Max
Member
Maxx harassed me into letting him play as a zygote without revealing his true identity (which I will admit still annoys me)
I apologize for that but there may be some hidden reasons behind my actions. The annoyance may stem from anxiety or curiosity. I wonder if you prefer someone lying about their identity (in convincing manner thus avoiding the annoyance) or just concealing their identity (but you feel annoyed about them because of this).
JohnA1nut
Member
Ya know Maxx (is it one x or two?) I was considering doing exactly what you're doing. I figured it would only take MJ about 3 or 4 days to determine that it was me though, so I decided it was a bad idea. If you don't know why, you've obviously never read any of my postings. Congratulations I guess.
(Doing Therapy)
Rant mode. It's not one or two x's, John; his name is not Max. That's a screen handle he used in concealing his identity. I objected that we already have Max Saltonstall playing here, so that would make him Max 2, and he suggested that since it was just a screen name it could be Maxx to save the trouble of using the number.
And yes, Maxx, it also annoys me when people use false names, although I do try to understand their reasoning behind it. What it comes to, really, is that you've asked me to devote a significant chunk of my time to facilitating an opportunity for you to play a game but you wish to remain a complete stranger to me. I don't even know the reason. It might be that in your circumstance it would be detrimental in some way for someone to discover that you were involved in an online role playing game, or that the revelation of details about your life would compromise details about your life. That could be because your employer would find such participation dubious, or because your students would pry into your personal life via Internet search, or your girlfriend would discover that you have a wife on the side. It might be that you think I would be prejudiced against you. I had a player in a D&D game decades back who before who had prank called us a number of times and thought that we wouldn't let him play the game with his friends if we knew who he was. He used an assumed name, which is still confusing around here. (The ironies are first that the police never told us who they arrested in the matter and second that I probably would have let him play anyway. I certainly didn't throw him out when I learned the truth, and I've worked with him since.) It might be that you really don't like yourself or don't think you would be a good character in a role playing scenario, but you don't want to argue with me about it. There was a paraplegic who played D&D with us back then, and I often wondered how he would do in Multiverser--but really, it doesn't matter who you are when you begin because you can become whoever you want to be. John Walker's character for quite some time introduced himself as Kaiser Sohdze, because it reminded him that the people he met could not know anything about him but what he pretended, and he could pretend pretty much anything. And maybe your reason is completely different. But I come here six days a week and run games for people who are becoming my friends--Graeme Comyn, who took the time to have lunch with me in Elkton when he was at a conference in Baltimore; Eric Ashley, who has given me books to expand my familiarity with the fantasy and science fiction literature; John Cross, who paid for my trip to visit him in Columbus a few years back; Shawn Kelley, who stopped to meet me at a demo I was running in Newark when he was on vacation; Harry Smith, who has debated theology with me in off-time at Ubercon; Kelly Tessena Keck, who edited the text of my second novel; John Oakmaster, who despite using a translation of his name has told me much about himself, his background, his identity. And in the middle of all these people there's you, the complete stranger who does everything in his power to remain a complete stranger. If you don't want to be my friend, I get it; just don't expect me to feel so beneficent about spending several hours a week running a game for someone who does not want to be my friend.
Does that clarify the matter?
/Rant mode.
We begin today's game with Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Maxx has a limited amount of time in which to experiment, and although he indeed can chain his skill, if he interrupts his concentration to chain the spirit travel he has to restart the concentration. That means I need to know how much of the time he is using initially to experiment with movement so I know whether he has enough time left (the roll was 37) to complete the other skill.
Kurt has the opportunity to meet Augustus Steranko; we'll see what he does with that.
Harry's wedding is unfolding. I'm inclined to roll a GE roll for whether anything goes wrong, but we'll let a bit of this move forward first.
Nikolaj has come to the end of a big day, but he has also prayed something that is going to impact tomorrow, so I'll not rush into it.
If I'm reading him aright, John 2 does get a new use credit to 1@3 Intensify Senses P5@1 by shifting sensory resources in the brain.
--M. J. Young
Brock
Member
You know, if I really wanted to play the game but didn't want to play AS myself, I would have done exactly as I did in the beginning, introducing myself, and then asked if I could play as someone other than myself, perhaps spend a lot of time developing the alternate persona befre ever even pitching the idea. Were I refused, I would have kept the character and used it elsewhere.
If it were a matter of not wanting to reveal my identity, I would simply request to use a pseudonym, and still reveal quite a bit about my personality. I think it's really quite rude to try to play a roleplaying game, an inherently social game, without disclosing any part of yourself to the other players. Especially to the referee, when you're trying to play a game that is tailored to a person individually.
/end somewhat incoherent rant of my own.
JohnA1nut
Member
If you don't want to be my friend, I get it; just don't expect me to feel so beneficent about spending several hours a week running a game for someone who does not want to be my friend.
