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Behind the Screens 2008
(622 posts) (13 voices)-
John, I've posted something for Aaron on the subject; pick up the question on that thread.
Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I are all active today.
The uncertainty for Andrew is how many days he has on this island paradise before it turns into a disaster flick; the General Effects Roll says 16, which means that he has another day at least before I check again. He also has to tell me how many days will pass before he does his spear fishing.
Harry has created a Limited Damage Repair M+2@1 TF 20 minutes, must be lying in his own bed, it must be night, must have his hands folded, appropriate words which, base fatal, +83 SM, and with a roll of 24 he gives himself a 1@1 SAL and five intensities healing, which will finish the job started by the doctor.
As to persuading the captain to hold the ship until he reaches Sardic, that's going to be a difficult persuasion check against a difficult will power check, and the captain is going to have his already high will power bonused +5 because he will be violating company rules and making his trip more difficult and more dangerous. That doesn't mean Harry can't succeed, but his roll of 30+10 is as bad as it could be.
Edward is headed into the darkness; I'm pretty sure that someone would suggest he take a light.
John II has some questions. For the one concerning martial arts, there's a 21 GE roll. For the completion of the boom sticks, he rolls 24, which is pretty bad.
A famous song says that a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest, and Uther is exactly that sort of man. I think Adam may have said too much about his own abilities, and now is going to have to be much more diplomatic to get out of this.
John I rolls 48 on his read minds attempt, which given that his chance of success is 49 is a really solid success.
That completes today's game.
--M. J. Young
Mon Mar 17 2008 4:19 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberThere was no roll that I saw on Father Pedro having metal working skills. I'm serious about that. It was not uncommon in some medieval societies for priests, monks, even nuns to have "real jobs" to pay bills on time. God may have an awesome retirement plan, but he kind of leaves paying your day-to-day bills up to you, ya know?
Mon Mar 17 2008 4:23 am # -
Father Pedro is my character, and to some degree I have already defined the parameters of what he can do. He is a scholar and demon fighter. Quite apart from that, although probably his monastery is replete with those who know how to farm, make wine, and do other tasks that every peasant can do, the idea that any one of them would be a blacksmith is comparable today to the notion that the elderly priest at your local Catholic diocese is also a computer systems designer: the number of people who have these skills is small enough that they constitute a profession, and it is not easy to learn them if you are not headed for the profession.
I've addressed Carl's skills thread, and left quite a few questions, so let me turn my attention to Andrew Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I.
I've let a day pass for the GE roll Andrew got, but on the next day I will need another roll. 8 is such a good roll that I'm going to give him several days before rolling again.
Harry gets his wish--on a GE of 20 Tristar is rumbling, and there is no shore leave and no special cargo, so the captured ship will be taken to New Haven. There's also a Tristar event on his event sheet--one of the security officers, Douglas, jumps ship.
John II is starting toward the castle.
Adam is getting something of a lesson into the mind of a medieval monarch.
The transmats are operated by high-level professionals in a high-bias world, so they have very little chance of failure and virtually no chance to botch--and with the various safeties and interfaces we reduce that to negligible. A roll of 71 is a solid success. Graeme will get his first experience, but it will be a bit unusual in this world--they have a decently high mag bias along with their incredibly high tech bias.
John I is exploring the mind of a leader, but I'm going to have to consider how he is exploring it.
I'm not doing too badly here; I might be done before bedtime at the rate I'm moving.
--M. J. Young
Wed Mar 19 2008 12:24 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberFather Pedro is my character, and to some degree I have already defined the parameters of what he can do. He is a scholar and demon fighter. Quite apart from that, although probably his monastery is replete with those who know how to farm, make wine, and do other tasks that every peasant can do, the idea that any one of them would be a blacksmith is comparable today to the notion that the elderly priest at your local Catholic diocese is also a computer systems designer: the number of people who have these skills is small enough that they constitute a profession, and it is not easy to learn them if you are not headed for the profession.
I understand this. It was just something I was thinking about. I kind of envision monasteries and the like as being relatively self-sustaining. Almost a world to themselves. I was thinking there would be the Farmer Priest, the Blacksmith Priest, etc. I just thought I might get lucky that Pedro was also the Blacksmith Priest.
Wed Mar 19 2008 3:22 am # -
Your characterization of monasteries is not that bad, really--but "the blacksmith priest" is something on the order of "the lawyer priest" or "the cavalier priest" or "the genetic engineer priest". Blacksmithing is a profession, and its practitioners do not share their secrets outside the profession. Besides, most members of such orders are drawn from the upper nobility classes (traditional feudal familial order: first son gets the land, the titles, and the task of being soldier, second enters holy orders, third becomes a lawyer, and fourth is a layabout mooching off his eldest brother's estates). Nobles do not know blacksmithing; it's a trade profession.
I'm making progress with Carl's character sheet, so now I turn to Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
Andrew is going to teach himself spear fishing, which is a T3@1 skill with targeting involved, essentially a combat attack on a fish in water. The water provides some cover for the fish (because it resists the spear), but an 09 is going to hit the fish for damaging damage, not enough to kill it. It is, however, going to give him his skill, 1@1 Spear Fishing T3@1.
Harry makes it to Haven, and something is going to happen here. I've given him a GE roll, which is 9, which means he has the opportunity to be close to these events or not, depending on his choice.
Edward's comments are excellent, very in character, really clever--but he didn't mention whether he was going to use something to light the darkness, so I can't really proceed yet.
I'll give John II the only answer to his question I think he can get in his situation; I don't know whether it will work, but that will be up to the dice when he attempts to do it.
Adam has gotten out of the pinch from Uther, but still is involved in conversation, and now must describe his fictitious homeland.
John I has probably done the right thing, letting Mekita's mind wander by leaving her alone; he gets an 8 GE roll on her thoughts. This should dispel his doubts about her intentions.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 20 2008 2:04 am # -
Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and Graeme get to play today.
I'll make a mental note that Andrew is exercising; he's not going to be here long enough for it to make much difference, but it's good to get started. Anyway, if he keeps this world interesting for a while longer, I'll bring Carl into it too, and that will give them more time to do interesting things before the inevitable--depending on how the dice go. Meanwhile, we've got to make a few more shots at fish until we do enough damage to skewer one. His chance of success here is not that good, because the tech bias on the Tropical Island is pretty low, but he's got his 1@1 SAL+2@1 BRA+an MSV that's probably around 1@7 (he has a 1@8 strength and 1@6 intuition, so only his hand/eye is missing, against the protections of a fish, which is a small target for -10 (less than two square feet, more than one and a half square feet) probably with a low agility and intuition, 1@2 TV, and a DV around 1@1. His chance to hit it is 27, but if he gets at least 20 that will be enough of a hit to pin it to the bottom. 64 is not that roll, 01 is not that roll, 40, 98--that's bad news, but I'll count this as combat, so he gets it stuck in the sand. 38, 52, 28--so close--79, 12, 58, 53, 41, 68, 82, 57, 76, 96--again, stuck in the sand--58, 28, 42, 25--finally. I'll give him a significant bonus on finishing the thing, 94 does not work, but 55 will.
