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)

11/28/08.....Likely CANCELLED (Thanksgiving):
12/05/08.....OAAAA...........Ben's Condo............Ed maybe gone, Matt gone
12/12/08.....OAAAA...........Ben's Condo............Ed maybe gone
12/19/08.....likely nada.......................Ed, Matt, Ben Gone
12/26/08.....likely nada.......................Ed, Ben Gone
1/2/09.....Nada............Ben's Condo............Ben Gone
1/9/09.....OAAAA...........Ben's Condo............
1/16/09....NOT SUPERS...........Ben's Condo............Ben gone, Ed gone, Matt gone
1/23/09....Supers...........Ben's Condo............
1/30/09....Supers..........Ben's Condo............
2/6/09.....Supers..........Ben's Condo............ Matt Present, game on
2/7/09......Bday One Shot..Ben's Condo.........
2/13/09.....OAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........Ed likely absent, Gabe absent

Attendance and Food Preference

2/6/09

Edmiao Matt, can we get a verification of game on this week? I will be there. no pizza as usual.

--Matts 11:55, 2 February 2009 (MST)I'll be there, and raring to go. Our friend Chris will be coming later on, but I'll have him play Mr Unlimited Credit or maybe come up with something cooler.

--Gdaze 11:20, 5 February 2009 (MST) I will be there, and I would like some pizza, but would perfer cheaper pizza.

Ranting and raving or other random comments

GABE: Since Dieter is the only one who might even be interested in this... My other group is thinking of running The World's Largest Dungeon, it wouldn't be every week, more like every two or three. I will be modding some of the story as well to allow a little more RPing as well as making things more interesting (the last "boss" being a giant is out for example).

If your interested let me know, or if anyone else is too (I even thought of running it with a different system like WHFRP, GORE, or Basic Roleplaying (D10 % system but allows for over 100%).

Ben's Bday One Shotz

BEN: the Bday one shot will be a period piece set in imperial Rome, or at least the Roman sphere of the mediterranean, between 1-450 AD. I need a head count. send me an email if you are interested: guests are welcome. The game will likely run from 12-6 or 7 on Feb. 7th.

Edmiao I should be there

JASON: In. I anticipate the Ruu will also be in attendance.

--Gdaze 01:27, 6 January 2009 (MST) No way for me to plan this far, but at least I know it is during that week so I can avoid any other plans. I'm pretty sure I'll play in the one shot too! I've got Roman Playmobils!

Edmiao that would be so friggin awesome.

--Dieter the Bold 12:55, 6 January 2009 (MST) I'll be there.

plures ex uno : let me know if you have a strong preference about having a character that fits into your "usual" or if you would prefer to play something that might challenge your RP style...other than that, all character assignments will be done by me.

RUMI: Ben - if it's not too late, I generally play characters who are fighters who have little to no social skills (I'm still not very good at investigation so this gives me a reason to not ask questions). I'd be most comfortable playing something like that, especially since I'm history-retarded and know nothing about ancient Rome... :X

--Brandon 22:31, 24 January 2009 (MST) I'm mostly open to whatever you want me to play, though I have a moderate preference for not playing a character who is overly religious (i.e., I don't want to play a priest-like character).

--Dieter the Bold 13:21, 26 January 2009 (MST) Dieter the Bold's attendance is downgraded to a half day. Scifi short film-festival at Cinerama is 4 to 9. So I'm totally down with before and after. The Rat City Rollergirls are also at the Key Arena that evening. This day is apparently just too awesome for its own good.

Edmiao I know two of the rat city rollergirls. one works in my lab, another used to. shamefully i've never been to a bout, but intend to someday.

--Dieter the Bold 12:44, 28 January 2009 (MST) Do you know either of their two teams or derby names?

63.226.219.79 they are on the Trottle Rockets. Strobe Lightning is top row, second from the right blonde, and i don't recall the other one's stage name, she is middle row, seventh from right wearing a black cap backwards.

--Gdaze-- Awesome by the way Ed, your lab can kick ass then if need be. Okay I think I can show up for the one shot but have to leave after that (another party), but most likely I'd come around 1 or so.

