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Chernobyl Peace Prize posted:The appropriate sicko mode is making your sheets in google sheets for everything. You can take pry the macros that auto update dicepools based off blood spending from my cold dead hands.
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Mar 4, 2021 04:32
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citybeatnik posted:You can take pry the macros that auto update dicepools based off blood spending from my cold dead hands.
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Mar 4, 2021 04:53
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citybeatnik posted:You can take pry the macros that auto update dicepools based off blood spending from my cold dead hands. This is one of the absolutely most useful things in existence. Any sheet that can make changing circumstance a matter of clicking a checkbox saves so very much time over the course of a night. My group is using plenty of sheets for our game right now and it is very useful for just making things smoother. It probably even balances out the time spent for setting it up pretty quickly. Also, tried out Sumatra PDF and it's so fast and doesn't constantly resize what I'm trying to look at every time I try to do something. Super useful recommendation from all the people who've commented on it.
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Mar 4, 2021 05:55
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I just found out about Chapters, it looks ok? I missed the kickstarter so I guess it doesn't matter.
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Mar 4, 2021 20:18
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Wait, Meghan Fitzgerald is married to Matt McFarland? She's still getting work with Onyx Path despite covering for the hosed up poo poo her husband was doing?
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Mar 6, 2021 06:18
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Monghani posted:Wait, Meghan Fitzgerald is married to Matt McFarland? She's still getting work with Onyx Path despite covering for the hosed up poo poo her husband was doing? You're probably thinking of Michelle Lyons-McFarland.
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Mar 6, 2021 06:48
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LatwPIAT posted:You're probably thinking of Michelle Lyons-McFarland. Which is also the name you get if you type "Matt McFarland wife" into google I get the outrage Monghani but please do a little research before you come in spouting things about random women
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Mar 6, 2021 07:06
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Thanks so much! Friend was telling me about it and my google fu was weak to correct them.
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Mar 6, 2021 07:34
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Monghani posted:Thanks so much! Friend was telling me about it and my google fu was weak to correct them. Go forth armed with this knowledge and annihilate your friend in the fires of truth
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Mar 6, 2021 07:39
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Blockhouse posted:Go forth armed with this knowledge and annihilate your friend in the fires of truth Missile launched, Captain! Was looking in Deviant and enjoying the gently caress out of it.
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Mar 6, 2021 08:22
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Monghani posted:Missile launched, Captain! I mean, mcfarland is a Deviant, but that has nothing to do with the game.
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Mar 6, 2021 14:39
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moths posted:I just found out about Chapters, it looks ok? I missed the kickstarter so I guess it doesn't matter. Looked a bit pricy for the all-in level.
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Mar 6, 2021 15:07
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Monghani posted:Wait, Meghan Fitzgerald is married to Matt McFarland? She's still getting work with Onyx Path despite covering for the hosed up poo poo her husband was doing? No, she is not. Meghan is an entirely different person to Michelle Lyons-McFarland.
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Mar 6, 2021 18:16
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Glad to know! Had confusion and needed to clear it up.
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Mar 6, 2021 21:36
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Dave Brookshaw posted:No, she is not. Meghan is an entirely different person to Michelle Lyons-McFarland. 
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Mar 6, 2021 21:39
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Yawgmoth posted:Have you ever seen them in the same room? Actually yes.
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Mar 6, 2021 21:59
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If I'm thinking of running CtD20, it's my very first time running Changeling, and I'm coming to it relatively "blank" because I haven't read a CtD corebook since the mid 2000s, are there any other resources I'd want to check out beyond the corebook? Official publications, fan resources, particularly informative forum posts? Judging by the first page of this thread there's some, uh, disagreement on how C20 presents / interprets the setting, so I suppose I'm either looking for the Good Takes on Changeling wherever they might be found, or a heads-up on things I'm going to find in C20 that my table needs to homebrew.
