This island was never meant for humans - Let's Play Tainted Grail

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Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Kobal2 posted:

I'd disagree there - considering how the combat/diplo system works, I think it's essential to have 1 in each attribute ASAP so you can always (or almost always) link for big bursts of damage to end encounters quickly.

I think that's where the deck building mechanics come in. It's way too much XP to get Ailei to aggression 1, when you could buy some combat cards and remove the aggression links from her deck.

E: especially since for the same 6 xp she could buy an empathy skill instead.

# ? Oct 22, 2020 18:23

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 10:49

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Having a better idea of what's already in the deck seems like a sensible idea if we are to decide how to plan our upgrades; These are the current decks we are most likely to upgrade:

Maggot - Base Combat:

Ailei - Base Diplomacy:

# ? Oct 22, 2020 18:32

Kobal2: Apr 29, 2019

Ok so judging by her cards, Ailei currently doesn't need Spirituality at all - every card calling for spirituality also links through either Empathy or Caution, and only one card adds a positive through a Spirituality link. I'm ok with her going hog on skills.

Maggot OTOH has 3 cards that link through double aggression, and quite a few red cubes depend on that one connection. Meanwhile Practicality involves mostly linking cards and in most cases Magic can substitute.

All in all I am reluctantly forced to conced that...*ugh*... you were right and I was wrong. Don't make a habit of it, that sort of thing just isn't Done, mate.

# ? Oct 22, 2020 19:35

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

Combat and diplomacy cards aren't the only place where attributes are relevant. But I don't think there's any attribute that no one in the party has at all, right now.

(Whereas, say, when I played with Beor and Ailei, nobody had Spirituality.)

# ? Oct 22, 2020 20:40

NeoRonTheNeuron: Oct 14, 2012

Why does Ailei lose 1 terror during the rest? I thought her Traumatized passive would prevent that because Charred Conclave doesn't have an active menhir.

This LP is fun to follow, especially since we don't have to worry too much about managing the mechanics right.

# ? Oct 22, 2020 23:39

TravelLog: Jul 22, 2013; He's a mean one, Mr. Roy.

That went wildly better than I hoped! How easy is EXP to come by generally? Is it front-loaded or is the rate we are getting it generally indicative?

# ? Oct 23, 2020 00:22

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

NeoRonTheNeuron posted:

Why does Ailei lose 1 terror during the rest? I thought her Traumatized passive would prevent that because Charred Conclave doesn't have an active menhir.

You are correct! I was setting up some spreadsheet templates to speed up future updates and I forgot about that :v:

The good news is that, at least for now, Ailei had no Terror to begin with so this had no real impact on the game.

TravelLog posted:

That went wildly better than I hoped!

Remember this feeling. Treasure it.

quote:

How easy is EXP to come by generally? Is it front-loaded or is the rate we are getting it generally indicative?

Without going too much into spoiler territory, the amount of Exp we gain will change quite a bit depending on our choices, since it is mostly found during Exploration - at least until later Chapters, then Encounters also become a good source of it, at least if we can reliably do them.

# ? Oct 23, 2020 03:28

TravelLog: Jul 22, 2013; He's a mean one, Mr. Roy.

Votes:

1. Ailei: A (hopefully they will pay us so we can have some Wealth). Maggot: C to see if we can't scrounge anything useful.
2. Tomorrow, Maggot should go to 104 and dig through the remains. Meanwhile, Ailei should go to 105.
3. Save up for now (also Maggot should have 3 XP, not 2 XP). Also is there an explanation on what the cards we can add to our deck are like?

# ? Oct 23, 2020 04:01

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Maggot did not take part in the Exploration, but I think it was a mistake on my end since we should definitely have everyone be in a Party when Exploring during a potential Task reward moment. So Maggot will have 1 less

(current: 4) and 1 more Exp (current: 3).

Regarding the advancement deck(s): each one of these is composed of 25 more Combat/Diplomacy cards. 15 of them bear the name of the Character and 10 of them are "generic" (the exact composition is still different from character to character, but some of these 10 cards may be repeated between decks). The 15 unique ones are usually considered stronger, although there are some stinkers in there, and some really nice cards in the "generic" 10; on average, advancement cards are better than what we have in our starter decks, though.

