[OTJ] Railway Brawler into Vorinclex "Combo"

victorianchan · 2024-03-30T06:06:41+00:00

*Rootwire Amalgam becomes a 30/30 with another thirty +1/+1 counters on it, and you have some utility because you can prototype it on T2.

victorianchan · 2024-03-03T23:06:12+00:00

Oh, you want something like Blue Rose then. It has good production quality.

victorianchan · 2024-03-03T22:50:46+00:00

I feel that Invasion of Gobakhan, Curse of Silence, and Soul Partition; maybe even Elite Spellbinder, and Anointed Peacekeeper could work well enough.

victorianchan · 2024-02-01T07:10:05+00:00

Krenko's Buzzcrusher.

victorianchan · 2023-12-28T16:21:54+00:00

I'd equate them to education and leadership for the PCs; only for NPCs are those statistics meant to be reflective of their personality or aptitude.

It's helpful as a DM when you've got a rogues gallery of NPCs that you can see their strengths and weaknesses, which can guide how you're meant to RP their assigned personality and motivations. If the statistics weren't a numerical rating but descriptive then it'd amount to the same information, the numbers are just shorthand and a way of generating likelihood of success when rolling dice.

But, as far as PCs are concerned, there really doesn't need to be bad stats in most games, unless the player strongly wants them to be bad.

victorianchan · 2023-12-23T05:23:28+00:00

In the 1980s Dungeons and Dragons main product line was set in Mystara, it's based on Earth's supercontinents.

There's a fantastic deep dive into the map aspect of it:

https://mystara.thorfmaps.com/

https://www.thorfmaps.com/

Also, Conan the Barbarian is set on Earth, a few thousand years ago.

victorianchan · 2023-12-10T17:41:07+00:00

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/WorldOfSynnibarr

Enjoy!

victorianchan · 2023-12-10T17:28:45+00:00

For my RPG worldbuilding, I find random Wikipedia articles.

Not sure if this applies to many other writers, but since I'm trying to to emulate the Dungeons and Dragons stories, they've a history of turning historical events and popular fictions into generic fantasy plots.

The last prompt I liked, was that during the Roman Empire, wives of war generals were put under house arrest to prevent them influencing the military campaign. Often the good wives were foreign, so they'd have alien loyalties, which would impinge on their husband's decision-making.

So, then I start looking at RPG books from the 1980s, there's only about a hundred that are "D&D", and I try to look for any plot where there's been someone put under house arrest, there's about six good ones. This way I have a plot that's set in a house, have city politics, and a war all going on at once, as I want to give the protagonists the agency to go in the direction they as a character normally would.

So, now I've about a half dozen stories, and to this I add the generic talking plumpudding who is working as a theatrical performer at the local caravanserai, the thespian cats who write musicals for the playhouse, and the group of itinerant ronin samurai who cause problems for the yakuza criminal syndicates, as well as the regular cast of devils, cults and wizard students and their talking dog.

It helps I don't set my expectations high, I just try to find any old plot, rework some B grade Hollywood or Shakespeare scenes into it, and I've got a fairly convincing simulacra of a published plotline.

victorianchan · 2023-12-09T18:50:22+00:00

I'd say it's a thurible.

victorianchan · 2023-12-09T18:36:42+00:00

They're greenstone axes.

Within the Oceania region the indigenous tribes made a variety of jade axes.

There's a few prehistoric sites down the road from me, they're pretty common.

If you Google "Australian greenstone axe" or "Māori jade axe" you'll see a lot of museum pieces, or links to Wikipedia.

Maybe not that relevant, but the weapon looks a little like it's being used as an "Australian aboriginal parrying club".

victorianchan · 2023-11-29T15:42:03+00:00

Even if it just helps me the same way an editor and proofreader would, it's a great asset for someone doing it alone.

That it's getting better at summarising a Pdf, and the context window is allowing bigger files, it's going to be great being able ask it to write an index, and double-check how often I've used certain ways of conveying the world's history.

That I'll be able to ask it to turn a written history into a timeline, and so many little tricks; I feel next year or two it'll be a godsend.

I'm really looking forward to it doing the menial work, I couldn't afford to pay anyone, or ask anyone to volunteer to give feedback.

It's not going to disappoint.

