Step City

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Finally, the first real snowfall hits, early December. It starts out in little flurries, and then heavy, obscuring clumps of snowflakes, forcing people inside and making it increasingly difficult to head out on foot with any idea of where you're going. The trams manage to continue running for a little while, as bots clear the ground-level tracks. But they're only just keeping up. The skytrain system experiences major delays as ice messes with the railways, forcing people off at stations to find other means. The few vehicles that do still function after all these years, find it near impossible to use the roads except right after a snowplowing bot comes through, before the flurries cover up the roads again.


And then something peculiar happens.

As the bots struggle to keep up with clearing the snow, they slow, slow, and stop. Stop what they're doing, the skytrain and tram systems halting (causing many delays for those trying to get to jobs or pre-determined Very Important Throwdowns). As people get out and watch, one by one the bots on either side of the Main Divide (and the few that remain in the Research District) jerk back to life and turn to head for Lightning Street. Bereft of their previous programming, their screens display nothing, and they show no recognition for commands. Instead they head to line either side of the Great Grey Divide.

By now, the snow has slowed just enough to allow visibility. The bots (and anyone curious enough to follow them) are clearly visible on the other side of Lightning Street. And suddenly something flies across that Chasm.

A snowball.

Hard and far enough that it had to have been one of the bots, as the multi-laned street, bikelanes, tram tracks, and sidewalks is far too wide for a person to make that throw and still hit an opposing bot with a SPLAT. A splat that momentarily knocks the bot prone, with a little shower of pink sparkles to boot.


The snow continues with its deafening silence for a beat longer, then two.

And then the people who followed rush forward to take up proper stances and narrow the space, no vehicles to stop them from taking up positions on the roads and build fortresses, volleying barrages of snowballs on the opposing faction. Even now, the occasional mistletoe drifts down.

Nobody noticed the Sparkles the first time around, but it only takes a few dozen snowballs hitting opponents before people realize something even more peculiar.

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Every time a snowball hits someone, an effect takes hold! Every effect is short lived. It lasts either: two posts (by the person under the effect) before wearing off, or until the character is hit by another snowball (in which case they're instantly under the influence of the new effect).

As for snowball hits and misses: That is up to the players! No dice mechanics will be imposed for throwing snowballs. You're welcome to roll yourself to determine for yourself how good your character's attempt was, OR to randomly select who you intend them to throw a snowball at, but this isn't required. Just be remember that all throws are phrased as ATTEMPTS until the other party agrees! Please make it CLEAR who you're throwing at!

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Effects are determined immediately upon impact. As soon as you're hit, roll a 1d60 in Discord (!roll 1d60) to determine an effect off of the table below! You're free to roll again if for whatever reason you're not jiving with the outcome. See above for duration/rule!