Harry is looking at a 21 GE roll for the company. I seem not to have noted the particular days on which he originally learned his two practiced psi skills, but it's time to increase them, 1@3 TK Pulse P4@1 and 1@2 Telescopic Vision P5@1.
John II is conversing with Pedro on the way, and I don't want to curtail that.
Adam's imaginary city is interesting enough that I just might send him there sometime (insert appropriate emoticon here). Anyway, Uther will ask about some of the odd things he claims for it.
Graeme has arrived; we'll let him plot his course from here.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 20 2008 10:09 pm # -
I'm a bit off balance tonight, but I'll manage.
I just realized what it is: the clock on my computer has shifted an hour, and I didn't realize it. I do hope my wife wasn't late for work. I've been looking at clocks an hour apart and trying to figure out what time it is. I guess staying up late to finish that book wasn't all that good an idea. Well, it's done now. I wonder what caused the clock to change; it's not Saturday night, and it's not the last weekend in March, so I'm confused.
I'm not too confused, however, to turn my attention to Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
Andrew's day passes uneventfully, due largely to a previous GE roll and the fact that he's not doing anything particularly hazardous.
Harry is in the middle of an event that only impacts him peripherally.
Edward gets a 21 GE on his little venture behind the walls; but the demon is unlikely to be able to do anything even here. 93 says that whatever it tried did not work. Still, something is not good.
John II continues to get oriented for his battle. Blast, I forgot to answer his question about dinner. I've got to go back and do that.
Adam's conversation with Uther is probably almost finished. I think it has been enlightening, but he's the one who might have been enlightened.
John I might have insulted Ishara, but Ishara has his own way of dealing with such things. We'll see which of them actually is better, but maybe John will show himself a worthy fighter.
I expect to be here Sunday, but it is Easter, so there might be complications.
--M. J. Young
Sat Mar 22 2008 1:38 am # -
Indeed, appropriate holiday greetings to all.
Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, and John I are playing tonight.
I should roll for Andrew's cooking/survival efforts, being reminded that a failure doesn't mean he didn't cook it, only that he didn't cook it all that well (depending on how badly he fails). Of course, there's also the part about building the fire--but he made a successful wilderness survival roll a while back, and 35 is within his chance of success (which is about 37 or so, on a quick check), so this worked really well.
I see that I rolled 9 on Harry's involvement in the events, so as he goes to talk to security we'll piece together some of what happened.
I think I can answer most of John II's questions fairly easily.
Adam seems to have gotten exactly the right impression of King Uther. I'm sure he now understands why Merlin did not think it important for them to meet. Now we move forward.
John I has chosen to spar with someone who has a 106% chance minus defensive values of injuring someone with just anything he happens to find lying around--and better than that with weapons with which he is already familiar. He'd better set his groundrules carefully.
I guess I've finished tonight's posts. I'm on my way elsewhere.
--M. J. Young
Mon Mar 24 2008 2:49 am # -
I see Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I, and I'm getting started. However, just so there's no question about it, if I fall asleep at the keyboard (something I have done in the past, and this seems a likely night for me to do so again), I'm wrapping up there and coming back whenever it is I get back.
I'm inclined to shift Andrew from multiple skill checks for his spear fishing to a general effects roll. In this case, I already know that he's about 6% likely to botch, maybe 20% likely to actually spear a fish (15% to wound one), so I can pop that into the probabilities on the general effects roll--which, for those wondering, are included in Appendix 3: Dice Curves in the back of the book. 6.9% of all rolls are 24 or higher, so that will be the botch; 20.5% of rolls are 12 Good Enough or lower, so that will get him a fish, and 13.2% of rolls are 13 or 14 for a near catch. Of course, he gets to keep trying when he's in the water, which increases the chance of everything--including the botch--so barely good enough 13 will get him a fish, and bad enough 21 or worse will get him trouble. His roll is 20. I must be mindful that he has a few good days before I have to roll for conditions on the island, thanks to a previous good roll, and that this really is only day two.
Harry is trying to find ways to help the arrested crewman, and doing a decent job so far.
What I have anticipated as trouble for Edward is not at all the sort of trouble he anticipates.
If memory serves, I've been giving John II +10 on skills that can only be done in his home base. That means that if I remove that part, and I then have 1@1 Bless up to 150 weapons to increase damage against demons M+1@3 kneel and pray with appropriate words over chosen weapons to confer +DC on all weapons so blessed for use in next battle with demons, it's -12 SM. Given his 11@7 bias, that's not going to hinder him much on learning it, particularly as I'll also give him his own example as a 1@3 example. He rolls 90, which will work this time and give him 1@3 SAL at this.
I'm concerned about the possibility of things happening in Adam's world, but a 9 GE says that only good things happen tonight.
We'll give a time and place to John I's dea--er, sparring match with an assassin, and go from there.
--M. J. Young
Tue Mar 25 2008 6:27 am # -
I have Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I in play.
I'm surprised that Andrew didn't bite on Michael's strange look, but that's not a problem, and it was only for color. Meanwhile, he'll be doing several things this week. One is building that shelter, for which a 22 check on his survival skill is quite adequate for what he intends. One is he's searching for another fresh water source, 17 being a neutral roll which I think will give him one pretty far from here. This time his GE roll on the fishing is 10, and he's covering several days with it. He gets a 15 GE roll on his remaining time here.
I love the interactivity of this game. I started with "character arrested for crime". Harry asked questions, and as the questions and answers flow, the nature of the situation comes into focus. I now know what happened, because of Harry's investigations.
Edward misinterpretted his scene, but he has company to put him right.
John II gets a good solid day of travel, thanks to an 11 GE roll.
Adam on the other hand gets a 23 GE on his day.
I can't resist teasing John I at least a bit here, but I do need to know his plans before the sparring event all the same.
Hey, wow, I'm done.
--M. J. Young
Wed Mar 26 2008 12:55 am # -
Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I are tonight's players--plus me, once I get that far.
Andrew is watching the volcano and washing clothes. That doesn't give me too much to do, although I can answer his question. I should also do another GE roll on the volcano: 10 stretches our time significantly once again.
Harry continues to investigate, and he's got some solid leads already.
John II is doing a bit of asset restructuring.
I've some very clear ideas in my head concerning how Merlin teaches magic. One of the first things he does with those who already know some magic is get them to teach everything they know--to him, or to someone. This will cause them to understand their own magic better, and lay the foundation for learning more. So Adam is going to spend some time teaching Geneice all his magic and psionic skills. Don't worry, I'll reward him--a couple of skill marks in teaching, and marks in every skill he teaches, as I think that in this case figuring out how to teach someone else while under Merlin's supervision is a "new use" of the skill in a completely unexpected way.
