Quote from: Hermes Serpent;1045465I'm afraid that the Internet, jealousy and rose-tinted spectacles make for a very toxic environment in a lot of places. There's always some sort of feud going on stoked by the anonymity of posting under 'handles' and you may have inadvertently upset someone by your memories of the people you mention and been improperly familiar rather than kow-towing to their brilliance.

Agreed, and understood. I've left a lot of places on the Internet because of this, and I think I'll be staying away from them in the future. I have other calls on on time; I've had major game events an home games all month, and I've been booked for another this coming Sunday. So, I'll keep on gaming, and reporting as best I can.

Quote from: Greentongue;1045497If we do not learn from the past we are doomed to repeat it.
Please teach us the history of EPT.
=

Agreed. I'll do my best.

Chirine, those photos are so cool! Thanks for sharing them with us.

On a completely unrelated note,

spoiler

for

The

Man

of

Gold

novel:

I'm working on my campaign, and I don't have time to re-read the book! Can anyone remind me whether the servants of the Goddess replaced existing people? Or did she just get her spies into sensitive positions? Trying to decide who's a spy, and who's gonna melt... ;-) Thanks!

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1045312In honor of the solstice:

4.1801   The Shores of the Goddess, And The Treasures Found There;

Winter Solstice, 2360 A. S.; Ru'su, in the Nyémesel Islands

The crowd in the central plaza was getting thicker and denser as the light began to fade; Chirine stopped where he was, and looked for a reasonably clear path across the plaza through the throngs of local people that were filling the broad space. He'd forgotten that this was the evening of the winter solstice, and despite never having been here in Ru'su before, he suspected that the theocrats who ruled these islands had some sort of ceremony in mind. Being a foreigner, and one who stood out amongst the crowds of the commoners due to his dress, he wanted to be out of sight and out of mind when the festivities got started; many of the places that he'd been in his career had interesting and unusual ideas regarding how strangers could take prominent parts in their colorful traditional ceremonies, and many of the less civilized ones usually resulted in the stranger being sacrificed to the local gods in interesting and unusual ways.

(...)

This seemed to be the signal that the crowd had been waiting for, and what sounded like general revelry broke out. The high priest stepped forward, took both their hands in his own, and led them out of the plaza to the gate of the Temple of Mrettén. The gates opened at their approach, and they went inside to a shrine that was just inside the temple grounds. It was small, not very grand, but endowed with an aura of sanctity that one could sense from outside the gates. The shrine's doors were opened by kneeling priests of what looked to be high rank, and then he and the woman were alone inside; the high priest had ushered them in, and then closed the doors with his own hands while bowing deeply to them.

(It was one of our very best nights with Phil, ever.)

I hope you've had time to work on the rest recently.
It's going to be goooood!

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1045662And we're back, after an afternoon of dance-offs at the tiki bar, chugging back drinks with little paper parasols in them, stealing pirate ships from the pirates, setting the town on fire, evading the city guards, and going underwater for a visit to the palace of the mermaid Queen. All the usual mayhem, actually...

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Next Sunday, they are off to the sunken city of Atlantis, to see what the Kraken is up to...

So great. Always excited to see these photos. Everything is so colorful and fun looking!

Quote from: Baron;1045782Or did she just get her spies into sensitive positions?

If I recall correctly, they were placed not replaced.
=

Quote from: Baron;1045782Chirine, those photos are so cool! Thanks for sharing them with us.

On a completely unrelated note,

spoiler

for

The

Man

of

Gold

novel:

I'm working on my campaign, and I don't have time to re-read the book! Can anyone remind me whether the servants of the Goddess replaced existing people? Or did she just get her spies into sensitive positions? Trying to decide who's a spy, and who's gonna melt... ;-) Thanks!

You're welcome! It was a great game to to watch as it unfolded.

Placed in positions, from what we saw. We didn't find out about anyone getting replaced, either at the time or later.

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1045784I hope you've had time to work on the rest recently.
It's going to be goooood!

Steadily plugging away, which is why I'm staying away from any forums but this one. I can post on them, or I can write the book.

Thanks Chirine, Greentongue, for the replies!

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1045898Steadily plugging away, which is why I'm staying away from any forums but this one. I can post on them, or I can write the book.

I know, right? Time can pass so easily if you're not disciplined! (He said, as he was busy posting replies on forums...)

Quote from: Neshm hiKumala;1045785So great. Always excited to see these photos. Everything is so colorful and fun looking!

Thank you!

Some other folks were in the FLGS at the same time as the Shieldmaidens were running this game; a sort of Marvel / DC 'Batman' tournament, from what I could gather. They had set up six-eight tables for the tournament rounds, with a "top table" for the winning round; they were going to be streaming the final round on the web, I gathered. The tables and scenery kind of put me off; no terrain, just flat tables with the commercially-available for this particular game items. These looked like interesting stuff, but you couldn't see any thing like details due to the heavy grey over-painting on everything. I think it's the current 'grimdark' angst-laden thing, and while it's probably quite in line with the current 'authorized' 'approved' look, it made for some kinda dull-looking tables.

I felt kind of bad for them; they'd obviously put a lot of work into the thing, but the casual passerby through the store tended to give them one pass and then stop by the Shieldmaidens' game and goggle at the table for quite a while. I would up talking to them, in my role of 'stagehand' and 'greeter', and several of the passer-by joined in the game and are planning on coming back for more sessions with the Shieldmaidens.

This is, for me, what gaming is all about; a bunch of friends sitting around a table laughing their heads off. And it was, too.

You may also want to have a look at the Dwarven Forge thead - lot's of good pics there, too!

Quote from: Greentongue;1045820If I recall correctly, they were placed not replaced.
=

Yep; that's what we saw, too.

Just got my Kurt Hills map and promptly downloaded the atlas. All kinds of goodness. A minor nit about the pdf not having active bookmarks, but I might just spring for a print version.

Wish there were something similar for Jakalla and environs...

Thanks, Nora, for a great Father's Day gift!

Blaise

Quote from: Baron;1045899Thanks Chirine, Greentongue, for the replies!

I know, right? Time can pass so easily if you're not disciplined! (He said, as he was busy posting replies on forums...)

You're welcome!

Agreed; I seem to be in demand, for some reason, and I'll never get anything done if I go to all the events and post on all the forums I'm being asked to appear at/on.

Quote from: bconsidine;1046028Just got my Kurt Hills map and promptly downloaded the atlas. All kinds of goodness. A minor nit about the pdf not having active bookmarks, but I might just spring for a print version.

Wish there were something similar for Jakalla and environs...

Thanks, Nora, for a great Father's Day gift!

Blaise

It is nice, isn't it? I think it's a good solid bit of work, and I'm glad to see it out there.

I have the Atlas, very nice production, and the notes about the fiefs which supplements it nicely. Pity that the map is so costly to ship across the pond though. Might see if I can get a quote for having it done locally and just get the map file from DeviantArt?.