Highlights Election 8/01/08

[VemuKhaham]

Here you can submit nominations of the Highlights Elections of the first Kman's Kronicle. You can submit them until 31st of July. The elections will be 1st of August, when a poll will appear here with all the nominations submitted. Please read the Guidelines of Kman's Kronicles for further rules on nominating and the elections.

This election I will allow nominations of highlights that have taken place in these boards ever since its humble beginnings until July 31, 2008. You may dig up old, archived Highlights that you wish to submit in the Closed Game Threads. Remember: submissions must include a quotation of the selected highlight, the player(s) who posted it, the game in which it was posted and the date when it took place. Finally, a link to the thread where the Highlight can be found would be very much appreciated. You cannot nominate yourself, but you can nominate events in which multiple people, including yourself, participated. To limit overenthousiasm (though appreciated ) just a little, every member can submit up to three nominations.

In Kman's terms:
CALLING FOR NOMINATIONS!!![/move]

[Yakumo]

I guess I'll try to throw in for the first highlight nomination.

Since I don't think it happens often, and since we seem to be gaining a little reputation or at least readability with our Call of Cthulhu game with Masks. I think this might pull in even more interest for those who don't know the type of game it is.

I nominate as an event: The end of Call of Cthulhu: Uttati Asfet for showing that even a short, brutal and depressing end - the loss of souls and death and the remaining investigators- can be just as satisfying an end of a game as "saving the day" in a D&D equivalent.

Members involved:
K-man - As the Keeper
Toptomcat - As Benjiro, a martial artist
Myself - As Patrick Ross, an Occultist

Summary:
The game was hitting its climax as Benjiro and Patrick had been taken to a small island near the one they were currently spending time at. On the small island the cult of the area revealed itself, in particular Uluaki, its leader. After quickly realizing the futility of trying to fight them, Patrick makes a break for the rowboat while Benjiro holds the cult leader off briefly. Seeing what appears to be a large shark waiting for them in the water, Patrick bloodies his shirt, tears it up and ties it to some rocks he loads into the boat and waits for Benjiro to arrive. When he does they shove off and the cult leader possesses the shark having it chase them across the water. After being given the slim hope that the bloody rock distraction would keep the shark off of them, the shark redoubles it's attack and knocks Patrick out of the boat.
While attempting to get away, with a series of bad rolls K-man lays a powerful beatdown on Patrick as the shark attacks him just as it seems like he escaped:
(K-man): "Your reverie stops there as you feel the sharpest pain you have ever felt in your life shoot through your forearms. Instinctively pulling them back, you are suddenly struck with the realization that they are half as long....
Your blood begins to cloud around your arms as it spills from the stumpy inch of flesh just below your elbow. Horribly, you wiggle it slightly, trying desperately to adjust to the feeling of no longer having your hands and wrists and claw your way to the surface for air.
The behemoth of a shark slams into you, mouth first, right about mid-section. You were mistaken about the pain you felt moments ago, the teeth ripping through the soft flesh of your abdomen is now the worst thing you have ever felt...
The shark shakes its head, pulling a good-sized portion of your stomach free like it were a prime cut of meat on display at the grocery store. You begin, thankfully, to fade in and out of consciousness as the shark continues to press the attack and pulls you apart piece by agonizing piece.
Your legs, gone in a single, bone-crunching bite. Your neck is torn open, saturating the water in a brilliant cloud of crimson...
You fade into blackness...hoping somewhere, in that spiteful, animal part of the human mind, that the shark at least gets sick from his meal..."

Patrick was dead and Benjiro soldiers on to the docks, as he tries to warn the town the Cult leader and a few cultists catch up with him:
(K-man): "Like a champion hurtler at the end of an olympic run, you blast through the row of natives and make your way to the solid ground beyond the pier.
Your feet keep pumping, knowing that just a few dozen feet behind you, the Uluaki chants in some strange tongue and holds some wicked canister of alien design as though it's...
You feel your feet stop dead in their tracks, your body going limp. On top of this, your vision suddenly blurs as though your eyes are getting more distant...
You feel your essence tugged at, pulled like a kite in high winds until it is ripped free from its spiritual tethers. It floats back, high and above your still-standing, limp form, over the row of natives and along the length of the pier.
You feel nothing, you smell nothing...even, as you feel yourself float back along that length of pier, your vision begins to fade to black. The last thing you are aware of is a semi-circle of light coming to a close.
The canister lid...
It seals tight without much of a sound, but when it does...
...all is black...."

Benjiro was the victim of a bind soul spell. His soul was trapped inside a bone carved canister about the size of a film canister, he wasn't even allowed a proper death. Adding insult to injury, the Cult Leader takes on Benjiro's form to tell everyone that nothing happened and that he was just drunk. And the cult continued on it's activities.

