Fall in the Mall 1987 - AFMBE OOC

[LarsWester]

In Character Thread
This is a placeholder post that will eventually be a source for all game resources. I'd like everyone to copy and paste their character sheet in this thread and we will wait for everyone to do so before posting OOC in here. I'd like this thread to be this post and then everyone's character sheet. To help facilitate this I've copied my table with links to your character sheets from the recruitment thread.
Game Encyclopedia
Locations

Spoiler: Columbia Place Mall (link to map)

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Host of the annual Fall in the Mall teen lock-in overnight event. The layout of Columbia Place mall is the same as shown on this map. The actual stores can be different and players can add to the stores directory within reason. When adding a store define it's general location as shown on the above map.

Spoiler: Richland Northeast High School

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One of the local high schools that has students in attendance. This is the PC's high school.

Spoiler: Spring Valley High School

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One of the local high schools that has students in attendance. The rival high school to the PCs. Also the school of some trouble making JV football players.

Spoiler: Dent Middle School

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One of the local middle schools (6th-8th grade) with students in attendance. Jessie is on the Dent's cheerleading squad with several of her friends.

People

Spoiler: Mr. Carter Maxwell

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Owner of the Mall's Babbage's. Running a SGI Dogfight tournament during the lock-in event. The winner of the tournament takes home a SGI workstation of their very own.

Spoiler: Principal Klander

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Principal of Richland Northeast High School and person in charge of this year's Fall in the Mall.

Spoiler: Jessie Thomas

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Embry's younger sister and a cheerleader at Dent Middle School.

Spoiler: Betsy

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One of Giselle's and Katy's pirate crew. Environmentally conscious 17yr old girl. Plays the tuba. Protests the tuna.

Spoiler: Josh

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Oh Josh the token boy of the Pirate Crew. Dressed in all black like the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Spoiler: Rebecca Carlson

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Part of the Pirate Crew and Vincent's crush. Wearing red bandana, white puffy shirt, brown leather skirt with plastic sword.

Spoiler: Officer Mendoza

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Columbia Police Department officer. She is one of the few females on the force and gets assigned to this damn event every year.

Spoiler: Francis "Manny" Mangold

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Giselle's cousin's Ex and supplier for smokes. He is at the Lock-in without an official invite. He snuck in through a side door and smuggled in some smokes. He lost a bet with some other older friends and was forced to "supply" the event. Giselle's Contact 1.

Spoiler: Ms. Pauline Clapton Clyde

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Aged 30-something; a naive, round-ish, bespectacled younger teacher at Giselle's school whom she managed to impress with her "skill" and general "gifted-ness" into thinking Giselle shows real great promise for a bright future. As a busibody, she is among the organizers and chaperones of Fall in the Mall. Giselle's Contact 2.

Events

Spoiler: Fall in the Mall

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This year Fall in the Mall takes places Friday October 30th and plans to host over 250 12-18 year old junior high and high school students. There will be free food and entertainment through the night. The mall closed for regular customers at 7:00PM and reopened for teens who received an invitation (those on honor roll or with a teacher's recommendation) at 8:45 with official festivities to start at 9:00PM. Fall in the Mall will officially end at 8:00 AM on Saturday. The mall reopens to general public at 9:00 AM.

Spoiler: Horror Movie Marathon

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Starting at 10:00 a series of PG or PG-13 scary movies will be shown in a make shift theater in the food court. A large projection screen is place out in the mall hallway and seating taking up the food court.
MOVIE SCHEDULE

Gremlins	9:30-11:15
Little Shop of Horrors	11:20-1:50
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Swamp Thing	3:30-5:00
Poltergiest	5:05-7:05

Spoiler: Can Castle Creation

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An annual tradition where all empty pop cans from the event are used to build a giant structure at the North End of the mall. This is just an activity that keeps some of the more creative people involved throughout the night. Typically there's over 1000 empty cans of soda utilized in the building of some sort of art installation.

Spoiler: Mr. Maxwell Presents Multiplayer Gaming

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A new event this year is a multiplayer computer game experience. With Mr. Maxwell's SGI workstations linked together on a computer network up to 10 kids can compete at a time with the new multiplayer experience SGI Dogfight. This event will be taking place outside Mr. Maxwell's Babbage's located in the corner of the A wing of the 2nd floor.

