Gamma Fiend

Shadowed Secrets Day 1: Salutations The stranger at the bar hunkered down even further in their seat, trying to obscure their features even more and tentatively taking a sip off of the mug of ale that the Innkeeper slid in front of them moments ago. “Stories?” They asked skeptically. “Stories, aye.” The Innkeeper said, taking another swig out of his own glass himself, eying the patron the whole time. “Some men take small tales and spin their yarn, making it all seem like some sort of grand adventure, while others may describe large, significant events, unceremoniously glossing over the small details – the why's and the how's – robbing the wonderful stories of their mirth and wonder. “Some men aren't me, though,” he added after a moment with a wicked grin. The stranger looked up, meeting the Innkeeper's eye, uncertain to respond. “I suppose I have time for a story.” They said, pausing for a second. “So what is your name, anyways?” “Shadows, where are my manners!” Exclaimed the Innkeeper. “Shady's the name, not that that means much," he said, extending a hand, silently laughing at another one of his spectacularly tasteless jokes. False names were common out in the Forests. And Shady was just a horrible play on words about ethereal spectres that held vigil throughout the forests, silently enforcing the Simple Rules. “So, it was a night like any other night, at a place not much different than this very own fine establishment.....”, the Innkeeper began, wasting no time, losing his raspy voice for a more proper tone for oration, a storyteller's voice. Stories were best when told properly, after all. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shady stood at the bar, silently wiping down the bar after another long usual night playing Innkeeper for the rambunctious crowd that had filled in throughout the day. Most sensible folk knew better than trying to travel the roads of the Forests of Hell at night. Nearby the crazy man Raze kept muttering to himself about burning the entire place down to the ground, while several people shot him menacing glances as the timid fellow named Ash tried to soothe and placate the deranged man. Sighing to himself, Shady served up the next round of drinks. “Seta,” he called out, getting the attention of the part-time help he had recently hired. The lad wasn't the brightest, but he meant well and did good work. “Snipe and his fellow companions, Wilim and Araris, seems like he actually found an eager crowd to listen to his scholarly rants” he told the boy, nodding towards the group of men sitting in the corner, swapping stories from the trail over a game of dice and drinks. Joesph, an obvious former fortman, judging from his foppish, lace-trimmed coat and ridiculously tall hat and fine tailored suit was sitting nearby the table, easily eavesdropping on the noisy conversation, while Jain was sitting at another table, yelling over the din to Wern about a giant panda – whatever in the name of shadows that was – and how he should try tracking and hunting the creature. Despite nobody but Jain having ever seen the said animal. Some things never change, a small voice said in the back of his mind. The Forests of Hell had always felt like home to Shady – despite the strange rules and the even stranger company. Still not sure if I prefer affiliating with this lot, or the Shades outside, he laughed to himself, shaking his head as Luce, an acclaimed survivor, was accosting Alvron of attempting to pickpocket her while Tryel sat in-between them, nervously ducking his head under the hurled insults. At another table, a “merchant”, even shadier than the barkeep, was trying to peddle his wares to whoever would listen, offering up spectacular deals on exclusive and accurate hand drawn maps and special herbs and remedies any medical practitioner needed to continue their craft out in the Forests. A small bell suddenly rang out, cutting everybody off in the midle of their conversations. “Sound means last call!” The Innkeeper growled. Staying up longer and being cheery to the customers meant more money for him, but shadows, was he tired and ready to lie down and get some rest for the night. A little while later everybody had made their ways up to their rooms, a full house for the evening, when Shady sent Seta out to the stable to check on and rub down the horses and get everything closed up for the night. Just because it wasn't safe to travel at night didn't mean fools attempted it in hopes of ripping off and stealing from the unprepared. Settled in and ready for bed, Shady couldn't but shake a nagging voice in the back of his head that something was wrong, but his exhaustion won out in the end and next thing he knew he was woken up abruptly in the morning by a shrill scream that pierced through the silence like a silver-tipped bolt fired from a crossbow. Rushing down the steps, it was daytime so it was safe to run – but barely – Shady soon saw what the fuss was all about. Outside, about halfway from the stables to the protective rings of silver that were laid into the ground to protect the Waystop Inn from Shades, was lying Seta, facedown in a puddle of his own blood. Shades were swarmed around the inn, their bodies fully formed and corporeal. Their eyes red, and ready for murder. “Somebody has spilled blood,” The Innkeeper said weakly. “Shadows preserve us, we're doomed.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Innkeeper's tale tapered off, clearly indicating the end of a chapter in his story, as he took a large chug of his beer in front of him, his loud gulping filling in the silence that had fallen over the inn once more. “Some of course speculated that my poor helper must have discovered some shady individuals trying to the rob the inn, or maybe they thought they'd been spotted and were trying to leave at night, but either way, criminals being the type that broker no witnesses, them scum must have cut him down.” He said after emptying his mug and smacking his lips. “Stupid move, if you ask me, because it forced all of them to be trapped inside of the inn with the rest of us. So what we needed to do was figure out whodunnit, and root them out and expose them, sacrificing them to the Shades to appease them so we could all get out of it safely.” There was a long pause. “....So what happened next?” Asked the stranger, finally breaking the silence. Hook, line, and sinker. “See, that depends,” replied the Innkeeper smartly, flashing another grin. “Depends on what?” “Second round or not,” he said, nodding towards the empty mugs sitting in front of them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Day 1 Begins! The Cycle will last for 24hrs and will end at 5AM EST, Saturday September 20th! Good luck everybody! Also for the sake of keeping things in neat, easy order, I request for when people send their orders in to highlight it with what Cycle it is. Thank you. Player List: 1. Raze (Renegade) - Pyromaniac 2. Joseph (The Only Joe) - Former Fort Man 3. Ash (Ashiok) - Anti-pyromaniac 4. Jain (Lightsworn Panda) - Panda Enthusiast 5. Navor the Hand (Alvron) - Pickpocket 6. Tryel (Tulir) - Timid Herbalist 7. Wilim (Mailliw73) - Eager Volunteer 8. Wern (Wyrmhero) - Hunter and Tracker 9. Kasir (Kasimir) - Shady Peddler 10. Araris (Araris Valerian) - Metalcrafter 11. Snipe (Navybrandt) - Scholar 12. Ryfe (Theorymaker) - Mapmaker 13. Aoran (AonarFaileas) - Doctor 14. Luce (Luckat) - Survivor

