From: owner-the-edge-digest@ (The Edge Digested) To: the-edge-digest@robin-nvh.bvsd.k12.co.us Subject: The Edge Digested V1 #68 Reply-To: the-edge@robin-nvh.bvsd.k12.co.us Sender: owner-the-edge-digest@ Errors-To: owner-the-edge-digest@ Precedence: bulk The Edge Digested Wednesday, June 24 1998 Volume 01 : Number 068 Today's subjects from The Edge: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge Re: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From??] Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept Re: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From??] Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5dResponse and a weird Question.?= Re: [The Edge] Response and a weird Question. Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge [The Edge] New Cards [was Decks, Devices, etc.] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 11:31:37 -0500 (CDT) From: David Buckley Ebrey Subject: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? > Question: I'm going to try and start up OtE again. I've only GM'ed it once > and I wasn't very good (lack of experience, I guess). I'm wondering if > anyone has a good starting point adventure for new characters (they've all > lost theirs after a year). I've done the ones in the back of the Main > Sourcebook, but they didn't go over too well. I'd be really glad for any > advice, hints, suggestions, and/or whatever!! OTE is hard to run because there is a huge world and many ideas to wrap your mind around. I suggest focus. To start, choose a relatively simple plot that does not draw in too many different factions. Try to keep it in one Barrio so you don't have to remember all that stuff. Then you can slowly expand from there. I think the "pary time" adventure, or whatever it is called (from the back of the book), is a poor one because it asks you to do one of the hardest things you can (remember all the junk from the book on the fly). Perhaps the first adventure should focus on the mood. Being OTE, a surreal mystery might work. David [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 11:36:06 -0500 (CDT) From: Russ Collins Subject: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Troy George wrote: > Background: The group I RPG with has a tendancy to jump from system to > system. We've gone through: AD&D, Palladium, Vampire, Shadowrun, > Deadlands, Dragonlance 5th age, Star Wars, Gurps, and, of course, Over the > Edge (I know I'm forgetting a few, but I'm fairly brain dead right now). We > switch GM's every so often and play whatever system they want to do. After > about a year, it's finally coming back to be my turn. > > Question: I'm going to try and start up OtE again. I've only GM'ed it once > and I wasn't very good (lack of experience, I guess). I'm wondering if > anyone has a good starting point adventure for new characters (they've all > lost theirs after a year). I've done the ones in the back of the Main > Sourcebook, but they didn't go over too well. I'd be really glad for any > advice, hints, suggestions, and/or whatever!! > Check out Greg Stolze's adventure in Forgotten Lives... Russ Collins rgc@io.com - -- Deck us all with Boston Charlie Walla-Walla Wash., an' Kalamazoo! Nora's freezin' on the trolley Swaller-Dollar Cauliflower Alley Garoo [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 11:42:55 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From?? On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Troy George wrote: > Statement: I love this newsletter/game hints/community help center. I just > wish I had more people to play OntE with. Just me and 2 other guys in the > area have cards (that I know of) and they don't want to play. Really Sucks!! one of the best ways to play OnTE is Booster League. buy a box of boosters or two off the net... should set you back all of $50 for 3 or 4 if you look hard (or just call shops directly). teach a person how to play with non-tournament style constructed deck and then describe Booster. give them the Boosters. and you are off; everyone is happy with the small collection, you can trade, play for ante, and there is little cost for the newbie. you can do something similar with Omni, but over time, its likely that people will lose enjoyment in a small world Omni league. someone will get ahead, there is no trading, and no expansions. > Question: I'm going to try and start up OtE again. I've only GM'ed it once > and I wasn't very good (lack of experience, I guess). I'm wondering if > anyone has a good starting point adventure for new characters (they've all > lost theirs after a year). I've done the ones in the back of the Main > Sourcebook, but they didn't go over too well. I'd be really glad for any > advice, hints, suggestions, and/or whatever!! well, my experience with _campaign_ OTE is limited, but i will put in a few notes on what i think makes a good