Messages

301

Tournaments / Re: Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-F

« on: July 31, 2014, 04:12:37 AM »

Well, in favour of the dominance theory, we do have folks like Gaston, Goto, Erutus Profiteur, Dahlia Hawthorn, and Graendael just among the people in the Rando Tourney.

On the other hand, Individuality is what won in Evangelion when Shinji was in the pilot seat.  And we've also got in this roster Kamina, Flay, Rosalina, Lightning, Citan, Rand al'Thor, TG Cid, Michael Carpenter, and Mr. Rodgers.

Again, all just in the noms that got in.

302

Tournaments / Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-F

« on: July 31, 2014, 02:59:48 AM »

Results

Event 17: Surviving Dwarf Fortress
Randy Marsh (South Park) vs. IIIII III Excellen Browning (SRW:OG)

Event 18: Doing the Impossible
Citan Uzuki (Xenogears) IIIII III vs. I Hrist Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profiles)

Event 19: Drag Contest
Red Shirts (Star Trek) IIII vs. I Det. Lennie Briscoe (Law and Order)

Event 20: Evade the Illuminati and Discover the Truth
Lakitu (SMW) III vs. Erim (Lufias) II vs. Orange Tang IIII

Pairs Eventttttttttnnnntttt 55%5%%%5 ;"""'----......

WARNING!!!  WARNING!!!
A NEW CHALLENGER HAS APPEARED!

GIANT NAKED SPACE REI ARRIVES!

That is correct.  The Illuminati have won.
The Human Instrumentality Project is go.
And the Royal Canadian Rando Tourney has been converted into Orange Tang as the boundaries between individuals have been torn down.  All of the contestants are now one.  Of course, now that all humanity is one, there's the question of whether or not there's going to be a primary consciousness, or if all of humanity is going to simply meld into some collective.  Or, hell, it's even possible that there might be enough will be reassert individuality that the process might be undone.

Which means, we've got a weird and special event this time.

This event has a two parter.

First, vote for the characters you feel are most likely to be in charge of such a conglomeration of souls.  The list of who you can vote for is the same as the Rando Tourney nom rules.  And they will be ordered from 1st, to 3rd, with 1st being best. 

Second, there will be three options available for the second question.  Amalgamation, where Instrumentality sticks, but no personalities manage to stand out.  Individuality, where people break free from Instrumentality and the world as we know it is reformed.  And finally, Dominance, where the character with the most votes manages to assert their control over the whole, and they rule over the whole of humanity.  And, naturally, also win the Rando Tourney on account of their being no competition any more.

Quick Vote Form:

Dominant Character:
1)
2)
3)

Amalgamation / Individuality / Dominance

303

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-E

« on: July 29, 2014, 09:12:50 AM »

Alright folks, update is on Wednesday.

304

General Chat / Re: Wheel of morality, turn turn turn! Nosy super questions on morality.

« on: July 29, 2014, 12:58:45 AM »

1. Your child is bullied quite frequently at school and the school/teachers are unwilling or unable to address the problem. Eventually, your child beats one of the bullies quite badly, resulting in the bully being hospitalized and the school threatening a long suspension. How would you react?

The key question here for me is intent.  Did my child explicitly intend to injure someone else enough to send them to the hospital.  And if so, did they have a reasonable cause to believe that if they didn't use that level of force, then either the same, or worse, would happen to them.  (Of course, the second question remains pretty much on the level of this hypothetical.  I know the few times where I felt that I was gonna pass out from asphyxiation I was also completely and utterly powerless to do anything to change the situation)  Quite simply put, if my child intended it, then they are also responsible for it, and I'll probably not only support the suspension, but use that time to instruct the kid on why what he did is wrong, and why he should never do shit like that again.  If it wasn't his intention, then I'll probably have his back, and possibly even support a change in schools if a) the kid didn't want to stay where he was and b) I honestly felt that the bully situation would be better at a different school.  In my experience, the only real thing that changes is the face and name of the folks doing the bullying.

Now, there is an interesting tangent asking, isn't there some responsibility to be had for the reasonable outcomes of actions you take even if you did not want to cause that particular outcome.  As a society, this is a principle that is generally upheld, the easiest example being third degree murder.  Someone dies, you didn't intend for that person to die, but you took an action that inadvertently led to their death.  Bam, you're now responsible for their death.  The thing is, the moral responsibility then rests on the people who made the situation.  So, while being in a fight means that an injury like this is perfectly possible, the responsibility is on the person who started the fight since without their starting a fight there would be no injuries.

There is a secondary argument that the person who is being attacked can choose not to fight, and that injuries given to the other side would not be a possibility if the person being attacked declined to fight back.  However, there are two reasons I find this argument lacking.  First, there are very few moral systems that maintain that you have a duty to avoid harm so strong that you must sacrifice your own well being in order to do so.  Most systems of morality accept using proportional self-defense.  Secondly, despite what some proverbs may tell you, it only takes one to fight.  You can try to run or hide, but if those fail, then the risks of injury are already in effect regardless of whether or not you fight back.  The only thing that changes is the odds of such an injury taking place, and a broadening of the number of people who may receive them from just the target to the target and the instigators..  And this is ignoring the fact that running also increases these risks depending on where and how you run, and how the others chase you.  Suffice to say, any moral responsibility for an accidental injury would lie with the bullies for incurring the risk when they chose to start a fight.


2. You are on a federal jury, overseeing a white collar crime case. The defendant stole billions of dollars from pensions and siphoned off to his private accounts. You know people who were affected by this, though no one in your immediate family. The evidence presented by itself is however shaky, as the defendant's high priced lawyers got several key pieces of evidence tossed out.  Do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?

Hmm, so for the sake of this hypothetical I take it we're assuming that we made it past voire dire and that the decision hangs on our vote.  I'll also ignore the possibility of appeal here, because if that evidence is always going to be tossed out, and the case can't stand without it, then this is less a moral issue and more a practical one of "He's going to be found not guilty in the end anyways, so let's save society the cash and not send this straight to appeals hell". 

So, this question weighs two competing values.  The idea of justice/retribution and making sure that the guilty cannot get away with fooling the system.  Basically, an argument for making sure that everyone plays by the same rules and is granted equality of opportunity.  Against this, we have maintaining proper checks on the state, and ensuring that the innocent do not get indicted.  Now, assuming that the shaky case means that there is a reasonable doubt opened up by the exclusion of that evidence, then I would have to go with a Not Guilty verdict. 

While I sympathise with the argument that we should ensure that people cannot game the justice system and that no one can play fast and loose with the rules of society.  The problem is, that the State is simply very, insanely, powerful.  Especially in courts of law.  With this fact, it's good to have reasonable checks and balances on the power of the State to incarcerate people, and it is better to let a guilty man go free than risk incarcerating an innocent man.


3. You get your first job. One of your coworkers is extremely unpleasant and rude and indirectly lead to your termination from that job. Years later, you run into this same coworker doing a menial customer service job. They do not seem to remember you, and provide okay service to you. The business provides a website for a customer survey after the fact. If you take the survey and give the cashier a bad review, they could get in serious trouble. Do you take the survey? If so, what do you put down?

I may care enough to take a bit of petty satisfaction.  I most certainly won't care enough to lie about them just to get them in trouble.


4. You cut off a delivery truck at a gas station. You go and get something from the gas station and head back to your car. The delivery person is still there and is upset. Do you say anything?

If anything, I'd probably do a non-verbal motion attempting to convey "sorry" but otherwise just do my best to efficiently do what I came to do and get out of there instead of wasting time by going over and doing a verbal apology or explaination or whatever.


5. You accidently find out that one of your coworkers is using illegal drugs while at work. The person doesn't know that you know about the drug use. Management will require the person to take a drug test (Penalty of termination for failing it) if you tip them off about the drug use. Do you say anything to management? Your coworker?

I don't find the mere use of drugs to be morally questionable so this comes down to three questions.

A) Are the use of these drugs endangering anyone besides the user?
B) Are the use of these drugs damaging the ability of the employee to do his job?
C) Is the employee in question any good at their job when they aren't using drugs?

I'll admit, if the answer to C is no, then A and B may be moot in exchange for an opportunity to get someone more skilled into the position.  Regardless, if the answer is anything less than yes for C, then a yes answer to either A or B will lead to an immediate conversation with the employer.  If the answer to C is yes, or hell yes, then A and B come into play.  Specifically, a Yes to C followed by a No to A and B may result in a conversation with the coworker depending on how likely I think it is that someone will find out the same way I did.  If I think it likely, then I'll tip them off so that it's less likely they'll get caught.

