I'm going to let Tom and Jack react to the message, then we will switch back to Krystal while the guys are (hopefully) enroute.



And now I feel old  :)

Krystal & I met when we were both players in a different RPOL game before Misery. I'm not sure what year that was. Jack and I played tabletop Advanced D&D (first edition) a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away. Jack and I have known Zoey since the day she was born, because she's our daughter. Jack was also the GM of Misery. We introduced Zoey to RPGs and Buffy the vampire slayer when she was very young. I guess her interest in RPGs and supernatural storylines is my fault but, she's the one that got me hooked on Dragon Age and subsequently Mass Effect.

I just want to add, thanks for the kind words from both of you. It's always been a pleasure to play with you both, which is why we're all still here 10 years later.

It's always a pleasure to play with you all, it's a nice familiar feeling - quite literally, I suppose, seeing how we have three members of a nice family playing together ;)

(And I deny any allegations of sucking up to the Director and/or relatives thereof to keep my character alive :P)

I like how when I mention she's our daughter, she makes a post referencing bondage and sex dungeons. (Parenting - not sure I'm doing it right). We used to have a Buffyverse game here on RPOL that was just our family. It started off as a tabletop game for us, and shifted to RPOL when our sons went off to college. We would have discussions about game events while out at restaurants and I wondered sometimes if the waiter would think we were a bunch of serial killers. Roleplayers - we're a special breed.

Sucking up doesn't work for my family, either. Although it can sometimes be helpful to say - "You can't come over for dinner until after you've posted."

Aftr 10 years of gaming together, you and Krys have become part of my gaming family.

Perfect timing, indeed :P

I expect my daughter will do her best to top that - eventually :)



I'm pretty sure that's my line :)



...and that would be why calling you nice isn't sucking up ;P

Now, before I go all nostalgic and stuff, how do I get Tom to Krys in a reasonable amount of time?

I'll be moving the last bit of Krystal's scene over in a moment. That will cover what was happening to her while you were on your way. Remember, Zoey left the line open so, you'll be able to listen in on what is happening. Jack's player will be out of the country for 2 weeks starting this weekend. I'm trying to find out if he's going to be able to get online during that time. If he can, he can go with Tom. If he can't, he'll stay at the doctor's house.

I can't recall, does Tom know how to drive? If Jack stays behind, I can always edit Bogie's post to have Jack stay and Bogie go along with Tom for backup. Bogie could at least drive Jack's car if necessary. I'm going to assume that you get Paul's address from the doc before you leave. I'll let you know when you can arrive on the scene.

Tom can drive, but not very well: he has a base roll of +DEX, -3 untrained (Bast don't usually drive cars, so he never developed the skill), so that's +3 total.

I wouldn't describe Bogie as an expert driver but, he's probably done it more than Tom. He can do it if necessary.

I don't know if I should reward you for that, or have Paul punish you - either way it made me laugh!

That leaves Jack the best driver.  Even injured, he is very used to Chicago traffic, where he can cut corners, what alleys to use, and who he can cut off.  (Never challenge a cab though. Chicago cabs win every time!)

So, I can be the wheel man. Just don't ask me to do pushups.

And I vote to reward Krystal!  I laughed out loud at "Save the Cheerleader" too!

How about Jack and Tom work on a joint post in PMs of their mad dash across Chicago while they eavesdrop on Krys and Paul. End the post with the two of you arriving at Paul's house but, don't go inside the house.

Whoa whoa, I definitely don't wanna miss out on this conversation. I can't decide if I wanna make you all feel old by saying I remember reading Misery when I was a kid or assure you all that you're not playing a mature game with a little girl haha. It is nice to continue "gaming" with the family regularly even though I've moved out now. And I promise you there are no biases and she pesters me everytime I need to post :P

I hadn't really thought of it before but I guess I started gaming with Krystal a handful of years ago, mostly just little things that didn't last long, but we have some experience gaming together regardless. And as far as you Tom, well we tried, I was actually just getting into Misery before it shut down, anyone remember Edwin? No? Lol I would have loved to be part of that group, it was such a good game from what little I saw. So now I'm curious, are you at all surprised?

Well, *I* remember you reading Misery when you were a kid: your father used to mention the fact that he was co-opting the entire family to get extra production values (maps, pictures, etc.), even before I learned the extent to which said family was involved in the game :)

I am surprised to learn that you were Edwin, though. I guess Misery still holds some secrets after all this time ;p

So, back in Classic, most Seer Powers had three uses: an offensive one, a defensive one, and a utility one. Mindfire had three lighting fires (natch), coating yourself in a flame armor, and dousing fires.

My question: could Tom use his PK to take care of the fire?

Fight fire with fire? Probably won't work in this case. Paul is an alchemist and has rigged his place with magic accelerant. He was serious when he said there isn't much time. I think any fire you produce would just ignite the accelerant and add to the fire.

Pity, it would have been in theme with Kris's song :P

Quick summary, please correct me if I'm wrong:

- We don't know that he's leaving right now, though we can probably assume he's no longer in the building.
- We don't know where Krys is, nor where the other exploding stuff is, though if they're magic enough Tom might be able to aura-sight them.
- We don't have a good idea of the layout of the house, so we don't quite know where to start looking.
- We are under a slight time pressure, in that if we are caught in the blast we are going to need a new character sheet.

