Session 21b

So... Amir, did you add that Persona point from last update?

Session 21a, "Anthology of Interest - Part I" is behind us, and a recap is very soon to follow. Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who made and effort and came, and a twack-round-the-head to Ido who didn't.

Session 21, "Anthology of Interest - Part II: The Horror, the Horror" is coming our way tonight, 19:30, at Or's place once more. Party is once again split up, and Shiffer is still in Seven-Wells, so I want to thank you in advance for your petience with Couch Time.

See you all in a few hours.

Greif.

קרבות

הקרב עם תאומי שפרד גרם לי לחשוב על שיטת הקרב שאנחנו משתמשים בה והדרך שאני רוצה להשתמש בה כדי להבחין בין לוחם ללוחם. הבעיה שבה אני נתקל היא בעיית הנק"פ - לייצר מתח ומשך קרב מבלי שאנשים יספגו כדור אחרי כדור בלי למות (למרות שבעולם הזה, ההיגיון הפנימי סובל די הרבה פגיעות ופציעות).

מה שחשבתי עליו הוא עניין של מספר פעולות בכל "פעימת קרב", נקרא לזה. אם יש לך שני צלפים שמנסים לפגוע אחד בשני, מרמה מסוימת שניהם תמיד יפגעו. אז השאלה שלי היא מי יורה קודם, ולמי יש זמן להתכופף. התשובה היא מספר פעולות.

זריזות וגוון
מספר הפעולות נקבע לפי האדם הכי איטי בקרב. הוא מבצע פעולה אחת, והפעולה הזו היא פעימת הקרב. לא אכפת לי כמה שניות או כמה מיקרושניות הפעולה לוקחת, כי זה לא מעניין. כל קוביית זריזות שיש לך מעבר למעריך הזריזות של האדם הכי איטי, היא עוד פעולה באותה פעימה. כך שאדם עם זריזות 6ש הנלחם באדם אחר עם 3ש יבצע 4 פעולות על כל פעולה אחת של האדם הראשון.

גוון מוסיף עוד 2 פעולות. זאת אומרת שאדם עם 5א הנלחם באדם עם 3ש יבצע 4 פעולות על כל פעולה אחת של האדם האיטי יותר: +3 בגלל ההפרש בין 5 ל-3, +2 בגלל ההפרש בגוון. אם לאותו אדם היה 5ל (ז"א 5 לבן) מול 3ש, אז הוא היה מבצע 6 פעולות על כל פעולה. זה מוסיף ליתרון הגדול של אנשים בעלי גוון אפור או לבן לזריזות שלהם, בזמן שמשווה יותר בין אנשים בעלי תוספים גבוהים לזריזות שלהם.

פעולות מרובות
בתוך כל פעימת קרב, מספר הקוביות לפעולה הוא קבוע. למרות זאת, ייתכן ואדם מסוים יצטרך להתמודד עם כמה פעולות שונות בתוך פעימת קרב אחת, כי הוא מתמודד עם יריב מהיר יותר או יותר מיריב אחד. אותו אדם מחלק את כמות הקוביות שיש לו בין כל הקוביות שהוא צריך להתמודד איתן. כך שאדם המגלגל 9 קוביות בקרב, ויש מולו שני מתמודדים, או נאלץ להתמודד עם שתי פעולות בתוך אותה פעימה, יכול למשל לגלגל 4 קוביות לפעולה אחת ו-5 קוביות לפעולה אחרת. החלוקה נעשית לפני הגלגול, אם כי יש דרכים לגלגל את כל הקוביות יחדיו ולחלק אח"כ.

סוגי פעולות, הצלחה וכשלון
השחקן מגדיר מהי מטרת הפעולה שלו. גלגול הקוביות הוא גלגול מנוגד, זאת אומרת שאם יצא לתוקף מספר הצלחות גבוה יותר מאשר לנתקף, הפעולה הצליחה. אם אין מתמודד מול הפעולה הזו, המנחה כמובן יגדיר את רמת המכשול.

מטרות יכולות להיות לפגוע ביריב פגיעה כלשהי (פגיעה פיזית שנועדה להרוג או לנטרל, למשל), לבצע פעולה פשוטה (לדבר, לחטוף נשק או חפץ, לפתוח את הדלת, להפעיל מכשיר, וכו'), או לנסות להקשות על היריב. להקשות על היריב פירושו להעלות את הקושי מולו מתמודד היריב ולמעשה, אפקטיבית, להוסיף לעצמך הצלחות. דוגמא לפעולות שמקשות על היריב הן פגיעה ביכולת התמרון שלו, תפיסת עמדה עדיפה, פגיעה בנשק, וכן הלאה. לא חייבים להסביר בדיוק איך משפרים את המצב שלך מול היריב; אפשר פשוט לנסות לעשות זאת.

