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Behind the Screens 2009

(651 posts) (10 voices)

Started 3 years ago by M. J. Young
Latest reply from JohnA1nut

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M. J. Young
Moderator
Apparently I forgot to mention John 2 in Friday's post. Mea culpa. I note in passing that there were no rolls made and nothing really to say, but I should have noted that there.

I hope I can get through tonight's posts; I'm very tired and have a deadline for an errand ahead, but the weak promises to get worse before it gets better, so I cannot promise to make every day this week. We will start with Kurt, and then see if we can get through Harry, John 3, and John 2, and if not whoever is missed will be bumped to the front tomorrow--or whenever the next game is.

Kurt needs an overview of Mariska's place, so he can decide what to do next.

It's time to crunch the numbers on Harry's new purify spell. Looking back for the details, I find that there were several posts last week that I completely overlooked. As Pooh would say, oh, bother; or perhaps it is Gandalf I ought to be citing, and I was already tired. I will get to them, I hope.

Harry, the thing that I have not asked--well, I can't tell you, because it's asking whether you are going to do something that you either will think to do on your own or you won't do. Suffice it that you made it to Durnmist. You are here.

Let me compile any information I have on this purification skill:
- with just one of my stones. I'm going to set up a ritual - I'll spend an hour on it. One eye closed in honor of Odin, sword in hand in honor of Thor, one window open to allow in the wind in honor of Loki in his capacity as Shapeshifter. I'll speak appropriate words invoking each god and asking them to remove the impurities from this stone, reducing it to a more useful form. I will kneel in the circle, at the side of my bed as though using it as an altar, and swish an othala rune (which means 'estate' or 'wealth') with my sword (requiring a skill check).
- 1. Does this work for only emeralds, all gemstones, or any rock that might be considered pure/impure (e.g., ore)?
  1: Any rock that might be considered pure/impure - this would be the same spell I would use to purify iron ore, for instance.
- 2. You are performing it within your holy ground. Is the existence and/or activation of the holy ground an essential element of the skill, or is it only that you will take the bonus for performing this in active holy ground?
  2: Existence and activation are essential.
- 3. Is the sound vital or not? Are they spoken loudly and/or forcefully?
  3: Sound is vital, but not volume.
- 4. You are doing this on a single stone. Is there a limitation on the volume or quantity that can be purified with a single casting, or is this simply a safety precaution in case you botch? That is, would this same spell be able to purify your entire crate of stones, or the gold in a one hundred foot tall statue, or the iron ore in a dump truck, or the oil in a supertanker?
  4: Like all of my other purity spells (notice how I was able to purify all the food in the cargo hold with one casting), the limit of the spell is contingent upon the holy ground it is cast in. It affects a sphere with a radius equal to that of the holy ground. It could, theoretically, purify all the gold in a 100' statue, if I bothered to consecrate a 200' holy ground around it, but that sort of thing isn't terribly practical anyway...
- I have to stash my crate in the corner in order to avoid purifying them all. This was never an issue before because the only thing I'm controlling is what class of object I'm purifying ("gems", "wine", "food", etc) not which specific items of that type I am purifying. I cannot control which objects of that class are targeted within the spell area - if its of the class I'm specifying (again, this is where that 'divine magic reads your intentions' thing comes into play) it is affected, or at least targeted.
That observed, let's try to piece this together. M+3@1 Purify Minerals, the base TF is 1:00 and this is going for 1:00:00, sixty times, which is 1/8 of a doubling less than 6 doublings, so that's going to be +58 for time. Since the area is tied to the casting of the holy ground, I'm going to take away -5 because he indirectly controls the area (he controls the size of the holy ground). We have +5 appropriateness to answer that. Vital sound is +2, I just hit another question but let me push forward on this for the moment. After all, if there are more questions, I should find them. Total body involvement is indicated, +15. Yes, there is another question. He gets +10 because he must successfully activate the holy ground, +10 because he must successfully perform the sword flourish. That's +95 and we have the two questions pending.

John 3 begins a conversation with yet another vic--er, prospect.

My post for John 2 is brief. I do need to address the comments raised above.

John is right: Mother is not Whisp's associate, and a principal/associate relationship is based on the fact that the two want to be together, and so ends when either of them does not want that.

Which is why it will not begin with Lauren: she will never want that.

Also, anyone who engages in an associate relationship does so from the internal perspective of, "I will never leave you; not even death will keep us apart." That means it cannot possibly be done from the perspective of "let's stick together for a while while I think it's convenient". Granted, associate relationships end. They don't end that often, because they don't start flippantly.

Going through the associates I can identify in my head, the majority of them turn out to be horses, dogs, and cats--animals devoted to their owners. Next on the list is spouses, mostly wives, and in only one case that I recall was she not the wife when she became the associate--she was the faithful brother in arms in the terrorist commando unit he headed, who died alongside him. Apart from that, there is one man who was a sworn protector of the princess who was the wife of the verser, and when the verser went, the princess went, and the protector went with her; and there was the slave purchased and freed but embraced as friend who probably still doesn't know whether he's really a slave or a friend; and there was the adopted big sister who fought alongside her adopted little brother and so became a spy and commando as his partner.

