Of Magic and Metal R2D

I'm willing to help with mechanics, if I'd be of any help.

In case you didn't notice, I've been trying to put together the mechanics for the "advertising needed" game over in the GM application section. Come and join us.

I am certainly wanting to play, Crunchtime. I apologize for not saying this sooner. My only plausible reason was perhaps I sub-consciously felt my high praise of your game meant that my desire to play in your new game was a given.

I'm also willing to help you out with mechanics. I've been using various systems for 20+ years, as well as made a few of my own. I've got a good eye for potential abuses, disadvantages, or other long-term oversights that don't generally show themselves until play-testing.

So, uhm, so, I would like to play?
Pwetty pwease?

Alllright, game's full, which is great. I wasn't sure if you guys would stick with me on a game-move.

Now, I'm waffling between a game that strictly uses a D20, where items/weapons have characteristics like:
Crushes
Armor-piercing
Magic Rebuke (Roll a D6. On a 6, any magic attack directed against you is reflected back on its owner.)

Or a game rather similar to Darien's... with mechanics like this:

This game would have hitpoints, as I think they add a fairer element to the game, as in OMAM sometimes the enemy would be one-hit killed, sometimes not... it was random.
Combat won't use a d20 though, as I'm thinking of using a similar system to this game, where your skills and equipment regulate your roll. I'm planning on implementing this so that there are multiple rolls for each combat, played out like this:

Slash the generic creature with my wooden dagger
[First off, a preliminary roll to determine the damage of the attack, or the damage the defender will retaliate with should the attack fail.]

(Generic creature)Generic claw(1d3)
2

(Hero)Wooden Dagger(1d1)
1

Hero leaps at the creature, stabbing forwards with his dagger as he does so. The beast catches the blade in it's bone claws, turning it aside.
[Now the attacker rolls a dice, which is determined by the power of his attack(In this case, one) and any bonuses by skills or equipment.]

1 + _ (D1)
1 [By the way, was the listing of attack bonuses in the OMAM game for the combat roll tedious? Do you think just a grand bonus total would be better?]

[Now the opponent rolls, indicated by red script]
2 + 2 (Resilient hide)(D4)
2

Hero savagely twists his dagger out of the beasts bone claw, stepping back with his opposite foot as he does so, then striding forwards in a powerful lunge. The generic creature easily blocks the strike with seeming contempt, following up with a ripping blow from its other claw that scratches Hero along his side.

So, since the creature won the battle, Hero loses the number rolled by the beast in the beginning, 2, in hitpoints. Skills can do many interesting things in this game, but some skills and items simply raise the number of the die you throw in combat, either the Damage or the Power will be increased, Damage being the amount of hitpoints you knock off, Power being the roll that determines if you win or lose the combat.



Personally, I think having the first system would be funner to roll for... Combat would be more strategic, with situations like:

The enemy has plate armor, and I don't have any weapons suitable to get through it.<---Players thoughts

Quickly inspect the armored knight, searching for possible weak points in his armor. If found, strike at those weak points. <---Players action

Roll would have a roll to see if he finds a weak point, and a roll to see if he successfully gets through.

--
Keep in mind that this is all barebones descriptions right now... I'm just trying to judge what the players would enjoy more, and what I would enjoy more. As stated earlier, I like the possibilities the first option has, as well as the fact that I won't get bogged down in combat rolls like in OMAM.

Crunchtime, I just read your post. I'm on my iPhone at the moment, which will make a response difficult. I'm almost ready to settle down at the PC for a while though, and I'll edit this post with a proper response at that time.

------------------------------------------
Edit:

its_crunchtime wrote:I'm waffling between a game that strictly uses a D20, where items/weapons have characteristics like:
Crushes
Armor-piercing
Magic Rebuke (Roll a D6. On a 6, any magic attack directed against you is reflected back on its owner.)

This mechanic requires more elaboration before a critique could be made for it. How do these characteristics affect the d20 roll? Can items have more than one characteristic? Can CHARACTERS have such characteristics (such as, perhaps, Hardy / Light-Footed / Intimidating)? Can characters learn how to modify their gear to grant them characteristics? How is the d20 roll used in combat?

