Mutants & Masterminds: The Magisterium - Magisterium OOC

[jameson (ST)]

Without getting the pitch from David it's hard to argue one way or the other. Any reservations I might have now could evaporate after getting the detailed plan, or vice versa...

,,

So ... I guess I'm good for now.

[Dawn OOC]

The plan is basically as I outlined above. Those are the groups and the teams; the basic statement given should be the idea that they've been held down by DEHA and want to be free and known, and that they mean no ill will to humans. David (me) will provide the speech if necessary.

[SalmonMax]

The only caveat I have is that Mary actually speaks Japanese, but if Dave wants her in Delhi, she'll go there.

[Stargaizer]

So, you asked me to pick a location, and I picked New Delhi. I didn't see anything about Brian in 3.2 though. Am I going to get my own thread, or am I just supposed to jump into 3.2 and introduce myself?

[Dawn OOC]

Just have Brian show up at Qutb complex. It's a World Heritage Site so well worth visiting!

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Okay, I can finally think of my next post in my solo.

[Stargaizer]

Was everything that Mary said in the foreign language, or just the first part? Out of curiosity.

[SalmonMax]

Just the part that's in Moon Language.

,,

Everything you can read IRL, is in English. I translated the moonspeak in italics too, but the actual speech in that case is Urdu.

,,

But the rest is English. She only knows a teeny little bit of Urdu.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Okay, in 3.1 I just had a lot of things done for me without any input from me. I wasn't even told the post would be done like that, or the scene would be advanced this quickly.

[Rebekka Van der Vyse]

I told you in chat that Rebekka would be giving Idris a mask and that I would be advancing the scene so we can get into the meat of the thread. If there is anything you want me to edit, feel free to tell me. But I didn't think we needed 5-10 posts about handing over a mask and getting out onto the street.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

I didn't catch the advance the thread thing in chat, that's probably the source of my shock.

[Stargaizer]

Jaunt, you would be correct. He's paying more attention to looking everywhere at once than to maintaining his cover. Once he's out of the crowd he'll go back to playing the consummate blind man, but until then he'll be relatively easy to spot.

,,

Speaking of which, he's specifically looking for the 'bad guys' to come swooping in. Sniper or high vantage points (such as where Jaunt is) could very well be one of the places he's looking. I want to give other people a chance to post before I post again, but when I do should I roll to spot Jaunt? If so, what's the DC to see if he spots him.

[Dawn OOC]

From what I can see eyeballing google maps, the building's about 2 stories. That means probably 20 feet to the roof. It appears to be about 40 meters from the building to the park. 40 meters = 131 feet or so. Total of 150 (rounded down) feet, so a -15 on his Perception roll--I think. His normal vision (which is what I'm assuming he's using at the moment) has no distance mod that I can see.

,,

That make sense?

[Jaunt]

Hell, to be honest, I'm not sure. Just a standard DC with the appropriate modifiers for range, assuming he's affected by range. Jaunt's not really hiding, there's not need since people in the presence of a miracle generally never tend to look up at the unassuming guy on a building looking like an employee who came out to gawk at it too. He's confident no one down there is looking at him up there.

,,

On that same coin, it's generally not common for mutants to possess powers related to their handicap. A guy in a wheelchair tends not to possess super running powers. Jaunt knows mutants very well, at the most he assumes the guy would have super senses, being blind and all, but having super 'sight' is not on his list, so he's not taking much pain to hide. He is paranoid enough to assume it's a ruse, the guy not really being blind, but again, he's not really worried about people seeing him since he can literally disappear.

[Stargaizer]

He's actually using his combat vision, as that is the only one with radius vision (trying to watch everyone around him all at once). No range modifiers, the only one that has that is scopic vision. Still, he has +17 to perception, so if this is a routine check he'd still notice Jaunt.

[Dawn OOC]

He's actually using his combat vision, as that is the only one with radius vision (trying to watch everyone around him all at once). No range modifiers, the only one that has that is scopic vision. Still, he has +17 to perception, so if this is a routine check he'd still notice Jaunt.

,,

This isn't a routine check; this is a frightened man in a crowd of strangers, looking all around him for an unknown source of danger. The range modifier is a -15 but the DC to spot a guy on a roof a block away is 15. That's if I'm running the rules correctly, and I'm sure Jameson will tell me if I'm not.

