Remove ads

Panopticon: A Game of Posthumans, Perniciousness, Paranoia, Politics, and Plasmaguns

Reader mode
Oh yes. Another thing Elsa will do.

[Elsa - Time - Through the use of her experience in sneaky VA raids, she knows how to conceal the signs that a small number of people will be present in the raid. There's no way she can hide the entire assault from probabilistics, but she can hide hers and Kessler's presence from it. And that should make their presence unexpected amidst the robo death horde. Time shielding to cover her and Kesser. Enhanced by Int + Tactics]

Since we're going into hostile territory, it's better to put your buffs up beforehand since casting on the fly is likely going to be vulgar, maybe with Witnesses depending on how many mooks they have in use. And "They didn't realise there was a Kessler present" is a preeeeeeeetty good surprise.

nathanwe said:
If they have corr wards what will that do to the GTFO paches? should she make more than 2 go to a safe place incase the first few fail? (or get solen, or shot, or somthing)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Block them. That's why you don't use them in correspondence-warded areas. But wards take a lot of successes to cover a wide area - and in themselves, wide-scale correspondence wards are suspicious because they tell you someone has something to hide, so you need to weave Prime in to hide that you're hiding something and devote even more successes to the ward. So there's necessarily a limit to how large an area they can cover.

And she will have a number depending on how she does at "I totally made them ages ago and left them here" as her focus for making them.
 
Gadgets usually come in batches of twice the creator's Arete/Enlightenment, so the mere fact of their Prime 2/Corr 4 requirements means that she should have eight 'charges' if that doesn't get MJruled away.
 
EarthScorpion said:
Oh yes. Another thing Elsa will do.

[Elsa - Time - Through the use of her experience in sneaky VA raids, she knows how to conceal the signs that a small number of people will be present in the raid. There's no way she can hide the entire assault from probabilistics, but she can hide hers and Kessler's presence from it. And that should make their presence unexpected amidst the robo death horde. Time shielding to cover her and Kesser. Enhanced by Int + Tactics]

Since we're going into hostile territory, it's better to put your buffs up beforehand since casting on the fly is likely going to be vulgar, maybe with Witnesses depending on how many mooks they have in use. And "They didn't realise there was a Kessler present" is a preeeeeeeetty good surprise.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Should Jamelia and/or Harlan assist on this? Both of them should also have experience with this sort of trick, and Jamelia at least has plenty of Entropy to throw into it for probability manipulation (I have no idea where Harlan's character sheet is, which makes it difficult to remember what he can do beyond a vague recollection of him using psychic bullshit).

Or is this a VA trick that strictly speaking she shouldn't be using these days, and thus something she wouldn't want to bring up with them?
 
The Sandman said:
Should Jamelia and/or Harlan assist on this? Both of them should also have experience with this sort of trick, and Jamelia at least has plenty of Entropy to throw into it for probability manipulation (I have no idea where Harlan's character sheet is, which makes it difficult to remember what he can do beyond a vague recollection of him using psychic bullshit).

Or is this a VA trick that strictly speaking she shouldn't be using these days, and thus something she wouldn't want to bring up with them?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

We only have access to 4 mages. I'm not going to break that rule. People constantly breaking that rule in the assault on the werewolf cairn was what caused the swap-out for Donald.

Hence, Jamelia and Harlan are Busy (TM). Also Wufan. These facts may be related.

(Clearly Harlan is winning Wufan over with sex, because as it happens he's just not interested in women. Jamelia is of course filming it for blackmail material, because duh. ~nwo~.)

Jamelia: "Good to see I haven't lost my old skills with a camera. Takes me back."

Harlan: "... this was usually Starling's position."

Jamelia: "Yes. I might not have liked watching it, but none of you were as good at composition or the use of lighting. These things have to be done properly. My blackmail tapes were always the best."

Harlan: "Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be someone so utterly competitive that you insist on filming your boyfriend sleeping with someone else because you're insistent that you're the best cinematographer on the team." *beat* "I should read Henriette's mind. It'd be a fascinating insight into your psychology."

Jamelia: "The difference between Henriette and me is that she wouldn't be able to avoid telling them how they were doing it wrong and how to improve."
 
EarthScorpion said:
Jamelia: "The difference between Henriette and me is that she wouldn't be able to avoid telling them how they were doing it wrong and how to improve."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Henriette: "That's because your focal composition and scene blocking are pathetic! And don't get me started on your failure to use the space or poor sound quality! Amateurs!"

Mari: ".....can I see the 'good stuff'?"
 
