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This is the out-of-character and chat thread for the imminent game of conan I'm running, starring five fellow mods as players. No, you can't join the game, but you're welcome to spectate. Players, bookmark this thread and keep up with it, this is where I'll post most out-of-character info, talk about the rules and mechanics of the game, etc. GM: Leperflesh Players: Aardvark!, Glutes are Great, karmicknight, Sebmojo, ShallNoiseUpon. Game system: Conan 2d20, published by Modiphius. We will mostly play rules-as-written, but make accommodations for the play-by-post format (and for holes in the rules) where needed. Resources: Modiphius 2d20: this thread's momentum is doomed is a good place to talk about this rules system with other TG goons Recruiting: Conan 2d20 PbP is the original recruiting thread, posted behind Mod doors where no filthy regular user can ever see it, haha Google Drive folder for players only. If I didn't add your email address to this folder, you shouldn't be able to see it. This is where character sheets are kept, as well as other useful images and stuff. Here's the game thread! Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Feb 18, 2021 |
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Feb 17, 2021 19:42
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Helloo!!!!!!!!
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Feb 17, 2021 19:50
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Feb 17, 2021 19:52
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wait who signed me up for this help
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Feb 17, 2021 20:20
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Feb 17, 2021 20:40
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Alright. I've got one more thing to lay out before we start. I wanted it to be in this thread rather than the old one, so that it'll be prominent and easily referable while we play. I run a safe table. I hold myself to a high standard of conduct and I expect my players to do the same. To this end, these rules are the most important rules of the game:
I've little doubt that we all agree to this, but it deserves to be stated explicitly. If you want clarification or to elaborate or think anything needs to be changed or added to this, please speak up. There's no wrong time to raise issues like this. If you feel uncomfortable raising issues with the whole group, PM or email me. Similarly, if a player contacts you directly asking for something that you're not comfortable with replying to, you can bring that to me, or you can respond directly back to them to say you're not comfortable, and my expectation is that they will be maximally accommodating of your concern. Here is a list of some of my boundaries. I'm sure I have others but these sometimes come up in other games, and I wanted to make it clear that I'm "not going here" and ask that you respect these as well.
...that's pretty much it for me. I've got preferences, like, for example I'm not a big fan of PC-on-PC deadly combat, I think the game is more fun if the PCs find some way to get along, or if a PC's story arc is such that this becomes impossible, at least part ways without trying to kill each other. But that's not an emotional boundary for me, I'm not repelled by such things happening in other people's games or just reading about it or something. Please feel free to list any additional boundaries here, or via PM, or you can keep them private and just raise a flag if it comes up. Here is a note about game flavor. This game is designed to evoke the genre which Robert E. Howard more or less invented: savage swords and sorcery action adventure, writ larger than life, with a side-dish of cosmic horror. This genre intrinsically possesses aspects like violent combat and death, theft, evil, dark sorcery, madness, physical and mental trauma, the ravages of warfare, and so on. Howard's world is also based on a regressive and outright racist tropes of his day, and a fantasy-revisionism of how evolution works that is problematic as well. The Modiphius writers who worked on this game explicitly tried to remove what they could, but some of this stuff is too baked in. So for example, Howard has various "races" of humanity regressing back into apehood, and then rising again, through the eons. Silly, and originally based on racist ideas about how different real-world people are actually more or less "evolved," but what we're left with in this game is some historical flavor in which yeah there's this fluidity between merely uncivilized humans, and anthropoid demi-human savages who have lost basically all of the trappings of humanity, albeit still more intelligent than normal apes. I'm OK with glossing over the most objectionable aspects of that background where necessary and engaging with it wherever it feels not gross to do so. I'm also OK with modifying anything based on my player's preferences, but: if you want to play a totally nonviolent game, with no bloodshed, in which everyone of different ethnicity gets along perfectly, this is probably beyond what would still be recognizably a Conan Game. Lastly: I ask that all players be respectful of one another's time and effort. If you are losing interest in the game, please speak up, to me or to the group. Perhaps we can make a change to rekindle your interest. Or perhaps not, in which case, of course you are welcome to bow out. Don't worry! We'll figure it out. What you should not do is just gradually disengage and stop posting much or at all for an extended period. Many, many PbP games have ended because everyone wound up waiting on one or two players who had stopped wanting (or being able) to play, but felt bad about it and so avoided the thread rather than just stepping aside explicitly. If you have concern for your fellow players, it should be for wasting their time with your unwillingness to commit to either playing or not playing. Again, we can very likely make a shift in pacing, theme, tone, whatever, if you're getting bored or disconnected or lost or overwhelmed, but only if we hear from you about what's wrong. It is also, of course, fine to need a break or a vacation. We can suspend the game for a short period (say, a couple days up to maybe two weeks max), or we can have your character step out of the limelight for a while if you need a longer break than that (say, a few weeks). If you're going to be gone longer (say, an entire semester of school), your PC can leave the group for a while, and you will be welcome back if and when you are able to return. OK? OK!
