The OOC Thread

Ask me anything.

What kind of characters are we expected to make? It sounds like from the scene 0 description that we're all in the same group; does this restrict our species and/or tribe choices?

No restriction. Though there are 3 species and 9 civilized tribes from those species, players may choose from any. In an inhospitable environment clans (small groups of the same tribe) reside in small habitable pockets of the badlands. For convenience, whatever species and tribes are chosen by the players, their original clans will be within proximity and use the same Oracle, Seer, and Atoner. Sure, not every person is agreeable with every other person, but clans must work together for survival, even if they prefer to remain separated most of the time.

Characters of the same tribe will be from the same clan. Characters of the same species will already be acquainted, even if not friends. Characters of differing species will know of the other local clans and will be introduced as actual play starts.

@Triasen, I've got some previous experience with prior versions of this game. I'm not talking about making weapons out of the stinger or the claws or the exoskeleton or anything like that. The claws and the stingers could possibly be talismans that would carry magical properties that they would confer to someone who was wearing them on their body as a necklace or a charm or something like that.

Yes. That has not changed. I only adjusted the mechanics to better fit PbP.

I have had some storms roll through for past few days, causing some electricity and internet issues. Hopefully everything will stabilize.

Understood. Thanks for the clarification. ;-)

I changed my last post to be more fitting.

Excellent. I am glad you made the comment here or I might have missed it. Once the new responses are posted I will address new findings and collections.

I'm lost in rules at the moment; please give me clearance on two topics:

Knowledge. I don't understand where Knowledge is coming of - do you mean Mind, possibly?

Tasks. For the Tasks, the skills get divided. Does this means anything with dividing the points in the skills to the three Aspirations or is it that everyone has only one or how do you divide it?
For example: Physical is divided in Combat, Coordination, and Locomotion and let's say you have 4 points in Physical...

I should have added more text when awarding advancement. Basic characters advance to Aspiring Characters. At the Aspiring level Body is assisted Stature, Mobility, and Fitness. Essence is assisted by Composition, Neurology, and Physiology. Mind is assisted by Assurance, Knowledge, and Persona.
"Assisted by" is a better term than "divided." I was not thinking about the mathematical indication of the chosen term. The numeric value for new terms is started at 1, then can be increased through play. The original value is not changed.

That was fast! :-)

Okay, thanks - I forgot about that on the way, as it seems.

So, if a skill reaches 3, one of the aspirations is on 1 - what about both the others, are they fixed on 0 or is there any way to raise them, too?

I edited the Applications of Various Tasks to read "augmented by the Aspiring skills of" instead of "divided into." I see how the original wording can be a misleading.

You are correct. Aspirations skills are at a value of 0, unless they are acquired through game play. Specifically, since your character is now a Defender, the abilities and skills that are not associated with that archetype are not going to be as important.

The mechanics of this system are designed to aid in character intentions. In most other systems that I have played, character intentions are ignored, and actions are dictated by game mechanics. That is why I like this system. It is geared toward PbP where the players do not have to be overly familiar with the mechanics. As GM, it is my responsibility to provide players with the best mechanics that related to their posted character intentions.

That makes sense; it's a little bitmore complicated, but you have what you want, it's a better trade off.

Another question: For a task, why is the basic ability not included? It seems that in the beginning, you have a lower value (2) of the task-combination than in the relevant ability (3).

The idea is to keep the numbers small to better suit PbP. The mechanics behind the scene that players are not seeing now give distinct advantage to Aspiring characters over Basic encounters. Encounters of the same level are on equal footing.

Understood.

Thank you.

What's the deal, folks? Did everybody ghost?

I did ghost everything for the last two days - sorry for not communicating.

Frankly, I'm not sure what I should do with the ants. Couldn't we walk around the mound or is there anything important we have to kill them for?

If they are bloking the way, let's kill them with heat and get over it, I'd say.

Sorry, I'm struggling with the game- I feel lost in both the setting and the system so it's being very difficult for me to get "in"