Public Policy 2013
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=============================== Public Policy ================================
Message: 11/1 Posted Author
RULES: Extra Actions Thu Jan 10 Mouse
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Effective immediately ALL powers providing extra actions provide them at the
end of the round during an "Extra Action" round after all actions have been
taken, occuring one at a time rotating in order of initiative. This includes
Demon actions and any and all other powers which may violate this rule. This
has been the standard for Revised and so far as I know has only differed in
one instance in any Revised book. The only exception is defensive actions
(Dodge, Parry, Block, and in the case of Sorcerers, Mages, and Thaumaturges,
Countermagic), which occur whenever they need to occur to avert the attack.
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Message: 11/2 Posted Author
Simon Banned Mon Feb 04 Sponge
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On Sunday, Jan 27 I banned the player with the following characters for
cheating:
Simon Vesture Ryker 8Ball Maddox Sergeant Wolff Judas Lancelot Pint
Ma'le'Kese Rakesh Murimato
While there may be technical means to evade the game's limits on voting for
your alts it is not acceptable behavior and I do not tolerate it. If any
player has found a means to do this, they should let me know as I don't give
warnings when I discover it.
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/3 Posted Author
SugarGlider Stepping Down Wed Feb 06 Sponge
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I regretfully must announce that SugarGlider has decided to step down in order
to ensure she has the time required for other commitments. We appreciate the
service she provided and wish her the best!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/4 Posted Author
Damion Removed Mon Feb 11 Sponge
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On the 7th I permanently removed Damion/Joao/Silky Smooth from the game. The
player refused to abide by reasonable staff boundaries and was determined to
be a detriment to the game. This removal follows a prior temporary ban for
publicly disruptive conduct. This was a difficult choice as no specific
+policy caused the removal. Rather, a pattern of misconduct indicated that
the player was unwilling or unable to participate without being disruptive.
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/5 Posted Author
Ghoul +rules updates Mon Feb 18 Sponge
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I've posted two updates to +rules concerning PC Ghouls.
In +rules xp costs, the cost for disciplines has been lowered for PCs that are
Subrace:Ghoul. Previously, all types of Ghouls paid the exorbitant costs
listed on WW2021/85. Making it cheaper for "pure" ghouls provides an
advantage for playing a "pure" ghoul.
A new topic has been added: +rules ghouls. It specifies limits for the level of
Ghoul disciplines and how disciplines are restricted for ghouls in various
situations.
If your character gained something in the past that these new rules would have
prohibited, you're fine - we're not looking to take anything away. Going
forward, these rules apply to all current and future ghouls.
Enjoy (Or no vitae for you)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/6 Posted Author
Mages vs Mental Effects/Illusions Mon Feb 18 Sponge
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We've added a clarification to +rules mage misc about mages piercing illusions
and other mental effects.
Enjoy (Or I'll pierce your mental effects)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/7 Posted Author
Ghoul Disciplines Update Mon Feb 18 Sponge
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I've made an update to +rules buying disciplines to clarify the costs of
proprietary disciplines for Ghouls.
Enjoy!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/8 Posted Author
Awareness rules Sat Feb 23 Sponge
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Awareness is one of those abilities that can be very important in a world of
supernaturals and yet is very poorly defined in the books. Staff has
discussed it and come up with what we think is a reasonable interpretation of
Awareness. It is not comprehensive; we've chosen to keep things simple
instead of covering every case. In a given situation, players can agree to
different difficulties or different information conveyed on success. We do
expect we'll need to make adjustments to the rules. To get the skinny, see
+rules awareness.
Enjoy (or go unawares)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/9 Posted Author
+policy Inactive PCs Fri Mar 15 Sponge
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I have changed +policy vacation to be +policy inactive pcs and have updated it
to reflect the current plans for @destroying unused player objects. So far,
it's conservative (nobody who's been approved gets @destroyed) but that will
evolve over time. I've written the code to automate the destruction of
Unstarted PCs (defined in the policy file). To give people a chance to
preserve the bits they haven't gotten rolling yet I'm not going to turn on
the automated @destroy code for 14 days. Again, this only applies to
characters that are Unstarted. When I make @destroy code for other types of
inactive player bits, I'll warn people in advance before I turn it on.
One note: The policy file mentions a +vacation command and I don't have that
implemented yet but will soon.
