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omnitricks
2016-04-20, 08:27 AM
Hullo hivemind. I am in a fix and I need some help before the game's next session...

Because my party members and GM are terrible people and my PC is stuck not fighting the BBEG because overpowered NPCs have wrapped him in some sort of shield he can't bust out of. While technically my PC has gotten the same sort of power for this fight, the GM seems to have implied to me that in comparison, the powers I got isn't all that compared to the others.

Thats right, in the big picture of 7 powers given by some godlike being to 14 individuals (the 5 PCs included thereby having at least 2 people with the same powers) mine is completely useless. If I were to describe it in a way, the other 6 deals in absolutes whereas mine , doesn't.

GM has mentioned he has his own way to railroad me into the BBEG fight but knowing him its just a way to mess with me and in a sense I rather try it myself instead of rely on GM like the others normally do. While I have thought up some methods (which play more to messing with/interacting with the NPC/world stuff because I am primarily a roguish player) I'm sure there are other things I can use.

Details of the shield I could get out of the GM so far:

Bluish in colour (apparently the colour is a representation of the sourse of power, for those interested the source of my colour is black)
Doesn't seem to have a depth to it (not sure what he means by that)
Nothing can get out, nothing can get in (which means the teleporting power I got from some other BB doesn't work)
Shield doesn't move (tried to teleport it and me to something I knew could destroy it, doesn't seem to work)
Arm can be moved around the body (while tightly wrapped there is a gap for some reason)
Noise can travel through? (He hasn't exactly said it but I am assuming its possible because it was possible to talk to the other PCs and NPCs at some point)
Can't confirm if its concentration based by the NPC. GM seems to be very evasive on this when I tried to confirm it with him.


Details of my PC:

Currently possessing a mannequin for a body (yeah stuff gets real weird)
Primarily an arcane ritualist (as in he uses rituals to do stuff. Because this is a Fate rpg its pretty much means given enough time my PC can do a lot of things through his rituals. The only limits is my imagination so hivemind, imagine for me) Because of the way its been used in the game by me thus far, it can also be used to store uses of magic/powers/effects so there is that. Because I don't normally play magic PCs in RPGs my imagination is really limited.
Has stolen a lot of powers from a previous BB he fought (think a whole assortment of superpowers) including teleportation, ranged melee attacks (being the only way I know how to describe it), gravity powers, light, nature control, lightning, vibration and noise (the latter five being randoms the GM told me about) among others. The GM has a list so if the hivemind thinks there is some other superpower which could help not in the list, suggest it to me and how I could use it anyway and I'll ask the GM if I actually have it as a resource.
"Godlike" powers include controlling shadows (and the GM emphasis on only controlling as far as I know so none of the cool shadow stuff we are familiar with) which only seems useful so far for my PC making rituals outside the shield bubble unless someone knows some other way of making use of shadows. The other thing he calls inflict which seems to be a regular debuff which has already been abused by me since it seems like I'm the only person in my group to have read the rulebook even before the power was given so I'm not even sure if it will be useful at all.
Has brought along with him a ****ton of items (my PC also makes a lot of stuff to help him like Batman but since those stuff were destroyed along with his old body...) which was randomly "taken" from an old wizard tower type place he was created in (incidentally belonging to the BBEG's servant who has been preparing for this final battle so if all else fails I'm going to ask the GM if there is something that could help in that stack)


The system is Fate butttttttt... the GM has some houserules (and there are some he still hasn't revealed so I'm not sure if he'd spring out anymore at this point) but just assume they are all the sameish rules. Also not too sure if my build is important but if someone wants it I'll share it later on but I guess I have 3 fate points to play with (along with the ability to make advantages as mentioned above)

So please hivemind, help Omni get out of this jam. Thanks.

Segev
2016-04-20, 09:32 AM
Alright. This is going to be out-of-the-box thinking, and thus susceptible to a GM's "No," but honestly, if your GM has only One True Way for you to get out, or has decided to fiat you out of the fight, there is literally nothing we can do. So let's assume that we might be able to come up with SOMETHING.

First off, as a random aside, I believe what your GM means by the shield not having depth is that the shell itself is infinitely thin. It doesn't have thickness. It's just an impenetrable barrier.


