Welcome to the OOC thread, for all your Out of Character needs.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:00, Mon 25 Aug 2008.

And so we welcome...

Hailing from Philly, Pennsylvania, Eliza Shaw! OK, the *character* hails from Philly, the player I really wouldn't know :)

First character/player to successfully complete the needlessly (well, maybe not so needlessly) laborious application process, Eliza is a young, promising musician, who is going to have a very, very bad day. And that's *before* the whole world goes to hell...

Another character is on its merry way, and as it happens we might just all start the game in Philly!

More about that in a day or two, however, as we have a better idea of how the situation is going to develop.

Alas, it's not all good news: I am disappointed to announce that we lost another potential player somewhere. He's not answering his rMail, which drops the player count down to 2.

Ideally, I'd like at least 4 players before we begin with the main storyline (where the characters save the world! or - more likely - die horribly in the attempt ;P).

Still, the first segment, Business As Usual, which is mostly meant to allow players to gain confidence with the system (and, me to shake off the cobwebs, I'll admit :P), will proceed normally, at a pace everyone feels comfortable with (and also to determiine which pace exactly everyone feels comfortable with).

As a general idea, I'd like 1 to 4 messages per player in a 48-hour arc - i.e., at least one every two days, and one per day would be better; two or more per day is also good, but it would be best to leave some time for the others to reply if they have part in the scene.

One BIG exception: if all players in a scene are online at the same time, please *do* keep posting character-to-character interactions at will.

That will often mean that yours truly won't be present, as I am in GMT+1, but I'd rather have a good IC scene when I wake up (and dealing with any problems that that may create) than seeing a fun moment die just because it was 3AM on my side of the pond when the players were most active.

Finally, the current IC thread is the not-so-deadly part of the game (although, you may find your character quite, quite dead, if you don't pay attention), so feel free to experiment a bit with the system. Also, if you want to post some backstory scenes in the IC thread, now is a good time!

Have a lot of fun :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:17, Tue 02 Sept 2008.

Update: I added an actual example of IC flash-back, in case you want a template to work on...

And we welcome!!!

Hector DeSanto, second character/player to successfully complete the infamous application process.

Hector is the good cop, a big, handsome black guy who smiles at you reassuringly while cataloguing you with his inexplicably blue eyes.

Don't make him angry and you won't have to find out if he's really all that good ;)
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:58, Sat 06 Sept 2008.

And we welcome!!!

Geoff Wayne, Hector's partner, and the third player/character to successfully complete the Big Mess!

Geoff is not nearly as much of a movie star as Hector, but he can be quite smooth when he turns his charm on.

Timeline update: "chico latino" was released on August 16, 1999. That puts us around late September - Monica had been listening to it before she saw Hector, hence the "bel 'chico latino'" line...

Just for reference, "cioccolatino" (chocolate candy in Italian) and "chico latino" do not sound exactly the same, but close enough to make a pun out of it.

Well thanks to your mentioning that song, several times now, I actually tracked it down on YouTube. I'm afraid I'm now going to have to put some kind of vodoun curse on you that'll match the pop horror you have inflicted upon my eyes and ears. PREPARE THYSELF!!!!
This message was last edited by the player at 02:35, Sun 07 Sept 2008.

Hey, if Monica a the Spice Girls fan, how is that my fault? :P

A note about tenses: as specified in the introduction, all IC posts are in the past tense. I used to be partial to present myself, but one of the best GM's I played with pointed out to me that, when you go back and re-read it, past tense flows much better.

Oh.......you were serious about that. You actually care about what tense we make our posts in. Wow. Well okay, I'll try harder.......I guess....

Well, around a table, or in IRC, I don't.

Here, however, a post will remain for months, sometimes years, and you or someone else will go back and (re-)read it long after it's been written: some consistency between the styles of the various authors helps make the overall story flow better.

Sorry, folks, I should've mentioned this up front: the rain (by now I assume you've figured out it's bad news) is moving at several hundred miles per hour.