Enjoy (unless your inactive)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/10 Posted Author
+rules shifter misc Mon Mar 18 Sponge
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I've added +rules shifter misc. It currently only contains this note:
* For Fera, we prefer "Players Guide To The Changing Breeds" (WW3807). The
individual breed books are used for things WW3807 does not specify.
This has always been our policy but we've done a poor job of communicating it.
Enjoy (or we'll change your breed)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/11 Posted Author
Unstarted PC Purge Imminent Wed Mar 27 Sponge
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Hey folks, on Mar 15 I posted about +policy inactive pcs and mentioned that I
would be turning on code to @destroy unstarted PCs in two weeks. Well, two
weeks is two days from now. If you have a PC that is "unstarted" per +policy
inactive pcs and you want to keep them, log onto the bit and start CGen or
set a +vacation.
Enjoy (and don't start with me)!
His High Absorbancy
Sponge
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Message: 11/12 Posted Author
Playing Ghouls Sun Apr 14 Druitt
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So, this came up today and I'd like to try to understand what the options are.
As you may or may not know, Druitt is a vampire. Now, generally it's not too
hard to go out and get RP as a vampire and just say that it is night time,
but that doesn't always work out. For one, I'm trying to figure this
character out, and find his place, and random RP can help with that, and
planned nightzones aren't as random. More to the point of game policy, there
are times when a vampire would have their ghouls and other retainers do
things for them during the day, like get information, courier items around,
whatever. I'm curious what the policy is, and how +policy NPC Play affects
the idea of a vampire player @naming themselves and descing as their
ghoul/retainer and going out and RPing during the day. Does this violate the
+policy NPC Play? Does that policy even cover NPCs who are backgrounds rather
than NPCs who are really more world characters? Thoughts? Rulings?
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Message: 11/13 Posted Author
Bump Mon Apr 15 Arec
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I think that Druitt's suggestion would be something that I take
advantage of also. Obviously this would require the Retainers background. It
does violate two aspects of +policy NPCs (not nameless and not invited), but
I have seen a lack of nightzone default places on the grid. Wouldn't mind
having alternatives.
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Message: 11/14 Posted Author
+votes and RP (still) Thu Jun 27 WhoopingCrane
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Everyone go read +bbread 11/65. That stuff still applies.
There are situations where someone shows up at a location and contributes to
RP, but not in a publically visible fashion. (Wraiths, for instance.) In such
situations, it's appropriate to OOCly explain up front that you're not trying
to abuse the system.
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Message: 11/15 Posted Author
Merits targeting abilities Sat Jun 29 WhoopingCrane
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Here are some things we've recommended when asked for a while, just putting
them out as standard declarations.
The Ability Aptitude merit (-2 difficulty to one ability) states that it should
not be associated with "special or combat abilities". Our ruling is that
merits reducing the difficulty of ability rolls do not apply to supernatural
powers using that ability roll, unless the merit specifically states that it
does.
Examples:
* A demon uses Lore of the Forge (Perception + Crafts) to improve a car. If the
demon has Ability Aptitude: Crafts, then it doesn't apply in that situation.
* The above demon succeeded anyway, the car now gives -1 difficulty to Drive
rolls. A ratkin steals the car and gets into a high-speed chase (Dexterity or
Wits + Drive). If the ratkin has Ability Aptitude: Drive, then it /does/
apply, and stacks with the car's bonus. (It's not affecting a power, just the
side effect of a power.)
* A mage has the Natural Channel merit, which includes "difficulty to use magic
to pierce the Gauntlet is one less". This applies as stated.
* Acute Sense (VtM Revised page 296) says "This Merit can be combined with the
Discipline Auspex to produce superhuman sensory acuity." This also applies as
stated. In particular, Aura Perception (Auspex 2) is specifically visual, so
Acute Vision applies to it.
* Awareness is not a power, it just detects powers, so Ability Aptitude:
Awareness is allowed. However, Awareness is not consistently tied to any of
the five senses like Auspex 2 is, so the Acute Sense merits don't apply to
Awareness.
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Message: 11/16 Posted Author
Quintessence, Mana, etc. Sun Jun 30 WhoopingCrane
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We're badly overdue for a proper write-up of how/whether the various forms of
supernatural energy can be equated. Staff is working on it; watch this space.
(This will not affect past events, just provide a consistent framework going
forward.)
