I'd say MV is meant for advanced referees.
Yeah, it says that in the rule book.
Ending a Decade Behind the Screens
(712 posts) (17 voices)-
Scott--the thing is, anyone who demonstrates the potential for psionic skills is identified at an early age and trained for service in the police. Since the percentage of the population who actually show such aptitude is so low, they never have to worry about having too many people in the force; and since it is inherent in the testing that those who are not found to have the aptitude don't have the ability, the populace never attempts to learn skills they assume they don't have. The jury is out as to whether someone like Alice (who has no aptitude) could be taught such a skill, but I'm going to keep it out for the present.
John--there are several kinds of protection in Multiverser, but few of them are absolute. If you were wearing a full suit of plate armor (the sort that stands by itself in the corner) then it would reduce the chance of an attacker landing a damaging blow drastically. Assuming that there was still a chance, though, then a direct hit say on your chest might stun or bruise you, doing significantly less damage than the same hit would have done absent the armor. This is covered by cover value sit-mods: the chance of the attack being successful is dropped to a lower percentage, and only lower less-damaging rolls can be successful.
The protection you have is not that kind. It does not reduce the chance of something hitting you at all. If you were shot by a bullet, the bullet would hit the coat and force it into your flesh. Your injury would be significantly less than you would receive were it not for the coat, because the bullet never penetrates the coat and so it itself never enters your flesh, and the fibers of the coat reduce the depth to which the force can penetrate because they can't be pulled into the would fast enough. This, then, is covered by a damage category penalty--instead of doing lethal damage, the bullet does dangerous damage, about half as much. You might still be bleeding under the coat, but the bullet would never pass through and is very unlikely to get deep enough to damage vital organs. On the other hand, an annihilating bullet would still do fatal damage, and if you were hit by such a shot we would assume either that it crushed a vital area under the coat or (if it's an option) that the bullet missed the coat.
The creature could in theory break your bones--not this one, because it's too small (although it might do so absent the coat). It can't penetrate your flesh with its jaw because it can't penetrate the coat, but it can force the coat into your flesh rather solidly.
Now, where are we? I think if I've got everyone in the right order today (and I noticed yesterday that I had Scott and Nikolaj reversed, but not until after I'd done one of them) it's Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, Scott, John 2, and Ryan. Let's hope I've enough time. My e-mail volume seems to have risen drastically over the past week or so, and I'm struggling to stay atop everything.
A single explanation from George might give Brock most of what he needs to know, although maybe he'll pursue some of it in more detail.
Maxx rolls 68 on his latest trick, which is an enhanced vision skill falling under a P5@1 Heightened Sensation skill. He rolls 68, and given his 10@1 bias and +20 for the two-minute prep time that's going to give him a 1@2 Enhanced Vision P5@1 takes distant or blurry images and processes them into focused images, one per minute for RS minutes, image is still and forms 0:30 after initial view, 2:00 preparatory concentration +20SM.
Having nothing else on which to base it, I'm using his manipulate object skill for throwing the dirt up; I would use his hand/eye to catch it, but the 86 rolled on throwing up means I don't yet have to concern myself with whether he can catch it.
Kurt has confirmed that these are aimed shots. To save myself some trouble, I'm going to give him a 9mm Beretta Pistol RF10, 15 shot clip, dangerous 10':75':150':300':+1/3' because I can lift that off Shawn's sheet and not have to think about it too much. His chance of successfully learning the skill by shooting at the target here is:
- +9@1 bias
+2@2 BRA
+1@1 Example
+12@ world bias
+20 point blank sit-mod
-6@1 target skill
-1@8 target value
-14 cover value
=63%Ziggy ought to get an intuition check, not because he could shoot first but because he might be surprised, and that's going to delay his response. He rolls 9+2, so he is not surprised. Mariska might be, though, and that would delay her response; she rolls 15+4, which with her intuition is not surprise but really quite solid.
That 24 roll does 3 intensities of damage; Ziggy happens to have a 2@2 DV, so it comes to 1 intensity effectively. Mariska's first shot will also happen almost instantly, so I'll give her 85% on concealment (she did not look through the peephole) and 08 means she's got the mark. She rolls 77 on her first shot, but I need to check her numbers--2@3 RSV, 2@5 SAL, 2x11@ bias, 2@5 BRA, +20 point blank is 115%, minus Ziggy's 1@8 TV and the -14 for the door=83% chance to hit, she's got a dangerous weapon +2DC for fatal, doing 39 intensities of damage, which Ziggy divides by two but still takes 19, which totals 20, which means another hit will kill him.
Kurt is pretty much out of the picture for the instant. Ziggy will attempt to dodge and will draw his own gun to return fire. He will have a 2@3 fast draw skill, and his roll of 27 is easily successful for that. He, too, is firing blind, and more so because he did not see through the peephole, so he's got only about 50% chance of hitting one or the other of them; he rolls 49, so he's in there. His attack shot is 17, which will hit and also gets +2DC on a dangerous weapon, rolling odd or even I get even so Mariska is hit for 9 intensities. She will know that he will probably move to her right (the natural choice for a right-handed gunman while drawing his weapon), so her concealment check is still 85%, 05 gives her the shot, 21 finishes him. Kurt will find out what happened in a moment, when he stops focusing on the door.
I am so short on time at this point; but we'll see what I can still accomplish.
Harry has given advice to Tara; taking that into account, I'll use a GE roll to see whether we can settle this. 16 means things will continue pretty much as they have been, the firemen holding the blaze at bay. Tara will pull down part of the wall where he suggested, which is also where the fire is worst (started from fat ignited by the cook fire), so it will take some work before they can actually enter the building there.
I really expected Nikolaj to remember Cornelius and compare him to Qormlach, but he's going in a different direction, so we'll go with him.
Scott might not have expected this, but it seemed the natural response to me.
My reconstruction of the timeline for John 2 tells me that we just passed the thirtieth second, that John fires again on the fortieth, and that the last lizard reaches Derek on the thirty-fifth, so its attack comes first: it rolls 61, which misses, and John rolls 64, which hits for 13+7+7=more than enough.
How long it takes the living lizards on the ground to connect to someone is a different question, but I think these are small enough that they won't attack again until the top of the minute, so John will get his last carbine shot before that. He rolls 33, which is 7+4+4, not enough to kill one but a serious hit.
I need an initiative roll for them, but I don't want to assume that I know what John is going to do. I'll hit the rolls next time.
Ryan is having a good conversation with Magdi, and takes it in a new and fascinating direction.
--M. J. Young
Thu Jan 28 2010 6:56 am # -
I've just posted what I think is an important post on Bulding a Future for Gaming Outpost which I hope all of my players, at least, will read and consider, and perhaps to which you will respond in some way. Hopefully I did not put too much time in it, because I see that I have active game threads from Michael, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, Scott, John 2, and Ryan.
