In reply to Etzagith (msg # 60):

Solid!

@Etzagith

Creating an Advantage with Stealth
Using stealth to Create an advantage to be used next round.
10:46, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Stealth (+4) to create an advantage.
Oh, it's a success.   The benefits of using one of your pinnacle skills.   However!  If you you're going to create an advantage, you need to tell me what that advantage is!



So,... what kind of advantage are you trying to create?

From your previous post, I could say that shifting to the balls of his feet might have he's Prepared for Physical Confrontation, or since you rolled stealth, perhaps he's positioned himself such that the enemies have Only Limited Avenues of Attack?  How do you you see this playing out?


Seeking Shadows
08:46, Yesterday: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Stealth (+4) to create an advantage.
While Good(+3) is certainly a respectable result, you always have the option of Seeking Shadows, thus turning the -1 dice into a +0 dice (changing the +3 to a +4 result) should you wish to do so.   Not a requirement, just a reminder.

Reflexes Stunt
Thank-you for the reminder.  He's still first on the Initiative roster.

Hello Darkness, My Old Friend:
Yup! Cleared Space Lit with Levaithan's Blood creates pools of light and thus, vast swaths of relative dimness.  You definitely get a free invoke on the torches.  The first invoke is free.  Any other invoke after that will cost a fate-point.

I'm looking to create a one-round advantage of How'd he get there?  I'll be coming back towards him but in one aisle closer than where he thinks I am.

Thank-you.  That suggests that you're going for the hiding element, not the unsteady barrels element.   Both were inferred by what you'd written... even with the stealth roll.

An Aspect title isn't always necessary.  Particularly if what you're doing is obvious (ie throwing sand in the guy's face).  But it's also always better to err on the side of caution and write one up anyway to help the GM along.

I'm down for a nap momentarily.  online again in a few hours.  Will post the bad guys moves then.

The unsteady barrels was just to explain the -1 roll on stealth.  If the +3 wasn't enough, it gave you something to use for what he heard.

@Etzagith:
If you wanna make a Notice(+0) roll, we could bring into existence an Aspect to reflect the point you'd mentioned earlier: that Hollis might've been drinking...

@Cara
Need you to Defend against Hollis' Provoke(+2) attempt to try t get you to leave the warehouse.

Sure!

23:03, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Notice (+3) to detect that Hollis is 3 sheets to the wind (I assume to create an advantage).

So, am I in range to come up behind Hollis and use my blackjack on him?  I'll roll assuming I am, and you can just ignore the roll if not.  I'll be applying the advantage of How'd he get there?

23:07, Today: Etzagith rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blackjack on Hollis (Blades +1) plus advantage.

OMG.  One time I'd like to roll a positive number.  I can't use Seek Shadows to convert this because it isn't stealth or avoiding notice.  I guess I'll use a Fate point to reroll.  That's still a thing, right?

23:13, Today: Etzagith rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Blackjack on Hollis (Blades +1) plus advantage - reroll.

Well, the same result as if I had used the fate point on an aspect.  I was hoping to get lucky for once.

Describe the Action: Keep charging forward

Roll the Dice: 21:52, Today: Cara rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice ((-1, 0, 0, 0)).

Determine Approach: Will.  Total comes to +0

Choose an Action:  Defend.


That's a failure boss.

Cara doesn't know why Etz's plan involves walking past the doorman, and certainly wasn't expecting to see Etzagith clobber the guy.

What do I describe happening?

@Etzagith
Okay.  I'll put the damned map back up.   I dislike the time  have to fiddle with it.   I'm still on the search for something that'll just let me make a quick-n-dirty map for combat.  I don't need the heavy details or prettiness of Campaign Cartographer.  Not when we're never going to look at the map after this scene.  Learning Curve on CC is way bigger than I expected.


Bottom line:

Hollis is on the left side.   Unarmed is on the right.  Both are blocking egress out of Zone 1 (to Zone 4 & 5, respectively).  To get to Hollis from where you are, you need to get past Unarmed.   It probably isn't a problem, as he's doing some sort of ritual thing...  So, he's likely tied up for a little bit...

You have successfully created Three Sheets to the Wind  on Hollis with 2 invokes on it.




How's this work for you?  You're not really in a position to get to Hollis quite yet.  So, the roll (and Fate Point) simply don't count.

@Cara

You've got two options:

Straight Failure
For whatever reason, Hollis provoke caused you to freeze in place or return to the front room (Zone 2) with Migram, Mana & Brollox.

Success at a Major cost
You can still barge through, but we'd apply "Barged In Without a Plan" for which Hollis would get 1 free invoke.   I"m willing to make it a fragile Aspect, meaning that it would disappear after invoked or once the narrative makes it irrelevant.

I've updated the 01.04 Combat Tracking post.
link to a message in this game
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:40, Tue 30 June 2020.

