The Shmod Forum

Aarikku · Last edited by Aarikku on Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:04 pm; edited 3 times in total

Before you check this out (Pyrah/Naardaas; the only two people who check this site), note that this is one of the only things I've written that I show people.

Incidentally, I would like you to hold no punches. If it's bad, please tell me and we shall never speak of it again.

Without further ado, I give you The Shmod Saga, chapter one.

Shmod
Chapter One

“I’m off!” A young guy called to his brother. “I’ll be back with the prize card.”

“It’s not fair!” A small, yet loud voice replied. “Why do you have to be 13 or older to enter the tournament? I want to play too!”

“We’ve been over this.” Tyson shook his head. He was eager to leave, but maybe – just maybe – he could get his brother to understand. “There’s potential gambling involved. Players have the option of anteing cards. Technically, you shouldn’t even be playing Shmod at all.”

“I’ll see if Mom and Dad will let me come later to watch.” Luke said, defeated.

Finally. Tyson sighed, at last beginning his walk to the card store. It was to be Tyson’s first-ever Shmod tournament, and he’d rather die than let Luke wreck it.

[Meanwhile, in a somewhat-crowded game shop…]

“Where is he?” Kyle demanded. “The first round is starting any minute!”

“You’ve asked me that every two minutes.” Linlan observed. “I don’t know, and I’m not likely to find out soon. Now hurry up! It’s your turn.”

“Geez…” Kyle slumped over his side of the field. “Er… what’s that Happy Panda’s ATK?”

“1800 – well, 2300 with Bamboo Forest.”

“In that case, I’ll tap 2 for Tetra Magnet. It’d normally be 1, but I’m bringing back my Thunderstorm Element. That panda won’t be so happy after this! I attack!”

“Au contraire.” Linlan smiled deviously. “Let’s go with my trap – Panda-Jitsu! For the low cost of 2 Mana, and you attacking a Panda, I get to equip a Bamboo Bo-Staff from my hand to the attack target.”

“Don’t you have to sacrifice a Bamboo card to play that staff?”

“Not if it’s by an effect. The Bo-Staff gives Happy Panda 800 more ATK, so now Happy Panda’s ATK is 3100. That’s a counter-attack against your raincloud. It dies; you take 1.”

“Wait. I’ll – ”

“Yo!” Tyson hopped into a chair beside his Shmod-playing friends. “How’re things?”

“Better on my end.” Linlan boasted. “Check it out – 3100 ATK.”

“Nice! And on a Level One.” Tyson admired.

“Attention all gamers!” Boomed the nearby speaker. “If you have not filled in your registration form and had your deck checked, do it now. The first round is starting in three minutes.”

“Heh… got to go!” Tyson leapt back out of the chair. “Excuse me!”

“As I was saying, I’ll be Elemental Fissuring my Thunderstorm Element…”
===
“Name?” Asked the shopkeep, a tall man of twenty or thirty. He had a friendly quality to him; visible even at first glance.

“Tyson Morin.”

“Deck?” He asked.

“Here you go.” Tyson relinquished his prized 50 cards after fumbling them out of a deckbox.

“Ooh. Very nice.” The storekeeper said, shuffling through it. “One Revival Stone… one Yoink… one Monster Bash… okay. I didn’t count more than 4 of your other cards, but I’d like to see a list.”

“No problem.” Tyson produced a many-times folded page.

“All right. Good luck.”
===
“This tournament,” the shopkeeper announced to a group of about 50. “will be a purely elimination competition. Each of the top 8 players will enter the finals. And now… the first game. Can I get…” he picked the top two slips of paper from a full cardboard box. “Tyson Morin and Sebastian Reynolds?”

“All right! First game!” Tyson cheered.

“He didn’t even mix up the entries box?” Kyle wondered. “Whatever. Good luck.”

Sebastian turned out to be an emo. Emos play card games? Tyson contemplated. Meh well. They sat at a table in the midst of a large crowd. Some sort of camera was pointing at where their cards would go. “I’ll start.” Sebastian said, after winning rock-paper-scissors. “I’ll charge a Wight, and tap it for Replenish.” He drew an extra two cards.

“What’s that?” Tyson asked, looking beside him. A large screen to Tyson’s left was projecting images of the cards – a small cutscene of the tadpole from Replenish filling his drink was playing. When it disappeared, a skull token was hovering over Sebastian’s Wight, symbolizing a Dark Mana. “Whoa.”

“That’s it for me.”

“All right.” Tyson started the game. “I’ll charge Banyo Dragon!” The screen showed a cloud coin over this card. “And tap it for Cloudrunner (1900)!” The pterosaur-esque dragon appeared on the screen with a roar. Even after the cutscene, it remained standing on top of its card, snapping its jaws. “I attack!” The dragon blasted forward a burst of wind, and the screen showed Sebastian’s Life Count drop to 9. “I’ll set a Trap, and that’s it for me.”