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Mar 13, 2021 19:36
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Not to echo the previous post too much but I'm GMing a new game, it's basically Hunter but the God Machine very lowkey does exist, all the characters are normal humans just dipping their toes into how dark the world really is. As a gimmick, because we're obviously gonna have to play it virtually for another few months, the characters are also communicating remotely. The forming of the party is all of them randomly getting added to a Whatsapp group (none of the players are on SA so it was actually a Demon using their dying moments to connect these disparate wierdos to talk to one another as the only hope of achieving Something). Haven't had full character sheets yet but it's basically just a group of normal people that have had something really loving wierd happen to them and so are paranormal curious all being thrust together. If anyone has any tips for: 1. Basic advice for new GMs 2. Any story hooks for how to make geographically disparate stories work. I've got ideas for someone breaking into an abandoned building and streaming to the party but they don't know what these cultist marks mean/the alarm needs to be overrided/what do you say to talk this security guard down, but then some apparently safe characters suddenly get attacked by wierd monsters which other characters can tell them how to defeat etc. Basically any scenario that could have a 'one player is in the action, other players can meaningfully help them remotely' I need tips on.
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Mar 13, 2021 23:42
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Lads game is in two days, advice I'm begging you.
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Mar 16, 2021 00:22
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Vitamin P posted:Lads game is in two days, advice I'm begging you. 2. Are you looking for mechanical advice, structural/narrative advice, or reassurance? (You can want all three.)
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Mar 16, 2021 01:28
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Vitamin P posted:1. Basic advice for new GMs I'll take a shot at advice, because I had to run the last year of my mage game online. It ended well, and the characters "succeeded"?!? They're not sure if they won, or the Seers got what they wanted, or the Pentacle got what some of them wanted, or if the archmage got what he wanted, or if it would have actually been better to follow through with the big change in everything that was in motion. So the ending was sufficiently ambiguous in if it was a good or bad thing that happened. Anyway, here's my advice from having done that and ran online pbp and chat room games for too many years now. 1. Take it easy. The story is about the characters, not about anything you really do. Give them hooks, throw things at them, make their lives complicated and full of issues. Then keep sprinkling them along on any plot line or metaplot you can come up with. And be okay if they go a different direction. Ask open ended questions and then roll with things that make the characters the right level of uncomfortable in their lives (the characters mind, not the players). If you can manage to do this, they'll say something "stupid" that you can use for a couple more weeks. 2. You will have nothing but issues if you have a scenario in which one player is doing something and the others are back burnered if this is in real time. Rounds are measured in seconds, so anything remote characters can actually do will have little meaning and probably feel unfulfilling. Find a way to bounce the spotlight around so no one is feeling left out. Maybe spend some time doing 10-20 minute solo sessions where the individual characters get something big done and that clicks into place the next step for a different character. The remote characters wouldn't be in danger, so dragging them along will just make that scene take longer and not give you all that much. Find something that can put them all in danger (a coordinated and timed attack by the baddies or something, make it a thing for them or something), and reap the benefits of players not drifting away and getting distracted.
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Mar 16, 2021 01:35
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I'm just going to come out and say that the "this is actually the movie Unfriended" formal constraint where everyone is isolated is the sort of concept that might seem briefly cool on paper, but is just not going to work unless you do a really elaborate interactive theater / LARP thing with mounted cameras. Even then I don't think it's worth it. Just do a regular mind's eye TTRPG session and if you're really married to the initial concept, split them up in a way that has one group relying on another and staying in contact, a la Aliens. If you have five people doing five things simultaneously it's going to drag. Bringing characters together is like 90% of the work of picking up slack in a game.
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Mar 16, 2021 03:06
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Nessus posted:1. Give people an approximately equal quantity of attention or regular and clear opportunities which they can decline, and try to get the group relatively proximate together at some point. 1. 'force equal time' was a really good tip 2. Yeah it was all three I was looking for, lowkey still am Really appreciate the other advice too, am feeling hype, the game went way better than I thought it would. Jhet posted:1. Take it easy. The story is about the characters, not about anything you really do. I think maybe because we all met through LARP that happened accidently but the first hour legit I barely did anything, felt like a half-larp with these characters all telling the stories of the Something Wierd they'd experienced in the past and talking about why the gently caress they were all suddenly in this group chat together, but as players still saying 'and now a Persuasion check to see if you idiots believed that or not lol' was very comfy. The only real action was one of the characters getting 'maybe attacked? it was certainly creepy' on the bus, it actually worked really well, the other characters saw wierd symbols and images and heard discordant chants from that characters screen and they seemed to enjoy enough the ~15 minutes of the game where one player got centre-stage, making it so the players who weren't getting the attention were at least getting clues towards something definitiely helped. Honestly I'm feeling hype, everyone enjoyed it so now I need to figure out what the random symbols/images might have been about/actually construct a plot.
