Five Earths, All in a Row

[tshiggins]

So, I got caught up with the thread over at Space Battles. As may have become clear, by now, the fascinating scenarios, for me, involve the interaction between the various people from different Earths, and how problematic those would be, given the profound cultural differences. To my mind, that's what makes the setting so unique, and drives the best stories.

Here's another one, in that vein. I think it would make a good seed for a variation on a "World War II" weird or superhero campaign, set on Dp-Earth.

Operators


<Transcript begins>

“Thanks for stopping by, Captain Rogers. I know you’re busy. Coffee?”

“Of course, colonel. I’m always happy to see you. And I’ll take some of that coffee, thanks.”

“I understand our new assets don’t particularly care for our joe.”

‘Oh, I wouldn’t exactly say that, sir. Nobody in the Army likes the coffee. These guys just seem to have a little different standard about what good coffee should be.”

“They seem to have different standards about a lot of things, don’t they? Don’t smoke, either, most of 'em, except for the occasional cee-gar.”

“Yeah. That was weird, sir. One of the sergeants had to keep ‘em from throwing away the packs. Now, they trade 'em.”

“For what?”

“Weird stuff. They say the Coca-Cola here is much better than back home. Jazz hits, and some of that new boogie-woogie stuff, from Mercury Records. Hank Williams. Baseball cards.”

“Baseball cards…”

“Yeah. Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb and those new kids, the DiMaggios. Bats and gloves, too, and even a woodburning kit.”

“Well, I guess some things aren’t that much different. I heard they had a supply of nylons, too. Did they get those from trading cigarettes?”

“Uh, no sir. They seem to have brought those, with them. One of the guys said they’d done a lot of research before they started this mission.”

“'Mission,' huh? Well, the WACS and USO girls seem to appreciate ‘em. It’s caused a few problems with some of the other boys.”

“That didn’t last too long, sir.”

“No, it didn’t.”

<Pause>

“How are they as soldiers?”

“The word, 'impressive' is not out of line, sir. They consistently break all records for marksmanship and teamwork, and their fitness and tactical awareness is…, well, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. Add in that amazing gear, they’ve got, and I think the Nazis have reason for concern.”

“Could you take them?”

“Excuse me, sir?”

“You heard me, Cap. Could you take them?”

<Pause>

“If I had to, yes sir. I’d want the element of surprise, though, and some good troops of my own. Fury’s guys, or Rock’s platoon from Easy Company. Preferably, both.”

“Casualties?”

“With surprise? None. They’re disciplined enough that they’d all surrender, and raise a stink up the chain of command.”

“If it came to a fight?”

<Pause>

“Heavy casualties, on both sides. Why are we talking about this, sir?”

“The war will be over, eventually, but that future Earth will still be up there, and some of the brass are running scenarios. They don’t like what they’re seeing. And what I just said is classified, clear?”

“Yes, sir. But I don’t like what I’m hearing, sir.”

“Just between you and me, I don’t like what I’m hearing, either, especially when we’ve got a war on. Next case. How do you think they’d do if we shifted them over to training, to try to teach our boys their techniques?”

“Hell, no. Uh. I don’t think that would work, sir.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, I get the impression their selection process for candidates is more sophisticated than anything we do, now. I also understand the training program for special operators makes Parris Island look like Coney Island. It also seems to require a lot of logistical support, and includes a psychology element different from anything we’ve got. We’d spend a lot of time and resources trying to build that up from scratch and, like you said, there’s a war on.”

“Okay, you said that’s ‘one thing.’ What’s another?”

<Pause>

“You heard about Sgt. O’Neil, right sir?”

“I did, and so did others up the chain of command. It might even have something to do with why we’re having this conversation. What’s your version of the story?”

“It’s pretty much exactly what I filed in my report, sir. Sgt. O’Neil learned that one of the operators was Jewish, and decided to bust his chops. Called him a ‘Christ-killing k**e.’”

“Then what?”

“Specialist Goldstein demanded an apology, sir.”

“An apology. Someone with a rank equivalent to corporal, demanded an apology from a drill instructor sergeant, and expected to get it?”

“I’d say so, sir.”

“What did his commanding officer do?”

“Lt. Crowley was not present at the incident, sir. My impression is, that might have been deliberate.”

“You didn’t intervene?”

“No, sir. I think these men give me a lot of respect, for whatever reason, but it may have limits. Also, this is sometimes the sort of thing you have to let the non-coms work out between themselves, right?”

“I’ve been in this Army since the Great War. I know how it goes.”

