Even saying the same words repeatedly is a different ritual. It's one thing to say a single Hail Mary and spend five minutes doing it, and quite another to make an hour ritual of saying an entire Rosary.
Behind the Screens 2008
(622 posts) (13 voices)-
JohnA1nut
MemberThe problem that I have is that praying is not a skill Mother Theresa, who probably had 3@10 faith in God and prayed constantly surely didn't have all of her prayers answered. On the other hand, I've had some pretty amazing things happen after praying for 30 seconds. By the rules of the game, if you prayed for 17 hours, you would have a 100% chance of success. But try it. Pray for 17 hours and see if it makes a difference. God either answers prayers or He doesn't. Praying for hours and hours isn't going to make a difference. Either God will answer your prayer, or He won't. Now you could argue that God is controlling the dice, that God is deciding where the dice land, but that's kind of mocking God. I don't know. It's just something I'm going to have to live with.
Mon Feb 18 2008 10:44 pm # -
Suffice it thus: I, as referee, need some way of determining whether your prayer is answered or not. That has to be a fair way; because it has to be fair, it cannot be simply that I think it would or would not be answered, so we roll the dice. But then, I also need a way of determining what number constitutes a successful roll of the dice. One of the factors involved in that is, for how long did you pray?
Frankly, I have no problem, from the perspective of the game, of saying that if you spend seventeen hours praying for healing of an insignificant cut on your finger it will happen. No sane player is going to design such a ritual, because he can probably heal it quicker with Neosporin and a Band-Aid brand adhesive strip. If you want the same guarantee on summoning a controlled supernatural warrior, you'll have to pray continually for one hundred thirty-six hours--almost six days. I think the example of Daniel suggests that such continuous prayer for one thing is very likely to succeed. I think the stamina checks to stay awake and not eat anything make it worth the risk that someone would attempt to design such a skill.
I have six players--Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I. Does that mean I have to discard one? Let's say not, and play the game.
Harry describes his style a bit more, so I'm going to list it thus:
- 2@1 Smallsword Duelling Bod 7@1 fast aggressive weapon-dependent +15 att SM -5 def SM att x2
- 1@5 Kick to the Groin B7@7 incapacitation, base dangerous damage plus target save vs stamina or collapse for RS/5 minutes, +15 to next opponent attack(s)
The flow of battle is easily controlled by GE rolls, telling both how things are going generally and how they're going for him. 21 is bad enough.
Oh, dear--this new Windows program moves the buttons around on the task bar. That's going to be confusing and frustrating. It was tricky enough to prevent it from consolidating all my Netscape windows into one button; I wonder if there's a way to prevent it from moving the button positions.
Edward makes a very kind suggestion which will be kindly rejected, I think. Father Casey sees the battle a bit differently than he does. But it might make for some interesting discussion.
John II is moving into combat thinking; I've not yet detailed Father Pedro, but I'm sure he's got quite a few solid spells he can use, and I'll prepare them when we're going into battle.
I needed to find something good for Adam, and I think introductions to some significant players might qualify.
Graeme gets lunch and information.
I figure if John I keeps trying to read Ruth's mind, eventually he'll succeed; but a roll of 91 reminds me that if he keeps trying eventually he will botch, and even though his chance of success significantly exceeds his chance to botch, it's still a matter of which happens first. This is also good from another perspective, because it tells me that if it had been the case that Ruth had been replaced by a robot, the fact that he could not read her mind would not immediately make him aware of this.
By George, I think I've done it.
--M. J. Young
Tue Feb 19 2008 5:23 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberMJ, I just wanted you to know that I think you're one of the coolest guys I have ever met. From a gaming standpoint, it makes perfect sense. It's just something I have a problem with from a religious standpoint. Nothing against your game, I'll just live with it. No problems.
Tue Feb 19 2008 5:29 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberFrankly, I have no problem, from the perspective of the game, of saying that if you spend seventeen hours praying for healing of an insignificant cut on your finger it will happen. No sane player is going to design such a ritual, because he can probably heal it quicker with Neosporin and a Band-Aid brand adhesive strip.
Yeah, and in 17 hours, the cut would probably heal itself.
Tue Feb 19 2008 5:55 am # -
Thanks, Harry; that actually was the piece I'd fixed (and they're Netscape buttons, thank you very much). The problem piece is that my Microsoft Excel program keeps turning all the "2@1" scores into e-mail addresses. One of our lurkers told me how to fix that once, and I did fix it, but the reinstallation has "unfixed" it for some reason.
Harry, John II, and Adam are today's players.
Harry starts with a new prayer, a 0:06 spoken only prayer which is a penalize strike against all adversaries. With that short a time factor (TF) I'm thinking that the best treatment is to bring the duration down to 1:00 (one minute); that also fits with what seems to be his view of the moment, that he is taking a risk and praying for protection during that risk. He's got +5 appropriate words, -10 for their being only the spoken aspect, which makes it -5; however, given that it is a prayer to Thor, I'm going to note that he gets +10 (for a final sit-mod of +5) if he uses it when taking a significant risk in honorable combat, in view of the fact that Thor in particular would respect that. He also has his bonus for religion and for alliance magic in an alliance world, and his roll is 24, which is going to give him 3 points off the adversary's chance to hit (RS/10) and list the new skill at 1@1 Defensive Bonus M+1@2 penalize all incoming attacks by RS/10 for one minute, TF 0:06, say "Thor protect me", -5SM, +10 if prayed before/while engaging in a risky action in honorable combat (for +5SM total).
