Gamma Fiend

I will actually be starting a game up here in not too long, so good timing! If you want you can go check out the Role Creation thread to get an idea of what's coming up, or look at some of the past games to get an idea of what to expect. Looking forward to having you play!

The leftover rains from the previous days highstorm had subsided and like a spark in the wind, the Riots of Kholinar ignited in a fiery fashion. A few sections of the darkeyed neighborhoods burned spit out huge plumes of smoke into the orange cast, fire-hazed sky. Magam worked his way down one of the many twisting alleys, splashing and kicking up puddles left over from the previous day's storm. Cremlings skittered along the ground, and small, timid bulbs and rockbuds twisting away from him and withdrawing into themselves as he passed by in his hurried pace. Things had escalated even faster than Magam had anticipated. It took no time at all for the faction lines to be drawn, the citizens of the once proud and noble city now at each other's throats, with fear and mistrust thick in the air, like the smoke from the burning sections of town. He reached the end of the alleyway and peaked out, making sure there were no large crowds nearby. It wouldn't do to be caught alone at a time like this. He was about to sprint out around the corner when he caught a shadow moving off in his peripherals, so he jumped back instead and pulled out one of his many knives, brandishing it front of him threateningly. The shadow moved again and formed itself into a small child, huddling behind a pile of garbage. It was a filthy street urchin, wielding a broken leg of a chair as a club and staring at Magam menacingly. "Whoa, now." Magam said pleasantly, lowering his knife and holding his arms out. "Don't worry, no need to fear me." The child trembled for just a second, but then shook himself to and raised his club up even more. It was as the kid straightened his back to make himself appear larger that Magam saw the kids eyes in the light for the first time. They were a frosty pale blue. The child was a lighteyes. Some sort of Nobleman's son. His parents had probably been killed in the riots, his home sacked and looted, everything he had ever known destroyed and burning in front of his very eyes. Magam started for a second, but lowered his hands. He reached into his pocket and fished out a sapphire broam, the blue light from the infused sphere -- recharged during the previous day's highstorm -- lit up the alleyway and illuminated the orphaned lighteye in it's glow. The child's eyes opened wide and stared at the sphere. Even for a kid who once had everything. Once you lose it all, even a single sphere can seem like a treasure. Magam thought grimly. He tossed the sphere over to the kid, who almost dropped it in surprise and fumbled around with it for a second or two. "There you go, kid. Find your way out of here, this is no place for children." Magam said, turning away. He wasn't even sure if the city was a safe place for him, let alone an orphaned nobleman's son. "...But why?" The child spoke up finally, behind him. "Who are you?" "The name is Magam." He heard the kid gasp at his blasphemous name. So. The boy at least remembered his Vorin teachings in the face of the Riots. "Do you want to know how I got my name?" He asked, turning around with a slight flourish. The kid still looked slightly scared, but he nodded his head. "It's a great story," Magam started off immediately, not even waiting for the kid's response."You see, the Church would have us believe symmetry is perfect. 'It is the essence of the Almighty that guides the world', they say." Magam screwed his face up. "Or something like that. Either way, they make us look at these 'perfect' cities, with their symmetrical design. And then the Heralds themselves, with those perfect Vorin names. They never stop with the symmetry! Everything lines up, and folds into itself so perfectly. That's how they'd like to view their problems. The world. If you just look at everything as a perfect pattern, expecting all of your problems to fold up and disappear like the complicated designs they so like to show off, then your view of the world becomes just as skewed." Magam looked at the child, who just looked confused, and was still clutching the pale-blue, glowing sphere. He just stared at Magam with a blank look. Unperturbed, Magam continued with his tangent. "So, to bring back the original moral of the story. My name." He spread his arms out wide again, and took a step towards the child who didn't shy back this time. "I'd like to think I am a mockery to that whole concept. That symmetry is a sign of perfection and holiness." Magam smiled a savage grin. "I gave myself such a symmetrical, blasphemous name. Just to show them. Just because something is perfect, doesn't mean it isn't flawed." With a silent flash of metal, Magam swiped out with his knife, slitting the lighteye'd orphan's throat in one fluid motion. The child let out a quick grunt and crumbled to the ground. Magam reached down and fished his sapphire broam back from the spreading pool of blood, putting it back into his pouch and casting the alley back into darkness. "The truth is," he whispered to himself as the walked out of the alleyway, "is that my name means nothing. But what you do with a name.... now. That's what really matters." OOC: Well, that got dark pretty fast. O.o

