Knave of Hearts - Complete Event Information

 

What is Knave of Hearts?

Knave of Hearts is an alternate version of Queen of Hearts Tournaments and War Maneuvers that will run on odd-numbered event years.

The overall mission of Knave of Hearts is to design an experience that is in many ways similar to the traditional norms of Queen of Hearts but to create a version where players can simply ‘show up and play’ without the need to coordinate teams or prepare the many roles that are required for those teams.

Knave of Hearts puts fighting in War Maneuvers all day as the principle focus with some individual combat, some small-group combat, and some crafting tournaments sprinkled in. 

Please read on below to have a full understanding of what to expect at this year’s Knave of Hearts.

Showing Up and Playing at Knave of Hearts

There are no premade teams for Knave of Hearts. You do not have to find a team to join or coordinate with anyone ahead of time at all. To play at Knave of Hearts just bring all of your gear and get ready to spend the day in a wide array of large group fights.

People will be sorted onto four different teams once tournaments begin on Saturday. Those teams will be named for the four different card suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs). Each team will have a single Knave that is leading them that will be determined as those teams are made.

In virtually all war maneuvers two of the teams will face off against the two other teams on a rotation, meaning that every team will fight alongside and against every other team multiple times throughout the day. Each team will accrue points for winning war maneuvers independently of one another.

Many war maneuvers will be unlimited. Some will be ‘Queen of Hearts Limited’. See the description on the Queen of Hearts War Maneuvers page for a full description of ‘Queen of Hearts Limited’

We will be having an individual (and 3-person) weapon-style showcase at the conclusion of the daytime on Saturday. In these tournaments each of the four teams will be represented separately. 

There will be some small-group combat (specifically 5-person) tournaments on Sunday morning. In these tournaments each of the four teams will be represented separately. 

The very last tournament of the day on Sunday will be Knave’s War which will pit all four teams against one another in a spectacle that’s not entirely unlike Queen’s War but with some exciting new twists!

Knave of Hearts Tournament Information

This is a mostly-complete list of tournaments and war maneuvers we plan on running throughout the weekend. Things may get cut from this list, rearranged, or even be added based on time considerations for the event and the pace we follow.

Below are very brief descriptions of the tournaments. The standard Queen of Hearts tournaments will run very similarly to normal (with some slight deviations) and players may refer back to the Queen of Hearts pages on rhiassa.com to learn more about how they work. Some other tournaments that are returning classics will probably require a bit more explanation but complete descriptions are forthcoming.

War Maneuvers (Saturday and Sunday). Every War Maneuver that is won will bestow ten (10) points to both of the teams that were on the winning side. Winning a War Maneuver (and only War Maneuvers) will result in both teams getting a Knave Card.

• Field Battle (Unlimited and QoH Limited)

You fight. In a field. 

• Bridge Battle (Unlimited and QoH Limited)

You fight. On a bridge. There will be a time limit. When the time limit is reached in the Unlimited version of this tournament it automatically switches to QoH Limited.

• Folkestone Challenge (Unlimited and QoH Limited)

A classic tournament! You fight. In a field. That field is full of obstacles that you have to fight around or over or under or through while you are facing your opponents.

• Castle Battle (Unlimited and QoH Limited)

You fight. In a castle. Teams will take turns attacking and defending. There will be a time limit. When the time limit is reached in the Unlimited version of this tournament it automatically switches to QoH Limited.

• Monster Chess (Special armor and magic rules)

A classic tournament! It works a lot like Rhiassan Live Chess but all the pieces are different monsters with different special abilities (the Queen is troll twins!).

• Hadrian’s Wall (Unlimited)

Fight an opposing team on the opposite side of a wall, raising flags for point control. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• Wizard War (Super Duper Unlimited)

A classic tournament! If you are a spell caster you automatically get an extra path of spells (circles 1-5). Then you may also choose either another extra path of spells (circles 2-6) or a bump up in your weapon restriction. If that bump up in weapon restriction takes you from light restriction to no restriction you may also wear two points of armor.

• Luck of the Draw (QoH Limited)

A classic tournament! Your team gets sorted into very small squads. Squads get called into the melee in a randomly determined order as the fight builds to its final form.

