Waterbrick Down

"The turban was only worth 20 Gold and Mandrel thinks Julian spotted it 4 weeks past. Mandrel does not know of any group associated with turban. Mandrel thinks it just another hat."

"His hat? It was just an ornate white turban that Julian had taken a fancy too, nothing special. If it had been, Mandrel have charged him much more for it. Only thing special is color was bright white."

"Obviously, you are know alchemist. You would be surprised ze stange things people comission ze guild for. Julian is payed a small amount every 8 days, besides zat he is treated almost as family wizin ze guild." With their questions answered, the Party once again treks through the now muddy streets to Mandrel's curiosities shop. The rain has stopped and the storm passes on as they enter the orc's shop. "Hello there again, have heroes found Mandrel's friend Julian yet?"

Just a clarifying question now that the guild names/semi-descriptions have been made, just because we choose a certain location doesn't necessarily limit us on what faction/theme we choose to build in correct, i.e. I could join the Eastern Darklands but still build with the Crownie faction correct? The guild name only defines the geographaphical style of each team not necessarily the inhabitents of the land?

Dr. Mynatt shakes his head, "Zat eez ze worst of it, ze note appears to have ripped in ze coming storm and aside from ze amount of gold, ze information about hwere to deliver eet has been lost."

I'm not quite sure what your question is here so if you could clarify that would be great. I will however give a shot at the question I think you're asking, which is: Can a player, using a non-humanoid character be considered vulnerable to elemental attacks or immune to certain elemental attacks in a given QM's quest? The answer is two fold. 1. It has already been established that actual players will not intrinsically have the same stats/effects/advantages/disadvantages as their in game enemy representations of their race. For example, one player in the hall plays an undead knight, however he is not immune to physical attacks like undead enemies in the game and on the flip side he is not at a disadvantage against any holy monsters or enemies with holy imbued weapons. If this were true, we see a notable increase in the population of undead heroes within the hall. 2. Given that there has been a recent example of a QM giving a definitive advantage of an enemy's attack against a certain race played by one of his party's players, the possibility does exist to have a quest where the first rule is no longer the case and humanoid players do take double damage from darkness monsters, naga playing characters are immune to water attacks but suffer against lightning and wood imbued weapons or monsters, ect. So in answer to the question, yes it is possible, however it is currently (and I believe with good reason) found only in specific quests and is not a standard rule in order to avoid both complexity and unfair advantages/disadvantages to certain races. Does this answer the question?

The formulist now looking quite annoyed responds, "My good sir I am not an idiot. Do you zink I would give such a powerful weapon to some sociopaz? I can ensure you my patron eez a respectable if somehwat reclusive collector and financier, I would never doubt zeir intentions or suspect zem of such dasterdliness as kidnapping. Besides hwat good hwould it do zem, I already knew the scope of my research and was already going to provide zem wiz ze sample. But what do I get from you? Question after question after question, hwen all zis time, ze boy's life eez in peril! If you must still prolong zis audience, here take a look at ze note. As for ze Blood Paw gang, zey are just hoodlums terrorizing ze local establishments and zey are two imbecile to concoct a scheme such as zis." The party inspects the note and sees that it is only your average ransom note, no clues in the wording, demands, paper, or ink can be found.

I agree the teams should be ambiguous as far as themes. But addressing your stuck problem if we did choose theme specific guilds, this would be solved if we allowed people to choose what faction/themed guild they wanted to be part of. However certain areas would definately be in the minority, additionally this choice may serve to split the community into multitudes of smaller sub groups i.e. red vs. blues.

I think Sirens-Of-Titans already scratched his original idea. It seems like we're still at the debate of whether these guilds are going to be theme based. It was my understanding that North-East-South-West were chosen because they are ambiguous and not theme specific and now everybody is trying to match certain themes/factions to them.

I've got it noted, you can put it into your inventory, I just prefer to keep the tread as smooth as possible and not break it up with status updates every single time someone finds something or poisons their weapon, etc. I'm glad you're enjoying it, hopefully the title will become more apparent as time goes on, you all are pretty close to cracking the puzzle, and yes it is crackable with out a magic compass but I can understand your frustration.