Well, the thing is MJ, since you don't know his identity, he could be anyone. You have no idea what he may have done for you. For all you know, he could be your best friend who has done nothing but bail you out of trouble since you were in the 4th grade. On the other hand, he could be that kid who made you eat dirt in the 4th grade. Give him the benefit of the doubt. Personally, I think it's kind of cool.
Oak
Member
I sympathize with both sides.
I hear what MJ is saying, but I myself am more guarded about letting the entire world find such personal information about me, and connect it with my real name.
Since the site is public, anyone knowing my actual last name could use a search engine to find my character's information here, and my character is me. There is a lot of personal stuff I post regarding my character. And being a real-life Professor by vocation, I'm not at all certain that I want just anyone being able to easily find it.
However, I don't have a problem with you folks knowing this stuff. For example, Nikolaj managed to track me down and friend me via Facebook, so he knows my last name. However, I prefer keeping that name detached from the personal information publicly available here, so that it doesn't become search engine fodder.
(BTW, since I also interact with students via Facebook, my policy is to only friend folks who request it, so that I don't pressure anyone to accept a friend request from me. If anyone here wants my contact info on Facebook, PM me, and I'll be happy to share it with you. :)
Max
Member
Max is actually my real life nick name because sometimes my friends call me that. The reason for choosing Max for the handle name was so that it will be harder to search for who I really am on the Internet. The reason for Maxx is to make searching for my threads (in this forum) on the Internet much easier.
I wonder what is the definition of a friend since I even try to befriend a butterfly as Morach even if it does not care what my name is. Some superhero such as Spiderman or Superman also conceal their identity but they still have friends in that form. To sum it up, I consider all people here as my friends even if they do not consider me as one.
Since the site is public, anyone knowing my actual last name could use a search engine to find my character's information here, and my character is me.
That is a point of concern so what I am doing is actually experimenting on a way the game could be played anonymously. This could lead to an increase of female players who do not want to reveal their private information.
Nikolaj managed to track me down and friend me via Facebook, so he knows my last name.
I can also search for your last name by using a simple connection (which might not be obvious to casual observer). Do you want to guess what that connection is?
I did leave hints of myself in the game thread (and all over the forum) if you look at it carefully. Think of why I responded in such a way and you will eventually figure out my personality.
JohnA1nut
Member
MJ, I was wondering if it's too late to change the way my damage riders work on the 9mm carbine? Since firing in single mode is so much more effective than triburst, the triburst is at a disadvantage. Could it be that I can hit more than one target simultaneously whilst in triburst? Is it too late to change that? That's actually what the Uzi was developed for. Trench warfare. Multiple targets at close range. You hold it sideways, and the recoil would drive it sideways automatically, to sweep a trench clear of enemy soldiers. Could the triburst be reconfigured to do that? Maybe first shot aimed, the other two throw lead GE roll shots base dangerous? Just a thought.
I could develop a skill to do that, but I'm talking more like multiple really close together targets. Two guys standing side by side, for instance. First shot aimed for lethal, good GE roll the other two base dangerous shots nail the other guy squarely as well. A 3 I hit three targets on completely opposite sides of the room. Something like that? That would be well within the capabilities and design of that weapon. Not even a skill really, just move the gun sideways whilst shooting in triburst. I could even miss on the skill roll and still deal the target two base dangerous shots if the GE roll was good.
If there's no advantage, and only a disadvantage to shooting in triburst, it kind of defeats the purpose of having it, ya know? Also makes the game that much less fun. Give it some thought, anyway. It would turn the triburst back into a new use too. First time I hit multiple targets.
(Doing Therapy)
Oak
Member
(BTW, since I also interact with students via Facebook, my policy is to only friend folks who request it, so that I don't pressure anyone to accept a friend request from me. If anyone here wants my contact info on Facebook, PM me, and I'll be happy to share it with you. :)
Well, I invited folks to PM me, and then realized that I don't seem to know how to do PMs on this "new" version of GO. Do we have PM capabilities here now, and if so, how do we access them?
BTW, in case you haven't noticed, I have even pulled back the curtain to let y'all see my actual smiling face, by successfully wrestling with gravatar.com yesterday... :D
Wow. O.K., let me sort this out.
No, we don't have private messaging on the board at present; but since Nikolaj is connected to me through Facebook I can probably find you that way (and my Facebook profile is as public as it can be, so anyone looking for Nikolaj should be able to find him through me). I don't often have time to "play" with Facebook, and only send friend requests a few times a year (most often if I wind up with a new friend I'll check his friends for common friends that aren't on my list). But I'll make a note of it. Of course, I could be wrong about messaging--I didn't realize we had pictures in our profiles, as I don't think I'd ever looked at them.
John, I have a re-e-e-ally really really bad track record with best friends. And the only ones who have bailed me out of trouble consistently over the years have been my parents. Now, if he's Flibbage or Wicker T. Bunglepoo, I can understand why he might not want me to know that, as they have both been thorns in my flesh. On the other hand,For all you know, he could be your best friend who has done nothing but bail you out of trouble since you were in the 4th grade.
