Regular Romp #7: Dr. Jazmo’s Pet Percent

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Jasmocolors

I wanted to start by telling you how I met Dr. Jazmo, but then I remembered that I never actually met them. The person that showed up in our den at the start of the new research cycle was a fraud. There was always something strange about them, separate from their appearance. Their blond hair was normal enough, though it always looked wet and slicked back. Their body language was stiff, one hand almost always holding the other, but there were still handshakes. I still saw them eat and drink normally. Continue reading

Chat-your-own-Adventure #26: Anomalous nuts

Author’s Note: This story was written live on stream with the audience bidding tokens (earned while watching) to determine the path of the story.  The underlined phrases in the choice of three were the winning pathways.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d ever like to participate in our interactive fiction.

Burger Taste Test                   Ramen Taste Test                     Pancake Taste Test

The room was small and sparsely decorated, but even without many objects to hold onto the smell of pancakes and syrup was thick in the air. It was almost as if the scent was pumped in through the vents from an industrial-sized vat. There were enough people in there to add an element of body odor, but Ms. Mapple had the ability to weed that out in her decision making. Continue reading

Twitch Stream Story: Next Year’s Finish Line

Prompt: A guy who can run extremely fast, but when he walks he’s extremely slow

All of the training meant nothing. I neutralized it completely. Seven months of getting up at five in the morning and going to run around the park before the early traffic made the air foul. Seven months of eating cereals with names like Bran BalanceUltra Oats, and Royal Regularity. Seven months of my wife and daughter cheering me on and I threw it all down the drain. That’s what I couldn’t stop picturing. My little girl screaming her heart out over the edge of a cliff, because all her praise fell away into nothing. Continue reading

Twitch Stream Story: Engine in the Attic

Prompt: A scifi story about posthumanism and discrimination

Every footstep had to be sanctioned. Infrak’s steps had been predetermined for more than four years now. Each step with his giant feet, each as wide as a schooner, was clearly marked with concrete borders. These steps moved in a circle around the city. It was his patrol route, now that he wasn’t needed for battle any longer. Continue reading

Twitch Stream Story: Really? No, not Really.

Prompt: realization vs. reality

There once was a god who figured things out as they went along. They made planets before space, plants before light, and animals before food. This god’s world was a slow moving disaster, but it was too late to stop now; it already rolled across the gravity they’d put out like a carpet. All they could do was their best as they watched trees grow tall before their leaves showed up, families give seasonal gifts before the children were born, and wolves lick their lips before the hunt was even on. Continue reading

Minesweeper Fiction: Session 14

Author’s Note: This was written live on stream, with the tone being determined by the numbers under minesweeper tiles.  The audience could bid tokens earned in stream to reveal random tiles.  A mine hit results in the death of all characters, unless they are temporarily saved by a lump sum of tokens.  If characters make it to the end of the stream, they survive to be seen another day.  Join us at twitch.tv/blainearcade if you wish to participate.

1-peace    2-alert    3-escalation    4-action    5-tragedy    6-world-changing

The minefield has been moved. It now connects the Trap to a new world, a new game. There is no destruction this time, nothing forcing them to flee. Only the brave, curious, and strange will take the journey. Who will step through the fog and face the myriad dangers of the field?

Three enter: Magmis the stuttering volcano, Fezidor the forgetful wizard, and Lucille the medieval scholar. Continue reading

Regular Romp #6: Engelforn

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Rammsteinengelskellington

Rasmussen. Engel. Skelligton. Those are the three names I used when I reached California for the first time. None of them were my original names, and I’m still not so sure I can use Rasmussen as a first name without people looking at me funny. It was the best option at the time. First and last don’t matter so much anyway. Everything about me is crammed into the middle name. This current one, I had to ditch the old one because it was burnt out, sounds so much like angel. Continue reading

Twitch Stream Story: Refreshing Defeat

Prompt: A magic school where every year there is a battle.  Those who win learn a new spell and those who lose have to leave the school. The main character only ever gets one spell (not a very good one).

The waterfall muffled any scream that might’ve escaped the natural arena. It was the least-used part of the school, only once a year during final testing, yet it always drew the largest crowd. People who’d never expressed an interest in education before showed up with snacks and noisemakers to see the graduation contest. Continue reading

Regular Romp #5: Wickediel Makes an Entrance

Regular Romp is an interactive fiction activity over on our Twitch stream where I ask a regular a series of questions before turning their answers and a corruption of their username into a short story.  Stop by twitch.tv/blainearcade if you’d like to participate.

starring

Wickedscript

The scene opens on rolling hills on a windy day. (Stage hands off to the side have large cloth fans and are working quite hard on their simulation) Elizabeth Mary stands at the top with an arm full of dresses in various colors. One by one she throws them to the wind and they are blown off stage. Continue reading

Twitch Stream Story: Terms and Services and Awhhh who Cares?

Prompt: Someone makes you an offer you can’t refuse. You refuse.

Those five streets always sounded like there was a train just under them, something clicking rhythmically against the tracks. I never saw a station anywhere, but after compartmentalization I was out of the loop. There didn’t seem to be much point to reading the news from different compartments or looking at their layouts when nobody was allowed to visit them. Continue reading