Herowannabe

Herwynbe walked into town, brushing the ash and travel dust from his robes. The streets were deserted, which was odd for this time of day. He straightened, and ran a hand over the stubble on his shaved head. Where is everybody? Ahead a group of figures wearing dark clothing stepped out of a side street, they paused in surprise when they saw the Terrisman. Herwynbe spoke. "Ah, good day to you gentlemen. I'm a little late, but I received this mysterious letter." He waved the letter in the air, and the group of men scowled, glancing at each other. Without speaking they moved to surround the Terrisman, who was grinning happily. "Ah," he said, "I found the right place, I think." Something slammed into the back of Herwynbe's head, and everything went black. So I meant to post this before the game started, but I've been too busy this weekend. And now I'm being summoned for family dinner, so I'll continue this a little later.

@Madagascar @Wyrmhero @Sart Alright, now that the CR winners have been chosen, I can put a bug in their ear to see if any of my non-Sanderson ideas appeal to them. I figure this is the best place to do it, as well as the best way to go about it, but @Metacognition if you'd rather we handle this in a different way just give the word. Anyway, I'm currently signed up for a LG, a MR, and a QF, and I've been near the top of all 3 lists for quite a while now, but I'm finally getting to the point where I think I can start running these. The LG and the QF are both Sanderson related. The LG will be a rerun (albeit with some major tweaks to the roles and powers) of my first Elantris game, which was LG 12. The QF will be based on the infinity blade games and novellas. I'm still refining the rules, but you can read what I've got (and make suggestions, please!) Here. That leaves the MR game. I originally signed up for it to be a Star Wars game centered around a squadron of X-Wing pilots and their droids, but later decided I didn't like that. So now I have two possible non-Sanderson games in mind to slot in here. First is a Star Wars game with a different theme- basically, the players are at the Cantina in Mos Eisley minutes after the Millenium Falcon blasts its way out of the city, and Stormtroopers seize and lock down the Cantina until the mess can be sorted out, trapping the players inside. Still working out mechanics of it, but right now I'm thinking multiple factions with differing goals, not all of which are mutually exclusive. For example: Imperial faction is trying to eliminate the Rebels. Rebels are trying to locate the stolen plans. Bounty hunters are trying to locate and capture one or more fugitives. And so on. As for my other idea, well honestly, I'm surprised nobody has tried to run a My Little Pony game yet, with the way it's taken over the interweb. So if people are interested, I'll run one (by way of explanation, I have a 4 year old daughter, so yes I have become very familiar with MLP. And I may or may not have also watched a few episodes without my daughter actually being present. It is a highly entertaining show. ). Premise is simple enough- the eliminators are changelings (shape shifters, for the uninitiated) who have infiltrated Ponyville and are trying to steal the 6 Elements of Harmony. Everypony else (the villagers) are trying to uncover the changelings and save Ponyville. Mechanics: 6 main powers/roles, one for each element of Harmony, but players also get a (publicly known) sub-power depending on what type of Pony they are. Also, everyone gets to choose their own Cutie Mark (Cosmetic Role). Yay! If by chance neither of those games get the stamp of approval, I also have a Mistborn game in mind as well, using my own take on the various allomantic powers.

Congrats @Madagascar @Wyrmhero And @Sart! You each are well deserving!

I sacrificed an entire village and a whole bunch of empty whiskey bottles cuddly kittens. You'd think that would be enough...

Good idea @Metacognition @little wilson @Gamma Fiend

So... it's been 3 weeks now, any word on who the CR winners are? I have to know who I need to bribe convince to allow a My Little Pony themed game through the Sanderson-filter.

I stand corrected. That's what I get for not checking and rereading the rules.

