Fat Gandalf's Bar & Lounge (OOC chat) - Chapter One

[Purr]

Out of character discussion goes here.  =)  


Welcome!  Get on in here!


Who is Fat Gandalf?  Why does he have a bar and lounge?  Believe it or not, the answer just may be in our story somewhere.  In the meantime, c'mon and pull up a cozy chair, order something nice, and relax with the rest of us while you say what's on your mind.  =)

 

[Purr]

Let's begin with this, shall we?


Hey Cap'n!  I saw this tonight and thought of you!  Here's to Herc!  8D

(Image credit:  www.pinterest.com)

 

[Sherwood]

Thanks for the invite to the game.  I'm looking forward to exploring the materials you have here.

 

[Sherwood]

First off, I feel morally obligated to request that Mario have on his person at all times a penknife.  The reason behind that is one of much history between me and Dannigan.


Next, I don't know what rank I am to start out with, and I'm not sure what personal equipment I can list to start with.

 

[Psychie]

I have the same question as to rank and starting gear.

 

[Purr]

@Psychie Re: Scorch's character sheet.


1. My copy of Shadow Chronicles says Boxing cannot be taken as a Secondary Skill (page 218, there's a list and Boxing's not on it)?


2. The same page says that W.P. Paired Weapons cannot be chosen, but W.P. Energy Pistol can. 


3. Scorch has "Pilot: Veritechs" as her Pilot skill of choice under T.A.S.C. O.C.C. skills; I take it she's specialized in AJAX?  In Shadow Chronicles (pg 275), it states a pilot can specialize in one style of Veritech (with a +13% bonus in that vehicle alone).  Since this is the case, would you please show this on your character sheet?  Perhaps written like "Pilot: Veritech (Specialized in AJAX: 77%; all others: 64%) or whatever provides this information?


4. It looks like Scorch has spent 3 of her 2 free "O.C.C. Related" skills (upgrading from Hand to Hand: Expert to Jeet Kune Do costs 3), if I'm reading this right?  One way around this is to upgrade from Hand to Hand: Expert to JKD 2.0 using your Secondary Skills instead of your "O.C.C. Related (see Character Creation Guide, 5a).  Do you want to try that?  That might be your way to get her W.P. Paired Weapons and Boxing, too.


5. Combat Flying adds a +3 to Roll with Impact.  Did you add this to your Logan and AJAX Roll with Impact totals?


6. Medical Doctor is one of those rare skills that has two percentages, the first to diagnose, the second to treat.  Would you mind providing both totals, please?


7. Unless I'm missing something (which is always possible!  Hah!  =) ), it looks to me like the Strike bonuses on both your Logan and your AJAX should be +9.  Weapon Systems skill adds to this for ranged attacks, but not melee.  Please adjust your stats to reflect this?  


As far as I can tell, Psychie, the rest of the math looks good.


Re: Rank.  As far as rank goes, I thought I had that all figured out (I was going with what was in the books, plus the knowledge that fighter jockeys in Real Life start out as officers while tankers appear to start out as Enlisted).  But after looking up T.A.S.C. and A.T.A.C. in that light, I realize I'm left with an issue.  Let me get back to all of you on that.


Re: Personal gear.  Again, I'm not up to that phase of the game (as I may have mentioned in our private conversation).  Leave that to me.  In the meantime, if you have any requests for any kind of non-military gear, now is the time to make those requests.  Keep in mind the House Rule in Shop Talk concerning equipment.


-Sherwood - Ha ha!  Do please write "Penknife" under good Mario's gear.  I love it!  Oh, does that bring back good memories!  =)


Now to take a look at Mario.

 

[Psychie]

I'll double check my numbers, but for the WP Paired Weapons, I thought that we could select any skill, with the restrictions on what can be picked waived.  I'll drop it for something else.  Perhaps I'll be able to pick it up later?  