And thus was the end of Uttati Asfet, Both a testament to how Fun and Gruesome Call of Cthulhu is and a fitting show 9for the first Highlight I think) of our Board's Namesake's ability to run a extremely detailed and fun game.

(Direct link to the last thread: kmansadventures.proboards2.com/index.cgi?board=uttatievents&action=display&thread=4245)

[Japic]

I have to admit that when I think back on all of the encounters we've had here on KMans, one of our earliest still makes me smile.

I'm referring to the first game ever played on KMans, Marionettes of the Demon. In the following scene our group of low level adventurers was finding ourslves somewhat taxed, and confronted with a small gathering of goblins, though mostly women and children. The reason we came here determined in our minds that we would not slay the innocent, only warriors. I believe we were sent to stop them from raiding or such.

So as we're standing there, TTC comes up with a pretty neat idea. Based on low level magics we put on a show for the gobbos and saved the trouble of fighting them.

This is how it played out:

Sept 25, 2003 15:07:29 GMT -5 K Man said:

The wizard catches the small goblin enclave completely off guard and they can not rally themselves in time to do anything other than stare slack jawed at the spectacle before them.

With a use of very simple spells and a booming voice, the wizard and bard manage to create a circle around the now frightened goblins and then comes the real show.

The half-orc brazenly steps forth, pretending to heed to the words of the wizard as a master and when he reaches the edge of the circle...violently flinges himself backwards onto the ground. The goblins gasp and awe in shock, not sure what to believe first. The fact that someone was dumb enough to walk into it and get killed, or the fact that a wizard has no inscribed a "circle of death" around them.

As they stare and babble incoherently, a small goblin child that isn't enveloped in its' own tears tries to clamber towards the edge of the circle. An adult warrior quickly drops anything in his hands and dives towards the young creature, scrambling to keep it away from its' certain doom.

The goblins sit huddled together in the exact center of the circle, trying vainly to get away from all sides as quickly as possible. It becomes apparent these goblins will not go anywhere out of sheer paranoia for quite sometime.

Dragging the "dead" body of Graak out of the cave, you have a hard time containing the laughter as you watch the goblins shiver with fear.

Maybe not teh best thing to ever happen on the boards, but certainly it was a fun situation to work with. Original text on this can be found in the archives in 1-026 and 1-027

[VemuKhaham]

Alright, good to see two great nominations so far. I looked into them and got to enjoy those games I had never really looked at before. Thanks.

I also want to put up a nomination. I nominate a great scene from Bring Out Your Dead, which was played in January 2005: the conflict on the Demonwing, between the main group and Romar and Yuri. From all the things I have done on these boards in all those years, that encounter still stands out to me to be the most fun of all.

Though the entire scene should be quoted, I pulled out a nice quote from GeneralMHB that did well to represent the situation in all its extremities and confusion, and I would dedicate this nomination to him most of all, since I think his role was really the key to that situation:

But I ask you all, what are you doing on such a daemonic ship, saling for the mouth of hell itself? Are you on some mission to save humanity, or to pledge alleigance to one of the daemonic?

Members involved, and their characters:
DM: Kman
Hero - Hero
General MHB - Yuri
Wizard - Callian
Japic - Girud
Bluspecs - Garor
Jevva - Galdren
VemuKhaham - Romar
Fangor - Krysta
TheUdjat - Caelith
Merovingian - Newt

For those who don't know the scene, it is about what happens when faithful companions who have long been out of touch meet each other in the most suspicious ways. One part of the group, with everyone except Yuri and Romar in it, were traveling to Hell aboard a ship called the Demonwing - a vessel that resembles its name in appearance, and crewed by undead skeletons. The others, Romar and Yuri, were being carried by flying roc birds over the sea when they passed over the ship. Yuri had by then become a vampire, while Romar was too stubborn to led go of his own goals, and too suspicious to meet his old friends aboard such a ship. Add that with a couple of paladins among the main group, and you have a recipe for trouble.

It was so thrilling because of the confusion (which Kman as DM really handled in the best possible way). With so many players, there are an equal amount of perspectives and opinions, and what could've been just a pleasant rendez-vous turned into a fight to the death... almost.

Here are some links, the last one captures most of the scene, but the previous two are also essential.

Number 1
Number 2
Number 3

[Yakumo]

That is a really intense scene, I highly recommend everyone who looks at this to take a look at this.

[Rojito]

Having read that entire thread, even thought i didn't start at kmans till after it was over, i recommend reading it as well.

[Fangor the Fierce]

Damn! I barely remembered that heated discussion. And when I read it again, yeah, we had long essay's in that campaign. I almost feel sorry for KMAN having to read all that. ... almost...

