Mr. Young, if I were to roll a neural breakdown with insanity, would I get a defense against it? Thirty years experience dealing with being insane. OK, mentally disturbed. Or insane. Screw being politically correct. Would that be anything in my favor?
Stupid question: Since I keep summoning the same angel over and over, instead of 4 skills with 1@1, make it 1 skill "Summon Angel" for 1@4? Why not just do something like that? It seems like it would be much easier.
Since I'm asking different questions, and using different techniques each time, that could count as a new use couldn't it? Maybe sit-mod it against the time, location and actions used, but make it new uses on the same skill. I was just wondering why you're not doing that. It just seems like it would be easier to keep track of, that's all.
I've also got two 1@1 Cure Disease skills. Both have the same bias. Why not just make that 1@2 Cure Disease, and give me a new use on it? I'm just curious.
John asked
if I were to roll a neural breakdown with insanity, would I get a defense against it?Since it's a botch roll situation, the answer is no; however, I would agree that you already had skill at managing certain forms of "insanity", and depending on the form you might be able to counter some of the effects. Think in terms of Dr. Nash in Beautiful Mind.
Since I keep summoning the same angel over and over, instead of 4 skills with 1@1, make it 1 skill "Summon Angel" for 1@4?Let's be clear on this: you have three summoning skills. One of those calls a "local sentient fighter"--the one that brought Pedro to you, so it has nothing to do with calling an angel. The other two both call your angelic messenger (defined as "off-world sentient informer"), but are distinct from each other in two ways: time and place. The more reliable requires that you pray for twenty minutes in your established base location (room); the other can be done anywhere in five minutes. These are different skills because you made them different.
You have used the one in the base camp more than once. However, "new use" is supposed to mean that you figured out something very different that you can do with the same skill, and the "use" of this skill to this point is simply summan an angel who is able to answer questions so that you can ask him questions. It's actually not the sort of skill that lends itself to a lot of clever new ways to use it, and thus the best way to get better at it is to use it frequently. When you've done it something like sixty hours (probably near two hundred times) you'll advance a skill mark.
Remember, your character is immortal. Advancement on most skills is supposed to be slow, unless you find a way to focus on practicing particular skills so as to get better.
I've also got two 1@1 Cure Disease skills. Both have the same bias. Why not just make that 1@2 Cure Disease, and give me a new use on it?Again, you created two distinct skills--one with a five minute prayer and the other with a ten minute prayer. I realize that I'm picking nits here, but my "problem" is that if the only difference between two skills is one takes twice as long as the other (baseline), then the one that takes twice as long is ten percentage points more likely to succeed. My alternative at the time was to suppose that you did the five minute skill twice, and so to roll it twice, which might have increased your chance of success but certainly would have increased your chance to botch, so I decided to go with one new skill, one roll.
With those matters addressed, let's play, starting with Harry, John II, and Adam. I'll mention for the benefit of John I that the unannounced live game in which he was to play did not happen (and for anyone who might have felt slighted at not having been invited, the fact that the film crew did not make it so we did not play means I was probably right in not bringing people there who were not going to be there anyway).
Harry needs just a bit of clarification on his scenario, and then he can engage in battle.
John II has some questions for the angel, and some for me, and I will answer them all.
There is a bit more of a hint in the words spoken to Adam at the gate of the palace; we'll see what he makes of them.
--M. J. Young
Harry steps into the breach, followed by John II, Adam, John I, and Ryan.
Harry is going for another TK Pulse, 07 means it works, so the opponent makes a check to counter--we'll make it agility under these circumstances, 2d20 reading 4+10, good rolls coming in at 14, which is successful for an average agility, and he keeps his feet. Meanwhile, a 17 GE roll doesn't put him in the direct line of gunfire, but it's not going to give him a free pass either. He gets up on the board and attacks, so we need initiative. Harry's roll is 82, his opponent 68, both failures as attacks but the opponent's less so, so he goes first. The pirate's chance to hit is 66 minus Harry's defenses, but suddenly I note that I have none of Harry's critical averaged attributes, and not a heck of a lot of the attributes on which they are founded. As it happens, the pirate's first roll is 00, which will be a botch no matter what Harry answers, so let's give Harry some credit for it.
John II is still conversing with his angel.
Adam is starting to get the undercurrent here.
Oops--I forgot that John I had posted last to his thread, and I didn't need to wait for him. He's back aboard Destiny, so let's see where this little adventure with Ruth Mekita will next take us.
Magdi is exploring whether he can teach Ryan to use magic, and for Magdi that means starting with holy magic--but that means exploring what Ryan believes about prayer, probably without actually using that word. The question is whether Ryan's character can come embrace the idea of asking God for something and getting it.
I think I've finished here for now.
--M. J. Young
MJ WROTE:
I've also got two 1@1 Cure Disease skills. Both have the same bias. Why not just make that 1@2 Cure Disease, and give me a new use on it?
