Here we go!

Whee!

In reply to Oren (msg # 2):

Epic setpiece over in the Ninjas' lair!

Wish I had been able to reply to Chou before the Oni was freed... but oh well.  If the fun doesn't keep coming!

Sometimes we have to do the best we can with the information we have.  Too late for nageteppo to disrupt the ritual, anyway -- even injuring one of the chanters didn't prevent the release from completing.

Now you see why Jin was in such a hurry, yes? No time for resting, no time for searching the dead, just push push push.

I strongly suspect your party has slowly meandered into a Quantum Ogre.

And here I am, hobbling along with a crippled leg.

They've had the sake set for nearly 24 hours, and we arrive exactly as the oni is released?  I think it's much more likely we struck an unseen plot tripwire when we entered the room.

At least someone picked up some paut; otherwise I'd have been going into this on the edge of exhaustion, with my power item already drained.

In reply to Chou-Zhen Mou (msg # 9):

Checking out that door with the wooden fittings might have helped... the ritual went in motion after the alarm spell, the were casting a slow version of pentagram first.

Yes, but in the context of the game, Jin was right, and that's what matters.

Technically correct is the best kind of correct!

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 12):

I will be travelling today so I  might not be posting until later

methinks Oren is in the wrong thread.

I go where I'm needed.

Like batman.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Sat 10 Dec 2016.

whenever there is need for derision... ! xD

This isn't how Power Items, Power Enchanted, Power Reserve, or Spell Enchanted Items work... in general.

So if your House Rules modify those rules, can you explain how so I can figure exactly what needs to be done to bring the staff into compliance (if that is even possible with how little money he has at the moment)?

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 17):

Ok, i went with uses magic, can be recharged. Will review psi.

Edit: I reviewed DF17: the device  had been previously  designated a power item for its enchantments, and needs Active recharge. As you now have a psi ability, you CAN have a seperate psi power reserve, which would recharge passively.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:07, Sun 11 Dec 2016.

I really hate that DF used the term Power Item instead of coming with something different.

For those who do not know, a quick break-down of the difference between a Power Item and a Powered (Enchantment) Item.  Hence forth I'll refer to DF 1 Power Items as Personal Power Items to limit confusion.


In GURPS Magic the only way to make a "power item", ie a Self Powered Item that reduces the FP cost for casting the spell that is Enchanted on it:  You use the Power Enchantment, it reduces the FP cost to cast and maintain the spell(s).  That is all.

Now 3e had a few other variants that came out in the 3e Magic Items books, which have been used in DF 8 Treasure Tables:  Dedicated Reserve ($40/pt), Regenerating ($80/pt), Rechargeable ($100/pt), Powered ($10k-$80k for 1-4 pts).

Dedicated - Must be recharged in town like a Personal Power Item.  $5 a point recharged.
Regenerating - These recharge themselves at a rate of 1 FP per day.  They cannot be recharged any other way.
Rechargeable - While exposed to/immersed in the stuff that recharges it (blood, fire, gold, Sanctity, Unholiness, rain, sunlight, seawater, the tears of maiden, etc), it recharges 1 FP per minute.  They cannot be recharged any other way.
Powered - This is the standard Power Enchantment from GURPS Magic Enchantment Spells.


In DF 1 a new type of Power Items was introduced:  A spellcaster's Personal Power Item.   As most spellcasters in this game know, this gives them a limit external source of FP which can only be recharged in town for $5 per FP.  This costs the Spellcaster nothing to own, it's one of their items, usuaully the most valuable as it's pool is determined by it's mundane value.

DF 14 Psi added the Psionic Personal Power Item.  It functions the same, the difference being it recharges passively at 1FP per day.

In DF 18, Power Items this was expanded into 5 types:  Caster, Psionic, Heroic, Scholarly, and Endurance.

Caster covers the standard flavors of casters as per DF:  Demonic, Magical (Bard, Wizard, Elementalist), Necromantic, and Sacred (Cleric, Druid, Summoner).  If you combine two or more casting "proffesions" (IE Driud and Cleric, or Necromancer and Wizard) you need Personal Power Items that cover each proffession if you wish to be able to draw upon that Power Item for casting.  So a Cleric/Driud draws from the same Power Item source, but the Necro/Wizard needs two separate Power Items, as Magic and Deathliness are two seperate power sources.*

* No, I don't know why Summoners and Druids get lumped in with Cleric as being "Sacred" and Bards and Elementalists are "Magic", but Demonologists and Necros get the shaft.

Psionic covers Psis and is spent powering Psionic abilities.

Heroic and Scholarly are used by the respective professions; Heroic: Knights, Scouts, Martial Artists, Swashbucklers, and occasionally Barbarians; Scholarly: Scholars and Artificers.  Heroic can be can be used to pay for "Heroic" abilities such as Botte Segrete, Breaking Blow, Flying Leap, Hand of Death, Power Blow, etc, and also for Extra Effort in Combat.  Scholarly is used for FP expenditures associated with Book-Learned Wisdom, the Scholar's Wild Talent, casting spells from scrolls, or any FP spent on long tasks like study, alchemy, or gadgeteering.

Endurance Personal Power items can be used to cover FP costs for any mundane expenditure of FP such as lost sleep, starvation, marching, end of combat fatigue, Extra Effort (combat and noncombat).  Basically any non-supernatural or non-special ability FP loss.

Recharging:
Caster and Endurance Items can only be recharged in Town by spending $5/FP.

Heroic, Psi, and Scholarly Items recharge at 1FP/day when the user is doing what the item requires (Psis sleep for 2 hours, Chi Mastery and Ninjas train for 1d hours, other heroes just have to have it equipped/worn/sheathed for 16 hours a day, Scholars read/study for 2 hours... and presumably Artificers would tinker or something).


Note for anyone seeing Endurance or Heroic item and thinking "Hey, my character should totes have one and since Personal Power Items don't cost extra monies..." read this next bit carefully:  Endurance Items cost $1k more to be "ritually prepared" into a Personal Power Item and Heroic items must be a Weapon, Shield, or piece of Armor that is significant to the character.


So Gorgath's Doomrazor is probably a Heroic Item.  Azrael's dagger, probably not (but then Azrael's leather armor probably costs more than his dagger anyway).

Also no one item can be a Personal Power item for more than one source of Power.

So Jareth's Staff can either be a Psi Personal Power Item or an Endurance Personal Power Item, not both.  And it can't be any other type of Personal Power Item as he has no access to any other type of Power Source (no Magery, Chi, Holiness, Weapon Master, TBaM, Unholiness, Rage, Book-Learned Wisdom, etc).








That's what it was designated as from the start, expecting he'd eventually (in a year or two) have something to spend the Psi Power Item FP on.

As noted above, it can't be any other type Personal Power item and he didn't spend any money to make it any type of Enchanted Power Source.

Though... looking over the way I listed out the cost for the Staff I can see how that could have been confusing.  I should have listed the "Power Factor" separately... not in the list of costs.  He didn't spend an additional $1,005.00, that's just the "mundane" value of the staff for figuring out it's FP pool as a Personal Power Item.

I was looking at the staff as a magic item and the reserve was for its use. If you need to power its spells with your own reserve, then that makes it an iffy item. Jareth is a squib, and his staff helped conceal that, but iy you want it to be a psi item, you will need to drop $1000 to have it "formatted" and attuned, probably  by purchasing piwdered  chacral semiprecious  stones, meditatibg with them on your bidy and then rubbing them onto the staff.

