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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 14, 2018 20:33:17 GMT -8
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 15, 2018 7:55:57 GMT -8
Well. I'm playing Dr. Richard Tilton, DC, LAc. Born and raised in Blackpool, England, Tilton did all his pre-med studies at a university in England with an eye on becoming a surgeon. After moving to the States, however, he found out that the medical schools here would not accept most of his transfer credits and he'd have to retake large swaths of classes. Desperately looking for options, he came across the Western States University of Alternate Health Sciences, who would take all of his transfer credits. Being a surgeon went out the window, and he focused on chiropractic and acupuncture. He graduated, established a practice, became a relatively well-known "expert witness" in personal injury cases and the like, and started dabbling in medical marijuana. Which brought him into contact with Edward Maddox. Maddox was pretty much a Charles Manson copycat in the late 60s and early 70s who, along with a few others, went on a similar murder spree to that of the Manson family. He'd contracted pancreatic cancer, and by the time I was brought in on the case, was at stage 4. After testifying as an expert witness that marijuana would limit the side effects of the cancer in the least costly way, Maddox was assigned to me as a patient with the stipulation that I had to personally oversee the, eh, proper application of the prescription. During my last visit with Maddox, Maddox asked me to check out his abdominal stent; it was completely clear and problem free, but Maddox said, "Yeah, that’s how the bitches are gonna say I go out. Something to do with that fucker. Won’t be true, man. Won’t be true. She’ll tell ya." When I asked him about "she", he got defensive and told me to "get the fuck out of here before I cut your dick off." Which I did. That was the last time I saw Maddox; he died three days later from a blocked stent. A short time later I got a call from the Rhodes Corporation, something of a news conglomerate. They want me to consult on an investigation sort-of thing, for a tidy sum of money. I agree, and setup a meeting with them. Also at the meeting is a guy who goes by Sully, who is a retired LAPD homicide detective and who is to be my partner in this investigation... quest... thing. At the meeting, Tabitha (or Tabby, or Tami) of the Rhodes Corporation shows us pictures of a number of grisly death scenes, all of them with "for Aji'tarra" written on the wall in blood, some of them with "this is for her" as well. One of them was Maddox's cell. Another one was a case that Sully had worked where the scene was cleaned up and cleared out by Internal Affairs (I think, correct me if I'm wrong Monkeyfun Dave or mysticfedora) before crime scene was able to investigate. Another was the father of the current Rhodes Corp CEO. Finally, they tell us that they have set a Google alert for anyone searching for the term "Aji'tarra", and a ping recently came up from a residential treatment center where a Richard Delacroix was receiving treatment... only... Richard Delacroix died in Guatemala several years earlier. Of course, supporting documentation of all of this is given to us, as are Rhodes Corporation press passes to help us on our way. So the first place we go is to the residential treatment facility to see Delacroix. This is where shit starts to go sideways. First off, at first we think that Monkeyfun Dave brought in LARP-style NPCs, because someone shows up to play Delacroix. In addition, Monkeyfun Dave pulls down a curtain on one of his walls to reveal this on the wall of Delacroix's "cell" just behind the new guy (whose name was Frank, if I remember correctly): drive.google.com/file/d/1u6CMQ3CRiTMqCBVEWn9Hm0WlooLBCCvL/view?usp=sharingI immediately take a picture of it, after gingerly asking Delacroix, thinking he's a nutcase. We start talking, he starts answering questions but only if we give him things; it started with Sully's notebook and pen, ending up with a Gollum-esque question-for-question exchange between he and I while Sully steps out of the room. Turns out, unbeknownst to me, Sully was convincing the orderlies that we had authority to take Delacroix out of the facility and so he quickly ushers us out. Yay for taking the picture, because as soon as we left the facility, Monkeyfun Dave pulled the notes down. One of my hobbies is rebuilding classic sports cars. I'd driven to the facility in a candy-apple red 1969 Porsche 912; a two-seater. Delacroix and I piled into the Porsche, while Sully called a friend to get a ride to his apartment, where we were going to meet. At the first red light, we notice a pair of homeless guys staring at us - well, at Delacroix - but I explained it away as staring at the car to keep him calm. Suddenly, one of them shoves his thumb into his own eye socket, popping out his eye, and starts running at the car screaming. I nope the eff out and gun it across the intersection, weaving in and out of traffic to get us out of there. Sully hears this and runs over; he sees the homeless guys who start running at him yelling "THIS IS FOR HER!". He pulls