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

That sounds very intriguing! Think I can get a link to it? :D Or at least a summary of gameplay?

What's a game you've always wanted to play, but haven't?

1. Did you edit an image that you use as an Avatar and send it bowlofspinach for this occasion or was it spinach's own doing?

2. If you find a group of people to play in person, which system would you use? Would you prefer to run it or play it? And in what language?

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Playing out the romance scenes are the banes of my existence.
Can relate, this hobby of ours is not exactly popular in Post-Soviet countries.
Space Rangers is the game that got me interested in Space themed media.

I am not creative/artistic enough to have done that myself. It's all Flying's doing!

Video game or board game? :D

For board games, I've been eyeing Kingdom Death: Monster for good three years - but I can't justify buying it for $420 (and shipping) when I'm not even that interested in the miniatures, the main cause of its price. But darn, I like what I've seen of the gameplay and of its horror setting... Wish they made a lite version or something. (Erm, if you do look up the game, keep in mind it has 18+ elements.) Tabletop Simulator version isn't quite the same - and probably not official.

Also, I wish I had an RPG-loving Russian-speaking friend to play DnD in person with. Or even any TTRPG. I want to roll some non-digital dice, but alas, these people resist my attempts at temptation. :0

As for video games... Hmm, I'm not sure, I think I played most of what I was interested in. I wish I had played earlier Fire Emblem games when they were around, since I think my younger self would've loved them. Maybe I'll get to it someday later when I feel like bothering with emulators. XD

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I drew it! Loved the chance to draw Succulent again. I think my favorite part is making its leaves glittery. XD
If I ever find a group, they'll probably be Russian-speaking since I can't actually speak English (well, I can, in theory; with a horrible, horrible accent). And for Russians the choice of official translations is slightly narrower, so it will probably be DnD - it released in Russia in 2019, and I've been thinking about maybe trying to rope someone into checking it out. Plus I know it the best.

I'll also probably prefer to be a player. I used to think that I would be a good GM when I first discovered TTRPGs, but my confidence in that kinda dissipated over the years as I realized that I'm really bad at public speaking. In person I'll be just too nervous to run a game, but I can probably handle playing in one - as long as it is a wallflower character. :D
Maybe it'll pick up now that there are more books being translated? Well, once the world situation is better for in-person games.
We do have a club here in the city, organized by HobbyWorld, but I don't think they ever played any RPGs. It's all Warhammer tournaments and Magic: The Gathering over there. XD
Yay, more Space Rangers love! :D I adore these games. What's your favorite alien in them? Mine's probably Gaal...

Are you ever going to revive the Ravenwraith game again?

I swear it's still alive! :D This autumn just... wasn't very great for inspiration, I struggled to get back into the flow. But I was thinking of doing the next part around this month or next, if stars align! (Tried to poke CESN recently, but I think the poke was missed. I'll return for him with my poking fork eventually.)

I'm up for returning again if nobody else wants to. Though I might know too much ooc

It's definitely that, especially considering that I have the same case for Russian too (results of having a lisp which I'm yet to defeat, despite multiple attempts). Plus I just don't have a decent mic on my PC, though that might be an excuse. :D
Steampunk for aesthetics, Fantasy for variety, Sci-Fi for its futuristic vibe and imaginative aliens - I like them all! But if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be steampunk with fantasy elements: dwarves on zeppelins, mages who use revolvers, locomotives powered by magical crystals. I love the settings in which technology and magic co-exist.

Although if I had to pick between Low-Magic and High-Magic, it'll probably still be High-Magic - at least for games. Although I do like a good pagan/folklore magic setting, which will probably be low magic...
I haven't, but I remember seeing it on the store during the recent sale and thinking "oooh, reminds me of Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader" (gotta love these blue and red mana/health bars). Do you recommend it? :D

What is you favorite opening to a story? Can be any type: RPG campaign, song, folk tale, film.
What countries have you been to, but only in the airport?
If you could have anything you own sent into space and brought back to you, what would you pick?

