Ren'Py The Headmaster [v0.16.3] [Altos and Herdone]

[Regardie]

I didn't got the +4 Diszipline in chapter 2. Was 72 and should be 76, now. But it does get to 71 because of Potts...
Looks like it is not only during this event. Also others do not provide the bonus.

View attachment 1686783
There is also an issue with Debbie during private punishing. If she is naked, and I let Mrs Newman make a body search, the screen is black for 2 sentences.

AltosandHerdone I found that the 4 point gain was missing in this scene and in the first (and only) Olivia classroom scene.

I have been crashing out to the desktop during some punishments. Mostly while one animation is running and it needs to transition into another animation.

As the mag girls and Aribelle have entered the school, they don't move from the other page to the student page in the character guide. Patricia's entry isn't updated when she gets hired. If I chose to let Samantha "take one for the team" that should be reflected in her card, plus the results of meeting her in the staff room afterwards. Miss Swallows card should be updated after her punishment.

It takes too long to earn enough to open the pool so the school will be running for years before the girls can take their tests.

 

[Cartageno]

pls add russian lang

Translations aren't done by the dev but by volunteers, so you'd need a Russian (speaker) to do that.

As an addendum: while we know that Putin and his war and his disinformation about the war are not the responsibility of the common Russian people, sympathy and support may be hard to come by.

 

[madchef]

Wasn't there supposed to be a way to switch off the office cameras? I recall Mykock saying that at the beginning of the game but I haven't seen such features yet. If not, I hope that eventually gets implemented alongside maybe some alternative revenue streams for those that don't like having rich old men constantly watching you do your business.

Isn't the point of that to provide you with proper income, which rakes in a lot more than the weekly allowance of 500, which soon becomes only 400, after you hire the lab technician? You receive 750 per private punishment of the most trained girls + 50 if you take their photos. Are there any other sources of income for the Headmaster apart from these two?

Besides, what is so bothering in letting (not having) rich old men watch the creepy headmaster with an intimidatingly oversized dick and twice as old as most of the female characters as he chastises and bullshits these kids that it's for their own good?

 

[TheDevian]

Isn't the point of that to provide you with proper income, which rakes in a lot more than the weekly allowance of 500, which soon becomes only 400, after you hire the lab technician? You receive 750 per private punishment of the most trained girls + 50 if you take their photos. Are there any other sources of income for the Headmaster apart from these two?

Besides, what is so bothering in letting (not having) rich old men watch the creepy headmaster with an intimidatingly oversized dick and twice as old as most of the female characters as he chastises and bullshits these kids that it's for their own good?

Yeah, only get $150 a week after expenses otherwise... XD

 

[alex2011]

Translations aren't done by the dev but by volunteers, so you'd need a Russian (speaker) to do that.

As an addendum: while we know that Putin and his war and his disinformation about the war are not the responsibility of the common Russian people, sympathy and support may be hard to come by.

pls add russian lang

I mean, I would still do it if I could even with everything going on, I don't blame the people for their government's actions. The problem for me is I don't know how to read or write in that language, so it would be VERY bad, likely Google translated at best until I can find time to learn. That's not the kind of quality I am comfortable putting out there.

 

[Tehemai]

Isn't the point of that to provide you with proper income, which rakes in a lot more than the weekly allowance of 500, which soon becomes only 400, after you hire the lab technician? You receive 750 per private punishment of the most trained girls + 50 if you take their photos. Are there any other sources of income for the Headmaster apart from these two?

Besides, what is so bothering in letting (not having) rich old men watch the creepy headmaster with an intimidatingly oversized dick and twice as old as most of the female characters as he chastises and bullshits these kids that it's for their own good?

Yea, hence the alongside alternative revenue streams part of my comment. Maybe some girl pays MC off to give them a pass early on (Donna perhaps?), some crazy return on investment lab hustle with miss chang, asking for raises for say every rule you pass, school fundraising bake sale event, etc. Tons to come up with. Though honestly, even without any of it, it would still be nice just to have the choice. Mykock said you'd be able to do so and it gives you at least some semblance of agency, even if the pressure on you is high to allow it initially. And that way, the player could even say turn it on for types like Amy or Liz, but then not allow it for types like Faye or Priti.

And yea, it is kinda bothersome. The game is about control and manipulation whereas the dynamic makes you feel cheap and powerless. Certainly not like a headmaster running the show but more like a head prostitute grooming girls to perform with him for old men. Mc as a "master manipulator" should probably be looking to wrestle control anyway instead of letting himself get used so freely for spare change.