Again, you created two distinct skills--one with a five minute prayer and the other with a ten minute prayer. I realize that I'm picking nits here, but my "problem" is that if the only difference between two skills is one takes twice as long as the other (baseline), then the one that takes twice as long is ten percentage points more likely to succeed. My alternative at the time was to suppose that you did the five minute skill twice, and so to roll it twice, which might have increased your chance of success but certainly would have increased your chance to botch, so I decided to go with one new skill, one roll.
Just to be clear, you're saying that if I had a Cure Disease, and each time I used it, I prayed for a different amount of time, I would have a different skill? So if I pray for 1 minute, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, etc, it's all new skills? I would have thought it easier to just make it new uses on the same skill, and just sit-mod accordingly for the time taken. Of course, I'm not you (thankfully hehe)
The problem is that your chance of success as a baseline is predicated on how much you invest in the effort; thus there has to be a baseline, a "this is how likely you are to succeed based on what you are investing".I would have thought it easier to just make it new uses on the same skill, and just sit-mod accordingly for the time taken.
I could create it as something like a six-second skill with a very low chance of success, and make you roll it a number of times equal to the number of "six seconds" you attempt it; but the chance of success would at least sometimes be low enough that the chance to botch was higher. That's not pretty. Besides, it would also lead to a rather awkward sort of scenario, in which you prayed for two minutes so rolled twenty times, got three success and two botches--a lot of wild stuff happening there.
You suggest a workable alternative that is more difficult than you suppose: sit-mod the chance of success according to the time spent. The complication arises in calculating the sit-mod. In calculating spell innate sit-mods (the adjustment that's built into the skill), there is a concept of doubling and halving equaling ten points. That is, if you pray twice as long, you add ten, but if you want to add twenty you have to pray four times as long, and to add thirty you have to pray eight times as long. In the same sense, if you pray for only half the time, you subtract ten, but its subtract twenty at a quarter, subtract thirty at an eighth.
Why do it that way? Why not just say that it will be sit-modded +1 per minute spent in prayer?
Part of the reason is that the time spent on any particular prayer/skill is already tied to the perceived difficulty of the skill. If you are healing a cut, that's relatively easy; if you are summoning a warrior angel, that's much more difficult. All other things being equal, the baseline time (that for which there is no sit-mod adjustment for time) is one minute; for the summoning (of an off-world sentient fighter under your control) is eight minutes. Now, if I pray for two minutes instead of one minute, that's a significant increase in my time investment--twice as long. That might sound like very little, but probably if I have a one minute cure injury skill, I'm planning to use it to cure the injuries of a lot of people, one after another. If I add one minute to the eight minute summoning to make it nine minutes--frankly, I'm not sure most of us would notice the difference between seven minutes of prayer and nine minutes of prayer, and a significant bonus or penalty for so small a change is foolish.
Further, if you have a 1 minute small wounds healing spell and every increase of one minute gives a direct linear increase of ten points to your chance of success, that gives you plus one hundred, pretty much guaranteed chance of success for a ten minute prayer. I'm not against guaranteed chance of success, but I want it to cost something. Because of the geometric expansion of the doubling system, if you want +100 on a one minute skill based solely on time, you'll have to pray for one thousand twenty-four minutes--which is four minutes more than seventeen hours.
I thus would have to base the sit-mod on the ratio between the time spent and the base time--but that means I need first to calculate that ratio, then to convert it to ten points for each doubling. That's a lot of math to do for the use of a simple prayer for healing.
Besides, since I am treating it as a new skill each time you change the time, you can't get better at it by changing the time, only by standardizing the time, and that suggests standardizing the ritual. Most of us use standard prayers--in the Christian faith, the Lord's Prayer is universal, but many of us have a standard prayer we use for grace before meals, or before bed, and there are those who pray the Rosary in a structured form. Further, I tend to think that when I pray for the same thing repeatedly (such as those for whom I pray daily), I fall into using the same words. Once that happens, you approach the professional level, and you learn to say the same words (the same ritual) faster, achieving the same result more quickly. However, until you start standardizing your prayer, you're not likely to get faster at it.
Does any of that make sense?
--M. J. Young
Does any of that make sense?
Not really, no.
I realized that none of the files I access during play were on the shortcuts bar on my screen, so I've taken a break of sorts to set that up. I know I'm missing some (can't figure out where I've hidden the file copy of The Second Book of Worlds, but only Ryan is in that book at the moment, so I'm good; I don't have Starship Destiny, though, and I'm going to have to add that. There; settled.) I'm running Harry, Edward, Kyler, Adam, and John I.
