Ending a Decade Behind the Screens · Page 12

It's getting later than I thought, and I've gone through two liters of soda in four hours trying to stay hydrated,

It took you that long to kill a 2 liter????

No, that was as long as I could stretch a two liter by nursing it as slowly as I could manage. I had hoped when I purchased it that it would make it into the next day.

Eli and Michael remain active, and Brock has returned, Kurt, Harry, and John 2 continuing their games, and it's good to have Adam back on the board, I've missed him. (My affection is entirely godly, so don't get any ideas when I say I love all you guys. It's just like John 1 says, except that he generally says it when he's not entirely sober, which I feel is safe to say given how rarely he is entirely sober. It's O.K., John, I love you, too, but you really should show up on the director's discussion board sometime, because we're trying to make decisions without you.)

Eli has had a really bad run of rolls on language use, and he's going to try again, rolling 99, another botch, this is getting ridiculous. Well, I think perhaps a GE roll is appropriate--after all, it could be that this isn't the person he was seeking, or that there is someone else around attempting to observe. The roll is 17, neither good nor bad.

Michael recognizes that the "wand" is his psionic drill, and he's going to make four attempts to use it if it doesn't work on the first try. It will work easier in this world, but not much easier for him because his bias is nowhere near as high as the world's bias and not much higher than that of the previous world, so he gets 2x1 for the bias bonus, 1@4 SAL+2@1 BRA=37% chance of making it work, 6% chance of botching, and four tries but stop on success, the rolls are 27, good success first try. I'll also throw a bit more in his direction that will help him piece together what it means to be on the path he's chosen.

I'll get Brock reoriented as he returns from his absence to find himself in a position he doesn't quite remember.

Based on Kurt's previous usage of the X-ray glasses and his roll (yesterday) of 36, I'm listing it as a 1@1 SAL. I'm also listing his knowledge of Greek mythology as a 1@10 SAL on a M0@1 skill, knowledge about religion without accompanying belief in it. He'll get a bit more of a lesson in the culture of the minstrel in response.

Harry is attempting to include material object sacrifice in an interesting way, but I think it has to be limited in a way that excludes his specific idea.

John 2 is attempting to create a new skill, but I think he's trying to get credit for an aspect he can't include.

I need to recall and reconstruct parts of Adam's story which have fallen out of memory over this time; mercifully the threads are here for that purpose, and I was working from something of a mental script. I remember that they created the Sword in the Stone. I'm assuming that Merlin was involved in the infamous seduction of Igraine (by an Uther transformed to look like Igraine's husband), and that upon the death of Uther Merlin arranged for Arthur to be raised by Ector alongside an elder Kay, later Sir Kay. At some point Merlin will begin interfering in Arthur's education, so let's use a GE roll to see whether that's a quick or a rocky wait. After all, Merlin is also enemy of the vampires, and part of the reason in this world for setting up Arthur as king and hiding him in his childhood is to oppose the vampires. The roll is 18, not favorable but very close to the mid point. We'll have a bit of a run from the vampires as part of their next trick.

--M. J. Young

I have a long line awaiting my attention tonight, starting with Eli, then Michael, Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Adam; I also have only a few minutes before I have to leave (thanks in part to the wealth of other active threads which were before this one, and in part to the errands that landed on my plate which chewed up the early part of the day). But that means it will be an interrupted session.

Eli has been having a rough time trying to make himself understood, thanks to his language barrier. 64 is not a botch, but a long way from success, too. But we had a neutral GE roll last time, so we can justify not terminating the discussion completely.

Michael is inching forward in this story. They'll have to start teaching him pretty soon, but he's got a good head start so he should be able to pick up the first few skills easily enough. On the other hand, I've a lot of work to do to fill in the gaps on the skill sheets of your average warlock, or I won't know what they're likely to teach him.

Kurt has passed a history lesson to a minstrel whose view of the use of music is that it is the way news travels. It will be interesting to see how he responds to that. Maybe I'll bring Tuck in next, but before I do I'll give Kurt a chance to address the matter.

Now let's work on Harry's spell design. It is a M+2@1 Remove Fatigue which affects multiple persons; the number of persons is balanced against a material component of price of room at an inn in gold. That strikes me as a glitch; it's not specific.

John 2 is trying to get something into his latest prayer that will bonus his chance of success, but his limited use of his body limits his potential physical involvement. That doesn't mean there's nothing he can do; it does mean that he's going to have to think of things he can do as a six month old baby that will commit him to physical involvement.

Adam has started work on a magic device that has intriguing possibilities I'm going to have to consider in some detail.

--M. J. Young

I've worked through some of the other threads, and now come to the game before turning my attention to the final polishing of the new series of time travel articles I'll be launching tomorrow. Michael, whose story details I have been frantically compiling, is first today, followed by Kurt, for whom I picked up a detail working on Michael's story that may help, and John 2, who has been hung up in trying to put together a summoning skill, and finally Adam, who has an interesting idea blooming.

I've got more notes on Michael's world, but I haven't yet filled in the description of the all-important Molly--best mind-reader of all the witches save perhaps Gwen, who will read him like a leaflet.

Kurt continues conversation with Allan of Dale.

John 2 is failing to connect with his situation; I'm going to try to get him focused on it.

Adam is working on a device, but not yet certain whether it ought to be magic or psionic or some combination of both. I've put forward some thoughts on the subject, and know which I would choose, but I have a bias in the area which should not influence him.

