Wait, someone other than me has Microscopic Vision? And here I thought I was the only one weird enough to bother developing that. Awesome. =^_^=
Mistake, sorry.
(Doing Therapy)
Nikolaj is on a roll, and I happen to like his explanation
Coming from you (someone with a higher IQ and greater experience in/knowledge of theology), I really appreciate the compliment!
And Brock, I wonder what you mean by the hope spread by Christianity. (Not that I'm saying it isn't. But I have a feeling it's a different kind of hope.)
Um...hope that a higher power has a plan for you and all that jazz.
I think giving people religion is a big mistake. Now they have an excuse to have crusades and holy wars, when before they were perfectly content to live and die.
The Bible, the Talmud, the Koran, those are just books. Those won't help you find God. God is all around us. If you want to find God, open yourself up and let him in. That's all you have to do. The book won't help you do that.
@john: This is not the place to discuss it, but I have to say that you are wrong. But you might serve another god then I serve.
@brock: That's actually only a part of the Christian hope. If I've made you curious: denolaj @ gmail . com
:)
Saying that I'm wrong is exactly how holy wars and crusades get started. "We are right, they are wrong, so we must kill them."
So God isn't all around us, and you shouldn't open yourself up to Him? That's what I'm wrong about? Does the Bible not say that God is omnipresent (all around us) and that you should be filled with the Holy Spirit (opening yourself up to God). I did the same thing you're doing. I just did it without the book.
Yes, I know nikolaj. Thanks for the offer, but I have no intention of accepting Jesus at this time. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future I'll be less cynical about it, but at the moment I don't believe in any particular gods.
John, it's certainly true that God is all around us and looking for a personal relationship with us; that does not mean that the Bible is unimportant.
C. S. Lewis used the metaphor of standing by the ocean. There is certainly a sense of the awe of something vast there, and you can feel it when you are on the beach. However, if you want to go farther than standing on the beach, you're probably going to need some navigational charts to help you find your way.
All metaphors are imperfect, but this one makes the point. There is an experiential knowledge of God, but there is also a rational knowledge of Him. Those who ignore the rational and embrace the experiential often lose their bearings and become very wrong-headed indeed. Most cult groups embrace the experiential and ignore the rational, and wind up seeking experience that devolves into hedonism. That's not to say that we don't need or want the experiential; it is to say that we also need and ought to want the rational. The experiential tells us that God is there, but it is the rational that tells us Who He is and what He is like. That's why we need the Bible. It provides that foundation.
Of course, the entire discussion is moot in relation to Nikolaj's game situation. Those people already have religion. The humans, dwarfs, and elves already worship Gaia, the earth mother who, Nikolaj has determined, serves the Creator. The orcs worship a great variety of gods, including Sarne, who seeks the death or enslavement of all who have oppressed the orcs, but also some who are generally good/alliance deities whose interests include the protection of the orcs. So they already have a religious element in their wars.
Besides, the element of religion in most of the wars you cite is much less significant than you suppose. The desire to free Jerusalem from the Moslem Turks was much more political than religious; the Roman church was a major political force which exercised a significant amount of power/authority over many kingdoms, and considered the Middle East a key power point in the world. Most so-called religious wars are politically motivated power or land grabs cloaked in a veil of moral rationalization. Religion does not cause those wars; it becomes the excuse for them.
I hope I will be back. I have not been well this week, and there is much to do.
--M. J. Young
All right, let's see how far we can get in the time allotted if we begin with Mike and then see what we can do with Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme.
Mike finally looks around him, and sees what he's overlooked.
We'll get Ahmetia talking about herself and what she knows of the world.
Brock has not figured out something else about this ship, but from what I know, I'm pretty certain there is no crewlist in the database.
I've put a few answers down for Maxx, but I'm running short on time and have to keep running.
I hope I'm not shorting Harry. I honestly have not felt well all week, and am pretty tired already, so I may have lost track of things already discussed. But we'll move toward that fire practice.
