Make A Morally Ambigous Choice, Win A Copy Of The Witcher! (CLOSED!)

EDIT: CONTEST CLOSED!!

So I got a copy of The Witcher in the mail today. Which is great, except I wasn't expecting it. Also, I already have a copy and am halfway through it. Maybe it's a review copy for an RPG column I stopped writing several years ago. (In which case, where's my free copy of NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer, Atari?) Or maybe the online retailer I bought from accidentally sent me two copies. Regardless, the excellent handling I've come to expect from Canada Post has rendered the return address unreadable. So I need to give it away!

So here's how I can send this copy to you!

Since this excellent game is about moral ambiguity, the box even states "There is no good, no evil - only decisions and consequences", here's what you have to do to enter: Write me your own morally ambiguous choice in CRPG form. And it has to be a truly tough choice. It needs to be written as if it were in a video game, so it can be a little write-up and two quest options, or someone posing a scenario to you and the dialog numbers for you to select.

I want people to actually be creative so I'll pick what I like. However, since I want to avoid bias as I already have personal preferences for people on this site, I won't choose a clear winner. I'll take my five favourites (three if competition is scarce), run a number generator, and declare the winner!

These need to be really tough choices that make you squirm and your logical and emotional sides of your brain to fight each other. I don't want to see "Save the kid with the bad attitude or the serial rapist" kind of choices. I want a Sophie's choice. I want a last episode of M.A.S.H. where she smothers her baby to save the village" kind of thing.

This is a brand new copy, with the new game smell and everything. The plastic covering was removed to ensure everything was in the case, but it has not been installed, registered, etc. Also this is the UK edition so you get the nipples!

You have until Sunday, November 11 at 5:00 PM EST.

Live in my town eh? How about showing up at your door with a blackjack. That morally ambiguous enough for ya?

I suppose I'll play by the rules. Fun contest!

Interesting....

I already have this game, but... nipples, you say?

Great contest idea for a great game! If you have a solid PC and you don't have this, get to writing!

Aw man! I really want this game but I'm also really lazy. Deciding on whether to participate is going to be a tough choice.

Dr_Awkward wrote:

Aw man! I really want this game but I'm also really lazy. Deciding on whether to participate is going to be a tough choice.

I think we have a winner!

Alright, putting my thinking cap on.

Hmm.
AND I'm in Canada..

Tempting. Very tempting.

Wow, I'm going to think about this all weekend.

Hmmm, I'll try and give this a whirl.

If it's UK edition will ship to the UK?

I'll see if i can whip something together.

I'll ship to anywhere that accepts mail, yes.

You find a puppy:

A. Kick it.
B. Punch it.
C. Hug it.
D. Eat it.

Do I win? Seriously though, I'm totally entering this. Not with the above. That is, if you tell us how to submit our entries...

You can post your entry in this thread, or PM me if you're too fretful to share.

I'll PM you so as to avoid tipping my hand to all the tricksy, thiefsy HOBBITSES.

Oh wow. Knowing the quality of writers on this forum, I'm going to have to think up a good one for this... Do we have the weekend to work something up then, kuddles?

You're walking down the sidewalk and you come across the bag. There is a 10% chance that the bag contains a newborn baby. Do you:

a) Kick it
b) Set it on fire
c) Keep walking
d) Fence the bag on an auction website

Can we do multiple entries?

Lobster's mom says yes (obviously), but you haven't had your shots yet. What do you do, Sparky? WHAT DO YOU DO?

MoonDragon wrote:

Can we do multiple entries?

I would like to know this as well. There are multiple ideas floating in my head.

Bah, they should all have to be posted here. No fair to judge/mock them by yourself......

In 2020, Earth sends its first ship, Colonial One, to the planet Jupiter 17 in Victorial Galaxy. Traveling at impulse speed, several generations of crew later, the ship lands on the planet in 2080. The colonists start terraforming the planet and make a happy, serene life for themselves... for 7 years.

In 2087, Earth goes through the nuclear war. Before the bombs landed, using warp technology, government-picked survivors launched for the only known terraformed planet - Jupiter 17... at warp speed.

Unfortunately, they cannot enter the weather-controlled bubble of the first colony. They land outside and try to survive best they can, in the continuous thunderstorms, hurricanes, and rain, but they can only last for a couple of weeks. There was no time to supply them with planet-sized terraforming equipment, as their departure was rushed.

The bubble cannot be exited or entered, it can only be slowly expanded from the inside, as intended. Stopping and RESTARTING the bubble takes enormous amounts of energy which are simply not available anymore.

You are one of the existing colonists. You're the one in charge of the outside surveillance. You're the only one who KNOWS about the new arrivals. Also... all you know about the new arrivals is what they told you. You have no means of getting realtime information from Earth.

You have to make a choice out of the following:

1) Let the new arrivals die - some of them complete family units, with kids. Or so they tell you.
2) Stop the shield generator (against regulations), likely create casualties in the existing colony to let the new arrivals in, and pray you can start it again with their supposedly advanced energy trinkets.
3) Tell your superiors about the situation and let them make the decision for you.

4) Assume the solemn expression on your face, and ask the Lord for guidance. Then do #1.

