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Magic Realm is an anomaly, a Middle-earth inspired board game designed by Richard Hamblen and published by Avalon Hill--a company known for wargames like Squad Leader--in 1978 following the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons. Its modular hex-based board that changes every game inspired many games that followed; Mage Knight being its heir apparent.  Hyped as THE Fantasy Adventure Game by Avalon Hill, it sold well but remained largely unplayed as the rulebook was impenetrable. Those who stuck with the game were rewarded with a much improved 2nd edition rulebook and fans of the game later compiled a unofficial 3rd edition rulebook including corrections and rules changes compiled through conversations with Richard Hamblin himself. I'll be using the amazing and capable RealmSpeak to run this and future games. For those familiar/interested, here are the optional rules I'm using: seasons, weather, persistent chits, birdsong rearrangement, force inn after start, no secrets, knight's adjustment, watchful natives, and benevolent spells I did a previous 'Where I Play' of Magic Realm at rpg.net where I played the Berserker, you can find that here. I'm starting a PbP game of Magic Realm, check out my recruitment thread. disperse fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:21
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For this game I'll be playing the Magician: The Magician is one of the most challenging characters to play effectively. He is a dabbler, jack of all trades, master of none. A magic user who can learn spells from seven out of eight schools of magic (excluding divine type I spells) but is unable to generate the color magic required to cast the most powerful spells. disperse fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:22
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The Magician starts with three spells and can also choose to start the game with any of his type II - V spell chits transformed into color magic. For spells I've chosen Poison, Transform, and Absorb Essence and I've converted my type II chit into gray magic and my type IV chit into purple magic.  I'm planning on hiring a rogue from the Inn and casting Poison on his blade when facing heavy armored or tremendous unarmored creatures. I can cast Transform on tremendous armored creatures to, hopefully, turn them into something small and furry. I took Absorb Essence on the gamble that I'll find a source of black magic and a suitable creature to absorb. disperse fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:34
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The random season is Swelter and the current weather is Hot which, unfortunately, means day 7 will bring purple magic instead of black magic as I expected. I also lose two days this week to the heat but get 5 phases a day instead of the normal 4. That leaves me with 26 days to fulfill my victory requirements and I have to assign five victory points among the five categories. I have assigned one point to each of:
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:40
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We start the game at the Inn which is located right in the middle of the map in Awful Valley.  We aren't alone either, the Inn is the residence of the Rogues, 8 swarthy characters. The Magician is friendly with the Rogues and we're hoping to leave the Inn in the company of one or two hired swordsmen. From the Inn I'm planning on visiting the Ruins and Ledges, the closest of the 6 clearing hexes that may contain treasure sites.
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Jan 23, 2016 03:44
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Turn 1, Day 3: Trade, Hire, Hire, Hire, Hirequote:I spend the first day in negotiations with the Rogues' leader. He's a snake tongued devil and something tells me that dagger at his belt has ended up in a previous negotiator's back.  quote:I ask to see what goods they have for sale, and they show me six workhorses, obviously stolen, useful but too rich for my blood. Among the rows of scam potions I spy one that looks legit. They call it 'penetrating grease' and I can't help but snicker. Finally, they bring out a black book of spells and I try and hide my excitement for it holds the secrets of four spells! I try and negotiate a fair price for the black book without much hope and then move on to the task of hiring one or two of the Rogues for my party.  quote:The first man they stand before me is a rotund fellow wearing a tunic not large enough to cover his belly, he would be laughable but I can tell by the way he holds his sword that the man he stole his tunic from no longer lives.  quote:After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get the leader to release him into my service 'for the experience' I manage to negotiate a two week term for two gold pieces. Turn 1 Results: -5 Gold (5 remaining), Hired R7, Hired R6 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:15 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:53
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Turn 1, Day 3, Evening quote:In the evening the Inn is getting rowdy as the Rogues spend some of their newly earned gold when a hardened company of men show up:  quote:A hush falls over the Inn as the leader, a battle scarred swordsman marches up to the Magician. Along with the Rogues, the Magician is friendly with the Company. They are extremely expensive to hire as they only come as a group but they may be worth picking up later if we acquire the funds. disperse fucked around with this message at 02:30 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 03:59