Magam shook his head and walked away from the rambling madman going on about Chaos and Insanity. How dare he presume that I believe in Vorinism! He huffed to himself. Vorinism was the farthest thing from what Magam had believed in. He wasn't called Magam the Blasphemous without a reason, and not just because of his name. Okay, maybe he lied and told everybody his fanatic parents had given him the name. But it was a better introduction story than just straight-up saying, "I am audacious enough to give myself this Perfect name.". And that was the truth. Magam had given himself his perfectly symmetrical name. But not because of Vorin beliefs. Amusing. Magam thought to himself. That I get accused of believing in something half-true by a strange fellow who believes in something else half true. The fact was, both the Ardentia and the strange fellow spouting off about Chaos were half-right. They each just praised One Half of the whole. Chaos and Perfection. Entropy and Order. They were exact opposites, yet without each the other couldn't exist. For there to be Order, there must be Chaos that needs arranging. For there to be Chaos, there must be a Perfect system that can be destroyed. THAT was why Magam had chosen this name. Because for a fleeting time, in the face of death and chaos, he could represent true perfection. His name was a symbol for all the symmetry and Order throughout the world. But he was no Herald. His time on this planet would be temporary. Chaos and entropy would eventually do it's job and destroy all he had built and worked for. But for now, in the midst of the Riots, Magam had work to do. He couldn't get held up in theological debates or tangents.

But what about when Lopen gets out of the cab? He can't do that cool jig where he sticks the arm not holding luggage out.... XD

Thank you! I must say, some credit must go to Meta, as well. He helped me hash out and tweak some of those final Padan Fain rules last night. But I think this will be a great game to run for my first time. Really looking forward to it!

That's a pretty nice deck, I remember wanting to do something like that when all of those Golems came out. Definitely an interesting creature type. Also, to try and get some nice actual game discussion going on in this ancient thread. (I even forgot I'm the one who started it!) What are some different types of house rules people play with with their friends? I know there's the big difference between Casual and Competitive play. How do you usually do Mulligans? Free one, or Penalty? Do you allow people to play 'Slops' (they cast the wrong card, not paying attention and can take it back, fix how they spend/tap mana, etc.) We usually do free mulligans and are pretty sloppy with our Instant speeds sometimes, I have been trying to get the people I play with more towards strict, official ruling. Just because some of the rules are starting to get abused. Have any of you ever heard of "Draw 2, Drop 2" play style? Where all players get to Draw 2 cards on their turn, and play up to 2 lands? I can understand this game style for beginning players wanting to get games going 'faster'. But around here, people just abuse this game style so hardcore. Getting ridiculous mana ramps, landfall, mill/discard gets twice as much fodder. I was just wondering if this was a game style that was popular or played all over, or if it was just something from around here. (I'm obviously not a fan of this play style. But when everybody's doing insistent on doing something one way..... if you can't beat them, join them.

I would like to parrot the sentiment of "I am not really a code-breaker", and I barely bother to highlight and look for white text on posts, let alone write-ups. In Claincy's game I wasn't even aware there was a secret code thing until somebody pointed it out. I feel like if the GM wants to add in extra, fun stuff like that, that is totally up to them and they should feel free to do so. But hopefully nothing too potentially game changing, as that can create late-game imbalances. I agree though that the GM should give some kind of obvious warning that there will be something like that to expect later on. I do believe the GM Section of the Etiquette thread will have some sort of update about this. Because just last night I was working on some sort of 'Event' mechanic for my game, and I was going to keep it a complete surprise from players, but in light of this, I agree anything 'extra' should at least be mentioned in the Sign-ups. But I like how everything has been going so far, with all of the different game types we've had. This game is still relatively brand-new to the Forum, so we're still experimenting with different ideas, that of course might not work out perfectly or as intended at first, but we can always tweak them when we revisit those game types later.

Ok, so a quick heads-up, after Maill's game ends and while Rubix's Quick Fix will be going, due to another slight GM list modification, my game will be next! While I really wanted to try and run my Flaring Metals Mistborn game, I think the Wheel of Time set-up I had will still work very well. I know it's not much different from the few times I put it up here, but here is the Final List of Roles in the game. So how does that look to everybody? Is this some sort of set-up most of you would be willing to play? I know there might be a good amount of players who haven't actually read WoT or not, so I'll be keeping most of the game material confined to the first few books, and all RP can be as vague as you want it to be.