start. first, OTE is best if played in an episodic format. this is almost like the X-Files; you want to have common elements and some background plot, but the foreground of every episode is most important issue. occasionally, you can have the background fade into the fore, but its best left in the shadows. second, OTE lives for soap opera type plots. this is not a game of bionic arms and machine guns, even if it might appear to be that way. concentrate on cerebral and moral adventures; put the characters in difficult situations of having to make hard choices. and follow the soap opera (and comic book motto); no one is ever dead forever! villians (and plots) are best if woven into a tangled skein, so keep the plot flowing and convoluted in the background, but stick to very clean, obvious interactions in the foreground (the day to day play session). with that said, here is an example i pitched once, but i never ran. premise; Constance and Cheryl are really the same (schizo) person. the group will be alternately pulled and pushed by the two competing organizations in each session and gradually they will reach an impass as they are told by one group to subvert the other and vice versa. Mom is very interested in ensuring no one knows of the mental problems of her daughters, so you have a deus ex machina handy to pull your bacon out of the fire. this is a very simple idea. each session, you can hack through a "job" from one or the other. little simple things, like bringing in a supply of a new drug for a Temple party (bought from an agent of Constance?) or seeking insider information on a coporate merger (the primary Karla Sommers importer?) ... each session should provide limited indications of the nature of the campaign. the ()'s above show how the tasks can begin to strangely merge with Constance always involved with but hating Cheryl and (again) vice versa. and this campaign can continue indefinitely or have a climactic moment when the truth is revealed (and a solution must be sought?). but the important thing this idea illustrates is that you have an overarching plot driving device, episodic formats which clue into the larger device, and built in conflict of interest (esp. as groups of NPCs who recognize players as working for one see them working for the other). lastly, this shows how the plot can involve any character as it does not revolve around the characters specifically. eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jun 98 11:04 GMT From: FRANK M ADAMS Subject: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= - -------------------LURKING DEVICE DE-ACTIVATED------------------ You wrote: <> I have a bunch of cards (who doesn't) and no players. I've got a couple of friends who'd be willing to give it a try, but I don't have the time or the energy (work + school + wife + baby = (no time)^100) to put together decks. I have been reading the last few threads (especially the one about a common card deck) with great interest and would appreciate if you'd post (or send) a few of the easier to build decks so that I could get up and running. Also, on an unrelated side note, I've got a limited budget and would like to pick up an OTE supplement or two. Which ones give the best bang for the buck? I've been considering Cloaks and Weather the Cuckoo Likes. Any recommendations? Thanks. Frank Adams frank.m.adams@slchicago.infonet.com - -------------------LURKING DEVICE RE-ACTIVATED------------------ [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:11:24 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Peter Jansen wrote: > Specifically, that the cards are cheaper than dirt. hmmm. in some ways yes and in others no. the game is not "for sale" anymore as far as i can tell. walk into a store and good luck finding it... but with research and mail order, you can pick some things up fairly easily. dont mistake your personal situation for the way the rest of us see it. anyway, i think your real problem isnt the low cost, but the prevalence of Mr. Suitcase in this game... but more on that in a bit. > As far as straight power decks vs. theme decks: the only power deck I have > is my Omni deck - just ask Jeff Tidball. why ask Jeff when you are here? whatcha got in dere? :) > All the rest have a theme, > reflected in their names: > Big Brother (CPC/Law/Net/Neutralizer) > Al Amarja Van Lines (Mover) > Who's Driving this Spaceship Anyway? (Quisling/Alien/Android) > Fast Food (Burger) > Tales from the Boyz in the Dark Side of the 'Hood > (Compton/Saou/Nekros/Hermetic, although this last will be replaced with > Glorious Lord in its next incarnation) these sound pretty cool. care to post the contents of any of them? > Regards the Throckmorton deck: in my experience, a deck of only > Throckmortons is (in the word of a Magic player describing the flaw of > mono-red) fragile. From what I have seen, it needs to be