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Author Topic: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics  (Read 33400 times)

Maximum Spin

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #630 on: November 13, 2021, 02:41:22 am »

2, given that it hasn't been clear what the fallout of negation usage actually IS, other than "leaving negative energy lying around if you are not careful", which is essentially the same thing as leaving monsters lying around if you are not careful.

That said, I'm open to the monsters thing too. A sensible game would allow us to specifically choose to make monsters that are minmaxed for being beasts of burden and not dangerous. If I were more confident that would happen here I'd vote for it.

Never mind. I was always pretty evenly balanced between the two, and Glass asked me to switch, so why not.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2021, 03:42:32 pm by Maximum Spin »
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King Zultan

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #632 on: November 13, 2021, 03:20:11 am »

2
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but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
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Yellow Pixel

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #633 on: November 13, 2021, 12:17:01 pm »

3
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Atomic Chicken

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #634 on: November 13, 2021, 02:07:41 pm »

2
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As mentioned in the previous turn, the most exciting field of battle this year will be in the Arstotzkan capitol, with plenty of close-quarter fighting and siege warfare.  Arstotzka, accordingly, spent their design phase developing a high-altitude tactical bomber. 

Glass

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #635 on: November 13, 2021, 02:17:37 pm »

Guys, please remember, while we are fairly good at Negation, we are not as good at it as we are with Automation or Vivomancy. Those two are more likely to have more effective outcomes.
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Quote from: FallacyOfUrist (on Discord, 11/15/21)
Glass is, as usual, correct.
Yep, as ever, I bestow upon Glass the expected +1
I'm gonna say we go with whatever Glass's idea is.

Maximum Spin

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #636 on: November 13, 2021, 03:41:52 pm »

Yeah, sure, 3. I hoped negation would provide more energy but this is fine.
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Enemy post

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #637 on: November 13, 2021, 08:29:44 pm »

Monsters.

Quote
"Your Majesty, I think there is another way," you say. "Every living thing can get its power from food, and better foods mean more power. I think I can design beasts that will do much of the heavy lifting in our foundries and factories, and I can make them strong with magically designed greens that carry all the energy they need."

"Isn't vivomancy often unpredictable in its results?" Queen Thecla asks skeptically.

"I've had relatively good success with it so far," you say truthfully. "It seems not so unpredictable as the stories suggest."

"I concur, Your Majesty," Sam says. "I have quite a bit of experience with vivomancy now, and I must say that its unpredictability seems to have been exaggerated. And the results can often be quite charming." You can tell he's thinking of his pet dragon, Thomas.

"If even the Church recommends it, it must be so," Queen Thecla says, surprised.

You think the hierophant will not be pleased, but perhaps she would be less pleased if the kingdom used any other source of magical power. (Decreased Church Relationship.)

You fall silent for a moment to listen to the excited murmurs of the courtiers. Apparently, what they got from your interaction with the queen is that the fabulous steeds of the ancients might be coming back, and they are all filled with excitement and pleasure at your emergence at court. They seem to believe that ingratiating themselves to you might result in their procuring some of the most prestigious beasts first.

Well, let them think that. (Increased Adoration.)

"It will not be easy to convince the people that magic is suddenly acceptable," the queen says. "Perhaps some glamor magic is in order to ensure that the people are willing to follow where I lead."

"The Church would not approve of a secular ruler impersonating a saint with magic," Blessed Advisor Sam says. "Please, let the people be in awe of only the saints, so that they may hold goodness in the highest regard instead of power."

You weigh whether to warn the queen about the effects of rot, and decide she would find out soon enough anyway.

The queen blanches at your explanation of rot but murmurs, "I am prepared to do whatever it takes to lead the kingdom. But will it be worth it? What do you think?"

1.Suggest using a glamor, rot and Church be damned.
2.Suggest using divination to communicate with her subjects, building bonds of trust.

3.Tell the queen she needs no glamor; she's already strikingly beautiful. (Flirt.)
4.Tell the queen she needs no glamor; she's already most impressive.
5.The drawbacks of glamors aren't worth it—old-fashioned charisma must win over the people.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)
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Glass

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #638 on: November 13, 2021, 08:32:05 pm »

Hi fuck glamor.

5

4 is also a viable option, but, eh. I feel like it's better to take a hard stance against glamor in general than to say "oh, you just don't need it". Nobody needs it. Glamor is bullshit magic that shouldn't exist.

More settings should have the literal mind-control magic be more widely disliked than they frequently are.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2021, 08:35:47 pm by Glass »
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Quote from: FallacyOfUrist (on Discord, 11/15/21)
Glass is, as usual, correct.
Yep, as ever, I bestow upon Glass the expected +1
I'm gonna say we go with whatever Glass's idea is.

