Current events
This page is for discussion of stuff related to the game coming up this week, no matter when that actually is. For instance, we can all assume Nate isnt coming for some lame reason and that Ed is sick of pizza and is bringing teriyaki or some other crap. They can post something here if that happens to be untrue.
Contents
Schedule
Date...........game................Location..........(Advanced attendance)
8/29/08......OAAAA...........BnD...............Matt gone
9/5/08.......OAAAA...........BnK...............Brandon gone (HONEYMOON!)
9/12/08......Super Heroes.....BnK..........Ben Gone
9/19/08......Super Heroes.....BnK..........
9/26/08......Super Heroes/OAAAA/Other.....BnK..........Matt Gone
10/3/08......OAAAA.............BnK..........
10/10/08.....OAAAA.............BnK..........
10/17/08.....OAAAA.............BnK..........
Attendance and Food Preference
GABE: Are we doing 6 o'clock magic? I have to leave a bit early, around 9-ish.
--Edmiao 15:12, 27 August 2008 (MST) I'm hoping for 6 magic; got lots of decks to try out. I may be a smidge late, though, like last week. I need to leave no later than 1am, prefer 12:30. No pizza.
BEN: yup, 6pm magic. I'm trying to stick to the reasonable end times, so midnight-1am end time is a for sure. bummer you have to go earlier, Gabe.
GABE: Sweet, I wanna to try out my decks a few more times before I mess with them. Yeah, got some Family things to do this weekend... I may be able to stay till 10 though, as 2 hours isn't much RP'in.
BEN: Kim's shooting on friday, so I'm back on pizza duty, which I may try to pawn off on somebody if there's a willing victim. Either way, please indicate who all is eating.
GABE: No pizza here.
--Brandon 11:07, 28 August 2008 (MST) Present for Magic and pizza please. So, Ben, does that mean that Kim's messages below about picking up pizza (albeit a bit later) no longer stand? Either way, I definitely will NOT have access to a car, so I won't be able to pick up the pizza. I'll either be taking the bus, or attempting to hitch a ride with the pizza if someone does come and get it early.
BEN: I'll come grab you and the pizza. I may go buy some boosters, if I feel like it, and if there's time.
--Edmiao 11:34, 28 August 2008 (MST) you and the pizza are on my way more than ben's, i can pick you and it up. (but i won't be eating any)
KIM: Save me a slice!!! *nom nom nom*
Nate: Hey guys. I am working overtime tomorrow til 6:30 and don't think I will have the energy for tabletop so I'm going to bail. If I do miraculously get a second wind I'll pop through but I don't think its likely.
BEN: bummer.
--Dieter the Bold 01:26, 29 August 2008 (MST) Okay, I'm going to make myself a liar and show up late. Very late. After looking over the PAX schedule, I'm afraid there's some really awesome stuff later in the evening, and as it's my first PAX and is a once-a-year thing, I'm going to sacrifice gaming. Sorry. I think the last thing I really want to see is at 10:30, so I can make it home by 11:30 at the latest. I'll call someone once I finish up and see if it's worth me rushing back or if you're all pretty much done. Interested in pizza, but if those involved don't want to bother guaranteeing there will be slices left (at least 4), then go ahead and count me out. Again, sorry for the late dropout.
--Brandon 02:11, 29 August 2008 (MST) bummer on Dieter as well. So, Ben/Ed, what time should I meet you at Pudge Bros.? 5:40ish? Just let me know.
Ranting and raving or other random comments
--Edmiao 15:04, 26 August 2008 (MST) comment directed at ben, but i thought i'd post it in case others were intereseted. Ben, if you are going to write a book you may want to familiarize yourself with some of MS word's features as it may be a pain to go back an reformat an entire book and you had some weird section breaks in there. also, and this is the part others may be interested in, you can buy MS office 2007 for $60 right now, which is like $340 off the asking price, i think. You have to be a "student", which means you have to have a .edu email address The Ultimate Steal
JASON: You can pretty much always buy MS Office student edition for under $100, thats its regular price. The license agreement stipulates that you can only use it while you are in school and must uninstall it when you are no longer attending. You can find them on ebay pretty much anytime.