• Rock Assault (non-com)

Throw bean bags (rocks) across a maze-filled field to score points in the opposing goal. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• Grand Teamwork (non-com)

Participate in a physical and mental challenge as a team that will test your ability to plan and coordinate. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• Challenge Race (non-com)

Run through this obstacle course as a team completing challenges of skill and chance along the way. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• Knaves War (QoH Limited)

The culmination of the weekend. See more information below.

Individual Showcase (Saturday Afternoon). Winning an individual or 3-person tournament will bestow five (5) points to the team that those competitors represent.

Each individual on your team may fight in one individual tournament and one 3-person squad tournament. They may not both be the same weapon style. All of these fights are true limited and casters can break restriction to enter them.

• Single Short Individual
• Single Short 3-person Squad

• Mixed Florentine - Individual
• Mixed Florentine - 3-person Squad

• Sword and Shield - Individual
• Sword and Shield - 3-person Squad

• Hand and a Half - Individual
• Hand and a Half - 3-person Squad

• Oops all Ranged - Individual
• Oops all Ranged - 3-person Squad

5-person Squads (Sunday Morning). Winning a 5-person battle will bestow ten (10) points to the single team that emerged victorious. 

• 5 on 5 Lines

You fight. In a Line. With 5 people on a side. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• 5 on 5 Bear Pit

Each side sends in one competitor a time, the winner stays in the pit to fight the next opponent. As per normal Queen of Hearts rules.

• 5 on 5 Jugging

Jugging (or Jugger) is a boffer sport that transcends Realms (there are international rules and leagues) though it certainly has a history in Realms as well with our own adaptations that better fit our game rules. Each side has one ball carrier (the Qwik), one true-florentine wielder, one sword-and-shield wielder, one hand-and-a-half wielder, and one Ball and Chain wielder. Only the Quik can score points by placing the ball (actually a skull) onto the goal on the opponents side. The Ball and Chain weapon will be provided by the event.

The Crafting Competition at Knave of Hearts

(The Arcane Artisan Competition)

Crafting is an important part of the fabric of Queen of Hearts and therefore Knave of Hearts must honor that aspect of our community as well, though it will do so through a fundamentally different method.

The crafting tournament at Knave of Hearts will be known as The Arcane Artisan Competition, and it is essentially a tournament about crafting create-your-own magic items.

Any individual who is attending Knave of Hearts may make a single entry to this crafting tournament. Since there are no pre-made teams there is no way to know who else will be on your team the day of the event and a single team may end up with many entries overall.

You may choose only one of the following categories from which to make your magic item

• Armaments (weapons, shields, armor, thrown spell props)
• Apparel (clothing, cloaks, hats, shoes, etc)
• Artifacts (jewelry, accessories, wands, other spell props, etc)

You may employ whatever crafting materials or methods you choose to make your entry to this competition. The item must be brand new and completely crafted by the artisan that is submitting the entry.

All items must have a significant amount of blue on them, though they do not have to be completely blue or even mostly blue. They should all be particularly ornate and come across as giving the impression of looking magical in some way. This is of course in the eye of the beholder, but it is the vibe you should aim for.

You must make up a power for your item and have it printed/written out on a piece of paper that you will submit with your item. Magic weapons can swing magic along with having one very minor power. All other items may have a power that is roughly equivalent to the power of a 3rd circle spell.

At any point after teams have been sorted, each Artisan should place their crafting entry on the tables upstairs in the tavern. The top floor of the tavern will be set up as an Artisan gallery. There will be blank placards on which you will write the following information

• Your proposed name for the item. This name must begin with “The Knave’s…”
• The suit of the team you were sorted on to.
• You must NOT put your name on the placard. The goal is for all entries to be anonymous.

Throughout the entirety of the day on Saturday the crafting entries will be on display in the gallery. Over dinner break the judges will determine the winners.

• There will be up to three (3) winners from each of the categories for a total of up to (9) winners.
• There is no detailed rubric for judging this competition. The winning entries will be the ones that are the most impressive both visually and in the quality of their construction.
• Each winning entry will earn five (5) points for the team they are on. A team can have more than one winner in the same category.
• The winning entries will become magic items for one calendar year. The staff reserves the right to modify the item’s powers before granting it the status of becoming a magic item.