Control with a > Throckmorton specialization; this seems to be my understanding as well. first, Throckmortons have no resource trait of their own and their next most common is Human and Control. so, its a natural extension. the other route is picking a common support trait, like Psychic, Astral, or Fringe and including cards like this. > although I admit I have not done an exhaustive > analysis of the decks posted, they look at first blush to be rather nasty. actually, every deck i have sent in i would consider playing in a tournament format. these are not friendly play decks. so, dont feel like these are my ideas of themes or play for fun... > I have the advantage in the first aspect of playing mere minutes from the > Atlas Games offices, so cards are readily available - now that I'm done > buying Arcana (5+ displays) anyone want to trade for Janis? But everyone > else has this access as well, and decks that comprise almost nothing but > rares are to my mind, degenerate, and less than thrilling to play AND to > play against. indeed, degenerate decks are not fun to play against... over and over. i like to see a new idea and i love to see a new deck exploit that idea to win. but i dont like to play against the same deck over and over. its always best to go on and look for the next thing... keep it fresh. in an environment where everyone can have unlimited copies of all of the cards, i find that it enriches the occurence of new ideas and attempts at strange decks. this is entertaining to me, the increased flexibility. > As far as the second, you should stop by The Source sometime and watch Nate > Nolan and myself play a game and do our Itchy and Scratchy imitation. who is who? :) > Playing just to tick someone > off, though, to my mind is a bit immature, as is the player who HAS to win, > and gets overly irritable when they do not this is a game. that means two things. first, you should play to have fun. second, you should play to win. note that the first rule and second rule dont always play nicely together. thats why we have Special Issue Rule Three; when Rule One and Rule Two are in conflict, Rule One takes precedence. :) > My point is that the challenge of deckbuilding is a different one when you > have the option of putting in three or four of Mars Royale or Michiko Ishii > instead of one, maybe. exactly! in this game more so because there is no formal or informal limit on the number of cards per deck, so if you own 10 Mars, all can make an appearance. > How do you keep it interesting? you have already given one great method; themes. making decks around story telling or thematic ideas ensures that you have a fresh start or fair playing level. Omni and Booster hint at another method; limited selection formats. this one is limited only by your imagination. you can limit cards by rarity (ever try limits on _commons_?), uniqueness, expansion, traits, artists, or just about any other criteria (heck, try a tournament with only odd collectors numbers allowed some time). a third method involves exercising your creativity; make up new cards and new expansions. how many people have a Jeff Tidball Turncoat card lying around? every use it? why not come up with more of your own cards, even if that means writing a whole new expansion? and this will give the person with the huge collection something to do with all their extra cards; turn them into new ones! > Just keep building new decks and tuning old ones? the last one (for now) is the above; just reorg the cards you have. look for wacky combos or trait groups. when was the last time you built a deck around one of the less common traits like Alien or Academic? > And the problem I currently have with Omni league is simply that no one > will play me anymore. sounds like you are set to retire. :) try offering more than 1 card as ante, offering the challenger their pick when choosing, or (best of all) letting the challenger limit what you can bring. try handing them all the resources you have and say "pick any 12 and i will make the deck from those". > Finally, what I meant to say from the beginning of this diatribe, is that I > think the unlimited availability of cards is hurting the game. actually, i think it hurts the game only if you let it. i would love to get more people involved, myself... so the more availability the better. and you can always limit yourself, even if no one in your group agrees to apply your personal limits to themselves. though your wins be more rare, they seem more fair (ie lovely). :) eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:18:51 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge On Tue, 23 Jun 1998, Chris Johnson wrote: > Ummm...not to put too fine a point on it, but, OTE is dead. Sure we all > like it, and it *is* a good game, but it is, in fact, pushing up the > daisies. are you so certain that this has to be