Long Pig - Chapter 2 - You Are Who You Eat

[iago]

Here is, largely unformatted form, my chapter two, written with a bit of "dialect" to it due to the chosen narrator. Apologies for the lack of formatting, but I wanted to get this out the door before running off to work.

Make sure to take a look at the last few posts of the previous chapter one thread to get apprised of the (unseen) changes that have been made to the mechanics of the system if anything doesn't seem to jive with your current understanding!

Any commentary, advice, suggestions, or questions appreciated.  

Chapter 2: You Are Who You Eat

What're you lookin' at?

My name's Stan.  Stan the Stomach.  I figure the Good Doctor sent ya my way 'cause I got some kinda line on the ins and outs of the hunger.  Mainly the ins, ha ha ha!

Oh, the chains?  That's to keep me under control.  Or at least at a safe distance.  Yeah, ya'd best stay where yer standin'.  I'd as soon eat ya as look at ya half the time.  

Dinner guest isn't here yet?  Damn.  Guess I'll have to run my jaw without any meat in it.  Club's good to me, in the end.  But they know t'keep me on a leash.


Managing Your Appetite

If yer like me, y'got a big appetite.  Mainly this means yer hungry all the time, but when ya do eat, it's the biggest rush ever.  Burn bright, burn fast, baby!  Other folk, they got it a bit more under control, but ya ask me, they just don't get the same thing outta it.

So anyway, it works like this.  The higher yer appetite rating, the faster ya have to feed the need.  Also, the higher yer rating, the quicker the benefits of eatin' go away.  Metab'lism's a harsh mistress, or so the Doc keeps tellin' me.

Appetite   Hunger Takes Hold   Effect Duration
1   Monthly   At least one game session
2   Weekly   Current game session
3   Twice Weekly   Half the session
4   Every other day   Two scenes
5   Daily   One scene
6   Every "normal" meal   Some fraction of the scene (a few minutes at most)

Gettin' caught in the grips of yer own hunger is a real bitch.  Y'ever seen them cartoons where the duck looks at the rabbit like he's a walkin' main course?  That's pretty much what happens.  

Whenever the time period's up, if y'haven't managed to eat flesh by then, the gamemaster has ya roll a number of low dice equal to yer appetite ratin', against a difficulty of 3.  If they all come up equal to or higher than that difficulty, yer golden.

The gamemaster can also decide that certain events are triggers — like seein' another cannibal take his dinner — and make ya roll again, even if the time period ain't passed.  She may also decide that the difficulty number is higher or lower as fits the circumstances.

If any of the dice turn up lower than the difficulty, yer in trouble.  

First off, the gamemaster lays out one of your favorite treats on the table in front of her.  Might be a cookie, a couple potato chips, a mini candy bar — whatever you two decided made sense.  She just puts in there.  In sight but out of reach.  Heck, maybe she takes one of her own, too, and unwraps it right in front of you and eats it.  Long, slow bites that savor every bit of it. And you sittin' there without any for yourself.  Sadistic little minx, ain't she?

Then she lays out the situation for ya.  Ya gotta eat.  And ya gotta eat now.  Maybe she lets ya off easy at first.  Lets ya have a little free will.  But the longer ya wait before tryin' to feed yer need, the more she can veto whatever it is yer sayin' yer doin', the more she can hop right into the driver's seat for ya and take ya for a spin.

It's roundabout then that ya start jumpin' on whoever's nearest, friend or foe, and start chompin' away.

Heheh. Hunghhh. Yeah. Chompin'. Tell y' what, friend.  Just step a little closer, I got a secret for you.

... Aw, COME ON, MAN, I NEED TO EAT YOUR FACE!  YER CHEWY JUICY FACE!  BRING IT!

Oh looky, the guest is here!  Haha, sorry about all that.  I'll just be a minute. ...


Acquiring Your Meal

There, hit the spot.  Where was I?  Right, chompin'.  Mmm.  Okay.  

