At the age of three, most can even manage to jump. The oldest kids I work with are 2,5 years, and most of them have trouble with jumping, not coming off of the ground. (but we're going off topic, this was about 16 months old children)
Behind the Screens 2009
(651 posts) (10 voices)-
Permit me first to wish a happy Boxing Day or Feast of Stephen to those who mark the day; sing a verse of Good King Wenceslas for me. Second, let me thank everyone for your patience during the past month, which has been hectic and troubled as much as any this year. Third, let me thank Nikolaj for his input on child development. I have a guide for all that, but sometimes I get confused between what the guide says and what I remember, and I am not close enough to my granddaughter to observe her development in any detail.
With that, I will turn my attention to posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Nikolaj, and John 2.
There's not much to say for Michael.
Ahmetia rolls 04 on her riding skill, and thus she manages to do it, somewhat awkwardly. That will bring her to the cathedral, but we'll allow her opportunity to interact a bit as she desires.
It sounds to me as if Brock is hoping to meet someone in the galley, but a 22 GE is bad, not as bad as anticipated but worse than bad enough. He'll have a passing meeting with someone passing.
Maxx wants to teach himself Analyze Chemistry by Clairvoyant Perception of Molecular Structure in Slow Motion P9@2 (light not essential) 30:00 preparatory concentration, can be focused to observe quark level instead (separate use). The skill he is using for the basis has a +59 sit-mod, but this incorporates a second skill, so there's -10 for that, and since it is clairvoyant we have to raise the bias to include clairvoyance in the curve--a curve of 9 covers clairvoyance, but it can't be incorporated in a flatlined skill, so it has to be 9@2. With that in place, I'll roll the dice. Oh, you know what? I've got this new stopwatch, so I don't have to worry about dropping my new dice into the obliviation that is my office floor. Let me start it,
and take a moment to thank John "A-1 Nut" Cross for the lovely and useful Christmas gift which is primarily a stopwatch but incorporates clock, calendar, and alarm functions, thank you very much John 2
and now having typed that I can use the lap function to get a truly random roll of 14, which gives him a 1@1 Analyze Chemistry by Clairvoyant Perception of Molecular Structure in Slow Motion P9@2 (light not essential) 30:00 preparatory concentration, can be focused to observe quark level instead (separate use) +49SM and raises his psi bias one intensity.
Kurt is getting back into the flow of his game; we'll see which way it goes from here.
Nikolaj reminds me that I had to work out the details of prayers from his December 10 posting, and although I'm not certain I've a great deal of time today either, I'm going to tackle them now. I'll start by getting the sequence straight:
During the day we're now at I will also pray that God will prepare the men and their hearts for this message, through thoughts, dreams, events or whatever else God likes to use for it. This will take 15 minutes, hands help up into the air and a short period of praying in tongues. My eyes will be closed.
The day before the meeting I will pray to God that He will make all things work out and that He would speak his message to the people. I'l make it one of my prayer walks. Rather then revealing Christ, the attempt is now to make them be open for the message of a young orc and to accept it into their heart. I ask God to prepare the people.
The prayer for advance preparation is tough to categorize, but since it seems in essence to be asking God for knowledge I will go with a M+7@7 Communicate Off-world. He hits the baseline 15:00 for conversations, but is not really having a conversation, rather asking God to answer him at God's leisure, as it were, so I'll give him +10 for that. He gets +5 for appropriate words and +5 for including his prayer tongues in the prayer. He also needs a successful skill check on the prayer tongues, +10 if he gets it. He raises both hands and closes his eyes, for which +6. That gives him +36 on his chance of success assuming the check. The prayer tongues roll is 74, and he's got a 1@10 SAL, +10 religion, +10 alliance, +19 BRA, 59% chance of success, it does not happen.
