[Brothers to Bears] Underground

[Pangea]

I wanted to see other players' feelings on how "Brothers to Bears" functions when the Beorning player is underground, as in a mine tunnel or such?
If it is nighttime, does this benefit the PC's Perception?

[Terisonen]

I would say no

[Kurt]

Hi Pangea,

I think that the key sentence on this topic is ..

"When the moon is high in the sky and the world is fully revealed in an argentine glow, no sound escapes your ears, and the night speaks to you in the language of the wild."

The land needs to be covered in moonlight. I'd say that the mine is not going to be covered in moonlight so ... the short answer is no.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Elmoth]

That would leave most of Mirkwood out of the ability's reach as well, no?

[Kurt]

That would leave most of Mirkwood out of the ability's reach as well, no?

I would say that the moonlight would be able to peer through the canopy in a large portion of the forest, even if only slightly. But you can play that it doesn't if you want.

Looking at it any another way does not make sense. If you allow the ability in the depths of a mine because it happens to be night outside why not have the ability active all the time. It's always going to be night somewhere on the planet right?

The words are in the book, you can read them however you choose.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Earendil]

Hi Pangea,

I think that the key sentence on this topic is ..

"When the moon is high in the sky and the world is fully revealed in an argentine glow, no sound escapes your ears, and the night speaks to you in the language of the wild."

The land needs to be covered in moonlight. I'd say that the mine is not going to be covered in moonlight so ... the short answer is no.

Cheers,
Kurt

So you wouldn't allow this Virtue to apply if it's nighttime but there's no moon tonight, or it hasn't risen, or it's already set? In fact, if you want to be really picky about the wording, it should only apply when the moon is high in the sky (not just up).

I'd say it's a mystical Virtue that applies at night, regardless of where you are. That's a simple yes/no condition that doesn't cause arguments about when exactly it applies.

I see the stuff about moonlight as flavour text, not intended to restrict the use of the Virtue. The actual rules paragraph of the Virtue says nothing about moonlight, just that "your sight and hearing are greatly enhanced at night" and that "when you make a roll using a Perception skill at night you always add your Attribute score to the result". (Emphasis mine.)

[Kurt]

Hi Earendil,

I read that as essentially being able to see and hear better at night than the average person when the moon is out. That is the way I would play it, if there is no moon, then no ability. If you can't see that argentine (of or resembling silver) glow, then your out of luck. How many times a year does a no moon occur, not too often?

There was nothing about "at night" ... it said "the night speaks to you", there is a difference. The condition for the ability was in the first portion of the sentence, the result is in the second portion of the sentence. People can read that any way they want, I choose to read it as stated above.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Glorelendil]

There's the rules lawyer solution, and the sensible solution. The letter of the law or the spirit, as it were.

I'd choose the latter, and rule that it always works at night, and in "night-like conditions" such as in the darker parts of Mirkwood, but not underground, which is not Beorn's purview.

Not that the the rules-lawyerly approach necessarily leads to a different conclusion, just that I don't see any point picking apart the vocabulary and syntax for the purpose of arriving at a more awkward and less flavorful interpretation.

[Kurt]

Hi Glorelendil,

I wasn't being a rules lawyer, I was just reading the sentence and interpreting it accordingly. And I certainly didn't think that my solution was more awkward or less flavourful. It was a simple solution that was probably the way the game was intended. No moonlight, no ability.

Again, that's way I would play it. I'm just giving some guidance on what I would do, not a mandate.

Cheers,
Kurt

[Elmoth]

Depends on your climate, but in Adelaide or Barcelona 89where I live), not very commonly. In England, however, quite often there is no moon.