I'm not sure about making that last bit a fact. Isn't that why we're playing the scene? He might not taste freedom. -- TrevisMartin -- 29 Sep 2006 - 01:08:06

Well, he can certainly make it a Fact that Galesi thinks that. I'm not sure whether that's what you were doing, Mark, or not?

Also, you don't have to pay a coin for dialog between characters you control. -- JohnHalsey -- 29 Sep 2006 - 13:23:21

Condider Ryle's promise to taste freedom a small prophecy, and you'll see where I'm coming from. From a game persepective, making it a fact allows me to use it in support of any complication rolls where Ryle is trying to become free. Sneaky eh? But prophecy always is... -- MarkWithers -- 29 Sep 2006 - 18:44:03

So, is someone else supposed to take a turn with no challenges then? This is my first time playing, and I'm still kind of watching to see what's supposed to happen. -- SeanHess -- 30 Sep 2006 - 06:43:35

Oh yeah, I probably should have pointed out that I have finished framing the scene and pass my turn. Technically, we should now proceed in turn order, now I don't know that order, although alphabetical seems the fairest way of doing it to me. So that's you Sean. If you want, you can add something cool to the scene, or just pass and see what Travis, Trevis and Dave have to add. Of course, anyone, at any time, can pay a coin to Interrupt and do some stuff. -- MarkWithers -- 30 Sep 2006 - 09:42:22

OK, a couple of questions. Do I narrate that much? Can I go until I pass, or someone interrupts, or can I only spend 1 coin? I guess I should go read the rulebook better Anyone have any suggestions? -- SeanHess -- 01 Oct 2006 - 04:39:29

Hi Sean, I think we had an informal agreement that people would spend a maximum of 10 coins worth of narration (maximum, not required) before waiting at least 2 hours before posting again.

In 'regular' uni you can keep going until you decide to pass or someone interrupts. -- DaveMG -- 01 Oct 2006 - 08:07:39

... and I'm done with my turn. Next, please! -- TravisCasey -- 02 Oct 2006 - 05:09:34

Hi Travis, would you consider changing that last statement to "She's a prophet." I think the concept is great, but I'd like a more open ended concept of Prophet. I'm not sure I'm concerned enough to challenge, but wandered -- DaveMG -- 02 Oct 2006 - 14:59:07

I second that ... -- SeanHess -- 02 Oct 2006 - 15:06:18

It's amazing how much a single article ("the" vs "a") can change the direction of the entire story! For the record, I would not be opposed to leaving it the way it is. I know that's probably not what Mark had in mind, but half the fun of Universalis is seeing how other people take your story and run in a different direction with it. So, if Travis wants to keep it, I might well back him in a challenge, just to see where this goes. -- JohnHalsey -- 02 Oct 2006 - 15:43:07

I'd prefer to keep it. All we really know now is that CaptainHowe believes she's the prophet -- that leaves it open that he could be wrong, or she could be a false prophet, or any number of other possibilities.

If Mark doesn't like it, since he's the one who named the scene "the Prophet", I'll reconsider. But I think that if he had a particular prophet in mind, he would've gone ahead and nailed it down, rather than leaving it open for the rest of us to mess with. -- TravisCasey -- 02 Oct 2006 - 16:16:06

Ok, I'm cool with Howe believing that she is the prophet, and that it may wrong. I'm moving my support over with the "thes" (Pronounced 'thuhs'). -- SeanHess -- 02 Oct 2006 - 17:04:43

Next!

Do you all have the new rulebook or the old one? I only have the old one so I don't know what clarifications/changes Ralph has made. (Yes I plan to buy the new one at some point.) I've seen some stuff I don't remember like no charge for dialogue between components you control. I think as far as "events" go, I'm used to paying for broad events i.e summing up the above as "Ryle broods in cell" "Conversation betweeen cap and guard".

We also used to play with a lot of color. i.e. we mentioned stuff but didn't pay for it (it had no mechanical weight in challenges etc.) -- TrevisMartin -- 03 Oct 2006 - 08:14:12

I've only got the new rulebook, so I don't know what changes were made. Everything looks good so far, though. -- JohnHalsey -- 03 Oct 2006 - 14:04:24

I've got the old one as well, but so far everything seems pretty close to the way I'm used to it. I don't think we ever actually paid for dialogue when I was playing in IRC, but I do remember the rulebook mentioning it, so I'm fine with it. So far, I've basically been not paying for dialogue when the dialogue is itself a way of introducing something that I'm paying for. -- TravisCasey -- 03 Oct 2006 - 18:44:35

.

