We ’re doing something a bit different for this calendar week ’s Concept Art Writing Prompt . In fact , it ’s less a concept art quick than a concept writing quick . We ’ll be playingMachine of Death , the game of originative character assassination . David Malki ! ofWondermarkandMachine of Deathhas given us a quarry to bolt down and a fistful of challenging constraints , and it ’s up to you to envision out how the target dies .
Machine of Death takes place in a universe where a special Machine exists , one that tells you how you are going to die . The Machine takes a sample of your blood and spits out a carte printed with your method of death . The Machine is always right , but it ’s often unclear ; your carte du jour might show “ GUNSHOT ” or “ CANCER , ” but it might also say “ BANANA ” or “ JOY . ” Machine of Death started as an anthology , whichyou can download and understand for free . A 2nd anthology , This is How You Diewill be released in July , 2013 .
Soon , the Machine will intrude on the gaming earthly concern as well . Currently , the MOD creators are run aKickstarter effort to bring a Machine of Death circuit board game to living . The movement has been hugely democratic , allow the team to commission new cards illustrated by creative person likeChester 5000 XYV‘s Jess Fink ( link NSFW),Nedroid‘s Anthony Clark , Dresden Codak‘s Aaron Diaz , Dr. McNinja‘s Christopher Hastings , Dinosaur Comics ‘ Ryan North , Broodhollow‘s Kris Straub , Octopus Pie‘s Meredith Gran , and many , many more . These incentive cards are available to anyone who snap up the game as a PDF starting from a $ 10 assurance or as a physical game starting from a $ 25 pledge . There are a fistful of other Kickstarter exclusives , such as poster , t - shirt , and hand-crafted deluxe wooden game boxes .
David Malki ! was kind enough to act plot professional for us today . Our objective is Leonard M. Fritz , who will die of TAMPERING . Malki devote us all the pertinent details about Leonard and his death below :
The Chief met me at the door . That ’s how I knew it was swelled . He held start the alloy storage warehouse door , a petty too early so it was awkward walking those last twenty yards , him glance at me , me glancing at him , then both looking away even though we acknowledge we were headed mighty for one another .
He stared past me , at the city beyond , so hard that I change state to calculate as well . A bit of morning haze still clung to the acme of the tall building — offices , mainly . multitude running around , doing whatever . Office stuff and nonsense . make copies ? have a merging where everyone severely weigh a jagged line graph ? I watch out television . I know these things .
As I drew close , the Chief turned and let me follow him into the dark of the warehouse . As soon as I stepped into the darkness , I realized why he ’d come out — it was loudly in there , hammers and pneumatic wrenches sate the echoey space with the shrewd sound of creation . The path to Chief ’s office took us justly by one of the many works - in - advance : a rickety orange scaffold mounted on a serial publication of skateboards . Barnes , Swanson , and Johan were have a hell of a clip holding it steady while someone up top — could be Radar , but hard to severalize through the welding mask — was attaching a John Cage made out of rebar . The kind of cage that divers use to go swimming with sharks , but in this case mounted on top of a skateboard - scaffold .
Another typical sidereal day . When would this job get interesting ?
The Chief slammed his post room access and the sounds muffled a flake . knock off no time with nicety — two envelopes toss away into my hands . I almost drop them . A little test .
The first gasbag was standard , commercial enterprise - sized . reappearance address : the Department of Determination . Still varnish . I held it up to the light . “ Do you cognise what it says ? ”
“ I intrust you . I wanted the feeling to be mutual . ”
I tore enter the gasbag and drew out a folded sheet of paper . Form letter of the alphabet . Dear so - and - so , enclosed as request is a certified copy of your prediction , blah blah blah . I scanned the name and life-sustaining stats . Leonard M. Fritz , school bus gadget driver , wienerwurst lover , hapkido expert , allergic to blush wine . Weird . The Department knew everything .
Well , almost . Leonard did something unsound . The letter did n’t say what , and I did n’t need to bonk . Leonard was decease to die . That was my problem .
I unfolded the bottom half of the page . sting with a tap of condom cementum was the card . Crisp , blanched , still had that Cu aroma from the test — or at least I guess I could smell it .
TAMPERING .
I showed Chief the board and he raised his supercilium imperceptibly . “ Could be soft than some I can remember . ”
TAMPERING . Could mean any number of things . nutrient , medicine , brake line . I charge launch the 2nd gasbag . Three plastic card — gift cards . For the mordant grocery store .
One was to Crimson Wonderland . I hated that position — so mushy and eldritch , with klezmer music fall from ostensibly everywhere . But if you needed something red , they had it .
The 2d was to Danny ’s Every Vehicle Ever . Now THAT ’S a spot I could get lost in . Danny knew everything about every kind of vehicle . You get him talking about a Triumph bike and the next thing you recognise he ’s pull open crates and yank off canvas covering and babble about speedboats and hang gliders and I think I even saw a jetpack in there once . Picking up something from Danny would take me the better part of a daytime — I ’d well think that through in rise .
The third was to Bort ’s Sports . Bort was a unearthly dude who hate every kind of sports . But he dutifully and resentfully opened his workshop every dawn and would sell you anything you needed . It was a respectable placement that had used to be a Greek restaurant .
And , of form , I had the gang . If I provided the plan and the sensitive material , they were there to make it happen .
The Machine of Death hold Leonard TAMPERING . Which means it also give me a teaser to work out . If I could n’t issue forth up with a room to drink down him via TAMPERING , it would n’t work . The Machine was funny that agency .
“ you’re able to see why I called you in , ” state the Chief . He ’d acknowledge the prediction all along .
No matter . I was the good of the best . As I channelise back out to my automobile , I saw that the crew was busy bolting chainsaws to the shark cage . I would n’t need to be around when that affair went off .
The sun was brilliant outdoors . The haze was burn off . I had three gift cards in my pocket and an overt - ended challenge . mass were living and dying every minute in this city . One more of the latter should be easy .
So your mission is to continue the story so that Leonard ends up dead . If you need a little stirring or you ’re unclear on how the game work , watch this video of a round of gameplay . And if you have fun coming up with creative ways to vote out Leonard , considergrabbing the game through the Kickstarter military campaign .
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