I apologize for missing Friday; I'll try to explain in the Blogless Lepolt tomorrow. The threads here have already chewed up a lot of my time tonight, but I'm going to make every effort to fairly address every thread from Michael, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, John 3, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme.
Michael is still trying to teach himself the use of the forcefield lifter, what might be called a "capture rod", and he rolls 24, which I'm going to have to double-check but am pretty sure is good. I'm wrong: 20% is the ceiling. We'll give him a couple tries today, 36, 52, 30, 43, 40, we'll call them one per hour.
Brock rolls 12, good enough on a GE roll, for finding someone in the lounge; we'll give him two people.
I am fairly confident that with a +58 sit-mod Maxx will succeed in learning a history of person. His roll is 65, and since he's already got an 11@2 bias and this skill is 11@5 I don't think the rest of the math is necessary, 1@2 History of Person P11@5 30:00 preparatory concentration while in contact with person required +58SM.
He had thirty-seven minutes of time in this form, and since he spent thirty in concentration and perhaps two beforehand experimenting with motion, he's only got five left before he loses the projection. I roll 55 on the chaining, but since he's got a +59 SM on that it's going to be successful for the present.
Kurt might have a skill not already on his sheet, or we might be adding one; we'll have to see.
Harry's wedding continues.
I think it's a good time for another persuasion-versus-will power between John 3 and Friar Tuck. I've got numbers for those, I think. John 3 has a very good 2@3 persuasion; Friar Tuck as a 2@6 Will Power (well, these guys are legends, aren't they?). It's d30+10 for each, the better successful roll wins, and a tie is status quo. Player character first, the rolls are 8+10=18, 11+10=21, we're not there yet. It's a difficult argument altogether ("It's a difficult argument"), and I think he's not going to succeed at this point.
It is for Nikolaj tomorrow, and there will have been an answer to his prayer concerning Mr. Kucher. Let's take it slow, since I don't want to use the same tropes again--God is not known for repeating Himself that much.
We're moving past day 50 for John 2, so we'll advance to week 13. He needs a GE roll for hearing things: 18 is still not to his advantage.
Graeme is shaping the interior of a tree that he is growing at an accelerated rate; I'm envisioning what effect I think his described movements would have on that interior shape, so we'll find out whether that's satisfactory for him.
--M. J. Young
Let's see what we can do with posts from Michael, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
I'm not going to roll for whether Michael can make lumps of hardened plastic steel. Even under these biases, that's pretty obvious. I am going to roll for the forcefield generator, 05 finally works. That gives him 1@1 Operate Force Generative Psionic Device P1@8 (capture rod).
Maxx tries to push his retrocognition back to a previous life; but prior to the life he had as a human there is no previous life, so he can't get there. He asks whether surveying his own past tells him where the metal needle might be, and it occurs to me that this might be possible if at some moment in his past he was present when it was put away. However, a GE of 20 says that if such a moment exists in his past, he didn't find it.
I really hope that Kurt manages to persuade this guard, because I think the ten million euros thing is just over the top--no one would believe it. But he's got two chances, one that he manages to succeed in his persuasion check, the other that he manages to develop this persuasion skill. I'm modeling it on P1@0 Hypnosis, and setting it as a 0@1 skill (like teaching and training). The target gets a will power check, of course, RS=S/D/N works, so first we roll to see whether Kurt can learn the skill, 96 might just be a botch--it's a 0@1 skill and he's got a 0@0 bias (because his @0 skills do not confer bias), but he also has +12 from the earlier meditation, a 1@10 BRA, and what we'll call an above amateur 1@8 example from his friend, 50-1=49% chance of success, 5% chance to botch, that's a botch. The obvious botch is he has persuaded the guard otherwise, and thus eliminated the persuasion check option.
I promised that Harry would get a GE roll for how the wedding goes, and he just did: 11, good but below expectations, you can breathe again, Harry, that's a good one. Yes, I'm stretching the event a bit, but I want it to be memorable--he only gets to do this once, I expect.
Nikolaj gets the results of his prayer starting to unfold now.
John 2 is getting a bit more information, but not a lot.
--M. J. Young
We may have a new player joining us, but for the moment we have Michael, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Michael is going to shift to the psionic drill. Since that is also a force generative, it is a new use of the same skill, and his chance of success is his 2@1 BRA+1@1 SAL=32%. He rolls 02, so he gets the new use raising his SAL to 1@2 and his chance of success to 33%.
Maxx is pushing into a new skill area.
Harry's wedding is coming to a close--with just a couple more posts.
Nikolaj is headed for the lunch meeting.
We need to move John 2 forward a bit. He is beginning isometric exercises around day 80, in week 13, and we'll move forward to week 20. He needs another GE roll for what he hears, but 18 is not going to give him much that he does not already know.
--M. J. Young
I've addressed the new player's post, but now I have to look at game posts from Michael, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Michael is back to the light panel, for which he rolls 08, an easy success for a 1@1 Operate Energy Creation Device P1@10 (light panel). He'll also get answers to his questions.
