Those Halcyon Days of Youth (Inactive)

Game Master Stalwart

Yeah I was going to fade to black at the door but felt I had to give Praetoria a chance to go with Rory or head off in another direction

Oh, I fully intended to say “Fade to Black” before anything got overt. Also to make it clear as to what “base” things progress to. Never planned to get more descriptive than that (except for like a kiss or something.)

Yeah, kisses are fine (IMO, anyway) I've just... look, not specifying this is a mistake you only wanna make once.

I'm going to make the solid rule here: Let's keep the Moves out of the Fade to Black situations. We'll all agree that whenever there's a F2B situation, those involved can specify in vague or generic (or baseball) terms how far it went, and we'll all presume everything is consensual to avoid any unpleasant connotations of the Provoke Someone Move.

There should be plenty of teenaged angst without wondering who Provoked whom. All agreed?

If I've got the timelines straight, despite Kayla's concerns, Kylie's actually asleep during this, right?

Not that she'd be chiming in, but yeah, if Psyche was awake, Kayla repeatedly thinking 'What if she's listening?' would certainly stick out :p

Works for me boss.

I'm happy enough to keep anything suggestive vague and definitely off-panel for anything that breeches the PG-13 rating.

Did Shin imagine Kylie in his old room's bed? Suggestive, but not crossing the line. Thankfully he's not yet discovered internet porn, and the most suggestive things he's seen are the covers of pulp fiction books back home.

I can concur; keep the heavy stuff off-screen, and preferably vague.

Sorry about the long delay. A tad busy today, is all.

Absolutely agree on the fade to black / pan to the fireplace etc...

Sorry, I don't think I understood your point about Isaiah and Psyche, Mosaic. Could you resummarize?

Thankfully he's not yet discovered internet porn.

I now need a montage panel of this discovery set to I Love My Computer... and then the next time we see Shin he looks like Popeye

I think it's probably groups of 3 & 4 :/

Okay I don't think there's any One True Split that's the automatically best way to do this, but here's my quick thoughts:

We want a scanner in each group (Isaiah and Horizon)

We want a carrier in each group for the nonflyers (Isaiah and Psyche)

So if we put Isaiah in Group A, and Horizon and Psyche in group B, we'd probably want to add Praetoria as a heavy hitter into group A then we've got a good start

Isaiah and Praetoria
Horizon and Psyche

Mosaic, Frostbite, and Psyche are all good at using fields/icewalls to prevent groups from running away, so at least one of you two should be on team A.

Adding in expressed partnering preferences we've got:

Isaiah, Mosaic, and Praetoria
Horizon, Psyche, and Scorch

And Frostbite gets to choose between bae or sister :p

I think it's probably groups of 3 & 4 :/

Adding in expressed partnering preferences we've got:

Isaiah, Mosaic, and Praetoria
Horizon, Psyche, and Scorch

And Frostbite gets to choose between bae Prae or sister :p

I'd agree with all that. As a secondary point, it makes sense for Prae and Scorch to be on different teams because they're the independent flyers who can't carry anyone (Well, Prae could manage one, but Scorch can't carry anyone)...

How're we going to treat the absence of Gallowglass? - She just doesn't show up?

Hard choices....Probably go with Scorch

Hey gang, sorry for the longer than planned absence! I've just now caught up on all the RP. Lots of great stuff!

I'd started a catch up post a few days ago...and then didn't get to finish it before it became out of date.

I'll just start fresh now, I'm afraid.

Oh! Fantastic!

Oh, yay. now officially half the team knows about Holly and Isaiah again... the same half that isgoing with Her... whoops

also, our beacon is back

Welcome back, Gallowglass!

Good to have you back!

Thanks for being understanding!!

Yay I was starting to worry

Huzzah for full team again!

Stalwart, I'd like some guidance on when (not) to roll.

I think IRL, the usual flow is,
Player: I do [some intended action]
DM: OK, that triggers [some Move]. Roll
Player: [rolls]

...or alternately
Player: I do [some intended action]
DM: OK, [some narrative effect; no Move triggered, no need to roll]

e.g., If GG shot an arrow at Galactus, it probably doesn't trigger Directly Engage (since it's unlikely an arrow would phase him)...but in the right circumstance perhaps it would...and ultimately it would be the DM's call.

On pbp, we tend to make an assumption about when to roll, and just let you correct us when it wasn't needed. That's OK, I guess, but I wonder if I'm rolling more often than warranted.

I know the spirit of the Powered by the Apocalypse games is that the players always roll...but I find myself wondering if it would be better in this format to have the DM roll (at least more of the time).

Stalwart--and others--what do you think?

I think that what we've been doing so far seems to be working for the most part, but we may want to ask on the Discussion page before doing potentially controversial actions. Or something like that.

Also, Gallowglass, we're still a pretty good distance away from our designated search location, if I understand things correctly. You might be jumping the gun a little again.

Unless you want to spend the whole twenty minutes walking there and back...

I guess I could elaborate a bit by saying that we may be underutilizing our handy discussion page here. If we want to ask questions before doing something, here is a good place. Or use PM if you don't want to spoil it.

Yeah, there's a minor issue with everyone "over rolling" since I can't interrupt in the middle of a post and call call for a roll.

I have noticed that many players are defaulting to rolling a move in just about every post. I don't want to exactly tell you all to stop, since the moves are partly there to encourage the back-and-forth and engagement. I do worry, however, that this is actually creating a situation of too-rapid advancement for your characters.

