I feel for ya John. I also see better in the dark than most, because I spend all my time at home with the lights off. The only light in my house is from the computer monitor I'm staring at. I hadn't even considered that for a game effect, heh. I don't see well in light though-I am easy to blind, and I didn't even consider THAT for a weakness. Ah well, I'll mention it to MJ later....
Couldn't Lauren also use blind-fighting as well? That would mean there is a way to counteract darkness within every bias (NVGs for tech, or a flashlight). Is that the case with a lot of effects?
That would mean there is a way to counteract darkness within every bias (NVGs for tech, or a flashlight). Is that the case with a lot of effects?
Yes.
Depending on how narrowly you define them, that's the case with every effect.
Yeah MJ, I mean she's already 4 times better than I am, that's not enough? She also has to be able to see as well? That's hardly fair, no wonder Lauren isn't getting a workout, she's cheating.
John, you think it's unfair for her to use a skill at which she is pretty good to counter a detriment you have imposed on the conditions--but you have imposed that specific detriment on the conditions specifically because you want to practice a skill to counter it. Brock, Lauren does not have a blind fighting skill precisely because she has several magical and psionic ways of producing light or enhancing her vision in darkness, and no one has ever taught her a way to fight in darkness otherwise.
Oh, and John, you are relying on Blind Fighting, which is not "a natural ability I have to see in near darkness", but a trained skill to use the totality of sensory information including stereo location, tactile sense of wind currents, and olfaction, to determine the position and motion of an opponent you cannot see at all.
You want to practice your best chance for fighting in darkness; you don't want her to do the same? It's already clear that you're trying to find a way to prove you're better than she is. That wouldn't impress her even if it were true, and it's not true.
Be glad it's Lauren and not, say, Michael di Vars. He has very little patience for people who try to make themselves seem like more than they are.
I've already responded to Maxx' in-game journal and to Brock's character creation thread, so I'll finish with Maxx then see to Harry and John 2.
Maxx is in an interesting position, and I'm not certain what it will take to get him out of it. We'll see.
Harry is getting everyone into position.
John 2 needs to drop into stance, for which he rolls a successful 20, and he wants to check his 2@8 exceptional night vision for which his numbers are 2@8+2x7@+1@9=61%, and he rolls 78. He can roll his blind fighting once per round until it works, and then it lasts RS minutes and cancels -15 of the -20 penalty on his attacks. His first roll is 80, which fails.
--M. J. Young
Be glad it's Lauren and not, say, Michael di Vars. He has very little patience for people who try to make themselves seem like more than they are.
I would be, if I were trying to make myself seem like more than I am. I know I don't have a chance against her, and I'm certainly not trying to make her think that I do. Maybe if we were at the shooting range, that might be on my mind, but a 1@1 with those 50 calibers of hers would still be much more impressive than my 2 9mms could ever be.
And besides, what makes you think I'm trying to impress Lauren? Is it the "OK honey, let's dance." talk? That's just fighting pep talk, to boost morale, not an attempt to impress someone that could have killed me a dozen times by now.
Two Posts
Besides, a couple of years ago, I wrestled against a former Green Beret who was built like a brick wall. I got cocky with him, and he (literally) almost killed me for it. That's not something I would do again.
I must say though, he was quite cool about it, and admitted later that he was very impressed with how I handled him. His exact words were "Oh, you're a pretty decent wrestler." Which, coming from Dan, was UNBELIEVABLY high praise. (I think he thought I was going to be a pushover.) I learned my lesson from that. Now if I could just learn my lesson with authority figures......
(Doing Therapy)
Multiple Posts
Yeah, I got a touch cocky with her at first, but that was because I thought I was going to be training her in boxing. After she beat me senseless that first time, all of my cockiness went right out the window. Now, my concentration is just on trying to keep her from doing that again.
Which makes me wonder, I would be practicing blocks like crazy. Would there be any defensive bonuses for that? My concentration would be on blocking her, not on attacking back. If it costs attack, forget it, but I would be focusing on defense more than offense.
(Doing Therapy)
Defense and offense are not split in this system, except if you're using the defenses as special maneuvers (which usually means they cost an attack but are used to counter specific attacks) or you have a separate defensive skill. When you improve, the big things that increase are your chance to hit, the number of attacks you can attempt in the minute, and your potential damage per attack.