BEN: ok. let me know if you can be there at noon, because it will pretty dramatically affect which character you play.

--Dieter the Bold 12:55, 3 February 2009 (MST) I can definitely be there by noon. Festival starts at 4pm, so depending on buses, I'll have to leave around 3:30. Won't get back until around 10pm.

Weekly Magic Whining/Complaining/Smack Talking

Shards of Alara

Elder Dragon Highlander Rules

Edmiao Ben and i played some great magic games, unfortunately with the conclusion that i don't have a single deck that can beat his mono black deck. kind of humbling. Or did mystic snake do the job?

BEN: yes, mystic snake beat it pretty consistently...can't remember if I was able to pull out 1 or 2 games against it.

GABE: Not even that red/blue deck? Yeesh!

Edmiao red blue deck seemed an even match against it early in the night. seemed to be going 50/50. but then we did some rematches and it was 0 for 3, i think. it's just hard to have enough creatures against a deck with all creature kill and discard. I tried it with eye of the storm, put seven creatures under parallel thoughts and played a creature every turn, each met a swift death.

JASON: I am not sure I understand this. Are you saying its somehow ok to play counters and card draw, but discard and creature removal is dirty pool? Discard is the only thing black has that it can do better than every other color. Once an enchantment gets in play, black has no answer. None. It isnt nearly as flexible as blue, so what it can do, must be powerful or it would be relegated to the back of the bus.

GABE: Uh... I think is he just saying we don't have a deck that can fight off the mono-black deck. That said I'm gonna be re-working some of my less winning decks (White/Black, Blue/Green (one of them anyway), and tweeking my Red/Blue/Black artifact deck). So we'll see how those do.

Oh, do you guys have lots of Shard commons to trade? If so I will bring piles of cards I don't want, I already gave ya two coiling oracles. Pull out cards your willing to trade.

JASON: Oh, I gotcha. Drrr

BEN: as I recall Gabe's sacrifice deck also did quite well against my black deck. We have some shards commons to trade in theory...although we don't have more than 2-3 extra of any card: I was the only one who bought any shards, and I bought maybe 5-600 commons worth, tops.

Edmiao wiki blocking biatch!

yup, i'm saying i need to revamp my decks for the new environment. I was actually quite surprised that my Eye deck did zero percent vs the mono black deck. I had thought that it had a ridiculous amount of creature removal, and that it's ability to card draw would counter the discard potential from the black deck. Strangely that was not the case. in one game, i went through half my deck, packed parallel thoughts with seven creature removal spells (lighning bolts, needle drops and electolyze) and cast them all and still lost quite badly. That was quite suprising. I think the problem was i needed multiple spells to kill his vampire and nightmare. the eye deck I think has never been dominant, but always done well, so it was quite interesting how badly it fares against this mono black deck.

Now the mystic snake deck is dirty pool because it has a greater concentration of rares than any other deck we have, thus breaks the strongest aspect of our magic play, that all players (save gabe) are drawing from the same pool of cards. i should at least remove the four dual lands from it.

--Matts 12:12, 3 February 2009 (MST)My biggest problem with discard is I don't know effective behaviors to mitigate it, like I do with most other effects. It hits me like an open herpe festering with gangrene, and I get frightened, and I panic. I imagine after losing to the black deck a fair number of times, I'll get a good sense for how to work around discard. As it stands, the black deck is strong and flexible, but that's the main part of it that worries me, and I welcome it, because discard is a time-honored tradition in magic.

Edmiao i too welcome it... with a swift kick in the nutsack

BEN: time to start wearing my cup to gaming...I can look like the WFRP duelist, hooray! Also, didn't the Faerie deck do pretty well against mono-black? speaking of faeries...that's a good deck, but I haven't seen it come out to play recently.

Edmiao i would make a crass comment, but i think you did it all by your lonesome. well spoken.

--Brandon 13:02, 3 February 2009 (MST) Yeah, the Faeries/mono-black matchup is a good one. They haven't come out mostly 'cause I haven't been around to play Magic (other people are welcome to play the deck, though, btw). Also, my new WBG deck went 1-1 with mono-black last Friday, so further testing between them might be interesting and in order. Finally, when I had the decks and was testing them against each other, Ben's mono-red deck beat the mono-black deck in an incredibly significant (80-90%) number of games. So, it might be that mono-black is vulnerable to fast decks, which there aren't a lot of in our current metagame.

