MJ, I know you always check this first. It's 2:35 in the morning. If you don't want to post, I'm sure everyone would understand. You're probably beat from the convention and want to get some rest. If you want to go to bed tonight, I personally give you my permission. Anyone that disagrees with that, can (If I say it, MJ will ban me from posting).
Actually, John, I always check the comments on the blog postings before I start checking here, and I always read all posts in threads that are not games I am running or playing before I read this thread. Thanks for the sentiment, though--even though I didn't see it until six o'clock Tuesday.
Which is what time it is now, and I really need to figure out what I'm feeding people so it can be cooking while I post responses to Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and Graeme, and hope to be done early enough to get to the normal Tuesday stuff at the Lutheran board.
Some of you will be pleased to learn that my stopwatch has died; that is, you will be pleased until you see how bad my dice luck really is. I am using dice tonight, and for the foreseeable future.
Speaking of cooking, Andrew wants there to be a line he can follow so he can see how to get food. A GE roll of 17 plays down the middle. He rolls 14 on teaching himself, 1@1 Operate Automated Food Delivery System T12@0, a robotics skill. It's his lucky day, because he rolls 07 on doing it again to get a drink.
I have to copy the character updates to Harry's sheet, and update the log for his adventures--plus run the numbers for the next journey (I hope the QBASIC program still works on the new operating system, or I'll be really upset). I'll also answer his question regarding Walter.
John III is singing songs that have not yet been written--indeed, Luther won't be born for almost three hundred years, and most of the hymnody of this time is modal, rarely two-part. Bringing such modern music to the ears of these men is interesting.
I need to answer a few things for John II, but he's getting close to the moment when he is going to act.
Adam is also back from Ubercon, but he didn't include the skills updates. I'll inch his story forward, but hopefully will catch up the character paper tomorrow.
I'm not certain what direction Graeme might take, but his analysis opens possibilities.
It's not that late. I might actually get everything done tonight.
--M. J. Young
Well MJ, I wrote that at 2:35 AM the day before. I didn't know you had already blogged that you were not going to post. I was thinking "If he gets here at 4 in the morning, he's going to be whipped" so I wanted to tell you that it was OK by me if you didn't post.
Although I have already mentioned it, it seems appropriate here also to say that due to circumstances beyond his control, Scott Glenning will no longer be participating here. He will be missed.
However, Dave joins us, and we have Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, and Adam present as well.
Dave is off to a good start; I've copied his sheet to mine.
Andrew hasn't done much, but he's just getting oriented at the moment.
Harry is exploring Sardic, and finding some answers to questions.
John III is trying to buck the limitations of the tech bias level on the indigs. Sorry, John--they can't handle level 6 technology yet.
John II is waiting for Pedro's lead; he is expecting Pedro to go with the plan, and set up the use of the boom stick as a test device. In fairness to John, I ought to roll his persuasion against Pedro's will power to see which plan Pedro follows; I am hoping it is not John's, because the prayer John has been praying for this boom stick seems to me to be highly improbable. John rolls 13+10=23, against a 1@6 persuasion, it's not going that way.
I'm figuring that in a world in which a demon can manifest corporeally and create the illusion that he is something else, a demon hunter must have the ability to see through the illusion, and to dispel it when necessary. I also figure Pedro to be a superior demon hunter, and a smart one; he will thus attack the weakest link first, which would be either Abishaw or Babbareth, who are statted the same. They have a 2@5 SAL at Disguise Self: Human, M8@3 (an illusion), with 2x13@ bias and 1@2 BRA means 63% chance of doing so successfully; that matters, because Pedro has to beat their roll to dispel their illusion. He will have a 3@3 Detect Illusion M7@8 and a 2@10 Dispel Magic M4@8, with an intuition of 2@9. He also has a 2@7 Dispel Off-world Sentient M11@3 targeted to one individual, but nothing higher, so that means his bias is 11@. He has a 3@3 Religion SAL, though, and is doing alliance magic in an alliance world for +10 and +17 on the religion bonus. His base of performing holy magic before SAL is 2@9+2x11@+17+10=78%. Oh, and he has +5 for having been sent to do this by his order, 83%. The detect SAL is 3@3, so that chance is 111%. He wants first to detect either Babbareth or Abishaw--the demons not at the head table--so he has two chances that his detect will find them; since the skill detects illusions, he will also see through the others if his skill works. He rolls 98, which means he has a good chance of beating any of the demons, although some of them also have very high chances of success. I need not roll for Abishaw or Babbareth; we know they have successful rolls (because they are disguised) less than 98 (because that would fail for them). We need to check the numbers for Cathcart, Dicalus, and Echevar. They have the same numbers, for this skill: 2@8 BRA+2x13@ bias+3@5 SAL=89%. Again, we do not need to roll for them for this; Pedro sees them for what they are.
Pedro picks one and hits him with the dispel illusion, rolling 86 which again means Abishaw has no chance of having rolled a higher roll. Let's see what John does with this.
We'll move Adam forward one step in his Sword in the Stone adventure.
I'm done here, I think.
--M. J. Young
): You always seem to miss my latest post. J
Whoa, Graeme has just surprised me yet again in the world he's weaving for Kelly. That's prett. ty. weird.
John, you've just had the bad luck to post at the same time that I'm posting on several occasions. I did not "miss" your post--it was not there until after I opened the board.
And once I cover Dave and Andrew, I'll get to John IV, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and Graeme--a big gathering tonight.
Dave is hoping to learn psionics, but it's not going to be quite a simple as that, at least in this world.
Andrew starts exploring.
I certainly expect that John IV will work his way into the jazz scene; but I somehow doubt whether either the club or the band would be ammenable to an unknown white boy debuting during prime time without an audition, and I don't think that his friend--being one of those very rare white boys doing Jazz in New Orleans--has the clout to make that happen quite like that. Still, it's not certain, so I'm rolling a GE roll: 22 is Not as Bad As Anticipated, but worse than Bad Enough, so let's go with that.
It seems that my QBasic program is not going to work for me--something about the PIF file directory being wrong, which is probably because it was last on a D drive and now the D drive is a CD-RW instead of a hard drive. I might have to hunt the web for a new copy of QBasic to install, so I can run the old programs. Meanwhile, Harry is finishing up his shore time.
John III has made an impression here; I think things might start happening.
I don't really see Abishaw giving John II much of a chance to use his demon detector; nor do I see too many people being able to intervene here. However, the GE roll is 14, which is a not desired but generally favorable result.
