Confused about something but don't want to bring it up IC? Want to preserve the OOC chatter thread for banter and vacation announcements and discussing next steps for the characters? Here's the place.

Feel free to ask anything! Like "what do the spaceships use for fuel" (if that's relevant to you somehow). Or "What's the population of a typical space station look like?". Or even "Hey I forget, what's the IDA? Do we work for them? What's their relationship to SAGE and ACE and the others?" Or "How does dodging work?"

If the question is something your characters wouldn't know, I'll tell you, but for the most part this is a safe place to ask contextual and world-building questions if you ever find yourself curious or lost.

Don't be bashful about asking! There are no stupid questions :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:38, Wed 01 June 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 1):

Only stupid people who ask dumb questions.

Can you go over the connection between IDA and SAGE/AIM for me?

Is there any general public knowledge on the alliance of sol our characters would know other than "they're terrorists"?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 2):

I said, there are no dumb questions!

Here ya go:

SAGE (Society of Aeronautic and Galactic Explorers)
• Founded in the wake of a planetwide population and resource crisis on Earth
• Mission: To explore and observe the solar system to ID colonization opportunities
• Helped develop the tech used to develop near-Earth settlements and colonies
• After Braeburn implemented the Archive, SAGE become more focused on experimental R&D
• SAGE is now headquartered on Venus, in a base suspended in its upper atmosphere
• SAGE's other static base is located on Ceres
• SAGE has a standing fleet of science vessels and paramilitary protectors
• SAGE does not like Braeburn, because the Archive made it too easy for their tech to get stolen/appropriated by other factions and governments
• SAGE is often at odds with ACE because they won't share their tech with profit-based organizations
• SAGE is often at odds with Braeburn because they won't upload their tech into the Archive
• SAGE is often at odds with the IDA because they won't share their military specs

IDA (Interplanetary Defense Agency)
• The UN's spacefaring peacekeeping force
• Mostly deals with antipiracy issues
• Keeps squabbles between ACE, SAGE, Braeburn, and others under control
• As a government agency, it has no specific ties of its own and its relationships are governed almost exclusively by the UN and its assorted defense/security contracts

Other major players in the solar system:

ACE (Ares Consolidated Enterprises)
• Headquartered on Deimos, this corporation controls 95% of mining and industry on Mars
• ACE is one of the wealthiest corporations in human-controlled space
• They are profit-driven above all else, using their superior resources to gain an edge over the competition

Braeburn
• Monolithic combination of Apple, Google, and Amazon
• Corporation is part telecom company, part online marketplace, and part software/hardware developer
• Developed and deployed The Archive, an algorithm that sifts through all of the scientific knowledge posted online to crowdsource new technologies and discoveries
• Provides global, free Wi-Fi to the entire inner solar system
• Performs contract work with various governments as military peacekeepers, scientific explorers, and similar roles through the use of sophisticated drones

Alliance of Sol
• Terrorist organization
• Believes the powers on Earth should hold no sway beyond its own atmosphere
• Believes humans should not be colonizing other planets, and that they are tarnishing the rich natural beauty that the Creator endowed the universe with by doing so
• Aggressively disrupts terraforming efforts designed to make other planets more Earth-like
• Participates in active piracy against pretty much anyone they encounter
• Most of the rank-and-file aren't true zealots to the cause; the organization is a magnet for all sorts of lawless types who aren't welcome elsewhere
• Known bases: None. (Though the PARTY now knows of one...)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:38, Wed 01 June 2016.

Before we took off I said I loaded two milspec crates into the transport and cracked the third looking for high ordinance, did I find any?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 5):

Crates 1 and 2 had guns and robot parts in them. Crate 3 contains random circuitry and a wireframe structure that looks like a riot shield without any sort of material between the frames where the "shield" ought to go. It looks more like a prop or child's toy than an armament.

It does have a nifty button on it, though.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:39, Thu 02 June 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 6):

Push it!

In reply to Batallion (msg # 7):

Ok so we have some conflicting orders is our tour guide taking us to Mr. Mind control, where the Battlesuit is, or to the spankworx?

Also the current disposition is Billy and I are in the control room, Battalion is on the way and Xander is down the hall in the shower?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 8):

I made up the spankworx, so if our tour guide is taking us there i'm a bit intrigued.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 9):

you made up the whoring level.  The guy mentioned the spankworx before calling me your daughter.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 10):

oh he did.  i'm still intrigued.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 11):

as am I...

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 12):

It is so hard to imagine that a remote station would have appropriate accommodations to handle its staff's inevitable urges?

Or hey, maybe he's just screwing with you.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 13):

So that is where hes taking the guys?  And the disposition of the party?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:13, Mon 20 June 2016.

We haven't ever explicitly defined Abraxas' size in game terms, but it's large. Much closer to a gundam than Iron Man.

I'll have to find a different way to the top floor, provided there's a large enough space. Alternatively, I could always just float outside the dude's office and threaten to vent his compartment to the vacuum with some strategically placed AP rounds.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:03, Mon 20 June 2016.

In reply to Xander (msg # 15):

I figured when you took Viceroy in that we were definitely looking at something big.  Though Gundam is like office building size isn't it?  I though of it as being very small house as opposed to office building sized.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:32, Mon 20 June 2016.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 16):

In D&D terms, I've always viewed the mech as "Huge" (between 16 and 32 feet tall, weighing between 2 and 16 tons, takes up 3x3 spaces on a grid). Think of a Starcraft Goliath next to a Marine. If that's not how you envisioned it, we can certainly discuss it!
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:43, Mon 20 June 2016.

Yeah, that's about right. Probably closer to the 32 foot side of things.

Gundams, in contrast, are about 60ish feet, depending. While that was originally the concept I had in mind for the mech, for purposes of practicality in a campaign where the rest of the party is human-sized, a mech that large wouldn't make sense.

In reply to Xander (msg # 18):

good to know.  I thought Abraxis was much smaller than that.

For the record some day I will ride on his shoulder.

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 19):

How does stealth work when you are dealing with a mindless unit?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 20):

What do you mean by "stealth"?

If you want to move silently or hide or something, they'd make their perception checks just like anyone else.

If you are trying to use illusions to create a stealthy environment, they will simply ignore such modifications.

Your phasing isn't an illusion though, it actually happens, so they remain affected.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 21):

I have a talent:



So this would just function as normal?

Also could you describe how opposed checks work?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 22):

Ah yes. It's opposed by color, not number. So if you roll a yellow-intensity stealth check anyone trying to find you will need to make an equally good spot check (which is intuition-based, I believe).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 23):

Right and since the J-9 units have no intuition then I autosucceed on a green?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 24):

I assume they'd use some sort of... sensor package statistic?

In reply to Batallion (msg # 25):

NO! AUTOSUCCEED!

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 26):

Mindless things often have programs, sensors, or supernatural abilities that get them an effective related ability score for such things. They are not, in fact, blind. In the case of robots, cameras, and such, they're actually better than a human would be at such things most of the time.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 27):

so the tl;dr version is it might work but likely won't?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 28):

Correct.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 29):

How do the KO stun rules work with the house rules on stun of max 2 turns?

In reply to Rebecca Taylor (msg # 30):

These death rules are a bear.

Death rules are the only exception to the 2-round stun limit. If you're knocked out for longer than that, I'm willing to allow an ally to stablize you to bring you down to 2 rounds from wherever you were at.

And they aren't THAT complex. It's basically "Roll Endurance and spend enough karma to make it yellow unless you like suffering permanent ability loss that costs more to re-buy than it would to prevent. Fall down for 1-10 turns, reduced to a max of 2 if someone helps you."

There are caveats and complexities if you wish to read the whole blurb, but those two sentences are all you really need.

The real bear is the healing rules. You heal Endurance every hour while resting. Which is great in every situation that isn't combat.

So the Controller and Rebecca will both wake up with 1HP, and in an hour they will heal their Endurance rank. And until then, they'll be very easy to batter back into the land of the unconscious.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Wed 22 June 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 32):

The bears can heal now?

Crud!

In reply to Batallion (msg # 33):

Did I gain any information from the alliance protocols fromt he J9 unit as to salutations, or introductory protocols?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 34):

Sure. You can watch recordings of how The Controller acted and follow a similar script, as desired.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 35):

I would follow anything that doesn't strike me as contrived controller bullshit.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 36):

How much is Kopf offering us vs. the authorities directly?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 37):

As government agents you can't legally collect bounties.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 38):

Aren't I an independant contractor?  for R&D?  that aside, can't we at least view record of the bounties?  what percent is he offering?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 39):

Billy, technically you COULD collect bounties legally if you had a license to do so. The others are IDA agents and cannot, while acting in that capacity, collect bounties due to conflicts of interest.

