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So what's the catch if I play Dwarves or another underground dwelling race? I am assuming they too will be affected in some way?
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Nov 17, 2014 12:53
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:39 |
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Vendruck the Underlord Artifice [+4] Without the dancing seasons, the heavens to watch and the moving of peoples Vendruk turned his mind to puzzles and their solutions. Each trouble he came across he found a solution for, with clever and efficient means. Maybe there is a solution to this 'Ice Age' that plagues the world but ultimately Vendruck doesn't care about that. He wants only to keep his own people safe and if possible, comfortable enough. Dwarves [+2] Initially Vendruck did not have a form, like many of the gods he only took a defined form after the great Conclave that divvied up the world amongst them. For a great time he was a spectre, passing through the galleries of the underground. The birth and rise of the Dwarves influenced him greatly though, and he took his own form to match them. The syncretic nature of worship meant the worship of the Dwarves and the culture they created shaped him, as much as his own gifts and teachings shaped them. The Underground [+2] No one wanted the dark, cool and damp places of the world where time might as well stand still for lack of the passing of the seasons. This was given to Vendruck and he made the most of it. But lately there have been some things crawling up from even deeper, darker depths he has not seen or heard before. Old and alien creatures, and things even less describable. They escape from some deeper cataclysm that Vendruck does not know. His children ought pray that they never do... Grudgebearer [-4] Many slights and insults have been wrought upon Vendruck. He is not a petty god and over time he forgave them. But he did not forget and now the overdwellers move against his children all the crimes, all the slights, all the insults heaped upon him shall be repaid to the others in full and with a rightful extra measure.  In the beginning there was the Conclave, where the world was distributed amongst the many gods. Some took land, some took people and others took dominion over the elements and heavens. Then there was left the bowels of the world, which had meagre food to feed its people and destined to darkness. To this was Vendruck given. The others danced in their newly taken gifts and were merry. Vendruck was left to go to his dark halls and make aught of it. This he did not forget. He created his own children, forged in a mimicry of others on the surface that he saw through the cracks in his realm. The other gods were quick to mock him, 'pale imitations of true races' they cried down to him, 'fit not even for the afterlives of real peoples' and so the people of Vendruck were left to him. Dwarves they were called, for being small pale lights compared to the fires of other nations. But despite the harsh depths they flourished, for Vendruck was clever and helped them to make great halls out of stone to live in. They decorated it with devices and ever burning lights. And in time the other races came to be jealous of the Dwarves skill with making beautiful things, of their useful tools and their mighty walls and defences. The mockery of the other gods died down and they grudgingly game him words of praise. In time Vendruck forgave, for the Dwarves lightened his heart. Then the other races came to the depths which were his domain, left unwanted by all others. They came seeking the blood of the earth and the tears of rocks for their own. This Vendruck did not forget. But there were things that the Dwarves had need of as well. Lumber for tools and weapons, the skins of animals and the fleece of livestock. Both the overdwellers and underdwellers had useful things that they needed, and they began to trade for it. The dwarves grew in splendour and luxury, and Vendruck was again content. So it was that Vendruck forgave again, although his heart was harder this time. Then came the Conclave of the gods again. They made they vows and promises, although none intended to keep them. Vendruck for his part simply said that he would remain under the ground where there were no seasons, and that he would brook no trespass. The other agreed easily, for they were convinced of their own power and grandeur. Surely no mere winter could try threaten them could it? And when the cold came, it was like a wave of white death blanketing the world in death and disaster. None were prepared for its fury and terror, all were humbled and made equal before it. But the promises of old were quickly forgotten. Desperate refugees and the remains of armies alike sought to break into the Dwarves mountain homes to seek sanctuary from the death above. This Vendruck does not forgive. And most of all, this, Vendruck does not forgive. The Underfolk  Called Dwarves by the overfolk, but called the Underfolk themselves they had five great holds under the surface of the earth. They dug deep, but not too greedily nor foolishly for there were things deep below that slumbered or