Play@YSDC

Each class offered by the expedition NPCs offers the opportunity to improve one or more skills. Note although there isn’t any roleplaying reasons not to switch classes every day, from an OOC/metagaming point of view you must attend one week’s worth of a particular lesson to have a chance to improve that skill(s). I’ll keep track of how many days you each have been to a particular lesson, so you can mix classes day by day. Note that the skill increases aren’t guaranteed.

If any of you want to run classes of your own, or help one of the NPCs to run theirs then I’ll find a suitable reward in place of the skill boosts. You just need to mention it to Moore, then chalk yourself up on the chalkboard that morning. (ie make a post or PM me).

The classes only run for an hour or two each, so you can attend several in the same day if you want, or enjoy some free time reading, gambling, joining in with Dr Hunky’s sports tournament, etc. The same classes won’t be running every day, but each class will run several times.

If anyone has any good sporting activities to suggest to Greene he is game for (almost) anything. Could be Jack’s big chance to put him in his place and impress Kitt.

Or anyone else’s for that matter.

I’ll hopefully make another post in 24 hours, moving the clock onto the 13th of September.

Tonight I'll update all the skill's that you've nominated so far.

Jack refuses to sign up for anything until he sees a syllabus. He'll be offering his own late-evening course in brooding cynicism, unrequited love, and thwarted ambition if anyone would like to join him in the Aloha Lounge.

Callum is very happy to give lessons on Climbing and Polar Survival....
He would be interesed it learning First Aid and Radio Operating please

I didn't get chance to post at lunchtime today, so I'll give a few more hours for players to plan their day before I post the next update.

I will make a post sometime tonight though.

I’ve got a post ready for the 13th, but I’ve decided it’s going to be better if we take our time with the first two or three days of the voyage. I realised last night that I really should have PM’d some of you about the classes earlier to offer you the chance to run them, as some of your characters are better qualified than the NPCs. By the time we reach the Carribean Sea everybody should have a good idea of the day-to-day routine of the Gabrielle and I'll start moving at one game day per real-life day.

Here is the current ‘noticeboard’ for the 12th, modifications are in red. I haven’t added Maurice’s Heavy Machinery Course to the list, as I get the impression he doesn’t want anyone to join it for roleplaying reasons. If you want to boost your Operate Heavy Machinery skill then Olof and Glimore’s drilling class will do just that. Maurice’s class would probably involve either the ship’s cranes or the snow tractors or generators.

Tuesday 12th September 1933
Latitude: N 37° 30’
Longitude 74° 00’
Sunrise: 05:35
Sunset: 18:08
Todays Weather: Overcast, possible rain
Wind Speed: 10-20 mph

Today’s Classes:

Morning:
Sykes – Clothes and Equipment – Officer’s Mess
Greene & Graves – Antarctic First-Aid – Expedition Lab
Pulaski & Frodesen – Sledding – Aftcastle

Afternoon:
G & N Sorensen & MacDonald– Technical Climbing – Crew’s Mess
Miles – Aeroplane Maintenance – #2 Tweendeck Hold
Gilmore & Eriksson – The Pabodie Ice-Drill Operation – #1 Tweendeck Hold
Moore – Antarctic Exploration – Officer’s Mess

Evening:
Griffith – Antarctic Geology – Officer’s Mess
Halperin – Aerial Navigation – Expediton Lab
Laroche – Basic Wireless Operation – Ship’s Radio Room
Seymour – Boxing – Crew’s Mess

Note that there are two months worth of courses and the list will change day by day. So don’t worry about missing out.

Regarding the sporting activities, the NPCs are generally a fit lot, as you’d expect for an Antarctic expedition, so there is plenty of interest, I hope some of you will be joining in.

Especially the boxing, come on I’m sure somebody fancies sparring with James Starkweather.

I'll move on the story as soon as I'm sure everyone is ready.

Isugtag is going to offer his help to Sykes, since I take it that Equipement and Clothes probably goes with Polar Survival

In the afternoon, he'll go to the Technical Climbing class, and Boxing in the evening.

I’ve decided to slightly modify the skill improvement system for the classes. In the adventure you must attend one week’s worth of classes before having any chance of that skill improving. I’m changing it so that the period relates to your current skill level, the number of days before you can roll is now:

Days Required = Current Skill Level ÷ 10 (round up)

So for example, if you have a Polar Survival Skill of 25%, you can roll for an increase after attending Peter Sykes’ class for 3 days.

Note that the skill improvements aren’t guaranteed, they require a successful INT% roll after the required time has passed. Those who are helping teach will still learn, providing their skill is lower than the most skilled instructor. And all teachers will be able to make skill checks for persuade at the end of this section of the story (the end of chapter 5).

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I’m including a link to a Mapquest map page showing your current position in each big IC post now, for anyone who doesn’t want to use my Google Earth files. I’ve edited my previous post to include a map link as well.

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If anybody wants to take a more active roll posting about the courses that their characters are teaching then just let me know.

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The campaign book itself has a wealth of information in an ‘Antarctic Manual’ that covers the same subjects as the classes are teaching. If this was a tabletop game you would all obviously have access to this information.

I’ll be sending out PMs detailing sections of this manual each player, depending on which classes they are involved in. Or which existing skills they have.

It’s well written, manages not to be boring, and will be very useful to your help roleplaying once the Antarctic is reached. Feel free to either read or disregard it as you please.

I love that the Mapquest map has a happy, bouncy little star where our ship is, like it's dancing on the Atlantic Ocean. That'll be especially jolly when we're making our return.

Decrepit wrote: I love that the Mapquest map has a happy, bouncy little star where our ship is, like it's dancing on the Atlantic Ocean. That'll be especially jolly when we're making our return.

Perhaps it's an Elder Sign. That could be very useful on the way back.

Assuming there is a way back.

I find it amusingly cheesy. But I am sometimes easily amused.

It sounds all very cute but where is Mapquest? Did I miss something? Guess I must have.

Laraqua wrote: It sounds all very cute but where is Mapquest? Did I miss something? Guess I must have.

Raiko wrote: SS Gabrielle – Approx 90 miles off the US Eastern Seaboard
22:30 (EST) – Tuesday 12th September 1933
Course: 180°
Speed: 11 knots
Position: N34°42’30” W074°00’
Mapquest Map Link

I'll be adding a map link every time I include the position at the start of the post.

Plus I can do these from work, but can only update the Google-Earth file at home.

So people with 1% in Polar Survival might get a skill check after one day then? By the way when will you update the characters for the automatic skill increases that we chose?

Henrik wrote: So people with 1% in Polar Survival might get a skill check after one day then?

Yes, but it's an INT% check not a proper skill test. It seems reasonable to me.

Henrik wrote: By the way when will you update the characters for the automatic skill increases that we chose?

I'll do that now, I was waiting for everyone to make their choices so that I could do it all at once. I think I'm just waiting for Blackgoat to choose now.

I make any outstanding dice rolls now and post the improvements in a few minutes.

Here are all the rolls including the ones you made yourselves (they're together for my use as much as anything). I'll update the character sheets right now.

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Olof Eriksson:
Operate Hvy Mach(50%): 1d6=4
English(50%): 1d6=6
Henrik Rolled

Kitt Knight:
Listen(50%): 1d6 = 4
Aircraft Maintenance(30%): 1d10 = 3
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=879374

Maurice Cole:
Hide(75%): 1d4 = 3
Operate Hvy Mach(60%): 1d6=2
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=879380

Jack Wilson:
Persuade(55%): 1d6=4
Fast Talk(70%): 1d6=6
History(60%): 1d6=3
Decrepit Rolled

Charles Graves:
Polar survival(40%): 1d10=9
Medicine(71%): 1d6=3
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=879388

Isutag / Grey Wolf
Sneak(35%): 1d10=7
Listen(40%): 1d10=8
Mister Juan rolled

Callum McDonald:
Operate Heavy Machinery(01%): 1d10=7
Listen(25%): 1d10=10
Ghost_1971 Rolled

James Seymour:
Listen(25%): 1d10=7
Spot Hidden(25%): 1d10=10
OrionUK Rolled

William McRaven:
Persuade(15%): 1d10=1
Listen(50%): 1d6=3
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=879392

Sean McPearson:
Hasn’t Chosen Yet.

