- Location
- Australia
Pokemon ultra-realism?
A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
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- Tags
- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
- Location
- Germany
*cough*
Guilty as charged.
The mechanics have become a real drain to manage and that pretty much killed my motivation.
That's a pretty random idea to bring up.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
You were just heading into a mass combat section, weren't you?
Been there, came out the other side via ritual murder of mechanical bloat - I wrote most of ten thousand words of mechanics for only three times that in narrative. No, seriously. If you think it's fixable - it usually is - shoot me a PM and I'd be happy to try and help. We need more good, well cared for, Original quests.
- Location
- Germany
Part of my frustration comes from the fact that I don't feel it's fixable anymore, but I'm not going to say no to the offer.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I have yet to see that work effectively for anyone in the long term. I could be looking in the wrong places, sure, but I doubt it.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Since today is the day, I'm re-posting my Sins of the Past plan. Ya'll see any adjustments that need to be made?
[] Sins of the Past
-[] As part of the preparations to locate the Wildfire caches hidden in King's Landing at King Aerys' command, we will do the following:
--[] Inquire of Yss if our attempts to Scry on the hidden Wildfire will be detected by anyone with the ability and intent to hinder our efforts despite our precautions.
--[] Malarys will prepare (x5) Owl's Wisdom, (x3) Greater Scrying, and (x3) Scrying spells each day while we are in the scouting phase of the action. He will borrow Lya's Mind Blank earring for the duration of this action.
--[] The chamber of the Shadow Tower where we will perform the Scrying will be protected by a False Vision spell cast by Tyene which will show an empty room to anyone successfully to Scry upon it, as well as a Mage's Private Sanctum courtesy of Lya. They will renew the spells daily.
--[] Each day, both during the scouting phase as well as the retrieval phase, Dany will use her Telepath creature template. She will make sure to keep the Archon assisting us Mind Blank'd at all times during this action.
-[] Before each Scrying session:
--[] Viserys will cast Moment of Greatness on himself and Malarys using his Grimoire, then place a Nine Lives spell on Malarys. He will then Blood Wish a Harmonic Chorus spell on himself to increase his caster level by +2, then cancel his Moment of Greatness spell to increase the caster level of his next spell, a Blood Wished Owl's Insight, by +4. Finally, he will Blood Wish another Harmonic Chorus spell, this one on Malarys. Viserys will make use of the Living Restoration Spell ooze, along with the magic bedroll, as necessary in order to repair his Charisma damage and to replenish his spells in order to continue enhancing Malary's Scrying efforts.
--[] While affected by Harmonic Chorus, Malarys casts Owl's Wisdom on himself at 16th level, then cancels his Moment of Greatness as part of casting Greater Scrying in order to raise his Divination caster level to 19. Between the Owl's Wisdom and Owl's Insight spells, Malarys' Wisdom attribute will be increased to 35, for a +12 bonus.
---[] As part of each Scrying attempt, Malarys will use the Wildfire Orb as a focus item to help him home in on the hidden WIldfire caches.
--[] The Archon who has volunteered to assist us in this action will pay close attention to the location of each Wildfire cache, committing it to memory in order to be able to use Greater Teleport to reach them when the time is right. As part of preparing for its role, the Archon will be included in our daily Persistomancy.
-[] When all the Wildfire caches are located, we will move into the retrieval phase of this action:
--[] Malarys will prepare (x7) Find the Path and (x4) True Seeing spells to assist the Archon, should they prove necessary.
--[] Dany will use her Telepathic Bond SLA to create a link between the minds of herself, Viserys, Malarys, Lya, Tyene, and the Archon.
--[] Before departing, the Archon will be buffed with the following spells: from Viserys (Grand Destiny, Starmantle, Nine Lives, & Invisibility), from Dany (Mind Blank Energy Immunity[Fire], Protection from Energy[Fire], Resist Energy[Fire], Shield of Faith & Freedom of Movement), from Lya (Barkskin, Moment of Greatness, Heroism, Divine Protection, Mass Aid, Overland Flight, & Life Bubble), from Tyene (Greater Blindsight, Fickle Winds, Nondetection, & Wind Walk), from Malarys (True Seeing, Find the Path, Stalwart Pact, & Renewal Pact), and from Velen (Inner Beauty). If the retrieval runs overlong, the Archon will return to Sorcerer's Deep to renew these buff spells as necessary.
--[] Once prepared, the Archon will begin retrieving the Wildfire, carefully returning each load of Wildfire to a barren rocky islet we have selected ahead of time for its lack of value.