In terms of looking up bounties, they are public domain. You can easily compare whatever the actual bounties are against what Kopf is offering to pay you. He is offering far less than the Controller is worth, but it IS bonus money you'd have a hard time getting any piece of otherwise.

Of course, anyone rooting through the bounty files may notice a couple familiar faces among the rabble...

was kompf referring exclusively to xander/other command staff or are there bounties on the station staff who were there before we showed up?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 41):

There is a modest bounty on all AoS employees. Nobody there is worth extra far as you can tell except for Lloyd and Xander.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 42):

How far away are we from the imminent IDA invasion?  I may put the kiddies on the asteroid back to bed tonight if we are getting close.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:05, Thu 21 July 2016.

Are we actually expecting an AoS contingent bigger than kompf before the ida arrive?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 44):

You're not expecting a formal AoS contingent at any point. Gestalt essentially said that you should expect periodic visits from AoS folks from here on out, now that Lloyd the jackhole was no longer in command of the facility. It would take 3 weeks for the first to start showing up.

Kopf's team arrived about 3 weeks in, as predicted, but there's no telling when/if the next group will arrive and/or what sort of group it will be beyond having some affiliation with the AoS.

The IDA should arrive at the 4 week mark, so you have about 1 week of downtime between Kopf's departure and the IDA's arrival, unless more AoS show up between now and then.

Does that help?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 45):

yes.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 46):

immensely.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 47):

What doe the IDA manual say about these sorts of situations?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 48):

The IDA manual would say that most scenarios should be solved according to the following (very rough) prioritization:

1) Preserve life
2) Preserve property
3) Preserve the mission*

* Commanding officers may decide that completing the mission overrides #1 or #2 if in doing so more lives or property would ultimately be saved.

Thus a rescue mission to save a stranded ship would likely take precedence over a mission that is not concerned with saving lives in and of itself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:30, Wed 10 Aug 2016.

is the specific chunk of debris that's giving off the signal small enough to fit in the ship, or are the logistics of rescuing someone who may or may not have a space suit in a vacuum going to come into play shortly?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 50):

The latter :D

Hypothetically, of course.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:52, Tue 16 Aug 2016.

does the ship have some kind of docking port that we could seal against a flat side of this box?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 52):

The transport has a hatch, but it's designed to lock into another hatch from a larger ship or a specifically-designed transport shuttle or from a Docking Bay.

It's not magnetically sealed so you would not be able to get a clean flat press against the side of the other container. This is further Complicated by the fact that the container doesn't have very many smooth flat surfaces to work with in the first place.

You could probably get a partial seal if you're able to find a flat enough surface to press the docking lock against. just be sure to cycle the airlock so the gaps don't shoot out all of your atmosphere into space -- just the amount you keep pumping into the hatch area.

Or use spacesuits and a welding torch. You could get a stable enough tunnel to avoid being dragged into space, at the very least.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:20, Thu 18 Aug 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 53):

super.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 54):

If you can get it flat enough I could phase through.... I'm sure she wouldn't freak out over that...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 55):

I mean, we could just press the airlock up against the box and cycle the atmosphere in it regardless of how flat the connection is.  I was more wondering how viable cutting a hole with my laser would be, since that optimally needs an actual seal.

It's my understanding that the concern is how to get the survivor out of the tin box and into our ship without venting him into the vacuum. I'm pretty confident that we can punch a hole in whatever we want to, given enough time.

Can Rebecca carry stuff with her when she phases?

In reply to Xander (msg # 57):

yeah if we can get him a suit this gets easier.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 58):

The answer is that Rebecca doesn't know yet.

But I do.

Seems like the GM is trying to be less helpful than Battalion.

I'll see to that...

Wait I thought Ceres was being terraformed by SAGE who were a little touchy about visitors, is there any sign of all that, or just a crater on an empty rock?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 61):

You were indeed expecting to find a partially terraformed world.

What you found is an empty rock and a glowing crater.

Though we were expecting to find a crashed exploration vessel, correct? Or at least, a reason for why a vessel would be 'out of contact'?

In reply to Xander (msg # 63):

You were hoping to find a vessel that was in distress but not actively crashed. Seems like you might have been too late to help.

None of that explains why Ceres is not 1) better terraformed and 2) without an obvious SAGE presence, either in its local space or on the planet itself.

Do our EVA suits incorporate video cameras into the helmets? And if so, are we seeing Rebecca's feed?

In reply to Xander (msg # 65):

Nope. But you can suggest that upgrade at the next annual vendor's conference!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 66):

but none of that closed circuit shit, if my helmet has a video feed I want to be able to get netflix on it.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 67):

Seconded

The helmet feed is for porn (for porn!)

In reply to Xander (msg # 69):

...and now THAT song is stuck in my head...

In reply to Batallion (msg # 70):

Why you think the feed was born?

PORN PORN PORN!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 71):



Did you mean that it was connecting rooms North, East, and West?  Since I came in from the south?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 72):

Nope, the hallway did connect the southern room (where you came from) to the northern room (smoke) and the eastern room (dripping).

The blast doors slammed shut to cut off the southern room from the hallway, the smoke room, and the dripping room. Does that make sense?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 73):

Then what is to the west?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 74):

Nothing. There has never been anything to the west. The hull is that way.

As I understand it, Rebecca did start to explore the area beyond the extra-shielded eastern blast doors, but was blocked by an electrified puddle.

Xander wants to know if we

A) send Rebecca to attempt to fix the downed line somehow, potentially restoring power to the blast doors such that they could be opened without breaking them down

B) send Rebecca to scout beyond the electrified puddle, assuming she can somehow circumvent it (can she phase through it?)

C) Just knock the door down while Rebecca is playing with ghosts in the infirmary.

Billy seems to be in favor of C, and Xander doesn't really care, provided we have a plan to handle survivors on the other side of the door if we irrevocably vent the atmo.

That plan could be as simple as 'take them temporarily to the northern room before the suffocate, then go get them EVA suits'

I just want to make sure we're all on the same page before we do something irreversible to the blast door.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:19, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

In reply to Xander (msg # 76):

no she's behind the northern blast doors, the puddle was to the eastern side of the chamber beyond.  we haven't seen anything beyond the eastern doors because the console is fubar and she flipped a coin on which door she phased through, which in hindsight we probably should have considered for longer.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Wed 05 Oct 2016.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 77):

Nothing is stopping me from coming back.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 78):

Does the damage look more animal, human, or alien?

Could Abraxis fit in the hallway beyond the Galley if he brute forces the door?

Is there enough space in the galley for Abraxis to spread fight and move?

Galley and Countermeasures have a small gap in the map, does this denote that there is open space between the galley and countermeasures?

Is each individual room is airtight? If we punch a hole in an interior room would we vent the entire ship?

I have all kinds of ideas.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 79):


1) There's no damage present that a human could not have inflicted, if armed with the appropriate weaponry. They would have to have mechanical assistance or be extremely strong, or be using a very sharp, very strong weapon, in order to have left the marks they did in the metal, however. There is no known animal with claws or teeth strong enough to rend steel in this way. It is also possible that some of the more impressive damage occurred when the ship actually crashed into the dwarf planet.

I suppose "aliens" is always technically a possibility (people still argue that they built the pyramids), but nobody has discovered life beyond Earth (intelligent or otherwise) except for the life humans brought over during the colonization process.


2) Abraxis is simply too large to fit in the hallway. It might be able to wedge itself into the entrance, but it would not be able to walk further down the passage without continuing to rip space for itself (damaging any seals the hull still has in the process).

Mind you, Abraxis is perfectly capable of operating outside of the ship...

3) Rooms A and K (Maintenance and Galley) are the only rooms you've discovered so far that are big enough for Abraxis to maneuver freely (and, yes, fight freely). Hallway L is the only hallway you've discovered that it can actually walk through, but it would take a penalty to fighting there and it would pose a bit of an obstruction to folks moving past it in a combat situation (ie: in a hurry).

4) Correct. The Galley (K) and Countermeasures (I) are not directly adjacent. The gap could represent non-inhabitable parts of the ship or empty space (meaning you might end up falling onto the planetoid's surface if you plow through a wall and the floor suddenly ends).

5) Rooms A and O are not airtight. Hallway L is quickly venting due to the damage Abraxis did to the door connecting A and L, and soon it will be vacuum as well. You don't know how airtight the unexplored rooms are. Of the rooms you have explored, the rest do appear to be airtight for now, though the atmosphere in the western half of the ship in general is very thin due to whatever event ruptured A in the first place.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 80):

If you slam somebody do you choose the direction in which you slam them?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 81):

Depends on the situation. The easy answer is this: If the slam dealt damage (loss of health), then the attacker chooses the direction. If not, the victim does.

