Me, Maw-self, and I OOC

[Albinobrow]

I've been wanting to play a cyphers superhero style game for a while now. However, due to schedule conflicts as well as most of my RPGing friends not being familiar with the Cypher System, I've decided I am going to try and run a solo game using a GM emulator. Now there are 2 emulators out there that seem like they'd be useful for what I'm looking for: the Chaos Cypher System GM Emulator and the Mythic GM Emulator. I'm going to try out both here and see which I like best. I'm already seeing things in both that I think I'd like to combine but I am playing it by ear.

All that being said, I'm intending to use THIS forum as a way to take notes as well as behind the scene rolls that help with the development of the story, NPCs, etc. I will be making an IC thread for the actual story once I'm ready. This is intended to be a solo run for myself to try out and document my thoughts/feelings/discoveries/experiments. However, once I'm used to it, I'm hoping these emulators or some combination of the two will help facilitate more games that will allow more players involved over time.

As mentioned, this is going to be a superhero style Cypher System game. I am taking elements from Claim the Sky, The Origin, as well as Numenera Destiny and of course the Cypher System Core book. This character is based of a different PBPrpg game I played years ago that I was very sad never completed. So I've translated the concept here and hope to run him this way. The basic premise is he is a relatively average dude, except for his lower jaw open up to expand waay more than it should. It looks like a cross between a humpback whale's mouth and the Predator. Inside are rows and rows of teeth similar to a lamprey allowing him to eat pretty much anything. Not only can he eat anything, he is able to store the nutrients and bolster himself allowing for greater feats of strength and durability, as well as healing. Hope you like MAW:

[Albinobrow]

Maxwell Turnblad -- Maw
Incredible Explorer who Breaks Down Walls

Tier 1

Might 18 -- Edge 2
Speed 10 -- Edge 1
Intellect 10 -- Edge 0

Effort - 2

Power Shifts (Only 3 since this is an Origin story)
1. Power: Store Energy - This is the power that allows him to store energy from what he has eaten. Basically it's a 4th pool that holds up to 3 points based on how far down the damage track something is destroyed (eaten), and can be used later on as needed.
2. Strength - affects all things strength, including damage, doesn't affect accuracy
3. Strength again

Special Abilities:
Breaker - I eat everything!
Hard as Synthsteel - My body adapts automatically so that I can eat everything!
Store Energy - See above, 3pt in Siphon pool
Improved Edge (Speed) - Speed things cost less
Trained W/O Armor - Trained in speed defense
Amazing Leap - I can jump real far! Like the Hulk!
Incredible Action - I can automatically succeed at something once a day at most, but at a price...

Training:
Trained Speed Defense
Trained Jumping
Specialized Breaking Things (Again eating specifically, but can just as easily break things with his fists)
Inability Social Interaction

11/29/22 - Advanced Might edge +1
4/11/23 - Advanced effort to 2

[Albinobrow]

Let's set up the first scene. For the sake of ease and time I'll be rolling most OOC things IRL.

It's the modern world plus superheroes akin to the MCU (sorry for any DC fans out there :P). Max, 21 year old, is on the run, out in the woods just outside of town. He wears a dark green hooded jacket that zips and obscures the lower half of his face over a navy blue v-neck shirt, dark jeans, and some simple black high tip converse shoes. . Nothing outlandish. But he's running through the woods from... (Using the Book of Random Tables Modern) Department of Homeland Security. Which makes sense, again superheroes are not like that of MCU in that they are new. Not common, and currently not governed in any way.

While he's running... (Superhero random encounters using the Book of Random Tables Modern) Rolled a 55 which is Lost Child. As he is running, he leaps behind a small rock formation ducking down to try and catch his breath. But as he lays there listening for any footsteps he here's a faint sound of crying. (Odds it's a boy evens it's a girl, random name) A young boy, Steven, has run away from home. (Using UNE let's learn more about Steven) He is an Insensitive beggar his motivation is publicize the government. So maybe not a young boy, but a teenager. He lives on the streets and begs for a living but is also protesting unequal living conditions and the situation he's in.

I think this situation is Unstable (The Chaos GM emulator sets unstable as 12.) Consulting the GM Roll 2 adds a developer. The developer is NPC inhibitor, something is detrimental to the NPC goal. Currently only 2 NPCs: Steven(odd) and DOH(even). Odd. Detrimental to Steven. I think that the reason we hear Steven crying is because he fell and is trapped under a heavy log. He was trying to hide up in a tree and the bottom branch broke and fell on top of him.

Cool! So scene is set up. We are Unstable, running from the DOH, and come across Steven who's leg is trapped underneath a heavy branch.

[Albinobrow]

Jump check [roll0] 4 free levels of effort, trained. running start asset = eased 6 steps. Lvl 11 success

Breaker vs tree branch (Lvl 2 +1 for hardness) on Steven's legs [roll1] Specialized, 2 free levels of effort from Strength = eased 4 steps. Lvl 5 success, two damage down the object damage track. Tree branch has major damage. 2 points added to Devour Pool.

[Albinobrow]

What are the odds that Maw finds the boy without being found by the suits?

I will say it is likely. Target 9 [roll0] He does find him with out being seen.

[Albinobrow]

What are the odds that Steven passes out after seeing the MAW?

Im gonna say that it is likely Lvl 2 challenge [roll0] Oh yeah, he passes out.

[Albinobrow]

Another bite out of the tree lvl 2 1d20 eased 4 steps

[Albinobrow]

take 2

Another bite out of the tree lvl 2 [roll0] eased 4 steps

[Albinobrow]

In Character Thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?649385-Me-Maw-self-and-I-IC&p=25570634#post25570634)

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty, so we have this kid.. Now what? He is a hero of course so he's gonna want to protect him. The question is where does he go from here? Does Max keep running deeper into the woods hoping to find something there? Or does he turn and make his way back into town and risk running into the suits again?