O.K., maybe I am sleep-deprived, as discussed in that thread about Harry's anti-fatigue skill. I am not at all coming up with either a good fatal accident or a fun first world for Brock. Of course, just because I've run it for so many others before does not mean it isn't good or fun, so I guess we'll start with Brock in a new world, then Maxx, Harry, and John 2. It strikes me that I should probably move Maxx to the end of the line, because there is at least the possibility that the masked player has been playing longer than anyone else here, and it would be genuinely unfair to allow such a player to get to the front of the line by subterfuge. However, I don't think I'll do that today, at least.
So I think I have Brock started.
I don't really want to give Maxx too solid a reference point for the date of conception, particularly since I have been less attentive to the flow of days as they've been moving forward more quickly; but Lelach rolls 7 on her simple intellect check, so that should be something she could reference at least close enough. That means I have to backtrack to determine the current day. It was day 32 when he managed to contact Lach's mind; but that seems to be the last time I noted the exact day. I can say that it is not day 50, because that's when the baby begins to be able to move, and that has not yet happened. We'll put the botch on day 38, which makes this, the third day according to his journal, day 40.
I think Lelach will be resistant to any attempt to read Morani's mind, so we'll have a will power contest. Maxx rolls 24, which is a clear failure. He then rolls 11 to try to read the mental frequency of fabric, but she rolls 13, so she beats him on that. He's moved himself into a very difficult and awkward position, but I still have some hope that he can extract himself from this.
Harry is throwing a new spell at me--no, that did not come out right at all, did it? He wants to create a new version of Remove Fatigue that will impact those in the immediate area around him specifically to keep everyone attentive. He did not give me a duration, but I'm going to roll and then see what I've got. The roll is 71, which means I have to work for this. His bias is 3@1, this skill is 2@1, so that's +10; he's got the alliance +10 bonus, +13 for his magic, and +23 for his BRA. That puts him at 56% plus or minus the sit-mods for the skill, which I guess I have to crunch, since this is either really successful or problematically failed.
+5 appropriate words, sound not necessary, closed eye and left hand on sword and right hand on heart is two hands and a single eye, I'll give +4, +5 for the vigilance is necessary stipulation (a gift, really, because that's the only reason he would use it). The fact that it benefits as many people who are within thirty feet is problematic, because the baseline affects one single person, and you can cram a lot of "people" into thirty feet--particularly if, for example, they are all sprites flying in close formation. But let's count doublings to two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two people, which makes it -50. I'll give +10 because it only works at "night" or the equivalent, there is a gold coin for +3 destroyed in the casting for +3. Oh, he said half an hour, contrasted against 1 minute, so that's +50. That puts the sit-mod at +30, and makes it work. It also means that I have to copy out the ritual for reference: 1@2 Induce Alertness M+3@1 remove fatigue variant 30:00 TF removes fatigue from all within 30', speak appropriate words sotto voce, one eye closed for Odin, left hand on sword for Thor, right hand on heart for Baldur, and single gold piece in right palm for Loki, destroyed in the process, only works when vigilance is significant and caster is aware of that significance, must be night or local equivalent thereof, +30SM.
John 2 is going into combat blind. Lauren is not interested in this combat, so she's not really going to move until he does; and he's not moving until he knows where she is. So the minute passes, and we roll 63 on the night vision and 36 on the blind fighting.
--M. J. Young
Oh, it is not a good week; I am already falling asleep reading posts, and I have games to run for Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2. Well, there's nothing for it but to do it.
Brock is at this point pretty easy, because I've run this world before and he's not done anything surprising yet.
I think I've addressed most of Maxx' latest round of questions.
Harry is going to attempt to read the surface thoughts of three people. He can see them, so we'll roll for the captain first (the identifiable individual) and the other two in random order (since we don't have any way to identify them individually yet anyway): 20, and it occurs to me that he might not bother with the others if he gets the one (which he now has for twenty minutes) and won't want to risk a botch, so we'll leave it at that unless he says otherwise. The question, though, is how much is he going to get about what? That is, if he is reading surface thoughts, of what is his target thinking? It would have to be a pretty unlucky circumstance if the man did not think at all about what he was just doing, but his GE roll is 27, so it's not going to be a terribly informative reading--not as bad as it could be, but pretty useless.