As an example, the game I'm running uses the Pathfinder rule set for Dungeons and Dragons. Armor, character size, and ability modifiers determine your character's Armor Class (AC). AC is determined by the equation: AC = 10 + (Armor Rating) + (Shield Rating) + Dexterity Modifier + Size Modifier. If your armor granted you 4 AC, your shield added an additional 1 AC, and your DexModifier was +2, then your AC would be 17. [17 = 10 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 0] When making an attack roll against you, enemies must roll a 17 or greater on a d20 to deal damage. If they were successful they would then roll for damage. If not, their attack either missed or merely landed a glancing blow that dealt no damage.

its_crunchtime wrote:Or a game rather similar to Darien's... with mechanics like this:

This game would have hitpoints, as I think they add a fairer element to the game, as in OMAM sometimes the enemy would be one-hit killed, sometimes not... it was random.
Combat won't use a d20 though, as I'm thinking of using a similar system to this game, where your skills and equipment regulate your roll. I'm planning on implementing this so that there are multiple rolls for each combat, played out like this:

Spoiler'd by Rulyon:

Seems fine... -ish. I think I'm missing something. A roll in which the player only has a [1d1] vs the monster's [1d4] to determine WHO successfully lands an attack means the best any player can ever hope for is a stalemate. A game in which the player basically has no hope won't be enjoyed by very many people. Could you explain this better, please?

its_crunchtime wrote:Personally, I think having the first system would be funner to roll for... Combat would be more strategic, with situations like:

The enemy has plate armor, and I don't have any weapons suitable to get through it.<---Players thoughts

Quickly inspect the armored knight, searching for possible weak points in his armor. If found, strike at those weak points. <---Players action

Roll would have a roll to see if he finds a weak point, and a roll to see if he successfully gets through.

--
Keep in mind that this is all barebones descriptions right now... I'm just trying to judge what the players would enjoy more, and what I would enjoy more. As stated earlier, I like the possibilities the first option has, as well as the fact that I won't get bogged down in combat rolls like in OMAM.

A barebones description makes it very difficult to really get a feel for, but I think I understand what you're talking about. Both play styles have potential. Will you be making another game Application to flesh out the play styles more?

Hey, could i go straight on the waiting list for this game, i'll get in early just incase anybody backs out

Welcome to the forums, Kezza! Do you mean going on the waiting list for the new game I'm planning? This current one is going to be put down soon, as I have no true plot lined up for it.

-----
I understand what you were saying about elaborating more on those styles, Rulyon. I'm basically throwing out ideas and searching for inspiration until I find a style that feels right.

I'm thinking more and more that an elaborate skill system may be more restrictive than fun and exciting... Zerovirus had a great game going, and there was a minimum of statistics involved in it.

Perhaps a system with hitpoints, where for a combat action a d20 is rolled, and weapons have an attached die to them concerning damage if the attack is successful. Higher rolls could lead to extra damage, while failed rolls could lead to the enemy striking you, either with a small, fixed amount of damage on a small fail (a 9 or 8 ) or they hit you with their own weapon on a lower roll.
Similiar to the style used in a few other games? Sure. But it's not like there's a law against using someone else's technique among R2D's. If anything, it's a form of flattery.
For the purposes of this roll (and in the style, should this be met with approval), black numbers are used for rolls to determine success and red numbers are used to calculate damage dealt or received from combat.

The old door shuddered as the bandit slammed it with his shoulder another time. Taking shelter in this old farmhouse seemed like a good idea, until a gang of highwaymen saw you and your friend enter.

"It seems like we've been running into these guys quite often." Your friend Sammy comments dryly, crossbow aimed at the door that seems ready to leap off it's hinges. Crouching behind a stack of flour sacks two feet high, his weapon braced on the top sack, he appears ready to meet the first one to come through the door with alacrity.

"It's a hard world." You reply, moving to brace the door as the bandit outside, visible through the slight cracks in the door, prepares to go at it again.

5

You put your shoulder against the door just as the bandit outside slams into it. Your slight frame is no match for his broad, muscular girth, and you are thrown back from the door towards a pile of boxes, cheerfully filled with hand-rakes, shovels, and climbing spikes - though only the gods know why climbing spikes would be needed on a farm.

