Q Files Updates: March 2003

Post by **Spectrum** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 8:39 am

Its a new month with another round of Q Files updates!

In the Champions section, the crossover between the Crusaders and Equinox has concluded with the teams being mixed up. Find out what happens next in Crusaders #17-18 and Crusaders Plus #16-17. In the distant future, the Lost Heroes band encounter a lizard from beyond the stars in Lost Heroes #6-7.

In the Frontier Lands, the Seekers capture Wendy & gain new recruits in Frontier #31-32 & #33-34. The Company of the Sword arrives at Gerald's Fort in Sword of Doom #8-9.

That is all.

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 10:08 am

Now that MAD's reputation is starting to get around, people are dropping out before he gets a chance to even DO anything to them!

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 11:30 am

Man, I was swamped at work for about a week and a half. During that time, you posted twice! And you've posted at least one more batch since. I'm having a hell of a time trying to catch up. At least things seem to be settling down a little and the stories make for pleasant reading.

Thanks, sorry for being scarce,

Gordon

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 12:52 pm

Hey, Gordon,
I know all about being swamped. And I seem to always add more to the pile. We're talking about starting two more businesses soon, plus a big increase at my 'regular' job this week. Wish I could clone myself.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 2:15 pm

Muskateer wrote:Hey, Gordon,
I know all about being swamped. And I seem to always add more to the pile. We're talking about starting two more businesses soon, plus a big increase at my 'regular' job this week. Wish I could clone myself.

You're just one of those fella's that ain't afraid a' work. Cloning? Your wife might have something to say about that!

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 3:32 pm

Hey, Bruce -
Yeah, work is pretty much the state of things. I might not have to work so hard if I had made some better decisions some years ago (especially while in college)!

I like the idea of more businesses and just need to get people to do the work for me. Working towards that, but not there yet. Although MAD is firmly in the fold now.

Now if I could just find a way to quit my regular job and just run our businesses, then I'd be much happier and freer. Hard to eliminate that much guaranteed money each week just now though!

And yeah, my wife would probably be unhappy with a bunch of me, although if one could spend all his time with her...

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 3:41 pm

A character named Demonslayer, with no weapons or armor?! AHHAHAHAHAHA! That is too funny! What is he supposed to have killed the demon with - his body odor? Looks like Demonslayer's great contribution to the upcoming fight is going to be holding the others' horses. What a moron. Any chance the player was under the age of 12?

Gordon

Post by **Spectrum** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:25 pm

Muskateer wrote:Now that MAD's reputation is starting to get around, people are dropping out before he gets a chance to even DO anything to them!

Of course this is coming from the same man who wanted to restart Validar too. Must be a glutton for punishment!

Gordon wrote:Man, I was swamped at work for about a week and a half. During that time, you posted twice! And you've posted at least one more batch since. I'm having a hell of a time trying to catch up. At least things seem to be settling down a little and the stories make for pleasant reading.

Thanks, sorry for being scarce,

Gordon

Not to worry Gordon. As we sometimes say, life can get in the way! As of late I've been doing Q updates every 5-7 days. I'll probably continue with that for as long as I can keep pace. I've been getting better at converting the files, so they are just churning out faster now. Just a matter of getting a system down. While I just put an update up yesterday morning, I already have the next one half way done!

Like I said before, the Q files were admittedly rough at the beginning. They did smooth out over time. Good players and interesting characters didn't hurt either! So how do you like the alternative "Arena" scenario that Muskateer is doing in Crusaders?

Muskateer wrote:Hey, Gordon,
I know all about being swamped. And I seem to always add more to the pile. We're talking about starting two more businesses soon, plus a big increase at my 'regular' job this week. Wish I could clone myself.

I'd have to side with the missus in this one. One Muskateer is bad enough! Could you imagine a whole crew of Validars in one game?? ::shudders::

Muskateer wrote:I like the idea of more businesses and just need to get people to do the work for me. Working towards that, but not there yet. Although MAD is firmly in the fold now.

Now about that raise... (Oh and Mad refers to me. I was GM Mad on Q and also have a GM Mad name on AOL. My primary E-mail address, actually.)

Gordon wrote:A character named Demonslayer, with no weapons or armor?! AHHAHAHAHAHA! That is too funny! What is he supposed to have killed the demon with - his body odor? Looks like Demonslayer's great contribution to the upcoming fight is going to be holding the others' horses. What a moron. Any chance the player was under the age of 12?

That's always entirely possible, Gordon. In fact we did wonder about many of the not-so-great posting players. At times you were almost afraid to ask as they might be someone with some great physical ailment who could only type with a pencil in his mouth! Yeesh!