Oops, let the sign-ups go for a few hours longer than they were supposed to. But they are now closed, and the game will begin as soon as the write-up is posted and PMs are sent out! The Cycles will last 24 hours from when the write-ups are posted, so even if I'm not on, you still only have a 24 hour time period to get your votes and actions in. Anything posted or sent in after that will be ignored. I will of course do my best to be as prompt as possible with the write-ups and cycle turnovers. I hope everybody has a great game, and good luck!

Yes, there is a fire burning in the hearth! At much great danger did your faithful Innkeeper put himself in to be able to provide this amenity! So, yes, people can request the Innkeeper for a burning twig to be able to light their pipes with as a way to circumvent the rules of kindling a flame. And yes, while technically you can run in your RP during the daytime without fear of repercussion, but it should be noted that most people still don't move very quickly during the day time, just to be on the safe side.

Heh, good try. If you were up for a lynch, you'd just still die regardless. (Your death just may or may not be more gruesome.....) Silver Wards will NOT save somebody who broke the Rules, though, even if they were still up for a lynch.

heh, I suppose my words do leave that small loophole, I mostly put the conditional so as not to penalize people who may have accidentally broken the rules in their posts already. So I will say it is quite discouraged to break the Rules via RP, even before the game begins. (As in, you should probably not break them )

Got a little bit less than two days left for sign-ups! The game will officially start sometime in the evening on Thursday, the 18th! I want to thank everybody who has already signed up, and I hope this game will be a lot of fun for people to play! For those who are unfamiliar with the setting of the game, you can check out the Coppermind link for the Forests of Hell to get some general information, but you really don't need to know too much about the story to get the gist of the game, honestly. The Forests of Hell are a strict place with even stricter rules. Don't kindle flame, don't shed the blood of another, don't run at night. To do so means certain death at the hands of the Shades that inhabit the forests. (So that means once the game has started, anybody who breaks these Rules via RP will be killed at the end of the Cycle!) You have been warned!

