General Table Talk

[Jonathan.Link]

"There are seldom good technological solutions to behavioral problems."

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@Prince of Boredom

Fedora had mentioned in the Redcap thread about possibly calling a council meeting, which is probably a good idea somewhere within the timeframe we're working in. Should we have a thread for that?

She did call one. But, yeah, I'm thinking a separate thread, with the council stuff moved to that thread, makes sense.

@Marko Markoko

Good point. But I am going to defer that question momentarilly. I need you guys to take a look at the Resolutions & By Laws, especially involving how we conduct our meetings and the Officers of the Council. I nomonate Solomon as our Inquisitor

My only...gripe for lack of a better word...about the Resolutions & By Laws thread is that ginormous block of struck-out text at the beginning that (a) I find rather distracting, and (b) makes it harder to search for a particular word, because I have to slog through ten or twenty struck-out occurrences before I get to the "current" version.

Any way that initial struck-out post can be deleted, please?

[Marko_Markoko]

Done

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

Thank you.

[Xavi]

@Marko Markoko

¡Murciélago! ¡Cuidado! hay un murciélago aquí!

Correct in Spanish. If you prefer the catalan version use the following.
Ratpenat! Vigileu! Hi ha un ratpenat aquí!

@Marko Markoko

¡Pinché murciélago! ¡Quita té! ¡Salga aquí!

Mexican Murcielago FTW :mrgreen:

BTW: pinche (emphasis on the "I") would be "damned" or "jerk" or whatever swear word. "Pinché" with an accent on the E means "I stabbed", like, with a fork. I assume you mean the first. "Quita té" means "remove tea" :mrgreen: The fact that Spanish uses accents does not means it needs to use them in every single word! LMAO

In (modern Castilian) Spanish it would be something like this: ¡Maldito murciélago! ¡Quítate! ¡Fuera de aquí! (Damned bat! Out! Get out of here!)
In (modern) Catalan it would be something like this: Maleït ratpenat! Fuig d'aquí! Surt d'aquí!

BTW: the bat has a really really nice AC in his fangs, so I would be very worried if I were Ludwig.

Cheers,
Xavi

[Marko_Markoko]

8) :mrgreen:

[The_Fixer]

I believe it was Ryu who didn't like "Man of Steel"?
Well, saw it, and it was, IMO, a spectacular meh. Something was lacking, and the movie mostly felt empty. Just like New York in the movie. I've seen much worse, but I was disappointed.

On another front, I'm warry: Although I've managed to catch up somewhat (don't look at the rest!!) I'm supposed to get a surprise intern in the coming days (learned it yesterday), and then I'll go away with some friends (and although we'll have internet in theory, I dunno how much time I'll have). So I fear I may drop of the radar at any time until the end of the month, maybe a little later. I think it's better to be careful.
Thus the post in mission improbable and all Arachne will stay behind, in a support role.

[Xavi]

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

Vibria falls in beside Carmen, whispering to her in Catalan. [color=red]"We're assuming that the child is his. He says it isn't, and she hasn't said who it is...that is, if she even knows. And the people who have dealt with her the most say she's not to be trusted, that she clouds people's minds. I don't think dragging her and the baby back to Andorra is such a good idea, and it doesn't look to me like she really wants to go." She then falls back and resumes her looking around for anything of value, especially the bow.

"Estem assumint que el nen és seu. Ell diu que no ho és i ella no ha dit qui és.... si és que ho sap. I la gent que ha tractat amb ella diu que no ens en podem refiar, que emboira les ments de les persones. No crec que arrossegar-la a ella i al nen de tornada a Andorra sigui una bona idea, i no em sembla que hi vulgui anar."

So you know how it would sound (more or less, add 7 centuries less of language evolution).

[Ryu]

@The Fixer

I believe it was Ryu who didn't like "Man of Steel"?
Well, saw it, and it was, IMO, a spectacular meh. Something was lacking, and the movie mostly felt empty. Just like New York in the movie. I've seen much worse, but I was disappointed.

Yep, I was really ticked about it. With such superb actors and a great writer there was NO EXCUSE for this film to suck as much as it did. I hate Zack Snyder SO MUCH.

Good luck with work and have a fun vacation

[Ryu]

The way everyone keeps talking about Gemma right in front of her, as though she's not there... it keeps making me think of this:
youtube.com/watch?v=ADJhErmJuoQ
(Skip to 4:30... though the whole video is funny.)

I dream of the day when I can play my +5 Presence characters as Russell Brand

[Marko_Markoko]

[Ryu]

@Ryu

Vulcanus' eyes harden as others read the letter. "Not even with him two seasons before she starts making children with that filth," he growls.

Or, phrased slightly differently: "She's been there between three and six months, and she's already popped out a kid! WTF, how could she get over me so quickly!"

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

But if he kicked a woman who was that pregnant out? I think that's a pretty dick move.

It would have been, had he any idea Carmen hit the nail on the head when she told Gemma she couldn't expect him not to be dumb.