Favorite opening... Favorites are hard to pick. I like exposition openings in general, where it's just a lengthy description of the world or its backstory. Lord of The Rings movie, for example, works great for me in setting the tone. Same with books: one of my old favoritre book series, The Edge Chronicles, always has a world description as a prologue. It changes slightly depending on the trilogy the book is from, reflecting global changes in the books' world - like destroyed cities or technological advancements.

I also want to mention Owlboy opening; it made me immediately sympathize with the main character, which is great for an adventure game. (Plus Owlboy just has great characters.)
None, I'm not too fond of tourism - don't even have a passport I'd need for international travel (I tried to find how it's called in English, and Wikipedia just calls it Russian passport). I was in Kazakhstan a few times visiting my grandma, but that wasn't just the airport. And I prefer trains! :D
If I knew in advance, I'd make a figurine of a space-related character of mine. Would be fitting to send a space pilot or an alien into space!
And if not that... Probably something that I use, like a favorite stylus? For luck?

I've only just started playing and I like it so far. Arcanum is a magical world that goes through industrial revolution, so there is both magic and steampunk tech, however, the two don't mix together. If you are too magically attuned than tech will not work around/on you, which will result in some shops refusing service and you won't be allowed on the trains (one of the fast travel options), however, your magic items and spells would be very powerful. If you are too technically incline, then there will be an opposite reaction and magical shops will refuse their services and magical items won't work. It is made by Troika Games, so it is very atmospheric but fairly old.

Have any games on the horizon that you are thinking of running here on GP? Or any games you've desperately wanted to be a player in that you're hoping someone else might run one day?

Sounds intriguing, I'll keep it on my radar! Thanks for bringing my attention to it. :D
I don't have time for running more games right this moment, but if I ever do... I wanted to run something with antropomorphic animals! You know I like my raccoon thieves. :D

I have a book for The Warren RPG which is inspired by Watership Down and based on Apocalypse World, but I only played it a little bit with my family. Might be interesting to try something from it with more RP-oriented people! Although I'll probably cut on the more, erm, violent parts of these types of stories. Maybe something about a group of abandoned pet rabbits lost in the city and trying to get to the wilderness outside while escaping all the dangers of the urban environment...
What inspired me to come to this site was Vampire: The Masquerade RP podcast, LA by Night. I wanted to try my hand at VtM too, but although I joined one game of it soon after it didn't go on for too long. I still love the characters I made for it, but it wasn't actually trying the system, and I still eye every VtM recuitment call with interest. The problem is that I don't feel like doing darker stuff anymore, so I'd want something a bit more light-hearted, but VtM doesn't exactly inspire light-heartedness. And these calls are rare enough as they are...

And no one ever offered to play something like this, but I deeply want to play a non-present, voice-only character. I had this idea for an airport announcer trapped in their office during an apocalypse scenario and guiding a group of survivors through the place using announcement system. The character can't do anything but talk, so they're technically not a character but almost an NPC controlled by a player who knows just a little bit more about the layout of the place. Egg
Or it could be a game fully set in a chat log format! :0 Or even an asynchronous game with chat-log being how players communicate - it might work wonders for a horror.
..I simply enjoy writing dialogue-only pieces.

This gave me an idea... It will require a lot of planning and careful thought... I might present something in March or April (I hope I will have time to dedicate to running a game then). But don't get your hopes up for my future is very uncertain.

Consider this my application ! :D

Absolutely let me know if you run something like this later, you'd have me running after you with a petition to join right away! :D

How the tables have turned, the guinea pig will test on the mad scientist, mwahahaha!*Cough* Noted.
Definitely.

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Now back to the interrogation questions:
5. There was no food question yet (I think), what is your favorite food? What meal you always wanted to try (both from real world and fictional one)?

is the answer is russian, what is your favourite non-russian food? Just to make it harder 😅

And if the answer is non-Russian, what's your favorite Russian food?

if it is fictional, what would be the real one? if it is real what would... yeah, you got the idea 😅

though... I cannot not ask now if there is an answer, what would be the non-answer? 🤣

My favorite food - and to be honest, pretty much everything I ever eat aside from instant meals - is spaghetti with cheese and ketchup. I'll take it over almost anything else, and will gladly try anything adjancent as long as there is no meat/fish/eggs (not exactly vegetarian, just don't like them). I do also like crunchy chocolate things like cookies or cereal, and appreciate fruit ice cream and candy. Oh, and I love brown sugar sticks.

