Make summoning Nar'Sie more dramatic and engaging

[MalMalumam]

Riffing off of "give cult a Head Priest", what if summoning Nar'Sie was made more dramatic and involving?  I'm pretty everyone has had Sudden Nar'Sie Syndrome happen to them - they're just toodling along, doing whatever it is they're doing, and suddenly
NAR'SIE HAS
RISEN
and it's pretty frustrating, yeah?

So since we were talking about this in the discord, I figured I'd make a forum post about it too.

Here's a rough sketch of the ideas I have in mind (thanks to @canon35, @Happy_Fox, and @Arrow768):

>The 9 cultists need x number of bodies to sacrifice (based on % of players active?)
>They need to build a temple or summoning altar or something, with the summoning rune at the center, instead of just slapping down 9 runes

>The cultists don't need to stand in a 3x3 grid, but just have 9 in the general vicinity of the rune, perhaps some or all of them having to be buckled in to "summoning chairs" or in front of summoning altars

>First phase of the summoning: 
--sacrifice the bodies, a stationwide *boom* sound is heard as darkness and weird graphics begin to center around the summoning rune, everyone gets a message describing an unnatural presence invading somewhere on the station, and a Centcom alert goes out about strange bluespace readings near the station, and requests a status update.

>Second phase of the summoning:
--another boom is heard, a portal begins to tear open at the summoning rune, some creepy music begins playing to everyone, everyone gets a message describing the feeling of that unnatural presence growing and it gives them a general idea of where the ritual site is, everything starts getting tinted red a little bit, and a few monsters friendly to the cultists leak out of the portal, Centcom requests another status update and says they're getting ready to send the shuttle.

>Third phase of the summoning:

-- booms start happening every minute or half-minute or so, more monsters pour out of the portal, everyone can feel exactly where the ritual is happening, Centcom sends an expedited shuttle, everyone gets a message telling them of the unspeakable horror breaching the world, ghosts can join as apparitions and constructs that come out of the portal, the world gets tinted even redder.

>Fourth phase of the summoning:

--Nar'Sie has risen, Centcom sends a OH MY GOD WTF signal and the shuttle has docked and gets ready to leave

>If a Head Priest is implemented, they can use a 1 time spell to summon everyone to the ritual site, and they are the only one that can start the summoning ritual

What do you think?  What parts do you like?  Dislike?  Anything you'd like to add?

[Hepatica]

+1. Cult in it's current state is bland and boring, I would love something dramatic and cinematic like this.

[DronzTheWolf]

+1 

Anything to make cult a bit more spooky and less murderbone-y.

[Chada1]

I'm also a fan even if I brought up some of the other core issues on Discord to you, +1.

[canon35]

Literally anything will work. The Nar'sie ritual is a holdover from old code that I feel like has needed a change for years.

I think what you have right now is good for this, if attainable, but I would argue that instead of needing a certain number of corpses it could be that they require a healthy non-convert to act as a lure for their Goddess to come: A untainted soul that will be the beacon. Mechanically I figure this would work to encourage murder a tad less? Plus, it means that cult would have to be more smart about their tactics to get a sacrifice instead of "Let's just kill a load of people and stack the bodies.". 

For the set up/temple idea, I would say maybe have the 9 involved locked in place by the rune (Visual indicator of red tendrils around them, like being vined by one of the wizard's spells.) and if someone was to move or kill one it would result in the ritual being disrupted. 

Either way, like I said, your starting idea is extremely good. I hope to see this in game one day! 

[MalMalumam]

Yay!  I have a bunch of stuff I need to put in here that I discussed with Chada as well.  I'll... uh... do that when I get around to it > . >

[Carver]

On 07/10/2020 at 19:06, MalMalumam said:

>The 9 cultists need x number of bodies to sacrifice (based on % of players active?)

So now instead of being a murderbone-prone game mode, it actively encourages murderbone? Gee, what an upgrade.

On 07/10/2020 at 19:06, MalMalumam said:

>The cultists don't need to stand in a 3x3 grid, but just have 9 in the general vicinity of the rune, perhaps some or all of them having to be buckled in to "summoning chairs" or in front of summoning altars

3x3 grid is ideal in that it requires some amount of coordinated participation from most of the 9. If you can replicate the demand for active participation in a new method, so be it, but I don't exactly see what is changed in the end.

On 07/10/2020 at 19:06, MalMalumam said:

>If a Head Priest is implemented, they can use a 1 time spell to summon everyone to the ritual site, and they are the only one that can start the summoning ritual

Ah yes, giving a player the option to try and force end the round singlehandedly even against the possible wishes of the rest of the cult players. This won't be prone to abuse at all.

On 07/10/2020 at 19:06, MalMalumam said:

4 phases of slowdown snipped for sanity

I actually do like the thought of slowing it all down, on the other hand. This is one thing that I can agree isn't the worst idea, as presently the summoning is the only 'unpreventable round-ender' (escape shuttle can be recalled, nuke can be disarmed) that isn't a singularity touching the supermatter (which requires an immense amount of set-up) or the crew transfer.

