Carbonationspren

Just ninja'ed me! I agree!

(Minor Mistborn Era 2 spoilers ahead) One issue that I see with Lightweavers creating micro/radio/gamma rays is that at this point in technological development, Roshar has no idea what those are. Since the intention of the magic practitioner is important for their ability to use Investiture, it would be hard for Lightweavers to create electromagnetic radiation that they didn't even have a good concept of. Thus far in the Cosmere, the most technologically advanced people are the Scadrians, and even they don't have radio yet, since (minor Shadows of Self spoiler): To illustrate this principle, that using Investiture requires a concept and intention, here's this WoB: (emphasis added, https://wob.coppermind.net/events/98-worldbuilders-ama/#e850) So, as of now, Lightweavers wouldn't be able to produce these kinds of radiation without someone teaching them about the electromagnetic spectrum. Who could do this? I see two options: A friendly (or not friendly) Scadrian Worldhopper shows up, having freshly discovered radio and perhaps a plethora of other new technology, and teaches everyone. Since Harmony seems to have gained a knowledge of scientific advancements, including an approximate timeline of when they should be discovered, it stands to reason that other Shards would have an understanding of this kind of thing and could teach the Radiants. Item 2 brings up an interesting idea: There are three Shards on Roshar: Honor, Cultivation, and Odium. Honor is dead, and Cultivation isn't really talking directly with anybody right now. Odium, however is alive and kicking. This gives the Dawnsingers/Listeners/parsh-whatevers a definite advantage. Assuming Odium gained the same scientific that Harmony did through Ascension, Odium could educate his Illumination-wielding Voidbinders in other forms of radiation, something that the Knights Radiant don't have access to. In the Cosmere, knowledge is power. Another thing that most Voidbinders have on their side is a direct link to Odium for Voidlight (in my understanding, similar to an Allomancer's direct connection to Preservation). Since these Voidbinders don't need to rely on a supply of gemstones for Investiture, I suspect they would be more capable of brute feats requiring large quantities of Investiture. Thus, I think that it is possible for Odium to teach his forces to wield deadly radiation in combat or another use that hasn't really been discussed here: communication. I would think that when someone with Illumination becomes attuned to their powers, they could sense other forms of radiation (similar to Savantism on Scadrial). This could allow Illumination Surgebinders to communicate in a Morse-like code (handy that they're bound to Cryptics) without the need for a spanreed or similar device.

This seems like more evidence that Odium can't create Voidshards, for whatever reason, so he finds ways to adapt. He enhances the Singers/Fused/Royals/Parsh-whatevers so that they can grow their own biological (Investiture-enhanced) weapons. These seem kind of like a Shardplate substitute, but a Shardblade equivalent is still absent. Singers don't have access weapons that can effortlessly cut through any material besides the Shardblades they have captured from humans.

Will there eventually be a way to view any changes the Dragonsteel made during the review process?

Is there any canon that says that the metal inside you must be touching you to be burned? If an Allomancer swallowed, say, a copper-coated Ettmetal bead, then burned the Ettmetal before burning the copper, that seems to solve the problem. The copper would act as an insulator while the Ettmetal was used, then could be safely burned away after the Ettmetal reserves were gone.

Well, Chasmfiends have 14 legs (I think). I'm not sure that they have opposable thumbs, though, so that could be an issue.

Well, he kind of already does that. That's basically what Thunderclasts are. The Knights Radiant/Honor/Cultivation don't have an equivalent super-huge-rock-beast-warrior-thing. Shardblades, though, are mentioned multiple times as being "designed to fight" Thunderclasts. This leads me to believe that Odium (thus far) is unable of creating Voidshards, and has found other ways to create spren-based weapons.

