Joint Task Force Special Operations- Welcome and chat

[welsh]

Hey Folks-

Excellent. OK, I want to get us started. I've already posted a 1st post and will be posting a couple more about our NPCs.

Feel free to post your characters up to Personnel File.

Our first case takes place in a neighborhood called "The Hole" in Brooklyn. I'll post more about the area in our reference board.

Feel free to post up. Most of you have personal vehicles. If you are currently a field agent, you would probably have a car that you've signed out from your agency if you are FBI, DEA or ICE. Feel free to discuss your homes, where you live and give your character some personality.

The reference stuff and first posts will give you some more details about the backdrop. Remember, this is NY in March- so it's cold, wet, rainy. Sometimes we get a late snow. The year has been a bad one and the neighborhood, which is usually a "lost" city comprised mostly of vacant properties, dilapidated buildings and individuals that generally shun others, is becoming increasingly occupied by those made recently homeless. It's a dangerous neighborhood. Many people have taken shelter in abandoned buildings and trucks, but a new presence has come to the little community. It's wet, which means the hole is flooding.

The local police precinct is the 73rd Precinct.

[Mr. Handy]

I don't have enough time to read all of the posts and get started tonight. I'm hoping I can catch up during the week, but it may have to wait until next weekend.

[welsh]

Snapper and Phil, good time to be arriving. Your agents would converge on McKenna's SUV and you should be able to make out the vehicle not only because of its appearance but because of the government license plates. Handy, can you take your character from call to the scene? I'll be posting some pics for our NPCs.

Handy if you can't post I'll NPC your characters until you can.

Gents note that at present we don't know how much involvement Saudi Arabia has in the case, but its their property. Why would they buy property in The Hole, a forgotten if not 'lost' neighborhood in NY is unclear, but it might be that the government is doing a favor for some Saudis of import. But what the Saudi connection is will be one of the key issues that your team has to sort out. A second question will be "why it house explode?" and then there is the question is "who is behind the fire and explosion."

But it is also Saudi Arabia, and the US government has been very kind to the Saudis over the last administration (basically doing little in response to the death of a journalist who had a 'green card' and was planning to become a US resident who was decapitated by a Saudi "kill team" in their embassy in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia has been the key player in confronting Iranian expansion in the Persian Gulf, and we can see the war in Yemen being basically a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran in their tussle for regional influence, with the US backing the Saudis. Consequently, it can be guessed that the reason why the team has been called and the interest of the federals is not just to get to the bottom of what happened but to avoid any bad press about possible Saudi bad behavior in the US. So it's national security and politics.

Good news is that most of the current news is focused elsewhere, on violent riots and protests happening in some of the poorer areas of the Bronx and Harlem.

And folks, dont' forget, it's Covid time so everyone is wearing masks.

[Snapper]

Hey there,

Will post tomorrow! I am in awe of the detail provided BTW, very good effort! Been working all weekend but I should be in my right or at least more creative mind tomorrow.

Two quick thoughts:

1. I had in mind the Camry was Conroy's own vehicle rather than an agency vehicle as he was operating in his own time, sort of. Not 100% sure how agency vehicles and personal vehicles work in the US. Might perhaps ret-con the post to a US make and model? Something appropriately nerdy.

2. Re the pollution of the Hudson - LAUGH! That was basically a guess that it would have big pollution issues but sadly the reality comes as no surprise at all.

[Mr. Handy]

I'm sorry I wasn't able to post tonight, but I'm still not done reading all the text. I'll try my best to get something posted tomorrow night.

[Snapper]

Addendum to last post:

I'm going to go ahead and ret-con it to a Ford Fusion hybrid.

Also added a bit to Javier about trying to stay warm.

[welsh]

Hey folks-

Handy no worries. We all get busy these days, so no worries. If you need me to NPC your people, fine.

