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Who would desert though?

Dwarfs, pretty much out of the question.
Wizards, they volunteered... i don't see it.
Knights? With how hardcore both orders are?
Asarnil?
The wastes are scary enough (Supernaturally so) that even Asarnil will be tempted at times.

I would not be shocked if we even see a dwarf runner.

which is why we might have to play makeshift morale/punishment officer.
 
Changing my vote because my prefered option is hopelessly behind:
[X] Lead only the Wizards

I will admit, now that I've voted for this one I can see the benefit of it. We're probably going to have to scout out the inside of the Karak for a decent period of time, while the dragon and knights play a crucial role in preventing attacks on the steam wagons, having the leader of those factions be away on the scouting during that period seems problematic.
 
I would not be shocked if we even see a dwarf runner.
I just don't see it.
Slayers? Not happening
Engineer? And leave these babies (the steam wagons)

Rangers are the only group where it would happen. But given the distance involved, i would think even the cowardliest ranger would take their chances with the expedition, than try to footslog it back south (and go slayer from the shame).
 
The wastes are scary enough (Supernaturally so) that even Asarnil will be tempted at times.

I would not be shocked if we even see a dwarf runner.

which is why we might have to play makeshift morale/punishment officer.

The Wastes are even scarier if you are alone. Deserting means abandoning all the protection of the group to try to run on your own. Mathilde and Asarnil could do it but I'm not betting on anyone else.
 
[X] Lead only the Wizards

Preliminary vote for this one, for now.
[X] Lead the Wizards and Asarnil

Preliminarily changing the vote, heh. This way? We get more reasons to interact with both the Wizards and Asarnil. And Asarnil, and Deathfang, are interesting. And the Wizards are our responsibility.

Of course, it's a bit of a pity that we don't get to try out our Rite of Way spell with the Knightly Orders under our not-command, able to try out a few maneuvers in practice and such, but... We still are part of the expedition, and can talk to the commanders (and to Borek and the Engineers) and all. Just, it would have been cool to be able to... hrm, on the other hand...

Darn. We're going to have our hands busy, aren't we.

We're going to have options like "Practice coordinating your Rite of Way spell with the expedition," "Get to know group X more", "Get to know an individual more", "Catch up with an individual or group after a while", "Try to reach an agreement with a group of Knights to be able to use your Rite of Way in co-op scouting missions more often". And then there's the "Scouting and stuff."

... As well as "Get to know the Ice Witch, so we can start getting a better idea of what we're in for."

Oof. So many potential things to do. So many potential cool things to try out to do. So many responsibilities to juggle. And so few actions to do them in, I bet. And no idea if we want to go broad or deep on social actions, or... gah. Heh.
 
The Wastes are even scarier if you are alone. Deserting means abandoning all the protection of the group to try to run on your own. Mathilde and Asarnil could do it but I'm not betting on anyone else.
Rangers are the only group where it would happen. But given the distance involved, i would think even the cowardliest ranger would take their chances with the expedition, than try to footslog it back south (and go slayer from the shame).
Deserting tends to mean your not thinking or panicking.

so 'its not smart' is not, well, a great argument.

your talking about someone not thinking things through, to begin with.

and guys, dwarfs aren't all the stereotype, there have been dwarfs how to have deserted before, and there will be dwarfs that will in the future.
 
[X] Lead the Wizards and Asarnil

Preliminarily changing the vote, heh. This way? We get more reasons to interact with both the Wizards and Asarnil. And Asarnil, and Deathfang, are interesting. And the Wizards are our responsibility.

Of course, it's a bit of a pity that we don't get to try out our Rite of Way spell with the Knightly Orders under our not-command, able to try out a few maneuvers in practice and such, but... We still are part of the expedition, and can talk to the commanders (and to Borek and the Engineers) and all. Just, it would have been cool to be able to... hrm, on the other hand...

Darn. We're going to have our hands busy, aren't we.

We're going to have options like "Practice coordinating your Rite of Way spell with the expedition," "Get to know group X more", "Get to know an individual more", "Catch up with an individual or group after a while", "Try to reach an agreement with a group of Knights to be able to use your Rite of Way in co-op scouting missions more often". And then there's the "Scouting and stuff."

... As well as "Get to know the Ice Witch, so we can start getting a better idea of what we're in for."

Oof. So many potential things to do. So many potential cool things to try out to do. So many responsibilities to juggle. And so few actions to do them in, I bet. And no idea if we want to go broad or deep on social actions, or... gah. Heh.

I don't think 'practice Rite of Way with the expedition' is a personable action. If you can walk you can make use of it. I'm assuming everyone present is capable of basic locomotion.


Deserting tends to mean your not thinking or panicking.

so 'its not smart' is not, well, a great argument.

your talking about someone not thinking things through, to begin with.

and guys, dwarfs aren't all the stereotype, there have been dwarfs how to have deserted before, and there will be dwarfs that will in the future.

The thing is that the same fear that would tempt you to run 'wastes scary' would also keep you with the expedition 'wastes alone more scary'. It takes zero rational thought to realize that deserting is a bad idea, just more fear.
 
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[X] Lead the Wizards and Asarnil

Preliminarily changing the vote, heh. This way? We get more reasons to interact with both the Wizards and Asarnil. And Asarnil, and Deathfang, are interesting. And the Wizards are our responsibility.

