Shrug. All I know is:

1. The last OOC thread was getting a little long (1000 posts is the limit) so I decided to start this new OOC thread, which I have named after the second of Vance's DYING EARTH books (the original title).

2. The Duke is getting bored, but N'tk was the last to post in-game, so one of y'all hurry and post something new before The Duke gets to the far end of the tunnel without y'all.

No please you guys enjoy the Owl our magnificient hat has brought it into being so enjoy it to the fullest! The Duke will just see it the light at the end of the tunnel isnt a freight train.

Yeah I wanted to give Ajak the limelight a bit and chime in only as necessary since he drew it to us from his class power.

You know what would be good now? Some Plan B mind moths.

Ajak...that's actually a really interesting idea! And they need a nice meal anyway!

The Duke did not have the fried forcefield! Thats Alyn. Or did the owls provide a forcefield?

Alyn doesn't have a fried forcefield. Mine was a fully functional special suit from the start of the game. So you must be thinking of something else.

In reply to Alyn Reed (msg # 7):

iirc it was damaged by a low effect ways back. Much like my power fists.

No...mine wasn't. Now, the GM did try to damage it once but there were 2 options, and Alyn chose the one that harmed him more immediately in exchange for protecting the forcefield. But that was some time ago. That's why he was thinking it was Duke, because he knows Alyn's is fine.

The dukes armor is his massive BMI no forcefield so i assume its an owlfield then ;-)

Yeah...I think it's an owlfield as well
!

Great with that clarified lets see how our beloved GM narrates the ensuing clusterfuck. I didn't dare do anything with the flashbangs coming.

Nothing? I sort of pictured you picking up a downed raider by his feet and blindly swinging him around in a circle to clear the dance floor

Busy middle of the week as usual but busy weekend with obligations, too... will be back when I can.

LOL ya'll have hated my forcefield for so long LOL! But by god I\ll find a way to fix it somehow and let the madness continue unabated!

Um, where is Rake? And if there is a hint of danger he goes under Ahakstu’s hat.

Rake is fine. But good thinking-- let's have him be under the hat for now.

Alyn is a fun sponge.

Thanks! ...I think, lol!

I do try to keep things spiced up and interesting.

Thanks for bringing up the healing Alyn.  I'd forgotten about the damage I took earlier and never would've thought to ask!

I'm ready for your little glow-in-the-dark plastic guide to lead you to useful stuff, but first I wanna make sure we don't wanna talk to the owls about anything else--

I know you're newer still, so trying to "look out for you" a bit while you get your bearings with our weird-ass 11/10 party. :P

The Duke is done with this place. Though he migt live outhis days in the kitchen

Well the duke finds 1 xp


20:53, Today: The Duke rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 4,1.  Looting.

*cries in Duke*

Welp, you, too, like The Duke, get 1 xp, Pesky

As we leave Ajakstu will check his pockets for whatever boon has fallen to him.

And this

• Bulletproof Suit (Class 1 Formal, +1 Armor, Meshweave) based on my roll of 9

I actually rolled a 12, which is why I made such an elaborate and complex post. But here are my 3 picks:

1.) A medkit, which I give to Pesky

2.) A repair kit. I am going to use it right away to repair my Forcefield Suit, and am going to take it with me as my actively carried kit). That suit is my single greatest investment of "points" at the start of the game so Alyn will make an effort to repair it and take care of it. Thankfully, with the tough modifier, the Force Armor is easy to repair.

3.) I'd like to Upgrade Alyn's iconic starting item from Class 2 to Class 3. So his Force-Armor (Class 2, Formal, Shielded, Tough) will now become Omniforce-Armor (Class 3, Formal, Shielded, Tough, Sealed) as Alyn upgrades the energy field so that it now not only resists hostile environmental hazards and violence, but its field even recycles his oxygen and hedges out ALL undesirable environmental threats so well that he can even go under water, in poisonous gas, a vacuum, etc. It's his most valuable possession and he had "exploring a strange, new world" in mind when he designed it.

Hey Alyn can you also fix the Dukes power gloves? They no longer destroy buildings and i really need that. ;-)

Yes. I am going to take the engineering kit with him. I don't really know what rules there are for kits, although context clues based on the fact there are kit integration upgrades for gear and vehicles tells me you can only hold 1 kit at a time on your person.

As I don't know all the rules for kits, if these things are like 1-timr use or something then I'll instead give up my last upgrade and get another engineering kit and give it to the Duke for him to fix his gloves.

GM please advise.

As we keep using the Dukes survival kit i think its not a one use thing.

Oh that's a valid point, Duke!

Well in that case I'm getting a medical kit and giving it to Pesky, so now we can have some mobile first aid abilities starting with him. Alyn will have an engineering kit so we can repair our stuff like the force armor and gloves. The Survival kit is great as it helps give us options for interacting with our environment that we didn't have before.

I guess I'm starting to see how useful these kits are!

So GM - how does the med kit work?

What's in it?
Is it multi-use?
Can I use it now?  :-D

Okay let's see.

1. MEDKIT: PESKY: Yes, Pesky can have a Medical Kit from now on. Gives +1 to medical-related rolls. AND yes you may use it right now (without rolling) to heal 1 health level, Pesky.

2. Engineering Kit: Gives +1 to rolls to repair, tinker, salvage, de-activating hardware (NOT software-related problems, that would be a Computer Kit).

BUT you'll need to roll to repair each item, Alyn. (But you will get to add an extra +1 (that is, it stacks with any Insightful modifier)).