Harry underestimates, I think, although it may be his wisdom encouraging him to place the numbers lower so I'll raise them instead of having me come along and lower them. I'm looking at his descriptions, and thinking:
- Strength 1@5
- Stamina 1@8
- Resistance 1@6
- Hand/Eye 1@9 (I don't know how much of that is his fencing skill, which might also be undervalued, but I'm impressed)
- 1@9
The progress of Edward's battle is in large measure determined by general effects rolls, and his latest roll is 22, which is Not as Bad as Anticipated, but still slightly worse than Bad Enough. I think that it will probably attempt to cause pain on the occupants of the room, one at a time. The chance of success will be very low, since already it has to overcome a lot of barriers--but this is something at which it would be pretty good, so I'll figure 26% chance but each target gets a roll against resistance if it is successful. Picking an order at random, Tadeusz, Priest, Haus, Edward, and now for the rolls for the attacks: 80, 73, 51, 62, all failed. There was no botch, and this was a bad roll for Edward, so it will try again: 19, 99, which is a botch, but there was a success on Tadeusz, who gets a resistance check to throw off the effects and a will power check to work through them; meanwhile, the demon has proved to be its own trouble, as the botch is going to set it back for a while. Tadeusz rolls 17+12=29 on the resistance check, but The Hammer of the Gods will have a 2@10 resistance, so that's going to be beaten.
I think also we need some stamina checks. People have been going for a while now. 31 for Tadeusz means he is tiring; that won't be a problem for him, though, as he will have multiple skills to keep going, including his 3@2 will power, and a 7 roll there is an easy, if not a solid, success. 21 for Father Casey is going to fail, 22 for Haus is going to fail, but 14 for Edward is an easy and solid success. Father Casey is not finished yet, but when he collapses, the walls are weakened, and there might be more havoc at that point.
John II has a conversation going. He rolls 06 on firing the Marlin, which even at point blank range is not going to do much damage. The question about recovering and repairing the shotgun is curious, but relies on a GE roll as to what became of it; 26 is a very bad roll indeed.
Adam would have to have a very bad GE roll for anything very bad to happen while he is in an inn in Camelot, and an 8 is a very good roll. That puts me in an awkward position, as I have to think of something "remarkably good but not unexpected" that can happen during his stay at the inn. I have reached a decision, but it will depend on his own actions next.
John I attempts another mind-reading exercise, but 95 will not succeed. In fact, he needs at least a 41% chance of success for that not to be a botch--with a 2@3 BRA, 2x7@ bias, and 1@2 SAL, he's well within that at 49%.
--M. J. Young
John II rolls 06 on firing the Marlin, which even at point blank range is not going to do much damage.
Considering that I'm shooting a 22 at a piece of iron, I'm kind of surprised it dented it at all.
John - prayer isn't like turning a crank or petting a cat. You don't really define a prayer by how long you spend doing it; more important is what you say. It's not that when you perform your more reliable summoning skill you've spent twenty minutes (petting a cat/turning a crank/"praying") and that when you perform the other skill, you've done the same thing for only five minutes. The fact is that you are saying different things during those extra fifteen minutes: in essence, you are praying a different prayer. The words are different, thus the ritual is different, thus the skill is different.
Does that help, or was it something else that was confusing?
Even saying the same words repeatedly is a different ritual. It's one thing to say a single Hail Mary and spend five minutes doing it, and quite another to make an hour ritual of saying an entire Rosary.
The problem that I have is that praying is not a skill Mother Theresa, who probably had 3@10 faith in God and prayed constantly surely didn't have all of her prayers answered. On the other hand, I've had some pretty amazing things happen after praying for 30 seconds. By the rules of the game, if you prayed for 17 hours, you would have a 100% chance of success. But try it. Pray for 17 hours and see if it makes a difference. God either answers prayers or He doesn't. Praying for hours and hours isn't going to make a difference. Either God will answer your prayer, or He won't. Now you could argue that God is controlling the dice, that God is deciding where the dice land, but that's kind of mocking God. I don't know. It's just something I'm going to have to live with.
It's something that my aunt told me. She was asked "If you had a terrible headache, and you could either pray or take aspirin, which one would you do?" Her response was "I would take an aspirin and pray that it worked."
Suffice it thus: I, as referee, need some way of determining whether your prayer is answered or not. That has to be a fair way; because it has to be fair, it cannot be simply that I think it would or would not be answered, so we roll the dice. But then, I also need a way of determining what number constitutes a successful roll of the dice. One of the factors involved in that is, for how long did you pray?
Frankly, I have no problem, from the perspective of the game, of saying that if you spend seventeen hours praying for healing of an insignificant cut on your finger it will happen. No sane player is going to design such a ritual, because he can probably heal it quicker with Neosporin and a Band-Aid brand adhesive strip. If you want the same guarantee on summoning a controlled supernatural warrior, you'll have to pray continually for one hundred thirty-six hours--almost six days. I think the example of Daniel suggests that such continuous prayer for one thing is very likely to succeed. I think the stamina checks to stay awake and not eat anything make it worth the risk that someone would attempt to design such a skill.
