The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Discuss the comic here!
User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

The Official Goblins: Alternate Realities Q&A Thread

Post by innuendo » Thu May 16, 2013 11:02 am

Hey forum goers.

If you haven't seen elsewhere I'm Brad, one of the two designers on the Goblins: Alternate Realities board game. I'm here on a mission to answer as many questions as possible about the game, the design, the rules, the flavor, etc. as possible. This QA will run as long as you guys have questions, and most likely throughout the Kickstarter campaign which is starting in just 5 days (so much to do!). I'm personally interested in answering any questions you have about the gameplay or rules so that you have as good an idea as possible about what the game is like, and how it plays. But don't feel shy to ask anything you think (and if I can't answer, I'll tell you).

Since a lot of the questions about the campaign are still evolving, I'll do my best to answer any Kickstarter related questions, but just know that none of that is set in stone until the project is up. In addition, the game is still in an active state of development, so any rules question I answer today is subject to change before the game ships (hopefully not afterwards though).

I'm putting this thread up now so you guys can start firing away at me. I wont be able to get to the answers for a few hours, but I figured you guys would like the head start on me. So please, the floor is yours, and I'll be back later tonight to answer as many as I can.

User avatar
LoneStarNorth
Former Mod
Posts: 39
UStream Username: LoneStarNorth

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

Post by LoneStarNorth » Thu May 16, 2013 12:35 pm

I have a couple questions.

Are all the cards going to be standard playing card size? The location cards looked a little bigger when Thunt showed them off, but I'm not sure if that's just an optical illusion because they're printed sideways.

And...

Because Goblins' primary audience consists of tabletop gamers, and most tabletop gamers like to take a crack at game design now and then, is there any chance you might make available some card templates? I bet a lot of people would love to try putting together a fan-made expansion after the game's been out for a while.
Image

User avatar
SamWiser
Extensively Logorrheic
Posts: 7225

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

Post by SamWiser » Thu May 16, 2013 1:23 pm

Also, is there a general idea of how much money is needed for the kickstarter? I know you can't give us exact dollar amounts, but is there a general ballpark?
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

Calemor
Mumbles Incoherently
Posts: 21

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

Post by Calemor » Thu May 16, 2013 2:20 pm

I watched the summary Thunt gave us of the prototype of the game, but he mentioned that the Encounter cards were undergoing a complete rework. How much can you tell us about how the Encounters will work now? Do you need more than just a certain amount of a stat to win? Are there any penalties for losing besides not getting treasure?

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Thu May 16, 2013 5:23 pm

Round one answers: Commence!
LoneStarNorth wrote:I have a couple questions.

Are all the cards going to be standard playing card size? The location cards looked a little bigger when Thunt showed them off, but I'm not sure if that's just an optical illusion because they're printed sideways.
They are all the same standard playing card size. 3.5 x 2.5 inches. Apparently the "when I hold it this way, it looks way bigger" optical illusion was in effect. We toyed around with the idea of making some cards bigger (e.g. the character cards), but decided against it.
LoneStarNorth wrote:Because Goblins' primary audience consists of tabletop gamers, and most tabletop gamers like to take a crack at game design now and then, is there any chance you might make available some card templates? I bet a lot of people would love to try putting together a fan-made expansion after the game's been out for a while.
It doesn't seem unreasonable, but I haven't made any specific plans with The Team (tm) for that yet. I'll bring that up and see what we can't do. Thanks for the idea, allow me to heartlessly steal it.
SamWiser wrote:Also, is there a general idea of how much money is needed for the kickstarter? I know you can't give us exact dollar amounts, but is there a general ballpark?
Until the KS is up and running, I would rather not talk about it in case it changes (Which it could do). Sorry I can't say more about it yet. Like I said, I'm going to have pretty much this exact answer to all the KS'er questions for the next few days. I just can't divulge the specifics until they are finalized. (Now the gameplay stuff I'll talk about all day, even if it's still changing).
Calemor wrote:I watched the summary Thunt gave us of the prototype of the game, but he mentioned that the Encounter cards were undergoing a complete rework. How much can you tell us about how the Encounters will work now? Do you need more than just a certain amount of a stat to win? Are there any penalties for losing besides not getting treasure?
Encounters will work pretty much the same way as before, at least at the base level. We made a huge pass to clean up the presentation on them so they did a better job filling in narrative for your characters and sort of acting as a psuedo-DM. That didn't change how they work in terms of beating them. They still require one stat to beat, and outside of special effects on the card, there is no stated penalty.

