Q & A during Adam Draws Friday!

During Adam's drawing session today on Twitch, he and Christopher answered questions for the group, ranging from the newly announced OblivAeon expansion to the mysterious Parse promo card. I have copied as many of the questions from the 2+ hour conversation as I could, and edited many of the topics that fit together. We also were able to watch the excellent drawings of the Harpy and a promo Parse! Overall, great introduction to the upcoming OblivAeon. Enjoy!

Edit: A few things of note:

- You can watch the feed from today on http://www.twitch.tv/greaterthangames/profile. There is no audio, but awesome to watch.

- There will be 5 heroes, the number of environments "depends on you", and the number of villains is "hard to define"

- Notes on Con, Parse, alternate reality heroes, and the ARG.

Transcript of Q & A.docx (159 KB)

Any chance you can put that in pastebin or something? Not all of us can read docx files.

Sure thing!

http://pastebin.com/8WEYZQKJ

Many thanks for this – greatly appreciate it! Even though I was on, I missed much of it due to work distracting me…

Thanks much!

GTGChristopher: @Spreewaldfuchs Oh! Thank you! I work hard on those.

Which conversation is this? I don't remember seeing it in the ARG.

Thank you for doing this. :)

Whoops, that looks like a mistake. I was trying to hunt down several original questions and match with answers, but it looks like I misplaced a question to Migrant P with the response from Christopher to the same person. (Very, very tough with all of the questions flying.) I believe the original question refers to the video game. Sorry about the confusion!

Nope, that was totally my response to him. He was talking about the opening dialogue in the video game.

Just read through this and now I think that Parse becomes Con somehow. 

Arcanist_Lupus: America's Smartest Legacy will be a real promo, right?
GTGChristopher: @Arcanist_lupus No more than a digital file.

 

pretty sure they're talking about America's Cleverest Legacy...

But still, no actual promo for him?

:(

Wonder if there's a "digital file" of his incap side... lol.

if anyone has the time and can grab screenshots of the promo pics for Harpy and Parse to add to the wiki that be awesome! (if you're not comfortable edditing the wiki, pm me with the files)

It came up several times, including questions about incap, I took the direct quotes from the board when there was official responses. That being said, that card is awesome. 

Stretch Goals!

Someone mentioned a conversation between dark visionary and dreamer. How did I miss this? Can someone point me to where I can find this?

The conversation is when you play Visionary in first place against Dreamer in the videogame.

thank you for compiling this.  Bessy DOES rock.  12.

Christopher mentioned that you cannot defeat OblivAeon until you figure out how to do so. I know that the whole Legacy thing has been kind of a buzz word lately in the gaming world, but I think it would be really cool to "unlock" certain hidden packets in the game based on what you've done so far in your plays, a la Risk Legacy. Could you just tear into all of the envelopes straight out the gate? Of course, but where would be the fun in that! 

Examples for those who don't know Legacy games would be along the lines of: Open this packet when you defeat your second Scion; or, Open this packet after your first loss; or, Open this packet immediately when a Hero target would do more than 12 damage in a single hit. In each envelope would be a little story card, but several new surprises, like maybe an entirely new deck.

I really, really don't want the final expansion to be a Legacy expansion.

I loved Pandemic: Legacy. It's maybe the best game I've ever played. But it's over now. I'm probably never going to play it again. Sentinels, on the other hand, is a game that I play over and over again, and to have the final expansion, the thing we've been building to for years, be something that we can only play a certain number of times, or even just get the most out of a certain number of times, would be deeply disappointing.

That said, the superhero genre is ripe for a Legacy game; heroes and villains change and evolve over the years, new threats appear, et cetera. It's something I've considered trying to design myself, though it's got such a large scope that I'd inevitably mess it up...

EDIT: Fortunately, OblivAeon: Legacy is very unlikely, not least because the idea for this predates Risk: Legacy.

Nah, I don't mean that it ends, or that you rip up cards and the like, as you would in a typical Legacy game...just that portions of the box unlock as you go along. Those additions would remain with your game indefinitely.

This is all in my made-up mind version of the expansion, which I already have in my mind's hands and am mind playing now as you suckers in the real world wait patiently for a KickStarter. Sillies...

I am not looking for a legacy or unlocking style game, the initial excitement of that rush of discovery is (in all the Legacy games I have played so far) the primary reason to keep playing, the changes to the game are actually secondary to the gameplay.

I am hoping for something akin to Cluedo (or Clue for you American types), where you would have a set of conditions that changes each game and must be rediscovered each time you play. It is something I have played around with in a you-play-as-villains-trying-to-defeat-"superman" style game I am half thinking of.

