NC GAME DAY II (Aug 23): Man, was that fun or what?!

[Rel]

Okay, I'm back from Cinelli's. I didn't eat there but I checked the place out and here's what I have to report:

As far as layout goes, the place is close to perfect. Plenty of seating, especially outside, both under a canopy and out on the sidewalk. The food looks mouthwateringly good. It is definately the sort of place I would take my wife if I was feeling affectionate (or if I wanted HER to feel affectionate ).

However, it is not the sort of place that I think would be best for our Friday night gathering. First off, it's damn expensive. Their dinner menu had nothing on it less than $14 short of a house salad or bowl of soup. It also doesn't strike me as the sort of place where folks will feel comfortable hanging out over a couple of cold drinks and maybe an appetizer or two for a few hours. It seems more like the kind of place they would want you to get in, get fed, go home and free up the table.

As we are only a couple days away from the event, the need for some sort of quick decision on this is clear. So I propose we do one of the following:

Get together at the shopping center at the corner of Six Forks Road and Lassiter Mill Road. This place has a Starbucks Coffee if that's your thing. There's a burger joint there called Pharoahs (open till 9) that makes good burgers, fries, hot dogs and a mean chicken salad sandwich. Panera's bakery is also around the corner. There's something for almost everyone. The only potential drawbacks are that all the seating is outdoors so if it is bloody awful hot or we get a terrible thunderstorm, it might not be the best place to be, and there is no alcohol to be had there (I don't regard this as that big a deal but felt it worth mentioning).

OR

The Applebees at Six Forks and Wake Forest Road. This is pretty much a known quantity so I won't belabor the point. There is a broad range of food that is good in that well known Applebeesesque sort of way, for a decent range of prices. There is beer and other adult beverages if that's your thing. And of course that most wonderous of foods: Chicken Fried Steak.

OR

We could also abort back to Cinelli's in Cary. (as per Henry's suggestion) The big advantage there is that they serve pizza (the Raleigh location only has it at lunch) and, from the look of things, the price per person would be much lower that way.

What say ye?

I'll make a final call on this by Thursday night so folks can check the thread Friday morning and know for sure where we're meeting up.

 

[Henry]

I'll throw a final stab in there:

We could also abort back to Cinelli's in Cary. After all, the main reason we planned there was just to shave 20 minutes off my drive time. That's no biggie, and since I'm stopping by Rel's place beforehand anyway, Cary is just as close to me as it is for him.

If Cinelli's-Cary is not a good choice for any reason OTHER than my drive time, I'm cool with the Applebee's.

 

[Rel]

We could also abort back to Cinelli's in Cary. After all, the main reason we planned there was just to shave 20 minutes off my drive time. That's no biggie, and since I'm stopping by Rel's place beforehand anyway, Cary is just as close to me as it is for him.

I edited that option into my post above, Henry.

 

[Jeph]

Right! No one's signed up to play Briwars (and I won't have time to stat units up is someone signs up now), so there will be a slight change of plans: In the morning slot, I will run a game for walk-ins (and anyone who might like to sign up now) using a very simple system based upon Risus and The Pool. The setting will be hard sci-fi post apoc kung fu commie hunting, and otherwise mostly open to player interpretation. I'm going to be using some awesome chinese dice purchased from Andy Kitowski for extra coolness. A bit more background:

The System
This is the resolution engine that I shall use:

---=Characters=---
Character creation is simple. First, mark down two points of Bonus. Then, divide 5 points among Archetypes, none of which can be rated above 3. Archetypes can be almost anything, from Fighter Pilot to Ex-Red Guard to Latent Psychic. However, the GM (I) should clear all archetypes--you won't get away with "badmofo" (unless you narrow down the meaning).

---=Simple Resolution=---
First, describe your action, and then state what Archetype (if any) you will be using and if youwill be spending any Bonus. Then, based upon your description and how difficult the task is, the GM will hand up to three dice. Pick up extra dice equal to the number of Bonus points spent plus the rating of your Archetype, and roll away. If you get at least one 6 (the one that looks like an acrobatic midget), you succeed. More sixes means a better success. If you were going up against another character, the one with the most 6s succeeds.

---=Dramatic Resolution=---
This method is used for important character-against-character conflicts only, such as combat, struggling at the edge of a precipice, trials, etc. Go around the table from player to player. Everyone states what their character does, what archetype they are using, and how much Bonus they are spending. Then, the GM hands everyone up to 3 bonus dice and everyone rolls, as in Simple Resolution. Now's the fun part: each player may choose one character who rolled fewer 6s than them, and that target gains a point of Malus against the Archetype that they used this round. If the target used no Archetype, they gain a point of General Malus.

