Bergbau für den Sieg! -- Minecraft succession game

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 1: in which we go ashore and get our bearings (Safe-Keeper. 1 death)
Day 2-4: in which we lay the foundation for what is to come (Safe-Keeper)
Day 4: in which we do more exploring, and meet our dear captain! :3 (CaptainHalo)
Day 5: in which we begin forging, and take the fight to the enemy (CaptainHalo)
Day 6-7: in which we go on a fishing spree (CaptainHalo)
Day 8-10: in which we begin construction of Festung Vampir (Safe-Keeper)

This has happened
While on patrol one night in foggy weather in the Atlantic ocean, the Type VII submarine U-60, nicknamed the Vampire by her crew, was ambushed by a warship, its hull ruptured by cannon fire. Most of the crew managed to escape the stricken vessel, and as the enemy ship disappeared into the fog, they made it to a shoreline they had barely been able to make out shortly before being attacked. As they clambered ashore, the fog lifted and the men found themselves standing on a beach in an unknown land, the sun rising to reveal a large landmass around them.

The skipper grumbled and scratched his beard. Either their navigator, Bernard "the blind", had thrown their sub hundred of kilometres off course during his shift, or they had arrived on a landmass that wasn't on the naval charts. He didn't know which was the most unlikely. He looked at his second in command, and his second in command looked back at him. He had to pull it together. They had to pull it together. They were in a foreign, probably hostile land without any supplies, freezing and soaking wet. They needed shelter, warmth and food. If he did not take action quickly, they would not even survive their first night...



This is what we're up to
Since I see we have an active Minecraft community here, I decided I would start a Minecraft succession game here! For those who are new to the concept of succession games, the idea is that we start a Minecraft world which and take turns playing, documenting our experience as we go (for a better idea of what succession games are all about, head over to the Something Awful forums and read some of their wild tales, particularly the infamous Dwarf Fortress SG Boatmurdered).

We will be playing Minecraft 1.2.5, and we'll use no mods. I know there are plenty good mods out there, and that Tekkit mod you're playing in the MP Minecraft thread looks exciting as all hell, but I'm deciding on vanilla partly because I have no Tekkit experience, and partly because I have found installing mods for Minecraft to be cumbersome and irritating, and I don't want this game to be hampered by CTDs and whatnot. Remember there's nothing stopping us from using mods in a future SG!

The game will be played in a normal (as in, not superflat) world in Survival mode with native structures enabled. Difficulty will be Hard throughout the game. We are at war, after all!


This is how we'll do it

• Signups: those interested in joining the succession game must sign up in this thread. Signups must include your e-mail address and your desired ingame nickname (can be your real name, Subsim handle, or something you make up for the game). If you've already played once, you may sign up to play again, but I may give new players priority over existing players waiting for their turn if the line is long. Mark the beginning of the signup post with "SIGNUP!" to ensure I don't miss it.
• Startup: I have generated a nice coastal temperate starting point and will work on this site for half a week (three days and nights) or until I have perished thrice, whichever comes first.
• Succession process: The first person on the list of signups will then receive the game save and pick up from where I left off, and play for three days and nights or until he or she has died twice, whichever comes first. At this point, he or she is to save the game and hand it over to the next person in line.
• Reader participation: For every person about to start his or her game, the community may issue one or more goals. These can be big or small, and revolve around pretty much anything, from "make a sleeping area out of wool" to "explore that cave you just found" or "make a map and explore the vicinity of your base". The current player should accept at least one during the course of his or her game. I don't recommend posting particularly big goals or megaproject challenges, at least not in the beginning phase. The focus is that they're supposed to be exciting, challenging and fun, and that they somehow fit the storyline and background of the scenario.
• Continiuity: each new player should follow the "plot" of the previous games as best he or she can. If the guy before you was building a lookout tower, your objective is to continue the construction of the tower. If previous players decided to try to get iron and craft need iron armour, you are to do your best to acquire iron armour. You get the point. You may change existing stuff on the map (remodel a house, for example), but do so wisely.
• Captain's journal: every player will document the events in his or her game in this thread. Here's the fun part: you may do so in any way you see fit! You may post screenshots, drawings, a FRAPS video uploaded to YouTube, anything you like! This will allow for both the audience and your fellow players to follow the action, and will let the players waiting in line know what awaits them when it's their turn to hit the shores.
• House rules and the honour system: it should go without saying, and I'm sorry if I come across as a Snape here, but do not cheat or grief. Do not intentionally put your house on fire, or throw yourself off a cliff, or "lose" your map in a magma pit. However, neither are you to cheat and start over with your downloaded save when you mess things up. If you accidentally set your house on fire, deal with it. We're going Ironman here. Done is done.
• Excemption from death rule: sometimes in Minecraft you die and lose your gear somewhere and die repeatedly as you try to recover your stuff. This "chain dying" is permitted in this succession games. If you die and have to get your stuff back, feel free to do so even if it means losing more lives. This is in part because it wouldn't be much for the next player in line to take over a save file where he or she either faced certain death or the loss of gear.

