Nioca

I wouldn't recommend branching out to Mage Spells as well. Even if you are a singleton, trying to upkeep both magic circles and melee weapons (and all the skills associated with) really starts to cut into your character's effectiveness at higher levels. That said, a couple points in Mage Spells probably wouldn't hurt (to get Light and Haste). But you probably shouldn't invest heavily. Also, summoning spells royally suck, and aren't worth the investment. Anything you get won't be nearly good enough to handle what comes after you.

Good question. ...what? (To be honest, I've never used Dread Curse before. There's supposed to be some sort of NPC in a scenario to remove it, but fact is, you may just be screwed. Because the only sure-fire way to remove it is to leave the scenario. I can try cooking up a script real quick to make an NPC remove it, if you want.) EDIT: Nevermind. Click to reveal.. (To remove the curse...) Go to Tempere and talk to the head priest. He'll remove it for a thousand gold.

... What the... How the... In what possible... *is completely speechless* The only thing I can think is this. Look at the skill list for any party member, and head down to special skills. Is there a skill named Dread Curse there? If so, you got hit with a dread curse, which reduces your stats. If it's not, all I can do is bow to your mastery of warping all that is good and holy.

They were downloadable before. That's odd.

Five to six hours, typically (roughly 6:00 PM-12:00 AM EDT, 5:00 PM-11:00 PM CDT). Though that's not a hard-and-fast rule, that's usually what it comes down to.

Originally Posted By: Fluff Bah. Everyone knows that the mighty Ornks were derived from Drakons! Some things were just lost along the way. Others, were gained. The ability to survive in space, for instance. But that's impossible. Ornks existed before Drakons. Drakons descending from Ornks, on the other hand...

Okay. The average dice roll for the entire party is 11.12 (basically, an 11). For each character, in descending order of average roll: John - 12.97 (+1.85) Cumulo - 12.05 (+0.93) Lindy - 11.92 (+0.8) Conall - 11.54 (+0.42) Kaval - 10.54 (-0.58) Etris - 10.41 (-0.71) Temmyn - 10.33 (-0.79) Thuja - 9.92 (-1.2) So there's not a real spread here. Our average rolls tend to be, well, average. The only outlier is John, who is almost two whole points above the norm. Our worst session was Session 5, where the party's average roll was 9.93. The best average ever for a session belongs to John in session 4, who was rolling a mean 15.2. Worst ever belongs to Etris in session 5, who rolled 7.14 on average. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to figure out how to steal John's dice. Anyway, posted on the calendar. So long as it's the usual time, any day works.

Considering John's behavior, that's not all that surprising. Because of Duck's and SD's portrayals of him, he's wound up being the ultimate example of "Character you'd likely strangle if you met him in real life". As point of fact, though, it seems that there's always a punching bag in the party. When John leaves, Etris takes up the role. I imagine if Etris were gone too, that someone else would step into that role.

But...But I just finished... Ah well.

Originally Posted By: Sarachim Did you work out the average of our die rolls? It seems like the real way to tell if the dice hate us is to check whether we're over or under 10.5. If we're getting normal rolls but hitting less than half as often as we get hit, then Ephesos hates us and the dice are taking the fall for him. ... I'll have to get back to you on that one. *crawls into a corner and weeps at the prospect of having to check the values of 370 dice rolls*

