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)
8/29/08......OAAAA...........BnD...............Matt gone
9/5/08.......OAAAA...........BnK...............Brandon gone (HONEYMOON!)
9/13/08 SATURDAY 6pm......Super Heroes?.....Gabe's..........Ben Gone, Brandon gone
9/19/08......Super Heroes.....BnK..........
9/26/08......OAAAA.....BnK..........Matt here!
10/3/08......OAAAA.............BnK..........Matt and Ed and Brandon gone
10/10/08.....OAAAA.............BnK..........
10/17/08..................BnK..........Dieter gone to Canada
10/24/08.......................BnK..........Ed likely gone
10/31/08 or 11/1/08?...........BnK..........Ed 50% chance

--since matt is here on the 26th now, should we do the 3 supers and push OAAAA into the next 3 weeks?

--Matts 14:01, 8 September 2008 (MST)I'm fine with doing 3 supers, and I'm also fine with playing some more OAAA on account of being eaten by a dragon sounds awesome.

Edmiao since i'm gone on 10/3, and i want to meet a dragon, i vote for the schedule as listed above.

--Brandon 14:11, 17 September 2008 (MST) I got a paper accepted at a conference in Pennsylvania, and will be on the way to present it on 10/3, so I vote as Ed does.

BEN: congratulations, Brandon. NATE! can you let me know if you will be gaming on 10/3? If you are, then we will have 3 players and we can proceed with a session. Otherwise, 10/3 will likely be cancelled.

Attendance and Food Preference

9/19/08

Edmiao present, 6pm magic. I've got the decks and will endeavor to be prompt. Need to leave early, by 11 or so.

Nate: I shall be present. Down for pizza as well.

--Gdaze-- I should be there as well, right at 6 as well. And I WOULD like some pizza.

BEN: present, pizza.

--Brandon 17:22, 16 September 2008 (MST) Present. Pizza is for me to eat in my face.

--Dieter the Bold 17:41, 16 September 2008 (MST) Present, probably not until 7pm. Would like pizza.

--Gdaze-- Quick Note, Noelle will be present as well, at 7, and also would like some pizza, so an assload for pizza this time.

Friday 10/31 or Saturday 11/1

--Dieter the Bold 11:46, 4 September 2008 (MST) Alright lads. We're gamers, so we're lazy by definition. I am lazier than most. But Halloween is a holiday I always feel bad about for not coming up with an awesome costume. I hereby forward the motion that we make that session a costumed session. Two months to come up with something awesome and wear it to the session. Bonus points to be awarded for those who come as their characters.

--Gdaze 11:00, 5 September 2008 (MST) I'm pretty sure I will be busy on said day. If I'm not, I will come in costume... but one it is over 2 months away so I have no idea, and two, yeah, typically I got out on that holiday.

BEN: as far as halloween goes, and as long as we've opened the can of worms that is switching sessions from friday to saturday or vice versa, the 31st of october may be an ideal candidate for saturday, as opposed to friday, gaming. Either way, I still think people should come dressed as their characters.

--Edmiao 14:24, 8 September 2008 (MST) Definitely will be gone if Friday 10/31, might be able to make Saturday 11/1 but won't be able to tell you until the day of.

Ranting and raving or other random comments

--Gdaze-- Matt, I picked up Castle Crashers and it is indeed very fun. I hope they fix the massive bugs that are investing online play.

Dieter, you gonna be up soon for any CoV anytime soon, or still getting the nets hooked up? I don't know if we are playing tonight (most likely are though, maybe be on around 8 or 9), also info for Matt.

Other RPG or Non-RPG or Monthly Board Gaming Day gaming Events

JASON: Anybody up for a game of Battletech sometime in the next few weeks? I will need to try it out to see how feasible this mechwarrior thing is. Its only been about 18 years since I have played it!

--Dieter the Bold 17:41, 16 September 2008 (MST) Definitely down. I have a few boxes and books I can bring if necessary.

Weekly Magic Whining/Complaining/Smack Talking

--Brandon 13:12, 14 September 2008 (MST) Hey Ben! Are you going to be around at all this week to maybe hang out, get HeroDesigner from you, update my character, and play some Magic or somethin'?

