A march to the Wastes Is a quest equivalent of trying to run through the deathstaker quarry in fallout
New Vegas.
people can do it, but man is it sweaty.
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Warhammer Fantasy: Divided Loyalties - an Advisor's Quest
- Thread starter Boney
- Start date
- Fantasy Users' Choice!
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- Tags
- warhammer warhammer fantasy fantasy be gay do crimes (gay) female protagonist pansexual protagonist ck2 quest divided loyalties mountain vietnam ranald is real this is a dwarf quest (dwarfs) this is maybe an elf quest this is not a vampire quest this is not an empire quest try it and find out open voting
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
New Vegas.
people can do it, but man is it sweaty.
Abby Normal
High Clerk of the Ymaryn
- Pronouns
- He/Him
To me this seems like "How does <UNKNOWN> respond" and "what resources do they have available for said response"
So like. The first roll determines if, say, they try and lay low and hope we can't figure shit out, or if they attack right away in hopes of snuffing us out before reinforcements arrive, or if they try and attack the convoy while we're staring at the mountain, or etc. Then the latter determines how powerful that response is; if this is a bunch of chaos sorcerers (to grab a random example from speculation i saw), then 2 might mean "bulk of the group is busy with their ritual, only a couple of mages that were on guard duty, plus whatever chaos minions they have, can be spared" or the like, as opposed to, say, a 1 being "everyone's on vacation" and 6 being something like "they were having a business meeting with a greater demon to plan things, so all their higher ups AND an already manifested chaos demon are here AND the magic they've been building up can be redirected to defenses"
So i dont think we can say much from the d4 (*maybe* could argue it means it won't be an 'extreme' reaction, so neither running away or dropping a nuke, but really with only 4 options i wouldn't put much stock in how the reactions were assigned to the die), but the d6 *should* bode well? I think it more likely that ??? is the enemy, not an ally, and i think intensity rolls are usually from the perspective they are being rolled for...
- Location
- Earth
When the Waaagh attacked K8P, the orc leader got a d6 to determine his strategic choices.
six was best for us and one worst.
So BoneyM does have the tradition of doing it always from our view for d6s.
- Location
- Greece
anyway this turns out, good or bad, you know the motto of the quest:
"Then Mathilde arrived, and the dice got silly"
"Then Mathilde arrived, and the dice got silly"
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- Location
- The Surface Of A Hostile Planet
Mmm, with the river monitor sinking Boney rolled 2d6 for the number of casualties, and higher was worse for us.
- Location
- Great Khanate of Scotland
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Oof, this is tense.
- Location
- Greece
If it was me, I'd switch the logic behind the construction of variable tables every so often (before rolling of course), just so that every result would troll the players.
Dunno if it is bad QMing, I think that some light, inconsequential showmanship is good for tension and tension is good for investment and investment is good for having fun, but others could have other opinions that are also valid.
Dunno if it is bad QMing, I think that some light, inconsequential showmanship is good for tension and tension is good for investment and investment is good for having fun, but others could have other opinions that are also valid.
Thing is, that makes the rolls themselves pointless. The idea of rolling openly is that the outcome is "real" and not just GM-fiat. But if the GM can freely reconstruct the table without telling the players how it's reconstructed beforehand, then he could also reconstruct them after rolling to make the result mean whatever he wants.
Its good gaming for the rolls were the QM shows the possible results before, or in the same post, the roll is made.
but changing up the logic of rolls for ??? rolls, is not: because of claims of 'fudging the dice'
(because of just how many people have been introduced to RPG and quests from this one: 'Fudging' is when the GM/QM fakes the results of dice rolls, often to force the story in the way they like it to go. common in D&D because of the use of GM screens hiding the GMs dice.)
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- Location
- Earth
That's not something BoneyM would do.
- Location
- Greece
Eh, I could find a way to timecapsule the table for later then. Perhaps putting it on a password protected space with a clear "last edit" function and then releasing the password after the update?
its still easier and 'best practice' to be consistent. High= good Low=bad.
if for no other reason that people have different levels of 'game literacy'
consistent rules are easier to learn and understand.
