Ending a Decade Behind the Screens · Page 15

Thanks, Brock. I would love to take credit for the joke, but it was a matter of thinking one thing while typing another.

I'm going to penalize -10 because he's getting the skill to do something that was not part of the original form: translate his words into something the target can understand.

I thought that WAS the original purpose.

It might be that I simply didn't remember aright, but the usual application of a secret messages skill is to let someone hear what you want said without it being overheard by someone else present, or sometimes to communicate the information over a long distance. If it were intended as a translation skill, I think that would be a different skill, but it could be that I used this for that at some point as off the top of my head I can't think of what a translation skill would be. (I thought it was its own listing, but I don't have the book open in front of me at the moment.)

Let me see what I can do for Eli, Michael, Brock, and John 2.

I'm not rolling a GE roll for the canvas because it would be truly unlikely for the herbalist to have anything at all like that; Eli might be able to buy something in the spring, if he can get to a town and find something to use for money, but the herbalist is poor and lives pretty much on a meager income from caring for the sick.

Michael actually doesn't need that good a roll to have things fall out favorably--Councilor Durer is feared but not well liked by anyone. He rolls an 8, which is a pretty good roll.

Brock wants to know whether anyone on Destiny is trained in weaponless combat; that's not a skill mentioned in the paperwork, but since there are several who might be, we'll give him a GE roll for whether any of them are known to be. 20 is Just Bad Enough. He'll have to ask around.

John 2 has an idea for a training exercise which appears actually to be a new skill, but I'm going to have to figure out what it is so he's going to have to discard a few preconceptions and explain it to me again.

--M. J. Young

Thanks, Brock. I would love to take credit for the joke, but it was a matter of thinking one thing while typing another.

Oh it looked like a subtle joke. Write for right, when we're talking about typed fonts.

(Doing Therapy)

I've noticed you can usually tell when MJ makes a joke, because he tends to mention somewhere else in the post that he made the joke, or puts them at the end of the post.

Very observant, Brock.

Here's hoping I can get through posts for Eli, Michael, Brock, Kurt, John 2, and Adam.

Eli is setting aside his physical training including the martial arts for a while; but he's continuing to be taught herbalism and Japanese, so we'll roll for those as we advance his calendar twenty five days to February 25th, and roll a GE roll of 15. The roll of 46 for treatment fails, but diagnosis advances automatically to 1@8 Medical Diagnosis (herbalism) T6@0. Japanese also advances automatically this time, to 1@8 Japanese Language P0@0.

Brom is a strange character in this story--he's not really a warlock, and not really an elf, quite, and there's no evidence that one of his tricks is the ability to read minds--there's some evidence to the contrary, in fact. But Michael seems to be counting on it, so I'll give him a GE roll, stipulating that it's going to have to be particularly good, which 21 is not.

Brock also needs a GE roll for the whereabouts of Ishara: 9 is very good.

Kurt puts bowyer and fletcher on his list of skills to learn, and rolls 77 on the first, 92 on the second. We've got a 9@1 bias +2@2 BRA against skills that are 2@1 and 3@1, and he's got instructor and example bonuses, so those are going to work for a 1@2 Make Bow T2@1 and 1@3 Make Arrows T3@1.

John 2 has some ideas for training that are going to need more refinement.

I've got three skills moving forward for Adam, but I think we're ready to roll the first: given the 15@ world bias, his 11@3 Psi Bias, 2@10 BRA, a roll of 93 requires number crunching on an P8@6 Short Synapses with a -5 sit-mod. I'm looking at 158-91, and that is low enough that the 93 is not going to work. I've got a few questions on the ritual for the lightning.

--M. J. Young

Hey, thanks, MJ. I didn't claim a great ability to notice things for nothing ;P

The temperature is now below 90 in the office, and the computer is a bit more stable. The outside heat has shot up the last couple days and intends to stay that way according to rumors, and the best we've been able to do at this point is borrow a second room air conditioner, put it at the opposite end of the house, and try to cool everything between the two by blowing air around.

It kept us below a hundred all day, but that's not cool enough to satisfy the lady of the house. Still, I'm here, and planning to tackle threads from Eli, Michael, Harry, John 2, and Adam, although I'm also probably going to try to keep things relatively brief all week because fighting with the computer is cutting into my work time drastically.

Eli moves forward another twenty-five days to February 25+25=50-28=March 22nd. Winter is passing, but we'll need a GE roll for whether we're still having snow, still have snow, or are clearing: 23 is bad. Treatment advances automatically to 1@8 Medical Treatment (herbalism) T6@1; diagnosis needs a teaching skill roll, 71 failing. Japanese gets a roll, 64 also indicating no improvement.

I could probably do more with Michael than I'm doing, but he can find Aldis after lunch tomorrow.

Harry has a couple of quickly-answered questions.

John 2 has raised a question for which I'm going to have to think about the answer, and maybe get some feedback from others. Can you train in your sleep?