At that stage of the Frontier, I actually rolled up the character's stats. They would send me their name, race, class, & alignment. Then I would sent them back their stats and how much GP's they had to buy equipment with. Obviously, 'Demonslayer' never bought any equipment.

Yeah, not too bright. Just wait until you see Wild Dan in action. There were times I could literally not understand his posts!

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 4:38 pm

Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishment, although I usually give as many headaches as I take!

We did often wonder about people and how they managed to post so poorly, when others were doing so well. MAD was always more lenient to players. I would likely not accept some of the people he let play, but then that was his job.

As for Wild Dan: what can you say? My favorite post of his was:
"Glub, glub" (quoted in it's entirety)

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:38 pm

Muskateer wrote: yeah, my wife would probably be unhappy with a bunch of me, although if one could spend all his time with her...

....then you'd really have a problem

glub glub?

He better be drowning!

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 1:25 pm

Spectrum wrote:I'd have to side with the missus in this one. One Muskateer is bad enough! Could you imagine a whole crew of Validars in one game?? ::shudders::

Way too scary to even think about! A gaggle of Musketeers?! Yikes!

Post by **Spectrum** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 3:53 pm

glub glub? He better be drowning!

He was, actually. Sadly, that was one of his more articulate posts. He ran a character called Dragon man that I put up with for several years in Crusaders. His basic power was to turn into -- you guessed it-- a dragon! Or colored dragons just like the Monster Manual. He probably didn't know a lick of champions. He really thought this guy was mentally challenged given what he posted. Turns out he was just too lazy to make intelligent posts! (He played briefly in a live game I ran too.)

We really had to wonder just HOW he was enjoying the game since most people just thought he was a twit and ignored him.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 3:56 pm

On the other hand, more Musky means more stories

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 11:15 am

Spectrum wrote:We really had to wonder just HOW he was enjoying the game since most people just thought he was a twit and ignored him.

Pitifully, there is a certain type of personality that seems to get off on this kind of thing. Witness your average Newsgroup troll. Many seem to live to post unintelligible drivel just to get a reaction from people. Very sad, really.

Gordo, the masked bandito

Post by **Spectrum** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 12:15 pm

fanchergw wrote:
Spectrum wrote:We really had to wonder just HOW he was enjoying the game since most people just thought he was a twit and ignored him.
Pitifully, there is a certain type of personality that seems to get off on this kind of thing. Witness your average Newsgroup troll. Many seem to live to post unintelligible drivel just to get a reaction from people. Very sad, really.

Gordo, the masked bandito

I guess that is true to a certain extent. That's mainly why we require everyone to register before being able to post here. Help gets up the scum of the Internet. But even worse, on Q he was paying just to post in these games! It was not like your flat rates of today. Just plain weird.

Post by **Muskateer** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 8:20 pm

Never let it be said that we will ever understand everyone's motivations...

Post by **Spectrum** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 6:58 am

Hey gang!

Just finished putting up another round of Q Files updates!

Things continue to get stranger for our trapped heroes in Crusaders #19-21. The heroes on the outside have to contend with several members of the Seven Horsemen in Crusadres Plus #18-20, while in the future the battle with the lizard concludes in Lost Heroes #8-9.

In the Frontier lands, Validar returns in Frontier #35 and Frontier #36-37. The Company of the Sword come across a very strange forest in Sword of Doom #10-11.

Enjoy!

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 10, 2003 2:45 pm

Thanks for the double updates, Specs. Have been waiting patiently for Validar's return. As always, this has been a matter of remembering most of it as reading it.

Enjoying the heck out of these!

Post by **Spectrum** » Sun Mar 16, 2003 8:24 am

Just posted another round of Q Files!

In Crusaders Plus #21-23, our mis-matched heroes investigate a Genocide base. The search for Black Tarantula begins in Lost Heroes #10-11.

No Crusaders post this time out. They've reached the point where the game merges with CPlus for good, so the Cplus gang needs to be advanced a bit further.

In place of Crusaders, I've opened up a Miscellaneous Champs section for short lived games and soloists. Opening up this area is Crusaders West, a short game Muskateer ran. All six posts are included in this file. Cwest features the first appearance of Sapphire anywhere.

On the D&D side of things, there's the usual double Frontier update. The battle with the giants concludes in Frontier #38-39 and in Frontier #40 the Seekers come across the ruined city. Elsewhere, the Company of the Sword makes their plans against the Zombie Master in Sword of Doom #12-13.

Enjoy!

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 10:54 am

Managed to get through all the new stuff in one day. "Work? I don't need no steenkin' work..."

