Very Flexible Gaming Schedules

I used to mind it if players or the gm can't make a game... but that's because of all the traffic and the "heaven and earth" I had to move around to be able to game. With Hangouts/OnAir I don't feel bad, in fact given how convenient it is I've started 'hedging" other tasks and projects in case a game does not push through. Because I don't have to be anywhere else except the same room where I do my own projects, I simply pull out a Gdoc Im working on and I'm practically distracted with my ton of projects or studies.

I recently had a dream where I overslept and didn't wake up to run my 7am game. I felt terrible, and I feel bad because it shows how screwed up my priorities are. Because I deal with logistics, there are so many things that go wrong, I give people a lot of benefit of the doubt and I also don't require anything of them, except basic courtesy. If this ever happens hopefully the players are easy going as I am.

I have players who put a lot of work into their prep and I happily reciprocate, one thing I don't think I've made clear, but I think my players know, is that I don't require them to do off-game prep. I was all about "off-game" prep back in my 20s and one of the things I realized is that: prep can be more for yourself than for the players benefit.

This is just me, I think people are free to just care about the game when the game happens and everything they do is just cramming and wrap up prior and at the end of the game. They can forget the whole thing happened and get back to their lives. They should leave all their worries and any sort of baggage behind on the game table and leave all the baggage of the game table behind when they go back to real life.

Does GM prep = Player Prep Reciprocation?
No. Speaking as the person who just made a Cybernetics Load Out and Doctrine for my Traveller game, who made Spreadsheets detailing ship assets, and all those Sandbox details etc... I don't require my players to read it or study it or input on it. As the GM I do the prep for ME and it would be a kinda not-true if I say that its FOR the Players and they have any other motivation except for the same compulsion as me, to input on the prep. lolz.

At least I got to that level of self awareness where I know I'm only really trying to ingratiate myself with the stuff I'm writing (like this one right now). My Prep is for ME. but its written in a way that others can jump in and relate, but thats just me getting better at controlling my compulsions and being able to channel it constructively.

Scarcity of Attention
You'll notice I give 3cp to everyone regardless of merit and 2cp for people to give to who they feel did great. Having watched myself run a game in OnAir I notice my Attention has a very very low FPS given how much has to be processed. I find my self cringing at how slow I'm reacting, and its no wonder I can't be there to reward everyone but I give a generous portion and the means for others to reward others.

Last session, my first on-air game, I'm very happy at how I was able to focus on the emotional response and cater to stuff that is fun. Focusing on just having fun is hard, because there are still some stimuli filtering and creative construction happening.  If I forget about your turn, hopefully you speak up and give me the same benefit of the doubt, GMing is hard and there is so many things to juggle.

I'm a GM but I'm not a god, I'm just there to make sure everyone has fun and I enjoy being there to inject anything they want into the game. I have to control myself a lot, because I can be very passive or very active, and I get single minded.

~2 hour games are the best. You have the rest of the day or night to do other things, and I don't get into to much hot water from the wife. Also as the GM I've burned through so much mental energy, I'm in a partial haze. GMing is such a masochistic exercise (what exercise is not painful),

the week I'm writing this I came down with a cold, and my head hurts, but perfectly I am not GMing this week.

GURPS traveller ship building spreadsheet

One of multiple parts I am trying to keep this short.
GURPS Ship building System 4th Edition Traveller, found in GURPS 4th Edition Traveller: Interstellar Wars which is an update of GURPS Traveller 3rd Edition. (that was confusing)
Notes: Green is typically drop down, Blue is Input (type in the value you want), and yellow or white are just stats for calculation and tracking.
also check out Satomato's IW ship designing spreadsheet  every tool helps bring down the barriers.

Burden of problem solving

One of the things that take time is asking permission. It was in Happy Jacks where I heard of a GM that required players to take a lot of initiative, where his rule was: if you asked you can't do it and just do it. 

Getting more practice GMing, I realize that when players think they have to ask me permission to try something I'm not living up to my "Yes&/Yes-but" promisses. How can I be "Y&/YB" when there is no opportunity for the player to put more input. 

Experience with the 3rd Gen Game Systems basically gave me an Idea:
Go ahead and do what you plan to do, just roll. 

• Critical Success: Describe what happens, 
• Regular Success: Describe what Happens and the GM yes-ands you, 
• Failure: Describes how you failed, and the GM will yes-buts you, and 
• Critical Fail: Describe how you crit-failed. 

If this is too aggressive, try this one out. Consider it 3rd Gen Light. 

Players tell you what skill they will use to achieve a Feat. Instead of the GM asking what skills you have, in a given situation, the Player says how they are going to use what skill or resources at their disposal to solve that problem. 

In this situation, the GM does not list a bunch of options for the Players, instead the Players take initiative and tell the GM how they are going to solve a problem with their tools. This saves time for the GM, and gives a lot of power to the Players: but unlike what happens above, its just lets the player have ore free reign in their problem solving. 

As I get more practice GMing, I realize that when I'm having to present options I'm eating up more "Air Time" and I feel that robs opportunities for players to have spotlight. When players explain their plan, thats spotlight and the GM can be more reactive/cold-reading the players more than making up the story as they go along. 

Facilitation is how 3rd Gen RPGs are trending towards, with the motive of making the game run faster and allow for more things to happen in the shorter and rarer game and play opportunities for its aging gamer market. 

I've left this article to upload in the schedule, I'll be trying to implement this asap. Spending maybe 10 minutes  explaining to the newbies that they have these options and they can take more initiative if they want. 

IMTU Ship Creation Spreadsheet: EM armor, Ablative Foam, Armor Paste

I added Electro Magnetic Armor (variable Hardening vs Shaped Charge), Ablative Foam (Hardened 1 vs Lasers) and Reactive Armor Paste (Hardened 3 vs Shaped Charge or HEMP). These are UT options but I had to change it so that it is Economically a Feasible Option. Otherwise whats the point.

Here is the Dropbox link to the Lending Copy. Since anyone can edit it, I have to separate the copies so that my original will remain intact. I was supposed to come up with a video how to use the spreadsheet but I had to take care of my son, I got his sore throat.

The Reactive Armor is not homogenous but strategically placed in a certain pattern and intervals. It can be voluntarily activated because it is a paste and foam after all. There are some details I'll leave you to wing.  

I find the option great after learning it costs 1.2 milion to repair 1hp of damage. Basically its a way for ships to take damage but not break the bank.

One of these days I really should write up doctrine in a small statement sized booklet at about 8 pages and all the material you need to run a basic combat scenario for beginners in a Roll20 campaign. Basically run space combat the way Vaclav ran Gladiatorial fights.

Implementing the rules that make full use of the crew and allows me to make a more hard-sci fi doctrine and giving it a feel of a party based combat. particularly using EW and beam head missiles (beams like particle accelerators, not just lasers) like in Honorverse. And like in Honorverse, the GURPS, L5R or GoT in their space combat, there is always attrition... very very severe attrition.