I'm thinking about Adam's new spell design. He get's +5 for appropriate words, +5 for magical language, +3 for the second hand, and I'm thinking about the material, a sliver of a tree that has been struck by lightning. On the one hand, trees struck by lightning are not all that common, and he'd have to do a lot of searching to find one; on the other hand, you can carry a lot of slivers in a small container, and if he doesn't use them all he can pretty easily create another "tree struck by lightning". I'll value it at +3. I'm assuming that he needs a fresh sliver each time, so that's +19SM. Everything else was baseline--0:12 TF, dangerous damage, 10':30':60':120':+5/6' ranges, and there must be at least 60' of space in the direction fired or the bolt feeds back on the caster. The roll is 03 so I don't have to crunch the numbers beyond that, but can list 1@1 Throw Lightning M9@7 say "Fry amo caro vos es" (Fry like the meatbag you are} pointing with both hands at the target while holding a sliver of wood from a tree that was struck by lightning which burns up in the casting, 0:12TF, dangerous, 10':30':60':120':+5/6', 60' long bolt will backlash if space is inadequate, +19SM.

We'll start on that cone of cold, too.

--M. J. Young

Hey MJ, fill your bathtub and sinks with cold water. Sinks probably won't make a noticeable difference, but I've found a bathtub full of cold water can lower the temperature of the bathroom 5 degrees. You've just put a huge heat sink in there, after all.

(Doing Therapy)

Thanks for that idea, John. I'll think about it. There's only one shower, though, and it's in the tub, and water that goes down the drain taxes the already overtaxed septic system, and the drain is sometimes slow (people get frustrated with their hair clogging the drain strainer so they pull it out and let the hair clog the drainpipe instead), and I get extra work if there's standing water in the tub when someone wants a shower. Too many people in this house for me to monopolize the tub. But our well water is cold, and it's an interesting option.

--M. J. Young

Oh, I saw John's post when I came to the window and didn't realize this was the Behind the Screens thread. Well, let's get started. I won't jinx myself--several times in recent weeks I have written that having arrived early I should have plenty of time to deal with everyone's games, and then had my day collapse into other problems, so this time I'll only note that it's time to run games for Eli, Michael, Harry, and John 2. Kyler is gathering his needed materials (I suddenly wonder if he has dice, but he's a clever boy and knows how to make chits if necessary). Meanwhile, you're all still my players. (Harry, I sent Kyler a printed copy of my notes on your particulars, but I don't think he's decided yet whether to take the reins on that one--Arabella is the most interesting wrinkle, but your relationships with Tara, Peter, Matt, and a few others are also part of the mix.)

Eli is moving twenty-five days out of March 22 to April 47-31=16th. It would take a very bad GE roll for the snows to continue this late in the year, even in the mountains, and 19 isn't as bad as all that. He needs a few training rolls, I expect. No, only one, for Medical Treatment, 67 failing to improve him this time around; Diagnosis improves automatically to 1@9 Medical Diagnosis (herbalism) T6@0 and Japanese to 1@9 Japanese Language P0@0.

I think that given that all the witches and warlocks will have hangovers when they drag themselves to lunch (those which make lunch, anyway), Michael needs a pretty good GE roll to get a lesson after lunch. 14 is not quite that good, so he'll get a lesson after supper. Meanwhile, we have some followup to do on that Banshee appearance.

Harry was aboard a ship for a couple years, but never took a position that required much physical labor and so never improved his strength from its average 1@5; that means other than the upper body strength distribution disparity he's not really stronger than Brandy, who might be stronger than he is, by a bit, but I don't think so. A 1@5 strength means an unencumbred maximum of fifteen pounds, an encumbered maximum of thirty, and a maximum encumbered of sixty. I'm thinking that this is ten pounds dry and forty pounds wet, so dry it doesn't encumber him and wet it doesn't really approach maximum for someone of average strength.

I'm going to leave John 2's thread unanswered because we're discussing the possibilities of a sort of "dream training" program in another thread, which has to be resolved before we can figure out what he is doing next.

--M. J. Young

Pour bleach down drains to clear hair clogs. Just as effective as Drano, and a lot cheaper.

Let's see what we can do to wrap the week for Eli, Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Kurt, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

We have to discuss Eli's training program a bit.

Michael gets more information about the abilities of his companions, and is presumably off to see Captain Maris.

Ahmetia has given me a clever idea for making the meetings with dignitaries a bit more interesting and expanding her dietary options at the same time.

Brock uses an idiomatic greeting; I love it when people use idiomatic phrases in alien cultures, even when they are only slightly alien. One of my very favorites was in Farscape when the lead character, having just suffered a temporal vision, said to his alien companions, "I'm going to go out and get some air," and after he left one of the aliens said to the other, "But, we have air in here." So when Brock asks Ishara how he is doing, I have to think about what he's doing and then how well he is doing it, and provide an answer that way.

Kurt wants to improve his bow and arrow construction skills--good choices in this scenario, really, which not many make. I'll need a GE roll on where they get their arrowheads, and 17 suggests it's neither good nor bad.