Character Summary Table
Player	Character Name (Link)	Description	Status
rogue_alchemist	John Wilson	Social Anxious Mall Security	2nd Floor Currently being NPC'd
Metastachydium	Giselle Nasri	16 yr 2nd Gen Girl	Covering Manny's Mistake
Kareeah_Indaga	Katherine Hart	16yr old Flag Girl	Covering Manny's Mistake
Kinro	Vincent Vales	Heart-stricken Nerdy Boy	Covering Manny's Mistake
Bowerbird	Eleanor Bailey	Student Council Girl	Investigating 2nd floor doors
Bramblefoot	Silus Hush	Apoc Edgelord Freak	Investigating 2nd floor doors.

[rogue_alchemist]

Spoiler: Character Sheet

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Name	John Wilson
Character Type	Norm
Primary Attributes Strength 4 Intelligence 2 Dexterity 3 Perception 2 Consitution 3 Willpower 2	Secondary Attributes Life Points 47 Endurance Points 32 Speed 12 mph (6 yd/s) Essence Pool 16

Qualities	Points	Drawbakcs	Points
Hard to Kill	3	Honorable	-2
Fast Reaction Time	2	Reckless	-2
Resources +1	1	Glossophobia	-2
Situational Awareness	2	Fear of Rejection	-1

Skiill	Level	Skill	Level
Acrobatics	4	Stealth	3
Martial Arts	4	Hand Weapon (knife)	2
Notice	3	Guns (Handgun)	3
Survival (Forest)	3 (+3)

Spoiler: Background

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John Wilson is muscular ex-military type, but has had to take up a job as mall security upon his return due to several problems in his personal life. He prefers to sit in the back and monitor the mall from the bank of computer screens recording everything, but of course management would prefer he is the face out front with his intimidating look. John's every bit as deadly as he looks, but he lacks a lot of social skills needed to interact with people effectively. He keeps his brown hair short still with deep light-brown eyes and chiseled face that add to his severe presence.
In reality, John is deeply bothered by public places. He does not want to handle a crowd and would probably freeze if he had to address more than a small group of people (4 at most). He knows he is well trained and able to handle himself, but because of his training, he is afraid of being too harsh or too rough on people and accidentally hurting them. This has led him to adopt strict codes of conduct and strong sense of situational awareness to keep from accidentally stepping on someone or otherwise hurting anyone inadvertently.
In his past life, he was field promoted to sergeant and became the defacto leader of his section after the NCO went down, but he had the skills to be front and center more than to lead, so he 'led' by example and only addressed small teams at a time, not the whole section. He didn't feel particularly inspiring to the men, but he got as many of them as he could back to rendezvous after a tactical strike. After this jarring and unpleasant experience he suffered PTSD of having responsibility of so many lives, only increasing his glossophobia. His fear of failing anyone else, ultimately led him to shutting out his girlfriend and now he works at the Mall, not really applying himself or allowing himself to get close to anyone and be responsible again.

[Metastachydium]

Spoiler: Sheet (Personal Data/Appearance/Backstory)

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Character Data

Name: Giselle Nasri
Age: 16
Height: 5' 2" (158 cm)
Weight: 101 lb. (46 kg)

Type: Norm

Appearance: Giselle has a somewhat round-ish, soft face, with large, dark brown eyes, full lips and slightly thicker than usual eyebrows. She has an unruly, wavy head of nearly black hair, reaching down a couple inches below her shoulders. Her skin keeps a light tan all year round, courtesy of her Maghreb ancestors. She looks fitter than she really is, and more confident too.

Family History and Personality: Giselle is totally going to be 17 at some point in the not-so-distant future, coming from a family of low generation-count Old World immigrants (specifically, she's the granddaughter of a Harki who managed to jump ship from Africa in the early '60s and a Franco-Algerian woman) that is passably well-of for Cold War-related reasons that we don't talk about (and will probably never come up, but suffice it to say, her grandfather being, obviously and by profession, quite familiar with MENA irregular/asymmetrical warfare tactics likely helped). Her main strategy in life is trying to project an air of seriosity, despite getting easily bored with things and people alike, which (naturally) contributed to her becoming a jack of many trades, master of really not a one kind of person with many a pal, but few close friends.