So you do have House Rules concerning that.  Okay.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 19):

This is sounding like original D&D, where something in book 3 changed what was written in Book 1 or 2... totally confusing and mostly unusable. GMs resorted to the "I Said" or "I Rule" routines to make the game system playable.

Sure.  Except the books I used when making the character (DF 1-16) were all in print and nothing has changed in regard to those rules.*


The "House Rule" comment is in regards to Personal Power Items (aside from Endurance Items) requiring more money to become Power Items.  As per DF 1, 14, & 18, they don't... so if they do, we need to know that.

DF 1 has no rules on how to take a piece of loot and make it a Personal Power item.
DF 14 says a Psi just designates it as a Power Item, and it is.  It infers that this is how the rules work for Spellcaster Personal Power Items as well.
DF 18 adds some rules to 'bond' to a new Personal Power Item, but the are free ($0) and simple.



* Though I did forget a conversation I've had since with the Narrator (what it's been a year).  I found it in PMs and am addressing it there.  Also see the next note, one "rule" did changed, but ti didn't effect any of my characters:

DF 18 clarifies that a multipower Spellcaster (say a Cleric/Wizard) cannot use the same Personal Power Item to power both types of spells, they need two separate Power Items.  Apparently this was not the case previous to DF 18...

I think I'll stick with my bow.  At least there's no question on a Cornucopia quiver...

necromantic question: mummies. can they retain their mental skills, unlike zombies and skeletons? say a wealthy, but unscrupulous land owner wants undead agricultural workers. that's a mental skill, so to scythe down his grain, feed his animals, etc. he'd have to have mummies, right? skeletons or zombies wouldn't be able to handle it, even if they were peasants in their living days?

Agricultural work is largely repetitive labor that can be handled by machines so Zombies or whatever would work fine.

In fact that's one of the features of the zomi myth in Haiti, drugged and mindless plantation workers.

Depends on the genre...

In standard GURPS Fantasy the only difference between a mummy and a zombie is measure of dampness.  The only difference between mummies/zombies and skeletons is a measure of flesh.

All three use the same Necromantic Spell, a mummy is just starts as (or becomes) a desiccated corpse and a skeleton is one where the flesh has rotted off.


In Northport?  Unknown.  I know most bog-standard D&D (and D&D ripoffs) like to make Mummies self-willed (and often they are reskinned Liches, ie spellcasters, just without all the Lich special powers and defenses).

i've read in Gurps magic that mummies and mummification is a skill that's useful, because the preservation process, keeps the brain in working order... curious how it works in Northport.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 28):

Almost anything animated with the Zombie spell is an
Automoton, and I still have GURPS  Undead, which makes Mummies almost ludicrous  with unkillable and other high power advsntages, with the suggestion that they could be
upgraded by buying off some limiting disads.
I ruled long ago (I was playing  a sentient undead in another game) that a critical success  on a Zombie roll, (or a critical failure {modded by wierdness magnet} on Raise Dead
could result in a willfull undead person. This happened in
Northport, in the person of Caville the wayfarer, and now
there are official  rules for such half dead people.

Dagon and his mummies are carriovers from 2002 when I ran
this setting in 3e over on playbyweb.net, and I   figured
they had a -2 IQ modifier and disturbing voice, why not let
them speak, even if they had no mental skills. So they emoted
 a bit, and responded to command, admittedly  with some
grumbling, but this was a special effect, and had no other
impact on the game. They could (badly) deliver spoken
messages, although they had to make IQ rolls to get it close
 to correct.

Is that a Twerking Demon in post 165 of The Ninja's lair?   ;-)   A Miley Cyrus demon!!

Worth noting that in Egyptian (historical) mummification, the brain was the only major organ that was not preserved in the canopic jars.  Rather, since it had no known function, it was hooked out through the nose and discarded.  It wouldn't have taken well to dehydration anyway; it's got the highest water content of any tissue in the human body, as I recall it.

"Whatya mean it ha' no use?  It cools t'e body's red humours of course!"

In reply to Oly (msg # 30):

Twitching! Ducking autocorrect!

I am doing OT, and may not answer folks before tomorrow. How did I go from 6 to 7 threads?

A few months after you said "I need to reduce the number of threads 'cause it's getting out of hand" you added two more.

Oh wait, was that rhetorical?   ;)

As a semi-side note:  I've been contemplating starting up a PbP here as well.... I'm just not sure what to run.  I've got like 6 different games in 4 different settings I've got ideas for.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 35):

You can go to the GURPs lounge game,

link to another game

and discuss the ideas, where you will find a wider audience that may be interested in participating. Better chance of getting them going!

they believed it was useless, they thought the man's heart carried the soul, i think i've read.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 37):

Seems that a lot of folk still do consider it pretty useless...some things don't change!

A lot of folk are arguments in favor of the "useless" theory.  Half of them drive around Winston-Salem any given day...

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 39):

Unless Winston-Salem has a population of a couple of billion, a lot less than half of them are there, lol!

There is a difference between useless and unused...  I believe most of those you speak of have the second form, not the first.

End result is the same when they're behind the wheel.

I prefer running for people I already know... so I figured I'd start the pitch here see if I got any bites.  Besides, making the offer where the Narrator can see it in case he's interested in playing (I know I prefer to play, but I tend to end up running).

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 43):

I'd  love to but I  barely can keep up with this.

Just  got in from OT I will be back on tomorrow.

This message was deleted by the player at 02:37, Wed 14 Dec 2016.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 44):

That's my problem, too -- some days, I barely have the spare time to post on three threads.  Trying to keep track of another game, too, is out of the question for me.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 46):

Thankfully, that run of OT is over. For the last four months I have covered the maternity leave of the tech who handles GI fluoroscopy (she is back and I am back  in the pool of techs covering portables, the OR and house {non portable} cases).
My side gig is scanning lead aprons for holes. I have scanned
something like 85 pieces of lead in two days. The actual fluoroscopy was only about a half an hour (still a lot!)
But the data entry and paperwork were about 7 hours...

And there was no time for posting,

Dragging this response over to OOC as it's a good place to discuss it so all the casters can read it (in case there are people not reading the Defiled Sanctuary thread, those philistines)...






It's actually two different effects:

Jednesa is SM +2, which means all Regular Spells (that don't have special costs, for instance Control Elemental*) that are cast on a creature that is SM +0 or greater take an SM multiplier = (SM)+1.

* Note:  Air Jet and Shape Air are not cast on creatures, even though they can effect creatures (first three good example I found in Magic), so they aren't subject to the SM multiplier.


For Jednesa that a 3.  I suspect for Gorgath that will be a 2 (which is why Ulo is holding off casting resist Acid on him, it'll be costly).

However, Healing Spells (all healing actually, even daily rest) gets a boost based on the maximum HP of the target = (HP)/10 [rounddown].

For Jednesa this is (conveniently) x3 (36/10 = 3.6 rounddown = 3).  For Gorgath this is again x2.

So Jednesa costs 3 times the FP to cast Healing Spells on, but also gets 3 times the benefit, Gorgath is x2 on both.  This means Heal Pots, Healing Stones, and the like are more valuauble for these two Characters.

I don't think we have any other characters (except maybe Grend?) that hit 20 HP (or greater) and thus can benefit from it.



Final Note:  This would also apply to FP recovery... but I don't think anyone has FP at 20 or above.

Where does this come from?

Basic 424, Sidebar:  High HP and Healing

Learn something new every day.

I'll second that.  What we get for having 500+ pages of basic rules, plus Magic, plus coming on two dozen DF supplements.  Remember when GURPS was one book under 200 pages, plus whatever source books you needed?

Nope.  But I got into GURPS in 3e...


