MJ, I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm saying I have a piece of paper that says I am a professional truck driver, but I DO NOT have the actual skill to drive one. I DO however have professional ability at driving a car, from three years as a pizza driver.
As I had hoped, Kurt and Court are both in motion, and now they are sort of headed toward each other. I will adjust accordingly, and then deal with Dave, Harry, and John II.
We'll save time and bring Kurt and Court together.
Dave takes the position of watchman for the demolitions team, and now has to prepare for it.
This time Harry is going to get involved in the fight, and this time the d12 rolls 12, so it's a big group--which will disperse on one dead or 3 (25% injured). He is using his psionic accuracy and his gun. The psionic roll is 59, which is not going to work; the gun's ranges are 3':6':12':24':+25/6', really intended for close quarter combat, but we'll give him a GE roll on range, 7 is better than expected, so we'll make it medium range, a -10 penalty, which will also explain his lack of concentration. Wait--I don't see the skill listed on his sheet.
I make a difficult ed level check for the newstand guy when John II asks him about the values of various metals, and he rolls (d30+10=)12, well within the education level of any third grader or better, which he certainly would be, so he knows something. This isn't the kind of universe that has per ounce prices on metals--asteroid mining has made such things plentiful, and fusion reactors have made them easy to synthesize. Still, they'll have more value than some other metals, even though they're not much used in the applications known to us today.
--M. J. Young
Can Kurt and Court do talking before you get to your post tonight? I'm just curious about whether or not that's frowned upon.
I figure that we can do simple communication would be safe. Is it?
Post as often as you like. You only have to stop if you hit something that would require referee adjudication, and it's usually obvious what those things are (trying to use a difficult skill, attacking one another, etc.). Even if you "go over" - assume something that MJ should have rolled for, mess with something that would have consequences you don't know about (but MJ does) - all MJ has to do is wind back the clock; when he posts, he'll say, "sorry, everything after post X hasn't happened yet, because when you poked the idol in the eye, a demon hopped out and said [you get the idea]".
I asked the same question in my initial gather, and that's roughly the answer I got. Post away.
Yes, indeed, feel free to post as much as you like. One post per thread per day is my limit, no one elses, and exists so I don't wind up stuck here for hours as I answer John II and see that Harry has posted, and then when I finish answering Harry I see another post from John II, and so on. (Sorry to pick on you guys, but you have frequently been right there; I could have picked on Adam, too, but this gives the idea.) As Scott says, as long as you don't attempt to do anything I would have to adjudicate I'm not going to complain about your interaction, and if something happens that interrupts what you've said you're doing, I'll insert it where it belongs and allow you to confirm or alter anything that follows it.
As for now, the matter has been mooted by the fact that I am now here and now posting in response to Court and Kurt, and Harry, and John II.
However, there's not much I can post for the first pair other than to say, please continue posting.
Harry reminds me that his gunslinging is a martial arts skill. I see a 1@1 SAL, 2@2 BRA, 1@8 RSV, 2x7@ bias, which altogether is 65%, against which he has a -10 range penalty for trying to hit something beyond 6' and the TV of his target, 1@7, 38% chance that he will hit. His martial arts connection gives him +DC on the weapon, raising it from damaging to dangerous. He rolls 70, so the shot makes noise but hits nothing. Meanwhile, Davis also fires his rifle, rolling 50. His total is 76 minus the 1@7 TV, but the ranges on the rifle are 5':10':20':40':+5/2', so he is already at short range when he pulls the trigger, and his 2@5 RSV gives him +DC to Dangerous, so that 50 is a hit for 5 intensities of damage. The captain will also fire when the enemy is in point blank range for his pistol, which will be after they thrown their spears.
Some of the cannibals will hurl spears at them. They have 1@9 SAL, 1@9 RSV, 1@9 BRA, and 3@ bias, 63% minus penalties. They are nominally better with the club than the spear, but the spear gives them more options, so d12 of them will throw and switch to clubs, the rest carrying their spears to melee, and the number is 12--not a pretty number, to be sure. Ranges for spears are 0':10':20':30':+10/3', and they are damaging, unbonused. Davis has a 1@10 TV, Harry 1@7, and the captain's is not given but is probably to Brown's 2@3, which is also his DV. The agent is probably a 1@5 TV and 1@5 DV. (Davis has a 2@2 DV, making Harry the vulnerable crewman here.) The agent will stay behind the crates for cover, which will give him -40. The attackers have four targets, of which the three with guns will have a slight edge on being chosen. Their chance to hit the captain is 40%, Davis 43%, Harry 46%, and the agent 8%. The best way to do this would seem to be to list out twelve attackers, roll for whom they attack, and roll for their attack roll, in a chart. Using a d30 to select target, 1-8 is Davis, 9-16 Harry, 17-24 the Captain, and 25-30 the agent.
- 15, 92
- 29, 57
- 19, 04
- 5, 58
- 26, 97
- 2, 97
- 11, 39
- 3, 19
- 8, 27
- 15, 58
- 3, 53
- 20, 43
- #4 miss
- #6 botch
- #8 hit 1
- #9 hit 2
- #11 miss.
- #1 miss
- #7 hit 2
- #10 miss
- #3 hit 1
- #12 miss.
- #2, miss
- #5 botch.
We'll break there, as it is the end of a round, and let Harry decide what to do going into the next round.
John II is trying to get some idea of the currency value, which is perfectly reasonable but isn't really something that the newstand dealer is going to be interested in doing--and in an interstellar market like this, there will be variations from location to location but an overall stability in the currency. We'll give him some not entirely useful information, and throw an unanswerable but seemingly innocuous question at him.
--M. J. Young
I'm looking at a relatively busy night, with Court and Kurt both conversing, Dave, Harry, Scott, and John II all in play behind them.
There's not much to say to the new guys, so we'll say it and move on.
