Flipz

Actually, casting spells from HP is a really good way of making spellcasting be a big risk/reward. Perhaps Ether/Mana/SP/Whatever works like the various armor types? (That is, expensive to increase but regenerates automatically after a fight, but once you deplete it the spells start coming out of your vitality.) Weak mages with basic spells can pop them off easily, but big spells would mean the caster would have to think hard about if they can survive with the lowered HP after their cast.) *has traumatic flashbacks to Hoard of the Dragon Queen* I'm... not sure rest should be the primary mechanic for recovering resources and HP. That basically means you have a pretty hard cap on one, maybe two combats per in-universe day -- doesn't leave a lot of room for things like a survival horror zombie defense quest taking place in a single night, or something like a rebellion where time is of the essence but there's also a lot of fighting to be done. To bring up the opening of Hoard, you start the adventure immediately thrown into combat, and you have like six different encounters afterwards all in the space of a single day/night. The scenario was set up so as to allow occasional one-hour short rests for minor HP recovery, but major healing and spell slots didn't replenish without a long rest (8 hours), which made things miserable as a low-level spellcaster. (In my case, I saved a party member and a hostage from death with my one Magic Missile, and then spent the next four IRL weeks stuck without magic.) It was a miserable experience that almost made me give up tabletop RPGs entirely, and I think repeating it here wouldn't be a good idea. I'd honestly get rid of positive status effects entirely. Flat single-stage buffs/debuffs ("buffed" vs "neutral" vs "debuffed", as opposed to Pokemon's multiple stages) to attack, defense, and accuracy keep things simple, and avoid confusion and brokenness; to go back to my Persona Q example, a lot of the broken stuff in that game makes use of things like Bestial/Dragon Roar and Aigis' Orgia Mode that let you stack multipliers on top of each other (now whose build does that remind me of... ). I'd go with Spirit being universal from the start, so even if a character goes full physical they have some access to magic in a pinch, and might even encourage a bit of light dabbling from time to time rather than locking completely into a caster vs non-caster dichotomy. (Also helps avoid stuff like magic-boosting equipment and stat bonuses being useless for physical builds, like that +5 Ether/-5 HP pie Arthur held onto for literal years because Ether was useless to him as a Dragoon/Skirmisher.) As far as proficiency suggestions, maybe something related to protection, i.e. putting oneself in between a target and danger or pushing a target out of harm's way? (One thing I disliked about 1.0 tanks was that instead of taking damage so others didn't have to -- i.e. the traditional "tank" role in an MMO -- it was just all about being near-invincible individually and then using your leftover resources to kill enemies faster. Ultimately made everyone have to invest in being somewhat of a tank, rather than being a role people could consciously take on.) Tactics might be another good proficiency flavor-wise, though maybe that would already fall under Insight. EDIT: didn't see the new page. WBD's Defend/Rally actions at the top of the page seem great.

*stumbles in randomly, sees activity* I could probably drop a few random thoughts even if I'm unlikely to actually join in. I think the word "Level" has a lot of baggage attached to it from games in general, so if you're going for something a bit more freeform and/or trying to prevent the generational hierarchies that developed over the course of Heroica 1.0, it may be better to drop the term "Level" entirely. I still like the suggestion I made somewhere of keeping something similar to the 1.0 experience gain system, but having characters then spend it back down in order to increase stats or special abilities; thus, a character could spend 1 EXP on a basic stat every time they gain experience, or they could spend a solid chunk of time stockpiling like 20 EXP for something huge and special. (That said, I'd recommend no less than 1/3 EXP point as the absolute lowermost cap; Levels 20-30 were about the last point I ever felt like an individual battle meant anything to me in terms of level advancement in 1.0, and even that was pushing it; with my suggested system, 20 EXP would be 30 battles with either no advancement or maybe a little more than 30 battles with only small advancements along the way, so that seems like a decent price cap for a high-end special ability.) Honestly, at some point there's going to have to be some level of visual representation for rows/range/etc. I think if 1.0 had provided a simple visual template with four stacked rectangles labeled "Enemy Back Row"/"Enemy Front Row"/"Hero Front Row"/"Hero Back Row" that QMs could have pasted their enemy icons on top of, there would have been a lot less confusion over what Row meant. However the system ends up working out, lots of blank visual templates available for QMs to use so individual QMs don't have to make it all on their own will help a lot. (On a related side-note, I highly encourage you to encourage QMs to take "generic" pics of their sets without PCs or named/major NPCs and contribute them to some sort of community database, again to make things easier on QMs who struggle with the logistics needed for sets and photography. Likewise, hosting a lot of building contests to generate more available pre-built locations would help both with generating interest in the game and in taking some of the pressure off of QMs.) The shields/shield-types system sounds like a really good call for me, gives a good mix of letting characters take damage they can actually recover from (shield damage) while also providing for the existence of larger, more serious wounds that are a bigger threat to the characters (actual HP damage). Having played/watched a lot of Persona lately, perhaps the Persona Q system would be a better way of handling effects? That is, a single slot for actual Status (Poison/Panic/Fear/etc.) that can't be overridden until the status is removed or wears off, then up to three slots each for for stat buffs and debuffs (i.e. Power Up, Accuracy Up, Defense Up, Priority Up, etc. for positive stat buffs, and as an example if they were applied in that order Priority Up would push Power Up off of the stack). (I'm ignoring the Binds and Magic Circles from Persona Q because WOW can that system be abused badly. Salome's Kiss OP.) Effects were both absurdly broken and an absolute nightmare to run in 1.0, especially since each one had its own definition, its own duration, its own mechanics, etc., so having some sort of codified template for what new effects can be and what mechanics they're allowed to use would help a lot. ...And on the subject of lessons learned from PQ that also apply to 1.0, for the love of all that is holy do not overcharge on SP costs/SP restoration items. The 1.0 Tonic prices made Ether an utter nightmare for new players while being at most an annoyance for the overpowered high-tiers. A dual-layered SP system like Persona Q has (which, now that I think of it, is actually pretty similar to the proposed HP/Shields system) would help a lot, but you'd still want to be careful about not making the costs for skills and abilities too high. (It also might be a good idea to make SP be a universal stat on all characters rather than continuing the magic-vs-nonmagic dichotomy, with players who want to focus on that being able to invest more into it while those less interested can just stick with their existing basic pool.) Anyway, best of luck! I might pop in time to time to see how all this is going, but my main investment in roleplaying is still elsewhere. Have fun, everyone!

