Is Participating in Slot Tournaments Worth It? – Know Your ...

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New Dark Angels Supplement rules summary

Detachment Abilities
Sons of the Lion Doctrine Abilities
Stratagems
Warlord Traits
Psychic Powers
Relics
Special Issue Wargear
Secondaries
Units - Have skipped many, but summarised some of the notable ones to make finding combo's easier. Almost all the infantry characters have transhuman because they nearly all have the Inner Circle keyword, and all Ravenwing characters have Jink
Notable Absences
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[Mobile Gaming] How the Nyan Cat led to the death knell for a popular mobile game- the downfall of RWBY Amity Arena.

Note: Many of the links are to the Amity Arena Library, a website devoted to the game which includes tracking the history of it through patchnotes and a running history of what cards entered and left the meta. Their website was a valuable resource for this post.
Mobile gaming has taken off like a wildfire since the advent of the smartphone boosted the average processing power a phone could carry. Initially it took the form of crossing over older, more easily runnable games onto the mobile market to... mixed success, but in recent years we've seen both the West and East use mobile gaming to replace the old fashioned movie tie in game. It's easily accessable, has a much wider reach than consoles or PC, you can take it on the go and standards are inherently lower for mobile games than they are a full 60 dollar game.
Since the 2010s, mobile gaming has shifted to what's called the "Freemium" module. The game itself is free to download and start playing, but is insideously designed with obnoxious paywalls or artificial limiters put in place to limit how much you can play each day. If the game is part of a pre-existing franchise, additional money can be made through a premium currency or a chance to obtain high-powered units by rolling a slot machine random chance mechanic. And thus, gacha gaming was born. This sub has had several threads in the past on high profile gacha games, such as the monolithic Fate Grand/Order, Pokemon Go or Genshin Impact. One of the more popular things to roll for in gachas as a consequence is wallpapers for your homescreen, especially for high-grade units as they're usually animated to move a little bit on the homescreen. Today we're looking a low to mid-tier gacha game that rose and fell with the advent of one catgirl. Let's talk RWBY.
RWBY is an online web anime made by Rooster Teeth focusing on four prospective monster hunters who get embroiled in a world-spanning shadow war. It's of debatable quality in matters of animation, combat, voice acting, story, worldbuilding, romance, and it's kind of a little racist if I'm being honest, but one of the major positives of RWBY is that the series tends to have good character design. Series creator Monty Oum set in the guidelines for the show while making it that most if not every design should be made to be cosplay friendly, hence why most of the outfits have things most costume designers haven't heard of like... pockets. And Rooster Teeth, above all else, likes making money. So they know people like RWBY's character designs, enough so that in 2017 plans were made to release a gacha game themed around RWBY called Amity Arena, which would be developed by Korean company NHN Entertainment.
Amity Arena is a PvP tower defense game. Each player controls two turrets and a tower and has three minutes to use units themed from the show to destroy the other player's structures. Whoever took out more wins, destroying a tower is an instant victory. When the game launched, it had three tiers for units- Common (generally held for mooks or low-tier characters in the show), Rare (roughly protagonist-level or elite mooks go here) and Epic (High tier characters usually with an active ability that did lots of damage or stopped enemies in their tracks). The game launched in October 2018 to generally positive reviews from both mobile game players and RWBY fans alike. Fans were happy to get a lot of new official art for the characters in the game and the base gameplay loop was fun. Criticism at the time was largely themed around the lack of content besides PVP matches and some issues with the meta but overall, the launch went well. Each month, the developers would add new units, including popular characters like Neopolitian, Cinder Fall, Zwei the dog, and more.
But everything changed with February 20th 2019, which introduced Neon Katt, the titular catgirl (RWBY characters are themed around fairytales, except for Neon, who is themed around Nyan Cat, and her partner Flynt Coal, who is themed off a potentially racist joke made by Rooster Teeth).
Neon is a character from RWBY Volume 3 who's part of a team that RWBY face during a tournament arc. Her partner, Flynt Coal, was part of the game at launch, and Neon would join him a few months later. Neon in the show is a cocky fighter who taunts the heroes and zips around on rollarskates, which in-game is represented by Neon skating towards the nearest enemy structure to her and hitting it, while all units within a radius of Neon are taunted and provoked into attacking her above all other targets unless they-selves are coded to hit structures. On its own, not a bad idea for a unit, but Neon came with four big caveats:
From the word go, Neon is an unpopular unit; she's clearly overbalanced and elements such as the Disco Bear glitch have players thinking she'll have to get knocked down in a nerf- she'll either be made slower, more expensive, or able to die pre-hitting a structure, right?
Neon doesn't show up in the next patch. Instead, before she's fixed, an entire new class of units called Legendaries are introduced, and this is where the game goes full gacha. Legendaries were meant to represent the highest tier characters in the game, the ones who were either the most popular characters or the highest-tier fighters in the show. Or in some cases, the popular ships such as combo cards for White Rose (Ruby/Weiss), Bumblebee (Blake/Yang) and Flower Power (Ren/Nora). Legendaries, representing their value, were impossibly rare and had an infinitely small chance of actually appearing (The most reliable method was to buy the premium chests and hope you'd roll a Legendary, which often cost tons of money), and if you did get one, there was no way to guess which Legendary you'd actually get. Some such as White Rose and Adam were high tier units, others like Hazel or Checkmate were... kinda broken at launch. The playerbase isn't happy at this, especially as free to play players are left out in the cold and reliant on the game giving them high tier units effectively out of pity.
Neon would get a small nerf in the April patch which lessened her taunt range and killed the Disco Bear meta, but her invincibility would be left untouched, even as players submitted feedback regarding how to make it more efficient. The official Amity Arena discord has a weekly feedback section on Tuesdays where players could submit up to four suggestions on how to nerf/buff units and general requests for quality of life such as "Can this character get a new skin from this part of the show," or "Can we have an option to lower music volume that's not just muting all music?" (they never did add that second request) Neon would then remain in this state until the November patch, despite constant weekly requests for a Neon rework, and all it would do is make Neon functionally mortal, in that she had a flat shield bar of 20 that would be lowered by one for each attack before the next hit would kill her. Neon could now die... but your chances of actually doing enough damage to stop her were slim, and regardless, you were now at a serious Aura defecit.
It took seven months for this one unit to get a substantial nerf, all while the game added new units every week and the number of units being affected by patches each month began to gradually sink. To round up some of the major issues people had with Amity that developed throughout 2019 alongside Neon's general existance making life hell:
Unfortunately, the Novemember patch did little to stop the problems with Neon, and a new problem would rear its head for Christmas: Jinn. This unit embodied many of the problems players had: She was a Legendary so it would be hard for free players to get her, and only added to the sheer number of Legendaries that were out there. She was another structure card, and she was horrifically broken. Stopping time for seven seconds in an area around any friendly units, Jinn broke the game overnight, with players horrified at how little playtesting she'd clearly had. Most chip units now couldn't damage structures as Jinn simply could stop time and freeze the turret for the duration of the attack. And to make matters worse? She cost two Aura, meaning it was very easy to cycle a deck and start Jinn spamming.
And yet at two aura she was still one of the only cost-efficient Neon counters... until they patched her to be worth three Aura instead. Talking of the feline menace, January saw Neon get a HP nerf that set her shield at 14. Finally, Neon could be realistically be taken out, still at an Aura defecit but at least it can be countered and now they just have to raise her Aura- why are you buffing her game?
Less than a month later, Neon got, of all things, a buff. Her HP shield was set at 20, and her attacks now did double damage. This is around the point where a lot of players begin to suspect the developers aren't listening to feedback and more long-term players dip out or drop the game. Neon got touched one more time in April, which slowed her down (which itself was a problem as Neon's lessened speed on spawn simply made her better at generating aggro), she dealt 10% less damage and made it somewhat easier to hit her enough to kill her, but a new problem was on the horizon. Because Neon was now no longer the game's White Whale for patches.
Meet the White Fang Gunner Barracks. Added in September 2019, the Barracks fell under many player's radar simply because they were horrifically undertuned. Their gimmick was that every few seconds, a White Fang Gunner would spawn, with three spawning on death. In April, as Neon got her last appearance in the patches, the Barracks got a huge buff and became the centerpiece of the meta; they now spawned two Gunners, which made them immensely valuable for just five Aura. You could overwhelm many anti-swarm units before they had a chance, and shred your way through turrets.
The Barracks would then go six months before this overtuning was rectified, barring one nerf in August that lowered their health to try and stem the tide of units. To sum up every other thing that went wrong during the year meta-wise:
As OctobeNovember comes in, the players are getting more and more furious. The weekly feedback includes a near constant demand for an acknowledgement from the developers given how often it feels like the feedback is being ignored. The social media team get caught several times hyping up how the coming patch would address player concerns, only for said patch to lack those units. The meta has been locked down to the Xiong Family, Flynt, Launcher Nora, Spider-Mines and the hell-cat herself in Neon. Everyone runs at least one of these, people run meta decks not because they want to, but because it's the only way to have a chance of victory.
And then in December, things implode. The patch for the month was set to launch on December 10th with the monthly event missions. But when the clock rolls around, the event missions (which usually take about two weeks to do if you're doing as many as you can a day)... has a six day timer. And the update doesn't come out. The art team doesn't release new unit art. The shop has no special timed bundles. There's no patch notes. And then the Twitter team who've been hard carrying the game through... actually talking to the players and acknowledging the grievances they have... admitted that they don't know what's going on either. The best guess is that the devs have come down with Covid, but no statements to confirm or deny this leave it as guesswork. The timer eventually got reset and people could do the event, but then on Christmas itself, another issue.
Ruby has appeared in the plaza on Halloween (her canonical birthday) and Christmas, and if you go talk to her you get free stuff. But on Christmas people, people discovered that Ruby was talking as if you'd already talked to her. Because they hadn't updated Ruby yet for 2020. She still thought it was 2019 so if you'd talked to her then for goodies, she had none now. They patched it eventually but a lot of people didn't see this fix before the timer ran out to get the free stuff.
Some have resorted to memes to cope with the fact that the game just seems to have died out of the blue. Others have been trying to desperately rally the players and find a way to save it. Some resorted to friendly mockery of the whales who'd spent thousands on a game that seems to be dying (seriously though gacha games need to curb this shit but they won't because whales are godsends for their bank balances).
If the game doesn't get an update in January then two months without new content will mark the end, and the already significant playercount drops will only increase. And it's hard to say if any one thing could have turned Amity Arena's fate around beyond just "Have a better balancing team who can respond better to feedback." Neon began the time of death, but by the time December rolled around the meta was in a horrifically toxic place where if you wanted to make any progession, you had to get down and dirty with the pigs. The team just constantly failed to balance problem units outside of their emergency hotfixes of Jinn, and more often then not they went after units and buffed or nerfed them at random going off playcounts to determine what needed fixing instead of the actual written feedback they were getting. It's clear from the references to the show and some of the attempts to reach out to the community that at least one person in the team genuinely wanted to make the good appealing to RWBY fans, but somewhere during the game's lifespan, they lost their way. Less focus needed to be put on how to milk the players, and instead focusing on making a game sustainable and enjoyable enough to warrant the cosmetics and emotes. The game's failure ultimately isn't on the playerbase. It's on the people who were actually making the game who chose to slack off because they thought it acceptable to do so.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: HOT OFF THE PRESSES, I JUMPED THE GUN
Had I waited one more day, my story would have had a far more sudden ending, as the game just announced its shutdown for January.
RIP.
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Old Austin Tales: Forgotten Video Arcades of The 1970s & 80s

