Know Your Role In WoW . . . But do It "Wrong."

Shammy Tank, Mage tank, Melee Lock, Regen beasts.
These are some terms that you may or may not be familiar with if you've been playing WoW for any length of time. I know a lot of people like finding ways to work outside a paradigm and succeed. sometimes that's the whole thrill is the attempt. That ability to be outside the box and try and find a unique way to use "set" rules.
Finding like minded mavericks might be fun, but they often don't have the research and knowledge to inform the strategies. This is frustrating, as well as most others who follow the "norm" roles don't have the patience or care to listen to an alternative.
Specifically, in WoW, there are one of three "roles" that a player falls into if they choose to group. Tank, which is the heavy damage taker, the guy the big baddy wails on while the rest of the group does other things. Heals, guess what he does . . . makes sure the guy Tanking stays up and also heals the other guys. DPS, literally "Damage Per Second" but has become a catchall term for any player who is not performing the first two roles.

From THIS SOURCE

As I'm sure most of you know, depending on what class you choose to play they have the ability to ONLY fill certain roles as defined by their talent specializations. Example: Paladin's can tank, heal or dps because their specializations are named "Holy" for healing, "Protection" for tanking, and "Retribution" for dps. Warriors can only Tank or dps, their Specs include "Protection," "Fury," & "Arms."
HOWEVER! There are some of us that wish to try the weird and wonderful. I'm sure many of you have heard me call my own toon "Termenus, The Incredible Tanking Mage" and my ol' buddy Necrus, who was once a Fury Spec'd-Titan's Grasp Tank, and our even OLDER comrade from the Cutthroats who was our Shammy Off-tank( the backup/secondary/tank who picks up any additional enemies). There was even this warlock who I once met that told me he was a melee lock. These are of course just actual players I have met. Many times there's a conversation about other alternatives, like Hunter Tanks (when Survival spec was heavy into the hunter's . . . survivability), Priest Tanks who stack stam, armor enhancements, mitigation specs as well as heavy heals. OR even the idea of stacking spirit on any character in such a way that your regen is ridiculous. Is it possible to give yourself such regen that your bar ticks right back every time you get hit? No idea, haven't looked it up. But the IDEA . . isn't it worth wondering? I mean, I get giddy whenever I start casting so fast the Global Cool Down stops me from casting any faster, I couldn't imagine being able to walk through combats like I was MuthaFuckin Wolverine!

Can it be done at hi end? I don't think so due to the fierce pigeon holing done by specs, gear, and the fights of instances-and-higher content. But I always have hope for leveling, especially with all the nerfs that have been done over the years, maybe even in max level instances/Heroics due to access to better gear.
One last thing though, this only applies to "at level" instanceing/partying. I consider it a "run through" or even "Cheating" if your more than 5 levels out of the encounter's suggested level or have gear that is more than like 50ish higher a gear score than the average blue/starter epic at that level range. To me, it's not only the idea of "alternative role filling" it should not be a cakewalk either.

I'm sure there are countless more "alt specs" out there. Maybe you've tried some of them? I know I would love to have enough time to not only play WoW as much as I used to but find other crazy people who play about the same time I do to try and gear up and ATTEMPT some of these crazy things. ah well. Later H47ites!

A Different 2.0

Damsels & Dragons II: Femmes Seek Funds!

Cleric, Rogue and left hip of Stone Golem . . . With Sai!?!

I know I like to give the fairer sex money if it means I get to watch, there are costumes involved, and they are very talented at what they do. I've mentioned this crew before and bemoaned the apparent drop in activity. Thanks to The Mary Sue I heard about a renewed effort to activate the shelved series.

Circulate them fun things kids! And peep the vid on my old post (click "before"), it's still the one I laugh at most. And there aren't many other vids online that aren't the episodes themselves. Gogo!

The dungeon master & webseries.

The Golem, I think. (off their Myspace)

As I mentioned last week I had the good fortune of participating in a cool event at Strategicon Gateway called The Dungeon Master. It is a performance group that does live theatre where audience members are pulled up on stage to form the adventuring party that may or may not complete the quest presented to them for that show.

