Zepher

OoC: I'll put this in OoC as well! I apologize if it seems I'm treading on you, that was not my intent at all. I know it's not your first quest (I've been on most of them with you!) and I don't doubt you would have made a good choice without my input - my only thoughts were that two heads were better than one. It wasn't an attempt to boss you around, only an attempt to make suggestions. I play two bossy characters, so I apologize for that. I don't doubt your (Pandora's) ability to think. But you have been vocal about it, and I guess I haven't been paying close enough attention to how you've been saying it - I mean to strategize alongside you, but if you feel that it comes across as orders instead of being a teammate, then that's how you feel, and if I've failed to understand that, it's on me. So that's my mistake, and I apologize. My fun should never ever come in the way of your fun. Barty rolls his eyes, but even so cowers behind Boomingham as the man stands up and attack Abe. "Thank you, dearest. Now let's see if I can't be useful for a change," Boomingham says gruffly as he attacks Abe from the front row with his Frozen Saber.

I just like confusing people with my avatar.

We've talked about having a ridiculously banal quest before, and I've got to say a mortgage payment one would be awesome. I am actually genuinely a huge fan of simple one word titles - both for quests and my own personal writing as well. There's something simple and fun about them, very direct, give a quick and exact frame to think in. Stuff Happens is how everyone should view every quest. Kurt Vonnegut has a great speech where he says, essentially, that "stuff happens" is just about the best story someone can write. And as I said in PM, it looks beautiful! I'm glad a whole new generation of heroes can meet the mopey Justin Featherhead.

Barty winks into existence next to Nyx. "Throw a bomb that'll wipe out the snakes, get Lawrence up," he instructs suggests curtly. Boomingham takes a swing at Abe from the front row upon being raised (assuming he is).

No, I'm just making my questies wait in purgatory forever, pretending that one day a PM may come their way. But yes, they're all on side-quests. And if they're lucky, maybe they'll all meet up in a bit. I figure we gotta keep the game fresh, and I don't think we've ever started a quest this way before!

I think Kinto is already on it! And Lord Duvors, I may have considered shutting up, but you forgot to say please first, so I won't now! Use the gray!

"Where are those heroes?" muses Johnny Everyman as he stands on a street corner. Aparently, heroes aren't known for their punctuality. Check your inboxes, heroes!

Get to shopping! The quest will go up ASAP, but you can still shop/conclude deals for a few more hours!

Boomingham drools on the floor in the most heroic way possible.

Current Sign-Ups for Quest #102 Mattias, Level 9 Ranger Nerwen Calmcacil, Level 27.66 Paladin Purpearl Berthadhiell, Level 10 Mage Alexis Fenral, Level 41.2 Harlot (Update your Hero Statistics!) Warlen Melimane, Level 1 Mage ~Sign-Ups End in 24 Hours, and then my life becomes a weird impossible balancing game!~

It has unfortunately been ruled that they are, even though some QMs have denied them in the past before that ruling was made official.

Boomingham repeats with a grimace. "Let's see if we can't scratch them this time!"

No worries! I've hosted you more often than not, I think (Dyric and Thothwick, along with you, are characters I think I've hosted on every other one of their quests). Kintober's a great host! Take a turn with him! That being said, I'll probably have to leave the sign-ups open for another day or two. I think a thirty level gap is a bit too much for me to balance for. If any other level 10-30 want to sign up, that'd be perfect, and if not, I'll take a shot at some tough balancing!!