I find Nikolaj's presentation straightforward enough, and think I'll skip the roll this time.
Time for a different task. Lord willing, I will be back to finish with the remaining players.
--M. J. Young
I still have John 2 and Graeme to post.
John needs a GE roll for how readily available something like that simple climbing kit would be here. The roll is 20. He also wants a printed book on setting snares, for which 17 is rolled.
Graeme was working on a spell to make a tree grow rapidly, and I think we have most of the terms in place, so let me see what I can make of it. Graeme's spells are always arcane. This will be a M13@5 Cause Growth, limited to plants of all sorts, for which +10. The TF is 0:12, which is 2.2 halvings of the 1:00 baseline for -22. He wants it to double its size five times, which is four more doublings than the single doubling of the baseline, -40. I think, though, that having this happen over the course of "several minutes" can mean five minutes to accomplish this, which is 2.5 doublings of the time in which it will take effect, good for +25 there. He shouts "Grow", which is +5 appropriate, +3 for loud. Clapping hands requires both hands for +3. The seed, the pinch of dirt, and the drop of water are worth 1 each, and are consumed in the casting, so that's +6. He also wants to include a light source which can be focused at the plant, but he does not limit how the light is generated or focused, so we'll give him +2 (the focusing part is the trick, I think). Bringing those down we have +10-22-40+25+5+3+3+6+2=-8SM, and he's got his 12@9 bias plus 2@2 BRA plus the 15@ bias of the world against the 13@5 target skill, which if I'm clear-headed enough is a 23% chance to do this; but he also has to make the flashlight work again first, so we'll roll that first, and we have 59 for a very strong success on the light, 32 for a near failure on the plant growth spell.
That finishes tonight's work here, so I'll pack it in now.
--M. J. Young
I'm laughing whilst I type.
Oh ya know what? Here's one for you. I thought of this the other day. If God is all around us, why do we look up when we pray? Shouldn't we be looking around?
(Doing Therapy)
I was considering dropping by yesterday, but instead I managed to get a second viewing of Butterfly Effect, caught a couple of critical details I had missed previously, and updated all the articles in the series as needed. Now I find quite a queue here, with Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2 awaiting my posts.
Michael is still trying to get some understanding of his alien surroundings.
The queen will certainly offer Ahmetia a drink at the earliest opportunity, and begin on one herself.
Brock has a 1@4 computer programming skill; I'll add a 1@10 Use Computer T11@0 skill, and use that to determine whether he figures out how to use this one. 82 is rolled, which even with his 2@1 BRA and 2x12@ bias only gives him a significant shortfall at 65%.
Maxx rolls 16 on using his microscopic vision skill to examine his own cellular structure. We also need to discuss his efforts at devising an analyze chemistry skill.
Harry gets a 24 GE roll on getting things organized for a fire this weekend. He's also very close to having a real fire in town, but let's worry about one thing at a time.
Nikolaj's roll of 37 is solid for his teaching of the next step. I find myself wondering what sins a young slave orc would have committed, but we will skip that part and assume that he confesses a few things.
I had to do a bit of research to answer some of John 2's questions, but I learned something.
--M. J. Young
I know it's late, but I'm going to do my best to get through as many of the posts as I can, beginning with Michael, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme.
Michael returns to the foxhole.
Brock takes a nap--can't argue with that.
I am going to give Maxx half of his Microscopic Vision SAL as an example on his analyze chemistry by seeing molecular structure skill. Since that's 1@1, he gets +6, in addition to his 7@6 bias, 1@10 BRA, and the 15@ world area bias, 117-9@1=26%, and he rolls 17, so he's good for 1@1 Analyze Chemistry by Visual Perception of Molecular Structure in Slow Motion P9@1 (light not essential). Now I see that he wants to include 30 minutes of preparatory concentration for it, which would boost his chance of success significantly, but I like having it done that way so I'll add the sit-mod, +39.