The storyline could be that it's set in an alternate timeline of Scadrial, where Ruin's influence overcomes The Lord Ruler, and he becomes The Lord Ruin. He uses full advantage of all Hemalurgy, with many Spikes, not to mention his already mega-awesome Compounding powers. Good Luck! Thus allowing the KanDragon being one of his minions.

Adventure through some Dungeons and go slay the KanDragon.

Wasn't Moraine also in the cave with Rand and Nynavene as Rand 'battled' it out with Moridin? So when Moridin picked up Callandor, he was able to be taken control of by Nynavene and Moraine in a circle, who were then able to bring Rand into the Circle, so he could weave all three of Saidin, Saidar, and The True Power together to make a new Seal. At least, that's how I interpreted things going down. I'm not too sure though.

Saved for future updates and rule clarifications. Player List: 1. Raze (Renegade) - Pyromaniac 2. Joseph (The Only Joe) - Former Fort Man 3. Ash (Ashiok) - Anti-pyromaniac 4. Jain (Lightsworn Panda) - Panda Enthusiast 5. Navor the Hand (Alvron) - Pickpocket 6. Tryel (Tulir) - Timid Herbalist 7. Wilim (Mailliw73) - Eager Volunteer 8. Wern (Wyrmhero) - Hunter and Tracker 9. Kasir (Kasimir) - Shady Peddler 10. Araris (Araris Valerian) - Metalcrafter 11. Snipe (Navybrandt) - Scholar 12. Ryfe (Theorymaker) - Mapmaker 13. Aoran (AonarFaileas) - Doctor 14. Luce (Luckat) - Survivor Clarifications: @Joe - No difference. Sorry about that, just bad wording on my part. This game only goes in Cycles, lasting 24 hours. So 1 Cycle or a Full Cycle are the same thing. @Alvron - Correct, you won't be able to change your vote Day 1 because you won't have any Rations yet. That didn't even occur to me, but that is how it would go. @Wyrm - Murders would happen at the same time, and not cancel each other out. If a Convict Kill and Murder Hood are used on the same person, it will be shown as such in the write-up. And if 2 people kill each other (one murder hood, and one Convict Kill) then they would kill each other at the same time (somehow. O.o) And as for votes and posting counting, if you make a post with just a vote, then that would only count as a vote and net you only 2 Rations. But if you make a post discussing the game, or putting any sort of game relevant content in it (or RP) and it has a vote in there, then it will count for both, giving you the 3 Rations.