Why She's Even Here: Giselle isn't overly enthusiastic about the event; in fact, she believes this general sphere of activity would likely tire her just as fast if it weren't an all-nighter – and she does like a good full night's sleep. It's good for the skin (or whatever). Still, if anyone of her age, Giselle Nasri does get the importance of networking and exposure. This is a way forward in the world, and shouldn't involve too much hard work – her kind of setup, really. She intends to put a winning little smile on and flit through it with as little effort invested as possible. All floating and warm currents, no swimming and splashing about. Trying too hard is not her thing anyhow. Nor is it terribly stylish.

Spoiler: Sheet (Numbers)

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Attributes (Primary)

Strength:	2
Dexterity:	2
Constitution:	2
Intelligence:	3
Perception:	4
Willpower:	1

Totalling: 14

Attributes (Secondary)

Life Points:	26
Endurance Points:	18
Speed:	8 mp/h or 4 yd/s
Essence Pool:	14

Qualities:		Drawbacks:
Acute Smell	+2	Acrophobia	-2
Attractiveness	+2	Addiction (habitual smoker)	-1
Charisma	+1	Cowardly	-1
Contacts	+1/+2	Impaired Touch	-2
Resources	+2	Lazy	-2
Situational Awareness	+2	Talentless	-2
Totalling:	+12	Totalling:	-10

Skills:

Acrobatics:	1
Computers:	2
Climbing:	1
Driving (car):	1
Electronics:	2
Escapism:	1
First Aid:	2
Haggling:	1
Humanities:	2
Intimidation:	2
Investigation:	2
Language (German):	1
Language (Spanish):	1
Mechanic:	1
Questioning:	2
Running (dash):	1
Sciences:	3
Smooth Talking:	3
Sport (tennis):	1
Surveillance:	2
Swimming:	1

Totalling: 33

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Spoiler: Katherine Hart

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Name: Katherine Hart (Katy to her friends)
Age: 16
Character Type: Norm
Description:
Female, blonde, fair-skinned, blue eyes. A little over average height, slight build.

Dressed like a pirate for the lock-in: baggy, lightweight pants (black) and shirt (white), with a red sash around her waist and a red bandana holding in her hair, and wearing sturdy black boots. Has an eyepatch that she’s mostly wearing around her neck because it was interfereing with using the camera, which is mostly in one of her pockets when it isn’t in her hands. Brought her colorguard flag pole as part of her costume: it has a giant Jolly Roger flag on it.

Primary Attributes:

Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Constitution: 3
Intelligence: 2
Perception: 2 (Drawback boost)
Willpower: 2

Secondary Attributes:

Life Points: 30
Endurance Points: 26
Speed: 14 (14 mph, 7 yards/second)
Essence Pool: 27

Qualities: 8/8 (5 default +5 Drawback – 2 to raise Perception to 2 = 8)

Artistic Talent (Photography) (+3)
Resources (+1)
Fast Reaction Time (+2)
Acute Hearing (+2)

Drawbacks: (5)

Clown (-1)
Emotional Problems (Emotional Dependency) (-1)
Hemaphobia (-3)

Skills: 30/30

Driving (Car) (+1)
Hand Weapon (Staff) (+2)
Thrown (Axe) (+1)
Acrobatics (+2) (4 points – Special Skill)
Haggling (+2)
Sport (Colorguard) (+2)
Fine Arts (Photography) (+3)
First Aid (+2)
Questioning (+1)
Notice (+2)
Climbing (+2)
Humanities (+1)
Sciences (+2)
Writing (+2)
Swimming (+1)
Language (Spanish) (+2)

Spoiler: Background

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Katy moved to SC from the Midwest back in elementary school. Her homelife is stable but not extravagant, and most of her extras she bargains for with fellow students. She lives with both of her parents (though her father is frequently out of town on business), and has no living siblings. She recently turned 16 and has obtained her learner’s permit; her car is a hand-me-down from her father. She got the camera as a gift when one of her extended family noticed her interest in photography, and she’s made extensive use of it since, trading favors for film and taking pictures for return favors.

