Behind the Screens 2008 · Page 10

I've again got Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Kurt wants conversation and information.

I don't penalize the TK pulse for range as long as we're still within sight, so Harry can play his game for a while. He just made a decent piloting skill check so we'll let that ride while we roll a few TK pulses. I am aware that these pursuits can go for hours, and he can hit with his pulse once a minute, but I'll do five rolls and see what we have: 25, which is good enough that I promised him a GE roll with it which comes to 5+5+1+11 Good but Below Expectations. That's going to get the enemy ship rocking a bit. He has four more rolls in this five minute block, 49, 92, 58, 93.

John 2 is looking for a room. We'll get him one.

--M. J. Young

I just saw a man in Starbucks about five minutes ago who looked suspiciously like MJ.
Chief, you weren't standing in a Starbucks wearing a hat folded up on one side and carrying a gigantic Pearl Paint bag at about 10am today, were you?

Chief, you weren't standing in a Starbucks wearing a hat folded up on one side and carrying a gigantic Pearl Paint bag at about 10am today, were you?

• The only thing that ever gets me into a Starbucks is if it's in a highway rest area and I have to walk through it to get to the bathroom. For what they charge for lousy coffee, I ought to be able to pan gold out of it.
• I always wear a fedora, and the side is never folded up.
• I have never heard of Pearl Paint before this moment.
• Roughly thirteen hours ago when you posted this, it was ten in the morning, and I had been asleep for about five hours.
• For better or worse, I am not that unusual in appearance. I often see people I think look a lot like me. In fact, E. R. Jones has been mistaken for my brother, although at present he is unbearded because of a job requirement. He does still have a ponytail. He rarely gets out of Delaware.

That should settle the matter.

Now, to settle a few other matters, I have games in progress from Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Kurt has asked a question I didn't really want to answer; and come to think of it, I don't think I have to.

Harry:

The inclusion of the light would be a very tricky bit. It would not necessarily make this an automatic failure, but in addition to the penalty for including an extra spell you would take the bias level of that spell--a significantly higher create light spell. It is possible that you've built enough bonuses into this to cover that, but it's a much more difficult spell than anything you've yet attempted.

I can't answer whether it "would" prevent you from accomplishing this. It is a skill that fits under the curve, so it is possible to do in this world. On the other hand, anything that reduces your chance of success "might" prevent you from succeeding, and even the penalty for including a second spell (-10) "might" be the difference between success and failure. The substantially larger bias difference stands a significantly greater chance of derailing your spell learning attempt, but thereafter would have no effect on casting it, since the bias of a skill only counts against you when learning it, not when using what you already know.

You'll have to decide what you want to do.

The other shoe finally drops for John 2, and he knows something he had not guessed. Oh, John--if there is a reason why you are here, it is something that has not yet happened, and when it does it will not be on the news.

--M. J. Young

Kurt and John 2 are the only people to manage to post in the quick bounce-back time I managed today.

One of the things about di Vars as an introductory verser is he does not teach people things. He answers questions about the verse, but he is not a teacher. Still, he's not unkind about it--he just doesn't see teaching as his job. So Kurt is probably out of luck--but at least we can get him thinking in Multiverser categories.

John 2 gets a brief tour of his bathroom and an introduction to the television of this world. He is keeping busy, which is interesting in itself.

--M. J. Young

We again have Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Graeme.

Kurt doesn't want to face the volcano. Actually, it occurs to me now that I've finished his post that it would make things convenient for me if I could verse out Kurt and leave Court behind, so maybe we'll go this direction for a while.

I'm told that in the navy they say it is easier to get forgiveness than permission. Harry is not in the navy, but the same principle is going to apply, particularly as he decided to let the entire officer corps know what he was planning. He's got a 14 GE roll on that, so it's going to work, but not smoothly. It will take at least a few days to settle this--which is very nice, because I have twelve days to the next event, and I can burn up enough of them to make it work (he says suspiciously).

John 2 is covering a lot of ground; I'll try to keep pace.

Graeme is probably going to connect the dots about now; I hope that the picture intrigues him.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are in motion.

We're going to need some numbers on Kurt to get things in order here.

Harry is looking for a way to prove his ability, by finding spoiled food and restoring it. They would travel with food that was particularly resistant to spoilage--and particularly since when they left New Haven they knew they had to make it to Durnmist on what they carried, they're going to be stocked with stuff for the long haul which has not been in storage even a quarter of the time it's expected to last. The perishables were finished weeks ago. He's got a GE of 20, just bad enough, which reinforces my expectations on this. They're not going to keep bad food aboard--it's gone into the drink before he can get to it. As for the remove fatigue spell, it doesn't look like he designed it to do what he wants it to do now.

When he needs a roll for the events of the day, John 2 gets a GE of 12, good enough. Things are moving forward for him.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Graeme, all are ready on a Monday afternoon when I've got to run to my mother-in-law's as soon as I finish eating this early supper. But let's make some progress.

We'll give Kurt his 1@5 strength, 1@8 resistance, and 1@10 will power. That also gives him a 1@9 Ranged Strike Value (averaging intuition and hand/eye), 1@7 Martial Strike Value (intuition, hand/eye, and strength), 1@5 Target Value (intuition, agility, and density, which is 1@1), and 1@6 Damage Value (stamina, resistance, density, and will power). I'm going to have to pursue this fighting question, though.

