Zepher

Boomingham scowls as Seerus continues to flail on the ground. OoC: After the last long break I asked that he track down a back-up QM in case something like this happened again, but I guess he didn't think it was a good suggestion. We've been in this battle alone for a month now.

The Order Imperial will be back in force soon enough, and they've appeared in a large number of quests! If you have any interest, they're in 92, 107, and a number of Kinto Quests! Thank you! I really wanted to host a quest this holiday season because I ended up with more time than I thought I'd have, and there are clearly too many players in the Hall at the moment. But I didn't know what to do with it exactly. I didn't want a beefy story-heavy quest, but I at the same time really did want to work towards my finale. And then it dawned on me that something I've never considered "important" as far as preparation for my finale was good characters. Obviously in the past characters have always been important to me, but the end "goal" of most of my quests was to, utilizing hopefully strong characters, supply the next piece of information for the "grand finale". But the most important piece of the grand finale is the players in it, so really developing them is even more important than moving all the pieces into place. That can happen naturally if I focus on the characters, and even some things in this quest surprised me. So, in conclusion, I'm glad you thought the characters grew organically, because that was my goal. So basically what I said above applies here too, thank you for the kind words. Chauncey's gift actually is the only "big piece being moved into place" as far as my finale goes. So I'll wait a few months before answering that exactly, but you'll learn at some point. I was happy with the puzzle too - I generally don't do them because I'm no good at creating them, but I thought this one was a-okay! And yeah, it was just rough rolls - I've had unbalanced battles in both directions as a QM before and I think these actually were some of the best balanced. After all, in theory, a well-balanced battle should be "losable" if you do get bad rolls (not one or two, but you guys really did just happen to have some real bad luck streaks, and I think they showed in a way that proved the battles balanced as opposed to otherwise). I'd also say that the shuriken really hurt you guys, and there were a few strategical mistakes throughout beyond that too, so if you didn't feel the hurt I'd say also that the battles weren't balanced. Own Critique: Like I said above, this quest was a lot of me moving characters forward - not towards my finale, but in a way that hopefully once we get there, the stakes will be high and the story will be easy to follow because while it's looking like there will be a lot of players, KNOWING the players makes it so much easier to keep track of what they're doing and why they're doing it. I felt U'Or was underdeveloped in his current state, and Elba even more so even though he's technically been around for nearly 100 quests now (but you wouldn't know it, wouldja ). I feel equally good about Shawe and Henry, who have developed into characters I'm quite fond of, and hopefully have fleshed out the Houses a little bit more. Grady too. I have a soft spot for Everstien and his nasty attitude, but have trouble fitting him into quests because he doesn't really have a good place to exist within the Heroican system. Anyway, I won't babble on about how much I like all my characters, but I really did wedge most of my favorites into this quest. Lane even continues to surprise me with how much fun he can be. Like I said above, battles, puzzles, and loot felt good too me. Maybe too little gold/consumables and too much unique drops? But over all I felt it was fair, even if the proportions of those two things were a little off. The sets and photography were a particular pride for me this quest. I think they were not perfect, but I think I have been improving significantly over time. Player Critiques Firstly, I agree with pretty much everything WBD said. As is often the case. Karl/Bio_Fan: I like Karl a ton! He was a ton of fun to have along with the party, and I agree that he is a wonderful mix of dialogue, action, and interior thought. You handled him extremely well, and he had clear opinions about nearly all the NPCs and even the party. I enjoy that he comes from the city, and I like the way that it has influenced his views - I don't know if we've had a poor character from the city any time recently (I know Atramor was way back when, I think, but then we didn't really "know" what Eubric was like because we hadn't explored it yet) and I think you let that past influence his actions a lot. I think it's interesting that he doesn't like the Wolfgang, but doesn't really love the houses either. He seems like the compassionate sort too, and a bit of a loner. Really, just all around strong playing, I'd say. I'll add to the chorus of voices that request that you stop with the typed faces, though. I can promise you the auto-correct is there to teach you a lesson in a friendly joking way, but certainly to teach you a lesson. But that's coming from someone who will gladly host you again whenever, because when you're writing without the typed faces in character, you're a pretty fantastic writer and player! Keliim/Mencot - Another really strong start to a character. I enjoy Keliim's attitude, he is a more reserved character overall, often simply accepting things as they are or staying silent, but in battle he is fierce and taunts his foes. It is a fun dynamic, and I'd love to see you play with it even more. He feels like he very much comes from a specific culture. That being said, his accent sometimes fluctuates a little, so keep an eye on it if it's something you are committed to! I also wonder where he got the title Cruel, as he doesn't seem it. I think he's got lots of room to grow, so just keep pushing him and see what happens, because all the traits you've found so far as strong and unique. Boris/WBD - I don't think it's any accident that we host each other (or quest together) so much. I always enjoy your writing, and your attitude towards quests is absolutely always respectful. I know you didn't love 107 as much as I did, but you were a total trooper about it so I'm happy that I was able to get another shot at letting you have a good time, and it paid off! Boris is a fun character. I like his... I don't know the right word for it. Frankness? Acceptance? Interior calm, even. I loved when he took a rat to eat - it was a strong statement that he has already adjusted to being a vampire, and says a lot about his internal world: assumedly he is able to make peace with his situation, which is a strong trait and must have existed in him when he was a Paladin too. I'd be careful not too make him too much like Skrall, however. The similarities, to me, are there in many ways: his stoic behavior, his "older and wiser"ness, his reluctant gung-ho in a fight. They both strike me as old cowboys, in some ways. The thing is: I think those things work extremely well for Boris. I'm not suggesting you lose them, because they make perfect sense from a character stand-point (they are a byproduct of his strong interior self, I think, whereas those same traits in Skrall stem from a different place). So don't abort them, just find the things that make him different as well, and explore the nuances of how the same traits can manifest in minutely different ways. I'm very excited to see his future, and would of course of course host him or Skrall again.

