Able St.Germaine-Montclair's page

Hey, I'm traveling for a few days to get a surgery done, so I'm not sure how much I'll be checking in this week. Feel free to bot me if necessary.

I apologize, having to move and toss a lot of stuff from the house.

Youngest kids friend brought in bedbugs, and never let us know.
Will be spending the next few days after work cleaning and moving stuff for the exterminator.

UGG, just the thing we needed. :(

That is rough. Bedbugs are terrible. Best of luck!

My post from yesterday seems to have been eaten. No worries, here it is again.

Once it is clear the shooting is over, Able holsters his wheelgun and takes his doctor's bag up in his off hand.

As he walks into the room, he takes a quick inventory of the silent and wounded.

Pointing at the conscious man on the floor he says, "If you please, someone put pressure on that until I can have a look at him."

Healing: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

He checks the bodies in turn, checking to see if any still cling to life.

Looking at his shipmates he asks, "Were any of our number wounded?

Able keeps his pistol handy, but stays in position outside, waiting to provide backup. He loved a good gunfight, but he preferred face to face challenges; a quickdraw at the poker table, or facing someone down across a street at high noon. In these kind of situations, chaotic and rushed, people got shot for stupid reasons, and he was more useful waiting out here, where he could stop anyone from getting away, or move in to patch up holes in anyone worth saving after the shooting was done.

Held action, which he will allow to expire if no runners appear or no one calls for his help.

I will normally include all mods in the dicebot and put what my mods are on the bottom.

Ex
[dice=good attack]d8-1
[dice=wild]d6-1
Elderly (-1)

Ditto.

Able stays crouched in his hidden position, his pistol in hand.

She's a shepherd? What if she was in the cabin, having been forced at gunpoint to assist in a shotgun-wedding?

It might alter the story you have in mind, but... whether she's running away and wants to marry, or he is kidnapping/marrying her to try and influence a claim to her father's estate...

I agree with Emma on this point. Waiting for an into can take a long time even in a regular game. In PbP it can end up being weeks (1-2 days per round of combat, plus negotiations, looting, etc.).

I owe most of you an apology. I overstepped the bounds of good taste trying to call someone out on toxic behaviour, and caused some toxic spillover of my own. I feel like I might have poisoned the well and killed the group vibe. ZenFox has asked me to stay on, but if that would harm the game, I will leave too. I suggest you PM Zen with any concerns, and he will let me know if the invitation stands, or if for the sake of everyone's enjoyment, I should move on.

Apologies again. We all have buttons, and the type that blames others for their actions pushes mine. However, that's my baggage, and while I don't regret anything I said, I should have just left and allowed you to make your own choice about how to deal with it.

Either way, no bad feelings to anyone here, and I wish you many happy games.

You won't drop it because you're demanding apologies for other people?

Oh, chummer, that's never a good idea. Both ZenFox and Adam are mature adults able to take care of their own business.

Standing up for people you see abused in front of you is never a bad idea. It is saying nothing that is rarely good. Holding up a mirror to people holding them to account for poor behaviour is just as important, or they will inevitably do it again. And I would be happy to have someone do it for me.

Sometimes you dont see how someone interprets your actions and how that differs from how they were intended. If you dont see it yourself, having someone point it out is the only way to learn.

Nope.

Tldr version:

You were rude. Stop throwing insults and apologize to AdamWarnock and GM_ZenFox42.

I'll keep any future responses (if any are needed) spoilered so folk can skip it if they would rather.

Evidence to the contrary. And the end of the day, only one of us is slinging insults, and refusing to explain or apologize for his behavior.

I have a reputation? I'm flattered!

However, you seem to be continuing to completely miss (or be avoiding) the point. You have been acting rude, childish, and generally unpleasant, and when called out on the GM for acting like an a@~+*!~, you laid into another player, to the point you drove him out of the game.

He did repost a private message, which you'll recall, I agreed was bad form. However, you continued to bully, and demand respect, despite the fact you had shown none. To me, that is the height of immaturity.

You strolled in, picked a fight with a guy just trying to play the game, dumped on him because he triggered your baggage, and managed to completely derail the game and drive out a player in the process. While doing that, you managed to push my go-button: I hate bullies.