Harry gets a 21 GE roll on the first aid kits; the rest of the stuff is straightforward, although mining helmets would be a bit unusual in Durnmist.
Nikolaj rolls 26 on his latest prayer, which I take to be his 1@2 Pray for Third Party Revelation M7@7 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to reveal Himself to a specified other individual +38SM. That's an obvious success, so Bredd gets his revelation.
A roll of 95 on Lauren's project skill pattern skill means she failed, and John 2 does not have the example. He does have the instructor and the teacher bonuses, so his 10@1 bias+his 2@2 BRA=123+half her 2@8 BRA=137+her 2@5 teaching SAL=162+the 10@ world psi bias=172-the 10@6 target skill bias=66% chance of success. We'll let him decide whether to try for it.
I did this much analysis for Graeme's spell:
to make a tree grow rapidly...arcane...M13@5 Cause Growth, limited to plants of all sorts, for which +10. The TF is 0:12, which is 2.2 halvings of the 1:00 baseline for -22.
He's changing this to a 2:00 TF, which is one doubling for +10 instead of -22.
...double its size five times, which is four more doublings than the single doubling of the baseline, -40. I think, though, that having this happen over the course of "several minutes" can mean five minutes to accomplish this, which is 2.5 doublings of the time in which it will take effect, good for +25 there. He shouts "Grow", which is +5 appropriate, +3 for loud. Clapping hands requires both hands for +3. The seed, the pinch of dirt, and the drop of water are worth 1 each, and are consumed in the casting, so that's +6. He also wants to include a light source which can be focused at the plant, but he does not limit how the light is generated or focused, so we'll give him +2 (the focusing part is the trick, I think).He is also adding etching a circle around the plant, walking around the circle, and taking the dirt from within the circle. I'll give him +6 more for the walking and etching actions, and +1 for the limitation that the dirt come from within the circle (a plant growing from a crack in a rock or from the bottom of a pond would give him trouble on this point).
Bringing those down we have +10+10-40+25+5+3+3+6+2+6+1=+31SM, and he's got his 12@9 bias plus 2@2 BRA plus the 15@ bias of the world against the 13@5 target skill, which if I'm clear-headed enough makes it a 47% chance this time; but he also has to make the flashlight work again first. The flashlight works weakly on an 05, but on an 03 he gains the spell.
And with that we have accomplished our objective.
--M. J. Young
Let's see--I'm back early enough that I have only three players, Ahmetia who just missed me yesterday (yes, I missed you too, Metia), Brock who is waiting for someone else to guide him, and Maxx who was working on new skills, as usual.
Ahmetia arrives at the station, and we find out whether she's got any experience with horses.
Brock is hoping someone will tell him what to do, but he gets a 25 GE roll so I think they'll be waiting for him.
Maxx has asked about the calculation of that sit-mod. The assumption I made is that psionic skills of that sort happen instantly but are repeated minute by minute, so concentrating for a minute gave you +10. I then gave you +10 for each doubling, to 2, 4, 8, and 16 minutes, and then figured that from 16 to 32 was 90% of another doubling, +9. He also has a batch of other questions which I am going to have to consider. Hmmm--that means I put the wrong number down, it should be +59. Let's fix that; not sure where I made the mistake yesterday, but maybe it was because I was rushing.
I have answered his other questions, and realize that I have to be somewhere sooner rather than later, so I'm going to sign off and see to more tomorrow.
--M. J. Young
I do not promise to be here tomorrow for Thanksgiving, so I will wish my American contingent a happy holiday and apologize to our foreign players that I failed to catch their annual harvest celebrations. With that preamble, allow me to see what is happening with Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme.
Michael is giving Michael's Foxhole a closer examination.
If Ahmetia was worried about what she was going to eat, I hope we have put her mind to rest on that count.
Brock returns to engineering and meets Burly.