[jameson (ST)]

,,

This isn't a routine check; this is a frightened man in a crowd of strangers, looking all around him for an unknown source of danger. The range modifier is a -15 but the DC to spot a guy on a roof a block away is 15. That's if I'm running the rules correctly, and I'm sure Jameson will tell me if I'm not.

lol, I was staying out of it because it's your game not mine!

,,

I'll assume that's a plea/invitation though ...

,,

Here's the way I look at it:

• Standard DC to notice a person not making any attempt to hide, but also not making any attempt to be seen: DC 10 (average),
  • this could go down to DC 5 (easy) or up to DC 15 (Tough), but I don't think the situation warrants either
• Range Modifiers: -15 (per Dawn's calcs), which results in a rough DC of 25 (Formidable) to start
• Circumstance penalty for somebody who is literally looking in all directions at once while in a crowd: probably -5 (-2 seems generous) [DC is now effectively 30 (Heroic)]
  • my logic here is that looking for a person in a crowd using standard vision, with (let's approximate) 120 degree wide field, is really hard, having vision that is 3 times that (full 360) is kinda crazy hard, so many distractions
• Stargaizer specifically stated that he was looking for vantage points/sniper roosts and the like because he was expecting bad guys, therefore I would waive any circumstance penalty for Jaunt's odd location (not many people bother to look up, especially when surrounded by a crowd)
  • note that he is not eligible for a circumstance bonus for saying this
• Dawn is correct that this is really not appropriate for a routine check, SG's character is under stress and out of his element, and she has the right to make that call and I agree
  • Note that using the current DC of 30 he's not capable of success using a routine check, and so he would have to roll dem bones no matter what

That's how I read it and would play it out as a GM.

[Dawn OOC]

It was an invitation - I know that I'm still learning the nuances of the system so I welcome another perspective. In this case, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

,,

SG, go with what Jim said above. If you'd like to roll and post a reaction before I post, feel free to do so and just put your roll in the spoiler tag.

[Stargaizer]

Ok, will do. Thanks for the breakdown, I appreciate it. Hopefully I won't be this much trouble on a regular basis *sheepish grin*.

,,

I won't be able to roll and post until later tonight though. Don't wait up for me though Dawn, if it comes down to it I'd rather have you post and move everyone forward than a chance to react again and hold everyone up.

[jameson (ST)]

It was an invitation - I know that I'm still learning the nuances of the system so I welcome another perspective. In this case, I think you've hit the nail on the head.

,,

Glad to help. I certainly do not mind lending my hand when asked for, but I am trying to be a little less of a buttinsky (or alpha gamer perhaps) when it comes to rules for other people's games. I've seen that I do do that to some degree to I am trying to avoid sticking my nose in until asked unless it directly impacts me/my PCs.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

I do have a question in regards to this ruling. If someone's "skylining" (making their profile visible by standing on a roof for instance), does this reduce the DC or provide a bonus to a roll? Just asking how this functions. Also as we don't have a tactical map it is harder to measure distances and choose positioning.

,,

Also, with what is happening in 3.1 I think our plan is doomed to failure. No plan and a aggressive first contact.

[Dawn OOC]

I do have a question in regards to this ruling. If someone's "skylining" (making their profile visible by standing on a roof for instance), does this reduce the DC or provide a bonus to a roll? Just asking how this functions. Also as we don't have a tactical map it is harder to measure distances and choose positioning.

If someone is making no effort to hide (as Jaunt has said and could be covered by skylining), then the DC is Easy, or DC 10. Jim made that pretty clear in his statement.

A map will be forthcoming.

Also, with what is happening in 3.1 I think our plan is doomed to failure. No plan and a aggressive first contact.

DOOOOOOOM...

Sorry, I had to. And if you want a plan, make one OOC with your team. Nothing stopping you from doing that in chat. The only reason I haven't designated time to do that IC is because IC planning takes forever and is boring as hell for almost everyone.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Yeah, then again no one offered to plan either. And IC planning could have summarized the OOC planning.