Also kinda strange you get the option to say prevent Mr Wilson from seeing priti's nudes and then you start chapter 2 and you're making an even more explicit video of her for all teachers to see which likely would include Mr Wilson. Doesn't really make much sense. MC seems very inconsistent on whether he wants to protect the girls or not from (other) predators.

 

[Knight_of_the_lance]

Honestly in this kind of scenario where there is an unseen sponsor in the shadow, I always interpreet it as an analog for the patrons of the game. A way to put them in the game with out breaking imertion. That role, as substitute for patrons, could change with the story unfolding, but we don't currently know a lot about the sircumstances surrounding the school so I don't see that hapening soon.

 

[Tehemai]

Honestly in this kind of scenario where there is an unseen sponsor in the shadow, I always interpreet it as an analog for the patrons of the game. A way to put them in the game with out breaking imertion. That role, as substitute for patrons, could change with the story unfolding, but we don't currently know a lot about the sircumstances surrounding the school so I don't see that hapening soon.

I mean I think it's kinda obvious, no? The exact details may be unknown but really, what could rich benefactors want with training sexually subservient students and having mountains of compromising images/videos? They even hinted at wanting eventual school "visits". They're obviously not in it simply to make sure the new headmaster is getting laid. And even if somehow that's not it, it's something that someone as familiar with manipulation as MC would consider and take precautions against. Lest they eventually push him out like the last headmaster once the girls are "ready".

 

[madchef]

Yea, hence the alongside alternative revenue streams part of my comment. Maybe some girl pays MC off to give them a pass early on (Donna perhaps?), some crazy return on investment lab hustle with miss chang, asking for raises for say every rule you pass, school fundraising bake sale event, etc. Tons to come up with. Though honestly, even without any of it, it would still be nice just to have the choice. Mykock said you'd be able to do so and it gives you at least some semblance of agency, even if the pressure on you is high to allow it initially. And that way, the player could even say turn it on for types like Amy or Liz, but then not allow it for types like Faye or Priti.

And yea, it is kinda bothersome. The game is about control and manipulation whereas the dynamic makes you feel cheap and powerless. Certainly not like a headmaster running the show but more like a head prostitute grooming girls to perform with him for old men. Mc as a "master manipulator" should probably be looking to wrestle control anyway instead of letting himself get used so freely for spare change.

Also kinda strange you get the option to say prevent Mr Wilson from seeing priti's nudes and then you start chapter 2 and you're making an even more explicit video of her for all teachers to see which likely would include Mr Wilson. Doesn't really make much sense. MC seems very inconsistent on whether he wants to protect the girls or not from (other) predators.

While this game certainly has some inconsistencies and instances of porn logic, I don't think that MC is the master manipulator he strives to be. Just take note that:

1. The introductory presentation of his revolutionary pedagogic methods ends in total failure. His reputation is pretty much non-existent, so he has little choice other than to accept an obviously shady offer from an obvious sleazebag. It's only logical that he should be appreciative, at least until he has enough leverage to assert his dominance over the owners of that peculiar educational facility. So far he is pretty much a tool in someone else's toolbox and he's only realizing that after his last conversation with Ms Chang.

2. He's regularly tormented by nightmares in which he's being denounced for the creep he is. His biggest fear is that he in fact is cheap and powerless, a slave to his own desire to corrupt barely legal minds and bodies.

3. The only pupil who is already sexually mature enough and willingly open to exploring various aspects of BDSM for their encounters to be considered fully informed and consensual kinda impresses and scares him a bit. He must therefore tame her and keep their (ass)fucking secret. The scenes where Amy dares him to join her in the lake swim, or brings her own punishment implements or leaves the girl's changing room unlocked, so he can follow her into the showers just show her as a classic topping bottom, much more honest in her playful manipulations than he is so far. He could take a lesson or two from her.

IMO, the writers do quite a convincing job of depicting the internal contradictions of BDSM dynamics, including the less glorious aspects of it. After all, a lot of famous SM masters/mistresses basically publish their sessions one way or another, don't they? This involves old men rich enough to afford a monthly subscription fee, and after some time, anyone with an internet connection and knowledge how to search for free outdated spanking/bondage/torture porn. Which makes them sex workers. Sometimes you wonder if they have any meaningful relations with their subjects offscreen.

 

[arkhamtheknight]

Is there anything that can be done with Rachel after the PET story as it just says to observe her yet I'm pretty sure that everyone has been searched plus her icon has been done everywhere?

