Tarquinus

I, too, wish to add my congratulations. I think you are indeed worthy, and that we shall see good things from you.

Liberty killed me straightaway. I inflicted no casualties.

[quote name='pamplemousse' date='20 September 2009 - 09:05 PM' timestamp='1253498722' post='42241'] Is this war going to be fought here on the forum like the last one? Or, will there be a system to record body count and kills and *gasp* ACTUAL fighting? [/quote] This will be an 'actual' war, O Brightest of the Stars in Heaven; and there seems little or nothing standing in its way. As to systems, the leaders of the parties involved have come to an agreement. One way or another, the war will be fought.

[quote]The Knights of the Bell and Guerilla Golemicarum have declared war on Necrovion without reasonable provocation or cause. Yrthilian is a power hungry tyrant who only wants to increase his influence, and Liberty is blinded by his hatred of the shades and will do anything to attack them or their land. As such, the Sentinels have allied with the Children of the Eclipse, and will defend Necrovion from this completely unjustified assault.[/quote] Sic semper tyrannis.

This is a new quest. We hope you will find it entertaining.

[quote name='Aeoshattr' date='12 September 2009 - 12:11 PM' timestamp='1252775486' post='41618'] O.o i wasn't expecting so many answers. Question, Lucius, were there ANY games to support RP 30 years ago?... i thought there was only Mario back then XD [/quote] Only the grandfather of them all: Dungeons and Dragons. I was a kid. It confused the heck out of me. But we still played.

[quote name='Aeoshattr' date='11 September 2009 - 01:48 AM' timestamp='1252651681' post='41504']Answer to Lucius I was hoping not to have to argue with you, but it seems i have to. 1. There is a stargate game about to be launched. I don't think you can play an ascended in it, but you will most probably be able to in a sequel. 2. 99% of the players are things that "are not implied by the Magic Duel setting" 3. I've been RP-ing for... 12 years. You? 4.Yes, i took that weapon from the "His dark materials" series. Would you make a list of your weaknesses in your pages? I lied, as part of the RP. DUHH!! you would hide your weaknesses as well. actually i don't think i've ever seen a list of weak spots in ANY PLAYER PAGE. and i read the papers of all players i meet. 5. Yes, RP-ing "roleplaying should consider what a character cannot do as much as what s/he can do" I agree with that.[/quote] 1. I'm not saying there are NO systems I know of that can't accommodate your character - GURPS can, if it is setup a certain way by a GM friendly to such ideas, and it's not the only one. I'm saying the majority of systems don't accommodate such characters... and if you re-read my post carefully, I even give you MD as being ambiguous enough to allow it. 2. That's a rather high overestimate. I'll give you 60-75%. 3. Thirty. 4. Zlei answered this pretty well, so I won't re-hash it. But Lucius' weakness is not hard to figure out if you read his papers carefully, because it is implicit - but not explicit - in the papers. 5. Hurray! We agree. [quote]In my opinion, you all are so caught up by this "mechanics RP" because you are so frustrated that players won't do what you want them to do. you are trying to manipulate us, by using your influence in this game and what you have best here. Not like anything's wrong with that, but it's just the most annoying, self centered thing I can think of.[/quote] That's not really fair, and several players have objected with good reason. I favor mechanics-based RP because that is the way I have handled conflict resolution [u]in every other RPG I have ever played[/u]. Some, notably Guybrush Threepwood, have indicated that the MD dueling system isn't perfectly suited to RP simulation. I think that's a slightly misleading argument. All RPGs must resort to abstraction somewhere. The question is not "can the system simulate [x action] perfectly?" because no system can. Hardcore "simulationist" RPGs have limited appeal, also. The point is that a system of conflict-resolution exists somewhere in any RPG, and MagicDuel has one. Therefore the question should be, "How can we use the dueling system to simulate [x action]?" I'd rather see attempts to integrate the dueling system than free-wheeling, god-mode prone chat-fighting RP with no system of conflict resolution. Zlei is one of the best RP fighters around, and he gets a lot of respect from me: but his system requires maturity, imagination, and trust. Players who exhibit such traits don't god-mode. It really is that simple... and that difficult.