אפשר תמיד לנסות להתחמק ממה שהיריב עושה. אם אתה מתחמק, לא משנה כמה פעולות יש לך בפעימה, זה הדבר היחידי שאתה עושה באותה פעימה. התחמקות עובדת מול סוג פעולה יחיד - זאת אומרת שאם קבוצה של אנשים יורה עלייך אפשר להתחמק מכל היריות. אבל אם אדם אחד יורה בך והשני מנסה לחטוף לך את הנשק, אפשר להתחמק מאחד ולא מהשני. התחמקות גם היא נעשית באמצעות גלגול מנוגד.

תוספת קוביות
תכנון מוקדם, פעולות מבריקות, וחפצים מיוחדים יכולים להוסיף קוביות.

Updates, Session 21

So... Amir busted ass, earning Anansi a Persona point, and all of us some scrumptious game hours on Monday (28th) and Tuesday (29th). Kudos galore!

This means some adjustments: Next session will not be "War is the H Word", that would be kept for the next full-length session.
Instead, Monday and Tuesday would be Session 21a "Anthology of Interest - Part I" and Session 21b "Anthology of Interest - Part II: the Horror, the Horror". You can blame the Writers' strike for that as well.

Also, we're officially at our "End Game Danger Zone", where NPCs die and important things blow up! So, no whining when the new girlfriend suddenly develops lead-poisoning. Remember! Greif loves you; but the NPCs don't.

Did I mention by now how awesome last session was? No? Well, it was. I expect great things in our future...

Session 21

Things are heating up, aren't they? Well, I'm giddy about it. Too bad we lose one of our main characters next session... Well, it happens. Even in the best of shows.

Next session, session 21, "War is the H Word", will be held, All-Powerful-God willing, Saturday, the 26th of January. Probably over at Tal's place. Please, please, please let me know if you have any problems with that.

See you then, and maybe even before. And remember: it's not session 21 unless somebody dies!

Greif.

Before the Storm

A note, before the recap:

Greif's Warning: "NPCs do not simply carry on with their naferious plans when the PCs start accumulating power and interfer with their plans. They plan ways to hurt them."

Recap Session 20: "Futurestock"

The future is now; the coolness is overflowing; nothing is as it seems. If you haven't been to Plant-17, better not speak, cause you don't know what it means. Black Sygma For The Win. At least none of NPCs that we love died... we think.

Last session our heroes were standing on the Edge, this session they jumped, and we're still waiting for the thump. It might last hours, might take weeks, but the fall is never going to end.

Our heroes had many strong words to say to each other. They wanted to know how to get in, they wanted to know how to get out. In they can use the Barrage form Plant-3, hastingly sent by Jetix cause those scrambling Sixty-sixes over at the Core came down hard on the idea of help. The Libby is a MERKAVA, this they know, but it means, they aren't sure. Can they use it to get out through Testra? Powell and Rain are against it. Niv ben-Lilith is not to be trusted, they say. So Achaea it would be, the system with the four gates and no control. Onwards to the Hells around the Gate-Keeper, the Cerbrian Systems. This is the way out, but first they have to survive. This, they fear, will not be easy.

Plant-17 is divided; one part darkness, two parts light. Above they make the chips, below they keep the people. So the group decides to split up, the first of many splits none of them good. Rain is in charge, and he looks over his troops: He has himself, the Wackyman, Hill, the Terrorist, Anansi, the Spider with the Key, and Zeb, the Soldier. Powell, Moneybags, is staying behind. Now come their unfathomable female friends: Gale, Alice and Saif. The sygboys sent Murphy and his Seeing Eye Assassin, Storm. Zeb insists on bringing Niv ben-Lilith; he wants him close so he can be used. Tragic. And the two wounded Lions, Ardemos and Arsinios, round up the bunch.

