|
Post by Beowuuf on Oct 14, 2010 7:21:51 GMT
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oooo
|
|
|
Post by Ector Symir on Oct 15, 2010 18:42:23 GMT
Biit late for me, but today's update made me think of the despair squid from Red Dwarf.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 15, 2010 21:53:54 GMT
Not the most spot-on comparison that might be made, but there are some shared elements.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 17, 2010 20:14:53 GMT
Since it is Sunday, I’ll put my Nice GM hat on briefly.
Disbelieving the situation you are in, Kelrim, has not worked for you (just as it didn’t for your fellow companions; though I realize you’re trying not to metagame your fellow players’ successes and failures, you can look to your own and see the reality at present).
Trying to convince either yourself or the NPC you are talking with that this situation is “not real” is not working. You’ve tried. More than once. That stone wall you keep running into is becoming very familiar to you. Metaphorically speaking, running bodily into the wall, trying to jump over, and standing in place, trying to pry a stone or two free, have all not worked for you (even putting aside what your companions have learned).
Just as Jynx eventually realized, you should probably consider backing up several steps and find a different path. Before it is too late.
There is not really anything you can "roll" to offer you further insights, right at the moment you are presently in. It's pretty obvious to Kelrim that what he has tried thus far clearly has not worked.
|
|
|
Post by Ector Symir on Oct 22, 2010 20:00:31 GMT
Jynx, there's no need to take a deep breath before approaching me just because I'm dead.
Though being able to commit involuntary seppuku through solid plate armour is, I guess I'll have to concede, one downside to owning a magic sword.
So who wants to retrieve the sword and return it to my family as per my final wishes? Kelrim volunteered, but I don't fancy his chances at the moment. Whoever ends up doing it, please remember to clean it first.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 23, 2010 0:24:11 GMT
Maerin laughs.
Possibly because Ector is not wearing "solid" plate. Otherwise, how could he move (there are torso twistings and the like that are sort of mandatory in order to be something other than a steel statue)? A certain Iron Man movie aside, "solid" not how "full plate" armour is either designed or works in practice. Particularly a set designed for infantry use.
No plate armour is that impenetrable, in any case. Granted, it is designed to (effectively) defend Ector from other attackers. Defend Ector from impaling himself through the various (though yes, few) weak portions of that armour? Not so much, no...
|
|
|
Post by Rolph on Oct 23, 2010 1:04:46 GMT
[monty python]I'm not dead yet![/monty python] This is the first time I've ever had my corpse looted before I was quite dead. Then again, I don't remember ever having my corpse looted after I was dead either, though not for lack of trying - Karstan really wanted Zohar's scimitars, I recall. Someone from Phoena probably ended up finding them, as I'm sure Zohar's body was picked over. Jynx is welcome to the flint and steel anyway. It's for a good cause.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 23, 2010 1:28:44 GMT
[monty python]I'm not dead yet![/monty python] This is the first time I've ever had my corpse looted before I was quite dead. Then again, I don't remember ever having my corpse looted after I was dead either, though not for lack of trying - Karstan really wanted Zohar's scimitars, I recall. Someone from Phoena probably ended up finding them, as I'm sure Zohar's body was picked over. Jynx is welcome to the flint and steel anyway. It's for a good cause. Maerin laughs.It was Alba, not Karstan, who wanted Zohar's magical scimitar. After that encounter with the helghast in Trusk, he was a bit..."focused"...on that particular goal.
|
|
|
Post by Beowuuf on Oct 27, 2010 7:41:44 GMT
First Zohar, now Kelrim
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 27, 2010 16:41:11 GMT
Magnamund is a dangerous place in this time. Heroes will rise and fall during Gnaag's war. That is kind of the way of it.
Remember that, though we benefit from knowing that Lone Wolf eventually returns and settles up with the Darklords, no one right now in the setting knows that. And this is just the beginnings...
There is a very telling quote from Book 12:
" 'The war against the Darklords is all but lost,' continues Banedon, his eyes cast down at the map, which is covered with black markers indicating the frightening number of countries Gnaag has added to his empire."
|
|
|
Post by Ector Symir on Oct 27, 2010 18:29:36 GMT
According to the books, did Palmyrion get conquered during this period? My memory's a bit fuzzy on that point.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 27, 2010 20:21:57 GMT
The books, actually, are none too specific on who all the Darklords manage to defeat during that time Lone Wolf is missing. That’s one of the reasons I like the period, write often about it (this year’s NaNoWriMo effort is going to be set during that period, I’ve decided), ran this campaign during the period, and will run my next game in the same period.