“Yes, sir. Anyway, the two men squared off, and gathered up a crowd, and the betting heated up pretty quickly. O’Neil has a reputation as a hands-on kinda guy, and he had four inches and 40 pounds on Specialist Goldstein. So, the men were backing him, pretty solidly. The nylon thing with the USO girls might have played a part in it, too.”

“That matches up with what I heard.”

“It didn’t last long, sir. O’Neil should be out of the hospital in a month, or so, and back on active duty in six. Goldstein got a few bumps and bruises, and Lt. Crowley restricted him to barracks. Our men keep their distance, now, sir, and I think that might have been why Lt. Crowley decided to absent himself.”

“You think maybe they were making a point?”

“I know so, sir.”

“Really? That’s not in your report, Cap.”

“Uh, no sir.”

<Pause>

“You wanna expand on that, soldier?”

“Not really, sir.”

“Do it anyway.”

“You know how the non-coms have those special debriefing sessions, without officers?”

“Those ‘hot-wash’ things? I do. We don’t know too much about what happens in them, not since our bugs mysteriously stopped working.”

“Well, they had one, after the fight, and I thought it might be a good idea to listen in.”

“Did you? How in God’s name did you manage that?”

“I managed it, sir. That’s what matters, and I don’t think they knew I was there.”

“Alright. What did you hear?”

“Apparently, Sgt. Graves had told Spec. Goldstein to not do any permanent damage, and peeled some of Goldstein’s skin off for doing as much as he did. Goldstein responded that he hadn’t done anything permanent, or O’Neil wouldn’t be able to walk, again. Graves said that, next time, Goldstein needed to use a little more boxing, and a little less ‘cravmegga,’ whatever that is. I think it might be some sort of hand-to-hand combat technique, from the context.”

“Was that all?”

“Uh, no sir. That wasn’t even the most troubling part.”

“Really….”

“No, sir. Right after that, one of the other men, Reynolds, asked Graves if he’d heard when they’d be deployed.”

“Okay…?”

“It was the thing that Reynolds said next that stuck with me. He said, ‘We volunteered to come over here to fight Nazi racists, sarge, and not to put up with the primitive, screwhead racists we’re supposed to be helping.’ Sgt. Graves shut him up, right quick.”

“Primitive, screwhead racists.”

“Yes, sir.”

<Pause>

“I find myself in agreement with your assessment, Capt. Rogers. I’ll recommend that we deploy these men to southern Britain, ASAP, with the intention to air-drop them into Northern France as soon as proper objectives are identified. I'll strongly recommend they not be transferred to training details, due to incompatible training methods.”

“Very good, sir.”

“Pass the word along to Lt. Crowley to get his men ready for transport. I want them gone within the week. We’ll put them in touch with the French resistance, drop them in, and after that, they’ll be the Huns’ problem. And yours, at least temporarily.”

“Sir?"

“You’ll drop in with them, with the intent to observe their methods for two weeks, before you catch a sub back to England, or steal a plane, or whatever it is you decide to do. But, you’ll leave them in France.”

“That seems to be their preference, too, sir. Lt. Crowley said his operators were selected for the ability to speak French and German, and for experience with extended detached duty in hostile territory.”

“That’s my understanding, as well. Huh. Wonder if their special selection criteria included a love for baseball?”

“Uh, I don’t think so, sir. I asked Lt. Crowley about that, when I learned the men planned to take the baseball bats, with them on the deployment, which I thought was pretty damn strange.”

“They don’t play baseball, in France.”

“That was my point, sir.”

“What did Crowley say?”

“He said that, given one of the special selection criteria for volunteers, it didn’t surprise him that the men would add the bats to their loadouts.”

“He go into any details, about that?”

“Not really, sir. When I pressed him, he just said all the men were picked, at least in small part, because they’d already memorized something called the ‘Soliloquy of Lieutenant Aldo Raine.’”

“I don’t suppose he recited this soliloquy, for you?”

“No, sir. But he said the men would be glad to recite it for me, once they were on the jump plane, over the English Channel, on their way to Nazi-occupied northern France. He said it just like that, sir. ‘Nazi-occupied northern France.”’

“Did he tell you why the men burned those words into the bats, or why they deliberately misspelled the word, ‘bastards’?”

“No, sir, but I got the impression it’s all related.”

<Transcript ends>

[Prince Charon]

Love this so much!