I've updated your character sheets with the rolls from above.

I'll be checking whether anyone has low enough skills to gain a roll for today's courses later tonight, I'll post any updates immediately.

I'll be posting for the morning of the 13th in about 24 hours, if you've anything else to say about the 12th please post now.

I haven't made any rolls for the first days classes yet, but I'll have chance later tonight.

You may like to know that in another 24 hours you'll be entering the Bermuda Triangle.

Isugtag will stick to his scheduel

Isugtag will keep to his previous scheduel.

I'll assume that everyone sticks to their previous schedule unless they let me know otherwise.

Does anyone object to me posting a narrative of several days cruising at once, I'll roleplay the voyage day-by-day if some of you want to, but it's up to you.

I would need to PM one or two of you to sort out details that would appear in each summary.

BTW(1): If Blackgoat doesn't post in the next two days, I'll handle Sean actively as an NPC until he returns.

BTW(2): I've switched to Google Maps rather than Mapquest as I've learned how to make a limited version of the Google Earth file run on Google Maps.

And also because I couldn't risk the possibility that the cute bouncy star really was a giant Elder Sign protecting you all.

BTW(3): I've found some really good stuff that you can do with Google Earth, so I highly recommend you download and install it if you don't already have it (it's free). I'm hoping to embed a lot of useful items in my Google Earth file once you reach the Antarctic as game aides. Hopefully between the Google Earth files and the wiki I can really enhance the atmosphere of being there. 8)

I dont object to you posting your narrative for several days at once.

So long as it gets us through the Triangle unscathed

Yeah posting a few days at once is fine with me. (As long as no mishaps occur during those days!!!)

Fine with me as well. Voyages can be kind of dull.

I’ve made the skill increase tests for the first two days – here they are, only one increase so far I’m afraid. Note: Some classes involve more than one skill, each will be tracked separately.

training checks wrote: 12th September

Cold Weather Clothing Class
Olof – Polar Survival – INT(16) = [64%]

Antarctic First Aid Class
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [66%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [74%]


13th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [26%]

Sledding Class
James – Drives Dog Sled – INT(10) = [65%]

Antarctic Exploration
Graves – History – INT(18 ) = [03%] => Increase 1d6 = [05%]

Basic Radio Operation
Callum – Radio Operator – INT(16) = [64%]
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [85%]

I will make a post later today to cover the 13-15th of September, by that time you should have passed safely through the Bermuda Triangle and be sailing around Cuba into the Caribbean Sea.

Baring any mishaps the next two posts after that will cover:
(1) The voyage across the Caribbean to Colón at the entrance to the Panama Canal.
(2) The journey through the canal to Panama City.

After that I’ll break the journey across the Pacific to Australia into convenient sections.

As I've said I'll need to PM some of you to get details for these posts.

Henrik wrote: Fine with me as well. Voyages can be kind of dull.

Yes I agree, I just need to make sure that I make enough posts to establish the normal routine, and to give you control over the day-to-day activities of your characters.

But a post-a-day during the parts of the voyage where nothing much happens is too much I think.

No objections here either

PS Raiko recently pointed out to me that the strange quote at the bottom of Laraqua's posts is also a link to a very twisted video (which I loved).

Hats off to Laraqua

Don't know much about his-tor-y ...

Here are the skill increase tests for the 14th and 15th of January

training checks wrote: 14th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Callum – First Aid– INT(15) = [09%] => Increase 1d6 = [04%]
Kitt – First Aid – INT(14) = [84%]
Jack – First Aid – INT(15) = [66%]
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [19%]

Sledding Class:
Olof – Drive Dog Sled – INT(16) = [27%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [38%]

Boxing Class
Isugtag – Dodge – INT(12) = [02%] => Increase 1d6 = [02%]

13th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [73%]

Sledding Class
James – Drives Dog Sled – INT(10) = [62%]
Maurice – Drives Dog Sled – INT(18 ) = [85%]

Antarctic Exploration
Graves – History – INT(18 ) = [10%] => Increase 1d6 = [05%]

Technical Climbing
James – Climb – INT(10) = [89%]
Maurice – Climb – INT(18 ) = [99%]

Basic Radio Operation
Callum – Radio Operator – INT(16) = [92%]
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [16%] => Increase 1d6 = [05%]

Graves obviously likes learning.

Sorry I've not been very well.

I'll be catching up on posts and then making a post myself a little later.

Sorry for the hold-up, I hadn’t forgotten this game, but I was still more ill than I’d thought. I’ll update the skill checks for the classes tonight.

The following NPC’s currently intend to head into Colón:

Sykes
Gunnar Sorensen
Nils Sorensen
Gregor Pulaski
Hidalgo Cruz
Richard Greene
Prof. Pierce Albemarle & Douglas Orgelfinger
Prof. Morehouse Bryce & Timothy Cartier
Samuel Winslow
Douglas Halperin
Ralph DeWitt
"Colt" Huston

Some others may go as well, depending on your actions. Some of the NPC’s will return to the ship tonight while others, take the train to Panama City.

I’ll wait 24 hours to see who wants to tour the port and/or ride on the railway to Panama City, then I’ll assume that everyone else intends to remain aboard the SS Gabrielle.

Hi everyone, I waited a few extra days, to make sure that everybody knew the game was going again and to make sure that everyone who wanted to go ashore would do. I also had stuff to catch up on at work.

I will be posting properly within the next 24 hours and I've prepared a few narrative posts in advance, so I will be posting daily thoughout the voyage from then on.

BlackGoat: I know that you're still reading the game, but as you haven't posted at all or replied to my private message then I'll have to run Sean as an NPC until you start posting again. You are welcome to join in again at any time.

Sorry to take so long posting.

No more holdups now I promise, I'll post about the canal/railroad crossings tomorrow.

I've been having a few problems with my internet connection for the last few days.

It seems ok now, so hopefully I'll be back to post later today.

Ok, My broadband seems to be working ok again, and I’ve no longer got any online gaming commitments outside of this forum, so I should be able to start giving my two games here the attention they deserve again.

In order to get us moving I’ve skipped describing Panama City (if time permits I'll edit an earlier post to include a summary and some photos), and got straight on with the Pacific leg of the voyage.

The table below has all of the skill increase rolls for the classes prior to reaching Panama.

training checks wrote: 16th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Graves – First Aid – INT(18 ) = [68%]
Graves – Polar Survival – INT(18 ) = [20%]
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [92%]

Sledding Class Class
Olof – Drive Dog Sled – INT(16) = [11%] => Increase 1d6 = [03%]

Technical Climbing Class
Isugtag – Climb – INT(12) = [61%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [50%]

17th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Kitt – First Aid – INT(14) = [10%] => Increase 1d6 = [04%]
Kitt – Polar Survival – INT(14) = [03%] => Increase 1d6 = [06%]
Jack – First Aid – INT(15) = [23%]
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [35%]

Sledding Class
James – Drive Dog Sled – INT(10) = [61%]

Antarctic Exploration Class
Graves – History – INT(18 ) = [76%]

Ice Drill Operation Class
Olof – Operate Hvy Machine – INT(16) = [27%]

Technical Climbing Class
Kitt – Climb – INT(14) = [85%]

Antarctic Geology Class
Olof – Geology – INT(16) = [45%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Callum – Radio Operator – INT(16) = [77%]
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [43%]

Boxing Class
James – Dodge – INT(10) = [63%]
Isugtag – Fist – INT(12) = [10%] => Increase 1d6 = [05%]
Isugtag – Dodge – INT(12) = [56%]

