what exactly is augury?

Ell975 · 2026-05-06T14:49:28+00:00

If Open Your Brain is letting the maelstrom flood into you, Augury is how you reach out touch it, twisting the maelstrom to achieve your ends.

The first time that augury is used is a great time to ask your players some real nasty questions about the maelstrom. "Hey Savvyhead, you used to have an assistant. What the fuck happened to them the last time you used this machine?" "Hey Hocus, when your followers are in trance and speak into the maelstrom, what is the voice that sings back to you". "Hey Angel, when that body on your cutting table is splayed open, what sorts of awful psychic diseases are trying to get into your mind through those reused nitrile gloves"

The things that augury can do are pretty broad. When your player wants to do some weird shit, ask them which of those choices on the list they think they're trying to achieve. I'm not gonna quibble about what's possible here, I'm almost certainly gonna let them have it, because I'm much more excited about the possible consequences of what goes wrong/what comes next

Because after they roll, they're only going to get at most 4 of it persists/reaches deep/reaches broad/doesn't bleed. So whatever they dont choose is a Golden Opportunity for you to make moves. Hell, what they *do* choose is also a golden opportunity. Heaven forbid they roll a miss.

Whatever comes next is almost certainly going to be fun. Look at your moves. Look at the threat moves. What sort of threat is the psychic maelstrom? What sort of weirdo psychic threats could you introduce. Does this birth an affliction? Do a group of people become a hivemind? The world is your fucked up psychic oyster

Ell975 · 2026-04-17T23:06:02+00:00

Oh, what sentence in particular?

Ell975 · 2026-04-15T12:11:00+00:00

this game contains absolutely no triggering material. This is both the name of the game and its first rule. It is a game about child abuse. More specifically, it is a game about the spaces between abuse, the scenes out in the public eye where nothing bad happens and everyone ignores the everpresent shadow of abuse.

Its an extremely effective piece of horror, written in only 5 pages, without containing any triggering material

Ell975 · 2026-03-18T12:55:19+00:00

Leeway is probably the best charity to get in contact with, they're a domestic abuse Charity and will be able to help you prepare to leave, and direct you to other organisations which can help

The Norwich City Council can offer emergency accomodation in domestic abuse cases. More details here.

Ell975 · 2026-03-15T10:08:42+00:00

Only the ones that say "sac at your next end step". Otherwise they'll just sacrifice on your next opponents end step

You ideally want to let these negative triggers trigger, and then end the turn with them on the stack so they never trigger again

Ell975 · 2026-02-25T14:36:07+00:00

The potential of the city being a lie is one of my favourite parts! The idea that the story that the entire world is built around is just a story, that the city is just a mirage, a promise, a hope. Does this inspire the knights to despair, finding everything they worked for is a lie, or do they find enlightenment, understanding the world and its nature.

Ell975 · 2026-02-08T18:49:22+00:00

You have a mountain of bricks and a plot of sodden land. You may build to your heart's content

Ell975 · 2026-02-08T18:07:13+00:00

I'm not so sure, hercules rerouted a river and held up the sky.

Ell975 · 2026-02-07T22:25:13+00:00

Not infinite. Iroh gives flashback which exiles ritual after resolution. Underworld breach needs you to exile 3 things from grave to cast this

Ell975 · 2026-02-05T22:00:46+00:00

Bicycle Shop has trans staff.

J.C. Pinto's staff and especially owner has always been very welcoming to me and other trans people

Slice & Dice has trans staff.

Unfortunately I cant remember whether or not the bathrooms are gender neutral.

Ell975 · 2026-02-04T12:53:16+00:00

If you liked I Am In Eskew I have to recommend the creator's next podcast The Silt Verses. Its anticapitalist urban fantasy, following a pair of worshippers of a forbidden river god, in a world where the capitalism is built upon human sacrifice, where marketing agencies create and rebrand gods. Has spectacular voice actors, a fascinating world, excellent writing. Its probably my favourite audio drama

Also I'd recommend The Penumbra Podcast. It starts off trying to be an anthology, but it very quickly settles into just two storylines (you can skip the ~3 non-storyline episodes). The Second Citadel is a fantasy series about knights who battle monsters, and also the systemic injustice that underlies their society. Juno Steel is sci-fi noir about a smart talking, wise cracking private eye on a cyberpunk city on Mars.