Maxx is still designing a new skill.
Kurt said he wants to engage the guard in conversation, so I guess I have to delay the dinner to give him a chance to do so. I don't see the guard refusing to talk, so we'll see where it takes us.
Harry's wedding is ending.
Nikolaj has the opportunity to explain his equal rights for orcs Christianity to the ranch boss; this could become very interesting.
I'm taking John 2 to week 24, and he still wants to know what he hears. That means I need another GE roll, 13 is Barely Good Enough. He'll probably be pretty sure he knows who he is by now.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
Two
He'll probably be pretty sure he knows who he is by now.
Now that I reread it, this kind of makes it sound like it's a trick question. It's designed to make me think I'm John Connor, but I'm really some nobody from nowhere. That would be mean.
MJ, have you ever run a Terminator scenario before? I'm your go-to guy for all things Terminator. I've read comic books, seen movies, read the novelizations, read all kinds of cannon fan fiction.
(Doing Therapy)
JohnA1nut
Member
Three
Oh and ya know what MJ? This is going to prove my theory. You just dropped a player with a history of non-involvement into a world which requires player involvement. You're damn right you're going to get it. It CAN work, just depends on which scenario it is.
(Doing Therapy)
John, I thought you'd like it.
I'm going by the movies, though; don't expect that the comics, novelizations, television episodes, or fan fiction are in any way accurate presentations. Also, I'm going by my temporal analysis reconstructions of the movies. I'm aware that you have read the Terminator and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines analyses, and you have permission to re-read those and rely on your memory of them; however, Terminator Salvation, which is part of the corpus I'm using, did not exist when you versed out, so you can't use that. (Also, there were special "official" releases for the AT&T/Apple I-Phone and for the Verizon system; these are also excluded both from my timelines and from your knowledge base.)
Which is to say, yes, you are John Conner. I'm thinking that your name is probably John Reese Conner, but I don't know whether your mother would give you a middle name or not--John Reese Conner would be a lot easier to identify positively than John Conner, of which there are (as I discovered in my researches for Terminator Salvation) one thousand one hundred seventy United States residents currently with that name. But you are indeed that John Conner.
Now, having satisfied my perhaps now overly eager player (and perhaps also clued him as to why Scott was reluctant to take over this scenario), I'm going to deal with current active threads from Michael, Maxx, Kurt, John 2, and Graeme.
Michael is turning his attention to the disintegrator, which is actually a telekinetic (it performs a P9@10 manipulate chemistry: disintegrate skill), and thus falls under the same category as the telekinetic lifter. That means he already has a 1@1 SAL with this, but even with his 2@1 BRA a roll of 83 is not going to work. We'll give him another shot at it, though, since this is not really learning a new skill but learning that an old skill operates a new device, and the roll is 74.
I guess that Maxx has given me everything I need to roll for his P12@1 precognitive danger sense, with a 30:00 preparatory concentration. A roll of 33 gives him 1@1 Precognitive Danger Sense P12@1 30:00 preparatory concentration negates surprise for RS minutes duration by creating anticipatory sense of danger +59SM. There's no question as to whether it's successful, but there is a question of whether he knows it's successful or has a sense that it's "working". The skill itself should only give him an impression when there is danger; thus when there is no danger he should feel nothing, which is also what he would feel if it were not working. That significantly limits the skill. The fix is to include a detect psionics subskill that tells him that it is working, but that raises the bias out of the flatlined category, which is a different significant limitation on the skill.
The question exists as to whether the guard Kurt is questioning knows anything about Blade, or indeed whether he knows anything about the fact that Ilsa has already killed the Kurt Wright whose ticket he inherited back at the airport. I think a GE roll will determine these details nicely, and 12 is Good Enough to get the info on Blade but not to get there info on Kurt.
Most of the stuff for John 2 is behind the screens type chatter, but we'll cover it anyway--I don't want this gestational period to feel like it flew by too fast.
I'm concerned about what Graeme is doing and why he expects results that differ from my expectations. We'll get it clarified, though.
--M. J. Young
Yeah, that is kind of cool that you would still have the same initials. Are your initials on any of your equipment? That would be freaky.
Let me attend to threads from Michael, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Michael needs a success roll on his telekinetic device skill to activate the disintegrator, and a success roll on his force generative device skill to activate the blaster. For the first he rolls 05, an immediate success; the disintegrator is base annihilating, so that's only five intensities of damage, and plastic steel has a 2@10 density which gives it a 2@10 damage value for thirty-six cubic inches of material. A fist-sized lump is about 3.5x3x2.5=26.5 cubic inches, so we'll figure that it would take twenty-seven intensities to destroy it, and that as a 2@ damage value it divides by two and discards fractions, 2 intensities, less than a tenth of the total volume.