Those are the kinds of relationships that result in associate status, the kind that scream permanence.

And if you try to use magic to impose that kind of permanence on a relationship with someone else, it's apt to backfire on you--precisely because the associate relationship will not work unless you have that same permanence imposed on yourself.

--M. J. Young
Mon Apr 6 2009 2:54 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Also, anyone who engages in an associate relationship does so from the internal perspective of, "I will never leave you; not even death will keep us apart." That means it cannot possibly be done from the perspective of "let's stick together for a while while I think it's convenient".

I figured temporary "Let's stick together for a couple of worlds" associate relationships would come and go pretty frequently between versers. Every other relationship they have is temporary. I figured those would be too. I didn't realize it was that great of a commitment. In that case, I'm going to drop the idea entirely.

Mon Apr 6 2009 1:12 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Kurt, Harry, John 3, and John 2 are today's players.

Kurt is asking for something that his people probably don't really have, at least, not current; but he gets a 14 GE roll, so he'll get something.

Apparently I have upset Harry trying to figure out this spell. I'll blame the medium--these questions would go so much more quickly at the table than they do over the Internet. I'm not going to drop the spell; I am going to nix the inclusion of the bed and the window. He's got enough bonuses without these. He needs to create the holy ground, activate it, and successfully do the sword flourish to pull off the spell. I note that the holy ground was just created. 92 is rolled for activation, which requires me to crunch the numbers. BRA 2@3+1/2 2@6 religion+28 inherent SM+1@10 SAL+10 for alliance=94, and he has some powerfully active holy ground here. 19 on the flourish is an easy success, so that brings us to the spell itself: 58 gives him 1@2 Purify Minerals M+3@1, 1:00:00 TF, affects all objects of defined class (gems, mineral ore) in the the area of the holy ground, vital sound as caster speaks appropriate words invoking each of Odin, Thor, and Loki, and asking them to remove the impurities from this stone, reducing it to a more useful form, kneeling in the circle, swishing an othala rune with sword (requiring a skill check), one eye closed in honor of Odin, sword in hand in honor of Thor, +99SM. (I noticed that I had not included the sword int he calculation, and it is a necessary material component even apart from the need to use it for the flourish.)

I'm not the world's best job seeker, so I'm not really sure how someone does what Harry wants to do next--get a job, and a particular job at that. But we'll ask him.

We'll give John 3 information on the city, such as I am able.

Answering John 2's questions, and calling it a night.

--M. J. Young

Tue Apr 7 2009 2:22 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Now I'm curious. Are there such things as "Let's stick together for a couple of worlds and part as friends" associate relationships? I could easily imagine someone who has been in the verse for 200 worlds befriending a newbie verser and wanting to stay with him for a few worlds until the newbie got to know the ropes a little, then sending the newbie off on his own. It's agreed from the start that they stay together for half a dozen worlds, then shake hands, part company, and hope to see each other again someday. I could easily imagine that kind of a friendship developing. Is that something that has ever been done, or that could possibly be done? Just curious. Like I said, I figured relationships like that would be fairly common between versers.

Tue Apr 7 2009 3:07 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Two Posts

MJ, I was dead serious about this. Maybe you can't think of any uses for being able to fake a psychotic episode, but I can.

MJ, I just realized there is something very wrong with my sheet. 1@5 Act Psychotic M0@2. This was meant to say "1@5 Acting Crazy to get people to leave you alone."

"Acting Psychotic" would be faking an actual psychotic episode, one which could fool a doctor. An actual psychotic episode is unlike anything you have ever seen or heard before in your life. The greatest actor in the world could not fake an actual psychotic episode.

I can. My character is no longer psychotic. My therapy has made me far less psychotic, so that's all I have to go on. However, I find that I can still fake a doctor-convincing psychotic episode.

I won't accept less than an expert score on it.

(Doing Therapy)

Tue Apr 7 2009 4:19 am #
WilliamTWodium
Member

John - friendships are nice, but you can't just ask the scriff nicely and expect that it'll behave how you want it to. Associates only verse out together because the depth of their bond attunes the scriff in each of them to the scriff in the others; you can't do something like that casually.

If the experienced verser was experienced and powerful enough, though, he might be able to follow the new verser from verse to verse for a little while by using powerful and complicated tech or magic skills - scriff manipulation of some kind, or maybe scriff tracking followed by heavy-duty teleportation and/or T15@ scriff travel. Not quite casual, but still a way to stick together for a while without being life partners.

Tue Apr 7 2009 6:02 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

That's strange, so basically, verser's relationships are either temporary, at most until the indig dies of old age, or eternal life partners. They can't really have casual verser friends that they hang out with for a few worlds here or there. I know getting "In Tune" with each other, and repeatedly winding up in the same world together happens, but that's not quite the same as what I'm talking about.

It was just something I was thinking about.

(Doing Therapy)

Tue Apr 7 2009 6:10 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator
John, versers on the same cycle hang out together from time to time. We call that "gathers". They just don't usually do so in consecutive worlds. It's kind of like the same way you might get together with your friends at the mall, and as long as you're at the mall you're together; but then someone has to go to work, and someone has to get to bed early, and someone has a dinner date, and someone wanted to go see that new movie, and the group breaks up--but gets back together in another time and another place.