 

[Sothyr]

While this game certainly has some inconsistencies and instances of porn logic, I don't think that MC is the master manipulator he strives to be. Just take note that:

1. The introductory presentation of his revolutionary pedagogic methods ends in total failure. His reputation is pretty much non-existent, so he has little choice other than to accept an obviously shady offer from an obvious sleazebag. It's only logical that he should be appreciative, at least until he has enough leverage to assert his dominance over the owners of that peculiar educational facility. So far he is pretty much a tool in someone else's toolbox and he's only realizing that after his last conversation with Ms Chang.

2. He's regularly tormented by nightmares in which he's being denounced for the creep he is. His biggest fear is that he in fact is cheap and powerless, a slave to his own desire to corrupt barely legal minds and bodies.

3. The only pupil who is already sexually mature enough and willingly open to exploring various aspects of BDSM for their encounters to be considered fully informed and consensual kinda impresses and scares him a bit. He must therefore tame her and keep their (ass)fucking secret. The scenes where Amy dares him to join her in the lake swim, or brings her own punishment implements or leaves the girl's changing room unlocked, so he can follow her into the showers just show her as a classic topping bottom, much more honest in her playful manipulations than he is so far. He could take a lesson or two from her.

IMO, the writers do quite a convincing job of depicting the internal contradictions of BDSM dynamics, including the less glorious aspects of it. After all, a lot of famous SM masters/mistresses basically publish their sessions one way or another, don't they? This involves old men rich enough to afford a monthly subscription fee, and after some time, anyone with an internet connection and knowledge how to search for free outdated spanking/bondage/torture porn. Which makes them sex workers. Sometimes you wonder if they have any meaningful relations with their subjects offscreen.

To manipulate someone he can analyse over days/weeks is a big difference to explain his ideas to a big audience with people he does not know. To think they would accept his methods, to be a big believer in his methods, was his hubris.

That he had bad dreams with Ruth in it, was in my opinion because she was his biggest danger to his methods. Usually it is very hard to make people with preconceptions to give up those preconceptions.

That someone surprises him or trick him does not mean he is a bad manipulator or that he cannot learn something from other people. So far he was very successful with his manipulations of 6 Girls, two teachers (and Ruth).

 

[madchef]

So far he was very successful with his manipulations of 6 Girls, two teachers (and Ruth).

And hasn't managed to manipulate any grown-ass man, mind you.

That he had bad dreams with Ruth in it, was in my opinion because she was his biggest danger to his methods.

Ruth is his guilty conscience in those dreams.



She literally says: "I'm not here and I'm not Ruth, remember? I'm a part of you and you are dreaming [...] You are using them for your own gratification. [...] You blackmail, you lie, you coerce. You deceive everyone around you. Most of all yourself."

I know VN games sometimes bombard the player with walls of text so much that at one point you stop caring to read them all, but this one makes some very nuanced points, instead of being yet another harem collector featuring an omnipotent pickup artist with a big dick. It's a highly entertaining study of masculine perversely reasonable (as in calculated and well thought-through) desire in opposition (complimentary perhaps?) to feminine pure natural innocence and spontaneity. Both these opposites are over-idealized of course, with the feminine part portrayed in several tropes, while the masculine is basically 'men are all the same'.

 

[Cartageno]

I know VN games sometimes bombard the player with walls of text so much that at one point you stop caring to read them all

You shouldn't though (not talking to you in person but "general you"). Every line of dialogue should give information or constitute the athmosphere or similar. If it is just meaningless drivel, it's probably better to drop the VN altogether. Otherwise I will read through all of it.

 

[Tehemai]

While this game certainly has some inconsistencies and instances of porn logic, I don't think that MC is the master manipulator he strives to be. Just take note that:

1. The introductory presentation of his revolutionary pedagogic methods ends in total failure. His reputation is pretty much non-existent, so he has little choice other than to accept an obviously shady offer from an obvious sleazebag. It's only logical that he should be appreciative, at least until he has enough leverage to assert his dominance over the owners of that peculiar educational facility. So far he is pretty much a tool in someone else's toolbox and he's only realizing that after his last conversation with Ms Chang.

2. He's regularly tormented by nightmares in which he's being denounced for the creep he is. His biggest fear is that he in fact is cheap and powerless, a slave to his own desire to corrupt barely legal minds and bodies.

