Run! Recruitment, 2075/6 Persistent Game World Thread Options

[irn0rchid]

Don't trees block Astral sight? I know the tents do. All it needs to do is get to the tree line.

And he doesn't need to do Astral Tracking to know it's her. Tracking is to follow the link back to an unknown caster. 3 hits on just bog standard Assensing test gives you the signatures on the subject (ie: Lindsey's). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Imladir]

Hum right, I forgot that since he knows your signature, he could just recognise it. It would require 3 successes which is not that easy to get given the circumstances, but possible I suppose.

As far as trees go... I didn't study the map that much, but I don't remember something dense enough to hide the spirit though so...Maybe? Can't do much more than that here ^^
It would be a huge risk to Lindsey though. After that, I can't say much more (and I'm not sure I could be impartial then so I'll just shut up ^^)

[irn0rchid]

Heh, k, I guess it comes down to Aria then. How long does it take Sim to get his Astral Projection going on or does he take Lindsey's word that "it's gone" and just checks the area with his sight? If he is gonna project, how far away is the tree line and is it thick enough to block astral sight? If he suddenly drops to the ground from projecting, she's gonna have to get her damage control on! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Beta]

asking the spirit to materialize out of the campfire, engulf the remaining packets of clothing, and fly as quickly and as far away as possible.

What is 'as far as possible' mean for a spirit in this situation? Personally, given that they are not apt to like the background count, I'd guess that once this becomes a remote service (100 * Lindsey's magic rating) it wouldn't stick around much longer. That is ‘far away’ from Lindsey in spirit terms, and it doesn’t really want to be here in the first place …

Also, would Lindsey even know of the engulf power? She seems pretty ignorant about spirits outside of her ‘friends.’ Granted that the instructions aren’t really English and the thought/concept of a cloud of smoke sucking the packets inside it could well mean engulf, but possibly would also mean simply grabbing them in the way that a cloud of smoke would grab anything, I would think.

[irn0rchid]

Lindsey's intention would have basically been "get *item description* as far away from here as fast as you can" with plans to cover up the traces left behind by the spirit. I added the engulf cause I thought it was a nice image for the spirit to sweep the stuff up inside it instead of bending over and picking it up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) But yeah, she really has no idea what the spirit is actually capable of that's different from a Spirit of Man or Beast, she was just trying to summon one that was least like her normal ones as possible that wasn't a Beast. So if Aria wants to RP the spirit doing something different based on her intention, that's cool.

As far as the remote service aspect, I'm not sure spirits do the whole 'I'm a genie so I'm going to narrowly interpret your wish in order to screw you" thing. I wouldn't think saying "as far as possible" instead of "500 miles" would let it shirk it's job like that. It's "possible" for the spirit to go more than 100m.

[Beta]

As far as the remote service aspect, I'm not sure spirits do the whole 'I'm a genie so I'm going to narrowly interpret your wish in order to screw you" thing. I wouldn't think saying "as far as possible" instead of "500 miles" would let it shirk it's job like that. It's "possible" for the spirit to go more than 100m.

Well, 600 meters (100 meters times magic...at least I think 600, character sheet on obsidian portal has magic listed at 0 if I'm reading it right, but it based on priorities and edge I'm guessing it should be six). And sure the spirit would probably go farther, just saying that at around that point it might start thinking about 'how far is far enough? I can't even really feel her anymore ....' And agreed that they aren't nasty genies in general - but they are not going to want to stick around in a background count any longer than they really need to, I'd think. (Granted that I may be looking at it this way as I think it is more entertaining if the suits are like a kilometer or two away, not 100 kilometers away)

But those are just my thoughts: agreed that at this point Aria needs to decide how that plays out.

Also, since you put it when Addie would be on watch, I'll have her respond to the ruckus, but pretty sure she wasn't around the fire.

[Gilga]

The spirit gets to be F2 due to background count, and so forth - it is not THAT fast - it would remain visible for a while as it flies away. (We can see quite far to the air). Then again it is night - at any case we're over thinking it.

[irn0rchid]

The whole spirits in BGC thing is annoying. RAW it looks like for speed it moves like a F3 (since there's no roll involved) but if it sprints it suffers the 2 dice penalty for that attempt (which, looking at an air spirit actually puts it at a massive 2 die pool, since it's only 1 STR. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) )

I'm just trying to make sure I know the rules so next time I can do it better.

[Gilga]

Some things straight about the rules.

1. BGC - the spirit loses 2 points of force - so it is F2 (until it leaves BGC).
2. The spirit has agility of 5 and takes -2 to any action it takes (it is a magical critter).

Therefore, the spirit has a movement rate of 10 meters/combat turn walking and 20 meters 'running'
If it does not use movement it moves quite slow and the more agile humans may be able to keep after it (until it goes over a cliff or something.)

If it uses the movement power - then the speed doubles to 20/40 and as it is like agility 10 human,
nobody is likely to be able to out run it. Even with sprinting and so forth.
However in that case it used a sustained power and therefore it leaves astral signature behind it.
Sim can therefore track the spirit with astral projection (and since it is not that fast, he will catch up very quickly.)
This puts Lindsey at some risk of being traced.
(in both cases really, especially if the spirit is going to carry the goods very far. )

This is my interpertation anyhow - the way I read the rules and apply them to the situation.

