Awww, why noooooooooooooot?
Not that we've had such a terrible time doing anything without it. I just like having real-time contact with people, and questions get answered so much more quickly.
Love the whole skype concept, except no computer. Not that I've ever used skype anyway, though, sometimes it isn't so good, like when one's voice doesn't match the character. I guess in that circumstance, one could play mostly in third person style.
UF and I just used text.
I suppose you don't have a phone capable of running Skype Mobile, do you? It kills battery pretty fast without AC power, but it works. I did a session of a chat-based game that way, actually, while I was traveling and had no laptop.
For the pump room observation test:
Personality: Curious
UF and I just used text.
This. Skype is actually primarily an IM program first, audio/video call program second, but they don't market it like that of course.
For much the same reason we've stuck around Paizo (it being the "home" gaming site of a majority of our players), I've stopped using any chat programs that aren't Skype and sometimes Google Talk, the latter because my Android phone runs it in the background all the time no matter how many times I stop the process. Gone are the days of AIM, IRC, Windows Messenger, Skype, and GTalk all running at the same time!
Other than all that, I really just like having direct channels to communicate with players. E-mail is okay for poking people, but sometimes conversations need to happen, and chat is way more convenient for that.
That and when our brains are working on the same speed (relatively speaking) then you get better results from me, generally speaking, because things get hashed out while we're focused on the problem right then.
Trying to think of stuff for responses, really I am, but it's just not flowing right now.
I'll come back in 20 and try again.
Side notes on naming: Natalia's name.
I've always viewed the bats as Slavic. And so their naming is also Slavic in my mind (Patronymic).
Male suffexes are -ov, -ev, -ovich, -yevich, or -yich.
Female suffexes are -ova, -eva, -yevna, -ovna or -ichna.
For masculine names ending in a vowel, such as Ilya or Foma, when they are used as a base for patronymic, the corresponding endings are -ich (for men; Ilyich or Fomich) and -inichna (for women; Ilyinichna or Fominichna).
Male and female patronymic names derived from names ending in -slav (Vladislav, Yaroslav) have two possible forms: long, with -vovich/-vovna (Yaroslavovich, Yaroslavovna) and short, with -vich, -vna (Yaroslavich, Yaroslavna).
Which means Natalia Ivanova of House Repense translates to Natalia, daughter of Ivan, of House Repense.
Mmm, that's sort of what I was doing already actually. Double points for the coincidence? Though I kinda subdivided it based on environs and bat race.
I marked out the Zvonimir as sort of Slavic and Romanian based on their name and environs for example, while the majority of the Repense I'd imagined a bit closer to the pseudo western European feel of the peoples around them.
Given there's only the two extant bat Noble Houses though it's not a stretch at all to imagine some intermarriage between them, so you can probably find all three kinds of bats and their different nomenclatures amongst the families making up the Houses.
So I guess I don't really have a point to what I was saying beyond recognition of blood ties and random lore dropping.
So I got myself signed in on my phone. Now nothing can stop me!
NOTHING IN THE 'VERSE CAN STOP ME
Should I just roll my Soak? Cause matching that 12 isn't happening.
Have you used your Personality already? Because you can use your Personality if you feel lucky.
And if not, go ahead and roll your Soak. It's 3 Damage total right now.
Random thing I should have told everybody but only remembered to tell Delroy because he wanders Skype muchly:
Don't be afraid to edit in minor details to the scene. As long as I haven't specifically called something out then feel free to add stuff that I didn't mention if it seems plausible. Builds a more communal feel, I think.
Now on the other hand this doesn't mean you can retroactively declare stuff without some Gift or power saying you can. ;P
No declaring you picked up some object or other or prepared some room or took up a watch on X position after you've already moved on from the spot you would have done so.
ok finally back at pc, posting stuff in a bit.
well that took longer than expected to get that finished. Life happened, sorry!
I'm going to have to get Extra Favored Use in Supernatural, sometime soon.
Nevermind the stride if it's going to cause a tactical difficulty for the others, unless he can go 'diagonal' and thus leave the center of the doorway open.
This is one reason i like IronClaw, movement is not relegated to squares.
Well, you're not actually positioned right inside the doorway yet, so a Stride would take you into the doorway regardless of direction. I mean, I suppose you could dive to the floor! But that'd leave you with its own difficulties too even if it leaves sight lines open for Natalia and Quinn.
Good point there. We'll just keep Del where he is for now.
Spending 1 XP to change Supernatural's favored use from 'Detecting Magic' to 'Silence Spell'.
