Defeat The Godmodder

[Moniker]

"You say something Cloak?" I say with my head in the Godmodding book. "These crayon text are a bit tough to read..."

After going through Vol 1, I look up.

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(Apologies for the wait, had plenty of other stuff to post)


Looks like Ivy didn't QUITE copy it perfectly. Both Heart and Soul and Godmodding I both look way, way smaller than "On players and the Nature of Creativity"... You read the whole thing in one go!

The summary of the book is "godmodders are bad". Their powers are the reverse of creativity, and the yin to the Player's yang, and a lot of other complicated stuff I don't understand. Don't worry though, it probably isn't that important! Godmodders have the power to create lots of problems! They also draw their power from souls of people they killed! There was a lot of history in there too, about the godmodders of the past! But you're only fighting one godmodder, not all of them, so it's fine! There was something about Magikarp, too. I'd write more, but my hands are tired, and I have 2 of these books to copy! Thanks for the toy!

Well, this is what you get for asking a seven-year-old to help you subvert important sidequest choices.

 

[Moniker]

(OOC: Do note that, when reading books, it's better to say specifically what you want to read, rather than just trying to read everything.)

Reaching into the collective player inventory I pull out 'Heart and Soul' (Now In Crayon!) and start reading.

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This book was shorter than the others. It used a lot of flowery language to talk about the souls and what they represent and stuff. Human souls are some of the most powerful stuff you can get, and most every being has one. But "sapient" being's souls are special - like, the ones humans have - so they are even MORE powerful. The poetry wasn't very interesting, but it did mention the godmodder. The book said that godmodders can be poison to souls, and their goal in most conflicts is to make humans get so angry that they perform a "Rage quit".When they do that, their souls get really weak and vulnerable, and then a godmodder could capture the souls and use them for power! That and a lot of fancy poetry sums the book up. It also said some stuff about how every soul has a weakness that can destroy it if it's hit with the weakness, but the weaknesses are almost impossible to find except by getting really lucky!

That just leaves "On Players and Creativity". It's way longer than the other two, so much so that you'll probably have to read it one chapter at a time.

 

[Moniker]

He looks around. Takes a deep breath, and takes On Players and Creativity out the player inventory.

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Glancing through "On Players and Creativity", the first thing you see is a table of contents. You can't spend all day reading, so you'll be able to read one section at a time.

I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
2: Powers of Players
3: Entities; the Minions of Players
4: Creativity: The origin of the players powers?
5: Players vs. Godmodders
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary

Which one do you want to read first? Should you jump around or just go in order?

 

[Moniker]

Most assuredly.

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Chapter 2: Powers of Players

The specific powers players have are very hard to define, due to their nature. It is far simpler for us to discuss the scope and limitations of the players' power. Players have the power to do anything. To overcome any obstacle. However, their powers are more indirect than they first appear - it looks like they can do anything, but the "anything" has to be in pursuit of a specific goal. The first, and most crucial limitation of a player's power is that they cannot accomplish their long-term goals directly - they simply have the power to give themselves the tools and set up the situations for their long-term goals to be fulfilled.

The most obvious example of this is the current godmodder themselves, the eternal nemesis of all players(see chapter 1). The long-term goal of the players is to slay the godmodder, which prevents them from using their powers to slay the godmodder directly. They cannot simply will the godmodder to be dead. Instead, they must will themselves weapons or abilities that let them launch attacks against the godmodder, and hopefully, accomplish their goal of damaging and ultimately killinh him. That is a simple example - almost too simple to describe the entire situation. The power of the players can be philosophically described as "the power to overcome problems" - to overcome any obstacle, as mentioned earlier.

While players can do almost anything in pursuit of their goals - summon allies(see chapter 3), launch powerful attacks, or any other shenanigans they can think of, their power is most limited as a specific "piece" of a long-term goal, which will be a piece of a longer-term goal, which might be a piece of an even greater goal, and so on. For example, a player might want to kill the godmodder. To this end, they'll need to have a good shot to damage the godmodder. To that end, they will want to kill one of the godmodder's major entities. To THAT end, they'll want to keep one of their own entities alive and well to attack it for them. To THAT end, they'll need to remove the godmodder's mind control on the entity, first!

Players can't just will one of the pieces in that chain into place and so have the ripples spread back up - they experience a sort of "Xeno's Paradox" effect, where before they can do one thing, they need to do something else, and something else before that... thankfully, the paradox doesn't go down forever. Eventually, you'll have a "piece" of a goal small enough that you can do it and then start working your way back up the chain. In the example above, a prospective player could start by using their own psychic powers to mind-control the entity right back onto their side. Where the specific limit starts can often vary from player to player, but it's generally within a player's power when its a specific action they can take right now.