I may be far off, but I imagine OblivAeon's game play as multiple fights, with different teams and enemies. Some fights are just you trying to survive OblivAeon's attacks. Some are in the search for clues, allies,etc. You have to accumulate enough clues/points/whatever to indirectly prevent OblivAeon plan from completion.

There could be a "campaign" deck for Obli himself, each card being an event or the set up of a fight ( fight the Dreamer in Insula Primalis. Victory : keep this card as a clue. Defeat : you can't use one the heroe character card for the rest of the campaign, or Fight Akash'bhuta in the Final wasteland, Victory : gain access to the "alternate prime wardens" character cards, Defeat : OblivAeon gains one Victory point).

Or maybe multiple campaign decks : choose four, shuffle them in one big pack...

It might just be partial wishful thinking but I have two theories about Christopher's answer of 'Lucky Shot' to one of my questions. One) it takes place after this expansion and they are still an item in Tactics. Two) something really bad happens during this expansion related to the events of Lucky Shot and they're working together in Tactics out of necessity.

So, the Parse Promo.

In her Incap, she's got the code glowing through her eyes, and doesn't she have Omnitron I code in her head? Then OblivAeon happened and Omnitron reactivated. Cosmically.

Including it's coding. So, what if can re-write her own programming codes in this promo? I can't Computer Science, so I'm not sure.

The same event that cosmically upgraded Omnitron also gave Parse her powers so I'm not sure it's Omnitron I code so much.

Well, it WAS Omnitron I code, then it got Rebooted when Omni-II happened, now it's probably better to call it some sort of "Omni-Code"

"Omni-Code Parse", I can see that as the promo title. 

Does anyone have a screenshot of Parse's new art?  It sounds like it's quite impressive, but I wasn't able to see it in Twitch. 

Sure!

Thanks Ronway!

Okay, here’s my theory: It sounds to me like OblivAeon will run like a combination of the normal game and a Vengeance game. Several Scions would be V-style villains, and you have to do something specific to them to “figure out” how to defeat OblivAeon, like you have to “interrogate” enough underbosses to reveal who the chairman is.

Then OblivAeon himself enters as a normal villain, and the incapacitated text of the Scions determines his incapacitation conditions. My guess would be that this is also where the old villains would enter the fray, as V-style decks that play themselves, to help the heroes defeat OblivAeon.

Maybe these Scions act as Enviroment decks on their own, and OblivAeon is just a deck full of challenges and consequences, maybe even having absolutely no targets as we'd perceive them. There could be many Scions, with their own schtick, and OblivAeon above it all, watching, almost impossible to overcome, especially by our typical little slaps of 2 or 3 Fire damage a pop. Like a super-crazy Miss Information!

Nah, Christopher said “definitely” when asked if the Scions were villain decks.

Ugh... Looks like the crash ate a lot of the text. So many of the questions just seem to come out of nowhere without proper context, it's hard to follow along. Really hope the next Q&A actually goes as planned and can be live streamed.

Still, thanks for posting what was recoverable.

I’m late on the SOTM bandwagon and did not get to participate in any of the other previous kickstarters. What is shipping typically like to a place like Australia?

It's been quite steep, around $50. However, in recent kickstarters there has been only one shipping charge, regardless of how many sets go to a destination, so you could get together a group. There was a large group buy to purchase Spirit Island in the UK, for instance.

There was no crash on the livestream. It was this site that crashed. The questions did come out of nowhere because there were 60-odd people asking them as they thought of them. If you really want the whole chat, there may still be Twitch log for it. But the summary is really well done. 

They posted about the livestream well in advance and then the day before on Twitter which you can use the Twitter plug-in on the front page of this site to read.

Parse was a Data Analyst, due to her Aspergers, trying to Break the Omni code. I guess she went super heroing about Then meet The FF and Finally Discovered Miss Twain Idetaty. 

I alway took that promo art to be her origions. She probaby was knocked out when the cosmic force hit. All the overlay on her art I took as a sign of her Asperger, it is the way she viewed the world just with a cosmic boost to it.

How long was she Active as a hero before Progeny hit?

I love her power set, Finding the flaws in things. Beign smart and not as an inventor as a superpower. kinda of like Amadeus Cho Pre-hulk nonsense.

I'm not sure. There are three reasons why superheroes wear "costumes".

Suit is source of powers or result of powers (not applicable)

Suit is designed to protect identity (considering she's never worn a mask I doubt it)

Suit is a symbol.

