Yeah, don't bother, Loup Blanc. This just isn't working out.
It probably doesn't come as a surprise to anyone when I say that I'm growing tired of this game. My last GM post was about a month ago, and neither me nor the players have been itching to push the game on. Moreover, my GM posts have been increasingly sparse and sloppy. I can't say the player activity has been up-to-standards either, but I suppose that traces back to my sloppy job as a GM. Or maybe all this is just because of the homebrew system, who knows.
In any case, this post officially concludes the Fisher St Club campaign.
I am a bit sorry about how it ended. Not about the whole slow death thing, most PbP games die that way. I am a bit sorry that the intricate plots were unsolved and unresolved. I will probably never GM this exact story again, so I see little reason not to reveal some "spoilers" about the plot (if they can be called such). You may ask for those via PM. Not gonna write anything in these threads.
However, I may host a similiar game in the future. If any of you wished to play again, I would more than like to see the same characters, or similiar backstories. As such, there will be no "spoilers" about player characters. Some of you did have a couple plots.
Following the public announcement of an assembling of an official task force, the members of Fisher St Club agree to lay off. It may not be what they would have preferred, but this was the best course of action.
Some members wisely agree to keep each others' phone numbers, and stay in touch, should anything change.
March 13 (Sat)
Two days later, the newspapers report another killing. The day earlier, on Friday, the Roshburg Killer claimed their eight victim: a male street food vendor, age 26.
This one was no different from the previous murders -- heart attack this time as well -- but the media and the public have takes this one with much more interest. A temporary shrine full of pictures and flowers has been made at the vicinity of the victim's usual spot where he sold hot dogs.
Thanks to the media attention, the name of the victim is public knowledge. Jerry Andrews.
The police have made their statements to the press, but there's nothing substantial. The task force will pursue this, they say. Hopefully with more success than so far.
March 18 (Thu)
Five days later, the newspapers have shocking headlines: a key member of the Roshburg Killer Investigations Task Force has been kidnapped.
No, Will, your character's suggestion was entirely reasonable (and in fact one of the directions I anticipated the plot to go). Your GM's been waiting for the others to react.
As always, remember that this is not a movie or a video game. Your characters do exactly what they want, and their wants are based on the players' wants. I, as your GM, can only nudge your (the players') wants by the way of win conditions; and that has already happened. That is to say, everything hereupon is in your (collective) hands.
If your cadre of civilian detectives does decide to step back, we'll have a time skip until (something) happens and changes the situation. And you can bet that I already know what that something could be. Either way, the plot advances.
After successfully entering Herring's building unnoticed by the watchers, he headed to the Herring's apartment, and rang the doorbell. To his moderate surprise, the door was opened, by an elderly woman. Jake made up a story about being a friend of the late Lewis Herring. The woman let him in. Even though Herring had only been dead for two weeks or so, the apartment had already been handed over to the next person. Apartments in Fatman Street are in high demand due to the street's good location and the relative cheapness of the apartments, and the landlord was eager to get more rent money flowing in. At least that's what she explained.
She was Lewis's mother, Nancy Herring. She was there to move the last of Lewis's belongings to her home. She had mourned the first week and a half, and had only started the process recently.
Jake asked if there was anything out of the ordinary before he died. If he had mentioned any trouble, or any new people in his life. Jake also asked, after a bit of hesitation, about what the union man said, that Herring had skipped work a couple of times.
Nancy told Jake that something new did indeed happen in Lewis's life shortly before his death. On March 24, the day before his death, Lewis had called her and told her that he'll get to be in a magazine. Some journalist went around and took pictures of construction workers, even interviewed some of them, Lewis included. The name of the magazine was Inspire. Lewis had always been excited to be featured in media.
Nancy could only guess why Herring would have skipped work. A few months before his death Lewis had found God; maybe he was doing volunteer work for the church? Both her and Jake noted that it would be odd to skip real work to do volunteer work. Nancy, being in her 60's, was not that much part of Lewis's life, and didn't know his private life all that well.
"Pay?" Shades repeats, laughingly, "Ha, what for? No worries, Mr. Ada, you didn't interrupt anything. And we probably aren't here tomorrow."
"Hey hey, you may be cool enough to be polite, but I ain't gonna refuse free money--" Ponytail tries to butt in, but Shades stops him.
The mature man introduces himself. "The name's Cooper. Richard Cooper. You must be busy, Mr. Ada. I hope we can meet again some other time. We'll get going, once my friend finishes his sandwich..."
"What can I say, it's a big sandwich, ya?" But it was not a very large sandwich.
Will realizes that Jake is nowhere to be seen: he must have managed to slip in, unnoticed. Surely the two suspicious suitmen would have reacted already if they were going to. Now that he has been bid farewell, Will has a feeling that this is a good chance to leave the cafe table, and safely avoid a bullet.
A few moments later, Will's phone rings. It's Jake. He confirms that he got inside the building, and asks how things went with the watchers. He'll snoop around: Will should head home.
(There probably was something more you could have done, but since the other team is pulling back, this is a good chance to call it quits. All in all it's a mission complete!)
Team 2:
The team pulls back. They had scouted the area, found the watchers, taken notes of the watchers' license plate, and found out who the car is registered to. Though there was little progress with House's case, the team didn't draw any unwanted attention to themselves.
