You might have seen the flyers in the billboard. Well, the thing is that simple: a ball to celebrate the end of the harvest season, and commemorate the visit from Xiosia that one time that no one barely remembers. It'll take place the 16th of December of this year, at 16:00 Western-Central European Time (one hour less for brits), so 14:00 UTC. Let me think...

* Next day

Don't take these for granted: if you're unsure, check the calendar and gossip in game!

Also: bring your best formal clothes, armor is advised against, although ornamental weapons will be allowed within their scabbards at all time. If you bring a gift, you'll be entered into a small Secret Santa (name pending) event, too!

This is not to teach you stuff! It's to show what I'm learning. For example, just now I finished...


Some more pics (just 2 and one that you've seen already ^ over there)

Tips? Thoughts? Donations? *rattles a can with coins*

Given that we can now just train over and over, why don't we do away with the green/red bars, and substitute them with a % number?

Just my two tria.

Mishka looked at the forge. It was gettng dark already, and the glow of the furnace fires reflected over the chiseled stones on the floor, worn from constant use -ingots clattering on it, people rushing to and from the shed, even rivnak hooves sometimes-, and tinted the grass in front of it slightly orange. A lone smith struck a blade over and over, with a repetitive, droning clinking that could put a baby to sleep, but turned the seasoned crafters crazy: Harnquist needed to muffle that ringing anvil soon enough.

"I'm going to miss this." With those words in her mind, and after sending a little groffel in pursue of a certain someone, she set off to the Winch. With light baggage, she walked over to the big gates, slipping through a crack between them after nodding at Percival. A couple of coins paid to Axomir for the service, and down she went. She thought she recognized a certain Akkaio on the plaform, but paid her no heed, and sat down against a support beam to take a short nap.


Sereenya read the note with a slight frown. Well, that was one problem less, and it meant she was free to do as she pleased. Slinging her quiver over her shoulder, and her bowstring across her chest, she called her rivnak, petting his neck and securing her belongings on top of him - a small tent, some tinder for campfires, a few bundles of arrows, and an ulbernaut fur. She hopped on him, looking around at the Hydlaan architecture as the beast walked slowly through the city -clip clop against the polished stone-, headed for the Oldtown gates, stopping at Willam first to leave a message for Celrau "I'll be back soon, S", along with a dried Blue Shan flower. Trotting through the forest, leaping over arangmas - and spitting out some of their dangling webs afterwards, soon she was out in the road, putting the rivnak to full gallop as she smiled. Next stop: Delving and then the Cups of Laanx.


In the dead of the night, the door of the hospital in Amdeneir opened slowly. A well dressed Kore looked around, fixing his coat and rubbing his arms a little in the chilly breeze that swept through the city. He walked briskly across the cobble-paved streets, and came up to the DeFaye manor. Pulling a little golden key from his pocket he opened the door and walked inside, sighing out of relief. A couple of minutes later, with a cup of that wine he liked to brew -dark, thick, nutty- Jocas pondered about where did he go wrong, and what could he do to fix it. He moved over to his desk, and started scribbling, sending out Amdeneir Postal Service groffels: to Axomir, to Jirosh, to Taemian, to Datal, and a bunch of scrolls tied at the back of a yulbar to deliver to Tarela, for the other levels. Then he sent his own groffel to the Octarch Salikarios, this letter considerably shorter than the previous. Afterwards, he took a canvas rucksack, and started filling it with goods and clothing. Donning his old chainmail armor and tabard, he slid his longword into its scabbard, and left for the pterosaur.


Jecewie laughed merrily, almost stumbling back as the winds shook the Winch platform a little, and then laughed more with the other Dermorian girl she had met. From her handbag poked out a few diagrams: an Ylian heart, cross-shaded beautifully, a study on a Kran's digestive tract, a Klyros' anatomy... She seemed to be carrying a light luggage, in contrast to the other merchants around, some tending to goujahs carrying tons of goods, some sitting on the ground and betting their trias on card games. And there was that one strange sleeping Clamod that looked familiar, but then her friend clicked her fingers in front of Jecewie's face, and after a couple of words the two were giggling again, enjoying life and carelessly laughing along it. Because, when you're an Enkidukai, you need to make the best out of an otherwise short life.

[Take these as my goodbye for now! See you in three months!]

Currently looking for:
 - Sponsors: does your guild want to sponsor the fighters? Do you have wares you can lend the fighters? The tourney needs sponsors!
 - Jousters: you have a rivnak, you have a lance, you have your armour and your shield. So what are you waiting for? Sign up! (squire required)
 - Squires: no jousters will be allowed to participate if they don't have a loyal squire to help them onwards to glory! We're looking for squires for hire in case a jouster couldn't find one. Besides, if your jouster is too weak to fight, it might be your chance for victory!
 - Judges: sensible, unbiased people are required in case a jouster decides to take the easy way up in the rankings. We're going to need them, definitely.

HOW IT WORKS

The Starphire Tourney is something new in Yliakum: it's a jousting tourney. Our team of erudites and mathematicians (namely, one friend who plays D&D) has come up with a fair, balanced way to calculate the prowess of the contestants. Based off a total of 150 attribute points, and disregarding any previous fighting eperience (let's remind the players that this jousting event hasn't been done before, to our knowledge), the jousters of the different races have been given different values:

There's also a series of modifiable variables, corresponding to the gear the contestant chose:
- Full plate: even though all fighters must wear a plate mail breastplate [even if it's just roleplay] (Klyros are an exception), they may choose to wear a full suit of armor, which will grant them a bonus of +20 STR.
- Mixed plate: the contestants may also choose to wear a mix of the breastplate and light or chainmail protection, granting them a bonus of +10 DEX and +1 SPD.
- Heavy shield: blue-steel shields and golden shields. Grants a bonus of +10 STR.
- Medium shield: valiant, war, and warrior shields. Grants a bonus of +5 STR and +5 DEX.
- Light shields: buckler shields. Grants a bonus of +10 DEX.