That doesn't make a lot of sense, since dead Radiant spren appear as spren in the Cognitive Realm. I'm personally on board with the Dragonsteel group. From the Dragonsteel Prime chapters, we get the idea that Dragonsteel is an adamantium-like super strong substance. This would be valuable anywhere in the Cosmere. -Frost, Dragonsteel Prime Chapter 25

Minor Sixth of Dusk Spoilers Ahead So, at the London signing, we got this WoB: (Emphasis added, complete WoB can be found at https://wob.coppermind.net/events/256-oathbringer-london-signing/#e8606) So, what does this mean if one of the letters is referencing First of the Sun? One thing that we should take into account is that Sixth of Dusk takes place a long time after Stormlight Archive, so assuming that the Letters were written contemporary to Oathbringer, Patji itself might not be the Vessel/location of a Shard yet. First of the Sun would be mentioned in an earlier state than it is seen in Sixth of Dusk. I see a few possibilities for First of the Sun being mentioned in the letters: The Shard on First of the Sun is the author of the first letter The Shard on FoS is the author of the second letter (theorized to be Bavadin, holder of Autonomy) Obrodai the Shardworld is an earlier name for FoS (and the "avatar" there is Patji? Though, Patji is referred to as male, and the avatar is referred to as female.) It is probably not in the third letter, since that is almost definitely written by Harmony. So, what do you guys think? Anything I've missed? What can we learn from this about FoS/Patji?

This might be intentional, but Nightblood seems to be referred to with masculine pronouns. After Nightblood almost "eats" Szeth and Lift, though, Lift refers to Nightblood with feminine pronouns: US hardcover, page 1140 (emphasis added)

I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, but Ben Olsen is listed twice as a member of Brandon's writing group: US hardcover, page 11 (emphasis added) Edit: After looking at Acknowledgements sections from other books, it appears that one of them is supposed to be Ben Olson.

So, one reason why the highstorms are so placid in Shinovar is that Shinovar has the Misted Mountains to shield it or "break up" the highstorm before it reaches them. Alethkar doesn't have a similar geological feature. Also, in the books, we've only seen the Everstorm reach Azir (in Edgedancer), so (not including Oathbringer), we haven't yet seen what the Everstorm is like when it reaches Alethkar after having already gone across the continent.

The Coppermind home page still links to Theoryland as the Interview database.

This reminds me of Calamity (Reckoners 3). It sounds a lot like (minor spoiler) If steelpushing and ironpulling worked on mercury, that could potentially be very useful.

