Nuclear explosions and Twilight/Shadow

[Michael]

It seems to me like less of an engaging dramatic and gameplay device and more like something between a bit of an excess in simulationism and giving a Storyteller the opportunity to be a bit of a smartarse.

I was thinking more along the line of it allowing for easier use of magic, but in the example Satchel is thinking of (and me too), it honestly fits better in context. It's a threat floating in the background and isn't even really the focus of the plot. There's even a decent chance the PCs won't know about it until it explodes (or not).

Also, even if it doesn't detonate, that doesn't mean it's automatically safe.

[Satchel]

What is the point of that?

By which I mean, why would it be written as a possibility?

It seems to me like less of an engaging dramatic and gameplay device and more like something between a bit of an excess in simulationism and giving a Storyteller the opportunity to be a bit of a smartarse.

It's one of the potential culminations of the Boston story in Promethean's ongoing "Water of Life" chronicle in Strange Alchemies. A mass gathering of Prometheans is present while race riots spread throughout the rest of the city and the probable outcome following "the bomb doesn't go off" is that the poor sap who tried to blow everyone up is promptly torn apart by a lot of angry Prometheans gathered to bid on a guide to their Pilgrimages at an auction held by a group specifically seeking to reduce the number of Prometheans in the world.

The other options are "the characters stop him from detonating the bomb, at which point he starts throwing grenades," "the bomb turns out to have a 30-second delay, at which point the characters have that much time to disarm the bomb with an extended roll or dispose of it — the explosive stats from earlier in the writeup are provided, as is the effect tossing the bomb into the water will have on them," and "the bomb explodes immediately, with some of the possible major consequences detailed anon." Notably, "the bomb doesn't go off" isn't even the first time in the story that it's proposed the bomb could be a dud.

It's an old suitcase nuke from, if the corrosion and the Cyrillic text are any indication, the Soviet era. The possibility that it could be detonated within the story that it's introduced is less important than the effects of that possibility on the setting. Promethean in general puts a spotlight on the impact of irrational fears, and the Nuclear Prometheans in particular have "kick off a witch-hunt" as a regular outcome of their effect on mortal society. Not every fear has to come to pass in a horror setting, and even if the bomb doesn't go off it's still got radioactive material in it.

[Neos01]

Just out of curiosity, if a mage with space 3 encapsulates the bomb with a Ban spell, and some time after the explosion dispels it, what do you think would be the effects?

[lbeaumanior]

It is a specifically-addressed possible outcome of the one published scenario I know of in this franchise that involves a small nuclear device.

Which is especially relevant because I have a sneaking suspicion Oleg is the same Oleg who is an example character in the same gameline as that scenario comes from. Call it a hunch.

Ibeaumanior, out of curiosity, is your game set in a real-world city like Detroit or Boston or New Orleans, by any chance?

No spoilers please!

And it is happening in Malta, I am a Free Council Acanthus, some other Free Council and Arrow members are helping me before I have to self-exile in Malta until things cool down back in France.

So a friend of a friend has Iron Masters contacts and more of less was "you help us to solve this ASAP and we take your guy in for as long as he wants to stay, we make your guy OUR guy".

I assume they want the magic muscle a mage can provide, but dont want to allow a mage Cabal to establish there (you get one cabal first, then another, then you have a Consilium), and I urgently need new friends to protect me from the France issue.

They (werewolves) got into some shady dealings with the Oleg creature, and it seemd he wants to try-test fucking up a whole population with economic ties beyond its size... As stated, now its personal for my character and the Pack is extremely angry (one put it "I want to rip his head off and piss on the remains").

I have Gnosis 2, Mind 3, Fate 3 and Time 3. Aiming for a Mind legacy, might have to make my own.


And all this happened because I want to keep playing a Mage, but other players want Werewolf now. We keep a similar focus (Free Council to Iron Masters), I dont overshadow anyone, and I get to explore Malta mysteries. My character actually awoke in Malta and was politely but firmly sent to France.

[KaiserAfini]

No spoilers please!

And it is happening in Malta, I am a Free Council Acanthus, some other Free Council and Arrow members are helping me before I have to self-exile in Malta until things cool down back in France.

