Typical

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

@Vertigo I’m fine either way, but I’ll get a post up before tomorrow for sure. I’m probably just gonna have Pebs derail continuing to kick holes in the door for rummaging through the cabinets.

~ Phantom Thieves of London: The Calling ~

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Merja “Mer” Aaltonen

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^{Courtyard || Tuesday Morning || @Addamas@FalloutJack@Savo}

A familiar, scowly voice sounded after Mer asked her question, and she cringed back, turning to see none other than Alex. As someone who called her out on the daily—or as often as she was in his presence—he was someone she struggled to like as much as she respected. There were a lot of rough edges with his character, and Mer couldn’t say she enjoyed spending time around him, especially since most of that time saw her struggling away with biology as he sped ahead and Joey trekked along somewhere between them. Still, he was smart, hard working, and often correct, so she couldn’t fault him, even if he had a tendency to slam her with some brutal honesty every now and then.

His particular word choice, ‘indecisive,’ was an accusation he’d shot at her before, and it was perhaps his most common jab at her. Though yes, she’d been able to catch herself at times these days, thanks to the penchant for his accusations to leave a mental mark or two, Mer still had a hard time shaking the habit. To her, the confidence others brandished with ease seemed almost unattainable, existing only as a constant, faraway dream that she might one day hope to mature up to. But, then again, she had thought she’d naturally develop that same confidence by the time she became an Evergreen senior, and here she was at that age with none of the presumed confidence.

Alex’s next lines, though, were aimed at the boy in the tree, and they sadly contained all the barbs that Mer had come to expect of him. Cringing on the climber’s behalf this time, she glanced up, then around the courtyard, looking for some member of the school staff to appear and resolve the situation. Unfortunately, there seemed to be none available, likely a side effect of the current time.

Ava, thankfully, took the entire situation better than Mer did, even bursting out into laughter when the boy in the tree responded. She was quick to snap back at Alex, too, about his shot at the climber, and Mer sent silent thanks to her grinning friend for being the supportive voice against Alex's harsh one. That thanks, though, stopped when Ava continued, citing her own desire to climb the tree, and Mer had to take a second to process what she was hearing, mostly because she couldn’t believe anyone would want to climb the tree in question. Here they were on the campus courtyard in the early morning, waiting for class to begin, and Ava thought it’d be a good idea to climb a tree?

“Ava, no,” Mer said, touching the shorter girl’s arm. “He just suggested he might fall, and he’s taking pictures now. We should go find some staff to help him down before he hurts himself.”

Looking back up at the boy, Mer hesitated, then glanced down at the people around her, hoping someone might say something else. But, catching Alex’s eye, she grit her teeth and looked up again, cupping her hands around her mouth to help her voice carry.

“Hi, do you need any help getting down from the tree?”

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

// edit: I literally can't.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

@Alamantus Totally fine. I'll take lengthy, thorough explanations over short and vague ones any day. Thanks for the explanation though, that clears things up (esp since I'm not doing any calcs for probability/statistics either. ew, math). Leaving room for a lot of GM decision is probably the right way to go with this system, considering sometimes things can go pretty wrong despite being all "right," but yeah I guess a 3-4 success is enough in most cases.

On the current door issue, in my head, Duncan busting down the door was always a no-brainer, and while yeah the latch probably wouldn't give since it's the wrong way 'round, the door would. That said, to help the whole situation along, I'm gonna have Pebs tack on a dice roll for Gumption. Fingers crossed and... 3. Well, since they're hitting the door itself this time, hopefully that works (or at least prevents injury. Honestly we should just roll again @Vertigo, after maybe searching the room. Feel free to write in Pebs helping however it works.)

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

//edit: Ignore this, quoted my own post. I hate writing on mobile.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

Oooo assisting is a thing, and it’s half the number of dice rounded up so I can have Pebs tack another dice roll on (though I’m not too sure about my luck after that 6 last time lol) but hey maybe we’ll be able to get a double.

You think I should just throw one @Vertigo?

//edit: as a side note, I do agree that the system seems a little skewed towards the middle/not success for my liking. Mostly, I don’t like that even a level 6 gumption can fail at a basic check if they roll poorly. I feel like certain actions should be a no brainer (ie a 6’6” basketball player breaking down a hollow-core door. If execution and everything is correct, I feel like Duncan should definitely succeed unless there’s something otherwise enforcing the door or something.) I have little to no idea how you’d fix the current system as it is, but those are my concerns.