I have six players--Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, Graeme, and John I. Does that mean I have to discard one? Let's say not, and play the game.
Harry describes his style a bit more, so I'm going to list it thus:
- 2@1 Smallsword Duelling Bod 7@1 fast aggressive weapon-dependent +15 att SM -5 def SM att x2
- 1@5 Kick to the Groin B7@7 incapacitation, base dangerous damage plus target save vs stamina or collapse for RS/5 minutes, +15 to next opponent attack(s)
The flow of battle is easily controlled by GE rolls, telling both how things are going generally and how they're going for him. 21 is bad enough.
Oh, dear--this new Windows program moves the buttons around on the task bar. That's going to be confusing and frustrating. It was tricky enough to prevent it from consolidating all my Netscape windows into one button; I wonder if there's a way to prevent it from moving the button positions.
Edward makes a very kind suggestion which will be kindly rejected, I think. Father Casey sees the battle a bit differently than he does. But it might make for some interesting discussion.
John II is moving into combat thinking; I've not yet detailed Father Pedro, but I'm sure he's got quite a few solid spells he can use, and I'll prepare them when we're going into battle.
I needed to find something good for Adam, and I think introductions to some significant players might qualify.
Graeme gets lunch and information.
I figure if John I keeps trying to read Ruth's mind, eventually he'll succeed; but a roll of 91 reminds me that if he keeps trying eventually he will botch, and even though his chance of success significantly exceeds his chance to botch, it's still a matter of which happens first. This is also good from another perspective, because it tells me that if it had been the case that Ruth had been replaced by a robot, the fact that he could not read her mind would not immediately make him aware of this.
By George, I think I've done it.
--M. J. Young
MJ, I just wanted you to know that I think you're one of the coolest guys I have ever met. From a gaming standpoint, it makes perfect sense. It's just something I have a problem with from a religious standpoint. Nothing against your game, I'll just live with it. No problems.
MJ - to get Windows to stop eating your windows, right-click on the task bar and uncheck the option that says something to the effect of "group like windows." Then it will behave like you expect - a big long chain of not-consolidated Explorer windows.
Frankly, I have no problem, from the perspective of the game, of saying that if you spend seventeen hours praying for healing of an insignificant cut on your finger it will happen. No sane player is going to design such a ritual, because he can probably heal it quicker with Neosporin and a Band-Aid brand adhesive strip.
Yeah, and in 17 hours, the cut would probably heal itself.
Thanks, Harry; that actually was the piece I'd fixed (and they're Netscape buttons, thank you very much). The problem piece is that my Microsoft Excel program keeps turning all the "2@1" scores into e-mail addresses. One of our lurkers told me how to fix that once, and I did fix it, but the reinstallation has "unfixed" it for some reason.
Harry, John II, and Adam are today's players.
Harry starts with a new prayer, a 0:06 spoken only prayer which is a penalize strike against all adversaries. With that short a time factor (TF) I'm thinking that the best treatment is to bring the duration down to 1:00 (one minute); that also fits with what seems to be his view of the moment, that he is taking a risk and praying for protection during that risk. He's got +5 appropriate words, -10 for their being only the spoken aspect, which makes it -5; however, given that it is a prayer to Thor, I'm going to note that he gets +10 (for a final sit-mod of +5) if he uses it when taking a significant risk in honorable combat, in view of the fact that Thor in particular would respect that. He also has his bonus for religion and for alliance magic in an alliance world, and his roll is 24, which is going to give him 3 points off the adversary's chance to hit (RS/10) and list the new skill at 1@1 Defensive Bonus M+1@2 penalize all incoming attacks by RS/10 for one minute, TF 0:06, say "Thor protect me", -5SM, +10 if prayed before/while engaging in a risky action in honorable combat (for +5SM total).
Next he attempts to use that TK pulse yet again, 02 works weakly, and the enemy makes a strong save of 14 against it, so he's not going to lose much--although I'll knock -5 off his initiative, which comes next I'd say. Harry rolls 01, the pirate 07, so the pirate gets the shot off before Harry closes the gap, point blank, 68 is borderline so it's time to do the math: 1@9 RSV+1@6 BRA+2x6@ bias+1@1 SAL+20 for point blank=78 minus defensive values, which includes -3 for the spell, -5 for the style, and a TV of 1@7, making the pirate's chance 78-25=53, close but no cupie doll. Next up, the maneuver--I'm going to list it as 1@10 Double Lunge B7@3 leveraged attack base dangerous, two hops on the left foot driving the momentum into a sword thrust from at least six but not more than twelve feet, limited to two one other attack in the minute. His roll is 62, and his numbers are 1@7 MSV+2@2 BRA+1@10 SAL+15 Style SM+2x7@ bias-1@7 pirate TV=81, and the damage gets +DC for style making it lethal, 13 intensities of damage on an enemy with a 1@8 DV, and this might be a crippling attack. 95 says the injury is to the outer aspect of the left knee (not his intended target, but the one he managed to get), but 41 is too high for a crippling injury.
