Currently writing the opening post for the IC thread, should be ready by the weekend.
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Strangers in a Strange Land [Mass Effect]
- Thread starter GretelOstrich
- Start date
- OOC
Opening post is ready, going to post the IC thread tomorrow, in Slow Boat.
ZiPeppe
Puzzled Cat
Somehow I managed to completely avoid reading the title of that subforum. I have no idea on how I managed to accomplish this Epic Feat.
- Location
- 委員長の牢獄
Right. A few things worth noting - or repeating - before you go berserk writing your IC posts.
First off, this is technically an AU. This is largely because certain things in canon would've been problematic for the game, and certain fixes to make things easier on Mighty could contradict canon. Just so you're not expecting everything to be the exact same or get into arguments about it. You're all playing outsiders anyway, so explore the world and discover the secrets!
Second, the action system represents a lot of power. Three months is both very quick and very long, so correctly leveraged options can go pretty far. Write up your actions expecting to see real progress, and think hard about your plans. The system is based on Invoking Assets for bonuses to your dice rolls, but the magnitude of your bonuses will depend on your plan. The difference between an one-line comment and a coherent plan of action might well be as much as twice as high a bonus, even with the exact same Assets. Too much, though, and your efforts will be weakened.
It's a rough balancing act, weighing your needs against your capabilities and then having to condense this into a few short paragraphs, but that's what real planning is about. Enjoy it!
Third, the action system will probably work best if you split your actions between one or two Projects (be they research or production), one or two "general" actions that don't need detailed roleplay, and one or two "complex" actions that involve actually getting down to the devils in the details and slugging it out with real NPCs.
Fourth, the Virtues, Vices and Pillars really reward drama. Breaking a pillar, in particular, is a big boost, especially if that pillar was powerful in the first place. The first turn is probably going to be about getting your feet wet and adjusting to things, but at least by turn 2, get into trouble. Jump head first into problems! If you don't pick your own fights, things will probably come knocking anyway. :3
Fifth, things are going to get... weird. Status quo is so very dead. I hope you weren't attached to canon.
Is it a hate crime if you can't die?
First off, this is technically an AU. This is largely because certain things in canon would've been problematic for the game, and certain fixes to make things easier on Mighty could contradict canon. Just so you're not expecting everything to be the exact same or get into arguments about it. You're all playing outsiders anyway, so explore the world and discover the secrets!
Second, the action system represents a lot of power. Three months is both very quick and very long, so correctly leveraged options can go pretty far. Write up your actions expecting to see real progress, and think hard about your plans. The system is based on Invoking Assets for bonuses to your dice rolls, but the magnitude of your bonuses will depend on your plan. The difference between an one-line comment and a coherent plan of action might well be as much as twice as high a bonus, even with the exact same Assets. Too much, though, and your efforts will be weakened.
It's a rough balancing act, weighing your needs against your capabilities and then having to condense this into a few short paragraphs, but that's what real planning is about. Enjoy it!
Third, the action system will probably work best if you split your actions between one or two Projects (be they research or production), one or two "general" actions that don't need detailed roleplay, and one or two "complex" actions that involve actually getting down to the devils in the details and slugging it out with real NPCs.
Fourth, the Virtues, Vices and Pillars really reward drama. Breaking a pillar, in particular, is a big boost, especially if that pillar was powerful in the first place. The first turn is probably going to be about getting your feet wet and adjusting to things, but at least by turn 2, get into trouble. Jump head first into problems! If you don't pick your own fights, things will probably come knocking anyway. :3
Fifth, things are going to get... weird. Status quo is so very dead. I hope you weren't attached to canon.
Somehow, I feel that I'm being discriminated against because my character is immortal...
Is it a hate crime if you can't die?
ZiPeppe
Puzzled Cat
Somehow, I feel that I'm being discriminated against because my character is immortal...
You living are all racist!
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KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
@Usandru @MightyDwarf
For one of my Actions/Projects, could I attempt to give Haruto ranks in a Skill? Basically, can Training be a thing that makes you better at stuff? In particular I'm wanting him to try and actually learn the Theory that he's got on his secure drive.
