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)
4/17/09.....Supers.........Ben's Condo.........
4/24/09.....nada.........Ben's Condo.........Dieter, Ed, Matt Absent
5/01/09.....OAAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........Ed absent
5/08/09.....OAAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........
5/15/09.....OAAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........
5/22/09.....OAAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........Matt absent
5/29/09.....Supers.........Ben's Condo.........
6/05/09.....Supers.........Ben's Condo.........Ed 90% likely absent, Dieter possibly absent
6/12/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Dieter SIFF @ 9:30
6/19/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Ed likely absent
6/26/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Matt absent, getting married
7/03/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
7/10/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Ed likely absent
7/17/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Ed absent
7/24/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
Attendance and Food Preference
--Dieter the Bold 10:18, 26 May 2009 (MST) Is it Supers or OAAA this week?
--Brandon 20:51, 26 May 2009 (MST) Either way, I'm down for some gaming! I'll likely be a little late, because I have to take Kate to the airport. But then, ummmm, Kate will be on a plane, and I just heard that I was awarded a Fellowship for next year, so I don't have any cares this weekend. Booyakasha.
--Matts - I'm ready to run supers if that's what's on the plate. I haven't talked to Ben yet though.
BEN: I'm good either way...pretty much up to the players as far as I"m concerned.
--Matts - That's my view also. What do the players want?
Edmiaoyou all are such pussies. and so am i. i literally just flipped a coin, heads: OAAAAAAA, tails: supers. it was heads.
GABE: For me personally, I don't care BUT. The longer I stay away from a game, the less my drive to play it becomes. For example, too hard to remember what happened, what the characters were last doing, etc.
Matts - Just to mess with Ed: Let's do supers.
ED: wow, you all just grew six extra testicles. well done!
BEN: verily, if thou dost bite thy thumb at me...We've been running OAAAA for a while so I say it's only fair to run supers. On the other hand, I'm already kind of in Gabe's camp of not remembering too much of what's up in supers, mostly because I never really developed my character beyond "the tank" (I love Viho, though): OAAAA is in contrast a very exciting story to me right now (Being the GM and all). The being the GM thing also obviously makes me biased, which is why I didn't offer a firm opinion at the beginning. Not to mention that I've always preferred GMing to playing (likely contributing to my problems with Elemental, above). THE SUMMARY, so you don't have to read all my verbiferous pontification: I'm more interested in GMing OAAAA than playing Supers.
Matts - OK, just for Ed again: Let's run OAAAA!
Honestly, if people aren't feeling supers anymore, we could drop it no problem. The story's certainly not in that interesting of a place right now, and the primary purpose of the game is for people to have fun with it; if OAAAA is more fun for the bulk of players, and I sort of feel it is (honestly, myself included). While I enjoy it, I'm not too attached to it. So there's that.
--Dieter the Bold 07:18, 28 May 2009 (MST) I'll be there for OAAA. Would like pizza.
Edmiao I really don't see how i am going to be able to rp with a straight face when y'll have grown so many testicles that they become difficult to hide, i mean, at this point you've got them coming out your ears and that's just wrong.
thanks for the viho complement, ben. I'm sort of lucky, he and Aefra are my most enjoyable characters to date. so i'm up for anything, (ie have no testicles) OAAAA was the choice of the penny in my pocket (insert innuendo here _______).
GABE: Alright Ben said it first so I'm gonna 2nd that, do I get like half a ball? I actually don't feel a lot of connection with Silver Seperent as well, I mean it is really cool about his past, totally didn't see that coming. Supers with the Hero system is kinda odd. Its like you can make this cool hero who can pretty much do everything you want... But combat is so complicated. Now with a game like the fantasy one nobody is moving at like 80 mph, or teleporting across the city. Plus you have different speeds (which in supers DOES make a lot of sense, I think this really helps make the fantasy hero even easier then it already is).
But in heroes you have so many different powers. As a GM it can be really hard as well because you have to craft villains who go up against PC's who have spent hours on their own characters. Not that I don't enjoy Heroes, Matt, I really like the world, and the interaction between supers and non-supers. But I think the system is getting in the way of your story, not your story getting in the way of the system.
--Matts 12:05, 28 May 2009 (MST)Wow... did Gabe just endorse alternative systems? I know he's not neccesarily opposed, but I have it in my head that I'm the only one who ever thinks that way! It's like early christmas!