Graeme rolls 19 on a simple check against his 2@3 education level (bonused, too, because he is an engineer) as he examines the scriff bullet. I'm really curious what he's going to say to this.
John I wants to do his out-of-body scrying to get a bead on what Ishara does in preparation for the fight. He rolls 80, but over the course of a day he'll have more than one chance--but on the other hand, he doesn't know when Ishara will be training, so if the skill works he still needs a GE roll for finding the guy and figuring what he's doing. 36 will work, as he has a 59% chance of success, but 24 says this was a bad time. We get a 33 later, with a 23 GE. Again later he rolls 39, with a 20 GE. I've rolled once more, 97, but that will be a botch, and I don't know if John would do one more attempt or not, so I'm going to ask him.
I'm gone.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 27 2008 12:32 am # -
I am surprised. I was not that late yesterday, nor am I that early today, yet I have only Harry, John II, and John I posting in that gap. This makes for a relatively short game, but not an unenjoyable one.
Harry seems fairly clear in his mind that this is a frame-up, but uncertain what steps to take next. That's all right--I can put some steps in front of him.
John II needs a decent GE roll to get a gold merchant around who can sell him gold. He gets a 9, which is good but not great. I bit of research on diamonds gives me a handle on some of his questions.
I am content that John I did not peek back here to see that his "one more try" would be a botch. Now I need a botch list:
- Wrong target
- Brain burn
- Neural breakdown
- Sensory shutdown
- Psionic shockwave
- Teleport self
- Hypersensitized senses
- Parallel universe view
It will be interesting to see what he does with that.
--M. J. Young
Thu Mar 27 2008 9:35 pm # -
Thanks, John, but actually Edward was not there when I opened all the threads and started answering them--it just took me longer to finish my first post than it took him to get posted. Today, after I get through Andrew and Harry, I'll turn my attention to Edward, then John II, then Adam, and finally John I. That's going to be slow going, though--already I've been asked to divert resources to some other errand.
I've had people build rafts before, but I'm not at all certain what it is that Andrew is thinking. Trees and vines he has aplenty, although larger fallen ones near the beach might require a bit of luck; so will finding a reef offshore, and that will require a bit more than just a bit of luck, since islands in this world don't last all that long. 17 is his first GE roll, which puts his fallen trees inland quite a bit. He gets a 13, barely good enough, for the reef, which puts things in a different perspective.
Harry wants to talk to the captain; he's got a 19 GE roll in what are admittedly difficult circumstances.
I'll give Edward his door; he'll have to figure out what to do with it himself.
John II engages in some financial transactions, which we'll resolve.
Adam might not have the patience to go through his skills in-game, but I have to do it anyway, because I have to roll for Geneice, so we'll take it apace. The first on his list is 1@4 Read Surface Thoughts P1@1, and Geneice has no psi bias at this point, but a 2@3 BRA, the benefit of Adam's teaching and example, and a roll of 16, which gives her a 1@1 in the same skill and kicks her bias up to 1@1 for the next trick. That's a 1@4 Invisibility P1@5. The roll is 54, and while I think that will be successful, I want to check the numbers: 1@1 bias+2@3 BRA+1@4 example+(2@9/2) instructor BRA+3@5 teaching skill+15@ world bias-1@4 target bias=why am I bothering with the math, she has a 1@2 SAL.
Next is his 1@2 Jedi Mind Trick P1@5 suggestion requires that the suggested thoughts/actions be voiced in hearing of the target +10SM for which she rolls 63, another 1@2 SAL. I'm going to have to get some feedback before we move to the next skill.
I suppose I could rule that John II's loss of all sensation is a mind or brain disorder, curable by a P6@8 skill; but then, he has not attempted to diagnose the cause of the problem, merely to cure it directly--and that strongly suggests the P14@2 curatives by fiat. That fits John's personality better, anyway, and if he can manage it he'll have upped his bias and given himself a very powerful skill in the process. I'm resisting the urge to roll until I've crafted the numbers, although perhaps I ought to ask some questions. His bias is 7@4, his BRA is 2@3, he gets +15 for the world area bias, and we're looking at 112 against 142, he needs thirty more points before he's got no chance at all. However, let me ask him those questions.
Let me also get a few more things done and get to bed.
--M. J. Young
Mon Mar 31 2008 1:49 am # -
If I miss someone tonight, scold me soundly; it is exactly the sort of night on which I could miss someone--lots of threads, half of them not gameplay, and I'm late and it's tired, as they say. However, I have identified Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I as having posted by the time I opened this board, so I'm going to attempt to be coherent as I address these posts. I might not make it tomorrow, as I have a rather oversized errand scheduled, but I'm going to make the attempt at least.
Andrew swims; I'll put him down as a 1@9 amateur, Limb-assisted Swimming B1@2. A quick calculation gives me an island perimeter.
Harry continues his investigation.
Edward has addressed his airflow problem, but still has the securing of the door (if he's not satisfied with what's there), and some thoughts on the path ahead.
I don't need to roll to determine whether this town in which John II finds himself happens to have a blacksmith; this is a bigger town, and it would have all the ordinary services.
Adam is teaching Geneice how to do a possession, and she rolls 27; but that means he makes a simple will power check to counter it, 12+3=15, and his will power is considerably more potent than that. She learns it, 1@1 Possession P1@10 resisted with will power RS=S/D/N, but she doesn't actually succeed in grabbing control of him. The lessons will continue, but they are working on two levels, so it's time for Merlin to ask some questions.
John I has no chance at all of pulling off a "fiat" sort of healing; the question is whether 79 is a botch. That would require that his chance of failure be above 210%, which it isn't, so that's all right.
I'm almost done, and might even get to bed tonight.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 1 2008 7:29 am # -
Despite my missed day, I have but four players, and not even all the most active ones. Andrew opens, John II continues, Adam attends, and John I bats cleanup.
Did I roll for reefs yet? My recollection is that I did not, because I wished first to know what Andrew was doing about looking for them. No, there's the roll in my notes--13, barely good enough. He'll be looking for a while. He's also started building the raft, which I think is not really part of his survival skill, so we've got to extrapolate a bit.
John II needs a GE roll for what is written on the coins. They might, of course, be South African, as those were popular for a while; 13 is Barely Good Enough, so he'll get something close to what he wants.
I have neglected to do something which I fully intend to do: as Adam teaches Geneice each skill, his own ability improves in that skill by one mark. He also gets a mark in Teaching, but that makes it 3@5 Teaching P0@1 +1m so it's not going to make that much difference. The other skills are now:
- 1@5 Read Surface Thoughts P1@1
1@5 Invisibility P1@5
1@3 Jedi Mind Trick P1@5 suggestion requires that the suggested thoughts/actions be voiced in hearing of the target +10SM
1@3 Possession P1@10 resisted with will power RS=S/D/NWe'll continue with the clairsentient/detect skills.
