Behind the Crown [OoC], Out-of-Character information for Behind the Crown Options

[pbangarth]

Blue is hiding in the car as Karmakaze suggested. Hoping that the police offiicer won't notice the wanted fugitive with a price on his head.

I, on the other hand, am dealing with an ISP that yet again is intermittently dying. My data.plan on my phone is overtime and costing me.

First world problems.

[pbangarth]

In your description of single use spell items, Koekepan, you say creating a summoning device would not be worth it. But, say Blue is running from something nasty, ducks into his home and activates an item that calls an F6 Sweez to save his ass. The Drain would likely be substantial but unimportant if suffered ahead of time.

This makes sense to me. Is it doable?

[Koekepan]

What I said last time:

I'm not extending formulae to summoning because it's a qualitatively different procedure - aside from anything else, time and place movements make each summoning unique. The one summoning that you can almost always pull off with minimal drama is a watcher - but of course that has its own limitations. Think of it as the difference between "shoot this gun aimed at that target" and "negotiate a contract". Every pull of a trigger is effectively the same once you've loaded the gun. The same contractual terms might be acceptable one day, unacceptable the next, and conditionally acceptable yet the following. No summoning formulae. Want to summon? Run the risk.

You can't prepare it, because it won't work, not because it's difficult. Spiritual environments fluctuate, and it's not a static process. This is why it's work, not mere formalism.

[pbangarth]

Ah. I forgot I already asked and got an answer. Gettin' old.

[Bastard]

I had not realized so much time had passed since I last checked in. Thought it was a couple days.

[Bastard]

I am traveling for the holidays, but I will be returning home just before Christmas. Been 2000 miles from home all week.

[pbangarth]

Ah. Cross-continent family and friends, huh? I hope you missed the worst of the weather pattern that scudded across us all.

[pbangarth]

One leading theory was that one of those crystal cult centres opened up and raised everybody's cosmic consciousness in the ways of righteousness blahblahblah ... but while one opened, we found no link whatsoever."""

I knew it! I knew it!! Universal Brotherhood 2.0!

[Bastard]

Ah. Cross-continent family and friends, huh? I hope you missed the worst of the weather pattern that scudded across us all.

I will catch it upon landing on my return plane ride, then have to drive through a possible snow storm and flash freezing event. Sounds fun.

[pbangarth]

So, following from the thread from which I draw the following link:

in-world measure of Force

... how would you, Koekepan like us to talk about the Force of objects or spells? For example, Blue might want to get Mary Margaret to source a Force X focus. How should he phrase it?

[Koekepan]

Look at industries that have similar problems.

In the computing world, if you're trying to spec a computing system, the discussion about redundancy, disaster recover and so on can be both extremely specific (maximum two hour key data recovery time including spinning up new instances, etc. etc. etc.) and very fuzzy (if a hurricane wipes us out, we claim insurance and close the doors, but we want to have a sub-hurricane answer ...)

I'm leaning toward a measure of specific (I have to be able to summon an earth spirit with the strength to lift up a 3 ton vehicle) and the comparative (If I use this formula to cast a spell, I can do it but it hurts. Do you have a focus that can help with this?) because it's a fast-moving field.

Does this help?

[pbangarth]

Let's look at this another way. In our physical world, we have many units of measure to quantify various forms of energy usage/expenditure:

Force: Newtons
Magnetic Field: Teslas or Gauss
Kinetic Energy: Joules
Work: Erg

So, we have a way of measuring things that aren't directly accessible to our senses. Many of the above measures, and probably others, have to do with how much X has to be moved Y distance, or some such combination. We have a handy structure in SR to parallel that structure. See SR3 page 151, "On the Manipulation of Mana".

Mana exists in some kind of field, which can be accessed and 'channelled'. I suspect magical theorists in the SR universe would have been able to quantify magical Force in terms of how much Mana needs to be channelled to get a certain effect, or summon a spirit. Maybe one would need 3 'Quatloos' of Mana to cast a spell that causes M Drain. But maybe one would need to channel 4 'Quatloos' of Mana to summon a spirit of Force high enough to cause S Drain in a magician of CHA 6.

This all seems logical to me, but could be an unnecessary complication. It might actually be logical for Enchanters, spell designers and such to have simplified the marketing of their products by using a single term that could equate to different levels of Mana being channelled depending on the nature of the task, Sorcery or Conjuring.

Say, "Force" for example. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[pbangarth]

Nath sums it up well here.

[Koekepan]

I quite agree on a few points; the Shadowrun developers weren't economists, and that shows on many very painful levels.

However, I contend that what I said above addresses Nath's points quite well, with the added assumption that while assensing is nominally hard, in an environment where you are shopping, can take time to look around, do have standards for comparison right there, and have someone setting prices who presumably is also capable of assensing (or has a consultant who is), and doesn't want to be caught cheating by a very touchy and powerful clientele, a comparative standard of description is quite adequate. In fact, it's necessary when an uptight academic elementalist and a wild-eyed raccoon shaman might both be customers in the same day. The elementalist would be delighted to speak in terms of force and power and numbers and fractal dimensional measures, whereas the raccoon shaman counts fleas and hand-washings.

The talismonger has to serve both.

[pbangarth]

Well, I suppose one could say something like, "I want to buy the best Sustaining Focus I can. I have 30,000 nuyen. See what you can get for that."

I should have kept my mouth shut and just put together a list for Mary Margaret with Force values stated. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Bastard]

I made it safely. My plane was one of the last ones to land. Then my 2.5 hour drive home took two days due to long delays leaving the airport, terrible road conditions where the actual road time took more than 5 hours. Got back in time to have Christmas with the family on Christmas Eve, and make it into work early on Christmas day, which was chaos.


In game:

After everything is settled, can I get an OOC post about all the clues and the mission so I got it in one place?

[pbangarth]

Glad you made it. Our family Christmas on the 23rd was snowed out. Trying again on New Year's Day.

[Bastard]

Good luck!

[Koekepan]

Mission summary:

Figure out why Lone Star is losing traction with the community in an area roughly reaching from the Fremont to the Green Lake districts, up as far as the fringes of Shoreline.

Find and assist/extract if necessary, an undercover officer by the name of Daisy.

Establish what is happening with shop security cameras that are no longer connected to the Lone Star information grid, ideally including why they are disconnected, where else they may be connected, if at all, and whether this has anything to do with the putative reduction in crime as opposed to a hidden rise in crime.

Those items are with 10,000NY, except for bringing Daisy back whole which is 50,000NY.

The data pack:

* list of businesses that de-linked
* records of city council contract discussions
* criminal activity reports
* known local criminals
* a screamsheet on each local council member
* recent business openings and closures
* personal description of Daisy and her last known undercover work

[Bastard]

thanks

[pbangarth]

"""Can you get me in contact with her handlers then?"""

Alright! Negotiation/Interrogation/Etiquette skills to the fore! Go for it!

"Who the F$%^ are you, and who told you about us?"

"Well, you see, it's like this ..."

[pbangarth]

Hey, Koekepan. Looking over Blue's character sheet, I see I spent one Build Point more than I had, as his Edges/Flaws add up to -4, not -5.

If it's OK with you, I could amend his Skills by dropping Pistol from 3 to 2. He hasn't used that skill once yet, so it seems the likeliest one to take a hit.

I'll edit his stats in post #546 if you OK this.

[Koekepan]

Works for me.

[pbangarth]

Thanks. Edit done.

[pbangarth]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Milk that Negotiation skill!