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Turn 2, Day 4: Move (Awful Valley 4), Move (Ruins 5), Move (Ruins 3), Hide, Hidequote:The Magician wants to get an early start to avoid the mid-day heat so he drags Bones and Slim out of bed, still stinking of booze, soon after dawn.  Dragons, lots of dragons. Also snakes, demons, and bats. We've stumbled across the Lost City, one of the two treasure troves of the Magic Realm. It is filled with danger, but also treasure. On a monster roll of 1, 2, or 6 we will end up with dragons, snakes and demons, or bats respectively. This turn we lucked out, the monster roll was a 5, spiders, and the Ruins is quiet--for now. 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 04:09
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Turn 3, Day 5: Hide, Search, Search, Search, Search, Alertquote:The Magician and his two henchmen search for the entry to the dragon's lair as quickly as they dare. They don't want to be around when the mother dragon returns. A monster roll of 5, we lucked out again; unfortunately, even with four search phases, we were unable to locate the Lair. It's a bit risky only hiding once, hides fail roughly 1 time out of 3, but I'd prefer to find the Lair quickly and get out of the Ruins before the monsters start piling up. The Magician gets a free Alert phase which I am taking advantage of here. I want an alert phase to alert a spell, specifically Poison, in case the dragons show up. Unfortunately, even if you don't use it, you are required to alert a spell if you've recorded the action in advance which fatigues the chit. This turn I fatigued my Spell VII chit, I have two more unimportant spell chits I can fatigue and hopefully I will have found something before the end of the 5th round. Turn 3 Results: Fatigue Spell VII 4** Chit 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 04:12
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Turn 4, Day 6: Hide, Search, Search, Search, Search, Alert Good news! After two days of searching we found the Lair. Bad news! The mother dragon and her hatchling have returned to the Lair. Good news! We're hidden. We alert our type VIII magic chit and prepare for battle.  Here's the plan, from hiding we'll cast transform on the mother dragon hoping to turn it into something manageable, like a squirrel, and on the next turn cast poison on the sword of one of our hired rogues to allow him to kill the hatchling.  Hmm, that's not good. The Eagle's talons are sharp enough to tear up the Rogues and the Magician, and it is too fast to run away from or dodge. At this point all we can do is hope to kill off the hatchling and run away before the eagle tears our henchmen to pieces. And that's what happens, our alerted Poison spell goes off first, making Bones' sword deadly enough to kill off the heavy armored hatchling, the hatchling flips to its speed 3 side but, fortunately, Bones' Thrust attack lines up with the hatchling's charge maneuver:  Meanwhile, Slim gets gutted by the mother dragon/eagle, their attacks and maneuvers don't line up but the eagle's attack speed of two undercuts Slim's move speed of 3:  Then we do the prudent thing and have Bones lure the angry eagle of death while the Magician runs away. Note that we could have taken a 1 in 3 shot at the eagle with our dagger but, had we missed, it would mean the end of the game for our Magician:  Farewell 'Bones' and 'Slim'! Turn 4 Results: +5 Fame (H. Dragon) +1 Notoriety (H. Dragon, +5, Bones, -2, Slim, -2) 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 04:17
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So, that didn't go well. Not only did we lose our two hired men, but we didn't kill the dragon. Transform, a permanent spell is attached to the dragon until it is killed. And the Death Eagle is very dangerous.  We're going into day 7 and there is Purple magic all over the board so the dragon is going to spend her day soaring around the Ruins majestically looking for things to peck to death. A dragon, we can run from, but an eagle...*shudders* Here's the plan, we're going to run back to the Awful Valley, which is a safe space, and spend the day resting. Tomorrow, when the dragon is a plain old tremendous armored dragon again, we'll sneak back in and try and steal some treasure.
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Jan 23, 2016 04:47
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For those who doubt an eagle could kill two men... WATCH AS TRUMP NARROWLY AVOIDS DEATH!!!!
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Jan 23, 2016 05:23
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I always compulsively hide on the first action just in case rather than seeing if something'll spawn and block  That "good" Polymorph roll didn't work out so well. Shame..
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Jan 23, 2016 07:17
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[Where I Play] Magic Realm (1978) - Eagles of Death Metal
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Jan 23, 2016 11:07
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As crazy as I expected. Carry on. 
