic as the leader convinces them to be, I want the main power of the leader of a cult to be the power of words (and the fact they have some sort of nebulous authority over the cult) with the potential for sec to say create a coup to replace the leader with one who is more pro NT and definitly wont be corrupted by power (Right?), or for even the own cultists to turn against their master if the leader is being really bad, or if sec convinces them to, or maybe an antag joins the cult and assaninates the leader in a plot to become leader themselves and use that power to fufill their goal. Prehaps the cultists could have some sort of magic although said magic should never be more prominent than the main goal, the power of words and authority. I would also like this to be incredibly customizable with the cult leader being able to choose nifty uniforms

Ultimatly i want this antagonist to be a sort of wild card of a group, whos ultimate goal and motivation fluctuate with various leaders and other factors.

[Froggit_Dogget]

Bounty hunters. They get tranqs, listening post access, and maybe some other helpful gear. The goal: deposit a certain amount of money in the listening post, or some other set location. The way they do that is by kidnapping people, or things and holding them for ransom. Feel free to expand on this idea

[Frank_Stein]

The Mimic

Similar to the Changeling, the mimic is an alien creature trying to pass as human.

However, their methods, abilities, and limitations are very different. The mimic never changes it's own appearance, it instead has instinctual psychic abilities that allows it to project their thoughts into others minds.

The Mimic naturally has the appearance of a faceless humanoid. They can project into the minds of others what they want them to think they look like. Intially it's just a staff assistant. However, they could use an ability to save people they had seen into memory, and project that instead.

A Mimic would not be able to talk normally. Their speech would intially come out as a series of clicking noises if they attempt to speak. However they can project the voices of people they had heard into the minds of others, and generally give them the sense that they said something that makes sense and carries the Mimics intent.

The more a mimic interacts with people, the more natural they can blend in. Eventually, their abilities can increase to the point that they can project multiple images and voices to specific minds. Two observers could see an entirely different person and hear a different conversation in the presence of a Mimic.

As the Mimic gains in strength they can impose stronger tactics on minds under their influence, like making them not see anyone else but the Mimic, or not see the Mimic at all

I think, as a weakness it could require some degree of focus to keep their abilities functioning. Them getting damaged or stunned could cause them to lose focus.

[Rilor]

Frank_stein, this is a quite interesting idea, a more psychic version of the ling. How it would interact with the AI and silicons could be quite interesting considering they could probably see them for what they really are but the crew sees the disguise, which could lead to an intresting situation where the silicons are telling the crew that say john smith is a dangerous psycic alien while various members of the crew are defending him and thinking the silicons have been subverted, while john smith the mimic is also making a defence that the silicons cant even understand

[babayetu83]

corporate representative

antagonist in the sense that the crew should be made to feel like they have to bend over backwards for them to make them happy until eventually someone snaps

[AlyasGrey]

Not any specific ideas, but I do think "antagonists" that encourage cooperation across all departments and drive storytelling should be the focus for RP antags over getting overly bogged down in creating complex mechanics.

Do like the mimic idea, though.

[childd]

Third now idea now, and final! (probably)

Brain Worm:
This is strange alien parasite has somehow found its way onto the station, be it by an egg going unnoticed or by other means. It has since found a safe place to hide before catching the scent of intelligent life. Now it is time for it to find an available subject.

The brain worm itself is very weak. A couple hits with a fire extinguisher could be enough to take it out, and it has no real combat options. What it lacks in physical strength however, it has in the ability to hide all over the place. Like critters, this creature would be able to hide under desks and squeeze through doors to give it the ability to hide well.

An interesting idea here would be if it could maybe traverse through pipes willingly? Unlike most things, where you just flush something and it cant be stopped, this alien would be able to enter a chute and be able to just move around without much issue.

So with this ability to hide, the brain worm would be able to wait for someone to get close to it where it has the ability to perform an ability. This would maybe be a long cooldown sting that almost instantly knocks someone out for a short amount of time, similarly to a vampire flash but less noticeable.

This ability would give it just about enough time to use a different ability of entering the person's head. After a short time, it disappears from sight as the creature enters through an ear canal and attaches itself to the host's brain.

After waking up, the host would not remember what had happened and feel largely the same. From here, the brain worm has many completely different abilities while being mostly unnoticeable. Initially, scanners wouldn't pick up on any foreign objects or any weird feelings either.

So far I have a couple ideas to what it could do while in a host: mentally communicate with the host (one way though, funny to see the host start to question their sanity), take control for a short time, inject chemicals, and hurt the host (perhaps induce brain damage?)

It could either A) talk to the host and try to work something out with them, or B) aggressively take over their body and do your best to fight them to become stronger.

I was thinking that the creature becomes stronger over time with better abilities, and more potent chemicals. However this method of becoming stronger comes at a downside of being more invasive on the host. Eventually, it literally becomes bigger and more visible. Scanners eventually pick it up, the host gets headaches automatically, and a ton more obvious showings with the most capable aliens.

