Ideas for a flawed golem army

[Dannyalcatraz]

Eroded: time has worn some of them down a bit, so they're a bit more brittle than they were when they were new. This means a strong blow might actually cut off an arm or leg or something. Bonus Fun: just because the arm is off, doesn't mean its not a threat- they can crawl and grasp and so forth, too!

Fading Magic: their animus is running low. Golems with this problem may simply shut down in the middle of doing something until they "recharge", or they may start-stop-start-stop like they have a loose connection. Bonus Fun: just because its turned off doesn't mean its relaxed- if it grabbed you, you're still grabbed if it turns off until you actually succeed in breaking free.

Outdated GPS: the Golem Positioning System that helps the golems find their way around the city is WAY out of date. They follow the roadmaps from when they were first constructed, and simply smash their way through barriers that shouldn't be there. Bonus Fun: Once you're outside of the Old City boundaries, they don't follow you anymore.

Code Hacked: their original code of laws they enforced has become scrambled over time, so sometimes, the punishments they mete out are not the ones originally intended for the crime they're fighting. Jaywalking? Death. Armed Robbery? A day in the stockade. Bonus Fun: some are really scrambled- petty theft is punishable by cup donkey Thursday, Elf-25 years.

 

[Thunderfoot]

You mention control of the golem army - what if the "problem" is that they have to be controlled - literally. Unlike the current batch of program and forget Mk IIs, the Mk Is have to have a team in constant control of their "behavior" or else it reverts to either a set of outdated commands (the racially/socially outdated laws mentioned above) or they just stop altogether.

There was a passage in the Timothy Zahn authored "Star Wars" novels that mentioned the reason the Empire fell apart so quickly was that the Emperor was using the force to "cohesively coordinate" the entire operation throughout the galaxy (which is pretty impressive). Same thing, smaller scale, more people involved.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

SEVEN GOLEM ARMY

They're gonna fight 'em all
A golem army gonna hold you back
They're gonna rip you up
Taking their time right behind my back

And I'm talking to myself at night
Because I can't forget
Back and forth through my mind
Behind a cigarette
And the message coming from my eyes
Says leave it alone

Don't want to hear about it
Every single one's got a story to tell
Everyone knows about it
From the King of this land to the hounds of hell

And if they catch you coming back this way
They're gonna serve it to you
And that aint what you want to hear
But thats what they'll do
And the feeling coming from my bones
Says find a home

You should just give it up
Far from this city for evermore
Just go and work the straw
Make the sweat drip out of every pore
And you're bleeding, and you're bleeding, and you're bleeding
Right before the lord
All the war is gonna bleed from thee
And you will sing no more
And the stains coming from your blood
Tell you go back home

 

[catastrophic]

*The old golems might have been used to massacre civlians, in one of the neevolent wizard's secret evil actions. Nobody talks about it anymore, and the golems were redesigned to look like statues and be very different looking in general. The old ones sit in a warehouse, their riveted metal skin still splattered in old brown blood- no other evidence of the atrocity might remain, but when the pcs let them loose in the city, the people there could completly freak out- they might even be under a geas that made them forget the event, which could break once they see the old golems.

*The old golems might have been too good- too well designed to protect and not opress. The wizard might have made them in conjunction with a well meaning artificer he later did away with, orhe himself may have become less benevolent over time, retiring his original golems because they were unable to protect the people of the city 'from themselves' in the way the wizard later required. These golems would be a good candidate for later sentience, also.

Building on the above idea and some other posts, they might have been better than the wizard at protecting the city- particularly since they worked well in conjuction with the citizens, and became very popular with them. They might have been built to learn from the public while holding to key ethical standards, which means they could rapidly eclipse the wizard's own abiity to rule- especially if they were learning from a variety of human partners of great merit (rivals and foils of the wizard no doubt).

Again, this could lead to interesting plotlines later, but I like the idea of the wizard shutting them down (and even becoming bitter and turning down the path to tyranny) because they were making him obselete- and again it would be a good twist if they were not replacing him as a 'better tyrant' but enabling the populace to better govern itself with their selfless aid.

*The old golems could indeed be skeletons or other undead, albeit well concealed in suits of heavy armor. This could have an interesting historical angle, too- imagine if the wizard turned out to be a necromancer who's skeletal army vanished decades ago.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I like the idea of a necromancer's army hiding in plain sight. I'd been thinking along thos lines but hadn't gotten it to cohere in my mind. Well done!

 

[Hand of Evil]

I say first define what the Golem army sees as "wrong doing" as that is very broad. Example: Bad mouthing a god or gods, looking like a certain race (ork), littering, lies, caring a sword in public, pick pocketing, etc.

Now, what do they do with wrong doers? Do they weigh the issue or all wrong doers treated the same way? Just what is the result, draconian (death for failure)?

 

[Heathen72]

What if the "problem" was that they started thinking for themselves. All their time "watching" humanity pass back and forth in front of them for all those years.

I'm doing something with a shared-mind in a campaign ... *snip*

Maybe the old golems are programmed to enforce an antiquated social/racial order. Their extensive set of weird, outdated, offensive laws ("To the back on the bus, elf!" "No dogs or dwarves allowed!" "Alcohol is prohibited!") no longer apply in your campaign's more enlightened age.

I am thinking a mix between these and "Collosus: the Forbin Project", or Bowie's "Saviour Machine"

The golems are programmed to safeguard the city, and they happily help humans defeat the threat, but then they decide that humans aren't very good at looking after themselves (what with all the wars, corruption, unequal distribution of wealth etc) so they decide to take over ruling the city- for the good of all. Initially, they are ruthless about this - when confronted they will have no qualms in obliterating the challenger. In the short term, they allow the king to stay in charge, so long as he does as they say. They then set up a factory to create new golems, so they can go out and take over other cities, and eventually bring peace to the world.

The thing is, there are many who believe that they may well be better rulers than humans, in the long run. They feel that humanity's need for self rule is just a matter of a collective ego out of control. And they will support the golems against those who would unseat them.

 

[Scott DeWar]

Eroded: time has worn some of them down a bit, so they're a bit more brittle than they were when they were new. This means a strong blow might actually cut off an arm or leg or something. Bonus Fun: just because the arm is off, doesn't mean its not a threat- they can crawl and grasp and so forth, too!

creepy!

Fading Magic: their animus is running low. Golems with this problem may simply shut down in the middle of doing something until they "recharge", or they may start-stop-start-stop like they have a loose connection. Bonus Fun: just because its turned off doesn't mean its relaxed- if it grabbed you, you're still grabbed if it turns off until you actually succeed in breaking free.

That would have a very interesting strobe light effect!

Outdated GPS: the Golem Positioning System that helps the golems find their way around the city is WAY out of date. They follow the roadmaps from when they were first constructed, and simply smash their way through barriers that shouldn't be there.

Now that would be something that would be morally gray that would cause great consternation for the pc's!!!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I'm also reminded of Stargate and Big O- perhaps only certain people can control the golems.

 

[Herobizkit]

Perhaps said people are a band of kids that mirror the PC's in style and attitude, but are only 9-12.

Perhaps the golems need to be PILOTED (ala Gundam et al) by said children.

Perhaps the PC's will have to be magically reduced to a child's age (with penalties: -3 STR/CON, -1 everything else) and size in order to properly manipulate the golems.

Perhaps the children suffer periodic ability damage while they're in the golems.

Perhaps the golems are necromantic, but instead of souls/essence, they actually run on corpses.

Of children. ^_^