Re-rolling the 1d12 that rolled 1,
New Supernatural Fav use: Silence Spell
The official lucky roll of the day goes to Quinn, who managed to max that d8 and force me to expend two of Ms. Z's most important survival Gifts in order to keep her from being toasted! Good job!
And now we know why Magic Save is a Gift used sparingly: it carries MUCHO risk.
Happy birthday to me!
Happy Birthday UltraFennic!
Happy birthday to me too. Coincidence? No...
It's a mystical twin connection, you see. We have a synecdochal link to each other.
Happy Birthday! Whoot! You have survived another grueling and difficult year on this dustball called Dirt, Congrats! :)
Thanks!
And curse you PCs for handily resisting that awesome spell!
XD
I'm sorry. A last minute decision to go to my husband's family reunion in the middle of nowhere'sville Ohio, staying with his uncle (it's possibly his favorite uncle's last family reunion. :( I understand but we sort of ran out the door in a hurry and I forgot my cell phone.). No internet. His family is wonderful people but that doesn't help you all. Going to try to read and catch up byt I just got home from the redeye fight and I am pretty beat. At worst expect posts tomorrow even if they have to be short and narrative to catch things up.
I had intended (and I think ny last post said so) to spend spring break catching up and posting lots and helping things keep energetic and insteat I ended up bolting out the door without my cell phone or toothpaste. I'm very sorry.
Redeye FLIGHT and omg so much has happened ub the game. I'm so sorry.
Okay, that's everything I think. Going to sleep now. Fortunately tomorrow is a state holiday too.
AAaaaahhh! Happy birthday UF! :)and many happy returns.
So glad to see you back and safe!
Haste makes waste! Never has it been so true!
Well, that makes a lot of sense now. Hopefully we won't have anymore disappearing acts, eh? ;)
Ooooookay. I need to catch up now since I spent the last few hours playing that new Tomb Raider game and extending my birthday beyond one day in general. Um...I think I may have left some ends dangling without clarity for Rosza and Javiera since I got caught up in this little battle-y bit. Lemme figure that out here.
Link takes you to the White Wolf Exalted forum. Figured it was useful because it's a condensation of a longer article apparently.
Here's the full thing. It's a doozy.
Fun fact: guy that posted it is one of the major editors for Sanguine Games's products.
Ah, THAT article.
Because it is so focused on death rather than combative debilitation, it somewhat glosses the fact that slashing weapons often more easily disable the musculature of an enemy's limbs (attacking your opponent's sword-arm is a GOOD tactic). This is one reason why sabers and rapiers (with bladed tips quite capable of slashing) were driven out in favor of the edgeless smallsword and its variants. Easier to keep irritable young nobles alive if they aren't hacking gobbets from each other.
There are some situations which it does not take into good account (particularly sudden and massive exsanguination) which are exploited (or are recommended for exploitation) by certain aficionados of such arts. Two examples which come to mind are Fairbarn's advocacy of the downward overhand thrust behind the clavicle with a ripping withdrawal, mean to split the aorta massively. The OSS book on combatives suggests that this will result in unconsciousness within 10-15 seconds as blood pressure drops off almost immediately. A similar situation is suggested by the upward stab behind the sternum, again intended to split (and thus drain) one of the major elements of the circulatory system, in this case the heart.
Wounds to the femoral high on the leg (saber-strike to the inside of the thigh) are pretty variable. Sometimes near-immediate unconsciousness. Sometimes people linger quite some while (the poor fellow who had his femoral severed during the Battle of the Black Sea and whose name I am forgetting).
And then there's the head. The eye is a rather unfortunate funnel into the cranium in terms of stabbing weapons.
...But this is a game, and we often can go with what is most dramatically effective.
FWIW, in my opinion (and the opinion of others I know who have studied the sword) this is one of the best examples of a duel in a movie. It's sabers, and it's excessively lethal, and it's horribly obvious that the one man is relying on strength for his moves and the other is toying with him. You can plainly see the one fellow taking the other's measure and how early in the fight he KNOWS who the victor is...And how long a period it takes the other guy to catch on. There's some real artistry there, acting as well as bladework. Minimal flynnery -- many if not most blows would hit hard if not blocked -- and only a couple of 'whups I visibly started pulling that swing before it was blocked'.
Good link!
I do love how Wołodyjowski (the victor) switches his saber to his left hand THREE times in the fight so smoothly that if you're not watching for it, it's not even obvious until the recovery to the right. The man is just so smoothly in control of his blade at every step. Eat your heart out, Princess Bride!
Ironclaw Rules are CONFUSING ME again.
It appears you actually need to have the Full Tilt capability in order to simply body-check someone?! Otherwise, even at a full run, you simply rebound and you are sent reeling while they are not? Page 146 confuses me. First it says:
When a Sprinting or Full-Tilt combatant, vehicle or mount is denied movement, they will crash.
