Heroica RPG General Discussion

[Khorne]

Hi guys! Thought I'd drop in for a sec and congratulate WBD (and all of you) for the excellent finale. Sorry for dropping out all of the sudden. I just couldn't find the time for efficient participation and when I did have time the Quest had already gotten so deep I hardly knew what was going on. I've been reading along in the shadows and got the general jist of the finale. I did kind of miss all the goings-on of the ending. What happened to the Bonapartes? I get that the fortress got destroyed. But their fleet is waiting in the harbor or what? And why are the Heroes reluctant to involve Attina? From Eric's perspective that's a good thing, but as a spectator I'd like a small synopsis if possible  .

I'd loved to have been more active, especially with parts involving Bonapartes since that was Eric's schtick but I'm not sure if I would've added much to the level of the finale. All roleplaying was great from the bits I've read (and the sets/characters were phenomenal) . Time for Eric to close the Heroica door and get back the Merry Mermaid, I guess. Or North. Who knows what the future brings.

[Duvors]

Just now, Khorne said:

Hi guys! Thought I'd drop in for a sec and congratulate WBD (and all of you) for the excellent finale. Sorry for dropping out all of the sudden. I just couldn't find the time for efficient participation and when I did have time the Quest had already gotten so deep I hardly knew what was going on. I've been reading along in the shadows and got the general jist of the finale. I did kind of miss all the goings-on of the ending. What happened to the Bonapartes? I get that the fortress got destroyed. But their fleet is waiting in the harbor or what? And why are the Heroes reluctant to involve Attina? From Eric's perspective that's a good thing, but as a spectator I'd like a small synopsis if possible  .

I'd loved to have been more active, especially with parts involving Bonapartes since that was Eric's schtick but I'm not sure if I would've added much to the level of the finale. All roleplaying was great from the bits I've read (and the sets/characters were phenomenal) . Time for Eric to close the Heroica door and get back the Merry Mermaid, I guess. Or North. Who knows what the future brings.

Nice to see you! Sorry about you not being able to participate though. What happened with Fort Bonaparte was that the Heroes had gotten the rebel sailors inside the fort to stop fighting and surrender, however a Bonaparte fleet was on the way to recapture the fort and our attempt's to make them stand down didn't work. As most of the people currently active and making decisions didn't like the idea of the Bonapartes regaining the fort due to their abuses of power the heroes elected to evacuate the fort and then blow it sky high.

[StickFig]

Just now, StickFig said:

The gnome can only blush as the Ziegfried matriarch marches off.

"Uh, hi, Lady Chesterine. ... ... Could I buy you an ice cream?"

Thus ends the Saga of Matthias, Heavy Metal Druid and Gnome Immortal.

 

17 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

QM Note:  Thanks to everyone who participated not only in this quest but in the last seven years, it's been one amazing ride!

Yes, to everyone: thank you. To @Waterbrick Down: thank you. To @Sandy: thank you.

Since Matthias joined Heroica (November 17, 2013), I've moved across the Pacific ocean (twice), visited three new countries (and Hawaii), seen the birth of my first child, bought three cars and sold three others, started a Master's degree....

Since we started the final quest (January 2, 2018), I've seen the birth of my second child, completed my Master's degree, moved (with the whole family) 1,300 miles across the United States (including a month-long road trip), bought our first home, bought another car, and begun teaching for a living.

Matthias has been on quests by @Waterbrick Down, @Zepher, @Kintobor, and @KotZ, plus crossovers, events, and Fields of Glory runs with @CMP, @Sandy, @JimBee, and @Flipz. He has quested with uncounted Heroes (most bigger than him), and I have enjoyed it very much. Heroica has been a special place the last few years — half a decade for me, and longer for many of you. I cherish the memories.

Thank you all.

[Waterbrick Down]

8 minutes ago, StickFig said:

Thus ends the Saga of Matthias, Heavy Metal Druid and Gnome Immortal.