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Feb 17, 2021 20:46
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Feb 17, 2021 21:14
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Posting conventions These are the standard conventions used for most PbP games on SA. Click into some of the other games to see examples of usage. In each post in the game thread, start with your character's name, in bold tags. Use plaintext for descriptive text. Post in the present tense unless you are describing the past. Years ago, Conan had led a band of scoundrels through this region of desert, but so trackless and shifting are the sands now that as he gains the lip of another dune, he frowns, unable to decide which direction to head. Use both quotation marks, and bold, for dialogue: "Crom take you all!" spits Conan, as he whips his battered blade from its scabbard and waves it at the vultures wheeling above. Use italics for brief out-of-character text best placed in the context of an in-game post: Conan uses his Survival skill to try to figure out which way is the most likely to lead to a water source. Use the PRE tags for character statblocks and other game stats stuff. Unlike CODE, PRE lets you use formatting tags like bold, italic, etc. within the block. pre:Vigor: 6 (12) Wounds: 0 Resolve: 10 (10) Trauma: 0 Fortune: 2 (3) Bonus damage: Ranged +0 Melee +3 Presence +1 Warhammer: R2 U 4[CD] Knockdown, Vicious 1 Knife: R1 1H 2[CD] Hidden 1, Improvised, Fragile 2 Soak: Head: 0 Arms: 2 Torso: 2 Legs: 2 Enc: 4 Survival, +1 die from Momentum spend, DC2: 3#1d20 10 11 12 If you can tell by the results what will happen, you can continue after the roll with more description, dialogue, etc. Often you won't know, which is a good place to stop a post. Sometimes a conditional statement is good: If Conan succeeds with momentum, I'll spend 1 point on "Increase scope of success" to find enough water for his horse as well; any additional momentum I'll add to the pool. If you generate a Complication (any 20 sider that rolls a natural 20), you should always stop there, because I am probably going to interrupt the action to have something unfortunate affect your character(s)! If you need to put more than a little bit of out-of-character stuff, put it in this thread instead. I will always catch up on the OOC thread before posting in the in-character thread, and you should do so as well.
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Feb 17, 2021 22:46
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Wanted to say that I appreciate the player safety talk a bunch and it's good and cool to talk about that stuff.
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Feb 17, 2021 22:51
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ShallNoiseUpon posted:Wanted to say that I appreciate the player safety talk a bunch and it's good and cool to talk about that stuff. Agreed
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Feb 17, 2021 22:56
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ShallNoiseUpon posted:Wanted to say that I appreciate the player safety talk a bunch and it's good and cool to talk about that stuff. 
