A thread for discussing  the rolls involved in the current scenes...

Cara:
Cara rolled 4fF(-3) + Lore(+4) = Result(+1) to Create an Advantage
Cara is using Ritual Magic to weave a spell of poison into her blades.

Well now, that roll sucks.  Considering it's such a bad roll, can I have that compel my Trouble of Foreign Magic in the Blood and have something go wrong with the spell when I try and use it?

I do not wish to set a precedent of advancing a fate-point for a compel I might not actually use.

With the target set to +2, my understanding of the options are:

• You can invoke a fate point to add +2 to the roll, successfully creating the Aspect.  (I did just gave you one for suggesting the three sites)
• You can accept the failure and simply fail to create the Aspect
• You can still succeed, but someone else (me, the GM), gets the free invoke on it...  This would have to be worded in such a way to make it usable by others (like Spell-Effect of Shiny Green Ichor to make it very obvious... )

I might still compel Foreign Magic in the Blood, but that's more a a discussion for then not now.


Is the magical effect you were going for a terribly unusual one for her?   My knee-jerk reaction was to give it a Fair(+2) rating.  But I am ambivalent.  It might even be an Average(+1) rating, in which case, you tied...  (which gets you a boost: a one-shot Aspect).

That makes perfect sense.

I'll spend a Fate Point, Invoke my High Concept Devourer of Mantles, and raise that to a +3.

Could more powerful effects be created in the future by setting the difficulty higher?

Good question.

At the moment, it's simply another Aspect, so it's a potential +2 when you invoke it.

But you're asking if we can model a +3, +5... +20 poison...  I think this should be limited to direct magical attacks, Evocation or Rituals.  It's a pretty fundamental element that an Aspect is worth 2 shifts. And I dont' feel comfortable messing with that yet.

So...  Result(+3) is a success.  You create the Aspect and get one free invoke on it.  Any further invokes will cost a fate-point. What's the Aspect?  You'd mentioned poisoning the blade...  Is there a specific effect associated with the poison?

Because it's a Created Aspect and you have a free-invoke, it is possible for you to use the blades without the poison being invoked...   Narratively, the poison didn't take on that hit.

What's the name of the Aspect?   Will Poisoned Blades suffice?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:55, Sat 18 Apr 2020.

Hmmmm..... Glyph of Mindfire?

I want it to be something that burns/impairs rather than just a straight damage buff?  I'm not 100% sure if this is within the rules, but ideally I'd want something that I could stab someone with, create the Aspect, and then Invoke it to inflict a -2 on an action they are taking as the magical poison burns through their veins (with Fate points spent if I want to Invoke it more than once).

I want it to be something that burns/impairs rather than just a straight damage buff?  I'm not 100% sure if this is within the rules, but ideally I'd want something that I could stab someone with, create the Aspect, and then Invoke it to inflict a -2 on an action they are taking as the magical poison burns through their veins (with Fate points spent if I want to Invoke it more than once).

Ah, I was reading it as a damage bonus!

I did a little quick reading about modelling poisons using fate core.  And overwhelmingly, I see suggestions for extending the fate fractal to the poison itself.  So, how about this:


Mindfire Poison
Aspects: Magical in Origin, Contact Poison, Responds to heat-treatments
Stress: [1][2][3][4][5]
Skills: Headache(+3), Resist Treatment(+2)

If an attack with these poisoned blades succeeds enough to inflict stress (making it a contact poison), you force the condition Poisoned By Mindfire on your target.  Each round, thereafter, the target must defend with Will vs a Fair(+2) rating to avoid taking additional Mental stress.  Each attack costs the MindFire Poison 1 stress.

After the scene in which the poison is inflicted ends, the MindFire Poison will attack a number of times equal to it's remaining stress-track before the next sunrise.  Once the stress-track is used up, the poison will have burned itself out.

The target Aspect, Poisoned By Mindfire can be invoked to your direct advantage, as per Create Advantage rules.  The poison on the blade lies dormant until inflicted, or until the next sunrise.

