The Eye of Anubis: OOC Thread

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Here's a big hooray and a nomination for bonus xp to Nathan! That was an excellent way of escaping the wires. ^^

[Nathan of the FoS]

Well, thank you. But I do not deserve the credit; Isabella mentioned the possibility to me. And she does not benefit from extra experience points.

[Cronax]

Now assuming its following the D&D convention of 1 square = 5 feet, does anyone else think that is the grandest piano they have ever seen? (15' x 20' by my estimation)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Now assuming its following the D&D convention of 1 square = 5 feet, does anyone else think that is the grandest piano they have ever seen? (15' x 20' by my estimation)

... Wir cläckern night, wir klotzen.

[yalenusveler]

Much like Kage, doing this now since I haven't had time before.

1) The plot. This book was a little more open - how did you like progressing through it?

I rather liked it. It was a bit more open, and I rather liked the fact that although the Falkovnians sure weren't the nicest of individuals, they weren't the straw men they tend to become. I've seen a tendency for Falkovians to be used like Nazis can get used in comics, or "They're here for the PCs to beat horribly because you don't care what happens to them."

As for Cavendish, it was yet more fuel to add to the fire of utterly despising him. He keeps finding new depths to sink to. However, at the same time..I've got to echo the others stating that this would've been a good time to take him out/remove him from the board. Pacing wise, now that we're in endgame, Cavendish showing up to do unspeakable things to the dog..feels like a distraction more than an actual part of the plot. I THINK I know what his ultimate scheme is, and if it is what I suspect, then I can understand why he's still around..otherwise..eh. Previously, he was delightfully free of villain decay, but he's starting to become that most unpleasant of things, a Villain Sue. And I hate saying that, but pacing wise..compared to preventing the unleashing of some sort of horrid fiend that was behind an ancient empire..despite his repeated illicit liaisons with the dog and personal quest to redefine the moral event horizon, Cavendish just feels..well, small potatoes.

2) The battles, which included the underground temple battle Snefru and the giant, chaotic slugfest at the end, as well as the traps you encountered along the way.

I rather liked the traps, especially since when we tripped them..it was more or less because of our own slip ups, and not because of bad dice going "AND NOW YOU SUFFER FOREVER!" Always nice knowing your injuries come from your own stupid, and not from random number gods.

The first fight bothered me intensely at first, mostly by the use of the term Zombie to refer to the Leibentod combined with my remembering an obscure rule from VRGttWD. However, on reflection..it was a DAMN good fight. Leibentod are intelligent, and fought like it. Still wondering what the heck they're doing in the middle of the desert, but I suppose they can get around. Considering they're written to be "We like having a boss, even though we can think for ourselves!". Snefru was an unpleasant surprise, especially with both of her auras combined, which was another source of disquiet with the fight. It felt at first like a great deal rested on making one save at the beginning of the battle. However, again on further consideration..it was villains fighting smart, which while Andre might not appreciate it, I've got to admit it is ultimately a good thing.
First fight Grade:B- due to personal misgivings, but probably more deserving of a solid B, or even a low B+

The second fight on the other hand, was made of concentrated win and awesome, and all involved deserve cookies and a magical puppy. It was a chaotic mess, but thanks to good planning on our part we managed to come out more or less on top. Quelling a riot with a well placed sound lance to its leader was awesome, as was seeing some people actually inflict damage on Cavendish, which I do believe is a first for us. My one complaint is the Falkovnians who were firing on Snefru. I'd like to think they'd realize that "Oh wait, we aren't doing anything against her...huh, the guy in the hat with the bad teeth is squishy. NEW TARGET!" But considering how utterly chaotic the fight felt..I can kind of see why they'd just keep firing. Still, amazing fight.
Second Fight Grade: A+/S, with cookies and magical puppies.

3) The cutscenes. We used a lot more cutscenes than we normally do this book. What did you think of both the cutscene events and the style of having so many of them?

Yes. More. Please. For a while it felt like despite knowing conversations were going on while we were off gallivanting and having magical deathtrap adventures, the NPCs just sort of..stopped until we interacted with them.
This book however, with the amount of cutscenes, certainly made it feel like not only did the NPCs actually do things outside of our presence..but they're actually pretty awesome. And not just because a great deal of the planning during the cutscenes revolved around securing something near and dear to Andre's heart..likesay, his heart.

It made them feel alive and vibrant as characters, almost moreso than RPs with them, because it was action going on outside of the PCs frame of view. A good reminder that the world goes on even when we aren't watching, and well written to boot. I'd like to see more like them in the future, if possible.

Overall, the book was good. Despite the pacing issues with Cavendish, and his grand quest to enter into the new universe beyond the moral event horizon, it was still an extremely well done book, and in the end..probably one of my favorites. A good solid A.

[Kaitou Kage]

Previously, he was delightfully free of villain decay, but he's starting to become that most unpleasant of things, a Villain Sue.

