This is a thread for Out of Character discussions and comments.

Bernard Hathaway:

In the faxes that you sent to the mayor and sheriff’s office what organization did you claim that you and the other members of the Presido construct belong to: the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI, a different government agency, the Technocracy, or something else?

Even though you are new to all of this, I’m sure that Agent Roswell would have made clear that the Technocracy is not a government agency and most sleepers (non-mages) don’t know that it exists.  Most sleepers have no idea that magic exists.  Saying you were from the Technocracy might be somewhat similar to telling the police that you were part of the Illuminati in real life.

The mayor and sheriff’s reaction is going to vary depending on exactly what organization you said you were from and why you told them you were coming.

Could you please clarify.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:21, Mon 14 Sept 2020.

Robert and Kyle:

Just so I'm sure.  Are either of you planning to do any sort of preparation prior to boarding the jet?  I will assume that both of you at least packed a bag with a few changes of clothing and your necessary supplies.

Any other actions?

I don't want to place you at the jet if you were planning on making another post or two prior to that.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:16, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 3):

Ummmm, sorry lol but ya, usual traveling gear, clothing, gun and applicable permits for it, discretely hidden thieving gear and tools. Youll have to excuse me a bit lol, as I mentioned to Steve this morning, this is my first play by post game so still figuring out things lol. Oh, do I need a licence to travel with Rose? no way im placing her in pet cargo, ill find a way to hide her on me if need be.

You are flying on the private jet that belongs to the Presido Construct.  It's just going to be you and your team on board along with the pilot.  No need to worry about Rose.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 5):

Rose pipes up "Their better be grapes on this flight! I'm hungry"

In reply to Narrator (msg # 2):

Okay, does the NWO have any federal ties or contacts that can be used to insert myself in with? Sure they'll have some means of making official appearances to the government or local officials? What would be the general method other agents have used when meeting with people?

If it's the case of "The general public and officials can never see or hear of us," I'll probably change it me simply contacting the Sheriff's Office only. There was an after shock or some sort of physical anomaly that affected the city, right?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:25, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

The Technocracy in general and the NWO in particular typically claim to be part of a relevant government agency when dealing with local officials.  Your teammates will likely either have fake ids indicating that they are with the FBI (and others indicating they are part of various other government agencies, such as the CDC) or a team member who can use his powers to make the authorities believe that is the case if they don’t.  Agent Roswell told the members of your police station that she was with the FBI.




Maybe. That hasn’t been determined yet.

I think the best way to answer your question is with an example pulled from some TV show I saw on the sci-fi channel years ago.

What happened could be equivalent to a portal to the age of the dinosaurs being opened in someone’s back yard.  (A significant continuing disruption in space/time occurring over a relatively small area.)  It is possible that no dinosaurs have come through yet (best case scenario).  It is possible that one or two smaller ones have come through and not been noticed yet.  Maybe someone’s dog has been eaten or there is a sabretooth kitten that has climbed up an old lady’s tree and is meowing for help.  It is possible the city has been overrun with dinosaurs.  Until someone on the team does further research, you don’t know yet.

Note:  It’s not going to be dinosaurs.  At least not this time.  But now that I’ve remembered the show…..well…..it is probably going to be dinosaurs someday.

As mentioned in the portion of the first post associate with your name, if you watched the news this evening, you do know that a severe wind and rain storm was predicted to hit Mendocino tonight and there will be bad weather in the surrounding region as well.  Since you have 0 dots in Reality Deviant Data, you have no way of knowing whether or not that is relevant.  One of the other team members might.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:04, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 8):

If I were to ask Agent Roswell if I was to be given any credentials (Legit or fake federal agent ID etc.), what would my answer be?

In reply to Bernard Hathaway (msg # 9):

She will be able to get you fake FBI credentials before you leave.