I had a fun moment planned for the next supers game, but my problem there is that it's always just fun moments. Really, I was trying to build a game around the idea of a summer blockbuster, which we can't be surprised has a short-ish shelf life.
GABE: Well first off let me say I have enjoyed supers, and it just dawned on me. Supers has been more like a series of somewhat connected one shots then a whole campaign. This is not bad, but might explain why it is hard for me to connect with my character.
Also the fact that our characters clearly abuse their powers and are above the law, only because of their power, is interesting. I think an entire game could be centered around this.
But supers needs fights, and the hero system does not handle high point battles in a quick manner. Granted, the character interaction has been GREAT in supers. It cracks me up every time. But this also contributes to the whole “one shotness” of the game.
I’m always up for new systems, but I’m also very wary of any new system, I’ve been hurt too often, I have trust issues.
One system, The Universal Roleplaying System, has promise but for supers… it just doesn’t work.
I’ve been looking at Mutants & Masterminds, but was a bit “eh” cause it is a D20 system… except that is ONLY uses that die. Just a D20. Many reviews have said it is the hero system without the bog down. It also has a book you can get which allows you to quickly change the rules up, like HP and such. It is kinda crazy, there are no hit points in the game, just saves vs. damage.
Quote(s) of the week
Elemental: (to police chief, who thanked them for their good work) That certainly isn't going to help Viho's colossal ego. (or something like that...)
CyberJesus: I'm so sick and tired of this bullshit Thomas Kinkaid police state!
Ashbury: I grow plants that may or may not be used for pharmaceutical purposes
Ranting and Raving
ED: so i have hero designer v2 on my PC. it is all in one folder. i copied the folder to my mac and try to launch the .jar file, but it gives me an error message. any ideas? i also still have hero designer v1 which will launch, but doesn't work correctly, i can't see any tabs on the character (like the characteristics, powers, skills, etc...). mac comes preinstalled with java, and various java things on the web work for me, so i think my java is ok.
JASON: Make sure you have the correct version of java. What is the error message?
ED: according to my mac update program, java is up to date. the error is "The Java JAR file "Hero Designer.jar" could not be launched. Check the console for possible error messages" This happens when i try to run the .jar file. is that the correct one to launch? I also have a .exe file, but when i launch this, it opens as a text file with mumbo jumbo. i presume this is a mac vs pc thing and that in the pc, the .exe is the correct file to run. maybe the pc version does not run on a mac? thought maybe java was java on a pc or a mac. I also have a .lax file that does not know which program to open with.
JASON: Java is platform independent, and plenty of people use Hero Designer on the mac, so it should work. Open your xterm and type Java -version then hit enter. If it says something other than 1.5 you need a new version of java. Once we are sure that is up to date we can move on to other possible issues.
Gabe: You are all dumb. Clearly his Mac was born in sin, just like the rest of humanity. We need to get the demons outta your Mac. After that I recommand you baptize it.
JASON: I have this John the Baptist dish towel, guaranteed to get the demons off your dishes.
Gabe: Now I must know, do you actually have that?
ED - "Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_16-b06-284)" This is not a herodesigner specific problem. i cannot run another .jar java program which runs fine on my older pc. I tried dunking my mac in water, and this did not seem to solve the problem. but it did stop other things from working, like the screen and all the lights. what?
Gabe: Helloooo? It can't be just any water, you have to say the correct prayer and collect the 10 Holy Stones of Aldnana. After that you can try again but this time use a cow's blood instead of water.
--Dieter the Bold 14:25, 24 May 2009 (MST) So, I have a Yahoo mail account which is implementing new "security" procedures, which includes giving them an alternative email address to send warnings to, along with a cell phone number to send texts to. There's no way in hell they're getting my phone number. But until I cave in, I'm locked out of my Yahoo account. Does anyone know of any kind of free phone numbers for text messages or something, like VOIP or Net phones that I could BS the registration with? I'm going to have to set up a new email address, but I need to get all my old emails off first.
Edmiao this is interesting, i had two .jar applications that were not running, one was hero designer, the other was something else. after some web searching, for "java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: Bad version number in .class file" I found a site that suggested that i go to Java Preferences and change the order of the Java applicaiton versions. I have these four: J2SE 5.0 32bit, Java SE 6 64 bit, J2SE 5.0 64 bit, and J2SE 1.4.2 32 bit. in that order. changing Java SE 6 64 bit to first fixed my other application, but not hero designer. switching any others to first also did not fix herodesigner. i feel like i'm on the right track but not sure what to try next.... any ideas?
