[color=red]Case Files of Section 44 Episode 102: Another Fine Mess
It's year to the day since I started canvassing for players for the last one. Time for another.
A Feng Shui campaignette for up to 4 players.
Posting rate whenever we can manage- I can check at least once a day (late morning UK time, usually) and that'll be a good baseline speed. We'll see what kind of turnover we manage once we're underway. If a player doesn't post for a while, I'll handwave them off-screen until they get back- I can do it with more finesse if a player knows they'll be away for a while and lets me know. For critical situations I'll wait for all players to respond, for by-the-by checks and questions I might respond as soon as I can to help keep things moving.
Combat will be 'sequence-at-once'- I'll announce a combat sequence with a description of how things stand at the start of the sequence. The players send me a PM with their intentions for that sequence (covering who they will attack, any stunts they'll try, how they'll use schticks and against what they'll active dodge). I then process the combat sequence and post what happens. I'll post a couple of examples of instructions after this.
Combat dice rolling I'll do myself, checks in non-combat you can do yourselves and post the Action Result in brackets.
Advancement will be minimal- I'll award an XP bonanza at the end of the story arc, but that will only be relevant if I run a sequel campaignette.
To help keep rolling simple, Fortune dice will work differently from table-top. When you spend a Fortune die on an action, you are guaranteed at least a marginal success.
For more information, look at the thread for the last campaignette.
In 2007 Hong Kong, there is one final line of defence against the weird and the horrific. That is Section 44. Whenever a case gets too strange or too creepy for the regular police, it gets kicked to the scant half-dozen members of that elite organisation. They track down the source of the problem and eliminate it with extreme prejudice.
Characters must be contemporary juncture, but beyond that anything goes. I have all the sourcebooks, and just about anything found in them I'll let pass. Characters should have a Police skill (unless they are in a support role, like forensics or something).
The campaign will encompass one case they tackle. The tone will (with any luck) be a little like CSI or Law and Order, or any of those true crime things like FBI Files that we get late night on Channel 5 over here in blighty. Unlike most police procedurals, though, events will erupt into high octane action. For the record, the events are in the canonical Feng Shui Secret War, although the emphasis will not be on the secret war itself.
Known agents include:
Superintendent Richardson - overall head of 44 and retired field agent
Inspector Ni Ming Shi- technical guru and field agent
Inspector Ken Huang- haunted in-your-face cop, field agent.
Inspector Arthur Lee- jobbing sorcerer and field agent.
Probationary Inspector Nic Bennet- paranormal investigator and field agent.
Previous players are welcome to play again, as are any new players. Post in this thread or PM me if you're interested.
If there's still spaces available, I'm enthusiastic about playing. What do you need from me with regard character creation - just an archetype and some baseline schticks + a bit of background?
Feel free to draw up a character completely if you want- all that's needed from a background perspective is what role your character fulfils in Section 44. Some type that's either a already a Cop or can justifiably be one should be perfect.
Probably best to be baseline to start with, but if you desperately want something extra I'm amenable to you trading something away for it. Number of weapons can be easily adjusted a little, as long as you don't go too overboard.
Cool! Looks like Inspector Huang is going to be back in business.
Not sure how much XP that Huang got following the first major case, but if he has enough (which I kinda doubt), I'd like to spend some points on Intrusion or Police, up his Martial Arts score a bit, or get the guy another Gun Schtick such as Eagle Eye, 10,000 Bullets or Hair Trigger Neck Hairs.
I'm prepared to run for even 1 player, so it looks like we're in business in any event.
I'm happy to dump 15XP on Huang, which should be enough for a schtick or skill increase. Feel free to make any 'buyer's remorse' changes to him you want to, if there was anything you didn't like about him last campaign.
"So officer [sniff] you see it is clear from the juxtaposition of the two corpses that in fact the cadaverous horned entity on the left could not POSSIBLY have come through the open window, but instead MUST have appeared at this point here. Perhaps through some form of transdimensional portal [sniff, sniff]. But of course I'm sure you had worked that out for yourself, given the position of the powder stains, and the upward pattern of the blood spatter."