To my mind, a greater success on the Lore role that created this magical poison would then allow the strength of the poison's attack role to also scale up...  so you could, in fact, have poisons with a +3, +5 or greater attack roll.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:00, Sun 19 Apr 2020.

@Etzagith
RPOL dice-roller is fickle as hell.  Typically, it seems to come in waves.  Sorry that last roll sucked balls.

So, you got a Result(+0) vs Target(+1).  A failure.

Youv'e got two options:

You do not get any useful information.  End of negotiations.

or

You do get some useful information, and we'll need to define what you discovered (and create an Aspect for the Create Advantage roll).  However, you get this info at the cost of having been "made".  Etz takes on Was Wondering when You'd Show for the warehouse scene only.  But only if you accept this.   And this specific Aspect is certainly negotiable.

How do you want to do it?

I was assuming simply no information -- that's why I added that description of how he had distracted himself worrying about whether or not he'd be meeting Garland's sister.

When we return as a group and go in as potential customers, I want to come back disguised.  I was thinking as a female pirate -- it will give credence to the idea that something is being shipped in and we are looking for somewhere that can be secure and the workers can be discreet.  We won't actually say those things, just let it be inferred from my presence.  Since we have time to create a disguise and I don't have to just throw something together in minutes, I think the following is the right mechanics, but let me know if I'm overdoing it.

08:49, Today: Etzagith rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Deceive (+4) Playing a female Pirate. - -2
08:48, Today: Etzagith rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Craft (+2) a female pirate disguise. - 1

Craft roll to create an advantage for the disguise: result +3, which will, I assume, create some advantage
Deceive for the disguise, including acting it: result +2 plus whatever advantage from the craft roll.

Failed Notice roll:
I was assuming simply no information -- that's why I added that description of how he had distracted himself worrying about whether or not he'd be meeting Garland's sister. 
Okay.  No information (and no Aspect) it is.

I'm not making any assumptions about people's knowledge or familiarity with the mechanics of the system.  So, I need everyone to keep the OOC mechanics dialogue going, so I know what's going on.  When I start assuming what you mean and I get it wrong, then we get all sorts of problems.


Successful Crafts Roll:
The Craft Roll (Good(+3) result) is a success.    You physically craft a Good(+3) disguise.  In order for someone to become suspicious of the disguise while under passive observation, they'd need to overcome a Good(+3) rating.  When you create an Advantage successfully, you get the free invoke on it.  So, you're right... when you want to roll Deceive, you have the option of invoking the Now I Look Like a Lady Pirate! Aspect.

Without someone to deceive, however, the deceive roll does not have any context... so it just doesn't come into play.   If/when you interact with someone and the deception matters--when it's an active thing--that's when we'll need to roll for Deceive.

In reply to Control (msg # 6):

YES!

That is exactly what I was hoping for.

I made a couple of changes to the MindFire Poison for what I consider to be balance and setting reasons:

One, it's not susceptible to emetics, but susceptible to heat-treatment

Two, each attack by Mindfire costs it one of it's stress-tracks.  The presence of the poison can continue to be invoked even after it has stopped attacking, until the conflict is over.   If there are shift remaining on the poisons stress-track after the conflict, it will continue to attack a number of times equal to the remaining shifts, before the next sunrise.  As a magically-created poison, it can be treated with magic as well.

So, the poison will burn itself out, but only once the conflict is done (providing it makes narrative sense).  I think that keeps it effective while not being something that goes on and on.  I think you're still getting a fair bit of bang for the buck.

No challenge here, and happy to accept future nerfs if in gameplay we find it's too strong.

Here is my attempt at a poison for future use.

Candala's Whisper:  +2 Challenge.
Aspects:  Magical in Origin, Injected Poison, Subtle
Stress:  [ ] [ ] [ ]
Attack:  (Fair +2)  Once per day, this poison uses this skill to make an attack against the poisoned creature's Physique.  If it succeeds, the poisoned creature gains the Sedated Aspect with 1 free invoke.  Each attack by Candala's Whisper costs it one of its stress-tracks. 
Defend:  (Fair +2) Blocks attempts to cure or resist the poison.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Mon 20 Apr 2020.