Where things get interesting is with a YES to either A or B.  If the answer to B is a yes, then if minor, I'll point it out to the coworker and hope he cleans up his act.  If he can't, and he's good at his job, I'll probably try and find the employer most sympathetic to keeping the guy around and fill them in on the situation.  If it's major, then I'll just find the sympathetic employer first and let them decide what to do.

Finally, if the answer to A is yes, then it's straight to the employers.  If they're a really good coworker and this is new and aberrant behaviour, then I'll aim for the sympathetic one.  Otherwise, I'll probably aim for whoever I think will resolve the situation so there's no more danger.


6. You accidently bump into another car while in a parking lot. There's no one around to witness the event, and there's no real visible damage to either car and you are in a hurry. How do you handle it? Do you wait for the person? Leave a note? Just leave?

Let's be honest here, if you're in a hurry, then even stopping to check for damage is making the right move.  If there's none, then there's no reason to hang around.


7. You are unemployed and applying for a dream job, and get the interview. You are qualified for the job. The only issue is that you are short six months experience for the minimum requirement. Because you left the previous employer on good terms, they tell you that they'll lie and say you worked another year at the company than you did to help assure that you get the job. Do you accept this help?

Hmm, while good ol' Kant is whispering in my ear that all lies are bad, I'm honestly going to say that in this case, the lie is acceptable.  Why is it ok here?  First off, you're not asking for the lie.  What you're asking for is an assessment of your skills and competency at this new position.  In response to this request, they are willing to pad a non-primary attribute in order to ensure that what they have to say about your primary attributes for this position will be looked at.  Now, if it were a lie being offered about the core skillset for the job in question, or some other attribute that would effect your ability to perform in the position being applied for, that would be wrong no matter how you slice it. 


8.You place a modestly large order at a fast food place which happens to be very busy. They screw up your order and give you far more food than you paid for. You don't find this out till you're pulling out of the parking lot. Do you return it?

What the others said.  There's no value to be gained by returning it.  There is only loss.  A loss of your time and possibly gas, and the loss of the food itself.


9.  An experiment is ran by doctors. They take 1000 victims in the late stages of Alzheimer's and perform medical experiments on them, including brain surgery. This is done of victims with no close living family, so there is no one to give consent. The entire experiment is hidden away so there are no legal or ethical challenges to the experiment. This ends up leading to a cure that halts the progress of the disease, and opens up other treatment options for brain diseases. What should happen to those doctors?

What has been done here is immoral.  There is no question about that.  What should happen is that they be tried for their crimes and barred from the profession for life.  And their research be handed over to proper professionals to be used in ethical tests where consent is gained before using it for anything else.  Aka, expose it all to the light of day and let the sun disinfect the whole mess.

Sadly, what I expect would happen is that these guys would get a slap on the wrist, and then quietly offered jobs in places with little publicity.

305

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-E

« on: July 25, 2014, 10:35:01 PM »

Event 13: American Gladiators
Edward (FF4) III vs. II Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)
Event 14: Win the Big Game
Goto (Mana Khemia 2) I vs. IIII Vegeta (DBZ)
Event 15: Chariot Racing
Blue Mage vs. III Finn the Human (Adventure Time)
Event 16: Jogurt Herding
Bowser I vs. IIIII Buffy Summers (Buffy:tVS)
Team Event 2: Tug of War
{Bayonetta (Bayonetta), Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory), Magica DeSpell (DuckTales), Baloo (Tail Spin)} I vs. II {Hello Kitty, Mog (FF6), Pevara Tazanohvi (Wheel of Time), Captain Gordon (Disgaia)}



Round 1-E

Event 17: Surviving Dwarf Fortress

The day started off so well.  The plains were clear, there was rumours of a delegation from the elves, the miners reporting a nice shiny new vein of adamantium being found in the deep tunnels.  The governor had some new project that was keeping the smiths and engineers busy and promising a new era of peace, and even word that one of the pillars of the community had this snazzy new project.  Honestly, despite that fact that it's a series of tunnels, it's still a pretty nice spot to be stuck on business.  But...  but...  this isn't any regular fortress.  This is Dwarf Fortress.

One entrance is now besieged by an angry Elven Army because you chopped down too many trees.  The only other exit is blocked by a swarm of indifferent Elephants (who are oddly MORE dangerous than the army), the legions of Hell have shown up in the deep mines.  The pillar of the community?  Wanted a unicorn pelt for his great vision despite them being non-existant.  So now he's gone insane and has started killing anything that moves with a pickaxe.  And the great projects have been crafting trapped hallways pretty much everywhere, in addition to tons of lava tunnels.  Of course, those Lava tunnels can be kinda useful, since they're rigged to flood all three of the invasion zones, either independantly or all together.  The problem is, it took a lot of tries to get the switches set up properly, and no one took down the failed switches that'll also flood the tunnels themselves.  And just forget about labling, documentation is for sissy races like humans or elves.  So it's near impossible to tell which of the hundreds of switches are useful, and which are hidious death bait.  And in all of this, we've got our two contestants, stuck in the middle of the mines on business with the goal of either being the first one to successfully escape.  Or the last one to die.

Now, who are our lucky contestants.

Randy Marsh is a professional asshole.  He's also a young boy.  His primary advantage is that his height means that he'll have an easier time fitting into the dwarf tunnels, and may even be mistaken for one himself.  Aside from that, I'm unsure what other survival skills he'll really be bringing into this.  So his main edge will be a whole load of spite which makes it even more likely that this will end in death.  On the other side, we have Excellen Browning, who's known for two things.  Her quick wit will serve her well in this competition, but her custom mech, the Weisritter, clocking in at 20M tall, will definitely not fit into the tunnels and therefore is not going to come into play here.  However, she does have some martial skills, so if anyone has a shot at escaping, she does.


Event 18: Doing the Impossible
Sometimes, no matter how good the heros are, there's simply no hope.  The odds of success are starting at slim, and only getting worse.  Of course, your typical hero doesn't let that phase them in the slightest.  Point out that something's impossible, and they'll go out and do it anyways.  This event is about doing that.  Breaking the Unbreakable.  Fighting the Unfightable.  Seeing the Unseeable.  and Doing the Undoable.

Our first contestant is the Solarian Secret Agent, Citan Uzuki.  He doesn't have super Contact powers, but he does seem to be able to get the job done, regardless of whatever else seems to be going on.  And always seems to be in the right place at the right time.  However, in this one, he's up against one of the Three Goddesses that govern fate in addition to harvesting souls.  Yes, Hrist Valkyrie takes to the field.  And with her god power and possibly channelling the power of the Seraphic Gate, she'll see what she can do to win this sucker.


Event 19: Drag Contest
This match is pretty simple.  Do your best to dress up and act like an attractive member of the opposite sex.  Possibly with a little bit of camp tossed in.  Of course, our contestants may not be the best. 

We start with not one contestant, but many acting as one.  Which is ok, because even in this event, some of them WILL die.  Yes, I am talking about the Redshirts who will be doing their best to do Star Fleet proud by dressing in drag.  Against this, we've got a New York detective.  Specifically, Detective Lenny Briscoe from Law and Order is going undercover in a fabulous dress.  But can he best the Red Dressed legion?


Event 20: Evade the Illuminati and Discover the Truth
You start off with a perfectly innocent secret society and even if they start off with the best of intentions, sooner or later they're gonna get into some deep dark shit and try and do something that all upstanding people would probably prefer they didn't do.  Maybe they're want to set up freedom suppressing helicarriers.  Maybe they want to use the Dead Sea Scrolls as a guide to turn the world into orange Tang.  Or maybe they just want to ensure that that really convenient parking spot you really want to use is always full.  ALWAYS.  The problem is, sooner or later somebody stumbles onto the plan and then ruins it.

So, our first illuminati foiler today is everyone's favourite dispenser of death (or camera angles) from above, Lakitu.  Given his recent forays into the mass media, and his new hit channel MKTV, he's certainly got the nose to find a cult and the means to spread word of their nefarious activities.  And as anyone who has played an old school Mario Bros. knows, this guy is one of the more annoying enemies to deal with, evasively skimming the top of the screen while bombarding you with an endless supply of spiky enemies that you can't jump on.  He is some serious competition, but then, so is his opponent.  Erim isn't your traditional illuminati opponent.  In fact, as a Sinistral, she's arguably a member of a illuminati like group.  Of course, her primary (only?) character trait is working to ensure there's a bunch of heros well placed and well trained to stop her Sinistral bretheren, so she may be better at this than your average hero.  And of course, just for fun, there will be an Orange Tang option.  Because that amuses me.


