Heroica RPG - Quest Masters' Lounge

[LordoftheNoobs]

I didn't get them... :( :P

[Kintobor]

I didn't get them... :( :P

Don't worry, you're not alone!

[JimBee]

Thanks again to all of the players who participated in Quest #59, it was a blast hosting you. Once more I am very sorry for the slowness towards the end, the last few weeks have been hectic for me IRL.

I personally think this one went well, but I'd love to hear feedback from those who participated as well as those who followed along from the sidelines. I wanted to keep this one short, and it was, but still twice as long as I planned. There was one battle that you opted out of by using Diplomacy on Umbra, but the trade off for that was gained reputation with the Shadeaux. It's just too bad you didn't get to see my brick-built dragons.

Overall, I was impressed with the participation and roleplaying. Especially during some of the breaks, you all did a great job taking the opportunity to have some interaction with each other and the NPCs. I particularly enjoyed the chemistry between Monk Pretzel and De'kra. It was a little bit strange to have a few of you give up some valuable loot, but all for the sake of roleplaying I suppose.

[Kintobor]

I really liked 59! It was quick, to the point, the battles looked fun, and it was nice to see Umbra back!

The dragon battle was well conceived, having a parasite on the dragon was definitely intriguing! I'm curious if we'll be seeing more of this parasite? (winkwinknudgenudgeyesweshould!)

All in all, what I saw looked like fun, and that's what counts!

As well, those dragons are really awesome!

[Zepher]

JimBee! Very good quest. The battles seemed well balanced, and excluding that one against the Rock Golem, seemed well paced (particularly the last battle, that parasite was a extremely interesting mechanic). The end obviously dragged, but it seemed like just IRL stuff, and not like you hadn't prepared enough.

Those dragons are beautiful. Glad someone revisited Dastan (I'll be there again in the Winter I think, and might end up taking Hybros and Docken along, which would be interesting). You did a great job.

Thanks also for including Ella and I.

[Tanma]

Sorry if I don't answer much, my mom is in chemo right now so I don't have much time.

My thoughts on the Quest were mostly positive. It was a bit short with only a few battles, but we opted out of one/two of them so that is on us for taking a more peaceful route. I actually like that we could avoid some battles, it gave us more freedom.  It was good to see Dastan and the Rito again, though I do wish we could have had time to see their village and other Rito. 

On the matter of players, Mizuki and Monk Pretzel in particular stood out, though for different reasons. Ever since Pretzel was created I was a little fearful about questing with him, because I felt conflict was inevitable. I mean De'kra is a Erdrich Abomination and with his view on the gods I felt it would just become a shouting match. And given my inability to separate real life from games, I was worried I would end up stressing out and dreading visiting the topic. I was surprised and pleased to see this was not the case. It was a lot less stressful than expected and things didn't escalate too bad. Not to mention he is more complex. I mean there was some dread, but I fear everyone a little.

Mizuki on the other hand had a very interesting idea to share collected gold with the rest of the party. I really liked these moments of selflessness, even if they weren't long epics. And let's be honest, you set out tea mid combat. Points for nerves of steel.

[Dannylonglegs]

Interesting Question: Does anyone have a picture of a cargo-hold of a ship that I could borrow? Crates and whatnot are optional, as I have photoshop for that sot of thing, but I lack the parts to make a convincing wooden hold without going through allot of effort fiddling with pictures in the 'shop. To be fair, I wasn't ever expecting anyone to go into the hold, but now that it's distinctly possible, I think having a pic. for it would be fun. If you could send it to me in PM that would be best, and if no one has one on-hand, I'll just use a non-lego pic w/ lego crates. Thanks!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[JimBee]

Thanks also for including Ella and I.

Ah yes, credit to Zepher for that bit from Ella!

Interesting Question: Does anyone have a picture of a cargo-hold of a ship that I could borrow? Crates and whatnot are optional, as I have photoshop for that sot of thing, but I lack the parts to make a convincing wooden hold without going through allot of effort fiddling with pictures in the 'shop. To be fair, I wasn't ever expecting anyone to go into the hold, but now that it's distinctly possible, I think having a pic. for it would be fun. If you could send it to me in PM that would be best, and if no one has one on-hand, I'll just use a non-lego pic w/ lego crates. Thanks!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Quest 27 had some good shots of the cargo hold of a ship, I believe.

[Dannylonglegs]

Quest 27 had some good shots of the cargo hold of a ship, I believe.

Thanks, I just looked over it and you're right. There are several beautul shots of a Cargo-hold, but unfortunately all of them have PCs and NPCs. I think I could take the picture of the sleeping chambers and add crates too it in Photoshop, though. Thanks!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Palathadric]

Thanks for a great quest, Jim Butcher. It seemed that so many of us had one real life difficulty or another which made it go slower than it could have, but the quest was really great. There were quite a number of really great NPCs around as well. I was frustrated to have missed out on the part with Umbra, as she has to be one of my favourite NPCs,

You said that we didn't get to see your brick-built dragons. I suppose if we had gone somewhere else we would've seen them or if we had fought with Umbra? I'm glad we could restore her faith in Heroica somewhat.

