Early evening, Wednesday 10th April, 1906.So I was thinking, I’ve kind of lost track of the original purpose of Gentlemanliness Points, which was to reward Gentlemanliness. They currently serve no purpose because I’m not doing them right, although von Fersen’s “Sir” was a result of his passing a certain threshold by the chapter’s end that I’ve since forgotten.
I thought that, to make them more useful, a player could expend a Gentlemanliness Point to add a bonus to a roll. But! Since calling on the higher forces of Gentlemanliness is a tricky business, it wouldn’t be a simple case of “ooh, I’ll take a +1 bonus on this roll please”, but a “ooh, I’ll risk a d4-2 bonus on this roll please”.
So instead of 1 to 6 as possible results, you’d get 0 to 8 as possible results, increasing the risk of awesome success, and also of terrible failure.
This would, though, mean that I’d have to decide exactly what Caddishness Points do. Probably just subtract from your Gentlemanliness Points, and if you go into minus figures then that would be bad.
But this would more effectively reward awesome Gentlemanliness, and being awesomely Gentlemanly would improve your chances of being able to do something awesomely Spy-ly.
Thoughts? Yes, or no?
(I’m also considering simplifying the quite frankly confusingly long skills sections…)
Wear smashing coat as turban to stop bleeding and still be able to see. Then go help McGeenyton get his guts back in his stomach.
Standing at the junction of dank dark corridors, the four gentlemen regroup. The ground is slick with blood and the air thick with the smell of mould and reindeer droppings; the dimly torch-lit corridors head off in various directions, their destinations marked only by signs written in Viking under the more easily decipherable numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Behind them lies nothing but freedom, safety, and the wreckage of noble duelling.Mr Smith is bleeding moderately from the forehead – but fear not! The brave American has a smashing coat, and in-depth knowledge of the artistry involved in the application of turbans!
...Whilst somehow remaining clothed for once, the good chap removes his smashing coat and wraps it about his head, stopping the bleeding and, in the process, pulling off a passable impression of a Russian.
He walks over to
Mr McGeenyton and his steam-powered robospider suit.
See if this thing can do any medical shit. If not, attempt to self-diagnose. At least put my guts back inside my stomach.
“Blaft!” shouts
Mr McGeenyton, through his bruised mouth.
“Blaft and boffer, my damnable guts are falling out!” he accurately diagnoses as
Mr Smith approaches.
“I fay, could you possibly give me a hand replacing my guts? They appear to have fallen out.”“I say, McGeenyton. Terribly careless of you, what?”“I know. I er… I seem to be bleeding a little, too. And I’m not quite sure how, but some blighter’s broken my ruddy arm.”As McGeenyton starts fumbling about with his guts using his seven remaining mechanical spido-arms, Mr Smith leans in low to examine the grisly damage.
“Let’s see what we can do… I say! Did you know there appears to be some kind of button on the outside of your suit? With some kind of green cross symbol on it? Why don’t we try pressing that? Can’t do any harm, eh what?”Mr Smith lunges forward, pressing the pharmaceutical symbol on the outside of McGeenyton’s suit as he does so!
...A tremendous whirring commences from deep within the metallic confines of the monstrous robosuit, and suddenly Mr McGeenyton’s vision is hindered by a burst of brilliant white bandages shot endlessly into the cockpit area. They wrap themselves around the Englishman’s head, stifling the bleeding and mildly obscuring his vision! His gut-fumbling is interrupted as the spidersuit takes control of itself, scuttling over to where its severed eighth arm lies alone and battered, picking it up, and thrusting it through the bleeding exposed gut-wound!
A searing burst of heat shoots through the severed arm, and Mr Smith recoils in horror as dribbles of molten steel drip out of McGeenyton’s exposed intestines! McGeenyton winces in slight discomfort as the liquid metal runs up his guts and down his pants, quickly solidifying and forming an impenetrable armoured barrier around his guts and groin!
Seconds before the mildly inconvenienced McGeenyton passes out from the pain, a loud pssshhh! is heard, and medicinal brandy is hosed into the internal areas of the suit. Meeting the white hot metal around McGeenyton’s groin, it instantly vaporises, and just as instantly is absorbed into the slightly corpulent gentleman’s slightly corpulent guts.
Feeling rather revived, McGeenyton looks down amongst the rolls of bandages in his glass bowl of a cockpit. It appears to be filling with medicinal brandy!
Deciding not to drown, he gulps it down as fast as he can!
Item Acquired: McGeenyton:
Groin of SteelState Acquired: McGeenyton:
Rather DrunkAttempt to persuade Vikings to show some hospitality to my injured friends.
Mr William Wellington is a man of great compassion; his mind is filled with concern at the fate of his injured companions.
“What,” he realises, in a flash,
“Is needed, in this situation, is a Viking. There are none about, so I shall set off on a search for some. But I shall be careful. One never can tell with Vikings. Aha! There’s one! Remarkably well dressed though, one has to say. Only got one eye, the poor chap. Oh well, I’m sure if I speak loudly and clearly he’ll get the gist.”...Having spotted an approaching Scandinavian, Wellington approaches
von Fersen, for it is he, and wonders aloud whether he might not be possibly interested in providing some kind of medical assistance, or, at the very least, tea-based hospitality for the Englishman’s wounded friends, who, it must be pointed out, include von Fersen himself.
