Ask Me Anything: FlyingSucculent

I'll be tremendously original here; what's the story behind the username?

What's your most embarrassing rpg moment that you're willing to share?

What were the reasons that you turned to pbp?

Define diy trinkets, I'm curious.

What's your favorite die size and why is it the D3?

Do you own a physical D3?

Have you watched Squid Game? If so, have you lawyered up to sue them for copyright infringement yet?

"Video Games (primarily anything with roster/deck/tech building), Game Development, Artificial Intelligence"

Sounds like a rather cyberpunk type to me. Any favourites in the genre?

Hey, if it works, why invent a bicycle? :D
There isn't exactly a story per se. For the last five or so years all of my gaming-related usernames follow the pattern of [adjective] + [plant], or [plant] + [noun]. Succulents happen to be one of my favorite categories of plants, so it was about time I actually had them in a nickname. And the flying part... Spur of the moment! Succulent with a propeller sounded amusing, combination rolled off the tongue, so here we have it.
Embarrassing RPG moment... You know, I can't exactly pinpoint one. I know I'm slightly embarrassed about some of my earlier posts from like ten years ago - but who isn't embarrassed over their younger selves? And they won't make entertaining stories either.

But I can tell you what makes me embarrassed consistently - it's writing romance! I love romantic moments in media, find all the lovey-dovey stuff very cute, but doing one myself? It is accompanied by a constant mental litany of "is this how people flirt??? what on earth am I writing???" and a definite desire to facepalm afterwards even while posting the result. XD
Never played in person - can't turn to PbP if you only ever played PbP! ;D Although what I mean as PbP in this case might not be exactly what you think of as PbP; I played forum RPs, and mostly fandom forum RPs. Popular stuff among teens who are into one fandom or another, at least on the Russian side of the web. But these usually don't have dice rolling or a gameplay system, its all pure story!

On a more global note, internet communication is slightly easier for me in general. I suspect I might have some form of social anxiety, and in person I'm usually either too nervously chatty or quiet as a brick - neither helps in roleplaying. Though it's still hard on the web too... Plus I simply don't have friends who are into roleplaying right now, and my city's main board game club seems to only play competitive games. :D

In a way, GP is my only proper experience with TTRPGs!
It's mostly polymer and air-dry clay figurines, and shrink plastic charms. I tried my hand at epoxy resin too and while I liked the results, I'm too imprecise for it. Had to scrub my hands for days after, and my table now sports some new glittery landscape elements.

I mostly make this stuff for amusement, since having material versions of characters from my personal projects feels very nice and they cheer me up when I see them. :D

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I don't have a favorite die. :P
However, 3 is simply one of my favorite numbers. Its roots in folklore are incredibly fascinating, it's an odd number so it provides a middle value, it represents a triangle and a line between just two people and a start of a crowd. You can find it everywhere! :3
I don't think I do. I have a few collections of dice (which I never use, they just look pretty), but these are all standard, even-sided fare.
If I do try to roll physically for a D3 result, I usually use D6 with its numbers paired. :D
If anyone can claim ownership over the genre, I think that would be Battle Royale, at least in the film industry. And there are way more killing game type media than Squid Game in the other mediums - which I will gladly list to you if you have hours to listen to me gushing about Zero Escape, Circle, Danganronpa, Cube, Would You Rather, Your Turn To Die and other adjancent ones. Beware, I might even get going and tell you all about Saw 5 and how great is its side plot twist...

Oh, and yes, I did watch Squid Game! I liked it.

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Weirdly enough, I'm not into cyberpunk all that much. I adore its aesthetic, all the neon-filled skyscraper mega-cities, but I rarely vibe with attached plots about mega-corporations or life in the urban underground. I like game dev and AIs in practice, not in stories usually associated with them. :D Though I did enjoy a book series called Labyrinth of Reflections by S. Lukyanenko, which is kinda cyberpunk-ish; except that most of the action happens in virtual world and not outside.

If I do rake through my brain for absolute favorites... I think that would be Invisible Inc! It's a video game from Klei, and I sunk hours of time into it despite my disinterest in the setting. It's a tactical turn-based stealth game with amazing art, great variety of characters and a decent story - if you like cyberpunk, XCom-like gameplay and stealth, I absolutely recommend trying this one!

And for other media, hmm, I don't have an answer. Does Matrix count as cyberpunk?.. XD

I've been ranting for so long about how, if you've watched Battle Royale, Squid Game pales in comparison. And Invisible Inc. is indeed a great game, I own it but never really got to play a lot of it. Solid picks all around, plus the Matrix absolutely counts as cyberpunk... ish :P

You're interested in AI? Do you code?

traitor! ⭐ 🐟
I think it does yes. There's future, cool looks for no reason and crap world with bad AI. bonus for it all being a cyberworld. (and internet says so.)

