Unknown Armies (always recruiting)

Started by Kythia, August 06, 2013, 08:59:59 PM

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Rook Seidhr

Interested. Will put together a draft character later today.

Kythia

Awesome.  Great to have you on board, Riveda.
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Rook Seidhr

#77
I've never actually played UA, but I have most of the books. I therefore suggest you do not use the hijacking scenario, as I have read it.

Character sheet (draft, comments solicited)
Name: Bran Davies
Age: 17
Occupation: student at Royal Grammar School Newcastle
August 8th is: his birthday!
Connection to Honer's: father is Vice President of Finance
Should Have Been There at 9 AM: Da left an important thumb drive in his den and needed it by 9:00 for a meeting
Late Because: Metro shut down for reasons not announced

Obsession: extreme sports
Fear Stimulus: being physically trapped and unable to escape (Helplessness)
Rage Stimulus: football hooligans
Noble Stimulus: people baring their emotional wounds to him
Personality Stereotype: Page of Wands—active, driven to grow beyond restraint, fiery temperament

Body: 40 (wiry); General Athletics 40, Krav Maga (Struggle) 35
Speed: 65 (peppy); Dodge 25, Driving 15, Freerunning 55, Initiative 30
Mind: 50 (attentive); Book-Smart (General Education) 30, Conceal 15, Extreme Sports Fan 20, Notice 30
Soul: 65 (kind); Charm 40, Shoulder to Cry On 40, White Lies (Lying) 25

Kythia

QuoteI've never actually played UA, but I have most of the books. I therefore suggest you do not use the hijacking scenario, as I have read it.

I was going to make changes anyway  ;D  Still not decided, to be honest.  Obviously it'd be down the line a little, need to get you all into a plane for starters and honestly I feel the pacing of the scenario is off a little (though I've never actually played it through).  Lovely idea for a conscious ascension but, meh, I feel it needs tweaking in practice.

Character looks great to me, thanks for filling in the bits and bobs (stress gauge for fear stimulus, etc) that I told the others not to bother with.  Saves me a job.

Feel free to post in the IC.  No special changes are needed, the Metro just delayed you longer than all the others.  Incidentally, do I take it you know Newcastle?  Da, Metro, the RGS.  If not then kudos on your research.
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Rook Seidhr

#79
Quote from: Kythia on August 25, 2013, 11:18:58 AM
Character looks great to me, thanks for filling in the bits and bobs (stress gauge for fear stimulus, etc) that I told the others not to bother with.  Saves me a job.
I just stepped through the character generation process in the UA 2nd ed rules. BTW, if the game lasts long enough and the Statosphere aligns, Bran is targeted to evolve into an entropomancer.

Quote from: Kythia on August 25, 2013, 11:18:58 AM
Incidentally, do I take it you know Newcastle?  Da, Metro, the RGS.  If not then kudos on your research.
Nah, I'm an American, went to London once for a week but that's it. However, Google and Wikipedia can give anyone an instant veneer of expertise, be it only a millimeter (sorry, millimetre) thick. :D

Also I played in a Changeling: the Lost game set in Sunderland for a while, so some of the research was already done. Also too, I'm a wee bit of an Anglophile.

Just don't expect me to manage Geordie. "Da" was me showing off :D

Kythia

Sunderland.  *spits*  Mackems are worse than the Scottish.  ;D

Bran is indeed targeted for entropomancy.  I've put a bit of thought into a suitable avatar and school of magic for each of you to be offered at an appropriate juncture.  Obviously, though it presumably doesn't need saying, Bran doesn't know of anything in the occult underground.
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Rook Seidhr

Modification to Bran: shifting around Mind skills a little: Conceal 15, Book-Smart (Gen Ed) 30, Notice 30, Extreme Sports Fan 20. He ought to know something about the sports he doesn't practice.

BTW, Kythia, you don't have to line-by-line me or anything, but a bit of OOC or PM Britpicking should I make an egregious mistake would be welcomed.

Kythia

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Rook Seidhr

In the absence of a designated OOC thread…

I'm thinking Bran needs Unnatural and Helplessness checks, as he's confronted with something impossible that prevents him from performing a vital task. That probably means explaining the Madness Meters to those who haven't played UA before. Doesn't really matter what the ranks are, since he doesn't have any Hardened notches anyway.

Target = Mind of 50
Unnatural: 81 (failed)
Helplessness: 7 (succeeded)

So Bran picks up a Hardened notch in Helplessness and a Failed notch in Unnatural. Response to the latter: paralysis.

Kythia

I'm on it, actually. I've made you all unnatural rolls for the moment - holding off on the helplessness until the full situation has sunk in (various reasons that should become apparent shortly).  Gonna set up characters in the first post of the IC in a moment and put up stress gauges at that point.
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Kythia

Hadn't realised you'd posted.  Have overridden the unnatural roll I made for you with the one you made (same result, as it happened) and will use your helplessness when the time comes.  You're slightly ahead of the curve, Demigod has also failed, Norm and Miyo passed.  I'll be putting stuff up about this over the next half hour or so.