EDIT:  I see what happened.  When I selected the second MOS package, it used up all of my Secondary Skills, leaving me only the Secondary ones left over for Boxing etc.  If I am able to pick up a martial skill for the extra attack at second, I'll have to wait for then to get it.  I'll make my changes to the sheet to drop Boxing and WP Paired Weapons, and since I seem to have missed a skill getting my upgrade to HtH Jeet Kune Do, I'll get that fixed now, too.

 

[Psychie]

PS:  I need to drop 3d6 from my SDC that I got from Boxing.  Can you give me a roll for that to keep things on the up and up, or just tell me to drop a set amount of points?

 

[Sherwood]

I did the same with my sheet, so I'll need to make the same change as Psychie does.  I was not aware that Boxing could not be selected as a Secondary Skill.  Can you share with me where you see that?  I don't want to select a different skill from the same list.

 

[Psychie]

Would I be able to pick up the Holistic Medicine with my remaining Secondary Skill?  The low percentile on it makes me want it as soon as possible so it will level up to a reasonable level shortly.

 

[Sherwood]

I see the list now.  Had to go look it up.  Sorry about the mixup with Boxing and Wrestling.  I'll remove them to be added at a later date.


EDIT:  I'll need to drop 7d6 in SDC from my sheet; just let me know how much it is and I'll fix it.

 

[Purr]

-Psychie and Sherwood.  Would you both mind putting your In-character Quiz answers and backgrounds in your character sheets, please?


-Sherwood.  Re: Mario's character sheet.


1. Your copy/paste of the Spartan Hover Tank information is blinding white.  Would you please edit this to dark?


2. You appear to have written in "Death Blow on a roll of Natural 20" into the Tae Kwon Do bonuses at 1st level.  However, in Robotech: Broadsword, anyone can call Death Blow (see Shop Talk) hence my omission.  Just letting you know.  =)  EDIT: The information you have posted for Tae Kwon Do on Mario's character is not the same as mine.  I don't know if our books differ, but mine contain the differences we discussed in our private conversation (like instead of "Adding one Martial Art Power," one adds +1 to Initiative, +1 to Strike, +1 Damage).  Please use my information in The Martial Way?


3. My copy of Shadow Chronicles says neither Boxing nor Wrestling can be taken as a Secondary Skills (page 218, there's a list and Boxing and Wrestling are not on it)?  May I recommend using your Secondary Skills to make the hike from Expert to Tae Kwon Do and use your two free "O.C.C. Related" skills for Boxing and Wrestling?


4. It looks like you're missing your Weapons Engineer skill (+15%) from your Armorer M.O.S.?  Don't short yourself now.  =)


Cool picture!


Also, you mentioned earlier...


"For a starting character, Mario is well balanced skill wise, but there are still a few questions I have that are still coming to me; does he play a musical instrument?  Does he know how to cook?  Or Fish?  What does he do when he's not in the gym or the hover tank?  Having a few Domestic skills added to his sheet will be a goal of mine once I level up a bit."  


If it's true for the character then it's a good road to follow.  I want to see how this fellow turns out!  =)


- Psychie

I'll double check my numbers, but for the WP Paired Weapons, I thought that we could select any skill, with the restrictions on what can be picked waived.  I'll drop it for something else.  Perhaps I'll be able to pick it up later?  

 That's for O.C.C. Related skills, not Secondary Skills.

PS:  I need to drop 3d6 from my SDC that I got from Boxing.  Can you give me a roll for that to keep things on the up and up, or just tell me to drop a set amount of points?

Ah, before you do that, let me recommend this a second time:

4. It looks like Scorch has spent 3 of her 2 free "O.C.C. Related" skills (upgrading from Hand to Hand: Expert to Jeet Kune Do costs 3), if I'm reading this right?  One way around this is to upgrade from Hand to Hand: Expert to JKD 2.0 using your Secondary Skills instead of your "O.C.C. Related (see Character Creation Guide, 5a).  Do you want to try that?  That might be your way to get her W.P. Paired Weapons and Boxing, too.

