Behind the Screens 2009 · Page 16

It appears that all of today's posts are game thread posts, so we'll launch immediately with Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, and John 2.

Michael gets an 18 GE roll on his situation, which means it's still early in the afternoon--and that's a long time before sunset in NagaWorld, so he's going to be waiting a while. Otherwise things should be uneventful.

I'm going to cover a lot of ground with Ahmetia because I think that her companions would railroad her through a bit, and the next part is going to move a bit more slowly as she interacts with them.

Brock rolls 14 on his next use computer skill check, which is a weaker success but a success nonetheless.

Due to an accident on my part, probably from the several interruptions that have hit me in the last hour or so, I managed to post Maxx's post out of sequence, so he gets two posts. Most of it is questions and answers.

I've also wound up with two posts for John 2, but that's because after I posted I came up with an answer to one of his questions which I was ignoring.

--M. J. Young

You forgot me again.

I've also wound up with two posts for John 2, but that's because after I posted I came up with an answer to one of his questions which I was ignoring.

MJ, I'm surprised you haven't figured it out yet. The "Ignore it and it will go away" strategy doesn't work very well with me.

Harry, I did not. Even as I arrived today it was apparent that my first post of the day (to Michael) hit the board before your post, and thus I had already opened the threads and compiled the list. Sorry, but I did not miss you--you missed me.

I'll be sure to catch you this time. I've already dealt with the character creation post of our newest player, Alex, so we'll turn our attention to Ahmetia and then Harry, then Nikolaj and John 2.

Another big step into the plot for Ahmetia, and we'll see what she does with it. I've had players turn this a different direction (Shawn Kelley is still living as a nobleman in this world), but the obvious and easy path lies before her, and that's a very interesting one to follow.

Harry asks for ideas, so the men will talk.

Nikolaj is falling into a holding pattern for a few days, but before I rush to the end let's see if there's anything else he plans to include in the time.

I have to answer some questions for John 2, and then maybe we can move forward.

--M. J. Young

Alex, eh? Does he promise to be an awesome player?

Props to anyone who caught the subtle word play after the first time reading the above line, before reading this one and looking for it.

Props to anyone who caught the subtle word play after the first time reading the above line, before reading this one and looking for it.

Now you're just being mean . . .

Edit: forgot my </whine> tag; how embarrassing.

I still don't see it.

Alexander the Great.

Great=Awesome. Subtle.

I don't see what's mean about it; Alexander the Great was brilliant.

Alexander the Storm Drain?

Great - Grate

OK, so it's not so funny.

Well, no one really said it was funny. Just subtle.

I didn't see the reference; I was referring (partly in jest) only to the sentence I actually quoted.

Oh. Maybe it was just TOO subtle then. I can't really tell, since I am automatically in the know.

It was too subtle. You're forgiven.

Things have been absolutely mad around here, and I can make no guarantees that I will be able to address the waiting posts from Mike, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, John 2, and Graeme, nor that I will be able to return either tonight or tomorrow to get the rest, but I will make a valiant effort right now.

Mike meets the Umak Tek people.

Ahmetia incorrectly thinks she's being railroaded. Even Sapt would let her know that she has options--she must probably won't like them.

Brock wants information I have to invent, but I should be pretty good at that by now, and I have some reasonable guidelines to help me invent it properly.

I'm getting a bit boggled by Maxx' multiple psionic analyze chemistry skills; hopefully I've not made it worse.

I'm also pretty much out of time here, with four threads to go, but I'm going to try to get through them without rushing them too badly.

I should roll for the skills of Harry's firefighters, but at the moment I'm sure they're going to be making progress at first. Maybe next time I'll roll.

I am also going to have to work out Nikolaj's new prayer, but since I'm very pressed for time and he's not going to see the results for a couple days, I'll defer that to another post (and hope that the stress doesn't make me forget). I am also raising his skill to 1@8 Teaching P0@1 childhood emphasis for the new use he notes.

We've almost finished the design of John 2's collapsible baton.

I love it when Graeme really gets into a magic spell design. We're looking at a M6@6 Cutter, with a 0:30 baseline TF. He gets +10 for doubling the TF. He's eliminated range to 0, so I'll give him +30 for that. I'm taking away -10 because he can change the size/shape of the blade in use, and since I would assume a 1:10 TF:duration ratio and 300 seconds is five minutes, it's -10 for doubling the duration. I'm assuming that the words are appropriate; they are in a magical language and spoken forcefully, so that's +5+3+5. He has to use both hands, which is +3. That gives him +36 and I roll 65, a strong success for a 1@2 skill here (he's got a very high mag bias in a high bias world with a high BRA, so I'm not going to crunch numbers). Again I have to remember to put together the skill later.