,,

But, again, no one asked. That and by the time I thought of doing this we were already rolling, and my IC post for a plan was sort of a invitation OOC to get a plan together. That and I had too much on my plate in the first place to think of this until now, and of course... everyone just pushed forward.

,,

I'm not mad, just we could have gotten a better result with some forethought.

[SalmonMax]

Maybe, but sometimes getting a less than perfect result is actually better for the game. Leaves characters room to improve and stuff. And quarrel and fight make up and do things that are fun to do IC.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Yeah, but a sub-optimal result can end up ending a game. Party wipe, anyone? Or how about there is a whole boat load of that anti-mutant gas and we end up shut down and all captured? The DHEA is pretty good in making sure you don't get out. That's a fate worse than death in my opinion.

[SalmonMax]

Way too early to worry about that.

,,

And if you get captured, why, the rest of us just have to bust you out.

,,

The game goes on!

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

I don't do well in those types of scenarios. I end up getting killed in those.

[jameson (ST)]

You really need to stop bringing your past negative play experiences to the table this way. Learn from them, sure, but don't assume that they will happen again, are likely to happen again, or even could happen again. I've never seen a character killed off in any game around here in ten years without the player being the one to make that call (I've killed off my own PCs on purpose for instance).

,,

That and it's damn near impossible to accidentally die in M&M, and Dawn isn't the type to pull some shit just to get a body on the floor.

,,

So, seriously, for your own enjoyment if nobody else's, relax and enjoy game, plan or no plan, and don't sweat what happened before, it's probably not going to happen again, especially around here.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

True.

,,

It's just I take my enjoyment from success, not getting kicked in the balls. I like putting the effort in to working to a optimal conclusion. I mean yeah, plans fall apart, but that is half the fun, that and if you got a plan you can handle most surprises as you've got something you can improvise from.

,,

I mean yeah, people like failure for the drama aspect, but running willy-nilly into that failure leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Particularly when (in this theoretical) better things could have been done.

,,

I mean no plan means you can roll with the punches, but no game plan means you don't know what to do if the plan starts to go south, like where our safehouse is or when to put plan B into effect.

,,

You can't plan for everything, but certain things can be put into play when things go sideways as a general precaution.

,,

It is what it is now though. The die's been cast no matter how it's looked at. So, let's see what happens.

[Stargaizer]

Sorry for the continuation of the scarred rabbit routine, but I can't see Brian doing anything else. Right now he figures that if there's any connection between him and what happened with Mary that his life is over, either literally or metaphorically. He just wants to get the heck out of Dodge.

,,

Maybe a different approach... maybe saying that he's with Mary... but I'm not sure what exactly will work at this point. Just saying, I'm not trying to be difficult, he's just scared and feeling cornered right now.

[Jaunt]

He did say he was with Mary.

,,

I think I've found a solution.

[Stargaizer]

So he did, he'll remember that now. Nice transition, I think he'll take you up on that now that he's not cornered and still very confused.

[Stargaizer]

Just a heads up, I'm going out of town this weekend, so I won't be able to post again today or Saturday, and I don't do IC posts on Sunday, so I'm not going to be available at all this weekend.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Just waiting for people to get on chat so I can make my rolls.

,,

Posted.

[Edward Mansfield]

Carver, it's totally fine if you want to leave Edward out, I know I hadn't posted for him. In truth I'm a little confused about what's going on, I apologize. If you want to include him go ahead, but I may need to talk to you a bit this weekend or Monday about what's going on if he's going to be involved. I don't quite get what's happening, I'm sorry.

[Idris "Rip" Vaughan]

Can I change my actions, as if Rebekka is acting first with what she does I wouldn't be tossing a can at the demon to piss him off.

[jameson (ST)]

Sorry about the missed postage prior to the combat. Between work and getting the flu (which I am still recovering from) I was not focuses on it. I'll get something up for the combat during my lunch break shortly.

[Dawn OOC]

No worries, Jim. I knew you weren't feeling well so I thought this might be a good time to have DEHA attack.

[jameson (ST)]

In that providing a welcome distraction from jibber jabber for Travis would be good for me? Yes. Yes it is.

[Travis Kincaid]

How many Hero Points should I have at the moment? I'm assuming this is a "new session" and thus we have only the default 1, but I figure maybe the sudden ambush might grant a 2nd?