[quote name='Aeoshattr' date='10 September 2009 - 08:52 AM' timestamp='1252590740' post='41403']and how exactly are you gonna back RP-ing up with mechanics? RP-ing offers infinite possibilities in how you express yourself. [/quote] I'm sorry, but I couldn't disagree more. Roleplay does NOT offer infinite possibilities for how you express yourself. It offers a range of possibilities dependent on the setting. Your energy being character cannot be played in the majority of roleplaying-game systems with which I am familiar... and I have been roleplaying now for quite a bit longer than you have been alive. There is nothing in the MagicDuel setting to imply your "energy being" character could exist; that's okay, given that the MagicDuel setting is rather ambiguous... HOWEVER, combat actions in MagicDuel should not ignore the combat system entirely. There are not two games here, a roleplaying chat room and a dueling game off to the side. It is one game. If you want to look at a roleplay character who does not god-mode, ever, then take your cues from Innocence. Finally, saying the Subtle Knife is the only thing that can harm your character, yet it is in your possession, is god-moding twice over. You've basically taken the Excalibur of the [i]His Dark Materials[/i] series and given it properties suitable to you; and somehow, your non-material creature can hold it? I will repeat: roleplaying should consider what a character can[u]not[/u] do as much as what s/he can do.

[quote name='Guybrush Threepwood' date='01 September 2009 - 11:41 PM' timestamp='1251866518' post='40735'] Here's a serious flaw with lack of history. Who the heck made this place? Someone had to. It's supposedly a rich country, inhabitants are unknown. Not necessarily non-existant, the sign to the new world specifically says, unknown. No history to a place makes no sense. I get it, I could see why Mur would like it, but there is no such thing as something with no history. On that note, making up random and terrible history is a bad idea as well. [/quote] A place with no memory is a riddle of itself. Imagine the Semitic or Babylonian tales of creation being literally true: once a place was not here, and now it is. The question, "What is its history?" is meaningless, for it has no history. A more meaningful question might be, "What is its purpose?"

((This is one of my favorite topics. I will break my own tradition here and speak entirely out-of-character. Roleplay is as much about what a character canNOT do as what she can do. A character's concept is defined by the player's imagination, but should also be informed by the setting. In most RPGs, the setting is explicit and very narrowly defined - very few people play D&D or World of Warcraft expecting to portray Wild West gunslingers or 20th Century Mafia dons. Because MagicDuel does not force the matter on players, we see a very wide variety of characters in the game. That's fine. It might even be good, if we were to develop a meta-plot about how the realm of MagicDuel entraps entities from other worlds. But all players should understand something: [u]if your character had powers in the world where you conceived him, he almost certainly no longer has them in MagicDuel[/u]. This is not a blow to the character, but an opportunity for character growth, a chance to demonstrate roleplaying skill. Do you fancy yourself a good roleplayer? Good. You're normal. Play that role and make it convincing. Look at LunarGoddess - here's a deity who has lost her power. Here's an immortal who has fallen in love with a mortal man. She has a story to tell. I run a lot of tabletop roleplaying campaigns. If you sat down at one of my D&D games and told me that your character is a half-demon with spell-like abilities, I'd laugh in your face. Why? Because the game includes rules for those kinds of things, and you can't just declare that you want them. If you can have them at all, such as the demonic heritage, the spell-like abilities will come gradually. When everyone is a super bad-ass, the game is BORING. What is interesting? Uncertainty; bluffing an entity you are sure can kill you; holding your breath as the GM rolls the dice, knowing the result could mean the difference between life and death for a beloved character. Don't bore us with magical powers you assigned your character. We have no reason to believe in them, because the game has a system for magical powers. Those who have magical powers worked hard to get them. Don't tell us about your awesome gear or unstoppable fighting ability: the game has a fighting system and gear. If you are a super bad-ass fighter, word will get around. Roleplay fighting almost invariably fails because it has no system of governance. It is therefore my opinion, after months of experimentation, that it has no place in MagicDuel. Sparrhawk makes an excellent point: if you're just sparring, you should be willing to take a beating now and again. If you're only going to win every fight, you will be boring... and you will end up being ignored by people who are actually using the system to fight with each other. The very idea! Outlandish roleplay almost invariably fails because it sets too few (or no) limitations on itself. For every Innocence, a really brilliant character with amazing inventiveness that has nothing to do with combat, role-played or otherwise, there are twenty demon-heritage warriors with elemental magic that has no in-game effect whatsoever. If you are a roleplayer, [i]do not ignore the system[/i]. Use its limitations as a springboard for your creativity. Have you noticed that no one bleeds in MagicDuel? That the sun never sets? That stacks of gold magically replenish themselves over time? How will you explain these things? What will they mean to your character? What will your story be in this world? We are waiting to be entertained. Some of us are ready to entertain you, too.))

