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Messages - UmbraLux

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76
DFRPG / Re: Question about Thresholds
« on: June 10, 2013, 12:24:41 PM »
I don't think most maids would have invitation privileges (unless they're live-in).
The maid has presumably been invited in, I tend to think that would suffice for a normal threshold.  If you've set up a keyed ward it wouldn't - you'd need said key.

77
DFRPG / Re: Question about Thresholds
« on: June 10, 2013, 04:57:27 AM »
Have to agree with Tedronai.  You'll need to talk a maid or someone into inviting you in.  Maybe just show up as the cable guy...just make sure you break the cable first.  ;)

78
DFRPG / Re: Mental Evocations solutions?
« on: June 02, 2013, 03:49:44 AM »
There was no logic. I wasn't trying to convince anyone.

I was just providing information that I believe to be true.
Like it or not, it's difficult to avoid logic or illogic when communicating more than rudimentary information.  ;)  Logic is the structure behind reasoning and judgement.  If you're communicating either, logic (or fallacy) is unavoidable.

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Talking about paying to avoid compels, one thing which seems to work well is making compels pointed out by players (other than the GM) avoidable without cost.  It helps keep everyone engaged with the aspects, takes some of the scene & personal aspect load off the GM, and is all upside since there's no cost to saying "no".  It also leaves the GM the option of more expensive compels. 

79
DFRPG / Re: Mental Evocations solutions?
« on: June 01, 2013, 04:37:03 PM »
No it's not. It's not an argument at all. I wasn't talking to you there.
I don't get this.  Who you were addressing doesn't change the logic used (or unused).

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Whether or not compels are cost neutral is dependent on the group.  When they're decided by GM fiat, I suspect they're often negative.  When more negotiation is used I suspect they come closer to being neutral.  But the real issue with making blanket statements about compels is simply that they may have very dissimilar effects. 

Compels force the narrative down a particular path.  Whether or not this is good, bad, or neutral is dependent on how much the forced narrative affects your character adversely and on how much you had invested in an alternative narrative line.

80
DFRPG / Re: Glamour Veils - requires concentration or not?
« on: May 28, 2013, 04:15:56 AM »
Since I'm making a hunting-themed changeling, I've been looking at both Glamour and Cloak of Shadows. I've decided to give her Glamour, since that feels so intrinsic to everything faerie, and Cloak of Shadows very much fits her concept of a sneaking, stalking hunter. However, there is a distinct overlap on the sneaking department between those two powers. With access to Minor Veils, is the stealth part of CoS actually worth anything?
Like any block, veils give you a "second chance" if you fail.  It's not a great synergy but the two are fairly separate.  With glamour you can create illusions - they're not directly related to stealth. 

Quote
I started thinking that maybe the veils from Glamour requires some non-trivial amount on concentration to keep up, however the rules don't mention it. I was thinking that if it requires concentration, it might count as a supplemental action.
So: Is the upkeep of a Glamour veil considered a Free or Supplemental action?
Upkeep isn't an action at all.  Creating one is a normal action but once it's up it's there for the duration (normally a scene).  Even discovering a veil doesn't break or pierce it.  The discoverer knows what he senses is "wrong" but he doesn't know what is truly behind the glamour.  This is one area where glamour is much better than magical veils.

81
DFRPG / Re: Mundane and the supernatural
« on: May 28, 2013, 04:03:57 AM »
It's been suggested that there are government types that keep incidents under wraps, but that they don't typically get involved with the supernatural world at large, at least not directly.
Someone makes a certain video from Fool Moon disappear.  ;)  As for direct involvement, Murphy's squad is directly involved - they get the "weird" cases and are used when superiors need something deniable.  If Chicago needs deniable investigators, so will other government entities...

82
DFRPG / Re: Mental Evocations solutions?
« on: May 28, 2013, 03:55:50 AM »
Hmmm, upon re-reading, it's not nearly as clear as I thought, every reference to mental magic could easily mean  thaumaturgy except for the one about using spirit evocations with a summoned creature's True Name.
Are you including the sidebar on YS255?  It explicitly states the Spirit element "...covers mental magic, emotions, ghosts..."