Related information:

- The target of a Slam gets an Endurance FEAT to resist it (see the "Slam?" column on the table)

- If the target fails (white), they are knocked a number of AREAS equal to the attacker's Strength (so, 5 areas if you have Amazing strength). A green is still a failure, but you're only knocked into an adjacent area. Yellow and Red negate the Slam but not the damage dealt from the attack itself.

-- If you're Slammed and the direction you're moving in would punch you through a wall, the person flying through the air makes a Strength FEAT. Success means they break through the wall (taking no extra damage) and keep going. Repeat as needed. Failure means they hit the wall, suffer damage, and stop there.

- Slams, Stuns, and Kill results can only affect someone if the damage being dealt is greater than or equal to your protection from the attack.

-- By this I mean, if a Good (10) attack goes against Excellent (20) body armor, your strength is outmatched and therefore you can't stun or slam or kill the target, either.

-- If a Good (10) attack goes against Good (10) body armor, though, you're at parity. And thus, you're still at risk for a Stun, Slam, or Kill result even though it didn't deal any damage.

- There are talents that let you ignore the above rules, so don't discount your enemies by thinking you're immune to these sorts of attacks :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:35, Fri 25 Nov 2016.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 82):

And UNRELATED information that seems relevant now:

- Karma is gained primarily through "heroic actions". It's not straight-up experience points, so you won't get it just for killing things or achieving objectives.

- When you declare the intention to spend karma on something, you're committing to spending at least 10 points no matter how well you roll.

- You have to say what color you're committing to when you declare the intention to spend karma, too. So rather than saying "spending karma on my psychic shield this round" you'd say "boosting all psychic shield rolls to Yellow this round".

- Villains have karma pools, too

- You cannot use karma if you are "blindsided" or surprised. This often means you won't be able to use karma until your second action of any given combat encounter, and occasionally means you can't use it in the middle of combat if faced with an unforeseen or unforeseeable threat.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 83):

What are the caves like?

How many branches are there and how high is the ceiling to get back to where we are?

How high would I be able to jump in this situation?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:02, Tue 29 Nov 2016.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 84):

The cave is a sprawling mining complex that was designed more for machines than for people.

It looks a bit like this:

1) http://www.seldesalpes.ch/medi...90_subsampling-2.jpg

2) http://motherboard-images.vice.../143818196099662.jpg

3) http://www.hecktictravels.com/...t-Mine-Poland-11.jpg

The differences involve a lot more dark stone and ice; much narrower spaces; and railing for mechanized mining as opposed to humans.

The complex is built like an anthill, sort of like this: http://www.cracowcitytours.com...a/big_1367748425.jpg

Rebecca would not be able to visualize that, precisely, but that's how the caverns are sort of laid out: slants and slopes that gradually go up, down, or remain on the same tier, with various hollows and side rooms here and there for storage, supplies, equipment, etc.

The tunnels are not pressurized or heated, so it's a very dark, dangerous place.

Only the entrance area, where you entered, is particularly massive. You fell 30 meters, but if you factor in where the ceiling is supposed to be, you only fell 20 meters. Most of the ceilings are only 5 meters tall, though some are larger to accommodate bulky equipment.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 85):

Is it conceivable in this gravity to be able to jump up 20 meters to the roof?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 86):

Not quite, but closer than you'd think. You can jump about 40 times farther on Ceres than you could on Earth. If we assume a typical 10ish-year-old girl who is not an athlete can jump about 1.2 feet, that'll get you 48 feet into the air. But 20 meters is 65 feet and that's not even counting the remaining 10 meters you'd have to go at that point.

Even on a red FEAT, that's a stretch.

All that said, Percy could easily chuck you that high given his Strength and the low gravity.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 87):

How many 'exits' were there from the room that we started in?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 88):

The room you started in slants both up and down, so two? You encountered the wall while following the masked figure on the upward slant. And of course there's the hole you blew in the roof.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 89):

Now is as good a time as any to ask how running rules works... for a friend

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 90):

That is an EXCELLENT question, and one I'm surprised hasn't come up yet.

How good you are at running is controlled by your Endurance, as follows:

- FE (2): 1 area/round
- PR (4) through EX (20): 2 areas/round
- RM (30) or better: 3 areas/round

If you have super speed or flight or leaping or something, you can move even faster.

Vertical movement is harder. Most characters can only move about 1 story upward or downward a turn (unless you decide to fall, in which case it's 10 stories per turn with a sudden stop at the bottom). If you have RM (30) or better endurance, you can climb or carefully descend about 2 stories per turn instead.

If you DO start free-falling, an Agility FEAT is needed to stop yourself (circumstances depending). The color you need depends on your agility (RM+ needs green; EX+ needs  yellow; anything else needs red).

Yes, this means we probably make some mistakes during the Dr. Olsen chase scene, but they were CONSISTENT mistakes and we'll just do it right from now on :)

NOTE: Recall that same-area movement is automatically assumed when you make an attack. If you want to change areas during combat, that's all you're doing that turn. You can think of moving to another area as a full-round action if it helps.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 91):

What mistakes did we make?  She was moving 1 area per turn as I was chasing her.  Should she have been able to move more?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 92):

Her endurance is not Feeble, and neither is yours. You both would have been able to move further.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 93):

OK, thats what I thought.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 94):

Can you explain the rules for charging?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 95):

Absolutely!

Endurance Combat-Charging

Charging combat involves ramming into an opponent like a battering ram. The character making the charging attack may move and attack on the same turn.

Charging is considered an Endurance FEAT and uses the Endurance ability. Certain bad guys, like Juggernaut and Rhino, use the charging attack almost all the time.

A character must move at least one area to make a charging attack, but may move his entire movement rate. For each area the character moves through before reaching his target, the attacker gets a + 1CS bonus to the attack, up to a maximum of + 3CS (even if the character moved through more than three areas).

A charging character may choose to reduce the damage he inflicts, but not the result color. A charging attack may have a miss, hit, slam, or stun result.

- White: The would-be attacker misses his target and keeps on moving for one area beyond it in a straight line (this usually plants you into a solid wall). A second FEAT, this
time for Agility, would prevent the individual from hitting (and potentially breaking) a wall.

- Green: The attacker hits his target and inflicts damage equal to either his Endurance or his Body Armor (if any), whichever is higher. In addition, the target takes 2 points of additional damage for each area the attacker moved through before striking him.

- Yellow: A successful hit, the same as a Green result, and the target must also check against his Endurance or be slammed.

- Red: A successful hit, the same as a Green result, and the target must check against his Endurance or be stunned.

Charging characters who slam (either intentionally or inadvertently) into inanimate objects will damage them as they would living targets . The material strength, rather than Health , determines if the hero breaks through the obstacle.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 96):

Material Strengths of Common Objects

Feeble -- Cloth, paper, brush, glass
Poor -- Plastic, crystal, wood
Typical -- Rubber, soft metal, ice, interior walls
Good -- Brick, aluminum, asphalt, high-strength plastic, light machinery
Excellent -- Conrete, iron, bulletproof glass/clothing, exterior walls
Remarkable -- Steel, reinforced concrete
Incredible -- Stone, vibranium, volcanic rock
Amazing -- High-strength steel, granite
Monstrous -- Diamond, super-heavy alloys
Unearthly -- Adamantium, some mystic elements
Class 1000 -- Virtually indestructable materials (Mjolnir, Capt America's shield)


Breaking Things

When a character tries to break something, the Judge decides what the thing's intensity is. Heroes can easily (automatically, that is) break through materials with intensities three or more ranks less than their Strength ability (have you ever seen a brick wall slow down the Thing?)

Similarly, items more than one rank stronger than the hero's Strength cannot be affected by the hero (even the Hulk cannot bend Captain America's shield).

Thickness Matters

Materials are moved up or down that strength chart based on thickness.

* < 1 inch: -1CS
* > 1 foot: +1CS
* > 2 feet: +2CS

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 97):

Let's talk about Rasslin' (Thanks, BILLY)

Grabbing an opponent and holding him (as opposed to just hitting him) is wrestling combat and requires Strength FEATs to succeed. This includes restraining a foe, grappling with him, squeezing or crushing him, etc.

As with Fighting maneuvers, the opponents in a wrestling attack must be adjacent or have powers, weapons, or abilities that allow the attacker to reach the defender.

A grappling attack is designed to hold down an opponent, prevent him from moving, and possibly inflict damage upon him. An attacker may always choose to inflict less than maximum damage on his foe and to reduce the effect (from Red to Yellow, for example).

A grappling attack may result in a miss, a partial hold, or a hold.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:01, Mon 12 Dec 2016.