Once ya finally get yer hands on meat — whether it's forced into yer hands through hunger, or if ya just picked it up durin' the course of play — y'get one of those favorite treats actually put in reach, on yer plate in front of ya.

This only means y'got the goods within reach, though.  Y'don't get to eat yer treat unless yer actually eatin' the meat in the game.  It's one thing to make the kill, and another thing to actually get the time to cook it up proper, if that's yer thing, or whatever other preparation ya got in mind.

I figure this is where the gamemaster gets her next round of sadistic jollies.  Sure, yer candy bar's in front of ya.  Maybe she even unwrapped it for ya and cut it in half so ya can see the gooey yummy center.  Maybe ya can smell the chocolate where yer sittin'.

And this is probably also when she makes sure the doorbell rings.  And ya have to clean yerself up nice and fast and go talk to yer landlady about the plumbing problems ya've been havin', without lettin' her into the apartment.  Or maybe it's somethin' else.  Regardless the gamemaster, she gets free rein to make it as difficult as she possibly can.

Eventually, ya get the chance to eat — whether it's outta desperation and frustration, or whether ya managed to get that quiet dinner to yerself — but I gotta wait on talkin' about that until later.


Choosing Your Delicacies

Everybody's got their favorite foods, right?  Well, ya've got yers, too.  This is another thing that comes straight from yer appetite rating.  Ya get to pick as many favorites as ya have rating — three gets ya three, and so on.

There's more to each favorite than simply pickin' a body part, though.  Ya've got t'think about how rare the part is, how difficult it is to get that part out of a "guest", whether or not it's only parts from a particular kind of "guest" that will do, and once ya got the part, what kind of preparation needs to be done t'get it to that just right place.

The more difficult it is to just take the part and eat it right then and there, the more potent the effect of eatin' it will be on top of the potency provided by yer appetite rating.  That's covered here.

Freshness
 Victim recency of death is not important   -1
 Victim must be recently dead   +0
 Victim must be alive   See below
 Victim does not need to be your kill   +0
 Victim must be your kill   +1

Rarity
 Any human will do +0
 Any member of a large group will do +1
 Any member of a small group will do +2

Quantity
 Victim only has one of the part in question   +1
 Only a portion of the part is necessary   -1

Acquisition
 Part can be taken from a live victim without killing them   -1
 ... the victim must be alive when it is removed   +1 instead
 Part can be removed from victim without much surgery   +0
 Part requires time-consuming process to extract   +1

Preparation
 Part is still functioning (beating, twitching) when eaten   +2
 Part is eaten raw   +0
 Part is cooked with moderate preparation   +1
 Part is cooked as a day or days-long process   +2

Yer gamemaster may have other modifiers as well.  All of these are effect bonuses, which means they come into play after ya roll to determine success.

All of this combines pretty easy.  Say ya like to eat the hands of dead hitchhikers. Yeah.  Man, I should take that up m'self.  Ya decide they need t'be recently dead (+0), and checking with yer gamemaster, she says hitchhikers are a fairly large group (+1).  Someone can lose a hand without dyin' (-1) and it don't take long to do it (+0).  Addin' those up, this delicacy don't give you anythin' extra — 0+1-1+0 = 0.

Sometimes ya may have to take an any port in a storm sort of attitude towards yer meal, though.  In that case, determine what parts of the bonuses (as described above) are not gettin' satisfied, and lose those bonuses, twice over.  Let's say ya've got a specialized bit, gets you a +3 overall, but circumstances have got ya qualifyin' for only a +1.  Since yer losin' a +2 off of that, ya lose that twice over, and end up with a -1 (+3-2-2).  So ya got a reason t'stick with yer favorite preparations, right?

Each favorite chosen grants some sort of effect too, which is where all these bonuses come into play.  That's covered in the next section.

Now, some of ya may not know what all yer favorites are yet.  No problem.  Just note down that yer missin' one or more on yer sheet, and when ya decide on it durin' play, write it down — ya've made yer choice, and now it sticks.


