In Progress [LP CYOA] Tower

[Nevill]

Have you ever shot a gun? Most fist-timers can't even figure out how to disarm a safety, have zero trigger discipline and tend to point it in all sorts of stupid directions.

I am not worried about trigger discipline for our guy. He is cool as a cucumber.
And I assume he'll really only shoot up close, what with limited ammo.

Add to that that we will only have 6 shots to hit our target. Even assuming that 1/5 ranged weapons will negate the difference between a bow and a gun entirely, it's still 1 out of 5. That's a pretty shit skill level to hunt monsters. If we don't kill ourselves or one of the girls, we're still unlikely to kill our target.

This, however, is true. The size of these creatires also makes it unlikely they would go down with a single shot... or even three, unless we are lucky.
But then, you are advocating pushing a ten-year old boy with a corresponding muscle strength to fight a bear-sized monster with a sword, and expect him to be more successful at it, so...

Well. There is always the option to fistfight like Lord Zhang decreed, so it can't be the worst option.

 

[Baltika9]

There is always the option to fistfight like Lord Zhang decreed, so it can't be the worst option.

I am swayed.
D>C C. Punch>shoot the wounded one good, help Sophie if needed afterwards. Depending on how fast grandma finishes her guy off, we might not even have to do that.

 

[Absinthe]

The more I look at it the more I feel like this fight is mostly under control. Bernard can handle the injured shifter and Elizabeth can flee with her boots. Tlalli can handle the new shifter. The person in greatest danger atm is Sophie, and Tlalli already indicated she won't take responsibility if we die during a hunt, so I think Sophie needs protection the most atm.

Taking 2B off of my ranked preference vote. I don't think we can sanely tie down the second shifter in top condition and protect Sophie at the same time. We're not that good.

 

[Grimgravy]

B > C. A slingshot to replace the one you lost. The pebbles that Tlalli provides are already polished and sharpened – they will fly well.
B. Tell Tlalli to leave this one to you while she goes after the injured enemy. You might not be able to beat it, but you think you can buy enough time until the old lady finishes off the previous enemy and returns.

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

But then, you are advocating pushing a ten-year old boy with a corresponding muscle strength to fight a bear-sized monster with a sword, and expect him to be more successful at it, so...

A very sharp sword.

I acknowledge this, but we’ve already proven ourselves against shadow beasts and large lizards.

A slingshot is a ranged weapon we can actually use. Surprised so many are going for the obvious trap choice, but codex gonna codex.

My guess is that we will shoot through a monster and kill one of the girls. Ffs

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I’m amending my original vote to 1A>B, in case more sane voters come in and realize that a 10-year-old with a gun is a bad idea.

Don’t you understand that “how hard could it be?” is a trope said before things that are actually quite hard?

 

[Absinthe]

We have the relevant skill as well as decent int, constitution, perception, and willpower. I don't think we'll fuck up a revolver. We're smart enough and skilled enough to figure it out, focused enough to maintain decent trigger discipline, sturdy enough to withstand recoil, and perceptive and skilled enough to be able to aim the damn thing. If our stats and skills were otherwise, I'd agree that the revolver would be a bad idea (for the very reason that I think the macuahuitl is a bad idea - it actually takes some skill to use properly and is a danger to ourselves wielded improperly), but as it stands we have the qualification to pick one up and use it passably.

Guys, I don't recommend 2C. Sophie is in need of our protection much more than Elizabeth, who is rather agile with her boots, dealing with an injured attacker, and protected by Bernard. And 2B is a terrible idea. This would expose Sophie to far worse danger than if we were to leave her with Tlalli.

 

[Nevill]

A slingshot is a ranged weapon we can actually use. Surprised so many are going for the obvious trap choice, but codex gonna codex.

I don't know if it's a "trap choice". Colonel Colt made people equal, and a gun is a great equalizer between a pre-teenage human and a beast.
Yes, we'd have to pay for it with limited ammo and poor accuracy, but we also have a dagger as a fall back weapon.

And, well. You say that it's hard to hit a monster coming for us, but warn against hitting a girl that is about 100 to 200 meters away and moving on accident? It's possible, but fringe enough that it shouldn't factor in this. Sophie might be a problem if we go with that, but I'd figure we are coming over to be between her and the monster.

I acknowledge the risks, but there are also benefits.