Before this quest I was pretty certain that I would go Paladin for Pretzel, but now I'm not so sure. The way I would play it, Paladin would essentially be the same as cleric just with extra defense, although I'm not sure if I'm willing to trade Miracles for Guardian Angel. I have to say that I'm a bit blank on where to invest my gold in at this time, as if I go Paladin, it would likely be for just one quest first to see if I really feel like going that route, but I suppose we shall see.

Ever since Pretzel was created I was a little fearful about questing with him, because I felt conflict was inevitable. I mean De'kra is a Erdrich Abomination and with his view on the gods I felt it would just become a shouting match. And given my inability to separate real life from games, I was worried I would end up stressing out and dreading visiting the topic. I was surprised and pleased to see this was not the case. It was a lot less stressful than expected and things didn't escalate too bad. Not to mention he is more complex. I mean there was some dread, but I fear everyone a little.

Mizuki on the other hand had a very interesting idea to share collected gold with the rest of the party. I really liked these moments of selflessness, even if they weren't long epics. And let's be honest, you set out tea mid combat. Points for nerves of steel.

I have to say the same thing as Tanma here. I was always a bit nervous about questing with someone like De'kra due to him being who he is and Monk Pretzel being who he is. I find arguing difficult to do because you're arguing for a character who is not yourself and whose views likely differ from your own. Furthermore, due to time zone differences, it is rare that we are online at the same time, so it really throws a damper on the deal when you post and wait 20 hours before you the person has responded and you have time to reply. But altogether, I enjoyed Pretzel's interactions with De'kra and had fun.

Mizuki is awesome. I've said it before, I think... , and I'll say it again. The entire party from the Quest #32 was quite awesome. Actually the parties from all of Rumble's quests were awesome.

[Rumble Strike]

Actually the parties from all of Rumble's quests were awesome.

I have been very lucky with the players in my Quests. I really do appreciate that.

[Dannylonglegs]

Well Quest 62 is over now, so I guess I may as well do a little analysis.

First off, I just want to say, that as a first time host, I had allot of fun Hosting and I will likely want to do it again sometime. Also, I want to appologise for any mistakes I made (and I think I'll put an Errata for the items I made at the last page for future use by hosts. Items like the Scroll of Newtity, the Net, and the crossbow add-ons might be potentially tricky, so I'll see if I can write up a small text that can be linked to to ameliorate any problems that might arise.)

I suppose I'll organise my analysis by subject. A. Battles, B. NPCs, and C. PCs. Does that sound about right?

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Edited May 24, 2013 by Dannylonglegs

[Kintobor]

I'll wait for you to finish your analysis, but for the time being, I'll simply say you did an excellent job, and I had a blast! Well done Danny!

[Dannylonglegs]

Before I start on battles fully, I'll talk about how I tried to work a skill challange in for each of the Class traits at my disposal. Given I had a Ranger, a mage, a knight, and two rogues, I had a nice distribution of skills. The Market Scene was supposed to challange diplomacy, but A. Drake never tried it, and B. I liked the RP that was going on, so that became less of a skill challange and more of a chance to RP. I think I liked what happened there. Since Flee isn't really useful outside of combat, that was a great chance for the savvy rogues to shine. The Maze served as a challange of A. getting through the maze, or B. using class skills to do so. I would have allowed the bridge production idea. I thought it was a good one. And, of course, the Ranger challange was speaking with the mice. (I did rush that a little, so, sorry again, HerrJJ).

Battles:

Since this was my first Quest, I made a few mistakes in terms of the balance of several of the battles. Overall, I think most of them were good, but a few were too easy or too hard, considering the narrative purpose they served. In hindsight, nearly all of the plot required fights featured joining combatants.

1. Facing the Face: My first combat! This was way too easy. I underestimated the true power of the dark side mages. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the banter in that combat. It finished too quickly though. I wanted Marty's villainous breakdown to be a slower descent. (and also I wanted the knife pun guy. ) To improve it, I would give everyone higher HP and increased the rate of combatants joining.

2. Cloak and Dagger: My Favorite fight (and my favorite NPCs)! It was ballanced quite well I think for the mini-boss fight it was meant to be. It took the right amount of time, and I got in the right amount of snark and exposition to flesh out the Po Brothers. Amusingly enough, The battle might not have been the same (or as good) if Karie hadn't pickpocketted Al. That was great! I don't think I'd change anything from this battle.

The Optional Battles: These were all slightly less serious and more random than the plot demanded combats. 'Doesn't mean they weren't fun.