That said, we have already explored options for multi stat encounters. Ones were you have to clear two different stats at the same time (like 15 combat and 10 ingenuity). We didn't do that in the core set because they are a little more complex. We also considered ones that were combined. so you need 40 points in any combination of Ing or Charm. Again, that wasn't "core" to the experience for us. There is a lot we can do in this space to make them more complex,

In regards to penalties: missing out on all the good stuff is punishing enough. Failing an encounter is like wasting an entire turn (and you typically fail an encounter because something terrible happened like you lost a challenge). We didn't think it was good to punish you for failing on top of all the natural bad stuff that happens naturally. I would however expect some "hardcore" style rules to come about at some point. Something that might up the stakes a bit is always fun once players have settled into the game a bit.

But generally, losing an encounter sucks hard already. Making it suck double hard isn't fun.

--

Okay, that's round one. Keep them coming guys.

User avatar
BeanDip
Resident of Sacred Statue Garden
Posts: 2455

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

Post by BeanDip » Thu May 16, 2013 5:45 pm

A mod might want to pin this thread so it's not lost in the shuffle. At least for a little while.

No questions, just a suggestion :)
NOTE TO ALL THOSE I AM GAMING WITH: Currently gaming with others in the Sacred Statue Garden.


Signature changed by request of MrsBeanDip by Wolfie

User avatar
ThroughTheWell
.
Posts: 1045

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

Post by ThroughTheWell » Thu May 16, 2013 6:23 pm

Any chance of duplicating the facebook info elsewhere for those of us who have FB blocked at work?

And I 2nd LSN's blank card idea. A blank card in the game, gives players an immediate way to be creative. And they can use a copier on the blank or scan it in for more before they use it. Online digital templates could expand that creativity by a lot, though making it hard to match the cards to the game exactly (we are not talking standard printer paper for cards).

Oh, I heard the sword Oblivious was in the game... so how is it that Oblivious works without Minmax to originate it and unquestioningly reach through time due to his ignorance? In other words, as cool as it is, I thought there was some Minmax to the origin and power instead of just having touched an oblivion hole.
I survived the forum move 4 times... yeah, I feel old.

Calemor
Mumbles Incoherently
Posts: 21

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

Post by Calemor » Thu May 16, 2013 7:56 pm

More game mechanic questions (as LoneStarNorth predicted, I love delving into the mechanics of games so I can create my own stuff!):

On your turn, if someone is winning an encounter, can you only stop them if your party is in the same area? I heard you were thinking about bumping the number of areas from 4 to 6 (Thunt spoils many things). How will this affect how much teams can affect each other?

Speaking of turns, what's the breakdown of a turn? Does every turn involve facing an encounter (somewhat like kicking down the door in Munchkin), or can you choose other actions?

And on a more general note, how does the ending of a game feel? The game as a whole seems like it can be great at telling fun alternate reality stories, but the game ends sort of randomly whenever a player gets rid of their last quest token. What have you done to make the ending of each game (if possible) feel epic and climactic?

Thanks for indulging a budding game designer!