OoC: Bobby is the sort of guy who would ship them, and the sort of guy who would remember to do it, but sadly he has a better memory than me. Bobby reads the note. "Oh, shiz, dude. We totally forgot to tell that chick that that dude was interested in her. Yo, I gotta go back to that park tomorrow, damn." He blushes deeply. "Anyway, yo, looks like we gotta kick it to the back of the theater."

"Yo dude, I'm down. I love music and all that high culture shiz. Wish I got to it more." Bobby nods to his party leader. "I'm ready to rock and roll whenever you are, big man. I know the way there, yo!"

My mistake! Alastair Pear (Brickelodeon) All this lovely sunlight is apparently scrambling all the lovely names of you lovely trees in my head! Hickory, Simon, Alastair, Bobby.

I believe I'm the oakiest oak! So you can be the strongest oak today, but not the oakiest. This is a hard decision! I feel bad voting for any of my fellow trees to be chopped down - why can't we all just enjoy the sun together!? But it must be done. But, since a vote must be made! Vote: Bobby Beech (Brickelodeon) because of this: If you never thought he was a maple, then why would you vote for him at the end of the day, even if nothing else came up?

I honestly didn't even check what you were named, Simon, because, come on, why would your name not be Hickory.

Because it lets you say that you are oaky without having to put your name on the line! Please explain in detail how hiding suspicions instead of bringing them to all of us helps the oaks! The more we talk, the more likely the maples will get tripped up! Maybe William would get all flustered defending himself. Maybe a maple would push the accusation. Maybe people wouldn't react at all and would stay on the sidelines and not try to draw attention to themselves! I think a discussion is better than no reactions to go off of! And if Hickory hadn't brought it to our attention, we'd have no discussion! Hopefully that's in detail enough, would love to hear your reasoning fellow tree! Agreeing with who? Myself?

I'd like to again request that everyone put their character name in their signature. I really do prefer playing with the names, and it would make it much easier!

Does Alejandro not like the sun? Seems pretty weird to me! I like to do my accusing out in the open, like a normal oaky tree. Shady dealings are not my style, and to be honest I don't trust them! I don't want Hickory to reveal who Alejandro is, I'd really prefer that Alejandro just came out and told us like the friendly and honest tree I'm sure he is! And maybe explain the the heck was mapley on that first page!