Maxx is very busy with his skills. I think on a 98 Maxx is almost certainly going to botch on the attempt to view the structure of sub-atomic particles; he would need a chance of success of at least 71% not to do so, and he's got his 1@1 SAL+2x9@ bias+1@10 BRA, oh, but he's got a +59 Sit-mod on the skill, so his chance of success just shot up to 108%, and I've got to make this work. He also gets new use for it.
Harry reminds me that he was hoping to tear down a building for his fire training exercise; I remind him that he is under significant time constraints--but I give him the benefit of a GE roll, which comes up 13, barely good enough, so he's got his building for another time.
I think I have most of the details I need for Nikolaj's prayer for Bredd, but I'm going to make sure I know the purpose of it before I start working through it.
John 2 asks about the weight of the book he is buying, and I roll 19 on the GE roll, slightly worse than he would have wanted.
I'm thinking that Graeme might need to do a manipulate objects check; in any case, as long as it does not botch, it will give me a basis for determining how well he does it. 98 is rolled again (on a different pair of dice, so it's my bad rolling tonight), and I'm going to have to crunch some numbers. I do think that holding two gems against a growing tree is a very easy task, for which +35 is not an unreasonable sit-mod. I'm making that decision before I look at the rest of his numbers, so that I won't prejudice my decision. The human standard body package gives a 2@3 SAL to Manipulate Object, Graeme's BRA for Bod is 1@6, and his bias is 7@ doubled for 14, 88% chance of success, failure but not botch.
I'm almost finished here and almost out of time, so that's working pretty well tonight.
--M. J. Young
John 2 asks about the weight of the book he is buying, and I roll 19 on the GE roll, slightly worse than he would have wanted.
That's just funny. A higher GE roll means the books weighs more. If the book weighs more, it has more pages and thus more information. A roll of 30 would mean that the book weighs 50 pounds, but just imagine all the information it would have!!!! A roll of 3, the book is light as a feather, but it only consists of 2 pages. See? A 3 can have a worse outcome than a 30, depending on how you look at it.
Well, no--because
- The concept of "good" and "bad" in a GE roll is based on the desires of the player character. You specified that you hoped it would be light; you got a slightly bad GE, which meant that it wasn't going to be as light as you hoped, but that's because it contained more information than you requested. The question the GE roll was answering was not how useful the book might be, but how heavy it was.
- It is entirely possible for the book to be fifty pounds and contain no more useful information than the two page variety--if it has the same information in large print in five thousand different languages, bound such that you can't actually tear out pages without destroying the book entirely.
I got here early despite problems, and am looking at posts from Ahmetia, Brock, Nikolaj, and John 2, which I will answer eventually.
--M. J. Young
I gotcha MJ. or the 30 would be that the book's pages are made out of some bulletproof, space-age polymer a half inch thick, and each page weighs a half pound. (It was designed specifically for the survivors of a nuclear holocaust, so the book has to survive it too.) You could still argue though that the slightly bad GE roll made the situation a little better than I had hoped. You said yourself, the reason it's heavier than I wanted was because it contained more useful information than I requested.
Wow, I had a lot typed, and suddenly I lost it all. Well, let me see if I can replace it.
John--sure, an undesired GE roll might not be entirely undesirable, just as a desired outcome might not prove that desirable after all. It is recognized that a three GE roll might be better than the character can tolerate--for example, being embraced as a deity is not always all it's expected to be. So yes, you got something bigger and heavier than you wanted, but there was an upside. 19 is, after all, a "not thwarting but generally unfavorable result", and I think a heavier than desired book with a lot more information than you wanted is a good outcome for that description.
I'm following the player list I posted on Thursday; I know I'm late, but I think I've recovered sufficiently from spending a night in the emergency room with my eldest (suffering a kidney stone) before having to pull together a holiday feast for a crown large enough that the day before I realized I would need to purchase more plates, knives, and possibly forks for them (and I overlooked cups, so we were using Wawa, 7-11, McDonalds, and other plastic cups for the cider and soda served). I must extend thanks again to John, without whom it would not have happened.
