From: owner-the-edge-digest@ (The Edge Digested) To: the-edge-digest@robin-nvh.bvsd.k12.co.us Subject: The Edge Digested V1 #12 Reply-To: the-edge@robin-nvh.bvsd.k12.co.us Sender: owner-the-edge-digest@ Errors-To: owner-the-edge-digest@ Precedence: bulk The Edge Digested Thursday, December 4 1997 Volume 01 : Number 012 Today's subjects from The Edge: [The Edge] sentient toasters... Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... [The Edge] small addition to "sentient toasters..." Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... [The Edge] Considering a PBEM... Re: [The Edge] Considering a PBEM... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 17:33:57 -0600 (CST) From: David Ebrey Subject: [The Edge] sentient toasters... Hello Hello, So here I am about to run my first OTE game... When describing OTE I told one player that in character creation, "anything is possible -- even a sentient toaster -- although you probably want to play something more normal." After much thought, he choose the sentient toaster. So now I have to deal with this. Basically it is sentient toaster that can possess people, and it is trying to run a drug cartel. The player is having trouble coming up with the traits' mechanics, so I have to deal with that. Here is what I have come up with. If people could give me suggestions that would be great (or even could just tell me that what I am doing seems sound). Central Trait: possession. This power allows the toaster to control the body of another human being. In order to be possessed the human must initially stick his or her hand into the bread slot of the toaster (this avoids possession in combat, and makes it generally hard to do), and the toaster must always be within 15 feet of the person who has been possessed it (so the toaster must be put in a bag or something if toaster wants its puppet to move more than 15 feet away from its initial location. (Should I have the person possessed remember what happened during the possession? My inclination is yes, but maybe that is too evil) Side trait 1 : knowledge of the drug world. This does not confer all of the abilities that one might find in a drug lord, such as smooth talking or intimidation etc, but it does give a fair idea of what the normal drugs are, where they are produced, and what major crime organizations produce them. Side trait 2: takes on skills/affinities of those that it possesses. I realize that this is a powerful ability, so what I was thinking was: the first week of possession the puppet gets a _bonus_ die on any skills/affinities the person had at a 4 or higher. After the first week, the character gets an _extra_ die to any skill/affinities the person had at a 4 or higher, and a _bonus_ die for each skill/affinity the person had at a 3. (by skill/affinity I mean most side traits which allow the player to bring about some effect, like a broken nose or a seduced person. It does not apply to knowledge, but does apply to most traits) Flaws: Aside from the obvious flaw of being a toaster, the player also thought that because the toaster's psychic ability does not really allow full control of the body, the body is a bit twitchy (probably a problem in social situations where trying to seem calm, not an actual physical problem). This flaw is really related to the central trait. Anyway, so what do people think? Am I messing this up? Too mean? Too nice? Thanks, David - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Standing in my yard where they tore down the garage to make room for the torn down garage -- A Self Called Nowhere; They Might be Giants [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 16:16:00 -0800 (PST) From: snooze Subject: Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... On Tue, 2 Dec 1997, David Ebrey wrote: [snip] This looks pretty good. Some possible things. Maybe have him design two or three characters he usually possesses. Or maybe you design those characters. That way you have some control over who he is. Maybe these are people that are followers of his so they allow him to take them over. snooze > > Central Trait: possession. This power allows the toaster to control the > body of another human being. In order to be possessed the human must > initially stick his or her hand into the bread slot of the toaster (this > avoids possession in combat, and makes it generally hard to do), and the > toaster must always be within 15 feet of the person who has been possessed > it (so the toaster must be put in a bag or something if toaster wants its > puppet to move more than 15 feet away from its initial location. (Should I > have the person possessed remember what happened during the possession? My > inclination is yes, but maybe that is too evil) > > Side trait 1 : knowledge of the drug world. This does not confer all of the > abilities that one might find in a drug lord, such as smooth talking or > intimidation etc, but it does give a fair idea of what the normal drugs are, > where they are produced, and what major crime organizations produce them. > > Side trait 2: takes on skills/affinities of those that it possesses. I > realize that this is a powerful ability, so what I was thinking was: the > first week of possession the puppet gets a _bonus_ die on any > skills/affinities the person had at a 4 or higher. After the first week, > the character gets an _extra_ die to any skill/affinities the person had at > a 4 or higher, and a _bonus_ die for each skill/affinity the person had at a 3. > > (by skill/affinity I mean most side traits which allow the player to bring > about some effect, like a broken nose or a seduced person. It does not > apply to knowledge, but does apply to most traits) > > Flaws: > > Aside from the obvious flaw of being a toaster, the player also thought that > because the toaster's psychic ability does not really allow full control of > the body, the body is a bit twitchy (probably a problem in social situations > where trying to seem calm, not an actual physical problem). This flaw is > really related to the