Sorry, got busy! Political Guidebook Belvin and his Nords Friendly with: King Speros Disliked: Paladins Goals: Essentially, the Nords realize they'd be losing some major income once the bridge was built - there'd be far fewer ships for them to raid. So, they tried to get some gold for "protecting the bridge" which meant, essentially, not attacking it. King Speros saw an opportunity to stop them from raiding coastal villages, and so added that to the deal. King Speros Friendly with: Valentino, Belvin, Prince Speros (sort of!) Disliked: David, Raguel, Heweyrt (sort of), Orcs, Nords Goals: Speros had been convinced that the bridge was for the best of the Kingdoms - he thinks that if the Orcs are friendlier with the Kingdoms, they are less likely to attack, and also that if they were to attack the Kingdoms would have an easy route of retaliation. His goal with the Nords is detailed above. King Valentino Friendly with: King Speros, David, Heweyrt Disliked: Bastala Goals: Wanted to complete the bridge. He believes that the Orcs have a land rich with resources (though that has yet to be proven true, exactly) and he hoped to increase the wealth/prestige of his rather small kingdom by trading with them. Besides, a construction project creates jobs! Hamilton Friendly with: Valentino, David (sort of) Disliked: King Speros (sort of), Prince Speros, Mint, Raguel, Orcs, Nords Goal: To serve the Red Lizards, who, in his mind, are very much ruled by Valentino. Prince Speros (and Mint) Friendly with: King Speros (sort of), Each Other Disliked: David, Raguel, Nords, Orcs Goal: Prince Speros (and by extension, his mentor/friend Mint) found the "political stylings" of King Speros to be cowardly, shameful, and fruitless. They wanted only to make their nation look powerful, a force to be reckoned with. Mint, older and a bit wiser, having seen more battles, did actually understand King Speros' stance on the Nords - continued raiding would only harm their country. Prince Speros, who had never experienced the Nordic raids, was less committed to the peace. Prince David Friendly with: Raguel, Valentino Disliked: Orcs (particularly Bastala, if he were to ever learn her name), Nords (Belvin in particular for being in the capitol with a force), King Speros, Heweyrt Goals: To be a competent and inspiring ruler in the place of his father. To see his father's work finished (the bridge) even though he didn't fully comprehend it's importance. To rescue his father. Raguel the Warrior Priest Friendly with: David Disliked: Orcs, Nords, King Speros, Prince Speros, Heweyrt Goals: To protect the young Prince, and to teach him the ways of the Lord of Light. To spread the protection of the Lord of Light to all, and to prevent the Orcish Invasion he saw brewing once more. Heweyrt ????? Hopefully that's helpful! Character Analysis Nerwen - I talked about it a lot in my over-view of the quest, but I loved hosting Nerwen. She was both likable and dislikable, often times for the same reasons/actions. Nerwen knows what she thinks is right, and is more than willing to stand by it, but it can swing back and forth between being certain to being stubborn to having fortitude of character to being blind to others. It's very interesting. I think that Paladin was the right path for her, and I'm glad you took me up on the offer! It wasn't necessary for the quest, but I hope you liked the goodies that came with it, and that you had a good time. Her interactions with Guts, as I said before, were outstanding, and so was her budding friendship with Purpearl. I enjoyed playing Gocklo and Raguel off of her as well. Hoke - Like I said before, as well, Hoke is a very "business oriented" sort of guy, and I think it worked for this quest, and is great for the character. I personally don't have a brain for politics either (even in our microcosm version of politics I get kind of muddled - in the real world where I don't make up the motives myself I get totally lost), so it was fun to see him sort of throw up his hands and just do what he was supposed to do. I appreciate his straight-forwardness too, he never has much subtlety in his speech, and is always willing to bluntly speak his mind. I don't think he's a character without convictions either - when he sees something he doesn't support/like, he saws so. He makes quick and honest decisions. I like also that he is affected by his past, but not in major ways. He never seems too rattled by the quests he goes on, but he likewise never seems to forget them, and you can see them hovering around in his head. Benji - I love Benji, actually. I've spoken in the past (or have at least thought about it in the past) about his more amoral stance on the world, and I really love it. He seems to me like a character who just does whatever he does, if that makes sense. His reptilian nature has only pushed that alienation. I want to see it develop more! I also want to thank you for your participation - though Benji is quieter you were always willing to post a smirk or a hiss or something that communicated that both you and Benji were present and had opinions, even if you didn't share them! I love that! Tesni - Awesome as always when you were around. Gocklo liked you. I thought you might have fun with the Nords, which is why I picked you, but you dropped off the face of the planet after a month. Bummer. Really makes me feel very sad and tired when I have to try to force people to participate, and it really drags the fun down for me and others (I imagine). I've hosted you a few times, and it's been happening a lot for you recently. I'd have to think long and hard before selecting you again. Jess - See above.