But then immediately thereafter it says:
A combatant that attempts to Sprint through another combatant and is denied movement … can no longer move, and is sent Reeling.
Following which there are rules for crashing causing damage, dodging or evading or counter-attacking crashes, etc. Apparently you can't RUN, you can only Sprint or Full-Tilt. Ironclaw, why you so crazy?
This might all be beside the point. I have NO idea how large the room is. My initial thought was to simply have Rosza accept Natalia's yell as a reason to plow damn-the-torpedoes into whichever non-friendly got in her way, with the idea that both would likely go reeling and then the next round would be up close and personal. If it's a Sprintable distance, that's fine...Although because of the odd way Sprint works, it's possible to fail to Sprint across a 3m room. Although I imagine it's unlikely for the room to be more than 5m across, given the way most buildings worked back then (or even today).
My figuring was that having Rosza plow into somebody was simply the most reasonable response, as despite the blood-smell and Natalia's call about the fire-ball, Rosza doesn't have a clear idea yet as to who in the room is hostile and who isn't.
Alas, it seems that it might not be 'simple' at all.
You can sprint or dash and make a 'shove' attack, I imagine.
It's...I think they tried to have rules to model people running into each other without actually hurting each other. :\
The "Dash" is basically a regular controlled short run. An actual "Run" is kind of a madcap dash, and a Stunt. Maximized Speed and Body die plus Dash IIRC. Twist and turn as much as you need to. I'd probably count that as Full-Tilt for purposes of ramming into people because seriously WTF rules?
Note that if you DO crash into someone you BOTH have to soak the damage, which is 1d6 per denied pace of movement vs. 4.
/Okay, the one piece of the equation I'm still missing, I suppose,
/is 'how much distance does Rosza have to close?'
A decent bit but it's within range of your Run, assuming none of your allies blocks you off like a doofus. You'd be looking at about 3d6 v. 4 of denied movement and thus potential damage dice. Both of you then Soak that damage like normal, and you're both Reeling and presumably on the ground.
Which tells me it's NOT in range of a sprint, which was the other question I forgot to ask.
Yeah, and you'd need to be Running anyway given the...goofy way the game handles Sprinting into someone. :\
Yeah, I love the fact that you can 'Sprint' less than you can Dash, even though Sprinting is supposedly faster.
If I were building the system I'd probably make Sprint = Dash + 1/2 Speed Die or some-damn thing. Anyway, nearly ready to post a thing.
EDIT: Thing posted. Yes, it's a bizarre, potentially suicidal move, but I don't see Rosza charging into a room full of people she does and doesn't know without a clear indicator of who is the enemy and being ready to arbitrarily stab whoever she gets to first. And apparently the only way to get into melee range at all would've meant Running regardless, so...
Yeah, I definitely would go with Sprint = Dash + 1/2 Speed Die. Since it currently IS Speed Die, this would result in it 'filling the gap' appropriately. The least you could get is 1 stride more than Dash, and the most you could get remains unchanged.
That would remove the 'No I will not dash, I need to go further!' *FLAIL* *moves 1 stride* 'Damn, should have dashed instead of sprinting.' issue.
I think Sprint is the way it is for a reason but I'd need to ask Rafferty why. My gut says it has something to do with the way burdened folks have no dash ability.
Hmmmm...Then make burdened folk roll their Speed die, while unburdened folks roll Dash +1/2 Speed?
Eh, I'm not really trying to change the rules here, just...It's weird!
It is a bit odd! I wonder if that's supposed to be a tradeoff of sorts, being unburdened gets you less soak but guaranteed movement capability, while having more armor and the Burden gives you more Soak but less guaranteed movement...but if you manage to get up speed your momentum will carry you far enough? Hmmm.
EDIT: No fireball to the face though, he didn't get Focus so he couldn't interrupt if he wanted to. And if he HAD gotten Focus he would've lobbed the fireball straight off and this would look very different!
Well, no fireball to the face is good!
Hmmmm. So Rosza took two damage from that fiasco. WHich mean's she's afraid. Ouch.
Looking at the system again probably the smarter thing to do would have been to chuck the towel at his head as a 'Trick' stunt, but she wouldn't have been in range without the Run stunt, so...
I think the idea is to go for a tactically consistent 'middle ground', but to go an extra few paces, or have extra protection (layered armour) or hyper-preparedness (an encumbering amount of gear) should be balanced by tactical uncertainty.
I've asked Rafferty, still waiting for an answer on the design philosophy.
Natalia: You need not grapple unless you wish to on a bite, you simply have the option to bite and hold.