Ahmetia apparently is not a wine imbiber. I wonder if she is teetotal or simply prefers a different beverage; we'll explore possibilities, starting with beer and moving to distilled beverages such as brandies next.
Brock might not yet have gotten a handle on his situation; we'll see what we can do for him there.
I left Nikolaj praying--a good thing for him, as he does it all the time and usually gets good results. We'll go for the 20:00 TF, because if this is just about courage it's either a M1@1 Bonus Morale or a M1@5 Remove Fear. I'll go with the latter. It has a 1:00 TF, so that's +43 for time. He gets +20 for laying on hands (contact required). The baseline duration is RS minutes, and we've got to go longer than that because we're praying in the middle of the day for something that will happen that evening, RSx8 is only three doublings, -30, and gives us a range from 8 minutes to (800 minutes=)11:40:00, with a likely value somewhere around four to six hours, depending on the roll. We've got +5 appropriateness, -2 for the ability to switch hands, and we're looking at an inherent sit-mod of +36, and he's got enough other bonuses including his bias that this is going to be automatically successful the first time. He rolls 19, which is a bit low but gives him 1@1 Give Courage M+1@5 laying either hand on shoulder and praying with subject for 20:00 with appropriate words to remove fear for RSx8 minutes +36SM and means that it will last for 152 minutes which is 2:32:00.
Bevridge rolls 42 on his boxing skill, so he's going to fall into stance easily. I would roll for John 2, but I don't know if he's got something else in mind first.
--M. J. Young
I have a short window here, but I'm going to attempt to use it to address posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Michael rolls 48 on using a flashlight, which is a heavily bonused +20 piece of technology that's going to work on that roll. He enters the foxhole and gets a brief overview of its layout.
Ahmetia continues spending time with the queen.
Brock returns to the galley for another meal.
Maxx and I have some discussion about his new analyze chemistry skill, and I need a summary of the next one.
Before he can lead the effort to dowse a fire, Harry is going to have to make one.
I think this is the first time I really can't duck the question of how the prayers of others are connected to Nikolaj's prayer, so I'm going to have to ask him.
John 2 is sending mixed messages again; I'll have to get them unscrambled.
I do not know what tomorrow will bring; in fact, for most of the upcoming week there is a good chance that I will be diverted from my routine. I shall endeavor to get here as regularly as I am able.
--M. J. Young
I do not know what tomorrow will bring
Of course not. If you did, you would be a gaming referee. Away from the board, you're just a player.
I guess there are referees who already know what's going to happen in the future of their games. They're called "illusionist". For my part, I discover what happens as my players reveal it to me, so let me see what is happening with Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Mikolaj, and John 2.
Ahmetia's first full day in Ruritania is coming to a close.
Perhaps Brock will get his crew list now.
Maxx is still exploring exploring matter and energy.
Oddly, I wrote the piece of Maxx, and then I lost contact with the site so I did something else, and then my computer crashed, but the browser retained which windows were open (I still like NS9) and what I had typed here--but I lost what I typed for Maxx. I should be able to reproduce it, though.
It also saved the part I'd already typed for Harry, but I think I wasn't finished. Pretty close, though. Harry has to figure out how he's going to make this fire before he figures out how to extinguish it.