[Henriette- Matter 4 (f) (Military Equipment) - Forces 3- Correspondence 3- Smart tactics and clever tricks are vital, but sometimes you just want a very big gun. By using hypertech production methods to make something the Masses already mass produce, Henriette fairly quickly produces an artillery gun in the shipping container of a truck. She also used advanced sound baffling methods to keep it from scaring the shit out of the Masses* and hooked it up for remote control. Enhanced by I don't know]

It's fundamentally just a really really big gun. Other than sheer firepower it's primary advantage is firing from miles away. I'm not sure how it would interact with Wards or if there's anything to be done about that, or if that can be circumvented entirely by using ballistics instead of hypertech.

May be a delivery method for Kessler if he makes himself into the part of the shell that actually hits shoots through the air, and then slows down his landing by spreading out into a cloud of particles. Or that might still kill him, not sure.

*may or may not involve trapping all of the sound in the shell until VERY loudly impacts
 
Last edited:
[Mari and Henriette - Matter 5 (meta materials) - Forces 3 - By tweaking the interlocking mechanics of Kessler's new body, Mari and Henriette allow him to selectively store and release kinetic energy in elastic stress patterns. Punch him or shoot him and instead of hurting him he just punches you back even harder than he normally would have. Or he can wind up for an earthshattering ground stomp by doing stretches. Enhanced by I don't know]

I'm just not sure how wise this is with Wild Magic involved.

speaking of which...

[Mari- Matter 5 (meta materials) - Prime 4 (generators) - Mari made a thing a while ago. She's kind of scared to turn it on. It was supposed to be a nanofactory specialized for producing meta-materials. And it still is. Sort of. It's just that ... well ... she may have messed up a teensy bit on the control schema. When its turned on it produces metamaterials alright. Lots and lots of them. A whole chaotic assortment of metamaterial dusts that do inconvenient things like pass through stone but cause cloth to freeze solid while making reflective substances highly flammable. That was a fun day in the lab. She would be just heartbroken if the daemon were to toss the last remaining evidence of her shame into the subterranean RD base. Really. Enhanced by I don't know]
 
mastigos said:
[Mari- Matter 5 (meta materials) - Prime 4 (generators) - Mari made a thing a while ago. She's kind of scared to turn it on. It was supposed to be a nanofactory specialized for producing meta-materials. And it still is. Sort of. It's just that ... well ... she may have messed up a teensy bit on the control schema. When its turned on it produces metamaterials alright. Lots and lots of them. A whole chaotic assortment of metamaterial dusts that do inconvenient things like pass through stone but cause cloth to freeze solid while making reflective substances highly flammable. That was a fun day in the lab. She would be just heartbroken if the daemon were to toss the last remaining evidence of her shame into the subterranean RD base. Really. Enhanced by I don't know]
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Deck of Many Things machine? Nice.
 
Oh yes, @mastigos. Please. Keep on pretending Paradox isn't a thing we have to worry about at all. Really. I'm sure Mari would just love the multiple 5 dox gains of some of your ideas when used in the RD space. I mean, it's not like she has to worry about having a high level of Permadox or anything. And no, she does not have infinite amounts of PE to make Devices, which are not cheap. Nor does she have infinite amounts of time (Devices are also not exactly cheap time-wise).
 
Since the IBM are probably rich(ish) in gear... would we have any Wonders or Artifacts or whatever it's called that we could make use of? Or even just perhaps some spare PE they could spare, so we don't have to spend our own on the very earliest of the magic we'll do?
EarthScorpion said:
[Kessler - Matter - As befits an 80s action hero, Kessler is in fact a master of multiple martial arts from all over the world and knows kung fu, including Metal Dragon Style. With the capacity to reconfigure his body, he can set himself up to be ready should ninjas attack - and on Rogue Council turf, being a god-like practioner of kung fu is probably going to keep working even if his guns fail. Anyway, by being in peak shape for martial arts, it'll be more generally useful too. Extended martial arts training montage as a ritual, stacking so many successes for boosting all the fightain stats. He can't keep himself in this level of peak fitness and mental readiness for long without dulling his edge, but right now with the replacement-for-adrenaline surging, he can get himself this good for the upcoming fight. Enhanced by Strength + Martial Arts.]
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Some of this looks like "stack All the Successes on fighting", but some of it sorta looks like "taking precautions to make sure your fancy gear or enhancements don't break down as easily in paradigm-hostile places". If I understood things correctly, I think Prime helps with the latter, right?

Kessler has Prime 2. Can he do anything with that? Some kind of counter-magic protection stuff? Or does that require higher levels of Prime?
 
Last edited:
Garlak said:
Some of this looks like "stack All the Successes on fighting", but some of it sorta looks like "taking precautions to make sure your fancy gear or enhancements don't break down as easily in paradigm-hostile places". If I understood things correctly, I think Prime helps with the latter, right?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Specifically, it's "stack all the successes, but in a way which isn't using the standard Technocratic paradigm and is instead using Kessler's 'I'm a goddamn 80s action hero so I know kung fu and I am also a super-strong transhuman killing machine so my kung-fu is amazing' sub-variant.". Which should keep his body working with its boosts in places which would just reject a "I'm a transhuman killing machine".