You have some criticisms of me, most of which are fair; I haven't posted much (I've been busy working a new job, without as much time as I'd like, though now it's Christmas break, and I've finally got time). My plan had a flaw, though not a hard one to work around. He would have had to say "Your boss sent me," make a Persuasion roll, and make sure they don't just call him to double check. However, reasonable criticism of a plan doesn't bother me. You'll notice I accepted the alternative plan with good grace, though I think it is far more likely to end in violence than mine.

I'm a grownup, I can take a critique.
If you critisize something I do, or provide feedback, I'll address it, as long as there continues to be a point in doing so. What you're doing, by contrast, is doing everything you can to avoid taking responsibility for your own poor behaviour, and instead of trying to explain or apologize, are instead just doubling down on throwing insults.

At this point, I have no desire to be in a game with you. Since I haven't had much time to feel out my character, I'm not that heavily invested at present. If there are more here that would rather play with you than me and AdamWarnock, I will gladly step aside.

I happen to notice Able has nearly as many posts passing judgement on me as he does in gameplay.

Ad Hominem

Short for argumentum ad hominem: A fallacious objection to an argument or factual claim by appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim; an attempt to argue against an opponent's idea by discrediting the opponent themself.

Next you'll be picking apart my grammar and punctuation; anything that allows you to avoid answering the question, and convince yourself you are in the right, and not just an unpleasant person.

Not claiming to know everything, just pointing out the hypocrisy inherent in criticizing someone's lack of manners while displaying a lack of manners.

Every conflict has two sides, and I not saying you didn't have legitimate concerns. Obviously there was stuff going on behind closed doors that I am unaware of, and is frankly none of my business. However, regardless of happened outside our view, if you would like to be treated with respect, the best approach is to show respect to others when dealing with them.

GM_ZenFox42 wrote:

Perry - it's not about that you *are* concerned, it's about how you're *expressing* that concern...

Let's stop litigating this. It's over.

Perry, you pointed out someone breaching PbP etiquette, but then go on to say something inappropriately yourself. I agree we don't need to continue hashing this out, but declaring something is over when the feelings of all sides are not clear, is itself somewhat rude and antagonistic. I believe it would better to simply say, 'I don't feel like there is further value to discussing this, and I suggest/request we move on.

If the other party agrees, we can move on. If they disagree, and feel something needs to be settled, then further discussion might be needed. Saying "It's over" can be interpreted as My feelings are more important than yours, so your wishes don't matter.

This goes back the the GM's point that is not always what a person says that matters, but how they say it as well.

Live and learn. I enjoyed the way your character was being portrayed. You did leave your kids unattended, but my impression was that it was an rpg oversight and not intentional - not realizing no one had stayed with the ship. It could have been fun for the GM to play with.

I don't think anyone was "right" in this situation. My impression is that Perry took a personal slight from Adam's character, which to be honest, I think is a Perry issue, not Adam's fault. However, I agree Adam crossed a line sharing a private conversation. Unless there is a clear indication the information is not I tended to be private, you should always ask before doing something like that. Definately a misstep, but one you can learn from. Best of luck.

"As much as I enjoy a good reciprocal fusillade, my services are probably best used attending to the fallout of said endeavour. I'll follow close, but be keeping clear for the most part."

Stealth: 1d4 ⇒ 31d6 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + (6) + (1) = 13

The other obvious tropes in the room are the Star-Crossed Lover and the Rebelous Child. In either case, she hasn't been kidnapped, but went to the rival for shelter from a: her controlling father, b: so she can be with a boy her father would never approve of.

"We have a variety of options available, but there is one in which I am willing to volunteer. A doctor has the privilege of being welcome in almost every circumstance. I propose I amble up to the front door, announce myself, and engage in discourse with the occupants. My bag in hand, I can say I have been sent to ensure the health of their guest, a claim that has the advantage of being genuine. While discharging said duty, I can also take stock of their numbers and armourments, and presumably depart unharmed."

Sorry I was not on the last couple of days. Life attacked me. AKA X-Mas shopping

I feel your pain. Throw in relationship issues for me.

Able keeps his feet while his partners recline, though he does drop his doctor's bag to the side of the road with the others. Every time his arm relaxes, it drops instinctively to hover around his holster. The doc seems either a touch paranoid, or maybe just used to needing that six-gun.

Notice: 1d6 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 3

"Good arguments all 'round. I agree we'll be needin' to confirm a few points, but it doesn't seem all bad on the face of it."

He draws his ever present Revolver, and pulling the hammer back to half cock, runs the cylinder down his arm to check that all the chambers are loaded. Returning the hammer to the dropped position, he flips the gun back into his holster with deft, almost unconscious movement.