I've considered this and I think I will not show the full advancement decks for a few reasons:
1) We can't really choose what we pick: we draw 3 cards out of 25, then we draft one of those.
2) The LP is already really information dense at the moment, and I'd rather avoid the additional sensory overload, since it's not going to inform our choices too much.
3) I'd rather not publish too many images that can be used to :filez:

the game on TTS - like a complete card list - since this is apparently really bad for game devs, or at least this is what Awaken Realms has lamented.

That said, I'll give you an idea of what we could get (and if you really want me to, I'll provide a list for Key frequency, since that may be useful to plan for Attribute advancements):

Some of these cards (Blood Magic, Exhalted Aura) have an ability in the middle and Keys on their rightmost side: this is cause these Abilities are not going to be covered up when we play another card, and remain in play for the rest of the combat (unless they are removed by an effect).

# ? Oct 23, 2020 09:56

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

That's confusing to me because Awaken Realms have officially sponsored Nemesis and Great Wall TTS mods and while I don't know if they've signed off on the The Edge: Dawnfall, and Lords of Hellas mods I've seen on the workshop they also haven't taken them down.

Maybe they just think something like Tainted Grail would be too easily spoiled by having a mod floating around? I dunno. (But also, there's a This War of Mine mod. And that's a story-driven game. So...confused.)

# ? Oct 23, 2020 14:56

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

malkav11 posted:

That's confusing to me because Awaken Realms have officially sponsored Nemesis and Great Wall TTS mods and while I don't know if they've signed off on the The Edge: Dawnfall, and Lords of Hellas mods I've seen on the workshop they also haven't taken them down.

Maybe they just think something like Tainted Grail would be too easily spoiled by having a mod floating around? I dunno. (But also, there's a This War of Mine mod. And that's a story-driven game. So...confused.)

Yeah it's quite confusing, especially cause they have not taken down the TWoM mod. In any case, they have not released a pdf version of either game's exploration journal, allegedly for the same reason.

# ? Oct 23, 2020 15:55

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

So from the look of it we're going to have a look around Skull Island (Maggot sneaking into the depth, Ailei trying to get some work and maybe some light monument tour). After that... it's less clear.

We are definitely going to dig up some charred druid remains, then we are either going then we are either going N to Withening or SW to Forlorn Swords.

We actually are still up for other plans too since we only have 1 vote for each option! Don't forget to vote

# ? Oct 23, 2020 21:19

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Island Asylum (109)
Tasks: none!
Active Menhirs: Cuanacth Farmhold (101), 5 days left.

Let's have a look at this lovely place, shall we?

Exploration: Island Asylum (109) posted:

Ailei spends 1 (current:3).
Intro:

Verse 1:

Verse 10:

Well then. Apparently this place is full of people sick with the Red Death!

Because of her empathy, Ailei has gained 1

(current: 1) - it would normally not be a big deal, but Ailei's drawback means that she can only reduce

while resting in a location with an active Menhir, and this place doesn't have one. Also, she is now at 1

and, because of that, she's going to be Exhausted, meaning that she'll only recover 4 Energy instead of her full amount. Contrary to Maggot, she doesn't want to be Exhausted multiple days in a row, since each day she loses 1 usable

this way; because of that, I'll leave it up to you to tell me if you want me to have retroactively spent the last

to visit the Island's monuments. Now, to ~~sneaky~~ Maggot!

Exploration: Island Asylum (109) posted:

Maggot spends 1 (current:3).
Intro:

We'll try to see what's hidden underneath this Asylum...
Verse 5:

We roll a 3. We have 1 Aggression and 0 Practicality. Oh dear.
Verse 6:

The bad news is that we are now prisoners in this Asylum. The...worse news is:

Yes, we are (probably) now carrying the Red Death! I'm sure this will not have any negative consequences in the future.
The "good" news is that we can try to escape. The bad news is that we only have 33% chance of success since we have 0 Practicality - which is the attribute related to sneaking around, among other things. The stars are on our side, though, cause we roll a 6 and we can read Verse 12.
Verse 12:

We "finally" managed to escape. We have 3 now.

Maggot has gained 1 Exp (current: 4), certainly symbolizing the importance of not nosing around asylums that are also leper hospitals THAT ARE ALSO built on an island with a giant skull on it, called "the island of the dead".