3e Basic is 275 pages ;) ...  not including the Compendiums, which once those came out the "core" books became Basic + Compendium I and II.

Which is why it looks more and more like D&D... got to have a new book for everything.

I've been a GURPS fan since "Man to Man" came out in 1986 -- that was the TL3-4, no-magic, combat system only.  Didn't even have non-combat skills, and ran about 80 pages, spine-stapled.  Second edition was still under 200 for the basic book.

From what I've been seeing about D&D 5e, they've tried very, very hard to simplify the "game" aspect of that game so it's playable.  Not sure how well they've succeeded; it hasn't been out that long and I haven't even looked at the SRD (downloaded it, haven't had time to open it).  I've played one session of 3.5e, and aside from that, haven't played D&D since about the time 2e came out -- but any resemblance between any edition of D&D and any edition of GURPS is, IMO, mainly due to DF.  For folks nostalgic for "kill things and take their stuff", there's also Fighting Fantasy (with Steve Jackson as co-author).

That's a different Steve Jackson, the FF co-author lives in Britian and had nothing to do with GURPS.

5e DnD is better than 3. Less feature creep. It's disappointing because it could have been much better, but they focused too much on trying to win back Pathfinder players and not enough innovation.

That said, the design team is like two guys working out of a WotC closet... they're relying on third party content and DM guild materials, for the most part.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 55):

I still have Man to Man around here somewhere... I think I even have a couple of THE FANTASY TRIP Modules.

In reply to Oly (msg # 58):

I'm a GURPS fanatic.  I have In the Labyrinth, Advanced Melee, and Advanced Wizard.
I have every edition of GURPS, nearly every 2nd ed and 3rd ed book, two copies of Man to Man.  Everything printed in 4th and almost all of the PDFs.

I've often said "If they print GURPS Blank Pages, I'd probably buy it."

It's the only system I'll run and by far my preferred to play.

Ditto.  Except I don't have GURPS 2nd ed.  And I have everything for 4e... and about 75% of 3e.

I'm missing some obscure stuff like Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Rogues, Villains, Warriors, and Wizards (off the top of my head).

Too many years too broke; I've only got a dozen or so 3e sourcebooks, and only Magic, Low Tech, and 3-4 DF PDFs for 4th.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 61):

Like an idiot I sold off a lot of my 3e...

That's.... that's definitely a forehead slapper.  granted I considered it as well... except that a) most of my 3e books are in terrible condition, b) I figured I could just use them if I ever did convert to 4e, and c) I had no plans to convert.  Ever.

I did finally convert in like 2012.

i have china,vikings,low-tech, martial arts, undead, magic, basic set, compendium 1 & 2, grimoire, fantasy folk, gurps sex, cyberpunk, ultratech 1 & 2, and robots all 3e on pdf.

I have about 30 Inches of bookshelf devoted to 3e stuff.

In reply to Oly (msg # 65):

For those fighting the cult, yes, the unraisable bodies are worthless to necromancers, maybe worth a tiny amount to as alchemist, but barely worth the labor.

skulls of sentient beings are very useful... then they are used up...in a simple, but terrifying spell..

If they've been Laid To Rest... I'm not sure the Skull Spirit can be bound to it.  The spell literally spoils the corpse for Necromantic spells entirely.  This includes Resurrection.

The Perk, Covenant Of Rest works similarly to the spell Lay To Rest, and we're pretty sure the Cultists they had such a pact with their dark deity.



If we could find a Goth community, we could probably sell the skeletons as decorations...  or maybe to an Ogre soup kitchen as meat...

Well, as noted, I'm no necromancer, and know nothing useful about their art.  The Brothers wouldn't speak of them, other than to warn about avoiding them.

Necromancers are great friends.  They always know where to dig up a spare date for party night...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Sat 17 Dec 2016.

Yeah we're pretty great.

In reply to Azrael (msg # 71):

Heavy day, back on tomorrow

In reply to Narrator (msg # 72):

Been working on paid commissions

In reply to Narrator (msg # 73):

Sorry I have been erratic, work had changed and I have less downtime;evenings have been family,hiday, and healthcare focused and I have had some travel without signal as well.

No issues... we will be here...

As long as I know you're not waiting on me, I'm good.  And I can generally figure that out...  ;)

In reply to Narrator (msg # 74):

Yeah, we need to get RL sorted before gaming...

You mean this isn't real life?  But...

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 78):

Not according to my wife...much to my disappointment!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73PRaUTVcbo xD

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 80):

Lol, lucky I don't drink!

Ah, see there's the difference.  I've avoided being saddled with one of those.

Or find one who understands and enjoys gaming too. We're out there. Not many of us, but if you look hard enough.

Unicorns, all of them.

Unicorns?

they are as rare as...

Not quiet that rare, but yea, not that common either.

But the world is changing.

yeah, it's not considered quite so geeky, gaming. not as it was in it's heyday.

And we've moved from women being the housekeeper / mom / wife to having a more independent role. Allows more options in what is acceptable. Our generation was the bridging generation for the most part.

*marge simpsonesqe pained* "Mmmmmmmmm..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae8t-QKPVY4
This message was last edited by the player at 15:49, Thu 22 Dec 2016.

But then you never have time away from the mate.  One thing I grew to like (long after) with my first ex was that time away, doing our own things.  Didn't have that with the second, and it wore on the relationship.

If gaming predominates your relationship, then it will. But if you each have your own interests in addition to the gaming, then you can have a healthy one. It also depends on how good your emotional connection is outside the gaming.

Definitely.  The second ex and I did almost everything except work together... no respite from one another.

And since I'm a "socialized" sociopath (high functioning ASPD), there will always be something lacking that my mates will want.  unless I meet a female pretty much exactly like myself... or one who is willing to accept that I really don't care (but I at least try to act like I do.  Mostly.  Sometimes.  When I remember to).

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 93):

My wife and I have a great relationship most of the time, but her lack of hobby does create a bit of stress, desire my own High functioning autism (or so they say). But in my are ANYONE that likes gaming is rare...no group within 100 km that I know of...

There are plenty of gaming groups where I am (central North Carolina) -- but almost all of them play on weeknights.  My 4 AM alarm on weekdays puts a bit of a damper on anything running past seven on a weeknight, and even on weekends it's hard to remain functional after eight or, at the latest, nine.  And a weekend, daytime group, with adults, is one of those unicorn things...

I don't date mundanes.  They don't have to be gamers, but they do have to be very gamer compatible.  Cosplayers, comic book fanatics, etc. all work.
My current s.o. is a gamer and we're in separate gaming groups so we don't even see each other most of the week.  And she's one of the best FPS players I know.  Usually mops the floor with the rest of us.

But that's me.  YMMV.

In reply to Dareos Madrigar (msg # 96):

I did get my non gaming spouse to play a variant one on one GURPS infinite   worlds game... she was playing someone with wierdness  magnet and jumper, who would swap places with her alternate selves when asleep. One of them was paranoid and trying to kill her, but didn't   realize that they would both hide the soare key in the same place, and use the date of their dog's   birthday as a password. I had her discover the problem when she went to a sleep disorder clinic and teleported out and back on video, and when she (a sou chef) was catering an episode  of Ghost Chasers (all of the paranormal electronic equipment went  haywire around her).
She is not into medevial fantasy, and my kids are deep in5o videogames. (Spouse is a casual gamer, likes Mario and tetris style puzzles. The girls like Mario Kart, Undertale, and Smash Brothers.)

I'd prefer to date a gamer, but having dodged many bullets through my 20's and recently it seems one more, i'm still on the prowl. xD

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 98):

I did date a gamer for years... turned out the gaming was the only thing we had in common.


