Alright, I read Arcane Powers. Anything special about Marko?
K'Don - probably better to talk about Marko via regular email? Please respond to the last few issues I raised in my last mail to you...
just a curious morphing caused by the mechanics of PBP
And my notoriously (and very annoying) bad memory.
I keep misremembering that there is a lockpick skill and revert to the same mistaken notion that it is covered by stealth instead. In complex PBP games, I've begun to make Word documents with relevant posts copied and pasted in, so I can skim back for details more efficiently.
I've begun to make Word documents with relevant posts copied and pasted in, so I can skim back for details more efficiently.
I have to do the same thing with Ralf and all his Vitalist powers.
To me, this is a sure sign we're doing something wrong.
Well, besides being the sign of an overcomplicated system (with respect to PF's Vitalist, and many other aspects of PF...but I'll stop now before I start frothing at the mouth)...where was I?
Oh yeah - how often do you actually have to *look* at your PC sheet when playing PbP? If we were sitting around a table for 4 hours every week (or other), you'd be staring at that thing all the time, and memorizing it would come easy. I have to look at Katana, Marko, and John (other game) every time I want to roll something because I can't remember what the die value is. Besides an aging memory, it's because in PbP it's often *days* between looking at the sheet.
K'Don, just to clarify :
You could Run to get to her, but that would put you at -2 to attack.
Is the dwarf armed? If so, K'Don will run to attack and take the -2. If unarmed, he will close to attack.
I took "close to attack" to mean "take my regular Pace"? Especially since you explicitly mentioned running in the alternative.
K'Don - Gerta is unarmed at the moment.
But, it doesn't matter anyway since you missed.
Also, for future reference, Running itself requires a die roll (see what Marko just did for an example), but since you were only 1 square away from Gerta that also doesn't matter.
It is as you have just described. I seem to remember something like that.
Please Fox, send me Marko questions again, my OCD seems to delete files before I realize what they are.
Fox - Not sure I understand your reasoning for not allowing me to "roll the dice" a few time before I take the next roll. I've done it before both in real DND and in computer DND. I noticed that my last 4-5 rolls were very low numbers. I wanted to clear the low numbers out of my way. If you prefer I'll find 8-10 meaningless things I can roll to get them out of the way next time.
It's because if you were so inclined, you could just keep previewing rolls until you rolled high, and then use that as your roll. Kind of defeats the purpose of rolling at all.
K'Don, keep in mind a fundamental difference between PbP (here) and tabletop or playing via d20 Pro. In both of the latter cases, everyone can see you "clearing the dice." Then you say, "Okay I'm ready, this one's for real," and roll the keeper (and you're committed to that, because everyone saw what happened).
Here, that can't happen... all we know is what gets posted. So, for example, while I know you're honest and I trust you (and I guessed what you were doing based on past tabletop/d20 Pro play), I can't declare with certainty that you decided d8 roll #9 would be the "keeper" before you rolled it. See the distinction?
PbP (and any "asynchronous," non-realtime method like play by mail, play by email, etc.) really is a different "animal" and takes some getting used to. But you're doing great and you'll have your head wrapped around it before long. :o)
Also keep in mind that IF the dicebot was "perfect", the next number you roll would be *completely independent* of the previous number (or numbers). There's always bound to be runs of low numbers, AND runs of high numbers, but that's pure chance. Runs are just as likely as hi/lo sequences. Just because you've had a long run of low (or hi) rolls doesn't mean the next one is "bound" to be hi (or low).
Some of us used to use d20Pro, and we got to complaining about its random number generator. So I laboriously rolled 3000 or so d20's (that's 3000 mouse clicks!), and performed every kind of statistical test for randomness I could find, and it came out very very close to truly random.
Ok, so now I *have* to do this...
Huh. I tried 9000 rolls for better results, and got a web-page system error. Have to stick to 3000.
So the individual number distributions (how many times a 1 shows up, a 2 shows up, etc.) looks fine.
And the difference between any two consecutive rolls also looks fine.