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Thu May 16, 2013 9:58 pm

ThroughTheWell wrote:Any chance of duplicating the facebook info elsewhere for those of us who have FB blocked at work?
Ugh, I hate facebook. Once the Kickstarter is live we will use that as a landing page for our information and updates. We'll still use facebook because it's sorta the "thing" to use in this day and age, but I'll make sure we keep as much as physically possible elsewhere. If I need to setup something here, I may just use the forums as an alternate. Who knows.
ThroughTheWell wrote:And I 2nd LSN's blank card idea. A blank card in the game, gives players an immediate way to be creative. And they can use a copier on the blank or scan it in for more before they use it. Online digital templates could expand that creativity by a lot, though making it hard to match the cards to the game exactly (we are not talking standard printer paper for cards).
/me scribbles furiously....
mmhmm, go on...
/me mumbles something about ducks
ThroughTheWell wrote:Oh, I heard the sword Oblivious was in the game... so how is it that Oblivious works without Minmax to originate it and unquestioningly reach through time due to his ignorance? In other words, as cool as it is, I thought there was some Minmax to the origin and power instead of just having touched an oblivion hole.
Oblivious is at a strange point. We really want to do it justice. Because like you said, it has a looooot of strange rules associated with it. I'm still figuring out how to capture the card without it being just one huge wall of text. If we can't get it right, we may have to hold off on it until we do. I refuse to do something without it being absolutely spot on. I mean, to do the shield of Wonder justice we're created 100 extra cards for the game. Now I hope that Oblivious doesn't need that same level of "over the top," but who knows.

A version we had was that it has a *huge* combat boost, but it gets weaker the more ingenuity the person who is holding it has. So in a sense, the smarter you are, the weaker the sword. That really doesn't do it right though, so I'm not sure that's quite nailing it. And I saw Tarol's tweet that oblivious can't be stolen, which is another curve ball we'll have to work out. So who knows where it will end up. Good question, and one i'm still working hard on answering!
Calemor wrote:More game mechanic questions (as LoneStarNorth predicted, I love delving into the mechanics of games so I can create my own stuff!):

On your turn, if someone is winning an encounter, can you only stop them if your party is in the same area? I heard you were thinking about bumping the number of areas from 4 to 6 (Thunt spoils many things). How will this affect how much teams can affect each other?
Nope, you can oppose (or ally with) the active party all the time.

It sounds like the rules Tarol was explaining (with party movement) are currently slated as alternate rules. The way the game will work is that all parties are at any location, so there is no limit on who can team up with who. Since we've had the party movement proposal on the table we haven't had enough time to test it and really iron out what it adds (and doesn't add) to the game. The cards are all designed in such a way it can work either way, so we plan on testing both ways and figuring out what works best.

In the end, we really wanted the ally and oppose system to be a big part of the strategy in the game. I didn't want player movement to get into the way of that too much, so there is a trade off to consider there there.

As for extra locations, Right now the core game has 4 settings.
Calemor wrote:Speaking of turns, what's the breakdown of a turn? Does every turn involve facing an encounter (somewhat like kicking down the door in Munchkin), or can you choose other actions?
Munchkin? What's munchkin?

No, it's nothing like kicking down the door. Well it's sorta like kicking down the door in that you do it every turn. But other than that, it's not like it.

The turn order for each party's turn is broken into two phases: Preparation Phase (Do any preparation-y things before the encounter) and Encounter Phase (Choose an encounter).

Now the encounter phase is huge and has a lot of things going on in it. Players can ally with you, players can oppose you and challenge your party. The active party then tries to complete the encounter. Treasure gets looted, the whole nine yards. Encounters act as a sort of backdrop for all the in party fighting and bickering that goes on between players, so every turn you and your allies show up at an encounter and if you are unlucky you may have to challenge a few enemies before you get to move on.
Calemor wrote:And on a more general note, how does the ending of a game feel? The game as a whole seems like it can be great at telling fun alternate reality stories, but the game ends sort of randomly whenever a player gets rid of their last quest token. What have you done to make the ending of each game (if possible) feel epic and climactic?
Well let me say I hate the end of munchkin games. It suffers from a real problem in that the only way the player doesn't win is for all the other players to sorta stare at eachother until somebody goes "I guess i'll do something." The reason for that is it actually hurts you in Munchkin to stop another player. You have to play cards and you get nothing back for opposing. It's annoying. It's goofy and silly, don't get me wrong, but annoying. And ultimately every game of Munchkin ends the same way: 3 or 4 players try to win, and get crapped all over by the other players until someone finally squeaks out the win after everyone has used all their nasty hateful cards. Hardly climatic.