--M. J. Young

I don't want to talk about how derailed today was; I just want to see what I can accomplish for Eli, Michael, Kurt, John 2, and Adam.

Eli is going to be treated as a patient for the moment, as he seems injured and disoriented.

Michael has a 1@5 SAL at dancing (Swing) and a 1@9 BRA (magic), which gives him a 34% chance of doing something impressive here; he rolls 30.

I've double-checked details on the lute, as it's been a while since I've discussed or described one, but I don't think Kurt is likely to learn to play tonight.

John 2 is talking about talking to an angel when he can't really talk yet. Although I could crunch the numbers and summon the angel, I'm short on time and figure I'll cover the other problem first--it's not really taking longer, because if he successfully summons the angel play would stop to cover the problem of how to communicate with the angel anyway.

Adam is working on a magic device, and wants to start planning what will be a very involved and costly ritual, but he can manage it.

--M. J. Young

if he successfully summons the angel play would stop to cover the problem of how to communicate with the angel anyway.

I'd hope God would have the foresight to send an angel who was fluent in baby talk.

I'd hope God would have the foresight to send an angel who was fluent in baby talk.

Or telepathic.

I am not telepathic here. That's biased out. I figured if God could understand my prayer, then the angel can understand my speaking.

You are both right, of course. Psionics being flatlined, that which we call telepathy is curved out and not even an angel can do it. Magic is not flatlined, though, and so there might be a corresponding magic skill by which the angel could know John's thoughts which was within the mag curve.

So I was writing a complex response to Maxx when I got doubly interrupted--a twenty minute errand that turned into a hundred minutes of which most was waiting, and a computer freeze that required a reboot. Hopefully the computer will remain stable for a while (the world is cooling). I'm going to make a run at answering posts from Eli, Michael, Brock, Kurt, John 2, and Adam.

Eli should be given another roll to determine whether he understands what is said to him; 74 means he doesn't. I'm thinking that this old man's accent is very different from that with which he is familiar.

Somehow the post I left for Michael yesterday didn't post; probably I goofed somewhere. I'm reproducing it as well as I can plus adding some information I've gleaned since. It turns out that Molly was not who I thought she was and I don't really have much of anything on her, but that's not a serious problem as we'll fill in the details as needed--I just will want to keep track of the difference between what I create and what the book gives.

The GE roll that set up Brock's encounter pretty much said that it was going to be a close call, so it's time to resolve it in that direction. I'm sure I heard a "whew" from the other side of some galaxy.

We'll try to wrap up the day for Kurt and see what tomorrow brings.

John 2 has been chomping at the bit for me to determine whether his latest skill attempt works. He wants to take

1@1 Call Angelic Messenger M+11@7 20:00TF kneeling in established base camp with appropriate words, calls specific angel messenger to answer questions +57SM

and modify it according to

Hands and face raised to Heaven instead of kneeling, otherwise the same.

except that he he expects Sarah, who is conditioned to awaken when she hears him, will sleep through this.

Let's go with a GE roll for whether he can pull this off; after all, he's going to be babbling for twenty minutes, why would she not hear him and awaken? The roll is 18, not favorable result. I'm tempted to have the angel appear just as she picks up the baby, but that seems to me to be a much worse result than that.

I've already made several statements concerning the chance of success on Adam's create device skill. Let's crunch some of those numbers and see what we get.

• Two variants of M7@8 Hear Thoughts (to collect the information and observe you when you use it) that's -78, and I'll let it go as one skill
• M7@1 Magic Writings variant (which will record the information inside the device) is -71
• M7@1 Concealed Messages variant (for it to communicate to you) -71
• Something like a 13@3 Add Special Abilities skill to make it intelligent enough to interact. I'm replacing that with a M7@6 Present Information, that it would know what he needs to do to get it right; that reduces the penalty significantly to another -76
• requires a full minute or more of ritual to activate, which makes it a complex activation device. I'm thinking that if I make it 10 minutes to activate I get some doubling power there, but I want to check against the normal time factors of the skills--M7@8 Hear Thoughts 0:18; M10@7 Mind Effects looks to me like 1:00 is baseline, M7@1 Magic Writings variant and M7@1 Concealed Messages variant are both appropriate at 1:00, and M7@6 Present Information is the long one with a 3:00 TF. If I make the activation ritual 9:00 that's +15 (one and a half doublings of the casting time of the longest time factor skill incorporated).
• The base time factor for the creation of a complex activation device that does nothing at all (obviously, no such device exists) is three hours. He says he will do it for a week, which is 7x24=168 hours. Doubling from 3 we get 6, 12, 24, 48, 96 is 5 doublings and a fraction of 72/96=36/48=3/4, +58 for time.
• +6 for the helmet on the condition that any duplicate object must also be made of a polymer like plastic steel.
• I'm going to go out on a limb and say that fasting one day is +10, but that it's only +8 if liquid (whether or not nourishing) is consumed, but that the usual rule for doubling time does not apply because it is much more difficult to go longer, and so I'll give him seven bonuses of +8 for fasting 7 days, +56
• I'm also going to credit him for not getting any rest through this time, consider those minor breaks inconsequential, and say that it's +10 for each day after the first, +60
• using my whole body while holding the skullcap in my hands is +15
• stating "Ex meus mens ut meus mens" forcibly In Latin (From my mind to my mind) is +5 appropriateness, +3 force, +5 magical language.

