Welcome to the OOC thread.

Hey there,

I’m a bit new to play by post rpgs, but I’m exited to do some stuff in the ETU setting,

Will this have any continuity with your earlier run of ETU set in 1989?

Probably not as that one never got very far. This is actually more of a reboot, so the beginning will most likely be familiar to you.

Welcome to the game...

- Alice Mullins
- Alyvonya Volkov
- Hannah Bradford
- Pablo Pachicano

There are 2 spots left which I currently have a handful of candidates vying for. Should be ready to get started later this week or early next week.

Hello. I'll be your resident linguistics geek and anthro-nerd^tm.

I'll be playing Joar Varnes a Norwegian exchange student studying animal husbandry to become a vet

Hey, guys -- looking forward to gaming with y'all.

Hannah is from Texas, hardscrabble background. She's a scholarship girl: Athletics and Academics. Pre-Med -- going to be a forensic anthropologist -- just like Bones on the TV! I'll be thinking of Clarice Starling and Temperance Brennan to inform her character.

So we have the two broad sides of anthro since Alyona is definitely cultural with a bit of archeology.

In reply to Hannah Bradford (msg # 7):

If I'm processing the timeline right, Bones isn't going to premiere for nine years (in 2005).

Pablo's from El Paso, a point guard, and his parents raised him right (i.e., he is a total, rule-abiding square). He is, to his parents' chagrin, majoring in literature.

So is the year 1995?

I was a sophomore in high school that year. The music, the fashion, I don't miss a good bit of it.

Should be fall of '96. A long way from smartphones. Hotmail just launched in July. AOL is still absolutely a thing. Dial-up home internet, ethernet cables in the dorms (maybe).

The Macarena is topping the Billboard charts. The first Space Jam came out. So did Independence Day.

Ah, the 90s.

Yikes! Even the books haven't been written yet. [Offstage sounds of keyboard and Google thinking] Looks like her hero will have to be Dr. Kay Scarpetta, created in 1990 by Patricia Cornwell. Noted. Thanks for the temporal reset.

I had tickets to Oasis and they didn't make it to the third stop because of a fight. I was really into a lot of the Riot Grrrl bands, especially Babes in Toyland.

I did have a pager and a Motorola StarTAC 85.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:51, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

In reply to Pablo Pachicano (msg # 11):

Tim Burton just directed a Batman. The Monica Lewinsky scandal hasn't happened yet. Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill is going to be album of the year.

Upper middle class households are likely to have a computer in the house, though graphics cards with 3D accelerators are both pretty expensive and not yet mandatory. AOL Instant Messenger, the stand alone IM app, won't be released until 1997, ICQ won't release until November 15, 1996. IRC is the only existing, popular instant messenger app and even then only among tech enthusiasts.

Mobile phones look like this
https://assets.hongkiat.com/up...nokia9000-(1996).jpg

@Alyona Volkov: (Hopefully I don't come off as a dick here) The Motorola StarTAC 85 won't be released until 1997. You probably got it later in high school.
https://fdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/bigpic/most85b.gif

And the Nokia candy bar phones won't come out until 1999.


Much more likely to have a pager, which is at the peak of popularity and technology now.
https://helios-i.mashable.com/...000x.v1611702101.jpg
Including two way pagers in 1995
https://miro.medium.com/max/14...K-EBtuos0uwBR0rA.png
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

No problem, I don't recall when I got which phone I had, it was a long time ago. I just remembered that as one of them. I had one of those brick ones as a hand me down first. My mother worked for Bell in the cell phone division so we got crazy discounts.

Now, those Nokia candy bar phones were like magic. I had one in 2002 that I dropped from the roof of a 4 story building and it didn't even drop the call.

Can you shrink the pagers, please? It makes it really hard to read posts on the phone.

Oh, I guess I should do introductions.

I am playing Malice, a trad goth with a famous boxer father (the kind of person that would have fought Tyson) and substance abuse issues (alcohol and cigarettes). She's majoring in History, hoping to get a masters in Library Sciences to become an archivist. I will do my best to direct her snark and 90s sarcasm at the group's enemies and mall goths, unless some of y'all explicitly want to get into it with her.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Wed 13 Oct 2021.