--Edmiao 15:30, 26 August 2008 (MST) well, there you have it. advertising and sale psychology works, at least on me!
--Edmiao 16:31, 26 August 2008 (MST) Guy here at work says that this is Office Heavy whereas normally student discount gets Office Light. whatever, $60 is very reasonable for office, i think. that's why i just bought it and charged it to my work!
--Dieter the Bold 17:25, 26 August 2008 (MST) My dad works at Microsoft. I could talk him into a company store purchase if you needed it.
--67.160.116.72 18:39, 26 August 2008 (MST) On the subject of computers... Matt, do you know a good labtop for gaming? I'm talking COH/COV, Sims II (high end stuff), one really meant for gaming.
--Matts 09:07, 27 August 2008 (MST)Any laptop appropriate for current-generation gaming is going to basically be the most expensive laptop you can find, and on top of that will likely not scale well, which is to say in a year it'll be fast but bigger than laptops of comparable speed, and in two years it'll be average-slow speed, and in three plus if it works at all it'll be out of date.
GABE: Great... I did find one for about 2,000 I kinda liked. I just want one that I can play the Sims II on, Sim City 4, COH, and perhaps WH Online. Oh and Spore, long as it can handle those I'm good.
About that in three years if it even works at all... thats my biggest concern is how quickly they all seem to break. Know any reliable brands? I want to get at least 3 years outta this thing.
JASON: I have had a lot of luck with Dell laptops. If you get them from the outlet they are cheaper and still perform and have warranties.
--Edmiao 09:59, 27 August 2008 (MST) I have an HP monster laptop, which is more like a portable desktop because it is so huge. I've had it for 6 years and besides the power button being kind of hard to get to trigger and the built in mouse buttons not working well it is great. pretty good for a 6 year old computer that i use constantly at work every day.
JASON: I just looked on the outlet and I found an XPS M1710 with 2 gig of ram, Blu-Ray drive and the 512MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX for under $1500. Personally I buy mid to low range machines and sell the old one every year. They only depreciate about $75, so for that plus shipping I have a new laptop with a warranty every year. I have been doing it for 5 years, it rules.
GABE: Thats pretty sweet, what is the outlet?
--Brandon 14:25, 27 August 2008 (MST) I second Jason's comments about Dell. I picked up my laptop, which can run everything I've come across, for around $750. I'm sure you could add a bunch of stuff to make it rockin', for not a lot of extra money. Two pieces of advice: 1) look at the Vostro - it's what I have and is the business version of the Inspiron. As far as I can tell, it's the same or better insides for cheaper. 2) look online for Dell coupons/deals. They often have random internet sales, which decrease the price significantly. I think I saved $400 or something using one of those when I bought mine.
GABE:Will do, although all the Dells on their own website seem to only have either 128MB video cards for 512MB, which are all around 2000... or only have 2 GB of ram which isn't really enough considering they use VISTA.
JASON: Go to outlet.dell.com and search for gaming laptops. None may come up at first, then refine the search by the higher end XPS models and then sort them by price. This list is updated every 15 minutes so check back often and be ready to buy when you find what you want.
GABE: Coolness, I'll check it out.
Other RPG or Non-RPG gaming Events
shindig on aug 30/31
JASON: Also, I will be having a massive shindig for mine and Rumi's birthdays on either August 30th or 31st. I would like to see as many of you jokers as possible attend. Mark it on your calendar. I am planning on renting a venue so we have plenty of space for games, Rock Band, and partying. Does anyone know of a centrally located, reasonably priced, venue?
GABE: I'd like to come, I'm trying to be more social. A central and big location for partying thats cheap? *insert your mom comment*
KIM: Oooh, I'll be back in town then, might have a job that weekend, but will try to keep it during reasonable hours so that I can show up and commandeer the potato chip bowl... *nom nom nom*
--Dieter the Bold 17:26, 26 August 2008 (MST) I'm attending PAX this weeknd. So let me know what the plan is on any shindigs so I can plan appropriately.
JASON: So, it looks like we will be having an all afternoon/evening thing on Sunday the 31. For those of you who dont know, I lost my job. So, this is why we are being significantly less high brow about the affair. Lets do a bbq/potluck thing. As many of you jokers as possible should come!