Whenever a character uses an Archetype that they have Malus against, they lose dice equal to the amount of Malus accumulated against that score. If you attempt an action with no Archetype and have General Malus, you are docked dice for that. In simple resolution, any roll made with zero dice automatically fails. In dramatic resolution, any character who rolls zero dice in a round is out of the going.

---=Bonus and Malus=---
Bonus can be spent for extra dice on a one for one basis, and is Good. Malus hurts, and is Bad. The GM will give out extra Bonus points when he likes what the characters do, be that fulfiling in character goals, awesome martial arts stunts, or bringing munchies--whatever. Likewise, Malus goes away at the GM's whim. For instance, if you lost a big law case, you might have all but one point of Malus vanish at the end of the scene, the remaining penalty representing a damaged reputation. Wounds from a grenade might stay for weeks, while a bruising might vanish when the scene changes. Things like that.

The Setting
As I said, hard scifi post apoc kung fu commie hunting. A bit more detail on that is most likely at hand:

---=Earth=---
Earth is, to be blunt, a dump. It was wasted in WWIII back in 2250, most of the 'western world' becoming a radioactiv dump. Now unly parts of Asia, Africa, and Australia are habitable, but thanks to the Red Earth Faction are in almost total Anarchy. In fact, the only semblance of govornment is the Australian Accord, a lose network of "police" and informants in norhtern Austrailia, the Phillipines, and a tiny corner of Asia. The Accord has no real power, but does have connections. It is govorned by a set of triplets, Walter, Amy, and Gabriel Wallace. Earth has three functioning space ports, one of which is under the cntrol of the Australian Accord. The other two are in South Africa and are controlled by one militia band or other, depending on the time of day. Earth has about 3 billion surviving inhabitants.

---=The Moon=---
The Moon is dotted with large city states, together supporting almost a billion citizens. The two largest are Luna Prime, the original colony, and New Washington, the only settlement with a sizeable military. Both are "bubble cities," but New Washington bosts the more interesting design, consisting of masses of smaller bubbles clumped together spreading across the landscape and reaching up into space. This is the result of overpopulation that does not effect Luna, as the first city's dome was created to be large enough to handle a huge amount of expansion, and is still mostly empty. The extra space has been turned into a massive mid-atlantic style forrest. Luna is govorned by the Council of Friends, consisting of the Friend of the People (who represents the citizens), the Friend of Merchants (who handles trade), and the Friend of Others (who handles dealings with the Red Earth Faction and Australian Accord). each serves a 3 year term, and their elections are set up so that one Friend is replaced each year. New Washington is govorned by the only AI to survive the REF's strikes, and is known only as "The President".


---=Mars=---
This is where we get the Commies and Kung Fu from. Mars is govorned by the Red Earth Faction, a communist socialist govornment whose name represents both extreme anti-Earth sentiment and the desire to make Mars the new center of humanity (which they have succeeded at). Mars has been terriformed for almost two centuries, but the poor upkeep of the REF has lead to spreading deserts in the last few decades.

The Faction is most definitely martially inclined. Their capitol city, the Tur d'Angeli, is a gigantic pillar of steel more than a mile across and two miles high, housing millions of factory workers, engineers, and soldiers. Around the tower is a sprawling military complex of mines, refineries, and shipyards, and the tower it's self is riddled with electromagnetic monorails. At the very center is the Chapel of the Red Guard, and elit unit of red-robed warriors loyal to the REF to the last. the Red Guard use a special form of mental conditioning to obtain a 'perfect martial art,' a mathematical process that allows them to calculate the best possible movements and actions in combat. They fight with a weapon known as the Neofoil, a three meter (!) length of needle thin metal that vbibrates at a high frequency, composed of an ultrahard alloy whose secret is closely guarded. At the bottom of 230 cm of blade is a one and two-thirds foot rubber and steel haft that contains the activation switch, a power source, and grips. When the enemy is out of reach, they employ light, all-plastic airguns that fire explosive rounds.