I'm wondering what happens to the gun, so a 10 GE roll puts it in a decent spot.
I'm no certain who would have bought that shotgun sculpture from John II, so I'm even less certain what they'd have paid for it. Abstract art doesn't get a start until the twentieth century, in our world. However, it's been established that he sold it. We'll say he got a pound for it on a good roll, half a crown on a very poor one, and we roll 16, so we'll make that three crowns.
We'll give Adam more information about the people with whom he is dining--or breakfasting, as the case is.
--M. J. Young
I'm no certain who would have bought that shotgun sculpture from John II, so I'm even less certain what they'd have paid for it. Abstract art doesn't get a start until the twentieth century, in our world. However, it's been established that he sold it. We'll say he got a pound for it on a good roll, half a crown on a very poor one, and we roll 16, so we'll make that three crowns.
As my friend Mike would say "The fool and his money are soon parted."
MJ - sorry for the slip there. I'm a Firefox fan myself (though this Mac uses Safarai - bleh). Glad you got that fixed.
Thanks again to our lurker who has again pointed me to the solution to the Excel problem. I've not yet implemented it, because I've a lot to do tonight and tomorrow, but I've saved it and intend to get to it at my earliest opportunity.
The more immediate matter is the games, starting with Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
It is of course important to work out what else is happening in the battle in which Harry is one small piece; he makes my job easy by giving me good choices, and a 15 GE roll favors his side but not terribly strongly, so we're not out of this yet.
The demons failed to achieve anything on their last effort, so Edward has a bit more respite; but an 18 GE says they're going to try something else sooner rather than later--the question being, what? They've attempted to cause pain, and to flood the room with helium so as to create some fear. They've moved some objects around, but failed to hurt anyone with these. Maybe the creation of some hydrogen would be interesting. It wouldn't even be noticed until something set off a spark--but there are things like that happening, so at that point we would determine the result. First, though, is whether they succeed: 67 fails again.
I also think that I'll run another stamina check for the priest at this point, because once he falls asleep the chance of something getting through rises some (he's probably responsible for about twenty points of penalties, and his cessation would raise the top of the range to near 45 or 50). 14+11=25, he's had it for now.
I was thinking what John II eventually said: a priest would not have much money. A 13 Barely Good Enough roll
Adam gets things right, and so he gets offered a spot I don't think he'll refuse.
John I says he's going to try the "psionic outer body gig", by which I presume he means his 1@2 Astral Projection P3@10 (Starship Destiny) Remote sensory presence with local sensation shut down +10SM. He rolls 07, which is an easy success for seven minutes, and says I need to roll a GE roll for what he actually finds (given what I already know about her): 19 is pretty thin.
I'm pretty thin, too. Actually, I'm not as thin as I was, but I've much to do, so I'd better go do some of it.
--M. J. Young
I'm loving the pirate-ness. To be honest, I had a dream about this exact scene when I started on the Mary Piper - charging over the pirate planks to take the pirates' own ship with Walter and the guys from Security.
I was thinking what John II eventually said: a priest would not have much money. A 13 Barely Good Enough roll
Some situations, I cannot fathom how they could possibly go bad for the verser, no matter what the dice roll is. Asking someone if they have gold to trade for your silver. How could that possibly go bad? Either he has it or he doesn't. The only thing that I can think that could go bad for this is that Pedro gets offended by the question and decides to attack me or something, but that would be totally (OOC) for a priest to do that. Especially since an angel of God told me that I could trust him. I'm just wondering, how could a bad dice roll have hurt me in this particular situation? Anyone?
A good dice roll, I could see. Pedro is that one priest who is a millionaire, and says that no, he won't change the silver for gold, but will instead just give me a lot of gold. That I could see on a good dice roll, but how could it go bad in this situation?
Now that I think about it, since I told Pedro that I have a lot of silver, he could decide to rip me off. But, once again, a priest wouldn't do that, and an angel told me that I could trust him. How could that situation go bad for me?
My friend Rob told me a story about an RPG he was playing. Someone got a bad dice roll on trying to speak a language, so Rob struck the guy with lightning. That seems a little like cheating to me though....
Sorry for my sporadic attendance. I've been swamped recently. Now I'm off to Serbia next week so it'll be a while before I'm in touch again.
Wow--Serbia? You Canadians get all the fun.
John, there are many times when I don't know what a bad roll would be--or what a good roll would be. Remember first, that the GE roll is tempered according to the situation; it can only be as good or bad as we can imagine it being. Now that I put my mind to it, I can imagine perhaps that Pedro would tell you that before you can face the demon you must divest yourself of all possessions with worldly value, or it will be used as a weapon against you. I can imagine that as soon as you said you had a great deal of silver, he, thinking you are now his partner in this and that you will do whatever is necessary to defeat these demons, would tell you what you need to buy with it. I can imagine him putting a curse on your silver so it would all turn to clay. Why ask me these things? It only gives me ideas. If someone got a bad roll on trying to speak a language, I would simply decide that whatever he actually said was not at all what he meant, decide how it was different, and let the consequences flow from there. Maybe he just agreed to go on that highly dangerous mission; maybe he insulted the wife of the lord with whom he is speaking; maybe he just asked directions to the bathroom.