He is modeling the other on his prayer walk:
1@2 Pray for Third Party Revelation M7@7 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to reveal Himself to a specified other individual +38SM
I think we're looking at what might effectively be a penalize will power skill--because will power is the attribute we use for the obstinacy of those who are the objects of persuasion. Thus we're looking at Reduce Resistance to Persuasion M1@4 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to make hearers open to message to be spoken at a specific future moment, reduces will power against persuasion of RS% of members of group RS/10 for 1:00:00.
The walking means +3 (both legs), the prayer tongues means +10 (success required on another skill), +5 appropriate words, +5 foreign language, the TF is doubled five and a quarter times for +53, but the RF is increased from RS/10 minutes to 1:00:00, which is -35, and he's gone from one person to RS% of a group which is a significant increase in power, which I will make -65 figuring that that's roughly a hundred people, which I'll take as enough for any "group". He also gets +10 if the prayer tongues work, for which he rolls 28, an easy success. That makes the sit-mod penalties -100 but the bonuses +86, so it's -14 on its chance of success. However, this being the first time, he gets the advantage of bias, because he has a 7@9 bias against a 1@4 target, along with the other previously noted bonuses. He rolls 16, so 16% of the group will have their resistance reduced 2 intensities for the hour of the meeting, and he has this skill, 1@1 Reduce Resistance to Persuasion M1@4 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to make hearers open to message to be spoken at a specific future moment, reduces will power against persuasion of RS% of members of group RS/10 for 1:00:00
As for the new prayer, he'll have to give me a bit more information.
John 2 gets a 19 GE on his desired grenades, so I'll take a look. I'll have to work out what all these are before I can apply the roll, but he'll get most of them, probably.
--M. J. Young
Sun Dec 27 2009 3:23 am # -
O.K., the new stopwatch is now running to serve as our randomizer, and I can tackle posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, and John 2.
Michael treats his wound prophylacticly and gets some sleep. I don't think more than ten hours is likely.
Ahmetia gets through the ceremony to the point at which she is to say her duplicate's vow.
Brock rolls 02 on his use computer skill, which is a very weak success. He also needs a GE roll for whether anyone is in the rec center: 2+3+4=9, an excellent roll.
Maxx has a number of interesting ideas for his new skill, but they will require skill checks to perform and I want to check that he wants to make those checks before I roll them.
Kurt rolls 46 on his 1@8 use computer skill with a 10@ bias and 2@2 BRA, a 60% chance of success, so a decent roll.
Harry has devised an excellent way to resolve the duty roster problem, so we'll build on that and get this out of the way before we have our first fire.
I'm still settling the grenade definitions with John 2, but I think we're nearly finished. I remind myself that the GE roll was 19, so once we have clearly communicated the definitions I'll determine the availability on that basis.
--M. J. Young
Sun Dec 27 2009 11:05 pm # -
I believe I have opened all the active threads. I have Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2. Let's see how much damage--er, how many of these threads I can address in the available time.
I did not actually list Michael's skill at designing and building a microscope yesterday; I relied on incorporating it into the polymer skill. I'm going to toss a skill learning roll at this point, certain that with his 10@3 bias and 2@2 BRA he's got a very solid chance of successfully learning to build a microscope, a 6@2 skill. It's not quite as good a chance, in this world, as I'd estimated though--125-62=63, and my roll of 85 is not good. So I'll put the problem in the taping, and give him another chance to do it, 02, a weak success, 1@1 Design/Build Microscope T6@2.
Ahmetia has attempted to recite from memory the vow she is supposed to recite from memory. The correct wording is
Her memorized version isAnd I, Rudolpha, do solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of Ruritania according to their laws and customs, and to cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all my judgments. The things I have here before promised I will perform and keep, so help me God.
I am very impressed, spotting very few discrepancies; we'll give her +5 on her effective attribute for a simple check to see whether her character got it right where she failed. The dice read 2+5, which is a a success.I, Rudolpha, do solemnly promise to govern the people of Ruritania according to the laws and customs, and to cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all my judgments. The things I have promised I will perform and keep, so help me God.