You stay together as long as you are in the same world.

Of course, nothing is impossible; however, there are some things that are very difficult, and other things that are quite possible but you can't do them that way. For example, you can argue that you're going to inflate your lungs with helium so that you can fly. I'll answer that it doesn't work that way, first because you can't put enough decompressed helium in your lungs to make your total mass lighter than the surrounding atmosphere, and second because were you to attempt to do so you would suffocate. That doesn't mean you can't fly, that you can't do it by making yourself lighter than air, and that you can't use helium to accomplish that. It just means that you can't do it that way.

So, too, there are ways for versers to follow each other around the verse for short times, but one of them is not by becoming each other's associates for the short term.

It is also certainly possible for two versers to enter into a principal/associate relationship and then after several worlds break it. What they can't do is enter into such a relationship with the intention that they will later break it. The break-up is going to be a serious decision to separate, usually based on the perception by one that he has been mistreated by the other. So the termination of a principal/associate relationship is what you would call a bad break-up.

Remember, for the relationship to terminate when one of the two is a PC and the other an NPC, three things are necessary:
1. The referee must believe that there have been problems in the relationship that would cause one of them to be upset or seriously dissatisfied.
2. The one who is dissatisfied must make a successful difficult will power check to break the relationship.
3. The other must either fail a difficult charisma check, or having succeeded not meet or beat the successful will power check of the dissatisfied one--a superior successful charisma check means that despite the dissatisfaction, the dissatisfied partner is going to stay because of the strength of the relationship.
I mentioned yesterday that it was looking to be a bad week, and I could not promise to get through all the games each day. I am going to tackle today, and perhaps fortuitously I have only Harry, John 3, and John 2.

What does it take to become a guard in Durnmist? This is an interesting question. I'm told that if you want to be a full time toll collector on the New Jersey Turnpike, you need a personal reference from the governor--it's a cushy well-paid high benefit state job that requires very little work. On the other hand, they do hire some people part time. We'll use a GE roll to determine just how difficult this is going to be. Ooooo--Harry rolls a 6, Best Hopes. Don't see many of them.

We'll move John 3's conversation forward a bit.

Since I think precision is important on the manufacture of bullets, I'm rolling a skill check against the blacksmithing package: 38 is good, so John 2 manages his silver bullets. He also wants to use the computer to get information about boxing; we've established that there's no boxing here on TerraNova. His computer use skill is 1@7, and he rolls 98, and we're looking at 2@2 Tech BRA plus 2x10@ bias, 59% chance of success, 4% chance to botch, and guess what....yeah. It's been a while. Let's create a list:
1. Boxing is an illegal activity; John has been flagged for investigation.
2. Returns on "boxing" overload the computer and crash the terminal; all appear to be about packing and packaging.
3. John's account has been charged one thousand credits to pay for packing materials to be delivered to his address.
4. John's identity has been added to the Ralph Boxing fan club, a well known recording artist; he will be charged five credits a month for this membership, and have all the membership benefits including regular updates on concert schedules and recording release dates, and a chance to meet Ralph Boxing in person.
5. John has locked all the doors to his apartment with a security lockout code that prevents anyone, including him, from entering or leaving.
He rolls 1. This could be fun.

--M. J. Young
Wed Apr 8 2009 3:29 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

# Boxing is an illegal activity; John has been flagged for investigation.

And exactly what does my botch have to do with boxing being an illegal sport? The other 4 botches I could imagine. Mistakes made in the computer system, fixed by technicians. My botch would have nothing to do with it being illegal. I could have succeeded and it would STILL be illegal.

Wed Apr 8 2009 5:08 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Two Posts

Or is the botch that I was stupid enough to look up something that everybody knows is illegal? So it's more of a personal botch than a skill failure. I get it.

(Doing Therapy)

Wed Apr 8 2009 8:40 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

A botch means something went terribly wrong. In this case it means you set off alarms putting you under suspicion for participation in an illegal activity. That, though, must mean that there is an illegal activity that might be connected to whatever you were researching. It could have been something peripheral ("Boxing" is a slang term for human slave running), but it didn't seem unreasonable for sport fighting of that sort to be outlawed, something like dueling. So I went with that.

Now let's go with Harry, John 3, and John 2. (I've already looked at Scott's ritual post, which is sort of in-game and sort of on the side.)

There was a very good GE roll for Harry yesterday, which he is still riding. It's not a 3, but it's certainly good enough that he's going to sail through this pretty smoothly.

I had to check my papers to put John 3 in the correct historical moment (1192, the year Richard will be captured coming home from the Crusade), but otherwise conversation flows fairly smoothly.

I sort of ran out of steam on John 2 I think--well, it's been a terribly disrupted week and a rather disrupted day to boot. But I think the day is over, unless he tells me otherwise.

--M. J. Young

Thu Apr 9 2009 11:51 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

O.K., show of hands: who wants me to run a game while I'm exhausted? Who wants me to call it a night and get some sleep?

Hmmm--no hands for either. That's a tie. In Multiverser, Tie goes to the status quo, and the status quo is that I run games on Friday.

