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Post by Nym90 on Dec 5, 2016 20:43:16 GMT
I certainly hope that the series will be brought to its conclusion. Hopefully Joe made the general story outline known for books 30-32 to the extent that his children (or someone else intimately familiar with Magnamund, with their blessing) can finish the books in accordance with his ideas.
The best conclusion IMO would be an epic battle with Lone Wolf, Grey Star, and the New Order GM teaming up to ultimately defeat Naar (or not, depending on your choices, of course!). Would love to have the bonus adventures incorporate all of them and perhaps give you the option of playing as each character (i.e., the main book has you as the New Order GM again but two separate bonus adventures, one with you playing as LW and one with you as GS).
This would provide a fitting wrap up to the entire universe of books as each of the three characters we have had the privilege of playing as would each get one last adventure and the reader/player could get unique perspectives on the battle from the viewpoint/experiences of each.
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 6, 2016 4:44:33 GMT
I certainly hope that the series will be brought to its conclusion. Hopefully Joe made the general story outline known for books 30-32 to the extent that his children (or someone else intimately familiar with Magnamund, with their blessing) can finish the books in accordance with his ideas. From what I know (and from the post made by Ben Dever on his father's page), the series will be completed. Joe was prepared in case something would happened to him. Don't forget that he had plans to release books 23 and 30 soon after his hospitalization, so these books must already be edited and ready to go to the printers. I don't think Naar could be defeated, but it will certainly be an epic battle: we'll be playing as a Supreme Master (with all 16 Disciplines!) in book 32! With 2 Supreme Masters, it is quite possible one will fight Agarash and the other Vashna. Who knows: maybe we'll be given the choice to fight one or the other, just like in book 10 we were offered two very different roads to reach Torgar!
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Post by Rusty Radiator on Dec 19, 2016 0:47:32 GMT
I'm certain that an undead Grand Master Black Hawk will feature at some point. Also, maybe 31 will be against the Ice Demons, with a Possessed GM Swift Sword.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Dec 20, 2016 18:42:31 GMT
Well, there is more dead GM that may return possessed and undead. Bright Star and Firestone, although it would be odd with the NO GM's storyline, so the two recently dead are more likely then. Most likely is that they will not reappear since they are not in the centre of the NO GM's story line.
I belive LW 30 will wrap up the three remaining mustering points, and move the story forward. I.e. the Dark God will move on to his next step in the conquest of Maganamund.
Probably using the Cener Druids and the Agarashi again. Vashna and Agarash are likely to return again as well, since the storyline always has implicated that these two may return, since neither of them has been finally destroyed. Vashna may return as early as LW 30 if the NO GM is sent to the Maakengorge.
We will likely see some entity entering Magnamund from the Plane of Darkness.
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Post by Nym90 on Dec 21, 2016 0:26:31 GMT
Interesting ideas, Wise Eagle. Hopefully book 30 can still be released soon, though it is absolutely understandable that Joe's death will likely delay the process a bit.
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Post by Black Cat on Feb 17, 2017 18:04:12 GMT
I've recently played the bonus adventure of book 29. I loved it for the most part. The battle at the Colo Bridge, with the decision to move certain troops to certain places, was a highlight in the series as a whole I think. There was also a lot of backstory for the main adventure. Where I think there is a problem is with the second part of the adventure, after the fight with the Fire Agarashi. From there, it is possible to reach the end of the adventure without a single fight! Don't get me wrong: if you manage to complete the adventure without fighting again, that's great! However, by looking at the flowchart ( outspaced.fightingfantasy.net/SVG_Flowcharts/LWCE_29tsoc_bonus.svgz), you'll see that there are only two fights after you get rescued by Star Lynx, both of them being avoidable. That's what happened to me, and that's where I think is the biggest weakness of this bonus adventure: we get in a position similar to the Magic Spear problem from book 2! Let me explain: in the original "Fire on the Water" (it has since been corrected), you had to go by a very specific road to get the Magic Spear. If you missed the road (and the Spear), you are screwed, unless you have Animal Mastery. Without the Spear or Animal Mastery, you find the Helghast in the Tarnalin Tunnel and you die. With this bonus adventure, we get the same problem: on section 149, you have to take one decision. You choose wrong, you are doomed, unless you either met certain conditions (seeing Giant Swamp Snakes). How frustrating it was for me to killed the Ice Demon only to then get whacked because I've decided to follow what Assiliah asked me to do (the most logic thing to do IMO) instead of just leave her with her problems! So just like book 2, you pick the wrong road, your only chance of success is to have picked the right group of soldier at the right place to see the Giant Swamp Snakes. I've felt tricked that even if I've made great decisions (heck I've avoid both battles in the second part of the adventure!), it was all for nothing because of something I didn't do near the beginning of the adventure.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Feb 17, 2017 22:07:20 GMT
I've played it through any number of times. There is no problem with 149. The key to survive is to investigate the tower, or fight the assassin.
