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  • Help! I want to play games with a narrative! — The Treehouse

    Help! I want to play games with a narrative! — The Treehouse



    Greetings, dear reader! Today is World Book Day, and to celebrate, we have an agony aunt question to help those who like storytelling in their games, but who prefer the role of reader to writer…

    Dear Aunty Chella,

    I love the idea of games with a narrative, but the thought of role playing gives me performance anxiety! I like the idea of coming away from a games night with a story to tell, but I’m just not up for writing a character as I play – I feel way too self conscious… but it’s hard to do one without the other… right?

    I want to know if there’s something else out there for me in the world of games. I enjoy lots of other kinds of board games and card games, from party games to the more serious kind. I’m good at quickfire word games, and escape rooms, and I enjoy games that have a frame story. I even find myself adding a bit of a story to games that don’t have one, imagining I’m a super-duper-spy-guy trying to get a real code word to my super-duper-spy-teammates before we’re all super-duper-killed by the assassin during an perfectly ordinary round of Codenames, for example.

    I’m keen and willing to try other suggestions, but something about playing a role in general, and actually about D&D in particular, is too daunting – designing a character, committing to a campaign, counting up numbers on dice, talking in a ‘ye olde’ voice and pretending to be casting spells… it all feels very not me. But making up stories round a table, particularly in a competitive way – that is definitely my idea of fun! Can you please help?

    Narrating in Nether Edge



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  • magic the gathering – Interaction between Keiga, the Tide Star and Aggressive Biomancy

    magic the gathering – Interaction between Keiga, the Tide Star and Aggressive Biomancy


    You will gain control of a creature for each of the X Keigas you created and at most one fight will happen. You decide the order.

    When the Keigas enter the battlefield, each of them triggers the fight ability, then the legend rule happens. You have to choose any one Keiga you control (original or one of the tokens) and the rest die. This is a state-based action.

    704.5j If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by the same player, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

    This happens after the fight abilities trigger, but before they enter the stack:

    704.3. Whenever a player would get priority (see rule 117, “Timing and Priority”), the game checks for any of the listed conditions for state-based actions, then performs all applicable state-based actions simultaneously as a single event. If any state-based actions are performed as a result of a check, the check is repeated; otherwise all triggered abilities that are waiting to be put on the stack are put on the stack, then the check is repeated. [..]

    You are left with one Keiga; the other X Keigas die and trigger their death ability. Both the fight abilities and these death abilities are waiting to enter the stack.

    State-based actions area checked again and, if none apply, all the triggered abilities enter the stack in the order of your choice. You pick the relevant targets as you put each ability on the stack.

    603.3b If multiple abilities have triggered since the last time a player received priority, the abilities are placed on the stack in a two-part process. First, each player, in APNAP order, puts each triggered ability they control with a trigger condition that isn’t another ability triggering on the stack in any order they choose. (See rule 101.4.) Second, each player, in APNAP order, puts all remaining triggered abilities they control on the stack in any order they choose. Then the game once again checks for and performs state-based actions until none are performed, then abilities that triggered during this process go on the stack. This process repeats until no new state-based actions are performed and no abilities trigger. Then the appropriate player gets priority.

    Then the stack starts resolving. If you chose to keep a token Keiga for the legend rule and the other creature is still being controlled by your opponent, that fight can happen. No other fight can happen because the Keiga it originated from will be dead to the legend rule.

    701.12b If one or both creatures instructed to fight are no longer on the battlefield or are no longer creatures, neither of them fights or deals damage. If one or both creatures are illegal targets for a resolving spell or ability that instructs them to fight, neither of them fights or deals damage.

    So in total: If you created X Keigas with Aggressive Biomancy, you take control of up to X creatures because X Keigas will die to the legend rule. If you kept a token Keiga for the legend rule, it will fight the other targeted creature if it’s still controlled by your opponent. You choose the order of control changes and the fight.



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  • Dune Awakening is getting a “large scale” beta weekend, the last chance to taste the spice before the game launches

    Dune Awakening is getting a “large scale” beta weekend, the last chance to taste the spice before the game launches


    Are you tired of hearing or reading about Dune Awakening without actually being able to play it? Well, hopefully you’re not tired of reading about it… Either way, it turns out you’ll be able to play the game soon, courtesy of a free open beta weekend coming on May 9, and concluding on May 12.

