A psychosurgeon, an artist and a programmer jack into a meshbar...
Seriously though, this is a question I have. Imagine three characters. Each one has Interfacing at 80, but only the psychosurgeon has Psychosurgery (Simulspace Interrogation), only the artist has Art: Simulspace Design (Interrogation Rooms) and only the Programmer has Programming (Simulspaces). The artist could default to COG for Programming (but dude has a COG of 5, so the other two wouldn't let him do it if he had 10 Moxie), and the programmer similarly has a low INT and no artistic [i]flair[/i]. They all sit down to collaborate on some simulspace interrogation rooms for high-end clients who want some truly breathtaking/horrifying/intimidating/alien/familiar/comforting/relaxing/awe-inspiring/whatever simulspace rooms.
Who makes what skill checks when? From three people sitting around musing about how best to fill client desires for particular physics and environments and psychosurgeon interrogator triggerable features (and again, when is a psychosurgeon using Psychosurgery and when are they using Interfacing) straight through to actually working on it, interrogating test forks, fixing bugs, cranking out a final release, demoing the finished product for clients...it all seems kind of overlappy to a large degree, and I'm not sure I have clear delineations on hand for which checks are for when and who makes 'em.
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Fancy Psychosurgery Simulspace
Tue, 2014-03-04 22:36
#1
consumerdestroyer
Fancy Psychosurgery Simulspace
Tue, 2014-03-04 22:52
#2
ORCACommander
well first i would consider
well first i would consider it a timed action. client gives them a deadline and a list of basic features that must be met and a list of features that would be desirable. if they go for the no frills approach there are no modifiers to the roll. for each subsequent feature added add a negative modifier depending how difficult you think it is is. MoS determines the quality of the product. very narrow MoS results in something being buggy and not up standard. there should be 3 rolls in total. one for each contributer.
Tue, 2014-03-04 23:52
#3
consumerdestroyer
Sorry, I guess I wasn't being
Sorry, I guess I wasn't being clear. I'm just pondering what parts of the process each person would handle, assuming they had all the time in the world. Or, if they were all one person with 80+ in all skills, which skill gets used for which parts of the process?
Obviously one could streamline it to a few rolls, but say you wanted to RP out the entire process and roll as you went: does the programmer roll to design the space assisted by the artist, or does the artist roll assisted by the programmer? I'd guess the latter, since they haven't actually connected to anything and are just in the design phase. Then someone sits down and jacks in to their hard drive with three access jacks, disconnected from the mesh to protect trade secrets. Which one is it? Does the artist go in and sketch out a design using a combination of Interfacing and Art? Does the programmer go in and code a basic framework within which the artist does the aforementioned? And once the artist is done sketching out the architecture across a giant 3D grid (and again, is the design space for a simulspace itself a simulspace? If so, does Interfacing apply modified by Art, or Art modified by Interfacing?), what's next? And where does the psychosurgeon fit in? Only at the phase where the fork testing/final product demoing goes on? And as I pondered above, is that Interfacing because he's in a simulspace modified by Psychosurgery, is it Psychosurgery modified by Interfacing, etc, etc?
This is a conceptual question about skill usage more than a "this is happening in play" question.
Wed, 2014-03-05 06:14
#4
Armoured
Large projects IRL
This is an issue that comes up all the time in real life, especially in software development. In an obviously similar case, game development takes programmers, visual artists, writers, composers/musicians, IT personnel to run the network... the list goes on. In all but the very smallest projects you need managers to organise the various departments and skill sets and get them to work together.
In your specific case, it is only three people so they should be able to collaborate without too much wasted effort. Once a framework for the project is finalised, progress on various parts of it can progress without constant input from each participant; good design means there will be hooks on each component for later assembly with the whole (this is where the Interfacing skill would be used). In other words, each member just makes checks on their own, and they each must make a certain amount of progress for the whole to be finished.
For larger groups of participants, you would need project managers. These would be people with at least 30 in the skill of the group they are managing, and something like Tactics to hold everyone together and collaborate with other managers.
Wed, 2014-03-05 08:33
#5
ORCACommander
going on my experience as a
going on my experience as a dev you will need at least one thing: A big ass virtual white board.
but ya Armoured pretty well hit the nail on the head. I would say some kinesthesia tests if one person is trying to get across a compelx or difficult concept to the others in the group. some opposed tests between each other when they disagree.
Wed, 2014-03-05 12:11
#6
consumerdestroyer
Yeah, I mean I don't imagine
Yeah, I mean I don't imagine this specific scenario'll come up in my game or anything, but if it did I'd probably let the players argue their cases to each other and me about what skill uses applied and play it by ear.