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Harry's Game

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Started 4 years ago by johnosevens
Latest reply from M. J. Young

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M. J. Young
Moderator

Donning the armor is a skill. Generally if it fails it means it doesn't give you the necessary protection. The skill is rarely checked, that is, it's a relatively low-tech skill usually with bonuses, so it's only in very low tech worlds that a roll is made, but if the roll fails the armor cover value doesn't apply. I've not had it come up very often in play, but if it did I would figure that on a low failed roll the character is unaware that it's not properly attached until it comes loose in the fight, while on a high failed roll it's obvious that he can't get it on right. A botch would probably mean that he is unaware that he donned it in a way that will hamper him in combat without affording him protection, or that he's created a hazard that the enemy can exploit.

As far as bias level, I would go with @1 or sometimes @0 skills in the tech bias level of the materials, e.g., T1@1 for leather, T2@1 for padded and wooden, T4@1 for soft metals like copper or brass, T5@1 for iron or steel, T9@1 for polymers and plastics. "Powered" armor has to be assessed according to what the power does.

For martial arts, the donning of passive armor remains a tech skill. If the armor used as an active defense, e.g., blocking attacks with bracers, it becomes a B7@5 Advanced Parrying skill.

You actually never work with Tara unless you both respond to a fire or are at a training exercise, since you and she are both always shift supervisors when on; Matt is the swing man, who is a supervisor when there is no other supervisor on but works some shifts under the direction of one of the other supervisors.

You manage all right in the suit. It's a bit hampering dry, and adds about forty pounds to you wet, but it's well distributed. Brandy is not sure how long she could carry it wet; it would take more strength than she anticipated.

Durnmist summers are a bit warmer than home, and getting them wet definitely makes them cooler.

--M. J. Young

Thu Jul 8 2010 4:38 am #
johnosevens
Member

I'll ask Brandy about her experiences, and evaluate the suit myself.

How well can you (I) move in it dry?

How well can we move in it wet?

How long does she think she could wear it wet? dry?

Do we think we could carry gear and/or climb a ladder as well? I personally want to test this.

Does it afford any actual protection from fire? If we have anything on hand that we could burn in a firing barrel, we can do a small-scale test here, otherwise it looks like she and I are heading out to the lake for a weekend.

Considering she says it takes more strength than she anticipated, does it feel like something she could work up into? Like, could she wear it longer with more experience, or does it seem like she's just not strong enough to perform with it on? (And the same for me.)

Thu Jul 8 2010 1:19 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Dry it's more like wearing a heavy snowsuit--it doesn't really encumber you much, but it pushes you to the limit beyond which you would be encumbered. You probably carry more than five pounds of gear when you're fighting a fire, and with this suit it would slow your movement and make difficult tasks more difficult. Empty handed you can manage fine, and you can carry almost twenty pounds of gear before it is more of an impediment than that.

Soak it, and it's a different story. You move very slowly and are already lugging a lot of weight, so even empty-handed you can't do much that's complicated--stick to the simple stuff. You could handle maybe twenty pounds more before you couldn't walk more than a few steps, but everything is a struggle with this extra weight.

It would take a lot of experimentation to see if there's a way to douse it without making it as heavy as that; it takes about four gallons of water (which adds about thirty pounds to the ten pound suit), but whether you could limit that to two gallons of water and have it distribute evenly is not obvious.

Brandy is about equal with you on strength (you weren't in a field that required a lot of strength training on the ship, other than the part about climbing the rigging which you managed to avoid most of the time).

When it's dry it reduces the penetration of heat through it, but it looks like it could catch fire. Soaking it is a tricky aspect--wet it does not block heat as well, but it can be re-soaked to cool it again, and it holds enough water that it doesn't ignite from flame. (I'm not completely certain how you would test all this without setting one of the suits on fire while you're wearing it, but I'll assume for the present that you didn't do that.) It is warm like a snowsuit is warm, in that it retains your body heat when its dry; but it has the same insulating effect against heat from the outside, and when you soak it with cool water it cools you fairly quickly, although you get wet to the skin.