I think it's likely that he goes back into town. Max is a good guy and doesn't want to get tangled with the suits, but he really doesn't want anything bad to happen to the kid, and more importantly, he doesn't have any sort of medical knowledge himself. So 6 or better on the roll and he turns back towards town. [roll0] (Any modifiers to this result? [roll1] vs Unstable (4) adventure status)

[Albinobrow]

Not sure why I added 6 to the first die roll but either way, it's and extreme YES. Max takes the kid to the city AND we add a developer. Let's roll for the developer and see how/if that affects our extreme yes. [roll0]

[Albinobrow]

15 results in a PC Enabler! So not only does he decide to make his way back into the city, he does make it there with no problems whatsoever. He doesn't run into the suits. The kid doesn't give him any grief, in fact does the kid wake up at all before he gets to the city. I believe Max would take him to the ER so that he can get looked at and taken care of. But does he wake up before then? I dunno, let's roll! I say it's average. Now in the Chaos system it leans just slightly towards a yes by aiming for a 9 or better, but I'm gonna call it true 50/50 so 11 or better equals yes and below equals a no.

[roll0]
Roll modifier vs Unstable 4 [roll1]

[Albinobrow]

Yes he does wake up and it's modified once more. But how? [roll0]

[Albinobrow]

Another PC Enabler? I think what this means is that not only does the kid (Forgot his name was Steven even though Max doesn't know it yet) wake up before we get to the hospital, but he is going to pay back Max for rescuing him from under the tree branch. My first thought is shelter. A place to hunker down for now at least.

Alrighty, so Max is going to make his way back into town (need to figure out the name of the town..), Steven will wake up and offer a place to hide out for a bit. Will post the resulting store part another time.

[Albinobrow]

Does Max succesfully remove the scarf and kid from his back before he comes to? I think it's unlikely. He isn't graceful or great in social situations in general.

[roll0] That's a no. haha

[Albinobrow]

I think that's a good conclusion to the scene here.

Max escapes from the DOH.
He makes an acquaintance in Steven.
They are in the town of Eastbridge, heading to a location where Steven can get looked at and Max can hunker down for a bit.

I'm gonna give Max 1XP for making the acquaintance. We will see how the rest plays out as to if he will get any more upon arriving to their destination.

I'm also going to leave the situation as unstable. I'm not sure where the suits are with regards to looking for him and even though Max is mostly in control, he is looking after Steven with his injury while they make their way through town. So still unstable. For now.b

Current character arc is going to be "Aid a Friend" for obvious reasons. As the story develops and we learn more about the world and the people in it, we can add another character arc to explore. But that'll be it for now.

Next time I want to learn more about Eastbridge and the location we're heading to hunker down, as any significant NPCs involved there. I have some thoughts, but we will see how the dice play out.

[Albinobrow]

Looking at the community rules in Numenera Destiny, it makes sense to me to look at Eastbridge as a collection of communities within a major community of Eastbridge.

That being said, this location that Steven is taking Max to is a housing project community as a level 1 community. Not much available outside of basic needs covered, food, shelter, first aid, etc. But also not gonna be a big area of interest for any groups currently looking for Max. Maybe Steven too? Remember when we created him, we found he's a beggar who protests unequal living conditions. Is that why he was in the woods? Maybe running from someone because of his protests? 5 on the d20 says no. hmmm... Instead he was just running from a regular fight. Maybe some other classmates picking on him foooorrrrrr him being poor? 17 on d20 says yes. So I don't think this housing project is going to be able to really protect Steven from the kids, they'll know where he lives that's why he is picked on. I'm thinking Steven isn't a bad guy. Insensitive, maybe a little crass, but that's just how he responded to the way life made him.

Motivation for leader of this housing project was "Antagonise Weapons" which makes sense as this is meant to be a safe haven for youth with out homes. Maybe those classmates were in a gang and this leader is very anti violence, anti gang. I think its very likely. 16 on d20 says yes. Now who is the leader? Leader is male. Named Earl. I picture Earl as a tall wirey man, salt and pepper hair that's thinning out because of stress. Clearly worn out but puts on a good face for those he's in charge of. His establishment is called Arbor Apartments. Only 15ish residents at a time at most. And even then it's not the best because the funding isn't there necessarily.

I like it! It's a good first look into where Max and Steven are headed. Next I'll make some rolls for the journey into town to get there and if there are any complications there.

[Albinobrow]

Now I'm envisioning that the forest they are leaving hugs right up to the city on the east side of east bridge. (Is there a river on the East going through the forest, where perhaps the main road in crosses over a bridge?? I think so, in fact I'm not gonna roll. The town is called Eastbridge after all lol)

But with no more than 50ft of clear area between where the forest truly begins and the city begins, just a short distance in cypher system terms. The question is, how far into the city do they haver to go to get to Arbor Apartments? Is it less than a 30 minute walk from the forest's edge? Considering that Steven got out into the forest on foot, I'd say that's likely. 6 on the d20 says yes within a 30 minute walk. No here's the kicker. The current situation is still unstable, only Steven knows where to go and is injured, so Max has to help him along so long as Steven lets him. But that 6 on the die also adds a developer. (I haven't been adding developer for things with world building, but now that we're getting back into the story and action, let's see what this means.) 8 on the d20 says a decrease in the next task difficulty by 1. So that's cool! I'll need to remember that but no big deal if I forget it.

No the main question I have now that they are back in the city and making their way to Arbor Apartments, does the DOH catch up with them? I think it's an Average chance, so 9 or better on the d20 is a yes. 3!! No the DOH does not catch up to them. Interesting.. Does anybody else stop them along the way? Again average, and again NO! Ok so 30 minutes in and they get to the housing project with no issues from anyone. Interesting indeed.

Well, that's just the way things go! In A-A-A-Albe.. Nevermind.