I think Parse spent a lot of time just going around and helping people. She could help people because of her abilities so she felt that she needed to, however, I doubt she ever really thought of herself as a superhero. More of a Detective or Analyst who sometimes had to fight. After the events of Progeny though (in which we see her in her normal outfit) she realized she needed to become a hero, a symbol, because things were getting dark and people were getting scared.

Think about it, you see some dude in jeans and a hoodie fly down out of the sky to fight a rampaging monster, there might be a part of you wondering whose the bigger threat, after all thats just a guy. You see Superman fly down in his outfit, with his cape flowing in the wind and you know your dealing with someone strong enough to handle this… plus it makes a hero more recognizable in the ensuing chaos if they don't look like everyone else.

You can watch the chat again using this tool: https://www.rechat.org

Comrade Bubbles is absolutely correct. Trust me when I say, matching the actual questions and responses took a few hours to get the relevent thoughts on there, especially since the sheer number of questions made responses several minutes apart. I could have included many more comments about scorpions and cake, as well as lots of already known information, but I tried to only include the questions and responses from the developers.  As MigrantP said above, (thanks again for that helpful site!), if you install ReChat and watch the Twitch streams, you can see all of the chat as it occurred. 

As for figuring out how to defeat Oblivaeon it could simply be that he has multiple possible mechanics that unlock through play or are randomized.

I've done similar things for custom decks where the victory condition changes depending on what cards come out of a second deck, or from under a card, that type thing.

Like if you asked how many villains do you fight in the Ennead deck?  It depends.

My guess is, he's not going to be a target at all. Cards in his deck -- the Oblivion Shards, probabaly -- will have to be found and interacted with in some way that, when done correctly, reveals the win condition.

He can be hurt.

At great cost. The heroes managed to scratch him at the expense of Ra and several of the Ennead's lives. Maybe he'll have a natural DR of 20! Or he'll have several cards giving him incredible boosts that we'll have to overcome one by one?

There was indeed! I believe that there were also one or two in Australia too. Having run a few group buys I can recommend hosting one if no-one steps up to the plate and I'm happy to share advice on how to make them run smoothly

True. That's why we have to learn how to defeat him. I just mean that it was both the result of Ra and the Ennead's sacrifice + the Scion telling the heroes that he could be hurt.

Didn't mean it would be easy.

Ok, I'm going to probably watch tomorrow for Adam Draws Live, but not sure if I will transcribe. Anyone else willing to jump in and copy down questions on the chat? Also, start thinking about questions to ask...

I'm not even sure if I can make it, yet. Will depend on what's going on at work…

I know I wont be able to be there. If anyone can take notes on important things for the rest of us that would be great

I could try! My computer broke down on me yesterday, so I'm using my wife's laptop (so my ctrl+c / ctrl+v skills are not as good...!) but if someone could point me to a place where I can reread the chat, I'd be pleased to lend a hand!

Is this happening at noon Central again today?

Yup!

https://twitter.com/GtGAdam?lang=fr

rechat.com has an app that will let you re-watch a chat after the Twitch stream is over. Handy tool in general.

Excellent, thanks!  

Cool! I've added it to my chrome. Is there anything special that has to be done in order to be able to reread the chat? I tried watching the last twitch from gtg, but I can't see the chat…

Edit: nevermind, it works just fine! Thanks!

Yup! 20 minutes!

Still time to catch Adam Draws Live, currently working on new Redeemer Fanatic promo art!

Someone ask Apostate/Fanatic questions! (I am unable to do the twitch thing where im at)

We did, and they were answered... Like everything else, sorta...

Well lets hear it!

He did say there wouldn't be any answers about the Host in OblivAeon 

What news from today's Q&A? Also, is there a link to the art for those of use who couldn't attend?

These are all the questions I recovered with ReChat, so it's missing the first hour and a half or so... But until someone posts a more complete transcript, I hope you enjoy this one.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17B7e7roUPe9bEDiuNJwUdbfDlYu9ReNUsBtwWHgn6yI/edit?usp=sharing

MrLeRobot will be working on a more complete transcript, but had to leave early and didn't get the later part. Definitely got the first part, so hopefully that will be up tomorrow.

Thanks for putting this up.

Went to watch - four hours of video!

I've tried to snag the notable bits from the transcript to their own page on the wiki. This specifically applies to things I think we might have a reasonable chance to figure out without being told.

So… I missed the first minutes of the Livestream (sorry…) and tried to listen to it back, but it seems the first half of the stream haven't been recorded by rechat… Anyway, here is what I got: (see attachment)

Edit: Sorry for the format, I'm not what you'd call a techie…! The information is still there!

