(and did you actually mean for it to be 'Garçon'?)
And it does strike another interesting note. As Garçon means not only "boy" but "servant." Interesting due to another character known as "The Master."
You don’t need to roll every time you’re adding flavor; if you’re doing it for flavor, compare Take 10s and operate off that — including what you mean to be doing, e.g. moving quickly takes a -10 hit. And when it comes to your flavor text, keep in mind the implications. If you want to imply that rush with a shield, perhaps advance with a shoulder forward.
English is a wonderful language; it also can be sticky. ;) Keep working on it; internet dictionaries and thesauruses are your friends. I use Google to do ‘synonym word’ all the time, in search of the best one to use, so you’re not alone. ;)
On a side note it can be amusing and add even more flavor to fail on things. In this example, wanting to walk silently, your stealth is a 7. Looking at the perception scores in the group, all 4 of us are at 7 or higher, so on a take 10 for all of us we would notice.
That allows you to attempt to enter silently and then flush in embarrassment as you realize no one fell for it. Extra flavorful, as long as it isn't used so frequently that it becomes silly.
Of course, in my last post I was meaning to taste the wine, not the glass. Hilarious as that may be.
No no -- Jerome (I must confess I did like Jean-François) taking a bite out of a glass and chewing/tasting it is an image I shall treasure for at least twenty more minutes. ;)
A wonderful side note -- it appears that the 'half your lesser class's base skill points' bonus actually includes your background skills -- so everyone is going to have a baseline of 20 background skills (10 standard, +5 skill bonus, +5 game bonus). Spend wisely!!
I am, FYI, putting charaters into Hero Lab. If/when I have questions or am stymied at some point, you can be sure I'll ask. ;)
If you're putting them in HL, I should mention something odd happened when I was building Lilli.
'Claimed Turf' adds several Vigilante talents to the Rogue talent list. This part worked fine in HL as they became available for selection. Taking any one of them, however, causes a weird bug that I have been unable to fix. When I took 'Safe House', for example, it adds it as a Secondary Ability and does not use up the talent slot, leaving me with the program telling me I still had a talent slot free, and too many secondary abilities.
I have not figured out how to get it to work correctly. I just thought I'd mention it in case you have the same issue while building Lilli.
EDIT: I have added the 5 skill points, she's updated with the new information.
Just a reminder - GM asked us to put rolls and ooc comments either in the discussion thread or in spoilers to keep the gameplay storyline clean.
Thanks, I was in time to edit it.
No worries. I actually only posted that in the hopes that you'd see it within the editing window :)
Speaking of that, I'll throw my Knowledge Local roll here.
That's to see if Lilli recognizes any of the names. Especially interested in profession, location, and any organizational ties that any of them have so we can best plan out a strategy for this.
If you have Hero Lab-built characters, you would be doing me a great service if you stashed the .user character file somewhere I could retrieve it, and send me the link; save me a lot of time and energy. ;)
And thanks for concealing the rolls -- just as an FYI, I've come to agree that having them in the play thread (albeit in a spoiler) is the best of both worlds.
Sent you a PM with the HL file. If you find a way to get the error I had with taking any allowed vigilante talents after taking 'claimed turf' (reference a couple posts up from here if you missed it) please let me know.
Also - I'll do rolls in gameplay spoilers instead of in Discussion from now on :)
Lilli is absolutely right -- what I need is indeed the .por file.
Working on my next post including my two remaining rolls. Before I do so I have two questions:
-GM mentioned the possibility of using KS:religion. I'm not sure its use in a situation like this, other than to recognize if someone is associated with a specific religion? I was just going to KS:local twice more but I'm intrigued of what information might be gained from a religion roll.
-I already know of one of these people. As a group would you prefer for me to see if I know of any others, or to try and gain more detailed information on the one that I'm already aware of?
EDIT: I just remembered I can boost my knowledge checks using Pageant of the Peacock, which allows me while "gracefully weaving your body through subtle forms and postures" to get +4 to my Bluff and then use my Bluff modifier on INT skill checks. My post might take a bit as I'm trying to figure out how to write up swaying my hips to get better knowledge XD
Unconscious dancing while she thinks perhaps?
'I think better when I'm dancing...'
Pageant of the Peacock:
Thanks for the link; that's what I like to see. ;) I would actually interpret that as being able to accentuate your elegance and grace, whether through your skill at acting or your ability in dance, to subtly distract people during conversations with you; this is the bonus to Bluff and Disguise. The ability to use your Bluff in place of an Int/Int-based check is that skill that many good spies have, which is to ask intelligent questions as if you already know the answer, but get those to whom you're talking to answer the question in your place. I can't offhand think of a good example in any media, but given the above, I'm sure that someone will come up with one or six.