March 11 (Thu) 7:00
The next morning, the newspapers have an eye-catching headline: "THE POLICE FINALLY TAKE ACTION AGAINST THE KILLER"
"In yesterday's press conference, the City of Roshburg Police Department (RPD) announced that they're pursuing the series of heart attacks as a criminal case," says the article. It seems that even with the announcement, the authorities are still reluctant to talk about specifics. When a reporter asked, "How do you think the Killer is committing these crimes?", the media specialist didn't give a straight answer. But they did say something relevant: "Due to the uniqueness of the situation, the RPD has assigned a special task force for this case. We have confidence saying that if anyone can find the truth behind these deaths, it's this task force."
(Day-time actions: in-thread, or via PM.)
17:00
The secret meeting place slowly fills with the Fisher St Club members.
Will continues the chat-slash-interrogation with the two suspicious suitmen. He makes a quick glance over his shoulder, and sees that Jake is starting to sneak inside. Shades and Ponytail don't seem to notice... yet. (One more "line of dialogue" should be enough to buy time for Jake. Your Manipulation roll is probably not going to get them to answer your question, but it did seem to make them willing to talk, at least.)
"'Supernatural', huh. That's funny," echoes Shades. "I thought I was living in a realistic world, but now I find myself in a blockbuster movie. Take a seat, mister, hm...?" He's asking for Will's name.
Ponytail has a subtle, wily grin on his face.
(Oh, and make a Perception roll. Actually I'll roll it for you... the DC is pretty average.) Will's Perception:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14
Something catches Will's attention. Ponytail has his right arm in his jacket pocket, but the shape of the pocket doesn't reflect that as it should. It's just like in the movies: he has a gun in his pocket, and is aiming directly at Will.
"Yeah, Imma metal fan. Grew my hair long,"
Ponytail says.
Team 2:
(The conversation is all good, but what will you do now? Are you withdrawing?)
(Your company will sneak in as you speak. I imagine your shades are pretty pimp and fly? Ponytail's shades are tough guy glasses, "don't mess with me" is what they're trying to say. Roll Fashion.)
(....Wait, don't tell me Fashion isn't a skill in this system? Bah, straight to the garbage can, the whole thing!...)
Well, uh, who am I covering now? Anybody? I guess I can just keep going to try and pull some information.
Before I can keep going, I still need an answer to this question. Am I still trying to cover somebody? If not, there's really no reason to continue trying to talk to these guys, since I couldn't even tell they were being shifty about the obvious thing they were shifty about.
But if I am still doing the same as I previously was, I guess I should have rolled Deception, right?
Players Handbook wrote:
Distract someone temporarily: DC 11 distracts them for a few seconds, after which they get an opposed People roll every 10 seconds to realize they’re being distracted, each time the DC of the People roll decreasing by 1.
If you want, we can treat it as though Jake was an NPC. So. If I remember/understood correctly, the plan was that while you occupy the suitmen Jake and Freeman slip inside Herring's building.
That DC 11 distraction is for "look at me! and not at the stuff going on in the background!", so yep, that works here. As a side note, it's not the same as "look, a flying pig! right behind you!". Do these things have proper, separate terms? They are both distractions, but different kinds of distractions...
(It seems to you that these suspicious G-men in suits are just enjoying a break... while probably keeping a watch on something.)
Team 2:
Milo makes a phone call to a coworker in FBI, and asks her to pull some info on the given license plate, "ERB 552".
"Hm-hm, give me a moment. Echo-Romeo-Bravo Five-Five-Two..." the coworker, Ms. Poppet, thinks aloud on the phone. "That's registered to a Morris Marley. Want me to make a 4-0-0 on him?"
4-0-0 is code for "background research". Milo affirms.
"Morris Marley, age 41. Occupation: unemployed, as far as I can find. He has a criminal record, from 1999, attempted robbery of a jewelry store. He got caught, but the court was merciful because it was his first offense and he carried no weapon, and Morris only got one year of jail time. Marital status single, no kids."
"Is he a suspect? If you ask me he doesn't sound like the con artist you're pursuing."
Wow, that is indeed problematic. I heard a suggested alternative, that we could migrate to some other RPG forum where none of us is banned, allowing us to continue with Sundakan.
However, I do not want to do that. We've set the game up here, and it's very convenient having all of my PbP games in a same place. As unfortunate as it is, Sundakan will be forced to quit this game.
With that, we are down to four players.
Archae, Loup Blanc, Nicos, Smashomancer. What would you like to do in this situation?
Will steps out of the car and walks to the two suitmen at the cafe. (Hm-hm. Didn't say they were sitting, but they might as well be. Especially because they're eating.)
"Yo, we're inna lunch here if ya don't mind, so get lost," one of the suitmen, the one with the ponytail and no shades, says. Standing close to him, Will sees that the ponytailed watcher has a long scar on his neck. Time has healed it, so it must be from some time ago. The ponytail suitman seems to be in his fourties.
The other suitman, the one with the shades, who seems a bit older and more stable, puts out his hand as a sign of pacification. "He doesn't mean to be rude. We are enjoying a break from work," he gives a meaningful look to his partner, "eating a well-deserved meal. But what's the talk about murder? Is it about that Killer?"
(People DC 6 says they're hiding something (duh). To get to specifics, you'd need to beat...) Shades's Deception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
"...Who even says 'my people', huh? Is that supposta mean ya family?" asks Ponytail as he takes a bite out of a sandwich.