Nikolaj really is going for a corporate prayer, which means the combining of the prayers of multiple people most of whom have not prayed before. That's all right, though, because he gets to use a lot of his numbers to make it happen. A quick check of the world area bias, though, tells me that the skill won't work in this universe--you can't combine the magic of multiple persons together in one skill, so that's not going to have the effect he wants. That doesn't mean there won't be an effect. He can still get the individual effects of his prayers. He already has a protection from attacks skill, but this seems to be a remote protection from danger skill. His roll of 12 tells me it works, so I'm listing it as 1@1 Protection from dangers of travel M+1@6 praying aloud with appropriate words, leaving no sit-mod and no other details for the present. I am also going to skip the part where he teaches twenty people to pray this, other than to run some quick numbers because they get his 1@1 example, half 1@7 teaching SAL, 1@9 mag BRA, 7@ world bias, +10 for alliance, all of which comes to 64 minus the 1@6 target skill plus their own BRAs which are probably at least that. We shouldn't have any serious botches (although we might, but it's too many rolls to address at the moment, and anyway a protection success by one party could protect against the impact of a protection botch by another). I'm more interested in whether he gets one of his 1@2 Dreams and Visions M7@6 usually as guidance or answers to prayers, and the roll is 68, so nothing this time.
John 2 rolls 66 on getting into stance; he's got the 1@10 SAL+2x7@ bias+1@9 BRA which makes something less than that--53%. CW rolls 79, which I think is bad for him, too, but it doesn't matter because they'll both have to roll again. The next set of rolls are 34 and 18, both good. Initiative rolls are 28 and 35, so CW is going to get the first swing. Let me check the numbers both ways: SAL+BRA+2xbias+MSV-TV-def SM, for John: 1@10+1@9+14+1@10-1@3-15=45%
for CW: 2@2+2@1+14+1@7-1@6-15=41%, John actually has the better chance to hit, but SW gets twice as many attempts. The first, though, connects with a roll of 39; John's -15 damage modifier knocks it down to effectively 24, but that's still 2 intensities (Bevridge is +2DC, one for style one for SAL, and the gloves take it down one to damaging). John swings back at 91, a miss, and Bevridge misses with 65.
Next initiative run is 95, 74, Bevridge the closer failure, he taps with 01, John responds with 25, from which Bevridge deducts 15 damage mod and takes no damage because of the gloves.
Let's go again with 16, 43, this time John is first. He rolls 46, just missing; the response is 89, 87.
Initiatives 96, 18, Bevridge rolls 11 which is painless, John 76 which misses, Bevridge 89 which misses.
If I'm counting right in my head, this round makes five minutes, 30, 69, John first, 12, then 01, 39.
I will give John his mark for using the gloves, which he says puts him at +4 and that means he goes to 2@1; but that's not what my notes say, so I'm going to check that. John, do you really have four new uses since you hit 1@10?
--M. J. Young
John, do you really have four new uses since you hit 1@10?
I got to 1@10 in Dancing Princess whilst training William, the smith's apprentice. You gave me a new use the first time I fought Lauren, for holding my own against such a skilled opponent, another new use for fighting Lauren with backpacks on, and of course, the infamous "Why was she allowed to see?" fighting blind attempt. The gloves make new use number 4.
which means the combining of the prayers of multiple people most of whom have not prayed before
Which is weird, because the Word states that where two or more are combined in His (God's/Christ's) name, He is with them. What better circumstances are needed to communicate with Him? ;)
Probably just another system failure. (or a fault in my theology)
Before I do anything else, I need to note the change for John 2's skill to 2@1 Boxing B7@1 attack multiplier 1, slow defensive, weapon-adverse, no offensive modifier, -15 Defense modifier, -15 damage modifier, hand & arm.
Nikolaj, one point that I would make is that I don't pretend to know what the mag bias is in our world. It's entirely possible that what you're trying to do works here, because the mag bias is higher. I might also toy with the theological notion that you don't live in the same universe that, to pick on one person unfairly, Brock does. If I understand aright, you died to this world and were raised in a new one which just happens to appear to occupy the same space and time coordinates--you're living in a different world from those who have not done that. So it might be that the biases in your world are considerably higher than those in Brock's, even though you thought you were in the same world.
Some, on the other hand, would say that the mystery is not that your combined prayer does not work in orc rising, but that you believe it works here. That's one of the reasons I don't pretend to know earth biases--it's a good way to get in a big argument.
