Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
GUMSHOE: Night's Black Agents - Tinker Tailor Vampire Die
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="writernextdoor" data-source="post: 5883861" data-attributes="member: 6689303"><p>The Aruba Connection, also called "Crossing The ArubaCon"</p><p></p><p>[Mechanics are in braces]</p><p>((GM Comments are in double parentheses))</p><p></p><p>The Team For This Episode</p><p>--------------------------</p><p>Mace Hunter</p><p>Desdemona</p><p>Rossini</p><p>Father John Iago ((brand new character, testing out a new Pool I'm calling "Faith"))</p><p></p><p>(([Faith, will, if this works, operate similar to Stability, and in the face of the Damned may act as a floating spend-pool to draw upon to turn back the tide of evil. To reduce the mechanical advantage I passed 2 House Rules:</p><p></p><p>1. Faith will be called upon only in direct confrontation with evil or its consequences - you can't just summon it up when you're in line at the post office</p><p>2. Usages of Faith have to be completely acted out, with full descriptions.]))</p><p></p><p>Desdemona met Father John before he was Father John, when he was pro-golfer John Iago, who was a very strong twelfth-ranked golfer in the world, making a good push for the top ten. However, their love affair ((which I have players trying to produce as a web-comic)) wrecked his swing ((Desdemona was more interested in his....putter)) and he left the circuit to pursue her. He found Faith along the way.</p><p></p><p>For months now The Man had been telling Mace that a lot of Conspiracy activity was coming through tourist destinations [CORE CLUE], playing a sort of loose three-card monte game with resort properties. Mace did some digging [2 point Research spend] and found the following. </p><p></p><p>((The following are ALL [CORE CLUES]))</p><p></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">A condo company called Absalom Properties has offered vacations to newlyweds and parents of children born in the last year.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Six couples who took the offer all disappeared within months of each other (first one adult, then the other), and within weeks of taking this vacation.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The children, all under 2 years of age, were sent into foster care programs, and were all adopted within 30 days, a statistical improbability.</li> </ol><p>The court records are all sealed and Mace did not have the immediate resources to dig deeper, but he could assign a Cloud Agent to the task. Sifting through dossiers, he selected Ezra Corvus, a Czech data analyst (with combat experience, in case field work was needed). Ezra would get briefed shortly ((Look for that update soon)).</p><p></p><p></p><p>But Absalom Properties was offering another vacation package, this time in Aruba, and Mace needed [Drive - Atonement] to stop this from happening again. But he didn't fit the profile, and since he had already been captured, he reasoned it was likely he'd get spotted. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Other agents would have to be put into play. Desdemona was an obvious choice. She'd want to work with Nick, but Nick was unavailable, and as much as he regretted it, Rossini was a better choice. He had Contacts in the area and more familiarity with escapes if things got dicey.</p><p></p><p></p><p>So with a quick bit of work [2 point Forgery and 2 point Digital Intrusion spends], Desdemona and Rossini became Mr and Mrs Julia and Oscar Wild, an engaged couple, looking to get married in Absalom's newest package "The Isle Getaway Extravaganza" -- all he needed was a priest.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The coincidence was delicious. Desdemona would run smack into her past AND help him out along the way. Perfect.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Father John greeted them at the airport, and Rossini even offered to drive so the good Father and Desdemona could talk.</p><p></p><p></p><p>It's hard to talk when Rossini drives. Either because the man is deranged and experiences paranoid delusions or because he's the absolute best driver when you need to get away from a tail. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>No one was sure which was the case as they left the airport, but [4 point Driving Spend] Rossini shook 2 tails on the way over to the resort. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Mace, thanks to a phone call to Margie [3 point Network spend], could spend the entire episode on a yacht, suntanning and tracking the field work. Oh, and getting to know Margie. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Father John was equal parts happy and angry with Desdemona, and she was equal parts shocked he remembered her and shocked that she still had feelings for him. At the condo, after an intense discussion ((I should point out that the players BOTH INSISTED on acting it out, even though both players were male and not dating each other)), Desdemona gave Father John the hard news....