    To get access, you’ll need to either wishlist the game prior to May 9 for a chance to play, or grab one of the “thousands” of beta codes given out by the team during the weekend. So, it’s open, but only to those lucky enough to gain access. Semi-open. The door left somewhat ajar.

    This beta just so happens to be a few days prior to the original release date of May 15, which was pushed back due to a delay so the team at Funcom could “cook” a little and make sure everything is polished and ready for the full release.

    Players will be able to access the first two regions, which if thoroughly explored should make up the first 20-ish hours of the game. That means you’ll be able to explore a few Research Facilities, try out the early abilities for various classes, and a little bit of PvP in ship crash sites. A good taster of the experience. If you’d like our experience, we’ve got a new preview for Dune Awakening out today that covers this same slice of the overall experience.

    Are you excited for this open beta? Let us know below!





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  • Welcome to the Pathfinder Society! — The Treehouse

    Welcome to the Pathfinder Society! — The Treehouse



    The Lore, The Merrier

    Something that really excites me about Pathfinder is the sheer tonnage of setting information available. The home setting for Pathfinder is the world of Golarion, a setting that has been slowly built up over the last decade and a half of game design to encompass dozens of countries and hundreds of diverse settlements.

    In this campaign specifically, players are agents of the Pathfinder Society, a group of individuals empowered to explore the distant lands of the world, report on what they find, and cooperate to ensure the tenets of good are upheld. With the resources of the Pathfinder Society behind you you can be whisked to any number of far-away locations, so every session offers something totally new.

    High Society

    What makes Pathfinder Society so exciting is not just the chance to explore a fantasy world, but the structure of the games themselves. Unlike a normally roleplaying campaign, where you’re expected to show up regularly to experience every beat of the story, Pathfinder Society is a totally commitment-free experience.

    Every session is a standalone adventure, but put together they begin to point towards a larger metaplot. If you want to just attend once to try it out, you can do that! But if you start to attend multiple sessions, whether consecutively or with gaps in between, you’ll be able to level up your character and acquire exclusive treasures! You might play with new players every single time or find new friends to battle by your side through multiple sessions.

    I feel like this flexibility makes it a great fit for Treehouse Worlds. We’ve always thought of ourselves as a way to build up community through RPGs, and through regular Pathfinder sessions we’re hoping to do just that.

    Let The Adventure Begin!

    If you’re as excited by the idea of Pathfinder Society as I am, then we can’t wait to see you for our first sessions in October! If you already know your stuff, you can feel free to build a character beforehand – I recommend skimming through the Guide to Organised Play to see what is and isn’t accessible to your character.

    If you’d like a little bit more of a helping hand, we’ll be running a free character creation session on Thursday 6th October. You can attend this session whether you’re planning to play in Pathfinder Society or not – just as with the rest of the Society, there’s no prior commitment required. I’ll be taking you through the basics of the system in a chilled environment alongside your fellow players, and we’ll have rulebooks on hand to help you create characters. Find out more information here!

    Tickets for our sessions go on sale two weeks before the event date, so keep an eye out on our events calendar to get your seat at the table. And, as ever, you can get in contact with me and the other Treehouse Worlds GMS (as well as your fellow Pathfinders) on the Treehouse Worlds Discord server, where we’ve created a special channel for Pathfinder discussion.

    Pathfinder Society is a brilliant bold new chapter in the Treehouse Worlds story, and we’re hoping you’re just as excited to see it come to fruition!



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  • Watch the Skies in retrospect — The Treehouse

    Watch the Skies in retrospect — The Treehouse



    A Bollywood remake of Star Wars?

    As outside observers, we don’t feel equipped to do this one justice, so here’s the inside scoop from two of the players:

    “My personal favourite moment was announcing the release of our eight-hour epic Bollywood Star Wars rip-off over the tannoy as a way to cover up the fact that we (India) were going DEFCON 1 as part of our unsuccessful plan to nuke the moon!”