You might say, "well, what's wrong with gaining advancements? It's like leveling up, and that's awesome!" The problem is that there's a finite number of advancements. The is a game that has a built-in end to your characters!

Advance too quickly and you'll be ready for retirement -- though there are ways to forestall that, such as switching to another playbook.

The cardinal rule for rolling is, Only roll when the outcome is in doubt!

The biggest move I feel is getting overused is comfort or support. It's a move designed to get someone to open up. I can see both sides. Generally, every post directed at another player is done in the hopes of getting them to respond. It's the nature of pbp role-playing. That being said, I also don't feel that every interaction should require a roll.

But if your character's motivation behind talking with them is to comfort or support, then I definitely say go ahead and roll. If you're just interested in getting them to chat, maybe not. Same as provoke someone-- the key word is provoke. Asking someone if they want to go out for burgers without any pressure doesn't trigger the move.

This all being said, Gallowglass's example of shooting an arrow at Galactus is still a directly engage move, if the intent is to get his attention, cause a distraction, or some other effect. If you're shooting an arrow knowing it's not going to do anything (the same as shooting a big rock), then you're not engaging it and there's no need to roll.

I think an issue we ran into with C&S is everyone seemed to get a bunch of conditions really quick, and C&S is a way to clear conditions.

Yeah, I've actually been making a point of not putting rolls in too much, particularly in the case of social interaction.

And you never know, that arrow might actually bother Galactus somehow. You'd be amazed at the kinds of low-tech stuff that can penetrate hyper-advanced defenses sometimes. Modern body armor is good against bullets, but offers surprisingly little protection against large blunt objects. Though in that example the simple scale difference might be a problem.

Since it kinda got brought up, how exactly does Change Playbooks work?

It's pretty much like it sounds. You keep your character, but they lose all the moves and advancements of the old playbook and "start over" with the new. I'm not sure what happens to the Labels and how they get reworked. I'll have to look that up in the book tonight.

The best example I can think of is Jean Grey. She started as a Protégé of Professor X, then switched to Nova (or maybe Doomed?) when she became Phoenix.

Drawing from the Young Justice show (which if you like Masks you would probably like) I'd say that M'gann goes from Outsider to Nova, and Superboy goes from Bull to Legacy between seasons. Those ones also don't really involve any change in how their powers work or anything, just the ways in which they use them and interact with the world.

Labels stay the same when you change, the rest is fairly fuzzy: You keep the moves and powers that it makes sense for you to keep.

And re buncha rolls: I've been mainly trying to use them as kind of a button for a conversation, rather than just for every exchange. That said, sometimes in a protracted scene multiple moves do feel appropriate especially if the scene goes through a dramatic shift in tone or subject (e.g. Psyche talking to Scorch about the death of her parents when suddenly Horizon walks in and it becomes about body image and external presentation)

I’m confused as to what’s going on in-game. We’re we just used as bait/decoy to draw the Mongrels out?

No, this search is quite serious. The Alliance just correctly predicted that the Mongrels would try to use the opportunity of us all being out to try to break Vespid out of lockdown. At least that's my guess.

That's right, Isaiah. The Alliance was never there, except for Imagerie. She was throwing illusions of the other members to invite an attack to break Vespid out* -- just like Isaiah said. You all are now tasked to go find the Chosen or any clues as to where they went.

* Edit: and incidentally pissing off Psyche

Stalwart: sent you some PM’s.

**cough** Well she already had insecure marked **cough**

Can some be "Defended" from "Take a Powerful Blow"?

Usually the way it works is you defend them from the situation that would cause them to Take a Powerful Blow.

So more preemptive than reactive

**cough** Well she already had insecure marked **cough**

You could probably clear that now though: To clear Insecure, take foolhardy action without talking to your team.

That's at the end of this scene - hopefully I'll break something important too ;)

(Waiting on the result of my search before posting)

Stalwart: sent you some PM’s.

Gotcha. Hadn't responded since I'm still thinking.

Ah. I had seen somewhere that the notifications weren’t flowing over for PM’s, so just wanted to make sure.

Poor Shin, being confused by cultural memes outside of his time. Animal Farm was published in 1945, hence his confusion.

Hopefully we don't run straight into a trap now. Also, Shin really wants to figure out how to fly because he's getting annoyed being left behind by the flyers.

Hey, Inquiry isn't leaving anyone behind. Manhandling a few people if they don't board quickly maybe, but not leaving group members behind.

Hey Stalwart, did you miss this Q from a while ago?

Stalwart, btw, these are my current Drives:

□ Help a teammate when they most need you
□ Earn the respect of a hero you admire
□ Travel to an incredible place (or time)
□ Reject someone who tells you “you shouldn't be here”

I'm on the fence about if I achieved #1 when I defended Praetoria when she was stoned.

Thoughts?

(Or for that matter, thoughts from Praetoria?)

I personally think you met the first one for sure.

Well, if Praetoria is good with it, then I'd say you definitely met one of your Drives! Congratulations!

Sweet!

Stalwart, the way I read things, I took a blow before Praetoria got there. No way for her to prevent it, right?

In that case, I think her Defend, which she just did for me, probably protects me from the next potential blow...which I think is coming since I just rolled a Miss on Directly Engage.

Does that make sense?

Actually, Praetoria defended you, so you don't need to take the powerful blow.

You can revise the action if you like (including spending Team to kick up Prae's result to a 10 so she doesn't expose herself to danger or escalate the situation).

Or, you can continue with the original way your post does, and Praetoria can defend you from another threat. PbP rears its ugly head again....