It looks pretty straight forward.
What I wonder is the relationship between the magical-effect roll and the poison.    I see two areas of impact... the challenge roll and the stress track.  A higher challenge-rating, obviously, makes it more difficult to overcome.  But the larger stress-track details how long it will last.  It's entirely narrative...  I'm okay with keeping the methodology of it kinda fuzzy...  unless you want to codify it somehow.

Re: Cara's Glyph of Alacrity




There's no real tension in the current situation that might impede this, and what Cara's doing isn't a particularly complex ritual... So, Lore(+4) is probably only an Average(+1) target... which means you succeed with style.

So.. That's two free invokes.

@Garland;

Garland rolled 4dF(-2) + Notice(+3) for Result(+1)
A NPC rolled Deceive(+1) to try to hide what he was doing...
Therefore, the result is a tie.
Garland succeeds but with a minor cost...

So... how about... there's a number of runners.  Approaching any one of them is likely to trigger a reaction from the others?  On it's own, it doesn't do anything, but it would add a shift to an attempt to isolate one...

Open to other suggestions.

@Etzagith
Etzagith rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Notice (+3) to defend against a pickpocket  for a result of 4
Etzagith rolled -4 using 4 Fudge dice.  Counter pickpocket (+3)  Oops!  For a result of -1

I understand the first line to mean:
You rolled 4dF(+1) + Notice(+3) for Result(+4)

I'm having difficulty parsing the second line.
You rolled 4dF(-4) + Counter Pickpocket(+3 for Result(-1)

"Counter Pickpocket" is Burglary, right?

Right.  I was trying to pick his pocket.  Burglary and Notice are both +3 skills for me.  Supposedly, I'm really good at it.  Just not this time.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:21, Mon 04 May 2020.

It'd make it a lot easier for me if you just put the skill name in your rolls...  means I won't have to go looking up your sheet.

I've got two things worth saying here...

First:
Please only roll when you can envision a dramatic result from both a success and a failure.   I may end up asking you what you'd envisioned might happen with the result you got (or didn't get).  Rolling really well or really poorly when nothing's happened is kind of a let-down.

Second:
"Magic" is the narrative excuse for your characters to be able to do things and learn things beyond normal human ken.   Lore is quite literally the knowledge and insight into magic.
If it's not a big production, extended ritual... (high magic?) then just roll the appropriate skill.

In the case of Cara creating the Glyph of Alacrity, Lore makes sense.

In the case of her inspecting the loaf of bread and ales for poisons or curses?  Honestly, I think Notice or Investigation would have better represented what she was doing.   Yes, she was doing it with magic, but the action was still noticing or inspecting.  I want to avoid having Lore becoming the default go-to skill to do everything.

That makes sense, let me adjust.

@Nathan

Nathan rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Investigate (+4)
Create An Advantage, vs Average.Succeed with Style
A Game Is Afoot


Nathan rolled 0 using 4 Fudge dice.  Investigate (+4)
Create An Advantage, vs Mediocre Succeed with Style
The Two Stooges

I'd given a difficulty target of Mediocre(+0) for identifying someone or some way into the Blue Sails Warehouse, because it makes sense given his background...  But Investigation rolls to create an aspect normally require some investigation.

You've rolled twice.   Once vs average to create A Game Is Afoot, and once vs mediocre to create The Two Stooges.  The Two Stooges seems more directly applicable.

I'm not sure how to apply A Game Is Afoot.   What does this advantage do?  How can he use it?


Nathan rolled 2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Notice (+3) - Initiative
While Fate Core doesn't actually have an initiative system, I figure initiative is going to be a very squishy soft mechanics type of thing...  a mix of rough order and order-of-posting...   Ultimately, it's mostly a guideline fr me to keep track.  I will be blatantly fudging the numbers if it suits me and the story.  But thanks for rolling it.

Indeed, once per the request in the thread and once per the PM. Apologies if I misunderstood, the kids distracted me a few times in pulling the post together :)

From what I thought was happening...

