Night's Black Agents immerses players in a shadowy world of espionage and supernatural horror where burned spies face off against vampires. In this episode of RPX Rollup we rollup elite operatives equipped with ‘a very particular set of skills’ and the misfortune to learn about a vampire conspiracy. So go grab a stake and firearm – you’ll need both where we’re going.
Track: "High Spy"
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00:00:05 --> 00:00:12 Music.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:18 Hello welcome to the role playing exchange we're doing another row up now this
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 game has got a little bit of age on it i say it's probably coming out coming
00:00:22 --> 00:00:27 on maybe 10 11 12 years old i never bothered look at the print date in the book
00:00:27 --> 00:00:31 i got here but we're going to be talking about Night's Black Agents,
00:00:31 --> 00:00:34 which is spies versus vampires.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 And joining me are my good friends.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:44 Well, hello. It's me, Chris. Long time no hearer. Indeed. I'm back, baby.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:49 Glad to have you. And I'm David. Somebody said Night's Black Agents,
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 and so I just immediately dusted off my bag of tricks.
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 Like, all right, there's teenagers around.
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 Now i will have you know that that is either
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 child soldiers or werewolf cubs one
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 of the two in which case the shooting will be
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 justified later so we've all
00:01:10 --> 00:01:15 played in one night's black agents game together which was on i think chris
00:01:15 --> 00:01:20 posted a crazon posted that on one last die that was the super serious game
00:01:20 --> 00:01:25 right yeah the super serious game where we were exercising the fact that Prezon
00:01:25 --> 00:01:29 and I and Brownie have read Twilight. I can't remember what it's called.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:35 Chuck's Angels. Chuck's Angels, thank you. Oh, God. So we played that game before.
00:01:35 --> 00:01:39 Chris, actually, you know, looking back, me and you played on a game that never
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 actually aired on RPX, but we attempted to get it to go.
00:01:43 --> 00:01:48 Our old castmate Noah actually ran a nice Black Asians game,
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 one of the published scenarios.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 I'm kind of thinking Dubai Reckoning.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 The Dubai Reckoning. That was fun. Mm-hmm.
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 Honestly, if I dig it up, I may just drop it for free out there.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 Well, obviously it's for free, but I may drop out the remainder of it.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 Just the game that never happened. And...
00:02:07 --> 00:02:14 David, I think you have played in with RPPR, I almost said RPX,
00:02:14 --> 00:02:21 darn these R's, but on RPPR, I know you did one, have you done two campaigns? Three, actually.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:28 The one that almost everybody knows about with such wonderful moments as Operation
00:02:28 --> 00:02:33 Black Dolphin, where Caleb showed us that there is no kill like Overkill.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:38 And if you're leaving Scorchmarks, you need a bigger gun.
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 Ooh, Tribes of Tokyo. Okay. And that was, yeah, Tribes of Tokyo.
00:02:43 --> 00:02:49 There was one that Ross ran that I forget the name of it, but it was Eco-Terrorists in Seattle.
00:02:49 --> 00:02:57 Okay. But another one that has been fondly, fondly etched into my memory is Thieves Code,
00:02:58 --> 00:03:04 which was where we played a group of thieves who were heisting an art museum
00:03:04 --> 00:03:12 in Arkansas that was totally not run by the owners of a massive conglomerate, you know, Sammy Saver.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:19 Oh, yes, the Waldrips. Oh, that French family, the Tarches?
00:03:19 --> 00:03:25 Yes, that would be them. Yes. And the fact that they put a massive art museum
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 at their home in Bentonville, Arkansas.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 And so we decided they must obviously be hiding something.
00:03:33 --> 00:03:39 And so we ended up with the Thieves Code, which saw us playing thieves breaking
00:03:39 --> 00:03:43 in and stealing more than we bargained for. Mm-hmm.
00:03:44 --> 00:03:48 Okay, I do remember listening to that one. All right, so Nice Black Agents is
00:03:48 --> 00:03:55 a pale green press game that is written by Kenneth Hite, and it's used in Robin
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 DeLaw's gumshoe system.
00:03:57 --> 00:04:02 The core premise is basically in the game of Nice Black Agents,
00:04:02 --> 00:04:06 you're playing either like highly skilled spies or ex-intelligent operatives
00:04:06 --> 00:04:11 or other, you know, professionals that uncover, oh my God, there's vampires.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 And it brings them into this conspiracy.
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 And I guess the game kind of revolves around you uncovering the truth,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 finding out this vast web of what's going on, and trying to keep this supernatural
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 at bay. You know what they say about spies, though.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 Yeah. Bunch of bitchy little girls.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:36 Yep, I'd never heard that, but okay. Oh, burn notice reference.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:40 Yeah, that is a Bruce Campbell line. Yeah.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:46 He has exactly one cover, and damn if he's not going to use it.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 Every time he needs an alias, it's always Chuck Finley.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:55 If you're looking for a nice, good, I would call it a brain candy kind of spy
00:04:55 --> 00:05:01 novel series, the Michael Weston books are absolutely great for that.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:05 It's basically a spy who gets cashiered out and stuck in Florida.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:10 And then the USA Network made a TV series about it called Bird Notice.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:16 Okay. So we're thinking like Jason Bourne versus vampires kind of thing like that.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 Now, what we kind of indirectly alluded to here, there's four different modes
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 of play within Game of Nights Black Asians.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 They are burn, dust, mirror, and stakes.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:35 So starting at the very top here, I guess it'd be burn. It's kind of gritty, realistic.
00:05:36 --> 00:05:42 I mean, a lot of paranoia, moral dilemmas. I'm trying to think of a better way to describe that.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 It's the Bourne identity of them.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:50 Okay. Less Bourne identity, I think it's more Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
00:05:51 --> 00:05:55 Because in Burn, you're very, very much killable.
00:05:55 --> 00:06:00 Whereas, compare that to Stakes. Because Jason Bourne is Jason Bourne,
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 and he's not going to be taken out by just some random person.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:07 He may get a little bit bloodied, but he's not going to be taken out.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 Stakes i would also put as that's where
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 james bond lives specifically the moore
00:06:13 --> 00:06:20 era bond because roger moore was famous for the knock the mook down and after
00:06:20 --> 00:06:26 the big long fight all he has to do is straighten his tie shift his jacket and
00:06:26 --> 00:06:31 then all of the dust of the fight falls off and not a hair out of place.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:39 Burn seems like you're not untouchable. You're going to be burning yourself
00:06:39 --> 00:06:40 down as you go through it.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:46 When you talk about spy fiction, it's usually the stale beer versus the martini spy fiction.
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 Yes. And it's kind of also a reference to burn.
00:06:50 --> 00:06:55 It's kind of like once your identity or what, as spies, if you keep going too long, you get burned.
00:06:55 --> 00:06:59 Either burn out or burned by the job, kind of thing like that. Yeah.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 Eventually, your legend dies. And by legend, we die.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Yeah and then i mean you gotta
00:07:06 --> 00:07:10 deal with hard moral choices realistic brutal
00:07:10 --> 00:07:15 combat i mean it's probably like you said it wasn't jason born as tinker taylor
00:07:15 --> 00:07:23 soldiers and i guess if you're that fragile then the vampire conspiracy is nigh
00:07:23 --> 00:07:28 unstoppable yeah that is the one where the game is fairly.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:30 Depowered.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:35 Dust is the very, very much depowered, because if you look at Dust,
00:07:36 --> 00:07:40 it's the default where it's a cinematic thriller, instead of trying to recreate
00:07:40 --> 00:07:45 the gritty, lo-fi espionage world of Anthony Price or Charles McCary.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:50 For that one, we remove the MOS rules, we remove the cherries for ratings of 8 or higher in general,
00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 cap health at 10, which makes the vampires extremely lethal,
00:07:55 --> 00:08:01 and restricts the thriller combat rules or eliminates them entirely,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 which is a good way to just...
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 What's that? Oh, he got shot with a gun. Oh, he died.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:14 It was a .22. He died. I like a brutal game every once in a while.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 Y'all know my love of unknown armies, but even I think Dust is a bit too much.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:27 Yes. Burn is a step up from Dust. And to be fair, Stakes is the...
