Vertigo

Steampunk: Dragons and Battleships

Jaro's enthusiastic introduction seemed to miss the mark with the rest of the crew, if the lack of reactions or answers was anything to go by. Sheesh, talk about a tough crowd. Was it cause most of the others were old? It must've been because they were old. Man, hopefully it wouldn't be this quiet the whole time on board. Much as he loved his own voice, monologuing wasn't half as fun as actual social interaction.

With that said, Jaroslav did think he spotted a sparkle in the eye of a girl around his age from the corner of his eye. But before he could start to figure out whether it was due to his entrance or the adventure that awaited, their apparent captain spoke up. Her authoritative tone demanded everyone's undivided attention, so Jaroslav gave her nothing less. He'd have time to talk to the girl later.

The captain was barely a few words in when Jaro realized he was practically being called out. Oh shit- and on the first day, too. So that's why most everyone was being so stiff; they were military folk. Guess that made sense, considering the nature of the vessel. Jaro had figured he'd be the odd one out of the bunch to begin with, just not to what extent. Well damn, he felt kinda sheepish now--

--At least until the captain conceded that they would surely need someone like him one day. At that, he practically beamed, brimming with validated confidence all the way to the end of her spiel.

"Aye, aye, cap'n--- ma'am!" he corrected quickly, stiffening his back and giving her a salute. Though the motion was a little dramatic and overblown, it was done out of genuine respect and attempt to adhere to the code. Titles were hard, but she seemed like someone worthy of 'em, so he'd try to remember to speak accordingly. Couldn't be that hard.

"You won't be disappointed," he went on to promise as the crew spread out around the ship. Jaro went to put his stuff away as instructed, and then made his way to the helm, humming. He wanted to familiarize himself with how easy - and how fast - the vessel was to steer before they got to those... what were they? Devil Vulture? Ha, more like Fried Chicken by the time they were done!

(D&D 5E) The Tyranny of Dragons, Part 1; Hoard of the Dragon Queen

@CollectorOfMyst I can edit it so that he overheard him talking to Magdar instead, I think that's the easiest option! I'll get the edits in today when I sit down to write posts again.

(D&D 5E) The Tyranny of Dragons, Part 1; Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Oh-- okay, my bad, I must've misunderstood. I was going by this post:

@Tangletail@Vertigo

Sebastian will remember that.
Cassandra will remember that.

(Technically, taking the fruit is theft - Sebastian did say that the orchards were owned by somebody. Sebastian and Cassandra disapprove, and will voice this disapproval, but they will not stop you if you want to continue. At this point, they care only about getting to the city.)

Also, does Vaal want to cast Mage Armour again, or will he wait?

@CollectorOfMyst

I assumed the "will voice his disapproval" meant he was going to say something if Caw did take a fruit. I can edit it out or alter it to just be overhearing, whichever you prefer!

(D&D 5E) The Tyranny of Dragons, Part 1; Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Andd posted! Sorry for the wait. Also I hope it's ok that I mentioned Sebastian voicing his disapproval about the fruit, since you said he would do that. I left the exact words vague, though. Lmk if edits are needed.

(D&D 5E) The Tyranny of Dragons, Part 1; Hoard of the Dragon Queen

When Rhayela spoke of the orchards she'd been to as a child, Caw's beady eyes lit up with glee. He'd hidden in many places during his short life, none of which he'd found very pleasant. If only he'd had trees ripe with fruit to weave among, he wouldn't have minded staying hidden forever! Briefly, he wondered if it was appropriate to ask her to show her home orchards one day - or if that would be too presumptuous of him. He'd never had friends before, and did not want to come across as rude. Come to think of it, was calling her a friend too presumptuous as well? From what he knew of her, he did not believe she minded, yet...

For all the hundreds of books he'd read, when it came to the rules of socialization and human interaction, Caw still felt like a fledgling.

