Long Game 18: Holly and Iron

[Alvron he/him]

Lopen is free to give the head back to Hael if he wants.  Thanks to all the talk, I'm sure someone else will be willing to collect on the bounty.   Time is not an issue.  Besides, I might be able to collect it myself saving me the trouble of paying the bounty.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Alvron

[Elbereth she/her]

Since no one's asked. Hael, where do you want your head? If you're not getting it back, that is.

[Haelbarde he/him]

I mean I would rather have my own head as my own trophy. I'd maybe even trade it to Alv if I got to see my own profile (if it exists). Other, I'd probably choose Wilson to have it.

[Burnt Spaghetti she/her]

I mean I would rather have my own head as my own trophy. I'd maybe even trade it to Alv if I got to see my own profile (if it exists). Other, I'd probably choose Wilson to have it.

I guess giving it to Wilson would be the good thing to do as her herald

 

--

Well, I had a great deal of fun with this game, even though we lost. 

I have to say, though- I am in awe of that spreadsheet. You guys are spreadsheet wizards (even if it did target me for errors at least once every term #errormagnet! )

[Haelbarde he/him]

...That spreadsheet. Although I'm disappointed with you Wilson. You only just discovered the concatenate function? *Shake head*

 

@Alv: No, I will not be becoming one of your disciples. Now, Burnt... she might.

Also, I'll give you my head on one condition: a game is designed and run where the donors of the constituents of the flesh golem play a collective public eliminator team.  

[Alvron he/him]

@Alv: No, I will not be becoming one of your disciples. Now, Burnt... she might.

Also, I'll give you my head on one condition: a game is designed and run where the donors of the constituents of the flesh golem play a collective public eliminator team.  

I figured you wouldn't.  And Burnt is on my short list for being asked if she wants to join the Shadows.  I greatly enjoy her rants.

 

That won't work.  Who knows how long it will take for me to get some of the parts.  By the time the Golem is finished you and/or others might no longer be playing.

[A Joe in the Bush]

 

Exactly.  Everyone knows that The is just another word for Only.

Someone needs to tell Joe that his username is redundant. The Only Joe. The The Joe. Or maybe Only Only Joe.

He knows.  We had a talk about that way back in one of his first games.

 

I do not remember this conversation. And I don't see it as Redundant. 'Only Joe' Implies that I'm only a joe, something unimportant, just a joe. 'The Joe' works I suppose, but It doesn't sound very, me.

[little wilson she/her]

I have to say, though- I am in awe of that spreadsheet. You guys are spreadsheet wizards (even if it did target me for errors at least once every term 

 

It was a process. A long process.... 

 

...That spreadsheet. Although I'm disappointed with you Wilson. You only just discovered the concatenate function? *Shake head*

 

I'd known for a bit there was a function that combined info from other cells. I just hadn't read up on it and actually used it. So that "discovery" was me actually using it and realizing just how brilliant it is. I'm very, very proud of that spreadsheet and some of those functions. I particularly like the function that checks insanity bonuses (though I never did get a Naming tab up for the Naming uses, which was going to automate the Naming side of the insanity bonuses too....). I have a great many ideas on how to streamline it so it's easier for future GMs to handle. Like El.

[Elbereth she/her]

Any streamlining would be highly appreciated. And please do sign me up for a rerun. Can't wait.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Elbereth

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

...That spreadsheet. Although I'm disappointed with you Wilson. You only just discovered the concatenate function? *Shake head*

 

@Alv: No, I will not be becoming one of your disciples. Now, Burnt... she might.

Also, I'll give you my head on one condition: a game is designed and run where the donors of the constituents of the flesh golem play a collective public eliminator team.  

 

*Shakes Hael's head* 

[TheMightyLopen he/him]

Corrin slipped out of his room at the Golden Pony, heading for the determined meeting place. He'd been many things over the long months it had taken to reach this point. He'd been a traveler, on a journey to save his family. He'd been a student, learning things he'd long thought were only fairytale stories and myths. He'd even become the Master Archivist, head of the fame University Archives.

 

But today, he was only one thing. A brother. As his family had been struck by a curse that had caused his siblings to go insane, he'd searched for a way, anything, that could save them. It seemed he'd found it. A man shrouded in darkness, hiding in the shadows had called out to him by name a few weeks earlier, explaining he knew a way to save his family. Of course, Corrin didn't believe the man at first, but he'd tried everything he'd learned during his time at the University, and so, a deal was struck. The head of a certain creature, in exchange for the curse on his family being lifted.

 

And so, when his fellow Namer and friend, Sev, went to face the last Skindancer that had infiltrated the University, Corrin had followed along behind, silently waiting his chance to strike. It seemed Sev had let his power control him, so Corrin had no choice but to sneak in a window in the side of the building where the last Skindancer was residing. As Sev sent his skeleton minions to circle the creature, Corrin swiftly called the Name of Fire and cleanly removed the head of Haelbarde, letting the body slump down, lifeless, as the skeletons began to stab it.

 

Corrin hurriedly called the Name of the Wind to glide through a small window in the ceiling. When he returned to his room at the inn, a note was waiting for him, telling him when and where to bring the head. So he set out, hoping to return his family to a state of peace.