Ah, Harry poses an interesting question: is the Captain smarter about this than he is? I'd say that the Captain is probably of above average intellect but not extraordinary, perhaps 1@8; Harry has a 2@3 intellect listed. We'll roll comparative difficult intellect checks, and if somehow the captain beats Harry he'll see something Harry missed. Doing the Captain first, 38, 26, Harry failed by much less and so has the better insight, although they might both have missed something.

I believe we have resolved the question of sleep practice John 2 raised. I don't know that he'll be happy with the answer, but I am.

For Adam let me put together the Cone of Cold M9@6, dangerous damage 1:00 TF conical area twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide at the base, use both hands to point in the direction intended, I'll assume appropriate words in Latin again, and that's +3+5+5=+13, oh, and since it's in essence immediately in front of him (not really a ranged attack, but an area) I'll give him an extra +10. He rolls 11 so I don't need to know more than that, he's got it; but I will want to ask him a few questions.

We've also got the Short Synapses, and the roll is 74; I had gotten as far in my calculations as 158-91, which is 58+9=67, again close but no cupie. I'm pulling up two more skills to keep him going, and I'm closing shop for today.

--M. J. Young

Well, I could find page 20 easily enough, but I figured someone else would be looking for it, so here it is.

--M. J. Young

I believe we have resolved the question of sleep practice John 2 raised. I don't know that he'll be happy with the answer, but I am.

I'm not even certain what the answer is.

I see Eli, and I see Michael, and Ahmetia, and Brock, and I see John 2, and I haven't done the Romper Room schtick for so long I'm not sure whether any of them were around last time I did that. I'm also not sure whether any of them are old enough to remember Romper Room, but we'll excuse those who aren't in the New York area, because I don't know if it showed elsewhere.

I think we've almost resolved Eli's new training regimen. We've also had what some might find a useful discussion concerning designing a program that has a real in-game impact.

Michael is starting to become involved in the palace intrigue, which moves him in the right direction.

Ahmetia has thought of Norway. I'll name a bunch of countries and let her think about cuisine a bit before pushing through the schedule.

Looking at Ishara's information, I am persuaded that he considers weaponless combat almost as foolish as non-lethal combat; but it's not the last chance for Brock.

I think I've established now what John 2 can do with his dream training skill, which he has not yet learned but could learn.

--M. J. Young

I see Eli, and I see Michael, and Ahmetia, and Brock, and I see John 2, and I haven't done the Romper Room shtick for so long I'm not sure whether any of them were around last time I did that.

I remember Romper Room. What's this "shtick" you're talking about? (According to my spell check, my spelling is correct)

(Doing Therapy)

A Yiddish word, shtick literally refers to a piece of something, but from that refers to an ongoing or repeated gag, an act, a comic routine, a special interest or talent, or a gimmick.

I was rousted early and did not get back to bed, until around four I fell asleep until around five, when I rousted myself intending to rush out on several errands, the urgent one of which was canceled leaving me to deal with the others at my leisure this evening, as long as I hit the major destinations before ten. Let's see what I can do with Eli, Michael, Ahmetia, Harry, John 2, and Adam, and whether I can still squeeze making supper into the schedule.

Eli has intensified his training program in relation to the kicks, so we'll continue that. The calendar advances twenty-five days from April 16th, which is April thirty eleven, that is, April forty-one, that is, May 11th. This is definitely spring weather, but there are different kinds of spring weather, and everyone knows that April showers bring Mayflowers, and of course Mayflowers bring--no, it's not Junebugs. It is, however, a GE roll for conditions and situations and circumstances, and the roll is 10.

Medical treatment improves automatically to 1@9 Medical Treatment (herbalism) T6@1. We need training rolls (against 43%) for diagnosis, 83, and Japanese, 30, which improves to 1@10 Japanese Language P0@0. The practice resumes in the physical workouts as well, with the new extended program, currently showing:

• Aerobics (running) for stamina, Day 25 of 200 day advances
• strength training for strength, Day 25 of 200 day advances
• Martial arts practice Day 25 of 100 day advances, tracking
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Frontal Power Boost B3@10
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Side Slide B3@10
  • 2@3 Eli's Style B7@1
  • 2@3 Back Kick B7@1
  • 1@5 Bo Stick B7@1
  • 1@7 Elbow Strike B7@3
  • 1@10 Back Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Power Front Kick B7@3
  • 1@7 Flying Side Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Roundhouse Kick B7@3

That was a sizable chunk of information I just gave to Michael, but it might help significantly. Oh, I neglected to mention the part where the queen's wine was poisoned at breakfast; well, hopefully he'll say more about the plot (he neglected to mention that it was about the queen in any way, but then I haven't read over that scene for a while so maybe he didn't get that part). Let's see how he responds to this.

I think we'll move away from diplomatic courtesies and start getting Ahmetia thinking about the bigger problem: how does she move from being the pretend queen, and where does she want to go from here?

Harry is back on the routine with a 15 GE roll making it a generally pleasant one.

John 2 is going to attempt to relive a previous adventure in a dream. This might be interesting. I should track down that thread--it wouldn't be hard, since it's just the one before this one, but I've spent a lot of time on other things and I think I remember what happened pretty well.

