Sandy

"Yes, let's follow that rat. And prepare for another showdown, I reckon."

Thanks for the compliments, guys! I'll start taking these shots this evening. I only have one of those heads, and it went to Nerwen. I quite like the cheeky, maked-up look on Alexis, though... I have all the CMFs released (except Mr. Gold and the Toy Soldier), I just didn't know what legs Haldor had since they don't show in his picture. What fire? Frankly put, that's impossible to tell from your LDD-pictures. I used the old, translucent Severus Snape head for Dreyrugr, at least the expression is very similar.

I had to pick between Hoptet and Byblos, since I only have two of the gorilla heads, but I finally chose Hoptet because he's a champion of Heroica as well. The only character in the pictures who isn't one is actually Scheherazade, but she wouldn't leave her Saloon unattended just because of some silly photoshoot. Not sure when it's Scaro's time to shine, I'm currently toying with multiple options on how to use his character to the best possible effect.

~*SUMMER PHOTOSHOOT*~ All active Heroica RPG player characters (plus a few NPCs) gathered at the Heroica Hall. As a small treat for all you dedicated player of Heroica RPG, I'm offering a chance for a limited time to get your character photographed in the original Heroica Hall model with the characters and in the situation of your choice. You can then freely use these photos for roleplaying purposes in the actual game. For this occassion, I've built all the active player characters within the confines of my minifig collection (I can still make alterations to them, if you so wish). Your requested photographs can include anything from avatars to group shots to situational photos of your PC - as long as they take place within the Hall (containing the staircase, the Quest Board and the Saloon). Just post your requests into this topic, and I'll get a-snapping. I will keep the figs intact for the duration of this summer. Here's a few close-up shots of the characters, so you can better see if you want to change anything about them:

I actually haven't run into a situation where a fragile target is poisoned. Fragile lasts just for three rounds unless recast, so I don't have a problem having poisoning deal double damage to fragile targets. Just have to remember to implement it after this. And if you ask me about this later, I will probably have the exact opposite opinion, so I better put it into the FAQ.

Since nobody wanted the Guard's Dagger (OoC: can we have some other weapon drops than daggers, please? :tongue ), Ellaria gave it to Atramor, along with the Guard's Shield. She kept the Wizard's Staff to herself. "Yes, Mr. Everyman. Please take care of your colleague upstairs. And watch your back, since this curse is a very real thing. Everyone, shall we move on now?"

OoC: For the record, I did not choose to heal the Head Guard, but attack him with my elemental weapon. But the result is the same (except the loss of ether). Also, you should count healing even if it takes place after all enemies are defeated. The target of the healing hasn't gone anywhere, after all. Ellaria rushes to Johnny Everyman and tries to wake him up. She also consumes an Ether Core while she's at it. "Any dips on the loot? I will take the Wizard's Staff, if nobody minds. Although it seems I'm in dire need of a non-elemental weapon..."

But isn't the whole point of helping someone that you might get help when the time comes that you're in trouble. Of course, for some characters the "what's in it for me?"-attitude is part of their personality, but I don't want this to become a widely accepted trend.

I've consistently said from the beginning of this game that when it comes to people, I don't believe any of us can be purely good or evil. Our individual actions can be, of course, and we are defined by our actions, but there are still ulterior motives behind every action. The same goes with the factions. I did not plan any of the main factions to be the "good guys" or the "bad guys" - not even Wolfgang. Instead, they each have different goals and views of life. They all have their good and bad sides (although not in a perfectly balanced sense). That's why it's so interesting to see how each of you players have chosen your "favorite" faction - it doesn't come down to good vs. evil, but just whatever happens to rock your boat. Is it the Hinckwells, the capitalistic tycoons, or the Shadeaux, the exiled nobles that rival them? Is it the Ziegfrieds with their quirky magics and eccentric family tree, or the grim Guild of Invision who play with life and death? Is it the stern Bonapartes who value order above everything else, or the mysterious Ji Pei with their foreign technology and strange customs? Or is it the Wolfgang, the rebellious movement formed around a single man with a vision? Like Dannylonglegs' list shows, it's impossible to slot these factions down to a single "D&D"-category. None of them are good, evil or even neutral, and in a city without laws, how can they be purely lawful or chaotic, either? There's food for thought. Signor Bacari (Capt.JohnPaul) and Leo Aragon (TheBoyWonder) are the only two characters (at least out of those who have been on a quest) that have been abandoned by their creators and replaced by a new character. I've also had to delete a couple of characters (Spag Bitterstalk by Kenghis Ghan and Daxus Octavian by LEGOman273) because their players were banned from the forums. Then there's quite a lot of inactive characters created - many of them never used even once - that you can see for yourself from the first post of Heroica Hall. There's also some characters created in the Hero Statistics-topic which were never used (some listed in the opening post, others not). All in all, there's about 55 active players currently in the game, give or take, and I still can't get over how awesome that feels.