OK, so I've come up with a central board, and some more gameplay ideas, so I'd like to get some input. First, here's the board (size spoiler): This is roughly based off of the illustration in WoK. I chose a hexagonal pattern, since it there are three "forward" directions from each plateau. (Square/rhombus/triangle-based patterns could work, too, but the hexagons have the most options for movement (and they look the most like plateaus) ). On the right side of the plains, there are holes, since the the plateaus get farther apart further out. The Tower is a big plateau in the middle. The biggest inconsistency from the reference drawing is that the Tower is centered, which I think is necessary for fairness. The rhombus-shaped plateaus can be moved on and off of, like any other plateau. I used them to add some variety and maintain symmetry. The circles on the left represent the camps of the highprinces. Armies can be moved be moved off of the personal player board and onto the corresponding plateau in front of the camp (just numbered for now, I didn't want to draw the highprince glyphs with a mouse) and vice versa. The circles on the far right are highstorm counter. Every time a highstorm number is rolled, a token of some sort will advance down until the storm tile is reached, which means that the highstorm shows up. One thing that I'm not sure of is whether ten is too many or too few spaces to have. That can probably only be determined by testing the game. In the middle, the colored regions are a way of organizing the plateaus. In the proposed 6-sided dice roll table above, there are seven chasmfiend rolls. Each region could correspond to a roll of the dice. This could be determined by tiles that shift every highstorm, to keep chasmfiend appearances unpredictable. One thing that I haven't yet figured out is how to randomly and fairly choose a plateau. Each region has 20-21 plateaus (except region 7, which has 26 plus the Tower). I'm thinking either more dice rolls, or perhaps something dependent on the current location of the highstorm track could determine the specific location of the chasmfiend. One thing that hasn't really been specified at all yet is how the armies will be structured. Here is my proposal, and I'd like to get some input. There will be four kinds of armies: Soldiers, Shardbearers, man bridges, and chull bridges. Armies are allowed a certain amount of movement each turn. Armies can be split or combined, but they can't get between plateaus without bridges. Specifically, Soldiers: common forces, deal 1 damage per unit. We could potentially differentiate between spearmen and archers; archers could attack from one plateau away, whereas spearmen would have to be on the same plateau as the enemy. Shardbearers: special forces, deal 3? damage per unit. Everyone starts out with one full shardbearer, with the ability to duel other players or rent the King's Shards for a high price If the highprince has no Stormlight, the Shardplate will not function, and cannot put a shardbearer in to battle. Man bridges: can move 1 unit (and however many shardbearers) 2 plateaus per turn: These are faster than chull bridges (see below), which can only move 1 plateau per turn Unlike chull bridges, they can die during battles Chull bridges: can move 2 units (and however many shardbearers) 1 plateau per turn: These are slower than man bridges (see above), but they can move more forces per turn These require chills to be owned and cared for back at the camp I'd like input on these types and abilities. What works? What doesn't work? A lot of this probably will need to be tested with humans, but theoretical input is good now, too. Another thing to consider is how these will be represented in the game. Though this is secondary in importance to actual game mechanics, I'd like to think about what kinds of pieces will represent these forces in a way that would be practical to make and wouldn't take up too much space, since the plateaus aren't super big. Would we want to do a Risk-style thing, where we have pieces for 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, etc. number of armies? How will that work if we divide archers and spearmen? One thing that I'm still thinking about is how battles will actually go down. I'm thinking that we'd want some element of chance, probably with a die roll. How do we determine deaths and such? Parshendi (assuming a game-controlled player): The Parshendi would "spawn" on the Tower and move toward the nearest chasmfiend. Once a certain number of Parshendi forces accumulated, if they were unchallenged, they would take the gemheart. Parshendi don't need bridges. At what point would they begin to move back towards their home for highstorm shelter? Turn order: I've made some revisions to the way I think turns should be structured: Current player rolls for highstorm/chasmfiend/special event determination: If the final highstorm space is reached, all forces on the Plains die, all Stormlight reserves refill, and all pupating chasmfiends vanish. No armies can be moved on or off the Plains this turn If a chasmfiend is rolled, the exact location is determined, and a chasmfiend is placed on the board. If a special event is rolled, a card is drawn and the event is resolved. Everybody moves their armies at the same time: Parshendi move too I feel like having everyone move at once makes more sense as far as the pace of the game and the way that resource handling and such will probably work This way, joint attacks can be mounted simultaneously Players take turns doing politcal and administrative things. These could include: Soulcasting food Training soldiers Purchasing bridgemen Funding fabrial research (science) Trading with merchants Players could receive some form of income on every turn, like new recruits or money from their lands. These will probably have special options in the form of cards. I think this game needs cards, but it isn't totally clear in my head how the cards would work, yet Next player becomes current player, process repeats. Other thoughts: What if the chasmfiends got sparser as the game progressed, mimicking what happens in the book? Something political would probably have to fill that void, maybe fabrials? In WoK, Elhokar baits a live chasmfiend to hunt for sport? Should that be possible here? It could offer a different way to get gemhearts. I don't think that chasmfiends need to "expire", since the Parshendi will get to any chrysalises that aren't claimed by players. Not all gemhearts are created equal, or are they? So, that was a lot. What do you guys think?

I like that. I can see the Parshendi being an optional player, maybe for when you just want to add one more. Speaking of players, how many can we feasibly support? There are 10 highprinces, but I don't think this would work as a 10 player game. We can probably have character cards for all 10, but only 6 could play at a time (7 with the Parshendi). Does that sound reasonable?