Adam has given me the words for his 1@1 Cone of Cold M9@6 dangerous damage 1:00 TF conical area twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide at the base, use both hands to point in the direction intended while saying, "Permissum glacialis queritor of nex levamentum vos" which means "Let the icy grip of death comfort you." +23SM.

I'm also pulling together the preliminaries on his raise dead and animate dead skills, but he's also going for this psionic blast/shockwave, which is a P15@2 skill against his 11@3 bias plus 2@10 BRA plus 15@ world bias, all of which means 6% chance of success unless he's got something else to bonus it. A 20 GE means Merlin does not know such a skill, so we'll have to ask what he's got.

He rolls 62 on learning the Short Synapses, so he finally got 1@2 Short Synapses P8@6.

--M. J. Young

John 2 is going to attempt to relive a previous adventure in a dream. This might be interesting. I should track down that thread--it wouldn't be hard, since it's just the one before this one, but I've spent a lot of time on other things and I think I remember what happened pretty well.

Well, when do you roll my skill learning?

Whenever I decide to roll for it.

I've got some threads to sew together here, with Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam all very active, and a major grocery shopping trip having taken a chunk from my available time. Let's get started.

Adding twenty-five days to May 11 is May 36 minus 31 equals June 5th. We need the conditions GE roll, 9+7+4=20, just bad enough. Medical diagnosis advances automatically to 1@10; medical treatment gets a roll against the 43% training chance, 93 is not in there. We also need a roll for the Japanese, which he advanced to 1@10 and is now working on with more effort. 61 means he does not hit the 2@1 mark yet. In the physical training program:

• Aerobics (running) for stamina, Day 50 of 200 day advances
• strength training for strength, Day 50 of 200 day advances
• Martial arts practice Day 50 of 100 day advances, tracking
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Frontal Power Boost B3@10
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Side Slide B3@10
  • 2@3 Eli's Style B7@1
  • 2@3 Back Kick B7@1
  • 1@5 Bo Stick B7@1
  • 1@7 Elbow Strike B7@3
  • 1@10 Back Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Power Front Kick B7@3
  • 1@7 Flying Side Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Roundhouse Kick B7@3

I can, I think, put Michael in a position in which he will be able to connect to the main story.

Brock needs a GE roll for finding George White, 20 says not at the moment.

Harry is hoping that he'll find his way to another universe. I'm not sure whether a GE of 22 means things are bad enough that he might verse out or so bad that he won't.

I have tracked down both the in game post and the behind the screens post for the place John wanted to restart, so now I've got references for anything that is already fixed in the scenario. Let's move him through it. I will probably roll for whether he learns the dream practice skill when he's done, to see whether his control of the dream gave him the new skill; either that, or I'll roll it when things start moving along, and if he fails he loses control of the dream and we see what happens from there.

I'm working through Adam's next spells in his thread, but he's claimed the example of the Hackmaster book, which as he notes always gets a 1@1 example, for that shockwave. That makes it a 17% chance of success, and we can roll against that: 64 fails.

--M. J. Young

Being stagnated here is becoming worse than versing out - good results equal death.

Holy crap 17%, huge botch range, I think I will let this be for now.

...but how would your character know what the botch range is? and if he did know the chance that it could go wrong, wouldn't he have never attempted it?

If you notice, on other skills, the entire bonuses and negatives are listed. There is a difference between you don't grasp it, and you feel that it's very hard and you may not grasp it. I took from the text, that there was at least an average chance for it to work, when I came here, 17% did not feel like the description I was given.

Let's see what we can do today for Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

Eli is going to increase his workload a bit as the weeks fly by--another 25 days from June 5 is June Last, that is, June 30th, and we've crossed into summer. We need another GE roll for circumstances and conditions, 12 is Good Enough, medical treatment and Japanese both advance automatically, the former to 1@10 and the latter to 2@1. He needs a roll for diagnosis, and 37 (against 43) puts that into the 2@1 level also. His physical training continues thus:

• Aerobics (running) for stamina, Day 75 of 200 day advances
• strength training for strength, Day 75 of 200 day advances
• Martial arts practice Day 75 of 100 day advances, tracking
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Frontal Power Boost B3@10
  • 1@7 Aggressive Running Side Slide B3@10
  • 2@3 Eli's Style B7@1
  • 2@3 Back Kick B7@1
  • 1@5 Bo Stick B7@1
  • 1@7 Elbow Strike B7@3
  • 1@10 Back Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Power Front Kick B7@3
  • 1@7 Flying Side Kick B7@3
  • 1@10 Roundhouse Kick B7@3

I think the next particularly good roll will bring something different into the scenario; he's done well for himself generally, and this will help.

We'll cover some ground with Michael, getting the other side of the conversation and the answers to his questions.

I have not yet determined whether George White has training in weaponless combat techniques, but it's worth a GE roll since he knows a bit of everything. The roll is 9, As Good As Expected. I expect George to have amateur skills at just about everything, so we'll give him a few here which Brock might exploit.

