Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
A Novel Role-Playing Game
>
The Local Tavern
LaLine wrote: "This sounds like a lot of fun. Can I play? Where do I start?"Of course :) We love new victims... err I mean heroes.
Make a thread with your name and start wherever you want. The main areas are leveling weapons or doing quests (which are like mini challenges).
You can check out some other people's threads to get idea's on how to organize, no one minds people spying.
Jacki wrote: "So happy! After a long break over December I came back to my quests and was able to get my first horse!! He tells me his name is Condor but I'm going to call him Muffins :DTwo Empty Halves of Coc..."
Congrats on your horse! He has told me that if you insist on calling him muffins he at least wants some carrot cake and apple muffins to eat.
Kelly wrote: "Shield is a separate item to lose for that monster. And yes, I was planning on doing more health gems :P "YAY for more Health Gems! :D
Joyce wrote: "Hi, I'm new to this questy thing. Sound like a lot of fun. How do you start? Can someone point me in the right direction. I read the rules post and understand how to kill things and level up (I thi..."
Welcome to the game, Joyce! :) If you have any more questions feel free to ask in the Tavern, we'll try to help.
Joyce wrote: "I think I figured most of it out"Hehe. I'm sure they're will be more questions as you get further in. Glad to have you.
Congrats on your horse Jacki!!Welcome to the fun Joyce & LaLine :D
Woooo welcome Joyce and LaLine!! Here's an ale on the house. Pull up a chair and hear our adventures.First, make yourself a thread where you can record your tales of questing and monster battles.
I would start with looking over the quests (especially the new January ones) and picking one or more than you would like to do. These will get you experience points and sometimes a little extra (like a potion)
If you're hoping to start battling some monsters, work on your sword and/or staff. These are a good way to use up some books that may not fit for a quest.
Come here to the tavern with ANY question you might have....big or small!
Hi everyone, i would like to get involved in this challenge it sounds fun! I will get a thread made to start but may need a little guidance :)
Welcome, ★Read-a-Lot Kez★! :) Have fun and if you have any questions feel free to ask.
★Read-a-Lot Kez★ wrote: "Hi everyone, i would like to get involved in this challenge it sounds fun! I will get a thread made to start but may need a little guidance :)"Welcome!!!
:D yay new people! welcome & good luck in your questing!
Bartender a beer for Kez if you please. Welcome.
This sounds like fun. I will get a thread up and running.
Kelly, would you accept somebody whose hobby is making toys as "someone who builds something physical"?
Louise wrote: "This sounds like fun. I will get a thread up and running."Welcome to the fun, Luise!
Louise wrote: "This sounds like fun. I will get a thread up and running."Welcome Louise!
Zuzana wrote: "Kelly, would you accept somebody whose hobby is making toys as "someone who builds something physical"?"Yes.
Welcome to the game Louise. Feel free to ask any questions. Everyone is very friendly here.
Kelly,for "Find books that start with A, E, I, O, and U to provide all the vowels to The Alchemist."
Would A Wizard of Earthsea be o.k. for a book starting with "A"?
TIA.
Yes, you don't have to ignore the/a/an when doing spell it outs.
Welcome Louise!So I finished my puppy quest YAY!!! Now to find a cute picture of a puppy to represent my new friend :P And time to go through training...
Cathy M. wrote: "Welcome Louise!So I finished my puppy quest YAY!!! Now to find a cute picture of a puppy to represent my new friend :P And time to go through training..."
Yay Cathy :)
I find picking out the picture the most fun part. I'd probably adopt way too many animals if I didn't have others to keep me in check.
Kelly wrote: "Yes, you don't have to ignore the/a/an when doing spell it outs."Thanks, Kelly. :)
BIG CONGRATS, CATHY, ON YOUR PUPPY!
Cathy M. wrote: "Welcome Louise!So I finished my puppy quest YAY!!! Now to find a cute picture of a puppy to represent my new friend :P And time to go through training..."
Congrats on getting your puppy!