The Simple Rules “Don’t kindle flame, don’t shed the blood of another, don’t run at night.” -The Three Simple Rules The Simple Rules exist for a reason on the world of Threnody. Anybody who breaks these Rules via RP will automatically die at the end of the Cycle. General Rules: Standard Quick Fix Game (QF) Procedure. Fast paced Cycles lasting 24hrs with write-ups including the results of the lynch and any mentionable Actions. As this game is a QF, player activity is not only encouraged, it will be incentivized. As such, inactivity will be penalized, solely due to the speedy nature of the game. This game can run with as little as 12 people, but can also can accommodate for upwards of 20+ players. All players will be only allowed to submit One Action per Cycle. Actions can count as Item-Use, Messaging/Message Interception, distributing rations, or the Convict Kill actionl. The Civilians win if they can find and get rid of all of the Convicts, and the Convicts win if they outnumber the Civilians. Roles/Allignments Civilian: A regular citizen, just at the wrong place at the wrong time. But in the Forests of Hell, it is usually always the wrong place at the wrong time. But living in the Forests means that you aren’t weak, either. You can potentially start with any item. Convict: A member of a group of criminals with a high bounty on your head, you’ve no choice but to leave no survivors wherever you go. One of you will be chosen and notified each Cycle to make a kill (cycling through each member before any repeats are made, and the Gang Leader can also be chosen to make the kill). You can potentially start with any items except for the Murder Hood and the Glowsap. You know all the other Convicts identities, and can communicate with them via Messages. These can be intercepted. Gang Leader: The leader of the Gang of Convicts. All good gangs need a Leader, and you are the perfect man for the job. Nobody has ever seen your face, and therefore don’t know what you look like. You also know how to cover your tracks, so you can’t be Detected by ordinary means. Only death can reveal who you truly are. You can also send One Letter to each of your fellow convicts anytime throughout the game that can’t be intercepted. Any messages after the first one to each of them can be intercepted, however. You can’t start with any Items. The Gang Leader can not be discovered by Glowsap. If investigated, you will appear as a Civilian. They are also eligible to be selected to make the group kill for the night. Game Items*: Some players will start off with certain items, possibly, depending on the number of players and their role. All items will have a limited number of uses to fit into the theme of scarcity of resources in the Forests of Hell, and will not be rechargeable. *For Stats purposes, these Items will count as “Roles” for this game. Fenweed Sap - A minor poison that won’t kill, but will make the victim cloudy headed and dizzy. Will Negate their Action for the Cycle. Will have a limited number of uses. Can only poison one person with one dose per Cycle. The target that gets Poisoned will be informed so, but not who they were poisoned by. Silver Ward: Some players will start out with a set amount of Silver Wards, and these can be used to save Players from Lynches. Each Cycle, you can target someone with a Ward if you still have any, and if that player ends up being lynched, they will be saved instead. It will be mentioned they were saved by in the write-up, but not by who. If you use a Ward on somebody who doesn’t get lynched, the Item will be wasted. Silver Wards are an Active-Use item, not a passive. So you can’t give them to someone to save them from a future lynch. (Think of it like a Lurcher Role but with a limited number of uses, and can only save from lynches). Glowsap: A special sap that glows with a dull violet colored light. This item is used to track people at night and can be used to find the Alignment of a player. (Civilian or Convict). Will give a result of Civilian when used on the Gang Leader. Murder Hood: A tar-lined burlap sack that allows you to put over the head of your victim and bludgeon them to death. Prevents the spilling of blood, thus keeping you safe from Shade retribution. Convicts or the Gang Leader can not start with this item. Rations: This game will introduce the “Rations” mechanic. Rations allow a player to survive throughout the game. You need to eat 2 Rations every Cycle to survive. If you go 1 Cycle without eating enough Rations (2), you will be Hungry. When you are Hungry you can not perform any Actions. If you go another Cycle without eating the proper number of Rations while in the status of Hungry, you will die from from Starvation. Any players who die from Starvation will be mentioned, but nobody who is Hungry will be revealed. Every cycle, all players should make a post and place a vote. ‘No kill’ will not count as a vote. If you vote and post at least once each Cycle, you will receive 3 Rations that Cycle, essentially leaving you with 1 after you eat your allotted Rations for the day. These extra Rations can be saved up. Only posting, or placing a post with only a vote will only net you 2 Rations for that Cycle. You can spend 1 Ration to change your vote after your first initial one each cycle. This can be done any amount of times in one Cycle, spending 1 Ration each time you do so. Rations can also be given by players to other players discreetly, although this still counts as an Action. Messaging: Each Cycle, players can spend 1 ration to send an anonymous letter to be sent to another player. The Ration Cost is a Bribe that you give the Innkeeper to pass along your message. However, any player can also spend 2 Rations to Intercept one Message being sent to a player. (If multiple messages are sent to one player, then one of the Messages is randomly chosen to be Intercepted.) Messages must be limited in size and can not exceed 1,000 characters. If multiple people are attempting to intercept a letter from a person, then the letter(s) will be handed out by chance. The Stack (Order of Actions): Fendweed Sap -> Rations -> Glowsap -> Silver Wards -> Lynch -> Kill Actions (Convict group kill/Murder Hoods) -> Messages ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sign-up write-up: This game will be told through the perspective of the Innkeeper telling a story, and all of you are all the Main Characters! How this tale ends depends entirely on you! Sign-ups will last a week! Quick Links:

Don't get daunted! You've been maintaining a great pace with each book so far! It will be over before you know it (after you know....the other half of the series...) but it's worth it! Keep trucking on!