his weapon and fires three times; two of the shots take one of the homeless guys out, the third drops the guy who popped his eye out. The homeless guy then lifts up his shirt, and Sully sees the bullet hole closing up of its own accord. Sully pops the guy twice more in the head, and he stays down. Sully then bails out to his apartment and uses all of his cop favors to get that little mishap cleaned up and swept under the rug. The rest of the session consisted of a lot of analysis paralysis, a lot of talking to Delacroix (who is an effing GREAT RPer), a lot of piecing together stuff from Delacroix's wall, and a lot of chasing down false leads. We did, however, go back to the prison to talk to the current resident of Maddox's old cell, another murderer, this one who was brought down by Sully. While we were there I was given Maddox's belongings, as he had no next of kin. In it was a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, with a collection of circled page numbers. The page numbers, when written down, looked suspiciously like a phone number. We called it and heard a positively chilling message about doing things for "her". That's where the session ended. I have a lot of theories about Aji'tarra and the Rhodes Corporation and Delacroix, but before I get into them I'll give Monkeyfun Dave and mysticfedora a chance to reply to what I've posted so far. It was... great fun. I love games like this.
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 15, 2018 8:55:03 GMT -8
Putting a pin in the actual plot for a moment, yes. You guys did have a bit of analysis paralysis in the middle of the game, and it was absolutely legitimate and felt accurate to the situation. You should have had that at that particular moment. I say this because the way the trailhead of the campaign had been constructed was the two of you as player-characters ( Probie Tim and mysticfedora ) unaware of the dangers you were getting yourselves into. As players you knew sure, but the characters didn't. So the period of trying to process what had just occurred was appropriate in terms of story development. And it was also worthwhile because the player who did know what was going on (albeit in a broken and unfamiliar way) need to develop that bond between you guys, in the process of sharing received information. He (This being Frank), needed to find a way as a player to share the information he had without you guys dismissing him out of hand as a crazy person or go screaming into the night. You were eased into it... like a rubber catsuit. So for those of you at home, this is a consideration on how you would want Game 1 to go for modern-day(ish) horror games. There's either the cold start where people begin as "investigators" having previous, offscreen exposure to something abnormal or there's what happened here - players know *something* is about to occur, characters don't, and then that first session really does become a session of "What the fuck just happened here??!??" And that felt accurate as an observer. I coulda kicked you guys back into active game play but it would've short-changed you guys the opportunity to develop accurate in-game opinions about how you wanted to process the events that have occurred as well as a full understanding of what could occur. So yes, the game had two bookends from a story perspective - started (really) with the introduction of the player in the "treatment center" and the conclusion with the discovery of the phone number that gave you a message. The middle part was character-driven and although a dip in the plot advancement, was a high-point in character development and cohesion. So it worked great. If it hadn't been for time constraints, I think you guys would've gone an additional two hours. (My next post will be about Gumshoe/Fear Itself later today.)
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 15, 2018 9:08:36 GMT -8
That whole bit with Frank was really cool. Well done. Neither mysticfedora nor I knew exactly what was up with him; we didn't even know if he was supposed to be an NPC or a PC. Also, I should state that aside of Gruel Truck, this was my first Monkeyfun Dave game. He put a LOT of effort into this game. Like, when I'd search for something on the internet or library or whatever, he'd give me a post-it note that said something like "Esquire, Sept/Oct 2017, P82". I'd then have to go look around his condo for that magazine, flip to the identified page, and read the article he'd typed up and pasted over the actual page. With all that, and Delacroix's wall, and the press passes, and all the articles and pictures he'd Photoshopped "Aji'tarra" onto... I was pretty blown away.
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 15, 2018 9:24:38 GMT -8
"You prep too much." - stu
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 15, 2018 11:58:44 GMT -8
Quote of the Night:mysticfedora : "I thought you were a doctor!" Probie Tim : "I am! I'm a licensed chiropractor and accupuncturist." mysticfedora : "OH FOR CHRIST'S SAKE..."
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 17, 2018 18:48:51 GMT -8
Probie Tim and mysticfedora - 1. What creeped you out? 2. What puzzle are still considering? 3. What made you feel like a Big Damn Hero?
