MJ asked me some time ago if I felt there was anything that new players ought to know before starting the game. I think a full, detailed explanation of biases would be a very good thing to have. But you're going to say "The referee should explain that." Well, I was playing with MJ, and he explained biases, but I was totally lost on how they worked. Going from full psionics to a flatline world was a major system shock. I assumed that if psionics was not supported in the world, none of it would work. I assumed that since the TK pulse worked, psionics must be supported. I found out the hard way that I was wrong. The thing is that had I known that TK pulse still worked in a flatline world, I think I would have played the character differently. I felt invincible with psionics in my previous world, and now was pretty helpless without them. If even the creator of the game can do such a poor job of explaining the biases, then how much more would a not so experienced referee do it? A full, detailed description of the biases, how they work and why. What works in a flatline world, how they work. This is something that new players desperately need.
What new players should know
(24 posts) (7 voices)-
JohnA1nut
MemberThis is why I got into trouble with that MP at Pearl Harbor. "Since TK pulse works, psionics must work" was my thinking, so I figured I would have my psionics to fall back on if I got into trouble. I was quite wrong. Had I known that TK pulse ALWAYS works, I think I would have been a lot more cautious.
Fri Jan 11 2008 5:34 am # -
Blue Canary
MemberYes, but your character in the game also had no idea how biases worked. He thought psionics would be there to fall back on and got into trouble. Just like real life. Now he knows better.
The rules and game mechanics are really not what beginning players need to know.
Fri Jan 11 2008 5:43 am # -
JohnA1nut
MemberBlue Canary, we met with The Architect. Don't you think it reasonable that The Architect, who had been to every bias imaginable, would have told us that sometimes TK pulse is all that works? I mean specifically told us that. I would have. If I was teaching someone psionics, and I knew that most of it would not work, I would make damn sure to teach them what always worked first. I would have taught the @1 and @0 skills first. Make sure the players always have SOMETHING. I really think MJ did a piss poor job of explaining that as The Architect. I would have made it completely clear what worked and what didn't. I really do believe that is something that the players should know.
Fri Jan 11 2008 6:37 am # -
johnosevens
MemberTo be honest, Id still like to have some clue how Bias works in terms of worlds. I understand that it means some things work and some things don't, but for instance, I've seen biases of like 15@ when everything else doesn't go higher than 3@ and intensities all over the charts. What exactly does a 15@4 psionic ability look like as opposed to a 15@0? Is there such a thing as 15@0 or is that crazy talk?
Fri Jan 11 2008 4:57 pm # -
Blue Canary
MemberWell, if I recall correctly, it basically works like this:
Take the world bias. Add the Level to the Intensity. This is called the Bias Curve i.e. World bias 15@10 => 15+10=25. Bias Curve of 25.
All skills in that bias with a Curve (level + intensity) of 25 or less will work for a Verser. For Indigs, they can't have a skill above the world bias.
All @0 skills and I think @1 skills always work.
Fri Jan 11 2008 7:57 pm # -
JohnA1nut
MemberOsevens, I think there is at least one world with a -10 tech bias. Supposedly you need to be a professional to use a cigarette lighter. I'd like to check it out. I complain about flatline psionics worlds, well, as long as that one has high psionics, I wouldn't worry about the tech bias. I think it would be cool.
Sat Jan 12 2008 2:46 am # -
15@-12 creates a curve of three. Indigs can use any @0 or @1 skill, as well as any 1@2 skill. Any level one skill above intensity two is above the curve; any skill of level two or higher that is not @0 or @1 is also above the curve. I'm not sure about 0@ skills above 0@3. In this particular universe, there's no difference between what an indig can attempt and what a verser can attempt.
A bias of 15@-12 has the effect of making very few things possible, but also of strongly supporting those few things which are possible.
Contrast this with a bias of -12@15. In this world, the curve is also three. However, no indig has any skills in this area - none - and it is impossible to learn skills in this bias area. For versers, the same skills are impossible in this world as in the other one, except that a negative bias level has specific "bias blocking" effects - that is, in addition to skills being "curved out" by the curve of three, certain kinds of skills are also "leveled out" by the bias level of -12. Skills are leveled out according to what they do, not according to what their bias is, so this varies from area to area.
