Behind the Screens Continues · Page 3

I've got a very little to post for Ed, and maybe a fair amount for John II.

Ed is trying to figure out, well, everything. I think I need a post from Eric to resolve any of it.

John II has asked for a rundown of metalworking skills. I'll make a quick list of the ones of which I'm certain:

• Various tool use skills which he probably already has, including hammers, pliers, tongs, and sheers.
• Identify soft metals T4@0
• Smelt soft metals T4@1
• Hammer soft metals T4@1
• Welding T4@2
• Carve soft metals T4@2
• Imprint soft metals T4@2
• Alloy soft metals T4@3
• Draw soft metals T4@3
• Identify hard metals T5@1
• Smelt hard metals T5@1
• Cast hard metals T5@1
• Hammer hard metals T5@2
• Cut hard metals T5@2
• Draw hard metals T5@2
• Temper hard metals T5@3
• Alloy hard metals T5@3

That should provide a pretty solid base, although I might have missed something somewhere. The entire package is at a 1@3 SAL, but I might distinguish individual skills as he works on them.

I might roll for the leather, but I've got three things in consideration here. One is, this is a rather small village so I don't see it having both an outstanding blacksmith and an outstanding leatherworker; the second is, leatherwork is an essential trade of the milieu so there's bound to be one nearby somewhere; the third is, the blacksmith is a specialist, and he won't do leather but will work with a leatherworker somewhere for tack and harness. Thus I figure he will refer John to someone he knows, nearby but not in town.

I think that four silvers is a bit much for one night of dinner and room, even for a good room, in this milieu--although foreign silver might be suspect, and that might explain it.

--M. J. Young

That's a bit more than I was expecting. What I was looking for was more like T1@1 BLACKSMITHING. I'll copy that to my sheet.

I'm back. Had a vacation to the aquarium which was followed by finding the computer had severe difficulties when we got home which the demigoddess of electronica, the Ladyfaire, fixed, which was followed by Constellation con which was followed by my trying to get back up to speed.

I'm going to push David's reply off another day in part because something so cool as what he wrote deserves something more than a perfunctory reply.

I'm actually not sure what world John is in....but then I've gotten very little sleep the past few days.

Eric

There is activity on Ed's thread, although it might be only Eric; John II and Adam are also present.

It is only Eric, but it gives Ed something to which to respond, and some resources--although exactly what he will do with a gold coin and a silver coin at this point should be interesting.

John II is looking first for information, which can be provided. He demonstrates solder, which is very useful for plumbing and for electrical work, but those applications won't occur to a blacksmith. Finally, he makes his trip to the leatherworker.

Something will happen for Adam after about four months, I think; the question is when he will realize it is happening. These people rely very much on being insular, such that no one will be aware of what they are doing until they strike. He rolls a 17 intuition check, strong for his 2@2 intuition, and so becomes aware of things.

We'll let him decide how to prepare based on what he knows.

I will see what he does when I return.

--M. J. Young

I've only one player today, John II, which means it might be a light game.

John wants to know what happens on his trip to the next village; I'm looking at a GE of 20, Just Bad Enough. I've already got some idea of the level of specialization around here, so the tanner is not going to be a trapper or hunter.

--M. J. Young

I have John II and Adam in play today, which are both interesting and active games right now.

John is afraid of the dice, but he does need a roll for whether there's a trapper about. The GE roll comes to 8, remarkably good but not unexpected.

Adam wants to catch one of these guys; I'll give him one, but he's going to have to do the catching himself. Remind me to detail this guy's skills and attributes before tomorrow--this might be interesting.

--M. J. Young

I've got quite a crew here tonight, and so little time for them; but we will give our best. John II opens, Adam follows, Shawn rests, John I makes a return, and Ryan wraps.

John II has questions; we'll settle them.

Adam is going to take a bit more work. It happens, though, that it's time to make my evening pick-up, and so I can take the character stuff with me and do it while I wait.

Adam is using stealth against an adversary with intensified senses, so we need comparitive relative success. Adam rolls first, 00, and the opponent rolls 76; I've got to calculate Adam's chance of success because that might be a botch: 3@10 SAL+2x10@ bias+2@7 BRA (had to update my sheet on that one)=87%. That is a botch; for what it's worth, the adversary's skill would be 3@10 SAL+2@6 BRA+2x7@ bias, 80%, so he is successful.