Over in A Meeting there was a bad reaction roll... as you might have guessed. Someone needs to turn up the charm...

In reply to Narrator (msg # 99):

Whee finally caught up! I  may be scarce for a few days.

I thought Carruthers had the day off...

gotta be fairly strong to even handle a small mace. i say, carruthers, good form old man!

Well I do declare! I believe you might be talking about little ol' me!

lol i'd forgotten you were even with us. xD

<GASP!> How could you possibly ever do THAT!
This message was last updated by the player at 02:31, Sat 24 Dec 2016.

long time, no post!

They do?

Is that a house rule? In the book Hidden Lore skills have no default.

In reply to Oren (msg # 108):

Half remembered 3e ruling about hidden lore undead.

But is this a ruling that is standing?

I ask as for 1 exp Jareth can raise all his Hidden Lore defaults and no longer actually requires a Perk giving him a default in those skills.

In reply to Astra Black (msg # 105):

I could never forget someone with such a cool name!

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 110):

No, you are right. There is no default. Had to review. So much stuff from the red and blue books still in my head.

same here.

Hence why I quit playing D&D when 2nd Edition came out.  AD&D was a clear improvement over the small books -- it was at least organized and indexed, after all -- but it was hard to see 2nd as anything other than "change a bunch of rules to sell the same books again in the new edition."

I felt much the same way about GURPS 4e, initially (and $100 for the three core books I needed immediately, Characters, Campaigns, and Magic!) -- but they really did fix a bunch of things that were broken in 3e, and pull all the rules from the Compendia into the core books again.

Then, to make up for it, they broke the language rules by making high fluency in a foreign language way too easy.  Someday I'll take the time to figure out rules for languages as skills with a default chart similar to the one in Hero System (i.e. Portuguese defaults to Spanish -2, Latin and Italian to Spanish -3, etc.).  I've got a campaign on ice that has a lot of very similar languages (think Small Kingdoms in Lawrence Watt-Evans' Ethshar books), and came up with a hack for the existing languages-as-advantages 4e system, so learning a closely related language is much easier than learning the most different one you can find, but I've never been very happy with it.

Three points to speak a foreign language with native fluency?  Give me a break!  I knew a guy when I was in high school and college who studied Spanish for, as I recall, four solid years (Spanish speaking, writing, or literature courses every single semester) -- and at the end, he had native comprehension and vocabulary, but still had a strong American accent (according to native speakers).  The time he spent would be about like taking a MH skill to IQ+2 -- so equivalent to 12 CP, or at least 2400 hours of training (he probably spent at least that, an hour a day in class plus homework time, five days a week).  With 4e language rules, the same number of points would give native fluency, both spoken (no accent!) and written, in *two* languages.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 114):

I really miss half points, and I havw the same issue with languages.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Wed 28 Dec 2016.

half points were nice. I made extensive use of them, pushing the envelope with many of my creations.

My issue with languages is that they are too expensive for most campaigns.  In most cases having a plethora of languages is pointless, but for those very rare moments when it becomes handy.

I've been toying with the idea of letting PCs take languages as AAs at 1/6 cost.

take one or maybe two additional languages, and take the gesture skill.

Two additional languages is 8-12 points.  That's a lot to sink into something that's almost never useful.

I tend to do it on specific characters*, but then those are the characters that need lots of languages to do their jobs "properly" in my opinion.


* For instance Jareth has 24 points in languages (including Language Talent), that's almost 1/5 of his point total.  If he were a "proper" DF template build he'd have no where near that many languages.

I, too, have several points in languages, though not twenty-four, by any means -- but I have both Aralaise and Shevnian as additional languages with accented speech and native written, plus Sahudese with accented speech and no reading; that's twelve points.  Learning those as skills would likely cost more, depending how much of Shevnian was incorporated in Aralaise.  But learning languages at high fluency should be costly -- it's a very long-term undertaking.  For this character, anything with high comprehension is adequate in speech, and reading (ought to be) adjusted by slowing down to increase comprehension (just as I, the player, with only a hundred words or so of spoken Spanish, can almost always make sense of written Spanish after some puzzling).

Yeah, I miss half points, too.  Unfortunately, because they've never been part of 4e, there's no provision to use them in GCS.  That would make using half points under a house rule a medium large pain in the ass...

pretty sure shevnian and aralaise are two completely different language groups. slavic, and a romance language respectively. I don't think there is any default with them. there might be a -3 between aralaise and valdassyan, however... that's just a guess though.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:42, Wed 28 Dec 2016.

Chye speaks/reads sahudese of course, but i have four points in aralaise accented in speech, and written. but i also have a point in gesture, for those situations where i can't understand the languages i encounter. 5 points in communication related stuff isn't too bad.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Wed 28 Dec 2016.

Just remember that Gesture is impacted by cultural familiarity.

right. Chye would be at -2 to convey gestures most likely to anyone else. though, it's safe to say he's familiar with aralaise culture. orcs, shevnians, etc, not so. a critical failure could result in him giving the equivalent of the "finger" or other vulgarities, which would be hilarious..
This message was last edited by the player at 13:59, Wed 28 Dec 2016.

same with performing and singing for any other audiences.

And IIRC gesture requires a successful roll from the person you're trying to communicate with. Or was that 3e?

that's right, in 3e. 4e, i'm not sure... i would assume it would be one of those things that would best be left as is was.

Should it?  I used to hue strictly simulationist, but the last decade I've turned more and more to gamist and narrativist.

If the skill will never come up, should being "fully fluent in over 3 million forms of communication" cost 9 million exp?*



* Or 30 exp if you're allowed to use rules from outside of DF.  I should have spent the extra 6 points and tried to get Omnilingual on Jareth.

[EDIT]
Full Native Omnilingual is 40 exp, as it requires Language Talent as well as Omnilingual.
[/EDIT]


I don't.  They were a terrible thing and I'm glad they're gone.

I wish skills started at default and were learned up from there... but that would require an overhaul of starting exp values and some assumptions about learning speed, basic learning levels, and default levels.




It's both.  It works that way in 4e as well, though it's not exactly spelled out.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:55, Wed 28 Dec 2016.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 128):

I think Dabbler covers a bit of what half pounts would do. Ten levels of dabbler is roughly jack of all trades (10/level)
I tried building myself mostly with dabbler ....

In reply to Narrator (msg # 129):

Crap does anyone still  see Stat yoursrlf? If so please bump it.

Pretty much... but then Jack of All Trades makes taking more than 9 Dabbler Perks a waste.


If I were building Jareth with 250 points I'd have taken Omnilingual, Language Talent, and 3 levels of JoAT, instead of doing it the "hard way" (but with far, far less points spent).

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 131):

If you spend 10 pounts in dabbler, it becomes jack of all trades.

Eh... I wouldn't exactly do that.  Jareth has few of those Dabbles at the +2 and +3 levels.

Though at some point in the future, I'd be happy to trade in all the ones at +1 (and downgrade the other types by +1) and "upgrade" to JoAT.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 130):

i've noticed it was gone for some time. i thought you had done away with it to make room for the newer threads, actually. i was kinda disappointed cos i found it interesting.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 134):

I have been trying to archive, but the threads have been getting  bumped off br rpol.net
I am glad to see that they can be found,

It was on page 2, near the top.

wasn't aware of multiple pages. cool.. now i have lots of shit to read through when i'm bored in the wee hours. xD

Yup, five pages of old threads.

I archived everything that wasn't currently being used when I joined... oh about a year ago.

