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Oct. 18th, 2016 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckSleep last night was not great. I woke about 4:30 and didn’t get back to sleep until after Scott got up at 8:30 or 9:00. I got up at 11:30 which really throws my day off severely in terms of my eating and medication schedule.
Scott and I got to the cancer center with an hour before my appointment. I sent him off to wander and do Ingress things while I went for the blood draw my psychiatrist had ordered. I got someone who didn’t know what to do with my tiny veins. She tried to go in the back of my hand and failed. I kind of expect that to bruise nastily. She got someone with more experience who went in at the bend of my elbow and managed to get what was needed.
The genetics counselor and the doctor I saw all looked at my family tree and said that testing was a good idea even if my sister’s results were clean. They think that my insurance will pay because I meet the appropriate criteria. The lab is to call me for approval if the out of pocket cost will be more than $100.
When the genetics people told me to go do another blood draw for a sample to send for testing, I asked if it had to be that day. I really didn’t think that a third poke would be great as it would have to be in the same arm and probably the same spot. I might have done it anyway if Scott weren’t home all week, but he can take me back any time. Fortunately, it’s not a big deal if I wait a few days and let my arm heal.
I got a flu shot while we were there because they offer one to everybody who comes in for an appointment. Scott and Cordelia still need flu shots. Scott doesn’t want to do them in the evening.
I’m glad that Scott was able to go with me because it saved me a lot of anxiety in terms of getting to and from the appointment. I think I’d have been fine, once I got there, even if he hadn’t been with me. The counselor was concerned that my anxiety would mean that I’d freak out if something came back as a risk factor. I think that Scott asserting that that wouldn’t happen carried more weight than me doing so. They ask a lot of questions up front about depression and anxiety and how bad news affects the person seeking testing.
The main thing that a genetic risk factor would mean is more care with screenings and more frequent screenings. It would also mean knowing that Cordelia might have the same risk factor and should address that when she gets older.
I have started working out the points for the player characters for my UCon Amber game. The challenge is that I’m used to building such characters with an eye toward a campaign, toward having options for growth going forward. These characters need to be specifically useful for the scenario at hand. I’m not actually planning to have them go far from the city of Amber, so some big powers will be less useful while some smaller things might actually be more useful than they would normally be. I’m just going to have to figure out how to explain clearly what each character can do given that I may well get players who know neither the game system nor the source novels. I’m aiming toward having all the characters end up with zero stuff so that I don’t have to try to track that ('stuff' in this game system translates to a luck bias. Unspent points become good stuff that skews events in the character’s favor. Overspending becomes bad stuff that skews events against the character). I also feel like good stuff/bad stuff should be a decision made by the player.
Scott and I got to the cancer center with an hour before my appointment. I sent him off to wander and do Ingress things while I went for the blood draw my psychiatrist had ordered. I got someone who didn’t know what to do with my tiny veins. She tried to go in the back of my hand and failed. I kind of expect that to bruise nastily. She got someone with more experience who went in at the bend of my elbow and managed to get what was needed.
The genetics counselor and the doctor I saw all looked at my family tree and said that testing was a good idea even if my sister’s results were clean. They think that my insurance will pay because I meet the appropriate criteria. The lab is to call me for approval if the out of pocket cost will be more than $100.
When the genetics people told me to go do another blood draw for a sample to send for testing, I asked if it had to be that day. I really didn’t think that a third poke would be great as it would have to be in the same arm and probably the same spot. I might have done it anyway if Scott weren’t home all week, but he can take me back any time. Fortunately, it’s not a big deal if I wait a few days and let my arm heal.
I got a flu shot while we were there because they offer one to everybody who comes in for an appointment. Scott and Cordelia still need flu shots. Scott doesn’t want to do them in the evening.
I’m glad that Scott was able to go with me because it saved me a lot of anxiety in terms of getting to and from the appointment. I think I’d have been fine, once I got there, even if he hadn’t been with me. The counselor was concerned that my anxiety would mean that I’d freak out if something came back as a risk factor. I think that Scott asserting that that wouldn’t happen carried more weight than me doing so. They ask a lot of questions up front about depression and anxiety and how bad news affects the person seeking testing.
The main thing that a genetic risk factor would mean is more care with screenings and more frequent screenings. It would also mean knowing that Cordelia might have the same risk factor and should address that when she gets older.