true? it doesnt look too dead to me... there is a tournament at Gencon again this year. and i bet more people than last year will show up. why does OnTE have to be Magic to be considered "alive and well"? > I'll continue to play it, and collect it, but OTE's day has clearly > passed. In a few years, Atlas may finally sell out of their stock on > hand, but I doubt it. :/ why do you collect and play it? is it fun? why cant it be fun for others? maybe even fun for people who havent played before? why cant people do their own expansion? i mean cards and all. if i can get my act together, i plan on handing out boosters for a new expansion at Gencon. cards you can throw in decks and play; think Atlas will care? the game doesnt have to die just because Atlas wont support it... they arent the only people with an interest in this. i _know_ i have an interest. and i dont see why others cant develop an interest too. > In short, the unlimited availability of cards can't hurt OTE anymore, it > can only affect individual play groups. If a play group is so hung up on > munchkin decks that the availability of cheap cards detracts from play, > perhaps one should reconsider playing with them. ;) exactly. > (who'd rather Atlas have a trickle of cashflow from OTE, as opposed to > none at all, and who doesn't mind $20 boxes of a good game in the > bargin) why not buy some and give them to new people? play Booster League? eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 13:19:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Kevin Patrick Hogan Subject: Re: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= > Also, on an unrelated side note, I've got a limited budget and would > like to pick up an OTE supplement or two. Which ones give the best bang > for the buck? I've been considering Cloaks and Weather the Cuckoo > Likes. Any recommendations? Definitely Weather the Cuckoo Likes. A lot of bang. And whirs and tweets. --K (dromedan@umich.edu) [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:23:33 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From??] On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Florian Merx wrote: > a)Make them members of TV-Team trying to make a report about Al Amarja. > This would get them instantly into the midst of things as various power > groups would try to stop them from giving AA any publicity. seems like they would be pawns in the conspirators games on AA... lots of groups would love to expose their enemies. and certain groups are intimately tied into this very concept... > b)Make them part of a group of people invited to Al Amarja for an > inheritance. this isnt too bad either, but it needs to have additional tie ins to last for more than a handful of sessions. i could (as storyteller) cover this in one sitting. eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:27:08 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Keith Baker wrote: > As I noted before, what we've done is build about 16 different theme decks, > all of which are roughly balanced to one another, which are more or less > public cell property. Thus when anyone feels like a game, they can either > pull a few decks at random or suggest a particular match-up to other > prospective players. It keeps things balanced, there's enough different > decks to keep things interested (and all of the decks have sideboards so > players can do a few tweaks before playing), and the themes give it a > reasonable amount of story flavor. this is an absolutely _fabulous_ idea! i for one would _love_ to see the contents of the decks and their sideboards. how bout posting one a day or one a week! please? :) > Well, given the ease of access to cards, we've been switching to new omni > decks practically every time we decide to play omni. We used to allow > players to retire decks if they hit 70 or 50 cards, but these days, we tend > to open new decks each cycle. this seems to defeat the purpose of omni league play. how often do you switch? how long is a cycle? eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:29:44 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, David Freier wrote: > One deck concept which I used, and still sorta have together was a deck > called "Sunglasses". I went through and pulled out all the cards I could > find that had a person or featured sunglasses in some way and built a > deck using appropriate basic resources. I think I threw in a couple of > Patrol Baboons for muscle, but the surprise was that the deck actually > worked fairly well. i remember being shown this at Gencon... it really _was_ a good deck! do you remember what went into it, Dave? eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 12:43:57 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5d Decks and Recommendations?