In the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a young teen growing up in far North Austin, it was a popular custom for many boys in the neighborhood to assemble at the local Stop-N-Go after school on a regular basis for some Grand Champion level tournaments in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. The collective insistence of our mothers and fathers to get out of the house, get some exercise, and refrain from playing NES or Sega on the television only led us to seek out more video games at the convenience store down the road. Much allowance and lunch money was spent as well as hours that should have been devoted to homework among the 8 or 9 regular boys in attendance, often challenging each other to 'Best of 5' matches. I myself played Dhalsim and SubZero, and not very well, so I rarely ever made it to the 5th match. The store workers frequently kicked us out for the day only to have us return when they weren't working the counter anymore if not the next day.
There is something about that which has been lost in the present day. While people can today download the latest games on Steam or PSN or in the app store on your smartphone, you can't just find arcade games in stores and restaurants like you used to be able to. And so the fun of a spontaneous 8 or 10 person multiplayer video game tournament has been confined to places like bars, pool halls, Pinballz or Dave&Busters.
But in truth it was that ubiquity of arcade video games, how you could find them in any old 7-11 or Laundromat, which is what killed the original arcades of the early 1980s before the Great Crash of 1983 when home video game consoles started to catch up to what you saw in the arcade.
I was born in the mid 1970s so I missed out on Pong. I was kindergarten age when the Golden Age of Arcade Games took place in the early 1980s. There used to be a place called Skateworld on Anderson Mill Road that was primarily for roller skating but had a respectable arcade in its own right. It was there that I honed my skills on the original Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Defender, and so many others. In the 1980s I remember visiting all the same mall arcades as others in my age group. There was Aladdin's Castle in Barton Creek Mall, The Gold Mine in Highland, and another Gold Mine in Northcross which was eventually renamed Tilt. Westgate Mall also had an arcade but being a north austin kid I never went there until later in the mid 1990s. There were also places like Malibu Grand Prix and Showbiz Pizza and Chuck-E-Cheeze, all of which had fairly large arcades for kids which were the secondary attraction.
If you're of a certain age you will remember Einsteins and LeFun on the Drag. They were there for a few decades going back way before the Slacker era. Lesser known is that the UT Student Union basement used to have an arcade that was comparable to either or both of those places. Back in the pre-9/11 days it was much easier to sneak in if you even vaguely looked like you could be a UT student.
But there was another place I was too young to have experienced called Smitty's up further north on 183 at Lake Creek in the early 1980s. I never got to go there but I always heard about it from older kids at the time. It was supposed to have been two stories of wall to wall games with a small snack bar. I guess at the time it served a mostly older teen crowd from Westwood High School and for that reason younger kids my age weren't having birthday parties there. It wasn't around very long, just a few years during the Golden Age of Arcades.
It is with almost-forgotten early arcades like that in mind that I wanted to share with y'all some examples of places from The Golden Age of the Video Arcade in Austin using some old Statesman articles I've found. Maybe someone of a certain age on here will remember them. I was curious what they were like, having missed out by being slightly too young to have experienced most of them first hand. I also wanted to see the original reaction to them in the press. I had a feeling there was some pushback from school/parent/civic groups on these facilities showing up in neighborhood strip malls or next to schools, and I was right to suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's list off some places of interest. Be sure to speak up if you remember going to any of these, even if it was just for some other kid's birthday party. Unfortunately some of the only mentions about a place are reports of a crime being committed there, such as our first few examples.
Forgotten Arcade #1
Fun House/Play Time Arcade - 2820 Guadalupe
June 15, 1975
ARCADE ENTHUSIASM
A gang fight involving 20 30 people erupted early Saturday morning in front of an arcade on Guadalupe Street. The owner of the Fun House Arcade at 282J Guadalupe told police pool cues, lug wrenches, fists and a shotgun were displayed during the flurry. Police are unsure what started the fisticuffs, but one witness at the scene said it pitted Chicanos against Anglos. During the fight the owner of the arcade said a green car stopped at the side of the arcade and witnesses reported the barrel of a shotgun sticking out. The crowd wisely scattered and only a 23-year-old man was left lying on the ground. He told police he doesn't know what happened.
March 3, 1976
ARCADE ROBBED
A former employee of Play Time Arcade, 2820 Guadalupe, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Tuesday afternoon robbery of his former business. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Magee, 22, of 1009 Aggie Lane, Apt. 306. Arcade attendant Sam Garner said he had played pool with the suspect an hour before the robbery. He told police the man had been fired from the business two weeks earlier. Police said a man walked in the arcade about 2:45 p m. with a blue steel pistol and took $180. Magee is charged with first degree aggravated robbery. Bond was set on the charge at $15,000.
First it was called Fun House and then renamed Play Time a year later. I'm not sure what kind of arcade games beyond Pong and maybe Asteroids they could have had at this place. The peak of the Pinball craze was supposed to be around 1979, so they might have had a few pinball machines as well. A quick search of youtube will show you a few examples of 1976 video games like Death Race. The location is next to Ken's Donuts where PokeBowl is today where the old Baskin Robbins location was for many years.
Forgotten Arcade #2
Green Goth - 1121 Springdale Road
May 15, 1984
A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to a January 1983 murder in East Austin and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jim Crowell Jr. of Austin admitted shooting 17-year-old Anthony Rodriguez in the chest with a shotgun after the two argued outside the Green Goth, a games arcade at 1121 Springdale Road, on Jan. 23, 1983. Crowell had argued with Rodriguez and a friend of Rodriguez at the arcade, police said. Crowell then went to his house, got a shotgun and returned to the arcade, witnesses said. When the two friends left the arcade, Rodriguez was shot Several weeks ago Crowell had reached a plea bargain with prosecutors for an eight-year prison term, but District Judge Bob Perkins would not accept the sentence, saying it was shorter than sentences in similar cases. After further plea bargaining, Crowell accepted the 15-year prison sentence.
I can't find anything else on Green Goth except reports about this incident with a murder there. There is at least one other report from 1983 around the time of Crowell's arrest that also refer to it as an arcade but reports the manager said the argument started over a game of pool. It's possible this place might have been more known for pool.
Forgotten Arcades #3 & #4
Games, Etc. - 1302 S. First St
Muther's Arcade - 2532 Guadalupe St
August 23, 1983
Losing the magic touch - Video Arcades have trouble winning the money game
It was going to be so easy for Lawrence Villegas, a video game junkie who thought he could make a fast buck by opening up an arcade where kids could plunk down an endless supply of quarters to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids. Villegas got together with a few friends, purchased about 30 video games and opened Games, Etc. at 1302 S. First St in 1980. .,--.... For a while, things, went great Kids waited in line to spend their money to drive race cars, slay dragons and save the universe.
AT THE BEGINNING of 1982, however, the bottom fell out, and Villegas' revenues fell from $400 a week to $25. Today, Games, Etc. is vacant Villegas, 30, who is now working for his parents at Tony's Tortilla Factory, hasn't decided what he'll do with the building. "I was hooked on Asteroids, and I opened the business to get other people hooked, too," Villegas said. "But people started getting bored, and it wasn't worth keeping the place open. In the end, I sold some machines for so little it made me sick."
VILLEGAS ISNT the only video game operator to experience hard times, video game manufacturers and distributors 'It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100 .
Pac-Man's a lost cause. Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Ronnie Roark says. In the past year, business has dropped 25 percent to 65 percent throughout the country, they say. Most predict business will get even worse before the market stabilizes. Video game manufacturers and operators say there are several reasons for the sharp and rapid decline: Many video games can now be played at home on television, so there's no reason to go to an arcade. The novelty of video games has worn off. It has been more than a decade since the first ones hit the market The decline can be traced directly to oversaturation or the market arcade owners say. The number of games in Austin has quadrupled since 1981, and it's not uncommon to see them in coin-operated laundries, convenience stores and restaurants.
WITH SO MANY games to choose from, local operators say, Austinites be came bored. Arcades still take in thousands of dollars each week, but managers and owners say most of the money is going to a select group of newer games, while dozens of others sit idle.
"After awhile, they all seem the same," said Dan Moyed, 22, as he relaxed at Muther's Arcade at 2532 Guadalupe St "You get to know what the game is going to do before it does. You can play without even thinking about it" Arcade owners say that that, in a nutshell, is why the market is stagnating.
IN THE PAST 18 months, Ronnie Roark, owner of the Back Room at 2015 E. Riverside Drive, said his video business has dropped 65 to 75 percent Roark, . who supplied about 160 video games to several Austin bars and arcades, said the instant success of the games is what led to their demise. "The technology is not keeping up with people's demand for change," said Roark, who bought his first video game in 1972. "The average game is popular for two or three months. We're sending back games that are less than five months old."
Roark said the market began dropping in March 1982 and has been declining steadily ever since. "The drop started before University of Texas students left for the summer in 1982," Roark said. "We expected a 25 percent drop in business, and we got that, and more. It's never really picked up since then. - "It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100. 1 was shocked when I looked over my books and saw how much things had dropped."
TO COMBAT THE slump, Roark said, he and some arcade owners last year cut the price of playing. Even that didn't help, he said. Old favorites, such as Pac-Man, which once took in hundreds of dollars each week, he said, now make less than $3 each. "Pac-Man's a lost cause," he said. "Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Hardest hit by the slump are the owners of the machines, who pay $3,500 to $5,000 for new products and split the proceeds with the businesses that house them.
SALEM JOSEPH, owner of Austin Amusement and Vending Co., said his business is off 40 percent in the past year. Worse yet, some of his customers began returning their machines, and he's having a hard time putting them back in service. "Two years ago, a machine would generate enough money to pay for itself in six months,' said Joseph, who supplies about 250 games to arcades. "Now that same machine takes 18 months to pay for itself." As a result, Joseph said, he'll buy fewer than 15 new machines this year, down from the 30 to 50 he used to buy. And about 50 machines are sitting idle in his warehouse.
"I get calls every day from people who want to sell me their machines," Joseph said. "But I can't buy them. The manufacturers won't buy them from me." ARCADE OWNERS and game manufacturers hope the advent of laser disc video games will buoy the market Don Osborne, vice president of marketing for Atari, one of the largest manufacturers of video games, said he expects laser disc games to bring a 25 percent increase in revenues next year. The new games are programmed to give players choices that may affect the outcome of the game, Os borne said. "Like the record and movie industries, the video game industry is dependent on products that stimulate the imagination," Osborne said "One of the reasons we're in a valley is that we weren't coming up with those kinds of products."
THE FIRST of the laser dis games, Dragonslayer and Star Wan hit the market about two months ago. Noel Kerns, assistant manager of The Gold Mine Arcade in Northcross Mall, says the new games are responsible for a $l,000-a-week increase in revenues. Still, Kerns said, the Gold Mine' total sales are down 20 percent iron last summer. However, he remain optimistic about the future of the video game industry. "Where else can you come out of the rain and drive a Formula One race car or save the universe?" hi asked.
Others aren't so optimistic. Roark predicted the slump will force half of all operators out of business and will last two more years. "Right now, we've got a great sup ply and almost no demand," Roark said. "That's going to have to change before things get- significantly better."
Well there is a lot to take from that long article, among other things, that the author confused "Dragonslayer" with "Dragon's Lair". I lol'd.
Anyone who has been to Emo's East, formerly known as The Back Room, knows they have arcade games and pool, but it's mostly closed when there isn't a show. That shouldn't count as an arcade, even though the former owner Ronnie Roark was apparently one of the top suppliers of cabinet games to the area during the Golden Era. Any pool hall probably had a few arcade games at the time, too, but that's not the same as being an arcade.
We also learn from the same article of two forgotten arcades: Muthers at 2522 Guadalupe where today there is a Mediterranean food restaurant, and another called Games, Etc. at 1302 S.First that today is the site of an El Mercado restaurant. But the article is mostly about showing us how bad the effects were from the crash at the end of the Golden Era. It was very hard for the early arcades to survive with increasing competition from home game consoles and personal computers, and the proliferation of the games into stores and restaurants.
Forgotten Arcades #5 #6 & #7
Computer Madness - 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Electronic Encounters - 1701 W Ben White Blvd (Southwood Mall)
The Outer Limits Amusements Center - 1409 W. Oltorf
March 4, 1982
'Quartermania' stalks South Austin
School officials, parents worried about effects of video games
A fear Is haunting the video game business. "We call it 'quartermania.' That's fear of running out of quarters," said Steve Stackable, co-owner of Computer Madness, a video game and foosball arcade at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd. The "quartermania" fear extends to South Austin households and schools, as well. There it's a fear of students running out of lunch money and classes to play the games. Local school officials and Austin police are monitoring the craze. They're concerned that computer hotspots could become undesirable "hangouts" for students, or that truancy could increase because students (high-school age and younger) will skip school to defend their galaxies against The Tempest.
So far police fears have not been substantiated. Department spokesmen say that although more than half the burglaries in the city are committed by juveniles during the daytime, they know of no connection between the break-ins and kids trying to feed their video habit But school and parental worries about misspent time and money continue. The public outcry in September 1980 against proposals to put electronic game arcades near two South Austin schools helped persuade city officials to reject the applications. One proposed location was near Barton Hills Elementary School. The other was South Ridge Plaza at William Cannon Drive and South First Street across from Bedlchek Junior High School.
Bedichek principal B.G. Henry said he spoke against the arcade because "of the potential attraction it had for our kids. I personally feel kids are so drawn to these things, that It might encourage them to leave the school building and play hookey. Those things have so much compulsion, kids are drawn to them like a magnet Kids can get addicted to them and throw away money, maybe their lunch money. I'm not against the video games. They may be beneficial with eye-hand coordination or even with mathematics, but when you mix the video games during school hours and near school buildings, you might be asking for problems you don't need."
A contingent from nearby Pleasant Hill Elementary School joined Bedichek in the fight back in 1980, although principal Kay Beyer said she received her first formal call about the games last Week from a mother complaining that her child was spending lunch money on them. Beyer added that no truancy problems have been related to video game-playing at a nearby 7-11 store. Allen Poehl, amusement game coordinator for Austin's 7-11 stores, said company policy rules out any game-playing by school-age youth during school hours. Fulmore Junior High principal Bill Armentrout said he is working closely with operators of a nearby 7-1 1 store to make sure their policy is enforced.
The convenience store itself, and not necessarily the video games, is a drawing card for older students and drop-outs, Armentrout said. Porter Junior High principal Marjorie Ball said that while video games aren't a big cause of truancy, "the money (spent on the games) is a big factor." Ball said she has made arrangements with nearby businesses to call the school it students are playing the games during school hours. "My concern is that kids are basically unsupervised, especially at the 24-hour grocery stores. That's a late hour for kids to be out. I would like to see them (games) unplugged at 10 p.m.," adds Joslin Elementary principal Wayne Rider.
Several proprietors of video game hot-spots say they sympathize with the concerns of parents and school officials. No one under 18 is admitted without a parent to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre at 4211 S. Lamar. That rule, says night manager David Dunagan, "keeps it from being a high school hangout. This is a family place." Jerry Zollar, owner of J.J. Subs in West Wood Shopping Center on Bee Cave Road, rewards the A's on the report cards of Eanes school district students with free video games. "It's kind of a community thing we do in a different way. I've heard from both teachers and parents . . . they thought this was a good idea," said Zollar.
Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall last year was renovated into a brightly lit arcade. "We're trying to get away from the dark, barroom-type place. We want this to be a place for family entertainment We won't let kids stay here during school hours without a written note from their parents, and we're pretty strict about that," said manager Kelly Roberts. Joyce Houston, who manages The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf St. along with her husband, said, "I wouldn't let my children go into some of the arcades I've visited. I'm a concerned parent, too. We wanted a place where the whole family could come and enjoy themselves."
Well you can see which way the tone of all these articles is going. There were some crimes committed at some arcades but all of them tended to have a negative reputation for various reasons. Parents and teachers were very skeptical of the arcades being in the neighborhoods to the point of petitioning the City Government to restrict them. Three arcades are mentioned besides Chuck-E-Cheese. Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall, The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf, and Computer Madness, a "video game and foosball arcade" at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Forgotten Arcade #8
Smitty's Galaxy of Games - Lake Creek Parkway
February 25, 1982
Arcades fighting negative image
Video games have swept across America, and Williamson and Travis counties have not been immune. In a two-part series, Neighbor examines the effects the coin-operated machines have had on suburban and small-town life.
Cities have outlawed them, religious leaders have denounced them and distraught mothers have lost countless children to their voracious appetites. And still they march on, stronger and more numerous than before. A new disease? Maybe. A wave of invading aliens from outer space? On occasion. A new type of addiction? Certainly. The culprit? Video games. Although the electronic game explosion has been mushrooming throughout the nation's urban areas for the past few years, its rippling effects have just recently been felt in the suburban fringes of North Austin and Williamson County.
In the past year, at least seven arcades armed with dozens of neon quarter-snatchers have sprung up to lure teens with thundering noises and thousands of flashing seek-and-destroy commands. Critics say arcades are dens of iniquity where children fall prey to the evils of gambling. But arcade owners say something entirely different. "Everybody fights them (arcades), they think they are a haven for drug addicts. It's just not true," said Larry Grant of Austin, who opened Eagle's Nest Fun and Games on North Austin Avenue in Georgetown last September. "These kids are great" Grant said the gameroom "gives teenagers a place to come. Some only play the games and some only talk.
In Georgetown, if you're from the high school, this is it." He said he's had very few disturbances, and asks "undesirables" to leave. "We've had a couple of rowdies. That's why I don't have any pool tables they tend to attract that type of crowd," Grant said.
Providing a place for teens to congregate was also the reason behind Ron and Carol Smith's decision to open Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway at the entrance to Anderson Mill. "We have three teenage sons, and as soon as the oldest could drive, it became immediately apparent that there was no place to go around here," said Ron, an IBM employee who lives in Spicewood at Balcones. "This prompted us to want to open something." The business, which opened in August, has been a huge success with both parents and youngsters. "Hundreds of parents have come to check out our establishment before allowing their children to come, and what they see is a clean, safe environment managed by adults and parents," Ron said. "We've developed an outstanding rapport with the community." Video arcades "have a reputation that we have to fight," said Carol.
Kathy McCoy of Georgetown, who last October opened Krazy Korner on Willis Street in Leander, agrees. "We've got a real good group of kids," she said. "There's no violence, no nothing. Parents can always find their kids at Krazy Korner."
While all the arcade owners contacted reported that business is healthy, if not necessarily lucrative, it's not as easy for video entrepreneurs to turn a profit as one might imagine. A sizeable investment is required. Ron Smith paid between $2,800 and $5,000 for each of the 30 electronic diversions at his gameroom.
Grant said his average video game grosses about $50 a week, and his "absolute worst" game, Armor Attack, only $20 a week. The top machines (Defender and Pac-Man) can suck in an easy $125 a week. That's a lot of quarters, 500 to be exact but the Eagle's Nest and Krazy Korner pass half of them on to Neelley Vending Company of Austin which rents them their machines. "At 25 cents a shot, it takes an awful lot of people to pay the bills," said Tom Hatfield, district manager for Neelley.
He added that an owner's personality and the arcade's location can make or break the venture. The game parlor must be run "by an understanding person, someone with patience," Hatfield said. "They cannot be too demanding on the kids, yet they can't let them run all over them." And they must be located in a spot "with lots of foot traffic," such as a shopping center or near a good restaurant, he said. "And being close to a school really helps." "Video games are going to be here permanently, but we're going to see some operations not going because of the competition," which includes machines in virtually every convenience store and supermarket, Hatfield said.
This article talks about three arcades. One in Georgetown called Eagles Nest, another in Leander called Krazy Korner, and a third called Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway "on the fringes of North Austin". This is the one I remember the older kids talking about when I was a little kid. There was once a movie theater across the street from the Westwood High School football stadium and behind that was Smitty's. Today I think the building was bulldozed long ago and the space is part of the expanded onramp to 183 today. Eventually another unrelated arcade was built next to the theater that became Alamo Lakeline. It was another site of some unrecorded epic Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the 90s.
But the article written before the end of the Golden Era tell us much about the pushback I was talking about earlier. Early arcades were seen as "dirty" places in some circles, and the owners of the arcades in Williamson County had to stress how "clean" their establishments were. This other article from a couple of weeks later tells of how area school officials weren't worried about video games and tells us more arcades in Round Rock and Cedar Park. Apparently the end of the golden age lasted a bit longer than usual in this area.
At some point in the next few years the bubble burst, and places like Smitty's were gone by the late 80s. But the distributors quoted earlier were right that arcade games weren't going completely away. In the mid 1980s LeFun opened up next in the Scientology building at 2200 Guadalupe on the drag. Down a few doors past what used be a coffee shop and a CVS was Einsteins Arcade. Both of those survived into the 21st century. I remember the last time I was at Einsteins I got my ass beat in Tekken by a kid half my age. heheh
That's all for today. There were no Bonus Pics in the UT archive of arcades (other than the classical architectural definition). I wanted to pass on some Bonus newspaper articles (remember to click and zoom in with the buttons on the right to read) about Austin arcades anyway but first a small story.
I mentioned earlier the secret of the UT Student Union. I have no idea what it looks like now but in the 90s there was a sizable arcade in with the bowling alley in the basement. Back in 1994 when I used to sneak in, they featured this bizarre early attempt at virtual reality games. I found an old Michael Barnes Statesman article about it dated February 11, 1994. Some highlights:
Hundreds of students and curiosity-seekers lined up at the University of Texas Union to play three to five minutes of Dactyl Nightmare, Flying Aces or V-Tol, three-dimensional games from Kramer Entertainment. Nasty weather delayed the unloading of four huge trunks containing the machines, which resemble low pulpits. Still, players waited intently for a chance to shoot down a fighter jet, operate a tilt-wing Harrier or tangle with a pterodactyl. Today, tickets will go on sale in the Texas Union lobby at 11:30 a.m. for playing slots between noon and 6 p.m.
Players, fitted with full helmets, throttles and power packs, stood on shiny gray and yellow platforms surrounded by a circular guard rail. Seen behind the helmet's goggles were computer simulated landscapes, not unlike the most sophisticated video games, with controls and enemies viewed in deep space. "You're on a platform waiting to fight a human figure," said Jeff Vaughn, 19, of Dactyl Nightmare. "A pterodactyl swoops down and tries to pick you up. You have to fight it off. You are in the space and can see your own body and all around you. But if you try to walk, you have to use that joy stick to get around."
"I let the pterodactyl carry me away so I could look down and scan the board," said Tom Bowen of the same game. "That was the way I found out where the other player was." "Yeah, it's cool just to stand there and not do anything," Vaughn said. The mostly young, mostly male crowd included the usual gaming fanatics, looking haggard and tense behind glasses and beards. A smattering of women and children also pressed forward in a line that snaked past the lobby and into the Union's retail shops.
"I don't know why more women don't play. Maybe because the games are so violent," said Jennifer Webb, 24, a psychology major whose poor eyesight kept her from becoming a fighter pilot in real life. "If the Air Force won't take me, virtual reality will." "They use stereo optics moving at something like 60 frames a second," said computer science major Alex Aquila, 19. "The images are still pretty blocky. But once you play it, you'll want to play it again and again." With such demand for virtual reality, some gamesters wondered why an Austin video arcade has not invested in at least one machine.
The gameplay looked like this.
Bonus Article #1 - "Video fans play for own reasons" (Malibu Grand Prix) - March 11, 1982
Bonus Article #2 - "Pac-Man Cartridge Piques Interest" - April 13, 1982
Bonus Article #3 - "Video Games Fail Consumer" - January 29, 1984
Bonus Article #4 - "Nintendoholics/Modems Unite" - January 25, 1989
Bonus Article #5 and pt 2 "Two girls missing for a night found at arcade" (truly dedicated young gamers) - August 7, 2003
submitted by s810 to Austin [link] [comments]