Michael's approach to putting the cube atop the pyramid is a bit unorthodox, but perhaps one of us is not understanding the other, so we'll take a post to clarify.
I'll accept most of what Maxx has proposed in terms of his plan to get the bar where he wants it relative to Lelach. That means first he has to create the bar the way he wants alongside the clearing, for which he rolls 87. Noting a 1@10 BRA, 10@ bias, 1@2 SAL, and +50SM, he's got a 102% chance of success on this skill now, and that's a good and long-lasting success. He then needs Lelach to pick him up and carry him somewhere, and a 6 GE roll plays well for that. He then has to roll to move the bar, 15 being a relatively weak success but a success. His second step in his plan has a complication, though, so we'll cover that.
A lot of what happens to Harry in his present circumstance depends on what happens outside his control with Tara and her crew. 12 on the GE roll is good enough, though, so things are moving forward well. We'll wrap up the fire and get back almost to the routine.
I have no reason to believe that there is any evil among Nikolaj's converts, so I'm not going to roll for that; I am going to roll for his discernment skill, which is unbidden and uncontrolled with a +10 SM on a 1@5 SAL. He rolls 80, which is doubtful but he's got some bonuses still, including +10 for half his 1@10 religion and +10 for alliance skills in an alliance world, 2x7@ bias and 1@9 BRA, which actually comes to an impressive 98.
Scott is going to need several rolls for his skills, and I'm going to have to reset the stopwatch (because it drops the decimals when it hits thirty minutes, and it will have done so a moment ago). That done (it was at 33:00) I need a GE because he's hoping she does not speak so much Spanish as he does (which is not much, apparently), and given a roll of 17 I'd say that's right because I don't think of people in this world being commonly bilingual. 30 is rolled on the Deflect Notice skill, a 1@3 SAL plus 2@6 BRA in a flatlined bias has me hoping he's got at least +1 SM on it, but in fact he's got a -19 on it, so that's not going to work for him. He attempts to detect it with 12 rolled on a psionic detection, which is a certain success. The other has a 1@2 SAL and a +7 SM, but regrettably here he rolls 80, so that's also a failure. He rolls the detect again, 40, which I'll have to check: 2x7@ bias+1@2 SAL+2@1 BRA=more than enough.
His chance to project the skill pattern is 46%, which I calculate quickly because I already did the baseline that he's got a 2@1 BRA and 2x7@ bias for 35% before SAL, and it's a 1@1 SAL. 93 fails. 02 works for the teaching skill, though, so Alice gets her 0@0 bias+ we'll assume a 1@7 intuition as her BRA+half Scott's 2@1 psi BRA as instructor for +11, +Scotts 1@3 teaching SAL minus the 1@1 target skill, 30% chance that she can do this, and 02 gives her 1@1 Tap Language Center P1@1.
Top of the minute John 2 gets to fire at a monster and it gets to bite at him, Derek gets to slash with his knife at the other which gets to bite at him, and the question is, who goes first?
The monsters have a 63% chance to bite John, less to bite Derek, so that's their target number. Derek's chance with the knife was just calculated at 93 minus a 1@8 TV for the creatures is 75%; John has a new weapon so I'm crunching from the ground up, +20 point blank, 2@2 SAL (Ruger), 2@2 BRA, 2@2 RSV, 2x12@ bias, -1@8 TV is 92%, which is their side's target. The monsters roll first, 02, 62, John's team gets the first shot easily, and we know the hit probabilities of most of them.
John fires 37, the dangerous gun gets +2DC to Fatal for 19 intensities of damage, the bullet will do the job. Derek rolls 05, a weak hit for one intensity. The beast gets a strike at him, 58, which looking back misses the 54% target barely. John's fire rate with the pistol multiplies the RF10 by his 2@ SAL and his 2@ RSV for 40 per minute, a bit faster than every two seconds (actually, two in three seconds, which is every 1.5 seconds), so he fires again almost immediately, 37 again doing fatal damage and finishing the last one.
I was probably too quick on the gravity, but it seemed to fit John's GE roll, and I'm assuming they spent time in the cargo hold before proceeding. John wants Lauren to get them out of there, but I don't see that happening unless he gets a really good GE roll. And it figures that I just burned another half hour on the stopwatch, so I have to restart it and give it time to become three-digit random again before I can roll that. 18 is not the roll John wants, but it's not as bad as it might have been. However, it's already been stated that Lauren has no skill to destroy the ship remotely--that's why she's here. So his idea is not going to fly.
We're wrapping up Ryan's conversation with Magdi, but he observes that he is also with Mitzu, so we should cover that, too.
I think I'm done here.
--M. J. Young
Fri Jan 29 2010 12:38 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberI was probably too quick on the gravity
No "probably" about it. I was really looking forward to getting new uses for zero g on all of my guns. All I got was on the one rifle...
However, it's already been stated that Lauren has no skill to destroy the ship remotely--that's why she's here. So his idea is not going to fly.
Yeah, and I had no skill at magically walking on water in Dancing Princess until I prayed for it. The shortest distance to destroying this thing is the distance between my knees and the ground.
Fri Jan 29 2010 12:55 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberTwo
MJ, I just wanted to be clear on how the damage works with my triburst fire. It's base dangerous, first shot +DC to lethal, two following shots count as dangerous damage riders. When I get my fourth new use, will it be base dangerous +2DC to fatal, with two lethal damage riders? How does that work exactly? Man, if that's the way it works, this thing is about to become formidable indeed. Thanks.
(Doing Therapy)
Fri Jan 29 2010 5:33 am # -
You got your new use for firing a gun in zero G, and applied it to the rifle. I don't see that there's anything that different about firing a different kind of gun in zero G, although there might have been possibilities for firing a gun under different conditions in which zero G was a factor.
The reason that your two following bullets are dangerous instead of lethal is that they do not get the damage bonus for your 2@ RSV. You're asking whether they would get the damage bonus for a 2@ SAL. My inclination is that that bonus is also based on your increased accuracy with the weapon, and since the increased accuracy is lost on the subsequent shots you don't get it. You do, however, fire twice as fast. You might also consider that you fire faster in single-shot mode, and in that mode every bullet gets the bonus. Right now I think it might favor triburst--you're looking at (triburst) lethal+dangerous+dangerous twice for every (single shot) lethal thrice, which means potentially two lethal and four dangerous versus three lethal in the same time. If you go to fatal, then you'll be looking at fatal+dangerous+dangerous twice for every fatal thrice, which means two fatal and four dangerous versus three fatal in the same time, and one fatal is probably worth slightly more than four dangerous. It's also better economy of bullets, and can be spread around more easily (since you can pick a target for each bullet in single shot, but only for sets of three in triburst).
I hope that's clear.
