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)

2/13/09.....OAAAA.........Ben's Condo.........Ed likely absent, Gabe absent
2/20/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Ben Absent, Matt absent
2/27/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
3/06/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
3/13/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
3/20/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
3/27/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
4/03/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
4/10/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Dieter maybe absent
4/17/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........
4/24/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........Dieter absent
5/01/09.....???.........Ben's Condo.........

Attendance and Food Preference

2/20/09

Gaming canceled, magic optional.


2/21/09

Last month my grandpa passed away and I've been trying to figure out what to do with the Xmas money he gave me. I've been looking for something to get that I'd enjoy and I think he'd enjoy getting me. And now, I've finally discovered what it is.... Wade's Eastside Gun Range. So, sometime midday Saturday, I'm going down to the range w/ my dad, hopefully some friends and any of you who want to come along and shoot some guns. Lanes and equipment are pretty reasonable, ammo's somewhat expensive, but a box can last you a good while. My money's enough to cover the starting fees for everything, and then it's chip-in for more ammo. So, RSVP or let your terrorist sympathies show.

Ranting and raving or other random comments

ED: Dieter, there is a BSG board game, that the games store guy says is great. it's a cooperative board game where all players are working together, except for the traitor (a cylon) hidden amongst the players.

--Dieter the Bold 10:53, 16 February 2009 (MST) Yeah, saw it at PAX, but didn't get to see details on it. I would definitely like to give it a try sometime.

--Brandon 14:52, 16 February 2009 (MST) So, my laptop up and broke, real bad. It looks like it is a hard drive failure of some type or other (i.e., ranging from some bit is bad to BUSTED). Anyone have any expertise, or friends with expertise, in getting data off of such a hard drive? I'm trying to decide on whether to mess with it myself or have some professional mess with it. I'd rather pay you or your friend to do it, if it comes to that.

JASON: Does it post? Does it boot? What OS? If it powers up I would suggest getting a hard drive enclosure and hooking it up to another machine and trying to extract the data. You could even return the enclosure when youre done.

--Brandon 11:47, 17 February 2009 (MST) It's a Dell Vostro 1500, running XP. If I boot it up to try to run in safe mode, I am able to get past the safe mode menu screen only to invariably hit our favorite Blue Screen of Death (with the same error every time). Otherwise, it attempts to boot and either hangs or shuts off halfway through startup. I've run the diagnostic test (Dell's built in PSA), which returns one error code (2000-0142) that points to a hard drive problem. I found a place that will run a more extensive diagnostic test for cheap, so I should know more soon, but at this point I'm vetting options for trying to get the data off of the system (I have the most important stuff backed up, but ideally would like some of the other stuff as well). Thanks for the hard drive enclosure suggestion. Could this work conceivably even if the hard drive itself is the problem (in one way or another)?

JASON: It is possible that an enclosure will work, depending on what kind of hard drive error it is. If you have a bad boot sector, and that is all, the enclosure could work since you wont be booting from the drive. Enclosures cost about $25 so its cheap (and returnable), and worth a try.

--Brandon 18:43, 18 February 2009 (MST) Ok, for better or worse, the verdict is in. The hard drive is capital B BUSTED - the partition table is gone and a bunch of sectors were "lost". So, the data is recoverable, but ostensibly not in any straightforward way. The technician said that no machine would read the hard drive without the sectors being repaired and the partition table being rebuilt, which they could do to the tune of $200, which includes transferring the data onto some other hard drive. On top of that, the inverter in the monitor is going bad, and needs to be replaced. So, basically, my question now is can YOU (or your friend BILL) get the data (12GB worth) off of my machine - given the above problems - for less than $200?

Edmiao responding from the OAAAA discussion below, but moved it up here. obviously you shouldn't play if you are not having fun, gabe. that said, there are quite a few people and we can't all expect to be playing our favorite game all the time. I actually think we are dangerously low on players, resulting in frequent cancellations due to lack of quorum. for example, if Ben is absent, we default to supers, but only have 3 players and as Dieter is not into supers, this usually results in a cancellation. thus, 4 players in a game is pretty bare bones, i think. should we consider trying to recruit additional players?

GABE: You say this everytime though. I would also point out supers has four players, you, Ben, me, and Noelle. And has mostly been canceled due to GM's other responsibilities. I think it should be up to the GMs as bigger groups are harder to manage.

--Dieter the Bold 16:47, 19 February 2009 (MST) Ah, the search for the perfect game. I think the discussion is moot, as Ben's on the cusp of starting rotations and won't be available consistently enough to run a campaign. I therefore doubt we'll dive in to Book 2 once we wrap this up. Am I wrong Ben, or should we be starting discussions as to our next game?