Harry and I have a number of details to resolve before he casts his new spell.

John 2 is interacting with the scrap dealer, who has a couple of questions.

The spell cast on Graeme enables him to understand what anyone says and respond to them--but he cannot initiate the conversation in the language of the person to whom he is speaking, because it is in the nature of the spell that it gives him the language ability based on hearing it spoken. So I'm interested in seeing how he handles this.

--M. J. Young

I started posting yesterday, and then suddenly started getting database errors.

And since it was already three in the morning, due to other complications, I decided that there was little point in trying to figure out the problem or wait it out.

So let me try again, beginning with Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Increasing Kurt's strength to 1@7 and intuition to 1@9 will increase his RSV to 1@10, MSV to 1@9, and TV to 1@6. I'll also start a bit of a fisticuffs lesson. No, I don't fight--I just learn.

One to one, Harry has to persuade eight officers to take an hour from their days to spend in the hold while he performs what to them will be a rather boring ritual, in order to prove something none of them really believe. He will also have to contend with the fact that all are atheists, actively disbelieving in supernatural power, and thus all have bonuses against his power when it is used on them. But he will roll a persuasion check for each, and they will roll against him with a will power check. His persuasion is a strong 1@9. These are all difficult checks, d30+10.

• The captain's will power is 2@10, Harry rolls 3+10=13, the captain rolls 19+10=29, he will be there.
• The First Officer's will power is 2@3, Harry rolls 14+10=24, he will not be there.
• Pilot Commander will power 1@10, Harry rolls 29+10=39, he will not be there.
• Chief Navigator will power 1@9, Harry rolls 3+10=13, Donald 13+10=23, he will be there.
• Chief Engineer will power 1@9, Harry rolls 21+10=31, Dermott will not be there.
• Doctor will power 1@9, Harry rolls 21+10=31, Evan will not be there.
• Security Chief, Harry rolls 10+10=20, Balcon will not be there.
• Chief of Deck, Harry rolls 10+10=20, Roman will not be there.

John 2 needs a couple of GE rolls for his circumstances--one for whether the scrap dealer is an arTIST, 15. Job, 8.

--M. J. Young

I'm not having a very good week, but put me in your prayers and I will endeavor to provide some interesting play for all who post--which today appears to be Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Let's give Kurt a shot here. He is going to attempt to punch Michael di Vars. I'm going to separate the skill learning roll from the attack roll, because frankly I don't think he's much chance of landing the attack but he could still learn the skill. The skill is Fisticuffs, a B7@1 Martial Arts Style, fast aggressive with a -5 defensive sitmod and a +5 offensive sit-mod and a x3 attack multiplier, weapon adverse, relying on hands. He claims no skills in martial arts or acrobatics, so his bias is 5@3 based on the jump skills in the Standard Human Body Package. His Best Relevant Attribute (of Strength, Agility, and Will Power) is his 1@10 will power. Michael is instructing him, but has not actually given him an example and does not have teaching or training skill, so Kurt gets half Michael's considerable BRA--a 3@1 will power for +16. He also gets +13 for the bod bias level of this world. That's +102-71=31% chance that he can learn the style at this point. He rolls 09, and adds 1@1 Fisticuffs style B7@1 fast aggressive weapon-adverse attx3 +5 att SM -5 def SM hands to his skills. Now, can he hit Michael? He's got his newly increased 7@ bias, x2 for +14 (which is within the world bias), his 1@10 BRA for +20, his 1@1 SAL in the style style for +11, the +5 Sit-mod of the style, and a 1@9 MSV, all of which comes to +69. Michael starts with his 2@4 Target Value, which reduces the chance to hit to 45%. He also has dermal implants which will reduce the damage by one damage category, so he's not worried about blocking the blow. The roll is 23, which would be good for one intensity of damage at the damaging level, but since di Vars reduces it -DC for his implants and also has a 2@ DV to divide the damage in half and discard fractions, this will be interesting. We'll suspend the fight there.

O.K., attempting to construct exactly how this ritual will go, I'm clipping text from Harry's thread. My posts are blockquotes, his are simple bullet points.

• 1@1 Remove Fatigue M+2@1 must be lying supine in bed within an activated casting circle (holy ground) appropriate words spoken quietly but sound matters, invoking Tyr god of duty and valor, Thor god of strength, and Hugin and Munin symbols of vigilance, removing fatigue, 1:00:00TF reinvigorates such that caster will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work, +91SM.

• change target from "self" to "all within holy ground."
• go two days instead of three (24 hours longer than normal rather than 47)
  

  my read of "caster will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work" is that staying up for forty-seven hours is the equivalent of a full day's time. That is, normally you would get up at six and go to bed tired at ten, but with this spell you start counting at six and reach the end of the day forty-seven hours later, five o'clock in the morning. It's designed so that you can cast the spell for one hour every other day to chain your wakefulness. You could stay up longer, but it's like staying up past your bedtime. You're not going three days with it, but two, and thus you're gaining about thirty-one hours. Taking twenty-four off that will be a gain of seven hours, which probably would go unnoticed or be explained away by most skeptics. Also, I don't know that the spell actually prevents anyone from sleeping, it just removes the need.