Nightquest

After dinner break there will be a significant nightquest by a major plot team. More info coming soon.

Knave’s War

The final culmination tournament of Knave of Hearts will be Knave’s War. You’ll see that Knave’s War is in many ways inspired by Queen’s War to create a similar experience, ending the event in grand fashion, though there are many differences as well.

Throughout the course of the weekend, teams have earned Knave Cards for winning war maneuvers. These cards have no rank or suit, they are all equally “Knaves”. The Knave Cards that your team has earned will give you a subtle advantage in Knaves War.

The four teams will each compete separate from one another, forming four queues that create a square shape on the tournament field. The left side of each of those lines (looking from the middle of the field) is where players will enter the fighting area. Everyone in every line starts the tournament by “standing” (to use the Queen’s War parlance), there are no people sitting initially. 

Teams may give the Knave Cards to whichever players on their team they choose to. These are essentially ‘wild cards’.

Every member of your team that does not have a Knave Card will be given a standard playing card by the marshaling staff. These will be passed out in such a way that your team will end up with roughly the same number of cards of each suit.

Your team will then arrange its standing line in this order

1. All players with Knave Cards
2. All players with Spade Cards
3. All players with Hearts Cards
4. All players with Diamond Cards
5. All players with Club Cards

When it is time for combat to begin, the head marshal will pull one card from a shuffled deck and call out what suit it is. When that suit is called out your team will send in either:

• The first person in the queue that has been assigned that suit or
• The Knave player that is at the front of the line.

Equipping some of your strongest players with Knave cards and being able to choose when they enter the fray is the advantage that comes from having won those cards throughout the day.

Once the suit is called out by the marshal they will start a 5-count. By the end of the 5-count if your team hasn’t sent in a Knave Card they must send in the matching suit.

Out of the four players that enter the arena only one will be the winner. The three players that lose will start or join the sitting line for their teams, sitting in front of the standing line in the order that they died. Suit order does not matter in the sitting line.

The winner of that fight gets back into the line, at the back of the group that matches their suit (or at the back of the Knaves if they have a Knave Card). They also take the person at the front of the sitting line and have them rejoin the standing line at the back of the group that matches their suit.

Play will continue in this way, with the marshal drawing a card and calling out that suit to enter the arena. If a suit is called and you no longer have anyone who can enter the arena from that suit, you must send in a Knave Card to replace them. If you also do not have any Knave Cards your team forfeits that turn.

Play continues in this fashion until only one team has standing players.

The winning team of Knave’s war receives 25 points.

Prizes and the End of the Event

Prizes to commemorate Queen of Hearts are an important part of the experience and Knave of Hearts will keep that tradition alive. 

After Knave’s War has concluded we will gather together to give out awards for the War Maneuvers, squads, individuals, and crafting tournaments. We will also recognize this year’s winning Knave of Hearts.

(All of the information in this article is archived at http://rhiassa.com/qoh/knave.html)

Why I Want To Go - Anthologies

 

From Violets 

Hello, wonderful people of the Realms, this is why you should join me in questing at anthologies. One of the reasons I'm so excited to go to this event is the blooming. I'm extremely interested in finding a way of healing or curing it using information gained from ground zero. Something else I'm very excited about is finding out more about the blue blazers. The blue blazers is a group I’ve only heard of once before, and im excited to be able to interact with them, though I have been told they do have a price for asking for their help. Hopefully, no one makes any deals.

On that note of making deals, I have been extremely interested in learning more about the weavers. For those unfamiliar with how the strange magic door and people work, the rough gist of it is that there are titles that hold power. Such as weaver, tricker, and traveler, with these titles you can manipulate and change magic and reality in different ways.

Hope to see you soon- Violet

---

Margaret here.

I’m really worried about Makhta. The darkness in QTN has gotten worse, to the point where there are rumors that The McKyre is returning to fight the darkness because the darkness is here. I should’ve made fixing Makhta part of the deal for putting Soultaker in charge of the Dreaming, but I didn’t realize the Dream Demons were going to keep the Chimeronian Vampires because it was ‘funny’. But I digress. 

