Flipz

Endgame, what is it with you and making NPCs that the Heroes want to sleep with?

It puts the power in the hands of the QM, which is where it should be. The gold dropped as part of drops is what the party has time to search him for before they have to move on, while the Gold earned from Mugs and the like come from hidden stashes the party doesn't have time to find. As for the second...well, Doc said it best. That's not a bad idea for an Expert Class SHIELD ability, though... Hmm... *scribble scribble* Gee, thanks. I feel so loved and appreciated. (Part of the reason I'm leaving Rogue--I don't get any appreciation for the help I give, because "you're a Rogue, you're supposed to do that." I really understand how Clerics feel now. ) I'm just saying, if you're (collective you, not you specifically, Zeph) going to reduce the Rogues' gold earnings, you can't expect them to buy all the remedies and Grand Potions to keep everyone healthy. You can't have it both ways. A bit blunt, but you ninja'd me with my exact point. Rogues do not get enough credit for what we do for the rest of the party. You know, maybe it's a really good thing that Rogues are getting nerfed. When Rogues have to look out only for themselves, maybe then the other classes will come to realize how much they've come to rely on the charitable Rogues.

OOC: Oy. I'm batting a thousand--looks like you've forgotten I took the Double Rainbow, a remedy, and a Grand Tonic this whole time, and I failed to notice.

I think you're underestimating the maturity and intelligence of the QMs in Heroica. After saying he would drop the issue until/unless something came up to warrant a change. Seriously, he's brought it up three times now for no apparent reason. While I'm not as upset as Jebs, I do have to ask: why? How is some people (Scuba included) having lots of money hurting anyone else? Especially when they bust their @sses trying to help the rest of the party? My one major concern (and it is my ONLY major concern with the nerfing itself at this point) is that limiting gold income will force Rogues to be dickwads about their money and consumables (you want this Remedy? Pay me for it.), or else go broke because they can't afford to spend money on themselves. I'm going to repeat my figure: it costs me, on average, 150 Gold per battle in consumables. Just throwing it out there. Anyhow, wanted to point out: this should be a guiding principle for ALL rule alterations: "The last thing we need is a 'one size fits all' rule that every QM has to follow." Smart man, CJP. This is the alteration I support.

"That's fine by me."

"Well, I for one would be happy to extend the hand of the Watch to you and your organization. You've proven your devotion and loyalty to your cause (not to mention your proficiency in battle), and, frankly, your efforts among the poor are the sort of thing we desperately need if we are to win the war against the Wolfgang. You have heart, and it's something more of us need to learn." "And besides, the Watch needs people like you--and, I suppose, me and Nevron. There are certain situations in which the Watch itself just can't get involved, officially. It would be good to know there are people who can look out for Eubric's best interests--peace, safety, harmony--when the Watch itself can't."

Just need to make a quick disclaimer: I do NOT agree with the opinions in Extra Credits as regards Season 6, Episode 17: Used Games. Their first two videos in the series? Smart. Reasonable. Logical. That one? Not so much. (Apologies for the minor off-topic, I just needed to state that for the record.) I think the defining factor for Heroica is allowing the player to make meaningful choices, rather than just relying on the luck of the dice roll. If there's only one enemy (or, at least, one specific enemy that needs to be beaten in order to finish the fight), then there's little choice to be made: attack it, or do nothing and let your party members handle it (or if you have the ability, heal them). Failure in such a scenario has nothing to do with whether or not the party made intelligent choices, but rather on how the dice happened to fall. This is enormously frustrating, both for players (who suffer severe detrimental effects through no fault of their own) and for QMs (who may find their stories cut short and who will become the target for discontent). One of the reasons I focused on scrolls in the beginning was that it allowed me to do something besides "Arthur casts an Ice spell at [insert enemy name here] from the back row." It's something that Brickdoctor made a really, really intelligent choice with in allowing us to build siege weapons in Quest 17: it gave low-Level characters with few skills and choices and opportunity to MAKE meaningful choices: do I use my inbuilt class skills to fight the foe, or use the special abilities afforded by the siege weapons? Do I stay where I am and hope my friends and I roll well, or do I retreat to another part of the fort for safety? Choices like these are what makes a Quest truly engaging. Now, though, it seems to me that the number of abilities players have access to (and thus the number of potential choices they have) are increasing, but the choices themselves have lost their meaning. Often times, it feels like my job is to "Blind enemy X so that the rest of the party can survive", or "attack enemy Y because nobody else can handle it", or sometimes even "attack enemy Z because if you try any of the others you're screwed". Instead of choices, there are puzzles with a specific solution, with the randomness of the die tacked on to prolong the process of solving the puzzle. (I'm not talking about any specific scenario here, I'm drawing some elements from many different fights, that I've seen repeated elsewhere.) I'm not sure when or where this started to happen, but I see it a lot in plot-heavy Quests. Ironically, the Quests with the loosest plot generally seem to have the most open, fun battles and out-of-battle scenarios. Sandy is the only QM I've seen who consistently manages to balance freedom and significance of choice AND cohesive, understandable plot; I don't know how you do it, Sandy, but you are a god among mortals for doing so. So what can we do to improve this? Well, Sandy and Endgame are both good examples of allowing an intended plot to take unexpected diversions without punishing the players for making a meaningful choice; Sandy in all three Wolfgang Quests, and Endgame with Quest 70. WBD also has a good example in the Ecatsue encounter, in which he allowed the party to reach a meaningful, amicable settlement with the enemy without having to sacrifice the boss battle he'd planned--a true example of how this sort of partnership becomes a win-win scenario for both party and QM. But what about in-battle? That, unfortunately, I don't know. I've already shown Brickdoctor's solution, but that obviously won't work for every Quest (though it IS a very good reason to include NPCs with unique abilities; expect a Theatre post that will go into more detail on how to use NPCs "soontm"). The problem can be partially improved by picking a party with diverse abilities, though that runs the risk of each party member having a very specific role in battle and only getting to fulfill that specific role. But really, the issue lies in QM battle design, and that, I'll admit, is something I have little experience with. I can analyze what's been done, but really we're quite far from discovering exactly what it is that makes the ideal fight. There may not be any "magic formula" for a good battle, but at the very least we should keep trying, and more importantly keep experimenting, so that we can learn from experience what works and what doesn't. In that way, QMs are, in a sense, playing a game of their own, trying different strategies to improve the player experience and either succeeding or failing in their own ways--and, hopefully, learning from that experience.