“I charge another Wight. I’ll tap one for Shadow Necromancy! It’s usually a Level Four card, but I can discard any number of cards in my hand to lower its cost by the same amount. What it lets me do is play four Skeletons from my deck or Graveyard. Luckily for me, the three cards I discarded were Skeletons. So, I’ll bring back Skeletal Swordsman (1500), Shaman (1800) and Healer (1200) in attack mode, as well as Skeletal Shielder (500) from my deck – also ready to attack.”

“Whoa. What do they all do?”

“Swordsman gains 500 ATK when it battles a non-DARK monster. Shaman can revive Undeads if I tap Mana equal to the revived monster’s Level. Shielder protects all other Skeletons from attacks. And with Healer, I can tribute an Undead card to gain a Life. I attack with Skeletal Swordsman!”

Tyson discarded Cloudrunner as he lost 1 Life. The screen then showed three other cutscenes of the skeletons attacking; Tyson’s Life was now 6. “Next, I’ll sacrifice my Skeletal Shielder and Swordsman!”

“Wha?”

“Even without Fusion Technique, I can fuse Skeletal Swordsman and Skeletal Shielder in order to play Skeletal Knight (2800). Who, by the way, destroys any non-Dark monster it battles and protects Undead creatures from attacks. I’m done.”

“That was a harsh turn.” Linlan commented to Kyle.

“I’ve done worse to Tyson and still lost.” Kyle replied.

“Whew.” Tyson exhaled sharply. “That turn wasn’t fun.”

“Go Tyson!” A voice called.

Luke? Tyson wondered. How did he get here so fast? …Makes no difference. I’m winning it for Luke now. “I’ll charge Burning Tiger! That’s it.”

“Pathetic.” Sebastian drew, and immediately declared his attack with all three Skeletons.

“Not so fast!” Tyson taunted, and flipped over Monster Bash. “Now, by tapping both my Manas, I can return Skeletal Knight to your Fusion Deck and Skeletal Shaman to your hand!” The screen still showed Skeletal Healer zap Tyson with Dark Magic, but 1 damage was better than 3. (Tyson: 5 Life)

“Well done. I’ll charge Skeletal Shaman and end.”

“All right! Check out my favourite card. I’ll charge Bomb Dragon, and tap all three for the one and only Noble Dragon!” In a blaze of digitized fire, the golden dragon appeared and roared.

“That card… it’s insanely rare!” Sebastian awed.

“For good reason. 3500 ATK’s the highest of any Level 3 monster without restrictions. Now! Time to take out that Healer!” The screen showed a fireball obliterate the bony magician. (Sebastian: 8 Life)

“All right.” Sebastian drew nervously – the sight of Noble Dragon was apparently enough to shake his confidence. Tyson watched him carefully, since he only had four cards in his hand before his draw phase.

That Shadow Necromancy card… it nearly won him the game, but it cost him severely. Tyson’s been playing one or two cards per turn, but Sebastian used six in one turn! Linlan observed.

“I tap a Wight to play Skeletal Shielder in defence mode.”

“Ah, doubles of your best cards, eh?” Tyson drew. “I’ll charge Living Lunch, and tap two Mana for Golden Flames!”

“You also have that card?”

“But of course. It inflicts three damage to you, at the cost of preventing my Noble Dragon from attacking.” (Sebastian: 5 Life) “Now, I’ll tap two for Bounteous Dragon!” (2400 ATK) The majestic dragon went without its pile of gold on the screen. It flapped its wings and breathed smoke. “I’ll attack your Shielder with Bounteous Dragon!” A lesser fireball smote the Shielder. On the screen, it exploded into thousands of shiny gold coins. “You see, when Bounteous Dragon destroys a monster in battle, I can draw a card.” And Tyson did.

“Geez. I’ll tap one for Mulligan, letting me shuffle my hand of five cards back to my deck to draw six cards.” Sebastian had looked crestfallen, but seemed to recover. “I tap two and discard two for another Shadow Necromancy!”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Tyson hung his head.

“I play from my deck – Skeletal Swordsman (1500), Shaman (1800), Shielder (500) and Healer (1200)… all in attack mode! Next, I’ll fuse Swordsman and Shielder again to create another attack-mode Skeletal Knight (2800). I’ll attack Noble Dragon!”

“No!” Luke’s high voice cried from… somewhere. Where is he? Tyson asked himself, as the screen showed the destruction of Noble Dragon.

“Luckily for you, your Dragon died by an effect. Therefore, you don’t take any damage.”

“Oh. Yay.” Tyson commented dully.

“But I still have two Skeletons left! Go!” (Tyson: 3 Life)
Tyson drew. “I charge my second Living Lunch, and tap Bomb Dragon for Replenish. Hurrah for an extra two cards. Next, I tap three for… Noble Dragon!”

“Again?”

“I said it before – doubles of your best cards. That’s the way to go. One Mana left doesn’t do me a lot of good, so I’ll just go straight to the attacking. Noble Dragon will take out that Knight. …Again!” And it was so. (Sebastian: 4 Life) “And Bounteous Dragon will join the party and attack your Shaman!” Tyson smiled as he drew an extra card. (Sebastian: 3 Life) “Please don’t play another Necromancy.”