This could be fun, but it's going to take a lot of posts.

Shawn is having a relaxed time in Moscow. Let's put some relaxing into it.

John I's last thread was here, and his last post is here. I'll pick up the story as well as I can remember.

Ryan is finishing up a rather impressive handling of a rather difficult situation, so I guess I need to figure out what happens in his world next--once I know what he's doing.

--M. J. Young

I've got a new post from Ed, one from John II, and one from Adam, so I might be going home early tonight--or not, depending on what they're doing.

Ed overlooked the fact that Eric handed him "money", but I'm not certain whether that was intentional or accidental.

It keeps floating through the back of my mind that the scenario in which I've placed John II is supposed to be using the Old English monetary system, with which I'm not entirely familiar. A quick review and a quick description, with a comparison to his equipment listings, should get things straight.

I need a GE roll for the question about whether the two tradesmen will be ready in the morning. 21 says no.

O.K., now Adam gets his first real glimpse at this opponent. A roll of 21 has him in style; the opponent is in style with 07. The adversary already has a successful roll of 76 on his heightened senses, so he's watching Adam like a hawk while looking nonchalant about it. Adam rolls 49 in the hope of moving first, and he gets that ever so briefly as the opponent, also planning to jump, rolls 40--but is going to use his steal initiative skill (3@10 SAL, 2x7@ bias, 2@6 Bias) with a successful roll of 57 to move first, and with 31 on his own leap gets out of the way. Adam rolls 73 on the Panoramic Awareness, which I have to crunch just for certainty--3@10 SAL+2x10@ bias+2@7 BRA=87, clearly a success.

I'm sure he's a bit frustrated by this, but this scenario is just packed with people who are not quite his equal but in the same figurative weight class. He's got a lot of trouble ahead.

--M. J. Young

I've got John II, Adam, and John I here, but precious little time.

John II has a lot of questions, but I need only a couple of die rolls. One is a GE roll for catching a ride in the right direction, for which 26 is completely wrong. On the bright side, he manages a 19 on a TK pulse, which I know will succeed. I will also increase his SAL to 1@9 for that new use.

Adam needs a roll for his jump and presumably a roll for his stealth skills and one for his panoramic awareness--the last of these to compare to the roll for the stealth skills of his quarry, who is also rolling his own heightened senses against Adam's stealth skill. 12 for the jump is an easy success. Adam rolls, stealth then awareness, 47, 09, both successes; his opponent, rolling same order, 27 and 01, means each has beaten the other in hiding, and neither knows where the other is at the moment. Of course, neither can be completely certain that the other does not know his position, nor can either really risk revealing his own position to discover that of the other.

John I rolls 17 on an effort to contact Bob telepathically; that's going to succeed. As to persuading someone to sound abandon ship, that doesn't require consideration.

--M. J. Young

John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I are in play; somehow it looked like more than that when I arrived.

John II is tossing a lot of information at me, but he admits as much. I think I've managed it all.

Adam is donning his X-ray glasses against an adversary using stealth to hide. This is not an automatic success--but it is a change in circumstances and a sit-mod bonus (I won't roll for the use of the glasses for a 3@10 SAL in this high-tech world, but incorporate that in the panoramic awareness as a +20 SM; under a lower tech bias, or for a lower SAL, I would require successful use of the glasses before granting the sit-mod). His reroll comes to 39, which means he beats his opponent's standing stealth roll of 27, and spots him. Of course, where he sees him might matter, and a 17 GE doesn't give him a clean shot, but doesn't give him no shot at all. The roll to shift to Chow En Lai is 83, which is successful, I believe, as we have a 3@10 SAL, 2x10@ bias, and 2@7 BRA, so I'm right. He's got a size/cover penalty and no range bonus, so this won't be easy.

I've a dozen questions in my mind when Graeme asks the priest to introduce him to the Emperor. Will this elderly priest have the connections to make such an introduction? We do not know whether this emperor favors Juno or not. Even if he cannot do it himself, does he know someone who can? Or if he can do it, is it something he is willing to do (after all, emperors have been known to respond rather violently to knews they don't like, and the knowledge that there is a visitor "from beyond the edges of the world" come to prevent "a terrible mistake" by the scientists is not likely to be good news. I think, though, that they can all be settled by the use of a GE roll: 20, just bad enough.