Now on the other hand, the end of Goblins should be much cooler. Since quest tokens can be cleared through different actions, even when it's not your turn, it's possible to win at any time. Now like munchkin it's really obvious when someone is about to win. You can see as their quest token pile shrinks. This raises the stakes and tensions around the table. People stop helping you and start opposing you. It's great to watch the game transition. At the start of the game, players are more keen to help. There is a lot in it for them to help. Their characters get XP, they might level up, they can even get quest tokens for helping other players. But as the game wears on, it gets really interesting how players will try to jocky to complete their quests.

The most common quest goal is to overcome a certain encounter type. So most characters are trying to beat encounters. But some characters are trying to win challenges. So you'll have Kore who is running around and his quest is to win Combat Challenges. So if he's on the board, players are trying to figure out "how do I complete my quest, without Kore coming and smashing my face in and stealing the victory?" And unlike munchkin, once a player gets really close to winning, it actually helps everyone to team up against them at once. So it's not one player who has to "do the dirty work", everyone can try to team up and stop you. Forming one huge enemy party for the last encounter. And since each player can send one challenger, To win the game you might have to win 3 or 4 challenges and then still have enough gas in the tank to beat an encounter.

And that doesn't even count the fact that as the game goes on, characters get stronger and the stakes are higher in general. Especially combat challenges. Not many games like this have it so you can flat out lose a character, and there is nothing as epic or climatic as characters dying mid game.

I could go on, but it's pretty cool.
Calemor wrote:Thanks for indulging a budding game designer!
Game designers are the best designers. :)

User avatar
SamWiser
Extensively Logorrheic
Posts: 7225

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

Post by SamWiser » Thu May 16, 2013 10:27 pm

Are there any ideas for other characters to be released for this game if it does well? Like Goblinslayer or Young and Beautiful, or even Psimax?
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Fri May 17, 2013 6:23 am

SamWiser wrote:Are there any ideas for other characters to be released for this game if it does well? Like Goblinslayer or Young and Beautiful, or even Psimax?
Heck yeah! One of the side goals we are doing is to add characters to the game when the facebook page gets so many likes. We've already got 2 extra characters confirmed for the game, and we're getting pretty close to a third.

That said, who those characters are is up to a vote. I love Psimax and Goblinslayer, but i'm not sure they'll make the core set just becuase of how many characaters exist. Especially becuase we are tenatively planning Brassmoon and Maze of Many expansions, where those guys could be featured prominently.

But to answer you question generally, new characters are going to be common if the game does well.

User avatar
Bad At Jokes
Whispers Softly
Posts: 63
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Contact:

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

Post by Bad At Jokes » Fri May 17, 2013 7:05 am

In the live feed Thunt informed us that your can't have 2 players play the same character per game (e.g 4 Kores) how will you balance out character distribution so players aren't all fighting over Minmax and Kore etc.

Alvarin
Poorly Locked Patron
Poorly Locked Patron
Posts: 79
UStream Username: Alvarin__

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

Post by Alvarin » Fri May 17, 2013 1:01 pm

Bad At Jokes wrote:In the live feed Thunt informed us that your can't have 2 players play the same character per game (e.g 4 Kores) how will you balance out character distribution so players aren't all fighting over Minmax and Kore etc.
Just shuffle the characters deck and deal from the top?

User avatar
willpell
Banned
Posts: 2085
Contact:

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

Post by willpell » Fri May 17, 2013 3:31 pm

I have simple, bottom-line questions.