The main challenge for a player using their power is to determine what specific actions they can or should take to make progress to their goals. Successful players will find interesting and exciting paths, while failing players won't plan ahead or won't be creative, and run headlong into the second restriction on player power - creativity. Creativity is so important to players that it deserves its own chapter - chapter 4. For more information, please see there.


...And that's the end of the chapter! Which one would you like to read next?

Remaining Chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
3: Entities; the Minions of Players
4: Creativity: The origin of the players powers?
5: Players vs. Godmodders
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary

(EDIT: Just changed some wording to make it flow better)

 

[Moniker]

OOC: Monike may I read chapter 4: Creativity: The origin of the players powers?

Click to shrink...

Certainly.

Chapter 4: Creativity: The origin of the players' powers?

To players, Creativity is both their greatest strength and their greatest limitation. Players can do anything to accomplish their goals, as discussed in Chapter 2 - but only the things they can think of doing. Trying to do something without specifying a means to doing so is an effort destined for inefficiency at best and complete failure/backfiring at worst. However, players are always more effective when they use unexpected, interesting, unique, and/or original methods to accomplish their goals.

On the other side, players who fail to use creativity experience the opposite effect. A player who tries to find one single way they can always rely upon to solve their problems will find themselves at a loss. If a player does the same thing twice, it will be significantly less effective the second time, and only suffer more diminishing returns afterwards. Imagine a player saying "I attack with a hammer". The first attack would deal moderate damage. The second attack with that wording will deal scratch damage. The third attack will fail completely. This effect does lift somewhat with time, but only somewhat. For this reason, most players won't try to establish a "signature attack". They might try a signature element, or develop a signature attack then find creative ways to use it, but any standard signature attack will be subject to an extreme version of "The worf effect" - referred to by some players as "The Curse of Repetitiveness".

This curse also extends to entities. Attempts to revive entities from the dead will only revive the entity as a weak shadow of its former self. Imbuing it with something extra, like the standard "zombie" trait, might be more effective, but it simply won't be the same. External methods of revival are necessary to achieve any real effectiveness. Godmodders have been known to be significantly better at reviving entities, but they generally adopt a policy of "if it didn't work the first time, it won't work the second time."

For this reason - and a lack of other information - we can assume that creativity and passion is the primary source of an individual player's powers. Players with more creativity and passion will almost always excel at their goals, while players who let themselves stagnate will fail. The origins of the players as a whole are different (see chapters 1/6), but to an individual player, creativity is the most important trait.




Remaining Chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
3: Entities; the Minions of Players
5: Players vs. Godmodders
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary

(Granted, I've gotten a request for Chapter 3, so that will probably be next.)

 

[Moniker]

With that done I reach into the player inventory and begin reading 'Chapter 3: Entities; the Minions of Players' from Players and Creativity since, you know:

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Chapter 3: Entities: The Minions of Players

Few players choose to fight the war all alone. Godmodders will summon armies to their aid, and if the players don't have their own forces to assist them, then the godmodder's minions will surely overwhelm them.

Summoning entities is a simple process: The players will just will their ally into being, and it will appear. The power levels between entities can vary drastically, depending on the amount of effort put into its summoning or the specific purpose of the entity, as well as its creativity (see Chapter 4). The power of any given entity, as compared to the entities around it, can generally be measured based on the total value of HP, attack, and special abilities summed together. Having special abilities or functions an entity performs generally lessens its HP/attack, while an entity having a drawback (for example, automatically dying a few turns after summoning) will increase those same attributes.

Players can specify all the parameters of their entity upon summoning. However, if they try to summon something too weak - or strong - to compete on an even level with everything else, then the entity summoned will usually vary significantly from how the player summoned it. The more ludicrous the summoning, the harder the entity will bounce back in the other direction. For example, trying to summon an entity with 100,000 HP when the rest of the entities on the field have an average of 20,000 HP could result in a debuff that makes the entity take x10 all damage - essentially, reducing its HP to a mere 10,000. Alternatively, the godmodder could seize control of the entity through some means. Mind control is a popular godmodder choice, but some prefer bribes or threats. The worse the state of the godmodder's armies, the more likely the godmodder is to take control of player summons, and the harder the players will need to try in order to summon something without it backfiring.