How to Create Pay-Per-View Worthy Adventures or "How to Stop Worrying and Start DMing Like Vince McMahon"

Before I became a DM I spent a fair amount of time working for a professional wrestling company.
I won't say which one, but let's just say it once got sued by a federation of animal lovers and to this day features worldly wrestlers everywhere.
When I was first starting out as a DM, I read as much as I could (including tons of posts on this very subreddit). I built complex encounters and antagonists I thought were compelling, but when it came to running my sessions with them they often felt a little anticlimactic. That's because I was investing all my time in the payoff, and none in the build. And that's when I remembered everything I learned while I was working with in-ring talent on their characters their definitely real life selves: The build is everything. Now that I use pro-wrestling secrets* to develop my NPCs and encounters, I'm the best DM there is (ever was, or ever will be). At least to my party.
Below are a few lessons I learned from my time just outside gorilla, as well as a few examples of how they translate to your work as a DM.
For clarity these terms will come up alot, so here are simple definitions:
"heels" = "bad guys"
"babyfaces/faces" = "good guys" aka "your party/their allies."
"Heat" = "an emotional reaction." In general, you want the audience to be emotionally invested. Heat is the name for that investment, whether they love or hate someone.

*these aren't really secrets—they are the basic building blocks of compelling storytelling, and oftentimes can be boiled down to a single maxim: give the people what they want...just make them pay (and/or wait) for it.