3. I... do NOT want you making your forcefield MORE powerful... at least, not without some special Armor Rules.

So here some come now:

THE (proposed) ARMOR RULES:

--If you have any ARMOR that gives you ARMOR POINTS (wearing Class 1 Armor means you have 1 ARMOR POINT), it means that for each Armor Point you have, when combat/danger starts, you can spend an Armor Point, 1-for-1, to protect you-- or someone RIGHT NEXT TO you-- from losing 1 health level. You can do this the first time you take damage, or save it to use at any point after that.

When the combat/danger is over, your Armor Points immediately refill again.


Discussion? Questions?

I would like to note that I'm NOT adding more armor points to it. It still only grants 1 armor point. It just has other tags to help against environmental hazards and stuff.

Was this your worry, GM?

It was at first. Then I decided I wanted/needed Armor Rules anyway, since Ajakstu's got some now.

So, anyone got any problems with the new Armor Rules? Yay or nay?

Honestly, they seem like pretty good rules. Because there never was a clear rule about armor and how it worked. It also means if I do decide to ad armor points to it, I won't actually be breaking the game wither, while still will be getting a nice investment.

His upgraded armor just has 1 point still (the other tags are to protect against environmental narrative stuff). But this means I can invest slowly in leveling up my force armor - which has been a central core item for my character since day 1 - without feeling bad about it.

So I am in support of the rules.

(laid-back yet enthusiastically): ...Yeah, yeah...

SO/BUT: we got 3 other players here, let's hear a yay or nay from at least one more of them first

This message was deleted by the player at 22:22, Sun 23 July 2023.

Seems fair enough.

Meh armor protects. In the other PBtA type of games armor detucts straight damage as long as it works. The  fact that most things here only do 1 damage makes the armor powerful You can have stuff do more damage, give it AP and what not. Put the max armor on 3  and take the damage tables from other games.

1 damage from brawling
2 from a weapon
3 from serious things like big guns
4 getting hit by a truck/building/the Duke/explosives

Armor 1 is light armor. 2 is serious armor and 3 is clunky cumbersome stuff so gives penalties. Armor fear is in a mech walker or something. I like that more then an armor that works once end then is done working.

I know. The problem is that then everyone has to pay attention to complicated damage rules, and I want things to be more simple than that.



Yeah, I did it this other way because I didn't want to do precisely that.



Mmmm... your 4 increasing-damage examples are... interesting, though.

What do you other 3 guys think of this?

Sorry, but how is damage handled now?

Do you roll something, like a d2 or d4?  And is the die choice dependent on what's doing the attacking?

A good question. I must admit that I've been playing it very loosely.

In theory, there are three classes of threat: Weak, Strong, and Powerful.


Weak would be one average security robot.

Strong would be that better-than-average security robot that shorted Alyn's Force Field that The Duke tore apart, or mmmmaybe the giant crab monsters the boys dealt with recently.

Powerful would be if we had to take down a functioning Doomwalker, I think.


I've just been asking for attack rolls (generally Forceful for Melee, Agile for shooting, and Scary/Weird for freaky psychic abilities) and going from there based on how hard I think a threat should be to take down.

For PC damage, if they take it, I've usually been charging 1 damage for a roll of 7 to 9 and sometimes 2 for a flat-out failure, depending on what they're fighting.

But the more we're relying on armor, the more I've realized the need for more number crunch in this process...

I feel a pool of armor points better fits the looser, narrative approach you take...for pcs, anyway. Especially since we normally dont take damage except when we fail or as an option in a partial success when you give us like three options and choose one sort of thing in a partial success.

The Duke's suggestions would work but that's only if you standardize the damage. But that would probably go against the way that you are wanting to handle the game.

And I would say you were pretty good with the levels of threats. Something like the bandits are probably weak. I totally agree the giant crabs and the giant robot and maybe the giant ant people things were probably strong. Weak if we are holding our punches. A powerful attack would be something like the Duke rolling a full success on an atrocity roll, or alyns full success weird roll where he made a StarCraft style psionic storm. For things like enemies I would say powerful threats versus a strong one are quite rare relatively and would probably be something like whatever the heck is the intelligence that is out east that is ruling the bandits. Or maybe an attack from a doom walker.

The PCs are pretty potent (especially when they roll a full success), but there's only a handful of us against a very big and often hostile or dangerously weird world.

Thanks, Alyn. That renews my faith in what's been going on, and going forward.


SO:

1. MEDKIT: PESKY: Yes, Pesky can have a Medical Kit from now on. Gives +1 to medical-related rolls. AND yes you may use it right now (without rolling) to heal 1 health level, Pesky.

2. Engineering Kit: Gives +1 to rolls to repair, tinker, salvage, de-activating hardware (NOT software-related problems, that would be a Computer Kit).

BUT you'll need to roll to repair each item, Alyn. (But you will get to add an extra +1 (that is, it stacks with any Insightful modifier)).

3. Alyn upgrades his personal forcefield. Once repaired properly:
--it'll give him 1 Armor Point, AND
--it'll give him short-term protection from environmental hazards-- say, 20 seconds to cross an area filled with dangerous gasses, or 20 seconds of air and sufficient warmth not to insta-freeze in the void of space, or etc. etc.


I'll post the new Armor Rules somewhere visible. (There, done.)


SO:

Alyn: roll to try to repair your Force Field and The Duke's Power Gloves.

You may roll for each separately, or one roll to cover both, your call (just say so before you roll).

Ajakstu: Describe what your new bulletproof suit looks like!

I thought I saw that one t looks regal.

Running with that, I’m going with a long velvet robe that clearly matches his hat.

Well, you used the "formal" adjective, so that fits either of those... I just wanna know what we're talkin' about! Royal purple with gold-colored trim? Burgundy red with faux cave-tiger collar? Pastels?