- Location
- Greece
Even then, there are situations like this, where people are arguing : high for whom? low for whom?
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Look, friends, I know the uncertainty is getting to you. It's getting to me, too. But we're all in this together, and in moments like these where everything is tense and rife with ambiguity, we need to remember what we can rely on: the knowledge that stone is an excellent insulator of magic.
- Location
- Space
No, but generally adhering well to best practices like not messing with the tables without a good reason is a big part of how we know BoneyM wouldn't do that.
speak for yourself, Im never happier than when the thread is tearing itself apart while on salty fire, my popcorn would be nothing without heat and salt after all.
🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
Sovereign Hunt
A Concentric Circle
- Location
- Bereft of Name
We live and die by the whims of the dice anyway.
You should really be less salty. There are very good reasons for choosing the winning option. And it's not 'start counter spelling about 3 minutes earlier' like you're acting like.
Doesn't really matter. You could argue just as much that Boney wouldn't fudge rolls, and I'd agree. But the possibility is still a problem.
It's possible, but I'd be kind of a bitch, and I'd argue wouldn't work well.
Ultimately, you roll openly because you want to make the story more enjoyable, either for yourself, or the player. Screwing around with the tables is mostly fun for the GM (not exclusively, but mostly), which is fair enough. Trying to do the timecapsule/escrow/whatever thing makes it a whole lot less fun, because that's a fuckton of effort. And I'd say it doesn't even work for it's goal, since it complicates things enough that it's just not certain enough to really work for the players. It's not visceral enough.
From the player side, I'd say seeing some rolls and having a rough idea what it means is better. Suspense beats surprise (generally). To quote:
EDIT: Look at this comment for a perfect example. It's not only because we saw the rolls, but it certainly helps.Alfred Hitchcock said:
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Asheram
Not quite altogether
- Location
- Δ Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground
I'll say that I love when Boney posts rolls here. The panic, laughter and general fun we've had vastly outweighs any potential spoilers.
Remember back during the Battle for the Caldera and we got that roll for encountering the "Warboss with retinue"? The glorious panic.
Remember back during the Battle for the Caldera and we got that roll for encountering the "Warboss with retinue"? The glorious panic.
The Karag Dum Expedition, Part 5: Karak Vlag
For a moment you're torn between bluffing and standing, but in the end you decide against ceding the initiative to whatever it is you're facing. The clearing of the pass announced loud and clear that a juicy target of opportunity would be coming, and right now that target is about a mile away. Either it's winding up to strike, in which case facing it down here and now is preferable to giving it space to work whatever evil it has in store, or it's got another target in mind, in which case it needs careful study so you know who to send a warning to.
"Snorri, call for reinforcements."
To his credit, it only takes him a moment to reach for the horn on his hip and after a moment to inhale, he blows a long, deep note out of it. You listen carefully to the tone, and weave an Illusion to duplicate and amplify the note, until it's loud enough that pebbles on the path below you start to rattle.
"Why do we need them?" he asks as the last echoes of it die away, hefting his war-hammer and looking around warily.
"There's some powerful magic occurring deep in the mountain," you say. "And there's very few possible scenarios I can think of where that's not very bad."
"You think it's targeted at the Expedition?"
"I think it's likely. The Ice Witches rang the dinner bell when they cleared the pass. Whatever's doing it, it knows that something major is happening."
"And we just told it that you know that it knows."
You smile grimly. "We did."
[Rolling...]
You heft your staff warily, trying to watch the entire mountain at once while Snorri barks out quick orders to the Rangers, who spread out to different firing positions, crossbows at the ready. In the back of your mind you're trying to make guesses as to what's going on back at the steam-wagons. How long would it take someone to tell Asarnil the significance of the horn? How long would it take him to don his armour, for Deathfang to get aloft? Seconds pass in silence while you wait for something to happen, either to your fore or your rear.
[Rolling...]
[Observation: Learning, 4+28=32.]