[irn0rchid]

Can you source the spirit losing 2 points of Force? Last time I talked about it I thought we determined that was a relic from previous editions and now they just have a 2 dice penalty on actions.

[Gilga]

I cannot source it, I was under the impression that that we decided to take that interpretation. (this is why I keep summoning F3 with my 5 dice - otherwise I'd use F1). With force 4 it does not change that much, the spirit will have agility 7 and probably difficult to out run. (not impossible but very difficult considering that it is not affected by gravity).

If it uses movement power than it is now 4 times faster and cannot be out run, but it leaves a trace as to whee it is heading, and Sim can easily follow that trace and find find the spirit as movement is a magical power and thus leaves signature. (this is why you did not want the engulf in the first place).

Hope it helps anyhow.

[Beta]

Can you source the spirit losing 2 points of Force? Last time I talked about it I thought we determined that was a relic from previous editions and now they just have a 2 dice penalty on actions.

In fact I'm pretty sure it does not lose force -- last discussion I went back and reread the BG rules just to be sure on that. Lose BC dice on all roles, but force is not changed (unlike sustained spells)

[irn0rchid]

(this is why I keep summoning F3 with my 5 dice - otherwise I'd use F1).

I thought you did that because a F1 would have a pool of 0 for many tasks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Imladir]

For the Force thing, it was decided that it was not reduced (and probably a remnant from previous edition).

As I said earlier, the spirit should have a running speed of 28m/turn, with a 4d (Strength 2 + Running 4 - 2 BGC) pool to sprint, so with a bit more than 1 success/turn, its speed becomes slightly more than 38m/turn, let's say 40m/turn (except that earlier I used agility and not strength to sprint).
This translates as a 800m/minute speed (or 48km/h).

So no way anyone can catch up to it, cliff or no cliff. However, 800m per minute is not that much: in the astral it's just around the corner and even with the BGC, it's quite visible there.
The question becomes "does Sim check the astral before the spirit reaches a cover, such as a forest for example?" (Careful with the order too, with a simple "grab stuff and run as far away and as fast as possible", would it even try to use cover?)

Good thing the spirits are not nasty genies, it could have just flown straight up then ^^

[irn0rchid]

Laugh, what's the terminal velocity of a package of armored clothing dropped from whatever height the spirit poofs at?

[Beta]

Laugh, what's the terminal velocity of a package of armored clothing dropped from whatever height the spirit poofs at?

And is the thermal insulation good enough to hold up against that air friction ? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Aria]

Astral Signature is p312:



So Lindsey can completely remove her signature. Only Sim in the main camp would have a chance to see her remove the signature. But it would take less than 10 seconds for Lindsey to completely remove the signature at the camp, and since Sim is asleep at that time, there's no way he can find out.
However as long as the spirit is using Engulf, which is a power, he produces a signature*. And while the signature at the camp has been scrubbed, that's not the case outside. As such, finding the spirit itself would probably be quite straightforward: it's still using its engulf power (and if it's using its Movement power, it's even worse), which will leave a Signature. So Sim would have one, maybe two Force 4 signatures to follow. You don't need any roll to follow a signature (only to read it, and he probably doesn't care what exactly is the signature at the moment) so that's not an issue. Since Sim would be in the astral and the spirit materialized, he would catch up pretty quickly, even with the spirit using movement.

So, spirit found, and clothes probably too. However, finding Lindsey from the spirit is another matter entirely. Sim would need three successes on an Assenssing roll. Even if he succeeds at the first try (which is by no mean easy with the Background Count, and I don't know how much he has in Assenssing anyway. Except maybe if he could teamwork with a spirit? Or had a big one looking for him.), it still takes one complete hour. I seriously doubt that the spirit stayed around that long, even if Sim and one of his own spirits didn't disrupt it.

So most probably, Lindsey is safe, and the clothes are found (but would probably require a lengthy trek to recover). But I suspect Lindsey will not really care that the clothes are found. While not the perfect result she would have expected, she instilled doubt which was probably her main goal anyway.

* : A signature lasts for a number of hours equal to the magical effect’s Force after the effect (spell, critter power, astral battle, or whatever it was) ends, slowly fading into the background. (CRB, p312)

All that assumes Sim is stupid enough to go haring off into the astral after a spirit with a bunch of clothes that aren't actually materially useful to the group! Rick will want him to stick around in case this is a precursor to Dana assaulting the group, and by the time they realise it will be too late! There was a reason he waited to go out scouting with Cailin and didn't solo it before that!

Lindsey's machinations go unnoticed for a bit longer!

[irn0rchid]

Muhahahaha!

I appreciate the discussion on the rules though. I'll make sure to take it into account next time. Hiding magic use is *HARD*.

[Gilga]

They really fear Dana to assault an entire camp? I am flattered.

[Imladir]

I'll be disappointed if Dana doesn't perform as advertised (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Aria]

Most ordinary people believe mages can do anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Gilga]

Well I thought we'll need to deliver a huge tiger carcass to make her truly fearsome.

[Gilga]

Are you still working on the scene at night? or can we skip to the morrning where Dana would come with a big pile of meat and the way it looks now will be welcomed with mistrust and perhaps even hostility.

[Imladir]

Well, given that Maya is in the morning, I suppose we can ^^
Lindsey's actions were at the end of the night anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem I guess

[irn0rchid]

Lindsey is done for the night. Beta was going to have Addie interact with the scene though.