Next he attempts to use that TK pulse yet again, 02 works weakly, and the enemy makes a strong save of 14 against it, so he's not going to lose much--although I'll knock -5 off his initiative, which comes next I'd say. Harry rolls 01, the pirate 07, so the pirate gets the shot off before Harry closes the gap, point blank, 68 is borderline so it's time to do the math: 1@9 RSV+1@6 BRA+2x6@ bias+1@1 SAL+20 for point blank=78 minus defensive values, which includes -3 for the spell, -5 for the style, and a TV of 1@7, making the pirate's chance 78-25=53, close but no cupie doll. Next up, the maneuver--I'm going to list it as 1@10 Double Lunge B7@3 leveraged attack base dangerous, two hops on the left foot driving the momentum into a sword thrust from at least six but not more than twelve feet, limited to two one other attack in the minute. His roll is 62, and his numbers are 1@7 MSV+2@2 BRA+1@10 SAL+15 Style SM+2x7@ bias-1@7 pirate TV=81, and the damage gets +DC for style making it lethal, 13 intensities of damage on an enemy with a 1@8 DV, and this might be a crippling attack. 95 says the injury is to the outer aspect of the left knee (not his intended target, but the one he managed to get), but 41 is too high for a crippling injury.
I'm wondering what happens to the gun, so a 10 GE roll puts it in a decent spot.
I'm no certain who would have bought that shotgun sculpture from John II, so I'm even less certain what they'd have paid for it. Abstract art doesn't get a start until the twentieth century, in our world. However, it's been established that he sold it. We'll say he got a pound for it on a good roll, half a crown on a very poor one, and we roll 16, so we'll make that three crowns.
We'll give Adam more information about the people with whom he is dining--or breakfasting, as the case is.
--M. J. Young
Tue Feb 19 2008 11:47 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberI'm no certain who would have bought that shotgun sculpture from John II, so I'm even less certain what they'd have paid for it. Abstract art doesn't get a start until the twentieth century, in our world. However, it's been established that he sold it. We'll say he got a pound for it on a good roll, half a crown on a very poor one, and we roll 16, so we'll make that three crowns.
As my friend Mike would say "The fool and his money are soon parted."
Wed Feb 20 2008 1:09 am # -
Thanks again to our lurker who has again pointed me to the solution to the Excel problem. I've not yet implemented it, because I've a lot to do tonight and tomorrow, but I've saved it and intend to get to it at my earliest opportunity.
The more immediate matter is the games, starting with Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
It is of course important to work out what else is happening in the battle in which Harry is one small piece; he makes my job easy by giving me good choices, and a 15 GE roll favors his side but not terribly strongly, so we're not out of this yet.
The demons failed to achieve anything on their last effort, so Edward has a bit more respite; but an 18 GE says they're going to try something else sooner rather than later--the question being, what? They've attempted to cause pain, and to flood the room with helium so as to create some fear. They've moved some objects around, but failed to hurt anyone with these. Maybe the creation of some hydrogen would be interesting. It wouldn't even be noticed until something set off a spark--but there are things like that happening, so at that point we would determine the result. First, though, is whether they succeed: 67 fails again.
I also think that I'll run another stamina check for the priest at this point, because once he falls asleep the chance of something getting through rises some (he's probably responsible for about twenty points of penalties, and his cessation would raise the top of the range to near 45 or 50). 14+11=25, he's had it for now.
I was thinking what John II eventually said: a priest would not have much money. A 13 Barely Good Enough roll
Adam gets things right, and so he gets offered a spot I don't think he'll refuse.
John I says he's going to try the "psionic outer body gig", by which I presume he means his 1@2 Astral Projection P3@10 (Starship Destiny) Remote sensory presence with local sensation shut down +10SM. He rolls 07, which is an easy success for seven minutes, and says I need to roll a GE roll for what he actually finds (given what I already know about her): 19 is pretty thin.
I'm pretty thin, too. Actually, I'm not as thin as I was, but I've much to do, so I'd better go do some of it.
--M. J. Young
Thu Feb 21 2008 3:09 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberI was thinking what John II eventually said: a priest would not have much money. A 13 Barely Good Enough roll
Some situations, I cannot fathom how they could possibly go bad for the verser, no matter what the dice roll is. Asking someone if they have gold to trade for your silver. How could that possibly go bad? Either he has it or he doesn't. The only thing that I can think that could go bad for this is that Pedro gets offended by the question and decides to attack me or something, but that would be totally (OOC) for a priest to do that. Especially since an angel of God told me that I could trust him. I'm just wondering, how could a bad dice roll have hurt me in this particular situation? Anyone?
A good dice roll, I could see. Pedro is that one priest who is a millionaire, and says that no, he won't change the silver for gold, but will instead just give me a lot of gold. That I could see on a good dice roll, but how could it go bad in this situation?