Everyone Who's Anyone Has At Least One Nickname
The Undertaker is also: The Phenom, The Deadman, Big Evil, The Lord of Darkness, The Demon of Death Valley and 'Taker if you're nasty. And that's just one guy (and like, only half his nicknames...). Any of your NPCs that you're planning to throw at your party as possible heels should have a cool moniker or two to help establish their renown within the world you're creating.
Perhaps more importantly, each member of your party should be given the chance to earn one. You will be surprised how awesome your rogue feels when one of their NPC allies starts referring to them as "The Graveyard Whistler" following their steely performance during a crypt-based encounter.
As your players conquer various encounters, nicknames are a cool way to weave their exploits into the narrative on a regular basis. In my experience, you'll find players actually start incorporating their given monikers into the way they play their characters. A nickname is the first step toward turning your heroes into superheroes—don't miss out on the opportunity.
Everyone Sells for Your Superheroes (So When They Don't, It Means Something)
I put this close to the top because I think it informs everything about the way most pro-wrestling is booked. There are a few guys/gals on the roster that are unbeatable. Let's call them Superheroes (when they're a physically intimidating heel, they are usually referred to as "monsters"). Andre the Giant. Hulk Hogan. The Rock. Undertaker. Goldberg. John Cena. These wrestlers rarely, if ever, lose. If they do lose, it's typically under special circumstances (their opponent cheated, they were injured, they were supremely outnumbered, their opponent covered them in cement, or someone poked them with a very powerful finger). If a Superhero loses "clean," meaning none of that previously mentioned interference, it is often part of the coronation of a new Superhero.
Everyone on the roster sells for a Superhero. A Superhero's punches hit harder. Their bodyslams bounce you off the mat. Their penetrating stare sends you scrambling back up the ramp and into the locker room. Superheroes beat local competitors in 10 seconds, or destroy previously celebrated opponents in what are called "squash" matches—a total annihilation meant to reinforce that the Superhero is unbeatable.
Your party are fledgling Superheroes, and will reach proper Superhero status as they progress in level. So when they use a weapon or cast a spell or talk their way out of trouble, have your lower level NPCs sell for them. Basic bandits should flee in fear when your paladin drops that first smite. Skeletons shudder and rattle the moment a cleric shows their holy symbol—they know all it'll take to render them to dust is the whispered name of the cleric's god. A rogue's knife doesn't miss...the opponent got lucky dodging to the left at the precise moment...a twist of fate the target knows they're unlikely to repeat.
When Andre the Giant was bodyslammed and pinned by Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania III , it was the culmination of one of the longest, most successful builds in pro-wrestling history. And it cemented Hogan as an unbeatable force, because he had dethroned the boss. The monster. The 8th wonder of the world. Andre sold for Hogan, and elevated him as the heir apparent.
By having your lower level NPCs (and even some in the mid-tier) oversell for your party, it'll mean more to your party when they come across a monster or miscreant that takes the full weight of a great weapon master's heavy swing, shrugs it off and hands them a receipt: a full bore punch to the throat.
Now your party is facing a formidable foe—they've never been in this situation before. And when they finally succeed in defeating this new opponent, they'll feel that much more unstoppable (which is, of course, when you throw an even bigger monster at them).
When in Doubt, Give 'em a Gimmick
Some cynics might view this as lazy storytelling (and they might be right!) but even some of the best written characters in history have a "gimmick"—i.e.: a shtick...a clearly articulated angle...that thing that sets them apart from other, similar characters. Walter White wasn't just a drug kingpin—he was a brilliant chemistry teacher who used his brain to rise through the criminal underworld. Tony Soprano wasn't just a mob boss—he was a mob boss dealing with panic attacks/depression, whose family issues were as complicated/stressful as his "family" issues. Dr. Gregory House is just Sherlock Holmes in a hospital. Gimmicks are pretty much character premises, but in pro-wrestling, they have a way of informing entire identities.
Sure, Jake "the Snake" Roberts is a mentally intimidating dude—but that notion gets cranked to 11 when he shows up in the ring with a cobra in a sack. The Undertaker, a walking avatar of death itself, who buries his opponents (including his brother!) alive, evokes far more dread and intrigue than "Mark Calaway" ever could. Some gimmicks are simple ("He's a warrior, but he's like...the Ultimate Warrior.") and others are complex (Randy Orton, the Apex Predator, is also known as the Viper because his most devastating strike can come out of nowhere). But all WWE gimmicks have one thing in common: They exist. Pretty much every Superstar has one.
If you're building an NPC you want your party to love (or hate), make sure they have a thing that sets them apart from the rest of the crowd. Give them a nickname only those who speak Thieves' Cant understand means they are "Untouchable." Give them a blade that can end a life with a thought which they constantly brag about never having to use. Give them a profession that also doubles as a menacing, occasionally ridiculous hint at their underlying savagery (see: Mark Henry, aka The World's Strongest Man," or Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, or Irvin R. Shyster, aka "IRS.").
A gimmick is a way to crank an otherwise unmemorable NPC to 11 (everything in pro-wrestling is cranked to 11. Like, 11 is the baseline), and helps your party know who they are up against—and in many cases, how they can shut them down [see Good Gimmicks = Great Weaknesses].
"Parts Unknown" = Instant Backstory
Don't have a good idea for a gimmick for an NPC or magic item? Take another cue from Vince McMahon's playbook and simply describe them as being from "Parts Unknown." Demolition, Papa Shango, Ultimate Warrior and a dozen other WWE Superstars were billed as hailing not from Omaha or Albuquerque or Cleveland, but from "Parts Unknown." Where is that? NO ONE KNOWS. That's what makes it scary/cool/intriguing. It's instant mystique.
Now, this might read as lazy to you cynics out there, but high level works of fantasy use the same trick: see: 2001's monolith. The Next Generation's Borg. Even the Joker, one of the most considered villains of the modern era was, until pretty recently, backstoryless.
Sometimes a mystery is more terrifying than anything you could come up with on your own. If the most powerful NPCs in your world can't explain the origin of a recently summoned entity or artifact, well, that sounds like something your heroes should approach with caution (or reckless abandon...their choice).
Every Good Villain Deserves a Valet
If you've got a heel you know your party is going to love/hate, double down and give them a valet. A valet can take many forms. Sometimes they act as a hype man/woman, other times they serve as arm candy, a prop to showcase just how much better the heel's life is than your own or sometimes they are a heavy...a wall of meat to keep the heel from taking any sort of beating (there is no faster way to build heat than for a heel who deserves to be punched in the face than to have them step behind a wall of harder-to-punch flesh).
Valets often serve to offset the strengths/weaknesses of the character to whom they are assigned. Again, this is classic storytelling. Falstaff and Hal. Laurel and Hardy. Pinky and the Brain. Pro-wrestling just does it overtly and often (usually to protect a storyline or, in some cases, hide the wrestler's weaknesses). Monsters like Brock Lesnar aren't much on the mic? No problem: enter Paul Heyman.
Give your charming rogue a droll sorceress who can snap her fingers and summon a demon. Give your posh prince access to the hired goon who single-handedly dominated your party in the area's underground fight club. Give your dragon-lich an incredibly weak but utterly hilarious underling who can add some levity to otherwise intense "my evil plan is falling into place" monologues.
When your heel has a great valet, your party gets the bonus of kicking the ass of two characters they hate. Alternatively, they have a character they can use as leverage against the heel (perhaps, like Heyman, they work for the highest bidder, and would be willing to turn on their client for a better offer).
Repackage Your Failures into Successes
Look: You're going to screw up. You're going to create a character you think is an easy sell: let's call him Rocky Maivia. Rocky Maivia is the future! He's gonna be amazing! He will create heat simply by showing up. And then, when the pyro goes off...well, it's a dud. Well guess what! You're Vince F'ing McMahon! You create and destroy characters with a thought! You don't have to stick with Rocky Maivia! You are not a failure! You are simply biding your time, letting the crowd think you've made a mistake. But as anyone who has met him will tell you he's told them, Vince McMahon doesn't make mistakes. Rocky Maivia? No. That's the Rock. He's always been the Rock. And now, he always will be.
Demented Dentist Isaac Yankem? No...that's KANE, the Big Red Monster.
Hunter Hearst Helmsly, the Connecticut Blueblood? Uhmm...no. That's Triple H. The Game. The Cerebral Assassin. The World's Most Hydrated Man.
"Stunning" Steve Austin? No, make that Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Rattlesnake, he of the Gimme a Hell Yeah.
The "Bottom Line" as the artist formerly known as Stunning Steve might say, is this: you're going to invest a lot of time in a character and your party is going to wipe them out. You're going to create a fully developed backstory for a villain you think is dark and compelling only to watch your players laugh in your face and make a joke about the accent you gave them. You will toil over your notes for a delicious monologue and then watch your players choose to violently attack rather than listen to what your villain has to say. So many times. And you might think you have failed...but you are not a failure. You're Vince McMahon. You walk like this. You are a god.
If an NPC you thought had potential as a foil gets annihilated due to your party being OP, great. Did your party know he also made a deal with several different infernal authorities and is now a revenant that sleeplessly seeks their utter demise? Did your party know that nefarious noble with the funny accent was actually a weakened rakshasa who underestimated them but won't make the same mistake twice? That NPC your party chose to sneak by rather than encounter face to face? Oh shit, did you know that NPC has access to a helm of scrying and plans to see them later in more ways than one?
When something isn't working for you or your campaign, feel free to trash it. Keep the parts you like, or find creative ways to bring your personal favorites back in a fresh way. If your party can't remember the name of an NPC you care about...guess what (what!): to quote the Rock...it doesn't matter what their name is. You can rebuild them. You can rebrand them. You can return to glory.
Mediocre Heel + Good Heel + Random Heel = Great Stable
Similar to repackaging, and often a part of one, building a stable is a great way to take B-level talent and turn them into an A-list draw (see: The Shield. The New Day. The Nexus...sidenote: Stables often start with a definite article).
The truth is, your party is a stable—a group of individuals united out of convenience and (typically) a singular purpose (they might even have a name. It might even start with 'the'). But they all have individual goals. If your party can form a stable, why can't your NPCs?
Perhaps all the NPCs your players have dispatched over the past few months have decided they don't like the new heroes in town kicking them around, and they've formed a Justice League of their own. Or perhaps the seemingly disconnected events of the past year (and the NPCs associated with them) have all been part of a larger plan that's only just now coming into view.
You can get more mileage out of your lesser heels as well as more satisfaction out of encounters by having your party face off against familiar enemies who are now more powerful because they've allied with other known entities. "You mean the cult from three sessions ago that we barely defeated has somehow allied themselves with the New Kobold Order, from our very first session, to bring more gold to the dragon we nearly killed last month? Well...that sounds...bad." No. It sounds great.
Kick Them While They're Down (So You Can Lift Them Up)
You'll see this a lot when a babyface is angling for a title. It's not enough for a guy like John Cena to beat his opponent. After all, John Cena is a Superhero who could beat anyone. That's why you have John Cena get injured during a meaningless tag team match the week before the championship fight. Now he has a bad shoulder. Oh no! And the heel doesn't care that Cena has a bad shoulder. In fact, the heel just keeps working that shoulder over and over and over until Cena may as well be fighting the guy one handed.
But that's just it. When someone says "I could beat you with one arm tied behind my back," well, that's a claim that means more when you back it up. The crowd will root for Cena to defeat his foe in a weakened state (at least, the 10 and unders will).
Find a way to weaken your party so that the obstacle they're facing isn't just an enemy.
Curses. Exhaustion. Difficult Terrain. Anti-magic fields. Make them run a gauntlet (in WWE a gauntlet match is basically one guy vs. a series of tough opponents as part of one fight) by forcing them to experience more encounters in a day than Kobold Fight Club might deem reasonable or fair. You think Vince McMahon cares about what's fair? (spoiler: he does not). He cares about what sells. And desperation sells.
If your party feels overmatched, outgunned, outnumbered, and out of spell slots, it'll be all the more impressive when they come out on top. And if they don't...you do not have to kill them to "maintain realism." There are fates worth than death. You can just have one of your heels take everything they care about. Kick them while they are down. Rob them of their pride, their freedom, their dignity...their precious gold and preciouser magical items.
The struggle to get it all back will mean that much more.
Good Gimmicks = Great Weaknesses
The best gimmicks often come with something another wrestler could theoretically exploit for leverage. Macho Man Randy Savage didn't just love Slim Jims. He had a valet named Miss Elizabeth. They got married! It was amazing! While the Macho Man's gimmick wasn't necessarily "guy in love," (his gimmick was "guy on cocaine") but his devotion to Miss Elizabeth was definitely a big part of his character. That's a gimmick. And therefore a weakness. So what did Jake "the Snake" Roberts give the happy couple as a wedding gift? That's right: a cobra. (Note: It was not on their registry.)
Speaking of Jake "the Snake"—he had a number of snakes over the course of his tenure as a pro wrestler. The snake that was first introduced as part of this gimmick was named Damien. A guy who carries a snake in a bag into the ring with him is a great gimmick. But again, creates a great weakness. That's why Earthquake (a guy whose gimmick was that he was so obese he could shake the very earth just by sitting down) squashed Damien by sitting on him in the middle of a match. Twice! Earthquake later fed the remains of Damien to Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes. THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF PRO WRESTLING.
If your party is facing a great heel with a great gimmick, that character's weaknesses may be self evident. In Undertaker's case, for a while there his power allegedly came from something called "the Urn." Whomever controlled the Urn controlled the Deadman. The parallels to D&D tropes should be pretty clear there. "Monster X is unstoppable...but it's possible if we get our hands on Artifact 3, we can bring the monster under our control."
Giving your NPCs a weakness or two for your party to exploit is not taking it easy on them. In fact, it allows you to refocus your encounters on problem solving rather than just on combat. This is a great fix for DMs in the mid-to-late tier of the game when your party is effectively impervious to any threats. They aren't just fighting a villain—they are fighting a villain by solving a puzzle.
Stick it to the Smarts
In pro-wrestling parlance, there are "Marks" and there are "Smarts" (there are also "Smart Marks" or "Smarks"). Marks are people who believe everything they see related to pro wrestling is real/unscripted. Smarts are the opposite, and understand that pro wrestling is a business/form of entertainment with a specific audience (Smarks are Marks who believe wrestling is fake but love it in spite of (and sometimes because of) this fact).
Vince McMahon is not in the business of giving a shit what the Smarts think or think they know about what's happening backstage. The only time he cares is when so many Smarts think something is true that he can use their belief to his advantage (see: the evolution of Vince McMahon, friendly ring announcer to Mr. McMahon, arguably the greatest heel in pro wrestling history).
In D&D, metagamers are Smarts. The players who have read the Monster Manual (and the various supplementary titles) cover to cover and know every detail about every creature you could possibly throw their way, who are the first to say "they can't do that" when your NPC uses Dimension Door to move 500 feet instead of the published 400, who say things like "How can that creature deal 48 damage if we are Level 4? That's beyond our challenge rating!"—those are Smarts.
Smarts think D&D has rules—rules they can memorize and use against you at the table. You are absolutely welcome to agree with them, but that's not DMing like Vince McMahon.
If you want to DM like Vince, the only rule of D&D is you're the DM and whatever you say happened is what happened. Period. If you say it exists, it exists. Your players might ask "Why? How? Who?"—and you can flash the grin that accompanies ultimate power and say "Because I said so."
That's admittedly extreme, but so is the Smart's position ("This book I read before the session said X, Y or Z...so you're wrong" or worse "That's not how I do it in my game"). If you're feeling equitable, and want to split the difference (something Vince would never do, except for when he agreed to the Daniel Bryan push, but, I digress) meet in the middle and use what a Smart thinks they know against them.
As an example: Smarts know a creature only has 3 Legendary Resistances, and will strategize around this fact, holding onto a killer 7th-level spell for after that moment when the dragon uses its LR a third time. Well guess what, sucker—this ancient being has EIGHT Legendary Resistances, one for each of the centuries its been alive. Reveal this intel and watch them get sick to their stomachs.
This isn't being petty (though it certainly can be)—it's good storytelling. You have to keep people guessing. And if your players think they know everything about how your world works because they read an outside source, and you know this, you can flip their expectations back on them. Example:
Expectation: The Monster Manual says hags only hang out in covens of three. Reality: This coven formed a stable (see above) with two other hag covens, they call themselves The Triumvirate, and you just killed 3 of their sisters. The other six are on their way back to the nest. Whoopsie! Who's smart now?
The Art of the Swerve
Similar to using what your players know against them as a way of subverting/exceeding expectations, a swerve is a pro-wrestling term that basically means "doing something other than what the audience is planning to see," and typically involves storyline.
As the Monday Night Wars drew to a close, Vince McMahon sent his son Shane to sign the paperwork and purchase WCW as part of a cross brand takeover. Shane signs the paperwork (expected) but uses his OWN NAME (swerve!), effectively becoming the owner of a rival company overnight, and kicking off the "INVASION" storyline and like, 2 years of WWE content.
When CM Punk was dealing with contract negotiations, it was a forgone conclusion he would lose his championship bout with John Cena, as there was simply no way Vince would let someone like Punk win a championship, let alone against John Cena, to say nothing of the fact that Punk had cut a promo in the weeks prior that dunked on the entire concept of being a company guy. And yet—swerve—he walked out of Chicago and (at least in storyline) the company as WWE Champion.
Swerves happen in fantasy/sci-fi as well. Two notable examples both feature in spoiler-filled Game of Thrones recaps, and involve things that can/can't happen to supposed main characters' heads and what should/should not take place at colorful weddings. Those moments took the characters by surprise because they subverted the rules of the world (in so much as they proved rules only apply to those who believe in them) and they took the audience by surprise because they used our expectations against us. ("Sean Bean can't die! He never dies in anything!")
You can swerve your players by thinking through what their expectations for an encounter will be, then do the opposite. Or something to the left or right of what might have been promised. Or do something that isn't even in the same universe of what you'd originally presented.
Example: "Let's go visit the king and convince him to help the people of this fair city, who have been ignored by their leader for too long!"Expectation: There will be an encounter in the castle overlooking the citySwerve: There is no castle—it's a major illusion.
You can start with the swerve, then come up with the reasoning for it. You don't need to swerve just for the sake of shaking things up (although that's exactly what Vince would do), but you should recognize the swerve as a tool in your arsenal, and one that will help take your stories to another level simply by forcing you to think of the unexpected thing.
Always Build to the (Next) Pay Per View
This rule is more complicated now that WWE Network has sort of killed the idea of the PPV, but here's the gist: Each month there's a major event. That's where you want numerous storylines to coalesce— for the babyfaces to triumph and the heels to get their comeuppance.
This is a hard and fast rule: If the world wants nothing more than to see somebody punch Ric Flair in the mouth, do not—under any circumstances—let someone punch Ric Flair in the mouth unless they've paid for it. This is why championships rarely change hands on episodes of Raw or SmackDown—you want to build anticipation for a title change, rather than just allow it to happen without any buildup. That's how you make money off a PPV.
The more the heel needs to get punched, the more the heel should find ways to weasel out of it. For a defending champion, examples include:
-faking an injury to delay a match-no showing-refusing to fight unless ridiculous conditions are agreed to-getting themselves intentionally disqualified so the title won't change hands-getting themselves intentionally disqualified a different way so the title won't change hands-no showing again-faking another injury
This can take many forms in D&D. If the party wants to kill the evil princess, have them fight their way through a cavalcade of creatures and sneak through the sewers only to discover that (gasp!) the princess is in another castle. That castle is guarded by an anti-magic field and a bunch of buff tortles. So the party waits to try and catch the princess when she's at the Summer Tournament. But then the princess's courier shows up and explains the Summer Tournament has been cancelled. So the party convinces the realm's council to host a Fall Tournament. The party is pleased...they lie in wait. But the courier arrives at the Tournament in her place, with a note that says "ha, ha, ha. My castle is live-scrying the Tournament so I don't need to be there in person. Toodles." This will frustrate your party. The courier says "Milady has invited you to dinner at her castle." The party is skeptical, but they attend. The princess poisons their food...but the party was expecting poison so they're fine...but they don't know the princess is a simulacrum of the real deal, and when they slay her she turns to melted snow, and her dying words are "I'm sorry, but the princess is...in...another......castle-arrrrrggh."
By keeping your party's favorite foe just out of reach for a few sessions/encounters, you delay the gratification and help ensure that when they actually do get to land that killing blow, they've fought/sweat/died to earn it.
Blow Off to Something Bigger
When your party thinks they are at the end of their face off with a foe, don't be afraid to turn a Survivor Series showdown into a Wrestlemania-worthy main event. This is what I mean by "Build to the (Next) Pay Per View." You don't just want to delay the payoff/gratification as part of your build—you want to spin a partial pay off into something biggebettemore exciting.
In pro wrestling, this can take several forms, but the most common is "If you beat me at event X, you'll win a title shot at event Y," or the heel is forced into a contract signing to defend the title and it's a no DQ match so they can't weasel out of the defense this time, or the babyface finally (finally!) wins the title...but the moment the belt is in their hands after an utterly exhausting match, a new contender comes out of nowhere and challenges them to a title match, and the new champ loses before they can get to their feet. This starts a new program between your hero and a new challenger.
Generally, the last match in a program between two wrestlers is called a "blow off"—it's the match that ends one story for a wrestler so they can start a program with another one. Due to D&D's de facto episodic structure, you can create a blowoff in your campaign simply by introducing a new shiny object for your party to chase once they've finally accomplished a longterm goal.
The best blow-offs don't bookend a story—they start a new chapter, utilizing elements/moments/sleights/intel from the previous pages.
Once your party conquers the princess, they find out her courier is the one who's been pulling the strings all along, and he's kept the party busy long enough for his plans to finally come to fruition.
Or the dragon hoard features evidence of a conspiracy involving the disappearance of your party's favorite NPC...and it points directly at your party's paladin's dad!
Or the kindly treasure hunter who fearlessly led the party to the heart of the dungeon makes off with the loot while they're battling the creatures that guard it.
Finding ways to blow off into something bigger for your party will drive your narrative forward while keeping it rooted in the present moment. Your party's passions will be influenced as much by what you're telling them as what you're keeping from them. They'll be so motivated to chase the things that are important to them that they won't even notice how neatly it all connects behind the screen.
Know When to Humble Yourself
Yes, you're Vince McMahon—the walking, talking, mugging millionaire megalomaniac who runs D&D sessions with the confidence of a guy who has all the power. But even Vince knows when it's time to be sprayed with beer, or smacked in the face with a bedpan, or even have his head shaved by a future president.
If you rule your table like Vince would, you're going to frustrate your players. This is totally fine, provided you know when to allow them to release that tension on your creation. You aren't trying to beat them—you're trying to entertain them. Sometimes that means letting them have the W, especially when they've earned it.