19

Twisting yourself around as you fly through the air, you manage to land just infront of the pile. Judging by the distance you flew, this bandit must have some sort of enchanted item to give him enhanced strength. Rolling to your feet, you whirl to face the door to see the brutish figure. While his limbs were broad, as was his chest, clearly visible through the man's threadbare shirt, it was still impossible to believe that you could have flown that far from bracing a door. Holding up his pants was a gilded belt, at odds with the rest of his shoddy clothing. Evidently, that is what gave him such strength.

Information gained: (Bandit's Name) has Strength-Enhancing belt

(The details of this would go in this enemies spoiler'd information tag. This information is useful because in my planned game you will not know an enemies skills or equipment until you encounter them. Obviously the item would have an actual name as well instead of being "strength-enhancing belt")

"Leave or die!" Sammy growls, tightening the grip on his crossbow. The bandit laughs, taking a step forwards.

Sammy looses his bolt, the arms of the crossbow bucking as the tension is released.

15<---This determines if the attack was successful
4 [In the game, the amount of damage the weapon deals would be listed in the inventory (Ex: Crossbow(1d6)) OR it could be listed before the red number...feedback?]

The bandit grunts with pain as the quarrel buries itself in his shoulder, but continues forwards - perhaps the belt also negates his pain?
Regardless, the bandit charges Sammy's small fortification, jagged blade held high.

12

Barreling right through the sacks, Sammy is flung backwards a few feet before slamming into the barns rear wall. The bandit halts his charge, whirling around as he pulls an equally jagged dagger from his belt that matches his blade, flinging it at you as you charge at him with your rapier.

10

You bat the missile aside, clearing the distance in a few bounds, and unleashing your rapier in what it does best: a flurry of stabs and thrusts.
20
6 + 6 = 12
---------------------------------
..I have no need to fake roll this further... so on to explanations!

As already stated, black numbers are your standard rolls to determine whether an attack or action succeeds. Things like persuading, picking a lock, etc.
Red numbers are damage to your hitpoints sustained for any reason. These can either be rolled by a weapon (1d4 [roll] = 2 or they can be a fixed amount determined by the depth of a fail or something.
Orange numbers depict values added or decreased by having a successful or failed roll.

Rolls would happen whenever something needs to be determined - Do you dodge this trap? If not, how much damage do you take?
7 [Which, using a d20, is a fail]
4 [The trap deals any damage from 4 to 8, so I roll to see what it will deal -this will likely be hidden from the players.]

What do you think?

This appeals to me! The presentation of the roll is very similar to Within the Light, by BigKahuna. I'd be very interested in playing it.

Whups, the information gained was supposed to be a few lines back... fixed it.
--
Yeah, it appeals to me as well... the omission of skills seems a bit like a step in the right direction (for this game, atleast) until I can think of a good way to implement them. With multiple rolls taking place, it seems a bit more involved.

I could add weapon/character traits that were touched on before to add another dimension to the game. Elaborating on that:

Let's say that a mace has the "Crushing" trait:

Iron Mace - Crushing: Negates enemy plate armor. Higher chance to break bones/incapacitate than other weapons.
- Any other traits would go here, and so on.

Armor would reduce a certain amount of damage from any attack unless a weapon had a trait that negated that effect. Every armor would have a weak point that could be found, so there would never be something with armor too great for the players to even damage.

Crude iron plate - -2 to all damage suffered

So if you attack an enemy with your mace and they had plate armor on, you would bypass that.

Not sure if this is a good idea, so I'll have to think on it. Classifying this as a "maybe".

Ooh it's coming along very nicely. Hope you don't mind me jumping in again.

1. Colors are always nice. I'll use that if you don't mind. I'm lazy and always bold everything, but it does help to clarify.

2. That use of gaining information is also nice. I'll have to factor that in as well.

3. HP = yes, IMO. One less statistic is always nice, but it's a pain to judge what stat de-buffs (-1 penalties) or environmental de-buffs (not a roll reduction per se, but directly affecting how their roll plays out) based on what injuries they've sustained.