3. Jailbreak/Jailbirds: The Doplegangsters were a reference to Shadows and Draggy during Mafia, and I thought that was pretty funny. Again, I gave the mooks too little health, and Amorith killed them all on the first round. mechanically, the two doplegangsters were better matched than the Po Brothers, both of which had a fun dynamic.

4. The Nameless Riot Battle (I can't believe I forgot to give it a name. ): You skipped it. It was designed to require the use of bombs, which would have been interesting.

5. Mobster Mash: relatively generic Battle with some nice loot. You skipped it, so nothing to say there.

6. My Big Fat Greek Undeading: This battle turned out much more hillariously that I imagined it could have. What I thought was an innocent Monty Python reference sealed the Quest's place in history as having one of the funniest sequences of innuendos ever. Hopefully 69 can remove that splotch from my record (good luck). Mechanically, I think the battle worked out well (and hillariously), but the fact that I rolled 3 6s in a row was certainly interesting.

7. You litterally asked for it: This was a sort of consolidation prize for my mistakes in the maze, and it turned out better for you than it would have otherwise. Thinking back on it, this fight was actually a stronger version of the last fight to a degree. Mechanically, not much to complain about, it wasn't supposed to be very challanging.

8. Honour before Fortune: This was supposed to be a rather generic battle with reasonably strong enemies, but with the moral dillema of rescuing Che Qi or catching Fleur. You chose Che Qi. I think this battle might have been a little too strong for what it was, but it wasn't bad all-in-all.

9. My biggest mistake The Confrontation with Fleur

a. Fight or Flight: This was way too easy, and if your rolls hadn't been absolute shit, you'd have creamed it. I should have lowered the amount of time each dock worker grants you to 1, and raised their healths.

b. Live or Let Die: This was way too hard. I should have put the Calling all Crew to one every other round.

c. Sink or Swim: You would have fought a baby Kraken. I was going to wait to see what happened to make Stats for it.

10: Burning Down the House: A fun little Giant Space Flea out of Nowhere that I had planned from the start to ensure that you had something to fight if you missed Fleur. I Nerfed him to hell after the disasterous battle with Fleur, so he might have been a bit anticlimactic. Sorry about that.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Edited May 16, 2013 by Dannylonglegs

[Dannylonglegs]

Alright NPC time! Yes, I will be using TVTropes for this.

Craw Fee: He was not originally part of the Plot, but I needed to kill some time because I wasn't ready for you to move on, so I figured I'd foreshadow the rumour, and I liked the character so much that he became Marty's secondhand man. Also, I wanted to show Marty's tentacles a bit, to make it more realistic that he could spread the rumour so quickly.

Marty: A self absorbed Jerkass. He was supposed to be at mini-boss level power, but amusingly enough, you guys creamed him. I really enjoyed playing for him, although I did worry that you would actually take his insults to heart. I really wanted you to hate him. The worse they are, the more satisfyingly they fall. At the time I was worried that he'd come off as too similar to Endgame's Apprentice. He really started the theme of appearances not being accurate.

Hot Guys are Bastards, and The Informant (his Sin from the 7 is Pride) (Wrong Genre Savvy: he thought he was the Knowledge Broker)

Lawrence Dice: He's a calm and collected traveling merchant. Based on Kraft Lawrence from Spice and Wolf.

Yoro: She's a haughty woman who's Dice's traveling companion... She's got a non-plot-related secret. Based on Holo from Spice and Wolf.

Don Ba: Obviously.

The Po Brothers: I love these guys. They were a deadpan snarking pair of badasses named after their iconic items. They're hired killers with no problems killing for money, but they're not awful guys (although Al's a bit of a sadist... I could see him doing some good old cold-blooded torture). They're honourable thieves who know when they've been outclassed and they do love Each Other.

I would love to see them again, but I have no current plans for them. As Mercenaries, they could work for anyone for the right cost.

Those Two Bad Guys, Psychos for Hire (although they do have redeemable traits), mildly Red Al and Blue Ed, but certainly Birds of a Feather

Fleur, Ave, Abe Beyland/Hinckwell: She's Dead. This was her last dance. She died in that storm. What lived on was the soulless Tragic Villain, having sacrificed any chances she had of being happy after years of mourning and resenting while married to someone incapable of showing affection. She did it all for Hate of Dill, Envy of Dice's happiness, and Greed to fill her hollow innards. She's not coming back.

Three Aliases, One Character (And as a result...), So very much Pyrrhic Villainy, became Unfettered due to her Dark and Troubled Past and when it turned out that Rumours of Dice's Death were Greatly Exagerated and she saw his Travelling Companion Yoro, she began her Start of Darkness. (Greed, Wrath, and Envy)

The Arsonist: Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, not to mention, a Pyromaniac and Axe Crazy to boot. Made for a lovely, though anticlimactic battle.