JASON: Can you verify that your Java is Sun? Try unloading what you have and loading a current java version directly from Sun.
--Matts 12:06, 28 May 2009 (MST) Everyone buy my game. What's that? You don't have an xbox? Do I look like I care?
Other RPG or Non-RPG or Monthly Board Gaming Day gaming Events
JASON: New games I just purchased:
Agricola
Acquire
Battlefleet Gothic
Bootleggers
Modern Art
Tannhauser
Battlestar Galactica
Galaxy Trucker
A Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones: Clash of Kings Expansion
Tide of Iron
Warrior Knights
Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition
Twilight Imperium: Shattered Empire
Saturday or Sunday 5/30 or 5/31
Edmiao anyone interested in doing anything next weekend? I have single man syndrome. could do board games + bbq at my place or a one shot.
Gabe Sure. Board games, ccgs, whatever.
JASON: Our game might be off, if it is, we should have a board game day or something. Whats up with single man syndrome? Wife on vacation?
Edmiao conference for cancer docs. in orlando, florida
--Brandon 16:23, 24 May 2009 (MST) My wife is also out of town next weekend, so I'm likely in for some of this action.
JASON: I would love to come to this, but at this time I think we are 50-50 at best. How late will you be going?
--Brandon 15:28, 25 May 2009 (MST) Are you guys at all interested in maybe playing Diplomacy this weekend? I've got a (homemade) set, and it's WAY less complicated than Twilight Imperium (which was totally fun, btw), so we can get down to business really quickly even for those who don't know the rules. I also intend to institute an easier win condition, so that the game takes less time (aiming for 2.5-3ish hours of gameplay, maybe 3.5-4 hours total experience time with Rules learning, set-up, and bullshitting added in). If you're interested let me know, and I'll campaign around to get players (the game is best with seven).
JASON: I have a copy of Diplomacy, though I am willing to play a home made version as well. We have something during the day Saturday, but could be able to show up around 8 or so. Will you guys still be going that late?
--Dieter the Bold 10:19, 26 May 2009 (MST) Can't make it either day. 4 movies on Saturday and I work Sunday with one movie afterward. Have fun, though.
Edmiao trying to figure out which day will be best for me. never tried diplomacy, but have heard a lot about it and it sounds fun.
GABE: People who pick movies over games suck. Also sorry about not making that movie on Saturday Dieter, turned out I had no clean clothes. I will not play diplomacy, I am not a fan of the game. That shouldn't really be a surprise eh? Sorry if it sounds blunt but can't think of any other way to say it. So what are we doing this Saturday? I got some new CCGs I can bring as well.
Edmiao How about sunday? turns out i have saturday plans. I can host sunday if folks are interested, whichever board games, magic, whatever. i think we can find some games that everyone like to, or can tolerate, playing.
--Brandon 20:55, 26 May 2009 (MST) Sunday sounds great. Now I know that Gabe is a douchebag for a whole host of reasons AND because he doesn't like Diplomacy, but I'm down to play whatever. Magic and boardgames and whatever at Ed's sounds fun. During the day/afternoon would work best for me, 'cause I'll be at Capoeira from 6-8:30, but I'd be down for coming over after as well if that's the time people will be hanging out.
97.113.58.26 anytime is fine by me. who's in? what times preferred?
GABE: One more thing is I have no transportation that day. And taking the bus on Sunday is a biznatch. My place is open but then I realize that means you all would have to come over here... Just trying to keep up my douchebagness.
--Brandon 12:50, 27 May 2009 (MST) Gabe, I can probably pick you up in exchange for some small but substantial favor (can you say "Oona's Blackguard"?). Getting you back home would depend on the time (see my post above about my Sunday availability). To be clear, I'd prefer starting in the early afternoon (lunchtime-ish), so that I could get my game playing fix before having to be at Capoeira by six.
JASON: Rumi works at 4, so if I come it might be later in the day. I may see if she can come for a while, drop me off, and pick me up when she is off. That would be at 10PM. Would that be too late?
Edmiao you can't stop my gaming machine! i will go for hours and hours and hours. Sounds like a tentative plan is such: start around noon, brandon picks up gabe, brandon may ditch at 6, jason and maybe rumi are in from sometime until 10pm for jason, with rumi leaving at least by 4pm for work. If we are done, i can shuttle people home too, so i can take gabe home and jason if need be, although you guys are in opposite directions, what the hay, we can catch up while we drive. I will collect the magic cards from ben on Friday night. Any others invited also. probably we will do something for dinner, personally, i'm thinking take out or delivery, cus i'm having folks over on saturday, but we could do bbq also, i'm just saying i might not have a super spread laid out for you all. Pot luck would be fine though, sound off on that one folks.
