You asked for it, you got it. New rules, this time, so pay attention.

Assume that you are GMing a game. Your players' PCs are battling it out with elite corporate forces in a running battle across the catwalks above an automated foundry. One of your players attempts to leap from one catwalk to another and critically glitches.

The new rule is this: when leaving a response to this test, offer another possible test (and any pertinent circumstances) in the given situation if you can think of one. You may respond to any glitch scenario offered in this thread. The severity of the glitch (critical or not) should remain the same in all cases.

Again, I can't think of anything to offer as a prize that anybody would want, so this is a challenge. Come up with your best and and post it, and don't forget to offer another possible glitch, if you can. Alternatively (or additionally), if you see one you like, don't skimp on the praise.

Player: Weeeeaaahhhhhh!

GM: Agility + Reaction (5) test, please.

Player: *rolls* *fails*

GM: Okay, your character fails to catch himself on the rim of the crucible filled with glowing hot metal. Would you like to burn a point of edge?

I'd be a little leniant

Players slips prior to the jump knocking himself out and falls off the edge but his jacket catches and he'll dangle for the rest of the turn, at the end of the turn the jacket tears and he falls, if a teammate grabs him or he rolls edge he can recover but he'll take a lot of stun damage

On the original, I would do something I did on Super Mario Bros once.

"OK, Crit clitch! You run forward 4 steps to jump. Unfortunately, there were only 3 steps before the edge."

For any character with a Cha of 1...

You started to jump but you made the mistake of looking down! My that is a long way. Composure Test (2) is required to complete the maneuver.

Critical Glitch on a Jump test means they're falling. I'd probably do a random dice throw to see if the place they are falling towards is dangerous or not (relatively). Use Gymnastics + Agility (3) to land with your feet down (normal falling damage). Then you could do I sequence kind of like Star Wars Episode II (right?) where he is on a conveyor trying to fight for his life.

Ah... wah?????


Charisma? WTF?!


Will, I'd see it. But Charisma?



















You know what? Never mind. I just don't care anymore. Charisma, yeah, linked officially to fear of heights now... good thing I play elf stripper lesbian ninjas... I have a 20 in this Ur-stat....

I'm thinking that the point is that Charisma is a component of the proposed Composure test. Maybe ...

Ok in this situation where a failure is that they do not make it from one catwalk to another and they will take falling damage no matter what as a GM I would probably strongly suggest to the character to burn a point of edge. As in make them burn a point of edge if they have it.

A critical glitch on a test where it means they are going to get even more hurt then just falling about 15-40 feet. Which would probably mean jumping far short of the mark and getting perforated by a piece of machinery, falling into a vat of liquid metal, landing on their head, falling into the center of the corporate team thats chasing them from the floor could be some examples if you critical glitched in that situation. At least thats what I would think.

P1: "I fire the rocket launcher and... (rolls dice) I critical glitch."

GM: "Ok since you have a Charisma of 1 make a composure test to see if the rocket explodes in the chamber.... oh no wait I'm sorry. What was I thinking? You CRITICAL GLITCHED. The rocket does explode in the chamber. Soak it."

Crazy me, I was assuming that mere failure would result in you falling...

A critical glitch in that case would mean that I dunno - they impact the catwalk, tearing some bolts loose and making it precarious for everyone else. Over subsequent rounds it would tear loose.

Because that's awesome and Indiana Jonesish.

Failure- Reaction +Agil test to grab something nearby and avoid falling to their death threshold = to the meters by which they missed the jump.

Glitch - Reaction +Agil test to grab something nearby and avoid falling to their death threshold = to the meters by which they missed the jump. + they lose a piece of gear that they recently stowed if they succeed grabbing on as it bumps out of their backpack or the sling falls off the shoulder.

Critical Glitch - Reaction +Agil test to grab something nearby and avoid falling to their death threshold = to the meters by which they missed the jump + they lose a piece of gear that they recently stowed if they succeed grabbing on as it bumps out of their backpack or the sling falls off the shoulder. + making the receiving platform unstable via impact, or if they grab on to something else somehow make the area around them more hazardous (etc. pipes rips loose shooting steam everywhere).

Chris

I don't have my book in front of me right now. Would you be so kind as to remind me about the particulars of a Composure Test?

Wil + Cha

"Whenever a character
encounters a situation that she has not been hardened to, the
gamemaster can call for a composure test to see whether she
faces the situation with cool resolve, temporarily freezes with
shock, or trembles and pisses herself."

A Glitch is a success with complications, and as such really shouldn't result in an outright failure of the test (ie falling to their death in this case).

I see. Well, then I guess Charisma is appropriate for that sort of thing.

Same situation, new test:

Later in the fight, another character is replacing the spent tank on her flamethrower and critically glitches during her Logic + Exotic Weapons Extended Test. What happens?

Feel free to reply to the original situation, too.

For a Str 1 character, obviously a Lifting and Carrying (2) test is called for to get the about to explode leaking tank off of the cat walk.

I forgot that my home rules aren't completely RAW, for my ease of use, we just have someone make a jump test with appropriate penalties and they can go up to 2xhits in meters. So, for us, a glitch would be some successes with alot of ones and a crit glitch would be no successes and enough ones.

Chris

Seal between tank and flamethrower is weak, +2 to the cooking off test next time they are subjected to an explosion or... well anything that causes a test to cook off stuff.

Chris

My interpretation of the Composure test is that the Will governs how well you control your emotions, and Charisma governs how well you control your externally visible reaction, eg keeping a poker face, not letting your face show how badly scared you are (or enraged or whatever). If there are no observers, then how does Charisma matter?

I've always seen Charisma as also including strength of character. I reckon there's a reason that Charisma is the astral Strength.

Charisma is not a social skill, it is the attribute. Charisma, like Aaron pointed out, is more strength of character than anything else, not looks, etc. I would add that it represents self-confidence, making it very applicable to Composure tests.