Now, I see Michael and Maxx and Kurt and Harry and Nikolaj and John 2 and Ryan, so I'd better get busy if I want to finish tonight. I have somewhere to be tomorrow, so it won't do for me to push this into then.
Michael operates telepathic devices with his eyes closed for +5, with his 1@2 SAL and 2@1 BRA for 38% chance of success, and 02 makes it work for two minutes and gives him another new use on a telepathic device for 1@3 SAL.
Maxx needs to curve the bar such that it moves away from Lelach and curves to trail behind her, I think. He is also changing the image, which based on his previous roll of 15 will happen slowly. He is going to have to move it; 70 as a roll means he does this smoothly. I'm now wondering what happens next, and a 9+3+7=19 GE roll says it's not what he wants.
Kurt's post is pretty easy: he shot Zigesfeld, and Mariska finished the villain, so that's what he finds.
I need to wrap up Harry's fire, but that's going to include a meeting to discuss how it went and what could be done better next time.
John 2 has a 1@8 Medical treatment and a 1@5 medical diagnosis, both at T7@. Since we're looking at level 2 problems (wound treatment) we give him +5 to a 1@10 effective diagnosis and a 2@3 effective treatment, and roll 31, 93. I don't think 93 will work, but I'll do the math: 2@3+2x12@+2@2+20 for an advanced first aid kit appropriate to the problem is 89, well, it has to fail sometimes.
I had to do a bit of backtracking to see how Ryan got up there--or more particularly how Mitzu did--but it makes sense now. He's got a 1@7 SAL on flight and a 1@3 on levitation, and his psi bias exceeds the 7@ of the world, and his BRA is 1@6. If he uses the levitation it's 43% and new use; if he uses the flight it's 48% but he already got new use for that (the new use is taking someone with him). He'll try the levitation which he mentioned first, and with a roll of 02 he will succeed, if a bit roughly.
I was so tempted to have Magdi say something about the wisdom of Ryan's father, but that would be so self-indulgent I had to pass.
--M. J. Young
Sat Jan 30 2010 3:14 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberYou got your new use for firing a gun in zero G, and applied it to the rifle. I don't see that there's anything that different about firing a different kind of gun in zero G, although there might have been possibilities for firing a gun under different conditions in which zero G was a factor.
I seem to recall you saying that I got the zero g new use for every gun of every type I fired in zero g. So, I got it on the rifle, and had it been on when I fired the pistol and shotgun, I would have gotten it for those as well. It's still a new use for the different guns, is it not? I mean, the bullets are affected the same way, no matter what gun fired them.
Sat Jan 30 2010 3:18 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberTwo
The damage rider method you're using I don't like at all. After I get to 2@1 skill, there's no advantage in using the triburst setting. It's using more ammo and taking more time to do less damage. The whole point of triburst is to do more damage with 3 than you could do with 1. I know, that's what I'm doing, but as you said, since it doesn't add up the same way, I'm really not doing more damage. Why don't the riders increase as well as the primary? I know they're not aimed in the same sense, but they are still aimed. At 50 yards, they probably wouldn't be more than an inch away from each other, even in the hands of a novice. If the primary increases, shouldn't the riders increase as well? Lethal primary and dangerous riders are fine, but the riders should be lethal when the primary is at Fatal. They would still be more accurately off target at 2@1 than at 1@10. At 1@10, the lethal shot hit their heart, the other two just grazed it. At 2@1, the Fatal shot hit dead center of their heart, and the other two hit it solidly. Fatal, with two lethal riders. What you're saying, essentially, is that the other two shots get less accurate the higher my skill gets. The first hit the heart dead center, and the other two were so far off they just grazed it, in a sense. At expert, the primary is annihilating with dangerous riders. How did that go down? The first one hit him square in the forehead, and the other two blew his ears off? (Said sarcastically) That's losing accuracy really quick. It would be more like one in the forehead, and one in each eye. (Annihilating with Fatal riders, see?) At a 3@ RSV, and a 3@ SAL, it would be Obliterative, with Dangerous riders. So, I just blew the Narnian dragon in half, as well as taking off two of the bony plates on its spine? Do see how much further off the shots are becoming that way? It would be more like Obliterative with Annihilating riders, so I blew the dragon in half, and destroyed its two eggs which were sitting behind it.
I'm not arguing so much as I am trying to understand the logic you're using, although I certainly wouldn't complain if I can get you to change your mind.
(Doing Therapy)
Sat Jan 30 2010 9:42 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberYeah, you're right, I think. The thing I don't think MJ is realizing is that the better SAL would also give you better ability at controlling the recoil. An expert could probably put all three bullets through almost exactly the same hole at 100 yards.
(Doing Therapy)
Sat Jan 30 2010 4:05 pm # -
Ryan Young
MemberAutomatic and semi-automatic fire are notorious for being less accurate due to recoil caused by successive bullets leaving the barrel. Even mounted machine guns use sweeping motions because they make up for reduced accuracy by increasing the number of times they try to hit. No matter how good you get, you will never be able to prevent the recoil of the first shot from affecting the accuracy of subsequent shots, but you do learn to compensate to some degree.
Once you are skilled enough that you no longer need the crutch of automatic fire, you will start to appreciate the extra speed and accuracy you can get from single fire mode. In burst mode, you need to wait for the three bullets to fire, get the recoil under control, have the next round set, and sight your next target. While this all takes a little more than a second, you could technically get fast enough to shoot as fast as that three-round burst but put each bullet where you want it.
Semi-auto is for grunts. Single fire is for S.W.A.T.
Just a side thought, if you put all three bullets into the same hole, and the first one punched straight through, the second and third would do no damage. Of course, those situations are always non-combat with the target and shooter stationary and the shooter is calm and not under fire, so he has time to aim. In combat, these conditions don't exist until the fight is over.
The extra bullets fired in burst fire are functioning as a bonus. Since you can't accurately control the second and third bullets, they don't gain the benefit of your ability to aim the first shot. The extra bullets will benefit from your skill in that higher chance of success means more damage on higher rolls.
Sat Jan 30 2010 8:57 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberAutomatic and semi-automatic fire are notorious for being less accurate due to recoil caused by successive bullets leaving the barrel.
Yeah, the Uzi 9mm was designed around this principle. Hold the gun sideways, and the recoil will drag it to sweep an enclosed area like a trench. (Anyone else think a Jewish weapon firing bullets designed by Nazis incredibly ironic??) Even an expert with the best gun in the world wouldn't put all three through exactly the same hole, but the recoil would be reduced.
Sat Jan 30 2010 11:22 pm # -
Ryan is on target with this, although he did not make clear enough the sub-point. I was discussing it with Tristan briefly yesterday, and he said he really liked the way the game covered the problem. You're overlooking the effect of relative success because you're overly concerned about damage categories.
