Book 2 – Text Updates 012

[balder]

New One is up.

[BLANDCorporatio]

Sure they'll win, Tremennis can't just disappear like that.

Unfortunately.

It is amusing to see Ossomer try his hand at subtle tricks and psycho-warfare, but doesn't this, his comical high-strung failure at it, make him too much of a stereotype? Is there no brain with that brawn?

[1Luv]

I don't think it's so much that he's stupid per se, I think it's that he's not one for underhanded tricks.

That's not to say he's a genius, but I think the fact that he's thinking ahead of this battle into the future(and the future of his former allies) shows some glimmering of intelligence. I think the small attempt wasn't supposed to be seen as comedic failure, I think it was him trying to avoid meaningless death...

I say kudos to Ossomer. Also, a good look into how the decrypted feel in terms of their new loyalties.

I note it's interesting that he calls his father still among 'the living', implying he is now dead despite being technically alive and in full control of his faculties(where his loyalty doesn't conflict with Wanda's)

And yes, no way Tramennis will die.

Wait, isn't tramm now the royal heir?So if the king is croaked, won't he become a barbarian king?(lacking a capital but still royal..)

[The Minx]

I don't think he has been designated the Royal Heir yet, that might cost schmuckers. He's only been named Cheif Warlord.

Jillian was the heir of Faq when Stanley destroyed it initially, so perhaps Tramennis would only become a barbarian if he's the heir and loses his last city. Based on that, then presumably a heir without a kingdom needs to gain a city to upgrade to king/queen.

[BLANDCorporatio]

I think the small attempt wasn't supposed to be seen as comedic failure, I think it was him trying to avoid meaningless death...

Including his own

Tremennis can't die, that's for sure. He's completely different from his two brothers, and like or hate the character, that's good story design.

Ossomer though ... he's basically Ansom, only more naive and with maybe slightly better bonuses. Therefore, redshirt material. {{EDIT, cause I forgot to bring the point: unless Ossomer grows character fast}}

Also, yes, any glimpse into decrypted minds is interesting!

[gameboy1234]

Yes, being decrypted makes you see that Erfworld just might be some kind of game. Interesting. Also a reference to Second Life, a game as well.

Also: psychological warfare is, like, totally hard, like, you know?

[Vordrax]

I'm confused. Was this line:

He leaned back in his saddle. "We'll win," he said, with perfect serenity. "I doubt it will even be close."

spoken by Ossomer or by the Faq warlord? The serene part doesn't seem to fit with Ossomer (who had just been yelling two lines previously), but the line-break seems to suggest it's not the Faq warlord.

Anybody? Bueller?

[The Game]

The Chief Warlord leaned forward in his perch-saddle. For the first time, a little smile crept into his otherwise blank face.

"To win," he said simply.

"You can't win!" shouted Ossomer. His arm swung out, and he pointed behind him without breaking eye contact. "Look at the forces before you!"

The smile broadened, and the Chief Warlord shrugged. "You're really high-strung, you know that?"

He leaned back in his saddle. "We'll win," he said, with perfect serenity. "I doubt it will even be close."

Yeah, that's probably Duncan showing off.

Loved the fact that Ossomer tries to do diplomacy (and failed miserably). Probably my favourite update yet.

[1Luv]

I'm confused. Was this line:

He leaned back in his saddle. "We'll win," he said, with perfect serenity. "I doubt it will even be close."

spoken by Ossomer or by the Faq warlord? The serene part doesn't seem to fit with Ossomer (who had just been yelling two lines previously), but the line-break seems to suggest it's not the Faq warlord.

Anybody? Bueller?

That's the warlord from FAQ, which by the sketch, is Duncane scone right??(I noticed because he had the Star wars head piece:D)

I actually for some reason read this as Ossomer saying it conversationally rather than rough-and-ready. Sort of a

'Okay I'm gonna attempt to make you give up so i don't have to waste a ton of decrpyted slaughtering you, then killing and razing my old hometown..'

[1Luv]

ADD: Also, The last person notfied as the speaker was the 'Chief Warlord'. Ossomer is not the chief warlord, just the -leading- warlord. Ansom is.

So it's Duncan<.<

[Raza]

Ossomer making an ass out of himself ITC. Newly converted fanatics throwing canned catchphrases at you are the worst. It's amusing to see how a line from Hamster's trolling turned into a new ideology's flyering headline to be reused so many battles and hexes away.


What's with all this talk of everyone disbanding, though? What is Trammenis, if not a royal heir? AFAWK, you cannot be royal without being either a heir or an overlord. How would he not turn barbarian like Jillian did when her capital fell and king was croaked?

[Drest]

they're all going to die an horrible second death

[Menlo Marseilles]

What's with all this talk of everyone disbanding, though? What is Trammenis, if not a royal heir? AFAWK, you cannot be royal without being either a heir or an overlord. How would he not turn barbarian like Jillian did when her capital fell and king was croaked?

My analysis goes something like this:
Tramennis is a Royal Chief Warlord. Ansom was a Royal Chief Warlord (and probably the heir) at some time in the past. He died, so Slately named Ossomer his Chief Warlord and heir. Ossomer died, and Slately named Tramennis his Chief Warlord, but has not named him heir yet. I'm guessing it needs to be your turn to name an heir - that's the only rule I can think of that fits what we know about Jetstone while still allowing the timing to work out the way everyone on Erf seems to think it will.