- 33 gives Geneice 1@1 Detect Life P3@1, and raises Adam to 1@3 Detect Life P3@1
- 84 gives her 1@3 Clairaudience P3@5 and raises his to 1@4
- 60 gives her 1@2 Clairvoyance P3@6 and raises his SAL to 1@5
- 04 gives her 1@1 Remote Sensory Presence P3@10 and raises him to 1@4.
That's quite a bit of teaching for a stretch. There's more to come, of course, but this is a good chunk.
John I still sounds like he's trying to fix things by fiat, but I could be mistaken. I'm not at all certain what he means by what he says.
But he can clear that up in time for tomorrow's game, I expect, and I'll see you all then, Lord willing.
--M. J. Young
Wed Apr 2 2008 9:39 pm # -
I seem to have a substantial gathering here today--Harry and Edward both of whom missed me yesterday, John II and Adam both of whom are good at bouncing back for the next post, Graeme who has been terribly busy elsewhere of late, and John I who is very worried about his situation.
I'm thinking that Harry needs a GE roll for whether they spot the girl. If it's very bad they're clueless, but if it's only bad a difficult intuition check would probably point them to someone they recognize as having been with the girl, and if it's moderately good a simple intuition check would spot the girl or someone who can connect them. Only a particularly good roll would mean they quickly recognize the girl. 16 is right in the middle, so I'm giving a simple intuition check for spotting someone who knows the girl. 4+2=6, well within anyone's intuition.
I've a rough idea of the layout of a confessional, so I'll give a description of this one to Edward and let him think through his next move.
John II is trying to come up with a plan, hampered by the fact that his companion is not willing to lie for him.
Adam continues teaching Geneice, with an 82 on the TK pulse which gives her 1@3 Simple Telekinetic Pulse P4@1 and raises his skill to 1@4. 85 gives her 1@3 Out-of-Sight TK P4@3 and again raises him to 1@4. The roll of 60 makes it 1@2 Marionette P4@6 and again raises his SAL to 1@4.
Graeme has stepped into the heart of the weapons program, and challenged it quite reasonably. Let's see if he can put their doubts to rest.
John I's new approach is much more like a 6@8 curative, and so he has a much better chance of success--+7@4+2@3+15-6@8=40%. The first try, on his vision, will not succeed with a roll of 85, but he has four other senses, so we will roll again for hearing, 98, which is a botch again. Poor John is having a lot of trouble; but maybe he's finished with this world, and I can dream up some other adventures for him. Let's get a botch list:
- Neural Breakdown
- Hypersensitization
- Brain Burn
- Psionic Shockwave
- Injure self
- Connect to wrong hearing (Miralla)
- Misconnect sensory paths--hearing to imaging
Let's see how long it takes for him to figure out what's happening.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 3 2008 8:49 pm # -
johnosevens
MemberSo John 1 psi-botched and is now hearing through someone else's ears?
See that's the kind of thing I'm thinking of when somebody produces something really awesome on a botch and makes you think "I'd like to be able to do that on purpose". Kinda like my 1@1 Microscopic Vision P5@1.
Fri Apr 4 2008 7:28 am # -
Yeah, well, that's actually not that tough to do on purpose. Keep it in mind if you find yourself in a situation where it would work--but remember, you can't use John's botch as an example (although he could), because you were never aware of it.
Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I are all awaiting my attention.
20 is a success for Andrew's 1@1 Build Small Boat T3@1 skill, and it gives him something of a working vessel with a week's work. He also gets a 16 GE on the volcano.
Harry has made some progress in his investigation. Let's see what he does with it.
I'm watching Edward's use of the plasma cannon for a botch, and 73 is not that, so I'm not going to worry about it more than that. I'm curious as to what's happened in his absence myself, and a GE of 20 suggests that it's just bad enough--but given the limitations on the enemy, I'm not sure how back that is. A roll of 75 is going to fail at anything it might attempt, and so is an 89, so I'll guess that things are not significantly changed--except perhaps for that feeling a place has. By now the enemy will be attempting to whittle down the defenses, but those rolls aren't going to do it.
John II has put his plan in place.
Adam continues to teach Geneice. She rolls 43 on the burn resistance, a solid roll for a 1@1 Resist Burn Damage P5@1. He goes to 1@5, and she is not injured. A roll of 15 is less effective, but still gives her the 1@1 Resist Kinetic Damage P5@1 and raises him to 1@4, although she'll feel it. He's got a damaging punch thanks to his 2@ Strike Value, and he rolls 23, so she's going to reduce that roll to 8, which is still an intensity of damage. 31 does the 1@1 Microscopic Vision P5@1 and raises his to 1@3.
She rolls 03 on learning the 1@1 Diagnose Medical Problem P6@1, as he moves to 1@3; 27 is the roll for 1@1 Heal Damage to Self B6@1, and he moves to 1@4.
More next time on that.
I don't want to keep Graeme from saying or doing anything else, because I can see there being a moment of silence and then discussion of what to do next--but I can't really tell him not to say anything during their moment of silence, so we'll bounce the ball back to him for now.
John I has not yet realized that he does not have his own hearing back, so he's continuing with smell, 88, failure, taste, 94, not a botch (6% is 95 or higher), and touch, 35, the first success, and the acquisition of the skill, 1@1 Restore Damaged Sensory Paths P6@8. This means he has a new chance to try those he failed, 1@1 SAL+2@3 BRA+2x7@ bias=48%, and he rolls 28. He's got his sight back and a skill mark making 1@2 SAL in the skill for a new use. He also should discover at this point that he's not hearing what he thinks he's hearing.
Let's see what he does with that.
--M. J. Young
Sat Apr 5 2008 2:51 am # -
Right. You can't use the fact that there was a transmute option on the botch table as an example, because it never happened. That doesn't mean you can't ask yourself whether this is something you can do, and trying to figure out how you would do it, but that's true of just about any skill you can imagine.
Harry heads up today's list, Edward adds something, John II jumps forward, Adam addresses his situation, Graeme goes in the penultimate position, and John I generates our conclusion.
I know what I think would be the situation with Miranda, but I should give him the benefit of the GE roll: 16 puts it in the no effect category, so I know what's happening but the girls do not.
Edward is certainly right about night vigils being long, and boring. This one has held my interest, but I'm hoping we can bring it to an end. My GE roll is 18, that Not Favorable Result that is just over the edge from neutral. I'll go with that, and Eric's imminent success with this skill (despite the fact that the blaster has not been fired continuously), and roll the dice for daybreak: 02 is going to make a very slight difference. Eric had packed a couple of damage category bonuses into this, but we'll give everyone a couple of intensities of healing.
I can't see Pedro using any of John II's weapons. Also, although I can imagine a magic that would repair the exploding spears as soon as they've done their damage, that's a very powerful magic, and I can't imagine that Pedro could imagine it. It may be up to John to decide whether that's something he can do.