"What is that officer [sniff]? A tentacled WHAT has just burst through the wall behind me? Why, whatever next. I suppose then a brisk pumping motion to bring the cartridge home into the chamber. . . and. . . allow for the whirlwind of demonic gasses emanating from the Other Side. . . adjust for room temperature. . . and. . ." BLAM! "You see officer, the blood spatter - EXACTLY as I described - why even a kindergarten child would be able to tell the first cadaverous entity must have come through the WALL not the window."
"What's that? Oh, not at all officer, all part of the service we lab-rats like to give you boys on the beat. I only brought the shotgun along to test my hypothesis about 'unique patternings of viscera when investigating otherworld entities' - writing a paper on it, don't ya know. Anyway, won't catch me walking the streets of Hong Kong on a rainy evening, FAR too dangerous - fine fellows you beat cops. No no, give me a warm microscope and a cup of cocoa any day. . ."
Melodramatic Hook: Inspector Huang was dragooned into Section 44 following the disastrous end of his last case for the HKPD, when his entire team, including Sun Meiying, a female partner who he had an unspoken love for, was ripped apart by a bloodthirsty demon. Huang's still rather bitter about his reassignment, which to him was only a step up from being fired outright, and his failure to protect Meiying and his other comrades still haunts him. And every ounce of him wants to make that demon pay for it all, along with the bastard who summoned it in the first place.
Attributes: Bod 7, Chi 0, Mnd 5 (Cha 7), Ref 8 Skills: Driving 15, Guns 14, Intimidation 10, Martial Arts 10, Police 8 Gun Schticks: Carnival of Carnage x2, Eagle Eye, Hair Trigger Neck Hairs, Signature Weapon (The Persuader)
Weapons: The Persuader - Signature Mossberg Special Purpose (16/5/9), Two Beretta 92-FS Pistols (10/2/15+1)
Wealth Level: Working Stiff
PLAYER'S NOTE: As you can probably see, I used 13 of the 15 points to give Inspector Huang the Hair Trigger Neck Hairs schtick, then dropped Both Guns Blazing in favor of Carnival of Carnage and Eagle Eye. Huang is not going to be blasting up named bad guys as effectively with the dual Berettas (he only used the schtick on one major named bad guy as it is), but his mookination skills have received an upgrade, and he's got the boomstick for the named guys besides.
Hi all, having just confirmed my character with Queex, I thought it best to introduce to you the team's loose cannon - Debbie Moore - a somewhat trigger happy rookie who likes to shoot first, shoot again, blow something up and then ask questions to the charred remains...
Debbie Moore
"Dallas Rocket" - Excitable rookie cop Attributes
Bod 7, Chi 0 (For 5), Mind 8, Ref 6 Skills:
Intrusion 10, Martial Arts 10, Deceit 13, Info/Section 44 13, Info/Colonial HK 13, Driving 13, Guns 13, Sabotage 10, Police 11, Info/HK Sewer Network 10 Schticks:
Signature Weapon: Charlie (Automag IV), Shoot Weapon, Lightning Reload, Death-O-Rama
Queex - just a quickie - a friend of mine called Sam is attempting to sign up to the forum, to participate in you PBM game. He's been having trouble signing up, and so asked me to send you a message that he's attempting to join and could you count him in? Sam was our FS GM for a fair while last year, and if you could reserve him a seat at the table he'll be signed up in a day or three.
Death-o-Rama features in Gorilla Warfare- it's a unique schtick for the Dallas Rocket archetype.
I currently have 5 players, not counting Sam. I was prepared to have one extra, but I don't really want two. If there's anyone whpo's expressed an interest who's interest is luke-warm, now is the time to bow out gracefully. The last campaign I ran here lasted about eight months.
Alternatively, if the existing players feel like chipping in with 'Don't be such a meanie! Let him in! We can cope!' then I'll reconsider.
Hoooo boy...if Huang thought Ming was a loose cannon in the first episode, he's really going to have his hands full with Debbie.
I'm also kinda curious as to what the Death-O-Rama schtick generally entails, since I don't have Gorilla Warfare.
As for an extra player, one of the reasons I generally like smaller casts in PbP games is that the game itself tends to go faster on the boards, especially when fights go down. Four in my mind is plenty for a PbP Feng Shui game, though I've been in six-person Wushu games before (though Wushu tends to go faster than Feng Shui).
In any case, it looks like Huang's going to have some new rookies to break in.
