I am going to get a decent array of threads up before I post the advert, but in the meantime please feel free to ask any questions here.
This message was last updated by the GM at 22:28, Wed 15 Aug 2018.

If you can't post in this thread, please PM me.

Hi everybody!  Looking forward to some good old fashioned cold war fun.  :)

Hi, looking forward to this game!

What sorts of general thoughts might anyone else be contemplating for their characters?

I just submitted my application so we'll see what the GM says.

The tl;dr is an American with the Office of Naval Intelligence, graduated from Annapolis in '61 and was in Vietnam from '62-'66 before being transferred back home to be prepped for his current assignment.

I am thinking maybe an older European agent. Didn't US and other intelligence agencies basically just take over running a lot of Admiral Canaris's Abewehr espionage networks after the war ended? Maybe an Eastern European, ethnically German?

The BND was formed by the Abwehr chief on the Eastern Front who brought his records over to the Americans in 1945, so yes.

Ethnically German definitely works.

In reply to Hapax Legomenon (msg # 5):

I'm figuring we all know each other to varying degrees ahead of time.

Adeline is a Lebanese Maronite, originally recruited as just an asset and then later trained to be an agent. Based on her complexion and features, she can pass for being from most of Europe, the Middle East, very northern Africa, or much of the Americas. She's good at three things:

• Polyglot. She grew up bilingual (French/Arabic) with extensive English. Since then she's picked up several more languages.
• Pickpocket/shoplifter. She's good taking/swapping things without being noticed and then disappearing into a crowd or around a corner.
• Seductress. She can work men over, which provides for a great pickpocketing distraction.

Unless any of you want to already start in Frankfurt, you'll all be on a Lufthansa Boeing 707 nearing the airport.

In reply to Adeline Khoury (msg # 9):

Nice!  I'll be playing a Brit by the name of Gin Shaw.  She'll be glad to pick a pocket or two herself, but she's just as much into full-on shameless thieving, picking locks and cracking safes and skulking about unseen and unheard and getting into places she's not been formally invited to.  :)

She is so, so very not the femme fatale type, though.  That niche is 100% yours.  :)

"...She's good at three things..."

What would you say she is best at? Because my first thought was, "That's three important team roles for one character. What are the rest of us going to do?" Having someone else express interest in sleight-of-hand stuff reinforces that feeling.

I am cool with her having all those skills, but within the team maybe just having one apex role. I sort of liked how the TV show Leverage clearly split the group into Hitter, Hacker, Grifter, Thief and Mastermind. Of course that doesn't map clearly onto 1960s espionage-- I am more admiring an RPG laying out clear differentiated roles. In my experience that can be very helpful. I am speaking purely as a player, and with no idea what the player and character dynamics of this group will be. I also absolutely do not want to offend anyone. I'm just kind of thinking out loud and throwing out a few reactions. It will help me refine my own character if I know what others' see their primary role is, so I don't duplicate that.

I don't think it's quite that broad. If you're going to charm someone at a bar and get their ID off of them, what do you need? Basically those three things. As far as team roles, she can only handle one part of the five you listed:


Since those sum some things up well, I'll use those. Older Mission Impossible did roughly the same.

She's really a grifter, not a thief. She can't do any of what Gin Shaw can do. She can get close to someone and get stuff (information, items) from them, which also works well for passing things surreptitiously and doing drops.

Thank you, that helps!

FWIW, I definitely don't feel my toes stepped on by having another character who can lift some poor dummy's wallet.  That's where Gin started her criminal career, but she quickly and enthusiastically branched out from there.  :)

If I had to name a secondary skill set for her, I'd go with alertness, perception, a keen eye for the subtle motion and the incongruous detail.  But mostly, she's the classical specialized Thief.

OK, since it is the tradition now, I will state three things I would like my character to be good at:
1. Paperwork, bureaucratic contacts, and forgery
2. Financial transactions and money laundering, particularly into and out of Eastern Europe
3. Cryptography

Jan Vrabec (birth name Johan Auberg) was born in Prague in 1926. His ethnically German father was a printer, and his Czech mother worked for a government department. The family were secular Jews. In 1938, when he was 12 years old, his family reluctantly became involved in espionage, using their contacts and skills to smuggle relatives and friends out of the country after the German annexation.

Jan was gradually drawn in, first as a boy who could move about the city without suspicion, acting as a courier. Later his small size enabled him to break into government and military facilities to photograph documents. He was known throughout the city to various and opposed political groups. His parents, brothers and sisters, and a few friends formed a small but effective spy network, eventually facilitating the escape of more than one hundred people into safety.

Later in the war, as the Nazi occupation government became more severe, the family goal shifted into mere survival. They worked various projects for political parties, gangs, and intelligence services from almost every nation. They bought and sold items on the black market to keep people in their neighborhood fed and medicated. When necessary, to save their lives, they worked for the Abewehr, and even rarely the Gestapo-- playing all sides against the other and somehow not ending up in a concentration camp or before a firing squad.

Miraculously, almost the entire family survived the war, only sister Marta being killed in the February 1945 Allied bombing of the city. In 1947, they had settled down, and were trying to put their lives as spies behind them, hoping to fit in under the new Soviet-backed government and rebuild the country. Then a typhus epidemic swept through the city. Jan's parents and two surviving brothers and sister all died within three days. Jan was left alone. The city burned the whole block as a quarantine measure.