= On 24 Jun 1998, FRANK M ADAMS wrote: > I have a bunch of cards (who doesn't) and no players. I've got a couple of > friends who'd be willing to give it a try, but I don't have the time or the > energy (work + school + wife + baby = (no time)^100) to put together decks. you have no time to make decks, but you will have time to play? making decks takes time best measured in minutes, playing takes time on the order of hours. > I have been reading the last few threads (especially the one about a common > card deck) with great interest and would appreciate if you'd post (or send) > a few of the easier to build decks so that I could get up and running. the Speed Method for deck construction is pretty easy; 10 characters with pull 8 characters whose AP is higher than DP (attackers) 8 characters whose DP is higher than AP (defenders) 10 cards which are not characters 10 resources pick two common traits, such as Psychic and Patrol Baboon or Fringe and Astral. take 5 resources of each type if they both have one or 10 of one type if the other does not have its own resources. then just look through your cards and pull as many different characters as you can with one trait or the other and drop them into the above categories. lastly, you need to fil out the "10 non-characters"; choose some of the basics from the basic set, like Blackmail, Smear Campaign, Wiretap, etc. and maybe one or two that match your traits. just make sure that there are very few duplicates in this set. this should allow you to crank out decks in very short order. > Also, on an unrelated side note, I've got a limited budget and would like to > pick up an OTE supplement or two. Which ones give the best bang for the > buck? I've been considering Cloaks and Weather the Cuckoo Likes. Any > recommendations? if you like the Cut-Ups, Weather is the way to go. its one of my top two or three favorites. eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 13:44:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Spike Y Jones Subject: Re: [The Edge] Where to Start From??] Playing in one of the original playtest campaigns (back when the game was still called Al-Amarja), the GM, Robin Laws, didn't bother coming up with an introductory plot for us; he let us do it for ourselves. He just picked up on plot threads on the character sheets (like the criminal connections of my Mafia flunky character) and let us try to accomplish our own goals within the strange environment. He presented some background colour for us (like scenes in the Terminal, and the announcement of a spectacular rock concert by the biggest star on the island Dawn Summers (yes, before the name became Karla), which my Mafioso character mistook to be the arrival of "Don Summers", an unknown rival to my boss's power on the island) which we either pursued or ignored. [O] [O] [O] Spike Y Jones [O]Spike[O] Freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and ex-bingo-caller [O] [O] [O] spikeyj@access.digex.net http://www.io.com/~spikeyj/ [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 13:04:46 -0500 (CDT) From: Jeremiah Thomas Isaacs Subject: Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, David Freier wrote: > One deck concept which I used, and still sorta have together was a deck > called "Sunglasses". I went through and pulled out all the cards I could > find that had a person or featured sunglasses in some way and built a > deck using appropriate basic resources. I think I threw in a couple of > Patrol Baboons for muscle, but the surprise was that the deck actually > worked fairly well. these are the kinds of ideas i like. im trying to get the local slackers to start playing again, so i can try out "The Spice Girls", another one of my deck ideas that will lose.. (like my Sub-random / Glorious Lords / Koan Head deck, to which noone one. i decimated people, but had almost no pull..) the spice girls are SLipper, Josephina Shoukry, Eileen Pitchford, Blush Quay, and either Anastasia or Wanda Rod. plus psychic singularity.. for some reason Tomek is the bouncer. this deck still isnt together, but its just one of the current ideas. regarding still having pride, i used to play a Brinker deck.. it was fun dammit! --- jeremiah jti0001@jove.acs.unt.edu people.unt.edu/~jti0001 - --- excuse me but i just have to explode explode this body off me wake-up tomorrow brand new a little tired but brand new bjork [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: 24 Jun 98 13:52 GMT From: FRANK M ADAMS Subject: [The Edge] =?iso-8859-1?Q?=5bThe Edge=5dResponse and a weird Question.?= Eric responded: (A Question follows this response...) < I have a bunch of cards (who doesn't) and no players. I've got a couple of > friends who'd be willing to give it a try, but I don't have the time or the > energy (work + school + wife + baby = (no time)^100) to put together decks. you have no time to make decks, but you will have time to play? making decks takes time best measured in minutes, playing takes time on the order of hours.