I'm looking for any other bonuses I can give him, but it looks like it's math time. I get:

-78
-71
-71
-76
+15
+58
+6
+56
+60
+15
+5
+3
+5
=-73

Of course, he also has Merlin to help him.

That was a tough bit of crunching.

--M. J. Young

I'm tempted to have the angel appear just as she picks up the baby, but that seems to me to be a much worse result than that.

The angel could tell her who and what it was though. It could explain itself, unlike the shield. That could be a good thing. Maybe that could be a good GE roll? That the angel appears and explains itself to Sarah? Explains me? That's what I wanted. Knowing that her son could call on the very angels of Heaven for help would comfort her greatly, I'm certain.

Hey MJ, I'm just curious. Before the return of Adam, I was the last player answered. usually you have people trying to get answered first, I'd like to be answered last. Can I ask to be consistently answered last? It's just kind of nice, because I'm almost always sitting in front of the computer, so I get the post and the Behind the Screens at the same time. No harm in asking, right?

(Doing Therapy)

Sorry, John--it's tough enough for me to wrap my head around having everyone in the right order without creating exceptions to the order. If I allow you an exception, I set a precedent, and then I'm allowing exceptions for everyone and I need some way to keep track of the order. As it is, I've got all the characters on the same spreadsheet (except the very oldest--Kyler, Ryan, John 1), and the columns tell me what order they're in. Periodically I move people I don't think are returning to another page, but I'm very cautious about that because I've moved people and then had to move them back (Nikolaj comes to mind); but I'm a bit too cautious, because I haven't moved Scott Glenning yet, and I'm pretty sure he's not coming back. (O.K., I hope that wasn't in bad taste.)

I apologize to Harry. I'm not certain even now whether I somehow didn't see him, or whether somewhere in the computer problems I'm having I lost his thread, or if I actually did have the board open before he posted. In any case, once I've dealt with Eli, Michael, and Kurt, I'll be sure to include Harry before finishing with John 2 and Adam.

Eli doesn't seem to understand the man's intention that he lie down, but it's not going to matter that much. We'll see if Eli can figure out what's happening.

I'm tempted to give Molly some form, since it seems I've connected her to Michael; I think I've passed the last reference to her in the book, but not being certain I'll hesitate a bit longer. There are many people and creatures in the book that require my attention, and I'm still sorting through them all, but the game is moving smoothly.

Kurt is getting settled into Robin's camp. We'll follow that one step at a time.

I put a lot of thought and work into trying to come to grips with the odd "promised sacrifice of variable amount" in Harry's latest spell design, and I'm sure he's going to answer, "yeah, whatever, just roll for it and let's get on with the game", but hey, I've put more time into that post than the previous three combined, I think, so I am getting on with the game.

John is working on his angel summoning prayer, but it seems we miscommunicated, so we'll try again.

I've got to put together four skills for Adam and do it quickly within the pattern that he uses and the techniques Merlin would include.

• Hear Thoughts M7@8, the ability to hear the thoughts of a target individual, user looks at the individual and says forcefully in Latin, "Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts", sound necessary, with both hands pointing first to the target then to his own head, and repeating this action, slowly, 0:18 TF.

  TF is baseline, standard ranges, +5 appropriateness, +3 forcefully, +5 magic language, +2 sound necessary, +3 for second hand, and +2 for the requirement that he is looking at the target=+20SM. I can see that he might want to change this, so I'll ask.

• Secret Messages by Thought M7@1, the ability to send information by thought, point at target with left hand, touch head with right hand, and say in Latin "hear what I mean, not what I say", TF 1:00 for a thirty-second message may be adjusted for longer or shorter messages not below 0:06 amateur TF for 0:03 message (not longer than six words), sound necessary, spoken forcefully.

  The TF is baseline because it's tied to the length of the message and this skill allows variation on the TF and duration in single castings as long as the message length is half the TF. Again we have both hands, +3, and the usual +15 for the combination of appropriateness, magic language, forceful, and necessary sound, +18 total sit-mod.

• Store Information in Inanimate Object M7@1, allows caster to impress his thoughts or memories into any object for himself or someone else to recover later, requires successful use of M7@1 secret messages by thought after spell is cast to place information in the object, 1:00 TF remains open to receive thoughts for 10:00 duration, say forcefully in Latin, "Receive my thoughts and keep them safe, retain them for the day on which someone recalls them," sound necessary, must hold object in or touch with left hand while touching head with right hand. Hear thoughts spell required to read stored thoughts or memories from object.

  Again I'm comfortable with the 1:10 TF:Duration ratio, and with defining as "duration" as the period during which the object can receive the information with it retaining it until someone reads it. Although two other spells are required to actually store and read the information, they are not required for the successful casting of the store spell, and he would have time to cast the send spell several times before the duration lapsed. We've got the same +15 for appropriate words spoken forcefully in a magical language with sound necessary and +3 for requiring the use of both hands. I should also include +20 for the requirement that he touch the target object this time, since it could in theory be done at range and I'm eliminating that. That makes +38 on the sit-mod, if I didn't miss anything.

