The Magic Reality Show (TMRS) - OOC

[Malus99]

buddy fellow
thug assassin
stinky burrow

Buddy? Stinky? THUG???

You better hope I'm dead by the end of this Callison or else you may be having a close encounter with one of Arhast's knives.

I am now going to go and find a pen to write Calisson's name on a bottle, ready for when I harvest his soul. I will stick it right next to the one with 'Dalamar' written on it.

The nerve of some people.


Also, what exactly will the effects of pestilence for 6 minutes be? I get some nasty boils and am left with a few ugly scars? And do we have to return to the village? I find my 'stinky burrow', infested as it is with the souls of my victims and the sigils of doom and destruction, far more comfortable and pleasant than a plain wooden hut.

[Calisson]

Buddy? Stinky? THUG???

Also, what exactly will the effects of pestilence for 6 minutes be? I get some nasty boils and am left with a few ugly scars? And do we have to return to the village? I find my 'stinky burrow', infested as it is with the souls of my victims and the sigils of doom and destruction, far more comfortable and pleasant than a plain wooden hut.

Your character was probably followed by assassins, rather than shades. They know who he is. They consider him a fellow (as far as an assass can consider that).

The pestilence is a side effect.
I modified the duration of the spell, to be of short duration (i.e. 6 minutes).
As a consequence, the side-effect was eased too. It became detrimental i.e. same length as the spell.
Result: a pestilence lasts as long as the spell.
Your character has no real reason to stay where it stinks that much, so he clears away from the tunnel.
After the pestilence is over, no scar, nothing remains.

Yes, you have to return to the village.
If you did not, I would not need to think anymore about finding the quest for the next day.

[Khel]

Wow, I can only imagine what our mages are going to be looking like in a number of weeks. We'll have recluse mages hiding on different sides of the island controlling the entire area while they'll have grown a second ear, have a nose growing on their foot, visions of madness and tentacles for arms.

This is awesome. I can imagine the titanic battles of land shifting magic that is going to come from mages who are going to be half elf half-only-god-knows.

[Calisson]

Yeah, Mages are odd people, now that you play one of them you know why.


@ all
I realize that I borrowed too much your characters in my reply in the game thread.
Sorry for that, I should have been much shorter, leaving you more of the fluff to write.
<Learning from mistake, too>
My next posts in the game thread will leave you more freedom to imagine.
However, please find a good reason to come back to the village in the morning. Especially if you don't exclude to cast a spell requiring 12 hours.


@ all
I'm sure that you get a better grasp of the magic system.
It is powerful, as all of you were able to create a nice place for their needs.
It is limited, especially for a Level 1.
It is dangerous, as some of you have experienced (damned double 6).
Hopefully, you'll find it fun, too, especially when you find out that it allows you pretty much anything (reasonable).

[Red...]

@Calisson - I'll certainly have more sympathy next time of my mages miscasts or fails to cast a spell!

I don't know about everyone else, but so far it has seemed very fun to me (I suspect for everyone else too!). I like using my imagination to create a spell, having the opportunity to try and cast each spell with as favourable odds as possible and the uncertainty of whether things will work or not. But let's see how the remainder of the contest goes...

[Red...]

You can do only one thing at a time. There is a single exception: you can try to free your hands and talk simultaneously, but it will slow you down by a minute unless you’re a girl.

LMAO XD

[Calisson]

@ Dalamar
Vaelreth could try to cast her throne in her shack.
A.-1, B.+1, C.+0, D.+2, E.+0. F.-2, G.+0, H.+0, I.-2, J.+0 .
K. Terrible+1 . Total -1.
Duration of the terrible side-effect would be several hours... not nice as she is going to spend that time in the pit.
Let's say that your character was projecting that spell when she was taken out.
I suggest that you waited for more favourable conditions, such as getting a magic staff.

@ Kinslayer
To tame ravens is a spell. I did not consider that your casual chat was a spell.
If you wish to tame, state it. The time you spent providing food to them will be counted as preparation.

@ Red...
I edited a little bit the last gaming post. You might like to read it anew.

[Kinslayer]

Okay, sorry about that I just assumed as a Beast Mage Kairus would have the ability to befriend little creatures. In that case can you go ahead and cast a spell. There's no half measures when it comes down to beast whispering, he wishes to befriend them for life. (their lifespan is no doubt much shorter than his though) - On MONDAY night. He won't use any item (just bread)

[Calisson]

@ Kinslayer
First of all, raven are not a common sight in this island where nearly all the birds are sea birds. Call them sea raven if you like, but actually they are cormorants (odds that they would be raven were 1/3, rolled 4).