--M. J. Young

Thu Jul 8 2010 6:57 pm #
johnosevens
Member

Alright.

Once Brandy and I have finished our evaluations, I'll write up a report. Two copies, one for the Captain and the log, one for Jacob, detailing exactly what the problems I've had with it are and how we could do better. Perhaps less quilting and more, thinner, more tightly-woven layers? Thick more like layers of canvas than a suit made of quilt. And maybe make the exterior layer out of something less flammable? Leather comes to mind, or some form of rawhide, although that would make it harder to soak as well. I'm not entirely sure how to make it better, but as it is, I can't recommend this for use in the field, it's just prohibitively heavy.

Before I send that report, though, I'll show the suits to the Captain and see what he thinks, let him evaluate them as well. After all, if I'm just incompetent at using these things, and he knows something I don't, well, better safe than sorry.

Thu Jul 8 2010 10:52 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

The Captain concurs with your report. He's not certain about canvas--it's used mostly for sails, and is very heavy, although it does tend to shed water a bit better than the cloth used here. The fact that it sheds water means it's less likely to stay wet long enough to prevent it from burning. But then, it's really a question of whether what Jacob has done is the best possibility or whether he needs fresh ideas.

Leather is an interesting possibility.

--M. J. Young

Fri Jul 9 2010 8:16 pm #
johnosevens
Member

I'll suggest leather, and that he should go with something focused less on the use of water and more on the idea of insulating base materials and things - like leather - that are inherently less likely to burn.

While I await my father-in-law's reply, business as usual continues.

Mon Jul 12 2010 2:26 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Jacob will consult with a tanner. He is, of course, in the textile business, and fabric almost by definition is flammable. A cloth and leather combination garment may have merit, although generally leather is more difficult to maintain and doesn't recover as well from a good soaking, from what he understands.

Over the next rotation you get a minor fire here and there--things to which the old watch would not have responded, letting the residents fight their own fires until they start to get out of hand, but which the residents now seem to think are better fought by professionals than left to their possibly inadequate efforts. It keeps the crew in practice and at the ready without posing any serious risks to personnel.

--M. J. Young

Tue Jul 13 2010 2:05 am #
johnosevens
Member

After those minor fires I'll speak with the Captain about the idea of public education - teaching people how to escape a fire, and how to contain one with minimal risk until the professionals can arrive. I don't want the locals to give up fighting their own fires and let them get out of hand waiting for us!

On an out-of-game note, I'd like to ask again that you consider finding a way to Verse me out. Not that I'm not enjoying building up Durnmist, it's just that being stranded in a low-everything-bias world as my first (and so far only) Verse is starting to drag, considering all the things out there in the Verse that Don't Work Here.

Tue Jul 13 2010 1:12 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

There are three fires in the next cycle, all of them exactly that sort--people called for the fire department and waited rather than trying to put out the fire themselves. One of these fires was a good three miles from the station, well outside your coverage area, and Tara gave it up for lost by the time she got the crew there, putting her efforts into containing it so that the adjacent buildings wouldn't burn. The owner was a bit irate, but she told him if he had a problem he should push the city leaders to open more firewatch stations; he was far enough away from theirs that she did not have to fight his fire, particularly when he obviously didn't do anything to try to fight it before she got there. He came in to complain to Captain Peter the next day, who told him much the same thing, and supported Tara's decision completely.

--M. J. Young

Wed Jul 14 2010 1:42 am #
johnosevens
Member

I'll commend Tara as well, and add this to my next report to the General.

Wed Jul 14 2010 2:32 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

On your next rotation, when you are on the midnight shift, there is a fire a block away. The local watch spots it and alerts you immediately.

--M. J. Young

Wed Jul 14 2010 10:27 pm #
johnosevens
Member

I rally the crew and get a move on. Wagons, ladders, gear, everything. Too bad we don't have one of Tara's pump trucks online yet...

Thu Jul 15 2010 4:43 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

It's a residence over a clothing shop. There is a woman screaming about her baby still inside, and a man trying to keep her from running back in. The fire seems to have started upstairs and has not yet found its way down. Figure it is two and a half stories--that is, the shop is on the ground floor, the primary residence above, and a small attic bedroom at the top.

