Flipz

OOC: the warlocks have a Defense (read: SP) of 5. 3 + 5 = 8 - 5 = 3

OOC: Shouldn't that have been 6 damage for Arthur's attack? (WP:3 x 2 = 6 + Level 5 = 11 - 5 Defense = 6) That should leave the Warlock at 16 health. "Blast! This bloody thing be a right bugger in the rear! I'll give it one more shot, but if it confound me again, I'll be startin' up to the Mini Merlin again." "I can't take a hit from this warlock, so I'll do nothing, from the back row this Round."

Speaking of your Quests... I'd also add that specifc circumstances should be taken into account before sending a player back. In the case of inactivity, especially, it may be fairer to simply "deactivate" the character, letting them gain the Quest rewards if the Quest succeeds, but not giving them any extra experience and loot from battles along the way. As a rule of thumb (from the RPGs I've played in and run, mostly on other sites), if you've been in contact with the player about the absense, it's OK to let their character stay; if you haven't, ship 'em back to base. Of course, I'm a mere player here, so please take my opinion as just that. EDIT: Maybe we could somehow get Tensi to magically switch places with him!

(FYI, earlier was like Tanma's speeches from De'kra--that is, non-canon, since Arthur would have no way of knowing what was going on in the discussion topic. The same goes here.) Arthur says: "I believe my thoughts boil down to: better an enemy you can see than an ally who will stab you in the back. The Wolfgang may be thugs and thieves, but the Town Watch are corrupt murderers who arrest and execute anyone who gets in their way--or who even looks at them funny. Just look at those paladins they arrested--they were taken, not because of any illegal substances, but because the Town Watch wanted their equiment for themselves. No, Eubric would be better off if the Town Watch vanished entirely, and Heroica did their job. We're certainly better at it than them, even if they weren't corrupt." OOC: Oh, and the plan I was suggesting was: tell the guards that those two prisoners had a lead on whoever is attacking the guards, but that there was a magical ward that needed those two to be present to pass (or some similar cover story). That story, plus a small bribe to keep quiet "just in case", should be enough to get them out of prison without a fight.

No, it's a meme that shall never die. Like "The Cake is a Lie", "I can haz invizible cheezburger", and the nyan cat. EDIT: Aww...well, see you soon, I hope! Maybe you can spend the time writing up an epic Quest where the Heroes have to face great darkness to save Jess or something.

My thoughts on tonight's episode:

Arthur says: "What HAVE the Wolfgang done, besides showing up the Town Watch for their corruption and incompetence? Heck, their example biased the Heroes of Quest 19 against the side of right, leading them to trust the Wren-supported Rebels instead of the righteous Captain McColt. The Shadeaux are much more dangerous and menacing, and yet I don't see other Heroes turning against them out of anything other than convenience (since the Shadeaux seem to be severely underrepresented in Quests). It's all a matter of perspective, and I believe a directly "bad" faction that the Heroes can face openly would be much better for Eubric than a corrupt Town Watch that they supposedly serve, but really should oppose. There is a Plane in which a great, heroic Knight of mystic power, who leads an entire Order of his fellows, reminisced that he lost his effectiveness when the line between good ally and evil enemy blurred. Enemies were righteous in cause, and allies fell into evil, and by the time the Sky Walker realized the truth, his entire world had been irreparably changed. His battles against an evil Empire were more clear-cut--and thus, more successful--than his Quest to maintain peace between the good friends who valued freedom first and the elected government who sought order, eventually caving to evil and seeking order at any cost. The hazy moral situation led the great Knight and his fellows to uncertainty and confusion, and the Knight's own nephew fell to darkness, eventually killing the Knight's wife and destabilizing the galaxy before his twin sister was forced to bring him to final justice. Is that truly the fate we want to befall Eubric? I say no. Enemies we shall always have, but let us percieve them clearly, seeing them in their true, shadowy form, rather than allowing our foes to force us to penetrate their cunning disguise as they walk among us in the light, allowing them time to further their insidious plans and strengthen their wicked position."

Ha ha, glad to see I'm not the only person here who's heard of Cheers. Great plot, great story, though as Zepher said the characters haven't really been characterized yet. There's no real reason we should "root" for them yet, perhaps that will change in the next few chapters. Overall, though, great work, and I look forward to the next!

Waterbrick, agreed, there's a lot of Heroes I'd like to Quest with. I'm focusing on the Arthur-De'kra-Cinna-Tomas group right now because it makes sense for both Arthur and De'kra, and I'm focusing on Arthur-Atramor because of Atramor's impending class change and a chance for Arthur to interact with McCafferey, plus Atramor is the only Rouge-like Rogue he knows (De'kra is more complex than that, and offers a different side of the Rogue coin), so Atramor would be an ideal influence to push him toward Sorcerer. (Come to think of it, Nur would, too...OK, we have a party: Arthur, Cinna, Tomas, De'kra, Atramor, Nur; now someone write a Quest for it! ) Once I've set Arthur down his path, there's still a lot of people I want to Quest with. Cronk, Skrall, Boomingham, Tensi, Dyric, Nyx...the list just goes on and on. And then there's the specific plot threads--Arthur NEEDS to meet Wren, and interactions with Lyren Hinckwell and Nuitan Shadeaux would allow him to continue the development of distrusting Houses but maintaining distinct loyalty to specific individuals within that House. I also want him to meet the Zeigfrieds (aside from Valentine ), and the Ji Pei as well. Gosh, when I list it all out like that, it's a lot to do, isn't it! EDIT: Ooh! I just thought of a way to get the Orc and the Wolfgang guy out of the prison (Quest 23) without having to murder guards! It'd take a clever cover story and a bit of gold, though...