• Present Information M7@6, the ability to know information about a target character, such as his abilities or his status or occupation or other "fortune teller" type knowledge. Skilled user must touch target person with either hand and look at the point where they are touching, say forcefully in Latin "Your secrets are known to me; I know who you are," and then stare at him for 3:00, after which he will know a wealth of details about the individuals present life (not his past nor his future, except as it follows from the information he receives--he can know that subject has been married to Mary for a decade, which is not the same as knowing that he married her a decade ago; he could know that he has been divorced from Mary for a decade, but not know how long they were married).

  Again I've set the TF to 3:00 which is baseline for the skill. Contact is +20, and on a skill which allows a baseline of not present I'll give another +10. Either hand is -2 for an alternative, but I'll give +2 for the requirement that his eyes be focused on the person. We've again got the +15 for appropriate forceful magical language sound necessary, +45.

I'm actually pretty happy with having designed spells the way I think Adam would design them; I expect any changes will be more to apply them to his foreseen future uses.

Suddenly, though, Gaming Outpost is not responding. That's going to slow things for a bit.

--M. J. Young

Sorry, John--it's tough enough for me to wrap my head around having everyone in the right order without creating exceptions to the order.

I kind of expected that. Like I said, no harm in asking, right? I didn't imagine Adam would object to not being answered last.

I haven't moved Scott Glenning yet, and I'm pretty sure he's not coming back. (O.K., I hope that wasn't in bad taste.)

Now I have to ask, why would you be pretty sure he's not coming back?

(Doing Therapy)

bump

My time is ticking away, and I am not certain how to make tonight work; I lost a chunk of it earlier unexpectedly, and have not fully recovered. But let's see what we can do with Eli, Michael, Kurt, John 2, and Adam.

Eli's host has assumed that a man who thinks he can talk and can't must have suffered a head injury of some sort; he's looking for the injury. Since there is only one language in this world, the notion that someone speaks a different language would never occur to an indig.

We'll move Michael into tomorrow; we need a GE roll for when he'll be called to swear his oath. I'm afraid he got a 21, bad enough.

Kurt has me a bit confused from his statements--on the one hand he seems to be wanting to approach quietly, and on the other hand he is bringing a rather boisterous animal with him.

We are altering the numbers on John 2's spell attempt because we misunderstood each other. He is not speaking, and thus his efforts will not awaken Sarah. We are looking at an 11@8 Attract Off-World Sentient Informer, base TF 6:00, and his description includes 20:00TF lying supine with hands raised, no words. That's +17 for the time, +3 for the second hand, -10 because there is only one aspect, makes the sit-mod +10. His bias is 12@6 and he has a 1@8 religion score for +9, a 2@2 BRA, +7@ world bias, and I've decided that the affiliation of this particular version of the world is neutral, which means that alliance holy magic gets -5. The positives are 126+10+9+22+7=174, the negatives are -118-5=-123. The balance is 174-123=51% chance that this will work. He rolls 34, so I guess God is good to him. But his first question asks a timeless being how time works. My GE roll of 11 says that said being is going to be able to get the answer but doesn't actually know it, but it won't take very long. I figure five minutes, but don't tell John that.

Adam is going for the spells as stated, so I will have to finish crunching the learning roll numbers and roll them (I'm sure he's got them all, but there is the formality of knowing his starting skill ability levels in them). Base numbers are 15@1 bias, 2@6 BRA, 15@ world bias gives him 192 base which we adjust by the skill SAL and its sit-mod. The first one is 7@8 with +20 means -58, well over 100%, 28 rolled for 1@1 Hear Thoughts M7@8, the ability to hear the thoughts of a target individual, user looks at the individual and says forcefully in Latin, "Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts", sound necessary, with both hands pointing first to the target then to his own head, and repeating this action, slowly, 0:18 TF +20SM.

The second is a slightly lower bias and a less lower sit-mod, so it's also well over one hundred, 25 making it also 1@1 Secret Messages by Thought M7@1, the ability to send information by thought, point at target with left hand, touch head with right hand, and say in Latin "hear what I mean, not what I say", TF 1:00 for a thirty-second message may be adjusted for longer or shorter messages not below 0:06 amateur TF for 0:03 message (not longer than six words), sound necessary, spoken forcefully, +18SM.

There's a big bonus on the third, and the 62 roll gives him 1@2 Store Information in Inanimate Object M7@1, allows caster to impress his thoughts or memories into any object for himself or someone else to recover later, requires successful use of M7@1 secret messages by thought after spell is cast to place information in the object, 1:00 TF remains open to receive thoughts for 10:00 duration, say forcefully in Latin, "Receive my thoughts and keep them safe, retain them for the day on which someone recalls them," sound necessary, must hold object in or touch with left hand while touching head with right hand. Hear thoughts spell required to read stored thoughts or memories from object, +38SM.

The huge bonus on the fourth makes calculation unnecessary, so the roll is 25, 1@1 Present Information M7@6, the ability to know information about a target character, such as his abilities or his status or occupation or other "fortune teller" type knowledge. Skilled user must touch target person with either hand and look at the point where they are touching, say forcefully in Latin "Your secrets are known to me; I know who you are," and then stare at him for 3:00, after which he will know a wealth of details about the individuals present life (not his past nor his future, except as it follows from the information he receives--he can know that subject has been married to Mary for a decade, which is not the same as knowing that he married her a decade ago; he could know that he has been divorced from Mary for a decade, but not know how long they were married) +45SM

I'm good with that.