(Your Manipulation takes some more time to kick in... if it worked on them in the first place. Keep the conversation going, or back off, or bring something new to the discussion.)
Team 2:
Milo and Adrien ponder about the situation. Adrien memorizes the license plate.
Artemiy walks back to the car, and they rethink the situation.
(That's a nice plan. Do you do it? And give a roll to accompany it.)
Artemiy's Team 2:
Adrien and Milo stay in the car while their Russian ally takes a walk, incognito. They're gauging for a reaction.
Artemiy wanders around the block, circling the victim's house. Desiree House had found a nice place to live in. The grass on the front lawn is pleasantly green, even now in March. The backyard is not overly large, but spacious enough for some homely activities like BBQ feasts, or kids playing soccer. The iron fence that surrounds the plot is about 5 feet tall, giving a sense of security.
Such details may not interest Artemiy all that much, but they tell him one key word about this neighborhood: sheltered. This is the American Dream, so to speak, this is what families want their kids to grow up in. The neighborhood watch must also be pretty effective, considering that the people who live here are families with kids: people would be vigilant and notice anything out of the ordinary.
And so does Artemiy. One of the cars parked in front of House's house doesn't fit in. Almost every house here has a parking garage. In front of the houses that don't have garages sit spacious, well-maintained family cars or minivans.
The odd one out, which catches Artemiy's attention, is a dark olive Folkswagon with tinted windows. Really tinted windows. Artemiy is pretty sure that's on the territory of illegally dark windows. The Folkswagon is kind of sports-y, and probably not a family car.
Artemiy walks past the car, without paying too much attention, and simulatenously without drawing too much attention to himself. As he passes the car, he can just barely see the silhouettes of two men inside the Folkswagon. The tinted windows make it difficult to see inside, but Artemiy guesses that the men are wearing suits. And no points for guessing what two men would be doing, sitting in the car like that. The suspicions are confirmed.
Meanwhile, Adrien and Milo are seeing how the neighborhood (or potential suitmen watchers) react to Artemiy's wandering. The response is negative, it seems. The mothers are closing the curtains in their homes, peeking outside. A jogger even switches to the opposite sidewalk when he approaches the Russian man. Clearly the Russian did not go unnoticed.
The log in the campaign info page is quite useful, but a list of the things we have found would be of great help to remember things. stuffs like the name of the victims, the day the died and etc.
An excellent suggestion! I'll see what I can do. I'll list some discoveries you've made. To be clear, I'll only list stuff that you've discovered AND thought relevant. For example, if the ramblings of the homeless conspiracy theorist (see here) were somehow plot-related, it would technically be a thing you "discovered", but because you obviously didn't find it relevant I won't list it under the discoveries. Also worth noting is that just because you discover something doesn't mean it's true.
In a nutshell: Think of the list as a shortcut to the stuff you'd want to reference, not as a final list of progress made.
On a semi-unrelated note, there's a moderately significant typo in the list of victims. The first victim was 20 years old, not 29.
(I'll interpret the silence as agreement to Jake's plan. I've decided the team compositions (randomly, arbitrarily, or maybe after some secret fashion). Changes to team compositions can be made at request.)
(Team 1 (Jake, Will, and Freeman) goes to investigate Herring, and perhaps the suitmen who're watching Herring.)
(Team 2 (Adrien, Artemiy, and Milo) goes to investigate the fourth victim, Desiree House, who died in her home.)
Jake's Team (1):
You drive back to Fatman Street, which is a long street of lower and middle class apartment buildings, where Herring lived. While driving through Fatman Street you pass by a homeless man spouting conspiracy theories. "Silent Night was an inside job! The Unheard are controlling the government! Big corporations decide your vaccines!"
As you drive closer to Herring's place, Will notices that once again there are two suitmen standing on the street, opposite to Herring's building.
You stop the car(s), and watch the watchers for a moment. While both of them are wearing black suits, one of them is wearing shades. While it's somewhat hard to tell, but Will can tell that these two are not the same suitmen as last time. The suitmen from yesterday both had short hair: one of today's suitmen has a ponytail. Right now they're having lunch, eating sandwiches.
(What will you do now?)
Artemiy's Team (2):
Yesterday Adrien's group tracked down House's home address. Desiree House was the Killer's fourth victim, and she was found dead in her home.
You drive to Crescent Rd., to House's home address. Crescent Rd. is a neighborhood with a good reputation, and most of the residents are probably upper-middle class. One of Roshburg's middle schools is located on the very same street, making Crescent Rd. a wanted place for families with children.
You reach House's house, a detached house. There are no lights in House's home, a bit unsurprisingly. Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary: the team doesn't immediately spot any suitmen watchers.
Oh man, a full AT? Here's what I'm thinking, again keeping in mind playing off of what we did in the mission...
Back in the Game: Artemiy used to be a lot more hands-on with dangerous activities, and he's gotten rusty over the years. B&E work and a fistfight are more familiar activities to him than most people, and the struggles he had helped remind him of the way things used to be. He now has a +1 on Agility rolls and Unarmed melee rolls.
How's that look?
Looks fine, though it probably should apply on all Melee skill rolls, like usual.
Will Wesson wrote:
After his lack of successes, Will decides he'll need a sharper tongue than usual. He gains +1 AP to a manipulation roll.
