Flipz

You can wear up to two Artifacts at a time at your Level (you can wear 3 once you hit 20), but you can only wear one Artifact in a given slot. The armor only takes up the Boot, Bodywear, and Handwear slots (but counts as only one Artifact), while the Anniversary Medal is an Accessory. (Another advantage of the medal is that it'll go up in all its stats again in August. )

Ooh, nice. Shame you picked the Hincks as employers on Four's Company, otherwise I'd ask about Shadeaux rep on the sequel; any chance of it on the Syndicate quest?

Those only happen when his villains sufficiently traumatize the players.

I'm surprised Em went with Hunter, actually--given he's already got such a huge amount of SP available to him I figured he'd go Warden.

One thing I noticed about 81 was how little the Heroes seemed to interact with each other and the other NPCs. Endgame thrives on players who don't know how/when to shut up (*cough*Johon*cough* *cough*Arthur*cough* *cough*Karie*cough*), and the absence of that was very prevalent in this Quest--Erdathcath and Elgar were both very quiet, and not in an Em sort of way. (For reference, Em is quiet but still present--it feels like the character is quiet, not the player, making it a choice rather than a consequence of inactivity. Case in point, his silent attempts to locate Solon's children.) This was particularly noticeable with the blacksmith from 48--I could practically feel Endgame's frustration as he dropped rope after rope for Elgar to grab on to and got nothing back in response. Advice for Endgame: I will agree with the critique that the Heroes were expected to know a lot of details from 36 and 48. One thing that would have helped, I think, would have been to walk the players through it a little more--show them a museum or hallway in which that era of Progg history is illustrated, or a Progg female mourning her sons lost in the war, etc. etc. etc. Some backstory was given, but it was mostly in the form of infodumps from Solon and other characters, rather than through extended interactions that the Heroes can walk through themselves. You've already established the dream sequences in this arc, use them. Show them the night that 48 took place--from the perspective of the Proggs. Make them fight the 48 party in a dream, witness the fall of the Death Progg and The Regret, see Aayla meet Punii in 36, let them experience the history for themselves so that when further developments related to that history take place, the Heroes are emotionally invested not just as players who might or might not be following your overarching plot, but as characters who have a personal stake in the events happening. You've been lucky so far in getting Karie and/or Johon on every one of your Quests since 48, but you can't rely on always getting Heroes with a connection to your storyline. And above all, show, don't tell. On a similar note, I feel like the transition between "follow-up to 48" and "foreshadowing for the future" was really abrupt. Given how disjointed the party was, it might have been a good idea to split them up individually and given them each a different experience in the interim between those two main sections of plot. Let Em spend some time playing a mini-game with Solon's children, let Jeaux talk more with Solon about Antimutilav, let Johon help Beatrice take care of Punii, let Sarge and Erdy...erm...well, actually, they sort of already had their moment with the drinking game, while everyone else sort of just stood around with nothing to do. But the point is, this would have again given them an opportunity to become emotionally invested in the colony, giving the later events more of an impact. Problems with villainous actions and the dream sequence: first of all, you made a huge mistake here: you killed off multiple characters without giving the Heroes the illusion of being able to save them. Aayla...sort of works, for me. I was going to criticize you for making Siri look too similar to Aayla, but then wrote it off as LDD having a limited part/printing supply...but in any case, there was an impression that maybe if the Heroes had worked out her identity sooner, they might have been able to save her. (Obviously, plot-wise, that wouldn't have worked, but the illusion was there.) Aquos Jr., though, had no chance, and I have a problem with that. Pull a 93: give the Heroes a Round of combat--one Round--to defeat (or Steal from) the Oculoid holding Aquos Jr., or else he's killed. Make the enemy Levels, numbers, and Specials harsh enough that they will not get a second Round, and let the consequences play out from there. There's a stigma against them due to the way the system works, but unwinnable battles CAN be a valid storytelling technique, so long as you make it clear that the loss will not result in a Quest's failure. This ties into the dream sequence: it was, clearly, Unwinnable By Design (Fission Mailed, if you will). Good. Now speed it up, make it faster. You let Johon mouth off WAY too much, you should have "killed" him sooner. I realize you wanted to wait for the other players to have a chance to speak up, but in this case it would have been better to let things play out before they have a chance to get back online and try to stop it--it gives the players the feeling that events are spiraling outside of their control, and the shock and helplessness their characters felt would have felt very real to them as well. (It's part of what makes Mafia so stressful--use it sparingly, both so your players aren't overwhelmed and so that it retains its effectiveness as a QMing technique.) As it stood, though, the pace flagged during that sequence, badly. Problems with The Regret: I have a similar problem with The Regret, actually. He stuck around too long, and tolerated too much guff from the Heroes. In this case, I think slowing down and holding off on Johon's replies specifically (because he was the one doing all the talking) might have helped some of the other players engage a little more--though it also could have been a valuable chance to conspire with some of the players via PM the way you did in 48 with Johon and Sylph. TR was also too specific here--I could have waited for Eternal Reaper to know the full details of his plan. Knowing that he wants to absorb the all-powerful Lifespark? Great foreshadowing. Knowing exactly how he can and will do it (and even knowing how he came Back From the Dead)? TMI, dude. Save some mysteries for the finale.