Strangely, as much as I tend to prefer supers, I find myself consistantly reading the fantasy files first. How odd.

As far as I can tell, ya'll've done a good job of retaining Sapphire's personality. I can find very little difference from then to now.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Super-Gordon!

Post by **Spectrum** » Tue Mar 18, 2003 4:56 pm

Work? Oh yeah, that stuff you have to do in between doing what you REALLY want to do.

This kind of goes in with some of the stuff we discussed before. The D&D players, as a whole, seemed to be a bit better than the Champs players, again as a whole. Not sure why. GM quality probably has something to do with it as well. The Champs files were from Summer of '89, while Frontier is Spring of '90, and Sword of Doom is Fall of '90. It took a while to get into a comfortable style with that type of gaming.

There's some major battles coming up in the D&D games. Believe it or not, the Seekers decide to take on the inhabitants of the ruined city! That combat took a whopping 7 posts to complete! ( #42-48 ). The Company's battled against the Zombie Master spanned many posts as well. Very nearly 10 posts, but there were breaks in there, not one very long battle.

When I restarted Sapphire on the main site, I basically went back to her original personnality. She did grow and change a little as the LA Knights went on. Her exploits in dating were usually quite a musing!

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:03 pm

When I restarted Sapphire on the main site, I basically went back to her original personnality. She did grow and change a little as the LA Knights went on. Her exploits in dating were usually quite a musing!

Aha! So that's where that story comes from.

Post by **Spectrum** » Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:30 pm

Bruce wrote:
When I restarted Sapphire on the main site, I basically went back to her original personnality. She did grow and change a little as the LA Knights went on. Her exploits in dating were usually quite a musing!
Aha! So that's where that story comes from.

Yes and no. Her date with Obsidian in YC #16 was all original. There were 2 past date instances in the LA Knights files to come. The first was with a character, I believe, named Shatterstar. His player was Mastiff, and Mast ran as many as four Champs characters who were all related. In fact, Rad of the Freedom League is based on one of his characters. (He ran some D&D characters too.)

He was the first to date Saph. He set up a really fancy date, even renting a limo and making reservations in a fancy resturant. The Enchantress (Sheila Grace version) got Saph all dressed up for the date. Saph got drunk during it.

Later on she was involved with Magebane, who was a GM Kill character.

In both cases, the guys seemed to expect things to go further and Saph didn't really say all that much. Mainly because she didn't understand how dating worked and all of that. She didn't know what to do next and so went on going as if the date never happened. That bit annoyed Magebane a bit.

All in all, I found it rather amusing.

Post by **Muskateer** » Thu Mar 20, 2003 2:48 pm

Specs, you are an E V I L man.

The latest batch of Q files was entertaining. I had a hard time not laughing out loud at work when reading Jacko. "Eeie wanna wonga" indeed. (For those who may not have gotten it, it is a Star Wars reference.)

The Frontier is going well and Validar stepped right in to the leadership position nicely. I think that Kamreil player was even more annoying than Raeden. That is no Paladin. And what the hell was that about with the wet mulch in his backback?!?!

Looking forward to the next ones...

Post by **Muskateer** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 4:47 pm

So, when's the next Frontier and ther Q-Files coming. Been over a week!! Sheesh!

Okay, just kidding. Missing my Validar fix. I know why it hasn't been done lately.

Post by **Spectrum** » Wed Mar 26, 2003 6:17 pm

As if on cue.... Just posted another round of Q Files!

Its the final installment of CPlus and the conclusion to the "What Rought Beast?" storyline in Crusaders Plus #23-26. The title merges with Crusaders in Crusaders #22-27 and also features the conclusion of the Arena storyline. Things get interesting in the distant future as the girls arrive at strange spider temple and Brawn annoys Valteria in Lost Heroes #12-13.

On the D&D side of things, the Seekers make plans to raid the ruined city in Frontier #41. Frontier #42-43 kicks off the massive attack that will run all the way through Frontier #48. The Company of the Sword bites off more than they can chew when they assualt the Zombie Master's graveyard in Sword of Doom # 14-16.

That is all!

Post by **Muskateer** » Thu Mar 27, 2003 2:58 pm

Well, that was received right on cue. If I ask again, does that mean we'll have another round of Frontier?!

I didn't think so.

Frontier was a nice read and really looking forward to seeing the rest of this battle. It was a well-devised plan although it looks a little scary at some points. The guys in the tower must have been in for a surprise when they saw the orcs massing below. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get Group C into combat!!

Thanks Mad. Can't wait for the next ones already...