Pairs Event 5: Bridge
Bridge is, at heart, a very simple game.  It's a trick taking game where two teams of partners aim to get points by completing contracts formed by properly bidding.  There's a ton of trick taking games out there.  So what makes Bridge special?  The bidding system.  Given you have to pass information about your hand only by how you bid, there's a lot of skill that goes into that aspect of it, and a skilled pair of bidders will, eventually, win out over unskilled opponents, however lucky they may be.

Our first team is, well, both perfectly suited for this, and perfectly unsuited.  Cidolfas Orlandu is a noble, which suggests he may well know card games.  but even beyond that, he's shown to us as a skilled leader who's capable of thinking fast, and capable of both giving and receiving subtle cues (or as subtle as anyone can be in that FFT translation).  All of which suggests he'd probably be quite good at Bridge.  His partner...  well, the best we can say about Kamina is that he's used to working with a partner.  Also, great at bluffing.  Aside from that, he's got the subtlety of a drill to the face, and tends towards gross optimism and trying to go as far over the top as possible.  Hopefully, no one will mention that bids like 8 No Trump are impossible, since that may cause problems all of it's own.  What they're up against?  The Disney All-Stars, namely, Wreck-It Ralph and Winnie the Pooh.  Anyone expecting Ralph to be a pushover here is gonna be in for a surprise.  Sure, he's not the brightest bulb around, but he's not dumb either and he's got a lot of common sense.  And while his partner is a bear of very little brain, Winnie the Pooh is great a working with a friendly partner.  And let's face it, the two of them are probably gonna come out of this as friends.  Just, will this be enough to best the sharp Orlandu, and the bold Kamina?


Pairs Event 6: Solve the Big Case as Buddy Cops
Somethig's gone wrong.  Now it's time for two cops who don't usually work together, and who probably have clashing personalities to try and set aside their differences in order to solve the crime and save the day before the big bad gets away.

First up, we've got one of the strongest Mistborn out there, which should put an end to any fight she's in.  Vin Venture may not be police trained, but she has a sharp mind, and does have some experience in trying to keep public order in rough times, which could serve her well here.  Her partner is that faux-right wing bastion, Stephen Colbert.  His over the top antics will make him the zany one, but will he be any help in the actual investigation?  Against this we have the team of Kirby and Sokka.  Kirby has a whole raft of abilities with just one catch.  He has to eat whatever it is he wants to copy.  But, he's a decent fighter, and he's able to go pretty much anywhere.  Sokka, on the other hand, is a skilled combatant, but is pretty much just a regular guy.  However, his whole schtick is that as a regular guy in a world full of super powered folk, he remains not only relevant but useful because he is intelligent, observant, and creative.  Heck, he's even done this before and has an outfit for the occasion (it's a really silly outfit, but he has it!).



Quick Vote Form

Event 17: Surviving Dwarf Fortress
Randy Marsh (South Park) vs. Excellen Browning (SRW:OG)

Event 18: Doing the Impossible
Citan Uzuki (Xenogears) vs. Hrist Valkyrie (Valkyrie Profiles)

Event 19: Drag Contest
Red Shirts (Star Trek) vs. Det. Lennie Briscoe (Law and Order)

Event 20: Evade the Illuminati and Discover the Truth
Lakitu (SMW) vs. Erim (Lufias) vs. Orange Tang

Pairs Event 5: Bridge
Cidolfas Orlandu (FFT)/Kamina (Gurren Lagenn) vs. Winnie the Pooh (Disney)/Wreck-It Ralph (Wreck-It Ralph)

Pairs Event 6: Solve the Big Case as Buddy Cops
Vin Venture (Mistborn)/Stephen Colbert (Stephen Colbert) vs. Kirby (Nintendo)/Sokka (Avatar: Last Airbender)

306

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-D

« on: July 24, 2014, 02:23:44 AM »

Alright folks, this thing got left up extra long because it started during DLCon, but the update comes tomorrow!  If you want to vote, now is the time to do it!

307

Game Design and Modifications / Re: Dungeon Venture - Board Game Design Topic

« on: July 17, 2014, 11:58:01 PM »

Finally, why am I posting all this here.

Simple, part of it is to use it as a sort of motivation.  It's in a public place, so let's get it done.

The other part is I'm pretty open to people who want to comment on it.  See something that isn't clear and you want to ask about, please do!  Way too much stuff is probably still just inferred in my head space and needs to be spelled out.  Think you can see a better way to do a mechanic?  Want to toss out ideas for Adventurers, Quests, or Characteristics?  I'd be happy to see 'em.

So, yeah.  This is it for the start.  Next update should include starter quests.  And possibly even some rough work on what a board would look like.

308

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: July 17, 2014, 09:41:55 PM »

I'll admit, my take on that was always less "But does she love him," and more "But what sort of advantage does this get either of them?"  I mean, Summoners and Maesters are big deals, and it's not uncommon for people who are big deals to treat marriage as a sort of business deal, no love involved.

Eventually figuring out the motivations of both parties as they gel in the Bevelle sequence is always fun.  Mostly because Seymore's motivations are just so delightfully twisted.

309

Game Design and Modifications / Re: Dungeon Venture - Board Game Design Topic

« on: July 17, 2014, 09:29:34 PM »

Notes on Adventurers

Alright, I'm planning for four different class of Adventurers.  Each class has four skills they are good at (or in the case of the 'special' adventurers, are bad at).  This is a first draft of the out lay for them, as there's a few skills I'm not quite sure about just yet.  After that, there'll be a starter list of Personal Qualities which aren't class specific.  The way those go negative is a red box instead of a blue one, and they can cancel  out a blue box, or go negative if it matters.  Regardless, the list is incomplete, so if people want to brainstorm stuff, I'd be happy to take suggestions.

Another thing, not quite related to this, that I'd be wanting to take suggestions and brainstorming on?
Quests and general Adventurer Outlines.  Heck, I'll stick a few example adventurers on the bottom.

Fighters
   Weapon Skill
   Brawn
   Endurance
   Inspiration

Mages
   Combat Magic
   Thaumaturgy
   Detecting Magic
   Lore

Thieves
   Sneaking
   Quick Talking
   Lock Picking
   Thievery

Clerics
   Healing
   Divination
   Composure
   Rituals

Personal Qualities
   Charismatic
   Attractive
   Mighty
   Resourceful
   Fae Blood



Example Adventurers:

Rachelle (Priest)
   Healing - 2
   Divination - 0
   Composure - 4
   Rituals - 1
      Economist
Having faithfully served the Church of Erathis for many years, Rachelle has achieved the rank of Bishop in their ranks.  Less for the rare healing arts she's mastered in her travels, nor even her skill in mercantilism that the Church values, but because she's possessed of an exceptionally level head no matter how absurd the situation she finds herself in.


Desmond (Fighter)
   Weapon Skill - 1
   Brawn - 0
   Endurance - 3
   Inspiration - 3
      Sex Appeal (Red)
Some people think you need a strong offense to make your way in the world.  Desmond is the living counter to these people.  Quitting simply isn't a word he has much use for, and he simply keeps on trying until he accomplishes whatever it is he set out to do, and brings the people he's with along with him.  Of course, what makes him famous on the battlefield makes him infamous in the taverns.  Who knew women don't like a guy who doesn't know how to quit.


Marza (Mage)
   Combat Magic - 5
   Thaumateurgy - 1
   Detecting Magic - 1
   Lore - 1
      Charismatic (Red)
      Reputable (Red)
      Trustworthy (Red)
The Crimson Devil is one of the strongest combat mages the world has ever seen.  If only the Devil title was less literal.


Feth (Thief)
   Sneaking - 4
   Quick Talking - 3
   Lock Picking - 0
   Thievery - 1
No one is entirely sure what Feth is.  What is certain is that Feth is excellent at not being seen when s/he doesn't want to be seen, and surprisingly adept at talking when it does.


And, an example of a Favour.  Mild apologies, though it is running off of a bit of an in game joke.  Also, a mild bad Adventurer.

Kieva (Mage)
   Combat Magic - -1
   Thaumateurgy - -3
   Detecting Magic - 2
   Lore - 0
      Commanding
None are more eager to join a quest than Kieva.  Which makes it odd that, despite what she assures us are her best efforts, it's the folks she's questing against that usually end up being the beneficiaries of her magic.

310

Game Design and Modifications / Dungeon Venture - Board Game Design Topic

« on: July 17, 2014, 09:28:42 PM »

This is the topic where I'll be posting stuff about a board game idea I have.  Specifically, it's meant to be a stock market game, except instead of trains and railroads, it's about building up Adventuring Guilds and sending them out on quests and trying to become filthy rich off the mortal peril of others.