Something like pastebin is better -- not everyone has a program that can open docx files

This work for you?

Oui, merci.

After reading the transcript, some thoughts I had:

1. Zhu Long, depending on the chinese characters, could mean ‘Pearl Dragon’. … or Pig Dragon.

2. Sounds likely that Mittermeier is Glamour’s real name.

3. Wraith probably took over The Organisation in the Iron timeline?

4. Transforming into Ra probably involves some super saiyaning.

Nothing more about the Host? Man thats dissapointing. Probably means we wont see any answers or resolutions to any Fanatic/Apostate questions. Man I can't tell you how bumed I am about that! 

Madam M. being one of the Glamours makes a ton of sense if that turns out to be true. 

We atleast know that Glamour's first name is Aislin, but don't have a last name.

Mittermeier has a german ring to it. Any german character in the multiverse we're aware of...? I can't think of anyone right now...

Wow, you even spaced the text correctly…! Thank you very much!

Which Glamour though? Tactics bio makes it seem like there have been more than a few Glamours

The one is Sentinels of the Multiverse, part of the Slaughter House Six in the Villains of the Multiverse box.

And now you're just guessing Ronway. It could be any of them. We have no idea if that one is the first Glamour or not.

Nope, I know Aislin is the name of Glamour from Villains of the Multiverse. Adam said so on Twitter, along with the first names of other Slaughter House Six memebers.

https://twitter.com/GtGAdam/status/560457453608132608

We know Ainsel is the name of the Glamour from the Slaughterhouse Six. Is it at all possible she wasnt the first Glamour? How do we know there havn't been more than 1 during the SotM run?

Considering the Tactics bio, would you say the revolving door started only after SotM ended and before Tactics began?

Edit: Eh, I also misread your post like Matchstick. Sorry Rooonway

Ah. I misread your post, I thought you were posting that she was the owner of the Carnival.

I was wondering if Madame Mittermeier could be Vanessa/Visionary/DarkV/Dreamer or another version of her ? The Dreamer's deck is full of carnival references - maybe the nightmare fair that haunts the Dreamer's dream has "materialized". And it seems alternate timelines are part of the deck.

Though the Glamour theory is more convincing.

It’s gotta be Glamour.

I was thinking MM was Vanessa too.

Man, how boring it must be to be named Vanessa* in all versions of reality. I might call myself Madame  Mittermeier as well just for a change.

*Or any name

Couldn't it also be Cueball? The flavor text on the Worlds Biggest Pool Table suggests that he was already there waiting for them. 

On the Glamour side of things, it makes complete sense that she would be based or related to the Festival, given that she shows up (looking quite comfortable), and that one of the environment cards is a Hall of Mirrors that has some distinct similarities to her abilities. 

On the Dreamer side of things, I'm really not certain why there is so much circus imagery in her nightmares. I think that she has definitely been there, but whether or not it was psychically or in person is uncertain. 

Cueball doesn't strike me as a Madam

But whos to say Cueball isn't a female?

I'm not sure I totally am behind Vanessa being the Madam here. The circius imigry in her dreams I only really see when the Ape is physically there.

The carnival just seems way too evil by nature. The idea that she was the original Glamour before the one we see in the Slaughterhouse 6 seems the most logical to me.

I can't get to Twitch for the Q&A today. But I have a handfull of questions (as always), and if someone would be so kind as to ask them for me I'd be very grateful! Here is what I would ask If I was there:

• Before the Void Guard reveal, how many Oblivion Shards have we seen/heard about in game?

• What does the Hermetic need an "Antidote" for?
• When/how does Condemnation get shattered?
• If OblivAeon is successfull in his goals, what would happen to the Realm of Discord?
• Straight up 1v1, who wins: Legacy or Dawn
• Last week you said Scholar "made" his Philosopher Stone. But his bio says that ley-lines drew him to a stone that he "found". Is that bio being retconed or did he make his signature Philosopher's Stone from the one that he found? (This one needs asking)
• Will Riot Ray and the mysterious villain on PW Tempest's incap side finally be introduced in OblivAeon?

Thanks guys!

I don't think I'll make it either, but I've got a question.

Does Baron Blade have a family (wife and child) or at least someone he cares deeply for? We know nothing about Blade's personal life, only his life of crime

I will ask these.

Thanks Donner!!!

Edit: Just don't tell him they are my questions. You have a better chance at getting good answers that way I promise.

Christopher's response:

His life was stolen from him by that horrible Legacy, a so-called hero. His life is consumed by need for Vengeance!

1.  At least 2.

2.  Mortality

3.  The Realm of Discord will be more difficult to reach when the timelines collapes.  If OblivAeon wins?  Nothing survives.