--M. J. Young

Mike missed me last time, so we start with him, then Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.

I'm not certain what Mike will do first, so we'll deliver him to his room and see what choices he makes.

I wound up with a substantial chunk of text for Ahmetia, too, getting her ready for her coronation.

I hope I'm not asking Maxx something he's already told me; there's a lot in his posts, and I'm not sure I'm retaining all of it.

Harry is thinking in lines similar to mine--but mine were to roll a GE roll to see whether the oil cask started leaking or otherwise burned through before they were ready. I'll give that, and with a 16 GE roll things are going about as anticipated, so he will control when the fire changes. Of course, he has to make a successful TK pulse, and his roll is 32, which I have to check (mostly because he hasn't done this for a while): a 1@9 SAL means that this is pretty near certain; his BRA is also 1@9, so that's 38% chance of success, and he did it quite well. But he still needs a GE roll for the outcome. Since he had such a good controlled TK pulse I'm going to give him a 2d10+1 roll, and the roll is 7, very nice altogether. I rolled a 39 on the fire fighting skill check, which will do well enough here.

Nikolaj wants a product that's probably not cheap and easy in this world, particularly on the ranch--they don't have a sawmill here.

John 2 has questions, I have--time to give him a few answers.

Thank you all for playing. I'm beat, and need to get some rest. Tomorrow promises to be yet more challenging.

--M. J. Young

I'm pretty beat, but I'm going to see what I can do with Michael, Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2, hopefully before I'm too tired to think even warped. (O.K., I think I mentioned before that I make really weird obscure jokes when I'm tired.)

Paul will answer Michael's questions.

Ahmetia's silence will be answer enough in a moment, and now we move to the next problem. She's about to learn horseback riding, so she can try to pretend she has skill at this.

I think Maxx and I may have finished the details of the second of his I've-lost-count-how-many versions of analyze chemistry. One thing's pretty certain, though--he's probably never going to be at a loss for a way to figure out what something's made of.

Harry mentions lunch, and it's the first time it's been mentioned. I thought a good GE roll would mean someone thought to bring something, and a bad one would mean that there was no way to get anything, but he got a 17, so there will be a tavern close at hand.

Nikolaj wants to know whose permission he needs to take Bredd to a meeting. My thinking is that Bredd is assigned to work for Nikolaj, and so Nikolaj merely has to say that he is taking Bredd wherever he is taking him; but that might not be so, and it might not be that Nikolaj can take Bredd away from the ranch buildings, so I'm going to roll a GE for how that works exactly. 13 is barely good enough.

Finally, John 2 has more questions.

--M. J. Young

I'm pretty beat, but I'm going to see what I can do with Michael, Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2, hopefully before I'm too tired to think even warped. (O.K., I think I mentioned before that I make really weird obscure jokes when I'm tired.)

You mean your thinking isn't normally warped?

*reads the content of the previous post, reads who posted it, goes back to reading game threads*

I must thank Harry for that wonderful retort, beautifully and effectively understated, before turning my attention to game posts from Ahmetia, Maxx, Harry, and John 2.

Ahmetia has a smattering of martial arts (reminiscent of the line in the recent Star Trek movie, "What kind of personal combat were you trained in?" "Fencing."), which gives her a 7@1 bod bias, to which she gets to add a few numbers, including her 2@1 Bod BRA (agility) and Frieda's BRA as instructor, which is probably 1@6, and the world's 12@ bod area bias, so we've got 120 minus the 3@0 bias of horseback riding gives her a 90% chance to learn, and if she can roll between 81 and 90 she's doing really well with it, but the roll is 08, which is 1@1 Ride Horse B3@0 (English tack).

I'm going to double check with Maxx that I am associating the right skill with the right ideas before I start writing and rolling.

Harry gets a bit of discussion going as to how the crew did with the fire, and we'll let him make comments as well.

John 2 prays his 1@1 Bonus Blacksmithing/Metalworking Skill Checks M+1@4 retire to personal room or quarters, kneel with total body involvement, pray with appropriate words for forgiveness, wisdom, strength, and help with current task, 5:00TF, confers +20 on next major task attempted, +53SM prayer, rolling 50 which is an easy success, and so gaining +20 on the complicated blacksmithing task of making a collapsible blunt weapon, the roll for that being 01, definitely successful and definitely not the quality weapon he wanted, and will give him 1@10 Make Blunt Weapons T3@1 (using metalworking skills) +1Mark.