14:31, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 11 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 6,3.  Fix them all!

This was, of course, a combined roll to fix both Alyn's Suit and Duke's Gloves. And woot I rolled an 11!

As for my Omniforce Armor...I accept your interpretation of its environmental protections as long as you let them become more potent with say...the more armor points I add to it over time or something. Like to represent the forcefield becoming more robust and potent, etc.

I'd also would like to poropose the ability to use an "armor point for the scene" if subjected to an environmental condition that pushes past 20 seconds of continuous exposure too. Which probably was your intent but I thought I'd mention it just in case.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:35, Wed 26 July 2023.

In reply to The GM (msg # 48):

Let’s go with royal purple shot through with strands of silver and with ermine collar and cuffs.

Thennnnn they're both operational again now.



I accept the idea of possibly increasing the effectiveness of the field in the future. It can be good to have ongoing projects.




I don't remember if that was my intention or not, but yeah, I'll accept the idea.





groovy

In the throes of a move, so if I am delayed in posting just assume I am my crafty, solution oriented, fashionable, and beautiful self.

Understood.

We got three other players... anyone else wanna post the party's next move...?

Nothing from me.  Now that we've said out loud that the Cloister is a priority, Pesky is watching the group, waiting for someone else to make the first move.  He's still very new to the group after all.

I think a quick meal and rest in the vafetaria and off tothe Alyn walker and then to the town.

Had a long, busy weekend but I just put up a post to get things moving once again!

Next step it to return to the Doomwalker Alynwalker, and then after that...we head to Gnost.

This is me pausing in case anyone wants to do reaction posts

I don't know that I have anything to add.
We're going to Gnost, which would be my next step anyway.
And I have no prep to speak of as I found nothing new in my search.

Insert sad face --> HERE <--

Well, Ajakstu is off somewhere in RL... The Duke? Any reaction before I move us forward?

I'm back, just modeling my new duds.

No need for a reaction. Alyn nattered on as usual, Ajakstu will resume his role as The Duke's chauffeur, and there may be a possibility of loot.

In reply to The GM (msg # 59):

Nope new gloves and full supply of food so the Duke is good to go.

You can keep the med kit, by the way, as a gift from Alyn. You're now our medic. :P

So glad you said that - forgot to put it on my character sheet.
Done and ready to serve.

Duke, if you want medical treatment let Pesky know, okay, as I gave him the kit. Otherwise, once we get to rest-time if I roll well on my recovery roll I'll do some psychic healing again like I did for Jak.

As we are traveling back to the Doomwalker it was a few days so the few bruises left will heal once we have a goods night rest. The Duke got the one time use heal thing from the owls.

Brainiac can make the Insightful roll

In reply to Ajakstu Gul (msg # 66):

Jeez, good one!

I travel out of town tomorrow till sunday or monday, just an FYI.

The Duke wipes out 1/3 and leaves some for the others ;-)

So will wait for their actions before posting.

Could someone give me a quick lay of the land regarding the vehicles?  Does everyone have their own?  Who's riding with whom?

I arrived in "Groundcar: A sturdy 4 or 6-wheeled transport. Fits a driver plus up to 4 passengers."  Anybody riding with me?  'Cause if I'm alone, I can't drive and shoot.  Or are we stopping to take these things out?  I'm up for whatever - just don't want to speak having misunderstood the situation.

In reply to Pesky (msg # 70):

I am The Duke’s appointed chauffeur. Alyn has his own walker. Vult and Kalsk are most certainly not with me. As Vult is gaseous it is t driving. Kalsk is a treacherous cat being who possibly could drive.

Kalsk is not treacherous, unless you count the psychic parasite (symbiote?) in his head, which usually is pretty dormant. (Ajakstu just has a grudge because Kalsk's people held Kalsk prisoner for a while (after he tried to steal from them as I recall).)

So Kalsk will gladly drive your groundcar while you shoot, if you like. (If so, Kalsk will suggest to you that you target the cyborg hornbill-man driving the big wheeled spaceship.)

Not a sentence I hear everyday.

Hello everyone, I'm back now! It was a long, dramatic weekend. I went on a camping trip with ~12 people, and that part was great, although there was one really crappy part to it all which is that I had to put my dog down on Saturday during the trip. But I'm slowly working through the loss and grief.

About the vehicles...yes, Alyn is in a Psiwalker which is a quadwalker which has a special version of the controlled upgrade that he can can send remote instructions to via his telpathy, rather than like a radio wristband or or tablet or whatever. So I named it a Psiwalker.

I think we have a "main" transport similar to the one Pesky has, which is where Ajakstu, Duke, and Kalsk and sometimes Vult ride.

And I agree with the DM - Kalsk is not treacherous at all. Both of them have been loyal NPC allies to the party. Kalsk just has that parasite, but as the DM said it's been relatively quiet and inactive for a bit because it's afraid of Alyn being able to lock onto it telepathically and kill it/mess with it/force it to vacate Kalst / etc. so it's in a sort of standby mode if you will that forced a standoff between itself and Alyn (in standby mode, Alyn has a tough time locking onto its mental signature). However, I do believe if we got too far away from it, it would eventually start acting up again.

Well damn, Alyn.  I'm so sorry.
As a dog person, that kind of loss is about as hard as it gets.

I was in tears the whole time I drove her to a vet near our hotel, and also for some time after. It was...taxing. My parents are also torn up about it...I really am realizing how much our lives revolved around that dog! We honestly probably should have put her down a couple months earlier but my dad and I really had a hard time letting her go (she's 1/3 my dog 2/3 my parents' dog, but I'm the one who took her to the vet as they couldn't handle it).

