Meme Mondays

by the Meme Team

What I Learned from the Players' Meeting

by Matt "Vesper" Hewitt

What I learned at the Players' Meeting is:

• Before making any proposal be sure to check with older players in the community to get some context and history on previous rulings 
• Be clear and concise with the wording of your proposal; any vagueness or typo could kill the proposal 
• Present your proposal to others before the meeting as a way to prepare common clarifications people may need from you 
• Keep answers or clarifications short and focused. Rambling will make people lose focus on the topic being discussed 
• Do not hold onto your blue card for later, if you have something you believe must be addressed do not be afraid to make sure you are heard 
• Take your breaks fast or you could get back to the meeting in the middle of a proposal you care about 
• When making a vote do not look around the room too much; it may sway your choice to go with or against the larger group 
• Vote for what you want no matter what those around you choose. Your vote could make or break a proposal 
• Be careful with how many proposals you put up especially if proposed in a row or you could end up giving a lecture to the entire meeting 
• Be sure to stand and stretch regularly; restlessness could cause irritation 
• The meeting will be mentally exhausting and tiring, be sure to get a good night's sleep and plenty of caffeine to stay awake and alert 
• The longer a discussion takes the more likely people are to hold up orange cards and cut the discussion short so be sure to say your part but not give a speech 
• Do not get defensive when discussing your proposal, aggression and curtness is not productive to the game or conversation 
• Be polite - people will be more willing to listen to what you are trying to say, which could be enough to get your proposal or amendment through the meeting 
• At the end of the day everyone who attends is trying to improve or better the game; whether we all agree on the execution or not, we all have the same goal

Altar of Light Tutorial

by Stephen "Laika" Sanford

How to Make a Permanent Light-Up Disk for Rituals

Materials needed:

12”x12”x ¼ ” sheet of clear Acrylic

Pure white LED strip 1 meter/39” long with usb end.

USB power bank

5 minute 2 part epoxy

Super glue

Sheet of ⅛” poster board

Sandpaper 60-80 grit and 100-400 grit

Access to a 3d printer and filament (or substitute with wood)

Access to a Laser cutting machine (or etch/cut the acrylic yourself)

The first step is to get your design that you want to etch into the acrylic. You can look online for vector images or make your own. You can either print off the design and scratch up the acrylic yourself or use a Laser cutting machine at your local maker studio. You can find instructions for scratching it yourself online, but for the purpose of this article I'll be talking about using a laser cutter. Your design should be black and white with the colors inverted (anything black will be etched and shows as white on your disc) and a secondary color for vector cutting (red in this case).

Using a laser cutting machine involves two steps: first, raster (etching), then vector (cutting). Rastering can take a long time depending on your image, this project took an hour and a half of etching. Vector cutting often takes only a few minutes. Make sure to do your cutting second as the acrylic may shift and move after it is cut.

If you are 3D printing your frame, you can use a 3D design program to create the necessary files. I used TinkerCad, which is a very simple and free browser based software, but there are many available options such as Onshape or Fusion 360. For this project I had a 12” diameter acrylic circle so I needed to make my frame a little wider than that. For my frame design I went with 318.8mmx318.8mmx14mm for my outside dimensions and 300mmx300x23.25 interior dimensions with a groove on the inside that is 307mmx307mmx8.25mm.(Most 3d printers and design programs only use metric measurements.) If you make your own frame then make sure you have a interior groove that will allow the thickness of your acrylic and is wide enough for the LEDs (most are ¼” wide strips). You also need a hole on the bottom of your frame for your wires from your LED strip to protrude out of and plug into your battery pack. You will need to print with supports and remove them. This frame must be separated into at least 2 parts so that it can be assembled around the etched acrylic plate. You can either cut it down the middle and attach, or leave an overhang open and attach that to your bottom. Due to the size of this project, I was required to cut this design into 4 parts for the build volume of my 3d printer.

Take your LED strip and place it inside the track of the frame, making sure the LEDs are facing in and are tight to the frame. If they are not, you can use super glue to keep the LEDs in place. This can be tricky as you cannot have the frame fully put together until you epoxy the frame together with the acrylic inside. This process can take a half hour or more for the 2 part epoxy to set enough that it is stable, and then several hours to a day for it to fully cure. Once cured, sand all edges starting with a 60-80 grit paper and finishing with a 100-400 grit sandpaper.

