Genius Loci: Session Zero

[Umbral Dragon]

You may work on character Ideas here, figure out how you came together and generally create the team.

The premise is that you are in Houston.

Harrisburg is the suburb where Mexican and Chinese folk offer their services, like dry cleaning, produce shopping, meat market, etc. They live in the surrounding neighborhood. There is a train that leads north to Downtown where the Foley's department store is the biggest shopping store at that time (think Macy's). There are also many smaller neighborhoods particularly River Oaks, most affluent neighborhood, the Heights, upper middle class, planned suburban neighborhood, and the Harrisburg area, originally the foundation of Houston proper and oldest neighborhood. Many types of people live in the Harrisburg area, poor to affluent. Rice University is the main undergrad and graduate college in the area.

The time is summer. It's hot, 98 degrees Fahrenheit and 90% Humidity. Most men wear suits, some cowboys (german, mexican, chicano, irish) still make their way here to sell their cattle, and mariachis sing in the bars and restaurants in the Harrisburg. Many of the minorities are superstitious, the Mexicans practice Santeria, the Negros practice Voodoo and the Chinese still believe in Dragons, and I-Ching. It's a true melting pot of races and heat. Sometimes that's all you need to raise the wrong attention from the wrong places. It's not unheard of that someone makes a deal with the devil...

[HoneyDog]

How does a photographer for the Houston Chronicle sound? Or maybe a freelancer might be more flexible.

[Umbral Dragon]

How does a photographer for the Houston Chronicle sound? Or maybe a freelancer might be more flexible.

Houston Post or FreeLance is good too. You pick.

[Zero]

I've got a private eye more or less ready to go. I pulled him from a game that I barely got started in. That said, I also have this real desire to play some sort of organized crime thug who wants to head his own family someday. Decisions... decisions.

[Umbral Dragon]

I've got a private eye more or less ready to go. I pulled him from a game that I barely got started in. That said, I also have this real desire to play some sort of organized crime thug who wants to head his own family someday. Decisions... decisions.

Great ideas! I like it.

[Umbral Dragon]

I'm actually prepping this for tomorrow, but you may access it now, if you like, to give you some time to think things through. So, if you're ready you may start to create associations with the other characters. If not, tomorrow will be sufficient, when we go 'live' so to speak.

There are two relationships you can explore with the other characters. One can be a personal relationship, and the other is the link all of you share as investigators whether selected for your unique abilities or as an agency is up to you as a group. I encourage this at the beginning, and they can add depth to an otherwise "cardboard" experience.

Some ideas for personal relationships are:

Wingman - you're constantly getting into trouble and standing up for each other, even when it's obvious it was not you, it was him and vice versa. You provide alibis and the like.

Healthy Rivals - you could be constantly trying to outdo the other. It never comes to blows, but there is a healthy respect for each others' abilities. You'd rather have your rival beside you than do without their motivation.

Romantic - Could be unrequited love, could be you've been together for a time now. Keep it clean. But the inner struggles of a romantic life is dramatic.

Loyal Friends - you are BFFs and you'd never let a friend down or betray a friend, or would you? Plenty of room for drama here.

Mentor/Mentee - Padawan and Master. This relationship has a lot to offer when played out right and there are many examples out there to draw from.

Personal relationships are not an absolute, you don't have to have a personal relationship with anyone in the group if you don't want to go that route. However, I find them rewarding and challenging as far as adding to the roleplaying experience. Keep in mind, personal relationships should be slow paced, they should be developed slowly over time and should feel natural, not forced, as you get to know your character and as you get to know your fellow player's character. Here is the roster so far:

Jimmy "Coach" Muldoon; High School Coach at Harrisburg School (jp1885)
Joseph Adler; Professional Freelance Photographer (honeydog)
James Siegel aka "Jimmy the Chin"; a made guy from Chicago (Zero)
Unknown Origin; under construction (mr. handy)
Bunch of Stats for Now; under construction (borderline)

As far as the entire crew is concerned, you might be in the employ of an unknown benefactor (Hello Angels, this is Charlie...) or perhaps you run a private agency devoted to solving the mysteries of the Occult and the Unexplained. There are several different ideas you can go with here, don't be afraid to chime in and let your voice be heard. Let the mayhem begin!