Very nice, and given that I do plan to have Infopunk SpecOps troops be the first soldiers to arrive on Dieselpunk Earth, it even works, though the circumstances under which Dp-America declares war on the Axis Powers will be different.

Feel a bit sorry for military planners on the other Earths, if the Orion drive idea that's been discussed in the main thread on SB.com happens (which I'm contemplating, since it is a good way to move a very massive object, very fast).

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Love this so much!

Very nice, and given that I do plan to have Infopunk SpecOps troops be the first soldiers to arrive on Dieselpunk Earth, it even works, though the circumstances under which Dp-America declares war on the Axis Powers will be different.

Feel a bit sorry for military planners on the other Earths, if the Orion drive idea that's been discussed in the main thread on SB.com happens (which I'm contemplating, since it is a good way to move a very massive object, very fast).

Yeah. Your decision to send the Spec Ops first, over on SpaceBattles, is what prompted this idea. It's a natural thing to do, and it's an outstanding campaign seed.

A GM could use the WWII books, mix in some Weird War and Powers, and the PCs could play the Inp-Earth spec ops team (250-point characters or so). They find themselves not only against the Third Reich, but also Hydra and guys like Iron Cross, mostly on their own, because the Dp-Earth Allied High Command isn't quite sure what to do with them.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

Yeah. Your decision to send the Spec Ops first, over on SpaceBattles, is what prompted this idea. It's a natural thing to do, and it's an outstanding campaign seed.

A GM could use the WWII books, mix in some Weird War and Powers, and the PCs could play the Inp-Earth spec ops team (250-point characters or so). They find themselves not only against the Third Reich, but also Hydra and guys like Iron Cross, mostly on their own, because the Dp-Earth Allied High Command isn't quite sure what to do with them.

That fits. One of the first teams (possibly the first) will be Israeli special forces, though I'm not sure if they will be going to Dp-Poland first, or straight to Nazi Germany. They won't even try to coordinate with the Dp-Allies directly, relying instead on the Inp-Allies to serve as a buffer. An Inp-American SpecOps team will probably at least visit the Dp-USA before going into Occupied France (as seen in your snippet), but that's for after the Nazis manage to provide Dp-USA with a casus belli. Given Lend-Lease, which started more-or-less on schedule on Dp-Earth, it's only a matter of time.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by tshiggins

The thing is about Sybil, she's kind of a /b/tard bane; the perfect foil. Should Bobby get a look at her, he'll think of her the way stereotypical /b/tards always think about pretty females, and he'll want her for "raep."

All she has to do is let herself get taken hostage, and she'll be the one who rapes. She'll take all of Bobby's abilities, and destroy his mind, too. She just has to not get shot, first, and that's the tough part, and she hasn't really thought that through, at all.

Had another thought on this: if he's lucky, he'll shoot her. However, being a teenager, it's quite possible for his hormones to overwhelm his luck.

[Prince Charon]

OK, it's been a few hours, so new post, instead of an edit to the existing one.

A while ago, there was a discussion in the main thread on SB.com about the lack of standardized names for each Earth, due to the fact that the various planets each have their own way of designating them, and don't want to adopt the ones the others use, but I didn't say who uses what. I'm now correcting that:

As most of you know, Infopunk Earth goes by order of age, mostly calling itself 'Earth One', Dieselpunk Earth 'Earth Two', Steampunk Earth 'Earth Three', Clockpunk Earth 'Earth Four', and Fantasy Earth 'Earth Five'.

Dieselpunk Earth, OTOH, goes in order of position in the line of Earths, with itself as 'Earth One', Fa-Earth as 'Earth Two', Inp-Earth as 'Earth Three', Clp-Earth as 'Earth Four', and Stp-Earth as 'Earth Five'.

Steampunk Earth also goes in order of position in the line of Earths, with itself as 'A-Earth', Clp-Earth as 'B-Earth', Inp-Earth as 'C-Earth,' Fa-Earth as 'D-Earth', and Dp-Earth as 'E-Earth' (though astronomers sometimes switch the letter to the back instead of the front, saying 'Earth-C' rather than 'C-Earth', but that's usually a matter of language).

Clockpunk Earth does not have a sufficiently united astronomical community to have a standard set of designations, but the European astronomical community seems intent on giving the Earths individual names. It's too soon to say for certain, but they seem to have mostly settled on calling their own world whatever each language called it, before, calling Inp-Earth 'Autocthonia', and Fa-Earth 'Terra' (though some want to use 'Gaia' for Fa-Earth), and are still debating what to call Stp-Earth and Dp-Earth. It's been only a few months, after all, and communication isn't brilliantly fast, even if it is a lot faster than in the Europe of our 1556.

