I was wrong. 5th time's the charm!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 1):

I don't believe it.

What's funny about our antics right now?

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 3):

probably their futility.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 4):

Entertaining doesn't have to mean funny.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 5):

Cool idea Billy. Checking something with Watcher and then we’ll get going

In reply to Muse (msg # 6):

So... we've got an hour long run between us and the stadium.

Atop the stadium are the ships.  We don't know if there is a ladder or anything to get from the floor up to the hangars.

All that being said, lets just say that I decided to say fuck it and fly straight there.  How do my boosters interact with the microgravity on the planet?  Do I have enough battery to get there?  How long would it take me to fly?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 7):

Does Barachial not think blowing up the airlock from the outside is a good idea or is he waiting for Fiernas' input on the subject?

Am I correct in my assumption that blowing the airlock hinders their pursuit but minimizes the collateral damage?  I mean that is what its there for.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:46, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 8):

The NPCs will generally (but not always) await input from all PCs before taking a dramatic action.

You could fly there faster than you could walk, though you'd have to leave Hadrian behind with the others. There are probably ships on the platforms but you can't actually see them from where you are to confirm this.

Your thrusters aren't designed for long overland flight on a planet or moon -- they're really more suited for being in zero G. Your suit's battery has 20 charges on it. It takes 4 charges to blast off and 2 per round to maintain flight (at PR speed, which is 4 areas per round), which gives you a total range of 32 areas on a full battery, at which point you'd lose all functions of your suit that require energy charges to operate.

Those numbers are for Earth gravity, though. Titan's gravity is much weaker than Earth's, so for our purposes we can assume you only need to use, say, a quarter of the usual energy to achieve the same effect. That means you're looking at 1 charge to blast off and 0.5 charge/round to maintain. This increases your range to around 150 areas, if my envelope math is even close to accurate.

The compound is about 100 areas away, give or take (I haven't mapped out the whole planet in area-sized chunks, but that feels about right). So you could fly there and have some juice left in the tank afterward if you wanted to, but you couldn't get there and all the way back on the same battery.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 9):

And while you don't know about any ladders, you do know there are lift tubes inside the towers that lead to the top (on the inside).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 10):

OK, sounds good.  How much time would I save flying vs. Walking.

...What if Kayla were to give me a gravitational boost?

Also am I correct in my undertanding that if you blow the exterior door of an airlock you can do it with minimal damage to the interior of the facility?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:00, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 11):

If Kayla had full mastery over gravitational powers she could both fly and assist others in flying, in theory.

Blowing off the external door would still deal significant damage unless the airlock was depressurized first. As you never "used" it, it is still under normal pressurization until it is cycled.

You can only walk a couple areas per round, so you'd save significant time flying even at poor speed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:08, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

I'm fine with Barachiel damaging the airlock to hinder pursuit.  They already know we're out here, so slowing pursuers is a good idea.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 13):

This thing about flying reminds me of panels 2 and 3 of this comic: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0760.html
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:05, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

I think the concern is that if you blow the outer door while the airlock's pressurized it will likely blow outward, potentially peppering you guys with shrapnel, not anyone in the base.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 15):

Could watcher clarify this. You say significant damage but I would think that fiernas point stands where it wouldn’t breach the interior.  Also it seems there is a time lag on barachials bombs so he may be able to get to safety.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 16):

Nightmare to barachial

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 17):

Ok to clarify, your best guess as to what would happen if you punch a hole in the airlock from the outside while it's pressurized (which it is) is that shrapnel would fly all over the place, but mostly outward as the air escapes from the breach. That's the main damage to you guys, though anybody with an armored suit is at only a slim risk for actual harm. And if you stand way back while Barachiel fires at it from a distance, there's virtually no chance of damage to yourselves in this way.

Once breached, the airlock wouldn't really work until the hole gets fixed. It won't be able to "cycle" properly, so anybody who wants to get in will have to either approach from the outside or risk making a similar (and similarly dangerous) hole on the other side to get in. And of course they'd need EVA gear on either way.

It would definitely slow someone who wanted to follow you down...unless they were already dressed in EVA gear and didn't care at all about collateral damage to the station or others aboard it.

This also doesn't take into account any super powers your foes might possess.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:08, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 18):

Right but at least the deal is that we caused minimal damage with maximum hampering of our pursuit with essentially no risk to anyone.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 19):

To "make more" what?

I don't think a stealth mission of any sort remains possible but if you want to split up I have zero problem killing you one by one :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 20):

I know the Barachial won't be able to make more bombs en route.  But we have a long walk and need something to talk about...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 21):

Unless I'm getting killed on my own.  I just absolutely love her skill set to go all rogue...  besides she really is best suited as an ambush predator.  She has been in far too many fights where the opponent is on level footing.  The Olson fight where we are just in an all out slugfest is like her worst case scenario.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:26, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 22):

Again, if you want to split up you're welcome to do so. But I'm like 99% sure I designed this encounter in such a way that it can't be solo'd. That's the only warning I'm giving you :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 23):

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 24):

No, that only works when you're doing it to one of his many in-game avatars.  Now you're tempting fate.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 25):


You may be right on that


Also my boosters are not Poor, they are Typical so that would make me die even faster.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:41, Wed 10 Jan 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 26):

DJ Laser Fist over here. Nice job.

In reply to Muse (msg # 27):

Dude I laughed out loud to the point where I choked after reading that post.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 28):

If you play the Amgine backwards it sounds like Stairway to Heaven

In reply to Muse (msg # 29):

Only if you turn up the RpM on the player.

...wow this line of jokes only works with old farts...

Could have sworn they were poor when I checked their stats...

In that case you can move 2 additional areas per round relative to Poor boosters.

Reiterating that if you fly ahead, that'll trigger a party split. Which is fine, but the rest of your current split won't just sit on their thumbs and wait. And if their actions happen to compromise you, that's not my problem ;)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 31):

I think we keep the party together...  Though Nightmare is kinda a passenger ATM.  She will make offers/information but won't make a decision.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Thu 11 Jan 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 32):

Just two magical spacerocks having a time...

In reply to Muse (msg # 33):

...of their liiiife...

Amgine's neeee-ver felt this way before

and I swear

it's the truuuuuth

and it owes it all to Muse

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 34):

I helped.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 35):

I'm really dying to know the behind the scenes of what is going on with team kamikazee.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 36):

Nothing to see there. No reason to rubberneck... :)

Also I forgot to resolve something Fiernas asked about previously -- this is now resolved. My bad. There are a lot of balls in the air right now.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 37):

There is something very wrong with me lately...

I lost the thread of what's happening with Team Kamikaze a while back.  Then got it again.  Then lost it again.  Ad infinitum.

Team Titan, we might have a happy curveball here.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 39):

Team Kamikaze is aboard an Amgine ship. Its pilot is on the top floor in stone-glass dais. There are Lith on the bottom floor who want to destroy that dais, but they stopped when told that the Lith Ambassador was on his way via a recording of an earlier conversation Team Kamikaze had with the man.

There is now a standoff of sorts playing out wherein the humans on the ship have to decide whether to defend the Amgine ship from the Lith and then intercept Vasquez's fleet (which contains the Ambassador mentioned above) or even warn Braeburn/Apex about it. Or if they want to side with the Lith and destroy the dais/ship. Or if they want to just peace out and leave well enough alone, traveling to Titan proper to talk to Apex (whom they have not yet met).

A complicating factor is that Muse's stone was used to rough up the dais glass, and when that happened Muse was able to communicate with the Amgine directly (as he has thus far done with Xander, Billy, and Bradford at various times). Nobody saw how that conversation played out.

RE: Team Titan's curveball, I'm working on it but it might take a while. With people able to see both the future and the past I have to be a lot more careful to keep my narrative super duper consistent (and more concretely planned out for longer intervals in advance) than I've had to be in the past and it takes longer than I'd like it. Thanks for your patience!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 40):

Who can see the future?

Used to be you! But now a whole team"sees" it by living in it until I can merge things back together.

Fiernas Holm's player: Making DM choices frustratingly difficult since 1989.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 43):

So Barachial swims across, Fiernas and a dog boat across (since Fiernas knows where the hell we are going).  I stay with a dog and Kayla.  If there is a boat on the other side then Fiernas and Barachial can bring them back and get both of us, if not then barachial brings the boat back gets Kayla and a dog, then swims back and I fly back.

Thats minimum number of trips I think.

This is like one of those fifth grade brain teasers...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 44):

but what if the dog eats the fox while fiernas is on the boat?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 45):

Then we juggle!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 46):

Well then so much for team kamikazee causing a time paradox...

I'm pleased to note that they do not appear to have. Yet.

I dunno...fly casual.

I assume we're looking for some kind of installation or base of operations on the surface.  If we don't find anything there are some lessons to be learned from Ceres but since we've seen the future, there is something on the surface to find (unless it's cloaked or something, I guess).  Xander's both in command and the pilot's chair so if he has any better ideas defer to him.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 49):

Plan A-and-a-half  I like that.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 51):

The Power Detection thing is called Baxter's Eye. I don't see it listed among Rebecca's equipment so I don't know where it is right now.

There was only ever one, and it was installed into Persephone (and is now lost) as far as I can tell.

There is a different Power Detection tool Rebecca does have available to her, but IIRC it's not as good as the Eye. I also don't see that on her sheet, and I should see it there if you intend to use it (oversight, or did something happen to it?)
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Fri 19 Jan 2018.

Taking this to private

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 53):

I can't really advance Kamikaze 'til I know if Abraxis is coming (or Xander for that matter, I suppose). Not rush, just an FYI :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 54):



Its lines like this that make me love Billy.