A bias of M-12@15 is identical to a bias of -12@0 except that M1@2 skills are not curved out. It has the effect of making very few things possible, strongly opposing those few things which remain possible, prohibiting skill learning unless the skill can be acquired at the mid-professional level (this is difficult and requires exceptional methods), and limiting skill use within the area to non-indigenous users with mid-professional ability.
Incidentally, the bias system is designed so that it will be difficult for the player to predict what skills will or will function in a given world. He can identify certain trends through experience, but no test he can devise will be completely reliable.
Sun Jan 13 2008 5:58 am # -
My thanks to Scott and Graeme for the most important parts of the answer: your characters would not know and would have a very difficult time finding out. In fact, the reason we have these kinds of questions answered here is because it is assumed that those playing here are intending to learn how to run the game, and so need to understand the rules.
Let me hit a few of the other points along the way:
- The Architect said many things that you don't remember. He may well have said that the TK Pulse will work "almost anywhere" (as Scott observes, it will not work in a world with a negative enough bias because of bias blocking). On the other hand, he certainly would not have said, nor even thought, that it was "the only thing" which does. He finds mind reading much more reliable and much more useful; he also would know that psionic force shields will work "almost anywhere", but that they are very tough to learn the first time. I don't think you can fault him either for not explaining what you didn't ask or not making clear what only experience can really teach.
- Harry, in every bias area the levels and intensities are organized pretty much the same way. Levels indicate new principles in the bias area. In technology, 1@ includes fire, 2@ wheels, 3@ levers and wedges, 4@ pulleys and gears, 5@ water power, 6@ explosives, 7@ pressure systems, 8@ combustion engines, 9@ electricity, 10@ electronics, 11@ computers, 12@ genetic engineering, 13@ artificial intelligence, 14@ energy fields, 15@ time travel. (Most of these levels also involve other technological principle, e.g., 1@ includes fire, leatherwork, and pottery; this is for purposes of example.) Intensities indicate more complex applications of the principles at that level, so 3@1 includes simple wedges and simple levers like awls and hammers, 3@2 any doubled combination, like an axe or nail pull (a simple wedge driven by a simple lever), 3@3 "leveraged double levers" (screwdrivers and allen wrenches), "multiple wedges" (saws), and "multply-edged levers" (most swords), 3@4 complex levers like pliers (opposed levers forming a single lever), 3@5 opposing levered wedges (scissors, wire cutters), and so on. The same principles are used to determine the biases of skills in bod, psi, and mag, but the game designers put a lot of thought into exactly how these increased, that is, what are the more complex principles and what the more complex applications.
- Yes, there could be a 15@0 skill in any bias area. High-level @0 skills are most common in technology. @0 generally means that this is related to the principles at this level but does not actually use any of the energies or applications connected to this level. Thus one could have a skill in Temporal Mechanics T15@0 which did not actually mean you could do anything with time, but you understood the theory. @0 skills do not confer bias because they don't really mean you can do anything, thus having that 15@0 skill doesn't have any affect on your tech bias, although it can be useful in understanding what other people are doing.
- I have never encountered a bias rating with a negative intensity that I recall; levels can be negative, but in my experience intensities are always positive. That doesn't mean it couldn't be done, but whoever did it would probably have something very specific in mind.
- "Flatlined" means that you can only do @0 and @1 skills, generally speaking. This is because you can almost always do @0 and @1 skills; the curve levels on @1. You can call a world bias 0@0, but it is not effectively different from 0@1, except that the indigs cannot do 0@1 skills in that case. 0@2 is also considered flatlined even though everyone can do 0@2 skills, because these are not considered "real" skills in the bias area--they don't really involve doing something, or at least don't involve doing something specific. 1@1 is also considered flatlined, because even though indigs can perform 1@1 skills under it, the only difference for the verser is a slightly (2%) higher chance of success on skills in the bias area.
- As a matter of fact, if you check Ryan's game thread he is currently in that world with the -10@ tech bias. Yes, the Bah do everything with magic, body, and psionics, in that order if I recall correctly. You have to be a low-level professional to have any chance of success at a tech skill, and it has to be something not biased out. That can be particularly interesting--the experienced combatant find that his explosion-driven guns don't work, but his rail gun does.
--M. J. Young
Mon Jan 14 2008 3:48 am #
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