Nathan needed A Game Is Afoot, representing the stops he made to question folks, to find the back door into the warehouse and the need for speed to get there.

It was created (and used up) since I understood I needed to be there sharpish

Finding his way in through the back door and the timing was The Two Stooges, though it's a little bit of a stretch to call it an investigation... it was a long week, but I think I was thinking that his poking around and timing it might be sufficient. Happy to tweak, remove a free invoke or what have you

No need to change anything.  I just wanted to be clear I understood.

Choose an Action:  Feels like I'm seeking to Create an Advantage related to knowing who this person is, and what faction they represent.  But maybe this is just an old fashioned Overcome.  I'm not sure.

In my opinion, Create An Advantage which usually results in the creation of an Aspect also covers "Discover an Aspect"...  But it's opposed by it's very nature.

From a practical standpoint N cannot reveal a "true name" or identity from this attempt...  It's tenuous at best, and this is ritual magic with some preparation.  But, I can offer something...

You're familiar with the Dresden Files, so the best equivalent reference would be something similar to a soulgaze.  We're not actually crating an Aspect out of this.  Bu getting a metaphorical vision of some sort should provide something useful.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:29, Sat 16 May 2020.

@Etzagith
Etzagith rolled -2 using 4 Fudge dice.  Deceive (+4) to create an advantage for Garland, not that he needs it.

I'm going to push NPC Garland's action in a day or two.   But...  as a general rule, if you're trying to create an Advantage, I very much prefer that you give me some idea of what kind of Aspect you want to create.  There's a huge difference between Beguiling Stories of the High Seas and A Bunch of Trash on Fire, both of which could serve as an Aspect for distraction...

Sorry.  I was not clear.  Just a distraction, so that Garland can come up behind him and take him out silently.  I imagine that the only way it could matter is that it keep Garland from merely scaring the guy off, screaming, as opposed to just taking him out.  So, I don't know what you'd call it -- The world is upside-down from a dizzying combination of unexpected things happening.  With too much stimulus, he'll pick just one to focus on and won't have his usual (probably lax, anyway) attentiveness.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Sat 16 May 2020.

@Etzagith
Re: The world is upside-down

from a dizzying combination of unexpected things happening. 

This is a direct interaction--so the kid needs to have a chance to defend.

Mechanically, you rolled 4dF(-2) + Deceive(+4) for a Result(+2) as per Message #19.  I'm just not clear on what the appropriate defence is here.  Notice?  Empathy?  So... What is Etzagith doing to bring this Aspect The world is upside-down into existence? for the boy?

I get that she's somehow bringing "a dizzying combination of unexpected things" into play...  but I'd like a little bit more detail... perhaps RP some of it?

@Arui
Finding medical tools & lack of a surgery attempt roll

So, you rolled to create the advantage "Found Medical Tools"... presumably inside the warehouse proper.   I"m okay with it, as it moves the story forward and I wasn't really planning on making any real conflict out of this...   But you haven't rolled to do the actual surgery...  Are you planning on doing so?   It's okay if not.  I just wanna know where things stand.

In reply to Control (msg # 29):

Sorry I realized that Arui doesn't have the skill needed for surgery so she's taking Mikel to a professional healer.  I should have posted in ooc

08:35, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Bypass the "security" on the door.  Burglary +3 and Infiltrator stunt another +2

(Sorry, I had mis-typed burglary as +2 in the dice roller note.  It is correct above.)

I assume that a result of 4 is enough to get past the boarded up door?  Either the boarding up is a fake or there's a loose couple of boards I can pull off and squeeze through?

@Arui
That's entirely your call.  You could make up enough back-story from her time on the plains to suggest that she can do some field-triage.

On the other-hand, I definitely appreciate a player who's willing to say that their character isn't experienced in everything.

Don't worry about typos.  So long as i can understand it...  My typing has grown very sloppy over the years, so I'm okay reading typo.

I'm having trouble finding the narrative component to this.   Where did Etzagith attempt this?   Did he do any kind of assessment or did he just go right to ripping the boards off the door?