  The way I see the effects of Remove Fatigue....is a completely mellow stimulant high with no jitters or heart effects, with the exception that it is almost physically impossible to sleep until the effect wears off, because your nervous system is simply tweaked too high to ever go idle.
• I must be kneeling or sitting in the holy ground with both hands folded on my specific named-unique sword, appropriate words spoken aloud such that sound matters, concentration is important, and the spell ends with a flourish that requires a successful check of my smallsword fencing skill to execute, specifically cutting a Jera rune in the air with a flick of the wrist. And because my gods appreciate material sacrifice, I will sacrifice one uncut emerald for each subject to be affected.

"All within Holy Ground" is a significant change, because it the increase in the number affected costs--a penalty of -10 for the first additional target, penalties for additional targets beyond that ranging from -1 to -10. In this case it seems appropriate for the additional targets to be -5 each. On the other hand, an uncut emerald probably has a value of +4, so he's very near even on that, and has specified that the spell requires one such emerald for each added person. However, I still have to dock him -6 on the first added person, because he has specified that it affects everyone within the holy ground, which would include himself, so he still counts as the first.

That reduces the sit-mod to +85.

I'm standing firm on my interpretation of the duration. The normal use of this spell, as I understand it, is that one goes "all day" and then instead of sleeping eight hours performs this ritual. He has packed the spell with lots of bonuses, and so has managed to extend it such that he goes two days--that is, the spell gives him effectively two days' worth of sleep in advance, but at the end of those two days--forty-seven hours later--it has run its course, and he needs either to sleep or to perform the ritual again. Nor do I think it would prevent someone from taking the equivalent of an "afternoon nap" during that time, although that would possibly extend the time until it is necessary to sleep again, although not by as much as the time of the nap.

As to "kneeling or sitting", I will make it kneeling, because I don't find "sitting" and "standing" to be "full body involvement", but are really just "being there".

The inclusion of the specific named sword is a bonus--have I been giving +5 for this? I'll make it +5, unless he tells me otherwise. That increases the sit-mod to +90.

Now I have a problem: he says "concentration is important". I can make that a throw-away, or I can give him a +10 SM for it, and specify that for any interruption he has to make a successful will power check (simple or difficult depending on the severity of the interruption), and then roll general effects rolls to determine whether there are any interruptions (and how many and how severe). Or I can ignore it as one of those things--of course concentration is important, as it always is in magic.

Thus the skill is either

1@1 Remove Fatigue M+2@1 must be kneeling or sitting with both hands folded on my specific named-unique sword within an activated casting circle (holy ground) appropriate words spoken quietly but sound matters, invoking Tyr god of duty and valor, Thor god of strength, and Hugin and Munin symbols of vigilance, removing fatigue, ending with a flourish that requires a successful check of smallsword fencing skill to execute, specifically cutting a Jera rune in the air with a flick of the wrist, requires one uncut emerald sacrificed for each person other than the caster affected by the spell, 1:00:00TF reinvigorates such that all within holy ground will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work, +90SM.

or

1@1 Remove Fatigue M+2@1 must be kneeling or sitting with both hands folded on my specific named-unique sword within an activated casting circle (holy ground) appropriate words spoken quietly but sound matters, invoking Tyr god of duty and valor, Thor god of strength, and Hugin and Munin symbols of vigilance, removing fatigue, ending with a flourish that requires a successful check of smallsword fencing skill to execute, specifically cutting a Jera rune in the air with a flick of the wrist, requires one uncut emerald sacrificed for each person other than the caster affected by the spell, concentration is important, such that for any interruptions (GE roll) the caster must make a (simple or difficult) will power check to maintain the spell, 1:00:00TF reinvigorates such that all within holy ground will function normally for forty-seven hours after casting before feeling the fatigue of a normal day's work, +100SM.

We'll get Harry's opinion.

John 2 is finishing up his negotiations for his job. He's pushing it, though.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Graeme are playing.

We'll wrap up our fisticuffs lesson and leave Kurt with a new skill to practice.

I've got the calculations for Harry's new spell variant, so now all we have to do is roll the dice, adjudicate the results, and add it to his skill lists--assuming it works.

The problem is that he is trying to use magic on atheists. These two will be ordinary amateur atheists, SAL 1@5, but that means he has -8 to his chance of success on either of them. Since he is casting one spell on both, I'm going to make that cumulative, -16 to his chance of success. Also, since he is casting magic on someone, and it is not necessarily a desired effect (that is, it's not like they particularly wanted it to work), they will both get resistance checks. The captain will have a 2@8 resistance, but the Chief of Deck is only 1@10 (career officers build resistance over the long haul, but navigation is a cushy job, relatively speaking).

The skill bias is 2@1; Harry's bias is 3@1. There's the +90 SM and his 2@3 BRA and his religion bonus of half of 2@5, +13, against the penalty of -15 for their atheism. I'm seeing 121% chance of success at the spell, but then they'll get their check--RS=S/D/N, which means that it depends on what Harry rolls on this. His roll is 05, so he has the skill as a 1@1 SAL, and they have to make simple resistance checks to avoid the affects. The captain rolls 15+20=35, and so fails--he will feel the effects of the magic. The navigator rolls 16+11=27, and he, too, fails and feels the effects of the spell.