Cut out your ⅛” poster board a little bigger than the size of your acrylic and spray paint it if needed (preferably a matte black for contrast). This will go on the bottom of the acrylic so you can see your etched design better and hide your battery pack. Clean the acrylic with glass cleaner and make sure it drys before this next step because any dust or smudges on the acrylic or poster board will be noticeable. Slide the posterboard inside the frame behind the etched side and super glue it in place.

You also need to design a method of holding the battery pack on the backside of project. I designed a holster to be placed on the backside and epoxy in place, however you can get away with other means of attaching it like using a small bag, velcro or even permanently bonding it into place. The LED strip that I bought had a remote control to turn on and dim the LEDs. I designed a holster to fit inside the battery pack holster to keep this control together. Make sure your wires are neat and secured to the board with either velcro or zip ties.

Finally you have to attach the legs for the project. Since my battery pack was 22mm thick and the remote control was 5 mm thick, I printed cylindrical legs to raise the project 29mm off the ground. Then I used 2 part epoxy to secure everything to the frame and let it cure overnight.

There you have it - a finished light up disc.

Heroes of the Western Flank - Thank You

by Lani "Gwen" Jones

My sincerest thanks and congratulations to the following individuals who were recognized as Heroes of the Western Flank at this year's Leviathan:

David Rubenstein (Tirvanel)
Neil Kusleika (Eldritch)
Tucker Noyes (Temorse Sorrowind)
Ethan Goldman (Jean-Baptiste)
Ryan Welch (Orion)
Sean Finn (Eamon Azzamean)
Nick Quadrini (Raynor)
Alyssa Lee (Umbra)
Sarah Fournier (Evie)
Sean Veale (Wil Craven McKrye)
Brendan Tarcotte (Baledor)
Kyle Yazinka (Killian)
Joe Sims (Rillan)
Keith Cronyn (Saegan)
Becky Baron (Kovaks)
James Murphy (Tao Ya Kang)
Emily Murphy (Kara Nithisdottir)
Jacob Ruggiero (Mogar)
Steve Nelson (Torolf)
Wendi Lovett (Belle)
Hannah Blood (Nhadala)
Benjamin Lacasse (Pilpus Finnigan)
Tom Gallagher (Avendar)
John Rescigno (Gordon Lightfoot)
Lynna Gallo (Nova Starr)
Michael Durocher (Vuel)

Combat NPCing is a tough job, but it's vital to the way that our game functions. The people who were recognized this year (and I'm sure we've missed those who weren't in attendance at Leviathan, or who were otherwise unable to register with us, or whose surveys we might have misplaced unpacking from the event), have provided a great service to our community. Although the Heroes of the Western Flank don't serve for the recognition, I think it's especially important to highlight those individuals who give us all some combination of their blood, sweat, and tears. Please take the time to thank them, and everyone who NPCs for helping to provide you with a quality player experience.

A Voraniss Adventure: Part II

by Renee "Kindrianna" Booke

[Editor's Note: Part I is available here]

Tromping through the woods alongside Wynn I really began to appreciate the changes in my life. For so long I had felt like an outsider to the Realms. It was approximately eleven years ago that I had seen a tree for the first time after all. All these new experiences had overwhelmed me as I learned about them, and now here I was running through the forest like I belonged here. This was my domain now. I had made this place my home by fighting for it, spending time in it, and contemplating its many lessons and mysteries. It didn’t mean I had everything figured out yet. Occasionally there was still a new experience I encountered that I didn’t quite understand, but ultimately it all worked out for the best. I was happy. Even now, running through the woods and gathering my friends to head towards an unidentified threat, I knew joy.

When we found Tulkhan he froze like we had caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. The extended eye contact made me nervous, so I froze too. There we stood, staring at one another. Me with squinted, nervous eyes and he with a large stick in his mouth. Wynn didn’t seem to pick up on the tension in our little exchange and ran over to greet him.

“Tulkhan, Tulkhan! There are people in the forest!” Wynn exclaimed. “We’re going to go investigate and see what they want.”

The young wolf dropped the stick, and his playful nature was replaced by that of the young serious warrior he aspired to be. “People? Are they supposed to be here? Are we chasing them out?”

With a heavy sigh, I shrugged my shoulders. “They didn’t seem too keen on Wynn sniffing about their camp,” I explained as I recalled her tale. “I doubt they are looking to make friends. To make matters worse she saw them by the Boar shrine last.”