Now identified as an ethnic German, unwelcome in Soviet-aligned Czechoslovakia, and cut off from his contacts, Jan drifted from one refugee camp to another, barely surviving as one of millions of "Displaced Persons" in Europe. In 1949, when he was 21, a former German intelligence officer now working for the Americans recognized him. He was recruited into that man's network. For the last 12 years Jan has been doing freelance work for the British, French, Israeli and other governments who need his particular set of skills.

In 1967 he is 41 years old, but looks 60. He is tall, thin with skinny sloping shoulders, grey hair with resigned brown eyes the only thing alive in a hollow, cadaverous face.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Sat 18 Aug 2018.

So far we have two young, fit women and an older man. A good cover might be sports team and manager? Or nightclub singers and manager? Or computer technicians and supervisor?

While I'm not going to give away too many details this early, the forgery skills are going to be needed and you might end up staying on a campsite.

Forgery can be really handy, even more so at a time when few things were computerized like today and so a good forger had more flexibility.

Yes, and it complements the other two characters' skill-sets. If I wasn't clear, he is best at forgery, then at finance, then last he has some skill with codes.

Gin could maybe pass for an athlete if it's gymnast.  Is 'computer tech' even a thing yet in 1967?

Big computers, that fill a room, yes. Punch cards, teletype data entry (screens or monitors for most did not come along until much later). Magnetic tapes are high tech in this era-- 16 MB storage was high end. AND, a lot of early computer techs were female. Their job title was often even called "calculator", which is why that name was chose for the little handheld devices that came out about ten years later. Government and big industry were really the only users.

http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1965/

(I would have chosen 1967 but its year listing has some non-important entries in it. 1965 at least showcases equipment that was important and actually used.)

Huh, nice!  That would surely be a useful cover or skill set for someone, but alas, that someone is probably not Gin.  :)  She won't likely be passing for someone with much formal education any time soon.

And research universities and the like. I'm a big fan of Pat Humes and was going to post a little something, but it seemed like too much.


I think your timeline is off a little on this one. Check "Scientific American," June 1946. That's when "electronic calculator" first came into use as far as I know. Meanwhile, "calculator" was in use for people who calculate (like those doing the jobs you mentioned) for a few hundred years prior to this time period.

Yeah, I think we are really saying the same thing here. I was mostly referring to what I guess are technically called pocket calculators, like the HP-32, introduced in 1975 for $395. I have vivid memories of my Dad's model from this time. I wasn't referring to when a word first appeared in a magazine, but rather the interesting linguistic phenomenon around automation and wide-spread tech adoption. Although there were certainly desktop calculators, they weren't mechanically reliably and most of all didn't have widespread penetration into the market (at least in the USA) until the mid 70s, when normal people needed a word for these new (to them) machines. So I was mostly commenting on how people called computers were replaced by machines called computers. And people called calculators by machines calculators. And (horse-drawn) cars were replaced by combustion cars. In most cases, they kept the same name for the function even when it became automated. I think it is an interesting example of how languages change and adapt.

... I just realized I named my character Gin and picked a portrait of someone famous for playing a Jyn.

If we're doing "three main things," my character's best skill is interrogation (idk how much IC knowledge we're supposed to have of each other, but OOC, he was an Interrogator with the Studies and Observation Group in Vietnam from '62-'66). He's also decent with languages and can hold his own in a gunfight.

As for the timeline of calculators--they certainly weren't widespread until into the 70s. My dad used a slide rule all through college and didn't have to buy a pocket calculator until grad school (incidentally, I think it was also an HP-32)

Omg, someone with actual fighting skills?  That's just crazy town.

Just out of curiosity - it occurred to me to notice that this game has neither a Mature nor Adult flag.  Are we definitely aiming for a PG-13 here?  Not that I have any complaint about that, just want to make sure we're all on the same page.

... this question may or may not have come to mind while I was pondering the virtues of our sexy French seductress. :D

I've added the Mature flag. Thanks for the reminder. Sorry about that.

As for your cover, it's going to have to convince at least one border guard who may be an actual officer of an opposing secret service.

That's...  going to be interesting.  :)  Looking at the cast list, there's going to be eight or possibly even more of us if more players join, all of us with wildly divergent backgrounds and skill sets (hopefully).  Coming up with a front that can plausibly tie us all together sounds like a pretty narrow needle to thread, y'know?

Well, I can always split the party as you go up against the Party.

Hello everyone! Canadian RCMP reverse engineer and technical specialist here to help! :)

Welcome. Can all the characters who have been approved please post in the Character Details thread? If you're not sure whether you've been approved, please PM me.

Hello Alex!

... I see Alex assigned herself a Luck stat.  Should I have done that?  I just used the five basic traits.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Mon 20 Aug 2018.

Yes, we will be using luck.

Hello. I'll get things up throughout the day but I'm working. Lieba is trained in social engineering but her specialties are definitely involving putting either very fast moving things or very sharp things into other people from various distances.

First IC thread is now up.

Do any of us know each other?

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 38):

Your call on that.

As a background note...Alex has worked with MI6 and CIA before as a Tech consultant and other united task forces. Normally she'd be in a lab coat in Regina / Langley / London or a voice during a conference call as the tech expert. Her personal appearance and participation with CS-14 is a first for her; she's normally not a field agent.

Hope that helps!

I'd have a chance of knowing any western intelligence or military personnel who'd spent time in Vietnam from 62-66, anyone who attended or taught at the US Naval Academy from 57-61. Otherwise I'd say its reasonable for us to have been briefed on each other's identities prior to beginning the mission.

I hadn't given any thought to past relationships but I figure Mícheál would have worked for MI6 and the CIA at times.