Now for the blaster: 58, wait, I'm going to need some numbers--he's at point blank range with this, which gives him +20 within 10'. I don't have an RSV for him because I don't have an hand/eye. The TV of the lump is 1/3 its density, and thus 0@7; but there's also a size penalty for shooting at something that small, even at close range. So let's get a hand/eye from him and we'll figure out what the situation is.
Maxx and I are mostly discussing some points of application of rules in play. Maybe that should be here, but it wouldn't leave me much to say there.
Harry is moving from wedding to reception.
I don't know that I've entirely resolved Nikolaj's meeting. I was attempting to open questions and issues for him to address, but also to be as complete as possible in expressing what was established, and it might sound as if the conversation is closed. Hopefully Nikolaj will not see it so, and will give some good feedback for Mr. Kucher.
John 2 was last marked at the week twenty-four of his gestation; we'll push him forward about a month to week 28. We'll need another GE roll for what he learns from listening, and the roll is 8, so I guess the beans are fully spilled. I hope what I give him satisfies him, because I'm not sure what else he could actually learn this way.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
Yeah, that is kind of cool that you would still have the same initials. Are your initials on any of your equipment? That would be freaky.
I don't think so. However, my wallet with (to Sarah) what would appear to be a very futuristic looking driver's license is.
I hope what I give him satisfies him, because I'm not sure what else he could actually learn this way.
Sarah is making the tapes, and yes MJ, I am QUITE satisfied!!!
(Doing Therapy)
JohnA1nut
Member
Two
What I was saying about the driver's license. John Cross could be an expected alias of John Connor. Yeah, I'm 8 years older than John Connor would be, but isn't that the whole point of a fake ID? She might think the driver's license photo is her son. And she would be (sort of) right.
The Resistance sending back a wallet with a bunch of fake ID that John could use in 20 years. That would probably be my assumption.
(Doing Therapy)
I'm looking at posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2. Welcome back, Ahmetia; I was worried about you. That's probably very chauvinistic of me. So shoot me.
Michael surprises me with his hand/eye credentials, and has me wondering whether we overlooked an important strength at chargen.
Ahmetia returns into the cozy carriage with the gorgeous hunk she dare not touch, who is willing to give her all the space or rope she requests.
Maxx is getting brave, planning to teach himself a psionic skill that does not include a huge preparatory concentration bonus. It should not be difficult for him to learn, because it's only a 3@10 bias skill against his 11@5 bias. However, there is a penalty for a psi detect skill that can distinguish what kind of psionic skill is being detected, and that's an essential element of this one, so -10 for that; and there is also the fact that he is attempting to detect the duration of such a skill, for which I mark another -10; but since this is limited to skills he himself is generating, I'll give him +5 for that limitation, making the inherent Sit-mod -15. He rolls 77,and the numbers are 115-40+1@10 BRA-15=80%, so he's got a 1@2 Detect Personal Psi Skill Remaining Durations P3@10 will allow the user to know which of his skills are currently operational and roughly how long they have until they fail if not renewed.
I personally think that Harry's announcement that he bought them a house and started renovating it would be just the thing that would thrill his bride; but then, I'm not a bride, and I'm quite aware that the things can be very unpredictable, so I'm going to give him a GE roll--2d10+1 to put it in his favor, but still somewhat random. He rolls 8+6+1=15, Not Unfavorable.
Nikolaj continues his discussion with Mr. Kucher. He hasn't yet addressed the practical problem, though, which is standing in the way of the spiritual one.
I'm going to help John 2 come to grips with his scriff vectors.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
Welcome back, Ahmetia; I was worried about you. That's probably very chauvinistic of me. So shoot me.
It would only be chauvinistic if the reason you're worried is because she's female. Since I know you would be worried about a male player just the same, it isn't chauvinism.
Ah, but I said it was chauvinistic precisely because I worry more about losing the girls than I do about losing the guys. Girls are still rarer in the role playing game world, and we don't want to lose them. Although you're right--I worry about guys who go absent for a while, too. I just don't worry quite the same.
With that, let me worry about what I'm posting for Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Ahmetia gets a bit more than just conversation, but I don't know if she'll pick up the really vague hint of trouble.
Maxx is working on another detection skill.
Harry is doing pretty well with his first touch of marital discord; but it will blow over, I'm sure.
Nikolaj seems to be ignoring the critical issue, and maybe it's not his problem to solve--but it is a problem that has to be solved, and if he can help bring about the solution he won't be dependent on general effects rolls for how things happen.
John 2 is worrying me about all the things that could go wrong with his scenario. I'm going to attempt to defuse that with some assurance that none of it is going wrong--there are enough complications in the Terminator time travel stories without adding stupid additional ones.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
John 2 is worrying me about all the things that could go wrong with his scenario. I'm going to attempt to defuse that with some assurance that none of it is going wrong--there are enough complications in the Terminator time travel stories without adding stupid additional ones.
Yeah MJ, I completely forgot about the KISS principle. Odd that I did, as I live my life by it. I'm just excited about this for a lot of reasons. Also, you never really answered me. Did you consider every scenario I offered? I just thought it might be interesting to consider such things. You said you've only run The Zygote Experience 4 or so times in your life. Perhaps more details like these would increase its popularity.