00:08:28 --> 00:08:33 Stakes is the one where you are the least crunchy. And that's without getting into Mirror.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:41 Yeah. Mirror's kind of the backstab, betrayal, trust, shifting loyalties kind of thing, isn't it?
00:08:41 --> 00:08:47 Yes. The thing is that in Mirror, it's intended to be more of the modern era,
00:08:48 --> 00:08:49 present a wilderness of mirrors.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 A world of broken agendas and shifting allegiances.
00:08:53 --> 00:08:57 They threaten personal identity and self-knowledge, mirroring those threats
00:08:57 --> 00:09:01 to betrayal and contests between corrupt opponents where the protagonist must
00:09:01 --> 00:09:06 trust only his own moral sense, taken directly out of the market.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:14 And the thing is, with that, I would like to hold up some of the more recent,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 so bits of more recent media that definitely fall under Mirror,
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 if you don't mind me throwing this one out there.
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 Creature commandos which is dc
00:09:23 --> 00:09:27 animated we have seven
00:09:27 --> 00:09:33 episodes worth of trying to figure out who is actually the bad guy and by the
00:09:33 --> 00:09:40 end of the season we really don't know who is really the villain per se we just
00:09:40 --> 00:09:46 have some suspicions to go off of yeah and so that's the thing about mirror With Mirror,
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 it's, are we really fighting against the vampire or are we fighting against.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 Corporate corruption are we fighting against
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 greed is is the vampire
00:09:58 --> 00:10:03 really the enemy and i say vampire but i mean catch all for monsters for all
00:10:03 --> 00:10:09 we know it could be the it could be the woosalor of a wilderness spirit that
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 is hell-bent on destroying anything that is industrial is that really all that
00:10:14 --> 00:10:18 bad well it was going after the fracking operation Ooh.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:24 When I think of Mirror, it's kind of like The Departed or Spy Games,
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 which was, I think, Robert Redford and stuff like that.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 Departed is a very good example of it. Mm-hmm. Gotcha.
00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 Because everybody has got an agenda, everybody is looking out for themselves,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:42 and everybody is looking to backstab, if necessary, to get to number one.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:47 I would also point out later seasons of The Sopranos, which is a different genre,
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 but similar ideas. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:55 And I think what we're kind of getting at through the course of this,
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 and we really haven't jumped into Sage Chess, which is my personal favorite.
00:10:58 --> 00:11:03 I'll just be upfront about this right now, is that it's what kind of monster
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 or vampire you're really wanting to deal with.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:10 So in a game like, you know, if you're playing it in dust mode,
00:11:11 --> 00:11:16 your vampire is, if your monster is possibly behind the scenes,
00:11:16 --> 00:11:23 manipulating, bribing, recruiting, you don't have 40 days of night kind of vampires
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 rolling through a city and stuff like that.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 And if you do, you're absolutely screwed.
00:11:29 --> 00:11:33 Yeah. Like, that's the thing about Dust. With Dust, you want to find yourself
00:11:33 --> 00:11:39 taking on the vampire minion by minion and eventually getting the antithesis
00:11:39 --> 00:11:40 before you come anywhere close to it.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 If you encounter the vampire before you're prepared in Dust mode,
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 guess what you are? Bye. You are Dust.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:55 The vampire is going to be done very sparingly in it because it's rare and it's terrifying.
00:11:55 --> 00:12:00 And when it shows up, this is some big shit. This isn't just like...
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 It puts me in mind of if i
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 can use a game to reference a game it puts
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 me in mind of 7c like one
00:12:09 --> 00:12:13 of the things that they put in 7c was
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 the crimson rogers if you
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 encountered rice of the crimson rogers who was
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 the captain of the boat his challenge rating
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 was just nope if you try to
00:12:24 --> 00:12:28 take on rice you die don't even
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 make yeah don't roll the dice do not
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 pass go do not collect two hundred dollars you encounter
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 rice you die and in dust in dust
00:12:37 --> 00:12:41 the vampires are the same way the second that you see them you've lost
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 yeah now stakes is
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 the one that i kind of it draws
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 me toward it because it's more it's pulpy it's high action
00:12:50 --> 00:12:54 big explosive michael bay set pieces
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 you know it's kind of like mission impossible
00:12:57 --> 00:13:02 with a little bit of blade possibly mixed in there you're instead of playing
00:13:02 --> 00:13:09 humans who are fragile and all that you're playing these hyper competent player
00:13:09 --> 00:13:13 i mean your character is hyper competent and you know just the best at what
00:13:13 --> 00:13:14 they do, kind of stuff like that.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:19 Yeah, with stakes, you can be Tom Cruise on the airplane.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:24 Since we're going to be rolling up characters, we've talked a little bit about
00:13:24 --> 00:13:25 the world we're working in here.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:31 What type of mode are we wanting to do? So I think let's just stick with stakes.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:38 Yeah, I think that's the best mood here. Awesome. We will be going with stakes then.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:43 So let's go ahead and get out our books and start looking for the character
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 creation section. And of course, we have to be in the most dangerous city on
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 the planet, Dayton, Ohio.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 Dayton, Ohio, yeah. The mean streets of Dayton's there.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:56 So I'm going to figure that since there's three players, keep in mind that with
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 Gumshoe, there are two sets of pools.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:05 There's your investigative, and then there's your, what do you call the other
00:14:05 --> 00:14:06 ones? The ones that general.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:13 So for the investigative, that is figured just flat based on the number of players.
00:14:13 --> 00:14:18 If you've got five or more players, we get 20. But since we got three of us,
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 we're going to get 24 apiece.
00:14:20 --> 00:14:25 Awesome and gumshoe terrible
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 about getting the cart in front of the horse gumshoe is
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 the investigative system that basically with
00:14:31 --> 00:14:35 these investigative abilities that we have it
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 ensures that the plot continues to move forward you
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 know if we were playing call cthulhu for example and
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 all of our characters walk into the room and we all miss an
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 important check then the idea is that potentially
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 that the game could stall out until the
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 game master keeper or what have you comes up
00:14:54 --> 00:14:58 with a deus ex machina that will move the plot along so
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 whenever we're picking using these 24 build
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 points to stat out our characters we're
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 going to be guaranteed if we
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 have it we've got the clue now we
00:15:11 --> 00:15:14 can spend these points to get a
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 you know a little bit more information or given
00:15:17 --> 00:15:21 the context kind of like in swords of serpentine we can use them in kind of
00:15:21 --> 00:15:26 creative ways to give ourselves some bonuses but with gumshoe you're always
00:15:26 --> 00:15:33 going to go through but the mechanic is point spin so it's a little bit of gambling
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 going on here so to speak except you're not really getting anything back Thank you.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:41 I guess. And then you do have your general abilities as well,
00:15:41 --> 00:15:46 which are the ones that you spend and add to the role. Mm-hmm.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:52 Let's go ahead here. Looks like character creation starts on in the book.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 I am looking for the page number, though. Nine.
00:15:55 --> 00:16:00 Page nine. And it mentions that David mentioned beforehand, we're going to be
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 getting 24 investigative build points.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:06 And then we've got our general abilities to work through.
00:16:07 --> 00:16:12 And we're going to need to start. It seems like we would pick our class first.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:17 Or if here's a background. Yeah, it's a background, which is less a class and
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 more like the idea of what sort of spy you were.
00:16:21 --> 00:16:26 Okay. And there's a little, there's a sample set of backgrounds on that.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:31 And there's this little sidebar, a handy one on page 13. Okay. That runs through.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:39 I love how it summarizes each of the backgrounds into a brief little sentence,
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 so like there's analyst you put it all together
00:16:43 --> 00:16:49 asset handler you use people in the field bag man you handle the money bang
00:16:49 --> 00:16:55 and burn you blow it up black bagger you break and enter cleaner you erase your
00:16:55 --> 00:17:02 traces cobbler is the one who makes the papers cuckoo you pretend that you're someone else.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 Hacker, you crack it.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:10 Investigator, you figure it out. Medic, you heal yourself and you work on theirs.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 Or you heal yours, you work on theirs.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 Mule is get it across the border. Muscle, you hit it.