The other half goes to Computers. Must be all those phone calls or something.
Adrien Chevalier wrote:
+1 to perception
And another in Shooting. If those suitmen had pulled a gun on you, you'd know what to do.
I'm noticing you're writing +2 on your character sheet. As a reminder, AP is not a +1 bonus. It's a 1-use "token" that you exchange to make a roll result better.
Indeed, the Oppi-cola company, the one and only, has a HQ in Roshburg. The multi-million, global company has other headquarters in other countries as well, but the Roshburg HQ is one of the biggest, even in the States.
"Is it possible that Maxhold was the real intended victim, and all the others were just a distraction?" Delgado asks.
"Maxhold was the second victim, right?" says Freeman.
"Third."
"Third, okay. Either way, there's been four victims after Maxhold. That's quite a distraction."
Keep meaning to do that and getting sidetracked. I'll try and do that tonight, but with no price listed for things like a fake ID (and how would those of us without black market connections aquire the more shady items, anyway?) and no way to measure how effective the items would be, it's kind of hard to figure out exactly what to buy in the first place.
Will post more later.
Fake ID can be difficult (read: you'll need to go out your way) to buy without Black Market Connections, true. Without Black Market Connections, you'd need to spend time acquiring it. It can mean the time during the day ("off-screen"), or as a side-track during a mission ("on-screen"), or in secret (via PM); either way there'd be a challenge and a risk involved.
We're going with the price tags of IRL, or, when that's too hard or bothersome to find, with whatever feels right or makes sense. In other words, google it. If you don't find anything after 5 minutes, give me a PM or ask here.
As for how useful the things are, it's true that you're walking on uncharted territories. No one's played this game before, so no one can tell you whether you should invest in weaponry, get-away vehicles, gadgets, technology, etc. I might suggest a little bit of everything, or buy whatever you think would help on a mission, or buy what you think your character would buy.
Milo Halden wrote:
i've been meaning to just buy basic equipment and things...i have a bit of money burning a hole in my pocket
Money is a superpower, after all.
In retrospect, +$500,000 is beginning to feel a little low for a "superpower" that should be equal to a Talent. Hm.
All right, that looks like some missions wrapped up.
Adrien and Will, you completed a mission. At least it wasn't a failure, and you did get some (useful?) info. For your efforts you get the Advancement Point. Once again, choose one skill, and the GM chooses another.
Artemiy, Jake, and Milo (Team 1): your mission was pretty cool, and a bit larger-scale than Team 2's. For your efforts, you get an Advancement Talent, as opposed to a simple Advancement Point. Begin the creative process, describe your AT here.
Advancement Talent wrote:
After completing a larger-scale mission, you get an "Advancement Talent". As a general rule, an Advancement Talent should be much less profitable than a full Talent. In practice, this means that it should be on the power level of: +1 bonus on a skill along with some other minor benefit, +1/+1 bonus on two skills, or some other benefit.
Once again, the process of designing a Talent (whether it's full or not) is art, not science.
It seems that Malcolm didn't show up. (OOC you of course know why. IC, you might give him a call: at least Adrien and Jake have his phone number. Malcolm may explain that he has had a change of heart, or something.)
Adrien takes a moment to investigate the Labrador Street meeting place. From what he can tell, everything's the same as yesterday. No new messages or envelopes from the Sponsor, either.
(No clues around. Side note: in this game when you roll Perception and get the result of "you don't find anything", it means there isn't anything to be found. When you investigate using Perception, you automatically find all the clues there are. If time permits, of course. If time is limited, the plot thickens.)
While Milo dashes to the security room to wipe clean the surveillance videos, "Mister Jingles" heads straight out the way they entered the building.
Jake hurries to his car, and listens to the sirens howling in the night. He waits a few seconds, and when the sound gets too close to comfort, he steps on the gas. The Russian exits the office building just as O'Malley leaves the scene at the speed limit. (I forgot, do you drive your own car?)
However, the police don't show up at the taxi center. The blare of police sirens moves past the area, and then quiet down. It seems the police were on a hurry to someplace else.
In the meantime, Milo has had a good opportunity to find his way to the security room. There are rows of monitor screens in the room, but only some of them are turned on, each displaying the vision of a different security camera.
No one seems to present: maybe the night guard was alone. And the police sirens seem to quiet down, too. Now Milo can take his time to eliminate the discriminating evidence. Just like that, the security videos from last night are copy-and-pasted over tonight's.
Before the night guard wakes to consciousness, Milo and the Russian make their leave.
Team 2:
(They didn't take pictures of you; or not with a camera you'd see, anyway. If there is a hidden telescope camera somewhere in here, you're not going to spot it very easily.)
To minimize the risks, the quartet leaves the scene.
March 10 (Wed) 7:00
The morning comes. Same sun over same earth.
The members of Fisher St Club may find today's newspaper to be worth reading. It seems some people broke into a taxi company last night. The sole eye witness, the night guard working there, reports "at least two" burglars, one of whom was spoke Russian. The police are investigating this, and are welcoming to tips.
There's also some interesting headlines. "BOLD ELECTRONICS THEFT", "TVs and computers stolen: worth tens of thousands". Last night a shipment to an electronics shop was intercepted by an armed criminal. The robber had made a road block to stop the truck full of electronics. The truck driver was coerced into moving the contents of the truck into the robber's own car. When the crime was reported, and the authorities gave chase, the robber had already managed to disappear. The authorities suspect organized crime to be behind this.