Many players have figured out a few common ways of making their entities more powerful - some prefer to make an entity that starts out weak but slowly gains power ("snowballs", if you will). Almost always, these need protection from the start, but can grow to be some of the Anti-godmodder's most powerful allies by the end of their lifespan. Others prefer to set up their entities with large numbers of complicated mechanics, and have them interact in such a way that the entity will be almost impossible to defeat. If you want to summon an entity above the normal power levels and choose one of these methods, players must be careful - particularly with the second. Strong entities tend to catch the godmodder's eye, and they will become a priority for destruction - and the more frustrated the godmodder gets, the less they pretend to care about the mechanics.



Remaining chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
5: Players vs. Godmodders
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary

 

[Moniker]

I read chapter 5

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Chapter 5: Players vs. Godmodders

Players can theoretically use their powers for almost any goal. However, 99% of the time, that goal is to defeat a godmodder. As discussed in Chapter 1, Players are almost exclusively found fighting godmodders, and deviance from this aim tends to rob them of their powers. And this makes sense - players serve as both the equal and the opposite to godmodders. While their powers are the ability to solve problems, the godmodder's powers are the ability to create problems - and so, players and godmodders are consigned to duel. See my book on Godmodding for more information on the godmodder's side of this.

Battles between players and godmodders tend to be drawn-out, exhausting, and occasionally vicious affairs. Anything and everything around the dueling parties will almost certainly be in ruins only a short time in. It doesn't take too much looking at the battlefield to tell which side is winning, but the owner of the upper hand can change at any moment. The godmodder has a limited HP pool, and so the players need to both survive his onslaught while getting attacks of their own in to start winning the war. On the other hand, the players are invincible to friendly fire, regular means of attack from the godmodder's minions, and most other forms of harm - excepting the godmodder himself, who can hurt the players. As long as the Player side has minions for the godmodder's own minions (and the godmodder himself) to focus on, then the players can be assured of safety, But when the Player side runs out of minions, then the godmodder can launch his own attacks against the Players.

Victory for the Players is the defeat and death of the godmodder, and victory for the godmodder is the "ragequit" of the players. When the godmodder successfully lands enough attacks on the players, he'll reduce their abilities - eventually leading to a hopeless situation. And when the players "ragequit", they become vulnerable enough for the godmodder to take control. What exactly "taking control" implies is a subject of much debate, and has been more fully covered in other books, such as "Heart and Soul". Suffice to say, this is never a good thing.

See Chapter 8 for more information on successful strategies commonly employed by players, as well as specific actions each side might take during the fight.


Remaining chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies and Summary

 

[Moniker]

I Read Chapter 8

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Chapter 8: Conclusion: Possible Player Strategies

In the godmodding wars of the past, the players haven't always been victorious. But the groups that did manage to prevail usually employ similar strategies.

Now, entities - more on this in Chapter 4 - are extremely important to the strategy of any AG group. As long as any entities opposing the godmodder are on the field, the godmodder will be too busy contending with them to fight against the players himself - so the players can safely strike at the godmodder. Balance in the number of entities summoned is essential, as when the godmodder is low on numbers for his army, him turning entities to his own side becomes increasingly common. The stronger an entity is upon summoning, the more attractive a target it is for the godmodder's machinations, and the harder the players have to work to retain control of it. Towards the end of their lives, snowballing entities may end up constantly flip-flopping between sides.

But beyond the entity battle, the players need to strike at the godmodder, and strike often. As long as the godmodder's health is going down, the war is moving on. If things drag on for an extended period of time with little godmodder damage, the end result is often a major event that has a chance to wipe out the players. Or even worse, the godmodder may begin searching for something called "The Seven Legendary Weapons". If the godmodder sets this as their goal, it is imperative to take his sights off of it immediately! The potential effects of him acquiring all of them are unknown, but it can be assumed to be very, very bad. The good news is, if the players keep the godmodder focused on defending himself, he often won't have time to attempt to acquire legendary weapons. Only a truly skilled and dangerous godmodder could both hold off the players while also acquiring Legendary Weapons.

Oftentimes, on both sides of the battlefield, "events" will crop up everywhere - a specific entity needs help with something, or an enemy that can unleash a devastating ability - long story short, on the battlefield, there is ALWAYS a long list of things that need to be accomplished. But the players need to learn not to get bogged down in the little things. Completing all their tasks will be helpful, but failure isn't the end of the world. Focus on the big picture. Keep hurting the godmodder, and everything will turn out fine. Even when things go horribly, horribly wrong, the solution to almost any problem can be found by undertaking a Sidequest. And in the true worst case scenario, the players will be given one last chance with a Mandatory Sidequest. The players won't lose until their spirits are broken. Hence the godmodder's goal: Ragequit.

