Deus Machina - The Last Grimoire (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

@Denton:Val is more... doesn't believe, but is happy to play along, scare herself, and probably have a trippy time. She spends too much time playing pretend as an actress to be anything but skeptical. (Should be fun when she finds out different)

MU was mostly because A:Her parents can't complain (prestigious graduates), and B:Annoy her parents (Prestigious crazy graduates)

@Walter: No worries, I'm sure my character will pick up the slack (until she dies horribly).

That sounds like a perfectly good reason to attend the school. XD As GM, I fully approve of such motivations!

Jonas? You still here?

Sigh... Maybe we're down to four. SACRIFICE FOR THE RITUAL! CTHULHU FHTAGN!

How specific do I have to be about the type of animal I can speak with? For example, could I chose birds or would I have to specify owls or hawks?

Based on the original wording of the power, it would have to be owls or hawks. Note that if the choice has several options, you still get all of them (for example, choosing bears would cover Black, Grizzly, Polar, etc.).

Also, it's fine if you just pick your favorite animal - whatever you choose will be written into the plot to ensure that you have the opportunity to use the ability, so there's no concerns about having a dead power. ^^

How specific do I have to be about the type of animal I can speak with? For example, could I chose birds or would I have to specify owls or hawks?

Do a Willard and pick rats! They're decently dangerous in a swarm, easily replaceable/hideable. So we'd have shock troopers and scouts!

Juuuust kidding.

I'm torn between ravens or wolves. Anyone want to throw in their two cents on the subject?

@DM is there a listing of the spells we get with the book or is that something we find out later?

@everyone do you use any addons to make formatting posts easier? I found one for chrome that was alright but chrome runs wonky for me. The ones I've found for firefox have not been accommodating to custom tags.

This was announced in the recruitment thread. ^^

All Grimoires know the following spells in addition to whatever Pages they gain:

0th Level: Arcane Mark, Detect Charm, Detect Magic, Dim, Light, Mage Hand, Read Magic
1st Level: Magic Missile

Oh so the uniqueness of the books comes from the abilities they grant not spells that can be cast. I'll update the sheet with spells.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Well technically, the differing abilities actually tie in with the cards from earlier; they just "resonated." So the books themselves are quite similar at this point, but I imagine they'll "grow apart" as we each acquire pages to add.

Heh... I burned Denton badly with my choices. To get a specific benefit during the build, I took a penalty on all untrained skills. So of course I then go and choose the constellation that lets me use an untrained skill. Hah! :o)

Looks like Denny's gonna be the under-performer of our group. ;o)

Indeed; the books are very similar now, but I do expect them to diversify sharply later on. ^^ As I'm sure you'll come to understand.

Aiden, best make some notes about recharge times as well, I think. It's definitely going to take me a while to get used to the alternate rules. Looks as if continual Light won't be possible until 6th Level, for example.

Actually, I suspect you could do that at 2nd Level... as long as you're in a group, anyway. XD Teamwork is a wonderful thing.

Granted. I was speaking of an individual. :o)

I was looking over the rules for recharge and I noticed you say we are conisdered sorcerers. Does that mean we use the shorter general recharge timers?

Another question when you said a flood of knowledge came to us on how the tomes could help us, were you implying that we don't have to go through the awkward "oh I have powers, what do they do, how do they work" phase? I assume we should role play some getting used to it, but there's a bad guy and I have a magic missile ready and waiting.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Good point, Aiden; thanks for asking!

I was thinking it was like "book learning" (no pun intended) -- we have an awareness of what we can do through our grimoires, but needing to "test drive" to get the hang of things. Kind of like, you can read about swimming or riding a motorcycle and understand the principles, but that's wholly different from actually leaping into the water or grabbing those handlebars and exhibiting even basic skills.

But if we have inherent control from the get-go, that's going to be a great help.

Yes, you can assume that you have a good idea of how the magic works - verbal components, somatic components, etc. That doesn't mean you're instant experts on all magical theory or will necessarily recognize other magical things, but the Grimoires are actively assisting you in spellcasting. It's sort of the way that someone can pick up and use a firearm, even if they don't necessarily understand the physics or mechanics involved. For roleplaying purposes, it might go best if you're "I have powers, I just used them, how did I know that?" instead. ^^ But that's just me, and you're certainly free to do characterization as you prefer!

And yes, you'll generally have shorter recharge times. ^^ Roll as if you were a Sorcerer for those rules.

I certainly think Aiden would be a bit surprised but I just meant he doesn't have to go through the superhero montage like at the beginning of the toby Maguire spiderman where he tries to figure out the hand thing to shoot web.

