Toneturbo
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Several questions/clarifications

Tue 02 Jul 2019, 18:19

I have a few questions on the rules or how things work:

1) For Heavy Machinery rolls - how many time can/should you be able to use the "you do it quickly, in half the time" stunt?

2) For Command rolls, using the Give Orders, is there/should there be a limit on how many +1 mods you can give to one character (like 3) in a round?

3) How do x-drugs work?  How high are the general increases to Strength,Endurance, and Sense? And how long do they last?

4) When using the Power Loader in Close Combat, how much damage does it do (hitting, squeezing/grappling)?

5) What does the stunt "Show off" do in the other skills outside of being used in Manipulation rolls?

6) In the 'Chariot of the Gods' scenario - do the characters start off with a Story Point?  I'm thinking they don't.

7) Also in the "Chariot of the Gods' scenario - are the characters able to recharge the oxygen of their suits?

8) Does Starvation (and Dehydration) become an issue for everyone on the Cronus?

9) And one more thought on the scenario - the characters are offered the choice to either repair or replace a certain important item - shouldn't just be repair?

Thanks for any answers or opinions in advance.
Last edited by Toneturbo on Tue 02 Jul 2019, 18:36, edited 1 time in total.
 
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aramis
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Tue 02 Jul 2019, 18:38

Don't have answers for most of these... but the dehydration is an issue for everyone, even before detecting the Cronus... everyone is dehydrated on thaw from the cryopods.
Hell, my players had to actually have their characters sleep to avoid sleep deprivation.

In re heavy machinery - some of them are clearly a turn's work (moving things), while repairs seem reasonably to be a shift.  Remember the time units: rounds of 5-10 sec, turns of 5-10 minutes, shifts of 5-10 hours, days of 3-4 (5 if you round up) shifts...
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decanox
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Wed 03 Jul 2019, 10:12

Really good questions!

Here it's my opinion:

1) Heavy Machinery: The rules are clear, they say: "You do it quickly, in half the time it would normally take", so there is only "half the time" option. In the only example I know, that is, "Chariots of the Gods", every repair has a time assigned to it, usually turns or shifts. So it would be easy: if a work means one shift (7-8 hours) with this stunt it would be 3'5 to 4 hours.

2) Command: It's said nothing in the rule, so I think there is no limit to the +1 mods a Command roll may give to a player. I have played it in that way.

3) X-Drugs: Good question. I have not found anything in the starter kit (I suppose this will be expanded in the rulebook). At least, they are not used in "Chariots of the Gods".

4) Power-Loader: Another mystery but this could be used in "Chariots of the Gods". I would "houserule" this. If a cutting torch inflicts 3 points of damage, the power loader wouldn't do less than that. Maybe 3 or 4.

5) Show off: I have played "show off" as it is: only for roleplay. In "Chariots of the Gods" there is a character (Davis) who needs this stunt to fulfill this agenda. So, I have not used it for manipulation (and it's not included as roll modification also).

6) Story Points at the Beginning: No.  

7) Oxygen in Chariot of the Gods: I have the same question here. Logic says that suits could be refilled with oxygen, on the contrary, crew could die if suits have only one charge. I am playing in this way and I have seen another games (youtube) with this point of view. But players are taking advantage of this: they are in combat with suits, they are keeping long conversations inside their suits, repairing, etc. Maybe, I am going to introduce some "inconveniences": when they charge they would need to undress, they would need to drink, etc.

8) Starvation and Dehydration: I have played two sessions of "Chariots". When players woke up, they ate and drank. After that, and I am in the second act, not much time has passed... maybe one hour or two, no more. So I think it would be difficult to starve in Chariots. Dehydration would be different. 

9) Sorry but I don't understand the question.
 
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paulbaldowski
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Wed 03 Jul 2019, 13:51

9) And one more thought on the scenario - the characters are offered the choice to either repair or replace a certain important item - shouldn't just be repair?
If you're talking about the carbon filters, then I would suggest that it's entirely likely that the Cronus will carry spares, probably on Deck D. If you're talking about something else... well, more specific questions would help!
 