1. About how much will the game cost?

2. How many people can play it, and how long will a game usually take?

3. How skill-based is the game, versus how luck-based?

4. How comprehensible will the game be to anyone who is unfamiliar with Goblins or D&D in general?

And here's one slightly more sophisticated question, which you may or may not be allowed to answer:

5. How do you plan on sidestepping (sidewinding?) legal issues related to Wotco IP while still keeping things as they are? Kin is the obvious issue, but not the biggest one I don't think. The Yellow Musk Creeper is another example...it appears in the comic, is mentioned by name, and is not open-source. It's probably not in G:AR, being a fairly minor presence in the comic, but doubtless there are other places where you might have been skirting close to a line, and I'm wondering how you've dealt with those issues - if you are able to get into that without anyone getting into trouble.
You either die Chaotic, or you live long enough to see yourself become Lawful.
Glemp wrote:To some extent, you need to be arrogant - without it, you are vulnerable being made someone's tool...for Herbert's sake, have the stubbornness not to submit to what you see instantly, because you can only see some facts at a time.
My long-neglected blog.

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Fri May 17, 2013 9:00 pm

Bad At Jokes wrote:In the live feed Thunt informed us that your can't have 2 players play the same character per game (e.g 4 Kores) how will you balance out character distribution so players aren't all fighting over Minmax and Kore etc.
Alvarin already did a decent job answering, but I'll add onto his point. The rules state that you randomly assign 3 characters to each player. That gets around the whole in fighting issue by making it not a choice. Something me and Richard talk about a lot is making sure every character feels fun to have. The last thing I want is for a player to say "Oh, I got fumbles, he sucks" or "I can't win because of who I got." That sort of stuff is easily the highest priority for me in terms of balancing the game. I'm not sure we have it nailed down yet, but that's why we'll be doing tons of play testing between now and release to make sure that isn't an issue.

And another answer to your question is we already suspect and think that advanced players will probably switch to drafting their party instead of randomly getting them. School yard pick-em style. Which could be fun, but is probably more cut throat.
willpell wrote:1. About how much will the game cost?
We're not ready to release that detail just yet. Truly sorry I can't divulge more, I just don't want to do anything that could in any way upset the campaign. I'll say generally that it costs similarly as other board games with comparable component lists. (that felt like a politician answer, I feel worse now).
willpell wrote:2. How many people can play it, and how long will a game usually take?
Currently the game supports 5. Depending upon the number of players (and their familiarity with the game), you're looking about about an hour and a half to two hours. I think if all the players were very comfortable with the cards and didn't spend any time having to read them, you could play in an hour, even with 5 players (but it would be pushing it).
willpell wrote:3. How skill-based is the game, versus how luck-based?
I hate when fate determines games. So as a rule we try to avoid anything that feels chancy to the point of being out of a player's ability to control. Of course there is some random elements that come into play (Which encounters are up, which treasure is available, what you draw, etc), but as much as possible we try to let players make choices about that data.

For example, What treasure is face up is random, but you always get to choose which treasure you get from a pool of 6. This reduces the effects of the randomness by letting players draft what they want, unlike a game like Munchkin where you just get the top 3 or 4 treasures.

For example (two), What encounter you face is chosen by the players from a pool of 4. Again, unlike munchkin where you are kicking down the door, what you decide to do is entirely up to you as a player.

I would say this: My goal is that a good player with bad luck would beat a bad player with good luck every time. And From what I've seen out of our testing this is currently the case.
willpell wrote:4. How comprehensible will the game be to anyone who is unfamiliar with Goblins or D&D in general?
Someone who is not familiar with Goblins is missing out on a great comic. That said, they won't have any issue playing the game. They will miss out on a lot of the flavor and backstory we've tried to imbue the game with, but it won't in anyway detract from the actual gameplay experience. And I personally hope that the game would do a decent job of introducing the characters and telling their story so that a player who finds out about Goblins from the game could go back to the comic and enjoy it in a way that is different that someone who didn't ever play the game.

As for D&D, I don't think it's vital either. We spcifically didn't use traditional D&D stats like Int and Dex because we didn't want the game to be pigeon holed like that. It's not a D&D game. It has roleplaying, it has character development, it has concepts that will be familiar to D&D players. But it doesn't rely on any of the same mechanics. So while someone who plays D&D would probably pick up the rules faster just becuase they understand what playing paper doll on a character is like, that wont mean that someone who doesn't D&D (But who still is familiar with board games) would have any issues.