EDIT: Also Pesky, grats on your 5. In this game, even failure can be good as it's the only way to get xp. And after 10 xp you cash them in and upgrade a stat.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:06, Mon 07 Aug 2023.

Agree. My condolences as well.

Already added to my character sheet.  Thanks for the reminder.

I'm down to 3 health.  Can I just eat the medkit?

No... that was meant to be a one-time thing as far as getting instant health back. Maybe you should keep your head down as much as possible until this combat is over...

Hey GM -

I posted this in my last post. 

Is it ok that I directed Kalsk too, just to get me into the next position?  I want to move the game forward, but I don't want to overstep my bounds.

Thank you, guys.

That sucks Alyn. Huggles and some posthumus pats on the head for the good boy. Letting go of a pet is as bad as losing a family member after all.

I'd gladly give up some of my crazy aunts (on my dad's side of course, not the nicer ones on my mom's) if I could have the dog back and also back healthy. So I do agree with you, Duke, and I appreciate the kind huggles and pats.

You are/were perfectly fine.

I am leaving for a 2 week vacation and will most likely not make it online in that time.

Dang!  Two weeks?  I'm trying to find a free 20 minutes!

Enjoy your break.  We'll guard the food for you.

Enjoy and stay safe. We'll be here for you...along with the food!

Are we on break until The Duke returns?
Just wondering how often to check in.

I posted last, so I'm expecting one of you three guys to post any time now.

Cool.  I misread the "You can examine the body (maybe see if he's got anything in his pockets), see if Commander Hornbill is still alive" piece - I thought you were talking specifically to someone who was not me.

I absolutely misread it too and thought the combat was still going lol!

Was talkin' to any of y'all

This is why everyone should use "y'all," is because it's too hard to tell if "you" is supposed to be singular or plural

I am leaning towards the circuitry but from r some totally out of character reason thought I would ask what everyone thinks

Having not seen much of the world, I have no idea what fits in narrative/character-wise yet.

I can't think of anything better.
I could only come up with the usual - money or weapons.

I absolutely would take the circuitry. Honestly maybe we can use it with the Doomwalker, or something later on in the town of Gnost.

Hey you guys you got to do stuff. Im waiting to make a spectacular return!!

Welcome back - hope you had a great vacation.
Go anywhere fun?

Yeah let's get Duke back into the group first, then head to the Doomwalker all while having a rest in between. Maybe after re-uniting with the Duke?

In reply to Pesky (msg # 99):

Yeah we went to the black forest close to one of Europe's biggest theme parks (Europa Park) and got a year card for that. So a nice mix of nature and thrill rides.

Nice! My stepmother is from that area.

Oh my god an evil step mother straight from the story books!! Don't trust her apples!!

Honestly I'm fine with the way The Duke came back.

Y'all roll the Rest move if you need to heal.



I don't plan to attack you while you're camped-- Commander Hornbill was enough for a while.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:02, Wed 30 Aug 2023.

Woohoo!

17:47, Today: Pesky rolled 13 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 6,6.  Heal up!

Welp, you get 3 back... now for The Duke...

23:41, Today: Alyn Reed rolled 3 using 2d6 with rolls of 1,2.  Forceful.

This was me seeing if I could get any "extra regained health levels" to pass along to the Duke with my psychic healing, but in this case he failed.

Question...do we get an xp on failing a rest roll? I don't think it's ever come up.

09:09, Today: The Duke rolled 7 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 1,4.  Rest.

I heal myself full.

And yes you only get xp for failing tests. Its the only way and the Duke rarely fails :-(

...You DO get XP if you fail a Rest roll... if you NEED the Rest roll.

I'm undecided about what to say if you roll to Rest and you DIDN'T need it.

So, I mean-- did you really just fail a Rest roll that you didn't need at the time you made it? Because I kinda feel like it would set a bad precedent if I let you get XP for THAT.

But if you don't get XP for it... does that mean that the Universe also shouldn't be mean to you for failing a roll?

So I guess first things first, namely clarity: dude did you just fail a Rest roll that you made in spite of being at full health when you made it?

I'd like to willingly pass up getting xp for that roll - there, that resolves it.

I agree that I didn't need it really. I was mainly going to help with healing the others (Alyn has done this before, but when he is at full health he will still make rest rolls when the others do and use psychic healing to donate the "overage of health levels" to others who are hurt).

But in this case, they ended up resting successfully so it had no consequence for Alyn failing. Which again is why I'd like to voluntarily pass up getting xp this time.

I believe there was a rule for tending to people while resting. They would heal one extra so no roll for you just giving someone some extra healing.

Alyn has a point bout the xp. It goes way to slow. Maybe just use the 6xp track like in MH? Especially in an online enviornment. I am with the game since 2019 and i have one level and 5 xp so there is practically no advancement at all.

Alyn, I'm gonna agree to let that solve it.



The Duke, I think maybe you have a point.

What's MH?

Monsterhearts. Though its a little more pvp oriented. There you can convice someone to do something with charm and then offer them an xp as a reward when they do it for example so its easier to gain xp and to reach your max potential (and abuse it to get even more powerfull if you got a roll play group instead of an rp group)

Mm. I have a different idea. Each of you please report to me exactly how much XP you have right now.

I have leveled up once fully (got "lucky" and failed a bunch early on lol) so he gained +1 charming.

He is on his "second level progress tract" and has 5/10 xp currently before he hits level 2 and gains another +1 stat (probably going to weird).

In reply to Alyn Reed (msg # 115):

You got the same amount as xp as the Duke while being so much younger. guess thats the Dukes curse of Success.

I have 3 XP.

Yeah, I had quite the rash of bad rolls for a while. lol!

