Adventures Assemble! OOC

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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Fascinate will be difficult, if not impossible. They perceive themselves as being in immediate danger which breaks Fascinate.

You just saw the fallen foes disappear into shadows. Convincing them you can protect them is a major uphill battle.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Apologies for not being clear, either AEGIS person can fly the VTOL. One is pilot and the other is co-pilot.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

I want post today, but I am very worn out from the weekend and still have a deadline to meet, so I may be delayed a day
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

No worries. Weekends are slower for posting, so feel free to get some rest and post when you can.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Celeste looks like Teresa Palmer from Sorcerer's Apprentice

Blonde, attractive. She isn't really showing the pregnancy at this time. She is still in her first trimester.

Remember, they knew what she looked like enough to target her out of the group at the beginning of the fight.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

kenseido wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 6:45 pm Celeste looks like Teresa Palmer from Sorcerer's Apprentice

Blonde, attractive. She isn't really showing the pregnancy at this time. She is still in her first trimester.

Remember, they knew what she looked like enough to target her out of the group at the beginning of the fight.
So probably not then.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

You can burn an HP for a Disguise Kit, and make a check. It would be at -5 since you have so little time to do it.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

I am not sold on the disguise method since the chance of success is not high enough. For example, nightbird's deception is 7 and amethyst's is 10. That's 2 or 5 after the disguise penalty. That would give less than a 50% success rate against mere PL 5 enemies. A risk is acceptable, a 50% success rate is not.

However, at this point I am hesitant to suggest anything. What I do want to know is how to defeat a readied action. By the RAW, I do not see any way to cancel someone's readied action.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

Some sort of distraction can defeat a readied action. Under normal circumstances, interaction skills could break a readied action. The earlier combat does limit some of that, also that they seem to be under threat of death for failing.

Also, since a Readied action has to have a fairly specific cause, doing something that they aren't "ready" for wouldn't set it off. It can't be "If something happens, I do this."

As far as disguise, while they do know well what she looks like, they don't get an automatic check by the person being in their presence. If presented the right way, they could have to take an action to verify, thus breaking their readied action. It would probably only be one of them, but it's still possibilities.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

I have to agree the odds on using a disguise are just not good enough.

Out of left field but what about maybe Gelert & Moonlight combining an attack to throw the plane into the air or slam it into the ground to knock everyone off their feet and then storm the plane.
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

There are four things about this scene that frustrate me. First is the "walking in minefield" effect. I don't have any means of knowing what the trigger for their readied action is, so I run the risk that any distraction or failed distraction will result in the hostages getting killed. I feel like I can't reasonably formulate a strategy with a high chance of success because too much is in the dark, and any actions I make to explore or develop the scene risk triggering a irrecoverable failure instead.

Secondly, you said
kenseido wrote: Wed Apr 26, 2023 7:13 pmAnd I won't intercede to save any hostages.
I don't expect you to fudge the dice or just hand the heroes free victories; I don't expect there to be no setbacks, or for the heroes to win every encounter. But this is a very strange place to drop this kind of do-or-die scenario. If this were some overpoweringly strong villain and a major plot point, then sure. However, against nameless mooks, I would imagine that saving hostages should be an average Tuesday's work for a superhero. Easy and routine.

Thirdly, this kind of setback is one for which there is no recovery from failure. Heroes who are captured may escape. Heroes who are defeated by a villain may look forward to a rematch. This kind of thing adds drama and suspense, and that's great. However, losing 2 hostages to nameless mooks over a careless mistake is an indelible stain on the characters' competence. We will forever look like morons. This is not the kind of setback that is fun to play against.

Fourthly, Amethyst has int 12. You really should have given her at least a save to remember that the jet's landing ramp was open. I'm scatterbrained, forgetful and stupid IRL; my character is none of that. She should be sharper than a knife.

So much of what we've tried has been ruled out. Persuasion doesn't work. Deception hasn't worked. Stealth doesn't work. Fascinate doesn't work. Perception attacks don't work. Disguise doesn't work because our chances of making a check are too low. We don't have magic. I have various ideas in mind involving power stunts; however, I suspect such brute-force methods (stunting countering effects and piling on bonuses for a high roll) sit poorly with you given how strongly you shot down my suggestion of a perception attack.

I've been bashing my head against the wall on this puzzle for over a week now; and it's actually starting to give me actual, real-life stress and anxiety. I've been trying to grin and bear with it because I appreciate your effort in running the adventure for us and don't want to be excessively critical. But now I don't know what to do anymore.

I'm spending 3 HP for GM inspiration and edit scene to skip past this scene in exchange for Amethyst suffering a complication (we can say she was injured freeing the hostages).
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

This is supposed to be challenging. That's why everyone was given 2 HP for it.

This is also supposed to a "team challenge" meaning "can't be solved by one or two individuals."

Interaction skills won't work on their own. But combined with other efforts, could. Disguise, on it's own, has very little chance of saving the day. Perception attacks CAN work, I just said making them Selective would need a serious justification.

When I said I wouldn't intercede, that only means if you were to do something crazy and rush the plane, I am not going to be a nice person and just let it work.

But if everyone is decided they can't solve the issue, then the team can choose to refund the 2 HP each was given for the setback (only 1 for Gilliam since he already spent 1 HP on the issue), and I will have Jason resolve the matter.
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Gilliam
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Gilliam »

Another option I was thinking of was Moonlight filling the hanger or area with blinding light to counter any darkness attempts and then send Celeste towards the plane with Amethyst having a readied action to throw up a forcefield in case of any attack. While they see Celeste coming then say Gelert stunts his stun attack to an area perception inside the plane.

The risk would be that the pilots fail their rolls before the Ninjas which means they will react.

Otherwise unless anyone has an idea then it may be best to refund the HP and move on.
Ysariel
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by Ysariel »

kenseido wrote: Wed May 03, 2023 11:47 amBut if everyone is decided they can't solve the issue, then the team can choose to refund the 2 HP each was given for the setback (only 1 for Gilliam since he already spent 1 HP on the issue), and I will have Jason resolve the matter.
Regardless of how this challenge turns out, it would be a gross abuse of your power to have the GMPC do that. You're a much better GM than that, and I think you know it too.
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kenseido
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Re: Adventures Assemble! OOC

Post by kenseido »

I am sorry you feel that way, but this is a team challenge, and I am not going to let one person solve it, even if they spend a lot of HP.

I think you all have played with me long enough to know that I like seeing teamwork in any resolution, and all of your ideas have been around 1 or 2 PCs resolving this.

I don't want Jason to resolve this. I even mentioned that to you privately. But I also don't want people getting so frustrated with the game that they mentally give up.

I would also add that we discussed another aspect of your complaints privately long before you posted this, and you assured me it was fine. So I was quite surprised to see it come up as an issue now.
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