The trick is the clue you get about suspicious shadakine activity, which you can get in at least 2 different ways. The swamp snakes is one but you can also get it through a black arrow, and it is several different sections that have this.
There is no way to complete the adventure without getting the clue about shadakine activity. I actually thought it was impossible to not get this clue. The giant swamp snakes tend to always appear, no matter which troop placement you pick. (But I always place my own unit on the bridge.)
The clue gives you the links: 8 to 18 (Assiliah quest link) 113 to 123 (Declined quest link)
Both of these will eventually get you to section 130.
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Post by Wise Eagle on Feb 17, 2017 22:18:30 GMT
When it comes to Fire on the Water, in the first edition you were saved either by Magic Spear or by Animal Kinship.
There was a request made to not punish Lone Wolf for giving away the spear. As a result the sections at the entrance to Tarnalin was swapped. The result was that Magic Spear became mandatory to get and that Animal Kinship could only save you if you gave the Magic Spear away.
Project Aon adapted this. But in all published versions since the sections are still reversed, and the Magic Spear is mandatory to get.
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Post by Black Cat on Feb 17, 2017 23:26:47 GMT
I've played it through any number of times. There is no problem with 149. The key to survive is to investigate the tower, or fight the assassin. The trick is the clue you get about suspicious shadakine activity, which you can get in at least 2 different ways. The swamp snakes is one but you can also get it through a black arrow, and it is several different sections that have this. There is no way to complete the adventure without getting the clue about shadakine activity. I actually thought it was impossible to not get this clue. The giant swamp snakes tend to always appear, no matter which troop placement you pick. (But I always place my own unit on the bridge.) Well, check the flowchart in my precedent post: in section 149, if you do like me and go to section 36, you won't get a Speaking Stone, unless you got either a Bloodied Bolt or see Giant Swamp Snakes. Now, I don't know where you get a Bloodied Bolt, but as for the Giant Swamp Snakes, if you do like me and put the Archers in B (section 100), section 147 brings you to section 42. Through that path, you don't see the Giant Swamp Snakes. Also, if you put Soldiers in B and Archers in A, you also miss the Giant Swamp Snakes. That's why I feel frustrated by this adventure because I was punished for my decisions at the Colo Bridge Battle, way back at the begining of the adventure, which has nothing to do with the whole investigation in Elzian! I've found the Medal on the body of the Shadakine in section 8 (which I personnaly know it bears the mark of Sesketera but Elkomo seems too stupid to show it to anybody and ask what it means!) and it did not save me at all!
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Post by Wise Eagle on Feb 18, 2017 0:16:02 GMT
The bloodied bolt is obtained by having psychomancy at section 54 (to 78). You take the road to Colo and scout yourself.
Looking at the map, it seems not seeing the swamp serpents is a punishment for poor placement of the troops. Not deploying the magicians, or deploying magicians and archers (in reversed places to the good placement).
The reason you don't see the swamp snakes come into play is that you simply lose the battle too quickly, before the swamp snakes arrive, due to poor placements. One placement of archers and footsoldiers, is so bad you lose the battle and die outright. The other placement loses you the battle without seeing the snakes.
Not deploying the magicians never entered my mind at all. For me that left one bad placement with archers and magicians which for some reason I never tried.