I'm pretty sure LG2 didn't have any snapping mechanics. IIRC, the gist of LG2 was that there was only one Eliminator: an inquisitor with a handful of spikes that did stuff. Each night, the inquisitor could use one of her spikes (thus losing that power) to spike someone, converting them to her team and granting them whatever power was in the spike, and they lost any previous powers they may have had. The snapping into new mistings is a new (I believe) addition but a clever one, as it allows for people to spontaneously gain powers without being spiked, giving the newly spiked players a chance to explain their new powers if needed. I'll be signing up as Herwynbe, a former Terris Steward (and completely unspiked, I swear! I haven't dabbled in Hemalurgy in weeks now...) who, with the fall of the Lord Ruler, is no longer required to serve anyone. Instead, he is a liberated Terris Keeper, and in each post he will do his best to teach everyone some long forgotten skill or bit of knowledge that the other people will almost certainly find useless given their current circumstances.

*No cats were harmed in the razing of Tyrian Falls.

Lol so hilarious! and violent! and awesome! is that a severed arm in the bottom right? And I love the guy screaming as he burns to death. But maybe that's just because I was spiked this game...

Re: Meta's role distribution: thanks for sharing that Meta! That's very insightful to see how much thought you put into the role distribution and why you set things up the way you did. I might have to request you as an IM for one or two of my games, just to bounce ideas off of you. For what it's worth, as a spiked player I felt the roles were very balanced (in contradiction to what I said in the game- that was pure BS to try to throw people off track ). It might seem that the Spiked players won this game pretty handily but there were a lot of times where we were biting our nails, thinking that we were done for (or at least I felt that way). In fact more than once our feelings shifted from "we've got this" to "oh crap we're screwed" within a single cycle. One such time was when Arinian had revealed himself. By that point we had lost Dalinar and the Nyali went down right after, and I had already drawn Coinshot once so odds weren't great that I would draw it again. I was a high priority target for scanning by that point too so we thought we only had a couple cycles before I got scanned and lynched, and the rest of my teammates would have been forced to hunt for any lurchers before they could take out Arinian. Luckily (for us), we took a chance and hit Arinian and he wasn't protected. @A Joe in the Bush If you deserve the title of Honorary Spiked it was for leaving Arinian unguarded more than for anything that happened afterwards. On another round, a few cycles later, at one point early in the cycle there were 5 votes cast, each one on a different player. Each of the 4 Spiked that were left had one vote and the only vote that was on someone who wasn't Spiked was the one that we had cast. Anyway, the game was a lot closer than it may have seemed. There were multiple times where it easily could have swung against us. Well it DID work, sort of. The first chance we got to use Brass we scanned you to find out what your role was. The only way it would have been better is if you had been smoked, leaving us to wonder about your role. If that had been the case we probably would have used a kill on you early in the game, just in case.

