Friendship is Dragons
Updates Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays
Page 1009 - Dual Psych
Author Notes:
Notice: Guest comic submissions are still open until this arc is finished! Guidelines here.
(Pop-out)
22 Comments:
I'm a "veteran" of the 3.5 Living Greyhawk setting, so most of my callbacks to prior events weren't all that fun, due to the ham handed way that setting was ended to force the 4E changes to the setting.
Literally, the big storyline that spanned more than a half dozen modules ended in "If you did x, evil is released!, and if you do Y, evil guy takes over because you gave him power! Welcome to 4th Edition! Where we're all points of light in a dark world!"
Literally.
Most of the other modules didn't have much in the way of continuity, beyond a few minor things here and there, at most.
Some of it was much fun though, as certain modules still stick in my head, due to quality writing and good setups for the mystery, or just plain interesting events/enemies/characters.
Desecrators of the Lords' Tomb was a particularly memorable one, though the story is too long to tell here in the comment section.
Literally, the big storyline that spanned more than a half dozen modules ended in "If you did x, evil is released!, and if you do Y, evil guy takes over because you gave him power! Welcome to 4th Edition! Where we're all points of light in a dark world!"
Literally.
Most of the other modules didn't have much in the way of continuity, beyond a few minor things here and there, at most.
Some of it was much fun though, as certain modules still stick in my head, due to quality writing and good setups for the mystery, or just plain interesting events/enemies/characters.
Desecrators of the Lords' Tomb was a particularly memorable one, though the story is too long to tell here in the comment section.
I don't mind being a point of light in a dark world, but there's no point unless you can spread the light.
What makes a setting too grimdark for me isn't when there's too little good, it's when there's too little hope.
What makes a setting too grimdark for me isn't when there's too little good, it's when there's too little hope.
My problem with being a point of light in a dark world was that they took a reasonably light world, and instead of just clearing off the map and saying that new threats had arisen, they deliberately took the current setting and dipped it in the worst type of mud to make it dork. Er, I mean, dark.
The writers of Living Greyhawk literally made the end of a 2 year campaign be "The world goes shitty because we say so, what you did meant nothing other than whether or not this certain city survived or got taken over. And even then, a bad guy still takes the crown anyway, so nyeh."
It was the insulting slap in the face of losing the agency the players had once had to influence campaigns, applied to a setting that the company wasn't even going to use as its flagship setting.
So, literally, the Living Greyhawk setting went dark no matter what, despite some really impressive and hefty risks by the players (Including a specifically composed level 15 kill squad to try to get rid of the strongest of the enemy units during the final Convention based "Interactive", where around 20 tables are all organized to play towards the same goal, which succeeded but actually lost a character or three to permadeath to do so.)...
And not only does Greyhawk go dark anyway, Forgotten Realms takes over as the new primary setting.
It sucked, hard.
The writers of Living Greyhawk literally made the end of a 2 year campaign be "The world goes shitty because we say so, what you did meant nothing other than whether or not this certain city survived or got taken over. And even then, a bad guy still takes the crown anyway, so nyeh."
It was the insulting slap in the face of losing the agency the players had once had to influence campaigns, applied to a setting that the company wasn't even going to use as its flagship setting.
So, literally, the Living Greyhawk setting went dark no matter what, despite some really impressive and hefty risks by the players (Including a specifically composed level 15 kill squad to try to get rid of the strongest of the enemy units during the final Convention based "Interactive", where around 20 tables are all organized to play towards the same goal, which succeeded but actually lost a character or three to permadeath to do so.)...
And not only does Greyhawk go dark anyway, Forgotten Realms takes over as the new primary setting.
It sucked, hard.
But... then there were Living Greyhawk mods like Desecrators of the Lords Tomb, where you set off into the titular Lords Tomb of Greyhawk to rescue the soul of the daughter of an innkeeper, because she stole jewels from the Lords Tomb in an effort to save her father's inn.
Upon heading in, you're warned by guards to not steal anything, and that the place is a maze.
The guide the party finds is a ghost, who wants you to retrieve his pet skeletal dog Boney... by singing while you search, because the dog likes singing instead of regular calls.