Right now the idea is to get a game going. I've already dealt with the post from the new player, Andrew, so I can turn my attention to Harry, who I somehow knew was itching for a pirate battle and for whom I wondered that the dice had dictated so many non-pirate events (I think three in twenty seaborne events involve pirates). Then we have Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I'm wondering whether Walter will follow Harry (Ronny will, of course, and I'm going to have to make the point that Ronny is still there); I think that a persuasion check is probably the thing I want, and the roll (difficult check for comparitives) is 10+1 against Walter's will power check 10+20, which means Walter failed and Harry succeeded, by a weak chance.
Edward is expecting the tedious part and wishing for food and water, and he gets a 12 GE roll, so maybe he gets at least some of what he wants. I was thinking of doing this earlier, but kept doing other things instead, so we'll get around to a bit of food about now.
John is getting to the point where he's about to test his spear device.
Adam likes the idea of studying magic with Merlin; I sort of thought he might.
I thought that John I would roll to extend his view, but he's decided otherwise.
--M. J. Young
Why ask me these things? It only gives me ideas.
Because I AM trying to get ideas. You've been doing RPGs for 30 years. I've been doing it for (How long have I been playing here?) The game is only as good as the referee can make it, and if I'm going to referee one day, I'll need ideas.
Oh and if Pedro DID turn all of my silver to clay, I would send him to meet God in person.
John - You're a Verser. Turning all your silver to clay is annoying, but you got forever to get more. If he turned you into clay for holding out on him and his righteous cause, then you could unleash the divine smackdown.
...
Wait, I suppose I shouldn't encourage him either.
And this is why we don't ask the question "How bad could it get?" because sooner or later, the answer is always "Cthulhu."
Ah, yes, Cthulu. He use to live in the bottom of a disused swimming pool at a previous address of mine, but I don't know where he's been the last few years.
Sorry, John. All gamers know about Cthulu, the Lovecraftian horror, even if they've never read the story. I actually have read it. Don't bother yourself over it.
I've dealt with our new player, and now can turn my attention to Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
The fun begins anew, as Harry follows Ronny in a charge onto the pirate ship, Walter at his heels. Thus far Harry has resisted the urge to mention Ronny to anyone, but it's just a matter of time. The question now is what awaits on the other side of that plank. 15 is ever so slightly favorable, and Harry is looking for combat he can win.
Edward reminds me that silver is usually found thinly plated around large dark clouds. I give him food and drink, and he panics because there's a door he did not recognize.
John II and I have to communicate better about this device he's designed.
I'm giving Adam a bit of cultural insight and looking for alternatives for his stay.
I think as long as we're doing this transfer thing, we should keep it interesting. John I and his companions will have a chat with the captain.
I will have a chat with a pillow soon enough, I hope. I'm pretty beat.
--M. J. Young
... I'm hallucinating Ronny, aren't I...?
I have already launched a new game for Andrew, and so I'm turning to Harry, John II, Adam, and John I.
Andrew is starting in our favorite convention starting world; I haven't run it for a while, so I don't feel too bad about doing it again.
Yes, Harry, Ronny is a hallucination. You botched on a psionic TK pulse at the beginning of the fight, and fried a few neurons. This is a temporary condition (longer than transient, shorter than permanent), but in the meantime you have no idea that he is not there. Harry prays his protection prayer again, and the roll is 00, which is going to botch--but we have two things going for him, one that this is holy magic, and the other that this is a botch in combat (he is actively engaged at this point). He is also using his TK Pulse against a living target, which means this is a targeted attack and there's a save. The numbers are 1@2 SAL+1@9 BRA+1@8 RSV+0 for bias-1@9 pirate resistance=30% chance, and the pirate gets to make a save against in this case his 2@3 agility if it's successful. 17 is successful, 12+2=14, also successful.
I'd like to have heard or seen John II's design for these boom sticks, but he's going to go with what I described, so I guess I'll drop it. They're off to the woods. Of course, all things take a long time in this kind of world, so perhaps John is going to have to deal with the frustration of hand-crafted mass production.
Adam's conversation with Merlin will start to become serious now.
John opens a line of conversation that's not going to make much sense to anyone.
--M. J. Young
Andrew is actively playing, so he takes the front of the line. Harry, John II, Adam, and John I are also in motion.
There's nothing really to decide concerning Andrew, as we know this scenario; I picked a spot for his landing, and so I know where everything else is relative to that.