The bird had yet to make a decision one way or another, when a familiar voice broke Caw from his thoughts. Sebastian. He'd heard their conversation. Caw lowered his head in shame, hood slipping to cover the faltering gleam in his eyes. He expected a scolding - but instead, received a promise. They'd get to go to the nearby orchard; they'd be there in a few hours, in fact.

Caw snapped his neck upward to look at Rhayela, borrowing her exact words once more - this time louder, accompanied with a small chirp. "Lovely!"

Though the rest of the trek did not take that long, it felt like an eternity. Part of it was excitement, certainly, but there was also a more tangible reason; Caw's talons were not made for long travel on foot. So when the offer came to ride part of the way, he could only resist for so long before he ashamedly accepted.

When their destination came into view, both Rhayela and Caw became kiddy. She turned to him excitedly, and he returned her enthusiasm with a happy caw, straightening his back and craning his neck to peer ahead. "It is!" he repeated after her, then slipped into a tone of someone else: "Finally!"

Caw slipped off the horse and gave it a small series of bows as if to thank it for its service, then skipped ahead to see the orchard from up close. Most of his life had been spent in places that had a distinct lack of colour; murky harbours, damp severs and a castle so old it must've been built before anyone knew a thing about colours. So to see such a display of vibrancy felt... surreal. He'd been around his fair share of magic, yet he didn't hesitate to say this was the most magical thing he'd ever seen.

He simply had to go and touch it all.

Caw scrambled to the closest tree, one that bore fruit he'd never seen before. Without even thinking it was bad of him to do so, he stood up on his tiptoes to try and reach for one. Failing that, there were some on the ground, and he certainly wasn't picky. He took one, two-- and then looked around for Rhayela.

He found her among the flowers, doing something peculiar. His head tilted, Caw approached to catch her putting a flower between the pages of a notebook.

"Yours," he offered, holding out one of the fruits he'd picked. It was difficult to smile with a beak, and the tone he had borrowed was low and grumpy, yet he hoped the shimmer in his gaze conveyed his excitement to share what he'd found. He'd heard that food tasted better when eaten with friends.

Flopping down onto the soft grass, he got ready to bite into his own share and pointed at the notebook. His voice was a mixture of a noble and an urchin. "What are you doing?"

Before Caw could continue or bite into his fruit, he overheard a familiar voice talk to one of the other members of the group. It was Sebastian, advising the dwarf against taking any fruit - as they were not theirs. The implications drew colour from the kenku's face - figuratively, at least. They weren't supposed to take them. It was theft.

He'd promised not to steal.

Aghast and afraid his misdeed would be spotted sooner or later, Caw scrambled to his feet and back to the tree he'd taken the fruit from. When he'd stolen before and had been scolded for it, he'd been told to put the item in question back. So, panicked and not really thinking, Caw got back onto his tiptoes and started poking an outstretched branch with his fruit, desperate to get it to stick again. It did not.

"I put it back, put it back," he mumbled to himself frantically, even though fulfilling that promise wasn't going terribly well.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

Ack, sorry for the absence there! I should never make mention of having more time - I end up jinxing myself. Will get a post up today/tomorrow.

@Alamantus Gotcha! Thanks for being patient with me and explaining the system. I see now that I just didn't get the extent of influence the GM had, as opposed to the numbers. But that's why I wanted to ask and check!

@Typical Looks like it wasn't blank, thankfully! Though, heh, don't worry, Duncan has/will make himself look like an idiot multiple times over the course of this, I reckon.

Hmm, the paper looks like a hint - fishing up a key from the drain, perhaps? Or from somewhere else. Definitely looks like a hook meant to grab a key from some sort of a hole.

About the door, I wonder if we could try to reach a hand through the hole to see if we could open the door from that side (would it fit tho?) or if we have to just keep breaking it apart little by little?

If the door had been impossible to break I would've suggested we try the airvent above it, but since we got this far-!