--M. J. Young

Michael just missed me yesterday, and Ahmetia and Maxx and Harry have bounced back with responses, and Nikolaj also was a bit too late to play yesterday but is waiting now.

I think I can bring Michael up to speed on things.

Ahmetia has to learn the vow so she can pretend to be Rudolpha for the coronation.

Maxx rolls 46, and so learns 1@1 Analyze Chemistry by Spectroscopic Imaging P9@1 allows user to perceive all energies emanating or reflecting from all materials in view as color bars which can be sorted to identify materials and energy levels, following 4:00 preparation, an intellect check may be necessary to interpret the information, +30SM. His first intellect check is 35, which is a failure.

Harry's silence intrigues me, and I note about the captain that there are two levels: will he notice that Harry is being quiet, and will he realize that Harry is being quiet intentionally? The first seems easier, so we'll use a simple intuition check for that; the second will be a difficult check. Of course if he fails the first but makes the second, he is aware that Harry is intentionally being quiet; if it's the other way, he notices that Harry isn't saying anything but will ask his thoughts. If both fail, he doesn't notice or say anything, and if both succeed he understands completely. The rolls are 12+13=25, 21+10=31, both failures.

I'm a bit uncertain what to roll for Bredd's parents when Nikolaj has his meeting. Nikolaj says that if Bredd's parents hesitate about Bredd going to the meeting, he'll invite them to come as well, but that has several problems. First, Nikolaj's parents have no authority to prevent their son from being where one of the human masters want him to be, whatever objections they might have. Second, Nikolaj has authority to assign Bredd to off-hours work but has no authority to take his parents anywhere. But we'll roll a GE roll for the reactions overall, and it's 13, barely good enough.

That gets me through the posts for tonight.

--M. J. Young

It usually happens that when I am early one day and late the next I have a slightly larger crowd waiting. Today's crowd includes Michael, Brock, Maxx, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.

Michael gets answers.

My belief is that the computer aboard Destiny will not have course material, but might have outlines. The dice agree with me, on a 16 GE roll, so Brock gets limited material at this point. I'm pretty sure I already determined what sort of history data was available.

Maxx has wisely suggested we address the remaining questions about the skill he just learned before moving to another, and I've given him some insights into how I perceive it working.

Harry is pushing me to make decisions about the nature of the world. I tend to agree that literacy is standard, but I am considerably less certain about movable type (which I thought we established did not exist, but I could be remembering wrong). There are factories and there are manufactured goods, but I'm not certain the two always go together--furniture, for example, is probably still hand crafted, as are carriages. Cloth and clothing is mass produced, and probably lumber, but I'll bet there are still blacksmiths about, and those guns are probably individually hand-made (certainly there are no assembly lines with interchangeable parts--that's considerably later than the early gunpowder era). So we'll roll a GE for the movable type, and he gets a 7, so he's got it in his version of this world.

Nikolaj is suggesting that he will accomplish something rather complex in a very short time: identify the correct people to contact to get permission for Bredd's parents to come to the meeting. Of course, he knows what they usually do, so that helps. On the other hand--well, since he got a 16 GE roll, we'll assume he can find the right people and give him persuasion checks for each. It would help if I knew his persuasion. The first roll is 21, and his sheet says 1@8, so Dad is not coming; second roll is 18, which again is a failure, but an extremely close one opening the possibility of conversation.

John 2 gets a 23 GE on the other hardware he wants, so it won't come easy.

--M. J. Young

What I know for a fact (or at least recall oddly clearly for things that might not have happened) we have established as far as technology:

Factories do exist, mostly in use for textiles so far.
Guns are not, in fact, handmade, as I recall having difficulty finding a gunsmith when I wanted one, the reason being most guns are factory-made.
Swords are still hand smithed.
Printing does exist and literacy is the norm, but moveable type is relatively new and has not yet caught on. Paper is becoming cheaper, but genuine books are still more likely to be hand-scribed and obscenely expensive (I currently own one native book, a book on Sardic history I picked up in Sardic at no small expense while I was taking a class there last summer).
Wind and water power are the common means of driving things like factories and mills. Internal combustion definitely, and mercifully, does not exist, nor do internal heating and cooling of buildings as we understand it.
Indoor plumbing (thank all the gods) does exist, as do proper sewers, at least in the more respectable cities.
(It occurs to me that by our standards everything in Sardic counts as obscenely expensive - the cutlass I carry as an off-hand weapon apparently cost me on the order of three hundred pounds of gold. Two ounce coins... Oi.)

