SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

SEPTEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to September's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: CHAOS.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Torture (emotional and possibly physical), claustrophobia, potential weapon violence (guns, knives, spears, flamethrowers, etc.), possible body horror, emotional manipulation, emojis
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Prompt Three
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

DICE BLOCK

In case everyone hasn't had enough fun and games to last a life time in the good old town of Deerington, apparently this month brings you one more. Maybe you were just walking through the door to get into your own house, or maybe you were leaving from work — the moment you walk through any door, you'll find that it doesn't open up to the place you were looking for. Instead, you find yourself standing on a giant game board and you seem to be right on the start space. The doors already disappeared behind you, don't bother trying to run back. The only exit is at the end and you'll have to hope you make it there.

But you aren't alone! With you are other unfortunate souls who hopefully weren't just looking for a quick bathroom break. Some of them might look a little worse for wear. What happened? Well, looks like you may have to ask later, because you'll only really have time to exchange names if you don't already know one another before a large screen you didn't notice was hanging from the ceiling will light up. There's a giant image of a typical six-sided game die that's completely stationary. For the moment. Shortly after, a voice will come on over the speakers, echoing in the otherwise fairly empty room. It's overly cheerful, grating, and giggles at the end of every sentence.

Welcome, players! Is this your first time? Yes? Great!
Would you like to hear the rules?
Okay!
Each player will take a turn rolling their die.
You can then move the number of spaces shown — but only those spaces!
You can move forward, backward, right, and left, but not diagonally!
Each space will have a symbol.
The spaces with a clover are lucky spaces! Congratulations! You'll gain some fortune, whether it's an extra turn, moving ahead more spaces, or gaining an important item you can take with you on your journey!
The spaces with the skull are unlucky spaces! Boooooo, that's too bad! You'll befall some grave misfortune here. Hopefully it won't set you back too badly! Make sure to avoid these at all costs!
The spaces with a chest are item spaces! Here you'll be able to win prizes, like medical supplies or weapons! Maybe even a small something from home! Wouldn't that be nice?
Your goal is to make it to the end alive! Good luck! And remember to have lots of fun!

The first player's name will pop up on the screen, before the die will begin to randomly blink between numbers. Eventually it will land on a number. Once the player moves forward and lands on their space, it will repeat for the second player. This will go on until one (or both players) reach the end!

When they said to make sure to not land on an unlucky space, they certainly weren't kidding. Each one seems to come with some sort of random punishment or horror; it can be as light as having to move back a few spaces or go back to the start, or as heavy as breaking a random bone or feeling a blade slice open your skin. Maybe you'll start to slowly turn into a monster or become filled with the desire to kill your opponent. Anything can happen, but it's always going to be bad.

Players who reach the end will be able to go through the door and end up back wherever it was they were intending to go in the first place. Players who lose? Well... It's back to the beginning for you. Time to wait for the next player. Better luck next time.

DANCE DANCE

But what's behind door number two! People are going to start to get tired of walking around in their own houses at this rate. Even if you managed to escape the board game horrors, this new room you've found yourself in doesn't seem much better. In the center is a large TV screen and on the floor in front of it are two pads with arrows pointing in four directions; up, down, left, and right. Anyone who is familiar with Dance Dance Revolution might feel right at home! But fear not, there are instructions on the screen for you to follow if you need them.

Two players only, and you'll have to work together! It's a team dance and you'll want to encourage each other to stay perfectly in sync. The doors won't open until you finish, and should you mess up? Well, look up, friend!

The ceiling is covered in sharp, painful looking spikes and every time someone misses a beat or steps on the wrong arrow, the ceiling will drop down a foot. It's pretty high up there, but miss more than three arrows and you're gonna start to really feel the pressure. The spikes are looking a lot bigger and more ominous than they did when they were all the way at the top. Hopefully you've got some good rhythm.

But this is a good lesson in teamwork! Even the worst dancers might be able to get out of here okay if they've got someone who they can work together with. Maybe their perfect scores will make up for your two left feet. You can only hope you're both so lucky.

THAT'S NOT A "MEH" FACE!

Everyone loves to get a text, don't they? Of course they do! Which is why someone has been kind enough to send out a little special something to everyone's Fluid's this month! There's no name you recognize — in fact, it doesn't even look like a name is attached at all. The sender's identification only looks like this: 🥳

The message you've gotten is pretty simple though! Each person has received a text message with one emoji inside. No rhyme or reason applied! That's... random, isn't it? You can try to text back, but no one will answer, and so you might as well just close your device and forget about it.

Every person who received a text will find that their personality starts to shift. They begin to take on some aspect that's tied to the emoji they received. Did you get a simple smiley face? You're happy and relaxed for the time being! Or maybe a silly face will lead you to become more of a prankster. An eggplant could have someone feeling like sexting a Special Someone. An angry face might get you really riled up, even towards people you love. Did you get a knife? Time to start stabbing. A gun? Those people around you look like really good target practice...

The options are endless. Each emojis effects will last for twenty-four hours or until another emoji is sent from the same user.

