Everyone, please give your characters two new stats!
Social Maneuver Bonus
&
Social Maneuver Defence
Social Maneuver Bonus = level (or HD) + charisma modifier + status (explained below)
Social Maneuver Defence: 10 + level (or HD) + charisma modifier + intelligence or wisdom modifier (whichever is greatest) + status
Status:
destitute -5 / lower class -2 / middle class +0 / upper class +2 / royalty +4
famous/infamous +2
household name +4
example:
A level3 Bard with a 16 charisma, 12 wisdom, and a 14 intelligence who is lower class but well known
Social Maneuver Bonus: 3 (level) +3 (charisma) +0 (status: -2 lower class/+2 well known) = +6
Social Maneuver Defence: 10 + 3 (lvl) +3 (cha) +2 (int) +0 (status) = 18
I'm cutting out all of the posturing skill rolls and we will be using SMB and SMD to perform social maneuvers like: join a conversation, change topic, increase initiative, sneak away from a conversation
Dounia, Zahra, and Cairee
The rolls you've made are essentially passive rolls to learn information like a perception check. What I'm looking for here are active rolls to interact with other people. Dounia and Cairee, you've both said hello and tried to be polite. A diplomacy roll would reflect this action well. Zahra, you're just asking if anyone would like anything a diplomacy roll would work for this as well.
If you want to use appraise 'actively' then try commenting on the state of the party or the quality of someone's outfit, etc.
Feel free to continue to use 'passive' rolls to gather information though. But only use one a round. We'll call that a free action.
Active rolls - standard action
Maneuver rolls - move action
Information rolls (except gather information which requires you interact) - free action
Does this make sense? I'm trying new stuff here and we're ironing out the rules as we go.
This seems really cool. I think Zahra can be more helpful now :)
Couple questions:
Is Zahra considered middle class?
So, more than one person can use the same skill in a round (like Diplomacy) as long as you aren’t trying to compete with someone else’s role - is that right?
And what class does "foreign barbarian" fall into ;^)
I assume we are at fame 0, and you will let us know if/when that changes.
Unless it's among the pigeon population...
I think Zahra falls into middle class.
Foreign Barbarian? It's a great question and I thought of having 'special status' for certain people like: cultural emissary, beyond the caste, freakishly different.
For now, and considering the cultural mix of the party, please use middle-class.
So, more than one person can use the same skill in a round (like Diplomacy) as long as you aren’t trying to compete with someone else’s role - is that right?
If you're using the same skill then it's probably an assist roll to the person who has initiative. Are you doing something very different with the skill.
example:
Dounia says hello politely (feels like a straight-up diplomacy check)
Cairee echos hello to the same group politely (feels like an aid-another diplomacy roll and fits with the role of entourage)
I assume we are at fame 0, and you will let us know if/when that changes.
Yes, I'll give everyone a heads-up
So, more than one person can use the same skill in a round (like Diplomacy) as long as you aren’t trying to compete with someone else’s role - is that right?If you're using the same skill then it's probably an assist roll to the person who has initiative. Are you doing something very different with the skill.
example:
Dounia says hello politely (feels like a straight-up diplomacy check)
Cairee echos hello to the same group politely (feels like an aid-another diplomacy roll and fits with the role of entourage)
One more question…can there be more than one aid another diplomacy check? Or would Cairee and Zahra cancel each other out that way? Even if we are doing different things to aid.
You can have more than one but if you fail you will cancel out the other.
I'm a little confused on the difference between gather info or aid another. It feels like you have to gather info to aid. For example, I want to roll know. local to see if Cairee recognizes the the elves blue cloaks, golden hair and comment about working to figure out where they're from and what they do. But she would use that info in what she says to aid Dounia.
Does that make sense? Should the info gathered be used the next round to aid? Or roll it, wait for your reply, and then do the real post?
The way I see it:
Yes it makes sense but they’re two different kinds of aid. The gather info or kn local rolls will give you practical information that may give you an advantage of knowing what to say and what not to say and the aid-another roll boosts her roll directly.
If you were in combat and a friend attacked a monster with a sword you could aid their attack roll by declaring your attack as an aid-another roll but it precludes your attack as actually striking the target. Or you could aid your friend by making your own attack and trying to wound the monster yourself. Both help your friend but to give the aid-another bonus you must make a concerted effort to support their roll at the cost of your own effect.