Since Adam is negotiating, I'll need to start talking price. Since this is Spain, they will have begun to create their own local currency despite the presence of the Roman Empire, which is by this time withdrawing from its western holdings to fortify the east against invaders.
Graeme bemoans the weakness of his language potions as something which would prevent him from communicating with the other empires. I'm not certain whether that's really a problem or not, but I won't push the point. Rather, I'll remind him that he has someone attending to his needs at present, and see if that changes his plans.
--M. J. Young
I don't really see Abishaw giving John II much of a chance to use his demon detector
Ya know, I must be the stupidest guy in the world. It never occurred to me that they wouldn't just stand there and let me poke them until I read it in the game. God I feel stupid.....
I'm moving through today rather slowly, but hopefully will now have time to attend to the posts from Dave, Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and Graeme.
Dave continues his search for information on psionics, which no one aboard the ship will have.
Andrew reunites with his gear.
Absent a working QBasic program (I've received some advice on that, but have only tried a few of the options without success), I'm pulling a pregenerated run for Harry so I don't have to wait. Meanwhile, since he departs on day 206, I'm going to count his advancement to day 200 as in navigation, and begin his advancement in piloting from that point:
- 1@3 Make/Use Maps P0@0
1@3 Operate Small Boat T3@1
1@6 Operate Sextant/Astrolabe T6@1
1@8 Use Drafting Tools T6@1
1@3 Use Magnetic Compass T6@1
1@9 Use Telescope T6@2
- 1@4 TK Pulse P4@1
1@3 Telescopic Vision P5@1
1@3 Irish Bamboo Flute M0@0
He's got some free time for the moment; we'll see what he does with it.
John III has agreed to go on his mission of mercy; things could become more interesting.
John II is going to attempt to hit the demon with the boom stick; the demon isn't going to agree to that easily, but the question is whether it will attempt to dodge and attack, or hold back out of reach. My inclination favors the attack, and a 15 GE roll favors that as well, since it's what John wants. We now need initiative, but John will get a bonus because he is using a pole weapon against bare hands. Abishaw has a claw attack for base damaging +DC, listed as 89% minus defensive values, 2x per minute, with a bite attack listed as 65% once per minute damaging+DC, which means 3 attacks total, 89-John's 1@6 TV=73% chance of landing the first attack, which we'll penalize -10 because he has to get around that polearm, so 63%. John has a 1@1 SAL at operating these explosive-tipped spears, with a 1@10 MSV, 2@2 tech BRA, 2x6@ world bias, for 65% against a 1@6 TV=49%. John rolls 45, the demon 36, so John moves first. That's also his target number for scoring a strike, but he rolls 96, which is a botch. This is not going to be pretty. Abishaw lands a claw with a roll of 28, 3 intensities of damage, but then botches on the next with 00, losing the bite attack also. The GE roll for pockets, incidentally, is 18.
Adam is going to read the mind of the swordmaker; he rolls 58, and he has a 1@5 SAL, 2x10@ bias, 2@9 BRA, 64%, so he's got the link. The mind of the craftsman is going to see this not as a negotiation for the price but as a discussion of how good a sword Adam wants.
Graeme gets a bit of a look at Roman slavery. Given that first century slaves included highly educated teachers, I would not be surprised to find rocket scientists in the modern Roman slave population, and our Senate slave is going to be a man of some learning.
--M. J. Young
MJ, God blessed the boom stick and all of my other weapons to be more effective against demons. Did you figure that into your calculations there? A 96 would probably still be a botch, but I'm wondering how that added up.
John will get a bonus because he is using a pole weapon against bare hands. Abishaw has a claw attack for base damaging +DC, listed as 89% minus defensive values, 2x per minute, with a bite attack listed as 65% once per minute damaging+DC, which means 3 attacks total, 89-John's 1@6 TV=73% chance of landing the first attack, which we'll penalize -10 because he has to get around that polearm
First you say I'm bonused for using a polearm, then you say I'm penalized for it. Which is it? Or am I misunderstanding something?
EDIT: I just reread that. You're saying Abishaw is penalized 10 points on his first attack. That must be my bonus. My fault.
John, you have to remind me of these bonuses when it's time to make the roll; it is the player's responsibility to make the referee aware of any bonuses which impact his chance of success.MJ, God blessed the boom stick and all of my other weapons to be more effective against demons. Did you figure that into your calculations there? A 96 would probably still be a botch, but I'm wondering how that added up.
As it happens, in this particular case it would not matter. The skill reads:
1@3 Bless up to 150 weapons to increase damage against demons M+1@3 kneel and pray with appropriate words over chosen weapons to confer +DC on all weapons so blessed for use in next battle with demons, -12 SMThat means it goes entirely to damage, not at all to chance to hit. Had you connected with the monster, we would have bonused all damages to the next damage category.
However, you must tell me if you are using a blessed weapon in such a situation, as I cannot keep track of every detail of every character's situation.
I have only John III and John II today, so this will be relatively quick.
John III is asking the time and day. The time I know roughly; the day has not been at issue.
John II has asked where his injury is, and a roll of 65 on the hit locator chart says Upper Torso...Spine. It probably couldn't be in a less convenient spot to self-treat, but we'll see what he does with that information.
I note that his weapon is listed as Ruger P-99 pistol 15 shot magazine 9mm reload (clip) 0:12. I've been making such weapons base dangerous, so I'll note that here; he has also specified that he took a spare bullet from somewhere to put one in the chamber, so there are sixteen shots. Also, I've got comparable guns listed as RF10, so I'll add that also. He is 2@2 with the gun, has a 2@2 BRA and a 2@2 RSV; that means he can fire forty rounds in a minute, but he's only got sixteen, so he will empty the gun in 16/40 minutes, or 4/10ths of a minute, 24 seconds; since he's 2@ with the gun, he cuts the reload time in half to 0:06, which means he can empty the clip, replace it, and empty the next clip and replace it all within the minute. His fire rate of 40, though, is what is set against his opponent. More importantly, we need initiative. John observes correctly that he is at point blank range, which is +20 on his chance to hit; the numbers just cited along with that give him 86+bias doubled, but that's only 6@ so +12=98%, and then we have to subtract Abishaw's 1@6 TV and we get 82% chance to hit for John. Abishaw's chance remains the same, 73%. John rolls 39, Abishaw 87, John goes first. we've got 40 to 3 on the attacks, so we'll divide it 10/1/10/1/10/1/10; of course, it won't go that long, probably.