John 2 is finally moving out of the store (I think), and my non-player character can make his move.

Graeme is going to need a particularly good GE roll in his present situation--if the Azmayincans do not say anything, he will not have the component he needs for the magic to work. Unfortunately, a 20 is not that roll.

--M. J. Young

I really have almost no time, but that's no reason for my players to suffer. Kurt, Harry, and John 2 will each receive at least a short response from me before I tear out of here.

I have been waiting for a bad GE roll for Kurt, and 18 is not favorable.

Harry's demonstration has ended, and we'll leave him wondering for a day before anything else happens.

John is buying scrap platinum, and he's hoping to get it in manageable form--but since he's buying from a scrap dealer, it's likely that most of it will be in broken pieces of objects. A GE of 20 puts it pretty far from what John wants.

It also seems pretty likely at this point that he will meet someone.

--M. J. Young

It looks like tonight is only Kurt and John 2.

Kurt introduces something that I would count as a new skill, but I don't know what it is.

John 2 apparently thinks he knows what he cannot know, but at least he's not acting on it. I have to decide whether this person, who does not speak French, understands enough of it to know what was just said. He rolls a 14 for his simple ed lev check, and since he has advanced degrees in cybernetics that's in there.

And since there are going to be far more eating establishments than martial arts schools even in a mall this size, his GE roll would have to beat a 7 to find the school first--which 19 does not, he'll be looking for a school for a while.

--M. J. Young

John 2 apparently thinks he knows what he cannot know, but at least he's not acting on it.

I'm not thinking I know squat, that was just a joke.

I've got a four player game tonight, and I'm late and tired. I attended a funeral today for someone I never met, but that's a story that doesn't need telling here. I've also been stood up twice in three days by the same person, but I'm sure there's an explanation somewhere. For now, let me tackle the game posts from Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Graeme.

Kurt makes my job either easier or harder, depending on how you look at it--he missed perhaps the most important question in the stack I handed him, so I have to wait for that.

I'm trying to remember to track Harry's events against his calendar, because there are events on the calendar that are going to interplay with those which he is initiating. Let me see if I can reconstruct from the threads:

• Day 358 pirates attempted to board.
• Day 359 Harry starts talking to officers about his hope to enspell the aftcastle deck. It will take a couple days for him to speak with all of them.
• Day 362 the officers have a meeting to discuss Harry's intention.
• Day 363, Harry has been told that they are debating this, and attempts unsuccessfully to get spoiled food for a demonstration. He then announces that he wishes to demonstrate his remove fatigue magic. This gets carried back to the officers, and debated and discussed.
• Day 365, Harry casts the spell for the captain and cheif navigator. He is told that there will be more discussion, and they'll let him know.
• Day 367 the effects of the spell run their course for the two officers; such proof as Harry has offered has been established. The debate among the officers continues.
• Day 368 Harry is given the green light by the captain.
• Day 369 Harry will have the opportunity to work the spell.

That works very nicely, actually.

John 2 gets a bit more information about his unwanted companion.

I've got to decide how to determine whether Graeme's efforts will induce his Azmayincan prisoner to say something to him. There are four basic mechanics in Multiverser which commend themselves--a skill check, a skill learning roll, an attribute check, or a general effects roll. The last of these just went poorly, and for the first I see no skill that commends itself. I'm also not seeing an attribute that works well for this, so I'll go with a skill learning roll--I'm going to create a P1@0 Understanding variant which enables using signs to communicate to people without shared culture or language. Graeme's chance to learn this skill is -10 for the bias of the skill +15 for his 1@5 BRA, and the Roman section of the world has a 0@ psi bias so that's all he's got. On the other hand, his idea is sound, and I'll give him +20 for the simplicity of the notion (after all, the guy might just say "what the heck are you doing?"). That gives him 25% chance that this will work, which is better than nothing. He rolls 30. I'll also give him a GE roll for this: 17 is right in the middle, but that will work for me.

That is, it will work for Graeme, who has the chance to work with this from here.

--M. J. Young

I've got a four player game tonight, and I'm late and tired. I attended a funeral today for someone I never met, but that's a story that doesn't need telling here.

I think we all know how that feels MJ. I was a pallbearer at a funeral for a woman I had met maybe twice in my life. I did it to support my best friend. It was his mother.

Surprisingly there is a very light turnout today, but I'm a bit boggled and not doing things in order. In fact, while I was thinking about how to handle Kurt's post, I drafted a complete response to John 2. But let me post decently and in order.

I am inclined to think that Kurt's meditation is a sort of reading of his own mind, in the sense of finding his own power. I would suggest that five minutes of this, if successful, creates a +RS SM on any psionic skills he then uses. He indicates that he has an example of how to do this, for which I'll give him +11, counting this as a P1@0 skill, and noting his 1@10 will power as his BRA. He has no bias here and there is a 0@ psi bias in the world, so his chance of success is 20+11-10=21%. He rolls a 20, so that's 1@1 Meditation P1@0 finds and taps inner mental/spiritual strength for use in next psionic skill, gives RS=SM to next psionic skill check.

John 2 has an extended conversation with Derek, which ends with him making threats, to which Derek can respond in kind.