So then, they are going to go there and meet up with Earl. I'm gonna try out the Chaos NPC generator to generate how this first interaction with Earl goes. How this works is you roll 4d100s. The first is for the emotional tone of the NPC, the second and third are describing words on what the topic of conversation will be about. (Depending on the result, we may be pretty loose on the interpretation based on what we know of Earl already. ... Wait, I never generated an actual descriptor for him! Only his name! Ok that first then the rest of this.) the fourth d100 describes the focus of conversation.

Earl is a a dignified hitman?!?! Oh man, that's a curve I wasn't expecting but this is a superhero game so it tracks! His personal motivation in general is indulge academia. Educating his charges. So maybe it's not common knowledge of his being a hitman. Maybe he has left that business and is instead taking care of inner city youth. I'd say that's likely, and 14 on the die agrees. Cool! So ex hitman, that we the players don't know about but wanting it inform those he is in charge of and keep them safe. I am gonna change the idea of him, while stressed out he is dignified, so he acts properly at all times. As an example I'm sure.

And now the interaction emulator. 4d100 results are: 38 46 43 44. Stupid Unsure Secrets Day. Hmm gonna have to think about that some. Some type of discourse from Earl where his emotional tone is "stupid", the conversation topic is about "unsure secrets", and the focus is "day." It's very interesting that his personal motivation is to indulge in academia but the conversation is about secrets. Ah well. Hopefully, I can get to actually writing out what happens next time on Dragonball Z!

[Albinobrow]

Does Max listen and stay? I say it's 50/50. He wants a safe place to hide out, but he also really doesn't want to endanger these people.

[roll0]

Yes, he stays.

[Albinobrow]

Has Steven told Earl about Max's maw?? I think it's actually pretty likely considering he's insensitive and stuff.

So 6 or higher is a yes. Also should've rolled to see if there's any modifier last time so I will now for this one. I'm actually gonna move the situation to Average. A lot of things have gone right so it's heading towards "stable" status.

[roll0]

[Albinobrow]

Oh wow! He actually hasn't told Earl about Max's abilities, BUT there is a developer we need to add and that developer is...

[roll0] Automatic Success! Wow! This is great for Max and terrible for the drama of the story. haha

So I think what that means is however this conversation goes, it's an automatic success that Max will stay here for at least a little bit based on the automatic success there.

[Albinobrow]

Does steven or Earl notice Max being uneasy about eating dinner? I think it's unlikely (12+) for Steven and likely (6+) for Earl. Remember status is now "Average"

Steven [roll0] Modifier? [roll1] Steven is completely clueless, in fact I think that he ran in as soon as Earl mentioned dinner. No modifier.

Earl [roll2] Modifier? [roll3] Earl does notice, and I think he is dignified enough to offer a solution. Again No modifier.

[Albinobrow]

Alright! So that covers the modifier of automatically succeeding in finding a place to stay. He's successfully aided a friend with really no trouble at all from anywhere.. Which story wise was a little disappointing but that happens sometimes. The question is, now what?

Well to close out this part of the story, I'm gonna change the Adventure status once more to Stable because again, nothing crazy happened. I'm going to grant Max 1 XP for finding a place to stay and another 1 XP for successfully aiding a friend. He now has 3 XP total. In cypher system those XP can be used for rerolls or short or long term benefits as well as advancing a character. Obviously there hasn't been much rolling needed to even consider rerolling so we're in good shape so far.

Next time we will create the scene of what happens after they sleep and/or wake up.

[Albinobrow]

Does what I think happen actually happen? I think it's extremely likely so 3+ on the d20

[roll0] Yup! Ok, time to come up with a super villian! I might take one out of Claim the Sky if there's an apt one there. But I'll look at that later.

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty! So basically the thought I had was that the DOH never actually lost track of Max. Instead they saw him leave the forest with Steven and have sent a solo agent to go and retrieve him from Arbor Apartments. looking through Claim the Sky, I've decided on sending Entropy a level 5 villain that can transform matter. So let's see what happens!

First question is this, Does Max hear him enter the room? I think it's very unlikely so 15 or better means he does here. also a modifier roll against stable (6).

Does he hear? [roll0] He doesn't hear
Modifier roll [roll1] And the story continues unmodified.

Let's get into it!

[Albinobrow]

Does Max wake before Entropy starts moving the bed? Unlikely (12) [roll0]

[Albinobrow]

Time to break things! Now basically the situation is Entropy has snuck in to the room, pulled the bedsheet over Max's mouth and then transformed it to iron. So they don't flow or move anymore and have him pinned. He then transformed the bottom bunk to a separate bed on wheels so that he can push it.

So Max won't be eating it, but he's a strong boy! He's going to try and just break through. Now the material is very thin. A sheet would normally be a level 1 hardness and now that it is transformed to metal it's +2 levels. So level 3 (9 on d20) to damage it at all. Max's ability to break things is specialized and eased 2 steps due to his strength power shifts (this equals a +12 on the roll essentially). So he will basically add 12 to his roll. Meaning he will definitely begin to break through, but by how much? [roll0] That's actually a pretty low roll. So it'll only give minor damage which lowers the level of the blanket by 1.

The issue now, is Entropy almost definitely is aware now that Max is awake.

[Albinobrow]

I think it's very likely that Entropy heard Max's attempt to break through the sheet. 3+ is a yes.
[roll0] He does NOT hear Max!!! WOW! In fact that, critical no tells me he doesn't even know that Max is awake and will be surprised when max breaks out!
Modifier vs 6 [roll1] And there's a developer added to the scene. IRL roll says that it's a 7 which increases the next difficulty by 1 basically negating the benefit of the metal sheet being damaged. It is still damaged but doesn't take the -1 to level.

[Albinobrow]

(hopefully) One more push through to break out of the sheet. LVL 3 [roll0] Aw man! Still only 1 more level. I'm rolling very poorly.. However Major damage says it's broken and and no longer functions, which says to me that it is no longer restraining him. But can theoretically be repaired.