Edmiao bad news, i got all the decks.

--Brandon 13:51, 14 September 2008 (MST) Ed, do you have all of the cards, or just the decks? I kinda want to make a white weenie deck for this upcoming Friday. Ben, my query still stands, though it might have to be "or somethin'" rather than Magic-playin'. Ed, I'd be up for some Magic playing this week if you would be.

--Brandon 20:45, 14 September 2008 (MST) Hey Ed, what do you think of the planewalker Sarkhan Vol?

JASON: There is some freakin good shit in those upcoming cards.

--Edmiao 10:17, 16 September 2008 (MST)yeah, i think i like the look of that set. seems less ridiculous than the shadowmoor block. but like you will ever see a planeswalker at the mythic rare level. that's so lame.

GABE: I think that plainswalker is insane. All new cards should have "Tap: This shit just got real".

--Edmiao 17:03, 16 September 2008 (MST) i re read that planeswalker. i missed the word "five" in front of the 4/4 flying dragons. each planeswalker essentially has this ability: If this planeswalker is alive in three turns you win the game. exalted and unearth seem like less game breaking mechanics than other new ones, they seem reasonable. what does exalted mean, is it just that creature or is exalted transerable to any creature attacking alone?

JASON: I think exalted means all of your creatures, it does say 'your' rather than 'this creature'. The planeswalkers dont win the game in 3 turns, but they certainly make it very likely. I have Chandra Nalaar, and its cool but not out of control.

--Brandon 17:25, 16 September 2008 (MST) Ed is basically right in that the Planeswalkers' "big" abilities are all devastating. But remember that they have to stay alive and UNTOUCHED for at least 3 turns, which rarely actually happens. Also, Ed, do you have all of the cards, or just the decks?

BEN: tezzeret the seeker can win you the game in 2 turns. Elseth, knight errant, my personal favorite planeswalker spoiler-ed from the new set, takes 4 turns for her fuck-off ability. it will be interesting to see which planeswalkers make it into tournament level decks...oddly its rarely the ones you would expect (like Chandra, for instance, never sees tourney play, whereas Garruk was a cornerstone of a world championship deck).

--Dieter the Bold 17:43, 16 September 2008 (MST) Got an old deck from an elementary school teacher. Nothing seems incredible. A blue/red deck. Best thing in there is a Shivan Dragon, a few Dragon Whelps and a Leviathan. Rest are basics with a lot of counterspell type cards.

--Edmiao 21:01, 16 September 2008 (MST) i have all the decks, none of the card boxes. btw we are missing one of the scarecrow kings, which is sad. keep an eye out.

--Brandon 22:04, 16 September 2008 (MST) We have/had more than one Reaper King? Woah. Ben, do you have a good spoiler site that has more spoiled cards than the MTG preview site linked above (like with Elspeth)?

GABE: I really did enjoy Red Elemental Blasting that Planeswalker last Friday. I will buy a few packs from the new series, like around five or so just due to the 3 color cards for my Nephlim deck.

JASON: Wait, you put an elemental blast in your deck?

GABE: Totally. Almost everyone plays with blue, or since we do two-headed giant, someone will almost always use a deck that has blue.

BEN: there are a lot of 6+ mana creatures in the new set at the mythic rare level, and they are brutal.

BEN: Ed, you'll be happy to know that "deflection" for all intents and purposes, is back in this new set, at the cost of UR. Nasty.
what's crazy is if you have two of those angels that give lifelink when a creature attacks alone, the abilities trigger separately, so your lone attacking creature gets DOUBLE lifelink. Pretty neat. I like the feel of the Bant world a lot.
Also, I think "Knight of the White Orchid" is one of the coolest cards I've seen in a while. Although the illustration is pretty lame.

--Edmiao 10:23, 18 September 2008 (MST) hm. that's tricky. cus you can give a creature first strike twice and it still only has first strike. giving a creature trample twice still is just trample. i would guess that lifelink is the same. although there is one creature that gives flanking to flanking creatures, but i think it says something specific such that it works as double flanking

--Brandon 10:40, 18 September 2008 (MST) Ben's right, Ed. First strike, double strike, trample, flying, and a few other ability keywords are redundant when doubled because of the way the rules are written. But lifelink doubled has doubled effects. I had to look this up once after losing to a guy who had double loxodon warhammer on his guy. Plus, in the article that previews that angel, the author specifically mentions the double lifelink possibility.