There are dozens more examples but I feel I've gone on longer than Shawn Michaels v. Bret Hart at WrestleMania XII. So instead, I'll leave it here and leave the floor open for those of you who know more about DMing and D&D than I do pro wrestling to add your thoughts on the above.
And if you end up using any of the strategies above in your future sessions, give me a hell yeah.
submitted by jeffjeffries77 to DMAcademy [link] [comments]

Unlimited Meta Report: Post-Skullfane Nerf

They did it. They actually did it. I honestly can’t believe it, and I’m so happy. The impossible actually happened: Skullfane was nerfed to 10 mana! This change was well deserved and I’m so happy they did it. While this is perhaps lip service, it means they at least sort of care about Unlimited.
This Meta Report was created by looking at Gamewith and Manasurge’s tier lists, recent JCG performances, winstreaks posted on Shadowverse-Wins, sparse date on SVLog, my own experience in Masters, and the opinions of other players on discord. I try to attribute decks to where I got them from where possible.

Meta Overview

The Skullfane nerf has opened the floodgates. Plenty of strategies were oppressed by Nihilism, and its demise has encouraged experimentation with them again. This resulted in actual meta fluidity (!) between the 2 post-patch JCG events. Mainly this can be seen in a move away from aggressive decks and towards Elana.
Despite Skullfane no longer existing, another deck is on the rise and trying to take its place: Storm Rune. Storm Rune has been a constant and consistent deck throughout the history of Unlimited, and the buff to Maiser has only propelled it to new heights. Storm Rune is currently one of the most popular and most winning decks in UL, and while it isn’t as oppressive as Skullfane, it can still be frustrating to queue into. Thanks to Maiser, other fast decks aren’t even a reliable way to deal with it anymore.
Partially due to the perceived strength of Aggro Shadow and the dominance of Storm Rune, Elana Haven has returned, acting as the primary anti-aggro deck of the format. That’s not to say other anti-aggro decks are bad, only that Elana is the best of the lot. Elana, in turn, is preyed upon by combo decks, with Dimension Shift being one of the strongest Elana killers.
This makes the meta a rough game of rock-paper-scissors between fast decks, Elana, and Elana counters. While there are a diverse amount of fast decks and Elana counters, said diversity is hampered by the polarized nature of the meta. Oftentimes it feels like the games are decided by the matchup, rather than your play. This is unfortunate, but still better than the Skullfane era.
Partly due to increased interest after the patch, and partly due to the GP, there’s also lot of interesting off-meta or unestablished decks to talk about as well. Decks that are only featured in the “Tournament Winning Decks” tab will be talked about, but I won’t link them since they can be found easily through the in-game client.

Class Analysis and Decklists

Forestcraft
Forest hasn’t changed much, as there are still 3 major strategies that do well and that deserve talking about. However, there are several updates and changes worth mentioning.
Where there is the most change, is OG Roach. In the last report, there were essentially 2 approaches: Aerin and Loxis. Aerin Roach is largely the same; it does okay into Aggro thanks to all the healing, and can compete against Elana better thanks to Xeno Sagittarius and Lionel. Loxis does better into combo decks where it can race faster, and can is still capable of OTKing through 1 Ward on turn 5 with the right set up. Loxis builds have also started running Reclusive Ponderer.
Don't be fooled though, as the innovation isn't over. Chaser_sx, whose Loxis list was featured in my last report, has been climbing up to GM1 and beyond with a hybrid list that runs Loxis and Aerin. Additionally, in the February 3rd JCG, エアーマン came 3rd with a Loxis Roach that is built much closer to its Rotation counterpart, featuring more bounces, Giant Pastures, Walder, and Shamu & Shama. As such, I’m featuring a whopping 4 separate takes on Roach this report. Personally, I prefer lists with Xeno Sagittarius right now, as otherwise the Elana matchup can be very difficult.
Two Aggro Forest players got top 16 in the first JCG, both using the same list. Could this be a sign that Aggro Forest is undervalued and underexplored right now? Is their list the secret sauce? From my personal testing, it hasn’t been doing great, especially with the return of Elana Haven. Aggro Forest continues to be outclassed by aggro decks from other classes, and is not recommended for climbing if you want to win.
Whirlwind Roach is basically the same as pre-patch. Unfortunately, it traded a horrendous Skullfane matchup for horrendous matchups into Aggro and Elana. Other combo decks are also a similar speed to, if not faster than this deck, so it is a bit questionable right now. .
Manasurge Aerin Roach
bzwB2a1vb2llnDz's Reclusive Loxis Roach
Chaser_sx’s Hybrid Roach
エアーマン’s Top 3 Shamu & Shama Loxis Roach
Hazuki andしゃくあに＠後輩ちゃん's Top 16 Aggro Forest
Manasurge Whirlwind Roach
Swordcraft
Sword is clinging on, and is still brought to JCGs with some regularity. The death of Skullfane has led to a resurgence of Rally Sword, which managed to get top 16 in the February 3rd JCG qualifier, as well as several winstreaks on Shadowverse-Wins. Alas, I do not have the vials for Rally Sword, so I don’t have a proper opinion about it. It seems to be working for several players, though.
Reinhardt Dionne was largely an anti-meta deck built specifically to counter Skullfane. With its prey defeated, it may have less relevance in the current meta. Aggro Dionne still exists, but like all aggro decks is very polarized. Just don’t queue into Elana and you might be alright.
Some madmen brought Axeman OTK to JCG, but just isn’t consistent enough to make top 16. It’s being featured mainly due to its novelty and relatively cheap cost.
佐々木久美's Top 16 Rally Swordcraft
Melirei’s Reinhardt Dionne
Manasurge Aggro Dionne
Unsheathed Axeman
Runecraft
Storm Rune is one of the most popular decks in Masters and one of the most effective. In a format based largely on what deck you’re playing and not how well you pilot it, Storm Rune is a major exception. Certainly it’s good enough for a novice to do fairly well, but especially with Maiser, the seasoned veterans will find it very rewarding. Who would have thought being able to play tons of 0pp cards to discount your other Storm cards would be really good? It’s very possible that as the format develops, Storm Rune will be the next tier 0 oppressive strategy. Luckily, the Mini-Expansion is coming next month and that will hopefully shake things up before they get too bad.
When the Skullfane nerf was announced, it was feared that Dimension Shift would run rampant. However, in JCG and ladder, Dshift was already showing signs of weakening. In the 1/30 JCG, Dshift was only 4 of the 10 Rune decks in top 16. In the 2/3 JCG, only 2 of the 8 Rune decks in top 16 were Dshift. Generally Dshift’s role in the meta is to beat back down Elana Haven and get beaten by aggro. Some have tried out the newly buffed Maiser, but whether he will become standard in Dimension Shift is still up in the air. Additionally, it seems that Kuon has fallen off in usage in JCG and on Shadowverse Wins, a direction that seemed likely in the last report.
Manasurge Maiser Storm Rune
Manasurge Maiser Dimension Shift
_5ydm's Kuon-less Dimension Shift
Dragoncraft
Most relevant Dragon decks involve abusing Phoenix Roost to cheat an insane amount of playpoints, but they do it in different ways. Currently there are three main approaches you may run into on ladder. Unfortunately, the current meta is not very kind to Dragon, as both fast decks and Elana can cause it trouble.
With access to a ton of card draw, and an incredible finisher, Encounter Dagon is arguably the most uninteractive combo deck in a format full of uninteractive combo decks. While its strategy is undeniably powerful, it isn't without weaknesses. The current meta is very hostile to Dagon, since it is weak to aggressive decks, and many Elana players are running Realm of Repose. That makes it a bit risky.
Ian Roost focuses on abusing Zooey, Arbiter of Hope’s fanfare to make yourself immune to damage while smacking your opponent with her over and over. Thanks to Ian & Adele, Newlyweds, Zooey can be bounced back to your hand and played again next turn. With two Roosts up, you can do even sillier things like destroy a big Ward with Zelgenea, hit with Zooey, and bounce both of them to do it again next turn. Many lists also play 1 Dagon and some Wind Reader Zells as a backup combo.
Another way to abuse Phoenix Roost is to pair it with Dragon Devouring Dread. This variant plays out closer to the Roost Ramp decks in Rotation: ramp up, get Phoenix Roosts in play, and slap your opponents with big dragons. DDD Roost has access to the aforementioned Wind Reader Zell + Dagon combo, and while these decks run Zooey, she's less of a wincondition and more of a way to stall for time. Ghandagoza seems to have caught on, as has Bahamut, Primeval Dragon.
The lack of Skullfane and the Grand Prix have also caused an uptick in Aggro Dragoncraft, which incorporates many cards that have found a home in Rotation Vehicle Dragon like Razia. Aggro Dragon doesn’t happen to be super popular right now, and it’s another deck I don’t have the vials for, so I can’t vouch for its effectiveness.
Manasurge Encounter Dagon
Manasurge Ian Roost
n3zSV’s DDD Roost
Manasurge Aggro Dragon
Shadowcraft
Shadowcraft has been very popular in JCG and on ladder. Shadow generally has 3 archetypes, same as before.
Aggro Shadow used to be one of the most popular aggressive strategies on ladder and JCG. However, current meta trends are not looking good for it: Maiser can make short work of your board, Elana Haven is a terrible matchup, and even going against other aggro decks is tough if you don't go first. That being said, it still demolishes Elana counters, and its low cost and high overlap with Rotation Aggro Shadow means it will continue to see play.
After the fall of Skullfane, Atomy is back on the menu as the best way to make big boards insanely early. Activating Atomy on turn 3 or 4 is often game winning. The main difference between Atomy lists comes down to running Undead Parade or not.
Tyrant OTK Shadow is still lurking around, with 2 players making top 16 with it in the 1/30 JCG. Tyrant players have started to incorporate Deathbringer and Fatal Order to help demolish pesky wards and heal up against aggressive strategies.
And, in off-meta land, there exists Lara’s Philosopher, a board-based combo deck that aims to bury Philosopher of Death and then use Lara to put it into play on turn 5. This leaves you with 19/19 worth of stats and 3 big wards as early as turn 5. The deck utilizes a lot of neutral followers so Demonic Procession tutors your combo pieces. While not super consistent, it’s a lot of fun and can catch wins here and there. With more support, it could become a real contender. One of the Grand Prix featured decks is a PhilosopheTyrant hybrid deck as well.
Manasurge Aggro
Gamewith Undead Parade Atomy
Manasurge Traditional Atomy
Manasurge Deathbringer Tyrant
みさお's Top 16 Minthe Tyrant ft. Aenea
Chu2718281828's Lara Philosopher
Bloodcraft
Bloodcraft is still relatively rare, but at least there are more archetypes to talk about this time around! Turbo Flauros Blood is arguably still the most popular, but has been hit hard by meta trends. Flauros’ success was mainly that it could go under Skullfane, but without that matchup things are a lot rougher. Storm Rune is incredibly unfavored, as is Elana Haven, which makes Flauros much riskier on ladder. In response, some players have started teching in Darkfeast Bat.
One archetype that has seen more promise is Aggro Jormungand, the more traditional form of aggressive Blood decks. Aggro Jorm made top 16 in JCG, and was featured recently on Shadowverse Wins, so despite being fairly low on both Manasurge and Gamewith’s tier lists, it may be better than Flauros right now.
Lastly, we need to talk about Control Blood. A few commenters were upset that I didn’t feature Cblood in my last report, but this time it at least made top 16 in JCG so things have improved… marginally. Sure, it can beat aggro and make combo decks cry, but you have to dodge Rune to do well, and right now dodging Rune is basically impossible. Play at your own risk.
Manasurge Turbo Flauros
Katsura___desu’s Aggro Jorm
レう゛ァ's Top 16 JCG Control Blood
Havencraft
Ironically, it may have been Havencraft that most benefited from Skullfane’s nerf. Without their flagship deck, players have experimented with a lot of Haven decks that received new toys, to a much greater degree than when Eternal Awakening was first released.
Immediately after the nerf, most players jumped on Selena Summit Haven, an aggressive deck with an almost unbelievable amount of burst. It helped that Eternal Awakening didn’t give that many useful cards to Summit, so its build was pretty much figured out. The main new addition you’ll see is Redeemer’s Cudgel, which is an incredibly cheap removal option. Some players are running Kel instead to help shore up the aggro mirror. Summit Haven happens to be one of the most unfair aggro decks, and is still quite popular.
With Skullfane gone, Elana Haven has room to flourish and truly embrace new cards. Wandering Chef is great in the deck, as are new cards Will, Io, and Fluffy Angel. Elana has become the premier aggro buster of the format, and is pretty popular both on ladder and JCG. In recent days, it’s even been more popular than Summit.
Ward Haven got several players 5 wins in round one of the GP, but has fallen off severely since then. Ward occupies a similar meta niche to Elana, but Elana is better overall. It’s possible there’s a way to hybridize the concepts to make a better deck, but right now it seems like pure Elana is the way to go if you want a Haven deck to beat aggro.
In the land of meme and unestablished decks, Haven has two this time around. Sometimes, when a deck is good in Rotation, that means its core is strong enough for Unlimited. Both off-meta decks test the assumption, but it’s unclear whether they will be found worthy.
Unlimited Sanctuary is similar to the Sanctuary Haven builds from Storm of Rivayle, plus some of the better healing cards from Eternal Awakening and that exist in Unlimited. Functionally, it is similar to Elana and occupies a similar niche. It remains to be seen whether it can compete on equal footing with Elana as an anti-aggro deck.
Unlimited Rally looks at the success of Goddess of the West Wind in Rotation and says, “I can do better.” While the West Wind package is basically the same, it benefits from the addition of Unlimited cards. The featured list runs Wise Merman as it’s only UL exclusive card, while the Grand Prix winning deck takes advantage of Loki and Feather Rush to abuse Noa in the late game.
mso_sv's Selena Summit
Gamewith Elana
Manasurge Ward
nainamahaishin's UL Sanctuary
fanofkeymagic1 UL Rally
Portalcraft
Artifact Portal is a somewhat rare sight on today’s ladder. Gone are the days when Artifact was tier 0, or when an early Shion would win you the game. Instead, Portal players have to contend with a major weakness: Rune. Both Storm and Dimension Shift pose significant problems for Artifact. Storm is incredibly fast and can deal with Shion boards, and even going for taunts and heals with Mechanization and Syntonization isn’t a sure way to win. Dimension Shift is usually comboing on turn 6 and doesn’t present much of a board, making it difficult for Artifact to OTK with Radiants before they kill you.
If that wasn’t bad enough, even matchups that are theoretically Artifact favored are difficult. For instance, unskilled players will probably deck themselves against Elana. As a consequence, the only ones really playing it right now are the APM gods, so if you do see one, watch out!
In terms of build, Artifact is still the same 36ish core cards with 4 tech slots. The featured list this week is using 2x Nilpotent Entity and 2x Path to Purgatory in those slots, but you can tech in Ines, Mugnier, Seraphic Blades, or even weirder cards like Mechanical Designs if you really want.
Path to Purgatory Artifact