In reply to Alyona Volkov (msg # 16):

I changed them to just links. It looks like RPOL doesn't have the ability to adjust picture sizing.

Sadly it doesn't. I usually use imgur to do that.

I'll get more details about alyona up soon.

Part of Pablo's concept is "secret nerd." He'd really like to play D&D, but has never had the opportunity. He's also, of course, a little terrified of the guys on the basketball team finding out.

Alyona's been around the world, her mother's a well regarded diplomat and her father's a professor. Her mother went to ETU and wanted her to come so that's why she's there. She tends to be a little more shy, or maybe it's just that she doesn't really do small talk.

I'd nearly got blown up 3 years earlier when the IRA set off a bomb inthe natwest tower that was 93.....I'd been in london only for a year when that happened.

Sadly I remember life before internet and the best computer you could get was the commodore 64.....now that date me.

As for Joar he is 19 just starting his first year in Texas after doing his 12 month national service in the Norwegian armed forces. Yes he knows how to shoot a gun (d4) but he is also a minor pacifist. He is driven to work with animals and wants to qualify as a vet

I had a C64 back in the day, too

And, Pacifists unite. ;)

Any one want to be roommates?

Given Alyona's position I think she may have a private room. I have her mother as a diplomat but I'm thinking she may be running (and winning) a senate race for Texas for the US Senate.

I will be clarifying things about the timeline for the game and some other stuff, like dorm assignments when I get home from work.

Howdy folks, happy to be here.

Okay, I am still sorting some stuff out but here is what I have so far.

DORM ASSIGNMENTS:

Alice - Stanbury Hall - #121
Alyona - Halloway Suites- #3 (Her mother's old room).
Hannah - Manuel Travis Athletics Dormitory - #111
Pablo - Manual Travis Athletics Dormitory - #313
Joar - Whitehall Dormitory - #201
XiaoRui Qi - Whitehall Dormitory - #201

- Hannah and Pablo are both in the sports dormitory but on different floors.
- Joar and XiaoRui are room mates.


TIMELINE

As has been discussed it is Fall of 1996. While I would like to do our best to portray that time period, I am not expecting 100% historical accuracy in regards to things like phone models, pc models, fashion trends etc. As long as we do our best to capture the mid-late nineties feel. The main reason for choosing this time frame is to limit how easy it would be to simply Google everything and that sort of thing.

I'm thinking I may make up some macabre stories Malice has gathered with minimal credulity about all the supposed deaths and hauntings at Whitehall to inevitably tell the two living there, since it's supposedly super haunted.

Love the detail stuff you just added. I may have to print out my ID card!

I see Hannah will be sharing with others -- two in each bedroom, four altogether in the suite, right?

Do you have roommates in mind or do you need help? Happy to assist with the churn.

How about phone and ethernet ports? Is there a centrally located wired phone or does each student have one in each room?

It seems likely Hannah and Pablo have met—if not at some informal athletic department thing, at a "how to make sure you keep your scholarship" session. Broke jocks of ETU unite!

Loving the IDs there adorable.

To be honest he's likely either heard them or has collected them. With his love of theology, occult, urban legends and ghost stories, they can maybe compare notes!

In reply to XiaoRui Qi (msg # 34):

I really hope we can at least torment Joar with them.

-lol- can always try.

I just realized The Craft was released in May of 1996. I'm not sure how relevant that will be, but I think it has to be somewhat relevant given the setting.

Must go see it in the theater.

 I am pretty sure the stories about Whitehall will be plentiful. However, right now it is unlikely any of you know much about them or the campus. The opening adventure starts with the Sweat Lodge which is held the Friday before classes start. Each player will be able to post an into post detailing their arrival on campus and what they have been up to prior to the Sweat Lodge. How soon prior your character arrives on campus is up to you but, generally it would be a week at most.

Regarding room mates. If you have any ideas for your room mate(s) PM them to me and if I think they will be a good fit I will work them into the game. On a similar note if you have any cool backstory/character ideas you'd like to have pop up in game PM those to me as well and if I can fit them into the story I will.

A quick note, I will be traveling home to see my family (wife and kids) this weekend so I probably won't be around much. I should be ready to kick things off around Monday or Tuesday. For those of you who don't have an ID yet please send me a picture you want to use and I will get them done up.

