Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

NAR! Here, shoots a little to the left.

Everything is in tubs and ready to launch, I have a fleet of sturdy carts, and a cargo van to load it all into. I've found that I can either do the games or the logistics, not both; just not enough stamina or energy, these days. Somebody else will have to organize things, these days...

Originally Posted by thomsonX

chirine ba kal:

I assume that when playing, a character succeeds at something that is their Original Skills or Professional Skills unless something specifically says a roll is required.
Is this correct? Someone once said that the "likelihood of a spell working" should be used for Skills as well.
This seems not fun to me but, is it the way you use the rules?

The EPT rules say spells, some Eyes, and other magical devices attacks
are "automatic hits" and the only defensive possible against them is a successful saving throw.

I always assumed that if there was a serious question of a Skill being successful then a Saving Throw could be used.

Thank you for the great question, and welcome to our little corner of the forum!

I'm assuming that you're looking at EPT; Phil's usual practice was to assume that if you had the particular skill you more or less knew what you were doing, and usually did not have us roll for success on something unless he thought it was a particularly hard 'test'. At that point, he's ask us to roll percentile dice, and use our stats for the roll we had to make. In my case, if it was a skill like 'lock-picking', I'd have to roll under my DEX of 89 to succeed. I don't recall him ever using the same mechanic as the spell-casting roll for skills; he held that casting spells or fighting in a melee was inherently more difficult then something like 'Astonomer-Navigator' - "Chirine, roll." "I'm a 98 Intelligence, and I rolled a thirty-five." "Great! You're near the Tsolei Islands!" "Crap." And so on.

I am sort of genuinely surprised to hear about the idea of using the spell roll for skills; Phil just didn't do it that way, in both EPT and S&G. Which also leads into the 'automatic hits'; again, this is how Phil envisioned his world worked - but he also felt that it made for better adventures is the targets could have the chance to make a saving throw. It's like in melee or other combat, where if you killed something it still got a 'dying blow' in against you - which tended to make us very, very careful about combat. I think the only time he didn't allow this was when we had total surprise on something, and were hitting it from behind in a sneak attack.

I think your assumption is pretty accurate, and certainly well within what Phil used to do. I play the same way, and it seems to keep the action moving along.

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

Gadzooks! Vinyl! Love my LP collection, a lot of goodies in there. Hendrix, Jethro Tull, all the Who albums... I'm going to have to go and fire up the Victrola. Ya, you better hide it.

Shemek.

ELO is about as new as I get; lots of Gregorian and Byzantine chant, early music, and a very treasured recording of Mozart's glass harmonica compositions.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

She is, which is one of the many, many reasons we've been together for over twenty-five years. She's stable, right now, and we're trying to keep it that way. She had a nice little outing today, going out to play the ponies - it's the Kentucky Derby this weekend, one of the High Holy Days in my horsey wife's calendar - and so far she's done quite well; she placed bets on the pre-Derby races, and made back all of her monty and then some.

Expert knowledge might help betting. Who knew?

Well, collecting props and stuff for gaming comes - I think - from my time in theater and show production. Phil did this, of course, and that was what got me started. Anybody can do it, in my opinion, if it suits their play style. The game's the thing, to mangle a quote, and my 'education' in gaming, gamesmanship, and games presentation came from two master showmen named Dave and Phil.

Again, anyone that can store the props. I barely have room for my training implements.
But I get it that most people in the USA would have the space. And this is good advice for them.

I'm always reminded of that lump of two pounds of grey Plasticine, Gertie...

...a doggie, I guess?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Thank you for the great question, and welcome to our little corner of the forum!

I'm assuming that you're looking at EPT; Phil's usual practice was to assume that if you had the particular skill you more or less knew what you were doing, and usually did not have us roll for success on something unless he thought it was a particularly hard 'test'. At that point, he's ask us to roll percentile dice, and use our stats for the roll we had to make. In my case, if it was a skill like 'lock-picking', I'd have to roll under my DEX of 89 to succeed. I don't recall him ever using the same mechanic as the spell-casting roll for skills; he held that casting spells or fighting in a melee was inherently more difficult then something like 'Astonomer-Navigator' - "Chirine, roll." "I'm a 98 Intelligence, and I rolled a thirty-five." "Great! You're near the Tsolei Islands!" "Crap." And so on.

That's a lot how Runequest tends to work!

BTW, if you didn't have the skill, how did Phil proceed?

Also, I assume you can deflect dying blows? Or are they autosuccesful?

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Everything is in tubs and ready to launch, I have a fleet of sturdy carts, and a cargo van to load it all into. I've found that I can either do the games or the logistics, not both; just not enough stamina or energy, these days. Somebody else will have to organize things, these days...