A. Spell category. I had to determine exactly what you wanted:
+1: communication (chatting with the birds while they are here)
+0: influence (befriending)
-1: command (taming)
I will make it step by step, growing in familiarity progressively.
Obviously you did try to chat first, before befriending. Let's do that. Same as you would do with chickens.

Bird's talk.
A.+1. B.+1 due to background as a Beast Mage indeed. C.+1 two sea ravens. D.+1 close. E.+1 minutes. F.-2. G.+0 (Monday but no special place). H.+0. I.-1 bread crumbs. J.+0. => K.-1. Total +1. +fluff-intel => cast on a 2+.
Rolled 5, large success, both sea ravens do talk with you for a couple of minutes.
You won't mind, for less than a minute, the smelly side effect that one raven left behind it after having eaten.

Bird's befriending.
A.+0. B.+1. C.+1 two ravens. D.+1. E.-1 one year. F.-2. G.+1 (Monday and it's the place where you had such a nice chat with them). H.+0. I.-1 what remains of bread crumbs. J.+0. => K.+0. Total +0. +fluff-intel => cast on a 3+.
Rolled 3. One bird flies away, you're not his friend. How did you know beforehand?
The other sea raven considers you as a friend for 1 year. You should give it a name. You will recognize it easily.
He is just friendly, not tamed. You cannot talk with it unless you cast a new spell. It may offer you a fish but it won't risk it's life for you.
Detrimental side effect for a year: rolled 6 exhaustion.
Let's say that it happens only when your new friend is close to you: whenever you arrive at the distance at which most animals are unconfortable, you take great care to behave like exhausted in fear that your friend would fly away.

For such spell, I will let you care for the fluff in the gaming thread.

[Kinslayer]

Thanks for that, and sorry for assuming beforehand

One bird flies away, you're not his friend. How did you know beforehand?

I am a Mage. I can divine the future. I know what's coming.

[Calisson]

After reading that post:

In the Pit

Arhast worked himself to his feet, carefully considering his situation. One of them wouldn’t be getting out alive, and whilst he was very well prepared to meet his master, he would rather he could bring the word to a few more creatures before he did so.

The prospects of a three-way duel did not appeal to Arhast’s tactical mind either, and so he resolved himself to forming an alliance with one of his fellow condemned, but which one?

“Mistress of shadows,” he called, “I have been given a choice. You, or the metalworker. Our winds have always been kin, for death has always gone hand-in-hand with the darkness, and so I shall turn to you for aid. Join me, and we will both come out of this alive, or do you fancy taking on an assassin in unarmed combat?”
Arhast chuckled drily, feeling the rush of adrenaline as he saw the full scope of the risk he took, by acting first, he had thrown himself into the void, trusting in this sorceress to pull him out, or else he would be lost for all eternity.
“I could slink off into the shadows of this chamber and hide, to let you and the smith tear each other apart. Instead, I put my faith in you.”
With a hiss, the assassin dashed across the chamber, ignoring his hands and instead trusting to his legs and this mysterious shadow woman to be his saviour.
“I seal our pact with a gift, the greatest gift I can give. I give you a choice, you may give the gift of death to whichever one of us you choose, I leave myself at your mercy.”
With an unnerving howl, The assassin bore down upon the wizard of metal, preparing himself to strike.
“Free your hands! I will keep this one occupied, then you can decide who you wish to kill. The choice, is yours.”

Arhast will ignore the ropes binding his hands and instead attack Vanatyr with a series of vicious kicks aimed primarily at the knees and stomach in an attempt to prevent the alchemist from freeing his hands, relying on his superior WS and his small, dextrous figure to evade the smith’s superior strength and try to knock him down giving Vaelreth enough time to free her own hands so that she can come to the assistance of one of the mages to kill the other. Arhast will attempt to stay on his feet, but if necessary he will forfeit his own balance in order to prevent Vanatyr from gaining the upper hand.


Over to you Dalamar

My initial reaction was as follows:

In the Pit

With a hiss, the assassin dashed across the chamber, ignoring his hands and instead trusting to his legs and this mysterious shadow woman to be his saviour.

The assassin's rush in the dark came to an abrupt end as the floor evaded below his feet.

A sinister "ploof" ended the discourse.

Then I realized that the rush was not in the dark, as probably Arhast did wait for the light to be provided.


@ Kinslayer

I am a Mage. I can divine the future. I know what's coming.