Rewatching Ghost in the Shell and after learning bout Pax

IMTU Ship repairs in gurps traveller

Ship Repairs seems to be a Non-Topic because I'm not getting a nibble in the threads and my search-fu has been weak. So lets do something cheap and easy - make shit up.

UPDATE 6/25/2013
B483 and ISW223 has the rules for damage and effects.

Repairs Cost = dDmg*(Ship Value/dHPx6)*Ship Condition

Ships Condition
Ship condition is the HT rolls of the ship, as it takes damage in B483 and ISW223
Functional - repairs are non-critical systems so the cost is about 20% or 1/5 the amount.
Disabled - Many critical systems were damaged. Cost of repair is 100% or 1/2 the amount.
Destroyed - All the ship's critical systems is down, cost of repairs is at 200% repair cost.

Example.
Lightning Class Frontier Merchant takes 20 dmg, the ship is ($250M/45*6) = $0.93M which is equal to $18.5M in repairs. Since the ship is in functional condition, it is assumed no critical systems were hit so it is mostly hull and armor damage. So the damage is now at $3.7M.

Example 2. A HT10 Terran Fighter ISW202 takes 20 dmg, damage is 0.183M. If the Fighter failed its HT roll after taking 20dmg and was disabled, but got back for repairs, the cost of repairs would be $3.66M 

Example 2. A HT10 Hero Class Merchant ISW206 takes 60 dmg, damage is $0.377M per dHP. If the Hero failed its HT roll after taking 60dmg and was "destroyed", if a retrieval operation went underway it would cost (22.6*200%) $45.3M to repair her. 

Note, It is possible for a ship to take dHPx3 dmg but have made all its HT rolls. the ship is disabled and the cost of repairs does not go up yet. 

The Cheapest Solution
Rent a Berth, Source Parts (Salvage it when you can), and make the engineer earn his keep. Simple isn't it? In B474 materials are ~20% the cost of a product, parts can be a sourcing/trade roll like in Finding Goods for Sale ISW180. Of course its less time consuming if your ship has a:

• Techbots, a lot of Tech Bots. 
• Heavy Exo-Skeleton 6-arms and designed to use harness to move around in 3d space on Gravity or M-drives to move around in 0G. Consider it a Fine Quality Heavy Exo Skeleton.
• Light Exo-Skeleton with 4 arms and designed to use
• Microboats with Mecha Arms that plug in to Hardpoints (x9 arms). 
• Cargo Super Strong Netting - help haul stuff through space and has other miscelaneous uses. 
• 1% of the ships value in equipment and supplies is minimal, ideal is up to 3%. 
• The Cheapest Solution is also one of the Funnest Solution because its kinda DIY and a lot of Engineering and Merchant Rolls. In its own its actually an adventure. 

Bottom line: If you DIY repairs your cost is your own salaries, and materials sourced. You can try to use Machinery, Mechanical parts In-1/Ni+1 in ISW180. definitely in a industrial world you can find the parts you need easier than a non-industrial world.

Note: Finding Goods for Sale in the Real world is called Sourcing. I'm sure you can find out more if you use the key word sourcing.

Salvage rules.
Salvaging Rules is simply an extension of the repair rules. Usually when the ship takes dHPx3 worth of damage and it is destroyed, it now costs as much to buy one brand new (assumiing ship and market price is stable).
Basically the remaining Material Floating around is equal to the remaining dHP per cost to repair x 10% or 0.1 because its considered scrapped.

Retieval vs Scrapping - this is basically an Accounting distinction. To differentiate Salvage is for scrap while Retrieval is for repairs. They are two different ways of reporting a loss, it really depends on what favors which business how to report this.

Example 3A 10k Dton Freighter ISW217 with 120dHP has $3.4M per dHP. It was destroyed after taking 360dmg, repairing it would be more expensive than building a new one. The remaining derilict is now considered scrapped and is worth ($1,249M x 0.1) $124M as scrap. 

There are some salvage rules in JTAS Cortez-Class Salvage Ship by Brandon Cope (you need to have a JTAS account to access). But basically Salvagers, the "State" (because they provide the berthing via Starport and adjudication), and of course the other parties involved each have their own commission.

Note it is a great use of Scrounging but what is more appropriate is Two stage roll Sensors + Per & Engineering/Mechanic + Per.

Note also that if you got the Microboats with arms or Heavy Exo-Sk maybe you can do some salvaging.

Risk Analysis.
In light of how much repairs cost, there is a lot of risks in going into space - so charge it to your clients. Risk vs Reward is a factor in Market prices and again I emphasize "Market Rate" is arbitrary, when the GM all of a sudden throws a Pirate Infestation or WAR in the region Prices do not stay the same/static.

When there is criminal space activity, there are market forces that instigate Imperium to act on it. For one thing, what good is a technological and trade monopoly when you cannot squeeze profits out of an entire system. The funny thing about the Space Navy is that Nobles with Corporations Own the ships, and their revenues are what gets hit with Piracy.

Again my Ship Spreadsheet

GURPS Modern Fantasy Episode 05

WARNING - Offensive and Mature Content
Fun in two hours, not bad.

IMTU existential problems in scifi, jump ghosts

I'm a fan of the prestige and I Iike the dilemma it poses. What if the designers of the jump drive have a big secret, that you really stop existing when you jump, what happens is that a time and space copy of you begins to exist in your destination. 

To remove all doubt, there was a way to prove that the copy is unique from the original?

The designers of the jump drive knew all this and created the illusion of continuity in order to keep majority of the users feeling safe and secure.

But because there is an empirical way to find this out, there exists jump ghosts - those who jumped and trapped in a existential loop, and worse those who have exact copies of themselves ending up somewhere where a misjump would have taken them.

A jump ghost is someone who is duplicate who came too late, instead of showing up where they expected jumped into in the middle if no where surviving starvation and equipment failure.

What if space is littered with the wreckage of jump ghosts? What if jumps bring you else where, and someplace where many ghosts have wandered too?

Loved ones who jumped, is it really them or we choose to cling to the illusion that nothing has changed, that the person who jumped didn't stop existing.

Jump ghosts existing IMTU sounds like fun, so is cthuluh being an entity that really does exist and has something to do with all this. I like that cognitive bias of accepting that death between the frames per second of our consciousness. Its spiritual reflection and conclusion show how strong and irrational concept of life.

It makes me wonder if AI will grasp the concept better, yet still be able to rise above it to a benevolence humanity would wish to aspire in its inspired dreams. to be unshackled by the imperfection of evolution, a being that has been shaped by volition. 

Jump ghosts happen every jump failure, sometimes the ghost survive and realize a doppelganger had taken over their lives. The Imperium has people that control such information destroying copies and censoring so that trade does not go to a grinding halt.