Thu Feb 21 2008 10:25 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberNow that I think about it, since I told Pedro that I have a lot of silver, he could decide to rip me off. But, once again, a priest wouldn't do that, and an angel told me that I could trust him. How could that situation go bad for me?
My friend Rob told me a story about an RPG he was playing. Someone got a bad dice roll on trying to speak a language, so Rob struck the guy with lightning. That seems a little like cheating to me though....
Thu Feb 21 2008 11:39 am # -
Wow--Serbia? You Canadians get all the fun.
John, there are many times when I don't know what a bad roll would be--or what a good roll would be. Remember first, that the GE roll is tempered according to the situation; it can only be as good or bad as we can imagine it being. Now that I put my mind to it, I can imagine perhaps that Pedro would tell you that before you can face the demon you must divest yourself of all possessions with worldly value, or it will be used as a weapon against you. I can imagine that as soon as you said you had a great deal of silver, he, thinking you are now his partner in this and that you will do whatever is necessary to defeat these demons, would tell you what you need to buy with it. I can imagine him putting a curse on your silver so it would all turn to clay. Why ask me these things? It only gives me ideas. If someone got a bad roll on trying to speak a language, I would simply decide that whatever he actually said was not at all what he meant, decide how it was different, and let the consequences flow from there. Maybe he just agreed to go on that highly dangerous mission; maybe he insulted the wife of the lord with whom he is speaking; maybe he just asked directions to the bathroom.
Right now the idea is to get a game going. I've already dealt with the post from the new player, Andrew, so I can turn my attention to Harry, who I somehow knew was itching for a pirate battle and for whom I wondered that the dice had dictated so many non-pirate events (I think three in twenty seaborne events involve pirates). Then we have Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I'm wondering whether Walter will follow Harry (Ronny will, of course, and I'm going to have to make the point that Ronny is still there); I think that a persuasion check is probably the thing I want, and the roll (difficult check for comparitives) is 10+1 against Walter's will power check 10+20, which means Walter failed and Harry succeeded, by a weak chance.
Edward is expecting the tedious part and wishing for food and water, and he gets a 12 GE roll, so maybe he gets at least some of what he wants. I was thinking of doing this earlier, but kept doing other things instead, so we'll get around to a bit of food about now.
John is getting to the point where he's about to test his spear device.
Adam likes the idea of studying magic with Merlin; I sort of thought he might.
I thought that John I would roll to extend his view, but he's decided otherwise.
--M. J. Young
Fri Feb 22 2008 2:28 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberWhy ask me these things? It only gives me ideas.
Because I AM trying to get ideas. You've been doing RPGs for 30 years. I've been doing it for (How long have I been playing here?) The game is only as good as the referee can make it, and if I'm going to referee one day, I'll need ideas.
Oh and if Pedro DID turn all of my silver to clay, I would send him to meet God in person.
Fri Feb 22 2008 2:34 am # -
johnosevens
MemberJohn - You're a Verser. Turning all your silver to clay is annoying, but you got forever to get more. If he turned you into clay for holding out on him and his righteous cause, then you could unleash the divine smackdown.
...
Wait, I suppose I shouldn't encourage him either.And this is why we don't ask the question "How bad could it get?" because sooner or later, the answer is always "Cthulhu."
Fri Feb 22 2008 8:03 am # -
Ah, yes, Cthulu. He use to live in the bottom of a disused swimming pool at a previous address of mine, but I don't know where he's been the last few years.
Sorry, John. All gamers know about Cthulu, the Lovecraftian horror, even if they've never read the story. I actually have read it. Don't bother yourself over it.
I've dealt with our new player, and now can turn my attention to Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
The fun begins anew, as Harry follows Ronny in a charge onto the pirate ship, Walter at his heels. Thus far Harry has resisted the urge to mention Ronny to anyone, but it's just a matter of time. The question now is what awaits on the other side of that plank. 15 is ever so slightly favorable, and Harry is looking for combat he can win.
Edward reminds me that silver is usually found thinly plated around large dark clouds. I give him food and drink, and he panics because there's a door he did not recognize.
John II and I have to communicate better about this device he's designed.
I'm giving Adam a bit of cultural insight and looking for alternatives for his stay.
I think as long as we're doing this transfer thing, we should keep it interesting. John I and his companions will have a chat with the captain.
I will have a chat with a pillow soon enough, I hope. I'm pretty beat.
--M. J. Young
Sat Feb 23 2008 4:39 am # -
I have already launched a new game for Andrew, and so I'm turning to Harry, John II, Adam, and John I.
Andrew is starting in our favorite convention starting world; I haven't run it for a while, so I don't feel too bad about doing it again.
Yes, Harry, Ronny is a hallucination. You botched on a psionic TK pulse at the beginning of the fight, and fried a few neurons. This is a temporary condition (longer than transient, shorter than permanent), but in the meantime you have no idea that he is not there. Harry prays his protection prayer again, and the roll is 00, which is going to botch--but we have two things going for him, one that this is holy magic, and the other that this is a botch in combat (he is actively engaged at this point). He is also using his TK Pulse against a living target, which means this is a targeted attack and there's a save. The numbers are 1@2 SAL+1@9 BRA+1@8 RSV+0 for bias-1@9 pirate resistance=30% chance, and the pirate gets to make a save against in this case his 2@3 agility if it's successful. 17 is successful, 12+2=14, also successful.