Our Mighty Ducks get to work, but before the main course we have the hors d'œuvre: Rain and his Lady's Night Out. They dress to kill (sorry for the pun) and head out to the Ambrosia. There they dance, drink, and have fun, before going to look for Julie, the Social Cruise Director. He's in his office, sans-head, and plus-Shepherd, who immediately jumps to fighting Rain. They exchange blows, then bullets. Rain's are real, the Shephers' are plastic. Allan comes in to help Neil, but the fight has to end: Rain got Neil, Allan has Gale. Rain is willing to let Neil go, but he wants Flame. Allan agrees. Rain exeunts, takes the broken body of Flame and leaves with the Veil. But not very far; he immediately comes back to the Blue Wing, to destroy the heinous things that used to be people, and collect what Anansi tells him are blueprints for a Gate-Detector. As if these things actually exist... So now Rain has Flame, and the Shepherds have Gail (and also, it seems, the knowledge to build gate-detectors...) Flame is in intensive care, and Rain might falling apart, but the buzz of Gale's phone brings him back. Someone called "Tide" is on the line. Rain sets up a meeting, and is in for a surprise: Tide is actually Tide the system-breaker, from AXE, and with him are two others (Rain identifies them as "Jack and Jill") Who are these people, what are they doing here, and what is their relationship to Gale? Good questions, all.

So now we have more people then before, but we're still missing one. Off to Plant-17 we go. Zeb stays on board the Libby, cause those are his orders. Saif pouts, but is sent away with the Spiral Dancers (is anyone keeping tabs of the bad decisions being made here? Did we forget Hill is a prime target?) to find out "the Big Secret" of Plant-17. Anansi is grouped with the other nerds (Tide, Alice, Niv ben-Lilith and Arsinios) to support the main group, the Nannies. They're here to rescue Hill's parents: Rain, Hill, Jack and Jill, Storm, Young Li Murphy, and Ardemos. If ever was a time to break into song, now's the time.

Things did not go as planned. The groups split into two teams, and the Spiral Dancers were off. Inside the darkened part of Plant-17, Niv ben-Lilith tells our boys he senses strangeness. The boys decide they want communication, but don't want to give themselves away. Anansi and the nerds are off to try and tap into the Plant's own systems from within its bowls (sorry, again). Niv ben-Lillith stays behind. Our Mighty Ducks wait, but the nerds don't come back. So they move on (why? I don't know). Deeper and deeper into Plant-17 they go, and the wrongness just keeps piling up: the halls are empty before they get to where the people are supposed to be, but instead, they find their living organs, sewed together to fashion efficient fusion-machines, to create the Sygma chips. Our heroes gulp, but press on. Meanwhile, the nerds reach "the Brain" (Anansi named him Steve, in a flash of pure genius) and start conversing. Alice is freaked, but Anansi and Tide are cool. Arsinios doesn't know what's going on, but that's normal. After talking with Steve, the nerds realize what we already guessed: that he's in charge of a huge "body", producing chips organically. They hear about "Father" and move on to meet him.

Back with the Guns-For-Glory, we find ourselves inside the stomach, actually a router that accepts raw chips and sends them on to be processed. In here, they split again: all the people who have capabilities, meaning Rain, Storm, and Ardemos, leave all the people with the brain: Hill and Niv ben-Lillith. Oh, Murphy's catatonic. He took the whole "My friends were cut to pieces and made into machines" thing pretty hard. Niv ben-Lillith pokes around. The Three Machos reach the mouth, and bring down two technicians. Niv ben-Lillith causes the "stomach" to shit them all out of there. The Three Tanors decide to bring their friends up. Niv ben-Lillith is leading his band of bros away from where they landed and into the station. The Three Nachos decide to move to "the Head" before "Steve" starts crying for his food.

The Three Muskets arrive at "the Head" with our Three Nerds (Alice isn't shown), who came to meet "Father". Father is disturbing. Also, pissed at "Tzefa" who promised some tasty brain but did not deliver. That is because "Tzefa", a.k.a. the man who paid Fury to kill Ratboy and probably others, is actually Niv ben-Lillith, and just trapped Hill and his friends in an airlock where they await their deaths. It comes in a different shape then previously thought. Anansi and Tide talk with "Father", but then He decides its enough time for talks: he wants to eat himself, and Anansi is the main course. Things, as in Monsters, start piling in. The shits truly hits the fan, and outside Zeb can see the soldiers going into Plant-17 and decides to act alone.

Battle ensues. While on other side of the station Theocracy soldiers capture Hill and the Rainbow-Eyed Man, and kill Jack, Jill, and Murphy (Storm, you dolt!), Our heroes battle everything from huge digital whales to soldiers and monsters. But they prevail. Anansi brings down the Head, Saif brings down the roof, and the band brings down the house. But Hill is still captured.

Our heroes, sans-the deceased, leave on board the Libby (still a MERKAVA, it seems), while the Snark-Hunter, the Cheshire Cat, and the Jabberwocky, fly off. But the enraged Saif is with them, and with her is the Secret: a closed circuit, carrying the insignia of Black Sygma. What it is, we still don't know.