In the end, all strategies the players can have comes down to balancing all the variables, and making judgement calls of what to do with their limited resources (time, actions, turns, entities...). Please read on for a brief summary of everything in the book thus far.

Remaining chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers
7: History of Players
8-2: Summary

 

[Moniker]

OOC: Let's read 6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers

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Chapter 6: Theoretical/Mythical Origins of Player Powers

Little is known about where Player and Godmodding power originate from. As discussed in Chapter 1, we know that Players only acquire their powers upon being near a godmodder, and fighting them. But that says nothing about how they get them. Theorycrafting is common, but no theory has any conclusive evidence. An early theory was that their powers stem from the godmodder's powers, and are given to the players by the godmodder. But personalities of godmodders vary, and most godmodders would prefer an easy victory over a fight. It makes no logical sense. Another theory, the "reaction" theory, asserts that the player powers are a natural reaction, opposite to the godmodder's powers - as discussed in Chapter 3, player and godmodder powers are similar yet opposite in several ways, so this theory would make some sense. But there's no real evidence for it, and the origins of the godmodder's powers are equally unknown - where would it have originally come from?

The history of godmodders goes back thousands of years, and most records of the early battles have been lost to time. However, one story, a legend has remained constant, passed down from player to player and godmodder to godmodder. There is no evidence of its truth, but it is interesting to consider nonetheless. The story is as follows:

In the early days of the world, the early kingdoms had entered an age of happiness and prosperity. All were celebrating, and it looked as though this age would continue for many years to come.

Then he came. The first godmodder, a human who traded his soul to the devil for ultimate power. The power of godmodding. The armies of the world didn't stand a chance. Any and all who resisted, and many of those who did not, were destroyed in an instant. Men ran and screamed. People hid, begged, and pleaded, but it did little to help. The world was on the verge of entering a new, dark age. And all was hopeless.

But one man rose up, and stood against the godmodder defiantly, despite knowing its futility. And then, his soul was blessed by god, and he gained the powers of a Player - the power to fight back. He was the First Player. So the two dueled, and seeing his resistance, many were given courage. A string of new friends and foes joined the fight. Ultimately, the First Godmodder was defeated, his protege went into hiding for a thousand years, and the world could know peace once again.

This legend suggests that the origins of both the players' and the godmodders' abilities are divine rather than natural. Due to the nature of the powers of each side, and that they are eternally engaged in war, it is unlikely that their powers and abilities will ever have a chance to be properly studied. We may never know for certain.



Looks like that's Chapter 6. In this weird out-of-order read-through, what do you want to read next?

Remaining chapters:
I: Preface
1: Introduction: What makes a player?
7: History of Players
8-2: Summary

 

[Moniker]

Can we see the introduction?

Click to shrink...

Chapter 1: Introduction: What Makes a Player?

The term "Player" refers to any being with the player powerset. The player powerset is incredibly versatile, but also very simple. Outwardly, it seems like the standard powers of a reality warper, but in truth it is much more than that. See chapter 2 for a proper discussion of the Player's abilities.

Only one method has been seen to give a being player powers: Contact with, and battling against, powerful beings called Godmodders. Fully understanding Player power requires fully understanding Godmodder power, however, this book focuses primarily on Player power. Please see Godmodding Vol. 1 for more information on the powers of Godmodders. It is also not understood the exact mechanism by which Players receive their powers - see Chapter 6 for more information.

Once a Player has begun to fight a godmodder and has received their powers, they generally keep their powers for the duration of the entire fight. The exception is if they decide to turn against their fellow Players and fight for the Godmodder's side, rather than against them. While they will not lose the full scale of their Player powers, one of the effects granted by them, semi-invincibility, will fade, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from the other Players. After the fight with a Godmodder is finished, most Players are known to slowly lose their powers over time, eventually being left with only the abilities of a normal human being. This effect also occurs if a Player voluntarily leaves a fight with a godmodder and does not return. Where there are Players, there are Godmodders, and vice versa. Players cannot exist without Godmodders to fight.


Seems like that's the end. A fairly simple chapter. What next?

Remaining chapters:
I: Preface
7: History of Players
8-2: Summary