That's another spell.
Anyway, if ever your prediction turned wrong, that would be a dream so vivid that it seemed true... but wasn't. Seen that in another thread.

[Calisson]

In the pit.

First fight!
That's also my first fight as a Mod, be patient.

WS will not be used, despite the street fighting experience, because of the impossibility to use the arms.
However, the street fighting experience will compensate the weight disadvantage (you all know how weight is important for sumo).

Dex tests will be used for most actions, with a strong malus: -3 for bounded arms, slippery ground and narrow platform near danger, let alone the single light source.
Adaptation to the difficulty of the task will be made when I feel required.

I'll use the margins obtained to describe the effects. Natural 6 will yield bad results.

I would apreciate you to remind the relevant part of your stats at the end of the posts when they are likely to be required, but here there are.
• Name: Vanatyr
• Sex: Male • Age: 130 • Height: 6’6”, slim build • Weight: no idea + seasick.
• Character Statistics: WS 3 – S 3 – T 2 – D 5 – I 5

• Name: Arhast Kynthan
• Sex: Male • Age: 83 • Height: 5’6” • Weight: 106 lb
• Character Statistics: WS5, S2, T1, D5, I5

Starting position around the torch determined by d6 (they did not chose in the dark):
The torch is exactly in the middle of the spur 20m x 2m,
Vaelreth Velkyn is close to the edge of the spur,
Arhast Kynthan is on the opposite side, close to the other edge of the spur,
Vanatyr has Vaelreth Velkyn close (1m) on his left and Arhast Kynthan further away (2m) on his right.

<Now we're doing geometry. I told you, this thread is for engineers!>


Waiting for Dalamar's post.

[Dalamar]

I was at work, getting to post now.

And I was only attempting to cast a "shadowy pillow" not recast the entirety of the arcane focus. But I'll skip it if that's not possible.

[Syjahel]

I have to get to bed so I won't be able to offer any more posts tonight. But, we are clearly at a point where we need a modpost to see what works for whom and what doesn't. Yet, I'll most likely be asleep in real life or preparing for my holiday so as the best compromise I can think of, here is a summary of what I would like Vanatyr to do if the chance arises. If it doesn't, well good luck to the rest of you and I hope you enjoy the game!

He'd like to:

+ not die
+ sidestep the assassin
+ if he's not dead, Vanatyr wants rid of those knots. Failing this perhaps he can wriggle so that his hands are at the front and use his teeth to help undo the ropes. Dex 5, Int 5, not sure if Int is relevant.
+ well, there's iron in blood, so if he gets close enough to touch someone he will try to draw it to him, with the aim of it being painful enough to incapacitate. There isn't any time to concentrate much and no additional aids, so I have no idea what kind of chance this has, but hey, nothing ventured ... This is the only metal I can see in here and it's a bit of a stretch.
+ curse his killer out of spite when dying!

[Calisson]

I was at work, getting to post now.

Sure, you're welcome.


@ all
This is not a chat RPG, despite the very steady pace.
Everybody is entitled to have his own undruchii life once in a while.
I won't be able to sustain that pace for long, anyway.
As everyone has shown a will to participate on a daily basis, I will not hurry you up if your post waits for 24h.
However, I may well imagine myself a required reaction if the gamer doesn't post for 48h, unless duly informed beforehand.



In the pit.

@Dalamar
Vaelreth did not yet free her arms.
You mention d6-Dex+5 = 6min, I assumed you rolled yourself a 6 on the d6.
Fine, this time I will not roll it myself. However, a natural 6 on any test ought to bring some unexpected difficulty.

At the end of the boy's actions, I rolled to determine how many of the 6 minutes elapsed.
Rolled 1 (yes, it happens). You still need 5 min to get your arms free.

She had no time yet to throw the torch into the water nor to cast any spell.

@ Malus99
The first roll around the torch was easily met.
However, the aggression Dex test rolled a 6!
The tripped did not help, but was not really decisive (Syjahel's Dex test was a near miss). The assassin logically fell down.
He had some momentum. I decided that there was enough distance to stop his rolling motion on the spur, let's say, 1-4 on d6 would suffice. Rolled 6 again!
Would your character be able to react on the edge? Allright, let's give a last try. Darn, another natural 6.
You can't beat triple 6. The Horny One was obviously claiming his soul.
And, no, there is no rope left behind to pull him out (rolled 6 again, I need to change my die).