The way I have it set up (or will once I get that first combat roll out of the way), no injuries causes you to regain 1 HP per turn, weapons deal a certain amount of damage (e.g. 1d8), and injuries (that cause loss of blood or severe pain) cause you to lose that +1 HP bonus, and lose HP every turn if they are untreated and severe.

Attacks themselves will be initiative based. Generally 1-10 = fail, 10-20 = success. This is where environmental factors are factored in (One arm? the dark of night? need a higher accuracy roll).

ON THAT EARLIER STATISTIC NOTE...

its_crunchtime wrote:I'm thinking more and more that an elaborate skill system may be more restrictive than fun and exciting... Zerovirus had a great game going, and there was a minimum of statistics involved in it.

Yes, his game was incredible. Yes, he chopped out every possible statistic that he could without driving his players crazy. Yes, this contributed to its success. And yes, an elaborate skill system can damage the game if the players must sift through a mountain of stats.

BUT!

Ultimately Zero's game failed. He made the skill system so broad, free, and nonrestrictive that his players' creativity and enthusiasm burned him out. His updates took ages to write because uses of skills become more and more elaborate. Actions became entire paragraphs (I and Wesfreak were most guilty of this... see here and here).

What I'm trying to say is, systems = good!, stats = bad (if excessive).

Systems help define things. Create order. Create a system with definite limits, but room for expansion.

Limits so that nothing gets out of your control -- you'll end up contradicting your own 'system' by refusing players a power, or having the idea well run dry -- this happens when no set limits or established, besides staying within the confines of your universe, and your players want you to explain every single aspect of the 'system.'

Room for expansion... New skill branches that are within the players reach. New levels to their power. Accessible, but distant. Not arbitrarily keeping it from the players (as in "you haven't had a skill trance/you didn't roll a 20/that's blocked out of your mind), but slowly introducing areas of specialization and such.

I'm in the same position you are -- throwing out ideas until one sticks -- and I haven't even tried out my ideas yet. These are only some of my opinions. But, I've thought about this a while.

Wow... I keep posting entire walls of text... Hope this is helpful. Your post helped me get a better idea of what I'm trying to accomplish. Writing these posts always helps me more than it helps the person, too

EDIT: Weapon/character traits...

Do you want skills (magic, feats, psychic powers, whatever) to utilize and define? Or will it be non-existent/be in the game but not explored... A one-time spell scroll or such?

Or do you want traits (weapon/armor/character) to utilize and define? Or, will they be environmental (effects during a roll. Maces would be assumed to crush armor, and the victim would have their armor dented, possibly bruising them and giving them extra damage, without actually using traits and buffs/de-buffs)?

This is probably the main decision you have to make, because otherwise the game would devolve into a hack-and-slash. Nothing would be defined but weapon damages, so no strategy, so players would pick up the best weapon they could find and hit people with them.

Yes i meant the new one you are setting up, thanks

Short on time at the moment, will write an update on traits 'n' stuff when I can... better thought out, thanks to Bigkahuna! Yay!

Seriously though, nice suggestions and ideas, and I'm glad you pointed out the possibility of it devolving into a hack and slash - totally possible, and completely slipped my mind. So there will probably be a mix of skills and traits... more on this later...

And Kezza, you are on. Updated list:

Playing on game start:
1)Rulyon
2)Aerynpierre
3)Saima
4)Shinobody
5)Malregima

Waiting list, in order of when you will join the game:
1)8680
2)Anailater
3)Kezza (Hope you don't mind how I'm shortening your name!)

Alright, on traits and skills:

I've been thinking that as an interesting game mechanic, every living being - on account of magic that will be explained in the actual game - has a "trait". This will be called something else in the game to reflect it's magical nature. These traits can be things like:

Hard Skin- -1 to any damage suffered.
Fists of Iron- When hitting something with your fists, instead of doing the usual fixed "2" damage, instead roll 2d6.
Vivifying Mind- When a 15 is rolled, in addition to the normal result, roll 1d8. The number rolled is dealt to a single enemy nearby. Mental.

