The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by willpell » Mon May 20, 2013 8:30 pm

More importantly, when Minmax or Kore or Saves-a-Fox stabs themself in the freaking eye, are they required to announce this fact? :mrgreen:
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by LooksAndSmiles » Tue May 21, 2013 5:12 am

willpell wrote:More importantly, when Minmax or Kore or Saves-a-Fox stabs themself in the freaking eye, are they required to announce this fact? :mrgreen:
Which leads to my question:

Does the game have roleplaying elements for fun?

For example a treasure card which has a rope on it has a description: "Whenever the player uses the rope, he must add verbally in a smug tone: I always carry a rope." Or what willpell said.
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Tue May 21, 2013 5:54 am

Lionday wrote:This might not be a question you can answer. But will the pointy stick be appearing in this card game?
http://www.goblinscomic.com/07252005/
It's very very pointy.
Hah, not currently. While we spent a lot of time in the older pages of the comic, we didn't go back to the black and white days. It is very pointy though...maybe it will come back around because I'm a sucker for stuff like that.
willpell wrote:More importantly, when Minmax or Kore or Saves-a-Fox stabs themself in the freaking eye, are they required to announce this fact?
I smell a house rull drinking game coming up.
LooksAndSmiles wrote:Does the game have roleplaying elements for fun?

For example a treasure card which has a rope on it has a description: "Whenever the player uses the rope, he must add verbally in a smug tone: I always carry a rope." Or what willpell said.
We don't have any rules on the cards that are not at least in some way functional such as that. So no outright joke rules. The reason for that isn't because we aren't corny, but because we wanted the game to be accessible to people who didn't read Goblins, and to someone who didn't read the comic that card would make no bloody sense.

That doesn't mean there aren't tons of flavor elements on the cards. I was just talking with Richard about this yesterday, I think about half or more of the design work in this game isn't creating new content so much as expressing existing content. That means we aren't making up new stuff so much as translating what Tarol already has in the comic to cards. So we spend a lot of time asking ourselves "What should this thing do in the game?" or "How do we make this treasure feel like it does in the comic?". It's a lot of work, but it really pays off becuase when you get the Ax of Prissan on a Paladin it feels epic. Another great example is Kore's Gear. He's got some of the most epic looking armor and weapons in the comic. Capturing that on the cards means making them feel just as awesome as they do in the comic.

But like I said, explicity putting that flavor in the rules was risky because it could exclude a lot of people from the game. Great question though.

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Krulle » Tue May 21, 2013 12:17 pm

Blog update, there will be a delay in starting the Kickstarter campaign... blog link
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by willpell » Tue May 21, 2013 12:54 pm

Legal issues. Color me unsurprised.
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by CelineSSauve » Tue May 21, 2013 1:49 pm

Just finished reading the second blog post about the creation of the game and I have to say... If I hadn't heard Thunt explaining things on the Feed, I would have been lost. There were a lot of references to the first blog, but that information wasn't in the first blog. :shrug:

Pity about the delay, though. I had an alarm set and everything! :'(

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Tue May 21, 2013 1:55 pm

willpell wrote:Legal issues. Color me unsurprised.
I can't go into details about this, but I want to be clear that we are not having any issues with IP or WotC at this time. That said, we are working hard to overcome the delay and hope to get the Kickstarter up as soon as possible. I'll be up front, this is about all I can say on the matter at this time, I hope you guys understand.

With that (unpleasant) transition, I should say we are still working on the game, and i'm here to answer any questions you guys have just as planned before. :)

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Tue May 21, 2013 1:57 pm

CelineSSauve wrote:Just finished reading the second blog post about the creation of the game and I have to say... If I hadn't heard Thunt explaining things on the Feed, I would have been lost. There were a lot of references to the first blog, but that information wasn't in the first blog. :shrug:

Pity about the delay, though. I had an alarm set and everything! :'(
I'm sorry it was dense. I tried to pack a lot of information about the specific mechanics of challenges into one post without just running on and on. Was there anything specifically you felt was opaque? I can clear it up here and go back and edit the blog to be better for those you are coming after you. Thanks!