Like Clp-Earth, Fantasy Earth lacks a particularly unified astronomical community, but thanks to Arthur's spirit-children, the Romans do know how old each Earth is, and thus have adopted a system based on age like Inp-Earth, but in the reverse order: They label their own Earth 'Terra I', Clp-Earth 'Terra II', Stp-Earth 'Terra III', Dp-Earth 'Terra IV', and Inp-Earth 'Terra V'.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Had another thought on this: if he's lucky, he'll shoot her. However, being a teenager, it's quite possible for his hormones to overwhelm his luck.

There's also the fact that Sybil hasn't thought this whole thing through, very well, either. Robert has already killed a bunch of people, and he's on the run, and he has kewl powerz. Eventually, if Sybil's able to get close to him at all, she'll realize that she could easily wind up shot. (She's a psychic vampire, not a blood-drinking undead, and bullets kill her, just fine).

At that point, I could see her hooking up with combat-effective PCs long enough to get close to the Cowboy Kid, and then "accidentally" getting taken hostage, while he's focusing all his luck on keeping himself from getting killed by the PCs.

Alternatively, her nose tells her the PCs have kewl powerz, too, and they're much less likely to shoot her. Maybe, if she takes a useful power from one of them, first, it might be a lot easier to get close to Quick Hand Bobby, too.

There's all sorts of ways this scenario could go, which makes it much more fun than a straight-up manhunt. B)

[Prince Charon]

Here's the Hallowe'en post, along with some lead-up:

June 13: The American nuclear missile reaches final approach to Dp-Earth/Earth Two, and the MIRVs separate. Suborbital rockets from Dp-Japan, and more, less expensive rockets from Dp-Britain, begin bombarding Nazi anti-missile defenses. Peenemünde, which was already abandoned, and Ort Fünf are destroyed, while Basis Sechsundachtzig (an undersea submarine dock, for which Heligoland is a decoy) is damaged. One MIRV goes off-course, hitting western Dresden (a city that was not a target), and setting the remaining portions of the city on fire. Unarmed MIRVs, carrying computers with radio transceivers and expanded memory, soft-land at Army Air Base, Muroc Lake, Dp-USA, and RAF Box, Dp-UK. Among the post-June 10th legislation rushed through Congress without adequately looking at it is an order to refit and recommission the remaining Iowa-class battleships (the original Bill, as presented in committee, requested one such BB, but did not specify which one). Contrary to rumours, this is not an attempt to launch space battleships; instead, they are being used as test-beds for enhanced and otherwise new technology, such as coilgun systems (with work better if the projectile is already in motion) on the barrels of the main guns, laser CIWS, force shields and fusion reactors to provide power (only those last two are particularly magical, beyond a resistance to being disrupted by magic).

June 27: The Scandinavian Federation astronef Gustavus Adolphus (see March 25, above) arrives at Dp-Earth. After two orbits, it enters the atmosphere, landing in Canada. Also on Dp-Earth, the Thule Society begins a ritual that will take months to complete, becoming active on October 31st, on Inp-Earth; the fact that the casters are on one worldline, and the effects will be on another, greatly reduces the ability of anyone who might object to predict and interfere with the curse. On Inp-Earth, Apollo 20 and 21 take off for the Moon. Overall mission commander is James Lovell, on Apollo 20 along with Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly, though most of the work will be done by younger astronauts.

Sept. 25: Scientists on Inp-Earth develop what many call 'hard light', though this description is not strictly accurate. The widespread belief among precogs on Inp-Earth that something big involving the undead will occur on Hallowe'en causes the chromatic Lantern NGOs to increase the number of anti-Black Lantern drills they perform in training. An increasing number of spellcasting groups begin long-term rituals to counter, directly or indirectly, what they think might happen. A number of US Navy psykers predict that the Iowas will be of some importance on Hallowe'en, but not due to their guns.