I don't know if I'm totally sold on the Parshendi being a player. It seems like there would be a lot less to do, and they would have access to a lot less resources. I think that Parshendi presence should be determined by the proximity to the warcamps and chance, so the chasmfiends closer to the camps would have a smaller likelihood of Parshendi, or at least a smaller Parshendi force. What makes more sense to me is once a chasmfiend appears, Parshendi will begin accumulating on the plateau, with the closer plateaus gaining forces slower. If a critical value of Parshendi accumulate before the plateau is attacked, the Parshendi take the gemheart and leave. If a highprince arrives, they will (somehow) battle the Parshendi. Something that I thought about concerning turn order: In a previous post, I talked about having a War phase and a Business/Politics phase for each turn. I don't have this all worked out, but another possibility would be to have War and Business/Politics rounds, i.e. everyone goes around and moves their armies/fights, then everyone goes around does their political maneuvering. This could make campaigning for gemhearts a little more fair, perhaps. Other things would have to change to make that work, though.

That's actually kind of what I was thinking of. That isn't unique to Puerto Rico, though. I was also thinking of 7 Wonders, Bang, and Catan: Cities and Knights. But yes, Puerto Rico is the most similar incarnation of that.

Here are a bunch of thoughts: What kind of board(s) will it have? I'm envisioning a main, central board with a map of the Shattered Plains, used for coordinating armies and gemhearts. Then, each player will have a personal map of their warcamp in front of them, used for coordinating political actions, like alliances, soulcasting, resource allocation, and bridge/spearman barracks/training. Main board: I like this, maybe something like Catan (again) with moveable tokens to make things variable. The plateaus nearest to the warcamps would have a fixed, low, probability, but plateaus farther out would have higher probabilities that fluctuated between games. I like the idea of moveable tokens better than coordinates, that way we can provide probability. For example, if we had tokens numbered 2-16, and two eight-sided dice, tokens with 2 or 16 would have a 1.5% chance of being rolled, where tokens with 9 would have a 12.5% chance of being rolled. The problem that I see with that, is I don't think that it's realistic for a chasmfiend to pupate every turn. So, I propose (expanding on my idea above) that the dice also can move forward the highstorms or other special events (in a deck of cards, i.e. Jasnah shows up, Hoid offends everyone, etc.). Here is a possible probability chart (spoilered for size): This would mean only 7-8 plateaus with chasmfiends, though, unless more than one appeared each turn. We would need a way to "share the love". Maybe each number corresponds to a region of plateaus, and another method (such as the specific roll of a certain die) corresponds to which plateau in the region. Player boards: Each player would have a map of their warcamp. I'm thinking that there should be political/administrative/scientific/etc. actions, too. These could include soulcasting, training infantry, purchasing resources from traveling merchants, Vorin worship, fabrial research, and visiting parties to make alliances and trade. The boards themselves would have areas representing barracks, temples (soulcasters are ardents), merchant housing, storehouses (food and money), etc. Perhaps players could lay down cards that gave them certain abilities there. The boards would also detail each Highprince's special advantage/disadvantage (if that was included). Highstorms: As @Belzedar said above, the Highstorms would wipe out anything on the Plains. Another thing, though is that Soulcasters can't create food without Stormlight. If a highprince's large gemstones are depleted, they can't soulcast anything. When the highstorm comes, all Stormlight reserves will be replenished. Turn length: I think people should be allowed more than one action per turn, but it should be structured. One possible sequence: Roll the dice and resolve what happens Move armies on the planes and (possibly) fight. Trade with other players, play cards, purchase things, and Soulcast. Two and three could be switched, but I think they should be distinct. There shouldn't be a "feedback loop" of options from alternating between fighting and playing cards.

This reminds me of the barbarians in the Cities and Knights expansion of the Settlers of Catan. The barbarians have a little track that they travel on, going one space further every time a certain die is rolled (a 50% chance each turn). It looks like this (size spoiler): Every time they reach the end, they "attack" and a bunch of bad things happen. I think this would be perfect for highstorms: you can predict when they will hit, but since it is up to random die rolls, you don't know exactly when.

Here are some quotes about the pancakes (minor Edgedancer spoilers): Those account for seven of the ten. Another two are mentioned but they aren't described. And, of course,

Can you post the art samples here? Not all of us have Board Game Geek accounts.