(If there's anything noteworthy you'd like to do during the day time, say it now or give me a PM or something.)
17:00
Once again, members of the Fisher St Club gather at the same place, at the same time.
okay need some obscure information, whats the distance from a windom to the ground? and are any of the windows not on the main road.
(You're at 2nd floor, so... about 20 feet drop. It would hurt badly if you just jumped. Got any good ideas on how to get down without breaking a leg?)
Will Wesson wrote:
What time is it? If its late enough we probably have to call it a night.
(Well, the last time check was here: it was 19:15 a couple of minutes back. It's now 19:20 or something. And you don't necessarily need to retreat at this point. The watchers are a problem, however, and it could be a big risk, so it's understandable if you don't have any better ideas.)
Jake O'Malley got what he wanted: mission successful by all standards. But acquiring the evidence is the easy part: now the Fisher St Club must act on it. But how will a list of addresses help them? And how is it possible that there was no signs of struggle, no single piece of evidence pointing to a murder?
As he ponders these thoughts while walking to his car, he hears a police siren blasting in the city night. The siren comes from a few blocks away... and it's coming this way. If the police are coming here, they'll arrive in less than two minutes. (You're at the parking lot, halfway from the victim's car to your own.)
And those two are still inside the office building.
Using his weight and muscle, the Russian man pins the night guard down, and slowly silences him to unconsciousness. More than likely the guard will live to see another day with no permanent damage. Tonight, however, he's not coming back up.
The radio phone is silent. The distress signal attempts didn't go through, it seems: otherwise someone on the other end would be asking questions. It was a close call.
The Russian spots his cyber-investigator ally, Milo, sneaking around. Just at that moment, both of them hear a distant, faint police siren coming from outside.
(What will you do now?)
Team 2:
Will walks to his car while giving a warm (and fake) smile to the G-men.
(I take it you just want to leave the scene? If so, okay... where to next?)
See, I was under the impression that the first setting question ("People don't drink Coca-Cola, they drink ____. ") was the extent of the reskinning of everyday nouns. Products and property, not as much places and people. What reinforced this (I guess, wrong?) impression for me was when I sent a PM to the GM mentioning that exact thing, and he hadn't mentioned the alternate states. So, I just kinda figured we grew an extra state for the sake of gameplay.
Again, the setting is whatever the plot demands it to be. If you want Will to be from Minnesota (not Winnesota), then by all means. Then we have established two states out of fifty (Quilsana and Minnesota). Plenty of room for future development.
And you're also right, the Bland-name reskin doesn't apply to all things. Products and propery, not countries. There's also a mix of alternate history going on, but that doesn't stretch quite as far to imply changes in geopolitics. (Notably, the Cold War is still a thing, at least to some degree, as established here.)
Sorry if I accidentally confused you. Is everything clear and satisfactory now?
Will Wesson wrote:
They're pretty far away if I'm picturing the scene correctly. Unless they're hiding AK's in their pants, I don't think we'll see much anyway.
The equivalent of "Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies". Two G-men pull out assault rifles and gun you down.
Artemiy runs into the night guard, stopping his escape.
Guard's Opposed Melee:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14 Guard's Endurancce:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10(DC 17 = your result + 2 per past rolls.)
The mighty tackle sends the night guard to the floor, and the impact throws the radio phone away from his hand. It slides a couple of feet forward, away from both the guard's and Artemiy's reach.
The Russian is now on top of the night guard, and in a prime position to emerge victorious. ("If you attack a character who is down and land a blow, you may choose to either kill them, wound them badly, or make them unconscious.")
----
With the key to the important car in his pocket, Milo hastily erases signs of his intruding, turns off the company head's computer, and exits the room. He uses stealth as he heads for the building's exit, but then a thought occurs to him:
What about surveillance videos? Though this may be a relatively small business, it should be obvious that there'd be surveillance cameras. Fortunately, Milo's Russian ally seems to be currently taking care of the night guard, so getting into the security room and erasing the surveillance videos should not be a problem.
However, there's a risk involved: if there are more than one night guards present tonight. It's unlikely, but it's possible. (What will you do now?)
----
Jake is wrapping up the investigation. But what's taking those guys so long? (So... what'll you do now?)
Team 2:
Will slowly gets back to his car. (I'm not 100% sure what you're trying to do here, and it may not even need a roll. Are you trying to determine if they'd react to you "leaving"?)
(In that case the answer is: "Not really?" They could exchange a few whispers, but that's all the outward reactions you'd get. There's support for Adrien's guess that these suitmen are keeping a watch on the late Herring.)
(Keep the AP. Like I said, I'm not sure if this was a roll-worthy. As a rule of thumb, it's a good idea to say what your character is doing, and why.)
Adrien tries to memorize their faces, but from this distance it's going to be difficult.
Kinda but not really. Sometimes there's no need for input some players. If Adrien has anything worthwhile to do, all the better.
I want to put thought and effort to my posts, so it happens that I can't/won't post every day. Today is one of those days when I'll probably take it slow.
By the way, Milo, roll another Computers. It's your Occupation Skill.
Green Smashomancer wrote:
So, what state does Quilsana replace? Or do we just have a really weird pattern of stars now?