That's right, you the player are not in any way, shape, or form an adventurer yourself.  Dear lord, that might involve some form of danger.  You're a patron, a go between for the Adventuer's Guilds and the various factions of the Kingdom, getting leads on adventurers and quests, and doling them out to the folks who'll get you the best return on your investments.  And, of course, you're also going to be the stockholders in these Guilds, giving them the start up capital they need in exchange for some influence in how they go about their business, and some nice appreciation on your initial outlay.  Or, perhaps just dumping their stock like the trash it is after you've gotten the use you need out of it (Shame about Ramsus' Elemental Questors, but trash is trash).

The game starts with everyone holding the same amount of gold, and when it all ends, the person with the most cash and the most valuable stocks is the winner.  As for how the game operates, it has five phases each round.

Order of Play:
   1. Stock Phase
   2. Acquisition Phase
   3. Assignment Phase
   4. Questing Phase
   5. Bookkeeping Phase

1. Stock Phase

   Players can purchase and sell stock at this time.
   Guilds need to have 5 of their 15 stocks purchased in order to become operational.
   An action consists of optionally selling shares, and then either buying a share or passing.
      Multiple shares can be sold at the same time.
         All shares are sold at their current price and then move down on the stock market a number of spaces equal to the number of shares sold.  If the marker hits the bottom of the chart, it stops moving.
      Only one share may be purchased at a time.
         The share is purchased at the value listed on the stock market.
         A player cannot buy stock in a guild they sold stock for earlier in that Stock Phase.
      As an action a player may pass.
   The Stock Phase ends when all players have passed consecutively.
   At the end of the Stock Phase, any Guild with all of its stock sold moves up one space on the Stock Market.  If it is already at the top, it does not move.


2. Acquisition Phase
   This is the period of the game where players interact with the five factions in the Kingdom, gaining influence, adventurers, and quests.
   The five factions are: The Crown, The Nobility, The Church, The Merchants, and The Academy.
   Each of these factions will have a influence metre as well as three piles of cards to draw from.
      The first deck is the Favour Deck.
         A player will gain influence for grabbing a card from the Favour Deck.
         Each card in the Favour Deck is a liability.
         Cards in the Favour Deck can never be discarded from a player's hand for any reason.  They must be played into a Guild.
      Decks two and three are the Standard Deck and the Privilege Deck.
         The Privilege Deck has better cards than the Standard Deck.  Both decks are beneficial.
         You must have the minimum amount of influence to draw from these decks, and then pay the appropriate price when drawing.
         These cards may be discarded at will after their purchase.  No refund will be given.
   There is a hand size limit of five cards.

   Actions will start with the start player and go to the left.
      There are three valid actions: Purchasing Influence, Taking a Card, and Passing.
         When purchasing influence, pick a faction and look at the value of the influence step one higher than where your marker presently is.
            Pay that amount, and then move your marker up one step.
         To draw a card, render payment for the card you wish to purchase, then draw the card.
            You may not draw a card if there is no room for it in your hand.
         A player may Pass.
           Once a player passes, they may take no other actions this Acquisition Phase.
           The first player to pass takes the start player token.
   Once each player has passed, the Acquisition Phase ends.

3. Assignment Phase
   This is when players bid to get the Guilds to accept their adventurers and Quests.
   Each Guild can accept two Adventurers and two Quests per turn.
   Starting from the start player, each player either places a card and a bid, or passes.
      Any bid must be placed in an empty slot, or must have a more valuable bid than the card currently in the slot.
         When placing the bid, you also need to place one of your sponsor markers to denote ownership.
         The value of a bid is the total of influence and gold placed on the card, and all stock owned in that Guild.
         When a card is outbid, it is returned to the its sponsor.
      Players may pass freely in place of bidding.
         Passing does not prevent further bidding.
   The Phase ends when all players have consecutively passed.
   When the Phase ends, all hired adventurers move from the bidding slots to the Guild roster.
      If there is no room on the Guild Roster, the highest numbered Adventurer is Laid-Off.
         If there is still not enough room, repeat this process until there is enough room.

4. Quest Phase
   Each Guild will, in order, go on the quests they were given in the Assignment Phase.
   In numerical order, from lowest to highest, the quests will resolve.
      The Quest with the highest influence bid will resolve first, followed by the other Quest.
         If there is a tie in influence, Quests resolve from left to right.
         Adventurers can only be assigned to one quest.
         Adventurers will be assigned to Quests in the following method.
            First, check the negative numbered Adventurers.
               Assign the highest numbered negative Adventurer with a relevant trait.
            Second, go through the positive Adventurers from lowest to highest.
               When an Adventurer has a relevant trait, assign it to the Quest.
                  Continue this until either...
                     All of the requirements of the quest have been met, which constitutes a Pass.
                     Or, all of the Adventurers have been gone through, which constitutes a Fail.
         In the case of a Pass the following occurs:
            Stock Holders get reward gold for each share they possess.
            Guild Stock appreciates on Market Chart according to reward marker.
            Influence is given to the players who 'own' the Quest and the Adventurers who went on it.
            As well, some quests will cause Retirement or Flight, both of which remove Adventurers.
         In the case of a Fail the following occurs:
            Guild Stock will depreciates one space left, with possible extras depending on the Quest.
            Some Quests will cause Laid-Off or Flight Status upon failure.
            Additionally, all positive numbered Adventurers feel bad for failing.
               Negative numbered Adventurers are incapable of feeling shame.
      When all Guilds are done Questing the phase ends.

5. Bookkeeping Phase
   This Phase is simply checking to see if the game end conditions have been met.
   If three of the draw piles are empty, then the game ends.

Departure of an Adventurer
   When one of these in caused by a Quest Result, only Adventurers on the Quest are considered.
      Only positive numbered Adventurers are considered for these three effects.
   There are three ways for an Adventurer to leave a Guild: Retirement, Laid Off, and Flight.
      Flight is the worst way for an Adventurer to Leave, and represents the powers that be hunting them.
         Usually only the result of a Quest Failure.
         Can also result from Favour Quest success.
            On a favour success, this will effect the highest numbered Adventurer.
            On a failure (any kind), this will effect the lowest number Adventurer.
      Laid Off is the neutral way for an Adventurer to leave a Guild.
         Usually the result of too many Adventurers being hired.
         The Sponsor gains a Guild Influence when an Adventurer is Laid Off.
         If it's the result of a Quest result, then the highest number Adventurer is Laid Off.
      Retirement is the best way for an Adventurer to leave, indicating they made it rich.
         Almost always Retirement is caused by success.
         The lowest numbered Adventurer retires.
         Upon retirement, the following happens:
            The Guild moves left one space on the Market Chart.
            The Sponsor gains Guild Influence.
            The Sponsor gains Faction Influence from the Faction the Adventurer came from.
            The Sponsor gains gold equal to a share reward from the quest that caused retirement.
   Negative Adventurers have their own special Retirement Rule.
      They can Retire regardless of whether or not there is a Retirement Reward.
      They can only Retire if there are three negative Adventurers (including them) in their Guild.
         If that is true, then participating in a successful Quest will automatically retire the negative Adventurer.
      The Sponsor gets nothing from this retirement.


End Game Scoring
   When the game ends, each play adds up the gold they have and the market value of all of their stock.
   Richest person wins.
      If there is a tie, most value of Influence wins.
         If there is still a tie, most Royal Influence, followed by most Tier 2 Influence, followed by Most Tier 1 Influence.
            If there is still a tie, most sponsored Adventurers active at endgame wins.
               If there is still a tie, then the game is tied.  Congratulations to all involved.

311

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-D

« on: July 09, 2014, 05:33:29 AM »

Quick Vote Form

Event 9: Sax and Violins
Zeus (Mythology) IIIII IIII vs. Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist)

Event 10: Eating Contest
Relm Arrowny (FF6) II vs. I IIIII Ferris Beuller

Event 11: Drinking Contest
Rosalina (SMG) III vs. IIII Ringabel (Bravely Default)

Event 12: Artillery Duel
Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy) IIII vs. II Brave Sir Robin (MP&tHG)

Pairs Event 3: Prisoner's Dialemma
Aegil (Rondo of Swords) / Princess Leia (Star Wars) II vs. III Graendael (Wheel of Time) / Zoey (Left4Dead)

Pairs Event 4: Ballroom Dancing
Scrooge McDuck (Disney) / Orc Peon (Warcraft) IIIII vs. IIII Lord Soth (Dragonlance) / MacBeth (The Scottish Play)



Round 1-D

Event 13: American Gladiators
You can forget the events, the competitors, the...  spandex?  That's right, it's time for that old standby, American Gladiators, where two competitors compete in all sorts of physical challenges before eventually facing each other on pillars while wielding overgrown Q-Tips.

