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open-hearth-rpg · 6 months

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Base Building: Great RPG Mechanics #RPGMechanics Week Seven

I’ve always loved the idea of developing a “place” in play: a location, a home, an organization. I remember when Advanced Dungeons & Dragons arrived it presented the concept of high level fighters & such having a castle or keep. The rules limited this privilege limited by level– you needed a ton of experience before you could be lord of a fortress. And it also cost in-game money. A hefty price tag would consistent mechanic in ttrpgs for years. If you wanted something big– vehicles, robots, a wizard’s tower– you had earn hard cash first.

That system would evolve with cash-based economies joined by point-based ones. Champions and accounting-heavy games would eventually create systems for detailed base-building. But these were often architectural and mapping sub-systems and just involved making a big vehicle that didn’t move. There would be other approaches, but the next big shift came with Forged in the Dark’s Crew Playbooks.

Developing your Crew offered many benefits: increased effectiveness in certain areas, physical locations offering a benefit, new access, additional members. A tier system and crew special abilities added to that. You picked elements from a flow chart on the Crew sheet, another version of experience points being converted into benefits. This system offered a striking new area for game design. I’ve talked before about how games like Girl by Moonlight and Vergence use those as campaign and series frameworks.

But one of the most exciting new Forged in the Dark approaches has been that of Mountain Home. In MH you play Founders, leaders setting up a new Dwarven Settlement. The settlement itself acts as a kind of crew playbook, but there’s a shared template. You can choose between claiming a lost fortress, building a buried metropolis, being on an exodus from their previous settlement, or seeking to mine a new mother lode. Each has questions to help set things up and there’s a definite shift in tone between them. The choice of settlement type impacts abilities, special discoveries, and a couple of other things.

Mountain Home, like other Forged games, has a distinct cycle of play. The Settlement Phase is final part of Mountain Home’s play cycle and includes the Downtime phase. It marks the end of the year–something which mentally gives the players a sense of closure and the larger span of time happening. The phase begins with players activating Claim Buildings. I’ll come back to that in a moment, but basically there are effects: like special healing or increasing reputation which are based on particular buildings.

Downtime actions in the settlement phase include the usual FitD choices, like training and clearing stress. But the big ticket item here is the Long Term Project. As with other FitD games these can be flexibly used for lots of things.

These projects include two of the most important aspects of Mountain Home: Discoveries and Claim Buildings. The players’ settlement is broken into four rows and five columns. The rows represent depths from Surface to Depth 3. Each of the intersections of Depth and column have two spots where players can eventually build Claim buildings. But to do so, they first have to discover and explore them– a long term project. When they finish that project, the GM rolls to see what kind of location it is (Earthy Caves, Iron Vein, Lava-Filled Caverns, etc). The depth and kind of discovery affects what kinds of buildings can be constructed in those two associated spots. There’s also a set of special discoveries which can get triggered, unique to the kind of settlement being built.

The other big long term project is establishing one of those Claim buildings. As I mentioned, some have requirements for where they can be built. For example a Lumber Mill can only be built in a Surface Forest, a Research Library in an Ancient Ruin, an Iron Guildhall in an Iron Vein. These have different Tiers (up to IV); the clock for building them is 3+Tier. So with a couple of people working, a building can often be finished in a single Settlement phase.

This breaks the concept of base building away from just point-buying or experience spending. Instead the act of creation is part of play. That’s novel and opens up what you can do in play. Functionally you have two things. The first is the idea of a space which needs to be prepared: explored, excavated, etc. Players take actions and invest in handling that. Then there’s actually choosing and building things in those uncovered areas.

The selection of buildings is really interesting, but with room for the players to add more. Some affect the Trade roll which is made after the Downtime phase, generating treasure. Others are permanently dedicated for effects. For example, you need to dedicate a Farm of some kind to raise your settlement’s Tier. There’s enough options and interesting ideas there that the players will always have tough choices– and each settlement will be different. When I ran it players did projects to come up with the plans for new buildings (which they then spent actions building) including a Hot Springs.

I would say the Settlement map, the Claim buildings, and that whole system is really the secret sauce of Mountain Home. It’s great and really makes adding what are effectively elements to your crew sheet feel super satisfying.

You can easily hack this in-play base-building I can imagine using this for developing a space colony; it maps easily to that. You could adapt it for something post-apocalyptic like Forbidden Lands or Twilight 2000. The players find an abandoned base or town and have to work to restore it. For something like Urban Shadows or Vampire, it might be about extending influence over the area. One idea I’ve mentioned before is the concept borrowed from Wrath of the Autarch. In this fantasy setting, the players are exiles who had fled and found themselves at a long-lost supernatural fortress. They have rebuild that in order to gather allies and strike back at the Empress who drove them out.

#ttrpg #rpg #rpg mechanics

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myemuisemo · 2 months

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I'm still back on "The Flower of Utah" in Letters from Watson, so let's do some early Utah houses, thanks to Wikimedia Commons.

Here's one of the two surviving cabins from the first LDS settlers, built in 1847. This one belonged to Osmyn and Mary Deuel. John Ferrier's initial cabin would have looked a lot like this.

The idea that settlers would just expand the cabin, rather than building a fresh impressive house, is very different from my experience of settlement sites in the midwestern and western states, so I think Doyle was making up what he liked the sound of.

Building something like the Clark-Taylor house (1855-ish) seems more likely.

How Ferrier worked his land so effectively with no help from wives or children is a mystery. We'd have to be eliding some form of itinerant labor from young white men or natives passing through, or else he's hiring other people's excess children -- or it's just a handwave that Ferrier is just that much hard-working and resourceful. The plot requires Ferrier to prosper so that there can be a rich inheritance for Lucy.

Ah, Lucy! She's a standard-issue Spunky Western Girl, frequently seen in literature of the 1910s-1950s. Honest-spoken, brilliant on a horse, capable as a man but imbued with maidenly modesty -- she's a type. I'm surprised to encounter her in a story written in the 1880s, but most of my exposure is from when I lived in Arizona, which only became a state in 1912. Lucy is definitely a participant in the Victorian-era belief (not universal, but having strong outbreaks from time to time) that fresh air, exercise, and frontier society were better for health than stuffy drawing rooms.

If it's been 12 years (based on Ferrier's rise to wealth), then it's 1859 and Lucy is about 17, or (in the norms of the time) right at a liminal state of being ready for a push to leave the innocence of girlhood for the responsibilities of womanhood. The push to do so doesn't, narratively, have to be a man -- it can be a hardship, a loss, or other trial. But here comes Jefferson Hope!