The Magic 8 Ball says: "Ask again later." Huh.
There's no answer for this question (yet), which means I did not envision this to be very important. I imagine it that in alternate!America, each state is replaced with fictional ones. Is there a reason you ask?
"Wh- GAH!" A slight lapse in the guard's concentration gives Artemiy a chance to get back on his feet thanks to quick thinking and good moves. He pushes the night guard away.
Guard's Endurance:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17
The two are at equal footing now. This could be anyone's game, it seems. But suddenly the night guard turns tail, and tries to create a distance to the intruding Russian. His hand grabs the radiophone... (What will you do now?)
----
Meanwhile Jake is investigating the taxicab. His trained gaze knows just where to look when he searches the seats and the glove compartment and leg space. He immediately finds a small pad of paper, stored near the driver's seat. In this pad of paper there are numerous addresses on each of its pages. Jake draws the conclusion that these are the addresses the taxi driver picked his clients up from, sorted by day. On the surface page, which is presumably the latest, there are only four addresses. Perhaps Parks only had time to make four trips on his last day.
153 Dusty Chapel Lane
7 New Wilson St.
39 West Maudel St.
10 Blackview St.
Dusty Chapel Lane is somewhere in the central area, New Wilson St. rings no bells for Jake, West Maudel is also somewhere in the central area, and finally Blackview St. is also unknown to Jake.
This could be an important piece of evidence. (Do you take it with you, or do you just make a copy to your own notebook and leave the original where you found it?)
Jake continues the search. After just 1 minute, he reaches an unpleasant conclusion: there are no other physical clues here. No signs of struggle, no traces of chemicals, nothing. (You found all the clues here, and one of the clues is: there are none here. You are sure of that.)
Team 2:
Will addresses the suitment from his side of the street. "Oh, nothing," one of them responds.
The two suitmen start acting a bit more "normal" now, and stop the transparent staring. One of them takes out a newspaper and starts reading it (or, more likely, pretends to read it). But they're still clearly keeping an eye on you.
The Russian man rushes forward, stabbing the poor night guard at the throat with his bare hand. (He saw it coming, so he gets an opposed roll. His "intimidated" status was already in your Advantage, so he has no Disadvantage on his roll.)
Opposed Melee:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16
However, the night guard survives the assault as he shoves Sewick's arm aside at the last second. Flight or fight reflexes kicking in, probably. He grabs Artemiy by the jacket, and tries to pin him down.
Artemiy is caught off-guard by the sudden counter-maneuver: he finds himself at the floor, with the night guard on top of him. He's trying to get a better hold of the nightly intruder. If he manages to do that, he could have a free hand to speak to his radiophone. (Tough luck. As per the Combat rules, you now have Disadvantage in Melee rolls.)
Milo, in the boss's office, hears the ruckus from the fight in the corridor. But he has faith in the Russian's abilities, and gets to work. (Occupation skill doesn't give a +5, but it does give you an Advantage: a free "roll twice, take better".)
Milo's Computers:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19(With the Hacker talent, the DC drops from 21 to 16.)
The password protection cracks like a biscuit under Milo's aptitude, and the encrypted files reveal their secrets to the new master.
It seems that Ron Parks was doing a regular gig on the day of his death. He had no customers when he died: the car was sitting at the time Parks had a heart attack, around 1 PM. On that day, he had four customers: one in the morning at 9 AM, another at 10 AM, the third at 11 AM, and the fourth at noon. The key to his cab is in the boss's drawer, just nearby: how convenient! (If you want to leave no trace about your intrusion, make another Computers roll as you exit.)
Meanwhile Jake has used a coat hanger, from his car, to open the taxi cab's door. It's not the most elegant solution: it left a few small scratches at the door. Luckily they're practically unnoticeable without close examination.
The car door is open. Though the cab isn't the newest model, the interior is relatively clean and neat. It's hard to imagine someone's died in the very same car, just a month ago. Of course, not for Jake the former FBI agent, it isn't.
(What will you do now?)
Team 2:
"Wouldn't surprise me," offers Delgado.
"Isn't this a bad thing?" asks Freeman. "We must be looking suspicious now, don't we?"
(Will: I just meant that, if you have questions about the mission. Like how Milo asked some time ago. Yeah. Don't think too hard about OOC stuff like this. I'm not giving any "hints" or "are you SURE you want to..." kind of things.)
(I'm going to try out a PbP GM'ing technique where I bold certain keywords for emphasis. Let me know if this is nice thing or a step back.)
Team 1:
Jake, ever the team mate, proceeds to exit the building. A tactical, calculated move, certainly. But his team mates may not think that way. (Malcolm is there with you. But he's kind of in the limbo stage of having a minimal existence and presence.)
Artemiy's Endurance-Intimidate:9 + 6 = 15
The Russian man, despite the pressuring lights, shows his tough and fierce side. The night guard freezes for a quick moment, perhaps out of instinctual fear. And who could blame the man: he's been patrolling a supposedly-empty building in the night and then comes face-to-face with a man like Sewick. (He'll snap out of it very soon. But the tides have turned: now YOU have an Advantage on your next roll against the night guard, whatever it is. I suspect Melee? You need to act quickly.)