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by LordsBreed » Tue May 21, 2013 2:51 pm

This whole thing has been a cluster **** (fudge) so far.

-Shakes head-
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by notimportant » Tue May 21, 2013 4:31 pm

You didn't have to stay true to the comic on the matter of delayed releases... but us hard core fans appreciate the extra effort :)

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by CelineSSauve » Tue May 21, 2013 4:39 pm

innuendo wrote:
CelineSSauve wrote:Just finished reading the second blog post about the creation of the game and I have to say... If I hadn't heard Thunt explaining things on the Feed, I would have been lost. There were a lot of references to the first blog, but that information wasn't in the first blog. :shrug:

Pity about the delay, though. I had an alarm set and everything! :'(
I'm sorry it was dense. I tried to pack a lot of information about the specific mechanics of challenges into one post without just running on and on. Was there anything specifically you felt was opaque? I can clear it up here and go back and edit the blog to be better for those you are coming after you. Thanks!
No, I think I understood it. It's just that there were references made to say "wits" in the previous post, but I couldn't find a reference to wits there. :paranoia:
With the talk of Classes on Thunt's Twitter, though, I do have a question: Does that mean characters will not start with a preset Class, of just that you can change their class during play, but MinMax is still a fighter and Ears is a Paladin (for example).

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Liesmith » Tue May 21, 2013 7:59 pm

Legal issues? Man, Thunt just cannot catch a break. Good luck to him with this, the game looks like fun...I hope it works out for him quickly.
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by willpell » Tue May 21, 2013 8:53 pm

innuendo wrote:I can't go into details about this, but I want to be clear that we are not having any issues with IP or WotC at this time.
Ah, okay. That's comforting to know, though you'll understand that it was the obvious first assumption.
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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Caligo » Tue May 21, 2013 11:21 pm

I signed up solely to recommend an idea... have Oblivious and the Shifting Sword separate items, as well as an event card (?) or possibly combat-less encounter of some sort for a hole of oblivion. On either the shifting sword or the hole of oblivion would be some text explaining that sticking the sword in the hole would activate the hole's effect on the sword (most likely removing it permanently from the game) but in exchange allows you to search for Oblivious to replace it. Assuming, of course, there will be a search function of sorts. Oblivious could also be acquired normally, but that brings into question what would occur if you had both the shifting sword AND the Oblivious.

Also, the hole would make for oh so much fun, such as a trap for attack-happy noobs flinging a character at it without checking... oops, it's now gone without even a chance to recover. Maybe some cursed artifact that if you use or drop it would turn on you, but is taking up space? Stick it in the hole... problem solved! Whiny and annoying player complaining the entire time? The opportunity to sparta-kick his character in. Etcetera, etcetera. Up to you guys of course, just pitching ideas.

Also, a secondary effect for the oblivion hole to ensure that it's more threatening than any regular auto-destroy varieties could be that it retroactively removes all connected items from play even if you draw it long after the item was tossed into the hole. So if you hit the hole with a Shield Of Wonder effect, that would render every single Shield Of Wonder card useless for the rest of the game. A rather steep punishment for attacking without thinking... or maybe a player would do it on purpose just to spite the others.

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Krulle » Wed May 22, 2013 12:27 am

notimportant wrote:You didn't have to stay true to the comic on the matter of delayed releases... but us hard core fans appreciate the extra effort :)
*snort*

:rofl:

*hehehe*

* Trying to get a grip on myself *

...nope, failing my saves.
:rofl:

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Calemor » Thu May 23, 2013 7:57 am

More of a question for Thunt, but concerns the game...

Would it be cool if fans made fan-comics based on their adventures in the game? Sort of like Nuzlocke does with Pokemon Hard-Mode. We could have a forum for it if there are enough people who do that sort of thing! I can see some awesome stories coming out of this game.

