Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Aubri

Pages: [1]
1
DFRPG / Stupid Wizard Tricks: A Jar of Vacuum
« on: July 14, 2013, 11:41:13 PM »
Suppose that you take a strong container -- a bell jar, for example -- and fill it with ectoplasm. Then you seal the container and allow the ectoplasm to dissipate. Since ectoplasm evaporates into "nothing", would you end up with a perfect vacuum?

2
DFRPG / Breaking Magic Circles
« on: June 22, 2012, 02:25:12 PM »
I know this has been discussed before, so I'm hoping for quick answer.

If someone is in the middle of casting a thaumaturgy spell, and you throw a mundane object through the space above their magic cirle, does that break the circle? (Assume in this case that the circle is not being used to contain anything other than magical energy.)

3
DFRPG / Compelling NPC Aspects
« on: April 13, 2012, 10:10:57 PM »
I've posted before about NPCs infrequently being able to use their own aspects. It occurred to me that they could be used in a couple of different ways, though.

The first is to compel the NPC to supply him with Fate. Is this kosher? For example, spotting the Ogre Berserker a fate point when going berserk complicates his life.

The second thought I had was to compel the PCs based on NPC aspects. For example, "The pixie sentinels are Inhumanly Alert, so you're spotted sneaking up on the encampment. *fate point*"

Whatcha think?

4
DFRPG / Stressed Out About Beast Change
« on: April 10, 2012, 01:27:07 PM »
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it on a search of the archive, so...
First of all, if your Endurance increases when you shift, you get more stress boxes, right? I'm going to assume this is so.

So, what do you do with that stress if you shift back and forth during the same battle? For instance, taking Georgia's stats (OW p.115), she has Endurance at Fair in human form (3 stress boxes) but increases it to Good (4 stress boxes) when she wolfs out. Suppose she takes a single 4-stress hit, then switches back to human form. Does that 4th box just stay floating out there, leaving her "human" stress boxes empty?

For a more extreme example, suppose she were able to push her Endurance all the way up to Superb, gaining an extra mild physical consequence. She takes a 6-stress hit and uses her 4-stress box and that consequence to soak it. The consequence still sticks with her in human form even though the consequence slot is technically unavailable, right?

The other stress tracks have the same issue in reverse -- for instance, if she took a 4-stress social hit, then wolfed out and knocked her Presence down to Fair.


I have a second question about beast change that'll probably be a little easier. Do you completely re-buy your skills for beast form, or do you need to keep the same skills on the page and just shuffle them? That is, can you drop a skill to Mediocre when you wolf out?

5
DFRPG / Poison and Ectoplasm
« on: December 05, 2011, 06:23:21 PM »
If you were bitten by a poisonous creature from the Nevernever, at what point (if ever) would the poison revert to ectoplasm? Could you set a magic circle around yourself to cut the poison's connection to whatever was keeping it stable in the real world?

6
DFRPG / Giving It Back: When A Changeling Chooses Mortality
« on: September 02, 2011, 06:34:46 PM »
I have a player who currently plays a changeling with Unseelie Magic as her primary ability. The player is considering Choosing to become a mortal, now, but would also like to become an apprentice wizard. While I have no particular issues with that, mechanically speaking, I have some questions about the process.

First, giving up sponsored magic. How do you think I should handle this? Does the sponsor have any say in it? Would it incur any debts? What sort of long-term personal or social consequences might it have?

Second, I'm tempted to make finding a mentor a book-length goal. Other than looking down their collective nose at her, would the White Council have any particular problems with a wild talent like this? She hasn't broken any laws of magic at this point -- she was already running at 1 Refresh.

Third, having used "magic with training wheels", so to speak, do you think the character would be able to pull off Focused Practitioner-level magic without further training? Like maybe allow her to take either Channeling or Ritual? "Flying blind" and with lots of spell-failure compels against the new high concept, of course.


7
DFRPG / Using Aspects Against Players
« on: June 28, 2011, 08:31:28 PM »
New-ish DM, still getting the system under my feet here.
I'm still a little shaky on dealing with NPCs and aspects, particularly when the scene aspects should act as a penalty against the players. For example, suppose the PCs are trying to sneak past security into a BRIGHTLY LIT hallway. If the security guard had fate points, I'd certainly invoke that aspect on his Awareness roll. However, as a nameless NPC, the guard has no fate points to use.

Conversely, in a parking lot FULL OF CARS, the PCs should clearly have their Awareness penalized relative to an approaching ghoul's Stealth.

It seems like the aspect might as well not be there if the PCs don't choose to interact with it. How do I handle this? Should I hand out a fate point to the PCs as if I were compelling an aspect on one of them?

8
DFRPG / Noob GM: NPC Consequences
« on: May 06, 2011, 06:11:40 PM »
I get the impression that certain kinds of NPCs should be able to take consequences, and others can't. Is there any hard and fast rule/suggestion on this? If not, is there a decent rule of thumb?

9
DFRPG / New GM Requesting Help
« on: May 05, 2011, 09:58:11 PM »
My group and I have spent the last couple of weeks putting together a city and characters for a DFRPG game, which I'm to GM. And I'm a little worried.
It's not that I'm new to running games. I've run D&D for years... but I'm starting to feel like that's more of a hindrance than a help! I'm having some trouble putting together a plot and a proper villain. This is really, really different from what I'm used to.

First off, I ran through the process in "Building Scenarios", but I'm a little bit confused about what to do after I have a general idea of the plot. Should I just write down what happens without the PCs' intervention, and watch them monkey-wrench it all to hell?

Second, I don't understand the rules of thumb in "Scaling the Opposition". My group is Waist Deep: two pure mortals, a changeling, and a were-form. For a single villain, the Mixed Groups sub-heading says I should "add up the total refresh the PCs spent on powers, but then subtract the total number of refresh they spent on mortal stunts."
What does "powers" refer to? Do you total the spent refresh and subtract stunts, leaving you with just the refresh spent on supernatural powers? Or that you add up only the supernatural powers, then subtract the stunts? Because doing that leaves me with a grand total of -1 refresh for my baddie.
(In case anyone cares: mortal cop, -5 in stunts; mortal scientist, -4 in stunts; changeling, -6 in powers; were-form, -4 in powers. The changeling has sponsored unseelie magic.)


10
DFRPG / Multiple Focus Items
« on: December 01, 2010, 10:11:55 PM »
Can you use multiple focus items in the casting of a single spell?  For example, if I have a +2 power item and a +2 control item that both apply, can I use both or do I have to pick?  (The little GM in my brain says only one at a time, bucko.)  I'm thinking about an Emissary of Power with Sponsored Magic and very little knowledge of magical topics outside of that.  He'll have all 4 item slots thanks to Sponsored Magic, but he can't cram more than 1 or 2 of them into a single item, and he's only got one element to work with (Hellfire).

Would the same apply to Thaumaturgy, when you have the time to physically manipulate multiple tools?  For example, it would seem like Harry could easily use his Miniature Chicago to augment his Lore when preparing for Divination, but then also have a focus item that would help him channel power for the spell more quickly.


Pages: [1]