OOC: Chapter Four - At Sea

[Raiko]

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.

[Decrepit]

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.

[Ghost_1971]

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

[Raiko]

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Mister Juan]

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Decrepit]

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Decrepit]

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

[Laraqua]

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

[Raiko]

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

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.

[Henrik]

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?

[Raiko]

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.

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Raiko]

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.

[Mister Juan]

Isugtag will stick to his scheduel

[Mister Juan]

Isugtag will keep to his previous scheduel.

[Raiko]

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)