[Albinobrow]

Let's take a blow at the man! Again, he is surprised so this attack will be eased because of it, essentially giving a +3. Punching is considered a light weapon giving another +3. BUT that's the only benefit to attack cause Max isn't trained to be a fighter. But when he hits (IF he hits), he hits HARD! 8 points of damage thanks to his superhuman strength. So let's see if he hits! Entropy is a lvl 5 enemy.

[roll0] Aw man! Swing and a miss?! So with Cypher System there is an option to reroll by spending 1 XP. I reeeeaaally want this first trike to hit. So I'm gonna spend the XP to reroll, AND choose to apply effort spending 2 of my might pool to east the attack again.

[Albinobrow]

Just to clarify the reason it's 2 might points to apply effort. Normally effort costs 3 points, but because of the edge Max has in might, it's actually reducing the cost by 1 point.

[roll0] Ugh.. That's not cool.. But that's clearly what the rolls are saying so yeah. He missed.

[Albinobrow]

Round 1

I'm calling this round 1 since the enemy was surprised. But third time's a charm? More effort on the attack but he's isn't surprised anymore.

[roll0] Another miss.. I don't think Entropy attacks, he doesn't really perceive Max as any threat at this point. But he will! I'm choosing to use Max's Incredible Action this round to automatically succeed in punching Entropy. But triggering a free GM intrusion because of it. Entropy still will get hit and take 6 points of damage (2 armor brings it from 8 to 6). But what is the nature of this GM Intrusion? Gratify Legal Matters? So I think this means that Entropy is going to declare an authority through the government as to why he is here taking Max in. Definitely something to give Max pause.

[Albinobrow]

Does Entropy take advantage of this hesitation to strike back at Max? I think it's likely.
6+ on d20 is a yes[roll0] He does take a swing at Max
Modifier vs 6 [roll1] But not modifier, he takes the swing.

[Albinobrow]

Ah! But does Max dodge? He is trained in speed defense [roll0] Nope...

[Albinobrow]

Max is gonna take some steps back and try to regroup. It'll be his first recovery roll. [roll0] these really are the worst rolls... But I'll take the 2 more points to the might pool.

[Albinobrow]

Another speed defense roll and seeing how it's going, he is going to apply effort. So -3 points of speed. [roll0]

[Albinobrow]

Hey! He dodged it! Let's give another swing! ... plus effort... [roll0] Uggghhhh... Miss again..

[Albinobrow]

Time to dodge [roll0] Oh man, this is bad... I think it's either time to run away again or give up and go with him. Let's roll for it.

[Albinobrow]

Honestly I think it's 50/50. 11+ means yes he runs. [roll0] Yup. Time to run and regroup.
Modifier vs 6 [roll1] No modifier again.

[Albinobrow]

Alright, so a quick move to grab that metal bedsheet and jump up to the roof of the two story apartment using Amazing Leap, 1 more might point down. BUT he can devour that metal bedsheet and replenish his pool some. SO a couple rolls to do.

1. Breaking things to eat the bedsheet vs lvl 2 (6) [roll0] Oh yeah! absolutely destroyed and eaten. Normally this would give 1 devour point but as a minor effect I'm going to say it can be 2 instead. Major would've been a 3.

2. Is there anything here on top of the roof that he can also eat? Any junk of whatever? I think it's very likely considering the state of the apartment building. 3+ is yes [roll1] We definitely find some other items to eat
Modifier roll vs 6 [roll2] Unmodified

3. Is Entropy giving chase? Again I think it's very likely. 3+ [roll3] And yeah he is definitely pursuing Max.
modifier vs 6 [roll4] And there's a developer. Gonna roll IRL: 10 discover cypher 1d6 cyphers! Again rolling IRL: 3 cyphers. 1. Damage boost cypher lvl 6 +6 damage. 2. Sadness poison injection. Sad for 1 hour, all things hindered. lvl 7. 3. Disarm lvl 3. an NPC w/ lower level drops whatever they're holding.
Max can only carry 2 so he'll grab the Damage boost and the sadness injection.
And if so how many rounds will it take for him to get to the roof? minimum I think 2 rounds. but I'm gonna roll [roll5]

[Albinobrow]

How quickly can he eat the timber? [roll0] That's 2 more points right there! for a total of 4. Now typically, for each point above 3 in the devour pool causes a hinderance to every task. but Max is going to use all 4 points to restore 4 points to his might pool.

But I think that's our 4 rounds there. 1 round to eat the metal sheet. Round 2 finding the things. round 3 eating the timber. last round for healing from the devour pool, and grabbing the items. And Entropy is now peaking his head up over the wall...

Just so we know, Entropy has taken 6 damage total from 1 hit. And Max has taken 10 damage from 2 hits. And is pretty exhausted from the effort he's put into dodging and trying to hit Entropy. This fight is far from over. And Max is not looking good.. Let's finish this later though. I am le tired.

[Albinobrow]

Alright ladies and gentlemen! The bell has rung for the second round! I know I'm playing a "young" super hero with only the 3 power shifts rather than 5, but honestly even if I made it 5 power shifts, I would be struggling cause I hadn't intended to put any shifts into his ability to hit. Just that when he his it would be a BIG hit! But we will see how it goes. Now that he's regrouped some , let us continue!

I think that he isn't going to hesitate taking advantage of the fact that Entropy is climbing right now and not fully up. So first things first, he will charge up and with effort try to inject Entropy with the syringe. It's also eased due to the position advantage. So let's see how it goes. [roll0] YEEESS!! Natural 20!! That's a major effect as well as making it so 0 points were spent! That is huge!

So for the next hour all tasks performed by Entropy are hindered essentially making him a level 4 villain rather than a level 5. For a major effect. Let's say he's stunned for the round from being stuck with something unusual. He certainly believed that he was in control of the situation but that might be changing now. We shall see.