Magam was off sitting in a corner by himself, waiting for more people to gather still before he made a spectacle of himself. The key was waiting for the perfect moment to act, to capture everybody's attention at once. But he got snapped out of his plans when he heard somebody introduce themselves. Hinah? He thought with a grin. Apparently I'm not the only one here with a blasphemous name. The ardents must be -- he was going to finish his sentence with the word *Thrilled, but as he gazed at the skyline of Kholinar, he saw the Ardentia on top of one of the many hills of the city engulfed in flames, as were many of the other buildings. The riots were starting to get out of control, but they at least hadn't spread down into the city proper. *Cosmere Pun thread, much? Magam knew it was almost time for lines to be drawn and people to start choosing factions. He didn't know where he belonged, yet, but he knew he was destined for greatness. Just like his name implied.

Also, that would still give whatever Mafia team an advantage, as they could consistently upvote eachother's posts to earn more power. (While this could potentially be used to then expose them by them doing this, it's still slightly unfair. Not to mention possibilities of alt account abuse, etc.

I thought about using that idea, because in my one game Vials were basically a sort of 'currency' that people could earn from participation. But allowing people money for every post they make just favors the people who have the most free time. While we don't encourage inactivity in games, sometimes stuff happens where people just can't make it on the site for a day, or even be able to check in and post multiple times a day. I definitely think people should be rewarded for the content of their posts, i.e., how much they contribute to the discussion, does their arguments have merit, etc. I was thinking, if somebody voted, made at least one intelligent, thought out post (RP or game discussion), and sent in any day/night orders (even if saying they're not using their role that cycle) then they are eligible for any reward or pay out in the currency system.

Hm, this definitely sounds like it could be an interesting idea. It's just hard to randomly shoot ideas into the dark, though. If you post some of the material or what you already have worked up, it could help. Just so we have a better idea of what you're going for. Also, I would warn against relying on us to help give you the main characters or themes of your story, I feel like you would be missing a great opportunity to explore your own creativity, and as you know what you're going for best, your ideas will be better suited for the world you're trying to build, rather than random suggestions from strangers with no context. Like I said, this is definitely an interesting idea, and it would be really cool to see what you already have worked up yourself, because then we can give more structured feedback and suggestions.

Heh, this is a pretty large "quick fix' game, but I do believe with all of these roles and cross factions, there will be a lot of deaths every cycle, I believe, so the game probably will go quickly. But I do want to clarify, this is like the 'Super Saiyan' of Quick Fix games. I don't know about Meta, but I know when I run any Quick Fix games, I'll be more or less following Tempus' simple format. Just making sure you guys aren't expecting me to pull out something equally big and crazy as this.

Post it up! I'll throw up my most recent, fun r/w decklist I just recently made. 4x Lightnight Helix - deal 3 dmg, gain 3 life 4x lightning bolt - deal 3 dmg 2x warleader Helix - deal 4 dmg gain 4 life 2x sunlance - deal 3 dmg to target nonwhite creature 4x Intimidation bolt - 3 dmg to a creature, creatures can't attack this turn 4x glory or warfare - my creatures get +2 +0 on my turn, +0 +2 on opponent's turns 4x boros swiftblade - 1/2 doublestrike 4xskynight legionaire - 2/2 flying, haste 4x ceredon yearling - 2/2 vigilance, haste 2x Brian Stoutarm - 4/4 lifelink, pay a R, sac a creature, deal dmg equal to that creatures power to player 2x Ajani Vengeant 3loyalty. +1 permanent doesnt untap during next untap phase, -2 3dmg, gain 3 life, -7 destroy all target players lands Basically just a bunch of burn/lifegain factor of r/w, and then some nice, hasty/doublestrike creatures pumped up by Glory or Warfare. Pretty straight forward, casual level deck. In competitive, it'd be picked apart too easily.

Well, I have heard there is a thing out there called the 'Sanderson Cube', that I'd really love to get my hands on and draft from...

I think he destroyed all of them. We've definitely seen Kelsier be a little skittish about those dark, narrow passages you have to climb down into, so I imagine he just went down deep enough to be able to reach all of the crystals allomantically, to pull or push on them and shatter them. Since he was really strong with both of those metals, he could have a very far allomantic reach, potentially.