As I can't find a seating plan for the Lufthansa version, we'll be using the American Airlines 707 layout:

https://frequentlyflying.board...ines-boeing-707-123/

So those sitting in 'coach' are in a 3+3 layout. The aircraft is about 2/3 full. LH 401 left JFK at 8.05pm local time last night i.e. 1am German time, so you're about six and a half hours into your journey.

If anyone was involved in wet jobs feel free to send pm about having worked together. Alternatively, anyone into music.

I just found this website today (on Metafilter). For nerds like me who like to research the era it looks very useful. I'll link to 1967, but the other eras and articles look great too, so a visit to the homepage won't be a waste of time if you are so inclined.

https://clickamericana.com/tag/1967

http://www.lileks.com/

Not necessarily as informative but it does have some great pop culture and advertisements from the era. A pretty good way to get a look at that sort of thing.

In reply to Michael Reagan (msg # 46):

Pinterest is very good.

Also, here's a political map of Europe and Asia in 1967 (big file)

https://tile.loc.gov/image-ser...pct:25/0/default.jpg

Reading about flights at the time they seem like smoke filled booze fests with fine food.

Flying was very much a luxury in that era.

Well, if you can breathe.

Can I clarify - did I miss a bit of setup somewhere?  :)

Why are we on this plane?  Do we have orders?  (Even if they were as vague as "go fly to Germany and you'll get your orders from <Person X> when you get there"?)

What're you talking about? Everyone knows that cigarettes are healthy and non-habit forming.

Gin, I believe that is the plan.

Michael, of course. And being French, well...

Sadly, RPOL is incapable of rendering diacritics for character names. He uses the Irish form of his name, which is pronounced differently to Michael.

We shall call you Mike.

Is it really a good idea to be encouraging suicidal behaviour in your comrades?

It might be fun.

Okay, so Michele it is. Every name should be made French.

Michel. Do try to get the gender right. Your name's Yiddish, by the way.

It corrected to a friend's spelling. Stupid phone.

And, yes, I know. But she's been raised French since she was 5 or 6. And her Yiddish is not so great.

It's Aimée now. You said so yourself.

Tbh its always somewhat exciting to not be the only playing a Jewish character

Sounds like a good travel name.

Although, she uses her cover as a musician so she may have to travel under her own name and smaller trips under an alias.

I need to get to Chapter 1 after an abusive week of work (even though I've been on vacation - which makes it that much more abusive).

I looks like I may be the only one who speaks Hebrew despite not being one of the Jews. No biggie.

As for correct spellings, what I've done in the past is to come close with the character name and then to spell it truly properly in the descriptions in "The Cast."

That is awful. Thankfully all my vacations are when everyone else is too so I won't be bothered. I can't imagine.

And Lieba can get by in Hebrew, but that's about it.

Yes, go to Frankfurt and you'll be met at the airport by a female taxi driver. She'll be holding a sign saying "Lindgren Tours".

Roger that, thx.  I'll get Gin's hello post up this morning.

Do people with EEC country passports fill out the cards, too?

No. They can even get in on their identity cards, but you'd have to a passport as well for the US (not to mention a US visa, which everyone needed at the time).

American and British nationals did not need a visa for West Germany, but if Adeline is using her Lebanese passport, she will have had to get one.

Thanks. Makes sense for her to travel since she is her cover as a musician. I'd imagine she has other covers as needed.

It's weird for me, being an EU resident, thinking of having to go through all that again.

Fortunately, the Irish are British.

The Irish are Irish, but not legally considered foreigners in the UK. They can vote in general elections.

Isn't the republic of Ireland already established? So isn't only Northern Ireland a part of the UK?

Since it refused NATO due to Northern Ireland still being a part of the UK it was considered a third world nation.

Yes, but there was free movement albeit with customs checks.

Britain is also a geographical term. That's what I meant.

The Republic was established in the 40s. Mìcheàl is actually as old as the Irish constitution.

Isn't Britain only the island with Scotland, Wales and England, though. Geographically speaking.

No. Britain is a region comprising the British Isles, the largest two of which are Great Britain and Ireland, along with the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight, the Channel Islands, etc.

Great Britain is the larger island containing Scotland, Wales and England. The UK is a state comprising the three countries on the island of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as other territories.

Yep. It's complex. The full name of the UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but until Irish independence it was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Also, Ulster is 9 counties, only 6 of which form Northern Ireland. Donegal, which is in the Republic, is the northernmost point of the island. So Northern Ireland is south of parts of the Republic.

And we've now hit an intro class of posts.

So we have... I'll probably do a new IC post tomorrow.

Lawrence, if you were CIA, our paths could have crossed paths in Vietnam

North hadnt been to vietnam. He was in korea then recruited and sent to the embassy in Paris. He doesn't have much contact with most operatives. He is an interrogator and wetwork specialist.

So, competition. And in Paris no less. Typical CIA rudeness.

Having grown up in New Orleans he is fluent in french which id the primary reason he was sent to Paris.

Well, she usually works while traveling, anyway.

Any characters who should know French and German but can't see the language text please let me know.

Where was anything posted in french or german to check?

The post I just added now.

Negative ghost rider. Its gibberish

Fixed.

It's not working for me.

In reply to Control (msg # 90):

Still not working boss

How about now?

Got it

Neither working for me.

I was blind but now I can see. ;)

The german one seems to be working but not the french

Well i got it.
[Language unknown: undwe sesice plicte!]

Yeah it looks like I'm just not in the French language group yet.

Lawrence what language is that?

I posted it in German

Okay that's weird bc I can see Control's german in the game thread but not yours

[Language unknown: Pastr any ad ica hi al ivmen?]
This message was last edited by the player at 23:46, Sat 25 Aug 2018.