First, here's a log of what happened when I split off from the party, on the off chance anyone's curious. Click to reveal.. (Etris's Solo Adventure) ephesossh (10:08:08 PM): Do you slow down when you lose sight of the rest of the party? ephesossh (10:08:27 PM): Or are you even looking? ephesossh (10:08:45 PM): (Don't metagame. ) Nioca (10:08:53 PM): No. I keep moving in one direction to get out of this forest as quickly as possible. ephesossh (10:09:03 PM): Okay. ephesossh (10:09:39 PM): You very quickly realize that you have no idea where you're going. Nioca (10:10:26 PM): Don't need one. I'm just traveling in as straight a line as possible. Wherever it goes, it'll eventually hit out. ephesossh (10:11:36 PM): Okay, then we'll come back to you in a bit. Nioca (10:11:51 PM): Gotcha. ephesossh (10:15:55 PM): You do see the blast of light Lindy created, if you ever turn around. ephesossh (10:16:39 PM): And you see the bolt of lightning, but it's on par with the storm so it doesn't look out of place. Nioca (10:17:06 PM): *Sigh* Some shark's going to nail their butts, aren't they? ephesossh (10:17:14 PM): We'll see. Nioca (10:17:52 PM): I'm really at a dilemma here. Nioca (10:18:26 PM): On one hand, I don't want to just leave them alone. But on the other hand, with the way they're behaving, it's just asking for a TPK. ephesossh (10:18:51 PM): Well, while they decide things for themselves, we can go back to you. ephesossh (10:19:08 PM): First, what are you using for light? Nioca (10:19:14 PM): Magic. ephesossh (10:19:18 PM): 'k. ephesossh (10:19:42 PM): Well, while you're running, it's harder to maintain your concentration, so the area's smaller than if you were just standing. ephesossh (10:19:51 PM): You hear a series of growls to your left. Nioca (10:20:41 PM): I slow down. I don't want to get caught off-guard by an errant shark. ephesossh (10:20:59 PM): Another growl on your right. But it might be an echo, you're not sure. Nioca (10:21:47 PM): I keep walking but keep an eye out for sharks. ephesossh (10:23:05 PM): 'k. ephesossh (10:24:19 PM): You realize something about the growls. They really, really don't sound like sharks. ephesossh (10:25:13 PM): (have you been going in a straight line?) Nioca (10:25:16 PM): Yes. Nioca (10:26:32 PM): I stop and listen. Can I make out anything specific about it? (Nature/Perception check?) ephesossh (10:26:54 PM): Nothing you recognize. Nioca (10:27:08 PM): I keep moving. Shield still in place? ephesossh (10:27:20 PM): It has worn off by now. Nioca (10:27:52 PM): Ah, well. I don't want to cast it again for fear of being premature. Also, I brush off the shark bits as I walk. ephesossh (10:29:12 PM): You manage to get most of the shark bits. Nioca (10:30:10 PM): *watches them shouting* And we wonder why I'm trying to put distance between me and them. ephesossh (10:31:17 PM): (the weather applies to you too) Nioca (10:31:23 PM): (I kinda figured) Nioca (10:31:47 PM): I keep moving, trying to keep my light as strong as possible without becoming heavily draining. ephesossh (10:32:06 PM): The visibility is becoming a problem. Nioca (10:32:32 PM): Spend a stamina to keep the light bright. ephesossh (10:32:53 PM): No need for that. You know it won't help much. Nioca (10:32:57 PM): Oh. ephesossh (10:33:02 PM): If anything, it'd make more glare. Nioca (10:35:10 PM): I keep an eye out for shelter as I walk. Though I probably won't spot any with this wheather. ephesossh (10:35:26 PM): Not unless you trip over it, no. Nioca (10:35:51 PM): Hey, don't knock it. That works some times. Nioca (10:40:03 PM): I'm still walking. I just don't want to keep saying that, since it get repetitive. ephesossh (10:40:15 PM): Yeah, I'm assuming that. Nioca (10:43:05 PM): Use my Razor-rimmed throwing hat to collect some rainwater for drinking. ephesossh (10:43:57 PM): You do so. No problems. Nioca (10:45:08 PM): Perception. Is there any change in the growling? ephesossh (10:45:31 PM): Nope, it's still following you. Nioca (10:45:54 PM): That's good. Means it hasn't worked up the nerve to attack. ephesossh (10:47:06 PM): You don't see that signal, distracted by the growling. Nioca (10:47:29 PM): If I had, my reaction probably would have been, "Oh no! They're chasing me! Run!" Nioca (10:47:45 PM): :-P Nioca (10:48:49 PM): Why do I get the feeling that someone's going to get attacked in the next few minutes? ephesossh (10:49:06 PM): Because we're getting close to the end of the session? Nioca (10:49:44 PM): Did the bolt illuminate anything for me? ephesossh (10:50:09 PM): Yes, in fact. ephesossh (10:50:26 PM): You catch a brief glimpse of the lightning reflecting off of metal. Nioca (10:51:11 PM): Which direction is the metal in relation to me? ephesossh (10:51:20 PM): On your left. Nioca (10:51:30 PM): Oh. Nioca (10:51:32 PM): Crap. Nioca (10:52:19 PM): Um... I strafe towards the metal so as not to lose my direction. ephesossh (10:54:16 PM): The next flash of lightning reveals nothing to you. All you see is trees. ephesossh (10:54:53 PM): However, you hear a keening sound, similar to the sound of steel on steel. It steadily rises in pitch. Nioca (10:55:26 PM): I create