Adam has two energy-manipulative skills in his psionic arsenal, so those will be next on the list to each Geneice. 45 gives her 1@1 Pyrogenesis P7@4 and raises his SAL to 1@3; 16 gives her 1@1 Redirect Energy P7@6 and again raises him to 1@3. He then skips a level again, and that will catch Merlin's attention.
Graeme gets a long conversation about the politics of this world.
John is going to attempt to heal his hearing again, having botched on an attempt to heal his hearing. 28 will work, even with a penalty.
I've got to turn my attention to my own game, but I've also got some errands being stacked on me, so I'm not sure how to fit everything in to the time that remains.
--M. J. Young
Mon Apr 7 2008 12:18 am # -
Andrew is back again, along with Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
Andrew needs another GE roll for the situation on his island: 13 is barely good enough.
Harry has an idea, but I'm not sure what it is.
I need to get Edward to make some plans and decisions. Eric is right; to this point, the stronger character has been calling the shots, and it's necessary for the player to take over the action.
I see now what John II is after: it's not necessary for him that the shotgun shells would be reusable, only that the spear frames would. This is a tricky bit of a prayer, but I think fortunately I don't really have to know whether it works until he uses it in combat. Thus I will ask him to describe the prayer in detail, and I will save the details for some future moment when it matters. As I do with Graeme's language comp spells, I'll roll for whether it works when the thing actually happens.
I'm rolling for whether Adam succeeds in using the molecular manipulation skills, because a botch in these circumstances could be very serious--he has reached the level of psionic ability where a mistake can destroy the world. He rolls 46 on the weaken molecular structure skill, which will work. She rolls 32 on learning it, so she has a 1@1 Weaken Molecular Structure P9@1, and his increases to 1@2. Now he tries the strengthen skill, 86 probably does not work--he has a 60% chance to succeed on a 1@1 skill, which is quite good but not quite good enough. 89, 79, 29 finally is successful. She rolls 37, and so picks it up again, 1@1 Strengthen Molecular Structure P9@2, his going to 1@2. That leaves only the force shield. He rolls 23, she rolls 89, that means she's picked it up as 1@3 Force Shield P10@1 fixed to self, five foot curved shell forward, one-way kinetic protection, while his is raised to 1@2. He's still better at it than she is, because his 2@9 BRA gives him six points over her 2@3, so her one point advantage in the SAL means he's got a 5% better chance of success.
That also finishes his psionics. He probably needs to teach Geneice something about religion, something about magic, in order for her to do what he does in that realm.
John I is going to use his new skill in restoring damaged sensory paths to fix his olfaction and gustation; he has a 50% chance of success at this point, so 55 does not work for the smell; 03 works for the taste, raising his SAL to 1@4 for new use and giving him changed circumstances for going back to try the sense of smell again, 35 successful. His SAL is now 1@5, and he'll have to think of some clever new uses if he wants to continue improving it that way.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 8 2008 4:21 am # -
I have Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I. Probably if I'd gotten here just a bit later, I'd also have had a post in my own game thread--but I'll enjoy the games I'm running, I'm sure.
Walter will agree with Harry, because that makes the game more interesting. There was already a GE roll of 16 on this a couple posts back, so I already know how that search is going to go. Just because I know what the search reveals doesn't mean that how it's done is unimportant.
I think John II might have made a serious mistake: let him ask in faith without wavering. That is, if he is going to ask God whether it worked, that's a direct expression of doubt, a lack of faith, and a penalty on whether it will have worked in the first place. However, he does require me to figure out whether it would work under these conditions. He wants a blessing that will prevent the frame from being damaged by the blast; that sounds to me like a sort of harden against blast change in the materials--such that it will not bend when the shell blasts, but will bend when he wants to secure the next shell. The spell would strengthen it such that if the damage roll for the blast is not greater than the success roll of the spell, no damage will be done to the frame or spear (except on a botch). That would be a M3@5 Pseudo-Transmute, which has a baseline time of 30:00 with an RS minutes duration. He wants the change to be permanent, but he doesn't need it to be so; he needs it to last several days, though, and that's going to cost. He also needs it to work based on 10:00 prayer, which means -13 for cutting in half and cutting another third. Six doublings of the duration will make roughly an hour (64:00), which is -60. Against this, he has +15 total body involvement, and +5 appropriate words, which means the internal sit-mod for this skill, for one spear, is -53, and there's -35 for the bias for learning it, and -10 for his clear expression of doubt -98 total.
We put this we put his 2@2 BRA+11@7 bias+15@ world bias+9 for religion+10 for alliance magic in an alliance world+10 for being on a divinely-appointed mission (an angel sent him, which is close enough to God for my purposes). That's 173 in his favor for learning it, 173-98=75% chance of success. He rolls 43, which is a success on the first spear, 1@1 Strengthen Object Against Blast M+3@6 kneel and pray appropriate words with hands folded, 10:00TF, success roll is threshold of damage roll of blast that can be withstood undamaged by object strengthened, -53SM. However, the second spear has no chance of success, I think--or at least, I need to crunch the numbers afresh, because now he is doing a skill he already knows. His 2@2 BRA+2x11@ bias+1@1 SAL+9 for religion+10 for alliance+10 for mission-10 for doubt=74-53=21% chance of the second skill working (considerably better than I'd anticipated), and his roll is 38, the second spell does not work.
He still needs to describe how he is going to ask God about the success or failure of the skill, so we'll deal with that next time.
Adam is going to teach Geneice the basics of his religion. His religion is very basic as it is, 1@1 SAL, but his teaching ability is strong and so is her learning ability. 24 is a success, but it reflects an investment of considerable time. I don't have a religion SAL for Geneice, but she's probably a below average amateur Roman Catholic. This is going to lead to a very difficult discussion. Also, it's not as if Adam is expert in his faith--he's not going to overwhelm her with his knowledge of such matters. I'll have to be careful playing Geneice. On the one hand, she's heavily indoctrinated in the Catholic doctrine; on the other hand, she's an amateur, and doesn't understand most of what she thinks she believes. I don't know that Adam wants this discussion in the midst of the teaching session, but he's got two days during which he will either convert Geneice to his faith or strengthen her in her own--after I see his arguments, I'll modify a persuasion versus will power contest to suit.
Graeme is also in the midst of discussion, and learning quite a bit that might help him with the puzzle.
I'm going to get John I to do the legwork of recounting the rules of the game, that is, the fight he is having with Ishara, rather than trying to put it all together myself.
With that, I've supper to serve and more to do elsewhere.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 8 2008 10:44 pm # -
John, we'll take up your question in the new thread Beginner's Luck.
I'm a bit worn tonight, but let's push forward. Andrew, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I are tonight's guests.
Andrew is continuing his routine, but running out of time.
John II wants his angel to volunteer information; first, though, he has to do this spell successfully. Also, there is some confusion; I'll have to clarify it.
I'm keeping the conversation going with Adam and Geneice, because I want to give him the chance to persuade her or to change his mind. It will be interesting to see where this religious disagreement takes them.
Graeme asks an excellent question, and exactly the sort of question his informant will find shocking.