</p><p></p><p></p><p>((I prepared for a very cagey, slightly comedic lie, but Desdemona's player didn't))</p><p></p><p></p><p>"John, there's something bigger than the both of us going on here. You're a member of the Church now, surely you've heard about it. What's the worst case scenario they prepared for in Seminary? Now the truth is a thousand times worse."</p><p></p><p></p><p>And that's how Father John was told about the Conspiracy. And after a quick phone call to the yacht, how he was quickly brought in as a temporary Agent. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Absalom Properties arranged for a wedding out by one of the resort pools, under a moonlit sky and candle light. The agenda called for everything to happen on Night 2, meaning the team had time to prepare. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>((This is a full list of what they did))</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Father John dropped a clear lucite rosary into the pool, and blessed it [2 point Faith spend, 1 point Preparedness spend] "I consecrate this pool, that it might be a liquid vessel for His greatness and allow us security against what's coming."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rossini faxed bogus invitations / encoded messages to Mace [1 point Cryptography spend]</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Desdemona bought a dress and stitched a pocket into it, putting a small vial of holy water inside. [1 point Preparedness spend -- because I couldn't think of what else to call it))]</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Father John rigged the windows and doorways in the condo with silver bells and crosses [2 point Faith spend] "Beyond this threshold, let only His Grace and Goodness enter, all else be repelled."</li> </ul><p>All through Night 1, the team stayed indoors, communicating only with Mace on the yacht. They ordered Room Service and waited for problems to happen.</p><p></p><p></p><p>((It occurs to me now that I could have poisoned the food or rigged the cart to blow up or something, but this was just....an NPC with food))</p><p></p><p></p><p>The first problem was around 3am, when Rossini heard something scratching at the condo's patio door. The patio was on the second floor, and overlooked a sheer cliff to the ocean. He threw on the light and found two dozen rats scampering around the patio, and going up the walls. They didn't enter, just roamed the perimeter. Testing it. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The second problem came at 9am, when Desdemona opened the door to pick up her wedding dress, and the hotel attendant tried to claw out her eyes. A Renfield, a bloodmonkey, a human on their way to Corruption. Father John kept the girl in an ice bath for most of Day 2 before realizing there was no saving her. Rossini put a bullet in her and dumped her off the patio just before sunset. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Night 2 came and the wedding began. Desdemona looked great in her dress, Rossini looked...decent in a tux jacket and shorts. But he also had a holster with two machine pistols ready to go. And Father John stuffed a flashbang into his pocket. [2 points Preparedness] </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>To put it mildly, this was a trap. It was a private ceremony, with several guests of the resort coming out to welcome the new wedding. But it didn't take a genius or even a lot of [Sense Trouble] to realize that for a beach resort, these guests were not tan. At all. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The odds were not in the agents' favor - 2 trained Agents and 1 Priest against 2 dozen Vamps? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>((The players at this point began talking of replacement characters))</p><p></p><p></p><p>But Faith is a tricky thing. And just before the first invoking prayer, the attack came. And Father John might as well have been called "Wall John" because Faith kept the creatures back.</p><p></p><p></p><p>(([I treated this as a roll-off, and ticked off the difference in points against John's Faith pool, treating this more like a force field or barrier.]))</p><p></p><p></p><p>And when his Faith waivered in a moment of exhaustion, John pulled one of the creatures into the pool.</p><p></p><p></p><p>The blessed pool. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>And then Desdemona and Rossini jumped in, making huge splashes. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>From within the center of the pool, they destroyed two-thirds of the "wedding". A few of the more crafty ones realized they couldn't stay in the pool forever.</p><p></p><p></p><p>((The scene is written here as it was delivered))</p><p></p><p></p><p>Vamp: Poor mortals. Are you going to live there? You have to come out some time, and when you do --</p><p>Father John: I pray for our souls, and offer the creature a chance to repent --</p><p></p><p>Rossini: I empty the machine pistol into the Vamp. I'll spend [4 points in Shooting]. </p><p>Father John looks at him, in disbelief. </p><p></p><p>Desdemona: If he runs out of bullets, I'll lay down more fire after him [3 points of Shooting worth].