Hope is here to raise money for silver mining in Nevada, which started its silver rush a year earlier with discovery of the Comstock Lode. The hard-faced, dark adventurer who entertains the maiden with his stories is also a trope of the era, one that really takes off in the 20th century, where it becomes an impetus for the girl to seek out adventure, too.

Hope and Lucy are engaged, all is well -- except, of course, we know it isn't. Polygamy still hasn't come up! Where are Lucy's other suitors? Surely the Flower of Utah had some!

#sherlock holmes #letters from watson

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iread-studies · 3 months

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17.01.2023 || My Language Teaching exam is in one hour and I'm feeling a lot of things. Mainly stress.

But why am I stressed? When I was in my bachelor's, I had a perfect GPA to defend. Now that I'm in my master's, I need to build that GPA back up again and that feels even more overwhelming.

A part of me also wonders if I should really stress about my grade for this exam. I had some pretty awful exam in my bachelor's. But my GPA stayed high— not perfect, but high, and I got the highest final grade possible at the end of my degree.

I'm proud of that 110 e lode and I know I shouldn't complain about it. But I also feel like it hides everything I went through for 3 years. It wasn't a perfect journey. I struggled, I was stressed and wanted to give up. That 110 e lode at the end of it nullifies that.

I wish people could see the effort I put in. I wish I didn't have to put the effort in again.

What will happen if I don't get a perfect final grade for my master's too?

#ok i'm done being sappy back to last minute revision #studyblr #studyinspo #studying #uniblr #collegeblr #uni student #student life #study motivation #notebook #notes #productivity #journal #journaling #to do list #diary entry #journal entry #exam season

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eleanor-bradstreet · 7 months

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Okay, Stags intrigues me so much! Anything you can tell me about it? Thanks for playing, love!!

Hello and thank you again for the tag!

Ohoho, you hit the mother lode of smut 😅 Stags is the filthiest thing I'll ever write, no doubt. I'm itching to finish it after my Halloween fic and while LMBYA is rolling in the background. The premise is x Reader, where you are a lady of the night working in a classy London brothel frequented by....several men of the Bridgerton universe. Four parts, five gents - you do the math 😉 Filthy snippy below the cut!

Thank you for the ask - I think this one will be enjoyed 🤞

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This was frantic, a snarling whirlwind as you tore at each other’s clothing, mouths moaning and open, seeking the other’s flesh. You didn’t speak a single word of greeting or arrangement. You didn’t discuss any details. You both knew what you wanted and were taking it unapologetically. In a flurry of motion he lifted you, wrapped your legs around his waist and slammed you into the wall with enough force that one of the nearby paintings clattered to the floor. A shift of your dress, an angle of his hips and he plunged inside, a length and girth that left you breathless. You clung to his broad shoulders, reveling in how his muscles flexed as he held your thighs open to his onslaught. There was no build up. You were both ready and wanting and he worked to deliver your relief, hips snapping fast as he struck your hilt and started a delicious ache.

#answers from el #turn off the shame filter for this one

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lodeemmanuelpalle · 8 months

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Top Mobile App Development Frameworks in 2023 - Lode Emmanuel Palle

As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, I can provide information about some of the popular mobile app development frameworks up to that point. However, please note that the landscape of technology can change rapidly, and new frameworks may have emerged or gained popularity since then. Here are some of the well-known mobile app development frameworks mentioned by Lode Emmanuel Palle that were popular up to 2021:

React Native: Developed by Facebook, React Native is a widely used open-source framework for building cross-platform mobile apps. It allows developers to use JavaScript to create native-like user interfaces for both iOS and Android.

Flutter: Created by Google, Flutter is another popular open-source framework for building cross-platform apps. It uses the Dart programming language and provides a rich set of customizable widgets, enabling high-quality and performant user interfaces.

Xamarin: Owned by Microsoft, Xamarin allows developers to build native apps for iOS, Android, and Windows using a single codebase in C#. It provides a way to share a significant portion of code across platforms while still delivering native user experiences.

Ionic: Built on top of Angular and using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript/TypeScript, Ionic is a framework for building cross-platform mobile apps with a native-like feel. It also provides a suite of UI components.

Vue Native: Based on Vue.js, Vue Native lets developers build mobile apps using Vue's declarative syntax. It's designed to be similar to React Native, making it easy for developers familiar with Vue.js to transition to mobile development.

PhoneGap / Apache Cordova: PhoneGap is an open-source framework that uses web technologies to build mobile apps that can run on various platforms. It leverages Apache Cordova to access native device features.

SwiftUI (for iOS): Introduced by Apple, SwiftUI is a framework for building user interfaces across all Apple platforms using Swift programming language. It's mainly focused on iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS app development.

Kotlin Multiplatform Mobile (KMM): Developed by JetBrains, KMM is a relatively new framework that aims to allow developers to share code between Android and iOS apps using Kotlin. It's designed for more seamless cross-platform development.

NativeScript: NativeScript enables building native apps using JavaScript, TypeScript, or Angular. It provides access to native APIs and components, offering a truly native experience.

According to Lode Emmanuel Palle. the choice of a mobile app development framework depends on various factors including your familiarity with the programming language, the complexity of the app, the desired platform(s), and the specific features you need. It's always a good idea to research and stay updated on the latest developments in the field to make informed decisions.

#lode palle #lodi palle #lode emmanuel palle #lodi emmanuel palle #emmanuel palle #lode emmanuelle palle

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limetameta · 11 months

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My mutuals my besties have really come through with some amazing names for bars, so I want to share some with you because next chapter of MC is rly gonna world build the shit out of the Night Scene in CC

From @sentryskyhawk we got The Soldier’s First Shot - the bar where Privates and Last Year of Military Academy Cadets go to. Pretty low stakes nothing fancy but the folks who go there feel super important because this means they really made it they're soldiers so they're hot shit. This is the type of bar where Rebecca Catalina would go to in the beginning of her career to look for potential mates. This is the bar where Roy Mustang got absolutely fucking plastered because he and Maes were celebrating graduating the Academy. (This bar is in Central City). Kimblee and Lode would go here too. Honestly everyone who ever went to the CC MA and graduated went here to celebrate becoming a Private.

Super infamous cocktail Ethanol Blast was a rite of passage here. If you survived that you could survive anything the Military had in store for you.

From @kimbleefucker we got a really really really classy bar restaurant called Gloria. This is the place you can only get into if a) you're the Fuhrer President or b) you know the owners and they owe you a kidney

Gracia's family boasts coming here often. They only went twice. The Armstrongs go here often.