[MonteCristo]

I loved this update...
Attempt at psychological warfare had backfired. Ossomer seeked to anger Duncan and throw him off his game, but in turn ends up being the one to loose his cool
I liked Duncan from the last update but this only made me like him more
Only thing i would have loved more is a nice retort like "I didn't know the titans wanted us to croak our own fathers" or something like that

Oh Ossy, is it so hard to understand that their is more to life than the will of the titans?

What's with all this talk of everyone disbanding, though? What is Trammenis, if not a royal heir? AFAWK, you cannot be royal without being either a heir or an overlord. How would he not turn barbarian like Jillian did when her capital fell and king was croaked?

Who says you need to be an heir or a ruler to be a royal?
Royalty is nothing more than a stat in erfworld granted down on those who were popped as an heir to a King or queen... however, the rules apparently do not allow for multiple heir's, so only on you're turn can you reassign who the heir is... Tremmenis was likely popped an heir, but after his brothers were also popped the title of heir was handed over to them by Slately

[badninja]

That's my man Osss, just attack that warlord and stop Wanda's stupid plan. However I got a serious bad feeling about that conversation I feel that the Lobot clone, what is is name again, just dropped a big hint and the parlay is part of Charlies plan. Jillian has been acting with purpose since she found about about Ansom and I feel that even if she wished to screw over Charlie she would do it when it suited her. I feel that they both want want something out of this and it is the same thing and Jillian is going to follow that plan to the letter. Keep in mind she gained natural allies very easily because of him she is not a fool she will strike when it is a winnable fight to her. I feel that the next few updates are more about setting up the next part of book 2 then actual fighting.

[Goshen]

Awesome. I like how Ossomer is still Ossomer, and the wily Duncan Scone is way better at this psyching-out business. In all my years of gaming, I've known two particular players were remarkably good at it. I once saw a (D&D) third level fighter totally intimidate a fiftieth level wizard, but of course it was really about the PCs behind them.

Seriously, though, if Ossomer thinks that taking the city will be costly with the units he can see, things could get really ugly when those extra Archons show up. I'm willing to bet Slatley is rich enough to pay Charlie handsomely for his help, and Charlie has his own reasons to damage GK. Also, Ossomer is likely to underestimate the effect of the other side's casters, just like Ansom did in the first book.

[elmagnifico]

Ok, +100 respect for Duncan for giving that kind of guff to a Warlord with twenty times his force. Now I NEED to see those two fight.

[Raza]

What's with all this talk of everyone disbanding, though? What is Trammenis, if not a royal heir? AFAWK, you cannot be royal without being either a heir or an overlord. How would he not turn barbarian like Jillian did when her capital fell and king was croaked?

My analysis goes something like this:
Tramennis is a Royal Chief Warlord. Ansom was a Royal Chief Warlord (and probably the heir) at some time in the past. He died, so Slately named Ossomer his Chief Warlord and heir. Ossomer died, and Slately named Tramennis his Chief Warlord, but has not named him heir yet. I'm guessing it needs to be your turn to name an heir - that's the only rule I can think of that fits what we know about Jetstone while still allowing the timing to work out the way everyone on Erf seems to think it will.

That works logically, but it doesn't seem like an elegant mechanic to me. Why would one type of promotion have different conditions than another?

I also still don't like the idea that one needs to name royal heirs. We've seen too much talk of popping them as such, and no non-heir royals being popped.

Who says you need to be an heir or a ruler to be a royal?
Royalty is nothing more than a stat in erfworld granted down on those who were popped as an heir to a King or queen... however, the rules apparently do not allow for multiple heir's, so only on you're turn can you reassign who the heir is... Tremmenis was likely popped an heir, but after his brothers were also popped the title of heir was handed over to them by Slately

See above; this works logically, but isn't intuitive. Royalty in our world works by having multiple simultaneous heirs, ranked in an automated line of succession. Having someone popped as a heir to promote and un-promote them around afterwards when you could do it like that seems messy to me, especially if you introduce extra rules to those promotions that don't apply to every other kind. It requires all sorts of un-told game mechanics when a perfectly valid system was implicit in the word royalty.

This is also important from a storytelling perspective; we've seen Trammenis get a promotion, and that would have been the time to explain why another obvious promotion wasn't also happening at that time.

[Raza]

That's my man Osss, just attack that warlord and stop Wanda's stupid plan. However I got a serious bad feeling about that conversation I feel that the Lobot clone, what is is name again, just dropped a big hint and the parlay is part of Charlies plan.

Except that Duncan told us in the last text update that he doesn't know the plan, and Jillian told us in an earlier one that she'd been keeping that sort of detail from her own warlords.

[Kaden]

Duncan doesn't need to know the plan to be confident. He truly believes in Jillian and her ability to be victorious because of the way that she defeated Jittari. He is as much a true believer in Jillian as the decrypted are in Wanda. Jillian didn't even have to use a tool to make such a wonderful impression.