SteamTide - Preview and Pre-Game Lobby

[Olothontor]

A preview and sign-up for my upcoming Steampunk forum battle, SteamTide. Enjoy.

Round 1

Tryn glanced up at the shimmering, desert sun. He studied it briefly before deciding that it was a little past noon. He stopped and held up a hand, signaling his small procession to halt.
“You’ve got thirty minutes, boys!” He shouted, and all at once there was a sigh of collective relief. Four of the five others plopped immediately to the ground, panting. The fifth, a large clockwork drone they called Cain, stood perfectly still, not needing the sustenance his fleshy comrades did. Tyrn would not normally have minded Cain standing like that, but now was different from many other times.
“Cain, siddown! Flat plains like this don’t warrant a big shiny man like you standing in the sun. You’ll be a big frakkin’ beacon to anyone out there.” Cain sat awkwardly in the hot sand, unmolested by Tyrn’s small tirade. Tyrn did the same, peering out across the desert plains as his boys dug into their hard tack and jerky, now toughened by weeks under the blazing sun. No sooner had Tyrn looked away had he felt the need for a double take.

“Sylus, gimme your spyglass.” He commanded of the small, wiry pilot sitting next to him. Sylus produced a small, brass object and handed it to Tyrn, who pulled a tiny switch and watched it unfurl in his hand, jetting small puffs of steam as it went. Once it had finished, he put it to his left eye and aimed it in the direction of his target. Through the dirtied, misty eyepiece he could see something large off in the distance. Unmoving, but hulking, and of an unusual shape. He lowered the miniature spyglass and handed it back to the mystified Sylus, who at this point had gotten up to see what he was staring at. The rest of the six-man crew had also joined, peering over Tyrn’s shoulder like curious children. Tyrn was too busy to reprimand them for letting their jaws slack loose like that. Lord knows what swallowing a fly out in a place like this could do to a man. “Looks like we found ourselves a ruin, boys. You all finish eatin’ your lunches and let’s get. I wanna know what’s in there.”

Several hours later, Tyrn turned out to be right. What the band saw before them was almost a small village. Something that had been miraged over, however, was the cliff-side it resided next to. Mysterious caves, no larger than crawlspace, were riddling the side of the small mountain. Large, metallic pillars stood near them, several toppled and broken. The remains of a small building lay not ten meters from the base of the mountain, near what appeared to be a heavy weapons entrenchment. The six men looked around in mild wonder. All of them were snapped back to reality as Tyrn began issuing orders.
“Let’s get reconnin’, boys. Search the building. Somebody step up and volunteer to look into the caves, don’ be pussies, now.” The band split, and Tyrn stayed back, Cain coming to a stop behind him will a dull thunk and hiss. The ticking began to unnerve him, so he moved several feet away. Much to his dismay, the clockworks were drowned out by the sound of a scream. It came from the ruined building. Tyrn was off like a shot, and he veered around a corner to find Mel on the broken tiled floor, shuddering. Tyrn was about to inquire as to what the hell was wrong with him when he saw it himself. Lying on the ground there, in one of the corners, was a decomposed body, nearly skeletal. Tyrn had seen his share of the dead in his time traveling, but what threw him in this particular case was the soft ticking. And this time, it wasn’t Cain. Laced across and into lacerations in the skull were gears and wires, all moving, meticulously gnashing to some devious purpose. Tyrn took a step back. His pupils dilating in fear, he ran back towards Cain.
“Get your asses back out here, boys! We’ve got Clockies in the area!” Immediately the icy, skeletal hand of fear gripped all of them. They rushed back towards their Captain, their bastion of hope, and prayed they would live through the coming battle. No sooner had they assembled had they seen their dreaded foe. First was a horseman, gears whirling where there should have been eyes, bearing one of the most wickedly curved swords they had ever laid eyes on. He rode with an almost gentle grace astride his clockwork steed atop a sand-swept bunker across the way. And then, movement on either side of him. More Clockwork Skeletons, armed to the teeth, grimacing in a deathly, skeletal joy, as if the very thought of bloodshed made them grin.
The six stranded gentlemen braced themselves for what they knew was to be a relentless and bloody assault.