Succession game progress
Progress: we have just about fully explored the nearest cave system and begun construction of a cave fortress.
Date: November 10th, 1941 (starting date was 1st of November).
Dead: 1. Skipper killed by giant spider. The horror.

U-60 roster:
CO Karl Austerlitz (Safe-Keeper), KIA by giant spider
Navigator Bernard Schmidth (Safe-Keeper), insane (good riddance)
Chief Engineer Wilhelm Putz (CaptainHalo)
Leutnant zur See Johannes Kregelin (Safe-Keeper)

[Safe-Keeper]

Just posting to say the thread is of course open for everyone to post in, by the way, participants or not.

Playing day two at the moment, had one death already -- the Kaleun, to boot. This is not looking good for our crew. On the contrary, this is a downright fantastic starting area. It's got plenty animals, copious trees, and some majestic hills and mountains full of caves. There's a swamp nearby, too. Feels just like home for a Norsemen like myself, and I think there'll be plenty of fun to be had here.

Once I've died two more times, um, I mean, once I reach day four, I'll hand over the save file.
Looking forward to this.

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 1
CO Karl W. Austerlitz reporting
We stand on the shores of this furtive land, cold as hell but happy to be alive. We don't have many casualties. Bernard is missing, thank god, but we're missing some good men, too. They may just have gone ashore elsewhere, but I don't harbour much hope.



No time to think of them now. We need to get going. I look around again. There's a forest here, and steep hills. To our left is a small flock of sheep, and there are some pigs roaming as well. These are household animals. They can't all just be roaming around wild. There must be people nearby. If they are hostile, we will have no choice but to surrender to them. However, the first order of the day is to make fire to keep us from freezing to death. We can explore and try to find a town later.

We venture inland. As we take a closer look at the pigs, we see they are dirty and unkempt, and I wonder if they could actually be wild. Come to think of it, the sheep looked pretty feral, too. Perhaps there was a settlement here and something happened to it, leaving the animals to roam free?



My train of thought is interrupted when we find this large cave. This is fantastic -- it will give shelter to the crew from the elements, and -- what the bloody hell are those?!



In the bottom of the cave we spot three of the biggest ****ing spiders imaginable. None of us had any idea they could grow so huge. They cause us to abandon any ideas of going down into the cave. We hurriedly withdraw, and head into the forest instead.



There's apples here. We also find these red mushrooms. I take one with me, but I'm sure not going to eat it. So far we look like we've got plenty of food, though. We have cattle, pigs, sheep and apples. We won't starve. The crew makes bonfires out of some twigs and small branches, and we dry and warm ourselves. Then we go about gathering as much wood as we can carry, and make for the hills.



There are more caves to be found, one of them fairly large. We cautiously approach. We want caves for their shelter, but we do not want to run into any more spiders.



We find a small cave. It's big enough for all of us, it's spider-free, and we can easily block off the two entrances. We venture inside and get to work.





I am proud of my men . They have taken our wood and fashioned two sturdy walls to keep whatever is out there away from us, and two guys who had been carpenters before the war began put together a work table of sorts in the middle of the cave and got to work building a nice door.

We shut ourselves inside, but after a while some of us grow restless. I decide to head outside for some air.



Inside a cave across the river I see coal set in the cave floor. If I can only--wait, what's that sound?

Yaaargh!

The crew watches as a spider jumps the skipper as he enters the cave. The hideous black monstrosity pounces on him several times, biting, scratching and kicking. He tries to defend himself, striking at the beast with a log, but it just keeps coming. Finally, he falls, and the beast throws itself at him. It is a gruesome sight.
Later they will ask themselves how they could all just have stood there and watched.

This concludes day one of our stay.

[CaptainHaplo]

Count me in. One question - I take it texture packs don't count as mods?

3 Days can allow you to get a lot of stuff done if you try......

[Safe-Keeper]

Great! I'll post the write-up for the rest of my game and then I'll hand it over and hope it works for you!

I chose not to play with a texture pack because my NorseCraft pack doesn't really fit the theme of this playthrough, but sure, use whatever texture pack you want!

[Safe-Keeper]

Day 2
Bernard ***8220;the blind***8221; Schmidt, navigator, reporting

Finally. I***8217;ve reached the shore. I thought I***8217;d drift around on that piece of debris forever. Wonder if any of the others made it. I just have to find them. Won***8217;t be a problem, I***8217;m a navigator after all.
:six hours later:

So I have found this valley between two hills, and inset in the hillside is this shelter.



The crew is so happy to see me, they volunteer me to go gather coal in the cave across the river with a wooden pick they***8217;ve fashioned. I feel honoured.

I wonder why there is so much blood here. Smells really weird, too. Doesn***8217;t matter, there***8217;s so many animals just strolling about, this place is obviously safe. Time to get to work.



Venturing inside the cave, I see it continues inward quite a way. There***8217;s light up there. Does it lead through the mountain?