Antarctic Aerial Navigation Class
McRaven – Navigate – INT(15) = [10%] => Increase 1d6 = [06%]

18th September

Antarctic First Aid Class
Callum – First Aid – INT(16) = [71%]
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [74%]

Antarctic Exploration Class
Jack – History – INT(15) = [15%] => Increase 1d6 = [04%]

Aircraft Maintenance Class
McRaven – A/C Maintenance – INT(15) = [89%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [79%]

Antarctic Aerial Navigation Class
Kitt – Navigate – INT(14) = [69%]

19th September

Clothing & Equipment Class
Isugtag – Polar Survival – INT(12) - [23%]

Antarctic First Aid Class
Jack – Polar Survival – INT(15) = [87%]

Sledding Class
James – Drive Dog Sled – INT(10) = [38%]
Maurice – Drive Dog Sled – INT(18 ) = [99%]
Olof – Dirve Dog Sled – INT(16) = [29%]

Technical Climbing Class
James – Drive Dog Sled – INT(10) = [48%]
Maurice – Drive Dog Sled – INT(18 ) = [11%] => Increase 1d6 = [04%]

Basic Radio Operation Class
Callum – Radio Operator – INT(16) = [89%]
Graves – Radio Operator – INT(18 ) = [84%]

I’ll update all the character sheets again tonight

As the weather has taken a turn for the worst, every character must make CON rolls to avoid seasickness, CON is multiplied based on the severity of the weather and the displacement of the vessel. In this case Moderate Gales in the morning and strong in the afternoon and the Gabrielle’s ~10,000 ton displacement mean a CONx5 test in the morning and CONx4 in the afternoon.

The tests are made every twelve hours, passing a test allows both normal activity and the chance to make a ‘Sea Legs’ Test using the highest of Spot Hidden or Tracking. Once you’ve found your Sea Legs you can ignore any non-storm weather in future.

Failing a seasickness test means that all manipulation, perception and combat tests are halved until you recover.

Here the seasickness tests for the morning of the 21st:

Callum – CON(15)x5 (75%) = [60%]
Graves – CON(12)x5 (60%) = [57%]
James – CON(12)x5 (60%) = [19%]
Jack – CON(15)x5 (75%) = [63%]
Isugtag – CON(18)x5 (90%) = [19%]
Sean – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [12%]
Kitt – CON(10)x5 (50%) = [97%]
McRaven – CON(17)x5 (85%) = [05%]
Maurice – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [39%]
Olof – CON(11)x5 (55%) = [05%]

So during the morning of the PC’s only Kitt is ill.

Here are the checks to find your Sea Legs:

Callum – Spot Hidden (25%) = [91%]
Graves – Spot Hidden (40%) = [24%]
James – Spot Hidden (35%) = [01%]
Jack – Spot Hidden (35%) = [54%]
Isugtag – Track (60%) = [13%]
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [86%]
McRaven – Spot Hidden (75%) = [19%]
Maurice – Track (50%) = [98%]
Olof – Spot Hidden (30%) = [93%]

So Professor Graves, James and McRaven all find their sea legs on the first morning:

Here are the rolls for the afternoon CONx4 Checks, and the afternoon sea legs checks:

Sea Sickness – 21st September, Afternoon
Callum – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [47%]
Jack – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [14%]
Isugtag – CON(18)x4 (72%) = [41%]
Sean – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [77%]
Kitt – CON(10)x4 (40%) = [87%]
Maurice – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [86%]
Olof – CON(11)x4 (44%) = [73%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 21st September, Afternoon
Callum – Spot Hidden (25%) = [89%]
Jack – Spot Hidden (35%) = [43%]
Isugtag – Track (60%) = [94%]

So during the afternoon Sean, Maurice and Olof join Kitt throwing up over the side, and nobody else find their sea legs yet.

Could you all please indicate the classes that you’d like to attend for this part of the voyage, seasickness permitting.

22nd September

Sea Sickness – 22nd September, Morning
Callum – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [57%]
Jack – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [58%]
Isugtag – CON(18)x4 (72%) = [74%]
Sean – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [30%]
Kitt – CON(10)x4 (40%) = [72%]
Maurice – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [95%]
Olof – CON(11)x4 (44%) = [29%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 21st September, Afternoon
Callum – Spot Hidden (25%) = [00%]
Jack – Spot Hidden (35%) = [48%]
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [85%]
Olof – Spot Hidden (30%) = [37%]

Sea Sickness – 22nd September, Afternoon
Callum – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [49%]
Jack – CON(15)x4 (60%) = [10%]
Isugtag – CON(18)x4 (72%) = [06%]
Sean – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [03%]
Kitt – CON(10)x4 (40%) = [85%]
Maurice – CON(14)x4 (56%) = [71%]
Olof – CON(11)x4 (44%) = [08%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 22nd September, Afternoon
Callum – Spot Hidden (25%) = [75%]
Jack – Spot Hidden (35%) = [35%]
Isugtag – Track (60%) = [47%]
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [48%]
Olof – Spot Hidden (30%) = [98%]

So poor old Kitt is sick for another full day, along with Maurice. Isutag is ill in the morning, but recovers in the afternoon. By the end of the day both Isugtag and Jack have found their sea legs and no longer need to worry unless there is a storm.


The weather is slightly better on Saturday (23rd), though the winds are still gale force:

Sea Sickness – 23rd September, Morning
Callum – CON(15)x5 (75%) = [64%]
Sean – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [40%]
Kitt – CON(10)x5 (50%) = [65%] That girl's never going to be a sailor!
Maurice – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [16%]
Olof – CON(11)x5 (55%) = [36%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 23rd September, Morning
Callum – Spot Hidden (25%) = [13%]
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [67%]
Maurice – Track (50%) = [53%]
Olof – Spot Hidden (30%) = [37%]

Sea Sickness – 23rd September, Afternoon
Sean – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [48%]
Kitt – CON(10)x5 (50%) = [82%] :(:(
Maurice – CON(14)x5 (70%) = [30%]
Olof – CON(11)x5 (55%) = [94%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 23rd September, Afternoon
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [44%]
Maurice – Track (50%) = [41%]

On the 24th the weather has improved dramatically, only a CONx6 roll is necessary in the morning, and by noon the sea is perfectly calm again.

Sea Sickness – 24th September, Morning
Sean – CON(14)x6 (84%) = [64%]
Kitt – CON(10)x6 (60%) = [06%]
Olof – CON(11)x6 (66%) = [58%]

Finding your Sea Legs, – 24th September, Morning
Sean – Spot Hidden (25%) = [36%]
Kitt – Spot Hidden (50%) = [64%]
Olof – Spot Hidden (30%) = [54%]

So finally, a full day without anybody being sick. Only the three of you need to worry about seasickness at all now, unless there is a full-blown storm.

I've rolled for the classes, provided nobody changes what they were learning for the 22-24th.

IC posting forthcoming.
Just in case I don't get the time to: Isugtag will pretty much follow his previous scheduel. He'll help Sykes with his class, then take Callum's in the afternoon, and keep swinging in the boxing classes.

I have my suspicions about what the crew is up to. It's probably not sinister at all.

Henrik wrote: I have my suspicions about what the crew is up to. It's probably not sinister at all.

Sure. It's just a surprise birthday party for Starkweather!

Decrepit wrote:

Henrik wrote: I have my suspicions about what the crew is up to. It's probably not sinister at all.

Sure. It's just a surprise birthday party for Starkweather!

I hope Jack's got him something suitable.

Raiko wrote:

Decrepit wrote:

Henrik wrote: I have my suspicions about what the crew is up to. It's probably not sinister at all.

Sure. It's just a surprise birthday party for Starkweather!

I hope Jack's got him something suitable.

Nope, that's not it. But if it is. I'd guess that we will find Starkweather with a knife in his back and a birthday card from Alicia Lexington.

And this would be a problem because ... ?

