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Cast-Offs of Divinity - A Merchants of Divinity Quest

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Honestly with clarification I'd be fine to take Bones' contact now. The ethical lines we can cross are perfectly fine, and generally we want to make things that are a net benefit anyways. Personally I don't want dragon bits because of the name, they're just cool. They could also be functional. If we wanted to lean into the name we could give ourself the ability to breath underwater and armoured scales.
 
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by JayTar on Mar 19, 2024 at 2:44 PM, finished with 37 posts and 8 votes.
    • [X] Plan: Work Precedes Work
      -[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (Clandestine Proceedings) (4 TAP)
      -[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
      -[X] Networking: Now that you know about the Under Market, maybe you should see if anyone else needs under the table medical work. (3 AP)
      -[X] Attend the clear sky celebrations: Likely a waste of time, but rare enough to utterly dismissed. (2 AP)
      -[X] Continue crafting the Neuroplasticity enhancer. 14 AP remain. (3 AP)
      [X] Plan Hunger for Dice
      -[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (Clandestine Proceedings) (1 TAP)
      -[X] Skill training (Chemistry) (3 TAP)
      -[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
      -[X] Attend the clear sky celebrations: Likely a waste of time, but rare enough to not be utterly dismissed. (2 AP)
      -[X] Continue crafting the Neuroplasticity enhancer. 14 AP remain. (6 AP)
      [X] Plan: sane science, mad science, and looking at normal people
      -[X] Skill training Science(Chemistry) 4 TAP
      -[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
      -[X] Attend the clear sky celebrations: Likely a waste of time, but rare enough to utterly dismissed. (2 AP)
      -[X] Continue crafting the Neuroplasticity enhancer. 14 AP remain. (2 AP)
      -[X] Old man Jack: Near the entrance to your Habitation block sits a old man. He sits there all day, always preforming some sort of hand craft. Whittling. Knitting. You should go give him a peace of your mind about such a shameful display! (3 AP)
      -[X] Draft a schematic (Write in schematic) (1 AP)
      --[X] Doctor Infinum schematic! Become a dragon!
      ---[X]Artificial organ: T3 Biology. Cost 9. Benefit: Allows a purely biological device to be implanted.
      ---[X] Crafting yourself a nice skin of dragon-scales. If time budget allows ( AP cost would fall under 30 without the additions) add horns, face -> dragon muzzle, decorative wings.
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    Update should be soon!
     
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    Prologue 7.1 - Rivals?
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    • Prologue 7.1​

    [X] Plan: Work Precedes Work
    -[X] Skill training (Jörmungandr) (Clandestine Proceedings) (4 TAP)
    -[X] Work: Things seem to be back to "Business as usual". For however usual this business is. Expected pay: 1-3 Decent dots. (2 AP)
    -[X] Networking: Now that you know about the Under Market, maybe you should see if anyone else needs under the table medical work. (3 AP)
    -[X] Attend the clear sky celebrations: Likely a waste of time, but rare enough to utterly dismissed. (2 AP)
    -[X] Continue crafting the Neuroplasticity enhancer. 14 AP remain. (3 AP)

    The last day of rain comes with a sense of buzzing energy. A tide of people boil up from the depths of the city and crowd the streets. The rain tapers off into a drizzle the celebration starts. You join the flow but don't let it rule your destinations.

    First you hit the food dispensers. Sampling little meat pies and fresh sprouts on crackers. All free for the festival.

    Naturalism 2 + Foraging 2 = 4 dice
    4d6 = [3, 6, 3, 2] = 14
    DC = 12
    Food expenses negated for this week.
    Gain Star Viewing Binoculars. Reduces large distance penalties for perception.

    You had the foresight to bring a bag. A trip around the full circuit with a few stops to unload gets you a sizable haul. More then enough food for the rest of the week. You smile around the pretzel you are chewing on. From there you take an amble past the job booths. It's intern recruiting season. You idly consider the booths before moving on. You do swipe a pair of complementary binoculars for later and a handful of candy.

    You are briefly waylaid by a fast moving troupe of clowns. You are sure you recognize the miniature car they are all stacked on top of, but are too distracted by the pyrotechnics for closer examination.

    Finally you get to your destination. The tech demonstrations. Booths and stages yes. You happily burn an hour on a presentation about a new type of heart valve. But behind all that is the real star. Down in a concrete arena two monsters faced off. One of metal and the other of flesh.

    Combat tutorial: Combat is a skill like any other. In each round of combat each combatant rolls:
    Combat + Combat specialty + other bonuses vs Combat + Combat specialty + other bonuses
    Where the loser takes the difference in rolls in damage.

    Defense acts as damage reduction via armor or other method.
    HP for humans is calculated thus: 4 +(Effective Weight) + additional bonuses
    It is possible to keep fighting at negative HP by rolling Mental Fortitude (Resisting physical pain). But many fights end at 0 HP.

