Episode 042: The Lodge

## Episode 042

*Two words: cryptid MMO.*

## Introduction

Griffin and Nick discuss *Fire Emblem: Heroes*, as it had come out the day before this episode. Griffin was very inspired by the game's savage monetization, having spent $14 on orbs to get 3 virtualboys. He is blown away by how you can spend $2 and get 0 Anime Kids for your money. They like the game regardless.

Griffin's baby is doing some kind of 'sleep strike' recently. FE: Heroes is a convenient game for him in this situation as he only needs one hand to play it.

## This Week's Game

/u/Mangulwort submitted:
*A Massive Multiplayer online game with most players being photographers and tourists while only one lucky person plays as Bigfoot.*
**The Lodge** is an asymmetrical MMO cryptid hunting game. Set in the Pacific Northwest, the vast majority of players are photographers that set out to find evidence of cryptids while a lucky few play as those cryptids and try to avoid being noticed. The game itself is a cryptid - if you take a screenshot of it on Steam, the screenshot will be blurry somehow.

Hunters gain experience from finding evidence such as snapped twigs, footprints, scat, etc. More experience is gained from being near the cryptid. Hunters can use this experience to unlock new gear, such as a radio, a GPS, heat detecting goggles, flashlights, traps, vehicles, bait, etc. There is also a 'folksy wisdom' tech tree that unlocks dowsing rods and ranger trackings. Hunters can also spend money to take helicopter rides over the world, surveilling the forest and marking spots on their map.

The lodge itself is a hub for Hunters to meet, upgrade their gear, and share their findings. Hunters can sell the photos they have taken for money that can be used to purchase new gear. They can also post photos on bulletin boards so that other Hunters can see them and vote on whether or not they are real. Hunters can photoshop their own photos and upload them to the game to trick other Hunters, and will receive experience from getting upvotes on them.

Hunters can form guilds with their own lodges that contain trophies of all the cryptids they've found. Hunters receive more experience if they are alone while hunting, but it is more difficult without a proper guild.

The role of each cryptid is very exclusive, and is randomly assigned to certain players. However, if the player does not log on regularly, they lose the role and it is given to another player. When a cryptid logs back in, they spawn within 100 yards of where they logged out, so that if Hunters track them to that point, the cryptid has a chance to get away. Certain cryptids must also complete tasks to survive; for example, the Chupacabra must eat sheep regularly.

The cryptids also have lodges of their own; a lair that is constantly moving. If a Hunter finds the lair, they receive a motherlode of experience.

A cryptid is 'defeated' if a Hunter touches it. The Hunter that touches the cryptid will receive a unique cosmetic item, such as a vest or pontoon hat. Other Hunters in their guild will receive similar rewards.

Available cryptids include but are not limited to Bigfoot, the Chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Loch Ness Monster, the Mothman, Slenderman, a Swampman, the Wendigo, and the Abominable Snowman. There are roughly 100 cryptids, but only around 15 are active at any given time. New cryptids will not be announced in patch notes. Although cryptids are harmless to the Hunters, every year and a half or so there will be one that can capture Hunters.

The map is incredibly large and has a variety of biomes, such as a snowy north, badlands, a canyon, and a lake. Cryptids are encouraged to stay in the biomes that suit them with a speed boost, but are not forced to stay there.

## Other Game Ideas Discussed

### Chess, But With Gashapon Microtransactions

Suggested by Nick

A mobile chess game where players can purchase orbs like in Fire Emblem: Heroes. Five orbs gets you five pieces, but if you get duplicates you can feed one pawn to the other to upgrade its star ranking. Pawns with higher star ratings are "just better". Players can spend money to give themselves 6 different ways to counter the Spanish Defense, or to just have the game play itself.

### Get My Hands On Watson, The IBM Computer, And Just Stomp Its Balls At Chess

Suggested by Griffin

Watson thinks it's so good, but Griffin's gotten pretty good at chess recently. All Watson knows is playing against experts, so Griffin will confuse it by using a tactic so beginner that Watson short-circuits instantly.

### Kirby Your Enthusiasm

Suggested by /u/BanskysDad

A game where you play as Kirby, in the real world, sucking up people to escape awkward situations. Kirby could suck up a tire right off of a car and get tire powers, or suck up the people and get Mark who works at Subway powers. Griffin was really proud of getting through this suggestion without mentioning vore, but ruined it by pointing that out.

### Discreet Beat Agents

Suggested by /u/DonutSecretOne

A rythym stealth game. You have to keep in touch with the rythym, but keep the music down for when your mom checks to see if you're asleep. Nick took it in the other direction and suggested it's a stealth game where guards move to the music, like Tom Clancy's Rythym Heaven.

### You are a Japanese salaryman whose head is inexplicably a full-size basketball hoop. You must evade hoops legend Charles Barkley in your everyday life.

Suggested by /u/GaryTheKrampus

The salaryman wakes up everyday, shaves his net, and commutes to Osaka on the train, but Charles Barkley is there. If you keep your back turned to Barkley, it's more difficult for him to slam dunk. The salaryman knows his way around Tokyo's subways, giving him an edge over Barkley, who is disoriented and must use Google Maps. The final stage takes place on the train. Barkley has an AI that learns from its mistakes to catch you, and perhaps is Watson.

### Pick a random Jayden Smith tweet and make a game out of it

Suggested by /u/speciousific

Nick picks the tweet "That Moment When Peeing Feels So Good You Start Crying." They immediately realize they've probably done this exact prompt before.

### Jeff Dunham puzzle-platformer. You can transform into each of his shitty puppets to solve puzzles with their unique racist abilities

Suggested by /u/GaryTheKrampus

Nobody wants to go too far down the rabbit hole of coming up with racist puppet ideas. Nick notes that Jeff Dunham probably has puppets for every race, up to and including old people.

### A game like Gone Home, but you play as a changeling, and you have until your new parents get home to find enough clues in their empty house to convince them that you're the child that they've had all along

Suggested by /u/goshpunk

A mod/expansion pack for Gone Home where at the end, you read the diary, look up and see yourself in the mirror, and you're a space alien. You then transform into the child and answer the door for your parents, and the parents ask what year you were born. If you answer incorrectly, the parents shoot you.

### A VR game where you can decorate your own room

Suggested by Griffin

A Sims/Animal Crossing experience where you have your own little customizable space that other players can visit. Nick wants to make a whole space for keeping all his ideas on digital papers.

### A game like Titanfall, but after getting your Titan, you can get a larger Titan that the smaller one fits into. You can continue getting larger and larger Titans, but the rules for unlocking them are progressively more obscure

Suggested by /u/Tfspringer

Starting as a very tiny person, players can eventually work their way up to have titans larger than the planet, like a turmechen. Oops, this is Gurren Lagann.

### Don't Let the Bodies Hit the Floor

Suggested by /u/PET-KITTIES

You're performing surgery in extremely low gravity, and there's no operating table. Unfortunately, Surgeon Simulator already has moon gravity levels.

### Five Nights at Frasier's

Suggested by /u/MatthewJay30

It's nighttime at a very fancy Seattle apartment. You go into the kitchen, turn around, and get jumpscared by a very old Kelsey Grammer face. You get calls from Niles that establish the lore, and whenever you get a call, the bit of the theme song that goes "They're calling again" plays. There is an animatronic version of Eddy, the dad, and the dog.

### Bless This Mess

Suggested by /u/GeorgeOfTheJuungle

Help a Hapless Priest Unhaunt A Hoarder's House. The ghost is trying to avoid the priest and hopping from item to item, and trying to sneak up on him.