>> A point of clarification. I should have phrased that last part differently, I have a very limited amount of free time and would rather spend it playing than building decks. I tend to get anal about stuff like that and it takes forever.... I just don't know when to quit. But when I've got a shopping list of cards to build a deck from it's a different story. Someone else has already tested and put thought into it and it gives me a quick route to playing some themes I might not have thought of. I have no problem throwing it together (and maybe doing a tweak or two) and playing away. Hence my plea for deck ideas, especially ones that can be put together from the multitudes of commons I have laying around. I can also give them away to the people I'm trying to teach and they can all be different and interesting. Thanks for your response on deckbuilding, I'll put it to use this weekend and see what I come up with. And thanks to everyone for the deck ideas already posted, let's keep them coming! - ------------------------------QUESTION? A question to everyone, what's the strangest character concept that you've had a player play? I'm trying to get a campaign off the ground (once a month with e-mail Q&A in between) and one of the players is (I'm not kidding here...) wanting to play an Omni-Sexual Necrophiliac Serial Killer Artist; he uses his victims in his artwork in a variety of disgusting, but ingenious ways. (Omni referring to men, women, boys, girls, dogs, etc.) He's on the run from suspicious authorities in the U.S.A. and is being pursued by an over-zealous Detective who was suspended during the course of the investigation and one of his victim's vindictive Mother. Needless to say, the group is loosely connected at best. I've got some good ideas to use with this character, but I'm a little light on Al Amarja info. What existing characters/locations would be good for this guy: a dark and creepy underground artist hangout, rich degenerate art patrons, meat markets to pick up new materials (victims), etc.? But back to the other question - this is one of the weirdest characters I've seen played what are some of yours? All responses to both questions are greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Frank Adams frank.m.adams@slchicago.infonet.com [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 15:30:15 -0500 (CDT) From: Eric Jome Subject: Re: [The Edge] Response and a weird Question. On 24 Jun 1998, FRANK M ADAMS wrote: > A question to everyone, what's the strangest character concept that > you've had a player play? actually, the weirdest thing i ever saw was a character i tried to play once. a WWI fighter pilot blown thru time (and off course) who shows up on the island in his plane landing at the Terminal. this was intended for an all Terminal campaign/adventure... but it didnt get very far. and the storyteller didnt like him. > What existing characters/locations would be good for this guy: a dark > and creepy underground artist hangout, rich degenerate art patrons, meat > markets to pick up new materials (victims), etc.? Compton. this guy has compton all over him. > But back to the other question - this is one of the weirdest characters > I've seen played what are some of yours? i have had a psychic imprinter which was pretty tricky. it was basically a human tulpa; every time someone thought he was something, he would slowly become that thing. spy, criminal, etc. very hard to use, but a lot of fun if you can handle it. and i have seen a fair number of serial killers. i usually reject these ideas out of hand because they cannot possibly fit into playable society. eric [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 16:40:08 -0400 (EDT) From: David Freier Subject: Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept Wow!!! Someone used this at Gencon. I'm impressed now, especially since I've never been there. I designed the deck about three years ago, just before I left Minnesota. I know several of the players up there liked the theme idea of it quite a bit. Perhaps one of them took the idea and also built a similar deck. I'll see if I can find it at home and try and post it tommorrow. David "Throckmorton" Freier [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 15:09:27 -0600 From: Trevor Stone Subject: Re: [The Edge] My favorite deck concept Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, David Freier said: >One deck concept which I used, and still sorta have together was a deck >called "Sunglasses". I went through and pulled out all the cards I could >find that had a person or featured sunglasses in some way and built a >deck using appropriate basic resources. I think I threw in a couple of >Patrol Baboons for muscle, but the surprise was that the deck actually >worked fairly well. > I've been pondering a Noose-neck