Hey, this really doesn't apply for Dave's post, but I was afraid if I put it above, people would miss it. In light of our discussion over dialog, I thought this thread I found would be helpful: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=17573.0 -- JohnHalsey -- 04 Oct 2006 - 17:41:04

Also, Dave, I'm a little confused--did you create two new guards and give them each stun batons? I would have thought they were just Color, but then you said the stun baton was a Trait...? -- JohnHalsey -- 04 Oct 2006 - 18:45:15

Hi John, it was intention to make a character that represented several guards at once, without the use of Master Components. So, I've made a 'Guards' character with the traits of 'Armed with Stun Batons' and 'Scared of Ryle', giving an importance of 3. Hope that makes sense, I'm working from the older rulebook so maybe things have changed? -- DaveMG -- 05 Oct 2006 - 07:47:12

I think things have changed, but I'm fine the way it is if everyone else is. I was just confused because there was no new component page... do you guys think we should make new pages even for small components like Guard #1 & 2? -- JohnHalsey -- 05 Oct 2006 - 13:53:28

Let me know if you all think that should be a Miniscene and I'll pay the extra coins; I figured since they were so close by and likely to intersect very shortly, there was no need to make this a seperate scene. Also, I wasn't sure what type of Component to make TheCouncil^?. Character? Location? Master Component? I'll let someone else decide when they flesh it out ^_^. -- JohnHalsey -- 05 Oct 2006 - 14:06:28

I'm pretty sure TheCouncil^? would be be a Character. If you want the truth, a component is a component is a component. We're just seperating them out all nice. And... she has a vendetta? Hmmm.-- TrevisMartin -- 05 Oct 2006 - 22:06:53

Are we dead in the water? Whose turn is it, anyways? -- TravisCasey -- 09 Oct 2006 - 03:40:39

By turns it's Mark who is up next. But of course any of us could interrupt -- TrevisMartin -- 09 Oct 2006 - 06:16:28

Are you allowed to propose tenets out of turn? If so, I propose one:

If the player whose turn it is does not post something within 24 hours, his turn is forfeited, and it becomes the next player's turn, at which point the 24 hour time starts for the next player. Of course, if the skipped player had some great idea, he could interrupt (costing 1 coin) and post before the next person does.

What say ye? -- SeanHess -- 09 Oct 2006 - 14:50:55

I'm in favor of it. We're supposed to be at least checking here a couple of times a day, and it helps prevent the "I'd interrupt, but I might want that coin later..." problem. -- TravisCasey -- 09 Oct 2006 - 15:56:40

I agree, as well. Sean, I guess that makes it your turn.

Hmm, I just noticed that Mark hasn't posted anything since Sept 30th, that I can see. Mark, you still out there? -- JohnHalsey -- 09 Oct 2006 - 17:26:18

I agree as well, which makes it a quorom or something... -- TrevisMartin -- 09 Oct 2006 - 17:31:53

I'm in favour of that kind of Tenet, hopefully no one will feel excluded, but it means the game should beetle along more steadily -- DaveMG -- 09 Oct 2006 - 17:51:17

I want to pass right now. I'll interrupt later when things get more where I want them.

-- SeanHess -- 09 Oct 2006 - 17:54:10

Dave, it looks to me like you were about to have Ryle start some trouble. If that's the case, I think there should be some challenge. I'll pay the coins to take control over Mick and the guards if I need to, but since I've got control over Elaissa right now, I think it'd probably be more appropriate if someone else took control of them. Just a suggestion to move things along! We seem to be losing steam swiftly... -- JohnHalsey -- 10 Oct 2006 - 15:20:32

Don't get discouraged John! I don't know what happened to Mark but we can't let it get us down. For any of you who haven't played Uni before, complications are your lifeblood. If you don't use them you'll be out of coins pretty fast. I'll post within the next few hours. -- TrevisMartin -- 10 Oct 2006 - 15:53:31

Mick [1, control] watched Ryle warily, he knew these Genemods were capable of some tricky things. He lets out a breath. It'll be fine. Only two days and he'd be back home with his family [1, Trait ] and hopefully done with this rock forever. Mick moved to block the door[1], and drew his Pistol [1, Trait ]. The two guards [1, control] reached their positions, stun batons at the ready.'