An excellent video about difficult vs. punishing. I'd really really recommend it for all QMs, this is something I've struggled to articulate for a long time in Heroica. (Then again, that tends to be a running trend with Extra Credits. )

Arthur nodded in agreement, but kept silent, instead electing to keep a close eye on the rest of the party. Em was smart enough not to say anything stupid, but he couldn't trust Arnulf or Boomingham not to sabotage the process. Pity our most Diplomatic member is an arrogant, violent, closed-minded madman, he thought to himself mournfully.

Balanced somewhat by the fact that it's a Wand, making it useful only to Mages and Necromancers, two classes that die really quickly if they use physical attacks instead of casting spells. WP is a bit high, though.

"All right, we should probably go back and head through the open arch, since there doesn't seem to be anything else here." Arthur sets off, not waiting for the others to follow him.

Arthur inspects the potions. After checking with his Magnifying Glass to see if he can safely take the mixture, he confiscates the Exterlate and examines the others to see if they can be safely mixed.

Not specifically talking about today, Heroica's just been quiet in general lately.

It's not just 69. The whole game seems to have come to a screeching halt for no reason.

Personally, I'm pulling for the Stealer's music being Clarity by Zedd (or preferably one of these cover versions): or

Arthur turns his head to look at Karie, giving her an unreadable look. "...I think you should read it." He turns back to the objects of his examination.

Arthur's eyes scan quickly back and forth, stopping suddenly near the end. Well, obviously. The Cleric as much as said so. So why do I feel so bad about it? Shutting the book, he slides it across the table to Karie. "Catch." He turns to the mechanical heads, examining the components with his Magnifying glass to determine their enhancements.

Arthur reads the journal.

Arthur heads through the frame with the door.

I really liked the first three films, but for 4...Eh...I've seen 4, but I can't bring myself to watch it again, because of how badly paced it is. On Stranger Tides would have worked a thousand times better with exactly the same plot, but having Jack and Barbossa swap places in terms of screen time and story role (instead of cutting from audience identification character Jack to brief moments of "secondary character" Barbossa, have Barbossa be the lead/audience identification character and keep Jack as the secondary character). It wouldn't mean much (since Jack IS Jack, after all), but it would have worked wonders for pacing and tone. Most of the fun of Jack is that you have no clue what he's thinking or planning, since he's usually several steps ahead of everyone else. If he's the audience identification character, though, much of that is lost, since then either the audience has to be told what Jack is thinking, or else Jack can't be 50 steps ahead anymore, which kills his interestingness. Barbossa can pull off not putting the pieces together and still be interesting and relatable. Jack...not so much. (If you think about it, that's why Jack works in the first trilogy. In the first two films, Elizabeth is the protagonist, with her and Will sharing audience identification, leaving Jack free to figure everything out an hour early without spoiling it for the audience. And we've seen Barbossa work as an audience identification character, in At World's End--it's a completely different role in the plot from his initial appearance, and yet it still works--hell, he was the best part of On Stranger Tides.) Plus, Penelope Cruz sucked in that movie. I can't think of anything else she's in, so I don't know if that was her ordinary standard of acting, but if On Stranger Tides IS an accurate indication, then maybe it's a good thing I can't think of any other movies she's been in.

YouTube has a distinct lack of useable reference scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I find this disappointing and unacceptable.

"My compass works just fine." Karie gets the impression that subconsciously, he may not be referring to his compass. Using his Magnifying Glass for safety, Arthur examines the photograph.

I can't help but read this in Sallah's voice.

Hey, don't judge me, kindergarten is hard! No, it's a combination of the two most typo-inducing conditions I could think of at the moment.

I just re-read my last post in Q70. Dear god, the typos! I sounded like a drunk kindergartener. Fixed, and new post added.