Double post post :)
I'm a little irritated by the notion, so first I motion to myself and respond, "Kyler," then to him and say, "---hole." I give in; I'm growl purr mew, whatever that means. Probably something like John Smith or Hairless Ape.
I accompany him.
LOL! Well, I can't give a gold star for cursing, but good reaction. Very appropriate.
He leads you to a little cottage that stands near the wall and makes you wait as he takes out straw and a mat. He puts the thick, woven mat on the ground and arranges a thick layer of straw on it. He arranges a clay bowl and a wooden board along it, together with a wooden spoon.
He gestures to it and then to you. He gestures you to follow him again, and he takes a little bit of clay and a wooden board with him.
He takes you to a place where from a carving in the wall water flows into a pond. The carving depicts a panther's head, breaking through the leaves of a bush. The water comes out in such a way as if the panther is squirting the water from it's mouth.
(I have to come back to this, not finished yet)
Please bump the thread when finished editing to let me know it's complete =)
He takes what looks to be a dried and hollow calabash gourd the size of a water bottle in height and of a basketball in width, which is open on one side of the top and on the other side of the top smaller holes are made. He fills it with water from the pound and empties it like a watering can near a nearby plant. (not as in power plant).
He moistens the clay and rubs it flat on the wooden board. He flips out a nail and starts scratching it. he sketches a circle above a curved line (like half a circle). Underneath that he sketches three things that look like the gourds. He points to the gourd, to you and to the clay tablet.
I'll first let you guess, if you don't guess what it means I'll roll intuition or intelligence for you.
I'm assuming he wants me to use the gourd to water the plants here (not to wash myself), so I'll try to do that and see if he stops me.
Wohoo! Page two! Progress!
Some things click in your mind as you see the picture he drew, and you understand the disc and the curve to mean a sun in it's course and the four gourds underneath meaning a certain number. Thus you deduce that he asks you to water the plants three times a day.
He walks with you and shows you the plants to water and the boundaries which are marked with little obelisks, jutting out of the shrubs and herbs. You do the watering with him now. Then you go to what appeared to be your room. He sits down, takes another wet clay tablet and starts sketching. He points to the drawing of a tree he drew and then speaks a word. Then he waits, looking at you.
double post again again
I repeat the word he says as I point to the picture.
Okay, how does a teacher work in adding a chance to learn the language?
He cringes, but nods affirmative, as far as you can say. He draws something else and says something while pointing to it. This goes on. He repeats it a few times, trying to let you remember the pronunciation. (I wrote that right without spell-check!)
After what seems a long while doing this he looks up, then he rises and gives you the watering gourd.
I believe you add half the SAL of the teacher's teaching skill to the rest of the equation.
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Time to water more plants. Fun, fun.
As you leave for watering the plants your, um, teacher, guardian, employer, whatever, stands looking in the doorway. You continue the job and when you look back up a few moments later he is gone.
You can take action now if you want to do something other than finishing up and returning.
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Alright, so the dude is almost certainly a professional teacher, but maybe not an expert. Let me roll a GE-10 roll for that and see what we get. (-10, since he cannot be a newbie) We get an 8. so with 3 being 3@10 an 20 being back to high amateur, this must be a low expert I guess. I'll make him 3@2. So, he has a SAL of 32. Adding half of that to the equation makes it 2+2+21-2-20+16=19% chance. Dude, this is ridiculous. LOL. Maybe I should have waited with something this exotic.
The dice roller displayed golden dice, but it doesn't help. 5+1 still is 51. I'm tempted to switch the dice around, but I won't fudge ... yet. Once you grasp the skill, the negative alien language sit-mod disappears for development, right?
Well, it depends.
If you say that it's difficult to learn, but not difficult once you've got the basics, I could see taking away the sit mod.
If it's tough, tough, tough, all the time, after learning, always, the sitmod should stay.
OK, so do you finish up and head back or do you do something else?
Nah, finish up and return.
Once you return you arrive to the cottage with smells coming to greet you. Smells of grilled fish. It smells delicious.
You enter the mansion and your teacher points to your bowl. It has food in it which smells very good. He says something when he points to the food and looks at you. As you repeat it he motions you to sit. He sits behind a bowl of his own. He raises his bowl to you and says something. Then he starts eating.
20% actually isn't really that bad; it's one successful roll in five.
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I will repeat the ritual to him, and then also eat with him.
I tastes nice. It's fish and potatoes in some kind of a thick soup with other vegetables. Once it is finished he pours you some kind of tea.
