Laughing Gods in the Eye: Tragedy + Time = Healing Magic

When the Goddess of Life was asked if she was upset that the greatest healing magic belonged to another, she always said no.

 
by Ethan "JB" Goldman

Leviathan's Feast of the Mind Selected Trivia!

At this past Feast of Leviathan a new tournament was unveiled, Leviathan's Feast of the Mind! Below are a selection of some of the questions from that tournament. Answers will be posted later in the day. Feel free to collaborate on social media to figure out the answers, but simply looking stuff up is boring!

Odd One Out - Choose which of the items in the list are not part of the listed category

10 Year Anniversaries - Several event series hit the milestone of being run for 10 years! Find the imposter(s) 

• Blackwood Tournaments 
• Ashen Bounty
• Tournaments of Chaos
• Tournaments of Artemis   
• Feast of Blackwood  

People Knighted This Year (1023) - Lots of people were brought up in front of the crowd and knighted. Find who wasn’t!

• Shader Jarlsberg - Knights of the Lunar Aegis
• Orion - Knights of the Eternal Flame
• Tao Kang - Knights of the Realms
• Hygar Athame - Knights of the Eternal Flame

Say What You See

What are the pictures below trying to tell you from the last year?

What are the pictures below trying to tell you about Leviathan?

What are these pictures saying to you?

Connections - Each of these four seemingly random clues are connected. Can you find out how?

• Line Battle - Five Man - Risx - Live Chess  
  
  
• EoR, QoH, FotL, WLB 
  
  
• Chimeron, Venomland, Ashenmark, Invictus 
  
  
• Yours is the claw of the lion, Yours is the hide of the lion, Yours is the shoulder of the lion, Yours is the roar of the lion 
  
  
• Drow, Erl King, Bedlam, Imperium 

Order! Order! Put these lists in the order in which they occurred.

Historical Events, Chronological Order

• Rhiassa Joins the Free Nations
• Da’oud Breaks the Sword Dalindanna
• Da’oud becomes Lord of Rhiassa
• Leviathan Scale First Minted
• Arrival of Jomsvikings in the Realms
• The Great Eye Defeated

Feast of the Leviathan Subtitles, Most Recent to Oldest

• Oak and Arrow
• A Tribute to Chimeron
• Here’s To You, Ashenmark!
• Gwen Unleashed
• Gathering and Parting

Food for the Feast, Least to Most

• Pounds of meat to make meatballs 
• Pounds of fresh sauce made for the dinner course
• Pounds of broccoli and cheese soup 
• Pounds of milk used to make the ricotta for the lasagna

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Maker's Space with Justin “Grarr” Balanca-Hawkes!

Organized by: Justin "J'ortsa" Thibeault

Maker's Space is a new View series about interviewing the makers, crafters, and artificers of the Realms and sharing their creations with everyone! I know I take pride in my work so I know you all must as well. That being said, how often do you get to humbly (or not so humbly) brag about your creations, so this is your outlet! Tell me everything!!

1. What is your OOC name?

Justin Balanca-Hawkes

2. What is your character's name?*

Grarr Seawoods

3. What crafting mediums do you typically work in?

Leather and various shield mediums

4. What is your favorite medium to work with? Why is it your favorite?

Plywood for shield construction. It has a really classy look to it and takes paints and finishes really nicely.

5. What is the most challenging part of working with this medium for you? How did you overcome it?

Finding a plywood that is strong enough to be effective as a shield while being light enough to not be a burden while fighting. I overcame this by working out how to make a plywood and plastic laminate that has the look and feel of plywood while being reinforced by the plastic.

6. What is the piece you are most proud of? Why?

Currently I am most proud of 2 different shields that I put a good amount of time into. The first one was a commission to make the lightest shield that I could possibly make with custom art on the front. The second one is KFG which I am very honored that I was asked to make that item.

7. What is the piece you have done most recently that you are allowed to share? Tell us about it!

My most recent piece was a set of pauldrons that I made for myself that some people may have seen at this year's Feast of the Leviathan. They're a pair of black and tan stacked leather pauldrons made from veg tan leather sporting dragon scale tooling and dark brown antique.

8. What is the earliest piece you made? How long ago did you make it?

The earliest thing I made in the Realms was coincidentally a sled shield that was probably the single worst shield I've ever made, but it got me through my first event and a good few practices until I was able to make something better.