Is auger normal parlance or do the two mad scientists sound weird calling me that?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 99):

It is not normal parlance, no.

is there any kind if control pannel or something for the door?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 101):

Yeah, there's a standard control panel for it off to one side, but if Olsen jimmied this room it probably won't work the way you want it to.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 102):

you don't know what I want, who I am, where I've been!

Is it like a number pad, or a keycard reader? or both?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Fri 06 Jan 2017.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 103):

It's both. It has a number pad on it, like the ones you interacted with aboard the ship, and it has a slot in the top for a key card. It's not clear if the key card would negate the need for a code or if you'd need like a PIN or something with the card to make it work.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 104):

shit.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 105):

We drugged no matter what the endurance roll or are the drug and stun a package deal?

In reply to Muse (msg # 106):

The "drugged" effect is what the serum does regardless. The Stun check is a result of her rolling red.

I promise, even I wouldn't give a villain a consistent AOE stun to use as a karma siphon. That's just cruel.

EDITS: To actually answer the question, the drugged effect will occur whether or not you are stunned.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:11, Mon 09 Jan 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 107):

When does dodge come into play vs. evade? How many attacks can a successful evasion roll thwart?

In reply to Muse (msg # 108):

These all have their own results area on the chart, but I admit it's confusing. Here's the details:

Dodging

Make an Agility FEAT. All ranged attacks targeting you suffer a -0/-2/-4/-6CS penalty (white/green/yellow/red result) until your next turn. This bonus doesn't affect targets who blindside you.

You may take an action on the same turn you declared Dodging, regardless your result. You'll suffer a -2CS penalty to whatever you do, though.

Evading

Pick a specific target that you are able to engage in melee combat. Roll a Fighting FEAT. If you roll a white, you guarantee that person will land a green hit (minimum) if they roll a melee attack on you on their turn.

If you roll green, you block the next melee attack that the target would have landed (no damage dealt).

Yellow or red grants you the green effect plus a +1/+2CS (yellow/red) bonus to the first Fighting attack you use on that target next turn. This applies only to hit, not to damage.

If you choose to Evade, that consumes your action.

Blocking

Make a Strength FEAT. Treat your STR (-6/-4/-2/+1 for white/green/yellow/red) as specialized body armor until the your next turn begins. This stacks with whatever body armor you might already be wearing.

Your "Block Armor" cannot reduce the damage from Shooting, Energy, or Wrestling attacks, but works against most other sources (within reason, DM's call).

You may attempt to shield a target ally in the same area while Blocking. If you do so, your Blocking roll takes -2CS but all Shooting, Throwing, or Charging attacks directed at the targeted ally will strike you instead.

If you choose to Block, that consumes your action.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 109):

The TLDR of the above is:

DODGING makes it harder for anyone to hit you with a ranged attack for 1 turn. This is the only one of the three abilities you can use and still take another action afterward, though it'll be weaker than normal as a penalty.

EVADING means you're jabbing, hemming, and hawing in melee combat against a single melee opponent hoping to foil an attack and gain an advantage on your next turn.

BLOCKING means you're bulking up and attempting to use your raw strength to deflect all incoming attacks from specific sources.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:46, Tue 10 Jan 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 110):

So if they use Karma to soak the fear, then will my illusions be able to attack?  Since the reason for not being able to attack was having to catch them.  Or do they move to the end of initiative next round?
This message was last edited by the player at 11:32, Tue 10 Jan 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 111):

If the fear effect is resisted, the target will not flee. That means you attack them normally.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 112):

Why block when you can evade?

In reply to Muse (msg # 113):

you suck at fighting but are Bulk McHuge Stronk.  Also blocking gives you armor vs all attacks, evading lets you dodge against one guy.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 114):

Thanks. We should get that Bulk guy on our team.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:48, Wed 11 Jan 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 115):

Eh. You can't recruit Bulk without also getting his moronic partner, Skull. Not worth it.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 116):

If we exit the room, could we create a bottleneck at the door or the antechamber? Are bottlenecks a thing in this game?

In reply to Muse (msg # 117):

From experience, it seems like the short answer is "no"

In reply to Batallion (msg # 118):

Movement is so sandbox-y in general that it's difficult to set up a proper barrier designed to stymie it. If you're in the same area as someone, you can strike them with melee attacks. There are no 5-foot steps or flanking or whathaveyou (though you do get bonuses for hitting a target who was already hit if you're doing a coordinated attack. the rules for this are somewhere in the forums).

Mostly what will happen if you open the door is introduce a lot of cross-area movements. Recall that you cannot take any action if you switch areas beyond that movement, except for certain movements powered by abilities.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 119):

Really what stops movement is grappling. There's an explanation above in this thread

Unfortunately Olson's EVA suit is so beefy that even I'm going to have a hell of a time stopping her.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:16, Wed 11 Jan 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 120):

There are some out-of the box ways to hamper movement too.  If the doctor would ever go I have one in mind, but bullseyes and kneecaps are my plan A as far as immobility alone is concerned.

Seconded!

So I have a question, you said when spending karma there is a minimum of 10.  you also said we should declare what result we want when soending karma.  if that 10 actually takes the result over the intended result is that fine or do I just spend less than 10 karma?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 123):

In that rare but possible instance, you'd still spend the minimum of 10 karma, but you'd get the color you were aiming for even if 10+roll is too high.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 124):

Is a reverse just what it sounds like?

Now she has the illusion in a hold?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 125):

Yeah, it's exactly what it sounds like. The illusion may now take no action except an Escape roll of its own. Yellow to escape, Red to reverse, no other result helps. If it's still held when Olsen's turn begins, it takes damage equal to her strength (this damage does not take her turn to dish out).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 126):

Evasion has a target?

In reply to Muse (msg # 127):

Yes. Evasion is a single-target action wherein you use a series of feints and other maneuvers to make it harder for whoever you're targeting to hit you. It lasts for exactly 1 attack, which you would expertly block (depending on your roll). Higher rolls mean you blocked it so handily that it gave you an advantage on your follow-up strike.

Maybe this will help:


This message was last edited by the GM at 21:24, Thu 12 Jan 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 129):

All right all right I'll RTFM. Cheers.

In reply to Muse (msg # 130):

Reposting this here for relevancy:

Death and Dying
When a character hits 0 or less, they must:



If your Endurance ever reaches Shift-0, you're dead for good -- and any Endurance Loss suffered in this way is gone for a long time. I recommend spending karma on your Endurance roll to ensure a yellow/red result, but hey, it's entirely up to you.

Options for the dying:



Stabilizing and Healing


Recovering Lost Endurance



Note: Some attacks (like Edged attacks) can have a "kill" result on red FEAT rolls. That means the target makes a roll on the "kill" column no matter how much health they have left, provided the attack dealt at least 1 point of damage.

Note 2: Some attacks (like Force attacks) can have a "stun" result on red FEAT rolls. That means the target makes a roll on the "stun" column no matter how much health they have left, provided the attack dealt at least 1 point of damage.

Note 3: If you use karma to secure a "kill" result, you're going to have your karma zeroed. It's very unheroic! Fortunately, most villains don't have karma so you're safe from the reverse being a threat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:05, Fri 13 Jan 2017.

is the hallway not a different area?  I thought rebecca ran out of the room?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 132):

She redacted that, I thought?

If she did change areas, she can't have targeted Gale with her mind attack as it doesn't have a ranged component.

EDIT: never mind, I missed the Slam this turn. Interesting combo. I'll update.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:14, Fri 13 Jan 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 133):

Yeah I left the room and had them roll gales dumb ass out. I thought it was clever.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 134):

Twas!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 135):

What is the material strength of a StormDuper?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:31, Mon 16 Jan 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 136):

People don't have a "material strength". Instead they have hit points and actual strength. You can't put your fist through a person who is not at 0 hit points, if that's what you're getting at :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 137):

What happens if one person is knocked into another? What sort of damage happens there?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Mon 16 Jan 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 138):

If you were to grab somebody by the ankles and use them to beat another person, hypothetically, then the person you grabbed would be considered a "blunt weapon" with material strength equal to their Strength stat or their body armor, whichever is greater.

You would also need to successfully Grapple them and in most cases be larger than they are to make this happen. But there are exceptions to everything...

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 139):

Doesn't this system have rules for a fastball special too?  or does that assume cooperation between the two parties?  If you just chuck a guy at one of his friends is that something different?  like a screwball special?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 140):

The "Fastball Special" requires two willing participants, but yes it has special rules. It's basically a modified "Charge" attack if you do that. Which is still cool!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 141):

Ohhh one day Percy is SOOOO gonna have to throw Muse at someone.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 142):

Totally. Once we get some karma/gen pts to play with, should absolutely work on some synergistic shenanigans.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:40, Mon 16 Jan 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 143):

I fully intend Nightmare to ask to train with you once we are out.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 144):

Muse still have ID he can show?