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by Lionday » Thu May 23, 2013 7:44 pm

Calemor wrote:More of a question for Thunt, but concerns the game...

Would it be cool if fans made fan-comics based on their adventures in the game? Sort of like Nuzlocke does with Pokemon Hard-Mode. We could have a forum for it if there are enough people who do that sort of thing! I can see some awesome stories coming out of this game.
Love me some Nuzlockes!
I agree with this idea full heartedly.

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Fri May 24, 2013 6:01 am

Calemor wrote:More of a question for Thunt, but concerns the game...

Would it be cool if fans made fan-comics based on their adventures in the game? Sort of like Nuzlocke does with Pokemon Hard-Mode. We could have a forum for it if there are enough people who do that sort of thing! I can see some awesome stories coming out of this game.
I see no reason why not. And you're right Tarol would have to sign off on it, but he's been pretty open about fan work in the past. Plus like he said, it's all cannon!

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by CelineSSauve » Mon May 27, 2013 6:32 pm

CelineSSauve wrote:With the talk of Classes on Thunt's Twitter, though, I do have a question: Does that mean characters will not start with a preset Class, of just that you can change their class during play, but MinMax is still a fighter and Ears is a Paladin (for example).
Reposted, as it may have been missed originally. :shrug:

Also, I still have the question about GoblinSlayer being on the cover. If I was a fan of the comic, but has not followed the Kickstarter, I would have to assume (based on the art) that he was part of the core game.

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by apotato » Mon May 27, 2013 11:39 pm

the stretch goal, fully funded in 48 hours, does that mean an additional character card to replace an existing non-Senor vorpal version?
if we were to hit the stretch goal would two fumbles cards then exist one plain backed version for the character deck and one for once the game is underway? or will the doublesided card just get thrown into the deck as is, rendering aspects of shuffling fairly useless?

the number of experience tokens seems lower than expected given characters like kore need so many. you guys are playtesting so i assume you know whether its practical or not. just seemed odd to require kore to hoard almost half the supply. likewise i assume some stats may have changed since Thunt's video

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by nikohl » Tue May 28, 2013 12:21 am

Not sure if it's already been asked, but - what's the plan with international shipping? As an avid UK user of kickstarter, I have routinely been fully and deeply boned by shipping charges higher than the pledge value, once the customs man has added his "oh wait I want a share too!" tax on arrival... :/

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Tue May 28, 2013 10:21 am

CelineSSauve wrote:With the talk of Classes on Thunt's Twitter, though, I do have a question: Does that mean characters will not start with a preset Class, of just that you can change their class during play, but MinMax is still a fighter and Ears is a Paladin (for example).
Miss a question? I would never!

Each character starts with the Class we see them have in the comic (so yes to your two examples). We just recently added rules to the game that let players multiclass when they level up. It used to be that when you leveled you simply got to choose which stat you leveled up (Com, Ing, Chm). Now you can choose to level a stat or you can take another class. So this opens up all sorts of crazy options.
CelineSSauve wrote:Also, I still have the question about GoblinSlayer being on the cover. If I was a fan of the comic, but has not followed the Kickstarter, I would have to assume (based on the art) that he was part of the core game.
Yes, Tarol drew the art before we finalized the character list. At this point it's something we're willing to live with since the art is just great. We're doing our best to make it perfectly clear which characters are in the core set and which are out. The last thing I want is to deceive.
apotato wrote:the stretch goal, fully funded in 48 hours, does that mean an additional character card to replace an existing non-Senor vorpal version?
if we were to hit the stretch goal would two fumbles cards then exist one plain backed version for the character deck and one for once the game is underway? or will the doublesided card just get thrown into the deck as is, rendering aspects of shuffling fairly useless?
Fumbles is currently single sided. If the stretch goal is hit we will replace the single sided version with a double sided version. And character cards are never in a deck. They are always out on the table in play. The only exception is at the start of the game when you randomly assign them to people, but you should be able to honor system that one :)
apotato wrote:the number of experience tokens seems lower than expected given characters like kore need so many. you guys are playtesting so i assume you know whether its practical or not. just seemed odd to require kore to hoard almost half the supply. likewise i assume some stats may have changed since Thunt's video
The number bobs around from time to time, but the way the game works it's pretty rare that a ton of XP would be in use at once. As soon as you level up a character you remove all the XP tokens from them. And Characters like Kore really only level up once a game (typically). I haven't run into an issue in testing yet, but if we do we'll absolutely include more.
nikohl wrote:Not sure if it's already been asked, but - what's the plan with international shipping? As an avid UK user of kickstarter, I have routinely been fully and deeply boned by shipping charges higher than the pledge value, once the customs man has added his "oh wait I want a share too!" tax on arrival... :/
We aren't revealing our shipping costs at this time. It will become public when the KS'er launches soon. (We don't want to gouge you just as much as you don't want to be gouged)