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Message: 11/17 Posted Author
Disallowed stats Tue Jul 02 WhoopingCrane
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We have a few things that are explicitly disallowed. (See '+liststats
not-allowed' for a list.) There are a handful of PCs who accidentally got one
of these anyway; these will be removed (and XP refunds given as if they were
being bought in reverse), though any past RP involving them will not be
retconned for that reason alone.
Why are these things disallowed? Some are redundant (Faerie Blood vs Kinain),
some have 'X times per story' game mechanics with no obvious translation to a
mu* environment (Lucky), others were ruled too powerful and/or obscure. You
can always +request that one of these things be reviewed and possibly opened
back up.
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Message: 11/18 Posted Author
Alternate Identity background Wed Jul 03 WhoopingCrane
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Due to interest in RPing around this subject, we've added the Alternate
Identity background. Here are the details:
* Like most backgrounds, this goes up to 5 and can be bought with XP. It should
have a +note with the name and how you got it.
* Other background dots can be associated with this one, subject to common
sense (Resources but not Pure Breed) and quality (if you have Alternate
Identity 2, you can associate up to 2 dots of other background dots with it).
This will also be tracked via +notes.
* White Wolf's suggested roll for penetrating an alternate identity is
Intelligence + Investigation vs (3 + background level). Naturally, you first
need to justify your IC suspicion that the identity is fake. Degrees of
success could range from 'yup, looks fake' up to learning who's behind it and
how they got it.
* This is for mortal society. An alternate identity accepted by a supernatural
faction or sub-faction as one of their own is covered by the Alternate
Identity merit. If your alternate identity is both, then you should take both
stats.
* If you just want a fake ID for sneaking into bars, you can handwave that
without worrying about this.
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Message: 11/19 Posted Author
Alternate Identity addendum Wed Jul 03 WhoopingCrane
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One other thing: The Alternate Identity background is intended for setting up a
second identity for simultaneous use, or a documented identity for people who
are currently undocumented. If you're a 300-year-old vampire and have merely
switched mortal identities every few decades, then you don't need to worry
about this.
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Message: 11/20 Posted Author
Nodes Sun Jul 07 WhoopingCrane
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The mage rulebook is pretty vague about how much magickal energy can be drawn
from Nodes, suggesting anywhere from 1 to 10 Quintessence per dot per week
(depending on how scarce or plentiful the ST wants it to be). After some
discussion, we came up with the following.
Nodes produce Quintessence and Tass as follows:
* Node 1 - 1 Quint per week and 1 Tass per month
* Node 2 - 3 Quint per week and 2 Tass per month
* Node 3 - 6 Quint per week and 3 Tass per month
* Node 4 - 10 Quint per week and 5 Tass per month
* Node 5 - 15 Quint per week and 8 Tass per month
Quintessence cannot be stockpiled, except by transferring it to a mage (each
mage is limited to 20 minus their Paradox, though going above your Avatar
rating requires Prime) or a periapt or something. Tass can be stockpiled, but
evaporates if not used within 3 months. It also carries resonance (generally
matching the PC's), so you may have trouble using Tass from someone else's
node.
Creating a node, or increasing the power of an existing node, requires Prime 5.
(If you have Prime 5, contact staff to work out the specifics.)
Any mage can find one or more nodes (+xpreq), up to a total of 5 dots. However,
big ones (4+) are subject to staff discretion, and multiple little ones are
spread out geographically (so you need to think about how you're going to
defend them all).
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Message: 11/21 Posted Author
Nodes, bonus for casting at Tue Jul 09 WhoopingCrane
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Difficulty modifier for casting magick near a node: -1 for a level 1 or 2 node,
-2 for a level 3 or 4 node, -3 for a level 5 node.
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Message: 11/22 Posted Author
Self-contained PRPs and news posts Mon Jul 15 WhoopingCrane
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This has been discussed before, but on another bb and the posts may have since
expired, so:
+bbread 11/71 also applies to posting to bb 12 (IC News). News stories about
self-contained PRPs should be @mailed to the participants, to keep them
self-contained. News stories that you /do/ want others to potentially respond
to: either post under your own name, or mention your own name at the end, or
at least let staff know that you were the poster (so they can handle any
+requests that may come in).