"Doctor Octogonapus BWAH!"

Valory? We're waiting on you...

I'm here, RL being a pain, will post in the actual thread in a bit. Sorry for the delay.

Feel free to imagine my action took place after Walter's if I should have waited for him. Sorry.

-Posted with Wayfinder

(I wasn't complaining, Aiden.)

Everyone else's books are apparently coping fairly well, even offering up suggestions and directing action, which is very cool. I like that vibe and the way y'all are playing it.

But when something just sort of "organically evolves" -- this time, because I anticipated slower story pacing -- I like to run with it. Apparently Denny's tome isn't the "take charge" sort and is cowering like a terrified puppy. :o) I'm thinking it'll need a bit of comforting and a more symbiotic arrangement to bring out the pair's true potential.

Maybe, like Denny, it's the underachiever of its group. :o) Or maybe it knows something the other grimoires don't... something terrifying!

DUN DUN DUNNNN! :oP

GM, I believe what I'm about to post in Gameplay skips ahead to the next round but, in the spirit of "story trumps mechanics," now is the appropriate time based on the flow of the tale. I'm not trying to gain an unfair advantage; feel free to retcon or retract as you deem appropriate. Thanks!

We're not even playing with a map, and it's true that I do believe story should trump mechanics - as long as things don't make the game less fun for everyone else or totally derail the plot, I plan to be fairly lenient and let you do what you think is best. ^^ Of course, you're always welcome to ask questions if you're not sure about something.

Thanks, that's what I figured based on your pre-game comments. I'll just need to know whether you judge Denny's attack having happened in Round 1 or 2 (for the recharge). No rush of course.

So it's Carnival weekend down here. Working around that, and that we're down three people at work (half of the unit), posting will be a bit sporadic. I'm still going to try to keep it at least once per day, but as evidenced by the last couple of days, I can't make any promises.

Since it seems we're out of combat, can we assume we've recharged?

-Posted with Wayfinder

Yes, you may assume that. Unless a second combat phase begins more-or-less immediately after the previous one, you should have the time to completely recharge all of your magic between combat encounters.

The only exception, of course, is anything with special cooldown times, since those function under slightly different rules. ^^

The board is glitching strangely this evening and not respecting ooc tags, so I'll put this here to be safe.

First: Thank you, oh most generous GM! :o)

And: Of course there's a huge difference between working katas and actually fighting...

Man I can't roll to save my life haha. Highest initiative mod and I'm last.

Tell me about it...

Have we lost Val? :o(

I decided a while ago but forgot to mention, I'm picking Wolf for speak with animal.

Two questions, GM:

1) So was this all "luck of the draw and a roll of the dice?" Aiden rolled too low to make the notice and I just happened to roll mine before Walter posted? If he'd rolled before me and made it, his book would have another spell now instead of Denton's?

If so, I'm going to try to hold back a little when it looks like another page is coming down, so we can all progress more-or-less evenly. It wouldn't feel right if Denton kept snagging stuff just because I happen to be in front of the computer and post quickly at the right time. Teamwork!

2) Am I playing it about the way you want? I'm trying to think more "novel writing" than "role playing." Denton's unlike any FRP character I've run before -- less an "adventurer" than a cocky urban kid (good heart but raised in a challenging environment) -- so I have no basis to judge by. I know you have a certain vision for this thing and want to respect that as best I can.

Took too long typing my reply. I'll adjust it later to fit better/ make more sense.

1) It was because of the first one to access it, but this won't be the only way that Pages are obtained for your Grimories, and I do plan to see to it that everyone advances at a fairly even pace. As for which spells are obtained... yes, that can vary somewhat, since Grimoires will have different strengths. It was set this time, though.

2) Your RP'ing is just fine. ^^ I rather like how it's going so far.

So, are you guys planning on continuing to roleplay, or did you just want things to be pushed forward?

Move foward. Seemed silly to keep hanging out in the falling apart building.

I think we covered the key stuff. I'm okay with getting out of here to someplace safer.

Presuming there is someplace safer; who knows what's going on outside!

I believe this is the point where I'm supposed to laugh evilly and roll a few dice behind the DM screen...

I'm pretty sure Lovecraft didn't bother with the dice part...

I wonder what lovecraft would think of people playing games based on his stories, maybe he would have been a gm ha ha.

Wow, what a thought... wouldn't you love to play under him!

I would gladly murder you for that opportunity. Is that a bad thing?

Well yes, from my point of view...

I think he'd run the sort of games where you'd struggle through by the skin of your neck, and have one last hope in the distance, only to have it utterly crushed moments away from victory. XD

Kind of like this one, you mean. :o)