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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest

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Morrowlark said:
Guess You Had To Be There
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the ultimate moment have to be the reclamation of all 8 Peak, we unintentionally play the Skaven so hard they exploded on themself

like after the dust was settle and we understood what we did, it seem like master class stratagem and maneuvering but in reality we just want to steal shit and bumble our way into that particular set of domino but it was hilarious looking back at it
 
Z000 said:
the ultimate moment have to be the reclamation of all 8 Peak, we unintentionally play the Skaven so hard they exploded on themself

like after the dust was settle and we understood what we did, it seem like master class stratagem and maneuvering but in reality we just want to steal shit and bumble our way into that particular set of domino but it was hilarious looking back at it
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Truly, when one worships Ranald, to fuck around is human and to find out is divine.
 
Z000 said:
the ultimate moment have to be the reclamation of all 8 Peak, we unintentionally play the Skaven so hard they exploded on themself

like after the dust was settle and we understood what we did, it seem like master class stratagem and maneuvering but in reality we just want to steal shit and bumble our way into that particular set of domino but it was hilarious looking back at it
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To be fair, the way we took apart Clan Mors did have some actual thought behind it.
 
Z000 said:
the ultimate moment have to be the reclamation of all 8 Peak, we unintentionally play the Skaven so hard they exploded on themself
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I feel like the ultimate "you had to be there" moment was when the thread managed to solve Karak Vlag in a solution that was not intended and the QM rolled with it, nearly derailing the campaign for Dum, but somehow achieving what is prolly Mathilde's biggest moment of awesome (a highly competitive field) by stealing a Karak from Slaanesh. The thread participation in that was insane. Solving the food dilemma later was equally ingenious, but didnt quite hit the same because the Dum expedition kind of failed.

Also, honorary mention goes to the two "is this child a wizard" rolls and the thread's and Boney's reactions to them, I know they were not technically IN the story per se, but for me they, collectively, were certainly top 15 thread moments in how batshit this whole thing was and how it derailed everything (Boney is amazing to be able to roll with this when Ranald keeps trolling him)
 
storryeater said:
Also, honorary mention goes to the two "is this child a wizard" rolls and the thread's and Boney's reactions to them, I know they were not technically IN the story per se, but for me they, collectively, were certainly top 15 thread moments in how batshit this whole thing was and how it derailed everything (Boney is amazing to be able to roll with this when Ranald keeps trolling him)
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i don't remember this, which update was this ?
 
Z000 said:
i don't remember this, which update was this ?
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Eike's roll wasn't made in thread, but was first brought up here:
Garlak said:
*laughs and laughs in disbelief*

I guess it was worth it to, on a whim, check orokos once again out of curiosity because hahaha what're the odds. (Exactly 1 in 100 in fact.)

Anyway, for the Dwarfs, I'm probably thinking of introducing her to Kazrik and/or Belegar.

I was also, however, thinking of introducing her to a Runesmith or an Ancestor God clergy member -- because WEBMAT will be doing work with wizards and priests and Runesmiths right -- but now I'm also thinking of introducing her to Johann and the Cult of Grungni or Max and the Cult of Smednir.

[ ] Belegar Ironhammer
[ ] Kazrik and the Dwarves of Karak Azul
[ ] Gunnars and the Cult of Gazul

[ ] Johann and the Cult of Grungni
[ ] Max and the Cult of Smednir
[ ] Kragg the Grim
[ ] Thorek Ironbrow

It'd still be another D8 roll, but if it did land congruently, then... how would people feel about, ah, extending how long we teach Eike let's call it that? :V

Though thinking about it, there's also the possibility of the Priesthood too, so... That's also a potential possibility. And, frankly, in some ways it could be easier or more beneficial to be a Priest. Less of the hassles and political issues of the Articles. Or issues with holding wealth or land. Or issues with the fact that you might just up and die even while learning like some wizards do.
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And first came up in an update here.

Mandred's roll was made in thread, and is here:
Boney said:
Well, let's see.
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And first featured in this update.
 