deck sorta like this... Anyone who's wearing a rope tie. And the best part is, Friends in Broken Wings fits right in... One of my favorite decks is a Tarot deck, each major arcana is represented by a card (a few are represented by 2 or 3). Added in are some Psychic and Astral readers so I can have some hitters/blockers (Barber Hammok, Abdula Mustafa, etc.). Then, I have a fair smattering of Good/Bad Lucks. It's a little slow to get rolling, but it's got lots of pull and decent defense. The arcana are: 0 Fool: Kunigunde Himmelsbach 1 Magician: Sir Arthur Compton 2 High Priestess: Karla Sommers 3 Empress: Monique D'Aubainne 4 Emperor: Clyde Throckmorton (from Shadows) 5 Hierophant: Horus Redwell 6 Lovers: Portia, Love Philtre 7 Chariot: Giovanni Mancini (Death Car would also work) 8 Strength: Armada, Latent Strength 9 Hermit: Tanja Voss (or some other fringe lab scientist) 10 Wheel of Fortune: Wheel of Fortune (you guessed it!) 11 Justice: Otto Finkelstein 12 Hanged Man: Friends in Justice Barrio 13 Death: Ravage 14 Temperance: Arwa Marabu 15 Devil: Bast (Avon Bloodlord would work too) 16 Tower: Golden Barrio (The Terminal also works, though doesn't help the deck) 17 Star: Starwalk (Vortex may help the deck more, but is less resemblant) 18 Moon: Moonsilk 19 Sun: Sunshine Allarha 20 Last Judgement: Cut-Ups Machine 21 The World: Al Amarjan Friends =-=-=-= Trevor Stone =-=-= aka Flwyd =-=-= tstone @ robin . ml . org =-=-=-= Eclectic philosopher, New Vista computer admin, gamer, witster, esotericist http://robin.ml.org/~tstone/ Thou wanton paper-faced horn-beast! Panties aren't the greatest thing in the world, but they're next to it. [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 16:22:09 -0500 (CDT) From: Clay Colwell Subject: Re: [The Edge] Decks, Devices, and the Problem with On the Edge On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Peter Jansen wrote: > My point is that the challenge of deckbuilding is a different one when you > have the option of putting in three or four of Mars Royale or Michiko Ishii > instead of one, maybe. > > How do you keep it interesting? Anyone? Just keep building new decks and > tuning old ones? Oh, indeed. In fact, our group (before it disbanded) was having some fun with the idea of extending Uniqueness to the deck as well; to wit, only 1 instance of a Unique card in any deck at any time. (Yeah, it pretty much put Dead, Dead, Dead out to pasture.) We had some pretty fun times with that. I'd tried a themed deck (Psychic/Animal focus), chock full of Patrol Baboons, Psi Cats, Bubbles, Andalusian Dog, Rex, and lots of cards to give other cards the Psychic trait, but it never seemed to work well. Too large, too unwieldy, too slow. I've always had a bit of trouble limiting the size of my playdecks: there are just so many *fun* cards to play out. On themes: I had what I considered to be an interesting degenerate deck titled "Pass The Bottle (Glug, Glug, Glug)" [yeah, I'm sure the trick is old hat, but *I'd* liked it]: 2 Silver Detti 2 Abel Ludo 2 Jonny Rama 2 Don Rozo 2 Guiseppe Sizo 2 Mary Zule 2 Lissy Omgek 2 Glug Secret 2 Copper Dagger 4 Negative Energies 4 Poltergeist 2 Robert Martinez (the first one) 6 Astral Wisdom 3 Friends in Golden Barrio 3 Trade Contacts in the Edge Basic idea: get out resources and hope things pan out until you can get all your Characters out in a blaze of glory, doing the GlugCrank with the Copper Dagger, passing it via Poltergeist to an adjacent Glug, GlugCrank with the CD, having Robert Martinez uncrank said Glug, and redoing the GlugCrank to get anywhere from 10-20 Influence in one turn. Negative Energies helps as protection, and the Glug using it takes no negative (heh) effect, being Immune: Astral. Problems: it's *terribly* obvious. And slow. In cases where the deck gets hosed (whether it be by Ideological Polarization or even one too many Psychovores), it can still provide a bit of beef to hinder other players -- let the Pharaohs quail! And Lissy's 5/5 doesn't hurt. ****** Clay Colwell (aka StealthSmurf) ********** eris@bga.com ****** * "In the future, we will recognize software crashes as technologically * * mandated ergonomic rest breaks - and we will pay extra for them." * * -- Crazy Uncle Joe Hannibal * [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 17:24:28 -0500 From: "Paul J. Lareau" Subject: [The Edge] New Cards [was Decks, Devices, etc.] Eric Jome wrote: > a third method involves exercising your creativity; make up new > cards and new expansions. how many people have a Jeff Tidball > Turncoat card lying around? every use it? why not come up with > more of your own cards, even if that means writing a whole new > expansion? and this will give the person with the huge collection > something to do with all their extra cards; turn them into new ones! A subject very close to my heart. CCG's have a very unique trait among