I'm never trusting elevators in this game again. You all should fully expect Jean to demand to examine the next elevator he is asked to get on. He'll be taking ranks in Profession (elevator inspector) and everything.
We about to all have some insane legs after we spend the rest of the campaign climbing 100 flights of stairs every time we go somewhere.
Man that's a lot of spoiler tags. Should be getting cleaned up in that regard soon at least.
The system won't let me post right now on the gameplay tab, treats it like a preview. rolled a 16 perception.
Well, that's odd. Anyone else getting that?
Nope
Working now.
Maps are available at the top of the screen labeled by the PCs involved in the map in question. Let me know if you have any questions, I'm still trying to figure out a good map-making option.
Okay... Dedicated sniper in close quarters. Let's see if my first shot puts him on his butt, then pray that my armor and fall back melee/kiting skills are up to the challenge... It's times like this where I really hope I'm as good at building a well-rounded character as I think I am.
Oop. Had to change a setting but now Abel Tom and Alistair can change their positions on the map.
Appreciate it. Kinda thought you just didn’t want me to move the chairs around like some sort of pbp poltergeist.
It occurs to me that Alistair would have still been invisible during the first round of combat.
I forgot someone made me invisible. No worries.
I forgot I made someone invisible.
Well it happens.
As an aside, is Alistair still flanking with Abel?
As long as Able stayed in place, I didn't move.
Huh, could have sworn I already posted that
Sorry about the delays in my posting everyone. I hope you have a good july 4th for whatever today means for you. I'll update the game tomorrow.
Today is the 'Finally the kids have left' celebration over here.
*Laughs in British.*
I celebrated in the most ethical and responsible way I could: Being salty in my own apartment, eating Indian takeout (lamb tikka masala is an all time favorite), and playing games from the big racial justice bundle Itch.io did.
Oh, that was a good bundle.
Tikka masala, is a favorite of mine too.
So like you know how in the movies the kids run away and then everything goes terribly and they super regret it? That’s how I view the whole independence from England thing. You think if we ask real nicely to be taken back we can get in on the health care?
That's insane. They would do better to come join us.
That's actually a major political point here right now. There have been attempts to move us to a more American system, and it's pretty much the only thing the nation as a whole agrees on: we do not want that. It's causing our current Government some problems, because they really wanna do it and start making more money, but it's pretty much political suicide to try it. Brexit was divisive, but there are very few Brits who wanna start paying more for a worse healthcare system (and no one is stupid to believe that the taxes we currently pay to fund the system would go down, even if we had to pay an American style one) so the Government is having to try and be really, really sneaky.
But don't worry Tom, lots is going terribly here as well, so you're not missing out on much. We just aren't as likely to literally burst into flames as you guys are, or be underwater, or have a tornado land on us, or have the very Earth shudder in our presence.
That's actually a major political point here right now. There have been attempts to move us to a more American system, and it's pretty much the only thing the nation as a whole agrees on: we do not want that. It's causing our current Government some problems, because they really wanna do it and start making more money, but it's pretty much political suicide to try it. Brexit was divisive, but there are very few Brits who wanna start paying more for a worse healthcare system (and no one is stupid to believe that the taxes we currently pay to fund the system would go down, even if we had to pay an American style one) so the Government is having to try and be really, really sneaky.
But don't worry Tom, lots is going terribly here as well, so you're not missing out on much. We just aren't as likely to literally burst into flames as you guys are, or be underwater, or have a tornado land on us, or have the very Earth shudder in our presence.
As an American currently living paycheck to paycheck without medical insurance in the middle of a pandemic, I can wholeheartedly say you guys should pretty much avoid American-style anything.
Granted, I'm going to take a hard pass on a few of your things as well. The Tories, for instance, sound insufferable and if it wasn't obvious from my character, I'm pretty soundly anti-monarchist.