But you know what? I can't even think clearly enough to understand what I'm reading.

With my apologies, I'm going to give up for tonight.

--M. J. Young

Sat Apr 11 2009 3:04 am #
johnosevens
Member

*peeks in, sees MJ asleep at the table, throws a blanket over him, and goes to grab a beer*

Sat Apr 11 2009 3:28 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Well see MJ, it's like the Florida election. Not all the votes were counted. My hand would be raised to you getting your ass into bed and getting some sleep. That's one vote for MJ going to sleep. Any other voters? Looks like you win.

Sat Apr 11 2009 3:52 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

I'm feeling a bit better myself, but the patient is not, and it's complicating life significantly--but hopefully I can get in a bit of game time while making Easter dinner.

Happy Easter, for all those celebrating today.

Play includes Harry, John 3, John 2, and Graeme.

I'm going to have to think about salary for Harry's new position. I know that land-based security gets paid a bit less than ship's security, but ship security crew make less than navigators; on the other hand, the security chief makes more than any non-officer crewman, and Harry is being tapped for something more than walking a beat and carrying a club. That suggests that he'll make more than the typical ship's security guard but less than Balcon, the Security Chief. Then there's the second complication: Harry will be paid on the basis of real time, while Balcon is paid based on average ship's run. Also, Balcon works every day, and Harry will have days off. I'm putting all this out so I can get it in the mix in my brain; we'll come up with a salary as soon as he asks. The dice will also play a part in this--he might have to start on a regular beat and wait for promotion.

John 3 continues his conversation, and I continue to expand the characters around him.\

A bit of research tells me that John 2 is correct about bullets, that most of them are still made primarily of jacketed lead. It is lead shot in shotguns that is no longer legal in most states, with only a few states outlawing lead bullets for hunting. So his bullets are copper-jacketed lead, tricky to make without the right equipment. In any case, we can advance to Day 6.

Graeme and I have to discuss his latest spell idea a bit more; he's trying to do something that stretches what he's done before enough that it lands in a different category.

I've got to go.

--M. J. Young

Mon Apr 13 2009 12:39 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

A bit of research tells me that John 2 is correct about bullets, that most of them are still made primarily of jacketed lead. It is lead shot in shotguns that is no longer legal in most states, with only a few states outlawing lead bullets for hunting. So his bullets are copper-jacketed lead, tricky to make without the right equipment. In any case, we can advance to Day 6.

No, lead shot is illegal for hunting. You are still free to blow away targets with it. Lead bullets are still quite common, especially in reloading, as they are very cheap. Most people use lead bullets only for punching paper, and anything else (hunting, defense, etc) is copper jacketed lead. However, you would be just as dead if you were shot with lead as you would be shot with depleted uranium.

Mon Apr 13 2009 1:59 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator
My understanding is that unencased lead bullets are not used because the low melting point of lead results in two undesireable effects. One is that part of the lead vaporizes, creating a breathable poison gas that leads to lead accumulation over time. The other is that in modern high muzzle velocity guns the combined temperatures of the expanding gases from the explosion and the friction against the inside of the barrel causes the lead to melt and coat the inside of the barrel, making it much more difficult to maintain. Thus modern bullets are all jacketed. (They also generally have a boat taper now, pointed at both ends to decrease air resistance from turbulence, but that's probably something you already know.)

I see posts from Harry, Nikolaj, John 3, and Graeme, and I am going to get to them all, Lord willing.

Harry activates his holy ground on a roll of 17, and then on a roll of 47 removes his fatigue. I should increase the SAL on this, because he has been using it for a long time, so it is now going from 1@2 to 1@5 to cover practice over that time. He has to reactivate the ground for the next spell, for which 22 is fine. He is going to attempt the gem purification again, and the roll is 95, which makes me nervous. I needn't be, though, as he has a +99 Sit-mod built into the skill, so the rest of the numbers aren't going to matter.

I need to calculate the pay of a shipboard security chief against the time. What I get looks something like this. The Piper can make the run in 174 days best time, 455 worst (not counting extensions for events that consume time, but this bad or this good are both extremely improbable), with a mean of 314.5 days. A security officer gets 10,000 diktar for the trip, which means he makes something between 22 and 57 diktar per day, the mean being 32. The chief gets 16,000, so that gives him between 35 and 92, the mean being 51. In their favor they also get room and board; they are committed to full time access. I think that it makes sense that a senior investigator might make 40 diktar a day, 6 days on and two days off. Harry will not be senior, but he'll make more than 32, so we'll start him at 35.

Nikolaj is bidding us farewell. His adventures lie elsewhere. I am a bit saddened, because I was really excited about the possibilities emerging in his game; but I'm also encouraged, because a year ago he thought that what we were doing was unacceptable for Christians, and now he recognizes that there is something worthy of praise here.

John 2 has made a decision that I gave him. Lauren rolls 60 on the project psi skill pattern skill, which does work and well. John rolls 56, and so learns it at 1@2 without having used it.

