Yes, although for most situations where that would apply you could also use your Ghost aspect. It may be better to up Ghost to a d10. However, yes, you do have the math right. 4XP gets you a d4 Aspect, 6XP will raise that to a d6.
Well. Damn. That's a freaky startup. I'm going to try to avoid nightmares tonight, and fail, all because of you, ADS. In all seriousness, though, I'm looking forward to seeing how the heck this works out into something that isn't a total loss for our guys.
Yes, although for most situations where that would apply you could also use your Ghost aspect. It may be better to up Ghost to a d10. However, yes, you do have the math right. 4XP gets you a d4 Aspect, 6XP will raise that to a d6.
I'll raise Ghost to d10.
I like the notion of out-sneaking the sneaky bastards.
Well. Damn. That's a freaky startup. I'm going to try to avoid nightmares tonight, and fail, all because of you, ADS. In all seriousness, though, I'm looking forward to seeing how the heck this works out into something that isn't a total loss for our guys.
Thank you!
The cool thing is, you guys can actually have a total loss and it doesn't stop the campaign. My intro post describes one possible total loss scenario, and it's just Red Dawn with spacemen.
Let's say you wipe out the entire Imperium. The game still needn't end - it just turns into Star Trek - go places, explore, find new species, etc.
I had a lot of info to dump on everyone, and I didn't get to all of it unfortunately. You'd learn from Varos that the gold automaton thing that negotiated for Greene was their Emperor. An avatar of the Emperor, one of seven such beings. Their Emperor is a single man, however. Varos doesn't really understand how it works, especially since to control or inhabit these things in real time you'd be breaking the speed of light.
Varos' implants interface with his nervous system. They allow him to use those bodyguard orbs you fought, which are frisbee/Gateway level technology. They also let him pilot, but they're not necessary TO pilot the Imperium's craft.
The Imperium have no psychic powers. No alien species they've encountered has psychic powers. The jellyfish (Cyllans) come close, but their mind-reading ability stems from their senses. They communicate through electromagnetics, and so a properly trained jellyfish can discern what a human is thinking from reading their brain currents. They can communicate back by stimulating small bioelectric feedback. That's why talking TO them is painless, but having them talk to you hurts like hell. They communicate in concepts and thoughts, not words, so they make the ultimate translator. Their "speech" modules simply translate their native bioelectric currents into audible speech.
Punkey, when you get back or have a moment, which one would you like to start with? I'd say historically Varos is more likely to have information but he's a tougher nut to crack if it comes to that. Arketta was really tough at first, but she's been broken during the downtime and she's actually more cooperative than Varos at this point. Problem is, she's a grunt and privileged information will be beyond her.
This isn't a briefing that ends up in you guys going through the gate today, unless that's your plan. You CAN wait till you have two Gates, but I didn't want to drop that on you guys without you having a say either. We can move up the timeline a few months too - think of this briefing like in Civilization or Sword of the Stars when you've got a little bit from many research trees, but nothing's fleshed out yet.
So far all advancements made have been from actual skill rolls, mostly Max's, with help from Luis. The frisbee was the only real failure, and that was because I rolled a 12 on the difficulty. The armor proved to be the most successful roll, which is why you have prototype anti-beam weapon strike plates right now.
Well, if it were up to me, I'd like a fully reverse-engineered set of turai armor fitted with a homegrown electronics system so they can't mess with it through some sort of root access, but anti-beam body armor is also good.
I don't think we should go through today. We still need to agree on a mission, assemble the gear and a matching team, etc...this'll take some time.
The hours approaching, to give it your best
You've got to reach your prime.
That’s when you need to put yourself to the test
And show us a passage of time
Were going to need a montage (montage)
Ooh it takes a montage (montage)
Sure a lot of things happing at once,
Remind everyone what’s going on (what’s going on)
And when every shot you show a little improvement
Just show it all or it will take to long
That’s called a montage (montage)
Ooh we want montage (montage)
And anything that we want to know
From just a beginner to a pro,
You want a montage (montage)
Even rocky had a montage (montage)
(Montage...montage)
Anything that we want to know
From just a beginner to a pro,
You need a montage (montage)
Ooh it takes a montage (montage)
Always fade out in a montage,
If you fade out
It seem like more time has passed in a montage
Montage!
Well, what's their positions relative to each other, psychologically? Arketta's cooperative, but is it because she's scared shitless of me, is psychologically broken and feels abandoned by the Imperium, or is she going all Stockholm? What about Varos? Is he just not cooperating out of spite, or does he think that he'll still be rescued? What's their relationship between each other like at the moment? Do they even know if each other are still alive? I think that Arketta doesn't know about the location of the LBB, but she probably knows it exists. Varos might know, but there's still questions I have that Arketta can answer.
Arketta's not scared of anything, pretty much. She's angry, but over the months you've redirected it at the Imperium. Plus there's the angle that you guys ARE their Homeworld. Why shouldn't you be in the right?
Varos is more uncooperative partially from the fact that he knows he's the ONLY person on Earth who knows what he knows. You can't go get some other Imperial official (although kidnapping someone in the know might not be a bad objective for the mission). He has a lot of hate as well, but it's directed at Earth. His job was a sort of half-inquisitor, half-archaeologist. He spent his entire career searching after places like Earth, ancient ruins of long-forgotten species, and breaking other alien species to the Imperium's will. He finds that Earth isn't living up to his lofty expectations, and he's more than a little resentful.