I don't know--Harry can't seem to get the roll he wants. Because he wants to verse out, 9+5+6=20 on the GE roll means he's very unlikely to. But we'll give him a chance to risk his life in a small fire.

John 2 and I are still hammering out the parameters of his dream experience.

O.K., let me see how much of Adam's raise dead skill we can construct:

Restore Life M+13@10 say in Latin "Per vox of Odin, orior oriri ortus ex cinis cineris." which means "By the power of Odin, rise from the ashes", ritual must be performed for at least 1:00:00 on holy ground, and must be continued for as long as the deceased has been dead, caster sacrifices five intensities each of stamina and resistance (lowering his damage value) which he recovers at the rate of one intensity per week, alternating with resistance first. If successful, it brings the deceased back to life.

I'm thinking that the sacrifice of points of physical attributes of that sort would be worth a lot if they were permanent, but as temporary losses I'll make them 5 each, which gives him +50 on this. He's also got the appropriate words and magical language, +5 for each of those. I'll also give +5 for the holy ground requirement.

Thinking about the animate dead skill, I start with the fact that the baseline takes an hour to create one "permanent" and he wants his to be "temporary"; but the level only allows for one doubling of the time factor to go from temporary to permanent, in which "temporary" is defined as anything less than permanent, including the present combat (permanent means "until destroyed or unmade") so that only gives him +10. He's going from one hour to one minute, and I get -40 at 3:45, -50 at 1:52.5, and that means something like -59 for one minute. Then we have the problem that he wants to create six at once, -25 for the count. He's also including:

Two hands, fully body latin words, which I will get when needed. Pinch of corpse dust for a component that is used up.

+3 for the second hand, +5 for appropriate words and +5 for the language, and I think that it's +1 for a pinch of corpse dust (pretty common everywhere except maybe Bah Ke'gehn), doubled for being destroyed. That puts him at -59 on this. The object animated cannot be a material component, as it is the subject of the skill.

And I have a problem, because in game Adam said he would try the shockwave again but behind the screens he said no, and I ought to go by what he says in game and he ought not make decisions based on behind the screens information, but I don't want to take that step in either direction without confirmation.

--M. J. Young

I don't know--Harry can't seem to get the roll he wants. Because he wants to verse out, 9+5+6=20 on the GE roll means he's very unlikely to. But we'll give him a chance to risk his life in a small fire.

Then again, there is such a thing as GM's Fiat. Just, y'know, putting that out there...

There's also such a thing as putting a pistol in your mouth. Just y'know, putting that out there...

There's a difference between a character wanting to verse out and the player wanting to verse out.

Versing out is painful. The character also most likely isn't growing bored of his life.

The player however may not find the idea of a character getting to live out a safe life intriguing.

GM Fiat or a lucky GE roll can result in a bad turn that leads towards a verse out. This results in the character not TRYING to die but still dying and the player being in a new verse.

Suicide results in the character deciding life in that verse is not worth living.

While they are the same result they are very different reasons.

I keep forgetting. Sarcasm doesn't really come through in print. It was just a sarcastic comment.

(Doing Therapy)

Two

I think we need a font for sarcasm. Perhaps bold italics? Just a thought.

(Doing Therapy)

I think Eric already pointed out that sarcasm is frequently denoted by the tags <sarc> and </sarc>, which hopefully come through here (and if not you can use [sarc] and [/sarc] just as effectively).

I was thinking that everyone caught up with me today, but I notice that Kurt is not among the list which otherwise includes Eli, Michael, Ahmetia, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

We launch Eli with June 30 plus 25 days which is conveniently July 25th. He needs that opening GE roll, 5+5+5=15, not unfavorable but not yet changing the scenario all that much. He needs rolls for all three skills in which he is training, as they all advanced last month: 24, 11, 61, the herbalism skills both advance but the Japanese does not. That gives him 2@2 Medical Diagnosis (herbalism) T6@0 and 2@1 Medical Treatment (herbalism) T6@1. The Physical training has hit an advancement point for the martial arts skills; he is at

• Aerobics (running) for stamina, Day 100 of 200 day advances
• strength training for strength, Day 100 of 200 day advances
• Martial arts practice Day 10 of 100 day advances, advancing everything to:
  • 1@8 Aggressive Running Frontal Power Boost B3@10 uses one attack RS=+DC to next forward kick-based attack (Power Front Kick), on failure fall for damaging damage
  • 1@8 Aggressive Running Side Slide B3@10 uses one attack +RS=SM to next side-arc kick-based attack (Side Kick, Flip Kick)
  • 2@4 Eli's Style B7@1 Fast Aggressive Weapon-utilizing style, kick- and punch-based, RF2, +10 Att SM +10 Att Dam Mod.
  • 2@4 Back Kick B7@1 basic attack on opponent directly behind.
  • 1@6 Bo Stick B7@1 RF1 damaging two-handed
  • 1@8 Elbow Strike B7@3 base dangerous attack at close range RF1 -10SM
  • 2@1 Back Kick B7@3 base dangerous RF1 -10SM, +10 opponent attack SM
  • 2@1 Power Front Kick B7@3 base damaging -10SM
  • 1@8 Flying Side Kick B7@3 base dangerous RF1 -10SM, on failure lose balance and forfeit next attack
  • 2@1 Roundhouse Kick B7@3 base damaging RF1 -10SM

I'm also going to kick his Use Chopsticks up from 1@10 to 2@1 for most of a year of practice.