Meanwhile, someone from a group called the blue blazers wants help finding the actual name of a door, presumably the door to the Lauralins. Nothing sketchy about that. They are offering to take us to Springs, which is the location of the first known case of The Blooming. I still have a ritual that may be able to cure The Blooming, with the looming question hanging over me of if it’s worth the price. All while a former Villain continues to bet on my successes, and to stack the deck in my favor. So uh. If anyone wants to help with all of this I certainly wouldn’t say no. Because the chess pieces are being assigned, and I don’t want to end up as a pawn. 

With Light,

Magus Margaret August, Lightbringer

OOC Note:

I am incredibly excited for Matthew’s first foray as an EH, especially after having to miss their storytellers mod. The teams involved in anthologies are fun, and I trust them to roll with things while managing to turn a free event in the park into one of my most anticipated events so far. Kathy as MM is going to be hilarious, Sky will make us cry, and Matthew will make me want to pull out my hair. All in good fun. Can’t wait to see you there.

~ Bri

---

From Companion.

As someone who the villain has tried to directly afflict with the blooming finding ground zero is an exciting venture. We may be able to collect clues on how to cure or at least slow the progression of the blooming within hosts. This could help us save countless people as the blooming spreads through the lands, as it was designed to be a magic nature combo curse. It's a pain in the ass to fix after a certain point, but if we can find more information, it may be possible!

There is also the potential to find out more about Midoru, the rune that was supposed to be dead long ago. This rune has recently seen a resurgence, infecting at least two known people, myself and Makhta. During our questing into the plane of lost things, two items were found containing Midoru: a necklace and a wand. As of now, what happened to the necklace is unknown. There is still so much that we don’t know about Midoru. However, what we do know is scary on its own. We know that it never died, and that it has a cult to back it. We know that creatures with it on them have started showing up, and we know that it can spread. I am both excited for and dreading what we may learn during this quest.

I hope to see you there,

LiiCompanion

What You Missed - The Gilded Lion and Silver Branch Summer Festival V

By: Sawyer "Jericho" Judkins

This past weekend was the second time I had the fortune to attend this Summer Festival, and it was a great time both times.

The day started off simply with greeting friends as they arrived and some light snacks. The weather looked like it promised to hold out and be nice and warm. And warm it was. The first thing that happened was some group tournaments being run! The Grand Melee kicked things off, which was a great time. Following that was time trials against a horde of Kobolds. Unfortunately, I did not get to participate in the other tournaments as I was working on acquiring some spells at that time, but I heard yells of javelins and something about frogs, and it looked like everyone was having a blast. 

Soon after that, food came out from the kitchen, and as always, you can expect a great assortment of food from the Rhiassan kitchen. Lunch was loaded hot dogs and piping hot french fries. The perfect thing for a summer festival. There were also an assortment of special drinks both from Rhiassa and Chrysantha as well. I did not get any myself, but I had a few sips of Toothless’ and they were fantastic.Other great food mentions throughout the day would be the fruit and caprese skewers as well as the pretzels with an assortment of dipping sauces. Plus a machine that regularly made fresh popcorn.

The Gambler’s Guild also put on a poker tournament! I sadly did not have the time (or the coin) to participate and lose in it this time around, but I know those that played had a good time. The casino was also open all day allowing people to spend their time and gold with each other if questing was not on their menu for the day.

Throughout the day, there were also occasional appearances of infernal looking goats or something. They would rush in and seem to target someone. I took out a bunch from behind, but they ended up exploding taking me with them that time. Another time there was a couple wolf looking beings that came in asking for a chicken to be taken care of? This is information I heard second hand, so I do not know the validity of it.

Soon after lunch, questing began in earnest. I found myself on the Western Flank while others fended off the efforts of Reapers within a forbidden city. I heard there were a large number of adventurers that took part in it. Alongside that, I believe there was supposed to be some Dino-Jousting, but I am unsure if that happened. 

There was a short break before we adventurers once more took to questing in a couple different ways. I heard something about Door Magic and science on one. I ended up getting to deal with some pirates on the other quest a little late, but we managed to find some kind of ore we were looking for, and managed to not lose Ace to some pirates.