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Mar 18, 2021 00:07
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Basic Chunnel posted:I'm just going to come out and say that the "this is actually the movie Unfriended" formal constraint where everyone is isolated is the sort of concept that might seem briefly cool on paper, but is just not going to work unless you do a really elaborate interactive theater / LARP thing with mounted cameras. Even then I don't think it's worth it. Just do a regular mind's eye TTRPG session and if you're really married to the initial concept, split them up in a way that has one group relying on another and staying in contact, a la Aliens. If you have five people doing five things simultaneously it's going to drag. Bringing characters together is like 90% of the work of picking up slack in a game. Maybe because it's from actual Covid restrictions but everyone really leaned into it, one player said 'my character is using their phone waiting at a bus stop', another player said 'my character is surrounded by 4 different monitors because they are a hackerboy' etc and the fact they were both obviously sitting on sofas with their laptops didn't really take away from that. It's definitely possible that the isolation being a temporary thing until lockdown is safely over being built into the game helps, meeting in person coinciding with the characters feeling comfortable enough to meet in person maybe helps the isolation feel cool and something that can be explored because everyone knows it's temporary.
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Mar 18, 2021 00:24
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Vitamin P posted:Words. Awesome. I’m really happy it’s gone well for you. First sessions are always tough if you don’t know each other well. I’m also really glad the split geography worked okay. It’s one of the things that has worked really terribly for me in other games, so it working so far bodes well for your group. Symbols are great too, and I love how they start somewhere small and then players start attaching seven layers of meaning to them.
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Mar 18, 2021 00:41
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Vitamin P posted:1. 'force equal time' was a really good tip Maybe some part of the public transit system or mundane information architecture is also an information conduit for God-Machine Infrastructure, and the new cell phone chat group interfaces with it? E: Also, I'm really glad the premise is working! That's great.
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Mar 18, 2021 00:42
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Jhet posted:Symbols are great too, and I love how they start somewhere small and then players start attaching seven layers of meaning to them. As we're all 100% gonna be locked down for another month at least and everyone is up for playing weekly I'm gonna have to figure out what the symbols actually are, last game it worked to just say "this video suddenly cuts out and you're seeing X and hearing X", the players haven't actually seen the exact symbols. Do you think it's better to make them something potentially relevant to the bigger WoD lore or to make it be something new? Joe Slowboat posted:Maybe some part of the public transit system or mundane information architecture is also an information conduit for God-Machine Infrastructure, and the new cell phone chat group interfaces with it? The cell phone chat group is Demonic, it was a Demon that did it, but the character getting 'attacked' on the bus was just because I thought 'hey if the bus' internal lights go out and the driver ignores it and a creepy figure just got on and the phone dies that would be creepy'. The scene was that it was very dark between streetlights and at each streetlight this hulking passenger in a long coat somehow jumped back a seat each time it went dark, towards our character sitting at the back who suddenly got cut off from their new wierdo internet friends and broke the back window to escape. I don't think the villain is public transit but 'creepy hulking figure that can block communication' is definitely gonna be a recurring thing.
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Mar 18, 2021 22:49
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Vitamin P posted:As we're all 100% gonna be locked down for another month at least and everyone is up for playing weekly I'm gonna have to figure out what the symbols actually are, last game it worked to just say "this video suddenly cuts out and you're seeing X and hearing X", the players haven't actually seen the exact symbols. Do you think it's better to make them something potentially relevant to the bigger WoD lore or to make it be something new? Either way works great honestly. It just depends on what sort of idea and motif you're trying to put out there. I used the same set of symbols constantly to help give hints for about four years and the players ended up missing about 1/3 of them. Granted, they were for hints, so I tried to not make it obvious. I also let them define the symbolic meanings for things over time, and they ended up making connections to things that I hadn't thought about or anticipated. Really worked better than expected, but I made sure they knew they had the creative license to run with their ideas, and then supported it along the way with NPCs and the world reacting to what changed.