JASON: I have a bunch of left over sausages from my BBQ if you want me to bring them.
Edmiao ok, lets do bbq then. i have a lot of fruit in the house. do you have leftover buns too, if not i'll get some.
--Brandon 20:08, 27 May 2009 (MST) Hey Jason! I managed to get a game of Diplomacy together for Saturday. It's looking like it's going to have to be during the day, so I know you have a conflict (sorry about that), but I was wondering if by any chance I could borrow your gamepieces? My gameboard is pretty sweet, but the pieces that I have are kind of lame, so it'd be nice to have the real ones. I imagine that I could arrange to pick them up sometime before Saturday, and then I could get them back to you at Ed's on Sunday. Whaddyathink? If it won't work, no big deal.
JASON: No problem, two things. One, I get to be in the next game (havent played that since 1990), and you play, or do your best to play, when we try and schedule Twilight Imperium again soon. I went and made laminated reference cards and everything!
--Brandon 12:53, 28 May 2009 (MST) Thanks! I can totally fulfill those conditions. When's a good time to pick up the pieces from you? Do you still live in the house I last visited (I'm going to need directions either way)? On my end, it'll probably have to be either tonight, tomorrow late morning, or sometime Saturday late morning/early afternoon. Why don't you send me an email at olsenb3 [at] u.washington.edu, and we can work out the details.
Weekly Magic Whining/Complaining/Smack Talking
--Brandon 13:31, 27 May 2009 (MST) Other people's Magic stories can be boring, but I had to tell someone about this. Feel free to ignore it.
It's my Doran-themed WGB deck versus my Fae deck, and we are both on 4 life. He attacks with Reveillark and Kithkin Harbinger into my empty board (though I have 6 Mana up). I flash in Faerie Harbinger to block the Reveillark and search for a Sower of Temptation to put on top of my library. In response to the declaration of blocks, he casts Sigil Blessing, targeting the Kithkin, to push the final 4 damage through and kill me. I counter Sigil Blessing with Familiar's Ruse, returning the Faerie Harbinger to my hand. I win two turns later by stealing his Reveillark with the Sower and crashing in.
Essentially, for me that turn Familiar's Ruse read: UUU3 [instant], reduce all combat damage you take this turn to one, counter up to one target instant cast during the attack phase, and search your library for a faerie card, shuffle your library, and put that card on top of your library. Not bad, eh?
RELATED RULES QUESTION: I think that, if my opponent had played differently, he could've won, but correct me if I'm wrong. If he had cast Sigil Blessing (1) in response to Faerie Harbinger, or (2) after the Harbinger resolved but before I declared the block, he would've won in (1) because I couldn't have countered, and would've had to choose one creature to block (dying to the other) or in (2) because countering would've made it so that I no longer had a creature in play to block. Is this right? The basic question is this: can instants be played in response to the transition to the block declaration phase, so that you can flash in and block without giving up priority, or do you have to do such things in the attack declaration phase, because the first thing you have to do in the block declaration phase is declare. I'm pretty sure that it's the latter, but I'd like confirmation on this.
Edmiaoi bet that would be really funny if i had bothered to read it.
--Brandon 13:54, 27 May 2009 (MST) Jerkface! I thought that I at least could've sucked Ed "The Rules Lawyer" Miao in with a Rules Question. (le sigh.)
GABE:
Gonna say, no, you can't. If you want to flash someone in, you have to do it during the declare attackers step.
308.1. As the declare attackers step begins, the active player declares attackers. This game action doesn’t use the stack. If the defending player controls any planeswalkers, or the game allows the active player to attack multiple other players, he or she declares which player or planeswalker each creature is attacking. Effects from a creature that refer to a defending player refer only to the defending player it’s attacking (if it’s attacking a player) or the controller of the planeswalker it’s attacking (if it’s attacking a planeswalker). Then any abilities that triggered on attackers being declared go on the stack. (See rule 410, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) Then the active player gets priority and players may play spells and abilities.
You have to declare blockers, THEN you can play spells.
309.1. As the declare blockers step begins, the defending player declares blockers (this game action doesn’t use the stack). Then any abilities that triggered on blockers being declared go on the stack. (See rule 410, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”) Then the active player gets priority and players may play spells and abilities.