... I didn't even know RPoL had that function.  Nifty!

Alex, I see that correctly

It IS a nifty little trick. Its a bit glitchy though. I tried using it in my game but its tricky to work right.

Alexander i can read yours
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Sat 25 Aug 2018.

Yeah I'm using it in one of my pathfinder games and as far as I know it's working. It's tough to tell as a GM though because you can read it no matter what.

Every game I've played in with then has given up on them after a bit

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 107):

It seems as if whenever i use it only one person can read it. But there are 2 players who need to. Its like only one or the other can view it so i had to give up on it for awhile

I use it in one game I run and have no problems with it. You do have to be careful.

As for here, I can read the German but not the French. So I seem to be included in the German group but not the French one.

But, can you read what Lawrence wrote above?

And, yeah, it’s always been stuff like that, Lawrence.

I can read Alexander's but not Lawrence's.  Are they both supposed to be German?

Yeah, that's what he said. And that's the place most of us are.

German
[Language unknown: lartinyinder analla!]

French
[Language unknown: chiodine potrth!]

Oh, no, I can't read Lawrence's. Can anyone? Are we sure it's in "German." While you can do it by hand, it's safest to use the "Insert a private line:" box and scroll down to "The language group..." (not the preceding "Private to group..." option with the languages) and choose the language. If you type it yourself, you risk things like "german" not being identified as "German" in addition to typos like "Gernam."

Edit: I can't read either of the two Lawrence just posted.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:29, Sun 26 Aug 2018.

Nada on either front. And I have e both of those.

English:
[Language unknown: Sa, ounie ec Essavethu.]

German:
[Language unknown: E, no u Ascase.]

Arabic:
[Language unknown: St, ugh ec Setthoure.]

Farsi:
[Language unknown: M, talo a Ceeeis.]

Hebrew:
[Language unknown: Il, fo e Iconnc.]

Maybe its my accent... Lmmfao[Language unknown: mante sonhisest enen?]
[Language unknown: nofi fi?]

That is working, now.

That second time I can read both of them, yes.  The first time, neither.  Whatever you did differently the second time seems to have un-glitched it, for me at least.

In reply to Lawrence North (msg # 117):

Now I can read your German. I couldn't read the second. But French is missing from my list so it could well for that reason.

Edit: Had you typed "german" and "french" before?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:33, Sun 26 Aug 2018.

Adeline, I have your english and your german, which is as it should be.

Lawrence, I got the first one, but not the second. If it's french I should be able to get it though.

It is French and I could read it now. So still a glitch.

Well, like I said earlier, it looks like I'm just not in the French language group yet, bc I can't post in French either.

Thanks for the tip!
Yes i had been typing it. This is also easier. Ill have to try it in my game.

Yes. I have the same issue.


You can type it, but you really have to make sure it's perfect. For instance, I've been making use of "Secret to..." as a GM. But one time I had commas instead of semicolons and it was a huge mess. BTW, "Secret to..." is great for describing observations of PC's because players won't realized others haven't seen what they've seen (or heard, etc.).

Speaking of what Alexander mentioned, everyone should look at the bottom of "Insert a private line:" to check. You should see all of your languages listed and no languages you don't know. Sometimes GM's will leave a default language, but it looks like even English is listed, and I would have expected that as the CIA default. Then you'll know if it's missing from your list or you're having a different issue.

In my case, I'm not in the French and Russian groups.

Should we just work with english as a default, though? I mean, so everything isn't a language group. Does anyone not speak German?

English will be the default, yes. However, this is a time when English was not as widely spoken abroad as it is today.

Clearly they have fashion sense and had to take out the affront to good taste that is the Jean jacket.

German fashion does have it's upsides, definitely. Lederhosen look ridiculous but it's heavenly wearing a pair.

If that guy was wearing lederhosen and a jean jacket he deserved way worse than a flying tackle.

I've seen guys in lederhosen in Croatia in July.

I hope they were at least pegged lederhosen, to go with the jean jacket.

What people want to do with their lederhosen in the privacy of their own homes is none of my concern.

I thought to myself "Denim lederhosen is a funny idea but surely no one would actually wear them." Totally wrong about that. So very wrong.

Clearly there is a version of rule 34 that applies to fashion. Or, at least, the things people choose to wear and call fashion.

"If it can exist, it does?"

Anyway, moving back on topic, those with diplomatic passports may have an easier time crossing the frontier when they get there, but they will need to obtain a diplomatic visa first from the appropriate country.

There is a big American consulate in Frankfurt and I'll assume North has been accredited to that, with our Canadian Mountie gave credentials for the Canadian consulate in Stuttgart. As Frankfurt was the base of V Corps, one of the main American military formations in Cold War West Germany, there will be a lot of diplomatic activity all round and the BGS are experienced with handling them correctly.

Anyway, I feel I can reveal to you now that your first mission will involve going to Czechoslovakia. You're all going to need to obtain a visa for that particular country, by hook (the embassy in Bonn) or by crook (I'll let you figure that out).

I also note that none of the members of the party speak Czech, so I'll give you a NPC interpreter.

Can I recommend not extinguishing tobacco products in flammable materials. This is from 1956: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/16/6/490

Talking smack to Germans with sub-machine guns isn't terribly wise either. Well, people of any nationality with sub-machine guns, really.

I would say any firearms.

And, it's not the liquid you worry about. It's the vapors which are much more combustible at the right percentage to air mix.

Seriously. The flash point for kerosene can be so low that it can ignite with atmospheric temperatures.