This is basically the most concise way I have of explaining why I like the idea of not having Level contribute to damage output. If we extrapolate those numbers out another 10, 20, 30 Levels, that's still not an unreasonable gap for new players to join in with the long-time vets. I like the idea of simplifying classes like that, but I would still want people to be able to change their base class in between Quests, and not be locked out of the opportunity to play other roles just because of a choice they made literal years earlier. I also like the shields/health idea, seems like a great way to make healers uniquely relevant in a way that healing consumables can't be (i.e. only healers can restore health, whereas shields can be recharged with disposable batteries and short rests and the like).

Honestly? What is there to add to a weapon other than "also deals {x} elemental damage" and/or "also deals {x} special effect" and or "deals damage to {x} number of enemies using {y} mechanic"? All of those are things that are the domain of other items and abilities (specifically elemental spells, scrolls, and SHIELD rolls), and what we lose in cool factor we make up in terms of mechanical simplicity. I remember back in the day when mundane weapons -- even starter weapons -- had enough sentimental value for people to use them. The "Holy Avenger Sword" won from the tomb of a space dracolich is still an awesome reward, but now it's because of how it was gotten more than what it can do. Something to keep in mind is that Job Traits don't need to be automatically gained, but rather take time to learn. I suppose upgrades could work, but honestly I think that Job Traits that have mechanical effects (i.e. Wild Mind, Pet Dragon, etc.) should either not exist or should be a vast, vast minority; to my mind, Job Traits should be more focused on skills and skill checks from D&D than mechanically changing how characters battle, with combat-focused Job Traits being turned into dice rolls instead. I honestly dislike the way that Level was factored into damage calculations; it did its fair share of contributing to power creep in damage dealt and enemy HP bar size, and made it harder for low-level players to contribute at all to high-level parties. (Yes, WP and SP were worse for that, but hopefully this game won't make the same mistake of letting players generate their own wealth and thus the economy becomes the sole domain of QMs, limiting how bad weapon upgrades can feasibly get.) By divorcing Level from damage output, it allows even the absolute barest novice to still be able to hang with the big guys to some extent, and will overall make the numbers involved in calculations smaller (and thus make damage calculations easier). I honestly cannot recommend the Fire Emblem weapon triangle enough, particularly the variation seen in Fates; in Fates, there was the normal rock-paper-scissors of Swords>Axes>Spears/Lances>Swords for melee weapons, but the system was also expanded to include ranged options: Magic lumped in the Red category with Swords, Bows lumped in the Green category with Axes, and Daggers/Shuriken lumped in the Blue category with Lances. (Yes, the official name for throwing weapons was "Hidden Weapons", but that's dumb and I refuse to use it. ) Now, if making a triangle or square out of weapon types to, for example, match Pie's damage type system sounds restrictive, don't worry, there's plenty of room for customization; Fates in particular had the Reaver weapons (i.e. the Swordreaver axe; called Dual in Fates but that'd be confusing given how Heroica's used the term in the past) that reverse the weapon triangle, as well as Slayer weapons (i.e. Dragonslayer sword vs. wyvern units and manake, Swordcatcher lance vs. units using a sword) that deal triple weapon damage to certain units, and even magic versions of physical weapons that dealt damage using the units Mag stat against the enemy's Res stat the way magic and Dragonstones did. Aside from Slayer weapons, the weapon triangle primarily focused on improving odds to hit and reducing odds to get hit rather than actual damage numbers, so it could be a good system here to reduce the chances of getting to stack damage multipliers. ...That got a little infodump-y, so to explain: I never liked how weapon types effectively ended up being "hey, see this sweet new class you think works well for your character? Well screw you, it uses none of the weapon types you've invested so much time and resources into!" rather than having actual, tangible meaning to them. A weapon triangle (or square, or pentagon, or whatever) system would help make weapon choice a bit more meaningful. Oh, and to recommend another Fire Emblem element, maybe ranged weapons should act like bows in FE, so that when using them you're vulnerable to melee attacks somehow? Just a thought; 1-2 range weapons are kinda OP in FE, so separating everything out into 1 range or 2 range could be a good idea. I don't like the idea of the class you start out with determining the entire rest of your time in the game, especially if this goes with multiple starting classes again. It's something that really annoyed me in Heroica 1.0, and I think that level of restrictiveness should stay there in the past. As far as theme, I can't believe I forgot to plug Nexo Knights as a great example for the starting aesthetic, just to drive home the science-fantasy nature of the theme. Just a thought.