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:22 pm

Having read all the new Q files and thoroghly enjoyed them I think I have the answer to the burning question upon everyone's mind. What the heck the backpack of mulch is for! Well, after due consideration of many theories ( Shredded dry leaf makes good kindeling, wet shredded leaf makes good fire quenching, or good weight training, a pack of wet mulch can be used to hit with...) I have concluded that the poor fellow was only making compost...for his own burial. After all good compost is hard to come by in the wild..right?

Post by **Spectrum** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 5:02 pm

That's entirely possible, Bruce. Hard to say what he was trying to do. Although if he was making compost for his own burial then why was he doing it before he decided that he didn't want to live anymore? Or maybe he knew his days were numbered??

The next batch of Frontier files are rather brutal. Six Seekers were offed in the rest of the battle, although 2 of them asked for it. No one made it through this fight unscathed!

As scary as the stuff with the Seekers was, I'd say that what the Company of the Sword is going to go up against was pretty nasty as well. I was pretty brutal with those guys. Even the players were thinking that they were going to die...

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:12 am

Maybe his character was secretly a bug, and he was eating that stuff. Or perhaps laying eggs in it... <ewww!> It does frighten me a little that the player was apparently a GM on Q-Link. Can you imagine what his games must be like?

Actually, I would have guessed that the Company was in even worse trouble than the Seekers. At least most of the Seekers have a few levels under their belts and a decent plan. The Company's only saving grace would seem to be the huge number of characters. Guess I'll wait and see how it turns out.

Gordon

Post by **Spectrum** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 1:49 pm

Just to clarify, the guy who ran Kam was NOT a sanctioned GM on Q. He was just someone who ran an MB game. That's pretty much the way I started out on Q as well, paying my own way before they Comped me. I never looked at his stuff, so I have no idea on its quality. But given what he posted, I wouldn't have had high hopes for it. Fortunately, Kam bites the dust in the next TF file.

Surprisingly, he did come right back as a new character-- a ranger this time-- but only posted a few times before permanently disappearing. I think he was the last really annoying character in the game, so smoother sailing ahead!

It just goes to show you how two groups can have two very different styles. You'll have to ask Kill what it was like to be on the receiving end of all of that when he gets to the forum. Fortunately for the Company, all they were running into were zombies and not greater undead.

Post by **Muskateer** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 3:36 pm

Not many are likely to miss Kam after the last couple posts. as I said before, who's to say what people's motivations are. He played another character, but not for long. But that seems to be the case for a lot of people. Q was VERY EXPENSIVE back when.

Personally, I think the Company didn't have to retreat, but they may have been a little too confident going in. Of course, that coming from Validar's players, so who's to say. Me, I would never have retreated. Maybe reconcile to consolidate the groups and attack again, but I think if everyone (or most) has more than 25% of their hit points, no reason to retreat completely. But that's me.

Post by **Spectrum** » Tue Apr 01, 2003 6:50 pm

Muskateer wrote:Personally, I think the Company didn't have to retreat, but they may have been a little too confident going in. Of course, that coming from Validar's players, so who's to say. Me, I would never have retreated. Maybe reconcile to consolidate the groups and attack again, but I think if everyone (or most) has more than 25% of their hit points, no reason to retreat completely. But that's me.

Well, considering that 7 of their 16 members had 4 hps or LESS, I thought it was a very prudent thing to do. Of course Muskateer likes to takes things much further to the edge then I do as a player. Different strokes and all that.

Post by **Muskateer** » Wed Apr 02, 2003 1:42 pm

They had people who were healthy enough to fight and could have regrouped and beat the zombies right there and then. They weren't in great shape, but they weren't in a position where they NEEDED to retreat.

And yeah, I do believe in running it up to the edge in a fight. Sometimes you can turn defeat into victory.

fanchergw · Post by **fanchergw** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 1:28 pm

Well, I would agree with Musky that they should probably have been more wary going in the first time. That said, I think pulling out when they did was probably a good idea.

Of course, they're inside now. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next file.

gwf

Post by **Spectrum** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 5:08 pm

I have to admit that I greatly enjoyed the next SOD file #20-22. Enjoyed from a demented GM point of view of course! The Company ends up in what looks like very desperate straights, and then find out that they've been played for fools. Perrel didn't take that very well...

Post by **Muskateer** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 7:05 pm

Okay, enough teasing. Let's see it...

Post by **Spectrum** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 9:00 pm

Ask and you shall receive...

IT

Post by **Muskateer** » Fri Apr 04, 2003 1:23 pm

HH Productions

Q Files Updates: March 2003

Q Files Updates: March 2003

Clones

Q Files Update: March 16th

Mulch