EDIT: Including just now, I'll be getting another xp soon after GM posts lol!
This message was last edited by the player at 14:45, Tue 05 Sept 2023.

What I'm hearing/inferring is:

Alyn 6
The Duke 5
Pesky 3
Ajakstu 4

Total: 18.

I propose this: That we pool xp starting now and level the whole party up every 25.

What do you think?

I would be happy if we had a sort of standardized leveling of the group. I'm generally fond of milestone or at least standardized party leveling when in a team-based game like ours.

So that appears to be one vote in favor of the idea. Let's hear from another player.

Sounds like a good plan to me.  Fair, not too soft, but not punishing either.  Win-win.

This way, we can all fail... together. As one big happy failure of a team, and we will fail our way to success as we eventually fail our way into gaining more levels LOL!!!

Its great for the Duke to learn from the failures of others.

That works for me too

Community XP thread has been made. It includes the latest failure (which I haven't actually looked at the details of yet).

It's a normal thread like any other, so I need y'all to update it for me as needed.

Oops-- I just updated it myself. Y'all've been busy failin'.

The Dukes new armor is missing boss

Could I get a 10 second story about who Vomol and Seeker are?  I obviously wouldn't know any backstory, but can you tell me about their looks?  Would I recognize that one looked "bossier" than another, or would anything in particular draw my attention?

Seriously, just a sentence or two if someone can.  And if not, that's ok too.

In reply to Pesky (msg # 129):

Um, TBH, I feel like this group would be super bad at what you just asked

One is a lost wanderer from an animal hybrid tribe the Duke once 'liberated'

The other is a being thats infected with an energy parasite tht makes him shift states depending on something.

They are a group of robots that are sort of on this weird pilgrimage thing to try to find information on something that happened in the past. Vomol is their leader and they sort of follow him around like he's some sort of robot saint or something. He had some weird communication coming from the past about there being some sort of war or explosion or something and they're trying to get into the doombot to find out either more about this or get some sort of cold or they're fighting a cold war with something it just didn't seem right by us. And it didn't help that they were fairly arrogant to our group as well so we are pretty dismissive of them. And we decided to get into the doombot first to try to prevent them from getting whatever info that they're looking for. Alyn later on decided that it was so cool he wanted to make it into his own ride. But initially the reason that we care about the doombot is that we're trying to get the information the robots want first and prevent them from getting it because it sounds like they want to use it to fight a war or something similarly destructive.

Those are both Kalsk.



...Huh? In what way is it missing?





Vomol IS "the Seventh Seeker" --it's his title as a robot spiritual leader.

In reply to The GM (msg # 133):

You completely ignored my post. So i wanted to point that out in a friendly way instead of pointing out the fact that you are neglecting your games oldest member and witholding him the one thing he set his mind on beyond food ;-)

His armor should be coming and it should be weird and unpleasant.

Let's say that I didn't intentionally ignore it, but yes, let's certainly agree that I didn't pay close enough attention at the time.

I'll take care of it very soon-- you were right to point it out to me.

---

In other statements: sorry for the delay. Busy with health, work, family.

Hmmm. I have some ideas... but first, I'll let the other lads post...

Ugh, I've mostly been busy, but also for some stupid reason this game wasn't "lit up red" for me. I'll get to it this morning...

Wasn't red for me either.  I just happened to check in to ask how everybody was doing.
That said, I'm out all weekend.  Won't be able to post until Monday - walking out the door now.
Have a good weekend.

Whoohoo weekend. Enjoy!

Going to a boardgame convention myself so fun is to be had. Though my wife dreads it as its where i picked up magic again last year.

How was the board game con?  What all did you get to play?

I had a luxury problem. We had almost all the games they presented. But had some fun with Mycelium and ledgends of something or another. Most important i took the wife out and she was happy.

How was your weekend?

Good.  Not 'board game con' good, but good.

My son is in the high school band, which pretty much means my wife and I are in the band too.  We had a game Friday night and a competition all day Saturday, so it was good but busy as hell.

We usually try to get a game in on Sunday, but didn't happen this week.
I did just (finally) get my Castles of Burgundy Special Edition Kickstarter, so I'm extra excited to get that to the table.

Ah sounds like my brother. His daughter is in a showband so now he is too. I live in the town that hosts the world music contest every four years so i get exposed to the best of the best in showbands. Its fun.

Sounds like we each thought the other would do it.



Good thing you didn't.



All right, so one of you tell me how many we've accrued since we went communal, and then we'll all level up.

Since no one has given their opinion on this next question, I'll decide: Let's level up after this combat is over. Shouldn't be long now...

We missed 7 xp

On a side not off for a vacation for a week so no Dukie for a bit.

Hey if we missed 7 xp then that means we level up because 19+7=26!

Agree. So it sounds like the XP pool should now be 6? Right? And everyone levels up? Right?

1. How did we do it last time? You raise one stat by 1 point and then you tell me one cool improvement you'd like? Is that right? or is it either/or?

2. is "20 xp per level" a little low? I'm thinking it might be a little low? Maybe 25 would be better?

Let's keep it at 20 FOR NOW and see how it goes.

3. ANYWAY sorry I've been gone-- mostly Work followed by Health. Anyone wanna be Co-GM? (Have I asked that before??)

I only got the new power last time.

Also in the other PbtA games getting xp can be really easy. Chars just max out and its done unless you switch playbooks.

Last was an attribute and a power for me.

Oh thats no fair!!! The Duke wants more scary ;-)

I'm only vaguely familiar with a couple of PbtA games, and not with this particular universe at all, so I'm glad to get anything.  :-)

I understand the +1 to a stat, but don't know what 'a new power' might look like.  Can someone give an example of what you've gained so far, or something you have in mind?  I promise not to steal it.