And he's worried about nukes. Wait until he sees what it really is.

Attempting to run two telepathic contacts simultaneously will cost John I -5 on the second, but a roll of 34 to reach his wife will still work. We'll finish the conversation; I really can't imagine Federation security forces continuing a fight after they hear "abandon ship" sounded--they'll figure that the opponents will either be killed on the ship or captured in the life pods.

--M. J. Young

I might be done before dawn. I have John II (whose thread title I reallly want to change, because it is called "Kyler", and Kyler is not the player), Adam, Graeme, and John I.

Not much to do with John II, but there's enough to keep things going.

By choosing the specific target of the man's leg, Adam reduces his chance to hit, but also reduces his potential damage--and since he wants this guy alive (something I'm not sure he can get, but we'll see how it goes) this is a good choice. If I make the leg 36x6, roughly, that's 216 square inches, -12 for size. The gun is base dangerous, he uses it as a tech weapon +DC+10 for 3@10 SAL, +DC for 2@3 RSV, 2@2 BRA, 2x12@ bias, no range mod, 97% chance to hit, his target has a 2@2 TV and a -10 Def SM, using muscle blocking on a successful roll of 55 for -10 more, but he can't use his missile evasion unless he is moving or sees the attack coming, so that reduces Adam's shot to 55%, and the roll is 63. That reveals Adam's position.

Graeme is overlooking his linguistic obstacles.

John I is making his exit, I think.

--M. J. Young

Yeah, I wish I could change the thread title too. I put that down because Kyler was the referee at the time. If you have the power to change it, feel free to do so. Just email me the new title so I can find it.

I still have game threads to cover here--Ed, John II, Adam, and Graeme--and suddenly my Internet access is getting buggy, not connecting to Gaming Outpost. I'm going to keep going, though, because usually it clears up eventually--and if it does not, I can save all the posts and reboot.

Ed needs a GE roll on finding a hotel.  He's going to need a good one, because even though there are hotels scattered all over the city, a lot of them are going to be in trouble. 17 is a neutral roll.

John II rolls 44 on a TK pulse attempt, 2@2 BRA, the bias of the world is flatlined, and 1@9 SAL comes to 41, a near failure. The second roll is 96, which is a botch. A 2d10+10 GE roll comes to 15, which is favorable under the circumstances. He rolls 30 on Wilderness Survival, so we'll give him 1@1 Survival: Temperate Forest, T0@1.

Adam really is not getting the breaks at the moment--he rolls 98 on his 2@2 Flashing Steel B7@1 fast draw katana skill, although it might not botch: +20 offensive sit-mod in the current style, 2x10@ bias, 2@7 BRA, 89% chance of success. It only means that the other guy will connect first. He rolls 57 on a leaping kick, 2x7@ bias, 2@6 BRA, 2@6 MSV, 3@8 SAL, +20 style bonus=124, minus Adam's defenses which do not include his armor but do include 2@1 TV, and a bonus if his muscle blocking skill works, 03 says yes for -10, but that 57 is going to hit. The damage is base dangerous +DC for style +DC for MSV +DC+8 for SAL which converts to +18, a fatal roll with an effective 75 on the dice, comes to 38 intensities, but Adam divides by 2 for his 2@2 damage value, 19.

Ah, my posts are finally going through.

Graeme rolls 00 on the anti-fatigue skill. Before I do a botch table, I'd better check--some of his spells are so heavily bonused they are nearly botch-proof. No, it's a 1@8 SAL with a +15 SM in a 7@ bias world with his 2@2 BRA, 69% chance of success is pretty good, but not good enough to prevent a botch here. It's a pretty low skill, though, so most of the botches will be small:

1. Reverse effect: Graeme becomes incredibly weary
2. Misfire: Pixie is greatly invigorated and becoming hyper.
3. Unexpected result: momentary image of significance.
4. Unexpected result: gate in sprite.
5. Unexpected result: gate in imp.

It's a short list, but I can roll against it: 1, well, not surprising I suppose.

I think I'm done there.