October 31: The Thule Society's Hallowe'en Curse does not go exactly as planned. The intention was to raise as zombies the dead on Inp-Earth who died loyal to Hitler and/or the Third Reich, with as much if their equipment as was available, to strike at the Inp-Earth Allies in a manner they could not be prepared for. This is rather hard to accomplish, especially as it involves trying to raise not only men, but tanks, planes, and ships. As a result of this, combined with the number of rituals directed against it, relatively few zombies rise, though many ghosts do. Likewise, many of the ghosts who manifest are enemies of the Third Reich, whether being enemy combatants, or Wehrmacht personnel who hated the Nazis. Few of the ghosts are able to deal damage directly to solid matter (as seen, for example, when the ghost of a U-boat fires two torpedoes at the USS Constitution, a wooden sailing frigate operated by the US Navy as a museum ship, doing no damage whatsoever), but they are quite capable of causing hallucinations, Terror effects, and other traumatic disruptions. They are also capable of 'damaging' each other, as seen when the ghost of the Bismark is rammed and sunk by the ghost of the HMS Hood, or when the shades of many sailors, seemingly commanded by a ghostly lady in 18th Century dress, fire a broadside at the U-boat, discorporating it. Similar situations prevail on land and in the skies, as Rommel and Patton are seen on Germany, leading a force of ghost-tanks together, against the undead Waffen-SS, and the Battle of Britain is fought again. Interestingly, the areas surrounding the former Death Camps are relatively safe, as any Nazi ghosts rising nearby, or daring to approach, are immediately torn to shreds by the vengeful spirits of their victims. The living are not all helpless, themselves, as anyone either properly empowered, or merely strong-willed, can harm the spirits that approach them - indeed, many ghost-planes are shot down by properly empowered missiles, or rammed by jets, and several ghost-ships are rammed and sunk by the Iowas that are in the Atlantic, in accordance with the prophesy, while the 'living' battleships take no damage beyond blown circuit breakers and disturbed crews. Before the night is over, thousands of Lanterns and other empowered folk arrive in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa by suborbital aerospace craft, and while anti-Black Lantern tactics don't work as well on other undead, the training did prepare them for the general horror that spirits can inflict, turning the battle from a stalemate to a rout. The vast majority of the ghosts on both sides are gone by sunrise.

[VulpesFulva]

Somewhere on Infopunk Earth:

"Ah yes, our "CSIB" Image enhancement technique." Williams smiled, showing teeth and squeezing his eyes so tightly his eylashes formed an inverted U shape.

Morgan blinked dully. "CSIB?" The dull throb she associated with Williams in general had only grown more pronounced since the other four earths had appeared in the night sky. "Do I want to know?"

"Well it's short for 'CSI Bull****,' but the publicity wonks are trying to backronym it to be safe for public consumption." If anything Williams' smile grew wider, gleaming in the full-spectrum lights of the lab.

Morgan groaned. "I should have stayed in the interview room with that Gamer Geek wizard. He just made my skin crawl."

"Who, Groggy?" Williams asked. "He's harmless. Heck, he's looking better than he has in years."

Morgan raised one exquisitely shaped eyebrow. "He's been an intelligence asset since before he could cast spells?"

"Nah, he's the GM for Agent Kowalski's Pen and Paper gaming group. He's just fast-tracking a doctoral thesis in thaumatology at Dartmouth is all, and Kowalski thought he should have some official paper trail. Trying to remove the stigma of spectral evidence from forensics and all."

Name: Gregory "Groggy" Oxnard
Race: Human

Attributes [10]
ST 10
DX 9 [-20]
IQ 12 [40]
HT 9 [-10]

HP 10
Will 12
Per 12
FP 9

Basic Lift 20
Damage 1d-2/1d

Basic Speed 4.5
Basic Move 4

Ground Move 4

Social Background
TL: 8 [0]
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Languages: English (Native) [0]; Klingon (Broken) [2]; Latin (Accented) [4]; Sindarin (Broken) [2]; Valyrian (Broken) [2].

Advantages [97]
Luck (Aspected (Character Shields)) [12]
Thoughtform Talent (Emulates Ritual Path Magery) (3) [30]
Thoughtform Talent (Ritual Adept) [40]
Unusual Background (Ritual Path Magic "Magery") [5]

Perks [1]
Ritual Mastery: "Snack Run" (Lesser Create Matter to create food for up to 10 people, typically 14 energy) [1]

Disadvantages [-45]
Bad Sight (Nearsighted) (Glasses) [-10]
Indecisive (12 or less) [-10]
Odious Personal Habit (Fanboyism) (-1) [-5]
Pacifism (Reluctant Killer) [-5]
Squeamish (12 or less) [-10]
Unfit [-5]