--M. J. Young

What are the stats and description of that prayer MJ?

Thanks for catching that omission, John. I'll include it with today's post, whether or not I reach you. I don't know that I will, what with the instabilities of the computer and the complications of the day, but let me start with Eli and see how far I get if I continue through Michael, Brock, Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

Eli is going to attempt to explain himself again, and the roll is 33, about time he succeeded, so we'll get that going.

Michael now faces the Queen; let's see what answers he offers her.

Either Brock or I am confused, but hopefully I can get us back on track.

I've got a 14 GE roll on Kurt, particularly to determine who is there.

I almost missed Harry, simply for my rush; so I'm going to post this and run and hope I can return to finish the rest. I am going to drop in that listing for John 2, because I had it half posted already and don't want to start over: 1@1 Attract Off-World Sentient Informer M+11@8, 20:00TF lying supine with hands raised, no words, +10SM. If things go well, I will return for both of them and Adam; and if they go badly, well, in the words of Michael Westin, it's been nice knowing you.

--M. J. Young

O.K., here's hoping we can finish Harry, John 2, and Adam, all of whom require some significant attention.

Gathering together the information from several posts, I find that Harry's prayer looks like Remove Fatigue M+2@1 pray under breath, sound does not matter, 2:00 TF, one eye closed for Odin, gold piece in left hand for Loki, rested on sword for Thor, right hand over heart for Tyr, pray to give my people vigilance, fill their lungs with pure air, and let them work like men possessed to save those who count on us, promising the value in local currency or fungible goods of a single night's local lodging in a private room or the equivalent for each person so affected, to be given anonymously as a charitable contribution. Any number of persons within a ten foot radius of the caster may be affected

I have already calculated -9 for the balance between material components and number of person affected, TF is doubled for +10, we have +5 appropriate words, we'll give +4 for both hands and one eye, +2 for the gold coin, +3 for the sword, and I've hit another question I think is important; however, to this point the sit-mod is +15.

John 2 is attempting to stretch the definition of "Informer" to include "Servant", and that's outside the parameters of his summons so won't be provided.

I pulled together a lot of numbers on Adam's create device skill, and we've changed them only a bit--by doing them in separate steps rather than all at once. So let's restack the positives: +15 for 9:00 activation, +58 for a week of work, +6 for the material object, +56 for fasting, +60 for staying awake, +15 for whole body, +13 for the language aspects, comes to 223. He gets to decide how much of that sit-mod goes to the creation of the device and how much goes to the operation of it, and once he's done that we'll finish the calculations for making the object.

--M. J. Young

John 2 is attempting to stretch the definition of "Informer" to include "Servant", and that's outside the parameters of his summons so won't be provided.

I would have thought that would be a persuasion check. I thought perhaps he might do me a favor out of the kindness of his heart. It was more like "Hey, while you're here, can you talk to Sarah for me?" Not trying to get him to serve me.

(Doing Therapy)

Two

You never did give me the details on that prayer.

I would have thought that would be a persuasion check. I thought perhaps he might do me a favor out of the kindness of his heart. It was more like "Hey, while you're here, can you talk to Sarah for me?"

Yeah, no, it's kind of like if you conjured a magical blade you could cut anything you want with it, but you couldn't use it to light a fire. You specifically summoned someone who could answer your questions. I'm not sure whether Sarah could even see or hear him, but I didn't have to make that decision.

You never did give me the details on that prayer.

No, actually, I did.

I hate to say it, but there is no way I can get through all the game posts after having spent several hours on all the other posts after having had a rather disjointed and disrupted day and still having other work to do before bed; so with my apologies I will depart.

But Harry, if you see this, I should give you my answer here: if you think you must make the sacrifice even if the spell does not work, that will be the rule for your spell; if you think that your obligation to make the sacrifice is contingent upon the spell succeeding, that will be the rule, but the value of the promised sacrifice will be decreased to reflect that contingency.

Fair enough? Answer the question somewhere.

--M. J. Young

Yeah, you did give me the details. I just missed it. Damn, I was really looking forward to getting your reaction to my way out of your trap. You're going to love it. The infinity loop is my secret weapon.

(Doing Therapy)

My answer is, I'll sacrifice it either way. This is one of those odd cases where my own personal sense of honor says I have to, even though my gods don't actually care.

with my apologies I will depart.

"I'd like a moment of silence for my poor, departed wife. Oh she's not dead. She just got tired of being poor, and departed."

Stand up comic I saw.

I'm not terribly happy about the way my time has been going of late, but then, time is a big part of my work, so I should expect it to give me trouble. I do hope I can get through posts for Eli, Michael, Brock, Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Adam; I would hate to skip this two days in a row. On the positive side, it is cooler today, and the computer might be more stable--and I have a wooden desk beneath the keyboard which undoubtedly feels the vibrations of my typing (how's that for an obscure reference?).

The language barrier has made things a bit more difficult for Eli, but we're making some progress. I'm giving him new use on the assumption that the old man uses a slightly different dialect (more an accent--"dialect" is an incredibly overly meaningful word when applied to Eastern languages) to 1@3, because he really needs to get to a level where he can communicate with less trouble.

I'm moving Michael forward, and feeling my way. I need to find a way to get him closer to the queen, because the major events are going to have to start happening and he has to be there to be involved. But I don't see him taking the roll of queen's guard, so I'm not certain how to get him positioned well for that. I'll think of something, though.