Alright. Let's look at your situation. The first thing that occurred to me was when I saw you were currently possessing a mannequin. Can you stop possessing it? Can you start possessing something else, instead? Something outside the shield? You can't teleport, but you're not teleporting. You're simply ceasing to be in that location and being somewhere else. Perhaps use the Nature Control to possess an animal or tree or something.

If that doesn't fly (based, likely, on your soul being trapped within, as well), perhaps you can simulate it. Use your gravity powers as TK to control a puppet. Use your light powers to redirect the light from where its eyes would be to your own eyes; you can now see through it. Do the same with your "noise" powers for sound. Heck, build the puppet out of nature-things.

Or just use the light-and-noise manipulation as a scrying tool. Put your awareness wherever you want it to be. Then use nature control and lightning attacks (originating from outside the shell) to blast things. You're totally protected in the shell, and can hit your foes with impunity!

If you have "godlike" control of shadows, you should be able to stretch "control" to interesting degrees. Removing something's shadow means you made it stop blocking light; can you declare your allies invisible? Moving enough shadows to concentrate over a victim's eyes should make him blind as he can see only darkness.


With sufficient gravity control and power, you could theoretically warp space around your cocoon. It doesn't move; the rest of the universe moves around it. Or just move the whole planet/solar system relative to it.

Not knowing what toys you have with you, I can't really make any suggestions how to use them. Unless you can ritually link their shadows to them, then cast their shadows through the barrier (you seem to be able to see through it to some extent, which means your light-manipulation power plus your shadow-control should let you achieve this) and have their shadows take on the properties of the things which cast them? You control shadows with godlike proficiency, but can't make them be anything other than shadows (not portals or the like). But what if you use ritual magic to empower shadows, THEN use your control of them?

Ritually reverse the relationship of control/reaction between a figure and its shadow, so that now it is forced to do what its shadow does, rather than its shadow being reshaped by its actions. Ritually imbue a shadow with properties it wouldn't normally have, then control the shadow to abuse those properties. Ritually possess your own shadow, which is being cast (along with the shield's) on the ground. That shadow, sure, is still trapped, but your control over the shield's shadow lets you open a door in it for your shadow to leave.

LokiRagnarok
2016-04-20, 03:41 PM
You have light(ning) and noise and you think this shield is dependent on an NPCs concentration?

Cause them a seizure from stroboscopic light and/or noise. Or drive them mad with a barely audible vibration.

Use the shadow power suggestion from the previous poster to protect yourself from those effects.

Heck, if you can use your powers outside of the barrier, increase gravity on the PC and press them into the earth crust.

Bulhakov
2016-04-20, 04:22 PM
Some quick thoughts:
- possess the shield
- vibrate the shield
- vibrate your body or an object to see if it passes through the shield
- see if the shield conducts or stores electricity, try to ground it or charge it up
- see if the shield can be compressed by gravity
- scry for whomever is controlling the shield and distract/fight them remotely

Knaight
2016-04-20, 04:28 PM
If your character is currently in a mannequin, can they transfer to a different one? You might lose everything they're carrying (at least until you find a way to take the shield down for good, and which is probably not that big of a deal as this is a Fate game), but if you can get something to transfer to nearby and shift to it, you're out.

LarwisTheElf
2016-04-20, 05:22 PM
Lightning powers and stuck in an impenetrable barrier? Sounds awfully familiar to me... (http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/040302w)

Of course it also sounds like the DM wants you to do one specific thing to get out of there, so until you develop mind reading powers in the real world, I can't really think of much to help you.

Kardwill
2016-04-21, 04:50 AM
Most obvious question : What is the shape of this shield? Is it a dome, a tube, a sphere?

i.e. could you tunnel under the shield? I ask because the "no depth" comment makes me think it might not extend underground.

Earthwalker
2016-04-21, 05:31 AM
Hullo hivemind. I am in a fix and I need some help before the game's next session...

-Snip- Lots of words about the situation.

The system is Fate butttttttt...

-snipage-

Spend a fate point to declare you free your mind from the mannequin you are possessing. Either jump into something else or just you your powers as spirit floating around the scene.

I mean its fate you have some level of narrative control as long as you can make it interesting. Possess a hat stand and throw down against the BBEG.

