[Torg] Sometimes you use the tool...

[Michael Jason Teegarden]

For "tool use," I would say it is when a character attempts to change something by using some kind of technology in a physical way.  Listening to the radio = not tool use, unless the character touches the radio, turns the off switch to on, dials the stations, and adjusts the volume control.  Or inserts a CD.  Or plugs in an MP3 player.  Intention, I think, is half, and touching something for controlling technology is the other half.  My thoughts.  :)

As for applying technologies which do not use physical touching, such as psychological therapy (ie, group therapy sessions, etc) or studying a written text in a foreign language in an attempt to translate it ... I'd say these are also instances of tool use, but my argument might be harder.  Fortunately, the rules do include statements regarding the use of skills which contain in some part knowledge outside the home cosm/realm and/or beyond the limit of the axioms.  However, again, I'd say intention is half of it.  The edeinos in the example below would not be at any risk, as they would utterly ignore the strange sounds they heard as nonsense and unworthy sensations.  Very few of them, if any, would make the intended attempt to actively understand the meaning behind the sounds, and thus try to engage with the new concepts.

Michael


--- On Mon, 7/21/08, Tommy Tanaka <tommytanaka at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Tommy Tanaka <tommytanaka at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Torg] Sometimes you use the tool...
> To: torg at justintimeadventures.com
> Date: Monday, July 21, 2008, 9:25 PM
> Sometimes the tool uses you? This is the first of an
> indeterminate number of
> questions that I'm feeling like posing to the list.
> Some of them are going
> to be looking for specific answers, others are more
> discussion fodder. This
> one leans towards the latter. And the subject is tools and
> contradictions.
> 
> What constitutes using a tool? Is listening to a radio or
> watching TV enough
> to cause a contradiction, or would you have to try to
> change the station?
> The former has nasty implications. Hey, for that matter, if
> you played Mein
> Kampf (translated into Eidenos) over a loudspeaker at Baruk
> Kaah's minions
> (assuming you can actually find words in the Eidenos tongue
> to get the ideas
> across in the first place - might need to throw some magic
> or a miracle into
> the mix), would they risk disconnection struggling with
> concepts above their
> social axiom? (That sounds like a great PsyOps plan.) Would
> a magical
> illusion of Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo cause massive
> contradiction
> checks as people try to decide whether or not it's
> real? Or would the
> spellcaster have to make a contradiction check every time
> someone tried to
> disbelieve the illusion? Similar question with passive
> contradiction with
> carrying tools. If I start wandering around Aysle passing
> out coins made of
> space-age alloys, what's going to happen?
> 
> For that matter, what sort of passive contradiction checks
> am I going to be
> making for having that loose change in my pocket? The
> "Using Passive
> Contradiction Checks" box on p.152 of R&E says
> that passive contradiction
> checks don't have to be made for every single passive
> contradiction a
> character has. The specific examples given are a
> character's clothing and
> Nile Empire's Law of Morality. (Though I'm not sure
> about that last one,
> since the text of the Law says that every single morally
> gray action is a
> contradiction. That sounds more like an active
> contradiction.) So how many
> checks would you need for all the stuff you're carrying
> on you? My personal
> view is that the Everlaw of One isn't that picky.
> You're either
> contradictory or you're not. It doesn't matter to
> the Everlaw if you're
> carrying a single Tech 30 tool or if you're festooned
> with biotech, magic
> items, etc. You're contradictory so you make a single
> check at the beginning
> of the scene.
> 
> Back to the tool using you: Let's say you hypnotize an
> Eidenos (yeah, I use
> them alot in these examples... what can I say? They have a
> lot of low
> Axioms.) Give him some post-hypnotic suggestions, then cut
> him loose. What
> happens once one of them is triggered? Long-range
> contradiction for the
> mesmerist? Is it a passive contradiction for the Eidenos
> while he's walking
> around? Is his roll to resist the compulsion a
> contradiction? I assume not
> since otherwise people would have to make contradiction
> checks when
> "interacting" with, for example, that plasma
> sword being shoved through
> their guts.
> 
> 
> And yes, I know these topics have been discussed multiple
> times over the
> life of this list. But there are new people, and oldbies
> can come up with
> new ideas every now and then. ;)
> 
> -Tommy
> -- 
> Marching to the beat of my own
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