John II Is Not At Home, John A1nut enters the Verse Options

[M. J. Young]

We are being joined here by John III, from his starter thread Stretching the Yellow Ribbon.

At our martial arts lesson on Wednesday, May 15, 2002, the Architect brings a new student, forty-something, introduced as "another John". He will have been part of that class.

After the class, the Architect will ask "original John" whether he's available to do a bit of driving, to retrieve a few possessions of "new John" and track down whether someone has come with him.

Assuming the answer is yes, John's remaining possessions (which is quite a lot, I believe) are found unmolested in an almost dry ravine by a stream secluded by trees and scrub. It takes a few minutes to find them all, but thanks to the sense you're certain there's nothing left. If the answer is no, we'll take a cab.

John Oakmaster, we need to talk about what sort of martial arts style would best suit you. The major parameters would be

• Fast or Slow?
• Aggressive or Defensive?
• Weapon Adverse, Utilizing, or Dependent?
• Primarily Punch, Kick, Poke, Throw, Grapple, Push, or Weapon?

More important perhaps than answering those questions is describing what you envision yourself doing in combat, what kinds of things you would expect would work, and particularly what makes sense to you, given what you know about yourself.

John manages to catch thirty-one wingnuts before he is saturated and can grab no more. A few toward the end hit him before he caught them, but none hit the floor. Scott manages to watch him do this, developing the ability to observe the mental processes involved in psionic skill use.

What exactly happens if I botch?

We call it a botch because something happens that is not what you intended. You did not botch. Had you botched, I probably would have created a list that looked something like this:

1. Brain Burn (terrible headache probably associated with movement, possibly lasting weeks)
2. Neural Breakdown (loss of some brain function, possibly permanent)
3. Psionic Shock Wave (damaging, possibly fatal, shocking force emanating from and most affecting the one using the skill, lessening as it moves outward)
4. Body Swap (because Scott was telepathically connected at this moment, it is possible that the botch would reverberate to swap minds between the two of you)
5. Mental Link (again because Scott was connected, the minds fuse and are stuck together)
6. Wrong object (you grab something else, with any of many possible consequences)
7. Kinetic shock (the telekinesis reverberates to shake something, possibly the room, possibly the planet)
8. Transmutation (I need a "wish I'd done that" botch, and accidentally changing a hundred wingnuts from steel to silver has a certain logic and a certain appeal)

I then roll the dice to see which of those things happen, and that's what I narrate, possibly with additional rolls such as general effects rolls for severity if it's not obvious.

So what "exactly" happens if you botch is "something you don't want to have happen", although not necessarily something you'd regret. I've had people work really hard to try to recreate the results of some of their botches.

--M. J. Young

[John A1nut]

"Yeah, of course I will drive you to go get the rest of the gear. Hello John, I'm John. Don't you just hate having the most common name in the world? I do. Anyway, Mr. Archetect, today is psionics day, and I believe you were going to teach the rending force skill to me today. I am looking forward to it."

[Oak]

We are being joined here by John III, from his starter thread Stretching the Yellow Ribbon.

OOC: *waves*

At our martial arts lesson on Wednesday, May 15, 2002, the Architect brings a new student, forty-something, introduced as "another John". He will have been part of that class.

I realize when I enter the room that these people correspond to several of the other 'supposed to meet someone' vectors.

I give a quiet, friendly nod to the others, and find out their names if time permits...

After the class, the Architect will ask "original John" whether he's available to do a bit of driving, to retrieve a few possessions of "new John" and track down whether someone has come with him.

"Yeah, of course I will drive you to go get the rest of the gear. Hello John, I'm John. Don't you just hate having the most common name in the world? I do."

"Well met, John. I can see this may get confusing after awhile. If you wish, you may call me 'Oak' instead..."

"Thank you for driving me. I still hope to find my wife and children here as well, although it seems that I may only be sensing some of my belongings instead..."

Assuming the answer is yes, John's remaining possessions (which is quite a lot, I believe) are found unmolested in an almost dry ravine by a stream secluded by trees and scrub. It takes a few minutes to find them all, but thanks to the sense you're certain there's nothing left. If the answer is no, we'll take a cab.

To John and to Mark, I give them my thanks once again for the help.

However, I look quiet for a time afterwards. Eventually, I turn to Mark and ask quietly.

"My wife. My children. It doesn't look like they were brought here with me... does it?"

My face is set quietly, but the pain and grief in my eyes is unmistakable.

John Oakmaster, we need to talk about what sort of martial arts style would best suit you. The major parameters would be

• Fast or Slow?
• Aggressive or Defensive?
• Weapon Adverse, Utilizing, or Dependent?
• Primarily Punch, Kick, Poke, Throw, Grapple, Push, or Weapon?

More important perhaps than answering those questions is describing what you envision yourself doing in combat, what kinds of things you would expect would work, and particularly what makes sense to you, given what you know about yourself.

Slow, Defensive, not Dependent, Throw or Grapple or Push or Kick. I'm more of a peaceful sort, and would want martial arts abilities for either defense or for subduing with nonlethal force. Perhaps I might eventually acquire a walking stick or shepherd's staff or light saber, but unless Mark has any extras of those in his rickshaw, I'll probably be unarmed to start with. Actually, I wouldn't mind learning Jedi fighting styles (since they seem kinda neat, especially if I can find a light saber). I also wouldn't mind learning Kung Fu (since it is a Chinese style, and my wife is Chinese, so it is kind of a heritage thing).