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 Watcher, you keep your eyes on target. Wet worker, you kill it.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:25 Wheel artist, you drive it. And wire rat, you build it.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:30 Yeah, that's perfect. And I've got a couple of examples, I guess,
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 as we kind of go through here.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:38 My first thought is, if we're going to be building ourselves as a cohesive team,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:43 how do we know each other and what do we do together?
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 So are we a group of thieves?
00:17:46 --> 00:17:51 Are we a group working for one of the many alphabet soup agencies?
00:17:52 --> 00:17:56 Acapella club. The what club? We're an acapella club. No.
00:17:58 --> 00:18:03 Everybody has to have at least one rank and sing we're just missing our fourth
00:18:03 --> 00:18:09 you know as we continue to get older in life I find myself,
00:18:10 --> 00:18:14 gravitating to the grumpy old men that are at the vfw you
00:18:14 --> 00:18:18 know i can also see that a group of veterans we've all
00:18:18 --> 00:18:23 been tagged red retired extremely dangerous for
00:18:23 --> 00:18:29 different reasons yeah does the idea of veterans sound good to you yeah i'm
00:18:29 --> 00:18:34 down okay so we're either i mean we're we're just hanging out at the vfw or
00:18:34 --> 00:18:41 maybe we are a motorcycle gang like one of those veterans groups that go out and whatnot.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 I mean, it could be anything like that.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:49 I immediately went to a slightly darker spot. I saw us as having met at the VA.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:54 You know, I think in the game, the Tribes of Tokyo that you played,
00:18:54 --> 00:18:58 I think you all were security analysts. Is that what it was?
00:18:58 --> 00:19:02 Something like that. I think that the thing that brought us all together is
00:19:02 --> 00:19:06 that we all worked for the same security company.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 I like to imagine that we're all a little
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 embarrassed that despite we're veterans we are all kind of
00:19:13 --> 00:19:17 like white collar veterans whatever maybe
00:19:17 --> 00:19:22 we've met differently maybe it's just we all have been in the military and our
00:19:22 --> 00:19:28 our connection is hometown college or we had a mutual friend that brings us
00:19:28 --> 00:19:34 together for this this particular scenario it could it could be either of those.
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 We all know Jim from Langley.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:44 Actually, I think I've got a good one. Just because there is a side quest in
00:19:44 --> 00:19:48 World of Warcraft that they threw out during Cataclysm,
00:19:49 --> 00:19:53 which was the day that Deathwing came, and we've got three old,
00:19:53 --> 00:19:58 old adventurers that are all sitting together on the same porch who remember
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 the day that Deathwing showed up, But they all remember it differently,
00:20:02 --> 00:20:06 but it basically boils down to that was the day that I punched Deathwing in the face.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:13 So I can see the three of us have a past glory that we all remember.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:22 And I have a good suggestion for that. We were all three absolutely certain
00:20:22 --> 00:20:26 that we were the ones who pushed the plunger on the Berlin Wall.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:31 I mean, you can argue that I didn't push the plunger myself,
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 but I'm the one who created all the infrastructure.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:37 I built the mechanism, so really it is on me.
00:20:37 --> 00:20:43 And i mean i didn't push the plunger myself but i did provide cover fire for
00:20:43 --> 00:20:47 adam while adam pushed that plunger i mean does it really count as pushing the
00:20:47 --> 00:20:51 plunger though it it was under duress,
00:20:51 --> 00:20:55 i mean i built it so like i think that's why it
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 really is on me what are you guys thinking of
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 as far as character type or backgrounds there was
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 quite a few to choose from here and again we're on page 13 just
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 kind of looking at the one sentence so i'm
00:21:07 --> 00:21:11 actually specifically thinking of the cobbler so in
00:21:11 --> 00:21:14 british spy lingo cobbler makes shoes so false
00:21:14 --> 00:21:18 path passports identities you know the forgery
00:21:18 --> 00:21:23 stuff like tom harley played that role in tinker taylor soldier wow didn't he
00:21:23 --> 00:21:28 yes okay and if you're going to be the forger i guess that means i get to be
00:21:28 --> 00:21:34 the sniper i'm going to go for wet worker okay or i could also go for bag and
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 burner if i want or if we want somebody to,
00:21:37 --> 00:21:41 actually be really good with the explosives are you gonna be hannibal from the
00:21:41 --> 00:21:46 a-team i love how i went for like the nerdiest spy thing and you're just like
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 i'm gonna be the killer you.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:54 Look, just because I like a shootist doesn't mean I'm going to be the only killer.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:59 Mm-hmm. So, Adam, which character are you playing, and then why are they the wheel rat?
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 Well, I mean, I thought I played a wheel? Wheel rat? I think you just combined
00:22:04 --> 00:22:08 two separate things. There's the wheel artist and the wire rat.
00:22:08 --> 00:22:14 Yeah. Well, whenever we played the game with Noah, essentially,
00:22:14 --> 00:22:19 I think I was the wire rat when I initially tried to play nice black agents.
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 I mean, we've got somebody who's
00:22:21 --> 00:22:26 got the bang. We've got somebody who's infiltration, false identities.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:33 You know? I mean, the default one would be the muscle, which would be like your Jason Bourne.
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 Or your wet worker, which would be John Wick kind of character.
00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 Let me pitch something at you. It's going to be a little weird.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:48 It'd be really cool if you played a mule. So, like, we have to think about borders and things a lot.
00:22:49 --> 00:22:52 I'm Jason Statham in the transporter.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 Yes, you have to use that accent the entire time, by the way.
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 My vocal cords don't go above this octave.
00:23:02 --> 00:23:05 Okay, so... I haven't had a biscuit in three days.
00:23:05 --> 00:23:10 So, okay. You know what? I was going to pick investigator, but that's kind of
00:23:10 --> 00:23:15 too much call-cafoo-ish, so to speak. So, yeah, I'll be the mule.
00:23:16 --> 00:23:21 This also makes sense why you and i know each other since i'm a cobbler i worked
00:23:21 --> 00:23:28 with fake identities yeah you know what when we made it back when we made it back to the states,
00:23:28 --> 00:23:33 you know it these skills could have been equitable for us for in many different
00:23:33 --> 00:23:40 areas so why don't we go ahead one of the big advantages folks to your background
00:23:40 --> 00:23:45 is it already gives you some ideas of how you're going to build your character.
00:23:45 --> 00:23:48 Investigative abilities and general abilities.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:55 So, David, I've been doing a lot of talking. Or Chris, either of you guys care
00:23:55 --> 00:23:59 to go a bit more into what we're looking at on your character?
00:24:00 --> 00:24:05 So, with the Wet Worker, so we've either got a couple of different choices.
00:24:05 --> 00:24:08 First off, they have suggestions for investigative.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:13 So, Intimidation 2, Streetwise 2, Urban Survival 2.
00:24:14 --> 00:24:20 So I'm not sure if those are in addition to or in place of, but I do feel like
00:24:20 --> 00:24:23 that fits because intimidation streetwise.
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 And what was that other one that I was looking at here?
00:24:28 --> 00:24:33 Criminology or urban survival definitely makes sense.
00:24:34 --> 00:24:40 Most of your wet workers know a couple of things. They know how to be scary when they need to.
00:24:41 --> 00:24:47 They know how to hit and run because you usually get one clear shot and then
00:24:47 --> 00:24:51 it turns into either massive firefight and you do not have enough bullets to
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 shoot all of the cops from the demiplane of cops.
00:24:55 --> 00:24:59 They will continue to spawn them. Your wanted level will just keep going up higher and higher.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:08 So it's best to shoot wants, take out your enemy, and then move it, move it.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:14 Talk about blood-sucking monsters, and I'm not even talking about the vampires here. All right.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:19 Now, so for general abilities, either shooting or weapons, 10.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:23 So if you're going to be doing wet work, you're either going to be really,
00:25:23 --> 00:25:26 really good with a knife or really, really good with a gun.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:34 Hand-to-hand for surveillance for hand-to-hand for because what happens when you are disarmed,
00:25:34 --> 00:25:38 surveillance for can you look at your target from a distance alternatives
00:25:38 --> 00:25:43 are disguise and explosive devices infiltration and special weapons training
00:25:43 --> 00:25:49 now we do have a number of points to spend on all of the different things and
00:25:49 --> 00:25:55 that is detailed earlier each background consists of 6 points worth of investigation
00:25:55 --> 00:25:57 abilities and 18 points worth of general.