The fire on the second floor is pretty bad. Your team is organizing ladders and giving instructions to members of the watch who have also responded.

--M. J. Young

Fri Jul 16 2010 1:26 am #
johnosevens
Member

I'm not waiting. I know I can heal myself, so...

I put on a jacket, dump a few buckets of water over myself, cover my mouth and nose with a scarf, my head with a helmet, and approach the woman.
"Where is your baby, ma'am?"

Fri Jul 16 2010 4:39 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

The child is in the nursery on the top floor.

--M. J. Young

Sat Jul 17 2010 1:51 am #
johnosevens
Member

Naturally. Well, it's about time I got my planeswalking shoes on...

How close is the ladder to ready?
How long has this fire been burning?
What are the odds that I don't have to go through this burning building the long way in order to save the kid?

Tue Jul 20 2010 5:57 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

The short ladder has just been offloaded; it reaches the middle of the second story. They are still unpacking the long ladder, which should reach the third floor windows.

No one is quite sure when or how the fire started.

--M. J. Young

Tue Jul 20 2010 11:01 pm #
johnosevens
Member

Then I grab me a rope and grapnel and hit the short ladder. I'll use a grappling hook into the attic window to climb up. By the time I get the baby, Brandy can get up the ladder behind me, and I can hand off to her, then we can both descend.

May Tyr, god of valor and duty, give me the nerve to overcome my fear of heights... Courage, Honor, Duty, Frith...

Wed Jul 21 2010 8:14 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Is that a prayer (as in something I should be checking for whether it works) or simply a hope?

--M. J. Young

Thu Jul 22 2010 6:05 am #
johnosevens
Member

Simply a hope, although I wouldn't object if Tyr saw fit to answer. Whether or not you feel like dealing with dice is up to you on this one - I don't feel like bogging down the game long enough to work it up.

Thu Jul 22 2010 12:54 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Grapple in hand, you get half way up the ladder and freeze. It is a good twenty feet from your head to the ground, and you can see it.

--M. J. Young

Thu Jul 22 2010 11:17 pm #
johnosevens
Member

I close my eyes, take a moment to center myself, look up, and keep going with my eyes on the window, letting my hands and feet find their purchase. The going is slow, but I'm not going to let a child burn just because I'm a coward. Gods forbid...
Yes I'm terrified. Courage is doing it anyway.

Fri Jul 23 2010 3:00 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Swallowing hard and not looking down you resume your climb, slowly but steadily, and from the top of the ladder you cast the grapple.

You've never thrown a grapple before (that I'm aware), but you figure it out easily enough having seen the pirates do it enough times. You catch the window, and haul yourself up, very slowly given the weight, and reach the window.

Smoke is coming out of it, but there does not appear to be fire in the immediate vicinity; there is a lot of heat, mostly from the second floor.

--M. J. Young

Sat Jul 24 2010 2:07 am #
johnosevens
Member

How big can an attic be? I'll survive the heat for a couple of minutes. I open/break the window to let the smoke out, then climb through and activate my ... Don't I have some version of night vision psionic?

Sun Jul 25 2010 7:14 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

You knock the latticework aside and pull yourself into the room. Focusing on your eyes, you pull in the dim light and pierce the thin smoke.

You see a small bed, about half the size of a twin perhaps, against the far wall. A frightened boy, perhaps two years old, is sitting on it. The temperature must be over ninety, and the smoke tickles your nose and your throat, but it's not yet a desperate situation.

--M. J. Young

--M. J. Young

Mon Jul 26 2010 2:36 am #
johnosevens
Member

Ninty isn't bad - I've dealt with far worse at Faire and who knows what at sea. I was expecting worse in here. Thank the gods for small miracles.

I hustle over and kneel by the bed. "My name is John. I'm here to rescue you. Come on..." Try to get him into my arms and back to the window.

Mon Jul 26 2010 8:32 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

The kid starts crying, but he's a small thing, and even without his cooperation you are able to scoop him up and carry him back to the window. He's kicking and screaming, but not really at you, more just in terror.