Quertus
2016-04-24, 06:36 AM
The most obvious way to try to get out is to possess something else. But why would you do that? You are inside an ultimate defense. A transparent one. When your main powers include light and shadow. Which can pass through the defense. Because it is transparent.

To communicate with your allies, use light to write words on your chest, like printed t-shirts.

But if you really want to get out, transform your body (and gear) into light, and simply pass through the translucent barrier. Or bend light around yourself, to turn yourself invisible, to make it look like you have already escaped. Or become invincible by possessing the barrier itself.

Gildedragon
2016-04-24, 10:50 AM
Use shadows and light to distract NPC
Or start doing something vaguely ritual-like. Bluff or trick the NPC into thinking you're making something that will be dangerous for them (summon a shadow doppelganger that will fight them to the death/rain an apocalypse from the sky/fill the room with toxic gas) so they drop the shield and try and stop you. If you can actually do the ritual, then try to

Delwugor
2016-04-25, 04:09 PM
This sounds like a really fun and interesting challenge! Of course in Fate you can always succeed no matter how difficult the task, the question is what you do and how much it can cost. And with Fate much depends on the Aspects, those that are known and those that can be created. Always remember Create Advantage is your friend.


Bluish in colour (apparently the colour is a representation of the sourse of power, for those interested the source of my colour is black)

"Godlike" powers include controlling shadows
Blue Power source, Black Power source and Shadows. Sounds like you can cancel out the power source of the shield.

As a general approach, I would suggest:
Use your Ritual (however that works) or Lore or something to track the Blue shield back to it's power source. That's a Create Advantage and if successful an Aspect of "I know it's power".
Blue light, free hands: Ritual or your Power using your hands to create a small shadow, and justify with your Black Power Source aspect (it should be an aspect to the power) to grow and darken the shadow. Again Create Advantage of "Shadow which blocks all light" if successful.
Have other PCs use their powers to help with their own Create Advantages.

All successful Create Advantages have at least 1 free invoke! So you could have two aspects which can be invoked for free to give +4, the other PCs for even more. Now move your "Shadow which blocks all light" into the shield and since "I know how it's power", you can attempt to cut the power supply of the shield and free yourself. If need you still have the 3 Fate Points to use to invoke character or other situational aspects.

And finally if all else fails you can "Succeed at a Cost". Remember that Obsidian rock you always keep in your pocket for good luck? Well maybe the Shadow is just enough to open a small hole in the shield for your free hands to grab the rock out of the shield and transfer yourself to it. So your "Cost" could become a new Character Aspect of "Shape of an Obsidian Rock" until you get out of that. Sounds like a very interesting last resort cost to me.

kyoryu
2016-04-25, 04:49 PM
Given that it's Fate, as others have said, some kind of Declaration is probably your best bet.

What aspects do you currently have?

Personally, I'd probably try to absorb the shield energy into myself Mwahahahaha.

If you have control over your own shield, having it cover your body, and then expand to the size of the containing shield would certainly be interesting as well.

GrayDeath
2016-04-27, 02:14 PM
The most obvious way to try to get out is to possess something else. But why would you do that? You are inside an ultimate defense. A transparent one. When your main powers include light and shadow. Which can pass through the defense. Because it is transparent.

To communicate with your allies, use light to write words on your chest, like printed t-shirts.

But if you really want to get out, transform your body (and gear) into light, and simply pass through the translucent barrier. Or bend light around yourself, to turn yourself invisible, to make it look like you have already escaped. Or become invincible by possessing the barrier itself.


This.

This is not a trap, its your new way of being invincible!
Sure, you cannot in body leave that location, but since you are in a mannequin anyway your body is not that "hot", and your Power set...man, your GM handed you a huge boon. ;)



If you rather be mobile than invoncible, then there were some good suggestions (and the FATE-ical use of Fate Points to simply declare yourself free or somesuch while boring should ALWAYS work).

kyoryu
2016-04-27, 03:03 PM
If you rather be mobile than invoncible, then there were some good suggestions (and the FATE-ical use of Fate Points to simply declare yourself free or somesuch while boring should ALWAYS work).

That's really not how Fate Points and Declarations work, at least in any game of Fate I've played. I certainly wouldn't allow "I'm free!" as a declaration.

