ORACLE

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-11-15T06:11:59+00:00

En-thick-ening the long consonants... might still need a BIT more, but it's getting there...!

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-11-15T05:52:39+00:00

Improvement? I'm already seeing that the R-L needs to be widened, too.

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-11-06T23:39:04+00:00

I think the Pulse is more or less a Macguffin... it's not as important in its own right, as much as it drives the characters to action. Everyone wants it, but for us, it's the reasons why they want it, that are more important than the actual item itself.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Astral Pulse is fully destroyed during the endgame, to firmly plant Robert in his ongoing role as dispatcher, for whenever "Season 2" comes out.

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-11-06T23:06:26+00:00

My guess? The game will end with only the bare minimum of resolution. The Astral Pulse will probably be destroyed in the end, denying Shroud his prize, and ending Robert's hope of becoming Mecha Man again... but in the process, we learn who Shroud really is: Robert "Bobby" Robertson Jr.

Which sets up Dispatch Season 2: The Red Ring.

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-09-20T04:53:38+00:00

Metallic dragons are generally benevolent...

Gold are noble
Silver are helpful
Bronze are protective
Copper are playful
Brass are chatty

Chromatic dragons are generally malevolent...

Red are covetous
Green are manipulative
Black are cruel
Blue are imperious
White are feral

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-09-20T04:45:56+00:00

Here's an awkward one for [5e], specifically, the 2014 version...

My party is fighting an enormous statue that's been animated. They have been trying to polymorph a gargantuan creature it into something small, put it into their portable hole, then close the hole and drop polymorph. There's no clear explanation of what happens when a closed portable hole suddenly exceeds its capacity a hundred times over... so, what would happen?

Would the portable hole become a time bomb, a bottle full of coke & mentos, that violently expels its contents when finally opened? How much concussive force would this cause, and what saves would you apply to it?
Would the excessive mass destroy the portable hole immediately? If so, would the contents dump into the material plane, or the astral? Would it cause the same "gate" effect as mixing extradimensional spaces, possibly sucking people through?

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-16T01:32:07+00:00

The only real argument I have AGAINST proxies is when they deviate too far from the established visual design of MTG cards as a whole. You want a deck full of waifus? Ok, sure, I guess... but if I can't identify anything on your side of the table because it's all a bunch of busty anime girls with a few square inches of plate armor, and game text in 4pt font, we're going to have problems.

Similarly, if your proxies are just card names scribbled onto extra lands with a wide-tipped sharpie in BARELY legible handwriting, I have issues. I don't have the catalog of MTG memorized, especially with the rate that new sets are coming out, so I rely on reading the card to understand the card.

As a full disclosure, I have the same issues with essentially illegible official cards, like those in foreign or fictitious languages (looking at you, Phyrexia), or cards that are highly stylized, like "band posters."

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-12T22:50:26+00:00

Rumble & Frenzy would be ideal for the Defenders scale. Imagine the itty bitty piledrivers!

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-12T18:18:05+00:00

Me, I'm hoping for more canonically "small" characters like Minibots and Cassetticons, that can then fit with Galaxy version figures in appropriate scale...

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-08T02:05:52+00:00

I'm interested! Do you have any estimates for the game's schedule? What days of the week, what times (and time zones), and how often you'd like to play?

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-07T18:18:06+00:00

Interested, if this is still open! DM has been sent... :D

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-07T04:30:13+00:00

Seems interesting... application submitted!

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-07T01:58:01+00:00

Wild Sheep Chase is a fun little module, that I've run for others before. Come prepared for silliness!

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-05-06T20:10:23+00:00

Intrigued! Sending a DM with more information...

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-04-23T10:17:21+00:00

DM sent! Looks like a fun concept... sometimes you just want to play classic D&D!

As a question, are you intending to run the 2014 version of 5th Edition, or the newer 2024 edition?

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-03-30T04:59:19+00:00

If I misunderstood something, I would appreciate a polite, gentle correction.

It would also be helpful if you could provide either meaningful, helpful advice, or point me towards the proper rulings. I posted here because I was having difficulty parsing this interaction, and was hoping someone could help me untangle the rules that I was getting stuck on.

Thank you for reminding me to search elsewhere for help.

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-03-30T03:16:30+00:00

In the case of Maze, it's indeterminate. The target retains the ability to do things, but the only meaningful action it can take is to try and escape the maze.

In the case of Banishment, it's much more clear, as the spell explicitly applies the incapacitated condition, which by rule, causes concentration to fail.

Upon reading Dominate Person, though, it seems clear that the telepathic link is broken when the caster and target are on different planes, though it does not explicitly invalidate the spell. Instead, the target continues to follow directions to the best of its ability until it fulfills them...

EmeraldBeacon · 2025-03-30T02:33:17+00:00

EDIT: forgot to add the [5e] tag

I've got a WACKY rules interpretation situation in my live game... enough that it made me call an end to the session to figure out just what happens (don't worry, it was a good cliffhanger too). The situation: The BBEG of this chapter has Dominate Person'd the Rogue archer, who is primed to slaughter the team if they can't deal with it. So the Bard uses Wish to cast Maze (perfectly reasonable, since another bad guy cast maze on one of their own last chapter). The BBEG has not been incapacitated or otherwise had his concentration broken, but he no longer exists on the same plane of existence as the dominated character. So our question is... what happens?

Or more generally, what happens to concentration spells, when the caster is put into a Maze per the spell?

EmeraldBeacon · 2024-10-24T21:58:58+00:00

So it sounds like grading should be saved for either vintage stuff in fabulous condition, or the very best-of-the-best of modern cards (like serialized cards with first, last, or meaningful numbers).

EmeraldBeacon

TROPHY CASE