Dave wants weapons and armor, but armor is not part of the equipment on Destiny.
Harry is in an initiative situation. Davis is the key to which side attacks first, as he is the one on point with the best chance to hit; he rolls 45, and I know that will hit for him, but the enemy might beat him with a 46--29 does not do it. Thus our guys attack first, and that means Davis with pistol and a few sword swipes, and Harry with the sword. 47 with the pistol will mean that the third attacker has been wounded, and that's 25%, so they're going to quail at this point, and I don't need to pursue anything unless Harry does.
I'm not certain whether the answer Scott gets is going to help him, but on a 12 GE roll he's going to get something positive, so we'll start answering a question with a question, and see where it takes us.
John II gets a 25 GE roll on a boxing-based gym; no roll is necessary for laundromats or religious institutions. He gets an 18 on archery and a 19 on porn supplies, so both exist but he hasn't found them.
--M. J. Young
MJ, I just realized a new weakness that my character has. He would be predisposed to morphine addiction, and might in fact be a low grade addict. I was on morphine for 3 months in Pearl Harbor. That was a common side effect.
John, I can see that you might have been addicted to morphine. However, I also perceive that you were out of the hospital somewhere in custody for about a year in that world, and you were in a world without any morphine for a year after that, so it's a bit late in the day for it--you have by now gone cold turkey.
We have Kurt playing and Court involved, also Dave, Harry, Scott, and John II.
Kurt and Court return to Michael.
Dave is trying to prepare for his mission, but he can't find the stuff he wants.
We're wrapping up Harry's adventure in Emerald, and pretty soon he'll be back at sea.
Scott is trying to explain religion in a world in which it is unknown. I probably should have thought this through a bit more in advance, because it occurs to me that without modern religion we probably would not have holidays--the first federal holiday, Christmas, was created not because the government wanted to respect the religious practice of the Christian faith but because the civil service management recognized that enough people were going to call out sick that day that there wouldn't be enough working to be able to do anything, so they just cancelled work. From there, the employees got the idea that they deserved to have off other days, and the practice expanded. However, I don't think we've hit any holidays yet, and I don't think I've mentioned any churches, so I'm good on this point.
There is good reason why there would be no smoking in "the mall", but John II has not yet discovered them, so I can't give him more than that. I was going to add my descriptions of his jumpsuits to my sheet, but I don't see them listed on my sheet, so we've got another equipment discrepancy to resolve.
--M. J. Young
I've had a few interruptions, but am now ready to address game posts from Court and Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John II.
I don't have much to say to Court or Kurt until they ask something; Michael is not much for volunteering information.
We'll bring Dave closer to the adventure.
Harry gets a 14 GE roll on whether there's interest in his religion. That's a not desired but generally favorable result, so that's a step in the right direction but not a good one.
John II's very first roll on the simple TK skirt lifting is 96, so since that's a botch on any chance of success less than 51 I'd better check the numbers. The bias in this world is such that everything is difficult--0@25 means he can do anything, but no one else can, and he gets no bonus for bias. That's a serious problem, since he's got a 1@3 SAL and 2@2 BRA, so he has a 35% chance of success, and that means this is a botch.
Let's make a list:
- Throw target person
- Brain burn
- Throw nearby object
- Teleport target person
- Teleport self
- Throw self
- Psionic Shock Wave
- Neural Breakdown
- Target is a man
- Dissolve floor
I won't try to say that John is being punished for the misuse of his power--but the dice never lie.
--M. J. Young
I won't try to say that John is being punished for the misuse of his power--but the dice never lie.
Ah, but you're forgetting that I would have gotten the exact same dice roll with the exact same results no matter what I was trying to do. If I was trying to go non corporeal and walk through the store window, I still would have rolled a 96 with brain burn. Unless YOU are lying, it would have happened the same way, no matter what.
I won't try to say that John is being punished for the misuse of his power--but the dice never lie.
MJ, Two Posts (It's a habit)
Ya know MJ, I've been thinking about that a lot since my jeep crash. It's part of my OCD. I fixate on things until I figure them out. How that played out is exactly how it would have. A jerk cop rolls up to me in his jeep. I still think I've got full psionic capabilities. I start pulsing his head. I think Adam rolled 2 successes, 2 failures, 1 botch. Botch, Knock Out Driver. That's exactly what would have happened. I pulse him twice, I get cocky and fail. I get mad, try harder, still fail. Then I wonder why I knock the guy out? I just hit him with 3 pulses worth of energy!!!!!! I just wish I had gotten a MUCH better GE roll on how the crash went, but that's exactly what would have happened.
John, I have addressed your thoughts about the die rolls in a new thread, The Dice Never Lie?. I'll use this post for its appropriate purpose, running games for Kurt and Court, Dave, and John 2.
I noticed this evening that at some point I seem to have transitioned from Arabic to Roman numerals for name identifiers; I think I'll attempt to transition back.
Kurt is headed up the mountain; I'm waiting to hear from Court, but I'll give Kurt such information as he would glean in such a trip, at least in broad outline.
I'm not certain whether Dave wants to say or do anything before he transmats over, so I'll give him the chance.
John 2 has put me in an odd situation, because he is using a prayer to heal an injury but what he has suffered is not, in the strict sense, and injury--it is pain without damage. One might think of it as comparable to a pinched nerve, except that ever nerve in his entire brain is pinched. Looking at his sheet, he doesn't have anything that will do this; but he is praying, and if he is successful--well, I don't have to worry about that, as the roll is 82, so he is not successful.
On the search for a culture like a Native American he gets a GE of 23--which fits my expectations pretty well anyway.
As far as bringing him a teacher--well, I'm thinking that this would be a very interesting and positive step in this scenario, but I'm going to make him give me more information on his prayer first, so I can roll for it.