Yayyy Cathy!! I can't wait to see your new pup
Kelly wrote: "Cathy M. wrote: "Welcome Louise!So I finished my puppy quest YAY!!! Now to find a cute picture of a puppy to represent my new friend :P And time to go through training..."
Yay Cathy :)
I find p..."
That's my problem too :D Too many to choose from...
Thank you everyone! I'm super excited to start training so he can help me with those monsters!!
Newbie clarifying questions: I have more than enough to work on. I just want to make sure I understand what I'm doing.Do January quests have to be completed during January or is that just when they start and we work on them as we go?
Where is everyone getting their awesome pictures?
Can a book be used in a quest and also for leveling up or is it one-time-only use?
If a quest doesn't have an expiration date next to it, can we go back to previous months and do those quests?
I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go. Thanks in advance for any help!
Hi LaLine,January quests can be done at any time - that's just when they are published & you can work on them at any time. Same goes for the quests from previous months - you can do them at any time as long as they are not expired. There is 1 potion, I believe it's called the Timewalking potion, that will open up expired quests so if you earn or purchase one of them, you can even complete an expired quest.
I just use google to find pics :)
A book can only be used once. But (yes there is an exception!) there is a duplication potion you can earn or purchase that will duplicate a book.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Welcome LaLine and congrats on your squirrel Daphne!
Cathy wrote: "Welcome LaLine and congrats on your squirrel Daphne!"Thank you Cathy!
Many welcomes to you also LaLine! It the funnest challenge I've ever done. :)
Congrats on your squirrel Daphne. Very cute. But hide your nuts!!
Hi Everyone!Can anyone tell me how many words was equal to 100 pages? I can't remember and it's not in the rules...
Teresa wrote: "Hi Everyone!Can anyone tell me how many words was equal to 100 pages? I can't remember and it's not in the rules..."
Lets go with 250 words per page.
I forget too. 250 words per page?
25,000 ?
Yeah. But if you need to translate into other page counts.
Thanks! the book I was looking at was 40,000 words, so well over minimum!
Kelly/Tea, This is a preliminary draft that you might want to include for new members to orient them to the game.
Zuzana -- it would be good if you could add your analysis re:the effectiveness of health points vs potions, the kitchen and other thoughts re: the strategy below.
All other experienced players, your comments would be appreciated.
Feel free to alter anything.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS GAME
1. Have fun. Do the things that you enjoy the most. The nice thing about the quests is that there is something for everyone and that you can go at your own pace.
If you are an occasional reader, you may just enjoy completing the quests. If you are a moderate or heavy reader you may want to combine the quests with combat against the monsters. THERE IS NO RIGHT WAY TO PLAY THIS GAME. Do what floats your boat. ;-)
A wonderful side benefit to this game is the friendly camaraderie of the players. Visit The Tavern often to share brews and the occasional rat stew or drop bear steak with fellow knights and ladies. Ask questions or for book recommendations Tell jokes, discuss books that you've read, talk about what's happening in your real life-- it's all ok. Even if a question has been asked before, don't feel shy about asking for further clarification.
2 THE GAME FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
I'm a fairly heavy reader so I decided early on in the game that I would do the quests and go after the monsters.
First: Complete a few of the easy quests to gain experience points and level up Each level increases your Hero's Heath points. The higher the health points, the longer it takes the monster to try and kill him/her.
The Gem of Power and the Green Gem (part of the Shield) each increase the Maximum Heath of your hero by +1 at any level.
Things such as Pet Rock 1 (-1) and The Shield (-1) reduce the strength of a monster's attack on your Hero. The use of The Shield Potion (cost 15 GOLD PER USE) halves the amount of the monster's attack. The Blue Gem (part of the Shield) once activated, reduces a monster's attack in half (1 stroke 1/wk).
THIS IS YOUR DEFENSE
Second: Increase your ability to attack monsters.
Start by increasing the attack level of either your sword or staff.
If you read books with lots of pages, then build your sword. If you like to read series, then build your staff. I personally found it faster to level up my staff first -- but you choose.