Not planning to join the Heroica sequel, so take my criticisms and ideas with a grain of salt, but here's a few thoughts on my end in no particular order: Effects. Effects were broken in Heroica; doubling damage, double rerolls (good and bad), preventing entire categories of attack entirely, forcing unavoidable attacks against allies... just about every effect I can think of was either incredibly overpowered, or else completely underwhelming because some other effect did its job better (i.e. Weakened compared to Blinded). One of the major sources of equipment getting so insane was the need for immunities and effect-dealing, with both spiraling out of control as the variety of effects dealt and received exploded in response to all the old tricks no longer working. My suggestion, then, is twofold: regular weapons can no longer deal negative effects, ever, and immunities no longer exist, whether for elements or for effects. Removing effects from regular weapon attacks means players can no longer kill two birds with one stone; now, if you want to put an effect on an enemy, you have to play the resource management game with either consumables or Scrolls (or whatever the sci-fi equivalent would be), which means trying to apply it comes at a cost of not dealing a regular attack. (I almost said "at the cost of potentially allowing a Free Hit" out of pure habit, but all things considered Free Hits need to die and be reborn as full-on enemy turns, so that specific example doesn't quite pan out. ) On the receiving side of things, immunities no longer being a thing means that neither players nor QMs can completely no-sell a given tactic, meaning actual counters and strategy need to be used to overcome them. (That being said, resistances instead of immunities would be all right, making application of effects more difficult but not impossible while still tipping the scales in the resistance-bearer's direction.) In addtion, I'd recommend a complete overhaul of all existing effects, positive and negative to make them less swingy. Job Traits. Something that never really made sense to me is how traits learned in one job class end up completely forgotten when the character moves on (the most egregious example, of course, being the Pet Dragon trait, but things like Diplomacy and Animal Talk seemed a bit nonsensical to just forget as well). To that end, I suggest that out-of-battle Job Traits are no longer automatic acquisitions, but in turn are permanently kept once earned. Obviously this means that traits like Fashionista and Pet Dragon need to be either removed or given a very high cost to gain, but in the end it seems definitely worth it. Equipment. Equipment in Heroica got way too crazy, and contrary to what one might think it was actually already pretty darn broken from the word "go". I suggest that equipment items can only grant stats or maybe resistances if that becomes a thing, and any item that grants a new ability must take the form of either a tool (a la things like grappling hooks, jetpacks, magnet boots, etc.) or a combat roll (a la Endgame's idea; for an example, the Lens of Speed-Reading Arthur used so much back in the day might become "Speed-Caster: The character casts an elemental spell for {blah blah blah damage calculations} at the cost of one Ether, and also casts their equipped Scroll at normal Ether cost.") Classes. Heroica had a lot of classes, and they honestly got rather restrictive at times in ways that weren't fun. I propose that we combine Kinto and Endgame's suggestions: a character's Job Traits and rolls are completely customizable, with "classes" simply being pre-packaged bundles of Job Traits and rolls that can be purchased with experience. More "advanced" classes have higher experience costs (meaning that the scaling experience gain comes into play and also slows down stat gains), whereas players who are mostly satisfied with the abilities they have can focus on using their experience to purchase extra stat boosts. On that note... Experience. Getting bogged down in slow level-ups at higher levels sucked. Meanwhile, when QMing low-level Quests, each individual level-up could completely blow your difficulty curve, especially if one or more characters failed to gain experience because the fight ended with them unconscious. Someone (Pie, maybe?) proposed something like this in General Discussion, so I also propose that characters can gain one (1) stat of their choice at level-up, rather than all their stats automatically increasing; this allows characters to customize their stat builds in a meaningful way without having to invest in equipment to do so. Furthermore, I propose that Level is no longer factored into damage calculations, but is rather simply a measure of accumulated experience that has not yet been spent; Levels are used to purchase class-set bundles (see above), individual one-off rolls and Job Traits gained from Quests, or else spent to purchase an additional stat point if the player doesn't want to spring for a class bundle. (The current scaling experience gain system is kept as a way to balance out saving up for more powerful rolls and class bundles, since leveling up still results in a stat increase as well.) Initiative? If the game gets rid of Free Hits and gives enemies full turns, that also eliminates the need for Battle Order to be player-determined. I propose that characters now have an Initiative stat that determines the order they act in; PCs can increase this stat at level-up just like any other, but the "skill cost" that Endgame proposed is instead replaced by an Initiative penalty, meaning that more powerful rolls mean you act later in the turn (and yes, you can push your in-battle initiative into negative numbers). This would take a lot of the burden off of Party Leaders, decentralizing the strategizing so that it's no longer necessary for one player in the party to coordinate the entire PC side of things, and could potentially even allow more dynamic combat encounters more akin to traditional D&D where individual actions and their consequences are calculated individually rather than having to calculate out entire rounds at once. (This is admittedly the idea I'm least sure about, so do take it with a double dose of salt. ) Yes, this means that rolls would end up replacing equipment as the big "holy mackerel this long-time player has a lot of things to keep track of" element, but I think that by the nature of how rolls work, this would still be significantly less complex than the existing equipment system if only because there would be a vastly reduced number of interactions to keep track of (i.e. no more "SP multiplied by however many Artifacts of a given set are equipped" shenanigans, no more digging through a long and complex inventory to see exactly how some obscure item affects some specific roll, and no more having to dig through page after page of the Training Room to find a class's rolls because now they're literally right there on the character sheet). Additionally, it gives a ton of freedom to QMs to create diverse and customized enemies, because enemy characters would have individually customized dice rolls as well to use on their turns. I actually have an easy solution for that that plays off of one of the positive additions from the end of 159: Round 0. Basically, the battle starts with the enemies' stats and potential dice rolls listed (possibly with a "surprise round" set of enemy turns if the party was ambushed), and then the party has a set period to build their own individual dice rolls, which can't be changed once combat proper begins. Said period would also give the party time to ask questions and get clarifications on the various mechanics of the fight, hopefully reducing confusion mid-battle and potentially heading off hurt feelings caused by mistaken assumptions thanks to the encouragement to communicate concerns beforehand. A few more miscellaneous thoughts: Building incentives: there needs to be an effort made to attract builders to the RPG, through both regular contests and building competitions and through various in-game rewards and/or forum badges for those who regularly build sets for other users. I've said it before and I'll say it again, building burnout was the number one thing that got in my way in this game, both reducing my ability to host and also burning me out badly enough that it became hard to even just play, and I firmly believe I was nowhere near alone in that struggle. QM reward incentives: we need a system akin to the D&D Adventurer's League where those who host Quests get in-game rewards for their PCs, as an incentive to host Quests. Under my suggested system this would likely take the form of "bonus experience" that can be awarded to the QM's PCs as they see fit, with the amount given likely based on how much experience the participants gained (and moderated by game staff and specific guidelines to prevent abuse). So... yeah, that's my random thoughts. Use them as you will.