[] Sins of the Past
-[] As part of the preparations to locate the Wildfire caches hidden in King's Landing at King Aerys' command, we will do the following:
--[] Inquire of Yss if our attempts to Scry on the hidden Wildfire will be detected by anyone with the ability and intent to hinder our efforts despite our precautions.
--[] Malarys will prepare (x5) Owl's Wisdom, (x3) Greater Scrying, and (x3) Scrying spells each day while we are in the scouting phase of the action. He will borrow Lya's Mind Blank earring for the duration of this action.
--[] The chamber of the Shadow Tower where we will perform the Scrying will be protected by a False Vision spell cast by Tyene which will show an empty room to anyone successfully to Scry upon it, as well as a Mage's Private Sanctum courtesy of Lya. They will renew the spells daily.
--[] Each day, both during the scouting phase as well as the retrieval phase, Dany will use her Telepath creature template. She will make sure to keep the Archon assisting us Mind Blank'd at all times during this action.
-[] Before each Scrying session:
--[] Viserys will cast Moment of Greatness on himself and Malarys using his Grimoire, then place a Nine Lives spell on Malarys. He will then Blood Wish a Harmonic Chorus spell on himself to increase his caster level by +2, then cancel his Moment of Greatness spell to increase the caster level of his next spell, a Blood Wished Owl's Insight, by +4. Finally, he will Blood Wish another Harmonic Chorus spell, this one on Malarys. Viserys will make use of the Living Restoration Spell ooze, along with the magic bedroll, as necessary in order to repair his Charisma damage and to replenish his spells in order to continue enhancing Malary's Scrying efforts.
--[] While affected by Harmonic Chorus, Malarys casts Owl's Wisdom on himself at 16th level, then cancels his Moment of Greatness as part of casting Greater Scrying in order to raise his Divination caster level to 19. Between the Owl's Wisdom and Owl's Insight spells, Malarys' Wisdom attribute will be increased to 35, for a +12 bonus.
---[] As part of each Scrying attempt, Malarys will use the Wildfire Orb as a focus item to help him home in on the hidden WIldfire caches.
--[] The Archon who has volunteered to assist us in this action will pay close attention to the location of each Wildfire cache, committing it to memory in order to be able to use Greater Teleport to reach them when the time is right. As part of preparing for its role, the Archon will be included in our daily Persistomancy.
-[] When all the Wildfire caches are located, we will move into the retrieval phase of this action:
--[] Malarys will prepare (x7) Find the Path and (x4) True Seeing spells to assist the Archon, should they prove necessary.
--[] Dany will use her Telepathic Bond SLA to create a link between the minds of herself, Viserys, Malarys, Lya, Tyene, and the Archon.
--[] Before departing, the Archon will be buffed with the following spells: from Viserys (Grand Destiny, Starmantle, Nine Lives, & Invisibility), from Dany (Mind Blank Energy Immunity[Fire], Protection from Energy[Fire], Resist Energy[Fire], Shield of Faith & Freedom of Movement), from Lya (Barkskin, Moment of Greatness, Heroism, Divine Protection, Mass Aid, Overland Flight, & Life Bubble), from Tyene (Greater Blindsight, Fickle Winds, Nondetection, & Wind Walk), from Malarys (True Seeing, Find the Path, Stalwart Pact, & Renewal Pact), and from Velen (Inner Beauty). If the retrieval runs overlong, the Archon will return to Sorcerer's Deep to renew these buff spells as necessary.
--[] Once prepared, the Archon will begin retrieving the Wildfire, carefully returning each load of Wildfire to a barren rocky islet we have selected ahead of time for its lack of value.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Are we nearby to stop fiends just teleprting it away (if we get unlucky and an ensmy gets a well worded divination) or destroy it by setting bits on fire with a torch and an amf?
Why should this take more than one day. On the assumption that fiends are aware of the wildfire caches, would they not notice the missing ones?
Tbh, I'm expecting pressure plates or alarms.
Why should this take more than one day. On the assumption that fiends are aware of the wildfire caches, would they not notice the missing ones?
Tbh, I'm expecting pressure plates or alarms.
- Location
- Germany
Well, I did learn quite a bit from the issues of both my quests. ToH never had the quicksandbox issue that SotP ran into, since I kept "the pressure up" so to speak.
Likewise, the mechanical issues of ToH are mostly inherited from it's predecessor, though they came out much more starkly due to seeing more use. That too is something I would fix for my next quest.