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Feb 17, 2021 22:57
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HERE IT IS!!! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3959507 Everyone: with your first post, please include a little more description of your character. What do they look like, how are they dressed? You might also chat a little among yourselves, if you like. You can all understand one another in simple conversation, and those of you who don't speak Argossean can get the finer points translated into Punt by Neophytos, who speaks both languages fluently; there is no need to mention this effort particularly, just go ahead and chat naturally. Neophytos: some family member of yours is still well-disposed enough with you to do you a favor and arrange a meeting. Which member of your family is this? And, what do you now owe them, for this favor? You can mention this to your fellows or not, but I'd like to know, for reasons. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Feb 18, 2021 |
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Feb 18, 2021 05:58
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Leperflesh posted:HERE IT IS!!! Read this last night and then totally forgot to include the description part in my post so I just added a bit extra. 
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Feb 18, 2021 18:29
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Yup that's cool thanks! What time zones are y'all in? SNU's in germany, right?
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Feb 18, 2021 22:17
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I'm on Mountain Standard Time (2 hrs behind EST)
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Feb 18, 2021 22:26
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Leperflesh posted:Yup that's cool thanks! lol no I'm eastern time you just happened to catch me at a bad time for me to put effort into my first post today
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Feb 18, 2021 22:45
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Nz time, so midnight pst is around 8pm for the following day over here.
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Feb 18, 2021 22:49
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I am in the united states eastern time zone but basically will not be able to confront writing anything outside of my nights.
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Feb 18, 2021 22:54
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Oh wait maybe it's Glutes Are Great who is in Germany. Also, intentionally 18-hour probed by Smythe, lol. OK so with time zones scattered about, the expectation in terms of posting frequency can't be super high, especially when one might want to reply to another. Because of that, though, it's a good practice to  when you do have time, even if it's not in a perfect order in the thread. So like, just now, Genga explicitly addressed Shubba, and then Shubba responded, which is great. But it'd be fine if others of you posted in between, directly speaking to either of them or not. When we are in an ACTION SCENE, posting order will matter more and we will have to be patient as that plays out: fortunately, in this game, action scenes are intentionally pretty fast-paced, so we should not see what happened in my old 4th edition D&D game where a single fight could take three weeks of realtime posting to resolve. Speaking of ACTION SCENES! We are not in one yet but eventually they're bound to come up. This game is not played on a grid, and in theory it can be done entirely with theater-of-the-mind, but maps can still be very helpful for visualizing what's going on, and I think that'll be particularly important at first, when y'all are learning the ropes. So, pursuant to that, I'd like to have tokens for your characters. You know, something like this:  Could everyone please provide me with some sort of headshot of your character? It can be a photo, drawing, art, etc., and you don't have to be too picky about exactly what you think your character's face looks like, but this will help with visualization. If you are having trouble I can make some suggestions or just pick something for you. We have probably a little while before I need these, maybe, or maybe not
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Feb 18, 2021 23:06
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I'll need a day or two for the token because I want to pick a good'n and won't have time with a PC Also my comment was directed at Shubba but really audible to everyone, I won't be bothered at all if other people take up comment in situations like that. Especially since our schedules vary so much, unless it's obviously a specific question towards another character I am all for the mindset.Edit: like if I wake up I'd mostly rather see 6 new unread posts than one waiting on me? Obviously all by ear but it's a party adventure and I will be happy with anything that fits and moves us forward 
AARD VARKMAN fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Feb 19, 2021 |
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Feb 19, 2021 00:46
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hello I'm back from the cleansing ritual that is a well earned 18 hours probe. Yes it's me who is German and thus in UTC+1 timezone, so don't be surprised if I start posting in the middle of your night or feel compelled to also post then. I mean you can if you want. Actually do it, night posting is great. Now let's see if I can find a proper picture!
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Feb 19, 2021 18:29
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Setting question, would the costume design of either The Borgias or Da Vinci's Demons mesh with Argos as depicted in setting? I want to lean into a renaissance Italy look, but my lack of knowledge of the setting is giving me pause.
