Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 5920426" data-attributes="member: 6669384">I played in a game of &quot;Mage:&nbsp; the Ascension&quot; for a while, and encountered a rote (a &quot;spell&quot; by any other name) that let you listen to a statement and determine if it was true or not.It didn't check if the speaker believed it was true, this compared the statement to reality itself.I needed to find the entrance to a secret enemy base, and used this rote in a way that frustrated my DM horribly.&nbsp; I had a companion make general statements about the location.&quot;It's north of the statue.&quot;&quot;It's west of the statue.&quot;&quot;It's east of the Library.&quot;Seven questions and we knew exactly where it was, having done exactly zero investigation.&nbsp; We set off no alarms, alerted no guards, spoke to no one who could later question our presence.The ability to ask yes or no questions shouldn't be underestimated.&nbsp; Yes/no or true/false tests can, in a binary fashion, subdivide the world as a whole down to manageable size search areas pretty darn quick.&nbsp; Give me ten yes/no questions about a person's location in the world at large and I'll probably be able to tell you the city he's in.Give me 10 more questions and I'll give you his street address.&nbsp; So don't discount the power of spells like Commune or Contact other Plane.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 5920426, member: 6669384"] I played in a game of "Mage: the Ascension" for a while, and encountered a rote (a "spell" by any other name) that let you listen to a statement and determine if it was true or not. It didn't check if the speaker [I]believed[/I] it was true, this compared the statement to reality itself. I needed to find the entrance to a secret enemy base, and used this rote in a way that frustrated my DM horribly. I had a companion make general statements about the location. "It's north of the statue." "It's west of the statue." "It's east of the Library." Seven questions and we knew exactly where it was, having done exactly zero investigation. We set off no alarms, alerted no guards, spoke to no one who could later question our presence. The ability to ask yes or no questions shouldn't be underestimated. Yes/no or true/false tests can, in a binary fashion, subdivide the world as a whole down to manageable size search areas pretty darn quick. Give me ten yes/no questions about a person's location in the world at large and I'll probably be able to tell you the city he's in. Give me 10 more questions and I'll give you his street address. So don't discount the power of spells like [I]Commune[/I] or [I]Contact other Plane[/I]. [/QUOTE]

Verification