She has been in a scattering of other afterschool activities, usually whatever her friends are into at the time, but the most serious of these is marching band where she is a member of the Colorguard. As a result she is reasonably fit and, while she can’t play an instrument herself, she’s used to listening for audio cues to perform complex maneuvers with her flag pole or batons while moving in strange directions. While not stupid, she is on the honor roll mostly through hard work and study.

She gets nervous when left to her own devices and will usually latch on to somebody if her immediate social circle (mostly band members and a few members of the football team) is not around.

[Kinro]

Spoiler

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Name	Vincent Vales
Character Type	Norm
Primary Attributes Strength 2 Intelligence 4 Dexterity 3 Perception 3 Constitution 3 Willpower 2	Secondary Attributes Life Points 33 Endurance Points 26 Speed 12 mph Essence Pool 17

Qualities	Points	Drawbacks	Points
Photographic memory	2	Impaired Sight (Eyeglasses)	-1
Situational Awareness	2	Attractiveness	-1
Hard to Kill	1	Charisma	-1
Resistance (Pain)	1	Emotional Dependency	-1
		Honorable	-1
		Status	-1

Skill	Level	Skill	Level
Computer Hacking	3	Computers	3
Electronics	3	First Aid	1
Lockpicking (Electronic)	2	Lockpicking (Mechanical)	3
Mechanic	3	Notice	3
Research	4	Sleight of Hand	2
Swimming	1	Writing	2

Spoiler: Background

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Vincent is a social outcast, mostly. Not in a large way, but in a way that most people feel generally uncomfortable around him. He's vaguely homely and not particularly charismatic. The few people that do pay attention to him, he form what he believes to be strong friendships, but most people regard as mostly clingliness. His tendency towards strange, lonely hobbies certainly don't count in his favour either. But that doesn't mean that he doesn't have social ambitions, one of which is to at least talk to his long-time crush, Rebecca Carlson. He knows, or at least he thinks he knows, that she'll be at the Lock In and, so, he decided to go, too, in hopes of seeing her there. He doesn't care much for the event himself, being stuck together with a bunch of people he doesn't really know and don't care much about him doesn't seem like the most pleasant of time, even though it also seemed to be somewhat expected for those who made the honour roll to attend, something that he managed without much trouble. This was the first time he actually decided to go, though.

[Bowerbird]

I am alive, though I have been quite sick, my full sheet below:

Spoiler: Character Sheet

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Name: Eleanor Bailey
Type: Norm

Str: 2
Dex: 2
Con: 2
Int: 4
Per: 3
WP: 3

LP: 26
EP: 26
Spd: 8mph/12kph
EP: 28

Qualities:

• Photographic Memory +2
• Nerves of Steel +3
• Artistic Talent (Fiction) +3

Drawbacks:

• Impaired Sense (Sight, Glasses) -1
• Honorable (1) -1
• Fear of Commitment -1
• Fear of Rejection -1
• Resources (Poor) -3

Skills:
Bureaucracy: 3
Craft (Cook) 2
Craft (Seamstress) 2
First Aid: 2
Humanities: 3 (Literature +2)
Myth and Legend (Sci-Fi/Fantasy Fiction): 3
Notice: 2
Questioning: 1
Research: 3
Sciences: 2
Streetwise: 1
Writing: 3 (Creative +1)

Spoiler: Background

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Eleanor Bailey is a tall, owlish girl, her dark hair habitually in a ponytail, usually dressed in the nicest clothes she's found at the thrift store. Her single mother works nights to make ends meet, though her daughter's school fees take up a lot of the household's income. Eleanor's shabby clothes and bookish demeanour meant she saw a fair amount of bullying growing up, leading her to improve her sewing skills and spruce up her wardrobe a little. In High School, she's largely faded into the background, devoting herself wholeheartedly to studying, even making it onto the Student Council. Despite this, she's still not particularly popular with anyone, a few teachers maybe, and spends a lot of her free time hiding in the library pursuing her true passion: speculative fiction. She hopes to one day write books that people will enjoy reading. She jumped at the chance to help set up for the Fall in the Mall, using her craft skills to help make a lot of the spooky decorations, as well as her own costume. She's less excited about the event itself, though hopefully she can find somewhere quiet to go and reread Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites, which was the inspiration for her witch costume.