For one of my Actions/Projects, could I attempt to give Haruto ranks in a Skill? Basically, can Training be a thing that makes you better at stuff? In particular I'm wanting him to try and actually learn the Theory that he's got on his secure drive.
That's an option, yeah. Getting to Trained should take maybe two or three turns.
- Location
- 委員長の牢獄
I figure that a reasonable baseline for most skills is Trainee (1 turn) -> Trained (2 turns) -> Professional (3 turns) -> Expert (4 turns) for a total of 10 turns to go from Untrained to Expert. That's 2½ year, a bit optimistic for most people, but as heroic characters it seems fair enough.
I would, however, say that you can only train a skill once per turn, so you can't dump all your actions into a single skill and get Expert in 2 turns.
Also, certain skills might be harder, or possibly easier, and access to teaching materials and books will impact the Project, as will skilled teachers.
I would, however, say that you can only train a skill once per turn, so you can't dump all your actions into a single skill and get Expert in 2 turns.
Also, certain skills might be harder, or possibly easier, and access to teaching materials and books will impact the Project, as will skilled teachers.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
Could I train 2 separate things?
- Location
- 委員長の牢獄
Certainly. Depending on the things in question, I'm sure you could get synergies too. Or perhaps you might risk using too many Assets and half-ass both. It depends on the specifics.
For instance, both Rei and Asuka are Professional Mecha Pilots. Right now there's only one mecha, but assuming they had two of roughly comparable quality, them sparring and engaging in various scenarios against one another would surely boost their skills faster than simply training on their own, and exactly because they're both professionals and only need a little bit to attain true mastery, they'd gain more from competing than from instruction.
For instance, both Rei and Asuka are Professional Mecha Pilots. Right now there's only one mecha, but assuming they had two of roughly comparable quality, them sparring and engaging in various scenarios against one another would surely boost their skills faster than simply training on their own, and exactly because they're both professionals and only need a little bit to attain true mastery, they'd gain more from competing than from instruction.
Yes and she probably won't be able to gain access instantly, but I don't think it's something that'd require a full action.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
GMs:
-If broken, is it possible to rebuild a Pillar?
-Is it possible to build up Pillars beyond our initial starting level? That is, we had a set amount of points for Pillars in Character Generation; with time, can we exceed that point total?
As for my turn, here is a very rough draft, no fluff added, I'd like to know if this is, in general, what you're looking for, if it's okay, etc.
Actions:
1.) Figure out where I am. This is not just location, but people, culture, etc. Even when the immediate question is answered, keep working to gain as much foundational knowledge as possible on just where I am and what it's like.
2.) Try to make social connections with people in this strange land. (Possible trigger for breaking a Pillar? Might say his first "turn" he has 0 success and this gets him pretty down.)
3.) Try to get a job. Maybe be a security guard? Try not to reveal everything about my skills and powers, but still be willing to show off a bit to emphasize why I'm a good choice. Be picky with who I'd be guarding, though. (Haruto's a decent judge of character.)
4.) Begin trying to actually understand the Ring Creation Theory I have on my secure drive. It will take time, but it will be worth it.
5.) Either start learning how to drive the local vehicles or, if the skill set translates well enough, use my existing driving skills to adapt more quickly.
Is that the sort of scope you're looking for?
-If broken, is it possible to rebuild a Pillar?
-Is it possible to build up Pillars beyond our initial starting level? That is, we had a set amount of points for Pillars in Character Generation; with time, can we exceed that point total?
As for my turn, here is a very rough draft, no fluff added, I'd like to know if this is, in general, what you're looking for, if it's okay, etc.
Actions:
1.) Figure out where I am. This is not just location, but people, culture, etc. Even when the immediate question is answered, keep working to gain as much foundational knowledge as possible on just where I am and what it's like.
2.) Try to make social connections with people in this strange land. (Possible trigger for breaking a Pillar? Might say his first "turn" he has 0 success and this gets him pretty down.)