"Ok Galesi," Mick says "Hands behind you, slowly."

-- TrevisMartin 04 00 -- 10 Oct 2006 - 17:12:18

Complication time I imagine. -- TrevisMartin -- 10 Oct 2006 - 17:17:58

K, I can't narrate any more until the complication... I don't really know how it works? Can I force a complication to occur at this point?

I want to control Ryle in the complicaiton, and I'm willing to pay for it.

-- SeanHess -- 10 Oct 2006 - 18:10:55

Sure, all you have to do is declare the complication and what traits you're going to draw on for dice. In a F2F game we would go back and forth assigning dice, which we maybe could do here. In other PBP games I've played it usually go that each side declares all the dice its drawing or purchasing, after 24hrs, when no more things are declared, then we roll. I think we should do all the mechanics of it in comments. And I would really like it if the cycle before deciding to roll wasn't that long. Look at a conflict in say SunsetGossip^? for an example. If anyone has any more suggestions about how to run this...

Also. I know the rules have changed re: the edge die. How does that work now? It used to be that if two players tied in successes then the person with the highest sum of die values got an edge die in the reroll. -- TrevisMartin -- 10 Oct 2006 - 22:18:34

That sounds the same as it is in the new edition.

I'm anticipating that this scene is moving towards a climax conflict of something like "escape the prison compound," with this conflict being just "Ryle attempting to escape the guards." Am I correct? -- JohnHalsey -- 10 Oct 2006 - 22:36:02

Yes, John, I'm thinking the same thing... This is for him busting out of the compound.

Ok, I want to draw on Ryle's * Naturally Strong * Capable of adrenaline flooding * Incredibly Fast * Is a GeneMod (Genetically Modified Human) * Wants Payback * Heightened senses

And the fact that he's made a previous attempt (experience), that the guards will be distracted because the other prisioner is early, and that they are afraid of him.

That will make a total of 9 dice. Any challengers? -- SeanHess -- 11 Oct 2006 - 15:20:07

Don't forget to draw on his name, as well. In the revised ed., at least, the fact that a character has a name adds a die to anything they attempt.

Also, I believe you have to pay for their distraction and for the experience, right? (the "they are afraid of him" was already bought as a Trait) -- JohnHalsey -- 11 Oct 2006 - 15:44:02

Ah... thanks for the reminder about the name...

As to the distraction and the experience, I did pay for them, although not in those words... I wrote "The wounds the guards had receieve last time were just a test", and "The new prisoner was early" ... which meant that he had an opportunity to escape during the transfer.

Does that make sense?

I'm up to 10 dice then. -- SeanHess -- 11 Oct 2006 - 16:32:27

Ok then, I'm going to take control of the MysteriousPrison component. I'm adding the traits of in confusing tunnels and arcane security system to MysteriousPrison ( TrevisMartin 03 00 ) and then drawing on them for 2 dice. I'm taking dice for MickTheGuard's name, security guard and pistol traits for 3 dice. I'm also taking dice for the guards and their stun batons for two dice. That's seven dice total. If you're good with those go ahead and roll, or does anyone else want to jump in too somehow? -- TrevisMartin -- 12 Oct 2006 - 07:30:36

10 Dice for Ryle vs 7 for the Guards seems about right -- DaveMG -- 12 Oct 2006 - 14:01:04

Sounds good to me.. I've given it a couple of hours, so I'll roll.

Here's the result: (holy cow!) -- 3, 5, 4, 1, 5, 2, 5, 3, 4, 7

This gives me: 9 successes! Dang! That was a good roll! Good luck there Trevis I'll narrate it later today. Can you still buy bonus dice? It's probably not even worth it!