My ex-wife used to always say "I don't know how someone so intelligent can act so stupid sometimes," and my answer to her is, "Don't hate me, I'm just statted this way."

[Ryu]

...Not that I ever actually SAID that to her, or I'm sure we would have gotten divorced a lot sooner.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@Ryu

My ex-wife used to always say "I don't know how someone so intelligent can act so stupid sometimes," and my answer to her is, "Don't hate me, I'm just statted this way."

I tend to be high Int/low Wis myself. And my Wis tends to be inversely proportional to the Com score of whoever I'm dealing with.

[Ryu]

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

@p. 161 of the MRB

Effects from enchanted devices are resisted by the Aegis unless the item was within the Aegis at the time of casting, or was created within the Aegis by someone who was part of the ritual or in possession of a token.

So, unless the item was within the current Aegis when it was cast, or was created within the Aegis, or has a Penetration of 41+, it won't work. I think.

If a lv40 Aegis resists the item, does that mean the item needs 40 penetration to function inside it, or does that just mean the item takes the same -20 CT penalty and -20 Penetration penalty that foreign spells would?

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@Ryu

@Peregrine_Bjornaer

@p. 161 of the MRB

Effects from enchanted devices are resisted by the Aegis unless the item was within the Aegis at the time of casting, or was created within the Aegis by someone who was part of the ritual or in possession of a token.

So, unless the item was within the current Aegis when it was cast, or was created within the Aegis, or has a Penetration of 41+, it won't work. I think.

If a lv40 Aegis resists the item, does that mean the item needs 40 penetration to function inside it, or does that just mean the item takes the same -20 CT penalty and -20 Penetration penalty that foreign spells would?

My initial reaction would be to say that it needs Penetration of 41+. Magic items don't have a Casting score, I think, so you can't really subtract half the Aegis level from a number that doesn't exist. And "resisted", to me, implies magic resistance, à la Parma Magica or Magic Might.

[Ryu]

So does it take 20 off your Penetration AND still have to be penetrated at 40? It seems counterintuitive that it would do both. Aegis already drops penetration by half the aegis' level, but it seems stupid that you'd need 60+ penetration for an item to work in a lv40 aegis.

[Peregrine_Bjornaer]

@Ryu

So does it take 20 off your Penetration AND still have to be penetrated at 40? It seems counterintuitive that it would do both. Aegis already drops penetration by half the aegis' level, but it seems stupid that you'd need 60+ penetration for an item to work in a lv40 aegis.

A level 40 Aegis reduced your casting total by 20. This aspect shouldn't have any effect on an item, since items don't have Casting Totals. Where it affects items is by them being Resisted by the Aegis, which I'm reading as having to overcome the Aegis as Magic Resistance, i.e. Penetration. I'll have to check the handy-dandy Aegis Cheat Sheet, though.

@A Guide to Aegis of the Hearth

Items
Explicit:

• If any of these three apply, the item is not resisted:

[list][*]The item was made by someone who participated in the Aegis ritual.

• The item was made by someone who has an invitation and token.
• The item was inside the Aegis as the ritual was cast, regardless of who made the item.
  [/:m]
  []All other items are resisted in an unstated manner.[/*:m][/list:u]
  Implicitly Likely:
• If you put the most weight on the word "resisted," then resisted items must penetrate the Aegis's level regardless of location. This probably means Talismans cease to give their bonuses when within a resisting Aegis, too.
• If you put the most weight on "foreign" vs. "within," then resisted items must penetrate the Aegis if "foreign" or have reduced penetration if within the Aegis. This can be interpreted so that Talisman bonuses flicker as the boundary is crossed, being resisted in an essentially irrelevant way.

[Ryu]

Ah, I was remembering it wrong. It actually says "Penetration totals for magical creatures are reduced by the same amount." I'd remembered it as CTs AND PTs were both reduced, because I haven't looked at the description for Aegis in 6-7 years or so.

[Marko_Markoko]

I take Resisted to mean the item does not work at all, no matter what. The Penetration score is irrelevant.I do not think this applies to Attunments, for attunments instead add to the weilders casting total which is then subject to spell resistance rules instead.
Which puts Ryu in a bind of "WTF do I do now?". Been there Easy solution: do nothing. There is a solution. The characters simply do not know what it is (nor have they even contemplated the issue). It is irrelevant to the story at hand. And, just brainstorming, I can think of several solutions...

• Vulcanus made the items, and had participated in the last casting of this Aegis (perhaps they do theirs in summer?)
• Vulcanus made the items, and had somehow obtained a token from Gemma? Maybe She is helping him? Send a coded message in her letter?
• The items were made by someone else, who had participated in the last Aegis casting &/or has a current token.
• The items were hidden here on the island. Bernhard knew where they were stashed and distributed them when we reached the island. The aegis covers the whole place, but the antechamber area was excluded or is being suppressed.

And it is as easy as that. They work, there is a reason but we do not know what it is (nor do we care ). This detail is unimportant to our current objective (so far).