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Post by zorkraan on Feb 18, 2017 10:35:06 GMT
Many many thanks for your comments Black Cat and Wise Eagle. Black Cat, I'm really happy you at least liked the Colo Bridge Battle and the backstory in this BA, coming from you it really touches me . I feel sorry you have been frustrated by the end of the BA if you had not found evidences of the Shadakine plot... I admit it's a tricky, somehow unfair death. However Wise Eagle explained pretty well what is at work. Elkamo has to detect one way or another that Shadakine spies are trying to destroy the Dessian defences prior to the end of the adventure, otherwise the Agarashi will force the power-shield while you fight the Ice Demon. And there are indeed 2 way to do so: - Finding the Blood Drenched Bolt used to assassinate a fellow Vakeros during the scouting mission at the beginning of the adventure in sections 54-78 (only if you have Psychomancy, I admit it's perhaps too selective). It proves Shadakine forces are at work. - There are different ways to finish the Colo Bridge Battle. If you make the best choices, the Agarashi are about to lose the battle. This forces the Shadakine agents to intervene and send the Swamp Giant Snakes they summoned from the Serpent Swamps. It happens if you reach sections 80, 110, 74, which represent 3/5 of the possible outcomes of the Colo Battle, and in my view it rewards Players who made the best choices when positioning their troops in section 100. Of course the fact some choices were considered "better" by Joe and me is a bit arbitrary but the text show how the Battle changes depending on the choices. But the fact the issue of the battle forces the Shadakine to spend their asset (Giant Swamp Snakes) is the reason why it influences the end of the story. You can detect them because of your feats at the Battle, and then you can obtain a Vision Stone. This is why I do not completely agree when you say it has nothing to do with the whole investigation in Elzian :-). But OK I admit it's not perfect, and your feeling and feedback prove it. I also agree Elkamo is a bit dumb not asking what the Sesketera's emblem means, very good point... But other sections shows he's not that smart (Assiliah complains...) ^^. I'll try to improve that in a further version of this story. Thank you for your interest and your acute comments, guys Vincent
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Post by Black Cat on Feb 18, 2017 16:45:02 GMT
zorkraan: Hey, don't get me wrong: it was a very good story, well written, nice plot and all. It just that, after doing what I considered my best (doing the scouting mission without having to fight, surviving the Colo Bridge Battle, finding a proof that Sesketera's agent are in Elzian and investigate just as Assiliah asked me to do), I felt frustrated that I was prevented to reach section 150 because of A: putting the Archers in the B square in section 100 and B: doing what Assiliah asked me to do. A death with a RNT just before section 150 would had been less frustrating. Quite frankly, I'm eager to read the next 3 gamebooks, not only because it will close the saga but also because, just as book 29 showed us, Joe's writing style got better over time and we got more infos about Magnamund. With this Bonus Adventure, I know that you will do a fine job to finish Joe's work with his son Ben. BTW, can you tell us when you expect the start the publication of the books once again?
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Post by zorkraan on Feb 18, 2017 20:18:37 GMT
@black Cat: I see your point and now realize how it frustrated you... I admit there is a heartbreaking flaw. I hope other Players will not be as unlucky as you on this, because I confirm you really did a good job as Elkamo during the adventure, making the best choices (except for the Colo battle, for alas you selected the only survival path without seeing the snakes). Anyway thank you so much for your kind words, positive comments and your encouragements. I'm delighted you enjoyed this adventure, which tried hard to bring a lot of supplementary material to establish consistent links between the events of LW29 and those taking place in the other regions of Magnamund (Shadaki, Kalte, Dessi... What about Sesketera? What about the Ice Demons? What about the Spawning Pits? What about the Claw? What about the Agarashi?), to show we are slowly going to a real world war. And knowing you are relieved and optimistic regarding the conclusion of the saga after reading this is wow... it is priceless, it matters a lot . Ben and I will post soon more info here, Facebook and Scriptarium regarding the publication of the three last books.
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koreth
Kai Lord
The Cener Druids rule all. Accept it.
Posts: 110
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Post by koreth on Feb 22, 2017 3:19:28 GMT
One of the best bonus adventures out there. Can't wait for the rest. Koreth
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Post by firestone on Jun 8, 2017 16:17:08 GMT
Apologies if it's been covered elsewhere (I could only skim read the topic as I'm only just starting the book): There's an Extra Discipline you get, beyond just the one for having completed The Hunger Of Sejanoz. The base level of 4 starting disciplines in books 21 to 28 is now 5 starting disciplines in Storms of Chai. To compensate for this, the possible total is now 13 (not the expected 12). Essentially for me, having re-read books 21-28 before starting this one, I get to choose Another TWO disciplines instead of one. And it isn't a glitch or misprint. The allowable maximum disciplines shown is numbered at 13 as well. Which means the starting five (not four) disciplines, plus eight books completed means 13 real slots shown on the action chart. It's also why I think the Grand Master levels have been renumbered before the Improved Disciplines section.
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