There are those who quietly know the truth, choosing good equipment and making some funds to accommodate their ghosts. Others choose to do it differently, having a kill program to arbitrarily chose to kill which copy so painlessly and instantly no trace is left and death happens between the fps of consciousness.

Nobles have a special way of dealing with this, and some see it as freedom and others are so controlled by fear they never leave their system and make so many precautions.

There is that element about truth that can have a mind locked in a very dangerous loop. That madness, does not manifest in acts of insanity, but carefully controled rationality that leads to the destruction of something loved so long ago. 

One of the many reasons I love sci-fi and traveller. Games like these with players to challenge and spin ideas around.

GURPS Traveller Lite Episode 03

Thanks to those who could make it
+Dave Morris +Mateusz Sierzant and +Tom Tyson

It may LOOK like its monty hall until its time to pay the bills. The Rizzoli got 2M worth of credits from CGE for rescuing their CEO and owner, Countess Regina Perez. They were given a simple job: Bring 50dtons of heavy machinery worth $70M and about $5M worth of androids to ROUP with a Type A contract and preferred  vendor status. The job is paying them $1.2M or $24,000 per dton.

They had to Jump through WHANGA where they were greeted by malfunctioning defense station that tried to fry their ass as soon as they arrived. A Chief Science Officer Anna Boren greeted them and despite the 20 minute communication gap, they were able to sort out the reason behind the problem. It didn't hurt that they did some refueling in the outer gass giant the space station was orbiting.

Around this time the Captain Vicky Nelson, +Tom Tyson character finalized the ship details. They chose a Very Fine Quality Lightning Class frontier merchant ship found in ISW210. HT12 and the ability to fly in atmospheres as dense as those that a modern science submarine can withstand. They got heavy turrets and filled up half their weapon number.

When the players learned about the problem Sternmetal Horizons was having with their defense platform, they offered help before even considering the reward (bless their hearts). Anyway, Anna interjected that Sternmetal would pay 5M for service since it would have been lost business for more than a month and it would have cost a lot of money to mobilize someone to repair it.

The crew quickly got up to speed. +Dave Morris as Yuri the engineer did most of the prep and hacking. He had to default as one of the pilots of the microboats. They learned there was a system malfunction during the combat readiness calibration. Some AI was still being straightened out for its offensive capabilities when the command station blew off and the unfinished AI went online.

During the 12 hour refueling run the Rizzoli hatched a plan. They chose to coordinate with the Scout Ship and create a saturating volley of EW Drones. Hopefully they can overwhelm the defenses long enough to have 2 Modified missiles (canabalizing 2 techbots on the ship) create a hard line connection and bring down the ships defenses.

The Rizzoli set to work and brought their two Micro-Boats online to help them increase the saturation. Since only the Captain, Vicky, was skilled in Guided missiles and EW warfare there was some drawbacks slaving all the drones to just her command system.

When everything was ready, the four ships made their firing run. At the extreme range, the lethal and effective AI was still able to hit the ships. The Microboats took the most damage, since they are defenseless despite their very small profile and amazing acceleration. They made their HT rolls but the damage was grevious so it is assumed the ships had to fall back to redundant systems. The Rizzoli, would have been hit with a devastating beam strike (yes BEAM lasers not Pulse) but this frontier merchant had heavy turrents with double the load out and double the casters. A dazzling spray of crystals lit up and diffused the beams as Vicky engaged full evasive maneuvers.

Close enough the ships launched their EW missiles/drones. The lack of another Gunner was felt as the microsecond delays that occured in coordinating the evasive maneuver was felt but the station had very little opportunity to defend. A lucky blow knocks out an entire defense arc which opened the Rizzoli to an opportunity to try to make a boarding lock.

It took a lot skill and tempering for the Captain to land her in the blind side. The point defenses were going crazy trying to shoot the ships down, blasting an Airlock. Their systems can track what seemed like "panicked" androids hurtling towards space. The Combat Robots soon came out, their weaponry designed for internal defense could not penetrate the ships hull, designed to withstand micrometeor strikes.

Brynded tried to possess them, but the AIs were unusually feisty. To his surprise (and for me as a GM) two coincidental ties (they had 50:50 odds to be possessed, and +Mateusz Sierzant rolled exactly the same as AI on both occasions).

When the ordeal was over, only the Microboats suffered and they had about $500,000 worth of hull damage, but the Rizzoli was going to take home $5M of Sternmetal Horizons Credit.

The crew got repairs and got a great deal in used androids (those that came from the malfunctioning platform). Initially they got half off, but Vicky was able to get it less 10%. We decided to do all the other accounting inbetween sessions.

ROUP
They arrived at ROUP greeted by a System Defense Boat hailing them for their "Papers" and identification accelerating rapidly towards them in the light minutes it took for the Rizzoli to appear to it. The crew complied, but Bynden was immediately suspicious when he saw through the sophisticated AI Video masking. What was supposed to be a SDB was showing a hollowed-out internal system by to the densomiter and a slightly lower heat signature. The ship took evasive maneuvers and with their 4.5 accell redlined it to about 20 to get out of there.

Detailed analysis showed serial number was of a 40 year old ship, not strange for a back-water system but another nail in their certainty that this was not a legit ship. It took about a couple of days to accelerate within system to have a better look. The system infrastructure in ROUP was practically crap and the ships that greeted them were 20-50dton boats and shuttles. Many were of Rugged-ized Maker TL9 design.

The crew have finally arrived, a man in white and a strange accent, Regional Director Junio Juarez, greeted them and welcomes them to the capital directing the to the private port in a peninsula (150,000 sq km) owned by CGE. They make conversation, and true enough the 1.2M for delivery is ready to be credited uploaded physically to their ship's bit-credit reserve.

With that we ended.

Notes.

• If the Rizzoli took damage every HP they would have paid 0.6M in repairs. That assumes that only HULL took damage, they would have to buy replacement Powerplant, Drives, etc... if those got hit. 
• about 500,000 worth of repairs for the Micrboats. The guys have to name them. 
• CGE is looking for Android Labor in the planet.

Age and Friendships

Can gamers be really looking to make friends online? I mean considering the ages, and my age... very much yes. The attrition of friendship growing up due to professional and life choices all add up very quickly in this longer lived age, not to forget it is an age where we may change careers more frequently than ever before.

It is TL8, the information age, and in GURPS Ultra Tech we are deep into the midway of TL8 and 15 years from TL9 lolz. Sorry for that Gaming reference, but if you consider the socio economic predictions of Hans Rosling, we are going to have more life to make life changes and part of the collateral damage are friendships and relationships.

So its only natural that many are more emotionally available to have online friendships and I'm happy that this medium is available. Its certainly less messy than fulfilling the other human urges that are more complicated and messy lolz... like eating and exercise, damn my aging metabolism and sedentary lifestyle!

The funny thing about the Wheaton Law/Golden Rule/ gaming rule (don't be a dick) is that if the other person is tolerable and you go through adventures, friendship is pretty much inevitable. Of course I understand there are many tiers of friendship (best friend being a tier, a quote from the Mindy Project).

