Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: magic

Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: magic - Recent Posts http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/tags/magic Gaming Outpost Discussions » Tag: magic - Recent Posts en-US Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:29:04 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 <![CDATA[Search]]> q http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/search.php WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-35707 Fri, 06 May 2011 13:02:29 +0000 WilliamTWodium 35707@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ This thread lives on in the new new forum, in <a href="http://gamingoutpost.com/groups/multiverser/forum/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on">another thread of the same name</a>. It felt redundant to add some variation on "continues," given the title. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-34793 Mon, 27 Dec 2010 01:54:08 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 34793@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ This game was recently continued in a live session. Below are the events that transpired: We set off toward Temken, South of here. Around dusk, the girl pointed out a willow tree that had branches that reached the ground, and we set up camp there. As I build a fire and cooked some of the food I brought along, we began asking each other questions. She revealed she was travelling to Temken for “Asylum,” and indicates that she knows people there that look out for each other, and will look after her as well. In response to a question from her that I come from “Elsewhere,” and that I “haven’t travelled much…here.” She was incredulous that I had not heard of Temken, and asked if I could even read. I responded “Yes, in three languages.” I used magic to enlarge the flame once the tender caught (the spell took two tries). I cooked dinner, set up my tent, and diminished the flame to conserve wood before going to sleep. Tadeusz on "World: Magica Materia Manifold" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-magica-materia-manifold#post-23575 Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:33:57 +0000 Tadeusz 23575@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ On the Isle of the Dawn, there has been a steady stream of magic users doing many things. And as time passed, the skills of those users increased. When any of the Ten Cities came up with a better way of doing things, a way that increased the power, wealth, and prestige of a city, everyone else joined in, or that recalcitrant city got taken over. There were times when certain classes of people stood in the way of Progress, when some nobles thought that because they were nobles they knew better than the common sort, or some who clung to ancient rights that limited their military service, but in the comptetive swirl of the Isle, such did not last long. So too, corruption and weakness were purged. Being a ruler in this land was always a matter of walking a high wire in a high wind that could change without notice. It bred tough men and women with flexible souls, and hardnosed survival skills and a deep understanding of how cities work. Waves of change washed over the Isle as the centuries rolled on. And as it did, schools sprouted, and companies were formed, and the understanding of magic became both deeper and more widely practised. Until finally Newman the Wizard summoned the first spirit bound to matter. It was a dumb creature, hardly brighter than a rat, but it could move matter in a simple trained pattern tirelessly. Newman used it to chop wood for his wood stove when he could not be bothered to summon a fire spirit to warm his house. Over the next century, a great increase in wealth and health surprised everyone. Newman's spirit/matter creature soon had 'friends' and these friends were brighter than the first. But mostly they were stronger. A revolution in Materia Magica took place. Now everyone could own a wagon pulled by a spirit bound to the wagon. And then one day a clever wizard asked if you could make a Materia Magica that could summon other Materia Magica and could train them in their endeavours. It turned out that humans were needed. Unless the magic was done to an impossible degree of precision, you needed a human mind behind it. But, the wizard needed did not need to move the items or say the words himself. All that was needed was for him to observe and consent. So now one wizard could do the work of a hundred wizards who each could have done the work of a hundred wizards from a century ago. And it was thus easy for a singular King to rise above the others, and to impose his city's Ancient Rights of Man upon all for he grasped the benefit that this could have for war, and for the speed of war faster than anyone else. And so in a short campaign, he became the High King,a nd then passed his crown down to his son, and then grandson. Prices for everything fell through the floor. Now, everyone could have everything they needed and more for the amount of money a day's wage brought in. And then as the Laws of Economics say....when you double the amount of product you produce, you reduce the cost to make it by 20-30%. Prices went down again as the new Materia Magica Manifold Products Companies swung into high gear. People started losing jobs right and left. But their relatives had enough to pay for themselves and the out of work folk. And then the amount produced by the MMMPC's doubled again, and again until pretty much everything on the Isle of Dawn that was produced was produced by the MMMPC's. What had cost a hundred denarii now cost twelve denarii. But the only people with jobs were the wizards employed by the MMMPC's. At this point, the people went to the King, and asked him to take money from the MMMPC's. He smiled gently. "My people, the MMMPC's can easily move overseas and ship their products to us. Far better to have them here." "You could stop this." The king nodded in agreement and drew his sword. "I will." The crowd murmured in approval. "First you have to swear to me on bended knee that you forego your Rights under the Ancient Compact, what few you have left. You have to swear to me that you will obey my every word as if it came from an angel. You have to swear to do my bidding without dissent. And you have to swear to do the same for my sons and all that follow." "That's the ancient tyranny." One man objected. "Aye, sir, it is." The King replied. "But that is what you have asked for." "But we need food for our children." "Indeed you do. How did you get food before the coming of Newman's first Materia Magica?" The King asked and he pointed at someone in the checked red and blue of villager of the deep woods. "Well, we, not like the city folk, we hunted the great cats, and the deer, and gardenned." "Just so." "But our children." The People cried to the king, not understanding. He sighed. "You would have me steal food from him who earned it by his labor? Is that just?" And the people were abashed before their King. "Let us sit down to a feast for I know you are hungry." The king said, and so they sat down to a feast and made merry. And at the end, the King stood and motioned for silence. "Do you know how much this feast cost me?" The people shrugged, and some started to count the loaves of bread, and make estimates in their heads. "Nothing." The King said. The people stated at him in surprise. "I took some of the royal money for upkeep of the castle, and had my new 'servants' plant for me. I had them weed for me. I had them take the corn they grew, and give it to my chickens which I had also bought. They gathered for me. They ground the wheat into flour for me. And they cooked the meal as well for me and you." He clapped his hands, and spoke several words in a magic tongue which all recognized as magic use was as commonplace as owning a bed, and everyone had a bed even if they had to share it with a brother. And in walked and floated a dozen Materia Magica. "And now they will clean the table for me." The King smiled. "I see. But my King, I cannot afford a dozen...." "I am the King, and have a large staff, but you have but a house. You can afford to buy one, even if you must go into debt for it." And so it was that the people began to buy Materia Magica. And the prices for things went down even further. And then the most skilled wizards came to the King. "Mighty One." They said in their very expensive robes that even the King could not afford. "We bring a grave problem to you. There