 

He stood in the alley the note had desribed, and waited for the shadowy man to appear. It didn't take long until he heard a voice coming from close behind. "Do you have the head?" the hooded man, cloaked in darkness, not allowing a bit of him to touch the light.

 

"Yes, I have it." Corrin replied. "Why don't you come over here, in the light, where I can see you, and take it."

 

"Because he is a man born in darkness, and darkness is all he knows." a voice called out, on the other side of Corrin. A woman stepped up to him. "Give me the head, and I promise you, I can help with whatever it is that ails you and your family. That man wishes only to use the head for evil purposes."

 

"And what will you use it for?" Corrin asked, wary of anyone who would ask for the head of a Skindancer.

 

"I assure you, I'll make sure it's safe, where it can't be used to harm anyone." the woman replied.

 

A choice had to be made. But what should he do? The man cloaked in shadows was silent, only ever moving slightly. The woman had approached him in the light, unafraid to state her intentions. 

 

"I have decided to give the fae creatures head to you." Corrin said as he passed the severed head to the woman. "I beg you to lift the curse that has caused my family so much pain and suffering. And to you, man in the shadows, I offer you a favor, in return for the deal I've broken. Now, if I may, I'd like to go rest now. It's been quite a long year, filled with demons and magic, friends and family alike dying and passing on. Good day."

 

                                                                           -----------------------------------------

 

 

Alv and Wilson, hope you don't mind me making you guys talk a little. You can change it up some if you want. Just PM me. 

[little wilson she/her]

Okay. It's about time I get around to closing this game up. First, my final thoughts.

 

For the most part, I think the game worked well. There are just a couple of things I'd tweak for a rerun.

 

The Apothecary

Bloodless were too cheap and too available. Running it again, I'd probably increase the prices for the Bloodless and the Gram considerably. Like, the Bloodless would be about 10 talents and the gram closer to 15 or 20. That would make the Skindancer attack more effective since there wouldn't be so many Skindancer-protections around.

 

The Lodgings

I think there might need to be one more lodging location, just to spread the prices out a little more. I also think the Mews should have a +2 insanity bonus, to make it so if you lodge there, you will be risking insanity, regardless of if you've gone into an arcane field or not. I didn't like how 80% of the players lodged at the Mews and most of them were at no risk of insanity. I'd want to make such cheap lodging more of a risk for players, since risk/reward is very much a theme for this game (or it should've been anyway).

 

Besides the Mews, though, I thought the other locations worked great. DC stayed in Anker's most of the time he was sane, and he had a number of actions that got cancelled due to his lodging at Anker's. The Golden Pony didn't really see much action, but the Horse and Four. Stink would've been expelled ages earlier if he hadn't been staying at the Horse and Four as much as he had been. There were a number of turns where he had 1-2 votes on him, and they got cancelled out due to the -1DP, so he didn't go On the Horns. He lucked out a lot. Wonko could've avoided being expelled as well, if he'd been lodging at the Horse and Four.

 

And actually, that might be another thing I would change. Switch the bonuses of the Golden Pony and the Horse and Four. With how easy it was to go on the Horns and how potentially harmful that could be, making it slightly cheaper to avoid that might not be a bad thing. And then it would make the protection more expensive, which works. I'd probably up the chances to 50% rather than 25% though. To make it more beneficial with that higher cost.

 

Fae Lore

This was way OP. I'm not sure how I'd change it, but it definitely needs to be changed. I'm thinking maybe making it so actions where you're just performing an action and not trying to get information don't bring back info. You just know if you did it or not and who you targeted, but not if it was successful. Only the information-gathering ones, where you target a specific person to learn something about them (like School Records) would have a more specific result. That would make it so Fae Lore can still block--perhaps even block all actions--but the Archivist won't automatically know who is or isn't a Skindancer if they know someone used an action.

 

Other than those little bits, I think most of the game went pretty well. I wish more players had become Masters, or that Hael had been able to destroy R/L, but all-in-all, I think it was a good game. With these adjustments, I think it would help a lot (particularly the Bloodless/protection one).

 

 

And that wraps up LG18. Thanks everyone for playing! The Skindancers played a great game, and so did the Students. I loved the Naming actions that Wonko and Lopen did there at the end. I wish that Wonko had figured out that he could target Students in the University with Wind while he was expelled but I'm quite content with the way the events there at the end played out. Also, thank you to everyone for being so forgiving to the mistakes made (I'm looking at you, Burnt. ). This was a massive game, and we tried our best, but sometimes, we messed up. 

 

Which brings me to my fellow co-GMs. I cannot thank Orlok and Aonar enough for helping me run this. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you two, especially not there at the end. So thank you both a hundred times over (and more).

 

As always, if you have any game ideas, feel free to post them in the Art of Game Creation thread to get feedback on them. If you'd like to try your hand at GMing, either post in the General Rules thread or PM me, Alv, Meta, or Gamma, and we'll get you added to the list and to the relevant GM PM group. You can also see if you can co-GM a game with someone else, to get experience without running a game all by yourself. Whatever works for you.

 

Thanks again for playing and hope to see you back on Temerant when Elbereth reruns this game sometime in the next year (probably).