    Movement is done via three distance zones: Short, medium and long range. Whoever wins a contested chase roll gets to move the current zone in the direction of their choosing. (Short to medium, Long to medium, etc).
    Certain weapons can only deal damage at certain ranges. Melee weapons can only be used at short range for example.
    Slaughterbot 8031 VS Insectasaur III
    Combat Dice: 8d6+12 vs 8d6+9
    Movement dice: 0d6+15 vs 6d6

    Round 1:
    [5, 6, 5, 6, 3, 3, 1, 5]+12 = 34+12=46 vs [5, 3, 2, 5, 2, 1, 3, 2]+9 = 23+9=32
    46-32=14
    Insectasaur III takes 14 damage!

    Round 2:
    Insectasaur III tries to make distance:
    0d6+15 vs 6d6
    15 vs [1, 4, 2, 4, 5, 2] = 18
    Range increases to medium! Slaughterbot 8031 does not have a ranged weapon and cannot deal damage.
    [6, 1, 2, 2, 1, 6, 4, 2]+12 = 24+12 = 36 vs [5, 4, 4, 2, 3, 1, 1, 1]+9 = 21+9 = 30
    36-30 = 6
    Damage negated due to out of range.

    Round 3:
    Slaughterbot 8031 tries to close the distance.
    0d6+15 vs 6d6
    15 vs [2, 4, 1, 5, 5, 1] = 18
    Range remains at medium.
    [3, 2, 1, 6, 4, 3, 6, 1]+12 = 26+12 =38 vs [6, 6, 6, 6, 2, 2, 1, 6]+9=35+9=44
    44-38 = 8
    8 - (12 (Slaughterbot 8031 Armor)) = 0
    Slaughterbot 8031 takes 0 damage.
    Slaughterbot 8031 temporarily loses 6 points of Armor!

    Round 4:
    Slaughterbot 8031 tries to close the distance.
    0d6+15 vs 6d6
    15 vs [2, 2, 1, 4, 3, 1] = 13
    Range changes to short!
    [1, 4, 5, 4, 6, 3, 5, 2] + 12 = 30+12=42 vs [3, 5, 4, 6, 4, 5, 3, 3] + 9 = 33 + 9 = 42
    Clash! No damage taken!

    Round 5:
    Insectasaur III tries to make distance:
    0d6+15 vs 6d6
    15 vs [6, 3, 3, 5, 2, 3] = 22
    Range increases to medium!
    [3, 5, 5, 4, 4, 4, 1, 1]+12 = 27+12= 39 vs [3, 5, 2, 4, 5, 5, 4, 6]+9 = 34+9=43
    43-39=4
    4-6(Slaughterbot 8031 Armor) = 0
    Slaughterbot 8031 takes 0 damage.
    Slaughterbot 8031 temporarily loses 6 points of Armor!

    Round 6:
    Slaughterbot 8031 tries to close the distance.
    0d6+15 vs 6d6
    15 vs [6, 5, 1, 6, 4, 5] = 27
    Insectasaur III uses hidden bomb! Bonus increases to +30 for one round!
    [2, 4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 3, 3]+12 = 24+12 = 36 vs [1, 3, 3, 6, 6, 4, 1, 2]+30 = 26+30=56
    56-36 = 20
    20-0 (Slaughterbot 8031 Armor)
    Slaughterbot 8031 takes 20 damage.
    Slaughterbot 8031 is defeated!

    The duel almost ends in the first move. The robot snaps forwards with mechanical precision and digs its buzz saw into the insectoid abomination's soft side. It lurches back and lets out a keening wail from its maw.

    The robot winds up for what should have been a finishing blow. Instead it whiffs. The bio-horror skittering backwards to make distance and hugging the sides of the arena.

    Finely machined treads lurch to chase it down but the difference is clear. The robot's path unerringly simple, pointing its self forwards without an atom of thought.

    What eight spider legs lack in speed they make up in skill. Dancing around the edge of the arena and juking back and forth to make the robot overshoot. On one close pass the abomination hawks a spray of clear liquid across the robot's front. No visible damage occurs, but the robot's creator, a man in a stovepipe hat clenches his gloves.

    For a moment it seems like this will be how the rest of the fight plays out. A boring chase. Then the abomination missteps falling into the robot's reach. It is a near thing, but the abomination's desperate spray of acid forces the automaton to pull short and whiff once more.

    From there the previous verse repeats. A zigzagging chase and another spray of acid.

    At a certain point the robot's creator has enough. "Slothman you coward! Do you think to drag this out until I fall asleep? A machine never tires!"