Sadly a bunch of anarchist marxists are running amok. There are several healthcare reforms that need to be made but our system is still far superior to the British or Canadian system. However, I agree that it is unlikely that any government will give up on collecting a given level of taxes, they would have to put in some sort of conditional legislation beforehand to have taxes pegged to drop before you even allowed them to attempt the shift. My state is trying to do something in a similar vein, they are wanting to move to a higher sales tax (value added tax) and remove the income tax. The trick is they have to start charging the tax to get the system going and no one trusts them to then vote out the income tax after our sales tax doubles.
Also, I have somewhat overextended myself in the game arena and will be bowing out here. My apologies for any inconvenience. I wanted to wait until after the fight and can carry it through the exit from the building. Or I can just disappear like a video game 'poof'.
In fact, it cost a lot more in parental guilt ice cream.
In addition, it cost nothing for 6 months of follow ups, replacement casts, additional x-rays and the like.
The same was true when she had eczema when she was young. About 70% of her body was covered in bad rashes, and because she was so little she would often get bad infections that meant whole areas were literally green. We got truly vast amounts of anti-inflammatory creams, anti-biotics (which nearly killed me, because I accidently got some on my fingers once, whoops) and specialist help.
My brother died a few years ago. He spent a lot of time in end of life hostels, towards the end of his life, because the cancer he had gnawed through his gut and into his spine. He was completely dependant on his wife, by the end of his life, and she needed time to do other things. She was able to do so because he could spend time in a hostel, cared for and fed for free. His vast number of medications and pain killers (he was on the choose your own narctoics plan by the end, where he could just hit a button for more morphine) and he even got free cars, free modifications to his him and a lot of other stuff. Because he couldn't work, he wasn't paying that $300 a month for the last several years of his life, but he'd paid it for his entire life before that.
...my mother died last year. Again, cancer. She'd lost my step-father the year before, and because she had MS and Diabetes and a bunch of other problems, and she moved into a hospice for several months. Again, all for that $300 a month (or rather, prior payments - my mother was old enough to be exempt from that tax).
To add to that, there was no paperwork, no fees, no calls trying to get it sorted, no concern that my cover might not work, no worries that my provider might find a loophole to avoid paying. At the time of the eczema, for example, I was jobless and physically unable to work. There was never any worry that I would somehow end up with a bill, and that was a big help during a very stressful period.
I think, really, that's the biggest thing for me. Whether you are the poorest person possible with millions in debt, or a millionaire, you can go into an NHS hospital and not have to worry about anything but getting better. No concern that you'll get a bill you simply can't pay, or your insurance won't cover the life long medication you now need. You get sick, you get treated, you get well.
I won't say it's perfect - our Government has been badly underfunding the system to try and justify that transition to a more American system for the last decade, and it's cost people. My brother is one of them - a screw up on his forms meant he was treated as end of life on his admission to hospital three years before he died, because his lung collapsed, and by the time the mistake was found he'd missed too many treatment to continue chemo and radiotherapy.
But it's a much better system than deciding if I want to eat or buy my kids medication. Which, given the treatment would have cost around $5000 a year plus anti-biotics and are unlikely to be covered by many insurers, and I was out of work at the time, would have been a very real choice.
Of course, this is all just my personal experience. But there was a strong reason my wife, who is American, was quite adamant that we were staying in the UK once we were married and got our degrees. There's a reason the US has a lower life expectancy, and a for profit healthcare system is a big part of that, I think. And as mentioned, you guys pay a lot more for the privilege. I think it's something insane like 17% of your GDP gets spent on healthcare, including private and public stuff, and we only pay about 9.2% in total, and with the exception of dentistry we get everything included. From a cast to cancer, we're covered.
Anyway, on a less political note, sorry to hear you're leaving the game Alister. Have fun and hope to see you again soon.
While I'm glad to see we're keeping discussion civil here, please take discussions of real life politics to PMs if you'd like to continue. It wasn't my intention to start the subject.