In this particular instance I'm willing to allow it, in part because it's already been rolled; if you like, you can think of it as remembering having talked / subtly interrogated various people using this particular technique, and now she's remembering what information the questions had produced.
KS: Local/Religion results:
KS: Local will only get you information regarding the candidates; KS: Religion will allow you to know information about those 'Sœur/Frère' Gray Gardeners who are involved with the selection. There are six individuals at the table; even operating with only 5 of you, with 3 rolls each you'd be able to cover all of the Gardeners as well as all of the other candidates -- 7 Religion rolls + 6 Local rolls = 13 out of 15, with 2 (5 with Jeggare) spare to cover 'bad rolls'.
Note that this is baseline information, what you know off the top of your head; this does not include what the Conspiracy could dig up over the next two or four days before putting plans into motion. Do not try to target your rolls; I intend on giving each of you information appropriate to your class, position, and the rest.
Moving Forward
I will delay posting more information until everyone has made their rolls, whichever ones they care to. At the moment, you have 3 functional KS: Locals and 1 KS Religion.
Looks like we have at least 5 good Local checks now and 1 Religion. Anyone who has the ability to roll KS:Religion should probably lean towards that so we can get the max amount of starting information.
Also - GM: Is this a power word: blah situation where we can just read each other's spoilers on the assumption that the information would be automatically shared, or would you like us to reiterate them in our own words?
I'm away from my computer, I'll do my next rolls tomorrow.
Just a note, I'll be at a wedding tomorrow, so I may or may not get a chance to post during the day.
Thank you, Dolorès. Have fun. (I think that's for today, so ... hope you're having fun!! ;) )
Jerome: Library Re-Check:
Retry? No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.
This, though with a caveat: I would allow the bonus to apply retroactively to your rolls, one period of research (3 hours with the book repository for KS: Local) per roll; these people are somewhat like the group, in they aren't often the type who are going to have anything written about them. You'd mostly be hunting through past copies of broadsheets to find a column inch or two written about one thing or another done by them, supposedly or not.
I do not intend on playing with the Lore skills; KS: Local is what you'll use to know of people on the street, with the KS: Religion being used in this case to know about people in the various religious orders. I appreciate you wanting to know more about 'other shady characters', as it were, but I'd rather not spread you out that far, so it's unnecessary -- and, getting into the details, a little troubling:
Your KS: Local: +10 (5 ranks + 3 class skill + 2 ability mod)
Your Lore (Isarn "Underground")* +11 (2 ranks + 3 background skill points +3 class skill + 3 ability mod)
... you don't have anything that gives a +3; Lore uses the same rules (and attributes) as Knowledge Skills, so it'd be a +2 (Int), for the same +10 as KS: Local.
As I'm working on putting your character into Hero Lab, I needs must remind you that you're also missing a few bits of information that must make it onto your character page, even if you gave me the information in the Recruitment thread -- things like what weapon you're using your 3rd level Finesse Training for (as a morningstar isn't eligible), what area your Galtan Agitator Reputation applies to (presumably right around where your actual business is in, but I've been wrong before), which Versatile Performance you've selected, that sort of thing. I also informed you that your Favored Class Bonus cannot apply bonus spells of the maximum level you can cast, which means you're two (2) spells high when it comes to your second (2nd) level spells; that's a fairly important one, so please fix it pronto.
Also — sorry, conked out early last night. Will post ID stuff tonight. :)
Re: letting others know — a brief sum-up like you’ve been doing is good, and reads well.
I have tweaked my sheet/profile for Garson a bit. Tied up some loose ends.
I have listed my Rogue Talent Reputation area as being Nord Riviere. Is this too broad a scope?
Nope; one district is perfect.
Sorry folks — computer went blarg. Will get post up tonight from elsewhere.
Computers do that sometimes. No worries take your time. Hope it's fixable.
Dolorès Durante - One of ours
*Sœur Argent - very chatty; suspect she is Calistrian priestess named Ellen Montaigne. Prefers personable, lively, open people
*Chantelle Pascal - Elven archer, member of the Commune deadeyes
well respected among deadeyes but tends to recruit destructive types from mobs as new members
Frère Charbon - unknown
*Étienne Joubert - Thug, kicked out of Caydogs 3 years ago for excessive violence
no set home location; bounces from area to area, leads gang of 15-20 that 'avenges crimes' but keeps spoils as payment
Sœur Cendre - Very serious; appreciates self control
*Maël Lambert - Public Defender, extremely greedy; only defends those who can pay him, supposed follower of Calistria
Frère Nickel - unknown
*Piter Soucy - Dwarf follower of Dranngvit, goddess of vengeance working for paying customers.