Mealtime

Once ya get yer hands on yer chosen meat, and the gamemaster's put yer chosen treat in front of ya, and ya've got all the preparations done, it's time t'get down to eatin'.  Go for it.  Unwrap your treat, and chow.  If yer treat was chosen right, to fit ya, you'll take yer time with it, and ya should.  Rushed eatin' might incur a penalty from the gamemaster, and ya don't want to tempt that, do ya?  Savor it, suck the marrow from it... ya'll be glad ya did.

Now, while yer eatin', it's yer gamemaster's last chance to really have some fun with ya.  So she focuses all her attention on ya while yer eatin'.  With each bite ya take, she describes the meal yer really havin', in the game.  With yer luck, she'll have some real nice gruesome descriptions stored up just for this special occasion.  Now remember, the treat yer eatin' tastes just as good to ya as a player as the meat yer eatin' tastes to yer character.  So the gamemaster is just helpin' ya to have the whole experience, on all levels, right?

Yeah.  I stopped losin' my lunch on about the third meal.

Anyway, if ya successfully finish eatin' yer treat, then ya've done the same with yer meat, and it's time to reap the rewards.


The Effects of Eating

Here is where yer appetite actually works for ya.  Now, alla these effects only run as long as indicated earlier in this chapter — lower appetite, longer effect.  But the flipside to that is, the higher yer appetite, the more powerful the effect.

Let's keep it simple for starters, and look at effects what boost yer parts.  Ya add yer appetite to the appropriate part whenever makin' a roll that's under the sway of the effect.  So say ya got somethin' that boosts yer nerve, and yer normally bland in that department (2L).  But ya got an appetite of 3.  +3 to bland gets ya to delicious (3H).  So ya roll 3 dice, and take the highest — it's a real rush!

In other cases the effect might have less numbers to it, and go more for, uh, "feel".  Here ya might have a list that says at one appetite level ya can do somethin' small or basic, and at a higher appetite level ya can do somethin' bigger or complex.

And last, sometimes there's no trait what makes sense for rollin' on when usin' an effect.  In those cases, ya roll yer appetite as high dice, pure and simple.

So what ya do is, for each of yer favorites ya've chosen, ya also choose one effect that it can provide ya.  If ya want one favorite to provide more'n one effect, ya gotta choose it as a favorite another time for each additional effect.  I seen plenty of guys go this way.  "Specialists," I call 'em.  Like the Brain Brothers.  Both really into brains.  Ain't my thing, but t'each his own, eh?

So that's the meat of it.  I'll give ya some examples below.  They ain't all there is, but they should be enough to get ya goin'.  If ya go outside of this list, check with yer gamemaster t'see if it's kosher (don't get me started talkin' about the kosher folk here at the club).


Brain Bump
Brain

This gives ya the added brainpower of yer meal, whatever good that'll do ya.
Boosts yer own brain by yer appetite for anything havin' to do with intelligence — includin' using any specialized intellectual skills the brain was used for in the past.  This does not pass on memories, though.


Eyes of Truth
A pair of eyes (of an honest man)

These things give ya the ability to see through to the truth of things.  Gives ya a leg up on figurin' out if someone's lyin', usin' appetite as a bonus to yer nose and yer gut, as need be.  Other sensory organs can be used instead; each one puts its own particular "spin" on what ya get.


Five Senses Redux
All superficial sensory organs (eyes, nose, tongue, ears, fingers)

Once consumed, the organs add to yer own, improving all of yer senses well past their max.  Yer appetite is added to yer nose and gut for the purpose of observation both active (nose) and passive (gut).  Y'ask me, it just makes the voices in yer head louder.