With Atramor doing the healing for himself, Ellaria attacks the Head Guard from the front row as Russel aims for the King's Ghost from up front. Battle Order: Tesni Ellaria Althior Russel Atramor

Ellaria and Russel repeat their actions, and the battle order remains the same.

Ellaria heals Atramor once again. Russel targets the King's Ghost with his new weapon. The battle order is the same.

Actually, they hired Heroica to do the infiltration job to Jolly Roger's base while the fleet was engaged in a naval battle with the pirates.

Now that I think about it, there's actually quite a few characters that haven't been on any of my quests... I always try to be impartial when choosing players, but I hope I get to QM for all of you at some point. Although, with the climax that I've planned for the main storyline, that will happen in any case...

~Two new quests have been posted on the Quest Board (#72 by Zepher and #73 by joeshmoe554)!~

It's not Zepher, it's me. You'll get your pitch on the Quest Board after I get some sleep. There's going to be another quest posted tomorrow as well, by Joeschmoe, who has decided to test his wings as a QM. Good luck, buddy!

It'll be a reward for a future quest, so you'll have to hold your transvestite urges back a while more.

It remains to be seen, haha...

Yes, but only after I wrangle the person who put gloves into the "accessory"-category instead of the "hand wear".

Ellaria begins to feel frustrated. "Guys, this fight is going dreadfully slow. Any ideas of an alternative strategy? I have a Nostrum, but I'd rather save it for more dangerous foes..." If nothing else comes up, Ellaria keeps on healing Atramor, and when her ether runs out, she will drink an Ether Core. The battle order is the same.

Playing as a werewhatever is of course allowed, just as long as the player understands that there will be no in-game benefits from having wings or eight limbs. Common animals that can talk were prohibited because it would just be too unrealistic for a bat or a dog to carry all the weapons, artifacts and other items that the heroes get. Of course some of Zepher's NPCs beg to differ...

For the sake of simplicity and fairness, there is no "common sense rule" when it comes to artifacts. There's a distinct amount of artifacts one can equip based on their level, and they can only equip one from each category. Period. Granted, my upcoming Expert Job Class has the job trait of "Fashionista", that allows the hero to ignore the rules about category and suitability and just wear whatever they want - eg. three hats piled on top of each other (the limited amount still stands, though).

Thank you, everyone! This kind of feedback gives me energy to keep the game going for years to come. You were given a chance to chat with any NPC you want in the ballroom, and the sheer amount of them was also meant to confuse you about what was going to happen. You knew you had to protect them from being poisoned by Steerpike, but you didn't know how. The golem maitre d' was also created to confuse you further with his contradictory orders. It was fun watching you scramble. You could have gained reputation with any of the main houses if you had played your cards right, but you personally went with "talk to everyone about everything" strategy, whereas Nyx chose to speak to the NPCs that didn't give reputation. Hence only Thothwick got reputation in the end. And I'm sure you've learned by now that there are no absolute "good guys" and "bad guys" in my storyline. There's just people with different motives and methods. Some mean good but are lacking in the execution, whereas some are only in it for themselves but their actions benefit others in the process. It's up to you to choose whose side you are on. It was you made him an actual character, actually, by interacting with him the way you did. He was planned to be only a background NPC, with only the few initial lines. I have no further plans for him, unfortunately, but if someone else wants to use Mumbasa and his ship The Sealion, they're free game. The cat was leading Arthur to Violetta and Donny, who were waiting on the roof of the nearby building (they arrived there after the watchmen had "secured the area"). Perhaps if Arthur would have advanced further, he might have struck a deal with the two generals and things would be very different now... He did, but his design was revised when the Monster Fighter-sets appeared. I like his look much better now. You had a very small window to interact with the heads of the houses, I admit, but if you had made an impression on any of them, you could have gained some extra experience like Thothwick did. You chose to remain silent, though. Arthur, on the other hand, decided to approach them all at once, which didn't impress any of them. When it comes to the leaders, you can't expect to please everyone. There will come a time in the game where everyone must choose their side. After this quest, that time is one step closer...

You did spell it correctly, actually. I've said this before, but other QMs can post "rumours" about their upcoming quests into the Saloon as well. Just throw me a PM and we'll talk about it.

~Scheherazade has new rumours to share at her Saloon!~