Toneturbo
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Wed 03 Jul 2019, 22:23

Thanks to both of you for your responses!  I recently ran Act 1 with a group of great players.  I'm hoping to finish the next two Acts in the next week or so.

While playing I either had some of these situations arise, or I saw the potential for them to come up.

1) Heavy Machinery - I had one of my players roll several successes while working on the air scrubber, he wanted to know if he could use three of them to reduce the task from a Shift to one hour.  We had a quick discussion and used two of them to reduce it to 2 hours.

2) Command.  Under Helping others - help is limited to three.  However unlikely, someone rolling Give Orders could roll very well and grant more than three successes/+3 mods in one turn.  Just checking to see if there should be a limit.

3) X-drugs/illegal stems are in Chariots of the Gods.  They are in Clayton's Corporate Suite.

4) Power Loader.  I feel the same way.  It should do a respectable amount of damage.  Thanks!

5) Show off.  Several of the Skills include a stunt that you either show off  or impress someone.  I was wondering these would work like the stunt under Manipulation where 'your opponent is impressed by you...'?

6) Story Point.  Thank you!  I agree.

7) Recharging oxygen.  I also had this come up in our game.  Suspense-wise, I don't want it to be easily worked around.  I would prefer the players to either switch to the other suits located on the Cronus, or it take time to do the recharge if it is feasible in the time allowed.

8) Starvation and Dehydration.  Agreed and the same for Act 1.  In act two and three my players are looking at a few shifts if they are going to do most of the repairs needed(if they live that long).  these may become important.

9) Yes, it is about the scrubbers.  The scenario alternates between recommending either repairing or replacing them.  While the scenario suggests a basic timeframe for the whole operation, my players wanted to know what would be the difference based on which one to do?  Which would involve the most time, or difficulty, or both?  Maybe the scenario should just say repair?
 
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paulbaldowski
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Wed 03 Jul 2019, 22:53

I have to say, all these questions suggest you're not trying hard enough to kill these characters off in various xeno-related and gruesome ways. I have now run Chariot of the Gods twice; both took about 4 to 4.5 hours total (all Acts) and no one ever got as far as making repairs. In the first game, there was a single PC survivor and an NPC. In the second game, two PCs survived, but one probably wishes they hadn't and will need to "let out their sleeves" if they want to be comfortable... if you get my meaning.
 
Toneturbo
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Wed 03 Jul 2019, 23:15

I have to say, all these questions suggest you're not trying hard enough to kill these characters off in various xeno-related and gruesome ways. I have now run Chariot of the Gods twice; both took about 4 to 4.5 hours total (all Acts) and no one ever got as far as making repairs. In the first game, there was a single PC survivor and an NPC. In the second game, two PCs survived, but one probably wishes they hadn't and will need to "let out their sleeves" if they want to be comfortable... if you get my meaning.
LOL!  That may be true.  My players have just finished their most recent D&D campaign.  They agreed to give this a try, and they are really enjoying this game!

They have had some really good - to amazing die rolls!  They just finished Act 1 (bypassed several of the first act events currently) with no bad effects to the main crew so far. They are creative too.  Their luck will soon change... I hope.
 
adambeyoncelowe
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Re: Several questions/clarifications

Fri 05 Jul 2019, 16:28

My group nearly all survived, but they're among the 'staying in spacesuits whenever in alien territory' kind of players. However, this is offset by the -2 to Agility that PCs get when in their suits, and they can't crawl through vents or have the manual finesse to repair the carbon filters.

On saying that, they were incredibly flukey: Cham beat a neomorph to death with his bare hands because he'd maxed out on Stress Dice, pulled lowest initiative and went berserk on his Panic Roll; Lucas jumped from one moving space craft to another, ending up hanging off the engine for a while, but was eventually rescued by the pilot; and the crew found all the data about the Cronus really early on with some extra stunts while interrogating MU-TH-UR, which led them to learning about the vaccine.

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