I have started working out the points for the player characters for my UCon Amber game. The challenge is that I’m used to building such characters with an eye toward a campaign, toward having options for growth going forward. These characters need to be specifically useful for the scenario at hand. I’m not actually planning to have them go far from the city of Amber, so some big powers will be less useful while some smaller things might actually be more useful than they would normally be. I’m just going to have to figure out how to explain clearly what each character can do given that I may well get players who know neither the game system nor the source novels. I’m aiming toward having all the characters end up with zero stuff so that I don’t have to try to track that ('stuff' in this game system translates to a luck bias. Unspent points become good stuff that skews events in the character’s favor. Overspending becomes bad stuff that skews events against the character). I also feel like good stuff/bad stuff should be a decision made by the player.
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no subject
Date: 2016-10-19 08:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-19 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-18 08:26 pm (UTC)Just curious, what do u consider small powers? Like powers good for spying or infiltration, like super hearing? Or self-protection?
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Date: 2016-10-18 08:54 pm (UTC)Characters are built on 100 pts. Getting the power of Pattern costs 50. Getting Shape Shifting costs 35. Logrus, the power used in the Courts of Chaos, costs 45 but has Shape Shifting as a prerequisite. Trump Artistry is 40 points and lets people create magical communications devices that are kind of like cell phones but that also allow instantaneous travel.
Pattern and Logrus don't really do much in the place where this scenario will be set. They're for traveling through Shadow (in very different ways) and for finding desired things in Shadow. Logrus can be used to reach out and grab things, and Pattern can be used as a psychic defense (and as a physical defense against Logrus).
I think that Shape Shifting might be useful in this scenario, but I'm not convinced that Trump Artistry will so much because it's more of a campaign useful thing that makes other player characters suck up to one's character in hope of getting Trumps.
The smaller powers are things like Sorcery (15), Conjuration (20), and Power Words (10).
Power Words work anywhere, but they're very minor magics with very small and specific effects that can be defended against by someone who is prepared. A person gets ten power words for the point expenditure, either choosing from a list in the game book or making some up and getting GM approval.
Conjuration is the ability to create items out of pretty much nothing. They don't survive if one leaves the Shadow where the item was created, however, and item creation can take a lot of time if the thing is complicated or magically powerful. It is possible to create lasting items with this power by spending points on them, but most people get those items from npcs.
Sorcery is basic spell casting, but magic works differently in each different world. Spells have to be prepared in advance and stored against need. They also have to be maintained regularly, and they fight the sorcerer's psyche in an effort to force them to cast the spell. Most sorcerers store spells with pieces missing, pieces that they have to fill in when they cast. The nature of magic in the Shadow where the spell is cast is generally one of the pieces left to be filled in. More gaps equals more flexibility, but each one adds to the casting time.
Characters can also pay points for allies of various types, for personal Shadows that they design (degree of control depends on points spent), items/creatures.
Characters can generally be as old as the player wants, so they can have a high level of skill in anything they're interested in because they've spent years or even decades learning/practicing. Those don't cost points.
no subject
Date: 2016-10-19 05:05 pm (UTC)In mine, early on, they are divided by pathic (telepathy, empathy, technopathy and such), kinetic (telekinesis and elemental powers), and Enhanced Human Abilities like super hearing and super speed. But only a few powers have a 'physical cost' on the character.
What I'm writing and posting now is after a world wide power up, with much more 'magical' powers around, in addition to 'superpowers'.
Do you find fantasy books boring or less realistic if there aren't costs to the characters using powers, as there are in gaming?
I love the idea of magical communications devices that act as travel also. In my book, I've got natural objects like rocks, water, or just a blank piece of paper for long distance communication and passing on of 'psychic messages'.
But what you've got with sorcery and spells trying to get the character to cast them is outstanding. Like the spells become alive and self-aware during their creation? What an awesome idea!
It reminds me of the idea of potential only existing to be realized, power only exists to be used. I think it was Celtic myth that had a sword that wanted to kill so badly, it's owner was always having to hold it back.
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Date: 2016-10-26 12:51 am (UTC)The magical communications devices are painted cards showing images of the people or places they connect to. Making one takes a good bit of time.
As to costs of doing magic, it really depends on the nature of the magic in the setting and on what in particular is being done. If the magic is doing small things or things that need to be done repeatedly and frequently, then the cost should be correspondingly small.
Credit for the spell thing goes to Roger Zelazny, the actual author of the Amber series.
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Date: 2016-10-18 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-10-19 03:05 am (UTC)