I'd like to echo this statement :/ He's been a good foil for most of the story and like Andre said, not much villain decay. But he's too perfect of a bad guy. We can't anticipate him before he gets started, and except for Book 8 (or whichever one had the big battle), we haven't been able to do much except walk right into every setup he made for us. And worst of all to me, we really don't get the opportunity to do anything to him. So it's starting to feel less like "Wow, this guy's a real bastard" and more like "This guy is messing with us and there's nothing we can really do to get back at him." And the fact that we run him off every time is really only small comfort -- especially since he never, ever seems bothered by his defeats at all. It just feels like no matter what we do, we just can't win because we can't actually stop the source of the problem. Getting to have Tomas and Sascha wallop him in the start of the fight was very, very satisfying because it's really the first and only time we've made him sweat. But once that was over, it was back to business as usual where he took his potshots and we had more immediate threats in our faces.

[Isabella]

*cough* Well, yes, there is a fine balancing act to be had here. On the other hand, we also had no intention of having him intentionally cripple himself so that you could find him and beat the tar out of him. We would, ah... feel slightly more sympathetic to accusations of him being "too perfect" had you been using some of the resources at your disposal - the true seeing, for example, which would have at the very least revealed the Falkovnian lebendtods in the compound, if not Cavendish. Tomas' paladin sight has registered him before as well. There were also some clues had you searched the secret temple of Set at all before dealing with the music box... and had you removed the music box from the underground room before triggering it, you would have missed that encounter, as well. But, I get the feeling I might be treading on thin ice to say it, so that is all I shall say about that.

We spent a lot of this book just rolling with what got thrown with us, but we did have Cavendish's grand preparations and spells all sorted out before hand. He was out in the open for the final fight, and if you had killed him here, well, we would have rolled with it. Plenty of other fish in the barrel, as you all say. Still, after Snefru died, he had more than half his HP left (despite the Falkovnians pelting him with arrows - which they were, every round), quite a few spells, no backup and nothing stopping him from running like he always does (like dimensional anchor) - so he ran. You guys have bothered him quite a bit more than you realize, which is part of the reason he got so personal here - as just a minor example, we weren't intending to lose Chesterton in the fight unless you took down Cavendish. As for Cavendish himself, as the Ezrans might say, he has his own little role in the grand scheme of things, and that is all I have to say about that.

I'll probably respond to all the rest of the feedback sometime after Neo gets back (assuming I haven't just infuriated everyone with this part), so consider that a good deadline to get it in.

[lostboy]

Now assuming its following the D&D convention of 1 square = 5 feet, does anyone else think that is the grandest piano they have ever seen? (15' x 20' by my estimation)

its a Giant Mountain Dire Piano



uh yes that is a good point and I do admit to noticing some scaling issues with this map (the chairs appear to be 5 feet wide as well), however to be honest I was more having issues with the perspective and how to show that side room in the rather strange projection I gave myself (hence the see through wall bit).

[Cronax]

Don't get me wrong, the map looks great.

It probably would look a little odd with everything to scale anyway.

[Kaitou Kage]

I was talking with Isabella and one thing led to another and we started talking about what factions the characters would join if they ended up in Sigil. So, for those of you with Planescape knowledge, here you go. And if you have no idea wtf this is talking about, ask me and I'll fill you in ;p

Sascha - The Mercykillers
Tomas - The Sons of Mercy
Lia - The Mind's Eye
Andre - The Sign of One
Charles - The Mathematicians
Khalil - The Revolutionary League
Otto - The Verdant League
Kuzan - The Free League
Pelletier - The Prolongers
Marchand-Renier - The Fraternity of Order
Carter - The Society of Sensation
Devereux - The Sign of One
Lily - The Fated
Remy - The Fraternity of Order
Sam - The Fated
Edmund - The Sons of Mercy
Michel - The Society of Sensation
Jervis - The Bleak Cabal
Dieter - The Free League
Sarari - The Transcendant Order
Guy - The Revolutionary League

[Isabella]

Final Warning: If you do not want to take the direct route to where you are moving, you must tell me the path you are taking.

[yalenusveler]

Just a heads up, my post will be going up later than usual tonight. Probably after 12, 2am at the latest. Have had a family emergency come up. I should be able to post though, if not tonight, early tomorrow.

[Isabella]

Lostboy: Technically you can only spend the charge on your brute gauntlets before you make the check. I'm not going to enforce it for that last roll because I didn't call it the first time (so you don't have to faceplant into the lightning... unless you really want to ) but keep it in mind for the future.

[lostboy]

Ah ok, duly noted.

And thanks for your offer, but I think I'll decline the face full of lightning if thats ok....

[The Whistler]

Argh. Heads-up: Otto just failed both Reflex saves (including ANOTHER natural 1). That's enough to knock him out...could somebody possibly heal him up so that I can take my turn afterward?