TOPIC: Gen Con TD Highlights

bpsymington wrote: Here is the lowdown on the shield puzzle rooms 5.

The black light was supposed to be on for about 5 seconds every minute. We felt over time that it wasn't enough, so we changed it to every 30 seconds. About halfway through the con, the lights would not come on through the programmed timer, so they were just plugged in to stay on all the time, making the puzzle much easier to solve.

In the combat room 5, the UV-lit letters looked great and there were no problems. On the puzzle side, however, the letters were extremely pale and hard to see. Since the letters were painted in UV-sensitive paint with a vinyl stencil in Carbondale, there really wasn't a way to touch them up, so they were traced with a regular marker.

Ok, this makes a lot of sense now. From our Thursday puzzle run, I remember being warned that a lot of groups weren't getting this puzzle. We could tell right away something was written on the shields (especially when viewed from a severe angle). The UV writing was kinda showing up in the black light, but not really - I had suggested to everyone to turn off their personal lights to not interfere with the UV.

When I did combat side on Saturday, the difference was amazing! The group I was with quickly and easily finished the puzzle with loads of time to spare. I was thinking, "Gee, this puzzle could have easily had another component or step to it" while waiting to move out of the room.

I do like the use of the UV sensitive paint though - I think last time I saw it was if someone cast detect magic, they were offered a little UV flashlight to see runes written somewhere.

Incognito wrote:

bpsymington wrote: Never realized how popular The Shadowskin cloak was among Nm parties!

The Shadowskin Cloak is totally overpowered. I brought up that issue when it was developed/printed, but unfortunately, I'm like Cassandra of Troy....

Area effects like crazy next year? Especially in Grind

Angela Small wrote:

bpsymington wrote: Here is the lowdown on the shield puzzle rooms 5.

The black light was supposed to be on for about 5 seconds every minute. We felt over time that it wasn't enough, so we changed it to every 30 seconds. About halfway through the con, the lights would not come on through the programmed timer, so they were just plugged in to stay on all the time, making the puzzle much easier to solve.

In the combat room 5, the UV-lit letters looked great and there were no problems. On the puzzle side, however, the letters were extremely pale and hard to see. Since the letters were painted in UV-sensitive paint with a vinyl stencil in Carbondale, there really wasn't a way to touch them up, so they were traced with a regular marker.

Ok, this makes a lot of sense now. From our Thursday puzzle run, I remember being warned that a lot of groups weren't getting this puzzle. We could tell right away something was written on the shields (especially when viewed from a severe angle). The UV writing was kinda showing up in the black light, but not really - I had suggested to everyone to turn off their personal lights to not interfere with the UV.

When I did combat side on Saturday, the difference was amazing! The group I was with quickly and easily finished the puzzle with loads of time to spare. I was thinking, "Gee, this puzzle could have easily had another component or step to it" while waiting to move out of the room.

I do like the use of the UV sensitive paint though - I think last time I saw it was if someone cast detect magic, they were offered a little UV flashlight to see runes written somewhere.

UV effects can be great. It was back in 2008 I believe, they used the lighting to change a demon npc into an angel when you solved the room thanks to reactive paint. It was my first run, blew my mind.

NightRare ItD puzzle Sunday morning
The sound system was failing to give the drums and bells needed to solve the puzzle. The NPC called for a fix (later found her walkie had died so nobody knew). So she quickly improvised and invented the Drow beatbox. Her Thump, Thump, Thump, BOOOONNNNNNNG! routine was hilarious. She threw her head from side to side with each Thump, then shook violently like she was the ringing bell. Wished I could have recorded it. She was quite funny and good at improvising throughout the dungeon.

I was in that run! The drum improvisation was quite entertaining and definitely helped the new guys running through the dungeon. I had fun bantering with the drow guides on both of my ItDD runs.

Treasure draws were also a good experience. This being my first year, I didnt know what to expect, but my friend pulling an Icecrag Hero Earcuff was pretty awesome. I borrowed it to great effect in my Grind run.

My favorite part I think was how I had the Troubadour class taunt ability as a regular level 4 bard. All the monster npcs and DMs wanted to kill me! All I did was sit in the back and use Bardsong. I mean, I was playing a vuvuzela as my bardic instrument, but still!

~Komori

Alex Starkenburg wrote:

NightRare ItD puzzle Sunday morning
The sound system was failing to give the drums and bells needed to solve the puzzle. The NPC called for a fix (later found her walkie had died so nobody knew). So she quickly improvised and invented the Drow beatbox. Her Thump, Thump, Thump, BOOOONNNNNNNG! routine was hilarious. She threw her head from side to side with each Thump, then shook violently like she was the ringing bell. Wished I could have recorded it. She was quite funny and good at improvising throughout the dungeon.