Now, a declaration of some sort that allows you to become free? (like "oh, yeah, because of <x> I can totally absorb this energy")? Totally fair game.

Vinyadan
2016-04-27, 03:18 PM
If sound gets through although it is airtight, then it must vibrate. Try making it vibrate to a point of straining. In theory, this could also kill you, but well, you take some risks.

Pile up shadows until it is black and try with your black power.

Bleed on it. Blood usually counts for something.

Make a ritual to find out the source and how it works? (if you can).

Lord Torath
2016-04-28, 08:48 AM
Bleed on it. Blood usually counts for something.Mannequin, remember? No blood.

Omnitricks, when is your next session? Will you give us an update of how things work out?

GreatWyrmGold
2016-04-28, 09:17 AM
If sound gets through although it is airtight, then it must vibrate. Try making it vibrate to a point of straining. In theory, this could also kill you, but well, you take some risks.
This sounds like an excellent plan and I see no obvious potential flaws.

If you succeed, you escape the shield. If you fail, you escape the game.

omnitricks
2016-04-29, 07:31 AM
Some suggestions have been repeated/are similar so I'll just say what I know to the first one of the lot. Hope you all don't mind.

Also in addition to the thing I have mentioned at the first post, inflict means literally inflict anything (according to one of the other players who had to explain to me when I ran into him in the bus)


Alright. Let's look at your situation. The first thing that occurred to me was when I saw you were currently possessing a mannequin. Can you stop possessing it? Can you start possessing something else, instead? Something outside the shield? You can't teleport, but you're not teleporting. You're simply ceasing to be in that location and being somewhere else. Perhaps use the Nature Control to possess an animal or tree or something.

If that doesn't fly (based, likely, on your soul being trapped within, as well), perhaps you can simulate it. Use your gravity powers as TK to control a puppet. Use your light powers to redirect the light from where its eyes would be to your own eyes; you can now see through it. Do the same with your "noise" powers for sound. Heck, build the puppet out of nature-things.

Or just use the light-and-noise manipulation as a scrying tool. Put your awareness wherever you want it to be. Then use nature control and lightning attacks (originating from outside the shell) to blast things. You're totally protected in the shell, and can hit your foes with impunity!

If you have "godlike" control of shadows, you should be able to stretch "control" to interesting degrees. Removing something's shadow means you made it stop blocking light; can you declare your allies invisible? Moving enough shadows to concentrate over a victim's eyes should make him blind as he can see only darkness.


With sufficient gravity control and power, you could theoretically warp space around your cocoon. It doesn't move; the rest of the universe moves around it. Or just move the whole planet/solar system relative to it.

Not knowing what toys you have with you, I can't really make any suggestions how to use them. Unless you can ritually link their shadows to them, then cast their shadows through the barrier (you seem to be able to see through it to some extent, which means your light-manipulation power plus your shadow-control should let you achieve this) and have their shadows take on the properties of the things which cast them? You control shadows with godlike proficiency, but can't make them be anything other than shadows (not portals or the like). But what if you use ritual magic to empower shadows, THEN use your control of them?

Ritually reverse the relationship of control/reaction between a figure and its shadow, so that now it is forced to do what its shadow does, rather than its shadow being reshaped by its actions. Ritually imbue a shadow with properties it wouldn't normally have, then control the shadow to abuse those properties. Ritually possess your own shadow, which is being cast (along with the shield's) on the ground. That shadow, sure, is still trapped, but your control over the shield's shadow lets you open a door in it for your shadow to leave.

Yes I can stop possessing it (it was surprising foresight on my part because I didn't want to use my actual back up body because its way stronger than even my original and I didn't want to risk it at the time or it would be the one stuck in the bubble) but I don't want to use it for the BBEG fight either because its kind of like my "extra life" in the game so to speak. An advantage I want to keep for the moment especially from the rest of the party hence me wanting to get out and still be in the mannequin for the fight.

However it would be way harder to possess something else (improper "containers" like the mannequin will eventually burn out, the mannequin only having maybe half a day which is enough for th BBEG fight) and is done through rituals so the other NPCs around will notice it and stop me. On that note, the stolen powers can only be used one at a time (although I can make rituals/items which can store the powers for later use as advantages but I'll lose any fine control over them) so I can't make a remote puppet...unless I make like some sort of super computer liar which uses all the powers at once but currently I don't think I have the time to do so but that idea is pretty cool.