Now if you are completely new to board games, this isn't the simplest of all games. There is a lot going on and a lot of skill required (see previous answer) to play well. I do think the game is accessible for players new to the genre of board games. The rules are very light and even if you are a novice gamer you can still play the game and have fun. A lot of the core concepts in the game center around social interaction and party formation, something anyone will understand just from being Human.
willpell wrote:5. How do you plan on sidestepping (sidewinding?) legal issues related to Wotco IP while still keeping things as they are? Kin is the obvious issue, but not the biggest one I don't think. The Yellow Musk Creeper is another example...it appears in the comic, is mentioned by name, and is not open-source. It's probably not in G:AR, being a fairly minor presence in the comic, but doubtless there are other places where you might have been skirting close to a line, and I'm wondering how you've dealt with those issues - if you are able to get into that without anyone getting into trouble.
Well Kin wont be a Yuan-Ti for example (but Tarol has already updated that in the comic). But like I said above, we don't rely on any D&D mechanics. And anything that is flavor or naming based we are lifting directly from the comic, not from WoTC. We aren't going to be charting any new territory here in terms of creating potential IP violations, and Tarol has done a good job of ensuring that what's in the comic is good to go.

(Unrelated to any question,:thank you for the bullet points!)

User avatar
SamWiser
Extensively Logorrheic
Posts: 7225

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

Post by SamWiser » Fri May 17, 2013 9:44 pm

I have 2 questions, one game related and one a little more personal.

Where is the game going to be sold? Is it going to be online? Can I find it in most normal stores?

Also, is playtesting these games one of the best jobs ever, or not?
Thanks to Arch Lich Burns for the avatar, and Mnementh for the mustache.

ÔÇ£Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot him and there'll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland?ÔÇØ
ÔÇò Terry Pratchett

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Fri May 17, 2013 10:11 pm

SamWiser wrote:Where is the game going to be sold? Is it going to be online? Can I find it in most normal stores?
Our initial plan is to use Kickstarter to get as many copies into the wild as possible. Everything in terms of distribution is going to be decided in response to how the campaign goes. (Including if the game gets made at all, so please, back us when you can!)
SamWiser wrote:Also, is playtesting these games one of the best jobs ever, or not?
It's a lot of work, but incredibly rewarding. There is no better feeling than seeing something you helped create be enjoyed by others. At the same time, when you are playing a game you designed it's so easy to see all the flaws and things you want to tweak and change and improve, so it can be hard to just enjoy like I would any other game.

Compared to my day job, this is hands down better though :)

Bazzek
Remains Silent
Posts: 1

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

Post by Bazzek » Sat May 18, 2013 1:32 am

Does anyone have a recording of Thunt talking about the game, or a transcription, because i cannot figure out what we are talking about :)

User avatar
WearsHats
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7384
UStream Username: WearsHats
Location: Third star to the left, and straight on until midafternoon.

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

Post by WearsHats » Sat May 18, 2013 3:55 am

Oblivious seems like something unique to Minmax. It was a sword that could copy whatever it touched. Only Minmax would use it to poke oblivion. And only he is ignorant enough to make it as powerful as it is.

In an alternate reality in which Minmax wasn't the one to pick up the sword, I'd expect it would remain the copying sword. But if Minmax gets his hands on it, it becomes Oblivious and cannot be taken by or given to anyone else.
Mostly offline/inactive due to chronic health issues. PM me if you really need attention.

"(Asks), why do you want to shoot all of my favorite animals out of guns?" - JibJib

Some potentially informative links, should you be interested:
► Show Spoiler

Calemor
Mumbles Incoherently
Posts: 21

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

Post by Calemor » Sat May 18, 2013 7:16 am

WearsHats wrote:Oblivious seems like something unique to Minmax. It was a sword that could copy whatever it touched. Only Minmax would use it to poke oblivion. And only he is ignorant enough to make it as powerful as it is.