After that he just puts on his overcoat, and draws on his wide brimmed hat.

"Ready."

"I believe it refers to something malfunctioning between the consol and chair. You know if you get shot, I can probably ameliorate that. If we all die in the icy black of the 'verse, ain't nobody going to be round to fix us."

The Doctor leans against the cabin door, watching out the front screen as the ship lifts off.

"Hmph, seems like we may live. If that changes, please keep me appraised."

Wow, don't check for two days and there are 47 new posts.

I'm mostly with Mark on the mechanics issue, which is why I suggested a cost per day system way back, but I get ZenFox's point that the shipping is not the point of the game. I'd like something more grounded and relatable, but I can live with a handwaved 20%.

That being said, I think we should be able to roll transport time before accepting a job. Point A to Point B is a known distance, even in an orbital context where the distances change. If we can accurately date a Solar Eclipse from a historical account to May 28, 585 BC, and know it was a Saturday, we should be able to know the distance between two planetary bodies with known orbits.

One question I have is regarding WHEN our game is set? Is this before or after the events of the Serenity movie? If after, I could see some very interesting spindoctoring going on in the Verse, with the Alliance screaming "Fake News" while at the same making it impossible for anyone to get anywhere near Miranda to see whether or not it is really there. I could even see them trying deny Reavers are even real, instead stating they are a propoganda tool created by separatists, leading to laws around even mentioning them or acknowledging their existence as Seditionist Activity.

Dr. St.Germaine Montclair follows his nose into the galley, and sees his two new crewmates therein.

"Real tallow? Is this an occasion, or is that going to be the norm?"

Since branching out, Able had come to expect mostly synthetic foods and ration packs. Technically nutritious, though very boring to eat. Real food, even something long lasting like a root vegetable seemed an unusual luxury.

This seemed to be the case on Serenity from the show. "Protein in all the colours of the rainbow."

The thought made him reflect again on the rapid and dramatic shifts in his fortunes, and so he dismissed the thought.

Seeing the two gentlemen enjoying a drink, he grabs a tumbler from the panty and pours himself a few fingers from a flask.

"Mr. Baum, your daughters look healthy and lively; any issues I should be aware of?"

Part of me wants to say he just sleeps on the floor, but if that's how it is, that's how it is. I take no responsibility for the shenanigans a couple of twelve-year-olds can get up to.

You could leave them in a room of their own short term, but Emma could probably rig in a bunk above one of the racks without too much trouble.

American Thanksgiving isn't even a long weekend? Suckers.

All good. I personally like complex settings, but simple is simple to manage.

A tall man with dark hair walks into the common room. A strong antiseptic odour wafts with him; clean, but very sterile smelling.

He is tall and a little on the thin side, dressed in a country gentleman's black trousers and an embroidered waistcoat (vest). His shirtsleeves are rolled up to his elbows, and he is rubbing them with a damp cloth, apparently the source of the smell.

"The space should be adequate for a surgical bay, though I think it will be some time before I would consider it sterile enough for use. It appears the last tenant was possessed of some curious thought surrounding the subject of cleanliness."

The man's voice has a slow melodic quality, with elongated vowels that make his words sound a little stretched and slow. Taking stock of the newcomers, he gives each a focused appraisal, staring long enough at each to make things uncomfortable. By the time he's done you get the impression he either knows your entire medical history, or intends to stitch you a suit from scratch.

"I am Doctor Able St. Germaine Montclair. You may call me Dr. St.Germaine Monclair, Doctor, or if you desperately feel a need for brevity, Dr. Montclair. I am contracted to be your ship's physician. I expect each of you to report within a reasonable timeframe and present yourself for a baseline medical examination. If I need to reassemble you at a later date, I'd would like to be acquainted with where all the relevant appendages were prior to our introduction."

With that, and without really asking for any names, he turns back towards the medical bay. It is only after he turns to leave that a large revolver can be spotted in a drop-thigh holster on his right leg. The reason it missed notice initially was that the man seems so used to the weight that he moves as though it wasn't there.

I used Debt as my background as well. I think i will rethink, as there should be at least some variety in our backgrounds.

Don't really have time to really get into it, but part of the problem is that even small stars are so mind-bogglingly massive compared to Jupiter that they would be far more disruptive to planetary orbits. Also, multiple star systems tend to have complex orbits, like two stars in a close binary that is orbiting a third, more massive star, or like Alpha Centauri where you have two G type stars in a fairly close binary with an M type star in a distant orbit.