Boomingham blushes slightly. "Ah. First my brain's going, now my eyes. Looks like you're even more clever than I give you credit for!

By designing enemies blindly, heroes are able to benefit from their immunities. EDIT: A recent example - in 88, the Bolivar battle featured enemies that could confuse their foes. That was decided before I looked at my heroes' immunities. Hoke and Benji, therefore, did benefit from their build, whereas the others did not.

Does anyone know where Thothwick's been recently? I miss him.

Current Sign-Ups for Quest #102 Mattias, Level 9 Ranger Nerwen Calmcacil, Level 27.66 Paladin ~Sign-Ups End in 2 Days (Unless we don't have four heroes!)~

No, they wouldn't have. But you have to remember that they don't know that you have a RPG quest to complete - just because they are "against the quest" doesn't make them "bad". Though, of course in your eyes as a player and my eyes as a QM, they probably do have to be defeated! Raguel mistrusted the heroes because of the exact reason he said. You sparred a man (Belvin) who slaughtered a capitol city. That shattered his trust... you know, just a little. You also chose to go to help King Speros instead of protecting the Prince, which, again, was not really Raguel's cup of tea. But yes, I'll post that political guidebook tonight!

"I'm not that old," grumbles Boomingham with a light smile. Away from Ellaria, Atramora and Skrall, Nyx seems back to her normal chipper self. "And I'm a King, my dearest, it's in my blood to yell orders. But, I guess I can try to tone it down for you." He smiles warmly. "I'd like to casually and in a friendly manner suggest that you put on that helmet of your's that helped Skrall with the poisoned apple. That thing seemed nifty enough, and these chaps don't look too clean. Maybe sniff some smelling salts too, if you have any." Boomingham raises his Frozen Saber and squares off against Abe, stepping forward. "What are you doing down here anyway?" He looks around for Barty, who has been conspicuously missing since the night before, and then he swings his sword.

Before I talk about Baltarok more, I'd actually like to comment on this, because my thoughts have changed on this significantly since I started hosting quests! I agree with Scuba: I think you should have the specials and immunities thought out before you pick players - this allows for the heroes to benefit from their builds! If I designed enemies around Guts, for example, after I knew he was on a quest, I might slap "immune to ice" on quite a few foes so lifestealer wouldn't work, and might not have any of my enemies deal "30 lightning-damage" because Guts is immune to that. It's too tempting, I feel, to add those things once you know the heroes you'll be hosting, so I ALWAYS come up with those before hand so as not to punish the heroes for their builds. The health/power, however, should come once you know the heroes you'll be hosting (I used to think this should come before hand too, but I have been taught that I'm totally wrong on that front). Huzzah! I'm glad you read the others - and yes, this is exactly what we as the QMs were hoping for. Dastan was a true victory! So, this time around, we wanted a much more morally gray trilogy, especially the final act. Showing the carnage of Carn probably would have served the quest better, and a body count would have been nice, but why would the Nords admit to being paid to take Grishnod? I don't know if even all the Nords were in on it - I can't imagine Belvin being aware of such a plot (and I never signed off on him being in on it) so it's possible he really just thought Grishnod was someone who had been captured normally. But yes, not knowing the Orcs - that was purposeful. No one in the High Kingdoms cares enough to know them apart, even the "good guys" Valentino and King Speros. This was a challenge. We actually had it so that the heroes of 90 couldn't complete their goal until after the bridge battle, but then somehow that changed. I didn't know Pie would be requesting that in the end, so I didn't really foreshadow it. But I agree it could have served the quest. I don't have that many Orc heads, which is why I ended up doing the Kingdom's side of things, actually. I'm glad you liked Gocklo! As the epilogue more than heavy-handedly hints at, of all the NPCs in this quest, he and Heweyrt were the ones that have bigger roles to play! I know (and knew) upon taking you along that you didn't much care for political intrigue or politics, and I don't feel it's something you should apologize for! I actually think it helped the quest! It's the reason I made you the Party Leader - I really loved your drive to get things done, even while everyone else was trying to play their own game. And what do you mean by a "break-down" of relationships? As in, what everyone's goals were? Or how they felt about each other? I can post that up when I do player reviews in the evening, at least on the Kingdom's side, if there's interest in that!