Snapper- There's a good chance your EPA investigator might be doing work related to the Hudson or the Port of NY. But oh damn the Hudson used to be bad. Much of the port of NY is basically dead, in large part because longshoreman unions were demanding more than the local docks could pay, so there really is very little shipping in the old parts of NY, but once upon a time, during World War 2, one could walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan on the decks of the aircraft carriers being built. The Hudson River, NY's main river, runs way upstate and there has historically been a lot of industry up that river - thus the PCBs. But a lot of that has stopped due to de-industrialization as well as regulation under the US Clean Water Act. Upstate New York does a lot of agriculture (lots of small farms and apple orchards), so a lot of the pollution probably comes from run-off from agriculture. There are a lot of tributaries on the Hudson.

New York Harbor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Harbor also includes the Port of Newark and Elisabeth. If you recall the movie War of the World's, Tom Cruise's character is an elevator operator long-shoreman working the docks of the container port in NJ. Later when he's crossing a river with his family, that river is probably the Hudson at Newbourgh, a crossing north of West Point (and the it is really pretty country). That said, the NJ side of the harbor is generally awful. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_N ... New_Jersey Elizabeth is probably the reason most people think New Jersey literally stinks because of all the methane, natural gas plants in the area, and the port is the 3rd busiest in the US (which is really quite substantial). American's know this because one of the may traffic corridors in that part of the country is I-95 which in NJ becomes the New Jersey Turnpike and you get to drive right through that stinky industrial area.

As per the port, about 30 years ago, oil discharges from vessels were a major problem and the area continues to have problems related to a port town. Still the area is an interesting mix of port and working class neighborhoods. Bayonne has a large Muslim population. Newark has had racial issues for a long time, suffers a lot of poverty, and although it has NYC's second international airport, Newark has been referred to as the armpit of NJ, and NJ is the armpit of the US. That's harsh (and there are places in the US that are much worse). If you go across from Manhattan to Jersey City, you actually get some of the best views of NY City. Consequently, lots of people who can't afford Manhattan have moved to NJ as well as the other NYC burroughs, and not much further afield you actually find some really nice places in NJ.

[welsh]

Hey Folks-

One issue we will probably need to deal with is who plays supervising or lead investigator of the unit. Such a position would want the investigators to have a lot of discretion but would also be the person who wants to maintain coordination and perhaps represent the team as its spokesperson.

So far McKenna, Lapis and Wade are all NPCs that are with the JTF and part of the team, but this is your game so I am going to pull those players back a bit over the next few days. McKenna will likely talk to the NYPD to announce the federal interest and the need for discretion as well as the limit of your involvement, but then will probably leave the scene, with Wade, to return to the office. Wade's job is basically security for McKenna, so where McKenna goes, so does Wade, but that also means that Wade's involvement is very limited.

Some advantages. A lot of the library research, document research that you may want to do can perhaps be done through McKenna. If McKenna doesn't do it, she can probably assign Justice Department Staff to do the work for her officially. That doesn't mean you can't take the lead on that side of the investigation, nor does it mean you always want to move through "official channels." It may be that you don't want the Justice Department of McKenna to know all the details of your investigation. My advice is to use McKenna as a resource- a source for legal support and jurisdictional power when you need it and potential resource for research support. Wade would be a more limited resource given her primary responsibilities are as security detail, not as investigator.

So neither McKenna nor Wade will be point investigators but potential backstops at best, support when you need it.

Lapis, on the other hand, is part of your team and being an older investigator who has been in NY for awhile, knows a few people of importance, and can help your players adjust to the city. Realistically it would make sense for Lapis to play that role as lead investigator, but that would undermine your game, so Lapis will bow out if the suggestion is made and offer a reason that connects to the case he refers to earlier in the narrative. That said, Lapis's role in the game (at least for me) is to offer you a different perspective and some background to New York City, especially for those players from abroad, as well as allow me, as Keeper to offer some nudges if I suspect you guys have gone too far off course. But, as far as I am concerned, his role should be primarily supportive to your game. He's suppose to help, but not play a lead role.

[Snapper]

Whoever it is, I would prefer it not be me. I've been playing in Mr Handy's game since I started on this forum recently, and Philulhu is clearly another experienced hand. Either or is fine with me. Also, I wouldn't want to be holding the team up if I had a busy week in the RW.

For preference, I think I'd rather we kept Lapis as boss but he took a background role as you suggested.

My RP experience has almost entirely been in team settings without an obvious PC team leader in charge.