From @xathira The Last Bullet - super sad fucking bar. It tried to be peppy and bring in soldiers as customers but it somehow turned into the bar where widows and widowers come. Business has never been better. Gonna soon become Gracia's favourite bar eyyy ;)))

Swan Dive- this is just a nice swanky bar for civilians. Lots of good bands play here. Really great atmosphere. The mascot is actually a goose. Nobody dares to tell the owner tho. If she thinks it's a Swan then it's a Swan.

Some alchemy oriented bars that cater to alchemists called Spiritus vini and Aqua vitae from @doyouknowhowtowaltz - you go inside any bar like this and you are very close to exiting with a tattoo of some kind. You just better hope it's not an alchemy array. Think of it as the equivalent of those bars where they hold those painful modern poetry nights but it's all about alchemy. You would think these bars would try and get State Alchemists to come here, but you would be wrong because those types of alchemists are sell outs. Roy Mustang is banned from Aqua Vitae. Kimblee and Spiritus Vini owners have beef because of improper alchemy practises.

Izumi and Sig come here to drink when they come to CC. Really good wine and spirits.

Now some of mine:

Lady's Garter Belt - this is the bar Christmas runs. Name up to change but I want something scandalous.

Veteran's First Drink- used to be THE bar of Amestris if you're a soldier. Back in the day it used to even be THE THE BAR. (in a legal dispute with the Deserters Last Drink)

Deserter's Last Drink - if the VFD puts up a sign in their window saying Happy Veterans Day, the DLD will put up a sign listing the death toll of Ishval, if the VFD puts up a sign saying 25% off for special drinks, the DLD will pull up with a 40% off sign, if the VFD says happy birthday to the Fuhrer, the DLD will put up a graph of all the skirmishes Amestris has been a part of since Bradley became Fuhrer. The DLD opened up directly across from the VFD)

The Three Stripes @doyouknowhowtowaltz courtesy for the name.- the original VFD owners who opened up a new bar because they didn't want to deal with Karl's bullshit. Became the NEW hot bar in Amestris for soldiers if only because it moved away from where the DLD is. They have something called Soldier Bingo. You don't want to know what happens if you win at soldier bingo.

#metallic crimson

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ablegaming · 1 year

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Photosensitivity-safe games for the Nintendo Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance

I recently picked up an old Gameboy again (the original Gameboy Advance model to be specific) to see if my photosensitivity would fare better with a non-backlit screen… to my dismay I discovered that although the intensity of lighting effects is diminished there are still a lot of flashing animations that bother my eyes and give me headaches. I’ve been working on combing through the entire catalogue of games released for the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance to find the most photosensitivity-safe games for us to play! None of the games on this list make use of any flashing animations.

For the record, I didn’t try to line this article up with the recent release of the Gameboy emulation on the Nintendo Switch Online, the timing was just a happy synchronicity. Unfortunately none of the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, or Gameboy Advance games that were recently added to the Nintendo Switch Online are photosensitivity-safe, they all make use of flashing light animations. Used Gameboys for sale can be found on eBay, at resale shops, thrift stores, and garage sales around the world.

Gameboy Dig Dug Hyper Lode Runner Megalit Motocross Maniacs (the new track record screen has flashing text, but at a fairly slow rate) Prince of Persia (the flickering candles are easier on the eyes on a non-backlit screen, also on Gameboy Color) World Bowling

Gameboy games can be played on Gameboy, Gameboy Pocket, Gameboy Light, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance Micro, Gameboy Advance SP, Super Gameboy adapter for Super Nintendo, and the Gameboy Advance adapter for the Gamecube.

Gameboy Color Frogger GBC Harvest Moon GBC (the sudden flash of the bright white segue screens between buildings/areas is way too too hard on the eyes on a backlit screen, but is fine on the Gameboy Color or original Gameboy Advance. Weeds disappear-flash briefly as you clear them from the field) Harvest Moon GBC 3 (the sudden flash of the bright white segue screens between buildings/areas is way too too hard on the eyes on a backlit screen, but is fine on the Gameboy Color or original Gameboy Advance. Weeds disappear-flash briefly as you clear them from the field) Pocket Bowling (press start quickly as the title screen has flashing text, the sudden flash of the bright white segue screens is hard on the eyes on a backlit screen or rom, but is fine on the Gameboy Color or original Gameboy Advance) Prince of Persia (the flickering candles are easier on the eyes on a non-backlit screen, also on Gameboy) NBA 3 on 3 Featuring Kobe Bryant Road Rash (there are brief flashes of white screen between publisher intros, this isn’t an issue on non-backlit screens or you can look away for 10 seconds after powering the system on, additionally road lines may be dizzying) Triple Play Baseball 2001 (turn “cutscene movies” off to avoid a flashing sign after getting a homerun)

Gameboy Color games can be played on Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance Micro, Gameboy Advance SP, and the Gameboy Advance adapter for the Gamecube. Gameboy color games can also be played on the original Gameboy with a very limited color palette, but only the black Gameboy Color cartridges and Pokémon games will work, the see-through Gameboy Color cartridges will not work. See the “Dual Mode” column on this page for the full list: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_Boy_Color_games

Gameboy Advance Chessmaster Classic NES: Dr. Mario (press start quickly as the title screen has some flashing colors, colorblindness may be an issue when playing on the non-backlit Gameboy Advance screen) Classic NES: Ice Climber (falling icicles are a little hard on the eyes on a backlit screen or rom, but they’re fine on the non-backlit original Gameboy Advance) Killer 3D Pool NHL 2002 (the goal siren light is hard on the eyes on a backlit screen or rom, but isn’t nearly as intense on the non-backlit original Gameboy Advance) Madden NFL 2005 Rebelstar: Tactical Command Scooby-Doo Super Monkey Ball Jr. Tetris Worlds (avoid looking directly at the shimmering star next to the currently selected option on the main menu, there are also some flames flickering in the background of the volcano level, otherwise the core gameplay is safe) Texas Hold ’Em Poker Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf 2002 (press start quickly as the title screen has flashing text) Top Gear Rally

Gameboy Advance games can be played on the Nintendo Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance Micro, Gameboy Advance SP, DS, DS Lite, and the Gameboy Advance adapter for the Gamecube.

If you know of any more photosensitivity-safe games for the Gameboy, Gameboy Color, and Gameboy Advance please leave a comment and let us know!

