And I'd completely forgotten about that second paragraph. I guess Martin has got him all wrong. Or if not all wrong, then at least part-way wrong.

How so, Martin?

Are we stuck? You guys not certain how to proceed? Just making sure. When in doubt, talk it out in character. Communication is key. :)


So, we had a blowout on I-75. Got the doughnut on in record time. Shacked up in some hole motel, but it's actually not bad at all. Gotta get a new tire tomorrow.

Normally, I drive all the way, but this time, I've only driven about one-third the distance. It's been great. Yeah, the tire blew, but no biggie.

That happened to me earlier this week.

I'd have posted but last night I went out for some pillaging and whoring.

Anyway, i'm terribly hungover tonight and England play Italy today in the World cup, so no promises. (incidentally, greek girls are fun)

And I've been a bit busy. I'll try to remember to post tomorrow.

No problemo! Thanks for letting me know.

Excellent vignette, Martin. Powerful. Striking. I really enjoyed it.

That's the second post of yours that's ended with a deep, resounding note.



Good job.

Lemme break it down. I don't want us to get stuck.

Everyone knows what the plan is. You use the invitation to gain entry, then steal the Tooth.

That isn't what Zuul's asking.

He's initiating a conversation about the plan's details, details that are vital to the success of this mission.

Some of what you know:
1. You know you're to steal the Dragon's Tooth, a diamond.
2. You know it's at the Viscountess (pronounced "vie-countess") Grey Devonshire's house.
3. You have an invitation to an art/antique/artifact auction there "a week from tonight."

Some of what you don't:
1. You have almost no information about Devonshire or her estate other than its general location ("the Upper Ward"). Are there guards? Imperial soldiers? Who else is attending? How many people are there and who are they? Where is the Tooth inside?
2. You have no information about the people whose identities you're assuming other than their name and general appearance.
3. You have almost no information about Dreadstone.

Knowing nothing of #2 or #3 won't make impersonating Dreadstone's servants easy!

Imagine you are your characters. Put yourself in their place physically. You walk out the door to Zuul's shop. Where do you walk next? To the Upper Ward? No, that's a vast metropolitan area. It's like saying "London's East side." So, you go back in and ask Zuul, "Where's the house?" He tells you the street address, so now you can find it. You walk outside. Wait. He has clothes for you. You walk back in. "You have clothes for me to wear? Oh yeah, I need the invitation too." Zuul gives you Dreadstone's livery and the invitation. You change then walk outside and make it to the house. You knock at the door. Someone answers. What do you say? "Uh, hello. We're, like, Lord Dreadstone's dudes. We have an invitation!" Oh, wait. High society. There's probably a whole proper way to go about introductions and stuff. Oh well, maybe the door man won't notice. "Where are your horses and carriage?" the doorman asks. "We walked all the way from . . ." Where was it Lord Dreadstone was from again? Transylvania, that's it. "We walked. From Transylvania." The door man looks puzzled: "You mean, you walked seven hundred miles from Temecula? Where are your supplies? Where is . . . where are the other three on the invitation?"

You gotta have a plan. To make a plan, you gotta have more information. A lot.

Here's some more questions: what do professional thieves do before committing a residential burglary?

Why don't you just break in and steal the Tooth and be done with it?

There is a metric shitton of information needed and there's a whole lot to be done before making your approach.

Actually, this pretty much summises what I'd started writing last night. I had started writing a post and then ended up falling asleep mid-way through.

Obviously they need information and to check out the place and do some 'preparation' :D

Also, just to let you guys know. I'll be travelling to Berlin tomorrow morning and staying there for 6 days. Therefore my activity might drop a little. I should have access to the internet/RPOL.

I'd actually thought about that. But reached the conclusion that there gotta be pretty good perimeter security since Durgin is going with this plan.

As I mentioned before and heard no objections, I think another player (or two) would be of use. Lemme know otherwise.

How much work do we need to do on character sheets? Did everyone take the 20 points for the Campaign Disadvantage?

I just noticed some of you don't have Acting as a skill. As it is the GURPS skill of lying and impersonation, I again highly recommend it.



See also the Body Language skill (B181) and Detect Lies (B187).

As players, though none but Meeshak would know this, be again advised that the spells Sense Foes and Sense Emotion are illegal black magic/Necromancy as they deal with what the empire considers the spirit (as do all Communication & Empathy and Mind Control spells). However, the mage's guild does grant wavers on occasion for both these spells, so they aren't completely out of the question. If anyone has them, Kane will. The empire abides and even enforces the mage's guild's regulations, though it is not technically a government agency. It might as well be, but it's not officially.

Like Leon, I'll be gone all day today. Going to a different beach across state to visit more friends.

So far, in the twelve hours since I put up the players wanted post, three people have sent a request to join. I expect three more to do so in the next 24 hours.

The last couple days have been a blast, despite Florida's bipolar weather.

Then, late last night, I dropped my external hard drive, the one with all my files of every sort from 2005 until today. It's now making a noise and won't recognize. I woke up today still terrified. There's nothing I'm going to do about it here at the hotel since my laptop only has a 250 GB solid state drive. No sense in sticking it in the freezer and trying to get stuff off it if this drive won't hold it all. And it won't. Not even close. So, I must live in horrible dread for the rest of my vacation.