It's also not helpful that there's no distances put on the map. It's possible that the stars are spread out enough to keep the system from turning into gravity slingshot central, but there's no way to know for sure.

That's essentially the point I was trying to (clumsily) make. The central star would have to be massive to have smaller stars orbiting it, which stretches the plausibility of having habitable planets in the inner core (depending on the kind of star and its output).

Of course, the lack of scale is another issue that could be used to explain it in some fashion, where the distances involved mean the outer stars only orbit in a technical sense (with a barycenter outside the entire core system), and might take tens of thousands of years to complete a full circuit. In day to day terms, the systems might basically always be in the same relative positions.

At the end of the day, it is fiction, but doesn't automatically breach my suspension of disbelief.

In setting, I suppose we'd just say that, yes, it is unlikely to occur or be stable, but that's why the unique area was chosen by Earth-that-was.

Joss Whedon probably would have laughed at the idea that someone would come along and try to make a roleplaying game out of his show and apply rules to his universe. At the end of the day space travel is merely a driver for the game economy and not as important as the story or the characters. I wouldn't mind more nuance but we'll probably hand waive it most of the time.

You mean Star Trek doesn't use accurate star charts, and instead uses the Speed of Plot? Say it ain't so!

The clan from Germany that my family is from had the last name Weissengel.

Weiss is German for white, and engel is angel.
(Also, Weiss is spelled with a letter that isn't in the English alphabet, so that means more harder.)

Hence. White Angel. In the days when last names originated based on what your occupation was, I figure they must have been a line of monks or something.

I actually like figuring out name origins, as a surprising amount of history can be discovered in them.

My own last name is hard to trace for various reasons, but it includes a Slavic diminutive at the end, which makes the best guess at the meaning to be son (or of the line) of Gabriel.

Did a little reading, and it looks like the Engel to Angel shift might have been a linguistic coincidence that became popular in the middle ages. Prior, it may have referred to Angle, as in the people group the Angles which was the basis of the name Angleland or England. In that case, it might refer to a family that lived in England prior to the Saxon and Norman invasions, or a german from Angeln, the part of germany the Angles originally came from.

White gets attached to surnames for all sorts of reasons, such as being paler than most, blonde, living in a place with white clay or sandy soil, etc. England was called Alba (latin for White) by the Romans, possibly because of the stark paleness of the natives compared to Mediterraneans. It could also symbolize a political affiliation, such as Orange being loyal to Prince William I in Holland, White being a royalist in Russia, and specific to Black and White, papists and anti-papists (anti-catholics) respectively.

So while it did come to mean Angel in the middle ages, it is probably older than that, and instead refers to an old ancestral line, those pale mofo's from Angeln.

I think that's the official map. My amateur-astronomer tells me that isn't exactly a stable configuration, but as I said, I'm trying (and apparently failing) to stay out of discussing the setting.

I think it is not as outlandish as you might think. I think it was modeled on the Alpha Centari system, which is apparently two smaller stars orbiting a bigger central star. And if a large planet like Jupiter can orbit the sun while maintaining its own gaggle of satellite moons, then why could not a small sun manage the same? It brings up questions about the goldilocks zone (enough heat/light but not too much), in that if White-Sun is big enough to have other suns orbiting it, how does it not fry the planets of the central system? But that could probably be hand waved with the original Terraforming that took place: The atmospheres of the inner planets were created with the intent of reflecting enough excess heat to allow an earth-like surface temperature.

That map does look good, yes.

That does bring up one caveat with the travel time. If both origin and destination are within the same system, that should be a short trip, yeah?

Like, a trip from, just to pick an example, Angel to Heaven would keep us in the Black Tortoise system, but could hardly be called a Rim-to-Rim trip, yeah?

Agreed.

Perry, I think you mistook my intent. We should be able to look at the time a job would require ahead of time, since it deals with known, predictable orbits.

"We need to go from Ariel to Angel? Oh, that should take about:

days at this time of year. Perry may be able to knock that down to 10 or 11 if he can find us a good gravity sling. Since travel costs us about x per day, expenses on this job should be ~11x, meaning we'd make Total-11x in profit if we took it."

Should there be different range categories of missions? Ariel to Whitefall is a hell of a longer trip than Ariel to Persephone.

For people that haven't watched the show in a bit, the Verse as known to the Alliance is a star cluster making up a few different solar systems all orbiting each other.