I'll second these questions if you're taking requests! And I'll also see if you can sneak in a question asking about the Ratio of Stormlight to Breath. (Even though I expect it will be RAFO'd)

I just started the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I've heard some good things about it, and is definitely pretty interesting so far. I do like the narrative style for Harry Dresden, though. Kinda turns the whole "super calm, confident, enigmatic" Wizard trope on it's head.

Man, I wish I would have done something like this, tracking my progress and my immediate initial reactions to each book. You do seem to be blowing through the series though, can't wait til you get to the end and take a look back at your whole journey. (And then you can begin the real awesome super crazy theorizing) I will say, I remember liking books 3 and 6 a lot, and they were definitely some of my favorites of the series. I mean, Lords of Chaos is just an awesome book title. And yeah, all the awesome that just happens in the mean time. Mat, of course, as I'll keep saying again and again, he just gets better and better as each book progresses, IMO.

So I was looking for threads discussing American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and didn't find any threads about him or any of his books yet. So I figured I might as well just start a general Gaiman Goodness thread so we can all discuss just how fantastic of an author he is. Or, if you would like to post why he's not exactly your cup of tea, feel free to do as well. Of course, we'll probably have to Spoiler Tag most of the in-depth book discussion on his various novels, if this is to be an "In General" thread and not for any one book specific. In the last 3 weeks, I have finished American Gods, Anansi Boys, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane. All of them were absolutely fantastic, and I love Gaiman's writing style. His prose is very enjoyable. This is more of a vague, overall type of "fan gushing" thread, so I won't go into the specifics of the books right now, but I just wanted to express how much of a fan I am of Gaiman's now. I will have to add, just finishing Ocean at the End of the Lane last night, I think that one might be my favorite so far. It was just very powerful and by far one of his most intriguing stories I've read so far. I mean.... Old Granny Hempstock!

So, this might be a bit random. But I think I've seen mention of a WoB about Nazh being from Threnody, and even if it isn't a WoB, we can safely assume he's at least spent a great deal of time there to pick up the language from that world. (Referring to his use of "Shadows" as a curse in one of the pictures in Words of Radiance). Now, I think we may have actually, briefly, barely seen him in Shadows for Silence. Whenever I read that story, something always sticks out at me. This is at the end of the short story, after the whole resolution of everything. Like I said, this just kind of sticks out to me. Now, we know Brandon picks his words rather carefully in his stories, especially, I wonder, why would he particularly mention this offhandedly? If this isn't Nazh, then I'm fairly certain it has to be some sort of Worldhopper. If not, someone better call of Kurkistan, because I'm going to make the "If this isn't the case, I will go and buy a hat just so I can eat it" bet.

Now I almost feel bad.... But as being the Sub-Mod who will be sitting this game out (mostly so I can finish getting my game ready to run after this ends), I will also request Spec Doc privileges.... (>.< Sorry, Bart!) NOW you should fear for the Spec Doc Length, Ren. Also, good luck to everybody who will sign up for and play this game! This one should be crazy! And I can't wait to see how this one plays out.

Yeah, those were the two WoBs I remember from basically right after Words of Radiance came out, but wasn't sure if people kept bugging asking him about it, or if his second answer may have deterred more people from asking. Either way, I'm still curious as to when we may actually find out the Ratio (as it apparently does exist!). I still insist that finding out that Ratio will help Sizgil find that golden-method of determining the quantitative effects of Stormlight. (How he had a problem with determining just how much Stormlight was actually in a chip, or a broam, considering all the different variables to take into account, like how cut the Sphere was, how long it had been since it was recharged, what colour the sphere is --if that has any actual effect, etc.)

So.... this is going to be a bit of thread-necroing, but I was wondering if we ever got the Ratio from WoB or WoP? I haven't been paying attention to the signing reports, and my Search-fu is rather weak. I do believe there was some WoB that he did have some sort of Ratio worked out, but wasn't sure if he decided to hold onto it for now and give us a RAFO or whatever.