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Mar 18, 2021 23:05
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Don't mean to keep necromancing this thread but we did an extra mini-session this week between the normal games because a mate from work wanted to join in and I'm having so much fun with this game honestly just wanna talk about it.Jhet posted:Either way works great honestly. It just depends on what sort of idea and motif you're trying to put out there. I used the same set of symbols constantly to help give hints for about four years and the players ended up missing about 1/3 of them. Granted, they were for hints, so I tried to not make it obvious. I also let them define the symbolic meanings for things over time, and they ended up making connections to things that I hadn't thought about or anticipated. Really worked better than expected, but I made sure they knew they had the creative license to run with their ideas, and then supported it along the way with NPCs and the world reacting to what changed. I've decided to tackle the symbol thing by leaning hard into what the players are imagining for their characters, we're doing 'downtime' stuff at the start of each session so the hackerboy and the ptsd veteran will do some rolls and roleplay it but they absolutely are gonna find a link between the tech interference and her traumatic event, dunno what the link ACTUALLY is yet but those players uncovering a mystery together is clearly what both of them want from the game right now. The new player kind of threw me at first, she's made what is obviously a buffy-the-vampire-slayer style self-insert character, very martial and as a player she's new to roleplaying, but I'm leaning into it. The last session ended with her connection breaking into the creepy symbols/chanting and the large creepy coated figure smashing into her flat, the session ended when she grabbed a kitchen knife and saw visions of warfare across the ages as the knife turned into something else... Have decided her character is the only worthy descendent of Beowulf and the sword Hrunting will always find it's way to her, she's a fighting badass and it's a B-plot mystery story too, maybe she gets more powerful with the sword as she learns more about it who knows? I definitely feel you that setting a constant symbology and hoping the players pick up on how intricate it is probably wouldn't happen organically, luckily there is no intricacy to my symbology and the players seemed pretty hype about locking down a single coherent repeating symbol. Edit Don't wanna keep bumping this thread but I'm so hype this is a really neat setting you guys. I've started painting minis for the PCs for when we can finally play in person Vitamin P fucked around with this message at 22:43 on Mar 28, 2021 |
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Mar 28, 2021 22:34
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It's never in bad form to share stories and get feedback about your games in a thread like this.
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Mar 28, 2021 22:57
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Yeah, this thread goes through quiet spells. And necromancy is pretty common in the game lines anyway. That’s some really good work on the symbology too. I like being able to make the characters invested, and it helps keep the players invested easier too. And so long as everyone is having fun, then A+ game running too.
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Mar 29, 2021 04:24
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Always post game synopsis updates!
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Mar 29, 2021 04:25
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Jhet posted:Yeah, this thread goes through quiet spells. And necromancy is pretty common in the game lines anyway. Yeah, sometimes I kinda miss the V5 Flamewars and the incessant Mage chat, only a little bit.
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Mar 29, 2021 16:53
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Been reading through old werewolf books for spirit stuff, and I came upon the Zmei. From the way it reads, it sounds like they're fully corporeal things that one could, were they inclined, actually dig down and find. And if they're still bound, then they aren't going to be capable of fighting back since they're all magically locked in sleep, right? So could I potentially go track one of them down and fleshcraft out its hideous poison glands while it sleeps for use in my horrible werewolf-vozhd creation? ...asking for a friend.
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Mar 29, 2021 17:50
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Angry Lobster posted:Yeah, sometimes I kinda miss the V5 Flamewars and the incessant Mage chat, only a little bit. Well, they just announced an M20 Traditions book, so buckle up.