I ran this down something like this with Tristan. Let's give our shooter a 1@5 SAL and 1@5 BRA and 1@5 RSV with 2x10@ bias; this makes his chance to hit 65%. We give him a target with a 1@5 TV and that brings it to 50%. His three bullets are all dangerous. This means that if he rolls 41 to 50 he did 5 intensities of damage, and his range of damage is 1 to 5, average damage per hit 3, average damage per shot 1.5. That math was all easy. It also means that the triburst does an average damage per three-bullet hit of 9 and per three-bullet shot of 4.5. If we've got an RF 10, for convenience, it does 45 intensities of damage per minute on average, assuming that the bullets do not deplete before that.
Now the only thing we're going to change is the SAL, which we will increase to 2@5. This means his chance to hit 75%, brought down by TV to 60%. His first bullet is now lethal, and the other two are still dangerous. This means that if he rolls 56 to 60 he did 12 intensities of damage with the first bullet, and his range of damage is 1 to 12, average damage per hit 6.5, average damage per shot 60% of that which is 3.9. I did use a calculator for that. The following bullets do 1 to 6 intensities each, average damage per hit increased from 3.0 to 3.5, and per shot from 1.5 to 2.1. That means each triburst hit does an average damage of (6.5+3.5+3.5=)13.5 (up from 7.5), and each triburst hit does (3.9+2.1+2.1=)8.1 (up from 3.75). But it also means that in a one-minute round, if you do not run out of bullets (e.g., firing two guns using belt-fed ammo) is now 162 intensities of damage. You got your bonus for level not because you can fire those trailing bullets with much greater accuracy (you can't) but because you can fire them with slightly greater accuracy (the increased chance that they will hit) much more quickly.
But as Ryan says, the people who are really good with the weapon can do more damage in the same time by aiming and firing single shots than they--or you--can by using unaimed "throwing lead" trailing bullets in an autofire burst.
You're also assuming that because (which is not true) the second and third bullets follow the same flight path they hit the target in the same place. As I said to Tristan, if you fire at a bird in flight the first bullet will move the position of the bird significantly before the second and third reach it. Obviously if you're firing at a brontosaurus it's going to move a lot less--but you're still going to shift its internal organs and cause its muscles to spasm in ways that are going to mean that the trailing bullets do not hit the same exact points of impact, and your damage bonus is based on your ability to hit the exact intended point of impact.
As to receiving the new use bonus for every gun, the more I think about it the less reasonable that seems. I might give it for completely different categories of weapons, such as a pneumatic weapon, but the weapons you carry are already too similar for this. Anyway, "new use" is designed to help the amateur, not the professional. Its impact on your SAL at 2@ skills is minimized; you're supposed to be relying on practice at this point, not on thinking of new ways to use the skill.
--M. J. Young
Mon Feb 1 2010 12:02 am # -
When I hit the forum today, I was thrilled to see some of the active players whom I have missed, in addition to so many of the recently faithful, but I had to look up the character data to figure out the order in which everyone gets to play. Hopefully I've got it right, and it begins with Michael, then Maxx, then Kurt, Harry, the welcome prodigal John 3, Nikolaj, Scott, John 2, Graeme, the long-absent Kyler, and Ryan. Here's hoping I can cover all of these in a reasonable amount of time.
Michael only has two minutes in which to make his observations, but we'll allow him a simple intellect check to see how much he gets in that time. 19+anything is higher than his 1@9 intellect, but he has the chance to extend the time if he chooses to make another skill check on retaining the connection.
Maxx has to bend the bottom of the force bar away from his mother, which will require another skill check: 96 is quite high a success (as I recall he has no chance of failure, so it's only relative success that matters here). Still, things do not always go quite as hoped.
I think Kurt needs a GE roll. There were five or six shots fired in a hotel; there is now blood and vomit in the hall. The odds that he has more than a few minutes are slim. 15, though, is a not unfavorable result.
I promised a meeting for Harry at which details of the fire would be discussed in terms of how to improve response next time. Let's get a few ideas on the table before we run around doing those other tasks.
Let's see what John 3 makes of Friar Tuck's next comments, as they discuss miracle in modern Britain.
Nikolaj is adding a new prayer for third-party revelation to his list, this time asking God to reveal a particular truth about the world to that party. It is a prayer walk; I'm not certain what bonuses I've given to that in the past, but I'll say +6 this time. I'm assuming that it is the three minute single question version, so +22 for the 15:00 TF. Eyes closed are good for +3, and of course he gets +10 for making a successful roll of the M7@1 tongues skill a necessary component. We also have +5 appropriate words and +5 for the magical language, so I think I'm looking at +51 SM. Wait, he's got eyes closed, so I must have misunderstood about the walking part, strike the +6 from that and take it back to +45. He's got his religion, alliance bonus, bias, and BRA on top of that, so I am comfortable that a roll of 58 gives him 1@2 Third Party Revelation M7@7 15:00 TF prayer eyes closed with appropriate words asking that a specified individual perceive a specific truth about reality, using prayer tongues as part of prayer, +45SM. Of course, that he learned it does not in this case mean that it worked, because the prayer tongues roll is an essential component, for which he rolls 96, against 1@10 SAL+1@9 BRA+2x7@ bias+half 1@10 religion+10 alliance=73%. Ah, well, you can't get them all every time.
I'm wondering what happens over the next few days and which event will happen first; a 9 GE roll is quite favorable for Nikolaj but does not overcome the fact that the prayer did not exactly work. I think we'll go to the baptism, with only minor comments along the way.
Scott has opened a new can of worms, and now he's got to figure out how to find the bigger can in which to re-can them.
John 2 gets a 22 GE roll. I think I'll pull the plug on his hole card.
Graeme now suggests a use for his wands in a skill which surprises me. I'm going to have to clarify the function.
Kyler, who has been avoiding the role of superhero since he arrived here, has just found a reason to become one--the elementary school superhero who puts a stop to the work of evil bullies.
I'll follow Ryan's lead in skimming past the Q&A session with Mitzu and getting back to the human camp. That's where the interesting side will begin.
--M. J. Young
Mon Feb 1 2010 1:55 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberAs to receiving the new use bonus for every gun, the more I think about it the less reasonable that seems.
Someone who knows as little about guns as you do would think that. It would be completely different for a rifle than for a handgun. But since I'm minutes away from versing out, it doesn't really matter.
Mon Feb 1 2010 4:28 am # -
All right, I'm going to ask that you not talk about how little I know about guns. I have fired several shot guns, a couple rifles, a revolver, a cap and ball pistol, a cap and ball rifle, a flintlock pistol, a flintlock rifle, a pneumatic rifle, and a crossbow, at least. I don't pretend to be an expert at any gun, but you're getting insulting with your suggestion that I don't know anything about the subject. I know enough about guns and enough about zero gravity to know that the experience of firing a gun in zero gravity is a little different based on the gun, but that the lessons you learn from one will transfer relatively easily to the others.