Also Agent Kiki Roswell is one of three identical clones. The three clone sisters are Kiki, Lili, and Mimi. Their cloning facility was in Roswell, New Mexico. None of the Player Characters would know this fact, only the three sisters and NWO agents with high enough authority. Clones subjects A-J could not take and were rejected before the process could go underway. Clones K, L, and M were the only ones to take hold and form before the template became too corroded to create anymore viable clones, and you do NOT want to clone a clone. It never works.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

In reply to Bernard Hathaway (msg # 11):

Bernard, I just noticed that you edited your post.  Thank you for including the additional information.

Unfortunately, neither the Sheriff nor the Mayor are minor NPCs.  Nor are they NPCs that are a component of your character such as your mentor or Shawn and Luci's familiars. Conversations with them will need to be played out in IC thread.  Especially, since the conversation is likely to go in a very different direction than you are assuming.

I've gone ahead and posted the Sheriff's response to the initial portion of your conversation.

You can go ahead and update your initial post with the corrected conversation when we are done or just leave the sentences I used in the initial post and let the rest of it just play out in the thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:29, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

And one quick clarification, since I think I noticed some confusion.

Agent Kiki Roswell is Bernard's mentor.  She is not the team's supervisor.  I will get your supervisor added as an NPC tomorrow along with Xhiva's trainee.

Xhiva and his trainee will be making an appearance on the jet and each will have a post.  So no one post the jet taking off yet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:58, Tue 15 Sept 2020.

I’d like to do some investigating into star scam sometime, on my own if need be. I may be a thief myself, but to fleece people like that (and I’m assuming poor people donated to that cause when they really needed that money for themselves) crosses a line for me and ya I know it sounds funny for a thief to say that lol.

Akari:  How many people can fit in your vehicle?  Will we need a second rental car for part of the team or will everyone fit?  Currently there are 5 of you on the plane and you will be meeting up with Bernard in California.  But, there may ultimately be two more team members (depending on whether or not they are able to join us).

So can 8 people and a sugar glider fit comfortably in IVAN?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 03:30, Wed 16 Sept 2020.

I think it would be kind of nice if everyone had an assigned color for their dialog boxes. If this sounds like something we'd like to do to add a bit of personality to this, I'd like to take the color Coral.

Many Play-By-Post games do use colored text to indicate who is speaking and while I won't mandate it, it is something I've been trying to do with my NPCs.

The only potential issue is that some colors can be hard to see and which colors are hard to see vary from user to user and computer screen to computer screen. For instance, Luci mentioned she found the dark blue challenging to read, whereas on my computer it is one of the colors I find easiest to see.

If I or someone else use a color that is hard for you to see, please let us know and I'm sure we'll be happy to change it.

Since I believe there may still be a few things occurring on the jet that haven't finished playing out, I'm going to set your thread on hold for right now Bernard.  You should be getting to meet up with the group soon.  But I'd like to let everyone finish what they are doing on the jet first.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 18):

Sure

In reply to Narrator (msg # 18):

I’ve finished my parts on the plane

Since one of our players will not be able to join us until October 1, I’m hoping to draw the getting to know each other and driving to Mendocino part out a bit.  Feel free to share stories of missions the group has gone on together in the past (you can make up things that would be logical), etc.

Though when/if the conversation dies down and we need to move on, we will do so, even if it will still be some time before Xhiva’s player can join us.

Akiri, at some point in the drive, go ahead and make a driving roll at difficulty 7 before bonuses are applied.  You won’t have an accident unless you botch.  But use the results to influence any posts about how challenging it is to drive to Mendocino and any issues that you might encounter.

A comment made in passing last night made me realize I’d been making an inaccurate assumption and should have instead provided a bit more information.

Your characters would realize that the relatively short message you received letting you know about the reality breach in Mendocino did not necessarily contain all of the available information.  Additional relevant information might be found in the Presidio Construct’s libraries (most of which is accessible digitally).

Basically, what happened is one of the devices used to monitor the Southwestern United States for issues started flashing a red alert stating there was an issue in the specific area you are being directed to investigate.