So, our brave cops will be hit by the rain on their way to the shop (being in a car they won't suffer consequences from it), and by the time they get there they will find that the sky is heavily overcast but it's not raining anymore.

They'll also find that the clouds have an odd shade of purple, and of course the stench of cabbage that is by now extending to the whole city.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:51, Mon 08 Sept 2008.

  Hurm, there might be a problem. You see in my first post I suggested Geoff was outside the car when I got the call, and he went with it. If the evil, zombifyin', rain was going on then, as you say, we may have accidentally exposed Geoff to it! Drat.....you may want to let him edit his first post to say he was under an awning or something , or I could edit my post to say we were parked under a bridge, something along those lines. Unless your a big meanie, that is!

Survivors don't really have to worry about the rain (Geoff will probably get a "cold" later in the day, as will Jane, but that's about it).

Now, I must say I have kinda messed up the proper timeline of the day, so, to recap:

- It's morning, and Jane is going to work
- Jane gets caught in the Rain and finds shelter in the shop
- While Jane tries to dry up, a GUY arrives
- The GUY has been under the Rain, too, and is sick
- Monica smacks him around
- Monica tries to call the police, but they seem to be busy
- After about ten minutes of wait, Monica calls Eddie, who calls Hector
- The boys in blue receive the call and head for the shop
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:43, Mon 08 Sept 2008.

Just to let you know: I'll be in a course for the rest of the week, which means I'll only be able early in the morning (about now) and in the evening...

 Guys, I thought we were doing a regular rotation: Hector, GM, Geoff. I had a whole witty banter routine I was going to do with Monica; I only delayed it, by more then 24 hours I might add Geoff, because I didn't think it was fair to post again, in character, without giving Geoff a turn. But now that's all shot to hell, as you've overlapped me by about 8 posts! Do you have any idea how much back-tracking your making me do? So what I've just been standing there, with my thumb up my butt, as Geoff's face gets bitten off?! I would of thought I'd have some kind of reaction to that, apparently not though as you didn't pause for a fucking minute to give me a chance to have some part in your little interplay! Do you even need me here, or should I just go and take my gamein' elsewhere?

On one hand, you're right, after message 16 there shouldn't have been anything else.

On the other hand, an advantage of this medium is that these problems can be fixed. Nobody died, for any possible meaning of the word: do please send me the scene as you had envisioned it - Monica has a bit of a crush on Hector, and I would like to have that storyline as well.

On the gripping hand (IC) your participation to the initial part of the fight was indeed limited, but not by your absence as a player: Geoff (as a character) gets to act first in any given round because of Fast Reaction Times, which is why he got to dodge the attack *and* get the guy on the floor before Hector could react.

From a round-by-round perspective, however, round one should not have given Geoff a possibility for an offensive action, which moves his arm lock to round 2 - where I should've stopped the action. I miscalculated, and I apologize.

Finally, I guess 4 posts in 48 hours is too many, so I'm gonna cut it down to 2 per player in a 24 hours period, hopefully that will help.

No, there shouldn't of been anything after post 14; that would of been a perfect place for our witty routine. I already wrote to you saying I had such planned, what were you thinking suddenly going into that zombie attack?
God............I'm so mad at you.  Just forgetting me like that.....

That I did... I'm really sorry about it, and I'll tell you something else: it's gonna happen again.

Not necessarily to you (although you do seem to have the unfortunate distinction of being in the most unfavorable time zone so far), but I can assure you, right now, that I am, without failure, going to forget something else - and do wrong by someone in the process.

When that happens, other than an apology and an offer to try and make it right, I really don't know what I can offer. If you do know how to make it right, please, by all means, I'm open to any suggestions.

So, if that is absolutely unacceptable to you, then you have every right to look for a GM who does not have the same shortcomings.

It's not your fault, and I won't hold it against you.

I think you have an interesting character, and if I had any doubt that you are a passionate player, I certainly have none now. Passionate players with interesting characters are an asset to any game -- when they are having fun.

Do you think this game can be fun for you, GM quirks and all?