--Matts 13:19, 3 February 2009 (MST)UR and UG are both pretty fast, UR especially so. I think mono-black is vulnerable to decks that can dump their hands productively on being forced to discard, which red is pretty good at.

Edmiao the UR deck did well vs monoB if it has a swerve ready for the hymn of turock.

BEN: I tweak the mono-black pretty regularly, just pulling out new cards I'm interested in and cycling out anything that isn't working for me. I DO think the black deck is very versatile, and that in our current overall metagame is one of the strongest decks. But it certainly isn't undefeated, and lots of decks can beat it regularly (UR, druids, faeries). I think its versatility is a huge asset, since it plays really well as the aggro or control archetype. My experience has been that against a deck I don't really know, I lose a lot with the black deck, but as I learn which approach (fast creatures, discard, removal, big creatures, etc.) is the best against that deck, my record usually rises to 50%+. that versatility is also what makes it a fun deck to play. I also think mulligans are important in a deck that doesn't run more than a 2-of of any card, so our casual environment free mulligan is a boon to it. I think, Ed, that since you haven't really actively engaged in deck construction in weeks to months, your series of losses against mono-black is kind of artifactual.

Edmiao speaking of deck construction, if anyone sees a stack of cards with phyrexian infiltrators (2B creature 2/2: UU2 trade control of this creature with opponent's creature) and that blinking white blue witch, give a hollar. lost them somewhere and can't find them in bens condo. maybe they got into your collection somehow gabe?

--Brandon 12:18, 5 February 2009 (MST) Whew. So Ben's mono-black deck whipped my new Wbg deck pretty thoroughly yesterday. He's got a number of strategies within that deck that can work to shut me down. It'll be interesting to see how my deck interacts with other decks (I've still got to tweak it a bit). It looks like I might be able to swing by for Magic again this Friday, so maybe we'll find out.

GABE: I made a new warrior G/R deck... I know we already had something like it but I like this one. So far in turn 3 I hit for six damage, with creatures. Hey you guys played during the week! Let me know man.

--Brandon 13:04, 5 February 2009 (MST) It was just a couple of games at 11pmish last night after gymnastics. Don't get your underoos all in a twitch.

Next step in Super Heroes

--Matts 16:56, 4 February 2009 (MST)Everyone look at The Guardians - Issue 8 and if you want to have done anything between the end of last session and the start of this one, post here.

Edmiao I'm confused. If it is Feb 7, then why is the stock exchange opening late, it's a Saturday for christ's sake!

--Gdaze 11:23, 5 February 2009 (MST) I want to be looking for any instances that might have been caused by those knights we fought, as well as standard patrol, maybe working with the eletric suit dudes? Also, if possible, I'd like to be trying to work with fire fighters. Actually that last one is what I'd like to have done the most.

Next step in Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy

Current OAAAA XP: 75 base + 153 XP

Aetan - We have decided that to match wits with a dragon is suicide. However, in so doing, we have also decided that wresting the ruby shield from the mighty orc Grunbad is not, a decision which may not have been the wisest, but is one we chose after much careful deliberation.

How might we accomplish our goals, my brethren?

I can think of a few approaches:

Might Makes Right: The orcs respect strength; this much we learned from the fellow who told us of Oryxis. It is possible, thought not likely, that with all our abilities combined, we might best him in a contest of strength. I do not, however, consider this bridge sound.

The Tip of His Spear: Grunbad's prized javelin kills whoever it strikes. Perhaps if we were to gain it, we could best him in combat.

His Ultimate Goal: Grunbad hired Iyi to steal the Ruby Shield for him; the price was astronomical. We can assume that the plunder he seeks goes to repay the legendary thief. A question then arises as to Grunbad's motivation: Does he seek nothing but glory? Is there a grudge he wishes to settle? Perhaps we might hasten him to his goal, or bring about his defeat, with knowledge of his desires. However, if we approach from this angle, real, decisive action must be taken.