Our other objective for today was to dig through the charred remains of the druids in 104. There was 1 vote for Ailei and 1 vote for Maggot; but since Ailiei cares about being Exhausted (and each point spent now is one less tomorrow) and Maggot doesn't, we'll have him go have an intimate reunion. Maggot spends 1 Energy (current: 2) and travels to 104, Charred Conclave. As soon as we approach, we have to resolve a Gray Encounter!

Vagabond posted:

A Vagabond is more dangerous than our tutorial fight, but it's probably the easiest encounter we could draw. He is Fast, meaning we can play a maximum of 2 cards during our activation - meaning that it'll be more difficult to defeat him without either getting damaged or risking him running away. We draw our starting hand:

Defend seems like a safe bet, especially cause we can play Entangling Trap next round if and draw a ton of cards - and also avoid bad consequences in the worst case scenario.

We prevent the damage, draw 1 card; then at the start of the following Round, we remove the time token from Defend and draw another one:

We play Attack, followed by Battle Cry. We gain 3 and draw 1 card. The Vagabond retaliates and we lose 1 (current: 6) and 1 . We will have to gain in a round if we want to defeat him without losing the Loot.

Bingo! We play Hold Guard, followed by Charge and we gain exactly 3 and win.

The Vagabond goes to the bottom of the Gray deck, so we won't draw him again unless there is a duplicate or unless the deck gets shuffled. By defeating him, we gain 1 Craftable Item - these items can be created by Beor and are usually on the crappy end of the spectrum. We draw from the Items deck until we reaveal one and shuffle the rest back in. We got something useful out of this:

We can decide the order effects are applied in combat, so if we have another source of damage reduction, we can lower an Attack worth 2 to 0. Suddenly we have a lot more room to maneuvre in easy encounters, and we could try to take on some Level 2 ones too if we get lucky. Then we start digging into the other kind of ex-druid.

Exploration: Charred Conclave (104) posted:

Maggot spends 1 (current:1).
Intro:

Today we tried to sneak into an asylum, got caught and imprisoned, we were (potentially) infected with the Red Death, escaped and fought a random vagrant. Now it's time to pick through our ex colleagues remains. EDIT: Verse 10 sends us into a loop that eventually leads back to the Intro.
Verse 2:

Good thing we don't give a poo poo about other people.

This time, we get to draw an Item from the pool and keep anything except for a Companion type card. We got...

The Clansword is an awesome find, although we lack 2 Aggression at the moment. We can now confidently face most level 1 enemies and we can attempt to fight more level 2 threats if we are ok with taking a few wounds ourselves. A lot of items in the deck are 1 time use only, so we got really lucky with our first 2 picks (~~although I think all "C" Items are permanent~~ I stand corrected!).

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 . Ailei is Exhausted! Energy is set to 5.
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers 1 and loses 1 . Maggot is Exhausted! Energy is set to 5.
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 2.
- Maggot current Exp is 4.
Dream:
Maggot spins a Dial: gets a Grail! No Nightmares tonight.

Ailei Dreams.

This is the end of our 3rd Day. I'll reveal the next Event card now, so that'll you be able to take it into consideration when voting:

Both characters roll a 2, so Maggot is going to face the Green Encounter first thing tomorrow (since he has the highest character number, 3, vs Ailei's 1). I'll reveal this too, since it'll probably influence our decision; we will face a delicious Boar!

VOTE IS NOW OPEN
:siren:

Vote Options posted:

1) Next Destination: This is an open vote! Outline your general plan for tomorrow, taking each character's into consideration. Only go into the nitty gritty if you want to (a "go to xxx" is enough!)
2) Aggressive Maggot: Maggot has enough Exp to level up his Aggression to 2. Vote A to do so now, or B to save for something else (most likely, Practicality 1).

Explored Locations:
- 101
- 102
- 104
- 109

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 24, 2020 13:25

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

There are actually quite a few craftable items that are either one shot or can potentially break when used (e.g. snares for hunting food, a crappy sword). You've been very lucky in getting stuff that's actually good equipment. (And not drawing a craftable on an "any item" draw.)

# ? Oct 24, 2020 16:58

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

malkav11 posted:

There are actually quite a few craftable items that are either one shot or can potentially break when used (e.g. snares for hunting food, a crappy sword). You've been very lucky in getting stuff that's actually good equipment. (And not drawing a craftable on an "any item" draw.)

I stand corrected! For some reason I thought all "C" items that you could lose on use had a "spin a dial" 50/50 chance; I've double checked and there's 3 "C" items that are discarded on use instead.

