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.

Schedule

Date...........game................Location..........(Advanced attendance)

9/4/09.....MassEffect....????......Dieter gone to Portland, Gabe absent
9/11/09.....MassEffect....????......Matt gone on honeymoon
9/18/09.....Vamnp One Shot....Ben's condo......Dieter gone to Europe, Matt gone on honeymoon
9/25/09.....cancelled....????......Dieter gone to Europe, Matt gone on honeymoon
10/2/09.....Kingmakers one shot....bens......Dieter gone to Europe
10/9/09.....Kingmakers....Ben's condo......Dieter gone to Europe
10/16/09....Kingmakers....Ben's condo......Dieter late
10/23/09.....board games....Ed's.....
10/30/09.....cancelled......Ed likely absent, Matt likely absent
11/6/09.....Kingmakers....????......ben absent, dieter absent
11/13/09.....Failure....Loserverse......TPK!!!
11/20/09.....Kingmakers....Ben's.......Ed gone
11/27/09.....nada...thanksgiving weekend
12/5/09 Saturday....Kingmakers.....Ben's.......
12/11/09.....OAAAA........Ben's.......Matt out
12/18/09.....cancelled........?????.......Matt absent, ben likely absent, Dieter absent
12/25/09.....cancelled...merry christmas!
1/1/10......?????......?????......
1/8/10......?????......?????......
1/15/10......?????......?????......ed absent from here on until further notice.
1/22/10......?????......?????......
1/29/10......?????......?????......

Ranting and Raving

--Dieter the Bold 18:43, 13 January 2010 (MST) I give you.....
The Future of Gaming!!

Breaking News
I have played the new Warhammer. Matt will love it, because it is based around the d8 and the BHoD theory of gaming. Its relatively simple, quick and intuitive. In typical Fantasy Flight fashion it is bits heavy, with tons of crazy markers for all sorts of shit, but its very well done in a quality sense. It plays a hell of a lot like a board game. One session only, but I will keep details coming.

--Gdaze 13:14, 15 January 2010 (MST) I would like to hear more about this. I was weary of it, but some aspects looked really cool.

--Gdaze 01:12, 20 January 2010 (MST) Thought you guys might like this, selling some old Warhammer Fantasy books for insanely cheap.

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/closeout_deals

I know a new system is out, but he is selling Tome of Salvation, and the monster book. Hard to beat 9 bucks a book.

JASON: The game is built around creating a hand of dice to throw for actions. The dice have easy to read symbols on them which determine not only success and failure, but also boons and banes, which add little wrinkles to the actions. Each maneuver or action you can perform has an associated card, which there is a deck for each player, and when you do it there are possibilities relative to how many of success and bane/boon are present. Its very easy to have a lot of different possibilities with no need to use the book for reference. Also, many types of special actions you can use have a refresh rating, making them something you cant use all the time. Some dice combinations place extra counters on them as well. You can never count on having all of your actions available, so being a one trick pony is less likely to work well. Damage is done in the form of cards, for each point you take you draw a card. But as long as they are face down they have no real effect. Once you start taking criticals, which can happen when you take even one wound (because of special actions) you start turning them over. Basically, you are always at risk in combat. Characters are also allowed to assume a stance, be it conservative or aggressive, which allows you to use special dice and change the possibilities somewhat. There are plenty of choices, and many possibilities, yet it remains a very simple engine. After one session I have to say I am pleased.

JASON: I think this game would work for lots of different play styles. Its so dangerous, my character killed the first two enemies he hit with one blow, and that was utilizing the conservative stance. But he was not able to insta-kill the main bad guy, even though he hit him very hard. My character has chain and breastplate armor (stuff isnt nearly so expensive), which is quite good, so when he hit me it was for only 1 wound (out of 13)...but it was a critical so my arm was smashed and rendered nearly useless. The fighting was fast, furious and foolproof. It is also made to be used explicitly without a map.