Michael has to make a skill success on reading minds to connect to Durer's mind; his roll is 52, which is going to require solid number crunching. I won't give him familiarity yet--he only connected with Durer once before, which is good enough to find his mind when he's not present but not good enough for a bonus. He's got a 1@1 SAL and 2x1@ bias so I know he didn't succeed without looking for his BRA. There will be a change in circumstance in a few minutes, as the queen will arrive and everyone will turn their attention to supper, at which point we'll give him another roll, and 05 gets him connected for five minutes. I should get a GE roll for what Durer is thinking in that time: 15 is on the good side, slightly.

Ahmetia is starting to think about how to rescue the Queen, and that's the right direction. I'll try to bring into focus as much as is already known.

Brock makes a date for some sparring.

We'll give Harry an interesting fire with some problems to solve.

O.K., I guess it's time to figure out whether John 2 manages to learn this new skill. I've identified it as P1@0, and he's in a 0@1 world (that should be 0@2; I'll have to change it), and he's got a 14@5 bias so this really is going to be automatic. I'll roll for how well he learns it, 27, 1@1 Dream Practice P1@0 enables the user to add one hour of practice while asleep for at least two hours to a previous three hours of practice awake. So we know it's working for the moment, even though it's not going to give him any benefits this time around.

Looking back, I find that

CW has a bag under his arm and a tool chest in his left hand He has a shotgun over his shoulder, unlike any you've seen, apparently fully automatic ten gauge. He's wearing a bullet-proof vest and leggings.

and

Lauren is wearing a gold-trimmed scarlet cowled robe over black plate and chain armor with a cowl. She has the pistols. She also has two odd green glass objects at her belt, a metal link chain around her waist and two draped over her shoulders beneath the robe, a laser rifle like Derek's on her back, and a roughly six foot pole with a gem at the end in her right hand.

and

Derek has his laser rifle, a backpack on his back from which a metal panhandle protrudes, what looks to be a butcher knife at his belt, a leather pouch loose on the belt, a tool belt and a bag over his shoulder that apparently contains computer parts and tools.

which I will assume are valid here. Let me record the links of the present parallels Behind the Screens and also in game, so I can find them next time.

Now I'm working again on Adam's massive magic and psionics list. There are only two solsti a year, but with a GE of 19 he's not going to be too far from one--about three months out, I'd say, since the worst possible roll (given that there actually are solsti in this world, which seems necessary) is that yesterday was the solstice. The question then is whether it's the summer or the winter solstice that's coming, and for a 19 I'd say it's late September.

If we're going to cut down the animate penalties, the first thing that comes to my mind is precious stones, I mean the really rare ones, the sort I can value at +8, and if he uses one for each of the six intended corpses that's +48, which brings him to -11. That's not too bad for a holy magic skill, because he also gets his bonus for religion, which is only +6 for him (not very religious even as an Odinite, I guess).

And he made no comment about the shockwave, so I'm going to roll it again as per the game thread instruction: 14 is a success, 1@1 Create Blast P15@2 damaging to 5' radius, user at center unaffected.

--M. J. Young

O.K., I guess it's time to figure out whether John 2 manages to learn this new skill. I've identified it as P1@0, and he's in a 0@1 world (that should be 0@2; I'll have to change it), and he's got a 14@5 bias so this really is going to be automatic.

So, if I'm understanding, I had about a 135% chance of learning it. What are my chances of using it? Is it still that high? (I hope so!!!)

which I will assume are valid here. Let me record the links of the present parallels Behind the Screens and also in game, so I can find them next time.

Yeah, but that says nothing about the contents of the bags. If CW pulls out a HobDobbler equipped with a Garenweed to repair the Flunking Drive on the gravity plating, I don't have a problem with that. It's a dream. Let's have fun with it.

(Doing Therapy)

You had that chance of learning it because of beginners luck as I've heard MJ refer to it multiple times now.

While learning you get the benefit of your highest bias in that area. In this case 14@5 or +145% to your success chance. This is mitigated by the target level, which in this case was only 1@0 so that's a -10%.

After learning it you get neither the benefit of your bias (excluding the highest bias level times 2 of either the world or your own skills whichever is lower) nor the penalty for the level of the skill.

I'm pretty sure that's correct, although as I've mentioned every time I've offered mechanical comment I'm very new still and could easily be wrong. I half wrote this out to double check my understanding as to help.

So after learning it, it's just like any other psionic skill. You'd think there would be a sit mod or something applied for that high of a chance of success. Just my two cents is all.

(Doing Therapy)

Mike is right.

