[Torg] reality storms

[Kansas Jim]

Mark writes:

>                          im talking about realm border storms mostly. 
> what happens in one? does reality shift constantly in one/ for example 
> are things constantly being made/ destroyed (plus all other wierd stuff 
> i can think of?) as the 2 realitys battle against each other? or is it 
> just a bleak landscape ravaged by storms? and do you need to get 

Most of the time I do depict it as a bleak storm-ravaged landscape, but
every now and then I mix things up by throwing in some "weird stuff".
And it's funny but sometimes the thing that gets players worried the
most is when nothing strange happens, you just describe them traveling
through crappy weather and then they're through to the other side. But
they know that there has to be more to it, so where is it....

> characters to roll there reality skill each time they cross one or 

It does not have to be done every time, reality storms do not always
attack a character's reality. Sometimes they attack physically (hail,
lightning, etc), sometimes they do weird things (I like throwing
hallucinations at PCs), occasionally there can be a break in the storms
and a crossing can be made without anything happening at all.

> possibly more? how do you roleplay the storm that 2 opposing characters 
> create when they battle? how does it affect everyone else around them? 

Usually I treat it fairly simply, like a tiny tornado or hurricane that
springs up around the combatants and batters the surroundings and
everyone else physically.

> also how often or indeed would you have a villain invoke one against a 
> pc? could other pcs help there comrade at all (supported cards etc or 
> even just trading)?

Once you're in a storm you're supposed to be entirely cut off from
the outside world, though the original rulebook did say "legend
states that communication is possible" with someone in a storm.
I suspect that this legend may be refering to the fact that a High Lord
remains in contact with his Darkness Device unless a maelstrom occurs,
not that it means Bob can shout encouraging words to his friend Joe
who's in the middle of reality storming a bad guy. So I don't allow
any card trading or use of Supporters with someone who's caught up in
a storm.

As for villains who might invoke storms, generally I feel that most
will not do it. Most of the invaders likely assume that this invasion
will be like previous ones they've participated in, stormers are a
rare sport which you hunt down and then offer up in sacrifice to your
High Lord and Darkness Device so that their tasty P-Energy doesn't
go to waste. There may be the occasional bad guy who wants to suck
up that P-Energy for himself, or maybe he just likes the destruction
that an invoked storm causes, but initially I figure most of a HL's
minions simply wouldn't even consider doing it.

Now as the war drags on and it becomes apparent that these Storm Knights
aren't rare sport but dangerous opponents growing in number, there may
be a growing inclination among the bad guys of using reality storms as
a last-ditch desperation measure to bring down a Storm Knight. In their
arrogance they would still believe that their mastery over Reality is
better than what any stormer could bring to bear, so if they're losing
they might resort to an invoked storm to replenish their own P-Energy
store while depleting the bothersome Knight of his, and hopefully the
storm brushes aside any companions he has as well. In my experience
though, this rarely works out as well as the bad guy hopes it will. :)

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html