I'd like to have heard or seen John II's design for these boom sticks, but he's going to go with what I described, so I guess I'll drop it. They're off to the woods. Of course, all things take a long time in this kind of world, so perhaps John is going to have to deal with the frustration of hand-crafted mass production.
Adam's conversation with Merlin will start to become serious now.
John opens a line of conversation that's not going to make much sense to anyone.
--M. J. Young
Mon Feb 25 2008 2:54 am # -
Andrew is actively playing, so he takes the front of the line. Harry, John II, Adam, and John I are also in motion.
There's nothing really to decide concerning Andrew, as we know this scenario; I picked a spot for his landing, and so I know where everything else is relative to that.
Harry is having trouble with his hallucination, which to this point hasn't caused him any trouble at all, unless you count leading him into the battle into which he fully intended to go anyway. He asks who else came across, and my thought was no one by he and Walter boarded the pirate ship--and a 21 GE roll does not make it more than that. Initiative rolls are 83 to 60, I make Harry's chance of success 72 and the pirate's thirty something, so he gets the initiative as having failed by less. 73 is a very near miss; he gets another attack, but not until the pirate takes his turn. The pirate rolls fifty, with the cutlass he's 66-defensive values, and Harry has both his -5 defensive sit-mod for the style and his 1@7 TV, 22 total, so 44 is the highest roll that would be successful. Harry strikes again, 09, a minor blow, but he has +2DC on a damaging weapon (one for style the other for skill ability level), so it's going to do two intensities of damage.
The next pair of rolls for initiative are 80, 65, and again Harry will go first.
I've got John II making boom sticks. It's a really good idea, but is going to take a lot of time.
I'm getting Adam introduced a bit more to Merlin and his world.
I've got to run.
--M. J. Young
Tue Feb 26 2008 8:26 pm # -
Although I've a new player on the character generation thread, Andrew is at the front of the active line, followed by Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I'll not hold Andrew while waiting for Carl, but will instead get him started on his adventure. He might last long enough for Carl to join him, but we'll see what he does.
My absence has to some degree derailed my sense of what is happening in various places; hopefully I will recover that by reading the threads, and it has not had so much impact on those of you who are on the player side. Harry hit his attacker, and gets another attack before the opponent can take another swing. I'm going to make the Kiai a Psi 8@0 posturing variant, described thus for the moment and let him correct me if he doesn't like the numbers: 1@5 Kiai P8@0 posturing shout intended to intimidate opponent, RS/10 penalty on opponent's next action or defense, will power save RS=S/D/N. Harry has a 1@9 BRA in psionics, and the world bias is flatlined, so the roll of 34 turns out to be exactly the maximum successful roll, four points off the defender's defenses for this attack, but the defender has a chance to save, 10+18 means he certainly did not do so. Thus Harry has a slightly better chance to hit. I'm also inclined to give him a slight bonus for the tactical decision, but I'll keep that to +2. 59 is rolled, which is successful as a lethal attack, 12 intensities which brings the total to 14, the pirate having a 1@8 damage value. He will attempt a strike-and-run, which costs him 10 points but penalizes Harry's next strike, and 81 fails either way. Harry rolls 75, which is a very near miss. I recall that the Piper security forces were already driving the pirates back across the plank, and one minute is plenty of time for them to have succeeded at this, so they'll be crossing now. Harry will catch that out of the corner of his eye, buy his mind will project the information to Ronnie's voice.
Edward gets some food in his body, and turns his attention back to improving his defenses.
John II has asked that we play out part of the dinner, so we'll do so.
We've got Adam connecting with Merlin; his position as student will provide some interesting opportunities in the days ahead.
I'm laughing a bit at John I's serious quote, "Who would claim to be that which they are not?" I don't know where he got it, but he calls himself Pharaoh without much basis, and before that he named himself for a fictional character whose entire technique involved pretense and misdirection, pretending to be one person pretending to be another when he was really neither of those. However, spoken to a rebel organizer it is bound to bring a strong reaction.
I can't say that I've "caught up", since my absence (explained to some degree in today's Blogless Lepolt post Where the Heck Have I Been) means I owe everyone a debt of posts I cannot pay, but thank you for your patience and hopefully I will continue tomorrow despite the fact that I have much on my plate for it already.
--M. J. Young
Sun Mar 2 2008 10:04 pm # -
Sorry I missed yesterday. I'm having trouble squeezing in a game today, but I'm determined, so here goes. Andrew starts, then Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I like the way Andrew approaches Michael, and I think Michael would like that, too.
Harry tries to take the initiative against the next adversary, who has not had the opportunity to be involved, but the 07 roll of the adversary is not going to beat Harry's new roll of 52, so we'll go for the groin kick, 44 rolled is dangerous+DC=lethal damage, 9 intensities, and a save versus stamina to avoid collapsing, 8+8=16, pirate stamina is 2@2. He takes his shot for the round, 41 and bonused by Harry leaving himself open with the kick. That increases the base chance from 66 to 81, and although Harry has his -5 defense mod for the style and his 1@7 TV, the 41 is still going to hit, 5 intensities of damage from a dangerous weapon.