I guess I should do that with the new "old" threads now.

Man, reading these old threads really brings Northport into a whole new light.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 139):

I have been trying  to archive them as well... but I   can't   see any other pades. Is it a thing in preferences ?

In reply to Narrator (msg # 140):

Fuuuuuck just messed my preferences   up (hopying to see 5 pahes of threads) and lost control of my "mark as read "tabs

I just do it the hard way.  Go to each page, open each thread and save via the "Print" Save as PDF function in Chrome.


Threads that exceed 900 something posts are not fun to save as they cannot be displayed in their entirety (as one long page - I have to save each page separately).

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 142):

I mean I can't see them at all once they leave the front page.

I cut and paste into a word doc and save it. I have many, but not all. Some of the troll trials were lost.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:31, Fri 30 Dec 2016.

Huh.  Pretty sure I have them all.

I'll make a list of everything I've got archived over the weekend and post it here.  If you want something I can pop it into DOSBox and you can grab it.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 144):

Excellent ! I didn't realize that the site saved it all... i was planning  a novelization  at some point.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 145):

Be back on tomorrow, doing family stuff. Happy New Year

happy new year!

Happy New Year all!

Happy New Year to all -- and may 2017 suck far less than 2016 has done!

I'll be starting the year well -- just bought a new pistol, and it'll be here the 3rd or so.  Range time next weekend...  :)

What did you acquire? I'm waiting on a GP 100 in .44 spl myself.

i'm in the market for a Feg model pn 9mm. hungarian military browning high-power clone. one of the best guns you can get for under $500 i think.

Hope every one has a great 2017!

In reply to Oly (msg # 150):

I got an EAA Witness (steel, Wonder Finish, 15+1 in 10 mm, no gewgaws).  Spent around $600 including shipping.  I plan to run .40 S&W in it, mostly, but first I have to see if I need .40 magazines, or if that ammo will work reliably in the 10 mm mags.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 153):

My vision is too poor and my preference for manually inflicted violence  too high for me to be into firearms, but by all means, keep the rest of us alive during the zpoc,
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:16, Sun 01 Jan 2017.

Nice to see we have a good collection of gun bunnies here.

I just got my Steyr AUG a few months ago. VERY happy with it.

Ditto.  I prefer melee as well. Fist/foot, hatchet, dagger, and polearm (though of them, I've only been trained in polearm and unarmed).

When the zeds rise I'll be packing my trusty boar spear and hatchets.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:17, Sun 01 Jan 2017.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 153):

I am told that shooting 40 S&W in a 10 mm is a bad idea for assorted reasons... be safe. Auto-Pistols headspace on the case mouth.

In reply to Oly (msg # 157):

Still contemplating  a zpoc game, but I should finish my book
 first- who else is writing the great American  zombie novel?

I'm still wrapping up my cyberpunk thriller series. Book 2 has taken a year to write.

i'd be down for a gurps cyberpunk campaign.

My current writing is a time travel tale, starting a round hundred years earlier than the one Wells wrote.

Oly, I'm well aware that semi-auto pistols headspace on the case mouth (I was reloading .32 ACP in 1979) -- but I've read a number of accounts of folks who shot many thousands of rounds of .40 in 10 mm chambers, even in competition, and consider it safer to do so than to shoot 10 mm in guns designed for it.  The only bad thing that can happen with .40 in a 10 mm chamber is if the extractor fails to hold the round, it can push into the chamber -- which will cause a stoppage and require pulling the slide to clear the gun, but won't/can't cause a more serious failure.  If the round isn't in correct position, there'll just be no primer strike.  I wouldn't load .40 for self defense -- but for plinking and general practice, there's a lot to be said for the cheaper, more available ammunition.  And, of course, the reloading dies are the same for both, just as with .38/.357.

With the factory springs sometimes considered under strength in the Witness, .40 will surely be easier on the gun, if it will cycle and feed reliably (I may have to get .40 magazines for the latter goal).  Otherwise, I'll have to buy a heavier recoil spring for 10 mm, and a lighter one for .40, and upgrade the guide rod (the latter on the list anyway) to prevent slide battering and wedging that have been known to crack frames.  Over time, I may also get an upgraded rear sight and softer springs for hammer and trigger bar plunger, to adjust SA trigger pull.  I don't much care about DA pull, since I don't see shooting DA from a Witness unless I need to restrike a misfire.

OK ... Best of Luck. I prefer revolvers myself.

for personal defense, i agree.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 163):

Hey Astra- get in on that meeting, will ya?

I am I am. Had an extra long weekend and made the best of it.

In reply to Astra Black (msg # 165):

No problem  we just need a reaction roll boost, and without a perk like Diplomatic  Look, I   need a speech

Speech delivered!

I didn't get the feeling that Beordir got injured even though he failed to dodge.

In reply to Beodir Nalas-Radin (msg # 168):

The DR of his boot took the bite, so no actual damage, just fatigue loss from its unearthly cold

When Stubbornness and Overconfidence meet, the outcome is never certain...

In reply to Chou-Zhen Mou (msg # 170):

Heading to the movies with my wife, may be sparse for a day or two.

That's a long movie.

In reply to Oren (msg # 172):

We went to the 1:25 showing of Hidden  Figures, visited a museum, a few stores and a B&N, got home at 630. Long movie, yes but a good one. May finally catch up tomorrow.

I'm having trouble tracking rounds. I think I've attacked and am waiting for others to post their attacks.

In reply to Beodir Nalas-Radin (msg # 174):

Harlan and Masugatan to go, and Reanna when she is ready, presumably from the flank, as she has evaluated their facing and lack of breathing.


I may not end up responding to posts today, but I   will catch up by midmorning
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Tue 10 Jan 2017.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 175):

Back up tomorrow

With GURPS magic, can I dismiss a spell?

To be more specific, I'm currently using Seeker to find an item.  Does the spell turn off once I have the item or does it continue to be on until the duration ends?

Seeker is an Information spell, so it works like this:



So you cast it, you get a vision of where the thing is, and that's it. You know where it was at the moment the spell was cast.

Seeker also says that, if the item is within a mile, the spell leads me to the item.

With that being the case here, does the spell stay on until I find the item?


" A success gives the caster a vision of the item’s whereabouts – or leads him to it, if it is within a mile."

Nah, I think it just gives you a mental idea of how to get there. There's no ongoing concentration or maintenance involved. You are just imbued with knowledge, rather than a persistent magical effect.

The main reason I had thought the intent might be for a continual effect (and thus how I've described the spell in character) is due to the item description after the spell.  It sounds as though you can use the spell to craft a magic divining rod.

For 500 energy you'd better hope the item is more useful than the spell. :)

But otherwise, nothing in the spell's description specifies it acts any different than any other Information spell. You cast it, you know something. In this case, the route to whatever it is you're looking for.

There's no concentration, it doesn't count as a spell "on" for purposes of skill penalties, cannot be dispelled (because it's not an active spell or effect) and you pay no maintenance.

The only downside is that it doesn't auto-update. Considering you can only cast it once a week, something that would indefinitely last while auto-updating would be way, way more powerful.

Compare this with the Trace spell:



This does what you've been assuming Seeker does, only it spells it out explicitly, gives the spell a duration, and a cost for upkeep.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:01, Sat 14 Jan 2017.

I see.

I had been operating under the assumption that the "within a mile" deal worked something like marking a way point on a video game mini map.

We've recently been using Seeker (from a wand) in the Ninjas' Lair thread and preceding Return to the Palace.  The GM was running it as initially providing a continuous "this direction" pointer -- not GPS type turn by turn directions, but like a Doc Smith "object compass" that doesn't require being able to see or touch the subject to set it (hence the sufficiently unique description requirement).