Am I forgetting anything?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:54, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

I want to clarify that Krystal's tied up in a hidden compartment in the back of a closet behind a bolted door of a burning building. No pressure!

Though I am glad I get to touch on all the flaws that aren't usually apparent in normal game play. Cowardice. Clowning. Singing when stressed. Wanting to be the center of attention. I'm loving this scene!

The door isn't bolted, in fact it is probably ajar. Paul had his hands full of harpy, and didn't take the time to secure it before he left. However, the door to the basement is in the bedroom closet.

The explosion was in the kitchen. Probably along the wall between the kitchen and dining room. It is the dining room windows that were blown out at Jack and Tom. The kitchen is currently on fire. Paul left by the sliding doors next to the fireplace and onto the back porch. The front door can still be entered while avoiding most of the flames. But the fire is quickly spreading. The harpy is laying on a couch in the family room.

If we were on Storium, I know how I would present this challenge. (This is your clue that I would like to revisit the idea of moving to Storium when we wrap this up.) Here, it is trickier. I guess I could come up with a Difficulty Check and have you guys roll some dice. I'll think on it.

Can I just say, I'd rather my fate be in the decision of some card and not a die roller.
Thankyoudrivethru.
I don't assume it's possible to here Jack calling out to us.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:07, Thu 29 Jan 2015.

The life and death of a character should not depend on a single die roll, not in Unisystem. Save or die was not a core concept of Classic, and it is even less so in Cinematic, where proper use of Drama Points allows players to decide when to have a good roll.

We need to find her, free her, and escape the building.

I know you don't like math, so, this is the way I see it:

- Singing is a Constitution-based activity: by extension, so is screaming.
- Yelling really loudly should therefore be a CON-based roll.
- Hearing something is of course a PER-based roll.

So, Tom rolls CON, Zoey rolls PER + Notice, and a sufficient SL total means she can guide us to Krys.

I'd say 1 as a base (to hear the yell, 2 to actually understand the words), plus 1 for each door in between, two if the door (or window, as the case may be) is closed, and an extra SL if a source of noise is close to either Tom or Zoey.

That last part does mean that Krystal might not be helping her survival too much at the moment :P

Everything else should not depend on rolls, really: once we find her, Tom has both the dexterity to free her quickly and the strength to carry her out of the door. As would Jack, most likely, gunshot wound notwithstanding, but if Jack could find a way to tail Paul... Wouldn't that completely ruin Paul's day - thereby completely making ours?

Oh I wasn't thinking of setting up a challenge where "make the die roll and you save Krys, fail and she dies. Or fail and you guys get blown up or killed in the fire." I don't play that way. Character death is usually something planned and desired by the player and should be a dramatic moment in the story, not due to failing a die roll. I was thinking more along the lines of success or failure determines how hurt you get in the process. And saving the harpy is not a given in this scene. She's an NPC, her life can hang by a die roll.

Actually, I had been giving some thought to her singing in this scene, too.

Jack's wound is to his shoulder. Lifting a body could be difficult, but adrenaline is a factor given the situation. He could probably do it but, he'll pay for it later.

Yeah, I figured that I could carry/drag the harpy clear, but I won't look cool doing it.  Wings will get bruised in that evolution. I could tail Paul, but I don't think that Jack would until Krystal is out. I've lost one already. I'll not lose another on my watch if I can do something about it.

So, the fire is worse right in front of Tom and Jack. But a quick look at the front door can give us a window of opportunity to get in to attempt a rescue.

Sure, you guys can do a Con roll for yelling, the girls can do a  PER + Notice for hearing you.

How about a Dex + Acro roll for anyone going in the front door. Failure means you get hurt. Epic failure could mean you end up with a burn scar somewhere on your body.


Once you guys are in the master bedroom, you will hear her singing. Krys may not realize it, but her singing gets louder when she is stressed.

Freeing Krys: I feel like I want some kind of die roll for this. Success you free her easily and quickly, failure - you run into some problem that slows you down. You'll still free her but it will take longer, meaning the fire will be worse by the time you try to escape. Not quite sure what to base the die roll on though.

For Jack to lift and carry anyone, he will need to do a Willpower doubled roll. If he fails, he's going to have to find another way to do it. His shoulder won't let him get all the way out of the house with somebody in his arms. Success means he fought through the pain (that's why I'm basing it on Will).

If you succeeded at the die roll to free Krys, you can get out of the house without any other complications. If you failed that roll, you are going to have to roll to escape. Just like the first roll: Dex + Acro roll for anyone still in the house. Failure means you get hurt. Epic failure could mean you end up with a burn scar somewhere on your body.

For the most part, you guys shouldn't have any problem succeeding at any of this, even without Drama Points. DPs pretty much guarantee success. I'm just trying to create some possible points of failure to add a bit of drama.

Thoughts?

Or we could make things easy on ourselves. I trust you guys not to go into some kind of god-mode. As I said, between your skills and DPs, your ultimate success isn't in that much doubt. If you want to roll dice to determine how well you succeed to guide your post, you can, but you don't have to. I've always enjoyed it when the dice throw me a curve-ball. It makes for a cool writing challenge but, maybe that's just me. So just be dramatic and creative, and feel free to post how you go about rescuing Krys.

After a week in bed with the flu, today I go back to work. Hopefully I'll also manage to go back to posting.