Aw geez

In reply to Muse (msg # 56):

My thoughts exactly.  Was wondering is this where the timelines start getting super close or are we still days away.

Sorry bad with time IRL... bad with time in game.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 57):

We're a couple days away.  it's possible we're the business he had to get to when you first met him.

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

Billy with the upper hand is such an insufferable jackass and I love him for it.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 59):

Billy pretending to have the upper hand is an insufferable jackass, what did you expect to happen when it was genuine?

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 60):

I expected a lot, but this is a masterwork.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 60):


This message was last edited by the GM at 15:17, Wed 24 Jan 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 62):

One day Billy is going to get a gun.  And shoot people with it.  And start losing.  And then he's going to use that very line.  I have a quest now.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 63):

I've made a few posts to the rules thread that are worth reading, particularly the bit about tactics.

The force field/body armor entry may change depending on how people feel about it. At the moment, they function as they used to.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 64):

So I don't understand the benefit of the fastball special... it doesn't seem very good...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 65):

All of the "tactics" are meant to be situational. In the case of Fastball Special, it's mostly good if you have a dude who sucks at range but can't close the gap to a guy raining down hell from afar (maybe there's a chasm, or the other guy can fly, or similar).

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 66):

OIC.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 67):

Waiting on a reaction from Fiernas to advance Trek.

And for me to off my duff to advance Kamikaze (sorry!)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 68):

FYI I'll be a bit slow... have a job interview today and an (unrelated) home inspection today.  Wish me luck.

If they're willing to play ball for alien negotiations and put us up in the interim Billy's got nothing to ask about.

So apex did specifically say we could park our ship ourselves. I don't want to put too fine a point about that, I just wanna make sure i'm not misinterpreting something here.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 71):

She did, but now they're offering to just move it for you instead. If you want to park it yourself you can ask Marian about that more firmly. She'll lead you to the ship if you wish.

To be clear, it is more desired that Xander go than it is Billy even go, as he's the only person that'd approved to pilot the damn thing.  I'll wait a bit for Xander to chime in before rolling forward with this.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 73):

Don't mind me, I'll just be over here personifying folks you'd really rather believe are mindless mooks... :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 74):

Wall of Text Crits You for UNEARTHY Damage!

Sorry 'bout that.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 75):

Does Team Kamikaze want to do anything specific before tomorrow's meeting? You are now on down time.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 76):

I wanted to hack the system and access a bunch of stuff I don't have permission to, but apparently we're not doing that, so no.

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

'til tonight, not tomorrow. I've edited my post, good call.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 78):

I'm going to be sporadic today.  We won our contract yesterday and have our end of contract stuff due.  So yay team.  But lots of work to do.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 79):

I love everything about Billy's response.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 80):

Soooo.... I think its good we didn't have Barachial swim...

We have no evidence that being eaten would be bad for him.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 82):

Hahaha

Also, individual health pools, sweet!

As this is Fiernas's first time in combat in the campaign, I'm a little rusty on how exactly it works.  I ask your forbearance if I do something wrong, and please ask for clarification if I'm about to accidentally do something criminally stupid.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 84):

You can't be any worse than my wife when tired who puts her head down and sleeps between rounds and then suddenly wakes up when its her turn, asks what to do and then falls back asleep.

No worries. We all started somewhere!

You must really love that woman.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 87):

I do.  Sheas actually amazing up until about 10:30, then she gets drifty.  One game she literally hit me with a Bible and screamed "I'm tryin' ta be holy!" at me.  Completely in character.

Also don't forget about the dog's turn.  What are they doing?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:01, Thu 01 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 88):

They were on the boat, and now they are on the beach with him. Movement actions work the same for dogs as they do for people.

That was the name of my power punk band in high school

In reply to Muse (msg # 90):

Made some refinements and QOL edits to the Kamikaze post. The overall effect is still more sloppy than I'd like -- sorry about that. If you're confused I'm happy to help smooth the scene over some more :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:45, Fri 02 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 91):

Also I think team Normandy is waiting on Barachial.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 91):

The only thing really confusing about the scene is you called him Abe before he actually introduced himself.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 93):

whoops, sorry. I've corrected that.

The other team's met Abe too, so I guess I accidentally used a proper noun early. My bad.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 94):

Action's to Fiernas, as I'm ruling the dog's movement to be part of last round's held action :)

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 95):

I would if I were you...

...for the record went out to lunch with my boss.... its possible... just maybe possible.... I had one too many beers.



Possible.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 96):

You would what? Tis your action!

Boss beers are good, incidentally.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:02, Fri 02 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 97):

I would rule the dog's movement as their held action...

Sorry if punctuation is lacking, I promise, not to write any client facing emails.  The lunch was...informative.... and highly interesting.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 98):

Holy cow you are schwasted

*Jealousy ensues*
This message was last edited by the player at 20:43, Fri 02 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 98):

Are you feeling better about your job than you did yesterday?

also i'm just trying to let Xander get some reaction in before pushing anything along on our side.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 100):

No. No I’m not.

Actually my boss took me out to lunch to tell me to get out of the company.

When I told him about the interview he said ‘now I know I’m leaving at the right time.’

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 101):

oh, well there's that then.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 102):

Just in case you were thinking I'm completely making space monsters up, rather than only mostly making them up:

https://relay.nationalgeograph...tter_impression=true

Confession: I only just now saw this article and felt a surge of vindication :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:07, Sun 04 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 103):

....yeah, there are a whole bunch of implications that a giant Apex predator (pun only kinda intended) would mean for Titan....

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 104):

Also short of sending the pups to literally charge the tentacles/monster the best thing you can do is to Shoot out one of the tentacles.

I think my best option is to attempt to rip Barachial out of its grasp, and if you can break the hold it would go a long way to helping.

/ooc I won't like tear Barachial in half doing this would I?

Also, unfortunately I can't really dig at its mind, since its considered mindless.  It also appears that this rule has in-game character based consequences as seen by the discussion with Hadrian and his cohorts regarding the ethics of alien vivisection.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 105):

Gee, if only someone in the same area was able to phase...

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 106):

Shut up your stupid face.

How much does Barachial weigh?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Mon 05 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 107):

Around 230lbs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:31, Mon 05 Feb 2018.

Billy's player also looks at Xander and arches an eyebrow as if to say "Well?"

I believe you owe a certain gemstone a response as well :P

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 110):

yes, but I'm actively waiting for Xander to chime in, as I mentioned before the tentacle talk.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 111):

Take your time.

In reply to Muse (msg # 112):

In a wretched corporate meeting today. Action still to fiernas correct?

Fiernas don’t worry about baraciel. I have him.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 113):

Oh and tomorrow all day as well.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 114):

We're still waiting on Fiernas's action, yes. And on Xander's in the other timestream.

Whether he believes you "have him" or not is open to debate. I don't mind some table talk here and there, but you might want to say something like "Hey, I've got a plan to help Barachiel" out loud to him if you want him to spend his turn focusing on something else :P
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:29, Mon 05 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 115):

Oof, tough luck on the Seabeast, Fiernas. Like *this close* to mounting that thing's head on your wall...

In reply to Muse (msg # 116):

Update to an I’ve got it line in character

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 117):

Rockin'.

Fiernas seems to have taken your word for it with his attempted killshot so, good luck!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 118):

OK.... so now we are building trust!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 119):

Also working out the last count of how much karma this will cost me...

My aim is good enough that an attempted killshot was probably my best bet to save Barachiel.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 121):

When posting damage should we do the raw damage output or damage - armor?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 122):

I've done damage - armor whenever it was a known quantity.  though I expect to screw that up a couple times now with the forcefield/armor update/actual rules.

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

If I've posted armor, force field, or Resistance values on the NPC entry it's helpful if you post the difference when you do damage (either the final total or the equation, eg, [Damage: 30 = 50-20], but I go back and double check either way when I tally the damage for a new round. Plus some foes have hidden defenses. So don't worry too much about it.

Regarding kill shots, keep in mind that sentient NPCs may have karma and they will absolutely apply it to their kill resistance if the situation arises.

Fortunately that situation won't come up very often, as using karma to force a kill check on a sentient NPC risks zeroing your karma pool for being unheroic.

This seabeast is not such an NPC, of course.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 124):

So it's not unheroic to kill animals? :(

In reply to Muse (msg # 125):

Look, you try negotiating with a hungry bear and I'll shoot it and we'll see who comes out looking more heroic.

In reply to Muse (msg # 125):

It certainly can be! As always, you gain more karma at the end of the chapter for being heroic than you do for merely completing your missions and surviving. Sometimes that means running away from the T-Rex instead of killing it. But sometimes that's not practical.

Worry not, you won't end up with your karma zeroed for defending yourself against a predator that's trying to kill you. As general rule, ask yourself "Is this action malicious overkill? Could I solve this problem without murder?" If the answer is yes, you may be risking karma at the end of the chapter. If the answer is no, you probably aren't.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:11, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

Haha. Guess it depends on how true your aim is against a mind-controlled bear with +5CS to hunger.

If killing animals zeroed out your karma, Fiernas would have come into this game with no karma, no skills, and no friends.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 129):

And a hell of a living room.

A big game hunter is you!

But yeah, don't worry about this. The rule is mostly to prevent you from kill-shotting a villain in the facehole when you could apprehend them instead.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 131):

Unless it's Doctor Olsen.  I will shoot every facehole she has if I see her again.

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

Man I keep telling you Olsen is dead. David Miles punched her a kajillion feet through the air into a Cerean crust of hostile slush and slurry... AND by that point her EVA suit was so porous it was practically Adidas moisture-wicking microfiber. No way she comes back from that. No way. I mean, to survive, she would have had to perform surgery on herself mid-flight, activate a mutant Life Support power, then trek for days to the nearest outpost without food, slip into the base and gotten off that rock entirely unnoticed.


