TMUK Text Adventures #1: Chapter 3 - Locked Down

[Stomski]

Overview
The team has crashed into a mysterious space station. Pursued by terrifying creatures, you'll solve puzzles room by room, relying on the abilities of all the members of the team. But be warned, there are more dangers than just those that lurk in the shadows... A wrong move can result in characters being lost, new ones found to join your party and your skills may change as you go. Can you keep Shockprowl alive and get him to safety by escaping the hive?

The rules:
When you join play, each player must select one of the party’s characters from those available (Note that forum user Shockprowl will be automatically assigned the player character Shockprowl.) Should a player wish to drop out, they are free to do so, and their character actions shall then be controlled by the game.

For each turn, every player must submit an action before the resolution is given, if no action is given within the allotted time period, the character shall be considered to be resting unless the rest of the team is moving to another location. Any action is available to your character, but depending on what it is a skill check may be required against the most relevant character stat. Multiple characters can choose to do the same action meaning that a skill check is more likely to pass. Some characters will even have special command actions they can perform. As you progress, you may even unlock more. If you wish to direct a non-player character to perform an action, you can do so in addition to your own, however they shall respond in character and may not do what you ask of them.

When moving from one location to another, the team moves together on majority vote.

Each character also has their own inventory, these are tracked on the character sheets below.

Points:
Players can earn points as a team or individually for solving puzzles, finding items or key locations. Points are the primary way that a character has their advancement tracked or unlocking new abilities.

For every 5 points a character gains, you can also increase a stat (or maximum in the case of stamina) by 1 point. A stat may never be increased above 20.

Stats and skill checks:
The characters can perform any action, but depending on what it is they may need to perform a skill check against the stats that may be relevant. E.g. forcing a door will require a check against strength, jumping a gap against agility.

Each character has the following stats assigned to them;
- Agility
- Strength
- Intelligence
- Stamina

When a skill check is performed 2 variables need to be taken into account, the character’s stat (s) being checked and a value assigned to the difficulty of the task (t).

A random number shall be generated between 1 and 20 (r). If s+r >= t, then the skill check shall have succeeded and the action shall have been completed.

Players won’t know the exact difficulty of the task until after it has been attempted, but it shall likely be inferred from the story text.

Exhausting:
A character's stamina will reduce when performing actions or through other in game effects. If a character's Stamina is reduced to 0, the character is exhausted and can not continue. The player shall be out of the game until either another character is found in game by the party that they wish to play, or if the party can find a way to increase the character’s stamina again through revival. Note that normal means of increasing stamina can not be used for a revival. Stamina can never be increased beyond its starting level.

If Shockprowl's stamina is reduced to 0, the game is lost and you shall restart the entire chapter with the same characters, stats and items giving you an advantage on the next play through. The hive is not always what it seems though so do not expect it to be exactly the same.

[Stomski]

Character Sheets (stats, commands and inventory)

Shockprowl
Player: Shockprowl

Agility	6
Strength	6
Intelligence	12
Stamina	8 (10)
Points	1

Character specific commands:
SHOCKWAVE - An uncontrollable force, reduces stamina to 1 and may have unpredictable effects.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 5 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 15 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 30 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at ? ? ?

Inventory:
(Empty)

---

Lister
Player: (none)

Agility	5
Strength	9
Intelligence	10
Stamina	10
Points	3

Character specific commands:
RALLY - Give a pep talk to your team to raise morale. May increase chances of success of skill checks.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 5 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 15 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 30 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at ? ? ?

Inventory:
Bazookoid - A mining tool that fires a directed energy blast.

---

Cat
Player: Grand Moff Muffin

Agility	12
Strength	7
Intelligence	5
Stamina	10 (10)
Points	2

Character specific commands:
DANCE - Seemingly useless, but damn do you look good.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 5 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 15 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 30 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at ? ? ?

Inventory:
Shiny Yo-Yo

---

Rimmer
Player: (none)

Agility	6
Strength	1
Intelligence	7
Stamina	20 (20)
Points	2

Character specific commands:
PHASE - Being made of soft light, Rimmer can move parts of his body through solid objects. However, he can not move entirely the way through on account of his physical Light Bee projecting his form.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 5 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 15 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 30 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at ? ? ?

