The Veil's page

I posted in discussion. I’m going to read through the entire game so far the reinvigorate myself.

I live. You know that feeling when you put off something for so long that you are too embarrassed to functionally address it. Then the feeling snowballs?

That’s me. Apologies.

How was everyone feeling about this game. I fear I lost the thread a bit.

I added a new sheet to the google sheet called "Veil Clocks." There is only one currently, but I will be keeping any new clocks I make public.

Looks great! Let's just use the sheets version. You don't need to keep it in your stat bar.

It is a bit hard for me to read the version you put up Bastian. I think the dots are easier on the eyes.

So Bastian, in recognition of the fact that at my core I am the laziest GM you've ever met, and that I'm dropping clocks on you mid run, I'd like to offer you the opportunity to set the current state of your clocks for each of your contracts (progress and deadline).

You tell me how far along you are on progress, and on deadline. It looks like the URL links on my stat line are long enough that I can't fit anything else. You can keep the clocks on your char sheet if you like.

I'll also put it on you to suggest when a tick should be added to a progress clock. And we'll discuss whenever I think to add a tick to a deadline clock.

Open to other ideas as well.

EDIT: Also just realized that I should ask if anyone is actually using the Google Sheet linked in my stat line.

In fact, I may go a bit clock happy. I want a clock for, for example, "IA Studying Onomastics." It would have one tick for Na-Zo's last fail roll.

2. This is a mechanic way older than BitD. it's straight up OG PbtA. or in other words, the PbtA system is absolutely able to handle this with 0 problems.

Very true. But with Blades John Harper went ... "Clocks for all the things!" and finally defined it for me in a way that clicked.

Ok, testing something:

●○○○○

EDIT:

So I think this is the way to do clocks. I can put them in the "The Veil"'s stat bar.

Contract:

Progress: ●○○○○○

Time: ○○○○○○○○

So, I've been learning Blades in the Dark for a live game, and I want to suggest that we adopt a Blades mechanic (not specific to blades), for the Executive's mandatory contracts.

Progress clocks. So, I'm kind of thinking as follows:

1. The more complex the contract, the larger the clock, and the more cred.
2. I'm leaning towards racing clocks ... so there would be two clocks for each contract. One is a timing clock ... when it is full then your time has run out. The other is your progress clock, when it is full then you've satisfied the contract. So you can fictionally justify increases in the progress clock, while I would then have the option to use 7-9 or 6- moves to increase the timing clock.

I think this might be a good way to track the contracts. What do you think?

We are back! Everyone mark xp for your patience.

Bastian, in your next gameplay post could you kindly loop Rosto into the situation in the fiction?

LaChessa:

The green skinned elven figure nods in agreement. Very well, but your other tasks remain a priority. Take 1 cred for this assignment.

You then receive a message notification:

@LaChessa Thank you for assisting in my study and analysis. We truly appreciate the gesture - A.I.

You receive a notification from your bank indicating two sizable deposits in quick succession. Add an additional 1 cred.

Apologies all, I haven't been in a good head space of late. This isn't dead, promise.

Poor Na-Zo! No ninja jacket, and now rolling a 4 inside the heart of the beast.

Bastian, agreed. You resolved Maintaining Appearances, but have not resolved Seeking Answers.

Go ahead and roll your session move please.

I like both Lobby and Sabotage. I'll think about that. Can you talk a bit more about how you learn about a Giri debt? Can you decide on your own that a debt exists. For example, can you decide, based on information given to you by Trophy, that Allison Inverness owes Giri related to her treatment of Lews?

Short version. Is there a legitimate way to tie your giri obligations into the larger story about IA? Or should it be something completely unrelated?

I also forgot that this game doesn't require you to physically be together at any point in time. So the next session will start whereever. Looks like Na-Zo is going in after Lews.

From a writer's room perspective, what is your next general goal? Free Lews?

Bastian, I think you may have satisfied the Mandatory Contract "Seeking Answers." Do you agree?

The cold open can be whatever you like, I was just thinking about trying to get you all together.

LaChessa: 1 xp sounds right.

Did you complete any of your current mandatory contracts. It looks like 3 is the max and I think you had 3.

Did I break our other game?