Of course, it's a bit of a pity that we don't get to try out our Rite of Way spell with the Knightly Orders under our not-command, able to try out a few maneuvers in practice and such, but... We still are part of the expedition, and can talk to the commanders (and to Borek and the Engineers) and all. Just, it would have been cool to be able to... hrm, on the other hand...

Darn. We're going to have our hands busy, aren't we.

We're going to have options like "Practice coordinating your Rite of Way spell with the expedition," "Get to know group X more", "Get to know an individual more", "Catch up with an individual or group after a while", "Try to reach an agreement with a group of Knights to be able to use your Rite of Way in co-op scouting missions more often". And then there's the "Scouting and stuff."

... As well as "Get to know the Ice Witch, so we can start getting a better idea of what we're in for."

Oof. So many potential things to do. So many potential cool things to try out to do. So many responsibilities to juggle. And so few actions to do them in, I bet. And no idea if we want to go broad or deep on social actions, or... gah. Heh.
that's why I'm campaigning for 'not scouting until we get the wastes. the battle huskies and rangers will be fine until we get to the crazy parts.
 
Even in terms of "not thinking", scared people are not entirely irrational. For example, a scared soldier is more likely to hide inside a trench than try to run away from the trench. Similarly, a scared Dwarf is more likely to bunker down inside a landship and refuse to come out than try to make his way home all the way over the Steppes.

And it's not like we're going to have many cowards coming on such an expedition in the first place.
 
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Changing my vote. Leading the Knights will definitely make it easier to set up perfect Rite of Way charges!

[X] Lead the Wizards, Knightly Orders, and Asarnil
 
Regarding safety, I am curious abou what runes Thorek's Apprenticeswarm applied to the steam wagons. Runes of Sanctuary would be handy, in that they would protect from environmental magic badness.
 
For those who think that not taking knights and/or Asarnil means they will get a seat on the council and will be better heard - that's by no means guaranteed. They may be folded under a different councilor - say, head ranger, or, even if they are given a seat on the council, not listened to that much. After all, they are neither dawi nor dwarven councilors. I genuinly think not taking command of them may lead to them being mismanaged. Admittedly, the names of the steamwagons are a good sign, but still.

Time and time again, despite our best efforts Mathilde has been thrust into military command positions. I thing it is high time we stop fighting it and start embracing it.
 
I don't think 'practice Rite of Way with the expedition' is a personable action. If you can walk you can make use of it. I'm assuming everyone present is capable of basic locomotion.
I didn't mean things like "Mathilde casts the spell while at the head of column, and thereby everybody behind her automatically ends up being part of the practice attempt, because literally all they have to do is keep walking forward."

More like... Convincing people to cooperate with the weird magic spell is part of it. The other part, is coordinating with a military group in order to pull off a maneuver smoothly; like being able to quickly relocate through a river or whatever, in order to flank somebody. Or to make a quick retreat after scouting, by going through a swamp. Having a few of Knights be willing to have Mathilde tag along on a (later) scouting expedition to cast her spell and stuff.

That sort of stuff.

You know, getting everybody on the same page, and getting them comfortable with relying on a Wizard to provide new tactical (and strategic) options.

And also, just... getting Mathilde experienced with using her battle magic as part of an army. It's just like marching and drilling and practicing regular army stuff. It helps to be able to practice and know exactly what you're doing!

We basically rushed and crash-developed a spell from nothing. We haven't had even a turn to practice it in drills or maneuvers with lots of others. Basically, the spell is complete, but not tested out very much. We know it works, we know it's parameters. But we haven't gotten tons of experience using it in the real world yet.
 
I didn't mean things like "Mathilde casts the spell while at the head of column, and thereby everybody behind her automatically ends up being part of the practice attempt, because literally all they have to do is keep walking forward."

More like... Convincing people to cooperate with the weird magic spell is part of it. The other part, is coordinating with a military group in order to pull off a maneuver smoothly; like being able to quickly relocate through a river or whatever, in order to flank somebody. Or to make a quick retreat after scouting, by going through a swamp. Having a few of Knights be willing to have Mathilde tag along on a (later) scouting expedition to cast her spell and stuff.

That sort of stuff.

You know, getting everybody on the same page, and getting them comfortable with relying on a Wizard to provide new tactical (and strategic) options.

And also, just... getting Mathilde experienced with using her battle magic as part of an army. It's just like marching and drilling and practicing regular army stuff. It helps to be able to practice and know exactly what you're doing!

We basically rushed and crash-developed a spell from nothing. We haven't had even a turn to practice it in drills or maneuvers with lots of others. Basically, the spell is complete, but not tested out very much. We know it works, we know it's parameters. But we haven't gotten tons of experience using it in the real world yet.

Do you plan to tell them we rushed into anything? If so why? If they trust us enough to cast spells on them in general they trust us enough to walk on the fog which on their part is not any more difficult than walking anywhere else. Keep in mind we are already lying to the dwarfs about this by omission or they would never let their precious steam tanks on this new spell.

From that perspective 'practicing Rite of Way' is practicing the basics of how to move around a battlefield, which could be counted insulting to veteran knights.
 
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