Benjamin Griffin's page

Hey gang, I'm going to drop out of this game.

The biggest reason is that work and kids' activities are just taking up too much of my time and attention, so I'm not able to keep up with all of my PbPs. The idea of falling behind and then having to catch up and ALSO having to try and figure out this system to make a build that makes Benjamin more useful is not appealing.

Plus, I don't feel like Benjamin's contributions have made much of an impact on the story. (Insert Invisible Man joke here.)

Anyway, thanks for the game GM, thanks to everyone who helped me out with my build when we were starting, and I hope this game lasts a good long time.

[Dice=Toughness Save DC 25]1d20+12

LOL, of course

Hyde outright wallops the Bride, leaving her literally and game-mechanically staggered. "Oof!" And then, in a different accent. "This is NO way to treat a holy priestess of Isis! A curse! A curse on your unholy hide!"

A beat. The usual accent. "Oh, I see what you did there. Quite clever."

I love that this is all happening while everyone else is having an almost casual conversation.

"Ms. Hyde! Get your head in the game!"

"How did the girls die? Who killed them?" Benjamin prompts, staying well away from Ms. Hyde's flailing fists.

I'll take a look, thanks.

Benjamin drives his heel into the leg of the hairy monster. Not surpisingly, as he is pretty much a normal guy, he does no damage to the big shaggy monster.

Benjamin internally curses when his strike has no effect. But ultimately, he's unsurprised. He does notice Ms. Hyde's solid blow, however.

I need to make sure she gets the chance to do that again, he thinks.

If you are in position to attack an opponent, you can attempt to aid an ally engaged in melee with that opponent as a standard action. This is like a team check (see Team Checks in The Basics): You make an attack check against DC 10. If you succeed, you don’t actually hit or affect the opponent, but success grants your ally gains a +2 circumstance bonus on an attack check against that opponent or a +2 circumstance bonus to Defense against that opponent (your choice) until the end of your ally’s next turn. Three or more degrees of success grant a +5 bonus.

Aid vs. DC 10: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

I think that's only two degrees of success, correct? If so, Hyde gets a +2 to her next attack.

Darting under the creature's arm so he's off to the side, Benjamin waits for an indication that Ms. Hyde is going to strike again. When he sees it, he reaches up and slaps the side of the creature's head where he thinks its ear should be. Hopefully, the distraction will make it easier for her blow to land.

Hey GM, it looks like my spending a Hero Point didn't have an affect. Is that right? I know we found the yakaruna, but it seems like we were going to find it just because we've gone to the museum? Just want to make sure so I don't mark it off.

Yacaruna defenses. Dodge 16, Parry 16, Toughness +13, Fort +13, Will +7

You can use those to resolve attacks. I'll be happy to write descriptions, but will make this move faster.

It looks like I hit, but I'm not sure what the effect is. I tried to read up on it, but all the rules reference other rules, which in turn reference other rules, so... I'm lost again. Sorry.

"That's... not a mermaid,"

"Right?! It's a mystical, vengeful fish creature, like I said! Or ape creature, I guess!"

I'm making the assumption that you're cool with Benjamin having already disrobed before coming into the museum, like he has with the last two places the party entered.

Benjamin doesn't have super strength or weird, crazy mind powers. Because of his ability, the main thing he has is the benefit of surprise. Sprinting down the hall, he darts past Sehkmet and tries to drive his heel into the yakaruna's knee.

Unarmed Attack + Charge, DC 18: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 11 - 2 = 17

You rush forward to attack. You move your speed rank in a mode of movement available to you in a relatively straight line towards your target. At the end of your movement, you perform a close attack against your opponent with a –2 circumstance penalty to the attack check.

You can combine a charge action with a move action, allowing you to move up to twice your speed (your speed rank as a move action, then your speed rank again when you charge).

I don't know what Benjamin's Speed Rank is. I'm making another assumption that he can make it to attack this round.

Are we having fun? The opening investigation is taking longer than I had anticipated. Let me know if we need to smash cut to some action.

I do agree that the investigation has been going on kind of long, and I feel like we've stopped learning useful things. I was hesitant to use the Hero Point like you suggested in case other people were having fun with the investigation, but I worry that we're just spinning our wheels.