And that's Arthur done! I thought about doing something bigger, something implying his future adventures, but ultimately I've moved away from the Arthur phase of my life, so it felt far more fitting to leave him a more quiet conclusion. I think WBD made a far better epilogue for Diana than even I could have in the Hall scene, so I won't be expanding on that, but those who enjoyed her character would probably enjoy my current work with the (partially autobiographical) character Amelia Zann in the Rise of the Rockets universe. I have one of her side-stories on my Archive of Our Own page, while RotR proper can be found through its TV Tropes page (which reminds me I should probably add my characters to that) or its official wiki. I'm glad WBD invited me back for the finale, it was great getting to see everyone again one last time. Thanks for sticking with me for all these years; it's been great playing with everyone, and while I don't think I'll be coming back to Eurobricks after this, I don't think I'll ever forget my time here either. Thanks for everything! --FlipzMCL

I have to admit, I kinda thought that the dream sequence was a hasty conclusion brought about by unfortunate IRL circumstances at first (as has happened quite a bit in Heroica's past); it wasn't until I saw a few others being suspicious that I cottoned on that something was wrong. I do wish I could have participated more, but unfortunately other life priorities got in the way much of the time, and unfortunately when it comes to this universe I'm afraid I'm sadly a mere shadow of my former self. A part of me will always be Arthur, but at this point he's a dim ember in my consciousness compared to how much I've changed since the old days, and that does make him hard to actually write. Still, I'm glad I managed to tough it out long enough to give him a proper ending, and that he didn't miss the conclusion of the RPG entirely. Thanks. It's fascinating to me that I'm still considered the tactical mind despite having almost completely lost all ability to plan things like Battle Orders and Free Hits -- Pie and Kinto deserve a lot more credit for their own contributions in that regard. (I'll also state that Pala has utterly outstripped me in terms of finding ways to break the game; our PM convos toward the end revealed some nasty tricks in his arsenal I would never have caught in a million years, and that's saying something. ) I started playing Arthur at a deeply formative part of my life, when I was just starting college and just starting to think and develop my own opinions on the world rather than just cleaving to what I'd been taught my whole life. I think a lot of that changing perspective came through in Arthur, and a lot of that wildly swinging pendulum of personal morality reflects the things I was going through on a much smaller scale. (Ironic, then, that I never found a good time for Arthur to go Regulator. ) Huge shoutouts go to Tanma as well; the guesses and interpretations he had about Arthur and his backstory were hugely influential in giving me material I then used to build Arthur's past for real, and Arthur became a much stronger character because of it. It also helps that Arthur has a huge diversity of factions and characters that he became invested in, which in turn tied him more deeply to the world as a whole and gave me a reason to keep caring about it for his sake. Of course, that does become massive baggage in terms of keeping track of what Arthur cares about and how he feels about a truly massive array of different subjects, which makes him nigh-on impossible to play at times, but ultimately I wouldn't have had a reason to bring him back for the finale if it hadn't been for those bonds, so it did work out in the end. I do regret that I never managed to complete the two big Quest-hosting projects I'd originally planned; the first being the Cathedral of Commerce Quest that died because I burnt out while working on a massive fully-explorable environment while developing a realistically diverse array of factions and characters to inhabit it while being for the most part the sole writer and set-builder, and the second being the pair of Quests linked with both each other and part of Legonater's planned Duplovia Quest that... died... because I burnt out while working on a massive fully-explorable environment while developing a realistically diverse array of factions and characters to inhabit it while being the primary writer and set-builder for my portions. ...huh. Well, while my notes on the Cathedral Quest are pretty deeply buried, I'll see what I can recall from memory. The base concept was that the Cathedral used to host a semi-regular ceremony in which thieves and rogues are challenged to try and break into the vaults to test their defenses. The (at the time) recently-installed High Priest, a former Hero from Hestia Bonaparte's generation, had decided to reinstate the rite for some unknown reason and invite Heroes to join in. The first half of the Quest would have been an investigation along the lines of the Ace Attorney Investigations series, complete with clues and details given as semi-tangible Logic blurbs that could be combined to deduce new information. (Three guesses what series I had just recently gotten introduced to and where I was in the series at the time. ) The intention was for the players to gain information about what the Rite was, how it worked, and why it had been reinstated alongside information about the various other competing groups, with them using that knowledge during the second half to solve puzzles and either defeat or recruit their opponents while traversing through the various rooms of the Cathedral. A few of the Theater NPCs were created specifically as early-bird cameos (Carly Swift specifically being the main planned participant for that), with Skuld and Shaun being another appearance as well as the trio of Skirmishers I eventually repurposed for the sake of Arthur's Skirmisher training. I think I ultimately had at least half a dozen various participating groups planned, all with their own histories and motives and methods that could either be fought or recruited based on knowledge from the first half or allies already made in the second (not dissimilar to the student factions from 93 now I think of it), but sadly the majority of that has been lost to the sands of time. I think I already outlined my two-thirds of the planned "Duplovia Trilogy" (aka "Hi Legonater, I have two interlinked Quests going to Duplovia, let me hijack yours by linking it to mine and then burn out and go on hiatus and prevent you from running your Quest entirely" ), so instead I'll talk about a somewhat smaller Quest I had planned connected to it. Originally, "Stormy Weather" was not going to be the introduction of the Circle of Tempestas and Merryweather Ziegfried, but instead there was going to be a Quest called "Winter Wrap-Up". Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. Yes, it is a deliberate reference to what you think it is referencing. Three guesses what show I had just started watching at the time of planning. Basically, it was time for the Weather Mages to help Winter change to Spring in Eubric, but Merryweather was short-handed. (Originally, this would've been foreshadowing for the missing Weather Mage from Stormy Weather before I decided to put Stormy Weather first in the queue and have this one be a consequence of her demise.) As a result, she was going to call in 9 Heroes, immediately train them all as Weather Mages (regardless of Level), divide them into three groups with a set of pre-picked gems for each, and send them off handle some of the minor tasks. At each location, however, the party would be given optional battle objectives at the request of various faction members to help one side or another sabotage their opposing faction using the weather; depending on what weather the party used and what objectives they completed, they could either gain faction rep, or if all three groups picked the "neutral" option they would have been rewarded with being allowed to attend a special start-of-Spring rite that would let them gain significant permanent stat boosts in a "battle" depending on what spells they cast at the target and how effective their spells were. Overall a much simpler Quest, and Sandy had even agreed to build the sets for me, but ultimately timing issues and my own ambition on the other Quests got in the way. I think I had a few other Quests planned besides that -- I know I had one that was basically "Orcish Inazuma Eleven", and the Diamond Authority from the Charis Quest in my planned duology was going to get a series of follow-ups that would have included Diana getting her "Sense of Love" stolen by a reverse-engineered Harvester and if it had been gotten back (with the help of Olivia from the Syndicate), that would have been the point at which I originally planned Diana to outright confess her feelings for Kiray, but for the most part they were only brief snippets of ideas that never got any serious development. Ultimately, while I wish I could have hosted more (and in retrospect I really should have just hired myself out to run everyone's battles while they built the sets and wrote the characters ), I'm at least satisfied with the two Quests I got to run and the myriad of guest QM stints I did.

For a long while, Arthur sat in the Hall as the last details of the city's new foundation were hammered out. As all things do, however, this too reached its end. As the sconces burned low in the dead of night, Arthur rose from his seat, folded a short letter he'd taken quite long to write, and dismissed it before silently exiting the headquarters of Heroica. The Skirmisher strode through the silent streets, reflecting back on all he'd done to protect and preserve them, all he might be called to do in the future. One day he, too, like the illusory Founders, would be a man of a distant time, a person whose entire existence was born of an age long past. I will not make those same mistakes, he promised himself. I vow that, come what may, I will devote my full strength to a future of compassion, a future where everyone's destiny is held in their own hands, not in mine. No matter the age, I will fight for the future, not the past. Arthur's wanderings took him past shops and warehouses, homes and harbor. Guffington Manor, the Shadeaux chateau, Tritech Laboratories -- all these were places he'd need to visit in the coming days. But ultimately, tonight he had one destination and one destination alone. As he reached the gates of Ziegfried Manor, a pink parchment poofed into existence before him, and he read through the short message inside. Arthur, Miirym is fine. She was involved, but did not come to harm. I will pass on your message. -Glaz Arthur let out a breath he hadn't meant to hold. Refolding the letter and stowing it in the pocket at his breast, the Skirmisher stepped forward, rapped on the door three times, and pressed a finger to the keyhole. On cue, the door opened of its own accord, ushering him in. The former mage drifted automatically to the side of the entry hall, a door materializing in the wall at his approach; he opened it, stepped inside the closet, and closed it, a magical light illuminating the enclosed space. His personal closet was barren by the family's standards -- both due to his own frugality and his belongings being split between the Manor and his mother's home -- but it would do, and tonight he needed to be here. With a soft sigh, he returned his armor, his shield, his weapons to their proper place, safely stored as they had been before. He would need them in the morning, but for just one night, the battle was over. For the final touch, Arthur hung up his cloak, replacing it with a blue robe spangled with stars, and put the matching hat his mother had given him atop his head. Arthur stepped out of the closet and into his own, tiny room. His family would be downstairs (probably, if the house felt like orienting itself right-side-up), no doubt awaiting him. Deciding not to keep them waiting, he headed into the living room, the majority of the adults huddled around his mother and murmuring in quiet voices at the hearth while his brother and cousins entertained themselves with poorly-concealed impatience. The latter group looked up at his arrival, prompting the rest a moment later to follow suit. "Well," he said, "I'm home."

