Thought bubbles... Hey! I have that book!  Now did I bring it with me or is it in storage.... SPOILERS!!

:P

How did you like the book overall? (Without giving away spoilers please, I plan to read it eventually.)

It's based on true events, so hard to spoil :-)

I liked it. It gave a pretty good idea of the larger story (The White City) and the smaller one (The Devil) and the world both take place in.

There was one thing I liked in particular: the quest to "out-Eiffel Eiffel" and how they went about it.
That was quite a surprise for me, so I'm not going to spoil it.

See, that's a problem(?) with me picking books:  if I don't know the author, but the cover art catches my eye and the synopsis on the back cover or internal jacket sleeves looks interesting, I'll grab it whether fiction or non.   :)  Now if I can only get around to making time to read all these wonderful stories...

(Bright side to laptop having to go in for repairs I guess - I'm reading instead of online/watching DVDs...)

Hey, my offline group and I are discussing, but they are uncultured philistines (or they are used to me picking the games and such :P).

I'm looking for an RPG that could be used to play a game where the players are members of a secret organization undergoing a schism. No player knows for sure who is on which side of the schism, and the goal is essentially to preserve knowledge and nobility (for one side) or to gain money, power, etc with whatever villainy you want (with a healthy application of arson).

Key points: Very low-combat, either because direct combat is deadly to the point of deterrence, or because the preferred methods of threat elimination (poison darts, arson, getting someone arrested) are much easier and more effective. Modern day, or close enough. A bleak tone, with the attempt to combat villainy and the perils of illiteracy being, in essence, a series of unfortunate events trails.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:39, Mon 23 Jan 2017.

Honestly, that sounds like a game of Vampire the Masquerade, less the vampires.  So World of Darkness might be a good fit, given that mortals in that system have the durability of tissue paper and it's got a robust background/advantage system to simulate a shadowy secret society that controls everything without anyone knowing (again these are normally vampires).

Or any game that's narration heavy where the mechanics just resolve success might work.  FATE (which might be really slick for an intrigue game since you'd be figuring out the Aspects of opposing parties) or a * world/PbtA hack could do the trick.

Really, even SW could do it, just bolt on some of the rules like Blood and Guts, Critical Failures and Gritty Damage (I ran this last rule one time where the characters were supposed to be in a horror scenario and it is brutal, it really discourages combat).  The Connections, Rich, Noble etc. type edges could all come into play.  I don't know if that's the best system for this but it could work.  Depends on what you need the system to do.

FATE and powered by the apocalypse might work.

In an ideal world, the system would have mechanics for resolving intrigues and plotting against each other. I'm aware I could easily  just adjudicate it, but like, I'm picturing someone planning to burn down another's home, and I'd like a little more structure than just applying fire and stealth.

Thanks for the input, Belle!

I think that sort of thing is best left to RP - it just takes being very aware of all NPCs involved and enforcing consequences. Like, you burn down a house, yes, your rival is homeless, but now as well as escaping the wrath of Homeless Rival's allies, you have to stay ahead of the police and possibly PIs...in fact, maybe you might want to look at this handy help for CoC Cultist campaigns: http://www.chaosium.com/dark-mirror-pdf/

Neither Broaddale nor his player are sure: How long has it been since Custer's arrival in Deadwood?

It's been about a week since Custer arrived, and 4 days since he declared martial law.

Cool. So we're looking at what, mid-september?

Sept 17, according to the start of the thread. Friday. I'm 'avin 'oops.

Unrelated to anything preceeding, this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFlaL_EJuto
This message was last edited by the player at 21:57, Mon 23 Jan 2017.

 Oh good. Almost the weekend.

LOL

Once upon a time a thousand years ago I was playing Skyrim, and I kept having great difficulty in Riverwood because I would kill the dragon, but afterward absolutely everyone would be trying to kill me or else I'd wind up fighting them and the dragon simultaneously.

It made me so furious and I was about to uninstall the stupid game when I finally figured out one of my spells was killing a chicken.

As in deliberately, or as a side-effect of killing dragons? Not that I'd be surprised if dragons and chickens were related somewhere down the line, but it seems a curious combination...

Oh side effect for sure.  I were a wizard, you see, and I was unwittingly 'sploding the village chicken.

When I finally moved out of the chicken's range, it was cake!

Bear with me. I'm having Internet issues reaching Rpol. I think I need to upgrade some hardware

Oh no! Did the bear eat the hamsters powering your computer? Bad bear!

Indeed. Kicking the chicken can cause many problems.

Okay, so I WANTED to find a video of the Hero from the videogame Fable kicking chickens in a chicken kickin' competition.

HOWEVER, as much as I love Let's Plays, and as happy as I was when they started becoming more mainstream, it is very frustrating to have every gameplay video begin with:


"HAAAAAAY Everybody Im LETSPLAYHANDLE93 And WELCOME BACK TO Fable! Alright we're onthe desktop here , let me load it up..."

So, I think how I'll handle the Folk Hero card is have it take effect over time. It's not going to help with the current situation of you all getting hauled in for questioning.

Belle's apparent strategy for kidnappings and other scenarios:  Make them regret it immediately. XD

Er, Zeke? I'm going to ask you the question that all GMs ask when their players do something that has the potential of turning out very, very badly:

Are you sure you want to do that?

Specifically, are you sure you want to 1) grab Maddox and 2) do something obviously supernatural 3) in plain view of a band of armed soldiers 4) while other PCs are in the middle of diffusing the situation 5) while encouraging someone who the soldiers have every legitimate reason in the world to want to arrest to do the same?

I want to stress that, currently, you aren't out of view. Neither is Maddox nor Wild Bill.

In reply to The Stray (msg # 812):

Really? They seem pretty distracted by the other PCs. I can do it as a ready action-because being taken prisoner is a death sentence for me, maybe Maddox, and possible Wild Bill. Not likely in his case.

Given how quickly Burrowing happens-it would be there one second, gone the next. While indeed its supernatural, the human mind would rationalize it pretty quick given there is no tunnel and no obvious means of transport. You told me I don't actually move any dirt around.

Hey, they let Janet go. Plus kidnapping Maddox's not terribly Folk Hero-like.

...then again, if you terrify poor Maddox enough, his spirit buddy might manifest and be the world's greatest distraction for you.

Death sentence? I think you overestimate the situation. The soldiers are rounding up suspects for questioning so they can get to the bottom of what just happened here -- Zeke, having mostly been concerned with stopping an active threat and then rescuing people afterward, is not likely to get more than a pat on the back...assuming he doesn't antagonize his captors. Maddox is known through town as someone at least nominally on the side of the law, given his bounty hunting work and his efforts to help the Chinese community. The only person in actual danger of incarceration is Wild Bill, and he can pretty much escape any situation he wants to.

Since none of the characters present here are Indians, you aren't likely to trip their Intolerance Hindrance. This is a show of force to establish authority, not a "let's shoot them all and let God sort it out" sort of standoff.

What might turn this into a shoot-out, though? The sudden, shocking disappearance of several suspects from plain view, distraction or otherwise.