Maybe the plant can be used with a ritual to summon the yakaruna, or maybe the creature is waiting in ambush for us at the museum, and my timing is off for trying to skip ahead a bit... in which case, I apologize.

Back in the limo, Benjamin is furiously typing at his phone.

"Yak... Is it a K? Not two Cs? How do you even spell 'yakaruna'?

"(Ah, 'yakaruna Reddit'... here we go.)"

I'm spending a Hero Point for inspiration. I'm looking for something that's going to indicate where we can find the fish creature or otherwise know what we need to do stop it.

Well, she won't remember this conversation except as a dream, so...

From behind the people looking at the reclining Nia Carter, Benjamin raises his voice.

"Why are you and Dr. Wells so interested in the Amazon? What are you researching? Has something from the Amazon come here to Boston? Something dangerous?"

With a sigh, Benjamin takes his clothes off again. This time, he leaves his clothes in the limo (but bundled nicely on the seat instead of piled on the floorboard).

If anyone gives him a look or a hard time about his disrobing in their proximity, he replies, "Hey, this limo is nice and roomy. It could be way worse, like a Volkswagen or something."

When the party exits the vehicle to follow after Jonathan, Benjamin stays with them. He doesn't speak, so as not to give his presence away.

"Hey look, you guys need to get out of here! Hear those sirens?

"I'll get my things and meet up with you at the car. If you have to move it before I can get to you, I think I saw a park a few block north of here."

Later, after they've met back up...

"I think some of us should check out the History Museum. The Amazon exhibit there -- or someone who works there, maybe -- is somehow tied up in this. Remember that I found the flower and a ticket stub for that exhibit. I found it at Summer Harrington's memorial, but the ticket couldn't have been hers.

"It's either a clue or a trap!"

From two floors below and down the hall, Benjamin hears an explosion come from the general direction he knows the rest of the group to be. He turns about and heads to the nearest staircase to head up to the flambeed apartment. Assuming he doesn't see or encounter anyone unexpected, he darts past the Hyde-adjusted front door and into the apartment.

"What the hell are you guys doing? Is anyone hurt?"

As they rode in the limo to the apartment building, the group stating their intentions to slink into a specific apartment or two, Benjamin took a look around at the amazing abilities the others had and decides that they could handle the breaking and entering just fine. His unique ability, however, lent itself to Benjamin being the unseen watchdog. He would surveil the area, looking for signs of approaching sirens, prowling Amazonian fish monsters, or anything in between.

When the group exited the limo, Benjamin peeled off to hide in an alley or some other out of the way spot. There he stripped down and stashed his clothes out of sight. He's had a lot of experience hiding his bundle of clothes, so he knew how to recognize the best spots where they could remain unseen yet still readily available should he need them again. (And sometimes they would be gone when he came by to retrieve them or he wouldn't have the opportunity to retrieve them, and that's all right. That's just a minor hazard of the job.)

His communicator is a different matter, however. It could put the team or the maybe the entire organization in danger if it fell into the wrong hands. Fortunately, it was much easier to hide. He stashes the communicator nearby but in a separate location. Should his clothes be discovered, that doesn't mean his communicator will also be found.

Now completely invisible, Benjamin Griffin, the modern day Invisible Man, starts to move. He circles the building and wanders the halls of the apartment building, keeping an eye out for anything keeping an eye on the group. He's learned to be stealthy over the years, but if someone hears the brush of a footstep or hears a door close when nobody walks by, the human mind of observer is ready to provide an explanation to account for what their eyes are or are not seeing.

Hi gang, sorry for my absence. Things got really bust at home and work (not bad, just busy), so I was unable to keep up. I expect that I will be able to catch back up tonight or tomorrow. Sorry if I’m holding anything up! Move forward without me if you need to. I’ll retroactively react to anything I need to, and I’ll adapt to whatever the party has Benjamin doing.

I got a little lost, also. I thought Sekhmet was with with Helen and Benjamin, but I also wasn't sure if the three of them at Boston University was happening at the same time as the others at E-phemeral, because a PbP often moves from scene to scene not necessarily concurrently due to player availability.

Benjamin had asked a question over the communicators we all have about the Amazonian flower, and nobody but the GM responded; and then he shared his observation with the rest of the party about the Amazon River and Boston's Charles River, but nobody responded to that either. Understandable, since digital Kendall is kind of an important scene (especially for Sekhmet), but since Benjamin doesn't know anything about what's going on there, I was just going to wait until we regrouped or something happens with Helen before worrying about posting again.