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Feb 19, 2021 22:54
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karmicknight posted:Setting question, would the costume design of either The Borgias or Da Vinci's Demons mesh with Argos as depicted in setting? I want to lean into a renaissance Italy look, but my lack of knowledge of the setting is giving me pause. I haven't watched either of those shows but googling images, it all looks like reasonable costume to me. My sources on Argos and Messantia are not very specific. The people are often flashy and flamboyant, and undoubtedly given the amount of wealth flowing through Messantia, the latest styles shift with every season, at least for those with money. In this game I am not expecting any of you to be setting experts. I have access to resources we can use for inspiration and guidance when we want it, but hell, this is a fantasy game, it's collaborative, and it's not going to ruin the setting if someone has the wrong kind of hat for Argos, according to some supplement. The technology level in the Hyborian Age is wildly inconsistent and bears no particular relationship to the actual progression of technology that took place in the real world, I think intentionally so. There's some stuff (like guns) that just doesn't exist at all, which implies early or pre-medieval tech, but at the same time, Howard had people using stirrups, rapiers, sailing about in galleons, and otherwise doing poo poo that is firmly rennaisance-level tech. So that doesn't really give us a guideline, but also doesn't really set much in the way of limitations either. So my inclination is to give you pretty free reign to improvise whatever you like here. Go hog wild.
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Feb 19, 2021 23:12
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Feb 20, 2021 02:46
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 Vargash is a jolly man, but there's a sense of something calculating sitting behind the eyes at every moment. his cutlass grip is well-worn and an observer would note that he always sits with an eye on the doors and his back to a wall.
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Feb 20, 2021 21:55
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you like this?
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Feb 21, 2021 01:43
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Perfect.
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Feb 21, 2021 02:01
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good now go post in the thread what your guy looks like and how he's not saying anything if you like, I ain't updating till every player's put in their first post, maybe I didn't make that clear
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Feb 21, 2021 02:07
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OK! Vargash wants to see if the party is being followed. My intention is to gradually introduce game mechanics to the crew, in bite-sized chunks, and this is an opportune time. Usually what happens is a player says they want to do something, and then the GM tells them if they need to roll, and what the difficulty is if so. Unlike some other games, though there is always risk with a roll. In many cases the difficulty of a test is basically 0, and usually you can just take the success without rolling for a D0 test. If you do decide to roll, you roll at least 2 20 sided dice, and don't add them together. Each die result equal to or lower than your characters Target Number in that skill scores a success. In addition, each die that rolls equal to or lower than your character's Focus in that skill adds an additional success. The Target Number is a calculated number equal to your character's base Attribute for that skill plus their ranks of Expertise in that skill. For Focus, you don't add the base skill, it's just the Focus on its own. Vargash's Awareness is 9 - a middling score in the normal human range of 6 to 12. He has 3 ranks of Expertise in Observation, so his TN is 9 + 3 = 12. The TNs are already on your character sheets, but it's good to know how they're derived. With 3 ranks of Focus in Awareness, then, any result on a die of 1, 2, or 3 results in 2 successes; any result of 4 through 12 results in 1 success; any higher result yields no successes. But! Any result on a skill test die of a natural 20 generates a Complication! You can get multiple Complications, and you get one on a 20 even if a 20 is also a success somehow. Usually a Complication adds some kind of fuckup to whatever you were doing, and they're usually of some significance. A Complication on a melee attack could be dropping one's sword, or getting it stuck in the enemy's shield, or even having it break. However, if we can't quickly or easily decide on an appropriate setback, instead we can just add 2 tokens to the Doom pool for each Complication. You can add up to three more dice to a skill test, using various different methods:
In addition to extra dice, there are other things that can improve your chances of success:
There are some more special cases worth knowing about :
If you succeed at any skill test by more than 0 successes, your additional successes immediately become Momentum. You can use this momentum right away, or, you can add some or all of it to the shared party Momentum Pool. The Pool is available for you to draw from before tests, as well, so the various Momentum spends may be spends you do before, or after a roll. There are a variety of ways to spend this Momentum, dependent on the skill being rolled. The game gives us a list, but encourages us to also improvise. Immediate Momentum spends must be done, well, immediately, as soon as you get them, before the GM describes what the result of your test is. Repeatable spends can be done multiple times, for multiple points of Momentum. These are the generic Momentum spends:
In addition to these general spends, every skill description in the core book lists some suggested Momentum spends specific to that skill. There are also some combat-specific spends we'll get into later. One more thing to note. At the end of every non-Action scene, and at the end of every round of an Action scene, the momentum pool decays by 1. If you don't use your momentum it gradually trickles away. It can be strategically smart to conserve Momentum, up to a point, but you should weigh the benefits of accumulating Momentum against the cumulative loss of the pool decay. So, here's what the book has to say about Observation, the skill Vargash wants to use: quote:Common Uses: Searching for physical clues, Alright! sebmojo, if you want Vargash to alertly look for anyone following the party, or laying an ambush up ahead, etc. you can roll an Observation test. I will post the parameters in the game thread. This particular roll is voluntary. Successes don't guarantee that you notice anyone, because there might not be anyone to notice, but any Momentum he generates can be spent immediately or go into the pool. If he fails his roll, of course, that also doesn't mean the party has anything to worry about yet.