I'm not really a food connoisseur, I'm happy with my spaghetti, so I'm not sure about the second question for real foods. Guess maybe various Italian pasta? Maybe candy from different countries, these are often fun to try.
And for fictional ones... Ambrosia from Hades the video game; not the original Greek mythos one, since that one has side-effects. But in Hades it's supposed to taste like the best thing ever for each specific person, so of course I want to try it. Plus it's often compared to honey and nectar, and I like both of those (...I did eat flowers as a kid, yeah).
I can never tell which food belongs to which country originally, though spaghetti is probably not Russian. XD I'll answer the reverse version instead and tell you my favorite Russian food: that would be blini. (I refuse to call them pancakes because they're too thin for something I'd associate with a pancake.)
I also like rice porridge! It's not exactly inherently Russian, but I don't think it's quite as popular in other countries.
...not having a favorite? XD

What's something people often get wrong about your country and culture?
What's your favorite name for a baby animal, and you favorite collective noun for a group of animals?
Which actor plays your favorite version of Santa Claus?

Snow being absolutely everywhere in large quantities. Outside cities it might be true, but when people expects to see giant snow piles on the streets of Moscow they're in for a surprise. It's almost always too much traffic and people here for the snow to stay long before becoming a muddy, watery mix of dirt. The only snow piles around here are usually in parks, and even those are not as impressive as they could be somewhere in the northern regions.
I remember reading a story which described Yaroslavskiy Railway Station with characters in it walking almost knee-deep in snow. I used to travel to this station every day for the university, and reading this was incredibly amusing - it rarely has even a centimeter of snow, since it gets demolished by people almost instantly in the morning.
These are hard! For baby animal, I think it would be Russian name for a baby snake: змеёныш. (I'm not even going to try and transliterate it, but you can see transcription on the Wiktionary). I like it for how it can be metaphorically used to describe young but already cunning and dangerous characters (although it is slightly rude, but in a way that can be used affectionately). It's great in literature, and so are Russian names for wolf pup and a baby squirrel! Pups, kits and snakelets just don't have the same ring in English.

For the group of animals, there's the opposite: Russian doesn't have creative group names, it's always herd/flock/school/pack. Although it did take English's pride for lions, which I thought was very cool the moment I learned what the word meant by itself. It leans to such great play on words... So honestly, any group name of the kind will probably amuse me greatly, but I don't know that many. XD
It's been more than ten years since I last watched a Christmas movie (Klaus the cartoon aside). And I don't think I watched that many in general, since Russia celebrates New Year more than Christmas (and it's the wrong Christmas, ours is on a different date), plus I was more into cartoons as a kid and don't watch many movies nowadays. :D

May I instead tell you about a movie which kinda relates to a Russian New Year traditions? There is a movie called Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession which has nothing to do with the holidays, but it's always on the TV on 31st. Always. Everyone watches it hundreds of times. And it's a good movie, it's pretty funny and I absolutely recommend everyone to watch it once for the fantastic charismatic thief character alone - but every single New Year? Why?!
...but really, it's a great movie. I love Miloslavsky the thief from it, that character was just a great take on a rogue who put all of their attribute points into Charisma. XD

I'll definitely check it out. Is it a family friendly film?

Yeah, I think most Soviet films are. I checked just in case, and according to IMDb its certificate is TV-G in USA (and 6+ in Russia). :D

As do I. Working on a modern-day Savage Worlds campaign in an anthro world right now. It's Earth, but with all kinds of animal species.

That sounds great! I'll certainly keep an eye out if you'll run it here on GP. :)

Whispers Usagi Yojimbo before quietly fading back into the shadows...

...that is one very impressive-looking rabbit!