For example, at level 5 you would need to read at a minimum:
Sword
100
100 200
100 200 300
100 200 300 400
100 200 300 400 500 = 3500 + pages
Staff
15 books x 200 pages = 3,000 pages
(if you can find books with 100 - 200 pages it's even faster)
The idea is to raise your weapon so that attacking and killing the common monsters can be done in one stroke -- that way your hero doesn't lose any health points. It's an easy way to gain regular (weekly or more frequently) experience points and useful items such as goblin bones, bats wings and rat tails (used in many of the quests) at no cost.
Increase your combat strength by adding a horse (+1), cat (+2) , puppy (+1 or +2) , slingshot (1 or more) ) and baubles (+1, +2, +3...) for either sword or staff (or both). Baubles are most powerful the longer the battle takes (their attack increases +1 with each round.)
An activated Red Gem (part of the Shield) allows you to double your attack power (for either your staff, your sword or your sling) one turn once a calendar month.
Attacking the Dragons yields you ORBS. The Orb of Earth adds +3 to your sword attack. The Orb of Fire adds +3 to your staff attack.
Completing the Alchemy Quest allows you to use the Pet Plus Potion which DOUBLES the attack strength of your pets' attack.
You can also increase your attack by using POTIONS such as MINOR POISON POTION (+2) , DAMAGE POTION (+3) , ENHANCED WEAPON POTION (+3) and GROWTH WEAPON POTION (+1, +2, +3, +4...).
Some potions are good for only ONE Round (Shield Potion) or ONE battle (Minor Poison Potion). SOME POTIONS ARE GOOD FOR A WHOLE WEEK. (Enhanced, Damage & Growth Weapon Potions).
It's a good strategy to save up your potions -- enough to conduct two or more major battles in a row. When you piggy back battles, you benefit from the effects of the longer lasting potions (thus saving potions and/or gold).
The same holds true for the mercenaries which are available for hire. THEY ARE GOOD FOR A WHOLE WEEK BUT can be dismissed after one day if you need to switch Mercenaries.
THIS IS YOUR ATTACK
Third: Recover your health.
The larger monsters can't be killed with just one stroke so you are going to lose Heath points in a battle. You will need MINOR HEAL POTIONS (+5 HP), HEAL POTIONS (+10 HP) and MAJOR HEAL POTIONS (+15 HP) which can be used DURING BATTLES.
You can also hire Mercenaries (with gold and other items) to either increase your attack: Killi (+2) or increase your health recovery. Lady Ysmay is best hired for long Battles. She heals 5 HP after EACH ROUND and stays hired for a week.
Before or after a battle, you can use Health Points or consume Mouse Balls (+3 HP) (requires Falcon + recipe) or Drop Bear Steaks (+7HP) (requires House, Kitchen and recipe). The Activated Purple Gem allows you to recover your full health 1/month.
The ORB OF WATER gives you 1 HP after every battle.
Rocky2 gives you 1 HP after every battle. A Merely Kat Blanket gives you 1 HP after every battle.
If you have a Rabbit you can collect eggs worth 3 HP every Sunday.
If you have a Bed (Requires House first) you can collect 1 HP every Sunday.
If you have Sheets (Requires House and Bed first) you can collect 1-3 HP every Sunday.
If you have KITCHEN-TWO you can receive 1 Minor Heal Potion every Sunday. (Requires House and Kitchen One first)
Fourth: Read for GOLD
Complete GOLD quests. There are Midas Quests, Quests that only reward you with GOLD and the Monthly Classifieds (found in Jack and Jill's Caravan). Some successful monster attacks also yield GOLD or POTION TOKENS (which can be exchanged for any potion).
The Pot of Gold and Beginner Fetch each yields 1 GOLD every Sunday. Intermediate Fetch yields 2 GOLD every Sunday.