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Jan 23, 2016 11:12
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Turn 5, Day 7: Move (Ruins 5), Move (Awful Valley 2), Rest, Rest, Rest Interlude quote:Scene: The Company, having used up their allowance of R&R, are marching down the road when the come across the Magician, sitting under a tree and scrubbing what appears to be bird poop off a magical talisman. A monster roll of 1 on day 7 means that all of the dragons, and the Company, have been returned to the setup card. The good news is we can return to the Ruins and loot without the danger of missing a hide roll and being blocked by the dragon-eagle. The bad news is the dragon-eagle has flown away with our Transform spell and we won't be able to get it back until we, somehow, destroy it. Edit: This is actually wrong, creatures are released from spells when they return to the setup card. I realized later that RealmSpeak got this rule (6.3.4e) right. Turn 5 Results: Rested Spell II3*, IV3*, and VIII4* chits, dragons and the Company return to setup card 
disperse fucked around with this message at 02:40 on Jan 27, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 19:13
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Andarel posted:I always compulsively hide on the first action just in case rather than seeing if something'll spawn and block I hide twice if I know I can't run from the creatures that might be prowling and once if I can. The Transform table looks like this: pre:Roll Creature Size Speed 1 DRAGON T 4 2 LION H 3 3 EAGLE M 2 4 BIRD L 1 5 SQUIRREL L* 2 6 FROG L* 3 * does not attack
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Jan 23, 2016 19:32
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Jedit posted:[Where I Play] Magic Realm (1978) - Eagles of Death Metal This needs to be the new thread title. How can I make it so?
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Jan 23, 2016 19:33
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Fat Samurai posted:As crazy as I expected. Carry on. Only in Magic Realm is an eagle (or wolves, or a giant bat) more dangerous than a dragon.
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Jan 23, 2016 19:34
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Giant Bats are basically swarming killer sharks with teeth that'll kill anybody except the pre-nerf White Knight (maybe the dwarf, depending on how lucky he gets on flips)... That eagle definitely put in some work towards taking you out. Kidnapped your Polymorph chit
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Jan 23, 2016 19:47
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disperse posted:This needs to be the new thread title. How can I make it so? I think you have to PM a mod.
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Jan 23, 2016 19:54
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Turn 6, Day 10: Move (Ruins 5), Move (Ruins 3), Search, Search, Searchquote:A new week begins and it's just as hot as the last. While resting in the Awful valley the Magician saw the mother dragon-eagle fly off to hunt for moose/rabbits and heads off quickly to the Lair to grab as much loot as he can before she returns. He begins pawing through the half-eaten animal corpses looking for treasure. First, he finds a magical potion of energy, blue of course, which he stashes away in his pack. Next he finds a bouquet of glowing magical flowers. "Aha!" he thinks "This is radiating gold magic, very useful *yawn*, I can use the gold magic to...ZZZ.  A new week and we get the same weather roll, Hot, this means we lose two days this week but gain an additional phase each day for the remaining five. The Flowers of Rest are one of the more annoying items in the game. If you have any fatigue, they put you to sleep immediately, which makes them next to useless for casting spells. A monster roll of 4 would have brought a Tremendous Troll to clearing 6 but sleeping characters don't summon monsters. Hmm, maybe we can use this to our advantage... Turn 6 Results: Looted Potion of Energy and Flowers of Rest, Fell asleep, Rested remaining chits 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 21:28
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Turn 7, Day 11: Search, Search, Search, Search, Searchquote:The Magician wakes up, feeling refreshed but stiff, having slept awkwardly sprawled across a fallen marble column. He stretches and yawns, taking in his surroundings, and freezes, eyes wide and arms over his head. Sleeping soundly, not five feet away, is the largest, ugliest, and smelliest Troll the Magician has ever seen. A gold glow, now fading in the dawn's light, surrounds the Troll. As the glow dissipates the Troll awakens (oddly, with something like a smile on its face) and with a sideways look of distrust at the glowing flowers, scampers off back to the deep caves beneath the Ruins. I was hoping I could use the Flowers of Rest to my advantage by alerting a spell chit for the last phase of the day, falling asleep, and skipping the summon monster step. Unfortunately, the spell chit isn't fatigued until the end of the evening which means you don't fall asleep until the next day and monsters are still summoned. Turn 7 Results: Looted Golden Crown, Looted Shoes of Stealth, Bats arrive in clearing 1
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 23, 2016 22:29
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The current situation: A giant bat has arrived in the Ruins which, like an eagle, is too fast for the Magician to get away from. The Lair only has three treasures left which means each search has a 9 in 36(1,1 1,2 1,3 2,1 2,2 2,3 3,1 3,2 3,3) or 1 in 4 chance of finding a treasure. I could probably grab one more treasure with a full day of searching. But, with one hide we're looking at a 1/6 * 11/36(1,6 2,6 3,6 4,6 5,6 6,6 6,1 6,2 6,3 6,4 6,5) or about a 5% chance that we get eaten by bats. Two hides is safer but then we reduce our chances of finding another treasure. We currently have looted 14 gold of treasures we can carry (the Golden Crown is worth 50 gold and is a Great Treasure besides, I'm wishing now I took the Control Bats spell instead of Absorb Essence which would allow me to ignore the bat and even use it to carry the Golden Crown to the Inn). I'd like to come back to the Ruins with a workhorse and a hired Rogue or two. The cheapest workhorse that can carry the Magician is 9 gold, which we could afford with the 5 gold we have remaining, but we wouldn't have enough to hire a Rogue as well. TLDR, we need a safer way to make money--to that end I have a plan. 