games. In order to encourage people to keep buying them, each new series starts a few tempting new concepts or groupings. As later series come out, these concepts and groupings are filled out. But when a CCG stops being incremented, the concepts and groups from started in previous series end up as orphans, some of which are nearly impossible to use. In OnTE, the best examples are groups like Guild, LeThuy, Sandman, Saou, and Vornite. Also the Agara. Poor Portia is lonely! Perhaps this would be best addressed directly to the ATLAS staff (John, are you listening?) but based on comments I get on the website and on this forum, I believe the answer would interest many people. I would honestly like to know more about the copyright laws and some of the Atlas business thinking under which On The Edge operates. From the very beginning, OnTE devotees have created their own cards. The "Cold Numbers" expansion has been around for several years on the Internet. Very imaginative people have made up cards that (1) express novel play concepts; (2) add to orphan groups making them more playable; or (3) create new characters, often personalized ones, like OvTE characters the creator has portrayed, or even cards portraying a favorite boyfriend or less-favored politician! In my opinion, admittedly not knowing the ins & outs of the very tough game business, it seems to me that there are missed business opportunities here, if not for Atlas, for others whose efforts might well help Atlas. For example, here are a couple of ideas that come to mind, bearing in mind that I am only referring here to ON THE EDGE, or to other CCG's who have ceased production: (1) FINAL FILLER EDITION. Produce a series of perhaps 25 or 50 new cards, specifically intended to fill in holes that didn't get resolved before the plug was pulled on the game. These cards could be priced relatively high ($3-5 per card?), printed in a very limited edition, and marketed directly by the company. They could even be sold by single card only, rather than in packs. And by "completing" already introduced concepts, the existing cards will have more value to future players. And these specials would be more prized than boxes as prizes. (2) FRANCHISEE CARDS. Given that computer graphics are quite advanced now, allow individual designers who wish to design their own cards and produce them in limited numbers do so provided they have Atlas's permission, and use (Atlas-produced and sold) card blanks. Atlas probably would want ultimate editorial control over authorized additions of this kind to keep undesrable cards (either "degenerate" or "pornographic") from coming out. (3) PERSONALIZED CARDS. Two years ago, I designed a prototype concept for an inexpensive product that would enable devotees of this or any other CCG to create "personalized" cards for their own use in their favorite game in a way that would in no way detract from the playability of the game (no killer cards). The product in question could be produced by Atlas, perhaps in cooperation with companies owning the copyright on other "deceased" CCGs, and would indeed be a variant on Eric's comment above concerning reuse of old cards, and "Jeff Tidball's Turncoat". On this last suggestion, although I have prototype examples, I have always hesitated to contact Atlas direct because of the warnings that I have seen concerning unsolicited ideas being trashed without looking, due to possible copyright problems. Does Atlas have any clarifications to this rule? Are unsolicited suggestions welcome? Is there a proper, legal way to make suggestions to Atlas. This is actually the crux of this post. It is obvious from comments made on this forum, and from contributions made to the various Internet sites, both OnTE and OvTE, that there are a great many talented people who support these games, who have ideas that might well be commercially viable either for Atlas or for licensed "subcontractors", and who might even be willing to assign those rights to Atlas if it would help a great company's profitablility, and the prognosis for their favorite games. I might add that the recent call for submission to the Al Amarjan Business Directory is a great example of tapping the creative power of Atlas addicts! Can we, as a group, find other ways to help Atlas continue to produce quality products?? - -- Paul J. Lareau No, I don't work for them! ;=) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [POST] 135 E. Viking Dr. #301, Little Canada MN 55117 USA [HOME PAGE] http://www.wavefront.com/~pjlareau/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ End of The Edge Digested V1 #68 ******************************* [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge-digest [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge-digest To get off digest, subscribe the-edge [O] To post a message, send it to the-edge@robin.ml.org