John rolls ten attacks unless he botches; only a 00 will botch, and it will simply mean that he loses an attack while attempting to clear a jam, which he can do in this bias on a successful roll. 99, 59, 70, and I need to stop and consider the situation because John has +2DC on a dangerous weapon which makes it fatal, but Abishaw has a 2@7 damage value and a 1@1 Resist piercing weapons (B12@2), to which he adds his 2@9 BRA and 2x12@ bias for 64% chance that he can reduce the damage from these attacks by -DC. 76 means he did not; but he still cuts damage in half and discards fractions. John also got +DC for his blessing, but that converts to +10 damage points because he already has +2DC. Thus the 99 missed, the 59 does (59+10)/2=35, and that will be the end of it, so the third roll never happened, and he has spent only two bullets.
What else is happening? Well, unless there's a really bad roll somewhere, Pedro is going to reveal another demon, at the rate of one per minute, I hope. Unless it's a really good roll, Babbareth is going to attempt to disappear under that invisibility cloak. There is going to be panic no matter what happens, but a good roll will mean that some of those present respond to join the fight, and a bad roll will mean that it is absolute chaos impeding any effort to defeat the demons. The GE roll is 11, which is pretty good, Good but Below Expectations.
Babbareth rolls 23 on his 2@1 resist magic, and Pedro rolls 84 on the dispel illusion, which just misses; he tries again, 20, which will work but not overcome the resist magic roll Babbareth just used. John rolls 31 on an intuition check, so he doesn't see it all. Babbareth will not take chances, but will vanish under the invisibility cloak and then attempt to attack John unseen. That's going to be a stealth skill, but he doesn't have stealth--only the use invisibility cloak skill. In its own world, the invisibility cloak always works; but the use for stealth can be rolled as a check against using the cloak. He's got 1@10 SAL+2x13@ bias+1@2 BRA=58%, and he rolls 13, so he succeeded. He takes the initiative, and John is penalized for his inability to see the target. 75 is the first attack roll, but with John's TV that's going to miss by inches.
There are a few other points to cover, but I think I've covered them.
--M. J. Young
It's a Ruger P-89 MJ. I don't believe there is such a thing as a P-99.
Correction noted.
I've got a big group tonight--Dave, Andrew, John IV, Harry, John III, John II, and Adam--and not a lot of time to address them all, so let's get to it.
Dave is on his quest for psionics, and I'm kind of hoping he manages to find them--but it's going to be tricky and difficult, and I'm not sure he can do it from where he's starting.
Andrew rolls 21 on a GE roll, so things are not going to be favorable. He will, however, get the impression of "big".
John IV wants to try to spend his eighty-years-future money; a quick bit of research suggests this is not going to be so simple as hoping they overlook the date.
I just realized that I overlooked something on the sheet for Harry--a generated event that I didn't slot into the right spot. We haven't missed it, though, so I'm good.
Since neither John III nor I care what day it is, I'll roll d8, and since it's 5, and since Sunday is the day that mattered, I'll treat Monday as the first day of the week, and that makes today Friday. Operating his clock will require a skill check, because of the low tech bias here: 26 will work.
John II is going to see whether he has made "holy water"; but I'm going to have to know what he means by that before I can determine whether it worked.
I'll wrap up Adam's negotiations by giving him another job--sell some gemstones to get the money he needs.
--M. J. Young
I left almost no turnaround time, and still return to find players lined up four deep--three Johns counting down from three, after a Harry.
Harry attempts to teach himself night vision, altering his pupiliary response and sensitivity so that he can see in color in dim light. He rolls 04, which will work, giving him a 1@1 Night Vision P5@1 skill. I am less certain of the other.
John III continues his travels.
I thought of making John II's holy water an instant use activation device; however, it hardly seems reasonable to make something a device which does so little and ceases to have value as soon as it is used. I would continue to use that for potions, but for holy water I'm inclined to do an Imbue with Magic variant, giving it a Torture Spirit Power effect. Actually, on reflection I'm going to do it one better. I'm going to make blessed water a component of a Torture Spirit Power spell, and allow that he can bless it himself. That means the creation of holy water, in any quantity, is a M+1@1 Ceremony: Bless Water. It also means it has a base 9:00 TF, which he is reducing to 0:06, a lot of halvings, -84 for time. That's a bad start, but he's got stuff in his favor as well. I should require that the water be in a single container, but I'm going to overlook that this time. It has appropriate words for +5, -2 because he could use either hand, +1 for needing water (he does not need a container, he only needs that the water be contained), which means the inherent sit-mod in his six-second skill is -82 and the skill bias is 1@1. Against this he has his 11@7 mag bias, 2@2 BRA, +13 for the world area bias, +9 for his religion, +10 for an alliance world, and +10 for quest, which totals 181, -82=99% chance that this will work the first time, and the roll is 12, so we'll list 1@1 Ceremony: Bless Water M+1@1 0:06 TF say something like "Dear God, bless this water, that it might be effective against your enemies." while making sign of cross with either hand, imbues any contained quantity of water with holy magic for use in other skills.
Now he wants to use it. This is two checks. The first is whether he can hit the invisible demon with the water; he's splashing it over a wide area, which will increase his chance to hit but reduce his damage. Treating this as a concealed target, I would say that the demon occupies 20% of the area targeted, but that he is hitting 20% of that area with his water (it's not a direct hit situation), so I will give him an 80% chance that the water will hit the demon. His roll is 07, which means he did hit the area. Since the base attack does no damage, there's no question about whether this is a combat hit, but only whether the use of the water works to damage the demon.
That is a M+1@10 Torture Spirit Power. The base damage is dangerous plus pain requiring an RS=SDN will power check to act. This is going to be an RF1 skill, which is -20 to convert from a TF 1:00. It involves throwing holy water on the target. We have an action which may be performed with either hand for -2, and a material component of holy water for +2, an appropriate component for +5. The sit-mod is -15. He gets all the above bonuses, so this is an automatic success this time; the roll is 69, which means he has a 1@2 Torture Spirit Power M+1@10 base dangerous plus pain versus will power RS=S/D/N to act, throw holy water on target with either hand, -15 SM; because he targeted a wide area, he does damaging damage and the check is reduced to simple; the monster has a 2@ damage value, and so the 4 intensities of damage are reduced to 2. 15 is a successful will power check.