Milo oversees this encounter, and decides to sneak off, to find a computer to use. He quickly finds the perfect room for this task: it looks to be some boss's office. It's hard to tell in the complete darkness. Fortunately the door has no lock, and Milo slips in.
Milo is now in his element: with a computer in front of him. (While you make your roll, remember to say what kind of things you're looking for.)
Meanwhile, Jake casually but hurriedly walks around the parking lot. UYA 777... UYA 777... This would be a lot easier with a flashlight, but that would draw attention. UYA 777... There. Jake's found the victim's car. It was closer to the office building than expected. (What will you do now?)
Team 2 aka WWWW:
Someone's been paying attention: Adrien has been watching the watchers for a while now, subconsciously, acknowledging their presence. The two suitmen have been there all this time, watching your team arrive at the scene and interview the caretaker.
They're just standing there, not even leaning against a wall or anything, heads turned towards your team. How suspicious. Their faces are unremarkably "basic": one has short black hair and the other has short medium brown hair.
(What will you do now? Remember that you can always ask if there's something you'd like to be reminded of.)
so guys what are we looking for again, might affect my decision
(Your mission here was to investigate the crime scene of the second victim, Ron Parks the taxi driver. There's a parking space outside the building, and that's where the victim's cab is. You're here to find out which car belonged to Parks, and get the key. Milo doesn't know that Jake has exited the building.)
(You're also looking for "not getting caught" because breaking and entering is a crime.)
Team 2:
(He probably wouldn't normally tell you something like that, so that looks like you're using Manipulation, for a total result of 7. But eh, let's give you a reroll, let's say you wanted to use 2d10, you didn't know what skill this was...)
Will uses his lawyer-honed silver tongue, trying to get more out of the caretaker. At first it looked like the old man doesn't get paid enough to care, but he's surprisingly sharp:
"Now I don't think I should be telling anyone these resident's private info. Sorry for your loss. Now please excuse me."
The caretaker returns to his work. Which is cleaning the windows. In retrospect, the man probably didn't know that much about the victim, anyway.
Adrien notices two men in suits on the opposite side of the street. The way they keenly observe your team is unnerving. Delgado seems to have noticed too.
"...How long have those guys been standing there?" she speaks quietly.
Again, not sure what intimidation would fall under... I could argue that a physical threat like this might fall under Endurance (physical/mental toughness), but of course I have a bias on that. I'll roll a straight d20 and you can determine what modifiers if any apply.
Hm, never put much thought into how intimidation would fit into the rules. I suppose I mentally filed it under "NPCs do what they would normally do = no Diplomacy", but it makes sense that PCs would be able to gain advantage by intimidation.
Let's say there are many ways to intimidate, and some skills used for intimidation work better than others for certain people. For example, a police officer wouldn't be intimidated by waving around a gun (Shooting), whereas a superstitious person would be more vulnerable to spooking (Occultism).
You, tough guy, can totally use Endurance to intimidate. Flex some muscles, show those guns.
I guess some skills are easier to justify than others (Melee, Endurance, and People are the most simple ones). I struggle to think of ways to intimidate with Agility. Maybe by showing off your deft hands by playing with a weapon? And good luck figuring out how to use Driving to scare someone.
Jake whispers those words to his Russian friend, and starts sneaking towards the exit. The Russian, on the other hand, goes upstairs to check in on Milo Halden.
On the second floor, Milo is thinking about how to move around without alarming the guard (or whoever the person moving around with the flashlight is). Artemiy reaches the top of the stairs, and it just so happens that the guard turns his flashlight in his direction. There is nothing the Russian can do to avoid the ray from illuminating him completely.
Artemiy has a split second time to curse his luck. "HEY! STOP!" the person shouts, predictably. Because of the blinding light currently pointed at Artemiy, he has trouble seeing. (You have Disadvantage in your next roll, whatever it is. Good luck.)
Milo's Agility:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16
Milo stays in the shadows, undetected. He's at the position to observe the situation as he has a relatively unobscured view of both the guard and the Russian. The person with the flashlight is, as suspected, a night guard. Uniform, cap, and everything. He doesn't look that menacing, physically speaking, and could be overpowered. But perhaps Milo is more suited for outsmarting. Right now the night guard is reaching for his radio phone. (What will you do now?)
The "hey"-shout was distantly heard on the first floor, and it does not go unheard by Jake, who has his senses attuned for things like this. (What will you do now? Spend too much time thinking, and you may not make it there in time. Or...)
(Indeed, I agree with both of these thoughts; acquiring the car keys means you won't risk getting caught trying to lock-pick the car. On the other hand, the risk of triggering an alarm is small. Either way is a risk, but they are different kinds of risks. What will Jake do?)
(Will: No roll needed here. The only lie is that that's not your real name, a minor thing the caretaker has no way of realizing. No Manipulation either: Manipulation is for "Subtly manipulate an NPC into doing something they wouldn’t normally do". The rules suggest the use of Manipulation takes some period of time. For stuff like this, you just speak and they respond.)
Team 2:
"Herring?" the caretaker ponders. He is a tired-slash-bored-looking man in his fifties. If stereotypes are anything to go by, he's nice but not very bright. "...The one who died, is that who you're talking about? Rest his soul, poor man, he died so young too."
"Why, are you his friends?" You get the impression he's had conversations like this before, and is both weary and wary of them.
(NOW would be a good time for Deception. If you want, that is.)