The Thief Again: We could also hire Iyi to steal the shield back. Does anyone have a great deal of money?

In any case, I desire that our strategy be sound. Not only is Galen currently within the enemy camps, he may likely have been pressed into service. Additionally; every day brings our lady closer to ruin and the fiend who put her there closer to victory. We must resolve to defeat all that stand in our way.

--Matts 16:57, 10 January 2009 (MST)Ok, I came up with a plan! We go into the camp all pissed off that they press ganged our priest/healer; this is a crime they have to pay for! If we're lucky, we'll run into them taking him to Grunbad, and we demand penance from him, to the price of his most prized possession. Then we *mumble* fight him and win *mumble*, and take the shield!

All I'm saying is that if we're going to fight him, we should come up with some "standing", some kind of grievance, so that when we do defeat Grunbad, the orcs there respect the result as some kind of justice, right?

Edmiao brilliant. any plan is better than all the mucking about we have been doing. so, probably it will have to be single combat, for honor's sake. any plans on how you are going to beat him besides making a bridge of air through his chest? oooo, that would be a fantastic power for you. make bridge, only through people. i say if we have not made serious progress by half way through the next session, we abort and go to the clocktower. likely there will be some fatalities, but such is the cost of progress and Fantus will lead the way.

Question for ben: the shield gives Gundbad magic immunity, correct? is the shield protected from magic as well? if grundle is immune to magic, does that mean that he can automatically see through my illusions, or is it just that he cannot be targeted by magic?

Wait, why the fuck are we doing this anyway? to get the dragon to come and extinguish the flames to get Danny girl out of the flames, right? Well, Tithe's girlfriend is on the way with the super ice stuff to do just that, we enlist her or steal it from her, so what the fuck are we doing? shouldn't we work on a cure for the poison instead?

-Matts 19:59, 10 January 2009 (MST)Oryxis' flame is one of the only cures we found for bloodstone poison. That's why we're doing this.

Edmiao ok then. i was a bit confused there.

--Brandon 14:03, 11 January 2009 (MST) Yes! I like the plans so far. I had a couple of my own, some along the lines of what Aetan has raised, some slightly different. I'll fit these plans under two scenarios: the Sneaky Stealing Scenario, and Aetan's Might Makes Right scenario. I don't think that these scenarios are mutually exclusive.

Useful Background Information: We will most likely have the best success if we infiltrate the camp as mercenaries (note: this will probably mean that Tithe will have to not talk for long stretches of time). Regardless of plan, Galen will play a valuable information-gathering role, since he has already inadvertently infiltrated Grundad's camp. So:

Sneaky Stealing Scenario: The basics of this plan involve Aefra sneakily stealing the shield. As I see it, this involves a confluence of factors. Aefra can make herself invisible. Tithe can make her silent. Fantus can give her a strength potion (so that she can lift the shield) and , I imagine, might be able to whip up something that causes a stinkbomb, so that no one can smell Aefra (maybe Fantus can recreate the Cherry Lane (?) Effect?). Then, all that we need to do is either (i) make sure that Grunbad isn't wielding the shield or (ii) dampen the "anti-sneakin" magic on the shield (maybe my dispel magic will work for that purpose temporarily)j. Aetan, I hope, can open the old ways to get all of us out of there before our lives are sought by Grunbad's spear.

Might Makes Right: As Matt's plan, except only one of us challenges Grunbad (I imagine this would be Tithe, because he fits the bill of self-sacrificing martyr most closely). Ideally this will cause enough of a distraction that we can do something nefarious (for example, Aefra steals the spear - which I imagine Grunbad wouldn't use on a measly nobody stone elf - and Fantus heaves it at Grunbad's back just as Tithe disenchants the shield momentarily). This plan also involves a hasty retreat along the old ways, or possibly a mid-air extraction via magic carpet. Aetan could also conceivably be the challenger, while the rest work behind the scenes.

The best plan - by my lights - combines aspects of the Sneaky Stealing Scenario, the Tip of His Spear, and Might Makes Right. Thoughts?

--Dieter the Bold 14:52, 11 January 2009 (MST) You forgot option 3: Galen Charms Grundbad Into Giving Us the Shield. It's just so crazy it might work. Otherwise I'd go for the Sneaky option, followed inevitably by the Might option when Sneaky doesn't work.