--M. J. Young

Why does my armor not count? I've read the description of leaping kick, and it says nothing about bypassing armor, and also part of my armor is based on the federation rubber armor, made to absorb impacts. Also my TV is 2@4 not 2@1, I made month by month updates on the old site after training, it seems they didn't make it to your master sheet with me. By my math by 42 or so points of armor + my 2@4 TV, plus -10 for Muscle Blocking, means that 124 - 42 - 24 - 10 = His target number of 48, which misses, and he falls causing himself annoying damage.

Adam

2D10+10 GE roll? Is that one of those modified GE rolls you were talking about, where one die is stuck at 10? So I rolled a 5 on the other two dice? Is that how that works? Just so I'm clear on it.

2D10+10 GE roll? Is that one of those modified GE rolls you were talking about, where one die is stuck at 10? So I rolled a 5 on the other two dice? Is that how that works? Just so I'm clear on it.

Yes, yes, yes.

I've got John II, Adam, Graeme, John I, and Ryan in play.

John II does not need a GE roll on the tent; a blacksmith would have no use for such a thing, and so would not own one.

I am apologizing to Adam; I even considered his armor (I should have mentioned it in my mechanics post) and assumed he was not wearing it. We'll redo that sequence.

I'll mention that this is not at all uncommon in Multiverser. For example, it is entirely possible for the referee to roll some dice and tell the player, "You are surprised as a ninja bursts from behind the door and attacks you with his katana," and have the player respond, "I have an always active P11@1 Precognitive Danger Sense which should be rolled to determine whether I knew it was about to happen," then have the referee permit the player to roll it, and say, "You made that roll, and so a moment before the ninja jumps out from behind the door your danger sense alerts you, you draw your katana and put your attention on overdrive; roll initiative against the ninja for who gets the first attack." That's just one example; rolling back the film and playing it the other way is a normal procedure. It would not have been done in this case at the table, because at some point I would have observed aloud that Adam did not have his armor (I don't think he'd mentioned it thus far in the encounter) and he would have said that he did, and we would have resolved the matter before making the roll.

Graeme awakens again, and turns his attention to his language potion before he forgets what he knows.

John I is headed for a life pod, but has never used one; I need a GE roll for whether George is going to (on the one hand) ask if he needs help with it or (on the other hand) vanish into his own so fast John can't ask him anything, but a 6 is so favorable that the usually helpful George will be even more so.

Ryan wants to return to the routine, but that means returning to the humans. He's got an 18 GE roll--it could have been a lot worse.

That's not so bad.

--M. J. Young

There were a lot of active threads tonight, but only three games--Ed and Eric, John II, and Adam.

I'm looking at a 19 GE for Ed's search for a hotel and food. That's not good, but it should yield something.

John II spends a day working.

I am persuaded by Adam's argument that he is wearing his armor; that means -48 on that flying kick, which, as he says, misses: 124-2@1-10=48=45, and the 57 misses. Adam rolls 98 on his attack, which if it hits will be devastating. He has a 2@7 BRA, 2@4 MSV, 2x10@ bias, +20 for style, 3@10 SAL, 131 against the defenses, 2@2 TV and -10 for style, which means a 99 would hit.

I know Adam wanted to catch this guy and question him, but we can't always get what we want. It's not over yet, though. I'm sure Adam has ideas.

--M. J. Young

I'm sandwiched between Johns--John II starting us, with Adam, Shawn, and Graeme playing before John I ends the night.

John II gets some questions answered.

Adam gets a 25 GE roll on searching the body. That's too bad--I was thinking of all sorts of ways of giving him information through what he finds. It's not going to be nothing at all, but there isn't going to be credit cards, identifying jewelry, or any of that stuff.

We'll move Shawn to the point where he can start the next day or finish the same night, as he prefers.

Graeme is attempting to pull together two of his language potion spells. He gets a 13 barely good enough GE roll, which is, well, barely good enough--but that's good enough, barely. His rolls are 50 and 76; he's got a -7 sit-mod in the spell, 2x7@ for the world bias, and 2@2 mag bias, with a 1@2 SAL. That's not good news, as it's 14+22=36+12=48-7=41% chance of success, and neither of these will work--but he won't know it until he quaffs them.

Ah, well--that's how it goes sometimes.

I almost forgot John I. Well, it's tired and I'm late, or something like that. He will get launched.

--M. J. Young

NMVM. Thanks.

It appears that we again open with John II, have Adam and Shawn in play, and again close with John I.