Now let me tackle posts from Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Ahmetia did not say that she was going to go to bed, so I won't assume she does.
Brock gets his crew list, finally.
Maxx is imagining that matter would emit a signal of some sort identifying its substance. I find that a rather difficult conception of reality to accept, but that's not my call, really. If the skill works, then matter does that. However, it is within my purview to assess penalties or bonuses based on how likely I think a particular approach is to work, when it is relying on some view of reality that is not established. I think I will penalize this approach by -20 because the probability that such a signal is emitted seems low to me, and even if it is there would then be interference from the signals emitted by other matter, particularly the air molecules between. He requires ten minutes of concentration, closing the eyes, and extending both hands toward the target object. The time gives him +42, and I think +7 for the physical involvement (someone is going to ask, so I'll note that my thoughts are that magic gives +3 per additional body part, that psionics does not require body parts and doesn't generally bonus for them, that closing the eyes is a limitation nonetheless, as is requiring both hands be empty, so I'm giving +3 for each hand and +2 for the eyes being closed). That's +49-20=+29SM for the skill. He rolls 74, so I've got numbers to crunch. The 9@1 biases cancel each other, he has a 1@10 BRA, the world bias is 15@, thats 35+29=64% chance of success unless I missed something, which I don't see.
We're also going to advance his calendar a month to June, making him 15 months old.
I posted the wrong thread; I'm fixing that.
Nikolaj rolls 80 on his prayer for third-party revelation, a 1@2 SAL skill with a +38 SM which makes 50 to which he adds half his 1@10 religion for 60, the +10 alliance bonus for 70, and his 1@9 BRA for 89, so he's solid.
4+6+4=14 on the GE roll for John 2's baton.
Now I'm finished.
--M. J. Young
You're still using dice, right?
Yes, I am using real dice. I have lost enough to the netherworld that is my office floor that I have replaced nearly the entire set--I still have my original d30 and my throwing die (those who have played live with me may remember it), but one of the twenties came from the other bag and the rest were all purchased new when I ran a game at the game store in Vineland just before Ubercon.
Why do you ask? Afraid of the stopwatch?
I'm working with Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2, and wondering why I've not seen Michael for a while. He'll probably reappear, though.
Ahmetia has not said that she's going to change for bed or lie down as she is or what she's planning, so I'll give her a bit more detail of the room and wait for it.
I should probably roll a GE roll to see how long it is before Brock winds up headed into a mission, but we'll give it another day or so before we do that.
Once in a while Maxx and I have communication problems, and it looks like we've got one to resolve now.
I'm really not trying to stall Harry, but if we're going to have a fire, we've got to get it lit somehow, and I'm not certain what skills he intends to use for that.
Nikolaj gets a simple intuition check for reading the emotional state of an orc, 32 well outside his 1@9 attribute. There's a 70 rolled on his teaching skill, which is also outside his skill.
Sorry for the interruption; I got an important phone call. John Mastick (John 4) is having a memorial service for his wife this Saturday 1:00 at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Glen Rock, New Jersey, and I hope to be there.
That said, let me wrap up John 2, who is working on making his own weapon.
--M. J. Young
Why do you ask? Afraid of the stopwatch?
No, I just wanted to make certain you still needed the Christmas present I'm going to send you.
Well, thank you.
Let me see what I can do for game threads from Brock, Maxx, Nikolaj, and John 2, a short list today.
Brock raises an interesting question: how much information actually is in the database here? Assuming this is an alien ship, it seems unlikely that it would have that much about the history and language and such of the Federation, and likely that it would have engineering and science information somewhat beyond the Federation; but it's also clear that neither the brilliant cyberneticist Banson nor the capable engineer Burly have been able to learn how the teleporter works, so there are some kinds of limits on access or information or something. The best guess is that the computer must import data from other computer systems at some point somehow. However, I have avoided including something like Blake's 7's Orac, a machine that can retrieve data remotely from every other computer, and I'm reluctant to give Torbin such powers. There is, however, a solution.