John 2 gets a 23 GE on the other hardware he wants, so it won't come easy.

Actually MJ, the hardware that I want, except for the concealed weapons, has already been established as being commonplace and readily available. (Remember who you're talking to here. The gun store was one of the first stops I made.) Grenade launchers and fully automatic weapons were all over the place. To these people, they're considered outdated toys compared to the norm. In other words, hardly paramilitary.

(Doing Therapy)

(certainly there are no assembly lines with interchangeable parts--that's considerably later than the early gunpowder era)

Says who? This isn't earth. For all you know, the world could have invented nuclear fusion reactors before they invented gunpowder.

And, as an aside, what a great world it would be. Once armor technology got to the point where swords and crossbows were useless, warfare would likely cease to advance. (No gunpowder, no guns) Nuclear fusion is invented, but carefully monitored. A terrorist cell called "Crimson Jihad" invents gunpowder, and with it, the first firearms, and attempt to take over the nuclear fusion reactors. Then the Verser arrives...

(Doing Therapy)

"Says Who?"

Says MJ. He decided they haven't invented it yet because they did similar to us in their pattern of invention. That's why he said what he did.

As an aside-That's a great world idea! Why not expand it's detail and give it it's own thread like tad does all the time?

No, that didn't come out right. I meant it more like MJ was implying that they had to invent gunpowder before they could invent the assembly line, and we all know that is a fallacy.

No, I understood you (I think). In my view, MJ was actually saying that this world IS similar in technological development rates to our own, which is why he referenced the 'gunpowder era'-which only makes sense of the world is following our tech development, else it would have it's own 'eras'. He is NOT saying, as far as I can tell, that it CAN'T be invented because there is a specific order things must be invented in. That WOULD be a fallacy, but I doubt he is saying that. It would be kind of close-minded, and MJ is anything but close-minded.

For those who missed the comments elsewhere, my computer crashed late Friday and then the blizzard hit overnight shutting down the repair store until Monday; they returned the computer in operational service yesterday, but there is much I am still updating, so the game has been a bit delayed. There are also still Christmas preparations being made, and I am not certain of all of them, either, so I might be rushing out at the drop of the proverbial hat.

Noting that it is December 23rd, I warn that this might be done in drips and drabs and might not be finished today. However, I will begin with Mike, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, the returning Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2, and we'll see what we complete.

I'm writing a lot of information for Michael, but I notice that he does have skill with polymers and plastics, so his use of plastic steel here should be simple enough against his 1@5 skill--except that everything is difficult in this world, due to low biases. On the other hand, he seems to have a very simple plan here, so we'll give him +20 for the simplicity of it (it's not as if he's trying to create a polymer or something, just use it). That gives us his 1@5 SAL, +20 SM, and 2@2 BRA (ed lev), 57% chance of success, and we roll 00, which is a botch, and now I've got more work to do.

Well, this goes down as highly annoying. I had written a great deal in Micheal's thread, but all in Notepad so I could switch easily between the two screens--and then I stepped out of the room, and we suffered a thirty-second blackout. The typing on this thread was preserved by Firefox (a feature I do like), but the Notepad entry is gone and I'll have to recompose it. I think I've caught up, and now I can deal with the botch.

He is prepared for the possibility that he might secure one or both nails "crooked", so we will include that as the first option; the others all have to be consistent with the technology of working with these objects. I came up with five, and got resident and visiting gamers to contribute a sixth:

1. Secure nails crooked
2. Obscure lens with plastic steel
3. Break lens
4. Secure finger joint with plastic steel
5. Leave plastic steel patch on clothing
6. Burn self with lensed light.

The roll is 6, which means that his work is interrupted while he attends to a burn; the burns of the coral bush are damaging, so with a roll of 56 we've got three intensity burn.

I am summarizing the information from the trip for Ahmetia; I probably should have taken it through the arrival of the train at Strelsau, but we'll cover that next time.

I suppose I could have given Brock a simpler answer to his question, but since I don't know him all that well yet I'll let him tell me when he gets tired.