In reply to Muse (msg # 145):

Muse never really had a proper badge. He was just Muse. That's why your EVA suit didn't have your name or a number on it (rather, you wrote your name into it unofficially).

You would have a keycard with your name and a picture on it, though. I guess that's enough like a badge that it would serve as one. But having Muse's keycard isn't foolproof; you could have found it.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 146):

Writing implements in debriefing room?

In reply to Muse (msg # 147):

There are none. Though the hallway outside IS still littered with your alphabet papers from before, you litterbugs.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 148):

How does knocking someone unconscious work (as in hitting them hard enough to put them out but do as little damage as possible)?

How much armor does Muse's EVA suit give him?

Does he get two Fighting Feats w/ his arms trapped in his suit or does he need them out? AND, could he burst them through the EVA suit Hulk-style?

Asking for a friend.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:49, Thu 02 Feb 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 149):

You need the arms free to get the extra action.

You'd need a standard action and a strength check to attempt to burst free of the suit. Success depends on its material strength, which you have no way of knowing up front. I'll let you know...

You do not know how much armor the suit provides, either. If/when you take damage, that will become more clear.

Knocking someone unconscious is exactly the same as trying to kill them with your fists. You reduce their health to zero. It may surprise you to learn that battering someone so hard that their brain snaps off is potentially fatal, but I assure you this is the case.

You may "pull your punches" in an attempt to deal less damage, but even a "pulled punch" that drops someone to 0hp could potentially kill them. Usually you're "pulling punches" to try to get a stagger instead of a slam or similar. Or to deal someone damage such that they are at around 1hp, and thus more willing to negotiate as they approach the cusp of death.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 150):

What's the atmosphere and civilization on Mars like?

In reply to Muse (msg # 151):

Tense and ACE, respectively.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 152):

Mars is largely controlled by the mining and shipping conglomerate known as Ares Consolidated Enterprises (ACE).

The planet and both of its moons are not habitable to normal humans, but there are vast complexes (orbital and otherwise) in Martian space that dwarf what you've found on Ceres.

Terraformation is still a novel technology. SAGE has been working on it for a long time, with mixed results. Even the moon isn't habitable, strictly speaking. When not on Earth, humans still require airtight structures, suits, and/or vehicles to survive.

The poor results on Ceres are still more promising than anything that came before it, and there is a lot of interest in SAGE figuring out how to make the process work reliably in order to make expansion into space more cost-efficient. Though it's debatable if it's really more cost-effective to pack all those costs into the front-end of terraforming instead of constructing appropriate complexes and maintaining them.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 153):

How is Olsen's data being accessed now? Can Muse go to work on it?

In reply to Muse (msg # 154):

You can access it via a terminal or a datapad, but if you want information beyond what I've already shared you'll risk triggering the data wards. Xander's working on it.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 155):

How are data wards fought? Would Muse's darkforce armor absorb any of the damage?

In reply to Muse (msg # 156):

The data wards are pure psyche damage. There's no armor on Earth (or Ceres) that will protect you. You'd need a specific Psyche-dampening thing.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 157):

I'm buying Muse a roll of tinfoil next downtime

In reply to Muse (msg # 158):

That will be 1,000 karma, sir. Enjoy your FE (2) resistance :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 159):
any trends in the blood samples?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 160):

Yep! But such analysis takes time, and there may be actions taken between now and results o'clock :) Soon!

EDIT: Are you trying to sequence oligonucleotides or are you treating this as more of a drug discovery process? Or are you actually doing a more "clinical testing" type of analysis, as you might when looking for disease biomarkers? Not exactly sure what you're trying to achieve.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:05, Wed 08 Feb 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 161):

For the time course I'm treating it as clinical analysis to figure out the course of the serum and the host reaction.  Additionally to find out Muse we are likely to get.

For the durdling around with expensive equipment I'm attempting to discover the chemical properties of the drug to synthesize more of it if possible.  Oligonucleotides implies that it is a reactive piece of DNA as opposed to protein or small molecule.  First we need to find out what it is, then we can go about sequencing.  Then we can synthesize and test.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 162):

Got it.

Let's assume the following distinctions can be made:

- Serum A (inactive) (as in Rebecca)
- Serum B (emulsified) (as in syringe)
- Serum C (active) (as in Charles, Redford, and Gale)
- Serum D (active, emulsified) (as in Muse)
- Control (no serum) (as in Stence)

Billy's samples return the same as Stence's -- there's no trace of serum or residue or anything at all.

The time course would show the following:

- Those with Serum A are slowly returning to Control state (ETA 48 hours after exposure)

- Serum B remains stable

- Those with Serum C remain stable -- the levels of "pre-Serum" readings are being replaced with Serum C readings. Their bodies are apparently treating their new form as their baseline now.

- Those with Serum D (i.e, Muse) are the opposite of Serum C -- their bodies remember their baseline state, and are ever-so-slowly purging the Serum from their system. The by-products of this process are exotic and may have their own effects on the body, but it's too early to tell given the limited concentrations currently at work. Best guess is that Muse will be "cured" within 24 hours of the injection, though he will likely experience some significant side effects that will need to be dealt with separately afterward.

In any case, you are indeed working with something that behaves a lot like a virus -- it targets, conquers, and co-opts cells within its host, and is battled by the host's immune system (at least, until integration is complete).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 163):

OK so then Muse is fine and we will focus on synthesizing more of the serum ASAP before the Serum C state takes over as the new state.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 164):

A worthy plan.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 165):

A) Re: Comms, I know certain characters have them built into their suits or bots or bodies. Does a SAGE bodysuit come w/ Comms or is that only a function of the EVA suits? Do most rooms have a Comms system? The word Comms looks weird now.

B) How would a yellow (bullseye) result play out for an energy-based melee attack? Is that the same as stun?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Sun 12 Feb 2017.

In reply to Muse (msg # 166):

Bullseye just means if you were aiming for something specific, you hit it. You really should declare that beforehand if you intend to use the result, but since that's a pain in the ass I've never enforced it.

It's definitely not a stun though. It's for trying to hit somebody where they aren't wearing body armor, or for shooting the pistol in their hand instead of their hand.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 167):

Are there any physiological changes to the mutants we have been treating.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 168):

Not yet. The only changes thus far have been behavioral.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 169):

At the risk of sounding stupid....

How does money work?

If my pay is docked how does that reflect anywhere?  If GD resources is based on my income stream then how does a small docking like this impact it?  If I want to buy something how do I go about doing it?  Do I order blueprints online?  How do I spend the money I have and how do I know how much I have?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 170):

Money is not tracked on a micro level, really.

If you want to buy something, you tell me what you want and I tell you if it's within your resources to purchase it. If it's not, you'll have to save up for it or finance it somehow.

Someone like Billy can just go out and buy a car or a house. Someone like you can't; you'd have to involve banks or loan sharks. Make sense?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 171):

Yeah it does.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 172):

One-time infusions can be thought of as sort of +CS to your resources, which would be expended after use.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 173):

I've updated the Setting Information thread with this, but figured I'd put it here, too:

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 8):

Travel Time from Earth (in days)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 174):

A reminder from the Settings page:



AI are not currently capable of programming themselves in any true sense, though they ARE capable -- if programmed accordingly -- of "learning" things they didn't already know when prompted. This is not unlike using a search engine, except for relevant existing code snippets.

AI cannot read the comments in any code. The entire purpose of comments is for the computer to ignore them. As such, they are not able to decipher the context behind various code snippets easily.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 175):

SO I think I asked this before but don't rememebr what the answer was.

What are we called?  Mutants?  Abnormals?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 176):

The GENOME project refers to superhumans as mutants, though the term is not widely used.

SAGE preferred the term "auger", which stands for "augmented human". This term is catching on in the scientific lexicon as their (more legitimate) papers are being published.

Most human rights groups, governments, and organizations dance around the issue, preferring to call all humans "humans" and occasionally resorting to words like "special" or "gifted" or "unique" when needed.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 177):

Resources & How They Work

Resources is a reflection of how wealthy and/or well-connected a character is: how easily can he can buy a new car/get necessary lab equipment/take the SHIELD helicarrier out for a spin. It has both a Rank and a rank number.

Rather than forcing players to keep complicated records of their characters' finances (which is too much like real life), the Resource ability is checked when purchasing major items.

Resources are variable because they can change, often regardless of how successful the player character has been in his heroic identity. When playing the game, a hero may suddenly win the lottery or lose a fortune. The Watcher controls how much is spent and how.