This post can also be read and listened to (text-to-speech) on my Medium page at: https://medium.com/@AbleGaming/photosensitivity-safe-games-for-the-nintendo-gameboy-gameboy-color-and-gameboy-advance-1cbeac012aee

#video games #gaming #accessibility in gaming #accessibility #disability #disabilities #photosensitivity #Epilepsy #light sensitivity #gameboy #parenting

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lode-builds · 1 year

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swamp hovel saturday

#minecraft #mineblr #minecraft build #minecraft builds #bsl shaders #the wild update #mangroves #lode-builds #maybe its the ex floridian in me but mangrove trees are my favorite trees!#love tjat they r in the game even though some aspects of this update were.. disappointing #<—THIS HAS BEEN IN MY DRAFTS FOR LIKE MONTHS #MEANT TP POST IT WHEN THE UPDATE CAME OUT ITS A LITTLE IRRELEVANT NOW SORRY I FORGOR 💀#update: i cant believe THIS ones an 1000 noter... i was not feeling it that much when i posted but glad u guys like it!#now go reblog my recent build I like her better

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sekhithefops · 10 months

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Sekhi's Zombie Survival Guide for 7 Days to Die!

Step 1: Do the Tutorial!

It seems obvious, but its a damn good idea. When you first appear in the world of 7 Days to Die you'll start out with a few quests to get you to understand the systems. Even if you already know the gist, its best to do them anyways as doing them gives you FOUR skill points right from the word go, as well as some beginner gear.

Speaking of skill points...

Step 2: Whatcha Good At?

Are you a sharpshooter? A big burly brain-basher? A sneaky stealth-killer? A rigger who makes all sorts of crazy tools? In 7 Days to Die you have five stats that govern your abilities, and this is how they work.

Perception

How good you are at being observant and noticing details. The abilities you can get from this are how to make proper explosives, use a rifle, track animals, and find more loot and other treasures.

Two skills I highly recommend from this are Lucky Looter and Salvage Operations. Lucky Looter makes you more likely to find better loot overall and Salvage Operations gives you more resources from breaking down other things (which we'll go over later.)

Strength

How big, burly, and head-bashy you are! Strength is used for weapons like shotguns and clubs, and also for things like increasing how much you can carry without becoming encumbered as well as your ability to cook (gotta be able to take the heat in the kitchen!) Also heavier armor proficiency is measured via strength.

This also has the Miner 69'er and Mother Lode talents, which govern how fast you can cut down trees and mine metals and other precious materials, as well as how much you get from doing so. Very useful to all builds!

Fortitude

How beefy are you? Fortitude governs unarmed weapons like knuckledusters, as well as the use of machine guns. It also manages traits like Huntsman and Living off the Land which govern how much food you get from harvesting animals and plants respectively.

The big ones for any build are the Recovery Perks though: Healing Factor, Iron Gut, and Rule 1: Cardio. Healing Factor gives you health regeneration, Iron Gut makes you get hungry and thirsty slower, and Rule 1: Cardio makes your stamina regenerate faster.

Agility

Gottagofast! Agility is how fast you are, how good you can handle weapons like bows, handguns, and knives, and other things.

Light armor is governed by this stat, as are things like firing guns from the hip.

The big skill here for all builds is Parkour. It governs jumping ability, but also how far you can fall without getting injured. A fall from a height may not kill you in this game sometimes, but it can result in a broken leg! This, combined with a nearby zombie horde, will likely spell doom if you're not prepared (or very lucky.)

Intellect

SCIENCE!!! Intellect governs weapons like the shock baton, which can send enemies flying with a blast of electricity, as well as automated turrets and the creation thereof.

It also manages most crafting skills such as Advanced Engineering (workbench crafting for weapons, armor, etc,) Grease Monkey (making and maintaining vehicles,) and Physician (medicines and other remedies.)

The really useful one however is Better Barter, which lets you sell for more and buy for less from Traders (which we'll get into soon.)

Step 3: Home Sweet Hellhole

You can build your own bases in this game! You can... but its time consuming, takes a lot of resources, and will provide slow minimal protection.

Instead, take a lesson from the noble hermit crab and do what I did!

Find a good house in a suburban area, preferably near a city or shopping district with lots of good resources nearby.

Go inside the house and kill the everloving hell out of everything inside.

Punch a hole in the wall near the middle and put your land claim block (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!) in there, thus generating a 'zombie no spawn here' field in all directions and claiming the house as your own!

(Insert your favorite joke about the American Housing Market here.)

Whats neat too is that you can use the Land Claim Block to show where the boundaries are for the safe zone it creates, thats how I know where to set up my defensive walls around the building.

You can toggle that on and off so you don't have giant neon green lines hanging around, but it can be useful for spotting your base at a distance as you get used to your new neighborhood.

Once you have it set up, just toss your bedroll on the ground in one of the rooms to mark a spawn point and get to building some defenses. Congrats, you are now surviving! Round of applause.

Step 4: The Post-Apocalypse Economy!

You're not the only survivor in the world. Trader Joel and his buddies have set up shop in every city in the world and will sell you all sorts of useful goodies if you have the coin.

The literal coin that is. Dollars are basically toilet paper in this world (literally sometimes) as the US Government collapsed when Joe Biden's infection progressed too far and he tried to eat the brain of one of his aides.

Funny enough it took the Secret Service about fifteen minutes to realize something was wrong, then another five to finish arguing over who was going to shoot him.

Instead, the post apocalypse uses Dukes, a casino token, as it's currency.

I recommend setting aside a spot in your base for stuff to sell to the traders. Anything you're not planning on using, mods that you have a lot of, medicines you don't want to bother with like steroids in my case, etc.

This is important as some stuff you can ONLY get from the traders! Early on you learn how to make a dew collector to gather drinkable water, but only the traders have the water filters you need to actually build the thing!

Speaking of water...

Step 5: Feed me! Feeeeeeeeeeeeed me!

Food is a concern in the post apocalypse. The local grocery stores ain't getting a resupply anytime soon and McDonald's is right out. You gotta learn how to cook buddy!

Cooking skills are governed by the Strength ability Master Chef and you can learn how to make everything from basic water and grilled beef up to hot coffee and fine tea along with meat stews and other wasteland delicacies. Infact, the better you eat the more health and stamina you have, so get cooking!

To cook you need some fuel (wood, paper, coal, etc) and the right tools. You slot the tools into place (see the upper right there) and it lets you craft the food if you know how. The tools are as follows:

Cooking Pot: Lets you boil murky water to make it safe, as well as making stews and other useful things.

Cooking Grill: Lets you grill meat, corn, and lots of other things. Tasty!

Measuring Cup: Lets you make things like glue from water and bones, and other useful but non-edible stuff.