...We should probably call Ceres.

In reply to Muse (msg # 133):

It says "deceased" right in my name on the cast list! You have nothing to worry about.

I'm starting to really wish that I had been part of the Olsen adventure.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 135):

The frequency at which Watcher brings Olsen into the OOC thread to verify own her demise all but confirms you'll get your chance, Fiernas. ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:14, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

What made this bitch so bad?

*fingers crossed for a dead seabeast*

Human experimentation on a level that would make the Third Reich blush.

Third Reich, pfff.  Pussies.

In reply to Muse (msg # 139):

no, what made her so bad was that there were three separate combat encounters involving her and every time she was propelled through a once-solid surface, and every subsequent combat she came back worse, and we concluded the last combat with her by slamming her through a once-solid surface, which is clearly the source of her powers.

also if you look at msg #17 in the NPC stats thread you can see her last known stat block which is just mathematically disgusting, so know that if she returns, it'll be worse than that.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:34, Tue 06 Feb 2018.

So it looks like she was a psychic support/healer who surrounded herself with an army of mutant goons?

They mostly objected to the fact that the mutant goons tended to have once been people they knew and liked.

This is why it's important to never like people.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 144):

Also one of them was Muse which posed a horrifying precedent mid-battle.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 145):

"Roll Psyche to not murderkill your friends."

Spent a good bit of karma not annihilating party members. Good times.

In reply to Muse (msg # 146):

Ah, memories.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 147):

I'm kinda glad I was severely concussed and only sort of remember this encounter.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 148):

RE: Rebecca's question, by my math the creature's sustained 205 damage and has 215 health, so I don't think it's down yet. Am I missing something?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 149):


Math is correct I carried an extra 1....

What about the results of the slam?  Does he let go?

Damn, I had thought that the beast had 165hp total.  Not sure how I misread that.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 151):

Apparently we all suck at math...

Jesus, Percy is a fucking hoss.  How big is he compared to this seabeast?

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 153):

not as big but he is about 3 meters tall... apparently Roshak are....physically imposing.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:49, Wed 07 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 154):

There's some math involved in Rebecca's post I want to discuss before we can resolve that scene.

Charge deals damage equal to Endurance or Body Armor, whichever is greater. Rebecca's EVA suit armor 20 is higher than her Endurance, so we use a base of 20 when she uses such attacks.

You also gain +1CS to hit (max of +3CS) and +2 points of damage (no max) for every area you moved through beyond the first during your charge.

Her suit provides TY (6) flight with the boosters activated, giving her a potential movement range of 6 areas. She began her turn 1 area away from her target, so she'll need to back up first before she can charge for any bonus damage.

Let's assume she flies backward 2 areas to make space (she is now 3 areas away), then charges forward 3 spaces (I can't think of way for her use the full 6 points of movement in a way that gives her 4 spaces of charging-ness).

She gets +2CS to the attack (she passed through 3 areas and the first one doesn't count) and +4 damage (again, passed 3 areas and first one is ignored).

So her attack threatens to do 24 damage to the target, mitigated by its armor which reduces the damage to 4.

That's just a little shy of polishing off the target. I want to make sure Rebecca understood her damage potential wasn't 30 on that attack before resolving it because I suspect she'd prefer to take a different action in hopes of doing the 10 damage needed to K.O. the thing if possible.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:46, Wed 07 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 155):

So my suit boosts my endurance to RM (30).  Does that not count towards charging endurance?

Also I can't add an area by banking the turn?
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Wed 07 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 156):

Banking a turn bleeds off enough speed to mitigate the bonus it might have provided. Charges are meant to involve straight lines. You could fly up 3 areas and down 3 areas to get a same-area charge, but you'd only get credit for the 3 downward areas, if that makes sense.

I forgot about the Endurance boost on your suit. Pft. Well done.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 157):

I like up 3 and down three.... superhero landing!

That's a lot of damage for a little girl in a spacesuit.  Can someone explain to me thematically how she's doing that much damage?

Looks like Nightmare and I had different ideas for handling the beast post-combat.  Keeping this huge thing alive (if it even still is after that walloping) when we're after bigger fish is going to be a tough sell.  Better to put it out of its misery, collect what data we can quickly, and move on.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 159):

I read mathematically, not thematically.  i'm dumb.  Thematically, she just rocket propelled herself into its face.  human bullet best bullet.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:06, Wed 07 Feb 2018.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 161):

My EVA suit grants me a significant amount of Endurance.  So I deal damage equal to that.  Even without it I also wear body armor and would deal damage to that.

I've always described her as a little fireplug in this suit as I imagine she is proportioned like a fire hydrant in it.  The suit is designed for rugged terrain and survivability.

So basically I'm a brick with a jetpack.

I'll protest but ultimately acquiesce to you killing him.  This is your domain more than hers.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 162):

Fear not -- the thing was dead before Fiernas finished it off. Typically only heroes and major NPCs fail to die automatically when they are reduced to 0 health, unless you specifically are aiming for a knockout blow.

@Nightmare, I think Fiernas will have issue with you doing anything to or with Hadrian so I'll wait for his reaction to you approaching him before moving forward there.

@Fiernas, charging attacks can pack a punch but they have limitations. The biggest limitation is that if you miss, you can plow into a nearby wall, structure, ally, etc. The other limitation is that you can seriously damage yourself (or your armor) if you hit something as tough or tougher than you or your armor's durability.

I guess that's part of my surprise, that she wasn't hurt when she kamikazed into this thing.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 164):

Makes sense, but yes, my EVA suit is purpose built for this.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 165):

Sometimes the Rule of Cool and/or Super Hero Physics come into play in this setting. The Charge rules (and, more broadly, the Slam rules) is such an instance.

He is part of the Rebel alliance and a traitor!

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 167):

Lando, is that you?

In reply to Muse (msg # 168):

Houston, I've got both parties on both timelines on boats plowing through lakes of liquid methane.

I love it when a plan comes together.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 169):

While that's all very aesthetic, I'm dying to have us exist in the same present.

Hopefully you'll be there waiting for us when we get there.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 171):

That would mean... another encounter.... likely.  I think we are a bit too dinged up for that.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 172):

That attitude just means I've spoiled you.

But we can fix that... :D

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 173):

Please don't.

Are we still dinged up?  I thought after combat that we all went back to ready status.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 175):

Humans regenerate Endurance-rank health every hour. People with a high FASE total but bad Endurance can take a while to heal.

It's bonding time!

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 177):

It was needed.  Also foreshadowing time!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 178):

I had thought we'd confronted the dead/not dead thing earlier during the Dynamis arc. Does Rebecca still believe herself to be undead?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 179):

At the moment, she believes she died, but is in some kind of intermediary state but tending towards alive.  So she has toned down the dead thing but she still has nagging doubts.  Billy gave her an out during the dynamis arc when he said 'maybe your both'... or something to that effect.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:49, Sat 10 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 180):

MFW I finally read the team kamikazee posts

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 181):

If you've been purposefully avoiding the other team's posts to keep OOC knowledge at a minimum, it is now safe to go back and catch up (if such is your desire).

Both arcs have been a blast, and it's been literal months of content so you have yourself a pretty cool story to read if you're into that sort of thing :)

Big congrats to all of us on finally (almost...) getting back together.  Let's have punch and pie.

Heads up to all that I'm about to get on a plane for a Hawaii vacation.  I should probably be able to update once a day (hope), but replies will be smaller since I'm going to be using only mobile.  Please be patient.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 183):

I'm dying... just dying to push through this wall and start screaming...

... I miss you guys :(.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 184):

Got an interview today so likely no posts for me.

I"m there for 5 hours... wish me luck :)

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 185):

Good luck!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 186):

Just a reminder that we're being patient and awaiting Hawaiian Fiernas to chime in. Soon we'll all be back together again...unless something UNFORESEEN occurs.

BRB, doing something entirely unrelated to plotting to keep you apart.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 187):

look if you're plotting to keep us apart you don't get to complain about potential further party splits.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 188):

...says the man cheekily twiddling his thumbs next door.

But no, it's merging time. Soon as it makes sense.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 189):

I'll be out of town Fri-Sun, so updates may be slower than usual (particularly when combined with Fiernas's current absence). We'll pick up normal cadence soon!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 190):

Have fun :).

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 191):

Also for the record, if you put us together we probably won't need you for at least a week ;).

Come Billy don't you feel a burning desire to burn a hole through a wall or something.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 192):

Did you not notice Billy's likening of the building to the Depthcharge's mobile lab?  The last time we punched a hole in one of those everything got worse.  Billy does stupid shit, but he does learn from the stupid shit that doesn't work out (he learns nothing from the successful stupid shit, if you hadn't noticed).  The walls stay.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 193):

Et tu Xander?!

I'm trying to stick to in-character knowledge only here. This sounds like a definite case of Somebody Else's Problem

In reply to Xander (msg # 195):

i don't blame you I'm just super antsy... I wish that Fiernas had me come through first and I would have announced myself in no uncertain terms.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 196):

I remain unable to do a proper update. I think it's fair to assume a Monday resumption. Thanks for your patience and enjoy your weekend!!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 197):

Ok folks, I'm back! Fiernas is traveling and having some update trouble so we'll give him a touch more time before we dive back in full-throttle.

I'm back from Hawaii!!  I apologize for unexpectedly dropping off the grid; I had anticipated being able to post by mobile, but spotty connections and an impenetrable RPOL server prevented it.  We're back in the swing now, though.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 199):

A gap well bridged. :)

In reply to Muse (msg # 200):

Also day after a long weekend, always crap time.

I think now would be an appropriate time for Billy and Xander to act, no?