Like the messing the physics between gravity and/or shadows. I'll try to suggest it to the GM but I am not too confident because he doesn't exactly seem to allow anything cool to happen unless it is insubstantial or he for some reason likes the idea.


You have light(ning) and noise and you think this shield is dependent on an NPCs concentration?

Cause them a seizure from stroboscopic light and/or noise. Or drive them mad with a barely audible vibration.

Heck, if you can use your powers outside of the barrier, increase gravity on the PC and press them into the earth crust.

How does the vibration thing work? I don't really get what you mean at the time, sorry.

I'm not entirely sure if pressing them into the earth's crust would work although its kind of similar to another idea I have (based on some plot device the NPCs have used in a previous session) that the GM has said my PC also knows how to use (although I don't think he would expect me to use it like this and I'm not sure of the details on how it works e.g. the people having to sacrifice their powers do it voluntarily or not) which is to send them to the infernal plane/open a portal there which would hopefully cut off the NPC currently trapping me from the source of his power as well. If all else fails then probably gravity slam down into the crust.


Lightning powers and stuck in an impenetrable barrier? Sounds awfully familiar to me... (http://bobandgeorge.com/archives/040302w)

Of course it also sounds like the DM wants you to do one specific thing to get out of there, so until you develop mind reading powers in the real world, I can't really think of much to help you.

Yup, its a real pain in the ass everytime he does something that only he knows the solution to and is unwilling to actually help provide information to help because railroads. Normally I'll just pull out my laptop/3ds/phone and fiddle until he decides to let me (and the party) through but considering I am all alone in this I can't rely on the party this time.

And HAH! I am totally going to dump that webcomic into his face. Hopefully he likes science (and if the physics in his world is similar to ours it would have been a lot easier to do stuff but I suspect if I do so he'll just say "magic")


Most obvious question : What is the shape of this shield? Is it a dome, a tube, a sphere?

i.e. could you tunnel under the shield? I ask because the "no depth" comment makes me think it might not extend underground.

Based on his description my PC is completely wrapped with just a little bit of space to move arms around a bit. Not sure if the bottom is open or closed but considering teleporting is out of the question I expect the wrapping goes from top to bottom.


Spend a fate point to declare you free your mind from the mannequin you are possessing. Either jump into something else or just you your powers as spirit floating around the scene.

I mean its fate you have some level of narrative control as long as you can make it interesting. Possess a hat stand and throw down against the BBEG.

Don't think that it will work that way and the GM has some house rules I am still not even fully apprised of and the fate point to get out of anything is probably against one of those (just like face skills have to be roleplayed to be effective instead of rolled, I don't get double advantages on a good create aspect roll, etc.) My spend a fate point plan is to just trick one of the other NPCs in the area which the GM mentioned is able to break the shield (out of two NPCs in the area) unless he recently changed that NPC's aspect/trouble which I invoked before.


The most obvious way to try to get out is to possess something else. But why would you do that? You are inside an ultimate defense. A transparent one. When your main powers include light and shadow. Which can pass through the defense. Because it is transparent.

But if you really want to get out, transform your body (and gear) into light, and simply pass through the translucent barrier. Or bend light around yourself, to turn yourself invisible, to make it look like you have already escaped. Or become invincible by possessing the barrier itself.

Well the reason to get out is because the NPCs and my party either want to kill my PC or lock him up somewhere and throw away the key once everything is done. That and steal my everything I have accumulated during play so far so its a matter of pride at this point...and survival I guess.

I probably should ask the GM about the light powers now that you have mentioned this. So far I've been working on the assumption they are for control/manipulation but if they can transform it would make things a lot more easier.