So pretty much on point, just missing a few of the more (potentially) alarming connections.

I think that is a session end for the triad.

Remind me of any session open moves again? We will prob start with you all together discussing the IA situation.

Three cheers for Bastian’s post describing the mission’s footage final cut. Serious effort there and it was a joy to read.

Na-Zo wrote:

The Veil, my Safehold had ways ino everyone's spaces, even if they've taken pains to secure them, can I use it to get into Nosrettap's IA's place, and if so, what do I have to roll to do it?

The Veil. this question is still hanging.

Yes. No rolls. Can you travel anywhere, or just residences?

Out of character for a moment, are we all clear on what is going on here? Or have I just managed to confuse everyone?

The bots speak in unison. Thank you for visiting IA. We hope you enjoyed your stay. They gesture towards the door you entered.

ChLover immediately notices that the mainline flow to Lew and the bots has started again, but with a new security protocol that seems almost unfathomably complicated.

LaChessa, what do you do?

I think so Na-Zo. 3 xp total.

Author confirmed that you can get the highest xp available from each belief. So you can only get a max of 3xp for any specific belief. However, in theory you could resolve all three beliefs for 9xp.

Anyway, I think that means you get 3xp total and can level.

A = Armor?

Definitely get 2 xp from "Giri is worth dying over." I'm checking if you can also get 1xp from "Giri is worth killing for." Basically I'm trying to figure out how they stack.

In other words: Is it 1xp for each belief tested ... or 1xp total if any belief is tested? Can you test one belief for 1 xp, get in trouble from another belief for 2 xp, and resolve your third belief for 3xp to get 6xp total?

Shoot, my portrayal of Franz completely screwed up your third belief. Apologies and I will keep that one in mind moving forward.

I'm checking on the scope of end of session. I think it is just beliefs.

Let's have Na-Zo and Rache do end of session stuff here, and LaChezza can jump in with her end of session when appropriate.

Rache, you soon notice the credits hit your account, as Franz takes the data jack and throws it into a nearby recycler. I can't wait to see it!

As he leads you out of the house you notice that he is also implanted with the new model IA data jack.

Kind of in an odd place here. It seems like Zo and Rache are essentially at end of session and should review beliefs and make start of session moves, but ChLover isn't quite there.

The Veil: Cascade (sequel) is directly influenced by the Altered Carbon book. The author wanted to play in the Altered Carbon universe.

Ms. Kosto! This is an honor. I'm a big fan. Have you taken care of that guttertrash? Tell me, did it come to a violent end?

Franz seems overly interested in the details.

Do you have my datajack?

A whole week without an update. Apologies. I may have spent every waking hour recently watching Altered Carbon.

After a few moments ChLover identifies a massive and constant stream of heavily encrypted information flowing into Lew and the robo-thugs from a source that appears to be buried deep beneath numerous IA firewalls. Getting to the source would be a herculean task, but perhaps you could attach a rider on the information stream that would direct the thugs to listen to you instead of the source.

My knowledge of how hacking works is ... extremely limited.

Rache, you pass through the camp at the elevator without much resistance and make your way to level 1001. The door opens to a level that appears to exist almost completely within the mesh. Impossible sights greet you around every corner.

Would you like to help describe what you are seeing? Basically, this level appears to be more mesh-integrated than any you've been to before.

The Veil wrote:

Rache Kosto wrote:

I was under the impression that the datajack was provided by IA. Is that not the case? If not, I'll have a place to go

You haven't who Franz Hiit is yet.

Was Franz the one who contacted Kosto Corp.? If so, where am I supposed to deliver the repossessed item?

It is an IA branded datajack, but you were hired by Franz, a mesh developer of some moderate fame and success. He asked for the datajack to be returned to his estate on 1001.

I'm back! It was kind of a working vacation, but it was fun. I'll be posting shortly.

I'm out this week on vacation with extremely limited internet. I may not be able to keep up.

I was under the impression that the datajack was provided by IA. Is that not the case? If not, I'll have a place to go

You haven't who Franz Hiit is yet.

Rache, the giri was: Giri: Franz Hiit gifted Nareef a Mark 3 IA Datajack as part of an apprentice program with an understanding she would assist in the development of an interactive high fantasy Mesh program. Nareef immediately went off the grid and has not been sighted for 2 weeks.