moved in greater darkness in silence. They hollowed out and decorated halls of stone, lit them with torches and ever burning devices and filled the silence with song, laughter, arguments, trade and worship. Those times are past, four of the holds are silent and filled only with snow, ice, death and silence. Two were built in the craters of slumbering volcanoes and through the tunnels to the surface came snow and icy death. Another was sacked and burned by invading surface dwellers who later perished after greedily consuming the food stocks. The fourth was taken by something from below, and even this terror perished to the growing cold and dark. Batjullik is the last city of the Dwarves that stands. It only had one entrance to the surface and it has become a closely guarded path of death. Again there was one great and easily defensible entrance to the depths and mines, allowing the city to guard against those who would rise below. The city has a great lake fed from underground streams, which the inhabitants have not yet realised could be another way for an intruder to enter. It would have to be a small or strange creature to penetrate the thing cracks the water permeates through after all. The once joyous city has taken on a bleak and serious aspect, festivals are sombre now instead of colourful celebrations. There isn't a lot of laughter any more either. The city lay on the mountains the bordered one edge of the Salamae plains and the Arzjabi Sands. The sands are now brutally cold at any time of day and blizzards are common at night. The plains, once fertile and full of moist soil and streams with a great bounty to harvest have frozen over and are like a great icy sheet. Physically a Dwarf resembles a shorter cross between a human and a giant. Their form is heavy-set and prone to hairiness in men, while slimmer and more feminine in women. Children remain androgynous and difficult to tell apart from human children until the onset of puberty. Dwarves have superior senses in dark and underground environments but need time to adapt to surface conditions in brighter, warmer seasons. A Dwarf does not go to a traditional afterlife when they die, and instead join with Vendruck and their ancestors. As such, ancestor worship goes hand in hand with worship of Vendruck. HiKaizer fucked around with this message at 10:04 on Nov 18, 2014 |
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Nov 18, 2014 05:33
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Puppies are dicks posted:Your math's a bit off there HiKaizer, looks like +12/-2 where it should be +8/-4. Might change the tone of your character quite a bit depending on how those ranks are reallocated so I'll wait on commenting there. Handy to see that you've written in a race to play with though. As Vendruck's the creator of the Dwarves he's got a sort of teleological relationship with them. Is he their only God? They don't really go anywhere else when they die apparently, but how monotheistic are they? I'm wondering if there are dwarves who worshiped other deities, Dwarven or otherwise, and how acceptable it is in their eyes (and Vendruck's) for a Dwarf to follow another God. Or for a non-dwarf to do the reverse. Oh. I'm used to the standard +12/-2 I didn't even properly parse it was 8/-4! My apologies I have fixed that up. The idea behind the Dwarves is influenced by Tolkien a bit, where they were not really meant to be a race and their afterlife is kind of non-existent because of it. I leave the afterlives of Dwarves vague for this reason, and ultimately we can either decide or reveal what really happens to them if it becomes relevant in play. Vendruck is somewhat xenophobic, so he is probably not a very popular god for other races. Before the Ice Age he probably would have grudgingly accepted those that followed him from other races, but now he is probably ignoring their prayers. This seems like a good character arc or plotpoint to raise. Any Dwarf that forsakes him would be exiled from the greater Dwarf culture, and that's another slight added to his long list. Vendruck never forgets after all. So I would imagine that following other gods is not common among them, but again not totally unheard of. Generally the theme I am going for is that Vendruck was forgiving and compassionate despite his real
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Nov 18, 2014 10:14
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Only half? If I get in I'd have lost 4/5ths of my people! Half is pretty light going for this Fimbulvinter as Puppies has described it.
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Nov 20, 2014 02:25
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Puppies are dicks posted:And that's discounting the ones that have apparently been regressed into some sort of freaky Dwarf-rodent atavistic hybrid form and are now busy tunneling up away from the worse things in the dark! There may have been some initial failed attempts before Vendruck got things right. Some of them might have been left to die in the deep depths and, well, didn't. But that's just conjecture and myth that heretics whisper in the dark. Any faithful follower or true Dwarf would never be swayed by such tales.