    “My absolute favourite moment on my team (India) was our plan to cover up the alien invasion by using code words related to a science fiction Bollywood film. We spent $10M to realise our hit movie “Space Sabers: the Return of the New Hope”, an eight-hour epic featuring a two-hour-long dance section, which additionally starred the Olympic gold medal-winning UK Prime minister. Getting that published in the newspaper and announcing it over the mic along with our move to DEFCON 1 made my evening.”

    And finally, a perspective from Russia…

    We feel this gives an insight into the incredible number and range of stories told during a single game of Watch the Skies: no two players will have had the same experience or viewed proceedings in the same way.

    “Once our chief Russian scientist (somehow) managed to negotiate getting direct access to the aliens, we immediately decided they were a force for good and that the Chinese team had been right in trying to protect the aliens from hostile interceptors. From then on, we basically decided that anyone still attacking them was a threat to humanity and decided we’d take any action up to and including deploying our nukes to neutralise unforgivably short-sighted anti-alien aggression.

    After we defended some alien landings in Siberia and China, and heard that the USA had gone to DEFCON 1 after our foreign minister was assassinated, we were certain that we, China and Japan were about to face a full combined-arms attack led by the US. Without much money left to spend on defence, we pre-committed to trying for a first strike on America to leave their government in chaos.

    It turned out (I think?!) that the aliens lied to us, no-one was immune to the space-plague, and the US never launched their nukes at us after a global espionage surge disarmed them, so the end of the game left the US functionally in chaos, a deadly alien plague spreading in Europe, and Russia probably facing a conventional army attack by most of the Western world in retaliation for incinerating San Franciso…”



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  • magic the gathering – Does Arc Spitter’s ability resolve if the equipped creature dies?

    magic the gathering – Does Arc Spitter’s ability resolve if the equipped creature dies?


    Arc Spitter‘s ability reads

    Equipped creature has “{1}: This creature deals 1 damage to target creature that’s blocking it.”

    I’m not sure what “target creature that’s blocking it” means when the equipped creature changes zones. Suppose my 1/1 blocks another 1/1 equipped with Arc Splitter. My opponent activates its ability, targeting my blocker, and in response I destroy the attacker. Does the damage ability resolve?

    Of course I’m aware of the basic principle that abilities on the stack are independent of their source (Does an ability resolve if the source of the ability leaves the battlefield?), but in this case the source’s zone change seems like it could affect the legality of the target.

    The key question seems to be, is my blocker still “blocking it (i.e., the attacking creature)”? If so, it’s a legal target and takes damage; if not, it’s an illegal target and the ability fizzles. 509.1g clearly says it’s still a blocking creature, but I’m not sure what rule specifies whether it’s blocking anything specific.

    My best guess is rule 608.2b, which reads in part:

    If the source of an ability has left the zone it was in, its last known information is used during this process [of checking whether its targets are legal].

    That clearly applies here, so we should use the LKI of the attacker, and maybe that includes the set of creatures blocking it. On the other hand, the blocker is still on the battlefield, so we should use its current information. It’s a blocking creature, but it isn’t blocking any other creatures.

    What should actually happen here and why?



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  • Roblox Beaks All Birds – The Escapist

    Roblox Beaks All Birds – The Escapist


    A picture of a Birds player aiming at birds from a first person view and the title at the top and bottom of the page

    Screenshot by The Escapist

    Don’t worry, you only need to capture them.

    Beaks is a new relaxing Roblox game where you’re in a lush, tranquil forest where you can frolick around, listen to the wonderful melodies of birds chirping… before you gun them down for profit. Other than making a profit from the poor birds you sell, Beaks has several bestiaries that are fun to fill out and we’re here to help you. Here are All Birds in Roblox Beaks.

    Beaks All Birds Beakwoods

    All the birds in this zone are pretty easy to get, so just don’t forget to aim at those that fly high in the air.

    Beaks All Birds Quill Lake

    Quill Lake currently has two birds that can’t yet be obtained. You can capture most of these on the main lake. The only exception is the Ashwing, which flies really high in the sky.

    Beaks All Birds Mt. Beaks

    Unlike all other birds in the game, all birds at Mt. Beaks fly super high. We definitely recommend you get the level 15 Hunting Rifle from Quill Lake before you start hunting here.