I suppose this is where I ask: for this system, if someone rolls all 1’s / failure, do you make up a situation as it comes, or do you have situations planned ahead of time? Like in this case, if Duncan definitely failed, would that situation/condition that led to his failure be somewhat planned ahead of time? @Alamantus

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

@Alamantus Gotcha, I will admit I only skimmed what I found important to my last roll in the rulebook, so guess I’ll take a look at it again before asking next time. Glad to know that it’s not a bell curve system though cuz like... yeah. Bell curves, man.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

First off, BUST IT DOWN still works if we’re just fighting the hollow-core door, so just trying/rolling again would work right @Alamantus

Secondly, what’s the point of throwing more dice at a time if it’s just the averages? Doesn’t that kinda make results gravitate towards 3/4? So having more dice will reduce your chance of getting a both a positive impact success and a failure. Is that the goal then, achieving an average action score despite possibly becoming high-levelled in a stat?

Pokémon: Legendaries Reincarnated

Garvey Dalloway

The Five Senses

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Ferris Talese

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^{@Pezz570@HokumPocus}

The innkeeper’s instant fear of Ferris was clear, but Ferris didn’t mind much. While it might impede some interactions with the man for the time being, the innkeeper wasn’t a permanent part of the group, and with his lack of magic, Ferris wasn’t too concerned. The innkeeper wasn’t someone Ferris felt he’d need, not after the innkeeper served his purpose and led the group to The Watch.

So, as the innkeeper led them onwards, muttering under his breath in an effort to keep himself calm, Ferris focused on his surroundings instead, unmasking to keep a tab on any magic use around them. Enemies without magic likely wouldn’t take them down unless the enemies far surpassed them in number, but large numbers naturally drew attention, so that’d alert the group automatically.

When the air around them offered no indication of foul play, Ferris focused instead on his teammates, attempting to commit their specific scents to memory. His adept power was a bit finicky, relying on his sense of smell since he was forced to choose between activating his powers and using his powers to detect magic use in his surroundings. Still, it was a useful power, especially for keeping track of people. Different types of magic smelled different, and if he focused on single scents, they too smelled distinct, like unique scent prints that varied per person. Upbringing, temperament, and age could all influence the scent, as Ferris had found, but he was largely unable to differentiate which factor was contributing to which aspect of a specific person’s magic scent, mostly because there were likely a lot more factors that affected the scent but that he wasn’t aware of. In addition, it was hard to pick up the underlying scent markers, and usually Ferris found that he had to go through a lot of trial and error as well as spend a decent amount of time around the person. And, even more, the person would have to use magic on a regular basis for Ferris to be able to actively track them, but thankfully most magic users he was tracking had a habit of doing just that.

In this case, Chres’ Touch-based magic smelled of the usual pine, but, with the scent fresh and strong, Ferris picked out an unusual sharpness to his scent, which Ferris would have thought to be the smell of Octavio’s Sight-based magic except that it was still strongly pine in its nature. However, it may have also been because of the familiar, Sil, who smelled of the rusting metal most familiars did. Other than that, Chres’ magic also had lighter notes of a sweeter nature, and though the sour-like scent stuck out like a sore thumb now that Ferris was thinking about it, he knew he’d have to double check another day before he could conclude anything.

Octavio’s scent, on the other hand, made more sense. Pungent vinegar was doubly echoed by the smell of his lynx familiar, who provided the sourness a metallic touch. Under that, though, Ferris found minor notes of a somewhat kinder scent, but he couldn’t place it well at the moment. Floral or fruity, most likely, but he’d have to check back later.

Some strange glances between Chres and his familiar clued Ferris in to the mental conversation being held, and he was almost glad he didn’t have to deal with a familiar. Far and wide, familiars seemed to be more trouble than help, discounting the companionship they offered.

A moment later, the fairy familiar elongated into a ferret, then back into her usual form before speaking aloud about… Puddles? Ferris looked on, bewildered as Chres expertly maneuvered his familiar into being someone else’s problem before turning to him with a question.

“Used to this sort of thing”—Ferris supposed he was. Not many people would say they liked him or trusted him, but he didn’t need someone’s complete favor or trust to be able to do his job. It was helpful, of course, and Ferris appreciated the rare times when someone really didn’t care, but only because it made his job easier. Past that, whether or not he had someone’s liking or trust was superficial and rather meaningless unless they might hold use to Ferris in hos future ventures, so the remark about distrust being unpleasant evoked few thoughts when it came to the innkeeper.

“I suppose I’m used to it by now. It doesn't affect my job, and it’s not like I can convince them otherwise without time and effort.”

He paused.

“I’m glad you both handled it better than him, though.”