Further, I'm transferring characters to the first post of the IC, just so they're all together.  Blythe - I have expanded your "Debate" skill a little to make it a little more generically useful.  Feel free to check over and object if you wish.
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Kythia

Demigod - could you throw me a shout if you're still interested?
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Blythe

#87
Quote from: Kythia on August 27, 2013, 09:45:44 PM
Further, I'm transferring characters to the first post of the IC, just so they're all together.  Blythe - I have expanded your "Debate" skill a little to make it a little more generically useful.  Feel free to check over and object if you wish.

Hey, I'm all for being more useful. I'll give it a look-see. ^^

Yup, that'll work. Gives Miyo a bit broader of an ability.

Demigod1945

I'm still here, just been a bit busy.

Kythia

No worries at all.  Just didn't want to write you out if you were in or vice versa.  I'll transfer your character over to the first post at some point tonight.  Got some of my stories to catch up on first.
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Demigod1945

Quote from: Kythia on August 28, 2013, 04:21:49 PM
No worries at all.  Just didn't want to write you out if you were in or vice versa.  I'll transfer your character over to the first post at some point tonight.  Got some of my stories to catch up on first.
Ok, but I do have a question.
   How would I use Chris's lie detection skill against someone who is lying in the roleplay because I don't quite understand on what I would do or how to do it. Also I'm not wanting to post something like that, I just wanted to ask ahead of time.

Kythia

No, good point.

OK.  On a basic level you won't need to.  Remember how I mentioned (or possibly you don't) that your skills are how good you are under pressure?  So long as you have fifteen per cent in a skill, it automatically succeeds in low pressure environments.  So if the guy in the shop tells you he gave you enough change or a prostitute calls you "handsome" then you'll just be able to tell.  I'll mention it to you.

In a pressure situation its a bit different, though.  As I read it, its a passive skill.  Its not that you're scrutinising them consciously, just that you're good at picking up the little tells.  So the way it would work is actually based on their roll, not yours.  Normally to tell a convincing lie, someone would need to roll either under their soul stat or under their "lie" skill.  To tell a convincing lie to you though, they need to roll under their lie skill/soul stat but over your detect lie skill.  So the same roll needs to be a success for them and a failure for you.  If your detect lie skill is higher than their soul stat then obviously you'll automatically be able to tell - because they can't possibly make that roll.

So lets put an example there.  Lying Bob has a "Lie" skill of 30 and a Soul Stat of 60.  When you ask him where the nearest hospital is, he points down the street in the wrong direction. 

If he needed to roll under his Soul Stat for this roll, normally a 1-60 would do it.  However, to lie to you he needs to also roll over your "Detect Lie" of 50, so only a 51-60 would die it.

If this were a really important lie for Bob then he might need to roll under his "Lie" skill.  Here you'd be able to tell automatically - in order for it to work Bob would have to roll under his skill of 30 but over your skill of 50, which is obviously impossible.

Does that make any sense?  And does that fit in with how you'd imagined the skill - as a passive thing that requires no particular action from you.  If you'd viewed it as more active, that you narrow your eyes and weigh up whether you believe them or not, then let me know and I'll rework it.
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Demigod1945

I'd say more of a mix, its passive on its own when he doesn't concentrate so he just kinda picks up on them, but when he concentrates on the subject his ability to tell if they're lying is increased. That's how I saw it, if that can't work out, what you saw it as works just find for me.

Kythia

OK, well lets add a bit to the above then.  In addition to the passive use explained above you can use it actively.  You can take a shift of up to half your "Notice" skill (because the more perceptive you are, the better you are at spotting the little telltale signs) and make a roll against your detect lie skill.  However, while you're doing that you're at an equivalent minus shift to all your other skills - you're concentrating on telling if they're lying and it makes it harder to concentrate on driving, being charming, etc etc etc.
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Demigod1945

Quote from: Kythia on August 28, 2013, 05:02:03 PM
OK, well lets add a bit to the above then.  In addition to the passive use explained above you can use it actively.  You can take a shift of up to half your "Notice" skill (because the more perceptive you are, the better you are at spotting the little telltale signs) and make a roll against your detect lie skill.  However, while you're doing that you're at an equivalent minus shift to all your other skills - you're concentrating on telling if they're lying and it makes it harder to concentrate on driving, being charming, etc etc etc.
Ok that sounds good to me.

Kythia

Riveda, feel free to start coming to terms with things (coming out of paralysis) as it suits.  I realise that normally its until the thing goes away but, well, its not going to (or possibly already has?) so in the interests of you not being shoved bodily into a car and removed from the scene...

Don't feel obliged though if you don't want to.
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Demigod1945

Kythia, did you change Chris's stats in the PC spoiler on purpose?

Kythia

Did I?  No, it was accidental.  I'll adjust that now.  Sorry about that, not sure how it happened.
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Kythia

Ah, I see what I've done.  Taken the earlier version, not the one with the fifteen included.  Apologies, adjusting now.
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Demigod1945

No problem, I figured that was what happened.