And the PLAYER must sing to get the bonus on the search checks.
After finding the dog, and getting guidance to return the jewels/save the girl's soul, there's also the mysterious Drow who offers piles of gold and gems to kill a noble's ghost in a nearby tomb.
Our party, having SOME sense, talks to the Noble's ghost, and actually secures help solving the original problem of the innkeeper being harassed by a descendant of said ghost.
Oh, and the rest of the party got teleported to jail for MONTHS and went insane because they thought it was a good idea to take the "drow's" treasure. My character was the only one that didn't.
I literally played this over a decade ago by now, and I still remember it well.
Upon heading in, you're warned by guards to not steal anything, and that the place is a maze.
The guide the party finds is a ghost, who wants you to retrieve his pet skeletal dog Boney... by singing while you search, because the dog likes singing instead of regular calls.
And the PLAYER must sing to get the bonus on the search checks.
After finding the dog, and getting guidance to return the jewels/save the girl's soul, there's also the mysterious Drow who offers piles of gold and gems to kill a noble's ghost in a nearby tomb.
Our party, having SOME sense, talks to the Noble's ghost, and actually secures help solving the original problem of the innkeeper being harassed by a descendant of said ghost.
Oh, and the rest of the party got teleported to jail for MONTHS and went insane because they thought it was a good idea to take the "drow's" treasure. My character was the only one that didn't.
I literally played this over a decade ago by now, and I still remember it well.
Oh, one more mod to mention: (Sorry for spamming replies. The character/word limit is harsh, and I'm feeling chatty.):
The Living Greyhawk mod "Here Comes The Sun".
It's a murder mystery, set in a normally temperate and sunny town, where the sun has been shining without end for week, and something has been appearing to people around the town, haunting people, burning rooms in the inns and some houses.
You actually meet the ghost, and it turns out it's one of the local priestesses, who was killed just before the sun started to shine endlessly, but she knows her killer is one the loose, and wants revenge.
The mod focuses on finding not only the killer, but first in finding the body, and those involved in the murder.
And when you do reach the final confrontation, the vengeful ghost appears for revenge, and you have choices.
You can just kill the murderer, though that makes the ghost unhappy with being denied vengeance, so she haunts YOU in later mods and adventures. Or you could just let the ghost kill her murderer, for firey vengeance, as she'll be happy with that. Or you can talk the ghost down, and take the murderer in for justice from the local church/guards, which is what my party did.
Tied into this is the local criminal groups, and the smaller theft rings involved, and stolen items where you can turn them into the authorities, or try to keep them.
The murder mystery in that was really enjoyable, and it was quite memorable too.
The Living Greyhawk mod "Here Comes The Sun".
It's a murder mystery, set in a normally temperate and sunny town, where the sun has been shining without end for week, and something has been appearing to people around the town, haunting people, burning rooms in the inns and some houses.
You actually meet the ghost, and it turns out it's one of the local priestesses, who was killed just before the sun started to shine endlessly, but she knows her killer is one the loose, and wants revenge.
The mod focuses on finding not only the killer, but first in finding the body, and those involved in the murder.
And when you do reach the final confrontation, the vengeful ghost appears for revenge, and you have choices.
You can just kill the murderer, though that makes the ghost unhappy with being denied vengeance, so she haunts YOU in later mods and adventures. Or you could just let the ghost kill her murderer, for firey vengeance, as she'll be happy with that. Or you can talk the ghost down, and take the murderer in for justice from the local church/guards, which is what my party did.
Tied into this is the local criminal groups, and the smaller theft rings involved, and stolen items where you can turn them into the authorities, or try to keep them.
The murder mystery in that was really enjoyable, and it was quite memorable too.
LE character's first action was to stab the bartender in the face. Bartender somehow survived. LE character was forced into the quest so as not to go to jail.
...So much later, I, being the CN servent of the God of Insanity and Randomness, obviously clued in the paladins of Bahamut that an evil, murderer was not being brought to justice. Then helped fight them. I was so helpful.
...So much later, I, being the CN servent of the God of Insanity and Randomness, obviously clued in the paladins of Bahamut that an evil, murderer was not being brought to justice. Then helped fight them. I was so helpful.