Maxx rolls 05 and 95 on his attempts to identify temperature in connection with his analysis, so I'll give him the first, particularly since it's related to his skin, which would be warm. I will also move forward a month, since we don't want to move at real time here despite how much he's cramming into his days.

Kurt and I both need to get back up to speed on his story; I've read all the posts on the current page, and think we're good.

Harry suggests using a chalk board for his duty roster, which makes good sense, as white boards certainly do not exist but black boards are fairly old, even if they were lime on slate. 24 is a particularly bad GE roll, though. I'll have to create a problem. I see an obvious solution, but we'll let Harry devise it.

Nikolaj mentions a Nehemiah Prayer, and this really is a Nehemiah prayer--a barely breathed prayer crunched into a seconds to give the petitioner the ability to speak as God would direct. I'm noting, though, that it is very much about persuasion, so I'm going to list it as a Bonus Persuasion Check M+1@4, and consider very carefully what's involved. The baseline is 1:00, but we'll cut that to 0:12, which is 2 halvings and a 20% additional decrease, -24 total. I am giving it a bonus I rarely give, +5 for being very much in harmony with the goals of the deity (it is, after all, entirely about being able to say what God would have him say, the persuasion aspect being secondary). It is always relative to a single individual, for which I will give him +5. There is unfortunately a -25 penalty for skills activated entirely by thought, but since this impacts a single persuasion check he does not need an RS minutes duration, and we will reduce that to three minutes, which I make +40 on the assumption that an average roll is about 50 (less because of chance of failure, but that value is in flux), half makes 25, half makes 12:30, half makes 6:15, half makes 3:07.5, so three minutes is four halvings of the duration. This gives me a sit-mod of -24+5+5-25+40=+1. His chance of learning it adds his 7@9 bias, 1/2 1@10 religion SAL, +10 Alliance bonus, Nehemiah's average professional 2@5 example, and the 7@ world bias against a paltry 1@4 bias target skill, which I think is probably well over 100% chance of success for learning, so we'll roll 76 for a 1@2 SAL Nehemiah's Prayer M+1@4 bonuses persuasion check to one individual by giving the speaker God's intended message for that person, prayer is entirely by thought, 0:15 TF 3:00 duration, +1 SM. Now that it worked, giving him an effective +8 on his persuasion to 2@6, we'll roll a simple persuasion check, very bad, 19+17=36. Well, it won't always go his way--Paul never converted Felix and Festus.

John 2 is recalling a roll previously made, so I'm adjusting what I said last time to fit that and the new roll. We'll let him stock up--he might need it.

And to all a good night.

--M. J. Young

The typing on this thread was preserved by Firefox (a feature I do like)

You finally tried Firefox huh? It's the best browser I've yet seen. As they say "Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer...."

John 2 is recalling a roll previously made, so I'm adjusting what I said last time to fit that and the new roll. We'll let him stock up--he might need it.

Thanks for that. I can't believe I didn't do this before. Only the Great Gaming God (AKA MJ) has any idea when I will again land in a world where this will even exist, let alone be legal to the public.

(Doing Therapy)

I'm quoting Maxx:

Month 16 (July):

I wonder if I can walk properly or even run right about now.
I also wonder if I can pronounce word properly by now.

Walking would be good. I doubt that your character would be running, certainly with your focus on psionic progress which leaves little to no time for developing body skills. But I may be misunderstanding this incarnation experience.

According to the internet (http://parenting.ivillage.com/tp/tpdevelopment/0,,pg60,00.html ), running and climbing would start now. But some kids are faster and others are slower. I see that daily at work.

When I was about 3, I used to climb to the top of a 7-8 foot bookshelf and sit down on it. Mom freaked out every time.

(Doing Therapy)

At the age of three, most can even manage to jump. The oldest kids I work with are 2,5 years, and most of them have trouble with jumping, not coming off of the ground. (but we're going off topic, this was about 16 months old children)

Permit me first to wish a happy Boxing Day or Feast of Stephen to those who mark the day; sing a verse of Good King Wenceslas for me. Second, let me thank everyone for your patience during the past month, which has been hectic and troubled as much as any this year. Third, let me thank Nikolaj for his input on child development. I have a guide for all that, but sometimes I get confused between what the guide says and what I remember, and I am not close enough to my granddaughter to observe her development in any detail.

With that, I will turn my attention to posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Nikolaj, and John 2.

There's not much to say for Michael.

Ahmetia rolls 04 on her riding skill, and thus she manages to do it, somewhat awkwardly. That will bring her to the cathedral, but we'll allow her opportunity to interact a bit as she desires.