Our first competitor comes into this with the advantage of being a fighter from a famed RPG.  Granted...  he's not a very good fighter.  And his durability is kinda on par with a regular Q-Tip.  And he's most famous for...  well, either hiding after taking a strong scratch, or just pining after a dead woman for twenty years.  But Edward the Bard does come into this with one big advantage: he's hit puberty.  Yup, he's up against Calvin.  So we're seeing a grown ass man up against a pre-pubescent boy, but one who would consider this a dream competition if only he'd hit his teens.


Event 14: Win the Big Game
You know how it goes, the underdogs manage to get into the finals despite all the odds.  And at this point, it doesn't matter if they're the Little Giants, the Mighty Ducks, or the Besaid Aurochs, you know they're gonna band together and pull off the last second win.  Of course, this event is all about sticking our two competitors into that key position, to see if they can nail that last second goal, or if they're gonna be like Casey at the Bat.

Oddly enough, this is one of those matches where a straight up hero is less likely to pull it off than a reformed bad boy who's learned the value of teamwork.  Our first competitor actually plays that straight, as we're looking at the opening villain turned team player Vegeta, second last of the Super Saiyans.  He's got phenominal power, and he even takes part in the occasional tournament which means he's got all kinds of qualifications for this.  But he's up against someone who's also kinda in the same position.  If by reformed bad boy you mean completely unrepentant but always on the "good guys" side.  If by becoming a team player you mean learns the value of patsies and stooges.  And if by taking part in sporting events you mean surviving Flay's twisted Parent-Teacher Day bonding exercise.  Yes, Goto takes to the field to save the day!


Event 15: Chariot Racing
Everyone knows how chariot racing goes.  And if you don't, YouTube that famous Ben-Hur clip.  That'll get your fix of high speed horse drawn deathtrap mayhem that Mario Kart is the modern answer to.  Naturally, the winner is either the first one to cross the finish line enough times, or the last one standing.  That said, no weapons will be allowed except for the whips used to spur on the horses, and possibly some chariot mounted blades to hack at opposing wheels.  But that's all.

First up is the job class that best epitomises learning through pain.  Yes, the Blue Mage makes their chariot racing debut.  And, the nice thing is that any dirty tricks used against the Blue Mage is gonna be tossed right back at the foolish fool that uses them.  Assuming, of course, the Blue Mage survives the trick in the first place.  Aside from that, the Blue Mage is generally competant at most things, and should put up a good showing.  But will a good showing be enough when he's up against someone known for adventure?  Finn the Human is here to show how Charioteering is done.  And while I know very little about him, the little I do know suggests that this should be right up his alley.


Event 16: Jogurt Herding
In the wild west, there comes a time each year when the great herds have to move to more fertile grazin' lands.  But it ain't just any greenhorn that can herd the mighty Jogurt.  After all, they swarm in herds a over a thousand.  And being too rough on the critters kills 'em right dead cause they ain't the sturdiest beasts around.  So, we're gonna be givin' these two city slickers their own Jogurt herds, and alla the tools they'll need ta herd the buggers cross the great plains o Sacae.

Our first herder knows his way round hustling a bunch a squishy mooks.  The great Koopa King is gonna be tryin' ta see just how much like a swarm a goombas a jogurt's gonna be.  He's also got one sweet steed in his flying clown copter.  But, he can't use his army.  He can have his kids as wranglers, but that'll be all.

Our second herder is a lot more used ta things that take a lotta work ta kill.  S'why she's called the Slayer.  But Buffy Summers is good at dealin' with all kindsa things that need quick thinking.  And her friends'll make great wranglers.


Team Event 2: Tug of War
There's just not a whole lot to say about this one.  There's a long rope, a team tugging on either side, and a pit full of mud between them.  So, this match is all about team strength, without any fancy tricks or magical spells.

The first team is almost certainly going to be anchored by Baloo, the pilot from Tail Spin.  Bears are known for their strength, and when he bothers to be, Baloo is pretty strong.  Which is good, because the only other member of his team with much brawn is Bayonetta, who must have some strength to do all that jumping, running, and shooting (hey, it takes strength to keep guns on target when firing that often).  The remaining two members of their team will be the mage from Duck Tales, Magica DeSpell, and the most annoying physicist in the world, Sheldon Cooper. 

The second team is probably also going to have a slam dunk for their anchor in the Hero of Earth, Captain Gordon.  While he may just be human, his strength can compare with demons and angels.  Backing him up will be the slam dancing moogle, Mog who has a fair amount of brawn, even if he's lacking in size.  Oddly enough, he won't be the only super shorty on his team as he's paired up with Hello Kitty.  Finally, there's the team captain, Pevara Tazanohvi who only wishes she could use force of will, or simply the One Power, in place of strength of arms.  However, like any good Aes Sedai, she will be annoyingly stubborn.


Quick Vote Form:
Event 13: American Gladiators
Edward (FF4) vs. Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes)

Event 14: Win the Big Game
Goto (Mana Khemia 2) vs. Vegeta (DBZ)

Event 15: Chariot Racing
Blue Mage vs. Finn the Human (Adventure Time)

Event 16: Jogurt Herding
Bowser vs. Buffy Summers (Buffy:tVS)

Team Event 2: Tug of War
{Bayonetta (Bayonetta), Sheldon Cooper (Big Bang Theory), Magica DeSpell (DuckTales), Baloo (Tail Spin)} vs. {Hello Kitty, Mog (FF6), Pevara Tazanohvi (Wheel of Time), Captain Gordon (Disgaia)}

312

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-C

« on: July 06, 2014, 09:52:23 PM »

Update is tomorrow.  Vote now or forever accept the decisions of those who are not you.

313

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-C

« on: June 29, 2014, 11:05:41 PM »

Results:
Event 5: Fashion Makeovering - Tie Break
Lord Helix (TPP) IIII vs. III Estella (Suikoden 3)

Event 6: Puppy Kicking
Chris Lightfellow (Suikoden 3) I vs. IIIII II Ryu (Street Fighter 2)

Event 7: Ship-to-Ship Combat
Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia) vs. IIIII Millenia (Grandia 2)

Event 8: Gladitorial Deathmatch
Aura Blackquill (AA:Dual Destinies) I vs. IIII Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)

Team Event 1: Base Defense - Tie Break
(Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), Darkwing Duck, Akuma (Street Fighter), Toph Bei Fong (Avatar:tLA)) IIIII vs. IIII (Flay Gunnar (Mana Khemia 1/2), Kaguya Nanbu (SRW:OGS:EF), Inspector Gadget, Grumpy Cat)



Round 1-C

Event 9: Sax and Violins
This event is an odd one.  You can either go for the literal version, at which point it's about whichever competitor is better at being an orchestra.  Or at least, in playing classy instruments.  Alternatively, just as the title is suggestive, our competitors might win at managing to engage in acts that are similarily suggestive without actually tipping all the way over to overt acts.  And of course, in the finest Random Tourney tradition, you can always just assume that the winner is the one who's best at doing both.

Our first competitor would be great if this competition was less suggestive, and more overt, being the leader of the pantheon that can literally be summed up as Sex and Violence.  Yes, it's Thunder God Zeus himself.  Of course, he's also known for finding some...  shall we say creative workarounds when brute force won't work.  So who knows, he may surprise us all.  Opposing him is the man with the beautiful and elegant style passed down in the Armstong Family for thousands of generations.  Yes, Alex Louis Armstrong, who is quite straightforward, but has the advantage of being skilled at nearly everything.  Surely, he'll have the right skill needed for this task.


Event 10: Eating Contest
Select your weapon.  Hot dogs.  Hamburgers.  Or the traditional choice, the pie. 

Yes, it is the venerable eating contest, where the goal is to keep on eating until one of the competitors can eat no more.  Whoever stuffs down the most grub, wins.

Relm Arrowny may be young, and small, but she's also feisty, and that has to count for something.  Besides, her competitor is also still fairly young, but a teenager.  And teenagers are notoriously hungry.  That said, Ferris Beuller is known more for his quick mouth than his stomach, so it's anyone's game.


Event 11: Drinking Contest
In the last event, it was all about stuffing down food.  In this event, it's about stuffing down alcohol.  Drinks will naturally, be chosen in alternating order by the two competitors, and both will need to down the drink of the round simultaneously.  First one to bow out, not drink, or simply loose their liquor will lose the competition.

Rosalina is a fairy tale princess off in her galactic observatory, but royalty is somewhat know for being able to drink, right?  Well, she'll need to take that page from real royalty as opposed to her fairy tale version because her opponent, while perhaps not a lush, is at the very least introduced in a pub.  Yes, it's the newest amnesiac to grace a job based system, Ringabel, looking to make a name for himself by drinking himself senseless.