He also had it updating when the subject was moved, so we wound up where it had been moved to, rather than where it had been when the spell was cast.  Not sure if that was connected with the requirement to spend additional fatigue partway along, or whether that occurred when we got close enough to switch to "turn by turn", but perhaps the GM can elaborate?

You had the perfect "big damn hero" line and you go with Stagger Lee and not The Man They Call Jayne?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQ5m4btECM

I like Nick Cave more than Firefly.

I always knew there was something wrong about you...

/flips up the collar on his brown coat and hunkers down at the bar.

Controversial opinion: Firefly was just okay, but sci-fi fans have low standards because most genre television is really bad.

I disagree strongly with 1, have no comment on 2*, and agree strongly with 3.


* Because I can only speak for myself.  There are some absolutely terrible shows I enjoy, because they are terrible, but terrible in "all the right ways" (for example Z Nation, Ash vs The Evil Dead).

Firefly was good.  Not True Detective or Terriers good, but close to the Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe good.

I'd like to see a Space: Above and Beyond reboot.

In reply to Malga'Mar (msg # 190):

We could go with the seeker wand updating as fatigue was spent. Malga'Mar  could not visualize his item because it was in a dark place.

Yes, Firefly was good

In reply to Narrator (msg # 191):

Something like that...

In reply to Toxic cloud (msg # 192):

As the dead guy agitating, My story really started with a critical success on a Zombie spell. Nowadays, they can do a Raise dead, limited.

I don't find that one in Magic (Resurrect isn't limited, and at 300 fp, not cast often) -- is it in one of the other books?

gurps undead, has the willful skeleton template. i'd imagine that's what such a zombie would become, eventually?

Is that 3rd edition, or 4th?

it's 3rd.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 197):

It is in a recent pyramid issue. The template was originally built out of Undead, using the free willed corporeal dead (palor, no body heat, disturbing voice, doesn't  eat or sleep, no blood, unhealing, unliving, social stigma: dead, dead broke, affected by pentagram, true faith, turn zombie) template. The partially resurrected temate is a little different...

sounds interesting... do the the partially resurrected decay? sounds like it might be Chakan-esqe.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:04, Fri 20 Jan 2017.

Sounds like Weekend at Bernies. Play some music, make him dance.

Pulled from the Defiled Sanctuary, so's to keep rules discussions in OOC land.


Sure.  And this is one area where Magic 4e sucks:  I'm not sure if Lend Energy is effected by her SM or not.

Personally as Lend Energy does not benefit from high skill and it is a direct 1:1 exchange and FP is not a function of size, I'm inclined to rule in my home games that it's an exception to the SM increased cost rule for Regular Spells.  However...

A strict reading of the rules would suggest it is not actually one of the "special cost schemes" (such as Air Vision or Share Energy).... however again, I suspect the SM cost increased is more aimed at buffs, curses, and heals.  The later of which are generally boosted by higher SM (larger creatures tend to have more HP and hit the break points that increase healing spell's efficiency*) and this spell is one the few Healing Regular (non-special cost scheme) spells that don't make any sense to be based on size (the other one would be Resurrection in my opinion - because it's already insanely expensive).




* Which I built Jednesa to both be 'crippled by' (healing costs x3 for her) and benefit from (it also heals x3 on her - Great Healing is literally a waste to cast on her and would probably kill the Cleric trying to cast it, but a full pumped Major Heal (costing 12 FP) would heal her 24 HP).  Potions and Healing Stone cost the same for her buy, but also grant x3 healing... someday she'll money to buy them with (they also don't suffer from her Magic Resistance).

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 201):

Yes, but as we covered before, this just means that the healer can only work in 3 point increments. It cost Christine (who is technically a mage and not a healer) 3 points to pass 3 points of fatigue back to Jednessa.

The fact that these are actually mage spells, prerequisites to Recover Energy, would suggest that they do not fit under the regular healing spells, especially in this world where mages cannot learn most healing spells, as they are clerics domains...

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 202):

Owen laying on the flattery thick enough in the Lichs Tomb? Lol...

Not a distinction that actually matters.



If it is ruled that Lend Energy is subject to the SM Increased FP Cost rule, then it would cost 3 FP to give Jednesa 1 FP... since she has less than 20 FP at max (and note that it doesn't actually say anywhere that FP benefits from that rule, just HP.  Even though many GMs allow FP the same benefit).

If it is ruled that Lend Energy falls under the "special exceptions" clause, then it's just 1:1.

If it does cost 3 to 'heal' her 1, then for every 6 minutes of rest for the casters, she'll get 1 FP/caster - if the Lenders have Recover Energy at 20 (which is not a given).  If they have it at 15, then it's 1 FP/caster/15 minutes... which would still about double or triple recovery rate.

Also each of those castings is at -3 due to MR... which if at skill 15, means it's not a given success.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_shield < can totally see these being used in northport, esp underground.

I'm sure there's someone around who'll complain that there isn't a parrying lantern in the shops...  ..but generally, that's on the late side of our tech level.  Yes, we have rapiers and bucklers, so not completely out of reach, but not really that practical, IMO -- paying someone to cast Continual Light (if your party doesn't have a caster who can do it) as needed doesn't add bulk, weight, fragility, and a small tank of flammable oil to your shield.

In reply to Ardenas Barehand (msg # 206):

Although shields with a small hole and reflector for an object, say a ball or a pin, with continual light on it might be more realistic in our setting...

In reply to Kirpich Rockson (msg # 207):

Lantern shields are a feature in Blood& Treasure 2e... you would need an artificer to make one

"No risk, no reward brah!"  Stéphanos Éfflektos, Adventuring Swashbuckler




Unless the Narrator is ruling the spell has to be cast on the whole of the onject, one could just cast Cont Light on the shield's boss.


However your idea cold be set into a boss and then when in a Low/No Mana Zone an alchemical glow vial could be put in it.

The people of the pit use bacta tanks?  O.o

Pickle jars.

is Clair Leibert a dependent, or just played that way?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:42, Sun 22 Jan 2017.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 212):

Dependent/ally, as ayed by the PC

Is Beodir wounded or just chilled?

In reply to Reanna Draegan (msg # 214):

Extremely fatigued by the chill.



Also, Sakemoko's people will be out of action for the next 8 hours, until dawn or thereabouts

Did we determine if the cost of Lend Energy is impacted by the SM of the subject like other Healing spells?

In reply to Dareos Madrigar (msg # 216):

For right now I am ruling that it isn't

In reply to Narrator (msg # 217):

Sorry Chye, those were some horrific reaction rolls.

when i read his reaction, i saw! good grief...

lol. where they so bad, you had to roll thrice? xD

All this is purely from my perspective, but....


Diplomacy is a Quick-Contest when used as an Influence roll... so that was likely Ganosh's 6 roll.  Then even if you fail* (which you probably did, which is a "Bad" Reaction result), Diplomacy gets a 'back-up' Reaction Roll check and you get the better of those two rolls.  In this case a 10, which is a "Neutral" result.  So... all Chye managed to do is take up some time.



* If the Narrator took your Bard as a Complimentary skill, you got a MoS (Margin of Success) of 6.  We don't know Ganosh's Willpower, but as there are a lot of factors weighing here, it's safe to assume he's getting a hefty bonus (at least +4:  Your request puts him in a bad spot +2, This situation is none of the PC's business +3, this is a very Un-"Orcy" way to do things +2, but there is money on the table in his people's (and Ganosh's) favor -X).