"If you're referring to ze diminutive cousins of ze werewolves that run ze local glass shop, then no. Now if zere are no more useless questions, Julian's life may still be at stake."

"Kill a lot of people? My dear ranger you've admitted yourself zat I look like a respectable doctor, my interests are purely scientific based. Ze sample of ze plague is merely for an enzusiastic collector, it will be rendered harmless through our alchemical ingenuity."

It's the balance between letting you all figure things out via real world questioning or laying everything out for you and rail-roading you onto a certain path which I sort of am anyways, but the illusion of control is more comforting than just knowing you are all pawns of the QM's story.

"Of course zey are. Do I look like an ignorant barbarian to you? Why else would I need Gnomish Fractionation Columns, ze Snow Ruby of Halvetia, and all ze ozer items Julian was to collect?"

"Hwat is zis? I requested your help because my assistant was missing and now may be possibly in danger and you are asking about my business interests! My sponser has requested to remain anonymous and if zat is not enough for you zan I shall have to look else where for help, but be it known zat ze boy's blood may be on your handz."

The Party return to the Invision Guild House, by the now the rain is beginning to come down at a steady rate. Knocking on the guild house door they are surprised to see it answered by Dr. Mynatt who hustles them into the foyer. "Now, what is ze problem, have zu found Julian? Did you get my message from zat cleric?"

On their way out the door, the party runs into the ever frowning Ratabor Mossycloak. "Ah my friends, I've the most wondrous news, I've been hired by the Guild of Invision, or rather contracted out to them. They're going to do alchemical tests on my tears and see if they can develop a new potent potion with them and they're paying me in Gold to provide them with a steady supply of samples. I was also asked by one of the chaps working in their laboratory to give you this, should I run into you again." What will the Party do?

Waterbrick Down signing up and I'm fine with whatever way we end up organizing this.

First off, let me say, that this is turning into quite an interesting discussion. That said, my understanding of the gist of this topic thus far is as that we have two options (in reality we have more, but these are the ones drawing the most discussion): 1. Members are assigned to a guild that is faction/theme specific and only works on these types of creations, contests and challenges are formatted to generic ideas for a period of 2-3 months, i.e. build a watch tower, or guild crest, or army and each guild will approach this topic with the spin of their faction. Benefits: People are able to build with what pieces they have available to them as well as build exclusively in the themes they enjoy. Teams are more focused on individuality and singularity of the members. Concerns: As has already been stated this may serve to establish an atmosphere of cliques and divisiveness of the community. Additionally since some themes are bound to be more popular than others, the back stories and foundation of certain themes will never get developed. 2. Members are assigned to a guild that will eventually build on any faction/theme they want, contests and challenges are formatted to specific factions/themes, for a period of 2-3 months, i.e. build mocs/armies/reviews/etc. to develop the Troll theme. Benefits: All themes/factions should eventually be covered and developed by the guilds. Teams are focused more on collaboration of and dependency on moc'ers/army builders/historians within the guild to show their strengths and provide their expertise at different times. Concerns: Not everybody is going to have all the parts to contribute at certain cycles or not everyone will enjoy building along a certain theme/faction. So I guess it's more a question of what is the purpose of this endeavor: Is it to increase activity, or flesh out the different themes/factions, or develop guilds that are focused more on collaboration and team dependency or teams that are more centered on individual's preferences and their strengths toward specific factions/themes? While pigeonholing members in certain theme based guilds will probably yield more involvement (basically because people build what they enjoy/are interested in) is it worth the fracturing and splitting of the historic community into smaller sub-groups and theme specific factions? On the other hand if guilds are forced to build in themes that not all their members will be able to contribute a gigantic amount to due to either a lack of interest or part selection, we will see certain undeveloped themes becoming more fleshed out as well as teams forming stronger bonds between the members but it may cost us the total amount of interest in the project in the first place. For me, I like both ideas, I enjoy building in certain factions/themes exclusively no matter the subject matter, but at the same time I also enjoy having a challenge and reconciling the Lego and imagination/ideas I do have to contribute in a small way to a group's bigger focus. So for now my vote goes toward the second option. I may not always be able to contribute a gigantic display of an undead themed challenge, but the fun part in discovering what small ways I can still contribute toward my guild. So as a final question, what builds community? A common interest, or a common goal? Please bear in mind that I'm only addressing the most widely discussed topic and by no means consider other ideas or even combinations of the two ideas as out of the question or the realm of possibility.