Although the version I played in was a low rent/on the road/woo-this-space-allows-for-nothing sort of set up, the costumes they brought were excellent, the tech aspect served it's purpose and coming from a theatre background myself I applaud the final result, I would not dare to claim I could have done better under the same circumstances. And as far as content, the story, characters, and gags were all, at worst, amusing. Many of the jokes were clever and fun with many obvious nods to RPG and geek tropes, creating an overall sense that yes, you had played this campaign before and that was half the fun of it.

I never realized I need to buy a welding jacket for T1nk, it's kind of a good look for her. (Ty Rayne 4 pic)

Running for over a decade now this crew has been living nerdy and providing art and culture to southern California. Not content with ten years of longevity on stage they have also branched out by starting a web series.

Of the four episodes of Legends of Atoll there is a lot of fun. I'm not sure exactly how intertwined the two shows are as far as production but they are both chock full of the same humor, charm, and love of the genre.

 In having many friends who are also in the entertainment industry I usually give my honest opinions and critiques, and although it appears both products could use improvement and tweaking, I highly recommend this to all nerds. Question about your character? Ask, The Dungeon Master

Game-con-on

This weekend M'Lady & I will be in SoCal attending Strategicon's Gateway gaming convention. She will be helping keep the con looking good with the D20 Girls and I will be riding along for shiggles.
Although I don't normally attend gaming cons I do hope to change that. I'm looking forward to trying some different systems. My coworker "RunningRyan" recommended I try Arkham Horror, as I've never actually played it and maybe even put my acting chops to good use in a LARP, as there seems to be a cool Eberron session set on the lightning rail and of course a steampunk game also.

To add some vaguely relevant personal insight to this post I might discuss the new Campaign that just started with Eric the Blave as DM.

As a flavor/powering component he has had us roll up lvl 1 NPC class characters, and then when we level we will take the first level of a core class. However, instead of having us play a short prologue like he has done once previously, we rolled straight into the first session of the game.

It has been interesting so far, I like the idea in general as a neat quirk but even up against po-dunk peasants it was a challenge.

I don't mind low powered survival scenarios and if I know that's the kind of game we're going into I know to enjoy it. However, I don't know why I never learn with this DM, I expected something more epic, initially.

So, the idea is that magic is returning to the world after thousands of years and our characters are inheritors of this concept (i.e. sorcerers are unheard of, there is no "live" pantheon, everyone worships the elements, but we are the rare few to bring about change in the world). Being that our group would be (after our first "real" level) fairly unique and definitely more powerful than the average citizen of the world I anticipated some fun derring-do our first session.

I was wrong, as I so often am in Eric's games. Brad_again(rejoining our group once more after a 3+ year hiatus) and I would joke about making a kill order list of every named NPC we met and general taking a KoS view of the world if anyone was a jerk or TOO helpful. The joking was about 60% joke and 40% serious as intelligent, articulate, polite and EVIL JERKS seem to infest The Blave's worlds.

Although, even with a mob of peasants vs 3 level 1 npc's I am learning the power of a reliable strength score as well as controller characters. Even as an expert, which gets no BAB, built to level into bard, I was able to make excellent use of trips and grapples.
As much as I want to gripe, perhaps I will have enough time to see how effective I can be "dual wielding" a quarterstaff with a -2/-4 attack. For some inexplicable reason I seem to be terribly adept when my characters have absolutely no business doing a certain thing, and then does them. (My full progression Wizard who had a Bastard Sword for looks and ended up one shoting a peasant and some utiugs on separate occasions.)

Terrikahnia: Part 1

That is the name of the world I am currently running two concurrent Pathfinder games in. The main continent/human kingdom is called Greethelude, and has a late medieval/EARLY Renaissance (read: less than 12 NPC's over level 15 core classes). The adventures sort of top out at level 10 or so, but could be easily scaled up or down. For higher powered games I would lead the groups to different areas that I have not fully developed.

Its origins are actually from a failed forum RPG some acquaintances I met in high school attempted to start, called "Hellsent." Then later, as I fleshed out the world and recycled the original setting & plot I now borrow HEAVILY from one of my current WoW Guilds, "Lords of Ancient Sin" on Cenarius. Characters and characteristics of players have been translated to the universe for NPC's, and even some of the back story.