I need to figure out what the blacksmith thinks of John's idea of making a crossbow. I know what I think, but that shouldn't be completely determinative--only influential. A 16 GE roll puts it pretty much where I think.

I'm piecing together what Adam is saying. At first I thought he meant Geneice was to crack the code on the phone while he drove the motorcycle back to Panama City, and couldn't figure out whether he meant that she would stay behind or that she would be trying to crack the security on the cell phone while riding on the back of the motorcycle; but I got it--she's to do the security work while he packs up the room. This is going to have a -10 penalty for difficulty, and I'll subtract her success roll in minutes from ninety. Her chance of success is 3@10 SAL+2x11@ bias+2@3SAL=85%, minus the penalty is 75%, and the roll is 43, so it takes her 90-43=47 minutes to crack it. It won't take him that long to pack. I don't know that he wants to wait that long, so I'll tell him in increments that she's working on it and let him decide whether to interrupt her.

Shawn is on his relaxed visit to Moscow, and the introduction of the non-Faberge egg invites us to see all the real ones.

John I surprises me, thinking of the scriff sense as a way to determine whether his two associates are still alive. That's good thinking, and requires nothing from me but a GE roll--after all, they could have died (which I think highly unlikely) or still be on the dead ship, and it is possible that they are far enough from him and close enough to each other that he has only one vector for the two. He's not going to like a 25 GE roll; but there's not much it can tell him. Step two was to attempt to contact them telepathically, 77, 49, he might have reached Bob--I crunched those numbers a few days ago, I think, but I don't see it so I'll do it again. Bob is humanoid, John has 2x7@ bias, 2@3 SAL, 1@1 SAL on humanoids, makes 48. Hey, they say suspense is good.

I'm suspending my presence here for the day, though; Lord willing, I will be back tomorrow. I should warn everyone, however, that the efforts to solve the transportation problems in time for Ubercon might mean that I vanish without warning. Of course, complete failure to solve them might mean that I don't leave at all.

--M. J. Young

If my eyes are functioning properly, I have John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I in play.

I should mention here that there is no guarantee that I will be here again before Tuesday. It is my hope that I will be able to squeeze my work in tomorrow, but I have to find a way to Long Island to pick up a car; I also hope that I will be able to get work done Friday before I leave for the convention (I'm saying it's 90% that I will be going to the convention), but there is no certainty of that, either; I hope to be back Sunday evening in time to do my Sunday work, but it might be too late. In fact, it is possible that I will be so backed up and overwhelmed that I will not have time Monday to do anything--but we will have to see how things go between now and then. Do not panic; my absence to some degree suggests things are going well.

It seems to me on the one hand that carpenters, as such, are not as common or in demand in this society as blacksmiths--after all, you can hire a carpenter wherever you are, but you need a blacksmith wherever your horse throws a shoe. On the other hand, there would be wagoners, furniture makers, shipwrights (well, not here), and other tradesmen who would be carpenters, and would probably be able to pick up a bit of extra work doing such odd jobs. 19 is not an entirely favorable roll, but it's not that far off center, so we'll have something.

For Adam, we're starting to get somewhere.

The rolls I made on Graeme's spells come to fruition now as he attempts to complete them. As he says, the show is mostly for the eyes. It's very brutal, and probably tells something about Roman culture even in that age.

John I is going to attempt to use his telekinetic pulse to disrupt the fighters in such a way that they might collide with each other. That requires timing, as they are not flying in formation so he has to do it when they are getting close to each other; and he is limited by the fact that he cannot see them for most of the minute because of the rotation of his capsule. We'll give him first a GE roll to see if he gets what looks like a good shot, then a roll on the TK pulse, and use relative success to see if it does what he hopes. 16 does not get him what he wants, so we'll delay to see what his next plans are.

If I've read aright, that's everyone tonight. As I say, I might see you tomorrow, but I might not.

--M. J. Young

I hope you're not here tomorrow. I know you could use the $$$$$$.

I am in the midst of organizing transportation for tomorrow (and still have to organize housing, but we're working on it), and I've come to a moment of stillness before I depart to pick up a car, so I'm trying to get something done. That something will begin with Ed and Eric, then John II, Adam, Shawn, and John I, although odds are that I won't get far at all.