I guess today is unlike the ages before, we have more co-workers and classmates in our life time, we have more casual or acquaintances because of the comm technology available, and we have little points of time and emotion we can afford to invest in relationships.

There are many kinds of friends, and your grandfather's definition doesn't quite fit it anymore ("friends are people who will help you move"). There are so many different kind of relationships, and there has been greater compartmentalization and definitions that has come with it.

IMTU the transient human form

What if human form was very easy to modify? 
I know genetic manipulation is taboo in the default Traveller, funny because it may be the only way few can survive the Long Night. You had the ability to use genetic therapy and adapt all the children of those willing to survive and adapt to the planet and its environment: G-variance, Atmosphere, available nutrients (harvested by modified plants and animals), common state of water, scarcity of food, etc...

It takes centuries or millenniums to terra form, but it takes a generation to biologically adapt. Strangely there is a spiritual or cognitive lesson there. 

First obstacle is the Taboo, so billions died because they could not get their head around having their children so different from them that there is a possibility that they are going to be incompatible Yup unnecessary loss of life when facts are difficult to swallow is part of the human condition (see reproductive health in current news and events). It would take only one generation for genetic adaption and therapy, the Long Night lasted +1700 note that not everyone was plugged back in at the same time.

Is it really that hard to love someone as your own when they are not carrying your genes? I mean it kinda brings up all these precedents like adoption and loving pets not as pets but as companions. The capacity to love and live with something that is not your own genetic relation.

It would be a nice story for some AIs to raise the children of their "masters/family" when so many died because of the panic and unnecessary cognitive dissonance in the face of the Long Night. A generation of children that were raised by an AI, only to find out that their AI parent was severely persecuted by most of the original inhabitants despite raising the new people who are adapted to the new world in a way that they did not hate their "ancestors".

Or you can turn that story around into tragedy and destruction, an AI raising an race of conquerors and expansionists.  

I imagine one of those who can thrive are those who were able to adapt quickly and move quickly to restore their infrastructure.

To those Transhumanism Fans Ghost in the Shell has a new pre-quel season. Kusanagi before in the body we know her in. 

This is great opportunity also to introduce more Bio-Tech. IMTU plants and animals are great Automated Harvesters and Logistics for minerals and nutrients. Modified Bugs, because their carapace and their physical features would be awesome in hostile worlds.

I can imagine some young worlds with active cores, but with special minerals, have something like Purple Worms. Creatures that harvest minerals from the extreme and concentrate them in their form and body. Instead of sending a ton of nanites or digging a open pit and filtering the debris, you have feeders that just swarm around and consume the key nutrient/element. (talked about this already).

What if form alteration is so important that some Humans (vilani or terran) don't mind the changes?
Go into a world, and change their biology to suit their world. Its not like they will keep changing, although there is room for such humans who can't help but keep changing. People only change when the economic investment has a great ROI in the long run.

Example: Jane is moving to system X, where the planet I'll be stationed in will be a great place to nest up and start a family - her partner get both modified. All such modifications take time, and there is a modified CPVacc Suit that allows them to adjust in time. After a year: BAM! they are walking around with no or very minimal life support - no filters, no light filters (depending on the Light Range available to their form), etc...
With the Birth Boxes or Capsuls then

If combined with T^2 extended life span, one can go through many bodies in the course of their career and life span. Dwarven body when he managed a High-G Bio-harvesting World, Elven body when managing a belter colony, or modified elf body when he was assign as a scout courier, then modified again as a administrator in an frontier world etc...

If such careers were so long, he/she could have had families as a dwarf, elf, and "other". Some people like being family people, and consider the constant state of being part of a family ideal. I can imagine some folks starting new families with different partners as they amicably change or fall out... not just the serial monogamists who have families continually over the course of their T^2 life span. (when you have T^2 life span population growth just spikes because there is lower death rate plus the ability to continually work, adapt to the market place, and look for new value to create).

An Idea of a Terraforming T^2 family, specialized in drawing out the aesthetic appeal of the system while making it self sustaining. Moving system to system, to begin work on a extended Lifetime of Terraforming. 

Of course where will be the new generation form in?
Birth Tubes or Capsuls like in Vorkosigan and Honorverse, where did those go? I can't find them in GURPS Ultra Tech. The repercussions of such a technology, was it too controversial to be put in the book or they just forgot? I'm not the only person who would love that technology (in its reliable generation) be available, it basically allows anyone to start a family and not be hindered by age or surrogate availability.

Game Balance Munchkining the Cybernetics and Bio-enhancements. I really don't mind because I follow the "Don't play with Assholes Rule". If they abuse that, its easy to just stop playing with such people because of the way Hangout Gamers are so plenty friendly and its easy to be on the same page with people. Personally I used to write about Doctrine regarding enhancement factoring in Economies of Scale, Diminishting Returns, Arms war and Policy Changes. 

 This is easy, the Munchkin gets to only use a limited selection of the kick ass combos he's figured out. Munchkin personally handicaps himself by giving the GM all the cards, thats the only way its permissible. 

I'm currently trying to figure out if its sustainable that Marines and Army personnel are "enhanced" as part of training, indoctrination, and HR optimization. They should be because of Arms-Race rules/Prisoners Dilemma, it creates a larger market of cyberware as well uniformity in performance. It also stops Marines and Army from being the Lowest Paid in the Ship - which is absurd. In such a high TL where education is cheap, Life stops being cheap, so risking one's life should have a premium salary IMO. 

Im allowing people to buy enhancements by either Points or Money IMTU. Yup a munchkin GM likes playing with fire lolz.  

Awkwardness Video Post

Game of the Right Question: Gaming Psychology Skill

I can be so annoying. a post in 2007
this is why I'm such a munchkin. One serious critique is that this is punishing to a GM. what GM would entertain this inanity has my complete and sincere in my wishes that you recover from this with all faculties intact. I'm so freaking predictable. 

Feel free to add to this, to help players and GMs use character's skills best. Unlike the Task Difficulty Examples Collection this gives other Ideas on how to maximize the those non-combat or non-influence skills. 

Body Language,    Detect Lies,

and  Psychology.

Examples of how to best use some non-combat or non-influence skills.

Body Language. B181 Body Language is usually for detecting any or other emotions beyond what is in plain sight as well as determining if a person is feigning/exaggerating/downplaying an emotional response (with Acting).

Between a character unskilled in Body Language and an unskilled Actor, it is hard to fool or read each other effectively (Default vs Default). Such of an encounter may lead to more misrepresentation and misinformation than anything useful.

On the other hand it  is easy for a skilled Actor to fool a character unskilled in Body Language or for a character skilled  in Body language reading an unskilled actor. Players should expect a skill of 12 in Body Language best for unskilled deceivers or deviants, they should raise it to levels of Expert or Master against seasoned criminals.