"Oh so his turban was magical was it? Could have fooled me, but he did seem to value it highly. Yelled at us for getting a spot of soot on it. As to where he was headin' next, that I do not know." Atramor opens up the ancient tome and reads up on the section of the Gray Plague. It is mostly factual about the symptoms of the fatal disease and archaic cures and preventatives. An aged sheaf of script folded in two, falls from the back of the book. Atramor observes that the sheet seems to be from an individuals journal.

With their search thus far unfruitful, the party heads off once more to the werehound glass blowing shop. As they enter they are greeted by Gillian, Rillian nods from his corner at the bellows, and Dillian merely hmmph's. "Good evening to you gentlemen, quite a storm we've got brewing up out there haven't we? Have you found your litte white capped friend yet?"

Hey Volcanicpanik, if you're up for taking suggestions on your quest, I think the plague idea sounds really cool, but my only concern is the gems offered as rewards. As is already being discussed in the the discussion section, the trick is balance, and that includes items and drops as well, I'm thinking 5 more gems might be too much, they should be a little rarer in my opinion, which I think is one reason we are seeing more quests simply offering gold, experience, and reputation. With that said, it is your quest so the final decision lands with you, otherwise great idea and I look forward to seeing it come to reality after you finish up with mine.

"Supply and demand my friend, supply and demand, you're lucky you got here when you did, I was about to raise my interest rates another 5 percent." "Here you are, may they serve your fancies well, and remember, if you've any wish to remain in the land of the livin' you'll pay me back sooner rather than later." Party: Atramor Gibbin *Party Leader* (Played by CallMePieORDie) Level 10 Rogue Power: 15 Health: 16/16 Gold: 48 - owes Gurnam the Loan Shark 95 Inventory: Glass Dagger of... Hollowness (WP:5 Grand Potion Equipped), Whip Chain of Pickpocketing (WP:6), Bone x2, Magic Compass, Pickaxe, Magnifying Glass, Shovel, Essence of Obsidian (Quest Item), Writ of Blacksmith Service, "Maladies of the Brick" (Quest Item), Orc Potion x5, Snow Ruby of Helvetia (Quest Item) Elgar Gligin (Played by Jedi master Brick) Level 4 Ranger Power: 7 Health: 9/9 Gold: 18 Inventory: Bow and Arrow (WP:3)*Poisoned 1/2*, Smoke Bomb, Bedroll, Remedy, Orc Venom x1 Sir Glorfindel (Played by soccerkid6) Level 4 Knight Power: 7 Health: 13/13 Gold: 67 - Owes Gurnam the Loan Shark 52 Inventory: Broadsword (WP:3), Lion Shield (SP:2), Potion x2, Bedroll, Nostrum Tarn Valco (Played by Rumble Strike) Level 9 Barbarian Power: 18 Health: 16/16 Gold: 19 Inventory: Kyrferath, a Battle Ax (WP:9, water elemental, Mead Equipped), Pole-axe (WP:3), Bottle of Mead, Lightning Bomb, Potion x2, Tonic, Venom, Smelling Salts, Grand Potion, Spell of Sleep William Harkenshire (Played by volcanicpanik) Level 4 Ranger Power: 7 Health: 9/9 Gold: 30 Inventory: Bow (WP:3), Smoke Bomb, Bedroll, Mead, Smelling Salts, Potion The Party decides to investigate Fort Bonaparte, however upon reaching the docks of the port, not a soul is in sight and all the vessels are tied fast to their pillars awaiting the coming storm. What will the Party do?

Yes that is correct.

With that said, what are the possibilities of more powerful bombs, maybe limited by only certain level heroes may use them. As of right now they work great, but with the inclusion of higher powered monsters being seen in the quests with more experienced heroes, they become very ineffective, i.e. Jeb's quests where a regular bomb damage would have an approximate 1:24 effectiveness ratio.