A New Power - Rebel Group OOC

[Angcuru]

Yeah, this is an OOC thread. I'd appreciate it if any further OOC stuff was handled in this thread.

 

[Ambrus]

ooc - True, but remember that the T.R.A.P. was embedded in all of Arlee's systems, and had displayed itself as capable of independent activity.

I had issues when it first embedded itself in the first place but tried to play along and resolve it through role-playing instead of complaining. Frankly it didn't make much sense to me that this little A.I. program, small enough to fit on a data-chip could corrupt all of Arley's systems within seconds, overpower his command functions at will and completely hide itself from him whenever it wanted. Arley has a heuristic processor, 19 Int and a Computer Use skill of +16; in my opinion this little A.I., no matter how well it's been programmed, shouldn't be capable of overcoming Arley so completely and so easily.

The 'message' was directed towards the T.R.A.P., and more or less activated a self-destruct. Arlee had no 'conscious' control over this. Anyway, though, no more T.R.A.P. Which would, IMO, be a relief and a source of discomfort in that it's gone, but not through his own actions.

I don't understand why Arley wasn't able to erase this thing by itself. What was the DC to erase the T.R.A.P.? Was there even a chance of overcoming it at all?

Angcuru, I'm interested in playing this game, but I'm not interested in having every NPC with a fancy toy able to control R-LE-1's mind and body at will, and certainly not in the first scene of the campaign and especially without a chance to resist it or do something about it. The technology to control droids exists in the Star Wars universe: restraining bolts. Arley isn't currently shackled with one but even if he was I'd be able to accept it since I know how it works and what it's limits are; it can even be overcome eventually. I can even accept being given orders by organics and being expected to follow them, but it should be my choice to do so if at all. Mysterious programs and devices that overcome R-LE-1's free will without so much as a saving throw aren't much fun IMHO. As is I'm wondering if I'm playing a PC or an NPC. Instead of having things suddenly pop up in R-LE-1's "HUD" why not just state that Arley is receiving a transmission and what the message is?

 

[Angcuru]

I intended the T.R.A.P. not as a permanent invasion of Arlee's systems, but as a temporary intrusion and plot device to make Arlee suspicious, I.E. "What is so serious about this mission that the Alliance will go to such lengths to maintain the alliegance of a droid, especially with an Imperial turncoat on the team?" But I think I overdid it. This is a one-time thing, you won't be encountering that sort of situation again.

Reprogram Droid base DC 10 + Intelligence Score. The AI's intelligence score rated at 15 (relying more on stored information to be useful than computing ability), and as this individual program's design allowed it to use Arlee's own mechanical computing abiltity in addition to it's own (in a sense, it has a cumulative total of both intelligence scores while residing in Arlee's chasis) giving it a Function INT of 36, thus making the total DC 46. The T.R.A.P. was a Top Secret experimental AI Construct, nothing that Arlee would have normally encountered. Arlee is top-notch, he won't have much to worry about as far as degredation of his systems in the future. That is unless he arouses so much suspicion from the Empire and creates a notoriety that makes him the target of a similar attempt on the Empire's part. Which I REALLLY don't forsee happening unless Arlee goes out of his way to make himself a royal pain . And by degredation of his systems, the Empire is more likely to degrade them with an explosive charge than by an infection of his code.

I meant to address this earlier, but with work-related stresses it slipped my mind. But now the issue of the T.R.A.P. is resolved as far as it's removal from Arlee's systems, and he

As far as the HUD goes, I'm just trying to portray things to Arlee in a way that a droid would experience them. I've never run a game with a droid as a PC before, so it is a bit of a challenge. If you'd like for me to describe things differently as as far as Arlee is concerned, just let me know what you'd like his sensory experience to be like and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Ambrus]

I intended the T.R.A.P. not as a permanent invasion of Arlee's systems, but as a temporary intrusion and plot device to make Arlee suspicious, I.E. "What is so serious about this mission that the Alliance will go to such lengths to maintain the allegiance of a droid, especially with an Imperial turncoat on the team?"

Well you succeeded, R-LE-1 is now so suspicious that he has little reason to trust Bosch, Samatha or any other of these rebel "allies". He's going to be downright paranoid and distrusting about anything they do or say from now on. You may want to consider giving me the paranoid droid quirk. He's also not particularly inclined to help them anymore either. :\

Reprogram Droid base DC 10 + Intelligence Score. The AI's intelligence score rated at 15 (relying more on stored information to be useful than computing ability), and as this individual program's design allowed it to use Arlee's own mechanical computing ability in addition to it's own (in a sense, it has a cumulative total of both intelligence scores while residing in Arlee's chassis) giving it a Function INT of 36, thus making the total DC 46.