Pick your foods, turn it on, and let it go and it'll grill you up a feast... but remember to turn it back off once you're done or else you're just wasting fuel... and something might notice the heat from the fire...

But of course to make dinner you need ingredients! Food can be hard to come by as I said above... but you have options. You can hunt animals such as rabbits, deer, chicken, and the like for meat. Kill one and take out a knife or other cutting tool, then butcher it into cuts of meat, cooking fat, and other useful things!

As for veggies you can raid ruined restaurants and storefronts, root through the ruins of people's kitchens, and the like... or you can just grow the stuff!

To grow you need two things: seeds and a farm plot. The farm plots are tricky as you need four things to make one:

Potassium Nitrate

Rotten Meat

Clay Soil

Wood

The Clay Soil and Wood are easy, just need a shovel and axe and a bit of wooded area. Five minutes of work and you're set.

As for the others... well potassium nitrate is something you can mine if you find large white deposits of it in the ground (they look like white crystals) but there is... another way...

Welcome to the Post-Apocalypse kids. Harvesting the bodies of those who didn't escape the zombie horde gets you potassium nitrate and rotten meat for fertilizing your new farm plots! Yummy!

Well, I'm sure the corn thinks they're yummy anyways.

But to make the seeds and food you need to know how to do it... and as for how that works...

Step 6: Read, or the Zombies Will Eat You

Books! There's two types of books in this world.

One time use trait books that give you a big bonus in one go, but you can only benefit from once, and magazines that you can use to learn tidbits of information that unlock tiers of knowledge for making... well... everything!

The magazines are the important ones, and I'll detail a few examples here:

Home Cooking Weekly: Yep, gotta know the recipe before you can make the pie! Reading this unlocks all sorts of cooking tricks. It starts simple with grilled corn and baked potatoes, but the more you read the more you unlock all the way up to things like homemade beer and pasta!

Forge Ahead: Be a Do-it-Yourself-er! This teaches you how to make things like the all important Dew Collector for gathering drinkable water, as well as forges, workbenches, and other things for making everything you need to survive.

Handgun Magazine: Do ya feel lucky, punk? Learn all about the crafting and maintenance of handguns from this book. Early issues give you the knowledge to make better scrap metal guns out of pipes and other found materials, moving up to crafting pistols, magnum revolvers, and even SMGs!

As for the other type of books, those all unlock one of several tiers of knowledge, each specific to a specific volume. But if you manage to unlock them all you get a special bonus for doing so! These include:

Batter up!: All you ever wanted to know about the Great American Pastime (or what was that before, yanno, zombies) Baseball! While this knowledge won't help you much with winning in the big leagues, it will let you know how to swing a baseball bat or club with devastating results for whoever is on the receiving end! Stuff like "Do 10% more damage with clubs," and "craft chain mods for bats and clubs to give them better knockdown chance" and the like. If you manage to find them all, you get a perk that makes power attacks give you back your stamina if they kill a zombie!

Wasteland Treasures: A series of handwritten notes by another survivor who endured after the bombs fell and the dead rose. These include tricks like how to harvest honey from trees when you chop them down (extremely useful for reasons we'll get into below,) find precious gems and jewelry in coffins, how to weave basic plant fibers into useable cloth, and the like. At the highest tier you learn how to harvest Military Fibers, which are used to create the strongest light armor in the game!

Whats more, if you stumble across a book you've already read the traders will pay good coin for them! Don't throw them out if you can avoid it, save 'em and sell 'em!

But now that you have knowledge its time to put it to use...

Step 7: I'm smelting! SMEEEEELTING!!!

Once you have some forge ahead magazines under your belt and in your noggin, you can make forges and workbenches! These are used to make, well, everything!

The forge works similar to the cooking fire, except that it has different tools. This one uses the following:

Advanced Bellows: Improves airflow in the forge to make resources smelt faster (see below.)

Anvil: You can hammer out iron and steel more efficiently! Crafting speed is faster!

Crucible: The pinnacle of blacksmithing tools. Allows the creation of advanced items such as steel bars and bulletproof glass, among others.

However, its not enough to have the raw materials, you need to smelt them into useable forms! How you do this is fill up the forge with fuel, put the items you want to smelt in the smelting slots, then just turn it on and... well... fuck off for a bit.

It'll convert them over time into useable raw materials, banking them in the forge itself, until it either runs out of fuel or materials.

Once you have them you can then convert them into iron bars, nails, glass, and all sorts of useful things.

From there, the workbench comes into play:

The workbench is where you make basically everything, from repair kits to weapons to armor to decorations. The works. Once you have one of these the game really opens up.

All you need is the component parts in your inventory and to tell the workbench to get working. Then in a few minutes, boom, new toys.

A new feature in Alpha 21 that I really like a lot is being able to track recipes too! Select a thing you wanna make and press A on the keyboard and the game keeps a running inventory of whats left to craft it. Super useful!

But now one of the best things to use that workbench for...

Step 8: Have Wrench, Will Travel

Making vehicles! 7 Days to Die has vehicles in it and they are vital to late game and extremely useful at any time. Each vehicle improves your mobility of course, but they also have the benefit of additional storage letting you make longer and longer treks out into the post-apocalyptic ruins!

There's five of them, and I'll detail them here.

Bicycles: The basic vehicle, a standard push bicycle with a little basket for storing goodies you find in ruins. A nice bonus, but going fast in it still drains your stamina and it can't hold much.

Minibike: A little scooter that uses gasoline instead of your legs to go and has more storage, but its fairly fragile and isn't that much faster. Faster than most zombies though so yay there.

Motorcycle: NOW we're hitting the road! The motorcycle is much faster and can hold quite a bit more, and whats more... once you have this vehicle or the next one you no longer need to be afraid of zombies on the roads... THE ZOMBIES NEED TO BE AFRAID OF YOU!!! Ramming into a zombie on a motorcycle at top speed will damage the bike, but it will do TREMENDOUS damage to the zombie, usually killing it outright! Still, you will want to keep some repair kits handy if you plan on making roadkill of the undead horde.

4x4 Truck: Its mah gahtdang truck Bobby! The pinnacle of land-based transport, the truck is a tank. Its a huge jeep with a ton of storage space and good armor that can travel great distances... but takes a lot of fuel to run.

Gyrocopter: Wendy I can fly! ... but not very well. I'll admit I haven't used one of these in a long time, several patch cycles ago, but when I tried it the thing flew like a drunk housefly. Can't recommend, stick with the truck.

The thing is, everything beyond the bike takes gasoline... and that's a resource you'll want a LOT of if you plan on driving much. So I'm sure you and Max Rockatansky want to know how to get their hands on as much as you can... well, there's three ways.