Thanks for running the game Meta! And thanks for everyone who played. I mentioned this somewhere before, I can't remember if it was in thread or in the Spiked-doc, but throughout the course of the game we only had 1 player go completely inactive and stay inactive (Orlok withdrew for health reasons, but nobody can hold that against him). 1 player, out of 36. That's really incredible, especially considering (from what I hear) the bout of inactivity that has been plaguing games lately. So thanks to everyone who participated in the game, whether it was with elaborate, drawn out RP posts, in-depth analyses, drunken cat pictures, debates and plots and strategizing, or simply popping in to vote for someone with a line or two of explanation. Everyone should consider this game a success, just for that alone. As for the CR, definitely have to vote for Madagascar. I laughed out loud at so many of her posts. Even in the dead doc (I just skimmed through it) she made some hilarious in-character comments. Secondly, I'm surprised that nobody has been mentioning Arranae, here and in the dead doc. I loved the story she had going- trying to figure out what happened to her father by investigating Hemalurgy and trying it out on herself. I see several people voting for me for the CR thing, but I think that's largely because I finished strong and was just having fun with it once I revealed myself. Rae put at least as much into her RP while she was alive as I did, if not more. I was very sad when she died and her story came to an end. Third... I think I have to go with Hemalurgic Headshot. The Ash tacos. The Rat. it was gold. There was a lot of other great RP out there that deserves mention, too. Wyrm's Private I - great job at never breaking character the entire game! Doc12's interactions with Rae. Assassin praising the Ja, and everyone involved in the whole Scadrian religious/political debate that broke out. Classic. Jondesu's metal leg (I was really hoping we'd get in an RP fight at some point, so that Herwynbe could iron-pull his leg away and thwack him in the head with it). Nyali's mistwraith paranoia. Elenion's way with the ladies. Sart's high Imperial. And on and on. I enjoyed it all, and will definitely be encouraging (and rewarding) the use of CRs in my games in the future. Anyway, since Meta left the door open for me, let's wrap this up with a bit of RP. Herwynbe landed on the balcony of Tekiel Manor- one of the only major structures in the town not engulfed in flames. A small creature scurried up to greet the Terrisman. "Squeak squeaken squeak?" Rat asked. Herwynbe reached down to stroke Rat behind the ears, then picked him up and placed him on his shoulder. After Herwynbe had released the rats in the storerooms, this one had remained behind. It had seemed to be seeking companionship. The rat had seemed familiar somehow, so Herwynbe had kept it. When the master had given Herwynbe permission to use the recovered spikes as he saw fit, he had carefully imbued two of them to the rat, giving it full sentience. "The recipe for Ash tacos?" Herwynbe replied. "You can tell me about it later. Come on, time is short." Herwynbe rapped softly on the door, then waited. A moment later a confused nurse opened the door. "Good morning," Herwynbe said, bowing his head. "May I come inside? I have something that will help Lord Tekiel recover from his current state." Of course, when the physicians realized how Herwynbe intended to "help," they tried to stop him. Once Herwynbe had killed them, he was able to turn his full attention to Locke Tekiel, lying unconscious on the bed. Herwynbe made quick work of it, driving his third and final spike into the precise spot in Locke's chest. "Squeaker?" Rat asked. Herwynbe nodded, and Rat scurried to Locke's head, then poured the contents of a small glass vial into the unconscious man's mouth. It took a few moments, but Locke's body knew what to do. Color flooded his cheeks and his breathing strengthened as he began unconsciously burning Pewter. As his eyes fluttered open, Herwynbe said, "Good morning, Lord Tekiel. My- our master has given you a precious gift, a second chance at life. He asks that you do a few things in return, however. Though you will not find them too ornerous, I think."

"I once thought as you did, it is true. But when my master came to me he showed me... I am not sure what to call them. Alternate lives, perhaps. Lives where I tried to fight the inevitable. Lives where I was betrayed and murdered. Lives filled with despair, terror, and regret. And he showed me what I could become. "Once I had seen- once I knew the truth, I asked to be given a spike. No man, entity, or force moved me then, and none does so now. I do what I do willingly, not because it is good or evil, but because I know it to be right." Herwynbe held out his hand, a spike held within it. "This spike contains the power to show you your potential, Master Tormander. Would you care to see what you could become? To see the glory and power that could be yours?" Herwynbe had become passionate, and even eager, as he spoke, not realizing that his little speech had given Jack the chance he needed to catch his breath...

Herwynbe straightened, brushing the broken glass away, and grinned. A part of him had worried that this part would be too easy. He had been too focused on his surroundings, and not on Jack himself. A mistake he wouldn't make again. He dropped a ring- he had no shortage of rings, bracelets, earrings, and other jewelry, and launched himself into the air. He located the hookway easily- the hooks had to be spaced much closer than in a spikeway, lest the lurcher fall to the streets below, which made the hooks easy to spot. He pushed himself up above the hooks, using them as anchors for his steel. He flared steel and launched himself up ahead of Jack. Dropping down from above, Herwynbe pushed a handful of jewelry at Jack, who was forced to pull himself abrubtly to the side, off the path of the hookway. He skidded to a stop in an alleyway, and Herwynbe thudded to a stop beside him. The steward spun and landed a pewter-enhanced kick in Jack's stomach, sending him sprawling. "You do not understand the gift I offer you, Master Tormander. But if it is truly death that you wish for, I can oblige you, I think." EDIT: It's not going to last for long, but I just hit 1,337 reputation! "So 1337 Hoid Can't Compete!" Woot!