I'd originally PM'd this to kuddles, but...what the hell, I can take the incoming mockery:

You, the sword-wielding hero, and your faithful companion, the wise-cracking sharpshooter, have chainsawed, shot, stabbed, and fought your way through countless zombies, ghouls, wraiths, and demons, and now you both stand at the top of the Space Needle, facing off against Azrael, the head demon. In his right hand, a sword of fire. In his left, your companion's teenage son, the one you thought had been killed in Azrael's initial attack.

You check your supplies, and between you, you're down to a half-clip of bullets, a single tank of gas to fill the chainsaw, and a makeshift club, made from a table leg. Nothing that will help. Your companion screams "Oh God no!" and points at his son.

Attached to his son's chest is a bundle of Holy Water vials. You know that, if you were to explode the vials, enough would splash on Azrael to weaken him, enough so that you would be able to defeat him, and save all of Seattle. However, the only way to do so is to shoot the boy.

Azrael laughs, and waves his sword towards the boy. "You humans...so weak, so pathetic. The means of saving your precious city is right in front of you, and yet, you do nothing." He then holds the sword to the boy's neck, secure in the knowledge that, if he kills the boy, he can throw the body off the tower, removing the last threat to his reign.

Do you:

A) Rush Azrael in the blind hope that you can save everyone.
B) Try to shoot the boy yourself, knowing you're nowhere near as good a shot as your companion.
C) Hand the gun to your companion, and tell him to shoot, hoping he'll put the greater good above his own.

You, a hardened vagabond gunslinger, are making your way across a post-apocalyptic urban wasteland towards a safe-haven colony of survivors like yourself. There are days of travel ahead, you're exhausted, and the only provisions you have remaining is one ration of Dannon Light N Fit 3000 Fruit Smoothie(tm).

In the roadside ruins, you noticing a cardboard box containing an abandoned baby human child. The baby is shrieking in hunger spasms, living out its last hours towards the death by starvation. There's not a human soul for many many kilometers around.

You:

1. Feed your last dose of Dannon Light N Fit 3000 Fruit Smoothie(tm) to the baby, knowing full well that you won't be able to endure the rest of the road without this food, much less carry the baby to the safety.
2. Continue on, keeping the sweet and delicious Dannon Light N Fit 3000 Fruit Smoothie(tm) to yourself in understanding that you're helpless to save the baby, but at least you can try and take care of yourself.

3. Eat the baby, so that its inevitable death at least contributes to your continued survival.

3. Eat the baby, so that its inevitable death at least contributes to your continued survival.

Invalid. We're assuming that the protagonist is a Democrat or Independent.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:
3. Eat the baby, so that its inevitable death at least contributes to your continued survival.

Invalid. We're assuming that the protagonist is a Democrat or Independent. :)

Hey now, wha...

Oh.

I see what you did there.

I haven't had a good chance to edit this, and I was 'writing while thinking', so I am sure a lot of editing is due, but this is what I PM'd kuddles last night.

Our friend and protaganist Rolf was born in a very small, very remote kingdom on some random planet within some random universe. The Kingdom was surrounded by mountains of such a height than none even considered it to be possible to cross. As far as Rolf's people were concerned, their population of serveral thousand represented all of existing intelligent life. While much of their technology could be compared to 16th century European examples, they had excelled greatly in the medical sciences. All organs of the body could be transplanted, and their doctors were excellent at deducing which organs would work succesfully in which people, and which matchups would be a complete failure.

As it happens Rolf had a twin brother, Radin, and in the cliched manner of oh so many twins throughout the multiverse, they were nearly inseparable. Of course, they eventually fell in love, and unfortunately for them, they fell in love with the same woman, Nora. Equally unfortunate for our characters, monogamy was strictly enforced in their small kingdom; while in some other place and time they perhaps would have lived together happily, this was simply not a possiblity.

This issue caused some of the expected friction between the two twin brothers, but their bond and their love for each other still remained very strong. The three spent much time discussing what should be done, but were finding themselves unable to find a solution. Finally, Nora states that her while she loves Radin greatly, she feels an even greater love for Rolf; and as she can only choose she, she chooses our protaganist. Before the three decide to let their friends and family know this decision, Radin and Nora become ill.

(Up to this point, the player has been running Rolf through his every day life, perhaps helping him grow up, choosing a career, and other generic 'Sims' type stuff. The 'love story' and illness are inevitable, and the players actions only help to round out the details of how they come about).

As time (and medical expenses) run on, it becomes apparent that both Radin and Nora have the same rare fatal disease; its effects begin in the kidneys and spread from there. Once the disease is contracted, the only possible cure is complete removal of the victims two kidneys and the transplant in of a kidney from elsewhere.

Rolf, Radin, and Nora share a very rare blood-type, which has not been seen in the kingdom for 100 years before their births. Rolf has the only two kidneys in the whole of the kingdom that can save his twin brother and their beloved.

The player (as Rolf) now has a year (game time) to either:

1) save Nora's life, finally allowing him to marry the woman he loves and wishes to grow old with, and sending his twin brother to a long, painful, early death
2) save his twin brother Radin's life, the only person in the Kingdom who he knows and trusts completely, and who knows and trusts him completely, and ending the potential feud between them, while sending his beloved to a long, painful, early death
3) saving both Nora and Radin, bring about his own horrible death, and leaving Nora forever with the often poisonous memories of what 'could have been'.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

Invalid. We're assuming that the protagonist is a Democrat or Independent. :)

You're right, the protagonist does fit the "morally ambiguous" profile better that way

Without a doubt encourage everyone to attempt this contest. The Witcher is an amazing game!