# ? Oct 24, 2020 17:53

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

Incidentally, this is why I think Beor has probably the worst special ability in the game. You have to spend almost a whole day, you have to be in a settlement, and your reward is...picking one of a couple of low end items, probably just poo poo that will break on you. We used it like two or three times in our entire campaign and mostly just really early when we had no other equipment. And didn't get much worth the time expended.

It doesn't make him useless or anything - I think characters ultimately matter more for their special narrative options, initial stat spread, and unique cards (some of Beor's cards are amazing). But if I were gonna start house-ruling, Beor's ability would definitely be on my list.

# ? Oct 24, 2020 18:12

Kobal2: Apr 29, 2019

Oh FFS. I check in on the thread as soon as I'm home (early because of covid curfew), after an afternoon of RPG dealing with a fantasy pandemic, and we've caught the plague ?!

I GET IT, 2020. STAND DOWN.

# ? Oct 25, 2020 20:16

Kobal2: Apr 29, 2019

Anyway, vote : Maggot kills the boar, Ailei meets up with him (if it triggers a new grey encounter in the Conclave, have Maggot spend energy to take part in the fight), share the food evently then both go to Whitening. Ailei talks to the guard then sits down to rest, perchance to dream ; Maggot explores.

Also IIRC 4 xp is enough for Maggot to get to Aggression 2 ? If so, do so ASAP, let's get our swording on. Ideally right before getting tackled by a boar.

Kobal2 fucked around with this message at 20:34 on Oct 25, 2020

# ? Oct 25, 2020 20:23

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Forgot that Maggot gave 0 fucks about humanity! Yes, 4Exp is enough to raise his Aggression to 2 cause it's only the second point in the Attribute pair.

Also it takes no Energy to take part in a Combat triggered by a forced acfion like this one, if you are in the same location.

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 25, 2020 21:20

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

I've added an option to Vote on the possible level up for Maggot to the latest update!

# ? Oct 26, 2020 02:48

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

2 aggression for Maggot, go north and explore the hostile village some more.

E: hold on, did we finish exploring the conclave? Finish that first if not.

# ? Oct 26, 2020 05:32

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Omobono posted:

E: hold on, did we finish exploring the conclave? Finish that first if not.

We did, the paragraph we missed was another (more difficult) way to get into the wicker man if we were not playing as Maggot.

# ? Oct 26, 2020 08:12

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

PLEASE READ ME: I've noticed we have been getting less and less thread partecipation each update. I presume the main issue is that A) these first few updates were kind of monolithic and B) The vote options were probably a bit too in depth for someone who just wants to read through and then cast a vote, without having to commit a ton of time to all the minutia (also maybe the update cycle is a bit too fast to let everyone catch up). I'll try to keep things more concise now that most of the rules are out of the way, hopefully this will result in a better reading experience. I'll also change the vote to something more streamlined, letting the thread choose where they want to go and take the big decisions, and leaving the more nitty-gritty details to me. Of course, if you have an input on those as well, you are more than welcome to share your ideas!

This kind of LP only really works with thread participation, so feel free to let me know (here or in PM) if you have any issue with the current structure of the game, and I'll try to address them as best as I can. Now, back to the game

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Island Asylum (109, A) and Charred Conclave (104, M)
Tasks: none!
Active Menhirs: Cuanacth Farmhold (101), 4 days left.

During the previous rest cycle, Maggot got angrier! We spend 4 Exp and raise his Aggression to 2.

This will make us a better fighter; it'll also make us stronger/scarier in CYOA interactions - but it'll also make us more impatient at the same time. Let's vent some of this Aggression on a feral pig.

Combat: Frenzied Boar posted:

Our starting hand is ok but not great, meaning that we can't win on Round 1. We will win next Round, though, with the cards we currently have, although it'll cost us 1 if we can't get something better than War Magic to finish this.

We play Careful Attack and discard Gather Thoughts to gain 2 extra for a total of 4. The Boar hits back, but we block the damage and lose only 1 thanks to Careful Attack.

We draw 1 card:

Hold Guard won't cut it. We play War Magic, gain 1 (M current: 3) and win the fight.

The Boar goes to the bottom of the Green Deck; for defeating it, we get 3 Food (M current: 6)!

Ailei spends 1 , travels nord to meet Maggot and triggers a forced Gray Encounter. Maggot joins in, but this will be our first Party fight - meaning we'll have to take turns fighting the enemy.