Actually the bending light thing may also work if I can control light and shadows to make them get tricked about "ESCAPEEEE!" Deception happens to be my golem's highest skill (don't ask lol)


Or start doing something vaguely ritual-like. Bluff or trick the NPC into thinking you're making something that will be dangerous for them (summon a shadow doppelganger that will fight them to the death/rain an apocalypse from the sky/fill the room with toxic gas) so they drop the shield and try and stop you. If you can actually do the ritual, then try to

Actually one of my other plans. The reason why everyone is pissed at my golem is because he summoned the 10-20% of the BBEG which has yet to make its way into the world from its personal plane of existence. I figured (rightly according to the GM) that defeating that % before it merges with its physical form in the world would make the fight a lot easier but I don't think he actually wanted it to happen because despite the NPCs right before that planning/saying they could and knew how to do it they never did it (other players also observed that the GM was only interested in calculating stress and conditions and wasn't even ticking anything like a time limit or progress) The result was everyone blames my PC and the BBEG fight got a lot harder.

So what I wanted to do was to make it look like the BBEG was summoned again and make the conditions such as the NPCs (including the few which can break the shield) attack the shield and hopefully get rid of it so the golem can make its escape before they realized they were taken in by a fast one. Worst come to worst I'd take a minor complication but at least success.


If sound gets through although it is airtight, then it must vibrate. Try making it vibrate to a point of straining. In theory, this could also kill you, but well, you take some risks.

Bleed on it. Blood usually counts for something.

Make a ritual to find out the source and how it works? (if you can).

Thinking of vibrating through it Flash style since sound can move through but then again, it wasn't a quality that the GM gave me on request. More like something I know because of being able to have conversations while being wrapped around in the shield. He could just as easily deny me by saying "magic" or "NPC didn't shield against sound" or something.

Also like pointed out, there is no blood because mannequin.

The source of the shield is currently nearby NPC. The source of the NPCs power as explained during play and clarification from the other players (unless I am mistaken again) is some godlike entity in another plane who is locked in the cliche good vs evil thing with the BBEG who is also in another (different from "good" entity's plane) and each godlike power belonging to the PCs and NPCs represent an aspect of the entity barring mine which for some reason is one aspect of the BBEG which defected (like Greed in FMA)


Omnitricks, when is your next session? Will you give us an update of how things work out?

Everyone was swamped with exams and such recently so we skipped the past two? weeks. The next session unless someone else has something important come up is the first Thursday of May.


This sounds like an excellent plan and I see no obvious potential flaws.

If you succeed, you escape the shield. If you fail, you escape the game.

Sounds like a great win win situation except the latter means me going to uni at night for nothing and having to make the journey home lol.

Knaight
2016-04-29, 08:14 AM
How does the vibration thing work? I don't really get what you mean at the time, sorry.

There's a few ways to go with this. The 17 Hz experiment listed here (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound) is worth considering as an example. On top of that though, there are extremely irritating buzzing noises, from alarms going off to insects near the ear. If you have vibration control, you can make them, and there's plenty of ways to break concentration.

Though with the new inflict, I'd be tempted to just go with a horrific migraine and be done with it. Uncontrollable vomiting could work pretty well too - speaking from experience, once that kicks in the only concentrating being done is on the vomiting itself. If it isn't concentration based, then you have bigger problems.

Earthwalker
2016-04-29, 08:37 AM
Don't think that it will work that way and the GM has some house rules I am still not even fully apprised of and the fate point to get out of anything is probably against one of those (just like face skills have to be roleplayed to be effective instead of rolled, I don't get double advantages on a good create aspect roll, etc.) My spend a fate point plan is to just trick one of the other NPCs in the area which the GM mentioned is able to break the shield (out of two NPCs in the area) unless he recently changed that NPC's aspect/trouble which I invoked before.



You GM has secret house rules for Fate so he can railroad better.
He presents situations in Fate with only one solution.

You are unfortunately not playing Fate. Your GM makes me dishappy.

I do hope you manage to resolve the shield problem tho.

kyoryu
2016-04-29, 10:35 AM
You GM has secret house rules for Fate so he can railroad better.
He presents situations in Fate with only one solution.

You are unfortunately not playing Fate. Your GM makes me dishappy.

I do hope you manage to resolve the shield problem tho.

This so much.

GrayDeath
2016-04-29, 04:14 PM
Indeed.

Why on Earth would anybody play FATE just to Railroad people?

Thats like ... using a Ferrari because of its spacious Transport Capability, or summoning a Demon to make a Cake.....

Delwugor
2016-04-29, 11:00 PM
You GM has secret house rules for Fate so he can railroad better.
He presents situations in Fate with only one solution.