John, the advantages of having that high a chance of success were

1. You couldn't fail to learn it;
2. You couldn't botch while trying to learn it;
3. and had you rolled high enough you could have started with a 1@2 (>50) or 1@3 (>80) skill ability level.

You didn't roll high enough for it to matter, but you might have.

As an aside, Kyler's problems are still rather complicated, and perhaps becoming a bit more complicated, but he's working on uncomplicating them.

As the week draws to a close, let's see what's happening in games for Eli, Michael, Brock, Harry, John 2, and Adam.

Eli didn't say to continue, but I think his question is adequately answered so I'll continue anyway. July 25+25=July 50, July 50-31=August 19th. The GE roll for the July to August run is 9+9+9=27, Worst Fears. I'm uncertain whether the sudden illness of the herbalist or the sudden appearance of soldier demanding explanations is the better--I'll go with the latter. The rest of the stuff will have to await the resolution of this matter.

I don't want to assume that Michael will attempt what Aldis suggests, lest he botch on trying something he wouldn't have tried.

I would say that if Brock gets an 18 GE roll George will be just a bit late for their meeting.

I've already got an answer for where Harry has to go to rescue the child; we'll see how he wants to perform this rescue.

I described the situation for John 2, but he didn't tell me what he was going to do. I don't think he intended for this to be an opportunity for him to watch everyone else kill monsters.

Adam also pulled a 27 GE roll this time (10+10+7, in case anyone is wondering whether the dice are crooked). That interrupts things for the present.

--M. J. Young

I want to call attention to Scott's post here in Max' thread. It's an excellent discussion of relative success.

--M. J. Young

Let me add to what Scot has said that with some skills I would note that low and high rolls would express themselves in other ways as well--with a telepathic skill, I might mention a particularly weak or strong connection (to someone experienced in it); for running skills, speed is often also connected to the roll, and you might feel that you are moving faster or slower than you hoped. However, none of that tells the skilled user the exact duration of the skill; that's something you learn when it ends.

Now, as the new week begins, let's look at Eli, Michael, Brock, John 2, and Adam.

Eli is asking questions, and the first is how many, and I keep swithering between "about a dozen" and "about thirty", and it strikes me that that's exactly the range of a 2d10+10 modified GE roll, so I think I'll use one of them: 7+3+10=20, good middlin' number. The rest mostly comes from book descriptions and my own expectations.

Michael rolls 02 on learning to "watch" her skill pattern, so we'll add 1@1 Observe Psionic Skill Pattern P1@1 to his sheet; we'll also assume that in the two minutes he's doing that, she manages to do the other, so that gives him an example. When Aldis does the listening to conversation trick, there's a question about the conversation, but a 16 GE says it's nothing of consequence. Michael then rolls 20 on learning a 1@1 Hear Remote Conversations by Mind Reading P3@9 skill, which with his 1@10 bias plus 2@1 BRA plus the instructor and example bonuses is going to be successful.

Brock quite reasonably wants to know what sort of style George knows; since that's not part of the descriptive material, we'll use a GE roll. First, though, I would expect that Brock would prefer for George to know a defensive vital area/poke style, and find the least value in a fast aggressive style; I also envision George with a slow defensive style, which is more what I think a fifty-something jack-of-all-trades would know. The roll is 6; can't get much better than that. Let me do a bit of style hunting; I come up with a few possibles, but am most taken with Han Karon, which I think ought to be listed as fast defensive (rather than slow aggressive). Doshi-Do is genuinely slow defensive, but it has a flavor being a fast whirlwind dancing style--it is only the attacks that are slow, the defenses based on rapid movement with avoidance and deflection. So we'll go with Han Karon.

John 2 tells me that he's ready to attack, but not that he is attacking; I'm left wondering what he's thinking.

Adam is off to kill some vampires.

--M. J. Young

John 2 tells me that he's ready to attack, but not that he is attacking; I'm left wondering what he's thinking.

He's thinking that he misunderstood you. The text about the creature coming was in blockquotes. I didn't realize that was the action in the scene. I didn't understand why you were quoting the old game.

(Doing Therapy)

I think I'm ready to tackle game posts for Eli, Michael, Brock, John 2, and Adam.

Eli has a 1@8 charisma, so we'll let him rely on that as he greets the samurai, giving him a simple 2d20 check, which comes to 15+13, very unfortunate rolls.

Michael has inadvertently hinted to two witches that he was doing something for Sir Maris, and now he's got to figure out what to tell them about this.

Brock has a question about learning martial arts styles; I have an answer, and we'll wait for his choice.

I'm also answering questions for John 2, but as much as I would like to leave it at that he has given the order to pull the triggers. I'm going to play this realistically:

• Lauren is using her force field capture rod; she rolls 86.
• Derek is using his laser rifle; he rolls 08.
• John is using his 9mm carbine on triburst; he rolls 92.
• CW is in the back using a shotgun; he rolls 05.

It's evident that Derek and CW both hit for minimal damage; it is less clear whether Lauren or John accomplish anything, but Lauren's attack is the critical one.