John 2 rolls 04 on a great leap--which wasn't a great leap, but it did move him the requisite distance and direction. Lauren rolls 15 on a simple intuition check, so she is not even remotely surprised; rolling 06 she responds with a handspring that puts her where he is going. Her roll of 91, though, is not going to touch him. She gets four attacks to his one, and he just used his one for the jump, and she used one for the handspring and another that missed, but she rolls 26 and 68, which I'm sure enough is a hit and a miss, and anyway that works for now. I'll give John the +1 mark for the leap which makes his SAL 1@2. I will also raise his fighting blind by one mark to 1@2. I'm less inclined to raise his boxing just yet, because he has not only not landed a punch, he hasn't actually swung (he used his attack to leap behind her, which may be why he got the bonus there--he now knows that the leap will cost him an opportunity to attack even if it gives him better position).
I believe I can call it finished.
--M. J. Young
MJ, it suddenly occurred to me that my fighting blind might not have been 1@1 when I got here. I was training Mr. Smith's apprentice William how to box. I did that long enough to go from 1@6 boxing to 1@10 boxing. That would have been after work, at dusk. I would imagine relatively low-light conditions, if not occasionally completely dark. Might that be worth a skill mark or two on my fighting blind? Since it's low light and not blind, I wouldn't expect more than half the skill marks if I had been training blind the whole time, but I just thought I would ask.
(Doing Therapy)
John, there is nothing to suggest that you attempted to teach William to box in the dark, and the sort of dusk conditions you suggest are not at all related to the skill.
Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2 are playing again.
The last guy who tried to look into the crater fell in. Let's hope things go better for Brock.
Maxx is pushing me to explore areas of my spritish culture that I never really developed; but we'll fill in gaps as we go, based on what I do know.
Harry has quite a fascinating idea brewing. I wonder if that's the way he should do this--but we'll see how it unfolds.
I'm not sure whether John 2 is continuing to fight or not; he's already diverted attention to stuff he's going to buy after the fight.
--M. J. Young
No arguments on the fighting blind. I just thought I'd ask. No harm in asking, right?
(Doing Therapy)
As much as I would like to get to Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2, and as sorry as I am that I did not get to you all last night (which I spent as visitor/driver in a hospital emergency room once again), it is too late tonight and I am wanted by family. I did address the other threads, and I anticipate returning tomorrow.
Sorry.
--M. J. Young
Oh, that is quite all right MJ. I think you need a vacation anyway. scrolling back over all of the recent posts you have been making here, you have been saying how tired you are alarmingly frequently. When is the last time you took a break for something other than necessity?
Excuses excuses.... Kidding MJ. Well, good luck however it turns out.
"I did address the other threads, and I anticipate returning tomorrow."
Curious: did you mean all the non-game threads, or what?
Yes, Brock, the "other threads" are the ones that are not about playing the game. It's kind of odd, really--the forum existed for quite some time simply as a place to discuss Multiverser and related game ideas, and then one of the regulars suggested that having me run games here would be a boon to helping others understand how to run them, and that's been the dominant activity since then. I, though, still consider the games to be secondary, the important part being about answering the questions.
And with that, and a somewhat earlier start that is slated to be interrupted fairly soon, I will leap into posts from Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2.
I'm working Brock toward his first encounter, and his comments have inspired me to give consideration to a quick adjustment--I've posted a separate thread for that.
I'm going to move Maxx' calendar ahead three days, to day 43, day six on his journal.
Harry missed the point to which I was calling his attention, but we'll clarify and continue.
John 2 is going to use his out-of-sight telekinesis; he didn't say so, but if he's going to TK pulse something he can't see, that's what he's doing.
--M. J. Young
I really hate mouse-driven software. I've been through several operating systems, multiple motherboards and their accompanying BIOS', quite a few mouse programs, a forgotten number of the devices themselves, and always I have problems with the mouse freezing and running erratically. Sometimes defragging the system helps, but not always and never for long. So I had to reboot to get the mouse working again, because "point and click" is so much easier than tabbing through a hundred links to find the right one.