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by CelineSSauve » Tue May 28, 2013 10:30 am

innuendo wrote:
CelineSSauve wrote:Also, I still have the question about GoblinSlayer being on the cover. If I was a fan of the comic, but has not followed the Kickstarter, I would have to assume (based on the art) that he was part of the core game.
Yes, Tarol drew the art before we finalized the character list. At this point it's something we're willing to live with since the art is just great. We're doing our best to make it perfectly clear which characters are in the core set and which are out. The last thing I want is to deceive.
Okay. If you do release the "villains", then it won't be deception, now will it? :ktongue: *ducks for cover*

I do have to agree that the art there is amazing, if a little disturbing with some of those pairings. *shivers*

Can't wait to try this game! {I have reset my Kickstarter countdown for the 3rd of June.}
innuendo wrote:
apotato wrote:the stretch goal, fully funded in 48 hours, does that mean an additional character card to replace an existing non-Senor vorpal version?
if we were to hit the stretch goal would two fumbles cards then exist one plain backed version for the character deck and one for once the game is underway? or will the doublesided card just get thrown into the deck as is, rendering aspects of shuffling fairly useless?
Fumbles is currently single sided. If the stretch goal is hit we will replace the single sided version with a double sided version. And character cards are never in a deck. They are always out on the table in play. The only exception is at the start of the game when you randomly assign them to people, but you should be able to honor system that one :)
I know Thunt seemed to use sleeves for some of his cards, at least from what what I recall from the stuff on the Live Feed. Maybe you could keep the characters in those? Then if you get Fumbles, you just take him out of his cover? Or you could keep him to one side, put just a slip of paper with his name in the sleeve and if you get that, then you pick up the double-sided card?

Hmm. I may have to discover a FLGS once the game ships. ;)

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by PseudoFenton » Fri May 31, 2013 2:59 am

So I just read the latest developer notes (found here, if anyone else wants to read them), which are an interesting insight into the game. Although all three design notes could've done with some proof-reading, there are many typos in them, which is distracting (and a little discouraging). However I also saw this...

Image

Which leads me to ask, why is it called a double-barrelled crossbow?? It clearly has more than two barrels! (I'm ignoring the fact that a crossbow doesn't have barrels technically, as that is just being picky). Looking here the comic clearly shows it has 8 crossbows arranged in an overlapping cross, allowing it to shoots 8 quarrels at a time.

So shouldn't it be an octal crossbow? or at least a double Quad-bow, or something that details the fact that it's not just two crossbows bolted together? Even calling it a rapidfire crossbow would do.

I'm aware that this is my first post here (as I've not gotten around to remaking my account since the last forums went down), and I'm picking nits here, but I am concerned that some quality may be lost in the game with this sort of simple oversight. I seem to recall one of the shield cards released was also formally typed as 'cloth'... which may make sense for mechanical reasons, but just strikes me as a lack of attention to detail.

I love games, and have several shevles overladen with boardgames and cardgames, I also love Goblins and would be proud to own a game themed around it - but silly little things like this would drive me crazy when playing, so I really hope this is just the result of first-draft errors, and not an indicator of things to come.