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Message: 11/23 Posted Author
Ian removed Sat Jul 20 WhoopingCrane
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On the 15th, the player of (Adeyemi, Adhiraj, Astrid, Ian, Inacio, Nefret,
Raffaella) was banned. He had a long prior history of hostile channel rants,
he was told he had one last chance and he agreed, then a few days later he
got into another one as well as similarly hostile pages to two members of
staff. If one of your PCs had any sort of IC relationship with one of his,
then feel free to handwave its IC end for reasons of your choice (contact
staff if you run into a conflicting story and need help sorting it out).
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Message: 11/24 Posted Author
Awareness and auras Mon Jul 22 WhoopingCrane
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Clarification of a couple of issues that have come up more than once. These are
my interpretations; if you find a book reference I missed, then let me know.
* Awareness does not detect races, auras, or extra Quintessence/whatever, it
only detects the activation of a magical effect (+rules awareness). (This was
different in Mage 2nd, which said multiple successes could do things like
detect undead.)
* The activation of a magical effect gives the caster's aura a sparkling color
pattern (visible with e.g. 3+ successes on Auspex 2). Extra
Quintessence/whatever does not. Identifying the caster's race from this
pattern requires the appropriate Lore at 3 (same as '+rules awareness'),
otherwise you know they're /something/ but the pattern alone does not tell
you what.
* As usual, you can handwave being easier to detect (e.g. to facilitate a new
mage being noticed by his would-be buddies), provided '+policy hand waving'
is followed.
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Message: 11/25 Posted Author
Ven removed Sat Jul 27 WhoopingCrane
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On the 21st, Ven's player was banned. He had a long history of
passive-aggressive OOC antagonism toward several other players, including IC
antagonism with sketchy motivations, as well as playing fast and loose with
game mechanics until/unless called on it. We attempted to work this out with
him within the scope of the game, but ultimately decided that he wasn't
making a good faith effort to work with us in return, and would remain an
overall detriment to the game.
ICly, Ven was last seen packing up a few things and hopping a plane to Africa,
but has since fallen out of contact.
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Message: 11/26 Posted Author
Wraith problems Wed Aug 07 Leila
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Hey, y'all. Lately, I've been hearing some complaints about wraiths in
the game doing things that people are pretty sure aren't part of the core
rules, or influencing the living world without rolling dice or spending
pathos to do it. They've been telling me they've been letting it slide
because they don't know Wraith well enough to call them on it. I'm asking you
guys: If a wraith, including me, does something you don't think they should
be able to do, or does something that effects the living world without
spending pathos, or you suspect they might be using powers that should give
them angst without taking angst, please call staff. It's really frustrating
me that there are bad apples making my whole sphere look like a bunch of
twinks.
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Message: 11/27 Posted Author
Eastern Stuff of Note Tue Aug 13 DropBear
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WE STILL DON'T ALLOW MARTIAL ARTS. If you want to be a Kung Fu Fighter, take
Brawl and pretend.
In addition, there is now a Shen channel and opt-in Shen +roster for those of
you who feel you belong on it (Kuei-Jin, any Shifters who consider themselves
Hengeyokai, any Mages who feel they belong, etc). Hsien are still not a thing
here, and likely never will be, as from what I've read in their book they're
a bit too intimately tied to their lands. If you feel you should be
considered Shen, drop a +request and we'll get you set up.
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Message: 11/28 Posted Author
More KotE stuff Wed Aug 14 WhoopingCrane
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Dharma Rating: House-ruled as requiring time (same as '+rules shifter rank')
and XP (current*4) in addition to the canonical Auspicious Occasion rolls,
and capped at 5 (KotE page 13 describes 6+ as roughly comparable to 7th/lower
generation).
Nushi: This is basically the Kuei-Jin version of Totem, so has the same
restrictions and XP costs.
Do Kuei-Jin smell of the Wyrm: KotE Companion page 125: "Kuei-jin usually
detect as Wyrm-tainted to the senses of the Lupines - but not always. In
particular, the Thrashing Dragon Dharma often seems to radiate Wyld energy,
and the Resplendent Crane Dharma Weaver energy. However, almost all Kuei-jin
(except those of great enlightenment - Dharma 7+) have at least a subtle hint
of Wyrm taint. Naturally, this can be accelerated by the actions of the
Kuei-Jin in question - a Cathayan who indulges in flesh eating very likely
smacks of the stench of the Defiler."
Banality: Averages are house-ruled as follows, based on initial Yin and Yang.