You are unfortunately not playing Fate. Your GM makes me dishappy.

I do hope you manage to resolve the shield problem tho.

Agreed, this doesn't sound like any Fate game I've played in or ran.

Gildedragon
2016-04-30, 01:15 AM
Thats like ... using a Ferrari because of its spacious Transport Capability, or summoning a Demon to make a Cake.....
Hey don't go dissing my family recipes. Hellfire is necessary to get good caramelization going on.

goto124
2016-04-30, 07:58 AM
Hey don't go dissing my family recipes. Hellfire is necessary to get good caramelization going on.

I knew it! Warlock families are weird!

GrayDeath
2016-04-30, 09:50 AM
Bah, you can also substitute any regular Fire spells using empowered or maximized.
Its just EASIER with hellfire. ;)

Gildedragon
2016-04-30, 10:10 AM
Bah, you can also substitute any regular Fire spells using empowered or maximized.
Its just EASIER with hellfire. ;)

Pffft.
Hellfire is the traditional way. Yeah, warlocks make it a lot easier. But summoning a fiend is traditional, and cozier. Nothing says Christmas like a Pit-Fiend in the kitchen.

iceman10058
2016-04-30, 09:45 PM
If you have complete control over gravity and nothing can harm you, as well as this being the final fight, just create a black hole in the room, kill everyone but yourself, and pat youself on the back for saving the day and destroying the world, while pissing off the GM at the same time. Or use it as a threat to make him let you out.

GreatWyrmGold
2016-05-01, 10:39 PM
Sounds like a great win win situation except the latter means me going to uni at night for nothing and having to make the journey home lol.
It's only for nothing if you have to go through another railroady adventure like this again.
And don't tell me that it's the only gaming group in town. So what? Most of my best gaming experiences have been play-by-post. I didn't get to see the other folks face-to-face, but I did get to roleplay an abyss of a lot more.


You GM has secret house rules for Fate so he can railroad better.
He presents situations in Fate with only one solution.
You are unfortunately not playing Fate. Your GM makes me dishappy.
Sounds like something you could say about any RPG. They're all about choice.


If you have complete control over gravity and nothing can harm you, as well as this being the final fight, just create a black hole in the room, kill everyone but yourself, and pat youself on the back for saving the day and destroying the world, while pissing off the GM at the same time. Or use it as a threat to make him let you out.
Just because the GM's destroying everything interactive and enjoyable in the game doesn't mean omnitricks should destroy the rest.

goto124
2016-05-02, 04:47 AM
Sounds like something you could say about any RPG. They're all about choice

Huh? The point was that the GM had essentially destroyed all choices... in a game that's designed from bottom-up to give choices to the players, that has mechanics created specifically to override the GM for greater player agency. As an example, CoC and DnD by and large don't have that sort of mechanics.

Gtdead
2016-05-02, 04:57 AM
I'm not familiar with FATE. If that was DnD my first thought would be to find a way to make myself ethereal while filling the bubble with some conjured substance. How much dense can something become before it bursts the shield open? Can you do something like that?

Earthwalker
2016-05-02, 06:11 AM
Huh? The point was that the GM had essentially destroyed all choices... in a game that's designed from bottom-up to give choices to the players, that has mechanics created specifically to override the GM for greater player agency. As an example, CoC and DnD by and large don't have that sort of mechanics.

Thanks I was going to reply with basically this.
Yep it just seemed impossible to give advice helping as the GM has changed the system to the point normal advice does not work.



[snip]
Just because the GM's destroying everything interactive and enjoyable in the game doesn't mean omnitricks should destroy the rest.

Yep the OP doesn’t have to destroy the game if he is not having fun. Better to talk to the GM or if that doesn’t help just walk away. Why spoil things for others.

GreatWyrmGold
2016-05-02, 06:40 AM
Huh? The point was that the GM had essentially destroyed all choices... in a game that's designed from bottom-up to give choices to the players, that has mechanics created specifically to override the GM for greater player agency. As an example, CoC and DnD by and large don't have that sort of mechanics.
I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if FATE vs. D&D changed player agency more than playing under different GMs, even disregarding nasty railroaders like the OP's. A player has as much agency as the GM allows, whether their character has dirty rags, ancient artifacts and epic spells, reality-warping technology, or partial narrative control.