Note: Klyros can't benefit from the full plate bonus due to lore issues. Kran only benefit partially (+5 STR) from the full plate bonus, and partially  (+10 DEX) from the mixed plate bonus. This is due to balancing issues.

The mechanics for the jousts would consist of 3 rolls: First Blood, Breaking Lances, and Aftermath. Both contestants start with 100 HP (Hit Points).
• First blood: the squires will roll a 1d6 (1 SPD), 1d8 (2 SPD) or 1d10 (3+ SPD) to see  whose rivnak is faster. The one with the highest number hits first, unless they choose to defend, in which case they have to indicate so to the judge.
• Breaking Lances: both fighters charge against each other. The squires roll a dice with the DEX of their fighter. Higher number blocks the hit.
• Aftermath: if the hit is blocked, the damage dealt will be only 10% of STR value. If the hit isn't blocked, the damage dealt is 50% of STR value. To check for critical hits, both must roll a 1d6 dice: if they get a 6, the block is completely successful (0%), or the hit is completely successful (100%). If there's a tie, resort to original values.

At all points the contestants may retire from the joust, granting immediate victory to the other jouster. The jouster with less Hit Points at the end of Round 3 loses.

MOCK MATCH
- Lord Foo, Nolthrir, wearing full plate and a valiant shield.
 Â· STR: 50+20+5 = 75
 Â· DEX: 100+5 = 105
 Â· SPD: 3

- Lady Bar, Ynnwn, wearing mixed plate and a buckler.
 Â· STR: 100 (no bonus) = 100
 Â· DEX: 50+10+10 = 70
 Â· SPD: 1+1 = 2

>Lord Foo rolls 1d10 for 10
>Lady Bar rolls 1d8 for 3
== Lord Foo attacks first ==

Both must now roll for block
>Lord Foo rolls 1d105 for 35
>Lady Bar rolls 1d70 for 55
== Lady Bar blocks Foo's hit ==

Both must now roll for crit
>Lord Foo rolls 1d6 for 1
>Lady Bar rolls 1d6 for 2
== Neither manage to land a critical hit/block ==
== Lady Bar blocks 10% of Foo's STR value: 7.5 (8 HP)

AFTERMATH
>Lord Foo: 100HP
>Lady Bar: 92HP

[In an interesting turn of events and after a couple of botched rolls, Lord Foo ended up biting the dust, and Lady Bar went on to the next round. Go girls!]


APPLIANTS
 - Lord Jocas DeFaye, of the House DeFaye. Sigil: two silver swords crossed over blue field. Squire: Jilerel
 - Anysu Atani. Sigil: green background, crossed by white diagonal line. On the right, a white Enkidukai head with green eyes. On the left, four shafts of wheat under a tan Enkidukai bow. Squire: Cormah
 - Kaerli Stronwylle, of the Dark Empire. Sigil: off-white background with black tower. Squire: Faicke
 - [VACANT]
 - [VACANT]
 - [VACANT]
 - [VACANT]
 - [VACANT]

To apply, submit your application (how redundant) in this thread, stating the name by which people will know you (and probably root for), the house/guild you represent (if any), and your sigil. You must be able to wear heavy plate and a helmet, and bring your own claymore (jousting lance) and shield to the matches.

DATE NOT SET YET! I'll be talking to the GMs about this.
[/td][/tr][/table]

It has come to my attention that some players (counting myself) can't seemingly express their opinion and ask for an official point of view from the game's lead, without threads getting locked, comments being erased and, probably and in ultimate stance, getting banned for it.

We've been called trolls, accused of disrupting ambiance, of acting OOCly (actually, the ones who define what's OOC and IC in game are the players: that's why PS is supposed to be great, because it takes everyone's two cents... or at least it should). It's tiresome, it's furstrating, gives a bad image and makes you look like a bigot.

So instead of driving players away from your game, man up, open your mind, and accept criticism, suggestions, and what the players actually want. We can't be the change we want to see in PS, if nobody will accept it.

I've been thinking how tedious it is to combine rings for chainmail, so I thought "boy, they could just add these strings to the crafting book..."

==Four in One Patterns==
Combine 4 Dozen Open Steel Rings, Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 1 Four in One Patterns.
Combine 8 Dozen Open Steel Rings, 2 Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 2 Four in One Patterns.
Combine 12 Dozen Open Steel Rings, 3 Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 3 Four in One Patterns.
...
Combine 4n Dozen Open Steel Rings, Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into n Four in One Patterns.

==Six in One Patterns==
Combine 6 Dozen Open Steel Rings, Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 1 Six in One Patterns.
Combine 12 Dozen Open Steel Rings, 2 Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 2 Six in One Patterns.
Combine 18 Dozen Open Steel Rings, 3 Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into 3 Six in One Patterns.
...
Combine 6n Dozen Open Steel Rings, Dozen Closed Steel Rings, into n Six in One Patterns.

And so on. Or maybe rewrite that system...

99 little bugs in the code.
99 little bugs!
Take one down, patch it around...
... 127 little bugs in the code!

Forgive this stupidity please.