John manages to catch thirty-one wingnuts before he is saturated and can grab no more. A few toward the end hit him before he caught them, but none hit the floor. Scott manages to watch him do this, developing the ability to observe the mental processes involved in psionic skill use.

When I see John (or anyone else) starting to practice anything, particularly if it looks psionic, I ask whether they would mind if I observed quietly via telepathy, so that I could try to learn from their example.

If so, then I also watch both visually and telepathically, taking care not to send any thoughts over the link to distract anyone.

Anyone observing closely enough can notice that during the quieter and less eventful moments, I seem a bit quiet and preoccupied, with a slightly shocked look of pain and grief. But when my mind is occupied with learning new skills, I become absorbed enough to put aside this grief for a time, and show unmistakable signs of being a normally friendly person...

[Pope William T W...]

"Hi, John. Why 'Oak'? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice solid name, but why not Ash or Elm? Of course, if I get too confused I'll might have to settle for 'hey, Yew . . .' "

I give a quiet, friendly nod to the others, and find out their names if time permits...

Time always permits.

"I'm Scott. I'm a Pope. I have a card." I pat my wallet pocket to indicate the location of the card. I'm wearing kacki shorts, sandles, and a slightly faded orange T-shirt with a design that includes white tiger and a dragon circling each other on the front. (It's martial arts day, so I thought it was appropriate.) Otherwise, I look like a starving college student; 5'11", underweight, low-prescription glasses, unruly brown hair, blue eyes. I forgot my razor, but this is a really nice hotel, so I'm clean-shaven.

Out of game, I just got back from staffing a backgammon tournement held in a ballroom at the Hilton. Only now do I appreciate just how out of place I am in this setting. That place was creepy nice.

Slow, Defensive, not Dependent, Throw or Grapple or Push or Kick.

You could learn Tur Ki Fu with me. It's a slow, defensive, weapon-adverse grapple style that I'm inventing with the aid of the Architect. It's my baby, but I'm willing to share. Today I'm learning a befuddling feint, the Gobble-Gobblewhat, but you would have to start with the basic style. (Of course, you'd have to start with the basics no matter what style you learn today.)

When I see John (or anyone else) starting to practice anything, particularly if it looks psionic, I ask whether they would mind if I observed quietly via telepathy, so that I could try to learn from their example.

I'll assume you approach in the middle of what we're doing, before we're finished but after I've developed my Observe Mental Process skill.

"I don't think it works that way. I don't know telepathy, but I can read minds - and mind-reading doesn't work for this. That sort of thing is great for communicating words and images, but I had to develop a separate skill entirely to be able to . . . I guess feel what it is that John's doing with his mind. If you could learn it with telepathy, you could learn it by talking - and I can't tell you how to, say, move your leg or wiggle your fingers.

"Well, you couldn't learn it with normal telepathy. Maybe you could develop a varient that could do it, like what I did with mind-reading. It didn't take me long - but then, I've had psychic powers for longer, and I've done more complicated things than telepathy."

Anyone observing closely enough can notice that during the quieter and less eventful moments, I seem a bit quiet and preoccupied, with a slightly shocked look of pain and grief.

I'm an observer. I observe.

Sometime today, when the two of us are relatively isolated (understanding that there are, what, six people in the suite now?), perhaps when the Architect is teaching John A1 or Jeremo:

"Are you alright?"

I'm assuming that I haven't overheard your words with the Architect about your family. I don't appear overly concerned as I ask this question; I try to create the impression that "no, I'm not" is equally as acceptable an answer as "yes," and that either might be answered with a silent nod.

[Oak]

"Hi, John. Why 'Oak'? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a nice solid name, but why not Ash or Elm? Of course, if I get too confused I'll might have to settle for 'hey, Yew . . .' "

I grin at the pun.

"My last name is 'Oakmaster', which sometimes gets shortened to 'Oak'."

"Hi, John. Why 'Oak'? I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a Time always permits.

"I'm Scott. I'm a Pope. I have a card." I pat my wallet pocket to indicate the location of the card. I'm wearing kacki shorts, sandles, and a slightly faded orange T-shirt with a design that includes white tiger and a dragon circling each other on the front. (It's martial arts day, so I thought it was appropriate.) Otherwise, I look like a starving college student; 5'11", underweight, low-prescription glasses, unruly brown hair, blue eyes. I forgot my razor, but this is a really nice hotel, so I'm clean-shaven.

"Well met, Scott."

I regard the card with a grin.

"Well, I'll grant you that card is probably as Biblically valid a claim to be 'Head of the Church' as that of the Romish 'priest' of similar name..."

I'll assume you approach in the middle of what we're doing, before we're finished but after I've developed my Observe Mental Process skill.

"I don't think it works that way. I don't know telepathy, but I can read minds - and mind-reading doesn't work for this. That sort of thing is great for communicating words and images, but I had to develop a separate skill entirely to be able to . . . I guess feel what it is that John's doing with his mind. If you could learn it with telepathy, you could learn it by talking - and I can't tell you how to, say, move your leg or wiggle your fingers.

"Well, you couldn't learn it with normal telepathy. Maybe you could develop a varient that could do it, like what I did with mind-reading. It didn't take me long - but then, I've had psychic powers for longer, and I've done more complicated things than telepathy."

"Could you please teach me how you do it?"

I'm an observer. I observe.

Sometime today, when the two of us are relatively isolated (understanding that there are, what, six people in the suite now?), perhaps when the Architect is teaching John A1 or Jeremo:

"Are you alright?"