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 202):

I was waiting for Fiernas to respond to Candy's reply.

I figured that if Billy and Xander heard a familiar voice calling them out, they might react.  But ok.

Watcher, is the door open to the room where team Kamikaze is hanging out?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:09, Tue 20 Feb 2018.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 204):

It's partially ajar, yes.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 205):

This is the perfect spot... hold on a minute guys.  Dealing with something then posting...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 206):

My post just disappeared... damnit!

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 207):

It's in the PM section. You can grab it from there.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 208):

Just found it :).

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 209):

We have us a Scooby Doo moment in the works.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 210):

The Space Spook was old man Hadrian the whole time!

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

Damnit!  My response got all blown to hell by the conversation that happened while I was typing.  OK i'll do it after I get through some stuff at work..

Priority #1 is soothing the room so Huck and Candy don't cut Hadrian up the second they see his face.

Spoilsport.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 214):

Will somebody let the girl who this is all about get a word in edgewise?!

Damnit every time I finish writing a post you jerks write a new post that completely invalidates the post that I write.

OK I'm trying for post number 6 for this situation.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 215):

...actually working something out with Watcher....Carry on.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:56, Wed 21 Feb 2018.

Note that my last question was directed at Abe, not Billy (edited for clarity).  Not sure if that's Billy being deliberately obtuse or not.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 217):

Tl;Dr Nightmare to Abe

it was Billy being flippant because my team already got that part.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 219):

Sorry for delays. Hashing out a few things with Rebecca on the back-end.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 220):

Hash faster

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

Hey, I've done my part. Awaiting buy-in.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 222):

In has been purchased...


And I whiff the roll...

I hate this die roller.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:02, Wed 21 Feb 2018.

Would someone take the helmet off before I laser it off.

Sorry to chime in so late. Been swamped moving. I tried to add in responses retroactively where possible.

How's the new house?

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 226):

Hopefully not possessed by the vengeful, squishy, spirit of C'thulu like mine...

Still under construction. We're moving our shit to storage and then crashing with my parents while they finish building it. Hopefully it will be done by July. But right now we're trying to sort out what we need to take with us to survive 4-5 months, and what we can pack away. Fun stuff.

In reply to Xander (msg # 228):

That sounds.... awful.

Good luck to you sir.

Thanks, we'll need it, lol.

In reply to Xander (msg # 230):

Is Hadrian's description the same as the one that I saw?  Or does it sound like he has seen a third version?  Thats what I was driving at.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 231):

Hadrian's version in consistent with the version Apex showed.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 232):

Abes site has archive but not crucible access correct?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 233):

Abe has very, very crappy Archive access and no Crucible access in this little hideout, correct.

***

Unrelated but important: while I don't expect the party to always be one big happy family, this whole "teamwork" thing only works if there's a plausible reason for folks to want to spend time together in the first place.

Current events illustrate this clearly:



Don't get me wrong, I'm totally cool with character drama. You CAN talk over people, or be hostile toward them, or whatever. It's interesting when unwilling allies have to come together for something larger than themselves.

BUT. But but but. Remember that roleplaying that stuff is tricky, and there's somebody on the other side of the screen who's trying to participate, too. Unless it's an NPC. You can be as mean as you want to them and I'll be totally fine with it. In part because that allows me to nudge the NPC in question into unfriendly waters...but I digress

Main point: the asshole-er tends to have more fun than the asshole-ee during such interactions. Muse recently reminded me that improv classes teach students the power of "Yes, and" -- I think some of those lessons are applicable here, too.

OK. Whew. All that said, I hope you're all enjoying the story as much as I am. Looking forward to the content to come, and if you have any questions or concerns about the above (or anything else!) please drop me a line and we'll hash 'em out :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:13, Thu 22 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 234):

For me at this point is that Fiernas the character had this exact same argument a few hours ago and Fiernas the player and I dealt with this at length a few weeks ago.  While I was able to smooth things over with both (I believe), the exact same argument for the exact same reason occured.  Even to the point where some of the language was nearly identical.

So I think we may need some meeting halfway on this point.  If you want to play the soothsayer who speaks in absolutes with characters who are skeptical then you need to spend a lot of time building up credibility.  Which when his power was stripped away, or he was couped up he was unable to do.

Nightmare has changed tactics on numerous occasions based on the group dynamic, I have seen a sea change and drastic difference in the way that Xander and Billy interact, and Muse has in character reasons for a drastic change in persona... Hell Fiernas changed the way he interacts with Nightmare, it may be time for Fiernas to just shift his approach for the rest of the group, just like everyone else has.  Show more of the caring side, less of the inscrutible and gruff.

Also the girl has had a hell of a day being whiplashed from the highest highs to the lowest lows within minutes of each other.

Also I don't mind being talked over so long as you don't mind a screaming show of force like you got from me.

Tl;DR I love the setting I love the game.  I find the characters rich and interesting, but sometimes a change in personal interactions is required.

My 2c
This message was last edited by the player at 20:37, Thu 22 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 235):

Like this is seriously been her day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bFNYu7VKpk

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 236):

Hey I'll chime in with some stray thoughts.

The Superhero Team framework doesn't function if one or more superheroes are constantly invalidating or overriding each others' powers and legitimacy. The conceit of a game like this is "You have powers? I have powers too! Let's share our powers and work toward something we both care about together."

I'm aware and I totally expect some level of disagreement that comes from playing characters straight. I think that's important to character integrity.

Example: the Ninja Turtles each had flaws. Raph and Mikey come to mind first (hothead & slacker) but Don was also too reticent at times and Leo too brash and stiff. But ultimately they did the work of overcoming their individual flaws to kick Shredder's ass.

Seems to me that a) our Shredder is undefined, nebulous, or is different for everyone in the party and b) there's not much desire to transcend personal flaws -or- those flaws are so huge that they're the actual Shredder... in which case, there needs to be even more desire to confront those personal flaws and vanquish them

Are our characters arcing toward healthier, more resilient & realized versions of themselves? Or is this a sitcom, where we pass a variety of scenarios through a set of fixed characters and that's the entertainment? Are we even interested in the larger plot arc and willing to hew our characters on it? To me, that's the biggest thing to agree on.

As an side: if we're seeking to be realistic about how groups of people come together and butt heads and ultimately work as a team, here's a good paradigm:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...of_group_development
This message was last edited by the player at 21:37, Thu 22 Feb 2018.

In reply to Muse (msg # 237):

All good points.  Nightmare does have an arc and has been progressing she is not as emotionally stunted as she used to be and is significantly more aware... if it doesn't look like it from outside then I'm doing something wrong :-/...

I would be inclined to also say that the turtles had a long history of trusting each other and when you are looking at teams coming together there tends to be four stages

1. Forming - initial getting to know each other
2. Storming - a choppy phase
3. Norming - finding our normal
4. performing - hitting our stride

So you tend to see groups in phase 4, we are currently... obviously in stage 2.  At some point we need to work our way out of it.

Though I love what you're saying and it crystallizes (heh get it?) exactly what we are going through.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 238):

But that also broke down majorly on the base. When he unilaterally abducted Hadrian directly against my wishes without any warning. I can’t even think of a situations here that happens In these superhero groups. That’s not countermanding my power that is blowing up my whole spot. Especially when I had Hadrian  right where I wanted him.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 239):

Well, that's just dramatic irony. You know something the audience doesn't know, and a situation that might or might not been totally in control gets blown all to hell. Every sitcom ever made uses the technique, and I think it played out pretty well for a Charlie Foxtrot.

A good example of what I'm seeing is more like the first X-Men movie. Cyclops and Wolverine bickered the entire time because they so badly loathed each other, and it wasn't particularly fun to watch. This relationship was handled much better in subsequent versions of the characters.

Compare that to Thor and Loki, who hate each other but are really entertaining to watch interacting with each other.

There's some wiggle room in this setting due to the nature of forum-based games, as well, which we should all keep in mind. I've often had to re-write posts because one of you did something unexpected halfway through an update. The irritation passes quickly as I delete what I had put together, then I smile and craft a suitable response that drives the story forward. At this point I kinda love it because it shows folks are engaged :)

I don't want people to suddenly go out-of-character just because they encounter someone with PC-colored text bubbles, to be clear. Just more mindful of the whole "yes, and" thing that drives delicious, delicious interaction. You can usually still get where you're going, it just takes a somewhat different route than was imagined. And I've found that's usually ok, too.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:24, Thu 22 Feb 2018.

Muse if I could piggyback on some of this, I think you have cut to the heart of several current issues

this really rings true to me.  Aside from the fact that we've had at least three or four big bads with radically different motives and agendas, there is no one threat that our entire party is against, and none of our motives seem to be necessarily in-line.  Billy's trying to be as big and incredible as possible, Rebecca is trying to discover and rebuild her identity, David was apparently trying to find somewhere to belong while he was on the run while Muse's motives run somewhat counter to Billy's plans and are so massive and incomprehensible as to be difficult to latch onto (not even saying that's bad, something grand-scheme scale could be exactly what we need).  I honestly don't know what Xander and Fiernas are motivated by.  Xander was following his heart for a good chunk of the game, but with Kelce apparently dead and Faust properly revengenated, I don't know where he's going.  There's nothing wrong with a team having different priorities and motivations, but there's not a lot of talk about what they are or how they do and don't align with each other.

also on the subject of the group development we've had a bit of a sixth ranger situation (and seventh and eighth) where Billy, Muse and Fiernas have all come into an established group (at least at phase 2 or higher already) and basically upset the whole boat back to the beginning as a new dynamic has to be established even as the group has yet to fully crystalize.