As opposed to making players keep track of funds (and whether those funds are invested, in CDs, in savivings, or in checking), a resource rank is assigned to show the character's relative wealth . This will effect whether the hero can afford things.

It is generally assumed that a hero can afford the lifestyle he is currently living at-paying the bills, buying groceries, repairing the funky super-hero outfit, etc.

Resources reflect the ability to buy other things, like cars, plane tickets, small corporations, restaurants, and the like.

Consult the table of typical Resource FEATs. This is a partial list, but gives a feeling for what is involved. If the hero must pay for something, make a Resource FEAT roll against the intensity of the cost.

Items more than one rank higher than the character's Resources can not be normally bought, at least not on the spur of the moment. The character can try again next week.

Characters can chip in to buy something, much in the same way they pool their attacks in battle. The two Resource ranks must be within one rank of each other. The higher rank is then increased by one rank.

You can get loans of up to AM (50) from a typical bank, but you must then be able to afford loan payments (likely equal to one rank less than the loan per month for 12 months). Failure to repay results in a destroyed credit rating (drops Resources score by 1 rank) and REPO men and other badness.


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:59, Mon 06 Mar 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 178):

Nonprofits

The United Nations
Vastly expanded from its present role, the United Nations now has the power to levy taxes, raise armies, ratify treaties, mint currency, and regulate trade. It has an embassy with every country on the planet, and claims to maintain relations with every colony in the solar system, as well. Nonprofit, funded by member nations*. *All nations are member nations. This is not a choice, a fact that The Confederation of Liberty learned by the hard way in an extremely ironic war fought over the issue.

Extraterrestrial Colonization and Expansion Agency
Maintains centralized records on all the colonies that we have and where we might want to explore next. Nonprofit, funded by UN.

The Interplanetary Defense Agency
The United Nations, flush with operating capital and political clout for the first time in history, created an international organization dedicated to protecting and securing vital interests across local space. If ever a fleet is needed to defend Earth and its surrounding planets from alien aggression, the bulk of that fleet would be the IDA. Think of it as a combination of the American, Russian, and Chinese space programs, except actually funded. Nonprofit, funded by the UN but with an autonomous defense charter.

G.E.N.O.M.E.
The Genetic Engineering and Nurturing Organization for Mankind's Evolution is a powerful nonprofit organization dedicated to registering, cataloging, researching, and developing mutants and altered humans. All registered mutants are guaranteed certain political and civil rights. Unregistered mutants are considered criminals -- though the only penalty for those caught is typically "registration and rehabilitation."

HeartworX International
A Red Cross-like organization that provides humanitarian and disaster-relief efforts to the victims of poverty, war, and famine. Run by a man named Cornelius Husker, who has at times been accused of causing the poverty, war, famine, etc. that his organization fixes. As a donation-driven humanitarian organization accused of profiteering, HeartworX is in a complicated PR relationship with most governments and organizations.

The Alliance of Sol
This is more of a terrorist organization than a non-profit, but I didn't see it listed elsewhere. Its membership is dedicated to keeping all of the various planets as close to "normal" as possible. That makes them anti-expansionist, anti-terraformation, anti-colonial, etc. They do a lot of kidnappings and ransomings and bombings, and have an impressive space-faring presence based in largely on asteroids and man-made stations. Not everyone who joins the Alliance shares its vision; some just really like the autonomy and the perks.

The Heritage Group
A well-known arm of the Alliance of Sol, this organization lobbies governments for the kinds of changes that the AoS would want. A sort of hyperconservative think tank.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:16, Mon 13 Mar 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 179):

Ship Sizes
Listed from small to large

Civilian Ships
- Starster (sporty 1- or 2-man racing ships like Billy's first one)
- Shuttle
- Staryacht
- Freighter
- Starliner

***

Military Ships
- Starfighter
- Shuttle
- Transport
- Freighter
- Heavy cruiser
- Destroyer (capital)
- Starcruiser (capital)
- Battleship (capital)
- Dreadnought (capital)
- Carrier (capital)
- Superdreadnought (capital, hypothetical)
- Supercarrier (capital, hypothetical)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:35, Fri 31 Mar 2017.

This message was last edited by the GM at 14:56, Thu 06 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 181):

That sounds bad.  Is there any way to lend aid to this contest?  Other than being a hacker?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 182):

Not really. Only machines and hackers can really participate in hacking with any degree of skill. I guess you could try to get Dynamis to help if you wanted an edge, but don't discount Xander/Sophia either :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 183):

If we remove enough memory tablets that the AI starts singing Daisy Bel would that help?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 184):

So in the Danger room situation... Leo is able to maintain his hold on Bobby until Bobby breaks it.  Is Leo able to get a better grip by rolling?  If he fails in that roll then will he lose the hold on him?

Also Philip would be able to charge in and intiate a new grapple or is it just a bonus to Leo's hold?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 185):

...Also how would this work if one of the assailants were say an intangible invisble illusion?

asking for a friend.

Also very interested to see the Watcher's thoughts on these matters.

I'm pretty sure about one question at least: one character can either start a new grapple or assist a second character in theirs.  Either one.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 187):

If a killing blow threatens slam, it's a given success, right?

Do dead men roll endurance?

In reply to Muse (msg # 188):

Dead or defeated characters become objects for the purposes of moving or throwing them around, so no, they don't roll Endurance for that.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 189):

So is Gestalt like totally crushed by the robot/desk now?

In reply to Muse (msg # 190):

It's more like he was hiding behind a desk and now he's hiding behind a once-desk with a broken robot on it.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 191):

I'm still looking up the grappling questions, btw. I have not forgotten them!

1) Leo maintains his hold until Bobby breaks it or Leo decides to do something else. If Leo attempts to "choke up on the bat" as it were to get a red hold, he'd risk losing the hold he already has if he gets white or green, yes.

2) Phillip can initiate a grapple of his own if he'd like or assist Leo's grappling attempt, granting a modest bonus. Penalties from multiple partial holds stack, so option A is probably better most of the time.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 193):

How do we save someone who's dying? Can anyone try, or is there a skill, power, or talent needed?

In reply to Muse (msg # 194):

Anyone can try. It's a reason or intuition roll (your choice), although if you have the right talents it's autosuccess.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 195):

How do improvised weapons work?  Lets say I wanted to throw the table at someone or hit them with a Chair WWE style...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 196):

There's a throwing column. If whatever you throw has (your strength + material strength) > (target's strength+armor), it deals damage equal to the difference (I think).

I'll look up a better answer shortly but I thiiiink that's how it works.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:53, Fri 14 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 197):

What about hitting them with a chair or... something more sturdy than a chair.  Not necessarily throwing.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 198):

Then it's just a blunt weapon no mechanically different from a baseball bat, and you roll fighting per normal. If the object you're hitting them with has greater material strength than your actual strength, it allows you to deal more damage than you'd otherwise deal with your fists alone. Actual amount of added damage varies depending on the object you used and whether its material is stronger than whoever you struck's own strength or armor.

If you're stronger than the object you're wielding, though, you'll probably break it on your target.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:13, Fri 14 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 199):

Damn... I really wanted to beat the J-11 unit with another J-11 Unit.


This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Fri 14 Apr 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 200):

For an example of how that would work, see Muse's mutant rampage in the previous chapter.

But you'll need to get a grapple hold on a struggling target before you can attempt to use your disproportionate strength to Hulk them into people.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 201):

Not if I kill it first.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 202):

If I punch a J bot and it doesn't cause damage but still threatens a slam will the J-bot go flying?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 203):

You can't normally slam or stun any target you aren't strong enough to harm. There is a martial arts technique that skirts that limitation, however.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 204):

When charging, and you succeed in a slam are you able to slam something back the direction you came from?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 205):

Charging has the same rules as the other slam/stuns in that you have to be able to hurt the target to slam/stun it.

I don't think the rules prohibit charging someone into a backward slam from a charge, but I'm likely to give a penalty to such an attempt because of its added difficulty (and because I want to discourage ridiculous tactics) :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 206):

Please describe the jumprings and what we know of how they work?

Are they one way travel (can we just go back)?

We went from space, to a pocket in space, to an unknown location, to proximity of a planet?



Also has the radiation cooled down since we are on the far side of the planet?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 207):

You don't know anything about jump rings except what you have experienced.

You have used 2 rings so far. The first took you from a point in space to the purple mist pocket and back again. The second took you from a point in space to another point in space quite far away.

So far, they seem to go from Point A to Point B and back again, but your evidence is purely anecdotal.

So far, they seem to connect "realspace" to "weirdspace" AND "realspace" to "realspace", but again, your evidence is purely anecdotal.

