OOC [Dark Sun] Shattered Lands

DavidalBarron

Somebody post something before the weekend or the airship burns on Monday (your Sunday).

Edit: (Aww.)

DavidalBarron

I'm gwan' put up the opening for Chapter 3 sometime tomorrow afternoon, and then you'll have a long, long weekend to play to it and scheme, as I'll be in a faraway city for a festival until Monday.

Kiplingskat

Wow...um...so they've obviously changed around the layouts around here. @_@
None of my bookmarks work anymore! Curses...

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm really the first to post back on here since the 12th or if I just can't see the latest posts or what, but I'll check back in later tonight and try to get something up.

Anybody else able to find their way back here?

DavidalBarron

Me! I think the new forum thing screwed everybody up, since nobody's rolled into Chapter Three yet. It'll ramp back up, I'm sure.

I remain unconcerned. Your deaths will be slow and painful, style of thing.

DavidalBarron

Or not. How sad.

Mendokusai

k well i pulled my head out of my ass.. wheres everyone else?!

DavidalBarron

An excellent question. I'm assuming their bookmarks got all screwed up. It'll work out presently.

Kiplingskat

Just posted something to show I am alive. Been dealing with....issues with my apartmet, so evenings have been kind of filled.

BUT...I'm on vacation now! All kinds of free time, so I'll be around much more for the next week.

Zombie_Lord_Demus

Still having computer issues and for a bit having "i'm gonna be homeless" issues... but at least that one is fixed. Woot! So in the near future i'll be popping online more often.

DavidalBarron

Hold on, I'll get to it tomorrow. A sudden flurry of activity!

DavidalBarron

Sorry for the delay, folk. I've been incredibly busy Writing, Internet-deprived. Also under threat of being flooded out (no problem now). It seems to have carried on in my absence. Good stuff. There'll probably be fewer delays in the future, and the plot is proceeding apace. Do with it as you will.

Irishopilis

Yah this is a pretty slow game, but, man, i would take quality over quantity any day. Everyone here has such great imagination when it comes to their writing.

DavidalBarron

I'm trying to pick the pace up a bit, but so far so good. It's character-driven, and that's all I need to have.

DavidalBarron

Considering the setting, I assume all of your characters have been to Peking before (at least for a short time). In that spirit, I'm offering a bonus Fate Point for your character describing a unique 'Location of Interest' (LoI) within the city. Said location may or may not have some future role in the ongoing plot.

DavidalBarron

I think there was some forum hiccups, but I'm going to let the palaver develop a bit.

Zombie_Lord_Demus

:P

Zombie_Lord_Demus

Where is everyone?

DavidalBarron

I do not know. It is a mystery...a legion of mystery. Which is not presently here. You guys have a few days to move on with your QUEST or I'm changing your name to The Legion of Red Herrings.

Also I want to see what happens next

edit: Also also, I demand more steampunk. Or atompunk shall reign. Dun dun DUNNNNN

Kiplingskat

Got a blipof connection on my ipod out here. Getting back tomorrow. Please don't kill Velma off until then!

DavidalBarron

Don't worry, in accordance with market research, the first to die will be

Murphey

followed shortly by

everybody else

in the

subsequent explosion

Irishopilis

LOLWUT?! Does he go all alah jihad or something?

Kiplingskat

Ok, question about Contacting and specifically 'Walk the Walk':
With Velma's Walk the Walk, the game description maintains that "never suffers any additional difficulty from unfamiliar circumstances when Contacting". So, in theory, if Velma wanted to contact someone in the city, she would be able to do so quite easily (as in roll at least a 3 or 4?).

Also, in regards to placing Contacting into the narrative, is it enough to describe a) who we wish to contact, b) what we are contacting them about and c) by what method, then let GM decide how to implement the rest?

DavidalBarron

Here's how I read it: In the Contacting skill description, it says that an 'entirely unfamiliar environment' will increase the difficulty by 'as much as +4', but the Walk the Walk stunt removes any and all unfamiliar environment penalties. Great! (Note: for those characters in this group without Walk the Walk, Peking 'unfamiliarity penalty' would be +0 (Milo) and +1 (Ace Steel) and +2 (for our Balloontrepreneur's brat)

So, to construct the 'base difficulty': The only thing Velma is required to supply me with in advance is "What she wants to know". The more focused, the better (the book's example is "Who's trying to kill me?"). From that I will assign a 'Secret Difficulty', and call it X. Velma could roll Contacting against X straight, and I'd make up some stuff as to how you found or didn't find your answer (and the quality of that answer).

As usual, though, SotC rewards players who help tell stories instead of just rolling, so Velma is encouraged to supply me with "Who she wants to contact", and "How she wants to contact" and/or "Where she wants to contact". Each of those three that is provided subtracts 1 or 2 (based on quality) off of the secret difficulty X.

Example: Billy the Kid wants to use Contacting

What: Where did Doc Holliday hide the TNT?
The GM assigns a difficulty in secret (6) and calls it X.
Billy supplies a Who: "disgruntled Doc Holliday gang member Timmy the Florist"
That sounds pretty cool, so the GM calls X-2
Billy supplies a How: "dead drop in a cactus"
That's OK, I guess, so the GM calls X-3
Billy supplies a Where: "the cactus near the Prairie Oyster, a stagecoach stop in the middle of the desert"
Neat! X-5
ROLL 'EM (each shift above 1 improves the quality of the information...and failure could be interesting.)

A rough guideline of 'time needed' is "X difficulty = X+1 hours", but great success can mean great time-saving.