Burning Steel and Iron, it was a simple matter for Herwynbe to break the latch on Jack Tormander's window and swing it open. Herwynbe slipped inside, then stood tall, straightening his robes. Jack leaped to his feet, dueling cane already gripped in his hand. He had been expecting this. Herwynbe glanced at the dueling cane and quickly dismissed it. That wasn't the real weapon, here. With steel and iron burning, Herwynbe could see blue lines leading to dozens of small metal objects scattered around the room. Coins, a paperweight, a pocketwatch, utinsels, and more. Jack was a lurcher, by his own admission. Jack sighed. "I was being manipulated. I thought so. Is it you, Whistler, and Wyl Sharpe- the ones pierced by metal?" Herwynbe smiled meekly- somehow that was more infuriating than if he had laughed out loud. "I will not give away my companions so easily, I am afraid." Herwynbe began circling Jack, watching for any movement from the blue lines. Jack warily kept the dueling cane between them. "And I would not say that I have been manipulating you. Rather, I have been preparing you." Herwynbe slipped a hand inside his robe, and Jack tensed, raising the dueling cane a few inches. "Preparing to kill me?" Jack asked skeptically. "No," Herwynbe said, pulling a long, thin spike from his robes. "Preparing to recruit you."

I hate to break it to you, but you can't lynch anyone during the night cycle. Sorry.

Please, give me a little bit of credit. I'm trying to be good, I really am! But the voice in my head keeps making suggestions that seem so logical at the time... Hope. Herwynbe let the word tumble around in his mind. It was the key element to his master's plan, but it was the one thing that his master could not give the people of Tyrian Falls. Not directly. It went opposite to his nature in some way that Herwynbe didn't understand. Herwynbe stood in his modest room, polishing the jewelry arrayed on the table in front of him. Most of it was useless, but eight earrings, laid out in the center of the pile- those were special. One by one he took one of he earrings and placed them back in his ears. With each earring replaced, he could feel a bit of power returning to him. Eight earrings, one for each of the eight basic metals. He had the full powers of a mistborn- no, more than that- Herwynbe was an inquisitor. One hiding in plain sight. And nobody had questioned him. He thought it odd. Right from the beginning, when that dying fool had told the people not to trust anyone pierced by metal, nobody had thought to distrust the humble Terris steward who wore metal piercings openly. Herwynbe had provided the village with shelter, sustenance, and comfort. A place to talk and plan. And they had trusted him. Instead of fleeing the village- which would have thwarted the master's plan- they had stayed, because they had hope. That's what the master had needed Herwynbe for. To give the villagers hope. So that it could then be torn down. Once his jewelry was in place, Herwynbe made his way down the stairs of the manor to the storerooms. The first two were empty, but the third still held some small bit of food. Herwynbe reached the door and unlocked it- he was of course the only one with a key to the storerooms. He had let the thieves in to steal most of the food, of course, but again, nobody had thought to accuse the humble Terrisman. Herwynbe held his torch high, surveying the small stack of crates and barrels that remained. If the villagers had rationed the food from the beginning, they could have made it last for weeks or months yet, but Herwynbe had given it to them freely and they had gluttonously devoured it all. Then Herwynbe's companions had stolen more of the supplies. Add to that a bit of his master's touch, and most of the remaining food had rotted and spoiled. Now there was barely enough left to last the village another day or two. Herwynbe laid his torch onto the pile of crates, then shut the door and locked it. He made his usual rounds through the manor, and each time he passed a torch or lamp he took it from the sconce on the all and laid it at the base of a tapestry or bit of wood molding. He passed no servants as he went about his work- they had all been ordered to bed, to rest. Overworked and exhausted as they were, they had all welcomed the respite with eagerness. By the time he had finished his rounds, he could smell the smoke and hear the cries of alarm in a half dozen different places where the flames had caught and started to spread. But no matter, there were far too many fires in the manor now to stop it from burning to the ground. With luck- and a bit of help from the master- the fires would spread to the nearby buildings. Before he left the manor, Herwynbe went to his master's study. The master was there, of course. The master was everywhere. "It is done, according to your instructions," Herwynbe said, bowing his head. "Very good," Ruin said. "Rise, my servant. I have one more task for you." He gestured to the jars on the mantel, each one filled with blood and containing a metal spike. "It is time that we recruit a few new members to our cause, don't you think? I will let you decide who is worthy of such an honor." Herwynbe ducked his head again. "As you command, master. The choice will be an easy one, I think." Herwynbe carefully gathered the jars off the mantel, then went to the window. He pulled out a small vial, and swallowed the metal flakes it contained. Steel flared to life inside of him, and he burned it, pushing himself away from the burning manor, and went in search of Jack Tormander. It was time to destroy the last bit of hope that remained in the village.