(Doing Therapy)
John, I'm not really interested in increasing the popularity of the Zygote Experience. It's a challenging world to run and can very easily get bogged down either by too much referee detail or by too much player detail. I want the player character to grow from unborn to adult, but I don't want to be running the game for twenty years to get there.
I have started a new thread for a new player, Eli, and will continue with Michael, Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme.
I am considering putting Eli in the same world as Michael, that is, making it a bit of a gather to introduce a new player through an old one. It helps that I happen to have Michael in the world in which I prefer to start new players in campaign games, and that both Michael and Eli seem to be relatively consistent posters at present. But for the moment I need to get Eli started on his own, and see whether he finds his way to Michael.
Speaking of Michael, the stats on his bowling and beer pong abilities are helpful but not entirely determinative, as both are skills which rely on targeting, which itself is dependent in part on intuition. However, it is strong enough that I'm willing to give him a 2@3 Hand/Eye, which makes his ranged strike value (RSV) 1@10 (his Intuition is 1@6, sum is 39 divided by 2 is 19.5, rounds up to 20, which converts back to 1@10). I needed this because he was shooting a blaster at a lump of plastic steel and rolled 58. There's a +20 point blank sit-mod, 1@10 RSV, 1@2 SAL, and 2@1 BRA=73, minus a 07 TV and a size penalty, which for a "fist-sized lump" means a ball somewhere less than five but more than three inches in diameter, so we'll say about the same as a four inch diameter circle, -46. That gives him a 20% chance to hit the target. The roll will work the device but miss the target, and I'll give him new use for force generative devices.
Ahmetia has finished chapter one--or perhaps it's chapter three or four by now, but in any event, she has gotten from meeting the queen to impersonating the queen for the coronation, and now is in the phase where she attempts to withdraw quietly and get the queen back to her throne.
I've addressed some of Maxx' questions in a separate thread on chaining skills that have preparatory concentration, and remembered that there's a special rule for chaining bod skills which I think can be fairly applied to chaining psi skills with preparatory concentration, so I'm going to see where the dust settles in all this before proceeding.
Harry has married a reasonable woman--a characteristic I must keep in mind in future posts. So hopefully we have a reasonable resolution, and it's time for the reception.
Nikolaj hasn't really made a suggestion that will resolve Mr. Kucher's problem, but as I've said before, he doesn't have to do that, as it's not Nikolaj's problem.
I am jumping John 2 forward to week 32; we're going almost month by month now, and in two more bursts we should hit his birthday.
I have some concern about this point in Graeme's thread:
Once I create the room I'll pause to use my magical hand tool to cut a door before continuing with building my shelter.
My concern is that once he completes the room he's sealed in an airtight wooden dark containment, which isn't going to give him a very long time to cut an airway. However, I'll give him a simple intellect check to recognize this (he's an intelligent guy), for which the roll is 08+17=25, he's not that intelligent, bad roll there. Well, he's got one minute. I'm wondering, too, what happens to the light emitted from the diamond wand when there's no light to be absorbed by the ruby wand; but I suppose they feed to each other in such a circumstance, so that's not a problem. He rolls 73 on the cutter, which adds a +36 SM to his 1@3 SAL+2@2 BRA+2x13@ bias, a 97% chance of success, so it's working quite well.
Let's call this a night. It's a night.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
I am jumping John 2 forward to week 32; we're going almost month by month now, and in two more bursts we should hit his birthday.
My birthday is on Saturday. (March 13. I'll be 33) Too bad that you won't be posting that day. It would have been cool to be born on my birthday....
(Doing Therapy)
Happy birthday John. If I get held up on Friday night, you might get your wish; but I'm not planning it that way, and I don't know if we'll get there. Besides, it will probably take several days' worth of posts for you to get from the first contraction to the outlet of the birth canal.
I am formally handing Maxx to the care of Scott "William T. Wodium" Horton, who I think will do at least as well with his game as I would. This is good timing, too, because I have just added Eli to the front of my list, to be followed by Michael, Ahmetia, Harry, and John 2.
Eli gets his first introduction to his new world.
Michael wants actually to hit the target. His chance to hit it at point blank range was calculated at 20%, which means I have to watch for an 8% chance to botch, 93 or higher. He rolls 43, 99, that's going to hurt. Let's round up the usual suspects, and I've a few more that we can credit to Maxx for forcing me to consider in an earlier thread on a related subject:
The excitement is really just getting started for Ahmetia. I wonder whether she sees what's coming next.
Let's make the reception memorable for Harry and Arabella, if we can.
John 2 is approaching his birth. We'll jump forward to week 36, and next time things will start really happening, I expect.
--M. J. Young
Things are happening for Eli, Michael, Ahemtia, Kurt, Nikolaj, and John 2. Let's see what kinds of things.
Eli gets a better look around his location as he gathers his gear. He has yet to look up, but that's not that important.