She also is going to be introduced for the first time to that gorgeous hunk of a man, Prince Flavius. The books states that she has to make a will power check against his 2@9 animal magnetism, or she will do something "foolish and impetuous". We will roll, first her roll against her 1@9 will power: 12; 28, he could not have made a better roll, and she could not have resisted with any roll that would have been successful for her. I want to give her some hint of the situation, but let me roll a check--I wish I had her intellect here, but her ed lev will have to do--for whether she remembers what she was told about him. 9+6=15, well within her score.
I am going to bonus Maxx +3 on his effective intellect for this particular sorting session, because he has to work out the background light which happens to be even across the entire visible spectrum. That gives him an effective 2@1, and he rolls 19, so he's good. He is looking into his brain next, molecule by molecule, and has about a quarter of an hour to examine it one molecule per minute. He hopes to gain some information about brain chemistry and the development and inhibition of neurotransmitters (that's my rough summary of his statement), so we'll give him a GE roll for what he does and does not see: 17, pretty ordinary.
I seem to have rolled a 45 on his chance of moving to the cornea. We have a 1@1 SAL, +49 SM, +2x9@ bias, and I don't need to track down his BRA because this is obviously successful. The roll for the next shift is 48, which again will take him to the air above his skin, where he is looking for the source of the light. It is not there, though, so I think he won't find it.
Kurt has the sense to ask about how his secret weapons work, and is now looking at security--but I'm not certain where he's looking.
There was a general effects roll made at Ubercon for Harry, and although I do not remember the roll, I remember that he and I both recognized that there was going to be a fire fairly soon. It was not immediate, and I've given him the time to run a practice session and get his staff organized, but I think the time has come. There remain other questions, though: who is on duty when the fire begins? how close is it to the firehouse? How bad is it when it is discovered? What is burning? Let's cover it all with a GE roll: 9+5+9=23, Nearly As Bad As Anticipated.
I've put a lot of work into making the schedule for his crews, and now I can't copy it here, so I'll have to give it some thought.
I'm double-checking something with Nikolaj.
John 2 has more questions.
--M. J. Young
Wed Dec 30 2009 5:42 am # -
I have opened threads from Mike, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Nikolaj, and John 2.
We need a skill check for whether Mike can use his primitive microscope. Since he's a professional, we won't penalize for the equipment here--it's already a tough situation, because the NagaWorld tech bias is not terribly friendly to his efforts. But with a 2@1 SAL and 2@2 BRA he's got a 43% chance of accomplishing his objective; his roll is 12. I've never had anyone attempt to examine plastic steel this way before, so I'll have to roll for what he discovers: 20 is just bad enough, so he's not going to discover much.
Ahmetia is out of the frying pan and into the fire. She's been doing her best not to talk to anyone, but no one warned her that she was going to be sharing the carriage to the palace with this gorgeous guy. Let's see how she handles that.
Brock is conversing with the communications expert.
Maxx has got me nervous--he's trying to create a psionically generated physical force or force object to use as a support so he can walk. I need more information on that before I can adjudicate it, so we'll ask.
Kurt is settling into the nearest hotel to his prey.
I think Nikolaj is hitting me with one of the toughest prayers he's done yet. He very clearly wants to influence the minds of two individuals; this is a M10@7 Suggestion, with a -10 penalty because two people are targeted. We already know that simply placing the idea in their mind will not be persuasive, and thus we have another -20 because it is compelling. It is also the intent of the skill that the skilled user actually state the idea in the hearing of the target, and a -10 penalty accrues for not doing that. In his favor, 0:00:06 activation times are common, and he is praying this for 0:40:00, so he gets a lot of bonuses for the time invested: six doublings makes 3:12 nine makes 25:16, and we're adding about 80% more, so +98 for time. The targets are not together and not at hand, so I'm going to penalize it -30 for range. We have +5 appropriateness, +5 for the magical language but the requirement at +10 that he make a successful check on his prayer tongues skill, +3 for two legs, and we accumulate +51SM but have to make the prayer tongues roll successfully, for which he rolls 50, let me check on that: 1@10 SAL+10 religion +10 alliance plus bias and BRA, and I'm going to give him a mark because I don't think I've yet credited him for using this skill as the basis for another. The prayer tongues work, so we roll his chance to learn, 25, definitely a success which kicks his bias up significantly, but his two targets each get a will power check. I'd say the head of the meat prep division is a 1@6, and Miss Kucher is a rather stubborn 1@10, and the rolls for them, respectively, are 1+5=6 and 16+20=36.