The Red Earth Faction, now about a century old, is responsible for the final destruction of Earth's government. In 2435 they carried out their plan to forcedly relocate civilization, descending upon the weak African nations, destroying their infrastructure, and abducting their children. From there they spread to the rest of the populated world and, when they were satisfied with their work, left. Now, fifty years later, there are few living who remember the old Earth with any accuracy, and they are quickly dying off (often aided by the Faction in their passing). Now, the Faction rules the largest human popluation base of four billion with an iron fist. The Red Earth Faction's govornment is divided into three parts: The Department of Geographical Affairs for maintaining the terraformation, the Department of Citizenry for (poorly) catering to the needs of the people, and the Department of Expansion for the military. The DoE is about twice as large as the other two sections combined, and, while no one officially has total control over the Faction, Department of Expansion Chairman Zakai Segel might as well.

---=Technology=---
In the way of transportation, modern space craft can reach the phenomenal speed of one Astronomical Unit every three hours. However, the fuel that this requires takes up a great amount of space, making trips of more than twice the distnce between the Earth and Mars impractical. The lunar and martian cities tend to make use of high speed electromagnetic monorails. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are used for venturing outside the lunar domes and away from the hivelike martian cities, and are the choice transportation on Earth.

Weapons: The most common kind of weapon to be found will be an electromagnetic railgun that fires highspeed streams of depleted uranium. The gun comes in various shapes, sizes, and brands; with varius sensor packages, rates of fire, and magazine sizes. Of course, knives are still popular (they always will be), but now often come with a switch that makes the blade vibrate at high frequency. One can also buy swords of this fashion, but they are usually quite impractical: kinves are subtle, guns have range, swords don't really fit either description. But they do look awesome, and that's always a plus. And hey, if you can knock off one of the Red Guard, there's always a Neofoil...

Feel of Play
Action, action, and more action, with a bit of martial arts, gunplay, and dogfighting thrown in. By the time the session's over, I don't want the Tur d'Angeli to have an inch not scored by Neofoil slashes and pocked with railgun ammo.

twa-dah! Anyone whose interested let me know. I will provide a few sheets (containing places for stats, illustration/description, and the full rules) as well as 15 dice marked in chinese.

--Jeff

 

[Shemeska]

*GRIN* I'm very much looking forwards to this.

*continues to stat up stuff and get everything 'just so'*

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

Just spoke with the awesome Talley staff about an hour ago, and we've got the green light on room setup. Three 8 foot x 2 1/2 tables and one mega 8 foot x 5 foot table for large setups. Now, back to working on the adventure...

Matt

 

[Lola]

I can go with either Applebee's or the Cary Cinelli's. I eat at Paneras pretty often, and Pharoah's is good but not really great, not to mention the possible rain in the forecast.

 

[Jon Potter]

Like Lola, either Applebee's or the Cinelli's is fine by me. The Applebee's is probably easier for me since I live north of 540, but if Cinelli's is right off I-40, that's really no sweat either and I'm willing to go with either one the group decides.

I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[Shemeska]

Applebees is fine, I've been there enough. Never been to Cinellis however. Now if nobody minds, remind me, is the dinner location for Friday night or Saturday evening. And regardless of date, what time are we looking at. I'll be driving from Greensboro so I'll need to plan accordingly or I'll get snarled in traffic between here and Durham.

 

[Rel]

I'm really glad to see everyone is getting as excited as I am. A few salient points:

I'll try and do a drive by on the Cinelli's in Cary tomorrow afternoon to guage the suitability. Regardless of whether we go there or Applebee's, I'm looking at getting there around 8:00 PM on Friday (FYI, Shemeska). A late dinner on Saturday is also in the offing and that one is pretty firm at 9:00ish at the Rock-ola Cafe on Avent Ferry Road, just across from NC State campus where we'll be all day. (My wife is jealous that I'm getting to eat out twice in one weekend so I'll probably be taking her to Cinelli's in the near future ).

I'm glad to hear that we'll have room for four tables. My id was screaming at me to call "dibs" on the big table but my game is the smallest of the three planned games for the morning slot, so I'll let somebody else have it. I sure would like to swing a "double wide" table like I used at the last game day, but I'll manage with whatever is available.

Code Monkey, is there any chance we can get our hands on some of those smaller, square tables like were in the Walnut room last time? They're not really big enough for gaming per se, but they make good surfaces to put GM crap on and give the players some added space to put their character sheets and dice on the main table. Now that I think about it, if we don't have any assurances that we can grab a few of those, I'll toss my set of wooden TV trays in the truck and we can use those if we need to. If anybody has an extra fold-up card table they want to bring, that couldn't hurt either.

But, like I said, I'm excited. I'll play sitting on the floor if I have to.