Link

Discovered by scientists in 2020, 34Tauri(2020) is a star cluster, of the likes of the triple star system Alpha Centauri. It consists of five main sequence stars, around which orbit seven protostars, seven gas giants, three separate asteroid belts, seventy-five planets, and one hundred forty-nine moons.[1] Four of the main sequence stars orbit a central star.

The biggest in the center is White Sun, and the inner system is the core of the Alliance. The Border region around the White Sun System is Georgia and Red Sun, and then furthest out are the Rim stars, Kalidasa and Blue Sun.

I'd probably break it down as:
5% Stationary missions (only expense is getting to or from the job)
10% Local missions (all on one planet or between a planet and its moon)
20% System missions (between one planet and another in the same system)
30% Intersystemic missions (from a planet orbiting one star to a planet orbiting another).

20% might represent a typical System range job, while a long range job might take 30%, while a short range job only takes 10%. Of course, that brings up the can of worms that not all jobs are equal. Hauling something expensive like Nutrient Bars or livestock from core systems out to a rim planet might be worth it, but the margins for hauling potatoes would not likely be as good.

I like details, and getting lost in the weeds a bit sometimes, so I might even prefer a set of details setting cost for given routes. Potatoes might be fine going local distances, but the cost of going long range might be high enough that we need a better cargo to make it worth it.

Let me know if you'd all rather keep it simple, but I kind of like the idea of perhaps choosing certain missions because the margins are better.

Route Travel time (days)

Core ↔ Core
Core ↔ Border (either way)
Core ↔ Rim (either way)
Border ↔ Border
Border ↔ Rim (either way)
Rim ↔ Rim

3d4–2
3d6
3d6+2
3d8–2
3d8
3d10–2

It could even be a set cost/day representing food, fuel and maintenance, though exiting a planet's gravity would likely be the biggest fuel use, so a cost per landing/exit would also make sense. I like the idea of the random travel times, as because of orbits, different planets might be closer or further any than other times, or require detours around gas giants, etc.

Insert Mississippi drawl

"I am Dr. Able St.Germaine-Montclair. A few recent circumstances have made it prudent for me to seek a more peripetaric source of employment. However, if you expect me to provide my services as churgeon to this quaint... vessel of yours, I will have a few expectations regarding the cleanliness, autonomy, and management of my medicinal facilities. My speciality lies in regards to repairing traumas to the various humours, which I have been lead to believe your crew have a frequent habit of incurring. I expect and insist on no less than complete discression over the disposition of my services, and expect that participation in activities outside my specified duties, such as ballistic disputation, will result in additional remuneration. If this is satisfactory, along with certain guarantees towards my privacy, I believe we should be able to achieve incipient concordance."

Player Name: Rigor Rictus
Character Name: Dr. Able St. Germaine Montclair
Race: Human
Concept: Ship's Surgeon

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d8, Spirit d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6

Core: Athletics (AG) d4, Common Knowledge (SM) d4, Notice (SM) d6, Persuasion (SP) d4, Stealth (AG) d4
More: Academics (SM) d4, Fighting d4 (Dex), Gambling (Sm) d6, Healing d10 (Trauma Specialization), Riding (Dex) d4, Science d8 (Specialization in Life Sciences), Shooting d8 (Specialization in Pistols)

Pace: 6, Parry: 5, Toughness: 6(1)

Hindrances
Habit: Gambler(Minor)
Mean (Minor)
Debt (Major)

Edges
Adaptable: Humans begin play with any Novice Edge of their choosing for which they meet the requirements
(Adaptable Edge):
Rich
Quick

Gear
Fancy Clothing (weight 2, cost 200)
Heavy Leather Jacket (+1, weight 5, cost 25)
Heavy Revolver (.454 Casull) 15/30/60, dmg 2d8, AP 2, ROF 1, Shots 6, weight 8; Red-Dot (+1 at Short/Medium)
Derringer (.45 LC) 5/10/20, dmg 2d6+1, AP 1, ROF 1, Shots 2, weight 2
.454 Casull Ammo x4 Speedloads, 26 rnds on beltloops, weight 2, cost 20 (50 rnds carried, 150 rnds left on-ship)
Medications: Propoxyn (Bottle), Isoprobiline (bottle), Hydrozopan (bottle)
Medic Kit 100 (Notes: Six uses, ignores 1 point of Wound penalties; $25 to refill)