Personally, and not looking at what's allowed in the text, I like the old Dark Sun method.  Give everyone without access to mental powers / magic a block against it and then let the mentalists and WCVs hammer at each other.  Or just move on to FATE Core, it's less obviously broken.  ;)

83
DFRPG / Re: Mundane and the supernatural
« on: May 27, 2013, 03:16:53 PM »
I'm not familiar with the novels, so forgive me if this is silly question. But how does the mundane world stand in regards the supernatural? Are most of the people totally clueless? What if they see someone (ie the PCs) doing magic, how do they react? What about government entities? This is something that the rulebooks doesn't really cover toomuch (or if they do, please do point me to the right page)..
It's mixed.  There's a significant minority with their eyes open who know, at least in part, of the supernatural.  Those in power also appear to be aware of it - and take active steps to keep the believers looking like a lunatic fringe.  (Videos are changed, evidence disappears, people are committed to destroy their credibility, etc.)  At the same time they're suppressing evidence they also fund various governmental and NGO organizations meant to contain the supernatural.  This leaves the ignorant majority believing what the media and government say:  "There is no supernatural."

84
DFRPG / Re: Supernatural Powers for Fate Acelerated
« on: May 24, 2013, 02:18:47 AM »
Has anyone taken a crack at converting existing Supernatural Powers and Mortal Stunts from DFRPG to FAE?
I haven't gone through them all but there's a lot of material linked here.

85
In general, Tippy's method fits in the rules.  I'd probably quibble a bit over the repeatability of aspects but that's solvable by creativity - just come up with a better list of aspects / methods of power storing. 

Fact is, I think this is what had to occur if you convert some of the novels' major bad guy rituals to game terms.  It's also worth noting, it took time to build the power and the power build-up was detectable.  Which is what brought Harry in to shut it down. 

Point is, building power like that will make you a target.   ;D

86
It is worth noting that I generally asked players to 'tell the story of the spell'* when creating rituals.  Of course I also allowed friendly allies (i.e. other PCs) to help with their own related maneuvers and declarations.  In any case, this takes up real game time and generally means the group agrees on what rituals are being attempted.  If one PC wizard wants to spend years on rituals, that's fine - he's an NPC now, what's your next character? 

*I find telling the story of the spell important.  Enough so that I typically wrote out any major NPC rituals.  If nothing else, the aspects used give you ways to disrupt the resulting spell construct.  "I see this barrier spell was anchored to the door frame, I'll ask Fred to break the frame (insert Might maneuver) and tag that for the dispel."

87
Creating thaumaturgy aspects to do more powerful thaumaturgy to do more aspect to do more powerful thaumaturgy...
I don't know, It just seems like a cheap trick. Especially if those aspects are just "stored power" or something similarly bland.
Actually, it's an overly complex method of getting numbers of aspects.  You could presumably get the same number by being creative with declarations.  As far as your spell is concerned, there's no mechanical difference between the declared non-magical ritual of "Cleansing Yourself in Pure Water" and a previous scene's ritual of creating an "Empowered Ruby".  The story of the spell is different but not the result.

I'm not a big fan of the way declarations were implemented in DFRPG but the only limits on them are those the group implements. 

88
I think Tippy is talking about aspects created by thaumaturgy.  If so, you simply up the difficulty to move it into the appropriate time scale.  Not free but not all that hard either.

89
Not arguing that - perhaps I should have emphasized the "if" in my previous statement. 

That said, declarations are a large part of DFRPG's rule problems.  I was happy to see FATE Core drop them.

90
There is a limit if you enforce durations by exchange.  Even assuming all aspects are Declarations and take no time in themselves, they'll still need to last long enough to cover the exchanges spent drawing power.  So not really a hard limit so much as a skill related limit.

While this can be an annoying amount of bookkeeping; it's one of few limits on thaumaturgy, it provides a reason for mages to draw power at unsafe levels, and it provides impetus to group rituals. 

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