1. You suddenly forget how to speak your current language. You either revert to another language you already know, or if you know none, <roll to generate language>.
2. You can jump four times as high. You can still hurt yourself from falling, but at a reduced rate.
3. You sprout feathers.
4. You sing! Everything that comes out of your voice is suddenly in song.
5. Sprout a hideous feature (like mandibles).
6. You grow a beautiful ginger beard down to your knees.
7. You drool uncontrollably.
8. You start to glow brightly.
9. You forget everything that's happened over the last 2 days.
10. Two extra arms sprout from your sides and function as normal.
11. Your moods and thoughts are suddenly telegraphed to everyone within about 5 feet of you.
12. Ouch! What was that? Your vibe get replaced with an electrical vibe. Your touch shocks people.
13. You hover 4 inches above the ground. It's a bit like awkwardly gliding.
14. You grow a third eye in your forehead granting you +2 perception.
15. Everyone around you suddenly starts mistaking you for a faction different from your actual (roll 1d4. reroll if you get your actual faction).
16. Suddenly you can't gain any traction--like standing on ice!
17. When you talk it comes out in gibberish, but to you it sounds perfectly normal.
18. You have the sudden urge to dance uncontrollably into exhaustion.
19. The snowball explodes in a cloud of multicoloured glitter. You take no damage, but the glitter sticks to everything.
20. You become invisible!
21. You’re drunk!
22. Your visual appearance reverts or advances up to 20 years in your timeline, including clothing!
23. You can only speak in haikus!
24. You now only speak in rhyming couplets. Either AABB, or ABAB is fine.
25. Your current vibe is replaced with an ice vibe. Now you can make your own snowballs.
26. Everything you say comes out as pig-latin. It sounds fine to you!
27. You suddenly don’t recognize your own Faction. All of your friends, you mistake for your enemies!
28. You suddenly get a LOT shorter–wait, you’re a goat!
29. You drop everything and start doing the Thriller Dance. You can’t stop.
30. That was… Hilarious. You take the snowball like a champ and then start laughing. And laughing. And laughing. You can’t stop.
31. You completely lose your voice (or gain one, if you’re mute!).
32. You now sparkle faintly in your favourite colour. They float off of you like craft glitter.
33. You start uncontrollably burping little breaths of fire! One-upping everyone’s steam-clouds.
34. Your body starts to blur–you’ve become intangible! The effect wears off in the usual time (two posts), but all snowballs pass through your body.
35. You sprout wings!?
36. You sprout a tail!
37. You sprout horns!
38. Curveball! Your next several throws always strike true–regardless of where your intended target is hiding–and will duck and weave around objects to land with a splat.
39. Your… Look changes. A sudden new style and colours–you’ve been replaced by your Faction Swap (roll 1d4), but only in appearance! Wow, they have a [better/worse] fashion sense! Reroll if you don’t already have Faction AUs thought up and don’t have time to plan one!
40. You got hit so hard, you were replaced by one of your Faction AUs! Complete with personality/memories/fashion swap. The last thing your AU remembers is being hit in the face during their own snowball fight, and now they’re here! (Reroll if you don’t already have Faction AUs thought up and don’t have time to!)
41. You suddenly swap vibes with the person who hit you with their snowball! They get yours, and you get theirs!
42. You hear someone’s voice… You recognize it instantly. It’s the inner thoughts of the person most important to you.
43. You start smoking. Morticia Addams style. No matter how hard you look, you can’t find the source of the smolder.
44. You suddenly gain the symptoms of hypothermia, starting with severe shivering, into paradoxical undressing. It only lasts the normal duration (2 posts, or when next hit), with 0 fatal outcome.
45. Every step you take causes a small earthquake to run through the ground, enough to possibly cause those around you (15 feet) to lose their balance and fall prone.
46. Suddenly every gesture you make shoots sparkling, crackling fireworks!
47. On impact, all emotion–sympathy–feeling–anything, instantly drains from you. All you feel is pure apathy about the situation unfolding around you.
48. Every snowball you try to build… Instantly melts in your hands.
49. Roll a 1d2. You suddenly shrink (1) or grow (2) double in size!
50. Your personal gravity lessons in strength–until you’re bouncing like you’re on the moon.
51. Your personal gravity increases double–each step is twice as difficult.
52. You experience a very vivid flashback to a poignant moment in your past.
53. You’re consumed with rage–at the person who threw the snowball.
54. You start to float away–quick, grab onto something!
55. YOU CAN’T SEEM TO TURN YOUR VOLUME DOWN.
56. ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵇᵃʳᵉˡʸ ᵘᵗᵗᵉʳ ᵃ ᵖᵉᵉᵖ.
57. The weather seems to concentrate on you… And your mood!
58. You can’t stop talking in double entendre. Even if you can’t manage one, you’re convinced you did. You’re unable to resist the urge to finger gun at the person you’re speaking to at the end of every “quip”.
59. A deep, velvety voice begins narrating your every move. No matter how mundane.
60. Time slows down–just for you. You’re able to very carefully watch each action in slow motion, and step out of the way of snowballs with ease.