Finally, the tendency towards "runs" of low or high numbers is also well within the ideal, given the sample size.
You know, Rick, I never even thought about it that way, I just went with what we normally do.
For clearity, I can spot a "low" "run". It is very much like when I play poker. You have "runs". Sometimes, when playing poker, a "low" "run" hits and I just have to sit there and wait it out. Sometimes it runs over several games. The reverse is true as well which is what hides the "runs". Random is not really random. Just guessing but 80% truely random, but 20% "Runs".
OK so when I spot a low run, I want to make a bunch of rolls to "clear" them out. How do I do that without causing problems.
Fox, any reason you singled me out in your last post?
I "singled" you out because you're the single person who hasn't acted yet this round, is all. :)
Regarding acronyms, type any acronym into Google, click on the top web page. :)
I would advise you to go with the die rolls as is - as DM I don't like it either, sometimes I would prefer the battle to go a certain way, and without a GM's screen, that's not possible anymore.
If you absolutely HAD to, the only way I can think of is :
1. Make a post that you're going to roll the dice N times.
2. Wait an hour so that there's no way you can change that post.
3. Roll N times. Then make the roll you want to make.
All rolls would have to be of the same die type (d6, d8, etc.), of course.
Can anyone think of any loopholes in that? Not that I'm saying K'Don would cheat, but there can't be ANY loopholes for this to work.
Oh I assumed you wanted me to wait until everyone had gone first.
One more thing about the "clearing the dice" procedure - you also couldn't do it twice in a row (as in, immediately back-to-back).
No Problemo, Jefe
I've made the point occasionally to people who don't understand probability very well that a perfectly reasonable strategy for playing the lottery (pick six type) would be to always play the exact numbers which came up on the previous drawings. People then point out that the same set of numbers are never drawn twice in a row. But statistically, the odds of those six numbers are exactly the same as any six numbers. It is just that the odds of a different set of numbers being drawn is almost 100% which hides the fact that any other set of numbers are just as unlikely as getting the same numbers as the previous drawing.
One could also play the numbers, 1,2,3,4,5,6 with equally good odds. A truly random number generating process prevents the previous selections from having any influence on the next selection. Any other belief is superstition.
A friend known to both ZenFox42 and WindDancer's player always complained that his dice failed him way more than was normal, and as a result, he always complained about his lousy luck. But one game, I kept a record of his rolls and they averaged as many good rolls as bad. We only remember the things that confirm our superstitions but ignore all the evidence to the contrary. It's human nature.
A bit of SW rules philosophy :
Technically, you need to declare *everything* you're going to do during your action, as specifically as possible, up front : "I'm going to run over to the pile and try to pick up my weapon" (I'm not picking on Arabella or Connor, this is just a recent example we've all seen).
The reason is that you need to determine what penalties are going to be incurred for *all* your Normal Actions, or what extra rolls (like Agility rolls) will be needed.
Since we're all new to the system, I reminded Connor that he could do that, but technically since he didn't declare it up front he shouldn't be able to try. However, since he didn't take any other Normal Action that requires a roll for success or failure, the -2 multiple-action penalty (MAP) can't retroactively affect anything.
Just FYI for the future, once we're all more familiar with the rules.
P.S. - there's a couple of "exceptions" to the system dealing with combining Normal Actions that don't get a roll (most notably drawing an item and reloading a weapon) with Normal Actions that do get a roll. The general way to resolve that is that if the no-roll Action is a "difficult" action, you have to make an Agility roll (including penalties for multiple actions) in order to get it done, and the Action that does get a roll gets the same penalty.
While you're reviewing this, if you run and try to pick up something during the same turn, you have to make an agility roll for the pick-up attempt. Do you also need an agility roll to do the run action as well?
Also, the result of the 1d6 for determining extra squares from the run action: I would think that should be rolled before you declare if you are attempting anything further. Your options for actions can change depending on how far you get to move. Or do you have to declare based on what you hope or expect to get and if you don't roll enough distance, you just don't get to do the action you declared?
