Like are they next to the castle at this point or is the castle still to be found? If the latter assume they're a portal and try to assemble the stones into a wheel. If the former look for wheels, sowing related things, possibly digging.
...actually what I'd do is assume no one is dumb enough to leave a passcode on the outside of their castle and think its a trap.
It's what's known as a Regio in Ars Magica - they're at the right place, but they need to find a door to get them onto what is basically a higher plane of existence. Every Regio has a way to get through, some are simple, and some are complicated.
Thomamelas: yep.
Ars Magica so lets assume the Christian Occult use of it to form the Greek Cross spelling out Pater Noster. Are any of your players Latin scholars or students of occult history?
They're mainly from the sciences, but with plenty of trivia thrown in. I hadn't considered the Pater Noster use (and the blocks are in five letter chunks so they'd have to break them up), but I might give them some bonuses to their rolls if they think of that, as they're going up against an Ifrit which straddles the line between demon and fairy.
So they aren't likely to know what a Stator square is to begin with. With a sciences background they may or may not have a smattering of Latin. So that raises the question. Is the puzzle intended to be solved by the players or the characters? If it's the later then you'll likely need to prep the background for this. In Ars Magica you can assume that the characters (or at least who ever is the Mage in the troupe at that moment) is fluent in Latin. This isn't an assumption that is safe to make for the players. Sator squares pop up all over Europe, and given the amount of occult symbolism attached to them, it's likely a scholar or mage in Ars would know about them.
Hmm, good point - not really an engaging puzzle if it's solved by somebody rolling well and being told, "Yeah, it's one of those squares you've seen all over the place".
[Muffled sounds of gorilla violence]
0
Options
StraightziHere we may reign secure, and in my choice,To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered Userregular
edited October 2014
The other thing that I always think of when I think of the sator square is the abracadabra triangle. They're similar enough in concept that if you want a way to give hints without giving away the cow, then you might be able to use some form of one of the characters knowing that or whatever.
This is also much more directly linked to occultism, even if it has lost some of that power due to pop culture in recent years.
Straightzi on
0
Options
KwoaruConfident SmirkFlawless Golden PecsRegistered Userregular
chiasaur11Never doubt a raccoon.Do you think it's trademarked?Registered Userregular
I'd just like to remind everyone, for the record, that I am the most loyal to Friend Computer and would never dream of treachery. Anyone who reports me as a terrorist is probably working for Bert already, and therefore an enemy of the state.
Just as a reminder, the Wobblies meeting has been moved from 7 to 8. Hail comrade Paul!
I'd just like to remind everyone, for the record, that I am the most loyal to Friend Computer and would never dream of treachery. Anyone who reports me as a terrorist is probably working for Bert already, and therefore an enemy of the state.
Just as a reminder, the Wobblies meeting has been moved from 7 to 8. Hail comrade Paul!
If I had clearance to look at the last part of that post, I might just have to report you to friend computer.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Amuseing bit from last nights game.
GM: The stowaway cowers back against the wall as he sees you obviously scared of your presence. This causes him to...change... fur sprouting over his body, long whiskers growing from his lengthening nose over the prominent rodent teeth, and a long bald tail sprouting behind him. He stays agaisnt the wall, crouched in fear.
Witch: Oh, a wererat.
Oracle: I try to convince him we mean no harm, rolling diplomacy.
Barbarian: Heh-eh, anyone got some cheese?
Gunslinger:Oh my god RACIST.
GM: The wererat glares at you Barbarian, the fear in his eyes changing to rage as you callously mock his condition. He's obviously very sensative about it. Roll initiative.
Before following any advice, opinions, or thoughts I may have expressed in the above post, be warned: I found Keven Costners "Waterworld" to be a very entertaining film.
Soon I'll be starting my first Pathfinder game since early 2012 and I've been considering what the best way to import something similar to 4E minions into a game would be. I wouldn't use them terribly often, but sometimes it just feels good for the party to dive into a large horde and start taking things apart.
What I did the 2-3 times it happened last campaign: use lower level monsters, find out what 1/4 of their total HP would be and if they were hit for more than that amount they died, less and they became 'bloodied' at which point a second hit would kill them no matter the damage. I also gave them some small bonuses to attack and averaged out their damage rather than actually rolling it.