Now that I've finished grousing, let's turn our attention to Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2.
I've brought a future version of Scott into Brock's world, because I thought it would be fun; we'll see what the two of them do here.
Maxx wants to create this skill where he finds the "pattern" of material objects. I've been searching in my head intermittently over several days looking for something less dangerous than a P9@1 Analyze Chemistry, but I think I've found it: a P3@4 Detect Materials. I will give him +10 because the skill requires that he have psionically studied the type of material he wishes to find (he can't say that he's looking for gold unless he has already examined gold), and that plus his 1@9 BRA plus 1@1 bias plus the 15@ world area bias minus the target 3@4 skill gives him an 11% chance of success. He rolls 94, which is clearly a botch, and one I'm going to use to my advantage to solve a problem that has, in my opinion, been bogging down play somewhat and had little hope of being resolved.
Harry gets his report, and it might enlighten him.
We're continuing the sparring between John 2 and Lauren, and he wants to use his out-of-sight TK as a pulse to knock over a known object as a distraction. 82 fails. That means we move to initiative, John 93, Lauren 93, that's closer to success for her, so she goes first once again. 65, 73, and I'm missing her numbers here so I've got to rebuild them: John's got a -15 def SM and a 1@6 TV; Lauren has a 2@2 MSV, 2@8 BRA, 2@8 SAL, 2x7@ bias, and I think +5 SM, which is 97-31=66%, so that's a hit and a misse. John responds with 34, which might be his first touch, but I have to do the numbers for him, too. Lauren's defensive style gives her -10 SM (and -10 damage mod) in addition to her 1@10 TV, -30, against John's 1@10 MSV, 1@9 BRA, 2x7@ bias, 1@10 SAL, 73-30=43. She rolls 08, 58.
I think I'm done.
--M. J. Young
I bet you still have and use a functional 8 track player, don't you MJ? Hearing you talk sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised.
(Doing Therapy)
I never owned an 8-track player, but I did buy one for a girlfriend once. Problem really was that I never had money to spare, and when I did I spent it on instruments and amplifiers and such. As to music, I always listened to tapes on reel-to-reel, but my now college-aged son destroyed all the tapes when he was three, and both decks died somewhere along the way and have since been lost. So I record my own music on my computer using midi and wave software, burn it to CDs (but my CD burner is on the fritz again), and listen to it on a CD Walkman style player powered off the cigarette lighter and fed into the cassette player in the car.
Why is that relevant to anything?
I apologize for missing yet another game yesterday; see the http://gamingoutpost.com/blog/prime-time/ Prime Time blog entry. Now let's see what we can do for Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2.
Brock is having a lengthy conversation with Scott, which will not require much of me but that I read it and encourage it--oh, and note bits that were overlooked.
I am going to give Maxx +5 familiarity with Lelach; he's earned it, that's certain. He is also creating a new skill which is similar to the Psionic Focus skill Scott created not too long ago, so I'll cover it the same way as Meditation P1@0 one minute of mind relaxation gives +RS/10 to immediately subsequent psionic skill attempt, and I'll roll his chance of learning this, 47 rolled for a 1@0 skill against a 1@1 bias in a 15@ world with a 1@9 BRA is 45-10=35, failure here. However, he can still attempt the telepathy, for which he has a 1@1 bias, 15@ world, 1@9 BRA, and the +5 familiarity with Lelach, against a 1@3 skill, 37% chance of success, he rolls 29 and connects on the first try. We've got a 16 GE roll on her reaction.
Harry has a new and interesting plan, but it's going to require a bit of luck. Let's go for the GE roll: 26. This is not going to work as planned, but it is not completely impossible.
I have to answer a few questions for John 2, and now it strikes me that with all the questions I forgot that he was still fighting--well, next time, perhaps.
--M. J. Young
Why is that relevant to anything?
Your reference to disliking mouse-driven software, and some other quips you've made regarding technology kind of gave the impression that you're anti-technology, at least to a degree. Hence, asking if you had a functional 8 track player.