GABE: That is a fairly good point Dieter, also everything I say sould be taken with a grain of salt, I'm running a fever at work. And I also think asking if its time to get more players is fine, but it seems to me like we aren't even sure whats going on next.

BEN: we're down to the heart of the matter here, and as has been my attempt in OAAAA, I'm just going to lay it out for the players, and leave it up to them as to how much metagame knowledge affects in game actions:
1.) The seven quests for jagha will NEVER come up over the course of the 3 "books" I had planned, at least not for the characters. The one for daenerys may, but that won't 'directly' involve the players, at least not for more than one session in book 3, if we ever get there (unlikely). In fact, on a metagame level this represents an "out" for the players: it creates the promise of interesting stories (good for me, since what you guys are playing is supposed to be "dawnforge" style before-the-time-of-modern-day fantasy) while giving the characters a straightforward way to wrap up the adventure and stop the do x for y to get z, but to do x you need a, who wants you to do b...etc, which it appears to me at least half the group is sick of (good for y'all). Nevertheless, Ed is right that I don't intend to have y'all chase after Jagha's plans unless you WANT to, and it appears to me that people are kind of tired of the "tasks" business. So really, the discussion of the seven tasks is moot, from a metagame perspective: its really up to you guys if you want to slog through getting the shield on your own, have jagha get it, get the book on your own, or just have jagha get it, and proceed from there to caminus. IF you want jagha to just get you the book and go straight for caminus, though, I have to know that soon, because that basically means the next session will be the last in book 1. But the more involved oyu want this last step to be, the more sessions go in between. Make sense?
2.) Book 2: basically, I really like OAAAA, like the group, the characters, and the game world. In short, I like running it, and am happy to keep GMing it. I split the game into "books" to give us all an "out" if people got tired of the game. THat being said, I still have 2 months before my rotations start and my first one is psych, and I should be able to continue GMing at least intermittently. So book 2 is a go from my end, but as we will be at a good stopping point, no hard feelings if we want to switch: I know our group tends to enjoy variety (spicy!). The plot for book 2 is, just so you all know, already laid out, and differs somewhat from book 1: it essentially centers on one major villain that the players want to defeat: however many sessions it takes to get to/defeat said villain, is how long book 2 runs. Basta cosi. You can expect some adventuring in the (surprisingly few) areas of the game world the players have not yet explored (bouan lands, Arthuria, the Dwarves, etc)
3.) I like OAAAA (see 2 above) but I broke it up to give other "GM styles" a good entry point. If peeps be sick of it, no problem. No need for anyone to jump ship. But like I said to Jason: it's for fun, plain and simple, and I wouldn't want anyone doing it out of some sense of "obligation". I'm always on the lookout for cool people to add to the group, for the problems ed mentioned above, but no bites yet. Ben's condo shall endure.

Edmiao for the non med folks, the psych rotation is 4 or 6 weeks, i forget, and is 9-5 job. future rotations probably will knock ben down to an occasional player.

Sorry that i forgot about Noelle, that was rude.

--Dieter the Bold 18:15, 19 February 2009 (MST) Thanks for the info-dump, Ben. I'm still loving OAAA and would like to continue. I'd also like to try and get the book on our own instead of just letting Iyi or Jagha handle it. Would like the chance to play out our return visit with Oryxys. Match some wits w/ the wyrm again.

Weekly Magic Whining/Complaining/Smack Talking

Shards of Alara

Elder Dragon Highlander Rules

--Brandon 18:17, 18 February 2009 (MST) FYI, I found a ruling about giving a creature flying after blocking is declared:

"Giving Flying to an already Blocked Creature won't do much; It's still Blocked, by the Creature that was assigned as Blocking it. And, they will assign/deal Combat Damage to each other."

Edmiaohmm. i think the relevant concept behind it would be this: If a creature is unblockable, then no blockers can be assigned. this functions to prevent blockers from being assigned in the "assign blockers" phase. thus a creature with "unblockable" or shadow or flying could not be blocked by certain creatures. once blockers are assigned, the blockable status of the attacker no longer matters.

--Brandon 19:06, 18 February 2009 (MST) Yeah, I think that is exactly the right way to think about it. On a somewhat related note, how do you want to negotiate the transfer of the Magic cards, Ed?

--Brandon 15:57, 19 February 2009 (MST) Ed, is there any chance you would be interested in playing a few games of Magic when you pick up the cards today? I could do so if it's around seven, though I'll be home by six.

Edmiao yes! i'll call you later afternoon to confirm time and such.