In your defence, stone is an excellent insulator of magic. By the time you spot the delicate flow of energies running down hidden channels they've almost reached the surface, and you barely have time to yell a warning and level your staff before the ripple of changing reality comes into sight. In an instant the bare stone face is gone, replaced with the massive entrance to the dwarfhold of Karak Vlag, only scraps of steel hanging from hinges showing where the great gates once were. You have to catch yourself as the ground beneath you falls away, replaced with Dwarven roadworks several inches lower than the bare rock was, and behind you Rangers shout and swear as the boulders and outcroppings they were taking cover behind move or disappear. You take your eyes away from the open gates for just a moment to glance behind you, and sure enough, the watchtowers carved into the mountaintops have been restored.
[Temptation: Piety, 89+26+10(Avatar)=125.]
Though you almost missed the first wave, the second wave is one you notice immediately, roiling out of the darkness inside the gates. You brace yourself as it crashes over you, and for just a moment a bewildering array of sense-memories leave you reeling. But you know exactly where you are and what you are doing, so you shrug off the sound of a crackling fire and the sensation of cold water on bare skin and focus on the stone beneath your feet, the staff in your hand, and the gates before your eyes. There's movement inside the gate, and as soon as you register the height of the nearest figure and the litheness of its movements you begin to fold Ulgu into familiar patterns. When the first figure emerges it has only a moment in the sunlight before a barrage of Shadow Knives catch it in the chest, but the purple-pink tinge of the humanoid figure's flesh - and there's very little concealing that flesh - tells you all that you need to know. Karak Vlag is in the grip of the Tempter.
[Pistol: Martial, 45+23=68.]
[Magic: Learning, 45+28=73.]
[Rangers: Martial, 10+20=30.]
"Daemons!" you yell as you draw your pistol and form another volley of Shadow Knives, but only a single bolt joins your first shot and though the second Daemonette out of the gates falls, the four alongside her continue advancing on legs with too many joints, screaming in anger and anticipation, raising whips and knives and talons and claws as they charge.
[Mathilde receives charge: Martial, 10+23+10(Master Swordswoman)=43 vs 7+30=37.]
[Snorri receives charge: Martial, 90+20=110 vs 48+30=78.]
The first catches a pistol shot in her chest as she leaps, but the moment it takes to release the gun and summon Branulhune is enough for the second to be on you, your sight filling with her empty eyes and needle teeth as her talons sink into your supernaturally hardened robes before you send her sprawling with a strike from the pommel. Beside you Snorri has already struck down one and is pummeling the reeling figure of another as he shouts orders at his Rangers. But the one you struck is already recovering, a long, sinuous tongue licking at the demonic blood spilling down her chin, and still more are moving inside the Karak.
[Rangers: 46+20-20(entranced)=46.]
[Mathilde countercharge: 93+23+10(Master Swordswoman)=126 vs 67+30=97.]
[Snorri countercharge: 65+20=85 vs 16+30=46.]
The twang of a crossbow indicates that the Rangers are not completely out of the fight, but you don't have time to gauge how much as you're already swinging Branulhune at the recovering Daemonette, and her attempt to catch the blade with her clawed hands does not go as she probably planned, as it passes straight through the hand and then straight through her torso as well, sending two halves and several fragments splattering across the ground. With Snorri beside you you meet the next wave of daemons right at the gates, and in the close confines it should be impossible for them to evade your blade. That proves correct, but only just - the daemons are unnaturally fast and flexible, and one tries to leap over your blade as another bends backwards in a way that shouldn't be possible for any being with a spine. More daemonic blood spills, and for a moment the survivors are pushed back, reassessing their odds against these foes.
You don't like that. You'd much rather they keep mindlessly charging into your blade, instead of thinking and planning and allowing more of their number to emerge from the depths of the lost Karak. But time is much more your ally than theirs, as somewhere behind you there is a thunderous roar and a cry of "Wahnil!"
[Disengage: 46+23+10(Master Swordswoman)=79 vs 24+30=54.]
It takes the daemons a fraction of a second to react when you and Snorri withdraw from the entrance, but it's a fraction of a second too long, because with an earth-shaking crunch of shattering stone, Deathfang lands between the two of you. A dagger bounces off one of the dragon's horns with a soft tink, and then all becomes fire.