Thug for hire who collects what his client is owed. Requires proof of debt, does contract enforcement, cannot be bribed
Sœur Glauque - morose, fatalistic, observes and sketches. Might be more impressed by observation than action in recruit
Thibault Belmont - hard worker and investor, no detailed info
Frère Ardoise - appreciates humor and randomness
*Yvette Bonfils - Army lieutenant; warpriest. Claims Desna but suspect is a follower of Milani.
Good officer, respected, but seems to be becoming irritated about orders regarding the mob
*Frère Cadet - Greedy and lecherous, probably prefers the same traits in recruits
It occurs to me - could we set Joubert and Soucy on each other somehow? Have Soucy hired to get something back from Joubert? That might solve at least one problem rather well!
Regarding Pascal, Lucien would be quite happy to simply kill her.
If Soucy works only if there's proof of a contract or debt, it might be hard to convince him to move against Joubert. If we could figure out a way to do it, that would be really effective though. Even if they both survived it, it seems like that situation would be something neither of their recruiters would appreciate.
Speaking of Joubert, I was also thinking of faking a theft to get him to act and then just 'accidentally' kill him when he gets violently involved.
I added these ideas, and I'll re-post the cheat sheet once all of them are brought up in gameplay along with any more potential plans we come up with.
By the way, my full plan for Yvette/Cadet, which I had way back when our host first mentioned Cadet, is as follows:
-Find out where he is and have some of my crew fake a scuffle on the street in front of him.
-Have others of my crew (or Lucien) break it up. In the process a coin purse gets dropped as they scatter. Cadet is notoriously greedy so he'll hopefully pick it up.
-In addition to some coin, there is an invitation to The Gilded Lily for an already paid evening of entertainment. (Cadet is also lecherous so should attend)
-When he gets there have a private party in the sitting room with all people I've chosen, and use sow thoughts or similar spells to get him thinking that Yvette is not a good candidate.
Thoughts?
Mael Lambert is corrupt: I've been thinking of a way to discredit him in public, but it's very hard to think of blackmail material without having photos or video.
What I've been thinking is that someone hires him, hiding a bag of gold and showing some forged evidence: we go to trial, where I produce the forger and get testimony that Lambert knew. The drawback is that the forger and the hiring party might be sentenced.
For Soucy, I can try to think of some tricked contract that would put Joubert immediately in my debt. It's a specialty of devils, after all.
As for Thibault Belmont, maybe we could simply 'prove' his connection to Abadar and get a few Galtan citizens riled up about his accumulation of wealth. Might at least be enough to cause a scandal and get him out of the way while he's trying to clean it up, and his Grey Gardener patron doesn't seem like the type to care for worshippers of a lawful god.
Blackmail is less about the actual presentation of the items to the public (or to specified individuals) and more about the person's concern for their reputation.
Clarification: Chantelle Pascal targets -- as in, 'by preference shoots first' -- destructive people; she doesn't recruit them.
Also, this is a wonderful conversation to be having ICly. ;)
Looks like we have at least one possible idea for each pair. As soon as Garson posts his information and any ideas he might have I'll repost the list here so we can reference it for discussion IC.
@GM: Don't worry, we were just brainstorming here while we wait for all the spoilers to be officially revealed. This discussion WILL happen in Gameplay :)
-Dolorès Durante - One of ours
-Sœur Argent - very chatty; suspect she is Calistrian priestess named Ellen Montaigne. Prefers personable, lively, open people
-Chantelle Pascal - Elven archer, member of the Commune deadeyes
well respected among deadeyes; tends to target destructive types from mobs first
-Frère Charbon - unknown
-Étienne Joubert - Thug, kicked out of Caydogs 3 years ago for excessive violence
no set home location; bounces from area to area, leads gang of 15-20 that 'avenges crimes' but keeps spoils as payment
-Sœur Cendre - Very serious; appreciates self control
-Maël Lambert - Public Defender, extremely greedy; only defends those who can pay him, supposed follower of Calistria
-Frère Nickel - unknown
-Piter Soucy - Dwarf follower of Dranngvit, goddess of vengeance working for paying customers.
Thug for hire who collects what his client is owed. Requires proof of debt, does contract enforcement, cannot be bribed
-Sœur Glauque - morose, fatalistic, observes and sketches. Might be more impressed by observation than action in recruit
-Thibault Belmont - hard worker and investor, no detailed info
-Frère Ardoise - appreciates humor and randomness
-Yvette Bonfils - Army lieutenant; warpriest. Claims Desna but suspect is a follower of Milani.