--M. J. Young
I am embarrassed to note that I missed Harry. He's probably already posting to say that I missed him. I realized it because I stopped to read that excellent response he made to the thread about God and the dice.
There's not much to say, though, but that he's underway, so let me get him underway.
--M. J. Young
Again we have Kurt, Harry, and John 2.
Kurt goes up and comes down.
Harry has been trying to do this spell for quite a while; looks like it lands on tonight's game.
It is holy alliance magic, so he gets the alliance bonus and his religion bonus.
It does exactly the same thing as his
1@8 Consecrate Holy Ground M+1@1 creates consecrated circle 8 feet in diameter, 2:00:00 TF, lengthy appropriate words calling the four corners, calling upon Njordr, god of the sea, to bless the space, Odin, in his capacity as god of wisdom, to guide the casting, and Freya, goddess of magic and patron of sorcerers, to lend strength and valor, with my sword Soulmourn in right hand, sound matters, in English, concentration not interrupted during casting, and limited so that if I am dismissed from the Mary Piper the circle will be rendered useless; add that five minute calling the corners and invoking the gods must be said inside the space before it can be used for casting, +32SMexcept that some of the variables are altered. That makes it a M+1@1 Consecrate Holy Ground ritual.
We need an area of effect--he expects it to be considerably larger than the 8' diameter circle of his other skill, but I don't think we've agreed on how large.
The ritual takes 2:00:00, the same time factor as the old skill.
It lasts the same time as the other--effectively permanent, until he leaves the Mary Piper.
We have appropriate words as before, and most of the other factors are as before. Thus the sit-mod is going to depend on the difference between an 8' diameter circle and whatever he is going to have, -10 for each doubling of that area, off the +32 of the smaller scale skill. We'll wait for his answer on the size.
We'll address the problems with the emeralds. There are solutions, but Harry will have to find them for himself.
John 2 has put together a pretty clever prayer for the healing of the pain. Brain burn is notoriously difficult to fix, but this might do it.
I'm calling it a M+2@3 Counter Nerve Pain, which has a 1:00 TF. His 5:00 TF will be two and a quarter doublings, +23. He has appropriate words for +5, and I'm giving him another +5 for penitence. His total body involvement for +15 is noted. I'm also going to say that the severity of pain on this particular instance is -20 against him, but that's not part of the regular sit-mod. So he has +48 along with his other bonuses, the roll is 26, and that's a successful 1@1 Counter Nerve Pain (including Brain Burn) M+2@3 kneel with hands folded and pray "God please relieve my pain that I've been caused. I realize that it was my own lusts that caused it. I pray for forgiveness of my lusty behavior, and for relief from the pain I have caused myself as a result" for five minutes +48SM Brain burn my create penalties.
Next he is headed into a serious magic challenge. What he wants is an off-world sentient informer, someone from another universe who can teach him psionics--although I'm assuming he's not including control in that, so that makes it a bit easier. The base TF for such a summoning is 6:00; he's got 5:00, which is only 5/6 the base time, so he's at -2 for that. It's an 11@8 skill, +5 for appropriate words, +15 for total commitment of his body, so the inherent sit-mod is +18. It's an alliance world for +10 to alliance skills, a 0@ mag bias, +9 for his 1@8 religion, +2@2 for his BRA, and he has a 12@6 bias, all against the 11@8 target skill. His positives come to 185 and the negatives to 118, 185-118=67% chance of success. The roll is 79, so it is not happening today. Kind of too bd that, but I suspect John will try again.
As is no doubt apparent, I've had a number of lengthy interruptions. I am now finished.
--M. J. Young
I'm hoping to get some extra things done today, which is a bad hope given that Tuesday is a heavy workload as it is, but let's start by addressing Court and Kurt and Harry and John 2.
While Kurt soaks his head, Court starts getting an explanation.
I've never actually detailed the size of the Mary Piper either. She needs to be big, big enough that the battles make sense and the amount of cargo she can carry can make the trip functional. On the other hand, the crew is fewer than thirty men, and only a handful of them work the deck on a vessel that is under sail around the clock. Looking at one of the largest frigates ever built, I find that the U. S. S. Constitution was 175 feet long, 43.5 feet in breadth and 22.5 feet in depth. We'll make this ship 150'x40'x20'. The hold then will be divided into sections of various sizes from roughly 20x10 to 40x40, and the ones used for food storage will be 30x20--but there will be three of these, of which one is used to transport food for the crew and the others for transporting food as cargo. We'll toss this information to Harry and see what he does with it.
John 2 is using prayer to get his belongings. He is particularly asking God to determine the "safest and easiest" way for him to retrieve these objects; he knows with reasonable accuracy where they are except for his sneakers, which I believe from what he says are not actually in his mind at this time. He also describes it as if he has already decided that he needs to go to his belongings, not have his belongings come to him (which would otherwise be my automatic choice for "retrieve"). I am inclined to think that a M+3@4 release lock is the best choice here, so I'll go with that. A roll of 03 is going to do the job; I'm going to post that and then come back here to crunch the numbers for the character sheet.
We have a 5:00 ritual against a 0:12 baseline, five doublings reaches 3:12 and it's about another half, just shy, so +54 for time. +5 appropriate, +15 full involvement, +10 for the limitation that he must have possessions on the other side of the locked or barred door. 1@1 Release Lock M+3@4 kneel with hands folded and pray "God, give me the means to retrieve my belongings. Whatever way you, in your infinite wisdom, believe to be the safest and easiest way to do so. Be it providing me with a key to the door, or by dissolving the wall so that I can pass through it. However would be the easiest, safest way for me to retrieve my belongings, that is what I would like for you to do for me." causes door to unlock so as to open easily, provided that caster owns objects on the other side of the door, +84SM. That was less trouble than I anticipated.
--M. J. Young
I'm looking at Harry and John 2 today. I've also got extra things on my plate, so I'm going to do them and return.