Edmiao it is worth considering a hybrid of might and stealth. might fight for distraction, go for the "fair fight" mano a mano, no weapons or armor. then sneaky sneak steals the shield. i could spend all my points on invisiblity improvements for the sneaky option (invisible to sight, sound, smell and magesight, with GM approval)

--Brandon 10:42, 12 January 2009 (MST) I was also thinking we might be able to go the traditional route, and have Aefra (or Galen, I won't pretend to know how this orc swings) seduce Grunbad so as to get into his bedchamber unsuspected, then sneaky sneak the shield away. It worked on Arthur Pendragon, it can work on this punk ass warlord!

GABE: Lets just kill him in his sleep. Or lets bring him to the dragon, bam, shield delivered, I never said anywhere in the contract that an orc wouldn't come with the shield. Not like it protects the user from his talons anyway.

--Brandon 10:55, 12 January 2009 (MST) This is actually a fascinating idea. If Grunbad is obsessed with glory, we might be able to convince him that defeating Grandfather Flame would be in his best interest. However, we probably have to make sure Grunbad doesn't have his Life-Seeking Javelin with him, 'cause otherwise I imagine Oryxys would be pissed at us!

BEN: you can't kill him in his sleep. The shield protects him from sneak attacks of any kind (it doesn't allow him to detect anyone sneaking around or anything, it just means he can't be backstabbed, etc)

--Brandon 11:35, 12 January 2009 (MST) Ben, am I crazy to think that my spear's dispel magic ability could "turn off" some of the shield's abilities, or the life-seeking spear's abilities, momentarily?

BEN: yes...and no. Yes, in the sense that the ruby shield is one of the most powerful magic items ever created in Amora. A 20D6 dispel, while powerful, will never shut off any power with an active points cost above 120 points (assuming you roll all 6s), and is very unlikely to shut off anything above 75 points, and though I haven't built Ignus, I imagine it's powers are significantly more than that each. No, in the sense that massive, cinematic, heroic effects are always possible, at a price...something you and I could negotiate depending on what you want to do.

GABE: Well shoooot. Oh I didn't know he had that... that'd be bad if he got rid of our cure... Well I'm leaving this one up to you, I don't have much interaction with orcs.

Edmiao why can't we kill him in his sleep? the shield protects him, but only while he holds it, right? it is possible that he sleeps with the thing, of course. but if he put it down, then we could sneak up on him, yes?

BEN: as long as it's in use by him, it protects him: he doesn't have to be holding it. So, if it's slung on his back it would protect him from sneak attack, and likely also if it were mounted over his throne or his bed.

GABE: Does it protect from accidents?

BEN: nope...but you would be mistaken if you think you can "trick" the shield on the basis of a technicality...it's very sharp. (yuk yuk)

--Matts 18:29, 13 January 2009 (MST)Does the shield offer full coverage against natural disasters or (DIETER) acts of God?

Edmiao would he be protected if, say, he engaged in an honor duel where the two combatants agreed to take off their armor and put down their weapons and duke it out? in this case he is willingly putting the shield aside, and possibly relinquishing it's protection for a time.

Edmiao I have an interesting idea for a power for Shao. He has been in existence longer, the longer he exists, the more real he becomes. I could give him some power that would simulate interdimensional movement, allow him to pull an object into the shadow world. Maybe Desolidify, usable as attack. were he stealthy enough, he could grab the shield and run with it through the shadow realm. We would of course still need to get Solomon Grundy to put it down for a bit. Perhaps Priestly Deiter could tell Grundy that he needs to make offereing to the gods and that in order to recieve their favor Grundy must go without weapons or armor and offer up sincere piety to Zeus or Amora or whatever god Solomon Grundy might worship. What gods do zombies like him worship anyway?

maybe this poem will help:
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Grew worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
That was the end of
Solomon Grundy.

Edmiao if someone were to take the shield, they might need to flee in a hurry. can fantus make a potion of movement?