I'm not sure whether you yet have reason to believe that Franz Hiit is at IA headquarters.

[dice=Analyze(joyful)] - 10
* How is Quinoa vulnerable to me?
* What, if anything appears out of place?
* Is this going to get worse before it gets better?

Quinoa is an open book to you, although he seems way too comfortable with this situation. The situation with Quinoa is not going to get worse before it gets better.

Na-Zo picks up the smoking datajack Safe to say they won't want this back. They say, pocketing it and cradling Umi I think that datajack had a bad interaction with your... installed hardware

Na-Zo quietly interfaces with the device... not running anything, but copying the files, and looking through them, seeing what it was that set Umi off.

[dice=Peirce the Veil+Joyous] - 7

Na-Zo, a quick scan through the deadened data jack reveals a general architecture unlike anything you have seen before. This is a huge jump forward in technology.

Questions for you: What are you copying these files into?

I'm alive. I'll get back into it soon.

Here's the plan: I'd like to use Construct to create a (hopefully) private digital room to bring Quinoa into, see if he's got IA software that needs to be broken, then hack the real room with Quinoa, hit Lews with a jamming knife to disable his guards, gloat a lot, then figure out an escape plan after one or more parts of that plan inevitably fail.

I don't mind missing out on the +1 Cyberbrain, but I would choose the dedicated server option. LaChessa is an oldschool programmer, and has not only stored all her old whitehat code on the server, but has offloaded a lot of her memories to the server to combat the onset of alzheimer's. For the subconscious features I would start with LaChessa’s deep memories. ChLover’s stacks are part old-school hacker database (like a “13 Ghosts”/”Cabin in the Woods” prison for supposed dead viruses) and part alzheimer-compensatorial sensory backup. Somewhere deep in those stacks is ChLover’s True Self: a self-aware AI process which may act against LaChessa’s best intentions. Lastly, I’d like to make a custom feature: features of the old earth landscape data-mined and stitched together. ChLover’s grove is a lush garden bathed in yellow sunlight, broken occasionally by glimpses of the horror that is earth today.

Take the cyberbrain. All of this sounds fantastic. I look forward to seeing how this plan fails spectacularly plays out.

Re: the Architect move, here is the answer from the author:

"Whatever makes sense for the fiction. It’s fiction first... so you’d take moves you could actually do in the fiction. Can they get a cyberbrain? If so, yeah they could take some advances. If not, wouldn’t make sense."

I don't see any reason why you couldn't get a cyberbrain. I liken it to the DW rule where you get any necessary underlying moves if you multiclass. Like Ron took the Wizard's Cast a Spell, and by necessity also got prepare spells and spellbook. I think if you take an Architect advancement that requires a cyberbrain, then you get Subconscious and Cyberbrain.

That cool with everyone?

Dope!

Happy Holidays! Immediately gain enough XP to level. (So you should be level 2 with as many XP as you currently have).

Short answer: I could work with it either way. I don't have any live broadcast tags to lean on, and I pictured LaChessa as the record-edit-distribute sort. I can see where making these comments without an oportunity for rebuttal is a little odd, but I'm still trying for the reality TV feel, and to that end to comments are intended for the audience, and mostly meant to help give her actions context. Like writing out thoughts.

The broadcast through the uber was live though. I pictured LaChessa's episodes as a through-blood-tinted-lenses between-session-summary at first.

I just needed to know if Lew should be responding directly, as he would be simultaneously watching any feed you had running.

The hardest part in this game is usually deciding how best to move forward.

Due to the system, or my style?

Also, are LaChessa's comments about Lew being broadcast live?

First floor wasn't too bad. Rache trained on rolling from falls worse than that. Her record was 16 feet without injury and this didn't much worse than that.

She leaps with full confidence in her training and the protection that comes with her higher purpose.

[dice=risk/peaceful]2d6+2

And safely lands on the ground, rolling with her impact and leaping to her feet. Was she fast enough to catch a glimpse of their target before she takes off?

Rache,

You land without injury, but there is no sight of her. You do hear shouting in the general direction of the central cable spire.

What do you do?