I need to make a Theatre post on bad roleplaying, because that moment really was a perfect example of it. I literally went, "Okay, Arthur's turning evil and becoming a Sorcerer. What's the most disturbing thing I can make him do to make him Darker and Edgier? Hmm, Skrall mentioned calamari... Arthur eats a person? Perfect!" For reference, boys and girls, that is not the way to do roleplaying.

I'm a little disturbed you find cannibalism and/or rotting flesh appetizing...

I doubt I'd be able to purchase (my budget this year is tied up with The LEGO Movie), but you have my full support! Hopefully there'll still be a few available by the time I've found space in my budget for the Ghostbusters set.

BRILLIANT thought on character creation. Give it a read.

Oh gosh, I just got something... Cloud Cuckooland is located above Middle Zealand, right? And it's not on that map. That makes perfect sense...

Sorry to double-post, but important question: can multiple items be traded in one turn (for both giver and receiver), or does it take one turn (for both giver and receiver) per item? I think it's the latter, but I'm not sure and need confirmation.

I knew I should have listened to my instincts earlier! Oh well, this should work for now...

I almost had a heart attack until I realized you were talking about Dastan.

Well, some enemies DO deal elemental damage on Damage and Free Hits (or at least they should--it's nice when it happens, since it makes elemental immunities actually worth it outside of Special Damage rolls on Sandy Quests ). Obviously it would ONLY matter for the purpose of immunities, but still.

I second this point--though I think it'd also be a good idea to run in "reverse" with enemies that simulate Hero classes, just to be sure the maths are right. Also, I hope I'm making good decisions right now--I don't trust consumables, but I'm trusting the die even less right now.

Arthur accepts the Essence, memories from a certain night flashing back to him. "I will," he swears somberly.

Hey, it has been a week since the last time we got word...

I don't want to nag, but any more word on the Tidings gifts?

Arthur coughs. "Actually, I don't have a Sapphire--but I have an Opal, and a shell of ice would preserve our air long enough for the shell to float us quickly to the surface." He pauses. "I know how much you'd like to accompany the Princess, Tarn, and if I were in your position I'd feel the same way. But at the same time, I feel that my magical talents would be better suited to protect the princess down below." Arthur cocks his head, studying Tarn carefully. "Besides," he adds, "Do we really want to send our Princess and our Warrior down alone after the originals' relic? Does that not strike anyone else as tempting fate?" He looks carefully into the Raider's eyes. "Ultimately, you are our Party Leader, so the decision lies with you. I won't deny that I'd greatly like to experience this wonder, but my ultimate duty is to serve our mission--and no one will fight harder to keep the Princess safe than you."

Arthur grimaced. "I guess you're right--I think I know the answer, I'm just not sure I like it." He starts to amble away in U'Voros' direction, but stops and turns back to Ella. "One more question--and I don't need to know if it's too personal--have you ever regretted having your gift?" OOC: Ready to move on once I have this answer.

I also seem to recall that they are bound by their culture to carry a mace that inflicts the Bleeding-effect. It was one of the things that tied Zaises and Lady Felix together.

I just realized: happy "anniversary" to Valentine Zeigfried--and to the event that set off so much for so many of us! I can't believe it's been two years since Ethereal Letters...

I think part of the problem is that normal fights have started to turn into boss fights of their own accord, and thus they rob the boss fight of its thematic power. The quick and dirty fights shouldn't be a cakewalk, but they shouldn't be an insurmountable hassle where every last consumable is the difference between life and death, either. Zepher's been hitting that stride in 92, and I think it works well. (Note also that shorter fights help tremendously in offsetting the overuse of consumables--if the fight's only going to last three or four Rounds, you'd better be absolutely certain you're going to make back the money you've spent on consumables by the end of the fight, either by the Quest offering a decent Gold payout or by the enemies dropping lots of it in their drops.) I will say this: the "high power, low health" strategy is very definitely not as successful in parties of mixed level. Granted, with ??-Level enemies it can still sort of work, but in those fights you're almost always going to see either a massacre of the low-level Heroes (if you try for "fast and hard" for the high-levels), an absurdly easy curb-stomp (if you try to balance "fast and hard" for the low-levels), or else the high-level Heroes slowly chewing through the enemy ranks, with the low-levels used mainly to keep Free Hits manageable (if you go in for a long haul). It'd almost be better for mixed-level parties to have front battles (i.e. the "Western front" and "Eastern Front"), with both sets matched as "fast and hard" for a different Level range--that way, both ranges can have an interesting but quick fight, and the high-levels can quickly clean up the other front once "their" enemies are finished if the low-levels have terrible luck. Also, while we're on the subject of what makes a good Quest: I think I've most enjoyed the Quests where there's time allotted for unstructured roleplay. Not necessarily structured roleplay (i.e. "you have to roleplay to get the necessary information so you can move on"), but some space in between battles to say "I will have the penne a la arabiata So, what's the non-Heroica world been doing while I was out bashing skulls?" It's a good change of pace, and helps to make up for the fact that we, as Heroes and players of this game, already have some inkling of what's going on with each other even if we don't know the specifics (thus slightly dampening some of the roleplaying possibilities).

I second this motion.

Chi Monk is based on the user's Level, not the enemy's. It's more Anime-Kung Fu than this, which would be more like jiujitsu. *Adds Counter, Mirror Damage, and Special Mirror to ideas pile*