I think we are about to take part in a little ritual concerning Neptune....I could be wrong

Hey all, I just psent the last week in Online gaming hell as my account was hacked twice by keyloggewrs..had to get a whole new hard drive due to complicatrions, and then further more a network card, and sound card lol...but none the less I'm up and running again, had to try and find this site again..that was a pain lol >_<;;

Hi - I've been extremely busy for a couple of days.

Everything should be ok now though.

It's 3am here, so I can't post tonight, but there will definitely be a new post from me in the morning, the post is ready 'in draft' just needs tidying up to post it.

Sorry about my slow posting, my wife gave birth to our baby a couple of days ago – a couple of hours before my previous 3am post in fact.

Obviously things are a little hectic at the moment, and have been throughout the last couple of months of my wife's pregnancy; however I remain totally committed to both of my campaigns on this forum. If you can put up with my intermittent posts for the next week or two then things should move smoothly again after that, this isn't our first baby (far from it in fact) so I know what to expect.

I'll try to post at least once per day in each game from now on, but if I can't then I'll alternate between them so that neither story slows down too much.

I'll also make sure that I respond to any posts that you make, even if I don't move the voyage along.

Congratulations!

I hope your baby did not have any resembling features of Yog-Sothoth. Then we will live for another day!

Sorry I hardly posted. Next time I'll describing all of Kitt's vomiting in stark techni-color.

I'm very sorry for holding up the game (yet again ). I was too busy to post over the Easter weekend and now our baby has had to go into hospital for a couple of days.

Fortunately it's nothing too serious, but it does mean that I'm rushing about a lot at the moment. I hope that I'll have time to post tonight once the other children are in bed, but if not then please don't think that I've abandoned the game – I will be back later in the week.

important to remember, Family ALWAYS comes first =) I'm sure everyone will be understanding of you needing time =)

Yep, family comes first!

I'm so busy with my other games and my university courses so I don't mind.

Hi, I'll be able to post in a few hours time.

Thanks for your patience.

Ah. Now I see why it would be strange to have Davy Jones in Erica Carlyle's library. It's strange enough where it belongs. And here I was hoping he'd do a song, too.

Decrepit wrote: Ah. Now I see why it would be strange to have Davy Jones in Erica Carlyle's library. It's strange enough where it belongs. And here I was hoping he'd do a song, too.

Well he's vanished now, so perhaps he'll reappear in Erica's library.

I'll wait one more day to give everyone chance to see we're going again. If nobody has posted anything by then I'll continue narrating events.

I've not been able to get online much for a few days, sorry.

I'll make a post soon (within 24 hours) to cover some or all of the Crossing the Line Ceromony.

So far the following players have either posted or replied to my PM:

Ghost_1971 (Callum)
Decrepit (Jack)
OrionUK (James)
Laraqua (Kitt)
Henrik (Olof)
Charles Graves (Charles)

Hopefully once I get the game moving along again some of the other players will return, but in the meantime I'll treat the remaining 4 PC's as NPC's and concentrate on the six of you.

Ten players? Imagine playing a real-life game with that many players! And I thought my five were enough to cause me Sanity checks.

Laraqua wrote: Ten players? Imagine playing a real-life game with that many players! And I thought my five were enough to cause me Sanity checks.

Yep, it gets messy when they reach four and above to my experience.

i'm still here and been here checking up on things...just waiting for my time to hop in =)

Pretty much been waiting for things to pick up and move on

Sorry, and thanks for the PM Steerpike.

I'll be able to post later tonight after my weekly tabletop rpg session.

So that's at least 8 players still here.

I'm fed up of making empty promises, but I genuinely hope to be able to post daily again in this campaign now.

x5 con check (17*5 = 85) (1d100=100)

Of all the dumb luck

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1060308

You were saying? A 7! Roll like that, I think we can assume that she's too excited to notice!

Laraqua wrote: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1060308

You were saying? A 7! Roll like that, I think we can assume that she's too excited to notice!

I stand corrected!

I'll continue with the story for those down in the hold as soon as Ghost_1971 and Decrepit have posted (assuming they both actually followed Starkweather down the ladder).

Jack's roll:

Die Roll for 1061072
ID Name Rolls Dice Results Note Date
1061072 [MoM]Jack 1 1d100 [29] = (29) [Chap 4]Conx5 roll for being able to endure the noxious odor 2007-05-22 05:47:47

Sorry for the hold up

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1061471

15 CON x 5 = 75
1d100 = 64

Looks like Callums just ok to go in. Dont know if thats good or bad

Sorry for the long silence!
Here's for Isugtag

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1064315

Conx5 = 18x5 = 90
Roll: 25

Nice to have you back.

***************

I hope to be able to add more information to the wiki now that I've got back into a routine of posting regularly in both campaigns.

Are there any particular things that you would like added to the wiki first?

I was thinking of providing a single paragraph about each member of the SS Gabrielle crew, and about each NPC expedition member.

Then moving on to a brief description of what it known by you all about each of the other four Antarctic Expeditions (Byrd, Lexington, Barsmeier-Falken and Ellsworth).

Or maybe i could provide more details of locations aboard the SS Gabrielle, to compliment the deckplans.

I leave it up to you all whether you join up, or whether James and Callum organise one investigation, while Sean organises another.

Note that at the moment only Kitt appears to have taken a look at the damage to the pipes themselves, and only she has noticed the pitting on the floor.

I'll give you all chance to post again before moving along.

Henrik wrote: OOC: As I asked before. Is it possible to fix the leak with the equipment on board? If so I'd like to try if the captain will permit me. I know we don't have any cooling agent, but Olof is kind of bored and fixing stuff might be what he needs to do on this trip. Would I need any other skill than Mechanical Repair for this?

Sorry I forgot to answer your question Henrik, yes there should be sufficient tools and spares aboard for Olof to repair the refrigerator using just his mechanical repair skill.

Doing so will minimize the delay in Australia; however you are correct, there is no way to replace the ammonia until the Gabrielle reaches port.

I'll post for a response for Olof ASAP, but if you don't want to wait, then the captain approves Olof's plan.

I'll also post or PM Laraqua regarding Kitt's investigation of the Aircraft.

For the others investigating things, I'm actually waiting on you I think. It looks like Callum & James may be working separately to McRaven, Sean and Jack for now. I'll give you another 24 hours, at least, to plan something either IC or OOC then I'll move the game on by a day or so, and let you know the results of your actions (or more sabotage).

I'd rather you made general plans (eg talking to a certain group of people, or checking a hold, or other part of the ship) so that I can advance things by several hours, rather than roleplaying a long interogation of one individual npc.

Otherwise we'll never get through the day. Long conversations take too long in this format, and there are too many suspects.

If nobody has a plan yet, then I'll move the voyage on while your characters decide what to do. If anyone disagrees with my way of running the investigation, then let me know and I'll consider taking it more slowly.

Don't forget the saboteur could be a PC. Works so much better in forum games.

One more thing, Professor Graves' player is one of my tabletop players, unfortunately since the campaign began his work commitments have given him less and less chance to post. We're trying to work out a way for him to stay in the game without slowing it down for everyone else, but for now the Prof should be considered an NPC.

I'm back again now, I'll post the other promised replies (for Olof and Kitt) soon.

I'll wait until tomorrow, at least, before I move things on as a few of you are starting investigating now.

This time I really am back.

I'll be sending out various PMs to people tonight, depending on the actions you've picked for your characters. I'll make an actual IC post once I've had replies from most of you.

I'm thinking of splitting the IC thread into separate sections for the different sub-groups of PCs while you investigate, in order to make everything easier to read. I'll hyperlink the various threads together where they diverge or crossover. What do you all think?

And would you like some better deckplans now that you're going to snoop around?

Deckplans are always great! I think the ones we currently use is good enough, but do you have better ones feel free to post them!

I think seperated the forums into a smaller lot or an another sub part would help for anyone seperating from the group into their own little team. It will probably be more work for you but i'm sure us players involved in those teams will appreciate the consideration and ease =)

I've started two new threads, one for each of the two groups investigating the suspicious events.