Afterward it's back with the lessons (you haven't remembered a thing) and in the evening you water the plants again.
Then there is another meal. Fish and bread. He serves you a bowl of cream with that. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist. Cat's and cream...)
Interesting... cream... I wonder what kind of animal it comes from, because cow's milk in a cat's diet is actually highly unhealthy for their digestive tract. I once had a cat die from that; he was so constipated that he herniated his anus quite seriously, and after the sutures broke the first time, the veterinarian announced that poor Nyanko-chan had to be put to sleep. Curses and a pox on the foul woman who included milk in his diet without my authorization.
Anyway, I'm lactose intolerant, so I try to decline the cream as politely as possible, sliding it away from myself towards my host across the table graciously while inclining my head downward slightly.
Well, easy answer, it's panther-men. They are not full felines. I don't want to have to make up a hard answer. Maybe I'll invent some crazy creature that gives of a milk-like substance though. And even that is an easy way out ;)
So, this would be a persuasion or a charisma roll? Or just a GE roll, to see how he takes it. Or is it persuation/charisma vs intelligence/intuition? And how does that work?
Those were my in character thoughts. =P I have no way of knowing what sort of animal it comes from; generally, if food tastes good, it probably isn't dangerous; generally. That's the primary function of the gustatory sense, to tell the chemical features of something to an extent to determine if it's safe to eat; of course, it evolved in one world, and might not be any good here.
We both roll an attribute check, and if we both succeed, the message was conveyed. I would just give him an intuition check to determine the reason why I don't want it, because I recognize it and have a known problem eating it, but I think that it's pretty clear that I don't want it by my actions.
A GE roll could be used to determine if I'm offending his grandmother's secret recipe for cream, or if it's against custom to decline food the host offers, you have to eat it even if it kills you; but, eh, I don't know what you'd do if it were a 3. =P
Okay, average Joe's intuition is 1@6, right? But this guy is a teacher/leader guy, which means that he mostly knows what his (cat)people can do. I think I'll give him 1@9. So that's 2d20, if I recall correctly. This results at 4, which means that he got it alright.
He looks at you and at the cream and back at you. He holds his head askew and a sad little mew escapes him. He stands up, takes your cream bowl, rinses it and fills it with tea. He places it before you, smiling... as far as you can tell.
Tea I will certainly drink, and I raise the bowl to him and repeat the gesture and word he made earlier, presuming it to mean something like "cheers", though in retrospect it probably means "drink".
Right, let's see if you nail it. 67 on the skill learning roll means not even close. Let's see if your memory helps you better. 25 means no, but close.
He sees you try to do it and cocks his head a bit. He says it once more and lets you repeat it. Then he readjusts the position of your head as you do it. He is gentle. You realize that part of the language is in the body as well as in the speech.
Also, according to your memory he said something different before. Perhaps because this is about drinks instead of about food.
After supper he cleans up and generally keeps busy. You seem to have the evening off. On the opposite side of your mat with straw there is a similar set-up for him.
You have some time for internal monologue, doing stuff ... until the evening closes.
Oh, I'm going to try to help him clean up. After all, I'm an intruder in his home, and it's the least I could do.
He is a bit startled by the voluntary cleaning up, but he purrs to show he is appreciating.
When all is cleaned he rummages somewhat in a box. His tail is swaying and curling, taking on all kinds of shapes. Then it stops all of a sudden and stands stiff. It relaxes again as the panther-man comes out of the box holding a piece of bamboo that has four holes in it. It looks like a big flute, and it sounds as one as well. He puts it to his mouth and low and high resonating tones fill the room. He sits on his knees while playing while the end of the flute rests on his knee. His eyes are closed as he plays. (It sounds a bit like the second flute played in this video.)
I enjoy listening to the music he plays, and sit lotus style, tapping my hand on my thigh to the tempo.
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I don't do videos on my phone, too much load time; thanks for the example all the same, but I've got a stellar imagination and have heard a lot of instruments played, including woodwinds.
He plays a bit, and after a while he get's background music from the crickets. He finishes his song. He offers you some tea and takes some himself. When you are finished with the tea, he rinses his cup and blows out some oil-lamps that where burning as it got dark.. Then he hits the hay, quite literally. (and I'm about to do the same, goodnight)
I'll also turn into a pumpkin, quite literally.
No, not literally. Just turning in for the night at the same time as my host.