Combat: Seasoned Warrior posted:

poo poo. As the flavor text implies, this is one of the strongest Encounters we can get. The Feint trait means that the damage inflicted by this enemy cannot be prevented in any way. As much as we'd like an Item and as much as we need 1 Wealth, I don't think we can take this guy without some gruesome wounds - and health limits the amount of Energy we can have, and lowers the amount of Terror we need to Go Insane. At least he won't do us harm if we try to run away (since his opportunity Attack only has direct Combat math effects), so we'll see our hands and decide.

Mmm. Ailei has some cards that let us ignore her turn completely, and she can then run away without triggering Opportunity attacks; this is good! Unfortunately, Maggot has...not a great hand. We bail!

Before we forget, we share the delicious boar, so now both of our characters have 4 Food. We travel North to Withening. Each character spends 1

(current: 4 each) then we face a Diplomatic Encounter

Diplomacy: Temptations posted:

Quite different from the previous one! The negative effect is not affecting the Affinity Tracker - it's just sapping away our Wealth and . Ironically, Ailei is more likely to go on a booze&hookers bender than Maggot is. The Lose keyword will have no effect if we already have 0 of the resource we should be losing, so at least we're not going to spend any money on this.
We draw our opening hands (as always, Green cards are Ailei's and Orange ones are Maggot's):

We start with Mystic Calmness, appropriately. We gain 2 points and then lose 1 charge to prevent the loss of during the enemy phase.

We draw 1 card:

It's Ailei's turn. She plays Eye for Detail, setting up Maggot to win the Encounter next round. We lose the second charge from Mystic Calmness to prevent loss of Energy. Ailei draws one card, then at the start of Maggot's round, he also draws one thanks to the effect on Eye for Detail:

If only we have had Misdirection in our hand 1 turn sooner, we would have won already! Instead, Maggot plays Intimidating Magic and wins, but gains 1 .

The good news is that the reward for winning the Encounter is to lose 1 so Maggot is still at 3 and Ailei is now at 0.

Exploration: Whitening (107) posted:

Ailei spends 1 (current:3).
Intro:

We are Ailei!
Verse 13:

...but we don't have this status.
Verse 1:

We don't want to lose any Reputation.
Verse 3:

EDIT: I have managed to misread this part of the game every single time I've played it For now, we go back to the start and we'll decide if we want to cure these people, and how, by voting!
Verse 7:

We only have 2 Rep on Ailei.Verse 11:

This has been a veritable emotional rollercoaster.
Verse 12:

Operation: Scrounger 2.0 has just begun.
Verse 4:

We have more than 3 Food, but less than 3 Wealth. We roll a die and get a 4, for a total of 7.
Verse 9:

Well that was a waste of time. We could try this again, but we have 66% of a negative outcome - 33% chance of starting a riot, 33% of wasting another Energy and 33% of getting an Item out of this.

Ailei is staying in Whitening for the night. Since she's not Exhausted, she'll be able to bank the extra Energy for tomorrow - and we can gather the white lichen then, if you want me to. Maggot is going to conjure some Magic (current: 3) up by spending his remaining effective Energy. (current: 2)

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers1 . Well Rested! Energy is set to full+1 (8)
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers1 and loses1 . Energy is set to full (6)
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 2.
- Maggot current Exp is 0.
Dream:
Maggot spins a Dial: gets a Grail! No Nightmares tonight.

Tomorrow's event is going to be:

VOTE IS NOW OPEN
:siren:

Vote Options posted:

Tomorrow we are probably going to split up, since the time on the Menhir is running short! Please vote for the 2 destinations you want to explore most and I'll try to create a path that optimizes the result of the vote. Feel free to express preferences (IE: who should go where, if we should use any Location/Character Action, etc).

Where to next?
1A) Fore-Dweller Mounds (106): we will learn what we need to get in order to activate the Menhir there and we can gain at least 1 Wealth by paying 1 .
1B) Warrior Fair (103): Apparently you buy or sell warriors here? Also we'll scout location 108. The Location Action is...all kinds of bad, so we're not going to use unless the thread wants to.
1C) Location 108: I like big myteries and I cannot lie.
1D) Forlorn Swords (105): we can't buy items since we lack Wealth, but maybe there'll be something else interesting over there. There are some giant swords, at the very least. Also we'll scout location 108.