00:25:58 --> 00:26:02 So, in almost all cases, feel free to buy more points in any ability given in
00:26:02 --> 00:26:05 the package. These are pointers, but not restrictions.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:10 Keep in mind, however, that, as mentioned in the sidebar on page 10,
00:26:10 --> 00:26:15 buying more than 2 or 3 points in an investigation ability is a fairly dramatic expenditure.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:17 Because, think of it like this.
00:26:18 --> 00:26:22 I have no points in intimidation. I'm as scary as a backstreet boy.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:28 I have intimidation at three. I have a glare that makes criminals go, I'll talk, I'll talk.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:33 Putting it at five, you don't need that much intimidation ever.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:40 Interestingly enough, looking at the cobbler background, they actually give
00:26:40 --> 00:26:46 you a forgery of four, which kind of goes against everything I was thinking of, you know?
00:26:46 --> 00:26:50 You know, you can dial it down. These are just templates.
00:26:51 --> 00:26:55 Yeah no i was thinking one of the alternates they suggest is uh cryptography
00:26:55 --> 00:27:01 so i was thinking maybe taking a point or two off forgery and being a bit more of a generalist.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:09 So you get 70 build points to spend. Okay, here it is, general abilities.
00:27:10 --> 00:27:12 You get 70 build points to spend on the...
00:27:14 --> 00:27:18 From which you deduct the 18 general ability points in each background you take.
00:27:18 --> 00:27:22 Like investigative points, one build point buys you one rating point.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 So it is entirely a point buy. Yeah.
00:27:27 --> 00:27:30 So Chris, what's your general abilities look like? I know you said that your
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 forgery would have been out of four and a couple of other odds, man.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:39 Yeah, I was mainly looking at the investigative stuff, but my general abilities,
00:27:39 --> 00:27:44 they suggest I take some points and cover digital intrusion,
00:27:44 --> 00:27:46 disguise, infiltration, and mechanics.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:51 So basically, I'm the infiltrator in our group. Okay.
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 I'm Barney. You'll just see me up in the vents.
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 Now I see Don Lotz up in the vents. Right?
00:27:59 --> 00:28:02 Sorry and Dave why are you shooting at the vampires.
00:28:06 --> 00:28:10 So I saw a picture so it had a picture of Andrew Tate on the internet like with
00:28:10 --> 00:28:15 his chin they said it looks like Don Knotts had a baby with Don Knotts oh no,
00:28:17 --> 00:28:23 even I think that's mean now since we're doing I'm doing the mule and I would
00:28:23 --> 00:28:27 like to be a little somewhat confident on stuff here I'm kind of,
00:28:27 --> 00:28:31 really i'm inspired and in
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 my character creation process sometimes this doesn't happen until
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 i actually start playing the character or whatnot but i
00:28:36 --> 00:28:41 remember i went to college when i was going to college there was a woman who
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 was in my class and me and her were both kind of non-traditional students we
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 were a little bit older than the regular college ones because i started late
00:28:48 --> 00:28:55 with college i worked several years before that but her ex-husband is a was a military man,
00:28:55 --> 00:29:00 who had a bodyguard job where all he did was ride around in an airplane with
00:29:00 --> 00:29:07 horses that people from Saudi Arabia and royalty were buying and transporting
00:29:07 --> 00:29:09 to other countries. That was his job.
00:29:09 --> 00:29:14 He sat in an airplane with a horse and with a gun to protect it.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:19 I'm kind of drawing some inspiration on it and maybe trying to make Jason say them.
00:29:20 --> 00:29:27 But by default, not default, They are recommending investigative abilities,
00:29:27 --> 00:29:32 which can be broken down into academic, technical, and interpersonal.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:39 They recommend that I have bureaucracy and forgery at one, negotiation at two.
00:29:40 --> 00:29:45 Outdoor or urban survival at one, streetwise at one.
00:29:45 --> 00:29:51 And then, you know, possible alternates would be archaeology or art history. It just depends.
00:29:51 --> 00:29:55 I think I like archaeology or maybe architecture would be a good one.
00:29:56 --> 00:30:01 But that would be more, you know, buildings and roads. Maybe I could use that.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04 So this is actually giving me ideas.
00:30:05 --> 00:30:13 If you go with archaeology, we could say that our crew came together during the War on Terror.
00:30:13 --> 00:30:17 We were like a Middle Eastern third party, let's say.
00:30:18 --> 00:30:22 I got a slightly different idea, and this is something that I kicked around
00:30:22 --> 00:30:25 a long time ago with Will from All Road Savern.
00:30:25 --> 00:30:30 Hey guys, how does the idea sound that, I mean, we knew each other,
00:30:31 --> 00:30:35 one of us, perhaps another player character to be named later,
00:30:35 --> 00:30:38 or perhaps somebody who dies in our first big encounter,
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 had a security detail for,
00:30:42 --> 00:30:43 you know, somebody important.
00:30:43 --> 00:30:49 And we were all brought on board by this friend to help him get his business started.
00:30:49 --> 00:30:51 And then it just goes, it goes tits up.
00:30:52 --> 00:30:58 Oh, the health thinking job. Yeah. So, you know, it could be you were escorting
00:30:58 --> 00:31:05 a pop star, a person of royalty who has been kidnapped or disappeared or something like that.
00:31:05 --> 00:31:11 And maybe the whole game is us trying to, you know, clear our name and deal
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 with this horrible, horrible thing as it goes.
00:31:14 --> 00:31:18 So, I mean, I know I kind of circled back to the beginning, but that just kind
00:31:18 --> 00:31:24 of popped in my head that we're all X-Men, not X-Men, X-Military of some sort
00:31:24 --> 00:31:28 that were brought together for a security detail that goes completely wrong.
00:31:28 --> 00:31:30 I like it. Sure.
00:31:31 --> 00:31:36 Okay. So. I mean, I'm slightly on the seedier side of things,
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 just as the fact that I make forgeries for a living.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:43 Well, but you also can pick out forgeries.
00:31:44 --> 00:31:48 You can pick out that kind of stuff like that. That's what you kind of got brought
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 into, brought in on this.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:55 Maybe this was a red tie event or black tie event. Well, now it's a red tie because it's vampires.
00:31:56 --> 00:32:01 That was, you know, you're looking at doc, you were looking at documentation
00:32:01 --> 00:32:06 of people that you were allowing into the venue or whatnot and vetting people and things like that.
00:32:07 --> 00:32:11 Because you can pick out a fake. I like it. Okay.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 And with my general abilities kind of circling back
00:32:14 --> 00:32:18 to that i mean conceal and driving or obvious
00:32:18 --> 00:32:23 surveillance you know and then you know i've got tons of others i can put in
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 shooty shooty bang bang and things like that just because you're one thing doesn't
00:32:26 --> 00:32:33 mean that you can't borrow from others this is true and one of the things that
00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 i just realized i did by accident Yeah.
00:32:37 --> 00:32:40 So having played Knights Black Agents a number of times before,
00:32:41 --> 00:32:44 I know that it's best to spread out your investigative points.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:49 And so I basically dropped a bunch of twos into different places.
00:32:50 --> 00:32:55 Well, one of the ones I did was two in languages. Well, by having two in languages,
00:32:55 --> 00:33:01 you actually have access to five languages that you speak fluently outside of your native language.
00:33:02 --> 00:33:04 Yeah. so i've been here it's like
00:33:04 --> 00:33:08 join up with the alphabet alphabet
00:33:08 --> 00:33:11 alphabet see the world meet exciting
00:33:11 --> 00:33:15 new people learn their language and shoot them apparently
00:33:15 --> 00:33:20 you were in the french foreign legion how do you speak finnish so well well
00:33:20 --> 00:33:25 we don't talk about it i have a very very stupid suggestion i think we should
00:33:25 --> 00:33:31 all put a point in flirting well i don't think flirting's on here? Yeah, it is.