It sounds to me as if Brock is hoping to meet someone in the galley, but a 22 GE is bad, not as bad as anticipated but worse than bad enough. He'll have a passing meeting with someone passing.

Maxx wants to teach himself Analyze Chemistry by Clairvoyant Perception of Molecular Structure in Slow Motion P9@2 (light not essential) 30:00 preparatory concentration, can be focused to observe quark level instead (separate use). The skill he is using for the basis has a +59 sit-mod, but this incorporates a second skill, so there's -10 for that, and since it is clairvoyant we have to raise the bias to include clairvoyance in the curve--a curve of 9 covers clairvoyance, but it can't be incorporated in a flatlined skill, so it has to be 9@2. With that in place, I'll roll the dice. Oh, you know what? I've got this new stopwatch, so I don't have to worry about dropping my new dice into the obliviation that is my office floor. Let me start it,

and take a moment to thank John "A-1 Nut" Cross for the lovely and useful Christmas gift which is primarily a stopwatch but incorporates clock, calendar, and alarm functions, thank you very much John 2

and now having typed that I can use the lap function to get a truly random roll of 14, which gives him a 1@1 Analyze Chemistry by Clairvoyant Perception of Molecular Structure in Slow Motion P9@2 (light not essential) 30:00 preparatory concentration, can be focused to observe quark level instead (separate use) +49SM and raises his psi bias one intensity.

Kurt is getting back into the flow of his game; we'll see which way it goes from here.

Nikolaj reminds me that I had to work out the details of prayers from his December 10 posting, and although I'm not certain I've a great deal of time today either, I'm going to tackle them now. I'll start by getting the sequence straight:

During the day we're now at I will also pray that God will prepare the men and their hearts for this message, through thoughts, dreams, events or whatever else God likes to use for it. This will take 15 minutes, hands help up into the air and a short period of praying in tongues. My eyes will be closed.

The day before the meeting I will pray to God that He will make all things work out and that He would speak his message to the people. I'l make it one of my prayer walks. Rather then revealing Christ, the attempt is now to make them be open for the message of a young orc and to accept it into their heart. I ask God to prepare the people.

The prayer for advance preparation is tough to categorize, but since it seems in essence to be asking God for knowledge I will go with a M+7@7 Communicate Off-world. He hits the baseline 15:00 for conversations, but is not really having a conversation, rather asking God to answer him at God's leisure, as it were, so I'll give him +10 for that. He gets +5 for appropriate words and +5 for including his prayer tongues in the prayer. He also needs a successful skill check on the prayer tongues, +10 if he gets it. He raises both hands and closes his eyes, for which +6. That gives him +36 on his chance of success assuming the check. The prayer tongues roll is 74, and he's got a 1@10 SAL, +10 religion, +10 alliance, +19 BRA, 59% chance of success, it does not happen.

He is modeling the other on his prayer walk:

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

I think we're looking at what might effectively be a penalize will power skill--because will power is the attribute we use for the obstinacy of those who are the objects of persuasion. Thus we're looking at Reduce Resistance to Persuasion M1@4 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to make hearers open to message to be spoken at a specific future moment, reduces will power against persuasion of RS% of members of group RS/10 for 1:00:00.

The walking means +3 (both legs), the prayer tongues means +10 (success required on another skill), +5 appropriate words, +5 foreign language, the TF is doubled five and a quarter times for +53, but the RF is increased from RS/10 minutes to 1:00:00, which is -35, and he's gone from one person to RS% of a group which is a significant increase in power, which I will make -65 figuring that that's roughly a hundred people, which I'll take as enough for any "group". He also gets +10 if the prayer tongues work, for which he rolls 28, an easy success. That makes the sit-mod penalties -100 but the bonuses +86, so it's -14 on its chance of success. However, this being the first time, he gets the advantage of bias, because he has a 7@9 bias against a 1@4 target, along with the other previously noted bonuses. He rolls 16, so 16% of the group will have their resistance reduced 2 intensities for the hour of the meeting, and he has this skill, 1@1 Reduce Resistance to Persuasion M1@4 while walking, requires successful use of Prayer Tongues M7@1 40:00 TF asks God to make hearers open to message to be spoken at a specific future moment, reduces will power against persuasion of RS% of members of group RS/10 for 1:00:00

As for the new prayer, he'll have to give me a bit more information.