Event 12: Artillery Duel
Finally, we're done with folks stuffing stuff down their gullet, and back to something they have to actually do.  Specifically, each side gets a fort, and a big ass gun and they need to try and wreck their opponents fort with their big ol gun.  Fortunately, both sides have unlimited ammo.  This is important because...  well...

Our first competitor is a staple of that old sitcom, I Love Lucy.  Lucy's great at getting into situations that need explaining, but operating artillery is probably well outside her skillset.  Which means it's a shame she's up against someone who's used to the battlefield.  At least, that'd be the case if her competitor was the least bit competant.  However, she's up against Brave Sir Robin.  And let's face it, his minstrels could probably do a better job of operating a big gun than he could.  But even with this, Brave Sir Robin is still probably the better shot, so long as he can keep from running away and letting Lucy smash his fort unopposed.


Pairs Event 3: Prisoner's Dialemma
Alright, everyone knows the Prisoner's Dialemma.  It's an exercise is risk management and trust where both competitors get the best result by trusting that their buddy won't sell them out, but an individual competitor can get the maximum gain by selling their buddy out and not getting sold out in return.  And of course, if they both betray the other, then they're both in a world of suck.  Naturally, the result both teams are looking for is Trust/Trust, but Betray/Trust is better than Betray/Betray, and any tie breaks will be won by whoever can get the most out of their situation.

And just to clarify.  In this one, the competitors are going in thinking it's about maximising gain, and not knowing it's an explicit Prisoner's Dilemma scenario, though a canny contestant should be able to recognise the setup.  And the situation, I don't have a handy hypothetical, so just make up your own where both sides are up against a third party, can benefit the most if they work together, but also have wondrous opportunities for making a max profit if they betray their buddy.

Now, our first team is a traditionally uneasy alliance of church and state.  Yes, we have the Pope from Rondo of Swords, Aegil, getting paired up with Princess Leia.  That said, they're also both heros with a canny sense of politics, and are generally given some credit for being able to read people, so they at least have that going for them.  As opposed to the other team which pairs Zoey from Left4Dead with Graendal, one of the freaking forsaken from the Wheel of Time.  Now, Zoey's used to working in a small team where trust is everything, but let's face it.  Zombie Apocalypses usually have "humanity is the real monster" as one of its themes, which means being overly trusting is a good way to end up dead fast.  And Graendal, she's an evil psychologist, so she should be pretty good at reading people.  Buuuuut...  nobody on Team Dark One is known for their trusting nature, and the Forsaken, outside of one alliance, take that up to eleven.


Pairs Event 4: Ballroom Dancing
Ah, the graceful art of the dance.  Two bodies moving in time with both each other and the music, each step as meticulously complicated and decorative as the music they're dancing to.  Yes, we're hitting the ballroom to see which of these pairs can dance the best. 

Interestingly enough, while ballroom dancing has pretty clear mens and ladies steps, we're sitting on a sausagefest this time.  Our first team has hardscrabble kajillionaire Scrooge McDuck getting paired up with the Orc Peon from Warcraft.  You can bet ballroom dancing wasn't anything either of these two grew up with, but it wouldn't be surprising if, somewhere along the line, Scrooge picked the skill up just so he could hobnob with his social class.  Meanwhile, they're up against a pair of true blue, bred in the bone, nobility.  Specifically, they've got Lord Soth, the cursed eternal lord from the Dragonlance books, and MacBeth from what we'll cautiously refer to as the Scottish Play.  Now, these two almost certainly got the fancy upbringing package, but they just have the one downside.  Did either of them learn to follow on the ballroom floor, and even if they do know how, will either of them agree to do so?


Quick Vote Form

Event 9: Sax and Violins
Zeus (Mythology) vs. Alex Louis Armstrong (Full Metal Alchemist)

Event 10: Eating Contest
Relm Arrowny (FF6) vs. Ferris Beuller

Event 11: Drinking Contest
Rosalina (SMG) vs. Ringabel (Bravely Default)

Event 12: Artillery Duel
Lucille Ball (I Love Lucy) vs. Brave Sir Robin (MP&tHG)

Pairs Event 3: Prisoner's Dialemma
Aegil (Rondo of Swords) / Princess Leia (Star Wars) vs. Graendael (Wheel of Time) / Zoey (Left4Dead)

Pairs Event 4: Ballroom Dancing
Scrooge McDuck (Disney) / Orc Peon (Warcraft) vs. Lord Soth (Dragonlance) / MacBeth (The Scottish Play)

314

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-B

« on: June 28, 2014, 10:10:22 PM »

Alright, the Double Dash results are reversed!

Also, Round 1-C starts tomorrow!  Vote for 1-B now or forever hold your peace!

315

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: June 28, 2014, 08:43:28 PM »

Bravely Default: So, I've beaten what feels like the primary ending, and am now trucking through such that I am now halfway through Chapter 8.  Have still done all the optional fights, which is good in Chapter 7's case since they did some really interesting and thematic teams there.

Currently getting my ass handed to me by the Chapter 3 crew.  My current set up does not deal well with a proactive Ninja along with all the rest of that damage.  Then again, I might also get out of JP gaining mode at this point and just move to optimal setups.  I am done with randoms at this point, and therefore the amount of JP left to gain is mediocre.  Might do a bit of grinding just to finish the last two classes I haven't mastered (Freelance and Arcanist), but that's it.

316

General Chat / Re: Random final fantasy poll!

« on: June 28, 2014, 11:39:08 AM »

Favorite FF game: FFX, though it's a close fight with 6, 7, and 13 these days.

Least favorite FF game: FFIV, I'm gonna break with the crowd here and say that, while it's a close fight with II for worst, at least II was ambitious about all the stuff it was utterly broken and bad in.  It tried.  And it's plot, while still ruddy ridiculous, is bloody amazing for the time.  Meanwhile, FF4 ganked a lot of the plot points, except they're all somehow worse.  Bleh.

Favorite FF dungeon:  Gonna second the love for Kefka's Tower.  More games need to have a cast large enough to have multiple parties going through the final dungeon simultaneously.

Favorite main character: Well, I was gonna gush a bit about Locke, but it says main character.  In which case...  I'm actually not going to say Squall, despite my fanboying of him.  Lightning is my current favourite main.

Least favorite FF dungeon: The FF9 Anti-Magic Castle with the instant death enemies.

Favorite final boss: Gonna go with Kefka.  I like the tiers and the summation of the super large party.

Favorite FF game plot: Being in the middle of a replay of FFX just confirms that it is the best plot in the series.  Lots of varying motivations that all make sense in context tied together with lots of foreshadowing and a narrator who works as the players viewpoint into this world.  They aimed high and for the most part, they nailed it.

Favorite weapon (Can list more than one): Gunblades.  Squall's and Lightning's.

Game you use the most status in: FFXIII, by far.  Though, I suppose FFVIII counts if you include junctioned status.

Game you use the least status in: All of them that aren't 13, 10, or 8.  I generally don't use status.

Game with the best challenge: FFXIII by far.  Paradigm creation and management went a long way to determining difficulty in this game.  Really highlighted by the failed attempt where I didn't bother to learn the system, and the successful attempt I mostly breezed through where I did.

Game you've replayed the most: I...  uh, this is tricky since I've replayed a lot of them a few times.  Could be anything in the list of 1, 4, 6, 10.

Game that has aged the best: Tough fight between FFVI and FFX.  Think I'm gonna give it to FFX because I was looking at a few things in particular on this last replay and they didn't stand out as much as I expected them to after this much time had passed.  (Based on a conversation regarding FFX and FFVIII circa 2006)

Game that has aged the worst: Just gonna say FFIV, one of the main reasons I've got it as the worst game in the series.

317

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-B

« on: June 25, 2014, 08:33:05 AM »

It was close, but the last two votes came in after this topic went up with the results.  And Snowfire sent me a last second vote to me via IRC that tied it up so I tiebroke.

318

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-B

« on: June 24, 2014, 02:17:34 AM »

Results

Event 1: Getting Rich Quick
Napoleon (Animal Farm) vs. IIIII IIII The Rock (Wrestling)

Event 2: Nonsense Contest
Selina Kyle (catwoman) I vs. IIIII Gadget Hackwrench (Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers)

Event 3: Dealing with the Devil
Spike (Buffy:tVS) IIIII I vs. I Dr. Wily

Event 4: Burning Heretics
Ichabod Crane (Folktale) IIII vs. IIIII Anna (FE Series)

Pair Event 1: Hand Cart Race
Kamek (Yoshi's Island) & Zelda (The Legend of) I vs. IIIII II Sir Lancelotte the Brave (MP&tHG) & Cecilia Lynn Adelhyde (Wild ARMs)

Pair Event 2: Kart Racing, Double Dash Style
Matt Engarde (AA: Justice for All) & Inspector Javert (Les Misreables) III vs. II Queen Zeal (CT) & Palutena (KI:U)



Round 1-B

Event 5: Fashion Makeovering
This event is simple enough.  Take a poor schlub with no fashion sense, and then subject him to the whims of some depraved fashionista who'll have him looking better by the end of the whole degrading experience.  It's humiliating, but at least they come out of it looking pretty snazzy.  At least...  if they get someone good...