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Jan 23, 2016 23:20
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Turn 8, Day 12: Move (Ruins 5), Move (Awful Valley 2), Move (Awful Valley 5), Trade, Hire Step 1 of The Plan: Sell our Loot quote:Bidding a tearful farewell to the Golden Crown, the Magician marches back to the Inn ready to sell the magical trinkets he collected from the Lair and trade them in for replacements for 'Bones' and 'Slim.' Step 2 of The Plan: Hire two Rogues quote:The Rogue leader is surprisingly willing to hire out another man after Slim and Bones' unfortunate end, but he insists on hiring the next man out for four gold, for 'liability.' Turn 8 Results: Sold Potion of Energy, Flowers of Rest, and Shoes of Stealth to RHQ for 14 gold, hired R5 for 4 gold, 15 gold remaining. 
disperse fucked around with this message at 03:12 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 02:56
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Turn 8, Day 12, Evening quote:That evening three lawmen show up at the Inn with 'Wanted' posters with the Magician's face on them. "A misunderstanding involving the local Sheriff and a salve I prepared" the Magician explains. Placing three gold coins in the barkeep's hands and plying the lawmen with drinks keeps the situation peaceful.  Normally, I wouldn't buy drinks for the Patrol, they are easy to run from; however, I just hired R5 and would have lost him to the Patrol if they battled me. Turn 8 Evening Results: Bought drinks for the Patrol, 12 gold remaining. disperse fucked around with this message at 03:30 on Jan 24, 2016 |
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Jan 24, 2016 03:04
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Turn 9, Day 13: Hire, Hire, Hire, Hire, Hirequote:The Rogue leader was grateful for the Magician keeping the peace with the lawmen and negotiations go well the following day. The Magician hires two of the Rogues, an archer, and an armored swordsman, for 8 gold. Turn 9 Results: Hired R4 and R3 for 8 gold, bought drinks for the Patrol, 1 gold remaining 
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Jan 24, 2016 03:46
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Meet the Magician's crew: R3, the short swordsman, is armored but his slow attack speed means he rarely undercuts opponents. R4, as an archer, rolls on the missile table which makes him unreliable. He can take out tremendous armored creatures, or eagles, with luck. R5, the assassin, is the most reliable of the three with his M3* attack and 4 move speed, he is the key figure of The Plan.
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Jan 24, 2016 03:59
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I'm going to post the next three turns quickly, without much exposition, so as to get to The Plan as quickly as possible. Turn 10, Day 14: Move (Awful Valley 2), Move (Ruins 5), Move (Ruins 3), Hide, Hide  Turn 10, Day 14 Results: the Winged Demon arrives at the Shrine and two heavy snakes slither into the Ruins.  
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Jan 24, 2016 05:07
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Turn 11, Day 17: Move (High Pass 3), Move (High Pass 6), Move (Evil Valley 2) Week 3 begins and the weather is the same, Hot, which allows the Magician to pass directly through High Pass in a single day and end up in the safe clearing in Evil Valley. Three Hot weeks in a row means it's going to be a short month, we're already on day 17!  
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Jan 24, 2016 05:08
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Turn 12, Day 16: Spell Preparation, Spell, Hide, Hide, Alert, Move Evil Valley 5 Time to put The Plan into action: the Magician turns his Type II Spell chit into gray magic, tries to hide (but fails), alerts his Type VII Spell Chit, and enters the Guardhouse. Fortunately, the Guard eye the Magician and his seedy-looking crew warily, but don't attack.  First, in secret, the Magician casts his Poison spell on the assassin's blade.  Then the crew lets the first round of combat (where the length of the Guards' great swords trumps the speed of the Rogues) pass peacefully. Then, in Round 2, we strike! The assassin lures the Guard Captain (GHQ) while the Magician lures the other two Guards.  Then the Magician does the smart thing, and runs away while the assassin's poison blade does its work.  Which leaves two of the Guard left for the assassin and his compatriots. The swordsman lures one, with the archer covering him, hoping for a lucky arrow (or his fleet feet) to save him, while the assassin takes on the next.   The archer's aim is true   And the assassin's poison blade takes care of the rest.  The Rogues are left to sort through the pile of loot while they wait for the Magician to stop running, turn around and come back to the Guardhouse.   Turn 12 Results: Killed GHQ, G1, G2 for 18 Notoriety for a total of 19
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Jan 24, 2016 05:11
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Turn 13, Day 19: Move (Evil Valley 2), Move (Evil Valley 5), Search, Search, Searchquote:Scene: Outside the Guardhouse, there is the sound of rummaging from inside. A piece of armor, a pauldron, is thrown out and R5, the assassin, picks it up, spits, shines it on a clean corner of his cloak, and throws it onto a growing pile of loot. The Magician enters, running, and stops in front of R5, putting his hands on his knees and panting for breath. After dispatching the Guard, there is a large pile of medium weapons and armor and two small treasures at the Guardhouse. With 9 items to loot, the Magician is guaranteed to pick up an item for each of the three searches and he turns up a mace, an axe, and the magical Cloak of Mist which gives him an extra hide phase each round. I equip the Cloak right away as you can never have too many Hide phases. 
