New efforts!

[OzonePrime]

nemesis is an Arcana plot

Nailed it! :)

[MegaWatt]

The Prussian Princess of Automaton's ?

[ivanhedgehog]

The Prussian Princess of Automaton's ?

Tsaritsa of Intrigue

[Joshex]

and ncsoft did come down on infringing players with both feet. they would nuke you from orbit at the drop of a hat. that certainly helps their argument.

Nerfing names and costumes was their 'nuke', funny thing I found was a friend of mine got a reward at an official Paragon Studios supported Costume Contest for having a ghost rider costume... and another friend did the same with Michael Jackson, I'll never forget the zombies doing pop dance.

[Arcana]

I'm beginning to suspect Arcana either has an eidetic memory, has more hours in the day than the rest of us or has one of those matrix knowledge download machines. Seriously how is it possible to know so much about so many different topics?

Actually, I probably have a below average visual long-term memory.  But I do have a good memory except for that.

They say everyone is good at something.  If so, the thing I'm good at is getting good at something.  Its a level of cheating comparable to wishing for more wishes in D&D.

[Joshex]

Actually, I probably have a below average visual long-term memory.  But I do have a good memory except for that.

They say everyone is good at something.  If so, the thing I'm good at is getting good at something.  Its a level of cheating comparable to wishing for more wishes in D&D.

lol, only a bad DM would let you get away with that. They do exist though, last time I played I had a conversation with the DM about possibilities before I made my first move lol, by the end of the conversation I had squeezed enough info out of him and the book to save the world lol, and then I began, never finished though, terrible procrastinator and my summer job ended and I lost contact with the DM.

[ivanhedgehog]

lol, only a bad DM would let you get away with that. They do exist though, last time I played I had a conversation with the DM about possibilities before I made my first move lol, by the end of the conversation I had squeezed enough info out of him and the book to save the world lol, and then I began, never finished though, terrible procrastinator and my summer job ended and I lost contact with the DM.

or an evil gm that gives you the wishes but they must be worded in ancient yiddish...and any errors makes you lose all the wishes.

[JanessaVR]

or an evil gm that gives you the wishes but they must be worded in ancient yiddish...and any errors makes you lose all the wishes.

I'd say thank you, break out my checkbook, consult a scholar in ancient Yiddish, and then get back to him.  :)

[Twisted Toon]

I'd say thank you, break out my checkbook, consult a scholar in ancient Yiddish, and then get back to him.  :)

I'd breakl out my Munchkin cards and Bribe the GM. Then I could use the wishes AND go up a level.  :P

[Baja]

Nerfing names and costumes was their 'nuke', funny thing I found was a friend of mine got a reward at an official Paragon Studios supported Costume Contest for having a ghost rider costume... and another friend did the same with Michael Jackson, I'll never forget the zombies doing pop dance.

When this game was in its infancy the devs spoke openly about how they enjoyed copy cat heroes and were happy they could give people the chance to play as their favorite heroes. They enjoyed people putting their own spins on the big names, especially the more comedy fuelled costumes/stories. That ended extremely quickly when a rather large lawsuit came into place. Every thing goes until you make some money, then the wolves come out to play.

[AmberOfDzu]

or an evil gm that gives you the wishes but they must be worded in ancient yiddish...and any errors makes you lose all the wishes.

Or that the only wish which one can wish for with this wish is more wishes with which one can only wish for more wishes with.

[Arcana]

I'd say thank you, break out my checkbook, consult a scholar in ancient Yiddish, and then get back to him.  :)

Technically speaking, you wouldn't have to pay much: you only need to learn the ancient Yiddish for "I wish I could speak fluent ancient Yiddish."

[Arcana]

Or that the only wish which one can wish for with this wish is more wishes with which one can only wish for more wishes with.

When I was asked long ago by a GM how to deal with wishing for wishes, I suggested that the GM grant the additional wishes but with the caveat that the power of those wishes were linked, and thus all of them had to be used simultaneously.  If you think about it, a million wishes you have to use simultaneously is really no more powerful than a single wish, which is exactly the sort of letter-of-the-law magical loophole a wish might enforce.

[Felderburg]

They say everyone is good at something. If so, the thing I'm good at is getting good at something. Its [sic] a level of cheating comparable to wishing for more wishes in D&D.

Technically speaking, you wouldn't have to pay much: you only need to learn the ancient Yiddish for "I wish I could speak fluent ancient Yiddish."

These two quotes seem like they completely explain the genius of Arcana to me.

... the power of those wishes were linked, and thus all of them had to be used simultaneously.  If you think about it, a million wishes you have to use simultaneously is really no more powerful than a single wish...

Define "simultaneously" - I feel like I'm missing something.

[Aggelakis]

Define "simultaneously" - I feel like I'm missing something.

http://bit.ly/1JOIrsc ;)

Basically a loophole closer (loophole being 'wish for more wishes'). Meaning you can have as many wishes as you want, as long as you wish for them at the same time - which means basically the only wish you'll get is the one most prominent in your thoughts.