Final Thoughts

Out with the new, in with the old. Storm Rune is back on top with a vengeance. Maiser has taken the deck over the top. At least this time the deck to beat has a high skill ceiling, and I don't think Storm is currently as oppressive as Skullfane or Artifact Portal used to be. With the mini-expansion coming soon, Storm may not be on top for very long either.
Despite being pretty polarized, this is still one of the best Unlimited metas in a long time. Most classes have multiple decks that can do well on ladder, and that diversity is a breath of fresh air. And while I want the mini to help some struggling classes like Blood and take Rune down a peg, hopefully the next meta will be as wide open as this one. Thanks for reading and happy queuing!
submitted by Orasha to Shadowverse [link] [comments]

[Let's Build] d100 Distinct Locations in a Fancy Estate

d100 Distinct Locations & Characters in a Fancy Estate

Channel your most Downton Abbey or period-piece drama, places where a fancy party, drama, folk or gothic horror, or violent excitement can occur on, or near a large estate.
  1. Seaside Boathouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. Down at bottom of cliff, complete w/ sea-wall, & 5-man ketch. Large enough for three bedrooms, servant's bunks, extra kitchen, & small stable! Its own little mini-estate! Loyal sailor mans place, w/ hook hand & peg leg, lost in war.
  2. Apse Oceanus: Underground. Secret grotto at base of wave-wracked sea-cliffs; cave entrance just above high water line. Inside cave, beach-gravel floor; an apse, seemingly carved by nature - semicircular recess covered w/ hemispherical vault. In center is ancient granite cauldron perpetually filled w/ fresh, clear water, as if by magic.
  3. Moaning Cavern: Underground. Partially natural staircase in cavern & sea-cliffs. When wind blows strongly from right direction, it moans & whistles w/ ghostly sounds. Staircase seems natural (but has actually been artfully worked to appear so), it heads further in, up into cliffs beneath Manor.
  4. First Lord's Tomb: Underground. Remains of First Lord of Manor & few relatives, interred in carved grotto in stone, deep beneath Manor. Occasionally trick of wind & strong draft make moaning noises... nothing to be frightened of, surely.
  5. Ossuary: Underground. Vaulted ceilings somehow make underground crypt feel imposing & cramped. Ossuary walls hold recesses for stone boxes nearly impossible to move alone, each box storing interred bones; mortally departed going back to start of noble name of the Family. Some ossuary chests currently empty in preparation for family members whose remains are still in earth, either in Cemetery on grounds or Elsewhere. (u/crimebiscuit)
  6. Garden Wilderness: Estate Grounds, Garden, Wilderness. Transitional area between formal gardens & large park surrounding the house known as “the Wilderness”. Originally as meticulously planned as other areas of Estate, but here plantings more irregular & included native plants and trees; gravel walkways; lawns that resembled meadows; & areas where the vistas were framed to deliberately look natural. Now, without groundskeepers, the real Wilderness is overtaking the Garden. A “Ha-Ha”, low wall & ditch designed to blend into landscape separates area from Common Pasture & errant farm animals.
  7. Gardener's Cottage: Estate Grounds. Leaky roof, made of thatch; needs repair. Single room, w/ hearth. Dried herbs & flowers hang throughout. Gardener is old, but has v. young & precocious niece or nephew.. too young to do much work.
  8. Old Vegetable Garden: Estate Grounds. Said to be haunted at night in Fall. Nothing but weeds grow here, since Gardener is getting too old to do any gardening. Enclosed by a dying hedgerow & rotting wooden gate.
  9. Orchard & Vineyard: Estate Grounds. Fruit-trees in need of pruning & an arborist. Medlar, Quince, Apple, Cherry, & Pear. Several long rows of trees, growing on terraced hillside, interspersed w/ sad, underperforming grape-vines; surrounded by hedgerows in need of maintenance. Small shed & woodbox hides an old copper still & moonshining equipment, along w/ shears & saws for trimming fruit trees, tubs for mashing grapes & other fruit. Still a few jugs of Orchard-keeper’s secret reserve “White Lightning” Fruit-Schnapps buried beneath Wood-pile. Also, that tree over there is where Orchard-keeper was found hanging by neck, five winters ago.
  10. Apiary: Estate Grounds. Much of Estate’s Honey was cultivated here, until plague wiped out hives two years ago. Those that survived have flown off or been slaughtered by hornets this year. Next year’s fields will likely underperform without bee-driven pollination. Bee-keeper abandoned their post, too depressed to continue. Now all that is left is bunch of earthenware hives infested w/ killer hornets.
  11. Main Stables: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. One of several, for all the work animals that pull the carriages, etc. Hidden behind a wall from view of Main House & Gatehouse by wall. The Stable-master is dour, sullen drunk.
  12. Gatehouse: Estate Grounds. Outbuilding. Literally built across front gate of Estate, part of wall surrounding Main House, Courtyard; 3-story house w/ lower level garage for carriage, small foyer, sitting room, 3 bedrooms, privy w/ new interior plumbing, small kitchen, basement & attic bunk for servants. Used to house Old Lord’s mistresses while Lady was home. Plaster fresco above main bedroom fireplace features prominent image of Lady’s stern & displeased face, supervising the activities in room.
  13. Courtyard: Estate Grounds. Cobblestone & gravel driveway past the Gatehouse, Old Wellhouse to the Front-door of House. Drive around side of house to Coach-house, East Stair & Servant’s Entry. During parties, lit up w/ outdoor braziers, torches, & lanterns.
  14. Petite “Cour de Marbre”: Estate Grounds, Entry. Former Lord, some generations ago, fell in love w/ foreign Ruler’s palace so much, decided to replicate it here in miniature. Striking, intricate patterned, polished black & white marble courtyard patio, up short flight of steps; Courtyard driveway goes right up to foot of it. Front Door opens onto it. Terribly slick in wet weather.
  15. Main Kitchen: Servant’s Wing. Row of iron stoves & warming counters, wide hearth & spit w/ an excellent draw, butcher-block, slate, & flagstone everywhere. Several large copper tubs, pots, & pans. Room itself smells of smoke & food permanently etched into its soul.
  16. Upper Battlements: Upstairs. Highest walls of Estate are adorned w/ stone merlons. Several gargoyles lay in stony wait perched atop walls. Some say they serve Master of the Estate; need only be summoned in order to come alive. (u/Milkslinger)
  17. Morning Room: Upstairs. Small, high windowed office w/ excellent light. Wallpaper has cobwebs & mildew spots down by corner & floor, behind worn bookshelf loaded w/ moldering books. Close inspection might reveal secret behind bookshelf.
  18. Batmen’s Quarters: Servant’s Wing. Long, narrow hallway w/ only one window at end, runs length of the entire Main Estate building. Chief Servant of the Master takes calls for whatever They may need, using this hallway to swiftly move from one end to another, unseen. Each room in House, adjacent to this hallway, has a secret door (DC Medium, Investigation) one may use to enter. Should PCs find this, may also find blueprints of Manor w/ all hidden passages; also rations & diary of Master of the House’s comings & goings. (u/TheBeginningOfMe)
  19. Portrait Gallery: Upstairs. Series of interconnected rooms featuring most-recent portrait work of the artist the family currently patronizes. His idiosyncratic manner captures Family in a striking stylized fashion. But the real oddity is addition of one handsome scion who reoccurs in paintings that no one seems to have any recollection of. (u/crimebiscuit)
  20. Long Gallery: Main Floor. V.long, tall ceilings room turned into something more than hallway, w/ other rooms, v.tall dbl-doors, opening into it; stretches entire length of Mansion, has excellent light, wooden parquetry floors, three fireplaces, two full sets ancient plate-armor, several large taxidermied curiosities, giant decorative vases, etc. Nobles take exercise here when weather is inclement.
  21. White Stateroom: Main Floor. For meeting important people. Large room all in white, ornamental plasterwork on ceiling in shape of fluffy feathers & clouds. White & Cream wallpaper w/ motif of feathers. Cream curtains, nearly completely covered in embroidered silky white feathers. White furniture w/ white & cream upholstery. Pale hardwood parquetry floor, w/ gigantic cream & white ornamental carpet. Silvery, platinum-leaf decoratively applied to plaster mold-work. Maids work extra hard to scrub soot from fireplace’s white granite hearth.
  22. Marble Hall: Main Floor. black & white chequered marble floor; stunning oak carvings, by famed craftsmen. On wall hangs a portrait of Ruler, inscribed w/ motto ‘Non sine sole iris’ (No rainbow without the sun). 23 sets of ivory & stags’ horn scrimshawed into chandeliers w/ scenes of ancient life. Carved Stone Fireplace w/ marble busts.
  23. Green Salon: Upstairs. For entertaining guests at intimate parties; tall ceilings, cream & vibrant-green trimmed “boiseries”, ornamental wood panelings. Room imitates the Salon of a Foreign King; everything is given names that are fancy words in other language. In pride of place, matched set of “fauteuils á la reine”, ornamental armchairs wide enough that even largest panniers on court-dress can sit comfortably w/out wrinkling. V. large, gilded mirror above gigantic fireplace & mantle, v. expensive porcelain vases on display. Oval plasterwork bas-relief fresco of Old Lord’s (embellished) military victories.
  24. Mirrored Ballroom: Main Floor. Colonnade supported large ballroom, surrounded in full-height mirrors. Mirrors enchanted to record & display glories of masquerades & balls past, dancing in time to whatever music is being played. Several large crystal chandeliers. Balcony over entrance overlooks Ballroom from Master’s Chambers, 2nd Balcony over musician canopy connects to Green Salon; Balcony in rear opens to Gardens.
  25. Grand Dining Room: Main Floor. Marble walls, w/ magnificent painted murals higher up and on large vaulted ceiling. Large chandeliers, decorative magical sconces provide light. Grand dining table, seating for 30. Marble tile floor. Fancy dinners here.
  26. Room of Abundance: Main Floor. Continuing decor of Grand Dining Room, but w/ more Gold, Silver. Painted walls & murals of abundance, statues of wealth & opulence. During parties, silver platters full of food placed here by caterers. Connects to Ballroom & Grand Dining Room.
  27. Secret Passages: Hidden tunnels, hideaways, spider-holes; behind every statue & painting. The walls have ears. Eye holes in carvings, etc. Useful for clandestine maneuvering through House. Every major room has secret access routes, in addition to back-hallways used by servants; it’s just a matter of finding them.
  28. Grand Office: Upstairs. Stateroom pretending to be an office-chamber, white, gold, & warm wood color-scheme. One lord was into business, decided to convert stateroom into fancy meeting-place. Square room made to look vaguely hexagonal, w/ facets carved into walls, low bookshelves mirroring & follow hexagon motif floor. Gold hexagon pattern tiled into floor. Huge desk placed on hexagonal raised step; supplicant must approach dias, placed in low, uncomfortable chair. Arched ceiling, ornamental plasterwork suggests beehives, hexagons, bees touched w/ gold-leaf. Wide hexagon fireplace, ornamental gilded plaster mantel of dripping honeycomb & bees. Single large circular window; ample light, hexagon shaped leaded panes & amber colored stained-glass bees. Hexagonal double door w/ stained glass beehive to enter. Bees magically enchanted, reflect attuned user of desk’s mood, move when no-one looks at them. “Secret” door on wall to Petite Office, concealed within woodwork.
  29. Petite Office: Upstairs. Smaller office, (compared to the Grand Office, anyway) w/ private bath & privy. Wood paneling, lots of books, old gas & (new electric lighting from Galvanics). Worn, comfy executive chair. Wood paneled “secret” door connects to Grand Office. Knick-nacks & Taxidermy everywhere there isn’t books & paperwork.
  30. Thinking Room: Main Floor. Small Alcove off Main Library; small table & chair. Eerily quiet, architecture baffles sounds from Library, making anything quieter than shouting easy to ignore. Encyclopedias, dictionaries & other reference materials usually found here, & upon finding books missing from Main Library, inexplicably one’s first inclination is to sit down & look up whatever one wants to know, instead of taking it back. People found after being missing for minutes or hours, sometimes looking up things unrelated to the subject they originally intended to; usually their reaction to being asked about this is a simple, "I got kind of curious." (u/thecomputerking)
  31. Main Library: Main Floor. Wall to ceiling books, w/ brass rails & rolling ladder to reach multiple levels of books, v. little else. Grooves in well-worn wooden floor show extensive use of ladder happened at one point in history of Estate. Books may or may not be just for show. Roaring fireplace & lanterns provide warmth & light; "Thinking Room" & "Study" are adjacent.
  32. Study: Main Floor. Large, padded leather, comfy chairs w/ high backs, resembles throne, along w/ small side-tables, lamps, & writing desk; all oriented to face set of v. tall, wide, windows for the best natural light. Adjacent to Main Library.
  33. Nursery: Upstairs. Filled w/ all manner of children's Toys & complete w/ crop of Ankle-biters & accompanied strict Nurse. Alternatively, room that has been abandoned & seen much neglect.
  34. Children's Quarters: Upstairs. Tiny beds or cribs where children sleep. Patterned w/ toile wallpaper, simple furniture. No doubt filled w/ ghosts of murdered children, there is no joy here. A small room adjacent to this is where Nurse sleeps.
  35. Nurse's Chamber: Upstairs. Actually two small rooms, cramped bath, & privy w/ cranky, indoor plumbing. Nurse uses one tiny room to sew, & to lock naughty children in as punishment, there is one specific corner that is noticeably stained by tears & snot of unruly children. Second tiny room has bunk for Nurse to sleep & chest to keep things in.
  36. Billiards Room: Main Floor. Huge table, ample room around sides for cues. Chandeliers provide ample light. Gilt trim & mirrors make room bright, opulent at same time. Cards tables, other entertainments available. Notable artwork in room: triptych story of Noble who hosted other Noble for fancy dinner, but failed providing standards of hospitality. Last panel of triptych: host is murdered by offended guest.
  37. Attic: Museum of failed & forgotten dreams; furniture covered in tarps, dust, leaves, and bird nests. Surely haunted. Don’t let the Creepy Urchins scare you.
  38. Garret: Attic. Habitable space, at top of House; small, dismal, & cramped, w/ sloping ceilings, often leaky roof. Where “unfortunate” members of the Lord’s family are kept. Optional: Set of manacles, collar, chain, other irons mounted to one beam, slop bucket. Alternatively, the cramped room contains small bunk & tiny writing desk, stool, & campy unfinished manuscript or private diary by servant w/ literary aspirations.
  39. Servant’s Wing: Back of the house, covers several stories, many rooms & store-rooms; shared bunk-rooms for servants. One half has locked hallway to keep male staff & female staff separated. No shenanigans!
  40. East Stair & Servant Entrance: Servant’s Wing. Steepest, Narrowest, most treacherous stair in house. Connects to Servant Entrance, Mud Room, lots of traffic as staff hurry up & down w/ tasks about House. Servant Entrance has Mudroom, none DARE use Front Entrance for Business.
  41. Boot Room: Servant’s Wing. Where cleaning of boots, shoes & certain items of clothing take place. Don’t scuff the Lord’s Boots, worth more than lives of three servants in price.
  42. Servants Hall: Servant’s Wing. Place of congregation for Staff House; sit & relax by fire during break, eat & play music on battered piano. Large table, chairs lines length of room. “Bell Board” w/ every upstairs room listed on it; each w/ their own bell, linked by clever pulley.
  43. Butler’s Pantry: Servant’s Wing. Contains large desk, cupboard storing expensive silverware, & keys to House, wine pouring accouterments, & many other furnishings & fittings. Everything is always tasteful, & professional; even the stuffed fish & list of awards on the wall. Situated opposite Kitchen & alongside Housekeeper’s Sitting Room in the Servants' Wing.
  44. Housekeeper’s Sitting Room: Servant’s Wing. Serves as Housekeeper’s Office; full of books & paperwork as well as small desk & swivel chair. Connected to small Housekeeper’s Bedroom; located next to the Butler’s Pantry in the Servant’s Wing.
  45. Laundry: Basement. for washing loads of cloth generated by Estate. Large blue-ish stone cellar-room w/ tables, tubs, washboards, dry-lines for hanging. Of course entire place is moist & smells of soap/mildew, or filled w/ great billows of steam, depending on mood. (u/mr_earthman)
  46. Gymnasium: Basement. Old timey barbells, medicine balls, & other implements of self-torture in the name of “health”. Room always reeks of cigar-sweat & sausage.
  47. Sauna: Basement. Fiery Furnace, Hot Water Tank, & unholy mess of pipes & valves combine forces to create a steam-room sauna that can steam hams in just a blink should anything go awry. Some staff think there’s a poltergeist that writes things on mirrors, leaves blood everywhere - others doubt one exists, blame the blood on Estate Lords being.. “Oh so clumsy!”
  48. Wine Cellar, Cheese Cave, & Tasting Room: Basement. Barrels & bottles gathering dust inside enormous, climate controlled, vaulted, brick-lined wine-cellar deep underground. Even deeper, perfectly climate controlled cheese-cave w/ cheddars older than most of Staff, just now achieving maximum ripeness! Includes medium sized tasting room, lit by lanterns (and recently, electric light from Galvanics). Secret entrance, perfect for clandestine rendezvous & intimate cult meetings. Secret exit to surface, good for villainous escapes.
  49. Mad Laboratory: All sorts of creepy-crazy-unholy-weird in here. Scary experiments. Possibly long unused, at risk of catching fire any second now & burning whole place to ground. What are you doing w/ that match? Either located deep in basement, in secret dungeon in garden outbuilding, or in highest attic of furthest tower, in case of accidents.
  50. Cozy Dungeon: Basement. Several cells, a vaulted torture chamber w/ flickering gas-lamp (also recently installed electric light from Galvanics), manacles, custom graffiti & wall scratches, etc. A Lord, three generations ago, had water piped in to have dankness adjustable, & to hose out cells whenever they got too filthy. Now mostly just used for illicit cult-sex-stuff & occasional dungeon-orgy. One wall is suspiciously bricked over, looks like it used to be another cell. Second wall has sconce that when pulled, reveals another secret entrance, for secret comings & goings.
  51. Star Chamber: Basement. Every Estate needs an Occult Ritual Room for Cult meetings & such. 8- or 9-sided large underground room w/ polished marble terrazzo floor, polished marble walls, intricate design of clock face & zodiac motif on floor. Domed ceiling painted midnight blue, w/ magical pin-pricks of light to resemble stars in night sky. Pinpricks magically focus light on whoever is in room, so they glow & are lit, while giving illusion of everything being night around. Gold & Platinum magical braziers burn to represent sun, moons, levitate across ceiling in time w/ astronomy. V. special, v. mysterious. No less than 3 secret entrances, plus special dumb-waiter access, chair & table storage for multipurpose room.
  52. "Family" Chapel: Small, single room w/ shrine, where house-staff & family practice religious devotions, away from prying eyes of yokels; who knows what dark deities Estate Lords worship?
  53. Rooftop Observatory: Upstairs. Great domed contraption built into a tower; magnificent 360 degree view of sky. All sorts of equipment & charts strewn about benches crammed into this space, dominated by huge brass telescope. This behemoth, covered in all sorts of gears, cranks, & levers, can easily bring craters on Moon into focus, or... spy on midnight rendezvous in garden. In a place dedicated to the stars, what could possibly draw one's attention away from the heavens? (u/Longjumping_Piano55)