--Edmiao 09:37, 28 August 2008 (MST) dude-ah. that sucks. sorry to hear that. good luck in the job hunt. Probably won't make it to the shindig, cheryl's still not feeling 100% and is taking it easy.
GABE: So what is the exact date of the shindig? Also dude, what the fuck? That place sounded pretty cool, but man, that really sucks! I'm sure Symetra is still hiring... although there is a reason for that...
JASON: It is on 8/31 from 12 to whenever. Sorry you cant come Ed, give Cheryl our best wishes. Well, many things about the job were great, and many sucked. I can look at what Symetra is hiring for, but I dont want to do sales. Though it would be cool to work in the same building!
--Edmiao 10:35, 28 August 2008 (MST) free cheese and curds. that is a loss to be mourned.
GABE: We don't do as much selling stuff, mostly checking through papers, shit like that. Its a total paper pusher job for the most part. Really I have no inside info. 31st eh, so Sunday? Yeah I think I can do that. I'll email you to get instructions, and I'll bring foodies.
--Dieter the Bold 01:29, 29 August 2008 (MST) I will definitely attend, but later. I'm afraid PAX again is going to draw me for the first to mid half of the day. After which I will be happy to attend. If someone wants to pick up some food on my behalf I will happily repay them, as going back home to whip something up or wandering to the nearest supermarket and then dragging it all the way on the bus would be less than enjoyable or efficient.
BEN: saturday August 23: if anyone wants to come by and play some magic tonight, I'm down.
--Gdaze 11:59, 26 August 2008 (MST) Okay.. I'm gonna check this more often even on weekends now... I would have been down for playing. I guess I should get work station up and running.
BEN: I'll probably be doing more of the sporadic magic nights starting mid-september, when Kim is out of town...the next few weeks it'll be kept mostly to fridays, I think.
KIM: btw, I'm back! I'll be out of town again Sept 17- Oct 26.... Home Oct 27- Nov 4, Then back on the road again Nov 5 through the end of the year. FYI, I may get a bit greedy on the "bonding-time with Ben" for the several days that I AM here in Seattle according to that schedule. You've been warned.
--Edmiao 20:59, 26 August 2008 (MST) welcome back! will you be joining our OAAAA game? I'm playing a ridiculously beautiful teen female fairy.
JASON: So, basically yourself, except the beauty.
--Edmiao 09:57, 27 August 2008 (MST)astute
KIM: Thanks Ed! Will not be joining OAAAA, unfortunately, as I'm only around for one session of the game then I go *poof* again. I notice that Ben's car will be in Portland for the weekend with his sister, and Brandon will be MIA, I'll be shooting Friday late afternoon and can pick up pizza on my way home, if there are no other volunteers, and if everyone can wait to eat until 7 or 8... lemme know.
--Brandon 15:15, 27 August 2008 (MST) Ummmm, I'm not MIA this weekend. It's next weekend that I'll be gone a honeymoonin'. But, there's no guarantee that I'll be able to get pizza, since Kate will probably have the car, so I'm happy with you picking up the pizza.
Kim: My goof, but offer still stands, unless ya'll fear the awesome magnitude of Ben's hunger in the absence of pizza for the first hour or so.... *shudder*
Other Games
--Dieter the Bold 17:27, 26 August 2008 (MST) I'm packing this week for the move, Gabe, so if you want to get some CoV going, let's set up a time beforehand. When you will be awake.
GABE: Alright, I need to Email Matt#2 also. Um, how about today? Say around 8? Maybe play for an hour?
--Dieter the Bold 15:05, 27 August 2008 (MST) I'll be a little later than that. I'm working 'til 7:30 and can only catch the 7:50 bus, so I'll be closer to 8:30, but I'm open for an hours.
GABE:Alright, lets plan for 8:30-ish tonight. I think we are going to form our own super group... here are some idea names.
Lollygaggers
Conglamo
but really I like Noelle's idea best... Blood Bath and Beyond...
JASON: Did you ever email Matt #2? Also, that BB&B is from the Simpsons Halloween episode.