[Albinobrow]

Next attack is a punch to the face! (Hopefully) So this is now vs lvl 4 (12) again going to apply effort cause I really want to hit. Eased cause of the position and eased because of the attack [roll0] NooooOOooooOO!! Nat 20 to a Nat 1?! I'm gonna spend an XP to reroll, again I reeeallly want this attack to hit.

[Albinobrow]

Reroll from previous hit [roll0] Much better! But only barely. Since this hits it'll be 8 damage -2 for armor but I'm going to use the damage boost cypher to add 6. So 12 total damage. to Entropy. And with that he's no longer stunned and can act.. But Max is right there at the edge of the roof blocking his way. I think Entropy is going to use his ability to try and trap Max basically negating his advantage from positioning. Normally that is a LVL 7 attack but because he is "sad" it's a lvl 6. Still a tough one to deal with.

[Albinobrow]

Speed defense to not get trapped in the roof [roll0] vs 18 Dang he is trapped.. BUT that, is Entropy's full action. Time to take another, hopefully final swing at him. The position advantage is negated, and I'm NOT gonna apply effort this time because one more hit from him and I'll go down the damage track.. Actually. Let's do it. I am going to apply effort. This is a hail mary, whether it hits or not, one more hit and Max is in serious trouble.

[Albinobrow]

Hail mary blow against Entropy DC 12 [roll0] Yes! The hit succeeds!! And Entropy is knocked out! Now what...

[Albinobrow]

I guess the question to ask now is has anyone heard the fight going on outside? I think it's again unlikely with 1 exception. which I think is likely. So I'm going to roll twice:

Does anyone hear the fight? Unlikely 12 [roll0] Interesting someone heard the fight.
Does Earl hear the fight? I think that's likely 6 [roll1] But not Earl.

Any modifiers? After that fight and how it went, the status is no longer stable. Back to average. 9 [roll2] And there is a developer added. Sooo...

[Albinobrow]

Did Steven hear the fight? Average 9+ yes [roll0]

And what is the developer? [roll1] the developer is "But Overindulge Ambush" I'm pretty sure that means that the one who over heard the fight isn't inside the house and is instead a part of the DOH and watching him fight with Entropy. Though Max doesn't know there's anybody else there at this time. I think he's gonna take 10 minutes to catch his breath and then come down the makeshift ladder only to be surrounded by the same mean that were chasing him in the forest earlier in the day.

[Albinobrow]

His 10 minute recovery roll (please be more than 2) [roll0] SMH...

[Albinobrow]

You know what, I think after that, he may fall asleep for a little bit. Let's take the hour recovery roll as well. [roll0] I mean it's better than 2...

[Albinobrow]

Does he notice the group of DOH suits waiting for him down below before he goes down? I say its an average chance 9+ for yes [roll0]
Any modifier on 9 [roll1] A PC Enabler? Something occurs that is beneficial to the PCs Goal? What kind of event? "Persecute Success" Oh I know! Ok let's write it out.

[Albinobrow]

Gonna take that last recovery roll. [roll0]

And then continue this story later on. Cause I have no idea what will happen next.

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty, I think It's time to set up the next scene though I won't get a chance to type it out for a bit.

He's gonna wake up after his long rest at 12/6/10. Which is not great. 10 points short of all his pools being full. But what happens next. I have an idea but to see how the scene plays lets roll the die: Decrease Illness. Yeah that somewhat tracks for what I was thinking. So basically he's going to wake up, no one in the room. It's late morning and as he leaves he sees Steven and Earl going about their business. But when Earl sees Max, still wounded as he is, he will invite him to his apartment to talk and treat his wounds like he did with Steven yesterday. We will call Earl a lvl 2 NPC so it'll heal 2 points.

But will Max be honest about what happened? very likely 3+ [roll0] Max will be honest.
Modifier? vs Average 9 [roll1] No change

Does Max even know why they are after him? I think that's very unlikely 15+ [roll2] Nope he does not know why they're after him
Modifier? vs Average 9 [roll3] No change

Is Earl willing to help? I think that's very likely as well 3+ [roll4] Earl will help.
Modifier? vs Average 9 [roll5] No change

[Albinobrow]

So the thing I have to figure out now is... What happened? 03,68 means Neglect Rumor. Neglect rumor?? There was a rumor that Max neglected. Oh I got it!

[Albinobrow]

Time to eat a coffee maker. Honestly a coffee maker is only a lvl 1 item but it's plastic and glass with some metal parts so we're gonna add 2 to the difficulty making it a level 3. Again because of training and power shifts, Max rolls at a +12 so he will automatically succeed in destroying it, just a matter of by how much. [roll0] Woah! Nat 20! So let's make this major effect an additional 2 points to the devour pool meaning he has 5 points. A bit of indigestion but he's gonna go ahead and transfer all that back into his might and speed pools.

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty so total that encounter healed 7 points in Max's pools. 2 from Earl's first aid and 5 due to the major effect nat 20 on devouring the coffee maker and using those points to restore pools. I think that Max's conversation with his parents will happen off camera. But just to check with the die: Are Max's parents safe? I think it's likely, I don't think at this point they would be threatening Max through them as he hasn't been too much of a problem to them. yet. So 6+ and they're ok [roll0] They are ok, and no complaints of the new job opportunity.
Modifier roll vs Average 9 [roll1] No change here

[Albinobrow]

No complaints about the job but are they worried about him? I think that's likely I'm sure they've also heard the rumors about people with abilities being rounded up. again 6+ [roll0] Definitely worried! In fact I think Earl will need to talk to them and help convince them that it's ok.
Modifier vs Average 9 [roll1] No change here again.

[Albinobrow]

Is Earl able to alleviate some of Max's parents concerns enough to let the situation be? I think this would normally be unlikely, but him being dignified I'd say he's used to pleasant social interactions so that'll ease the difficulty to average 9 or better [roll0] Oooo ok, he is not able to convince them.
Modifier vs average 9 [roll1] And there is a developer on this roll! I'm gonna roll what that developer is IRL. 19 NPC Enabler. Which NPC is this enabling. Right now we have just 4 NPCs: DOH, Steven, Earl, Entropy. Oh Interesting, something to enable the DOH goals. Well there goal is to bring in Max and other metahumans. The event randomizer in the Mythic system rolled up "Activity Attention". I think what this looks like is that the will now have several undercover operatives around the Arbor Apartments to keep an eye on Max hindering any chance of sneaking away.