[jp1885]

HoneyDog, considering my character 'Coach' may or may not have made money in a baseball betting scandal during his pro days, perhaps he may or may not have known 'Jimmy the Chin' during this time?
Zero, could Coach know Joseph from coverage of high school baseball games?

[Zero]

@jp1885 Jimmy's mainly connected with contraband smuggling, but sports gambling is certainly something he'd at least be aware of given his background. On a scale of 1-10, how famous would you say "Coach" was? Did the scandal you mentioned ever make national news?

[HoneyDog]

HoneyDog, considering my character 'Coach' may or may not have made money in a baseball betting scandal during his pro days, perhaps he may or may not have known 'Jimmy the Chin' during this time?
Zero, could Coach know Joseph from coverage of high school baseball games?

You're mixing us up jp, but yes, perhaps Joseph could have covered some state championship games or something and got some snaps of the famous coach.

[Umbral Dragon]

You're mixing us up jp, but yes, perhaps Joseph could have covered some state championship games or something and got some snaps of the famous coach.

I could see that, perhaps a nice snap shot.

[Borderline]

For my character I was originally thinking an african american who fought in the great war. He came home and became a solo moonshiner who resented the mob for trying to meddle with his operation. I thought this might make for good tension with the other mob character but if hes already involved in smuggling and contraband that might be a little too similar. I'll keep thinking about it as I finish statting the characyer but I'll check back tonight incase anyone wants to add any input. I think everyone elses characters seem great, if not a little bit hard to rope all together naturally.

[Mr. Handy]

My character is going to be a Texas Ranger. I still haven't had time to create him, but I hope I can tomorrow night. It might be awkward having him working with criminals, but I guess they won't advertise the fact that they are.

[Borderline]

Edit: After looking at everyone elses skills again I feel like mine would all be too similar. Im going back to the drawing board if anyone wants to chime in im thinking: hobo, professor, psychologist but I'll keep thinking.
Edit again- ok Im actually going to move forward building him out as a pilot. Again will check back here as I work.

[Zero]

lol, I don't think Jimmy's true occupation is going to be too hard to work out. I mean, he labels himself as an importer and transportation specialist, but he also dresses the part of a gangster and carries the hardware of one (tommy gun).

[Borderline]

Heres what I came up with for fleshing out a backstory. Not going to cover it as spoilers but some of this stuff he might not just openly talk about so Ill put it a few spaces down. Let me know if im on a decent track thanks!





So me and zero were thinking our chars could be connected my guy will be a pilot so obviously he can help transport the goods. I chose 50 credit so hes fairly well off because of it. For back story I think Ill change from african american and make him a white guy. He was in the war as infantry and had a great friend who taught him tonfly so that he wouldnt have to continue to go through hell fighting in the trenches. His friend ended up getting shot down and was mia/kia. Finally during the last battle of the war he took a plane up to try to exact revenge. He found the enemy pilot and he couldve sworn he had the face of a demon. The enemy got away and my char barely made it out alive. After that the war was over. Now he flies skillfully but recklessly partly in memory of his friend and partly because of a deathwish from survivors guilt/ptsd. He makes good money but spends alot of it drinking and smoking and spending his time building a kind of survivalist compound in the isolated desert of Texas along with contraband from his contacts made in Mexico during many risky smuggling runs.

[jp1885]

Zero and HoneyDog, apologies for mixing you up - blame my cold medication!

Coach would be well-known enough from his pro days, but not a superstar. His 'retirement' would have caused a minor scandal but would have been forgotten by anyone other than a big fan by now. You might see his face in the occasional 'where are they now?' article but locally he's better known as just the school coach.

[HoneyDog]

We can make Joseph a baseball fan then.

[jp1885]

Cool, sounds reasonable.

[Mr. Handy]

I'm sorry, I'm still not going to have time to create my character tonight. I hope I will tomorrow night, but I just don't have much time during the week.

[Umbral Dragon]

No problem, we'll play it by ear for a bit till all the characters are done.

How are ALL the characters connected? Is it an agency or something else?