Edit: an appeal to stats is the worst argument I can imagine, though. As if gun accidents are exclusive to mentally deficient cripples.

Edit2: another reason I want a ranged option is because hags have one:

After that, Tlalli had leaped into battle – the shifter was a strange, bear-sized, reptile-headed beast with fins, changing into a monstrous hag and back again throughout the fight. In its beastly form it snapped and charged at Tlalli with brute force, while in its humanoid form it threw streams of unearthly flame.

They can simply run circles around us, and we won't catch them in this terrain.

 

[CappenVarra]

the short term situation doesn't seem too bad
unless there's more shapeshifters around and we're in Fantasy Fucking Vietnam (TM)

in the long term, we want guns and Lizzy (and more guns)


1C
2C

 

[Life of the Party]

With a gun and four allies around us we're just begging for a tragedy.

B/D

 

[Egosphere]

I had to look up the macuahuitl, and even though it's 'smaller sized', are people really sure its a good choice? For a child? First of all, its not a sword, its a cricket bat shaped club with obsidian blades sticking out at one end. No hand guard, small pommel. Since its small, and we're not strong, we'll have to swing it pretty damn hard. What if we miss, or it slips? Not impossible at 0 melee skill. I'd stick to the dagger, if i was Wrinkly. If the revolvers too hardcore, then the slinshot is the safe choice.

 

[ItsChon]

Sick update! C>B is my first vote. I know we attacked the weird bear thing in the woods with our knife and we killed the lizards in the jungle with one too, but I want to stick with our whole ranged hunter theme we've got going on. I have no fucking clue what people are talking about when they discuss a gun and there being a tragedy. It's entirely dependent on what option we choose to go with. If we go and guard Sophie, there is absolutely no way we can hurt her. She'll stay really close behind us and if a shapeshifter appears, we'll shoot at him. Bernard, Elizabeth, and Tlalli would all be out of sight and out of danger. It's also the most badass, and we have a point in ranged weapons already. Slingshot as the alternative because I want us to stick to ranged.

D. D is the best choice. Elizabeth will be safe with Bernard, as the first Shapeshifter is already weakened and she has the bronze sphere. If she manages to bungle throwing a ball at someone she doesn't deserve our love. We'll simply get in the way if we try to help Tlalli, and hiding is just a shit choice. We should shore up our weak points and go help Sophie, especially as if we can make her more partial to us that will increase our standing with the town when we get back.

 

[Tigranes]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

BD for now. There's clearly good reasons to cover the undefended Sophie, while grandma takes the biggest threat and Elizabeth+Bernard handles the weaker threat as planned.

 

[Baltika9]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

Depends. If we have an understanding of what a revolver is, and it looks like we do, then we can handle it. Revolvers were designed to be simple and easy to use. I'm not at all concerned with our mental inability to use one, Nevill gave a good rebuttal to that argument:

Have you ever shot a gun? Most fist-timers can't even figure out how to disarm a safety, have zero trigger discipline and tend to point it in all sorts of stupid directions.

I am not worried about trigger discipline for our guy. He is cool as a cucumber.
And I assume he'll really only shoot up close, what with limited ammo.

I don't think we should hang back. I think we'd be a better contributor if we helped grandma or Elizabeth take down their quarries faster, than if we hang back and take a piss.

 

[Tigranes]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

Depends. If we have an understanding of what a revolver is, and it looks like we do, then we can handle it. Revolvers were designed to be simple and easy to use. I'm not at all concerned with our mental inability to use one, Nevill gave a good rebuttal to that argument:

Have you ever shot a gun? Most fist-timers can't even figure out how to disarm a safety, have zero trigger discipline and tend to point it in all sorts of stupid directions.

I am not worried about trigger discipline for our guy. He is cool as a cucumber.
And I assume he'll really only shoot up close, what with limited ammo.

I don;t think we should hang back. I think we'd be a better contributor if we helped grandma or Elizabeth take down their quarries faster, than if we hang back and take a piss.

We can help shoot the enemy with slingshot while covering Sophie, no?

We may know how to fire the revolver without falling over on our arse, but you think we're going to shoot and hit our quarry - and not hit our allies? Because that only happens in Hollywood.

 

[Baltika9]

We may know how to fire the revolver without falling over on our arse, but you think we're going to shoot and hit our quarry - and not hit our allies? Because that only happens in Hollywood.

