Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

General Out of Game Discussion
Post Reply
User avatar
Maggie
Player
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 1:09 pm
Character Name: Kit Karloff
PlayerProNoun: She/Her
CharacterProNoun: Doctor
Contact:

Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Maggie » Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:11 pm

Hey all,
In order to avoid the duplication of effort, I wanted to propose a thread where people discuss what they would like to use their BGS for knowledge-wise. I also envision this thread going forward as a possible IG board where the Outposts nerds gather 'round to discuss what they'll be focusing on as far as research and queries home.

I guess I'll go first since I'm starting the thread. For the playtest BGS I was planning on focusing on the chaos-tainted toad in the Naturalist facility with my Observation skill, with a focus on better understanding the difference between chaos taint vs. inherently "chaotic" creatures. As I understand, Aaron (Clemmons) will be focusing on the Drarkin with his Observation skill, but I invite him to elaborate here. I still have an Entropic Delve and a Halls of Antiquity skill available which I'm happy to put to any recommended use (otherwise, Kit Karloff will likely remain laser-focused on chaos beast classification) but even with the toad I'm willing to go for something else if it trips over another's plan.

What about you guys?

User avatar
Varanus
Seasoned Poster
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:54 pm
Character Name: Myros
Location: Outpost Promise

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Varanus » Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:00 pm

I would encourage you to move this to the Outpost IG board so there's no ambiguity about what we do and don't know. That said, the idea of coordinating efforts and sharing results is pretty exciting, I always wanted more of that in TOV2. So, yes!

Personally, I am prone to visions. Some things I've contemplated are something about the vahsi-ahm that has just passed in the area or about the nature of the area before the vahsi-ahm struck, or trying to identify major figures in the area (e.g. that might include leaders of Drarkin tribes, major elementals, etc). But at this stage there's something to be said for letting the visions take us where they will.
Myros, Watcher and Mana Chirurgeon

User avatar
gordanit
Player
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 1:56 pm
Character Name: Marik Laedam
PlayerProNoun: He/Him or They/Them
CharacterProNoun: He/Him

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by gordanit » Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:15 pm

Thanks, Maggie! If lots of people engage with this I might try to make a Google Sheet or something...
Varanus wrote:
Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:00 pm
I would encourage you to move this to the Outpost IG board so there's no ambiguity about what we do and don't know. That said, the idea of coordinating efforts and sharing results is pretty exciting, I always wanted more of that in TOV2. So, yes!
I look forward to the more IC variation of this, but we don't have an IC board yet? Unless there's one that is hidden from me... :shock:

For now, we should probably assume the same rules as the community timeline. Bring things here you would freely talk about IG, not your secret conspiracies.

A big takeaway I got from Erica's response in the BGS thread is that whether they come from one person or several people, having different kinds of BGS is a bigger increase in information than using more of the same one. So, if multiple people are interested in the same question, the biggest payoff of cooperation is finding people with different skills. For example, I don't have anything I strongly want to use my Entropic Delve or Cognition on, so I could pitch it one of them in on someone else's thing (chaos fruit, Drarkin) as appropriate.

I think I will have one each of a whole 5 different BGS (I need to count points and find out when laundry processes, but I'm pretty sure I'll have Local Investigation, Query, Cognition, Entropic Delve, and Visions), and I have (counts) waaay more than five things I'm curious about.

What I'm currently strongly planning on looking at, what I might use for it, and other stuff that might help from others (I didn't say "Entropic Delve" for each one, but I think I could? Seems multi-purpose).

1. What's up with that chaos meteor? Does that happen often? A big chaosplosion hecked up our stuff this last event -- annoyed the air elementals, took out the local head of the wood elementals, maybe other stuff. If it might happen again or might have any other effects that would be good to know. Marik has a personal interest in chaos disasters because of Zehreik, and a personal interest in the stars because of Rhenali. I was going to use Query to ask about past occurrences or research, and maybe lean in with Halls of Antiquity.

2. Where are the ant caves and our mutated new friends? What happened to their outpost? During the second outpost trip, we ended up going to some ant caves and meeting some very chaos-tainted people who said they were from an earlier outpost that failed and they had had to flee in to the wilderness (I need to double check to see if anyone there remembers the name of the Outpost they mentioned). We said we'd try to come We Jaunted there, but it was close enough that they'd ended up with some stuff stolen by beastkin from the Outpost. I was going to use Local Investigation to see if I could figure out where they are. Query for records about a previous failed outpost in our area would also be interesting.

Other stuff, in no particular order

3. Who is Lady Cypher? What's the solution to her riddle? The Antiquarians and the Watchers and the intersections thereof found a cryptic encoded riddle. I could use Cognition although I'd want to double check with people to make sure I put all our info in the BGS. Could also be a good subject for Visions, but I was going to use mine somewhere else probably. This is the one where I feel like if we don't coordinate we'll have a twelve detective pileup, lots of people seemed interested in this.

4. What's up the the Chaplain, and all these other Watchers? The Outpost's senior chaplain is a yazmahk who's allergic to chaos, so coming out here is a big deal for him. He did it because of "repeated and persistent" visions. Maaaybe coincidentally, we have a lot of Watchers? Is that just because LARPers tend towards goth, or what? I was going to use Visions on this maybe, but Local Investigation could survey the Outpost/Bulkwark staff to see if it's just him and oog goths or if there's something else there.