What is more significant, though, is whether the water reveals the position of the target, and for how long. Neutral Result would mean that the water splashed off the target, showing its current position at this instant; worse would suggest that there is less evidence, but an intuition check might help; more that the penalty for invisibility is slightly reduced by the water being visible. 10 is a very good roll.
John I has been gone so long that I have to go back three weeks to find out what style Ishara is using. There it is:
I already have some key numbers:That means no parry, but -5 defensive sit-mod, and I probably also have his target value, yes, it's 2@3. That's -28 to John, who brings to his leaping kick 2@3 SAL, 1@10 MSV, 2@4 BRA, and 2x10@ bias, 87. That's 59% chance to hit, and the roll is 75. That's a miss, and the leaping kick has a damaging damage to self on a miss, so the roll is 12 and that means 1 intensity unless he's got (and uses) something to counter fall damage.MSV 2@7
Bod BRA 2@9
Bod bias 7@He will know a fast aggressive punch style. I have four of these already designed. I will eliminate Von Dom and Weissgarten Variant because they are weapon utilizing and thus limited to two attacks. As betweeen Teraka and Mitzu Frenzy, the latter hits harder and has a few very effective tactical maneuvers that would appeal to Ishara. I'll thus go with that. He will have:
* 2@8 Mitzu Frenzy B7@1 fast aggressive weapon-adverse punch Att x3 +5 att SM +10 Att dam mod -5 def SM
* 2@6 Fake B7@2
* 2@4 Solid Punch B7@3
* 2@2 Power Punch B7@3
* 2@1 Stunning Strike B7@7
* 2@1 Blinding Strike B7@7His chance of activating the style is 71%, if he's not doing it as an attack. He rolls 23.
I'm tired, but I think it's time for me to go.
--M. J. Young
Kelly, you could have asked the generic, "How is everyone?" and let Dad provide the details of just who "everyone" might still be. Ah, but you're good, and I should mind my own business on that....and my business is to run games for Dave John IV, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and John I, in the little time I seem to have retained for this.
Dave is going to attempt to teach himself a TK pulse, but he has included something that will benefit him: he is using his hand as a kind of focus, which will give him +10 on top of the world's 15@ psi bias and his own 2@1 BRA give him 46 minus the 4@1 bias of the target skill means he has a 5% chance of doing this successfully (and a 9% chance to botch). Let's give him the roll: 37 neither succeeds nor botches.
I've done a bit of research on drum kits, and found something which I think will be very interesting for John IV--it might even be something he's never seen, but I'll bet he can make interesting use of it.
I'm going to be away for several hours, so I think I will post this so as not to lose it, and hope to finish when I return.
--M. J. Young
Well, that took longer than anticipated, but I have to stay up now long enough to get kids on busses, so I might as well finish what I started.
I was thinking that Harry's two hundredth day in this world was passing, and that he should get skill improvements; but then I remembered that I gave him those improvements in port, for completion of most of the second hundred days. Thus he already got those improvements, and we'll do the piloting ones from day one of the new trip. It's now day forty-five of the new trip, and he's got a problem; but he needs a GE roll. 10 is pretty good.
John III needs two pieces of information, which I shall provide.
I'm figuring that throwing the pitcher of water was John II's first attack, but that he still gets additional attacks with the gun before the beast gets another swing. I'm going to roll first and crunch numbers only if it's necessary. 78 is the first roll; his 82% chance has dropped 10 points because of the partial invisibility, so that's a near miss. 08 does hit, but Babbareth rolls 34 on his resist, so the damage is reduced to lethal, 2 intensities, divided by the second level damage value makes 1, which means that it's not at all serious; but John will shoot again, 69 hitting for lethal damage, 14 intensities divided by 2 is 7 makes 8 to this point, and he shoots again, 90 misses, 60 hits for 12 divided by 2 is 6 makes 14, and five shots is all I can give him before Babbareth will take another claw swing, 35 hitting for four intensities, and this time it's going to roll for its magical pain and damage attacks, 58 rolled, 1@1 SAL+2x13@ bias+1@1 SAL=48% chance, it failed on the pain; same numbers on the damage rider, and the roll is 83, so that's not happening.
John continues with 67, again 14 divided by 2 for 7, which makes 21, which is right on dying, and the creature collapses.
Adam is going to attempt to sell a gem or two, and will use his read minds to determine whether he's getting a good deal. A 16 GE roll is neutral, which I take to mean that he is going to deal with an ordinary rural merchant on this. Adam rolls 16 on the mind reading.
As I guessed, John I has a roll to avoid fall damage and is going to use it. He rolls a successful ten, so he's good. He should continue with a roll to erect position skill check, but that's for him to remember.
I'll be going to bed pretty soon--as soon as I finish getting people to school.
--M. J. Young
MJ, I'm just curious why Abisaw fell from 2 bullets, with only 1 penetration, but Bearbreath took 4 for 21 intensities. Abishaw must have been the wimp. I'm not looking forward to the other three, that is for certain.
John, the demons have quite a few protections, but they don't always work. One of those protections mentioned in connection with Abishaw was
a 1@1 Resist piercing weapons (B12@2), to which he adds his 2@9 BRA and 2x12@ bias for 64% chance that he can reduce the damage from these attacks by -DC. 76 means he did not;then in connection with Babbareth it says
but Babbareth rolls 34 on his resist, so the damage is reduced to lethal,which means that instead of doing the die roll over 2 you were doing the die roll over five. In addition, Babbareth was invisible, and even when you splashed water on him you could only see roughly where part of the cloak he was wearing was--you could still aim for where you thought was his center of mass and miss him completely, as you were guessing.
With Abishaw, your first shot was listed as miss, but it was really a near miss, so it deflected off him; the second shot was a solid shot doing enough damage to kill him. With Babbareth, it was a lot more complicated. You missed him with the first shot, nicked him with the second, got a wound with the third, the fourth missed, and the fifth was as good as the second and third, which was barely sufficient to finish him. With every shot he was magically sloughing off about half the damage and toughing out half of what remained (second level damage value), so he was tougher not because he was tougher but because he got a critical defense working that the other demon did not.
And yes, the other three are tougher.
It's all fun and games tonight--or at least, all games, with Dave, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and John I playing.