are many households, perhaps one in ten now, but growing in number, who strike at the economic strength of your kingdom." "Dear me,sounds serious." The King said. "Yes, O King, we of the MMMPC's fully support you, but these 'individual artisans' as they call themselves keep us from fully exploiting the marketplace." "I cannot get involved in the economic struggles by favoring one side or the other." The King replied. "If you're not able to keep up, then I'm sorry for you." The wizard huffed a bit. "O King, its not that we are unable to keep up, its that these people...they won't buy. We can offer them goods at cheaper rates than it would take to make them, and still they won't buy." "Cheaper than free?" The King said skeptically. "Now that I'd like to see." "But eventually their Materia Magica will grow homesick and tired from long labor and flee home. Our processes are more efficient, we have better Materia Magica that do the same job in half the time with much less strain on the spirit." the Wizard explained. "Ah, but can't they just get their Materia Magica to make another of its same kind, or slightly better if one of them comes up with something. And then release the tired one to its home?" The King asked looking puzzled. The Wizard bit his lip. "Well, in a way...but, y'see..." "Speak up, man, yes or no." The King said briskly. "We find ourselves with occasional over supplies of product." "You could give that away to the poor." The King replied. "But then the poor would have no incentive to work." The Wizard shot back. The King shrugged. "We need to sell this over supply." The Wizard pointed out. "Well, you could sell it for cheaper." The King replied. "I know you're making a bit on the sale. Not much. You're practically a commodity now. Everything is practically a commodity now. Razor thin margins of profit. Its a tough world." "You suggest we improve and sell for cheaper." The wizard said accepting the sympathy. "But that only pushes us further down the slope. Eventually we reach the point where one denarii can buy a week of ease, and our margin of profit is .01%. And then it will just keep getting worse and worse." "Yes?" The King said blankly looking at the Wizard to make a point. "We'll be poor!" The Wizard exploded. "Ah, not my problem." The King replied. The Wizard paused. "O King. We had thought of a good plan. Beneficial to all." "Ah, excellent, I so enjoy when someone else does my job for me. Leaves me more time to clip flowers in the royal gardens." The King said with a smile. The Wizard gritted his teeth and went on. "You see, many cannot afford the current rates. They get by on charity, and some do services for those with money." "Services?" The King asked innocently. "Yes, they hold doors, soothe horses, march in front of wizards holding banners high, that sort of thing." "M'kay. I used to have to hold a banner for my father when he was King and I was but a Page." The King reminisced. "I still remember dropping the banner on the head of the Merketi Ambassador because I fell asleep in court. Heh. My father whipped me with his belt until one arm got tired and then he shifted to the other arm. But it was worth it, the way that old windbag stopped his dreadfully long speeches ever after whenever I started to do a fake yawn." "Um, right, your Majesty. Just so, an honoured position. We had thought to make these positions permanent. We would take certain of the poor into our households and feed them and in return they would serve us, for a set number of years. You see?" The Wizard smiled hopefully. "Oh, yes, of course. Why didn't you say so? You want to reinstitute feudalism with yourselves as the Great Lords. And ingenious scheme if I do say so myself." The wizard waited until he could wait no longer. "Well, your majesty?" "What?" The King asked absently. "The ah 'feudalism'?" "Oh, that's against the Ancient Rights of Freemen that I have to sign before I take up the crown. Terribly sorry. No can do." "But...?" The wizard bleated. The King looked sadly at him. "I can't help you. The market is going to trim your power one way or the other." "We could stop you." The Wizard snarled. The King's eyes turned glacial. "I'd advise complete silence for a moment, sir wizard. I am not my grandfather who conquered this island in a year and a day, but I am perfectly capable of taking out a couple dozen Mechanique wizards with my war wizards and my enchanted sword, and chopping any survivors heads off in the courtyard." The wizard turned pale, and got down to his knees and began mumbling fervent apologies. After a minute the King walked over to him,a nd helped him up. "Trust me, my friend, I understand. You feel deserving because Fate smiled on you." "But..." began the wizard. "And you worked extraordinarily hard, and took great risks for it. But none of that is a promise from Fate that you will always succeed. But you thought it was." The wizard sagged a bit as he stood next to the king. And then he buried his face in his hands. "What should I do? No one can afford our products. You could make the workers not be able to buy our robots, and that would solve..." The King shook his head, and the Wizard wept a little. "You need to begin conceding the market to these village artisans. They will provide the food and the drink, the house and the clothing for each home." "And so we will have nothing. However, we can have a few good years selling Materia Magica to them. Maybe we can survive as research facilities for high level magics." "Or you can take your great wealth, and begin to buy up strips of land. This will push money back into the economy which will then come back to you. And those strips of land you can cover in marble, and call them roads. Toll roads." "But..." The wizard said and could not find an objection. "The ordinary village artisan could not do that job. Its too big. He's still free to take the dirt roads, but his wife will want to ride in smooth comfort. He will pay you money he gains from his Materia Magica which he gains because perhaps his tomatoes are the best on the street." The king outlined his idea. "And there are other jobs we could do. Not just an Island wide toll road superhighway. We could build giant ships to take our excess to other lands. And we could build a stairway to the Moon." The king nodded in agreement. After all the Moon was only a hundred miles up so the theorists said. "And I bet those druids who have been complaining about how we dump acids from making Materia Magic into the sea and poison the coral reef would be willing to pay for us to strain the ocean...which..." The wizard stared. "Straining the ocean of toxins is a big enough job to even faze you, I see." "Yes, yes it is. But you know, we could do it." "As it happens, the chief druid is in town this weekend. Why don't I set up a meeting for you with him." The King said with a smile. "Yeah, yeah, that'd be good." The MMMPC said with a faraway look as he imagined a glorious future. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-23059 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:01:33 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 23059@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Just kidding. Upon determining a roughly accurate bearing, I set off in that direction, and continue until nightfall, or we reach some sort of obstacle, be it ogre-y or otherwise. If the bearing takes us back towards the ogre, we will take a wide (perhaps a bit less than a 1/4 mile) detour. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-23058 Wed, 15 Sep 2010 18:59:01 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 23058@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I indicate "That way." Nikolaj on "World: Two Stars" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-two-stars#post-22605 Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:07:40 +0000 Nikolaj 22605@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ wow, nice work guys! WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-22442 Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:38:36 +0000 WilliamTWodium 22442@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The map is primarily topographical and covers an area of about six miles by nine miles, with the mountain itself having an average diameter of about two miles or a smidgen more. It includes the town at the foot of the mountain, and a bit of the nearby swamp in one corner. Both of these features are on the south side of the mountain, which is itself not centered in the map's area but rather sits in its southern half. (The map's longer axis is very roughly north-south.) Your course up until now took you north and a bit east, on a crooked path down the mountain and into the forested upper half of the map. This portion looks to be wilderness, but there is a snatch of road peeking in at one point on the northish edge, and a more substantial snatch on the more lightly vegetated eastish edge. The girl's path to this point - or anyway, her path as represented to you by the wizard before you set out - had her entering the map's area from the north-west on a south-south-easterly course, veering more and more to the east until you intercepted her bearing east-south-east across the stream. You think you know where you are within a quarter-mile. All of which is to say there's no Temken on the map - nor any Solaria either, for that matter. She looks at it a bit, then asks which way on the map is south. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-22416 Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:42:22 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 22416@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I pull out the map and compass, and ask the girl to point to Temken on the map. I also try to figure out exactly where we are. Once I have both those pieces of information, I will orient the map and start going in the direction of Temken. WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-22271 Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:50:17 +0000 WilliamTWodium 22271@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "It's very far. But, I've come a long way already, so . . . maybe three more days? Five, unless we keep moving." <blockquote>By the way, you didn't answer my first question, which was 'do you know of a place you will be safe?'" </blockquote> "I'll be as safe as I want to be in Temken. We need to find shelter for tonight, though. I know what to look for, so, lead on." She stands, expectant. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21552 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 22:40:40 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 21552@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "No I don't. How far away is it? By the way, you didn't answer my first question, which was 'do you know of a place you will be safe?'" WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21533 Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:02:22 +0000 WilliamTWodium 21533@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "Does my . . . " She shakes her head, slowly; then she starts climbing down. Her dressing-gown-and-winter-coat ensemble aren't helping matters, but she doesn't seem to care. "I'm not going home. I'm going to to Temken. That's in Solaria." She hops down the last few feet, landing gracelessly but apparently unharmed, then looks up at your face. "You do know where Solaria is, don't you?" __ Edit: Almost forgot, I rolled an An-Mag check here ("the simple check is used for determining reactions and winning friendship"), because I figured it was about time for one. It was bonused two or three intensities due to the incident with the ogre combined with certain elements of Paul's performance so far (there were positive and negative elements from each, but the overall balance supports a bonus), and Paul's An-Mag is 1@9; with a roll of 20, that's either exactly or very nearly the best possible result. Congratulations, Paul, you go over as well as can be expected given all hidden circumstances. Trust sold separately. sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21371 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:40:20 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 21371@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "I was only given enough information to find you and recognize you. You may be in more danger than you realize. Now, do you know of a place to go where you will be safe? Does your family live nearby? For that matter, where have you been going, to begin with? WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21370 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:29:02 +0000 WilliamTWodium 21370@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "You don't know my name?" She sound incredulous, almost scornful. "You were sent to protect me, but you don't know who I am." sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21350 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:58:10 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 21350@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "Buried in earth up to his chest, and not likely to escape very soon. We have time to get a good strong lead on him, to the point that he won't be likely to catch up. That is, if you tell me where you're going. By the way, I don't believe I got your name." WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21339 Tue, 03 Aug 2010 01:57:20 +0000 WilliamTWodium 21339@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The sun is low now, sending orange rays shallowly from one side, and you're looking up into a fir tree. It is difficult to read her face. "Where's the ogre?" sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21322 Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:04:02 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 21322@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ It occurs to me that I have her treed. "Hi there. I've already introduced myself, but I don't think you were listening. I'm Paul, and I've been sent to keep you safe. Where are you going?" Brock on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21304 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:38:15 +0000 Brock 21304@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ the cake is a lie: your promised reward is merely a fictitious motivator. google the phrase the cake is a lie if you are interested in the internet meme it originates from. I was merely dropping a cryptic phrase in to see where you went with it. I am quite satisfied with the result. =) WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-21302 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 16:23:26 +0000 WilliamTWodium 21302@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Sure enough, there she sits, about half-way up the tree. It's a fifteen or twenty-foot climb. If you weren't directly under the tree, she'd be practically invisible. She sees you see her. Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21297 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 15:24:01 +0000 Tadeusz 21297@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Second... The first and only real joke I had was how the dead vote in Chicago. I had hoped for some more to come, but its not a big deal. Just yesterday, I read the blog run by Baldilocks. She explained that Congressman J.C. Watts statement that the Republican Party should be doing more to attract black votes was totally wrong. Both are black and Republican. She argued that he was saying that the R's should do more like the Dems in treating the blacks as a collective entity, and create more programs to help them. But Conservatism is about treating each person as a person, and all people equally. Givng special favors to a group is antithetical to our very nature. This is a very idealistic stance built upon human dignity. I think this is part of the Ph.D.'s problem. He stands against what he imagines the Right to be instead of what it is at heart. Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21294 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:57:16 +0000 Tadeusz 21294@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Well, how I see Chicago is that they would 1)Loudly blame the rich and the big business while taxing them, and punishing them, but giving some favors back. If the business grows, regulate it; if its strong, tax it; if it dies, subsidize it....Reagan said something like that. The advantage of this where you steal and give back is that the governing class skims off a little in each transaction. You also corrupt the big business you choose to be your special friends into your loyal supporters. The entrepreneurs are largely toast, but that is a future unseen, and thus not much mourned. The big businessmen get the advantage of having their future competitors regulated out of existence...which means the BB get flabby and arrogant. 2) The primary expense is the unionized workers like in California who form a powerful voting bloc who vote and make a lot of noise to support the expansion of government and the raise in their salaries and pensions. 