--M. J. Young

Sorry for my own absences of late. With no internet at home, it's a 20-minute schlep to Starbucks for me to have access. My refrigerator froze its last this weekend, so Monday night was spent at BestBuy picking out a new one. While we were there, my girlfriend and I celebrated our two-year anniversary by picking up an X-Box 360, so Tuesday was spent with me playing Assassin's Creed and us playing Rock Band. Wednesday I was doing the laundry, in expectation of our new fridge being delivered today. It was, but the guy couldn't get it in the door and had to take it back, so we are without a functioning fridge until Monday (and you have no idea how it's making me wish I could cast a Restore Freshness spell on my cooler full of perishables).

I am sympathetic to your cooling problems; your absence from the game has been noticed, but it was genuinely brief, and in any case life happens and I put no pressure on people who come or go.

The people who have come tonight include Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John 2.

What happens if Kurt attempts to maintain his meditation over the long haul? Well, either he succeeds, or he fails, or he botches--but in any case, since it is defined in five minute chunks, we need to roll a skill check; and since he said he would keep it going, we need to roll until he does not succeed or a GE roll says he is interrupted. The first skill check is 71, but given that the skill is defined as providing RS=SM to the next psionic skill used and when chained it is the next psionic skill used, he's got +20 for the previous sit-mod, +11 for his skill ability level, and +20 for his bias, 51% chance of success, but a failure anyway. He loses his concentration. A 16 GE roll means things are in a holding pattern otherwise.

There's no problem with missing time from play, except that I don't always remember everything that is or was happening the last time you played. Dave suffers the consequences of that at the moment, because not knowing whether I'm working from a recent GE roll I'm rolling another, and it falls as 19, not thwarting but generally unfavorable result. But before he can know what's happening he has to go somewhere where he can find out.

I've got to do some number crunching for Harry, for two distinct spells. The first, though, he has cast already--but differently, so I'm going to have to pay attention to the details.

It appears that he wishes to enspell "the deck", by which he means more than just the main deck but also the forecastle and aftcastle. I already did some dimensions of the ship when he was fighting the pirates--no, before that, when he was enspelling the hold. The ship is 150x40, but it's not a rectangle; on the other hand, I suspect that he's now talking three dimensions to some degree, as he would expect it to impact those on the masts and ladders as well as those on the flats of the deck. I'm looking at less than six thousand square feet, plus the various surfaces that make the third dimension contact points.

For consistency, I've pulled up pieces of the original spell calculations:

I am going to bet that a holy ground consecration skill has a base half hour duration...and I would guess that a thousand square feet would be the baseline....and I think I'm giving +7 for Soulmourn as a unique entity.

O.K., let's construct Harry's spell from the ground up. Alliance holy magic for a M1@1 ritual NOS; the magic creates holy ground, that is, it sanctifies a space for holy purposes. We've got a 1000 square foot baseline against what we've estimated as six thousand square feet, doubled once for 2000, again for 4000, and half again for 6000, -25 for area. We're taking a half hour ritual and multiplying it to 8:00:00, doubling it once for each of 1:00:00, 2:00:00, 4:00:00, and 8:00:00, four doublings for +40. We have +5 appropriateness in there somewhere, +3 for loudly (singing) and +2 for sound being vital, and with the combination of walking and kneeling this is a fully involved ritual physically, +15, +7 for the inclusion of the sword, and I've given each emerald a value of +4, doubled because they are destroyed (did I overlook that on the last spell? I'd better check that), and there are six of these. That's +48 for the emeralds. Internal sit-mod is +95, and I can stop crunching numbers and roll: 34 is a successful casting and a 1@1 Sanctify large area of ground M+1@1 walk, kneel at four corners, singing praises and giving thanks to the gods, invoking them (Heimdall the Guardian, Thor who protects travelers, Odin who sees all, and Freya who guides sorcerers), and pacing the entire perimeter of the area. Appropriate words spoken aloud in English so the sound matters, 8 hours casting time, my named-unique sword in hand, walking and kneeling, sacrifice six uncut emeralds, casting the husks of the spent emeralds away ground must be activated to use +95SM.

I'm stopping there, partly because I don't know for certain what Harry is going to do for his next spell and partly because I've put a lot of time into this and need to move to the next player before it gets much later.

I've got to find a price for pizza again for John 2. He paid 20c for a pizza with a lot of toppings, but this will be a couple toppings, so we'll go with 15c.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are playing.

Kurt needs another skill check, 84 failing. We're in a holding pattern, but that holding pattern is at "about to blow", so we can play with it a bit.

Harry somehow thinks that massive spells covering large areas with powerful bonuses in a low bias universe should be quick and easy. It's time to figure out exactly what this one takes.

He is incorporating a M1@2 bonus strike with a M1@2 defensive bonus. These have a base TF of 1:00 and a base duration of RS minutes. He is increasing the TF drastically, to 16:01:00 plus duration; he is also taking control of the duration, but compensating that by requiring that he involve himself in actively maintaining it by prayer and singing. He also has a split casting time, which is penalized. I've valued uncut emeralds at 4 each, and he is using 30. He has appropriate words, full body involvement, his sword, and five armed men. Although their identities are unimportant and they do not need to know how to use the weapons they carry, I will make the inclusion of each armed man a 5 point bonus.