Doing initiative again, I've got 55 for Harry and 21 for the pirate, which puts Harry on top again.
Edward is going to barricade his chapel. This is good.
John II is going for a TK pulse demonstration. I can't help hoping it will work, but knowing that when he needs to know whether it works he has to roll for it. The roll is 22, which will work fairly well even in this world.
I'm going to give Adam opportunity to give some comprehensive answers to questions, creating some of the feeling of being Merlin's pupil--the man teaches initially by making students examine themselves, and that means answering questions.
John II has turned the tables on me; it's my turn to write the lengthy answer to questions.
I think I'm done, at least with this.
--M. J. Young
Wed Mar 5 2008 2:51 am # -
I see Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, John I, and Kyler. Kyler has been teasing me lately--I keep saying how many days I've missed on the forum, and he keeps saying yes, he's missed that many, too. It's good to have him back, even if he's got computer identity problems.
Andrew meets one of the most and least sane versers out there, and gets a story he might not believe.
Harry introduces another maneuver, which we have to define before we can roll.
John II was last seen having dinner with a bunch of people, where he told them the truth about himself, to a mixed response. Now he's creating a spell to youthen himself. That's interesting; I'll crunch some numbers, based on the note that he was 29 when he versed out so he's trying to peel back twelve years. The baseline is a 13@5 Control Growth, which suggests RS/10 years with a 1:00 TF, so that's in his favor. On the other hand, it's not simply that he wants to youthen: he wants to have the body he had then. That's going to require a bit more thought, and a bit more information.
Merlin has some unique teaching techniques, but he also has a lot to offer, so we'll give Adam a hint, a taste, and then we'll keep going with it all.
It's important to ask questions. Graeme has said he was looking for this particular cafe, so I asked why--and his answer is very revealing. It means that I need a GE roll, though, and the roll is 16, no effect. Of course, nothing happening can be encouraging sometimes.
I almost feel like I've cheated John I with such a short post--but it's the obvious question, and it will keep the conversation going, and he wants to keep talking with her, so unless he puts the ball back in her court, she'll keep asking him questions.
Kyler has finished his first day of school in a new, er, district, and is getting ready for the next.
That's the game--except for my own story, which I should go read next.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 6 2008 3:42 am # -
Andrew is here, and Harry, and John II, and Adam, and Graeme. It looks like Kyler is here, but that's because someone else posted a welcome back to his thread.
The conversation between Andrew and di Vars continues.
Harry and I are still working out how his feint works.
I'm giving a lot of thought to John II's spell. Knocking eleven years off his age is simple. Kicking his stamina up two intensities and his agility up four, that's a lot more difficult. It's a very complicated thing he wants to do. Let's see if he can describe it in precise terms.
Adam gets the chance to teleport with Merlin. We'll give him the night to do whatever he wants, and resume the lessons in the morning.
I had to go back to the second page of Graeme's thread to figure out that the reason I can't remember who the translator is or where they meet is because neither of those details have been given. That's fine. It looks like I need a GE roll, first because neither of us remembers whether the lesson is today or tomorrow, and second because Graeme wants to schedule it around his visit to the top secret weapons development lab. 17 is a neutral result, so we'll make it the morning.
--M. J. Young
Fri Mar 7 2008 2:52 am # -
Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, and Adam have all managed to bounce back here before I did, so they get to play.
Andrew continues his conversation with Michael.
We now have Harry's feint skill described; all we need now is the numbers.
Edward finds his door.
We're still not getting the details clear on John II's latest prayer, but we'll keep at it.
Adam still intends to introduce himself to Uther; we'll need a GE roll for the circumstance there. 8 is a very favorable roll, which is a good thing.
--M. J. Young
Fri Mar 7 2008 9:08 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberDumb question MJ. If YOU knew what it was I was intending to pray, why couldn't you roll for it? You are, in effect, "God". If you knew what it was I was asking for, why couldn't you roll for it? I'm not upset at all, just kinda confused. I mean, we did waste (3? 4?) days play over that. Why couldn't you roll for it?
Sat Mar 8 2008 9:09 am # -
I suppose this is the same reason that God waits for you to pray before granting a prayer. You have to ask. Also, if you wanted this, and God knew you wanted this (obviously), but you asked Him to "bring ruin to my enemies and devastation to their homelands," would He grant your desire to rejuvenate your body? That's a silly example, but it brings out the difficulty of trying to say that your words don't matter. If you have to ask in the first place, it makes sense that you would have to ask for what you want.
The other part of MJ's problem is that he has more options than "yes John get what wants / no John doesn't get what he wants." This is a prayer with complex effects, and it isn't always the case that a prayer is simply granted or not granted. It's possible to get only some of what you want, or to get what you want but not in a way that you expected, or any number of variations on partial success. The details of something like this are difficult for a referee to figure out exactly, and MJ's job gets a lot easier if he has more to work with - your words give him something to go on when he's making those decisions if it turns out that the result of your prayer isn't perfect success or perfect failure. The idea is that it's better for you to specify your prayer and have the effects depend on those details than it is for you to leave it vague and force MJ to just make stuff up (with that stuff he makes up maybe being related to how you tried to make the prayer work and maybe not.)