Brock is on the move to the next of three locations where they will set charges; I need a GE roll for how that goes. The roll is 15, not unfavorable.

Kurt is still getting his bearings on the camp of the Merry Men.

Harry has agreed that having made the promise of sacrifice he would have to keep it whether or not the boon was granted, and thus I will not penalize him for contingency. The prayer is

Remove Fatigue M+2@1 pray under breath, sound does not matter, 2:00 TF, one eye closed for Odin, gold piece in left hand for Loki, rested on sword for Thor, right hand over heart for Tyr, pray to give my people vigilance, fill their lungs with pure air, and let them work like men possessed to save those who count on us, promising the value in local currency or fungible goods of a single night's local lodging in a private room or the equivalent for each person so affected, to be given anonymously as a charitable contribution. Any number of persons within a ten foot radius of the caster may be affected. Once the promise of sacrifice has been made, whether or not the prayer is granted, the worshiper suffers a cumulative -1 per prayer attempt until the promise is fulfilled, +15SM.

That means the inherent +15, his 2@3 BRA, 3@1 bias, 0@ world bias, half his 2@6 Religion for +13, and a +10 affiliation bonus against a 2@1 target skill, 61% chance of success if my thumbnailing is accurate, 43 rolled so I don't have to worry too much about how accurate, a 1@1 SAL on the new skill.

I need to know how many people he is including and a GE roll of 15 gives me a decent number, since fewer would cost him less and more would cost him more.

John 2 is working on the next prayer.

Adam will have to give me more numbers for the other two skills, but since he's doing them one at a time with breaks between, we'll go forward with the first. Sit-mod bonuses for device creation come to +223. He's trying to teach himself a M15@3 Create Complex Activation Device incorporating a M7@1 Store Information in Inanimate Objects skill, both of those penalties against his skill learning roll; he has a 15@1 bias and 2@6 BRA in a M15@ world, and he's got Merlin's help with this, for which he gets a fairly substantial bonus. My quick scanning is telling me that even putting -80 in the Store Information function he's still going to come out at over 100% chance of success on this, but I'll double-check if the roll is too high: 17 is not too high, so he's got a 1@1 Create Complex Activation Device M15@3 (applications: information storage device). He also has a helmet that can store information with a +80 sit-mod on use, complex activation.

He also spent a week in significant fasting and sleep deprivation, so we're going to roll a difficult stamina check, 17 easily within his stamina.

--M. J. Young

Oh, I keep forgetting this:

I haven't moved Scott Glenning yet, and I'm pretty sure he's not coming back. (O.K., I hope that wasn't in bad taste.)

Now I have to ask, why would you be pretty sure he's not coming back?

I announced it a year or so ago. Scott occasionally attended our church. He was handicapped due, I believe, to head injuries from an accident. He died, complications of the handicap. I miss him.

So it probably is in bad taste for me to say that I'm "pretty sure he's not coming back."

But mortal life is for the mortal living, so let's see what our versers are going, starting with Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

I need once again to roll for whether Eli understands what is said to him, but 58 is too high for his amateur skills, so we won't have any conversations at the moment.

Michael finishes his audience with the queen and is headed back toward the other witches and warlocks.

I need two GE rolls for Brock--one to determine whether there's a good hiding place, the other to determine whether his troop is interrupted in their sabotage this time. The rolls are 19 and 20, both bad.

Harry shouts instructions, and then attempts to use his telescopic vision, rolling 55; in a world with a 0@ psionic bias, you'd have to be very good for that to work. I don't recall what GE roll I've already cast on this fire, but let's give him an early roll on dousing it. It's a big fire, but he's got a lot of help, so we'll call all that even. The world tech bias is 7@, his numbers are 2@1 SAL and 2@3 BRA, so that's 68% chance of dousing it. It won't be hit-or-miss, but more a matter of whether he manages to put it out quickly or whether it's going to get worse. 30 is rolled, a significant improvement.

I was willing to give John 2 the benefit of the doubt that his mother would not awaken during his twenty-minute prayer, but now that he's going for an hour I'll need a GE roll for that: 13 is barely good enough, but barely good enough is good enough.

The shape of the ritual is interesting; I like the idea of putting his feet in his mouth one at a time, given the limitations on his physical abilities at the present. So we have

Attract Assisting Angel M+11@6 put right big toe in mouth, then left big toe, then think for 1:00:00 about the guardian angel Terry coming to help, lying supine looking up with hands raised intermittently but as much as possible

The baseline TF for an attract off-world sentient servant is 2:00, so we're looking at five and seven-eighths doublings, +59. I'll give +15 on the body involvement, since he has to lie supine and he has to use both feet and both hands and keep his eyes focused upward. He gets a -10 penalty for the fact that there is no speech and no material, but that's +64 before his religion bonus and such. The roll of 89 concerns me, though, so I'd better check the rest of the numbers. The neutral affiliation of the world means -5; his bias is 12@6 and the world bias is 0@, which gives him +10 on the difference between his 12@6 bias and the skill's 11@6, -5 making the chance now 69%; he gets +9 for his religion makes 78%, and his Mag BRA is 2@2, which makes 100%, so we're good for 1@3 on this.

I'm really hoping someone laughed at my final comment in that post.