Depends on the range. If we want to go at long range, then the slingshot is the only choice. And it's not a great one, considering that slingshots don't have a great effective range.

That's why I want to get up close and help Lisa.

 

[Nevill]

I think we'd be a better contributor if we helped grandma or Elizabeth take down their quarries faster, than if we hang back and take a piss.

That is true. However, that is only true so long as there are no more monsters around, because otherwise you take out some of theirs and they take out some of yours. The group is split, and only Liz can reconnect with the others quickly; the rest will be slower to react if anything bad happens.

Unfortunately, we can't be certain that's all of them, because we already thought there'd be one, and we were proven wrong. Fool me once...

 

[Baltika9]

I think we'd be a better contributor if we helped grandma or Elizabeth take down their quarries faster, than if we hang back and take a piss.

That is true. However, that is only true so long as there are no more monsters around, because otherwise you take out some of theirs and they take out some of yours. The group is split, and only Liz can reconnect with the others quickly; the rest will be slower to react if anything bad happens.

First: that's a big if. Second, if we're concerned about enemies, why not go with E and ambush our would-be ambusher? And staying with Sophie just feels very 'meh:' okay, bro, you wanted to come here and hunt a changeling, but now you're hanging in the back 'protecting' your sister who can spot an attacker ahead of time anyway. Uh-huh. Pussy.

Unfortunately, we can't be certain that's all of them, because we already thought there'd be one, and we were proven wrong. Fool me once...

This a good point: grandma's intel already missed the second changeling, there's nothing that guarantees that there isn't a third one. Like I said, the point is iffy.

 

[Azira]

My thinking before reading any other votes is this:

All your discuss look like ramblings to me. How often do you actually sway another, rather than repeat your own points ad nauseam?

1B>C
2A>C>B

 

[Kz3r0]

1 C>B

2 D>B

 

[CappenVarra]

if we don't take the gun, i bet Sophie will - imagine how much better will she handle it than our guy

 

[ItsChon]

Using a gun for the first time in your life, untrained, is a recipe for disaster, no? Gun nerds can correct me, but wouldn't he just fuck it up? Long-term it's a great choice, short-term maybe not helpful?

It's really not hard at all. Perhaps I had an advantage cause I'd been exposed to guns all my life through video games and popular media, but when my father was getting a license to carry for a security job I went with him for the three visits and shot all sorts of handguns and a shotgun or two. Within five minutes I was comfortable enough with each gun to be able to flick the safety off, fire some rounds, and then reload the weapon. Sure I was a little ham fisted, but it's not like we have to be Clint Eastwood with the gun to use it effectively. Just keep your finger off the trigger, point it towards the direction of whatever is rushing towards you, and unload. Assuming Wrinkly is intelligent, and he was given a little tutorial on how to use the gun as well as fiddling with it while we were looking for the shifters, there is nothing to suggest that he would fuck anything up. You yourself picked defending Sophie. There are no shape shifters around her at the moment, so she won't be in the line of fire.

 

[CappenVarra]

Spoiler

 

[Nevill]

And staying with Sophie just feels very 'meh:' okay, bro, you wanted to come here and hunt a changeling

Nah, we wanted to come help hunt a changeling. Our role is defined by our Astra, which is how Liz got hers.

The initial plan did not have us participate beyond basic tracking, simply because we can't outrun the hag on foot. Even Tlalli can't without the orb.*

Wrinkly is a pragmatic a lot more than he is a glory seeker.

* Edit: which, incidentally, is causing my apprehension with E. We may spot the ambush, but can we react in time?

 

[Esquilax]

I don't have enough time to longpost right now, but I'd caution people to compare the effectiveness of firearms to that of our own world. From the lore update:

1592: War breaks out between the Azteca Confederation and the Conquistadore Kingdoms. Demonstrating an innate aptitude for Astra usage, the Azteca’s initial disadvantage when it comes to firearms is neutralized. Battles rage throughout the Tower, as the independent Conquistadore fiefdoms are each drawn into the conflict one by one.

Not to draw too many Arcanum comparisons, but I wonder if melee weapons, especially if they're forged in some way, might lend themselves better to being Astra, or they won't hinder our abilities in that realm? Then again, I guess a revolver could become an Astra all the same too.

Nevertheless, while the revolver is nice, but I am a devotee of +1SWORDS. Plus an obsidian sword is too cool.