a force shield around myself. (1 Stamina) ephesossh (10:56:02 PM): Duly noted. ephesossh (10:59:19 PM): You think you hear footsteps behind you. Wet, squishy footsteps. Nioca (11:00:37 PM): I prepare for battle. Can my perception pinpoint the target? ephesossh (11:00:47 PM): Nope. ephesossh (11:01:06 PM): You hear Lindy. Nioca (11:01:22 PM): "What the- Are you lot insane?!?" ephesossh (11:01:34 PM): Go ahead and say it in the main window. Alright, in the interest of statistical gathering, I went through all the logs. First off, there is a lot of data. However, I gathered a few interesting tidbits. Two things to note, however: First, this doesn't count anything that happens in private. If the public can't see it, it isn't counted. Second, some of the sessions were quite chaotic, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a dice roll or some such that I missed. Click to reveal.. (Warning. Whole crapload of stats.) Okay, first off, we have a total success rate of 40%. If any of us do anything, there's a 6-in-10 chance that it'll fail. Conall has the best success rate of us all at 46%, and Temmyn has the worst at 25%. The all-time-highest success rate for a single session belongs to Lindy, at 65% during Session 3. The all-time-lowest belongs to Temmyn again, with 11% during Session 4. Overall, Session 3 was the best session for success, with us almost managing a 50% success rate (we got 49%). However, this is when the dice turned on us. Next session was an all-time low, at 29%, and the one after that was a mere 33%. It's hard to say whether the dice like or dislike Kaval. On one hand, he has a success rate of 36% and has gotten 3 of the campaign's 19 fumbles. On the other hand, of the 18 critical successes had by the party, Kaval's gotten 7 of them. The best theory I can come up with is that Kaval is unfortunately lucky. The deadliest character appears to be Thuja, who rakes in 1.67 kills per session. Conall's a close second, with 1.6 kills/session. And Kaval brings up the rear at a meager 0.4 kills/session. So far, Conall has made the most kills, with a body count of 8. Bluff is indeed the "Roll to fail" skill. 7 bluff attempts have been made (discarding those without a roll), and none have succeeded. Nature isn't all that hot either, holding a success rate of 31%. John appears to draw in the majority of the incidental damage. Of the 24 damage he's taken over the course of the campaign, 14 of it has been from sources other than an enemy. The kicker? 13 of that was from one session (Session 2). Conall, on the other hand, seems to draw in the combat damage, taking 6.6 damage per session in enemy fire (for a total of 25 combat damage, and 33 damage overall). Etris uses the most stamina per session (2.25), which comes as no surprise. John has used absolutely none over the course of 4 sessions (well, 3 and a half). Despite this, however, John still manages to lose 3.5 stamina each session. Fate also seems to be utterly indifferent to John. He has not gotten a single critical success or fumble over the course of 4 sessions. Thuja fumbles the most, pulling in 1.67 fumbles per session. In fact, 14% of his dice rolls thusfar have been fumbles (which is 9% over what it should be). This beat the original pacesetter, who was Conall (he got 3 critical fumbles in his first session!). Curiously enough, both characters were handled by Dikiyoba... Diki, no offense, but I don't think I'll be letting you take over Etris anytime soon. Out of the 370 dice rolls ( ), 148 led to success. 18 rolls were critical successes, and 19 were critical failures. When it comes to rolling, Kaval has rolled the most. He has made 72 dice rolls, and makes 14.4 rolls per session. However, Etris is the most frequent roller, making 15.75 rolls a session. On average, 74 dice rolls are made per session. This part's iffy, since I can only see one side of the equation. However, it appears that enemies have excellent aim. 73% of their attacks find a target. Thuja dodges the most attacks, getting hit only 62% of the time. By contrast, Kaval and John seems to have a 0% chance to evade. Every attack that comes their way lands. This despite the fact that, compared to the rest of the party, both have excellent dexterity and should be able to avoid attack. Thuja appears most likely to spot trouble; he succeeds at 1.33 perception checks a session. This is followed by a three-way tie between Conall, Kaval, and Lindy, who spot 1 thing per session. Meanwhile, John apparently can't even spot the spot checks, as he's made 0 perception checks successfully. Party Stats 370 dice rolls made. 148 dice rolls successful (40%). 18 dice rolls critical successes (5%). 19 dice rolls critical fumbles (5%). 145 damage taken (93 from combat, 50 from incidental). 93 stamina drained (39 used, 54 lost). 27 enemy kills. 2 incidences of ineptness (1 Cumulo, 1 Lindy). 3 incidences of critical condition (2 John, 1 Kaval). 7 bluff attempts (0 successful). 19 nature attempts (6 successful). 60 hostile attacks made (44 hit). 24 perceptions checks made. Phew. Anyway, the short version? Yes, the dice hate us. It's not just our imaginations.