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Nov 20, 2014 03:41
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Okay, Since we all got in I have a question to ask people: Vendruck's got grudges against all of you. But, some of the causes for these might have just been imagined by him. So tell me of something your god did, or said, that caused Vendruck to resent you. It does not have to be something you actually did, it could be imagined by him, but at least some of you should have decent cause for him to resent you. This gives me some basis to figure out how I relate to all of you too, especially the more...outlandish gods.
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Nov 24, 2014 06:21
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Deadmeat5150 posted:It's easy to guess what Bismark did, drove the dwarves out of His mountains. Those precious resources are His damnit! Oh no you didn't!  Works great for me though!
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Nov 24, 2014 10:44
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If I want to collapse the ground under the barbarian army and kill and or injure a whole bunch is this an attack action or something else? I plan to use dwarven sappers to detonate and collapse the ground from tunnels beneath.
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Nov 26, 2014 00:55
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To be honest Shogeton, Malador's chances of dealing with Vendruck pretty much hinge on whether you help him protect his city or not.
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Nov 29, 2014 14:20
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Vendruck doesn't care about dead mortals. Once they're dead, they can't really hurt his people (except for undead, whose souls I would expect also elude hell's grasp). He has no need to interact with them at all. All the arguments the lords of hell can make about it not being worth getting involved in helping the dwarves, likewise apply to the dwarves getting involved with the dead of other races. We already established hell has no claim over dwarves as well. We have no natural common interests, only a shared border that raises tension. It's a waste of hell's resources to attack the dwarves since they gain little from it, and the dwarves have other issues right now.
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Nov 30, 2014 01:27
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Puppies are dicks posted:Perfectly understandable, you can't hire the guy if somebody stabs his poo poo to death. Or maybe you can... Anyway you're still shooting to kill against Arhtak's dog right? Puppies are dicks posted:3) Your power is your life - AP! It's godpower mainlined straight from the hearts and minds of the souls under your watch straight into your hot, steamy divine core. AP tells me how badly you want something, and is subject to the following: This is not really very specific, so my assumption was based on past experiences with similar systems that as one rank is +2, that 1 AP spent would be a bonus +2 of damage. A +6 bonus from AP would then be 3 AP in cost. If it is different, please let me know.
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Dec 1, 2014 01:21
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Puppies are dicks posted:I read your post as spending 6 AP so we can at least split the credit for the misunderstanding. For the sake of consistency though let's all stick with putting down the total sum of AP being spent per roll in the future. I've just been treating AP as a gauge of how badly you want something, and an excuse to hand out consolation prizes or twists in the case of a push or failure. Its main use (ideally) from my perspective is to ensure you don't die due to terrible rolls due to environmental damage and can prioritize doing big ticket supernatural effects, while tying you to populations or places of power which generate it. Punishing recalcitrant NPCs also works too. Apparently Arthak is more concerned with killing my people than with dealing with me, despite the fact I'm trying to murder him with all of my might. 
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Dec 1, 2014 05:36
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I am thinking of bowing out Puppies. This game has been frustrating for me since my first big action. My belief was that by sacrificing a lot of AP quickly I would be decisive but leave myself more vulnerable over the rest of the period of the game or until a refresh. Instead of that after my first big success I have just been stymied and unable to do anything, bleeding myself dry. I did some quick arithmetic based on the results you posted and so far Arthak has used over 18AP and had 5 ranks for a total of +10. Considering that he has matched me so far for all my AP expenditure I feel it like he will continue to do so for my remaining 3. Being kind of stonewalled like this has been immensely dissatisfying for me and sapped my desire to play somewhat.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:07
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Well, if I have options then that would be fine. I was more annoyed about it, but I thought it would be better to mention what my thoughts and concerns were so that we at least had a chance to work through with it. Potentially I am still missing a few things about your system, so if I have some options available to me (that do not involve sacrificing Dwarves) then knowing them might help me move forwards.
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Dec 3, 2014 00:37
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Deadmeat5150 posted:KNEEL BEFORE Kiss my hairy diminutive rear end.
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Dec 3, 2014 01:01
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Work is busy, I will post in a day or two when I can digest the several large posts and figure out what to do while being in the right headspace.