He also wants it to impact twenty-seven people instead of one. -10 for the second person, -5 for each additional person, doubled for two spells, is [-10+(-5x25)]x2=-270.

The baseline for these spells is RS/10. I can increase that by increments to RS/5, RS/2, RS, RSx2, at -10 per increase per spell.

Ah, but the problem now arises: he wants this to be a "lingering effect", such that he only has to cast the sixteen hour part once. In order to do that, I have to change this from a spell with a divided casting time to the creation of a magic device, in essence a complex activation device (because his activation is a one minute prayer plus continued support). Such creation is not only well beyond his current level, it is also curved out; so he's going to have to settle for casting it afresh after each use.

Rolling is more than a formality, since a high roll will result in a high skill ability level, and a second level skill ability level (which will require much practice) will result in an increase in the effect.

The sit-mod calculation looks like this:

-10 Second skill included
+100 TF doubled ten times
-10 Split casting
+120 Thirty uncut emeralds
+120 Materials destroyed
+5 Appropriate words
+25 Full body involvement
+7 Specific named sword
+25 Five armed men
-80 RSx2 effects
-270 Twenty six extra persons affected
+32 Total sit-mod

But first he has to persuade five crew members to support him by carrying weapons on deck for sixteen hours. He has stated that he will begin with

1. The officers
2. The security members
3. The deck hands.
We need comparitive rolls, his persuasion against their will power. He counts himself as first, but let's hit the others in order. Harry's roll first, and if it is successful it is followed by the will power check of the person he is attempting to persuade. Harry will bribe the deck hands, because by then he will be desperate, but I'll figure that a 20 diktar bribe will get him +4 on his effective persuasion. He is thus 1@9 for the first rolls, 2@3 for the later ones.

1. Captain John, 13, 24, no.
2. First Mate James, 17, 35, yes.
3. Pilot Commander Stanis, 29, no.
4. Chief Navigator Donald, 36, no.
5. Chief Engineer Dermott, 35, no.
6. Doctor Evan, 18, 23, yes.
7. Security Chief Balcon, 17, 35, yes.
8. Chief of Deck Roman, 30, no.
9. Security Officer Brown, 26, no.
10. Security Officer Davis, 20, no.
11. Security Officer Christian, 24, no.
12. Security Officer Abbas, 12, 30, yes.

Including Harry, that's five.

It occurs to me that I have a problem with listing this: it does not actually work until he finishes it, so he cannot be said to have learned it until he uses it. On the other hand, if I don't put it on his sheet I'll lose it, and if I don't roll for it I won't know what to put on his sheet. So let's roll and put it in parentheses as a skill not yet learned but which will be learned at the stated SAL when he finishes it. The roll is 03, the SAL 1@1 Double Battle Blessing Mass Combat Bonuses M+1@2 16:01:00 casting time plus maintenance time, sacrificing 30 uncut emeralds, speaking words invoking Thor, god of Rage; Sif the Golden Haired, goddess of tactical combat; Njordr, god of the sea; and Heimdall who guards the gates inside an activated holy ground, pacing the area, named unique sword in hand, with five armed men on deck for the casting, may be broken after sixteen hours leaving a one minute completion, after which everyone in the affected area who fights to defend the holy ground RSx2 SM on all attacks and defenses, for as long as the caster continues to pray, sing songs of battle, and otherwise maintain the spell, +32 SM.

I should roll a skill check for Derek's use of the computer, but 11 is so very inside his ability here that even were I to heavily penalize him he would breeze through it. John 2 gets the information he wants. He also starts another clash of displacement, as he wants a watch but is offered a timekeeping chip for his brain.

--M. J. Young

I am here; I find Kurt and John 2 waiting.

Kurt asks Michael a question; he's probably not going to like the answer. Pretty soon he'll need that "how are you going to die" GE roll, but we'll let that go another turn, at least.

I don't actually have a martial arts style that fits John 2's parameters--fast defensive weapon-utilizing with an emphasis on kicks. If he gets a good enough GE roll, I'll have to customize one for him--but 19 is not that roll, and in fact suggests he's going to have to choose between two of the three weapon-utilizing foot styles I've already got. They are:

• Foo Tsor, fast aggressive weapon-utilizing with no defensive mods but strong offense and eleven maneuvers, it teaches the Lajatang and the Bo Stick.
• Mitzu Assault, slow aggressive weapon-utilizing with a mix of offensive and defensive mods and five maneuvers, and it teaches only the bo stick.
• Sah Skwatch, slow defensive weapon-utilizing (there's a mistake on the page) with strong defensive mods and a minor offensive boost, teaching the lajatang and the kau sin ke.

It makes sense that he would have to choose, with a 19, between the fast aggressive and the slow defensive.

The rest is pretty straightforward.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are playing.

Kurt is going to out-Michael Michael. Usually the eruption occurs, and Michael waits for the magma to be close and charges into it. This time, Kurt is rushing ahead to meet the volcano. A good GE roll will have it over fast--but 21 is bad enough. Oh, and now we need the "how do you die" GE roll--he got a 13, which is barely good enough.

He rolls a 10 on his simple flexibility check, so not only do I have to scramble him into the next world, I also need to come up with a Stage 2 scenario for him. You know, I've got a couple of ideas--let me run with them.