BEN: as for what I put on your "talk" page, Ed, If Shao managed to steal the shield, and THEN go "into the shadow realm" he could probably do that: he just couldn't send the shield there while it was in the possession of Grunbad.
If Grunbad put down the shield for an "honor duel", the shield wouldn't protect him, no.

GABE: Sure can, but what about the people we leave behind?

Hey wait... Matt is all Earth like right? And one of Grundel's servents... How about some sort of Earth Shaping Spell?

Or even better what if we convince the Orc his shield is a fake! OH wait gotta jump into Fantus for this.

Fantus: I GOT IT! Okay okay... so Aefra... we will need your illusion magic. Basically lets convince the orc that his shield is a fake, and that he had all this amazing ability to begain with... We can do some "tests" in which we use your illusion magic to prove he is indeed that amazing... And we offer to take the shield from him as we are collectors and a fake still at least looks nice... or something like that!

Either that or lets challange him an honor duel, steal it, then all make off. Although I THINK that may cause some trouble down the line, even more so with war coming.

--Brandon 15:09, 19 January 2009 (MST) Another thought for a possible plan, though one that might be too sneaky for Tithe to dream up:

Great Empires Die From Indigestion: I imagine that there is some up and coming Orc badass within Grunbad's camp who's just itching to become the new warlord. Given the hugeness of the army, I'm sure there's at least a badass orc or two with ambition. But, I also imagine that said orc badass is hesitant to challenge Grunbad mano-a-mano because of Grunbad's possession of Ignus (not to mention the life-seeking spear). If we can make a deal with the badass so that we promise to take the shield out of the equation (even if momentarily) in exchange for being able to keep Ignus, maybe orc badass will do our fighting of Grunbad for us. Whaddya think?

Edmiao well, we know who the brains in this outfit is. that's brilliant. the big problem with the Aeten challenges Grundy to a duel was that Aeten ended up dead (although Galen could buy resurrection to counter that, gm approval). This will work. we get him to put down the shield during a duel with mr uppity up and while grundy slaughters the uppity, we steal the shield and javelin. we must steal both, i think. Possibly a new interdimensional movement for Shao would solve a lot of the stealing problems. but the javelin of death will still kill shao as he runs away intangibly with the shield through an army of orcs (hopefully the orcs lack magic weapons and spells), so we would need to acquire the javelin as well. we should split our forces, one group takes the javelin, one takes the shield. maximum chaos to minimize their ability to focus on one target

BEN: the orcs definitely have some spellcasters, and some of their champions definitely have magic weapons. Also: Resurrection magic does NOT exist. As to EDM...this will be subject to very stringent GM control, but you can take it if the effect is story appropriate and not unbalancing.

--Matts 14:18, 21 January 2009 (MST)I'm fairly certain that whatever plan we dream up, it'll at best prevent us from being roundly demolished. As for the unarmed combat: Aetan has STR 30, PD 3/9 without any buffs. He has a 2d6 Aid to STR, PD, and STUN. He can get +10 STR from a potion. The way I see it, if we're lucky, he tops out at 47 STR, if we're really lucky he's over 50. That's a lot, and with judicious use of XP, might be enough, but that assumes we can even convince him to drop his gear, which I'm not sure we can.

--Brandon 14:24, 21 January 2009 (MST) What's Aetan's OCV? Regardless, I'm with Ed that we don't want to risk you being dead. As for the dropping of the gear, I'm thinking about trying to cook up a one-time whizbang Dispel Magic to at least shut off the shield momentarily.

--Matts 14:43, 21 January 2009 (MST)OCV is 4, +4 with Mauls, +2 when enraged. I will probably need a one-time whiz-bang +OCV also.

Edmiao you know, for Shao's entering the real world, i was thinking extradimensional movement, but it isn't really another dimension. in another dimension, you are not touchable from this world. you are not in this world. the power i was thinking of for shao was just to become solid for a while. i think perhaps i should just buy off the "always on" limitation on his desolidification and buy a limitation at the same time "costs end to deactivate" at whatever "costs end" would be for an constant power.

If he did buy EDM it would be to move to the shadow world. in that case, he could grab the shield, move to the shadow world and walk away scott free, untouchable by any magic unless they also had EDM. that might be game breaking.