Multiple actions (with or without rolls) don't affect *how much* you can run. No Agility roll needed, and you don't lose squares of distance, either (no such thing as "-2 to run" from multiple actions). Don't know as I can justify that, it's just the way it works.
Regarding the second point, it would depend on the situation, but you still declare what you *want* to do up front, and yes you'd have to roll your Run first if you are running *first*. If you were running to the equipment, and didn't get enough distance to actually get there, anything else you had wanted to do would be moot (and going strictly by the rules you couldn't change your mind and pick up a flask of acid that *is* within reach instead). But that last part is (as always with SW) up to the GM to enforce or not.
On the other hand, if you decide to roll Agility-2 to pick up the gun and run, you'd roll the Agility first because if that fails then nothing else happens.
I'm going to be AFK a good chunk of tomorrow, but I should be back in the evening to resume posting.
I don't see much utility in declaring you're about to do "x" when all you can do, at most, is "x."
Connor was instructed to go help Arabella. Having no idea what sort of help he could offer, about the only thing he could do was go to her. There was no intent to grab the sword because he hadn't been told to do so at that point.
Quite frankly I wasn't sure he'd even get to her in a round of running (keep in mind I thought it was the far corner). He would have gotten however far he got, and I wasn't anticipating doing anything other than moving.
I mean, " Connor runs over to Arabella." just seems sort of... pointless.
Pre-declaring also seems a bit silly in PbP-land given there's no "lock-in," and the intended action can be changed to suit the die rolls before posting -- reference the earlier "clearing the dice" discussion. So maybe I'm completely missing your intent.
But, okay.
I don't see much utility in declaring you're about to do "x" when all you can do, at most, is "x."
If "x" is a single thing, then you're quite correct. But if "x" involves multiple tasks ("x" is really "y then z") then the rules of SW say that if you don't accomplish "y" for whatever reason, you can't accomplish "z". Not defending the rule (not sure yet how I feel about it myself), just explaining it.
There was no intent to grab the sword because he hadn't been told to do so at that point.
Correct again, I suppose technically all you should have been able to do is run into the room. But since you had a Regular Action left, I informed you of it. Guess that right there says something about how I feel about the rule...
"I'm going to run over to Arabella. Connor runs over to Arabella." just seems sort of... pointless.
PbP may itself be part of the problem, because around the table you'd *say* "I'm going to run over to Arabella", and then *move* your figure, not say it again.
Anyway, my original post about this wasn't meant to say that anyone was doing anything "wrong", it was just about how SW works in detail. An FYI, since we're all new to the system.
Oh, no worries, I didn't take it that way at all. I was just trying to get a handle on the issue.
On a related note, I went to the rules to look up what I need to do when running after taking an action, and I see that, apparently, the -2 penalty only applies if you're doing something else while running (p.65). Since Connor skidded to a stop before he was instructed to grab the sword, I'm not clear on the -2 that was applied. (I realize it might have come from somewhere/something else; I'm just looking at the "Running" section.)
Since it appears to me that grabbing the sword and then running with it (not as much fun as scissors, but we make do) is a regular action and a movement, I'm going to skip rolling anything. Feel free to slap my hand if I have it wrong.
There's also how easy or difficult it is to "draw". An easy draw requires no roll, a difficult draw ["drawing two weapons at once, drawing a weapon from a difficult location, or drawing a large or unwieldy weapon"] requires an Agility roll. Then add a -2 for another action (Running).
Finding an item in a mess of a pile of items on the floor (and extracting it from said mess) is "difficult".
Hold out your hand... :)
I discovered my profile still had an earlier new device described which I replaced with the burst gun. Profile should be up to date.
When Arabella attacks with the gun, it requires a weird science skill roll which is what potential victims use as a target number to escape the field to avoid the damage. The area of effect is the cone template.
In the section on flamethrowers, which also uses the cone template, there is a shooting roll at +2 to place the center of the circular portion of the cone in the desired location. The Power section on Burst does not detail any shooting roll, so let me know what rolls you want Arabella to make when she uses her burst gun (Reason).