And if you have any feedback on what we are doing here, I'm definitely open. I know some of you haven't found a way in yet, and I'm up for writing some new doors/scenes if that helps.

I'm not talking about me, and this is just theorizing, but it may also be that some PCs aren't strong investigators (or just don't have an "in" or any obvious wat to contribute to this investigation), but this is all we've done so far. Their times to shine may happen in other scenarios.

I don't think we've been working with dates for when the victims were drowned, but does the torn ticket stub show a date? If so, what is the date in relationship to when Summer Harrington was killed?

I was trying not to pin down specific dates. The ticket is from 8 days after she was found.

Same question but for the third victim, Laurel Montgomery. Is the ticket dated before or after her disappearance?

I'm going to give this one to Henrietta.

[dice=expertise: Mad Doctor to identify strange flower]d20+20

** spoiler omitted - but it identified the flower as from the Amazon **

Assuming Henrietta shares this information

"Huh. Okay, weird. Thanks," he mutters into the communicator they were each given.

After a moment, he continues. "I found this Amazonian flower at the memorial for Summer Harrington, set up where they think she entered the water. It was pinned on a board near a museum ticket where they have an exhibit about a guy who explored the Amazon."

Benjamin's voice pitch changes slightly as often happens when one is obviously reading something aloud. "Henry Walter Bates, who explored the Amazon basin from 1848-1852, returning with many artifacts."

He quickly glances up to make sure he's still following Helen, Sekhmet, and the professor, but not too closely that the professor can hear his words. He sends the picture he took of the ticket and a link to the museum's website talking about the exhibit in the group chat.

"The weird thing is, the ticket is dated after Summer Harrington died. So, what does this have to do with her? Does someone know what got her, and this is, like, some sort of clue? Not sure if any of the victims have anything to do with the Amazon, though. But is something from the Amazon river in the Charles River?"

Benjamin eyes the river the group is walking along as if he might expect to see a giant piranha surfacing.

Even though the summary of the museum exhibit doesn't take long to read, Benjamin stares at the text for a long time. Some tenuous connection is trying to form in the back of his mind, but he's not sure...

Benjamin falls back out of earshot of Professor Wilson, and then, over the communicator, he asks, ::I'm sending an image of an unusual flower via text. Can anyone identify it?::

He then creates a group chat with any of his team members that might have a phone number, and sends the picture of the flower he took at Summer Harrington's riverside memorial.

GM SuperTumbler wrote:

There are flowers, cards, burned down candles, photos of the deceased, what you would expect. The two things that stand out are an unusual flower and a torn ticket to the Boston University History Museum.

Benjamin uses his phone to snap a picture of ticket and the unusual flower.

If he feels he can do so without anyone seeing him, he'll remove the flower and pocket it. He'll then catch up to Helen and Sekhmet.

The ticket is from 8 days after she was found.

As he follows behind his partners talking to Professor Wilson, Benjamin is only half-listening as he pulls out his phone and tries to find out what -- if any -- exhibits might have been going on at the Boston University History Museum 8 days after Summer Harrington was found.

I don't think we've been working with dates for when the victims were drowned, but does the torn ticket stub show a date? If so, what is the date in relationship to when Summer Harrington was killed?

There are flowers, cards, burned down candles, photos of the deceased, what you would expect. The two things that stand out are an unusual flower and a torn ticket to the Boston University History Museum.

Benjamin uses his phone to snap a picture of ticket and the unusual flower.

If he feels he can do so without anyone seeing him, he'll remove the flower and pocket it. He'll then catch up to Helen and Sekhmet.

As Helen, Sekhmet, and Professor Wilson continue on their walk, Benjamin pulls out his phone and pretends to answer a call. After a moment of fake conversation, he turns to Helen.

"Ma'am? Sorry, it's Dr. Martin. Ez. Martinez. He has time now for the, um, the thing. The call. I'll catch up."

Holding the phone to his ear, he walks over to the river. When the others have walked out of sight, he goes over to the memorial they spotted that started the conversation about Ms. Harrington. He examines the picture, gifts, notes, etc. He's looking for anything that might give a clue about who she was close to, causes that were important to her, etc. Anything that might help him get a better sense of her life.