3)The homeless are bought off with by packs of cigarrettes and food on voting day. I know this is not directly answering your questions, but perhaps it does in a round-about way as I found it a bit confusing to answer as you asked. The political rhetoric is 'You poor victim, need our help in life, as you've been abused by those nasty rich people'. As to the platform of the opposition... 1. You are not a victim. You are a Citizen with rights and responsibilities. 2. The governing class is the problem. The corrupt...judges, media, big businessmen, and union workers are the problem. 3. Once we FREE the People from the chains of government, peoplle will be able to do so much better on their own. M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21291 Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:24:33 +0000 M. J. Young 21291@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Writers' Conference? I think that someone can take an extreme anti-involvement policy while being politically centrist. My view of the Ph.D. has him seeing both ends of the spectrum as reactionary and unworkable, and the center as unmalleable and stagnant. If you vote for the left or the right, you get chaos; if you vote for the center, you get perpetuation of the intolerable. In other words, the Ph.D. thinks there are no good answers. All choices are bad, and to participate is to encourage one of the bad answers. The poll worker by contrast sees the entire process as irrelevant. It doesn't matter who wins or who loses, as long as he has a job; whichever side promises him the job, that's who he supports. Policies are just so much smoke and mirrors; it doesn't matter whether you raise or cut taxes, increase or decrease spending, tighten or loosen regulations--the world does not change, and one should not be concerned about changing the world, only about ensuring one's own security within it. The sorcerer, whom we left offstage working his nefarious counterschemes, might or might not have a political view. It seems likely that at some point in the past he aligned himself with The Machine because he embraced some concepts The Machine espoused, and so he leans in whichever direction that is. He is thus initially political, but corrupted by the fact that The Machine employs him, and thus it is in his interest that The Machine win because it assures his income, pushing him closer to the poll worker. The problem we have with The Machine is it has been a bit ill-defined. Initially I had a view of this as Chicago, with a left-wing labor-driven political machine; but as it became apparent that The Machine didn't have any interest in the common worker that suggested a right-wing corporate power machine a la Carnegie and Rockefeller. But you seem to be pushing the machine toward the left while at the same time denying it its connection to its power base (the masses of the poor and the labor class), so I can't figure out just what this Machine uses as its rhetoric. That is, granted that The Machine doesn't care about anyone except those who run the machine, what political rhetoric do they use to persuade people to support them? It might be that I don't really care about the poor but I talk about what is going to be done to help them; or that I hate unions but state my support for them; or that I have no interest in big business but court their support by promising return on their investment? Or is this the underlying joke? It isn't just that The Machine doesn't care about anyone, its that it actually doesn't voice any policy at all--that it tells everyone that it is in his individual best interest to vote for The Machine, because The Machine will support big business by reducing corporate taxes and regulations and crushing the unions, and will support labor by supporting the unions and lowering individual taxes, and will support the poor by creating non-union jobs and spending more on public welfare--and everyone believes that he will benefit from this perversely self-contradictory hype, because The Machine also controls all the newspapers and media outlets and so figures out what to say where? (Washington Week in Review and The Newshour report The Machine's support of business, CNN tells its working-class audience of the support for labor, and the word in the soup kitchens is that it's really going to make a difference to the homeless, and there are no programs with hosts of opposing viewpoints.) The other problem, though, is if that's the "platform" of the machine, how do we structure the platform of the opposition? The machine pretends to favor everyone and supports no one; the opposition can't fight that because it can't genuinely favor everyone and if it pretends to do so it can't be distinguished from The Machine, but if it picks one group to favor, the others will vote against it. I'm having trouble working out the reality of the political landscape here. --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21267 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:12:53 +0000 Tadeusz 21267@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ OOC: I thought the Ph.D. being so against getting involved made him fairly extreme. "Am I still getting that money?" The Poll Worker asked. "Already know how to make some, don't you?" The Verser replied. "I think he wants more than that." The Ph.D. said. "He will get it, just in a surprising way." The verser said. The Poll Worker considered. Truth be told, it was boring sitting around waiting for his 'duty' to ratify the Machine's candidate. And now he knew a spell that would let him drink his fill in a bar when he was travelling so long as he used a fake name, and got out of town the next day. This played out on his face and the Ph.D. laughed to himself in surprise. Three hours ago, and he would have said the power of the Machine to corrupt or destroy was invincible, but in a world where everyone knew what was going to happen, nobody cared. Boredom had brought down empires before. "What then?" The Ph.D. said itching his beard. The Verser moved a pencil on a card, and the infectious spell was triggered. In the space of seconds, Candidate Windmill, who had 0.4% of the vote suddenly had 22% of the vote. "You do know that they're going to kill him?" The Poll Worker said. "Or corrupt him." The Ph.D. said. "Right. Time to use some of that Faerie Gold, and buy us about twenty pounds of salt. Need to make a protective circle." The Verser said. M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21251 Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:28:06 +0000 M. J. Young 21251@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I want to say thanks for starting this; it was an enjoyable diversion. I'm not exactly bowing out; I've been thrown by a few of your twists (the Ph.D. and the poll worker becoming so polarized (I tend to see most people in the middle), the poll worker who stepped out for a break winding up taking the rest of election day to wander the city), and I wasn't at all sure where the story could reasonably go next. So I'm sort of waiting to see what anyone else decides to do with this so I can figure out where the track might be. --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21039 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:29:11 +0000 Tadeusz 21039@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "Primarily lackeys for the public sector unions, the trial lawyers, the bueraucrats and secondarily for the businesses and corporations." The Ph.D. said raising a lecturing finger. "The business fat cats get all the blame, but most of the actual harm is done by regulators looking to scare a bizman into a bribe and the garbageman's union and the other government unions." "Hmmmph. You're saying that people like me cause most of the problem." The Poll Worker snorts. "Let's just agree that the public gets last place in any case." The Verser shrugged trying to spread oil on the water. The other two accepted it with varying degrees of grace. "And Mr. Poll Worker, there is always someone who is cranky, idealistic, unskilled, and looking to Fight for Truth, Justice, and Righteousness." He reached over and tapped the ballot. Then he muttered a few words. A grain of sand drifted over one name. The Verser smiled, and lifted his phone and called the man. "Hello, sir." "Yes." "I have a message for you from the Machine. You need to get out of the race right now..." "Listen, you piece of slime, I'm running, I'm winning, and you can tell the