Whether they know each other are alive is up to you.
I'd like to wait until we have three Gates, and find out how to call between them. Put one in MN, and the other two at oppisite ends of a big underground tunnel a few miles away from the middle of nowhere. Opperate the pair by remote, and it gives us security from "Sunballs" when the Gates are active. If they "call" the MN Gate (the current one, which would be one of the new pair in the tunnel), they'd be stuck in a tunnel, maybe 100 feet long. That'd be easy to handle, gas 'em, shoot 'em through the other Gate, whatever. Meanwhile, they can't really call Gates they don't know exist, so the Pit is only accesible (until we reveal it) to our guys. Or, if that's too complex, frak it.
On another note, the mention of Stanhill's grasp of the subleties of Turai in the intro post. Does this mean he's fluent, as in I can say anything I want IC and the Turai will get it?
Your plan isn't too complex for the US government. If it is your guys' consensus that 3 gates and a subway tunnel will keep Earth safer than 2 gates or even 1 gate, then you'll get your tunnel. It takes an estimated 8 months to build a Gateway using the keg (which is really the size of a warehouse now). You're 4 months into your first "new" Gate.
And yes, Luis aced his Languages rolls. He can speak Imperial without any befuddlement. He will have an accent, as will all of you. A successful roll from Max, Hugh, or Luis will allow you to disguise your accent for a few sentences. Semo, Angel, and Davis can also speak and understand Imperial - they just don't have the option of disguising their accent. That can change with practice. If you hold off on the missions while the Gates get built, hell yes you'll all be fluent.
Okay. The tunnel thing was just an idea, sort of an airlock against Sunballs and troops instead of the vacum of space or whatnock. If push comes to shove, we could do the same with just one Gate, move the current one into the tunnel, put the new one at MN, figure out how to call between them, then use it as described.
Oh, one more pie-in-the sky idea: launch a pair (or more) of Turai lozenge-powered (assuming we can get ahold of the right keg) probes, and launch them out into Saturn or Jupiter's orbits, use them in concert as a gigantic radio telescope to look for, say, incoming enemy deathfleets and whatnot.
As far as plans of attack go, I think that we have to leverage our one advantage for all it's worth: surprise. We're outgunned, outnumbered, we don't know shit, and we haven't even seen the best of the best in the Imperium's army. I think that we find out where that list of enemies is, get it, and then after we get some firepower, backup, and most importantly, intel on the Imperium, we hit them deep in their own territory, wherever we can make a big, fast impact. Think Doolittle Raid in early WW2, where we sent a very small task force right up against the shores of Japan and bombed Tokyo, except we don't have to ditch the planes into China. That way, we throw them way off balance, score a big morale and psychological victory, and we show our new allies that we're serious and we can do some damage.
I sent Punkey some answers to Angel's IC question. I'm going to be out and about past this afternoon till tomorrow night. Punkey did mention he'll be interrogating Varos first.
For the interrogation (or car chases, or swashbuckling), I have a system I like that's at its core ripped off of Spycraft. Basically you and Varos are trying to reduce each other's Will to zero. The thing is, interrogations become a little more two-sided if the victim has hope of rescue, or you need the information on a deadline, or whatever. Varos' only options are to 1) convince you of false information or that he doesn't know, 2) hold out so long you give up (which is where a new interrogator steps in, not so good for Varos), or 3) forces you to kill him (a worse option).
The interrogator's main two weapons are Talk->Persuade and Will->Intimidate. Other traits can be used with common sense. The victim mostly resists with Will->Willpower, but can attempt to counterattack with Talk->Persuade.
The important part is what your stakes are. You set what you want to learn at the beginning of the interrogation. Punkey might say something like "I want to know everything Varos knows about the Imperium's enemies", and I might set my stakes as "Varos convinces you he doesn't know anything". I could even set stakes like "Varos will be set free"... it wouldn't necessarily prevent you from learning what you want to know, but is it worth the stakes? Then we roll back and forth, and one of us will end up with zero Will points left. There are compromises based on how badly one of us loses. If you win with, say, half your Will remaining, then I get nothing and you get about half of what you want, or you get everything you wanted and I get half of what I wanted.
There's also the possibility that we needn't resort to a duel like this. Only if Varos doesn't want to answer your questions. Basically Punkey, you'd have to state your intentions first so I know whether I even want to resist.
As of right now, it's just a friendly chat. I want to delve a bit deeper into how he feels about his job before I start making moves on him. I'll give a little, he'll give a little. Just two guys talking. However, if the plans I sent you for Arketta could move forward ASAP, that would be great. I need her to be ready for when Varos is at the right stage, if I want to break him just right. Or would you prefer me to request that IC?
Operation Smoothtalk Arketta can be in place now, that's fine.
What we'll do then is get an IC response from Punkey to Ivan's question. We'll set up the interrogation scene, and then get a gameplan once you've gotten your answers. You guys are pretty much planning the campaign at this point.
Admiral Duck Sauce
e of pi
punkey
Gatac