After that, I once more headed to the Western Flank while adventurers came to the aid of Arken led by the Fox Spirit to remove a threat that had been hidden from The Mirror while it was active this past winter. A personal thank you from me to everyone that came out to help deal with our problem. While that was going on, I hear that some brave young adventurers ventured once again into a hidden library!

Once questing was wrapped up, we took all our tickets from questing and tournaments and put them into Orion’s Bucket so our names could be pulled to spin a now unrigged wheel to earn gold. Big shout out to the Gambler’s Guild for supplying Aeston with a new wheel, much to his chagrin since there was more than one big winner this year! 

Dinner. Dinner was a loaded mashed potato and corn on the cob. You could get it plain, or you could get it loaded with so many tasty bits, like chili, cheese sauce, and broccoli. I am honestly still thinking about that potato almost a week later! It would also be remiss of me not to mention dessert. Fern, as always, supplied an amazing and delicious spread of baked goods. This year there were chocolates, cookies, and meringues. My absolute favorite is still the Earl Gray Cookies.

As the day came to a close, Aeston lost a ton of money to the wheel, and we all packed up and  headed on our way after another amazing Summer Festival. To hear that this was the last one is bittersweet, and I look forward to more exciting things in the future. 

In service to the Realms,

Jericho Axelthorne

Lord of Arken

Watcher of the Skyless Sea

Squire to the Knights of the Sabble Dragon

Knight of Chaos

What You Missed: Toothless Edition

We went back to the library. We had to paint some stuff to make bad guys happy. I got to throw some Magic Missiles. We had to wrap up some mummies in bandages and then put flowers on them. After dessert, we got to help with Spin The Wheel and it was fun. I got to see a big bolt of lightning. POPCORN!

Toothless

What You Missed - Chimeron Questing XXXI: Lights in the Dark

by: Keith "Saegan" Cronin

Out of Character: 

I want to get this part out of the way, because I plan to keep the OOC short. What you missed of this event on an out of character level, was a showcase of what a good questing event can be. The event holders and team, through their passion for the game, were able to show off a wide range of talent in combat, craft, a development of deep lore, and rich story. So basically, you missed a great event. Nice work Chimeron. 

In Character:

We began our adventure being informed by Professor Mia that her scouts had gone missing, and that we should probably go looking for them. We moved along in the direction of where she’d guided us, and honestly it didn’t take us too long to find them. 

Well, I say “them”.  We found people that were being held prisoner, and that were claiming to be the scouts. Pretty early on, I decided that they were not to be trusted. One of them had said that Mia was looking for some animals with crystals growing out of their heads which was, to me at least, suspiciously inaccurate. 

I did seer magic about it. I’ve been into that recently. People say I’m talking to myself a lot more and seeing things, but I promise it’s not a problem. 

So I did seer magic about it, and determined they were in fact part of Harden’s Torch, an organization we believe metaphorically descended from the Wellman. An organization that’s trying to destroy what’s left of the Dragon civilization. I tried to tell the questing party this, but honestly the “scouts” were being so friendly, in typical questing party fashion, we let them follow along with us anyway. 

We marched deeper into tunnels, and eventually passed through a waterway that was both treacherous and filled with terrible monsters. I nearly drowned, don’t tell the Royal Guard. Somehow, all my Blackwood companions could simply breathe. Except for Liana, but she’d rather be dead than wet. 

We made it through the treacherous wet! Omri using seer magic determined that the true scouts were further ahead. And I finally told Temorse what I knew, and between Omri’s information and my earlier information, he determined we could just kill them. What a breath of fresh air. That’s a drowning pun. 

So, they offed the tall not-scout, and the questing party that had become attached to him decided to do seer magic about it, and determined that we were in fact right. We looked for the other scouts, but they’d disappeared. Which, honestly, good on them, probably got to live longer that way. 

We moved ahead, and got ambushed by the rest of Harden’s Torch as we came upon a closed room. We got sandwiched between a rock and the hard place, as the Torch rolled a massive boulder at us. Nos saved my life! It took some fighting, but we eventually dispatched the villains. 