2) Help for the sick: do we help the sick? Vote A for yes (And if so, what cure do we attempt?), B for no!

3)White Lichens: Should we try and gather some before leaving Whitening? Vote A for yes, B for no!

Explored Locations:
- 101
- 102
- 104
- 107
- 109

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Oct 28, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 16:28

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Shouldn't we go to verse 1 there in the village? Ailei does not have the status and the text sends to verse 1 if she does not have it.

E: what were the whitening menhir requirements again? Maggot can cover the magic costs with his personal but the clock is starting to run out.

Omobono fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 16:55

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Omobono posted:

Shouldn't we go to verse 1 there in the village? Ailei does not have the status and the text sends to verse 1 if she does not have it.

Would you believe that I have managed to misread that every single time I have played the game? <.< I'll fix the update asap.
EDIT: fixed!

This is what the Whitening Menhir requires:

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 17:12 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 16:59

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

I'm not voting because I've played the game and know what a lot of the outcomes are. (At least for the route I played.) Otherwise I would!

# ? Oct 26, 2020 18:28

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

malkav11 posted:

I'm not voting because I've played the game and know what a lot of the outcomes are. (At least for the route I played.) Otherwise I would!

Eh, As per the OP, I'd say go for it! As long as you don't spoil the outcome , there's no way for other people to know if you already know it or not

The more, the merrier!

# ? Oct 26, 2020 18:30

Omobono: Feb 19, 2013; That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Whitening Menhir is 6 energy, 2 health, 2 cash and 2 magic.
Maggot has the magic and we could use 2 energy and 2 food for the cash right at the village. We can light it at almost any time.

I think we should be checking the mounds to check the menhir and grab some wealth, and then forage to recover our food supply on the way back. Ailei could be hitting the fair for some experience.
On the other hand, the mounds could require practicality over aggression, so :shrug:

1) 1A and 1B

We want to heal the people. I am undecided between burning magic and burning food for this. I think it's better to use magic, because that fungal infection? Call me paranoid but it's the whitening.

2) A, magic cure
3) B

# ? Oct 26, 2020 18:37

bagrada: Aug 4, 2007; The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!

1A and 1B to stay in the same relative area.

and I vote no for helping and no to the lichen, we've already got the red death and don't need to pick up any more diseases or infections

But if we do help I agree magic is the way to go.

# ? Oct 26, 2020 18:44

RabidWeasel: Aug 4, 2007; Cultures thrive on their myths and legends...and snuggles!

1A+B

2A, food

3B

# ? Oct 26, 2020 18:53

malkav11: Aug 7, 2009

Just to point out - which menhir to light will define what direction we travel in the wider exploration for a bit. We cannot relight the village menhir until we find the Stoneshaper's Tools, whereever they are, and the menhir we don't choose will be outside the radius of the one we light. I guess in theory we could light both, but, well, resources will be short.

I vote 1A because we will potentially need Wealth for at least one of the two Menhir, and no to gathering lichen. We don't know what to do with it, and we have a time limit.

# ? Oct 26, 2020 20:15

Kobal2: Apr 29, 2019

Hot take mid-reading the update : free whores are the worst. Truly horrifying business model.

Kobal2 fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 20:54

NeoRonTheNeuron: Oct 14, 2012

1a: It might be easier to activate the other Menhir.
2: Help with food
3b Don't get the fungus since you might get infected.

The combat layout is a bit confusing to me. IMO, I think it'd help to see everything in the same shot:
- played combat cards + the tracker for how much damage has been dealt + character hand(s)

I think that what would help me follow it better is to highlight the changes per play
- cards and abilities used
- damage added/lost to the encounter
- damage or terror taken by each character

It's also good to finally see some of Ailei's combat cards and some of Maggot's diplo cards.

# ? Oct 26, 2020 20:55

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

NeoRonTheNeuron posted:

The combat layout is a bit confusing to me. IMO, I think it'd help to see everything in the same shot:
- played combat cards + the tracker for how much damage has been dealt + character hand(s)

I think that what would help me follow it better is to highlight the changes per play
- cards and abilities used
- damage added/lost to the encounter
- damage or terror taken by each character

It's also good to finally see some of Ailei's combat cards and some of Maggot's diplo cards.

Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to put some more visual aids in, maybe build some kind of combat board with tokens showing damage done and such.