Has anyone else tried anything similar?
0
Options
ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
The current Bundle of Holding is:
Dead of Night (retail value $10): An RPG of campfire tales, slasher movies, and B-movie horror.
Hell For Leather (retail $5): From Cobweb Games, the darkly gory game of a hyper-violent TV show. Bowl your dice without knocking over the tower of d6s!
Pickets & Blinds (retail $10): Telling stories of murder in the American Townscape.
The Legerdemain Betrayers (retail $10): Four novice magicians awaiting, or escaping, execution.
And as the bonus ones:
Monsters and Other Childish Things (retail $15): Kids and the sanity-devouring cosmic horrors who love them. Rated #11 out of 2,200+ games in the authoritative RPG.net Game Index.
The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor (retail $15): A companion sandbox-style campaign, equally high-rated, for Monsters and Other Childish Things.
Little Fears Nightmare Edition (retail $12): The revamp of the classic RPG of childhood fears.
Lacuna Part I (retail $15): Subtitled "The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City." That's not meant to tell you much; just play it.
and the dude isn't trolling, he passionately believes this. He passionately believes, and to quote another post of his, that it's about fighitng "Hipsters, trying to gentrify online spaces for a little edge. Destroying the very communities they claim to want to create."
The problem is, he's kind of late to the party on this like... the battle for the soul of video games is currently raging, but the battle for the soul of tabletop RPGs is already months old, dude.
You got companies like Posthuman Studios literally telling MRA fans they're fired. You got Dungeons & Dragons' new rulebook literally endorsing sexual and gender diversity right there in the rulebook. The fight is kinda over man and you shitstains lost. (Notably, Desborough is banned from RPG Net and a bunch of other RPG communities)
So he's backed the wrong horse by diving into this video game thing, and he's getting fucking pilloried for it, and that has come as a fucking surprise to him.
What about him? Has he done something new retard thing?
I hadn't heard of him really but I'm thinking his twitter and wordpress blog should give you a good idea of what's up.
I try to avoid reading his twitter because it's pretty much a waste of time but he appears to be in the midst of losing what little credibility he has.
and the dude isn't trolling, he passionately believes this. He passionately believes, and to quote another post of his, that it's about fighitng "Hipsters, trying to gentrify online spaces for a little edge. Destroying the very communities they claim to want to create."
The problem is, he's kind of late to the party on this like... the battle for the soul of video games is currently raging, but the battle for the soul of tabletop RPGs is already months old, dude.
You got companies like Posthuman Studios literally telling MRA fans they're fired. You got Dungeons & Dragons' new rulebook literally endorsing sexual and gender diversity right there in the rulebook. The fight is kinda over man and you shitstains lost. (Notably, Desborough is banned from RPG Net and a bunch of other RPG communities)
So he's backed the wrong horse by diving into this video game thing, and he's getting fucking pilloried for it, and that has come as a fucking surprise to him.
ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
The One Shot podcast has a bonus episode where Ken Hite explains the rules for Night's Black Agents. Night's Black Agents is Ronin style spies verses Vampires. It uses the Gumshoe system as it's core and is designed around investation and shooting Serbian Mobsters.
Well, my Pathfinder character got killed last night. Will o wisp killed her in three turns. Turns out avoiding a +20 touch attack is... Hard.
Will o' Wisps are pretty brutal.
Yeah there wasn't really much I could do. It was either me or someone else.
Kinda wishing we knew what we'd be going up against so we could've prepared better!
I don't know if Will ' Wisps can manipulate weapons or attack with anything beyond their natural electricity attack but a CL 7 of Resist Energy would at least make you temporarily invulnerable to their attacks.
I feel pretty safe ignoring anyone who sincerely uses the phrase "middle class gentrification of the internet"
The idea of "a luxury service that costs you $20-$50 a month to have in your home" being a "lower class" environment to be gentrified is, just, man...
What's a fancy word for "mega dumb?"
Imbecilic?