I have never had to read more past quests than while preparing for 102. I'm featuring quite a few old characters of other people's, and I want to get them right. I wish I had more parts.

"Good luck, big fellow!" Boomingham whispers mightily as the Ore disappears. He then turns to Nyx. "You alright working with me for the time being? Or are we going to go back to the early days of being all huffy and not having a sense of humor?" Boomingham leads the way through the sewers, looking up at the ceiling to see if there's any grate or toilet or something to enter the building through.

"The Wolfgang are cowards, right? I don't think it would be shocking should we run away, considering what the Captain thinks of us." Boomingham glances over to make sure that no one is looking in his direction before he lifts the wood to the sewers (thankfully a job he can do, as opposed to if it were metal or stone) and slips through the rather large crack into the murky depths.

Quest 88 is under fire, and so I figure I'll explain some of my thoughts! I don't think that most of what's been said about it is unfair, either! It was a very different quest than what I usually run, for sure. I'm sad you didn't like King Speros - he was harsh, but I think he was a good enough guy. I actually liked Hamilton least of all the characters. Are Raguel/David/Belvin a-holes? Yes, probably. But so are lots of real people. I have done a whole slew of "quirky" characters. I didn't feel that this quest lent itself to those. I purposely had them be harsher and low key. It may not be as much "fun" but I think it was a more honest portrayal of the way wars sometimes go. No common people. Screw them. They weren't important to any of the characters the heroes met. Sorry, that's the rough facts. As for the confusion between Red Lizard/Four Boulder - I'm not unhappy that there was trouble for outsiders discerning the two. Being thrown into a complex political situation should do that to you. And Hoke, Nerwen and Benji all exhibited that they DID understand the distinction, which was all that really matters. I make it a point to never buy anything that I drop as loot. I think that's unfair. I think you may have been expecting another Dastan, whereas we took pains to make it markedly different. We meant for the heroes to be more isolated and to have less cross-over: it made that final battle so much more worth while. They weren't a team at all, this time around. There was no common goal, and they really were coming from different regions, only brought together through a clash instead of teamwork. As for the complaint that they didn't really "do anything" - yes. I agree. I structured the quest that way. I don't think that five heroes should be able to step in and diffuse 250 years of political and racial tension. It makes for a more depressing and hopeless feeling throughout the quest, sure, but that wasn't the goal. They kept the bridge up. If they hadn't been there, it probably would be down now. I'm sorry, but this is just a ludicrous way to look at the trilogy. We all had to act as if the other group was a group of NPCs who would do what we want. That's just the way these quests work. We build choices in, but we have to hope to God that the heroes will do them, or else this trilogy would be us making it up on the fly, and that's simply not an option with this many players/QMs. What the Orcs did had no effect on my story, and vice-versa. That's just how it had to happen. I know you think that it's possible to have a quest with infinite options, but we have yet to see it, and while you develop it the rest of us have to rail-road a little. So to answer your question: nothing that 88 did affected 89 or 90, nothing that 89 did affected 88 or 90, and then the same goes for 90. We are willing to improvise, but not that much. The Circus Performers could have worked alone, sure, but so could the army of Dastan. In theory, all these quests could be resolved by other people. And again, just because you saw something doesn't mean that it was pre-determined to happen. There is a version of the final battle where Raguel and David weren't even present. Actually, there were TWO versions of the final battle where they weren't present. I also still don't understand what you're talking about with 88 and 90's affect on 89. What effect did you perceive 89 having on the other two? As I said to Flipz, I'm okay with that. They Kingdoms are probably a more bland land than Baltarok, and outside confusion is fine since the people in the quest knew what was happening. Full health will never happen again! We all have to learn sometimes. One shots were also totally my fault - I should have made Raguel targetable (his specials, as I noted, actually rely on it, and don't make sense with him being untargetable, but that was my mistake). I did run tests. On ravages, Guts deals over 300 damage. With a 3 point divider, that's 100 damage to every hero. That's pretty tough, especially since we were balancing for such a wide range of levels. I think that 8 actually works best (I tried 2, 3, 5, 8, and 10) but it was harder to remember. Hopefully that sheds some light! Character analysis will come soon!