--Dieter the Bold 16:34, 27 August 2008 (MST) I vote "The Evil League to Beat the Jason Bessonette"
GABE: Ah, I should have guess the Simpsons would already come up with something so cool. We ended up going with Leviathan International, where our motto is "Tyranny today for a peaceful tomorrow!"
Weekly Magic Whining/Complaining/Smack Talking
BEN: made two new decks: a blue draw deck and a green biggy deck based around morph creatures, turn to mist, and momentary blink.
MATT: My Homarid deck did a lot better than I figured!
JASON: I have lots of good morph creatures but I never use morph. Maybe we can make some deals. Also, let me know how Affinity fares on Friday.
--Edmiao 12:39, 25 August 2008 (MST) that affinity for artifacts dragon? i cast it last friday and used ashnolds transmorgant to make two enemy creatures into artifacts which were then removed from the game. but it was an emporer game, and i don't think the deck is fast enough to get the dragon out reliably before death. that said, i had an atog that i did not play which would have helped in the early game.
BEN: no, no: Jason has an affinity for artifacts deck that he brought on saturday and I had so much fun playing it that I asked him to leave it at my place so I could run it against some other decks this friday.
--Edmiao 12:48, 25 August 2008 (MST)oh, i have no doubt it will kick the ass on my atog artifact deck. and probably most of my decks actually.
JASON: It has a Megatog in it. It used to have 3. I cant decide if I like them.
--Edmiao 13:26, 25 August 2008 (MST) wow. we definitely have to match these decks up so i can learn how much i suck at making decks. mine has one Megatog in it (we only have one). It has 4 Terrarion, 4 Chromatic Star, and 4 Elsewhere Flasks all designed to get card draw from artifacts sacrificed to the Atog.
JASON: My big deck building problem is recognizing defense. I dont know what is a good defensive card (or when its over/undercosted) or how many to include. I made my mill deck and tried it against the Affinity deck, and it got WORKED. Ben totally took me to school. Same with my sacrifice deck, which is a good idea in theory, but it just doesnt have balanced defense (again, pwned by Affinity). When the combos work, they kick ass, but its too iffy. After playing that world championship deck, I know I need some help. That thing relies on one card to do damage that has only 2 in the deck and it works every time. I believe I have played 10 games with it and its 9-1. Defense plus card draw plus patience equals world championship.
JASON: One more thing. You know you cant sacrifice something to two effects, right? So if the Terrarion is sacrificed to the Megatog you cant respond by getting the mana (you do get the card, however).
--Edmiao 14:00, 25 August 2008 (MST) Yep, i know. but all i want is in effect 1 colorless mana for +2/+2 draw a card, not a bad effect.
defense is key. the trick is to have adequate defense against a variety of decks. it changes with the environment of what decks we are playing. with the current kinship themes of the block, creature kill has become much more important than it was. but then ben made a nice enchantment focused deck, which makes anti-enchantment key in our current play. and it's hard to drop key cards in my combo/theme to make room for defense. that's what makes magic fun!
JASON: Affinity pretty much uses direct damage and Boomerang as its defense, and given how fast and versatile its offense is, that works. The sacrifice deck is black and red, so it has a couple of creature kills, a couple of land kills, and thats it. I dont know how to mess with enchantments reliably with those colors.
--Brandon 18:53, 28 August 2008 (MST) The jury is still out on the new Magic website, but I submit that this picture is boss.
--Brandon 02:19, 29 August 2008 (MST) Grimoire Thiefx2 + memory sluice = most annoying combo ever? Discuss. Either way, it's 14 milled cards in one go (for one mana, kinda). Phew!
Next step in Super Heroes
What's the role of super hero? Is it to protect the innocent? Punish the guilty? Keep a captured villain in a closet and occasionally throw him some Sun Chips?
The Guardians are thinking long and hard about this moral conundrum...
GABE: That was super heroes at their bestest. How about what the heck do we do with all these people we keep beating up??? No place can hold them! I mean Viho only has so many closets.
