ARRPG BRAINSTORM PRACTICE SESSION!

So, what's the question? "Are we moving?" or "Why aren't we moving?"

For simplicity sake, maybe you can use your regular characters from your game?

Time to test out a fresh fudge dice script installation!

4d

all is looking well.

@BESW Both, I think. "What's going on and how can we fix it?"

@doppelgreener Hrm. I don't have that script, it would seem.

jinx

Do I owe you a soda now?

Okay, so we'll focus on "What's going on?" A good brainstorm should have a pretty straightforward question about something that's happening, not seek to tell us what to do next. The answer will lead us to an action, but the answer should be a statement about the world.

I will be playing as Major Jessie Farman, I suppose.

The question will be: "Why does it seem like we're both moving and not?"

Got the script, cheers.

I will be playing as Charles Babbage, a brain in a cyborg body. (Which in this scenario will look like a diver suit.)

Did you ever make your analytical machine?

Cool. So. Which of your aspects will you compel to take part in the brainstorm?

@Smurfton Undetermined in the game thus far, but probably not.

I am Near-sightedly inquisitive! This is a wonderful thing to consider, and it'll take me away from all that boring important paperwork I have to do. I've already used some fate points, so I've got two left, this one will bring me up to three.

I'm a Hardcore grease monkey and I can't resist a chance to fiddle around with the ship's engines.

Excellent. First stage, the difficulty is +3. Choose a skill you wish to use and roll.

I'm going to use my stunt Practical Rocket Science to roll Vehicles (+5) to examine the engine.

I'm going to use Undernautics, the science of navigation inside caves, to try and examine the cavern around us with a telescope and see if we're really moving through it. This'll be at +3.

4d

4d

I have +2 total.

I have a total +4 on my Vehicles roll to examine the engine.

Major Farman gets to formulate the first fact. What will it be?

Babbage is going to be beaten to the punch by Jessie!

(one victory scored).

Although I'm unfamiliar with steam engines, so far as I can tell The engine is working as intended.

Fascinating. That's an aspect with one free invocation on it.

Stage two! Difficulty is +4.

@Magician Right! Babbage is going to use Mathematics (+5) to calculate how many knots we're going at in speed.

@Magician Jessie will use her rocket boots to get an aerial perspective on the situation. (Notice +4)

4d

4d

Hahaha

WELL! I'm going to spend one of my fate points to bring my +4 up to a +6. I'll invoke the fact I'm a victorian mathematical genius. And victorians were all about boats, too!

RNGesus doesn't like you guys today

@doppelgreener Alternatively, there could be a minor cost. But fate points are there to be spent.

I have a +2. I'll let it sit, as Jessie didn't factor in the cavern's crosswinds.

@Magician I like this actually. I use up the ship's rope stores! What? I thought we had more than that. Why would we leave all our good rope just lying around on the deck? (No free invoke, we just don't have any spare rope anymore.)

[is buffeted wildly]

what were you using the ropes for? You weren't tying them to things, were you? That's not how you calculate how many knots you are going.

I'd like to know that, too.

He's calculating knots, so obviously he needs a lot of rope if we're going fast.

@Smurfton To measure knots! It's actually done with rope with knots tied at regular intervals which you throw overboard.

@BESW I already made that pun

@Smurfton But it's not a pun!

Learn something new every day!

It's genuinely how knots are measured!

INDEED

So, what fact have you discovered, Babbage?

But its not by tying ropes to random things

Cool. So, Babbage gets to set the second fact, having scored the second victory.

@BESW I have discovered that We're going surprisingly fast, relative to the water. (It's how he lost some of those ropes. He had to re-verify it, and forgot to tie them down.)

Almost as if the water was going in the opposite direction? :)

That would be rather shocking if it were the case!

I think the only way that works is if you get pushed.

But, knots are measured relative to water, so that's what I've got.

@doppelgreener Indeed!

I saw all you guys in here and Greener pinged me a bit ago

Did he?

we doing something or is it too late? XD

@trogdor We have just completed round 2 of a brainstorm.

They brainstorm-ing

not in this room but I assumed it got moved over

cool

And now, third stage. Difficulty is still +4. So far we know that The engine is working as intended and We're going surprisingly fast, relative to the water.

Jessie straightens herself out in mid-air and zooms off to find the landmark rock. (Vehicles +7, including the stunt granting +2 for creating advantages with Vehicles while airborne)

wasn't the highest roll +6 in the last round, or am I remembering badly?

only need to beat it by one

Babbage has a chart for undernautic examinations! He forgot about it before. [spends a fate point on second stunt, 2 left.] I can now use Mathematics for Undernautics, and inspect the cave's surroundings at +5.