And that's where the problems start.  And no, they probably don't end.  You see, the first "person" we're giving reign over someones wardrobe is Lord Helix.  Yes, the Lord Helix, patron god of Anarchy from Twitch Plays Pokemon.  Of course, anarchy isn't our only problem, as the second person to get their own fashion plaything is Estelle, the compulsive liar from Suikoden 3.  So, really, Anarchy vs. outright lies.  This one thing is certain, the poor makeover victims are not going to be the winners here.


Event 6: Puppy Kicking
One might ask, why are we kicking puppies.  Simple answer, they come back and look adorable doing so.  As always, the victor will be the person who can get the most combined distance on their kicks within the allotted time, which means force of kick and ability to get the puppy to come to you fast (or, alternatively, ability to hunt the little buggers down if they run from you) will both be important.  As for the durability of the puppies?  Chief Medical Officer Squall made sure to slap an invincibility item on them before the start of the match.

As for our puppy kicking pros, first up is the Silver Maiden of Zexen.  Unusual for a female main in an RPG, she will have zero problems whatsoever with actually kicking a puppy if it's what needs to happen to get the job done.  Also unlike most female mains in an RPG, she's got the strength to make these suckers soar.  Her opponent, Ryu from Street Fighter, is no stranger to weird minigame style events.  And while this is slightly different from smashing a car with his bare fists, he's certainly got the leg muscles to make that puppy soar.


Event 7: Ship-to-Ship Combat
One might read the event title and think this is about naval combat.  That would be a mistake.  Instead, we're going to keep going until we find a love triangle (real or imagined) where both sides have an opinion, and they both differ on these opinions.  There will then be a conversation on which is the better ship.  And we're using internet rules for conversation here, so full contact, no rules, "debate" in the style you'd get if you combined 4chan with a gladitorial arena.

First up is Rita Mordia from Brave Vesperia.  I've never seen her myself, but I'm told her favourite method of dealing with those who disagree with her about important things like this is cleansing, cleansing fire.  Which is good, because her opposition, Millenia from Grandia 2, is pretty similar in how she deals with things.  Victory goes to the one who convinces the other that their ship is the one true ship, or just gets their opponent to stop argueing which in internet debate is really the same thing.


Event 8: Gladitorial Deathmatch
I'm sure you're asking, what is the key difference between a gladitorial deathmatch and a straight up duel.  Simple, both sides get chucked into an arena with their weapon of choice and told to go at it.  No subtlety, no tricks.  Just straight up glorious melee combat. 

So of course we end up with a pair of scientists.  But don't let that fool you into thinking this will be a dull show!  Our first scientist may not be the swordsman her brother is, but don't sell Aura Blackquill short.  After all, she's still vicious enough to take an entire space centre hostage.  And though she may not have her robots here with her, I'm sure she'll find a way to make due.  Of course, her opponent is no stranger to combat, even if his style is less hold the line and more find cover and shoot.  Still, Mordin Solus has his Salerian Special Forces training and experience fighting the Collectors to fall back on.  And while this probably does cover some melee weapons, he's still a scientist, and probably actually weaker than Aura is.  So, the question remains, which of these badass scientists will be master of the gladitorial arena?


Team Event 1: Base Defense
Having shamelessly stolen this event from CK's own Rando Tourney, we've got a simple setup.  Team B a fort.  It's a nice fort, and they get to choose one of common materials and a layout of their choosing.  Inside this fort, there needs to be an area reachable in no less than three ways (though none of them have to be easy, just possible) that we'll call the safe area.  This is when Team A comes out to play.  They have a day to breach the fort, and get every member of their team into the safe area at the same time.  Team B is allowed to do whatever they have to to stop them, and Team A can do anything they need to to succeed.

Our defense team is an interesting group of wildly varying skills.  Led by the noted hero/villain Flay Gunnar, it'll likely be decked out in evil overlord fashion.  Either that, or it may just resemble a school.  Regardless, he's got the skills and the showmanship to make this quite the lair to invade.  His handy second in command, Kaguya Nanbu, will be able to watch for transdimentional intrusion as well as fight.  Inspector Gadget will be able to track down any oddball incursions as well as having the tool for any job as well as an endless source of luck.  Finally, the defense team is rounded out by team mascot, Grumpy Cat.

The Assault Team will be led, in theory, by Gaston, who has experience in storming strongholds.  And while his experience may have ended poorly, he won't let that slow him down from trying it again for a second.  Also not slowing him down for a second is the fact that no one else on his team will actually be listening to him.  Of course, Gaston also has the dubious distinction of being the worst suited of his teammates for this task.  He's also teamed up with famed hero Darkwing Duck, who has lots of experience outwitting villains and breaking into their lair.  Akuma from Street Fighter, who'll probably just keep punching until he gets where he's going.  And Toph Bei Fong whose powerful Earth and Metal bending will provide a fierce combatant and prove to be very difficult to actually stop from reaching the safe area.

Of course, the defense team only has to stop one of them, but with a team like this, can they do it?


Quick Vote Form:
Event 5: Fashion Makeovering
Lord Helix (TPP) vs. Estella (Suikoden 3)

Event 6: Puppy Kicking
Chris Lightfellow (Suikoden 3) vs. Ryu (Street Fighter 2)

Event 7: Ship-to-Ship Combat
Rita Mordio (Tales of Vesperia) vs. Millenia (Grandia 2)

Event 8: Gladitorial Deathmatch
Aura Blackquill (AA:Dual Destinies) vs. Mordin Solus (Mass Effect 2)

Team Event 1: Border Guard
(Gaston (Beauty and the Beast), Darkwing Duck, Akuma (Street Fighter), Toph Bei Fong (Avatar:tLA)) vs. (Flay Gunnar (Mana Khemia 1/2), Kaguya Nanbu (SRW:OGS:EF), Inspector Gadget, Grumpy Cat)

319

Tournaments / Re: The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-A

« on: June 23, 2014, 05:12:43 AM »

Alright folks, this group closes and the next one opens tomorrow!  Get your votes in now!

320

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Round 1-A

« on: June 20, 2014, 06:15:58 PM »

Round 1 - Group A

Event 1: Getting Rich Quick
This event is as old as cash.  Namely, it's where our contestants will try and gain as much moolah as possible in a week.  Whoever comes out of this the richest wins!

Napoleon the Pig may not have opposable thumbs, and is going to face the huge handicap of not being human.  But, he's coming into this with a proven track record of success, as well as a top notch skillset of manipulation, propaganda, and doublespeak, as well as having already managed to amass a fair amount of wealth after a hostile takeover of a farm.  But it won't be as easy as he'd like it to be, as his opposition is one of the best self-promoters in modern wrestling, The Rock.  The Rock is a noted performer in an already theatrical sports league.  So he too is a proven money maker.  The only question is, which of these two will prove better at picking up capital.


Event 2: Nonsense Contest
The notion of a nonsense contest is to be able to participate in a conversation all the while continuing the conversation in non-sequetirs, random asides, and straight up proclaimations of the sort that would make Cthulu squeal with glee at their burbling insanity.  Things that aren't allowed?  Responces that makes sense in or out of context.  Repeating yourself.  And, of course, stalling out and taking too long to reply.  This match is all about a limber and quick mind.

And while we may not have top notch minds for this, we do have two top line thinkers.  First up we have Selina Kyle, also known as the notorious Catwoman.  Criminals are already pretty good at having snakey lines of thought, but she hangs out with the denizens of Gotham's underworld, a group that is notoriously unstable.  Gadget comes into this with the downside of being a fairly un mad scientist.  But, she does hang out with those minor avatars of confusion Chip and Dale, which should give her a handle on how to deal with this competition.


Event 3: Dealing with the Devil
Perhaps it's because they have a great need, that only infernal power can help them achieve.  Maybe they just have a lust for power that has to be slaked at any cost.  Or, perhaps the Devil's just hanging out and offering that bit of temptation you just can't say no to.  No matter how it happened, the result is the same.  Now you have to deal with the Devil, and your immortal soul is on the line.  The name of this game is, whoever can get out of this snare with their soul still in their possession, wins. If both of our contestants succeed (or, perhaps more realistically, if they both fail) then whoever manages to come out of it with the most perks, benefits, and other sorts of gain will be the winner.