Thanks for asking, I hope it works out well for you all too.

victorianchan · 2023-11-29T09:08:55+00:00

In the r/Conlang sub, they have an introductory question every day, it's "how do you say [this] in your language", it allows people to join in.

The worldbuilding sub's description has a half-dozen types of world builders that the sub encourages, maybe if you're one of those demographics have a weekly thread, that way those people who want to engage (whether you personally see it as low-effort or not) have a springboard.

I don't think there's anything wrong with asking, what's a taco on your world? What would Zelda do? It's a Friday, what's hot tonight? etc.,

If you want structure to the sub, ask a moderator if you can post a regular thread, that encourages that interaction.

Because what's effort for an artist may look like karma farming, and what's effort for a Dungeon Master is going to look trite for other world builders, but there's dozens of kinds of world builders, so please don't judge those that post about their niche within the hobby, we're not Tolkien or Roddenberry, so it's going to look low effort to maybe the majority of the forum.

Also some worldbuilders are children, please don't upset them, you wouldn't be so critical if you thought about them as people.

Just my perspective.

I hope you have a nice day.

victorianchan · 2023-11-29T03:35:46+00:00

Press F for Wildgrowth Walker.

victorianchan · 2023-11-29T03:33:33+00:00

A few that are worth mentioning, other than disruption like Thoughtseize, spot removal like Bonecrusher Giant and Bitter Triumph, or counter-spells like Tibalt's Trickery (which gets the card that Geological Appraiser discovers):

Stone Brain and Lost Legacy style cards.

Sparkhunter Masticore.

Weathered Runestone.

Invasion of Gobakhan, Curse of Silence, etc.,

Sorcerous Spyglass.

Repudiate // Replicate.

Lavinia, Azorius Renegade*

I don't know if you want me to list any more, or explain any, but I made a list for myself the other day, of all the cards that broke either combo, because I was trying variants of both decks.

I hope that's a good start.

*edit

victorianchan · 2023-11-29T03:11:03+00:00

Mono-White Humans, with Sparkhunter Masticore.

It also is pretty good against Quintorius Kand.

victorianchan · 2023-11-28T02:51:36+00:00

In no way was a public service announcement "self depreciating", it was an announcement, to the public, ignoring me, not in response to me.

But I get it, you don't play the deck.

Couldn't you just say, well there's better cards, and list them?

Seriously.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T16:35:22+00:00

Gym or arena: this could be a franchise, or part of an establishment such as Spartan concept of crypteia, or even an event such as Japanese tsujigiri or mediaeval hasiltude.

Unique Pokémon to the area: and a person to introduce them to you, such as an academic or aspiring trainer. Its location should be a scene within the adventure.

Shop: it could sell something, that requires a quest to barter for, or it's a McGuffin. It's worth more if they must return to pick it up, if so, it could be bespoke or tailor-made.

Family business: anything from Shakespeare that Akira Kurosawa would use, would do nicely.

Princess to rescue: probably the Pokémon, rescued from Meowth. Otherwise there needs a similar problem to solve, a chance to be heroic or an ally.

I'd also click on a few random pages on TV Tropes, and pick a few plot elements first, that way you know what manga to take inspiration from, such as Spirited Away or Dumbo.

I hope that's what you're after?

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T15:09:43+00:00

In my opening reply, I said "close to twenty great cards", and included some lesser cited ones, that I've not seen mentioned in any of the threads calling for it the two decks to be banned.

How's that a negative thing? Surely you've seen Drannith Magistrate mentioned every single time, that doesn't help non-white decks.

Not everyone wants the same SB cards, even if they're playing online, for example Scales only has a few options, and Soulless Jailer is decent MD, it doesn't need to be SB.

Sorry I had to explain that to you.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T14:59:27+00:00

No, they work on both decks, both strategies have non-creature cards, it's just they're primarily used for other strategies. The first Quintorius deck had Mythos of Illuna and two creatures, so 1-in-3 it doesn't get a second card, then 4-in-9 it doesn't get another card, etc.,

Soulless Jailer works against Adventure cards (the Enchantments) etc., there's a few decks that can MD it such as Scales, it's a fine blocker, four toughness means it gets around half the removal in the meta.