You'd think I would know the bias for drawing psionic energy from others off the top of my head; after all, it's inherent in my theory of The Force in Star Wars. However, I've had to do a bit of searching, and decided it's a 3@9 skill. Dave saw it done in a Dragon Ball Z cartoon, but whether or not that constitutes an example will depend on what it is he saw.
Harry did as much as I reasonably expected, which is good, because the encounter says that the ship is boarded by pirates, and I was hoping he wouldn't find a way to prevent that. They have now boarded; if he kills them all and drives them back into the sea, it's all good.
John III needs to be arriving.
It's actually kind of funny. John II wrote,
Fire 3 rounds from the MAK 90 at the ceiling. I'm hoping that will calm the chaos down a bit. This would be considerably louder than the 9mm fire.This is exactly one of the examples given in the book for when a general effects roll might be needed. Personally, I'm really hoping for a bad one--I know what happens then. 20 is just bad enough, so it's bad.
Adam difficult persuasion check fails at 39, so there's no need to roll the man's will power; Adam has a good backup plan, rolling 26 on his Jedi Mind Trick which will work.
I think John I lost track of his position for a moment; we'll get that clarified, and then move forward.
--M. J. Young
Probably I'm doing too many things at once, but let me get started on these game posts with Dave, Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and John I.
Dave is using his hand to focus his attempt to draw power from others, as previously described. This gives him a slightly better chance of success at this than he had at the other, but 42 is not going to work. That doesn't mean he wouldn't try the TK Pulse again, since he doesn't necessarily know it didn't work, but since there's no real change in circumstances, we won't roll for it.
I have to wonder whether there would be a laundry facility on this ship, as opposed to some other means of obtaining clean clothes, then whether Andrew would recognize it as such, and finally whether having identified it he would still be able to operate it. My inclination is that the answers to the first two questions are yes, the third maybe, and so I need a GE roll. 16 is a neutral result, so he'll find it. He rolls 03 on operating the equipment, so he'll overcome any problems and get it working, although not optimally.
Harry's effort to identify the captain would be an intuition check; he rolls 23, and has only a 1@7 intuition, so that's not happening. He rolls 29 on his battle prayer, which gives him +3 for the next 3 minutes as he heads into combat.
John III checks the time.
John II is about to shoot a woman; he probably has good reason to do so, but it's not going to look good to the guards, who at this point are not certain on which side they are. He rolls 80, and I'm assuming that he takes the shot while she is at short range, and without crunching numbers I can see that that's a miss. It's followed by a 20 GE roll; this did not turn out to be a good choice.
Adam's approach is reasonable, but it's not the way it would have been done in most medieval countries; we'll do it their way.
I don't really see Ishara sparring against an opponent who is supine; he will wait for John I to regain his feet--although he will also throw a barb in the process.
--M. J. Young
John II is about to shoot a woman; he probably has good reason to do so, but it's not going to look good to the guards, who at this point are not certain on which side they are.
Regarding this. I read the novel "Marine Sniper, 93 confirmed kills" by Carlos Hathcock. It's a autobiographical account of the life of a sniper in Vietnam. The longest sniper shot that he made was at a 12 year old boy. He said "Marines die just as quickly from bullets fired by 12 year old boys as they do from bullets fired by men." Hence, taking the shot at the woman. For all I knew, she was a demon.
It was a P14@10 Drain Life for Star Wars, but I recall that the high bias of that skill was one of the aspects of that analysis that made it desirable. I imagine the 3@9 version is less effective somehow; perhaps that would have something to do with his specifying "people I know," as opposed to the entire universe? (Well, an entire universe which we treated as a single entity, but that might be beside the point.)
Thanks, Scott. I wondered if it were something like that. I agree that the 3@9 is a much more localized skill, although I'm not sure exactly how to handle it--but since it didn't work anyway, I don't have to worry about it yet.
John, I understood perfectly well why you shot at the woman. I just don't think anyone in this particular world would, since ladies are non-combatants by the rules of chivalry. If you get a chance to explain it, you'll have a difficult task.
I'm here early, but not so early that I don't have Dave, Andrew, Harry, and a countdown of John III, John II, and John I awaiting.
I would think that for a computer on an alien starship in the twenty-fifth century to have early twenty-first century Earth obituaries in its database one would need a GE roll of 3; Dave gets 14, which is not exactly unfavorable, but is not going to get him what he wants. He rolls 50; I don't see a Use Computer skill on his paper, but since even if it's 1@1 his 12@ bias and 2@1 BRA are going to put him at 45% before the SAL, so that will succeed.
Andrew rolls 15 on his search for library or terminal. This will make for an interesting development.
Harry picks an opponent and rolls 70 against 61 for initiative; he also prays a new prayer, 95 making success doubtful but not impossible for a newly-learned skill. The baseline for a skill that reduces chance to be hit is 1:00 TF for RS minutes, but I'll make it a repeat factor skill with a duration of RS/4 minutes, by which the -20 for conversion to RF is cancelled by two halvings of the duration. It will create an RS/10 sit-mod penalty against all attacks. He has appropriate words +5, and he must be entering combat, for which I will give him +5 more, but there is -10 because there is only one aspect (spoken), which puts us at the baseline. The bias of the skill is 1@2, and his bias is 2@1, his BRA 2@3, the world mag bias 0, his 2@5 religion giving him +13, +10 for an alliance world, 55% chance of success, failed but not botched. He gets nothing for the prayer.
As to the Marionette TK, that's curved out. Normally at the table I would hand him the dice and let him roll, but he can't succeed and he can't botch, so it's mostly to help him figure out that he can't do it.
It was not that long ago that I had combat numbers crunched for Harry, and they won't have changed much since then; but it's on a previous page, so let me crunch afresh: 1@7 MSV, 2@2 (Bod) BRA, 2x7@ bias, 2@1 Smallsword Dueling/Smallsword, he can activate a weapon-oriented style by attacking with the weapon, +3 for the battle prayer, so that's 77 minus defensive values, a 1@7 TV, which means 60% chance to hit; his initiative roll fails by a good twelve points. The pirate has a 1@9 MSV, 1@6 BRA, 2x6@ bias, and 1@9 SAL for 66 minus Harry's 1@7 TV is 49, and the 61 roll is a failure also by 12, but since Harry has the better chance to hit he will go first. 57 is a solid hit, and activates the style for +15 SM from here, 75% chance to hit henceforth, and a -5 penalty on the pirates to 44% for them. He's got two damage category bonuses; I did not indicate a damage category for his sword, but I think I'll settle the quality sword question by saying it is dangerous (where small swords would ordinarily be damaging), which makes it fatal with his two damage category bonuses, and that ends one pirate. Another moves in quickly, though, rolling 89, a miss, and giving him another opportunity to strike, 10, for five intensities, a severe wound on a 1@8 DV opponent.