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Jan 26, 2016 03:10
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Turn 14, Day 20: Search, Search, Search, Search, Search, Hide Day 2 of looting the Guardhouse turns up a breastplate, a broadsword, and a second mace leaving the helmet, another axe, and a small treasure left in the pile. With the chances of pulling another item off the pile diminishing, it is time to think about leaving the Guardhouse and returning to the Inn to sell off our collected loot. 
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Jan 26, 2016 03:17
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Turn 15, Day 21: Search, Search, Search, Search, Move (Evil Valley 2), Hide Day 3 turns up nothing and, at day 21 already, it is time to get moving. I move out to Evil Valley 2 in preparation for entering the caves beneath High Pass on Day 22.  A monster roll of 2 on day 21 means the Winged Demon and pair of heavy snakes have left the Ruins and returned to the setup card. 
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Jan 26, 2016 03:24
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Turn 16, Day 24: Move (High Pass 6), Move (High Pass 3), Hide, Hide Week three is Hot as well, and we lose yet another two days to the heat. We take advantage of the extra phase in the caves and the Cloak of Mist and hide twice after moving into the caves beneath the High Pass.  In the High Pass we turn up Bones C and Howl chits, trolls and goblins respectively; however, the monster roll is 6 (bats) and all is quiet as we pass through Moria. 
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Jan 26, 2016 03:34
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Turn 16, Day 25: Move (Ruins 3), Move (Ruins 5), Move (Awful Valley 2), Hide Again, we take advantage of three phases in the caves and race through the Ruins to the safe clearing just outside the Inn.  
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Jan 26, 2016 03:39
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Turn 17, Day 26: Move (Awful Valley 5), Trade, Trade, Trade, Trade, Hide With time running out, our plan is to sell our accumulated loot to the Patrol and negotiate with RHQ for the Black Book which will fulfill both our Great Treasure and, potentially, our spell requirements as well....  ...or maybe not. I forgot that we sold the Flowers of Rest to RHQ and it is still radiating its restful gold magic over the clearing, we have two spell chits fatigued (from casting Poison) and immediately fall asleep upon entering the Inn. So long Day 26! Another oversight, R5's term of employment ran out on Day 25, and he stayed behind in clearing 5.  And to make things worse the Patrol are looking for a fight!  We take the -5 fame penalty because otherwise we'll lose both of our hired men, and worse, we'll lose two phases from running away. Turn 17 Results: Fell asleep, rested all chits, challenged by Patrol (-5 fame) resulting in 0 fame 
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Jan 26, 2016 18:44
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I have no idea of what's happened in that last turn. Not that I knew what was happening before, but... 
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Jan 26, 2016 18:46
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Warning, long image-heavy post coming up...
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Jan 26, 2016 21:44
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Fat Samurai posted:I have no idea of what's happened in that last turn. Not that I knew what was happening before, but... Magic items that radiate color magic do so when revealed, even when you sell the items to natives. This extends to the Flowers of Rest's ability: quote:During Daylight, this card instantly activates all fatigued chits in its clearing, but when it activates a chit it causes the chit’s owner to fall asleep until Sunset. The Magician had fatigued two chits casting Poison on the Assassin's dagger before the battle with the Guard. As soon as he entered the Inn, the chits activated (became un-fatigued) and the Magician fell asleep. When the Magician woke up, he was Challenged by the Patrol, who are Unfriendly with him. His choice was to either back down from the challenge and take a 5 fame penalty or to fight the Patrol.
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Jan 26, 2016 21:50
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