For reference: the costume is a nicely made, long black dress, black apron, old steel-toed boots, and a custom made witch's hat. A witch, but a very practical witch, in theme with her book.

Addendum: Eleanor's mother, Malorie Bailey, works nights as a cleaner at the city hospital. She was studying nursing once upon a time, but put her studies on hold after her husband left, as it was all she could do to save up for her daughter's school fees. She used to bring her daughter to work, to save money on babysitting, the staff were surprisingly accommodating since the girl was well behaved, would keep largely to herself, and sit in the corner reading quietly. Through a combination of proximity, morbid curiosity, and remarkably helpful nurses, Eleanor's picked up some proficiency in first aid, and a surprising tolerance for blood. Her lack of squeamishness, and busy mother both contributing to an appreciation for the gorier kind of horror movies. Although they still have to actually be well written.

Apologies for taking so long, hope everything's good.

[Metastachydium]

Would hope so! I realized I never addressed the "needs Contacts defined" bit, and didn't want to add questions before everything's up and running. Now… Can I still do that? Is that just dropping a few more NPCs of my making into the pool? Or would the friend circle people count as such?

If not, my current ideas are

–Francis "Manny" Mangold, aged 18, Giselle's maternal second cousin's ne'er-do-well ex. There's little actual love lost between him and G., but the two exist in a pragmatic mutualism: G.'s a smoker with stern parents and a whole wide world to convince she's a Model Young Lady; Manny's just a big buff guy even lazier than G., but without her financial means. She supplies the dollars, he supplies the smokes. I've already IC-dropped that he exists somewhere in the universe, but if he gets to be present at the lock-in, it's because he's also a gambling man, and he lost a bet. Ouch.

–Pauline Clapton-Clyde, aged 30-something; a naive, round-ish, bespectacled younger teacher at Giselle's school whom she managed to impress with her "skill" and general "gifted-ness" into thinking G. shows real great promise for a bright future. A busibody, she'd be among the organizers.

EDIT: ANyhow, in case anyone wondered, G. didn't overdo the costume thing. She almost came in a Jason Vorhees outfit (sans mask and blade) from the previous year's instalment of the franchise (really just a dark green shirt and a pair of loose light brown pants), but then Katy happened, so… She kept all of that, added the ear-feather, a pair of rope-soled sandals, a leather pouch with small change (and her own lighter), Grandpa Abe(, née Ibrahim Abderrahman En-Nasri)'s sturdy old military compass (both hanging from her belt) and some five shiny rings.

[LarsWester]

Would hope so! I realized I never addressed the "needs Contacts defined" bit, and didn't want to add questions before everything's up and running. Now… Can I still do that? Is that just dropping a few more NPCs of my making into the pool? Or would the friend circle people count as such?

If not, my current ideas are

–Francis "Manny" Mangold, aged 18, Giselle's maternal second cousin's ne'er-do-well ex. There's little actual love lost between him and G., but the two exist in a pragmatic mutualism: G.'s a smoker with stern parents and a whole wide world to convince she's a Model Young Lady; Manny's just a big buff guy even lazier than G., but without her financial means. She supplies the dollars, he supplies the smokes. I've already IC-dropped that he exists somewhere in the universe, but if he gets to be present at the lock-in, it's because he's also a gambling man, and he lost a bet. Ouch.

–Pauline Clapton-Clyde, aged 30-something; a naive, round-ish, bespectacled younger teacher at Giselle's school whom she managed to impress with her "skill" and general "gifted-ness" into thinking G. shows real great promise for a bright future. A busibody, she'd be among the organizers.

EDIT: ANyhow, in case anyone wondered, G. didn't overdo the costume thing. She almost came in a Jason Vorhees outfit (sans mask and blade) from the previous year's instalment of the franchise (really just a dark green shirt and a pair of loose light brown pants), but then Katy happened, so… She kept all of that, added the ear-feather, a pair of rope-soled sandals, a leather pouch with small change (and her own lighter), Grandpa Abe(, née Ibrahim Abderrahman En-Nasri)'s sturdy old military compass (both hanging from her belt) and some five shiny rings.