It’s much easier to explain how someone’s diplomacy - influence attitude roll heightens an ally’s dipolomaxy - influence attitude roll. It’s harder to explain how someon’s gather information directly bolsters an ally’s dinfluence attitude roll. Though I’m sure it’s doable.
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I feel like this game-within-a-game is ruining gameplay. Should we abandon it? Do people prefer straight-up roleplaying?
Sorry for the delay, catching up now.
For class...Dounia thinks she's royalty, so do I get the +4? Or -2 for being a poor thief? ;)
People are having a difficult time with the game-within-a-game. I think I've made things needlessly complicated. I'm dropping Social Minefield. Please go ahead with regular social interactions and post in any order.
Dounia - don't worry about the delay. Glad to have you back. I hope you've had some time to regulate after some very long days.
I wonder if part of the issue is our characters - 3 of us are pretty earnest peace-keepers in social situations, so it's hard to find a way to approach it like a battle.
And one character doesn't really care if his ignorance of protocol and what passes for manners here in high society ends up irritating other partygoers ;^)
Can we assume that we all know the info in the tent? Mainly what Dounia overheard when being served by the porters and that Cairee spotted Prem?
You can all see Prem and we'll assume Dounia tells everyone.
Here is a reminder of some things Tandyraman told you when you arrived:
1) There will be a prize of immense value for the team that does the best.
2) You must join the competition before the gong is rung in two hours (which is now a little over an hour)
3) Teams can consist of 1-6 members, though teams shouldn't have less than four to have a chance of succeeding (solo competitors never make it)
4) The games are deadly and it's good to have a variety of strengths
5) You can't leave the competition in the middle of a challenge but you can concede after any challenge
6) The contest consists of tests and combat but you won't be called upon to fight the other teams
I've been thinking about a team name and haven't been able to come up with much.
Misfit Toys came to mind but probably not appropriate considering we're in the desert and not the north pole :)
The one thing I did come up with is The Silverwing Collective. It's not super great because it doesn't encompass everyone in the name but that's the best I could come up with
How about fitting Haseena's name there somewhere? Even if people won't be allowed to remember details about the competition, I suppose they do remember who won, so we could try and gather a bit more fame for our kind hostess' new school.
Bad news is Dounia's performance skill is in string instruments (qanun playing). She doesn't play a string instrument anywhere in her performance so you'll have to use her unskilled performance bonus of +0. Her performance roll goes from a 20 (an excellent performance) to a 15 (an enjoyable performance).
The good news is, she's really using her acrobatics skill to perform and her performance skill make it a show. I don't mind using her acrobatics skill as a perform roll and that was a 25 (a memorable performance that garners the attention of several nobles).
In the end the crowd liked the performer's energy just fine but wow could she move!
In the mean time Cairee has successfully moved a small crowd of people from feeling indifferent towards the group to friendly. Anyone who was rooting for another team in the crowd has gone from feeling unfriendly to indifferent.
This will take most of the hour.
Does "A Labourious Change of Venue" take place after the deadline for announcing that we're competing? Or would we meet back up with Prem and decide the patron issue and announce after that?
So Far:
9:45 - You talk team names
9:50 - You begin to work the crowd
10:00 - Hallwyn makes his announcement and moves Gossamer House out of Zhayalahmar
10:10 - you go back to working the crowds (I would put this as where you speak with the gnomes and perform)
Current time 10:30ish
Yet to happen:
10:45 - Prem promised to meet with you all and discuss what he's learned
11:00 - the gong will be rung starting the competition and all must have declared
I like the understated quality of 'The Blackbirds' for a team name. It's mysterious.
You could always incorporate Tymythy's suggestion and change it later to 'Haseena's Blackbirds' if you felt it needed more or wanted to tie together the Silimiel and the Black-winged Lord story lines.
My computer just died. I was hoping to respond to recent posts over lunch! Especially those stunning double 20s.
I will reply asap and hope to take my computer to the Genius Bar (so called) soon
I’ve got my computer going. I’ll post tomorrow
You made my job easy, with the material you gave me to work with!
A general question... what was the deal with the doors again? Are we chosing the the order in which we are trying the challenges, and the idea was to get through them all, the faster the better (and maybe trying to complete some other as-yet secret scoring criteria along the way)?