Ichor of Health
Blood, Liver, Lymph Nodes, Heart

This effect ain't a cure so much as short-term fixer.  Duration's longer than normally indicated -- start at 6 weeks for an appetite of 1, go down to 1 week for an appetite of 6.  It only works on yerself, as most effects do.  The disease, condition, whatever it is, goes into remission for the time period indicated.  Ya get a clean bill of health.  But when the time's up, it starts creepin' back in.  To see if ya can do it, roll yer appetite as high dice and try to hit the difficulty:

1   Nothing
2   Minor conditions (recurrent rashes, etc)
3   Non-life-threatening conditions (herpes)
4   Potentially life-threatening conditions (heart trouble, cancer)
5   Debilitating conditions (paralysis, advanced stages of cancer)
6   Old age


Identity Ingestion
Brain, Face, Hands, Skin, Tongue

Depending on which part ya eat, this allows ya to take on aspects of yer dinner guest from personality (brain) to charm (tongue, face) to voice (tongue) to appearance (face, skin) to handwriting (hands).  A total identity takeover is possible if ya go for the entire body, but that's a meal that takes ya several days to complete.  When necessary, yer appetite boosts yer mouth for purposes of playin' the part.


Memory Mush
Brain, Sensory Organs

When usin' a brain, this lets ya relive portions of the meal's life, but it's all in sort of a jumble.  Ya roll yer appetite as high dice to try to pull specifics out of it — difficulty of 3 or more.  If ya miss the difficulty target, yer likely to spend some time outta commission, as ya get lost in a mindscape that ain't yers.

Usin' eyes, tongue, ears, an' so on, gives ya a limited sensory perspective on the memories, but don't run the risk of losin' yerself in the memories the way the brain does.


Rushing Blood
Blood of an athlete, Legs, Heart

Gives ya yer appetite as a bonus to yer nerve for the purpose of coverin' ground.


Vigor Vittles
Brain, Lungs, Heart

While this is in effect, yer nervous system's in overdrive, makin' ya all edgy instinct.  Improves yer nerve and gut when they're used for reaction and reflex.


Warrior's Heart
Heart, Muscles

The legends what say that by eatin' yer enemy, ya get his strength, are true.  Appetite is used as a bonus to yer teeth when committin' mayhem and violence.  One of my own favorites, heh.  Ya can take it a second time to use it to boost yer teeth as a defense, too, but the first pick is all about agression, baby.


Consequences and Side Effects

The Doc says I'm 'sposed to finish up talkin' about the problems ya can run into.  I'll give ya what I know about, but a crafty gamemaster can come up with much more.  Don't say ya weren't warned.

Ya are who ya eat.  This chapter shoulda made that pretty clear.  So one of the problems I seen folks run into is that they can literally start becomin' who they ate.  Happens bit by bit, slowlike.  The whole frog and boilin' water thing.  Most don't notice it until they got a full-blown argument runnin' in their heads.  And in some rare cases the original fella just... disappears.  'Course, by that point, the new resident's had a chance to experience eatin' the True Cuisine, so what the new fella decides to do with himself is anyone's guess.  Still, I imagine it sucks to get gone like that, so if yer big into the brains and faces, watch yerself.

Then there's the practical concerns.  Disease, for one.  This day and age, ya gotta be careful about who ya eat.  Always a chance you'll pick up somethin' they got.  This can range from strange ailments of the brain to ugly stuff like diseases of the blood.  Cookin' helps, some, but if yer lookin' for a fast meal, it ain't always an option.

Then there's the issues of discovery and capture.  Simply put, a man is a lotta meat, and that ain't always easy to keep under wraps.  If yer a cooker, the smells may be great for you, but normal folk what catch a whiff might thing otherwise.  Reg'lar society, they ain't so up on the whole "dog eat dog" notion when it gets taken all literal-like.  This is one of yer biggest problems if anyone gets wise, so remember — eat the witnesses, eat the evidence, and if that ain't an option, run like hell.

So that's what I got to say to ya.  Since ya ain't run off yet, ya must be one of us.  Go on back upstairs, I'm sure they got somethin' left for ya, they try to treat new members real nice.