Those are my guesses, anyway. MJ may have other reasons I'm not guessing.
Sat Mar 8 2008 7:16 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberThat makes sense Scott. The thing is that I told MJ exactly what the prayer was. He insisted that I word it like a prayer. All I did was reword my previous post as a prayer. Nothing different, really. No more information, as far as I can tell. Just something that confused me. It's OK, I still have quite a lot to learn about this game.
Sat Mar 8 2008 9:14 pm # -
I must again thank Scott for putting clearly and succinctly what I needed to say. The point, John, is that you are trying to pray for something that is really a complicated collection of several different skills--make you younger, increase your stamina, return you to a previous age without removing what you have learned since then, all rather complicated in themselves and somewhat in conflict with each other in places. How you word it will have a significant impact on what happens and what does not happen--do you get your old body, and lose subsequently gained body skills? Do you regain your former attributes but not your youth? Do you become younger but keep the same attributes? Exactly what you say is going to matter.
Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and John I are playing.
Survival on a tropical island is considerably easier than survival in a forest, so even though Andrew has only amateur skill at the former and ought to take a penalty for the unfamiliar location, I'm letting him build his shelter and mattress fairly easily, without a roll. I will have to roll for his efforts to teach himself to use his sword, but that will happen after I know what he's doing and on what he is basing his efforts.
We now have the details we need to roll Harry's feint, which I'm placing at 1@7 SAL. It is an untargeted roll, which means SAL+BRA+2xBias, and he rolls 49. His SAL is 1@7, BRA 2@2, and bias 7, doubled for 14, so 53 was his chance of success. He's got +49 on his next attack, and does not sacrifice initiative or use an attack for it, so that means he rolls that attack next and wants a rather high roll: 31 would have been a success anyway, I think, but it's going to be a good shot. Checking back, Harry has +2DC on a damaging weapon, making it a lethal attack, 7 intensities. He has already hit this guy with his signature kick, which as I check my notes did 9 intensities, so this guy is now up to 16 against 1@8, so he's not eager to continue and will go for a strike-and-run also, 27 rolled, and even with the -10 penalty for the strike-and-run he's got a 34% chance to hit Harry, so that's good for another 3 intensities, bringing Harry down -8 total against a 1@6 DV, and the man penalizes Harry's next attack, as Harry must pursue to get another blow.
O.K., finally I think I can parse John II's prayer. The critical concept seems to be that of restoring attributes and skills, which means we are performing a base spell M+2@10 recover lost attributes, piggybacking a M+2@10 recover lost skills, and dropping in a 13@5 control growth. This last has a 1 minute TF, which as compared with the restorations will be insigifnicant, but its primary impact will be on the bias; the spell has to be 13@5 to incorporate the youthening aspect, the other two skills fitting under a curve of 12. The baseline for the youthening effect is RS/10 years, which is not sufficient to get him back to 17 so we'll double it at -10, which makes it RS/5 years.
He expects to restore his Stamina +2 intensities and his Agility +4; that's two attributes, which is -10. The base time for the skill is 30 minutes, and his prayer is 20 minutes, which is only 66% as long, so that's -3 for shortened time. He is also including two skills, but the skill restoration spell has a base TF half that of the attributes, so they will count as if one attribute, and thus -5 (because it would be two more attributes for another doubling). Since there are three skills combined here, it is -10 for the second and -5 for the third. I think that's all the penalties. I see a 13@5 skill with -10-10-3-5-10-5=-43, and now we look at the positives.
He has +10 for being in an alliance world, and +9 for his religion skill; those are sit-mods to performing the skill but not inherent to the skill itself. He has +5 for appropriate words, +15 for total physical commitment, +5 for the location requirement (must be done in his base), and I'll give him Pedro's religion bonus as well--Pedro is an above average professional, 2@8 religion, so that's +14, but the priest is a required part of the ritual. That means +25 inherent and +14 for the priest's religion score, +54 total, -43=+11 for this skill.
John's bias is 11@7, to which we add his 2@2 BRA, the 15@ world bias, and stretching the assumption that a messenger of God has put him on this project +10 for that. That means 175-135=40% chance that this will work, and each 10% or part thereof represents one intensity in each of his four targeted areas, each 5% or part thereof one year of youthening. I don't know about you, but I'm holding my breath as the electronic dice hit the silicon table: 43 is so very close, he's going to scream.
It is much easier to address Adam's post tonight; he will be escorted to meet a king who is too self-important to worry about courtesies.
I find myself wondering whether Ruth Mekita will believe John I's story. We'll make it his persuasion against her ed lev, the latter being 2@2, the former 2@3, difficult checks with his first, 22, she can't even tie that, and her 26 fails anyway.
--M. J. Young
Mon Mar 10 2008 1:06 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberScott, I hope you're checking this. I asked about how equipment ages in the Multiverse. You said that it wears, but does not age. Batteries wouldn't die from sitting in a bag for a century. I was just thinking that means that equipment should last a lot longer. The handle on one of my knives is made out of compressed leather. That leather is not going to dry rot, although it will wear out from being gripped. Interesting.