</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It got messy, Eventually, the Agents outnumbered the Vamps and they could make it back to the Condo for round 2 of the fight. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>((Which didn't happen, because the egg timer on the table buzzed, meaning it was sunrise)).</p><p></p><p></p><p>The sun did a far better cleaning up the scene than the Agents ever could. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The agents met Mace on the beach for breakfast and Father John was inducted in as a full-time Agent.</p><p></p><p></p><p>((In our next thrilling episode, learn about what happened to Nick....))</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="writernextdoor, post: 5883861, member: 6689303"] The Aruba Connection, also called "Crossing The ArubaCon" [Mechanics are in braces] ((GM Comments are in double parentheses)) The Team For This Episode -------------------------- Mace Hunter Desdemona Rossini Father John Iago ((brand new character, testing out a new Pool I'm calling "Faith")) (([Faith, will, if this works, operate similar to Stability, and in the face of the Damned may act as a floating spend-pool to draw upon to turn back the tide of evil. To reduce the mechanical advantage I passed 2 House Rules: 1. Faith will be called upon only in direct confrontation with evil or its consequences - you can't just summon it up when you're in line at the post office 2. Usages of Faith have to be completely acted out, with full descriptions.])) Desdemona met Father John before he was Father John, when he was pro-golfer John Iago, who was a very strong twelfth-ranked golfer in the world, making a good push for the top ten. However, their love affair ((which I have players trying to produce as a web-comic)) wrecked his swing ((Desdemona was more interested in his....putter)) and he left the circuit to pursue her. He found Faith along the way. For months now The Man had been telling Mace that a lot of Conspiracy activity was coming through tourist destinations [CORE CLUE], playing a sort of loose three-card monte game with resort properties. Mace did some digging [2 point Research spend] and found the following. ((The following are ALL [CORE CLUES])) [LIST=1] [*]A condo company called Absalom Properties has offered vacations to newlyweds and parents of children born in the last year. [*]Six couples who took the offer all disappeared within months of each other (first one adult, then the other), and within weeks of taking this vacation. [*]The children, all under 2 years of age, were sent into foster care programs, and were all adopted within 30 days, a statistical improbability. [/LIST] The court records are all sealed and Mace did not have the immediate resources to dig deeper, but he could assign a Cloud Agent to the task. Sifting through dossiers, he selected Ezra Corvus, a Czech data analyst (with combat experience, in case field work was needed). Ezra would get briefed shortly ((Look for that update soon)). But Absalom Properties was offering another vacation package, this time in Aruba, and Mace needed [Drive - Atonement] to stop this from happening again. But he didn't fit the profile, and since he had already been captured, he reasoned it was likely he'd get spotted. Other agents would have to be put into play. Desdemona was an obvious choice. She'd want to work with Nick, but Nick was unavailable, and as much as he regretted it, Rossini was a better choice. He had Contacts in the area and more familiarity with escapes if things got dicey. So with a quick bit of work [2 point Forgery and 2 point Digital Intrusion spends], Desdemona and Rossini became Mr and Mrs Julia and Oscar Wild, an engaged couple, looking to get married in Absalom's newest package "The Isle Getaway Extravaganza" -- all he needed was a priest. The coincidence was delicious. Desdemona would run smack into her past AND help him out along the way. Perfect. Father John greeted them at the airport, and Rossini even offered to drive so the good Father and Desdemona could talk. It's hard to talk when Rossini drives. Either because the man is deranged and experiences paranoid delusions or because he's the absolute best driver when you need to get away from a tail. No one was sure which was the case as they left the airport, but [4 point Driving Spend] Rossini shook 2 tails on the way over to the resort. Mace, thanks to a phone call to Margie [3 point Network spend], could spend the entire episode on a yacht, suntanning and tracking the field work. Oh, and getting to know Margie. Father John was equal parts happy and angry with Desdemona, and she was equal parts shocked he remembered her and shocked that she still had feelings for him. At the condo, after an intense discussion ((I should point