Character Creation and Game Discussion

I see nothing wrong with this plan.

It's missing the crucial "..." step , mind you.

100% of the time the plan works some of the time... with a 13-46% variance... Oh wait that's Shadowrun XD

Sorry it wasn't clear - the guard isn't patrolling. He's standing.

Considering past sneaking around tests the sneaky one of us will probably need a Physique 2 with some bonus (I figure it's dim or dark besides the candle) or penalty (he's looking at us). I'm curious though how far it is to the guy and if there are any cardboard boxes marked oranges...

Based on the post, it's about 40 feet to the guard, and his back is to us. (at least, that's how I interpret it...)

So, subduing the guard brings us into new territory. Technically I should whip up a Conflict, but they are really involved and really only appropriate for larger battles with higher stakes.

So, I'm just going to to use a Contested roll. Instead of a fixed target number, Hiram will form a pool, the guard will form a pool, and then rolls will be made and the results compared. In order to form Hiram's pool I need to know if you're using Pewter or not.

I'll go ahead and use my pewter for the rush and attack.

So your dice pool is 10, then 5 Physique + 5 Pewter (the effect of Pewter is that when you burn it, you add your Pewter rating to your physique). You get a +1 for sneaking up, but dice pools max out at 10. For each die in your pool above 10, you get a freed nudge. So, your pool is 10 + 1 Nudge.

Also, your Misting vial only has 3 charges of Pewter. So note on your character sheet that you're at 2/3 Charges left. A charge lasts for 5 minutes when burned (so you have the benefit for 5 minutes, which may become relevant - we'll see!).

Finally, Contests:

What happens is you roll your pool, and my guard will roll his (which is a 5 dice pool). Then, you compare the results (the highest pair). Highest pair wins. In case of a tie, tie is broken by nudges. If you win, then outcome will be resolved as normal.

Regarding Hiram's last comment: enemies wearing metal isn't a sign that they don't have a lurcher or coinshot amongst their number. Lurchers and coinshots can be selective about what metal in their environment they push/pull and so could easily elect not to affect their allies. Seeing metal on guards is, however, an indicator that they aren't *worried* about being attacked by lurchers and/or coinshots (who could use the guard's equipment against them).

We're reunited with the others in their room? Well, that's a tremendous relief! I was expecting us to keep wandering around for many rounds, perhaps with some humorous near-misses.

I kind of wanted to see the fancy bathroom. I hear they have a fountain you sit on... D=

It is true that, while two of you have searched the office, none of you have searched the noble's personal chamber. Also, as a list of possible tasks you may have ahead of you here's what I'm seeing:

1. Get the Notebook (Primary Objective)
2. Get the kid out of the plantation (Lynch Personal Objective)
3. Get the woman out of the basement cell (Secondary Objective)
4. Frame or Otherwise 'deal with' the unconscious guard (Possible Secondary Objective, depending on if you decide to try and seal the deal tonight or not)

For everyone, you will need to spend 1 Spirit to get a 'second wind' and push through the night. It's the middle of the night, you spent all day travelling to the plantation, and the evening and first hours of night skulking about and gathering intel. To press on, it will take some effort.

Maybe not be the place but maybe we can steal away the woman in the basement, stag the guard to look like he did a side deal to sell her off and got double crossed by a neighboring noble (yes it's complicated!). It also sounds like the people on the inside want to take it slow as to not rouse suspicion, I don't know when their audit will be over but smaller footprints are less noticeable. We might be calling it a 'night'. There is a chance the three outsider might get stalkered by nobles for torture as well that we should be mindful of.

So, what's the plan -- Dez going to search the bedroom while the others deal with the guard/rescue the woman in the basement?

At this point, as we've had a bit of a slowdown, it's probably time to stop discussing it and start taking action; whatever that action is.

I think from my understanding some outside team deal with the guard and take off for now and find out from the Skaa about the woman. Inside team check out the room, unsure if they wanted us to wait until they get back first though.

I expect Daclish's insistence will require some more conversing. Which is fine, happy to have more development of character (just wasn't happy things slowed down!). So, I deleted the post I had made to 'speed things along' for those that may have seen it.

I have a question. You've asked us to spend 1 Spirit to keep going through the night without sleep. I agree that asking us to take "damage" for that makes sense, but shouldn't the hit be to Willpower? I thought that our Attributes and Standings were more or less set and "damage" was always taken from our Resiliences. Since Willpower is derived form our Wits and Spirit, a reduction of Spirit would mean a reduction of Willpower as well, right?

For that matter...Health and Willpower both make sense as being damaged by a lack of sleep.

Standings double as resources and stats - you can spend standings to achieve outcomes. Spending a standing is not a permanent reduction of that standing, you recover standings as time passes (or as you rest), and so doesn't affect your Willpower. I tried to describe how Standings work and spending them works in this post here.

Your Resiliences are a resource you can 'spend'. Damage is accrued when things act against you (or you fail and 'harm' yourself - which resilience is affected depends on what kind of harm is suffered).

I do find with this system, since it is so loose and free wheeling, that there's lots of ways one can go about mechanically representing things (such as carrying on through the night).

I felt that 'pushing through the night' was less 'harm' and more an act of determination, which to me felt like the kind of thing you spend 1 Spirit to do (you actively spend standings) instead of losing 1 Willpower (seems to me you'd lose resilience in the case that you were FORCEd to carry in, but here you choose).