~Insectoid Aristrocrat

Edited May 24, 2013 by Dannylonglegs

[Dannylonglegs]

And now I'll wrap it up with some talk about the PCs (the best part of the Quest)! (and maybe some talk about the plot and whatnot)

Kintobor (Karie): You were awesome! Not only were you a fine party leader, but you were as active as myself, which might not be 100% healthy. Your ingenuitive approach to many of the challenges I pitted against you, and the fact that you really understood what was going on dispite the heavily convoluted plot, really improved the game. I'm very pleased I chose you to be the PL. Your subtle approach to dealing with the NPCs in the begining (and trying to seduce poor Vinny) made for excellent and rather realistic interactions, and you always managed to perform exquisite damage control for Drake's nonsense. Also, your decision to pickpocket Al made the battle with them much more interesting and really highlighted their personalities more! Also, your interaction with Nessa was one of the best parts of 62! I agree with Flipz that you two would make a hysterical couple. Your bickering and eventual warming-up made the quest 10 times better. Also, turning you into a Newt was great. Hilarity insued for sure. (and hopefully will continue to... ) Also, I must commend you on figuring out that Fleur and Ave were the same person. I'm pleased that someone caught onto that (Although, I actually thought that it would be Dreyrugr). I imagine that at one point Fleur was sort of similar to Karie, an innocent, freedom/fun-loving con woman, but that changed slightly when she fell in love with Dice, and then was torn to peices when "Dice died." She might even have gotten over all that and moved on, had she not then been forced into a loveless mariage with a businessman who couldn't see past his own nose... making her an obsessed, selfish, self-loathing, ambitious bundle of angst... All in all, you were a great addition to the team, and allot of fun!

HerrJJ (Nessa): You were also Awesome! Many of the things I said about Kinto could be said about you too! Your interaction with the NPCs was great, and your interaction with Karie was fantastic as well. I worried that you would be frustrated with Karie taking the lead on many things when your character obviously wanted to be party leader, but Nessa took that frustration very well and your bickering with Karie made the Quest much funner! I'm interested to see how your story arch continues. I was initially unsure what to make of the two voices in your head, but now I can't wait to find out what happens with them. Will you ever get your gem back??? As far as character interactions go, yours were great, and I felt pretty bad that your attempt at subtlety was lost on the banker. Turning you into a Newt was also great, and the picture you supplied for that was just I liked your interactions with Dill the best I think, and that last question you asked him was perfect... he won't accept responsibility for Fleur's hatred though. Overall, you were Awesome!

Vash the Stampede (Dreyrugr): Also Awesome! You interacted extremely well with the NPCs and always asked all the right questions! I feel that you understood what was going one most of the time, which was a joy. While you weren't a huge part of the bickering between Nessa and Karie, you still managed some great RP, and you were a pleasure to host for. Dreyrugr's character is interesting. I always like to see anti-heroes, and your character certainly fits into that category, and dispite his lack of goody-two-shoesiness, you still manage some biting remarks at Fleur, which was great! You actually surprised me with some of the things you remembered. I forgot that I'd given the Arsonist a wanted poster, and you certainly deserved that reward. I'm surprosed you went Black Knight after you seemed to be headed towards Assassin, so I think it'll be interesting to see where he goes from here. Overall, It was a pleasure to have you

Legobodger (Amorith) You were great! I list your character as the chick, not because he's feminine or anything, but because he never got overly involved in the interparty bickering. He was a steadfast voice of reason throughout. I liked your character and his interaction with the NPCs, and I'm interested to see where he goes. You weren't as vocal as Nessa or Karie, but that doesn't mean you weren't a great addition to the party. Ballancing battles around your character was admittedly rather difficult, and it didn't help that you rolled a 1 almost every first round. And now I fear you might be a little too well protected with that cloak I gave you. I think you'd make a great Magic Knight with the tools you have, but I agree that character-wise, Sage seems the logical choice.

XxlRocka (Drake) Drake was certainly interesting. you made several of the character interactions potentially hostile, and added some interesting dynamics to the Party. That's not to say I didn't enjoy hosting you. your character's quite interesting. Do you have plans for how you'll develop him? At the moment some of the references he makes seem somewhat confusing, so I'll be intested to see how they make sense with his character overall. Thanks for being a part of the Quest!