I've got to do the numbers on Graeme's spell. Let me sort out the details as it currently appears:
I think that the object will be a material component worth +8; I note that there is physical action, so the fact that there are no spoken in the casting does not worry me. The appropriateness is gained from the material component for +5, but there's a penalty for being able to use any body part for the contact (he could in theory touch it with his foot or his nose or wear it on his head or drape it over his shoulders, as long as he contacts it. In fact, he could wrap it around an unwilling participant and force the participant into the spell, although I think a resistance check would be appropriate in that case.)

--M. J. Young
Tue Apr 14 2009 6:36 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

John 2 has made a decision that I gave him. Lauren rolls 60 on the project psi skill pattern skill, which does work and well. John rolls 56, and so learns it at 1@2 without having used it.

And exactly what skill is this?

My understanding is that unencased lead bullets are not used because the low melting point of lead results in two undesireable effects. One is that part of the lead vaporizes, creating a breathable poison gas that leads to lead accumulation over time. The other is that in modern high muzzle velocity guns the combined temperatures of the expanding gases from the explosion and the friction against the inside of the barrel causes the lead to melt and coat the inside of the barrel, making it much more difficult to maintain. Thus modern bullets are all jacketed. (They also generally have a boat taper now, pointed at both ends to decrease air resistance from turbulence, but that's probably something you already know.)

Actually, I knew all of that. When shooting lead bullets, it's usually customary to fire a handful of jacketed rounds afterwards to "Get the lead out" (I bet you a dollar that's where the expression originated) The tapered on both ends bullets are called "boat tail" bullets, and yes, they do have better aerodynamics. Another reason for not using lead is that in some EXTREMELY high powered guns, it's actually a piece of molten lead that strikes the target. The bullet actually melts to liquid in flight. Needless to say, that's far from being efficient.

Tue Apr 14 2009 6:45 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Apparently I'm not the only one who is a bit busy today--John 2 is my only player. He gets a 25 GE roll on the double-barrelled shotgun and exploding arrows, and that will complete today's game.

--M. J. Young

Wed Apr 15 2009 1:50 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

What psionic skill did I learn at 1@2 yesterday chief?

Wed Apr 15 2009 2:08 am #
Oak
Member

Alas, so close and yet so far, once again... :p

Wed Apr 15 2009 2:13 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Let me apologize to the Johns, 3 because I was a bit too quick for him to catch me yesterday, and 2 because I did see that he had asked for the posting of that skill and don't know why I didn't post it. It was the summoning skill previously mentioned, P1@8.

With that, let me note that there are posts from Harry, John 3, John 2, and Graeme; but I'm going to excuse myself for tonight's game, I'm afraid. The person who went to the hospital last week came home today, and my assistance is probably more needed than will be admitted, so I'm going to attend to that.

--M. J. Young

Thu Apr 16 2009 1:39 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

I'm going to excuse myself for tonight's game, I'm afraid. The person who went to the hospital last week came home today, and my assistance is probably more needed than will be admitted, so I'm going to attend to that.

Excuses excuses.... Kidding MJ, hope all is well, and I'm sure we will all be praying for you.

Thu Apr 16 2009 1:53 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Two Posts

MJ, now I'm wondering, could a lead bullet melting to liquid in fight be a possible botch? I have no idea what getting hit with a half ounce of molten lead moving at supersonic speed would do to its target, but it could definitely be interesting.

Thu Apr 16 2009 11:44 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator
Actually, the reason they jacket bullets for high-speed weapons is that molten lead does not have a good solid impact and is easily blocked.

I think that the problem would be that I would have to know that you were using bullets with a low melting point in a high muzzle velocity weapon. In that case, it might be an ordinary failure situation, that the bullet melted sufficiently in flight as to disperse and fail to impact the target--not a botch at all.

Obviously, I've been having a rough week. I'm hoping I can tackle what remains of the week's games today. I've already listed players Harry, John 3, John 2, and Graeme, so let me see how much of that I can address.

I've made a start on Harry's work conditions; let's see what he makes of it.

John 3 has a long ride ahead, and a very likely objection to what he's said arises.

John 2 is asking a question that's already been answered, so I'll give him the same answer.

I have got to change the time on this automatic virus scan; it happens too often that I'm still working at three in the morning, and it makes everything run slow when it runs.

I am adding to Graeme's sheet a 1@8 Braid Rope T2@2, and now I have to crunch the numbers on his spell. Let me cover it in fragments from the description:
- read, write, speak, and understand, four aspects, -15
- all the languages for which the spell is attuned, ability to incorporate multiple languages, -10
- specially prepared rope, +8
- appropriateness in the rope, +5
- caster must touch or grasp the rope, either hand, -2
- Thereafter anyone touching the rope, incorporating multiple participants -10
- as long as both he and the caster are touching the rope, continuation of ritual component for duration instead of standard 1:20 ratio, +43
- or a maximum of one hour, limitation +5
If I'm doing my math aright, that's +24 SM. Roll for success, 17. I don't think I have to roll for the braiding, except that it's being taught to the Azmayincan, and that roll is 59, which given that the Azmayincan has a 0@0 tech bias--well, let's see what we've got. His Tech BRA is probably 1@6, and he gets bonused for Graeme's 1@8 example, 1@5 Teach SAL, and half his 2@3 Tech BRA, 12, 61 minus the 2@2 target skill, not a success.