Next step in Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy
Fun things for friday to look forward to:
1.) The Map of Amora
2.) The "Random Magic Item" Table
3.) The 11th hour characters (a blood elf ranger and possible others)
BEN: well, we all know that I'm the most draconian of our group's GMs, so it's time for me to crack the ol' whip. I'm actually very pleased with the laizez faire attitude we've all taken to making characters, it fits exactly with my sense of the fantasy trope for story beginnings (5 strangers meet in a smoky inn...). HOWEVER, I would like very much to actually have looked at a FINAL version of everybody's character sheet before we start, promptly at 7, tomorrow. That means that if you no post'a you character sheet on the wiki before 5:30 or so tomorrow, you'll have to take precious magicking time to chat with me about your character.
One more thing. The game will begin late at night, say around midnight on a Thursday night. You should all think about where your character would be at that time. ALSO, if any of y'all want to be connected to each other in any way, that's up to you to work out, I'm fine if the first session is the first time any of you hear about it.
Some restrictions, as I think of them:
Tithe: You 'can't' start in the temple of the forge grounds. Typically, you are designated to guarding some of the holdings of the Forge Temple off the temple grounds on a regular basis: it's not terribly desirable work, and you are as close to a slave as it gets (slavery is outlawed on Caminus), so it falls to you. Only favored/trusted guards have been selected for keeping people off the temple grounds since the deadly crimson fever killed one of the lower priestesses. You have not seen or heard from Daenerys in a week or more.
Human Magic:
Karthayans: Stone/Earth Magic
Eburon: Summoning
Csara: Shadow Magic
If a character is from these places they can practice the appropriate magic. All humans also have access to Hag and Druid magic.
--Dieter the Bold 16:23, 22 August 2008 (MST) That I can. After berating me for not being on. And after setting up a specific time. l4m3r!
BEN: one small note for friday...I didn't like how I just deus-exed a special item at the end of last session, so I'm going to nix that. It'll just mean more story relevant lootz in the next few sessions.
--Gdaze-- Cool cool, personally I'm 90% sure I'm not going to use any magic items I find because I could loose it, even if it is cheaper. I'd rather spend the points on my own guy or attune, just letting ya know 'forhand.
BEN: fair enough. Remember, any "unique" item you lose, you get the points back (no penalty) and can then spend them on other stuff. But it's fair that you may not want to rely on something that could disappear.
--Edmiao 13:04, 27 August 2008 (MST) i have a magic item request. for things that are cheap, do something really interesting or amusing, but are pretty limited in their utility. Like a wind up mechanical parakeet that sings yankee doodle dandy. or a ring of invisibility that only works when no one is looking. Or a magic divining rod that can always find gabe's mom.
BEN: I definitely do plan to have that kind of stuff in there...I'm hoping the "random" table will generate some of those kinds of items too.
--Gdaze-- Are all items on the random list "unique"?
--Edmiao 15:13, 27 August 2008 (MST) is the "random" table part of the hero fantasy book, or is it home made?
BEN: it's home made. Anything you get off the random table will have the 'unique' trait, I think, although that's negotiable.
--Brandon 13:09, 28 August 2008 (MST) Check out my inchoate plans for next session at Tithe, under "Tithe's Plans."
--Gdaze-- That said... is there a limit on how can spend EXP on skills, or powers? Can I up a skill to 16- now if I want?
BEN: I put a list of XP restrictions up on the 'character creation' page that you should look at. skill increases over 13- always cost double ("maxima" rules for skills and stats never go away) but you are always allowed to up skills as much as you want. You may also open any new skills you want at any time. Powers are always subject to GM approval, but anything that is reasonable (ie, don't try to take unbalancing/disproportionately powerful effects) is likely to get approved if it is character appropriate (such as new potion recipes for a potion maker).
--Brandon 15:24, 28 August 2008 (MST) Ben, I put my XP spending in bold on my character sheet. Let me know if you approve of the "Sphere of Silence" power. We talked about it as an option before. Basically, I'm option - for the moment - to build up a localized, darkneess based silence power rather than the flash-based power. I'll have to look at the book to see exactly how to spend the 10pts., but I remember that 10pts. would make it at least minimally effective.
BEN: it all looks good to me. I would say your power is a mix of the two things you mention: a magical ability that only stone-elf Templars can do, but not necessarily unique to guarding a temple. We can say Tolmen began teaching it to you, but you are now mastering it on your own.