"I'm fine with Atramor's Veteran lineup. Figure he's got the right of it." The Skirmisher yawns widely. "And frankly i'm getting too tired to keep arguing. So long as no one else sees any blatant red flags or loopholes for abuse, I'd like to get home, see my brother, and get some rest. Rest assured, I'll still be here in the morning -- and will be for a long time to come."

I. Hate. The new editor. >_<

"I... can't support Whisperer as a Veteran. Throlar and I used to have a similar feud, but I've seen him change as a person, and he's shed his more destructive habits. Whisperer... he's not as bad as he used to be, to be sure, but I've still seen enough red flags and echoes of his old habits in all of this that I still wouldn't trust him with that power... and more importantly, I can't bring myself to respect him as a leader I'd be willing to follow. As much as I've clashed with Hoke over the years, I'd still trust him not to leap at power for its own sake or in the name of some 'greater good', and I respect his sense of morality even when I'm frustrated with his rigidness." With that, Arthur dashes off a Z-Mail. ---------- Hoke, Sorry to interrupt your hard-earned respite, but your name has popped up in our discussion of candidates for the new Veterans. If you'd like to speak your piece either for or against the nomination, now's the time; if you'd rather not come back in person, feel free to send a reply via this parchment. --Arthur ---------- "Normally I'd also bring up Althior, but he's grown quiet as of late, and I'd rather we choose someone who's willing to speak up for themselves. Like I said, though, my ideal Veteran lineup would be Asa, Karie, Dyric, Atramor, Vindsval, and Skrall, if Throlar's not willing to take a Veteran role. Everyone on that list would not only be willing to provide a mature and reasonable perspective on any issue Heroica might face, you're also people I know won't just sit on the sidelines but would take active roles in helping Heroica accomplish our missions. Veteran shouldn't have to be a desk job, and I think we'd be well-served to make an effort to keep it from becoming one."

Arthur shakes his head. "No, Asa stays. Not only did she keep herself committed to the job and avoid political entanglements before the Founders showed up, but out of all the Veterans we had, she could have easily gotten away just like Hestia, and instead, she risked herself to try and sway public opinion, and nearly got hanged for it. That's what a true Veteran looks like, it wouldn't be right to strip her of her position after setting such a sterling example. As for the rest..." Arthur shrugs. "I could get behind Dyric, Karie, Atramor, and Vindsval. I'd nominate Matthias, but the immortality thing is just as much a problem for him as it is for me. Throlar and Skrall are the first picks to come to mind for the last spot."

That's just it -- it seems like Sandy did have a plan to humanize them, but then reversed course and made them simply villainous for whatever reason. I don't know what that reason was, but at least from the outside it definitely seemed deliberate. (Also, the "deals with demons" thing has always rung hollow as a Ziegfried criticism, since aside from Zed and Sycamore it definitely seems like something of a "sins of the fathers" situation rather than an active pursuit of demonic pacts; I've always held that the true flaw of the Ziegfrieds has been their isolationism and to a certain extent elitism, which is why I've had Arthur try to address those in describing his efforts during the years he spent offscreen.)

Arthur once again gestures to Illdria and bows with a flourish to yield the floor to her. OOC: @CMP Illdria is the entire reason Arthur is aware of the Bonapartes being corrupt in the first place, so he'd rather let her speak directly rather than try to speak on her behalf when she's literally right here.

Eh, their core concept -- corrupt militaristic navy with a stranglehold over competition and innovation with a bunch of elitist classism for extra flavor -- didn't exactly leave room for a lot of favorable portrayals. It seemed like Sandy was going to transition their arc to a "rooting out corruption" arc once... I want to say Reno? ... got over his dismay with his brother's death, but then instead they reversed course and doubled down with the cartoonishly villainous Blackgull and his wife, which basically ended any hope of the faction changing to become sympathetic. The Bonapartes have always been one of the few Houses I personally have read as unambiguously evil, alongside the Guild of Invision once certain details emerged about their business practices, but unlike the Guild the Bonapartes didn't exactly have a cast of friendly and sympathetic NPCs attached to them, so that also doesn't help matters for them.

Sorry for the slow posts, folks, other things have been stretching my attention thin. I don't see my availability improving much at the moment, so please bear with me and my abysmal posting speed.

"Honestly? I think we should commission airships from Tritech, but owned and operated directly under the authority of the Council. Hel, I'd even be okay buying ships from the Bonaparte fleet off of them--my objection is to them running things, not the ships themselves, though I will say for the record that from my experience a contest between airship and sailing ship is no contest at all. That being said, putting the Council in between the gold and the Bonapartes' pockets is a damn good first step, so kudos for that concept--so long as every last transaction is freely-accessible public record. A lot of the problems with our old system came from things happening behind closed doors, transparency is key to keeping things fair and equitable and giving the people the tools they need to make educated choices." "I'm well aware not all of my family's ideas are great, thanks--that's why I spend I spend so much time arguing my various family members down from our worse impulses...and why I rely on them in turn to argue down my own bad ideas. It's part of why I'm so angry with your mother--if I, a relatively lower-rank member of my family who wasn't even aware of my heritage until a few years ago have done so much to improve my family and keep us out of trouble, how could she, one of the highest-ranked members of your House with experience and power far outstripping my own, fail so utterly to curb your aunt and uncle's abuses? I'm not blind to my family's problems, but I've worked hard to repair them; I've seen nothing of that from your family."

