NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
(I got work issues, I admit it's annoying, and my eyes glaze over though. I think it would be easier though if in the OOC thread there was a synopsis in the ooc thread?)
IOU a College Degree (GURPS) (IOU)
- Thread starter UberNimrod
- Start date
- IC
(I got work issues, I admit it's annoying, and my eyes glaze over though. I think it would be easier though if in the OOC thread there was a synopsis in the ooc thread?)
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
(Homebrew, actually, not that James knows this. Due to the... lack of Sci-Fi to lampoon, and his experiences in writing some of the better episodes of Tiberius, Adams ended up writing up the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Earths, which used alternate histories instead of outer space to much the same effect. The Infinity Patrol flipped out when they managed to get a copy, due to the fact that it reads like a lampooning of them. Ford is basically a swagman, Zaphod is a Grand Master of the Cabal on the lam, the Oz drive is basically a magically powered conveyor, the Vogons are the I-Cops in funny suits...)
(Eh, I can stand it. I'd second @NemiTheNen's suggestion for getting past this and into more... player directed madness, shall we say? At bare minimum, I'm definitely curious about what happened to Alice, if only so that James could mention the Antarctic Socialist Collective offhand in front of her.)
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- Location
- US of A
(In a word, yes. In more words, I'm a bit more just bored and hoping for some more action. That is of course not to say that the exposition is boring, but it's been 52 pages and we've yet to really do anything. I'm still in of course."
Hector shook his head in response to James' question.
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
(I imagine that this style of back-and-forth exposition would work a lot more effectively around a table, to be honest.)
UberNimrod
I scared Setsuna with my bad decisions.
- Location
- Between Hither and Yon.
(Which is what I am used to. Not to mention that this is a full campaign. I'm used to 4 hour sessions at conventions, so this is entirely different for me.)
(But if everyone is ready, I'll see if I can't throw you off a cliff as early as tomorrow.)
Chapter 14: IOU Admissions fees. Part 1 (IOU Part 1 end)
UberNimrod
I scared Setsuna with my bad decisions.
- Location
- Between Hither and Yon.
The kids had no questions. The adults on the other hand obviously had questions, but were wise enough to not ask them in front of the kids.
That was fine. Besides, the kids needed to go work on admissions. Actually, they were going to have to work on everything, as I feared that the adults would keep me occupied for a good while.
"Jamie? Do we have paperwork to give them to give to the Admissions personnel? They should go get started on that as it might take a while."
"That we do. Been working on that for the past few minutes. Just finished it," Jamie said as six stacks of papers were handed to her through a portal. (Perception roll of 13 or better to notice the arm handing the papers to Jamie is robotic in nature.)
"Let me look at them first." I stood up and glanced at the topmost set of paperwork in question as Jamie held on to them. Oh good. She had thoughtfully attached the appropriate bribe money on... Wait a minute...
Oh. Oh ho. Ok then. Well, a test did seem to be in order. Their test was going to be MUCH easier than mine though.
"Sophie, open up and let them out so they can get started. They've got four different bureaucrats to deal with."
====================
Once everyone was outside, they noticed that there was 4 ten dollar bills and 4 twenty dollar bills and a typed note attached to their paperwork.
The note reads as follows:
Here are four tens and four twenties for you to use as 'incentive' money to help speed the process along. Unfortunately this is standard for IOU.
If you are clever and figure out the clues here, you'll have enough left to take advantage of the local pizza parlor's special of two medium pizzas and a two liter of soda for $17.99. Combined with a minimal tip, that should give you each a decent meal for the evening.
You have four offices to visit: Admissions, Residential, Parking, and your Faculty Advisor for your major. Jim is good, but I doubt that he would be allowed to really advise you, hence why you'll have to take care of that separately.
Yes, I KNOW that no one has their own vehicle. But you still have to pay. Parking is one of the biggest scams that COUP runs here, in more ways than one. You never know what you might end up with before the end of the year. Be sure to keep the permit SAFE, as stealing them is something of a COUP initiation rite. I would suggest not leaving it in your room.
Four offices, four bribes. Simple enough in theory. But if you overbribe one, you won't have enough for the pizza party tonight.