9. What medium do you wish to learn more about or have been interested in? 

So I already know a good amount about 3D printing as a tool, but I'm very interested in exploring it more in the context of our game for things like armor, props and similar uses.

10. What advice do you have for the rest of the community when it comes to crafting and making?

If you have an idea for something that you want to make just go for it! None of us started out making these awesome projects that you might see us making now. Also, most of us want to help you make your cool ideas too so don't be afraid to come and talk with us and ask us for advice!

11. What inspires you to do what you do? 

A lot of different things inspire me to make things. Most commonly I find myself making things that I see online, at events, or just in my head that I thought might look cool or that I think might be useful at an upcoming event.

12. Is there anything else you really wanna share with us? Any upcoming projects, etc.?

One of my goals for this year is to complete a full set of leather armor for myself so I'm sure there will be lots of small projects happening throughout the year for me that I'm looking forward to.

Realmsle #14

 

This custom Wordle-adjacent-puzzle features a 5-letter word that is particularly relevant to the Realms.

If the embedded page isn't working below you can click this link to get to the puzzle.

Like regular Wordle you can copy your results (but only if you follow the link), so paste them or a screenshot onto social media to let us know how you did. But no spoilers!

Laughing Gods in the Eye: Just Us Tournaments

A new satyrical Realms gods comic series
 
by Ethan "JB" Goldman

Rules to NPC By

Rules to NPC By
 by Travis "Elwin" Wilcox

Good day everyone! With such an influx of new players and their generosity in donating their time as NPCs, I thought it would be a good idea to write up a little list of guidelines to follow when you are playing a crunchie NPC for another event holder. This is by far not a comprehensive list, but it will get a lot of the bad habits out of the way and allow for a good time to be had by all.

1.      Remember we are doing this to make sure the players are having fun. That doesn't mean you can't have fun as well, but chances are you got a reduced cost to get into the event and you are helping the game as a whole by playing an NPC.

2.      You should never backstab players to kill them. No one likes to just die without having a chance to defend themselves. Sure, a leg shot here and there is fine to remind them to keep their head on a swivel, but it is unsportsmanlike to just drum roll someone’s back.

3.      Remember to always fight as your monster. If they are a goblin, they shouldn't be a super soldier fighting above all other players out there even if you as a player a physically capable of doing so. Tone it down, you have a ton of lives the players have very limited.

4.      In that same vein, you shouldn't machine gun as a crunchie. Take the shot and pull back. If you slip inside that shield man's guard don't just go crazy in there. Give them a chance to correct their guard and keep fighting. One missed block shouldn't equal death on a fully armored fighter.

5.      As important as it is on a quest for the players to take their hits, it is infinitely more important for an NPC to do so. Like above, you have a ton of lives where the players have few. It hurts nothing for you to over call and take a death on accident then to miss a shot and end up killing a player.

6.      You are the interactive piece to the world that the characters see. If you are a goblin act like a goblin, if you are a troll act like a troll. It is important to get into that character as much as you can to bring the world to life for the other players.

7.      Pace yourself. Depending on how many NPCs are in your group you may have a hard day's work ahead of you. There are times when you need to be constantly fighting on the field for an hour or more. Make sure you take care of yourself and drink plenty of water. Grab a snack to keep your energy up and remember, it is okay to slow down a little bit if you are getting tired. Mistakes happen when you are fatigued, and no one wants anyone else to get hurt.

8.      Make sure you ask your Event Holder or Head NPC how the special calls work on you and how you should respond to them. Things like Enfeeble Being, Fighter's Intuition, and Ritual of Banishment, make a world of difference to the players casting them and it feels bad for them if they just get a “No Effect” or a shrug from the NPC.

9.      Finally, I would like to stress that many of these can be overruled by an event holder so that they can try and better tell their story. Unless they are asking you to break a safety rule, it is their decision if they want you to fight at full ability or backstab without warning. Just make sure they are the ones giving you that call, and you are not taking that liberty upon yourself.

 These are just general rules to follow when you are playing a basic crunchie NPC. Things change quite a bit when you are given a lead role or a more powerful monster to play. They usually have special calls as well as special defenses and unique ways of playing them. The biggest thing out of all of these to remember is Rule 1. We are all doing this to have fun. If you are ruining your player's fun by how you are acting, you are not doing your job as an NPC. That doesn't mean don't challenge them but also make sure they are not overwhelmed.