00:33:31 --> 00:33:34 It very much is. That's why I brought it up.
00:33:34 --> 00:33:37 I've got it in intimidation instead.
00:33:37 --> 00:33:40 You flirt, I've got my own way.
00:33:42 --> 00:33:48 So there is a huge list of investigative abilities that we can go through one
00:33:48 --> 00:33:51 by one, but I think for expediency's sake,
00:33:52 --> 00:33:57 we're going to go ahead and kind of cut to a break here, and we're going to
00:33:57 --> 00:34:00 divvy up our points and tell you what we got.
00:34:00 --> 00:34:04 Sure. One thing I would point out that the three differences are academic,
00:34:05 --> 00:34:05 interpersonal, and technical.
00:34:06 --> 00:34:08 So what are y'all thinking? Like leaning?
00:34:08 --> 00:34:11 I'm scattered across them. Yeah, same.
00:34:12 --> 00:34:15 All right. I'm probably going to lean more towards technical stuff.
00:34:15 --> 00:34:17 Then that's totally fine.
00:34:17 --> 00:34:21 Well, we'll see in a moment what Chris leans toward.
00:34:22 --> 00:34:37 Music.
00:34:39 --> 00:34:44 Ladies and gentlemen, we're back from scoring it, and unfortunately, we've lost a player.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:48 Unfortunately, stuff came up, so Chris will no longer be joining us,
00:34:48 --> 00:34:52 but David and I will persevere through this.
00:34:52 --> 00:34:58 Be fair, we've all hit the age and level of health where sometimes that just happens.
00:34:58 --> 00:35:01 Yeah. And so, no harm, no foul. No.
00:35:02 --> 00:35:05 What's your general abilities looking like for your worker there,
00:35:05 --> 00:35:11 David? Well, to be fair, I kind of put her together as Helen Mirren from Red,
00:35:11 --> 00:35:16 because I was just picturing Victoria going, I killed people, dear.
00:35:17 --> 00:35:24 But at the same time, I remember both of the movies, and she was actually fairly good at what she did.
00:35:25 --> 00:35:31 So I went for a lot of cherries, so a lot of abilities that are at the higher levels.
00:35:31 --> 00:35:34 And then there are very few abilities
00:35:34 --> 00:35:38 that i have that are lower yeah so
00:35:38 --> 00:35:41 as a for instance on that i've got
00:35:41 --> 00:35:44 shooting at 10 but i have no points and shrink
00:35:44 --> 00:35:47 whatsoever i've got an
00:35:47 --> 00:35:50 infiltration at eight so i am very good at sneaking around
00:35:50 --> 00:35:53 but i can't do anything as far as mechanics so
00:35:53 --> 00:35:56 i can't fix a car i have nothing on
00:35:56 --> 00:35:58 medic so if you're shot i can just kind
00:35:58 --> 00:36:01 of just throw some dirt on it no gambling
00:36:01 --> 00:36:05 no filching no driving no digital
00:36:05 --> 00:36:08 intrusion but on the other hand when it
00:36:08 --> 00:36:16 comes to things like athletics cover skies explosive devices a little bit of
00:36:16 --> 00:36:24 hand-to-hand a lot of shooting yeah because it is far too useful i've got a
00:36:24 --> 00:36:26 preparedness at eight as well as a sense of trouble.
00:36:27 --> 00:36:30 Sense of trouble is going to be one of the most often rolled skills in the game.
00:36:32 --> 00:36:37 And it is one you do not wish to miss. And preparedness is one of the most useful
00:36:37 --> 00:36:41 skills in the game because there are going to be times,
00:36:41 --> 00:36:44 when you're going to find yourself in a situation where you go,
00:36:44 --> 00:36:51 gee, if only I had a way to pick this lock in the middle of nowhere on a school
00:36:51 --> 00:36:53 night, where am I going to find a lock pick?
00:36:55 --> 00:36:59 Preparedness. Oh, I just happen to have this one lockpick that holds my hair
00:36:59 --> 00:37:01 in place. Look at that bobby pin.
00:37:03 --> 00:37:07 So you won't have to call a locksmith? Won't have to call a locksmith.
00:37:07 --> 00:37:13 To be fair, I remember pulling a bobby pin out of my hair in the middle of a
00:37:13 --> 00:37:19 game once to prove to Caleb just how plausible it was to have one on hand.
00:37:21 --> 00:37:26 Because I said, yeah, it's okay. I can pick this lock. I've got a bobby pin.
00:37:27 --> 00:37:32 And he says, do you? Do you really? And I reached up, pulled it out of my ear. I said, like this one?
00:37:32 --> 00:37:35 And oh my God, the eye roll. Yeah.
00:37:37 --> 00:37:42 How stable is your guy? Well, stability of eight.
00:37:42 --> 00:37:46 So not as high as some.
00:37:47 --> 00:37:50 I've also got a health at 10, which is a nice healthy number.
00:37:50 --> 00:37:55 Keep in mind that we can go into negatives on health and stability.
00:37:56 --> 00:37:59 It's just that we will be rolling at a minus while we're there. Yeah.
00:38:00 --> 00:38:06 And you can get stability back through the use of, you've got three different
00:38:06 --> 00:38:09 things. You've got three sources of stability in a campaign.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:16 You've got your symbol, you've got your solace, and you've got your safety.
00:38:17 --> 00:38:21 So your symbol is a thing that you can carry. It's a non-human representation
00:38:21 --> 00:38:23 of something or someone that you value.
00:38:25 --> 00:38:28 Could be a religious medal or a crucifix, your country's flag.
00:38:30 --> 00:38:37 One that I use for me personally because I have a really, really badly damaged heart.
00:38:37 --> 00:38:41 Since my physical heart is functioning
00:38:41 --> 00:38:45 at about 30%, I always carry a heart-shaped object in my pocket.
00:38:46 --> 00:38:50 And the one that I've got at the moment is a Hanayama puzzle that splits into two.
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54 So it's two pieces of a heart that twist and go right back together.
00:38:55 --> 00:38:58 So that would be a nice example of a symbol.
00:38:59 --> 00:39:05 Your safety is the person and place that you would flee to without thinking.
00:39:06 --> 00:39:09 Your old trainer's cabin in the Alps, your mother's house in Scotland.
00:39:10 --> 00:39:14 That is just your sanctuary. Where do you go to feel safe?
00:39:15 --> 00:39:20 And then your solace is the person you seek out for human contact.
00:39:20 --> 00:39:25 Like if there was something going on and you just needed to talk to somebody
00:39:25 --> 00:39:30 who would be able to metaphorically talk you down from that ledge,
00:39:30 --> 00:39:32 that's your solace. Okay.
00:39:33 --> 00:39:37 Did you pick up any surveillance or weapons?
00:39:37 --> 00:39:41 No. Okay. I've got hand-to-hand at four.
00:39:41 --> 00:39:46 So if they get too close for me to shoot, they're too damn close.
00:39:46 --> 00:39:49 Fortunately, that's what I can throw hands. Mm-hmm.
00:39:50 --> 00:39:53 And to be fair, if they are that close, I can also pistol jab,
00:39:53 --> 00:39:57 because if you put the gun against somebody's face and pull the trigger,
00:39:58 --> 00:39:59 it will work just as well.
00:40:01 --> 00:40:06 It's got to be messy. But at this point, we're beyond worrying about,
00:40:06 --> 00:40:08 is it going to be clean? Yeah.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:14 And I just realized that I also, because we were, when we were on our little
00:40:14 --> 00:40:16 break, we went ahead and wrote up our general abilities.
00:40:16 --> 00:40:18 We didn't talk about our actual...
00:40:19 --> 00:40:22 Investigative abilities, but I'll tell you what, I'll jump through my general
00:40:22 --> 00:40:24 one and we'll jump back and do our investigative things.
00:40:24 --> 00:40:28 And just so we can just kind of keep them, break it up a little bit. Oh, that's fair.
00:40:29 --> 00:40:32 What you often noticed is we were talking a little bit about charity.
