ARM41 - RED Sky at Night
Reviews
2041
Totentaz.
Night. Always Night.
Music. Loud. Heavy. Industrial.
Our client stands against a railing, overlooking the dance floor. Her red dress covering from the collarbone down, flowing to end just shy of the ankles. She grips her hands on the railing, chrome metal arms ending in slight claws reflecting the lights coming off of the dance floor below. She sighs to herself, soft features and long clean black hair are a confusing juxtaposition to the Maelstrom gang members around her, their dirt, grime, salvaged gear. But to her, family.
Tonight, however, is about business. Meeting with people to finally sort out the green metal hunk of junk taking up a parking spot at the bottom of the tower. A night of business for personal pleasure, if one would believe. She turns from the railing, into the closed off section of the club that is the office of the Fixer. Her job.
Inside, sits a single man. Not fitting of the people she makes her company, but useful for this task nonetheless. She moves behind her desk, motioning for the man to speak. He speaks, saying words in regards to factions, companies, groups. Four folk who decided they might be the ones who get to curry her favour, and build her something to be proud of. She listens, the names almost meaningless, she just wants to hear the ideas. So, he starts with one…
Purple Warrior
@AMuteCrypt
The first was a Nomad, finding some odd wrestler-type to ramble off something… She wasn’t sure why the video was related to the car, but whatever. She looks over the specifications, the style, the choices. She doesn’t spend long, however. The choice was fairly quick from looking at the car, and then she moved on.
Report - OOC
Vibe: Nomad, but very minimal work and changes. Can see the idea, but definitely needs more. Also not that much a fan of the colour scheme, personally.
Engineering: Equally minimal changes from the original other than AWD. Not Bad.
Execution: Mentioned by entrant of a rushed car, but it is very much a series of minimal changes outside of a bullbar, a wing, armour plates, rugged tyres and some lighting changes. Small extras were added, but does not feel “enough” to be what I or the client are looking for to represent her.
After the… less than interesting purple car, she moved on to the next one, proposed by the man she listens to.
LMJ Designs
@Knugcab
A sporty one. Road built, constructed for the road. No pensive toward leaving the tarmac. Respectful. She likes the replacements while keeping the intent. Lots of pieces changed, adjusted, removed, replaced. It’s a good pickup. Not a bad second pick.
Report - OOC
Vibe: Road/Sport warrior. Very clearly the original car, but with significant modifications to create a very race-styled car. Also the skull on the grille is funny.
Engineering: Full swap to Carbon Fibre, gearbox, suspension, overall very fitting to the idea of it being a race style car.
Execution: Some small odd bits, but it is otherwise a very well put together.
A solid proposal, something she could be convinced of. Let’s see what lies behind door number three.
ZX Custom
@Leone
Bold. Not much remains of the original car. But it stands out. Nothing is wasted. Everything is specific. A grand choice. Even respects the original colour. A very interesting idea, and even finds time to be accessable.
Report - OOC
Vibe: Road. It’s certainly the Concord. The only part that is original is the front badge and the roof. That’s it. Despite that, you can still see many elements from the original car, such as the arching on the front end and rear end through implication.
Engineering: More changes for materials and performance parts, all matching and fitting to the changes for what it wants to be.
Execution: I am unable to find a single fault. None. Zero. Everything is flawless, put together with expert precision.
A final proposal, something to end the countdown. Hope it’s special.
STAG CORPO
@Mikonp7
Another Nomad. Much more bold and outgoing than the last nomad proposal. Even got some exposed weaponry. How interesting. Certainly something a clan member might want to rumble with. She can respect it. It’s very, very appealing after all.
Report - OOC
Vibe: Nomad as hell. Crazy cuts and shapes whilst still being identifiable as a concord. Could have gone more extreme in diverging from the base car.
Engineering: I cannot see anything that doesn’t match to choices or designs.
Execution: Quite well done, some small rough edges but for the complexity of choices it is done very very well.
She sits. All four proposals put forward to her. A period of thinking follows, silence. The correspondent sits in very awkward silence, waiting for her response. it takes some time, a long moment of silence, before a hand reaches under the desk and pulling out a cred-chip. She speaks, telling the man which one to pursue. He stands, nods, and exits the office. She smiles, interlacing fingers with elbows planted on the desk. A new car for the Maelstrom’s favourite fixer.
Three Weeks Later.
Winner Inside
She takes the barely functional lift down to the garage in the basement. The car finally returned to her after the agreement was made. She slowly walks, wanting to savour the moment, the reveal. It is as she turns the corner, to the isolated spot where her Concord previously sat, that she smiles. The eddies spent, months of work finding jobs, taking cuts… It pays off.
The ZX Custom, her new toy. Her prize. Her jewel.
All hers now.
Final Ranking
4th - @AMuteCrypt - The lack of effort showed through, but I nonetheless appreciated the entry, and the ad was funny.
3rd - @Knugcab - A very good design, just not something that really could compare to the two that placed above it. I adore the changes and work, but it was just slightly under the others.
2nd - @Mikonp7 - Absolute banger. 10/10 car. Nails the Nomad look, and also nails being a proper restomod iterating on the original. I do love it a lot.
1st - @Leone - I mean, did you see the car? It’s not exactly a restomod… but I can still see a lot of elements of my car within the choices made. It’s a crazy looking thing, and I love it.
Car Files for All 4 cars
ARM41_-Knugcab-_Callahan_Concord_by_LMJ_Design.car|attachment (1.5 MB)
ARM41_-Leone-_Callahan_Concord_ZX_Custom.car|attachment (2.3 MB)
ARM41-Mikonp7_-_Callahan_Concord_SP_347_Supercharger_Package_by_STAG_CORPO.car (1.6 MB)
ARM41_-AMuteCrypt-_Purple_Warrior.car|attachment (1.5 MB)
Rambling and Reflections
So, I had this idea for an ARM round back in April of last year, and was considering running it as a solo challenge, but instead decided to hold off due to a general hesitation to want to host challenges anymore. The idea was to make a canon car for an eventually Cyberpunk RED ttrpg campaign I want to run, with the Fixer client being a character I have had in mind for at least a year since my plans to run a RED campaign fell through.
In spite of that, and despite the STAG not actually winning the challenge, I’m also gonna make that car canon to a Nomad clan in that setting, because I fucking adore the STAG so much. It’s such a great car, and really does just nail the Cyberpunk look in it’s own unique way.
I appreciate all 4 participants, I was fully prepared to get zero entries and be left sitting sad in the mud. But nope! I got to have some fun, do some creative writing, and let people leave a mark on something they’ll never know about.
I hope it was interesting, I know the theme was rough, but everyone did well and has their own takes, opinions and styles on the R. Talsorian Cyberpunk.
For ARM they are probably going to be changed anyway