Next step in Of Amor, Armor, and Alchemy

Current OAAAA XP: 75 base + 168 XP

ED: 75 + 168xp, is that correct? Can we get a recap from last session. please tell me this orc business is over or at least nearly so.

--Dieter the Bold 11:02, 16 February 2009 (MST) Incorrect. Bonus XP for being awesome. It's now 75 + 169xp. Recap is as follows:

Galen gets taken through orc camp.
Galen spots the Kestrel and yucks it up with him some.
Galen gets audience with Grundbad, things go well enough.
Galen spots out of place hut near Grundbad's pavilion (I swear I saw chicken feet hiding under it)
Galen meets up w/ Tithe and Aeten, minor melee ensues.
The group announces itself (in Aefra's name) to the camp.
The camp moves, but Grundbad meets us on neutral ground and we chat it up.
Group gets jumped by an Imadigo ninja (aka, Sky wannabe) who tries to make off with Tithe's bag which contains Gwyndonlin's letter.
Group beats on ninja (who wickedly stabs Galen in the vitals) and retrieves the bag and letter.
Sasha ferries the group over to Grundbad's new camp.
Group finds mysterious hut again and is invited in by..... DUNdunDUNNNNNNN!!!... Jagha
Tithe is suspicious and gets stuck outside where he slowly freezes and is then turned to stone.
On the inside, Aeten and Galen chat Jagha up, reveal most of our mission.
Tithe is turned back to normal so we can have a discussion and a new accord is reached.

• All of the Auspice Bound (Daenerys and Nate's character included) owe Jagha one task of her choosing (we can all help, and she assured us they would be reasonable).
  
• Oryxys most desires what Ixymion had, mastery of magic. There exist the Novice Tomes in Csara which can teach anyone magic. We need to go there and get the tomes. We're given 20 days to do it. We can also call on Iyi for help, and Jagha will plain do it herself if we fail to do it by 20 days (we'd prefer to avoid both of the latter two options).
  

And that's game.

Edmiao wow, the wiki is running wicked slow today. re the above.... damn you all to hell!!!

BEN: LOL. One important addition: no tasks for Jagha until Daenerys is safe from her current predicament.
As for metagame info, if y'all beeline it for the tomes (you only need one of them, there are probably 3-5 copies, distributed by the Achraea school), you should be able to get one by the end of next session. That will leave one session for the return to the island and whatever resolution lies in store for all of you in Book 1. I'm being deliberately vague on that because a.) you guys have quite a bit of freedom about how you approach the situation on the island and b.) because not everything will get wrapped up in that session. This story was, as written on the OAAAA page, conceived as a story in 3 "books", which means that you won't succeed in whack-a-mole-ing everybody. Also, player actions throughout the story have significantly changed what will happen in the last session from my original conception of it. If there are particular things you'd like to see make an appearance in the last session (people or events or things) let me know either here or via email, I'm sure I don't remember every interesting encounter y'all had during the course of the last 12 sessions.
as for what happens afterwards: that's basically up to you guys. We can move on to book 2 or I can step down as GM and someone else can take over: I'm fine with either one.

GABE: Why are we doing something for the witch?

--Brandon 14:26, 16 February 2009 (MST) A little more information might help clear up the above. First of all, Tithe wasn't necessarily suspicious, he just can't eat animal stuff, so he wanted to be sure that the potion she gave us to allow access into the hut wasn't made from animals. Since Jagha wouldn't respond, he got stuck outside. And he was turned to stone because he tried to dispel the chilling effect outside, which turned out to be from Jagha's hut, which in turn made Jagha mad enough to turn him into a statue.

Secondly, dealing with the witch meant that we have a guaranteed solution to freeing Daenerys (within 23 days) that takes place BEFORE we have to do any tasks for Jagha. So, even if we all die grisly deaths in pursuit of Jagha's tasks - which she specifically stated would not be the main goal of them - Daenerys would be free of the flame and the poison. This meant we had, basically three options:

(1) The tower - I'm only putting this one here for Gabe's sake.

(2) The shield - through meeting Grunbad and seeing the whole operation, we decided that getting the shield would be possible, but would involve a lot of time and substantial risk. While dwelling on this, we were able to meet with Jagha, who offered option 3:

(3) Have Jagha supply us with a needed piece in our quest to free Daenerys, in exchange for doing 7 tasks for her (one for each auspice-bound, with certain caveats) AFTER Daenerys was freed. This seemed attractive, especially since, as Dieter stated, Jagha guaranteed a result within a fortnight and offered us aid in the form of Iyi if needed. Jagha gave us a choice of helping us to get the shield and getting a novice book (which is what Oryxys most desires). We chose the latter for various reasons, the most prominent of which is that we might be able to begin reconciliation between Graendel and the elemental world in the process of obtaining the book, which we took to be an admirable task.