We got into the room and discovered it was some sort of alchemy lab, filled with secret codes and tricks. People were confused and recklessly trying things, and blowing themselves up with fireballs. I nearly died, but I saved myself with my circle of protection. The trials of that room were challenging; there were so many codes, and ciphers, and solving them all within the time before the fireball fluid blew up in total was quite the feat. But we did manage to succeed. 

Escaping the room, we found a winding path that led us to the Foundry.The Foundry, or Foundry 13, was a place where the draconians created gemtech. We found it, and that’s where we decided to rest for the night. 

I started the next day off with a bang, well a ritual. I gathered my people to support me, and seanced Daedalus, the leader and founder of the culture we were investigating. I chose him because I’d been successful in seancing him before. While that was occurring, I called on the powers of my lands and people, as well as the magic of prophecy, to sort of recreate him in my mind. A shared passenger if you will. This felt dangerous, but I had the confidence of a hero, and the backing of a large group of fairly powerful people. And in short, it was successful. Daedalus joined my mind space. 

I spent the rest of the day, and the next talking with him. So pardon me if I get confused about the rest of the happenings, but my memory was a tad occupied by an extra 400 something years. 

While we were talking, he helped me adjust my notes, and explained a great many things about the sciences of his people. The true workings of their gemtech, and on a deeper level, I grew an understanding for his motivation in recreating the heartstones of his people. Powerful stones, part of their culture that connected them, empowered them. I don’t think I could put words to the depth of their meaning, but I could feel the loss. I could feel the rage inside myself toward the humans that destroyed them. 

While I was sorting through my notes and feelings, I tried to follow along with the rest of the questing party as they played goblin games, struggled with crabs, and generally had a hard time. 

They were rebuilding the forge, finding pieces for it that were missing. Or replenishing its resources which had run dry over the years of disuse. We needed hammers, and schematics, and freakin’ lava. And please don’t let me repeat the horrors of the acid, and the reckless endangerment of children as they ran with jelly orbs that could easily end their lives. Or the lives of the people around them. Separately from that I also heard stories of raunchy crab love, which I think I must’ve been distracted by Daedalus for, because I did not witness.  

But anyway, after rerouting lava, avoiding the acid baths, reclaiming golem gem schematics, and making sure we had enough materials, we managed to get the Foundry working again. 

Well almost. We were missing the power source. With guidance, we realized there was a power source over yonder, and just needed the means to get there. After careful investigation, we realized we had to recover 4 topaz key cards to get to the source. We discovered the various keycards in various locations, one under a rock, in a room that appeared destroyed by a malfunctioning golem. One we gained by allowing a golem to complete its scans of certain gem creatures. One was in a room similar to the alchemy lab with ciphers the night before. And one within an area guarded by golem enemies. Once we recovered the cards we were able to open the area we needed to to get to the power source. 

It was being protected by golems of various types, each with unique powers. We pushed them back through tunnels, until breaking into an open space.  But in finality, there were opal golems, to our knowledge the mightiest of the golem kind. They put up a good fight, combining the powers of their brethren with some of their own, but the Realms’ Heroes were successful. 

We brought the power source, a massive ruby, back to the Foundry. It was easy enough to hook up, and its power seemed enough to radiate through the entire place. With the forge going we began to make the items we needed: some swords, some shields, and some wands. Before we could complete them however, we triggered something within the forge, and nearly died as everything seemed to go upside down. We found ourselves in a massive cavern, and face to face with a gem encrusted dragon. 

If you don’t know, that’s bad. 

Many of the other heroes of the Realms fought it. I honestly kind of sat back and asked Daedalus questions. Which might seem out of place, and out of character for me. But knowledge is powerful. And I wanted to know if that dragon was Quig, one of the dragons from the Logs, the partner of Palamos, the dragon we fought the year before.. I didn’t get the answer to that question. 

We were then able to return to the foundry, and pick up where we left off, though with many people tired from the day, we also sought rest. 

Sunday, we fought. My understanding of Sunday was even more bogged down with thought and mystery. I maintained my connection with Daedalus, which was costly, but not terribly so. But honestly, what confused me more was poor Spencer. 