3.) Try to get a job. Maybe be a security guard? Try not to reveal everything about my skills and powers, but still be willing to show off a bit to emphasize why I'm a good choice. Be picky with who I'd be guarding, though. (Haruto's a decent judge of character.)
4.) Begin trying to actually understand the Ring Creation Theory I have on my secure drive. It will take time, but it will be worth it.
5.) Either start learning how to drive the local vehicles or, if the skill set translates well enough, use my existing driving skills to adapt more quickly.
Is that the sort of scope you're looking for?
- Location
- 委員長の牢獄
Absolutely. The specific rules for how this happens are currently somewhat vague, but rebuilding a pillar - or creating a different pillar in place of the broken one - is a crucial aspect of the mechanic.
This was partially explained in the section on Pillars, but yes. The system is as follows:
You do things that do not match your Pillar somehow, things that make you doubt them. Every such action gains you some amount of Doubt.
When you reach a certain threshold of Doubt, your Pillar breaks.
At any time where you have Doubt you take an action that affirms the Pillar, you can trade in Doubt for Confidence.
Once you reach a certain threshold of confidence, your Pillar grows.
You cannot normally gain more than three pillars. In most such cases, the fourth (or however many) Pillars are less a matter of identity and more something almost external. A second personality, for instance, would be represented by a Pillar, the strength of which would determine how much influence the other personality has. If someone was playing an entity powered by faith, the level of faith would probably also be represented by a pillar.
Practically speaking, the reasonable cap on Pillars is likely around ~6 points per Pillar, everything above that would be verging on fanaticism. I suppose there's a hard cap of 10. I'm leery of making these hard numbers though, because the system really needs more testing. That's also why Doubt and Confidence are currently undetermined. Once people accumulate a few points of Doubt and we have an idea of what it takes, we'll settle on some thresholds.
Rest assured, we won't let you drop past the threshold without even giving you a chance to do something about it.
This is reasonable. Might be a Complex Action, probably has Knowledge: Mass Effect Cultures (Trainee) as reward or something like that.
Under the circumstances, this is most likely a Complex Action. We could probably roll a few of them together and link it to this. I don't think it could generate any Doubt though. Haruto's Pillars are more heroic than anything, so what really gets to him looks to be failures to protect people, or turning away from people that need help. Being a friendless loner has no explicit mechanical penalties since he doesn't have a mechanically explicit loneliness issue.
Do roleplay his depression though! It's probably good IC fodder.
A solid General Action. Reward is probably the job and some cash.
Training Project. No issues.
Training Project. No issues.
More or less, yeah! Do spice things up with Asset Invocations and some more in-depth planning if you're doing anything non-obvious. You're probably going to get an introductory Complex Action detailing the first two actions, and then the other three will trigger when you're done with that and be part of the Turn End update.
@ZiPeppe, just FYI, while copying my format is great and all, Asuka is only taking one action (it's just Complex) because Rei has already taken all the other four. Well, sorta.
Rei getting all the good stuff and Asuka being screwed over by
Well, I would say it's an option for Projects, but for regular actions, the most you'd get is a retry in case of failure.
- Location
- 委員長の牢獄
It is very context dependent, but I suppose you might get away with not declaring all your actions at once, or doubling them up.
There's no benefit whatsoever for not doing all five actions though, except perhaps making the GM happy for less work.
There's also matters of various things taking various amounts of time. Like, a Project for researching something where you have research teams and laboratories and whatnot, suddenly individual effort isn't so important. Doubling up on actions in that case would likely be a waste.
This is another thing that's not totally obvious, but the Action and Asset system doesn't really let you do more things when you get more power, but instead lets you do bigger things. If you build an organization, you can't reasonably manage it with more than five Actions, but the difference between a single 5-man research team and a full laboratory with hundreds of employees is pretty major in terms of getting results.
KnightDisciple
Love God. Do Right. Fear No Man.
- Location
- Midwest, USA
I will try to get something up late tonight, but I have no guarantees about what work's going to be like.