3. The only pupil who is already sexually mature enough and willingly open to exploring various aspects of BDSM for their encounters to be considered fully informed and consensual kinda impresses and scares him a bit. He must therefore tame her and keep their (ass)fucking secret. The scenes where Amy dares him to join her in the lake swim, or brings her own punishment implements or leaves the girl's changing room unlocked, so he can follow her into the showers just show her as a classic topping bottom, much more honest in her playful manipulations than he is so far. He could take a lesson or two from her.

IMO, the writers do quite a convincing job of depicting the internal contradictions of BDSM dynamics, including the less glorious aspects of it. After all, a lot of famous SM masters/mistresses basically publish their sessions one way or another, don't they? This involves old men rich enough to afford a monthly subscription fee, and after some time, anyone with an internet connection and knowledge how to search for free outdated spanking/bondage/torture porn. Which makes them sex workers. Sometimes you wonder if they have any meaningful relations with their subjects offscreen.

Well I don't fully disagree at his incompetence, hence my putting "master manipulator" in quotation marks, I don't think it takes a master manipulator to see through things and put up the slightest resistance. Even in cases where he's given explicit permission, like just turning the camera off. That he sees himself as a master manipulator alone would be enough for him to not want to continuously actively feed them obvious leverage. Yet he doesn't even so much as tell chang to clean his computer from spyware.

It's one thing to show him frustratingly bidding his time, it's another to show him utterly okay with submitting. The game does explore bdsm, but MC/player interests are clearly in domination. Not submission. Which makes it strange that he's so willing to essentially be their Debbie, metaphorically tugging them off just so that he can have permission to play with the girls. Even in his thoughts, he doesn't seem interested in resisting their demands and getting out from under them. He's just okay with being their puppet, "selling" by obligation and not choice. Which in a way robs the player of the domination fantasy the game is trying to foster.

And he's still doing an infinitely better job of enacting their will than the previous headmaster. The project was dead in the water before him. So whereas he doesn't have leverage to tell them to hit the bricks, he does easily have the leverage to put up rudimentary boundaries here and there. Perhaps even make his own demands.

*I put "selling" in quotation marks also to point out that even that is an illusion. MC does not do it to gain personal wealth, he does so to upgrade their school and already recognizes the money scarcity is entirely fabricated to force him to put on shows. Which shows he recognizes he's being manipulated. But again strangely has no problem with it.

 

[madchef]

The game does explore bdsm, but MC/player interests are clearly in domination. Not submission.

You might be confusing sexual domination and submission with ordinary (albeit morally questionable) power struggle. The MC is a sexual top (though he mentions at one time that he can also receive as much as he can give) preying on fairly easy targets (apart from the two teachers he shagged, one of them proving to be surprisingly easy, all you had to do is find the keys and lose the towel) not an alpha male at all and perhaps his story arc will that of overcoming his own weakness (which is taking sexual advantage of young and inexperienced girls) and standing up for them instead. But we are all at the mercy of creative minds of the game devs and all the characters are ultimately puppets in their hands, with players essentially being just the audience, only sporadically able to decide how the story continues.

I personally wish I could avoid Rachel's and Pritti's stories altogether. Debbie's purported lesbianism and the headmaster still having to grope her and then convince to suck his ubermanly cock, for her to philosophise later that one can somehow separate repulsion to men from attraction to manhood do not sit well with me either. If I were him, I'd go crazy for Amy - she's exactly what he's looking for (or perhaps she's exactly who a safe, sane and consensual dominator should be looking for). But like a true sadist he's so morose in his delectation of her, identifying her morbus by using a fairly outdated, medical term 'masochist', treating like a patient who needs to be cured and then a test subject. She might be a bit too mature for the likes of him, I don't know. Or Miss Potts - she's initially clueless and naive alright, but much more age-appropriate, curious and a quick learner. What can I do? The only way for me as the player to convey my preferences is by inviting Amy to the office as often as possible and making sure she takes those quick showers on Tuesdays. I'd also love to visit Ms Potts apartment more often, that rough sex session was a hot, yet clever minigame.

MC does not do it to gain personal wealth, he does so to upgrade their school and already recognizes the money scarcity is entirely fabricated to force him to put on shows. Which shows he recognizes he's being manipulated. But again strangely has no problem with it.

Well, that's because his motivations lie elsewhere... And he will have to do some more soul-searching with the help of the nightmarish 'Ruth'.

 

[Tehemai]

You might be confusing sexual domination and submission with ordinary power struggle. The MC is a sexual top not an alpha male at all and perhaps his story arc will that of overcoming his own weakness and standing up for them instead.