BEN: I think you are making assumptions about the "shadow world" if you think magic couldn't reach him there: I don't see "the shadow world" as so vastly divested from the real world (being a shadow of it, after all) that all connection is severed. As I've said, EDM would have to be tightly controlled for game balance, and keeping it consistent with the world is a good starting point. I will definitely not allow Shao to cross over into some realm where he will be immune/removed from all influence of the world. In general, many forms of magic are likely to be able to cross into whatever other "dimension" he enters, as will certain inherently magical creatures. As for grabbing the shield: it's a big shield, and it's made out of stone (ruby, to be exact). Just something to consider if you want a cat to carry it.

ED: that's what strength potions are for.

BEN: I'm not sure what Gabe's take on this is, or what the book says but I'm not sure even REAL creatures get the benefits of magical potions the way sentient beings do. Even if they do, a shadow creature composed of nothing but shadow might not derive the same benefits. And even if it did, mixing magic potions, as fantus will tell you, is a risky business for anyone but a master of hag magic: what mixing hag magic with Fae magic (in fact, a being composed almost exclusively of Fae magic) will do is anyone's guess. Again, not saying it won't work, but ANY plan, no matter how many l33t rul3z hax it uses, will require careful planning. I know y'all hate that, but you guys are, you know, sort of DONE once you solve this one. So if you think I'm just gonna hand it to you...
besides, thinking semi-logically, Grunbad is the biggest, baddest orc warlord of all time. He's fighting the imadigo, who are the masters of assassination, thievery, and intrigue (along with the Csarans). There MUST be reasons Grunbad is still alive. not only alive, but stomping the ever loving shit out of the imadigo. On their home turf. In the middle of a giant camp of the most easily upset, fierce, well armed, veteran creatures of Amora.
As metagame knowledge: I do think the shield will be easier than the castle. Either is doable, both will be on the very hard to nearly impossible difficulty level, and PCs may die in the pursuit of either. You definitely have the tools, contacts, resources, etc, etc, to accomplish them, but if you guys think you can just wing it in a single session, you guys will spend a lot of time in the liberty city hospital, working off your xp debt. Or scraping your allies off the pavement with a wet dry vac.

ED: hey, shao's a person too! He may have to grow then, he can do that up to 45 STR. might make him a bit conspicuous. he can also has teleport from shadow to shadow, which he could buy up for more distance. might be handy for getting out of dodge with a big red target on your back.

seems i'm going to miss the next OAAAA session, y'all have fun plotin' and planin' and tell me where to cast my spells and what useful xp expenditures will help the group.

ben, does that mean the end of the game is imminent? or just the end of the current arc?

--Brandon 01:08, 30 January 2009 (MST) There is an OBVIOUS reason as to why Grunbad has done so well. He has the ruby shield. If we take it from him (which will be, of course, no problem at all), he's gonna go down like Gabe. And why didn't you tell us we had access to a wet dry vac? Your very hard to impossible scenario, which is easier than the other very hard to impossible scenario (and less likely to cause significant moral collateral damage than the third very hard to impossible scenario), is going to be a piece of cake as long as we have a wet dry vac. Oh, and a tactical nuke. Is there one of those lying around that you forgot to mention as well?

BEN: shao has sufficient levels of growth to get 45 str? jebus. I'll have to go back and look at his powers...I haven't been that restrictive with his powers compared to players, and in general I don't want to be restrictive, so that should all be fine...but it does give me pause, at least briefly Re: what other abilities he might be allowed to pick up in the short term. But in all likelihood you can do whatever.
Grunbad was a badass even before he had the shield. Iyi is said to be many things, but nobody says he/she is an idiot (cue Gabe and/or Ed), and you don't sell something that turns the entire Dwarven race against you unless you are reasonably sure you are going to get paid (or you are getting paid upfront). Not to mention that maintaining an orc army is like trying to get your Gemini Crew to agree on something.
I originally saw the story terminating with the rescue of Daenerys as the first of 3 "books", in which each session was a "chapter": that way players could nix the game at the end of each of these if the game had run out of steam while still getting the satisfaction of a major accomplishment within 12 weeks or so. It hasn't worked out that way...the first book has spread out considerably, which is fine, but it does mean I have to be mindful of how well I can maintain GM responsibilities if I were to start Book 2. This is something we can discuss when this book comes to an end.
That being said: If you guys get really motivated, I think you could easily solve whichever dragon bait you guys are going for in the next 3 week block. You guys could also end up getting one or two PCs killed, which might sour the game somewhat, so I will try to avoid this. Thereafter, we can be on a "week to week" lease as far as continuing the story goes, I suppose.