But before you get there you see Tara at the top of the tall ladder, arms waiting for the kid.

"Come on, now," she says. "We've got to get you down the ladder, and you don't want to fall, so calm down and climb onto the ladder. Don't you want to be a firewatchman when you grow up? This is so great--you get to climb down the ladder!"

He's not calming down. The heat is increasing.

--M. J. Young

Tue Jul 27 2010 2:04 am #
johnosevens
Member

Tara! My bloody hero...

I'll try myself to calm him down. "Your mother is down there, and we're here to help you. I'm scared of climbing down the ladder too, but the fire is worse. We have to go to get you back to your mother. Alright? What do you say? Can we help each other down the ladder?"

Tue Jul 27 2010 2:57 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

He is not calming. You feel as if you almost got through to him, but he's terrified of the fire, the window, the ladder, the strangers in his room, and if you put him out that window like he is now he's likely to topple the ladder.

--M. J. Young

Wed Jul 28 2010 2:11 am #
johnosevens
Member

My first thought was to simply tie him up, but that would then leave us having to carry him down the ladder, which strikes me as inherently worse.

I'll try talking to him one more time.

---

If that works, we get him out onto the ladder and down to the ground.

---

If that doesn't work, I can't just stand here to roast fighting him for his own life, so...

"Tara, climb down and transfer over to the short ladder. I'm going to climb out with him like this, and get him to just grab the ladder. Then you tell them to start lowering it. With any luck, we'll slide right down the wall, right to the ground."

And if not... It's only a two-story drop. I can heal us as soon as we wake up.

Wed Jul 28 2010 8:05 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

The floor on which you are standing suddenly drops a few inches. You tell the terrified kid that he really has to get down the ladder before it gets really bad, and he finds the ladder and heads down--but slowly and unsteady, even with Tara's help.

--M. J. Young

Fri Jul 30 2010 1:58 am #
johnosevens
Member

I'll wait until there's room for me on the ladder. I can't push the two of them off just to save myself.

Once there's room, I'll climb out and head on down.

Fri Jul 30 2010 1:00 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

You wait for them to reach the top of the shorter ladder, and then bring a leg out the window to find the tall one. You manage, shakily, to get hold of the ladder and shift your weight to it.

It sags.

Glancing down, you see that Tara is aware of the problem, and is trying to get the child to move to the adjacent shorter ladder; the child is still very frightened, and his frightened parents below trying to encourage him are probably not improving the situation.

The room beyond the window is now burning; the floor dropped further, and flames are licking up through the split. At the moment you seem to be stuck here, and the clock is ticking but the way might open on its own.

--M. J. Young

Sat Jul 31 2010 12:39 am #
johnosevens
Member

We need to take weight off this bloody ladder, and now.

"Tara, keep going. Get him down. I'll transfer over."

I'll focus on the burning room and the ladder itself and try very hard not to think about how high up I am or how likely I am to fall trying to change ladders mid-climb, and try to transfer over to the shorter ladder myself.

Mon Aug 2 2010 1:36 am #
M. J. Young
Moderator

Slowly, trepidaciously, your foot finds the next rung; you move down to it, and find the next. It seems interminable, and the heat is beating on you from the house.

Below you hear the crew pouring water.

You make it down another rung, and another; you are halfway to the top of the shorter ladder.

"Commander," someone below you to your right cries. "Want to toss this bucket into the third floor window? I think you can reach from where you are."

One of your men is standing on the second rung of the shorter ladder, steadied against the house. It appears that below you there are several people positioned on the straining ladders, a bucket brigade running from one to the other, and you're the top man.

You really don't feel comfortable up here.

--M. J. Young

Fri Aug 6 2010 8:31 pm #
johnosevens
Member

"Give me a second," I say.

I'll try to pull myself together. I've worked through worse... alright no I haven't but I've also never had lives on the line before. Adrenaline can work miracles and I'm counting on that now. (Given what I know of myself OOC from past experiences, I'll work through this, and then be a jelly-legged mess when I reach the ground.) So I'll try to work through this, toss buckets while I can reach, and put off panicking until later, just like my grandfather used to do...

