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Mutants & Masterminds - Table Talk

Started by Reepicheep, January 03, 2018, 03:33:49 PM

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catwhowalksbyhimself

Quote from: Reepicheep on February 04, 2018, 10:46:51 PM
Perhaps that particularly broken part of the conveyer belt might warrant a closer look.

I'll throw you a hook (or two) on your way out real quick. Bare with me.

You may play it however you like.  I have no intention of skipping out, I'm just playing the character as I see him.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

catwhowalksbyhimself

Unko may be able to stop him depending on how Queen Ant reacts to him though.  He'll stop to talk and if he realizes she's a hive minded creature like he is, he will definitely become more curious then.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Deaths Jester

#62
...And there is that cowled watcher out there that Queen Ant noticed...

As for getting a feel of the characters, Reep, I think that both Cat's and Unko's are going to be the one's that you'll have the most feeling out to do. After all, I gave you a pretty good idea about mine and their two characters are a bit...odd. I just have to find the right writing style...

Edit: Or not that watcher...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

I don't know who you're talking about.


I'd say to be careful about going backwards. You never know when other characters might have gone down a one-way street. In this particular scenario, you might find yourself sitting out for 90% of it. It's up to you of course, but I'll be doing what I can to hook you in the right direction.

I'm in the bath right now, so I can't get to the character sheets. Posting real soon.

Deaths Jester

...or if that one way street a PC might be taking has to do with some other reason maybe unrelated to the explosion...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

I know I've been playing slow and hesitant for now, but once the queen figures out you two don't pose a threat expect her to be very curious about the situation.
I almost didn't play her just because I knew she'd be a bit difficult, but I loved the character idea too much. Reep can attest to that.

Anyhow, once I get these next couple dice rolls we'll see where she goes and how she's going to react to you, Cat. (I wouldn't mind tossing in an insight roll to judge Organ King's mindset/intentions. He seems pretty content though, so I'm expecting it to start up some interaction. I don't know what kind of check or if there was one to check on the monkey, or how their hive mind works, but for now Queen Ant would be treating them both as equals.)

Reepicheep

I put a little bit of the answer in the spoiler on the post.

Rolling awareness against another player? Hmm... I guess you could sometimes, but it might be kinda unnecessary. I think your character would just get the same instinct as whatever you can from the way another player narrates. But also, having as free-flow, no-rolls-needed communication between player characters is important anyway. That way you don't need me to moderate your IC conversations.


I can't tell you how excited I've been to GM for lots and lots of ants. I'm not disappointed.

UnkoMan

Sure, we can go with that then. I wasn't sure how to operate.
Though I don't fully trust that Wild Card guy yet. He might be a bit of a liar. The queen ant can spot a liar a mile away. Wait, is it a mile? I'll have to check her mental prowess on the character sheet again. Ha ha ha.
(these are the jokes, folks)

Deaths Jester

You could do an insight roll for the initial feeling out/evaluation...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

#69
Or, if you want, we could do it where if you lie directly to me, you can let Reep know and he can roll whatever you... uh lie skill is (I forget the name of that) against my insight?
Then we would only have to worry about it if you were purposefully hiding something and I wouldn't know either way?
Presuming you do that at all. I don't know how trusting or forthcoming your character will be to random strangers, especially freaky deaky creatures like me.

Deaths Jester

Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

Ah, that's it. Though I assume queen ant would be making checks against this sort of thing anyhow?
I'm not sure how that goes, Reep. I assume that if an NPC lied to me you'd only mention something if I pass a check like this?

Deaths Jester

#72
He'd probably do most in secret and would ease you towards that feeling thru narrative, most likely. We'll only know of the rolls if you ask for one or act like we are trying to discern the truth/lie of a character. At least that's what I think would happen...

...And Wild Card lie to someone?!? He'd never do that...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

catwhowalksbyhimself

Yeah, so it turns out that Unko's character and mine have powers and natures that interact naturally in very interesting ways.  Couldn't have planned it better, honestly.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Deaths Jester

Will say I'm kicking myself for not taking a few points of investigate...seeing as I'm doing it a lot...

Hey Reep, can I take a point or two off one skill and apply it to add investigate to my PC? Pm me if so and I'll ket you know what I've got planned...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

#75
I guess if you do decide to roll against each other, if just to spice things up, you can agree to it yourselves either through spoiler tags or PMs. I'm sure by now you can tell the format for rolling. It's pretty straightforward. If you do feel you need to involve me, for instance if you want to keep your roll results secret from each other, then just let me know.

In Queen Ant's case, I'd say she should be able to communicate telepathically with as much frequency of success as the others, since it is her only way of speaking right now.

Edit: That reminds me, actually. I once played a blind character who could only perceive the world in a sort of semi-prophetic metaphor. When meeting or talking to other players, I'd simply tell them what was up with my character and ask what she might see when she looks at their character. The results were really interesting, and I think it helped other characters develop themselves when they described how they might appear to her. The same approach might work for Queen Ant.


Checking for NPC lies is going to be an interesting one. I'll always keep them secret, whether you succeed or fail. The reason being is if I show you successes but hide failures, then it would be clear that you've failed whenever you don't see the dice results. There are probably a few other checks like this, but none spring to mind.

Of course, finding more tactile clues of an NPC's deception is more reliable evidence. You might see the dice in those circumstances.