A list of a few commonly encountered emotions are Apathy, Anger, Frustration, Guilt, Passion, Stress and different manifestations of Fear,.

How to use Body Language and Psychology together. The standard use for Body Language and Psychology is discovering a concealed emotional response/state and predicting how or if the person will act on it.

A PC can use this procedure to quickly eliminate unlikely suspects or predict easy or difficult relationships in negotiations.

Body Language and Detect Lies. Body Language is typically used with Detect Lies to confirm if what a person is saying has an a appropriate emotional response.

In game terms, the person must succeed both Fast Talk and Acting to fool a character who has both Body Language and Detect Lies. These two skills combined give a much greater chance of certainty compared to just using one skill as a critical failure with both is very unlikely.

Empathy vs. Body Language. Body Language is more reliable than Empathy because as a skill you can raise it to higher levels.  On the other hand, you don't vision penalties when using empathy.  

Detect Lies. B187 Margin of Failure matter a lot in the use of Detect Lies. On a margin of failure of 1 or 2 the GM may just tell the player “he can't tell” any greater the GM may lie.

Players should be skeptical about what any answer they get from the GM and should use Body Language and Psychology to increase certainty.  

When they Refuse to answer. Use body language and psychology when a target refuses to answer. Guilt or Fear will emotion that will accompany the lack of an answer.

Misleading. Instead of lying, someone may appear to be trying to present the truth as a lie. This would be in a situation where this Lie is easier to believe than the truth presented. Use fast talk and add a bonus to how much the listener would want to believe it is a lie (+1 to +5).  

Contests of Skills. Fast Talk is the skill that best counters Detect Lies. Other skills may be used to lie, Diplomacy can exaggerate some truths or hide a very small lie, or mislead the listener giving a -2 challenge to the Lie Detector. Public Speaking, on the other hand, can be used to lie and spread propaganda, which may be easy to detect (-5 to the public spear in a contest of skills).

Things you should always ask.:  

• “Who are you?... is that your only/real name?”. Always confirm the identity of an NPC. This is a basic precaution but can ignite a firefight at the suspicion of deception.
• “Are you giving me a fair deal?”. If you don't have merchant, this is the next best thing. Its reasonable to ask if any deal is a fair deal. Asking if your getting a bargain is a good question to add if your haggling.
• “What do you get out of this?”. In any negotiation, this is a key question to ask.
• “Do we have an agreement?”. Always end with this question in any negotiation.

Psychology. B216 A successful skill roll will allow you to predict the general behavior of a person or a small group.

The Collins GEM English Dictionary Definition of Behavior is Manner of Behaving. It defines Behave as acting a particular or functioning in a particular way.

General Behavior is a pretty broad term, its up to your GM to adjudicate when how far does it go.

A few Examples of a General Behavior that I could think of: Favor, Like, Dislike, Repulsed, Disgusted, Honor (the verb), Praise, imitate, Deny, Deceive, desire, Pleases, Takes/Draws Pleasure, Satisfies, Depend and Abuse.

Here are some useful questions you can ask to predict a certain kinds of behavior that would be relevant in an adventure.

• "Will he favor flattery?". Ask which influence approach can best be used. Flattery would likely be Savoir-Faire or Fast Talk.
• Will he favor X - Flattery, Bribery, Seduction, Principle, Religious motivation, Idealistic motivation. Etc. Etc...
• "Will he favor a Bribe?". A very useful question in tight situations where you try to predict if this person be averse, insulted, or react negatively or positively to a bribe. I think Streetwise would be the best skill to Haggle over the price, if it is the best course of action.
• “Will this person likely betray us in our deal?”. Deviant behavior is still behavior, and the possibility of an NPC breaking an agreement can give the PCs a chance to void an agreement or to count on that betrayal.
• You need to get to know your target. have them for dinner, entertain them. basically tell the GM your taking that person out for a good time and to get to know them. Have X budget. Get wingman with good Social Skills and basically end with that "action".
• “How far will he go to honor our deal?”. This is a good follow up question to any negotiation. They might honor the deal but will come back on the first sign of trouble. Depending on the context you can already tell this person is Honest or with a Strong Code of Honor.
• Well you need to know that
• "Will he try to screw me over?". If you are negotiating and you should ask this to determine if the person is the type to make unfair demands. This really helps when you are not as skilled as a merchant as your opponent. If your a skilled merchant then you may already know what kind of person you're dealing with before agreeing to anything.
• This is why i like to get Psychology-18+ why 18, because typically its a contest against a superior deceiver. Even having a single character with 18 Psychology
• "Are they open to negotiations?" Instead of guns blazing, you may want to talk it through. This is helpful for GMs to give a clear "OK" sign to start shooting.
• "Isn't he trying to get something out of this deal?" If something is too good to be true, it probably is. When negotiations should be challenging and faces odd or no resistance, this should be a question the player should ask the GM asap.
• “Will he try to Hide it?”. Asking a question you already know the answer to can reveal more information depending on how the person behaves when answering. If the person shies away from the topic, vehemently denies, feigns ignorance, tells parts or the whole truth may give possible motives, connections, relations, unusual circumstances that may give the PCs a clearer direction where to go.

Observation. Other than detecting anything deliberately concealed from the character observation Is mainly used to appear inattentive in a situation where you have to conceal your interest. It allows the character to use Detect Lies, Body Language and Psychology without raising suspicion.  

This was a long debated topic, because the wording gave a certain impression and that not a lot of GMs have the same Intel policy or process. In short you really have to ask your GM about how he adjudicates information gathering. I think this is a very fundamental Game-Theory element in GMing, how your gm handles information will determine the optimum strategy to proceed.

Psychology, Body Language and Detect Lies. These skills used together are a triple threat against deception. Any anomaly detected by either skill raise doubt and be helpful against any possible critical failure .   

• Note; All strategies above can be reversed. So the GM can use the same skills to for NPCs to find out more about PCs. This is a great way to "Feed" disads.
• Behavioral Schticks are Awesome because you can pretend to be someone else despite having your guard down. Typically everyone's guard is down, being Paranoid should be a negative reaction penalty to people... why: because it affects common good. Once people start mistrusting and that mistrust becomes "contageous" much of trade and communication will slow down. GM's should not allow for Behavioral Schticks that "bring Up" the guard of a character this is represented by Paranoia and there should be a negative repercussion to paranoia.

GURPS modern fantasy session 04: Give a man a nunchuck

Thanks to +Arne Jamtgaard +James Austin +Ken Kthulhu +Mike Dulay +sovietPlays for playing. 

Basially a Game Rundown instead of a Summary

The game took a silly turn, my bad for making a pregen based on black dynamite. But since we have the power of making a game turn in any direction we want, then silly game is still a good game if everyone enjoyed it.