 

Yes, to everyone: thank you. To @Waterbrick Down: thank you. To @Sandy: thank you.

Since Matthias joined Heroica (November 17, 2013), I've moved across the Pacific ocean (twice), visited three new countries (and Hawaii), seen the birth of my first child, bought three cars and sold three others, started a Master's degree....

Since we started the final quest (January 2, 2018), I've seen the birth of my second child, completed my Master's degree, moved (with the whole family) 1,300 miles across the United States (including a month-long road trip), bought our first home, bought another car, and begun teaching for a living.

Matthias has been on quests by @Waterbrick Down, @Zepher, @Kintobor, and @KotZ, plus crossovers, events, and Fields of Glory runs with @CMP, @Sandy, @JimBee, and @Flipz. He has quested with uncounted Heroes (most bigger than him), and I have enjoyed it very much. Heroica has been a special place the last few years — half a decade for me, and longer for many of you. I cherish the memories.

Thank you all.

It's been an absolute pleasure playing with you, Matthias has always been one of my favorites and I'm glad to have hosted him many times. You're right, the number of life milestones that have gone by are astounding when you actually think about it.

[StickFig]

Just now, Waterbrick Down said:

It's been an absolute pleasure playing with you, Matthias has always been one of my favorites and I'm glad to have hosted him many times.

Such high praise for such a little gnome!

[The Legonater]

1 hour ago, StickFig said:

Thus ends the Saga of Matthias, Heavy Metal Druid and Gnome Immortal.

1

53 minutes ago, StickFig said:

Such high praise for such a little gnome!

I intend to do a more thorough player response in the QM thread, but Matthias is definitely a character I've always enjoyed. He balanced his small stature with a big voice, and while he played nice he was never afraid to speak his mind. It's been cool seeing him grow and shoulder up to some of the bigger personalities and still hold his own. I'm super glad to have been able to quest alongside you and him one final time.

Did Sandy ever put up pictures of his set-up for the Hall? Something feels very final seeing it as just a set like that, like a dash of the magic is being stripped away. It's truly the end of an age. 

[UsernameMDM]

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

It's been quite the ride!  Special thanks to @Sandy for putting this all together and @Waterbrick Down and @Zepher who I believe hosted Hoke the most.  

Thanks.

[Palathadric]

I've always loved Matthias as a character. I think he's grown and changed incredibly well over the years and in ways that really seem to make sense. He's also a pocket full of fun...and trouble. I believe I only shared one quest with him: "The Grunch who Stole Grogmas," but I've read all the quests and following him as a character has been very enjoyable.

Hoke I've also enjoyed a lot for just being quite different. Not sure if his character is just a reflection of yours, MDM, but regardless, it's nice having some firm, quiet, stable people around when all of the rest of us hotheads are getting into arguments and philosophical discussions.

I can't recall if we went on any other quest together apart from the Mummy one, which, wasn't the greatest of quests, but really glad you've been a part of this game too.

Well, obviously, I shared the last quest with both of you, though we were apart for most of its duration.

[Palathadric]

By the way, for all the talk of Heroes working too much for the houses and all that, I really can't recall Pretzel having actually been directly hired by the houses. Most of the reputation he got was by happenstance. 

[Lind Whisperer]

On 10/29/2018 at 8:49 PM, Waterbrick Down said:

That's the intention of the model, though I need to wait on a Bricklink order to make some of your characters more accurately.

It's about as close as I could get without photoshopping anything. A few color palate changes and piece variation, but it'll hopefully serve as a stand-in for Sandy's masterpiece.

Spoiler

(I'm putting this first instead of second, because the other way came off like I was disappointed, which is not the case!)

Spoiler

Hands are black instead of dark blue, but he's wearing the Swift Boots instead of the Immortal Palms, and those hands are rare-ish, anyways. Black hair instead of brown is fine, too - and those wings almost look better than the traditional ones - and very much better than the parts I had access to!