Inventory:
(Empty)

---

Kryten
Player: Pinwig

Agility	2
Strength	8
Intelligence	12+1
Stamina	6 (12)
Points	10

Character specific commands:
TUNE LEFT NIPPLE - Use to pick up shortwave radio signals.
UNIVERSAL TRANSLATE - Translate most languages (Unlocked at 5 points.)
? ? ? - Unlocked at 15 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at 30 points.
? ? ? - Unlocked at ? ? ?

Inventory:
Metal Rod - A foot long rod of strong metal

[Stomski]

Links to story progression:
Chapter 1: You awake in a room... (30/250)
Chapter 2: The search for Mr. K. (102/250)
3.01: Locked Down
3.02: Don't you remember?
3.03: Time for a cat nap
3.04: If this was Knightmare, that skin'd be peeling off the skull right now
3.05: Nice shot!
3.06: Seems like that floor is resistant
3.xx: ? ? ? ?
...

[Stomski]

Locked Down

Muffled voices call to you through the ringing deafness as your eyes regain their focus from the dark. You feel the warmth of a fire on your cheek as your senses slowly come back, your whole body hurts, you raise your hand instinctively to check your head where it hurts the most and check... Thankfully there's no blood.

The voices become more discernible as the ringing subsides. In a Liverpudlian accent you hear "Come on... come on...", you focus on the man speaking to see Dave from before glancing around his surroundings whilst keeping most of his attention on you. He speaks urgently and catches that you're conscious.

"You alright man... was quite a crash we got through."

Looking around you see that you have apparently been pulled from the wreckage of the burning ship, its entry way now blocked by fire and debris. The other crew members are investigating the room you're in.

"Seems like some kind of holding cell." the man with the H on his head says.

"Yeah, but for who?" says the smartly dressed man.

You start to survey your surroundings yourself. The walls are definitely man made, strong looking metal. A sealed robust door lies across the room, a surveillance camera above it and no windows that you can make out. In front of you there's a raised platform of some kind, almost like a small pedestal. At least you're clothed this time you think to yourself. Debris hangs from the ceiling where the ship crashed through.

"Ah good, you're awake." says the Robot. "I've checked you over sir, and you have no major injuries, but we had to make an emergency exit from the ship."

Dave interjects "We grabbed what we could, which wasn't much, but at least we're seemingly safe for now. Let me introduce you to The Boys From the Dwarf... I'm Dave Lister, this is Kryten. That Smeghead over there is Rimmer and finally Cat."

Kryten nods in acknowledgement of the introduction. "If we are to get out of this mess and work as a team, perhaps in the future it would make more sense to operate in third person mode?"

You nod in dazed confusion.

Kryten continues "Activate third person mode. Third person mode activated..."

Location:	Holding Cell
Connected Locations (0/1):	-
Uninvestigated POI:	4

[Pinwig]

Hello, hello, hello!!

I'll go Kryten if I may.

[Shockprowl]

HE'S BACK!

[Stomski]

Aug 26, 2020 11:03:08 GMT Shockprowl said:

HE'S BACK!

Hey man, this is all YOU.

[Shockprowl]

Aug 26, 2020 11:37:54 GMT Stomski said:

Aug 26, 2020 11:03:08 GMT Shockprowl said:

HE'S BACK!

Hey man, this is all YOU.

YOU ARE NOT A PART OF MY MIND, STOMSKI!

YOU CAN'T BE! I'M NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AT THEE BEATS AS YOU ARE!

[Pinwig]

*reads back through description link*

Man oh man, there's a lot to remember here. We haven't done this since last May!

[Stomski]

Aug 26, 2020 12:27:38 GMT Pinwig said:

*reads back through description link*

I just figured you guys wouldn't remember the continuity, so thought I'd need to link to it. There's not going to be any relying on old info in the puzzles, just references to old plot points in the narrative.

Now - who else is playing? I look forward to Blue taking Rimmer and trying to punch walls only for his soft-light fist to fly straight through it.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

OK, I'll take the Cat because expectations on him to do anything useful will be low, and any positive contribution from him a bonus.

Martin

[Pinwig]

That gives you the highest agility, so you're climbing through all the tiny awkward holes first :)

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Aug 26, 2020 18:04:39 GMT Pinwig said:

That gives you the highest agility, so you're climbing through all the tiny awkward holes first

Only if properly motivated to do so.

Martin

[Stomski]

Alright, I think we've had enough time for sign ups. People are free to drop in/out as they want.

Does Shockprowl understand his involvement?

[Shockprowl]

I do not.

[Stomski]

Aug 28, 2020 8:42:12 GMT Shockprowl said:

I do not.