-- SeanHess -- 12 Oct 2006 - 16:18:46

Nope, I can't buy more dice after the rolling has begun. And since we closed the complication we're supposed to roll all the dice together (My book says the originator rolls all the dice) Since you have 9 successes and I only have seven dice I'm not going to roll. I get 7 coins and you get, geez, 32 coins so

TrevisMartin 00 07

SeanHess 00 32

It's your narration -- TrevisMartin -- 12 Oct 2006 - 16:56:12

Hmm... ok, I have a problem. I know some things that I want to happen, and some of them are chronological. How can I spend my bonus coins on those without having to narrate every single detail in between.

I want to leave some of the details to others, and I don't want to have to narrate EVERYTHING that happens between the current moment, and what I'm going to buy as facts happens.

How can I do this? I could just buy coins as to what I want to happen, but that's pretty boring... -- SeanHess -- 13 Oct 2006 - 23:04:31

I'm not exactly sure I follow you, there. The person who wins the conflict must narrate how it resolves, but the only conflict here was just Ryle escaping from the guards, not the prison in and of itself. There are other Character Components that might want to get in on that.

So, just narrate How Ryle deals with the guards; then, if they're still alive, Trevis gets a turn to narrate some damage control before it moves on to Travis' turn (since it was your turn before the conflict). -- JohnHalsey -- 14 Oct 2006 - 10:46:05

Ah... I understand now. I misread your comment earlier John, I understood the opposite of what you intended. Read my comment right after that one..

Also, trevis drew on the Mysterious Prison, and its "arcane security system" and its "confusing tunnels."

However, I think I'm just going to mostly go with what you were thinking, because I can't handle that big of a narration (which is why it's takign me so long).

I'll post it soon!

-- SeanHess -- 14 Oct 2006 - 15:38:42

Ok, sorry that took me forever! I read the complications section several times, but I still may have done something wrong.. Rather than continue asking questions, I'll just leave it up to a challenge/negotiation if it is important to you.

That's one thing I wasn't clear on. This complication seemed to extend to him escaping the compound, which would involve confronting Howe (in my mind), and I wanted to involve Eliessa, but I wasn't sure if I could involve components that weren't in the complication in the first place. Can anyone clear me up on that?

One thing I learned was that even though I didn't have enough resources to push through to my idea (him escaping by hijacking the transport with the other prisoner), I could declare his intent to do so. Once I figured that out, writing the rest was fairly simple.

Anyway, again, I apologize that it took so long, but enjoy!

-- SeanHess -- 15 Oct 2006 - 05:43:04

Oh, and that would make it Trevis' turn to spend his 7? coins. -- SeanHess -- 15 Oct 2006 - 05:43:32

Wow Sean, that's some awesome narration! I'm no expert myself, but a I'm pretty sure you don't have to spend all of your winning son this narration (although normally that's an option). In some repects I think limiting the spend to 10 coins as per other posts might be a good plan.

Also I think that the narration after a complication is one of the only times you can add traits to components you don't control. So when Ryle runs into the Captain, who wasn't in the complication, it's not normal to add traits to the other component with taking control first.

If you reach a good stopping point, don't be concerned about ending the scene or indeed fading to black if that's what you have in mind. Uni play definately has competative elements, so we can make plays without worrying if other people are okay with it They can always Challenge! -- DaveMG -- 16 Oct 2006 - 07:44:05

Thanks Dave! I know I don't have to spend them all, but I wanted to spend most of them. I did keep a couple

As to the control, I never did pay for controlling Howe, so are you saying I did it correctly?

I'll get more agressive once I get these rules down..> I suppose a PbP^? isn't the optimal environment to learn a new game, but I'm enjoying it! -- SeanHess -- 16 Oct 2006 - 17:10:10

It's a good narration Sean. I'm often surprised at how unclear I am on the rules and I've played it a few times. I know I'm thinking we can probably broaden our events a bit more in scope. But we'll feel it out I imagine. Everyone should check out This thread on the Forge for some interesting complication discussion. -- TrevisMartin -- 17 Oct 2006 - 08:12:37

Ryle outpaced the captain easily. It wasn't long before he could no longer hear the the man behind him. [1] As he sat and rested for a moment, the image of the woman that he had seen the room came again to his minds eye. [1] He knew he had the perfect opportunity to escape, but the thought of her stuck here where he had been imprisoned for so long bothered him. [1]

-- TrevisMartin 03 00 -- 17 Oct 2006 - 08:19:03

Beautiful... one interesting thing about this complication is that we both kind of wanted it to go in the same direction, but we wanted coins. This is evident by the lack of fallout. (Trevis' coins went exactly the way I would have spent them).