[EDIT]
Wait....  I just noticed the first two rolls were Reaction Rolls and the last roll was not.

I have no idea what happened.
[/EDIT]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:25, Tue 24 Jan 2017.

Man.... Hawaiian uses a lot of words to communicate only a few ideas.

I thought you might appreciate that.

low-rent castle... xD good one!

I actually tried learning Hawaiian once.  Way too many subtle vowel sounds for my tin ear, I couldn't differentiate them.

I would just like to note.... Hramina is technically incorrect:

Only the qwik can touch the ball*.  Who gets to touch the prize would be one of those things worked out between the players and coach of the team.



* Also, this is a dogskull in most leagues, not a ball.  Also the hook can certainly touch the ball with his stick** all he wants/is able to.

** Double entendre intended.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 226):

As the dog skull is the trophy, it is the prize. When fresh, the game is played for the dog meat. The hook cannot lay hands upon it.

In the movie they played for coins as well*.... I missed that the skulls were taken as trophys and were the point specifically.



* Which I took as the "prize".  But that may have been betting.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 228):

They played for glory, and the trophies  were the prizes. Side bets were what kept them fed, and the manager, with his crudenza full of trophies, handled the bets. I posted about this a year and a half ago, when I started this thread, here
http://gwythaintny.wordpress.c...he-blood-of-henchmen
And also
https://gwythaintny.wordpress....anhood-in-northport/
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Wed 25 Jan 2017.

Beodir, if you eat some food, it'll speed fatigue recovery even more. get ye a tavern special.

sorry if i swiped a turn. i just drank a pot of tea and i'm bouncing off the walls, and i'm waitin' to see a man about a horse. xD

It's okay. In fact, I posted two turns, because it takes one turn to move, and one turn to attack, unless you take big penalties on your attack.

It's probably safest to wait until after the monsters have acted before acting again. This ensures that all the other PCs have a chance to go, too, and the GM gets to pace combat.

Hello all, new to the game... and relatively new to Gurps (but not to RPGs... gaming since 1983). Thrilled by the longevity and depth of this game and hoping to do y'all justice.

*high five*

*Gong* Osssssssu!!!!

Greetings!

Many of us are in multiple quest threads with 2 or more characters each.

I run Jareth (obviously), Jednesa, and Ulo.

It's one of my countryman! xD
What thread you starting in?

I don't know. Is there one that needs someone new more badly than another?

Start in the guild until someone gives you a job to do or you find an adventure hook.

I think we're grouped by point value. how many points were you built on?

I don't think that we are. Oly's been around for a long long time, and the rest of us, not so much.

mixed groups, huh? interesting...

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 242):

Or rather, grouped by starting point value. Christine has been around a while as well.

Yeah, and even so, three-four adventures at best puts someone 20ish points ahead of a newb, which is not an issue.

It's if the Juniors and the old timers got into a mixed party that it gets difficult.

There are Old Adventurers and Bold adventurers... Oly has enough strikes against him to not want to ride bold too hard.

Hilerno, I am going to put you right in the mix; you were drinking at a dockside dive called the Rusty Marlinspike when thenearly empty bar was suddenly swarmed with a crowd of orcs and goblins celebrating something. A grizzled looking human in brigandine was buying a few rounds, for the crowd, but sent out two men to fight something for him, giving a spare sword to an overly handsome fey musician to fight whatever it is. Go to the thread "A meeting".
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Fri 27 Jan 2017.

I've got a bad feeling about these undead.

So I'm guessing no one in Trading With Trolls has any sense of History?


Hint, these weren't pickles...  or if they were they are really, really, really old pickles.

In reply to Ulo (msg # 248):

On the previous venture with the trolls, they travelled with a sage specialized in a particular bit of history.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 249):

Lets hold on people of the pit. Northport is as the local history  thread says, about three thousand years old.
Originally  built by goblins, the place was romanized two
thousand years ago, and ever since the Shevnian civil war over 50 years ago, has been heavily populated  with orcs.
The plague ten years later wiped out a third of the global  surface population. Northport was not known to have a sizeable trollish population  until a few months ago, but the colony under the Winecellars (Ulo's  people  might have been
Known pre plague, but that information is lost. The trolls know they have been here for about four centuries.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:04, Sun 05 Feb 2017.

Right.  My OOC guess is that these pit people (and their city?) were either snatched up along with the trolls centuries ago, or some lost part of history (a long time ago) Northport was a troll village but all that has been lost to history.

ICly, obviously Ulo skipped class the day that really, really ancient history was being taught.  ;)

i pack more of a wallop than i'd posted for my damage. i got the proper values down now though, for the future...

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 247):
yeah, if this goes beyond just a local source, and turns into a city-wide outbreak, that'd be bad for Northport!

But good for the guild. Lots of work cleaning up.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 253):

Prior to the incident 400 years ago, trolls were practically unheard of near Northport. According to Fenric and co, the people of the pit were there when their people arrived.

In reply to Oren (msg # 254):
yeah, they have their work cut out for them. xD

Rigth, so either trolls were here a really long time ago... or the human (and the others) were snatched from alternate realities.  Or the human is from the future.

In reply to Ulo (msg # 257):

Or the player never read the Local History thread. Trolls lived in trellheim for thousands of years until Federjung cast them out of their mountain home, causing a global cataclysm. They were scattered then, to the ends of the earth.

The human being referenced is an NPC...  ;)

[EDIT]
Wait...  is Gareth a new PC?
[/EDIT]
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Sun 29 Jan 2017.

Pretty sure Narrator would know if Gareth were an NPC...

Which is why I'm asking.  I thought all three of the tank peeps were NPCs.  Two are clearly labeled as such, but such labels don't have a lot of meaning I've discovered.

he's interesting, but i kinda have a feeling he's an npc.

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 262):

A request was made to add a pc mid delve, and I countered with conditions. We are just trying to get a sense of history, as the player was not party to the informative  trips to visit the sage with other pcs.

i know chye's a foreigner... but lately he's been having double vision. xD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxKCPjcvbys

In reply to Chye Isuel (msg # 264):

This guy is the lower point version... and spillover  from another thread ;)

oh, yeah! i know exactly who this guy is. that's the beauty of it all!

Ugh.  I really want Telepathy so I can explain to Mel whats going on.  Ugh.

Heh.  Someone let the puppy out?

Basically (at least that's my theory).  Or it's learned how to unlock gates and is trying to lull Mel into letting her guard down.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 269):

Someone might have been lazy  locking  a gate.

I blame the cultist.

In reply to Jareth Mooncalled (msg # 271):

I see I need to distribute more magical items..

Astra, your rapier to shortsword default is, I believe, -2.
Hilerno, your default is about skill-4, and bound to be more effective.

This will be the last time npc's  will be doing the jib of pc's.

You're running into one problem:  This isn't a dungeon where if the PCs fail the greatest ramification on the world is that the PCs fail.  This is occurring in your main city, so if the PCs fail there are tons of NPCs about who should pick up the slack to keep the greater ramifications from taking part... so of course the PCs are going to reach out for help before they get to the part of "the PCs fail".

And the PCs need the tools to solve some of these issues... Oly did what he could. Fighting a demon cloud is beyond his ability. The Magic users didn't seem much inclined... Is Astra still a PC or has he become an NPC?

I think Quint's Hadō ken and Rigo's sword, and the magical arrow are those tools, just in the hands of a few, for this fight. Those of us who can't affect incorporeal can't really do too much.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:28, Mon 06 Feb 2017.