This looks like a clear fix to me.  Are you certain you don't want to do this, Psychie?

 

[Psychie]

Did I spend too many skills getting my Jeet Kune Do, or not enough?  If I can, I'd keep Boxing.


I'll go back in the PMs to copy over my list of questions soonest.

 

[Purr]

@Sherwood @Psychie 


- Both of your characters start with Hand to Hand: Expert.


- Both of your characters come with 3 Secondary Skills.  You are allowed to use all 3 to upgrade to Hand to Hand: Jeet Kune Do and Hand to Hand: Tae Kwon Do (instead of using any of your O.C.C. Related skills).


- Then you can use your 2 free O.C.C. Related skills to get your Boxing and W.P. Paired Weapons (Psychie) and Boxing and Wrestling (Sherwood).  =)


Do you both want to do this?

 

[Psychie]

I got it now.  Ok, making the fix.  Thanks for being patient with me.

 

[Sherwood]

I see.  I will make my changes to keep the Boxing and Wrestling, then.  Thanks, Dann.  I, too, will have my 10 questions posted in a bit.  Just got to find the right page and work the magic.

 

[Purr]

-Psychie.  Hah, no worries, friend!  Broadsword has a lot of content (just in Shop Talk alone!).  =)  


-Sherwood.  Great!  =)

 

[Purr]

-Kaerri-darlin'.  =)


1. Personal hobbies include "team sports."  If you can, would you narrow this down a little, please?  I mean, are we talking rugby?  Water volleyball?  Baseball?  All or none of the above?


2. You have strike-throughs in Elinor's I.Q and P.P. bonuses.  Why?  Don't you want those bonuses?  Hee hee.  =)


3. I think her hit points are off.  Hit points are decided by a character's P.E. and (House Rule here) by adding 6 (for 1st level only).  Shouldn't she have 28 hit points instead of 23?


4. Eliinor seems to be missing the "Pilot: Jet Fighter (+20%)" skill from her O.C.C. (right after Pilot: Jet Aircraft)?


5. Per the Character Creation Guide, all mecha pilots receive the Weapon Systems skill for free if their skill package does not already provide it.  Maybe you want it out of her Wish List and into her other skills?  =)


6. In Elinor's "O.C.C. Related" skills section, her upgrade from HtH: Martial Arts and General Repair and Maintenance skills are on the same line.  Is this intentional? 


7. Gymnastics cannot be taken as a Secondary Skill (Shadow Chronicles, page 218).  However, one can use Secondary Skills to upgrade their Hand to Hand; maybe replace the skill slot from O.C.C. Related that takes her from Expert to Martial Arts with Gymnastics?


8. Under Elinor's Valkyrie-related bonuses, there is written: 


"Parry: +11


--Automatic parry from Jeet Kune Do?"


The answer seems to be "yes"; Automatic Parry applies to mecha combat bonuses.


9.  Under Elinor's Valkyrie-related bonuses, there is written: 


--Auto-dodge while flying in fighter mode, +4 (is regular dodge bonus added to this?)


The answer is "yes."  =)


Other than that, the math looks good. =)

 

[Kaerri]

-Kaerri-darlin'.  =)


1. Personal hobbies include "team sports."  If you can, would you narrow this down a little, please?  I mean, are we talking rugby?  Water volleyball?  Baseball?  All or none of the above?


2. You have strike-throughs in Elinor's I.Q and P.P. bonuses.  Why?  Don't you want those bonuses?  Hee hee.  =)


3. I think her hit points are off.  Hit points are decided by a character's P.E. and (House Rule here) by adding 6 (for 1st level only).  Shouldn't she have 28 hit points instead of 23?


4. Eliinor seems to be missing the "Pilot: Jet Fighter (+20%)" skill from her O.C.C. (right after Pilot: Jet Aircraft)?


5. Per the Character Creation Guide, all mecha pilots receive the Weapon Systems skill for free if their skill package does not already provide it.  Maybe you want it out of her Wish List and into her other skills?  =)


6. In Elinor's "O.C.C. Related" skills section, her upgrade from HtH: Martial Arts and General Repair and Maintenance skills are on the same line.  Is this intentional? 