I think we have very different interpretations. Yours comes from believing everything was created as intended and hence you try to come up with plausible explanations that are not really explicit (and imo often even contradicted) in the game. Mine comes from the belief that contradictions and dev oversights are possible and inconsistencies are a sign of that.

Personally, whereas I agree that the headmaster is not perfectly competent, he has shown more than enough competence to recognize the dangerous position he's in. And he's way too egocentric ("e.g. I am the villain") to not be trying to regain hand. Mind you, that's why he fucks up at first. Ego, not incompetence. He could not fathom people not being impressed with him, which created a blindspot. That he fails there does not mean he's incompetent nor that his targets were easy.

I don't know if it's "alpha" per se but his personality type does not lend itself with accepting subservience in any facet of life. It's just written off here as "that's fine cause that's what I wanted all along". Even when it doesn't make sense, like the priti contradiction. Understandable, it sometimes makes the game loop a tad easier to fudge a little. But not necessary here imo.

But we are all at the mercy of creative minds of the game devs and all the characters are ultimately puppets in their hands, with players essentially being just the audience, only sporadically able to decide how the story continues.

I personally wish I could avoid Rachel's and Pritti's stories altogether.

This is where we can agree on, we are often not given control and must take backseat to some bad tasting MC decisions. That said, whereas deleting routes would be a narrative tracking/telling nightmare, here there's an easy fix. For barebones implementation, a handful additional lines of dialogue, a camera on/off variable and some "if" checks would suffice. A better low effort implementation, add another variable and modify equation to give him raises for passing rules (salary bumps for success should be a feature anyway). I know this because I've modded a lot of this in my game.

A full implementation would be changing mykock dialogue to add some conflict (e.g. reject offer -> "you're playing a dangerous game, headmaster"). Add miscellaneous money events and add alternative revenue streams to some character routes. Slightly alter a few existing events (e.g. option to make MC steal the video tape for chapter 2 while blaming anonymous student). Not absolutely necessary to give player back that agency. But all easy and/or would eventually be implemented in some fashion anyway as alternative revenue streams are commonly expected features.

 

[SenPC]

pls add russian lang

There's a Porn Sanction in effect for Russia embargoing all foreign porn, but I'd happily work on a fan-made Ukrainian translation. No fapping for Russians right now.

 

[toolkitxx]

There's a Porn Sanction in effect for Russia embargoing all foreign porn, but I'd happily work on a fan-made Ukrainian translation. No fapping for Russians right now.

Well - even if that reply is actually quite humorous: there are Russian speaking Ukrainian's too

 

[Sothyr]

Do I see it correct, that Priti's Desire Path is the same as the Punish Path, just without punishment?

 

[madchef]

I think we have very different interpretations. Yours comes from believing everything was created as intended...

While you may be right that there are some plotholes in the game at the moment, I think that it's not a coincidence that the MC comes out as a 'master manipulator' in front of women, or should we say very young girls, while he's got nothing on Wilson, Jimmy, Mykok and any other male in lurking in the background. What I am trying to say is that this game is an illustrated novel after all, with a few loose pages in places, as to create an illusion of control on player's reader's part, where in fact there's very little freedom of movement. You need to play the part of either a creepy or a creepier male teacher living his wet dream, where immorality is an integral part of that dream. And in order to progress you need to participate in that specific fantasy including peeping Tom escapades to the dorms, like you're some horny college student, not a respectable headmaster, renovating cafeteria, so you can unlock several H-scenes and teaching futsal, so you can unlock more H-scenes and eventually gain access to the girl's changing room. All of which are not really my ideal BDSM scenarios. And his tastes in porn, while tell-tale, are not mine either.

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This is where we can agree on, we are often not given control and must take backseat to some bad tasting MC decisions.

That said, whereas deleting routes would be a narrative tracking/telling nightmare, here there's an easy fix. For barebones implementation, a handful additional lines of dialogue, a camera on/off variable and some "if" checks would suffice.

But why would the devs want to do it, if it sit well with their fantasy of building a sex cult dressed in school uniforms? Or, why would that particular thing bother you so much? VN games are not freestyle simulator games after all where you can build scenarios and participants to fit your personal tastes and dislikes perfectly and there will always be something that one would change if they could. Recording sessions for others to watch is one of two ways of earning money in this game. And let's be honest, this money earned is not there to spend on some noble causes: you need £££ to buy buttplugs, paddles, canes, cat ears, maid uniforms, swimsuits, sexy lingerie, so you can get raunchier and raunchier with your pupils. Or is there a pure path in this game that I haven't discovered yet, where you can play-pretend to be the most chivalrous perv in town?