Mon Aug 9 2010 8:12 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

You close your eyes, hold your breath, and for a moment lose track of the world.

"Commander?" the voice comes. "Sir, I think you'd better get down; you've had too much smoke." He continues in a louder voice, "Make a path for the commander, and get him some help."

You feel the ladder jiggling as people below you move out of your way, and hear the splash of the water apparently finding the second floor window instead.

You reach down with one foot, but are having trouble finding the next rung, dizzy and disoriented as you are.

Something grabs your foot, and sets it on a solid rung. "Take it easy, commander. You did good; you saved that kid. Let's get you down and out of the smoke and heat before you fall." He helps you down, rung by rung, to the ground, and as others clamor up the ladder brings you over to where there's water, dowses you with some, gives you a drink.

"If you're all right," he says, "I'll get back to the ladder." It seems that there's a question in that.

--M. J. Young

Tue Aug 10 2010 2:50 am #
johnosevens
Member

"I'm fine," I say, even though I can barely see and I'm glad to be sitting down - I am sitting down, right? I sit down - "I'm fine. Really."

Tue Aug 10 2010 3:17 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

You are sitting, and you have a cup of clean water, and you're maybe thirty yards from the building. Others are climbing the ladders, pouring water into the windows by passing buckets man-to-man.

A woman comes over. She has the child you rescued in her arms.

"I," she starts; "I want to thank you. For saving my baby. That was very--very brave?"

--M. J. Young

Wed Aug 11 2010 1:39 am #
johnosevens
Member

I give her a smile, or pointed as close to her as I can. Smoke tends to leave my eyes all watery for a bit, and I've had more than my share just now.

"Doing my job," I say, then pause to sip, "Just glad he's alright."

Wed Aug 11 2010 7:59 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

"How can we help?" she asks.

"Now, mother," a man says from a few steps away, "don't be bothering him; he's got a job to do, and you're just in the way."

She looks torn between awaiting your answer and moving out of your way.

--M. J. Young

Wed Aug 11 2010 11:26 pm #
johnosevens
Member

I'll drag myself to my feet, then, and put out a hand to calm that overeager watchman.

"It's alright," I say to him, "We're here for the people, after all."

Turning back to her, I say, "You've been through enough tonight. All I ask is that you keep your family about you, and help them through the days ahead. We have men enough, and hands enough, to see us through. Your family needs you far more than we could." Trying, of course, to sound gentle and supportive, not dismissing.

Thu Aug 12 2010 2:59 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

That actually was the child's father, but the dialog is fine anyway.

She thanks you again, and moves back away into the crowd.

"Commander," one of the men calls, "I think we've done it. We'll want to patrol inside with buckets to hit any hot spots, but the fire seems to be out, for practical purposes."

--M. J. Young

Mon Aug 16 2010 1:26 am #
johnosevens
Member

Ah. I got the impression it was one of my men, but I suppose it does work out the same either way.

I'll straighten my jacket in a very Picard-esque sort of way, tugging my jacket straight, and go to have a look. "Smartly done," I'll tell him, "Let's finish off those hotspots, then get this place under guard until we determine if it needs to come down, or if it can be salvaged. Do we have a runner...?"

I'll look around for someone I can send as a messenger to the local Watch house, if the local Watch isn't here already. Inspecting this place for integrity might be - or might become - our job, but keeping the looters out is entirely on them.

Mon Aug 16 2010 8:31 pm #
M. J. Young
Moderator

You have had help from the local watch, although your people have kept them primarily on crowd control, what with bucket brigades being a bit of a trick to learn the first time and most of the fighting being done from ladders. The lower level appears intact, at least outside, but of course you've got broken window shutters upstairs from the fire and rescue efforts.

I'm guessing you're going to take a tour of the interior, with a couple people and a couple buckets in case you find a hot spot, mostly looking to assess the damages; but don't let me talk you into anything.

--M. J. Young

Thu Aug 19 2010 8:36 pm #

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