Well, I learned it from you (or at the very least saw it in practice for the first time) and while I don't strictly follow it I do use it as a check for myself to see if I'm in the right ballpark.

CMP shared with me the strategy that he outlined above when we were planning the Baltarok trilogy, and I have to say I was very impressed with it (and felt silly that I hadn't thought of it). I would vouch for it. On a totally different note: 123. I really had a fantastic time. I think it wasn't a perfect quest (what is) and I'll outline its weaknesses once I allow the players to talk, but I feel with 92 and 102 and 107 and 123 I have really gotten back into the groove of producing quests I'm happy with, something that certainly fell down for me as far as 68, 72, and 88 (and even 53 a little bit) go. And, sorry to my questers, but if I'm happy with a quest then that's at least something I consider pretty good. But anyway, would love some thoughts, and I'm likely to do character reviews and my own thoughts later in the day or tomorrow. Thanks so much for playing with me, Bio_Fan, Mencot, and of course WBD. You were a great party, and I'll say it again, I had a lot of fun.

"You'll want to make your way back down to Lady Luck's Locale," says Shawe, clapping Keliim on the back. "Don't let the Bonapartes know you're there." The heroes all unwrap their individual gifts, and even on such cold winter nights they feel merry and warm knowing they've made friends in Eubric. The Party Karl (surname unknown) (Bionicle_fanatic) *Party Leader* 18 year old male human Rogue Level 4 Power Bonus: 0 Health: 7/10 Gold: 142 Equipment: Shuriken (Throwing Weapon, WP:3) Inventory: Bedroll, Venom x2, Potion, Little Flame (WP: 2, Fire Elemental, Dagger), Order Imperial Light Armor (SP: 2, Bodywear, Immunity to Darkness, Suitable to Clerics, Knights, Regulators, and Vindicators), Golden Heart (Accessory, Wearer steals double gold from enemies with a higher gold count than them) Boris Bruhalv (Waterbrick Down) 38 year old male vampire Cleric *Immune to Stunned and Poison* *Bleeding -3* Level 5 Power Bonus: 0 Health: 9/13 Defense: 2 Ether: 4/9 Gold: 146 Equipment: Simple Mace (WP: 3, mace), Rusty Chainmail (SP: 2, Immune to Stunned and Poison) Inventory: Potion, Remedy, Phoenix Essence, Defender's Ring (Accessory, Rolls of "Heal Less" become "Heal") Keliim the cruel (Mencot) Age 35, male human Barbarian *Encouraged* *Immune to Rock* Level 5 Power Bonus: 0 Health: 12/12 SP: 2 Gold: 137 Equipment: Rusty one handed battleaxe (WP: 3), Really Hard Helmet (SP: 2, Immunity to Rock) Inventory: Mead, x2 Potion, Order Imperial Longsword (WP: 5), Heroic Helm (Headwear, SP:2, Helm's SP doubles on free hits) OoC: Thanks so much guys. I had a blast! I'd love to hear your thoughts (and anyone else's) in the QM lounge!

I wonder what that second tree considers "blatantly" maple-y as opposed to "subtly" maple-y?

It sure is! I wonder why they felt the need to accuse Willy in the quiet areas of the forest considering that we'll be hacking down a tree later today. Sounds like some small scared trees to me! Why not play out in the sun like the rest of us, especially since it's such a sunny and fresh and first day...?

Hey there, Willy! Sounds like you're sure having a lot of sun! I don't know the answer to any of those questions, but they sure sound weird! Those trees all sound like they're up to some crazy stuff, maybe some shady maple-y stuff or some confused oaky stuff, I dunno, definitely not in the sun though, being so shady and all! And by sun, I meant "fun" of course! Whizz bang, Nash is my name! That's a little pun for you all! Fun and sun rhyme, see!

