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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:

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Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
(Sorry, madame gm-- crosspost which rendered my post,irrelevant.)

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Ah, rats. Whatever it was, I'm sorry you deleted it. If it was in any way about RPG or about anything on any of the three current RPG threads, it would have helped me, because I would be helped by multiple perspectives on this, or even just seeing the questions others might ask.

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Well, the short version. Was, "consider the GM God." DT was a little more detailed than I was.

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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
You have created a character I don't fully understand,

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Posted                         

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
You have created a character I don't fully understand,

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Interesting! Is this unusual?

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
Try this.

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That was funny.

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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
It seems as if Arabella contains assumptions from some other system,

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Originally posted by IngoB:

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
Try this.

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That was funny.

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
I have tried googling for a concise rpg explanation - but they all start, it is really difficult to explain to someone who has not played before and then go onto describe D&D 3.5ed character generaton/combat. Which I feel would be rather misleading.

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.. and I think an important thing to keep in mind is that we are testing specifically to come up with adequate rules-- meaning, once we nail those down, things will be much more streamlined.

So, AR, when I brought up character control, it was not so much tat I was annoyed-- a little overprotective, maybe -- it was that players having control over their character is a basic, vital part of roleplaying. Pointing out that incident was a good way of pointing out that rule-- nothing against Banner Lady, but it was a good way to bring it up.

And that's what this thread is about-- nailing down those important dynamics and explaining why they are important.As we do that, things are going to be light on creativity and heavy on analysis, but once we get rolling all the time we take to do this will make sense.

[ 18. May 2014, 01:34: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]

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I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
IRRC Banner Lady, IngoB, Gwai, possibly also Gwai and Kelly. I think that JFH and Hart have played before but not for some time.

(Ingo has a lot of MUD experience though.)

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Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I think what Madame GM is trying to point out is that all of us are rusty in some area or other, so IMO cohesion will be most quickly achieved if we do our best to trust the GM.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:

And so I've been really frustrated that where I thought I was just being creative within what was wanted, turns out that I have to Ask Permission. And that's a really bizarre smack of icewater to get when you're deep in a creative mode.

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
IRRC Banner Lady, IngoB, possibly also Gwai and Kelly. I think that JFH and Hart have played before but not for some time. Not sure about Jay-Emm.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
Kelly, your improv example gives me another useful way to think about this.

I'll take the point about boundaries engendering creativity.

However, I can't take the analogy too far, because if I were doing improv, I wouldn't ask the director, and I certainly wouldn't ask the other actor whose character's last name I was about to use, for permission. I would just say "Look, it says Hesther Van Adescant!" And the other actor would not ask the director "Who is she?" No, the other actor would gulp, vow to seek revenge on me later for lobbing this at him, and in the moment make something up.

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the best I can say is that it's something reminiscent of leading the fellow player to a water is ok, but starting to push their head down underneath it is not...Before explaining anything else, I should add that the bit about pulling another player's head underneath the water refers to forcing them to drink, not drowning them (although they might feel a little like that).

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Originally posted by JFH:
I'm a little surprised at how little people talk to one another and how much we just focus on doing our own things, actions and moves.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
So what's going on? Are we in a different crypt? Is the setting-back-up of the coffin an important plot point, the solving of this mystery being part of the quest DT is continuously and creatively setting for us?

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Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by JFH:
[qb] I'm a little surprised at how little people talk to one another and how much we just focus on doing our own things, actions and moves.

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Originally posted by Kelly Alves:

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Originally posted by JFH:
I'm a little surprised at how little people talk to one another and how much we just focus on doing our own things, actions and moves.

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I agree-- I think if we talk to each other more (in character)and learn about each other more, we will get a feel of how to work together.

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I suspect that this might be due to there being a couple of Clint Eastwoods in the party, and not that many Mexicans to give them something to talk about. Ok, Brandon, let's stage some funny talk instead, shall we? How's it going without that belt?

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"I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable."
Walt Whitman
Formerly JFH

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
Breakdown

So if I have this roughly right:

Agreed Basic Principles [...]

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Dubious Elements

We are unsure about spawning minion combat.

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We are unsure about regenerating nemesis combat.

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We are unsure about real time combat duration.

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We are unsure about all combat encounter posts occuring in meta, then being transferred to the story thread, vs. direct story posts.

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Aspirations
We want to move from skills, to backgrounds.

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We are considering communally run characters.

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We want to consider using "one unique thing" in character generation.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:

Here's another contradiction where I don't understand the culture: Arabella saw an overturned coffin as she and Daniel left the crypt. DT described an upright coffin as the party entered the crypt.

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
Tri-stat dx combat would translate well for a proprietary system, if we take body to be muscles, and mind to be wits. I think it could be dropped straight in for combat heavy campaigns without having to rewrite its combat system at all.

