The Old Guard OOC Thread

Aug 21, 2015 8:47 am
For out of character chat and feedback in general. If you're still thinking of a character concept, feel free to brainstorm and bounce ideas off each other here! Or PM me if you prefer.
We've begun in media res. Chief Cáceres will be chipping in at certain points: but what you tell him and what actually happened might be different matters entirely!

It's roughly 72 hours since the planet Valon's phase beacon went dead and things are pretty chaotic. There are reports of isolated fights beyond the city limits and everyone's friend's cousin's aunt swears blind they saw two Mercenary League gunships blowing the hell out of each other downtown. That's when the explosions start.
Aug 23, 2015 1:09 pm
A couple quick feedback things and questions:
- Character creation is awesomely fast. It only took me 15 to take care of the math and be done. Great for just jumping in.
- Can you repost the game mechanics the game forum?
- Personally, I think Will makes more sense for the HP increase than KNO, but there might be a balance thing there I don't get.
Aug 23, 2015 3:01 pm
I'll PM you about your character but yeah you're dead on about Willpower, it used to be the HP determiner but I decided to switch to Knowledge as it felt like a better mirroring of derivatives (and WIL already has an awful lot going for it, whereas KNO used to have very little application for a purely combat-orientated build, not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that)
Aug 24, 2015 4:18 pm
Are we good to start once our characters are approved?
Aug 24, 2015 5:28 pm
Sure! And with regards to the whole team: don't overly worry about the range of talents represented across the party, I'll try and make encounters/challenges interesting without penalising you for lacking specific talent ranks

And the more I think about it, I think I might raise the player count a little. There's no reason we can't introduce new characters later after all
Aug 24, 2015 6:52 pm
Before we get rolling, what's the setting? Are we being interrogated in a police station type building? Are we suspects of something? Or are we being treated as informants? Do we know the chief? Do we know each other?

I went to go make the first post and realized that all of these details would impact how I would respond.
Aug 24, 2015 7:06 pm
You're assembled in the (severely damaged) police headquarters for the planet Valon's capital city. You're not suspects as such as you came willingly and Cáceres has no reason to believe you're capable of inflicting so much widespread damage. You have heard of the chief from spending time on the planet, but this is the first time you've met him in person (unless you've been on this world working closely with the police, it's up to you!). The party members likely all know each other by now, as the events you're going to start a flashback to would have had you meeting and interacting and in all probability working together.
Aug 25, 2015 1:54 pm
Odd thought: what does my 7 STR equate to? In terms of lifting power. I'm just curious after the chief thought of me as military-grade.
Last edited August 25, 2015 1:55 pm
Aug 25, 2015 3:45 pm
I hadn't thought about it that much... I don't think of STR etc as following a linear scale, but probably about 2 tons as a peak? You could lift a car, although not without effort, and I guess your middling Vitality score means you wouldn't be able to perform a great feat of strength for a particularly long stretch of time
Aug 25, 2015 5:08 pm
I can work with that.

So what's with the bold dialogue? Is that just the done thing in PBP?
Aug 25, 2015 5:18 pm
I'm in a couple other game threads on this site, and it seems to be fairly common practice. Not everyone does it, but it seems helpful, if you want to scan back and see where a character may have said something out loud.
Aug 25, 2015 7:19 pm
All right! Now I'm thinking of screen-wiping to just outside of the headquarters where, inevitably, you are ambushed. Our first fight scene! Is there anything anyone wants to do in the police station before you leave, or should I fast-forward you to the streets?
Aug 25, 2015 7:40 pm
Jumping us all outside is great to me. The mainframe in Police HQ is down, so it's of no use to me. :P
Aug 25, 2015 8:23 pm
Happy to transition. I want to see how we do in combat!
Aug 25, 2015 10:37 pm
I'm interested to see how these fights go.
Aug 26, 2015 7:33 am
Sorry about the scrappy map, but hopefully it'll do! I don't believe anyone has an Initiative bonus granted by their aspects, so just roll Reactions (AGI or FOC) + a talent rank to determine action order. You can use any talent rank, assuming you have a good explanation as to why it applies!

The orange strip represents heavy cover, in this case a small armoured car. Heavy cover grants +4 defence and +4 damage reduction but this does not apply in Melee.

A standard attack's damage/effect roll is [ability dice, default 1d6] + attribute + talent. Performing a standard attack as a full action is generally called "aiming" and by default will grant +2 to skill and damage rolls. But remember that full actions apply Priority to the user, either because it takes time or because it's obvious and attention-grabbing
A minor attack's damage/effect roll is [ability dice, default 1d6] + talent.

Movement is 1 tile minor, 2 tiles standard, 3 full action. If you try and go through/over the heavy cover, that will necessitate a Mobility check (failure makes it count as an additional tile), but nothing else on this map serves as difficult or hazardous terrain
Aug 26, 2015 12:17 pm
Lot of questions. Can I expend (burn?) an Edge point and perform a 'feat' on my initiative roll, and max the dice? Not sure where the free empower will go though.

How much damage does a repeater do? Would Serana know if she can survive it? I have 7 armor rating if the primer is accurate, much higher than anyone else in the party.

And finally, can we analysis the situation ourselves to know these things? Does it cost an action to examine the enemy and learn of their firepower/HP/armor level etc.

edit - and do we only make one skill roll per turn? For everything we do?
Last edited August 26, 2015 12:21 pm
Aug 26, 2015 12:45 pm
Just to clarify, rolling for action order is 1d20 +AGI or FOC + a talent rank if applicable.

So for me, it'd be 1d20 + 3 FOC + 1 PSI (I can sense the hostility before they move)? 1d20+4?

Then when rolling standard attacks we roll 1d6 + attribute + talent to hit? Then roll the same for damage? Or is it just one roll that determines hit and damage? Or is the To-hit roll a d20?
Aug 26, 2015 1:11 pm
I was going to ask the same thing, ha. For now I'm thinking I'll walk over to no. 4 and use Smash once it's my turn.
Aug 26, 2015 1:28 pm
Okay sorry, I explained this very poorly (if at all). With Initiative, it's still a sort of "who's most on the ball" check but you roll skill for turn order, and effect for, well, what effect you apply if you roll high. Yes, you generally only make one d20 roll a turn, even if you make multiple different actions: you can attack/attempt to gain Advantage/perform an aspect ability etc in the same turn you roll for Initiative and using the same skill roll

So whipstache: you still roll 1d20 to-hit, but you can use your Initiative roll as the to-hit roll. Then you roll damage as you stated

Albionest: You could've burnt Edge for a Feat on your Initiative, yes. And then used the Empower to move one tile more or add a hit to an attack and so on. Analysis is sometimes free/instant if your stats are high enough to make it an automatic success, otherwise you need to treat it like any other act and spend a minor action

So! I'm going to declare that the party goes before the enemy this time, as we'll use Wilhelm's first Initiative roll (12) instead of the 2. That's on me, I didn't adequately explain how things work

And I only just saw your post in the Mechanics thread, I'll write up something fuller to post in there. I should've done it sooner, really!
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