My attack is just cr damage. It's not spirit energy like a hadouken (though it is down right fierce.)

yeah, i know. it's just TK energy, but it seems like it would disrupt it's form better than say, a punch or kick would... maybe not.

IC we don't know that it's immune to kicks or anything else, but if it gets close enough to attack I will.

In reply to Quint (msg # 278):

I am not sure  what is up with Astea's player.

Also, Hilerno has an item useful against fey and spellcasting, just not against this.

well, even wood weapons will hurt a skull spirit one point. large, metal weapons like swords,axes, and pole arms do 2 points. the thing has 20 HT and so that's pretty slow going, meanwhile, compared what it can do to you, with armor being of no avail. this thing is much more formidable, methinks...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:08, Mon 06 Feb 2017.

well, even wood weapons will hurt a skull spirit one point. large, metal weapons like swords,axes, and pole arms do 2 points. the thing has 20 HT and so that's pretty slow going, meanwhile, compared what i can do to you, with armor being of no avail. this thing is much more formidable, methinks...

brilliant solution, quint.

Chye, this "smoke" demon could just be the Ninja Lair's Toxifier... and after it's affects on Hilerno, that's what it looks like to me.

Well, yeah.

In reply to Quint (msg # 283):

Well, there you go. You let it out of the bottle (literally more of a spellstone) and what you walk away from will affect others.

See? Someone else will handle it.

Yes, I see... and it is not pretty.

If it makes you feel better, there was little we could do about it.

nope. if we had more chutzpah, we could've easily destroyed it, though.

Chou was out of FP. I was out of legs. Airis could not handle it by herself.

But it might just give Ales a new disadvantage....

And without actual magical weapons, even I could not have finished it.  Yes, my air spells were affecting it -- but they would not destroy it.  I have no spells to banish such a thing, nor anything that will render a weapon temporarily magical.  Fireballs might or might not have finished the job -- but from what I understand, likely not, and at the level of exhaustion I had, there was a hazard with every casting, even of small missiles that cost no fatigue, of simply falling over from accumulated fatigue.

Perhaps the lightning whip you so despise, Jin -- but standing toe to smoke with such a thing, with the wounds I already bore, would have been suicidal.

And to gain what? Nothing. Our mission had nothing to do with demons. A foe avoided is a foe defeated, and there is all of Northport to handle the matter.

We made the right choice.

what? guilt complex -5? xD

Pity gaining new disadvantages in play does not confer character points.

In reply to Jin (msg # 294):

No, Ales now has Cowardice!!!

In reply to Christine Bjorn (msg # 295):

Pity no one found magic weapibs in the room before the toxifier was released... oh wait, they did... and stuffed them in a sack.

Mercenaries gonna mercenary.

Question: Do you make players buy higher levels of Wealth as they accumulate goods?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:00, Tue 07 Feb 2017.

In reply to Jin (msg # 297):

Weakth in DF represents something like credit rating in CoC and affects what the resale value of goods are, not access to them.

Which means that if we spend CP on Wealth, we get more for our loot (more or less), as I've read it -- right?

:D* just bein' meself

that's guild rank, right? even if you're merchant in your own rite, you can't get more than 40%?

Well, First I was at work when you all decided to post 20+ posts before I even got off work.

And Monday was a bit of a recovery day for me from Sunday. Ouch.
This message was last updated by the player at 22:40, Tue 07 Feb 2017.

In reply to Astra Black (msg # 302):

Glad you are back. Life happens.

Merchant gives you up to 5% more, 10% on a crit. You get more for wealth (and half wealth, see the houserules thread), up to 90% for quite wealthy. Struggling  and poverty get you less...

Who me?  Or Iskander? Stuffing things in sacks...that is.

In reply to Ales Konstantin (msg # 304):

Glad you are back, likewise Astra.


As to those stuffing things in sacks, while others know virtue is its own  reward, they know the same is true of vice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:23, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

And still others were much too busy maintaining and casting spells and trying to keep up with a leader to bother looting.

And some of us believe that handling the dead renders one spiritually unclean. It is a practice fit only for eta, the lowest of the low caste. Tools to be discarded when their usefulness ends.

Only an unfit craftsmen discards or mistreats his tools.

Only the Sith deal in absolutes.

Only a hoarder keeps what no longer serves its purposes. My hammer breaks, I buy a new one, I'm not going to keep that broken thing around.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:12, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

A lack of impractical sentimentality does not make a craftsman less skilled, and it bothers me that you'd imply otherwise. I mean, maybe you have drawers full of empty bic pens, but I throw those useless tubes of plastic away.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:15, Thu 09 Feb 2017.

some people have their own agendas.

I would imagine that everybody does.

Ossssssssssssssssu!

My what a wonderfully absolutist statement!


And another marvelously absolute statement!  You are good at this!


There is a vast difference between "broken" and "useless".  One implies a state of never again being useful and the other the momentary state of not being useful right now (which is what I was chastising).

But even discarding that, a broken tool still has uses to one with sufficient imagination.



/Shrug


If so it is because I have imagined a use for them.  Like support columns in a piece of terrain, or chopped shorter and stacked to be 'pipes', or added as tubes or smokestacks from the top of a building... all uses I've actually put empty pen barrels to (not Bic however, a cheaper company that doesn't engrave the company name on the barrel).

Your contrarianism for the sake of contrarianism is uninteresting. If you're bored, I'd suggest taking up a useful skill like macrame or cup-stacking.

As for myself, I have my own hobbies.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:06, Fri 10 Feb 2017.

man, i tell tell you you what, i saw a kid use a pen for a crack pipe. he had that dang ole pen right up thar, smokin' right outta thar, like that. mmhmmm.

In reply to Iskander (msg # 316):

Let us all refrain from chastising eachother over what we keep in our drawers and hope to do with same.

Sakemoko  needs eta because some dead need handling. He of course does not denigrate sons and daughters  of  Sahud for these tasks, that is what Gaijin are for. Jin does not need to eat with them, only to allow them to perform foul deeds that are beneath him, when ordered to do so by the Omo.

Even eta and gaijin have roles to play in the celestial order.

Hah!

I took your sentence about eta as an in character thing and as classist, so responded semi-ICly.

It's all IC.

In the OOC thread?  Why how contrarian!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Fri 10 Feb 2017.

No. Not here.

In reply to Gorgath (msg # 322):

Seriously, we like Jin. His mouth may get him into trouble at some point, but I   need to  think about what sort of creature would a) be offended by his sense of honor, and b) actually provide a threat...

Gorgath, do you have any ideas?

oh, i do!

"Your opinion and its irrelevance are both noted, Gorgie," Jin said.



He's really only effective against physical opponents. The toxic cloud demon, ghosts, anything that targets will... he's fairly ineffective.
[Private to GM:
And, of course, most of his "code of honor" is just a matter of convenience... he talks like a samurai, but in truth his code isn't Bushido, it's Code of Honor (Yakuza):

1. Don't use or sell drugs.
2. Don't steal.
3. Don't perform shameful/indecent acts.
4. Don't talk to the cops unless necessary/don't squeal
5. Obey your superiors.

Everything else - extortion, blackmail, lying, cheating... is fine.]

i'll tell my dad or my grandpa on you. ( a half-dragon, and a golden dragon, respectively.) xD
This message was last edited by the player at 07:14, Fri 10 Feb 2017.

No. Jin is your father.

Really nasty poisons, psionics, subtlety, ladders.

Friendship, therapy, people being wrong.

That last one, yeah, Jin is terrible at stopping people from being wrong.

I try and I try but they just won't stop.

In reply to Jin (msg # 327):
NoOoOoOoOo! that's not true, that's impossible!!! xD