Being guilty of this for both Muse and Fiernas I feel compelled to speak in my defense.  I honestly have tried to play the cynic mostly as an opportunity for some character sheet exposition.  The best way for me to know what someone can do is to have Billy ask, and the character is conveniently blunt enough to do just that. It's a lot easier to buy into superpowers and join forces when a demonstration is evident to all parties involved (I can shoot lasers, look at my cool robot, I just grew a second set of arms), but sixth senses really bear explaining in absence of hard cause and effect.  I honestly feel like it's an unfortunate series of events that have me continuing to be the cynic as hard as I have.  Muse's future sight being due to the dark force was an acceptable explanation, but also super suspicious in the wake of it being established that the darkforce had a mind and agenda of its own.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 241):

All great points Billy, I'm following. A few (hopefully) in response.


This is a potent combo -- Billy's innate skepticism plus asymmetry of (verifiable) information. I can see how there'd be a heightened and persistent level of "Why should I believe you" at play, and to me that's not what seems to be creating the most static at the moment.

What I think we run into playing this game online is the inability to peer across the table and gather intent. If we were all sitting in Watcher's living room scarfing down Cheetos and chugging Mountain Dew, it would easy to look at my face/body language and know how I felt about what Muse was doing -- or what I was making Muse do, if you like. "Muse took Percy away from Nightmare, that was a dick move!" -- but if you'd seen me as I typed that post, you'd probably have noticed me shaking my head and smiling. "Yep, gotta do it. This is what Muse would do, and Muse is about to get him some good-ol'-fashioned book learning. Playing dumb for fun." Probably woulda said that aloud, too. Then stuffed my goddamn face.

Instead, what we get is a distant cousin of road rage. We see someone's vehicle (character) do something that acts as an impediment our vehicle, and we don't know why and we can't figure it out without asking or the other person volunteering. And frankly, it's no fun having to telegraph intent every single time. In any case, the characters' actions are not easily separated from the player's actions.

Like if Xander, for example, doesn't believe me, I can't tell the difference between the character Xander not believing me and the player Xander not wanting to believe me. They both look the same. It's easier to take it personally -- especially if it's happening consistently -- than it is to see the pattern of behavior as consistent with the character.

So maybe we're running into a little of that here. Assumption's a bitch. Curious what y'all think.


My current rock form is an interim char -- new char coming soonish -- but what we have achieved is the creation of at least one grand-scheme conflict that can be used to bind up the characters -- or at least give them all something to riff from. Watcher of course can determine the imminence of the threat, the impact, and whether or not the little gem is accurate in his warning. But it's a possibility.


Totally justified. I evolved future sight for that character because I've experienced that in this game in particular, knowledge is power. Watcher seems to reward gathering info and rejecting binary options, which Billy does very well. Billy has Archive access and makes great use of connections. I gave Muse future sight so he could a) be of value to the group by contributing knowledge and opening up options for us and b) hold his own and provide a counterbalance to situations.

Whew, verbose. That's all I have though. Thanks for giving it a look-see, all.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:21, Fri 23 Feb 2018.

In reply to Muse (msg # 242):

Maybe this is exactly what we needed.  I don't know if explicit OOC explanations of characters helps.

Oh also Muse.  I knew you were laughing your ass off when you did that.  You didn't need to say a word to me.  I was laughing as I was writing the response.  But we rolled with that.  Muse having the glitter on his forehead calling me a monster turned into a bonding moment.  Perhaps this is something we can do.  Fiernas and I had some bonding moments after the Hadrian deal, but that was so sour and so recent she hasn't quite moved on yet.

But we did all just get chucked together again and we have some severe differential in familiarity going on.  Billy and Xander are like Nightmare's brothers, whereas Fiernas doesn't have the same level of familiarity.  So while it may not be superhero behavior, it is human behavior.

Billy and Nightmare's are similar in a lot of ways... IRL I'm a scientist, and Nightmare...WAS my pure scientific mind.  When the game started she spoke in full scientific paragraphs to hide the fact she had no idea who she was.  So when someone comes in with blanket statement like when Muse just told me about the galactic peril, first her bullshit detector goes off.  Then I immediately say... ok... and... how do you plan to verify this.

I've mentioned in game and in the OOC thread about how she literally keeps a file for each of you.  It is so she can string together seemingly unrelated events, predictions and snap decisions and chart their results.

For example, Billy shoots Gestalt in the knee.  The unexpected action actually separates Gestalt from his body guards giving us time to gain control of the situation.  Leading to a much simpler fight IIRC.  I remember there was a reason shooting Gestalt was a good idea.  Chalk one up for Billy.

I end up as de facto in charge of the passengers on the boat.  I send Holt to stop Penny from screwing around with the missiles.  I almost kill both of them and damage the ship.  One loss for Nightmare. TBH she believes she is a terrible leader.

Though we also have an issue with some of the team saying their one thing and being another.  I was supposed to be a completely impassive scientist... turns out I'm pretty spicy.  Perhaps we need to look and see if we are playing the role in the party we chose for the character and then if that matches our actions.  Then change either our actions or redefine our role.

Though is anybody actually feeling put upon?  Or are we chasing our tails?

This may in fact be the case, but I can say personally I try to treat everything done in-character as being solely in-character and don't attribute any of a character's actions or attitudes directly to the player.  That said, there have been events where I basically just had to shout at my screen "What were you thinking?!"  I can also absolutely agree that it's easy to take it personally if friction consistently happens from one source, but I really hope none of us is actively trying to make anyone else have a worse time and it's important to remember that too.


I think some of this is natural and is the difference between conceiving of a character and actually experiencing them, but it's important to be self-aware as it happens.  I originally expected Billy to be the crazy ride-along on super-spy adventures that he had no proper business being part of, but shortly after joining up there was an apparent vacuum in party leadership and so he took off on his own initiative and the rest of the party followed, giving birth to the overbearing lead-by-making-it-up madhouse he is today.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 244):



This, a 1,000 times this.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 245):

...and actually I do have an idea for a way to do that bonding moment in character.  Similar to when we essentially went over abilities and you guys found out my backstory.  We could do something similar for motivations.

I think the upcoming inflection point will be a good time for it.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 246):

I’m writing a response but we have a lot of impromptu meetings today.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 247):

Sorry for the book guys.  I may be IRL confused.

Billy, you want Hadrian to get the information, return to Abe's hangout, then represent Apex at the Roshak tribunal.  Is this correct?

Great point. Thanks y'all for being willing to talk it through.

No, I want everyone else to hijack the ship Xander and I came here in while Xander me and Hadrian get the info and then we all meet up at the ship and blow this pop stand.  Abe's hangout is going to be a writeoff as far as I'm concerned.

Hadrian representing apex I'm into, but I'm not sure why we keep calling it a tribunal. there's going to be a single arbiter (Sophia) making the call.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 250):

@ Muse

I just hope that we have the right people discussing it.  I have a feeling you Billy and I are the least impacted by this... I hope Xander and Fiernas feel the warm fuzzies we are intending.

@ Billy

Oh ok so this is the Sophia lead arbitration.

Also, not sure how much it will help but between rocket boosters and my freedom of mobility I will be able to get onto the ship without much trouble and am capable of flying the ship.  So I don't know if that makes life easier.  However Abe's plan becomes significantly easier when I'm involved.

So we would bail after knowing the results of the arbitration but uncertain of the outcome of the enforcement of said arbitration?

Unfortunately I'm in kind of a damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don't situation here.  On the OOC side, it often does seem like some characters are deliberately being played to sap fun from the situation, and otherwise potentially good moments just get ground down to the nub.

But if what I'm seeing is just genuine roleplaying moments of a character being insufferable, then Fiernas in-character would never hang around with them.  When my character's primary interaction with the group is being challenged, harangued, insulted, or outright threatened, it means he loses his willingness to work with or even be present with these people.  This might be no ones fault on one level (e.g. Rebecca might just be acting like a legit teenage girl), but that doesn't help Fiernas want to ally with them (source: I do not have any teenage girl friends IRL).  When I constantly have to justify actions as, "Ok, I want to be a part of this game, so let's not have Fiernas just peace out," then I no longer have a legitimate reason to be present.  It's simply bad storytelling, as well as unsatisfying roleplaying.

It's an interesting character option to roll up someone who's abrasive or anti-social, sure.  But just like in real life, if someone is consistently abrasive or anti-social, eventually people stop engaging.

Chiming in late here, as usual.

IMO, interparty conflict is fine, as long as it's progressing towards growth.

For what it's worth, Xander is kind of just along for the ride at the moment, in part because my IRL is insane, and in part because what I *thought* was going to be a major character conflict for him (he's on the run from Braeburn, which he has an irrational fear of due to data dumped into his brain when he accessed their black site mainfame) ended up being sidelined, because an interstellar war seemed a lot more pressing and I couldn't justify getting hung up on my backstory IC in light of all that.

I imagine Xander's wanted status is not out of the woods yet, so that may come back to influence his decision-making, but I also think that I may need to re-evaluate what he wants. I have some ideas about that though, which I'm discussing with Watcher.

Lastly, I'll echo the opinion about the lack of a Shredder. I think that, perhaps more than anything else, has contributed to this group being so fragmented. We're all coming from different places, and are being confronted with a cast of characters and organizations that are ambiguously moral. Which is cool - it's messy and gritty and very realistic in the sense that there's never a real Darth Ominous McArchvillain in real life.

However, the lack of a central conflict that A) the whole party is united that we need to do something about, B) that the party is actually capable of doing something about, and C) that the party is agreed on the manner in which to go about doing that thing has really slowed down the teambuilding process.

It also doesn't help that for the past forever, we have actually been two completely separate games.

In reply to Xander (msg # 253):

Not to digress from what I feel is a very important conversation, but Xander, your "wanted" status is absolutely still relevant. It just hasn't popped into the foreground yet.