All right, it's time for me to establish some parameters for Ishara, as his sparring with John I begins. I already have some key numbers:
- MSV 2@7
Bod BRA 2@9
Bod bias 7@He will know a fast aggressive punch style. I have four of these already designed. I will eliminate Von Dom and Weissgarten Variant because they are weapon utilizing and thus limited to two attacks. As betweeen Teraka and Mitzu Frenzy, the latter hits harder and has a few very effective tactical maneuvers that would appeal to Ishara. I'll thus go with that. He will have:
- 2@8 Mitzu Frenzy B7@1 fast aggressive weapon-adverse punch Att x3 +5 att SM +10 Att dam mod -5 def SM
- 2@6 Fake B7@2
- 2@4 Solid Punch B7@3
- 2@2 Power Punch B7@3
- 2@1 Stunning Strike B7@7
- 2@1 Blinding Strike B7@7
His chance of activating the style is 71%, if he's not doing it as an attack. He rolls 23.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 10 2008 2:04 am # -
It looks to me like we've got some really good games going here, with Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I, not to mention me.
Andrew is trying to beat the volcano, and his efforts are valiant; he's doubled his workload to attempt to do this. He also keeps getting good GE rolls--9 this time, which will forestall the volcano long enough for him to find what he seeks. His raft building efforts require skill checks: 88 fails, 62 fails, and with a 0@25 world tech bias, 2@1 BRA, and 1@1 SAL, 35 also fails, and 40, 61, 66, 80--a week's worth of efforts.
Harry continues his search, unsuccessfully.
John II rolls 81 on his effort to learn this new skill--but it's not hopeless. The skill would be Communicate with Deity M+7@7 10:00 TF kneeling with hands folded by bed, appropriate words asking questions, 5:00 worth of answers concurrent with second half of prayer, +30SM, and he's got his 11@7 bias, 2@2 BRA, 15@ world bias, +9 religion, +10 alliance world bonus, +10 quest bonus, and a 1@1 example for the similar skill he's already learned, against the 7@7 bias of the new skill and -10 penalty for lack of faith. It's a 137% chance of success, so he has this new skill at 1@3.
Meanwhile, 25 is a solid success for the mind reading, which is all he can do; 25 is a bad GE roll for what he can learn.
Adam versus Geneice in a comparitive persuasion against will power check, and Adam rolls 37, which is not going to fly so her will power check doesn't matter.
Graeme continues his fascinating and informative conversation.
John I rolls 52 on getting into style; 2@4 BRA+2x10@ bias+2@3 SAL makes that an easy and comfortable success. Interestingly, both styles spend points on damage modifiers, which will not be useful in the present combat. He does not have style recognition, although he does have attack analysis. He can't use it until he's seen at least one attack, though.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 10 2008 9:35 pm # -
Harry, John II, Adam, and Graeme are today's players.
Harry continues his search for a while.
John II wraps up his conversation with God and turns his attention back to the practical problems.
Adam has come to a resolution with Geneice, and I think we'll increase his religion SAL to 1@2 while marking hers now at 1@5.
Graeme has some questions for the gods, I think.
--M. J. Young
Sat Apr 12 2008 12:26 am # -
I have Andrew returning, along with Harry, Edward, John II, and Adam.
Andrew is doing something with the bamboo I don't think you can do with bamboo, but I'll give him the chance to defend his viewpoint. However, he's also going to swim and dig, swim and dig--36 on the swim, 57 on the knife use, which in this low bias world is not going to work for a 1@5 SAL.
Harry has overlooked the fact that he's already mostly solved the case. If he can persuade the police that they need to find this girl, the police have a much better chance of finding a known troublemaker than they do.
Edward is playing it by ear, and so am I, so for the moment we're going to have to take a step back and see whether either of us can hear the music.
I probably should just move John II to the palace gate, but then I don't want to rush him if he has something else he wants to do first.
I'm going to ask Adam to flesh out his classwork a bit, so I have a better image of how he is approaching these skills. Magic is distinctly different from psionics, with different dangers and different advantages. Let's see what he does.
I think I am finished here for tonight.
--M. J. Young
Mon Apr 14 2008 1:13 am # -
I find myself hopping from one thing to another. Let me try to get focused on Andrew, then Harry, then Edward, then John II, then Adam, then John I--I'm becoming unfocused already.
Whether Andrew is teaching himself a new skill or using one he knows will make a difference to his chance of success, so let me float the question his direction.
I think that Harry should be able to settle this by telling the police of the involvement of Miranda--but I should include a GE roll on that. 16 is neutral result, so they're not going to release their prisoner as soon as her name is mentioned, but they are going to investigate that.
I'm going to once again nudge control of the story back toward Edward. It is not, of course, the story I'd expected would be told, but it's an interesting story all the same, and he might have some ideas of where to take it.
John II gets a 19 GE roll. That's going to create some minor problems, but won't be thwarting.
In response to Adam's teaching, Geneice rolls 01 on her first magic skill, and so adds 1@1 Receive Assurance M1@1 One minute of prayer asking confirmation that St. Paul is listening, eyes closed, grants inner assurance. Adam advances to 1@2 in the similar skill. The next skill has a few complications. First, she has no holy symbol; it occurred to me that the unspecified jewelry in the box given to her by Adam might include such a thing, but a GE of 26 says it doesn't. Assuming it works, the skill will be Bonus Nature-based Magical Attacks M+1@4 raise holy symbol with either hand while saying "We have tried to make peace with brothers, they refuse and want bloodshed, grant me God's power to call upon His subjects the Sun and the Sky to grant me powers of nature strike down with the force of your anger. Paul, grant my prayer, and let the Sun and Sky grant me the power over nature itself, and strike upon our enemies, with the power of primal fury", will only work if an effort at settlement has been attempted, SM=RS/5 for all magical attacks which rely on natural elements, RS minutes effect. +5SM. But we'll have to get the holy symbol problem settled before we can roll--if she has no such holy symbol, we'll have to redesign the skill.
John I certainly gets credit for innovative solutions, although in truth he's not the first player in my games to attempt to use psionics in a martial arts battle when he is uncertain of his ability to win. The roll is 50, and he's got a 2@3 BRA, but he's never lifted anything this heavy (other than himself) so he's going to have to do this as a skill learning check. His bias is 7@4, he's got no example or anything else to help him, but this is a targeted attack on a person. That means he also gets his 1@8 RSV, and +15 for the world psi bias, but that it goes against the 4@3 targeted skill bias and Ishara's defensive value which will be his 2@3 TV--and Ishara gets a resistance save to fight it. The positives come to 130, the negatives to 66, and that means the 50 is a good roll; it's not 51, so it's a simple check against a 2@7 resistance, 6+20=26, a solid success.
Meanwhile, John rolls 01 on steal initiative; it's a skill Ishara does not have weaponless, so John has the initiative.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 15 2008 6:06 am # -
John II is first on today's lineup, followed by Adam and John I.