This is more to do with making the game easier to read than keeping things private from other players, so feel free to read the other threads if you like, but please don't post in them without using the main thread to join that 'sub-team' first.

I'll continue to move time along in all the threads at the same pace. I'll always give you all a day at least to make a post before moving things along, but I won't allow one thread to be slowed down by slow posting elsewhere, so please try to post regularly, particularly if you start a long conversation. Providing you post regularly I'll allow these threads to set the pace of the main IC thread.

The new threads can be used for both IC and OOC posting, whatever allows you to describe your investigations the best.

I'm sending PMs to Laraqua and Henrik regarding Kitt and Olof's actions.

I'll also work on getting some more detailed deckplans done.

Hey just wanted to post a Grats to everyone and Raiko for the game...Still going and we've been at it for some time now =D, I tried to figure out how long and it appears one of the earliest posts i saw was June 27th 2006, so we've hit the year mark??

BlackGoat wrote: Hey just wanted to post a Grats to everyone and Raiko for the game...Still going and we've been at it for some time now =D, I tried to figure out how long and it appears one of the earliest posts i saw was June 27th 2006, so we've hit the year mark??

And I said the campaign would probably take 18 months to complete

Well, hopefully I'll get you all to Antarctica at least by then.

For so long? It almost feels as this game began yesterday!

I'm going to be out for several days at my parents' house. As conditions are rather primitive out there, I may or may not have Internet access on occasion.

If there's something to do and I'm not around, Jack would like to gently feel out Turlow for his assessment of the crew, especially those members with access to the reefer. He'll attempt to convey the notion that he in no way suspects Turlow, which is mostly true. When he learns what he can, he'll return to Olof and the others, interested to relate what he's heard and to hear what they've picked up. He might suggest some surveillence of the crew members the captain mentioned, or at least some quiet checking-up.

No problem, enjoy the holiday.

Sorry for the delay.

I'll have a quiet(ish) day tomorrow, so I'll definitely get a new post done.

This (in game) day has been a nightmare! It's been harder going for me than the whole New York chapter.

Finally!!!

I've updated all the IC threads and moved the date onto the 28th (three days after 'crossing the line').

Decrepit wrote: When Jack hears the sound of dogs, he groans. What now, for goodness sake? He isn't anxious to find out what's going on, either, as he knows he'd be no damn good at separating semiwild beasts trying to tear each other--or him--apart, which sounded to him too much like that one and only time his ex-wives, current and future, had gotten together.

Wow, I managed weekend posts in both of my games!
That's not happened for a while.

I'll try to keep this up, but don't worry I realise (all too well ) that not everybody can post at weekend, so I won't allow the game to move on too much over a weekend.

Everybody who ran to the hatch must make two d100 rolls and post the results here please; I'll roll myself for anyone who I'm waiting for in 24 hours.

Oh, and please let me know whether your character likes animals or not.

EDIT: Please don't post IC about your character's reaction to the carnage until I've explained the results of the two dice rolls.

Jack headed out in the other direction, so to speak.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1167484

90 and 12 (ignore the addition).

And not really with dogs. More of a cat person.

Callum likes animals, and has used dog teams before.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1167632 = 2

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1167642 = 80

@ Blackgoat & OrionUK:
Could you please clarify whether Sean and/or James are heading to the hold #5 hatch with some of the others?

I wasn't sure if that's the case or if Sean is just asking what's happening and James is planning to stay in the hold.

@ Decrepit:
Sorry I still owe you a post about Turlow (I forgot at weekend)

Raiko wrote: @ Decrepit:
Sorry I still owe you a post about Turlow (I forgot at weekend)

No problem. Like I said, Jack doesn't expect a lot from Turlow.

James goes to the hold with Callum


http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1169354

46
17

James likes Dogs - he has known them all his life - specifically Gun Dogs but has had a couple as pets.

Sorry I had a family day out today, I'll get back to the story tomorrow.

I've got all the info I need now, I'll assume for now that Sean is just asking someone on deck what the hell's going on, rather than approaching the hatch.

The scene in the hold is distressing to witness, especially for those who love animals:

Sanity:
Callum - Sanity(60%) = 02
James - Sanity(80%) = 46
Kitt - Sanity(90%) = 90
Olof - Sanity(75%) = 21
Professor Graves - Sanity(80%) = 59

The first dice roll was a sanity check, fortunately everybody passed, so nobody looses any sanity points yet.

I'm sending a PM now to everybody who passed the second roll.

Everyone who's there needs to make a second sanity check, if you fail then the terrified sound of the wounded dog will cost you 1 SAN before Gregor finishes it off.

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1174064

15

looks like my luck is changing at last

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1174188

Rolled a 30 - am I mad yet??

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1174626

Ouch!

BlackGoat wrote: Overwhelmed with Disgust by what he sees

That means you own me two sanity rolls on invisible castle please.

I'll be posting again later today, the 'dog scene' hasn't quite finished yet, so don't post any long term plans in the IC thread at the moment, just posts that interact with the current situation.

Laraqua wrote: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1174626

Ouch!

Only 89 left then.

I've made a second roll myself for the Professor:
Professor Graves - Sanity Check(80%) = [37]

Only 89? Boy, how'm I gonna survive this trip!

This puts me in mind of a question, Raiko: are you keeping current stats somewhere, he asks nervously ... ?

Henrik wrote: OOC: Has the news about the dogs' poisoning become common knowledge?

It's only currently known to you if you join the cleanup operation down in the hold, you can still post that you're helping if you like. Otherwise it will become common knowledge to the expedition in a couple more hours of game time.

Decrepit wrote: This puts me in mind of a question, Raiko: are you keeping current stats somewhere, he asks nervously ... ?

The character sheets are all on my http://www.cthulhu1933.co.uk website. As far as I can remember they should be fully up to date apart from Kitt's sanity after that failed check.

I'll double check them once I've had those Sanity checks from Blackgoat.

Talking about the website:

Hmm, need to update that blog as well...

I'd like to add news of the other expeditions to the blog as well, this would be information known to you all via the ship's radio, but I keep forgetting about it. :rolls:

I'll be adding the Starkweather-Moore Expedition news as presented to the world by Mr Starkweather himself.

Acacia Lexington is still a few days ahead of the Gabrielle, but I'm not sure of the current status of the German Expedition.

Thanks for the reassurance. I'd forgotten to look there; I'd only been peeking at my stats here.

Welcome back Mister Juan!
On a similar note, I've made arrangements with Charles Graves for him to send me updates via SMS text message, as he now has access to the RSS feeds, but can't post himself more than once or twice a week. So Professor Graves will be run as a kind of quasi-npc, I'll follow directions from Charles Graves' text messages, but add more detail to the actual post.
So hopefully we now have a full group of players again, apart from Thewhat, who never really started posting in this game anyway.

Sorry I didn't post an update yesterday, I was planning on spending some time during the evening updating stuff before posting, but things didn't work out that way. :rolls:

I'll make a lunchtime post today, and then hopefully find enough time at home for the other updates later this week. If there is any information that you think I owe you, please PM me, I'll try to wrap everything up at once when I find that illusive spare time.

I'm going to advance the clock by about two hours, to the point where news of the poisoning becomes common knowledge together with a few other, as yet unknown details.

Raiko wrote: So Professor Graves will be run as a kind of quasi-npc, I'll follow directions from Charles Graves' text messages, but add more detail to the actual post.

Note that the Professor's large speach that he's just given was taken from the actual adventure - it should have come from Greene, but as the Professor beat him to the dogs, he got to make the big speach.

I hope that nobody minds me moving straight on from the poisoning to this, but I don't really want the game to slow down for as long as it did for the last incident.

I'd rather move from event to event, stopping whenever your characters find clues, with a few real life days for in character conversations after each event.