Edmiao wait, it's not 45 str. he has growth levels for +45 str but he has to spend some of those getting back to human size. lets see if I remember right, I think he has 9 levels of growth, and six of those are used to get to human size (as he is two size classes smaller than human and 3 growth levels per size class). Humans are STR 10, then three more levels should get him to STR 25, which should be about 16 feet tall, or maybe 12 feet tall.

GABE: Potion is totally up to you, I don't think it is worth a minus to affect him (the cat that is).

How about we just get a lance, and fucking fly and ram the orc on the flying carpet? Mwuhahaha!

Or just convince him that he is a poor warrior because he has to relie on objects more powerful then he is.

Ed, is your illusion magic more powerful yet? Like gives big -'s?

Edmiao minus 7 to PER for a simple nonmoving object. I think the modifiers are: +2 for a simple moving object, like a ball rolling; and +4 for a complex moving object, like a man walking; +6 for a very complex thing, like a football team playing basketball.

--Brandon 10:59, 30 January 2009 (MST) If Iyi isn't an idiot, why is she hanging around wearing skimpy clothing, serving Sasha's every need?  ; )

BEN: a very good question indeed...as for the potions, I think I would say that you can brew EITHER a sentient being version of a given potion, or an animal version: the potions have no magical effect when drunk across this divide. you don't need to spend any points to be allowed to make animal versions of your potions, but you do need to specify which type of creature you are making the potion for. Does that sound fair?
I've repeatedly mentioned the divides between magics and that magic potions can interact with each other, so you can expect that trying to mix different kinds of magic will have dramatic and poorly controlled/understood effects.
The shield protects the bearer from treachery. It can be assumed this extends to illusions.

--Brandon 11:26, 30 January 2009 (MST) Does the shield protect Grunbad from buggery? Aetan's abilities in this area are, purportedly, magical.

Edmiao sounds fair to me. just means we need to test it out if we go that route.

i thought previously you said that the shield protects the bearer from being snuck up upon. but that it would not allow him to see through an illusion. if we were invisible, and tried to back stab him the shield would alert him; but if we made an illusionary wall, he wouldn't be able to auto detect it. fine if you want to change the way it works, we just need to be clear by game time.

--Matts 13:53, 2 February 2009 (MST)I want to bring up the possibility that this will take several sessions, and that if it does, we should establish some mini-goals to work towards for each of those sessions. I have a sneaking suspicion that orc society doesn't let wanderers freely challenge warlords, so we're going to have to "gain standing", I imagine, to get a fight/audience with Grunbad. Ben, can we get some background on orc culture, so that we have an idea what the ladder to the top looks like?

Also, I'm not sure that single combat will end well. I think that even without the shield, if Orc culture values horsebowmen, it's likely they consider hit-and-run tactics honorable, and it's further likely that Grunbad would employ them against us. See the fight with Sky for how many knots that kind of enemy put us in. So if we can find a way to face him en masse within the corners of orc culture, I think we'd be in the best shape.

So in summary: Let's identify some short-term goals once we have a good idea of orc culture. Let's not leave it to single combat with Grunbad unless we have some chicanery that lets the whole group's resources come to bear.

Edmiao good ideas. ben essentially said that this will take a few sessions to get through.

--Brandon 15:10, 2 February 2009 (MST) Good call Matt!! I have some suggestions for mini-goals for the next session:

(1) Gain access to the camp in such a way that allows us some freedom of movement within it.

(2) Learn aspects of orc culture that might allow us to challenge Grunbad effectively.

(3) Identify conceivably mutinous sub-group within orc camp that we might be able to incite to revolt.

(4) Kill some stuff (this is a meta-game goal 'cause I think we need a good fight).