NeoRonTheNeuron posted:

It's also good to finally see some of Ailei's combat cards and some of Maggot's diplo cards.

Yeah, each deck is kinda unique (although there are repeated cards of course). Ailei's Combat cards are more support than anything else, but they can set up following turns nicely for the other character(s); and Maggot's Diplomacy cards are still more on the mystical side.

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 21:18

Kobal2: Apr 29, 2019

quote:

Tomorrow we are probably going to split up, since the time on the Menhir is running short! Please vote for the 2 destinations you want to explore most and I'll try to create a path that optimizes the result of the vote. Feel free to express preferences (IE: who should go where, if we should use any Location/Character Action, etc).

Where to next?
1A) Fore-Dweller Mounds (106): we will learn what we need to get in order to activate the Menhir there and we can gain at least 1 Wealth by paying 1 .
1B) Warrior Fair (103): Apparently you buy or sell warriors here? Also we'll scout location 108. The Location Action is...all kinds of bad, so we're not going to use unless the thread wants to.
1C) Location 108: I like big myteries and I cannot lie.
1D) Forlorn Swords (105): we can't buy items since we lack Wealth, but maybe there'll be something else interesting over there. There are some giant swords, at the very least. Also we'll scout location 108.

2) Help for the sick: do we help the sick? Vote A for yes (And if so, what cure do we attempt?), B for no!

3)White Lichens: Should we try and gather some before leaving Whitening? Vote A for yes, B for no!

Votes :

1A. We need money. We lack money. Dead people have money which we can use to achieve results above and beyond what normal people can. That's, like, the basis of capitalism. (have both seek treasure and hope to god we don't roll the weak six, explore with both)
2A give 'em food, since that's what they actually lack. I fully expect the sane, rational decision to bite us back because 2020, but gently caress it.
3B We've already got the plague thankyouverymuch. One deadly infection at the time, if you please.

Kobal2 fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Oct 26, 2020

# ? Oct 26, 2020 22:02

habituallyred: Feb 6, 2015

1A No second choice, sorry Ailei we need all the money.
2Yes, food
3 Get

# ? Oct 26, 2020 22:59

NeoRonTheNeuron: Oct 14, 2012

That Italian Guy posted:

Yeah, each deck is kinda unique (although there are repeated cards of course). Ailei's Combat cards are more support than anything else, but they can set up following turns nicely for the other character(s); and Maggot's Diplomacy cards are still more on the mystical side.

At first, I thought that combat/diplo would be hard to do efficiently with 2 characters since both get attacked back by the encounter. But after thinking about it more, the 3-card hand is very constraining, and it makes it difficult to combo or plan ahead much. Just having a 2nd character to chain off greatly expands the possibilities, even when a participating character isn't a combat or diplo specialist.

I like that one of Maggot's cards was essentially able to block damage from both him and Ailei.

# ? Oct 27, 2020 00:48

Blue Link: Apr 22, 2014

1A.
2A, food.
3A. Do you see any nails fastening the lichen? I thought so.

# ? Oct 27, 2020 01:13

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

I've found out there is a Tainted Grail Survival Guide on BGG laid out by Awaken Realms, the game developers. It has several general tips on the game, so I'll add it to the OP as well.

# ? Oct 27, 2020 13:00

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# ? Apr 29, 2024 10:49

That Italian Guy: Jul 25, 2012; We need the equivalent of the shrimp = small pastry avatar, but for ambulances and their mysteries now.

Expedition Log posted:

Current Location: Whitening (107)
Tasks: none!
Active Menhirs: Cuanacth Farmhold (101), 3 days left.

You have spoken!

Vote Results posted:

1) We are going to the Fore-Dweller Mounds. If we have some spare time, we'll hit the Warrior Fair as a secondary objective.
2) We are helping the villagers in Whitening by giving them food.
3) We are NOT picking some of the White Lychen.

Today's Event is:

So we probably want to avoid any unnecessary fight. Before leaving Whitening, we'll help the Villagers with Food.

Healing the peasants posted:

Both Ailei and Maggot lose 1 (current A: 7, M: 5). Then each loses 1 Food (current: 2 each).
Verse 2:

We decode the cypher and go to the relevant Book of Secrets Verse.
Verse 434 (BoS):

We get 1 Exp each (current A: 3, M: 1); then we gain a total of either 2 Wealth or 2 Rep, to share between our Party. We'll vote on what we get!