Now, Arhast Kynthan races for his life.
- Instead of d6-Dex+5 to untie his bonds, he needs twice as much because of the panicking situation and because he needs to breath sometimes.
- The water is cold. Very cold. Arhast is used to cold, but not to bath in icy water. His T is not high. He cannot possibly survive in the water more than d6 x 5 min (that's much, much longer than in RL).
- in a life or death situation, you don't care much for side-effects. But what can you do?
- I will do all the above-mentioned dice rolls.

@ Syjahel
"POWER OF METAAAAALLLL!!!!!" and raise hands in devil-horns.
Actually, you did it, didn't you?



In the village.
@ Khel
Is it a "luck spell" that you're casting? or just fluff? I understood it's just fluff.

@ smiler666
Don't take for granted what I said here above about triple sixes.

[Khel]

Yeah it's a fluff spell, it does nothing but buy up more of my writing time. Sorry if I wasn't clear enough and caused undue stress/writing.

[Dalamar]

I assumed (the way you wrote it, time to release = 6 - Dex + 5 minutes which in my case is 6 minutes) that there is no rolling involved. I clearly misread d6 as 6. My bad

[Syjahel]

Wait wait - I'm not dead yet??

POWER OF METAAAALLLL!!!!!!!!

[Red...]

Metal rusts, metal corrodes, metal bends, metal twists, metal snaps, metal melts, metal is finite.

Blood is forever

[Drainial]

Not much use outside of the viens though, exept for black pudding or a messy bath I suppose.

Life however... now you are talking.

[Malus99]

Now let this be a lesson to you boys and girls, don't send death threats to the mod, his dice may take offence to it. Even by my standards 4 sixes is pretty bad Ah well, so much for taking the bloody initiative, I seem to have committed a painfully clumsy, unusually stupid and rather spectacular suicide. I spend all this time waiting for one of these games to come along and somehow I manage to flop out in the first round

Well, hopefully I gave you all a night of amusement. My assassin seems to have lost. To a blacksmith of all people, the humanity of it all!

[Syjahel]

It's because metal does all those things that working magic with it is so versatile :p Shackles? Rusted free. Your enemy's sword? Corroded. Their crossbow bolts? Bent. And so on and so forth ...

But really, it was just an exclamation of surprise for me, like a happy dance.

No-one wants to see the Druchii Happy Dance

[Calisson]

You better hope I'm dead by the end of this Callison or else you may be having a close encounter with one of Arhast's knives.

I am now going to go and find a pen to write Calisson's name on a bottle, ready for when I harvest his soul.

Now let this be a lesson to you boys and girls, don't send death threats to the mod, his dice may take offence to it.

So true...
Be careful about spelling the Mod's name, too.


@ Malus99
Well done for the fluffy character, the great first day post and the well thought initiative in the pit. Also, you're probably one who took the best grasp of the magic system.
Bad dice rolls can ruin the best plans, with you it was spectacular.
Hopefully, you will write a nice "Famous Last Words" post in the gaming thread, won't you?
You're still welcome to read the posts and cast your votes. Next time, votes will be much more meaningful.
I'm sure you have a prioritary enlistment to the second week of TMRS, whenever this happens.

[Syjahel]

Just as a heads up, I will be on holiday from tomorrow 2/11/11 until 8/11/11. I'm taking my laptop, and I have mobile broadband so I hope it won't be an issue, just in case however ... Well I hope it will work, I need to know how this pans out

[Malus99]

My famous last words, if my final plan doesn't work, will be (in a deep, booming voice):
*Clears throat and strikes a dramatic pose*

"Oh bloody hell."

with you it was spectacular.

Go out with a bang, eh? lol

It's because metal does all those things that working magic with it is so versatile :p Shackles? Rusted free. Your enemy's sword? Corroded. Their crossbow bolts? Bent. And so on and so forth ...

But really, it was just an exclamation of surprise for me, like a happy dance.

No-one wants to see the Druchii Happy Dance

I wouldn't mind so much if I was bested in a magical duel of skill and cunning, instead I managed to fall flat on my face and roll into the lake of doom. Yeah, real smooth mr 'lithe elf assassin'!

I will probably give it another go next time, and next time I will make sure to get the shadow mage before Dalamar nicks it!!!

Then I shall just stick to hiding and not making enemies of anyone, least of all Mr Big himself. Seeing how my brash and outgoing character has made a bit of a hash of things, drowning as he is in some freezing lake in pitch-blackness in the middle of nowhere having been abducted from a quiet and peaceful life where he never upset anyone, except, perhaps, from those victims he viciously slaughtered and then imprisoned their souls to torture for all eternity. Generally, an A1 first-grade screw-up.