* Yang imbalanced (3+ higher): 5
* Yang higher but not imbalanced: 6
* Yin and Yang equal: 7
* Yin higher but not imbalanced: 8
* Yin imbalanced: 9
Dhampyrs (not the western thin-blood version): Being evaluated.
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Message: 11/29 Posted Author
BlackDog retired Fri Aug 16 WhoopingCrane
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BlackDog has left the game due to RL concerns. We thank him for his service and
wish him the best in all future endeavors.
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Message: 11/30 Posted Author
Possessed Charts & Houserules Mon Aug 26 PoisonFrog
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As some of you may have already noticed, we now have handy chart of all the
various Possessed powers up on the wiki, complete with what to roll, who can
take what for how much, and so on:
http://www.cityofhopemush.com/wiki/index.php/Possessed_Powers
In addition, after some deliberation with my fellow staffers (okay, mostly
WhoopingCrane), we have in our infinite wisdom (hah!) agreed on a few
modifications. They are as follows:
BANNED POWERS:
'Balefire Flux' and 'Brain Eating' have been deemed grossly
inappropriate for a MUSH setting (infinite free powers? XP for using a power?
No, I don't think so), and thus they are not allowed.
'NEW' POWERS:
There are some powers and taints in 'Freak Legion' that are neither
replaced by something in Possessed, nor explicitly wyrmy; we have concluded
that these should therefore be available to other types of Possessed. Thus:
* 'Corrupted Visions' is now also available to Gorgons.
* 'Enhancement' is also available to Gorgons. Think Nereid-types.
* 'Exoskeleton' is now also available to Kami and Gorgons.
* 'Extra Speed' is now available to all types of Possessed.
* 'Hand from Beyond' is now available to all types of Possessed
(provided they have the ability to actually enter the Umbra first).
* 'Immunity' is now available to all types of Possessed.
* 'Numbing' is now also available for Kami and Gorgons. Think
thick-skinned things like elephants, rocks, etc.
* 'Sense the Unnatural' is now also available to Drones.
* 'Slobber Snot' is now also available to Gorgons and Kami with
naturally slippery host bodies and/or spirits; think eels, water elementals
and the like.
* 'Stomach Pumper' is now also available to Gorgons. It is still gross,
however.
The chart linked above has already been modified to reflect all this. In
addition, a handful of Taints have also deemed appropriate for other types of
Possessed:
* 'Disintegration', 'Limited Mobility' and 'Special Diet' are now
available to both Kami and Gorgons as well.
* 'Inner Volcano' is now available to Kami with fire elemental spirits
or similar.
There's no proper Taints page yet, but I'll probably make one at some point.
Enjoy (or Sponge will sue me for copyright infringement)!
Her Amphibian Highness
PoisonFrog
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Message: 11/31 Posted Author
Reality Posing and You! Fri Sep 20 DropBear
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There's been some confusion of late regarding how reality posing in
general and faeposing in particular work. In general, something should go
into a reality pose ONLY if it's something that would ONLY be visible to
others able to see that reality level. If it can be seen by mundanes, it
should go in a mundane pose. This mostly applies to public scenes, of course,
in private you can just use regular poses and call it whatever reality level
makes sense for the situation. On a related note, if you ONLY exist in a
specific reality level (you're a Wraith, or you've Stepped Sideways into the
Umbra) then ALL your poses should be made using that level's reality pose
unless you use some ability to interact with the mundane world.
Here are some examples:
You're a Wraith. Most of your moment-to-moment poses should be done
using Wraithpose. If you use Outrage to knock over a lamp or blow up
someone's beer mug in their hand, that you would @emit. If you use Embody to
manifest visibly/audibly/tactilely, then you would pose as normal for the
duration(s).
You're a Garou (or a Mage with Spirit), and you've Stepped Sideways
into the Umbra. Again, all your normal poses should be made with umbrapose.
@emit as necessary if you do something that can be noticed in mundane reality.
