Well... He/She that is Dr. Zero does make a very forceful arguement. Maybe I should give it a little bit more consideration. Hm.

Agreed here.  I think you've been great.

A couple things I'd like to note:
1)slower posting is ok, we all have lives.  I will probably slow down some in August myself, due to school stuff.

2)One thing I've really liked about this game so far is that no one is overly concerned with "winning".  While people like doing cool stuff and all that, everyone has seemed to understand that stories are as much about the failures and hardships as the over the top success stories (probably more actually).  And no one has been overly concerned with experience, and the powers on their sheets, aside from how they interact with the story.  This is what has made this fun to run for me.  I'm actually going to try and extend this feel further with any new players, as you will all have more experience points than them...

3)As suggested by the above, its about the story.  Sam has been great for story, even if the dice roller and the vagueries of the system have screwed him a bit.  As Comstock stated though, just b/c he leaves doesn't mean he can't come back either.  Ample opportunity for a return.


Oh, and just fyi, I will have more posties tomorrow.

I feel like I should clarify before I post. There was a bit of a timeskip for me in there that I don't think I saw for the others (unless I missed it), so did Zero's comm over to me come while I was still discussing the finer points of African tactics that would also appropriately divert rivers to lead to a more balanced ecosystem? If so I can respond with something like "Not now, trying to figure out how to irrigate the Sahara and flood the middle half of the continent" and adapt for time-skip after the post or something?

If they got a few hours of skip too then it doesn't matter and I can just carry on with business as usual. I just think I either missed something or will have to be all "no, I can't help, I'm too busy being BRILLIANT!™"

In reply to Gravitas (msg #911):

You are in sync with them.  I purposefully insured that there was equivalent time skippage.

It took an hour for them to leave the capital, and then another hour-ish to get to Bunia.  You were busy being brilliant for the last two hours.

Ah, ok. Postishness is in the making, then.

Science!  Brilliance!

Posting to keep things moving.  Comstock can't do anything from where he is right now except point fingers and try to be a nicer version of Pax.

Y'see, i thought that this was what winning was.
Also, the dice roller has told me that I will only be really effective at social stuff.  Imp's route in life has been charted by deus in machina.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:37, Tue 21 July 2009.

I just spend xp in response to the circumstances. If I feel something will be useful and in character, I'll buy it. I certainly have a end-goalish idea in mind, but my expenditures are more circumstantial, I won't get powers just to have them, and if a situation from which they will likely arise never comes up, I can live with that.

Hence my creed "Subject to the needs of the story."

[EDIT] Also, i'm not entirely certain of what i tried to accomplish there. Something on the order of 'destroy enough of the wall to make the enemy fall out' or 'punch into the next room'. Either or both.

Not really expecting anything to work, She just needed to hit something after getting exploded.[/Edit]
This message was last edited by the player at 06:58, Tue 21 July 2009.

Comstock, I don't see you as being a "nicer version of pax" at all.  Pax's power is basically a great big penis extension of the dick that he is/always wanted to be.  I'm guessing that he was either the kid nobody liked in school who decided to show the world, or the big jock asshole who became an even bigger jock asshole with a god complex.  Comstock is a real leader, rather than a glorious bully masquerading as a real leader.  The foundation of a team, the central support that they can all rely upon... other stuff like that.  Also, seriously, what kind of knob calls himself "The Fist of Peace"(tm)?  Dear god...
moving on to other ideas with no segue...
For Imp, i do have a very clear evolutionary path in mind, I have bought some things that I will probably never use (natural athlete, well built specialty) but by helping define the character i have used them, so are they superfluous, are they the appendix of my character, or not...
A question, Rydi, I've been using rapport to interact with people, specifically cha+rapport.  upon re-reading the book (and character sheet) I've come to realize that it should be wits+rapport, and that rapport only allows me to understand people's feelings.  There is no skill in the book that equates to presence in exalted/scion.  Nothing that says "good at persuading people" or "use this when you're trying to convince someone of something via charm and charisma rather than BS (which would be manipulation and... um, something) Should I buy up a new skill (am willing to) or what?  Can we play fast and loose with some of the skill+att combinations, or should we stick to the raw?  Or could we have a skill called "socialize" that we could combine with cha for honest persuasion or manipulation for dickishery?  Could we incorporate social combat from exalted 2.0 or is that too much work?  Is it obvious that I am all hopped up on opium based cold meds and loving them?
This message was last edited by the player at 02:42, Wed 22 July 2009.