Michael uses the psi rifle at point blank range at a man-sized target, and his first roll is 49. He gets +20 for point blank, no size penalty, 2@1 BRA, 1@10 RSV, 1@3 SAL, and the targets are designed to have a relatively small TV, 0@7, so he's going to hit on the first try. That will also give him another increase in SAL, for using another force generative device, 1@4 Operate Force Generative Psionic Device P1@8 (capture rod, psi drill, psi blaster, psi rifle).
Ahmetia has a ride ahead of her.
The condition of Harry the Cat was dictated by a GE roll of 27 back on February 15th; but there remains the questions of whether the guard knows anything about the cat and whether anyone is caring for him. For this, we'll give another GE roll, and with a 28 it's still bad. No one has seen Kurt's cat. Hopefully that lack of information won't prevent him from having dinner.
It has been a pleasure having Nikolaj back on the boards for a time, and my closing post on his thread will very cleverly ask him to recap the subject of the past few posts so that when he returns we'll both be brought back up to speed.
John 2 is about to be born. It will take another day, though.
--M. J. Young
I apologize sincerely, Harry. I am confused. I am not certain whether you got skipped because you actually were not there until after I opened the forum, or whether in trying to find all the posts I didn't see yours. Since I can't recall seeing you yesterday but you must have been there before I left, I extend my apologies.
And John, for some reason all my posts are showing a day off on the calendar--the post I just made shows that it was made at 2:34 tomorrow morning--so it might be that you're going to get your wish and have the post read the same as your birthday. Of course, it might be that it's a goof in my profile, that I've been shifted to Greenwich Mean Time, and that it won't show that way on your view. It makes me wonder at exactly what time something would have to be posted to show as the same day everywhere in the world; but at least from one perspective, it's already your birthday, so happy birthday. Now let's see whether you can be born today.
But first, let's see what we can do with Eli, Michael, Ahmetia, Harry, and then John 2.
Eli asks good questions which give him more information than he's going to be able to digest quickly.
Michael has a lot of simply answered questions, and then is going to attempt telepathically to contact the memorial statue. His roll is 62, so that's not going to work on the first try, even with his now 1@3 SAL and +5 SM for closing his eyes when using telepathic devices.
Ahmetia has to get back on another horse; she'll need a roll for that, but we'll not force her into this.
Harry is dancing.
John 2 can thank Ryan and his wife and Adam and his lady and my wife for dragging me away until after midnight; it looks like it's Saturday even where he is. Happy birthday; I'll try to be thorough. He has stated that he is not resisting anything that happens to him, so I'll just describe it. I'm also going to give him that 2@1 Time Travel Theory T15@0 skill, although as Scott says, he hasn't learned anything about time travel since he started this world, so I probably won't roll against it. We'll also give him a chance to scream on his own initiative before they slap him to get him to do so.
Happy birthday, John?
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
Yeah, it's after midnight MJ. Thanks. As of 3:30 tomorrow afternoon, I am 33 years old. It's also my mother's birthday. Yeah, I was born on her birthday. My grandfather's was yesterday, March 12. Three generations born within 2 days of each other.
2@1 Time Travel Theory T15@0 skill
That's a 15@ tech skill. Does that affect my tech bias at all?
(Doing Therapy)
That's very clever, Maxx. John, Harry is right--@0 skills give you understanding of a field, but not bias, because you can't actually do anything with it. Mostly you would get to roll to see whether you can answer a question. As Scott previously mentioned, you probably won't because probably you can answer all the questions that would be covered by the roll. (The exception he missed, which I admit I didn't recall until now, is the time factor exception: if you've got ten minutes to come up with an answer but your character has ten days, a roll might be allowed to determine whether he thinks of it in that time. However, the converse is also true: if you take ten days to answer a question when your character had only ten minutes, I might require a roll to see whether he was able to think of it that quickly.)
Now let's take a look at Eli, then Michael, Ahmetia, Harry, and John 2.
Eli gets a thorough look at the inside of Michael's Foxhole.
Michael has it on his agenda to try to activate the memorial twice a day until he succeeds. Since his chance of success is 1@3 SAL+5 SM (for closing his eyes)+2@1 BRA=39% it shouldn't take more than a couple days to hit a success, so the rolls are 96, which is a botch, isn't it? Yes, there is a 61% chance to fail, a 6% chance to botch, 95 or higher, the psionic devices are not favoring him of late. I had a really good psi device botch list the other day--let's start by considering what of that is good for this.
1. Brain Burn
2. Render device inert
3. Shoot foot
4. Psionic Shock Wave
5. Device Explodes
6. Neural Breakdown
7. Shoot Annie
8. Shoot Paul
9. Damage structure
10. Device breaks
11. Wrong function--force field
12. Wrong function--disintegration
Well, Shoot foot has to go; this is not a weapon. The same has to be said of Shoot Annie, Shoot Paul, and Damage structure. Wrong function would still work, but not as either force field or disintegration. That leaves us a somewhat shorter list--
He will also learn something from the contact.