6 EDT, 5 CDT. Room is spidwebRP. AMEND: Some of us are already on, BTW.

If I've gotten my stats right, you're now at 11/22.

I don't know why, but I've got a bad feeling about this one...

Article is up, but you're the ones that'll have to add the content.

I'm fairly certain that he was referring to Dikiyoba, who only has 994 posts to go for 7000.

Well, let's see. It's pretty much a given that any aliens that invaded would be far superior to us when it comes to technology. They'd have to have some sort of powerful energy gathering/generation technology, along with efficient engines capable of sending a ship on a several-light-year journey (or some sort of Warp Drive/Hyperdrive). It's not much of a stretch to posit that their weapons, sensor, and defensive technology would be up to a similar par. In short, if aliens did decide to invade, we'd likely be screwed. As such, taking a diplomatic route would probably be the best choice for the planet as a whole. I think, in the invent of a hostile invasion, what I'd do would be to go underground with some weapons, supplies, a Mac computer, some bacteria, and a supersoaker. Then, steal what I can from our new alien overlords. If it's the extraterrestrial equivalent of a Beetles invasion, however, then there is absolutely no hope for us. On the plus side, maybe Elvis will do a new tour on Earth.

Yeah, and that doesn't account for things such as velocity, starting position, air pressure, dice composition, cats, spin, stray cosmic particles deciding to mess with you... and so forth. (It's late. I'm tired. And in a rare twist, I oversimplified) EDIT: The new subject to mangle is Basic English. *headdesk*

Um, 7 is the Median dice roll, to be sure, but I'm fairly certain that it only has a 1-in-11 chance of showing up, same as any other number. EDIT: Correction. 6 is the median dice roll.

Originally Posted By: Enraged Slith Let's not address each other's views in ratings topics as it inspires discussion in an inappropriate forum. I think it's pretty clear that we all have different opinions on what constitutes as a good scenario. Fair enough. I removed that comment, but still... Quote: From the Warp Review Finally, a note at the other reviewers. Wow. Just wow. I am absolutely boggled by the ratings for this scenario. In my opinion, this scenario does not deserve any of the previous ratings it has been given, good or bad. It's certainly not the shining standard of scenarios, but neither is it worthless garbage. Yeesh. It just seems to me that scenario rating standards are being held either phenomenally high or ridiculously low with Warp, and there's no middle ground in-between.