Not trying to start shit lol just playing the part of the typical arrogant American diplomat. It would be expected. Especially in Germany.

Apparently we were all chosen to work together because we share a deep-rooted enthusiasm for being pathologically suspicious  :D

Hopefully helpful hint with RPoL languages:

If you use "Private to group.. [insert language]," no one who doesn't understand the language will see anything. So it won't look like speech that isn't understood. Go down the menu further to "The language group... [insert language]" for speech. Then it will be garbled for those who don't know the language, but they can at least tell someone has spoken. "Private to group.. [insert language]" is useful for explanatory things that would only be picked up by those who speak a language, such as noting someone speaks English with a southern drawl.

Heh. Yah. Of course, it is because half of us would plan on doing nefarious things ourselves with the provided distraction.

There is no proof that Lieba has ever used such a thing to do harm to another.

Isn't the suspicious build into the job? Trust gets you killed.

I'm pretty sure that standing near the suicidal American is what'll get us killed.

He is definitely on the list.

Not suicidal at all! Just playing to the expected stereotype! ;))

You say that, but you don't have a gun or a stetson. I'm not buying it.

Ah lol but you haven't seen inside the case... Or inspected my cane.;)

If you have a gun cane you're officially British.  It's in the bylaws.

I'm sure there'll be no bother getting the cane through customs. I mean, the Germans aren't known to be highly conscientious and real sticklers for detail.

Firearms we're fine for travel at the time, at least by my research. If so Leiba has a gun in her purse, as any sensible lady would.

If you stick them in hold baggage, unloaded, yes. While modern security procedures aren't really in place at this time and people aren't at this time putting bombs on planes, hijacking is still a thing...

Make sure you declare them to customs, because they may well ask to open your bag...

"I sell replacement parts for firearms. Why yes, now that you mention it, I suppose those spare parts could be assembled into several working firearms. Never thought of it before."

I thought the first hijackings that changed those rules are a couple years away. Although, I could have misread.

Actually its STILL legal to travel with firearms. They must be unloaded, in a lockable hard case, checked at baggage and reported to customs immediately upon arrival. Possession of firearms abroad is subject to all local laws and relevant permits should be obtained from the consulate of the receiving countrt prior to travel. At least according to the regulations in 2006 when i went to Brazil.

I had thought hijackings were more of a 70s thing myself.

Wikipedia is your friend, people!  :D



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_hijacking
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:13, Sun 02 Sept 2018.

A lot of them were connected to the Palestinian cause, which is why El Al was doing sky marshals before everyone else.

Gin, that still puts us before those regulations came through. And, I am on my phone and out so limiting my research to memory, the first major gun regulations in mainland Europe were in the early 70s. But I was reading all this stuff weeks ago.

I love the idea of someone trying to hijack a plane, not knowing that every single other passenger is an assassin or spook of some variety.

Now that would have been a good start to the game. Half the plane just rolls their eyes as a knife comes out from somewhere hitting him in the throat.

Excuse me mister hijacker i do believe youve dropped your... Oh dear... my apologies! that must have hurt dreadfully!

Only time there's a queue to garotte a guy.

I do believe only three of us are so violently inclined.

Me first! Me first! You can have your turn when he turns purple.

Michael is a gentle soul who wouldn't harm anyone. Honest.

Michael be a dearie and hand me my attache case. Mister hijacker and i would like to have a private discussion back here in the restroom...

Hey, it's the 60s, man. We don't judge.

Lieba is all about free love.

So's Mìcheàl. He just doesn't talk about it so much since certain kinds of love are illegal in a lot of places still.

Yes, it is a pity. People rarely question women, though. The singular advantage in these horrifically patriarchal times.

If God didn't want me to be a bisexual libertine, would he have made me so very pretty?

As an humanistic and largely atheistic bisexual Jewish woman I can say nothing of God. I can, however, say "how you doin" in over a dozen languages. ;)

The perfect pair of people to infiltrate a right wing religious fundamentalist group, right?

Definitely, they could be leaders.

Hey now! Plotting against my right wing religious anti government sex cult already?! Cant a guy have any fun anymore?  I haven't even blown up the stayue of liberty yet! (Or been proclaimed the new messiah!l

It's probably a heteronormative sex cult. Bah.

All good to me! ;))

If one likes being limited to half the already small crazy right wing sex cultists, sure.

I think I know which of the gang gets the job of being the honeytrap for men. I guess Mìcheàl will manage.

I think I'm not in the Russian language group. I wasn't sure it existed, but it looks like there may be some Russian being spoken.

Definitely Russian being spoken.

I'll try to post tonight but it may be tomorrow. Sinus infections suck.

Added. Sorry.

Honestly, I’ll try to get a post today. My head is pounding, though. I’m going to go to the doctor, at least. Ugh.

Thanks. Works now.

Sorry for the short post. But I’m trying to move things forward, at least.

I'm a little confused whether something was missed or something else.

Confusion resolved.

I didn't give ratings to languages. Should I for the ones she wasn't raised with?

Please do. There's some quite complex and rapid flowing medical German about to come.

... so I can't help but notice we seem to have lost a few players.

We had six approved players in the group and we only appear to have lost one so far.

Ah, gotcha.  I guess I was just a bit spun by the number of names on the Cast List.

Some duplicate ones there. I've now cleared them. Thanks for pointing that out.

I apologise, still sick. I am basically working and sleeping. I will post as soon as I feel better.

I've got a couple of short scenes to play out, but once those are done, we will be starting the briefing.