...etc. Generally I'll try and make them more interesting than simple stat increases. Each player can pick a trait from a list in the beginning. These will be fairly weak traits, like Hard Skin.
Now for the fun part:
Some weapons have traits, but they are uncommon. One with skill in such arts can imbue a weapon with a trait, the effect changing to combine with the weapon.
"But," you may ask, "If I imbue a weapon with a trait, than I will have none!"
"Not so!" I cry, as you can absorb a trait from any dead being. This will be explained in the game. A hint would be "magic".
If you absorb a trait from something, your previous trait will be overwritten. Can you have more than one trait at a time? Maybe, if you find someone or something during your travels...

Once a weapon has a trait, you cannot remove that trait unless you have knowledge in that area, in the from of a skill. Which work thus:
Skills will be earned through experience, as before. I don't want to do many "+3 when rolling to attack with a sword", because I think this would unbalance the d20 system. There probably will be skills that do this though, in small bonuses, simply because if you are good at something you probably won't fail.
If you meditate as a minor, I will post the experience you have in what skills.

Skills can be both earned and bought, bought being you learning a skill from a trainer. Some things you can only do when you have skill in that area, such as smithing. You cannot even attempt smithing unless you have a skill in that area, as the blacksmith will not let you work his forge if you are liable to ruin everything. Now if you find an unmanned forge, that's a different matter entirely... but be warned: If you attempt to, say, craft a wooden spear, fitting it with an iron head, you will have a debuff due to your extreme not-skill.

I've been watching but not commenting...excited to try this new game!

I'm excited to start to it!

I think I've got my basic mechanics down... any questions, comments or perceived problems with how this is going to play out using this system?

its_crunchtime wrote:Seriously though, nice suggestions and ideas...

Thanks! Glad it helped someone else rather than myself.

Trait system looks pretty neat. I'm wondering how it'll be transferred to weapons... Is there going to be a list of "approved weapon traits?" Because traits like Hard Skin won't be able to transfer -- or will there be some sort of weapon-like equivalent?

Also curious how your magic system is going to work, but I assume you're saving it

How will experience work?

Not to put a dent in the mood, but I do believe I am going to miss Vitr. I was starting to have fun with developing him more than as a "blast-'em" guy after his hand blew up on himself. Seems to have had some mad skills with his luck in combat.

Perhaps Vitr will return in the next iteration of Of Magic and Metal...

I understand that it must be frustrating for my players to lose their characters and the game they spent time on, but this is something I feel I need to do, as I am not satisfied with this game right now. It is likely that your characters will return in the next version of Of Magic and Metal after this new game has run it's course... they will not be tossed out!

-
I'll throw up explanations on experience, and a little bit on magic soon. Bigkahuna was right, I am saving it.

wait...
are you gonna make new thread or update the thread we are on now with new rules?

I will be deleting (or more accurately, Bigkahuna will be locking) this thread, as I feel that re-purposing this one would cause a new player too much confusion if they wanted to join this game, tried to read what had happened so far, and then found that the listed game mechanics were nothing like how the game was being played because they would be reading the old game until page 40-something.

Another mechanics update: I'm basically putting these out there for people to see if there would be anything unfair/boring/etc. I'm almost done though... then we can start!

Bigkahuna asked if the trait would change when put into a weapon. Yes, it would! For an example, let's look at Hard Skin - -1 damage taken from all sources

When putting this into a weapon, then the trait would "re-purpose" itself. Hard Skin would likely change into something like, "This weapon will never break". While this may seem lackluster, weapons CAN break in this game (not from a durability stat like in Foolishballoon's game; from a really bad roll while defending or something)
Not to mention, you're putting a rather weak trait into a weak weapon. What did you expect?

So your paltry "Iron Dagger(1d4)" would now be a venerable "Hardened Iron Dagger(1d4)(Will never break, from Hard Skin)

Experience will likely be gained according to your roll in the experiences relevant; 11 would give 1 experience, 12 would give 2, and so on. Of course, it will be much easier to level up in this game. Not too easy, but easier than Of Magic and Metal.