That was an excellent thread, trevis. One thing I did notice is that we announced the complication too early. Instead of saying "Complication time, I imagine," and then me saying "Ok, I want to start a complicatoin." We should have narrated the event that started it -- one of the components trying to affect another.

Or is that what you were doing by saying the guards were trying to move Ryle into another cell? -- SeanHess -- 17 Oct 2006 - 14:57:02

Hey Travis, I'm initiating a complication! I was gonna let it go as a narration, but then I realized there were some Traits I wanted to add to Mowe and thought it'd be better to introduce a Complication than just take over control and add them myself.

I'm drawing on Elaissa's name, and I'm adding the Traits

• Gifted Speaker
• Knows how to win a crowd

( JohnHalsey 02 00 ) and drawing on them, as well. That's 3 dice (this is just a mini-complication, after all). -- JohnHalsey -- 17 Oct 2006 - 15:50:08

Sean, It's kinda what I was trying to do with moving Ryle but I admit it was a little weak. Maybe its because I was hedging the narration as in "the guards began to..." type of thing where I should have just stated what they did outright, like one does in Polaris.

There's nothing that says we can't start a complication in metagame discussion, just that Uni was supposedly designed so you don't have to expressly do that. I also wonder if I needed to justify the dice with narration a little more, but if no one challenges it then it's acceptable I suppose.

Just an addition to my comment above, I tend to think of events as broad effects unless you don't control all the component involved. I imagine them with subtitles as in Guards move Ryle to another cell or Elaissa convices Mowe

I'm thinking we should narrate as if what we want to happen has in fact occured? Hmmm... -- TrevisMartin -- 17 Oct 2006 - 18:14:37

Yeah... I get it now. It was hard for me to figure it out, but if I had to do it again, I think it would be easier.

As to narrating the effect as having happened, I'd say you could go either way. Part of the difficulty of this format is that once someone has typed somethnig, there is significant time before they read your interruption/reply. So, if someone narrated "X happened to Y", it would be difficult to say "I take over Y, initiating a complication" which seems like a common way they are supposed to happen.

Either way, I'm having fun, and we're getting things down.

Trevis, could you take a look at this thread at the forge?

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=21849.0

Ralph can't see our comments when he views this scene. Wierd huh? I can't figure it out. Let me know if you know what's going on.

-- SeanHess -- 17 Oct 2006 - 19:56:37

He can't see the comments because he has Javascript disabled on his browser. If it's not enabled then you won't see any of the comment links at all. I can't get to the Forge until later b/c I'm at work but if you want to tell him, go ahead. -- TrevisMartin -- 17 Oct 2006 - 23:09:37

It's been more than 48 hours since John posted. Anybody know what's going on? It should have actually been mark's turn to join in the complication, but we've been doing complications pretty out-of-turn anyway.

Travis, you there? Mark hasn't posted since his first entry. -- SeanHess -- 19 Oct 2006 - 13:40:14

Actually, I was trying to start a complication with Travis. Travis, you there? Refer to my first comment.

Where are we doing the dice rolling? -- JohnHalsey -- 19 Oct 2006 - 13:52:39

Hi, guys... been sick the last couple of days. Thanks for the email bump, Trevis.

I don't really have anything to draw off of with keeping Kundar as he is, except his name, so I'm only throwing one die. I used the wiki die roller, and came up with a 10, so I have no successes, unless someone else is throwing in with me. -- TravisCasey -- 19 Oct 2006 - 16:48:19

Something that just occurred to me. I'm not sure that it's in the rules, but it seems reasonable that if someone's starting a complication to add traits to an object, they should need to state what traits they're going to add. Otherwise, the current owner of the object has no way to know what current traits the new ones might contradict -- and thus could be drawn on to fight the change.

(I.e., if John were to add "is prejudiced against genemods", that wouldn't contradict anything, so I'd just have KundarMowe's name to draw on. If, however, he were to add "isn't very important", that would contradict the trait of "trails subordinates behind him like a comet", so I could draw on that. In the current case, it'd only make one die of difference at most, but in the future, it might be more important.) -- TravisCasey -- 19 Oct 2006 - 16:56:21

There does seem to be an odd amount of confusion over Complications recently. A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that stakes should be set before a Complication, but Ralph seems adamantly against that--at least for the core rules.