Last but not least: You're a Changeling. Most of your poses should be
made using the normal pose system, because Changelings are dual beings who
exist in both realities and can't simply pick one or the other to interact
with (barring certain exceptions). Anything that wouldn't be obvious to
mundanes (like if you're a cat pooka, your ears flattening back against your
head in anger) would be done using faepose. If you have a pet Chimera, you
would emit them using faepose. You would not emit dialogue using faepose,
because you can't speak just in the Dreaming, your throat exists in both
realities. Similarly, if you're fiddling with a chimerical object you own,
those things are 'mapped onto' real world objects (the classic example is the
toy plastic sword that's actually a chimerical blade). If you're fiddling
with one, you need to pose fiddling with both. Yeah, this means a lot of
double-posing, that's why most MU* clients let you enter more than one
command at the same time and execute them all at once.
I hope this all helped clarify pose levels. Feel free to ask me for further
clarifications if necessary.
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Message: 11/32 Posted Author
Clarification: Cast No Reflection Tue Oct 01 DropBear
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I'm not sure how necessary this post really is, but it confused /me/ so I'm
putting it up here. The Cast No Reflection Flaw and the Lasombra Clan
Weakness apply to all forms of photgraphic/video recording equipment as well
as the more traditional 'reflective' media (mirrors and the like). While I've
seen this houseruled away on other games as 'cameras don't have mirrors in
them anymore', this A) isn't universally true, many cameras do still use
mirrors for focusing and B) the spirit of the wording seems to imply that
it's the recording /itself/ that's the reflection. So the upshot is that
Lasombra and PCs with Cast No Reflection won't show up in photographs,
security camera footage, etc... a blessing or a curse depending on how much
you love the limelight.
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Message: 11/33 Posted Author
Gauntlet, Shroud Thu Oct 17 WhoopingCrane
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'+help gauntlet' and '+help shroud' are installed. (Thanks to Luna for the
suggestion!) The Gauntlet chart merges concepts from Werewolf and Mage, while
the Shroud chart is straight out of Wraith; if either of these is reiterated
by other game lines, let me know and I'll review.
To my knowledge, there's no consistent system for documenting the Gauntlet or
Shroud level of an individual room, other than descs/views/notes. If there's
one that I don't know about, or else an interest in creating one, then let me
know. (It would work similarly to Banality, where the default is 'Not
specified, use common sense')
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Message: 11/34 Posted Author
OOC Masq - A Friendly reminder Sun Oct 20 DropBear
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Just as a gentle reminder: We don't require you to maintain an OOC Masquerade
for yourself. If you want to tell everyone and his brother what your stats
are, knock yourself out. We DO, however, request that you not tell on OTHER
people. Their information is theirs to share or not as they choose. "But they
outed themselves on <channel> yesterday!" isn't a valid excuse. "But their
wiki page says the exact same thing!" is a valid excuse, but you're probably
still better off just keeping your mouth shut about it. Thanks.
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Message: 11/35 Posted Author
Rewards for portraying NPCs Mon Oct 28 WhoopingCrane
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If you're portraying a NPC in a scene (generally because you're running a PRP
or playing a NPC in someone else's PRP), you're still eligible for
nominations as a reward for contributing to the story. This is an extension
of past policy okaying votes for the same reason. Relevant help files (+help
xp/nom, +policy PRPs, +policy NPC play) have been updated to clarify this.
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Message: 11/36 Posted Author
Totem Tue Nov 05 WhoopingCrane
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'+rules totem' is now a thing. (This is pretty much the same stuff that was
posted here before; if you read that, then there are no new requirements to
worry about.)
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Message: 11/37 Posted Author
+rules The Mists Thu Nov 07 WhoopingCrane
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The following has been added to '+rules The Mists':
- PCs are not 'most people', they're about 0.01% of the population.
- House rule: PCs affected by the Mists may believe that /something/
supernatural happened, even though they're fuzzy on the details. PCs with
lower Banality and/or knowledge of other supernatural things are less likely
to be skeptical.
- House rule: PCs may ignore the 'Duration of Coma' column of the chart.
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Message: 11/38 Posted Author
Taking Time(Mage Discussion) Sat Nov 09 Mouse
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It has come to light that this clause requires a house rule as there is dissent
as to what it means. It states in the book that one can garner a bonus to a
roll for taking their time. On p. 150 under 'Important Note', second
paragraph from the bottom on the right hand side.'Your mage can take extra
time and care with an Effect without making it extended. ... If you declare
that your mage is spending a lot of extra time and precision just to perform
a single Effect- or even on each step of an extended task- then the activity
may take more than a turn or even an hour to complete. However, the roll gets
a difficulty modifier of one.' On p. 150 it also states that, 'the
Storyteller may decree that a roll may take game-time hours instead of turns,
depending on the magic involved.' On the quick reference chart on p. 208,
however, it states that a -1 difficulty modifier is applied for 'extra time
spent on each step of magic (Spending several turns for one roll instead of
one turn).' We have established in this case that a single roll is not always
a single turn in length and that turns themselves vary in length as well.