out that the players BOTH INSISTED on acting it out, even though both players were male and not dating each other)), Desdemona gave Father John the hard news.... ((I prepared for a very cagey, slightly comedic lie, but Desdemona's player didn't)) "John, there's something bigger than the both of us going on here. You're a member of the Church now, surely you've heard about it. What's the worst case scenario they prepared for in Seminary? Now the truth is a thousand times worse." And that's how Father John was told about the Conspiracy. And after a quick phone call to the yacht, how he was quickly brought in as a temporary Agent. Absalom Properties arranged for a wedding out by one of the resort pools, under a moonlit sky and candle light. The agenda called for everything to happen on Night 2, meaning the team had time to prepare. ((This is a full list of what they did)) [LIST] [*]Father John dropped a clear lucite rosary into the pool, and blessed it [2 point Faith spend, 1 point Preparedness spend] "I consecrate this pool, that it might be a liquid vessel for His greatness and allow us security against what's coming." [*]Rossini faxed bogus invitations / encoded messages to Mace [1 point Cryptography spend] [*]Desdemona bought a dress and stitched a pocket into it, putting a small vial of holy water inside. [1 point Preparedness spend -- because I couldn't think of what else to call it))] [*]Father John rigged the windows and doorways in the condo with silver bells and crosses [2 point Faith spend] "Beyond this threshold, let only His Grace and Goodness enter, all else be repelled." [/LIST] All through Night 1, the team stayed indoors, communicating only with Mace on the yacht. They ordered Room Service and waited for problems to happen. ((It occurs to me now that I could have poisoned the food or rigged the cart to blow up or something, but this was just....an NPC with food)) The first problem was around 3am, when Rossini heard something scratching at the condo's patio door. The patio was on the second floor, and overlooked a sheer cliff to the ocean. He threw on the light and found two dozen rats scampering around the patio, and going up the walls. They didn't enter, just roamed the perimeter. Testing it. The second problem came at 9am, when Desdemona opened the door to pick up her wedding dress, and the hotel attendant tried to claw out her eyes. A Renfield, a bloodmonkey, a human on their way to Corruption. Father John kept the girl in an ice bath for most of Day 2 before realizing there was no saving her. Rossini put a bullet in her and dumped her off the patio just before sunset. Night 2 came and the wedding began. Desdemona looked great in her dress, Rossini looked...decent in a tux jacket and shorts. But he also had a holster with two machine pistols ready to go. And Father John stuffed a flashbang into his pocket. [2 points Preparedness] To put it mildly, this was a trap. It was a private ceremony, with several guests of the resort coming out to welcome the new wedding. But it didn't take a genius or even a lot of [Sense Trouble] to realize that for a beach resort, these guests were not tan. At all. The odds were not in the agents' favor - 2 trained Agents and 1 Priest against 2 dozen Vamps? ((The players at this point began talking of replacement characters)) But Faith is a tricky thing. And just before the first invoking prayer, the attack came. And Father John might as well have been called "Wall John" because Faith kept the creatures back. (([I treated this as a roll-off, and ticked off the difference in points against John's Faith pool, treating this more like a force field or barrier.])) And when his Faith waivered in a moment of exhaustion, John pulled one of the creatures into the pool. The blessed pool. And then Desdemona and Rossini jumped in, making huge splashes. From within the center of the pool, they destroyed two-thirds of the "wedding". A few of the more crafty ones realized they couldn't stay in the pool forever. ((The scene is written here as it was delivered)) Vamp: Poor mortals. Are you going to live there? You have to come out some time, and when you do -- Father John: I pray for our souls, and offer the creature a chance to repent -- Rossini: I empty the machine pistol into the Vamp. I'll spend [4 points in Shooting]. Father John looks at him, in disbelief. Desdemona: If he runs out of bullets, I'll lay down more fire after him [3 points of Shooting worth]. It got messy, Eventually, the Agents outnumbered the Vamps and they could make it back to the Condo for round 2 of the fight. ((Which didn't happen, because the egg timer on the table buzzed, meaning it was sunrise)). The sun did a far better cleaning up the scene than the Agents ever could. The agents met Mace on the beach for breakfast and Father John was inducted in as a full-time Agent. ((In our next thrilling episode, learn about what happened to Nick....)) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
GUMSHOE: Night's Black Agents - Tinker Tailor Vampire Die
Top