Harry is having trouble with his hallucination, which to this point hasn't caused him any trouble at all, unless you count leading him into the battle into which he fully intended to go anyway. He asks who else came across, and my thought was no one by he and Walter boarded the pirate ship--and a 21 GE roll does not make it more than that. Initiative rolls are 83 to 60, I make Harry's chance of success 72 and the pirate's thirty something, so he gets the initiative as having failed by less. 73 is a very near miss; he gets another attack, but not until the pirate takes his turn. The pirate rolls fifty, with the cutlass he's 66-defensive values, and Harry has both his -5 defensive sit-mod for the style and his 1@7 TV, 22 total, so 44 is the highest roll that would be successful. Harry strikes again, 09, a minor blow, but he has +2DC on a damaging weapon (one for style the other for skill ability level), so it's going to do two intensities of damage.
The next pair of rolls for initiative are 80, 65, and again Harry will go first.
I've got John II making boom sticks. It's a really good idea, but is going to take a lot of time.
I'm getting Adam introduced a bit more to Merlin and his world.
I've got to run.
--M. J. Young
Although I've a new player on the character generation thread, Andrew is at the front of the active line, followed by Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I'll not hold Andrew while waiting for Carl, but will instead get him started on his adventure. He might last long enough for Carl to join him, but we'll see what he does.
My absence has to some degree derailed my sense of what is happening in various places; hopefully I will recover that by reading the threads, and it has not had so much impact on those of you who are on the player side. Harry hit his attacker, and gets another attack before the opponent can take another swing. I'm going to make the Kiai a Psi 8@0 posturing variant, described thus for the moment and let him correct me if he doesn't like the numbers: 1@5 Kiai P8@0 posturing shout intended to intimidate opponent, RS/10 penalty on opponent's next action or defense, will power save RS=S/D/N. Harry has a 1@9 BRA in psionics, and the world bias is flatlined, so the roll of 34 turns out to be exactly the maximum successful roll, four points off the defender's defenses for this attack, but the defender has a chance to save, 10+18 means he certainly did not do so. Thus Harry has a slightly better chance to hit. I'm also inclined to give him a slight bonus for the tactical decision, but I'll keep that to +2. 59 is rolled, which is successful as a lethal attack, 12 intensities which brings the total to 14, the pirate having a 1@8 damage value. He will attempt a strike-and-run, which costs him 10 points but penalizes Harry's next strike, and 81 fails either way. Harry rolls 75, which is a very near miss. I recall that the Piper security forces were already driving the pirates back across the plank, and one minute is plenty of time for them to have succeeded at this, so they'll be crossing now. Harry will catch that out of the corner of his eye, buy his mind will project the information to Ronnie's voice.
Edward gets some food in his body, and turns his attention back to improving his defenses.
John II has asked that we play out part of the dinner, so we'll do so.
We've got Adam connecting with Merlin; his position as student will provide some interesting opportunities in the days ahead.
I'm laughing a bit at John I's serious quote, "Who would claim to be that which they are not?" I don't know where he got it, but he calls himself Pharaoh without much basis, and before that he named himself for a fictional character whose entire technique involved pretense and misdirection, pretending to be one person pretending to be another when he was really neither of those. However, spoken to a rebel organizer it is bound to bring a strong reaction.
I can't say that I've "caught up", since my absence (explained to some degree in today's Blogless Lepolt post Where the Heck Have I Been) means I owe everyone a debt of posts I cannot pay, but thank you for your patience and hopefully I will continue tomorrow despite the fact that I have much on my plate for it already.
--M. J. Young
MJ WROTE:
I owe everyone a debt of posts I cannot pay
You owe nothing MJ. If anything, we owe you a debt for the privilege of playing with you. I just hope you used the time not on Gaming Outpost to get at least a little relaxation in.
Sorry I missed yesterday. I'm having trouble squeezing in a game today, but I'm determined, so here goes. Andrew starts, then Harry, Edward, John II, Adam, and John I.
I like the way Andrew approaches Michael, and I think Michael would like that, too.
Harry tries to take the initiative against the next adversary, who has not had the opportunity to be involved, but the 07 roll of the adversary is not going to beat Harry's new roll of 52, so we'll go for the groin kick, 44 rolled is dangerous+DC=lethal damage, 9 intensities, and a save versus stamina to avoid collapsing, 8+8=16, pirate stamina is 2@2. He takes his shot for the round, 41 and bonused by Harry leaving himself open with the kick. That increases the base chance from 66 to 81, and although Harry has his -5 defense mod for the style and his 1@7 TV, the 41 is still going to hit, 5 intensities of damage from a dangerous weapon.
Doing initiative again, I've got 55 for Harry and 21 for the pirate, which puts Harry on top again.
Edward is going to barricade his chapel. This is good.
John II is going for a TK pulse demonstration. I can't help hoping it will work, but knowing that when he needs to know whether it works he has to roll for it. The roll is 22, which will work fairly well even in this world.