Machine to kiss my big, fat, toe!" The Verser hung up with a smile. "I do believe we've found our candidate. He's completely unskilled, a real Tilt at the Windmill hardcore idealist who would never win in a million years." "You do know that this Candidate Windmill is basically the equivalent of a bull in a china shop, right?" The Ph.D. asked rolling his eyes. "Yup." The Verser said as the Poll Worker burst out laughing. "You guys are nuts." The Poll Worker said. "But you still want to ride along for the fun of it." The Ph.D. said shrewdly. "Yeah, I guess I do. I wonder why." The Poll Worker said. "Its boring being evil." The Verser replied. M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21038 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:28:16 +0000 M. J. Young 21038@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ As the trio leaves, their job done again, the poll worker says, "By the way, I know we're voting against the Machine, but does anyone know who we're voting for? Ultimately aren't all the candidates the same, lackeys for the same corporations and businesses and powers? The problem isn't usually that someone is running against the Machine; it's usually that the Machine owns all the major candidates and simply has preferences as to which one to support. So who are we voting for?" At that moment, a face splashes on a television screen in a window, apparently a late-breaking bulletin with text scrawl. It seems that the lead candidate opposing the Machine suffered a heart attack moments ago and is not expected to survive. In fairness, all votes for him will be discarded in the count. --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-21013 Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:53:50 +0000 Tadeusz 21013@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "Hmmm." Said the verser getting a thoughtful look, and he smiled. "Well, Mr. Ph.D. there's no reason for you not to practise what I just showed you. The Faerie Gold spell." "Magic by me?" The Ph.D. scoffed. "I assume that you're doing this to taint the money supply that is supporting the Machine." "You have a very good grasp of the magic for someone who claims he doesn't want to do magic. And Mr. Poll Worker, let me point out that the Faerie Gold spell is a great way to pay one's bar tab in an unfamilar part of the City." The Poll Worker grinned and the Ph.D. sighed acceptance. With that, the trio began the making of piles of Federal Marks. Soon enough, a policeman came in to stop them. The Verser smiled and agreed with the cop that it was a dreadful thing to do, and so perhaps if the cop took one of the piles with him, to spend tonight, before the dawn, why it would not be so terrible. And if he had some friends who could come by... Soon, a dozen cops were on the take. And then the Poll Worker got a few of his friends. And when the local precinct captain came storming in, the operation had moved down the street forewarned by the cops on the take. An hour later, and there were two more operatons in neighboring precincts. "Either this is going to make a major diversion, or its going to seriously hurt the Machine. In any case, I don't want to be around here when the Machine gets mobilized with its third line of defense. Let's go." The Verser said taking his companions with him, and leaving the money-making racket behind him. "So, now what?" Asked the Ph.D. once they were outside in the street. "Up for a walk? Eight-two ballot boxes don't stuff them by themselves." The Verser gave the Ph.D. a mocking smile. "And, Mr. Poll Worker, you're welcome to come along. There is a chance in it for some long-term cash." The trio voted, and then left to find the next polling station. Without the subway, it would have been impossible. But they began to hit polling place after polling place. None of them questioned his right to vote, or asked if he had voted already, or sought any form of identification or password. People could have driven in from out of state, and voted, and voted, and voted again until their fingers were ready to fall off. There was nothing to stop them which the Ph.D. said was the point. "If the people with the power to change things are not to an obvious problem, you have to ask yourself why?" "They say its to keep the barriers low so anyone, even the poor and destitute can vote." The Poll Worker said. The other two stared at him in unison, and he laughed. "I didn't say I believed it. That's just the official line." They walked in to the twenty-fifth poll place, and the sorceror was there waiting for them with arms crossed and hands hidden. Suddenly the verser palmed his enchanted dagger again. "What do you think you're doing?" He snapped. "The Machine's bidding. Vote early and often." The Verser said with a smile while the Ph.D. chuckled and the Poll Worker tried to look invisible. "Listen, smart-mouth..." The sorceror began. "No, you listen. The Machine has a sweet deal here. But Others want in." "Others?" Everyone could clearly hear the capital in that question. "Others." The verser smiled smugly. "This is the Machine's town. We have men, and the press is bought, and the judges..." The Verser laughed, not unkindly. "Do you know what my Master told the Great Khan to say. 'You must have done something wicked for God to send me against you.' the Great Khan said, and then he destroyed the town so that not one block stood upon another." The Verser said. "Old Powers, not the modern, thin-blooded sort, are walking and waking tonight." The Ph.D. added with a grim smile. "This is the Machine's town. And he will fight for it." The sorceror said. "We respect that view, my Masters do, and after the Machine is gone, my Masters may have use for someone of proven loyalty. The question for you, is are you going to get out of my way now?" The Verser walked forward and the Sorceror fell back/. "I need instructions." He said and fled the polling place. M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20956 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:56:45 +0000 M. J. Young 20956@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ <blockquote>the cake is a lie</blockquote> "Which cake is that?" the Ph.D. asks the new arrival, apparently a poll worker on a smoking break. "Do you mean that you can't have your cake or eat it either, because there ultimately is no cake? Or do you mean that there's no sense talking about how to share the cake, or maybe that should be the pie, because there's nothing to share?" "Yeah, that cake," he says. "Everyone thinks that if they vote for the right person they'll get their fair share, but there is nothing to share. Every poor schmuck pays his taxes and thinks the government is going to do something with his money that will help him; but the government wants the money to pay the salaries of bureaucrats whose only real job is to keep taxpayers from figuring out where the money goes. Sure, sometimes a street gets fixed, but only so someone can say that they're doing everything they can to fix the streets; and sometimes a streetlight is replaced, but only so someone can point to it to justify his existence. You can bet that every dime that goes to helping people outside the government only gets there because it slipped through the fingers of some bureaucrat who couldn't figure out how to hold onto it for himself." "So, what's your answer?" the verser asks. "Simple," the poll worker answers. "I intend to become one of the bureaucrats. I can see a good scam, and if money is moving from the pockets of one group to the bank accounts of another, I want to be in the group on the downstream end of that flow." "But you said there was no cake," the verser questions. "Yeah, that's the futility of it. Even those getting the money are forced to pay it out again. I thought it was going to the people at the top, but it turns out they don't know where it goes either. A lot of money leaves the hands of a lot of people, but who gets it in the end?" "The Machine," says the Ph.D. "The money feeds the Machine." --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20950 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:07:57 +0000 Tadeusz 20950@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Brock, ?????? Brock on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20949 Tue, 20 Jul 2010 00:02:45 +0000 Brock 20949@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ the cake is a lie Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20935 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:48:29 +0000 Tadeusz 