Harry has run headlong into the next event, and has given me an excellent excuse for it. I've also got an 18 GE roll, which is bad enough to have it go the way I envision but not bad enough to drag him into the middle of it.

John 2 can do his own legwork. He can look over the styles and save me the trouble of creating five hundred martial arts schools so he can pick two.

--M. J. Young

MJ, I know you hate it when I beat dead horses, but this is kind of bothering me about my character. My sheet has me listed at 2@1 driving semi trucks, and 2@5 (raised from 1@10) driving normal cars. While it is true that I do posses a class A CDL driver's license, I have not been behind the wheel of a truck since shortly after I graduated truck driving school. I would have at best 1@2 drive semis. It would be like saying you had 1@5 level driving the day you got your driver's license. (If you say that you did, I'm going to call you a boldfaced liar.) No one has skills just because they have a piece of paper that says that they do. I know I'm asking you to lower my skills in that area, but I'd really feel more comfortable with that.

Also, with the 2@5 level driving. I delivered pizzas off and on for 3 years. (From age 23 to age 28, for a total of 5 different stores. I'd say 3 or more years total during that time) Driving a car, against a clock, 6-10 hours a day, 3-6 days a week depending on the schedule. I'm happy with 2@5 driving, but I'd really feel more comfortable with 2@7-2@8 driving. I think that pizza delivery job merits it. The boss even commented that I was one of their better drivers, right before she fired me.

Hehe...I just one-up'd a god-knows-how-old verser in my first world...

And I had a 1@5 driving skill, I think, when I got my license. Mind you, I did have a crapload of practice driving and was scrutinous about all my driving, including checking mirrors in a paranoid manner, when behind the wheel at that point.

I actually think that driving skill can drop with more driving experience. At the beginning, new drivers are more nervous on the road, and much more careful. With experience comes a point where the drivers are comfortable behind the wheel (and still suceptible to raging hormones) and could potentially be more dangerous on the road. I just thought I'd throw that out there...

O.K., I'll take up all the driving points in a new thread, Vehicle Operation Skill Questions. Here, let me limit myself to game threads from Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

We'll let Kurt wake up the rest of the way and deal with reality.

Whenever I've got a crew uprising encounter in the Mary Piper scenarios, I have to look for a reason. Harry has conveniently handed me my reason, and in so doing made himself the center of the problem.

John 2 has named five styles he would like to learn, in the order he prefers; he has also indicated that he would be interested in learning more than one. Since the fourth on the list is already established as present, the worst he can do is that that is the only style from his list taught--which is probably any roll of 25 remarkably bad but not totally surprising or worse. Between there and 13, just bad enough, we have only the last two, but on the better end they're both in the same school. You can probably work out gradually better from there. The roll is 15, not unfavorable, so I'll give him 2, 4, and 5, at two different schools. The rest is pretty straightforward at this point.

--M. J. Young

I'm looking at Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Kurt takes little time to clarify his situation.

Harry hopes to get the captain's take on the situation. I was moving him to the captain's office because it was a more easily defended position, not because the captain wanted to speak to him. Of course, the captain could be there--or he could be out dealing with the uprising. Since Harry wants him there, and the GE roll for that is 22, he's not there.

I've actually thought of an interesting possible resolution to the problem, but I'm not going to make any suggestions until Harry has a chance to figure things out a bit.

John 2 is trying to find places that sell hallucinogenics. He wants to do a search on "head shop". I can think of at least three other things that might mean, so we'll give him a GE roll. 17 is neutral result or no effect. We'll give him a list.

--M. J. Young

Again I have Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

I'm pretty sure I know what a baggage handler would do in a situation like this, so that's what he'll do.

Harry has waited long enough; it's time to give him the captain's ear and see what he does with it.

John 2 wants to know whether the rail gun store sells archery equipment. Of course there are numerous stores that sell rail guns. Derek is not picking one at random but one on the way toward one of the martial arts schools; nor are they positioned at random. However, the combination of these two factors creates a sort of randomness, and thus a GE roll settles the matter. It's 14, which is a not desired but generally favorable result. He finds his rail gun store and his archery gear. He also asks me a question I thought I'd answered, but either he didn't see the answer or he wants to know something I didn't say. I'll repeat what I've got (and add it to his equipment sheet) and ask what else he wants to know.

--M. J. Young

Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are in play.

Kurt seems to think he can get away with stealing the suitcase simply by tearing off the tag. That's probably going to cause him more trouble than otherwise.

Harry continues his conversation with the captain. He's got a problem that's going to be complicated.

John gets more descriptions of stuff.

--M. J. Young

Sorry I haven't been around lately. I just moved to a new town to go back to school. Quite a life change and my attendance might be scattered while I get my head above water.

Good luck in school, Graeme, and don't worry about the game. Am I correct to assume that you're going for an advanced degree in engineering, or are you branching out, or just keeping up with current developments?

In any case, we will get to Graeme's game just as soon as we have seen to Dave, Harry, and John 2.

A little bell went off in the back of my mind. The last time Dave was here, something was happening outside his knowledge. Indeed, looking back I find the last post on this thread, where a 19 GE roll told me that something not thwarting but generally unfavorable was happening. Let's make it happen.