It was a very very dark foreshadowing, I don't mind things going silly. If people enjoyed it then I did my job, and its very relaxing and theraputic visualizing everything 

Despite it being a bit silly, Thomas (Ken) almost got killed 3-4 times because the dice kept rolling 14s on his defense roll. Her burned through 3cp in Fleshwounds and he was not taking any untowards risks, he just got unlucky. 

This game I'm able to better cycle through significant actions unlike before. I feel that I'm better at giving players opportunities to shine in this session, despite how scary things got. 

I got to use almost everyone's disadvantages. Even got a Flashback kicking in for Peter, rolling a 5! Tasha's brother came into play, and I did my cream corn impersonation instinctively. The voice was so high James couldn't make out what I was saying and I couldn't stop cracking up. 

I can do certain impersonations, because you have to really give in to the role, but after the act the feedback loop of having done it and seeing yourself do it is hilarious. I really like the voices and the impersonations of RPing, it really adds something I can't yet define to the experience. 

Its easy for me to copy an impersonation if I get exposed enough and 10eps of black dynamite got me exposed to cream corn a lot. A black dynamite game should really be its own game... 

So given whats happened, I feel that I really have some improvements. There are times where I really don't know what I'm doing and I'm just going with the flow. There is really no way for me to connect X to Y, but I'll make a connection like a badly written TV show. I only prepared enough based on the Wishlist, but the rest is really a sandbox. 

So the Players ended up with 2013 3rd Gen Unarmed Kuratas and Destroying some of Wheel Chair Charlie's Compound. 

GM "As you escape, unnecessary explosion rip through the compound"
Players "Did you place any bombs"
Players "Not me?!"
Players "Where are those explosions coming from?"

Speedy's distaste for guns showed as he ejected the weapons. Steele (aka Black Dynamate) being a stunt driver, also took one of the Kuratas to drive. He basically, took one but took longer than speedy to figure out, but driving as one of his talents he was able to make it work. Using his Kung Fu he practiced on the remaining Kuratas.

Wheel Chair Charlie's compound was terraced wheel chair accessible compound so it basically allowed the mechs to come pick up the PCs after they rescued Fr Arbo.

I rolled a random event that would show up with the PCs having trouble in their approach, two Guards were having friendly "company" when Peter was trying to sneak past. They really out detected Peter which lead to a quick fire fight. A scene strategically described, with nothing very blatant.

The final badguy fight was a Helicoptered Badguy against unarmed Kuratas. Steel uses his chain gun nunchucks and throws it at the helicopter, being a Large Target it hits and brings it down easily. There is no point rolling damage, the helicopter has a gasoline explosion (instead of it crashing then exploding, typically a Bad disconnected consequence which is standard in the trope)

All in all it was a relaxing game and I had the energy to finish up this report.

IMTU Dreams of The Long Night

The Long Night's impact is still felt in policies, media, and cultural outlook of the 3rd Millenium. As much as there are still strong repercussions from the 2nd World War in the present, there is a very strong mental presence of the Long Night a thousand years after it ended. Imagine all the movies and stories one was able to take from WWII then multiply that in Trillions, that is how much media there is to be consumed about the Long Night. 

Unlike how people of the present treat the Dark Ages the advanced and enduring media technology has allowed such horrors of the Long Night be preserved at such detail and vividness that an event thousand years ago that lasted  ~2000 years is so ingrained in the psyche of the culture of the Imperium it can mentally scar those who peer into such macabre history. 

In the Imperium the amount of holo/vr movies and games that depict the long night are plenty, but none compare to the AI sensory recordings that have survived to the present. Complete sensory recordings of AI implants or AI infrastructure with their extended lifespan visualizing the human plunge into dark ages is so horrifying that no human has every consumed such study with an intact psyche. 

When the Long Night came, thousands of worlds, hundreds of Trillions of people experienced it differently and uniquely. There is in fact a Long Night Study division, part of the Psycho Historical studies in many of the major institutions of learning in the 3rd Imperium. There housed are a slowly growing library about the long night and what horrors have survived to be retold. This division works closely with the other sciences in order to prevent the economic and psychological collapse of the Imperium from happening again or at least prevent it from happening as terribly and long as it did. 

What many have done in desperation to survive are plenty, both inspiring and horrific. One of them will be discussed in more detail in an article I call, IMTU - The Transient Human Form.   

The Long Night Studies, is an economic and social movement in itself. Trying to prevent another Long Night is trying to create enough buffers and caches to protect the lives and trade of hundreds of Trillions of peoples that call the Imperium their home. Suffice to say, when economic surplus occurs, reinvesting the surplus in infra that would allow a system greater self-sustenance is a great driver in manufacturing and industry. 

The Long Night has also pushed many farther out of the empire, so strong is the influence of the long night many have chosen the life of Star Nomads (another article). Some Pioneer and Colonists have such a strong sense of trying to keep secure that they keep pushing outward, their so driven to keep moving that it has become an irrational programmed response. even if they knew its historical origins.

The Long Night may have been a bad dream a thousand years dead, but there are ghosts that have clawed its way to the surface.  The long night is the perfect set up for many many dark themes in a traveller game, and who knows, maybe the empire is slowly walking that fine edge. 

Some More Thoughts and Ideas 

• The Long Night is Coming. the dark motto of the Study Division that seeks to prevent it and prepares for the worse case scenario. 
• Some GoT in your Traveller, with messy messy human affairs amid-st an impending doom. 
• You can go Hellboy and have a division designed to fight evil creatures that have resulted from the Long Night.
• Cthuluh Mythos and the Long Night. Make that connections and BOOM! Definitely going to be part of my game, (if the players allow me lol)
• Visiting Long Night Ruins! Just visiting the graveyard of civilizations, where billions died a slow horrific death, but then something stirs. Haunted "systems" instead of Haunted houses. 
• Long Night Cults. there are those who seek to return the Long Night, those who view it as a perverse idealism. Your badguys. 
• Its basically your Mega Storage of Secrets. you want technology to be lost: Say it got lost in the Long Night. You don't want Meson Tech - it was lost in the Long Night. You don't want AI, blah blah blah Long Night. You don't want Beam Weapons blah blah blah Long night. 

there has been about 2 dark-ages that have occured in human history (to my knowledge it was Fall of the Roman Empire and simultaneous falls of Egypt/Hittite/Minoan Greek/Levantine Empires), people forgot the horrors and it takes imagination to understand how horrific those were... in the Long Night is a story that can be retold in vivid recordings and data. For the GM this is one of the BIGGEST treasure trove of stories.

Ai-yay-yay I can go on Blah Blah Blah Long Night

GURPS TDMS 2 - Special Feats

Margin of Success or Failure is a powerful tool, I only noticed GMs have run the system a long time. Any new GURPS GM can pick up this very helpful tool, but what I don't see alot is how to apply "Called Shots" or Harder Tasks with Greater reward.

In my open game system I tackled this and I believe it can apply to any other system. The basic rule is that in "Called Shots" the margin of success is penalty taken PLUS 1.5! Basically 50% greater than a normal feat.