Skills [84]
Accounting IQ/H - IQ-2 10 [1]
Area Knowledge (New Hampshire - Infopunk) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Computer Operation/TL8 IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Current Affairs/TL8 (Popular Culture) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Driving/TL8 (Automobile) DX/A - DX+1 10 [4]
History (Medieval) IQ/H - IQ+0 12 [4]
Hobby Skill (Tabletop Gaming) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Innate Attack (Beam) DX/E - DX+1 10 [0]
Innate Attack (Breath) DX/E - DX+1 10 [0]
Innate Attack (Gaze) DX/E - DX+1 10 [0]
Innate Attack (Projectile) DX/E - DX+3 12 [8]
Mimicry (Speech) IQ/H - IQ-1 11 [2]
Occultism IQ/A - IQ+0 12 [2]
Path of Body (Yesod) IQ/VH - IQ+0 12 [7]
Path of Chance (Hod) IQ/VH - IQ-2 10 [0]
Path of Crossroads (Tiphareth) IQ/VH - IQ-2 10 [0]
Path of Energy (Geburah) IQ/VH - IQ-1 11 [3]
Path of Magic (Chesed) IQ/VH - IQ+0 12 [7]
Path of Matter (Netzach) IQ/VH - IQ-2 10 [0]
Path of Mind (Chokmah) IQ/VH - IQ-1 11 [3]
Path of Spirit (Binah) IQ/VH - IQ-2 10 [0]
Path of Undead (Malkuth) IQ/VH - IQ-2 10 [0]
Public Speaking (Storytelling) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Research/TL8 IQ/A - IQ+0 12 [2]
Savoir-Faire (Academic) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Savoir-Faire (Tabletop Gaming) IQ/E - IQ+0 12 [1]
Sleight of Hand DX/H - DX+1 10 [8]
Thaumatology IQ/VH - IQ+4 16 [24]
Writing IQ/A - IQ+0 12 [2]

Stats [10] Ads [97] Disads [-45] Quirks [0] Skills [84] = Total [147]

Hand Weapons

Ranged Weapons

Armor & Possessions
1 Cell Phone $250 Wgt:.25
1 Flashlight, Mini $10 Wgt:.25
1 Ordinary Clothes (Status +0) $120 Wgt:2
1 Personal Basics $5 Wgt:1
1 Tablet $250 Wgt:.25

Greg Oxnard is pretty much... a Grognard. He's a gaming geek whose detailed magic system for one of his Role-Playing campaigns suddenly worked for him. His Bachelor's degree in medieval history and Master's in Historical Thaumatology gave him a head start on practical Thaumatology. Effectively, the thoughtform that latched onto him, by thinking he was an ivory tower wizard, made his esoteric and useless "liberal arts" degrees into useful theoretical and practical knowledge.

He's currently working on his doctoral thesis for Thaumatology.

He tends to have a few charms and contingent spells floating about that let him perform "Vancian" Magic. That is, in-system, he does prepare spells in advance for the day. His contingencies include an appropriate spell selection for a 7th level D&D Wizard. His contingencies are non-trivial, taking a decent amount of time to prepare.

[Prince Charon]

Small, odd error: 'Thoughtform Talent (Ritual Adept) [40]' should be 'Path/Book Adept (Time 2, Space, Material) [40]' or left as 'Ritual Adept [40]'. It's a totally different ability from Thoughtform Talent.

Also, not sure if "Snack Run" is new, or if I missed it, before, but any "Create Matter" effect is functionally a Control Crossroads+Transform Matter effect - you can't violate conservation of matter, but you can get spirits to teleport lots and lots of unused atoms and molecules from all over the place, where taking them won't cause any trouble, and assemble them into copies of stuff you already have patterns for ("Perceive an unserved medium-rare steak at the Ritz-Carlton, and copy it for me."). Still possible, might still be Lesser, but not as easy. Would have mentioned it before, if I'd noticed it. Not sure I sent you the file it's on, so it's not your fault. Still trying to decide if "Create" effects should be treated differently for purposes of skill and Gather Energy, or if the difference should be a flavor detail, and "Create" effects still treated as normal Create effects. Either way, the closer the copy you want, and the less common the food is, the harder it is to get right, skill-wise - just for snacks, it's perfect.

For those who are wondering, I'm not sure whether or not I want to require an Unusual Background cost for RPM (the system is somewhat balanced by how hard it is to gather energy in a hurry, as seen in the 'Gather' tab here - I wonder what quirky food is like), but a small one is reasonable. If you're wondering what the CSIB technique refers to, it's the way magical enhancements to existing images are beginning to mirror those in fiction, thus allowing, for example, clear views of people on Clp- and Fa-Earth, and eventually, the outer Earths, as well.

Thanks, VF. Interesting variant on the name.