    A portly scientist wearing oversized goggles answers. "Oh well if you want excitement." He grins nastily and claps his hands. "Insectasaur now!" he shouts.

    The creature seems to hear and lifts it's head. On the next pass it disgorges a slime covered canister which crashes into the robot. A quarter of a heartbeat passes before the arena is lit up in a blinding explosion. When the smoke clears the robot is wreaked and the abomination struts proudly.

    "Foul!" the scientist in the stovepipe hat shouts angrily. Nobody is listening however and the applause soon drowns him out. His opponent laughs heartily and goes to collect his prize.

    "Gosh I wish I had something ready for this year." You hear the person next to you say.

    You look at the person who spoke. She looks to be about your age and is wearing an odd dress with too large sleeves "I was just thinking the exact same thing!" You declare.

    She turns to look at you and you see the same light in her eyes. "Yes you get it! They may be beyond what I have now…"

    "But not forever!" You finish. "By next year I'll leave them all in the dust!"

    You both wear matching grins. You extend a hand to shake. "Leviathan Grimm. Nice to meet you." you introduce yourself.

    "Angela Bright. The same." she returns, breaking off the shake with a bouncing twirl. "Like, I'm not even questioning their skills. But their design choices! Why didn't Dr. Slothman add any armor? It would have been simple! Probably wasted too much time on that overbuilt acid spit."

    You nod along. "I am questioning their skills! Did you see that idiot of a robot? How did he expect to win with such a single minded brick?"

    Angela winces but makes a sound of agreement. "He probably thought the treads would make up for it."

    "Bah. The only reason it worked as well as it did was pure luck."

    She nods then smiles. "Well we can show them! Show them how to do it right with the glory of a properly made machine!"

    You glare "You take that back! I'll show them the glory of sublime biology!"

    "Hmm, no I don't think so" she says, doing another unnecessary spin instead of bowing to your superior wisdom. "Biology is icky. Machines are better and you can't prove me wrong!"

    Do you rise to the challenge?
    [] No
    [] Yes
    [] Yes (Excessively and over the top)

    AN: Doing the rolls for combat was tedious. If/when I have to do it again I'm probably going write a script to automate it.
    Anyway while I do want to give you all a less urgent schedule then the previous quest, perhaps it is time to throw out a two or three plot hooks...
     
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    • Worm_that_Walks said:
    [X] Yes (Excessively and over the top)

    Weird narrative choice to give us a vote with only one option....
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    Haha I'll be honest, when I was writing this, this section felt a little lacking.
    I wanted to introduce the possibly of a rival, but couldn't commit to it because these sorts of things should be a choice yes? So I decided to skip back to here and break off for a vote instead. I've always disliked it when quests break up a chapter with multiple narrative-related-votes because of how choppy it makes things.

    And hey, not saying you have to go for it. If you would rather spend your time elsewhere feel free. There should be another plot-bit coming later this turn too.

    But this way I won't have to wonder if y'all are going to be happy with Leviathan's actions. I can just put the question to vote.
     
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    [X] Yes (Excessively and over the top)

    I mean, come on, we have chemistry with her, then she disses our specialty? Of course we need to challenge her to a pokemon battle delusion of competence close-minded ideas!
     
    Did we ever get an answer about how the crafting rules handle a project using multiple specialties? Because I want to make giant cyborg ants.
     
    Toboe said:
    Would that be Leviathan going all in on friendly competition while being intentionally goofy, or would it be hostile?
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    Much more friendly then hostile right now. It's about principles and making a point. Not kicking the other person down because you hate their guts.
    A theory which is never challenged is naught but ink on paper!
     
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by JayTar on Mar 21, 2024 at 9:06 PM, finished with 16 posts and 9 votes.
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    An entirely predictable outcome. Update will be maybe tomorrow to allow for writing!

    In the meantime, what do people think of the combat system/example in the last update? It kinda got a little overshadowed.
    The original Merchants quest had a more complicated combat system, and one of my goals for this quest was to try to simplify it.
     
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    • JayTar said:
    The original Merchants quest had a more complicated combat system, and one of my goals for this quest was to try to simplify it.
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    Was it that more complicated? Like I remember that the technique section was incredibly complicated but the combat system itself? Although I suppose everything is more complicated then a pure skill roll.
     
    uri said:
    Was it that more complicated? Like I remember that the technique section was incredibly complicated but the combat system itself? Although I suppose everything is more complicated then a pure skill roll.
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    It wasn't that much more complicated. But I also disliked how the diminishing return of combat dots meant that your actual combat skill provided very little benefit. Same with stuff like super strength and other contracts that provided some flat amount of dots. Once we got to higher level combat their effect became nearly negligible.
    Techniques changed that a little, but that was its own mess.
    Plus just the fact that combat had its own special systems meant it kinda overshadowed all the other skills.
     
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