The new skill is 1@1 Full Translation Spell M7@4 The spell will enable those affected to read, write, speak, and understand all the languages for which the spell is attuned. The attuning requires a specially prepared rope, woven by a person who speaks the language or in sections by people who speak the languages to be included, speaking continuously in the language while braiding; any means of braiding may be used, then placed on a ring of written samples of each of the languages to be included, with one candle in the center of the ring for each such language, two concentric circles drawn around it and all the letters, upper and lower case, of both the English and Greek alphabets written between the lines of these two circles, and the preparer walking around the circle fifty-two times clockwise and forty-eight times counterclockwise. This special component may be reused for the same spell, as long as the same languages are to be included. The caster must touch or grasp the rope and will the spell to be cast. Thereafter anyone touching the rope will be able to understand all communication in any of the languages included in the preparation for as long as both he and the caster are touching the rope or a maximum of one hour. When the caster releases the rope, the spell ends +24 SM.

I think I'm done, but for my own game.

--M. J. Young
Sat Apr 18 2009 7:27 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

MJ, you still haven't said too much about it. I am absolutely 100% could not possibly be more serious about having the ability to fake a psychotic episode. Maybe you can't think of any uses for such a skill, but I damn sure can. I will not accept less than an expert score at it. I think being psychotic for 30 years prior to versing justifies that.

Sat Apr 18 2009 12:16 pm #
WilliamTWodium
Member

For Graeme's spell, is there no somatic bonus for having to walk in circles? Arguably, that's use of both legs.

Edit: also, this is interesting -

as long as both he and the caster are touching the rope, continuation of ritual component for duration instead of standard 1:20 ratio, +43

Forty-three doesn't look like an ad-hoc number, so I'm guessing you used math; maybe the doublings/halvings formula for TF alterations. Did you treat "continuation of ritual component for duration" as a 1:1 TF:duration ratio for the purposes of calculating the sit-mod?

Sat Apr 18 2009 5:36 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

John, I've already said that under ordinary circumstances a "missed" skill is added to a character sheet when the player encounters a use for it. Since this is such an unusual and unlikely skill, I am not going to invest any of my very precious and extremely limited time into the problems of determining an SAL and Bias Level for it.

You see, when you decide to use it in play, your game grinds to a halt while you and I spend several days talking about what those numbers ought to be. That means that I am doing that work instead of running your game, and it does not take me more time. If we do it now, I am doing that work as well as running your game, and you're using twice as much time, and half of that for something which might never matter.

Scott: on the second point, yes, I counted doublings based on the assumption that the ritual involves touching the rope while activating the spell by thought, and therefore the duration was equal to the ritual. Since for this specific spell a 1:20 TF:duration ratio is suggested, four doublings of the TF makes 16:20, and 20 is 25% greater than 16, rounded to +3, +10 for each doubling, and we get +43.

On the first point, the complication is that the preparation of the material component has been ruled not to be part of the spell. He gets to make the rope one time and use it forever. That means either that he is creating a magic device--which he does not wish to attempt--or he is creating a specific but non-magical material component. Since he is creating the material component separate from the casting of the spell, none of the ritual involved in the material component creation is part of the spell ritual. In that sense, it can be said to be something like holy water as a spell component. We can have holy water that is in essence a magical focus, enspelled to be sensitive to magic; but we can say that the spell requires "water that has been blessed by a cleric of an alliance faith" and thus require no magical properties in the water at all, as long as the blessing has been performed (which could be a simple M+1@1 ceremony NOS). What Graeme has done by the ritual of material object creation is not make a magical object but create what is for practical purposes a unique but reproducible material object, something having a fairly high value because of the time and effort required to create it, but not magical in itself.

Kapish?

With that, let me see what's happening with Harry, John 3, and John 2.

Harry rols 14 on learnign to use the Durnmist Security Whistle, so he starts with a 1@1 SAL on that M0@0 skill. You know what--I've changed my mind: that's a P0@0 skill, since it is used for communication, and thus is a sort of language, not an artistic pursuit.

John 3 is preaching, and that's good; and although I don't want to waste his time writing his exposition, I think I need at least a little more information before I can determine how his audience responds. We'll probably get to a persuasion versus will power check, and I'm starting to think that John needs a bonus on his holy mission, but I don't have to decide that today.

John 2 has a good idea for dealing with the scriff sense that points to his missing equipment. Now we just have to get the details clear.

--M. J. Young

Sun Apr 19 2009 9:31 pm #
JohnA1nut
Member

Understood MJ. I keep forgetting that. I think a large part of it is that I finally want to see a 3@ SAL on my sheet. Honestly though, I think it's something I legitimately would have an expert level of skill at. My doctor said that I was the first psychotic she had known in more than 30 years who actually remembered having the episodes at all. I also managed to record the last episode that I had. That HAS to justify an expert score at being able to fake one.

Sun Apr 19 2009 11:49 pm #
WilliamTWodium
Member

Ah. I had thought the walking bit was part of the spell proper rather than the preparation of the rope. That all makes sense, then, thank you.