I don't see any reason why the Captain wouldn't let Harry use his magic on the galley food hold; but then, the chain of command is going to get Doc Evan involved, too.
I don't know whether John 2 has tripped an alarm, or indeed whether there is an alarm he is going to trip, but I figure the first thing is to give him the quick tour of the place to answer his questions.
--M. J. Young
Ya know MJ, I was thinking about it just now. You described Brain Burn as having all of the nerves in your brain pinched at the same time. A psychotic episode is when all of the nerves in your brain fire simultaneously. In other words, I am undoubtedly the only person on this board, including MJ, that has any idea what Brain Burn actually feels like. If you've ever wondered if you could be in enough pain to want to kill yourself, try having a psychotic episode.
Speaking of which, like I said, from a medical standpoint, Brain Burn sounds very similar to a psychotic episode. I always started screaming obscenities when I was in the middle of one of those. I imagine Brain Burn would have the same effect.
I again have Harry and John 2, and again have pressures on my time, but we'll see what we can do and do what we can see.
I'll give Harry a GE roll against the possibility that one or the other of his two interested parties might be interested enough and available to attend his ritual, but on a 26 that's not going to happen. He also has to get this past Doc Evans, and a persuasion check of 30 against a will power check of 8 is not good, so there's trouble there. However, he rolls 34 on accomplishing the task, which means he has certainly learned the new skill and I have to put together the description. It is identitical to
1@8 Consecrate Holy Ground M+1@1 creates consecrated circle 8 feet in diameter, 2:00:00 TF, lengthy appropriate words calling the four corners, calling upon Njordr, god of the sea, to bless the space, Odin, in his capacity as god of wisdom, to guide the casting, and Freya, goddess of magic and patron of sorcerers, to lend strength and valor, with my sword Soulmourn in right hand, sound matters, in English, concentration not interrupted during casting, and limited so that if I am dismissed from the Mary Piper the circle will be rendered useless; add that five minute calling the corners and invoking the gods must be said inside the space before it can be used for casting, +32SMexcept that he is hitting a considerably larger chunk of ground. The area of a circle is pi*r^2, in this case roughly 3x16, which is pretty close to 50 square feet. He is tackling an area 30x20, 600 square feet. That's three and a half doublings--once to 100, again to 200, again to 400, and half again to 600--for -35; he's got a +32SM on the old skill, which is wiped out and brought to -3SM. Thus we have 1@8 Consecrate Holy Ground M+1@1 creates consecrated area of 300 square feet, 2:00:00 TF, lengthy appropriate words calling the four corners, calling upon Njordr, god of the sea, to bless the space, Odin, in his capacity as god of wisdom, to guide the casting, and Freya, goddess of magic and patron of sorcerers, to lend strength and valor, with my sword Soulmourn in right hand, sound matters, in English, concentration not interrupted during casting, and limited so that if I am dismissed from the Mary Piper the circle will be rendered useless; add that five minute calling the corners and invoking the gods must be said inside the space before it can be used for casting, -3SM.
John 2 gets a 10 GE on being detected in this faux break-in; I guess his prayer covered the alarm as well as the doors. On the jewelry store, I know they have them all over so I'm giving him a 2d10+1 GE roll for finding one that "deals in the kinds of gems that I have." He has quite a variety of kinds of gems, so it's pretty likely that he'll find something, just a matter of where. The dice roll 6, 1, so that (with the extra 1) is 8, Remarkably Good but Not Unexpected. That won't get him to the store immediately, but it will get him to it, if he chooses to follow directions.
--M. J. Young
I am obviously slipping here. Kurt also posted, and I didn't see it until I thought I was finished. In fact, if Harry hadn't asked about Whisp and Mother, I probably would not have seen it at all.
I've answered it now, though--describing the interior of the cave sufficiently that he should recognize what's happening there.
--M. J. Young
I'm looking at Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John 2.
Kurt is walking barefoot in shallow running water on smooth as glass volcanic rock which is slightly sloped and increasing. He's going to have to make a walking skill check in this circumstance to keep his footing, and if he fails--well, we'll have to assess that. I grant him the standard human body skills package, which includes 2@1 Walk at Walking Speeds B2@4, to which we add 2x his 5@ bod bias (no acrobatics or martial arts noted), and a 1@8 BRA for his agility, 49% chance that he will keep his feet, 5% chance that he will botch. He rolls 18, so for a short while, at least, he is going to keep his footing. Whether he continues to do so will depend on how far he decides to go, but an 18 is not that strong a success so he's not going to be able to do anything remarkable with this.
Dave goes through his first transmat. Let's see how he takes it.
Harry is going to activate the holy ground and perform his two favorite skills on it. 95 on the activation requires me to check. He has a +28 inherent sit-mod on a 1@8 SAL holy magic skill, his 2@5 witchcraft religion giving him +13 and +10 for alliance magic in an alliance world, his 3@1 bias is negated by the 0@ bias of the world, but his 2@3 BRA giving a significant boost, 117 the total, so it's active.
The +74SM on the Purify skill makes it silly to roll, but 46 is a good roll which will be effective. The remove fatigue skill also has a powerful +91 sit-mod for his 1:00 ritual, 74 rolled is a strong success.
Before anything else happens in his world, there will be some time during which nothing else happens. We'll give him that chance.
John 2 has something of value on him, and he is now looking at how to make it pay. I've valued all the gems in what they would have been worth in a ten gold to the pound economy (a standard in fantasy games), and doubled the values to the credits used here, but of course the jeweler isn't going to buy gems at full value because he is in business to make a profit selling them.
That's all for now.
--M. J. Young
Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John 2 are today's players.
Kurt and I were not communicating well about the nature of the tunnel in which he has embarked; hopefully I have clarified that.
I'm surprised Dave didn't scream or something, but that's fine. He has arrived on the station and can begin his mission. He gets a 13 GE roll, barely good enough.