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Feb 21, 2021 22:19
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Let's do it! this is an interesting system. Do you want rolls in here or in the other thread? I observed the poo poo out of that street, either way. sebmojo fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 22:42
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sebmojo posted:Let's do it! this is an interesting system. Use the Orokos roller and post the results in the game thread, please. e. check it out:  you can click the bbcode bit and then copy/paste the results! e. Also, use the following syntax when you roll: 2#1d20 that will roll 2 20-siders but not add the results together. You don't need to re-roll this time or anything, it reports the individual dice as well, it's just a slightly better way to do it. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:53 on Feb 21, 2021 |
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Feb 21, 2021 23:49
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yep, posted.
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Feb 21, 2021 23:53
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Vargash's Observation TN is 12, Focus is 3, so that's four successes! He succeeds with two momentum to spare. You can use that momentum immediately or put it into the pool. I'll describe what happens after you make that decision.
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Feb 22, 2021 05:00
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Leperflesh posted:Vargash's Observation TN is 12, Focus is 3, so that's four successes! He succeeds with two momentum to spare. You can use that momentum immediately or put it into the pool. I'll describe what happens after you make that decision. I'll put one in the pool, and use the other to assess escape routes if it all goes south.
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Feb 22, 2021 05:08
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Got it. I'm gonna kind of organically work in your result to the next update, probably tomorrow.
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Feb 22, 2021 05:09
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Insight - This is a test of karmic rollling bones: 2d20u15! 2 So, looking at this, the bbcode link doesn't break it down as well as I'd like, but it exists. I'm sad Orokos doesn't have syntactic support for nesting counter under commands. Deffo going to use the recommended syntax of #d though, that will spit out more useful data.
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Feb 22, 2021 22:41
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So, I realize I took two days to make that last update but uh. Should I bump up the exciting dial? I was tryin not to hit you with a wall of rules right out the first post.
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Feb 25, 2021 07:57
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In case anyone is confused: your intended destination is the lantern-lit doorway on one side of the courtyard: but you have noticed something suspicious going on at a doorway on the opposite side of the courtyard.
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Feb 26, 2021 21:50
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Anyone want to answer your friend's question, or, just gonna leave him hanging?
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Feb 27, 2021 20:17
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So, I decided Vargash didn't need to spend anything to see what's seeable behind the man in the doorway - a Difficulty 0 challenge. However, maybe you intended to use the Obtain Information momentum spend, but for something like that, you're asking for information Vargash can't get just by looking. For example, you could spend a momentum to know something about this guy in the doorway - that information would then be something that Vargash already knew, which we're adding to the situation. Alternatively maybe you were just thinking of rolling another Observation test, and using a momentum on Create Opportunity to add a die to the roll. Which would be fine if you had needed a roll here.
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Mar 1, 2021 04:27
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