"again?"
How about a first time? Very little has been said to you and that seems to be by design. Hallwyn probably wants to see everyone scramble to figure things out.
What you do know with relative certainty is:
Behind each door is a separate challenge.
It looks like only one team can do any one challenge at a time.
If you finish the challenge you will get a score for: how fast you were; xxxxxxx; and, xxxxxxx.
You probably have to do each challenge and should get a choice as to which order.
After completing a challenge you can choose to forfeit the game.
Is the question that we're asking about the door made in character or out of character?
If it's in character, I'm not sure who we'd be asking. Which makes me think we're asking out of character but I wanted to make sure.
Is the question that we're asking about the door made in character or out of character?
If it's in character, I'm not sure who we'd be asking. Which makes me think we're asking out of character but I wanted to make sure.
Out of character. Like "I take a closer look at XXX. What do I see?" or "What is the xxx made of?" or "What does the door smell like?"
Funny you should mention smell, I was kinda going that way... most of the little we see of the doors doesn't really mean much to Tymythy, but iron-banded door with its lion carving and the portcullis which brought to my mind a cage to hold beasts... but the hexagon symbol on that one doesn't support that theory.
Let's go with the portcullis door despite it. Any smell of wild beasts near it?
perception check please DC8
Wow, this is cool! So many doors! I'm already stressed out about choosing.
Dounia will look at the brass door. What are the images engraved there? I'm assuming I don't need a perception check to see the images, but might need a knowledge check of some sort to interpret them?
I'm intrigued by The Escutcheoned Door. It's giving me Alice in Wonderland vibes.
Zahra would want to know if you can see, feel, or smell anything through the key hole.
I'm intrigued by The Escutcheoned Door. It's giving me Alice in Wonderland vibes.
Zahra would want to know if you can see, feel, or smell anything through the key hole.
I'll need a perception check Zahr :)
Dounia will look at the brass door. What are the images engraved there? I'm assuming I don't need a perception check to see the images, but might need a knowledge check of some sort to interpret them?
Is there room to squeeze between Arnie and Cairee?
You can try to shield her. This would effectively give her a +2AC and CMD and would be a full round action but it would also make you prone. You'd be laying down over top of Cairee.
You could try to reposition Arnie to move him back enough to make room to stand using the combat maneuver as in: Reposition
But there is no room for you to get between them standing as he's looming directly over her.
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That was a pretty funny interaction!
Hey, we're your siblings and we're going to beat you up! Give us the sword!!! Wait, no! We'll beat you up later. See ya'.
Great writing on my part.
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I dunno, felt pretty true-to-life of my experience with two siblings :)
The current order of people trying to get to the bag first before Tymythy, Cairee or Dounia go is:
Lord Badrelow 19
Tymythy 18 down from 22
Cairee 18
Arnie 16 down from 20
Dounia 16
Khol 16
Zosimos the Chirurgeon 16
Simone Ghastwith 15
Sir Pellius Courtland 15
Lugh Gemynd 15
Lady Shiply 14
Nergui 14
Taryth Moorsdaughter 13
Trismegistus 13
Pattallia Crux 12
Guthan Levargarda 12
Out of the race:
Mahri of Glaemorgan 7
Roshynduv Gemaylan 7
Tyerror 7
Grownya Lar 7
Mar 5
Zahra 5
Prince Keone Maegan 5
Caydren Actreo 5
Alliss Shothand 4
Candor Rafinmodor 4
Batbayar 4
Jad 3
Got myself a new computer just now, might take a couple of days to get it all set up properly, so posting time is somewhat limited until then. But at least I'm now ready for Starfield!
Thanks
Badrelow has:
a coin with the image of a door on both sides
The remaining objects after Badrelow picked are:
a hex tile
a small hand mirror
a wooden key
a black marble
something that looked like a large tooth
Good luck with first day of School prep Angie!
The object wasn't an image on a coin but something that looked like an actual tooth, or something like a tooth. Sorry, at one point I described them all as tiles. They are different objects.
Yes, I completely forgot about The Hazard Guard during the race to the bag. Oops. I guess they come in dead last.
Cairee - a reminder that you have information about this door that you may not have shared.