That awkward moment when everybody you know you can trust doesn't trust you in return. Anyway, I'm going to retract my vote for Araris, and put it on Conquestor. The truth is that I do suspect Araris, but I think lynching him right now is a terrible idea. He claimed Thug to Joe, and if he is spiked but is telling the truth about his role, then lynching him now only serves to give the eliminators another round to kill one of us off. Araris needs to be killed last. Right now I think the remaining spiked are: Thug - Araris. Smoker - Conquestor - Smoker Mistborn - Jondesu. Possibly STINK or Wyrm, but Jondesu seems more likely to me.

Where is everybody? We haven't given up on this game yet have we? @little wilson @A Joe in the Bush @Conquestor Don't any of you have anything to add?

I think that once Joe revealed everything the Spiked didn't target me because 1) they didn't want to confirm my scans and 2) at that point I became a prime target for lurching and 3) Joe said in the thread he wanted me dead to confirm my scans. It's better for the eliminators to kill a villager that everyone trusts than to kill one they all suspect. I think they targeted Seonid because he had been scanned and (more or less) confirmed, and he was posting a lot of sound advice, but it was unlikely that he would be protected. At this point in the game they probably don't care who they kill, just so long as the kill goes through and cuts our numbers down.

Well, I've been holding off on voting (like everyone else has been, apparently) because I wanted to see how other people would vote first and try to draw some conclusions from that. I mostly don't suspect STINK, but I do suspect Araris as one who has been hovering around on the borders of activity all game. So that decides it Araris .

Yes.

