TOPIC: Was there / what was the GT bonus?

Ah, OK. I thought that was more of a demon cow. Still, not a lot of use.

I dont know, the darkrift on the new shins kind of makes me think undead may be in our future.

Picc wrote: I dont know, the darkrift on the new shins kind of makes me think undead may be in our future.

Unfortunately, maybe not before next year's season, which would make the +16 still moot.

It is possible the new rooms at GHC could include undead of course.

Lodestone (KH) wrote: The curses depended on the bonus. So Ed's sigil gave something like ignore incorporeal 50%? I don't quite remember. But because it was odd like that, Jeff had to make up an odd curse because Ed took the cursed weapon - the hook. So Ed becomes a ghost when he uses it, gaining the 50% miss. Or something not quite resembling that.

You are correct Kevin. I told Jeff that becoming a Ghost was very cool but by gaining a 50/50 miss chance it was more of a blessing than a curse. I proposed that when a non-ghost hits me then they do double damage. He smiled and liked that - so we are running with it. I will have a card on me for GHC and Origins in case a GM asks.

Ed

MasterED wrote:

Lodestone (KH) wrote: The curses depended on the bonus. So Ed's sigil gave something like ignore incorporeal 50%? I don't quite remember. But because it was odd like that, Jeff had to make up an odd curse because Ed took the cursed weapon - the hook. So Ed becomes a ghost when he uses it, gaining the 50% miss. Or something not quite resembling that.

You are correct Kevin. I told Jeff that becoming a Ghost was very cool but by gaining a 50/50 miss chance it was more of a blessing than a curse. I proposed that when a non-ghost hits me then they do double damage. He smiled and liked that - so we are running with it. I will have a card on me for GHC and Origins in case a GM asks.

Ed

I think a more interesting option would have been that cure spells don't heal you

Lodestone (KH) wrote: The curses depended on the bonus. So Ed's sigil gave something like ignore incorporeal 50%? I don't quite remember. But because it was odd like that, Jeff had to make up an odd curse because Ed took the cursed weapon - the hook. So Ed becomes a ghost when he uses it, gaining the 50% miss. Or something not quite resembling that.

I gained a +16 damage... to undead. The only undead I've seen in 5 years were flying heads in this year's grind... which we avoided.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Vargouilles aren't undead. They are considered Outsiders....

However, the armored figure with glowing red eyes was considered undead.

My friend also got a cursed weapon.
His effect was doubled but he takes damage every round its used.
So net effect is +6 to hit and 3 damage per slide.

Was there a card to throw under the games that we played for Grind? In know that there is no XP but was curious as to whether this was tracked.

2017 was the 2nd year in a row (3rd VIP-like event in a row, if you count TDC's prize for Patron run) which gave "limited time" bonuses.

For 2016 and 2017 Golden ticket, the bonuses were good all year (so, at every event you might attend that year) and came with a cool keep-sake prop (Baby Beholder, or Sigaldry Weapon) while TDC's prize was just a button which you could wear for a bonus.

I asked Jeff whether this was the direction things would likely continue in, and he said possibly... it depended on the Feedback.

So I'm curious: what do people think of these kinds of prizes?

- I like the "temporary" prizes, because they don't create a growing pool of powerful items in the hands of people who do GT runs every year

- I love the physical prop (even though I backstabbed my baby beholder) - it makes a great conversation piece, as people ask "Why do you all have those swords?" or "What's with the ball with the eye on it?" Plus you can keep it after the bonus goes away, as a memento of that time when... : )

- Since (many) GT players are the same folks who buy a lot of tokens, and do multiple Cons, it's neat that they get a little more mileage out of their cool items/prizes than players who only do a couple runs, just at GenCon.

- If the GT prize continues in this vein, it may help to stabilize the growing price of a Golden Ticket. Instead of people handing over $1.5K for a chance at a Legendary (thinking of the Archery contest) or some other cool/expensive token or permanent item (Cogwind amulets, etc) they may not consider the cool prop as a long-term investment (just a 1-year cool item)

- The one-year expiry on GT items also opens up more cool possibilities for prizes, since there's less worry that they may be unbalancing in the long term. For example, perhaps some year the prize could be an item which benefits the whole party, or which play-tests new classes, or can be shared/traded to other players.

Other thoughts..?

I like this reward, I think it strikes a nice balance between special boons and permanent effects that can't be traded.

I can't deny permanent bonuses are very, very enticing - but since they seem to get handed out with exceptional rarity, in a way that would make luck of the draw amount to a very "Feel bad" experience for anyone who missed the year they happen to get given out.

If boons are to be permanent, maybe they could be craftable along these lines:

1. You get a random boon like +4 AC that is good for the year, if you leave it at that there is no further cost.

2. Or, you can "eternalize" a lesser bonus of the same type. For instance maybe when a boon gets eternalized it always becomes +1 of the same type within the same year.

* To eternalize you pay a mighty recipe - maybe something like 2x a legendary, or maybe 8 different volunteer tokens.

* The eternized token is soul bonded, but the bond is set at crafting time to the name chosen by the crafter, so these may effectively be sold / traded

* Maybe there is a limit of 1 eterrnalized token per player

* Maybe you can "re-bond" the token to a new soul by paying the recipe cost again

* Maybe once an effect has been "eternalized" it is no longer available as a boon.

* Maybe the eternalized thing isn't a token at all, but some other sot of a thing that gives an in game bonus (like the level 9 player bonus).

All this eternlize business probably has a bunch of bad secondary effects I'm not thinking of, and might generate more negatives than positives.


I guess the bottom line is that I would really like permanent boons, but even more than that I don't want to miss out on permanent boons , so if there are to be permanent boons I'd like them to be tradeable.

I'm torn. I'd love another permanent boon. But I like that the temporary nature allows more experimentation without long term risks to the game. And understand that is probably for the best. Still, part of me would love to keep my +5 to attacks longer.

Love having the prop, though the swords are hopefully the largest they get. Definitely prefer something worn like the Cogs. Still a little worried about breaking/forgetting my sword.

I think the piece that needed improvement this year was the hand out process. Standing in line for an hour after the run wasn't terribly fun (especially after being on install all day), and I suspect many had made plans that had to adjust (thank you to Ruth's Chris for staying open for us). That said, I do like having more ceremony to it than the button at TDC. I think the Cog handout was closest to the right balance that I've been lucky enough to observe.

To sum up, I realize it is a tricky balance, and I appreciate Jeff trying out different things.

Personally I'd love something permanent again like the Cogwind Amulet. Or a chance at an Arcane Recipe Or even something cool like a surprise DM like Wil Wheaton (could have been Patrick Rothfus this year!).

Heck, I would have been thrilled if the final event was meeting Patrick and getting a signed book (third book perhaps? I ask too much I know).

For the game, I do think the limited-time bonuses are both a good and bad thing for the game. They are a good thing because they don't cause permanent power creep. They are a bad thing because they might reduce the demand for golden tickets, which ultimately are designed to encourage token purchases.