Not really, doesn't affect Roberto, unless Viscaria corners him as soon as he comes to Mons Electi and the troupe decides that Marcus isn't available (for any number of reasons). Bottom line, Viscaria is making Roman baths for the Tribunal. She knows that Marcus designed the heating system for Apollodorus's baths at his villa that he maintained at Valnastium. Marcus can do it, but so could Roberto...probably. It really could be handled in some IC interaction once Roberto arrives. So I'm not going into too much depth, but giving you the highlights of what's being talked about as a player, so you can decide how to proceed in character.
Nah, Benner works for me.
I noticed on MagiPlanner that Fiona and Alexei are studying the same book in 1227.4
As long as he is a former professor at the university of Paris it will work.
So, how does one, serious question here, induce a Magister in Artibus who isn't a magus to come to a covenant and teach? Keep in mind he has to teach two seasons a year, at least. Why teach and Mons Electi and not at the Sorbonne? Yes, I know the Sorbonne didn't technically exist until 1257...still.
Hunh. Not quite sure how that happened, I'm usually pretty good about making sure a book or a teacher isn't being used when I lay claim to it. For what it's worth, my MetaCreator shows that I updated Fiona's sheet to show studying the rego book on July 9.
money.
Cash, coin, rare books, etceteras.
I am sure some material exchange can convince him, and I think this covenant should be able to afford it.
Yeah, that's kinda what I thought.
Money only goes so far. Looking at the magi planner...he is underutilized.
The opportunity for mostly one-on-one teaching, perhaps?
And there you have it: Dragon's Rest = the Department of Motor Vehicles :mrgreen:
I felt something similar. A modern post office in Mythic Europe 
Hey, we magi are simply more advanced culturally 
No...no...
The cast of redcaps are:
A failed apprentice turned redcap who figures out how to fix everyone else's problems but his own.
A short, fat dispatcher redcap who insults all the other redcaps who come by
A spaced out redcap who at some special food when he was at University a while back
A female redcap, mother of two, just trying to make ends meet.
A failed boxer.
A pretentious actor wannabe.
A tinker who speaks in an accent no one can identify...
Filmed in front of a live studio audience.
Man. I'd watch that show 8)
This has been
a) extremely unclear to me
b) out of my hands
Jebrick is saying that he "offered to go" and no one started a thread. Jonathan is saying that he was waiting for someone to start a thread to go. Who is responsible for starting threads? I thought it was the SG's job to start stories.
I have, not to put too fine a point on it, been pushing this issue as much as I was comfortable doing for over a year of realtime now and now you two are saying that it didn't happen at all because of a miscommunication.
My original plan was to have Viscaria go the season of Mother's Footsteps, but then a dream mage with an Arcane Connection penetrated her resistance and took her captive that season instead. I have not made any chapters in the reasonable future afterward because it was unclear that she would be able to escape from Lapis Crudis to do so.
Now, I have tried being a good sport about this. I have tried not to harp on this point. But this has been important to me and a subject that I have repeatedly brought up while trying to respect the dictates of the story.
I am WELL AWARE that the lab texts available at Confluensis will be just about useless for our mechanical and meta-data needs. On the other hand, I cannot think of a single reason in-game that we wouldn't at least send someone to pick up the stuff.
Confluensis being the belly of the beast so to speak?
I can easily see characters not wanting to go there.
Players, as you have done, can start stories. So if Viscaria is going to work Renaud over to try and get him to go. Keep in mind I can't really force someone into stories, unless they focus on story flaws. Viscaria can go after she gets out, that's fine with me. She isn't too far, especially when the portal at Dragon's Rest is taken into consideration.
And I said, these stories I'm telling are the minimum ones that I want to be told. I'll tell more. I don't have any problem with that. As to who goes, it's all in play. When has been after 1222. Can happen in 1223.2, if that's what is desired.
I understand. It's further complicated by my suggestion that I might pay someone to teach me the spells for a season -- it puts a new light onto the subject of spell availability and lab texts. The more time we spend looking at this, the more I feel like the valuation of lab texts is one of the more incoherent parts of the game.
If it helps, even a partial answer would help me solidify some of my numbers. Actually, partial answers slowly over time would be better, because then I don't have to do all the number crunching at once.
At this point, our vis stocks only have inputs and very generic outputs listed for the period up to 1227. We haven't output incomes to the individual members, so there's no sense of how much "money" we actually have as a covenant. It's really hard to get a sense of how much income that means for the covenant.
This has been directly answered repeatedly. What step is necessary, beyond answering it, to get this question answered?
I respectfully submit that we, as a group, have created a gaming style where it is no longer clear how to get answers to questions like this one. When can we count the events of a particular yet as adjudicated? When can we start working with material that we've obtained in a particular year? When can I start assuming that Viscaria has escaped Lapis Crudis and can reasonably be expected to be back at Mons Electi?
The point that I'm trying to make is that without a general sense of what is in that stash, it is hard for me to play a character that has harnessed every last inch of the covenant to meet and exceed this challenge.
Yes and no. Marcus disappears in 1223.4, are you really assuming Marcus isn't back a year before the Tribunal? While I haven't played him in later episodes, I hadn't made it clear, and I'd left it undefined, based on what players planned to do.