So a friend of a friend has Iron Masters contacts and more of less was "you help us to solve this ASAP and we take your guy in for as long as he wants to stay, we make your guy OUR guy".

I assume they want the magic muscle a mage can provide, but dont want to allow a mage Cabal to establish there (you get one cabal first, then another, then you have a Consilium), and I urgently need new friends to protect me from the France issue.

They (werewolves) got into some shady dealings with the Oleg creature, and it seemd he wants to try-test fucking up a whole population with economic ties beyond its size... As stated, now its personal for my character and the Pack is extremely angry (one put it "I want to rip his head off and piss on the remains&quot.

I have Gnosis 2, Mind 3, Fate 3 and Time 3. Aiming for a Mind legacy, might have to make my own.


And all this happened because I want to keep playing a Mage, but other players want Werewolf now. We keep a similar focus (Free Council to Iron Masters), I dont overshadow anyone, and I get to explore Malta mysteries. My character actually awoke in Malta and was politely but firmly sent to France.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of focus would it have ? Because it sounds like an immediately useful one would be something that would be practical in matters of the Shadow, yet Mind Legacies tend to be fairly rare for Acanthus.

[lbeaumanior]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of focus would it have ? Because it sounds like an immediately useful one would be something that would be practical in matters of the Shadow, yet Mind Legacies tend to be fairly rare for Acanthus.

In character, I want something going for mental enhancements (Perfect Recall +Mental Shield + Attribute enchancement ) or for a time.in the Astral feel.

Mechanically, I just want Mind as a ruling arcanum, because Mind is awesome.

Shadow matters don't make sense since the reat of the Pack will be doing that innately, not as good or varied as someone with the Spirit arcanum, but we will be covered.

I am going for all the other things I could do better: divination, precognition, threat analysis, team enhancement (Fate and Time arcana for the win)

[KaiserAfini]

In character, I want something going for mental enhancements (Perfect Recall +Mental Shield + Attribute enchancement ) or for a time.in the Astral feel.

Mechanically, I just want Mind as a ruling arcanum, because Mind is awesome.

Shadow matters don't make sense since the reat of the Pack will be doing that innately, not as good or varied as someone with the Spirit arcanum, but we will be covered.

I am going for all the other things I could do better: divination, precognition, threat analysis, team enhancement (Fate and Time arcana for the win)

In that case, I would like to recommend the one in my signature. Its a Mind based Acanthus Legacy that specializes in being a master strategist. It can do divination, planning, threat analysis and its specialty is being a force multiplier for the party.

[lbeaumanior]

Thanks, the prerequisites are misaligned with my stats, but the idea is awesome.

[LadyLens]

Do nothing. A nuclear weapon from the Soviet era is all but harmless; the plutonium elements will have decayed to the point where they can no longer create a prompt critical mass. Plutonium-based nuclear weapons need to be refurbished every five to ten years to remain effective.

[lbeaumanior]

Do nothing. A nuclear weapon from the Soviet era is all but harmless; the plutonium elements will have decayed to the point where they can no longer create a prompt critical mass. Plutonium-based nuclear weapons need to be refurbished every five to ten years to remain effective.

This ended up happening. I cursed the thing, blessed myself, and time-frayed components until I felt certain it wont explode. We are deciding how to preserve the territory while we search and kill Oleg.

[jsnider3]

We had a very crazy encounter with an Ukrainian or Russian (we are not sure) supernatural creature, he calls himsellf Oleg and seems to be a Claimed by a nuclear-conflict magath (he unsettles people and radioactive effects follow him around).

He traffics on weapons, so we are sure this is a real (if antiquated) nuclear military device.

We are planning to Postcognition his whole timeline (hell, I want to know the toothpaste brand his great-grandfather used as a child) but now we have pressing issues.

I was going to say that this sounds like Zeka, but I can tell that's not an original thought at this point.


I probably would have sent it to Twilight, just because that sounds like an awesome story to explore the consequences of.

[Sith_Happens]

What’s this about published stats for a suitcase nuke? O.o

[Michael]

What’s this about published stats for a suitcase nuke? O.o

Satchel gives the reference in post #17. That said, looking into it a bit more, I suspect the writers overestimated how powerful such a device would be.