I don't intend to introduce Kaiser Villain McEvil to this game, but I do have more than a few antagonizing things planned that should be worth rallying against.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:19, Fri 23 Feb 2018.

given that you and Kayla (as the most likely non-Xander pilots) would both take a -2CS, I'm not sure how capable anyone would be of flying it well.  Plus there's the whole thing where the base is on high alert, so just being able to physically get one person into the ship is not the hard part.

As far as bailing, the plan involves bailing off Titan to get to the IDA fleet and alien emissaries to hold the arbitration.  It's likely we would know the results of that before and if we chose to bail on the fleet or any kind of follow-through.  However I think the getting off of Titan in one piece is far and away the harder part of this plan than the arbitration itself.


I honestly feel like Fiernas has missed a step somewhere in his incorporation to the party and I don't know who's ultimately responsible or if it's just an unfortunate circumstance.  Going back to the FSNP sequence Muse and Nightmare brought up above, Firenas never really had a proper introduction to the team, and wasn't really able to contribute to major events until after the party split.  While Rebecca and Kayla have had time to know him, Xander, Billy and Muse have spent what, like twice as long having nothing to do with him as they have spent time with him.  If you jump into the storming part where people are going to voice opinions and question each other without having even established a rapport first then yeah, everything comes up assholes.

Also, like I said above, I'm really unclear about his motivations in the first place.  He initially joined us when the alternative was being blown up along with a terrorist ship, he kept with Rebecca and Kayla because the alternative was a suicide mission or being alone somewhere in an unknown corner of space, but what is actually compelling him to be part of this team aside from his relation to the people?  If the only reason he's here is as the preferable alternative to certain death or abandonment then yeah I can see why you wouldn't want to hang around in your off hours, but that also comes with obvious limitations on the inter-character relations.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 255):

@Billy

Oh yeah I forgot about the -2CS.  Damn.  But thats what I said is I wasn't so sure about me getting on the ship being all that relevant.  If we had the ghost drive that becomes a whole other sack of potatoes and I think that we should build that at our first convenience.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 256):

Why not let the rock do the flying? Having arms can only complicate things.

In reply to Muse (msg # 257):

Can you smell what the Rock is crashing?

Let the rock drive, they said.  What's the worst that could happen, they said.  Then BAM, we're in an 8quel.

That is a good point about the length of time Fiernas has spent with Billy and Xander. I think it would be good to keep in mind that he has spent very little time with either of them prior to the party split, so he's not much of a known quantity, and some of that trust building work will need to be redone.

From Xander's perspective, Fiernas seems like a genuinely good guy with a useful ability, who then blasted off into space to help Xander's friends.

Fast forward until now, Xander doesn't know Fiernas well, but the fact that he's still with the team and trying to help speaks volumes in Xander's mind, and he's willing to give him the benefit of trust because of it.

That being said, Xander still feels like he doesn't know much about Fiernas, and that will need to get played out at some point. It will be helpful once the team has a moment to actually debrief and catch each other up (so far this reunion has taken up all of what, fifteen minutes?).

Once we have a moment where we can say "Okay, now all OOC knowledge about the other game is now IC," I expect things will get a lot smoother.

In reply to Xander (msg # 260):

From Billy and Xander's perspective, Fiernas is little different from Holt, Tyndall, or Darling.  In terms of length and intimacy of knowledge.

We have known each other much longer, but our relationship has been stunted by the time you spent without your power.

I know that its not fun at the moment, but what Billy and Xander have said about time ring true for us as well.  Watcher, correct me if I'm wrong but in the last 12 or so hours Nightmare has:

• barfed in a trash can over seeing fake footage of an event that shattered her life for years.
• Gone on her first date.
• Had that first date interrupted as he was kidnapped, then knocked unconscious.
• Almost fought her own teammates.
• Experienced something with Kayla that she doesn't understand.
• Steeled herself to go on a suicide mission to steal a ship.
• Found out her date was an auger.
• Fought a giant terrifying squidtopus that nobody knows existed and almost killed Kayla if her grav manipulation didn't work.
• Had a few bonding moments with Fiernas where she isn't ready to kill him but has stepped back to merely very angry
• Was reunited with the rest of the team who she had written off as dead.  Experiencing relief and joy that she has never felt in her life
• Found out that neither she nor Hadrian are particularly welcome.
• Was shown the real version of the footage.
• Has managed to (ostensibly) flip Hadrian to being tentatively on our side
• Is now preparing to go on another suicide mission to retrieve Apex's version of the footage

So its been a tough day.  You and I being on edge makes sense, to me (IC).  However, if that is sapping the OOC fun then when my inflection point comes lets use it as a rallying time to see if we can get us on the same page.

Funny enough I am reading Thunderbolts: Heroes for hire and they are having the exact same issue as we are.  As they face a nebulous fate where they are clearly the protagonists trying to save the world.  However, at the same time the Squadron Supreme is trying to save the world by stopping the thunderbolts...

I mean even (in the movies) Captain America and Iron Man fought over Bucky.

So it seems when you have a group of extremely powerful ideologues who unerringly follow their own moral compass, as I believe each of us are doing, then in the absence of Kaiser McEvil, some level of conflict is inevitable as there is no object right and wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:15, Sat 24 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 261):

Yeah, I say let's let the action ride a bit -- give our chars some natural in-game time to coalesce -- now that we've all made intentions known. This is a pretty big resolution point for Nightmare and I'd hate to see that zenith curbed or rounded off solely in service to Kumbaya.

Fiernas actually has a lot going on with this.... The "Apex vs. The Roshak" storyline has a lot of meat for him.  We haven't been able to get into it at all because the only people willing to talk to him are the NPCs.  Billy, Xander, and Muse have been off doing their own thing, and now that we're back together, Fiernas can't get through a 5-minute conversation before he's pushed to the side and accused of being unimportant, untrustworthy, and a liar.  Nightmare threatens to kill him every couple of hours, and even though they've been to hell and back over the last few weeks, she'll gladly join the dogpile of pointing out how useless and untrustworthy he is.



It would be so easy for someone - ANYONE - to take the stance of "Hey, I don't quite understand Fiernas, but he does often seem to know things that we don't know, so maybe we should take a minute and hear what he has to say before we start yelling at him."  That wouldn't violate anyone's character.  That's just basic sense.  There's no leap of roleplaying logic required.  Yet no one seems willing to say that, and that fact says a lot.

It would so easy for anyone to say, "Oh, that guy with the dogs is still around.  He didn't peace out with the other civilians.  Maybe that indicates that there's more to him than we'd originally thought, especially if our trusted associate Nightmare sees fit to work with him, let's figure out what his deal is."  That takes zero effort.  It would make sense.  But that's not what comes out.



I really don't think it's the lack of a unifying foe.  After all, Apex is a unifying foe.  But even when everyone is standing around agreeing that we need to go take down Apex, we still can't all just be in it together.  This isn't about relationships or overarching character motivations, this is about the basic ability to be civil to people.

If a player's answer to that is genuinely, "Yeah, but my character is just pathologically un-civil and hates strangers and new people and never listens to anyone who isn't already a trusted friend,"   ....Well, ok, that's a decision you can make.  Fiernas is definitely the kind of guy who won't subject himself to that.

Billy accused him of being a liar immediately after being lied to.  That does found the idea of him being untrustworthy.  As for unimportance, that gets back to the issue of them having barely interacted.  The extent of Billy, Xander and Muse's interaction with Fiernas he was one of multiple civilians being rescued from the AoS ship but he was not involved in any official or professional capacity, so for the month they spent together Billy had no cause to see him as anything other than another passenger.  He is unimportant to Billy.  Even in light of him working with Rebecca and Kayla, no one has suggested that to be more than a relationship of convenience and/or necessity.

I can't speak directly for Nightmare's willingness to kill him, but Fiernas did kinda ruin her day and not really give any ground to her multiple objections against his actions in general and treatment of Hadrian specifically.  Also Billy threatens to shoot people constantly, it might be a learned behavior.


The problem and apparent cause of friction is that Fiernas doesn't seem to know things; he says he knows things, which is different.  It was established before the party split that Fiernas was able to follow trails via non-standard tracking methods.  This is the extent of his power that was confirmed empirically for the whole party, and the thing Kayla and Rebecca leaned on while on your space journey.  He has claimed knowledge about a great many things recently, including Hadrian and Apex but when questioned about that knowledge has offered no source other than his sixth sense, which means the one feature of it the rest of us understand isn't actually understood, or it has more function than anyone but you is aware of.  Either way, asking for an explanation is not an unreasonable reaction.  Nightmare and Billy have both directly questioned his statements but his explanation about how he knows what he knows was either nonexistent or dismissive.

In the same way Fiernas has no reason to hang out with people who are abusive toward him, we have no reason to hear out a person who can't support their own claims in basic discourse.


this gets back to the being lied to above, the other civilians didn't peace out, they were abandoned on a crashed ship. He could just be lucky.  He said he was working with Nightmare and Kayla but has obviously and drastically different opinions on Hadrian than Nightmare does, so there are clearly differences of opinion to be sorted out.  Again, Fiernas has stated his opinions quite clearly, but given no explanation for them.  Hadrian should be cuffed and watched because he has mind-control powers, but those have not been evidenced and are apparently not of concern for the little girl the rest of us know has terrific psychic powers (and some personal history with hating a guy who mind controlled her, which Fiernas probably doesn't know about.)