Unless people want to skip ahead.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:36, Thu 13 Sept 2018.

If mine will take too long we could run it concurrently.

Also, I added my roll which I’d forgotten.

The Bedford TK, a popular British truck of the period although it soon became obsolete, can sit three people in the cab, although it will be a bit of a squeeze.

It's also a 12-13 hours drive from Offenbach to Ostrava.

Let us take a moment to celebrate Alan Rickman.

Indeed. A true legend.

****
If you're waiting for a post at any time, please PM me.

I can't help but note that Gin and Michael both have unopened envelopes on their possession...

Don't know who this Michael fella is, but Mìcheàl is going to wait until he knows he's not being observed to read his. Are you really so surprised that spies are paranoid?

Can I call him Mike?

We can give it a go.

... yeah, seriously, Gin may not be the world's savviest superspy, but she's not nearly so dumb enough as to go waving around stolen documents where just any random passerby can see them.  :)

Especially when they're now thinking "Damn, it's the crazy American. Better get going before he starts shouting and shooting."

Can everyone check in please? It's gone a bit quiet...

I posted...but I don’t see it. I guess it didn’t go through. I will make that happen after work at the latest.

I'm here. Just following instructions on IC posts. :)

Well, today didn't go as planned but I will post tomorrow. Tonight was supposed to be at home but it ended up very much not.

In reply to Adeline Khoury (msg # 214):

Got it. Do you want to post now?

Whenever it makes sense. She was delayed a couple hours, so I'm fine waiting for the timelines to match.

In reply to Adeline Khoury (msg # 217):

Sure, say about 12pm in game time?

In reply to Control (msg # 218):

If that fits, then sure, let's go with it.

Hopefully I will finish my side thing soon and we can get to the shooting. Or music. One of the two.

Why limit ourselves?  I think we can manage both at once.

I cannot play the violin while shooting people. Sadly.

Unless it's a special violin...

Well, we should get on that. All James Bond like.

O ye of little faith.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujaLkZcRu_Q

Where should I be in Chapter 2? Like where and when should I be meeting people?

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 226):

Just turn up at the hotel. Everybody has instructions to meet up at the hotel's dining room at 3pm in the envelopes they have yet to open.

Okay, so she opened and will show up. Is that where the others are?

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 228):

Not yet, but they'll get there.

It seems my Sunday post, well, didn’t. I fixed that.

Apologies for Gin's silence, it's been one of those weeks.

I forgot to ask...what language is the woman speaking and does she have an accent that might suggest where she's from.

English... and the accent sounds like someone trying to mimic Russian.

So that would be even more strange since they are in Germany and Lieba is French.

Hej!

Just throwing up a post to introduce myself. I'm playing Bjørn Olsen, a Danish businessman employed by Maersk Shipping Group out of Copenhagen who specializes in Customs expediting. Now, I just gotta find a way to fit into your guys' story!
This message was lightly edited by the player at 13:54, Mon 22 Oct 2018.

Welcome to the game!

It may be a few days, I was in an accident and am dealing with all that fun.

Sorry to hear about your accident! I'll wait to get into the game, then, since the GM apparently has plans for me :P

I should be okay. I'm at the doctor's waiting to see. If I did t have prior damage it would have been nothing. Alas, that is life and people do stupid things like running stop signs and then fleeing the scene.

I’m feeling nearly better and hope to find more time to post.

If you fancy sticking it into Google Translate and having a look, the headlines of New Germany from 28 May 1967 (and other editions) are available here:

http://www.nd-archiv.de/ausgabe/1967-05-28

The paper still exists, albeit with much lower circulation.

It seems that this game has very much slowed down in recent weeks and this naturally is of deep concern to me.

I've put a lot of time and effort in this game which I hope shows, so I need to know if it is "me" that is causing the lack of posting. People just drop away without telling me and since I don't have psychic abilities, I can't know why.

If you have any issues with the game, the speed of the plot or my spelling, please let me know. If you can't post on at least a weekly basis, please inform me as soon as practically possible.

I deeply appreciate you joining me for this game and I'd like it to continue.

Silent Hunter

I'm good to keep things moving. I have been a bit busy the last few days since I'm starting a new job. But, I should be acclimated very soon. I'll try to post tonight, though.

Sorry for the disappearance. Life somewhat fell apart right after Thanksgiving, enough that this is the first day with time to get on RPoL, and that's already going without nearly enough sleep for a two weeks. Suddenly needing to find a new job and a new home while keeping everything else afloat is crushing me. I really like this game; I just don't know when I'll next be able to put any serious time into following a thread.

Thanks for letting me know. Who else is still here?

I hope hope things get better for you.

And the holidays can be very slow around here. Lots of people return after the new year.

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 246):

I hope so, I'm getting worried about the state of this game.

Maybe we can get a couple of new recruits if people don't return. We haven't started the first mission.

It seems we now have a few new people. Welcome.

Don't forget to put info in the Character Details thread.

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 249):

Thank you!

I will be making an IC post tomorrow.

I'm quite busy these days so I will be able to post only once a week for the next several weeks. So North will travel to Bonn on the train to get his visa, but I might not RP every step of the journey.

Sorry, things got crazy. I had the flu and then an upper respiratory infection. Things have pretty much been suck. I'll try to get back into things soon.

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 253):

I hope you get better.

Sounds utterly awful. Get well soon.

In reply to Lieba Moszkowicz (msg # 253):

Are you feeling better?

Where has everybody gone?

I'm still here.

In reply to Control (msg # 258):

Oh, good, someone answered.

Let's hope others post soon...

In reply to Control (msg # 260):

Me too.