[quote name='Grido' date='12 August 2009 - 06:04 AM' timestamp='1250075090' post='39259']Grammer[/quote] Grammar.

[quote name='Burns' date='09 August 2009 - 07:01 AM' timestamp='1249819316' post='39023']unlike Tarquinus, i don't mind the init at all, since any boost of init will almost surely give your creature the first strike, and that's a nice strategic effect to use, it's more the lethal more-than-10k-attacks that bother me with the tokens...[/quote] I see Burns' reasoning here. My complaint about the high initiative bonus has to do with the combination of that bonus with a high Attack bonus - with the right tokens, some rituals really seem undefeatable as things stand, unless one is willing to load massive amounts of xp on a creature and sacrifice it for the principles that will provide bonuses of a similar level.

I personally like the concept of tokens - that they add a new dimension to tactics in the game, and allow more casual players to become competitive in battle - but feel their implementation has resulted in some perhaps unforeseen circumstances. I notice a large number of fights ending in round zero; I see a lot of duels in which one side deals 100% damage while the other deals 0%. The culprit seems to be the massive bonuses given by principle charges to such skills as Attack and Initiative. Though your first revision to these bonuses brought a much-needed mitigation - a fraction of the principle charge as a bonus rather than the full charge - it has proven inadequate, since huge principle charges seem to be rather common among certain players. The result, as you surely know, is that a small yet significant number of players has the ability to inflict multiple thousands of points of damage in a single attack. In a thread on the subject, I saw a suggestion for a scaled progression of bonuses, wherein the first chunk of principle charge provides a significant bonus but each successive increment provides a smaller one, with the result that even vastly inflated principle charges will not produce such bloated bonuses. Some experienced players and skilled duelists have complained that tokens have taken the strategy out of dueling. I reluctantly agree, and find this result distressing since it seems to be the precise opposite result that tokens were intended to provide. I have spent a fair amount of credits on tokens, learning how they work and what kinds of bonuses they provide, and though I have not become competitive with the "best" of the token-equipped duelists, I do find that my attacks are significantly more lethal than they were, and that, given my relative numerical value of skill statistics, the lethality I have gained from tokens seems inappropriate.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday. Have some fun.

Happy birthday.

This treaty is superannuated, defunct, irrelevant. Please close this topic.

[quote name='Metal Bunny' post='35144' date='Jun 27 2009, 10:48 AM']This game has not yet shown a moon yet, meaning there is a constant sun shining on you.[/quote] I beg your pardon, Sieur, but it has, so: I direct you the Adventure Log, pp. 414-417. I do not mean to derail your excellent points or launch a tangent from your excellent posts. I personally disdain powers and attributes that are unsupported by the combat system, or failing that, the setting. I merely wish to call attention to a minor but significant detail that bears directly on my stated role of Moon Knight. Night has come to MagicDuel, and shall return: but sure there is not enough darkness to afford comfort to those to whom the sun's rays are fatal.