Pulling some behind the scenes text from this post, I find:

By this point, according to my story notes, Derek's hand/eye is 2@9 and his intuition is 2@3, which gives him a 2@6 RSV. His tech BRA is a 2@3 ed level, and his SAL with the laser rifle is 2@6. He's got a 12@ tech bias, which is covered by this world, so we sum his chance to hit as 99 minus the defenses of his target. I'm noting point blank to 30', but I've put the creature at 40' so there's no adjustment for range. I've described a forward target somewhere between 8" and 12" in diameter, which is -20 for a 10" diameter circle, we'll go with that. The creature has an above average agility and intuition, so its target value will be 1@8. That means 99-38=61% chance that he will hit. 42 means he does, the weapon is base lethal and he has +2DC (2@ SAL and 2@ RSV) for annihilating, 42 intensities of damage, which will take this one down--it's a little guy.

That means -38 in defensive values for the creature, and John's roll isn't even worth checking. (As long as I'm tracking, the corresponding game thread post is here.) Lauren's is different, though. She's 2@10 with the force field generator, with a 2@3 RSV, 2@8 BRA, and 14@ bias. The bias doesn't entirely matter, because the world has a 10@15 bias, so she's limited to that. That's 30+23+28+20=101. She has a penalty at 40' but not at 30', so she might wait to use it for that reason; but -38 from 101 is 63%, so it's not going to matter. Derek does annihilating damage so his roll of 8 does 8 intensities; CW is probably using a light shotgun, we'll call it dangerous +DC for lethal, so his roll does 1. I didn't give it a damage value previously because Derek's hit was so devastating; this time I'll have to give that some thought.

That brings me to Adam, on his way to a battle. He needs a GE roll for the travels, and it's not good--10+4+9=23. Now I have to think of how it could go wrong on the order of nearly as bad as anticipated. This could go very wrong or could be turned to his advantage; we'll see what anyone does.

--M. J. Young

MJ, when you're doing your calculations for the dream world skills, the world biases are all 15@10. Yeah, my character doesn't know that, but he knows about biases enough to realize higher and lower by now. If that doesn't work for you, then how about this? Each bias is the highest world bias that he has seen. It has the 13@ Mag bias of Dancing Princess, the Tech bias of TerraNova, the Psi bias of the first world (12@ something maybe?) and whatever the highest body bias I've been to was. I think that's reasonable.

(Doing Therapy)

John, that's a deal-breaker thrice.

1. The only way you would know the effect of the bias of any world you were in would be if you were attempting to use skills at the highest bias level or you yourself had such skills. That is, if the psi bias of the first world was 15@10 but your bias within that world was only 4@8, the benefit you would have received to skill success for bias would have been limited to your own 4@ bias, +8 instead of +30. You would have received the full +15 bonus on learning skills, but that is irrelevant to the dream world, because here you can only practice skills you already know. So the world area bias is only relevant to you when your own bias is equal to or greater than it, and you would not know what it is like to use skills with a higher bias bonus than you've ever had.
2. As applied to your companions, the only measure you have for how easily or with what difficulty they perform their skills is your own external observations--and in most cases relevant to this scenario, not even that. You saw Derek use his weapons, but you did not ever see Lauren use the rod or CW fire a shotgun. Thus the impact of bias on their chance of success matters to my portrayal of the situation, but is irrelevant to you. By way of explanation, I could at this point ignore the rules entirely and determine all outcomes by GE rolls (bad roll, someone dies, good roll, monsters get killed). You have no connection to probabilities because it is a dream. The only connection to probabilities is the necessity that it be a realistic dream or it is useless as a practice medium.
3. That bears repeating: if it is not a realistic dream, it is useless as a practice medium. When you say you want to return in your dream to that place and time and event, you must either take it as it was or allow it to become unrealistic. If it is unrealistic, it is not practice. In fact, as I think about that, it strikes me that your "cheat codes" are already making it useless as practice. Part of what you need to practice in using an ammo-based weapon is recognizing when you are going to be out of ammo before you get there, and swapping ammo packs or weapons quickly. Think about it. I say it takes an amateur twelve seconds to change the clip on an automatic rifle, but a professional can do it in six and an expert in four. Why? At least part of that is that the amateur fires his thirty bullets and pulls the trigger five or six more times trying to get another bullet out before he realizes he has to pull out the pack and put in a new one, while the professional recognizes the "out of ammo" symptom with a single pull of the trigger and the expert has subconsciously counted the bullets and is pulling the clip which he knows is empty while the last bullet is still in the chamber. If you're not practicing the use of the weapon under its normal parameters, you're not practicing the use of the weapon.

So you can dictate what you want to dream and enjoy dreams that are not practice, or you can embrace the reality as it was at the time and practice in your dreams. Make up your mind which.

I just stuck my head in when I had a free moment to look at the non-game posts; I'll be back Lord willing in a couple hours to pick up the rest.

--M. J. Young

At the moment, I can't use the skill to train, so at the moment, I have the infinite ammo cheat code. When I start using this for real, that's when it becomes realistic. This is the teaching myself to use it roll. This roll doesn't count for training.