Killing the Logophilic Lemur gets you 1 GOLD Per week. If you have The Blending in Hat you could attack every 6 days. (Tip: Using The Twins (good for 7 days) nets you the same amount of gold, but you double the output of your other attacks. )
GOLD can be used in the market to purchase pets, clothing, potions, items and books. Attend the monthly caravan to buy or sell or trade your surplus books and items you may collect. There are some items/potions in the market that can ONLY be purchased with GOLD.
Fifth: Don't forget the Scrounger Hunt
Read books to collect scrounger items. Each book is good for only 1 item so use the shortest books you can find. These items can be turned into Potions. One item buys a Minor Heal Potion which is good for 5 Heal Points It's an easy way to come up with potions you need when gold is scarce or you haven't had time to complete full quests.
Sixth. Keep track of the unassigned books that you are reading. Be patient. Try not to use a 500 page book if a 250 page book is called for; don't use a Series book #7 when a non-series or series #1 or #2 will do.
Keeping track of characters, events in plots and what's on a cover will allow you to better assign books to quests months after you have read a book and forgotten small details.
The more varied the information, the easier it is to shuffle books around. Remember, if you haven't claimed the reward, the books can be reassigned.
While some may view this as "Over-the-top", this is the kind of info I keep track of:
Series #7
Cat's Lair by Christine Feehan (23) 709 pages Read: 25/11/2015 (May 1st 2015) Characters: Eli Perez aka Ridley Cromer, Caterina 'Cat' Benoit, Rafe Cordero, Jake, Emma, Len Tuttle, Setting: Louisianna, Texas (United States), ROMANCE: HORSE6/KITCHEN 10, PARANORMAL, URBAN FANTASY, ATTACK, TRACK, FETCH, KITCHEN7, KITCHEN8, OBEDIENCE 4, OBEDIENCE 5, INTFETCH5, INTFETCH9, COMBAT3, Shifters, , On Cover: City outline, EYE, CAULDRON, BAT, MONSTER, DEMON, NIGHTMARE, FROG
(view spoiler)
This should be enough to get you going. ABOVE ALL, HAVE FUN!
Hi everyone. I really haven't had the chance to update any of my quest. :( I really need to have some time to myself to get things updated especially after all the books that I need to add from the GG. RL has been very busy for me and I'm lucky to be able to use this app, which isn't a treat either because you can't do anything with it, but hopefully soon. Nice work everybody. I see some great quest going on. Congrats!
☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Hi everyone. I really haven't had the chance to update any of my quest. :( I really need to have some time to myself to get things updated especially after all the books that I need to add from the..."Welcome back Carmen. Nice to see you again!
☼♎ Carmen the Bootyshaker Temptress ☼♎ wrote: "Hi everyone. I really haven't had the chance to update any of my quest. :( I really need to have some time to myself to get things updated especially after all the books that I need to add from the..."I hope things slow down soon and you can relax :)
Reva wrote: "Kelly/Tea, This is a preliminary draft that you might want to include for new members to orient them to the game.
Zuzana -- it would be good if you could add your analysis re:the effectiveness ..."
That is very good write up Reva. It would have been quite useful when I stumbled in much later than the start.
Congrats to everyone that got their animalsReva the write up looks good
I still haven't logged in everything from last year (sigh)
Thanks Kelly :) I'm hoping things go well enough so I can take my mini vacation next week. Its only a few days but I'll take anything at this point.
I'm struggling with one of the puppy tasks. Can anyone recommend any authors whose first name begins with W?
Nothing But Reading Challenges
Books mentioned in this topic
Killer Cruise (other topics)Devolution (other topics)
Fahrenheit 451 (other topics)
Up the Down Staircase (other topics)
Between the World and Me (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Michael Forester (other topics)Mary Kay Andrews (other topics)
William Boyd (other topics)
Anne McCaffrey (other topics)
Diane Moody (other topics)
More...
Yup. I'll be working on rewording the rules just to make them a bit clearer. But to start make a thread and pick an area to start.
The main two areas to work on are quests or leveling weapons to attack monsters. It gets more complex from there but starting one of those is a good place to get comfortable.