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Comments

Louie Duck | Ducktales (2017)

[louieout]

dice block.

[ louie hadn't been terribly troubled to suddenly find himself stepping out of the door onto a life-size board game. this sort of thing was practically a given, now that they were living with uncle scrooge.

that guy was such a troublemaker, really.

on the other hand, he's a bit annoyed that no one's gone and told him what the prize is for winning, and while his name is clearly displayed above next to the number of spaces that he's meant to move, louie is sat down with his arms crossed over his chest, firmly refusing to move. ]

I'm not taking a single step until we agree on the terms of the game. I'm talking something nice, shiny, and really expensive. You know, the bare minimum for me to even show up for an adventure.

network.

listen, whoever thought it was a good idea to drag me here in the first place, I think you grabbed the wrong triplet. you want Dewey, alright? he's the adventurous one, he'd love this stuff.

and if you were hoping uncle scrooge was gonna pay some sorta ransom for me
1) have you ever met the guy.
2) no seriously, have you even heard of the man he SWIMS IN MONEY.
3) he sword fights with ghost, he'll probably sword fight you too.
4) if you don't want me turning this into a reenactment of the Ransom of Red Chief you better cut me in on some of that profit if he does.

wildcard.

[ go wild, message me on itsmel if you want to work something out! ]

dice block

[relieable]

[one wouldn't think so, but Louie and Osomatsu have a little bit in common. sure, Osomatsu's not an adventurer, but he has many brothers who share his face. he also loves money.

being on Team Fish means that his skin is still rough and sharp, and he's feeling no pain or pleasure this month. he almost doesn't blink when he looks up and notices that there is a screen rambling off rules to him. he's in a boardgame now? fine, whatever, that's just Deerington.

he then hears someone talking, and he looks down and finds this... kid? they don't look human, they've got feathers, and webbed feet, but they're wearing clothes, kind of. seems kind of familiar...

anyway, Osomatsu hears their demands, and smirks a bit, tucking his hands into his pockets]

Dunno if you're gonna get an easy answer, there, bub. Deerington isn't that straight-forward.

[louieout]

[ even with the sharp fish skin, osomatsu doesn't look like any sort of resident of duckburg or beyond that louie has met before so he gets a long, slightly baffled stare from the duck before louie ultimately decides this guy's looks aren't really his problem and he doesn't have the energy to make them his problem.

he shrugs pointedly and stretches himself out into a comfortable sprawl. ]

I'm confident in my ability to wait them out. Doing nothing is one of the things I'm best at, after all.

[relieable]

Hey, same. I love doin’ nothing!

[he crouches down to relax, because if Louie isn’t moving, then he’s not going anywhere, either]

Where’re you from?

[louieout]

[ wow, people almost never agree with louie's stance on doing nothing, his two brothers were way too high strung for that sort of thing and uncle scrooge and donald always tried to encourage the whole 'responsibility' spiel.

this guy's alright with louie, weird looking or not. ]

Duckburg. I'd ask where you're from but you're clearly some kind of monster thing so I probably don't know it anyway.

[ louie's smiling when he says this though, so uh, he probably means well with it? ]

[relieable]

[that earns a chuckle from Osomatsu]

I’m a human! And I’ve never heard of Duckburg. Does everyone there look like you?

[duck... he’s a duck! that’s wild. if this weren’t Deerington, Osomatsu would be wondering how drunk he was]

[louieout]

Human? [ louie eyeballs osomatsu a bit dubiously. ] Never heard of 'em.

What do you mean "like you". [ despite being an actual duck with feathers and the like, he clearly has something close enough to an approximation of fingers because he makes air quotes with them right now. ]

I have two other identical brothers, if that's what you mean.

network un: be-lou-ga

[teamfun]

Congrats on the uber-rich uncle? But unfortunately, he won't be getting any ransom note- mostly because none exist. We're all apparently asleep here so this is a literal nightmare.

Unless your uncle who sword fights ghosts can also break into dreams? Because in that case then yes, please- we could sure use us some of that.

un: louie

[louieout]

you'd think that wouldn't you, but that guy turns penny pinching into an olympic sport over the SMALLEST things.

[ refusing to buy louie a new phone just because his current phone ran out of battery is not a small thing, but good luck convincing louie of that. ]

i guess all the people in this town could be considered sort of nightmarish [ he's talking about humans ] but don't you think you're maybe being just a LITTLE bit dramatic?

he might, I don't know his life story. like i said, all that adventure stuff? that's Dewey. I'm perfectly content to sit down at the base of the mountain sipping hot cocoa instead of climbing to the peak, buddy.

[teamfun]

Well, there's your ransom hopes shattered. How tragic. Foiled by a miserly uncle. ◕︵◕

Aww, most of the people here are pretty cool. There's only been a couple of slightly nightmarish people around. It's not half as bad as the spooky shit that goes down here.

You might have just stumbled on the best way to survive here- keep the hell out of the way of everything and wait for the awful shit to blow over. Nice. Probably wouldn't do that myself, but it's got merit.