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Dec 4, 2014 02:21
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When did he even arrive? I think I need to reread things and catch up on the thread. |:
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Dec 4, 2014 03:48
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I posted it in the post itself, but my argument is this: Bismark is not physically near the fight currently as I drew Arthak underground, and if he can intercept at range, surely I should be able to bypass his attempt to intercede me? At any rate I'm going to kill Arthak, or at the least, force him to be my eternal slave and Vendruck will chase down and murder Bismark if he interferes. Vendruck doesn't care the Arthak is a god of fire, or the last one. I'm not just invoking my Grudgebearer [-4] for social consequence, I'll drag the world into frozen ruin because of it if the story requires it.
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Dec 4, 2014 04:47
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Puppies are dicks posted:Well I did say I'm still untangling that particular knot of actions, so I'll let you know how that works out when I get to it but throwing up a barrier to prevent Bismark from interfering with the fight is a fair move and I'd say a good one, and depending on how the results of Bismark's social attack shake out Arthak might just be knocked out by the push and left vulnerable to outside influence. But your current post has both a support spell action and an attack action written. Unless you're argument is that you're attacking by creating a barrier, an area attack spell that leaves hindering terrain or otherwise special effects. If he started with 20 AP he has 2 AP. As for the barrier it's mostly flavour to the attack, which is specifically why I described it as 'easy to break through for a god'. It's a distraction and inconvenience, not a real obstacle. Out of curiosity, if Bismark intercedes my attack, does that mean he also has to defend against Arthak's action? Logically he would be right between us so that would seem reasonable to me.
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Dec 4, 2014 06:15
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So can I just draw on more AP down in the pit right now and continue the fight, do I need to dedicate an action to this and do I need to go into the city to do it?
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Dec 5, 2014 02:21
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Sorry for holding things up a little. If I generate AP, will I get 13 or less? Also, are area attacks permissible?
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Dec 6, 2014 23:37
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Puppies are dicks posted:You can refresh as much or as little as you like up to 13, and area attack spells are fine although they check resistance against everyone in the designated area. If we were playing with the normal rules the odds that an area attack bounces off someone who rolled unusually high and damages you in return are always a threat, but I've been instead taking successful defense checks as a mere negation of damage. There's also the chance that someone could counter spell or dispel your attempt. Is there a disadvantage for refreshing up to the full 13?
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Dec 7, 2014 23:32
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A quick check, so far I've only dealt one rank of damage each time I hit an enemy. Can I do more than 1 rank of damage at a time with your rules or has that just been the outcome of the dice? Post should hopefully be tonight, once I update my own game.
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Dec 8, 2014 06:30
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Sorry about the late reply. Also sorry Deadmeat, I am going for absolute broke. Puppies if there is an option to not finish them off, and get a choice about it if I do enough damage to wipe out both Bismark and Arthak's domain I would like that opportunity. Edit: Decided to add in Grudgebearer at this point because it really should be factored in given my writing of the scene. HiKaizer fucked around with this message at 13:07 on Dec 8, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 12:42
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Deadmeat5150 posted:I'm so Emo I poo poo bats. Angsty, angsty bats. 
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Dec 9, 2014 08:46
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Puppies, are we going to resolve Arthak now that Deadmeat gave him the furry finger?
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Dec 9, 2014 22:00
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No. I'm done. I haven't been able to do anything satisfying with this game since the start since Puppies placed a huge army and overwhelming force on my doorstep, I cannot do anything with that and then I get dogpiled. This game has been incredibly unsatisfying and infuriating and I'm finished. Goodbye.
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Dec 11, 2014 03:37
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 21:39 |
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It's not just bad luck Puppies, you had a powerful NPC on my doorstep who did nothing but try to kill my people and just soak my attacks. Then you decided that he was the only fire god left, so that Deadmeat would jump in on it as well. These choices have nothing to do with dice rolling. I'm not holding this against Deadmeat, they were just following the narrative you laid out. You basically came over to me in the sand pit, stomped on my castle and then kicked sand in my eyes. So I am kind of angry about this to be honest.
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Dec 11, 2014 04:19
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