Henshin Sequence

Ewen Cluney apparently read the petition I started on RPG.net (@ http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=470349), and this is his response:

"Wow.

Um.

So, right now I'm immersed in working on Slime Story and another SEEKRIT PROJECT that I'm immensely excited about but can't talk about AT ALL.

I will think about sitting down to fix up Hikikomori (which is, after all, a 24-hour RPG and was never playtested), since people seem to actually like it. I don't know when I'll get around to it, but having written and then largely forgotten about it in 2006, I'm going to have to thoroughly re-read it and play it several times over, something my brain isn't really up to right now. In the meantime, please feel free to post or PM any specific observations/suggestions you have about the game.

Regardless, thank you all for your support. :) "

Awesomecakes.

If you have a vested interest in this game, then do post your playtest reports.

( Rules, I haz them behind ze kutt )

neko_ja_nai wrote:
Mood: Indescribable
Music: Kodoku na Junrei

...I don't... I don't know what to say. I don't know where to begin.

Tokho's apparently reading over my shoulder, because she just told me "At the beginning. Duh."

So...

When I woke up, I decided that I really did want to meet with Akira today, but I also wanted to try Gakuen Dream. But... I know how I get. If a story is really interesting, it's hard for me to pull away. Tokho suggested that I call my sister Makoto. "Mackie would relish the chance to rip you bodily from the computer," she said with a grin.

I really don't like Makoto. She doesn't like me much, either: says I'm in a fantasy world and that ren-ai games are pieces of crap.

I'll cop to the former, but honestly - has she MET most of the creeps in the real world? In a ren-ai game, you at least have a chance at love.

So I told myself...

Anyway. I called her, and asked her in the middle of her rant on that subject to help me get off the computer at two so I could meet Akira.

"Willingly meeting a human being. Will wonders never cease," she said.

"That's not fair!"

"Yes, it is."

"I beg you for help and this is how you treat me?"

She got all quiet. "...you're serious."

"Yeah."

"...I'll be over at 2."

She was good as her word. Before I knew it (or got to the Keenan ending of Visual Stage), my computer turned off. I looked up and Mackie, in that hideous skanky halter top of hers, was holding the plug to my power strip. I gave her a sheepish grin and she marched me to my closet and made me "presentable." The only thing I really had that looked good was an old uniform bottom and an Archer t-shirt, which... didn't make her happy. But she did help.

When I thanked her, she said "What I want in return is for you to keep meeting this person and have a REAL relationship, do I make myself clear?" I nodded. "Now get out of here."

When I left, I saw her climb onto some sleazeball's motorcycle and wrap herself around him. Ecch.

Akira was right there at the coffeeshop, and he got me a drink. Something with a lot of sugar and milk, you know? He talked to me about some of the art he was doing - he was doing some composition and sketching stuff. Interesting stuff. I said that I wasn't that good of an artist and I showed him some sketches, mostly of Tokho and her friends.

He looked at them for a long time with a strange expression. "Did you trace these?"

"Um... no. I was copying..."

"Freehand?"

"...Yes?"

He looked for a while, then smiled and said, "This is really good."

For all I know, a bug flew in my mouth, it was open so wide.

"These are characters from a ren-ai, right?"

I nodded. He said, "Have you thought of drawing your own?"

"I - I haven't been in love, I couldn't do it right."

Then he put a hand on mine, and I FROZE, both at that and his words.

"It's not too late to try again."

I... I kind of spazzed, there. We talked a little more, but I wasn't in any state to say anything.

I went home and by way of not thinking about it until I needed to got the Keenan, Josh and Nathan endings to VS. Twice.

Tokho prodded me until I told her what happened, and she just... smiled, and said: "Go. For. It."

...I'm so happy right now, you don't even know.
----

Earlier, I managed to wipe out the Ren-Ai obsession when I forgot to play it right. It bothers me that it only takes a margin of 8 points to do it: I'd expect it to lower it a die or two, possibly 1 die plus some Hope. It does bother me, and I'm going to bug Ewen Cluney to revise this game.

Still, this is awesome so far. Tune in tomorrow.

For the single-player storytelling game Hikkomori I'll be playing. She'll be female primarily so I can use the Goth Sara Smith icon for her.

( Because not all of you care about dark, goofy Indie games )

And the first rolls...
( Not that anyone cares about a pathetic hikkomori like Seichan ;_;  )

Which I will turn into this story.
( Read here if you dare. )

...that came out better than I thought it would. Huh. Please read and comment on the story, kay?