Time to travel to the Fore-Dweller Mounds! On our way, we stop momentarily in Location 102; we want to avoid unnecessary Encounters, but we are running dangerously low on Food. We spend 2 each to travel to 102 and to activate it's Location Action (current A: 5, M: 3)

We have to draw and face a Green Encounter

Combat: Flock of Puffins posted:

These Puffins are not adorable; the Horde trait means that, during the enemy attack, we discard the first 2 cards from the top of our deck, so we have to win fast.

Welcome to our new Combat mat! Hope this will make things easier to follow. We start by playing a Careful Attack; we gain 2 , then when the enemy attacks we prevent the first damage with our Armor, and the second one with Careful Attack itself. We also discard the top 2 cards from our deck into our discard pile.

We draw Final Blow. As the name implies, this is awesome as a finisher, and terrible otherwise.

We can actually use it immediately to deal a massive amount of damage! In fact, by discarding another charge from our hand and activating the Clansword, we can get 6 this Round and win.

EDIT: Turns out I kinda screwed up in this Combat Not only I forgot the Blood Moon debuff (not a big deal, Maggot would have healed that at the end of the day), but I though the Puffin's attack with 2 was going to be "deal 2 damage (3 with Blood Moon)", but instead it was "deal 1 damage (2 with Blood Moon), then destroy the last card in the sequence". So careful Attack was not going to be available for us to chain off from, meaning that Final Blow would have only dealt 5 instead of 6. Not a big difference, as if I had noticed that I would have activated the Clansword on Round 1 as well, closing that at 4 istead of 2 and winning the following Round with Final Blow nonetheless.

Between the Location Action and the Encounter reward, we gain 2 Food each (current: 4 each). We then spend 1 each to travel to Location 106 (current A: 4, M: 2).

Exploration: Fore-Dweller Mounds (106) posted:

Ailei spends 1 (current:3).

Intro:

We are a diplomat, so let's have a chat with the Miners first.
Verse 2:

We get Maggot to tag in for 1 (current: 1) since we don't care if he's Exhausted. Both Characters gain 1 Exp (current A: 4, M: 2) from the ~~weird~~ wyrd story. We also gain a new Status.

We have only 1

effective Energy on Ailei, and exploring the Mounds may or may not be dangerous - so I'll let the thread vote on that (we're banking that Energy point for tomorrow, so nothing is lost)! Same deal for the Location Action - since it'll be 1

each (unless we want Ailei to be Exhausted) with a potential result if we roll a 6.

End of Day posted:

Rest:
- Ailei consumes 1 Food, recovers1 . Well Rested! Energy is set to full+1 (8)
- Maggot consumes 1 Food, recovers1 and loses1 . Exhausted! Energy is set to 5.
Advancement:
- Ailei current Exp is 4.
- Maggot current Exp is 2.
Dream:
Maggot spins a Dial: gets a Skull! Maggot has a Nightmare.

Tomorrow's Event is going to be:

VOTE IS NOW OPEN
:siren:

Vote Options posted:

1) Where to next? Vote A to concentrare on lighting a Menhir or B plus a location to take another day to explore first.
2) Which Menhir to lit? We currently don't have enough Wealth to lit the one in the Fore-Dweller Mounds, but if we receive Wealth as a reward for helping out Whitening and we activate the Location Action in here both today (retroactively) and tomorrow we will. Vote A to rekindle the one in Whitening; or B for the one in the Fore-Dweller Mounds. If you vote B, I'll do the double Location Action to receive 2 extra Wealth if we choose to receive Wealth from Withening too.
3) Whitening Reward: vote A to receive 2 Wealth, or B to receive 2 Rep.
4) Explore the Mounds: these places seem dangerous, but they could also hide some ancient treasure. Vote A to explore them or B to leave what lies beneath rest.
5) Level Up: Ailei has enough XP to either raise her Spirituality to 1 or her Practicality to 2. Vote A to raise Spirituality, B to raise Practicality or C to wait until we have 6 XP to raise either Aggression or Empathy (and get a Skill in this case) instead.

Explored Locations:
- 101
- 102
- 104
- 106
- 107
- 109

That Italian Guy fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Oct 29, 2020

# ? Oct 28, 2020 17:01

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > This island was never meant for humans - Let's Play Tainted Grail

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