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Stats
Characters in Tri-Stat have three main Stats:

Body: a measure of the character's physical prowess and health.
Mind: a measure of the character's mental capacity and intelligence.
Soul: a measure of the character's spirit and willpower.

Derived Values[edit]
Derived Values are determined by mathematical formulas based on the values of the character's Stats.

Attack Combat Value: (ACV) [(Body + Mind + Soul) / 3] which is the focus of all the character's Stats to determine their bonus to Hit an opponent during combat scenes.
Defense Combat Value: (DCV) [(Body + Mind + Soul) / 3 - 2] which is the character's ability to react against incoming attacks.
Health Points: [(Body + Soul) × 5] which is the amount of damage a character can withstand before they are knocked unconscious or killed. These are similar to hit points in other games.
Optional Derived Values:

Energy Points: [(Mind + Soul) × 5] an optional Stat used for fueling certain superpower Attributes. When a character runs out of Energy Points, they can no longer use that power.
Shock Value: [(Health Points) / 5] for more "realistic" combat scenes, when a character suffers their Shock Value in damage, there is a chance they can become stunned.

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• OK Wits (Mind) = 3pt
• Excellent Finesse = 5pt
• Useless Charm = 1pt
• Useless Soul = 1pt
• Good Muscles (Body) = 4pt
• Good Vigilance = 4pt

• Attack Combat Value - 3 (rounding up)
• Defence Combat Value - 1
• Health points - 25
• Energy points - 20
• Shock value - 5

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Time in Tri-Stat is measured in Rounds which represent about 5 seconds of real time. Rounds are linked together in Scenes. A Scene changes when the specific events and places happen to change in the game. For example, a brawl Scene in a bar would change if the fight is moved out to the parking lot. During a Round, a character can take one of several kinds of Actions, such as Move, Attack, or Defend.

Combat can be seen as a bunch of contested actions made against particular adversaries, however the character uses their Attack Combat Value as the number they must roll equal to, or less than, to score successful attacks against the opposition. Their ACV can be modified by Combat Skills, like Gun Combat, and any Specializations with a particular weapon to score a better hit against the target. Characters roll for Initiative (2 dice + ACV), during a Round of combat to see who goes first. The higher roll "Gains Initiative" and allows the character to either take action first, or hold and wait to see what their opponent does.

Resolving damage[edit]
Characters can take damage from either suffering an injury or from an attack in combat. Each attack has a Maximum Damage Rating (MDR), which is the total amount of damage points a particular weapon or accident situation can inflict upon the victim. When an attack makes it through a defense, the defender takes damage from the attack. Depending on the Power Level of the campaign, the damage is rolled with 2 dice and consulted on a Damage Percentage Table. The particular roll will indicate that the target took 25%, 50%, 75%, or 100% of the attack's MDR. The attacker's Attack Combat Value is fully added to the resulting percentage of MDR to determine the total amount of damage inflicted upon the target. Damage is then deducted from a character or object's Health Points.

Critical Hits are inflicted whenever an attack die roll comes up as a 2. The attacker automatically hits the target (who cannot defend against it). The target then suffers double the MDR of the weapon plus the attacker's ACV in damage.

If a character loses all their Health Points, they fall unconscious and are dying. If their Health Points drop to the full negative amount of their Health Points they die. For instance, a character who has 25 Health Points dies when their Health Points reach -25.

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• Wits (Mind) = 9
• Excellent Finesse = 15
• Useless Charm = 3
• Useless Soul = 3
• Good Muscles (Body) = 12
• Good Vigilance = 12

• Attack Combat Value - 8
• Defence Combat Value - 6
• Health points - 75
• Energy points - 60
• Shock value - 15

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Originally posted by Doublethink:
{Newbies are...}]Not sure about Jay-Emm.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
For example Eliab has just had Gunriana propose to the prince that the prince pay off and dismiss his current retainers. How is that not messing with the structure of the game? I don't mind that he did it; I think it's creative and wonderful. But from the (completely befogged) understanding I have so far, it seems like one of those Too Creative Not Allowed (Unless Negotiated) items.

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Originally posted by Autenrieth Road:
Eliab at least acknowledges that there are unwritten expectations. But I don't know how to obey that piece of culture "don't wreck the game." The experienced players can dance right up to the line but not over it. But I am inexperienced and I won't understand what they're doing and where the line is. So it doesn't feel entirely safe any more to just try to imitate what other players are doing. I thought I was trying to imitate what others were doing up to now, but it turns out I had totally missed the point.

On the surface it may look like I was doing just fine. But I know the thoughts I had underneath the surface, and generating the surface, and it turns out I was mistaken in a large part of my thinking. So I am quite nervous about this game now. But I also think I would really like it, once I learn the culture. So I really really want to learn the culture.

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