Fiernas has himself been uncivil to Hadrian and Rebecca in recent events and is clearly not on the same page as most of the party in one way or another.  It is difficult to be in it together when we all still have very different ideas about what "it" is, and by what methods we can best accomplish "it."  Fiernas is treating Hadrian as a hostile, as are Abe and Co.  Rebecca is treating him as an equal and has an obvious personal connection.  Billy sees him as a potential ally and key player.  Xander likely thinks he's another crazy Braeburn scientist (my guess at least).  Those attitudes will in turn necessitate very different actions and reactions.  The only way to get us all in it together will be to convince each other what it is and how we're going to do it, and Fiernas just walked away after being told his "it" was wrong.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 264):

I'm glad we're taking the time to hash through this. Appreciate folks typing up substantial responses to try to address the matter at hand. Thank you very much.

A few things I want to contribute or otherwise point out:

1) The ambiguity surrounding Hadrian is intentional. Each of you have different pieces to that puzzle, and if you keep staring at only the pieces you've got (rather than all the pieces together) you're going to have conflicted interpretations of the picture they create.

From my end, I think it's important to be able to have these kinds of conflicting views and resolve them in a way that doesn't make anybody feel stupid or unimportant. I work pretty hard to make everyone important in their own way.

***

2) The idea that Fiernas has a 6th Sense of some sort has been established before for the whole party. I don't think it's necessarily a leap of faith to suggest folks would be willing to cede it more than passing credulity -- especially when Muse had a similar power that allowed him to foretell stuff like the AOS fleet ambush, which played out as he said it would. There is some precedent for this kind of tomfoolery, is the point.

That said, I do not want to force characters to sort of hand-waive the getting-to-know-you phase of their relationships when a PC is involved. I don't think this breach is irreparable, and I hope we'll be able to mend any broken fences so we can get to the next set of perplexing challenges I have in store :)

Relevant example this brings to mind: in Star Wars: A New Hope, the party consists of R2, 3P0, Luke, Han, Chewie, and Kenobi on the Death Star. They break into a control room, and then Kenobi sort of volunteers himself to do the hard black-ops bit on the basis of what Han has already called hokey religious bullshit. Han's seen Kenobi do a couple tricks, but Luke's seen him do a lot more and that combination is enough. He's still skeptical, but he's not mean or overly dismissive, and he ultimately doesn't prevent Kenobi from leaving the room to do his mission.

Moments later, 3P0 announces that R2 has found Leia. Han can't speak droid (despite his talent with Wookie), and he doesn't really work with astromechs, but he sees how Luke immediately believes this declaration to be true AND how important it is to Luke. After a few feeble objections are raised about the danger and the reward money, he's willing to go along with a really stupid plan to try to rescue her. And Chewie is willing to go along with a plan concocted by an almost-total stranger that involves him being partially cuffed and used as an elaborate sort of bait/keycard hybrid. When Leia is rescued, she basically yells at everyone, snatches Luke's only weapon, and takes command only to immediately dump everyone into an excitingly NEW terrible situation. And so the story plows onward.

That's inter-party conflict handled in-character AND in a way that allows everyone to contribute to the story while advancing it. And I think we're building toward a similar scene ourselves (based on Billy's stated plan, anyway).

***

3) This is the second time Fiernas has been brake-pumped by a PC (though not the same one), which is probably why it resonates so firmly this time around. He's been trying to convince people that Hadrian is bad news for a long time, but his strategy for this has to-date mostly involved stating "Hey, trust me on this, that guy? He's bad news. You can believe me because I'm telling you with sincerity and I haven't been wrong yet."

That strategy doesn't work for everyone, but in a world of mutants and psychics and other auger bullshittery, a guy telling you he can tell someone's morality or something by scent probably isn't grounds for instant dismissal (though skepticism remains healthy of course!).

***

4) I'm seeing some patterns with OOC/IC influence that are important to bring to light, because they're probably easier for me to see at an overview. Muse, Xander, and Fiernas know each other IRL, and their characters (without ever breaking character) tend to give each other the benefit of the doubt more often than not. Same for Billy and Rebecca, who either know each other IRL or at least have played together on RPOL before.

I'm not saying anybody's intentionally playing favorites or anything. It's just way easier to "remember the person" behind the screen when you actually know them. Hopefully being aware of that will make it easier to spread that PC-benefit-of-the-doubt around a little more. But not so much that we're tabletalking and metagaming! It's just a subtle, tiny nudge I'm talking about, but it goes a long way.

***

5) Muse and Xander (likely influenced by point #4) were both actively trying to make Fiernas feel more welcome and trying to counteract any negative feelings caused by Billy's in-character treatment of him. So I don't think it's fair to say only NPCs have been willing to listen to Fiernas.

I DO think that Rebecca has been bipolar on him, and I can appreciate that being frustrating. It may be helpful to recall that she's bipolar on basically everything, though. On purpose, I mean. It's a climax for her arc and I suspect she'll settle down a bit once this whole messy affair is properly behind her.

***

6) I think the most important points raised here involve feeling respect and civility toward each other. We're doing this because it's fun, and we want everyone to be having a great time as often as possible. At the same time, we're also trying to tell a story, and that means there will be moments when things aren't easy. Conflicts build character!

***

TLDR? Remember that, just like in life, in RPOL everyone is the protagonist of their own slice of the story being told. And everyone is a supporting character in everyone ELSE's story, too. No PC is expendable or unimportant, and I don't write anything by accident.

Hell, most NPCs have something to contribute too! Even if it's just karma for surviving the chapter.

Be safe out there :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:08, Sun 25 Feb 2018.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 264):

I'm going to chime in since I know I'm a big part of this and while I haven't spoken in specifics it may be time.  I want this taken in the exact way that it is intended to be:

What I'm gathering from this discussion is that OC Fiernas does not understand the actions of IC Nightmare and thinks that I (OC Nightmare) is being unfair.  What I am going to do is point out some of the formative moments that IC Fiernas and IC Nightmare have had to make me respond to IC Fiernas in the way that I currently have.  I understand some of it may be crappy writing on my part or the idea that Muse mentioned of not being able to discern my tone or my body language.  However, my hope is that you emerge from reading this saying 'This isn't the result I wanted, but I understand how we got here.'

Perhaps from that point of understanding we can branch out to find our commonality.

So here goes...



One of the issues my character has with Fiernas' trustworthiness stems back to multiple claims of being the calm and level headed person in the party.  The one who will keep us from all getting killed.

Yet when on Venus he was the first to prepare himself to shoot to kill Barachial and anybody on the base.  Said that we cut a bloody swath to a ship and steal it, immediately.  If you recall Nightmare's response was I have no reason to do anything other than to hug the people and thank them profusely for pulling our lame duck ship out of their airspace and saving us.

...and then the big one.  He Leeroy Jenkins'ed Hadrian while she was in the middle of getting all the information we wanted out of him and as much access as we needed.  She had a plan, and told you that she was being a femme fatale but Fiernas did not listen to that and decided on a whim that now was the time for kidnapping.  As Nightmare mentioned Fiernas irrevocably changed two lives with that move while one of them, his ostensible teammate, pleaded for him not to.  The shot that took out Hadrian, literally went through her hand that she placed on Barachial's gun.

An additional reason for mistrust is that Fiernas deferred to her the ENTIRE trip.  Look at what happened when she asked his input while talking to Roy.  Pushing her into the role of uncomfortable leadership.  Then all the sudden when Fiernas got an itch to blow something up he unilaterally went ahead and did it.  She actually said in a private message to Hadrian 'I don't know if this is an insurrection a coup or a mutiny but its something'.  She is confused, hurt and betrayed.  She is not particularly happy with any of the group (Barachial and Kayla included) at the moment as she wants to know what she did that all of the sudden any of her opinions meant literally nothing to anyone (Reminder: In-game, this event occurred mere hours ago.)

Then Fiernas gets completely stymied on the jailbreak by a closed door.  Instead of asking Nightmare for help, maybe taking a few minutes to get her on board and resolve this peacefully 'hey go out and talk to Hadrian' or even 'hey kid do you have any ideas?'  Fiernas has Barachial blow the door...  If you(OOC) recall Nightmare told Fiernas this was 'your shitshow' to have him accept responsibility for it.  Since nobody had listened to any of her suggestions to this point she was determined to not give any input and let you sink or swim on your own.  Then when facing the airlock problem I (OC) had her proactively offer a solution (that cost me a fair bit of karma) to get us all out safely, instead watching the team struggle like she wanted to since she felt like that only difference between her and Hadrian was that Hadrian was tied up.

In these instances Fiernas was every bit as reckless as he accuses Billy of being.  Hence he is either oblivious to the consequences of his actions, or he is duplicitous.  If its the former she can trust his information of things that happened but not his analysis, if its the latter than she can't trust him at all.  This is bolstered by the fact that he is 100% wrong on many of the things he has said about Billy.

This is not a question of being civil or lazy story telling it is a direct cause and effect.



To tell the truth.  She has never THREATENED to kill Fiernas.  By my count there are two instances that he could take as a threat.  The first was after blowing up Hadrian where she warned him that there would be reprecussions for touching him.  Watcher (to his credit, ignored my readied actions) and opted to stun her with a well-placed monolog from Kayla.  Which kicked up a whole bunch of (as of yet unresolved) emotions.

The second time goes with your dog pile statement... she was pointing out that Fiernas acted as if she was completely unreasonable for her response to his ambiguously described actions.  However, when he did the same thing to new people they responded like she did, which was relief and validation as she felt like she was being gaslighted.  The part about almost killing you earlier was intending to remind Fiernas that he already had this conversation and where it ended, also simple statement of fact... she is the groups DPS and she knows it.  Granted that came off more as a threat than I (OC) would have liked, and I understand that.

For the sake of completeness to this point.  Fiernas has 1 - pointed a gun at the back of her head on Venus; and 2 compared her to a rabid dog that needs to be put down when she was doing nothing more than getting ready for a date.  Both of these events were well before Fiernas had ever had her powers pointed at him.