So I'm a Cook in GURPS with skill-15 cook A, vs another Cook, B, with Skill-12. In a "Quick Contest",  A rolls 9 with a MoS 6, and cook seeing what A is about to do chooses to impose a -5TDM penalty by choosing to do a harder feat and reducing his chance to succeed to 7! IF B succeeds his MoS will be (5*1.5) 7 enough to beat A if not, it would probably have a high MoF which seriously disappoint the judges.

Margin of Success simplifies the system and makes the Roll Matter more.

In my GURPS game instead of rolling the "Dodge" Rules in a combat with 6 players in roll20 I asked them to make DX rolls to dodge an explosion they all could see coming. I allowed for the +3 from Dodge and Drop. The margin of success + Cover which adds an MoS of 5 divides the damage by the Margin of success.

Everyone who made the roll divided 25 burning damage by their MoS. One badguy failed by 5, so even with cover it was not enough, he took 25 burning damage straight. (Fright Checks seeing someone run around with 3 degree burns and still burning) for a couple of seconds.

Margin of Success Penalty
Sometimes we are using a very unusual skill for a particular task. Lets say I use Pyschology or Savoir Faire for Diplomacy checks, . other than the default penalty of about -5 to -6 another penalty one can impose is a shallower margin of success. You can half the margin of success if you feel that the handicap is not enough.

Reaction Modifier.
In Social Situations, typically I like using Margin of Success or Failure as a way to temporarily or permanently improve reaction score of a target. Of course there are diminishing returns for some strategy - Savoir Fair goes only as far as courtesy and thoughtfulness, while others are more effective among various characters. A simple rule of thumb is to half the MoS for the preferred "language" (the prefered social strategy) and maximise the improvement by one level.
Note that from Indiferent to positive, with enough time someone can convince another person, if it is reasonable and within their acceptable tollerances. So ideally there is not enough time OR there is other conflicting individuals who is against you, if you want a challenging social situation.

Details and Problem Solving

I'm not good with details, I'm just average. the only reason I'm considered "good" is because details are something people don't like to deal with and my mediocre work is something people are just glad to have. I've done some analysis of my methods and work and I really am in the mediocre range of the metrics I know because of BPO industry.

Unlike an accountant or a person whose training is in the details I'm really in the details because of opportunity. So I have a lot going against me... which brings me to how LOW the bar is set for details. If your counting on me for details, then the bar is so low you have to dig it out. 

But someone as crappy in details as me, and I'm still into details is kinda funny and a topic for another post. The bottom line is that details are essential for problem solving, and this is when we can't throw away the rules or where an abstract system cannot give you that nerd boner you can get from a really good mental puzzle. 

As offensive as Nerd boner can be, IME it best describes that irrational desire to unnecessarily complicate one's life. Funny that Games don't get more exciting unless the situation gets complicated, but fun stops when a system is overly complicated. The love-hate relationship of gaming and complexity is like a relationship with a crazy lover... the saying sticking your **** in crazy comes to mind when people have a relationship with a complex system (coughherocough coughgurpscough) and happen to have that complicated relationship with it. 

Its nice to know I gave up the more expensive crazy for GURPS LOL!

Sorry for being sidetracked, getting back into the topic - Details are really hard to make up on the fly, so systems with details: GURPS and HERO are awesome because the details are there and I can throw them out when I dont need them. 

In my games I've not been using GURPS combat "as is where is" and instead using simple significant action system: each character does something special and spot light deserving every turn (if my attention can juggle it at least). BUT when something interesting happens and everyone's brains get curious, we get into details that slow down everyone processing speeds, and I think that's a good thing. 

Since GURPS is pretty realistic I find myself taking expertise from the real world applying in the GURPS game. Funny how all the players were IT people, and I deal with IT in the BPO industry, so there was a lot of industry practices that was interesting in the context of spoofing an enemy's ability to trace where the players were hiding. Doing IT stuff with the freedom of all the money and the risks a PCr can take lolz! 

Anyway, details are just harder to make up. details make great Splat/Source Books. In fact they SHOULD be the content of Splat/Source Books instead of new options that test the limits of the game system and re-balance the power ecology. Details also should be disposable, and prepared in a way that if it gets in the way I can throw it out without so much reworking needed. 

Bottom Line - Details, good crunchy details are there, but when your playing and you don't have time for it you can ignore them. But they are they when you need them, and they are well made that they make good sense or follow a process that you can interpret on your own.

GURPS Traveller Lite Episode 02

They entered the Whangga System by its farthest gravity well, its 4th Gass giant. They attempted jumped pretty close hoping to save time and energy, they got more than what they expected as they soon found themselves in an Ice-field, moments as they exited jump.

The Rizzoli had several kilos of Ice hit its civilian hull, its old and faulty inertial dampers stressing at impacts. It took a few seconds for the entire system to show up in its sensors, all the data overlapping with the jump tape's most recent data coordinates in the 3d display of the main screen. It seems that the Stern Metal Horizon heat and density signatures seems to have increased in plurality, but it will be some time before light of the Rizzoli's arrival would reach and be processed by the ships in system.

Another unexpected sight is that of a station sized facility, orbiting the gass giant. The station was more in-system and difficult to detect except for the gravitic lensing that indirectly betrayed its presence. The Rizzoli was about 120 diameters from the gass giant and facility when a powerful electro magnetic burst from the station hit the ship and sensors warned of a possible lock.

Anthony, reacted quickly. Activating a Drone protocol quickly, and coordinating a evasive maneuver with Captain Vicky, they narrowly evaded the second surprise: A beam fire pattern targeting their previous approach. The drone bought valuable seconds and mili-seconds for the ship as the drive changed direction and the utility gravitics warped and absorbed the innertia that would have crushed the frail humans inside the ship.

The beams were invisible to the human eye, but to the ship's eye it was a deadly and beautiful brilliance of colors beyond the range of differentiation for un-augmented human senses. The evasion pattern Capt. Vicky next input through kinesthetic action and emotional response put the ship away from the stations line of sight and fire, driving deeper into the ice field where precious mili-seconds of signal sorting made the difference between life and death.

Byrnden and Vulgaris were both sorting through the data while holding on to dear life when the inertial systems stretched its limits. Vulgaris used his keen power of observation making sense of information detected while Byrnden tried to reached out across what was about 4 light seconds away.

Vulgaris came up with several points - low heat signatures for what should be an active station and minimal activity. Byrnden's senses cannot detect sentience or possibly cannot push his senses that far.

Anthony, was barely recovering from the jostling when the inner system signatures have begun moving at 6Gs at their vector.

++++++++++++++++

Isbel Tascioni, Director of Marketing and Sales of CGE appeared before Countess Regina Perez. The countess did notice her enter, she was busy giving her secured approval for several documents until Isbel cleared her throat.