[/quote]
I find this a completely unreasonable position for you to take as Alpha SG. You are playing the world. You are responsible for making decisions like "what resources are available and how much do they cost." If those decisions are up to me, then I'm not playing an RPG, I'm writing fiction. Creating conflict and challenges for my character to overcome is not my job.
Beyond that, I have previously asked, specifically about Marcus, whether he'd be returning to do that work. You told me you "no longer had a need to play Marcus," and I have assumed based on that statement that you were intentionally killing off Marcus in the Magic Realm.
Again, I cannot do these things until the SG tells me that I will definitely have escaped from the Lapis Crudis regio. I hate saying things like that, because it comes across as sounding like I don't like the chapter. I do like the chapter. I like the SG trapping Viscaria in a prison that is sort of exactly what she craves out of life. But it creates story consequences. I have to respect those consequences. One of those consequences is that Viscaria can't appear in the non-linear NOW unless and until the SG tells me that my character will reasonably be freed during the other stories.
This suggests some serious confusion at to what is whose responsibility.
Until a few months ago, the Alpha SG started the chapter threads, specifying which characters were required to take part and permitting any other characters who wished to join to come as they willed. If players wanted to RP, we did that in the 122X.etc thread.
I am not sure how that changed, but your quoted comment above indicates to me that this system has changed, that no one has clearly defined the change, and that the lack of definition is causing frustration.
I should probably move this question over to OOC:Tribunal Planning, but basically this is the situation as I understand it:
a) Marcus exits the campaign in 1223.4, before the Bath House could possibly be built
b) Isen, being an ice-mage, would not be able to spont the circle-spells to make the hot water happen
c) Alexei, while a Flambeau, has not shown any affinity for fire magic
d) Roberto, who has the necessary spells, would show up well after when, in her linear perspective, Viscaria would resort to paying someone to do the work.
If this is all correct, then who else does she know that she might tap into this project? Virgil, from Spider's Palace perhaps? One of the magi from Val Negra Reborn that she's been trying to make contacts with?
Has some system been put into place that allows us to distinguish between when you've read things and expressed silent approval, and when you simply haven't read something yet? If so, I missed that House Rule.
As stated above, Viscaria was planning to go pick them up when she gets waylaid by Somnifer. She tells Theraphosa to have someone get the lab texts. Theraphosa asks Reynaud.
Jebrick, who plays Reynaud, waits for Jonathan to start a chapter thread. Jonathan waits for Jebrick to start a chapter thread. It doesn't happen.
I suggest that Viscaria will, after the events of everything, make a point of going to Confluensis to see if the stuff ever gets picked up. Jonathan confirms this over eight months ago, but still does not actually tell us what the contents of the stash are.
I have asked repeatedly and in a variety of ways for that information. I have been asking for someone to resolve that for over a year now. From what I can tell, we are now saying that this information still isn't available to me despite me being responsible for knowing it and obtaining it for reasons that continue to be both unclear and deeply unsatisfying to me.
I'm on my iPad, so I'm not doing a quote and respond format.
Marcus can stay or go. He doesn't have to exit as 1223.4. It is true that he is less necessary now. How he exits is more of a function of troupe consensus than SG fiat. Marcus leading the fire giant off was part of the end of the Brandywine thread from the get go. If you want him, he's yours. I don't see a lot of demand to go get him.
I disagree that the Greek issue had been answered repeatedly. Maybe it had been established in the magi planner, you saw it, but that is primarily a tool for players, so I didn't look at it carefully. I figure that players can self manage that. When I looked and jenrick told me when I asked, then I knew. I couldn't find anything, so I asked. I typically have a good handle on things, for example the second notification to qcipher that he needed to change his study plan in 1227, when Fiona is using the Rego text, Peregrine had it first, and he still hasn't changed it.
Look, if you need to have every I dotted and T crossed to proceed on certain things, despite assurances by me to the contrary that I'm not going to screw you, the player, over, then I'm not sure I can do anything to the contrary. Your the (only) one complaining loudly about the format and pace of the stories, structure, etc. if others have complaints and concerns, so I can know if this format isn't satisfactory. I've been repeatedly vocal that you shouldn't look at this stretch of time as an obstacle, but an opportunity. Make of it what you will. I've provided a couple of opportunities for Viscaria to escape the regio, and as far as I can tell, you've passed on them.
Yes, I determine what is available, but I've provided the players a lot of room for determining what is available to. I didn't put up too many obstacles to getting a Greek Teacher. He isn't being utilized, though, so I'm about to yank that resource.
If I create a story, it's something I've given a fair amount of thought to. For the trip to Confluensis and rescuing Marcus, which are less well defined and are more player initiated, I need more from the players. There can be and has been a lot of talk, with little doing. I'm reluctant to kick off stories if they are going to be poorly executed, whether by me or the players. It is very hard to do a story when I don't know who the actors are. So I need players to commit, for me to craft the story. Yes, I craft stories to the participants. Brandywine was, I thought something desired by two players, then one left, and the other indicated they weren't into it.
As far as Renaud, I don't know why jebrick is saying no. IMO, Renaud doesn't have a good excuse to say no, or there isn't something that could be dangled in front of him to induce his cooperation. There is plenty of room for RP here. RP between players that I am seemingly being asked to facilitate..why I don't know. Do it, or not. Escape the regio, or not.