This all works. Let's call Manny the level 1 Contact and Ms. Clapton-Clyde the level 2 Contact. By the nature of these people being a Quality it means you can get something during the game from these contacts. And that they would be willing to undergo slight to moderate risk to protect or help you. Any player can add friends but those NPC friends (Betsy and Josh for example) wouldn't quite provide any material or mechanical advantage in game. Thoughts about having Manny be in the group of smokers breaking away?

[LarsWester]

I am alive, though I have been quite sick, my full sheet below:

Hope you get better soon. I think I got my wires crossed with who had the artistic talent photography and had Eleanor taking pictures from the second floor. So she has a camera now but the shots are not going to be anything fantastic. In generally I'm looking for a IC post about every 1-2 days.

[LarsWester]

So, we can use this thread for OOC stuff now?

Yes the OOC thread is open I may still post some OOC in a spoiler in the IC thread if I'm asking for a specific roll. Case in point my response to Embry and the wastoids. Yeah I'm trying to set up a bit of a conflict here. Working in Embry's backstory with the Jessie bit. Idea being it could be a fitting way to introduce the combat system in a low stakes way. I think there are a few players new to the system so I think seeing some combat played out, where there might be a few punches thrown before adults step in, would help get people familiar with the mechanics. A bit of a kerfuffle would also draw the attention of John the mall security and bring more of the PCs together.

[Bowerbird]

Hope you get better soon. I think I got my wires crossed with who had the artistic talent photography and had Eleanor taking pictures from the second floor. So she has a camera now but the shots are not going to be anything fantastic. In generally I'm looking for a IC post about every 1-2 days.

I thought that might have been the case, figured I'd roll with it anyway. It sounded like something that would be required by the student council. I should be fine again now, though if my post rate gets too low feel free to leave me for the horde

[LarsWester]

I thought that might have been the case, figured I'd roll with it anyway. It sounded like something that would be required by the student council. I should be fine again now, though if my post rate gets too low feel free to leave me for the horde

The horde-bait move would require a week's long absence with no prior communication. Generally only going to do it if I have the assumption the player abandoned the game.

[Metastachydium]

This all works. Let's call Manny the level 1 Contact and Ms. Clapton-Clyde the level 2 Contact. By the nature of these people being a Quality it means you can get something during the game from these contacts. And that they would be willing to undergo slight to moderate risk to protect or help you. Any player can add friends but those NPC friends (Betsy and Josh for example) wouldn't quite provide any material or mechanical advantage in game.

Cool and roger roger.

Thoughts about having Manny be in the group of smokers breaking away?

I pictured him as a big guy (not a combat beast, mind(, he smokes, he drinks, he eats junk…), but big) and G. would recognise him probably. Maybe the smokers are headed for him? He's something of an inside man, and could be a fixer for more kids than just G.

Yes the OOC thread is open I may still post some OOC in a spoiler in the IC thread if I'm asking for a specific roll. Case in point my response to Embry and the wastoids. Yeah I'm trying to set up a bit of a conflict here. Working in Embry's backstory with the Jessie bit. Idea being it could be a fitting way to introduce the combat system in a low stakes way. I think there are a few players new to the system so I think seeing some combat played out, where there might be a few punches thrown before adults step in, would help get people familiar with the mechanics. A bit of a kerfuffle would also draw the attention of John the mall security and bring more of the PCs together.

Fight! FIGHT!

[LarsWester]

No objection to having a fight start anyway though. I just don't think Embry would be initiating it unless the guys crossed the line and actually tried putting hands on the girls instead of just running their mouths.

I get where you are coming from here and it makes sense. Nice 16 on willpower and Embry shows his cool brushing off other kids talking crap about his mom and teasing his sister. Maybe one of the wastoids takes a cheap shot as Embry plays the bigger man and leads the girls away to watch Gremlins.