REVIEW FOR WARP 1.0 The Summary You play a bunch of adventurers who happen to just be passing through when your attention is drawn to a mysterious tower. As it turns out, an illicit time-travel experiment has just taken place, and you get caught up in everyone's schemes. The Good The plot is interesting and well-executed, for the most part. I have a hard time saying more without spoilers, but I thought it was fun and somewhat cerebral. There's also a small amount of humor present to lighten the mood, and it isn't particularly overbearing. Combat. Well, as others have mentioned, it wasn't particularly difficult. But then, that's not really the point of this scenario, is it? Still, it's nice to see that, with the high resistance enemies thrown at the party, that they included a timer to stop the fights should they go on too long (like, say, from having a party of all mages). Also, there were a lot of small details. Papers scattered everywhere, dialogue changing depending on your actions, and so forth. No bugs, far as I can tell. The design, while not inspiring, was solid. And for all the holes that could appear in the plot, he did pretty well in keeping them under control. The Neutral The scenario wasn't particularly inspiring in the graphical department, but what was Ephesos supposed to put in a basement? Waterfalls and rainbows? He worked with what he had, and he did that pretty well. There was also the feel that my party was accomplishing nothing whilst playing. Which, while accurate, was somewhat frustrating. Also, we don't see quite enough of the two main antagonists. The first is supposed to be desperate, but seems to come off more as insane from her brief appearances. And the second is both cliche and unpronounceable. Finally, the barriers inside the heavily-locked doors were annoying. Dang it, I unlocked this freakishly-high-level door, now give me the treasure! The Bad First off, there's a plothole. Considering the story, it's not surprising, but it's still there. [spoileralt=ENDING SPOILERS] When you fight Ach'deniz'toh the first time, he mentions killing Ethalia. However, it's pointed out that, if old Ethalia dies in the final battle, that the demon goes on a rampage and kills everyone, altering the timeline. So how can the party confront him after old Ethalia's death? Or, more importantly, how does the adventure take place at all? (That said, a handwave do come to mind, The first is that the timelines don't resolve until after the adventurers have done their bit, and that the universe lets them handle the paradox that's present throughout the scenario. But as it is, it definitely bugs me.) Also, you better pray that a fast party member gets the superwand during the final fight. Otherwise, you may lose half your party before you get to act. Two hostiles capable of casting powerful, multi-target spells? Ouch.[/spoileralt] Also, exposition. For such a small scenario, this thing is LOADED with text. The monologue (calling it dialogue is a smidge too generous) at times reads more like a dissertation than a plot. Admittedly, the starting stuff can be skipped by telling Martha that you don't understand, but then you miss almost half the plot. The Verdict - [rating]GOOD[/rating] Play it. It's a fun scenario with a cerebral plot, even if it isn't the best thing in Blades. Thoughts I am never doing a time travel scenario. Ever. And to any that do make future scenarios dealing with time travel, keep in mind just how omnipresent these paradoxes can get. Anything that happens in the past would instantly adjust the future, unless said time travel also shunts the adventurers to an alternate universe. Also, just because dialogue and dialog boxes grant you eight paragraphs of text doesn't mean you have to use them all. Less can be more (...why are you all looking at me like that? ).

Actually, it would be nice to come across an encounter that isn't trying to kill us. Maybe a friendly NPC like those from the first session. Or maybe even a small town of gnomes or goblins or... yeah.

Click to reveal.. (Etris's Stats) Name: Etris Tanner Occupation: Battlemage Race: Human Alignment: Neutralish Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Intelligence: 6 (+1) Health: 13/16 (+3) Speed: 5 Stamina: 10/10 Magic (Force): 4 Magic (Light): 2 Magic (Divination): 1 Magic (Elemental Lore): 1 Martial (Shortswords): 3 Bluff: 2 Artifice: 2 ITEMS Yellow Soporific Spores (Saps stamina) Razor-rimmed Throwing Hat Bag of Sand Shortsword (Missing; flew away) I would have spent my level on learning First Aid, but breaking into a new skill is just... so... expensive. So I went for Intelligence instead.

He increased Strength.

Speaking of which, I looked Evocation up; yes, it can launch fireballs. In fact, that's the main point of evocation. Evoking forces and elements. Then again, Cumulo not being able to launch fireballs may be a result of his natural ineptitude, so... yeah. Also, Sarachim: Seconded. Over half of the party for this session couldn't tell social aptitude from a hole in the ground. This should be fun...