I just suggested this in Heroica R&D, I'd definitely be willing to do Quests 17 and 20. Although, it really would have to be a group effort, since a lot of characters have backstory stuff going on, and it might require further explanation to fit into a novel form.

I'd appreciate that, thanks. It really fits in with the Quest I'm designing. (FYI, I'm talking about the RPG here in the Eurobricks Games forum, not the actual Heroica sets--I'm still waiting for a good sale on Waldurk Forest for that. )

Right, Quest 20 has just become supremely epic. RPG game masters around the world shall envy you for the epic role-playing you have in your Quest, MDM. Hmm, that gives me an idea...in-game we already have Books on each Quest, perhaps some of the more brave (or perhaps foolish) of us should try to defictionalize them. You know, put the Quest into a more literary format. Would anyone want to read that?

OOC: Wouldn't you be able to seal the warlocks, preventing them from protecting their allies? I'm not advocating that for your action this turn, it's just a thought.

"All ri', Master Althior, I'll repair the Slice N Dice while the Barbarian covers me." "I can't take another hit, but since Alexandre is protecting me I'll bash Warlock A with my staff from the front row."

Dude, that's awesome. I think I need to put this into a Heroica Quest sometime. So, how did you attach those tentacles? Are they attached to the base, or are they a separate build cleverly positioned behind the bear?

I have a bit of this tendency, too, I suspect it has something to do with developing my writing style at the same time I was trying to start RPG groups; my reaction when reading that bit was to skim it over and make a mental note to write down the path the party took before remembering this was a story, not a Quest. Like I said, I do it, too, so I'm in no position to judge. This is an interesting position. I definitely understand it for works that exist in one piece (like books, short stories, etc.), but what about for story serials, where each part is released a few days to a couple of weeks apart? In a story I'm writing, sometimes the plot follows a pair of characters as they study the events of the story (my framing device), but other times the perspective jumps to a different character at a different location, especially when I'm introducing them for the first time. Whenever a character is alone or only with one or two other people, I tend to get into their head for that "episode". Is that a no-no, or are you talking about something else?

If ANYONE gets information on when/where autitions will be held, PM me and/or post it here!

I disagree. The 50/50 chance of use fits the general feel of the game better. HOWEVER! Perhaps a secondary downside of scrolls could either be an increased Ether cost OR the Ether is spent, whether or not the effect is successful.

Done! I'm looking forward to the next survey!

This. This would be a great way to limit the power of scrolls, without turning them into consumable-type items (which would discourage people from using them--which is what happened to almost all of the combat consumables in LEGO Universe).

Like I said, I have a whole lot more planning ahead of me before I even pitch it. (For one thing, it's a LOT more story based, and--but anyway, irrelevant, since I have so much ahead of me.) The only reason I even spoke up was, well, I've been working on this for quite a while, and I didn't want someone else to go through all the trouble of working something up when I've already started work behind the scenes. I think Heroica is awesome, and I wouldn't want to just "re-brand" it and call it my own--I have plenty of my own stuff in mind for this.

Flipz reporting in for his spectator role! I'm ready to observe creepily! Great to see this come back again, hopefully I can make sense of it this time.

Word to the wise: the game does NOT like IE9. You will have to refresh the page EVERY time you change gear, and you will have to re-play some or all of the levels each time you come back to the game. If you focus and build up enough cash for the best gear, it's only an annoyance, but if you only have weak stuff... EDIT: I'm talking about spinball smash, BTW. It IS fun, it's just buggy.

Hey, if you want your own ship, you gots to BUILD one. And really, I wouldn't want ways to "farm" money for the same reason Sandy wouldn't want them in Heroica: it would make money easy to get and practically worthless, and would make Quests less appealing in terms of profit. I'd probably consider SOME sort of in-Hall event if there were too few Quests, but other than that... As for the MOC competitions, I've got different plans in that regard, but they're even more long-term...wait, why am I telling you guys about this now, I don't plan to do anything with them for several months! Get out of here! Like I said, this won't be for several months. Also, sci-fi appeals to different people and has opportunities for different stories (and builds) than fantasy. There might be some overlap, but the way I'm planning it, it won't be competition for Heroica so much as a different RPG choice that fills some of the roles that Heroica does not. And to reiterate what I said a moment ago, "why am I telling you guys about this now?!?"

Work in progress. I have the storyline all set up, I'm just tweaking stats and the like to better fit sci-fi. (Obviously, magic and elements play a much much smaller role, so that changes how I balance the rest of the rules.) I plan to make the pitch to Dragonator sometime in late spring or early summer, I have to test the stat system with some friends of mine. Dragonator (or anyone else who's interested), I do have some preliminary rules text done--a themed intro page, sort of the way Sandy does the Heroica rules, but better suited for the sci-fi theme. I plan to have plaintext versions of the rules as well, tho, just in case.