Harry has put forward his plan for dealing with the current unrest on the ship. The captain will probably go along with it, but Harry will have to do the work himself.

John 2 continues to look at weapons.

Finally Graeme is questioning the prisoner. He'll have to win more than the language, though, to get much from such a man.

--M. J. Young

Yep, I'm going back for my MSc in Mechanical Engineering.

Harry, John 2, and Graeme are today's contestants. Let's see what's behind curtain number one.

I figured if Harry took to the galley, he might be mobbed and cornered, but he couldn't easily be tossed overboard. He's chosen the deck, so first we need a GE roll to see if he can make it to the aftcastle unaccosted. 18 is not the roll he wants, but it will get him close.

John 2 is still weapon shopping.

Graeme continues questioning his subject.

--M. J. Young

Shuffling the deck again, we have Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

It's been over twenty years since I tore airline tags off a suitcase, but I can't imagine they're that hard to remove (even though I tended to leave them in place until they had to come off for some other reason). I was ready to ask him why his bag had the nametag Lillian Prokofski on it, but he got an really solid 10 GE roll, so there will be no markings on the outside of the bag. Still, this is not going to be a breeze, even at Nearly As Good As Expected.

Figuring out just how persuasive Harry is will be tricky, but we can deal with it. He has to roll his persuasion check for each of the two critical arguments; specific key individuals will roll their will power checks against that.

For the first, he rolls 22; he has not persuaded them, even a two intensity bonus for a reasonable argument (he would need yet two more. His argument to Doc Evan is not so persuasive, as the Doc already has the proof he needs of the potential harm--exactly the harm he anticipated, that the men are frightened of this superstitious nonsense. 37 as the persuasion check is almost terrible.

I've already established that the store in which John 2 is shopping carries only what it would consider "modern" weaponry; that would exclude what he wants in much the same way that most gun shops would not carry glaives.

--M. J. Young

I've already established that the store in which John 2 is shopping carries only what it would consider "modern" weaponry; that would exclude what he wants in much the same way that most gun shops would not carry glaives.

Do I have the right to contest this? So you're saying that the only projectile weapon that they would consider modern is a rail gun? I think you're not using enough imagination if you think that. Give me a couple of days, I'll come up with some projectile weapons that will make your head spin.

A1Nut - The difference being those projectile weapons might not be "modern" in the same sense. Walk into a gun shop and - if it caters to hunters - you might find a compound bow made of the latest alloys, but you probably would not find a compound bow made in the Mongolian traditional way, and - though they're still very effective weapons - you almost certainly would not find a crossbow. If rail-guns are the street-level norm in the world you're in, they might not even make bullet-firing weapons any more (why should they bother at that point?) and nobody but their equivalent of RenFair geeks would remember what a bow was.

Gah, I feel like I should've started this game later, because I know more now than I did before about things. I've learned some stuff in college that I could really apply, especially to the situation at hand.

If we develope in real life, does our character gain those skills as well, or not? I've learned some stuff about rhetoric from a professor, and I'm taking to it very well. Can that be incorporated into my character, or am I just going to have to wait until I can learn from an orator in the game?

I asked the same thing. Scott (WilliamTWoodium) said that your character cannot use what you learn anymore than you can use what he learns. When asked by someone else (Graham, I believe) Scott's reply was "The minute you contact me telepathically, I'll let you use what you're learning in college."

And don't feel too bad. I wish I had started later too. My equipment sheet would have been radically different. (For one thing, I would have had a lot more GUNZZZZ)

Yes, the answer is that your character is now a distinct person from you, and doesn't have skills you've acquired since the departure unless he acquires them separately. There's no reason why your character can't get it into his head to try to become involved in something that will provide similar skill training for him, but in all likelihood he will have other skills more important to him.

I have Kurt, Harry, John 2, and back again after a break, Adam.

I don't think Kurt's actions are at all conducive to walking out of a security detainment in a modern airport, even without the Homeland Security Act (which is not in place here). And he has a 27 Worst Fears GE roll, so even if I thought it likely that things would go well, the dice are against it.

Harry is working against a heavily failed persuasion check, so he's either going to have to come up with something really different or--I'm not sure what.

We're still talking weapons with John 2.

Adam has mostly apologized for his absence and said he's going to get his character stuff together again. Not much to do there.

--M. J. Young

It's late, and it has been more than just the high volume of forum posts that has filled my time, but let me see whether I can get through Kurt, Harry, and John 2 before someone complains that I should be in bed.

Kurt is going to be processed here, and then we'll be able to get back to our story--I hope.

I think it's time to put an end to Harry's uprising. He's answered the objections quite well enough for the captain to press the men back to posts, and our story needs to continue.

John 2 has a 14 GE roll on his purchase plans. And there's the call--I'm done.

--M. J. Young

Coolness MJ. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do this for us. It is often (very often) the highlight of my whole day to see "Last Poster MJ Young" on my thread here. I just wanted you to know that.

Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are playing tonight.

Kurt changes his tactic, claiming amnesia. Of course, he's made a mistake--he is carrying a drivers license in his wallet, so he does have ID.

Harry is coming up on another skill improvement day, but he has another event before that happens, and even that is a few weeks away, so we'll give him some feeling of down time after that uprising.

John 2 finishes up the current shopping.

--M. J. Young