Yes, a boarded-up door is probably, at best, a Good(+3) target overcome.

Are you sure this is an action you wish to take at this time?

What do you envision are the dramatic tensions should he succeed?  what about if he fails?

OK.  Maybe I was confused.  My understanding as I approached this scene was that there was a boarded up entrance to the warehouse that the kid was standing in front of, as a guard, and Garland was approaching him from the other direction.  Garland has essentially removed the threat of the kid, so I was going to head into the warehouse through this boarded up entrance.  I had figured that there would be a guard on it if it were really boarded up, but then I learned that the kid didn't even work for the warehouse.  I'm guessing that I misinterpreted something, somewhere.

Your understanding of the scene is correct.

I simply can't seem to find the in-character text where Etzagith approaches the boarded-up door and attempts to enter into it.  I still dont' see it in Dockward. The last in-character post I saw had Liza going off on the kid for the Blue Sails having a fight.

I'm feeling kinda daft here.   Can you point me to the in-character post where Etzagith/Liza approaches the door?  As far as I know, she's still with Garland accosting the kid.

Oh, sorry.  I hadn't, yet.  I assumed I would get from mechanics what the result would be before I posted it.  This was to avoid the tiny posts of, "Etz looks at the boarded up door to see how to get through it." Then you post what it looks like; Then I post what I'll do and make a roll; then you post the result of the roll; etc.  I thought that was the whole point of this mechanics thread -- to work out the mechanics of an action before posting it.

:-)  Sorry, sometimes I still feel like I'm not sure how to use Fate mechanics at all.  I'm really not TRYING to be difficult.  (It just turns out that way.)

BTW, I'm hoping that it is dark on the other side of the door, so I'm going to attempt to help it stay that way.  If I have to pull off the boards, I'll try to leave them hanging by a top nail or two so that they will fall back into place.

You haven't done anything wrong with the mechanics.

I do not want to use this thread to map out the narrative of a scene before actually doing it.  It increases my workload and decreases my engagement... because we've already discussed it.  Why bother posting it again?

The point of the in-play mechanics thread is to discuss the mechanics (if necessary), once your character has committedto a specific course of action  (by posting in-character).

At the moment, I am waiting for you to write up Etz's actions in the Dockward thread.  I can't post the results until you post that Etz isn't still with Garland and the boy he's interrogating.

Once inside, I'll create another thread for the back rooms...

I had posted in the IC thread before I had read your post about Flashbacks.  I think that I will not bother to spend a fate point on a map, I'll just go with general familiarity with similar warehouses and where they would keep secure storage.  You can decide how far off that will be, perhaps with a luck roll.  If I arrive and it is way off, perhaps there I will spend a fate point to find an inventory map at that location.

Good call.

I deleted that post because, on thinking about it, I think it's more involved than it needs to be.

I don't see why you couldn't simply Create an Advantage right now and simply give the history behind it... to justify how you were prepared for just this eventuality.  You could also burn shifts of the "Indebted" stress-track to have procured a map.  There's a few ways to approach most problems.  While I like complicating things, it isn't always necessary.

---

However...  To create an advantage, you still need to roll for it.  If you're saying that you want this layout to be similar to one he's cased and infiltrated, that seems fair.  Roll Burglary vs at Average(+1) or better to succeed.

Succeed and you know where you're going...   Tie and you succeed with a cost, you get turned around and have to start avoiding the internal guards.   Fail and you got it all wrong and you will face the internal guards.


Also note: (from message #1 on the Dockward thread)


If this is the same construction, then your Trylor-Duun warehouse would also have been a covered shipbulder's site in the early days of Druvir.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:03, Sun 24 May 2020.

So, would this be a good time for 'Ola to self-compel "Ignorant of the Wider World?" The monks might have taught him the importance of stopping bullies.

My first instinct is to head back to regroup with Etz and Cara, but it is technically useful if 'Ola beats up Brollox and brings him back trussed to Cara and Etz instead of to the city guard :-)

Sure.  Anything that creates drama is probably a good thing.