In an alternate reality in which Minmax wasn't the one to pick up the sword, I'd expect it would remain the copying sword. But if Minmax gets his hands on it, it becomes Oblivious and cannot be taken by or given to anyone else.
Think about it this way: anyone else who picks up the copy-sword in the Maze of Many could figure out that by touching oblivion, the sword would get really cool powers. But then the sword doesn't work as well for them because they know too much about it. It ends up being Oblivious no matter who gets it. (In Fumbles case, you have the same situation as Minmax.)

Also, rule of cool. 8)

User avatar
WearsHats
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 7384
UStream Username: WearsHats
Location: Third star to the left, and straight on until midafternoon.

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

Post by WearsHats » Sat May 18, 2013 8:34 am

I don't think that's likely. Oblivion would be at least as likely to destroy the sword. Look at the page where it's created. There's no way Kin would have done that, and I'm pretty sure Forgath wouldn't, either. They also think it broke the sword. After thousands of years of it not having been poked into contact with oblivion.

Besides, having it be able to copy what it comes in contact with could be interesting, and it's not really something we got to see much of in the comic. (After all, the name of the game is "Alternate Realities." Part of the fun is exploring the story roads not taken.)

It also solves (I think, anyway) the problems Innuendo was describing about how to implement it. No need to worry about adjusting its powers based on the wielder's wisdom or intelligence or what have you, let alone trying to quantify how aware the wielder is of the sword's properties.
Mostly offline/inactive due to chronic health issues. PM me if you really need attention.

"(Asks), why do you want to shoot all of my favorite animals out of guns?" - JibJib

Some potentially informative links, should you be interested:
► Show Spoiler

User avatar
Bad At Jokes
Whispers Softly
Posts: 63
Location: Cambridgeshire, England
Contact:

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

Post by Bad At Jokes » Sat May 18, 2013 9:43 pm

WearsHats wrote:I don't think that's likely. Oblivion would be at least as likely to destroy the sword. Look at the page where it's created. There's no way Kin would have done that, and I'm pretty sure Forgath wouldn't, either. They also think it broke the sword. After thousands of years of it not having been poked into contact with oblivion.

Besides, having it be able to copy what it comes in contact with could be interesting, and it's not really something we got to see much of in the comic. (After all, the name of the game is "Alternate Realities." Part of the fun is exploring the story roads not taken.)

It also solves (I think, anyway) the problems Innuendo was describing about how to implement it. No need to worry about adjusting its powers based on the wielder's wisdom or intelligence or what have you, let alone trying to quantify how aware the wielder is of the sword's properties.
And would make the game even more complicated. I wouldn't want to wield anything other than oblivious.

User avatar
innuendo
Whispers Softly
Posts: 45
UStream Username: innuendo24

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

Post by innuendo » Sun May 19, 2013 5:39 am

bazzek wrote:Does anyone have a recording of Thunt talking about the game, or a transcription, because i cannot figure out what we are talking about
I'm trying to track it down now...
A couple of you people wrote:Paraphrased: Things about oblivious...
Like i said, it's still not decided what we are doing with Oblivious. It's almost certain that we wont be making it minmax only. If we did that it sorta breaks the spirit of the game. There is nothing in the game that stops you from making minmax smart, so there is no telling who would do it. Not to mention, what's stopping the sword from accidentally hitting oblivion and turning into Oblivious? That could happen why anyone is carrying the changing sword.

At this point that's actually the direction i'm leaning with the card is to not make Oblivious, but to actually make "the changing sword" and see what we can do with that. Again, nothing decided yet (and even it was decided today it would probably change as we tested the game).

Now stop speculating! ;) (nah, keep speculating, but please not in the thread so that we can keep this for just Q's and A's.)

User avatar
LordsBreed
Whispers Softly
Posts: 46
UStream Username: LordsBreed

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

Post by LordsBreed » Sun May 19, 2013 7:20 pm

Here is the link to the podcasts. That's all I am aware of.

https://www.facebook.com/GoblinsAlterna ... 5102528120
Image

User avatar
Lionday
Mumbles Incoherently
Posts: 15
UStream Username: Lionday

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

Post by Lionday » Mon May 20, 2013 7:00 pm

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.

Post Reply