Also, I have somewhat overextended myself in the game arena and will be bowing out here. My apologies for any inconvenience. I wanted to wait until after the fight and can carry it through the exit from the building. Or I can just disappear like a video game 'poof'.
Sorry to see you go, I had a couple things lined up for Alistair. To pull back the curtains more than I usually do there will probably be another combat or two before the "dungeon" is complete. I can adjust of course, but I understand if you'd prefer exiting sooner than later. I could run Alistair as an NPC for the time being as well if you would rather.
I will leave that to you. I would default to Alistair making an exit here if you don't have a preference.
I don't have a preference. We moved back into the office this Monday and so I am no longer teleworking. That limits my flexibility on posting. God bless all and I hope you have fun.
Sorry to see you go Alistair. I really liked the character and our interactions. Hope the best for you.
While I'm glad to see we're keeping discussion civil here, please take discussions of real life politics to PMs if you'd like to continue. It wasn't my intention to start the subject.
Sorry, with the current state of affairs a lot of things feel more raw and personal. There's a lot of subjects that are more quickly going to segue into overtly political talk.
It's easy to forget shared hobbies don't always mean shared points of view. I'll see about keeping a lid on it in the future.
Sorry about the map link. Took it down to fiddle with things then forgot to put it back. Should be good now.
Okay, so, to be clear, we want to head to the right side of the map to get out of this chamber?
Ah yes, that would be right.
I think old age is catching up to me in my 28 years.
OOOF! That crit would be so tasty right now, but there is no way a 16 confirms against an enemy like the Ghoul.
Crits are really the only thing I have to be concerned about with guns as a common weapon in a setting like this. But the dice fall where they may.
I’d just like to say that I have been really cheering for Jean and so stressed for his storyline this whole time. So you know props to both GM and player alike for making such an exciting story.
He's definitely being put through the wringer here... somehow without outright taking any damage, which is impressive. Some unlovely rolls and circumstances have inadvertently pushed his character to the breaking point. I had been hoping for a chance to drop his defenses and give framing for his worldview (especially his anti-aristocratic tendencies) before hitting it this hard.
He doesn't feel close enough to any of the other PCs to get them to help shoulder the burden of what will feel like a significant failure to him once the anger wears off. Even with the spat he had with Lady and the fact that they really barely knew each other, Jean is a firm believer of taking care of people that put their faith in you. So he's probably going to end up even more stiff and distant to the other PCs (if that was somehow possible).
However, if the Ghoul escapes alive and Bishop plays his cards right, he's going to have some serious leverage over Jean. Possibly enough to have him go full 'good soldier' and just about completely sublimate his anti-authoritarian streak. Helping Jean exact a bloody reckoning on the Ghoul is going to be a hell of a motivator. On the other hand, if he doesn't... we may be saying goodbye to Jean.
Which is okay, really. I'm a firm believer in not trying to force a character to fit into a story situation they don't belong in.
If Abel, Tom, or now Seraphina would like to give the store a look through, give me a d100 roll.
Is this another look? Or a new store?
Oh my bad I just realized you offered another look. Just got done running a roll20 session for some buddies so I guess my eyes decided not to work any more.
Han del, you should be able to edit the map now. I always forget the view and edit are separate permissions in google stuff.
So I'm going to be running into the darkness, correct?
If you would like to go upstairs to the point Bishop mentioned yes. That's the place where the nines has a single connecting point between floors.
Downstairs is behind Jean to the left of the map.
Right, that should be my full movement into the darkness if I'm reading the situation right. I'm fully prepared to rugby tackle the Ghoul if he happens to be in my way.
I'm going to be wildly amused if Jean was the only one that managed to hurt the Ghoul this entire section of the adventure.
I should mention at this point that if Jean would like to get more information out of Hightower, he might be able to with a social skill check, or a knowledge: history or local roll. As it stands they seem very keen to exit the premises.
I'll roll local when I get home, but I'm not too keen on holding them up beyond this.