[Japic]

I'd almost forgotten how quickly Romar jumped to conclusions and how screwed up the party dynamics were. I'm surprised any of us made it through withou killing one another.

Good highlight, there were many such situations in the BoYD game; probably too many epic moments to keep up with actually. Hooray!

[TheUdjat]

Jun 24, 2008 9:56:37 GMT -5 Japic said:

I'd almost forgotten how quickly Romar jumped to conclusions and how screwed up the party dynamics were. I'm surprised any of us made it through withou killing one another.

Good highlight, there were many such situations in the BoYD game; probably too many epic moments to keep up with actually. Hooray!

Indeed. I'm submitting Hero's Death for the Highlight Vote, once I find it.

[TheUdjat]

Found it.

Le Mort d'Hero. Died in battle with a towering demon inside the DemonWing, while sailing through Stygia.

Incidentally, this occurred not long after the above nominated scene, where Romar crossed paths with the group and went psycho (as usual).

[Yakumo]

Reading some of the threads I feel like the Paladins went more nuts than Romar did.

[TheUdjat]

Jun 24, 2008 10:50:47 GMT -5 Yakumo said:

Reading some of the threads I feel like the Paladins went more nuts than Romar did.

You take that back!



Some of my other favorite moments in BOYD include Boon's Freehold and Cannon's Foot, where we basically had to destroy the places in order to deal with the conquering army. Awesome.

[VemuKhaham]

Jun 24, 2008 10:50:47 GMT -5 Yakumo said:

Reading some of the threads I feel like the Paladins went more nuts than Romar did.

Once you read everything Romar has done, you will reconsider those words.

Hero's death was really epic, in one word. Good nomination. Indeed, the entire campaign was one epic moment after another.

[Rojito]

Honestly i liked the fight between Romar and the Faceless Knight or whatever he was called, where Romar almost fucked over the storyline by killing one of the biggest 'good' heroes on their side lol.

[Wicksy]

I remember reading that storyine for sometime. I picked it up about halfway through and read it to the end. K Man really need to write a novel based on that story because it has everything! One of the main reasons i jumped at playing in GFYD.

[anoba]

BOYD sounds exciting. Looks like I'll have to read it... again!

I read the first 10 pages or so a while ago. Epic is the prefect description and considering everyone was 1st level in those early posts just goes to show how excellent the role playing was. I agree with Wicksy, someone turn that game into a novel!

[VemuKhaham]

Alright, so far we have as Highlight nominations:
- The end of Uttati Asfet (Nomination for Kman)
- TTC's trick in Marionettes of the Demon (Nomination for TTC)
- The Demonwing Scene in BOYD (Nomination for GeneralMHB)
- Le Mort d'Hero in BOYD (Nomination for Hero)

That's good food for an election, but I'm pretty sure that in, what is it, five years(?) of Kman's, we can come up with more memorable moments. Especially those old veterans who've been here since the beginning, or those like Rojito who've played in more games than many others in a short time, I'm sure you can come up with some good highlights that can't be missed out on. Remember that this election is a special one: it covers all the history of Kman's so far, and you will not have another chance to nominate anything from this period in the later elections. Take that chance now!

P.S.: I took the liberty of picking out one person in particular who participated in a scene, looking at the descriptions of those people that nominated them and to whom they put their focus, in order to limit the amount of people nominated. E.G. 11 people participated in BOYD during the Demonwing scene, but I chose to dedicate the nomination to GeneralMHB because I thought he in particular stood out there. It's not impossible for multiple people to be nominated in one scene, but I would ask those that did to let me know more specifically who they wish to dedicate their nomination to.

Finally, a notice: the deadline for nominations in Thursday, July 31. The poll will be put up Friday August 1.

[TheZebraShakes™]

I liked the WLD scene when Deidre started pulling out all of the wands in the wand room and kept getting cursed. I'm not sure if it qualifies as a highlight, but it was funny and I'd have to look for it in there.

Also, just Mazadir in WLD, the character played by Cel and Spiral. He was a mess.

And can I nominate Kenro as the highlight of The Gods are crazy?

(I'll try to come up with something official looking)

[TheUdjat]

I think the scene is sometimes more important than the actual person executing the description. Maybe we should be focusing on that rather than who was involved.

I'll try to find some more nominations. I had some ideas...

[VemuKhaham]

Lol, TZS, that's the spirit. You go do that. Remember the guidelines in the first post of this thread, and it'll be all official. Oh, and remember, just 3 nominations per person.

Udjat, yeah, I see now that there may be a few considerations that have to be made. I guess we could make it possible for people to just nominate a person or an entire scene. In the latter case, though, it's a bit tricky with the entire Hall of Fame stuff and such. But for now let's just say you can nominate a scene, and, if you wish, dedicate that nomination to one of the players/dm that was involved. Tricky business, this.