I should start listing new skills he is learning, but we'll cover that in due time.
Another doubling of the concentration time gives Maxx another +10 on his chance of learning this second version of the analyze chemistry skill, a +39 SM and a 74% chance to learn it, and he rolls 66 for a 1@2 Analyze Chemistry to Diagram View P9@1 after concentrating for 20:00 extend both hands toward object to be analyzed, closing eyes, displays molecular diagram view of material targeted, +39SM.
Nikolaj advances to the next day and talks with his orc student Bredd.
John 2 is still working on his baton design.
--M. J. Young
I think you forgot Osevens MJ.
He did. :(
I apologize, and I have no excuse because I did see that you had posted to Ric's and Ahmetia's threads. So this is for Harry.
He wants to start the fire, but I think he has not given thought to how to do that in this world. He probably has skill, but we might have to discuss it a bit. He also gets one of my jokes in the bargain.
--M. J. Young
I see posts from Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2 tonight.
Unfortunately the clock has gotten away from me due to a few other obligations and interruptions; I cannot guarantee a visit tomorrow, but if I return from the memorial service early enough I will attempt to address these threads.
--M. J. Young
MJ, who died? I remember you saying something about it, but it's eluding me who it was. Good luck, and don't even worry about not getting here. I don't think anyone will mind, all things considered.
(Doing Therapy)
Someone related to John Mastick; think it was his wife.
Wasn't Mastick the fourth John on here?
Yes on both counts, Brock.
I hope he'll pull through okay.
Poor guy. Were I of a praying religion, I'd pray for him. Instead I'll wish him the best.
I'm sure he still appreciates it Brock.
(Doing Therapy)
Obviously I did not make it back in time to do anything here; my apologies to those for whom I should have posted on Friday, as I tackle the now larger list that includes Michael (whom I have missed), Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
John (Mastick a.k.a. John 4) seems to be doing well. He is I think more upset at the moment by the rift between him and his wife's family (long story) than by his wife's passing. It has been a few weeks now, and he has had some time to adjust. Incidentally, he still reads here often. He particularly enjoys what he perceives as the crazy antics of "A-One Nut", and promises that he'll pick up his story again one day.
With that, let's look at Michael. He is exploring Michael's Foxhole, so we'll give him the tour.
The story takes an abrupt turn for Ahmetia. She sees Sapt's serious side.
Brock rolls 37 on using the computer, which is a decent roll for his 1@10 Use Computer, 2x12@ bias, and 2@1 BRA. He'll start finding stuff, but it will be about education, which is what he asked.
Rolling a d5 against Maxx' list of possible target objects I get 1, which is the tree he listed first.
Harry has no listing for fire starting skills, which I conclude means he is an amateur at such skills. He also has no equipment other than the flintlock pistol for this--but a flintlock has its own flint and steel built in, so he's got that covered. I have mixed feelings about what to give him for the skill Ignite Fire from Spark, since if I put it down as a learning situation he's bound to succeed (the bias difference), but he's undoubtedly done it before because there's probably not a person over ten years old in this country who's never worked a cigarette lighter. So we'll give him 1@5 Ignite Fire from Spark T1@2 and roll: 64 is not promising, given that his bias is limited by the 2x7@ world bias, so even with his 2@3 BRA and a +10 bonus for the gunpowder and oil as combustibles I'm looking at 62%. That's a bit silly. I'll give him an extra +3 for the use of the gun (easier to spark than doing it by hand).
Nikolaj has suggested a very interesting next step in tearing down the wall of partition; Bredd will have questions, but I like where this is going.
John 2 raises several issues, and asks whether he looked for something. I remember him mentioning it previously, but not whether he did so as a reminder to himself or a question to me, so I'm going to assume that he did not look but is looking now. My expectation is that you can order such things, but that they are not in common use on TerraNova, and a GE roll of 17 seems to agree with that.
--M. J. Young