The Goblins Fan Forum

TL;DR: The Turn 0 starts here.

[...] After some discussion, the brave minesweeping team has decided that they should not look for known areas to clean, but capitalize on the freshly gained information.

To be precise, freshly gained piece of map, which contains some information. In any case, it is a start as good as any, and since all the goblins prefer nice pictures over boring texts, here is a quick shot:



Unfortunately, the legend - if there was any - along with any comments or notes on how to get to the treasure has been lost, it probably has been on the part that has been torn or burned away. What a convenient circumstance for plot twists and whatnot!

But our goblins aren't stupid. Well, some of them might be, but they aren't around now or won't willingly admit it, so let's continue. Using their sharp little minds (and also asking the elders of the war camp), they figured out the following:

• The treasure is probably marked by an X. That should be their ultimate goal. If it has a whole (well, not "whole" in this case, but let's not get distracted by all the petty details) map and stuff, it must be something cool!
• There is no direct way they can end up there right at the start.
• The witch hut probably means that old hag near to the eastern edge of the marshlands. Maybe she knows how to reach the ruins.
• The burial grounds is a nasty place which should be avoided! It's cursed and has undead and smells foul anyway. It is rumoured to have a direct passage to the ruins, though.
• The hexing swamps are separated from those ruins by high mountains. It would take a lot of time getting there, and it is possible that they won't find a passage at all. Nevertheless, it would be a long and boring travel, but it might just work as it shouldn't be that scary.
• This map is no work of a goblin for two reasons: 1) there is a goblin warcamp of a friendly tribe somewhere in the area, but it is not shown for some reason. 2) goblins don't bother with maps anyway.

---

Okay, so here is the deal if the silly intro didn't make it obvious:

This adventure can start 3 ways, depending on what the majority of you are voting:
- Visiting the witch and asking for help. She will likely ask for something in return, or maybe isn't at home, or just turn you all into frogs and call it a day.
- Attempt to get to the ruins by passing through the burial grounds. Expect traps, undead, curses, and loot. Oh and gratuitous character deaths, mostly.
- Trying to get through the northern swamps and the mountains which hold no undead, witches, and is a long and boring way, really.

Depending on your decision, you may also buy equipment accordingly. ALL of the options contain trouble, and you will surely have to clear minefields!

Nerre, your character obtained 20 coins by placing 5 correct flags, if I can believe the old pictures of the melt-down forum. Since I do, it means you have that many coins to spend. You start at 0xp though, just like all the newcomers (bonus applying).

But I was pretty sure you started this version of the game on these forums. Nobody else carried money or equipment over to the new version, and Round 0 is in the Completed Games section. I'm not sure why he wouldn't be stuck with the same.

Craig votes for the witch's hut, but refrains from buying anything til he has a bit more money

I vote for witch hut. I already made my shopping list in the recruitment thread

Voting Burial Grounds. Keeping shopping list the same regardless of result, 1 whip+1 Y-shaped stick.

I'm so suspicious of that mountain-path. Always be suspicious of the boring option. Telling me that it's boring makes me thinks that it's extremely dangerous with lots of danger and traps and such! And I hope it is!

"I vote mountain-path"

Shiny votes for the ancient burial ground.

I vote for burial grounds. Shopping list reposted for convenience:

gamecreator wrote:Tries buys a jacket, trousers, boots and a pebble of Teleportation. Then he equips his new clothes.

I vote for the Witch's hut. Additionally No-Legs would like to play soothing, don't-turn-me-into-a-newt music on her new guitar... if we end up going there.

Stumbles votes mountain path. Also, he would like to buy a 10 ft pole and a pointy stick. (I dunno if he has enough money, because you didn't link the shop in the first post, but I will try to look that up.)

Also, I'm afraid that I have to agree with Davecom here:

Davecom3 wrote:But I was pretty sure you started this version of the game on these forums. Nobody else carried money or equipment over to the new version, and Round 0 is in the Completed Games section. I'm not sure why he wouldn't be stuck with the same.

So far, nobody retained any skills or money from before the forum apocalypse. Why would you treat one player different than all the others?



Edit: I just found the shop and the pole is 6 c and the stick is 2 coins. From the last update, it says that Stumbles has 14 coins, which would - subtracting the 8 of his purchases - leave him with 6 coins at the start of the game.

I'm inclined towards burial grounds, but too tired to be trusted with important life-changing decisions like this.

burial grounds. So that when I get raise dead I can abuse it.

@dave + gathers: fair enough. I have to admit two things here:

1) At some point I accidentally deleted the character data for everyone, so even if you wished to retain your stats I couldn't have done it. I strongly suspect that noone has ever bothered to keep their own character sheet, so yeah, the clean start was as much of a convenience as a good chance to see how the token system will work out (as the old system was rather OP). Now, most of you have played about 3 rounds on the old forum and since I only stored the pictures but not the individual round events, reconstructing your progress in case you wanted so would have been hell. Nerre only joined for 1 round and had a pretty straightforward play, so it was easy to reset him at least partly.