I think your game logic is a bit off. Adding the defender's Int score to the attacker's Int score is screwy. By the same logic, R-LE-1 could strap a second droid processor to his head and permanently double his Intelligence score, or triple or quadruple it. To even start affecting R-LE-1's program this thing would have had to first succeed on a DC 28 Computer Use check. Being aware of its own mind, R-LE-1 should then have automatically noticed the program's intrusion and had a chance to fight it with an opposed roll. This program infiltrated all of R-LE-1's systems and hijacked them without R-LE-1 having the opportunity to detect it and fight it; no opposed Computer Use check, no opposed Int check and no Will saving throw. Assigning an nigh-impossible DC check after the fact that R-LE-1 couldn't have made even if it was 10th level is hardly fair. Likewise I believe that R-LE-1 should have had a chance to resist and/or repair the damage that was dealt to its comlink and recording devices; it doesn't matter whether the damage was harmless and temporary. If a repair droid with a Repair skill modifier of +18 can't repair its own components by taking 20 who possibly could? These are R-LE-1's two best skills and they've both proved inadequate and useless so far.

But I think I overdid it. This is a one-time thing, you won't be encountering that sort of situation again.

My concern is that it shouldn't have happened at all. Most players I know don't enjoy having control of their PC usurped by the GM, especially not without a chance to resist and certainly not in the first few minutes of a campaign. It worries me that you thought it was a good idea in the first place.

Arlee is top-notch, he won't have much to worry about as far as degradation of his systems in the future.

That's hard to believe now. This T.R.A.P., a tiny A.I. program, outwitted Arley's best efforts without allowing any resistance. With this kind of technology at their disposal why would the rebels ever need a mere repair droid for this mission at all?

As far as the HUD goes, I'm just trying to portray things to Arlee in a way that a droid would experience them.

A head's up display is a fancy graphic-user interface; it's a way for a human to perceive and interpret a computer's information and to interact with it in turn. A droid doesn't need to perceive and interpret a computer's information; it is a computer. Human's don't need a HUD to interpret their body's own responses (say like pain or hunger); they simply feel them naturally. I imagine a droid's heuristic processor is the same way, its sensors feed it information and it interprets it itself internally and without the need for colorful graphics.

I've never run a game with a droid as a PC before, so it is a bit of a challenge. If you'd like for me to describe things differently as as far as Arlee is concerned, just let me know what you'd like his sensory experience to be like and I'll see what I can do.

It shouldn't be that difficult I think. Just like an organic PC I'd prefer not being told what I'm thinking or how I react to things. I'd rather just hear a description of what my character perceives and then I'll describe how I react to it on my own, like any other PC. Comlinks are just another sensor to droids, just like optical and auditory sensors. Simply describe what it is I'm sensing: "R-LE-1 intercepts a comlink transmission on a standard rebellion frequency. It is a human male's voice speaking in basic." or "Bosch holds out a device, points it at you and you perceive a split second encoded light burst. It appears to be a binary sequence encoded as a series of light pulses." Since R-LE-1's reaction would obviously be to identify it ASAP you can assume a Computer Use check has been successfully performed and divulge the results: "Your analysis reveals it to be an algorithm and a set of instructions you could use to locate and destroy the T.R.A.P.'s code within your systems. Do you want to use it to do so?" Likewise when R-LE-1 first tried to read the data on the datachip you could have said "After scanning the data on the chip your analysis reveals it to contain a log of recent rebel activities as well as an encrypted program. As you attempt to discern the purpose of the encrypted data you soon notice that it appears to be inexplicably replicating its code at alarming rate within your heuristic processor. What do you do?"

By first infecting R-LE-1 with the T.R.A.P. program and then having R-LE unable to do anything at all about it before Bosch effortlessly removed it you assured that everything I did since entering the room was invalidated. The last thing I actually succeeded in doing on my own, I believe, was to walk out of the elevator and into the briefing room.

Does any of this make sense? I'm sorry for being so blunt. I tried simply going along with it all and resolving the situation by role-playing but I don't feel I've been getting anywhere thus far.

 

[Angcuru]

Yeah, I completely understand what you mean. The T.R.A.P. wasn't intended to usurp Arlee's systems, but to be an aid/advisor sort of thing. As with my description of things to Arlee, the handling of that situation stemmed from my being unsure how to handle a droid PC. I intended for the T.R.A.P. to come across as a sign of the Alliance's concerns about droid loyalty in a covert situation. So in a sense....I overdid my attempt to make something appear overdone. :\ Entirely may fault.

Another short workday today, so I may (hopefully) have time to get a post into the IG thread, so we can get all this sorted out and make some progress. Hopefully.

 

[Kemrain]

I'm waiting to reply to the IC thread, given that Jaess has nothing to say. I figured that the commander would reply to Arley, then get to Jaess's concerns, and then give more information.

If it is necessary for me to post, I'm not sure what to put up. She's just waiting for the commander the the LE unit to get finished.

- Kemrain the Inactive.

 

[Ambrus]

I've likewise said what I have to say and am waiting.

 

[Angcuru]

Working on it right now. The last few days I've been too busy repairing my roof to do much else, but I WILL have an update today.

 

[Kemrain]

No worries, Angcuru. I've been pretty busy too. I'm a little glad to see that I'm not the only one.

- Kemrain the Late.

 

[Ambrus]

I'm sorry I've been taking so long to answer myself. Between this game and another PBP game I'm playing in I can't seem to post something before it is immediately responded to and necessitating another post. Angcuru, how is your other campaign progressing? Have any players abandoned that one during the summer break? Are you intending to merge the two games?