Harry is using his downtime interestingly. We do have a problem about "new use".
Since his storytelling has an objective, I'm going to have to roll his skill check. I have to establish his SAL, but I have good basis for making it 2@5; it would be a M0@1 skill, because it is like M0@2 acting simplified. He rolls 49; he has a 2@3 BRA which makes 48, but since he is particularly telling stories of his religion I'll include the religion bonus so that he is successful, and that rather strongly.
I'm covering what I can of answers for John 2, but he's asking a jeweler about real estate prices and standard wages, and those aren't going to be questions the man can answer. I've also got to keep in mind how the monetary system of this world works, and who is likely to step outside that framework--an upscale jeweler is going to avoid any hint of impropriety in his business, because he has too much at stake.
--M. J. Young
Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John 2 are today's contestants. Gene, tell them what they can win...oh, no, wrong game.
Kurt is asking for a knife, and there's no reason Michael wouldn't lend one to him, but no way he would give him one.
Dave rolls a 12 Good Enough GE roll on the next leg of the mission.
Harry has engaged me in some discussion concerning New Use, which I encourage others to read. I probably should have created a new thread, but I'm too busy today. Meanwhile, he reaches his next event, and rolls an 8 GE on the circumstance, which will put him at the helm. He has pirates boarding.
John 2 is probably getting frustrated with his situation. He doesn't have currency in a world in which all transactions are electronic, and he can't really determine what all his gem stones are or what they are worth without having the currency to spend on them.
--M. J. Young
Again Kurt, David, Harry, and John 2.
Kurt has asked a question and been given a test. Perhaps he will learn something--but can he use a knife?
David gets a 17 GE roll on the next leg of the journey, neutral.
We left Harry running from some pirates who were attempting to board; the pirates have the lighter, faster ship, so the question really is how much time he can buy the crew to mobilize before the enemy is ready to board.
Harry is correct that he has been in this world for nearly a year--358 days today--and has been practicing a number of skills, although not all of them from the first day. I am going to make a quick update of some of the skills which appear to have been overlooked to this point. There is a stated rate of improvement on those skills he uses regularly in his job, but for those which he is practicing on his own, sixty hours per hundred days gives him one mark, and he has been at this long enough to have gotten three marks on the skills he is practicing.
- 1@2 Pilot Ship T3@1
- 1@4 Heightened Awareness (Accuracy) P 3@1
- 1@6 TK Pulse P4@1
- 1@5 Telescopic Vision P5@1
- 1@4 Night Vision P5@1
- 2@5 Witchcraft Mag 1@0+3
- 1@10 Activate (Existing) Holy Ground M+1@1
Telescopic Vision roll 72, failed. However, something works--he rolls 10 on his piloting skill.
John 2 is coming to grips with the fact that there is no "money" of the sort he expects in this world. We'll see what he does with that. Of course, he has not yet again prayed for that verser teacher, and I expect that this will be interesting if he succeeds in that.
--M. J. Young
It looks like once I've addressed posts from Kurt, Dave, Harry, John 2, and Graeme, I get to play--assuming that this thunderstorm doesn't take out my power.
Kurt passes his knife identification test, and is ready to do some whittling.
There are a lot of things that can go wrong in Dave's situation, but with a 13 Barely Good Enough GE roll most of them will go right. Let's see what Dave does with a potential problem.
Harry creates a spell to give speed to his ship. I need to check a few points. First, though, he tries that TK pulse against the pursuit ship, 83 does not work.
I've got to start figuring out how TerraNova fits together a bit better. I've mentioned that John 2 started out on the main concourse, and that he went up about fifteen levels to get to his gear, and that he had to go down a few levels to get to the jeweler; he also walked for about an hour from where he started, which I take to have been near the center of the mall. We'll assume the mall is 40 levels and that he started on level 20 and went up to level 35 and came back down to level 33. Now, let's put that in the broader context. I'm thinking that the offices are on level 100 of the TerraNova compound, and that the lowest levels are for physical plant and docking for cargo shipping. Residential areas would be above the offices, business offices below--and probably businesses would be below the mall, although they might also be above the mall, because mall proprietors would like the idea that passing through the mall (even by elevator) was on the way from where a lot of people work to where they live. So if we put the TerraNova management on level 100, then the mall runs from level 99 down to level 60, he started on level 80, went up to 95 and down to 93.
He's also attempting to pray again, to summon a teacher to help him. However, before I can figure out whether it works, I have to figure out how long he intends to pray--and that means I have to figure out whether he's taking the stairs, the elevator, or what.
Graeme is preparing for his diplomatic missions as well as he can. Learning a language by magical means is a complication. The confering of the language as a permanent skill would be a M15@2 ability, which is above the level in Roma and therefore impossible for the priest; on the other hand, he probably can perform a M7@4 Translation with an extended duration based on an extended ritual.
--M. J. Young
Again I have Kurt, Dave, Harry, and John 2.
I'm confused about what Kurt is seeking for his spears, but I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it quickly.
I have some uncertainty about the numbers on David's "cold cock" maneuver. On the one hand, he does have a weapon-oriented martial arts combat style and so it's simple enough to bring this in as a new technique within the style (he could as easily cold cock someone with the hilt of the sword as with the butt of the gun). On the other hand, he is citing two examples which are not all that useful. I probably have commented before about having as a child taught myself to sword fight with my brothers by watching how it was done in old movies, and not realizing until I was in my thirties that I was relying on a very bad example. After all, real sword fighters are trying to hit each other; those in movies are trying very hard not to hit each other. As a result, my concept of swordfighting had to do with trying to hit each other's swords, the way they did it in the movies.
The point is, when we see an actor coldcock another actor, they are both acting. The last thing either of them wants is for the one to succeed in bludgeoning the other into unconsciousness. With videogames, it is one step more complicated--we do not know whether the people who animated these are copying the movies or have real knowledge of how it is done.