I'm going to give Adam opportunity to give some comprehensive answers to questions, creating some of the feeling of being Merlin's pupil--the man teaches initially by making students examine themselves, and that means answering questions.
John II has turned the tables on me; it's my turn to write the lengthy answer to questions.
I think I'm done, at least with this.
--M. J. Young
I see Andrew, Harry, John II, Adam, Graeme, John I, and Kyler. Kyler has been teasing me lately--I keep saying how many days I've missed on the forum, and he keeps saying yes, he's missed that many, too. It's good to have him back, even if he's got computer identity problems.
Andrew meets one of the most and least sane versers out there, and gets a story he might not believe.
Harry introduces another maneuver, which we have to define before we can roll.
John II was last seen having dinner with a bunch of people, where he told them the truth about himself, to a mixed response. Now he's creating a spell to youthen himself. That's interesting; I'll crunch some numbers, based on the note that he was 29 when he versed out so he's trying to peel back twelve years. The baseline is a 13@5 Control Growth, which suggests RS/10 years with a 1:00 TF, so that's in his favor. On the other hand, it's not simply that he wants to youthen: he wants to have the body he had then. That's going to require a bit more thought, and a bit more information.
Merlin has some unique teaching techniques, but he also has a lot to offer, so we'll give Adam a hint, a taste, and then we'll keep going with it all.
It's important to ask questions. Graeme has said he was looking for this particular cafe, so I asked why--and his answer is very revealing. It means that I need a GE roll, though, and the roll is 16, no effect. Of course, nothing happening can be encouraging sometimes.
I almost feel like I've cheated John I with such a short post--but it's the obvious question, and it will keep the conversation going, and he wants to keep talking with her, so unless he puts the ball back in her court, she'll keep asking him questions.
Kyler has finished his first day of school in a new, er, district, and is getting ready for the next.
That's the game--except for my own story, which I should go read next.
--M. J. Young
Andrew is here, and Harry, and John II, and Adam, and Graeme. It looks like Kyler is here, but that's because someone else posted a welcome back to his thread.
The conversation between Andrew and di Vars continues.
Harry and I are still working out how his feint works.
I'm giving a lot of thought to John II's spell. Knocking eleven years off his age is simple. Kicking his stamina up two intensities and his agility up four, that's a lot more difficult. It's a very complicated thing he wants to do. Let's see if he can describe it in precise terms.
Adam gets the chance to teleport with Merlin. We'll give him the night to do whatever he wants, and resume the lessons in the morning.
I had to go back to the second page of Graeme's thread to figure out that the reason I can't remember who the translator is or where they meet is because neither of those details have been given. That's fine. It looks like I need a GE roll, first because neither of us remembers whether the lesson is today or tomorrow, and second because Graeme wants to schedule it around his visit to the top secret weapons development lab. 17 is a neutral result, so we'll make it the morning.
--M. J. Young
Andrew, Harry, Edward, John II, and Adam have all managed to bounce back here before I did, so they get to play.
Andrew continues his conversation with Michael.
We now have Harry's feint skill described; all we need now is the numbers.
Edward finds his door.
We're still not getting the details clear on John II's latest prayer, but we'll keep at it.
Adam still intends to introduce himself to Uther; we'll need a GE roll for the circumstance there. 8 is a very favorable roll, which is a good thing.
--M. J. Young
Dumb question MJ. If YOU knew what it was I was intending to pray, why couldn't you roll for it? You are, in effect, "God". If you knew what it was I was asking for, why couldn't you roll for it? I'm not upset at all, just kinda confused. I mean, we did waste (3? 4?) days play over that. Why couldn't you roll for it?
I suppose this is the same reason that God waits for you to pray before granting a prayer. You have to ask. Also, if you wanted this, and God knew you wanted this (obviously), but you asked Him to "bring ruin to my enemies and devastation to their homelands," would He grant your desire to rejuvenate your body? That's a silly example, but it brings out the difficulty of trying to say that your words don't matter. If you have to ask in the first place, it makes sense that you would have to ask for what you want.
The other part of MJ's problem is that he has more options than "yes John get what wants / no John doesn't get what he wants." This is a prayer with complex effects, and it isn't always the case that a prayer is simply granted or not granted. It's possible to get only some of what you want, or to get what you want but not in a way that you expected, or any number of variations on partial success. The details of something like this are difficult for a referee to figure out exactly, and MJ's job gets a lot easier if he has more to work with - your words give him something to go on when he's making those decisions if it turns out that the result of your prayer isn't perfect success or perfect failure. The idea is that it's better for you to specify your prayer and have the effects depend on those details than it is for you to leave it vague and force MJ to just make stuff up (with that stuff he makes up maybe being related to how you tried to make the prayer work and maybe not.)
Those are my guesses, anyway. MJ may have other reasons I'm not guessing.