The cone template is listed as 9 squares long and 3 squares wide, which would put the center of the three-square circle at the end a distance of 8 squares from the shooter. I figure we'll work out where the center of the circle is and extend the edges back to the shooter, since we don't have a template on the map.
-I moved Faith's image to place her next to Alex, but not next to the Orc. That took 10 squares. Feel free to adjust if desired.
Faith is very surprised but draws her Colts and opens fire on the nearest Orc. :)
LOL, very good response! My bad. Did I forget to mention in the PATRIOT game that a swirling vortex had just appeared around Faith, and then she vanished? :)
Y'know, that could make for an AWESOME pair of games, now that I think about it...
Arabella, I want to start by quoting something from the SW manual :
"If a [Weird Science] device uses a different skill, such as Driving, Fighting, or Shooting, the inventor uses that instead. A ray gun, for example, uses the Shooting skill..."
I've just looked, and so now I know your Weird Science die is a d8, but your Shooting is a d4. At the time you picked your next device to be the Burst gun, I thought you understood the roll would be your Shooting die.
Would you have picked some other Power to implement as your next device had you known that? Given that we're all so new to SW, I'd be willing to let you retcon that.
Think about the above and let me know what you want to do.
Regarding the actual operation of Burst :
...there is a shooting roll at +2 to place the center of the circular portion of the cone in the desired location...
I'm not seeing that in the flamethrower section. What I see is :
"...the attacker places the small end of the Cone Template at the tip of his character’s weapon, and the large end on as many targets as he’s able. The attacker then makes a Shooting roll at +2..."which is just saying that the flamethrower gets a +2 to hit (as compared to anything else that uses a Cone template).
And from *vehicular* flamethrowers :
"...so a character may choose to use a Medium Burst Template instead of the Cone Template when using such weapons. The center of the template may be placed up to the maximum range of the particular flamethrower..."
(and apparently wherever they want, since no roll is mentioned regarding the placement).
I don't see any connection between the two quotes.
Regardless, Burst does not operate anything like a flamethrower : "...place the thin end of the Cone Template at the character’s front..." is all Burst says. You can't "lob" it like a flamethrower. On the other hand, you can place the template anywhere you wish to maximize included targets, no roll for accuracy needed.
Okay, I'm slowly teasing out the intent out of the rules. I finally found the "running is not movement" exception that demands a -2 even though you're not doing an action at the same time you're running.
And far be it for me to argue with a GM. It says right there on page 66, "The Game Master has the final say." :o) But in the interest of making sense of the (often seemingly self-contradictory) rules and your interpretation thereof:
The rules indicate "drawing" (e.g. a weapon) and "retrieving an item" aren't the same action. For the latter, the rules offer:
More complex actions, such as... digging through a backpack to find a small item...
The above is more closely aligned to "Finding an item in a mess of a pile of items on the floor (and extracting it from said mess)" than:
... drawing a weapon from a difficult location (such as an ankle holster or inside a coat)...
I'll point out that if you embraced this interpretation it potentially takes Connor even longer to retrieve K'Don's sword. Point being, this is not about "gaming the system" or extracting some player/PC benefit. I'm just trying to get my head wrapped around the system. If that results in a disadvantage for the PC, so be it.
Here's a roll for the sword grab:
So I guess that means he still hasn't found the sword (or did so, but hasn't gotten it untangled from the rest of the pile). I'll go put his token back. :o/
I'm confused.
The first section of your post above sounds like your saying the burst gun requires the shooting roll, not a weird science roll.
But then at the very end, you say, "'..place the thin end of the Cone Template at the character’s front...'is all Burst says. You can't "lob" it like a flamethrower. On the other hand, you can place the template anywhere you wish to maximize included targets, no roll for accuracy needed" (emphasis added). I would think the point of the shooting roll is to accurately place your shot. So is a shooting roll needed or not? Keep in mind, the burst gun is much closer to a shot gun or a flamethrower than a pistol.