---

Also, in the second developers notes, it states that Charm challenges cause the loser to discard cards and the winner to draw, and ingenuity challenges allow the winner to steal a piece of treasure. Can you highlight why you chose to do that this way around, it seems more intuitive to have these reversed - with Ingenious characters limiting the options available to other players (removing cards) whilst increasing their own (gaining cards), and Charming characters 'convince' or beguile other characters into giving up their loot ('stealing').

Even looking at the characters stats that can be seen (Kin, Minmax and Kore) it makes more sense being this way around. Kore seems like the sort of foe who's thought of everything (metal boots under cloth, chains on his crossbows so they can't be dropped, portable and swivelling sheild wall so he can't be flanked) and therefore always has you out manoeuvred - but not like the sort of foe who steals your stuff.

Perhaps this is an error in the notes, or just an unfortunate misnomer in what the attributes are called and how they actually function - it'd be nice to get the developers take on this though.

---

Anyway, I am really looking forward to this game, even if I'm being a little critical in my questioning (I wouldn't bother if I didn't care for the game). I hope to see more about the mechanics of the game in the coming weeks as the kickstarter launches!

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Re: The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Fri May 31, 2013 1:44 pm

PseudoFenton wrote:So I just read the latest developer notes (found here, if anyone else wants to read them), which are an interesting insight into the game. Although all three design notes could've done with some proof-reading, there are many typos in them, which is distracting (and a little discouraging). However I also saw this...
l t
Image

Which leads me to ask, why is it called a double-barrelled crossbow?? It clearly has more than two barrels! (I'm ignoring the fact that a crossbow doesn't have barrels technically, as that is just being picky). Looking here the comic clearly shows it has 8 crossbows arranged in an overlapping cross, allowing it to shoots 8 quarrels at a time.
Before we finalize the card pool, we have a "Canon Session" with Tarol scheduled to confirm all the flavor and wording is correct. The last month has been full of card pool changes as we improve the card set (and as certain stretch goals are completed). This means we aren't making editing passes at this time. There isn't a lot of reason to spend time proofing cards that might not make the final cut. So like we preface with everything you see, none of this is final, but we really want you to see the game through the process. Which means you'll see errors and typos, which are unfortunate, but are simply part of the process.

But yes, what you are seeing is simply early prototypes and early drafts. Finalization is always the last part of the design process.
PseudoFenton wrote:Also, in the second developers notes, it states that Charm challenges cause the loser to discard cards and the winner to draw, and ingenuity challenges allow the winner to steal a piece of treasure. Can you highlight why you chose to do that this way around, it seems more intuitive to have these reversed - with Ingenious characters limiting the options available to other players (removing cards) whilst increasing their own (gaining cards), and Charming characters 'convince' or beguile other characters into giving up their loot ('stealing')...(and thoughts)
That isn't a typo. Charm loses cards and Ingenuity steals treasure. We actually had the exact discussion you are suggesting and we settled on this for a couple of reasons.

Let me explain a scenario. You are fumbles and you have the the +1 Short Sword. In real life, no matter how charming Kin is, you aren't going to give her the sword if it means you would die. Now on the other hand, if someone outsmarts you and tricks you out of your sword that makes sense. You wouldn't willingly give it up to a sweetheart, but someone could theoretically trick you out of it. A more extreme example would be if you have a character bleeding out, no amount of Charm is going to convince you to give up a healing potion (someone would have to take it from you).

For Charm, you have to remember that the cards in your hand are actions you can take. Someone charming could theoretically talk you out of doing an action. So say kin so charming that she talks Minmax out of doing a Group Attack with Forgath. In other words, Really charming characters can talk their way into new options (card draw) and talk you out of doing things. Ingenious Characters can trick you out of your belongings by being smart enough to take them from you.

Like I said, we had this discussion between the dev team and there are arguments both ways. I think in the end, this way makes the most sense and is the most thematic.

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