Investigation: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17

"So good to see you, and thanks for getting me out of my desk for a while."

"Yeah, I get that. Happy to help. We all need some fresh air now and again."

This coming from a man who appears to be dressed as if he was trying to keep as much of the fresh air off of him as possible.

"My assistant, Griffin. I hope it's alright if I bring him along, I've so much going on, he helps me keep track and is brilliant at it. He is also very discreet, never in the way, I promise you. Practically invisible sometimes!"

Benjamin gently snorts, but otherwise doesn't react too much to the 'invisible' crack. As Helen and Dr. Wise walk, Benjamin follows a step or two behind. Close enough to listen to their conversation, which is all he plans on doing unless he needs to interject with a question about Summer Harrington.

A cheetah running through Boston? Yeah, right.

In the news right now: Boston Dynamics' Cheetah Robot Now Faster than Fastest Human

Benjamin Griffin wrote:

"Well, if we're splitting up, there's no need for anybody to go alone. Want some company?"

Helen's usual amused half-smile pulls into a genuine smile of delight. "Thank you for offering, Griffin, I'd love some. Don't suppose you mind playing the role of dutiful research assistant and general factotum?"

"Uh, yeah sure, that makes sense. But if I have to make myself scarce to check something out, we should have a code phrase. Let's say that if I tell you that I need to get on a call with Martinez, I'll be gone for a while."

As the party approaches Boston, Helen contacts the Boston University linguistics department to find out if they'd be willing to show a visiting professor from Oxford around campus. She's doing some "personal research" in the area.

If they're game, she tells the group she'll try to get more information on the second girl, and also have an excuse to explore the area near where she died. "I know I said to start with the first, and we, collectively, can hopefully get some information on her, but I believe I'm the most likely of us to get an 'in' at a university, and we have the least information on Ms. Harrington."

"Well, if we're splitting up, there's no need for anybody to go alone. Want some company?"

Called a Pelvic Spur, apparently.

That's what she said

Benjamin flips through the files, not really knowing what he's looking for, and not finding anything that he thinks is helpful. He tosses the folders he was looking at on the table.

"They're each aged four years apart, increasing each time? The next blonde victim will be 35 years old?"

He throws his hands up. "I don't know, I think we should go visit where each lady was found and where the police think they 'fell' into the water. If there's anything there, we're more likely to see it because we're looking for signs the local investigators aren't."

If anyone needs help with how to do "gather information" or research style checks, let me know. Otherwise I'll assume you know what you are going. I don't want to make things too easy, but I know mysteries can be extra challenging in PbP, so I'm not opposed to helping out.

This comment made me evaluate the available skills, and especially the Investigation skill. It seem pretty straightforward? We'd roll an Investigation check to use the Analyze Evidence action. Presumably, you'd want us to be looking for something specific, or at least a particular line of inquiry.

You probably don't want us to say, "I roll Investigation! What do I learn?"

Best Mommy film of all time was Bubba Ho-Tep,

"I'm thinking with sand here!"

Benjamin notes from the reports the Colonel Green provides where the three drownings occurred. Perhaps there's a similarity.

I didn't like not having a picture for this alias, so I found this one that's appropriate for an Invisible Man, even if Benjamin doesn't wear a domino mask.

When Benjamin Griffin comes he walks over and greets his friend.

"Good not to see you here Benjamin, I hope all is good. And for the love of good fashion will you not let me have the design team make a decent mask for you. This obsession with street fashion is so and looking cool... Well you would not see dead in that look. Mind you it is practical so you have me there."

"Hey, I'd hate to lose anything fancy you made for me! The number of times I've had to stash some clothes for some reason and then didn't have a chance to come back and pick them up...

"By the way, I've stashed a couple outfits in one of the crew lockers. I'm assuming that's fine."

*********

After Colonel Green(way) mentions the locale of the drownings, the only thing Benjamin has to add is, "Boston? At least that's warmer than out here."

Are the two tooth/claw pictures on the slide the same item?

The door to the cabin opens just as an ill-timed arctic gust happens from that direction, blowing in cold air, some accumulated sleet, and a figure completely engulfed in a long, hooded parka. Benjamin Griffin stumbles in, yanking the door shut behind him.