I read the quote about using a different skill than the Arcane skill for some things, but the Burst power specifically mentions an arcane skill roll, so I thought that meant the shooting roll was not required.
When cast, place the thin end of the Cone Template at the character’s front. Targets within the template may make Agility rolls versus the caster’s arcane skill roll to avoid the blaze.
So there must be a weird science roll so the agility roll has something to compare to. That's why I wondered if there was a shooting roll required to place the cone template where wanted.
Edit: Another argument for not making a shooting roll is that the targets get a chance to dodge. That is not available to people getting hit with a bolt effect, for example. That's why I thought the flamethrower rules might provide an analogy. It's easier to direct a flamethrower where you want, because you can see the flames spreading out and adjust the direction your pointing to reach the place you want.
If Arabella has to make a shooting roll and an arcane roll, giving the targets two ways to avoid damage (Arabella shoots off target or target dodges), then I would not want to use the burst gun, since it seems too hard to use effectively. Also the burst description uses the example of flame and it does the same damage in the same template as the flamethrower. Also, with the flamethrower, defenders also get a chance to get out of the way with an agility roll versus the flamethrower's shooting roll. So it sounds as if the burst power is the same as the flamethrower, except instead of making a shooting roll, you make an arcane skill roll (as specified in the power description). If you know of some errata that indicates the reference to the arcane skill was an error, let me know.
Connor
I was intentionally using the "draw" rules instead of their comment about longer actions taking maybe 1d6 rounds to keep things going faster. Of course, if you continue to roll like that it may take up to 6 rounds... :)
I might even have the player make an Agility roll for the "backpack" example, just because rolling a d6 seems so...random (pun intended). By rolling Agility, higher Agility characters should be able to access things faster in general.
========================================================================
Arabella (and anyone interested in Burst)
1. In response to your first statement "there is a shooting roll at +2 to place the center of the circular portion of the cone in the desired location" (which is not true for either flamethrowers or Burst)
Let me rearrange what I said :
"no roll for accuracy is needed" to "place the template anywhere you wish to maximize included targets".
Once you've placed the template however you want, *then* you roll to set the TN for the targets' opposed rolls (in PF terms, you are setting the DC for their Reflex save).
2. I've checked the SW forums, and a system developer has said, "Burst would use Shooting to direct the damaging effect" for a Weird Scientist. The "arcane roll" in the Burst description is superseded when used by a Weird Scientist.
3. "If Arabella has to make a shooting roll and an arcane roll..."
No, you only make the ONE roll. By-the-book, you (specifically) would use Shooting.
To summarize using Burst : you place the Cone template anywhere you want (as long as the point of it is in your square), then make a single roll (Arcane or Shooting depending on your Arcane Background), which sets the TN for the targets to beat by rolling Agility.
If all that's clear, now back to my original question : would you have taken Burst if you knew that it used Shooting, since your Shooting is only a d4?
However, consider this : in SW, you can NEVER do the same action twice in one round. But if your Burst gun uses Shooting, then you could use your goggles AND the gun both in the same round, since they use different rolls (at -2 each, of course, for multiple actions as always). AND, you can hand the gun to someone else to use since all it takes is a Shooting roll.
So I can see 3 options :
1. Pick a different Power for your newest device (you've never used it, so not much of a retcon).
2. Keep the Burst gun, use your Shooting roll (RAW), with the advantages listed above.
3. Since we're all new to SW, I'd be willing to let you use the Burst gun with your Weird Science roll, but you couldn't use multiple devices in one round, and you'd be the only one who could ever use it.
Processing. Will get back asap on this. Got some other things to get done before I'll have time to look.
I mainly want to locate the rules for what happens with the burst gun if the shooting roll is not high enough to place the target where intended. How far to right or left does the attack get positioned. Also I'm wondering why the agility roll goes off the shooting result if the shooting result is also to place the cone template where desired. It seems it's an area effect and the attempt to get out of the way is not really related to the placement of the cone. But that's just speculation in the back of my mind. Getting the answers to these will help me decide how important a high shooting skill is to using the gun.