The Duke's playbook had another power initially that made his say he wanted something and then it became truth. Like getting those armors as enemies instead of for him to wear. It tied in to him babbling madly bus it being reality/ comming true a lot like his prophecies.


So the Duke is part combat monster part oracle.

Awww I only raised my Charm from +2 to +3 last time. I didn't take a new power.

Can you guys please clarify what is supposed to happen when we level up then? I'm sorry I was a little slow to respond, as I went camping this weekend and only got back home today.

DM: what is your policy for when we levelup? Regardless of HOW we level up...like 20 or 23 xp whatever...seems you're going 20 xp in the shared pool but correct me if I'm wrong.

1.) Is is 20 xp or 25 in the pool for a communal level up? Just "checking in" even though we leveled up regardless.

2.) Do I get to unlock a new power from my previous level up? If so, I don't know what my options are. Alyn's powers are kind of all a weird mix of stuff anyway and he uses charm to do most telepathy things (with a small dose of insightful), and weird/scary for all the other crap like telekinesis, psychoportation, etc that he does. So I understand if it's hard to give him a new power based on the way his book already works. They could be refinements or boosts to certain ways his normally flexible powers work? Like maybe empathic healing is more efficient, or something on on his other powers becomes easier or perhaps he is gets better with something I'm not thinking of? But if simply "It's Alyn, so take +1 weird/scary and it's fine his powers are a weird enough grab bag" then that's acceptable simply due to the flexible nature of his book.

Would love to hear your thoughts, DM, since you're bringing this up.

Also not ignoring your Co-GM question boss. Just not sure i am up for it. On the other hand don't forget in pbta you can let players describe scenes

Thanks for the description Duke.  I guess a better question would've been what might that look like for me, as my character is a regular old mundane human - no powers, nothin'.

I have 3 skills (which I completely forget to use), all battle-focused.  Would I just make up a new battle skill, or branch into non-battle stuff, like, something more character/rp-focused?

Depending on how the DM responds to our "how does leveling up actually work?" question, I totally am in favor of you getting some sort of non-combat power, to help you branch out and diversify your concept some. Maybe something with scouting and locating enemies, tracking them, etc? and/or traps and hazards, etc? I always thought Pesky had the makings of a great scout and maybe you could lean into that somehow?

Just ripping from other playbooks but stuff like this might work. Keep in mind its from AW so they are a little different.

Visions of death: when you go into battle, roll+weird. On a 10+, name one person who’ll die and one who’ll live. On a 7–9, name one person who’ll die OR one person who’ll live. Don’t name a player’s character; name NPCs only. The MC will make your vision come true, if it’s even remotely possible. On a miss, you foresee your own death, and accordingly take -1 throughout the battle.

Eye on the door: name your escape route and roll+cool. On a 10+ you’re gone. On a 7–9, you can go or stay, but if you go it costs you: leave something behind, or take something with you, the MC will tell you what. On a miss, you’re caught vulnerable, half in and half out.

Or something that enforces your sneaking about. There is a playbook that uses weird to move through the shadows Not sure what playbook you choose but nobody is 'normal' anymore.


Im looking at these for inspiration for the Duke.

Rasputin: shot, stabbed, and poisoned, you just keep coming. When you are being scary as fuck and coming at someone, you get +1-armor. You still get shot and stabbed, bleeding just doesn’t bother you that much anymore.

Oh yeah! roll+hard to smash your way through scenery to get to or away from something. 10+, the scenery moved or smashed and you get what you want. On a 7–9 you get what you want and smash or move the scenery, but take 1-harm (ap), and are disoriented and under fire in follow-up actions, leave something behind, or take something with you. think smashing through walls or pushing through burned out husks of cars.

Cool - thanks for the ideas/references.  Something stealthy/scout-y would be good.  Also thinking about something interpersonal, though I don't know what it might be yet.

I have a +2 to Hidey, but I haven't used it once, so I probably won't put my skill point there.  Still thinking...

1. Alyn's question: I am saying it will be 20 points in the pool will = a level up-- for next time. I feel like maybe that SHOULD be raised to 25, but I am not raising it YET. I want to see how fast we get to 20 again.

2. It feels, based on what Ajakstu said-- and I think he's right-- that I've been inconsistent about how leveling up works. Well, that's what can happen when rules aren't made clear in the first place, so it's my fault.

How I WANT it to work, now, is that you can raise a stat OR get a new ability.

BUT i realize that Ajakstu got an extra bonus last time, so I don't want anyone to say "hey, Ajakstu got more ice cream than the rest of us last time, and now you're changing the rules!"

So, I mean... it doesn't make sense to punish Ajakstu, but I also feel like a stat AND a new ability is too much (especially if we leave the pool at 20).

Maybe that's the solution?

Would you RATHER everyone get one of each and we raise the pool to 25 now, OR would you RATHER pick one or the other but we keep the pool at 20 for now and the immediate future?


3. The Duke's suggestions:


Visions of death: Meh, I dunno, seems kinda bloodthirsty


Eye on the door: Yeah, I like that one


Rasputin: I might want to tinker with the details of the mechanics, but I like it in general


Oh Yeah!: Mm, not bad, but it'd have to be walls where busting through seems plausible. The piled-up cars is a good example. Wouldn't want someone to use it on steel nor stone walls, though.