That's enough there for the moment; let's move to John III. I'm going to give him a typical young farm wife as his patient.
John II gets a 20 GE roll on the directions of the soldiers, which is not going to favor him much at all. Also, he seems to be doing two things at once, so I'd better clarify what exactly he thinks he is doing.
I can't imagine that Ishara is anything other than puzzled by John I's action; I know that I'm puzzled by it.
--M. J. Young
John, I understood perfectly well why you shot at the woman. I just don't think anyone in this particular world would, since ladies are non-combatants by the rules of chivalry. If you get a chance to explain it, you'll have a difficult task.
If that's the way they feel, I'd love to introduce them to my sister Colleen. She's easily one of the toughest people I've ever fought.
John gets a smile; then I turn my attention to Dave, Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, and Adam, to see how far I can get before I am stopped.
I have to summarize a summary for Dave, so he has some notion of the current state of the world.
Andrew has a 2@6 SAL in computer use, and he is in a high-tech world, so my roll is mostly to see how well he does at getting what he wants to know: 12 is a weak success.
Noting the change in circumstances (from entering battle to being in battle), Harry attempts to repeat the protection prayer he just prayed, 51 a strong success, 1@2 Reduce Attack Success M+1@2 say "Thor Protect Me" sword in hand during battle, RF1 Duration RS/4 penalizes incoming attacks RS/10 +0SM; I note that this is distinct from a previous skill, which worked on a minute-by-minute basis, and this roll is going to give him 6 minutes of -6 protection. He needs another initiative check, 20 against 90, he goes first. He rolls 87, which misses; the opponent rolls 58, which also misses, and he finishes with a fatal 54. He now has a 26 GE roll, which means things are going badly for him.
John III rolls a strong 32 on his healing skill, but I'm giving him a mark for a new use--he did it this time absent the bonus preparation period. This will raise his SAL to 1@2. It will also raise some other complications.
John II gets a 23 GE on the layout of his situation; some of it I already have envisioned, but I will fill in the gaps on that basis. He is now firing at armored soldiers at short range. I don't see the cover value for the chain armor, but I do see the description. It's a hard metal, which puts its density between 2@6 and 4@8, but we'll go with 3@5. Full closed-plate chain mail is 80% with an uncovered face for -5 means .75x35=24 for cover, along with a 2@2 TV makes -46 on John's attacks. His plusses are 1@10 SAL on the rifle, 2x6@ world bias, 2@2 RSV, 2@2 Tech BRA, 76%, -46=30% chance that he will hit these guys. He is attacking before they have closed to martial range, so he gets his shots in the minute without their response: 10, 95, 74, 87, 88--that's a good start. Those will be lethal base shots which his 2@ RSV makes fatal, 5 intensities for the one hit. The rest miss.
Adam wants to continue training while in Spain, so we'll get started on that, too.
--M. J. Young
MJ, I don't see any kind of bonuses for shooting armor piercing bullets. A 7.62X39 (What I'm shooting) is designed to be a light armor piercing round.
There is a list of bullets effects I created on this board. It probably covers
AP.
I think MJ has something against (although not extreme) different types of bullets. Jhiaxus had a discussion on this issue with him.
I suspect it principally falls into the category of having to create details.
Its one of the things that is very hard for a 'generic' game because there are literally a thousand and one different sets of details you need. Multiverser is not the only 'generic' game that has this problem, although many others more directly confront their problem (Mage and Champions forex). Indeed, I think this problem is inherent to the design.
Besides no one particularly wants to write 300,000 words. However, it needs to be done.
Also, certain residents of the People's Socialist Republics of the Northeast might have a tiny bit less experience with guns since they are not as free as Real Americans :). And just as I'm a bit reluctant to write on the law from my lack of experience (although I'll do it with some reluctance)so might someone be from what Tom Kratman called the People's Republic of Massachusetts, or its sisters.
And another thing. How does their armor affect my ability to hit them? I should have the same chance to hit that I had with anyone else. The damage value is what would be lowered. I mean I'm still shooting at a man sized target at the same distance. I have the same chance to hit said target. I could see the damage value being reduced an intensity, but the bullets wouldn't change direction because they were about to strike armor as opposed to flesh.
EDIT: I mean if you have a 6 foot by 3 foot piece of paper, and a 6 foot by 3 foot piece of titanium alloy, and you're shooting from the same distance, you have an equal chance to hit both of them. Your chances of hitting the titanium alloy are not reduced, your chance of PENETRATING it is reduced. See what I mean?
And another thing. How does their armor affect my ability to hit them?
That's a good question. My usual answer is that it doesn't. The penalty for cover value applies directly to your chance of skill success - that is, it reduces your chance of dealing damage with your firearm. Because of the relative success rules for calculating damage, this means that your maximum damage on a single blow drops along with your chances of dealing any damage at all.
Don't think of the penalty as turning otherwise good hits into misses. Think of it as turning good hits into mediocre hits, turning mediocre hits into cruddy hits, and preventing the hits that would have been cruddy even without the armor from doing any significant damage at all. That's not what the math looks like when you see it first, but that's effectively what the sit-mod is doing.
Well, I would have made it so that you had the same chance to hit, but a shot that would have done dangerous damage would now only do annoying damage. Something like that. That way, it wouldn't confuse players.
If the truth be told, I think the sit mod in this case is completely bogus anyway. I'm shooting light armor piercing bullets at armor that is designed to stop blunt force trauma. Chain mail would stop a slash from a sword, but a stab would go right in between the links. I used to have a friend that made chain mail vests to sell at conventions. They were great for reducing blunt force trauma (club, mace, ax, sword slash) but a thin sword like a rapier would go between the links and they would have little to no effect at stopping or even slowing it down. Bullets are, for all practical intents and purposes, a stab. (Think of it like the tip of a sword moving at about Mach 2.5) I don't care what the rules say, chain mail would be quite ineffective at stopping bullets. Of course, if we took the time to include every single modification that could be made in Da Rulez!! it would go from being the size of a telephone book, to being a multi-volume of telephone books. Oh well, maybe when I'm in Heaven, I'll get to become a verser, and try this out for real.