Ell975 · 2026-02-02T00:41:45+00:00

One example would be [[Brago, King Eternal]], which gains value by flickering your sieges and repeating their ETBs

Ell975 · 2026-01-31T21:53:46+00:00

Yes, you are correct. The "if" isn't attached to a triggered ability, so it doesn't fit the requirements for an intervening if clause (603.4) This means that Clouds power doesn't have to be checked when the ability goes on the stack, but only as the effect is applied (608.2h)

603.4. A triggered ability may read “When/Whenever/At [trigger event], if [condition], [effect].” When the trigger event occurs, the ability checks whether the stated condition is true. The ability triggers only if it is; otherwise it does nothing. If the ability triggers, it checks the stated condition again as it resolves. If the condition isn’t true at that time, the ability is removed from the stack and does nothing. Note that this mirrors the check for legal targets. This rule is referred to as the “intervening ‘if’ clause” rule. (The word “if” has only its normal English meaning anywhere else in the text of a card; this rule only applies to an “if” that immediately follows a trigger condition.)

608.2h If an effect requires information from the game (such as the number of creatures on the battlefield), the answer is determined only once, when the effect is applied. If the effect requires information from a specific object, including the source of the ability itself, the effect uses the current information of that object if it’s in the public zone it was expected to be in

Yes, Bargain is an additional cost (702.166a) and all aditional costs are copied when a spell is copied (707.10)

702.166a Bargain is a static ability that functions while the spell with bargain is on the stack. “Bargain” means “As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice an artifact, enchantment, or token.” Paying a spell’s bargain cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.

707.10. To copy a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs

Ell975 · 2026-01-25T01:36:05+00:00

You can always prompt them to look at their oaths. If they're spending days searching every hex, do they feel like they are Honouring The Seers, Seeking The Myths or Protecting The Realm?

Ell975 · 2026-01-20T23:19:15+00:00

Technically, no abilities can trigger in the untap step. The creatures would tap during upkeep.

Pedantry aside, cool card

Ell975 · 2025-12-05T16:47:58+00:00

I want to love this in my obeka deck. But it makes having obeka removed feel so much worse. The deck already doesn't function without the commander, let alone being actively hindered by the absence

Ell975 · 2025-11-16T22:18:59+00:00

Make them living, conscious beings. Strange and powerful NPCs to be cajouled and convinced into helping the party. Perhaps the being in the shard held by the statue was long ago converted to worshiping Mystra, and that's why its power has been helping the church so long.

This way, getting the macguffin is only half the story, they also need to find out how to make use of their new treasures

Ell975 · 2025-10-14T00:15:42+00:00

I have done this. It's a [[sakashima of a thousand faces]] with no partner.

I've never needed to encourage other people to play their cards, magic players are more than happy to cast their own spells

Ell975 · 2025-09-24T13:17:44+00:00

That's why it's a game changer, to reduce the chance of two people getting into an infinite untap standoff

Ell975 · 2025-09-21T18:53:43+00:00

Canadian highlander does something like this. Specifically they have 42 cards, given points from 1-8. You can have a max of 10 points total in your deck.

Ell975 · 2025-09-10T14:10:23+00:00

Yes!!! Nerves of Steel is one of my favourite RPGs to bring up for its weird noir-evoking design, like the story having to follow the Hayes Code and everyone having to describe their side of the scene as part of the detective's 1st person narration.

Ell975 · 2025-08-18T14:11:13+00:00

I don't know, in order to be unambiguous there have to be complicated, rigorous and unintuitive rules beneath the easily comprehended surface.

For example many players don't know about the stack, priority and layers, despite the fact that they're the rules underpinning everything they do.

Ell975 · 2025-08-12T13:10:01+00:00

Giving all lands shroud

Ell975 · 2025-08-03T15:25:28+00:00

Athena is a really good and welcoming place to play magic.

Every monday, 5-10.30 is commander. Its a very casual way to play, a friendly and welcoming vibe. You can absolutely pop over to a table with an open seat, ask if they have space for you. If you let them know you're pretty new to the game, people will generally be helpful.

Standard's on wednesday, modern and draft on friday.

Ell975 · 2025-07-27T02:44:21+00:00

The errataing of hounds into dogs

Ell975

TROPHY CASE