2) I have a work project deadline closing on me within 2 weeks, and I honestly forgot about the clean start even for oldies. I have been just happy someone actually wishes to (re)join the game.

...

I realize now of course that special treatment for an individual would have a bad ring both among the players and between the GM and the players, so to keep the peace I hereby refrain from giving said gold bonus. I hope no hurt feelings on either side, and things will go smooth after this hiccup of mine.

Mission vote will stay up until Saturday, I'll hopefully catch a breath this weekend and the party finally starts! I'll edit all the previous rounds obtained info into the almanac too.

I did not know there was a reset, so no gold is okay for me. Would only had bought a weapon to defend us against monster, but if we are all unarmed, that is fine with me. Maybe - if everybody is armed - I could at least get a basic weapon to be on the same level? I didn't want special treatment though.

If I stay unarmed: Mountain road, else Burial grounds.

I'm pretty sure not everyone has a weapon yet. I'm just now buying mine.

Then I guess mountain road it is for me. Focusing on mines instead of mobs.

KABOOM votes for the burial grounds. What harm can a couple of undead do?

I guess noone will change their vote by now, the result is:

Witch Hut: 3
Mountain Path: 4 (I counted Nerre here as he will stay unarmed)
Burial Grounds: 6

Expect an opening map next week, and hereby I apologize for the slowness of the start. Once everything is in place, the game will run smoothly, I promise.

And one last voting!

You need a leader. Why? As you might have guessed, this round will consist of several maps. Now, to get to the new map you don't have to clear the entire previous map, it suffices if you clear a path from one end to the other, and the leader says it is time to move on. Why would he say that? It is possible that you are hopelessly stuck in some traps, overwhelmed by zombie armies, running out of time or the leader is just bored. Aside from that, the leader might have to do other, map related tasks, which I'm totally not spoiling here. What is the benefit of being a leader?
- You can boss around the others. They don't have to obey necessarily, but when they have to (the GM says so), then they have to.
- You get a fancy warpaint! A warpaint is a temporary (lasts while this round is on) boost, which will likely aid you, or your team.

What is the catch of being a leader?
- When a decision comes, it is something you have to make. Which means every consequence rests on your shoulder, too. (Both in game mechanics, and in your teams (dis)approval.)
- You might be forced to do extra tasks you didn't want to, originally, as you are the leader now.

---

Available Warpaints
Marks of the Spelunker:
- Sign of Swiftness: +20% chance to dodge. (Stacks with dodge tokens)
- Sign of Agility: +1 to basic movement speed (ie one more tile moving distance, stacks with run/jump)
Marks of the Seer:
- Sign of Goodwill: Heals an ally (including self) for 2 HP, in a radius of 3 movement range.
- Sign of Vigil: Can tell about a map object whether it contains danger or not. Has a cooldown of 5 turns.
Marks of the Evil:
- Sign of Deceit: Can lure an enemy 1 tile towards or away from the leader, provided the target is within a 7x7 grid (with the leader in the middle), and the location lured to is empty. Has a cooldown of 5 turns, which can be reduced by stacking other "lure" effects.
- Sign of Despair: Reduces the attack and defense of an enemy while it is in combat. Has a cooldown of 5 turns.
Marks of the Hero:
- Sign of Encouragement: Passive. Everyone within a 5x5 grid (with the leader in the middle), has a +1 level of his active tokens.
- Sign of Strength: Passive. The leader deals double damage to the enemy.

So, it is up to you whom do you select as a leader! Feel free to campaign for yourself (no belittling each other, you can only speak for yourself), or vote on someone else!

I wouldn't mind being the leader, and I think I would go with marks of the hero (I should have a sword if I remember correctly to have a better use of the double damage)

I have no strong opinions as to who should lead but am not familiar enough with the game yet to be an effective leader.

I'll vote for Theis for leader

I'd be willing to be the leader. I think I'd choose Marks of the Seer. And I generally can spot mines and try to keep people from stepping on them. Furthermore, I prefer to go for map completion if possible, so I wouldn't be inclined to move on before a majority of people were to agree that we should.

I vote for Davecom3.

gamecreator wrote:I vote for Davecom3.

Me, too.

I take the absence of further replies as an acknowledgement of dave being elected (voted 3 to 2).

Dave, now you may choose a Sign of any of those Marks, but only one. You may have the chance to get more of them later on, though.

I'll squeeze out the first map on friday, hopefully.

p.s.: I hate preparations. They always take too long.

Then, I guess the Sign of Goodwill is what I'll start with.