0
Options
Der Waffle MousBlame this on the misfortune of your birth.New Yark, New Yark.Registered Userregular
A lot of people who were frequent targets of J Deezy's bullshit were legitimately worried he was going to hurt himself and ended up contacting to make sure he was okay.
I feel pretty safe ignoring anyone who sincerely uses the phrase "middle class gentrification of the internet"
I dunno. It resonated with me when I considered that the internet is a nicer place than it was twenty years ago.
But the fact that he thinks it's a bad thing is the issue.
like parts of the internet have certainly undergone a
gentlerfication
part of that is that is more accessible to more kinds of people, instead of the domain largely of straight white cisgendered men who are good with computers like it was in say, the 80s and 90s
part of that is because the internet is less anonymous than it used to be. people have to be more responsible and more accountable for the shit they do and say online, for good and for ill, and this in general has led to a very different culture that has emerged
there's many factors but yes, the internet certainly is a nicer place on the whole for many kinds of people than it was twenty years ago
that's only a problem if you're the kind of person that considers compassion, empathy, and consideration for the feelings of other human beings to be terrible burdens on your freedom
like maybe the kind of guy summed up in this image:
+3
Options
ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
Well, my Pathfinder character got killed last night. Will o wisp killed her in three turns. Turns out avoiding a +20 touch attack is... Hard.
Will o' Wisps are pretty brutal.
Yeah there wasn't really much I could do. It was either me or someone else.
Kinda wishing we knew what we'd be going up against so we could've prepared better!
I don't know if Will ' Wisps can manipulate weapons or attack with anything beyond their natural electricity attack but a CL 7 of Resist Energy would at least make you temporarily invulnerable to their attacks.
And at that point you should start running.
Yeah my monk doesn't have any Resist energy stuff herself at all, and I don't think any of our casters had a spell for that prepared. I just tried my best to burst the thing down with everything I had before it could kill anyone, but it got me first.
Posts
So they aren't likely to know what a Stator square is to begin with. With a sciences background they may or may not have a smattering of Latin. So that raises the question. Is the puzzle intended to be solved by the players or the characters? If it's the later then you'll likely need to prep the background for this. In Ars Magica you can assume that the characters (or at least who ever is the Mage in the troupe at that moment) is fluent in Latin. This isn't an assumption that is safe to make for the players. Sator squares pop up all over Europe, and given the amount of occult symbolism attached to them, it's likely a scholar or mage in Ars would know about them.
This is also much more directly linked to occultism, even if it has lost some of that power due to pop culture in recent years.
Holy crap
Just as a reminder, the Wobblies meeting has been moved from 7 to 8. Hail comrade Paul!
Why I fear the ocean.
If I had clearance to look at the last part of that post, I might just have to report you to friend computer.
Felicia "Red Gecko" Krell (don't call her Felicia. Or Krell)
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
GM: The stowaway cowers back against the wall as he sees you obviously scared of your presence. This causes him to...change... fur sprouting over his body, long whiskers growing from his lengthening nose over the prominent rodent teeth, and a long bald tail sprouting behind him. He stays agaisnt the wall, crouched in fear.
Witch: Oh, a wererat.
Oracle: I try to convince him we mean no harm, rolling diplomacy.
Barbarian: Heh-eh, anyone got some cheese?
Gunslinger:Oh my god RACIST.
GM: The wererat glares at you Barbarian, the fear in his eyes changing to rage as you callously mock his condition. He's obviously very sensative about it. Roll initiative.
What I did the 2-3 times it happened last campaign: use lower level monsters, find out what 1/4 of their total HP would be and if they were hit for more than that amount they died, less and they became 'bloodied' at which point a second hit would kill them no matter the damage. I also gave them some small bonuses to attack and averaged out their damage rather than actually rolling it.
Has anyone else tried anything similar?
Dead of Night (retail value $10): An RPG of campfire tales, slasher movies, and B-movie horror.
Hell For Leather (retail $5): From Cobweb Games, the darkly gory game of a hyper-violent TV show. Bowl your dice without knocking over the tower of d6s!
Pickets & Blinds (retail $10): Telling stories of murder in the American Townscape.
The Legerdemain Betrayers (retail $10): Four novice magicians awaiting, or escaping, execution.