There are two sides to this battle, and two secret, unaligned sides that will be along for the ride. Obviously, you have the crew of the downed Daft Mariner, five gentlemen and their clockwork robot, Cain. On the other side, the Clockwork Skeletons.

I will PM stats once you sign up. First come, first served.

There will be surprises hidden in the battlefield, as well. You can't know what until you get there. So, feel free to sign up. One of the secret factions has been reserved, but the other is open to the public. You get what you get when you sign up, no previews there.

And with that, have at it! Once you've been confirmed and I've sent you stats, you can PM me orders and we'll get this steamy little party started!

[Massam]

Do we have pics yet? And can I get whatever side has the bloody-intake plane?

[Elmagnifico]

Me want spot.

PS O-man, do you want a spot in Project: Reeve? It's got missingplayerandblurripictiurespotitis, but it's also sorta steampunkish, and I'll so whaddaya say?

It's based off the Hungry City Chronicles. The only open spot is for the Traction City, Copenhagen.

PPS if you say yes, just base your orders off the last set of overviews, and I'll try and make it work.

[benkim123]

I definitely want a spot in this, can you reserve me one?(preferably the other secret faction.)

[lrdofbricks]

i so call the clockwork skelatons

[Olothontor]

Alright, that's three players right there. Unfortunately, you caught me just before I have to leave for the day. Hopefully stats will be up this evening.

benkim123: Clockwork Skeletons

Elmagnifico: Crew of the Daft Mariner

Both secret spots filled.

Oh, sorry, Irdofbricks. They've been taken by the three who posted before you. You can send benkim123 a PM and ask if you guys can cooperatively run them, that'd be fine by me.

[jifel]

dang it! I will be a second incase someone drops out.

jifel

[Olothontor]

You'll be the first person I PM in such a tragic case, jifel.

[benkim123]

when will you send pics and stats?

[Olothontor]

Hopefully anywhere from late this afternoon into the evening. I can never be certain when exactly I'll have access to the camera, but as soon as we get back from our DC excursion today, I'll get crackin' on posting at least the statlines for everything, if nothing else. You WILL have stats at some point TODAY, although as I said I can neither account for nor promise pictures by that time.

I apologize for all the uncertainty involved.

And since one of the sides is no longer so secret...

Massam: the Will-O-Wisp, height and pride of the Neo-Anglan Air Force.

The second secret faction is as of yet unkown.

What did you guys think of the preview?

[benkim123]

It was too good, it was so good I can't define this battle with awesome or epic. I will call these kind of battles... EPICTASTIC. Write this in the dictionary.

[Olothontor]

Congrats, benkim123, you've more than likely just coined a word that I will not be able to stop saying for the next three years.

[benkim123]

Yeah, my phrases are like cigars.

[Olothontor]

Addiction.

(Also, nice sig. Gotta love Deadpool).




Alright, as long as I have a little bit of free time...

SteamTide Special Rules:

Theme Song - Players may invoke their factions "theme song", summoning the mysterious movie soundtrack associated with their arrival and epic doings. This does one of two things and it is up to the player to specify. One, you gain a +1 to ANY die roll during the turn this power is invoked (to the exclusion of What I Say Goes). Two, you can assign a -1 penalty to the first roll an opponent's minifig makes. The Theme Song power can only be used ONCE.

One-Liner - Players may assign an epic/witty/dramatic one-liner to any of the hero characters in their army, giving that Hero a +1 to the action that one-liner is related to. For instance:

Tyrn is firing off a Blunderbus. He states that he is doing so, and then says "Eat lead, you Clockie scum!" He then receives a +1 to the first toll he makes to make that attack (his Skill roll). This power may not be used in the same turn as the Theme Song power.

[benkim123]

what about saying "oh crap?"