---
In the time it takes for the rest of the Expedition's notables to make their way to you, Snorri does a lot of shouting at his Rangers, Asarnil does a lot of pouting that Deathfang didn't even try to save any of them for him, and you do a lot of glaring at the bare cliff-face that has once more replaced the entranceway. You might wonder if it had been some sort of hallucination if it weren't for a couple of things: the road and the watchtowers are still where they're supposed to be, and in the magic-thick aftermath of an entire Karak appearing and disappearing again, the bodies of the Daemonettes remain where they lie, their blood slowly boiling away into free-floating magic.
With several lines of on-edge Knights and a thick firing line of Dwarves watching where the entrance should be like hawks, you confer with the rest of the Council. "Not an assault force," is your conclusion to them. "It took them time to emerge, and they did so in dribs and drabs. Whatever power is in control here, it was trying to swat me after it realized I had seen enough to be suspicious. When it realized the scale of the response, it pulled back again - and hastily too, because the exterior parts of it are still here. I'd bet the mines are restored, too."
"It answers a lot of questions," Snorri says. "Karak Vlag was taken into the realm of daemons."
You nod. "And they retain the power to return it, with whatever cargo they desire. A back door into reality."
Borek nods. "Very well. This changes little. We move with caution and keep all forces close to the steam-wagons, as we planned to in Zorn Uzkul."
"Changes little? A lost Hold is right there!" Snorri says, pointing at the cliff face.
Borek shrugs. "Okay. Go reclaim it."
Snorri looks at it, then to you questioningly. You shake your head. "If I had my equipment, and my books, and a few other Wizard Lords, and preferably Kragg or Thorek, I might be able to try to yank it back out after a few months of study. But with what I have here and now? No."
"And we're too few for a reclamation," Gotrek says. "Same argument as the one we've been having over Karag Dum. If it's been taken by the enemy, we do not have the strength to retake it."
"And for once I agree," Borek says. "We'll send word to Kislev for them to keep a wary eye on High Pass, and a letter to the Dwarven ambassador there to tell Karaz-a-Karak what we have learned. That's all we can do."
"Is there a chance Karak Vlag still holds?" Ruprecht asks. "The gates have fallen, but I know enough of Dwarfholds to know that would not have been the only line of defence."
"What I know of Karak Vlag says aye," Snorri says, "but I know too little of the tainted realm to speculate."
All eyes turn to you, and you consider it. "It's impossible to speculate," you eventually decide. "We know very little of the Aethyr, but what we do know suggests that what we consider to be constants of reality are very variable there. Their defences could have held, or they could have been soft as snow and melted just as easily. It could have been two centuries for them, or two years, or two millennia. They could have all turned to stone as soon as they were drawn into the Aethyr, or their Hold's Runes against Chaos could still be holding."
"Daemonettes are the soldiers of She Who Thirsts," Joerg says thoughtfully. "If they had occupied it, there would be guards at the gate. If they had taken it and exhausted what entertainment they could, it would be empty. They weren't guarding, but they were ready for battle. That could indicate a besieging force surprised by a foe to the rear."
"Or squatters in a fallen Hold, no different than the rats or greenskins," Borek says.
"Is there anything that can be done, here and now?" Ruprecht asks you.
[ ] Waystone Clog
- Deliberately block the next Waystone upstream to prevent the energy from Karag Dum reaching Karak Vlag, hopefully interrupting the effect keeping it in the Warp.
[ ] Waystone Interruption
- Have Cyrston channel as much magic out of the leyline feeding Karak Vlag as possible, hopefully interrupting the effect keeping it in the Warp.
[ ] Light Chorus
- Have the Light Wizards work together to try to reach and interfere with the magic keeping Karak Vlag in the Warp.
[ ] Other (write in)
[ ] No
- There will be a two hour moratorium.
- Yes, you rolled 45 twice in a row, that wasn't an error.
- There is no obvious way to do anything about Karak Vlag here and now,
- Any answer but 'no' will result in the Expedition remaining here until the Karak Vlag situation is resolved.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him/His.
Sometimes even the worst roll can lead to great things. Like when BoneyM rolled a one leaving us in charge K8P when the giant rumble went down. I don't know if we could have achieved those results with someone else in command.