Plenty of other games do have mechanics like that, by the way. I've barely touched FATE, but it sounds like systems in a lot of games where you can spend some kind of special fate/destiny/karma/whatever point to have something serendipitous happen. Or buy GURPS's Serendipity advantage.
Or use the old-fashioned methods of player agency.

Earthwalker
2016-05-02, 08:01 AM
I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if FATE vs. D&D changed player agency more than playing under different GMs, even disregarding nasty railroaders like the OP's. A player has as much agency as the GM allows, whether their character has dirty rags, ancient artifacts and epic spells, reality-warping technology, or partial narrative control.
Plenty of other games do have mechanics like that, by the way. I've barely touched FATE, but it sounds like systems in a lot of games where you can spend some kind of special fate/destiny/karma/whatever point to have something serendipitous happen. Or buy GURPS's Serendipity advantage.
Or use the old-fashioned methods of player agency.

Hmmm I think I know what you are saying.

I do want to point out what I think is true.

1) Different GMs do allow different agency in games no matter what the system.

2) When I GM Fate I allow my players far more agency then when I GM Pathfinder. (These are for separate groups)

3) It’s impossible for me to quantify how much other GMs do this or how much other GMs would change the amount of agency in my groups.

4) As a Player it is perfectly acceptable for me to expect different levels of agency depending on the rules set up.
One system has “GMs may change any of the rules as they see fit”
The other has “Before changing any of the rules in this book the GM should first seek group approval”
One of them rules empowers the GM the other empowers the group. If I was playing a game with the second rule I would not expect secret house rules, I mean I can’t approve of a rule change if I don’t know about it.

kyoryu
2016-05-02, 09:49 AM
I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if FATE vs. D&D changed player agency more than playing under different GMs, even disregarding nasty railroaders like the OP's. A player has as much agency as the GM allows, whether their character has dirty rags, ancient artifacts and epic spells, reality-warping technology, or partial narrative control.

Fate is a game that's basically designed for improvisation and high levels of player agency (which typically requires GM improvisation). D&D (depending on the version) is not really designed with those goals in mind.

I'd expect the 'average agency' across all Fate games to be higher than the 'average agency' across D&D games for that reason. That doesn't mean you can't have a high agency D&D game (you certainly can!) but it's not presumed, and in some cases the system fights against you a certain extent (mostly by having fairly high prep times). There are certainly ways to get around that, but those aren't even required in Fate.

Knaight
2016-05-02, 11:07 AM
I'd expect the 'average agency' across all Fate games to be higher than the 'average agency' across D&D games for that reason. That doesn't mean you can't have a high agency D&D game (you certainly can!) but it's not presumed, and in some cases the system fights against you a certain extent (mostly by having fairly high prep times). There are certainly ways to get around that, but those aren't even required in Fate.

Likewise. The prep difference makes it much easier to improvise in, and as Earthwalker said even for a given GM the agency is likely to vary. Then there's the matter of how the system is designed and who chooses it. D&D is enough of a default that most people playing it are playing it not because they consciously chose it for its goals, but Fate is generally deliberately picked because it is designed for the players to throw some weight around. It's like how non-D&D rules heavy systems often get GMs who are pretty into playing with the rules as written. It's not that rules adherence is enforced more by any game by the other, it's that if you're going to play fast and loose with rules you're generally not going to pick a game like GURPS or Burning Wheel.

kyoryu
2016-05-02, 11:22 AM
It's not that rules adherence is enforced more by any game by the other, it's that if you're going to play fast and loose with rules you're generally not going to pick a game like GURPS or Burning Wheel.

Strangely, I find that I stick with the rules with Fate, and also find it very easy to improvise (with most things, anyway) in GURPS.

It is entirely possible that I'm just weird.

goto124
2016-05-03, 02:53 AM
Maybe because Fate doesn't have as many rules to stick to, while GURPS being rules-heavy means not sticking to many of them all the time.

Mystral
2016-05-03, 04:35 AM
My suggestion would be to abandon the campaign if at all possible. The GM sounds like the most horrible sort, with character favouring, unrevealed houserules, railroading and intentional imbalance.