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Kintobor]

I was waiting for you to finish up with your analysis, so I'll give you a short answer and a long answer. Short answer: Quest was awesome! Long answer: I had a blast during the quest! I like how it was sort of open-world, sort of not, as in we could go just about anywhere, but the there was a clear area we were supposed to go to. I like how the decisions we made affected the quest later on, in particular Craw Fee. Had we not paid him off, he might not of even been in the fight with Marty! However, doing so gave us info on what was going on around town. The side quest was fun, if not a little macabre. Going out and murdering two individuals, only to kill their doppelgangers instead! The NPC's were fun too. Marty, the Po Brother's and Fleur stick out to me as the highlight NPC's of the quest. Now, I do have a few gripes, and they are relatively minor, and it reflects more on my personal play style more than anything else. I never thought timed events worked well in RPG's, especially over the internet. It felt almost as if the time was reflected more on how long the quest had gone IRL, as opposed to in game time. Quest 14 did this spectacularly, having each area take half a day, or however long it took. I think you could have implemented something like that, such as it take 15 minutes to get from district to district, and going through districts A and B to get to C takes 30 minutes. Just a suggestion. My other gripe was the loot. Not that I'm upset with it, it's just their felt like too many unique items were handed out. The Newt related items I felt were fine, because they were earned through PC interactions and roleplay, and the fact that lets face it, when will we ever get that many innuendos into one quest again?

I felt the perhaps one of the Harbor Guards could have dropped a shield, and one of the advanced guards dropped a halbred, but that might be me being stingy!

All in all, it was a great quest Danny, probably one of my favorites, it was a pleasure to be on, and I can't wait to see what you have in store!

Also, yes, Flipz's take on Karie and Nessa was amazing! Once again, I'm waiting for fan mocs!

The KariexNessa shipping needs to stick around people!

Edited May 19, 2013 by Kintobor

[Dannylonglegs]

As an add-on, I'll provide a little insight on how your actions influenced the plot, and maybe a bit more NPC/plot analysis:

Had you disbelieved Marty's lie about the Po Brothers, you would have gotten a chance to fight Fleur (or, rather, Abe) allot earlier. If you had gone to the Po Brothers right after Marty, and had gotten all their info and gone to the Market and waited, you would have encountered Abe making a deal with some cloth merchants. She would have called a mob of peasants (different from the mob you could have fought) You would have gotten a chance to fight her at level nine w/out her luck for a few turns as she tried to get out of dodge. She would then have betrayed Dice as she ran away, leaving him for you to find as you chased her. Since you believed Marty, despite my attempts to indicate he was lying (His insistence that he never lied, his dying cockiness, the fact that he thought for a second before answering you. He's a lying bastard!), You accessed the side quest of hunting down the Po Brothers. In terms of necessity to Fleur's scheme, Marty was a big part, as the rumour spreader, but in terms of involvement, he wasn't as involved as the Po Brothers or Dice, both of whom knew (to some degree) who was behind it and what the scheme was. Had you not killed him, and let him meet up with Fleur, he would have brought another 5000 to the table, allowing Fleur to buy another 30,000 worth of cloth.

Had you actually killed the Po Brothers, I'd have been sad. Good thing you let them go! They were second only to Fleur in terms of plot-involvement, having been the ones in charge of executing it for the most part.

Father Caine (who's name rather obviously meant he was a bad-guy) was simply a greedy clergyman in charge of "The People's Church" in the Church district. He was likely brought into the fold by Fleur, who would have recognized him as a reliably dirty scoundrel due to being in charge of the church's finances for 6 years. As a dirty coward and an obnoxious, corrupt bigot, he was set-up to die. Had h gotten to join Fleur, he would have supplied her with that 5000 you all returned to Sister Lucile. On a side-note, I tried to make most of the characters you had to kill rather reprehensible. I always find it semi-unrealistic when you have to kill innocent guards to advance the plot.The guards (and very-much the dock workers) at the end that you had to fight were part of the moral dilemma of chasing Fleur. Fortunately for your morals she made it a "fight or get locked away in prison or killed" decision instead of a "kill these guards or I escape" decision. You still killed those poor dock-workers though.

The optional battles were there to build up the climax mostly and to show the effects of Fleur's heartless bid for money. All of the combats were related to the chaos that she unleashed by exploiting the politics of Brendenton for her benefit. The riots caused the prison break (although it's possible that would have happened anyways because of the dopplegangsters) and of course the riot battle you all skipped. It also caused the were-raven mobsters to violently assault the fisher's guild--exploiting the surrounding chaos to mask their crimes--and the mad wizard's bid attempt at revenge--he would not have attempted to overthrow the lord with his undead army had the town not been revolting. The were-newt battle actually didn't have much to do with Fleur . And obviously, the two criminals attacking Che Qi were related to Fleur twice over in that they were targeting on of Fleur's sellers and they wouldn't be attacking him if the city weren't in chaos.