[Albinobrow]

I think ultimately, the previous roll says that Max's parents are ok with it. Do they like it? No. Are they worried? Yes. But they aren't going to say Max can't do it. He's his own man. Young man, but he can make his own decisions. So yes he is there to stay.

Now what? After that scene I believe that our adventure status drops again to stable target number 6. No real problems there. I'm going to give Max 1 XP for discovering a place to stay and a confidant in Earl. Actually I think that'll warrant 2 XP. That puts his total to 6 XP and I think I'll go ahead and advance him spending 4 XP for moving towards perfection, increasing his might edge to 2. So amazing leap will be free as well as effort in might based tasks only costing 1 might point instead of 2.

Until next time, EXCELSIOR!

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty, so I've been thinking about this for a while: If Max is "stuck" in these apartments per Entropy's warning, theeennnn what next? How does anything else happen? So what I've decided is that he is allowed to leave the apartment building but only when he is asked to help Earl out with errands. Heading to the lumbar/hardware store, groceries, helping repair around the house. Stuff like that. I'm not gonna roll for that cause that's the only way I can think of (at this time) to progress the story. So what is the next thing he encounters? Looking at the superhero random encounters list 23: Heavily armed robbers stealing diamonds. These are probably lvl 3 and 4 enemies due to their armor and weaponry.

So that'll be an interesting challenge! Hopefully that'll lead into what can be another character arc as well. But hey! We have a heading! Next chance I get I'll try and type that up.

[Albinobrow]

Just had this thought, if they are going to the lumbar yard it almost definitely the place where Max had worked previously. Soooo does his boss know about his condition.

Let's first learn more about him and then come up with the chance that he knows about Max. Going back to UNE: but my dice are in the other room soo I'm just gonna roll here.
His name is Noah. (Just picked it randomly out of a list of names. It popped out and I like it. so :smallyuk:

NPC Modifier [roll0]
NPC Noun [roll1]

NPC Motivation Verb [roll2]
NPC Motivation Noun [roll3]


SMH... Those are d00 rolls. not d100 rolls. That kind of makes a difference... Let's try again. (This is what I get for being lazy and not going to the other room for my dice/phone.)

[Albinobrow]

NPC Modifier [roll0] Conservative
NPC Noun [roll1] Caretaker

NPC Motivation Verb [roll2] Persecute
NPC Motivation Noun [roll3] Atrocities?!

Oh ok, so not only is this guy a conservative caretaker, his motivation is to persecute atrocities! He doesn't do it outwardly being conservative or at least not trying to make it public. But with that it's a sure thing that Noah knows. In fact, I think that Noah hired him to help give Max a drive, a purpose. A simple way that he can use his abilities (namely his strength) to help people, even if he's not good at interacting with people. It also is a way for Max to use his eating abilities helping with the scrap lumbar or other construction parts that are no good.

Noah, also has seen the news reports of the turmoil that those, like Max have either caused, or have been targeted for, and it is something that he simply does not stand for.

Yeah no roll needed there. He absolutely knows, and wants very much to help Max out.

[Albinobrow]

One thing I'd like to add is that a lot of the "GMing" has been done through the Chaos Cypher System Emulator. With the 2nd edition of Mythic out, I intend to use that for these next scenes and see how I like that. No continuing post yet tonight. New schedule at work and I must sleep. But I haven't forgotten true believers!

[Albinobrow]

Alright! It's time to come back to this. Let's talk about The new Mythic GM emulator.

It categorizes things into categories: characters and threads. For the most part I've already done the characters.

Our PC is Max. And here is a list of NPCs:
1. NHS
2. Stephen
3. Earl
4. Entropy
5. Noah
6. Bank Robbers
7. Police

Now the threads I have are as follows:
1. Find out why NHS is after him.
2. Get Stephen back safely.
3. Find a place to stay.
4. Defeat Entropy.
5. "Can't leave" the Arbor Apartments.
6. Overcome bank heist.
7. Get to hardware store

So as we make our rolls against the Fate Chart, any changes to any NPCs or threads will also be rolled randomly based off these lists here. Now one thing that I have been using from the Mythic system is the idea of exceptional yes or no. But before I was using a roll of 1 and 20 for those. Here everything is based of a roll of d100. So depending on the chaos factor and the certainty of the potential outcome will determine if it is to be an exceptional yes or no.

As the opportunity comes up I'll describe it further

[Albinobrow]

Alriighty! Time for a bank heist! Firstly, how many robbers are there? 1 will be level 4 with 15hp and attack as lvl 5 due to his high tech weapon, and the rest will be level 3. [roll0] Of course, max number rolled...

Also, what is the likelihood of them trying to jack Noah and Max's car to make a run for it? It is right there... Chaos is a 5 currently (translated the Average rating from Chaos System to Mythic 2e.) I think this is very likely. [roll1] So this on this new emulator equals a yes. Not an exceptional yes, but a yes nonetheless.

How does Max respond?? Will have to sleep on this for next time..

[Albinobrow]

So, I'm torn on how Max responds. I think it's nearly certain that he cooperates and gets out of the car. Unless something were to happen to Noah. So I think the question then is, does Noah cooperate? And what likelihood is there that one of them attacks Noah in some way? That one honestly I'm calling 50/50.

As for Noah cooperating, I think it's very likely that he does. He still has that whole "hitman" thing we don't know much about yet. I'm inclined to think that neither Noah nor Max want to let out their secret.