I'm assuming that I haven't overheard your words with the Architect about your family. I don't appear overly concerned as I ask this question; I try to create the impression that "no, I'm not" is equally as acceptable an answer as "yes," and that either might be answered with a silent nod.

I look up at Scott quietly.

"My wife. My children. Hours ago I was with them, and they with me. And now..."

I take a deep, shuddering breath.

"Mark believes it is quite unlikely they came with me, and that it is quite unlikely I will ever find my way back to them."

"But I made a vow 'Till Death Do Us Part'. And I don't feel particularly dead at the moment."

"So I must find a way home. Somehow, some way, as the LORD gives me wisdom and strength."

"So I don't wish to pause and grieve. I want to learn. As much as I can. As fast as I can. To make myself an expert, and beyond."

"For Mark is already an expert, and doesn't know how to get me home. So it may take a great deal of time and effort and research."

"But if the LORD wants me to eventually succeed, I will. And if not, at least I will be better equipped to serve Him wherever His Sovereign Hand places me, for as long as He wants me there. And I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror, and know that I did my best."

I take another deep breath, and give a slight smile below the grieving eyes.

"Thank you for asking."

[M. J. Young]

"Yeah, of course I will drive you to go get the rest of the gear. Hello John, I'm John. Don't you just hate having the most common name in the world? I do. Anyway, Mr. Archetect, today is psionics day, and I believe you were going to teach the rending force skill to me today. I am looking forward to it."

Sorry for the confusion. John III is joining us on Wednesday for martial arts; my offer was to teach you the rending force on Thursday in psionics class. The confusion arises because we're starting Thursday and finishing Wednesday at the same time, and Oak having come in late is a bit behind everyone else, but interacting with them, so you're acting in different time points as we bring everyone together. It would be Wednesday afternoon that you drove him around.

The equipment sense proves to be John III's equipment. The people in the room are introduced as John, Scott, and Jeremiah, and the remaining two (I've been stalling because there was another player who started who has not appeared for a while, and I don't know what's happening with him) are Nikolaj, who is probably back in the suite in the afternoon, and Graeme, who is working at the zoo.

Scott is right about telepathy. It's like calling someone on the phone. You can talk to them, they can talk to you, but you can't see what they're doing.

"Well, the nearest thing I learned to Kung Fu is fast, punch-oriented, and weapon-adverse; but let's assume we can work up something like that more to your needs. I agree that slow and defensive are probably better for you, and weapon-utilizing has promise in the long term. From what you say, a throw or push style is probably better; we'll go with push, as that's really the least aggressive in my understanding. We'll call it Oakido (accent on the second syllable), if that works for you."

This is my suggested design:

• Type: Slow Defensive Weapon-Utilizing
• Push
• Defensive Modifiers: -15 sit-mod, -10 damage mod
• Attack multiplier: 1
• Offensive Modifiers: +5 sit-mod
• Body Part: Hand
• Weapons taught: Bo Stick
• Special Maneuvers: to be determined

Assuming this fits your expectations, you'll have learned the basic style, but not the weapon, today.

"Sorry, John," the Architect responds to John III. "I didn't want to dash your hopes completely, but there's no sign that anyone came with you.

"I'm not going to tell you how to deal with this; but I, too, left behind family. Eventually I realized that they would have assumed I was dead. I had, after all, been in an explosion. Death had parted us. Remember that in Romans 7 Paul says that the married woman is freed from the law of marriage when her husband dies, and thus the dead husband is also freed from that law. Of course, I've never tried to remarry, but I've accepted that to them I have died, and they are separated from me by death.

"However, everyone needs to come to grips with the reality of our situation on his own. If for you this is best taken as a quest to return home, I wish you the best of grace, although I hold little hope for your success."

Aside to Scott: whenever the Architect has attempted to teach you any psionic skill, he has impressed an image, a "feeling", of the sort you find by your observe mental process skill into your mind, so you can follow the pattern. I mention it because it might occur to you that this would be a useful skill to learn or attempt, but I am not thereby saying you should, only that you could. I mention it because it might easily be overlooked by you, but probably not by your character, who has it done to him every other day when he learns a new skill.

--M. J. Young

[Oak]

"Well, the nearest thing I learned to Kung Fu is fast, punch-oriented, The equipment sense proves to be John III's equipment. The people in the room are introduced as John, Scott, and Jeremiah, and the remaining two (I've been stalling because there was another player who started who has not appeared for a while, and I don't know what's happening with him) are Nikolaj, who is probably back in the suite in the afternoon, and Graeme, who is working at the zoo.

OOC: If you are talking about Mentat (aka Ed), he can't log in to GO for some reason, nor can he create a new account with the same email address. He is playing at RPoL, and has been frustrated over his inability to resume at GO. So my impression is that the spirit is willing but the access is weak.

"Well, the nearest thing I learned to Kung Fu is fast, punch-oriented, and weapon-adverse; but let's assume we can work up something like that more to your needs. I agree that slow and defensive are probably better for you, and weapon-utilizing has promise in the long term. From what you say, a throw or push style is probably better; we'll go with push, as that's really the least aggressive in my understanding. We'll call it Oakido (accent on the second syllable), if that works for you."

This is my suggested design:

• Type: Slow Defensive Weapon-Utilizing
• Push
• Defensive Modifiers: -15 sit-mod, -10 damage mod
• Attack multiplier: 1
• Offensive Modifiers: +5 sit-mod
• Body Part: Hand
• Weapons taught: Bo Stick
• Special Maneuvers: to be determined

Assuming this fits your expectations, you'll have learned the basic style, but not the weapon, today.