Edmiao well, there you go. strange though to make the rules confusing like that when they were trying to make them less confusing. are there any other abilities that would double trigger? i can't think of any.

I just looked up that trample rule and it seems that is another rule they changed from the old days, so now trample ignores protection because all the damage is targeted to the creature and player before the protection reduces it to zero. confusing from an old school perspective, but i see why it makes sense in a timing sort of way.

JASON: Yes Ed, I got it on that one too. What it comes down to is this: you must assign a damage at least equal to the toughness of the blocking creature to the creature, the rest may be assigned to the player. Once the damage is assigned to the creature, it is reduced to 0. In a way it helps trample, so thats cool. It used to be that if a trample creature were blocked by multiple creatures you could assign damage to only one of them and trample the rest to the player. Then they made it so you had to assign enough to kill them all before trampling. It might be the most edited major ability.

Edmiao yeah, agreed. having just made a protection deck makes me think that protection is a bit underpowered, and I was whining about trample over protection a few weeks ago. i guess protection is great in your sideboard if you know who you are playing against, but i made deck with protection from all five colors, so far it sucks. i need to work on it more.

Next step in Super Heroes

What was the deal with those "federal agents" looking to abscond with the captured Juice? What about the impending trial? And what about the Explorator Conclave that Herbert Morraine was talking about?

Also, who's gonna talk to Carson Daly?

--Brandon 14:16, 17 September 2008 (MST) Hey Matt, I've been a bit out of the loop. Will you have time before game Friday to help me update my character? I'll try to get herodesigner from Ben before then, so I can mess with my guy on my own.

--Matts 15:15, 17 September 2008 (MST)Sure, no problem! Email me with a general outline of your plans or questions!

--Brandon 16:00, 18 September 2008 (MST) Hmmmmm. I seem to have deleted your e-mail address. But my plans are simple. I want my flashes to be flashier, my explosions more fiery, my beatstick more beatstickier, etc. Also, I might want to add a flame shield of some type, to protect me if bitches get too close.

Next step in Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy

--Edmiao 10:28, 6 September 2008 (MST) so, the way i see it, all the blood elf pirates abandoned ship, leaving us on the ship. dragon likes to eat blood elves. let dragon eat blood elves, we keep ship.

GABE: Agreed.

Also... about the dragon, here are some deals I thought of.

What about if we offer him the Ruby Shield Ignus? You know, the one thing that can stop his breath, and we give it to him? Also another deal we could make, since he looks phat lootz, is find out who is shipping what and from time to time give him that info? I know its awhile till we play but just some things I thought up.

BEN: in response to Ed's concern above I will say this: there won't be a whole lot of "meeting" going on during this first encounter with the dragon. Very likely none, barring spectacular miracles and/or cleverness.
Allow me to try to elaborate (on a metagame level, since none of the PCs likely have much dragon knowledge): Dragons are both brutal animalistic predators and wise and cunning sentient beings. When they are in the "predator" mode, they are almost exclusively instinct-driven monsters, attacking with total ferocity. In short, this is not a mode in which it would be easy to bargain with or even communicate with a dragon. Surviving such an attack is a rare and great feat in itself.
Also, as I alluded to before, the next session will start, at the very outset, with a presence attack against everyone on the ship on the order of 14-16d6. That means that anyone with a presence lower than 21 will be in a state of total, abject terror (barring special effects or miracles) and only concerned with getting as far away from the dragon as fast as possible, or just wetting themselves and waiting to get eaten (we will assume the former as default for the PCs). Actions in line with psychological disadvantages, or actions relating to your auspice bond may be taken as long as they don't interfere with the above: if they do, PRE rolls with penalties will be involved. Other actions will come at high costs, either in terms of stat rolls (likely PRE) or XP expenditure.
If you have questions about this start up of the next session, feel free to ask.