Steampunk: Dragons and Battleships

Ye was waiting for Gunther's post, and haven't been able to sit down and write in the past few days. Post coming this weekend.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

Ah, yeah, I wasn't trying to argue for this specific scenario, no worries! I understand why he failed, both roll-wise and scenario-wise, and I don't mind it. I wouldn't even have minded an injury, which I did expect him to get even if he did succeed. Like said, failure makes things more interesting, and I think it's perfectly fair for a character with a 6 in a stat to fail sometimes - even D&D allows for highly skilled characters to fail; it's precisely that random chance that makes dice-based rps interesting.

The thing I was curious about was just the whole 2 dice vs 1 die ordeal that I noticed, since it seemed like one die would always have a higher chance of success (50%) than two dice (44%, even if we interpret numbers as low as 3 and 3 or 3 and 4 as successes). Therefore, it seemed like having 1 in a stat would be better than 2. However, you did just say that if someone has too low a stat, they might not even be allowed to roll for something at all. So then it seems more like a give and take deal? You aren't allowed to roll for some things if your stat is only 1-- but if your stat is 2, you're allowed to roll for more things, but your chances at success overall decrease somewhat.

That might balance out on higher numbers since the chance for doubles increases like you said. I think the 2v1 might be the only slightly skeewy one...? I wish I was better at math.

Anyway, tThe reason I brought it up wasn't to argue to get my rolls to succeed, or, well, to argue at all. I just noticed what I thought might be a discrepancy, so I wanted to bring it up in case you didn't know of it - or in case I had missed something you could correct me on, because I'm no expert on this. I like the system and am excited I get to be testing it, but that's precisely why I thought bringing a potential issue up would be valuable!

Also yeah, sorry for the rambles. I tend to, err, write a lot when I try to explain things >>'' So I definitely don't mind your long explanations either, ha. Pot, kettle.

As for the rp itself, I like how you reasoned the failure in particular - and how Pebs' roll factored in to help! Now, hmm, do you want to post next @Typical, or should I? I'm fine either way - and it should no longer take me a week to get back to you either, heh.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

So, hrm, he got 1 and 4. This door is his new archnemesis omg.

Though rereading the part on multiple dice made me wonder... If a success is a roll of 4 or more, but it's not enough that one roll of many passes that threshold, doesn't having multiple dice make it even more difficult to succeed? Since it's more difficult to get a number above 3 two times in a row than only once. Getting above 3 once is a 50% chance, but doing it twice in a row is 25%. There is a chance that two of the numbers are the same, which gives you that bonus you mentioned, but it's still easier to get above 3 on a singular roll.

Then again, since 3 is a near success, if you got 3 and 4 and that counted as a success, it would bump the odds up a bit. Getting above 2 twice in a row would be a 44% chance (66% on a singular die). Closer to the 50%, but not quite. And that would get even more difficult the more die we add. Though, if we add more die, the chance of doubles also raises. Double 1's don't count, but since double 2 and 3 do, that helps with the odds. I'm not sure whether that totals up to better chance of success than the original 50% of one die though. If it does... Is it just 2 dice specifically that faces this problem?

Admittedly I might have misunderstood something. Also, I do have rotten luck, ha, and I'm also not trying to wiggle out of a bad roll or anything! Bad rolls are usually where the fun happens. Just it made me curious as to how the odds worked. For example, if I'd only had 1 die to roll in this instance, and I would've gotten the 2 that I rolled at first, aka failed - - then I could've tried again, and gotten the 5 I rolled right after, would that have been a success? Technically, wouldn't Pebs have a better chance at the door, since she only has to roll above 3 once?

Or am I totally off base? Either way, err, sorry for the long explanation, just trying to wrack my own brain as I go since I'm not an expert on probability, heh.

[GUTS+] You Awake in a Dark Room

Yush, I'll have a quick post with another kick up during lunch break tomorrow! (Past midnight right now so I should really be in bed orz).