I’m going to sound crazy, if spending my weekend speaking with 400 year old dead dragons isn’t crazy enough, Spencer was talking to mushrooms. The party was fighting. They were fighting a lot. People were dying around us. Spencer had managed to start speaking with intelligent spores that wanted him to convert part of his brain to a crystal form. 

Trent would say I got into something. I’m not sure how I would know that I didn’t get into something by accident. Spencer was calling for me because he assumed I’d answer eventually, and everyone looked like mushrooms. Reading that back, you’re not going to believe me that I was fine. 

The rest of that conversation doesn’t get much safer for me. So I’m going to skip over it. It was wild. 

But as it turned out, the questing party did need to fight some mushroom people. So maybe it was fated. 

We ended on a good note though. I sort of glanced over this, for this moment, but as we were traveling through the various locations, we were finding logs from the dragon civilization. We learned many things, it’s how we knew how to use the Foundry. It explained various technologies, like the goblin throne. We learned things. But the last log was of Phina, Daedalus’ daughter, along with some other scientists. Doing a final experiment to recreate a heartstone. And they were successful. 

Daedalus got to hear that. 

The trials over the weekend were overall successful. My research into the dragons' culture revealed a lot. I learned a lot about the gems. I’m fairly confident I can create my own things with those magics, now. Perhaps with some trial and error. But I have questions. What happened to the scouts? Both the real ones, and the fake ones that escaped? Can we stop Harden’s Torch? Can we cure the crystallization? What the heck happened to Spencer? I can’t wait to return, and find out more! 

-Saegan of Blackwood

____________________________________________________________________________________

Crystal Golem

Crystal Golem by Kieran/Kyra "Omri" Barry

What's it do? What's it do? - Heros for Hire II Edition

Hello to the good people of the Realms!

This week, the Heroes for Hire II staff are coopting “What's it do? What's it do?” to bring you a special event edition! The Wildcard Guild has found copious amounts of blue items and they need your help figuring out what they should do! For anyone who is creative, mischievous, inventive, or anything in between, take a spin at powering up these blue items. Maybe your power will even be found at the Wildcard Guild shop!

Enjoy yourselves, go wild, have a great time, and we look forward to seeing you all on June 19th and 20th!

Nixon Showalter/Jasper Sherwood

On behalf of the Heroes for Hire II Staff

https://www.jotform.com/build/261587650574063 

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Announcement: Queen of Hearts XXXI: Knave of Hearts

 

Hello people of the Realms,

I’m here today to make a rather major announcement about the future of The Queen of Hearts Tournaments and War Maneuvers.

It’s kind of a long walk to where we’re going but my intent is to be open and transparent, so please read on.

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Here’s the tldr; Queen of Hearts this year will be fundamentally different than usual, will not have premade teams, and will overall have a less formal but still very fun composition overall. This event will be subtitled Knave of Hearts.

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It is probably helpful if I put this in the context of some more recent history. Since the pandemic, it has sometimes been a struggle to find two teams that are both willing to invest the incredible amount of effort it takes to organize and execute everything that’s necessary to make Queen of Hearts happen.

Not always, of course. Multiple years we have had two teams that from day one were enthusiastic and energized and carried that all the way through August. Other times, however, it did not come together easily.

This year in particular, no one initially stepped forward with a solid desire to run a team. Sometimes that happens, and in response I start to ask around and try to inspire people to step up. It’s not uncommon at all. This year we had one team, The Broken Spears, who fully embraced the challenge. I also had several other potential teams that expressed a true desire to put something together and take the field but simply had too many conflicts to make it happen in time for this summer.

I think the reality of the situation is this, compared to the early 2000s and 2010s, especially since the pandemic, the Realms is a smaller community that is overall less focused on tournament fighting than it has been in the past.

After some deep thought, honest conversations with my team, and contemplation about the event and the role it holds in the community, what’s become clear is there is probably just enough inspiration and energy in the Realms to put together a formal, fully traditional Queen of Hearts every other year.

So what do we do with that? Well, there is another old and sporadic Rhiassan tradition that we’ve sometimes visited called Knave of Hearts. These events have been uncommon, the last one was over a decade ago, but their intent has always been to create a place to just run our standard slate of war maneuvers without the formality of making teams and keeping score, and all the other aspects of the event that consume a lot of time, money, and energy. 