OOC: Doesn't "push" seem more offensive, whereas "throw" seems more like defensively turning someone else's attack against him by turning it into a throw?

Also, I might want to have some type of kick and/or chop to disarm someone threatening.

I freely admit that my knowledge of martial arts specifics, both RL and in the MV rulebook, is very weak, so I don't understand a lot of the suggested design numbers. But how much would doing more throwing, with some kick and/or chop disarming options, change this design? And what do the numbers mean?

"Sorry, John," the Architect responds to John III. "I didn't want to dash your hopes completely, but there's no sign that anyone came with you.

"I'm not going to tell you how to deal with this; but I, too, left behind family. Eventually I realized that they would have assumed I was dead. I had, after all, been in an explosion. Death had parted us. Remember that in Romans 7 Paul says that the married woman is freed from the law of marriage when her husband dies, and thus the dead husband is also freed from that law. Of course, I've never tried to remarry, but I've accepted that to them I have died, and they are separated from me by death.

"However, everyone needs to come to grips with the reality of our situation on his own. If for you this is best taken as a quest to return home, I wish you the best of grace, although I hold little hope for your success."

I nod appreciatively, too choked up to speak at the moment. After we part ways, I retreat to a corner of the suite, and bow my head in prayer for several minutes. I then rejoin the group, thirstily seeking whatever skills I can learn.

Aside to Scott: whenever the Architect has attempted to teach you any psionic skill, he has impressed an image, a "feeling", of the sort you find by your observe mental process skill into your mind, so you can follow the pattern. I mention it because it might occur to you that this would be a useful skill to learn or attempt, but I am not thereby saying you should, only that you could. I mention it because it might easily be overlooked by you, but probably not by your character, who has it done to him every other day when he learns a new skill.

--M. J. Young

OOC: Even if Mark isn't teaching any more psionics today, am I able to pick up any psionic skills from the others? Especially learning Scott's "Observe Mental Process" skill, so that I can then observe everyone else as they practice whatever psi skills they have already learned? I am already prone to seeking knowledge thirstily, but under the present circumstances, with access to such teaching resources for an unknown duration, and with very high motivation, I am very much a dry sponge, soaking up any and all skill knowledge I can get a hold of.

[Pope William T W...]

MJ: Thank you, but I hadn't overlooked it. I have a keen interest in the logistics of this whole process, and my ObserveMP skill was only necessary in the first place because I couldn't get the Example from John any other way.

Three conversational threads involving Oak:

" 'Oakmaster!' That's even better! Do you mind if I shorten that to 'Master' every now and then? Or do you have a title, like Doctor or Reverend or Professor or, or His Majesty, or . . . hmm. Do you want a Pope card?"

The Pope card reads:


It's been folded so that the upside-down part is on the back. If you go here and paste in the name (William T Wodium the Eldest), you'll see the image I printed out to make the card. It was laminated at Kinko's.

"Could you please teach me how you do it?"

"Um. Wow. Okay, well, I'm not really a very good teacher, and I've never taught someone how to do mind tricks before. Whenever the Architect teaches me something, he projects a sort of pattern into my mind of how to do it - if he taught you the telepathy, I'm sure you've had the experience - and I can't do that. I mean, I only just now figured out how to watch a mental process, and though I have learned to project thoughts, I've only ever done words . . .

"Tell you what. I'll do my best. Let me finish with these wingnuts, and I'll try to teach you. Even if I can't figure out how to project a pattern, I can at least observe what you're trying to do with your mind and talk you through it."

All right. I'm attempting to learn P1@2 Project Mental Process, keeping in mind that I can read thoughts, project thoughts, and observe mental processes; this is just filling in the last box in the Punnett square. Also, I have been on the receiving end of this skill already. From that and the other three skills, I should be able to piece together how to do this. However, even if I fail, I will attempt to teach J. O. while using OMP mind-reading. If even that fails, I'll do my best.

My wife. My children. Hours ago I was with them, and they with me. And now...

"Yeah." And, after he finishes:

"No problem. I left family behind too, it just . . . I guess it just hasn't hit me yet. You know? I'm not super-close with my parents and my younger brother, and I don't see my older brother too often anyway - he's in grad school in Florida now. Or, well, here he's in undergrad in Greensboro and won't go to Florida for four years.

"Did you know I called home when I first got here? I hadn't met the Architect yet, actually I was sitting in the hotel lobby having just hiked an hour across the city; I decided I should call home before I met a stranger in a hotel in a city I didn't recognize, so at least they'd know where I was - well, they wouldn't know where, but - anyway. I called home, and you know who answered? I did. Confused the hell out of me at first, but once I talked to the Architect I figured it out.

"I'm not sure why I told you that. It seemed relevant."

[Oak]

" 'Oakmaster!' That's even better! Do you mind if I shorten that to 'Master' every now and then? Or do you have a title, like Doctor or Reverend or Professor or, or His Majesty, or . . . hmm. Do you want a Pope card?"

"Yes, I am Dr. John Oakmaster, or Professor John Oakmaster. But I'm a PhD in Computer Science, not a medical doctor."

"I'll pass on the Pope card, but thanks."

"Um. Wow. Okay, well, I'm not really a very good teacher, and I've never taught someone how to do mind tricks before. Whenever the Architect teaches me something, he projects a sort of pattern into my mind of how to do it - if he taught you the telepathy, I'm sure you've had the experience - and I can't do that. I mean, I only just now figured out how to watch a mental process, and though I have learned to project thoughts, I've only ever done words . . .