Ah okay , so it's not something occult or research would uncover not being there yet. Works for me .

I would probably allow you a roll at -2 to see if anything popped up. Same for anyone who would want to do their homework on their new school prior to arrival. Alyona's would probably be a straight up roll depending on how much info her mom gave her.

Oh okays, lol.

I am just as happy uncovering things, I figured the AV club kid, would be interested in ghost stories and the like, given how Chinese ghost stories are. It will be comparably different.

Hi all

Just wondering where in the world we are all located

I'll start I'm in London, England

I'm in central Florida.

Central...Texas! (For real!) But I did not live in Texas in the 90s. I did, in fact, spend most of my life pre-2013 living in states that bordered Canada.

VA for me

Suburbs of Philadelphia

I did during this time period, and do currently, live in Texas.

I live in Japan and have been here since ‘94. Born in Ohio and moved to Arizona when I was seven.

The ETU setting is supposed to pretty accurate to the real life area. One of the designers is from the area where the game takes place.

I have visited, but outside that know very little save history. You are in Japan that is amazing though. It's on my list of places to visit.

Yeah, there's an rpg convention in Austin called Chupacabracon where a bunch of the Savage Worlds designers meet up and there's usually a couple of good Pinebox or East Texas University games to be had by the 12 to Midnight crew who created ETU. From what I know most of them lived in Texas at one point, though a few have left for bigger jobs.

I visit Austin every few years, I have a good friend there. Never been to that con.

Hi guys posting might be a bit patchy for a few days....was rushed to a&e yesterday morning to have a kidney stone removed that got stuck .....won't go into the nasty details but I'll never look at a garden hose the same way......well that's what it felt like they used....anyway all good now just feel like I've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson so to say I ache a bit is an understatement

Feel better soon, get rest, and hydrate!

Always hydrate. I've had a few of those and haven't since I started drinking a gallon a day. They are definitely some of the worst pain I've experienced. Take care.

I think I finished up my character sheet, adding languages I went mostly for dead ones since Alyona is anthro.

I'll get a post up today, weekends are oft busy for me.

Hrm, maybe I should have asked this before. Where do people sort of see things going for their characters, in terms of like place in the team. I know we haven't gotten many Edges at this point, those will define the characters more with time, and story stuff might change our original orientations. (We may lose some players too as we go, obviously)

It seems like all the characters with a clear physicality focus outside of maybe Alyona. Everyone should probably have some capacity to throw down in a fight unless their thing is that they don't, but how focused are people planning to go on that? Anyone leaning towards going deep on the Leadership edges, Psychically Sensitive and its derivations, research edges, or Social edges?

My original intention for Malice was to make her fairly fighty in terms of edges, with a secondary in the Taunt and Persuasion areas., but she feels like she could really flex into a lot of other domains we need her while still keeping her character. If we're going to have a lot of other fighty types, I could make that more of a secondary aspect for her.

We can also discuss some interesting builds using the edge system if you're not super knowledgeable about how Savage Worlds work.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:49, Mon 18 Oct 2021.

Currently I have one edge martial artist. I plan to go the healing route though  with enough to keep me capable if I wind up in a fight. I'd also like to look into exorcism if that is available at some point.

I was planning on focusing on the more mystical side, having her psychic potential open up. She already has some real occult knowledge. I may have her open up more socially but maybe not.

I have occult to, I am working around Chinese mysticism . Which is a very contained thing. Not as broad as regular mysticism. Mostly it deals with spirits , if your not going the dark route and Roo is NOT going the dark route, he's to kind hearted.

She's more the scholarly type. Likely linguistically her focus has been more in the Mediterranean area. If she knows anything now it's Egyptian or Greek mystery cults.

Theology is Roo's secondary because medicine can heal the body but spiritualism can help heal the non physical at least that's his thoughts.

Alyona's study of religion is generally academic. She's definitely an atheist although how that will butt up against knowledge of the supernatural beyond a little magic.

Pablo, right now, is mostly just an athlete, with edges to suit (fleet-footed, quick). There's nothing baked into his skills or attributes that mandates a particular direction. It'd be plausible for him, character-wise, to branch out into leadership, but he hasn't yet.