Hopefully that way the story can continue moving without getting too frustrating, but you'll still get enough chances to make your own plans and chat.

Decrepit wrote: Jack guesses that one concern Moore and Starkweather will have is publicity. Nothing like a story about a doomed ship to liven up the folks at home. He tries to think of how much he'd be willing not to tell his editors, hoping he'll know if and when the question comes up.

8) I'll really have to try and update the blog, so that you see the spin Starkweather puts on things.

Lets just say for now that in his radio broadcasts your illustrious leader is letting the world know that, despite a couple of 'minor hiccups' everything is ok, and the 'chaps' are dealing with it all with 'stiff upper lips'.

Cheerio!

OrionUK wrote: "I am a little suprised about how quiet Mister Starkweather is being whilst all this is going on, it is a joint expedition between the two of you isn't it Professor Moore?"

You want Starkweather to join in?

Well he's been busy on the radio sorting out replacement provisions for when you reach Australia, but as you're missing him in see what I can do.

Seriously though Starkweather is always out and about on the ship, and was involved with the reefer store incident and it's aftermath, he just isn't at this particular meeting. Moore did include him as one of the people to speak to if you find anything.

Anytime that you want to speak to Starkweather he is available, just post that you're looking for him.

One more thing:

OrionUK wrote: James re-iterates the fact that Callum, Isugtag & himself had been checking the holds for any signs of tampering & were making notes on stocks ect the previous night and had found nothing wrong with the dogs at all insinuating that it would be more likely that the dogs were poisoned recently..

Professor Graves confirmed that the dogs were poisoned by their breakfast this morning.
Somebody added strychnine to their pemmican, either in New York or during the voyage.

That's why the Sorensen brothers are organising the rest of the expedition to check all the rest of the pemmican, because you all ate the same stuff for your breakfast.

Professor Graves' report on the poisoning was in this post, you might have missed it as it's very near the bottom of a page.

I've been reading all the posts, but I haven't posted for Moore / Turlow yet as I'm giving you all a day or two to decide on your own course of action. The adventure in npc driven enough I think, without me butting in while you plan.

I'll probably post again for Moore and/or Turlow tomorrow, so you've got another 24 hours or so to try and reach a consensus. Of course if somebody directly addresses Moore or Turlow I'll reply as soon as I've read the post.

Finally managed to post.

Professor Graves' post was made by me, based on a text message sent by Charles Graves the player. I edited the post details so that it appears as a Charles Graves post.

As Charles Graves is so busy in real-life there may be times that I have to npc the Professor. At those times I'll leave the posts as 'Raiko posts', so that you can distinguish between 'Graves the pc' and 'Graves the npc', if you want too.

I'll allow the debate to continue until you have a plan, providing some progress is being made. After that I'll move things on by another few days (taking your plans into account).

I've been having some network problems at work, things are looking ok today, so hopefully I'll get posting again at lunchtime.

Ok, so the network problems weren't over after all. :rolls:

Apparently they are now though.

I'll post a reply from Turlow to James; then I'll assume that James is following Callum, and that everybody has left the meeting.

It seems that your current plans involve the following:

1) Continue searching the cargo holds
2) Search other areas (lifeboats, etc) for signs of a stowaway. I've got to admit there aren't a lot of places for a stowaway to hide aboard, apart from the holds.
3) Stake out the #4 & #5 holds, while locking up the others.
4) Possibly help to keep watch over the water supply.

You have already searched the #2, #4 & #5 holds, and Callum, James & Isugtag started searching the #3 tween deck hold, but there's a lot of gear in that hold.

The Sorensen brothers are leading the rest of the expedition as they check the remaining food in the reefer store.

You may want to recheck holds that have already been searched, at least until you (hopefully) catch the culprit.

So please can you all post here to decide who's doing what, I'll pause again to let you update your plans if signs of a saboteur / stowaway are discovered, or if the search of the holds is completed without any clues being located.

You forgot one option.

5) Card games at Kitt's!

OOPS!

5) Card games at Kitt's!

Jack's fine with searching holds in the daylight and helping stake out one of the two holds at night, although none of us can work 24-hour shifts (well, not steadily, anyway).

Turlow made a reference to Driscoll--does that mean he heard me talk about him? Coincidence?

As Kitt doesn't seem to get James English sense of humour he will follow Callum as per Raiko's post.

Kitt would help if asked but it's unlikely anyone would or that she'd consider the job. She may be a pilot but she's still a chick and not a very strong one at that. Give her a big gun and she might reconsider!

Olof will check the lifeboats and other areas trying to be inconspicious about it.

As a medic, Graves is particularly aware of the value of the water supply.

He therefore tells his comrades that he will be keeping a close eye on the drinking water.

So:

Jack: Checking the holds, staking out at night.
Olof: Searching for signs of a stowaway
James: Checking the holds, staking out at night.
Callum: Checking the holds, staking out at night.
Kitt: Staying out of it?
Graves: Keeping an eye on the water supply.
Sean: ????
Isugtag: ????
McRaven: ????

Unless they post differently, I'll assume that Sean, Isugtag & McRaven will join those searching the holds.

I'll assume that the search will start where Callum, James & Isugtag left off in the #3 Hold, and will work forwards, skipping the #2 hold, as that's already been searched.

Decrepit wrote: Jack's fine with searching holds in the daylight and helping stake out one of the two holds at night, although none of us can work 24-hour shifts (well, not steadily, anyway).

Everybody, except Kitt maybe, is taking part - so there's enough of you to take turns, with 3-4 on watch each night.

I'll assume that Jack is watching the first night; if nobody posts a preference I'll use the above list, so Jack, Olof, James & Callum one night, and Graves, Sean, Isugtag & McRaven the next?

How do you prefer to watch the two holds at night?

1) All on deck
2) 2 per hold
3) 2 on deck, 1 per hold
4) Something completely different

Both holds are close enough together that they can be observed from deck at the same time. There is enough stuff on the main deck, and also on the Forecastle and the midship's superstructure, that 2-4 people should be able to observe the hatches stealthily.

There's plenty of cover in the holds themselves.

Please take into account your own character's hide skill when deciding who goes where. There's enough cover to get a bonus wherever you are, but the best bonus will probably be for people hiding in the holds themselves.

Decrepit wrote: Turlow made a reference to Driscoll--does that mean he heard me talk about him? Coincidence?

He didn't hear Jack, but he already knows that you all suspect the new additions to the crew. Turlow's too hard-assed to admit that the saboteur may be a crew member, but isn't stupid.

Laraqua wrote: Kitt would help if asked but it's unlikely anyone would or that she'd consider the job. She may be a pilot but she's still a chick and not a very strong one at that. Give her a big gun and she might reconsider!

Moore asked all of you to help, and as he suggested in his original letter to Kitt, he considers her just as capable as a man.

It's your call though, if you think that Kitt would assume she's not expected to join in then so be it.

Perhaps she could sleep in her plane! That's the only thing that really matters.

Once either Olof or Jack have spoken to the rest of you about Olof's discovery, I'll move things along and you can find out whether any of your traps for the saboteur are successful.

I'll just post a single note that everyone in the party can read, assuming that Jack and/or Olof meet up with everyone eventually.

Decrepit wrote: I'll just post a single note that everyone in the party can read, assuming that Jack and/or Olof meet up with everyone eventually.

That's fine.

Assume that Turlow leaves the hold and returns to the bridge before Jack or Olof arrive.

I'm waiting for either Mister Juan or Ghost_1971 to post a reply to Jack's information before I continue. I've PM'd them both yesterday, so hopefully they'll post today.

Obviously the rest of you all have the same information as well, so you can post your own responses while we're waiting.

In the meantime, how do you plan to stake out the lifeboat and the holds at the same time? The lifeboat in question is the rear-most one on the port side of the ship.

You were going to stakeout with two shifts of four at night (I think), probably with one person hidden in each of the #4 & #5 holds, and two people concealed out on deck.