If you have time and inclination and what to spell that out, it might save me some time and help us get any issues hashed out ahead of time. I've got a few hours of work to do before I can research anything in SW.
Ignore the previous post. I think I've figured out what I've been misinterpreting. So let me describe how I think the mechanics work for the burst weapon.
Step 1: Place the cone template (we'll discuss how we do that via PBP map).
Step 2: Identify people and possibly breakable objects in the area of effect.
Step 3: Person shooting the gun rolls shooting roll (per Rules as they should have been written). So for Arabella, that would be like this:
Result = 3
Step 4: Potential targets get an agility roll to dodge effect, with TN of 3 (the result of the shooting roll).
So lets say there are three (extra-type) opponents in the area with Agility d6.
So they all beat the shooting roll result and all escape the effect.
Step 5: Move targets to a point outside the cone template.
First: Is that the way it would work?
Second: What would happen if the opponents were coming down a 10 wide corridor and could not move to the side to get out of the cone template area? Would they all jump back? What if this meant moving something like 7 squares? Are there limits to how far one can move as part of a reaction movement?
Third: are there any specific consequences of getting a 1 on the shooting die? I seem to recall the chance of hitting a nearby target when you get a 1 on your shooting roll for some ranged attacks.
Fourth: how would you handle the collateral damage to objects like doors, etc.? I'm thinking I would roll damage:
for example. So anything with a toughness of 10 or less is damaged in some way. The listed toughness of a heavy door is 10, so this example would break a heavy door. Since the weapon is designed to do non-lethal damage, I'm okay with it doing less than normal damage on objects or even no damage at all, since the weapon was not designed to be a door breaker.
Once I'm sure I understand how the mechanics work, I'll decide what option of those offered I will take (thank you for the choice, by the way). She's not going to be shooting it at the orcs so long as they are in melee with friends, so I hope I have a little time to consider.
First : a system developer has said of Burst (but not Blast) that characters that make their roll do not typically move from their square - they ducked or twisted or something to avoid it.
Second : I would stick with the above - they just "somehow" managed to avoid it.
Third : that's true (on a *miss* and a 1 on the Shooting die), but I'd say only for anyone standing within a square or two of the template.
Fourth : from earlier discussions (I know it's hard to remember all this stuff) -
-Even tho you're doing non-lethal damage, it's still *damage* (as opposed to say, Stun which only makes creatures Shaken), so I would assume at the very least that paint would peel, plaster would crumble, wood would splinter or char, etc. at least somewhat.
-Also according to the developer, Burst and Blast damage *everything* in any square that touches their area of effect (including furniture, trees, etc.) AND items on any creatures (armor, gear, money, etc.). Not sure yet how I'll handle that for your gun since it's non-lethal, but just so you know.
-Added later : maybe *half* the damage you roll would be applied to objects? Object damage also does not Ace and doesn't include the extra d6 damage for a high attack roll, so the damage done would be quite small, but still always present.
-Think of it as a low-power, wide-beam phasor - it may not be doing lethal damage, but it's still going to burn everything in its way a little bit...
-Also, since your Burst gun is non-lethal, it loses its "heavy weapon" damage status (basically "heavy weapon" means heavy-armor-piercing, so you can't take out a tank with a super-multi-Aced arrow shot).
MY CURRENT WAY TO HANDLE "NON-LETHAL BURST" (which follows RAW) :
1. If you are shooting at creatures, the "incidental" object damage is half of that roll, excluding Acing and the extra d6 (when present). So if you roll 2d10+d6 and get [4,10,3], any objects in the way take (4+10)/2 = 7 points damage. Then you roll the Ace to figure out what the creature(s) take.2. But if you're intentionally firing at just an object, then roll a d10 and ignore Aces. That's for in-a-hurry, during-melee damage, and according to a system developer, damage does not accumulate - failing to make or exceed the object's Toughness just does no effective damage that round.
-However, walls and furniture (etc.) within range will always be left with some "scorch" marks, even if they're not "destroyed".