Radiation is still a problem but perhaps it will be lessened once you get the planet between you and the sun. You have not completed that approach, however.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:41, Tue 25 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 208):

So Faust was waiting were we saw Husker disappear?  Then we saw a second ring in the same area and went to that ring?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 209):

Abbreviated timeline:

1 - Went to coordinates where Husker was supposed to be

2 - Found Husker, but then he vanished

3 - Found jump ring, went through it, found Husker + Gestalt Fleet

4 - Dawdled and derped around

5 - Husker returned to the jump ring and vanished

6 - Pragnanz "heroics"

7 - You fled through the same jump ring through which you entered (and through which Husker departed)

8 - Other end is Faust's fleet. Husker's ship is already toast. You do not know if it's the same place you were before because the stars look weird.

9 - Gestalt Fleet begins arriving. Muse finds a second jump ring and Kayla goes through it

10 - You are now light-years away from civilization

Does that help?
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:03, Tue 25 Apr 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 210):

When we left for purplespace we weren't far enough out to have notable problems with Archive reception, correct?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 211):

You were not having Archive problems on the way to encounter Husker the first time, no. When you came back, you were -- though the antenna in Billy's helmet did its job, so you weren't completely out of range.

You are, at the moment, way way way way way out of range, incidentally.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 212):

I'm confused about the number of jumprings again....

So JR-Alpha - is what we followed Husker to find the fleet in pocket space

JR-Bravo - is the other AoS jumpring that leads to this planet

JR- Charlie - the jumpring we just found that leads to the same place as JR-Bravo?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 213):

There is no reason to believe Gestalt knows that the jump ring you just took exists at all. He's been confined. You'd have to ask/show him.

AoS, according to Gestalt, knows about 2 rings.

Ring 1 (Alpha): You have no idea where this is or where it goes, but he's said it's strictly 2-way and doesn't lead to purple space.

Ring 2 (Bravo): Located between Earth and Mars, this ring goes to purple space.

If you assume Gestalt does not consider "return rings" separate rings, and thus does not label them, then you can assume that taking Bravo to the purple zone and back again doesn't bring you back to Bravo. Instead, it dumps you out somewhere else, near Jupiter/Saturn.

Entering that ring brings you back to the purple pocket, and if you try to "return" again, it dumps you back at Bravo. A three-prong trip.

The unlabeled "return" ring near Jupiter/Saturn is therefore unlikely to be JR-Alpha, because based on context you can assume that JR-Alpha is 1) strictly 2-way and 2) does not involve purple pocket space.

Do the barges appear to be equipped with stealth armor?  mirrored finish and all, or not?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 215):

No, the barges are big, obvious, clunky bits of tech similar to what you'd find in any industrial operation.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 216):

How long would each path take to complete?

How many days worth of supplies do we have?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:31, Fri 19 May 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 217):

Persephone can sustain its current crew for about 30 days. The short way will take 3 days. The long way will take 8.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 218):

What was in the transmission from Viceroy?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 219):

Directions and data. You have not spent any time looking at it.

if the central hallway is 20m tall and 20m tall areas skip every other floor how does that floorplan work?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 221):

Magical engineering?

Seriously though, the doorways repeat themselves in the same places on each floor, but there's only a "new" hallway and "new" larger rooms every other floor. The big rooms have an extra set of doors near the "ceiling" or near the "floor" depending on your vantage point.

I am finding this hard to describe. I'm going to draw it out and see if I can make a map that better resembles what I have in mind.

I hate having to provide full maps up front like this, incidentally. Xander. Rawr.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:49, Thu 25 May 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 222):

Ok, picture this: you have a normal hallway and normal rooms, all 10m.

Then picture somebody took the floor/ceiling out of some of the rooms in the middle to create a few double-size rooms, and that they did that with the hallway, too.

That means you'd have to be able to fly or walk on the ceiling to reach the 10m rooms on Floor 2, yes. Fortunately, that's possible here.

It does mean there are additional doors in the 20m rooms near the ceiling that I didn't point out before, yes. And that's my bad.

Does that paint a clearer picture?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 223):

that makes sense, yeah.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 224):

Timon has a glass jaw.

The thing that makes the least sense is 10m (or 20m!) ceilings in a goddamn spaceship.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 226):

Most spaceships don't have hallways or rooms that large; indeed, this is the first with any non-docking bay facility of that size.

But Faust's flagship is massive, and (more to the point) I wanted Xander to be able to use Abraxis this time if he wanted to so I designed the encounter such that it could be accommodated.

It's not time lord "bigger on the inside" stuff though. Promise.

I was told when I created a character that the environments would not be tailored to suit my character's needs.  I see that Xander has been wanking off the DM in my absence.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 228):

I promise this environment suits my needs, too... :D

Also, Xander's been a pretty good sport about the confined passages thing. I think he's used the mech in about 5% of the fights in which he has participated thus far.

I'll give you a dog-friendly environment at some point, never fear.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:37, Thu 25 May 2017.

So, I have a question about how my defensive power interacts with my recently acquired armor.  Do I roll on the field if I take 10 damage after the armor?  If so, do the two then stack?  am I immune to falling 3 stories in this suit?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:08, Tue 30 May 2017.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 230):

How many jumps are we from the Amgines?

Do we know how many jumps more he SHOULD be following us based on the coordinates that he gave us?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 231):

He never said he was going to the port as a generic destination. He suggested it as a meeting point. Having denied the meeting, the pilot is free to resume whatever course he was on previously.

You have 8 jumps to go if you stay on course yourself.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:35, Tue 30 May 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 232):

Right but if he wants to meet us there then he would theoretically have to be hanging out in that area, so I would like to know once we are seriously diverting from the meeting area he set.

How far are we from being able to switch over to one of the less populous pathways?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 233):

The meeting area would have required you to take a different jump ring out of this sector. The location of the proposed meeting area is in the adjacent sector. If you remain on course to the Amgine, however, you will not take that ring out of this sector. You will take a different one.

It's akin to not taking an exit on the interstate.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 234):

Let's make two more jumps and see what happens.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 235):

Thanks for that explanation it was extremely helpful.

How long after we appear in a sector does he appear?

Relative to the above answer how long would it take for us to get 2x from our expected detection radius and hit the adaptive armor?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 236):

You're welcome. I keep meaning to post the starchart map but I'm not happy with it and once I post it, it's locked in. One day I'll get it up, I promise.

You have time to do a fast burn and stealth if you'd like, but you won't be able to "stealthily" use a jump ring. It'll flash and flicker and shoot ionized energy all over the place and someone looking at it would know it had been used.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 237):

Also is the star chart of sufficient detail to be able to execute my plan?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 238):

The star chart is essentially a 3D network of dots that are connected by a spiderweb of lines, with some of the lines plus your origin point plus your destination highlighted.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 239):

are there two dots relatively close together off the path?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 240):

I'm afraid don't understand your question.

All of the lines are the same length; jumping from sector to sector is nearly instantaneous, and distance either doesn't matter or is pre-calculated between rings to be the same.

The map is thus not really drawn to scale, being intended instead to show how to get from one sector to another via a series of jumps.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 241):

That answers my question.  I know a jump can take us 200 miles or 200 light years, I would much rather stay close to where we are than jump through several neighboring star systems.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 242):

Oh also at this point would there be an alternate route from where we are (or one step back) to the Amigenes.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 243):

You'll have to go a few jumps back to approach the "two-way tunnel" aspect from a different angle, if that's what you're asking. All of that takes time.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 244):

How many days relative to the supplies we have left?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 245):

Enough that they are not a factor in being able to get to your destination and back via any pathway with quite a bit of leash to spare, but not enough to spend months joyriding around without thinking about how you'll resupply.

Armor applies first. Then your power kicks in. That does give you a buffer of 30 damage minimum, which is quite tanky -- though fortunately for Team Watcher, your health pool isn't particularly robust :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 247):

So using karma to secure a kill dings the high holy hell out of your karma.  Lets say that you use karma with the intent of scoring a hit but instead turn his head into a canoe.  Would that come with the same Karma hit?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 248):

Yep! That's the danger of spending karma. If you roll an 85 and have to add 10, suddenly ZAPPO.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 249):

Can you explain the evading rules?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 250):

Evasion is part of the Dodge/Block/Evade chain, which is explained in great detail in the rules thread. I'd repost it but it's huge. Just do a CTRL-F in that thread and let me know if you still have questions afterward. Happy to clarify if so! :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 251):

^ Found it.