"Tell you what. I'll do my best. Let me finish with these wingnuts, and I'll try to teach you. Even if I can't figure out how to project a pattern, I can at least observe what you're trying to do with your mind and talk you through it."

All right. I'm attempting to learn P1@2 Project Mental Process, keeping in mind that I can read thoughts, project thoughts, and observe mental processes; this is just filling in the last box in the Punnett square. Also, I have been on the receiving end of this skill already. From that and the other three skills, I should be able to piece together how to do this. However, even if I fail, I will attempt to teach J. O. while using OMP mind-reading. If even that fails, I'll do my best.

"Thank you for trying. I appreciate it. Ready when you are..."

"Yeah." And, after he finishes:

"No problem. I left family behind too, it just . . . I guess it just hasn't hit me yet. You know? I'm not super-close with my parents and my younger brother, and I don't see my older brother too often anyway - he's in grad school in Florida now. Or, well, here he's in undergrad in Greensboro and won't go to Florida for four years.

"Did you know I called home when I first got here? I hadn't met the Architect yet, actually I was sitting in the hotel lobby having just hiked an hour across the city; I decided I should call home before I met a stranger in a hotel in a city I didn't recognize, so at least they'd know where I was - well, they wouldn't know where, but - anyway. I called home, and you know who answered? I did. Confused the hell out of me at first, but once I talked to the Architect I figured it out.

"I'm not sure why I told you that. It seemed relevant."

"I know. It hasn't really hit me yet either."

I nod thoughtfully.

"If this world is similar enough to the one I came from to have a double of me here, it would be a long distance call. In 2002, I was living in Singapore..."

"So tell me a bit more about yourself. How long have you been here? What was your original world like? And what has happened to you since you arrived?"

[John A1nut]

(OOC) So are we on Thursday, or are we back to Wednesday?

[M. J. Young]

The discussions between John III and Scott, and the experiment with catching wingnuts, are all happening on Wednesday, May 15, 2002; for anyone who wants to start actions for Thursday, May 16, 2002, I'll hear them, but I do not yet know what is happening in the morning so afternoon actions can't be done yet.

Also, thanks for the info on Mentat; I have notified the site administrators.

OOC: Doesn't "push" seem more offensive, whereas "throw" seems more like defensively turning someone else's attack against him by turning it into a throw?

Actually, Push and Throw are both very similar in that regard, incorporating both attacks that use the opponent's momentum against him and those which use more force. My thoughts were that the more aggressive throws involve lifting and hurling the opponent, and thus the more aggressive pushes were less forceful. But it's a close call either way.

Also, I might want to have some type of kick and/or chop to disarm someone threatening.

The description above defines the basic techniques of the style. Thus if you were to say, "I'm going to attack him using Oakido," it would be assumed that you were going to push him. Where it says "special maneuvers to be determined" it means that there will be specialized techniques that we'll add to the style as we devise it. These might include intensified damage attacks, tactical maneuvers such as feints, special defenses such as missile avoidance, disarming techniques, opponent analysis, special environment options, and many others. In those cases you would say, "I'm going to use the disarming technique", which is a separate skill with its own SAL that you can use while using the style.

Similarly, we can add intensified damage kicks, chops, and throws to the basic push design, or we can make the basic design one of those, without changing much.

And what do the numbers mean?

Fair question.

Slow Defensive Weapon-Utilizing is mostly descriptive, except that weapon-utilizing means that it is possible to perform the standard style elements with or without a weapon in your hands.

Push means that the basics of the style involve, well, pushing someone. It is mostly color, but it will color how we view the style in general use, and it also leads to Body Part: Hand, which means it will be much more difficult to use the style if your hands are tied behind your back, for example.

Defensive Modifiers: -15 sit-mod, -10 damage mod requires the most explanation.

Because these are defensive modifiers, they are included in the math of any attacks against you. That is, when an attacker rolls to hit you, these numbers go into his roll. That they are negative is to your advantage, because they are penalties to him. On rare occasions when you have to roll a defensive skill, these become bonuses to you, and are in that case positive.

Sit-mod, sometimes SM, stands for situation modifier, and is the broad designation for any adjustment to the success probability of an action. This means that anyone who attacks you when you are operating in style has 15 points subtracted from his chance of success, as compared with what it would have been otherwise. Someone who has a 75% chance to hit you normally would have that reduced to 60% if you have dropped into your stance and thus are ready for his attacks.

The damage modifier is a lot more complicated to explain, although it's simple to use. Multiverser uses a single-roll hit and damage system and damage categories. Illustration is best here. If the damage that an attack will do is "damaging", then it will do from one to five "intensities" (points) of damage. The actual damage is determined by the success roll (what we call "relative success"), such that any successful roll up to 20 does one intensity, up to 40 does a second, up to 60 does a third, and so on. If the damage category is "dangerous", then the potential damage is one to ten, and similarly up to 10 does one, 20 for two, 30 for three. Higher damage categories are lethal (to twenty), fatal (to fifty), and annihilating (to one hundred--the roll is the damage). There are two other damage categories. The lowest is annoying, which means it hurts but does not cause injury unless the roll exceeds 50, in which case it does one intensity. The highest is obliterative, which means if it hit, it caused total destruction of a reasonable area of the target (which is usually the whole thing, unless we're talking about attacks on massive targets like spaceships and buildings and such). Many things can increase or decrease the damage category; in fact, martial arts styles generally create a "damage category bonus" for all attacks, which is why in a normal person punches you it's annoying and might do damage, but if a martial artist punches you it will do damage because it's at least damaging.