[LarsWester]

COMBAT MECHANICS
This will be a sample combat for everyone to get a taste of the mechanics prior to more high stakes encounters. In the rulebook this is all covered starting on page 98. But with play-by-post nature of this game we may want to condense some steps.
1. Intentions - In your post with rolls for a round you should also announce your intentions for the following round. These can be edited after seeing results of the whole round but this is where they should go either in spoiler tags in the In Character thread or in an OOC post. (In this example I have the following intentions for round 1. Jerkface - trip Embry Embry - walk away)
2. Initiative - In general magical or psychic attacks go first/ then ranged attacks/ then hand to hand. In each of these categories a character with Fast Reaction Time goes first with D10+dex settling who punches or fires next. All the above applies for non surprise rounds. In some combats there may be a Perception(Notice) check to avoid a surprise round. (In this example I'm giving a bit of a surprise round as Jerkface gets to go first.)
3. Performance - This is where rolls happen. In hand to hand each character can make 1 attack and 1 defensive action for free and but each additional action takes a -2 penalty. In non hand to hand each action besides the first takes a -2 skill. (In our example Jerkface will make a Brawling (Dex) check while Embry will make a Dodge (Dex) check. If Jerkface roll is higher than Embry it hits and if it is less it fails)
4. Damage - Listed on page 132 of rulebook. Sometimes such as the case in this example the damage is of a less lethal variety and so damage comes off Endurance points no Life Points. For this combat I'm going to rule the trip attempt as a kick.
5. Repeat - Steps 3 and 4 in initiative order for all combatants.
6. Start back at step 1.

Golden Rules
1. Try to limit the number of posts required. (A round of combat post should include all rolls required for all actions taken during steps 3 and 4. If hand to hand it should include a Defensive action roll for each attack that has been announced. Also include your intentions for the next round along with a next round initiative roll not required if you have Fast Reactions Quality.)
2. Rule of 10 and Rule of 1 additional rolls can be made in OOC thread.
3. Specific Hit locations should be announced prior to the roll and include in the roll tag description.

[LarsWester]

ok need a dodge/dex check from Embry. On a natural 9 or 10 he avoids being tripped and having his chin crack hard on the mall floor. I don't believe at this point anyone is wearing any armor but perhaps he has a leather jacket. Otherwise it's 16 points of Endurance damage.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Spoiler: Betsy

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One of Giselle's and Katy's pirate crew. Environmentally conscious 17yr old girl. Plays the tuba. Protests the tuna.

Tangent, but I toyed with the idea of Katy being a band member with a tuba instead of Colorguard purely for the sake of seeing zombies get whacked with a tuba. Glad to see that possibility still exists.

[LarsWester]

Not sure what happened with Card Trick I reached out by PM to see if his mind can be changed. I'll roll a d10 anyways for Embry.
messed up that format.

[LarsWester]

DodgeDex - (1d10+6)[16] here is 2nd attempt.

[LarsWester]

Another rule of 10. (1d10-5)[-2] OK but Embry's dodge beat the Jerkface's kick so the attack misses.

[Metastachydium]

Okay, I literally went all "wait, what??" when Embry just… "Died". I kind of hope CardTrick won't leave us in the end, but however this may go, can we put a moratorium on characters dying of silly reasons BEFORE the zombies show up? I think it would kind of wreak havoc with the setup if the lock-in was cancelled and everyone sent home on account of the children starting to murder each other.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Okay, I literally went all "wait, what??" when Embry just… "Died".

Second this. My first thought was ‘wow, this system is really brutal, no wonder we’re using it for a zombie game, everyone is going to be dead in less than a day if that’s how this usually goes.’

but however this may go, can we put a moratorium on characters dying of silly reasons BEFORE the zombies show up? I think it would kind of wreak havoc with the setup if the lock-in was cancelled and everyone sent home on account of the children starting to murder each other.

Second this also. Though now I guess I should ask, is there a medical person on site for normal highschooler shenanigans? If we’ve got two rival high schools here, and this is a normal thing, would they have a first aid site available for school rivalry fallout and accidents in the mall?

You don’t need to answer me right now, but as the player of a character with First Aid, Katy will probably be looking for it if it exists once the zombies appear.

[LarsWester]

Ms. Pauline Clapton-Clyde is the high school biology teacher and badminton coach. She also has Red Cross training in basic first aid and life saving procedures-which in the 80s was Heimlich and CPR no AEDs yet. She is trained in the First Aid skill and has a first aid kit. Yeah the "fight" I was hoping to stage was being done under Endurance Point rules meaning that there was no way Embry was going to die. He might have been knocked out but that would have taken multiple rule of 10 rolls on the attack to increasing the multiplier of damage. 16 Endurance points would have meant that he would have been a little physically drained but a lot of that could have been recovered before the zombies hit the mall. Fairly soon I'm going to do a time jump of two hours and that would have restored 6 Endurance points or 12 if Embry fell asleep during Gremlins. So the Endurance point loss wouldn't have been that bad by the time stuff hit the fan.