On an unrelated note, I was reading the Requiem Chroniclers Guide for VtR, and here is what they say about creating encounters: The whole group must be engaged, united and challenged by any conflict introduced into the story. Thats pretty much the core of what we have learned over the past few years, especially that united part.

Ed. How u like the abyssal persecutor in the new magic set. 6/6 fly trample for 4 mana. Course u cant win the game.

--Gdaze 17:00, 26 January 2010 (MST) Anyone actually up for SOME magic?

--Brandon 17:07, 26 January 2010 (MST) I'm definitely hitting up the Worldwake prerelease this Saturday. Anyone interested? It goes like all day long, but I imagine I'll plan on going down late morning or early afternoonish.

--Matts - Where is it at, 1st pick? I'm totally down as well.

--Brandon 18:38, 26 January 2010 (MST) It's at the Seattle Center. You can find the deets here. Sealed starts way too early (first registration is at 6:45am, I think!). And runs through the afternoon (they start up pods whenever they get enough people). And draft and two-headed giant draft start in the afternoon.

--Gdaze 10:50, 27 January 2010 (MST) Sounds like fun. What time about are you going as I'd like to try to at least play with joo guys. Arriving around 1 P.M. is more my thing.

BEN: I'll probably be there.

--Gdaze 10:37, 28 January 2010 (MST) Well GOLLY, everybody is going, guess I will have to make sure to go.

Nobody up for some games tonight? Or tomorrow? I could use some practice.

--Brandon 16:11, 28 January 2010 (MST) Ok. Here are my tentative pre-release plans. I'm going to aim to show up at around 1, like Gabe said, and then aim to play in a round of sealed and then a round of draft, assuming that the first round doesn't burn up my brain too much. Let's coordinate!

ED: If anyone is interested in some space trucker and magic you could come over here and cheryl and I would play (in between feeding the baby!)

--Dieter the Bold 13:18, 29 January 2010 (MST) Ed, is this for Friday night or Saturday night? My roommate is celebrating his birthday at a nearby bar, but I figure maybe some games at your place before hand (as I'm assuming you and Cheryl aren't much for late nights these days) and then I can hit up my roommate's party. I have a car and the day off, so besides traffic, I'm free for anything.

BEN change of plans. Meghan has to go to SF this weekend to help her brother, so I won't be at the tournament tomorrow. May be free sat. and sun. night to hang out after 9pm. Definitely free tonight after 9pm. Obviously, home bound regardless.

--Gdaze 16:22, 29 January 2010 (MST) Not sure about tonight. Tomorrow I might be good. Ed, what day are you talking about?

--Brandon 22:05, 29 January 2010 (MST) It is 9pm+ as of now (Friday Night), and I'm down to do some hanging out, and I have a car. Call me!

Ben's Birthday Shindig

Well, it's that time of year again. Unfortunately, I'm on internal medicine, which means I take call every 4th night...and that means I can't give you a firm date for this event yet, though hopefully it will be in February, or at least early march. But I think I've figured out what I plan to do this year, a little something inspired by my old GM Matt Wilson at Grinnell and hopefully not too labor intensive to set up. I'm posting it here because there may be a little prep time involved for some of those that want to participate:
The premise: heroes from across many planes of existence have been summoned together for a mysterious purpose.
The Mechanic: Pick your favorite character that you have played...or even your favorite NPC from a game you have GMed or played in. Convert said character to Hero. Bring the character sheet to the game. Play that character. Sound good?
Feel free to comment here: if this sounds lame, there's plenty of time for me to brew up something else.

RUMI: I ♥ this idea. :D On a selfish note, I have family in town from 2.18 to 2.26 and J and I are out of town from 2.21 through 2.25.

--Gdaze 11:12, 4 January 2010 (MST) Sounds like a comic book, also sounds very fun. Let us know as far ahead of time as possible, though I realize that could be tough.

--Dieter the Bold 19:52, 4 January 2010 (MST) Love the idea. And I would also request that you somehow finally work out a PC getting killed by a Space Marine drop-pod. That would be awesome. Even if it was me.

BEN: I hear and obey.