Almost as if reading my mind, Tulkhan spoke one word aloud: “Mogar.”

I nodded my agreement. “We have to hurry. The Orc is not known for his patience.” I wrapped an arm around Wynn’s shoulder and encouraged her to sniff the air again. It was good practice for her to try and use the abilities of her bear form. I knew that if she struggled, Tulkhan or I would have no problem picking up the slack. Tulkhan’s wolf abilities put me to shame, however. Where I was still learning about what it meant to be a wolf, he had lived their experiences since he was born. Such tracking came as naturally to him as breathing. In this situation, I was glad for his expertise.

Wynn wrinkled her nose as she concentrated, turning to face the direction we were heading. “It smells like flowers and trees that way,” she said proudly. “I don’t know what that other smell is. I think I tasted it once though. Honey maybe? Cinnamon?”

Tulkhan stood beside her and closed his eyes to concentrate. “Oh! That’s just Evie.”

“Excellent. Let’s grab her as we go. If she’s on the way, hopefully, she’s not busy and can come with us,” I added, already starting off in that direction.

Tulkhan looked back over his shoulder at the stick he was leaving behind. He was a little sad about it but knew that there was a job to do. He didn’t linger long and began to follow after Wynn and me hurriedly. Out of the three of us, he was the quickest, able to navigate the forest floor without disrupting the leaves and branches that lay underfoot. You would have thought it was because he was small that he had this advantage, but life has its way of surprising you. Hygar, for instance, was able to sneak up on people all the time despite being a junior giant. No, this wasn’t a size thing. This was a practiced thing that I liked to refer to as the “hunter walk.” He passed us soon enough, going up ahead to scout out the area while Wynn and I continued together.

Despite all the drama, I could hear her stomach rumbling with hunger. I felt a little bad that we couldn’t stop for snacks, but this was too important. I would have to reward her later for her effort. I had almost forgotten the difficulties this time of year brought to any bear types. Hibernation was around the corner. Did celestial bears need to hibernate? I made a mental note to investigate at a later date. I would have to add it to my ever-growing pile of unresolved worldly mysteries for the time being.

“Wynn, sweetie, you doing okay? You hanging in there?” I finally asked her.

“Uh-huh!” she replied cheerfully. “I’m so glad I get to run around with Tulkhan and Evie today. Sometimes Tulkhan shows me where he buries stuff and I get to see his secret treasure collection!” She grinned from ear to ear, proud of herself.

“Ooooh. How fascinating. Well, I won’t tell him I know about his secret treasure collection now. It will be our little secret,” I replied, smirking.

“Okay!” Wynn giggled.

Evie was waiting for us in the clearing when we arrived. Tulkhan had beaten us there and informed her as to what was going on. She was beautiful as always, with a crown of flowers adorning her head and small little bunnies scampering around the clearing at her feet. They seemed to like her. Possibly because she was always giving them carrots or other vegetable snacks. They made her happy though because any time one of them wiggled their nose in a particularly cute way she would squeal in delight. As we approached she raised her hand in greeting.

“Hi, Lady Kin! Hi Wynn! Guess we’re off, hmm? Tulkhan continued on ahead. He wants to see if he can catch Mogar before he encounters the outsiders,” Evie said.

“Thank you, Evie,” I replied, grateful for the update. “Let’s hope he can.”

Evie gave a gentle pat to a particularly plump bunny with a unicorn horn sticking out of his forehead. A creature that I was not entirely familiar with. “See you later little friend,” she cooed, before joining the rest of us on our quest to the shrine of the Boar.

Meme Mondays

by the Meme Team

EHC Spotloght: Interview with Justin Mitchell

Interview conducted by Ryan Welch

What motivates you to write proposals?

The rule book should be seen as one of the entryways into the game. I want the rule book to better convey and set accurate expectations for the way the game is played, in a simple and straightforward manner. I write proposals I feel will reduce the number of misunderstandings, unspoken rules, nebulous meanings and close known loopholes. My goal is to write simply worded, broad and inclusive rules, instead of creating lists of edge cases that focus on what is not allowed. I also want to see better balance in the spellcasting system that allows for more creative character choices.

Is there a particular aspect of the game’s mechanics that particularly interest you?