Z000 said:
i don't remember this, which update was this ?
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That's why I am saying "honorary mention" it was not an update, it was the roll surrounding Mandred and Eike becoming a wizard and Boney's and the thread's reaction to the sheer unlikeliness of this happening, because it took a 100 on a 1d100 and it happened twice. In a row.

Suprisingly hard to find, but it seems I was ninja'd on that count before I could unearth them anyway, but I was talking about this post and what followed. It was Mandred's roll, yes, but the hilarity would have been halved if Eike hadn't also rolled a 100.
 
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Morrowlark said:
Well if that's how it is, lemme take a deeeeep breath. These won't be in any particular order; this is because I do not have control over my life.
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It absolutely is how it is. Big reaction posts make my day every time, even the ones I only react to with the reaction buttons. I'm not great at gracefully accepting praise, I feel like there needs to be actual content to it or it just comes across as a form letter, so I often lean on those buttons for it.

Morrowlark said:
The Sylvania Campaign - As starting arcs go, Stirland was fascinating; it ensured that Mathilde couldn't be passive and turtle up, which is a common problem I've observed in questing as a medium; players often give in to the urge to not take risks, and stall plot momentum for dozens of updates or, in some cases, literal real life years at a time. But the final attacks into Sylvania really cemented both the stakes on deck and showed Boney to have a deft hand at writing war in a dramatic fashion, wearing only enough trappings of milfic to enhance verisimilitude while keeping emotional investment and tension very high. RIP to Van Hal Senior, man died like a true WHF RPG protagonist: to bullshit rolls on a percentile die.
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I think questers in general prefer to only initiate a campaign of aggression if they have overwhelming force, but if there's one that will happen with them or without them they're a lot more comfortable in doing whatever they can to contribute. That's a big advantage of a protagonist that's working for someone, you can tell them what's going to happen and then the 'blame' for it if it goes horribly isn't on the questers.

Morrowlark said:
Reclaiming Eight Peaks - The initial campaign here was likewise fascinating, and it coming on the back of Sylvania had just enough air to let tension ratchet back down before getting it up again. But more than the combat, the way Boney writes the Dwarfs is with far more compassion, nuance, and thought than they get from, let me check my notes, literally everyone. We live in a world where it took Bioware 4 fucking games to let the player date a Dwarf, and here Boney's outdoing AAA games for free. Which then brings us to...
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Travel times in Fantasy is a big verisimilitude thing of mine, and the initial portion of the K8P Expedition was me indulging a bit in making it clear how horrifically slow a premodern army is and how big the world is if you're walking, something I reprised for the Karag Dum Expedition. That it served as a moment for a reader to catch one's breath in the reread is something I'm glad for, because in the live version there was about an 18-ish month hiatus right as the Expedition reached the gates of K8P.

Morrowlark said:
The Romance - Panoramia my FUCKING BELOVED. Despite the relationship being somewhat out-of-focus during this arc, given the distances involved, it's great to see how the two of them put in the work to be there for each other, how they meet each other's needs (to wit, Panoramia sees through Mathilde without hostility, and Mathilde lends a voice of practicality that Panoramia sometimes struggles with, among other things), and the warmth that exists here. I would kill and die for Panoramia, lost my mind when I was finally caught up and went to look at the fan art so I couldn't be spoiled here. And just like, for the record? For the record? I had to be sold on Panoramia, on my way to being current I'd actually been holding a torch for a Roswita romance & Boney hit me with this druid so hard that I got fucking isekai'd. I hope she can come back into focus soon(ish).
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I think a big part of why Mathilde and Panoramia work well is that it is low-key. They're both strong-willed and independent people doing extremely important jobs, and although they have very overlapping goals in the betterment of the Colleges, the Empire, and Karak Eight Peaks, their extremely different skillsets and toolsets mean that their paths very rarely overlap. And I think that can and should be okay. Love can be just as powerful when it's soft and quiet and intimate and comfortable as when it's a blazing bonfire of passion being shouted at the world and carved across destiny.