At the same time, it's clear that such a technique is plausible in the verse, and he ought to be able to use it. I think, though, that his example is going to be limited to a 1@1 rank amateur.
I'll roll for whether he learns it after we resolve the problem of when and where he actually does it.
I have probably five things going on with Harry. He is piloting the ship. He is also praying for extra speed (or more precisely for an increase in the difference between his speed and that of the ship behind--he will accept the ship behind being slowed). He is using the TK Pulse--but only when he is not praying, which he is doing for ten minutes. Meanwhile, there are the questions of how long it will take for the pursuing ship to catch them and how long it will take for the defense of the ship to be mobilized. The last two can be managed by a GE roll. There is the chance that the pursuit ship will catch them before he finishes his prayer and before his companions are ready; it is possible that only one of those things will be so. It is possible that he will get his prayer finished, throw a couple of TK pulses, survive an exchange of cannon fire, and then have the pirates attempt to board into a well-prepared defense. Because he is attempting to pilot the ship and pray at the same time, we need another piloting skill check; the roll is 11, so he is holding his own at the helm. He's got a 19 GE roll, Not Thwarting but Generally Unfavorable Result. That will give him just enough time to finish his prayer; if the prayer is successful, he'll get his boost of speed and a chance to throw a TK pulse, the result of which will determine whether he gets a chance to throw another.
Looking at his skill description, we have a lot of ways this might work. The problem is that he's up against a 0@3 mag bias (and that's a tad higher than what I usually use in this world), so anything above a curve of 3 is out. That means he can't impact the enemy's piloting skill check (1@4), or manipulate the wind or currents (4@4), or create a shield (5@2), so the first skill that might do this which is possible in this world is a M+6@1 Prevent Movement. Baselines for that skill give short ranges of 10':20':30':40':+5/2' (they are envisioned for targeting people, but can be used this way). They usually have 1 to 10 TF to Duration, which means that for his ten minute prayer he buys one hundred minutes of effect. He is going to want to make some tradeoffs on that. There is also a factor, that the target can make an attribute check to break free of the hold. That is problematic, because the target is inanimate and has no attributes.
Let's double the ranges twice to 40:80':120':160':+5/8'. He's going to be at the unmodified short range when he finishes his skill, and takes -20 for this. We'll cut the duration from 100 minutes to 25 minutes, which gives him +20. We have +5 appropriate language, +2 because the sound is vital (even though quiet), but he has no physical involvement and no material components, so that's -10 for one aspect only. That makes the inherent sit-mod -3. Now, to learn it he includes his +10 Alliance bonus, +13 Religion bonus, +3@1 bias, and +2@3 BRA against a 6@1 mag skill with a -3 SM, 77-64=13% chance that this will work. He's had some good rolls lately; I would really like to see this happen. The roll is 43, nothing happens.
He still gets a shot at the TK pulse at this moment, 29 is a solid success for a 1@9 BRA with 1@6 SAL, 35%, and I'll credit him +1 mark for new use (trying to shift a huge vessel) which raises it to 1@7.
John 2 is only going to take about ten minutes by the nearest elevator to get to the level he wants. First, though, I have to answer his questions, then I have to check his prayer. We now have a 10:00 TF. Pulling down the previous attempt, I read
What he wants is an off-world sentient informer, someone from another universe who can teach him psionics--although I'm assuming he's not including control in that, so that makes it a bit easier. The base TF for such a summoning is 6:00; he's got 5:00, which is only 5/6 the base time, so he's at -2 for that. It's an 11@8 skill, +5 for appropriate words, +15 for total commitment of his body, so the inherent sit-mod is +18. It's an alliance world for +10 to alliance skills, a 0@ mag bias, +9 for his 1@8 religion, +2@2 for his BRA, and he has a 12@6 bias, all against the 11@8 target skill. His positives come to 185 and the negatives to 118, 185-118=67% chance of success.He has doubled the time, 1 2/3 the baseline, so that goes from -2 to +7, raising the sit-mod from +18 to +27, and his chance of success from 67 to 76. He's abandoned the +15 for total commitment of the body--he is walking to his destination, and distracted at that by looking for the way--so we remove the +15 he had for that, bring the sit-mod down to +12 and the chance of success to 61. Everything else is the same, and he rolls 17, so he just succeeded--but since he's not at the moment relaxing but is rather busy, he won't know it yet. Besides, I don't have to bring the informer to him right now right where he is; this can happen anytime within a reasonable time given his need. (It would be different if he needed an answer to this question right this instant; he doesn't.) He gets a 5 GE on administrative red tape--that puts him right at the front of the line, although this might not be the person who will resolve his problem.
--M. J. Young
Oops twice. I forgot to list John 2's new skill, and I forgot that if he wasn't involving his body in the skill he loses -10 for having only a spoken component. The listing is 1@1 Call Off-world Sentient Informer M+11@8 pray for 10:00 appropriate words +2 SM will bring an experienced verser to his world to teach him what he needs to know.
Also, John, I have your bias listed as 12@6, but do not see a teleport or flight skill that goes with this. My best guess is that you must have learned it in Dancing Princess and amidst all the other confusion I forgot to copy it to the sheet. Can you point me to this?
--M. J. Young
The highest mag skill that I have is actually 1@1 Call Angelic Messenger M+11@7 5:00TF kneeling with appropriate words, calls specific angel messenger to answer questions; others present see the angel as a faint image and hear a distant echoing voice +27SM I don't know where I got the 12@6 from.
You walked on water. That's a limited form of M12@6 Lift Self.
Once again, Scott saves the day.
