Basic BGS Tutorial

[ambisinister]

Here's a link to a google doc you can view if that's more your speed: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_qR ... sp=sharing

If you have any other questions, please ask them in this thread and we'll do our best to clarify.

BGS in general
Generally speaking the more specific you are in your question the easier it will be for us to return a helpful response. Sometimes it might be better to state your intention over trying to find an IG way of explaining what your’re going for. If we have to guess what you’re looking for or trying to accomplish that increases the chance that we don’t get you something useful to your question.


Info Gathering BGS- The abilities that provide information are more nuanced in their use, so I’ll go over each of them briefly. It’s important that you use the correct ability for the type of question you’re asking or topic you’re studying.

Analyze Artifice: Restricted to ‘magic items.You should use this ability to study a magically created device to try and learn more about it: How it works. Whether it could be used by Rhiven. What its purpose might be, etc. “i saw a Drarkin use this staff to make people sick. I would like to know how it works”

Bridge Process: Must be used in conjunction with Analyze Artifice. Let’s you spend abilities that aren’t meant to be used between games to try and improve the answers you get from analyze artifice by drawing on your other training and experiences. If you found a magic sword you might expend a Martial ability to help learn more about its combat effectiveness. If you found a mirror that seems to have something to with protection magic you might use a displacement from the Beta array to help understand what kind of protection it offers.

Cognition: Can be used on any topic. You should use this ability to get extra insight on any topic that is giving you trouble. It’s almost like asking for a hint to help with a troubling problem or obstacle. It represents thinking or meditating or ruminating on a topic to try and gain understanding. “Knowing what I know about Drarkin, why might they attack the heart of a Bulwark?”

Detect Magic: If you access to an object or subject between games you could use detect magic to see if there’s anything magical about it and the potential nature of that magic. This won’t let you use an item you don’t know how to, or explain why its’ magic or what that magic might do. “We found a stone statue on an expedition. Does it have magical properties?”

Entropic Delve: You can either specify a topic or leave it unfocused. Either way Entropic Delve will provide a useful tidbit of information or maybe even a relevant ability that will be helpful in some way in interacting with the chosen topic.
“I’d like to focus on the threat of the upcoming Drarkin attack.”

Item Whisper: Must be used on a synthetic or “man made” item. This ability gives you details about the items like what its made out of, what its purpose might be, if it’s been used recently, how old it is, etc. How much information the skill will return will depend on how many purchases of it you have, as well as the complexity of the object you’re looking into.
“I would like to study the statue we found in the ruins.”

Local Investigation: Must be used to study a place or subject you can personally access. This ability represents you personally studying whatever it is to gain more information about it. You could use this skill to try and spy on local creatures. To interrogate a captive. To stake out a location and see if anyone or anything comes to visit it. To gather information from staff at the outpost. It’s very much an information gathering skill, but not as specialized as its peers. Learning more about why a strange tree is strange or studying a captured animal is an Observation thing. Learning more about a box covered in strange symbols that is always cold to the touch is more item whisper or analyze artifice.
“Someone has stolen the coffee the pot, I’d like to study the seen and try and collect clues about what happened.” or “I’d like to work with Extraction Crew 3 to see if through questioning I can get any more useful information about the weird encounter they had over by the balancing rock.”


Observation: must be used on something “natural.” Observation can be used to study components to learn more about their uses. It can be used to study an area near the outpost to learn why all the troves that appear in that area are corrupted. It can be used to study a living or dead creature that the outpost has managed to secure.
“All of the beastkin we’ve been encountering lately have had a strange stone like growth coming out of their foreheads, i’d like to study one that we’ve captured see if I can figure out why it’s happening.”

Query: can be used on any topic. The query ability is literally sending an information request back to the libraries of the nation to see if they have an information on it. It’s very much akin to looking up something on wikipedia in the modern era.
“I’d like to put in a request for information about the Drarkin”

Vision: can be used on any topic. Use this ability to gain magical insight or visions about a topic. While visions can sometimes be confusing or misleading, they have more flexibility and can cover topics that might be harder to research through other methods. To cast a vision you don’t need to go to a dangerous location personally, or have caught a fierce beast to study it, or rely on society having already encountered and recorded information about something.
“The corvidae are talking about being harried by a creature that doesn’t match any description of anything we know about. I’d like to have a vision about what is threatening the corvidae. “


Non info gathering abilities: In this case I’m referring to things like combination, materials instillation, preservation, item creation, etc. These are much more straightforward than the info gathering abilities. All you need to do for these is indicate which ability you’re using, what materials you’re starting with and what you’re expecting to happen to them.
“I’ll combine 7 earth components into a flask of enhance weapon.” “I’ll use preservation to preserve 2 turtles.” etc

[gordanit]

I realized the questions I have mostly are about multiple PCs tackling the same topic, so I can think about how best to coordinate between events. Such as, whether that gets them all the same info, or if they get several different bits that are greater in aggregate, or something else. Also, if it matters or not whether they specify they are cooperating, or if given the nature of the game unless someone says otherwise you'll combine efforts when you run in to each other in the archives or whatever.

I know there are a million BGS but I'm mostly thinking about the ones I'm likely to have this time around -- Query (and Halls of Antiquity), Local Investigation, Cognition, Entropic Delve, and Visions.

[RealityXcursion]

Edit: whoops, didn't notice I should ask in other thread