Refine Oil Shale

This one isn't an option until very late in the game as you'll need a chemistry workbench to make it and those take a while to unlock, but inside desert biomes you'll sometimes see these rainbow-colored rocks. This is oil shale and with a modicum of work with a pickaxe or other mining tool you'll have gas for days once you refine it. Find a good mine for this and you're set for the long haul.

Early on however you have two options:

Go to the Gas Station

Yeah its obvious, but its obvious because it works! Ruined gas pumps can be salvaged for gasoline, and intact ones you can just take gas from. Sometimes they'll have barrels of the stuff laying around or in storage areas too. Also keep an eye out for factories with the "Pass-n-Gas" sign, those are oil refineries. Those have LOTS.

But one other benefit to gas stations is what else is there...

Salvage Wrecked Cars

The cars! Their loss is your gain! Break down the cars to harvest all sorts of useful components such as scrap metal, plastics, mechanical parts, and of course whats left in their own gas tanks! Any car can be salvaged in this way, from family sedans all the way up to construction vehicles and big rig trucks... however...

Beware Police Cruisers!

And not for the usual reasons. These things are abandoned now, but are always locked. Thing is, they have a higher chance of REALLY GOOD loot! This one pictured had two hundred 9mm bullets inside (used for protecting our freedoms I'm sure.) You can pick the lock on them to get inside, but if you don't have the lockpicks or aren't confident you can get in without running out you can just salvage the car with a wrench to break the lock open... however...

Police Cruisers Have Car Alarms!!!

Whats rule number one of any zombie apocalypse kids? Thats right: NO LOUD NOISES!

Breaking into a cop cruiser without picking the lock will set off the car alarm, and this will often spawn several VERY strong zombies nearby! This mob was a bunch of nasty ones, including a cop zombie (think it was his car?) that I then had to fight off before I could loot the car and make my escape.

So yeah, you can loot cop cars, but you better be damn ready when you do... or else.

Which brings us nicely into our next item on the agenda...

Step 9: OH FUCK! ZOMBIES!

The zombies! The walking dead! Those who hunger for your brains, and perhaps any other choice morsels, they're not picky eaters.

The zombies come in several varieties, and I'll detail the nastier ones below.

Feral Zombies: These zombies look like normal ones, but their eyes glow and they move faster. They also hit harder and have more health. Its hard to spot them at first since they otherwise look the same, but if you see one its best to kill it fast.

Radioactive Zombies: Its a bit chicken-and-egg as to whether the bombs dropping caused the zombie apocalypse or the zombie apocalypse was why they bombed the cities in the hopes of containing it... but even nuclear fallout just makes them stronger. These zombies are like ferals, except that they also regenerate health at an alarming rate! You can just sustain fire to outpace their regeneration or, if you have it, install the Rad Remover Mod on a weapon to give it the power to negate this ability for a short time.

Fat Zombies: These zombies are... well... fat. They're very very tanky is all. They can take a lot of punishment before dying, but otherwise are no different from normal zombies.

Biker/Lumberjack Zombies: These zombies are both tanky and VERY strong. They were big burly bastards in life and that carries over into undeath. Not only can they take more damage, they can dish it out too!

Police Zombies: Fuck the police, especially so here. These guys are like the boomer and spitter from Left 4 Dead had a nightmare baby and it went into law enforcement. They can spew a blast of highly caustic acid at their enemies, but the nasty part is when they get low on health they'll try to charge you and explode! This explosion will do tremendous damage and can be instantly fatal at low levels! It may be wiser to run away if you're just starting out.

Spider Zombies: These zombies are easily spotted by their penchant for running on all fours, the exposed bones, the heavily mutated face, and their habit of making loud squeals and clicking sounds. They're faster than other zombies, but their main threat is they can JUMP! These things can leap over barricades with ease and get into your base!

Soldier Zombies: In life these zombies served the US Armed Forces, and in undeath they're one of the deadliest you can face. They're very VERY strong, a result of military training honing their bodies no doubt, and they wear military issue body armor! They take a lot to take down!

Screamer Zombies: These ones are different. They're always female and have heavily mutated mouths and necks, huge fangs too. They don't normally show up on their own, but are attracted to 'heat.' That is to say, the heat generated by cooking fires, forges, and torches and other light sources. They'll spawn near your base once you've caused enough heat and when they spot you... they scream. Loudly. Again, rule number one of zombie apocalypse: NO LOUD NOISES! Their screams summon OTHER zombies! Kill them fast or else you'll be facing a horde!

Lastly...

Zombified Animals: Its not just humans that rose from the dead! Animals became zombies as well and they're even more dangerous sometimes! There's three main varieties that I'll list below:

Zombie Dogs: I call them "Hellhounds" and they're easy to spot as you'll always hear them growling and barking before you see them. That being said, they're fast and VERY dangerous! Their teeth can shred armor and flesh with ease and they attack quick! If you have a gun, use it! Its best they go down before they can get close!

Zombified Birds: Carrion Birds in the most literal sense, they can still fly and they can come from above so they can reach you before you see them... but they're also very fragile. One good hit from a melee weapon or a clean shot from a gun sorts them out.

Zombified Bears: Fuck just run. The zombie bears are among the deadliest enemies in the game. Unless you're well geared and really confident its best to just get the hell away as fast as you can.

... but what about when you can't?

Step 10: The Zombies Got Me! ... now what?

Sometimes you just can't get away fast enough and the zombies will get you. They'll claw, they'll bite, they'll tear, and they'll do some damage! In this game there's several status effects that can do some severe harm to you, and I'll list the major ones here and how to remedy them.

Bleeding: You took a bad claw from a zombie's rotting fingernails and now you're gushing blood from the wound! You'll lose health every second and your screen will go grey as your body tries to process the pain. Any bandage will remove this status happily, so its easily remedied.

Lacerations: OH SHIT! That zombie got you DEEP! You're bleeding BAD! This status reduces your maximum health and makes it so if you get Bleeding it has an increased critical hit chance! This one isn't an easy fix though. You gotta stitch the wound shut! A sewing kit will do it, or a First Aid Kit (which has a sewing kit in it.)

Broken Arm: You took a really bad smack from a zombie and your arm is broken! Your attacks are slower and attacking with guns can actually hurt you now (that recoil is no joke!) You can use a splint or a cast to make it heal faster... but it won't heal it immediately, just faster. If you're not careful it'll re-break!