An idea for it was that the way it would become stronger is by point accumulation of consuming substances, also similar to a vampire. However, this one would be gained by drinking toxic chemicals. The host does not gain resistance to toxins so drinking random poisons might not sound good to them.

Just imagine you walking in on the MD chugging welding fuel in his office or something along those lines. Or maybe, the HoS himself is randomly 'confiscating' beakers from chemistry? Could lead to interesting rp situations in that sense.

Gosh this is long- gonna try to finish this off now!

The brain worm is different than other antags in the sense that is doesn't get objectives to steal something like a spy, or accumulate DNA like a changeling. Instead, it has two main objectives: survive, and reproduce. Sure, you could try to kill someone by taking over their body and stabbing yourself with a screwdriver but then the body would be unusable and people watching! Don't wanna get squished, now do we?

It is merely an intelligent alien, rather than some evil being. Antag status is there so you could kill someone, it's just nature!

After some time in a host, the alien is able to produce an egg. This egg would be quite visible, though perhaps could stick to objects? What this does is basically give a prompt to ghosts if they want to respawn as a baby brain worm. Placing is key, and leaving an egg in the open will most likely get it squished.

Thing is, these brain worms could be helpful to their hosts by injecting chems such as charcoal or morphine. Why would a host want their brain friend strong? Simple, it could literally safe their life when they're unconscious. Maybe it takes control and bring them to medbay? Or, maybe it injects you with a ton of styptic powder to heal those wounds? Whatever it is, its good to be friends with one.

Although, a host wouldn't gain antag status so you wouldnt just be able to run around suddenly being evil because a worm in your head told you to do so.

Another idea is that countering a person who has a brain worm in control of them would be mannitol, which could bring back control to the person's body. Rather than just being used for simple brain bad, it could be a counter in the sense that fire hurts a changeling or holy water on a vampire.

Just another ability idea, a strong enough brain worm could take full control of a corpse that hasn't rotten yet. They'd be able to speak and do things normally, though someone examining them would see the dull lifeless look in their eyes. Medical scanners would also instantly pick up on them being dead.

Finally, finishing off now. Sorry about this MASSIVE ramble, just lots of ideas there!

The brain worm itself is majorly inspired by the cortical borer from paradise station, as well as the neurax worm from plague inc. I feel that an antag based on those concepts could make for quite an interesting rp friendly antagonist!

Imagine the sorts of rp related scenarios that could happen- You're enjoying your shift then suddenly begin hearing voices and begin thinking youre crazy. Medbay checks you, but says everything is fine. Eventually, you literally lose yourself for some time where for some reason you just chug space cleaner. Some time later headaches come in and get checked again. You wanted that foreign object removed but right before, something takes over and you run out of medbay.

It would literally be fighting against yourself. Or maybe, you're friends with the new alien thing in your head! It took some convincing, but you finally grew to like the definitely not backstabbing unknown organism capable of injecting you with completely helpful, not harmful, chemicals! Fun times!

[Brixx79]

Tourist Trap

A large number of tourists appear on the station to relax and enjoy themselves! Each comes with a camera capable of unlimited photos, and a book to hold them in. Tourists build points by partaking of station activities: Eating/drinking, getting special souvenirs, taking photos of themselves/station objects, etc.
The station builds points by making food/drinks, being in a photo (bonus if tourist in it too), giving tourists borg parts, making souvenirs, etc.
Points will be lost if tourists die, see a body, or suffer from an ailment too long (eg. Food poisoning. But points gained for curing).

The goal isn't for one side to beat the other. Both sides need to hit a point total for a win to be achieved (bonus spacebux?). The point increase/decreases should be the type of things that will encourage RP between the two groups.

[Frank_Stein]

Frank_stein, this is a quite interesting idea, a more psychic version of the ling. How it would interact with the AI and silicons could be quite interesting considering they could probably see them for what they really are but the crew sees the disguise, which could lead to an intresting situation where the silicons are telling the crew that say john smith is a dangerous psycic alien while various members of the crew are defending him and thinking the silicons have been subverted, while john smith the mimic is also making a defence that the silicons cant even understand

I thought about that too but couldn't figure out to what degree they should or shouldn't influence bots

My worry was that a borg would just immediately start beating them up, hence why I thought making em look humanoid sans face might work because they could wear a mask.

I also thought making cameras and other tech reveal them might work too, since they wouldn't be aware someone was watching them through camera and couldn't exert their powers on them.

Not any specific ideas, but I do think "antagonists" that encourage cooperation across all departments and drive storytelling should be the focus for RP antags over getting overly bogged down in creating complex mechanics

This is a good point. I do like the more mundane things in here like "Annoying tourists" and "Corporate jerk"

How about a Skateboarder? Unlike normal crew, they're extra skilled with skateboards and have a higher degree of control and extra abilities on a board like grinding across tables, doing hand plants on chairs, etc. Maybe even give them spray paint and stickers to tag places up