“Don’t worry. I have a far more impressive strategy.” Sebastian’s eyes narrowed as he drew. “I’ll charge another Skeletal Shaman… and I tap one for Deathly Ritual! This lets me tribute my remaining Healer to destroy Noble Dragon!” The doctor-esque skeleton exploded, and its bones rained down on the dragon as it roared in pain.

“No!”

“Yes. And now, I tap two for Re-Fusion! This lets me fuse monsters from my Graveyard. So I fuse my two Skeletal Swordsmen, my Shaman, my three Shielders and my two Healers in order to create Skeletal Chimera!” The screen showed a whirlwind of broken bones come together to create a dragon-like beast. It had eight arms/legs sticking out of it in weird angles. Its head was made mostly of ribs, and the 3D image of it let out the eeriest screech Tyson had ever heard. But what was most horrifying was its 8000 ATK.

“No way!”

“On the contrary. Way. It gains 1000 ATK for each monster used in its Fusion, and that number cannot be more than 8. But don’t worry – when I play Skeletal Chimera, my life count becomes 1. So, if you can find a way to destroy it, the game is yours. As for now, I attack your Bounteous Dragon!” A dark mist surrounded the serpentine dragon, and it let out a roar as the mist dissipated; the dragon vanished. (Tyson: 2 Life)

“8000 ATK.” Tyson said quietly, drawing. “How can I take out 8000 ATK?”

“Go Tyson!” Luke yelled from the stands. “Ty-son! Ty-son!” This formed a three person chant with Luke, Linlan and Kyle.

“All right. You want a show, I’ll give you a show!” Tyson declared. The crowd cheered. “I charge Cloudrunner. I’ll tap two for Cave Nest, letting me search my deck for the third Noble Dragon.”

“And you complain that I use Shadow Necromancy twice!”

“I’ve got a way better reason. Now, I tap 1 for Hell Mulligan!”

“Wait – an eviler version of a card I used?”

“Precisely. Now, I can discard any number of cards I want from my hand, and draw the same amount, plus one. I’ll discard my entire hand… except this one… and draw three cards.”

The ‘Ty-son’ chant stopped. Tyson had discarded Noble Dragon.

“What?” Tyson asked. “I’ve got a plan. I tap my remaining two for a Bomb Dragon (2200) on defence!”

Sebastian drew. “Pathetic. You really think that dragon stops me? Or that I’d fall into such an obvious trap? I’ll tap one for Skeletal Swordsman, and another for Deathly Ritual! I’ll sacrifice my Swordsman and your Dragon’s finished.”

“It was worth a try!”

“Hardly. I attack!” (Tyson: 1 Life)

“This is it!” Tyson declared, drawing. “I tap two for Re-Fusion! By removing my three Noble Dragons from the game, I can create Sigma Dragon (5500 ATK)!” The screen showed Tyson’s three star cards twisting and shining. A three-headed version of Noble Dragon appeared as Tyson played the real card from his Fusion deck.

“Whoa.”

“Next, I tap my remaining three Mana for Dragon Fury, increasing Sigma Dragon’s ATK by 3000!” The 8500-ATK dragon roared with all three heads. “Sigma Dragon, finish him!” A triple-powered fireball vanquished the creepy Chimera; its melting bones fell to the ground. “Game.” Said Tyson.

Card of the Chapter is Skeletal Chimera.

[5] Skeletal Chimera (Dark)
Fusion · Undead
[1 ‘Skeletal’ Monster] + [Up to 7 additional ‘Skeletal’ monsters]
When you play this card, your life becomes 1. This card gains 1000 ATK for every monster used in its Fusion.
ATK/ 0 DEF/ 2000

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The Decktype Guide

Pyrah · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:55 pm Post subject:

Nice. It could use some descriptions of the characters though so we know what they look like. Also, this would be a great animation to see.

Though, there does look like there's one spelling error, but then again, I'm not sure of this word in the first place. -> "anteing"
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I am the Chronicler of the Silvarians. I know no bounds.

Aarikku · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:58 pm Post subject:

I never was good at fitting character descriptions into stories. I'd always be like:

"This guy was Kelso. He stood 5'11, had brown hair and..." it was really boring. I'll post a Character Guide.

I dunno about anteing. *Shrug* My browser's built-in spellcheck didn't mind it there, so I suppose it's okay.

And I'd love to make it an animation, but alas - my lack of infinite time.
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The Decktype Guide

Pyrah · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 8:58 pm Post subject:

Summer always provides a lot of time.
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I am the Chronicler of the Silvarians. I know no bounds.

Aarikku · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 9:54 pm Post subject:

That's true, but animating characters with all the regular limbs and stuff takes freaking forever. And drawing each creature used here in such a way that they could move... I don't think I could do it in one summer.

Also, I have the attention span of a penny.
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The Decktype Guide

Pyrah · Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:22 pm Post subject:

You probably don't animate like I do. My main character takes up to 40-50 layers + layer folders.

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I am the Chronicler of the Silvarians. I know no bounds.