And this match, this is going to be a fine match indeed.  Our first contender is no stranger to the dark side of the street, seeing as he's a vampire straight from the Hellmouth.  That's right, Spike comes into this with pretty much everything he needs to excell except, perhaps, a soul.  Of course, perhaps that's why he's making the deal.  Opposing him is the nefarious mastermind Dr. Wily, who seems to be looking for a new edge in his never ending battle against Mega Man.  Can he get his eight shiny new robot masters and still keep his soul?


Event 4: Burning Heretics
What's the deal with Heretics.  Why they gotta be backing unorthadox and just plain wrong views?  That said, they do have their uses.  I mean, nothing brings a community together quite like tossing a few heretics on the bonfires.  And our winner will be the one who's best able to round up, and then toss on the heretics in question.

While Ichabod Crane may be a humble school teacher, he does have a huge advantage in having been born and raised in a culture that's all about burning heathens at the stake.  Granted, most of the ones he'd know about would be of the witch variety, it's still something that's accepted by his peers.  Of course, just because he may be ok with it, doesn't mean he'll be any good at it.  Anna, of Fire Emblem fame, has the skills.  After all, she seems to know how to be everywhere, and she's got combat skills when she chooses to join the fight.  The next question is, how easily will she burn unbelievers?


Pair Event 1: Three Legged Race
While most racing events focus on singular excellence, the Three Legged Race is less about how good any single member of the team is, and a lot more about how well the two runners can work together.

This leaves our first team in a bit of a pickle, as we have Kamek, loyal employee of the princess kidnapping Bowser working with Princess Zelda.  And even if they can work together, there's the slight issue of how well can Kamek run when he's probably used to floating everywhere.  What is certain is that if they want to have any hope of victory they'll have to work together because they're up against the team of Knight of the Grail, Sir Lancelotte the Brave, and Cecilia Lynn Adelbert.  Of course, given that this Lancelotte is from Monty Python's Holy Grail, perhaps he might be hung up on his princess partner and how to treat her properly.  Regardless, this is going to be an interest race...


Pair Event 2: Kart Racing, Double Dash Style
Four racers, Two carts, One Winner.  It's time to go go kart racing Double Dash style. As always, teammates can swap positions quickly and easily to ensure the best driver, or best items, are always raring to go.

Our first team comes into this with an odd advantage.  Matt Engarde is a modern day movie star, who'll have some idea of how to drive from his Hollywood lifestyle.  Watching his back will be Inspector Javert, who may not know how to handle a horseless carriage, but who probably will have a good idea how to draw a bead on the opposition, and level a good offense at them.  Of course, they're going at this as a pair of mortals daring to face off against a pair of divine beings.  Queen Zeal may not have started divine, but after kinda sorta merging with Lavos, she might as well be.  Having lived from ancient times to the future, she's undoubtedly seen a lot of stuff, and that experience will serve her well here.  Working alongside her will be the Goddess Palutena who's certain to know her way in hectic situations, though her driving skills are unknown.  After all, she hasn't gotten her invite to the kart circuit yet.



Quick Vote Form

Event 1: Getting Rich Quick
Napoleon (Animal Farm) vs. The Rock (Wrestling)

Event 2: Nonsense Contest
Selina Kyle (catwoman) vs. Gadget Hackwrench (Chip n' Dale: Rescue Rangers)

Event 3: Dealing with the Devil
Spike (Buffy:tVS) vs. Dr. Wily

Event 4: Burning Heretics
Ichabod Crane (Folktale) vs. Anna (FE Series)

Pair Event 1: Hand Cart Race
Kamek (Yoshi's Island) & Zelda (The Legend of) vs. Sir Lancelotte the Brave (MP&tHG) & Cecilia Lynn Adelbert (Wild ARMs)

Pair Event 2: Kart Racing, Double Dash Style
Matt Engarde (AA: Justice for All) & Inspector Javert (Les Misreables) vs. Queen Zeal (CT) & Palutena (KI:U)

321

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2014?

« on: June 19, 2014, 09:29:03 AM »

FFX - Managed to get through the Bevelle Arc, missed the last chest, but didn't really care by that point.  Now hit the Calm Lands and managed to capture one of everything.  Debating staying behind long enough to also get ten of everything, but the Marlboroughs have been proving difficult to convince to show up.  Probably will anyways, just means I'll wait until I feel like doing this to pick the game back up again.  Until then...

SRW:AG - Managed to finish ABAYO, and have enough Mastery Points to have myself locked into the True ending.  Also, Kamen Kamen seems to have not gotten any better despite being left alone for thousands of years.  So, three of him were dead easy to dispatch, and got the Mastery without even trying.  Sanger showed up and I had to beat on him with my juiced up team.  This was agreeable.  Sadly, he ran at 30% HP left, but I saw the mastery list for all the stages, I know he'll be back.  And I'll be waiting.  Oh yes, I will be waiting.  >

Also started up the following level, which is the last grasp of the GX plot, aka emo boys want to destroy world to show their version of post humanity is better than New Types.  Complete with that Turn A guy who wants to rule the Moon AND the Earth.  Dude is continually getting offered the chance to just settle down and accept a decently large chunk of post-apocalypic North America, complete with the fact that a lot of the local power structure has just been taken out...  by the PCs... so, y'know, if he just took the offer he'd be a pretty damn powerful guy.  But no, he feels the need to take on the guys that have taken out the Moon Race Military Caste after their badass leader got his Apocalypse Event Powerful mech, And took out every Innocent Base they came across, including most of their strongest ones.  So, he's kinda failed the Lemming test, and thus earned the sweet, sweet death he's going to be dealt. 

Currently halfway through the map, though given the intro, I'm almost half expecting to have Mycenaean forces popping up after I deal with these mooks, so I'm saving on SP and Energy (The Ra Cailum can refill Ammo easily enough).

Bravely Default - Just hit Chapter 6.
This...  Just, this...

322

Tournaments / The Royal Canadian Rando Tourney Nominations!

« on: June 17, 2014, 02:13:02 AM »

Having finally escaped from the top secret Maple Syrup Mines, it's time to getting back to running Rando Tourneys.

As such, we're gonna have a large event with the standard rules applying.

There's gonna be 128 folks going in, where they're gonna get stuck facing single, pair, and team events until only one of them survives!  Because there's gonna be a lot of spaces, we'll need a lot of noms, so feel free to pick twelve of your favourite people.  Or perhaps just the first twelve people your mental darts hit, cause random.  Like always, the only rule is that they have to be a fictional character, for a given quantity of fictional since sufficient pop-cultural mutation will get a person in.  (if he can win the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, then Mr. Rogers can certainly show up here)

So, with all that said, the events are ready!  All we need now are the peons to dance and strive and struggle for our amusement!

323

Discussion / Re: Rank Characters based on In Game Use: Reboot!

« on: June 16, 2014, 06:02:08 AM »

X-Com: Enemy Unknown:
Assault: 8/10 - Pair the best with snipers, and are really good at covering long open fields while still being able to actually deal with any nasty surprises sitting on the other end.

Heavy: 6.5/10 - They start off good, but by the end the Snipers take over their role of being the big damage, and their durability is of less use as well.  However, their missiles or grenade specialties are their redeeming feature, allowing you to hit evasive but weak enemies consistantly, and removing cover when you really need it gone.

Sniper: 9.5/10 - These guys start off weak, but once they get Squad Sight they are just brutal either in focusing fire on something you need dead, or providing oodles of oversight while remaining safely out of range of counter fire.

Support: 7/10 - Can't remember too much about these guys besides smoke grenades and healing specialties.  Do remember them also pairing well with Snipers when you gave them the +3 move ability which you of course give them because it's just so versatile.  Also, making medkits worth using and keeping folks alive is also a hell of a niche.

SHIV: /10 - Never used them, so I couldn't tell you how useful they are.  Maybe my next game I'll give them a try.

While some classes are clearly better than others, it is nice that no class feels useless.

324

Tournaments / Re: Team Hair Color Tourney: Nominations!

« on: June 12, 2014, 11:39:46 PM »

I dunno, since this game is all about which hair colour produces the strongest fighters, it almost feels like teams should get some sort of bonus or points for highly thematic folks who should be on their team, but are DQed for being over powerful.  I mean, there is a reason why one of the Rules of RPGs is that most problems can be solved by finding the right silver haired Bishie and killing them.

325

Tournaments / Re: Tourney of Random Events Finals

« on: June 09, 2014, 04:30:41 AM »

The important bit of the description here isn't who will be the first to break.  They will both break within seconds, the difference between them too close to call.  The important bit is that the loser is the first to break free.  And Luca's super strength will see him busting free long before Lily does.

And so, Lily wins.