    Name Prefered Time Preferred Weather Average Value ($)
    Brown Creeper Day Sunny 44
    Harris Hawk Day Sunny 60
    Mountain Bluebird Day Rain 63
    Chikadee Day Fog 29
    Sparrowhawk Day Fog 98
    Buzzard Day Rain 99
    Snowfinch Day Fog 80
    Falcon Day Rain 176
    Harpy Eagle Day Rain 171
    Goshawk Day Fog 338
    Red Tailed Hawk Day Fog 462

    Beaks All Birds Deadlands

    Half of the birds still haven’t been added to Deadlands yet. Those that have are mostly just creepy versions of existing birds.

    Name Prefered Time Preferred Weather Average Value ($)
    ??? Night Sunny, Rain 40
    ??? Day Fog 41
    Crow Night Sunny 40
    Skeleton Crow Day Rain, Fog 56
    Skeleton Pidgeon Day Fog, Rain 125
    Skeletal Eagle Day Fog 189
    ??? Night Fog 500
    ??? Night Rain 409
    Ghost Hawk Day Rain 494

    That’s all there is to it. Once the new birds get added to the bestiaries, and after new zones get added, we’ll update the list. In the meantime, check out our Beaks codes for some cool in-game freebies.


    The Escapist is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy



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  • playing cards – Variations of the game rubamazzo/rubamazzetto

    playing cards – Variations of the game rubamazzo/rubamazzetto


    In the game of rubamazzetto the cards are shuffled and four are placed on the table and then distributed among the players to the left, so each player has three cards. Each player takes a turn. When a card on the table matches the player can sweep it by placing their card above the card and taking it. Same goes if a sum of cards on the table sums up to a player card. The player can also take the other player’s pile if the top card matches the player card by placing the card on top of it and taking it (hence, the Italian name, ruba mazzetto AKA Steal Cards). There cards are placed back on the table when they finish and each player keeps on taking a card until all cards on the table are gone. At the end, the player with most cards wins.

    I wonder what variations of this game exist.

    Thanks.



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  • How exactly does the timing of "Saga Enchantment" spells work?

    How exactly does the timing of "Saga Enchantment" spells work?


    Two rounds ago, I cast the saga The First Eruption.

    Before I draw a new card, there are two lore counters on it.
    I draw the card, and a new lore token is added, causing the third ability of the saga to trigger.
    This third triggered ability goes on the stack.
    Before the ability resolves, I cast Clockspinning, indicating that I intend to use it by removing a lore counter (the third one, obviously) from the Saga.

    The stack should therefore be formed as follows:

    • On top, Clockspinning, causing the removal of a lore counter, which resolves first;
    • Below that, the trigger of the third ability of the Saga.

    When all of this will be resolved, finally there is the check of the exact number of lore counters on The Saga.

    The Saga will not be sacrificed, because after the check the number of the lore counters is not three yet.

    This way I think I will be able to use the third ability of the Saga a second time.

    Is this a correct analysis?



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  • LARP Comes to the Treehouse! — The Treehouse

    LARP Comes to the Treehouse! — The Treehouse



    If you had to give an elevator pitch to attract new players into LARPing, what would you say?

    Erin: At its core, LARP is about coming together with other people and exploring a story that none of you could tell alone. People come for lots of different reasons: wanting to act out a role; looking for something more immersive than tabletop or videogames; making music or other performances; crafting flashy costumes. But strip all of that away and there’s no feeling quite like your heartbeat racing as you wait to see the consequences of your actions, or just sitting back and bathing in the atmosphere of a group of people creating a world together.

    For those who picture LARPing as wearing costumes in a field, please could you explain a bit about chamber LARPs – what do these involve, and what do players spend their time doing during a game?

    Jon: The focus is generally on social interactions, which might be very political and strategic or just hanging out as your characters. There’s also space for very personal storytelling, one of the central themes of Changeling is having your life turned completely upside down by a magical, incomprehensible experience, and trying to make sense of what to do next. 

    That said, all those things are often possible in “field” LARPs too, so I suppose the biggest difference is that there are fewer rules, and no dramatic combat or spell-slinging. Problems are more likely to be solved with discussion, negotiation, and problem-solving.



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