Broken Leg: Like above, but its the lower half! Perhaps a zombie got you in the leg, perhaps you took a tumble off what was once someone's rooftop, either way your leg shouldn't bend like that. Walking speed is slowed greatly and running or jumping can harm you... but a cast or splint will do the same for it as the broken arm.

Sprained Leg/Arm: They got you... but not as bad as it could be. It hurts, but you've had worse. This is the same as the Broken Arm/Leg but less severe and heals faster, however if you're not careful it can become a full on break! A sprain can't be healed by any tools you can make. All you can do is wait it out.

Concussion: BONK! You took a bad blow to the head and you're seeing stars! All your stats are lowered by one and you'll occasionally suffer bouts of dizziness where ALL speeds drop dramatically! This can be annoying in your base, but life-threatening in a fight! Painkillers will immediately remedy this however.

Dysentery: Look, I get it. Its the post-apocalypse, Wal-mart is closed forever, and you were starving... but that meat was so far past the sell by date it was starting to move. You ate something you shouldn't have and now you've got nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, the works. You become hungry and thirsty faster as your body tries to purge the foul thing you ate. Taking herbal antibiotics, drinking goldenrod tea, or drinking pure mineral water will help.

Fatigued: You're just worn right the fuck out. Good nutrition and rest are hard to find in the post-apocalypse and your body is worn down. All enemies do more damage to you because you just don't have the energy to mount a proper defense! If you manage to get some vitamins in you it'll sort it out though.

And then, the biggest one.

Infection: The Zombie Plague

You done got bit. The zombies got you and the sickness is inside your blood. Through some genetic quirk you're resistant to it, but thats all. Resistant. It won't turn you into one of them immediately, but its a nasty one regardless.

The infection is bacterial and comes in four stages. To remedy it you can use the following medicines:

Stage 1: Honey or any antibiotics. Honey is a natural antibiotic and at this stage the infection is relatively minor. Honey can be found in most kitchens, or by harvesting trees if you have the right perk.

Stage 2: Herbal or regular antibiotics. At this stage honey isn't good enough, you need medicines. Proper ones are best, but homemade will do in a pinch. You'll mostly find these in kitchens or bathrooms, or at ruined pharmacies.

Stage 3: Pharmacy Grade Antibiotics. Only the best will do at this point. If it gets any further you're doomed. These will likely be in either ruined pharmacies or abandoned hospitals.

As for the infection itself...

Stage 1: The infection is minor. You feel a bit gross but can cope otherwise. No major detrimental effects at this point. The infection will slowly get worse though, and attacks from zombies can speed it along! After an hour or if it progresses past 14% it advances to Stage 2.

Stage 2: The infection has gotten worse. You're starting to feel really sick and get tired easier. In game terms, your stamina regeneration is reduced. Lasts for three hours or until it reaches 57%, then progresses to Stage 3.

Stage 3: You're in serious danger and need medical aid immediately. The sickness has spread and is beginning to affect your brain. All stats are reduced and your stamina regeneration drops even more. You have three hours to find help, or until the infection reaches 100%. At this point the Infection reaches Stage 4.

Stage 4: Welcome to the Zombie Horde. You immediately drop dead on the spot and, presumably, will rise eventually as one of the undead.

Its important to note that treating the infection with medicines won't cure it IMMEDIATELY, it just makes the counter go the other direction. Instead of the percentage going up, it goes down. The duration is the same. Honey reduces it by 5%, Herbal Antibiotics by 10%, and Antibiotics by 25%. Once it hits that, it starts going up again, so be sure to have spare doses handy! Whats more, further attacks from zombies can re-infect you and make it start progressing once more!

But yes, thats the gist of 7 Days to Die. For a game thats been in alpha for years its surprisingly complex and a hell of a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing what the devs pull off in the future.

#7 Days to Die #Survival Crafting Video Game #Zombie Apocalypse #Horror #braaaaaains...

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inventors-fair · 10 months

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Sagas Beyond Commentary

Hello! Here is the commentary for the universes beyond saga contest. Lot of really good ones this week, and a lot a lot of cool ideas all around.

Scenes from an Italian Restaurant by @wolkemesser

I like how the last ability encourages them to give you something stronger with the first two. I’m not sure it’s *enough* to encourage it, but it might be, and it’s definitely an interesting choice. I just think this is too strong though. 4 mana, even in three colors, is really good for a double reanimate, and this does a lot more than that as well.

Witches’ Prophecy by @halfsilveredmirror

I am *fascinated* by the tech you used here, I think this is really cool, but I think you went too all-in on flavor and the card suffers for it. The conditions are just too hyperspecific imo; too all in on flavor at the cost of gameplay. Maybe “land creature” and “nontoken, nonland creature that wasn’t cast”. Even that’s pretty specific but at least a bit more doable; i can at least picture a set that might be able to reasonably make those both doable enough.

The Lode Poneglyphe by @eveydeevey

The final chapter here seems rather disappointing. I can’t think of many times I’d want a land on turn what, 9? Maybe something like nykthos, but still. Is there something else you could change the last chapter to? I’d also be careful with stuff like the first chapter, like where if your opponent has no boardstate you’re forced to make your own creatures fight, but if you don’t have good targets for that first ability you probably aren’t casting this card so it’s not a huge deal. Otherwise though, this is pretty good overall. It tells it’s story well enough- two people (who were working together?) fight, something breaks, some kind of treasure gets discovered. Pretty good for some pretty generic effects, I like it quite a bit.

First Threadfall // Fort Weyr by @bergdg

I think it could use just a little more excitement factor, it’s very conservatively costed. I like how it gives you back a land after (theoretically) making you sacrifice one, but I think the cost of the manland could be much lower cause frankly, at this same cost and those first two effects I could see a saga just straight up creating a dragon token, so the extra mana needed there is a shame.

Lumi is Saved // Lumi, the Child of Eden by @piccadilly-blue

This card does a lot of really powerful stuff. Boardwiping, Drawing cards, Progenitus. Definitely feels like too much for six mana. And I’d love for that last chapter to be less wordy than it is. And then finally, I don’t love the massive symmetrical lifegain effect, it seems like it’s pretty board stally. (though admittedly, the 10/10 unblockable should help take that down).

Monster Hunting by @insect-glaive

Oh this is an extremely solid saga design. Slowly building up resources with the first few chapters, then something to use those resources with the last. The repeatable removal you get from chapters I-III is potentially risky, but i think the fact that it’s *fighting* specifically keeps it in check.

Nona’s Third Tantrum by @bread-into-toast

This is cool, but it feels odd that the indestructible and +2/+2 doesn’t last into the combat where your creature must be blocked. Would it be possible to switch the second and third chapters around maybe?