John II has asked that I not tell him whether his prayer worked until it matters. That's easy to do--I just don't roll it until then. However, I should at least construct the ritual, so I have a basis for determining whether or not it works when it comes.
That he is keeping his right hand on the 9mm and his attention on the room means that there is little body involvement in this prayer--and he did not specify that there was any. The spoken component is "God, please, bless the shotgun shells so that they will only detonate when striking a demon, or any other servant of Satan, or inanimate objects. I offer myself as the first test of this. I won't stay dead, Pedro will. However, I pray in faith that you will grant this to me. I will admit I am nervous about it. Perhaps my faith isn't as strong as it should be. But I ask in faith that you grant what I am asking. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray, Amen." The object being enspelled cannot be the material component; there are, however, a few quirks that have to be considered. One of them is whether he is creating a magic device or simply putting a temporary charm on something--and I'll go with the latter, since the former does not seem his intent and is an extremely difficult skill. Another is exactly what he is charming. These would indicate different levels of difficulty, because if he is charming one thing or one thing to charm another or many things are all a bit different. I see +5 for appropriate words, -10 for single element.
There is a second skill here, to communicate to Pedro, but I'm going to hold off on that one.
Adam makes a cogent argument that a young Italian Roman Catholic would have a piece of religious jewelry, and I buy it sufficiently to give him a GE roll for that (and he's right--the other roll was specifically for whether there was such an item among the undescribed jewelry he gave her, so it would not apply to whether she had such an item among her personal possessions before they married). 16 is a no-effect roll, and his argument is sufficient to say that such a woman would have one as the default, so she has it.
Her learning roll is 68, which means I'm going to have to check on her ability to learn magic skills when taught by Adam. We have a 1@1 bias now, thanks to the learning of the other skill, +8 for religion, +2@5 BRA, +3@5 teaching SAL, +13 for half the instructor's 2@6 BRA, a 1@3 SAL example, and +15 for the world bias, all against a 1@4 skill, which is an easy success, 1@2 Bonus Nature-based Magical Attacks M+1@4 raise holy symbol with either hand while saying "We have tried to make peace with brothers, they refuse and want bloodshed, grant me God's power to call upon His subjects the Sun and the Sky to grant me powers of nature strike down with the force of your anger. Paul, grant my prayer, and let the Sun and Sky grant me the power over nature itself, and strike upon our enemies, with the power of primal fury", will only work if an effort at settlement has been attempted, SM=RS/5 for all magical attacks which rely on natural elements, RS minutes effect. +5SM. His skill advances to 1@4.
The cure skill would be Limited Damage Cure M2@1 1:00 prayer to Paul while holding holy symbol and mentioning Jesus' healings. The roll is 89, so her SAL is also 1@3.
Adam wants to use some poison ivy or similar toxin for a disease; it's on the line between poison and disease, but I'll give him that it's a disease. The problem is whether he can find such a plant. He has a 16 GE roll, and has to deal with the question of whether Merlin would have cleared such nuisance plants from the areas in which he lives and works.
John I has another notion: create a P10@1 force wall around his target so that the man is trapped. This avoids the problem of Ishara resisting the power, but it gives the man a different escape. First, though, is whether it works. John's bias is 7@4; the target skill is 10@1. He gets +15 for the world bias, and his BRA is 2@3. That gives him an 11% chance to do this, which is pretty slim, unless he has something in his favor he's not mentioned. I'll wait for his response before rolling.
--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 15 2008 8:17 pm # -
Be glad you didn't come in last month. It used to be green.
But hey, on that note, welcome back! I've still got your jewels, in case you were wondering.
Wed Apr 16 2008 7:00 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberOh yeah!! Hey, Oak, how's it going? I don't know if you were there for this, but I really went nuts over the money The Architect left. I'm sorry about that. I'm 2 worlds later, and I realize what an ass I was. (I mean I just traded a ring that cost me $200 for a 10 pound block of pure gold and 10 pounds of pure silver.) Man, too bad you can't do that in real life....
Wed Apr 16 2008 8:42 pm # -
Scott, that was so we could all say to each other, "It's green," and wink knowingly that we are so deeply immersed in geek culture that we know that reference.
Andrew opens, and Edward, and then John Oakmaster--who is John III in our system (and too bad John Mastick didn't post, or we'd have all four Johns at once), and then John II, Adam, and John I. Good to have you back, John. And no, Harry, I am not calling you John.
Having listed a skill for Andrew, I now have to roll for it: 53 is not going to work in this low tech bias. And finally I get a 20 GE roll, so things are going to start happening.
Edward wants to find out whence Godzilla came, and do something about whoever's responsible, but doesn't want to raise a rebellion. That will be interesting.
John III rolls 06 on making a quarterstaff. I see he already has a 1@1 Make Striking Weapons T3@1 skill, so he's made another.
I don't think I can give John II full body involvement for sitting while praying, even if he says he has to be sitting. That's stretching the point a bit too much. I will give him both hands and points for head bowed and eyes closed, +8 for commitment of both hands, head, and eyes closed. If he is blessing all of the shells, though, that's going to be a bit of a burden. As for the length of the prayer, he is praying until something interrupts him, and an 18 GE roll is not favorable but very near the middle, so he'll have a good stretch of time.
Adam also pulls an 18 GE roll, in his hope of finding Poison Ivy nearby.
John I rolls 79 on his attempt to teach himself psionic force field creation. Not happening. I suppose Ishara ought to move at this point, but I'll hold that for next time.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 17 2008 4:07 am # -
Oak
MemberScott, that was so we could all say to each other, "It's green," and wink knowingly that we are so deeply immersed in geek culture that we know that reference.
ROFL!!! :)
Andrew opens, and Edward, and then John Oakmaster--who is John III in our system (and too bad John Mastick didn't post, or we'd have all four Johns at once), and then John II, Adam, and John I. Good to have you back, John.
Many thanks! It is good to be had... :p
Thu Apr 17 2008 4:43 am # -
Oak
MemberBut hey, on that note, welcome back! I've still got your jewels, in case you were wondering.
Many thanks! Just FedEx 'em right on over, 'k? ;)
Oh yeah!! Hey, Oak, how's it going? I don't know if you were there for this, but I really went nuts over the money The Architect left. I'm sorry about that.
No worries -- I saw which way the wind was going to blow, and made certain that I had already safely taken refuge with the (relatively safer) Men In Black before the storm broke... :p
Thu Apr 17 2008 4:47 am # -
No worries -- I saw which way the wind was going to blow, and made certain that I had already safely taken refuge with the (relatively safer) Men In Black before the storm broke... :p
So you say, but I think we all remember who versed out first.
Thu Apr 17 2008 7:35 am # -
It starts with a brief word from Harry, then counting down a detailed post from John III, two from John II, and finally John I.
Harry has solved his mystery, and the ship now will resume its journey. It will have cost them an extra day, but that's not bad in the scheme of things.