EDIT: MJ, I realize that probably sounds not too kind. There's no need to explain how the chain mail stops bullets, or start a new thread on the topic, or anything like that. Consider it pretty much dropped. The purpose of the forum is so that we can learn how to referee, and so that you, as the author, can get feedback from players about the game. Consider that feedback from a player about the game, and consider it dropped.
I have dealt with the intervening posts in a new thread (despite John's insistence I not do so), Bullets Piercing Armor. Having done so, let me address the live games. We have all four Johns today, but we start with Dave before John IV, then Harry before John III and John II, then Adam before John I.
I'm going to need information from Dave to put together his new combat dress.
John IV is chasing me out of the scene for a moment so he can ask my landlady about the music. She'll give him an answer.
I'll need a bit more information on Harry's new spell before I can crunch the numbers.
John III has just run headlong into that which he did not anticipate.
It's good to know that the MAK-90 does not have a full auto setting. I can imagine someone activating a trigger mechanism no faster than about five times per second, which would make three hundred per minute. If I divide that by nine I get thirty-three and a third, which is not a good number, but I can do an RF of 30 for the rifle easily enough. That means a complete amateur can aim and fire it once every two second, and John II, with his second level RSV, can fire it once per second at targets. At the same time, if he is firing that fast with one hand while looking for a body, he is just throwing lead--a general effects roll, not targeted shots, determine what happens. 22 is pretty bad on that point.
We'll give Adam a skill to learn.
John I is doing something he's never done before. In fact, I'm not certain whether anyone has ever done it before. But then, I'm not completely certain what he's doing, so let's get that clarified.
--M. J. Young
I wouldn't own a full-auto weapon even if I could. They're a waste of ammo. The MAK 90 eats ammo as is.
Dave, Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and John I are all playing.
Dave has described his fencing jacket, and I am tasked with determining the cover value of the thing. Covering the full torso is 40% of the body; I don't have arms listed separately, but I'll figure they are 5% each, so that's 50% coverage of this thing. The material is nylon, which technically is a soft polymer, or plastic, so we'll give it a density of 1@4--better than leather, not better than wood. Armor gets bonused for thickness; I'm guessing that this is probably greater than a quarter of an inch thick but not greater than half an inch thick, and thus +25% for coverage. That gives us 75% times the density of 1@4, a defensive value of 3.5, which we will round to 4. We also have to address the swords.
I'm giving Andrew a bit of information from his computer search.
Harry's spell design is for Bonus Damage M+1@3 say, "May the venom of a thousand serpents flow through my blade, and the frailty of ages cripple your bones." Soulmourn smallsword in right hand, TF 0:06, in the heat of battle, appropriate words spoken in English aloud such that sound matters (serpents and old age are symbols of punishment and defeat in Norse symbolism). I am suddenly minded that this is above the curve of this world, and is not going to work; I'm wondering whether to let him learn it anyway--I think I will not roll, because if he cannot do it he cannot learn it. I will, however, give him a GE roll for whether his pronouncement has any effect on the pirates; he gets 17, so that's a no.
We left him fighting three pirates; he gets two attacks, and each of them gets one. His 25 against their 88 means he gets the first swing: 40 is a kill shot for him, as I recall. Two guys remain to strike back, and they roll 81 and 63, both misses. Harry swings again, 64, a near miss.
Where are the sick who are wanting Saint John III to come heal them? Some will be here, but some will be elsewhere.
The cloak works automatically, but John II needs a roll to create the skill to use it, 42 giving him a 1@1 Use Active When Worn/Held Invisibility Cloak M1@3 performs M5@8 Invisibility for those within it plus M7@3 Penetrate Magical Disguise. There's no particular need to process the bonus device use skill, but I think I'll roll for it anyway, as he will undoubtedly use it again, 23 saying he learned it 1@1 Bonus Mag Device Use Skill Check M+1@4 TF 0:06 say "Please God let this work" +RS/5 to next mag device use attempt -10SM.
Adam's Blank Mind attempt rolls 51, which gives him 1@2 Blank Mind P2@1; Geneice rolls 87, and given a 10@1 bias, 15@ world bias, and her 2@3 BRA that's also a success for 1@3 Blank Mind P2@1.
John I has given me a problem: he wants to cause a target to "hear laughter inside his head". He doesn't want the man to think it, but he doesn't want him to hear it, either. It seems like a thought projection skill, but it's not projecting articulate thought, but only a sound effect--laughter. I'm going with a new use of his Suggestion skill, he rolls 66, and given a 1@1 SAL his 2x7@ bias and 2@3 BRA will not make that a success.
On that note, I'm gone.
--M. J. Young
This is cool, I have a Cloaking Cloak!!!
I have Harry, John III, John II, Adam, and John I.
Harry is going to add a TK pulse against his opponent, which is a clever idea that just isn't that reliable in this world, particularly at his low level of ability--but it's practice that improves a skill, and he's practicing. 13 means the TK pulse worked, but the target gets a simple agility check to avoid being put off balance. 27 is out of the range, so he's lost his balance. I'm giving him the TK pulse as part of the same minute, since there is no conflict between the swordwork and the mind work, in my estimation.
I've just read an encouraging sermon from John III, but he has to decide whether he is duplicating the healings he has already done or learning a new way to heal.
John II moves to a new position.
Adam rolls 48 on trying to construct this new defense. Looking to define it, I discover that I made an error yesterday--a Blank Mind is a P2@4 defense (I confused it with thought concealment); I will fix that. Meanwhile, I add 1@1 Psychological Barrier P2@7 imagine building a wall around the mind.
I'll respond to John I without leaving these events behind quite yet.
--M. J. Young
Dave, Harry, John III, and John II are all my players.
Burly doesn't need to roll to remove the tips from Dave's swords.
Harry rolls 10 for initiative, and his adversaries roll 20; that's the first time they get the advantage. And now I've dropped a die, and spilled my water after a fruitless search for it--this will slow me down, but I'm still good. The first attacker rolls 99, a botch, while the second rolls a failed 84; Harry gets to return twice, 81 and 05, the last a three-intensity hit.
I'm still working on John III's prayer.
