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[The Quiet Year] Autumn Clubbing
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But this is also a reaction to the rule breaking and denial of project length discussion when that project was started.
So.
It probably shouldn't be repeated.
1) There's no reason to add the seed scarcity. The damage to the fields has already been accounted for - Numaize changed from Abundant to Stable at the start of the turn. (Rationale: It was stated that the fields were destroyed, but no mention of anything previously harvested or in storage, so a single bump down seemed appropriate).
2) The Wall.
I'm going to stick my hand up right now and take my share of the blame in this issue - I'm the one who changed the rule slightly on resolving projects, so I opened the door for this issue. I will be reverting back in any future games. That said, Nips is correct on the completion of a project, as supported by this paragraph from the official rules.
As such, I'd rule against creating the scarcity here too. However, from my point of view discrider is still on the right track when it comes to the nature of the project. It is explicity a foolish project - ill informed, ill advised, unplanned, however you want to define it. It's perfectly reasonable to say the project isn't necessarily optimal when finished. Especially given how it started, and that the community did nothing to aid it overall. If we ignore the scarcity, we can say that the wall isn't explicitly a negative. It can be useful, the community can use it or improve it, it simply is. So, in fewer words keep the, shall we say, Curious wall, but lose the scarcity in this instance. Or, as you say, simply not having that distraction going on anymore may in itself be a boon to the community - I'll let you decide that particular.
3) You can't use a contempt to fail a project still underway, only the card events can do that. Contempt is more as a social signifier, or for justifying taking actions that you might not otherwise be able to justify, like a project the others might not agree with, or bulldozing a discussion. In other words, use them for starting projects rather than ending them.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
The wall.
Yak's wall has grown over the past several weeks.
What had started as a single-minded endeavour to keep the outside out, had turned into a waist high brick or 'brick' fence around the entire village.
Yak had even managed to find some suitable scrap to use as makeshift gates at the main entrances, although most citizens found themselves hopping back and forth over the wall at convenient points.
In all honesty, if it had been left all to Yak, such a wall would probably not have been possible, but several of the youths had decided to provide bricks and labour to the effort.
It took the edge off the boredom, if only for a while.
Regardless, now it was done, and Yak at least was sleeping sounder at night having done it.
(Would suggest taking Security as a resource to Stable; it was at least important to Yak, and it complicates leaving)
Action.
Tempted to just contempt into attacking the merchants, but instead
Hold a Discussion:
What is to be done about the merchants?
If it was not Driscoll, then surely the merchants poisoned our water supply and then attempted to sell the antidote to us.
And if we -are- leaving, as we probably must, their machines are right there for the taking.
@Nips @Elvenshae @Endless_Serpents
If the people outside our walls were traveling murderers instead of traveling merchants, wouldn’t we have heard of similar problems from our erstwhile trading partners to the west? Better that we enlist their aid than take it by force.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
"We can't keep casting blame on the troubles of the earth beneath our feet on the first convenient personage or people that we suspect. The merchants certainly aren't trustworthy, but the cost of an altercation with them may easily outweigh anything we gain from leveraging violence against them."
Should get some good boardgaming in, though.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
No worries dude! Obviously I'm not gonna skip any of your turns outright, but are you concerned about missing discussions during other player turns during this time?
The options are we can wait until you're back to speak your piece, we can just skip over you for the next couple of turns, or if you like you can leave some blanket statements of what your section of the community stands for and react accordingly. 'We generally oppose aggression', 'we generally support more traditionalist values' etc. It's not specific as a direct response but it still let's you be heard.
Also, @discrider to close out the discussion, as it started with a question
PSN: TheBrayster_92
We grow tired of the inaction that has been taken against those who had poisoned the water supply.
Perhaps outright conflict is ill-advised, but something must be done to ensure the offense doesn't recur, or we risk death in this deserted place.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Resources:
Projects:
Murder Investigation: 1
Rehabilitation: 4
Driscoll Training: 1
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x2
Elvenshae x2
@Endless_Serpents you draw the Seven of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
A project just isn’t working out as expected.
Radically change the nature of this project (don’t modify the time remaining).
When it resolves, you’ll be responsible for telling the community how it went.
OR
Something goes foul and supplies are ruined.
Add a new Scarcity.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Rehabilitation
The Hungry Ghost lies dead in a sickly orange, smouldering mass. The house she rested in is lost to it. Nothing could be done.
For those that dared to ease her suffering, and most especially Leaf, their lives have been forever changed. They claim they see in pulsing waves now—Driscoll thinks they mean electromagnetism. They are stronger than any human, more durable, faster, maybe even… smarter. Fire is called to them, quelled by them and just perhaps, they could turn it on the targets of their choosing.
They haven’t been violent, not a bit… but they’re saying… they should be in charge now. Not for the power, but because only they can lead the people to a prosperous life.