I did get a little bit of what Flipz is saying for the rest of the quest, to be perfectly honest. Overwatch very much felt "held hostage" to the point that Em felt the need to comment on it, and the wandering warrior got the same deal "stay away from us or you'll die". But I think it was a party dynamic thing. As always, I'm being a little hypocritical: I feel like someone should have changed their play style a little to accommodate it, but I'm not sure I would have.

As always, the majority is wrong and Scuba is right, and being nasty for the rest of the quest (and, hell, before that too) is justified. I really think it was just a dynamic thing, in all honesty. I think all the characters are super strong, but there wasn't a good way for them to take the quest seriously. It would have taken some tweaking, which no one wanted to do. Perhaps it was just a dedication to role playing. Whatever it was, I stand by that I like all the characters bunches and they absolutely tore down the quest. And more seriously, that sounds like excuses for poor behavior. You've hosted a few times, and I know you know how fun it can be when things are going well as well as how difficult it can be when things are not, especially if a party isn't cooperative. I'm surprised that you would excuse poor party behavior.

I think it's a safe bet that there are six maples in this forest, given the size! But maybe five and some other sort of tree! Those are my bets! But what do I know, I'm just a happy simple oak sucking in the sun.

I don't know what it is about you, Sammy, but I like you a lot! Let's enjoy the sun together, fellow tree! Isn't it just great being a tree? You sure talk about maples and what they might and might not do a lot!

I don't know about that. I'm okay with being oaky. Bada bing, bada boom!

I don't know why anyone wouldn't trust me immediately. I'm an oak just like my father was an oak just like my grandmother was an oak! After all, isn't green an oak's favorite color. I feel like only a maple wouldn't confide in an oak.

Hello fellow trees! Nash Ash here, and what a lovely morning we have! So much sunlight! I am absolutely certain that we will absolutely cast out all of the Maples in our woods absolutely! I would like to speedily proclaim that I am a nice Oak. Heck, if I'm being honest I might just be Oakiest of the Oaks. I'm absolutely dedicated to rooting out all the Maples in our forest.

I agree that all of that sounds good. I actually had a good time reading 121. I like the way you've fleshed out the Lower Kingdoms - they are a dirty brutal place, but no one seems to be out of line. Even though you cut a lot of the "fleshing out of NPCs" both forces seemed to be justified - Marcullus needed that land, and the Ironwill wanted to protect their people. The Overwatch were also just doing their jobs. Even if a lot of the stuff was cut, the thought that they would have lent the quest survived - so perhaps it is best that they were cut a little, as a lot of the information was still communicated (though most of it sounds good in my opinion). If I have to be honest, I'm not surprised you became a little disillusioned with the quest. As a fellow QM, I have to say that I would have been a little disheartened by the party. I like every single member of the party, and I like all the players too, but I guess there was a bad combination somewhere in there, because I felt that the players and PCs were disrespectful to the quest. The whole deal with the blacksmith was a mess, sure, but that happens. The disrespectful angry way the PCs reacted really put a negative spin on the quest. I felt the entire time that the PCs were unwilling to engage with the potentially enjoyable story being offered to them. They were just violent and rude to every NPC, no attempt to build real relationships, or to figure out what was happening, or to accept the information offered to them, or even to pick up on story directions and to build on the work they'd done with their own PCs in the past (Dyric being the exception). I would become disheartened as well. Theres a reason that Heroica is a collaborative experience. That being said, Guts and Pretzel and Hoke and Alexandre and Nu Nerwen can all be a little callous, so maybe it was just a bad party dynamic, but in all honesty I think it was on the party more than you. Again, I love all the characters individually, have enjoyed hosting nearly all of them, and would host them again, but I guess just not this way. Good quest, best of luck next time around, and I don't think you should blame yourself that much. If there's any blame to be placed on you, it's for not upping the battle difficulty enough. That was a lot of nice drops for no cost. Guts and Hoke and the Alchemist class and the Minstrel in general are wildly unbalanced, so make the enemies effing tough.

Shawe clinks his glass against Boris'. "I'm not too much of a connoisseur myself, but I'm glad to make someone happy. I stole a bottle or two from the Shadeaux stores, but they've got enough that they won't notice... I hope, at least."