Ah, I get it. No, I am no Luddite; however, I am very much against change for its own sake, against insisting that I upgrade to software that is "better" because it does a lot of things I don't need and no longer has the features on which I am constantly relying. As to mouse-driven software, just the other day I filled out a form that wanted me to "sign" it with my mouse, and the result was a series of disjointed jagged lines, as the mouse would operate for a fraction of a second and then seize for a few seconds and then repeat that process over the several minutes it took for me to attempt to get through all the letters--and then the page had the nerve to lose the signature because it did not like the answer I gave to one of the questions, so I had to go through the process again.
Now, where were we? I believe we have Brock, Maxx, Harry, and John 2 waiting.
Not much to do with Brock, but I can have a little fun with it.
- I am reminded of a humorous moment in Blackadder the Third, with Tom Baker playing a sea captain with two wooden legs. Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson) says, "Here we are, lost at sea with a captain who's legless--" Baker, the captain, replies, "I beg your pardon! I haven't had a drop all day!" Blackadder says, "You haven't got any legs, man!" and Baker replies, "Oh, yes, well, there is that." So, too, the fact that Iggy is the only iguana who can talk is less significant to him than the fact that he's the only iguana on the island.
Maxx wants to read his own mind, and the answer is yes, he can, but what is he trying to read? It might be that he is creating new mind reading skills, or it might be that he is using skills he has already used. Let's see what he says.
He rolls 33 on trying to read his own memories, and given his 1@3 bias and the +15 world bias and his own 1@9 BRA with a +20 bonus for self, against a 1@1 bias skill, that's a good success at learning 1@1 Read Memories P1@1--but the question is whether this is supposed to be a special skill for himself or one that works with others.
Physical contact between Lelach and Morani does not enable you to read Morani's mind.
Lelach is still pretty upset that you are communicating with her this way, and she does not want to learn any skills she shouldn't be able to know--she's afraid that there might be something demonic going on here, and even if there isn't she's afraid that others will think that there is.
We had a miscommunication, in that Maxx failed to learn how to enhance his chance of mind reading success by meditation, but doesn't know he failed so he's still trying to do it; but that means he's trying again to teach himself, and I should roll again. Let's go for it: 24 gives him 1@1 Meditation P1@0 one minute of mind relaxation gives +RS/10 to immediately subsequent psionic skill attempt.
I'm bringing him to day 50; although I should probably have ticked off more days, day 50 is significant for him.
His physical attributes are now:
Strength 0@2
Stamina 0@5
Resistance 0@7
Density 0@9
Flexibility 2@2
Agility 0@2
Hand/Eye 0@2
There's a 21 GE on Lelach's reaction to the suggestion of dream sharing. That actually surprises me, because I would have thought she would have been more comfortable that way.
Harry has settled on a plan; if we're in agreement, we'll see how it works next time.
Going into the next round, we need an initiative roll between Lauren and John 2, and John rolls 45 to Lauren's 63; Lauren can hit with up to a 66, so she goes first. She rolls twice, 48, 02, both connecting; John responds 62, a miss, and Lauren comes back with 07, 67. Initiatives 33, 67, the first time John has gotten the initiative in a while, and he rolls 10. Lauren rolls 00, a botch, so she looses an attack. 22, 27 follow.
--M. J. Young
and he rolls 10. Lauren rolls 00, a botch, so she looses an attack. 22, 27 follow.
No MJ, you mean she loses an attack. If she loosed an attack, she would have hit me. (Just teasing you!!!)
As to mouse-driven software, just the other day I filled out a form that wanted me to "sign" it with my mouse,
Egad. That's just bad design all around - I don't care how good your mouse software and hardware is, thinking that a mouse is the proper user interface for creating an image meant to emulate handwriting is wrong-headed in almost every conceivable way. That would only be workable if you happened to have one of those writing tablets, which aren't exactly ubiquitous, and even then it takes a good deal of practice to be able to write legibly.
Scott, I just tested your theory with my mouse and the Windows Paint program. I could produce a signature not at all dissimilar from my normal signature. (Of course, my handwriting has been tested as being equal to that of a first-grader, hence why I learned how to type.) I'm just saying, it's possible to write with a mouse.