A turn is stated as being between three seconds and three minutes long. I
interpret taking your time on a rote to mean that you are taking several
minutes per roll (several turns at somewhere near their maximum length)
because taking your time by the definition of the term involves carefully
checking the details of the rote in order to make sure all details are
perfect.
Whether firing a rifle or making pancake batter there is a huge difference
between what you are capable of doing in a few seconds and how long it takes
to make it perfect. You could take apart and clean the whole weapon to ensure
it fires without error, calculate wind resistance, and geometrically position
your tripod (as snipers sometimes do) or measure all ingredients multiple
times with a level and then sift them together for a pefect mixture. A three
second or one minute process becomes ten or fifteen or thirty minutes.
The argument has been made that for combat rotes taking your time should only
be several seconds because a learned combat rote takes three seconds per
round to cast as that is the length of a combat rote due to their being
explicitly designed to be used in a combat round. It seems illogical to me
for one to learn a way to cope with rushing and extend that to being able to
take their time more quickly. You can't rush taking your time, it's clearly
contradictory.
This is, for once, actually intended to start a discussion! Give me insight
into your minds! Does this make sense to you? Please keep any argument or
nonconstructive criticism in this discussion to a minimum or I will be forced
to end it prematurely.
Thank you,
Mouse"
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Message: 11/39 Posted Author
Re 11/117: reply to bb 7 plz Sat Nov 09 WhoopingCrane
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Previous responses to +bbread 11/117 have been moved to bb 7. Please post
further responses there as well, thanks.
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Message: 11/40 Posted Author
Under the Sea Fri Nov 29 PoisonFrog
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o/~ Under the sea, under the sea
Darling it's better down where it's wetter
Take it from me... o/~
Ahem. ANYWAY. Merfolk and Murdhuacha have been added to the available
Changeling kiths. (Oh, and Selkies too. And we also added in Beasties,
Boggarts, Bogies, Goblins and Ogres, but that was apparently only announced
on the Changeling BBoard.)
o/~ We got no troubles, life is the bubbles under the sea... o/~
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Message: 11/41 Posted Author
...and Zoidberg Fri Nov 29 PoisonFrog
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Addendum to previous post: We also added Piskies.
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Message: 11/42 Posted Author
Brick removed Sat Dec 07 WhoopingCrane
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On the 1st, Brick's player was banned for repeated violations of harassment
policy. He consistently tried to blame the other party for being thin-skinned
and/or annoying him first, he consistently behaved worse than the other
party, he received multiple explicit warnings from staff but failed to keep
his behavior in order.
Any questions about Brick's IC circumstances should be jointly addressed to
Dingo and HoneyBadger.
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Message: 11/43 Posted Author
Flaw freebie cap Sat Dec 07 WhoopingCrane
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The game lines are inconsistent in how they limit freebies from flaws:
* Mage lets you get 8+ freebies as long as it's all from one or two flaws.
* Werewolf lets you take as many flaws as you want, but limits you to 7
freebies.
* The others just limit you to 7 dots of flaws.
We've been using Werewolf's interpretation, with the cap lifted for a single 8+
flaw (the only ones I know of are the worst forms of Degeneration and Mayfly
Curse). After some discussion, we've decided to extend the Mage version to
all game lines, subject to staff approval on a case-by-case basis, and not
retroactive (it doesn't take /that/ long to make up the difference via XP
anyhow).
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Message: 11/44 Posted Author
Lore of Flame 2 Sun Dec 08 WhoopingCrane
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'+rules demon misc' has been updated to flesh out 'resistance to combustion'
ratings, extrapolating from the canonical examples (gasoline/gunpowder = 1,
wood/paper = 5, water/nonflammable = infinite).
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Message: 11/45 Posted Author
'+rules magical items' tweaks Sat Dec 14 WhoopingCrane
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Couple of things:
* Wraith/Risen limit has been changed from (Pathos, max 5 + Occult) x 2 (which
was flagged long ago as 'probably wrong'; Pathos starts at 5+Memoriam, goes
up/down over time, is capped at 10) to (highest Arcanos + Occult) x 2
(similar to the other game lines).