Amd another fight at the Blue Sails?  That'd be sure to create drama.

Shall I mark it down?

@Manaolama:
Do you want to go ahead with getting into it with Brollox?  If so, please write up whatever actions you're taking...

@Etzagith
Etzagith took the vellum sheets with the royal seal & the cat figurine.

Now we just need to figure out what the vellum sheets contain.

And the cat figurine...  that's such a nice wide-open invitation...

Well, not a fight, yet :-) But definitely an intervention.

I'll take that FATE point, then.

Done.

Also:  Character placements:

Blue Sails Warehouse

• Manaolama
• Cara  (Outside)
• Brollox, the Butcher
• Migram, the shopkeeper
• Young boy

Dockward boarding/ale-house

• Etzagith
• Commoner and Veiled woman

South Side (outside healers)

• Arui, Nathan
• Yvon and Ivor

In Limbo

• Garland

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:33, Thu 11 June 2020.

@Cara at the Blue Sails Warehouse

Describe the Action: Play up the big loud distraction that Manaolana is making.
Roll the Dice: 23:33, Today: Cara rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice ((-1, 0, -1, 1)).
Determine Approach: If that ain't Provoke, I don't know what is.  Puts my total at +3
Choose an Action: Create the Scene Aspect Not Another Brawl?

Unmodified Provoke(+3) to Create an Advantage Not Another Brawl?

What action is Cara taking to play up the big loud distraction that Manaolama is making?    At the moment, he's approached Brollox in the doorway of the Blue Sails Warehouse and had shown great restraint in ignoring the Butcher's offensive tone, then suggested he might have a job for Brollox...

At the moment, all I'm seeing is the words to Manaolama "The bigger a scene this makes, the better.  Make it clear we don't appreciate poachers.".  Was that intended to provoke a brawl?  I just... haven't seen a big loud distraction yet...


Then...

Describe the Action: Slip away while everyone is distracted
Roll the Dice: 23:34, Today: Cara rolled 1 using 4 Fudge dice ((1, 0, -1, 1)).
Determine Approach: Stealth, brings the total to +2
Choose an Action: Is that Overcome?

Stealth(+1) + 4dF(+1) == Unmodified Stealth(+2)

The book text does say that Stealth can be used to overcome in any situation that primarily depends on you not being seen., So, yup.  It applies.

As I didn't set any kind of target and it's outside in broad daylight in a public place where nobody really has any reason to be watching for her, I'm willing to let it stand.

Of course, there's Yvon (one of the Blue sails guards) returning from the Healer, and two of three egregore watchers atop the Blue Sails Warehouse (hey, you brought them into being!) and with Nathan's arrival, there are probably one or two additional Blue Coats in the area.  Though they're not right there....

Still...  all of this hinges on having some sort of big loud distraction.

@Etzagith

He quickly followed after, but stayed off to the side and then slipped in the through the freight entrance and stepped into the darker side. 

To get through the freight entrance, you're still going to need to pass Migram, Brollox, Manaolama and a young boy with a water-pail.  It's a pretty sparse front room, and Etzagith did just leave via that same way.    Migram rolled Notice(+4).


Etzagith used a spell-chit.
I'm pretty sure I had a discussion about "having the right tool" somewhere, and this would narratively justify the use of it.  I'm having difficulty finding that discussion...  And I really do want to be consistent, here.

Having the right tool shouldn't relieve the character from taking an action or rolling.   Otherwise, it's always "oh, I've got a spell chit for that" and we never actually deal with any tension.  Boring.

As the use of such a narrative mechanic is altering the flow and play of the narrative, I feel that it should either still require a roll or require a fate-point to introduce a fact into the narrative (that he had just the right spell-chit to do what he wanted).  This also serves to limit just how often a character can pull out "just the right thing" (limited to number of fate points).

Thoughts?
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:20, Wed 17 June 2020.

Ok.  I won't try to stealth past.  I'm actually looking to get someone to yell at me so I can find the voice I will recognize, the one who said that they only have to manage until nightfall.  Once I identify him, I'm going to be glad to start trouble.