Now, let me see what I can do with posts from Maxx, Kurt, Harry, John 3, Nikolaj, Scott, John 2, Kyler, and Ryan.
I'm hesitant to rely on a skill check for what Maxx wants to do with the bar, because he can't fail a skill check and I'm not at all certain whether what he is attempting should or should not work. Thus I'm going to use a GE roll for it, bad means it snaps to him, good means it stays where it is, neutral means it stutters and shuts down. I need a few seconds to randomize the stopwatch, and then the roll is 7+8+10=25, not just a bad roll, a remarkably bad but not totally surprising one.
I've already rolled the GE for Kurt's situation, and it suggests that quick action will get him out of there before being trapped.
I need to organize more in connection with Harry's fire equipment, so I'll ask his help with that.
I am on one level hoping that John 3 will get Friar Tuck working greater miracles, and on another uncertain whether that's a good direction for this world to take--but then, I've seen this world take a lot of unanticipated directions, and this is a fascinating one. Let's put the challenge in another form, and see whether he has an answer.
I would like Nikolaj's baptismal service to go smoothly, but then if it goes badly that might still be good. Let's see what we get on a GE roll: ouch, very badly, 9+8+10=27, worst fears. He's already put some mitigating action into this, making a point of seeing Mr. Kucher before the service starts, so I'll give him a persuasion versus will power check, noting that Mr. Kucher as head of the ranch probably has a 1@10 will power, and rolling Nikolaj first (d30+10): 36 to 23, Nikolaj does not prevail here. Maybe he can change things with a miracle, but he doesn't have fifteen minutes to pray about this.
Scott just gave me the best laugh I've had in quite a while, recalling that "the last time I saw a bunch of neophytes getting taught brand-new psionic abilities willy-nilly, the city of Columbus exploded. I mean that literally, concussive force radiating outward and killing everyone." Yeah, that's a good reason to move slowly with the introduction of new psionic skills to a neophyte. Otherwise we're just wrapping up this chapter, I think.
Accidentally causing an explosion and calling for one to happen purposely are two entirely different events, which John 2 should already know. The latter would be a M9@9 skill, and John is in a 0@25 Mag bias world, so it's not impossible but it is going to be difficult. On the other hand, the huge explosion he caused accidentally in Dancing Princess would not have destroyed the ship here--most of the people with him survived it. The base damage for such an explosion skill is lethal, fatal at a -10 penalty, but I can give him a +20 SM for casting it at point blank range (within five feet of himself). On the down side, he's in the middle of the ship, and he will need a much larger explosion if he's going to destroy the ship.
Before I calculate that, though, he has also said that if more lizards arrive he wants to try to create a bell jar force shield, and asks if that would be a new use. It would be, but first we need a GE roll for whether, or more plausibly when, they arrive, and then a roll to see whether his shield is successful. He gets a 10 GE so he's going to get a single lizard which gives him a good excuse to raise the shield. He rolls 56 on that, and he's in a 10@ psi bias world with a 1@1 SAL and 2@2 BRA which means 53% chance of success. He doesn't get new use because he didn't make it work.
My connection seems to have gone sour; I'll keep at it while working on the other player posts.
Kyler is going into routine, and he gets a 17 GE roll so it's a pretty uneventful routine.
Ryan is devising a new read minds skill, for anticipating opponent action in combat. He's got sparring practice with Mitzu, so he can use it there. He rolls 84 on learning it, but since he's in a moderate bias world and has a fairly high bias himself that might be a success. I see 12@3 bias+1@6 BRA+7@ world bias=146, -1@1 target skill is a guaranteed success at this, so with that high a roll he's got a 1@3 Anticipate Action (combat read minds) P1@1 confers +/-10 SM in combat. I'm comfortable with the rest of the post.
--M. J. Young
Tue Feb 2 2010 1:28 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberAll right, I'm going to ask that you not talk about how little I know about guns. I have fired several shot guns, a couple rifles, a revolver, a cap and ball pistol, a cap and ball rifle, a flintlock pistol, a flintlock rifle, a pneumatic rifle, and a crossbow, at least. I don't pretend to be an expert at any gun, but you're getting insulting with your suggestion that I don't know anything about the subject. I know enough about guns and enough about zero gravity to know that the experience of firing a gun in zero gravity is a little different based on the gun, but that the lessons you learn from one will transfer relatively easily to the others.
Actually, that's a wider variety than I have shot. The thing was that I really hate it when people rescind what they say. I realize I was asking you to do just that on the triburst gun, but I think I made a solid case for it. I had to reread what you and Ryan said, but yeah, single fire aimed shots does sound a lot better, and I'm only 1 new use away from that.
Like you were saying about how the expert would know his gun? I knew a few of my guns pretty well. I knew how they handled, and I actually scored 10 kill hits with my eyes closed. They say the gun is a natural extension of your hand when you can do that. A Ruger 10/22 would react way differently in zero g than a shotgun would. Likewise, a 9mm pistol would react differently than a 9mm rifle. One of them being on your hand, and the other on your shoulder. I think the rifles actually kick noticeably harder.
(Doing Therapy)
Tue Feb 2 2010 7:24 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberTwo
I had to envision it in my head, but I understand now exactly what you mean about the other two shots not being aimed. I'll go along with this, if, on the triburst setting, I have the possibility of hitting multiple targets with one shot. If the gun is moving, the shots aren't aimed. One aimed, two thrown. Those two thrown could hit feet away from each other. The expert could hit three targets with that.
(Doing Therapy)
Tue Feb 2 2010 8:30 am # -
I think that the current rule favors you. These would be the alternatives:
- Current rule: if the first bullet hits the target, it is assumed that the second and third also hit the target; the first does dangerous damage plus whatever damage category and bonuses are appropriate for your attributes and ability. The second and third do dangerous damage to the same target.
- Alternative rule: if the first bullet hits the target, the others might, but they might hit a different target. In this case, a general effects roll must be rolled for the second and third bullets, in which a good roll would allow rolling dangerous damage against the same or additional targets (as a separate roll), a medium to slightly bad roll would do little or no damage, and a seriously bad roll would have negative consequences (such as bringing down the ceiling, puncturing an air seal, causing an explosion) comparable to a botch.
The expert might hit individual targets, but he would be throwing lead: firing the gun in the general direction of a group of targets and hoping that some of them are hit. His chance of some of them being hit would be better than yours, perhaps, but it is still a chance.
Now let's look again at Maxx, Kurt, Harry, John 3, Nikolaj, John 2, and Ryan.
Maxx needs to make his bar invisible very quickly, which means he needs a high relative success on the skill check--and 68 is pretty good. The question, though, is whether his mother is fooled. I'm noting a 1@6 intellect for her, and a 1@7 intuition, and giving her an intuition check: 13+13=26, it looks like he's going to get away with it this time. He is not going to get a lot of free time in the bath, though.
