[Crossbow]

You are correct sir, my bad.  A disarm is a -4 to your pool, the only reason I am telling you that is that it is RAW, and because in the process of looking it up I realized the stun b get an extra die for reach.

[Necrogigas]

Thanks the hard drive with all my pdfs died.

I'll have something up later tonight, only have my phone atm.

[HydroRaven]

And I'll be right behind you, Necro.

[Necrogigas]

You are correct sir, my bad.  A disarm is a -4 to your pool, the only reason I am telling you that is that it is RAW, and because in the process of looking it up I realized the stun b get an extra die for reach.

Why are you continually reticent on informing your players on the penalties to any given roll? To me at least, it gives the impression that you're trying to set us up. You're the GM, of course you're trying to set us up, but still it gives an ominous tinge to it all.

[farothel]

It's indeed easier if we know penalties and bonuses up front, so we can adapt our rolls and make things go faster.  Like my defense roll: what is the bonus I get for being behind the bar, as this gives cover of some sort?  Or does that give a penalty to the other guy's attack roll?

anyways: here's the defense roll without any bonuses or penalties (using edge as I'm otherwise not good at it).
reaction 3 + edge 2 - default 1 =4 (4d6.hitsopen(5,6)=3)

armour roll:
body 4 + armour 3 (half impact) + non-conductivity 3 =10 (10d6.hits(5) =3)

my second IP is a stunbolt at the guy attacking me, but I'll wait with that until you tell me what damage I have sustained, otherwise I can't do the roll.

[Thvor]

You are correct sir, my bad.  A disarm is a -4 to your pool, the only reason I am telling you that is that it is RAW, and because in the process of looking it up I realized the stun b get an extra die for reach.

Why are you continually reticent on informing your players on the penalties to any given roll? To me at least, it gives the impression that you're trying to set us up. You're the GM, of course you're trying to set us up, but still it gives an ominous tinge to it all.

I tend to agree. On "automatic" rolls (perception, etc.), I'd say you can go ahead and quietly roll for us*--you know what our dice pools are, and what modifiers apply. That way, we get through scenes faster--we don't have to wait for someone to post rolls--and you're not tipping your hand to us that there's something we could have picked up on if we'd rolled better. But on active rolls--things where we choose what our players do, where we might want to use edge, etc.--we should generally know what sorts of penalties we're working with, at least in so far as it would impact our dice pools.

* I know, this is awfully close to the "never touch another player's dice" etiquette rule, but a) I'm here for the story, not necessarily the dice, and b) it's specifically allowed in the RAW (p. 135).

[Crossbow]

It is at least, in part, the fact that I am kinda flying by the seat of my pants and wave at the rules for the sake of the story kinda guy.  That said, you might be right in that maybe I am getting a little too adversarial here and I need to cool it.  I do make a lot of 'behind the scenes' kinda stuff and you guys have been really cool about some of the curveballs that come your way, so I can be a little more open about stuff when you ask.

My bad, but I am still gonna be sneaky and GMish, so don't think we are be skipping through the daisies and holding hands, okay?

 

[Thvor]

My bad, but I am still gonna be sneaky and GMish, so don't think we are be skipping through the daisies and holding hands, okay?

Seeing as how you've got Sam getting attacked by someone who's managed to get a "massive automatic pistol" into the Needle, I don't think you're in any danger of being thought of as Mr. Nice GM.

[Necrogigas]

Sine your house rule is that point blank requires physical contact, will I have to roll anything to make that happen on my next pass?

[Crossbow]

Sine your house rule is that point blank requires physical contact, will I have to roll anything to make that happen on my next pass?

No, shooting a gun at a target you are in melee combat with (except in corner cases like fighting a guy using a polearm or spear) is point blank, but it is offset by the attacker in melee penalty, like the book says, for a cumulative -1 to the pool.

The idea is that the non-offset point blank bonus is for extraordinary cases where you have the drop on someone so bad that you shouldn't miss.

[Necrogigas]

Sine your house rule is that point blank requires physical contact, will I have to roll anything to make that happen on my next pass?

No, shooting a gun at a target you are in melee combat with (except in corner cases like fighting a guy using a polearm or spear) is point blank, but it is offset by the attacker in melee penalty, like the book says, for a cumulative -1 to the pool.

The idea is that the non-offset point blank bonus is for extraordinary cases where you have the drop on someone so bad that you shouldn't miss.

Okay, cool. Given that we're locked in melee, what further penalties do I face for aiming for the kneecap specifically? Called Shot is for trading in dice for damage, I don't care about extra damage. I just want to hit his kneecap. The explosive round will most likely take care of severing the limb on its own without any extra help, if two generally aimed rounds chunky salsa a guy. Hell, I'm willing to do less damage in trade for localization. Also, given that the shot would be aimed downward, how reduced is the chance of civilian injury barring (critical) glitch?

[Crossbow]

Sine your house rule is that point blank requires physical contact, will I have to roll anything to make that happen on my next pass?

No, shooting a gun at a target you are in melee combat with (except in corner cases like fighting a guy using a polearm or spear) is point blank, but it is offset by the attacker in melee penalty, like the book says, for a cumulative -1 to the pool.

The idea is that the non-offset point blank bonus is for extraordinary cases where you have the drop on someone so bad that you shouldn't miss.

Okay, cool. Given that we're locked in melee, what further penalties do I face for aiming for the kneecap specifically? Called Shot is for trading in dice for damage, I don't care about extra damage. I just want to hit his kneecap. The explosive round will most likely take care of severing the limb on its own without any extra help, if two generally aimed rounds chunky salsa a guy. Hell, I'm willing to do less damage in trade for localization. Also, given that the shot would be aimed downward, how reduced is the chance of civilian injury barring (critical) glitch?

It is still a called shot, and I am gonna call it a -4, which is technically generous since I should apply the full ignore armor penalty.  Since you are looking to cripple the guy without killing him (barring a glitch on his part) I will still take the increased damage into account, but you won't have to worry about bystanders.  (Barring a glitch, as you said)

By the way, the chunky salsa kill was more a critical glitch on his roll than your ammo.  It was also meant to be a BIG GLARING SIGN to your teammates that you are not much for the stealth kill. 

[farothel]

OK, so I drop a stunbolt (force 7) on the guy in front of me:

magic 5 + spellcasting 6 =11 (11d6.hits(5)=4)
resist with willpower.

DV: 7+ net hits Stun.

drain (F/2-1): 3
willpower 4 + logic 4 +1 centering =9 (9d6.hits(5)=3)

[Necrogigas]

It was also meant to be a BIG GLARING SIGN to your teammates that you are not much for the stealth kill. 

That needed to be pointed out? 

[RHat]

Quick ruling question:  The rule on sustaining complex forms is that the sustaining penalty "does not apply to the use of the complex form" - if I'm relying on a threaded ECCM to be making a roll in the first place, does that count as using that complex form, or do I take the -2 to the roll?