Actually, our most helpful resident lurker e-mailed the information to me, and I added it to the character sheet earlier today:
1@3 Walk on Water M+12@6 pray "God, there are people on the other side that need our help. As Jesus Christ walked on water, and as Peter attempted, I wish to now walk on water, that I might engage and destroy your enemies. God, give me the ability to walk on water." while kneeling with hands folded and head bowed beside body of water for 0:18 TF then step onto water, +15 SM.So with that settled, we'll move forward with games for Kurt, Dave, Harry, John 2, and Graeme.
Kurt needs two GE rolls--one for how long it takes to find the wood he wants for these spears, and the other for conditions on the island. Rolled in that order, they are 16, 18. I should roll for his carving skill; we've established a 1@4 SAL, the world tech bias is 0@25 so he gets no bonus there, and his BRA is a 2@2 intellect, so that's a 36% chance of success. He rolls 64. It sounds like the world is biased against this sort of thing.
Dave isn't going to get his chance to try the cold cock maneuver because George isn't going to invite the tech into the room. Works this time, anyway.
Harry turns his attention to a couple of prayers. I'm noting his 2@3 BRA because I see it as I'm turning through the sheet, but the prayers he has referenced don't look like he can do them while piloting the ship. I'll have to get clarification.
John 2's explanation doesn't sound quite like he means it, I think; anyway, if someone told me what he told this lady, I would take it entirely wrong.
I'm thinking that His Swiftness will not have done this spell very often, but it will be an elaborate enough ritual that it is unlikely to fail. Thus I'm not going to roll for it, but simply tell Graeme that he spends three hours in the temple as the ritual is conducted.
--M. J. Young
I am going to have to interrupt--we've got car trouble, and it's limiting our mobility and requiring that we cover each other's transportation needs--but I'm going to begin with Kurt and then turn my attention in turn to Dave, Harry, and John 2, and if I don't finish them all before I have to run out of here, I'll come back to finish them when I return.
Kurt is fighting against low bias in this situation--his effort to carve is not curved out, but it is completely unsupported and so faces significant difficulty. We'll give him another roll based on the suggestion that he repositions himself and starts again, but he's undertaking a rather difficult task for an amateur, akin to trying to light a fire in a rainstorm. 58 again fails.
Dave continues to get good GE rolls--this one a 14. That's not a perfect situation, but not yet a bad one.
O.K., I have a lot to do for Harry, but most of it is fairly simple.
First, he is casting his Bonus Strike, but I think a 67 is a stretch--even with his +10 alliance bonus and +13 for religion, his 2@3 SAL and 1@1 BRA and +6 SM only give him 63%, higher than I expected but not quite good enough. Next he is firing his gun at a target of uncertain range, and using the TK pulse to bonus his chance to hit. This is not so difficult as it sounds. He will fire the gun with the range penalty, but also roll the TK pulse and, if that is successful, the roll will be added to the chance to hit. If he is at extreme range he takes a damage category penalty anyway, but he still might hit. The TK pulse SAL is 1@7, and the BRA is 1@9, so that's 36% chance of success, 70 rolled, no luck there. Pistol ranges are short, 3':6':12':24':+25/6'; that means he can fire to 24' with a -25 penalty but he takes another -25 penalty for every 6' or portion thereof behind that distance. The question, then, is how far he would be from the helmsman of the other ship.
I already gave dimensions for this ship. It is 40' broad, so the helm is 20' from the gunnels--a few feet less, as the aftcastle will narrow slightly, so we'll make it 17'. The pirate ship is considerably smaller, being a light and fast ship, so we'll put her helmsman 10' from the gunnel. She's also going to be lower, and I'll give him +10 for shooting down at his target; but the closest they can be is 28' (there must be at least a foot of space between them), and at anything above 24 up to 30' it's -50, and beyond that to 36' it's -75. If it's beyond 36' it's -100, and already we're looking at -DC for each of those "beyonds" so it wouldn't matter if he hit or not at that point. I'll give a GE roll for how far, based on distance categories and recognizing that a really good roll--well, if he gets a 3 I'll give him twenty-four feet, explaining that at that moment the pilot was leaning in toward the gunnel standing this side of the wheel. He did not get a 3--but he got an 11, so we'll give him -50 for range, +10 for shooting down, +2@3 BRA, +2x7@ bias--and I do not see his SAL for firing a gun. Oh, right--it's a bod skill for him, strike that. His Bod BRA is 2@2, the bias is still 2x7@, and he's got a 1@1 SAL. He also gets his RSV against his target's TV, +1@8, -1@7, and our total is 8% chance to hit, he rolls 06, great shot, but it's only going to hurt morale--a damaging weapon -DC is annoying, and on an 06 it hits for no damage. It will hurt and leave a bruise or a scratch, but it doesn't do enough damage to count.
Still, remarkable shot, and although I wouldn't usually do this I'm going to give him a mark for new use: sharpshooting at extreme range. That gives him a 1@2 SAL.
Can John 2 talk to Sheila "in private"? I envisioned her in an outer office but not with other desks around--just the two of them, but visible from the hall. His stipulation reminds me that it might be different--it might be desks, like in a television version of a precinct squad room, or cubicles like at motor vehicles or social security. A 17 GE puts it right about where I thought.
More to do.
--M. J. Young
It looks like today's foursome is Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Graeme.
Kurt gets a lesson in bias. Not many starters do, but he's asked the right question.
I have trouble with the notion that an amateur level TK pulse in a flatlined psi bias world could capsize a canoe, let alone a ship, but I do think that Harry is on to something, so if he gets a successful roll over 20 I'll give him a 2d10+1 GE roll for what it does--although it's going to have to be well beyond expectations for me to buy that the ship took on water. The chance on the TK pulse, just calculated, was 36%; but I raised the SAL since then, so it's now 37%. He rolls 60, which is not going to work.
I'm particularly fond of comments out of place, and John 2 has made one--mentioning a "straight jacket" so far in the future that such a thing will not have existed in time out of mind.