  54. Local Chapel: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church. Where yokels worship. Father Ted presides. Small brick structure w/ tile roof, seven pews, & small altar. Within sight of Manor-house, but far enough away to be "separate". Has small garden where Father Ted tries & fails to grow sweet-peas.
  55. Vicar's Cottage: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church. Even smaller than Gardener's Cottage, this one is at least still in repair. Father Ted lives here, Has but small bed & tiny desk to write sermons on.
  56. Cemetery: Estate Grounds, Church, Cemetery. Small, lonely grave-site filled w/ locals from Village. Estate "lovingly" donated to Village Church by former Lord. Rusty mort-safes protect some of the remains.
  57. Mausoleum: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Church, Cemetery. Imposing structure on grounds of Cemetery; may be connected to Underground Caverns & Ossuary. Occasionally haunted.
  58. Widow Row: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding. When former staff families are retired, or die in service to Estate, their widows, children, & infirm elderly are offered small rooms in run-down worker's cottage-house that existed on site before even Grand Manor was built! Rooms barely bigger than a stall for horses in a stable have several family members crammed into them, but includes free use of tiny patch of garden. Hidden from Main House by wooded bit of hills & muddy track.
  59. Mad Muckbang's Lab: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Out near river on far estate edge; small cave w/ brambles growing over entrance. Inside, lab full of strange glass tubes & bubbling pots, liquids in thousand colors, & heavy cloying mist in the air. Alchemist & Inventor Finias Muckbang rents use of cave from the Nobles. Ignore occasional sound of explosions; possible entrance to Old Mines within.
  60. Hermit's Shack: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Wilderness. Home of official Estate's Garden Hermit; resembles nothing more than few large stones & brush lean-to w/ tiny fire inside to keep warm. Out of the way part of Estate, but famously favorite destination for party-goers at former Lord's big shin-digs. Garden hermit gives guests fright; the Lord would enjoy themselves w/ their terror!
  61. Rose Bush Labyrinth: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Wall of tall & sturdy rose bushes towers around exterior; suggests much the same inside. Plaque affixed by entrance to maze w/ message embossed: "To find your center, follow your heart." Hint to navigate labyrinth; always turning left leads you to center. Nearer you get to it, clearer the burbling, rippling sound of fountain that sits at heart of maze. (u/crimebiscuit)
  62. Garden Fountain & Statues: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Statues or Ornamental Fountains throughout Gardens. Weeping Angels, Prancing Cherubim, Fanciful Animals, or Heroic/Historical Figures. Stone & Brass. Sometimes accompanied by water-feature.
  63. Animated Topiary: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Large bushes trimmed to look like creatures, animated to patrol the garden-grounds.
  64. False Gazebo: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Vine-covered gazebo oddly recessed without broad view their type usually affords. Stone cobbled floor, interior has moss extruding in strange geometrical, almost artificial shapes; might betray presence of subterranean level, cellar accessible through means not immediately evident. (u/crimebiscuit)
  65. Stone Exedra: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Depressed semicircle in ground lined in fieldstone & tiles,; lichen covered limestone & granite benches. Old marble or granite columns, some toppled, decorate the semi circle. Little known, this area predated Estate by many centuries. Acoustics inside circle are excellent.
  66. Tiled Stoa: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Ruin. Existing on site before construction of Manor; ancient weathered marble columns in Doric style, line black & white weathered marble tile walkway, covered w/ cracked earthenware roof tiles. Some columns & portions of roof left to collapse, artfully. From these spots, Gardener is apparently allowing wildflowers & vines to bloom.
  67. Amphitheatre: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Small open-air stage built at bottom of gently sloping hill. Seating on the slope; audience looks down at stage. Mostly unused, apart from occasional travelling theatre troupes passing through... however if you go on moonlit nights, might just witness an otherworldly performance. Be warned though, it may not be to your taste... (u/Zawoopdoop)
  68. Garden Ambulatory or Loggia: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Located few dozen yards away from Main House is rubble & freestone structure w/ stone slate roof, six bays of arched columns, flagstone lined arcade filled w/ comfortable looking wicker furniture. In crest of each arch, crude medallions of several different figures, now weathered & worn beyond easy recognition.
  69. Old Treehouse: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Small hut in branches of reat oak, hideout of noble child long since grown up. Accessed via rope ladder; within shouting distance of manor, it's rather peaceful once inside. Wooden building, still holding strong, contains only simple chairs & table, tattered rug, some forgotten toys. Perhaps there is secret item hidden within - an old child-treasure, or someone else taking advantage of abandoned space. (u/Zawoopdoop)
  70. Coin Tower: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Given fancy name, Folly guards one outer-entrance to Manor-grounds. Miniature castle tower, complete w/ battlements & arrow slit fortifications; only two stories tall. Metal-clad door w/ slot sized for gold-piece; place one piece inside & it locks main-gate to toy-tower via clever clockwork mechanism. Gate & anyone inside is locked in for 12 hours. Locking coin box on the inside holds deposited coins.
  71. Dungeon of Wayward Toys: Estate Grounds, Gardens. Inside Garden Folly that looks like miniature castle tower; guards one outer-gate to the Manor, small alcove w/ rusted jail cell, palatially sized for several small creatures or v. cramped adult. The moldering remains of several stuffed animals & children's toys locked in or chained to the wall w/ rusty, miniature manacles... the toys have been long forgotten. Close inspection might reveal the mummified or skeletal remains of poor animal too.
  72. Overgrown Polo Field: Estate Grounds, Gardens, Ruin. Off in a corner of the estate, long overgrown by woods & ivy. Tournaments held here regularly some one or two generations ago but the sport's popularity decreased, & so did this once well manicured plot's use. It is rumored that the field is inhabited by feral polo horses left in the stables to rot & anyone who enters the green must be ready to face their wrath! (u/Win5get1free)
  73. Trucco-ground & Terrace Estate Grounds, Gardens. Soft green square for leisurely form of ground billiards played w/ heavy balls; brilliant beds & borders of small brick-walled gardens, gray flags of great terrace; rows of little orange trees, once heavy w/ flower & fruit, set in blue delft-ware tubs; now cracked and dying. Oriented to catch the last light of sun & remain warm in early evening. Lit at night during parties by great copper braziers & torches. Big Portugal Laurel grows in the back corner, conceals secret entry into the house.
  74. Decrepit Mews: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Ruin. Just beyond estate-walls, still within the watchful, downcast eyes of smoke-stained windows; a modest hillock. In days past affluent gentlemen of the Manor took fancy to falconry, doting on birds like dearest children. In those days the mews was fine building constructed mostly of wood & wire mesh cage; playfully built miniature clone of the larger estate. Time has lain itself upon the estate like a smothering blanket; little remains of this once proud roost. One of the walls has rotted through, eaten away by termites until the whole of the tiny house sagged to the side, a precarious arrangement of warped wood & bending metal. The falcons are gone, replaced by the occasional dirt-feathered barn owl or nest of starlings. (u/Knightheart777)
  75. Ye Olde Dovecote: Estate Grounds, Ruin; Back in the day, one of the Estate Lords decided they liked the taste of roast pigeon & doves, as well as using them as reliable message carriers, they decided to breed them. Homing, Roasted, Boiled, Baked, & Stewed; the dovecote was the home-roost of these flexible multi-purpose birds. Now-a-days, chicken & pheasant is tastier, & the roost is in disarray; feral pigeons infest the place like winged rats!
  76. Wind-Swept Sea-Cliff: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Battered by waves, where else will forlorn lovers throw themselves to their doom?
  77. Wrack & Ruin: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Wave wracked sea-cliffs at base of Manor; brutal & often site of beached wreckage & powerful currents. Who knows what poor soul has met demise here?
  78. Common Pasture: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Vast, rolling field of un-farmed grasslands & moors; nearby villagers pasture animals for small fees to Estate. Sheep are common, as is occasional howl of a spectral & terrifying black hound at night!
  79. Wheal & Woe: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Ruins; Ancient coal or tin & copper-mine sprawls beneath Estate. Don't fall into one of many unmarked, open shafts or pits! Known Hazard, scary.
  80. Old Pumphouse Engine: Infrastructure, Ruins; Rusting clockwork & steam powered pump-engine w/ tall brick chimney; maybe powers Estate, or maybe used to pump out Old Mines beneath, if it can be made working again. Ghosts of several rage-filled engineers no-doubt guard it; must be exorcised before repairs begun.
  81. Oak Forest: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Where bulk of Estate’s wood comes from. Home to wild boar & truffles; also a well groomed section w/ lone-giant tree, twelve foot trunk; stone benches & small swing.
  82. Common Right of Way: Estate Grounds. Locals are still furious Old Lord enclosed Right of Way; posted “No Trespass” on old trail that runs thru Estate & Oak Forest; short journey to Mines & Coast is now made longer by several miles!
  83. Game-keeper’s Shack: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Ruin. Built in hidden ravine, deep in Oak Forest. Shack built on huge fallen log; straddles small but swift flowing stream. Also here: decrepit smoke-house, abandoned kennel for hunting hounds, & vacant, rotting butchery. Rotten animal hides hang on rusty hooks inside, literally every surface coated by thick layer of sprayed blood, gore, & viscera. No clue if it is human-blood, it is gory nonetheless.
  84. A River Runs Thru It: Estate Grounds, Wilderness. Fast flowing brook, w/ gravel, & large rocks perfect for trout, salmon, etc. Just deep & wide enough for small boats or canoe to navigate it, out to sea. Several small ponds connect, including one large pond from Old Abandoned Mill. Sportsman’s Paradise.
  85. Old Abandoned Mill & Bridge: Estate Grounds, Wilderness, Outbuilding. Used by villagers, large mill-pond, spillway dam from Old Mill, & Bridge. Pond is several dozen acres, near Commons; large enough for locals to boat on, even fish when given permission by Lord. Mill has seized, hasn’t been repaired for three generations. Bridge across Spillway is stone w/ several arches. Children play games by dropping sticks off one side, racing them to the other. V. Scenic.
  86. Lonely Sea Wall: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Wilderness, Infrastructure. Long wall blunts majority of sea's rage; protects v. small harbor, dock, & boathouse. At end of brick & stone structure, former estate owner installed an ever-burning torch & large brass bell. When wind blows strongly, bell rings by itself. No doubt several former estate owner's family have been brought to sad end here.
  87. Groundskeeper's Shed: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure; filled w/ rusty tools & pots for wintering plants. Rusty nails & hooks, no doubt able to give one tetanus, simply by looking too long at them.
  88. Old Courtyard Wellhouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure. 100 feet of dark, dangerous shaft down to water table; in disrepair, unused for years, & possibly poisoned. Hidden cavern connected to who-knows-where. Large covered house w/ locked iron gate protects pulley; keeps fools from falling in.
  89. New Wellhouse: Estate Grounds, Outbuilding, Infrastructure. Provides fresh water for Estate, w/ aqueduct & pump to rest of village too. Clockwork or wind-powered. Brand new, 100 years ago! Up on hill in copse of trees behind House. Probably not poisoned.
  90. Great Oven: Estate Grounds, Servant’s Wing, Gardens, Infrastructure. Fire-brick, the size of a building; detached from House because of prodigious heat, w/ small awning to keep out rain. Large enough to cremate bodies, it has several openings. Used by Estate daily; bread & baked goods. Privileged members of Village who charm Chief Cook may use.
  91. Hot Water Cistern: Infrastructure. Made of wood & iron, several thousand gallons of boiling hot water, in Attic, kept at temperature by Fiery Furnace in Basement below. At least one servant's children, playing around, have fallen in & boiled themselves to death over last 100 years. Occasionally leaks onto Servant's Quarters one or two levels below.
  92. Galvanic Array: Infrastructure. New-fangled Storage Battery, charged via generator or magic. Used to provide power to House, or for current/former Lord's magical or scientific experiments. Serious risk of electrocution; pay no attention to creepy hunchback.
  93. Garden Privy: Infrastructure. Gardeners & groundskeepers have to go somewhere, you know. They say that 3rd Earl's grandfather was brutally murdered & unceremoniously buried in muck here, a hundred years ago, their ghost still haunts it!
  94. Enclosed Kailyaird: Servant’s Wing, Estate Grounds, Gardens. Don't let Gardener touch the Turnips. Chief Cook of Manor has claimed enclosed garden behind Kitchens as their own secondary kingdom. Whatever they grow there is incorporated in fine cooking Kitchens produce. Some kitchen staff are convinced several foolish scullery maids have been murdered & buried in back, as fertilizer.
  95. Sewer Catchment: Infrastructure. “We all Float Down Here, Georgie”. Miles of rain-gutters, sink-drains, & indoor plumbing connect here. All that water from laundry’s got to go somewhere; into huge vaulted timber, stone, & iron septic tank underground before percolating into ground-water. Something has stashed at least 150gp of treasure inside.
  96. Fiery Furnace: Infrastructure; burns copious amounts of fuel, provides steam-heat for estate. Connected to coal-chute, wood-storage area, or fuel-tank filled w/ bunker-fuel. Infrastructure.
  97. Dumb-waiter: Infrastructure. One of several, also chute for Laundry. Used for sending food & drink up & down from stores, cellar, kitchen, etc. Not an elevator, but staff & drunken partiers often use it as such, occasionally get stuck, become laughingstocks.
  98. Chief Cook: Overly portly, overly fond of pepper, loud & runs Kitchens like some sort of hyper-militant dictator. Could have even served in military in past.
  99. Wheeze the Lost Groundskeeper: just like the polo field, a young groundskeeper who manicured the pitch was left behind. "We'll be back after a quick lunch!" They said, "just trim sidelines & clean the bleachers please!" & so he did... for decades. They never came back; his tools rusted long ago. His name is long forgotten; grasp on common language tenuous at best. Only companions feral equines that roam this place; they too know what it's like to be abandoned like so many playthings. He is one of them, one of them now, more horse than man, some might say. (u/Win5get1free)
  100. Garden Hermit: Crazed guy who, for some reason, lives in shack in secluded area of Estate, & is never bothered. Hermit never leaves place, or holds conversation w/ anyone for at least the last seven years! During that time they've neither washed, nor cleansed themselves in any way whatsoever, letting their hair & nails on hands & feet, grow as long as nature permits them. Used to be a hit at fancy parties, when previous Lord would show them off to party-guests as a prank!
  101. Eldritch Hobb: Pile of filthy rags in corner of Laundry. Laundry Urchin steers well clear of it & & any drainage catchments, complaining of “red eyes glowing” & alternatively “face of dead sibling”, “red balloon filled w/ blood”, or “harlequin w/ painted face”. IT has taste for nicking shiny jewelry, there is well over 150gp worth in catchment, & Lady of House’s prized earrings were found hidden under pile of rags, years ago; footman was blamed for it & sacked. (u/mr_earthman)
  102. Mad Muckbang: Finias Arquist Muckbang is youngest son of Knight that had been in the Lord's service decades ago. No one bothers him much these days. Alchemist & Inventor, rents use of cave on the Estate for sometimes dangerous experiments. (OwenMcCauley)
  103. Father Ted: Local priest, lives in Vicar's Cottage. Secretly views this posting as punishment for misusing church funds, although such knowledge isn't widely known.
  104. Game-keeper: Ghost particularly reported around Old Vegetable Garden; elderly gentleman in old-fashioned clothing carrying flintlock or blunderbuss; seen late in evening during October; vanishes if approached. Linked to Gamekeeper wrongly executed for murder of a servant to former Lord.
  105. Gardener Wyllet: Getting on in years, losing their sight, hearing, & barely able to swing scythe or turn hoe in order to keep Grounds from turning to weeds; still has knack for finding & tending to medicinal herbs. Mostly found in Gardener's cottage these days.
  106. Laundress & Urchin: Short, powerful, arms likely to bend steel bars, & fists like iron. Shrill voice & accent that can peel paint. Skin & face red & peeling from caustic soda, she’s only 24, but “ain’t got time for suitors or no guff like that -- she has Laundry book to finish before sunset, thank you very much.” She, her 10 yr old urchin cousin, & whatever housestaff she can wrangle away from other duties, crew Laundry from dawn till dusk; for only 25p/day plus food & lodgings in Manor. Urchin is somehow terrified of pile of filthy rags in corner & walks well clear of drains & catchments, foolishly complaining of glowing red eyes within.
  107. Lost Maiden: Haunts Estate; often spotted standing alone in corridors, rooms, or wherever w/ a confused look upon her face. Wears fine, but dated, gown w/ silver lacing. Sometimes only seen in corner of one's eye, other times right in view. However; whenever anyone tries to communicate w/ her, she steps out of sight & is gone! It is said that on occasion, she may look right at you. When she does, you suddenly find yourself, too, lost for just moment before World seems to bounce back into place. (u/Rigaudon21)
  108. Nurse Trunchible: Nasty, strict, & hates children. Doses laudanum & arsenic to get 'em to sleep & to keep that healthy waxy pallor. Sleeps in set of v. small rooms off Nursery & Children's Quarters. Has feud going w/ Head Housekeeper or Butler.
  109. The Twins: Pair of gangly youths, one deaf, one mute; children of an Estate Widow. Rapidly outgrown their rough clothes; aim to serve Estate, in order to survive. Live in Widow Row.
  110. Younger Wyllet: Gardener's niece or nephew. Too young to do much work, even though they try to take up slack for far-too-old-to-be-working relative, Gardener. V. precocious; studying herbology & plans to be master arborist one day. When they aren't trying to weed garden, can be found in Gardener's Cottage.
  111. Unfortunate Son: “Deformed”, or “Mad” Lunatic trapped up in the Attic Garret. “Fresh” slop bucket twice a week. Chained, or straight-jacketed, and basically ignored.
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are slot tournaments worth it video