Ultimately, running a quest is rather different from a tabletop P&P and I ran into wuite a few preventable issues by not yet having a good feel for the medium. Especially since the ASWAH ecosystem is quite different from other quests, skewing my perspective.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
We only have so many Scrying spells available and relevant buffs to maximize their effectiveness. If it only takes three days, that's great, but it's better to plan conservatively rather than skimping on time and not being able to finish before running into another urgently scheduled action.
As I've already told you, we know that no one else knows of the caches except for Jaime Lannister. We've been performing Divinations to confirm this regularly.
Why would there be alarms? No one knows they're there. If there is an alarm, who would hear it and why would they assume "oh no, the Wildfire is in danger!"?
And there can't be any magical alarms or wards, because magic wasn't available when the caches were hidden.
- Location
- Germany
What a ringing endorsement of that quest.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
@Snowfire, about that idea not working out long term, maybe not in terms of retaining original ideas, but it seems like it work out for Azel just fine.
Would his readers eventually want to mutiny from getting invested in multiple quests with good writing? Maybe. The suggestion was made more to Azel's benefit though.
Would his readers eventually want to mutiny from getting invested in multiple quests with good writing? Maybe. The suggestion was made more to Azel's benefit though.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Can Marlays scrying spell move from location to location, or are we limited to one location per casting?
Would giving the Archon the wayfinder help a bit?
I don't think it's just Jamie, there is nothing stopping a fiend related to Summer hall having divined wildfire related questions.
Like, I have no memory of DP saying we are divining if anyone knows, just if it will go off. If you're certain, on the other hand. Eh. Fair 'nuff.
If I were a fiend, I'd have divined for such things to use in my plots. And if I were to leave the wildfire in place for whatever reason, I'd make sure that it can't be reached by reasonable accident, and that those who move it will set something off, like an alarm attached to a mechanical pressure plate. Those alarms. Attached to the wildfire after it was placed. After being found by fiends looking for weak points.
But it's not like I have any better ideas on how to do this .. so eh.
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- Location
- United States
In all seriousness the ability to work our way up from nothing to amazing and unique equipment was a major motivator for me. Not quite as important as the storyline itself, but definitely a perk. We just got ourselves a masterwork bronze-coated obsidian dagger we used to murder a spirit, bronze armor being reforged for our size with the promise of upgrading that armor if we ever got more bronze, an incredible spiritbone bow which was basically one of the best things we could get (other than a warbirds which we didn't have access to, but eh), we got an awesome new companion, and we were halfway through learning how to read. We were doing pretty freaking great overall.What a ringing endorsement of that quest.
- Location
- Germany
Right now, I have three original ideas ready for writing:@Snowfire, about that idea not working out long term, maybe not in terms of retaining original ideas, but it seems like it work out for Azel just fine.
Would his readers eventually want to mutiny from getting invested in multiple quests with good writing? Maybe. The suggestion was made more to Azel's benefit though.
- cyberpunk setting with a strong 1984 vibe, somewhere between Shadowrun and X-COM 2 (though without spirits or aliens)
- more classical fantasy, set in the same world as SotP, but on a different continent and with vastly different culture
- yet again something in the SotP world, though more akin to a blend of viking age and a deathworld, more or less Cualis far-northern cousin
Also two more ideas, but those came up during talks with @TotallyNotEvil and @Tomcost respectively and I'm not poaching stuff that I suggested for their work.
Edit: Also, whatever happens, I'm going to heavily poach from Shadowruns mechanics next time. Dice-pools just plainly work better.
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- Location
- United States
Personally I'm super interested in these two. I still hang onto my dream of clawing our way to power, becoming combat proficient and well-equipped, gathering companions and then an army, then a kingdom.
Edit: Also, the world building was fantastic. I want to keep exploring and reclaiming different places.
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- Location
- United States
My major motivator carries over.So basically ASWaH.
But if Azel ever does explore that world again you should definitely join in. You'd really enjoy it.Another quest in the Shadows of the Past universe would be really interesting, you created a very interesting world that should be explored. When it comes to quests, just keep practicing and improving after every quest. It took Sage of Eyes at least 2 quests to develop his AGG system and at least 2 more quests to refine it. Hope this link helps you develop your next quest.
Quest Mechanics Discussion / Orientation
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
I told another QM who I think appreciated my input and presence that I don't have the energy to be a serious poster in two quests. Granted, this person was investing so much energy in a quest that fundamentally didn't appeal to me outside of what setting he used.
They're a good writer too.
I still only have room for ASWaH though.
They're a good writer too.
I still only have room for ASWaH though.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
And after everything we've shared together! How could you!