Mon Apr 20 2009 12:33 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

I am here with John 3, John 2, and Graeme tonight. Sorry about yesterday; it's been a very rough month.

The back of my mind tells me that John is here about half a century before Wycliff will create the first English translation of the Bible; but I don't think he knows that, and I doubt he will want to wait that long. Since this is "not necessarily" his Earth, he could easily become the first to produce an English Bible. I've had stranger things happen in this universe.

Meanwhile, I'm giving him +2 on his persuasion because I like his approach, and he rolls 15, well within even his 2@1 persuasion; what matters is the will power check of the other guy, but since he has a 1@5 will power, he could not roll a successful check above 14, and that won't be equal, so this is an unnecessary roll. I'm also going to do a quick check of anything I can find about twelfth century Nottingham, as we are quite near the end of that century and the beginning of the next, so that should give me adequate information.

John 2 is going to attempt to teach himself clairvoyance. He didn't exactly say that, but that's what he's doing. I smile, because we're not very far from the day when Lauren would teach him that, but since he's going for it now, we'll roll for it now. I see a 5@10 bias, 2@2 BRA, and 10@ world bias, sums to 82, minus the 3@6 bias for Clairvoyance, gives him 46% chance of success, 5% chance to botch. He rolls 80, so it's not going to work tonight.

When Graeme uses the talking rope, he has to overcome an extra variable: the Mongolchin is an atheist, and so creates a penalty against any magic used directly in connection with himself. The roll this time is 93, so although he has a 1@1 SAL, +24 sit-mod, 2x7@ bias, and 2@2 BRA, that would not be successful even without the -8 sit-mod created by the Mongolchin's resistance. I will give him the detail that he knows to walk away and come back later as a way of changing circumstance; this time he rolls 60, which is a strong enough success to hold everyone together despite the resistance of the Mongolchin.

It occurs to me that I stumbled on something: the Mongolchin should not be able to read minds in Roma because he is an indig, and so bound by the subuniverse rules when he crosses the line. Well, it might not come up again, but we'll see.

--M. J. Young

Wed Apr 22 2009 2:43 am #
Oak
Member

The back of my mind tells me that John is here about half a century before Wycliff will create the first English translation of the Bible; but I don't think he knows that, and I doubt he will want to wait that long. Since this is "not necessarily" his Earth, he could easily become the first to produce an English Bible. I've had stranger things happen in this universe.

I do know about Wycliff to come (as well as about those who have already been, such as the Waldenses), having read James Wylie's "History of Protestantism" cover to cover ( http://www.doctrine.org/history/ ), and having photographic memory to recall all the fine details in all of their glory.

However, the LORD brought me here, and the LORD told me to help these people. And so my duty is clear... :)

In fact, you can check out "http://www.doctrine.org/history/HPv1b1.htm#CHAPTER 7" to get an idea of both the doctrine I spread and the way I plan to spread it... :D

Wed Apr 22 2009 3:38 am #
johnosevens
Member

MJ - I think there's something weird going on with my thread. 1st because I posted a reply and you didn't answer. Second because on the front page it says the last update was "MJ Young - 2 days ago" but my post is AFTER yours and doesn't register. And you left me out of the rotation since then. :(

Wed Apr 22 2009 3:53 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

Osevens, I've had that problem before. It's registering you as a spammer.

Sorry about yesterday; it's been a very rough month.

MJ, it seems like "rough months" are your Neutral GE roll.

Wed Apr 22 2009 4:10 am #
johnosevens
Member

How do you fix it?

Wed Apr 22 2009 12:09 pm #
JohnA1nut
Member

"You" don't, MJ does.

Wed Apr 22 2009 4:23 pm #
johnosevens
Member

Yeah, something is really buggy with my account. I only see my own posts when I'm logged in. HELP!

Fri Apr 24 2009 4:54 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

I don't know what caused it, Harry, but your last post on your thread was flagged as possible Spam, and when it does that it doesn't tell me that there's possible Spam on the thread. I've cleared it, and will start with you, and see how far I can get with John 3, John 2, and Graeme. And yes, rough months seem to be the norm. But you didn't miss too much, Harry--I've missed a few days myself, and almost missed this one.

Our best behind-the-scenes supporter e-mailed me links to information on Harry's pistol. The first is to an earlier page in this thread, which reads reports damaging before his martial arts bonus and with ranges 3':6':12':24':+25/6'. The second is to a page of his game, where the gun is described as "a good gun and a new holster. Nothing fancy, just something longer and a bit narrower than the one I got from the pirate, hopefully with a less worn grip, preferably in a red wood like cherry or rosewood." So I'll list

Pistol, flintlock, base damaging, 3':6':12':24':+25/6' with new holster, cherry grip, longer and narrower than standard pirate weapons.

Harry raises two questions for which answers must come from extrapolation and die rolls. The first concerns whether there is any kind of armor used in this world, and he's right to doubt it given that this is an early gunpowder flintlock society; but then, there was still armor in these days, just not on ships, because drowning was a greater danger than being stabbed, and being shot probably meant the armor wouldn't help much anyway. So I will guess that a good GE roll will mean yes--but what would a bad GE roll mean? Private ownership of armor is illegal, it being available only for military use? Given a roll of 26, I'd say that's the case. As to dogs, there is no particular reason to think that they don't exist, or that they do. It would take a particularly bad GE roll to have them be non-existent, but a particularly good one for their to be German Shepherds, and rolls between the two would determine just how suitable for police work such a dog might be. He rolls 15, not unfavorable.