They can see it. Read the land at unfathomable distance. It’ll take time to be ready, but only they can prepare for it.
Replacement Project: New Management.
Action: Discuss that.
We cannot assume their good intent if their minds have been overtaken, but if they can now 'see' the nature of the apocalypse to the West their advice may well be of great use to the Overseers.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Let’s keep this going!
Resources:
Projects:
Murder Investigation: Complete!
Rehabilitation: 3
Driscoll Training: Complete!
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x2
Elvenshae x2
@Nips you draw the Three of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
Someone leaves the community after issuing a dire warning.
Who?
What is the warning?
OR
Someone issues a dire warning, and the community leaps into action to avoid disaster.
What is the warning?
Start a contentious project that relates to it.
Project: Driscoll Training has completed this week! Tell us what happens.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Indeed. I didn't want to overturn the rule as it has been for most of the game, but I will be switching back if there's ever a second game.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
I just had significant trouble figuring and imagining how to make a foolish wall (that was later also not directly detrimental to the community).
It's fine when the project is just clearly going to achieve the aims it was originally set, and doesn't have to balance the negative (but not too negative) adjective.
Maybe this calls for an abrupt and short winter?
@The Brayster
Someone leaves the community after issuing a dire warning. Who? What is the warning?
Masters Duan and Sloane, having shared a joint prophetic vision, have decided to embark on a quest out of the community to pursue its truth. They warn that their vision showed them a great evil of fire and smoke, coming from the north over the mountains. They intend to pursue the path of their vision to confront this evil, and if victorious will return to tell their tale.
They leave, quietly and to no fanfare, as the sun sets on the horizon.
Driscoll's Training has completed.
Carrying an ever-present sheen of flop sweat, Driscoll has done all he can to train under Chorath and Diesel's tutelage. Though he is clearly clumsy and incapable at first, he put in the effort every day from before sun up to after sun down. By the end of the month of training, he's lost significant weight in exchange for tone. His martial forms are barely adequate, and it is only through Chorath's ongoing appeal that Master Diesel's opinion is swayed to assess the foreigner in one last contest.
Diesel and Driscoll meet at dawn in the center of the dojo on the 29th day of his training. By the Master's charge, Driscoll must land even one substantial blow to the Master before sunset to prove himself.
For the first nine hours of daylight Driscoll is clearly overmatched, thrown to the dusty ground of the dojo again, and again, and again. The scientist's flopsweat becomes dried, caking the salt and sand to his flesh.
The hours wend on, and the sun begins to dip low in the distance. With only a hint of the fading sun remaining Driscoll manages to feint through Diesel's defenses, landing a middling punch that connects to the Master's left flank. Driscoll is promptly thrown, one last time, as a consequence of the sacrificial strike. Diesel makes an inscrutable face, bows, and leaves Driscoll to Chorath and the other young students.
If a complete incompetent in the span of a month can be trained to land a blow on one of our Masters, this further proves that our community's ability to share and grow our martial talents has no peer.
Codified Martial Training becomes Abundant.
The Murder Investigation has concluded.
The sudden and apparently violent death of Grouse has cast a long shadow over the community for over a month now, and as the weeks carried on a quiet unease has spread across the settlement. The remaining Overseers and elders were thorough in the investigation, intending to show that this single act of violence would and should not blossom into further outbreaks of the same.
In announcing the results of their investigation, the settlement was at once shocked and relieved. Though the murder weapon could not be found, it was clear to the investigators that the wound was not made by any tool or weapon used by the settlement at large; the murder weapon had come from outside the community, and its perpetrator with it.
Relieved at least that Grouse was not killed by one of our own, a palpable release from the growing unease could be felt across the entire settlement.
Trust within the Community becomes Abundant.
I'm going to Start A Discussion.
"Does our settlement need to begin keeping outsiders at arms length, to prevent future tragedies such as that of Grouse's murder?"
Even Diesel has to admit that training Driscoll was not a complete waste of time, or at least it proved not to be on the last day.
And with the end of the investigation, it's clear that Driscoll was not the cause of that tragedy.
But we can't let the death go unanswered. Nor the poisoning of our waters.
We must not isolate ourselves.
We must instead act to ensure outsiders never feel safe to harm us again, and you can't punch someone that's at arm's length.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Resources:
Projects:
Rehabilitation: 2
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x1
Elvenshae x2
@Elvenshae you draw the Six of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
Introduce a dark mystery among the members of the community
OR
Conflict flares up among community members,
and as a result, a project fails.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
The children of the Hungry Ghost, Ghostborn, have spent much of the past month proselytizing, making the case to the villagers that they, not the Overseers, should be in charge. They arrive at meetings and speak of what must be done to rearrange village life; they enter the fields and remove weeds with precise fires while insisting that the "weeds of the world" will be similarly burned; they camp outside Dust's radio tower and demand that he broadcast their messages to the Saltlands. The community is divided on whether these unusual ... unnatural? ... beings should lead, or provide assistance, or be driven out, with loud arguments and several full-on fights breaking out.