Good officer, respected, but seems to be becoming irritated about orders regarding the mob
-Frère Cadet - Greedy and lecherous, probably prefers the same traits in recruits
We could adjust the plan since Pascal isn't as bad a person as I thought.
We only need to discredit three of them in total right? Selection of targets is going to be important I think.
Agreed, now that the clarification happened with Pascal, I think she's a pretty good person to keep around.
Probably a good idea to go for four of them just in case one of our schemes doesn't go well, but yeah we don't need to go for everyone.
So Pascal, Bonfils because they're decent people we don't want in the gardeners and then Joubert and Lambert because no-one will miss them...?
I'm more than happy to do the plan where I get Cadet to stop looking at Bonfils and will detail it more IC once we have more discussion. I like Jerome's idea to pit Joubert and Soucy against each other. We need plans for the others as these are the only two that have been posited in character so far.
So we need to get plans in Gameplay for at least two of Pascal/Lambert/Belmont in order to cinch a spot for Dolorès.
Off topic - seems like most of you guys aren't active on the weekends, is that normal or just at the moment? Will save myself the trouble of checking all weekend if I know it's going to be slow.
Just a heads up...I'm about to head out for a vacation. I'm leaving on Wednesday and coming back on the 22nd. Both of those days I'll be offline, but most of the days between I should be able to get onto the forums about once a day. I'll still be posting just wanted to let you know in case I miss a day or two.
My weekends tend to be late-night -- well, all my stuff tends to be, just for writing -- as I go over to the SO's on Saturday and alternate Sundays, and have RL gaming on the opposite Sundays. I definitely encourage weekend posting, though. :)
Lilli tends to get impatient. Please forgive her mini outburst she just wants to get moving on the group's activities. It's nothing personal about anyone :)
I have had a little success previously using Trello for games; to mirror the 'physical card' idea, I've created a board for the '... Ou La Mort' War Table. Feel free to play around and add cards, particularly those of which your character has knowledge, like they would be ICly. ;)
Before I started my drive I went to check the Trello board out. I can view it as it's public but can't edit or add cards as I'm not a 'team member.'
I made an account (@lilli189) on Trello. If you could add me then I can edit cards :)
Let's also remember that there are some spells useful if we have to hide a body: decompose corpse and dress corpse come to mind, but turning the target into an undead and having them walk away under Flesh Puppet can create a lovely alibi if we just decide to lure someone away and dispose of them.
EDIT: Maybe we can link everything together: someone goes to Lambert disguised as Joubert (I can cast disguise self and I guess we have other ways to fake his appearance), makes him sign a contract to defend him in exchange for money. Then we kill Lambert, I flesh puppet him and send the zombie to Joubert's house, where either they fight or I just dismiss the spell, after guaranteeing the presence of guards (Lucien). With just a slight manipulation (and maybe a bit of enchantment) we make it look like Joubert killed Lambert. While the case is waiting to go to court (here I'll have to ask the GM if the legal times are as long as in real life or shorter) we set Soucy on Joubert under the guise of getting vengeance, getting him to take a rash action that should disqualify him in the eyes of Glauque.
It's an overcomplicated plan with more ways to go south than a shadowrun, but it may be crazy enough to work.
@Jerome, just be warned that if you suggest that in character, Dolorès (with her Iomedaen and Pharasman ideals) is diametrically opposed to the use of undead. She's resigned herself to the necessity of using the Blades to endear herself to the Grey Gardeners, but to create undead in anything but the most dire of circumstances (and usually not even then) is something she's entirely against.
@GM, I made a Trello account with the same username I have here (rutaskadis)
Also, I'm wary of our plans becoming too complicated. The more complicated, the more things can go wrong. And IMO, too many coincidences and too many candidates suddenly becoming involved with each other is more likely to raise suspicion than simply using their own and their patron's established flaws against them as much as possible. Joubert, for example, is already known to be excessively violent; we may not need to do anything other than make sure Cendre (who values seriousness and self control) is around to see him jump someone over a petty crime.
Keep it simple for Joubert then - just keep an eye on him and try and ensure he gets arrested or something similar, just create a record of him being dangerous? Lucien isn't keen on the undead idea either frankly.
I imagined you would, Dolores, I'm going to suggest something just a tiny bit similar. Or we can do without the zombie, but then I won't get to play with the nice evil toys yet...
Those who have given me IDs etc. have been added to the Trello group. :)
Ok the vacation is taking up more time than expected. I've been reading along but hard to get time to post. Will try and get one up tonight.
RL bit. Have a post 3/4 done, but there have been ... personnel complications that have had to be handled. Will finish it up tonight and post.