And besides, yer startin' to look tasty again.

[szilard]

Fred,

While I generally like the added color of having the text be in the voice of someone in the setting, I find the presentation of game mechanics in that voice to be odd. Maybe it is just me... but if I were writing in the voice of someone who might be a character in the game, I don't think I would have them saying things that no character in the game would ever say.

Stuart

[iago]

While I generally like the added color of having the text be in the voice of someone in the setting, I find the presentation of game mechanics in that voice to be odd. Maybe it is just me... but if I were writing in the voice of someone who might be a character in the game, I don't think I would have them saying things that no character in the game would ever say.

Yeah.  The trick, for me, is figuring out where the "boundaries" are between "here's something that shouldn't be in the voice" and "here's something that should".  If I went back to my original strategy -- not using characters to narrate the chapters at all -- I think I'd end up resurrecting some of the "flat tone" comments on the earlier stuff.

Anyone have any recommendations or strategies for reconciling the two?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Fred,

The solution is simple.

For color text, use tones, inflections, etc, that reflect the fictional speaker's outlook. You can do this; you've just demonstrated it.

For explanatory text, use tones, inflections, etc, that reflect the speaker's outlook, who in this case happens not to be fictional at all - you, the real person. "Flat" is bad - so don't be flat, be yourself.

Best,
Ron

[iago]

The solution is simple.

For color text, use tones, inflections, etc, that reflect the fictional speaker's outlook. You can do this; you've just demonstrated it.

For explanatory text, use tones, inflections, etc, that reflect the speaker's outlook, who in this case happens not to be fictional at all - you, the real person. "Flat" is bad - so don't be flat, be yourself.

I get that -- I suppose my point of difficulty is in determining the borders between where "color text" should be and where "explanatory text" is ... maybe I need to provide an example.

Gettin' caught in the grips of yer own hunger is a real bitch. Y'ever seen them cartoons where the duck looks at the rabbit like he's a walkin' main course? That's pretty much what happens.

Whenever the time period's up, if y'haven't managed to eat flesh by then, the gamemaster has ya roll a number of low dice equal to yer appetite ratin', against a difficulty of 3. If they all come up equal to or higher than that difficulty, yer golden.

The gamemaster can also decide that certain events are triggers — like seein' another cannibal take his dinner — and make ya roll again, even if the time period ain't passed. She may also decide that the difficulty number is higher or lower as fits the circumstances.

If any of the dice turn up lower than the difficulty, yer in trouble.

This starts out as "color" -- I'm fond of that first paragraph.  But it seems weird to me to then abruptly shift out of the character's voice to dive into the rest of what I've excerpted, which conveys mechanical stuff.  So part of what I'm looking for is a suggestion of how to manage that transition.  Put all "character voice" stuff in italics or a differnt font-face, leave the rest as plain text?

Part of my current solution to this stuff has me putting a summary at the end of each chapter that does a "just the facts, ma'am" review of what was described in the chapter, in short.  In this case, it wouldn't relist the "powers" you see above, but it would talk about the generalized mechanics of hunger, the "treat" dynamic, etc, in bullet point form.

Is that enough, or do I need to strive to avoid dialect piecemeal throughout the chapter?  Looking for advice here.  :)

[Mike Holmes]

So part of what I'm looking for is a suggestion of how to manage that transition.  Put all "character voice" stuff in italics or a differnt font-face, leave the rest as plain text?

Yes, do something like this. Exactly. For the final version, have your layout guy do somthing really neat with it. Til then, just indent and/or italicise or something.

See the supervillain sidebar idea from CAH.

Part of my current solution to this stuff has me putting a summary at the end of each chapter that does a "just the facts, ma'am" review of what was described in the chapter, in short.  In this case, it wouldn't relist the "powers" you see above, but it would talk about the generalized mechanics of hunger, the "treat" dynamic, etc, in bullet point form.