I would suggest that each of you try to get one of the others as a roommate. James and Hector, Sybille and Sam, and Cheshire and Maya. Be sure to go into the Residential as a pair, and present the 'incentive' simultaneously so as to not confuse the Bimbria working. Don't worry, she will get the hint, even if they are a bit confused at times.
The Residential fee and Parking fee combined are equal to what you'll have to give Admissions and your Faculty Advisor.
The Admissions fee by itself is equal to what you need to give to Residential and your Faculty Advisor combined.
Your Parking fee minus the Admissions fee is your share of the Residential fee, which is half of what you need to give your Faculty Advisor.
Hope that helps.
Jamie
(Have a Math Problem. If there is anything I need to explain, just yell or PM me.)
(Have fun RPing this out.)
That was fine. Besides, the kids needed to go work on admissions. Actually, they were going to have to work on everything, as I feared that the adults would keep me occupied for a good while.
"Jamie? Do we have paperwork to give them to give to the Admissions personnel? They should go get started on that as it might take a while."
"That we do. Been working on that for the past few minutes. Just finished it," Jamie said as six stacks of papers were handed to her through a portal. (Perception roll of 13 or better to notice the arm handing the papers to Jamie is robotic in nature.)
"Let me look at them first." I stood up and glanced at the topmost set of paperwork in question as Jamie held on to them. Oh good. She had thoughtfully attached the appropriate bribe money on... Wait a minute...
Oh. Oh ho. Ok then. Well, a test did seem to be in order. Their test was going to be MUCH easier than mine though.
"Sophie, open up and let them out so they can get started. They've got four different bureaucrats to deal with."
====================
Once everyone was outside, they noticed that there was 4 ten dollar bills and 4 twenty dollar bills and a typed note attached to their paperwork.
The note reads as follows:
Here are four tens and four twenties for you to use as 'incentive' money to help speed the process along. Unfortunately this is standard for IOU.
If you are clever and figure out the clues here, you'll have enough left to take advantage of the local pizza parlor's special of two medium pizzas and a two liter of soda for $17.99. Combined with a minimal tip, that should give you each a decent meal for the evening.
You have four offices to visit: Admissions, Residential, Parking, and your Faculty Advisor for your major. Jim is good, but I doubt that he would be allowed to really advise you, hence why you'll have to take care of that separately.
Yes, I KNOW that no one has their own vehicle. But you still have to pay. Parking is one of the biggest scams that COUP runs here, in more ways than one. You never know what you might end up with before the end of the year. Be sure to keep the permit SAFE, as stealing them is something of a COUP initiation rite. I would suggest not leaving it in your room.
Four offices, four bribes. Simple enough in theory. But if you overbribe one, you won't have enough for the pizza party tonight.
I would suggest that each of you try to get one of the others as a roommate. James and Hector, Sybille and Sam, and Cheshire and Maya. Be sure to go into the Residential as a pair, and present the 'incentive' simultaneously so as to not confuse the Bimbria working. Don't worry, she will get the hint, even if they are a bit confused at times.
The Residential fee and Parking fee combined are equal to what you'll have to give Admissions and your Faculty Advisor.
The Admissions fee by itself is equal to what you need to give to Residential and your Faculty Advisor combined.
Your Parking fee minus the Admissions fee is your share of the Residential fee, which is half of what you need to give your Faculty Advisor.
Hope that helps.
Jamie
(Have a Math Problem. If there is anything I need to explain, just yell or PM me.)
(Have fun RPing this out.)
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
Sam pointed at a clause in the 'test'
"The whole Number of combined bribe will be an even number. The question is if the What we have to give Residential is the combined fee or not."
Sam's phone bloomed out in equations.
R+P=A+F v /frac R{2}+P=A+F
A=R+F
P-A=/frac R{2}
2R=F v R=F
Sam frowns at he last bit "We have to bribe that person? Since it's a whole number"
(do you guys want me to solve it now? Also, roll expert skill highschool or any math skill you have, I refrained from doing any solving because give you guys a chance, and to see if I have a crit brain failure)
(Aw, shit, Latex isn't working)
"The whole Number of combined bribe will be an even number. The question is if the What we have to give Residential is the combined fee or not."
Sam's phone bloomed out in equations.