Arthur listens to the other Heroes sucking up to the Bonapartes in disbelief. "No," he says, "no, no, no, absolutely not. We are not handing control of Uland's seas back into the hands of these thieving militaristic megablocks." Arthur scowls at the Heroes, crossing his arms. "Even if Hestia had done her job as Veteran and stuck by our side as we tried to fix the whole Founders mess, even if I did trust Attina's word to root out corruption and end the Bonapartes' tyrannical deathgrip over Eubric's commerce, that is still far too much power to put in the hands of anyone." Arthur glares directly at Attina. "You want to know the number one reason we had to blow up that fort? It's because we can't trust you, because from everything I've seen of you and your family, putting you in that fort while we fought Rosier would end up with the city exactly the same as when the Founders had taken over. Same regime, new faces. Let's drop the charade; you didn't help us fight the dragons out of the goodness of your hearts or because you wanted to save the city from the Founders' tyrrany, you fought them because you wanted your damn fort back, so you could take their place. Unacceptable." Arthur looks to Illdria beside him. "Tell her, Illdria, you've suffered from these people more than anyone else I know, please explain to the rest of us exactly why we can't just hand the city back over to them." @Waterbrick Down@CMP

...So it's come to my attention via trying to describe Heroica to my other TBRPG group that Heroica is basically medieval-era Overwatch, and that's kinda rad.

"A bit out of left field, but perhaps Euflear, if they'd be willing? At least for a short while? We are, in some ways, re-founding Heroica, so the wisdom of one who founded Heroica originally -- and, importantly, who did not try to impose that past directly upon us when confronted with modernity -- is not easily discounted." "And you cannot simply ignore the great damage your family has done to Heroica and to Eubric!" Arthur snaps reflexively. The Skirmisher takes a few crucial seconds to breathe, trying to quell the instinctual rage that had built in response to Attina's loud accusations. "You know what, no, I'm not doing this. I'm the messenger to them, not the diplomat; someone else needs to talk to the Bonapartes, I'm too angry over everything they've done." With that, Arthur stands up and steps aside, standing near Illdria and shaking his head at the situation.

Diana blushes bright red, but tightens her grip on Kiray's hand as she smiles happily. With some trepidation, Diana accepts the handshake, awkwardly using her left hand so as not to let go of Kiray's. Arthur nods along in agreement with Throlar, but grimaces in dismay as Boomingham pipes up and the arguments begin anew. "Two concerns: firstly, anyone on the Council has to forfeit their other positions and place their businesses in trust for the full duration they serve, with fully transparent publicly-accessible financial auditing to back it up. That should cover the loopholes to prevent people from using their office to enrich themselves. Second, who picks the members of the Council? I like the idea of a popular vote, but we'd have to put protections in place to make sure Hovels residents get equal and fair access to the polls compared to the richer neighborhoods. I'd suggest Z-Mail, but that raises neutrality issues, and after what the Founders did hijacking Mom's system I'm not exactly keen on just handing the system over even if it'd make it easier to keep things fairer." "I mean, I'm staying, if that's not obvious, but then again I'm a bit more directly tied up in all this compared to most. As for Attina, I'm working on an invitation now, but..." "Hmm. Remind me to touch on that accountability group thought later, then, for now I need to address the Bonapartes." "We still need to decide how we're addressing the Hestia problem. Are we holding her to account for her failures as Veteran? Or are we sweeping her under the rug and calling her in as the Bonaparte representative in the vain hope that she'll be more cooperative than her daughter? I've got mail slips right here, we just need to decide who we're sending them to and what we're telling them. Personally, I don't see them accepting anything short of the same dominance they had before, which I 100% refuse to accept, so as far as I'm concerned they're more than welcome to eff right off and leave the city defense to Heroica and Tritech, but that's just me. If y'all want a message zapped off to someone, just say the word and I'll make the contact." "Not a problem, Throlar," Arthur says, handing over the parchments and the Cowl. "I bought the cowl in hopes of talking more easily to Sir Poletad if we met again, but sadly I... doubt that'll be possible anymore, it has been several years after all and he was a frog. May it serve you well."

Plot twist to the plot twist, the true final boss fight is that political minigame fight thing from Pie's follow-up Quest in Baltarok.

Why yes, Diana is a hopeless lesbian disaster, how ever did you guess?