Well, looking at the remaining characters:

Looks like Hannah is leaning more towards a scout-skirmisher type. Since she's premed I'm guessing she's also going to pick up Healing at some point.

My guess is from Joar's description he's served in the military and is therefore going to have some Shoot and Fight, plus it seems like some survival and stealth stuff?

Not to lock anyone into a role, but the general idea I'm getting:

Alyona - Occult Researcher
Hannah - Scout-Skirmisher
Joar - Modern Viking
Malice - Belligerent Boxer
Pablo - Team Captain?
XiaoRui - Martial Spiritualist

***

Are we going to wait for Joar to return before we start up the actual game stuff?

Sounds about right -lol-

I’m going to give him another day or two and then start the next segment.

Regarding you breakdown above, I wouldn’t go into this game thinking along the lines of a D&D or combat efficiency type mindset. Keep in mind anytime you have to fight there is a Chance it could end up with the police getting involved and legal troubles. Combat will happen but, it won’t be a focus.

If you are okay keeping player and character knowledge separate you can check out the Wildcards ETU cempaign on YouTube/Saving Throw.

Yeah, I get that combat isn't the first solution to most problems here. Just thinking about avoiding too much mechanical overlap, especially since Savage Worlds has a bunch of neat stuff useful in and out of combat.

I'll get posting tomorrow. I wanted to kind of work through everything with the character first.

Also, Dean: any chance we can get character sheets unlocked?

Think it should be unlocked now. I do not have any specific format.

thanks. or rather can I also get mine open ? I thought all were open. XD midnight and I am braindead.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Wed 20 Oct 2021.

I thought they were too. I always forget how some of this stuff works. I much prefer using VTT but, find a group with my timezone is tough.

There are a couple of Savage Worlds Character Sheets in the resources here at RPOL. Here's the list of systems. Search for Savage. They're a bit old school

link to a message in another game

Here's one I picked up from another game. If you Quote my post, you'll get the code. Everything below this line:

------------------------------------

Rank: Novice     Experience: 0

================================ ATTRIBUTES ====================================

 Agility     D4 | Smarts      D4 | Strength    D4 | Spirit     D4 | Vigor   D4

 Bennies 3      | Pace      6/0  | Parry     ?/?  | Toughness ?/? |


================================ CORE SKILLS =======================================
 
dx Athletics
dx Common Knowledge
dx Notice
dx Persuasion
dx Stealth
================================== SKILLS =======================================
dx Driving
dx Electronics
dx Faith
dx Fighting
dx Focus
dx Gambling
dx Hacking
dx Healing
dx Intimidation
dx Language
dx Occult
dx Performance
dx Piloting
dx Psionics
dx Repair
dx Research
dx Riding
dx Science
dx Shooting
dx Spellcasting
dx Survival
dx Taunt
dx Thievery
dx Weird Science
==================================== EDGES =======================================
 

================================== HINDRANCES ======================================
 


==================================== ARMOR =======================================
 Name             Covered     Protection        Weight   Notes



================================== WEAPONS =====================================
 Name            Dam   RoF   Shots/Ammo    Range      Weight  Notes

    -

================================== POWERS =====================================
 Name            PP's    Rank        Range       Duration    Notes



================================== EQUIPMENT =====================================




=============================== CHARACTER BUILD ==================================

Initial Character Creation
 Racial Edge-
 #1 Hindrance Points-
 #2 Hindrance Points-

Novice
 A1:
 A2:
 A3:
Seasoned
 A4:
 A5:
 A6:
 A7:
Veteran
 A8:
 A9:
 A10:
 A11:
Heroic
 A12:
 A13:
 A14:
 A15:
Legendary
 A16+

Hi all

Just a quick update....

Back in hospital yesterday, full bloods and water test done.... Have a kidney infection. Back home on strong antibiotics and painkillers waiting for my appointment letter to go have a CT scan in the next week or so..... Honestly feeling sorry for myself will post nearer the weekend once I get my shit together a bit.

Thanks for being patient

Feel better, RL comes first.

Yes take care of yourself.

This is an issue I always find myself struggling with in PbP games. On one hand I want to spend the time roleplaying the arrival on campus, meeting room mates and all that stuff. In Face To Face games it is easy to spend ten to twenty minutes or so doing just that. On the other hand it takes much longer to roleplay these things out via PbP. An adventure or scene that takes an hour in rea life takes days through text. I'd much rather simple do up a few quick RP posts and then move on.