The decision is made for the community when one morning all of the Ghostborn come together in the center of the village, joined by a number of disciples - those most strident that the Ghostborn should replace the Overseers. The Ghostborn announce that the community has failed to embrace their wisdom, that they are the spark that will ignite the future of the world and they must find more willing tinder. The Ghostborn and their closest adherents gather their belongings and journey en masse out of the village, to the west, along the disused trade route.
Rehabilitation New Management fails.
I discover something new.
On one of their ranges, our scouts locate a veritable carpet of bug-like creatures slowly moving towards us from the southeast. At their current speed, they are likely several weeks away - assuming they continue to head in this direction. They leave a path of devastation in their wake - plantlife stripped to the stems, animals skeletonized.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
*Added 'Bug-Like Creatures', represented by a skull.
Resources:
Projects:
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x1
Elvenshae x2
@discrider you draw the Four of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
The strongest among you dies.
What caused the death?
OR
The weakest among you dies.
Who’s to blame for their death?
PSN: TheBrayster_92
His disciples were quickly roused and soon the dojo was filled with students tending to their master.
Their efforts, however, were in vain. And come sunrise, the master had fallen.
It's not clear entirely what happened that night, but Diesel managed to describe most of what had happened before perishing.
Disgruntled by the lack of progress in assigning blame for the deaths and misfortune befalling the camp, Diesel in his folly had struck out to the traveling merchant camp in the dead of night, alone.
He intended to find the missing murder weapon, or at least establish why the merchants had come here, and to what purpose.
Slinking quietly through the camp, he discovered that the merchants have not been idle these past weeks.
Since the earthquake, the village had largely abandoned the curious hole in the center of this metallic place, and the merchants had been too happy to fill the gap.
One of their metallic beasts was now shuddering over the top of the hole, with many merchants entering and exiting the beast, moving things into or out of the space beneath.
Bright electric lights filled the area, pointing at the merchants' work.
As Diesel had drawn near to see exactly what had captured the merchant's attention, a metal conveyor came and removed the boxes that he had been using for cover.
The plain was otherwise featureless, and taken by surprise, the master was caught silhouetted in the night by the bright lights.
And having spotted the intruder, the merchants took to arms.
What followed was a desperate dash for safety.
The master could take any of the merchants single-handedly, even against their wicked swords.
But he was vastly outnumbered.
After ten, twenty guards had fallen, the master slowly lost stamina and was whittled down by a multitude of barely-dodged cuts.
Even so, he made it to the edge of the metallic ground before he was chased down and soundly beaten.
And there they left him, bleeding and broken.
It was only through sheer force of will that he managed to drag himself back to the village's outer wall.
The same will that kept him dragging one of the swords from his fallen assailants, to present to the council to end the question of the identity of the murderer.
And even that was not enough to keep him from passing later that day.
The pyre burned bright for him that night, as the entire village came to pay tributes to their late master.
It was continually stoked until the dawn, until all that was left was ash.
And I start a project:
Migration
We must leave. Our brothers have just left with the ghost-born.
With the insects on one side and the fire on the other, we will have to find a new home.
This one is no longer tenable, and we are a village of refugees anyway.
We can start again.
It should take us 6 weeks to be ready to travel
@Nips @Elvenshae @Endless_Serpents
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Sorry for the delay. I swear I’m not seeing the @ call these days.
Resources:
Projects:
Migration: 6
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x1
Elvenshae x2
@Endless_Serpents you draw the Queen of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
• You spend the week quarantining and treating the disease. Project dice are not reduced this week.
• Nobody knows what to do about it. Add “Health and Fertility” as a Scarcity.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
A pox. Nothing the community can’t deal with. Perhaps an old coot with die. Perhaps a… well, let’s not dwell on it. The community isolates and the healers do their thing. In an odd way, it’s kind of a week off for most people.
Discover Something New
A baby is born with a patterned left hand. He’s otherwise healthy as they come. Folks say his smile makes him look like old Diesel (though his smile much rarer). Everybody likes to see a new baby. Out of respect, the little one becomes his namesake.
I'll hopefully get something up later today.
PSN: TheBrayster_92
Resources:
Projects:
Migration: 6
Contempt:
Nips x2
Discrider x1
Elvenshae x2
@Nips you draw the Five of Clubs! Your choice is as follows:
Who are they?
Why have they chosen your community, and for what?
OR
A small gang of marauders is making its way through local terrain.
How many are there?
What weapons do they carry?
PSN: TheBrayster_92