For play-by-post purposes, just declare it all in a post and roll, and I'll describe the situation afterwards. Also, say who comes with you, if it's not everybody. Everybody else is encouraged to do something equally sneaky/time consuming. Peking is a big, ruined city!

Kiplingskat

Ok, that gives me a much better idea of things. Thankies!

DavidalBarron

That should give you guys plenty to chew on. I'm on vacation for a couple days. I'll probably have Internet, but I'll be with my girlfriend, so don't count on focus.

Plan, scheme, drag the plot along: the sh*t will hit the fan sooner or later, so you'll want to be prepared.

Kiplingskat

Oooh, Ace sure has some interesting stuff hidden away. ^_^
I've laid the groundwork for Velma to attempt contacting if she needs to (or gets a chance), but didn't want to interrupt any possible explanations on what the Hand of Doom just did yet.

Another question:
What would be the best method of using Resources (for example those of an organized crime group etc)? Is it similar to Contacting, in that we have a certain amount of freedom to describe who, what, and where?

DavidalBarron

Oh, I forgot to set a difficulty for an Alertness roll to spot Kelly Bravadous' secret communication. Her key skill is Stealth, so I'll call it 6. Those not currently being hand of doom'd can have at it, if you want.

Re: Resources, same deal as with Contacting. The more specific and interesting the description, the more is subtracted from the base difficulty, and, of course, the higher the roll the better. Unfamiliarity ("What's the word for 'withdrawal' in your heathen tongue?"/Unavailability ("We're on a desert island") penalties apply.

Note that, as with Contacting, Resources should 'remove obstacles' not 'solve problems'. But that's just good story-telling.

For straight "I'd like to buy this!" base difficulties, consult http://crackmonkey.org/~nick/loyhargil/fate3/fate3.html#dollars-and-cents. Use your best judgement.

CARRY ON

DavidalBarron

Pick up the pace, lest dark things from the dark darkness darkly doom you.

Edit: Oh, and it looks like Invisible Castle is finally working again. Hurrah!

DavidalBarron

I'm actually going through and reading the whole thing again to make sure all the Clues match my notes. It's getting pretty long, guys! We're approaching The Great Gatsby length. At the next chapter I'll stick it all into a big word document and format it up for easy reading.

Kiplingskat

Urgh. Ok guys, I'm semi back to the land of the living. Been dealing with some horrific things that don't bear going into detail about. They're not over yet, but at least they've gotten back down to manageable levels (I hope). Really need an evening off (what's left of the weekend and all) but I will try my utmost to post something up here tomorrow just so those "darkly doomish things" don't get us.

DavidalBarron

I'm gwan' let everybody react to the rewriting of the universe and then base my description of the rewrite upon those reactions. Go for broke.

Zombie_Lord_Demus

HA HA HA!

Kiplingskat

Finally have internet in the new place and it's not like I'm avoiding posting but...err...I am really not sure how to have Velma react to these happenings. I'm all for crazy shiznit going down, but rewriting of time and space is reeeallly open-ended. :P

DavidalBarron

Heh. That is pretty open-ended. OK, dudes: I'm going to ask you all to make a declaration of what your character was doing at the exact same time as Mr. Rewrite declared his rewriting thing, then make and post an unmodified roll on Invisible Castle...then I'll put something up reflecting that. We'll get this show back on the road.

One of you may be HORRIBLY SCREWED.

Probably Murphey

Edit: Obviously, I know what ACE STEEL was doing at the exact same time as he declared it. In your case, just make the roll.

Zombie_Lord_Demus

Internet is out... stealing it when i can

Kiplingskat

Ok, that makes more sense. Could have gone a tad too random otherwise. :P

Velma would have been watching the show with Ace and Milo too intently to notice Murphy and Kelly disappear into the zeppelin. Her knowledge of the Occult isn't spectacular, but she'd know enough not to go anywhere near them as this is happening. However, she has a gun out and trained on Ace, since to her, it looks like he's being taken over by something. Any sign that he's going to turn on them and she shoots....much to her detriment, I'm sure. ^_^;

Roll: 4d6=16 --> [-1, 0, 0, +1] = 0 .....Uh Oh >_<

DavidalBarron

Oh, put that in-thread somehow. Your meta-character can basically say that.

Kiplingskat

Oh! Oops, ok. Fixing now.

DavidalBarron

This is an example of a pure 'Fate roll'. Since it fits the setting, you can play as though your characters have a (vague) understanding of their place on the fate ladder, as well as the places other players and NPCs. If you succeed at a Mysteries 5 check, you can assume your character knows the whole ladder clearly, and act accordingly.

This next chapter is going to be very very bloody, so watch out. The body count hasn't been high enough, and I have to bump my average.

(in real life, at the moment, I'm writing Horror, so you understand my concern...)

Murphey! Give me a roll!

Ace Steel! Does this dread horror have a name? I'm rolling with "Jilted Lover" for now, because that sounds suitably creepy. I'm going to assume a relationship status of "It's Complicated".

I shall be At Conference from today unto December the 2nd. What that means is I'll probably have better access to the Internet than usual, and also be bored, so there shouldn't be any interruptions. If that turns out not to be the case, you know why.

Nominations for new chapter title are open.

Once I start this new chapter and have some spare time, I'm going to format the previous three up into an eBook for ease of reading/reference. If someone wants to make a cool cover art, they are more than welcome.

This is going to be fun!

DavidalBarron

I'll give it a day while I write it all up, but if Murphey doesn't roll for me, I'll do it myself. At a slight penalty.