Once we're through this prologue scene, I'll open a window to alter character sheets. Doing it in one go would make it easier to keep track of changes. Keep a list of where you think you might need adjustment and we'll work it out. I do think what you're proposing is a worthwhile tradeoff, since investigation is such a big part of this game. But I'd like to get through some combat, since that's where I think the fine tuning would need to happen. As a thought experiment, I have pitched you all against my Reep the Barbarian test sheet to see what would happen, but trying the characters out in the field would be a bit more rigorous.

I'm not going to tell you who beat Reep and who didn't though. At least not yet.

It was none of you. I rock.


Also, y'all missed the significance of the parka.

Deaths Jester

#76
Actually, I didn't miss the signifigance of the parka...I just learned it via the laptop...and I editted my post and followed with another...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

#77
I'm having a hard time deciding what you might find in the Parka, Cat, since DJ has, um, confiscated the evidence. I'll edit my post in a bit to confirm that. For the sake of this tutorial scene, I'll tell you that between the three of you, you now have spotted everything you need to know. You may just want to consolidate your observations.

Edit: . . . or take a closer look at some things.

Deaths Jester

#78
Quote from: Reepicheep on February 05, 2018, 11:22:22 AM
I'm having a hard time deciding what you might find in the Parka, Cat, since DJ has, um, confiscated the evidence. I'll edit my post in a bit to confirm that. For the sake of this tutorial scene, I'll tell you that between the three of you, you now have spotted everything you need to know. You may just want to consolidate your observations.

Edit: . . . or take a closer look at some things.

Confiscated the evidence?  Ooooo....fancy.....

Course the fact I've avoided looking for "survivors" until possibly now also means I found a lot of stuff ahead of time.  "Who needs those stupid survivors?"   :P
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep


Deaths Jester

Bah...we no need survivors to...oh...tis an origin story then...uh-huh...
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

UnkoMan

This would be literally the first time my character has spoken to creatures beyond the rest of her colony, which don't count because that's a completely natural instinct.
Don't worry, she's a fast learner with a fantastic memory, it's just a little hard right now.

She'd be inclined to free creatures from a place like she was in before.

Deaths Jester

Wasn't exactly what I meant by origin story, Unko. I was talking about the adventure arc as a whole and what type of idea it fit...though, in a way what you said also fits into it too...perhaps though not as how you think it does. That all depends on Reep, though. At least we're doing an interesting character and aren't doing a Wild Card origin...that wouldn't be fun. Believe me, this is better!
Avatar picture originally a Brom painting entitled Marionette.

Reepicheep

In answer to your spoiler, DJ, yeah. Posts are happening within seconds of each other, so trying out different ideas at the same time as others is fine. In fact, you could see it as a benefit. Three ideas from all of you means three chances of success.

I'm on a train right now, it'll be a few hours before I can get to the character sheets.

UnkoMan

Origin in many ways.
Origin in me even learning how to play this game. It's interesting so far. Hopefully I'm doing well enough. I'm sort of using my character being new to the world as a crutch to being new to playing the game, ha ha ha.

But I can't wait to get more backstory from everybody's characters, and seeing how we organically mesh into working together. I really like how we independently decided to not go with traditional hero characters, especially since we are in a setting where that's commonplace.
(Though I don't know who was wearing that cape on top of that building... Eager to learn!)

Reepicheep

Quote from: UnkoMan on February 06, 2018, 07:40:57 AM
Origin in me even learning how to play this game. It's interesting so far. Hopefully I'm doing well enough. I'm sort of using my character being new to the world as a crutch to being new to playing the game, ha ha ha.


This is absolutely after my heart. I've seen too many 'been there, done that' characters, a bit of a power fantasy for players. But they then feel uncomfortable when learning the game contradicts their hopes for their characters.

Learning about the world at the same pace as the character ... well, that's what a successful protagonist is.

Reepicheep

#86
Unko: If my winkyface wasn't clear, acid burning is a viable choice. When we respec the sheets, we might need to add the 'affects objects' modifier to your power effect, which would cost a point but I'll let it slip for now. I know you asked a few questions, but that's the only one I'm directly answering for now.

Your attacks do have to pass a check against the resistance of the hatch. Each material is given a certain resistance by the core game, a lot like the toughness stats of characters. In trying these things out, you'll get an inkling of how powers work.

I'll wait and see if Cat has any solutions of his own, just so all three of you can flex your characters' muscles.

Edit: I should point out that although the hatch is visible, neither Wild Card nor Bill Morgan could fit in the gap between the damage on the machine and the hatch.

UnkoMan

Ah, that's an additional thing. Alright, looks like we got a couple things to change up. That's cool.
I was going to give Cat a chance to get a word in, but then as I lay in bed, I kept pondering, and decided what the heck. I'll give it a shot, see what happens!
Anyhow, now I'll return to trying to sleep, and leave it be until tomorrow.

catwhowalksbyhimself

I go to sleep for a few hours and everything happens. Either you aren't in the US, or your guys keep very strange hours.  Or live in California.  Which arguably counts for both of those.
I am the cat that walks by himself, all ways are alike to me.

Reepicheep

You all picked the exact right tools for this exact job. Except DJ, who threw a card at the problem. C'mon, man.

Proud of y'all. Update shortly.

I'm in the UK, which is why the updates will come to you either first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. It's also why I spell things like 'centre' and 'colour' correctly.