* Technocrats replacing Occult with Hypertech for building/carrying limits is
now official. For the ability to use an individual non-Technocratic item (for
whatever reason), they can qualify with either Occult or RD Data.
Also, in between items that last forever (until/unless destroyed/ruined) and
items that last for one use (talens/alchemy/etc), there are a few items that
last for a fixed period but are reusable during that time. These will have
some sort of intermediate limit, details TBD.
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Message: 11/46 Posted Author
Risk policy updated Tue Dec 17 WhoopingCrane
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Risk policy has been updated, in accordance with a draft post several weeks
ago. The core concepts remain unchanged, but some elements have been
clarified:
* '+policy consent' explains that you can't dodge any/all ICA=ICC by stating "I
don't consent to the ICC". '+policy risk escalation' goes into some more
detail.
* Specific risk levels:
- Hand waving is clarified: Low-risk players may unilaterally hand wave
certain things in their defense. Also, the specific types of hand waving that
may be needed for things to make sense.
- Difference between risk 0 and risk 1.
- Even risk 3 PCs are still protected by '+policy PTMD'.
* "Risk 0 zone" is maximum, other risk zones default to minimum.
Hopefully this is all uncontroversial (I don't remember receiving any
complaints in response to the draft post), but if you do spot any problems
then please let us know.
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Message: 11/47 Posted Author
Awareness clarifications Thu Dec 19 WhoopingCrane
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As previously discussed (+bbread 7/6), '+rules awareness' has been clarified:
* Pertains to detecting power use, not other things (e.g. some demon
evocations).
* Rolled with Perception. Players without Awareness can't roll Perception by
itself.
* +1 difficulty for detecting powers used /only/ for sensing.
* -1 difficulty changed from 'used for influencing' to 'targeting the player
doing the roll'.
* New clauses for demons detecting power use from a distance.
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Message: 11/48 Posted Author
Magical items with fixed shelf lif Sat Dec 21 WhoopingCrane
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This refers to magical items that lose their effect after a fixed amount of
time, but can be used multiple times until then. (They were mentioned in the
tail end of 11/124.) Instead of the usual creation-token approach, you can
have as many of these in simultaneous existence as you have dots in Occult
(shifters/changelings/Technocrats use a different ability as usual).
Single-use items (e.g. talens, alchemical potions) remain unlimited, though
staff will probably look at you funny if you try to create ten thousand of
'em at once...
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Message: 11/49 Posted Author
Yava and You (BASTET READ THIS NOW Mon Dec 23 DropBear
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Since this came up in a +job recently, I thought I'd clarify this for everyone,
since at the very least the two players involved didn't know so it's entirely
likely some of the rest of you don't know either.
Yava (Bastet Tribal Secret Weaknesses) are NOT common knowledge! Even the ones
that are known outside their Tribe (Ceilican and Ajaba) aren't WIDELY known.
Merely having Fera Lore is not enough to know another Bastet's Yava. Someone
would need to tell them to you (and most Bastet would sooner die than reveal
them) and then you would need to submit a +request to have an approved +note
added to your character that yes, indeed, you DO know this other Tribe's
secret(s). If you think you have some other sneaky way to have learned them,
go ahead and +request that too, we will, as usual, kick it around and decide
whether you're right or not and proceed accordingly. Once again, just to make
it clear, you do not know the Yava of a Tribe other than your own unless you
have an approved +note saying you do.
(Pertinent information is in Breedbook: Bastet, especially the Rite 'Passing
the Yava' on page 119)
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Message: 11/50 Posted Author
Mage grimoires Fri Dec 27 WhoopingCrane
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We're allowing the creation and use of grimoires/principiae (Forged by Dragon's
Fire 65-71), which can assist lower-level mages with raising Arete faster
and/or spheres cheaper.
Using grimoires is covered by '+rules grimoire'. This is pretty much a straight
summary of the canon rules, except replacing 'Seeking' with 'minimum time'
(similar to '+rules arete').
Creating grimoires works according to the book. Note that it costs a permanent
Willpower (same as talismans), and that no PC will be able to create one that
assists with raising Arete above 3. Also, the more you cram into one book,
the longer it takes to get anything back out of it.
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