The second skill Adam should add to his helmet is the M7@8 Hear Thoughts skill. I have to recalculate most of everything, though, because the previous roll was skill learning and this is skill use. Still, the inherent sit-mod on the skill to create the device is +223, he has a 1@1 SAL and 2x15@ bias plus his 2@6 BRA, and from that we subtract the 7@8 bias of the skill being incorporated into the device and the -50 that he wants to move to the device use skill. That's -128 brings the sit-mod to something around +95, and he still has all those other numbers totaling +67, so that's a 162% chance of success if I read it aright, and he rolls 73, solidly done. I also raise his SAL to 1@2 on the device creation skill, for adding a second spell to the same device.

--M. J. Young

the world bias is 0@,

No, the world bias was 7@13, I believe.

(Doing Therapy)

John-try saying "I thought the world bias was 7@13, MJ. Am I wrong?" or something similar. That would help alleviate your sounding rude.

And yes, i noticed your doing therapy notice. I just thought you could use an example.

Brock, remember what I was saying about typing what I say out loud? The test is for if you cannot help talking to yourself. It also means that, when I type, I'm often speaking out loud, so I know exactly how it's supposed to sound. If you heard me say that, you wouldn't think it rude in the slightest. It's just something I'll have to work on.

(Doing Therapy)

I don't know about that. When you start your sentence with no, and then go on to correct someone, it sounds like "I'm right and you're wrong."

John is right, I let him talk me into a world magic bias that is considerably higher than it ought to be for the kind of scenario it is; Brock is right, John is rude. But then, I've known John long enough to know that he doesn't mean to be rude.

It's kind of like that bit character in WarGames, when the computer hacker reminds him that he asked to be told when he was rude, and that it's happening now.

There has been too much on my plate today, but if I leave it here it will only be more tomorrow, and since I'm supposed to celebrate tomorrow I don't want to pack too much else onto the schedule. So let's see what we can do for Eli, Michael, Brock, Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

Eli wants to converse; we'll roll for that again: 31, he'll learn something.

Michael will get to lunch, where there will be more interest in who he is and where he originates.

Brock has a 1@10 skill at stealth/stalking, so I don't have to roll to see if he can learn one; his bod bias is 7@, and his BRA is also 1@10, so he's got a 54% chance to pull this off, 56 is awfully close. A failed stealth roll does not mean that he is seen or heard; it only means that the subject gets an intuition check, 4+8=12, though, well within normal intuition. We'll still want to add his skill.

Kurt will meet Friar Tuck, and I think that will about complete his connections, unless he hasn't met Will Scarlet, although I think he has.

Harry misunderstood the presence of the General's staff.

We do have the difficult question of whether Sarah is going to be frightened when she sees the angel--people usually are, after all, which is why they always start by saying not to be afraid. So John needs a GE roll, and he gets, ouch, 26, worse than anticipated. I think John will need a will power check not to start crying from the noise, he rolls 9+7=16, a strong success against his 1@7 will power.

Adam and I are having a bit of trouble communicating, but hopefully this will remedy it.

--M. J. Young

Mistake

I am really nervous about what Max is doing in his thread, because it looks to me like he is going to use the explosion botch that he created to direct it into the past which will destroy everything that leads to the botch and so undo the botch and the explosion, and catch himself in an infinity loop less than a second long, and then when his time dilation skill expires it will be almost impossible for anyone to rescue him from the trap he built for himself.

On the other hand, it would mean that some supernatural entity would have to rescue him (he has expressed faith in The King of the sprite people), and that would get him out of the Zygote Experience putting him in a position in which he would have to reveal who he actually is so that Scott can begin shifting him from a toddler sprite to a human adult.

But it is Scott's problem unless someone asks for help, so let me deal with my own player problems, Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

I figure there are four possibilities for Eli's future: he can start learning to assist the herbalist in treating patients, he can be left on his own while the herbalist goes to tend patients in the villages, he can be taken along to help tend the patients in the villages, or he can be sent out on his own. The last is the worst but also the least likely; 20 is just bad enough. Will he understand? 80 says no, he doesn't understand the words. Things could still get a bit worse, but for the moment he's left alone in the cottage.

I roll 77 for Michael's skill learning attempt, which strikes me as doubtful but he does have some advantages. It is only a 1@1 skill, and Gramarye has a 15@ bias, and he has an instructor, Molly, who has a 2@7 intuition for a BRA which means +14, and he has a 2@1 BRA and 1@10 bias, so it's strong but probably not that strong, 70-11=59. I'll give him a chance to respond before continuing.

I would guess that Brock needs to roll an an mag check to see if this guy is comfortable with him and a GE roll to see how it goes. 18+19 is not as bad as it gets but nearly so, but 15 is moderately favorable. He rolls 20 to get into stance, his 1@10 vital area style which gives him two attacks, the opponent rolls another intuition check, 3+5=8, not surprised, Brock's attack roll is 89, a bad miss. I have added 1@3 Knock Out Blow B7@7 special damage base annoying damage (+DC for style), opponent must make stamina check RS=S/D/N to remain conscious, -10 to attack but +20 bonus for surprise to the sheet.

Harry gets a 14 on finding someone from the building. That is I believe a not desired but generally favorable result, which can be fun.