To clarify: upon swearing them in, I instruct all members of the Eclipse, as a matter of [b]courtesy[/b], to ask permission before attacking members of the Guardians of the Root or the Savelite Church. We do [u]not[/u] expect the courtesy to be returned, and there is no longer a formal treaty in effect saying it should be.

"The Call of Cthulhu" is an obvious place to start. His better works include "The Dunwich Horror", "At the Mountains of Madness", and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath".

[quote name='Akasha' post='32665' date='Jun 3 2009, 11:43 PM']@Amoran and Glor: my sarcasm won't use for your problems , but i will point a power abuse that needed to be solved..but nobody spoke about it: :lol: Tarq. is leader, his alt, Keith Moon also a leader Amoran was leader, her alt, Kalamira Kol also a leader 2 people...having 4 leader places, it is like 4 people saying the same thing. You can come to me and say that the characters are different ...well..then what is doing Kalamira in Loreroot and picking on Yrthilian on why he took a seed from the ground?? oh and btw..was not MDA a neutral land? if so, how could a different character, but an alt of Amoran act like a character from Loreroot dedicated to Loreroot and Tarq.? I see people suporting in their statesments here on Firsantalas, of course i will pick on the records that need to be stated here and kept, like Tarq. declaration.[/quote] I am uncertain what you are trying to say. Keith is leader of the Legend Speakers more or less by default. If Keith has taken an official position on anything, I would like to be reminded what that is. If Keith has come out and used his position in any diplomatic capacity at all, I would like to be told of it. Keith and Tarquinus are separate characters doing separate things, and I think that is very, very easy to demonstrate. If you are set on having Keith step down from the leadership of the Legend Speakers, fine: but point to me the Legend Speaker who is as active or as engaged in the setting as Keith is. Yes, Keith studied what is now considered apocrypha, but that is a recent announcement. He still has a very good idea of what is going on in the realm. Tarquinus has posted here declaring his [b]unequivocal support[/b] for the Guardians and his intention to honor the selection of Firsanthalas as leader. Where is the problem there? Is there a failure of communication? That is a statement of cooperation and friendliness.

On behalf of the Children of the Eclipse and our Sibyl, LunarGoddess, I wish to state that we of the Eclipse unequivocally support the Guardians of the Root and honour the selection of Firsanthalas as their leader, without regard to how he was chosen, which we feel is none of our affair. Let the alliances in Loreroot stand united! Let us shed our blood, not against each other, but against those who would dictate to us from without!

Karak has released the results of the election for the Speaker of the Law, and as he is prevented by a "wall of fire" from posting it herein, he has asked me to post it for him: [quote]Final votes: Total votes received: 12 ( rather disappointing from a population of 40+?) Vote Tally: Gremlin: 6 Lady Renata: 1 Siala Lone Wolf: 2 Mya Celestia: 2 Sparrhawk: 1[/quote] As you can see, Gremlin is the clear winner. On a tangential note, I would like to thank: [list=1] [*] Everyone who posted on this thread, including our fiercest critics, for honest dialogue and thought-provoking debate; [*] Udgard, for his spirited and unsolicited defense of our process; [*] Everyone who identifies him- or herself as a citizen, denizen, or friend of Loreroot for the support we have received. [/list] The MagicDuel community at large may be interested (or, as is the case for many, bored) to know that this discussion has caused Loreroot's alliances to review the purpose of the High Council and its effectiveness as a body. While we have not yet reached a collective decision, this discussion has caused us to think critically about our traditions and ask ourselves why we have done the things we have done, and whether or not we should continue doing them. People of MagicDuel, I salute you.

[quote name='Metal Bunny' post='32006' date='May 22 2009, 11:17 AM']That's not the point. I am asking if I were to say that loreroot was my homeland, when would I be allowed to vote by Mya celestia or Gremlin?[/quote] If Loreroot were your homeland, your vote would be accepted, period. As Mya indicates, the purpose of the Censors, who are volunteers, is not to assign voting rights but to determine the size and composition of the electorate.

Happy Birthday.