John 2 gets a 19 GE on his desired grenades, so I'll take a look. I'll have to work out what all these are before I can apply the roll, but he'll get most of them, probably.

--M. J. Young

I'm glad you like the stopwatch MJ.

(Doing Therapy)

O.K., the new stopwatch is now running to serve as our randomizer, and I can tackle posts from Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, and John 2.

Michael treats his wound prophylacticly and gets some sleep. I don't think more than ten hours is likely.

Ahmetia gets through the ceremony to the point at which she is to say her duplicate's vow.

Brock rolls 02 on his use computer skill, which is a very weak success. He also needs a GE roll for whether anyone is in the rec center: 2+3+4=9, an excellent roll.

Maxx has a number of interesting ideas for his new skill, but they will require skill checks to perform and I want to check that he wants to make those checks before I roll them.

Kurt rolls 46 on his 1@8 use computer skill with a 10@ bias and 2@2 BRA, a 60% chance of success, so a decent roll.

Harry has devised an excellent way to resolve the duty roster problem, so we'll build on that and get this out of the way before we have our first fire.

I'm still settling the grenade definitions with John 2, but I think we're nearly finished. I remind myself that the GE roll was 19, so once we have clearly communicated the definitions I'll determine the availability on that basis.

--M. J. Young

I believe I have opened all the active threads. I have Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2. Let's see how much damage--er, how many of these threads I can address in the available time.

I did not actually list Michael's skill at designing and building a microscope yesterday; I relied on incorporating it into the polymer skill. I'm going to toss a skill learning roll at this point, certain that with his 10@3 bias and 2@2 BRA he's got a very solid chance of successfully learning to build a microscope, a 6@2 skill. It's not quite as good a chance, in this world, as I'd estimated though--125-62=63, and my roll of 85 is not good. So I'll put the problem in the taping, and give him another chance to do it, 02, a weak success, 1@1 Design/Build Microscope T6@2.

Ahmetia has attempted to recite from memory the vow she is supposed to recite from memory. The correct wording is

And I, Rudolpha, do solemnly promise and swear to govern the people of Ruritania according to their laws and customs, and to cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all my judgments. The things I have here before promised I will perform and keep, so help me God.

Her memorized version is

I, Rudolpha, do solemnly promise to govern the people of Ruritania according to the laws and customs, and to cause law and justice in mercy to be executed in all my judgments. The things I have promised I will perform and keep, so help me God.

I am very impressed, spotting very few discrepancies; we'll give her +5 on her effective attribute for a simple check to see whether her character got it right where she failed. The dice read 2+5, which is a a success.

She also is going to be introduced for the first time to that gorgeous hunk of a man, Prince Flavius. The books states that she has to make a will power check against his 2@9 animal magnetism, or she will do something "foolish and impetuous". We will roll, first her roll against her 1@9 will power: 12; 28, he could not have made a better roll, and she could not have resisted with any roll that would have been successful for her. I want to give her some hint of the situation, but let me roll a check--I wish I had her intellect here, but her ed lev will have to do--for whether she remembers what she was told about him. 9+6=15, well within her score.

I am going to bonus Maxx +3 on his effective intellect for this particular sorting session, because he has to work out the background light which happens to be even across the entire visible spectrum. That gives him an effective 2@1, and he rolls 19, so he's good. He is looking into his brain next, molecule by molecule, and has about a quarter of an hour to examine it one molecule per minute. He hopes to gain some information about brain chemistry and the development and inhibition of neurotransmitters (that's my rough summary of his statement), so we'll give him a GE roll for what he does and does not see: 17, pretty ordinary.

I seem to have rolled a 45 on his chance of moving to the cornea. We have a 1@1 SAL, +49 SM, +2x9@ bias, and I don't need to track down his BRA because this is obviously successful. The roll for the next shift is 48, which again will take him to the air above his skin, where he is looking for the source of the light. It is not there, though, so I think he won't find it.

Kurt has the sense to ask about how his secret weapons work, and is now looking at security--but I'm not certain where he's looking.

There was a general effects roll made at Ubercon for Harry, and although I do not remember the roll, I remember that he and I both recognized that there was going to be a fire fairly soon. It was not immediate, and I've given him the time to run a practice session and get his staff organized, but I think the time has come. There remain other questions, though: who is on duty when the fire begins? how close is it to the firehouse? How bad is it when it is discovered? What is burning? Let's cover it all with a GE roll: 9+5+9=23, Nearly As Bad As Anticipated.