I suppose the wanting-to-add-traits part was really just subsidary to the I-want-Kundar-to-do-something part.

I got a 2, 2, and an 8. So, JohnHalsey 00 04 . -- JohnHalsey -- 19 Oct 2006 - 23:06:12

Heh. And I wind up getting just as many coins as John out of it...

As for the "setting stakes" thing, something else just came to my realization -- that even if someone wins a Complication, if they try to insert contradictory Facts, that could then be Challenged, and the contradicting Facts would be usable as "leverage" for the Challenge. So the game already takes care of it. Whew! -- TravisCasey 00 04 -- 20 Oct 2006 - 00:25:56

Mowe's scowling exterior, however, was belied by the inward joy he felt. His plan was now well underway, and soon Ryle would be trying to take the ship... an occurence which would let him have both Ryle and Elaissa killed under guise of "preventing their escape". [1]

-- TravisCasey 01 00 -- 20 Oct 2006 - 00:38:16

Woah! That was awesome.. what a twist. You jerk.. Ryle had it all under control until you threw that out there

I think you only get 1 coin for each dice that YOU rolled (as the loser), not 1 for each dice rolled by anybody. Maybe I read the rules wrong.

I'm sensing a little conflict between what you wrote and John's entry though. Although, from what John actually paid for, it seems kind of justifiable. (He never paid for the internal dialogue, and the "she was right" line).

-- SeanHess -- 20 Oct 2006 - 06:15:24

Cool stuff guys! I think that last bit should be a trait for Mowe Travis "plans to kill Ryle and Elaissa."

A couple of things I want to bring up to everyone generally. I"m really pleased with the game, so thanks for playing!

On complications, the example I have notes that even when the complication is initated, the turn order still proceeds as normal, interrupts and all, only people can only draw dice for the complication. All dice are rolled only after the complication is closed. It can't close until we all agree it should. (Something like, I call for a close) or until the time limit is reached maybe. It seems like we should be maybe narrating justifications for our dice too?

Second, almost everything that isn't an actual action can become a trait of something, even the events are really just the traits of a scene. I think these should be a little tighter.

Finally, I'm interrupting ( TrevisMartin 01 00) and challenging for an end to this scene since Mark seems to have bailed. If no one disagrees, lets refresh and rebid. -- TrevisMartin -- 20 Oct 2006 - 08:10:17

I'm happy to move to next scene -- DaveMG -- 20 Oct 2006 - 08:39:44

And watch me put my foot in my mouth Travis. I see you did add the plan as a trait to KundarMowe -- TrevisMartin -- 20 Oct 2006 - 08:44:04

Sean is right, the winner of a complication gets coins equal to the sum of his successes (in my case, 2 + 2), and the loser gets coins equal to the number of dice they rolled (in Travis' case, 1). You're also right that, since I didn't pay for those to be facts, he's perfectly within his rights to add that twist. Nice one, Travis!

I'm fine with close the scene. Should we bid in the general talk, like we did the first time? -- JohnHalsey -- 20 Oct 2006 - 14:11:33

I'm fine with closing the scene as well, and I'll adjust my coins. I think the Universalis rules said "they rolled", and I took that as plural rather than generic. Don't have them in front of me, though, so not positive. Could just be my error. -- TravisCasey 03 00 -- 20 Oct 2006 - 14:43:37

Yeah, I'm good to close the scene. I think we need some good tenets in the future for complications. Perhaps once a complication starts, we can build dice pools asynchronously or something.

Yeah, let's bid in the general talk.. -- SeanHess -- 20 Oct 2006 - 15:00:23

Okay so, refreshing...

• DaveMG 00 05
• JohnHalsey 00 05
• TravisCasey 00 05
• TrevisMartin 00 05
• SeanHess 00 05 -- TrevisMartin -- 20 Oct 2006 - 19:02:44

comment Test -- TrevisMartin -- 09 Jan 2007 - 05:40:38

comment test 2 -- TrevisMartin -- 09 Jan 2007 - 05:43:12