While Jake takes a look around for clues, assisted by the Russian man, Milo wanders off to see what else is in the building.
It won't take long for Jake to find the most important thing: employee records, lying around open on some secretary's desk. It seems that it has been in recent use — unsurprising, given that the company just lost an employee. Mr. Sewick finds his way to Jake and the desk, too.
It seems that Parks drove the cab number 43498, license plate UYA 777. Makes a superstitious person wonder, doesn't it. In any case, now all the team needs is the car keys. Jake can say, with enough confidence, that the company probably keeps their keys on the second floor.
In the mean time, Milo ascends to the second floor. He doesn't get far before he sees a ray of light, moving, around the corner. He silently takes a peek, and sees that there's someone walking in the corridor. Fortunately for Milo and the entire team, the guard seems to be walking away from Milo, and quite clearly hasn't noticed the intruder.
23:15
(What will you do now?)
Team 2:
19:15
As per Adrien's suggestion, you decide to speak with someone who works for the block. The team quickly spots someone you can safely assume to be the caretaker — the work clothes and cleaning equipment tell as much. He stops his current cleaning-related activities when you approach him.
Artemiy interrupts the process, perhaps a bit hastily, but his quick and deft hands hold the lockpick steady. The alarm is not triggered, and he expertly finishes the job. The door is unlocked.
The team enters the office building. It's quiet, and the lights are out. Now, one would assume the corporation keeps the cars of former employees like Parks. Somewhere in here is the information about which of the taxi cars outside was used by the victim, and the keys to said car. When they have both of those, the team can move on to investigate the actual crime scene.
But where to begin?
(Because Malcolm is no longer a PC, it's just you three. You can now, for example:
Use Agility to sneak around the place, scouting if the building is empty. Use Perception to search for clues in this floor. Use Computers to see if the corporation has any useful info on their computers.
Or do something else and surprise me.)
Team 2:
(By the way, I noticed a blunder of sorts we have made. In this post you obtained Herring's home address, but at the time of this post I had forgotten about it and didn't mention you knowing his home address. Maybe I got you two confused, too.)
(Retcon: Wyatt also told you this:)
"-As for his personal history... Hmm. Well, I didn't know him personally, of course. We have literally thousands of people here. But anyway, we have a note on him. It seems Herring sometimes skipped work for two or three days, each month. The company took notice, and notified us. Go figure. Anything else I can do for you?"
After the phone call, Will and Adrien hop in Will's car, and drive to Fatman Street, where Herring lived. Freeman's car, with Freeman and Delgado in it, follows right behind them.
Fatman Street is a long street a few minutes from the central area, full of apartment buildings. Clearly a place for a lower and middle class.
"So, you two. How should we do this?" asks Delgado. "Should we pose as Herring's creditors? It wouldn't surprise me if this Rob the Builder had debt." She references the known children's cartoon. The mean-spirited joke tells of her attitude towards blue collar workers.
I think and issue with me is that in the situations I've been is generally only on PC at a time that seems to be able to participate meaningfully, for now I'm just waiting will to finish his conversation.
Green Smashomancer wrote:
Aye, I have to agree. I do want to play this (both the game, and the system you've used are interesting to me), but it feels like everyone still has to wait for a turn. In the sense that only one or two people at a time can really do anything. And online, where each "turn" has a habit of taking a full day or more for one reason or another, it gets rough to stand around.
Hm, excellent points. Can you think of a way to get everyone more involved? Break free from the structure where only one can contribute at a time?
The last time I GM'd I endorsed a policy of "Null post is better than no post". Basically it means that I'd rather see a post about someone talking banter or fiddling their thumbs (like how Adrien does here), as opposed to there being no post at all. If your character doesn't have anything important to do I'd like you to think of a way to make it not boring.
But you're absolutely right. This is a problem with this game (and, to some degree, most PbP games). Introducing a mechanic for "Aid Another" might be a solution?
(Milo: Possible Secret Talents notwithstanding, you roll d20+0 for Agility. In the case of Secret Talents, players will have to rely on me remembering them.)
Milo's Agility:1d20 + 0 ⇒ (12) + 0 = 12
(If you do have a Secret Talent about this, you can of course ignore the above roll. I must do this because this is a matter of upholding the rule, "You cannot directly prove your Secret Talent".)
Team 1:
Milo steps forward and begins to pick the lock.
He stops mid-way, his hands coming to a complete halt. When the others ask what's wrong Milo explains that the lock is more complicated than previously thought. If he makes any wrong moves, it will trigger an alarm. Not "may" trigger an alarm: it will. He may be able to quit now if he's careful about this.
On the other hand, if Milo has the courage to keep going, there's a possibility that he can still pick the lock without triggering the alarm.
(You can retry the roll, but the stakes are a bit higher now.)
"A couple things, Mr. Wesson. I just find it odd that an FBI agent would like to remain anonymous about this. I also find it odd that FBI wouldn't have the necessary files, like knowing the address."
He wasn't quite fooled by you, and will no doubt talk to the police about you. You can only hope the fake first name is enough to throw them off.
"I have said files right here in front of me. Let's see... Herring's address was 138 Fatman Street. Anything else I can do for you?"
Adrien realizes that Mr. Wyatt remains wary of Will, but he probably doesn't have the guts to lie to someone affiliated to FBI. The address is very likely true.