Full-res shots [url=http://fav.me/dbz49qk]here.[\url]
I bet if it had been anyone other than Fluttershy, that last line would have been 'parlay?'
I bet if it had been anyone other than Fluttershy, that last line would have been 'parlay?'
The dresses "armor" rating probably cancels out any penalties for encumberance...
I've never really liked the idea that armor makes you harder to *hit*. It ought to make it easier, and then reduce the damage.
D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder actually have an alternative ruling based on that assumption Jennifer. D&D as Damage Reduction.
Whilst 4th Edition kinda goes on the view that a successful hit might not actually be a physical hit, but an attack that reduces the enemies stamina, until their too tired to defend themselves from a proper blow, and is thus bloodied.
Whilst 4th Edition kinda goes on the view that a successful hit might not actually be a physical hit, but an attack that reduces the enemies stamina, until their too tired to defend themselves from a proper blow, and is thus bloodied.
That always bugged me in D&D as well - particularly since I like systems that distinguish between "foes that are hard to kill because they're hard to hit" and "foes that are hard to kill because they soak up damage."
I've seen the 3.5 alternate rules, not familiar with Pathfinder's. I do, however, play a 3.5 variant system called Iron Heroes (basically, D&D if it were inspired by Conan the Barbarian instead of Lord of the Rings) where armor is entirely damage reduction - one of several reasons I love that system.
I've seen the 3.5 alternate rules, not familiar with Pathfinder's. I do, however, play a 3.5 variant system called Iron Heroes (basically, D&D if it were inspired by Conan the Barbarian instead of Lord of the Rings) where armor is entirely damage reduction - one of several reasons I love that system.
Nice to know I'm not alone in not liking the "armor makes one harder to hit" concept.
I likely am starting to sound like a stuck record (anyone remember those?) but that was one of the things RuneQuest did well: armor reduced damage -- and one could have mix&match armor as hit locations (another die roll) were each leg, each arm, belly, chest, and head.
RQ was a system where one /could/ lose an arm&leg (and as long as one had a minimum Healing-2 spell to cauterize the wound) and still be a viable character ("It's a flesh wound!"). We seldom attempted the "dodge" skill (one could parry or one could dodge) as armor encumbrance was severe on dodging.
I likely am starting to sound like a stuck record (anyone remember those?) but that was one of the things RuneQuest did well: armor reduced damage -- and one could have mix&match armor as hit locations (another die roll) were each leg, each arm, belly, chest, and head.
RQ was a system where one /could/ lose an arm&leg (and as long as one had a minimum Healing-2 spell to cauterize the wound) and still be a viable character ("It's a flesh wound!"). We seldom attempted the "dodge" skill (one could parry or one could dodge) as armor encumbrance was severe on dodging.
Sounds like how X-Com handles armor is along the lines of what would be preferred: pips of armor are straight DR, although some energy effects can bypass armor, and some enemy types can Shred (permamently remove) one or more pips of armor on a hit.
Real armor is almost impossible to penetrate, so making it harder to hit (by requiring the hit to be in one of the vulnerable areas) is more realistic.
You could model it with an alternate mode where the person was trying to penetrate because they were strong but not skillful (or, say, a bear) but you'd want the DR to be extremely high. Cloth armor (gambeson) can barely be penetrated by an average longsword blow, for example, so we're talking at least 5 DR for the very lightest armor probably going up to 20 or so for heavy.
You could model it with an alternate mode where the person was trying to penetrate because they were strong but not skillful (or, say, a bear) but you'd want the DR to be extremely high. Cloth armor (gambeson) can barely be penetrated by an average longsword blow, for example, so we're talking at least 5 DR for the very lightest armor probably going up to 20 or so for heavy.
That depends on what kind of armor you're referring to. So far as I know, pretty much any kind of armor has something that'll get through it. I mean, soldiers still died in droves on the battlefield.
AC is how hard it is to land a 'damaging blow', that's why armour does not help your touch AC
Literally pulled off what Fluttershy's trying in the last panel today.
Ah, another ancient callback is mentioned. Here's the page you might be looking for.