That sounds excellent. I've been waiting for someone to adopt this textbook methodology for a while.

I think you have it covered.

Mike

[iago]

So part of what I'm looking for is a suggestion of how to manage that transition.  Put all "character voice" stuff in italics or a differnt font-face, leave the rest as plain text?

Yes, do something like this. Exactly. For the final version, have your layout guy do somthing really neat with it. Til then, just indent and/or italicise or something.

Heh.  I'm my layout guy.  But I got the idea.

Okay.  So, that resolved, does anyone have comments on the mechanical and/or listed powers elements of this section?

[Jay Turner]

Hi Fred,

One thing that occured to me in reading the responses, as a way of handling the color text/system text problem, would be to consider that there might be two speakers cooperating on the same document, one being the insane cannibal, and one being the guy trying to quantify his behavior into a game to simulate the cannibalistic drive. The natural choice for the second speaker would be the "Doc" whom the cannibal references in the text. I'll try to provide an example using your text, if you'll bear with me:

Cannibal: Gettin' caught in the grips of yer own hunger is a real bitch. Y'ever seen them cartoons where the duck looks at the rabbit like he's a walkin' main course? That's pretty much what happens.

Doc: The best way to simulate this primal drive is to roll roll a number of low dice equal to yer appetite rating, against a difficulty of 3. If they all come up equal to or higher than that difficulty, you're fine. The gamemaster can also decide that certain events are triggers — like seein' another cannibal take his dinner — and make ya roll again, even if the time period ain't passed. She may also decide that the difficulty number is higher or lower as fits the circumstances. If any of the dice turn up lower than the difficulty, you must give in to your primal impulses.

Again, this would come down to layout, but I see it as neat type interrupting a loose "handwriting" font in the text.

This also brings up the idea that the game might be run as if the players were scientists or someone trying to simulate cannibalism to understand the drive to eat human flesh and in the process, getting caught up in it themselves. Just a thought that occurred.

Reading this chapter gave me a great feeling for the theme and mood of the game, but I was left a bit confused at to what the bonuses do that you get for the difficulty you put into your "favorites." Maybe I misread, but I'm not sure what those bonuses do.

The treat thing also seems a bit gimmicky, though I think it depends on your players how well that goes over, unless you use something like beers or withhold slices of the Official Game Session Pizza or the Official Chinese Takeout to spoon out for Appetite checks. I like the image of the GM hovering over you while you eat, going, "The mailman's tendon snaps as you take a bite--all those days running from neighborhood dogs has made his leg-meat tougher than you'd expect. Mmmmm."

Overall, I like it. I'll have to make another read-through, though, with this right next to the previous chapter.

[iago]

Good ideas and suggestions, Jay.  And I'll steal your little gamelet notion for my stew-pot of adventure notions for chapter four, if I remember to. :)

Overall, I like it. I'll have to make another read-through, though, with this right next to the previous chapter.

I should probably get the revised text up somewhere for someone to do that sort of thing, since the bulletin board posted copy of the first chapter is several stages behind where it's currently at in my private copy.

[DaGreatJL]

The text regarding the 'treat' (ie, the real-life food the player gets) didn't mesh all that well with the description of the other rules presented. Maybe you could address them seperately? Also, some more clarification on what happens when you eat something other than your 'favorite'; I didn't really get that part, and would appreciate a little more detail on how to figure the total modifier out.

Otherwise, it looks great, conveys what's goin' on.

[iago]

The text regarding the 'treat' (ie, the real-life food the player gets) didn't mesh all that well with the description of the other rules presented. Maybe you could address them seperately? Also, some more clarification on what happens when you eat something other than your 'favorite'; I didn't really get that part, and would appreciate a little more detail on how to figure the total modifier out.

I'm working some examples in as I revise the text of this section.  

I'm not entirely certain how to address the "meshing" bit, other than in the alluded-to end-of-chapter summary (which I haven't written yet), but I will keep it in mind.