00:40:32 --> 00:40:35 So with the in a gum juice, well, at least nice by occasions.
00:40:36 --> 00:40:39 The, uh, if you have eight or something, eight or more in a,
00:40:39 --> 00:40:42 in ability, you get an extra bonus.
00:40:43 --> 00:40:46 So those of us has played it beforehand know
00:40:46 --> 00:40:50 that if you have eight in athletics which is what i took that
00:40:50 --> 00:40:53 means that the hit threshold because we're only rolling a d a single
00:40:53 --> 00:40:56 d6 in this game and then spending points if
00:40:56 --> 00:40:59 you don't have an eight the threshold that they got
00:40:59 --> 00:41:02 to hit is three but if you have eight in athletics
00:41:02 --> 00:41:05 that makes you harder to hit so that makes it where they'll
00:41:05 --> 00:41:09 have to row of four so i took
00:41:09 --> 00:41:12 eight in athletics and then
00:41:12 --> 00:41:15 kind of going with my jason statham transporter kind
00:41:15 --> 00:41:18 of theme at this current iteration of
00:41:18 --> 00:41:21 this i have four in conceal so being
00:41:21 --> 00:41:24 able to hide stuff as i was being a mule didn't just
00:41:24 --> 00:41:27 mean people or objects it could mean data or drugs
00:41:27 --> 00:41:30 or whatever it was i've got at least one in
00:41:30 --> 00:41:33 disguise right now i had more but i figured out that i added extra
00:41:33 --> 00:41:37 13 points to my character i went a little crazy so i
00:41:37 --> 00:41:40 had to go out down a little bit yeah that happened seems
00:41:40 --> 00:41:44 like driving would be important i'm not quite a real rat but
00:41:44 --> 00:41:48 you know i probably ought to know how to drive a vehicle so i have three points
00:41:48 --> 00:41:54 and drive a better you than me i have nothing yeah and we also the the techier
00:41:54 --> 00:41:58 things of this our other player was picking those out chris and you know so
00:41:58 --> 00:42:02 yeah you're gonna notice the deficit on this right here.
00:42:03 --> 00:42:07 I took a single point of filch because it seemed like being able to palm something
00:42:07 --> 00:42:13 wouldn't be a bad deal I don't like to be completely helpless and I did like the idea of,
00:42:14 --> 00:42:20 Like Jason Statham can throw hands in the transporter, so I went ahead and put eight in hand-to-hand.
00:42:21 --> 00:42:26 And so it gives me a cherry with that one. Much like David, I took my health
00:42:26 --> 00:42:28 up from the default four to ten.
00:42:29 --> 00:42:31 I have infiltration, because that seems important.
00:42:32 --> 00:42:37 Mechanics, even though that's kind of more of a tech ability,
00:42:37 --> 00:42:40 it's vehicles and stuff like that, it seems like it'd be handy.
00:42:40 --> 00:42:45 I am going to be the group's medic, So I took eight in Medic,
00:42:46 --> 00:42:50 which actually gives me an extra point in Academics for Diagnose.
00:42:51 --> 00:42:55 So I get an extra Investigative Ability just by having those eight points.
00:42:56 --> 00:43:02 And I have two in my piloting. Two in piloting, so I can fly a wide aircraft.
00:43:03 --> 00:43:04 Preparedness, I'm not as stacked
00:43:04 --> 00:43:08 as the others. I have three in Preparedness. Four in Sense Trouble.
00:43:09 --> 00:43:15 I have four in Shooting, so no Cherry. but I got, I mean, I can plink if I need to.
00:43:15 --> 00:43:21 Took my stability up to 10, and surveillance seems like it would be a decent one at three.
00:43:22 --> 00:43:26 And yeah, so that's kind of what our general abilities.
00:43:26 --> 00:43:29 Now, these are the ones that, you know, you're running from,
00:43:29 --> 00:43:34 you're going to try to leap off a clip, a ledge, and kind of tuck and roll,
00:43:34 --> 00:43:36 so you don't hurt yourself. Now, I'm going to spend athletics.
00:43:36 --> 00:43:40 So I'll spend three points for a D6. if that
00:43:40 --> 00:43:43 those three points i spend modify my d6 row
00:43:43 --> 00:43:48 and that's how we kind of determine what the number is so it's this gambling
00:43:48 --> 00:43:54 mechanic i remember fuzzy dan doesn't like this mechanic from speaking with
00:43:54 --> 00:44:03 him not as much no part of that is because every single role is a spend yeah and,
00:44:04 --> 00:44:06 you don't know what you're going to need to spend the stuff on.
00:44:07 --> 00:44:11 And then suddenly you find yourself completely out of actions.
00:44:12 --> 00:44:15 And sometimes it's the middle of the game and you're out. Yeah.
00:44:16 --> 00:44:19 And that's what Dan dislikes about it is because like, all right,
00:44:19 --> 00:44:24 I was great for two whole rounds of car chase and now I'm spent. Yeah.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:32 Yeah. It does suck. Or I was able to throw three whole punches and now we're done.
00:44:33 --> 00:44:37 The general abilities do refresh if you're
00:44:37 --> 00:44:41 given enough time now academic abilities investigative
00:44:41 --> 00:44:46 as we were calling them they refresh at basically i think milestones or at the
00:44:46 --> 00:44:50 end of an arc or something like that so these are they refresh somewhat slower
00:44:50 --> 00:44:56 yeah and these are the ones that we're going to jump into next even though technically
00:44:56 --> 00:44:59 you pick them out first we I forgot to mention them.
00:44:59 --> 00:45:03 So, David, between your investigative, which makes up academic,
00:45:03 --> 00:45:06 interpersonal, and technical abilities, what did you put down?
00:45:07 --> 00:45:11 So, as a veteran player, one of the things that I've learned is that it's better
00:45:11 --> 00:45:15 to diversify than it is to go all in on any one.
00:45:16 --> 00:45:22 So, as a, for instance, jumping back to that lovely thieves code.
00:45:23 --> 00:45:29 Because we were looking at a lot of paintings and art, because a large part
00:45:29 --> 00:45:34 of it was an art heist, it made sense to have points in art history.
00:45:34 --> 00:45:38 Which came in handy while we were looking for the paintings that we were going
00:45:38 --> 00:45:45 to steal, was not as useful when we found out the vampire that was guarding them.
00:45:47 --> 00:45:50 So it's actually better to spread your points around a little bit.
00:45:50 --> 00:45:57 Now, I have a personal cap of two, so I put everything at two or less,
00:45:57 --> 00:46:03 because I feel like putting three points into a thing is great in campaign,
00:46:03 --> 00:46:05 once you find out that it's very useful.
00:46:05 --> 00:46:08 But while you're feeling out the characters, stick with two.
00:46:09 --> 00:46:14 And so I just started throwing them in from the top in accounting,
00:46:15 --> 00:46:18 criminology, human terrain, and languages.
00:46:18 --> 00:46:23 Which, by the way, by putting two points into languages, I have five languages
00:46:23 --> 00:46:26 that I know with passing fluency.
00:46:28 --> 00:46:31 And we will discover what those are during games play.
00:46:31 --> 00:46:39 Right now, they are Chekhov's languages. I have five different language books that I have memorized.
00:46:39 --> 00:46:44 What are they? We don't know yet. I can specify them now if I want to,
00:46:44 --> 00:46:47 or I can just hang on to them and reveal them later.
00:46:47 --> 00:46:50 And I feel like revealing them later makes more sense.
00:46:52 --> 00:46:53 Within reason, of course.
00:46:54 --> 00:46:59 Military science at two. Cop talk at two. Interrogation at two.
00:46:59 --> 00:47:00 Streetwise tradecraft.
00:47:01 --> 00:47:08 Both at two. notice electronic surveillance and urban survival okay now with
00:47:08 --> 00:47:13 urban survival I can specify familiar cities which are places that I know well
00:47:13 --> 00:47:18 enough that if you were to drop me into them right now I could get around,
00:47:19 --> 00:47:23 A fairly good example of that in real life would be downtown Indianapolis,
00:47:24 --> 00:47:27 courtesy of numerous, numerous GenCons.
