GM Commentary

The Grant/Ethan game is continuing. We're currently Play By eMailing (PBeMing) because there is a conversation going on between Grant and Sophia on a balcony overlooking the sea cliffs. It's more efficient to do Q&A this way rather than run over Google Hangouts and take up hours.

Anyway the topic for today is Umbral Sight. Both Eidolon and Umbra have a special sensing capability, but the rules don't cover some aspects. So here's my take (which David has yet to vet):

Umbral Sight is always on. It's like seeing infra-red or ultraviolet as part of the normal spectrum. Of course one can focus on one particular shade of 'colour' and look more carefully, but it's never really off.

Does it extend beyond Sight? Yes, probably it does. It extends to Hearing, Touch, Smell etc.

I'll cover my thoughts on Eidolon in another post. I've given some thought as to 'How a Jedi should work' under the rules of Eidolon - while this might sound very silly (and to a degree it is), the reality is that we're playing on Shadow Earth in 1985/1986 and Return of the Jedi was released in 1984. For a young man who is starting to 'sense the Eidolon' but has no one to teach him, a familiar paradigm is the idea of 'The Force'. Of course the Eidolon isn't the same, but the idea of 'Sensing the Force' and 'Feeling the Force' can't be that dissimilar to a Lord's perception of either Eidolon or Umbra. More on that later.

The game continues .....

PS: And for you Dirty Pair fans out there (Lurker37 is one), I'd just like to point out that Kei and Yuri are, according to the graphic novels, Lucien-model genetic upgrades. Yes, 'Lucien-model'. The idea of Lucien having a pair of lunatic trouble-consultants working for him is very humorous (at least to me).

Quoting from Dirty Pair: Fatal but not Serious wrote:Jeanne Eichler (Genetic Upgrade Activist): Like Cory and myself, Kei and Yuri are products of the Lucien-model genetic upgrade program. Now, unaltered humans are already prone to distrust of the gene-enhanced in the first place. But having Bad examples like these two flouncing about, wreaking insane havoc at will only serves to worsen the prejudice held against normal, responsible upgraded individuals everywhere.
Cory (TV host): Ahh ... I assume then that you reject the notion that Kei and Yuri represent some sort of empowerment, however twisted for Lucien upgrades?
Jeanne Eichler (Genetic Upgrade Activist): Oh that's a laugh! Listen, upgrades from our program have hundreds of practical genofixed traits ... supercharged immune response and disease resistance, enhanced metabolic efficiency, improved musculoskeletal structure, revised pain thresholds, altered cerebrovascular and cardiovascular systems and so on.... but media coverage fixates on the most trivial of our enhancements ... namely the genofixed characteristics that result in our supposedly idealized physical appearance. In other words, how "Cute" and "Sexy" we upgrades are. So, by their ludicrously exploitative clothing and their mindlessly destructive behaviour, the Dirty Pair only reinforce the popular stereotype that Lucien upgrades are "Beautiful, Healthy and Dumb as Posts." Thanks so much.
.... which of course leads to Kei beating the living @#$@#$ out of Jeanne off camera.

Looking back at the image of Lucien, I can definitely imagine him with a pair of trouble-consultants ..... it adds a fiendish touch to him, I think.