Your choices in the optional battles also affected the final battle. Had you not fought any of them, you'd have caught Fleur with her pants down: the 'reward' for sentencing Che Qi to death and letting those murderers and mad mages run free. She would be level 9 and not lucky, still on the docks as the ship loaded. You would probably have killed her in a curb-stomp battle. had you only fought 1, it would be similar. 2 or 3 battles would have resulted in a battle similar to the one you got, but with a longer escape timer. I gave you the battle for 4, and I think it was a bit broken in two ways. At that point she was supposed to have a high likelihood of escape, but I still think that it didn't work out how I would have liked it. I should have had a very strong battle for you to deal with on the ground with high-hp guards (100-200) (and maybe 1 or 2 more of them) and higher SP on the dockworkers who provided 1 round less flex-time, and then had an easier battle in the ship with slightly lower HP minions (70-200) and a slower join time. I wanted you guys to get to Hell's heart. Had you done 5 battles, the get on time would have been impossible. Maybe you'd have two rounds without the dock workers. With 6+ fights you would have gotten to the dock only for Fleur to be sailing away. You would have gotten a chance to talk with her and gotten a motive rant, but she would have been the unfought.

Captain Quint, aside from being an obvious reference to Jaws, will also probably show up again. I think I'll take him the way of Ahab, and he'll lose his leg to the Great White Sharktopus at some point. I may have him employ Heroica to deal with some sea monsters, or if anyone else wants to host a quest like that, Quint's all yours. He doesn't have to be this world's Ahab though. He could just as easily be a humble badass sea monster hunter.

The Arsonist was set up for the end, and even if you hadn't hesitated to fight the criminals, he would have had an escape timer or maybe just automatically escaped. In that respect, I'm glad you all hesitated. He would have been much bigger and badder had you not had such a disastrous encounter with Fleur (and had I not needed this over before my last final) so I hope that wasn't too anticlimactic. He probably should have been buffed. I was also hoping for a little more interaction between the Arsonist and Drake, considering I gave Drake some info on him because I felt like it was knowledge Drake would know due to his backstory. I'm not sure what I expected though. He was just a mad man with mad goals and a mad case of pyromania... It's a good thing you all killed him.

As for the future of Fleur, she will show up again in at least two quests. At the moment, her organization, Beyland Enterprises consist of "Me, myself, and I" or, rather, Abe Beyland, Fleur Montesquieu, and several other aliases. This will change, and she'll gradually accrue actual business partners. For the moment though, she's smart enough to pull off her one-woman-business. If anyone wants to feature a corrupt corporate backer who's unrelated to the Houses, who could be portrayed in an unsympathetically negative light, Fleur's reckless, ruthless and willing to screw anyone over for money and power, with sights for the top and an insatiable apatite. She's above actual theft, but she's not above rigging the race or coincidentally investing in a theft occurring. Cookie for whomever can, in private, get the reference in her most commonly used last name.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

Edited May 19, 2013 by Dannylonglegs

[Dannylonglegs]

I was waiting for you to finish up with your analysis, so I'll give you a short answer and a long answer. Short answer: Quest was awesome! Long answer: I had a blast during the quest! I like how it was sort of open-world, sort of not, as in we could go just about anywhere, but the there was a clear area we were supposed to go to. I like how the decisions we made affected the quest later on, in particular Craw Fee. Had we not paid him off, he might not of even been in the fight with Marty! However, doing so gave us info on what was going on around town. The side quest was fun, if not a little macabre. Going out and murdering two individuals, only to kill their doppelgangers instead! The NPC's were fun too. Marty, the Po Brother's and Fleur stick out to me as the highlight NPC's of the quest. Now, I do have a few gripes, and they are relatively minor, and it reflects more on my personal play style more than anything else. I never thought timed events worked well in RPG's, especially over the internet. It felt almost as if the time was reflected more on how long the quest had gone IRL, as opposed to in game time. Quest 14 did this spectacularly, having each area take half a day, or however long it took. I think you could have implemented something like that, such as it take 15 minutes to get from district to district, and going through districts A and B to get to C takes 30 minutes. Just a suggestion. My other gripe was the loot. Not that I'm upset with it, it's just their felt like too many unique items were handed out. The Newt related items I felt were fine, because they were earned through PC interactions and roleplay, and the fact that lets face it, when will we ever get that many innuendos into one quest again?

I felt the perhaps one of the Harbor Guards could have dropped a shield, and one of the advanced guards dropped a halbred, but that might be me being stingy!

All in all, it was a great quest Danny, probably one of my favorites, it was a pleasure to be on, and I can't wait to see what you have in store!

Also, yes, Flipz's take on Karie and Nessa was amazing! Once again, I'm waiting for fan mocs!

The KariexNessa shipping needs to stick around people!

Thanks!