For John III's healing prayers I'm going to need more information. For his construct long bow and make arrows skills, it's pretty straightforward, and he certainly has people available to show him how it's done. For a computer scientist, 87 is a successful roll for 1@3 Make Bow T2@1, and a roll of 92 is going to give him 1@3 Make Arrows T3@1.
John II is attempting to enspel 44 shotgun shells and one spear. Also, he has made some statements that are going to get him into trouble if he doesn't correct them.
Since John I wants to review his character sheet for his next actions, and I have that sheet here and he is visiting us today, I'll print a copy for him and let him review it before taking the next move.
--M. J. Young
Thu Apr 17 2008 8:53 pm # -
Harry, Edward, John III, John II, and Adam are waiting, and I think I have enough time to reach them all.
Harry returns to routine, and all's quiet for a while.
Edward has a plan, and it's a good one, although I envision it taking him in some unanticipated directions.
I think I'm ready to crunch the numbers for John III's prayers. The first is a one-hour preparatory bonus to healing skill, something in a M+1@4 bonus checks. The baseline says 1:00 TF, RS minutes duration, RS/5 bonus to skill checks for groups of related skills possibly all mag skills. We will limit it to magic healing skills, giving +10 for that limitation. If the duration is RSx15 minutes and the TF is 1:00:00, that means that we're going to increase the TF sixty times but the duration 60/4 times, and we can set these against each other such that there are two more doublings of the TF than there are of the duration, a cumulative difference of +20 to his chance of success. He specifies appropriate words +5, singing +3, and since he reads from the bible he must have a Bible in a language he can read, +5. That makes the internal sit-mod +43. There is no doubt that someone with a 12@ bias can learn a 1@ skill if there aren't serious penalties, and in this case it's all bonuses, so the roll is merely to find the SAL: 37 means 1@1 Bonus Healing Magic M+1@4 RS/5 bonus to all magic healing skills performed in the next RSx15 minutes, requires reading aloud from a bible and singing and praying with appropriate words for 1:00:00, +43SM. This first time his bonus lasts eight and a quarter hours, and provides +8 on his chance of success on all such skills in that time.
I need, however, to know how many sick people they will visit today, so I know how many times he is going to attempt this healing skill. The roll is six; that's an incredibly good GE roll, so I think I'll have to talk with him about this.
John II is giving me grief about having to say what he means and mean what he says when he prays. I'm going to respond in kind. I'm also going to roll to see how long he spends in prayer, and with an 18 GE roll I'll make it half an hour. I don't know whether that's sufficient to bless all forty-five objects in the manner he requests, but I don't need to know until he does something with them.
Adam gets a smile from me, but I'm still concerned about whether he is protected against the poison ivy he intends to use to infect Geneice.
Sorry this took so long. It seems that my computer clock keeps jumping an hour, and I can't figure why (unless--could it be correcting itself to some online clock? that would be particularly irritating). Thus I thought I had more time before church than I actually had, and when I realized it I had to run.
It also didn't help that my help changed the dinner plans and then ran out on me. It's really messed up my week royally, and I probably will have a lot of other problems because of that. But then again, you can't complain about free help or you get no help. Even so, had I known he wasn't going to make dinner, I'd have made it myself.
Rant off.
--M. J. Young
Sat Apr 19 2008 7:01 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberJohn II is giving me grief about having to say what he means and mean what he says when he prays. I'm going to respond in kind.
Sorry MJ. Like I keep saying. I'm still learning, so bear with me whilst I learn. Your explaination made sense, and I won't question you about it again. Or at least I'll try not to.
Sat Apr 19 2008 7:05 am # -
Where are we? We have Andrew, Harry, Edward, John III, John II, and Adam all active.
Given the 20 GE roll he just had, Andrew needs an incredibly good roll simply to forestall the inevitable a little while; 22 is certainly not that roll. He needs another GE roll to determine how he dies--well, maybe not exactly, but pretty close. 21 says it's not pretty, although it could be a lot worse.
Harry is discovering Moon of Korg; there are some interesting things to discover, and if he survives to return he might do well to make some purchases here.
Edward is getting ready to leave. Let's speed the process. I've got a 16 GE roll on the return trip, so I'm going to skip over the details.
Working from an incredibly good GE roll of 6 and John III's preference for more people being healed, I'll give him a dozen sick. Now we have to work out the curative itself. We've agreed that he spends fifteen minutes with each, which is 50% longer than the base time, so he gets +5 for that. We have appropriate words +5, singing +3, second hand +3, oil +1. His first roll is 42, which gives him 1@1 Cure Disease M+2@4 sing while caring for sick, anoint with oil, lay both hands on them and pray for final minute, 15:00TF, +12SM. He also has half his 2@3 religion SAL for +12, the alliance bonus for +10, a 2@2 BRA, and twice the world area bias, which is lower than his at 7@, so +14. Further, he is working at +8 on all healing skill checks for several hours thanks to his preparatory period. His chance of successfully healing anyone is 67%, and he has eleven more rolls to make: 21, 66, 30, 10, 33, 07, 53, 51, 75, 72, 62. That's a good track record. He had good odds, and he beat them.
John II gets a description of setting, and a question about an ability he thinks he has.
I'm not going to quibble about whether poison ivy is a disease. Technically it's an allergic reaction to an irritating oil, and so is closer to a poison. However, there's no reason why a cure disease spell wouldn't affect it (an allergic reaction is, after all, an immune response), so on a roll of 28 Geneice learns 1@1 Cure Any Disease M+2@4 2:30TF prayer to Paul for healing, which I note (having just done a cure disease skill) should have -20 for two halvings of the ten minute TF, +5 for appropriate words, -10 for single aspect (spoken), which means -25 chance of success overall. That's not going to prevent her from learning it, given the bonuses in her favor, but it's going to be noted on the papers for future reference. Adam's SAL increases to 1@2.
She rolls 24 for the next skill, and so adds 1@1 Dig M3@6 20:50:75:100:+1/1 yards provided that the initial starting point of the dig is in sight, Casting Time: 1 Minute, upon completion of ritual caster may move up to 4000 cubic feet of ordinary mixed dirt in ten parts over the course of 1 minute, volume equivalent to approximately ten metric tons; denser or less dense earth may be moved in quantities adjusted according to estimated equivalent weight, can be attempted not more than once in six hours, hold shovel in both hands, say "Move this earth with the power of the arcane" in Latin, "Permoveo is terra per vox of ianus", permits movement of dirt from one place to another within range. User has control of the shape of the excavation and the point of deposit of the dirt. It cannot penetrate artificial rock such as asphalt or concrete. It can be used to compress the targeted material rather than shifting it, compressing dirt into soft stone, mud into a adobe-like brick, and soft stone to harder stone. Hard stone cannot be compacted +93SM.
Adam's SAL increases to 1@3.
I'm going to tackle some other problems now.
--M. J. Young
Sun Apr 20 2008 9:51 pm #
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