We know that Sommerlund and Durenor were not (the loss of Ruanon by Sommerlund early on notwithstanding). We also know that Vassagonia did not see another Zakhan ally with the Darklords after Kimah (though there was a considerable amount of strife in Vassagonia after Kimah’s death, and I would infer from that information that there was some period of time in which Vassagonia was effectively still under the Darklords’ thumb). There is circumstantial evidence in book 12 that suggests Lencia was still embattled at the time of Lone Wolf’s return. That is pretty much about it for definite.
Of course, even a “conquered” nation might not totally be so. Certainly, conquered by the Darklords or not, most of the nations of Magnamund seemed to have eventually been able to reconstitute themselves in similar fashion to their pre-war state. Some of those nations were likely overrun more than once, and yet were still able to reconstitute (and, for that matter, repopulate). Some of that, I have a problem with, strictly speaking (it’s not especially realistic, particularly since humans do not, in fact, breed like cockroaches, nor do we mature into adults in a mere handful of years). But that’s the nice thing about focusing on the earlier years of the war, rather than the later ones. The later years, I have to start considering how to reconcile the restoration of a nation that, in some cases, may not have been much of a nation even before the Darklords overran it.
Be that as it may, that leaves things pretty wide open, and the overall span of events you all saw presented in this game represent several of my own interpretations. Some of those were interpretted from incidental passages in Books 8, 9 or 10, which make passing references to early developments that I extrapolated into actual plot lines. The rebellion in northern Talestria, for instance, was inspired by certain passages in Book 8. The rebellion, however, required some further developing elements, in order to make sense, and those I created.
Other starting points for future story development were far more my own creation, based on what I felt was logical and reasonable. For instance, the idea that the Darklord armies, after their defeat at Tahou, were pushed back over the River Storn, but not farther, was one of mine. There seemed little logic in the Darklords being driven back out of Eldenora or Magador (to say nothing of Delden in between), if only because there really was not anyone to drive them out at that point in time.
That created one “starting point” for subsequent events. I have a few others. The simple reality is that, as powerful as the Darklords being able to lead upon the battlefield themselves might be (being essentially unkillable themselves), there’s simply no way they can be everywhere at once (i.e. taking new lands, holding ones conquered AND holding onto the various possessions and power structures each had beforehand). Particularly since they are certainly not accustomed to either trusting each other nor working well together. So there has to be more mechanisms in motion for the fall of so many lands to the Darklords. And therein lies a lot of the really great stories I see possible during that time.
Based on a combination of all of that, I’ve developed a “timeline” for those eight years, decided who would likely have fell (in some cases more than once) and how that may have come about in order to best match the tone and tenor of what Lone Wolf encountered upon his return from the Daziarn.
There is another aspect to this as well, and that is the Freelands Alliance. It did not exist prior to Gnaag’s war. Clearly it not only existed, but was well established and sound in the years after Gnaag’s defeat. That means it was formed from the crucible of the war itself. And that, then, must necessarily be one of the primary over-stories of any story set during that eight-year period. It did not form because of Lone Wolf’s actions when he returned. So it had to have formed for other reasons. More significantly, no such alliance merely forms out of nothing. And it certainly could not gain the level of stability we see in the Grandmaster series, without having a process to get to that point.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 27, 2010 20:36:24 GMT
According to the books, did Palmyrion get conquered during this period? My memory's a bit fuzzy on that point. I guess I never actually answered your question beyond yes/no. The books do not say if Palmyrion gets conquered by the Darklords. There are references to battles during the war, particularly in Book 13. But none are especially explicit on the details. In my storyline, Palmyrion most assuredly does fall to the Darklords, during the war. The nation is just far too vulnerable. Not just geographically (there just aren't enough geographical barriers to stop, slow, or curtail invasions from multiple possible directions), but also because of military losses associated with Adamas' invasions and eventual defeat at Torgar. It is also too strategically logical as an obvious target for any wishing to conquer and hold central Magnamund.
|
|
|
Post by Ector Symir on Oct 27, 2010 21:11:57 GMT
I'm not sure what a NaNoWriMo is, but thanks for that insight into your creative process.
|
|
|
Post by Maerin on Oct 27, 2010 22:27:04 GMT
I'm not sure what a NaNoWriMo is, but thanks for that insight into your creative process. NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month One of my pet activities for November, just because sleep is overrated....
|
|