With that background, this should make sense. A -10 damage category penalty means that if he rolled 50 and successfully hit you, it would be treated for damage purposes as if he rolled 40. In this example, that would mean ten points less for an annihilating attack, five for a fatal attack, two for a lethal attack, one for a dangerous or damaging attack, and none for an annoying attack. Note that if the roll were 51, it would mean one less point on an annoying attack (from 1 to 0), but no decrease for the damaging attack (which does 3 intensities on all rolls from 41 to 60).

It should now be obvious that Offensive Modifiers: +5 sit-mod means that when you attack using the style (or maneuvers in the style) you have a bonus of five on your chance of success due to the style. You could also (but don't) have damage modifiers here, which would mean that your chance of success stayed the same but the roll was treated as more for the purpose of calculating damage.

Attack multiplier: 1 tells me that the style does nothing in itself to increase your speed. Ordinary people get one attack per round, and you get one attack per round. Martial arts styles can have multipliers up to 3, but only fast weaponless styles have that many. This is called a multiplier because it is one factor. Your martial strike value level (the average of strength, hand/eye, and intuition, usually 1, often 2 in well-practiced combatants, and almost never 3) is also a multiplier, and your skill ability level (1 for amateur, 2 for professional, 3 for expert) is also a multiplier. If somehow you could improve your MSV and SAL to 3@, you would be able to make 9 style attacks in a minute with this style. (Faster styles have fewer points in defense and offense.)

Also, if you learned something in which you had more attacks than you do in the style, such as if while you were 1@ with the style you became 2@ with the bo stick, you would get the total number of attacks that are calculated for the highest total, but any over the maximum "in style" would have to be in whatever it is that has that many attacks (the bo stick). Thus with a 1@ MSV and 1@ SAL in the style, but a 2@ SAL in bo stick, you could attack twice in the minute as long as at least one of those attacks was with the bo stick. (Conversely, reverse the numbers and you can attack twice in the minute, but only once with the bo stick.)

Scott, you feel like you're almost there, but only manage to project the thought that you want to convey the image of what this is like to him. Maybe next time it would work. Meanwhile, you describe the idea to him, but he can't seem to get it, and you fail to read the pattern in his mind, which seems cluttered with many other concerns at the moment.

I'm good to start Thursday morning. John III and Scott can wrap up their conversations and such as part of Wednesday.

--M. J. Young

[John A1nut]

Well, as soon as possible, I would like the Archectect to teach me the psionic rending force. I want to be able to rip trees out of the ground should I need to. I hope that's the psionics lesson for today.

[Pope William T W...]

Triple failure. Wonderful.

To His Majesty Professor John Oakmaster the Fifth, PhD:

"Every man, woman, and child on this or any other Earth is a Pope; the card is just for fun, really."

So tell me a bit more about yourself. How long have you been here?

"Well, I'm keeping track of time two ways, and neither of them make reference to the calander here. The first uses the Discordian calander - specifically the JoshuNortonian calander - marking the first day of the first year as the day I woke up in front of that coffe shop surrounded by my camping gear and other things. By that reckoning, yesterday was Mungday (the fifth day of the year), so that makes today Sweetmorn the Sixth of Chaos in the Year A. I've been here six days - just under a week Gregorian, just over a week Discordian. The other way is by my computer clock, which tells me it's still late September, 2006.

"I'm from the United States of America, born in Charlotte, North Carolina; Clinton was elected in '92 and '96, and George W. Bush was elected - well, technically - anyway, Bush was President from 2000 through when I left in September '06. There was a war on in Iraq, and my country had deservingly lost a lot of international credability recently. I figure if any of that sounds unfamiliar to you, we're from alternate histories.

"I was in the middle of taking a year off from college when I left. I don't suppose I'll be going back any time soon, though, not until I get some solid financial support and, y'know, a legal identity. Since I've been here . . . well, you'll want to talk to John or Earl - he's going by Earl Grey, so I'm calling him Mr. Tea - you'll want to talk to one of them for the really interesting stories. Apparently a gaint preying mantis showed up and wandered around destroying things for a while before the military herded it into a lake and dissolved it with pesticides. (If you were wondering why there're PUR filters in every restaurant, wonder no more.)

"As for what I've been doing . . . Mr. Tea has an environmental movement going, and I've been pitching in with that. All of us have, really, except for John and Jeremo. John's got this whole isolationism/Prime Directive thing going; basically, he thinks helping people isn't any of our buisiness, but he's been really friendly and helpful for anything that isn't part of a larger plan. Jeremo mostly seems content to hang about playing guitar and practicing psionic tricks; he's been a little quiet, actually.

"I'm rambling. What I've been doing, besides odd jobs for Mr. Tea, has mostly been eating, sleeping, enjoying the luxury of the accomidations the Architect is so generously providing, and learning useful skills. I've done a bit of library research - King Kong and Godzilla still exist as movies here, and I read a book claiming to know the truth of Mothra - and I've been sweeping the sidewalks as I go whenever I walk somewhere, if I have the time. I had John go shopping for me yesterday (he has a car), and I've got an idea for more things to go out and purchase tomorrow.

"I suppose my goal here right now is threefold. I want to learn about and understand my surroundings and my situation. I want to take realistic steps toward positive change in my environment and the society in which I find myself. And, I want to acquire skills and talents that will not only aid me in those tasks, but which will both help me solve future problems and provide a solid foundation for future learning on my own. The Architect won't always be here - or if he will, I won't.