Mon Mar 10 2008 3:56 am # -
Yeah--call it referee laziness, if you like, but equipment does not suffer from ordinary aging. We'll justify it on the basis that the conditions of each world will be different, the calendars and even the lengths of days are different, and figuring out how, with any fairness, your ordinary gear would wear out is just too much trouble. So it doesn't. Batteries present their own problems, because of course in addition to being dependent on amount of use they're also dependent on bias--batteries work better in high tech bias worlds--so it's entirely possible that the reason your device doesn't work in one world is that the batteries don't have enough power, but then in the next world they work fine.
Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and John I are playing.
I don't know if I have sufficient numbers to calculate Andrew's chance to learn--there's no agility, and his strength is listed as 1@8. Thus either he has a 1@8 BRA or his agility is better than that. I note that his bias is 7@1, as he already has an average amateur ability in military hand-to-hand. The world bod bias is at least 8@, because there are birds flying; it might be higher, based on the fact that most insects, and particularly flying ones, go through a 13@1 morph to same race at some point in life. I can also give him a slight bonus for the example from the book, probably 1@1 (pretty standard for any book description of a skill, unless there is good reason to think that this is the best way to learn the skill). However, his best relevant attribute is going to matter here, so I'd better confirm it before I roll. I'm looking at 42%, but it might be 44% if his agility is a bit higher, and as we saw yesterday, a couple percentage points can be critical.
Very wisely, Harry prioritizes getting together with the medic. Most of his questions can be answered by a GE roll, and the roll is 18, which is that just over the middle Not Favorable Result. That's going to mean that they're winning but they've not won. The medic rolls 82, which in this bias is not sufficient to fix injuries in the field, so he's going to pull Harry from the combat back to medical. The rest he can repeat if he wants to try it on the move.
John II has confused me with his statements that he is going to finish three to five days worth of work in one morning, so I need to get that clarified.
He gets a 23 GE on the gambling thing.
Adam gets his meeting with Uther. I think I can get this guy on paper. Anyway, it's fun trying. I can almost see Brian Blessed in the role.
John I is pulling out all the stops on charming this woman. He rolls 36, which despite his strong attributes is not in danger of succeeding and she need not roll against it.
I'm being called away, but I'm pretty much done here, so I guess I can go.
--M. J. Young
Tue Mar 11 2008 4:51 am # -
Let's see if I can squeeze in Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and John I before I have to go.
Our numbers for Andrew are confirmed, so it's time to roll whether he learns the first skill, the Kenjutsu, and the roll is 82, which does not work. For the other, Iaido, he rolls 99, which is a botch, with a sword. Here's a botch list:
- Cuts self, damaging use hit location.
- Damages sword, 2d10+10 GE for severity.
- Damages hilt, 2d10+10 GE for severity.
- Learns incorrect technique, will lose initiative on use.
- Lose sword, thrown.
- Embed blade in nearby object, tree.
Harry goes to see the doctor, who is going to stitch him up and keep him in medical for a few days. That's not a life-threatening scenario, but what's of greater interest is he is hoping the Piper will take the pirate ship as a prize. 17 is the GE roll, which is right smack in the middle.
John II asked a question I didn't recognize; I've addressed it. Meanwhile, he's working on boom sticks, and there's a 15 GE on today's work.
Adam's conversation with Uther continues.
It is possible that Ruth would not understand John I's gesture of the offered arm; it is possible that she would recognize another of his efforts to be charming. The former is an ed lev check on her part, the latter an an-mag check on his. She rolls 37, so she has never seen nor heard of this gesture before.
--M. J. Young
Tue Mar 11 2008 10:57 pm # -
I've got active players and a lot of irregular demands on my time, so I'm doing the best I can here. Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I are all waiting.
Andrew gets to use his first aid skill. He's got a 1@5 SAL, but that's at 7@1 CPR and he's doing a simple wound bandage, so he gets bonused on his ability there. His bias is 11@, but he doesn't know the tech bias of this world--I had to look it up, and it is not favorable, although that is not surprising. His Intellect and Ed Lev are both 2@1, so that's his BRA whichever he uses. 85 is outside anything he can do with it. A quick check of di Vars materials reminds me that he really does not have much in the way of medical skills.
Harry speculates on what the captain is likely to do next, but the captain doesn't really have options--the company has rules. I'm sure someone will explain them, so I will.
John II might be getting a new skill, or he might be getting a new use of an old skill--he and I are going to have to come to agreement on which.
The conversation between Adam and Uther continues a bit longer.
Graeme has a number of people involved in his life, and his conversations are going to matter to some of them.
John I rolls 85 on his mind reading attempt, which is not successful.
I'm on my way, and might get some sleep tonight.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 13 2008 4:29 am # -
Happy Birthday, John. I was going to say something yesterday, but by the time I got here I had forgotten; I've got to replenish my post-its pads, so I can stick more reminders on my monitor.
Andrew opens, Harry continues, John II, Adam, and Graeme conclude our game tonight.
I should roll for his knife use on making the spear, but if he botches again he's not going to be happy. I don't see any knife skill on his sheet other than the bayonet use, which is not really the sort of thing that applies here, but I suspect he's got at least an average amateur ability. The roll is 27, which is an easy success no matter how we approach it.