00:47:28 --> 00:47:33 Yeah. If you were to tell me that something is going to be taking place at the
00:47:33 --> 00:47:37 Marriott and then later at the Westin, I can get you from the one to the other.
00:47:38 --> 00:47:39 Yeah. With relative ease.
00:47:40 --> 00:47:45 Or if you were to drop me into downtown St. Louis, I know which neighborhoods
00:47:45 --> 00:47:50 to avoid, which neighborhoods to definitely go through. and where to find the
00:47:50 --> 00:47:52 best toasted ravioli in the city.
00:47:53 --> 00:47:56 You know, it's things like that. Yeah.
00:47:56 --> 00:48:00 Now that's, of course, outside of our normal cities where we live.
00:48:01 --> 00:48:05 But, those are cities where you have more than passing familiarity because you've
00:48:05 --> 00:48:07 been there enough times. Yeah.
00:48:07 --> 00:48:13 I have taken, academically, I took criminology for being a Jason Satham.
00:48:14 --> 00:48:20 I took, I got diagnosis for my cherry, so I have some medic training and can
00:48:20 --> 00:48:24 kind of look us up and figure out health problems.
00:48:24 --> 00:48:27 Human terrain, I took that at two.
00:48:28 --> 00:48:31 Languages, I took at one, which gives me plus two languages,
00:48:31 --> 00:48:33 so not quite as robust as yours.
00:48:33 --> 00:48:38 I have law and military science at one.
00:48:38 --> 00:48:41 I took bullshit detector at two.
00:48:42 --> 00:48:46 Bureaucracy and cop talk at one. Interrogation, intimidation,
00:48:46 --> 00:48:48 negotiation, and reassurance.
00:48:48 --> 00:48:52 All these big social skills, got them at one.
00:48:53 --> 00:48:59 Streetwise and Tradecraft, I have at two.
00:49:00 --> 00:49:06 Electronic surveillance, I think I have at one, or I may need to delete that
00:49:06 --> 00:49:07 one. I need to count my numbers up again.
00:49:08 --> 00:49:13 And I have notice and outdoor survival and urban survival, all it too.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:19 So even if we do spend these points, guys, it's important to realize that if
00:49:19 --> 00:49:22 David does spend his time,
00:49:22 --> 00:49:28 say, for example, notice. Like, if there's something that requires him noticing
00:49:28 --> 00:49:31 it in the scene, he's still going to see it.
00:49:31 --> 00:49:37 These extra points are your moment to shine, I think, is the best way to show
00:49:37 --> 00:49:38 it. And you can get additional information.
00:49:39 --> 00:49:43 It's more additional information than anything else. So if you've got it,
00:49:44 --> 00:49:46 so I've got two points of notice.
00:49:46 --> 00:49:51 So if it's, does anybody have notice? Yes, I do. All right, this is what you're going to see.
00:49:52 --> 00:50:00 And so I will get some basic information for my one level of notice or for my two levels of notice.
00:50:00 --> 00:50:04 Now, if I want more information, then I can spend. Yeah.
00:50:05 --> 00:50:10 So you'll get enough to get there. But if you had the extra to get more notice,
00:50:10 --> 00:50:15 then you're going to be a little bit better prepared possibly for the next scene and whatnot.
00:50:15 --> 00:50:18 Yeah. It will give you that little bit extra.
00:50:19 --> 00:50:22 And sometimes that little extra makes a
00:50:22 --> 00:50:25 lot of difference sometimes it's something
00:50:25 --> 00:50:29 that is helpful but not necessarily immediately
00:50:29 --> 00:50:35 helpful yeah so a prime example of that one i know i keep going back to existing
00:50:35 --> 00:50:43 campaigns and old ones when we went up against the the big bad in the art museum
00:50:43 --> 00:50:48 while I was looking at the big statue,
00:50:48 --> 00:50:53 because we were supposed to steal this one particular staff. It's a caduceus.
00:50:54 --> 00:50:59 And so stealing the staff was the big focus of the thing.
00:51:00 --> 00:51:09 A no-point notice spend, there is a massive statue of Hecate in the primary gallery.
00:51:10 --> 00:51:13 And upon looking at it i can see that the scaffolding around
00:51:13 --> 00:51:16 the base is broken and there seems to
00:51:16 --> 00:51:20 be a bronze statue within now that's
00:51:20 --> 00:51:23 on a zero point uh notice spend
00:51:23 --> 00:51:32 but then since i spent one i found an egg a very interestingly decorated egg
00:51:32 --> 00:51:39 in a glass case near the caduceus and one of the sub vampires that we had run
00:51:39 --> 00:51:43 into before was this type of crow.
00:51:44 --> 00:51:47 And the the antithesis for
00:51:47 --> 00:51:53 it was shooting it with hawthorn and that would weaken it but to actually kill
00:51:53 --> 00:51:57 it what you had to do is you had to shoot its egg now we didn't know that but
00:51:57 --> 00:52:02 knowing where the egg was it's like hmm that egg is going to come in important
00:52:02 --> 00:52:06 later and so there was a moment of, can I steal the egg? Yes, you can.
00:52:07 --> 00:52:11 And I don't remember if I actually stole it or if I just thought about it real hard.
00:52:12 --> 00:52:18 Or if I just fired a hawthorn bullet at it as we were escaping from the museum
00:52:18 --> 00:52:20 when everything went there shaped it.
00:52:21 --> 00:52:26 That honestly sounds, I listened to that one years ago. It honestly sounds closer
00:52:26 --> 00:52:29 to the truth from my faint recollection.
00:52:29 --> 00:52:35 So it looks like we're getting ready to jump into the closing section of this, folks.
00:52:35 --> 00:52:37 We're getting into our personality and dossier.
00:52:39 --> 00:52:45 So we're beginning on page 35 of the PDF here.
00:52:45 --> 00:52:49 So with your various abilities assigned, you're most likely to have some idea
00:52:49 --> 00:52:53 of your background and experiences, it's time to put the fish and touches on your character.
00:52:54 --> 00:52:58 If you'd like to, of course, you can start at this end and build your agent's
00:52:58 --> 00:53:01 emotional core first and then decide about experiences.
00:53:01 --> 00:53:03 But we've already kind of got that at this point.
00:53:04 --> 00:53:10 So I think we're moving over to our sources of stability.
00:53:10 --> 00:53:15 So, and a quote from the book here, in campaigns using sources of stability,
00:53:16 --> 00:53:21 you must identify what or who keeps you sane when the stress of your life lies
00:53:21 --> 00:53:24 in violence and fear threatens to shred your psyche.
00:53:24 --> 00:53:29 These provide you with strength, release, and hope to keep on fighting the good
00:53:29 --> 00:53:33 fight and to keep going back into that crypt every night.
00:53:34 --> 00:53:40 So damage or threats to your sources of stability trigger immediate difficult stability tests.
00:53:40 --> 00:53:44 So So, you know, be careful how much you lean on them. If they become noticeable,
00:53:44 --> 00:53:50 then, you know, you're putting your loved ones at risk, much like in Delta Green.
00:53:51 --> 00:53:57 If you cannot tap sources of stability, you cannot refresh stability during an operation.
00:53:57 --> 00:54:00 So we're going to name our three sources of stability.
00:54:00 --> 00:54:06 They are, well, here's our three sources. Excuse me. It could be we have a symbol
00:54:06 --> 00:54:11 that is a non-human representation of something that you value.
00:54:11 --> 00:54:18 We have solace. This is a person you seek out for human contact to make the pain and stress recede.
00:54:19 --> 00:54:24 And we have safety as a person or place that you would flee to without thanking
00:54:24 --> 00:54:29 your old trainer's cabin in the house, for example, or your mom's house in Scotland.
00:54:31 --> 00:54:36 So, David, you kind of touched on symbols before.
00:54:36 --> 00:54:40 What do you think your character symbol is? It's a crushed bullet.
00:54:41 --> 00:54:47 Okay. This was a bullet that actually would have been the one with my name on it.
00:54:47 --> 00:54:51 If it weren't for the fact that I was wearing Kevlar.