Hmmm--I never should have used the name Kathrine. I will never remember how to spell it. Oh, well, it's done now.
I think John 2 is almost set with his grenades. I note that he has not yet learned the psionic slicer; it's day 24, and he's got to make a decision on that before I can move the calendar forward.
--M. J. Young
Thu Dec 31 2009 1:43 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberI think John 2 is almost set with his grenades. I note that he has not yet learned the psionic slicer; it's day 24, and he's got to make a decision on that before I can move the calendar forward.
You haven't mentioned this in so long, I had forgotten about it completely. Bring it back into game. Have Lauren call me or something.
(Doing Therapy)
Thu Dec 31 2009 1:44 am # -
Brock
MemberYeah, I was talking to him about that in email. I was telling him, my absolute maximum would be one gun of each archetype i know of off the top of my head, if I felt the need to have guns at all. One close range scatter (shotgun), one medium-range automatic (military rifles), one ultra-long range (sniper), one sidearm, and an explosive of some kind. He has 2 or 3 ways to explode, 2 or 3 rifle types, 2 pistols (I think), and 2 shotguns, once he finishes his current purchases. (presupposing he doesn't discard some of it.)
I envision my future self as a wise and learned monk, master of magical and psionic abilities. An expert mediator, purveyor of peace between peoples-perhaps with a dash of magic to help things along.
How about you?
Thu Dec 31 2009 6:53 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberYeah, I was talking to him about that in email. I was telling him, my absolute maximum would be one gun of each archetype i know of off the top of my head
Yeah, Brock's maximum would be what I carry on me at all times. Not even counting the big stuff I keep in my room for emergencies.
I've got 3 shotguns, 3 pistols, 4 rifles, a grenade launcher and a crossbow. "You want a war? I'll take you to war, OK!!!"
Thu Dec 31 2009 7:00 pm # -
johnosevens
MemberMy future Verser self probably would have a certain basic arsenal:
1: My named-unique smallsword, Soulmourn, which my grandfather commissioned for me from a master swordsmith, forged from a piece of meteoric iron and purpose-built to count as 'cold iron' for magical purposes (this is actually a real item I started the game with, because I actually own this).
2: Short-range firearm, right now a blackpowder pistol, in the future probably a Mare's Leg: http://www.maresleg.com/maresleg.htm Essentially a sawed-off rifle.To me things like sniper rifles and explosives are simply too situational to carry at all times. I might own them, I might even bother learning to use them, but I'm not gonna take them out of the crates unless I intend to use them.
As for magic and psionics... Damn straight. I mean, why wouldn't you? I need to get to a Verse with respectable biases in order to learn some, but considering how much mileage I've gotten out of a simple TK Pulse? Sign me up. I need to figure out how to convert Vancian magic into Multiverser, especially D&D's "prepare 20 spells in one hour ahead of time" mechanic. While I would have SOME spells that don't need to be pre-prepared, I would love to work out a ritual like that just so I can have some BIG miracles on tap when I need them (seeing as I'm primarily a divine caster so far, why not think of them as miracles?).
Mostly that would be just variation on a theme, though. I don't really want spells like Flesh to Stone or Dominate Person. D&D has taught me that spells that allow saves or resistance checks are bad. So I stick to things like telekinesis and self- and party-buffs that allow me to bring the pain without allowing avenues of escape.