Hahah ... did I write something wrong? Hit the hay is an expression for going to sleep, right? And your 'litter' right now consists of a mat with straw/hay on it.
Next morning you rise with your host. Breakfast is some salted fish and bread. There is tea to drink. Then he gives you the watering gourd.
Everything goes the same today (also the not understanding a thing about the language), except that at one point he gives you a spear, which is just a large but slim reed stick with one end sliced of at a sharp angle and a bit burned, and takes you to a deep looking pond, carrying a spear like it himself and a woven basket, almost a tray.
He kneels, his spear horizontal on his knees and seems to be addressing the pond. Then he wades in. The edge is shallow water still an it's fairly translucent. He hold his spear poised above the water, stands very still, his eyes almost the only thing that is moving. Suddenly his spear lunges out and he has a fish shush-kebab-ed on it. He looks to you and purrs. He holds up his hand, showing all his fingers outstretched.
No, the expression was entirely correct and I fully understood the literal aspect. Since you said "hit the hay", which is a figurative expression, but literal in the sense that there was hay, I said I would turn into a pumpkin, another figurative expression, meaning something closer to leaving because it's getting late. Of course, I said I would do it literally, which is not an easy thing for a human to do.
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I guess I'll try my hand at spear fishing, then... after asking the river quietly for access to it and to please let me have some fish today. =P
Aha! (erlebnis)
Dude ... am I this transparent? You almost get what happened. You've done that several times already. 2@1 intuition deserved :) O, and a gold star.
Do you mean it when you say it, or do you just politely copy him?
I mean it when I say it.
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And, yeah... as I explained in the character creation, my feelings about people and situations are almost always right. I feel like people often mistake my intuition for intellect; it's my prime stat in my opinion.
*sticks the gold star to his forehead*
Have you ever before asked a river (but it's a pond actually) for something, or did something like it?
I best set a mag bias or something now. How do you know what is high? What would the bias need to be for the out of body travel skill for example. Oh, and how do botches work? Like, when do you botch?
To answer the question about specific bias for the astral travel I'll need to look at my book, but I think it's something of a sense future/past/present which memory says is in the 12@ range for some reason.
Botches! Botches are such fun. For every 10% chance of failure you have, you get a 1% chance to botch; for sake of ease, all the % chance to botch are the highest numbers. So, if you have a 10% chance to succeed, you have a 10% chance to botch, and an 80% chance to fail. 50% chance to succeed, 5% chance to botch, 45% chance to fail.
When setting up for a botch situation, come up with as many possible botch situations for the skill as possible, generally at least 8 is a good number; they should all be bad results, but if you want to include a (1) good/neutral result, you could. Then roll a die to determine which one happens.
Right, so let's DO THIS! Oh wait, I can't yet I think. What would the bias of contact spirit-being be? (SPOILER ALERT!, lol) Wait, my character has that in Mark's game. Let's see if it has it noted.
Right, after searching for a while I found it in the 2009 Behind the Screens:
"Nikolaj again opens a channel to speak to Gaia, a roll of 40 an easy success. It takes him 0:00:45 to do that, and then he wants to add a blessing. The simplest way to address it is to take it as a M+1@4 bonus checks applying particularly to supporting life, give it +10 for the limit to supporting life, +10 because contact must be made through the other skill, +15 for total body involvement, +5 for appropriate words, cut the 1:00 TF to 0:30 at -10, and roll 50 for a successful 1@1 Bless the Spirit of the Earth M+1@4 bonus checks related to supporting life, must first contact the spirit blessed (separate skill check M7@7 or comparable), kneel and touch the ground, and speak appropriate words of blessing, +30SM."
So that would mean that the bias for the contact skill is 7@7, then your BRA for magic and your character bias for magic, which I don't seem to have.
You don't have that because my character bias is probably 1@0 religion. Mag bra is between an mag, uhhh will power annnd... two out of three isn't bad, right? =P
It's more than I know ;) Of that, your best seems to be you will, which comes at 17.
Now, would the other be charisma or intelligence?
an mag intellect inuition for mag
And your intellect is 21, so that would be your bra.World bias would be in the 120's at least then if it's 12@? for astral travel, I'll put the bias at 13@0 just to be safe. So world bias is 130.
So: 21 (int) + 130 (World bias) + 1 (Character bias) + 6 (1/2 SAL example) - 77 (Skill bias) = 181 if I'm counting right. That's an automatic learn, but I haven't been counting in time and other requirements yet. I'll need some help with that.