7. Gymnastics cannot be taken as a Secondary Skill (Shadow Chronicles, page 218).  However, one can use Secondary Skills to upgrade their Hand to Hand; maybe replace the skill slot from O.C.C. Related that takes her from Expert to Martial Arts with Gymnastics?


8. Under Elinor's Valkyrie-related bonuses, there is written: 


"Parry: +11


--Automatic parry from Jeet Kune Do?"


The answer seems to be "yes"; Automatic Parry applies to mecha combat bonuses.


9.  Under Elinor's Valkyrie-related bonuses, there is written: 


--Auto-dodge while flying in fighter mode, +4 (is regular dodge bonus added to this?)


The answer is "yes."  =)


Other than that, the math looks good. =)

1. All of the above, but she's partial to all forms of volleyball and to basketball.  Not so much baseball; she likes full-speed sports, not the kind with pauses in between the action like baseball has.


2. Anytime there's a strikethrough, it means I've added those bonuses in where they're supposed to be.  That way I know what I've done and what I haven't.   (Exception: skills that list a percentage OR a bonus if you have the skill already.  There, I struckthrough the one that doesn't apply.)


3. Yeah, I edited that while you were typing this.


4. ...whaat?  How'd I miss that?  That's, like, her favorite thing after Valkyries!  Pass me that book, please!


5. Doesn't that only apply to mecha they know how to drive?  She wants it for all the things, not just as part of her mecha flying skillset.


6. ...no.  >.>


7. Sorry, I thought (like Psychie) that you were relaxing the restrictions on ALL skills, not just OCC-related.  I'll adjust as you suggest.  (Because, as we just said offline, Elinor took up martial arts on her own time, even before she went off to college, so it makes sense as a secondary.)


8. *removes question mark* *cackles gleefully*


9. Wooo!  *more cackling ensues*


10. I've added the quiz answers at the bottom.

 

[Purr]

Update: Gallery #5 "Zentraedi - The Galactic Warriors" is up.  Enjoy!  =)

 

[Purr]

Okies, folks.  I cannot help but be curious; what do you think of the Hosted Project for Broadsword?  


The only thing I definitely think I want to add is a page or two on Army of Southern Cross Mega-Damage Armor (I have long called these "mega-suits" and I'll likely use that term in-game).  Typing that up will take time, but I can do it.  I'm also hoping that Google will have a number of good pictures (as a picture is indeed worth 1,000 words).


Also, I'd like to get some feedback from you concerning Shop Talk.  These are the rules we're using thus far, but if you have questions about them, do let me know.  


Finally, sometime soon (Real Life is calling me so I have to go or I'd type more), I really want to discuss setting in Robotech: Broadsword.  I have never seen any of the American episodes of Robotech (except maybe one?).  My impressions of Robotech are largely based on the games Sherwood and I have played together (past and present), the information in the Palladium books, and the movie Macross Superfortress - Do You Remember Love?  


Broadsword is thus (so far) a combination of all of those things (including little inspirations from Mass Effect game series and Fallout 3 & 4), plus first-hand accounts of Real Life modern war, and my own love of music and the martial arts, all mixed in with a few supernatural elements that I think will make for great, long-lasting game.  =)


So, could I have your thoughts, if you have the time?


1. What do you think of the Hosted Project?


2. Shop Talk questions?


3. I need to talk setting with you guys (Google, for example, does not exist, and that's just the tip of the iceberg).


4. Anything else on your minds.  =)


Once again, Real Life calls.  See you later!  =)

 

[Sherwood]

Not sure where to start; after all, there is a lot of info in Shop Talk. From my first read through, I didn't see anything that could be a problem. Not that I expected any; you have been a good storyteller for a long time. In fact, I plan on adding into my games some of the ideas mentioned here. 