I should mention for those planning to play at Ubercon: do not answer tonight's post, as I probably will not see your answer before the convention and if I do you won't have time to see my response. I will be printing recent posts, and I will have John's and Kyler's character papers (Adam has a more accurate and easier to use copy than I could bring), but you are responsible to know what's happening with your character.

Ed goes for hot dogs and asks about the hotel; I've already decided about both from a previous GE roll.

John II needs a GE roll for whether the carpenter will do the job; 18 suggests that it's going to be a bit more than John expects.

I'll get Adam a bit of information, but then I have to put a temporary hold on his thread.

Shawn gets a strong 9 GE roll on theatre or drama, so I dig into my recollections of Russian arts and come up with Tchaikowski and Ibsen. I quick Google later tells me Ibsen is actually Norwegian, but I've got the right period, so I'll pull a famous play and a famous ballet.

John I's adventure is almost over, but we'll give him a few more minutes.

I am pleased with this accomplishment; I do not expect to be able to post again tomorrow, as mentioned, but you can never be certain.

--M. J. Young

I thought an 18 meant that it was what the referee thought was most likely. Why would what you think to be most likely not be what I expect? I would have thought a retired carpenter might work a bit more cheaply.

John,

If your expectations do not match the local reality. And I think its like 15-16 is the middle. 18 is slightly bad. So he's justified in giving you slightly worse than what he would expect.

Your expectations do not really enter into it. Your desires do.

Eric

Well, as the referee and world designer, he knows more about the scenario. Your expectations are based on incomplete knowledge of the situation. In this case, you expect something which he, based on information you don't have, knows to be unlikely. Player expectations are wrong more often than they're right; the description for a 9 GE roll is "as good as expected."

Perhaps he retired because he's old and tired, and it will take a lot of money to get him to bother doing work. If he already has enough saved up to live on, working for ordinary wages is more trouble than it's worth; if he wanted to do that, he wouldn't have retired.

Eric,

I think you're somewhat wrong here. On a scale of 3-30, there are 28 variables, not 30. A 17 or 18 would be in the middle of that. A 15 or 16 would be slightly good. The thing with it here is that someone who is retired wouldn't charge full price, as they are doing the work for extra cash, not to live. That's also why it would take a week, instead of a few days. More time, so less charged. At least that how I see it. Maybe MJ can explain that when he comes back. I'm just trying to learn this (which is the point) for when I get into forum play.

John "A1nut"

Scott, once again, your explanations make perfect sense. You should become a teacher.

15.....Not unfavorable result
16.....Neutral Result or no effect
17.....Neutral Result or no effect (again)
18.....Not favorable result

So we were both wrong. OK, I see the confusion now.

I need to welcome aboard Max Saltonstall, who as newest player is first in line; he joined us at Ubercon IX this past weekend, and is the first (and only so far) to find his way to the forum. I intended to create a new sticky thread entitled Yes, You Can Play, But...., but I don't think I'll get to it today. Ed follows, then John II, then Graeme, then John I, and I hope that my bleary eyes and bushed brain haven't missed anyone.

I see a stack of questions and answers in this thread. I think it's been covered; 16/17 is the center point of the General Effects Roll (count it out if you're having trouble with it, but it's (28/2)+2 to hit the center, and because it's an even number the center is between to results). The 18 GE roll means that the outcome is slightly negative, so I had to come up with a slightly negative outcome.

As mentioned, Max started over the weekend; I'm going to have to get his character sheet from him, and a summary of convention play, but I'm still going to answer his questions. It is not revealing anything to say that he is in Starship Destiny.

Ed is on the move. He's getting a hotel room and I can smell smoke, so I know he's thinking.

John II moves forward a bit, as we begin to accelerate his time here.

Graeme is going to make another language potion spell; 72 I know is a failed roll without checking.

John I is trying something, but either I don't understand his description of it or he doesn't realize his mistake. Either way, we'll clarify it.

--M. J. Young

Barely had I introduced a new player to the forum when another new player appeared--although in fairness, Al was here maybe a year ago, and although I have no idea how to find his thread, I still have his character sheet on my spreadsheet (albeit, buried on a page of inactive characters). Thus he will be first, then Max, Ed with Eric, John II, Graeme, and John I.

Once Al updates us on his adventures, we'll continue his story.

Max has his paperwork in order, so with a few comments we're ready to go.

Ed actually is not here, but Eric has posted and handed him a gun, so he's involved.