I must admit, I do go, "Aww, man!" When Asmodean was killed. I actually liked that guy! And was looking forward to awesome things from him and Rand working together. :/ But alas, The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills.

Whew! I definitely need to run through this thread and start looking at all these game ideas being tossed around! There's a lot of good stuff in here! But for right now, since MR2 just ended, with Bartbug's LG being ran next, my QF (Hell's Shadows) will be up after that, so I've been trying to make some finishing touches on my game! It'll be a fairly simple QF, but with only a few in-world twists. Hell's Shadows Feel free to leave any comments or feedback in here or in the Doc. The Main thing I still need to get completely worked out will be the Ration Mechanic I'm going to try and implement. Thanks in advance, and hope when I get the game up and running it will be enjoyable for everybody to play! It's set up so that you don't even need to have read the Short Story to be able to understand and play the game!

Yeah, he was recently notified that he should start getting his game ready (especially with how quick that last one just went! O.o) And then my QF will be happening either near the end of that one, or after it ends.

"You can't go out there, it's The Desolation!" Glys appeared and floated in front of The Famed Gamin, trying to hold him back and prevent him from casting open The Cellar doors and walking out into the storm that had landed over Telmont. "So what?" The Famed Gamin replied defiantly, standing firm and puffing out his chest. "I'm The Master!" He boasted. "No storming storm is going to hurt me! Besides," he said, sweeping his hand out and pointing to the stockpile of spheres that had been gathered for visibility in the dark, dingy Cellar. "There's plenty of stormlight right there. I can just heal up as need be if anything does happen!" In the uneven glow cast by the random, assorted spheres, and in the gloom of the Cellar, The Famed Gamin's boots -- normally yellow -- appeared an almost dark orange colour. "Just imagine all of the puddles I could be splashing in right now!" He protested, jumping up and down, much to the chagrin of his fellow occupants huddled inside The Cellar with him. Hey! Dol! Merry Dol! Worry not for Damnation! Ring a dong, hop along, ignore the Desolation! Fam Gam, The Fam-ed Gam, Herald of Salvation! And with that he thrust The Cellar Doors wide open, prompting a cry of dismay from everyone else. Two large, looming monstrous shapes appeared at the door way, but with a quick flick of the wrist, The Famed Gamin took care of both of them. He didn't know how he had figured it out, but long ago, when complaining about the large and obtrusive shape and size of the Shardblade, Glys had informed him that it could change shape according to his will. And really, two small Shard Knives were much better than some big, boisterous blade. The sky above was still a dark, foreboding red, the colour of doom and despair, but the wild and ferocious winds were starting to abate, and it appeared as if the storm had mostly blown itself out and west across the mainland. The Famed Gamin shrugged, knowing it wasn't his problem for the time being. Some of the other Radiants kept mentioning some odd place called "Your-a-thoo-rou" -- or something like that, whatever it meant -- but he cared not. As long as it had some food, a warm place for him to crawl into for sleeping, and some pockets to pick, he knew he would be just fine. But he had begun to enjoy the small town of Telmont actually, even if it had been mostly destroyed by the storm. He shook his head. "Who would have guessed that Crazy Doomsayer had been right the whole time? Was a darn shame he tried to kill us all, I was rather beginning to warm-up to his insanity." Beside him, Glys sighed. "I doubt I'll ever begin to understand you people. What I wouldn't give to be bonded to some nice, quiet, respectable person. Maybe some sort of Scholar. But I doubt I'll ever be that lucky!" "What do you mean? I'm a scholar! Why, I'm so storming scholarly, I practically belch books, and stuff and whatnot." "Oh yes, very scholarly, indeed." The Famed Gamin frowned. Was that actually sarcasm? From a Spren? He shook his head. "Well, let's not waste any time. Let's go see what I can, uh, "salvage", from the wreckage. And see if we can find any more of those Shadow-Puppets along the way!" He paused. "Actually..... I should probably let those Windrunners handle that. Letting other people do stuff for you is The Patented Famed Gamin way, after all!" And with that, The Famed Gamin went off skipping into the storm, whistling his nonsense tune.