Oh my stars and bars, I'm alive! I've had a very busy day and didn't get a chance to check the thread or PMs until right before rollover, and when I saw that Joe had revealed my role I thought for sure the eliminators were going to take me out. I wonder why. Though I suppose if they had killed me it would have confirmed my scans and, and with 4 confirmed villagers (all active, I might add) it would have given the village almost full control over the vote, and a very narrow suspect list. Huh, that actually would have been better for us. Anyway, I'm rambling and thinking out loud through typing. Yes, I am a village mistborn. No point in trying to deny it or hide now I guess. I've been trying to stay on the down low with my power so that I didnt get targeted by the eliminators (or the village, for that matter. For a while there were a lot of people convinced that the Spiked were Mistborn, so it didn't seem prudent to let on that I was one, too). Lets see here. Seonid (I think it was) asked about my scans. Yes, I have drawn Bronze 3 times now and yes, all of those scans went through. I didn't ever hit a coppercloud. Wilson is a smoker, Stick is a regular, and Seonid is- or well, was- a regular, all villagers. Also, it's important to note that I am the (or at least, one of the) mistborn that drew Tin on the first cycle and on this cycle, but NOT the one that drew Tin a few cycles ago, so there's still one more mistborn out there, very likely an Eliminator. My guess is either Orlok or Jondesu. Obviously, I don't support the idea of lynching me in order to confirm my scans. For one, I am a villager, though outside of dying I don't have any way of proving it 100%. For another, as Seonid pointed out, with 9 active players left if we mislynch today and there are 4 Eliminators out there then without any soothers or rioters left we lose (although at this point in I'm thinking/hoping that with 2- possibly 3- mistborn on their team that maybe there are only 2 or 3 eliminators left. 3 mistborn and 1 smoker? I could see Meta doing that. 3 mistborn, a smoker, and a thug or maybe a lurcher? I could see that. Anything more than that would be unbalanced I think). Anyway, I have to do some more analysis and pondering and respond to a few PMs still, so I'll pause here for now and do a little RP. As dawn broke over the town of Tyrian Falls, it found Herwynbe perched atop the roof of Tekiel Manor- the tallest building in the village. The steward stood there, gazing into the distance, and flared his Tin. As always, he was flooded with an abundance of sensations. His nose burned with the scents of the refuse piled in the streets, ash on the wind from mount Tyrian, smoke from the buildings had been burned, and even the faint smell of blood and death mingled in- the scents of a dying town. He swallowed hard at the thought. He had forgone dinner yesterday to help ration what little remained of their supplies, and the bread and cheese he had eaten for the midday meal had been moldy and stale. He could still make out the sour taste of the slightly spoiled food in his mouth, and his hunger pains were sharpened by the burning Tin. The scholars always seemed to overlook that fact- that Tin also increased your sensitivity to sensations like hunger and thirst. And fatigue. He could feel acutely the roof tiles beneath his feet, the brisk chill of the morning air biting the skin of his exposed hands and face. The smoke and ash stung his eyes, causing them to water. Tears began tricking down his cheeks, one at a time, and not all of them caused by his oversensitive eyes. He sighed, listening to the hushed conversations of the nursemaids and physicians in the Manor below. Lord Locke Tekiel had slipped into a coma a few days before, and there was no indication that he would wake anytime soon. An elderly doctor was saying that she thought Lord Tekiel might awaken in a few days, and could even recover fully if he were given plenty of food and water and a few weeks to rest and regain his strength. Weeks he would likely never get. He probably wouldn't even get days. All these sensations washed over Herwynbe and passed almost unnoticed. His gaze was fixed on the horizon, on a dark shape massed in the distance. Several plumes of smoke rose out of that dark shape, coming from bonfires. It was the Koloss army, in the beginning stages of a rampage, and it was headed this way. At its current pace it would be here in a few days. A few days. The doom of Tyrian Falls would be here in a few days. But it wasn't here yet. There was still time- a scarce little bit of time to prepare, to rally the villagers, and to enact his master's plans. They could still save themselves. It was a long shot, but there was still a chance. There was still hope.

I have to respectfully disagree with this line of thought. Speaking for myself, I haven't put any undue suspicion on anyone who has returned from inactivity this game, and I don't think anyone else has either. Elbereth was killed by the eliminators- but not until a good long while after she had returned. Nobody expressed any real suspicion of Orlok that I recall. The only reasons that anyone is saying they suspect you is because either 1) they're unfamiliar with your wild, kind of haphazard play style (I for one love it!), 2) your voting patterns, or 3) the late-cycle vote swing(s) that have spared you from being lynched. Its true that I'm expressing suspicion of Conquestor now, but that's not because he returned from being a little inactive, it's for all the reasons I stated above. And it's true that I, and others, have expressed suspicion of people who are lurking, but lurking is a far cry from being inactive. It's also true that as a Contribution Crusader I have at times lobbied to lynch or kill an inactive, but again that's far different for wanting to kill someone for coming back from inactivity. Honestly, whether we pull out a win or not I think this game has been a wild success, simply because of how many inactives have responded to the invitations to come back and play the game. I mean, out of 3 dozen players Wonko is the only one to have gone and stayed completely inactive without any explanation. That really is incredible! So let's not go around spreading the (false) idea that if you go inactive there's no point in coming back because you'll simply be killed because of it, okay? Thanks.