While it may be possible for the same 1-2 people t watch both the lifeboat and the entrances to the holds, it's still risky, as someone could slip unnoticed into a hold and only face a single investigator.

Equally if only one person watches the lifeboat, they also face a potentially dangerous one-on-one confrontation with the saboteur.

Good News: If all goes well with your stakeout, we'll hopefully reach Australia in another week or so of posting.

You'll all be dying on the ice before you know it.

I suspect that the lifeboat is the higher-priority target right now, but I'm open to persuasion.

Sorry I should have posted an update yesterday.

Mister Juan sent me a PM - he's busy at the moment, but still around. Steerpike is also very busy IRL.

Lots of people are really busy this month it seems...

First Officer Turlow agrees to release one rifle and the shotgun from the bridge's armoury (he won't release your personal weapons from the Bosun Store). I'll give the rifle to Callum and the Shotgun to Isugtag. Obviously he expects that you try not to actually shoot anybody. The firearms must be returned at the end of each night.

I'm assuming that everybody is still onboard with Jack and Olof's modified stakeout plan, so my post has assumed the following:

Callum and Isugtag conceal themselves on the Boat Deck, in sight of the lifeboat. They stay on watch all night, taking turns to nap briefly. They are also ready to rush to the #4/#5 holds or to the foredeck if any of the other teams call for help. They rest properly during the morning, and work in the holds with the others in the afternoon.

Professor Graves keeps an eye on the fresh water tanks all night, he doesn't appear to have joined the search of the cargo holds so he can catch up on his sleep at a convenient time during the day. (EDIT: I've assumed that Sean will help the Prof)

Jack, Olof, James and McRaven work in shifts to keep a watch over the entrances to the #4 and #5 holds during the night. They conceal themselves on the main deck or the quarterdeck/aftcastle, ready to rush to the boat deck if Isugtag and Callum call for help. They're unlikely to be able to hear calls for help from the Prof or Sean from this far away though. Each of the four will get half a night's worth of sleep each, with two awake on deck at all time. Each of these four will work all day in the holds.

Blackgoat hasn't posted for a while, but has been logged in recently. I've sent him a PM, and for now I'm assuming that Sean will share the 'watertank watch' with Professor Graves during the night and helping in the hold during the day.

Kitt is having a great time, playing bridge / poker with hunky Doctor Greene and the Sorensen Brothers during the evening, and reading some of those books she brought during the day. 8)

I'm writing a post this afternoon that will describe how well your traps work out.

Groovy, except for the Kitt-Greene part.

I look forward to the scene when the good old doctor dies horrible in the mouth of some eldritch horror from the beyond and Kitt who has gone mad by the sight just states: "But you can't die. I'm carrying your baby!" Romance in a Lovecraftian game, how absurd!

Henrik wrote: I look forward to the scene when the good old doctor dies horrible in the mouth of some eldritch horror from the beyond and Kitt who has gone mad by the sight just states: "But you can't die. I'm carrying your baby!" Romance in a Lovecraftian game, how absurd!

Well, if it comes to that lets hope that it's Greene's baby and not something else.

Hi, it was my wedding anniversary this weekend , so unfortunately once I missed posting on Friday afternoon, there wasn't much chance of a weekend post.

I'll be posting at lunchtime today.

Do tell what Greene thinks of Kitt... Is he in love, yet? Have my girlish wiles worked? Good thing she brought a prophylactic for the trip!

It's clear to Kitt that Richard Greene is very keen on her.

Hmmm...... Sneaking isnt exactly Callums thing lol but here goes nothing.....

http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1256912

Damn it 36

here goes nothing!
http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=1257228

11 it is go Isugtag.

Thats not too bad then. He will hear me, and you can jump him from behind

I took a day off work yesterday, spent most of the day out and was too tired to post at night. Sorry for the hold up, I'll be posting at lunchtime today.

I'll wait until everyone has had chance to post again before continuing.

Scott puts up no resistance to Isugtag (like he really could anyway )

You don't have to look too far to find rope on a ship, so Jack can arrive with rope as soon as Decrepit is ready to post.

As soon as Jack, James, etc. start to arrive on the Boat Deck there is probably enough noise that Sean and Prof Graves can hear if they'd like to join in.

If anyone wants to get Turlow he'll be in his cabin at this time, he's due to begin his watch at 4am. Moore and Starkers will also be in their cabin (they share Cabin 11 so that Kitt can have a cabin to herself, (un)fortunately this means waking one will also rouse the other).

Hi, the forum downtime plus some training courses I'm on at work have prevented me making any lunchtime posts this week.

I'm not likely to get chance to post from home tonight, but normal service will be resumed tomorrow.

BTW: It's currently my plan to move the game on with three summary posts.

The first will handle Turlow's arrival and the detainment of Scott.

The second will cover the rest of the voyage to Australia, there won't be any further acts of sabotage although you may uncover other damage already perpetrated by Scott(?).

The third will cover the time in port at Melbourne, (if any of your characters have had second thoughts about the expedition, remaining in Melbourne may be their last chance to avoid whatever dreadful fate awaits them beyond the Mountains of Madness ).

I'll wait one or two days between each of these posts to give you all time to make posts of your own.

So hopefully in a weeks time from now, the Starkweather-Moore expedition will be heading south from Melbourne, bound for Antarctica.

If anyone wants to play things out in slow-time, rather than moving quickly ahead to the last leg of the voyage; then that's fine, but please let me know today. 8)

Not really. If this is the saboteur things feel a lot better. If there will be training again it would be interesting to do. That could be handled rather briefly though in my opinion. Onto Antarctica and our doom, I say!

I've made the first summary post now, I'll wait until Monday or Tuesday to post the next (taking us to Australia), in the meantime I'll post responses to any actions that your characters make.

Henrik, the courses will ressume as soon as all the cargo checks are complete. They'll continue throughout the voyage, although weather conditions in the Southern Ocean may affect them.

I'll be using the summary posts up until your departure from Australia. During the journey from Melbourne to Antarctica my posts will cover 1-5 days each, depending on how eventful that part of the voyage is.

Anyone else think we should interrogate Scott a little bit?
Isugtag would do it but his english skills aren't really up to the task.
What he can do is intimidate him

I agree I think Scott should be interrogated - I don't know if James actually knows what's going on at the moment as his charactor hasn't moved on from waking up & asking what's going on as yet but if someone wants to tell the rest of the gang what's happened then we can pick the best person/persons for the job????

I am back

I think we need to question him, we also need to check his background, when he joined the ship, who with and who gave him references etc etc

I think we need a good cop bad cop routine with some added theatrics
I vote isugtag to be the scary bad cop and Jack as the good cop.

I will try to post at a some point during this. Not too sure where my character was during all this.

Jack'll be "good cop" if you want.

You kidding me? Get Kitt to play the good cop. It's expected that women are sweeter than men. She'll have him crack.

I'm with Starkweather on this! Keelhaul him!

I'll give Laraqua a chance to post at least, before moving onto the interrogation.

Regarding Adam Scott's references, etc:
- Scott has actually never worked aboard a ship before, he took one of the few vacancies available amongst the experienced crew.
- The chief steward (Judas Whitney) interviewed Scott for the position. Although Scott is inexperienced, there's nothing unusual about such a person being taken on for a junior position such as messboy.
- Whitney says that Scott was very enthusiastic about joining the crew, "to be part of this expedition," he apparently wanted to be a part of the Starkweather-Moore Expedition in any minor way that he could, lacking he said, any skills that would have allowed him to join the Antarctic expedition itself.
- Scott is an extremely popular member of the crew, although moral aboard has been greatly boosted by the apparent capture of the saboteur, most members of the crew are shocked that it was Scott.
- After a little digging it appears that Scott may have been responsible for the origin of the dark rumours that have spread throughout the crew about Starkweather being a Jonah.

I'm not feeling so well at the moment, but I'll still try to get the game moving again this week.