Oh, we also need a roll for his first night of work: 19, not thwarting but generally unfavorable.

The back of my mind tells me that I already determined what was wrong with the woman John 3 is visiting, but I've lost that fragment amidst everything else. I don't see anything that recalls it to mind, and I seem to recall having done tuberculosis with someone else. I don't really know polio well enough, and smallpox comes in epidemics, not individual cases, as is also true of plague. All right, I'll try something. Let's see what he does with this.

There's a calendar question with John 2, which is unfortunate but then I'm really out of time here (it is 4:35 in the morning and I have to be up in one hundred five minutes).

Let me tackle Graeme's conversation with lots of confused chatter, and call it a night--or a morning, or some time of day at any rate.

--M. J. Young

Fri Apr 24 2009 8:43 am #
JohnA1nut
Member

I saw that thing about Harry's pistol. Something crazy is that a Kevlar bulletproof vest will stop modern bullets, but won't stop a primitive, smooth bore flintlock. Kevlar is designed to stop a spinning bullet. A smooth bore weapon, the bullet isn't spinning, and it will go through the vest. Primitive weapons are better in some instances than modern weapons.

Fri Apr 24 2009 6:33 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

I'm here early, after being here late, and find a single thread awaiting. Given how little turn-around time everyone had, that's not that surprising; but for those who missed today's game, I'll catch you next time around. This time it's only John 2.

And really, that's pretty fair, since he was sort of skipped yesterday--a communications confusion in which I thought he was disagreeing when he thought he was agreeing.

John begins his day by attempting again to teach himself Clairvoyance to reach a distant object. The humor is that tomorrow Lauren will teach him that skill; but today he rolls 26, which is good for a 1@1 Clairvoyance P3@6. Now the question is whether he can find his gear. He rolls 14 on a GE roll, which is not desired but generally favorable. He's not going to find his stuff, but he is going to have a much better idea of how to find it.

--M. J. Young

Fri Apr 24 2009 8:47 pm #
JohnA1nut
Member

John begins his day by attempting again to teach himself Clairvoyance to reach a distant object. The humor is that tomorrow Lauren will teach him that skill; but today he rolls 26, which is good for a 1@1 Clairvoyance P3@6.

Lauren would have taught me a 3@ skill, after all of those 1@ skills? What happened to the 2@1-3@5 level skills? Hardly seems like Lauren is doing her job.

Fri Apr 24 2009 8:50 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Lauren would have taught me a 3@ skill, after all of those 1@ skills? What happened to the 2@1-3@5 level skills? Hardly seems like Lauren is doing her job.
She doesn't know any.

Seriously, I've got her character paper from all the books leading to her arrival here, and she never uses any other psionic defense nor any lower clairsentient or detect skills. She did teach you the 2@4 Blank Mind yesterday (did you forget to write it down?), and that's the only defense she's ever used.

Now, the Architect would have had a list of psionic defenses that would have kept you busy for a long time, but his teaching style is different, and he wouldn't have taught you all of them.

--M. J. Young

Fri Apr 24 2009 8:56 pm #
JohnA1nut
Member

No MJ, a quick check of the board says that I never learned the 2@4 blank minds skill. I think you goofed. She wanted to teach me that, but I wanted to learn the 1@8 Summoning skill. I never learned a 2@4 Blank Minds skill.

Fri Apr 24 2009 9:08 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

John 2, you are correct; I apparently made a note that Lauren was teaching Blank Mind on day 6 but then you asked to learn the Summoning instead. I am making the corrections now, but before I get to that formally I will address game threads from Harry, John 3, and Scott, and then John 2. I was up unexpectedly early this morning, and stayed up so I could do something I ultimately discovered I did not have to do before going where I still did have to go. So I'm a bit tired at this point, but hope to recover soon enough.

I probably ought to create a better picture of Harry's territory. It would enable such interesting questions as the evidence of what the dog did in the night ("But the dog did nothing in the night." "And that is what is interesting.") But I don't want to do it all on the fly, and I don't want to create something I can't track, so we'll let it unfold gradually.

John 3 rolls an 04 on his healing prayer, which suggests that the prayer works, but slowly. We have another miracle, but not so dramatic a one as to stir immediately interest.

There is a question concerning whether Scott will attract any inappropriate attention with his performance of the ritual for creating a holy symbol. The GE roll is 19, which is not thwarting but generally unfavorable.

John 2 has questions, and it's time for Lauren to teach him that Blank Mind skill we'd overlooked. Oooo--she rolls 98 on the skill pattern projection, and I have to check her numbers: I see a 2@8 BRA+2@10 SAL+2x10@ bias=78%, which is 2% chance to botch, a failure but not a botch even without giving her a point or two for familiarity to John.

--M. J. Young

Sun Apr 26 2009 9:06 pm #
JohnA1nut
Member

Mistake.

Mon Apr 27 2009 1:27 am #

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