I guess it's a matter of Character Interaction vs Story Interaction.

Which would you the players prefer, more Character RP or Story RP?

I am happy with rp no matter which type it is. So my answer is either or, but I lean towards whatever inspires you as a gm, since PBP can drag on if not everyone is posting regularly.

We could always just have a cutoff point in terms of real time? Like one week from now (just an arbitrary cutoff) we'll move from initial Character RP stuff and get on to the Story RP. However, I kind of feel like we probably need to get along to meeting one another as a group, but maybe an initial "meeting someone else under good / bad circumstances" scene to have some previous tensions might be good.

I agree with Alice and I think cutoff times are good. If anyone wants to finish a conversation after they can always move to PMs.

We're all here for the story, but I have to admit that I'm also hoping to have a bit of a fantasy social life back at college. How about a thread for Campus Life where we can post about classes we're taking, sports we're in, general details to fill out the landscape. No narrative to it, just a place to collect shared stuff.

I see you gave Joar and XiaoRui their dorm room. I'd like a similar thread, if I may, just to help the setting.

Thanks

I like having a mix. I think the downtime that happens more in the game's timeline can have an effect on the character interactions during more stressful times.

I will be adding a few other RP threads. I will also get some reaction posts up in the current thread. I'd like to avoid the players meeting for now, except Joar and Rui as they are roomies. You will all meet for the first time during the events of the Sweat Lodge.

So, maybe some down time after such events for general socializing is the best way and moving forward with the plot type stuff sooner?

Quick update.

Had CT scan over weekend.... Got blood test on Thursday.... Still in some pain and discomfort..... Painkillers grest but making my day a bit fuzzy..... Thanks for the patience

Hope everything turns out okay.

Sorry I haven't updated things yet. I'm still sorting a few things out on my end and should have a new post up in a e day or two.

I'm out of town most weekends until the new year. I will try to post tomorrow but it may be Monday.

I have family stuff on Weekends.

Happy Halloween everyone !

Sorry, massive migraine since yesterday. Will post as soon as I'm functional.

Hope everyone is ok and/or feeling better. Still waiting for a few posts before I continue.

Sorry, I got super sick for days. I'm finally recovering slowly. Working for the first time in a week. Starting to get there, no clue what it was except it wasn't covid.

No worries. Glad you are getting better.

So, it's been almost 3 weeks since we started the first thread. I know people have been having issues, and I don't want to be mean to them, but that seems like a lengthy time for basically no activity. Are we all committed but I'm just going to expect breaks this long, does the GM need to replace players / move on without them, or is the game dead?

Sees we're waiting on the GM, right. Three of us posted our notice rolls, but then it stopped.

I wanted to give the others a chance to post but, I have waited too long. I will post sometime this weekend. From there I will give everyone one week to post. If the same players struggle to meet that requirement then I will place them on the back burner and recruit a few new faces. It is hard for me as this game has died at least twice over the past four years due to me not having my crap together. And at least one of the current players has been here through all of that. However, if I do not move the game forward it is going to die again and I am determined to not let that happen.

Happy Thanksgiving! I am extending my holiday time off with a week's vacation and I will be out of touch until the second week in December. See you then.

Happy Thanksgiving! I will be posting the next GM post before the end of November. Once Hannah and anyone else is back from holiday vacations I will be moving things forward at a bit quicker pace.

Sorry I vanished. I had a really bad drug interaction that I'm almost recovered from. If I'm welcome I'd love to pop back in.

Welcome back. I think there's still a spot for you in the Sweat Lodge.

  I think with the way my schedule is looking and the holiday season quickly approaching I am going to put this on hold until after the New year. If people are still around and interested after that I will start back up.

I'm definitely interested. Have a great holiday season and I hope to see you in the New Year.

I doubt anyone is still around for this but, I'm going to be giving this another try. Any of the original cast still around and interested will have priority and if need be I will recruit some new faces.

I'll give this a week to see if anyone checks in.

Still here and happy to give it another go :)

is like a barnacle on the ship of RPOL and hasn't been scraped off yet