The baby has been up for an hour, trying to keep his arms raised and his thoughts focused, and I think it's time to give John 2 a simple stamina check for whether he can do it all again. That stamina is listed as 1@1, expected to be 1@2 and maybe as high as 1@4 when he hits 2, so we'll give him 1@2 now for his practice (listed as 1@1+1 on his sheet, using the technique I was using for Maxx to distinguish his actual versus his book value). The rolls are 15+5=20, not going to happen.

Finally clear on the numbers for Adam, so we'll roll 02 and 99, extreme ends of the success scale but not that important here, as both will add the new skills to the device. I'm trying to remember whether another magic item was created in my games or not; I think this may be the first successful creation of a permanent magic device at my table. Congratulations, Adam.

--M. J. Young

Darn. Ah, well; I'm no good at deceiving people. Guess I have to do this the hard way.

I feel like I'm puttering along, thanks to the time travel thread I suppose, but I've gotten this far and will apply my attention to Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam before I quit.

My expectation is that the herbalist will not take a patient to visit patients, particularly one who has so much difficulty with language; but Eli gets a skill check to say what he wants anyway, and 83 is pretty bad. He'll need to cook for himself for an unknown period of time.

Michael is going to need a change of circumstances to attempt again to read minds; Molly doesn't know that, but she might be able to create one for him.

Brock is introducing a new martial arts maneuver. Oh, I forgot to ask for a skill ability level on it, I was so intent on getting an understanding of it. Well, he usually looks back here anyway, so he'll see the question.

Harry has good things happening; we'll see where they take him. Oh, and I think I have to kick his 1@9 persuasion to 1@10--he's getting some significant practice in leadership and politics here.

John 2 isn't going to awaken before Sarah does; he's just pushing this infant body too hard. He'll have to terrorize her with another supernatural appearance another time.

Whether Geneice knows a phrase is a function of her 2@5 ed lev and the relative obscurity of the phrase, which is not very but is somewhat culturally linked, so we'll make it a simple check, 16+5=21. That gives her a response to Adam's joke which maybe someone here will recognize and laugh, and moves us into his downtime.

--M. J. Young

Oh, sorry. I answered your question in my game thread.

@John: So, enjoying your Terminator game so far?

So, enjoying your Terminator game so far?

I think I would have preferred to verse in as my adult self and meet John Connor as opposed to being John Connor himself, but it's certainly got the potential to be great. I just hope I can get that angel to make Sarah understand me before I put her in a mental institution.

John is really taking chances. You'd think he'd never heard what happened to the last zygoted verser who attempted to make his parents understand that he wasn't really their natural-born child. But we'll burn that bridge when we come to it, and that means let's get to posts from Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, and if it looks like time is short I'll skip John 2 because he's gotten me involved in too many other threads and I'll go to Adam who shouldn't have to suffer simply because John (and Maxx) burned up several hours of my time on peripheral matters.

I'm adding a 1@5 Cook T1@3 skill to Eli's sheet. I don't think I'll roll for his cooking rice as an average amateur.

Michael might be trying to learn to teach while he attempts to instruct Molly in the use of the psionic drill they're calling a "wand".

Let's not delay Brock longer, but simply list a 1@8 Pain Inflictor B7@7 attacker strikes any of several known sensitive points causing the defender great pain and requiring a successful will power check (RS=S/D/N) to take any action besides howling and protecting the injured location, for RS/10 minutes, sacrifice initiative. In this case, his opponent is not ready for combat anyway, so the sacrifice is not going to matter. His roll is 77, which is going to fail again. I think it's time for George to do something, and George rolls 86 on a shot with a kinetic blaster at close range, George has a base 98% chance to hit +2DC and it's +20 for point blank range on a dangerous base weapon on an unarmored ordinary man, so we're above 100% on a fatal attack for 43 intensities.

Harry has agreed to investigate how the fire started, but hasn't suggested how he's going to do that.

Well, I decided to deal with John 2 anyway, mostly because his post comes down to asking whether it's possible for him to do something in particular that isn't possible, so he'll have to think of his alternatives.

I would start on Adam's object copy spell, but he hasn't really given any information as to how he intends to do it, so I don't have any information to start it.

--M. J. Young

John is really taking chances. You'd think he'd never heard what happened to the last zygoted verser who attempted to make his parents understand that he wasn't really their natural-born child.

That's the problem MJ. I have heard of Whisp and Mother. My Character hasn't. To not do what I'm doing would be using OOC knowledge to my own benefit. You said you hate that. I'm playing this without the aid of that OOC knowledge, because, out of character, I do want to stop this. I know what my character would be doing though. In a sense, I don't have a choice. Besides, when I finally do show Sarah what I am capable of doing, she will be so relieved. I can protect her in ways she can't imagine.

and if it looks like time is short I'll skip John 2 because he's gotten me involved in too many other threads.....

And I think that's entirely fair. I think I made you a similar offer over email.

(and Maxx)

Maxx, please don't be offended, but it's kind of nice to know that I am not the only annoyance here.

(Doing Therapy)

Two

the last zygoted verser who attempted to make his parents understand that he wasn't really their natural-born child.

MJ, I just realized. That's not what I've been trying to make her understand. You're gonna love my cover story.

(Doing Therapy)

rules question: How does Initiative work in MV? Is it rolled once at the start like other systems, and it determines turn order for the whole encounter? or is it rolled each turn like some other systems?

What numbers are involved?

I think it's rolled each turn.