Well i believe you are still trying to run a game in the classic way. You tell a story we try to follow. A lot of PbtA games change entire scenes just on how you make a single roll. Make a good combat roll and boom it escalates into a new scene with the combat over (In AW we did an entire siege in a town on a single roll). You fail a roll, yeah another thing that changes the narrative entirely and might even change the entire story and add a new plotline (Also goes that way with successes in places where they happen where you don't expect them) At least in my time playing AW and MH thats how i learned how the system worked so absurd moves like Visions of death and Oh Yeah! are just additions to that sort of grand effects on a single roll thing.  Not sure where you my "so its written" move comes from but it can let me get really insane stuff a lot like the Meastro'd in AW so a move that lets you run through walls when its thematic it is for the Duke especially with his gloves. Or Pesky the Sniper simply stating that one dies/lives fits how the pbta idea of the rules. But we are running it more as a turn based old school rpg and then i understand you feel those things are off.

As for the advances. Isn't it as simple as saying we keep it at 20 and mr nice had already had his advance in advance so its settled and everyone is now even? Cause lets be hones the Duke will complain if he isnt the one getting the most icecream.

Hey, Ajakstu only runs with the opportunities that present themselves. That being said, Ajakstu is most cetainly not going to turn the tide of battle or do any sort of heavy lifting, so not really sorry for getting extra ice cream cause I'm more Jarvis to the Avengers in the group.

20 and one or the other works. Honestly, other than an ability like "Ohhhhhh, you were actually aiming at my teammate that transfers damage to say, Alyn" I can't really think of much to add to my plethora of powers.

I kind of like the 20 points/pick one or the other method.  Seems like the choices at each level-up would be more impactful/difficult, and I like the tension in that, personally.

I also favor a 20 point pool, pick one or the other method. If ajak has "too much" Right now under the system that I agree with the Duke that will just let this new level up count as his paying off something that he was given in advance and then he will be evened out again. I feel that way we're not punishing or taking away from ajak, but simply by not giving him anything with this level up it's basically paying for him getting front loaded benefits earlier and like the Duke said it just will balance out his playing field or his sheet or however you want to call it and then going forward with the next level of after this one then he can just pick one of the other like the rest of us.

Okay, cool cool, let's keep it at 20 for a while at least and for now, everyone increase 1 stat by one point OR talk to me about a new ability

Alyn will be taking +1 to Weird/Scary, going from +1->+2.

Okay!

BY THE WAY, forgot to say-- Max of +3. If you wanna up a stat that's already at +3, you need to either pick a different one anyway, or talk to me about an ability that would help that stat somehow anyway...

Pesky will take +1 to Insightful, also going from +1->+2.

Mokay!

I'll be bumping Scary to +2

In reply to Alyn Reed (msg # 163):

Bah! Alyn's idea is as usual subpar.

Well it's not right that you be punished or anything, lol. Now, you simply are caught up and streamlined to the rest of us and we can use the same leveling track. And going forward, leveling up will be cleaner using our new system I think.

Sorry to all-- health concerns delaying me posting.

I hope I can post again sooner than later.

Health comes first boss.

I found the dukes image again.

I didn't realize you lost it, lol!

Description of the Duke didn't have it anymore. So i was sad and couldnt  find it anymore. But it was somewhere lost on onedrive.

Ah okay! Well, I'm glad you found him again! :)

Thankies

Pesky, bud...guess what? I have good news for you. Remember that Alan has that engineering kit that he got from the military complex when he gave you the medical kit? He may be able to use his engineering/repair kit to help you fix your gun. Or at least to increase our chances of fixing it...even more so if you use a teamwork action to help my engineering roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:23, Wed 15 Nov 2023.

Cool - wouldn't have thought of that in a million, squillion years.  Thanks!

No problem! If we use the kit, I get to add +1 to my roll and if you help me with teamwork you can replace one of my die rolls with a better one of yours, so this way we can maximize the chances of being able to fix it. I think insightful governs this but Alyn has a +1 in that so he is decent with this sort of thing.

I've got a +2 Insightful, so we should be able to get this thing fixed up.  I'll let you finish what you're doing, then Pesky will bug you for help.

Got it.

Yeah... Getting the ownership drivers installed is really really important to me and to Alyn. Plus I need to do it because I'm going to make ajak a sub user for emergencies, support, or if we need him to travel or something while and that is going to require me to finish the upload as well.

He can be the Geordi to my Picard, and you guys are my collective Commander wharf. And then we'll really mess things up in this setting. :)

Inadvertently picked up some hardware in my hip yesterday. Have a good feeling about being hit by The Duke is like. I’m gonna rest up for a few days at least so NPC me as needed.

Oh rest up. Let a cow lick you so you also know how it feels to be kissed by him and get a full experience.

Hahaha! Laughter is the best medicine!

I'd say being licked by a cow about describes how it went down the last time, LOL!

So everyone still alive and ready for the next holiday?

In reply to The Duke (msg # 188):

Still kickin'.  Have all my shopping done for Christmas - just have some stuff to get for my wife and son's stockings.

Yesterday I put in for a couple of extra days off at Christmas.  Hoping I wasn't too late in requesting.  Man, I could use a couple of extra days off.

I am here as well.

Hey Folks -

Just checking in.
How's everybody doing?  Hope everyone had a great holiday.

I am here and I'm doing okay and I'm trying to get back into the swing of the normal work grind lol. I hope you all had a good holiday.

Happy New Year to all.

I may need a recap when we get rolling again.

Still here and eating. ;-)

Health is an issue this week, but not RIGHT NOW. The bigger issue lately has been Family- and Work-related obligations.

We'll see what happens.

Oh, DAMN. I forgot you were being telepathic. If I'd remembered I absolutely would have handled that differently. Craaaap.

LOL too late now. :P

*probes your deepest thoughts*

Friend Or Enemy Recognitions System

Its the AI that stops the Duke from killing everyone ;-)

Sure, I knew that (though I'd forgotted exactly what it stood for), I just thought that it was software that was running inside a real teddy bear. But your way makes more sense.