Heh.  I meant it in the sense of "telling people what to do."  I appreciate the spirited defense, though.

Good point on the social skills.

I generally shift around the attribute+skill combos, just using whatever is appropriate on a given roll, so I don't mind the Cha+Rapport rolls at all.  And much of the time that is what you're doing, figuring out what someone does/doesn't want to see and then giving it to them, so it makes sense.

As far as redefining the system, I think there are enough alternate skills.  There's Command, Intimidation, and Subterfuge, so I don't think we are lacking.  I would probably recommend that you use Subterfuge/Command as your backup skill in situations where you aren't just relying on your insight into people.

And for the time being I am going to avoid social combat rules.  They are good on paper (if you can make sense out of them anyway), but their complexity and similarity to combat will only create problems in a pbp game (combat ALL the time, yay), and will take out some of the organic feel of the game.  Oh, and there is no Integrity skill.

Ach.  In my experience, Social Combat is a mistake.  The simple contested die roll works well enough in most situations that would call for it, and trying to codify social combat rules leads to strange ideas about human behavior.

This is true.  I do like it in exalted, mostly because exalted is so social heavy that it needs some sort of codification for social interaction, but in an online game it would make things drag badly.

Hmm, suppose it is best if I return and join with the rest of the party. =\

I was in training all day today and will be again tomorrow, so I have reduced internet access (I still have it, but can't freely use it as much). Hopefully will get a post up tomorrow during my break.

In the meantime, you may have missed it, Zero, but it was my intent to address those questions towards you via the satcomm. I may not have made that clear, plus I'm sort of off on my own :P

I sometimes hate to express myself with 'lol,' but I did laugh out loud with that one. I bet the neighbors are wondering what is going on. That was priceless.

Did Zero's Intelligence/Engineering rolls from earlier give any great leaps of logic to determine the cause of the Satellite block and a method to reverse it?

Damn, I keep meaning to give you an answer to that question in one of my replies, but I keep forgetting.  So, I'm just gonna do it here:  Yes, sort of.  Large scale emp could have knocked out their headsets, or some sort of jamming could be interfering.

Sidenote: what I love about the Doctor is that he is the sort of character that I actually believe could stop the army single-handedly.  Somehow.  And maybe not all at once.

He'd never tell us how, though.  Except maybe through interpretive-dance puppet show.

Zero, once again you are full of the win sauce.  my wife came into the room and asked why I was laughing.  Very hard to explain. Again, kudos.

So, Comstock, is the combat the harm you're trying to keep 'Tasm away from or is it Imp? Cause you're fully justified regardless which one it is....

... and pop goes the brain.

Seriously, now I am going to, on some level, consider Impetus 'little 'sis' and imagine him screaming like a nine year old girl at the prospect of violence.

I'm sure this will pass.  Really.

Haha. That's a great image right there.

Grin, i like it. At some level you're entirely accurate.  Remember, pre-eruption Imp was the guy who screamed like little girl while getting shoved into lockers.  Now, even though he does try to look cool and capable inside there's still some part of him that is gibbering fearfully wondering if the guys/girls he's fighting will stick him back in those damn lockers.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:38, Fri 24 July 2009.

Wow. Thank you very kindly!

Will the retreat of the armed forces be mark the wrap up the African campaign? Other than clean up and stuff like that, of course. I'd kind of like to continue, but I've very eager to let the new Players get involved. They've been very patient. Too bad we couldn't recruit them mid adventure.

Hey, Sam, if your still here, what do you think about a Quantum Bolt with the Merged Extra? It'd definitely allow you to hit targets, and with a hell of a lot of 'oomph.'

As previously stated, after all this winds down I will then shift to summary posts for a short while, where people can further tell of their adventures, and I can round out the story.  Then we'll fast forward, I'll do a catch up post, and you guys can do some interim/catch up posts, and then we should be up to speed.

Comstock, Quentin isn't there. He met Zero somewhere else and then sent him on ahead before going back to the capital (which will be more claerly reflected in my next post, which is currently in progress).