The Great Cow Race by @stupidstupidratcreatures

The rate on this is really unexciting. I think this could very safely be XWW, maybe even XW (though maybe would need the flash gone for that).

The 25th of May by @dimestoretajic

This is interesting. Fighting tends to work well with big creatures, while this tells you to take more of a token approach. But in this specific case, since all your creatures get the fight ability, you can kinda keep throwing creatures at something until it dies. I think +1/+1 counters might be better than vigilance counters though, for the second chapter, if that still works with the flavor. Mostly you’re gonna want to be doing that fighting before blockers to clear stuff away, so if you’re taking the “throw a bunch of small things at it” approach that this card suggests, the attacking isn’t gonna do them much good anyway. I think a +1/+1 counter is better in this case, cause it makes them slightly better fighters and I think it makes the card more interesting when you can fight some without a *guarantee* that your token’s gonna die.

the Watcher’s Crown by @batatafilosofal

Big scry or surveil numbers are generally best to shy away from; they can lead to decision paralysis, and just on its own this can give you surveil 6 when the absolute max we tend to see is 5 and even that’s rare. I don’t think the thoracle like bit is a problem; unlike thoracle, it’s not immediate, so your opponent has plenty of time to mess with your plans. I do think this is too cheap though; two clues a turn for several turns for 2 mana seems like it would outclass most other clue producers.

War of land and Sea by @opalosprey

Very evocative card, the flavor comes across very well. I have no idea what this is referencing, if it’s an event from an actual mythology or something from a book or whatever, but I don’t need to. You did a great job of telling a story through mechanics, and I quite like the mechanics. I like them a lot. I like the choose-the-order thing you’ve got going on with the first two abilities, and I like the whole conceit of the card and what it encourages you to do. I *do* think it’s odd that the tutor for lands ability comes after the first two chapters; seems like you’d want that to come first, as a set up, at least mechanically if not flavorfully. I also worry that the “have an equal number of mountains and islands” bit is potentially more of an annoying, book-keepy thing than it is an interesting challenge, where you have to make sure you don’t unthinkingly play a land drop that’ll mess it up, though hopefully the tutor ability helps you balance things out if you do. (But being able to tutor for any land might lead to more combo-y stuff. Maybe “basic land” or “land with basic land types”.) I do think the equal bit is necessary though, cause the draw a card payoff for islands is imo much stronger than the damage payoff for mountains, so the equal lands of each type encourages you to do both and not lean more on Islands. This is also odd as a three color card that includes green; it definitely feels like mechanically it wants to just be izzet for the sake of mountains and islands, but the last chapter is very much Not Izzet which presents an issue.

The Truman Show by @horsecrash

The necessary exile is a *little* bit annoying. Maybe this could be “you *may* exile that creature. If you do”, or at least “up to one target creature”. But also, it’s a pretty small deal I think; it’s easy enough to work around and even if you have no creature you’re willing to exile, worst comes to worst you just hold it back for a turn. I like the way chapters I and III feed into IV. Second chapter feels a little out of place, but im sure there’s a flavor reason for it, and it’s a pretty generic effect so it’s not harming the design by being on there. I like this.

The War of Shifting Sands // Scepter of the Shifting Sands by @greensunzenith

I can’t quite get a read on this card, on when it will be used. The phasing part especially. Honestly, the best use case a lot of the time might be making a bunch of elves and a dragon and ignoring the phasing thing entirely, which seems to not be how you want things to go. Even then though, giving your opponent so many insects kinda counteracts the advantages you get yourself; and you’re *definitely* not phasing out a dragon to get rid of a bug.

Reign of the Silver Millennium by @little-red-rabbit

Seems a bit board stally. The damage prevention thing means that you’re not gonna be attacking, so you should probably be developing your board, but then the last chapter punishes everyone for doing that. Very evocative of an age of peace, just not sure it plays well.

Weekend at Bernie’s by @just--a--penguin

Pretty solid lol, very fun flavor. I almost wish it said “can’t attack or block *alone*” so that you could get the image of one of your other creatures dragging the body around. I’m also curious about the entombing; it’s definitely the strongest and most consistent way of getting a creature into the yard. I think it might be too repetitive though, you’re probably always tutoring for the same creature with a valuable ETB or something. Might be more fun to just mill so you have to think on the fly a bit more about what creature is best to bring back.

Dragonsong War by @snugz

The last ability may need to be reworded closer to original Polukranos or something; as is it’s a bit unclear how it works. But that’s largely nitpicking. More significantly, I think this card is just way too strong. Creature removal, a very strong creature well worth 5 mana on its own, then a board wipe? That’s a lot. And the removal kind of competes with the board wipe.

Captain Marsh Takes the Oaths by @nine-effing-hells

Oh this is sweet. Prooobably too powerful? Hard to say, this is a difficult one to judge the power level of. Maybe two fish, two treasure, two cards, and then keeping the last chapter the same would be fine, unless the three is really important? But I’m not sure. Maybe three is fine. I just think it gives you a bit too much value. But it does take a good bit of investment to get that going. Hmm. Sorry I’m having trouble with this one; it’s very cool no matter the power level.

Async Opens the Backrooms by @misterstingyjack

There’s some tension here between playing and not playing your cards for the last effect, and I’m not sure how I feel about it, but it’s kind of dwarfed by how very strong this is. Two mana to draw up to two cards for several turns is extremely powerful.

The Stars are Right // Cthulu, Awoken Dreamer by @jsands84

Does a cthulu card really want a downside like that? I know it’s flavorful, but it’d probably be better to represent that moment on another card than on a cthulu card. Cthulu should be terrifying. I think I just want it to be… more. Especially since the first two chapters are kinda small. Good effects, just far from worth 5 mana.

Hell Comes to Mars by @helloijustreadyourpost

Interesting. The protection means the imps will never be able to block the slayer, and means they can easily pick the imps off in the fights granted by the last ability without taking any damage themself. Those imps aren’t long for this world. But it gets a good bit more interesting in multiplayer, which given the nature of UB products isn’t an unlikely place to see this. Probably, it’s too much power for its mana. The imps your opponents get are inconsequential enough given what i just talked about, so two 1/1 fliers plus a 5/5 menace for 4 mana is just too much; the downside doesn’t offset it enough here imo.

The Hardest Question by @hypexion

This last chapter is *scary*. It gets really out of hand. This would probably be plenty strong even without the cloning tap ability. With it this is just game winning.

Thank you all for participating! -@loreholdlesbian

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventors' fair #sagas beyond #ub saga contest #commentary

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