We leave our heroes humbled, yet somewhat victorious. Niv ben-Lillith captured Hill, but they blew up Plant-17 and got the plans for the Gamma Key Bed. So some successes were made. Will they be enough?

Join us to find out, on the next episode of... "Owl Crossings", the show where if the NPC has a cool sounding name, he's probably bad!

Righteous.

Session 20

Session 20, "Futurestock", will be held on Saturday 19th, 2008 (yay! We're moving into the new millennium!)

Tal, please let me know if we can play at your house. My house would be empty, so we can play in Ness-Tzionna in case that's a problem. Since I would like to limit "sitting-on-the-couch-doing-nothing" time, please try to think if you have questions for NPCs in Oceania or out of it that you can send via e-mail before the session. It would greatly help me.

Thanks.

Greif.

Recap Session 19: "The Cyber House Rules"

It's a brave new world in Oceania where the boys are coming to term with some of the harsh realities of living under the Orange Regime. But they're coping, which is more then can be said for others in their stead.

Hiding on board the Great White Whale, our heroes arrive at Oceania, seeing the effects of the explosion at the Oceania/Gaul gate, and surprised to find the mighty Flying Buttress "Arm of the Lord" casting a pall over the system. But while the military might of the Theocracy in the system is impressive, their effect on traffic is much less so. While the fighters and corvettes of the Dome Oceanis are trying their damnest, they don't impress these people. The Oceania/Gaul wormgate closing, however, had much more effect. The Theocracy are building the new stations to watch over the gate, which might be a step for more order.

Our heroes depart the "Moby Dick", and land in "Three Angels Spaceport", a big port near the great floating city of New Orleans, and from the moment they land they are busy, busy, busy.

Hill meets Meow, the fearless leader of the ex-military technicians from the Hong Kong Space Corp, who got their walking papers after the Theocracy moved in. Meow tells Billy the Orange Beast is digging its claws into New Orleans, building the Basilica Orleanis and the Tower near Monangé. Meow wants to blow up the Tower, but Hill decides against killing 600 civilians, no matter how effective the massage. Meow also wants a rep to sit in the ECAR, and Hill agrees to send "Seafood" Sally Cho to Buanos Aires in Lima, no matter what Mubai thinks. After showing this bit of leadership, Hill spends some time with his girl walking about town, before going to the renovated Musée de beaux-arts, to meet the Rainbow-eyed Man. There REM wants to buy the scans, and reminds Saif she's on the clock. Pissed off, she goes to buy cake, and, reminded discretion is the better part of valor, the Rainbow-eyed Man leaves them. To pay the check.

White Hill talks, Rain walks. He and Gail collect what information they can about the "Ambrosia" and the actions of Fury. It seems Fury kept himself busy, killing five people, including a kelp-farmer, a street-punk, a business noble and two mambas (the female equivalent of houngans). Rain sends the two anxious Cypriots to walk it off, while he decides what best do about his brother. Meanwhile, he helps his friends staying alive mainly by escorting them to meetings.

Anansi, never a man to stay out of trouble, stirs much of it by talking with more AIs about the great summit meeting he's trying to organize. He ends his efforts by convincing Kali to speak with Morgana, not an easy thing at all.

And the ever-busy Powell speaks with business buddies, to try and break the economic siege on Hera. Successful or not, remains to be seen.

These four then travel to the Mary Celeste, one of Hong Kong's moons, to Jiffy Lube Sys., to meet the young Young Li Murphy, who worked on both Plant-3 and Plant-17, and decided to spend his time watching the captured station and think up of ways to help. Since if something can go wrong with his plans, it probably will, no one really expects much. He does, however, shines for a rare moments, when he agrees to get our mighty duck on to a Barge inbound from Plant-3 to Plant-17, so they can enter the space station and see what they can find. Hopefully, nothing would go wrong.

Finally, there are also two surprise visits: the young Fregatten Kapittän Molotov comes to talk with Powell and take "Nick the Greek" out to dinner, and Niv ben-Lilith, a pious man from "Brith Ne'eman", came to help the gang to manage Plant-17. One shines, the other annoys, but both survived Rain, so they get a cookie.

When we left the party, they were just settling in after a long day of scheming and planning, just to receive a disturbing video from the Oxygen Line of the Massacre on Falstaf moon and a chilling warning from the JBI: the gates must remain open.

So now all the ducks are in a row, our heroes just need to squint through the sight and shoot. Will they hit anything? That remains to be seen. What we know for sure, is that it'll be a blast.

Kaboom!