So we have three rolls here:
Does Noah cooperate? [roll0] 75 or lower for yes
Does Max cooperate? [roll1] 85 or lower for yes
Do one of the three robbers attack Noah? [roll2] 50 or lower is yes

Now the last roll is irrelevant if either of the first two rolls are a No. The robbers will attack if provoked.

Ok so all are yes, Max and Noah cooperate, but one of the robbers still chooses to attack Noah. Nothing unexpected happens as we rolled no doubles.

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty, so it's on like Donkey Kong now! Max is ready to take these guys down! I'm going to start writing that out, but won't finish the fight for a while. Might only work on a few rounds a night.

One thing is certain though, Max is going to eat the money to add to his Devour Pool, and use Amazing leap to jump a long distance away. Right into the bed of the truck!

Oh! Or better yet, it's not that far off, He'll jump in front of the truck and push to stop it dead in its tracks. That is normally a difficulty 10, I'm trying to "push" it an immediate distance (-1 difficulty) in the opposite direction of it's momentum (+1 difficulty). So the target is a 30... Dang. Can he achieve that? Two power shifts in strength bring it to an 8, effort can bring it down again to 7.

You know what, I have 4xp to use. And I think this would be awesome! Incredible even! I'm going to spend the 4 XP to advance his effort. Narratively wise, it makes sense. He's out for revenge, and he is NOT going to let them get away! So another level of effort takes the difficulty to level 6 and Max has an ability called Incredible Action that lets him automatically succeed on a level 6 or less Difficulty task once per day. The caveat is that it triggers a free GM intrusion when I do that. And I have an idea what that should be.. Ok, let's type it out and make it so!

[Albinobrow]

Do the men in the bed of the truck fly out of the bed when it comes to a stop? I think it's very likely, [roll0]
But what about the big guy? The leader who is also in the bed? I can see it going either way. 50/50 [roll1]

Surprisingly no they are all still in the bed of the truck. That 66 for the second roll would have triggered a random event but our chaos again is only 5. So nothing new there.

[Albinobrow]

Now here's another question. What now?!
Max has stopped the truck from going anywhere.

Are the police nearby? 50/50. It's in the city so I can see either way.
Does Max go after these men while they're down? I'm leaning only towards likely on this. I don't think it's necessarily in his nature, but he is mad! [roll1]

Oh I think this actually works out great for us! Not only are the police nearby, it's an exceptional yes! I think that on the other side of the block is a gas station, and [roll]1d2+2 patrol cars are parked there with 1d3+3 officers just inside that watched the whole thing. They'll come out and clean everything up.

Max is going to run away. He doesn't want to be questioned, he doesn't want to be involved. Noah is already involved. He is going to run, to the hardware store.

Wait I think I've gotten my names mixed up.. Give me a second.

[Albinobrow]

Take 2:
Oh I think this actually works out great for us! Not only are the police nearby, it's an exceptional yes! I think that on the other side of the block is a gas station, and [roll0] patrol cars are parked there with [roll1] officers just inside that watched the whole thing. They'll come out and clean everything up.


Yup, I've been calling Earl "noah" this whole time. Noah is the guy who owns the hardware store.

That's what happens when I'm away for a while. But That'll actually close that scene! Chaos is definitely going up to 6 after that. Police will handle the robbers and take care of Earl who can make a statement. I think the next scene is when Earl leaves from dealing with all that, and ends up at the hardware store ultimately to search for Max. And let's Noah what's goin on. So they'll both come looking for Max on the roof, because Noah knows that's his hiding spot.

[Albinobrow]

But new scene! Let's test the scene. Rolling a d10 vs the chaos factor 6.

[roll0]
Oh man, that's an even within the chaos factor now that it went up. An interrupt scene.

[Albinobrow]

Random event focus [roll0] Oh man, PC negative..
Let's look at the nature of what's negative.

[Albinobrow]

Event action 1 [roll0] Deny
Event action 2 [roll1] Conflict

This sounds like it should be good, but it's supposed to be negative. My mind goes to maybe he doesn't make it to the hardware store. Or he's stopped along the way? Someone else on a roof maybe?

[Albinobrow]

Is there someone on the roof of one of the taller buildings that keeps Max from getting to Noah's Hardware store? I'm not totally convinced so I'll say 50/50. [roll0] Easily a yes on chaos 6. The question now is, who?

[Albinobrow]

Our PC is Max. And here is a list of NPCs:
1. NHS
2. Stephen
3. Earl
4. Entropy
5. Noah
6. Bank Robbers
7. Police


I'm gonna roll a d5 ignoring the option of Stephen or Earl. [roll0]

I was afraid of that. It's the NHS. Ok, gonna deal with what that means/looks like later

[Albinobrow]

Ok first things first. How many people are here? I'm thinking at most it's 4, minimum 2. [roll0] And 4 total.
And are they here to observe? I think it's nearly certain [roll1] Just shy of a critical yes, but a yes none the less.

So since they're mainly here to observe, I still think they're armed but A) they aren't ready for a fight and b) they don't have special equipment. Probably just a pistol and maybe a police style baton. These guys are lvl 2 and observe/attack as lvl 3. 6hp each. One hit from max and they're asleep, but there are 4 of them so there's that.

[Albinobrow]

So here's a questions we'll let the fate chart decide: If the NHS was observing Max in all this, are they ready to jump him as he jumps up there? Or does he surprise them? I can see it going either way 50/50. Now being at chaos lvl 6, 50/50 is not truly 50/50, it's actually a 65% chance for yes. so let's see!

[roll0] so it is a yes! Though I realize I didn't clearly define that as a yes or no question...

[Albinobrow]

So let's do it this way. 1 or 2?
If 1 NHS surprises Max, if 2 Max surprises them.

[roll0]

Oof, they surprise him. alrighty, so they act first!

[Albinobrow]

Agent 1 [roll0] Miss, and minor effect!
Agent 2 [roll1] HIT!
Agent 3 [roll2] Miss!
Agent 4 [roll3] Miss!