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Mar 29, 2021 17:57
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Yawgmoth posted:Been reading through old werewolf books for spirit stuff, and I came upon the Zmei. From the way it reads, it sounds like they're fully corporeal things that one could, were they inclined, actually dig down and find. And if they're still bound, then they aren't going to be capable of fighting back since they're all magically locked in sleep, right? So could I potentially go track one of them down and fleshcraft out its hideous poison glands while it sleeps for use in my horrible werewolf-vozhd creation? Depends on how you read the lore, they are basically turbo powerful spirits of the Wyld corrupted by the Wyrm and summoned by Baba Yaga using the power of Russia to kill an Antediluvian and later on trapped by werewolves with magic. My head cannon when we used to play werewolf is that they are indeed corporeal as long as Baba Yaga's summoning spell holds and they keep feeding off caerns/magic/whatever. I'm not sure normal vicissitude would work with something like that, by if that sounds fun, then go nuts. Also, why settle with boring poison gas when there's one of them that literally breathes nuclear fire like a winged Godzilla?
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Mar 29, 2021 18:06
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Vitamin P posted:The last session ended with her connection breaking into the creepy symbols/chanting and the large creepy coated figure smashing into her flat, the session ended when she grabbed a kitchen knife and saw visions of warfare across the ages as the knife turned into something else... Have decided her character is the only worthy descendent of Beowulf and the sword Hrunting will always find it's way to her, she's a fighting badass and it's a B-plot mystery story too, maybe she gets more powerful with the sword as she learns more about it who knows? There was a young adult series I remember reading years ago about a bunch of teens getting stuck in some sort of fae hellscape dimension whenever they slept. At one point they do a favour for some blacksmith type god and he offers to reforge their weapon for them. Except the only blade they have is a small pocket knife. So, they end up with a pocket knife that is capable of cutting through anything, which they promptly nickname Excalibur. I don't remember much from that series, though I recall it being generally decent, but that detail always stuck with me. Kitchen knife legendary sword reminds me of that. Actually, that whole series was very WoD Changing when I think about it.
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Mar 29, 2021 18:57
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Lemony posted:There was a young adult series I remember reading years ago about a bunch of teens getting stuck in some sort of fae hellscape dimension whenever they slept. At one point they do a favour for some blacksmith type god and he offers to reforge their weapon for them. Except the only blade they have is a small pocket knife. So, they end up with a pocket knife that is capable of cutting through anything, which they promptly nickname Excalibur. I don't remember much from that series, though I recall it being generally decent, but that detail always stuck with me. Kitchen knife legendary sword reminds me of that. That'd be Everworld, by the same author as the Animorphs series.
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Mar 29, 2021 19:44
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Rand Brittain posted:Well, they just announced an M20 Traditions book, so buckle up.
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Mar 29, 2021 20:58
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Jhet posted:It ended well, and the characters "succeeded"?!? They're not sure if they won, or the Seers got what they wanted, or the Pentacle got what some of them wanted, or if the archmage got what he wanted, or if it would have actually been better to follow through with the big change in everything that was in motion. So the ending was sufficiently ambiguous in if it was a good or bad thing that happened. I'm so curious. Lemony posted:There was a young adult series I remember reading years ago about a bunch of teens getting stuck in some sort of fae hellscape dimension whenever they slept. At one point they do a favour for some blacksmith type god and he offers to reforge their weapon for them. Except the only blade they have is a small pocket knife. So, they end up with a pocket knife that is capable of cutting through anything, which they promptly nickname Excalibur. I don't remember much from that series, though I recall it being generally decent, but that detail always stuck with me. Kitchen knife legendary sword reminds me of that. That sounds cool. This sword is gonna be a quantum paradox thing, it's Hrunting but also a kitchen knife but also a celtiberian falcata but also a WW1 bayonet but also a weebish katana, like it's all those things at once and is maybe a platonic ideal of 'honourable weapon' or an amorphous ur-weapon that is only tied to Beowulf because Beowulf was it's most badass wielder (so far). Soonmot posted:Always post game synopsis updates! Honestly I'm gonna, the worst harm is some posters might go 'tsk' and lose 0.4 of a second as they scroll past the post. Vitamin P fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Mar 29, 2021 |
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Mar 29, 2021 21:36
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