R+P=A+F v /frac R{2}+P=A+F
A=R+F
P-A=/frac R{2}
2R=F v R=F
Sam frowns at he last bit "We have to bribe that person? Since it's a whole number"
(do you guys want me to solve it now? Also, roll expert skill highschool or any math skill you have, I refrained from doing any solving because give you guys a chance, and to see if I have a crit brain failure)
(Aw, shit, Latex isn't working)
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- Location
- Germany
I stare in awe at my friend.
Have I ever mentioned that my usuallly rather effective brain shuts down when Math of any kind is involved? No?
( YES! Pease, both me and Sybille are ...incapable at all but the most bkasic math.)
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Uh, thanks. I... kinda didn't pay too much attention during math class." Before I got kicked out, anyway. Abdul was normally pretty good about trying to explain that sort of thing to me, though he did add some... embellishments, I suppose. Couldn't read Arabic to save my life, but I was pretty sure a couple of things he kept drawing in the margins weren't a part of the language.
I think that the pizza guy eventually learned to roll with it.
(Same as @Sailor Midgard here. No math skills whatsoever on James, and I managed to miss three years of math classes at my school, so I would probably struggle solving it.)
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
(This is pretty basic...Well, except English issues)
(Good thing I designed Sam to be an academic resource then. Hah, I wonder if her Ps skill borrowing would work on Alhazard...
(Anyways, that's two votes for, one abstaining, and I need at least one more for a tie breaker)
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- Location
- Germany
I laughed weakly.
"About after fifth grade, I... lost track of math. I tried, tried for years, but it did not work. My memory is just not working well for formulas. Math formulas. Soell formulas? Complex chants ? Easy. Numbers involved? Not me...."
UberNimrod
I scared Setsuna with my bad decisions.
- Location
- Between Hither and Yon.
(Works good from what I can see. If you want me to solve it, it's fine. But that roll made it I think.)
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
(Eh, I'm waiting for at least one more person to vote for me solving it and to get some RP in, hell, if they make rolls and fail we can RP an argument.
(After we'll probably split up into teams and do the things. You should try to type up a few intro bits to each fee location, maybe a 'random encounter' avoiding something, stick em in spoilers and I'll referee it when the players arrive
(The most difficult part of the problem is actually the english. Residential Fee, is that the two halves together or not? And which is which in each clause? I'm leaning towards not because when I went through it I got some gibberish answers. Part of me thinks you SHOULD tell me, because I have Common Sense, even though that's for avoiding dumb shit.
(Anyways, guys. THIS is why you should get your rolls done, do it for non trivial action if you have a skill that you think might be related. I'll remind you when I can. There are less delays and the Boss can make a ruling and we can play the StormTrooper's favorite song)
chinger
Alien Spy
((OOC I can help with it. But Maya while not awful in math, is more then happy to throw someone else to do that kind of work. She would not help IC
But system you (and I've got) is linear system of 4 eq with 4 variables without right part. Of course solution is all zeroes.
There should be added something. But Pizzas with tip should be 20$. That leaves 100$ for all the admissions by everyone. So one more equations is
A+P+F+R=100/6, and one of the earlier equations should be dropped, or we'll have too many equations. Not sure which one - may be it is just problem with my english comprehension. Also I am not sure is all this variables are only fees and we should count bribes separately or if they already include bribes. Because in the former case system looks completely different))
But system you (and I've got) is linear system of 4 eq with 4 variables without right part. Of course solution is all zeroes.
There should be added something. But Pizzas with tip should be 20$. That leaves 100$ for all the admissions by everyone. So one more equations is
A+P+F+R=100/6, and one of the earlier equations should be dropped, or we'll have too many equations. Not sure which one - may be it is just problem with my english comprehension. Also I am not sure is all this variables are only fees and we should count bribes separately or if they already include bribes. Because in the former case system looks completely different))
Chapter 14: IOU Admissions fees. Part 2 (IOU Part 1 end)
UberNimrod
I scared Setsuna with my bad decisions.
- Location
- Between Hither and Yon.
(And with that, your friendly GM is going to assume that Sam is going to be the one to solve the equation.)
Sam fussed over her phone for over a minute before saying, "I think I have it. The various bribes/fees should be Admissions thirty dollars, Parking forty dollars, Residential ten each from us for a total of twenty dollars for us to room together," with a nod towards Sybille before finishing, "And twenty for an Advisor."