5. What's up with Augers in general and Zass (however you spell it) in particular? How can we deal safely with them? A mysterious chaos creature (an "Auger") named Xas/Zass/whatever 'helped' us find stuff lost from the outpost in exchange for a box full of shiny blue things and some unspecified future favors. Ash the binder teacher had dealt with such things before and couldn't seem to find anything good to say about it. Claimed vast knowledge, interested in playing mind games and getting people in debt to her. Trouble with a capital T, no doubt. Could Query about it, see if others have recorded experiences, or Local Investigation to ask Ash or others if they've met them before, or if Xas has bothered anyone else at/around the outpost.

Probably other things also!
Thomas aka Marik Laedam, tall hand-talking Sard with a crossbow

User avatar
Balamast
Player
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2019 3:51 pm
Character Name: Melek Moonfyre

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Balamast » Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:43 pm

I also would be very interested in whats going on with the meteor. Since I tagged along on the second go to return the pieces back to the wood people. It makes me think of a binder like bomb. It functions in the same sort of way.
Player Name: Benjamin Witunsky
Character: Melek Moonfyre
Occupation : Binder
Pronoun: He/Him

User avatar
Varanus
Seasoned Poster
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:54 pm
Character Name: Myros
Location: Outpost Promise

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Varanus » Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:25 pm

I can already see an Outpost Promise IG board, but maybe that's not everyone yet?

Regarding "Auger", I'm sure that's actually "Augur" in the sense of https://www.dictionary.com/browse/augur?s=t Whereas Auger is basically a type of drill.
Myros, Watcher and Mana Chirurgeon

User avatar
gordanit
Player
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 1:56 pm
Character Name: Marik Laedam
PlayerProNoun: He/Him or They/Them
CharacterProNoun: He/Him

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by gordanit » Thu Oct 10, 2019 7:48 pm

Yup, definitely the seer one. Although everyone be ready to entertain Xas with drill puns.
Thomas aka Marik Laedam, tall hand-talking Sard with a crossbow

User avatar
Varanus
Seasoned Poster
Posts: 285
Joined: Thu Apr 03, 2014 9:54 pm
Character Name: Myros
Location: Outpost Promise

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Varanus » Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:09 pm

"You've all met, right?" "Yes, we know the drill."
Myros, Watcher and Mana Chirurgeon

User avatar
ericfinn
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:50 pm
Character Name: Thelorae
PlayerProNoun: he/they
CharacterProNoun: they

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by ericfinn » Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:32 pm

I have Query (with Halls of Antiquity), Analyze Artifice, and Observation.

I was thinking of looking into:
  1. The "glowing blue" mentioned in Lady Cypher's note - what might that be? (Query)
  2. Information about Augurs (Query)
  3. Study Drarken bodies to learn about their physiology (Observation)
I haven't decided what to use my Query on yet, and I don't know of a Device I could analyze with Analyze Artifice. I'm also definitely open to suggestions on other ways of using my Observation and Query.
Thelorae Viyek
(OOC: Eric Finn)

User avatar
Glimmer
Regular
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun May 11, 2014 10:08 pm
Character Name: Wilhelm Clemmons
PlayerProNoun: Any
CharacterProNoun: He/Him

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Glimmer » Fri Oct 11, 2019 9:41 am

I am using Naturalist: Observation to learn more about the Drarkin (Draurkin? I've seen it spelled both ways)
Wilhelm Clemmons, Department of Physiology, Rhivan Academy

Jairephix
Player
Posts: 23
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:31 pm
Character Name: Nivaralin Lasavea
Location: Outpost Promise, Rhiven, Kahvash
PlayerProNoun: Any
CharacterProNoun: Any

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by Jairephix » Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:31 pm

I had submitted my BGS before this thread existed. (Whoops.)

I had used my Vision to look into getting an idea of who the "one who gives good return" is. (Looking for a hint rather than a straightforward answer.)
Briar | Nonbinary | Any Pronouns

User avatar
gordanit
Player
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue May 02, 2017 1:56 pm
Character Name: Marik Laedam
PlayerProNoun: He/Him or They/Them
CharacterProNoun: He/Him

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by gordanit » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:46 pm

(I now have access to the IG boards, but I'm not sure everyone does, so I'm going to keep organizing on here for now)
Jairephix wrote:
Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:31 pm
I had used my Vision to look into getting an idea of who the "one who gives good return" is. (Looking for a hint rather than a straightforward answer.)
Cool. If I end up using Cognition on the Lady Cypher thing (likely, as I haven't heard anyone else is), I'll mention that I'm adding whatever you enVision to the data I'm considering (I think that's the way that's intended to work?).
Thomas aka Marik Laedam, tall hand-talking Sard with a crossbow

User avatar
ambisinister
Site Admin
Site Admin
Posts: 49
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2014 5:03 pm
Character Name: Nick Tad Valor Vale
Location: Alejandro's Ridge

Re: Pooling Knowledge/BGS Resources - Nerds Unite!

Post by ambisinister » Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:49 pm

You all should be able to edit your responses on the form if you need to change the questions you’re asking as a result of this collaboration before the deadline.

Post Reply