Battle Royale needs more recognition! :D
And if you like tactical games, you can also check out SteamWorld Heist. It's not exactly cyberpunk, more like steampunk in space, but it is a very interesting take on the genre - a side view, platformer-esque tactical game with a mechanic of bullet ricochet playing a big part in gameplay.
Yup, in a game engine called Godot (although I'm also familiar with Delphi). My favorite thing I ever coded is an evolution simulation where each entity has a neural network brain which can randomly mutate when they procreate. It uses natural selection as a way to teach the network, and it's fascinating to observe what patterns emerge given enough time. I'm still working on it: adding new senses, survival requirements, trying to do some optimization so it doesn't eat FPS as much at higher entity numbers.

I also know basics of HTML from my time trying to get into web-design, but that was long ago and I probably won't recall anything more complicated than the most common stuff. And then I also used to draw in Flash, so I might remember some ActionScript - quite obsolete knowledge now. XD
Hey, I believe I told Bowl that I wasn't into cyberpunk when I was creating Starfish. Plus he's not a very cyberpunk character, he can fit in any sci-fi which allows for his chair to exist. :D

What's the best part of living in the Moscow oblast?

Being close to the capital and all that stems from it. Easier access to big events and travel routes, more shops and variety of items in them, a lot of work and study possibilities, etc. Plus the town I live in is very green, with plenty of parks and other natural areas. And it's convenient to meet up with online friends, since if someone visits Russia, then they'll probably be in Moscow at some point. :D

Just for the record, I do know about those other properties. Squid Game is just the recent one and the one which Flying pointed out to me 😄

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If you could combine any two animals, which would you choose and how would you combine them?

You mentioned musical RPGs. Can you explain?

Like a chimera? I read way too many books where combining living creatures didn't end well, I'd be wary of trying that. XD

But if I had to pick... Hmm, most of the hybrids I like aesthetically would be very impractical both for themselves and others. Maybe some kind of a horned mouse? Mousantelope?
And it also would be interesting to have a water horse which isn't a kelpie (those are terrifying). Like a horse that doesn't dive (would make it hard to ride), still breathes air, but can swim very fast and is probably omnivorous. Sea knights would look great for a kind of medieval fantasy...
Musical video games that have lyrics which matter for gameplay. There are many musical games, but majority of them are rhythm-based, so I called them RPGs to separate. It technically applies to both examples I can offer, so...

Karmaflow is a game I was thinking of the most. It's not very great gameplay-wise, but I absolutely adore its way of incorporating music into the game itself - and it's very nice music, I even bought the soundtrack to listen to separately. Practically a full on musical in form of a game!
Other example would be Songs for a Hero. I didn't play it myself since I prefer to listen to non-dubbed versions of songs and don't understand Portuguese, but I like its concept.

These are so rare, I wish there were more.
And not sure if there are any TTRPGs that use music, but if there are, I hope I'll come across them. XD

Well, @Qralloq ran a metal-themed RPG a while back. Might still be running, no idea. But I don't know how much music that actually incorporated.

I'm sure there are others. I built something for a game jam some years ago that had using song lyrics as an option...

Invisible, Inc. is incredible! Starting writing up a Fate hack of it at one point...

Evolution at your service ...I may know someone who does 😆 though to be fair... the singing from that sounds pretty english to me

That's cool! Did you write the song yourself, or did you just find something that fit the plot/gameplay?
I always thought that game jams are neat, but my own nerves won't handle the time limit well. XD
Woah, I'd play that! :0
Do you know how fierce hyppos are?! Riding one would be absolutely terrifying. XD Plus, they aren't saltwater dwellers, so no sea knights...
And that's not a mouse, so disqualified! :P (Unless it is?..)
English is a dub - official, but dub. And dubs usually lose a lot in lyrical department.

what is an entirely Russian product of pop/nerd culture you feel like endorsing and that everyone should check out internationally? Game, comic book, tv show, book in "nerdy" genres... anything.

I present to you one of my favorite space games of all time: Космические Рейнджеры! It is a space open world RPG in which you control a single character travelling around the galaxy and doing pretty much whatever you desire: rise up in ranks, get rich, complete missions for planet governments, complete text adventures on planet surfaces. All the while the entire galaxy (humans and four alien empires) are fighting a major threat from a different corner of space, a newly discovered alien species who are trying to conquer every single planet.

The player is free to do whatever, there is no requirements to participate in averting this world-ending scenario, but the fight will continue in the background and might actually cause you a game over - on harder difficulties it becomes a real struggle. And although it's 20 years old by now, its art still holds up pretty well! And it also has a fantastic sequel which pretty much does the exact same thing with more gameplay mechanics and a new threat (it's set in the future of the first game).

The only problem is that I don't think you can get the original games on Steam or any other digital store - you'll need to either buy a physical copy or rise the flag of piracy. But there is a remaster of the sequel on Steam, released in 2013. I didn't play this specific version personally, but judging by reviews it seems that it mostly lives up to the original (although apparently with new balancing issues). Edit: apparently there is a mod to make the remake into the original, too.

It wasn't bound to a specific song. It wasn't even bound to songs. What mattered were pieces of media telling stories and songs were listed as one of the options (alongside movies, books, poems...)

It was the only time I ever participated in one. I liked it and the time pressure actually made me work well. Unfortunately, once the time pressure was over, I didn't stick with it to add the needed polish