Sometimes the citizen who saw the alert (the un-Enlighted employee monitoring the screen) will do further research and add additional information to the alerts before sending them out.  Sometimes, as in this case, they leave that up to you.

What that means, is that if you do an intelligence + research + library roll you may find out that there are certain individuals in Mendocino who have been tagged as potential threats.    As I mentioned a while back, not all reality deviants the Technocracy finds are immediately captured/processed/killed etc.  Sometimes, if they don’t seem like a threat, they just monitor them or even just add them to the database to be followed up on later.

The same is true for Bernard.  The message the team received simply indicated: “You will be meeting a potential new recruit, Bernard Hathaway, at the airport in Santa Rosa and driving to Mendocino.  He will be assisting in the investigation.”  But you could have easily pulled up a dossier of information about him.  That wouldn’t even require a roll.

Since this was my mistake (I wasn’t clear enough), if you want to say that you did either of these things prior to boarding the jet or while you were on the jet, you can do so.

Additional Information:

Your direct supervisor is Ethan Wellesley, NWO
The director of the Presidio construct is Andrew Davenport, Syndicate.

Pictures of them can be seen in the "The Cast" section.  Additional information about them will be added to that section in the coming days.

Two question questions.

1.  For everyone:  Just for my own awareness.  How old are each of your characters?

2.  For everyone other than Bernard:  Does your character pay any attention to the political side of things in the construct?  How familiar are they with managers other than their, how management interacts with each other, etc.?

In reply to Narrator (msg # 24):

Robert appears to be around 33, exact age is unknown and he tries to keep up with the going ons of management and the politics, never know what will pop up and help or hinder him

In reply to Narrator (msg # 24):

Akari is 22 but due to Asian magic she looks 17-18

In reply to Narrator (msg # 15):

Unfortunately, IVAN seats 6 plus the driver. But we could probably rig something up for someone in the back space area with the robot :)

My next post is going to be quite large and I'm still in the process of getting it typed up.  I don't believe I will be able to finish before I go to bed.  So it will probably be posted tomorrow evening.  I'll have it available for you as soon as possible.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:24, Mon 21 Sept 2020.

So what is the living arrangements gonna be? Like, in character, Bernard called a motel and put some rooms on hold because in real life, there really isn't much in Mendocino in the ways of chain hotels and such. Did you want to make up a hotel, because I read from someone, can't find it, that they were hoping for a good hotel. Not sure if we were gonna let IRL bleed into the game is all. This is also for anyone to read and add on top off.

While Mendocino is a small town, the majority of the town's income comes from tourism and it is home to a large number of bed and breakfasts and inns, including some very nice ones.  I will agree that their aren't many hotel chains.

If you are looking for a luxury hotel, your best bet is The Heritage House.  Rooms run about $600 a night.  https://www.heritagehouseresort.com/

Other less expensive but still very nice inns include the Sea Rock Inn https://searock.com/, the Agate Cove Inn https://www.agatecove.com/, and Stanford Inn by the Sea  https://stanfordinn.com/.

But I have no problem with the players creating their own Bed and Breakfast or Inn if they wish.

Additional information about Mendocino can be found in the setting thread.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:08, Mon 21 Sept 2020.

I know like that last set of posts may seem like an overwhelmingly large amount if information.  Don't worry.  That won't be the norm.

Just a quick summary due to the amount of information you have been given:

The entrance to Portals Bermuda was located in the Positive Mechanics headquarters in San Francisco.  The spa itself is located in the umbra.
As of two years ago, Lucius Selig's primary residence was 578 Montgomery Street, San Francisco California.
As of two years ago, Positive Mechanics Headquarters was located at 789 Kearny Street Street, San Francisco, California.

As of one year ago, the Selig/Pastore Family home was located in Mendocino California at 45530 Little Lake St., Mendocino, California, 95460.

The alert you received stated in part:  "There has been a level 4 breach in the space time continuum in a residential area of Mendocino, California.  Breach appears to have occurred near the cross streets of Williams Street and Little Lake Street."