[LarsWester]

Okay, I literally went all "wait, what??" when Embry just… "Died". I kind of hope CardTrick won't leave us in the end, but however this may go, can we put a moratorium on characters dying of silly reasons BEFORE the zombies show up? I think it would kind of wreak havoc with the setup if the lock-in was cancelled and everyone sent home on account of the children starting to murder each other.

Which is why I am retconning CardTrick's suicide of his character. I get that you may want to leave a game for whatever reason just don't throw a grenade into the game like that which basically ruins the premise for everyone else. Steps were taken to prevent character death during this combat. It was operating under Endurance Point loss not Life Point loss rules. I don't know why CardTrick decided to quit the game at this point. I've asked but I don't know if I'll get an answer.

[Metastachydium]

Ms. Pauline Clapton-Clyde is the high school biology teacher and badminton coach. She also has Red Cross training in basic first aid and life saving procedures-which in the 80s was Heimlich and CPR no AEDs yet. She is trained in the First Aid skill and has a first aid kit.

Oh, cool! That gels quite well with Sciences and First Aid being among Giselle's kinda better skills.

Which is why I am retconning CardTrick's suicide of his character. I get that you may want to leave a game for whatever reason just don't throw a grenade into the game like that which basically ruins the premise for everyone else. Steps were taken to prevent character death during this combat. It was operating under Endurance Point loss not Life Point loss rules.

Nice and very considerate! (I mean, the zombies gotta eat!)

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Ms. Pauline Clapton-Clyde is the high school biology teacher and badminton coach. She also has Red Cross training in basic first aid and life saving procedures-which in the 80s was Heimlich and CPR no AEDs yet. She is trained in the First Aid skill and has a first aid kit. Yeah the "fight" I was hoping to stage was being done under Endurance Point rules meaning that there was no way Embry was going to die. He might have been knocked out but that would have taken multiple rule of 10 rolls on the attack to increasing the multiplier of damage. 16 Endurance points would have meant that he would have been a little physically drained but a lot of that could have been recovered before the zombies hit the mall. Fairly soon I'm going to do a time jump of two hours and that would have restored 6 Endurance points or 12 if Embry fell asleep during Gremlins. So the Endurance point loss wouldn't have been that bad by the time stuff hit the fan.

👍

I don't know why CardTrick decided to quit the game at this point. I've asked but I don't know if I'll get an answer.

Speaking as someone who has DM’d PbP games for 10+ years at this point…don’t lose sleep over it if you don’t get a reply back, there have been several times where I’ve had players drop without warning, it’s unfortunately common in this format.

The upshot is, he did drop before we really got started. I’ve had some drop in the middle of combat, and then had to scramble to keep from steamrolling the people who stuck around with an encounter that was meant for the whole group.

[Metastachydium]

Speaking as someone who has DM’d PbP games for 10+ years at this point…don’t lose sleep over it if you don’t get a reply back, there have been several times where I’ve had players drop without warning, it’s unfortunately common in this format.

The upshot is, he did drop before we really got started. I’ve had some drop in the middle of combat, and then had to scramble to keep from steamrolling the people who stuck around with an encounter that was meant for the whole group.

In fact, most of the flakers just ghost. Announcing it like this was brisk, yes, but it was announced.

[LarsWester]

Unless there's objections I'm going to time skip ahead two hours. That should give the zombies time to move through Columbia a bit. Go ahead and make a post stating what your character has been up to for the last 2 hours. Unbeknownst to the characters things outside are getting a little crazy. Going to post a link to Google Map in the first post soon.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

Unless there's objections I'm going to time skip ahead two hours. That should give the zombies time to move through Columbia a bit. Go ahead and make a post stating what your character has been up to for the last 2 hours. Unbeknownst to the characters things outside are getting a little crazy. Going to post a link to Google Map in the first post soon.

Fine by me.

[rogue_alchemist]

Whew what a time to be sick myself. I've had the 48 hour bug (with my kids getting it too). I will try to read IC and get any posting I need done before the skip, but if I miss it, no problem.