Yeah, I understand that. The logistics are incredible. I remember some of the games at conventions where there'd be three of four of us hauling equipment until we were all pooped, and we were much younger then. It's just not something one person can do at our age, sadly.

And it remains a problem. I got into a TRACTICS game Thursday morning at GaryCon and it was lovely, but by the time the ref got ALL the stuff there from his car and got the game ready to go, he'd burned his hour of setup time and two hours of game time, so we only got to play two turns. Pity, really; it was a truly lovely board, and looked like a great game. Mike Reese, TRACTICS author, was on the other team. After the end I peeked at the board from HIS point of view. Oh, had he prepared a nasty surprise for us...


Actually, my "shoots a little to the left" comment was a response to "You have been doomed to spend eternity pushing an overloaded cart full of unsold gaming stuff endlessly through the access tunnels underneath Cobo Hall." To which my thought was "I'd shoot myself." "But you're already dead," replies Lord Missum. "Drat," says I.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Ha! And how many years have we been seeing this, my General?

Heh. "A long time ago, in a convention venue far, far away..."

Really, folks, if you've never done it, you have no idea how gut-wrenchingly weary one gets by the end of the last wargame convention of the summer.

From AsenRG:
Expert knowledge might help betting. Who knew?

She's written a book on the subject, and can recite the heritage of any race horse back to the turn of the last century. She factors in weather, track surface and conditions, the jockeys, and everything else. The Allies went into Normandy with less information then she has at her fingertips, and when she gets out to the track it's hysterically funny to watch all the grizzled old experts shut up and try to look over her shoulder. The Derby went well for her today, and she's showing a very clear profit this evening.

Again, anyone that can store the props. I barely have room for my training implements.
But I get it that most people in the USA would have the space. And this is good advice for them.

Oh I agree! Paper card models, stuff that collapses down for storage, cloth sheeting for terrain, anything that will save space. I run into the same issues, even with my spaces; I try to use as many things in a multi-purpose way, for the same reasons. Storage is always an issue, even for me...

...a doggie, I guess?
\Nope; Gertie, the Great Golden Dragon, and terror of Blackmoor for decades. That lump of clay terrified us, let me tell you!

BTW, if you didn't have the skill, how did Phil proceed?
Also, I assume you can deflect dying blows? Or are they autosuccesful?

He'd have you roll percentile dice, with the roll being under whatever stat seemed the most applicable. And yes, and no; dying blows were rolled for just like regular ones; they just had more panache.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Yeah, I understand that. The logistics are incredible. I remember some of the games at conventions where there'd be three of four of us hauling equipment until we were all pooped, and we were much younger then. It's just not something one person can do at our age, sadly.

And it remains a problem. I got into a TRACTICS game Thursday morning at GaryCon and it was lovely, but by the time the ref got ALL the stuff there from his car and got the game ready to go, he'd burned his hour of setup time and two hours of game time, so we only got to play two turns. Pity, really; it was a truly lovely board, and looked like a great game. Mike Reese, TRACTICS author, was on the other team. After the end I peeked at the board from HIS point of view. Oh, had he prepared a nasty surprise for us...

Actually, my "shoots a little to the left" comment was a response to "You have been doomed to spend eternity pushing an overloaded cart full of unsold gaming stuff endlessly through the access tunnels underneath Cobo Hall." To which my thought was "I'd shoot myself." "But you're already dead," replies Lord Missum. "Drat," says I.

There's the argument for six a.m. setup times. I can see the three hours of setup, but not the taking of two hours of game time. That's just 'not on' for a GM at a convention. Which is why I specify in my 'show kit instructions for event organizers' that I need to be stationed in one place, with one table set, for all my events. I can do four hour long games with a one hour turn, but not if I have to do logistics moves around the venue.

Oh, right, gotcha. Yeah, that did get old, didn't it?

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

Heh. "A long time ago, in a convention venue far, far away..."

Really, folks, if you've never done it, you have no idea how gut-wrenchingly weary one gets by the end of the last wargame convention of the summer.

Agreed. It's a job, and not very fun one at that. The worst part, for me, was the scarcity of provisions; we'd have been better off sending out foragers to the local farms.

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

Agreed. It's a job, and not very fun one at that. The worst part, for me, was the scarcity of provisions; we'd have been better off sending out foragers to the local farms.

Crom, yes. That, I must say, Luke and GaryCon have taken care of to a treat; there are volunteers with carts of water and snacks serving the GMs, and the venue has a sandwich menu for the con available til 10 PM. A hotel chicken cutlet sandwich may not be five star dining, but the fact they will bring the damn thing to your game table and let you put it on your room is a lifesaver.