JASON: Can I play Ben in this game? The only problem is how I can fit him into 400 points or less.

--Gdaze 15:06, 5 January 2010 (MST) Sweet, I may go back to my Rifts days.

Edmiao that sounds awesome. i hope to be able to attend.

Kingmakers

Current XP as of 12/5 session: 3500

BEN: that was a good session today...lots of fun, even if my character nearly got killed again. nice emperor battle too.

--Gdaze 10:15, 7 December 2009 (MST) Funny you should say that, I was about to post the same! I really enjoyed the RPs, a good mix of serous play and down right goofy (although very effective...). I think my favorite part is when Ben Hans went and punched out the noble in a cafe, and Elf Hans started a food fight. Okay actually that whole thing was great. Showing up as the "bandit king" was great.

Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy

Current OAAAA XP: 75 base + 370 XP; Followers: 18 XP (current as of 12/11/09)

Edmiao that correct? 17 xp for characters and 3 for followers?

--Gdaze 16:47, 14 December 2009 (MST) I thought we got a bonus 3 times?

--Dieter the Bold 12:26, 15 December 2009 (MST) Gabe is correct. We got +1 bonus XP each round of card play. XP corrected above.

Edmiao uh, you didn't chage it, so xp corrected above by me.

--Gdaze 16:13, 15 December 2009 (MST) Dieter is full of lies.

Edmiao that was a great session last time, btw. really enjoyed it. i thought the card thing worked quite nicely for that kind of round robbin storytelling. ever played "once upon a time"? its a round robin story telling game just like we did, but instead of regular cards each person has a hand full of cards with something printed on them that they should work into the story: "a king", or "a quest", or "a sword", "betrayal"....that kind of thing. might be another interesting way to do it. may be more constraining or may help with creativity.

BEN: saw it and was intrigued but was worried that it wasn't open ended enough. I'd like to try it some time, especially with "non-gamers" as a way to illustrate why gaming is fun for them that like it. I also enjoyed it and like the card mechanic for telling large chunks of story...I think the mechanic is most beneficial in the sense that it creates some arbitrary structure and it really promotes players working together because of the need to counter GM moves.

Edmiao totally. and that arbitrary structure is a good thing. it encourages both small tidbits that enrich the story with low cards and big sweeping develpments with high cards.

BEN: Another important piece of "world news" for Amora:
In the wake of Serafina's assassination, A mysterious warrior has begun "cracking skulls" and asking questions. This has happened in Csara, Eburon (by report of the Children of Light and Shadow) and Imadigo, mostly). Especially in Eburon, the warrior has been opposed by fairly potent opponents, including at least one mage, and come away victorious and unscathed.

Edmiao i don't remember who serafina is. lol

BEN: in the current generation, an unprecedented 3 witch queens exist: Arina, Serafina, and Jagha. They united (also unprecedented) and offered to each take 3 apprentices (ALSO unpre...you know the drill). Now, one has been assassinated, something that has happened to witch queens a number of times you could count on one hand. It's a big deal.

Edmiao oh, that Hans. now i remember. what happened to her apprentices? presumably one is hunting her killer

Matts Isn't she the one who had robot Hans for an apprentice?

BEN: that was Arina. You guys never met serafina.

Edmiao and now we never will. oh wait, its high fantasy, we probably will.

--Matts 11:21, 18 December 2009 (MST)You meant to say, "And now Hans never Hans. Oh wait, it's high Hans, we probably Hans."

Edmiao HAAAns HAAAns HAAAAns. you so funny.

--Gdaze 15:21, 18 December 2009 (MST) I gotta Hans it to you guys. And with that I wash my Hans of this conversation!

---

Edmiao we got questions we can ask about plot points in the game. Ed has 2, Gabe has 4, Dieter has 9. Things to ask:

1) where did that human girl born under the forge sign that the dwarves gave to Fantus come from? what is her history? Why does Aeifra look at her with eyes like a wolf?

2) who is the knight of thorns, what's his story? Why is he so crazy?

3) where did the fairies on caminus go? Do we care?