In Pathfinder the Cavalier is usually linked to an order, and one of my players chose the "Dragon" order in the book. For flavor, I reworked it for my universe and dubbed it "The Order of Schorl's Heart."

"Upon entering the Order you are granted the "Heart of Schorl" medallion.

Schorl was a female half elf Paladin who was the love of King Shakoo. Though they we're torn apart by scandal, Schorl continued to serve the kingdom and maintained her status as a beacon of light, protection and forgiveness to all.

The only order to openly recruit all genders, Men in the order are called "Consorts of Schorl" while Women are called "Schorl's Gaurd"

Derogatory terms for the men are "Schorl's Eunichs" and for the females they are either "Schorl's Busoms" or . . . "Consorts of Schorl"

King Grimmean Rules from the Northern city named Loas Keep. Generally he is a just and even headed king, though not a weakling, he did study magic more than the blade in his younger days and is still known to dabble when the restraints of court allow. Soledad "the Bear" or "Grimms Right Hand" is a well known Paladin, of the "Order of the Hammer & Shield," is a fierce protector of the kingdom and is a sight to behold. There are some unsavory rumors that "The Bear" and his Highness are more than just good friends but any mention of it in court has been met with swift disdain and lack of any solid evidence quells the conversation quickly, the offending party often falls out of everyone's favor.

A weeks ride to the south of Loas Keep brings you to Shakoo Ridge, the old capitol, and the first city of the Kingdom. Established as the "frontier fortress" as King Shakoo pushed his dominion into the north, It has become a dingy trading city where every sort of riffraff an be found. Ruled by a Duke openly, there seems to be an unofficial ruling body in the city known as "The Knaves." The thieves guild, the mysterious leader is referred to only as "Sirrah," recently they have had serious issues controlling the underbelly of the city figuratively and literally as another force has pushed them to the safety of their hold outs, the main of which is often heard referred to as "Home." To some of the more skilled and high profile "knaves" in the city, a person who goes by "M", who has sometimes signed certain correspondence as "MNBF" is said to be a shadow manifested to serve the will of Sirrah. He is often a contact and offers various jobs, contracts and orders. Never has he said it is the order of Sirrah, nor has he admitted to being a Knave to others, most can assume there is a close connection.

Another point of interest is the Temple of Tyr. Run by dark skinned clerics, it is known for it's laid back nature and it's strange acceptance of bards at all hours in its main hall of worship. The head Centurion is named Tyrone, and the High Priest is Klashaft Ngaulikahn, who goes by "shaft" for short.

One of the seedier taverns in town is called the Sickly Dragon, it has a fairly descriptive sign out front, and is known for its ability to be back to . . not clean, but normal, after almost any altercation form the night/morning before.

The Nightman, or the Captain of the city constabulary is a middle aged man who has not gone soft in the middle named Emilius Nolan Bartholomew Finch, and ensures that even though the Knaves run rampant through the city that citizens stay as safe as possible in such a city. And even though you may get your purse cut, your neck shouldn't, unless of course, you ran afoul of someone, in which case, accidents do happen. The recent shift in power has not let him sleep easy during the day, he's said to sleep almost from when he goes home to when his shift starts the next eve.

I'm not entirely sure If or when I post a part 2, but, if any of my players wish to take a test on any of this content I will possibly grant them some sort of boon, like XP, a feat. skill points in knowledge(not sure), or cool items.

Memeorable - Meme-ar-pee-gee

Many of us are gamers. Even fewer, are Table-Top gamers. It takes a special breed of nerd to partake of the truly . . . unique experience that is assembling like minded individuals for a session of shared imagining.

A skit by the Dead Alewives has had a massive resonance with my own personal experience and I think I could venture to assume it has impacted others who have come before me and those who shall come after.

HERE is the audio file, but I recommend watching both of the videos below.






AND, the less known, but, in my opinion, just as accurate and amusing SECOND SKIT. Stick it in your ear hole while shoving cheetos in your Mt. Dew hole!

H
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