This is the literal opposite of Nightmare... she is attempting to learn about human interactions, she just isn't good at it.  Something that has been woefully lacking in her training as a scientist.  She has put forth great effort into relationships with NPC's and new characters alike.  Remember, she is the one who flipped Gestalt.  She was the one who initially befriended Barachial while Fiernas got all itchy and ready to kill something.  And if Hadrian goes along with the plan that Billy has proposed... then it will be due to her relationship with him as well.  There is more than enough room for connection with her.  She is ACTIVELY seeking and craving it.  Fiernas just has never taken the time or had the opportunity to do so.



That was exactly what she said in the message when she threw the cuffs at Abe.  Currently, the only working plan we have requires Hadrian's cooperation.  If someone comes up with a better plan and a a defensible reason for why it will work then she will transfer herself to it.  She is uneasy about Hadrian, given the events of the past day, and there is a wedge that can be driven there but a compelling argument must be made for her to do so.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I REALLY hope this serves to explain Fiernas' treatment by Nightmare.  I hope that you can understand that from my perspective, this is a completely reasonable set of actions.

Also like I have said earlier there is opportunity in this and Fiernas/Nightmare have made great strides in their relationship, in the last 12 hours.

That being said if Fiernas does follow through on leaving then understand THAT will weigh heavily on the reception he gets upon return.

Edited for conciseness
This message was last edited by the player at 16:49, Sun 25 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 266):

Also... maybe instead of letting these issues fester we use either OOC or private chat to align the players.

I honestly mean that if I am doing something that seems unfair or is going entirely against the direction you want to go and you have important part of your story arc you want to hit then let me know.  It would be much easier for us to address individual issues in a few private messages than sprawling issues that span weeks of gameplay.

Like what's going on now is I have been foreshadowing in character and teasing out of character a major step for Rebecca.  Since you guys know about it I hope that you go along with it and I expect that we all will.

Though if I just spring it on you then I have to expect the characters to act exactly as the characters have acted to this point.

I'm fairly certain all of us are reasonable adults ;).  Maybe five or six private messages could have avoided this.

it may be difficult to remember at all times, but this specifically could address the issue Muse brought up about not being able to read the player.  During Xander and Billy's butting heads Xander did ask OOC for specifics when Billy complained about going over his head, and I chimed in the OOC thread recently when Xander claimed ignorance of Billy's claim that Sophia wasn't wholly unique.  That was more clarification of IC intent, but asking for or proactively providing some clarification of player intent may lighten some feelings.

I'm going to break the cycle of huge OOC posts here, but suffice to say this: Fiernas feels that Nightmare and Billy treat him as something between a creepy janitor and a wanted felon, no matter what he does.  He no longer believes that they can be convinced that he's a valuable team member, or even a person worthy of basic respect.  His attempts at diplomacy have gone nowhere.  Unless there's something changes, his immediate goal will be to get the hell out of dodge and find some saner allies as soon as it's feasible.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 269):

Fair enough.  I hope we can resolve it.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 270):

Do we want to talk about all of this in front of Abe and co?  Do we care if they are here?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 271):

I actively don't.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 272):

You don't care, or you don't want to talk about it in front of them?

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 273):

Oh, sorry, care.  They either won't know what we're talking about, or can't really do much about it.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Mon 26 Feb 2018.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 274):

Coolness.

I don't mind simultaneous conversations if that's helpful, by the by. I know folks can only post when they're able and besides it's a meal, there can be several concurrent conversations at once.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 275):

And just to be clear, Billy's playing team leader but not going to shut anyone up if they want to talk to not him.  Or if they have something important to say, Fiernas's lead just sounds like it's the kind of thing that needs conferring with the Braeburn folks who have been handling Roshak tech and Billy himself can only have one conversation at a time.

Wait, what barb did I throw out?

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 277):

that seemed to be referring to

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 278):

I swear there was more to that post when I wrote my response....  Did I make something up or was it edited?
This message was last edited by the player at 19:04, Tue 27 Feb 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 279):

...or it was part of another post.

If not I retract the statment ;).  I just worry now about my sanity.

Nope, nothing more to it.  And it wasn't meant to be a barb, I was genuinely asking.  Sometimes dialogue is unclear in its direction.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 281):

Then apologies.  Just take it as Billy's barb.

I understand, especially when she speaks in branching logic trees.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 282):

BTW... I totally love the systematic embarassment of her.  This amuses me to no end.

every time i try to post it says there's a new post!

And then it even happens in here!

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 284):

:-P

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 285):

I'm not sure what's going on with your account, Billy. Even I can't delete the "broken" post in the main thread. I'll look into it more carefully later. Sorry for the hassle!

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 286):

this happened once before a while back, there's still like a quadruple post I can't interact with.  it happened when my browser hiccuped on the post message button and somehow submitted the same post multiple times, but not actually in sequence.  it's apparently a really niche glitch in Rpol.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:24, Tue 27 Feb 2018.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 287):



Character growth!

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 288):

actually she just made his point better than he would have.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 289):

I want to put us back on track and get my spanking from Billy about the Amgine... However, I need to research a few things...

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 290):

My intention is to Merge our timelines. If I forgot something it’s an ooc failure and just figure you know everything. She is a neurotic note taker so she has everything

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 291):

I think we're pretty well merged, at least from Team Trek's vantage point.

Side note: sometimes when I'm driving home from work, I'll set my phone to read the latest page of posts aloud in the car. Today's might last the whole commute! I'm looking forward to it. #BestAudiobookEver
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:25, Wed 28 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 292):

I love everything about this post. How do you have it read out loud?

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 293):

I have actually toyed around with the idea of pdfing the pages and turning it into an ebook and giving it to everyone. I have to say the story is really good.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 294):

You need an app designed to do it. I use something called the Voice Aloud Reader or something similar, but I'm sure basically any such app will do the trick.

Not only do I enjoy having a sort of "all at once" recap of what happened, but it gives me time to think about how the NPCs reacted vs how I feel like they should have reacted as I'm listening along. It helps me grow them better. Plus it gives me time to think about new and exciting ways to destroy you all...

RE: the book idea, I'm actually still in the process of turning the last RPOL campaign I created into a novel (Xander is helping with that). There are massive changes to de-gameify it, of course, but it has been an interesting experience. That campaign was 15 chapters long, and spanned 13,000 posts. We're nearly at the same post count in MTH already, but only 9 chapters deep!

MTH lends itself better to a graphic novel in my eyes, but I'm not a skilled enough artist (or a good enough editor) to make even a teaser/glimpse of that happen.

Which is ok. I love the RPOL format, too :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:48, Wed 28 Feb 2018.

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 295):

Given the system at play i've tried to picture how some of these scenes would play out in a graphic novel/comic kind of format.

Concur.

I once attempted to draw a graphic novel like 10 years ago. I made it 3 (terrible) pages and gave up. Those artists are truly, ridiculously talented and I don't know why those books don't cost hundreds of dollars given the effort required.

If it's as easy for them to do as it is for me to write a thousand words on what a cupcake tastes like, then life just isn't fair :(
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:03, Wed 28 Feb 2018.

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

My posts would be those horrible journal entry pages XD

In reply to The Watcher (msg # 297):

They kinda do.  I dunno if you've ever head of an artist named Stjepan Sejic but I've followed him for a while and he's had at least three different comic projects get partially produced and they apparently just didn't make money due to lack of market.

In reply to Billy Laser Fist (msg # 299):

I'm a big fan of Erfworld's Xin Ye (she doesn't start until Book 2, though. The first artist has a much different style. They switch to a third artist for about 1/3 of Book 3, then back to Xin. She's still doing it now).

The Erfworld story is thoroughly entertaining and has a ton of cross-cultural references that are just delicious. If you haven't read it, I highly encourage you to give it a shot (www.erfworld.com). The correct order for reading is Book 1, Book 0, Book 2, Book 3, in case you're curious :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:35, Wed 28 Feb 2018.

I followed erfworld for a while but it kinda lost me when it became more of a light novel than a comic.  I couldn't make the format jump.

I mean, they weren't that terrible. The car crash establishing shot was pretty neat IIRC.

In reply to Muse (msg # 302):

Aw, that's kind of you to say and I'm beyond impressed you even remember the subject matter!

But I know how long those pages took me to do and comparing the time it took to their quality sort of underscored how I should stick to the other creative talents I have, b/c drawing ain't one of them :P

Take it from someone who's actually done the whole novelizing of an RP campaign before:  It's really tricky to figure out what to keep in, what to streamline, and what to change for the sake of storytelling.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 304):

So did you make it home on today's page?

When I was saying PDF  it I was just going to lazily literally PDF the RPOL pages.  I would just love to see all the behind the scenes shit and threading in things like the epic date that Nightmare and Hadrian had in Private messages would be a pain in the nuts.  Not to mention all of the crap Billy does on the comms.

It really was a cringeworthy masterpiece.  Watcher outdid himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Thu 01 Mar 2018.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 305):

My plan is going to change significantly based upon the status of the scrub suits.  I explicitly said I was bringing mine along.  I thought Fiernas grabbed Hadrians but I cant find it and don't remember.

This will change my plans depending on whats available.

Yes, I have Hadrian's scrub suit.  I didn't leave anything behind.

This is a good example of confusing dialogue.  I really don't know who "them" is here.

In reply to Fiernas Holm (msg # 308):

I believe she's referring to Billy and Xander, as she's addressing Hadrian in response to the recording.

This.  But I can try to direct better usually the line above is who I am talking to.

In reply to Nightmare (msg # 310):

I... don't think Hadrian was supposed to get that orb.

In reply to Muse (msg # 311):

Nothing is fucked

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I hope.

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