So does anything happen for Muse since he went over 100 on his roll?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 252):

Rolls stop at 100. Going over is just a feel-good moment for the roller.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 253):

....Oh... so what you are telling me is that he does not crush their heads into a singularity then?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 254):

which one is the speaker's daughter?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 255):

Tyndal IIRC.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 256):

So are we just handwaving the fact that we have ways to communicate with people?  Like if we wanted to get in touch with that stone captain again could we?  Or do we just have to wander until we bump into him again?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 257):

Persephone is woefully unequipped to handle the everyday rigors of this sort of travel. You don't actually know how to hail vessels in different sectors.

You know the general location of the portstop the Rock Guy wanted to meet you at, though. If you wanted to head there and ask around you could.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:42, Thu 22 June 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 258):

How far away are any of the coordinates given on the 'sign posts'

You can't even read the numbers.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 260):

Thats what I thought, so then how are we supposed to garner any information from them at all?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 261):

Well, if there's a lot of information on them, there are a lot of possible ports. You could scan for signal density or something. If the thing's mostly blank, that gambit is unlikely to work.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 262):

How much information is available on the 'signpost' for our area?  Do we have any promising areas of activity?  How far away are they?  How far is it to the next jump in the triangle indicated by Kayla?  How much information is on that signpost?

How much food is left at current rations?  What if we go on slim rations?

Lost in space is irksome....

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 263):

It has been less than a day of real time since the last time you asked about rations. They have not changed in any meaningful way. You still have 9ish days. You can stretch that by going to half or quarter rations, but you take a hit to crew morale whenever you make decisions like that and it could leave folks weakened or fatigued.

How do you intend to figure out the answers to your other questions absent the ability to read or trace alien signals?

There were a few lines of text on the signpost. You do not know if that translates to a little or a lot.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:43, Fri 07 July 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 264):

The signposts are on the map correct?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 265):

No, the map is just a hexagonal star chart with lines showing the various connected jump rings and some shading to indicate sovereignty.

I haven't actually finished making it yet so no, you can't see it :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 266):

So how does the quantity of text at this spot compare to what we have seen at past spots?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 267):

There is slightly more.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 268):

OK so.... no ship has materialized with the traditional damn we lost them... so they are still running in stealth mode.  Correct?

Is there a closer ring than the one that goes back to the path?

We are currently in stealth mode orbiting the ring... we have no indication of what they are doing.  If we go through the ring then are we likely to get within intercept range of the stealth ship?  I would base this decision on the safe area around a ring, how far would you have to be for a stealthed ship to avoid collision with incoming ships?  How does this compare to our 'effective' stealth radius before other earth technology would pick us up.

Wouldn't the light show from the ring give our location away?  Just like their lightshow gave them away?

Also just on a general note... Is there any method for a ship exiting a jump ring to not jump directly into a ship entering the jumpring?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 269):

The lightshow would give you away, but so would activating the thing in the first place. Your adaptive armor falls during jump ring transit, each and every time. Kayla has already mentioned this.

The "triangle route" ring is also the next closest ring to you.

You can't be sure there's actually another ship following you. It seems like there probably is, but if so, it can travel through the rings while stealthed.

There is no failsafe against two ships using the jump ring at the same time and crashing horribly as a result. Perhaps there's a method for communicating with the ring and "logging" your jumps to avoid that kind of thing, but you haven't done that and don't know how to do that if it's even possible. Using Fiernas's gift to track recent movements has been helpful in avoiding traffic accidents so far, but by and large space is HUGE. It's very unlikely you'd be using it at the exact same time someone else is.

That's a really crappy way to go, though, so yes, there's probably a way to prevent that built into the system if you're using it as intended.

Your orbit around the ring puts Persephone beyond the detection radius of Solspace ships. It's quite wide -- at least 10 areas in radius from the ring.

You have no way of knowing when you'd be "clear" from the tailing ship, if one even exists, as you do not know its mass or velocity.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 270):

So even Kayla told us why her plan of going back through the jumpring we just went through is a bad idea.

Just to be sure we are on the same page:

1- We are 1 jump off course from our previous rout.

2- When we jumped we were not stealthed

3- When we got on the other side we were still not stealthed.

4- We hit the adaptive armor on this side of the ring and were out of 'known detection range' by the time the 'pursuit' came through the ring.

Can you see the other rings from here or are they too far?

Is there another ring that is closer but still out of sight?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 271):

Kayla thinks waiting in orbit for a while then going back the way you came is the best idea. The pursuer may bumble past unheeded. If the pursuer does NOT bumble past unheeded, the adaptive armor doesn't work on it and so who cares if you're stealthed or not.

As I said earlier, the triangle ring is the next closest ring to you. You cannot physically see it with your eyes.

What if Dynamis says "enhance" a bunch?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 273):

The next ring is beyond the range of your optic sensor suite :P

Didn't you say most of the jumprings the away team has been cruising through weren't cloaked?  Also wouldn't the next closest jumpring be the one we took to purple space that probably doesn't work anymore, or the one in Jovian space?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 275):

There are 3 known rings in Solspace IIRC:

1) Mars <-> Purple <-> Jovian 1

2) Jovian 2 <-> Quarantine

3) Mercurial <-> (Elsewhere)

ALL of the jump rings in Solspace are cloaked. Those Persephone has been gallivanting through are not.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:16, Wed 12 July 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 276):

Is Kayla's Dynamis flavored wristband portable or is it only attached to her spacesuit?

Do we have escape pods?

Does communications from EVA Suit --> Dynamis currently work

Do we have any kind of tracking bug I could use except something off of an EVA suit?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 277):

The bracer is always on Kayla's wrist. She just attaches it to the EVA suit when she has to put one on.

There are no escape pods in the shuttle. Too small.

No tracking gadgets specifically that you're aware of, no.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 278):

what about communications between the systems?  Do the EVA radios still work?  Can Dynamis' tablet still communicate with dynamis?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 279):

No wireless communication is currently possible.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 280):

We are currently considered outside of 'known' detection range and stealthed, correct?  We are within visible range of the ship though.  Would someone be able to see me outside of the ship?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 281):

If they were looking at the ship, it's possible -- particularly if their optics have better magnification than you expect. Your EVA suit doesn't have adaptive armor, so it would look like an astronaut free-floating in space to a casual observer (assuming the adaptive armor is working against their instruments).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 282):

I'm talking the other way round.  If our people look at their ship will they be able to see me on the outside?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 283):

Oh. Um...not from a distance but if they zoomed in, probably. Your EVA suit doesn't look like their hull at all, so it's really just your relatively minuscule size that would protect you from observation.

This is all somewhat moot at the moment, though :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 284):

Will I be able to phase Holt through a wall?

Can my boosters catch the alien ship?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:30, Wed 19 July 2017.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 285):

You'll need red to phase someone with Holt's mass through the wall of the ship, if you want to go retrieve his body and see if he can maybe be saved (if I recall the mass limits on your ability correctly).

Personal boosters can catch a ship about as well as a skateboard can catch a car.

You could catch back up to Persephone, though. Its engines are off and it has slowed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:31, Wed 19 July 2017.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 286):

I can go 2x at red.

Could I try for an 'enhanced carrying capacity' feat?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 287):

Sure, but you have to try it before you roll and you can't spend karma on the roll if you want to earn the permanent ability for free. Can YOU spend karma on the roll if you don't care about making it permanent for free, though.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 288):

I'll just do the two rolls but bear that in mind for next time.

so if I look toward the t-junction I can see lasers coming from either side.  does one side appear to not be shooting red double-helixes?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 290):

About half the bolts are helixes (helii?). You're not able to tell which direction they are heading from your vantage point though, unless you know more about laser ballistics than I think you do offhand.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 291):

I think there may be a critical mass of kneecaps that argue he does.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 292):

Knowing how to fire or even aim a weapon doesn't mean your eyes are fast enough to detect the direction of a laser blast or bullet if you see neither the origin nor terminal point of its trajectory :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 293):

Tell that to the kneecaps :P

Dammit, I was hoping for very clear sci-fi effect grade lasers, not actual ballistics grade lasers.

new question: is Sophia talking over the comms, or just in Xander's head?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 296):

Sensing Xander's frustration with the lack of shared information generally available to the away team, despite that away team consisting of exactly 2 people, Sophia has chosen to share this over the internal comms.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 297):

How obvious is it that the cargo area was exploded from within.  Is there any chance of saying that it was an explosive decompression from the outside?  Or are there char marks and shit inside?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 298):

How much time do I have before we reach SAGE's base?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 299):

Physics question: how does phasing interact with G Force?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 300):

Phasing affects your density, strictly speaking. But no matter how dense you become, your mass (and the actual atoms that comprise you) is affected by gravity in the same way.

If you were to phase right now, the barrier holding you in place would vanish, and you'd be pulled through your chair and flung out of the ship via the force like a kid on a merry-go-round who let go.