20935@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "And if you worry too much about long-range problems, you won't have a short-term to survive to the long-term." The verser shrugged. "I'm probably a bit more anarchic than you are. Sometimes, I just want to burn it all down. But I do have a plan." And with that the verser showed the unshaven man a basic spell for creating fairy gold. Changing the inputs of the spell according to Delano's Principles of Spell Subsititution, and instead of one real coin, you need one real vote pad, and instead of a pile of copper coins, you need a pile of empty vote pads. These were easily gotten at the polling place with the first being attained for the asking, and the second requiring the unshaven man to loan the verser a local to this universe Five Mark Federal Coin. The verser bribed the pollwatcher. After that, the two of them took a seat across the polling place, and the verser cast his spell as the zombies started to come into the polling place once again. Evidently the sorceror was back on the job. "Not to be a downer, but you have perhaps a hundred votes, and one real vote there on the table. That's not even going to make a dent." The unshaven man said. "But, there are eighty polling districts you told me." "Ye-es. Actually eighty-two." "Right. Well, have you heard of a spell named Saltgrinder's Making?" "From the tale of the saltgrinder that turned the oceans to salt." "Yes." "We don't have such a spell around here." The unshaven man said looking closely at the verser. "I thought you were just a fireworker." "I dabble. But I need to be very careful to max out the spell at times ten thousand or maybe more. Otherwise the spell would keep making paper copies in each of the ballot boxes until the boxes explode." "Ah." The unshaven man looked sideways at the zombies who were trailing by the table, and at the cheekily smiling verser. "That means you plan on 'creating' at least a million votes." "Something like that." M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20928 Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:58:15 +0000 M. J. Young 20928@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ For everyone else, let me mention that this is an open game here--everyone can play. Eric and I have not colluded as to where we're going or how we're going to get there. You're input and redirection is welcome. Just remember the freestyle roleplaying and improv acting rule, "Yes, and", and it should go well. He raises an eyebrow, and then a jagged-toothed grin emerges. "You mean, corrupt means to a noble end? There's a question that vexes philosophers, isn't it? Can ends justify means or do means corrupt ends? And if you achieve a good end by bad means, do you then set a precedent which can be followed by your successor? After all, many well-intentioned military coups were followed by generations of totalitarian regimes. Trotsky might have been able to bring Russia into a democratic socialist economy, but Lenin eliminated him and eventually handed the reins to Stalin.  Castro might genuine love the people of Cuba, but his associates probably are more fond of their own creature comforts and clever enough to meet their own wishes before the needs of others. The same techniques that brought independence to India and equality to Afro-Americans also brought household status to homosexuals. Release the djinn of Constitutional relevance and it may prove to be an effrit you can't rebottle when it starts serving your adversaries. "So, did you have an particular nefarious means in mind?" --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20917 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 21:16:38 +0000 Tadeusz 20917@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The verser cast his mind back, and recalled standing with the suffragettes in another world, a steampunk verse. They got the vote mostly because men thought it just to give it to them, and because the women had charmed the men courting them, or sitting across from them at the dinner table. Of course, that world did not have evil patron deities of cities like the Machine either. What a difference to freedom and justice is made by a lack of virtue. He frowned. One way to fix things would be to reestablish virtue. Another way would be as the Ph.d. said to fight a presumably long court battle against heavy odds. Both methods would take a very long time. Or one could remember the First Rule of an English Gentleman: When to stop being a gentleman. "If I was going to cheat, and I mean cheat on a scale that would make our friend the sorceror puke, just how would I go about it?" The verser asked with a predatory smile. M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20906 Sun, 18 Jul 2010 14:39:10 +0000 M. J. Young 20906@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The unshaven man scratches the scraggles of his beard. "Don't know as I've ever met any of 'em. I s'pose if one wanted to vote, well, first there would be a referendum, as they call it, a vote of those as can vote as to whether to allow that these others are also eligible to vote. Then when they lose that, they'll have to sue, so the courts can decide that the vote was invalid and that the rights of minorities outweigh the voting power of the majority." "What do you mean, when they lose? Why would they lose?" "Well, the ones who hasn't got the vote, they always lose, don't they? Because they can't vote for themselves. When it was black men, the vote was about whether white men wanted to let black men, who in some places outnumbered them several times over, have the power to take control of government by electing black men to all the offices that white men once held. Then when it was about women, the question was put to men whether they wanted suddenly to stop being two groups fighting over control and suddenly let there be just as many voters who weren't men 'tall, an' might just take all the cushy jobs from the men who had them and give 'em to women instead. Then when it was about kids--I remember a friend of mine in high school was campaigning for the eighteen year old vote, an' he said that some lady asked him who he would have voted for in '72. He said in fact he'd 'a' voted for McGovern, and the woman said she would never support the eighteen year old vote acause all those kids woulda voted for McGovern. Said he'd learned a lesson that day, that he shouldn' answer who he'd 'a' voted for, but simply say that's not the point. But that's the min'set, see? If you give a vote to someone else, after that your own vote is worth that much less. So no one ever votes to give the vote to more people unless they think those more people are going to agree with them about everything that matters and help them win; and since those as are winning don't need more votes to win they won't risk giving votes to people who might vote against 'em, and since those who are losing don't have enough votes to win anyway their votes don't matter. "So it has to go to the courts, and the justices have to decide that the law is wrong and the majority doesn't matter, because the minority that's been excluded has to be included. "An' that means what you needs for yerself is a bona fide Test Case--someone who has tried to register to vote an' been turned away, so's they can sue." "You seem to know a lot about this," the verser says. "Yeah, well, I have a Ph.D. in political science. Why do you think I stay out of it? Anyone who understands how it really works wouldn't want to be anywhere near it." --M. J. Young sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-20901 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:22:35 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 20901@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I carry Toto in my left hand (I believe it's free, because I'm holding my staff in my right.) _ Horizontal branches all the way down, eh? I look up. WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-20898 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 06:09:03 +0000 WilliamTWodium 20898@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Toto doesn't handle that sort of pace very well; what are you doing about him? _ After five or six minutes' jog, you circle a tall spruce tree (or, at any rate, an evergreen with horizontal branches all the way down) and discover that her trail does not continue beyond it. You don't see her hiding beneath it, either. __ No skill check for the jog, as we're out of combat and he's right - he did this kind of thing all the time in his last world, and the bod bias here is no lower. Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20892 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:23:11 +0000 Tadeusz 20892@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The verser blinked, things were more complicated than he had expected. Stalling for time, he leaned back, still holding an enchanted dagger palmed in his left hand, just in case. So far, things had stayed relatively peaceful, and he liked that. "You're an honest man." He said to the unshaven fellow. "I'd vote for you." "And ruin..." "I think you'd stand it." "The Machine is willing to consider your candidacy. A Reform effort every once in a while as long as certain fundamentals are not disturbed is acceptable." The sorceror piped in with his offer of compromise. The unshaven man spat on the sidewalk. "And so it begins." He snarls. "I meant what I said the first time. Now you stop wishing evil on me, fireworker." He shook a finger in admonishment at the verser who sighed. "If good men do nothing, then evil wins." The verser said as if to the air. "And if I trade my soul for a clean world, how is that to my benefit?" The unshaven man asked the air as well. "Well, gentlemen, you seem to have reached an impasse. Luckily I have a backup book at my townhouse, paid for by the city government as a perk for my job as a mayoral aide as long as I show up four days a month for work. They will hold the polls open for me as they are special friends of mine." And with that, the sorceror made to walk off, but the verser caught his arm first. "Okay, I can see giving the dead the right to vote on cemeteries, but so much does not affect them. Why should they have the right to dictate what the living eat, for example?" "One person, one vote." The sorceror said virtously with a smirk that spoiled the effect. He walked away whistling. The verser stood there, and then he heard the unshaven man grunt. "You look like you've got a crazy idea there. Not sure that's a good look." "Perhaps, but I'm wondering how many sylphs of the air, and naiads of the lake live in the confines of the Windy City. How many gnomes dig under its soil, and how many aethren live in its electrical wires? Are these not people as well who deserve a vote?" M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20881 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:14:12 +0000 M. J. Young 20881@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ The sorcerer turns his eye back to you. "You, sir, have an odd notion of the way things ought to be. What is this idea of yours, that it should be a Republic of the Living? Such an oligarchy, such a tyranny, is manifestly unfair to the dead. They're affected, too, you know. Why, just last year there was a proposal to close several cemeteries and use the land for downtown parking. Where would the dead go? Why should they be uprooted from homes in which some of them have lain for centuries?" --M. J. Young M. J. Young on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20880 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 20:10:50 +0000 M. J. Young 20880@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ "I heard you, friend," says the sadly-dressed unshaven man who at this moment picked himself up from his unseen position on the sidewalk. "But why would you vote for a good man? After all, if a man ain't ruin't before he gets inter office, he's ruin't when he gets out, and there ain' no sense ruinin' a good man." "So, friend, will you vote for The Machine?" "Naw, I never did care for The Machine." "What if I gave you a hundred dollars?" "Couldn't take it in good conscience." The verser stares at him. "You look like you could use the money," he says. "The ballots are secret; why don't you just take the money and go vote for someone else? He would never know." "Nope," he answers, "If I'm gonna sell my vote, the buyer's gonna get his deal. I wouldn't be dishonest about such a thing." "Yes," the sorcerer says. "That's probably why you're in your present situation as it is. You've got to work with the system if you expect to get anywhere in life. The Machine would be glad to give you a job, if you vote for it. Otherwise, well, there are only so many jobs, you know, and a lot of voters willing to keep theirs by seeing what is to their benefit." --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "World of Political Jokes" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/world-of-political-jokes#post-20869 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 01:57:11 +0000 Tadeusz 20869@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I'll start this one, anyone can add on... The verser woke from his transition to dark, empty streets through which a winter blast howled, only letting up to assault from another direction. Wandering the streets between the great towers, he came to one spot of light and warmth. Entering he found it was a polling place. He had arrived in some form of democracy or perhaps a republic. They tried to get him to vote, but he desisted saying he knew nothing of the men. That did not bother them. Being vague, he hinted he was not from the area. Still, nothing deterred, they pressed him. "Look, I'm from the Beyond, okay, pal." He snapped. "Not a big deal. Here in the Windy City, even the dead vote." With that the front doors opened, and the verser felt the hair on his neck rise even before he turned. Looking, he saw a line of zombies with bright No. 2 pencils freshly sharpenned queing up in the polling area. Plops of flesh falling off onto the linoleum flooring chased him outside where he saw the line of undead shamblers extended around the building. Following it, he took himself to the back, across an intersection, and up another street to a graveyard. In front of the graveyard, he saw a man with a thick book and flashlight to illumine the book, clad in a heavy trenchcoat against the wind. He was calling out names the verser realized as he got closer. After each name, he spoke. "You were a patron of the Machine in life, and now, in death, you still must pay your due. For one night, each year, your vote belongs to the Machine. Rise Undead-American, Rise!" The command roared out, and one more zombie was added to the file trudging to the polling place. The verser got to the sorceror, and jerked the book from his hand and summoned his own magic. Fire burst through the book, and suddenly the zombies turned about and began making their way back to their graves with a sense of relief in their postures. "Do you know what you've done?" "I've freed the dead from your chains, sorceror." The verser spat. "You've ensured the other side wins." "So...that's not bad." "They're demons and devils." "Everyone thinks his enemies in politics are kinda evil, or misguided." "No, these guys are literally Incarnate Demons." But the verser saw the look in the dark sorceror's eyes. Many who deal with such magics are not that sound mentally to begin with, and a couple decades of listening to the shadowy words of the dead has cracked better brains than this mans. "Perhaps. Or Perhaps you're just a dark sorceror who's crazy." "Do you think I like working for a Minor Evil Deity like the Machine that runs politics in the Windy City? I don't, but you gotta do what you gotta do. And the Machine is not as bad as the other guys." "Yeah, maybe I'm an idealist, but I'm looking for someone who is actually good to vote for. And in the meantime, the dead can rest, this business of voting is for the Republic of the Living." sirpaulthesmall on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-20795 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 12:56:20 +0000 sirpaulthesmall 20795@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ I follow her tracks at a quick jog. My PT is coming back to me... WilliamTWodium on "Riddle Me Hiss: Paul soldiers on" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/riddle-me-hiss-paul-soldiers-on#post-20788 Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:17:15 +0000 WilliamTWodium 20788@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ New uses for Twist (ensnaring a moving target) and Shape Earth (capturing a person/animal). We also added a Bod-based tackle skill to Paul's sheet. <blockquote>I drop my stuff and follow her at a run, eventually overtaking her and tackling her to the ground. </blockquote> Paul glossed over my favorite part; while chasing her, Paul attempts to get her to see reason by proclaiming that she's lost and he isn't. When she turns around to yell, "Am