# Episode 161: My Deep and Cranky Knowledge **URL:** \ **Category:** Improvised Radio Theatre with Dice\ **Created:** [4 August 2026 11:11 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877 "2026-08-04T11:11:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/jfs/32/29565_2.png) [@jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/jfs)\ **Post date:** [9 August 2026 20:04 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/21 "2026-08-09T20:04:17Z")
For a starting (Spring) Covenant, the covenant set up is often the plot. Why are they being given this place, why isn’t there already a covenant here if it’s so lovely, what kind of pig in a poke have they been given? Add in negotiations with the local political leaders, the fae, finding Vis sources, uncovering the diabolists in the local monastery … it’s quite plotful. Summer covenants are often working at Tribunal (basically national) politics - this is where you can really dig into inter-covenant rivalries and plots. Autumn covenants are at the height of their power - they’re often working on a global level. Winter covenants are icky and weird. We hates them, Bagginnss. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 04:46 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/22 "2026-08-10T04:46:14Z")
> [@RogerBW](#): > > I can do it, I went to that sort of school. There’s a kind of school that _doesn’t_ teach short multiplication? Perhaps because my role-playing circles were formed among STEM and economics students I have never had trouble with the primary-school arithmetic in _ForeSight_. Personally, I find that table look-ups are worse interruptions. ---
**Author:** ![Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/sexagesimalian/32/10542_2.png) [@Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Sexagesimalian)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 05:22 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/23 "2026-08-10T05:22:03Z")
> [@Agemegos](#): > > There’s a kind of school that _doesn’t_ teach short multiplication? I didn’t know what short multiplication was. I had to look it up. … Ah! That’s what that is. In school, we just called it multiplication. What’s “long multiplication”? Here’s the thing though, I think this approach actually makes it harder for me to do multiplication in my head for large numbers. I can’t always keep all the numbers straight. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 06:13 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/24 "2026-08-10T06:13:20Z")
> [@Sexagesimalian](#): > > What’s “long multiplication”? Long multiplication is when you are multiplying with more than one digit in the multiplier. You do a short multiplication by each digit of the multiplier in turn, stacking the products each offset to the column of its digit, and then add the products. E.g. ```auto 654 × 321 _______ 654 13 080 196 200 _______ 209 934 _______ ``` In the Ease Factor:Quality Rating resolution system the worst case is a two-digit number multiplied by a single-digit one. So you need only short multiplication, and the simplest possible such. ---
**Author:** ![Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/sexagesimalian/32/10542_2.png) [@Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Sexagesimalian)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 16:26 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/25 "2026-08-10T16:26:12Z")
OK… we weren’t taught there was a distinction between “short” and “long” except that you started with single-digit multipliers in your homework until you worked your way up to multi-digit multipliers. ---
**Author:** ![jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/jfs/32/29565_2.png) [@jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/jfs)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 20:08 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/26 "2026-08-10T20:08:09Z")
Same. We learned long division, specifically, but multiplication was just multiplication. ---
**Author:** ![Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/agemegos/32/15077_2.png) [@Agemegos](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Agemegos)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 21:14 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/27 "2026-08-10T21:14:40Z")
A two-digit by one-digit multiplication by any name is primary-school arithmetic, though? ---
**Author:** ![Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/sexagesimalian/32/10542_2.png) [@Sexagesimalian](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Sexagesimalian)\ **Post date:** [10 August 2026 21:50 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/28 "2026-08-10T21:50:11Z")
Yes, but that doesn’t mean I can figure out 57 x 8 quickly, especially at a game table. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelCule](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/michaelcule/32/47_2.png) [@MichaelCule](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/MichaelCule)\ **Post date:** [11 August 2026 22:36 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/30 "2026-08-11T22:36:52Z")
I’m not at all sure that it was ever explained to me what that ‘long’ meant and anyway it was only ever used in ‘long division’. I never heard ‘long multiplication’. It seems to mean any calculation you can’t do in your head but have to write down. And I never heard ‘short multiplication’ either. But then I remember reciting times tables up to twelve. I date from when dinosaurs ruled the earth. ---
**Author:** ![DJCT](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/djct/32/21700_2.png) [@DJCT](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/DJCT)\ **Post date:** [12 August 2026 23:23 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/31 "2026-08-12T23:23:53Z")
As a player in @MichaelCule ‘s forum Ars Magica, it appeared to be getting (in my view) overwhelmed very quickly with the esoterica and busywork. It’s just too much for asynchronous forum work I think. I have run AM 3rd edition in the late 90s or so, we ran troupe style play with one wizard each year undertaking a quest accompanied by the companions (?) and grunts/the turb(?). We even had a few years run by another GM from the group. That lasted a while, but the clear focus there was GM generated adventures (I even took them to Zara on Crusade). I guess in my view that worked because we were following a traditional form of adventure delivery while the covenant (in Prague) was shared continuity. On forum games in particular I have set out views before, but they need to be simple. See my Scurry game here - on hiatus but hopefully to resume - to see how long it can take for just three people to work through a simple plot. I have enjoyed it though! ---
**Author:** ![Lordof1](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/lordof1/32/5_2.png) [@Lordof1](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/Lordof1)\ **Post date:** [13 August 2026 09:07 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/32 "2026-08-13T09:07:50Z")
To reassure you, Mike, my kids still have to learn their times tables up to 12. ---
**Author:** ![BigJackBrass](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/bigjackbrass/32/4_2.png) [@BigJackBrass](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/BigJackBrass)\ **Post date:** [13 August 2026 10:11 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/33 "2026-08-13T10:11:01Z")
And they’re both in their late thirties. ---
**Author:** ![jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/user_avatar/discussion.tekeli.li/jfs/32/29565_2.png) [@jfs](https://discussion.tekeli.li/u/jfs)\ **Post date:** [13 August 2026 11:19 UTC](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877/34 "2026-08-13T11:19:57Z")
Good memory 🙂 Companions are your mundane but special characters, and Grogs / Turb are the (usually shared) grunts and coven folk. My first campaign was a similar era and I really like your framing of ‘shared continuity’ for the covenant - my players concentrated a lot of effort there though because I started them with a mystery of ‘what’s in the cellar?’ with a side order of ‘why have we been given this seemingly fine covenant and what happened to all the magi that were here before?’ (The two were, perhaps unsurprisingly, connected.) [Previous page](https://discussion.tekeli.li/t/episode-161-my-deep-and-cranky-knowledge/6877.md?page=1)