Well, if I actually have to go past Unarmed, I might as well clobber him first.  I don't really like the sound of him casting some involved ritual that is going to hurt us.  If I thump him, do I interrupt the ritual?  Can I get to him this round?  If I can reach one of them this round, I'll do so, your generous offer to ignore my bad rolls notwithstanding.

Well, if I actually have to go past Unarmed, I might as well clobber him first. 
Lovely!

If I thump him, do I interrupt the ritual?  Can I get to him this round?  If I can reach one of them this round, I'll do so, your generous offer to ignore my bad rolls notwithstanding.


Ah...

You're in the same zone.  So you can get to him this round.

Hm.  I guess there's no reason why you can't get to Hollis...  He's in the same zone too.   You're just not in a position to get behind Hollis.

If you break the circle, you break the gathering of power.  Once broken, the power has to go somewhere...   So, it will manifest either as Fallout (Hurts Unarmed), or Backlash (does something to the environment, usually bad, possibly bad for everyone and everything in the zone).  The decision as to whether it's backlash or fallout is entirely on the caster.  Does he feel the risk is too great to allow it to go out into the environment?

I'm going to start staging some sort of scene in Zone 2, as Arui and Nathan join the commotion.

Hmm.  Unless there is any reason to think that Unarmed might be working against Hollis, which is doesn't seem that there is...  (They can see each other, right?) .. then I'll stick with the plan to hit Unarmed.  After all, he might be doing a spell which will hurt the Queen Jia's boys.  Hollis is limited to hurting one of us, and he's drunk enough that he won't be acting too quickly.

I'll edit my IC post.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:09, Tue 30 June 2020.

Ha, what I want to do is let it succeed, but I think letting herself get intimidated is too far away from the core of who she is.

I'll take Success at a Major cost

Oof, this is not going well.

Describe the Action: Attempting to use

Roll the Dice: But I rolled 15:09, Today: Cara rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice ((-1, -1, 1, -1)).

Determine Approach: So even with Provoke, that's only a +2.

I'll Spend a Fate Point to increase that to +4, tagging  A Coat of Red and Black

Choose an Action: Using my Stunt

Not to Be Trifled With:

When you make it clear how dangerous you are,
roll Provoke against your target’s Will. If you succeed, that target will not attack
you or willingly come near you unless you take action against him first. If you
succeed with style, neither will anyone with a lower Will than your target.
(Fate System Toolkit, p.35)

I'm kinda going through mental gymnastics here.

In specific, I'm trying to figure out where I came up with idea that only one action per character is allowed per combat-exchange.

Multiple Attacks
If you can take multiple defend actions, why shouldn't you be able to take multiple attack actions?  It just feels wrong, though.  I also feel similarly uncomfortable with multiple create-advantage rolls in a single combat-exchange.

I could potentially see doing a few different kinds of attacks at the same time...


That doesn't seem unreasonable to me, because they are very different kinds of attacks and it's not bulk-loading on specific attacks...  Would you accept that as a house-rule?

If you've got references that point to a hard-rule that says one-attack per turn, please let me know.

Will update once I've done a little more research.


Your comments are welcome.

As a Provoke centered character?

Seems rather strong.  If I can be stabbing people AND intimidating them every round?  I'm going to be layering Aspects on people obscenely fast.

I like 1 action per round, and 1 invoke if you want it.

Then again, if NPCs can do it too?  That doesn't change game balance, does it?  It will speed combat up in terms of rounds, but slow it down in terms of how much is happening each round.

Fair point.  Thank.-you.

Multiple invokes (not on the same Aspect, mind you) are baked in.  When you can invoke multiple different aspects, you can achieve truly staggering results...


Once this combat session is over, I'll have a couple of mechanics questions for y'all.  I don't want to make changes to combat-rules while we're in the midst of it, though.

Mind you, Cara's stunts are heavily predicated on NOT stabbing people...  Once she starts attacking, her provoke stunts no longer prevent people from attacking...

A part of my contention is that in some situations it should be a natural progression...  We don't have a mechanism of having a single action serve multiple purposes.  Do we need this?

Cara wants something from Migram.  Migram sends Steb the Uninspiring to engage her.  She attacks Steb and succeeds with style, cleanly slicing off his nose.   Wouldn't that intimidate Migram too?

Still reading.  it'll probably be some time tomorrow (well, it's 5am, so when I wake up) before I continue to work through this...

I could see the possibility of a stunt that allows for an extra action, either with a very limited circumstance, or at the cost of a fate point, so it doesn't get overused.

Okay, good enough.  we'll leave well enough alone.

I do like the possibility of a stunt to add extra actions... definitely with considering.

Thanks for the input.

To that.  Wouldn't Overcoming the barrier itself be an action?

If you intended it to be a Defensive Action, and thus free, I might say something like "Resist the Wall of Wind" rather than "Overcome" to avoid confusion.

Gah, even Defend is listed as one of the four actions.  Hehe, I give up.

We can discuss that once combat's done.

I have some ideas, but I've got to find the right wording...

First combat scenes are always a bit of a trial...  that's why I'll be looking for feedback & suggestions.