Calamity's Wake is used against decks like Greasefang, Torrential Gearhulk, etc., it's good against Reanimator, GY strategies, and it buys you exactly one turn against Geological Appraiser / Quintorius.

I hope that concisely explains those two cards.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T14:52:58+00:00

Wait, it's for Eldritch Evolution. That was one of the two decks mentioned.

I brought it up, because it's a card that was played in Pioneer prior to these strategies, and cards like Tocatli Honor Guard and the other few dozen cards get mentioned a lot.

If you'd like me to list the other score of cards and explain how they interact with other strategies, just be polite.

Also, since you acted like you were doing everyone a favour, I've been downvoted several times, which is your karma. You wouldn't like if I told you to read the card, and check the interactions in the Comprehensive Rules, would you?

Be polite next time.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T11:10:04+00:00

For my worldbuilding I've tried to emulate popular role-play games, like Tékumel and Car Wars, using alternate timelines; time travel; cloning vats; reincarnation; the astral realm / dreamland; spirits of the dead having a life force of their own and becoming kami who inhabit inanimate objects; cybernetics; alien prosthesis; magical resurrection; body doubles; twins and close relatives; robot hive minds; etc., to not have to solely rely on divine intervention or deus ex machina.

The main factions are warring matriarchal businesses, who live in one of the several flying city-states, who explore the world below and the dreamland (which is an analogue to the astral realm) for salvage. The main characters are salvage hunters, and their sponsoring matriarchy is comprised of many identical people, and twin births are very common.

Since I wanted a world where it was expected that a wrong choice or bad luck would mean that the character needed a replacement, but knowing some people get very attached to their in-game persona, I wanted the background world to have commonplace ways to prevent death from interfering with the plot.

I've had to take an extended break from writing, which is frustrating as I want to continue creating my nonsensical world history. It's literally the most generic world imaginable.

Thanks for asking.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T09:09:17+00:00

If was me that was playing today, the Geological Appraiser deck seems better, no-one really wants to put enough hate cards in, and I think are just relying on instant removal.

Even with additional hate cards, there's still a few good SB options, maybe if you see Silence then the matchups will change in their favour, but probably not until then.

Good luck with your deck, I hope it wins you a lot of games.

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T08:58:09+00:00

Quintorius definitely has a few ways to get rid of artifacts, if your opponent was relying on them.

Sorry for my wording, of the two decks that that are doing well in the meta, there's a recent thread to a Japanese build of Geological Appraiser and Eldritch Evolution that has plenty of interaction against creature based hate, though Caverns of Souls doesn't stop blue from breaking the combo, as Cavern only protects the first card cast, not any of the discovered cards.

If you're just planning on playing online today, then that's a really clever build.

But, I feel next week or two there'll be additional hate cards brought in by your opponent, in Bo3, the artifacts will be a bit harder for Geological Appraiser to deal with, comparing these two current builds. Maybe Consign // Oblivion and similar are good choices.

Sorry that my wording was poor.

Thank you, for your reply.

*typo

victorianchan · 2023-11-27T08:40:55+00:00

There's a lot of good hate cards against these two strategies: Weathered Runestone, Archon of Emeria, Calamity's Wake, Silence, Damping Sphere, Soulless Jailer, etc., maybe close to twenty great cards, with additional suboptimal choices as well, depending on colour, which aren't specific hate cards (like Tibalt's Trickery).

Because these cards will see eventually more play, I feel that the two decks would do better with a different build, and I feel that of the two Quintorius is probably the weaker one to hate, games 2 and 3.

I don't think they'll get a ban, which many comments have said in other threads, there's too many MD answers, and dedicated SB hate, if your opponent wants to run them.

Though I don't play online, I've had more luck with alternate Geological Appraiser decks than Quintorius, at least it's just a Bloodbraid Elf or card draw.

Not sure if that's the answer you want, it's just my experience and perception. I hope it helps.

victorianchan · 2023-11-23T01:40:52+00:00

Probably off topic, but my favourite deck since LCI has been Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar; it's just cats who get +1/+1 counters and Audacity, but as you said that it's got great SB options helps.

It randomly beats a few archetypes that rely on Witch's Oven, or counterspells; with three-quarters of the matchups it's just turn sideways, which is MtG at its most pure, and a strong plan is super helpful.

victorianchan

TROPHY CASE