I was in that run! The drum improvisation was quite entertaining and definitely helped the new guys running through the dungeon. I had fun bantering with the drow guides on both of my ItDD runs.

Treasure draws were also a good experience. This being my first year, I didnt know what to expect, but my friend pulling an Icecrag Hero Earcuff was pretty awesome. I borrowed it to great effect in my Grind run.

My favorite part I think was how I had the Troubadour class taunt ability as a regular level 4 bard. All the monster npcs and DMs wanted to kill me! All I did was sit in the back and use Bardsong. I mean, I was playing a vuvuzela as my bardic instrument, but still!

~Komori

Haha yes the vuvuzela did a great job at annoying the monsters And that drow was great.

The highlight for me was in grind when I brought my Nightmare-capable Monk to the Normal-difficulty PUG and was doing pretty good damage. Then my brain got swapped with that of the Cleric. She had used most of her spells so I couldn't do much besides fail at sliding. Meanwhile she was doing awesome damage and finishing off the monster with my stats! That was awesome.

Incognito wrote:

bpsymington wrote: Never realized how popular The Shadowskin cloak was among Nm parties!

The Shadowskin Cloak is totally overpowered. I brought up that issue when it was developed/printed, but unfortunately, I'm like Cassandra of Troy....

You Just Wanted 3 more Deaths of my Late Friend Sherrifus Bartious the Druid (Where ever he is now )

Lotus Blossum wrote:

Incognito wrote:

bpsymington wrote: Never realized how popular The Shadowskin cloak was among Nm parties!

The Shadowskin Cloak is totally overpowered. I brought up that issue when it was developed/printed, but unfortunately, I'm like Cassandra of Troy....

You Just Wanted 3 more Deaths of my Late Friend Sherrifus Bartious the Druid (Where ever he is now )

Oh I forgot a highlight! Walking through the dealer's hall, I overheard a new player gushing about their run with Lotus Blossom.

Forgot my absolute highlight.

For years, our Monk has equipped the Gnomish Fizzy Lifting Pack.

Finally, after all that preparation, he was able to blast off and attack the Spidaur!

There was much rejoicing.

Alex Starkenburg wrote: My favorite part I think was how I had the Troubadour class taunt ability as a regular level 4 bard. All the monster npcs and DMs wanted to kill me! All I did was sit in the back and use Bardsong. I mean, I was playing a vuvuzela as my bardic instrument, but still!

~Komori

You!!!
You were the bard with the Vuvuzela?

I hate you. I tried so hard to destroy that instrument, only to have half my melee-based attacks blocked, and you kept making the saves against Will and Dex and Fort checks. I'm gonna ask Eric for a flame-thrower attack next time, with extra bonuses against plastic instruments!

(Seriously tho - you guys were a great group! I'm glad you had fun, and that your party had some great synergy and strategies to get under the monsters' skins.)

lazlo_hollyfeld1985 wrote: the deeper dark room 7 rogue box was a great highlight

don't tell Jeff but I snuck some photos of that part of the room.

It was pretty good

Brad wrote:

lazlo_hollyfeld1985 wrote: the deeper dark room 7 rogue box was a great highlight

don't tell Jeff but I snuck some photos of that part of the room.

It was pretty good

That was certainly a highlight for me!

Also had great fun at the post-GT St. Elmo's dinner, my runs with David & Tobin and company, cutting myself with Adeya over and over, my five-person run with Raven and friends, and getting a couple games in the Exh Hall that were sell-outs (Thanks again, Raven!).

Raven wrote:

Alex Starkenburg wrote: My favorite part I think was how I had the Troubadour class taunt ability as a regular level 4 bard. All the monster npcs and DMs wanted to kill me! All I did was sit in the back and use Bardsong. I mean, I was playing a vuvuzela as my bardic instrument, but still!

~Komori

You!!!
You were the bard with the Vuvuzela?

I hate you. I tried so hard to destroy that instrument, only to have half my melee-based attacks blocked, and you kept making the saves against Will and Dex and Fort checks. I'm gonna ask Eric for a flame-thrower attack next time, with extra bonuses against plastic instruments!

(Seriously tho - you guys were a great group! I'm glad you had fun, and that your party had some great synergy and strategies to get under the monsters' skins.)

Haha! I was in that Grind too. Surprised the monster didn't go after my howitzer Wizard more. After my first "Let's zap everything" attack turned the cultists into one-hit wonders.

bpsymington wrote: Also had great fun at the post-GT St. Elmo's dinner...

It was a good dinner. Glad I got to meet you and several others there. I was the one between Kirk and MasterED, across the table from you.