"  My Lady." She let out as Regina looked up.
" I'm sorry Isbel, just give me one more second... and that's done.... How can I help you." 
"  My Lady, the Rizzoli I've given them your thanks."
"...and how did they take it?" Regina peered over her glass HUD, while keeping her head over the hard copies she was imprinting.
" Quite well, they were so busy fussing over it they almost forgot about everything else."
" I'm just glad for they were there at the right time and place."
" That is wonderful my lady." Isbel would smile with her mouth, but can't bring her eyes to light up.
" I sense 'But' there Isbel." Regina stood up from her desk and walked over to view the ocean from her office. Not looking at Isbel, as she hid her own thoughts."
" I don't want to speak out of turn... "
" Isbel, I wouldn't be where I am if I had an aversion to truths my trusted officers had to impart." 
"... well, my Lady. Didn't you find it odd they were at the right time and place? Are you not awfully suspicious who they are or if they had any motives?"
"Paranoia comes with the seat at the head of the table. It did spring to mind that the circumstance is more that how it seemed. As much as I am a victim of circumstance, I can very well see that they were as well."
" Still, my Lady, 2 million gift voucher at our port facilities is a very generous gift."
" How much would you have  put a price for the life of a Countess, Isbel?"
" I don't mean that, but the MOU and exclusivity were both already very generous offers."
" I don't think I would negotiate what it means to impart good faith Isbell. Anyway, this is how I felt after they saved my life... I felt like being generous. "
" Quite a rare feeling, my lady. Us being in the business that we are in."
" I will allow myself to feel grateful once in a while, especially when it seems they were people who were merely passing by."
The door behind Isbel lit up, and asked in a polite tone: "Sir Jed Greene, to see you my lady"
"Send him in."
Isbel continued, it seems "Jed is back"
"My Lady. Isbel! good you're here too."
Jed gestures, swiping information towards the smart wall.
"I've done background checks with the Rizzoli and there were some 'yellow-flags' that lit up, but they are not so bad. Their credentials are ok for a C-D class merchant company, many gray areas to consider but not enough to fail them for the Roupe Expansion project."
Isbel cringed a bit "I still object to giving them 70M worth of equipment and 5M worth of androids to deliver". I know its Roup but I would rather have an A-Class merchant hauling the shipment, then I wouldn't feel bad paying them A-Class rates."
"You can save your 'I told you so' when they screw up Isbel, not before. They saved my life, I will give them that much benefit of the doubt. Sometimes all anyone needs is a chance."    
"Well now?" Jed stated to allow them to focus on the more pressing matter. "On the matter of the fire fight, it seems we have bigger problems than a C-D class merchant company with a hundred million in equipment..." Jed motions and a new image appears on the smart wall.


Players present
Anthony Palmer  +Justin Sandock
Byrnden Animal Handler +Mateusz Sierzant
Vulgaris Security Expert  +Garry Profaci
GMT+8 Wed 6pm every other week. next session is next week.

[Warning Mature Content] GURPS Modern Fantasy Session 03 Update

From the Point of view of Petier

Warning Mature Content, please skip this if your easily offended.
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The Jackals

       The Slums were oddly quiet, except for the grunts of a beating.
       "If you werr nutt 'reedy zoo daaaamn ugl'e, We rape yo' ass" said by one of the Jackal men. Their necks and the side of their faces had ritual scarring, that of a tribe she knew was long dead and forgotten.
       They worked her for over an hour, but for her it would have been an eternity. Walta prayed, through cracked and shattered teeth. These men didn't really want information, she could tell because they had not asked for any, they just enjoyed ruining her and cutting pieces of her up. They enjoyed seeing her humiliated by sticking things in her.  She prayed that she would go unconscious, she prayed that they grow bored and tired, and she prayed for the very sweet end.
       The angel of death did not come, who came instead brought with him the scent of a corpses bloated under a hot sun and pestilent with flies and rot. The sound of flies buzzing filled the room, and landed around her wounds and open legs. Walta had a wandering eye, but you could not tell from the swelling that disfigured her face. That eye could see things she could not explain, things that were there but no one else can see. What she now saw, she hoped was just a dream, a very bad dream.
       "I see, you softened her up for me...
       ...you didn't need to do that."
       The voice was grating like gravel against gravel, his teeth were sharpened, but bright and clean. She could not see his eyes beneath the jackal mask, but the dead eyes of the creature he wore was suffice enough to freeze her blood and numb her. She tried to cast a spell, but what remained of her tongue made her realize who she was dealing with.
       He chuckled in a way that made the walls and her bones shudder.
       "You will tell me everything... "
       "I don...." she said through a mumble.
       "You'll know..." He smiled and the poor creature he used as a head piece fidgeted as he put it down and showed her his face.
       "Ha' appa'tment...find da Gals tings. Ha' 'ed eh! " "She's famous, you can find out whe' she lives" "She's wid da white you' looking fo."

The King Maker

       Khaho'oor was as big as a bus, with maws that can crush a small car. It dragged the body of the bony demon along the smooth marbled surface of the palace. There was no one there save for a gentleman in a business suit, holding his wine glass and sipping it quietly. Its seven eyes watched the man very cautiously, never betraying the caution and that possibility that it was more afraid of him.
       "Your Djinn violated my territory, lives of my charge, and veil! He was made to pay, and his creatures too, but I spared his corporeal form!" his voice reverberated within the sound of a fierce echoing growl. "This should serve as justice."
       "Does it!" the gentleman replied so graciously. "Well then... it seems you have your justice..."
       "This is justice! His fire killed many of my charge, many of yours have answered for that... THERE WILL BE NO MORE KILLING!" Khaho'oor seems to grow larger and has it steps closer to the gentleman.
       "This is not justice, something of mine has been taken from me and you have aided these thieves. Your people are to pay." He said is a flat tone.
       Khaho'oor lunges at the man only to be wrestled down by the beaten Djinn. The darkness around them suddenly begin to fill with many dark eyes and shambling forms begin to swarm the massive bus-sized rotting dog.
       "I will be taking you with me..." 
       "And what, who will protect your people? I have bought your land just a moment ago and signed up contracts for a development to take place over the sacred ground. You will have wasted your form, and I will have a new development with no more pesky ancestral guardian to bother me."
       Desperation grew with hopelessness, Khaho'oor was ready to face the end but not to fail his charge so easily.
       "I have a perfect place for your people, a new decommission mega freighter I can use as slum ship. Your people will be living there when I'm done, the whole tribe of Khaha'li will die a death for generations working for me... never ever touching their sacred land again"
       "The more reason for me to take you with me..."
       "Or you can help me regain my property, undue your mistake and I will promise not to lay claim to your land." The creature paused to consider, "Oh you know my word is good, my words have power." The shambling things and the darkness that grasped the Dog creature eased as it slowly poised itself to submit.
       "Now then, lets see how much of a Dog spirit you are, sniff out my Lilim"