BTW, it was Liza that left, if anyone spotted her, and it is Etzagith entering, and he is wearing a cloak that is recognizably one of Duke whathisname's ducal guard.

Edit:  Sorry, posted too early.

I'm glad to make a roll.  I'm not sure what skill to use, though.  I know that we talked about having a few spells that could accomplish this sort of thing; I was ready to have a lore ability spent on illusion type magic, but you said that would be covered by ritual magic and that we could have some rituals that were kind of pre-cast and activate.  I realize that we never worked out the mechanics, and I'm glad to do so.  I do agree that such a thing should be limited, somehow, and I'm open to how you want to do it.  Otherwise, I agree, it's just a boring open-ended problem solver.

I actually was doing this a little to force us to have this discussion.  If it turns out not to work, I'm fine with that.  I mostly just want to get to a confrontation with the right person.  There are some interesting role-playing options if he starts out thinking I am one of the duke's guards, but there are lots of other approaches, too.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:28, Wed 17 June 2020.

Okay no stealth.  MY bad for not reading your entire post.

Liza or Etzagith... it's still two unidentified/unauthorized individuals moving through the warehouse right past the shopkeeper.  The Warehouse is not pubic property.  Access is controlled until such a time as there's a ship in port loading goods in or out.  And then there's a warehouse foreman on-site overseeing operations.

So, right on.  Etzagith is going to definitely garner attention.



and I found the reference I was looking for:
Etzagith character Creation thread, message #16:
I'm not sure what you want us to do for equipment.
I'd rather not list everything out.  That just seems like more tiresome work that we don't actually need.    One of the beautiful things about the fate system is that you--a player--can declare narrative details by spending a fate point.    Having a Standard Operating Kit seems fair, though.

You want to counterfeit a insignia of East Pennryn.

That's definitely supported by your high concept ( Chameleon: The Gentleman Thief ).

Please roll Knowledge(+0) or better to correctly recall and reproduce the ducal guard insignia for East Pennryn.

I see drama with success (stirring shit up among the factions), and failure (potentially gets caught out as imposter)

That sounds fair, except that I don't have a skill called Knowledge.

07:40, Today: Etzagith rolled -1 using 4 Fudge dice.  Reproduce duke's symbol (Scholarship?  +0).

Of course, I rolled -1.  If, by Knowledge, you meant Scholarship (+0), it's a hard fail.  Or we might use Investigation or Crafts (both +2), it a slight success.  I'm really happy either way, a good confrontation would be fun, now.  I'm looking forward to trying out some of the stealth in combat mechanics we discussed.  Bwahahaha!

Scholarship is the same thing.  Somewhere along the lien, I suppose I changed it--probably to differentiate it from Lore a little more.

Investigation doesn't really apply--he's not seeking information.

Crafts talks about the detail and quality of his work, which is excellent.

It's just not quite the right symbols... the falcon on the crest is facing dexter, not sinister (right, not left). Or he used Or instead of Argent (Gold instead of silver) as one of the supporting tinctures.

Sounds right.  Go ahead and confront Etz.  My response will depend heavily on whether or not it is the same voice I heard talking about sundown as a deadline.  Remember that you said he sounded drunk.

Is Migram the voice I heard before?

No.  The voice you heard before was in the warehouse proper.   You snuck past him and Brollox on the way out.  I know what you're after.  I'll let you know.

In reply to Control (msg # 45):

Oh!

I was trying to influence Manaolana with that Provoke roll.  Was that wrong?

Not wrong, just not clear.

You described the action as "Play up the big loud distraction that Manaolana is making.".  I just don't know how she was doing that.   I need an action to tie to the dice-roll.

In addition, I hadn't seen a big loud distraction (yet).  I was hoping to go there, but Manaolama turned it into a potential job offer and Brollox is nothing if not greedy.

Or were the words, "The bigger a scene this makes, the better.  Make it clear we don't appreiate poachers." intended to piss Manaolama off, thus provoking him into something?

I'm obviously confused.