not!", that's when he overtakes her. You get to the place where you left your burning candle, retrieving your staff (discarded earlier) along the way. I assume you gather your gear (putting out and stowing the candle?). There are footprints in the snow heading away, in the general direction that the girl was projected to have been coming from. (These of course are footprints from her flight, not her arrival at the stream, which occurred elsewhere.) This path would take you back towards the downstream giant just a little bit - it's at maybe a 60 degree angle to the stream, where 90 would be directly away from the water and 120 would be away but slanted upstream - but you left the giant buried up to its armpits in earth, without much leverage. It might not be going anywhere for a while. I'm interested in your pace and manner as much as in your path of travel. M. J. Young on "Magic Limits" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/magic-limits#post-20693 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:50:09 +0000 M. J. Young 20693@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Yes, those are correct. The imperfect is often used in fiction because most (English language) fiction is written in the past tense. That is, we describe "The priest put him on the table, and stood beside him on the dais, and held the knife to his throat," all in the past tense even though it's what is happening now. A story teller, live, might say, "The priest puts him on the table and stands beside him on the dais, and holds the knife to his throat," all vividly in the present tense and all feeling wrong for our storytelling mode--we expect stories to be told in the past tense as things that happened, not in the present as things that are happening. Because of this, the present-tense vernacular storyteller can say, "The priest puts him on the table that drank a lot of blood over the generations," but to achieve the same effect the writer has to use the past tense and the imperfect tense, "the priest put him on the table which had drunk a lot of blood over the generations," in order to get the past of the past. Make sense? (I always think it's easier to remember things if they make sense.) --M. J. Young Tadeusz on "Magic Limits" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/magic-limits#post-20675 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 14:24:44 +0000 Tadeusz 20675@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Feel free to correct my grammar at any time. I need to get better. To correct my errors, let me propose the following examples: the sacrificial table which had drunk, and you had not sung. The first is for a process starting in the fairly distant past as it were and stretching out from the viewpoint of the mage to the even more distant past where it began. The second is of course for the immediate past. Danke schon, Herr Young as he also practises his minimal German. Perhaps next time I will inflict my French on others. M. J. Young on "Magic Limits" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/magic-limits#post-20671 Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:42:10 +0000 M. J. Young 20671@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Grammar note: you seem to have trouble with the imperfect tense. Here you wrote <blockquote>the sacrificial table which had drank</blockquote> and in <a href='http://gamingoutpost.com/blog/cereal-novel-you-elsewhen-bowl-eight/'>Cereal Novel: You Elsewhen: Bowl Eight</a> I spotted the similar <blockquote>you had not even sang.</blockquote> Sang is a simple past tense; it expresses an event in the past. Had sung is the imperfect, which can be used for a process in the past or in contrast to the past for a yet further past. The same distinction is made between drank and had drunk. I don't usually correct people's grammar, but <ol> <li>you are a published author and</li> <li>that was in essence the same mistake twice in one day, and also</li> <li>I know that Scott is around, so if I'm wrong he'll correct my correction.</li> </ol> <ol> Now I'm going to go read the rest of the post. --M. J. Young</ol> Tadeusz on "Magic Limits" http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/topic/magic-limits#post-20664 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 20:20:22 +0000 Tadeusz 20664@http://gamingoutpost.com/discussions/ Hedges and Fears =============== On Beltane Night, a bone-worker tossed the skull of a murderer into the dying coals of a fading fire built upon the sacrificial table which had drank the blood of many innocents. He then spoke the words of summoning. And the Imp of Lost Fires crawled out of the mouth and the eyes of the skull, ignoring basic physics as irrelevant. "Yes, Master." It intoned, its voice overlain with gloom and horror. "I want you to go forth and slay Merlin." "What? Say again?" The gloom was gone, replaced by surprise. "I command you to kill Merlin." "You're kidding, right?" "No. We had a deal." "A deal that did not involve myself throwing my immortal existence away to spend the next ten millenia picking up the tattered fragments of my identity from the Abyss after ..." "I demand it!" The boneworker shook his rattle made of traitor's fingerbones, and tried to sound imposing. "...an archangel summoned up by Merlin explodes his sword through my chest." "Ridiculous, Imp. Merlin would not summon such a creature." The boneworker tried to persuade the cowardly demon. "You're probably right. For such as me, he'd only summon a Lord of Fire from the nearest volcano." "Now look..." "No." "I demand..." "I would ask if you were completely nuts, but since you're trading your soul for power to the Shadows, I think we can take that as a given." "Listen here, imp..." The boneworker had begun to get seriously angry. "No. Not happening. Not now. Not ever." And the Imp disappeared with a loud 'Pop' because this time it felt more insulting to obey Newton. ========= "No master, I could not do that." The witch said as she crouched by the fire in her rocking chair. Her ill-favored face gleamed with malicious amusement as she took in the heavily cloaked and scarfed man who sweated in the late spring heat. He was standing bent over under her low thatched roof of the cottage situated by the waste from which she drew her power. "I would pay good gold." He spoke muffled through the twin scarves around his face. "My lord baron..." She began knowing it would set him off. "How? What treason?" "Baron Worthington-Smythe. There are few in this poor land of ours who could wear silk scarves to hide themselves, and only one with a lame leg." The man grunted, and threw back his scarves to reveal an ambitious face with hard lines. "Which my brother, my younger brother, gave me thanks to his servants who beat me on that night." The witch hid a smile. Oh, men had indeed crippled the Count to be, but it had been men moved by her will. "Thus barring you from the Countdom of this land, and making you your brother's servant, for only the perfect of body may hold the Countship. Still, the peasants call him Harry the Generous, the Count with an Open Hand." The Baron ground his teeth at the reminder of the love the people of Long Valley held for their Count. "So as you see, I need a slaying spell to kill the Count's only son. And since the Count is failing, they will be forced to recognize me as the Heir. Law allows this." "Indeed, an excellent plan, my lord, but for one thing, my patrons are not allowed to directly strike at the royal blood." "Useless." The baron snarled, and rose taking his gold with him. "Not so fast, my lord." The witch said seeming to placate. "I can wrap a spell of bleeding on your lance head." "Yes?" The baron said cautiously. "You're accounted a good lanceman. But pierce the skin of the heir with the head of your lance in the tournameant, and he will bleed, and not stop till he die." "Ah." The baron said weighing the plan. "But is this not...?" "No, my lord. It is you who chose the target, your will, and there are no banns on your using your weapons as you will." "Then do it, witch." The baron laid a bag of gold on the floor, and walked out contemptuously. The witch smiled. What the proud baron did not know was that the count's court sorceror could surely trace the spell back to who had most directly caused it, and thus the baron would face his brother's justice. And then the baron would find himself making a deal with her for his soul in exchange for his life. The powers she served would grant her much power in exchange for the soul of a baron soon to be count.