@Smurfton No, he took a minor cost instead.

Right, but magician said difficulty of +4.

@Smurfton Because without the invoke he had a +4.

@BESW I thought he took both. Okay.

ah

4d

4d

WELP.

gg

Jessie gets +5 on zooming around the landmark.

I get a +9 on examining our cavern surroundings.

....Jessie gets distracted by a merman.

of course XD

I think it's more that she can hear the triumphant buzzing of Babbage's crank even from up there, spinning at a dangerous speed.

@BESW too bad he isn't hot, but he is cool

XD

weren't you in an ocean?

@Smurfton An underground sea.

But I'm really curious what Jessie's going to find over there. If BESW's okay with it, I spend my free invoke on measuring the speed of our boat - now Jessie knows a bit more about our speed and can more safely fly over there. (Giving her +7.) Also, I spend one of my fate points (going down to 1) on the situation aspect Dark Caves to help Jessie avoid getting distracted by mermen, it's too dark to spot them easily out here. (She's at +9.)

Jessie, would you care to use your free invoke or a fate point to succeed with style for this fact?

I do want To be an outstanding hero for justice! [spends fate point to stay on task]

...and so Jessie discovers a disturbing fact: The landmark rock is only visible from the ship.

You can tie and both discover a fact! Two facts!

We can!?

Ooh, yes. [takes back Fate point]

@doppelgreener Two facts, but only one victory.

So it says. Only one victory, though. Well, two because of the roll.

True! Because it's a tie with style.

....how odd.

So, Babbage, what do you discover?

A stylish tie.

Woohoo!

Brb, I trust you can handle it :)

@BESW We're not moving relative to the cave above. The cavelights above aren't moving past us.

This is all very disturbing and confusing.

@BESW It is! Shall we hypothesize?

Yes!

4d

This is just a raw 4dF roll, highest wins.

4d

[bows to Babbage]

We're caught in an illusion and getting dragged into a whirlpool.

Oooer.

BESW, you should really get that dice problem checked out.

I believe that some sorcery has us lured into a false sense of security, but whoever it is must be an amateur and a fool! They didn't even make the rock move! And we must be just barely working against the whirlpool's current.

@BESW Huh. I thought it was a skill roll.

Excellent. That's, indeed, a plausible explanation.

@Magician It's not entirely clear. Could be read either way, I guess.

@Magician Oh hey, it is a skill roll. The hypothesis example on p137 has everyone pick skills. @BESW @trogdor

Ooer.

@doppelgreener oh

ok

I sit corrected.

Redo, I guess?

I kinda was surprised when someone said it was not a skill roll

I'd just stick with this usually. I'd only opt to redo if I was interested in what BESW would hypothesize, which I can do now with no dice rolls at all: BESW, what hypothesis would you create?

@Smurfton I don't think that's necessary.

@Smurfton Nah, there was a difference of +3 on our raw rolls. Specific skills wouldn't have mattered unless one of us picked a MUCH lower skill than the other.

@doppelgreener I was leaning toward "caught in an illusion" too, actually!

Lovely!

Cool, thank you both for doing this, should hopefully work for my group as well. And now I've gotta run.

cool this was nice to watch, even if I only got here for the tail end of it

ttfn

It was fun.

Now that we know there's an illusion here, I'll urgently take Jessie to the workshop to invent some kind of machine that'll gauge who the sorcerer is, and if they're on our ship at all.

and then we'll probably have to ask some hard questions and then throw someone overboard.

lol

You may have to first convince her not to whip out the Time Gun and see if she can speed the engine up to break away from the whirlpool before breaking the illusion so we can see where we're going.

oh no no nO NO NO NO NO

THAT CANNOT END WELL

[self-compels Addicted to action]

well now we've just got a group compel for our engine breaking down sitting in our laps or something.

Hah! That's the boring kind of not working.

... our engine is amazingly fast but also we can't stop?

That, or... this.

@BESW "I've got bad news and good news. Turns out steamship engines look really cool when they explode. Now, who wants to see how cool it is, and who wants to work on the evacuation plan?"

@Magician Also I agree with BESW, it was fun! :)

Turns out the unmoving rocky thing was a projection from the horn of a giant angler-like fish-monster-thing, its lure. They tried to fight it, but quickly reconsidered and sailed away at top speed. There may be an illustration tomorrow.

Nice.