I'll be making the 1,200-mile drive back to Illinois tomorrow. Like my trip down here, I probably won't post at all tomorrow. Not that it's a real big deal at this point.

We have six petitioners. I'm sorting them now.

All petitioner questionnaires have been submitted. I'll go through them Sunday night or sometime Monday after returning from my vacation.

I'm leaving in about an hour (at 11 a.m., my time) and will be back in Illinois sometime before dawn, Sunday.

im still in germanz until tuesdz too...

my internetis a little sporadic atm

ill post sometime tonight or tomorrow morning, but will be better on tues
ÖD

Thanks for letting us know!

Got back at 5 a.m. today. It doesn't feel like the same day as today, but I guess it is. Went to bed and got up at 11 a.m. I actually didn't go home. I got a call inviting me to stay at a friend's house for a week and go on another trip to a water park. So, I'm in Indiana, but that won't have any effect on my posting. In fact, I'm better able to post here than at home even. Better Internet, and less distractions and interruptions.

Have my HDD in the freezer. It was the first thing I did as soon as I walked through the door. Man, am I praying I can get all my stuff! I'll be devastated if I lose all my creative efforts from my mid-twenties until now.

Anyway, I'm going to check the petitioners now and narrow the six to maybe two or three.

Why are you putting it in the freezer? Dropping the laptop will not be saved by putting the hard drive in the freezer. The problem with bad sectors arise due to physical damage to the platters in the hardware.

Freezing is a technique that is used to prolong volatile memorz in RAM and such things.

Well, I'd think bad sectors would be caused by the heads horrifically crashing into the platters, but the distance of the "fall" of the external 2.5" was only about four inches. I'm just blaming it on that. Now, it doesn't recognize and is making a "swish, swish, swish" sound.

I've personally placed unrecognizable and "bad" hard drives and those with the "click of death" in the freezer and they worked long enough to get all the data off after doing so. It's worked maybe a dozen times (I fixed computers of a living in the late 90's, early 2000's). So, the fact that it's considered voodoo by some just doesn't phase me at all.


Didn't make it all the way through the petitioners. Finishing now.

Okay, responses have been sent to all petitioners. I thank each and every one for their time and interest. Great to see such a good pool of GURPS players on this site.

I asked three out of the six to write a Vignette post. I'm going to try really hard to select only one. We've never had more than five players and four has been our sweet spot.

I think I got everything into that last post I wanted.

TL;DR: Dreadstone, as previously established, is an imperial judge. He's known for being an executioner of nobles, which might endear him to the commoners if not for the fact that he sentences them just as harshly. Draven, you'll recall from the 2008 Introduction post, is the emperor's son and ruler of the principality in which Rimuldar sits. He'll be there. That's kinda big. There will be an army of soldiers there.

You have a guest list. There are some names on it you might want to check out.

Some of you, Martin especially, will have (concealable mail) armor. You might let me know about some cool stuff you'd like to have, but note that none of the people you're impersonating are thieves! I doubt I'll fill any requests no matter how appropriate, but it won't hurt to ask. ;) Yummy magic items for everyone!

More talking to come. Zuul will tell you where to go when and how.

Your gear is downstairs in the RC. I would have written more, but I'm compiling just what everyone will get right now. Plus, that was one long post already . . .

I'm back from germany now... so i'll write a post today.

Great post, Martin. Loved it. When I saw you had written one, I waited until I had plenty of time to sit down and read it before doing so. :)


I've received two of the three vignettes.

Here's what I propose. This game is as much yours as it is mine. We have all invested a great deal of time into it. How about we all three make a decision who we'd like to have join us? I can forward the three vignettes and we can all have a vote. I'll be the tie-breaker if needed.

Sound good?

Speak of the Devil . . . We just got our third and final vignette a couple minutes ago. :D

PM'ing all to everyone now.

Good news. David Hemenway has accepted my commission request for the three-story plus basement mansion. I didn't want to say anything until he said yes.

I sent him my "blueprints" and he expressed surprise at how large and complicated the mansion is. His words:



Here was his piece that put me over the edge: http://hero339.deviantart.com/...39%2F746966&qo=3

Players of my Dungeon Fantasy game here will recognize this one (though I edited the colors): http://hero339.deviantart.com/...9%2F746966&qo=44

Let me say, Devonshire's mansion is huge. I'm not talking about the sheer physical, real world space—in that regard, it's a gargantuan monster—I'm talking about the elaborate labyrinthine complexity. Here's a number: eight fireplaces . . . on one floor. I'm not going to bother counting the rooms, especially since some are massive halls and others are closets, but I took a quick count and there are about Thirty bedchambers on the second story.

Thirty. On one floor. That's not to mention all the sitting rooms, dens, studies, offices . . . You get the picture.

Good luck.


EDIT: I just thought of a funny first-word problems meme: "The servants took twenty minutes to bring my food up from the kitchen and now it's cold." Even with all the dumbwaiters, that will be an issue.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:54, Wed 25 June 2014.