Having gone through his belongings, Arthur returns the Glistening Halberd and one Gladiator Trident to Hoke (Arthur already had one Gladiator Trident of his own before then), before in turn returning the Bloody Skull Helmet, Duke's Coat of Arms, and Soul Link Chain to Pretzel. He then reclaims his Diamond from Heckz, reclaims his Prayer Beads from Pretzel, and from a parcel left at the bar reclaims the Anniversary Medal, Fur Leggings, Sven's Dagger, and Staff of the Cultist Battlemage he'd lent Bellanotte. He elects to continue to let Matthias borrow his Coat Hangar and Mail of the Renegade Commander, and outright lets Atramor keep the White Ninja Cowl he'd lent him. Diana looks Karie over warily. "...No thanks, redheads aren't exactly my type. Brunettes, on the other hand..." Diana smiles warmly at Kiray. "Oh right, report." Diana's face resumes its usual scowl. "My fath--I mean, Jupiter Justus has been avenged, with prejudice. There's one less Watchman coward out there willing to stab an unarmed Minstrel in the back for the 'crime' of spreading propaganda. Er...end report, I guess?" "That sounds great," Arthur replies, "but how do you intend on preventing your successors from reversing everything you've done? What if you're assassinated, or mind controlled, or blackmailed, or subject to any number of misfortunes that would remove you from the playing field? What if, gods forbid, you make another mistake? How do you plan to stop all that from ruining the vision you've laid out? I like your vision, really I do, but I just... I struggle to believe you can carry it out alone. A year or two, maybe, sure. But long-term?" Arthur shakes his head. "Eubric is a city of change. No one person can possibly hope to bend it permanently to their will." Diana blanches at the tightness of the embrace, but the joy on her countenance practically exclaims 'worth it.' She gratefully accepts the Potion, chugging it as smoothly as any veteran Hero, and looks over the Deadly Crossbow Kiray had hefted. "Nice pick...always knew I was a good influence." The Assassin smirks playfully, her impulse to throw an arm over the Warden's shoulder thwarted only by her injuries. Diana beams at Kiray, but at the mention of 'friend', her expression grows grim. "Listen, Kiray... my father is..." The Assassin closes her eyes and takes a deep, calming breath. "Dad's... gone. You and Walbartan are all I..." Diana trails off, fingering some small, round object in her pocket. "Look, what I'm trying to say is... after those cowardly bastards murdered my father, and they started talking about executing Heroes, and then everything with the Paladins and the curfews and... well, the thought occured to me that, well... people die... or well, not exactly that people die, I'm... familiar with that, it's more that it could be people I... you know... care about, and so it ended up being like, look, life is short, right? And it's possible time can end up wasted, time you'd want to spend with people, 'cause they can die and all, and maybe waiting for the perfect moment isn't a grand gesture, it's an excuse -- no, cowardice -- and, and..." The Assassin jumps to her feet, jerking her hand out of her pocket as if burned, before belatedly recalling her own injuries and dropping back to her seat with a hiss. "You... you know what, you're right, catch up later, future of the city and all. Good call, Kiray." From her expression, the Assassin seems to be warring with herself over whether she's infuriated or relieved about her own actions. "Ace Assassin, thank you very much. But, uh...good to meet you, I guess. Friend of Kiray's and all." Diana's face briefly contorts in agony, only a little of it physical in nature.

"It'd be nice for 'the people' to be a check on the government, but in practice there needs to be a mechanism in place for that to actually work. We're the most accessible path people have toward becoming that check. Look at who we are, where we came from -- rich or poor, commoner or noble, scholar or soldier, the Hall didn't care; all of us started from the same place with practically nothing, and grew with time to become the people we are today, people with political and practical power both within and outside of Heroica. Heroica is the great equalizer, and that's what makes Heroes the perfect tool for keeping other, more closed-off powers in check. In a sense, we don't represent the will of the people, we're the mechanism through which the people get to execute their own will for themselves. That's what the original Yuliana saw in Heroica, and that's what I see, too." "Sounds to me like you're putting a lot of faith in Heroica." A familiar (to some) Assassin leans against the doorframe, not bothering to look at Arthur but instead grinning wryly at a certain Warden in particular. Though she puts up a brave front, the awkward angle of her crossbow arm and the tell-tale pinpricks of blood wicking into clean clothing is evidence to the observant that she'd been through some serious action recently, and still wasn't up to any more combat in the immediate future; the hastily-hidden wince as she pushes herself up and the harder-to-hide limp as she takes a few steps forward provide further proof of her extensive injuries. "Boss," Diana intones casually with a half-hearted nod at Ulfric. She smiles openly at Kiray. "Sorry I'm late. I got a little... held up at the office, you might say." The one-time Hero twirls a pair of Watch-issued Shackles of War around a finger before slipping them back into her pocket. "Miss me?" Arthur frowns at the newcomer, but decides not to object to her presence. "I'm not suggesting... look, Yuliana's spirit put it best: the Heroica she founded 'placed no absolute faith in either itself or any other institution, it put its faith in people.' The way I see it, for all the ways Heroica's changed since then, that's one way it hasn't, that's all." Diana merely shrugs at the objection, seemingly uninterested in the Skirmisher now that she has Kiray in her sights. OOC: Hope you don't mind, WBD, happened to stumble across the 'fig and decided to show off Diana and the upgraded outfit I worked out for that cancelled Quest before the end. "That your actions speak for themselves is... part of the problem, Ulric. You can't deny what a massive mistake you made with Baba. I know you also helped make her downfall possible, but that doesn't erase the mistake you made in the first place. Surely you can see why that wouldn't inspire confidence in your decision-making in me or my family." Arthur nods approvingly at Skrall's reassurance. "Good. I'd hate to see the movement die with its head. Honestly, now seems an ideal time to get some things set in stone here and now--if Eubric's supposed to be a free port, there shouldn't be anyone bound in slavery, you know? But I guess that's something to discuss once we actually have the city's power players all in one place." "Honestly? I go back and forth on that thing myself. On the one hand, it definitely levels the playing field between those rich enough to afford combat training and those poor enough that untrained brawling's their only option. On the other... yeah, immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be, and perceived invincibility can definitely lead to recklessness. Something to be considered for sure."