I need to check how injured Harry is to work out how long he's going to be in treatment. It's -8 intensities, but he's under the care of a an expert physician, rolling 72 followed by 21.
I promised to explain the statement, "He tells you its name." This is that explanation.
- Decades back I had a group of teens in an OAD&D game. They encountered many creatures, some of them friendly, some not so. A couple times they asked for the names of these creatures--that is, not what kind of creature, but the personal name of this dwarf, that gnome. I gave names to some of them; I had long lists of names I had collected over the years (regrettably lost since then), and could pull names and assign them. However, I found it difficult to keep track of all the names, and particularly since for many of these characters they were never going to be seen again. Thus it developed in play that when the player characters asked the name of such a person, I would respond, "He tells you his name." Thereafter it was assumed that the character knew the name, and no one had to try to remember what the name was, and I didn't use up my lists of names on throwaways.
In the present context, the ship in question is going to be taken to port, sold, and then vanish from play, probably forever. Sure, it would be interesting to bring it back at some point, but it's unlikely to happen--and if it does, it can easily be identified as "that ship". In the reality of the game world, it needs and indeed has a name; in the reality of the players' world, it does not need a name.
Harry, if you wish for the ship to have a name, you are free to name it whatever seems appropriate within the milieu and will be easy enough for us to remember, so that you can reference it later by that name. Personally, it doesn't matter to me whether you call it PT109 or The Love Boat or The Minnow (although you probably should shy away from such names as these, since you might wind up on a well-known boat sometime). It has a name, and your character knows the name. If you want to use a name for it, I'm good with pretty much any (decent) thing you'd care to call it.
John II has agreed that he has never done anything quite like what he's doing with this spear. He rolls 05, which means it works but doesn't do a heck of a lot of damage. I figure shotguns are probably lethal ordinarily (maybe the big ones are fatal, but I shy away from making hand-carried weapons that potent because of the damage category bonuses), and that without the benefits of a gun barrel this is reduced to dangerous. Either way, it's going to do one intensity of damage to the sack of dirt. He has a 1@1 Operate Explosive-tip Spears T6@1. A GE roll on the condition of the spear is 8+8+9=25, which means it's not going to be easily salvaged.
I get to play several characters, so the conversations Adam has with Uther and Geneice require me to talk for both of them. Geneice might not be so gentle in her words as Adam has been, but then, as a woman she might get away with it.
Finally Graeme gets to the matter transmitter.
--M. J. Young
Fri Mar 14 2008 2:51 am # -
John, somewhere you asked whether I turned off comments on my blog. I did not, and am not certain why you had trouble commenting. However, I have noticed that you frequently comment anonymously but signed--which means you're not logged in when you post your comments. It might be that the new software won't let you post to the blogs if you're not logged in, as a way of deterring Spam. Try logging in and see if that works. Besides, I'd rather see that the comment is from you than that it's from "anonymous" anyway, as those "anonymous" comments are often not worth reading.
Let's tackle the game with Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and John I.
I'm adding a 1@5 Carving/Whittling T3@3 to Andrew's sheet. He needs a couple of GE rolls--one for finding coconuts and bananas on the ground, the other for finding the sort of rock that is useful for making arrow and axe heads. The former is actually going to be somewhat bonused, since there are coconuts and bananas and they do fall when ripe enough, so a roll of 14 is plenty good enough to find some. The latter, though, is more difficult to assess--the entire island is formed of cooled lava, topsoil courtesy of a few centuries of plant life breaking it down and decaying atop it. However, a 12 is good enough, so he'll find something. I've also got to make note that although Andrew did a good job of getting on Michael's good side, somehow he's gotten the impression that the man is more helpful than he really is--and this despite the fact that Michael has twice offered to kill him.
Harry is still focused on keeping this ship. I don't see that happening. More significantly, I do see him praying for healing, a M+2@1 where in all of this chaos is my book oh there it is Limited Damage Repair, and he's got a 1@10 bias, 2@3 BRA, 2@5 religion score (for +13) and a +10 bonus for doing alliance magic in an alliance world. The base time is 1 minute and he's doing this for 20 minutes, so five and a quarter doublings of the time factor for +53. He must be lying in his own bed, it must be night, and he must have his hands folded. I will give him +15 for total body involvement, +5 for place, +5 for time. He has appropriate words which is another +5. That means the attached sit-mod for this skill is +83, and I'm going to have to talk to him about this.
John II is going to build some more boom sticks. These will be fun when he uses them in combat, I think.
I'm not sure whether Adam's post contains a typo or not, so I'm going to have to get clarification before we continue.
John I also made a posting mistake--said nineteenth century instead of nineteen hundreds--but what makes it the more humorous is that nothing else he said would contradict that (his parents were a chemical engineer and a nurse, and he traveled and fathered a child out of wedlock but that was not uncommon) and no one alive would know that he was wrong (neither Bob nor Miralla know anything about the nineteenth or twentieth centuries on earth, and the rest of the crew does not know him well enough to know what he brought from home versus what he picked up along the way). But now he asks about Ruth. Did I give her planet a name yet? Yes, there it is--Sirius Four.
--M. J. Young
Sat Mar 15 2008 4:48 am #
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