A Roswita relationship would have been a very different beast to the Panoramia one. I don't think the relationship that Mathilde didn't actually have with Roswita's dad would have been the biggest issue to be negotiated, it would have been the various forms of power the two people hold, how that power interacts with each other, and how that dynamic shifts as the two accumulate more power in different areas. Elector Count and Journeyman Employee is one thing, an influential Magister with powerful allies and deep investments in her backyard would have created an entirely different dynamic that would partially, but not and perhaps never entirely free from that first interaction. It would have been dramatic, in a word.

Not to say it would have been better or worse than the one we ended up with, just different. All those relationship dynamics would have had charms that I like to think I would have been able to bring out. Speaking of very different beasts, that even goes for the more unusual candidates. I don't know if any sort of functional relationship with the We would have been in the cards, but I think the process of finding out would have been a really interesting journey. And Cython would likely have been a lot more straightforward than most would think, possibly more so than any of the traditional romance options, as it has sufficient power to be a simple soul. If presented with an option, it would have evaluated whether it wants to explore that option, and then if it decided it did want to, it would have.
 
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Boney said:
in the live version there was about an 18-ish month hiatus right as the Expedition reached the gates of K8P.
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You know, that was a really good stopping point. I reread the quest a few times during the hiatus, and it held up quite well as a "complete" work.

Boney said:
If presented with an option
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Ah, but the real fun would have been the thread debates about how to "present the option" to a Dragon (in a way that Mathilde could realistically do IC).
 
A subtle moment that I think about sometimes is how deftly BoneyM navigated the "child" question by having Mathilde ponder the uselessness of a human child compared to Mathilde's standout child and all around best boi Wolf.
 
TimEd said:
A subtle moment that I think about sometimes is how deftly BoneyM navigated the "child" question by having Mathilde ponder the uselessness of a human child compared to Mathilde's standout child and all around best boi Wolf.
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I think Mathilde disliking children predates that? And comparisons to Wolf are an expression of it, not the reason. She just doesn't like small children and thinks they're weird, annoying and kind of dumb.
 
BurnNote said:
I think Mathilde disliking children predates that? And comparisons to Wolf are an expression of it, not the reason. She just doesn't like small children and thinks they're weird, annoying and kind of dumb.
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Which certainly isn't partially an expression of her hang-ups around her own childhood and the defencelessness that she associates with it. (It just struck me that the thing that outed her as a wizard was a childhood toy, which certainly wouldn't have been traumatic or defining in any way for her.)

I was about to lighten that a touch by saying that, to be fair, young children are actually pretty useless - but no, that's not the case. Babies or toddlers are, sure, but children born into peasant farming families could be doing light work from about six years old - and Mathilde, born into a peasant farming family, would know that. Of course, young children aren't terribly capable as politicians or warriors or wizards, which are the things she does... But then, if that's it, that'd be even more projection. (I don't know why I've started an amateur psychological assessment of this fictional character. Someone please stop me before I oversimplify even more things than I probably have already.)
 
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Nimbus said:
Which certainly isn't partially an expression of her hang-ups around her own childhood and the defencelessness that she associates with it. (It just struck me that the thing that outed her as a wizard was a childhood toy, which certainly wouldn't have been traumatic or defining in any way for her.)

I was about to lighten that a touch by saying that, to be fair, young children are actually pretty useless - but no, that's not the case. Babies or toddlers are, sure, but children born into peasant farming families could be doing lighter work from about six years old - and Mathilde, born into a peasant farming family, would know that. Of course, young children aren't terribly capable as politicians or warriors or wizards, which are the things she does... But then, if that's it, that'd be even more projection. (I don't know why I've suddenly started an amateur psychological assessment of this fictional character. Someone please stop me before I oversimplify even more things than I probably have already.)
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My guess would be she got parentified at a young age which would imply she had younger siblings who could not have (by definition) been part of the mob that tried to burn her at the stake, but her new circumstances meant she had to break with her whole family. So while her parents and potential older siblings got painted with the brush of 'superstitious peasant' the younger ones got all the resentment from the parentification, they were 'useless' in the sense of being a burden to child Mathilde who in a better world wouldn't have had to do that to begin with.
 
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