"In retrospect, I suppose my goal is five-fold. Interesting."

[John A1nut]

"Scott, you mentioned the JoshuaNortonian calender, is that any relation to Joshua Norton I, Emporer of the United States and Protector of Mexico? Very interesting story, if nothing else."

"Mr. Archetect, suppose I let Scott borrow my van with all of my gear inside it. If he versed out whilst driving my van, he would take the van, and all it's contents with him right? Well, its MY gear. Don't I get any kind of say in that? Let me know if you can."

"And to Mr. Oakmaster. As I said, I hate having the most common name in the world, so to avoid confusion, I would like to ask that everyone calls you Oak and me John. I was here first, so it seems appropriate that I keep my first name. I hope that is alright with everyone."

[Oak]

Triple failure. Wonderful.

"Thank you very much for trying. Perhaps we could take a little break, then try again?"

OOC: I'm the new kid on the block, and *very* motivated to catch up with what everyone else has had a chance to learn already without me.

MJ, if folks here are willing to try teaching me something, how long do I have to wait before trying again? Can I try again after taking a short break, rather than only getting one attempt per day at a given skill? I want to catch up, and learn everything anyone will teach me, and try as often as I can until I am successful.

Also, Mark says that teaching us a skill per day is based upon dividing up the time equally between his students. Wouldn't/shouldn't it be possible for him to show us all how to do more than one skill per day? If not, what is the IC rationalization, given that Mark says it doesn't really overtax him?

OOC, I suspect that as a GM you are trying to keep us from learning everything all at once for character development and/or game balance purposes, which isn't unreasonable -- but how much of all this is GM pacing, and how much of this is IC constraint of some type, and how much of this is actual MV rulebook constraint? I'm trying to make sure I get an aspiring future MV GM's understanding of all this...

"I'm from the United States of America, born in Charlotte, North Carolina; Clinton was elected in '92 and '96, and George W. Bush was elected - well, technically - anyway, Bush was President from 2000 through when I left in September '06. There was a war on in Iraq, and my country had deservingly lost a lot of international credibility recently. I figure if any of that sounds unfamiliar to you, we're from alternate histories.

"It does sound familiar, but if there are so many different similar universes out there, it seems exceedingly improbable that we came from the same one. Either that, or some are more easily traveled to and from than others... which from the standpoint of trying to ever get home again, would be a hopeful sign..."

"I suppose my goal here right now is threefold. I want to learn about and understand my surroundings and my situation. I want to take realistic steps toward positive change in my environment and the society in which I find myself. And, I want to acquire skills and talents that will not only aid me in those tasks, but which will both help me solve future problems and provide a solid foundation for future learning on my own. The Architect won't always be here - or if he will, I won't.

"In retrospect, I suppose my goal is five-fold. Interesting."

I nod.

"I suppose that my goal is threefold -- to serve the LORD wherever He puts me; to find the way back home, hopefully arriving just after I left; and to acquire the knowledge and skills and resources to help me carry out the first two goals."

"And to Mr. Oakmaster. As I said, I hate having the most common name in the world, so to avoid confusion, I would like to ask that everyone calls you Oak and me John. I was here first, so it seems appropriate that I keep my first name. I hope that is alright with everyone."

I smile warmly.

"That's fine by me. But since you make a valid claim as the elder student here, I don't suppose I could possibly persuade you to show me some of the skills that you have learned already, especially the psionic ones?..."

[Oak]

Actually, Push and Throw are both very similar in that regard, incorporating both attacks that use the opponent's momentum against him and those which use more force. My thoughts were that the more aggressive throws involve lifting and hurling the opponent, and thus the more aggressive pushes were less forceful. But it's a close call either way.

The description above defines the basic techniques of the style. Thus if you were to say, "I'm going to attack him using Oakido," it would be assumed that you were going to push him. Where it says "special maneuvers to be determined" it means that there will be specialized techniques that we'll add to the style as we devise it. These might include intensified damage attacks, tactical maneuvers such as feints, special defenses such as missile avoidance, disarming techniques, opponent analysis, special environment options, and many others. In those cases you would say, "I'm going to use the disarming technique", which is a separate skill with its own SAL that you can use while using the style.

Similarly, we can add intensified damage kicks, chops, and throws to the basic push design, or we can make the basic design one of those, without changing much.

OOC: Perhaps if I was attacking, I might use a push. But if I was defending, would a throw be more likely?

Actually, I'm thinking now that I'd like the emphasis on throws, kicks, and chops. What would the stats for such a style look like?

I'm good to start Thursday morning. John III and Scott can wrap up their conversations and such as part of Wednesday.

--M. J. Young

OOC: Wednesday I want to learn as much as possible from everyone else, especially psi skills, since everyone else has a head start on me...

I'll also look over the multidimensional engineering book Mark offered to lend me, plus anything extra he may have found for me in his rickshaw...

I'll also spend time getting to know everyone better...

I'll also spend time praying and reading Bible. And if the guitar is ever available for lending, I play and sing some hymns quietly in a corner, not loudly enough to disturb others, but as a pleasant background for folks to enjoy and join in with if they are so inclined.

Thursday I will ask MJ to teach me healing. And if I don't get it right, I will ask him to demo by healing me.

I'll also closely observe what the others are taught, so that I can learn those eventually as well...

[Pope William T W...]