And as the bonus ones:
Monsters and Other Childish Things (retail $15): Kids and the sanity-devouring cosmic horrors who love them. Rated #11 out of 2,200+ games in the authoritative RPG.net Game Index.
The Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor (retail $15): A companion sandbox-style campaign, equally high-rated, for Monsters and Other Childish Things.
Little Fears Nightmare Edition (retail $12): The revamp of the classic RPG of childhood fears.
Lacuna Part I (retail $15): Subtitled "The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City." That's not meant to tell you much; just play it.
I hadn't heard of him really but I'm thinking his twitter and wordpress blog should give you a good idea of what's up.
Edit: After looking at his writing credits I'm not really sure why anyone would care about his opinion. Is he popular or well-known for something?
god yes
so basically he came out in vociferous support of Gamergate
for him, it wasn't about sexism, or journalistic ethics
no, for James Desborough, Gamergate is about, and I'm quoting directly from his twitter here:
yeah
and the dude isn't trolling, he passionately believes this. He passionately believes, and to quote another post of his, that it's about fighitng "Hipsters, trying to gentrify online spaces for a little edge. Destroying the very communities they claim to want to create."
The problem is, he's kind of late to the party on this like... the battle for the soul of video games is currently raging, but the battle for the soul of tabletop RPGs is already months old, dude.
You got companies like Posthuman Studios literally telling MRA fans they're fired. You got Dungeons & Dragons' new rulebook literally endorsing sexual and gender diversity right there in the rulebook. The fight is kinda over man and you shitstains lost. (Notably, Desborough is banned from RPG Net and a bunch of other RPG communities)
So he's backed the wrong horse by diving into this video game thing, and he's getting fucking pilloried for it, and that has come as a fucking surprise to him.
And he wrote this weepy ass, poor-fucking-me blog post today:
http://talesofgrim.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/gamergate-ok-but-not-ok/
and instead of feeling sorry for him, at all, all I can do is laugh.
Go extinct, you dinosaur.
I try to avoid reading his twitter because it's pretty much a waste of time but he appears to be in the midst of losing what little credibility he has.
he needs to learn that nobody cares
Sounds about on par for him.
it's like the dude picked a very particular german political party to come out in favor of
...in 1954, instead of 1944
and it's like whoooooooooooooooooops
I learned to spell the word because I love using it.
But it's also in my browser's spellchecker, so
Rock Band DLC | GW:OttW - arrcd | WLD - Thortar
Will o' Wisps are pretty brutal.
very
especially in pathfinder
He's just spelling it like it is pronounced:
I guess have CL 7 Resist Energy ready?
Steam | Twitter
Yeah there wasn't really much I could do. It was either me or someone else.
Kinda wishing we knew what we'd be going up against so we could've prepared better!
I don't know if Will ' Wisps can manipulate weapons or attack with anything beyond their natural electricity attack but a CL 7 of Resist Energy would at least make you temporarily invulnerable to their attacks.
And at that point you should start running.
The idea of "a luxury service that costs you $20-$50 a month to have in your home" being a "lower class" environment to be gentrified is, just, man...
What's a fancy word for "mega dumb?"
Imbecilic?
They are much better people than I.
I dunno. It resonated with me when I considered that the internet is a nicer place than it was twenty years ago.
But the fact that he thinks it's a bad thing is the issue.
Satans..... hints.....
like parts of the internet have certainly undergone a
gentlerfication
part of that is that is more accessible to more kinds of people, instead of the domain largely of straight white cisgendered men who are good with computers like it was in say, the 80s and 90s
part of that is because the internet is less anonymous than it used to be. people have to be more responsible and more accountable for the shit they do and say online, for good and for ill, and this in general has led to a very different culture that has emerged
there's many factors but yes, the internet certainly is a nicer place on the whole for many kinds of people than it was twenty years ago
that's only a problem if you're the kind of person that considers compassion, empathy, and consideration for the feelings of other human beings to be terrible burdens on your freedom
like maybe the kind of guy summed up in this image:
Yeah my monk doesn't have any Resist energy stuff herself at all, and I don't think any of our casters had a spell for that prepared. I just tried my best to burst the thing down with everything I had before it could kill anyone, but it got me first.