Maximum Spin

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #639 on: November 13, 2021, 08:44:31 pm »

5
It's a shame because 2 could actually have been interesting.
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Glass

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #640 on: November 13, 2021, 08:47:31 pm »

Yeah, but we only have 4 divination. It was always too risky to practice that one, what with the fact that it would tip people off to the fact that we were very much a wizard, and likely give away information that was dangerous for us to reveal.
It would have been nice, but oh well.
(Also, I'm slightly worried what the queen would reveal with her divination use.)
« Last Edit: November 14, 2021, 01:59:35 am by Glass »
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Quote from: FallacyOfUrist (on Discord, 11/15/21)
Glass is, as usual, correct.
Yep, as ever, I bestow upon Glass the expected +1
I'm gonna say we go with whatever Glass's idea is.

King Zultan

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #641 on: November 14, 2021, 03:10:19 am »

1 If the queen wants to use glamour and slowly rot to death than let her, so far I'm not liking her character enough to care if she dies.

(I don't much care if the queen reveals state secrets with divination , as they're not our secrets.)
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Atomic Chicken

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #642 on: November 14, 2021, 03:24:10 am »

5
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As mentioned in the previous turn, the most exciting field of battle this year will be in the Arstotzkan capitol, with plenty of close-quarter fighting and siege warfare.  Arstotzka, accordingly, spent their design phase developing a high-altitude tactical bomber. 

brewer bob

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #643 on: November 14, 2021, 03:26:21 am »

I'm a bit conflicted whether to choose 1 or 5. I'm with Zultan on wanting the queen to rot, but it'd take too long a time,  and in that time she'd probably manage to do lots of damage to innocent people. 5 seems like the way to go then, though I don't like that the option is laid out in a manner as that our character is concerned about the queen's well-being.

So, a reluctant 5.

Enemy post

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Re: [Suggestion game]Choice of Magics
« Reply #644 on: November 14, 2021, 10:54:21 am »

Glamor isn't worth it.

Quote
"Unless you want your health to deteriorate, I suggest you stick to old-fashioned charisma," you advise the queen. "Everyone who uses glamor will eventually die from it."

"So then the saints are all dying as well?" the queen says.

"Just so," you say.

Sam nods in sad agreement.

The queen purses her lips, seeming upset.

"What about you?" the queen asks you. "Have you used this magic, too?"

"I mostly avoid the stuff, myself," you say.

"Very well, then no glamors for me," the queen declares. "Thank you for warning me." (Increased Thecla Relationship.)

"Of course," you say.

"Very wise, Your Majesty," Blessed Advisor Sam says, looking relieved.

Over the next few months, as the days get colder and the first snow begins to fall, you furiously work in private on new spells powerful enough to change the fate of a kingdom. With your newfound experience in magic, the advanced book you took from the sunken library, Megali Mageia, or "Great Magic," now seems at least somewhat intelligible to you, and you concentrate on the parts that deal with vivomancy magic.

In a barn on a royal ranch an hour's ride from the capital, you conduct magical vivomancy experiments to create animals with more power and endurance than any tame animal since the time of the ancients. (Gained Vivomancy.) The queen supplies you with ever more exotic caged beasts—nightmares, pseudodragons, chimeras, red-tusked catoblepae—and you draw their essences and infuse them into more familiar animals, such as horses and elephants.

You also experiment with taking the more promising wild monsters, such as a shaggy white dodecapede, and rendering them a bit more docile.

Actually, you aren't entirely certain whether you've successfully tamed these beasts, or if they're all just a bit lethargic from the cold. You suppose you'll find out in the spring.

As a final benefit of all these experiments, having a variety of animals and monsters on hand is useful for your alchemical experiments. From some peacock feathers, rabbit fur, and baby-dragon scales, you brew a potion that permanently enhances your glamors. (Gained Glamor.)

Something else you realize, as you study the Megali Mageia more and more, is that the ancients knew tricks to make magic safer that are lost to you. The book makes passing reference to the precautions every wizard takes: apparently, wizards are supposed to draw runes and magic circles before casting big spells that reduce the negative side effects of the magic. But you have no idea what these runes and circles should look like or how they work.

Oh well. The ancients were a whole civilization that used magic. Surely one person can't be as dangerous as that, even if that person doesn't really know how to use magic safely.

Right?

Meanwhile, the queen continues her official business largely as before, as if denying that anything big is about to change in the kingdom.

Determining who the factions are at court is a fascinating logic puzzle. If noble X insults noble Y, then you carefully watch noble Z: does the noble join in the criticism, or come to Y's support? In this way, you build a mental map of the nobles at court and their alliances. Most importantly, you figure out which alliances you're implicitly in.

It's perhaps no surprise that some of the oldest and most powerful guilds don't like you. You represent a threat to their monopolies and influence; magic is an axis on which they can't fight. The oldest dames and dukes also lean conservative, and therefore your implicit heresy does not sit well with them either.

On the other hand, many of the younger nobles and smaller guilds welcome your threat to the established order. They hope you'll use magic to upend monopolies, bust trusts, and essentially bring the destabilization that the old guard fears, so that they can have a shot.

You could play their games—it might bring you a bit more security at court to reduce the power of the old guard.

1.Use glamors to build bridges between the old guard and new.
2.Sow the seeds of discord among the old guard. (Requires calculation.)
3.Cast tricky divinations that reveal the old guard's secrets to each other.
4.I don't need to get involved in this.

Spoiler: Stats (click to show/hide)
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