John II moves ahead through a week of work, and now has the piece he needs for his project.

Graeme attends his meeting; I suspect that someone will have a translation skill, but I'll see what he does first before working out who.

John I is puzzling over how to use his powers to accomplish something seemingly simple but vexing in its complexities. A GE 11, though, says he gets what he really wants--his wife is back aboard.

Very interesting. I will see all tomorrow.

--M. J. Young

We start again with Al, then Max, John II, Graeme, and John I.

I'll start moving Al forward while at the same time filling in the blanks behind us.

Max rolls 33 on learning to use the MK-12 Kinetic Blaster, which gives him a 1@1 Use Kinetic Blaster T11@1 skill. No one has ever asked whether Torbin plays games, but even if they had I'd probably have relied on a general effects roll anyway--in this case, 26 is pretty bad.

For John II, I tend to think that making a crossbow is a distinct skill from blacksmithing/metalworking; indeed, it involves a T4@3 Rachet System, in the standard design--but I'd better check.

I'm already pretty sure that there's someone who can translate for Graeme; I just have to figure out who it is. A GE of 21 is bad enough, though, so we've got a complication.

John I is not going to get back to the routine just yet. After all, after a pirate raid, there's some heavy drinking to do--no, that's not what they're going to do, but they are going to put their treasure to use right away.

--M. J. Young

RE: The crossbow. You're thinking of one particular design of crossbow, but there are many different designs. I described the design I want to make, and it does not use a ratcheting system. It would be more difficult to pull the string back, but at the same time faster by my design. I used to have a toy crossbow that used the design I reference in my game.

I have Al, John II, Shawn, and John I today.

Al is going to practice a professional level skill in gathering force energy; I guess I should ask how he practices this, and several other things.

He wants to learn to use telepathy; since he has the example of their contact telepathy, I'll permit him a bonus for adapting that to non-contact telepathy. I'm giving them humanoid minds, though, so he has to learn telepathy to humanoids for it to work. He has a 6@3 psi bias and a 2@1 psi BRA, 84 plus the example which will be 2@2, -5 because it's contact telepathy rather than direct, 101, minus the bias of the target skill, P1@5 telepathy to humanoids, 86% chance of success, and he rolls 12, and easy though weak success, 1@1 Telepathy to Humanoids P1@5 (Ul-mor)--the last a notation to indicate that he has some familiarity with the Ul-mor mind, and if he uses it to contact another type of humanoid mind it will be a new use.

The crossbow John II describes does not use a ratchet system, but a simpler lever and latch system, a 3@1 design. Thus the 5@3 hard metals skills are the ones that matter to building, but the 3@1 simple lever skill is what matters to design. 19 means he easily gains a 1@1 Design lever & latch crossbow T3@1, and the building falls into his blacksmithing skill, a roll of 39, but we've got a glitch. He wants there to be a special metal; he describes mithril, although he apparently doesn't know that name (a sci-fi, not fantasy, fan). 17 is right in the middle, but since this is a fairytale world, the existence of mithril seems reasonably likely. On the other hand, it will be hard to find, expensive to get, and not easy to mold and form (which is why so few humans ever used it in the stories). I would have to assess a -10 penalty on his chance of success with it, but he's got a bonus because he's working with the blacksmith. We'll see his decision on what to do about the metal before we give him a conclusive outcome.

He's also hoping that waterwheels have not been invented. I find this unlikely in the milieu, particularly as Kyler has described the place as having abundant waterways (suggesting that water power would have been noticed) and I have put mountains around it on several sides (reducing the likelihood of windmills being used); however, since it's not really stated and he's expressed his hope, I'll give him the benefit of a GE roll, with the caveat that it has to favor him decisively for that to be the case: 17 is not that roll.

I'm sending Shawn home to Ruritania, but increasing the tension between him and Germany; I'm still contemplating a situation there, but probably won't have to decide for a couple more posts.

As John I moves back into the routine, I'm going to attempt to learn more about the routine.

--M. J. Young

Correct me if I am wrong, but this is an @1 design crossbow, as opposed to an @3 design. So the crossbow I'm building will still work in a flatline tech bias, where the other crossbow wouldn't? That's exactly what I was hoping for when I described the design.

Actually, it means specifically that you can design such a device in a flatlined world. That usually also means that it can be built and used in such a world, and in this case it does.