Oak: There is the problem that I've already accounted for most of my time on Wednesday. I was ready to move on to Thursday when you showed up; John went and got the wingnuts for me after the lesson, and I did a few things with them before he tried catching them with his TK. The remainder of my time I spent practicing my martial art and my claisentience and reading Romans (I promised Nikolaj I would). These skills are all very difficult for amatuers like you and me, and I imagine they take significant time to learn - at least half an hour or an hour, even if you're successful the first time. I don't think I can realistically make more than one more teaching attempt, possibly two, and still get in everything I've already said that I've done.

"Well, I had some other things I wanted to get in today - there're some experiments to run, things to try out with my clairsentience, and I promised Nikolaj I'd read some Romans. Let's not try the same thing again, though; we've been at it for a while, and you'll probably have a better chance of understanding it after you've learned something else. Let's do basic mind-reading, instead. With telepathy, your target knows he's being contacted, but mind reading is non-invasive; if you do it right, he'll never know you've been in his head. This kind, the simplest kind, only picks up surface thoughts, but once you have it down, you shouldn't have much trouble developing varients on your own."

I'll try one more time to do the pattern-projection, if I can. (Does projecting a different pattern count as a change of circumstance?) If not, I'll do it the old-fashioned way. I'll be thinking about vanillia ice cream when he tries the skill out, but I'll be attempting to psionically observe his skill use if I can.

After this, I'll return to the activities I've already posted (unless something happens that changes my mind). Next post: Journal entry and shopping list.

[Oak]

Oak: There is the problem that I've already accounted for most of my time on Wednesday. I was ready to move on to Thursday when you showed up; John went and got the wingnuts for me after the lesson, and I did a few things with them before he tried catching them with his TK. The remainder of my time I spent practicing my martial art and my claisentience and reading Romans (I promised Nikolaj I would). These skills are all very difficult for amatuers like you and me, and I imagine they take significant time to learn - at least half an hour or an hour, even if you're successful the first time. I don't think I can realistically make more than one more teaching attempt, possibly two, and still get in everything I've already said that I've done.

OOC: Since MJ has (retroactively?) changed Wednesday's events to include my arrival, I suspect he would also be OK with allowing folks to (re?)state their intended actions in light of that knowledge. But that is up to you and the GM, of course...

"Well, I had some other things I wanted to get in today - there're some experiments to run, things to try out with my clairsentience, and I promised Nikolaj I'd read some Romans. Let's not try the same thing again, though; we've been at it for a while, and you'll probably have a better chance of understanding it after you've learned something else. Let's do basic mind-reading, instead. With telepathy, your target knows he's being contacted, but mind reading is non-invasive; if you do it right, he'll never know you've been in his head. This kind, the simplest kind, only picks up surface thoughts, but once you have it down, you shouldn't have much trouble developing varients on your own."

I'll try one more time to do the pattern-projection, if I can. (Does projecting a different pattern count as a change of circumstance?) If not, I'll do it the old-fashioned way. I'll be thinking about vanillia ice cream when he tries the skill out, but I'll be attempting to psionically observe his skill use if I can.

After this, I'll return to the activities I've already posted (unless something happens that changes my mind). Next post: Journal entry and shopping list.

I thankfully soak up whatever anyone is willing to teach me, and attempt to follow their instructions and examples...

[John A1nut]

"Oak, I would love to teach you psionics, the thing is that the Archetect says that since we don't know the skills all too well, we can botch easily. Botching is bad, and I would really rather not risk it, especially since botching with psionics is especially dangerous. It's more of a safety issue than anything else. If I botch myself, hopefully I will be the only one hurt, if I botch teaching you, that's a different story. However, you are more than welcome to observe my psionics, and I would be very happy to go down to the gym and practice martial arts with you. Perhaps we can improve each other there. That way, if we botch, the worst that could happen is a broken nose that will heal, and some hard feelings that will hopefully heal. What else can we teach each other? I am dying to practice that missile catch the Archetect showed me. He taught me how to catch thrown weapons like knives. Maybe we could practice that with something less dangerous than knives."

"Scott, you didn't answer me. The reference you made to the JoshuaNortonian calender, is that Joshua Norton I, Emporer of the United States and Protector of Mexico?"

[Oak]

"Oak, I would love to teach you psionics, the thing is that the Archetect says that since we don't know the skills all too well, we can botch easily. Botching is bad, and I would really rather not risk it, especially since botching with psionics is especially dangerous. It's more of a safety issue than anything else. If I botch myself, hopefully I will be the only one hurt, if I botch teaching you, that's a different story. However, you are more than welcome to observe my psionics, and I would be very happy to go down to the gym and practice martial arts with you. Perhaps we can improve each other there. That way, if we botch, the worst that could happen is a broken nose that will heal, and some hard feelings that will hopefully heal. What else can we teach each other? I am dying to practice that missile catch the Archetect showed me. He taught me how to catch thrown weapons like knives. Maybe we could practice that with something less dangerous than knives."

"You mean that you can botch skill attempts with possibly dangerous consequences, particularly for psionics? But there is less risk with more skill, like Mark has? Hmmmm."

I look thoughtful, obviously weighing my desire to learn everything quickly against the desire to avoid incapacitating myself (or anyone else). For even as new at all this as I am, I recognize the invaluable resource of a teacher like Mark. The last thing I want to do is make myself unable to practice with him, for whatever limited time we may have together.

"OK, I'll observe all the psionics tricks you've learned so far, even if I don't try them myself yet. And I'll practice the other stuff with you..."