JJOCT7 R2M20 JoJolity

Judge Big Boss (Logic)
DD gets an [8]; while no individual play surprised me, they were robust and well integrated to the strat, and the CYOA framing highlighted her playful disposition, put into start relief in its interactions with technological and social situations. Many 8s have been awarded for high integration of the jojolity into the prose and formatting themselves, and so to  here.

They say the best way to get into places is to act like you belong, a phenomenon that Disco embodies to a T. I’ve stated in the past that “what raises flavor text to mechanical salience as Narrative is in the title—does the flavor text tell an actual story over the course of the strat” (R2M18). This is often done through lengthy prose, but just as we said in R2M3, this is not necessary.

Rather, the vignettes contextualize Disco’s tactics as part of the broader behavior and community that live within Rakin City. T7 is themed around questions of community, love, and belonging. Even as Disco imitates and exploits social dynamics, this does not necessarily make her "fake" interactions invalid or unwelcome.

As a great philosopher once said, “there is no rule that says an imitation cannot defeat the original”, or to quote the strat itself: "I know that's not what you're in this for. But pretending is more fun, isn't it?" Real or not, this strat knows what it's about: a solid [9] from me.

Judge Venom Snake (Coop)
Between the broad applications of ｢King Silence｣, the many abilities of ｢Cat Step｣, and the abundance of other things on the map, I think both players here do really well with the “use every tool you have” portion of the Jojolity. For the “mastery of human behavior” part, Disco’s well detailed plan for using disguises and assuming the different roles on the people within the compound (as well as the subtle narrative bits interspersed throughout) works really well to make the strat more compelling; for DD, she chooses to instead use her observations of human to behavior and manipulate the stimuli that influence them instead which is also a neat and in-character approach to this.

When it comes to the slight differentiation between the players’ Jojolities though (DD focusing on stealth and Disco focusing on misdirection), I feel that Disco comes out a step higher than the panther here. Her focus on using workplace gossip to point out the visual oddities left behind by DD, use of disguises, as well as the use of alternative door parts (door hinges on the cameras to mess with their area coverage and peepholes on walls to subtly observe and plan before acting) really works to elevate this strat. With DD, most of her individual ideas are equally creative, though seem to fulfill the “misdirection” facet (Shimmer Decoys, Leet Hax) more than the “stealth” one. Still a very good showing from both players here, I’ll be giving Disco a **9** and Dried Donuts an **8**.

Judge Solid Snake (Alpha)
Finally- The meat!

Dried Donuts has an absolute refusal to leave stealth, and Disco uses every waking moment of her existence to throw everyone’s trail off of her. How well do these stack up?

DD’s absolute refusal starts from the first square, from following Zafar onto the base, and on following him back out. When in the mess hall, beneath the docks, in the server room, in the camera room, beneath the watchtower, or anywhere on site, DD is gently shimmering in the low light. With the lights potentially off in rolling blackouts, that’s another story, but the point is, DD is completely married to the idea of staying hidden from the word go.

Disco walks into the base and chooses to rob people of their clothes, disrupt their jobs and livelihoods, and put a wedge into the idea that everything is fine, and the base is perfectly run by well-adjusted adults. She is here, and proves it from the moment she steals a uniform through the back of a wardrobe, dumps clothes in ol’ reliable- the trashcan- and slips in and out of any and all kinds of disguises while telling everyone she meets about a way worse, sorer thumb sticking up around the base.

Both show a vast array of tech pieces, with the former hinging on decoys, disruptions, and general tom-foolery, and the latter hinging entirely on both her ability to fill the clothes she steals (with doors) and play the people she’s disguised as, while giving out negative lip service to our other intruder all the way through.

Given the sheer tenacity of both players, and the wall of tech on display, I feel that I have to give both teams **9**s. Good job all around!