If you are heading to San Francisco, you will need to head South for approximately 1 hour.

If you are heading to Mendocino, you will need to head North for approximately 2 hours.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:44, Tue 22 Sept 2020.

Sorry, I don't know how I missed the last bit of both OCC and Akari's last thread. Editing my response now.

Using required chain of command, ill send an email suggesting that perhaps someone with mid to high levels of cloaking try shadowing Morgan Pastore. The cloaking ability may act as a shielding to her empathic abilities and let the person keep tabs on her better. Would also like to request clarification on Lucius's threat level being dropped down to none, if I have clearance id like to request on what if anything was done to the situation. If I receive any information I will share with the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:39, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

Robert, since you are the only person who mentioned that you pay attention to chantry politics I'm going to give you a bit of additional information that may influence the approach you want to take.

Private Message:
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 21:29, Thu 24 Sept 2020.

Okay, you will be arriving in Mendocino in my next post.  So finish up anything that you want to discuss or do on the car ride today.

Also, are you going to visit or drive by the Pastore/Selig house before going to the hotel or are you heading straight to the hotel?
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:30, Fri 25 Sept 2020.

One more question.  If you are going by the house, who is looking at it with enhanced vision and what spheres are you using to look
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:22, Fri 25 Sept 2020.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 37):

I will be, a few moments using force, entropy, and then prime to see if anything catches my attention.

Reminder:

I am still waiting for the answers to various questions from my players:

1.  How old are each of your characters?

a.  Akari:  Akari is 22 but due to Asian magic she looks 17-18
b.  Bernard: Bernard is 27.
c.  Robert:  Robert appears to be around 33, exact age is unknown.
d.  Kyle: ???


2.  Does your character pay any attention to the political side of things in the construct?  How familiar are they with managers other than their, how management interacts with each other, etc.?

a.  Akari:  ???
b.  Bernard:  Not Applicable
c.  Robert:  He tries to keep up with the going ons of management and the politics, never know what will pop up and help or hinder him
d.  Kyle:  ???


3.  Is the group going to visit or drive by the Pastore/Selig house before going to the hotel or are you heading straight to the hotel?  (Note:  I need the answer to this question and if the answer is yes to the question after it before I can write up the next post).



4.  If the group is visiting or driving by the Pastore/Selig house, who is looking at it with enhanced vision and what spheres are you using to look?

a.  Akari:  ???
b.  Bernard:  ???
c.  Robert:  I will be, a few moments using force, entropy, and then prime to see if anything catches my attention.
d.  Kyle:  ????
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:31, Sat 26 Sept 2020.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 39):

As far as spying on the house on our way in, I'll look at it from afar with some binoculars. If we can spy on them with spheres and magic from afar without getting in close, I'll take whoever's word for it.

In reply to Narrator (msg # 39):

1D. 27 years old

2D. nope, hes already a misfit

3D. strait to hotel. but not pressing his opinion

4D. yes spirt and mind

In reply to Narrator (msg # 39):

For question 3 im good either way

In reply to Narrator (msg # 39):

Akari does not pay attention to politics in the construct.

If we do drive by the house, I will look at it with all 9 spheres, analyze and record what she sees. I would do this from a distance if necessary. Or...go invisible and drive-by. It would be a good time for IVAN to wow Bernard with another power.

Using force sphere:
Robert rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness 2nd ed, Specialised system with a target of 3, rerolling 10s ((4,5,9,2)).

Using investigation:
Robert rolled 2 successes using 6d10 with the World of Darkness 2nd ed, Specialised system with a target of 6, rerolling 10s ((10(+5),4,3,5,10(+5),2)).

I will be doing a search of my room, making sure no hidden recording or listening devices in my room

Everyone can have 2xp

Also, I haven't really pushed this prior to this because most of the magic you have been using was mostly for fluff.  But, now that we are getting into the meet of the game, please follow the rules for magic that I put in the rules thread.  I have copied them below for your convenience.