Mariska will certainly ask Kurt for the plan. I need to update the plan, too--Ziggy was supposed to capture Kurt's friends on their tour, and Kurt was supposed to see them coming through the gate, but now I have to wing it. I think the answer is that they are already inside the castle. It looks like it might be time to party.
Harry is moving forward with his firefighting team. I roll a 17 GE on whether there are people who can teach knots. He also gets a 19 GE roll on events upcoming, which is not quite the roll he wants but will move us forward significantly. We'll move toward the anticipated wedding, and try to cover the real estate matter as well.
I think that John 3's passing comment about tradition would strike a note that keeps this discussion going in a new direction. I hope he's not bored by our theological debate; I'm really interested in his response to the defense of tradition.
Nikolaj's plan has been slightly derailed, but we'll give him every chance to re-rail it.
John 2 won't put a time on the prayer, but perhaps the lizard will. Derek and the dragon go head-to-head while John is praying; Derek might or might not be a match for the dragon, but he's already injured so he can't last too long. Pulling stats from the thread:
- Derek 75% to hit lizard with knife (1@8 TV), damaging +DC=Dangerous, x2 Att
Lizard 54% to hit Derek with bite, dangerous +DC=Lethal, x2 Att
Derek's DV is 1@10, and he's down -8.
Lizard's DV is 2@4.
We start with initiative, Lizard then Derek, 87, 31, Derek first, alternating attacks, 18 hits lizard 2 intensities cut to 1 by 2@ DV means 2@4-1=23. 74 misses Derek. 59 hits lizard for 6 becomes 3 makes 20. 24 hits Derek for 5 means down 13 leaves 7.
Initiative: 52, 34, Lizard first, 40 hits Derek for 8 and that's the end.
That means John gets to pray for three minutes before the lizard reaches him. Let's construct this spell. He'll settle for an annihilating explosion the width of the ship, which reduces the penalty for the size and intensity of the blast to -65. Let's see what we can give him on the positive side. I've got this listed as an alliance world, so that's +10, and his 1@8 religion gives him another +9. His bias is 12@6, and his BRA is 2@2. Now for the inherent sit-mod.
He is the center of the blast, so we'll eliminate the range and give him +20 for that. He has three minutes to pray, against a 0:30 baseline, so that's +25. He has +5 for appropriate words, and I'll give +3 for loud/forceful (which is probably what he gets for his "every fiber of your being" bonus), +10 for kneeling, all of which is 53 against the =65 above makes -12. The targeted skill is a M9@9 Create Blast, so his chance of success is 126+22+10+9-12-99=56%, so he wants to roll high enough to destroy the ship but not so high that he fails completely. 43 is a really good roll for this, doing 43 intensities of damage across the width of the ship. It also means John never reaches post 666 on this one, and that I have to come up with another world for him.
The skill is listed as 1@2 Create Blast M+9@9 pray loudly and fervently for 3:00TF with appropriate words on knees for annihilating level explosion of 240' central blast radius centered on caster -12SM.
I was singing Scarborough Faire while cooking (which I often do if I find myself using certain spices), and was thinking I might drop John 2 into a medieval world. Then I remembered that he just came from a medieval world, and anyway I've got similar things going with other players. So I decided to go with something a bit more sci-fi post-apocalyptic. I note that it says state 1 on his sheet, so I'll roll the flex check (dang--is it difficult or simple? I'll go with difficult), and get 5+10=15, noting that his 1@3 flexibility makes it almost impossible for him to move to stage 2, or to avoid the stakes in the bottom of a pit or squeeze into that tight spot under the stairs. In any case, he is once more unconscious.
And I just changed my mind; and Ryan agrees that this new idea is really brilliant.
Speaking of Ryan, he is back into his routine of training and such. He lives on a 40-hour NagaWorld day (some of us do that), and puts 11 hours into physical practice plus some time into practice with a Dune Pain Inducer to boost his will power. I'll give him a GE roll for how long it will be before something else interrupts, 15 running modestly favorable. He needs 2400 hours for skill improvement and 4800 hours for attribute improvement, which given 40 hour days is 80 and 160 days, respectively. We'll shoot through about half that time and see what he wants to do next.
--M. J. Young
Wed Feb 3 2010 2:07 am # -
I feel a bit silly. A quarter of a day ago, having gotten an early start and cleared out some of the little stuff, I popped open ever active thread here and thought I'd be back to it shortly. I knew I was going to attempt to squeeze a grocery shopping trip into the day, and so I was glad to see that I was ahead of schedule so significantly. Then when I was running around with the mid-afternoon interruption I remembered that I had not finished the biggest chunk of the Wednesday work, the e-mail. So I turned back to that, did the shopping, and find myself here considerably later and with two more players in the queue. But that's good, if I can get to them all. I've got Maxx, Kurt, Harry, John 3, Nikolaj, John 2, and Ryan.
Maxx still wants to play with his force bar. I remember it being a long RS time when he rolled, and his bath was cut short, so I think he can chain it still. He rolls 12. He also rolls a 13 GE roll.
I'm disinclined to let this force object become a lens of any sort; that, it seems to me, would require a 15@2 pseudo-object or 15@5 temporary object. Since the force is not matter, it cannot be given the properties of matter; the appearance is illusory. Although it ought to be possible for such a wall to protect against light, polarization is a bit more sophisticated than that.
I find myself confused by Kurt's question; I note that when he shot Ziggy I did the numbers for skill learning and he should be listing a 1@1 Use Small Hand-carried Explosive-driven Slug Thrower T6@1. I also find that I neglected to copy that to my sheet, but the wording of his question makes me wonder whether this was the first time he used it or whether he meant did he get the skill on some previous occasion when he used it. I'll clarify that.
And I'll give him a GE roll for his announcement and his plan: 4, that's nearly a "write your own ticket" roll, "Well beyond hopes or expectations."
On a best estimate, I would say that the chance that the Piper will be in port in Durnmist on the day of Harry's wedding is about 1:50--that based on the fact that John allowed several months for himself to get back to Durnmist and it will take over half a year for the Piper to get there the long way. A GE or 6 or better, according to the basic dicing curves, is about right for that to happen, and the GE is 21, so it's not going to happen. On the other hand, the rental gives him a GE 12, which is good enough, so something will come of this.
I managed to recall a group that does predate our late 1190's date: the Waldensians were in southern Europe around 1177. So Tuck can mention them to John 3 and see where it gets him. My impression is that the Catholic Church is going to anathematize that group, but has not yet done so, presently attempting to control them.
Nikolaj has decided to pull Bredd and Kathrine from the program for the moment; we'll give a GE roll for how it goes overall, which comes down as 20, just bad enough.
John 2 has not begun to guess the really good part of my scenario for him, but it's going to take quite a while for it to play through. Speaking of taking a while, I had to put a couple hours into figuring out his character sheet. I'm sure he's going to find flaws, but that's why it gets posted--so we can find the discrepancies and fix them.