You guys may have noticed that on one of the example traits I gave, it had a "Mental" at the end by it's damage. This is because I am thinking of having a system with three different types of attacks:
Physical
Magical
Mental

Physical attacks are your average swords, bows, etc. They don't have anything special associated with them.
Magical attacks will ignore all armor. Magic spells and attacks would have three categories:
Instantaneous: Evidently, these happen instantly. Instantaneous spells will likely cause an effect like "Magic Exhaustion" or something similar that either gives penalties against any further magic you cast for a turn, or prevents the casting of any magic by you for a turn.
Preparatory: These spells need to be prepared a turn in advance, and cast within two turns after they are prepared. Preparing a spell will be interrupted if you sustain more than 5 damage in the turn.
Component:These spells need magical components to cast; this was started a bit in OMAM, as you can tell by the mage you guy's recently killed having a root, a bottle of extract, and so on. The spell cast would consume the components, but it is as instantaneous as... well, instantaneous spells, except without the penalty.

Preparatory spells would probably be strongest, but it all depends on the spell used. I'm thinking of having a "spells known" spoiler for each character as well, to show the spells they have access to. Of course, it would only appear if they had the capability.

Finally, Mental attacks would ignore both armor and magic wards, in return being generally weaker than physical or magical attacks. I'm thinking that Mental attacks and priestly abilities would run together, the priest acting as a conduit to the power of the god, who gives said power to the mind of the priest to direct.

"To the dirt! Now!" Ragaren roars, shifting his sword as he prepares to strike it home.

An object, moving too fast for any of you to identify, whirls over Jayk's shoulder, striking the blade of Ragaren's talank with such force that it is shunted aside, Ragaren's delayed reaction driving the point into the dirt.

As one, everyone whips around to see a man none of you know charging down the street, a familiar blade clenched tight in his fists. He wears no helmet, and is swathed in brown winter furs.

But the blade... it is unmistakeable.

Frozen Fury.
Which means that this is the escaped Mine-Ward, from all those hours ago that feel like a lost lifetime.

For reasons unknown to any of you, he has just saved Ordal's life, and probably everyone else's at the same time. He clears the distance frighteningly fast, leaving only enough time for Ragaren to wrench his blade out of the earth and bring it to bear.
The two huge men clash as giants would, their mammoth blades siring bursts of sparks when they connect, the two figures anticipating the other's move, moving to block and counter even as the other begins it.

Entranced by the vision for a few moments, it takes second or two for the rest of you to realize that this is your chance.
Natania moves first, breaking for Ordal's laboring form. The remaining soldiers move to stop her, but Talvik waves his hands, melting their weapons into puddles. Kreja's earth spikes make short work of them immediately after, puncturing the soft loam of the cavern floor to impale each soldier through the chest, raising them off their feet as the spikes continued to grow until they were at least seven feet off the ground, slanted enough to puncture the stone wall of the tower.

The spikes run red, a sharp contrast to their crisp grey color, veined with white.

A quick motion sets Natania's hands glowing, as she sets to work on Ordal. Serh and Ragaren dance their way across the street, fighting at the mouth of an alleyway as the rest of the companions move to help.
"Quick!" Vitr cries, sword readied as he charges down the street.

Saima's kick catches him in the stomach, doubling him over, giving Saima a golden opportunity to strike the back of his head. He does, showing mercy at the last moment by hitting Vitr with his shortsword's pommel, sending Vitr spiraling into the realm of unconsciousness.

"Saima! What the hell?" Kreja growls, as she, Jayk, Rhyanon, Klyen and Talvik stumble to a stop right infront of Saima, who twists his sword to put the point under Jayk's chin.

"Move and Jayk dies! Drop your weapons!"

"What in the gods name are you doing?" Rhyanon asks, stunned.

"We don't have time for this!" Talvik mumbles, seeming not to grasp the gravity of the situation. He begins a motion with his hands, but Saima, quicker than anyone could imagine, whips up his free hand, a glyph, burning a white-red the color of melted metal shooting forth and scorching right into Talvik's chest, burning through his robe and into his skin a good half-inch deep.
With his mouth forming a surprised 'O' that immediately turns into a grimace of agonizing pain, Talvik falls back to the ground, landing heavily on his back.

Before anyone else can react,a cry of pain has everyone looking at Serh and Ragaren.

Serh's blade has pierced Ragaren's chest. His expression starts to change from a mask of anger to a calm visage, but then Ragaren, with he strength of a dying man, plunges his blade through Serh at an angle twin to the one that pierces his own body.