Ajakstu didn't we have an AI controlled hover car? Or did you upgrade to alyns old walker?

To my knowledge, you guys have this like large hover transport thingy. That's like where you guys keep the main cooler and normally how you guys have been getting around..

Alyn has his own land walker, because you have to remember he met you guys out in the field before. However I was able to modify it so that it also is ultra receptive to his telepathy so he can give the thing like remote instructions even though it doesn't have a very smart AI or anything. Like he can control it without putting his hands on the wheel if you will.

I think one of you guys maybe pesky also has a normal landwalker?

BTW Alyn did NOT give his psiwalker away, nor will he. My intention is to actually see if I can store it in the Doomwalker/Alynwalker and then take it out on a need two basis if we have to go into places that might not be conducive to a gigantic mecca Titan megazord. It's sort of like a smaller transport for him and since it's so good at receiving psychic instructions I think it's too useful to just give up..

Pesky does have:
"Groundcar: A sturdy 4 or 6-wheeled transport. Fits a driver plus up to 4 passengers."

So I've got insight +1, but I thought Ajakstu had a specialty in scrounging for loot and treasure. I would rather he make the check and if it's a crappy one I would like to do an aid other action.

Makes sense...

Duke's walker responds to Ajakstu's voice commands, and I think he graciously allowed Duke to also order it about. Sometimes, though, you have to give it the personal touch, Knightrider be damned.

1. The broken head-screen on the AlynWalker doesn't matter too much because the planet's atmosphere is a very even temperature, so there's no wind (nor weather) worth mentioning (excepting rare phenomena like reality showers, shadow blizzards, necrotempests, non-euclidian sleet, and/or brainstorms)

2. Gonna wait and see if Ajakstu or Pesky post

3. Pesky, where are you, bud; you okay?

I guess Pesky will or won't show up if and when he does or doesn't show up...

In the meantime: someone (ONE of you) give me an Insightful roll...

Go for it Ajak!

09:17, Today: The Duke rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  Insightfull high on Dulcinea. – 10

Pfft the Duke fixes it.

Hey y'all - sorry...
Family stuff and health stuff collided.
I'll try to get caught up on the plot and post by tomorrow.

Okay buddy.

It's always Family Stuff, Health Stuff, or Work Stuff, for all of us, all the time. At least I know it is for me.

Catch up when you can. Hope your health (and/or that of your loved ones) has improved//does improve.

I'm working on a new in-game post right now...

Yeah, but I think you forgot the -1 penalty for having been healed by Dulcinea, right...?

Nope even my roll includes high on Dulcy.

Well I mean yeah it says that but you rolled 2d6 and got 5 and 5, so with the -1 penalty it should be 9, right?

No usually i get a +1 But it made little sense to do +1-1 as the dice rolle might get confused.

Ohhhhhhhh, you dropped your bonus because they'd just cancel each other out. So that's it! Okay!

GM, can you please clarify... But is it obvious to us that the shriekmaws are defending their own ship/the tower/etc and the robots are like the invading force?

Yes, sorry-- the roboids are going from the tower to the ship, the shriekmaws are defending.

Hmmmm. I think I'll see what Alyn does or doesn't do next (and possibly Pesky) before I post about the results of Ajakstu's post...

I will update after work today in a few hours.

Cool cool. Book 3 (and the start of 4) has inspired me, I'm all set with plot twists for some time to come...

Howdy all, long time lurker, finally had the bandwidth to apply.  That 1st character crashed and burned as it conflicted with an existing one.  But the 2nd...well hopefully the 2nd will be a fun addition.  Looking forward to role-playing with yall

Welcome - glad you're here.

Welcome.

Cheers!

Welcome to the madhouse!

Pesky i was hoping for this.

Yeah, I'm trying to come back. Obligations-- work, one of them-- got in the way for a while. I'll keep working on it...

GM: can I restate/reroll in order to help Duke?  I'd basically do the same thing, just reframe it as a 'help' and roll 1 d6.

Thoughts?

Too late now buddy!

You'll know better next time...
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:56, Tue 26 Mar.

Me = currently waiting to see if anyone's gonna try the AID move for Alyn.

The Duke probably shouldn't-- he's low on health...

Alyn the Duke has prophetised you. Seeing as i shouldn't aid you now but i already did!!

Bossy didn't order me to aid him.

And I busy trying to block the robot HQ with Duke's walker.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh.

Massive eye roll.

That affected things somewhat (in ways that I failed to detail. So I'll do it now retroactively):

--First, the roboids didn't swarm over Ajakstu-- he'd only gotten in their way, not actually harmed them much as such

--Second, it helped force the roboids to STOP attacking the shriekmaws, instead of having a battle on two fronts

--Third, it got in the way of both The Duke and the roboids, slowing all of them down. Roboids were climbing up the sides of their tower, to try to clamber into any window they could before it was too late...

--Finally, since I also didn't make it clear a few minutes ago: There are hardly any active roboids here anymore. Mmmmaybe Alyn might be able to find one that's still functional if he wants to do a mind probe or anything to see what that was all about (if he rolls for it), but there's none of them still able to fight (thanks mostly to The Duke).


Now that the roboid threat has passed, Dulcinea will be willing to heal The Duke one more health level if he asks (giving him a penalty on his next roll, of course). Or, he can wait...

For what, the failed rolls? Or...?

Ajakstu huffs and concentrates on cleaning imaginary fluff off of his hat.

Welp, do we wanna let The Duke try to smash the door, or do we wanna try talking him into something more subtle?

Subtle? Now why would we do that? After all the Duke has gloves that can level buildings.