Ahmetia has that 1@1 horseback riding skill, but a mount is easy enough that I'm going to give her +10 to it, along with 2@1 BRA (agility) and 2x7@ bias (sport fencing), 56% chance she can do this. 74 is not that roll. Sapt will intervene, +10 for his assistance, and that makes 66%, and new circumstances, so the roll of 49 now works. I don't know whether I've given her much to which to respond, but I've moved the story forward significantly, and there are a lot of spots where she might want at least to say something.
We're having a lot of playful banter at Harry and Arabella's wedding reception.
John 2 is attempting to leap over several years of development. Don't worry, John, your rate of development will be greatly in excess of any normal kid; but you're still not going to be able to talk or walk or manipulate objects with any ability for quite some time.
--M. J. Young
That's very clever, Maxx. John, Harry is right--@0 skills give you understanding of a field, but not bias, because you can't actually do anything with it. Mostly you would get to roll to see whether you can answer a question. As Scott previously mentioned, you probably won't because probably you can answer all the questions that would be covered by the roll. (The exception he missed, which I admit I didn't recall until now, is the time factor exception: if you've got ten minutes to come up with an answer but your character has ten days, a roll might be allowed to determine whether he thinks of it in that time. However, the converse is also true: if you take ten days to answer a question when your character had only ten minutes, I might require a roll to see whether he was able to think of it that quickly.)
Now let's take a look at Eli, then Michael, Ahmetia, Harry, and John 2.
Eli gets a thorough look at the inside of Michael's Foxhole.
Michael has it on his agenda to try to activate the memorial twice a day until he succeeds. Since his chance of success is 1@3 SAL+5 SM (for closing his eyes)+2@1 BRA=39% it shouldn't take more than a couple days to hit a success, so the rolls are 96, which is a botch, isn't it? Yes, there is a 61% chance to fail, a 6% chance to botch, 95 or higher, the psionic devices are not favoring him of late. I had a really good psi device botch list the other day--let's start by considering what of that is good for this.
1. Brain Burn
2. Render device inert
3. Shoot foot
4. Psionic Shock Wave
5. Device Explodes
6. Neural Breakdown
7. Shoot Annie
8. Shoot Paul
9. Damage structure
10. Device breaks
11. Wrong function--force field
12. Wrong function--disintegration
Well, Shoot foot has to go; this is not a weapon. The same has to be said of Shoot Annie, Shoot Paul, and Damage structure. Wrong function would still work, but not as either force field or disintegration. That leaves us a somewhat shorter list--
He will also learn something from the contact.
Ahmetia has that 1@1 horseback riding skill, but a mount is easy enough that I'm going to give her +10 to it, along with 2@1 BRA (agility) and 2x7@ bias (sport fencing), 56% chance she can do this. 74 is not that roll. Sapt will intervene, +10 for his assistance, and that makes 66%, and new circumstances, so the roll of 49 now works. I don't know whether I've given her much to which to respond, but I've moved the story forward significantly, and there are a lot of spots where she might want at least to say something.
We're having a lot of playful banter at Harry and Arabella's wedding reception.
John 2 is attempting to leap over several years of development. Don't worry, John, your rate of development will be greatly in excess of any normal kid; but you're still not going to be able to talk or walk or manipulate objects with any ability for quite some time.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
That's why I wanted the magnetic letter blocks. Once I can communicate to Sarah that I can communicate to Sarah, put those letter blocks on a metal tray and spell words. It's kind of like the Metallica One video. "My body is my holding cell."
(Doing Therapy)
I'm really really torn, because I've had a rather delayed and disrupted daylight day and have been trying to wade through a lot of stuff by night, and at quarter after eleven have not even looked at the game threads. I do not like to skip a day of posts for so flimsy a reason as that I will be up too late, but there are a lot of "behind the scenes" reasons why I should wrap up sooner rather than later (and the words "too late" are echoing in my brain), so I'm going to do so.
I apologize and hope Lord willing that I will be able to address all the game threads tomorrow.
And John, I am aware of your character's interest in letters. At the moment you can put your thumb in your mouth and suck on it, but you can't get anything to stick to your hands no matter what you do, so the best you could do with letters is knock them around the room--if you're lucky enough that you happen to hit one with your something like 0@7 hand/eye and 0@7 strength. At the moment your 0@10 flexibility is making it nearly impossible for you to un-crunch your body from the cramped shape it took the last few months--straightening your arms and legs completely does not seem to be on the agenda yet.
--M. J. Young
JohnA1nut
Member
I do not like to skip a day of posts for so flimsy a reason as that I will be up too late, but there are a lot of "behind the scenes" reasons why I should wrap up sooner rather than later (and the words "too late" are echoing in my brain), so I'm going to do so.
That's hardly a flimsy reason MJ. I'd rather have you not post because you're tired than not post because you're dead from exhaustion.
(Doing Therapy)
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