I'm here, but we're waiting for Lieba, no?

In reply to Lawrence North (msg # 262):

Yeah, we are. And Sarah.

In reply to Josie Graceston (msg # 263):

I was waiting for Lieba... I'll try to post tonight.

Does everyone want to move back to the compartment?

In reply to Control (msg # 265):

I do.

I will drop by the compartment after Josie's read the note.

Are we still working with two teams--the train team (us) and the truck team (NPCs)?

That's the plan, yes.

Rolled 7 in Perception check.

Thanks. Can you post please?

In reply to Control (msg # 270):

Sure. Where?

In the TEE thread, please.

Happy Easter to everyone.

Same to you!

Can I check how many players are still here please?

In reply to Control (msg # 275):

Here!

Here, but only able to check in every 3-4 days.

We're basically done to three players now and I'm wondering if it's worth continuing.

In reply to Control (msg # 278):

I think we should try to continue. Maybe you should put out a Players Wanted advertisement.

Yes, I'll do that.

I see we have a new player. Hello.

Hello all...probably should have introduced myself here first.

Excited to be joining you all and getting stuck in!

Hello! Glad to be here and looking forward to the game.

I will make a post for Chapter 5 tomorrow.

Does Fleury have a reservation at a hotel?

Does Fleury have a contact number, a safehouse address, or a means of contacting his superiors?

He was due to stay on campus.

He has a telephone number he can call in West Berlin, but he'll have to be careful as to what he says as the line may be tapped.

Josie, want to skip ahead a bit?

In reply to Control (msg # 287):

Sure thing.

In reply to Josie Graceston (msg # 288):

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you, and anyone else who may be reading these pages.

Same to you1

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year, everyone!

 In reply to Jacob Fleury (msg # 220):



Germans count "three" with their thumbs, not their ring finger. You had to be explicit about that.... Busted. :(
This message was last edited by the player at 06:04, Sat 01 Feb 2020.

Indeed. It's the kind of thing, like looking the wrong way when crossing the road or ordering a beer at 9am, that gets a spy caught.

You will get a chance to escape.

And when did you become the GM? You drop out of the game then pop back up to chirp-in on others posts? Keep your mouth shut.

Thanks for the game. We can assume Jacob "loses."

In reply to Jacob Fleury (msg # 296):



You're right. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that.

Wasn't expecting a post IC after nearly two years. Is anyone else interested in coming back?

In reply to Control (msg # 299):

Me! I wondered what happened to the game!

I pretty much abandoned RPoL completely for a few years, so I'm not sure how feasible it would be to start up Gin again after she missed so much of the plot, but I'd be interested to try something with her again if it's feasible?

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 301):

We could definitely do something. Gin was supposed to going to Czechoslovakia, IIRC.

I read over the threads she was involved in again, and I definitely remembered what I loved about Gin.  :)  It seemed though that she was sort of being led around the German underworld by a character who's not in the game any more.  I'm not sure how we'd resume from there?

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 303):

She was getting the fake passports for the operatives you're extracting:

link to a message in this game

One can assume she's got them and you're on the train?

So, just piecing all this back together then, as the threads are occasionally a bit difficult to follow with overlapping conversations...  the plan is to go to Ostrava in Czechoslovakia, find the Keenans (who Gin now has fake passports for?) and get them across the border to West Germany?  So it's the train from Offenbach to Ostrava that Gin would now be on?

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 305):

Yes to the first question. The second is to be more exact that you're on the Frankfurt to Prague train and will need to get another one from there.

Guten Abend meine Damen und Herren, I am Hannes and I am very pleased to meet you.

Likewise!  :)


Works for me!  So Gin is somewhere on the same train as Hannes then, if I'm reading you correctly?  Do you want to elaborate on anything that happened to Gin before she got on the train, like possibly whether she ever learned who any of her team was?  I think if Michael Reagan isn't with her any more then as far as she knows she's going it alone here, which would be, you know, terrifying.  :)

Yes, that's correct. You were at the briefing in Chapter 2, so you should know the rest of the team who were there, including Lieba. You collected the papers for the Keenans and also had a visit to the Czech association in Frankfurt to get the latest news from the country. A bar fight broke out, but you get out before the police arrived.

Hi everyone! Happy to be here.

... I apologize, maybe I'm just being dense!  But I'm trying to read through that Chapter 2 thread and I just can't follow it in the slightest.  It seems like there's four overlapping conversations going on all in different places, and I can't tell who's talking to who or what briefing you're referring to.

Also hi there!  :)

In reply to Hannes (msg # 307):

Welcome!

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 310):

Welcome!

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 310):

Hello and welcome.

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 311):

Noted. Clearly I'll need to split threads going forwards. Anything else you need to know?

Could you maybe just give a quick rundown of who in specific Gin would have met at that briefing?  Maybe a link to a post # if there was something super important covered there that Gin didn't already know?

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 317):

The briefing is here:

link to a message in this game

So, all those characters.

Ooooh!  Chapter 3 briefing, got it.  That's way easier to follow.  You'd pointed me at a chapter 2 thread, I was very confused!  :)

Perhaps of general interest: Frankfurt in 1967.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haY_DC8ZLg4

Oooh I love the name of the Germano-Danish thread, 'Farvel PET' something like 'Auf Wiedersehen Pet' from the eighties.

In reply to Hannes (msg # 321):

Thanks. PET is the name of the Danish security service.

Is there something more you need from the people on the train?  Or are we slowing up a bit to wait for new applicants or something?