Ryan is going to teach Mitzu some psionic skills. First, we need to roll for the connection. Mitzu has a 1@10 BRA and 2x1@ bias with a 1@1 SAL in telepathy, 33% chance of making the connection, 81 fails. Ryan rolls 27, which I know will succeed for him. He also rolls 02 on his clairvoyance, so that also works. The skill learning roll is 49, and I want to check the numbers because I'm not positive. Mitzu gets 1@1 bias+1@10 BRA+Ryan's 1@1 example+half Ryan's 1@7 Psi BRA (instructor)+Ryan's 1@3 psi training SAL+the 7@ world Psi bias-the 3@6 target skill bias=71-36=35% chance of success, not successful.
Ryan is also trying to learn a skill, but I need to be clear what he is doing.
--M. J. Young
Thu Feb 4 2010 7:58 am # -
Brock
MemberNormally the player wouldn't even read the referee's notes like this. This forum is special, due to it's purpose.
To whom it may concern-I no longer have steady internet access. I will be returning infrequently, based on when I have time to go to the library. So don't worry when I disappear for a week or so. I'll be back. Gotta run, continue my game thread later.
Thu Feb 4 2010 9:49 pm # -
Heh-heh. Well, I couldn't have you thinking that you'd figured it all out, now, could I?
Let's see what we can do for Maxx, Harry, John 3, John 2, and Kyler.
I'm going to settle a lot of the questions about Maxx' force wall by defining the parameters more clearly. Maybe he'll develop some other ideas. More interestingly, though, is that he is leaping to a retrocog skill, trying to get a feeling for what happened when the botch bar vanished on contact with the tree. At first I was wondering whether the tree was an object, a place, or a person, but then I realized that he's not interested so much in what happened to the tree but in what happened when the ring touched the tree, more generally. That puts me in the realm of P11@9 Retrocognitive Scrying, and it's good that Maxx is boosting his chance with preparatory concentration.
That's problematic, though. Can a one and a half year old child stand still in concentrated focus in the same area as his mother for half an hour, and she not interrupt to determine whether he is all right? Lelach is not going to leave Morach unattended for more than a few minutes, and is less likely to do so given the strange forces that have hit the area recently. He will need a particularly good GE roll to get what he wants, and 18 is not that roll.
Harry has been mistaken for a disappointed potential tenant by the nosy neighbor across the street, but I'm sure he'll use it to his advantage.
It's a really intriguing conversation John 3 is having with Friar Tuck, the latter very much Church of Rome ecclesial despite being part of a significant politically criminal organization, the former very congregational in his polity and very fundamentalist evangelical in his focus on scripture. Here's hoping that our conversation is helping him focus his own views while giving some understanding of the rational basis for those opposing him. I'd love to have him persuade Tuck, but that's not so simple, as there really is only the Roman Church around here.
John 2 asks
Who appointed me the leader of that expedition? I thought it was Lauren, personally.
Well, there are several answers to that.The first is that in this scenario Lauren is looking for someone to follow who has tactical combat sense. She's very good in a fight, but she is not so comfortable with leading the assault, making the plan. She'll do it in a pinch, but not without consulting the opinions of others, and only if none of those others emerge as potential leaders or her "team" won't cooperate with each other but only follow her. I am always intrigued by the story of George Washington. The man attended meetings of the Continental Congress dressed in his (British_ military uniform, and some of the other delegates snickered behind his back--but when they decided to go to war and needed someone to lead the army, guess whose military experience came to mind? In something of the same way, John has been all about combat, as far as Lauren can see. He wants to build his psionic skills based on what's useful, but he's also trying to train in his boxing and his martial arts, and he's buying weapons hand over fist. He probably has as much firepower on his person as she has on hers, and he flaunts it more. So he looks like the military guy here, and she will defer to him.
Second, this is a role playing game in which the player characters are the focus of the action, and thus are the decision makers as often as possible. Unless I have a decent reason for the NPCs to think otherwise, any team of which the player character is a member is the player character's team and follows his lead to a significant degree. Even if I have solid reason to think that some non-player character is formally the "leader", I will still make sure that the player's choices have significant impact on the situation. Leaders will follow player character advice sometimes against their better judgment simply because I don't know what plan actually will work and I won't railroad player characters into doing what I think is the best plan. I also won't allow my non-player character leaders to make choices based on knowledge I have not shared with them. Thus although I knew that John's only hope of reaching the bridge alive was keeping the team together, I could not allow that knowledge to impact Lauren's decision.
Third, John's suggestion was a good compromise given the information available. Lauren was looking for a consensus and faced with the fact that Derek thought it urgent to get to the bridge (he was right) and CW that it was important to get to engineering (he was right). Had Derek gone to engineering with CW he would not have had enough time to hack the security on the bridge lockout and divert the ship's course before the collision (and would have to have used the self-destruct to save the station). Had CW not restored the gravity, the hazard of atmospheric irregularities would have made the trip to the bridge far more deadly. Lauren could not know either of these problems, but she could see that both were possible complications. She wanted John to pick one so she'd have a majority opinion; he gave her a viable alternative, and she followed it. It answered both CW's and Derek's concerns, and no one yet had the concerns that should have been followed. (Those actually were Joe Kondor's concerns in the original telling, but that was a three-man team so splitting into two groups of two was not an option.) Give the player character what he wants if it makes sense to do so, and it did.
I'm interested in what direction Kyler will take in the days ahead, particularly as his "anti-bully" policy hits me as so very much in line with a superhero motivation. But the GE roll at the moment is 15, so things are pretty much routine on the slightly good side.
--M. J. Young
Thu Feb 4 2010 11:25 pm # -
My expectation was that it would play out similarly to the book version. I knew it wouldn't when the party separated.
And no, I've already given away too much of the book version.
Let's see what we can do for Micheal, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Ryan, and I've got a note for Kyler to tuck into all that, which I think I will do first.
I don't know whether Michael reads behind the screens, but I'll post this here for him and everyone else. I am not upset by people who miss a few days or even a few months of a game; life happens. I am not upset by people who post a note dropping out of the game; as much as I would like to think otherwise, it is not for everyone--and I think Nikolaj will attest that I am very fair about people leaving. The only thing that upsets me is people leaving the game without a word and never returning--and since I can't know who actually has done that and who simply has not gotten back yet, I'm not upset with anyone in particular.
That said, Michael rolls 89 on his effort to extend the skill, and that fails.
Maxx restarts his effort to learn the retrocog skill, using the 30:00 preparatory concentration, and rolls 89. The 30:00 prep time gives him +58 as an internal sit-mod, and he's got a 1@10 BRA and 10@1 bias in a world with a 15@ psi BRA (I think--I'm not sure where I jotted that note) against an 11@something skill which I still have to define. The positives are +194 and the minuses not less than -111, so the chance here is not greater than 83%, so I don't have to worry about the details yet.