Makin' use of that degree in ass-kicking and the modules he took on "World Studies & Martial Arts".
 
Hey, looking back on Henriette's Spheres... She has Correspondence 3 and Entropy 2.

Can she do the thing that Jamelia does all the time and put up Entropy Wards for the team to make it harder to predict and see them coming?

Especially since Henriette's been Jamelia's student for a while, so this might be a chance to show off those skills and things she'd learned.


Plus, after how much Entropy and Wards against Entropy gets talked up, I feel nervous not having Entropy stuff on our side all the time -- and oh look, a chance for Henriette to shine, via the theme of "~nwo~ stuff she learned from Jamelia".
EarthScorpion said:
Specifically, it's "stack all the successes, but in a way which isn't using the standard Technocratic paradigm and is instead using Kessler's 'I'm a goddamn 80s action hero so I know kung fu and I am also a super-strong transhuman killing machine so my kung-fu is amazing' sub-variant.". Which should keep his body working with its boosts in places which would just reject a "I'm a transhuman killing machine".

Makin' use of that degree in ass-kicking and the modules he took on "World Studies & Martial Arts".
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
To me that sorta sounds like the sort of thing Prime can help with? Is that right, or..?
 
Last edited:
Garlak said:
Hey, looking back on Henriette's Spheres... She has Correspondence 3 and Entropy 2.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

... um? No?

MJ12 Commando said:
Enlightened Science:
Willpower 8
Genius 4
Enlightenment 5
Correspondence 3
Forces 4 (Heavy Weapons)
Matter 4 (f) (Military Equipment)
Mind 1
Prime 3
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Garlak said:
To me that sorta sounds like the sort of thing Prime can help with? Is that right, or..?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

What Prime thing is being used? He's not doing anything with primal energy. He's not countering any magic. He's just using a partially skill-based focus (of "I am a killer robot who is also really good at kung fu and who has mastered several arts") which is acceptable within the Union and also lets him sneak into Traditionalist paradigms which respect martial arts and punch them in their sanctums in a way that he couldn't if he was just using myomer overclocking.
 
Garlak said:
Hey, looking back on Henriette's Spheres... She has Correspondence 3 and Entropy 2.

Can she do the thing that Jamelia does all the time and put up Entropy Wards for the team to make it harder to predict and see them coming?

Especially since Henriette's been Jamelia's student for a while, so this might be a chance to show off those skills and things she'd learned.


Plus, after how much Entropy and Wards against Entropy gets talked up, I feel nervous not having Entropy stuff on our side all the time -- and oh look, a chance for Henriette to shine, via the theme of "~nwo~ stuff she learned from Jamelia".

To me that sorta sounds like the sort of thing Prime can help with? Is that right, or..?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think you mean Mari.
 
EarthScorpion said:
... um? No?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Arcus2611 said:
I think you mean Mari.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah I messed up, I meant Mari. ><
MJ12 Commando said:
Mari has Enlightenment 5 with the spheres of: Correspondence 3, Entropy 2, Matter 5 (Metamaterials), and Prime 4 (Reactors)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Though it'd take Mari and Henriette casting together to avoid the Wild Magic flaw of Mari's I think.
EarthScorpion said:
What Prime thing is being used? He's not doing anything with primal energy. He's not countering any magic. He's just using a partially skill-based focus (of "I am a killer robot who is also really good at kung fu and who has mastered several arts") which is acceptable within the Union and also lets him sneak into Traditionalist paradigms which respect martial arts and punch them in their sanctums in a way that he couldn't if he was just using myomer overclocking.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Hell if I know. Prime confuses me as a Sphere. I have trouble with understanding what each level of Sphere does and how to use them anyway -- and goddamn Prime gives me the most trouble out of all of them.

All the other at least give you an idea of what they're about just from their name alone. And there's been enough information and conversation about various Paradigms and how people do things to give an idea of what each Sphere is like. Except for Prime. Fucking Prime. Outside of "you use it to make magical items" and "can use it to make Primium" "also Prime Energy I guess" and "it's something to do with meta-magic and countermagic and stuff?" I don't really get it.

I remembered something about Prime being the Sphere that can deal with Paradox in... some way. Hell if I remembered exactly how though.
 
Last edited:
Garlak said:
Yeah I messed up, I meant Mari. ><


Though it'd take Mari and Henriette casting together to avoid the Wild Magic flaw of Mari's I think.

Hell if I know. Prime confuses me as a Sphere. I have trouble with understanding what each level of Sphere does and how to use them anyway -- and goddamn Prime gives me the most trouble out of all of them.