Those complaints are all extremely understandable, and actually, I share the same opinions. The time transpired like this: each battle was around 5 minutes and it took about 5 minutes to get from x to x and had nothing to do with IRL time. Sorry if that diminished the fun to an extent. As I've never tried a timed event like this in my time as a DM, I had little experience with it, and now I know it can be relatively hard to make enjoyable. I don't anticipate making another time-mechanic-dependent Quest again. I actually employed them for the most part to help add to the open world effect and add fairness to catching Fleur, but I think I implemented them somewhat poorly and perhaps should have emphasized the narrative more and less the mechanic of it (or vice versa and been 100% clear on what was what).

I also agree with the loot and I wondered if someone was going to call me out on that. I used weapons instead of gold for the guards to add realism, but I think, again, that maybe just giving potions and gold would have been smarter. The first crossbow add-on was actually something of a mistake on my part. the Silver crossbow was supposed to be intrinsically better at targeting were-folk, but I forgot to include that.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Vash the Stampede]

Seriously great quest. You gave me a good something to sick my teeth into. At the same time if people didn't want to go thinking through everything you dropped enough hints so that the quest could continue. The NPC's were great and I also like the Po brothers. It was interesting to see them develop over the battle and they have to be one of my favourite NPC's. Fleur made a good Tragic Villain and it was interesting to see her try and scaddadle off rich but willing to cut her losses when she figured the party had her on a few occasions. I think the last battle was a bit over the top but hey, when Amorith kills everyone in round one of course you'd overestimate. Mechanically it was interesting to see you put catching Fleur and awesome loot on a pair of scales and tell us 'take what you want but don't tip it'. You made several characters who came off as humorous and the quest at times was hilarious (newts, amazing puns) but at no point did it lose its serious feel and never came off as being totally comical so kudos from me. I'm glad I was able to develop Dreyrugr as a character but it really is hard when in character they are the quiet one. You really helped me show off some antihero qualities (you know, chopping people's heads off no problem) and a couple more quests and I hope Dreyrugr will have developed a lot more. I'm glad he came off as smart cause you know, if you lived 1000 years you'd have a lot to think about.

I was originally going to go Assassin, you know, gold, killing people instantly. But in the fight at the dock before getting on the ship, by pure bad luck (seriously, I did the math, you sure you didn't rig it ) Dreyrugr was KO. If he didn't borrow the leather armour for that one sp that would've been a OHKO. (I'd probably attack back row in that situation but still.....). If I went black knight there was already a shield around and the armour has become a staple for going black knight so that would shoot my sp up to 9. It's no Docken but it should give me a buffer for bad luck. That and with the dagger there is a 50/50 chance of stun. On a shield that's 50/50 to stun EACH enemy due to AoE attack so thats what made me go black knight. I might swap to a gold earning class later but for now Dreyrugr needs some serious sp so thats for later.

Because you gave me a lot to sink my teeth into there were a lot of details I remembered (that wanted poster), it really made it a really enjoyable quest so take my thumbs up. I definitely want to go on another of your quests sometime.

PS: Really thank you for that wanted poster (who knew it all started from Dreyrugr looking for somewhere to hide Marty's body), I would've had to give up buying something in the market place if it wasn't for that extra 50 gold. Seriously, I'm broke again.

[Dannylonglegs]

Seriously great quest. You gave me a good something to sick my teeth into. At the same time if people didn't want to go thinking through everything you dropped enough hints so that the quest could continue.

Thanks! If I hadn't had awesome, intelligent players like you all, I might have even had to make Fleur spit out that she was actually Ave! Allot of the plot worked off so well because you all caught my clues and applied them!

The NPC's were great and I also like the Po brothers. It was interesting to see them develop over the battle and they have to be one of my favourite NPC's. Fleur made a good Tragic Villain and it was interesting to see her try and scaddadle off rich but willing to cut her losses when she figured the party had her on a few occasions.

Thanks again, and I hope Fleur doesn't come off as a Villain Sue. She's reckless, but she's also willing to bail-out excess water if she's on a sinking ship, which, as a result of the party's actions, she was. Also, I hope everyone enjoys the name of the quest in hindsight.

I think the last battle was a bit over the top but hey, when Amorith kills everyone in round one of course you'd overestimate. Mechanically it was interesting to see you put catching Fleur and awesome loot on a pair of scales and tell us 'take what you want but don't tip it'. You made several characters who came off as humorous and the quest at times was hilarious (newts, amazing puns) but at no point did it lose its serious feel and never came off as being totally comical so kudos from me. I'm glad I was able to develop Dreyrugr as a character but it really is hard when in character they are the quiet one. You really helped me show off some antihero qualities (you know, chopping people's heads off no problem) and a couple more quests and I hope Dreyrugr will have developed a lot more. I'm glad he came off as smart cause you know, if you lived 1000 years you'd have a lot to think about.

I definitely agree that I screwed up that last battle. I overcompensated for Amorith's power, and then bad luck screwed you all over. I'm sorry you guys expended so many consumables on that. I didn't mess with any of the rolls at all. I thought I'd balanced it well enough at the time, but then the rolls were consistently bad. In hindsight, I don't think it was well-balanced, but your rolls still sucked.