Ugh. I thought snorting gunpowder in Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood sounded painful enough.... but snorting powdered metal? *shudders* But I do think 'addiction' to metals could play a role in future books, like how people can become savants to a metal if they're constantly burning it, and then require a constant supply. Also, when comparing Allomantic metals to drugs just makes me imagine shady dealers standing on the corners slinging impure alloys. The phrase 'nickel bag' takes on a whole new meaning...

Yeah, I was going to suggest "shortcode" commands, that when spoken sound/look like some kind of magical chant, but the words are just condensed commands. Sort of like a verbal hotkey. I definitely like the idea of the item being manipulated in terms of 3D transformation, that is a very nifty magic system. If you do go the cyber-punky route, it could still work, giving a way for society to have a reason to have those base materials around and use them (metal, wood, stone), instead of going more synthetic material routes.

You still never answered my question.... Doth the Everstorm approacheth?

Magam watched the crowd gathering, people stepping forward one by one, declaring their names and glazing over their pasts. He didn't think too much of the few people that had made themselves known, though. It was still too small a crowd to make any sort of difference in these crazy riots. Kholinar was burning, and there were secret groups intent on taking control in the aftermath. And where did Magam fit in, in the chaos? He didn't know yet, but he knew one thing. He was going to make a name for himself, no matter what happened. Maybe this is what my parents wanted? He thought to himself. They gave me such a great name, not to curse me, but to encourage me. To strive to become worthy of such a perfect name. He understood now. And he would be willing to do whatever it takes to make his name known far and wide. OOC: So even though this is a 'Quick-Fix', I really hope this reaches a full size (~27 player) game that Rubix had some backup plans/roles for. I think in a game of this kind of scope, the more the merrier is an understatement. (And it will give me or Meta more time as the next QF-GM to plan our games out ) The 17th Sharder role is somewhat confusing to read at first, as it's unclear as to who they may need to remain loyal to, exactly. But I'm sure once Roles are assigned and sent out, and PMs from you and any Docs we may be a part of should probably clear up any of that confusion. Also:

Meet Magam! His parents sure must have had high expectations for him, and a lack of respect for Vorinism to have given him such a blasphemous name. It had made life difficult, especially in the wake of the Riots in Kholinar. Magam wasn't even sure what he was doing in the Alethi capital. He had always wanted to go out and travel the world, but storms no! He got caught up in events here and had to play things out. Stormfather knows I feel guilty enough for setting some of these events in action....

That's not too bad of a start, and for even playing for only a little bit you have a nice diverse deck selection. Even if they aren't "top tier" level decks. Because it's true, Magic is a very expensive hobby, if you try to go all out on it. I know first hand. >.< And it is kind of lame that with some of the recent sets, any type of competitive play just sees the same few decks over and over again, just slightly tweaked, thus making everyone go for the same "best" cards, just making prices ridiculous. $30 for any land is just silly.

Thinking about it, if either of you wanted to try and GM a small Quick Fix game, that could potentially be good practice and help you determine whether you're ready for the full work-load of a giant game. That's why I signed up to run one of those Quick Fix's myself, just to get a good feel of what GM'ing entails. And, also, it wouldn't hurt to start getting a list of Quick Fix GM's, mostly since because of the quick nature of those games, we'll run through that list way faster. That would work, I think, since I was even considering suggesting to some of the people on the Full Size GM List if they wanted to run a Quick Fix in the meantime while waiting for their turns. I just figure that if we keep the smaller games a consistent thing, we'll definitely need a bigger list eventually. What does everybody think?

Ok, thanks for the clarification! I even read through Reddit's re-reading summary to make sure. Unfortunately, my bank had different plans for me, and informed me I was in negative balances on the way out to the signing... So I had to miss out on this one. Quite upset, but I'll hopefully catch him next time he's in town, and try and find the book on sale sometime soonish, hopefully. But yeah, the reason for my question, I was going to ask...

There could technically be some WoR spoilers in here, maybe. So if you just want to be safe, don't read it. It's nothing important. OOC: So this is me officially not signing up for this game. With the new Mod-rotation cycle, I'm going to go ahead and sit this one out, to remain impartial. And who better to do that with than my first Elimination character ever? So if anyone has any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me or Wilson (since Meta will be in the game, we'll leave him be and let him stay immersed in it and have fun.) Oh, and don't worry, Gambles will not be haunting or anything, this will be my only post in this thread. Have a great game, everybody!