Two other things :
A. If you activate the gun with Shooting (instead of Weird Science), you can also use the Aim action.B. "All" Arcane Powers require a roll of 4 or better to *activate*. I've done some searching, but can't find (yet) whether a Weird Scientist's Burst-in-a-gun's Shooting roll would have to be 4 or better to activate. Will get back to you on that.
May be moot anyway, since with a 3 or less practically everyone will avoid it.
Second: What would happen if the opponents were coming down a 10 wide corridor and could not move to the side to get out of the cone template area? Would they all jump back? What if this meant moving something like 7 squares? Are there limits to how far one can move as part of a reaction movement?
Missed! ;D
I looked everywhere for the image immediately before this, but couldn't find it.
I guess I will keep the burst gun using shooting (not weird science) roll for agility check TN. I would questions whether the weird science requires the arcane roll to activate if certain arcane devices can be used by people without weird science skill. This would not be possible if a weird science roll were needed to activate all weird science devices.
I guess I'll take my chances if I use it in a situation where collateral damage could be an issue. "So, successful test!" (Ghostbusters).
Arabella will yell "clear" if she's shooting the gun.
Good point on the "others can use it", but maybe Weird Science devices are "glitchy" and just don't even fire/activate if the Shooting roll (for example) is less than 4. Still looking into it...
K'Don, Marko is yours to run now. Let me know if you have any how-does-the-system-work questions.
I would questions whether the weird science requires the arcane roll to activate if certain arcane devices can be used by people without weird science skill.
If I understand your question correctly (having a hard time parsing it), the answer is that the roll is based on the *device*. If the device is a gun (Bolt, Burst, etc.), the "arcane roll to activate it" *IS* the Shooting roll (see next quote). That's what allows other people to use it (if they have Shooting). Otherwise, you *are* the only one who can use it (barring running into another Weird Scientist).
Weird Science is the skill an inventor uses when activating most devices, and raises increase the effects of the power as usual. If a device uses a different skill, such as Driving, Fighting, or Shooting, the inventor uses that instead.
So you make a Weird Science roll to activate your goggles (failing on a 3 or less), and you make a Shooting roll to activate (fire) your gun.
Based on the quote from the manual, I'm going to say that if you roll a 3 or less on your Shooting, the power points are expended and there's no effect (just the same for any Arcane character, and your goggles). That's also true if anyone else has the gun and rolls a 3 or less - the gun itself is just glitchy, and sometimes drains its energy source without producing any effect.
This seems consistent with other Arcane Backgrounds and what SW says about Weird Science in particular.
P.S. added later - after typing out all of the above, I *finally* found a quote from a system developer specifically talking about using a Shooting roll for a Weird Scientist's gun : "So any result of a 3 or less would mean the Weird Science device fails to activate." QED.
Regular email.
I think I understand all the mechanics of using the gun. Arabella will keep it on hand so she has a better chance of affecting enemies and won't necessarily kill. But everyone should know that the thing is unpredictible and may not work or may not affect anyone even if it does, and it may cause some damage to objects it hits.
She'll try to use it in situations where enemies are approaching but not yet in close proximity to friends. It probably won't take out Wild Cards but might take out extras. I may increase her shooting skill as advancement allows.
She'll give everyone a cursory tutorial on how to use it: Spin the disk 4 times and point and shoot. Shouldn't be much if any kickback, but it probably is somewhat noisy and it probably has electrical sparks and light associated with it.
I think of the Lockpicking skill as picking locks, cracking combination locks, setting traps, safely undoing traps, etc. as appropriate for the setting. So in your era it's all mechanical, but in modern day that would include knowing how to get around electronic security systems, etc. It is the all-things-"security"-related skill.
Arabella - one last thing on your gun - it does full damage to living things, just "non-lethal". So it can take out Extras and Wild Cards, dealing Wounds as usual, but when they go Incapacitated they don't die, they are just knocked unconscious for d6 hours.
Where is the K'Don, there is supposed to be an earth shattering K'Don!!!
I get the reference, Marvin, but I don't get why?