Mechanically it was interesting to see you put catching Fleur and awesome loot on a pair of scales and tell us 'take what you want but don't tip it'. You made several characters who came off as humorous and the quest at times was hilarious (newts, amazing puns) but at no point did it lose its serious feel and never came off as being totally comical so kudos from me.

Thanks! I'm glad no one got suspicious when I asked what loot everyone wanted. Also, I'm glad you liked the theme's balance. I like puns, references and alliteration, as anyone who observes my actions over a period of time might observe, so I'm glad I didn't flood the feel with them. (I'll admit, I was worried the newt TF scene would break the serious feel, but I'm glad you don't think it did. Although, I wouldn't mind. It was hysterical.) As a rule, I tried to make the plot-important fights as serious as the particular characters were (Marty was a serious jerk who was seriously obsessed with himself and intent on screwing over the PCs who defeated him, and Fleur was a serious depressed heartless loveless tragic villain who would stop at nothing to get money or die trying, but conversely, the Po Brothers don't take their actions really seriously, and really only care about each-other, and therefore snarked the place up rather heavily and came off as semi-comedic sociopaths. However when the cards were down and they realized they were in actual trouble, they took you guys seriously.) and then I let the optional fights get more puns and joke/reference characters to keep them interesting.

I'm glad I was able to develop Dreyrugr as a character but it really is hard when in character they are the quiet one. You really helped me show off some antihero qualities (you know, chopping people's heads off no problem) and a couple more quests and I hope Dreyrugr will have developed a lot more. I'm glad he came off as smart cause you know, if you lived 1000 years you'd have a lot to think about.

I understand exactly how you feel, having a silent mysterious "Anti-Hero" figure as my own character. I'm glad you stepped up to the plate, and I feel that those moments from you really played out well, particularly chopping off the heads when Karie's semi-innocence and lack of jadedness wouldn't let her. I feel like Dreyrugr really developed well during the Quest, so I hope to see where he goes from here.

I was originally going to go Assassin, you know, gold, killing people instantly. But in the fight at the dock before getting on the ship, by pure bad luck (seriously, I did the math, you sure you didn't rig it ) Dreyrugr was KO. If he didn't borrow the leather armour for that one sp that would've been a OHKO. (I'd probably attack back row in that situation but still.....). If I went black knight there was already a shield around and the armour has become a staple for going black knight so that would shoot my sp up to 9. It's no Docken but it should give me a buffer for bad luck. That and with the dagger there is a 50/50 chance of stun. On a shield that's 50/50 to stun EACH enemy due to AoE attack so thats what made me go black knight. I might swap to a gold earning class later but for now Dreyrugr needs some serious sp so thats for later.

Because you gave me a lot to sink my teeth into there were a lot of details I remembered (that wanted poster), it really made it a really enjoyable quest so take my thumbs up. I definitely want to go on another of your quests sometime.

PS: Really thank you for that wanted poster (who knew it all started from Dreyrugr looking for somewhere to hide Marty's body), I would've had to give up buying something in the market place if it wasn't for that extra 50 gold. Seriously, I'm broke again.

I'm sure I didn't rig it! that was just crazy bad luck. Just like those three 6s in a row. You can't make rolls like that up! I'm glad that Dreyrugr is taking what he's experienced in battle and applying it to his class choice then. It does seem realistic.

Because you gave me a lot to sink my teeth into there were a lot of details I remembered (that wanted poster), it really made it a really enjoyable quest so take my thumbs up. I definitely want to go on another of your quests sometime.

PS: Really thank you for that wanted poster (who knew it all started from Dreyrugr looking for somewhere to hide Marty's body), I would've had to give up buying something in the market place if it wasn't for that extra 50 gold. Seriously, I'm broke again.

Thanks! I'd be more than glad to host you again! You really helped solve the mystery on the Quest. I had hoped someone would look around. I really wanted to foreshadow the Arsonist so that he wouldn't seem like an big behind-pull. And I'm glad you put your reward monies to good use. You could probably sell that scroll to someone (Flipz or me-when-I-get-more-dough) too. I think that one should walk away from a quest with at-least 200 gold for restocking and buying equipment.

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Palathadric]

I love the way how the way things turned out was so very dependent on the choices the heroes made. I was rather surprised that when I thought the quest was almost at its end, it was only like halfway through or less.

[Dannylonglegs]

I love the way how the way things turned out was so very dependent on the choices the heroes made. I was rather surprised that when I thought the quest was almost at its end, it was only like halfway through or less.

When was that? The Po Brothers?

~Insectoid Aristocrat

[Palathadric]

Well, I thought there would be one or two of the important fights after them.

[Flare]

Can we see the sidequests that were conducted via PM?