- Digressing, one of my very favorite moments in Farscape was when the main character, having just snapped out of a precognitive vision, says to his two alien companions, "I'm going to go out and get some air," and then after he leaves one says to the other, "But--we have air in here."
As usual, Graeme surprises me; I threw in the Roman because it seemed silly to say that there were so many of one and the rest were the other, so now we get to explore what sort of Roman dissident would be in this particular prison.
But we will be exploring that another day.
--M. J. Young
Yeah MJ. It's like the one about the two guys that want to go out to eat. One says "I know a place where we can eat 'dirt cheap'" and the other guy picks up a handful of dirt, shoves it into his mouth and says "We can eat all the dirt we want right here for free."
"One gunstar against the whole armada? It'll be a slaughter!"
"That's the spirit!"
I've got to find that on DVD. That's a great movie.
Kurt, Dave, Harry, John 2--fasten your seatbelts.
I recall Kurt pulling a slightly negative GE roll on the situation on the island, and that means it's time for another roll: 17 is neutral, so there's no change--but since we've established a negative trend with the previous roll, no change means the negative trend continues.
Dave finishes the critical part of the mission, and now we have to find out what's happening back on the ship. 9 is As Good As Expected as a GE roll, so things are going very smoothly.
Harry goes for another TK pulse, 26 meeting my criteria for a solid hit, 9+5+1=15 only marginally good. He'll like what he sees, but there will be a bit of a negative to it.
John 2 gets his check-up. He'll get a clean bill of health, although if he is hiding something they will know that he is hiding something.
--M. J. Young
Yeah, I remember seeing The Last Starfighter in theaters when I was a kid. It is a good movie.
I apologize for missing yesterday. I was busy dealing with a kidney stone. It's late already, as I've tried to catch up two days in one (unsuccessfully, I predict), but let me deal with Kurt, Dave, Harry, John 2, and Graeme.
Kurt gets an 8 GE roll, which is going to forestall the end of this world for a while and give him opportunity to observe Di Vars.
Dave's team did plant the explosives properly, so they succeed in destroying the operational systems of the space station. I regret that it's not going to explode like the Death Star--but then, everyone is too close for that kind of thing to be good, and it would make it much more difficult to salvage the equipment they want. As Hagar always says, pillage then burn.
Harry wants to increase his skill with the gun, but that's going to take time.
John 2 rolls 21, bad enough, on the jeweler. That's not going to mean he's closed, but it is going to be a problem.
I'm still trying to figure out who Graeme's Roman dissident is. A 19 GE roll gives me ideas.
Let's see what everyone does with all that.
--M. J. Young
I apologize for missing yesterday. I was busy dealing with a kidney stone.
Excuses, excuses...........
(Kidding MJ, I hope you're feeling better.)
Tonight's players are Kurt, Harry, and John 2.
I laugh; Kurt wants to make small talk with Michael di Vars.
Harry continues to pilot the ship and harrass the pirates. He wants another TK pulse--he can have one per minute, so we're good here. 67, though, is a failure. 01 is a weak success.
In a world with the technology they have here, a valuation of a gemstone is a very precise matter, so John 2 will get his previous information confirmed.
--M. J. Young
Well, in an interesting turn, there are maybe nine game threads active today, but I am only participating in two: Dave's and John 2's.
Dave is wrapping up a relatively uneventful adventure; I'm going to have to do some rolls pretty soon for what happens next.
John 2 is selling his most valuable stone so he will have money in this world. It's a solid amount of money, and should hold him for a while while he figures out what to do next.
--M. J. Young
Kurt, Harry, and John 2 are playing, and I've had a long and crazy day and am hoping to play through quickly without shorting anyone, so let's have at it, as they say.
Kurt asks the million dollar question: do I go home again? Bzzzt, wrong answer.
Harry attempted this previously, and I did the calculations, although for a slightly different ritual. Checking those calculations, though, may help me figure out these. Transporting that description here, I have:
the first skill that might do this which is possible in this world is a M+6@1 Prevent Movement. Baselines for that skill give short ranges of 10':20':30':40':+5/2' (they are envisioned for targeting people, but can be used this way). They usually have 1 to 10 TF to Duration, which means that for his ten minute prayer he buys one hundred minutes of effect. He is going to want to make some tradeoffs on that. There is also a factor, that the target can make an attribute check to break free of the hold. That is problematic, because the target is inanimate and has no attributes.Now, let's tinker with it:Let's double the ranges twice to 40:80':120':160':+5/8'. He's going to be at the unmodified short range when he finishes his skill, and takes -20 for this. We'll cut the duration from 100 minutes to 25 minutes, which gives him +20. We have +5 appropriate language, +2 because the sound is vital (even though quiet), but he has no physical involvement and no material components, so that's -10 for one aspect only. That makes the inherent sit-mod -3. Now, to learn it he includes his +10 Alliance bonus, +13 Religion bonus, +3@1 bias, and +2@3 BRA against a 6@1 mag skill with a -3 SM, 77-64=13% chance that this will work.
- M+6@1 Prevent Movement. 1 to 10 TF to Duration means that for his three minute prayer he buys thirty minutes of effect. Double the ranges twice to 40':80':120':160':+5/8' for -20. He's going to be at the unmodified short range when he finishes his skill. Cut the duration from 30 minutes to 7:30, which gives him +20. We have +5 appropriate language, +2 because the sound is vital (even though quiet), no material components, but he has physical involvement in the form of having to make a successful piloting check, which means if that skill is successful it adds +10 to this (and if it fails this fails). That makes the inherent sit-mod +17. Now, to learn it he includes his +10 Alliance bonus, +13 Religion bonus, +3@1 bias, and +2@3 BRA against a 6@1 mag skill with a +17 SM, 94-61=33% chance that this will work.
John 2 is moving forward in his world. I don't recall telling him where to find a cheap room, but maybe I did and don't remember. We'll ask.
--M. J. Young