Martin controls Cat, Pinwig controls Kryten, you control Shockprowl.

Shockprowl won't do anything unless you enter commands. Just do what you would do given the situation. It's part role playing game at this point. The only caveat is that the team can't split up into separate rooms unless the game forces you to.

[Shockprowl]

GOT IT!

[Shockprowl]

SAY: "Uh, hi guys, I'm Shockprowl. Who are you?"

[Pinwig]

Hang on, are we new characters? or are we assuming that we were the Red Dwarf crew in the last two chapters and that we've crashed the ship we were on at the end of the last chapter and now lost Mr K. Er, was he even with us? I can't remember. I need to go back and reread the end of the last chapter. Oh, did Mr K turn out to be Shockprowl? I need to go back a bit and read up again.

[Stomski]

You are Shockprowl and the crew you met in the bar. Mr.K left you.

Note that if you speak to the player characters, they won't respond unless the player instructs them to do so.

[Stomski]

Aug 28, 2020 8:51:47 GMT Shockprowl said:

SAY: "Uh, hi guys, I'm Shockprowl. Who are you?"

Lister responds looking grimly at the others... "This guy must have taken more of a knock than we thought - we just introduced ourselves".

[Grand Moff Muffin]

SAY: "To be fair, when you introduced me I was wearing a cute little black number with peach trim and gold spangles, and although it looks like I'm wearing the same outfit now, it is in fact an entirely different cute little black number, with completely different gold spangles, which I changed into while you were busy arguing about who was playing who."

Martin

[Shockprowl]

SAY: "Sorry, guys, I... I'm having a bad day... Where do you think we are?"

[Grand Moff Muffin]

SAY: "Why doesn't one of you go stand on that pedestal and ask the security camera? I'm just going to curl up in front of this lovely fire* and have a nice cat-nap while you figure it all out."

Martin

*burning spaceship

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Aug 29, 2020 5:43:48 GMT Grand Moff Muffin said:

SAY: "Why doesn't one of you go stand on that pedestal and ask the security camera? I'm just going to curl up in front of this lovely fire* and have a nice cat-nap while you figure it all out."

Martin

*burning spaceship

Two days later, I take a break from my nap, to SAY: "I _said_, 'Why doesn't one of YOU go stand on that pedestal and ask the security camera?'"

Martin

[Stomski]

CAT settles down next to the fire.

CAT RAND5 for danger, failure on 1.
RAND5 = 4, safe!

CAT awakes after a lovely nap, RAND4 for stamina increase.
RAND4 = 4, stamina = 10+4 = 10(max)

Rimmer turns to Cat. "Listen you gimboid... Given what just happened on Starbug, I'm not sure if trying to get the attention of whomever is on the other end of that camera is the best idea... But you go ahead."

Before anyone can act however, the sound of stone scraping can be heard as the pedestal starts to sink into the floor. As it lowers it reveals a dark hole, the sound of mechanics can be heard as something seems to shift into place. From where you are all located, none of you can see what it may be. The original stone scraping sound starts again...

Location:	Holding Cell
Connected Locations (0/1):	-
Uninvestigated POI:	4

[Grand Moff Muffin]

And yet I somehow feel I've achieved more than my fellow players to date.

Martin

[Stomski]

Sorry for all the edits, I think I'm done now.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Cat WANDERS casually over just so that Kryten happens to be directly between himself and the ominous hole, whilst remaining poised to switch places with him should the pedestal re-emerge bearing a fish product.

Martin

[Pinwig]

Sirs, this may be a good opportunity to review the situation in hand.

In a parallel timeline we know that Mr Shockprowl visited this room before. And died. Died because a slimy, leggy facehugging alien leapt out of an egg that was on THAT pedestal attached itself to his face, impregnating him with an even slimier alien that burst out of his chest. As the pedestal has now receded and is rising again, it will be time to engage panic mode if it returns with an egg sat on it. I suggest Mr Rimmer, being already dead, confuses the egg's inhabitant by looking into it.

We should also recall that having been chased and attacked in Starbug by a large red and grey robot with a screechy voice, we have crashed not where we were intending to arrive. We are in what the robot termed his 'harvesting nest' as opposed to the main space station we were aiming for. The robot, who went SCREAMing into the STARs after his attack on us, said he would return when we are reborn to see if we will be useful in combating his master.

This suggests 1. We are in some immediate danger and 2. We should have chosen Alien instead of Mr Bean Goes on Holiday as the last inflight movie.