John II is going to try to put an end to this fight in short order; he is overlooking the powerful resistances the demons have, but then he's got some power on his side as well. The blessing gives him +DC against demons; that makes the MAK 90 base lethal +DC for his RSV+DC for the blessing, annihilating. He's got a 1@10 SAL, 10@ bias but is limited to the world's 6@ bias, 2@2 BRA, and 2@2 RSV, which makes 76, +20 for point blank range (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that all three demons can be in point blank range at once) for 96; the demons each have 1@10 target value, 2@9 damage value. They also have a resist cutting/piercing bod skill, SALs 2@8, 2@6, 2@4, Bod BRAs all 2@9, bod bias 12@, so their successful rolls would be 81, 79, and 77. Resistances are at +10 on skill checks, so we're looking at 91, 89, 87; I will use RS=1/2/3 DC. This will not impact his chance to hit them, which is 76. He rolls 36 on Cathcart, who rolls 00 on his resistance which means it fails (but does not botch); his 2@ damage value means he cuts the injury in half and discards fractions, so he took 15 intensities. John rolls 87 on his next shot, which misses. 36 will hit for the next shot, but Dicalus also gets to roll for his resistance, 19 giving him a damage category penalty making it fatal instead of obliterative, the 18 being divided by 2 for 9 intensities. 78 is John's next roll, which just misses, 85 misses, 36 hits. We need a resistance roll for this minute, 09 also being one damage category and meaning he took 9 intensities.
Cathcart gets 8 attacks in the minute, so even without initiative and even against an invisible target he is going to get a chance to strike before too long. John gets 60 attacks in the minute, so every seven and a half will give the demons their turn for one. That means he gets one more shot before Cathcart lunges at him.
That looks like everyone for now.
--M. J. Young
Damn, why does the cool stuff always seem to happen on Friday??????? I won't know if I finished this fight for 2 days.
He's got a 1@10 SAL, 10@ bias but is limited to the world's 6@ bias, 2@2 BRA, and 2@2 RSV, which makes 76, +20 for point blank range (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that all three demons can be in point blank range at once) for 96
I'm confused. You said 96 was my attack chance, but rolled against the 76. Which is it?
That's your attack chance before defenses. The next words areHe's got a 1@10 SAL, 10@ bias but is limited to the world's 6@ bias, 2@2 BRA, and 2@2 RSV, which makes 76, +20 for point blank range (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that all three demons can be in point blank range at once) for 96I'm confused. You said 96 was my attack chance, but rolled against the 76. Which is it?
the demons each have 1@10 target value,which subtracts 20 from your total. If they had cover, or if their defenses were sit-mod based, that would have reduced it further.
Andrew, Harry, John III, John II, and Adam (who just missed me on Friday) are here.
Andrew rolls 25 on using the computer, and so finds something in his search--but it won't be a retail store. The GE roll is 10.
Harry continues to fight with his sword, attacking the disarmed man first. He needs initiative to land a blow before the other does (the one he is attacking has lost an attack), and rolls 19 against 47, so I have to check the opponent's chance to hit him again--it says 49 above, so the pirate goes first. 10 is the roll, with a dangerous weapon and no bonuses it does one intensity of damage. He then gets his two strikes, 64 killing the disarmed man, 58 doing in the one who hurt him.
Based on a slightly negative general effects roll a while back, I'd promised myself that Harry wouldn't get any help until he got injured; he is now injured, and here comes the help.
Based on John III's assessment that he is praying for all of them, I'm going to make this a new skill. He rolls 39, and that should give him 1@1 Cure Disease, multiple patients, M+2@4 sing and preach to the sick, anoint with oil, lay both hands on each and pray for them, 30:00TF, -16SM--I'm putting a -40 penalty for an unlimited number of patients (it would be four doublings from 1, which is 16, but that's a crowd so I'll stop there) and I'm doubling his time factor to 30 minutes for +10, so that's how I derive the sit-mod based on the changes to the previous skill.
John II gets an intuition check for his threat assessment, although I think it pretty evident where the threat lies at the moment. He rolls 12, which is well within his ability, and so he recognizes that Cathcart is about to pounce. 05 is a really poor success, 5 intensities divided in half by the 2@ damage value, discard fractions, that's -2 which brings him to -17 against a 2@9 DV, still quite viable. Cathcart's 15' leap is 1@8 SAL+2@9 BRA+2x12@ bias, 71% chance of landing where he intends, 86 is a near failure. That puts him out of range for his own attacks.
Adam is going to use his project pattern skill--which seems to be missing from my sheet, because we haven't updated from the con. I'll have to get that from him.
--M. J. Young
I probably should do this later, and do other things sooner; but I am here now, so let me address the game posts from Dave, Harry, John III, and John II.
I'm tempted to engage Dave in a discussion of Roman Catholicism versus Syncretism, but it would be unfair of me to do so; I'm also going to have to give some thought to how this will impact his prayers whenever they come into play, but since he is in a low mag world at the moment they probably won't come into play. However, I don't see Burly doing jewelry, so the matter will be delayed for the present.
Harry, looking for the enemy captain, rolls an intuition check of 17; his 1@7 intuition tying that makes it a very near failure. A 15 GE roll is barely favorable--a not unfavorable result--for the flow of combat. He rolls 45 for initiative, which the pirates cannot beat, and so attacks with a roll of 44, a fatal blow. Now to show off his allies. Harry has a 1@7 MSV, 2@2 BRA, 2x7@ bod bias, and 2@1 SAL, which gives him 2 attacks with a base (before defenses) chance to hit of 74%. The same numbers for Balcon are 9 attacks at 112%, and for Brown 6 at 90%. The cutlass is dangerous, and Balcon is +2DC+7 and Brown +2DC+1. That means they've got a considerably better chance to hit and as good a probability of their hits being fatal, so rather than roll these I'm going with the odds.
John III is praying for the sick individually now; it's 15 minutes each, three in the village. 86 is the first roll, 1@2 SAL, +14SM, 2@3/2=+12 Religion, +10 alliance world, 2@2 BRA, 2x12@ bias=94%, this is a shining success, and justifies handling it individually. We'll get to the next one next time, probably.
John II is correct that he should be able to finish Cathcart with his barrage of attacks, probably before the demon gets another swing--which will be good, since John cannot afford to have him land a solid blow. Staying at point blank range, he fires 29, and looking back I see a math error and conclude that Cathcart is already down 20 intensities. He divides the 29 by two for 14, and that will finish him. The other two demons will already have started closing on his approximate position, but he gets his attacks before they get theirs, so I'll wait for him to act.
That appears to be today's game, if I didn't miss anyone.
--M. J. Young