In reply to Gin Shaw (msg # 323):

Not really. We'll go through the West German controls quite quickly... but the Czechoslovak ones will take a bit longer.

What about us tourists in Denmark? Does this guy want to go through our stuff or nah?

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 325):

Nah. He's got a ferry full of people to deal with you and you don't look like you're on a booze cruise.

("Booze cruise" is British slang for a trip to France or Belgium to buy up bulk quantities of alcohol and/or tobacco at the lower prices historically charged there. But you can get it in other countries too, Danes going to Germany, Finns to Estonia. At least one former pre-Schengen border facility in Europe is now an alcohol shop)

Definitely not a booze cruise, more like sexual tourism by the looks of it.

I've read the Money in 1967 section, and Google tells me a 1967 dollar is equivalent to $8.35 today, which is useful to know. What's the dollar-Danish krone exchange rate?

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 327):

6.91 kroner to the dollar:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bretton_Woods_system

The latest episode of Call the Midwife had a character win £5,000 on Premium Bonds, which would be close to 100 grand in today's money.

Excellent, that's informative. So very roughly, one 1967 krone is a dollar nowadays.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 329):

I suppose that makes sense. Thanks for that.

Am I not correctly understanding something in the train thread, are we waiting on posts from PCs?  I think currently we're under the impression that there's nothing to do but wait for the train to arrive at our destination?

...or for Czechoslovakian border guards to come onto the train and check (pun not intended) our passports and luggage.

In reply to Hannes (msg # 332):

The latter, sort of. The West Germans will be checking passports and making sure that you're not smuggling prohibited technology out, so feel free to RP your interaction with them. They'll be firm but friendly.

The Pohraniční Strហon the other hand...
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:43, Tue 08 Feb 2022.

1,000!

Wohooooo! :D

Just to let you know I will be away until Saturday.

Have fun!

Meanwhile, what shall we do, fellow spooks? Anyone has a novelty or valuable lighter I could... Borrow?

Apologies for the delay in posting. Involved in my local Passion Play and so having a busy weekend.

Happy Easter!

Christi Anesti!

Do the Communist Violin players want to skip ahead to Prague?

In reply to Control (msg # 340):

Yeah.

Gin may end up following you on a later train.

Yes please

Homburg Joe probably won't have the money over to you before tomorrow morning, so feel free to get a good night's sleep. You'll need it.

Sounds like a plan. You OK with that, Vicky? I assume you'll be starting your surveillance of our mark tomorrow morning. Katya will probably have a long breakfast and then enjoy her free day playing the tourist and causing mischief.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 345):

Yes that is fine.


-

Let's move to the next day then, Control. Unless you have something else in stock for us that night, of course.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 347):

Happily for you, I don't.

So do we get a "God morgen, PET" thread?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Tue 17 May 2022.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 349):

You'll get something close...

Can I get a check-in from everyone, please?

I'm here. Just waiting for Vicky to come back upstairs and give me my half of the cash.

Or vanish with the whole wad, after framing me for the theft and sell me to the Russians.

Yes still here.

Still here. Waiting for the next day, or did I miss something?

In reply to Hannes (msg # 354):

I was waiting for a Gin response, but we can all skip ahead if needed.

Am I gonna see/her/meet anything interesting hanging out at the Angleterre, or shall I skip forward to the sightseeing around town? I don't mean to hold up the action there.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 356):

Skip to the sightseeing, I'd say.

OK, any particular bit, of that route/schedule I devised?

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 358):

Tivoli Gardens, I would suggest.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:06, Fri 10 June 2022.

Hello hello, everyone still here?

Still hier!

Here too. Been busy.

In reply to Control (msg # 362):

Me too.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:17, Sat 25 June 2022.

I'm at the amusement park, Control, don't forget me please :_(

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 364):

I won't. :-)

I have a feeling you forgot me this time, C.

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 366):

Sorry, been busy and I'll get to you soon.

Ta! :)

Leeds?  They had one when I went there for an interview, one of the reasons I chose Nottingham.

Things will be a bit slower over the next few days - family wedding.

Please note I am on holiday from 13 to 19 September, so posts will happen on my return.

In reply to Control (msg # 370):

How nice!

I'm still here...

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 373):

Sorry. Just posted.

Let's say I want to recruit little Masha. Let me runs this by you, GM, lest I spend what's left of 2022 trying something stupid.

I don't know of any local CIA hub, correct? So I can't bring her to my masters directly. Taking her to the US embassy is not a good idea because, leaving aside the fact I'd be blowing cover, Ursula has no business going there, as she's not a US citizen?

 So correct me if this is dumb, best option I can think of is giving the cops the slip, taking Masha somewhere else and calling Homburg Joe? Sounds daft, or...?

In reply to Katya Sokolova (msg # 375):

You don't know any local CIA hub.

However, you've got a good pretext to go to an embassy - getting a visa for the United States. Back then, there was no Visa Waiver Program and if you wanted to go to the US for anything you needed a visa. Which you obtained by going to a consular office at the Embassy or a Consulate, doing the necessary paperwork and providing confirmation of return passage if you were a tourist, for example.

Masha might well want to go to the United States - people who defected often did.

Interesting.

But do I have any way to make embassy staff take me seriously without it taking days and jeopardizing the operation?

"Hi, I'm officially a West German citizen you've never heard of but nevermind that, I'm actually an agent working for your illegal branch, guys, trust me. Anyway here's a Russian girl, probably a minor, I think my handlers would like to recruit, process and debrief her please? I have places to be."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:31, Sun 25 Sept 2022.

Probably best to get her somewhere safe and then call Homburg Joe, then.