Whist the others are interviewing Scott, Callum will see what he can do to get the 'on board' lessons started again. Sort of getting back to normal again after the turmoil of the last few days

I'll wait until tomorrow morning to post about the interogation. To give time for anyone to reply to Laraqua's post.

Ghost_1971 wrote:Whist the others are interviewing Scott, Callum will see what he can do to get the 'on board' lessons started again. Sort of getting back to normal again after the turmoil of the last few days

Ok, there's another day's worth of checking the holds to do first, but Callum will certainly be able to get the courses running again straight after that.

The Sorensen brothers (with the rest of the expedition) have almost finished checking the food out as well.

I've sent a PM 'Newsletter' to everybody who's in either of my campaigns. If you haven't received it, then that means I've accidentally miss you out of the Masks and/or BtMoM players groups that I created a couple of days ago. Please let me know and I'll add you to the correct group.

There seems to be a problem with the email notifications when a PM is sent to a 'group'

Some player are getting LOTS of email notifications, others are getting none (so far).

I've passed the problem onto Carnage Lee. As the newsletter's had a positive response I'll try to send them regularly, until the notification problem is fixed I'll send any future PMs 'manually' rather than using the groups.

So it hopefully won't happen again. I apologise if I've filled anyone's mailbox up.

Ok, I think that the best way to handle the 'interrogation' is if Decrepit and Graves both make a short IC post like Mr Juan, and then for each of you to post in this OOC thread with a list of any questions or accusations that you'd like your character to put to Scott.

I'll wait for up to 24 hours from now to give you each the chance to post, once you've all posted your questions or when the 24 hours is up, I'll compose a narrative if the first part of the interrogation. I'll also make any necessary skill or attribute (sanity?) rolls for you.

Then I'll wait another 24 hours for you to each make a second set of IC/OOC posts so that you can let me know whether your characters are satisfied or not.

This method has worked so far for both combat and interviews in both my games, so hopefully we can play out the whole interrogation in 2-3 days max.

Well, I can tell you right off the bat that Isugtag isn't going to ask any questions.
If Scott refuses to answer a question, he'll get real close to him and look mean.
If he still refuses to answer, he'll start taking his vest off and undoing his cuffs as if he was ready to give him a beating.
If at any point, Scott gets up, Isugtag will "gently" (this is sarcastic by the way) sit him back down.

I'll hold off on the roughing up depending on how things go. Contrary to popular beliefs, Isugtag is actually ready to give Scott a beating if necessary.

Sorry it's taken me this long to get 'round to things. It's going to be a bit busy this week at work, which is inconsiderately cutting in to my gaming time.

Jack's opening question will be more of an observation: "You look awfully smug for someone in a mess of trouble." He will then recite a litany of Scott's crimes, which Jack for the purposes of this conversation will assume Scott is single-handedly responsible for. Jack will be looking for signs that Scott is uncomfortable taking the heat for one or more of the transgressions, attempting to see whether Scott has an accomplice. Jack will mention the dog poisoning, the damaged reefer, and of course the blasting caps. He's especially concerned to find out about any other sabotage that the expedition members have yet to uncover. If need be, Jack will remind Scott that they're at sea, a long way from anyone who might conceivably help him.

Jack is also curious as to motive, although he suspects that Scott may be just some sort of loon whose motives aren't worth trying to understand. Still, there's the whole Lexington expedition to consider, and Jack will try to be alert for any sort of sign that Scott is motivated by or connected with Miss Lexington.

Sorry for the holdup with part 2 of the interrogation, I had a bit of minor car trouble tonight.

I'll still be getting it posted later tonight, in another few hours.

I'll be posting again here this evening, Charles Graves is going to try to get online later today to avoid me having to make another npc post for him, if he can't manage then he's given me permission to continue running him as an npc.

(Both Graves and Steerpike can only normally get online at weekends at the moment)

I think it's still looking good to complete this in the next day or two, then I'll summarise your visit to Australia (hopefully without offending Laraqua), give you all a day or two to post about Melbourne yourselves, introduce Syrinx's new character, and then you're all heading South!

Raiko wrote:Sorry for the holdup with part 2 of the interrogation, I had a bit of minor car trouble tonight.

Don't worry--it was suspenseful (in a good way).

Isugtag doesn't really have any questions to ask... He's only concern about the expedition members' safety; if Jack and Graves both conclude that Scott seems to have acted alone, and that there are no more threats (other acts of sabotage yet undetected).... then he'll be glad to call it a day.

For the rest of the interrogation, he'll act exactly like he did.
Altought the next hits will go to Scott's gut instead.

Ok, I'll wait another 24 hours in case anyone wants to post again regarding Scott. After that I'll assume that Isugtag and Jack go along with Graves' idea, maybe after punching Scott once or twice more.

Well he does deserve a good pasting.

This is very interesting indeed.

If another beating is necessary, I'm all for wrapping a soap bar with a towel Always works, and it leaves no visible traces

Yes, I am a little twisted.

I'm for Graves's plan, if for no other reason than I don't see much else to do at the moment.

I've got a post mostly written, it'll actually take you all of the way to Melbourne. It does include more information about Scott.

I may get chance to finish it tonight, or I might have to wait until my lunchbreak tomorrow.

Sorry, I'm alternating between my two games as they are both in transition between chapters. It's currently BtMoM's turn though, so my next long IC post will be here.

I'm trying to prepare to start chapter five on Monday. Our new player Syrinx will be joining us over then, I'll try to introduce his character into the story over the weekend.

If there's some bit of equipment that your character has realised that they need, then this is their last chance to get it.

It took me by surprise how long chapter four took to play out, but I don't expect this chapter to take as long. Hopefully it'll run through in about a month of real-time.

Now you're just taunting me with Greene, aren't you? Wel, at least wedding bells are chiming in As the Masks Turn.

I need you back online so I can see the next part of that saga.

Poor, dumb Maksim.

Well, poor Caroline. She's the one lumbered with him!

If anybody wants to post anything regarding their character's activities in Melbourne, please could you do it in the next day or so, as soon as everybody has had the opportunity to meet John Rhyes I'll be beginning the next chapter immediately.

I may be a little hanky-pankyed out, figuratively speaking.

If anyone wants to be around to join in Starkweather's party, feel free.

I'm going to wait until Syrinx and Ghost have had chance to post once more, then everyone who isn't at the pub will get the chance to say hello to John Rhyes, and learn of Sykes' accident.

Then that really is it for Australia, onto the Southern Ocean and the great white wilderness beyond!

At the Waterside Hotel John arranges so that one of the three pubs on the lower floor is set to accomodate the SS Gabrielle´s party.
The financial matter will be taken care of by John trading the cargo held in the Cleopatra as it´s no longer needed. Would fetch a neat sum, I´d guess.
He´ll arrange for the ship to be taken into dock at the same time, not having to worry about that while off seeing penguins.

Olof will rather keep to Dr. Greene, Jack and Kitt but if they want to follow Starkweather he will go there as well.

I don't think Jack will seek out Starkweather ...

Decrepit wrote:I don't think Jack will seek out Starkweather ...

You don't say. 8)

Hi everyone, sorry I had to go home sick from work on Wednesday, before I finished my lunchtime posts.

I'm feeling better now, so I should be able to post later today.

Sorry for the hold ups, there's been loads of viruses going round my family, my work and the kids' school, hopefully I've had them all now.

I should hopefully move things along here during the next 24 hours, hopefully tonight. Because of the latest delay, I'm going to move ahead to the new chapter, please assume that you all get introduced to John Rhyes either at the pub, or during the final two days in Australia.

I've been getting the nerw chapter started in Masks today, I'll hopefully get time to begin chapter 5 here tonight.

Once the first post is up, I'll wait two days for everyone to make a first post, then I'll post updates daily until something 'eventful' happens. I'm expecting to get through the whole chapter in 3-6 real-life weeks, at the end of which you will finally be on the ice of Antarctica.