These are defense rolls against each agent, they attack as lvl 3 but Max is trained in Spd defense so it's a wash. 6 or better and that agent misses.

First is a miss and Max gets a minor effect too! We'll say since it was a defensive roll that the minor action gives Max an asset on his next action against Agent 1.

[Albinobrow]

Max will then move into range for Agent 1 and attempt a solid punch. Aiming for 3 or better on a d20 since it's eased.

[roll0] Hit! Agent 1 is downed. now back to defense

[Albinobrow]

Agent 2 [roll0] Zip
Agent 3 [roll1] Zilch
Agent 4 [roll2] Nada!

This was a good defensive round for Max this turn, he's going to continue moving in!

[Albinobrow]

Agent 2 hit him last so he's going there. I'll use effort on the attack, he's pretty mad he got hit by him. So again aiming for 3 or better. Also with Might edge at 2 it only cost 1 Might point to add edge this round.

[roll0] Another agent down!

[Albinobrow]

Agent 3 [roll0] Miss
Agent 4 [roll1] Hit against Max, another 3pt dmg

I guess we'll aim for 4 now

[Albinobrow]

I think I will go ahead and use effort to hit once more. So aiming for 3 or better.
[roll0] hit!

One more agent to go!

[Albinobrow]

Agent 3 [roll0] aiming for 6 or better. And he's out! All hostiles on rooftop are neutralized! Though I'm curious what info, if any got back to Entropy and the dept they work for...

[Albinobrow]

Alrighty, that brought his might down to 7, using those 3 devour points to recover 3 might, and at least one recovery roll

1 Action [roll0]
1o minutes (if needed) [roll1]

Cool. i'll use both rolls to bring him back to full pools. Also gonna give 2 XP for the cool way of over coming those robbers, and another 2 for finding and overcoming hte agents. So 4 total XPs.

[Albinobrow]

And with that we go into a new scene. I believe...

[Albinobrow]

So couple quick questions, does he see Earl down below still? I think it's very likely that he does. Seeing how fast this all happened: the robbery, the car jacking, the car stopping/wrecking, and Max running from police. [roll0]

[Albinobrow]

Ok yes he is there. What does it look like to Max? I dunno! Let's find out!

[roll0] Close
[roll1] Misfortune (This doesn't generate a random event since it isn't a Fate Question or new scene already.)

Ok so yeah it's pretty standard, talking with police making a statement. Trying to get on with his day. The car jacking robbers are taken away into custody. Earl's truck will need to be towed.

[Albinobrow]

Last thing, does Max continue to the hardware store? I think it's a certain thing [roll0]

Yeah, he goes to the hard ware store and finds Noah, maybe waits for Earl there.

[Albinobrow]

Ok, I'm going to now roll for the next scene. With all the build up, we have to have a conversation with Noah. But what does that conversation look like?

ME2 has several tables to randomly roll on and help give focus to the scene. So I'm going to roll on that and see what it shows. Normally nothing will get altered or changed with doubles roll here, but since I'm not rolling normally I'll allow it in this case.

[roll0] Intensly
[roll1] Mature

Interesting! We've already established that Noah both knows about Max's secret and has been actively helping him. I picture this conversation being along the lines of both checking in to see how he's been since his house arrest, and voicing concern with everything happening.

Later in the conversation I'll roll to see if maybe Earl ands up making his way there or if he just goes back to the apt. oooooooo another thought, does Max go back to the apt? I'll wait to see where the conversation goes and maybe roll based on that.

Also been looking at character arcs as I haven't returned to that in a while, and realize he's in the middle of one already! CSR has a Build character arc and he's working with Earl to help rebuild/renovate the Arbor Apartments!

[Albinobrow]

Currently on step 2: gather materials. Step 3 is construction. I feel it'll take at least 2 trips for supplies and several days possibly weeks of renovations. They've already done some work on it with the supplies there, and making their first supply trip. How many more supply trips will it take after this one? [roll0]

And to keep it simple we will say it'll take 1 week of construction work per supply trip. So after this trip it'll be another week of work, then 1 more trip and 1 more week.

[Albinobrow]

Looking over my character sheet, that last encounter with NHS should've been easier. I forgot his attacks are considered "Light" and so the attack roll is eased. I need to remember that.

[Albinobrow]

Ok, it's been way too long since I've updated this. Let's see where we are:

Our PC is Max. And here is a list of NPCs:
1. NHS
2. Stephen
3. Earl
4. Entropy
5. Noah
6. Bank Robbers
7. Police

Now the open threads I have are:
1. Find out why NHS is after him.
2."Can't leave" the Arbor Apartments.
3. Help renovate the apts with Earl. STORY ARC
3. What to do now? (Left the apts, NHS knows, Earl is hurt. In the words of The Clash, "Should I stay or should I go?")

Max just landed on the roof of the hardware store, and Noah was up there smoking a cigarette. Time for a heart to heart talk and decide where to go next

[Albinobrow]

So before we get into the next scene of talking with Noah, the Chaos absolutely goes up to 7. That last scene got way outta hand for us. And because of that, and now that we are in a familiar place (hardware store) with a familiar face (Noah) who we trust a ton, how does Max react to seeing Noah on the roof as usual?

I'm going to roll [roll0] for the ME2 Character Actions General table, hopefully that'll give me an idea of how he'd react. I may not use this result but let's see.

So that result is Harsh and I actually really like the idea. I wasn't sure if he was going to burst out in tears or simply run away or what. But it makes sense that he may take his frustration out on Noah. Noah though would understand and be able to help the conversation, which we've already said is going to be Intensely Mature, and help Max decide what step to take next.

[Albinobrow]

I think that's a good start to this. I need to sleep though so we will return. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Albinobrow]

https://tools.cypher-system.com/account/cypher/characters/eDdlqe

Just checked out the CSR character builder and tried putting MAW in there. So far I think it worked. Still going to take some exploring as I figure it all out.