To discuss things relating to scene 01.01.

Want to ask questions about whats going on in this scene?  Want to introduce a new Aspect?

OK, I've read the rules, and I've played once upon a while ago, but game mechanics aren't really my strength.  My apologies in advance for my cluelessness.  So here come the semi-newbie queries...

How exactly do I use my empathy to see if the commander is still alive and in need of rescue?  Do I just narrate my attempt?  Do I have to state what aspect(s) I am using to justify it?  Do I have to pay any fate points?  Do I have to make any rolls?  O_o

It's all good. That's precisely why this thread is here.

Narrate it normally, and if it's a consequential action I may ask for a roll.

In this case, I see a potential for a dramatic positive and dramatic negative outcome, so yes... Please Roll Notice:+2.  if you want to.

The We Feel Your Pain Aspect gives you permission to use specific skills in ways they might not normally be available.  So, even if the commander is buried under rubble, this Aspect gives you an avenue that makes your awareness of him possible.

I figure the TN is +2 because anybody he's sensing in the immediate area is either going to be confused as all hell (those just released from the pods), scared, stress and frightened or in pain and dying.   How do differentiate the commander from the background noise of everyone else's emotions?  You do not need to spend fate points for it to work in this manner.  But you can if you want to re-roll or add +2 to a roll-result you didn't like.

In your narrative, I'd love to see some indication of just how familiar he is with his abilities, a sense of how long he's had them.

As a side note:
Since you've got a Notice(+4), an average 4dF(+0) result would give you a 2-shift success.  You can just "Take zero" if you want and get the success.  Or you can take a chance and roll for it (getting you a potential result of +0 to +8).

So is an attempt to directly sense the commander's emotions via We Feel Your Pain based upon Empathy or Notice?  I would have thought the former... unless Notice is needed to separate the commander's emotions from all the empathic noise in the vicinity...?  O_o

Ooo!  I didn't even know about the Take Zero option.  Is it worth rolling in hopes of Succeeding with Style, or is it better to just take the sure thing?  :o

EDIT: BTW, just how much do we remember?  Do I know my own name, for example, or is this a Dark Matter blank slate?  :o
This message was last edited by the player at 00:24, Sun 07 Mar 2021.

unless Notice is needed to separate the commander's emotions from all the empathic noise in the vicinity...?  O_o


So, yes.  When several people are screaming and shouting and crying all at once, how do you pinpoint one voice in the crowd?

The roll is Notice.

The Empathy Skill is not the Same as the Psionic Ability we've been calling Empathy.  Thats a disconnect I shoulda noted earlier.  Sorry.  You're not sensing a change in the commander's emotion.  That requires having sensed his prior emotion.   You're sensing whether he's present in the situation.  That's Notice.


Take Zero
Take Zero isn't an option in the books, so far as I recall.  But it seems an appropriate rules adjustment for a text-based forum.  Anything we can do to help streamline the process is a good thing.  Of course, if there's any problem with it, I'd love to hear your opinions.

It's cribbed from Mutants and Masterminds "Take 10" in the d20 systems.


How Much Do You Remember
I wanted a blank slate.  If you want to remember your name and various other tidbits, that's fine.   The more you define the less I will.  And the less I define, the less fate points I hand out for foisting them upon you (Per the regular accept/decline discussions, of course).


Ooo!  I didn't even know about the Take Zero option.  Is it worth rolling in hopes of Succeeding with Style, or is it better to just take the sure thing?  :o
That's your call to make.  This is the very first opening scene.  There's is going to be some railroading here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:50, Sun 07 Mar 2021.

Ah!  Hmmm.  So if Empathy Skill isn't what the Psionic Ability is based upon, should I have put something else (such as Notice) at the top of my skill pyramid?  O_o


Ah, I thought it seemed familiar.  I like it.  :)


Got it.  I like it.  I only managed to see the first several episodes of Dark Matter once upon a time ago, but I loved the premise.  :)

So if Empathy Skill isn't what the Psionic Ability is based upon, should I have put something else (such as Notice) at the top of my skill pyramid?  O_o

Let's stop calling this psionic ability "Empathy".  Perhaps "Intuition"?

To my understanding, Empathy is the skill this psionic ability is based upon.
But this does not translate into using the Empathy skill for every application of the psionic ability.  I really want to avoid anyone having one skill to rule them all.

If you want to take it in another direction, then perhaps we should take this to private messages so we can leave this thread for the scene discussion.

OK.  I think that I understand.  Famous last words...  ;)

EDIT: "Intuition".  Yeah.  I like it.  :)
This message was last edited by the player at 03:00, Sun 07 Mar 2021.

What does Lincoln look like? Bek wants to co-opt someone to help get the rest of the living out and moving, and at current the other PCs are busy or haven't been written as awake yet.

CSX:
BTW, is We Feel Your Pain a suitable Compel for CSX to save as many survivors as possible despite the risk of delay?

Yes.  What is the drama you're proposing?  What might prevent him or complicate this action?

@BEK:
Lincoln Spohr is a thick-set black man with a shaved head.  There are scars criss-crossing the left side of his face and evidence of a traumatic burn behind his ear on the left side.  He has no facial hair but the features on his face are particularly deeply set.  It animates him greatly when he talks.  But, he doesn't talk much at thr moment...

Rescuing Commander Amin.  Determining where he was, and how to pull him out of the debris.  Healing him to enable him to leave under his own power.  Still having enough time and strength to get myself away in time.  And if we both evacuate successfully, I have rescued an authority figure who thinks I am nothing but cargo, and who may well hinder any escape to freedom... :o
This message was last edited by the player at 07:05, Wed 10 Mar 2021.

@CSX:
He backed out slowly, moving something heavy.

I need clarification.  What is the "something heavy"?

Commander Amin.  He used Intuition to find his dazed body and drag it out of the debris...

Thank-you.   I'll change up Pinned by Debris for one of his Aspects.   It was planned but only in my head.  If it isn't in the IC posts, it isn't in the story.