So, yes, we made a deal with a hag queen, but it seemed the best option on the table. And, Jagha seemed to regard us (the auspice bound) as an interesting curiosity rather than primarily as a tool for sinister ends, so that's something. Though, of course, we may very well end up being used for sinister ends. Does that help?

GABE: Wait... So let me get this insane deal stright.

Even if we do nothing, she would have freed Daenery's anyway? Then why do we even try to find the book again? I mean I'm a little lost WHY we have to do any deal.

Also I want the exact terms of the deal, if we die during the process, she will free her anyway? I want the exact wording, as my character would not agree to certain terms without having them laid out, even more so with a witch.

--Brandon 20:15, 18 February 2009 (MST) Let's see if I can break this down for you further. Jagha is NOT going to free Daenerys. Jagha has guaranteed us a way to get the book, which we can then give to Oryxys, which will prompt him (as per our agreement) to free Daenerys. However, Jagha will not get the book herself for a fortnight (20 days). So, assuming that we want Daenerys freed ASAP, we will try to find the book sooner than that.

The deal with Jagha will then become manifest once Daenerys is free; at that point, we will owe Jagha the 7 tasks.

We laid the terms of the deal out pretty carefully - I'm sure that Matt, Dieter, and I can collectively recount the terms fairly closely - and I'm pretty sure that Jagha was clear to say she would get the book if we failed. I assume that will be true even if we die in the process of getting the book. But, this won't necessarily free Daenerys - I again assume - because the book would still have to get to Oryxys, which I imagine Jagha won't do if we're all dead. So, I suggest we not all die.

GABE: I don't get this... we owe her the favor because she told us of the book? And we are going to do 7 tasks for her...? Thats kinda an un-epic ending, I mean it comes down to a witch telling us what to do, I dunno feels like we didn't really do much. If we DON'T go for the book, do we still owe her crap?

--Matts 11:41, 19 February 2009 (MST)7 tasks for a mysterious witch is pretty dope from a story standpoint; 12 tasks of hercules, for example. We owe her a favor because she told us what it is that Oryxis most desires and offered to help us obtain it. She also alternately offered to get us the shield, but we decided to go with the thing he most desires.

Personally, I think this sets the stage for a pretty interesting second series of sessions in OAAA after we free Danerys.

--Dieter the Bold 13:37, 19 February 2009 (MST) +1 to what Brandon and Matt said. Gabe, we were basically looking at a really long time scheming and backstabbing to get the shield from Grundbad, or similar plus trappy death for the Tower. We chatted Jagha up and she basically offered to put us on a direct course to fulfill our side of the deal with Oryxys. No tricky run-arounds, no long plotting. We just go to place X and get item Y. We know where everything is. And we can even call on Iyi for some ueber-pro help if we want (although the group is hoping to avoid becoming "known" to Iyi for obvious reasons). Once we get the book, we just have to put it in Oryxys' hot little hands, hie ourselves back to Caminus and Book 1 is done. Book 2 will most likely be us dealing with fallout on Caminus (if not done this time around) and doing bizarre and dangerous tasks for a Witch Queen. So, yeah, it sucks that we owe yet another person something (7 somethings), but in return we clear all quests from the board (Oryxys, Graendel, Daenerys). Plus you now have an in with a Witch Queen, if you want to chat shop or whatever. And she was far more relatable than Gwyndolin. Tasty soup, not slug soup.

Gabe: Can we just freaking blow the doors and grab the book? That said I am interested in fallout after Caminus but will most likely drop game when it becomes missions for the witch. It just doesn't interest me as a fantasy game to be running missions for a witch, feels too forced and really not into forced missions. This is all just me, not Fantus, although he most likely would not have agreed to the deal. I related just fine to the first witch thank you very much!

Edmiao Gabe, based on past experience, i presume that Ben is not interested in running a game where the players are just bitches for a witch doing random quests with no overarching plot. If he were, i would still be good to go with it. I think that, as games go, OAAAA has had the most cohesive character group yet. Just been a bit slow in the last few sessions.

As to requests for the finale, i think we should see Grendel play a role. Don't care much if Sappho shows up or no, haven't really developed that plotline well.

Gabe: It can take us an entire sitting to get out of a city, I highly doubt doing 7 quests for a witch would be anything quick. Yeah its a good group, but again, just not fun for me, tis cool, we have enough players that one can drop out.

I agree, I would like a goblin army to show up.