And I'll teleport you a gold piece if you can tell me how to convert this into Multiverser mechanics with a reasonable probability of success.
Thu Dec 31 2009 8:17 pm # -
Brock
MemberThat's a creation. I think the bias for that is 14@something. And it would have heavy sit mod penalties for making several at once 20 foot AOE). It would have a bonus for 3 components rather than 2. It would have a penalty for being RF, I'm sure. The D and D prepare ahead of time would bonus it. The range might be long enough to penalize it. The duration would be hard to convert, like most D and D spells, since MV doesn't have character levels.
I don't know how grapple checks work in MV, so I don't know how to convert that. Black Tentacles killed one of my players once; it was hilarious, he couldn't get out. Failed grapple repeatedly.
Fri Jan 1 2010 7:30 am # -
JohnA1nut
Member2: Short-range firearm, right now a blackpowder pistol, in the future probably a Mare's Leg:
Oh yeah Osevens, I wouldn't mind having one of those myself. I can't seem to find any in this world, but next chance I get, I'm gonna get myself a double barrel 12 gauge and saw it off on both ends like that. Wouldn't be good for more than about 30 feet, but for up close and personal, it would be devastating.
(Doing Therapy)
Fri Jan 1 2010 7:36 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberTwo Posts
I envision my future self as a wise and learned monk, master of magical and psionic abilities. An expert mediator, purveyor of peace between peoples-perhaps with a dash of magic to help things along.
I envision my future self as the guy who really can shoot the fleas off a dog's back at 500 yards.
My character is carrying a 9mm rifle, 9mm pistol, 357 magnum pistol, a single shot shotgun, crossbow, and perhaps a grenade launcher here in a minute.
(Doing Therapy)
Fri Jan 1 2010 9:32 am # -
The conversation is fascinating. I'll pass on doing the Multiverser conversion of that intriguing spell merely because I have eight players waiting on line and have to start running our New Years Eve party pretty soon which will slow me down significantly. I will note, however, that it sounds like a M14@7 create life form; the material component strikes me as particularly rare (there are not that many universes in which you can acquire a bit of giant octopus or giant squid, particularly since my understanding of D&D tells me that those creatures do not live in our universe--although you might get some if you return to the sea where you are, since "sea monster" shows up from time to time); that you're probably looking to shorten the TF drastically, but you can probably gain something by shortening the duration (from RS minutes to something closer to the levels expected by the spell). Otherwise, it's not really my job to design your spells for you.
Those aforementioned games include Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
I'll tell Michael as much as I can remember about how the house is built and what else is made from the plastic steel, and he can try to work out what he sees through the microscope to some degree.
Ahmetia has told the prince that she's not changed at all, but she's not really acting like the queen, and he would notice that.
I've managed over the course of several hours (actually, more like in two bursts many hours apart) to get an answer to Brock, but as our New Year's Eve celebration winds down, I'm going to have to get to bed hopefully before five (which gives me about a quarter of an hour) and perhaps get to the rest of this tomorrow.
--M. J. Young
Fri Jan 1 2010 9:44 am # -
John, we've had longer threads than this in the past; but that might be further in the past than you would know.
As to starting a new thread, it was perfectly reasonable of you to post a note here to remind me that I might want to do that, but it was completely inappropriate for you to do it for me. I can start my own threads, thank you.
--M. J. Young
Sat Jan 2 2010 12:55 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberYou didn't get the joke about the Markedly Beastly? I meant it's almost up to Six-hundred-sixty-six posts. I'm just kind of superstitious about that.
As to starting a new thread, it was perfectly reasonable of you to post a note here to remind me that I might want to do that, but it was completely inappropriate for you to do it for me. I can start my own threads, thank you.
Then don't use it. I won't be offended. I just thought I would save you the trouble. Perhaps someone should write up a list of acceptable board behavior. (No joke)
(Doing Therapy)
Sat Jan 2 2010 1:14 am #
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