So beginning this year we will absorb the Knave of Hearts style, with an array of updates, into the normal Queen of Hearts framework. On odd numbered years, like this one coming up, we will hold Knave of Hearts events. On even numbered years we will run the traditional Queen of Hearts style like we have for the three decades prior.

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So this year’s event, Queen of Hearts XXXI, will deviate from its last 30 years of tradition and instead officially be known as:

Rhiassa Presents: Queen of Hearts XXXI, Knave of Hearts

What does this mean? Well, I don’t 100% exactly know all of that yet, but I will tell you what we do know.

• There will be no premade teams. We will sort all of the combatants into two teams in some way that is fun and interesting but also mixes things up a little bit.
• The event will largely feature war maneuvers. The Queen of Hearts favorites will all be there, Live Chess, Hadrian’s Wall, Castle Battles, etc. We will also have a chance to try out some new experimental war maneuvers and bring back some classics that have been retired for a while (Folkestone Challenge???)
• There will be an assortment of non-combat war maneuvers as well, such as Targetball.
• There will be some amount of individual and small-group fighting.
• There will be an awesome night quest by a big production team that takes full advantage of the whole site, some parts of which some of you have never seen.
• There will still be cards to keep score, still be lots of prizes, still be lots of lifting one another up and celebration of everyone on the field. 

There are questions that have yet to be answered of course. We’ve gotta figure out exactly how all this looks. Our event holding team will be getting together soon to figure out everything you will need to know and to publish that information.

But in reality all you need to know is this; show up, bring all your weapons, and prepare to spend a fun weekend fighting it out on Rhiassa’s war maneuver fields. 

All are welcome; there’s no need to wait to be invited to a team and no one to have to pre-coordinate with. 

Let’s fill up the event site with everyone who loves big fighting tournaments and have a great time together as a community.

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Now for a couple remaining details.

Everything that was planned for Queen of Hearts this year will be pushed forward to 2027 for Queen of Hearts XXXII.

Chimeron will still be the guest marshaling staff. The non-com categories and rubrics will remain as we’ve already announced them. Thank you for Chimeron for your cooperation so far this year and we look forward to working with you next year to make your ideas come to life.

The Broken Spears remain on the roster as one of the two established teams. All of you have my deepest gratitude for stepping up this year and trying to keep with our normal traditions. I know for some of you who have already begun preparations this might be disappointing news. Please instead try to think of it as an extra year to prepare and to make even more grandiose plans and crafting entries. We’re sincerely looking forward to seeing your team on the field next year.

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I’ve said a lot at this point, but I’ll leave off with some personal thoughts that have come to mind as I’ve contemplated all of these things the past few days, which, believe me, has not been easy.

Rhiassa holds in trust two of the Realms oldest traditions between Queen of Hearts and Feast of the Leviathan. In my tenure as lord of Rhiassa I’ve always expressed a maxim to my team; evolve or die.

These events have stood the test of time because we’ve been willing to update them and acclimate them to the changing eras of our community. An event format and norms that the Realms found fun in 1996 would feel widely out of place in 2026, and I’ve taken a lot of pride in the fact that we constantly reflect deeply on how to make our events better, adopt new things, and put aside things when their time has passed. The fact that all of you still trust us with these event traditions after all these years is not one that I take lightly.

This kind of change to Queen of Hearts has probably been a long time coming and if I’m honest with myself I have most likely been a lot more stubborn than I should have been in seeing it. I owe a lot of gratitude to the people around me who have been gently encouraging this change for the last few years while also giving me the space to make that decision for myself.

This is not a retreat from our ideals about event holding, we’re not going to approach Knave of Hearts like it does not matter as much or think of those years as the years where we get to lay back. You’ll have our full commitment to making these years as engaging, interesting, competitive, and fun as we possibly can. This is the evolution the event needs to push forward into this next chapter. I think it's a positive one that will let us try a lot of new and exciting ideas.

As always, thank you to everyone who has supported us and our events over all these years. We look forward to seeing you in August. We look forward to your help in writing the story of what Knave of Hearts will become.

In service,

Jason Rosa