"Whoo! I like the cold, but this is cold!" He yanks off his heavy jacket and hangs it on the peg of a likely coat rack by the door. He does not remove his baclava or ski goggles, leaving them to complete his ensemble of hiking boots, dark jeans, gloves, and long-sleeved black turtleneck.

"And this ship is amazing! Did you see the helicopter that just landed?"

If offered a drink, Benjamin politely passes and returns to his parka to pull out a stainless steel water bottle. "No thanks. I asked Eleanor to help me out with a smoothie."

He pulls the bottom of his baclava up to expose his mouth, which of course cannot be seen, and tips the water bottle to his lips for a drink. Despite the high turtleneck he wears, the thick green sludge of his "smoothie" can be seen being condensed into a tube as it pours down into Benjamin's torso, where it will remain visible until it's digested enough to be absorbed by his body.

Wish you the best with your storm.

Thanks! We're past it now.

The way your Concealment is built, people can hear you, just not SEE you. Unless you mean hear you over the sound of the bulldozer, but even then, as you wish.

Yes, I'm aware that he still makes sound. I did mean his yelling couldn't be heard over the sound of the bulldozer.

And when you can draft your backstory, please confirm when you've joined the team, so I can finish the Timeline.

Probably later than when you have him. He's only been on the team a few years, is what I'm feeling. The exact year isn't important to me.

How do you see the relationship with Jonathan Harker? Benjamin is relatively new to the team vs. the oldest man on the team.

Being new to this side of the world, he probably views all of his monstrous teammates with a mix of awe and fear. He probably wouldn't care too much that Harker is the oldest, but he wouldn't hold it against him. Perhaps if he Harker demonstrates some of the knowledge that his experience has gained him, Benjamin is likely to respect that.

Jonathan would have had many encounters with Invisible Men over the years. How do you want Jonathan to treat him?

I feel like that's up to you.

I don't find a lot of value in coming up with super-detailed backstories unless the GM has specifically requested them for world-building or plot hook reasons. Similar to Sekhment, my characters' voices doesn't really come together until I get the chance to play them.

Are we ready to get started in Gameplay?

Ready to go!

Hey gang, I’m in the midst of winter storm Enzo here in Houston. Everything’s fine, but internet service is very spotty. I’m not patient enough to type at the level a PbP requires on just my phone. :) FYI

I'm not totally certain re: Griffin, but his idealism seems like something that she would snark at while actually respecting.

I recognize that I haven’t gone too deep into Ben Griffin’s backstory. It occurs to me that I could clarify that his idealism/activism isn’t akin to a LG paladin, but closer to a low-key PETA or Greenpeace activist. I’m not intending to take that to absurd or annoying levels, but I think snarking at some of his ideals could be very appropriate.

Just as I was typing this, I was inspired by the idea of his invisibility coming on line after he had chained himself to a tree to prevent its destruction by a construction crew. He was only one of numerous activists, and after he turned transparent, nobody could hear him yelling as the bulldozer approached his tree. Nobody knew he was there, and he barely escaped with his life.

After that, he became too overconfident that his new ability made him unnoticeable as he enacted bolder and bolder acts of protest, and this eventually got him noticed by the folks behind the Monstrous Regiment. They were the ones who helped him realize his heritage, so he accepted their offer to join so that he could right past wrongs.

Session Zero: I'm not vehemently opposed to anything, but if the campaign devolves too much into gore, violence porn, or too many overtly sexual situations, my interest will most likely wane. If it works to enhance the story, fine; if it becomes the story, not so much.

As far as the Invisible Man's ability to be in certain compromising situations, that's why I deliberately made him as someone trying to karmaically correct the ignoble actions of past Invisible Men.

I'm not really against romance involving my PC, but I won't seek it out, and I prefer it remain mostly between panels.

Finally, a couple notes for the GM:

1) Can we get a Gameplay thread up so that we do the ol' dot-and-delete so that this thread appears on my campaign tab?

2) Also, since this is a Universal Monsters campaign, I've recently learned that Cocaine Bear is a Universal Studios movie. I'm just going to drop that tidbit out here and see what happens.

Okay, I think Son of the Invisible Man is ready! Feedback welcome!

I hope you like the alias picture I chose for this guy!

(I like "The Mummy's Bride" better, personally.)