Chaos - Dominions meets Battle Royale and then you Disbelieve it all!
Julian Gollop has his absolute fans for two families of games. The first one is the famous Rebelstar/Laser Squad/X-Com/Phoenix Point line. The other one is the less famous, but reputedly just as good Chaos/Lords of Chaos/Magic and Mayhem / Chaos Reborn series...
The DataDrivenGamer wanted to cover it and duel with me, and I knew it would be on my 1985 list, so I tested it a bit...
Boy! It is fun indeed. Summon monsters, ride them, kill them, raise them again as undead spirit creatures to fight again for you until someone hidden on the other side of a magical forest Disbelieves the monsters even existed in the first place and then charges you with a magic sword. Escape in shadow form, get trapped by the Blob that slowly crept to occupy half the map and then get finished by a stupid elf-slave with a bow. This kind of fun.
Also, it can support up to 8 players (in PBEM) so we are not going to do a minuscule duel of the wizards, we are going to do a melee of the wizards - and this is the thread where this happens!
So find the game and the rules there and register in this thread!
Sounds like mad fun, I'm in!!
Yeah, sure, if it's not going to be too time consuming.
"Chaos is a ladder" - count me in!
My eternal crusade against Gollop must continue. I'm in.
Also Games Workshop? I do remember from your blog this is probably the pre-"we hate our customers" GW, but novel nonetheless....
Count me in.
The manual says that diagonal movement costs one and a half movement point, but that seems to be a lie, it costs one.
I have a request for everyone playing. Please trade turns by using Fuse's record feature, rather than the snapshot feature, and share with the group. It is straightforward to use - before doing input, go to File->Recording->Record, save to an rzx file, and play your turn. When your turn is over, go to File->Recording->Stop. To play someone else's file, just go to File->Open and open the rzx (you do not have to load the game first or even have a copy of it).
This accomplishes two things. It lets everyone see what you are doing, as if we were playing hot seat, and it also lets me reconstruct a video of the match.
That said, if there are any phases which involve entering secret commands that the other players shouldn't know about (I haven't read the rules yet), you should use snapshots for that.
Excited to try this one! Unlike Gollop's previous games, Rebelstar Raiders is actually good.
Ok, now that I have read the rules and tested, I think we need to reach a decision regarding the "select your spell" phase. It looks like this decision is meant to be kept a secret from the other players, who normally would not see it during this phase unless they are watching the keyboard. A recording won't reveal it. But it does reveal the spells available to the player.
How do we handle this?
I thought about it.
The game has 3 phases:
- Spell selection
- Spell location (if applicable, eg summon)
- Movement and attacks
I think we should just record Spell location and Movement & Attacks - it does not reveal any secret.
On your side, for your video, you can join a recording of your spell selection.
Keep in mind that in hotseat with many players hiding the list of spells would be impractical. You would have to hide "Illusion YES/NO" so where you tap on the keyboard.
That sounds like fun, but I'm actually out on a trip next week (from Wednesday to Saturday) with somewhat limited screen time - if we end before that, or start after, I'm happy to get in on the fun!
What happens if you don't check the forum for few days? Shit Chaos happens. This sounds like chaotic fun. If the roster is already full, I could be in the reserve spot in case someone can't make it.
Esteemed spectators! Welcome, welcome to the greatest entertainment the world has ever known! Welcome to... the Chaos Arena!
A fight to the death between the most deadly of sorcerers! Insane magicks that will shatter your belief in reality! And of course, utter brutality! And all of this in service of you, the public! Let us hail our contestants, out fighters, our champions, our wizards!
Coming from the South-East Kingdom, Porcus the Mad!
"You shoulda seen the size of the one I summoned last time!"
Porcus, you are a fan favourite. Are you cognizant that you are, in fact, an insane orc?
What?
From the foggy mists of the mid-northern Kingdom, Dayyalu the Grey!
"Didn't I win the last time? Why I am still here fighting? SCRIBE!"
I'll ignore I'm interviewing myself, but why The Grey? Are you a Gandalf fan?
I merely prefer grey for clothing in Real Life. Easy to clean, functional.
From the Bay Kingdom, Ahab the Idolator!
How pretentious.
It is true that this is entirely your fault and you have uncertain connections with the organizers?
I refuse to reply to such obvious lies.
From the First Second Republic, Scribe The Clerk!
"May the Battle commence!"
"..."
"Wait? WAIT! Why am I in the arena? This must be a mistake! I am just a clerk, not a combatant! Somebody please stop this! HELP! STOP! FOR THE LOVE OF THE ANCIENTS, PLEASE STOP THIS!"
Should have read the fine print better, bozo..ehrhhh, esteemed combatant!
From the Eastern Jarldom, Rastignak the Spellbreaker!
"You would never (dis)believe what I made last night..."
..... I don't even know why you should tell the viewers your nightly activities.
I didn't.... wait, I didn't mean, this is slander!
From the Third Fourth Republic, Argyraspide the Silver!
Where's the guy? What do you mean, "he's camera shy"?
Two more contenders will join the fray, but apparently they're late due to teleportation mishaps. Don't worry, they will soon join the mind-blowing cruelty of the CHAOS ARENA!
Yes, I should have checked the game more instead of shitposting, but c'mon, it's half of my terrible fun in doing this. Also Porkbelly starting the Wrestling-style introduction in our private convo was too juicy.
My name is Scribe and this was hilarious (and Porkbelly had started it).
We are only waiting for the Wizard of the Land of Only Eight Consonants now. The Wizard of the Really Big Lakes passed me notes during the security briefing. Did anyone listen to the security briefing ? I was supposed to write it down but could not.
Oh GOD! OH GOD! I AM GOING TO DIE!
Let's keep calm! What spells did I learn this morning? Anything useful? Ahhh, can't seem to remember...
At least, I am in a corner!
Who are the other wizards? Is one of them nice and willing to help me! I should remember, I am the one who registered them!
Oh S..T! Is that Argyraspide? Is he facing me? Is he marching toward me? I need to cast a spell, anything, NOW!
Ah! I'm the only one who thought to bring a real sword to this fight. This is going to be easy! Most of these guys are just waving their hands around and chanting like lunatics!
Aaaand Dayyalu begins the match, summoning a troll! 🤣
Why I'm called the Spellbreaker? You see, when you hit a wizard over the head with a staff, it breaks any spell he's trying to chant.
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I'll summon your worst nightmare into the arena to put an end to the winning streak of Dayyalu the Grey!
<waves hands and chants>
/>
Ok, after testing the game a little, all I can predict is that this is going to be a chaotic experience.
Game is on!
Alacazoo! Alaca.. ca..zam?... za-cam?
Oh fuck it... SUMMON The KRAKEN!