Not sure just how it works, but I think he should have waited until you declared blockers to cast his spell.
--Brandon 15:24, 27 May 2009 (MST) Ok, so the rules texts you quote support my analysis, but I'm a little confused by your final commentary.
It looks like you and I agree (and the rules support) that I have to flash a guy in during the declare attackers step, if I want to block with that guy.
And I'm assuming that I should read your second statement ("You have to declare blockers, THEN you can play spells") as meaning that "If I want to cast spells in the declare blockers step, then I have to declare blockers first, and play spells after I have declared blockers." If this reading is right, we are in agreement (and the rules support our positions!).
But, this means that your last statement ("Not sure just how it works, but I think he should have waited until you declared blockers to cast his spell.") is misguided. If he waits until I declare blockers, he loses (because the declaring blocker action doesn't use the stack, so it can't be responded to by putting an instant in the stack above it).
So, I think my initial analysis is right. He could've won by playing his spell during the declare attackers step, and he loses if he waits until blockers are declared. Thanks for finding the relevant rules text, douchebag!
GABE: Well I'm a little iffy on priority. Like the spelling of it and everything.
The defending player declares blockers, then the defending player gets priority and then he could have cast his sigil blessing, oh sorry, overpowered cheapass card of gayness, but then of course you could have responded with your counter, so yeah, think he was fucked. Also I'm not clicking on the links your provided because I'm lazy and hate you.
--Brandon 16:18, 27 May 2009 (MST) Oh, I see the confusion; you didn't actually read what was going on. The player playing the "overpowered cheapass card of gayness" was the attacking player, not the defending player. I hate you too, sweetheart!!
GABE: I understood that, you no talent assclown. But no, I don't think there is anything the attacker could have done short of outta game favors.
--Brandon 16:50, 27 May 2009 (MST) Let me say this more slowly. He declares attackers. After he declares attackers, I play my guy with flash. With that spell on the stack, he plays Sigil Blessing. I lose. The declare blockers step becomes irrelevant, because the game is decided in the declare attackers step.
GABE: *Knocks over table* How about that? I just decalred your a bitch! In response?
That aside.... I JUST FOUND THESE TWO CARDS, in my sac deck. Guess I need to be a little more careful when I clean up,
Broodmate Dragon & Faith's Fetters
Will bring on Friday.
Next step in Super Heroes
-> 3. Drug dealers and criminals all over the city are getting beat up, and quotes from Oliver Cromwell are left at the scene.
Edmiao guess we missed that plot point entirely?
Matts No worries, if you guys tracked down every spitball I threw up, uh, the game wouldn't be very fun.
Matts - Indian Point Nuclear Reactor Pipe Leak - see what happens when you store a radioactive genius underground??
Next step in Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy
Current OAAAA XP: 75 base + 277 XP
Plans to save Danny-Girl from the dragon
Fight the dragon, kill it
Lyra told us where to find the freezing Tears of _____ so we can put out the dragon's breath, right before she extinguished the eternal forge flame in our temple (bitch) by sucking its soul out like a vampire. She will help us fight the dragon. In return we agreed to let her strike the killing blow IF we successfully obtain the Tears. Other allies could also be enlisted in the fight.
Swindle all around
Talk to Grundbad, get him to fight the dragon and kill it. Also, talk to Oryxis, pledge to deliver the ruby shield in return he frees Danny-girl. Dragon dies: Danny free. Grundbad dies, danny free. Win - Win.
Deal with the dragon
Give the dragon something he wants more than Danny. Say the Ruby shield or freeing Iximion.
Dragon vs Dragon
Free Iximion, tell him Oryxis is getting up in his magic shit and doens't he want to kick the shit out of Oryxix for learning magic?
Line of the Session: "I use Seduction on the baby" (Can you guess who said it?)
Follow up Line: "Galen, you're wearing a dress." "Yes, but I still look better in it than in you do in your clothes."
Big Note: All characters now have 5pt (no cost) DNPC= A red-haired girl-child named Shandra, who bears the mark of the Forge on her arm (born under the same auspice). She has been fostered with a Dwarven smith in Karak Bjorst.
BEN: I'm sorry: I wasn't clear about this. I charged each character 1 XP so that the baby is essentially out of the picture for the time being. THat 1 xp was the "bonus" for this session, so everybody gets 15 XP and has NO new disadvantages. Sorry about this lack of clarity.