I've put a lot of work into making the schedule for his crews, and now I can't copy it here, so I'll have to give it some thought.

I'm double-checking something with Nikolaj.

John 2 has more questions.

--M. J. Young

I have opened threads from Mike, Ahmetia, Brock, Maxx, Kurt, Nikolaj, and John 2.

We need a skill check for whether Mike can use his primitive microscope. Since he's a professional, we won't penalize for the equipment here--it's already a tough situation, because the NagaWorld tech bias is not terribly friendly to his efforts. But with a 2@1 SAL and 2@2 BRA he's got a 43% chance of accomplishing his objective; his roll is 12. I've never had anyone attempt to examine plastic steel this way before, so I'll have to roll for what he discovers: 20 is just bad enough, so he's not going to discover much.

Ahmetia is out of the frying pan and into the fire. She's been doing her best not to talk to anyone, but no one warned her that she was going to be sharing the carriage to the palace with this gorgeous guy. Let's see how she handles that.

Brock is conversing with the communications expert.

Maxx has got me nervous--he's trying to create a psionically generated physical force or force object to use as a support so he can walk. I need more information on that before I can adjudicate it, so we'll ask.

Kurt is settling into the nearest hotel to his prey.

I think Nikolaj is hitting me with one of the toughest prayers he's done yet. He very clearly wants to influence the minds of two individuals; this is a M10@7 Suggestion, with a -10 penalty because two people are targeted. We already know that simply placing the idea in their mind will not be persuasive, and thus we have another -20 because it is compelling. It is also the intent of the skill that the skilled user actually state the idea in the hearing of the target, and a -10 penalty accrues for not doing that. In his favor, 0:00:06 activation times are common, and he is praying this for 0:40:00, so he gets a lot of bonuses for the time invested: six doublings makes 3:12 nine makes 25:16, and we're adding about 80% more, so +98 for time. The targets are not together and not at hand, so I'm going to penalize it -30 for range. We have +5 appropriateness, +5 for the magical language but the requirement at +10 that he make a successful check on his prayer tongues skill, +3 for two legs, and we accumulate +51SM but have to make the prayer tongues roll successfully, for which he rolls 50, let me check on that: 1@10 SAL+10 religion +10 alliance plus bias and BRA, and I'm going to give him a mark because I don't think I've yet credited him for using this skill as the basis for another. The prayer tongues work, so we roll his chance to learn, 25, definitely a success which kicks his bias up significantly, but his two targets each get a will power check. I'd say the head of the meat prep division is a 1@6, and Miss Kucher is a rather stubborn 1@10, and the rolls for them, respectively, are 1+5=6 and 16+20=36.

Hmmm--I never should have used the name Kathrine. I will never remember how to spell it. Oh, well, it's done now.

I think John 2 is almost set with his grenades. I note that he has not yet learned the psionic slicer; it's day 24, and he's got to make a decision on that before I can move the calendar forward.

--M. J. Young

I think John 2 is almost set with his grenades. I note that he has not yet learned the psionic slicer; it's day 24, and he's got to make a decision on that before I can move the calendar forward.

You haven't mentioned this in so long, I had forgotten about it completely. Bring it back into game. Have Lauren call me or something.

(Doing Therapy)

I'm picturing A1Nut going the path of Michael DiVars. Or that guy from the movie "Tremors"... Burt? The guy who shows up in the second movie with a deuce-and-a-half full of guns and explosives.

Yeah, I was talking to him about that in email. I was telling him, my absolute maximum would be one gun of each archetype i know of off the top of my head, if I felt the need to have guns at all. One close range scatter (shotgun), one medium-range automatic (military rifles), one ultra-long range (sniper), one sidearm, and an explosive of some kind. He has 2 or 3 ways to explode, 2 or 3 rifle types, 2 pistols (I think), and 2 shotguns, once he finishes his current purchases. (presupposing he doesn't discard some of it.)

I envision my future self as a wise and learned monk, master of magical and psionic abilities. An expert mediator, purveyor of peace between peoples-perhaps with a dash of magic to help things along.

How about you?

Yeah, I was talking to him about that in email. I was telling him, my absolute maximum would be one gun of each archetype i know of off the top of my head

Yeah, Brock's maximum would be what I carry on me at all times. Not even counting the big stuff I keep in my room for emergencies.

I've got 3 shotguns, 3 pistols, 4 rifles, a grenade launcher and a crossbow. "You want a war? I'll take you to war, OK!!!"