How to Create a Magical Effect


1.  In your post, please try to be detailed.  Let me know what you are trying to do and how you are trying to do it.  This includes describing which foci you are using and how you are using them.

2.  Let me know which Sphere(s) you are using.

3.  Let me know any modifications that will affect your roll.  For example: Are you spending Quintessence or Willpower?  Are you using any unique or specialized instruments?  Are you taking extra time?  Is this meant to be a single action or an extended action?

4.  Roll your Arete and let me know what numbers came up on each dice.  Your difficulty will vary depending on various factors and I will need to be the one to determine whether or not you succeeded. For an extended action, go ahead and roll your arete for each turn you are planning to spend casting the effect.  (Rules for extended actions can be found on p. 150 of the core book)

5.  Feel free to suggest whether you believe the effect should be considered coincidental or vulgar and why.

6.  Remember you may need multiple successes to achieve your desired effect.  See p. 209 for details


Difficulty:

Coincidental:  Highest Sphere + 3
Vulgar without Witnesses:  Highest Sphere + 4
Vulgar with Witnesses:  Highest Sphere + 5
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:03, Thu 01 Oct 2020.

Is anyone awaiting anything from me at this point?  As best I can tell, I've answered everyone's posts and am just waiting for you all to decide on your plan of action.

1.  How old are each of your characters?
56

2.  Does your character pay any attention to the political side of things in the construct?  How familiar are they with managers other than their, how management interacts with each other, etc?
No really he gets assignments and he does what he can do at his level in the hierarchy. Politics are above his pay grade.

Since it has been a bit, just a quick note:

Xhiva/"Resurgence" has been a member of the team for a while and has gone on prior missions with Akari, Robert, and Kyle (and possibly two other people who will be joining later).  Bernard is a new addition.

Robert is able to successfully fry the phone.  (IC post with details and the kid's reaction will follow after I get off work)

As for the hum, the results Robert gets are odd.  The hum seems to be coming from one of the rooms on the second floor and on the far side of the house.  But, it also seems to be coming from somewhere else near there yet also very far away at the same time.

I did a little looking and it seems like you have to pair perception with correspondence 2 to perceive things out your normal sensory range.

But since I've been being a bit generous with that, if you succeed on a mind + correspondence roll at difficulty 5, you are fairly certain that you aren't sensing any human minds inside the house.

If you succeed against a difficulty of 6, you are quite certain you aren't sensing any human minds inside the portions of the house that are in this world, but there may or may not be human minds in the areas in the subdimensional regions that you sensed earlier.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:15, Fri 09 Oct 2020.

Here is a list of sedative plants I found online that I might be able to find.

https://botanicalshaman.com/20...-that-are-sedatives/

There was dishwashing detergent on the sink in the kitchen.  Any other cleaning supplies would have been in a cabinet and you haven't opened those yet.  There was chlorine on a shelf above the washing machine.  No one on this floor.

OOC:
Michelle,

Should I wait to post?  I've caught up and read everything.  The party has just arrived at the house, searched it, and is now walking around the dimensional refrigerator.

I can pop out of the background and just go

or

If you prefer, I can have just arrived at IVAN outside looking for the party.  Delayed flight, late arrival by car, just returned from checking in at the hotel, and tracked the party's location to IVAN.  I can ask him to patch me in to the party while I'm sitting on the lawn.

Let me know which you prefer or if you have any entirely different idea.  I'm flexible.

Yes, please wait just a bit to post.  We'll give Doug one or two more days to get back to me.  I'd like to add you both at once if possible.  I've got an idea how to bring one or the both of you in.

After careful consideration, I’ve decided to go ahead and cancel this game due to lack of interest.  It was fun while it lasted and I wanted to thank each of you for your contributions.

If anyone is reading this and is interested in the rest of the story, the setting and story is drawn from the House of Eternal Returns in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  If you are in the area, I would certainly recommend at least a several hour visit if not longer.