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However, not all slot tournaments are created equal. There’s a number of general buckets of tournaments, each with their own pros and cons. In this article I’ll review the basic arrangements of the core types, and what would make them worth playing or not. Play to Qualify. In this example, you have to play a certain amount to be eligible for the tournament. In some cases, the bar can be ... Slot tournaments are just one way to do it. However, land-based casinos do keep their standards, so not everyone can play. Mostly, it is only frequent players that are invited to participate in land-based slot tournaments. Also, brick and mortar casinos don't hold as many buy-in slot tournaments, but they are, however, occasionally available. Freeroll slot tournaments are a great source of entertainment for players. Not only that, but there are tons of massive prizes for hitting the jackpot. Unlike buy-in tournaments where you have joined paying cash and you stand a chance of winning real money; winners of free tournaments get bonus rewards and other non-monetary gifts. Enjoying slots while competing with other players is not new. Slot machine tournaments have been taking place in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and elsewhere for decades. In this format, everyone plays the same slot for a set time. The winner of these contests is the player who wins the most. Players can partake in slot machine tournaments […] Slot tournaments are a bit different game, but still be sure and check exclusive Slot Machines Tips and Tricks we prepared just for Slotu players! Free slots tournaments where you can win real money The cool thing about slots tournaments, whether your playing in a packed noisy casino in Las Vegas, or Atlantic City or at home online, is that slots tournaments are truly luck based . It is worth noting that you do not win the amount of credits that you have on the machine you win the prizes according to the tournament payout schedule. Some of the bigger tournaments take place over a longer period of time with many smaller tournaments leading to a final round where the big money is won. In these tournaments you generally need to place high in the rankings in the smaller tournaments to move on to the next stage. The advantage of this style of tournament is that you tend to ... Yes, slot tournaments are worth it. However, deciding whether slot tournaments are worth it or not is often a matter of choice and preference. Such competitions may be worth skipping if you find the repetitive action of smacking buttons tiring or demanding. However, a tournament is a fun part of a casino trip if you don’t mind the time investment. If the scores already include top jackpots then it is probably not worth re-buying since you will have less chance at getting the top prize. How do I get entry into VIP or Comped Tournaments? Quite often the best tournaments are invitation only. To get invited you need to be a carded player at the casino and earn a certain number of points. This of course varies from casino to casino and from ... Slot tournaments are popular because they are easy to play and don't require special skills. This levels the playing field and makes them inviting to all players. Competing in a tournament adds to the excitement for players with a competitive nature. For some players, winning a title is almost as important as winning the prize money. Some players favor tournaments because they know ahead of time what their potential losses are. Because tournaments have a set entry fee, the ...

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are slot tournaments worth it

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