“… and MAYBE SOME TEA PLEASE MY GOOD SIR,” the valiant Englishman concludes. The slow pace and loud voice appears to have done the trick!
Alas! Sir August von Fersen appears lost in a world of elves and ponies, skitting and dancing, and he merely stares at Mr Wellington with a slight look of mild bemusement wandering across his handsome features!
Rejoin the others?
...August von Fersen, the noble young Swede, is keen to rejoin his companions. Leaping like a skittish pony, he leaves them and dashes off to hide behind a nearby stone pillar out of sight, and crouches down with his hands over his eyes.
It seems… by Jove, yes! He’s counting to himself! Suddenly he jumps to his feet and strolls the short distance from the pillar back to his fellow gentlemen. He looks particularly pleased with himself. What the blazes is this fellow
Wellington blathering on about? The poor chap seems to have lost his mind. Von Fersen’s father was once forced into speaking with a commoner – and he recalls the anecdote as if it had been recounted yesterday, for his father’s pained grimace is still etched deep in his memory – and advised that the best solution for talking to those of simple minds and even simpler education is to talk slowly and loudly.
“NO THANK YOU WELLINGTON MY DEAR FELLOW. I’M NOT SURE WE HAVE A BUTLER AVAILABLE AT PRESENT, BUT IT’S TERRIBLY KIND OF YOU EH WHAT.””WHAT?””I… OH, NEVER MIND OLD CHAP. I’D BE DELIGHTED.”… … … … … …
Item Acquired! Mr McGeenyton: A Promise to Acquire Two New Suits! (seven turns remaining)
Current Gentlemen
Player: areyoua
Name: Winston Smith, American
Bio Status: Mummified leg: – 1 to leg use.
Inventory: A Walking
Bat Stick Capable of Serious Bodily Harm, an Umbrella, a Fine German Sword,
Masterwork Top Hat,
Mysterious Ancient Bagpipes, French-English Dictionary, Smashing Coat (extra warm).
Wounds: [HP:89/100]Skills: We Carry Large Sticks,
Knowledge of the English Gentleman,
Walking Bat Stick Deflection,
A little more expertise in the art of walking bat stick deflection,
Baseball Cricket Fatality!,
We Never Lost a War! (yet),
Fallible Pedant!,
Fatally Bad Doctor!,
Not a Zoologist!,
Prone to Embarassing Sartorial Malfunction! Gentlemanliness: 9.Caddishness: 4.
Player: _DivideByZero_
Name: William Wellington, Gentleman
Bio Status: -1 pain penalty.
Inventory: Two Fine Dueling Pistols, Stone Throwing Discs, a War-Elk.
Wounds: [HP:85/100] |
Fractured Testicle! |
Heavy Face Bleeding!Skills: A Quite Talented Salesman,
Natural Born Top Hat Wearer,
Top Hat Black Belt,
Airship Pilotage,
Top Hat Acquisition,
Extraordinarily Convincing.
Gentlemanliness: 11.
Caddishness: 1.
Player: Geen
Name: Henry McGeenyton, Gentleman
Bio Status: -1 to ranged attacks. -1 to left arm. -1 to mouth use.
Rather DrunkInventory: Monocle, Double Barreled Walking Stick With Tartan Trim, Grappling Hook Wristwatch, Tin of Loose Tea Leaves, A Promise to Acquire Two New Suits! (seven turns remaining),
Robospider Steam Suit,
Groin of Steel.
Wounds: [HP:69/100] |
Broken Arm! |
Bruised Eye! |
Heavily Bruised Mouth!Skills: Graceful combat,
Monocles,
Refined Accent,
Particularly Calm,
Tedious Oratory! Gentlemanliness: 15.Caddishness: 3.
Player: scriver
Name: Sir August von Fersen, Noble Young Swede
Bio Status: -1 left leg penalty. -2 left arm penalty. -1 to dodging.
Inventory: Umbrella-Sword, Copy of Gentleman Hunter’s Weekly, Fine Hunting Rifle,
Masterwork Gold Eye Patch, Finely Crafted Pipe, a Magnum Revolver, Exquisitely Crafted Letter of Apology, Forster's Norwegian-Swedish Dictionary (19/24).
Wounds: [HP:86/100] |
Broken Left Arm! |
Broken Left Leg! |
Fractured Guts! |
Sheared Open Left Arm!Skills: Enthusiastic Hunter,
Well-Versed with Pipes,
Tremendous Orator,
Masterful Pipe Holding,
Fleetfooted Tenacity of the Swedish Elk,
It Runs in the Family,
Knowledge of the Elk,
a Modicum of Knowledge in the Area of Medicine, Published Poet,
Dangerous Misfires.
Gentlemanliness: 16.
Caddishness: 2.
Author
Topic: Roll to Be a Gentleman Spy - Chapter Three Part Twenty One. (Read 74763 times)