Hmmm--I somehow think that had Kurt introduced himself as working for the secret service in some capacity, there would be a good chance that Steranko's security would comply; but since he bases his "authority" on the weapons in the car, it would take a really good roll of some sort to win--a difficult persuasion check which can be countered by a difficult will power check, I think. He has a 1@7 persuasion and rolls 6+10=16, remarkably in there; the security forces will have a 1@6 will power and the roll is also 6+10, but that's a failure for them. That's really rather incredible.
Harry is talking to the busybody across the street, and she'll point him in the right direction for finding some of the tenants he missed.
Nikolaj has some praying to do, but we're going to check a detail before we crunch the numbers.
John 2 is still exploring his situation.
I had to check whether the P3@10 skill Ryan is attempting to use falls within the bias curve of this world, but the curve is 14 so it does. I think we both forgot that he has this skill, but it's on his sheet as something he learned in this world. He rolls 14, so it succeeds.
--M. J. Young
Sat Feb 6 2010 1:37 am # -
I do sometimes miss someone, and it appears that this time I missed John 3, so with apologies I'll cover him now.
He rolls 3+10=13 on a difficult persuasion check, and Tuck rolls 4+10=14 on a difficult will power check, which means that the stubborn friar is not persuaded but not too antagonistic.
--M. J. Young
Sat Feb 6 2010 1:43 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberMy expectation was that it would play out similarly to the book version. I knew it wouldn't when the party separated.
Then why didn't you ensure that it did? It sounds like that scenario is impossible to win if you split up. Probably half of the players would split up, and the other half would stick together. That one decision made early in the story determines the outcome of the entire story. So, if they split up, now each side only runs into half as many monsters? You were talking about railroading the player, well, that's a time when I wouldn't have minded it.
(Doing Therapy)
Sat Feb 6 2010 5:26 am # -
Explanations are almost always welcome (until they become burdensome). I decline apologies, though, because they suggest a sense that you are obliged to be here, and it is only referees who are in that position. Now, if you're interested in running a game for someone else, I'm always eager to pass players to other referees. I should have asked Scott if he'd take John 2, but I know Scott has a lot on his plate and I really couldn't pass up dropping the boy in the world I found for him.
Now, let's see what we can do with posts from Michael, Kurt, Harry, John 3, Nikolaj, John 2, and Kyler.
Michael is going to attempt once more to connect to the psionic computer, and he rolls 11, so he's got an eleven minute connection. He connects to the martial combat section, so he's going to hit a menu to set the parameters of his game.
Maxx is getting high rolls lately--he rolls 83 on his second attempt to view the history of the tree, and since that's exactly the "minimum maximum" depending on the specific skill intended, I've got to go to the book. That roll is just within the limit for an Event Awareness skill, the ability to know that a particular sort of event occurred.
Skills under this heading make the character aware of the general nature of some event which might leave a significant “psychic residue” in the area or on the object. Such events include violent or unexpected deaths, battles or wars, births, and ceremonies which include some level of magic use such as coronations, weddings, baptisms, funerals, or other major sacraments.
The two questions then are whether this is the sort of skill that Maxx is really attempting and whether anything that happened here qualifies. I think the answer to the first is no, but he's close enough that I'll give him a "near failure". Since I don't think that a minor psionic botch in the area qualifies as the sort of major psychic event to which such a skill would be sensitive anyway, I'm not worried about the details. And since sprite weddings take place in the air, we don't have to worry about whether his parents got married here.
Since, though, he wants to keep trying on a daily basis, we'll move to the third day, but roll a GE roll to see if Lelach notices her son hanging around near the tree for extended periods. 13 is barely good enough, so I'd say she notices but doesn't say anything today. Now for his skill learning check, 77 is good enough to learn any of several such skills (anything up to an 11@7 skill), so let's do a bit of checking to see what fits. I'm going to give him a 1@2 History of Object P11@2 30:00 preparatory concentration while in contact with object required +58SM.
I forgot that Roger Rees played Steranko in the movie. Well, it's not important, and he was much younger then with quite a bit of makeup, I think--thinking back, I hardly recognize him. In any case, Kurt misstepped, I think. It's one thing to persuade a hired security guard to get out of the way of a terrorist attack; it's another to try to get him involved in kidnapping the man he's supposed to protect.
Harry already got a GE roll related to the tenants for his place, which as I recall was barely good enough, so his lead to the Lobster Shell is going to give him another clue (and another clue and then another clue--well, maybe not), but eventually he should find a tenant or two.
John 3 keeps opening larger cans of Wyrms here (O.K., that was a bad pun), but Tuck will do his best for his level of understanding.
I left Nikolaj with a ritual a few days back, and he didn't make the cut on Friday, so I've got to address the matter now. It's got a 0:45:00 segment of teaching and 0:15:00 of praying. My concern is that I make it a M11@7 summoning of a sentient off-world fighter with an informer factor included, thus I need to check whether the fading magic of this world still covers a curve of 18. Unfortunately, the bias is now 7@7, which means a curve of 14, so although I think the Holy Spirit can come on His own, He can't be summoned. That raises a separate question, though, because in Acts 10(?) the Holy Spirit came on those of the household of Cornelius without being asked, so we probably do need a GE roll.
I'll note that if this were a live game I would have Nikolaj roll and then tell him it did not work; the roll is superfluous except in that Nikolaj is not supposed to know that what he asks is impossible in this world. Thus we'll go straight to the GE roll, which is 15, not unfavorable result. As to his other prayer, we'll need to clarify that situation a bit.
John 2 has called me on the fact that I did not mention the prayer attempt behind the screens, and he's right, I ought to have said something. I did not roll for it because it is biased out. That's also the case with his psionic clairvoyance. Again, at the table I would let him roll and tell him that the skill attempt fails but does not botch, and after he's seen numbers ranging from very low to very high he'll probably guess that that skill is not possible. It's not as realistic this way, but since the behind the screens thread has to explain why it didn't work, it's not really avoidable. We'll continue his experience.
Kyler gets a barely good enough 13 GE roll on finding the girl that fits his hopes. I won't determine the school division thing until I have more input from him.
--M. J. Young
Mon Feb 8 2010 2:53 am # -
Oak
MemberJohn 3 keeps opening larger cans of Wyrms here (O.K., that was a bad pun), but Tuck will do his best for his level of understanding.
Ouch... :p
BTW, I don't remember what my character sheet has or not, but for accuracy's sake, I should have a high punslinger skill... :)
And, since you managed to flush me out of the woodwork for this post, let me take this opportunity to thank you for the warm welcome back you gave me last week, and to assure you that I am definitely not bored with my current conversation with Tuck... :D
Mon Feb 8 2010 3:13 am #
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