Thanks to you, I have also have learned that there is restrictions on the secondary skills and what can be selected with them.


What kind of setting info do you want to talk about? The big thing that I try to reminder is the destruction wrought by the Zentraedi, both in human lives and property destruction. Billions of people were killed world wide, and huge swaths of land are sterilized; most of Europe is dead, along with both coasts of the United States.

 

[Sherwood]

Btw, @Dannigan, i just noticed that you took the Hover Tank write up as is. For my game I had increased the damage of the EU-11 from its 1d4x10 MD to 1d6x10 MD, trying to give the tanks a better weapon in battloid mode. Do you wish to keep that change, or shall I switch it back? 

 

[Purr]

-Sherwood.  Thanks for pointing that out.  And for the record, I took all of your information as-is (Woo!).  I thought your information came straight out of the books and so I didn't really think to double-check any of it (my fault for making the presumption).  I only changed little things that didn't seem quite right for the game (one example is the VF-1R; she's not available quite yet, but the other Valkyrie models are).


As for the EU-11 damage increase, I ask you to recall our conversation in the private message?  No improvements at start of game.  This goes especially for the the Army of the Southern Cross mecha.  The ASC mecha are new in the grand scheme of things, so no variants or improvements have yet been created, much less made available to "newbie" ASC pilots like yourselves.


However, if you guys play your cards a certain way, in the not-so-long run, all of you may be piloting machines with such modifications to make you the envy of...  well, I'll just say lots of people.  =)

In fact, I plan on adding into my games some of the ideas mentioned here. 

Really? Wow!  That makes me feel good to have benefitted your game as well as mine.  =)

What kind of setting info do you want to talk about? The big thing that I try to reminder is the destruction wrought by the Zentraedi, both in human lives and property destruction. Billions of people were killed world wide, and huge swaths of land are sterilized; most of Europe is dead, along with both coasts of the United States.

I thought the west coast of the U.S. was gone, but part of the east coast survived (hence Florida)?


I refer to this (1st Edition) map here (from the First Robotech War):

Spoiler

(Image credit:   fanholespodcast.blogspot.com )

I'll refer to this map again in my next OOC post where I'll talk more about setting (this is enough information for one post).  =)

 

[Sherwood]

-Sherwood.  Thanks for pointing that out.  And for the record, I took all of your information as-is (Woo!).  I thought your information came straight out of the books and so I didn't really think to double-check any of it (my fault for making the presumption).  I only changed little things that didn't seem quite right for the game (one example is the VF-1R; she's not available quite yet, but the other Valkyrie models are).


As for the EU-11 damage increase, I ask you to recall our conversation in the private message?  No improvements at start of game.  This goes especially for the the Army of the Southern Cross mecha.  The ASC mecha are new in the grand scheme of things, so no variants or improvements have yet been created, much less made available to "newbie" ASC pilots like yourselves.


However, if you guys play your cards a certain way, in the not-so-long run, all of you may be piloting machines with such modifications to make you the envy of...  well, I'll just say lots of people.  =)


Really? Wow!  That makes me feel good to have benefitted your game as well as mine.  =)


I thought the west coast of the U.S. was gone, but part of the east coast survived (hence Florida)?


I refer to this (1st Edition) map here (from the First Robotech War):

Spoiler

View attachment 179375


(Image credit:   fanholespodcast.blogspot.com )

I'll refer to this map again in my next OOC post where I'll talk more about setting (this is enough information for one post).  =)

I brought up the change I made to make sure that I wasn't taking an unfair advantage over other players.  I do look forward to making some upgrades, and that weak EU-11 is first on my list to get the work-over.  I'll make the change to my copy of the tank on my character sheet.


The damage I was mentioning to the east coast was fairly general; the northern states and New England area are pretty much toast.  IIRC, Florida did come through without too much of it getting sterilized, but I would have to imagine that the main cities are all suffering from the bombardment, having undergone reconstruction.