All the other at least give you an idea of what they're about just from their name alone. And there's been enough information and conversation about various Paradigms and how people do things to give an idea of what each Sphere is like. Except for Prime. Fucking Prime. Outside of "you use it to make magical items" and "can use it to make Primium" "also Prime Energy I guess" and "it's something to do with meta-magic and countermagic and stuff?" I don't really get it.

I remembered something about Prime being the Sphere that can deal with Paradox in... some way. Hell if I remembered exactly how though.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Cliff's notes version - Prime is mostly the sphere of dealing with Prime Energy, which is basically abstract magic juice. It lets you see Prime Energy, pull Prime Energy out of the places that it accumulates, turn stuff (like health levels or tass) into Prime Energy, and Prime Energy into stuff (like paradox reduction, certain kinds of buffs, or nifty magic items). There's some funny details about whether it's Primal Utility (Syndicate), or just Prime(ItX and trads), but that's often pretty unimportant.

For more of the by-level details, most of the stuff you might care about is laid out on the first page - post #4. It's a useful reference.
 
Last edited:
Garlak said:
Hell if I know. Prime confuses me as a Sphere. I have trouble with understanding what each level of Sphere does and how to use them anyway -- and goddamn Prime gives me the most trouble out of all of them.

All the other at least give you an idea of what they're about just from their name alone. And there's been enough information and conversation about various Paradigms and how people do things to give an idea of what each Sphere is like. Except for Prime. Fucking Prime. Outside of "you use it to make magical items" and "can use it to make Primium" "also Prime Energy I guess" and "it's something to do with meta-magic and countermagic and stuff?" I don't really get it.

I remembered something about Prime being the Sphere that can deal with Paradox in... some way. Hell if I remembered exactly how though.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Prime 5 allows you to spend up to 1 Quintessence per success to counteract an equal amount of Paradox.

More generally, much of those features derive directly from its metamagickness. It lets you detect use of magick (Prime 1), counter/dispel magick directly regardless of Spheres used (Prime 3), create spells that cast or sustain other spells (which is what Devices are), and override the backlash from casting spells (Prime 5 paradox-shielding).

Primium is just an exotic supermaterial (Matter 5) that has always-on countermagick (Prime 3). True Primium also shields against Paradox (Prime 5).

The rest of it is basically Quintessence manipulation and manifesting Ideal Forms.
 
Garlak said:
Manifesting Ideal Forms?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Prime 2-3 can reinforce and perfect something to be closer to its ideal in some fashion. Prime 2 can let you spend a point of Quintessence to take a knife and 'idealize' it, so that it can do Aggravated damage and cut even immaterial things. Skin and muscle and bone can be made to resist damage from lethal and aggravated sources or to deal Aggravated via unarmed blows with Prime 3.

With Prime 2 and an appropriate understanding of the thing you want (i.e., Forces or Matter or Life or Mind or Spirit or something) you can reinforce the idea that something could exist so it actually manifests. For instance, the typical Plasma Cannon Device uses a Forces 3/Prime 2 effect to create a burst of fire from the background quintessence of the universe. Some rotes involving Mind 2/Prime 2 are used to make a 'real' feeling that's relatively persistent.

You can also do the inverse at Prime 4-5, degrading something so its 'existyness' fades and releases raw Quintessence. Predictable patterns like energy/matter at 4, complex self-reinforcing things like life at 5.
 
"Modules TG-274 and YC-345 are showing green," Henriette stated from beneath the innards of the Roth-mobile as she cycled through the routine maintenance. Having already gone through some rather intense combat and been piloted sub-optimally by Elsa Henriette wanted to be sure this rather extravagantly expensive mech was ready for combat.

Unlike the worst of Syndicate excesses at least the Roth-mobile didn't come with cloned leopard fur coverings, Henriette thought viciously, just enough resources to outfit an Amalgam with dozens of Hitmark Vs.

"Right what's next Mari," Henriette asked Mari who was running diagnostics in the cockpit tracking down the various parts of hyper-technology slightly out of spec.

"Hmmm, I'm getting some anomalous readings from the rear ground penetrating radar again." Mari commented, "it might be nothing but safe than sorry."


Mari and Henrietta do a rote of Entropy 2 and Matter 4 (Military Equipment) ~ Preventative Maintenance

They go over the Roth Mobile with a fine toothed comb tracking down any issues that could crop up in combat.
 
fitzgerald said:
Mari and Henrietta do a rote of Entropy 2 and Matter 4 (Military Equipment) ~ Preventative Maintenance

They go over the Roth Mobile with a fine toothed comb tracking down any issues that could crop up in combat.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Isn't that the rote that absorbs botches? The one that can be applied by linear sorcerers, and is almost entirely useless because botches only crop up once in a blue moon?
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top