Al, Max, Ed, John II--all relatively new people--Graeme, and John I--some of the long-timers--are tonight's players.

Al is doing a number of things that are pretty smoothly integrated, but his attempt to learn the Ul-mor language will require a roll: 23 is a good roll for learning a language, and he now has a 1@1 rudimentary grasp of it, Ul-mor Language P0@0.

Max has a couple of things that need rolls. No one ever asked for a PDA or Smart Phone in this scenario before, so it will take a GE roll to figure out what they have on that line: 7 is the sort of roll that makes other players jealous--"better than expected"--so here goes. The rest I know from the scenario.

I'll move Ed forward to evening and make a few decisions about the situation; I think his hotelier is going to be the sort who wants to please, and particularly when he has only one customer.

With a roll of 08, John II adds 1@1 Build latch & lever crossbow T3@1 to his skills.

Graeme is testing my linguistic legerdemain, tossing some French at me. Je parle un tres petit peux de francais, but I think I got the gist of it. He wants to know whether the priestess can endow him with the ability to speak Latin, and whether she can arrange a meeting with the Emperor. Of course, if the priestess could endow him with the ability to speak Latin, they probably would not have sought a translator; on the other hand, it's entirely possible (within the curve and the level) that she would have such an ability, and she is a high priestess. It wouldn't be the conference of a new skill so much as a magical interpretation ability. Ah, but a 24 GE roll does not cover that. The other task is to persuade her to help him meet the emperor. In such situations, Graeme tends to rely on his animal magnetism more than his persuasion or charisma, but a simple check of 28 is a bit high even for his 2@2 attribute--it's probably the language barrier.

I'm getting a bit more of a feel for how John I spends his time between missions. I'll start another mission in a bit, but I want to have the down time feel like down time.

Speaking of downtime, I'm getting close to a bit of my own.

--M. J. Young

Max is on the front of the line again tonight. Someone has posted on Ed's thread, and John II is present. If there's anyone else, I missed him.

Max wants to know if there are simulators or trainers in Torbin; my inclination is no, but it's not a strong enough inclination not to roll, so the GE roll says 19, which agrees with me. On the other hand, a 19 GE on whether any of those people would care to learn karate by practicing with him says one of them is interested, somewhat. That would be George--the jack of all trades got that way by being interested in learning new things, of course. I don't remember whether anyone has ever asked about intelligent non-human species before, but a GE of 25 says no, I think. The innoculations are a fairly straightforward thing which will bonus his resistance one intensity, to 1@6. That might increase his damage value, but since I've not calculated that yet I don't have to worry about it.

Ed and Eric have both posted to that thread, and I'm going to give them a quiet night, as I really don't think there are enough people strong and healthy enough to do otherwise.

John II wants to make bolts for his crossbow; that requires fletching skills, which I'm sure are outside blacksmithing skills. I'll put the problem to him.

I'll also put myself on the path to catching up on sleep; I've gotten through this more quickly than anticipated, although it's not really the end of the night yet.

--M. J. Young

I'm looking at Max, John II, and John I.

One thing I did not address when Max got his watchputer is whether the wrist device, Federation technology, is compatible with the interfaces on the ship's computer, alien technology. A GE of 16 tells me that it's not directly compatible, but can be made so; the alternative was going to be that Torbin had to recite the data for the watchputer to receive. I've got a bit of an uncertainty in connection with the questions about magic and psionics, and it's got a couple of wrinkles. First, the psi bias is listed as very high in this world, but that doesn't mean the crew of the Destiny has ever encountered anyone who wasn't completely and obviously human in all respects. Thus it's entirely possible that the answer is no, they've never encountered anything unusual. At the other extreme, it's possible that they've encountered aliens, augmented humans, mutants, and other psionically capable beings so frequently they don't consider it unusual, and so again the answer is no, they've never encountered anything unusual. It's only if those powers are moderately rare, encountered occasionally but not expected or anticipated, that he gets the affirmative answer. 21 is bad enough, so he doesn't get the answer he wants either way.

John II apparently doesn't know as much about arrows as he thinks he does.

We're still exploring what John I and company do during the downtime between missions. I'll get them on another mission in a bit, but I've got to get the other Starship Destiny scenario started on something first.

--M. J. Young