[louieout]

it's fine I'm used to it by now, he's already had the R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y talk with me. probably expecting me to find my own way home or something.

you can all look weird but still be "pretty cool". the Terra-firmians were nice enough.

that sort of plan usually only lasts as long as it takes to come into contact with one of my brothers or Webby. mostly Webby.

[teamfun]

nothing like that talk
like "congrats, I guess you're an adult now but only in ways that'll convenience me"
Terra-firmians? can't say I've heard of those
isn't that like... earth? terra firma?
throw me their names, and I'll let you know if I recognise any of them - no Webby here, I'm pretty sure

[louieout]

oh sure, i'm an adult when i want to spend the entire day on the couch watching tv. i'm a kid when my brothers and i want to take the houseboat on a day trip without uncle Donald.

they're these weird friendly guys that live underground.

Hubert and Dewford, but they go by Huey and Dewey.

[ and don't you dare try asking louie what his real name is because you're not getting it out of him. ]

Dice block

[laminae]

[Talking ducks are, in fact, pretty common in Ooo, so Fern isn't bothered at suddenly having a feathery companion. It's actually kind of nice, this whole situation reminds him a little more of home than most anything else in Deerington.

The biggest downside is this is clearly a dangerous situation, and the duck looks like a kid.]

Dunno if whoever set all this up is going to listen to you, dude.

[He looks around, trying to see if there's some obvious exit.]

If you don't play it'll probably set off some trap that tries to murder us. Or nothing happens and we're just left here with no water or food or sunlight, slowly starving to death.

[louieout]

[ well, louie might have been settling in for a good long sit and wait, but the mention of murder is more than enough to have him shooting up to his feet in an instant, eyes wide and very clear panic in them. ]

MURDER??!

[ fern wasn't wrong thinking that he was a kid, after all, and he'd always been the baby out of his brothers. he's just not built for bravery, mom definitely chose wrong when she picked out his name. ]

They can't do that, can they?

[laminae]

Sure, why not?

[He does feel a little bad for freaking this kid out, but sugar coating the situation isn't going to help anyone.]

It's probably better to just play and see what we're in for, then figure out a plan.

[And by plan he means break everything.]

[louieout]

[ louie darts an anxious look between fern and the board displaying his name ahead that's actually started flashing rapidly like a warning or... or a countdown. ]

Ughhhhh... [ louie grudgingly drags himself forward across the spaces the designated number before stopping and directing a glare up at the board that's an equal mix of trepidatious and combative, arms crossed over his chest. ] Well?

[ after a beat, a burst of sparkling confetti shoots up from under his feet and rains down on him. ] Ugh, what, seriously? [ he shakes one arm in front of him and only manages to slough off about half of the confetti with the motion. ]

Come on, this is never gonna come out!

[laminae]

[Fern's eyes dart between the kid and the display, as if either the game board or whatever that weird countdown is is going to result in some kind of danger. He isn't opposed to just cheating this stupid game, so he's on alert in case he needs to jump in and be a hero.

He's grateful that isn't necessary yet.]

I think that's a congratulations for not dying.

[He watches the screen as the die rolls for himself, and when it stops he takes a few steps forward to another space. There's a cheerful little noise and a roll of medical bandages drops down onto his head.]

- Hey!

network: un: Merle.Hightower

[extremeteenbible]

what good is sword fighting with a ghost, the sword'll pass right through him?

un: eviltriplet

[louieout]

not if you use a ghost sword, duh.

[ that's... not even what happened, louie. ]

[extremeteenbible]

How do ya hold onto a ghost sword if you ain't a ghost?

[louieout]

I don't make the rules, dude, how am I supposed to know?

[extremeteenbible]

Yer the one who brought it up in the first place!

dice block, gets her d20s out. pls forgive wobbly voice.

[solveamystery]

[Unfortunately for Louie, he's not playing this game with just anyone. He's playing it with Webby, who's practically bouncing on her heels at the very idea of playing what looks like a life-sized board game with possible life-threatening consequences. So, y'know, not too different from their usual adventure, but anyway.]

Ooh! A game with possible grave consequences for rolling poorly on the dice! [Whipping around to Louie:] If we work together, we could win this!

[Granted, she'd probably have preferred Dewey since he's one of her best friends and all, and they've solved a mystery together before, but hey, Louie's good too! In his own way.]

you and me both lets do this

[louieout]

[ oh great, it's webby. louie likes her well enough when his brothers are around to help act as a buffer, but the idea of dealing with the excitable girl entirely on his won is exhausting to even think about, let alone actually do. ]

Gosh Webby, I'd love to, really. That sounds like a super fun time, but I'm just really busy right now, uh. [ think louie, think. ] Keeping this square from floating away into space.

[ he pats the square he's currently sprawled out across with one hand for emphasis and gives her his most earnest look for good measure. admittedly not his strongest point, earnestness, but sometimes webby gets distracted enough by excitement and confused enough by lying that he can manage to skate by for a little bit, at least. ]