[Philulhu]

Mr Handy has far more experience than me but I know he’s got many games on the go. I’m happy to defer to him if he wants it.

[welsh]

Aaarrghh!!!!!

I forgot the frustration that comes when you've been posting a thoughtful message to a game, brimming with useful information, only to realize that the message has taken too long, that you've been logged-out, need to log in and then the message is forever lost!

I want to scream my fury!!

(But that would have waken up spouse who would have asked me what was I doing and then giving me the cold shoulder of indignation for having awoken her with my howls of grievance, a fate no well-intended keeper should risk).

Tried to post in response last night, but it got lost and realized, despite my frustration, that I didn't have the time to redo and get the sleep necessary for a morning 3 hour zoom meeting. Catching up with work (grading and reading) but will try to post more today or tonight. Apologies for the delay.

I am so tempted to send Carnage a message asking if the automatic log-out can have further delay.

[Snapper]

Crap. I haven't been able to access the forum since Friday.

[welsh]

Hey Snapper-

No worries. I tried to log in over the weekend and I think the site was down. I couldn't get in, so am pleased to see it up and running again. We're moving a bit slower than I had thought, but that's ok too. No real rush and the story is a bit.. complicated, even in the first chapter.

[Mr. Handy]

The site was undergoing maintenance, but it took a lot longer than I thought it would. About a week and a half ago I was notified that it would happen starting on Friday the 26th at 10:00 PM Eastern time, and it should have come back up by Saturday at 8:00 AM, but I had then forgotten about it until Friday night, when the site went down while I was in the middle of posting shortly before 11:00 PM. It's been down until today, and I saw that all the posts I made Friday night were gone, as they must have backed the site up some time before they took it down. A spammer I had eliminated was also back, so I had to get rid of it again.

Unfortunately, the weekend was the one time I'd have been able to catch up again, so now it'll have to wait until next weekend. Fortunately, I'll be off from work next week, so I should have no trouble keeping up then.

[Snapper]

Cool, cool. I'm just happy we're back!

[welsh]

No worries. I am moving the game a bit forward. I suspect McKenna will soon remove herself once the introductions are made and the local PD knows that the federal gov has an interest and demands some secrecy. After that, McKenna and Wade are mostly back-up and support, leaving the investigators to investigate.

[welsh]

Hey Players-

So I've thrown a lot at you pretty quickly. More clues will soon be revealed. How goes the story thus far? Are you having fun with it? Let me know if you think I am being a bit too rushed in the story or if the pace is right. I can go either slow it down or speed it up.

A couple of thoughts. The building really is a ruin that has been tainted by the consequences of putting out the blaze, so a lot of physical evidence is likely to be tainted. It will take time to unbury some of that evidence. The local community is suspicious of the police but there are folks that are willing to talk. But you are getting witnesses and physical evidence.

Although you don't have a local office yet, there are two diners nearby where you might want to gather at some point, discuss what you've found and how to proceed. Plus, diner's usually do a good 24 service and serve breakfast.

[Philulhu]

I’m enjoying it

As you say, we’re just starting to gather evidence so pieces are slowly starting to emerge.

[Snapper]

I'm really enjoying having the chance for once to play using the DG rules. Setting and detail etc is fabulous. (Also, I'm a colossal X-Files fan. Have been watching again with my teenage son, for whom it is all first time, and are halfway through Season 4.)

My only concern is your posts as GM are magnificently detailed. Unfortunately, I rarely have time to write really lengthy posts in response. I guess my concern is: how much detail do you want / hope for from us as players?

[welsh]

Hey Players-

Glad you are enjoying this. Honestly, the inspiration of this story came out of a video on The Hole and I thought it would make a wonderful place for a CoC adventure. I often think that CoC doesn't pay enough attention to gritty modern urban story. I think the Love's Lost Children was a notable exception to the rule, which I recall involved a punk band, a prostitute and a porn shop.

As for detail, no worries. Post what you can. What I am more concerned about is having players take a bit too much license that it disrupts the story, and then finding the right amount of freedom so you guys can really enjoy the game. Most of all, we just want to have some fun with this.