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 18, 2018 6:56:04 GMT -8
This is a toss-up between the eye-poking bum, and Frank's character, LOL. 2. What puzzle are still considering? Damn, dude, this may be a cop-out, but the whole thing. I haven't yet made heads or tails of any of it. 3. What made you feel like a Big Damn Hero? Nothing yet. Truth be told, Dr. Richard Tilton, D.C., LAc. feels very out of his league right now. He's fighting the urge to nope the fuck out. Were it not for the connection to one of his old patients and the questions surrounding that patient's death, he might be in Vegas right now. Now, all of that said, those are not bad things. I'm very engaged and into the game, but my character is weirded out by... oh, all of it.
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on Jan 18, 2018 14:39:18 GMT -8
Probie Tim and mysticfedora - 1. What creeped you out? 2. What puzzle are still considering? 3. What made you feel like a Big Damn Hero? 1. The homeless guy shoving his thumb in his eye and charging. That was freaky. I'm glad my character didn't see it, he may have shut down altogether. 2. I think the biggest puzzle is who has hired us and why? Sully is fairly convinced the company is not on the up and up, but has his dutiful side intent on finding the evidence before casting stones. His investigation is more about Rhodes corp than about the murders, I think. 3. I loved that Sully just broke an inmate out of the asylum by flashing a press badge and acting cop-ish and asking for security to transfer the patient to another facility. I also loved the look on Tim's face when I said we were going. And the consequential yelling Tim did when we got to a quiet place.
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on Jan 18, 2018 14:40:36 GMT -8
That whole bit with Frank was really cool. Well done. Neither mysticfedora nor I knew exactly what was up with him; we didn't even know if he was supposed to be an NPC or a PC. Also, I should state that aside of Gruel Truck, this was my first Monkeyfun Dave game. He put a LOT of effort into this game. Like, when I'd search for something on the internet or library or whatever, he'd give me a post-it note that said something like "Esquire, Sept/Oct 2017, P82". I'd then have to go look around his condo for that magazine, flip to the identified page, and read the article he'd typed up and pasted over the actual page. With all that, and Delacroix's wall, and the press passes, and all the articles and pictures he'd Photoshopped "Aji'tarra" onto... I was pretty blown away. The props were absolutely amazing. Not only did it help with immersion, it helped on figuring out the investigation. I loved that I could pass newspaper clippings around in character, but actually deliver the newspaper clipping to a player.
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on Jan 18, 2018 14:43:37 GMT -8
The rest of the session consisted of a lot of analysis paralysis, a lot of talking to Delacroix (who is an effing GREAT RPer), a lot of piecing together stuff from Delacroix's wall, and a lot of chasing down false leads. We did, however, go back to the prison to talk to the current resident of Maddox's old cell, another murderer, this one who was brought down by Sully. I'd like to add that Dave's serial killer character was fucking scary.
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 18, 2018 15:18:21 GMT -8
The rest of the session consisted of a lot of analysis paralysis, a lot of talking to Delacroix (who is an effing GREAT RPer), a lot of piecing together stuff from Delacroix's wall, and a lot of chasing down false leads. We did, however, go back to the prison to talk to the current resident of Maddox's old cell, another murderer, this one who was brought down by Sully. I'd like to add that Dave's serial killer character was fucking scary. I really thought you were fighting the urge to take a swing at me. Hopefully just in character, of course.
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mysticfedora
Supporter
The truth lies somewhere in between.
Posts: 281
Preferred Game Systems: 5E, PbtA, OSR
Currently Playing: LotFP, 5E
Currently Running: 5E, PbtA, Stars Without Number, CoC 7e
Favorite Species of Monkey: Kong
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Post by mysticfedora on Jan 18, 2018 17:12:45 GMT -8
Sully sure as hell was!
As for Chris, he was just looking for another beer.
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Post by Probie Tim on Jan 18, 2018 19:39:39 GMT -8
I'd like to add that Dave's serial killer character was fucking scary. Oh, I'd forgotten about that guy. Probably purposely, because... yeah.
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Post by Monkeyfun Dave on Jan 18, 2018 21:51:22 GMT -8
I'd like to add that Dave's serial killer character was fucking scary. Oh, I'd forgotten about that guy. Probably purposely, because... yeah. He loved you.
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