Could you elaborate on this a bit? I'm not clear at all on how you were trying to influence this or how to use the Aspect you just created...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:52, Thu 18 June 2020.

I think that the issue I'm having is that it's counter productive to her secondary goal.

Cara wants Manaolana to make a big stink, so that she and Etz can sneak further into the warehouse.  I also did it this way because I wanted Mana to have some chance in the limelight.

Question for Etz and Mana

Would you prefer that Cara is part of the big noisy distraction so that Etz can sneak by?

Or would you prefer that Cara leaves Mana to be the distraction and tries to join the Lurk in lurking?

It looks like sneaking by is out of the question.  I'm ready to knock some heads.  :-)

Edit:  That is, of course, for you folks with actual battle skills to knock some heads.  I'm ready to sneak around, throw an occasional punch from the shadows, and support you as I can, or at least to applaud.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:42, Fri 19 June 2020.

As Manaolama has now left the game, I prefer that Cara go sneak with Etzagith.

That means I don't have to write up a scene of multiple NPCS (Manaolama, Brollox, Migram, Yvon, a little boy) all fighting each other.

Sorry.  I missed that he had left.  Damn!  When did that happen?  So who's still here?  Arui, Nathan, Cara, and me?  And the first two have yet to meet the second two.

What do you think of this approach?  We wrap up this scene, get some info out of the warehouse that causes us to head back to the castle and check in with Stefan, and Arui and Nathan similarly find some information that also causes them to head back.  Then we drop the NPC'ed characters and head out again.

Yeah.  Cara, Etzagith, Arui & Nathan.  That's correct.

What do you think of this approach?  We wrap up this scene, get some info out of the warehouse that causes us to head back to the castle and check in with Stefan, and Arui and Nathan similarly find some information that also causes them to head back.  Then we drop the NPC'ed characters and head out again. 

Yeah, I think that works nicely.  Thank-you for voicing it.

I've placed an ad, so we may get some others inbound soon.   I'd like to keep it at around 6 players.

I'm concerned that Nathan hasn't logged in for a week and a half.  Another week and a half and I'll probably need to Hiatus him.  That makes him and Garland both gone...

Also, I think that, yeah... it's getting time for a more visceral physical set of conflicts.

So, with the intelligence that Etzagith has purloined, we can start to metgame set-up the next set of scenes.

here's what's on the table for what we've created:

Current Issues or Ideas - Potential Storylines

• The Queen's twins are still missing. (via Menkliia & Stefen)
• Someone or a group of someones are hiding somewhere in the Blue Sails Warehouse (via Etzagith)
• The First Sieversi (possibly an Almani artifact?) is in storage in the Blue Sails Warehouse.  It is contracted to be moved upon the Cormorant, a ship due to arrive in port within hours, probably shortly after sunset.  (via Ruis via Cara)
• Who or What is the Almani?
• Etzagith stole a sheaf of papers from the Blue sails Inner Vault, that had Churthan's Ducal seal talking about transport of prisoners (Etzagith)
• Etzagith also stole a volcanic-stone figurine of a black cat from the Blue sails Inner Vault (Etzagith)
• The Blue Sails Warehouse appears to have "lost" the vast majority of Tarenti goods kept for barter (Arui)

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:30, Sun 21 June 2020.

In reply to Etzagith (msg # 60):

Solid!

@Etzagith

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



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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sure!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Describe the Action: Keep charging forward

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

Determine Approach: Will.  Total comes to +0

Choose an Action:  Defend.


That's a failure boss.

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

What do I describe happening?

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


Bottom line:

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

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




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

@Cara

You've got two options:

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

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

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

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

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

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


Ah...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'll take Success at a Major cost

Oof, this is not going well.

Describe the Action: Attempting to use

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

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

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

Choose an Action: Using my Stunt

Not to Be Trifled With:

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

I'm kinda going through mental gymnastics here.

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

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

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


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

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

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


Your comments are welcome.

As a Provoke centered character?

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

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

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

Fair point.  Thank.-you.

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks for the input.

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

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

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

We can discuss that once combat's done.

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

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