It's possible, but it's nothing at all like writing with a pen. I mean, for that matter I've written things in Paint that looked typed, just by building the letters pixel by pixel and then copy-pasting. My point is that this is completely the wrong method for their purpose - you're not going to be able to say, "Oh yeah, this account is definitely MJ's, I recognize his signature and it looks just like the ones on his checks."
Point made Scott. BTW, you are aware that there is a function in Windows Paint that will allow you to type in fonts and have it show up in the program, right? You don't have to build letters pixel by pixel. Unless you were doing it just to see if you could, that is. You ever do things just to see if you can do them? I think that's how most inventions get developed.
Ya know MJ, I was just thinking. I'm no Luddite either. However, the technology that I cannot stand is that labyrinth you have to go through on automated phone systems. "For English press one" (It's the US, why should I have to do that at all?) Then it says "If you want this, press 1, if you want this, press 2, if you want this, press 3" so on and so forth. Why can't they have a live person answer the phone and direct your call like they used to? I generally ask "Are you a human being?" when I get a live person, just to make certain it really is a person.
Re: creating fonts pixel by pixel, I've done that, too, particularly when I needed the letters to be skewed away from norm and exactly where I need it (such as an upside down letter inside a quarter inch graph paper box). Eventually I determined that it was easier to create one and paste it in any box that needed it.
Re: phone answering systems, if you don't push any buttons you usually wind up forwarded to a human fairly quickly, on the assumption that you don't have touch tone dialing. There are a few systems, though, that will simply tell you that you need touch tone to use their system, and will then disconnect. There are others which will tell you to wait for a live operator, and then tell you that the live operators all went home for the weekend....
--M. J. Young
I guess if English was actually our national language, they would be more inclined to skip the whole Press 1 for English bit, John. And it's a lot easier to buy a bunch of servers once than pay real people when a machine can usually do it just as well, albeit even more annoyingly.
Funny Graham, I thought we were typing in English right now... Not to mention the fact that most of the people who don't speak English aren't supposed to be here at all. I could understand it in Texas or someplace with a lot of tourism between the US and Mexico, but not as far north as Ohio, where I live. Most of the Mexicans are illegal and not supposed to be here at all. Why should we cater to them?
Okay, well, China has more English speaking people than we do--and all legally too, why isn't their national language English?
OK, well, if not English, what IS the United States' national language?
We don't have one! Melting Pot theory and all that.
Gee, I got so tied up in the peripheral posts, I didn't realize this was the Behind the Screens thread--or maybe I'm just tired. Anyway, I've got posts from Brock, Maxx, and John 2.
Brock and Scott are having a fine conversation that doesn't need much from me.
Maxx has me doing several things. Let's make a note here that he has taken the time to study the workings of his own mind, and will get a +5 bonus on specific mind reading skills in the future; I'm also alerting him to that. He rolls 47 on an attempt at an enhanced recollection skill, which thanks to the fact that he gets a +20 familiarity bonus on reading a mind that is categorized as "self" is a success, 1@1 Enhanced Recollection P1@1 (read minds on self). I'm reluctant to go through too much discussion of his efforts to create improved hearing skills because they are probably prohibitively difficult given his current bias; but he doesn't know that, and I should not interfere with his efforts, so I'm just going to ask the same questions I would ask anyone attempting to create such skill.
As to what bothers Lelach about telepathy, can you say Rosemary's Baby? Does anybody remember the story of Mother?
John 2 has a few things that need to be addressed.
--M. J. Young
I have a post from Maxx, and then I'll have to decide whether I am in the mood to deal with John 2 before turning my attention to Graeme. Well, one step at a time.
Well, Maxx took some time, but we've got him together.
John 2 is trying to design a martial arts skill, for which I've opened a new thread, Spinning Backhand Punch.
I hate to make Graeme's post short, but it occurs to me that he doesn't have a driver for the car he wants to attempt to protect and detect while it is in motion, so he's going to need to come up with one.
--M. J. Young
I'm not surprised at all by your reaction, only that it took so long.
To both Ahmetia and MJ, I apologize for my prolonged absence. I assure you both it was due to technical difficulties (my cable modem deciding not to play well with my router) and not anything worse.
I'm sure no apology is necessary - or if it is, I've got a positively frightening backlog of apologies that I need to take care of.
I know the feeling of bad connections-I almost didn't get here today.