4.  Depends.

5.  He found a stone that contained the energy he needed.  His philosopher's stone is what he made from that material.

6.  No.  But the RPG...

And Chaosmancer's question was answered that his life was destroyed by Legacy's father.  And now he seeks vengeance!

Ask for stretch goal hints please!

Too late, it's over (for now).  But they did say that both goals involved cards, but that they weren't as big as 4 new hero decks.

My theory on the stretch goals (asked but didn't get an answer):
So far, the last two goals have been team oriented. First was Prime Wardens, second was SW Sentinels. I'm thinking one will be Dark Watch related, and the last will be Freedom Five.

Could be promos, could be something else entirely, but thematically it makes sense for the teams to unite for the final battle.

I came in late and got a few answers to other questions.

• Nightmist needed the Staff of Anubis for more power, but it did not heed her call "as much as it did another". Hmmm...cryptic.
• The stone in the toy ape is definitively not an Oblivion Shard. So that leaves the Stone that gave Capt Cosmic/Infinitor and the one Scholar found as the "at least 2" oblivion shards we have seen of in the story.
• FILTER and the US Dept. of Defense/Ft Adamant have a relationship that is described as "Too close". Thats pretty much what I had thought.
• We will eventually learn of Nightmists Master who taught her about her powers. It is not Zhu Long.
• The Block does not run off of Void tech or energy, but it's existence is made possible because of the rifts made by OblivAeon even if they don't exactly know about him
• I asked if Jansa and OblivAeon have met before. I forget the exact why he put it, but It seems like they have never met, but likely know of eachothers existence.

Hey Donner, did you ask about Condemnation? Or was it just not answered?

What/who did Adam draw?

Did Aeon Master first. Now he is working on Progeny.

They both look amazing too

Oh. I remember someone asking about the Benchmark = Revenant thing. So evidently, the guy in the Benchmark suit is *not* the same guy piloting the Revenant suit. The guy in the Benchmark suit actually has pure intentions of being a hero as well. We have not really seen this new pilot before.

Im a bit sad theres no answer to the Condemnation question. Is anyone working on a full transcript of all the Q&A's from today?

Transcription of the Livestream. It might be missing a few minutes in the beginning.

It is a .docx for the moment (I find it easier to ctrl+c ctrl+v with my word beside the twitch) but I'll try and organise it better in a more basic format...

Point of interest...

Adam just said that the Yellow Progeny he drew in the livestream is the same Progeny that we lready encountered, just "Upgraded"... The symbol on his forehead is different than the original one too.

I'll have to save the Condemnation question for next week. Gotta get a bunch more questions together too.

Can you ask about alt promos for the seperate sentinels decks please? (if it is not shown in the 750k update, which will hopefully be unlocked soon!)

(I'm at work and can't really watch it)

Thanks!

Did you read the transcript from today above? Someone asked about it already. It seems likely that the Void Guard could get promos in one of those stretchy goalies thingy-majigs

can the video be viewed anywhere? or at least a screen shot of the new art?

The video can be viewed here.

We also got confirmation that the Virtuoso of the Void did arise to battle Akash'Bhuta and does draw his power from the Void with his music.

Can I humbly request a pastebin or .txt version?

Throwing in a quick observation here, Christopher mentions that "If OblivAeon succeeds? Nothing will survive", and when asked if Jansa Vi Dero would survive OblivAeon, responds "No. Nothing will." 

These are two cases where the word "nothing" could easily have been part of the previous sentence, but instead starts a sentence and is thus capitalized. But is this because Christopher just decided to phrase them in such a way, or is he obfuscating the idea of Nothing as a named element/entity?

We already know that Wager Master was created by the wager that nothing would happen, a wager that was lost. Perhaps Nothing is more than just the absence of reality. Perhaps Nothing is in fact, something.

Definitely seems like OblivAeon is upset about losing that wager.

Do we have confirmation that OblivAeon was the loser of the wager?

As far as I know, Christopher hasn't said anything about the wager since Wager Master's introduction.

I personally think that people are taking the idea of an "initial wager" way more seriously than it was intended.  I think that that is how Wager Master interprets the beginning of the universe, because gambling is his paradigm, but it's not necessarily more accurate or descriptive than any other vague origin story ("And God said, "Let there be light!", etc)

I mean, from what I recall, in some theory thread someone put forth the idea that someone had to have won/lost the wager and Christopher popped in with a heavily intoned "That. is. True."

Only if you bow before the not-so-humble provider of said .txt file!

Merci beaucoup