Nope. There***8217;s a crack in the wall here and a tiny opening to the surface.
Then it just continues inward.



No way I***8217;m going deeper. This is creepy. There could be trolls or goblins or giant spiders here. I go back to the opening and mine out as much coal as I can carry. It takes time, and it is sunrise when I emerge. We use the coal to make torches that we lodge into cracks in the walls. I see most of the men have made it, but the atmosphere is gloomy. I ask them if anyone***8217;s seen the skipper.
They just look at each other.

Eventually, night falls.



Except it doesn***8217;t, really. It doesn***8217;t get properly dark here. We***8217;re in the Atlantic, in November. It***8217;s supposed to be pitch black out there. But it isn***8217;t. It's like springtime in Scandinavia. Has some kind of calamity taken place? Has there been a volcanic eruption or something nearby that is causing nights to be brighter than usual? None of us know.


It scares the hell out of all of us.


Day 3
Bernard "the Blind" Schmidth, coal miner, reporting

We emerge outside the cave, which smells of the sweat and damp clothing of nearly fourty men living in cramped quarters. We take a closer look at the cows, and decide they must be wild. They***8217;re simply too scruffy to be anything else. We haven***8217;t eaten properly for three days, and so we slaughter two of them, and take their meat and hides.

Then, it happens. From the bottom of one of the small holes in the terrain, a skeleton shoots at us with a bow and arrow. I swear it. The others in my group saw it too. Having saved no weapons from the u-boat, we run. Now the others tell me of giant spiders the size of small dogs. What kind of place is this?

The day passes in a kind of daze. We just go about our business, not saying much. We slaughter some sheep and take their wool.



As if things aren***8217;t bad enough, it starts raining heavily. We stay inside for the rest of the day. We take stones we***8217;ve collected and turn them into an oven of sorts. We fuel it with coal and use it to cook our newly gathered meat. We craft bedding out of the wool and most of our remaining wood. We turn the remaining stone into tools, a pickaxe and a sword. I am entrusted with the sword and night-time guard duty. I enjoy climbing the ranks like this. Things are looking up.





Day 4
Bernard "the blind" Schmidt, watchman, reporting

After some heated debate, we decide we want to make a signal fire. We don***8217;t know where we are, but there could be ships. There could be people. The ship that sunk us may still be about. Heck, friendly u-boats could be about. We want to be seen and rescued. So we scale the big mountain across our hideout with rocks and wood. We lay down a stone base and heap up wood on top of it. We still haven***8217;t decided if we want it lit, though.

You see, things just keep getting more and more terrifying. From atop the mountain, we saw a big rock, apparently floating in thin air. At first we were sure that we had seen wrong, but two guys went down there and confirmed that yet, it***8217;s a big chunk of rock levitating a short distance over the ground. In its immediate vicinity was a desert, complete with cacti.



Then, out of nowhere, a hideous green creature on four stubby legs came silently out of nowhere and made straight for our group. We threw ourselves out of its way and it exploded, leaving a crater in the ground and giving several of us burns. That got our minds made up. We do not want to light a fire and alert any more creatures of our presence. The base and wood remains, but for the moment, it remains unlit.



We retreated into our shelter and barricaded the door. Although we are grateful to have a place to hide, most of us figure we***8217;re probably best off leaving soon. See, this is what turned up in a fissure just below our house just a few minutes ago.




Yes, that's a river of lava down there. With what could be a volcanic eruption waiting to happen right under our feet, We may be off to look for a better places to live tomorrow. Given the bizarre creatures we***8217;ve run into latelly, weapons and proper walls of stone are high on our wish lists.


---------


I have laid the foundation . We have a shelter, some basic tools and supplies, and an excellent and highly exciting and terrifying starting site. We have all types of the ***8220;temperate animals***8221;, surface coal and iron, caves, and magma right at our doorstep. This will be good. Lots of Dwarf Fortress-style Fun to be had.

Also, given that you can***8217;t really get much stuff done in four days, I***8217;m considering extending each turn to one week. Though I expect most updates will be less wordy than this one . We can try going four days on the next few updates, though, and see how it goes.

The world is saved. Awaiting signups .


Tech support:if you have a modded Minecraft version, which I suppose 99% of you do, I believe you ***8220;unmod***8221; it easily by moving ***8220;bin***8221; elsewhere for then to force an update. Someone correct me if I***8217;m wrong, I don***8217;t want to ruin anyone***8217;s install :p .

Challenges/goals:
***8226; Goal 1: we currently live in a small cave. Either build a stone house/fort or move into a bigger cave, with stone walls covering the entrance and possibly other defenses, such as a moat, magma or whatever. An iron door with some fancy opening/closing mechanism would come in handy, too.
***8226; Goal 2: if you decide to light the fire to try to signal for help, your goal is to acquire iron, make a flint and steel and light the signal fire, which is to consist of four wooden planks upon the stone base, every night, for at least a week or two.

[Safe-Keeper]

CaptainHalo, I'll need you to PM me your email address so I can send you that save file .