"I told you that Parking is one of the biggest scams here. Although I suppose I could have worded the problem better."
Everyone glanced at the phone booth. Finally Sybille asked, "Didn't you move after we went outside?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Jamie said as music started playing.
As some people caught the joke, Jamie continued, "Admissions is about to go out to lunch. Since their door is just over there, you might want to go hit them first. I believe that we've mentioned Bimbrias before, but I am sure you won't have much trouble."
(Stick together or go in smaller groups? Let me know what you decide.)
(BTW, I didn't mention it before but your 'paperwork' is about an inch thick stack of papers in case someone wants to peek through it.)
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
(I shouldn't be getting all 0s though (assuming I'm understanding you correctly), you can still juggle variables and THEN apply the actual numbers. The problem I'm having is the Admin Fee, is that 1/2 what the Residential would be Paid? .25? All of it? There's a bit where's definitely .25 the whole amount to be paid, which implies the other instances of the Fee are either 100% or 50%
(Anyways, you can just have Maya go uugh and once everyone is satisfied we can just move along declaring it's solved as I did make the skill roll)
(EDIT: Siiigh, Obscure'd. Boss, Boss. Maybe it's lack of sleep talking but YOu didn't have to do that and puppet us around. Because we knew we'd come to the correct answer we could have gone "They/We/I divided the cash up" without need of hard numbers or your direct influence)
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- Location
- Germany
I nod thankfully to Sam, then I... frown.
"No, you did not. What is a Bimbra, Jamie? And, well, how does it touch on our admission? And ...well, how much time do we have left before lunch?"
( I concur with @NemiTheNen . I have nothing against a bit of railroading, PCs being as they are. But talking in our name? Uber, get a grip! From a oftimes GM to another, players really get annoyed by that.....)
UberNimrod
I scared Setsuna with my bad decisions.
- Location
- Between Hither and Yon.
(OOPS! On my own head be this one.)
(You guys had the right equations, save for the mixup with how I phrased stuff about the Residence bribe. I thought it was safe to go ahead.)
(In an effort to not step on any more toes, I am going to let @NemiTheNen take over and GM you guys through the interactions of the various offices. WIll send Nemi notes soon.)
(My HOPEFULLY last day of Therapy is Monday. I am hoping I have made enough progress to go back on the road. Sitting around at home is making me nervous and broke.)
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Mr Long mentioned them before, I think. He... wasn't really clear on what they were, though. He mentioned that they did secretarial work..." I began to recall the rest of his commentary, and my reaction, and Cheshire's reaction to that, and oh dear I was getting flustered again.
- Location
- Germany
Now I..oh...oh...OHHHHH...
I joined James in getting all ablush...
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
"Shall we do it all together, or split up with one group taking the. Brimbas. Before Lunch and the others after?"
I itched to borrow someone's knowledge of the campus.
(Okay guys, I'll try hard to not become another GMPC, and basically be a resource for y'all)
I itched to borrow someone's knowledge of the campus.
(Okay guys, I'll try hard to not become another GMPC, and basically be a resource for y'all)
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- Location
- Germany
'Well, let me see... general admission, housing arrangements, Entrance in medical school, Entrance into metaphysics Faculty? Library card, anything else?" I look at her , the assembeld deanery, the AI, Mr. Long....
Hakazin
Serpent Admirer
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I shook myself. "I think I've basically got to do the same stuff as you, then. I probably will want to take a look at WUSE, though. See what their technosorcery program is like..."
chinger
Alien Spy
"We also need network login and passwords".
"Also, does anyone agree with proposed room breakup? I am OK with mine"
NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
You turn and you find Mr. Long quite gone, along with the AI and your former surroundings.
(I will try to use Bold to direct your attention the fact that I am narrating or doing my mini mod duties)
(Every one roll Perception or whatever else you think is viable to notice things around you, if any of your senses are higher or lower please note that. Also roll IQ or whatever else is viable for the map. Please note the skill levels as I do not have your sheets.)
"Bribery, then Food? Mayhap we will pass WUSE as we navigate"
"I am more than fine," I smile at Sybile. "Where to first?"
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