[Joshex]

When I was asked long ago by a GM how to deal with wishing for wishes, I suggested that the GM grant the additional wishes but with the caveat that the power of those wishes were linked, and thus all of them had to be used simultaneously.  If you think about it, a million wishes you have to use simultaneously is really no more powerful than a single wish, which is exactly the sort of letter-of-the-law magical loophole a wish might enforce.

http://bit.ly/1JOIrsc ;)

Basically a loophole closer (loophole being 'wish for more wishes'). Meaning you can have as many wishes as you want, as long as you wish for them at the same time - which means basically the only wish you'll get is the one most prominent in your thoughts.

I made a few wishes which were out of the power of the wish granter.

though, if you got a Yotillion (1000 quadrillion) wishes, and had to cast them all at the same time, then technically you could say "I wish to cast all my wishes right now with the following sentence: I wish I had an ounce of gold."

blam each wish reacts to the same sentence and you have 1 Yotillion ounces of gold.

really though, you can defeat the whole game with 3 wishes (not really that's whats out of the power of the wish granter), for example you ask for "give me the weapon that /WILL/ defeat [main enemy]", "Make me become the hero that is destined to defeat them", "give me the power to withstand anything they and/or anyone else can throw at me."

thanks for the wishes, I'm off to slay the [insert main enemy name]

the reason I say main enemy name is there are way too many D& D rulebooks based off other media, I think there's even a star wars D&D out there. shame there's no CoX D&D. OR IS THERE?!

[Groundbreaker]

When I was about 11 I ran a game where I made the mistake of giving the players infinite wishes effectively. The characters ended up deposing the gods wiping out entire civilisations and remaking the world in their image. They became the new pantheon of gods and ruled with indifference and hedonism. It was pretty much a disaster as far as RPG's go. But the players young as they were had a lot of fun so it wasn't a complete loss.

Years later when WOTC took over and 3rd ed came out I revisited that wolrd and cleaned up some of the less sensible plot. I put my players into a world that had taken over 1000 years to "repair" the damage done by the new gods. The lack of direct influence from the gods left the world to believe that some great cataclysm had destroyed the gods. Faith was failing and clerics were looking to non divine powers to start new religions that actually "worked".

I only really expected the game to be a throwaway adventure so I set up half a dozen plots that could effectively end the world, my plan being that they would focus on one and that would be the threat that they had to deal with to stop the world ending.

So of course being PCs they got really into several of the plots.

There was an entire continent of undead that had been created long ago by one of the gods that was doing nothing but which had recently been united under a great and powerful Lich.

The true High Elves had been destroyed by one of the gods wishes, but the magical crystal that they left behind, that used to be used to make their grand cities, was now in the hands of the Orcs. Not knowing what they had the Orcs accidentally activated it and it spread slowly beginning to crystallise the entire planet.

The PCs also found a magical collar that was an artefact of the god of slavery. Knowing it was probably cursed none of them wanted to use it except one player who had a pet dog. So the power of the god of slavery ended up being granted to a Labrador puppy.

The players also met a wizard who was trying to unite all magic on the planet so that he could ascend into the heavens. He needed certain items from the Wizards guild and he wasn't welcome their any more. The players of course went and fetched them all for him.

Again it was a lot of fun but never meant to be serious.

Since 5th ed has come out I have decided to revisit the world once more and finally give the players a chance to sort everything out. Like last time I cleared up some of the unwanted plot and unnecessary baggage. So the world is now simply a place where mortals used powerful artefacts to become the new pantheon but have shown no real interest in the world since then. Certain aspects of the game are the result of the wishes they made. The Common tongue for instance is not something you learn, all sentient creatures are born knowing it, the result of one of the gods wishing that they could all understand one another, since they all came from different lands. The magical crystal is still a threat and an entire continent has been consumed by it and it's tendrils are spreading across the planet.

TL,DR: I made the mistake of giving out infinite wishes when I was young, but my current game world is the aftermath of what those PCs did with those wishes.

[Felderburg]

http://bit.ly/1JOIrsc ;)

Basically a loophole closer (loophole being 'wish for more wishes'). Meaning you can have as many wishes as you want, as long as you wish for them at the same time - which means basically the only wish you'll get is the one most prominent in your thoughts.

Well I wasn't sure if it meant you'd have to wish for them simultaneously, or if all the results would happen simultaneously. If you wished for a million bucks and a hot tub full of attractive people, and ended up with a bunch of people in a hot tub covered in soggy money, since they both appeared at the same time.

the reason I say main enemy name is there are way too many D& D rulebooks based off other media, I think there's even a star wars D&D out there. shame there's no CoX D&D. OR IS THERE?!

I assume that the closest you'll probably get is the Champions pen & paper game, since a lot of CoH devs played it before CoH. The CoH RPG never went through, but we did get the partial release of the old story bible out of it.

[Dareon Kale]

I always went with the idea that it took the power of one whole wish to grant any request. Wishing for more wishes split the original wish into parts, and their power was derived from the original wish used to create them. Thus, when you wished for anything with one of the wishes, it used up all the power of the original wish. You still had all the extra wishes, but they were powerless to grant any requests.

[Felderburg]

I always went with the idea that it took the power of one whole wish to grant any request. Wishing for more wishes split the original wish into parts, and their power was derived from the original wish used to create them. Thus, when you wished for anything with one of the wishes, it used up all the power of the original wish. You still had all the extra wishes, but they were powerless to grant any requests.

I like this. You could also have each wish be a fraction of the intent: $10 instead of a million, a tiny Shetland pony instead of a war horse, etc.