 

Honestly, I was thrilled with how accurately you've remade Lind - you even remembered the gold round tile for the AM!

Spoiler

(Technically it's still on loan, but I've been thinking about RPing Lind retrieving it before the game ends.)

As to the Hall, Sandy's was wonderful, but I almost prefer your parts swaps - (if I remember right,) the nougat was a bit more decorative, but the brown blends together better. 

On 10/30/2018 at 5:32 PM, StickFig said:

Thus ends the Saga of Matthias, Heavy Metal Druid and Gnome Immortal.

Matthias was always a very unique character - glad to see him get a good ending! 

15 hours ago, UsernameMDM said:

Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

It's been quite the ride!  Special thanks to @Sandy for putting this all together and @Waterbrick Down and @Zepher who I believe hosted Hoke the most.  

Thanks.

Honestly, it wasn't until I read your post that I realized it...Heroica is over. I mean, I knew this was the final quest...but Hoke was kind of a constant. He was there on the first quest, and he always seemed to be around when Lind left or came back - there never seemed to be any downtime with him.

To have him and Torc fly off into the sky like that...well, it's fitting, and it's beautiful - but it also underscores just how over Heroica is.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Lind Whisperer

[CMP]

Out of town at a wedding til Sunday, won't be posting until then.

 

One last delay for old times sake. 

[Flipz]

...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.

[UsernameMDM]

On 10/31/2018 at 4:54 PM, Palathadric said:

Hoke I've also enjoyed a lot for just being quite different. Not sure if his character is just a reflection of yours, MDM, but regardless, it's nice having some firm, quiet, stable people around when all of the rest of us hotheads are getting into arguments and philosophical discussions.

 

On 10/31/2018 at 10:59 PM, Lind Whisperer said:

Honestly, it wasn't until I read your post that I realized it...Heroica is over. I mean, I knew this was the final quest...but Hoke was kind of a constant. He was there on the first quest, and he always seemed to be around when Lind left or came back - there never seemed to be any downtime with him.

To have him and Torc fly off into the sky like that...well, it's fitting, and it's beautiful - but it also underscores just how over Heroica is.

Thanks!  I appreciate the compliments.  Truth be told, Hoke is me, or at least the better parts of me.  I made nothing up with him that was a stretch for my simple imagination.  When I told other players to play it like YOU are there, that's exactly what I did.  I've had that ending in mind for some time now, just wish Vipera would've been there to make it extra perfect.  Heroica has been great.  Hoke was there at the beginning, and I am glad he was there for the end.

Thanks again to anyone and everyone who was ever involved with this game.  

[Flipz]

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.

 

[Waterbrick Down]

So reviewing past quests, it's kind of sad. The Bonapartes are really under-represented quest wise, and of their quests none of them really humanize them aside from Quest 58. 

[UsernameMDM]

10 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

So reviewing past quests, it's kind of sad. The Bonapartes are really under-represented quest wise, and of their quests none of them really humanize them aside from Quest 58. 

Something for next time: there should be Faction team members that roleplay the various NPC factions.  If we could get GMs to be assigned or sign up to represent certain factions, that would be great.

[Zepher]

2 hours ago, UsernameMDM said:

Something for next time: there should be Faction team members that roleplay the various NPC factions.  If we could get GMs to be assigned or sign up to represent certain factions, that would be great.

That is exactly how I would have Heroica 2.0 work. Sandy had a central story, which was awesome, but it meant that they were left fleshing out 6 factions PLUS anything else that struck their fancy. Next time around I'd assign a faction to each of 6 DMs. Anyone else could do a quest in that storyline, but the 6 DMs would run the overarching story of their individual faction.

I would also not have "rivalries" but instead immediately implement perks for siding with a particular faction, like we tried with the Sungold and Crescent crests. I think that would work well. You could only wear an allegiance to a particular faction one at a time, but could do quests for other factions without losing rep with your favorite faction.