central trait. > > Anyway, so what do people think? Am I messing this up? Too mean? Too nice? > > Thanks, > > David > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Standing in my yard > where they tore down the garage > to make room for the torn down garage > -- A Self Called Nowhere; They Might be Giants > > > [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge > [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of > [O] (un)subscribe the-edge > P Gregory Blake (aka snooze@deepseas,The Pause,TooMUSH,etc) P L Peace * Love * Unity * Respect L U email: snooze@crl.com | url: http://www.crl.com/~snooze U R whodp://ding.activerse.com/snooze | ICQ# 1367921 R [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 16:13:33 -0800 (PST) From: Philip Flores Subject: Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... On Tue, 2 Dec 1997, David Ebrey wrote: > So here I am about to run my first OTE game... When describing OTE I > told one player that in character creation, "anything is possible -- even a > sentient toaster -- although you probably want to play something more > normal." After much thought, he choose the sentient toaster. So now I have > to deal with this. Basically it is sentient toaster that can possess > people, and it is trying to run a drug cartel. The player is having trouble [snip] I'm afraid I'm not going to be any help (mainly because I've never played OTE, just OnTE; I'm one of them card players [but I have never played M:tG, and I'm proud of that]). I just wanted to say that the concept of somebody role-playing a sentient toaster made my day. Also, I want to know where this toaster came from. Has your player worked out a history for it? - -Philip Flores philipf@acbc.com [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Dec 1997 18:42:52 -0600 (CST) From: David Ebrey Subject: [The Edge] small addition to "sentient toasters..." I thought of two things I meant to say about the traits of the sentient toaster character. First is that, if the character uses its possession power too often, or in public, its powers will be noticed by certain organizations that might be interested in such beings (if they learn that it is in fact a sentient toaster they may want to try to mind wipe it and/or reproduce it -- if they don't realize its true nature they might think that it is in some way a powerful psychic technology that allows the possessor to control people, in which case they would want it even more). This is one way in which the possession power will check itself. Second is that I was thinking that as a minor flaw to its "gain the abilities of the person being controlled" power would be that after a week the toaster might begin to pick up mild forms of the person's flaws. It only makes sense... Sorry to have not mentioned these two initially. Questions? Criticisms? David - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Standing in my yard where they tore down the garage to make room for the torn down garage -- A Self Called Nowhere; They Might be Giants [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Dec 1997 10:35:49 -0800 (PST) From: Yanni Cooper Subject: Re: [The Edge] sentient toasters... - ---David Ebrey wrote a whole bunch of stuff but I'm to lazy clean it up so I snipped it. (: Anyway, after readin' the relevent posts this picture sprang into my mind: Characters: Toaster: Sentient Lackey: Toaster hanger on Junkie: Fiending Scene: The Toaster's "den", dimly lit, a table sits in the middle of the room under the bare bulb, a scratched and dented, but obviously well cared for toaster sits in the middle of the table, cord retracted. Lackey is sitting in a plush but decrepit chair smoking a cigarette. There is a hesitant knock at the door. ACT I Toaster: Answer the door, and don't forget the plan this time. Lacky: [Nod] Sure boss. [Cracks the door] Whatcha want? Junkie: [Looks nervous] Er... You Mr. Toast? I was told- L: No. It's Toaster. Anyone follow you? J: [Looks down the hall] I don't think so. ACT II J: Sounds good. I'll take an ounce. L: Sure. Just put the money in the toaster. J: Excuse me? L: The toaster. J: Why? L: Look don't ask questions. J: Fine. Fine. [sticks money in the breadslot] *ZRRRT* Possessed Junkie: Not bad, not bad. I feel sorta funny. L: Well you... er ... he already sampled the wares. [CURTAIN] _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 14:54:13 -0500 From: "John M. Baker" Subject: [The Edge] Considering a PBEM... Now that I've finished my master's thesis, I'm beginning to push around the idea of starting an OTE PBEM... However, I've never done one of these things before, so I might not be properly prepared, and I might not actually have enough time (I'm going to start work on my Ph.D., but at least I won't have classes.) So please be aware that this might fall apart. However, if you're interested in signing up, submit me a character at jmb14@psu.edu. I plan to fit the campaign to the characters, so choose whatever you like. If I get too many submissions, I'll have to start weeding out a few, so make those backgrounds count. John Baker [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 22:55:21 EST From: StevenA197 Subject: Re: [The Edge] Considering a PBEM... I'd love to take a crack at playing! I've never actually played OTE before, but I own the book, and have played plenty of OntE... In fact, I seem to recall we traded a few cards back in the dark ages... As for your sched, I'm not looking for a heavy commitment either. I'd like to see how a PBeM works. Also, I'm expecting #1 son in April, and have no idea how much play I'll have time for thereafter. So. [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge ------------------------------ End of The Edge Digested V1 #12 ******************************* [O] You received this message because you are subscribed to the-edge-digest [0] To (un)subscribe, send a message to majordomo@robin.ml.org with body of [O] (un)subscribe the-edge-digest To get off digest, subscribe the-edge [O] To post a message, send it to the-edge@robin.ml.org