[MalMalumam]

Here's some brainstorming that @Chada1 and I did last night:

-Voluntary conversions should give some sort of cult telecrystals that can give you special stuff (like the bloodspike)?

-Forced conversions hurt the converter?

-Forced conversions gibs, or turns into ashes or remains, the resister after 3 "no"'s, and cultifies the area around the conversion?  This way cult doesn't have to figure out what to do with a dirty resister, and the resister knows what will happen.  No more "well... I guess we'll just... execute... you...?"

-Forced conversions require the target to be restrained in some way?  Either a tight grab, or cuffs?

-If forced conversions kills the resister, it spawns a soul stone that acts like a ghostspawner (like bluespace golems), and which can be then used for constructs as normal?

-Make soul stones able to host ghosts in general?  If so, perhaps make constructs or soul stones more expensive?

-If we want to make certain things more expensive, make them require a resource?  A cultist's health (brain damage and a lot of burn?), cult telecrystals, cultified steel or plasteel or glass, etc.?

-Voluntary conversions, construct implantations, and forced conversions all count different amounts towards being able to summon Nar'Sie?

-Teleport rune popping up a menu showing the available destinations, like the GPS, instead of using networks?

-Teleport talismans could be a one-time-use destination?

-Increase or decrease the maximum number of runes (currently 25)?  There is currently no limit on talismans, should there be?  Should the rune limit be based on the number of cultists?

-Different tiers of voluntary conversion?  I.e., grander and more intricate conversion rituals that use up blood chalices or deal more damage or whatnot and require more runes to be drawn, tables to be placed, structures to be made, etc., give more cult telecrystals?

-If constructs can house any ghost if the cultist does an appropriate sacrifice, should we get rid of the apparition spell?

-Blood drain is worse than nothing, get rid of it, it just transfers blood to you which will hurt you if your blood type doesn't match

-Blood boil may or may not do something, maybe get rid of it?

-Forging rune should clarify its behavior more exactly, i.e. it gives you boots and backpack and hood only if you're not wearing something in those slots

-Incapacitation rune is completely useless, perhaps replace it with a disarming or silencing spell, or just get rid of it completely

-A meta-rune that can be used to trigger several other runes?  Maybe tie this in to the advanced voluntary conversion rituals?

-A rune that can create hallucinations/confusion?

-Ghosts can harass cultists?  Or perhaps they can always write blood on the wall/floor and flicker lights if they're near a cultist?

-Forced conversion should add a permanent disability to the converter or convertee?

-In the Nar'Sie summoning ritual, perhaps a pentagram-shaped energy field, like the one used to contain the singularity/tesla, should be used?

@Carver Yeah the sacrificing bodies I wasn't too sure on either.  The 3x3 grid is just, I dunno, it always feels a little silly trying to get everyone to crowd together, but perhaps it's just meaningless.  Also if the summoning ritual actually takes time, keeping 9 people in the same spot for longer is gonna be exponentially more difficult.  Perhaps the cultists have to be "in position" to advance to the next "stage" of the summon?  Re: the head priest... perhaps they're the only one that can start it, but the rest of the cultists have to be in position?  And the 1-time-use mass teleport won't put them in position, everyone has to get to those positions themselves?  Perhaps the mass teleport has to be voluntary, i.e., you have to agree to the teleport to be teleported?  And thanks for liking the ritual idea : D  Any ideas for making it better?  How long should it last, do you think?

[Carver]

I'm not really sure how long that sort of thing should last without seeing the response to it. It's not an immediately identifiable threat ICly like the nukes, so it would be notably harder for crew to understand the source and stop it (akin to how lich resurrection had an alert but no one really knew what it was due to meta-protection). Longer is probably better, in that case, though not so long the cultists would get bored - and it should be designed with some form of adjustable timer in-case you make it too long or too short to begin with.

If anything I'd do away with soul stones requiring kills/forced conversions/bodies entirely and just make them a 'summonable ghost spawner' for constructs to replace the current 'cult ghosts'. Having it draw from the ghost pool directly is a fine way to get more people into the round without needing to take someone out of the round to begin with, and feels sufficiently less 'personal', whilst removing the meme known as cult ghosts (that no one ever really used properly, seeing as you can name summoned cult ghosts and - before accents were added - use them for impersonation).

tl;dr: Try 10 minutes, make it something you can adjust in a PR with ease depending on how it turns out (too long/short). Get rid of soul stones (removing the need to gank for them), replace cult ghost rune with a 'stone spawner' rune that also calls on ghosts (allowing for constructs without gank, and at the same time pulling players back into the round who were either observing or out of it in some way). Potentially rebalance Juggernauts if having easier creation of them is broken.

[StationCrab]

This all sounds amazing.