[KotZ]

57 minutes ago, Zepher said:

That is exactly how I would have Heroica 2.0 work. Sandy had a central story, which was awesome, but it meant that they were left fleshing out 6 factions PLUS anything else that struck their fancy. Next time around I'd assign a faction to each of 6 DMs. Anyone else could do a quest in that storyline, but the 6 DMs would run the overarching story of their individual faction.

That would make everything a lot smoother.

Quote

I would also not have "rivalries" but instead immediately implement perks for siding with a particular faction, like we tried with the Sungold and Crescent crests. I think that would work well. You could only wear an allegiance to a particular faction one at a time, but could do quests for other factions without losing rep with your favorite faction.

Eh, I think if you have rep with Faction A and do a quest with Faction B that doesn't negatively affect A, you won't lose rep. But if you were part of A, did a quest for C where you're actively working against the faction you're allied to, then you could take a ding in rep.

[Flipz]

17 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

So reviewing past quests, it's kind of sad. The Bonapartes are really under-represented quest wise, and of their quests none of them really humanize them aside from Quest 58. 

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.

[Waterbrick Down]

6 minutes ago, Flipz said:

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.

I'd argue that most of the houses had villainous aspects to them, Ziegfried's deals with demons, The Guild's monopolistic and morally gray experimenting tendencies, Hinckwell traditionalism and ignorance, Shadeaux under the table business dealing and war profiteering, Ji Pei foreign interests combined with reckless technology, and the Bonaparte's militaristic complex. The difference lay in some QM's running quests that humanized them and gave them admirable qualities. I'm sure a quest could have been run about the Bonapartes part in quelling northern invasions and or dealings with Leviathan that would have cast their penchant for disciplined combat and strategy in a good light. Beyond that I'm sure we read into the houses what we wished, partially due to each of our own character's backgrounds along with our own personal bents. 

[Flipz]

5 hours ago, Waterbrick Down said:

I'd argue that most of the houses had villainous aspects to them, Ziegfried's deals with demons, The Guild's monopolistic and morally gray experimenting tendencies, Hinckwell traditionalism and ignorance, Shadeaux under the table business dealing and war profiteering, Ji Pei foreign interests combined with reckless technology, and the Bonaparte's militaristic complex. The difference lay in some QM's running quests that humanized them and gave them admirable qualities. I'm sure a quest could have been run about the Bonapartes part in quelling northern invasions and or dealings with Leviathan that would have cast their penchant for disciplined combat and strategy in a good light. Beyond that I'm sure we read into the houses what we wished, partially due to each of our own character's backgrounds along with our own personal bents. 

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.)

[Duvors]

2 hours ago, Flipz said:

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.

 

Blackgull always struck me as a deliberate personification of the negative aspects of the Bonapartes in order to give them a definite face so that he could eventually be defeated, thus providing a satisfactory finale to the Bonaparte storyline. After all, 'corruption' is a bit too nebulous to have a boss fight against. But that's just my two cents.

[Lind Whisperer]

On 11/6/2018 at 8:03 AM, Zepher said:

That is exactly how I would have Heroica 2.0 work. Sandy had a central story, which was awesome, but it meant that they were left fleshing out 6 factions PLUS anything else that struck their fancy. Next time around I'd assign a faction to each of 6 DMs. Anyone else could do a quest in that storyline, but the 6 DMs would run the overarching story of their individual faction.

Back-up DMs would need to be in place, in case any of the DMs had an unexplained absence, and then never came back from it.

The overarching story would also have to be written down somewhere, where the Back-up DMs - or the main, overseeing DM - could access it if such a disappearance were to happen.

[KotZ]

51 minutes ago, Lind Whisperer said:

Back-up DMs would need to be in place, in case any of the DMs had an unexplained absence, and then never came back from it.

The overarching story would also have to be written down somewhere, where the Back-up DMs - or the main, overseeing DM - could access it if such a disappearance were to happen.

I think a Google drive or similar would be fine for that.

[Palathadric]

I thought Blackgull was the hero of the Bonapartes.