The spellcasting system is the aspect that is of the most interest to me. It's one of the things LARPing provides me the ability to play with that other activities do not.

You probably have written more proposals than anyone else this year. Do you have any personal favorites?

I do for different reasons and in different categories.

What about proposals written by other people? Are there any that you find particularly interesting?

I don't view proposals as having owners but evaluate them on their own individual merit.

After looking at the list I can't really say I have favorites but there are many so far I would love to see passed that I think would clean up the rulebook or enrich the game overall. Since I of course like all of my proposals, otherwise I wouldn't put them up, I'll instead highlight the proposals that others have put forward I'd most like to see pass.

Clarify Armor thickness
Clarify Regeneration
Combine purity

I like the idea of the wizard blade options but I just don't think they are quite there yet.

By "wizard's blade", did you mean Sorcerer's Blade 2.0, or Invoked Weapon?

Both. I like the idea of it but I think both needed more balance work. I haven't checked this week to see if they are in a better place now.

Do you have any suggestions for the authors of those proposals? Or any other authors of proposals?

I think it's important to think through all the ramifications your proposal may cause even beyond their current scope. Then if possible enumerate them and explain why those changes are good or how they are mitigated by your proposal. For example moving a spell up or down one circle changes not only the spell, but any build that contained or could contain that spell, and any choice of spell in both the new and old circle. Ask yourself does it add or remove a playstyle? A new loophole? Are there any unintended consequences? Are there other proposals that may alter the end result? Can you mitigate or prepare for those possibilities?

Really it comes down to putting as much thought as you can into each proposal and utilizing other players and the draft boards to bounce ideas around and check for angles you may have missed.
When altering spells ask is there something else that can already do this? Is it better here? Should it be removed from there? What is the value of each possible choice when compared to others at this circle? What does this add to the game? Why will this make things better?

If you had the power to change, add, or remove anything from the Omnibus, what would you do?

I would reorganize the rulebook to first address what is needed to make a character and get playing and move the crunchy mechanics, calls, and construction rules in their own sections at the back. Much like you would see in modern day rulebooks, where character creation is one of the first sections and crunchy combat rules is one of the last.

I would also rewrite it to focus on what is allowed within the system instead of what is not. When I first read through the rulebook as a newbie I was afraid of a game that had so many rules devoted to how players should not act, which lead me to believe that the game was rampant with people that required these things to become specifically stated. I would work on pairing down a lot of the specific exclusionary rules and verbose examples to instead use more common language and simple rules. If your example provides more insight than the wording of the rule itself, you should revise the rule text until the example is no longer necessary. If you have lists of exceptions players will always find a new loophole to make a new exception for, where a stronger and broader rule can provide coverage and allow for positive exceptions in specific cases by focusing on “you can” instead of “you can’t” in a specific cases.

I also believe the burden of knowledge on how the game works should be shared by everyone playing the game and not a select group who want to focus on one thing over the other. I would remove all references that specify or hint that any person or group playing the game does need not read the entire rulebook. Just because fighters don't cast spells, does not mean they should not know what they do, how they work, and what options are out there. In the same way all casters should know how armor calling works and what a legal blow is.

I would also do an overhaul on the spell power balance.
By first comparing and ranking all spells with similar effects mathematically based on speed, short term effect and long term effect per spell slot filled. Then comparing the player desire against every spell at the same level, level above, and level below to determine where each spell effect belongs in comparison to the others in the power structure. Then I would do this again with any combinations of spells that can feed off or interact with each other. This would go a long way to highlight and remove false choices without gutting the spellcasting system. Once the strength of spells are properly cataloged we can then create rules to allow for specific play styles or fix specific needs of the game. For example the strength of heal limb is much greater than any other second circle spell as shown by the fact it's an auto take for nearly every spellcaster, yet it remains there because it's integral to the way the game functions. I would prefer that we call it out as a special rule instead of a 2nd circle spell to balance other 2nd circle spells against.

Is there anything else you'd like to say before we wrap up?

I would love to see more voices, feedback, and opinions involved in the proposal process, specifically the drafting board. I have learned quite a lot about the current rules and the reasoning behind them by participating in the discussions found there.

Justin Mitchell took second place in the 2019 View From Valehaven Award for "Best Newbie" and has written an overwhelming abundance of proposals over the past few months. To see his and other proposals, visit https://www.realmsnet.net/proposals.