The two crumble atop eachother, and Jayk uses the moment to smack Saima's blade aside, bringing his own up simultaneously to carve a hole through Saima's chest at an upward angle that has the sword entering in his stomach but exiting between his shoulderblades.

Saima crumples, offering a sigh as blood washes the dirt, the blade, and the hand that struck him down.

"Well that was a mite anticlimactic." Kreja remarks dryly.

"Why?" Jayk whispers, as the rest spring into action. Natania rushes over to see if she can heal Serh - and if not, atleast get an explanation - while Klyen and Rhyanon, by unspoken consent, each move off to scout the immediate area in opposite directions. Kreja kneels by Talvik's side, bluntly asking as to his health.

Coughing up blood, Saima answers: "Because... I work for the Mine-Warden, and for my country of Crasain."

Jayk moves back, disappointed. He had thought there would be some deeper motive than a simple: "I work for the enemy." Well, that's interrupted stories for you.

Silent as shadow -as well it should be- Kreja's shadow beast emerges from the earth beneath Saima's form, engulfing him. With a shocked cry, Jayk stabs down with his sword, feeling it bury deep into the earth below.
Saima's body was gone- he knew that even before the shadow dissolved a moment later, leaving nothing behind but his sword, buried in the loam halfway up to it's hilt.

"I'm fine -I'll have a hell of a scar, thanks to that bastard traitor, but it'll number one among many." Talvik groans as he stands up, accepting Kreja's offered hand. "Hurts like you wouldn't believe, though."

Natania moves towards the three of you, supporting Serh under his arm.

"What are you doing, Mine-Ward?" Talvik asks gruffly, though when considering his usual tone, it doesn't seem quite so rough.

"My people, the Cora, value battle among all else. Our mythos is defined by success in honorable combat. When I ran from your friend," He gives a small chuckle, "I don't even know his name; but when I ran from your friend, I violated our beliefs. As penance, I must serve to guard him until he considers my cowardice repaid."

"I have heard of the Cora; very well." Talvik says. The rest of you merely shake your heads, never having heard of the Cora before in your lifetimes. "And thank you, I suppose."

Rhyanon returns soon after to find Ordal sitting up and talking to the rest of her companions, though he sounds and looks strained. Vitr is conscious once more, rubbing his head and grimacing. A minute later Klyen returns, and Ordal addresses you all:

"There is no way I am able to go along with you all to find the Warden. If we leave now, I promise to tell you my tale once we are safe at my hideout. Otherwise, you might as well leave me here, as a novice swordsman could slay me right now."

"I am in the same condition." Serh mumbles. While Natania's healing may solve the wound, she must draw on the body that she is healing, draining it of energy.

"Saima was a traitor; the Warden likely knows we are coming." Kreja says, musing. "Going there would be suicide."

"I guess we don't really have a choice then." Vitr says, the rest of you nodding in agreement.

"Ordal, take us out of here." Klyen proclaims, enunciating the words that sounded like closing the final page of a book.



What happens to your characters? What does Ordal have to tell you? What, truly, would have happened had this game continued? And what the ^%&$ happened to Saima?

Well, I guess we'll have to wait until [insert game title here]!

-

Not bad, for a quick ending, I suppose. It's hard to try and make an interesting end to a game while nothing has really matured into it's element yet, but I really want to start this new game -I'm quite pumped for it. Sorry for any let downs, but I do feel like writing this game had improved my literature skills, and I hope to be able to satisfy your expectations with my next game that actually will have some semblance of plot other than a black or white "shall we do this or this?"

An enjoyable read! I agree with your assessment: your writing has certainly improved over the past year. I've enjoyed every step of the way. It was a good ending to, what I'm considering it to be, the prologue to the next game. I'm looking forward to the start!

Lovely roll. Its a shame that the story ended so abruptly, but I understand.

Good luck with your next game!

Hah. Rather odd ending. Saima - did you know that your character was going to turn traitor?

And I'd like to be put on the waiting list if you don't mind. The only game that hasn't ended for me is Frogger's, and looks like the plot-line there is coming to a close. This one's reincarnation looks like it's going to be interesting!

I've been playing against the others for a while. Hopefully Crunchtime doesn't mind me saying