00:54:51 --> 00:54:57 Yeah. And it hit the ceramic plate and it just flattened. And that bullet was
00:54:57 --> 00:55:02 the, this is the bullet that almost killed me. Yeah.
00:55:02 --> 00:55:08 And the fact that I'm still alive means that I've still got work to do.
00:55:08 --> 00:55:12 And it's just proof that I ain't dead yet. Okay.
00:55:13 --> 00:55:22 I think, and I'm, you know, I am putting things out here that are damaging to
00:55:22 --> 00:55:26 my character and all that, but I'm just thinking of things that are important to you.
00:55:26 --> 00:55:35 And I am thinking about this man is a father and he keeps on him the wristband
00:55:35 --> 00:55:41 that his child had on the wrist in the baby ward at the hospital.
00:55:41 --> 00:55:45 So I was thinking either that or one of those little lockets that has the picture
00:55:45 --> 00:55:47 of the family in it. Yeah.
00:55:48 --> 00:55:53 I just like this faded plastic thing that could barely fit around two of his fingers.
00:55:53 --> 00:55:57 You know what I mean? Kind of wristband. And it's just, it's got a name and
00:55:57 --> 00:56:02 it's faded with a, and a barcode that you would scan to cause.
00:56:02 --> 00:56:06 I mean, if you've ever been in a baby unit there, they got that thing locked down like Fort Knox.
00:56:07 --> 00:56:11 Oh yeah. Yeah. And whenever he's thinking of what he's fighting for,
00:56:11 --> 00:56:19 he's thinking about his kid who is much older now, but we'll see. So what is your solace?
00:56:19 --> 00:56:25 Well, for my solace, considering that we were wanting to play these characters
00:56:25 --> 00:56:28 as somewhat veteran agents.
00:56:29 --> 00:56:35 There's a bit of a joke there in that once you hit a certain point,
00:56:35 --> 00:56:37 they give you a junior agent to teach.
00:56:38 --> 00:56:44 And so I said, what am I, Mother Goose? It's like, yes, you're Mother Goose,
00:56:44 --> 00:56:45 and here's your Gosling.
00:56:45 --> 00:56:51 So my solace is Gosling, the younger agent that they saddled me with.
00:56:52 --> 00:56:58 Yeah, my solace. I think it needs to be a person, another one.
00:56:58 --> 00:57:00 Obviously, who would be someone you would talk to?
00:57:01 --> 00:57:06 You know, digging from personal experience. I try not to make every player I
00:57:06 --> 00:57:09 play me and things like that, even though I'm a father.
00:57:09 --> 00:57:14 And I'm also an older brother. And you're also a teacher. Yep,
00:57:15 --> 00:57:16 definitely. Also a teacher.
00:57:18 --> 00:57:22 And I have a pretty good, not so much as kids growing up, you know,
00:57:22 --> 00:57:24 how siblings fight and stuff like that.
00:57:24 --> 00:57:30 But I have a very good relationship with my sister who is somebody I would tell
00:57:30 --> 00:57:35 things to that I wouldn't tell other people and stuff like that.
00:57:35 --> 00:57:42 I feel like my sister is is me in a way you know i think we have a lot in common so i think,
00:57:42 --> 00:57:52 my player has a sister who is a uh in a civilian world and he try he unloads on her at times but he,
00:57:53 --> 00:57:59 blows things in in ways that he's trying to be obtuse about and not be,
00:58:00 --> 00:58:03 blunt with but his sister's smart enough to know
00:58:03 --> 00:58:05 that you know hod's playing
00:58:05 --> 00:58:09 tough or you know something like that picturing the
00:58:09 --> 00:58:13 there have been a number of spy movies that
00:58:13 --> 00:58:16 are spy comedies in recent years and
00:58:16 --> 00:58:20 there was one with ashton kutcher who said i work with the blah blah blah and
00:58:20 --> 00:58:27 i have a license to blah and he was just being as overt as he possibly can without
00:58:27 --> 00:58:34 saying it directly but saying it directly yeah and i i imagine immediately imagine the.
00:58:36 --> 00:58:41 So how is it working for the no such agency you know they hate it when you call it that,
00:58:42 --> 00:58:46 but it's not like they're listening they're always listening they just turn
00:58:46 --> 00:58:51 to the closest lamp i'm sorry boss she didn't mean that and then the overhead
00:58:51 --> 00:58:54 light flickers twice and it's like he says it's okay yeah.
00:58:57 --> 00:59:01 You're safety now where's
00:59:01 --> 00:59:05 your character gonna row I know you mentioned beforehand either on or off mic
00:59:05 --> 00:59:08 that you were thinking like MI6 or something that you were involved with at
00:59:08 --> 00:59:14 some point like where where do you get it back to that no one knows so this
00:59:14 --> 00:59:20 is a thing that the actual agencies in real life have,
00:59:21 --> 00:59:31 and it is a it is a sombering experience to see it face to face but there is
00:59:31 --> 00:59:37 a wall that has a star carved into it for each agent who has fallen.
00:59:38 --> 00:59:46 And until that agent is fully declassified there are no marks on the wall besides
00:59:46 --> 00:59:52 the star to let you know who that agent actually is.
00:59:52 --> 00:59:57 So my safety is going to be the Wall of Stars. Okay.
00:59:57 --> 01:00:02 With the sheer knowledge that though my name will never be carved on the wall,
01:00:03 --> 01:00:09 because let's be honest, they don't carve anything onto that wall aside from stars. Yeah.
01:00:10 --> 01:00:13 Even though the character name will never be carved on the wall,
01:00:13 --> 01:00:20 there is that knowledge that if they do fall, over the course of doing the job,
01:00:21 --> 01:00:26 even in the retired state that they're in, it's still going to be,
01:00:26 --> 01:00:28 they're still going to get carved on the wall.
01:00:28 --> 01:00:31 For good or ill, we're on there. Yeah.
01:00:32 --> 01:00:39 I kind of like the idea of a cabin in the woods that was purchased,
01:00:39 --> 01:00:42 either he purchased it or maybe inherited it from his family.
01:00:44 --> 01:00:49 And he's kind of got a, like, it's a hunting cabin for all intents and purposes.
01:00:49 --> 01:00:51 It's his hunting cabin in the woods.
01:00:51 --> 01:00:57 Do not go into the basement and do not pick up a random journal and start reading from it. Yeah.
01:00:57 --> 01:01:02 It's also, it's, you know, mentioned the family man and stuff like that.
01:01:02 --> 01:01:07 It's sometimes he goes out there, like, before he encounters vampires or anything
01:01:07 --> 01:01:13 like that, just to, like, baptize himself in a way.
01:01:13 --> 01:01:18 Like you start feeling the baggage of the past and things that you've done or
01:01:18 --> 01:01:22 things that you've seen and things and you feel a little unclean and don't want
01:01:22 --> 01:01:24 to be around your family.
01:01:25 --> 01:01:31 And just see. It's a reason to go out and fish and hunt and maybe not even fish and hunt.
01:01:31 --> 01:01:35 Just just camp away from everybody for a little bit. Yeah.
01:01:36 --> 01:01:39 And make yourself right and then come back.
01:01:40 --> 01:01:44 So I'm going to say that that's a cabin in Appalachia.
01:01:45 --> 01:01:48 All right. Now, and I think I actually put an alpaca.
01:01:50 --> 01:01:56 But a cabin inside an alpaca. That would be a nice, secure location and hard to find. Mm-hmm.
01:01:58 --> 01:02:03 So it does mention this, that there is replacing sources of stability.
01:02:04 --> 01:02:08 And there are certain things, like if I were a GM and things like that,
01:02:08 --> 01:02:10 getting ready to do this game i would you know
01:02:10 --> 01:02:13 there's there's lines that
01:02:13 --> 01:02:18 are too far and things like that so when if i were obviously you know jason
01:02:18 --> 01:02:22 born at the end of the born identity he ends up with the girl and then he she
01:02:22 --> 01:02:25 ends up getting killed in the at the beginning of the second one spoiler for
01:02:25 --> 01:02:32 a movie that's 15 years old probably but i mean these these things can get replaced but oh yeah.
01:02:33 --> 01:02:37 One of the things that is absolutely there, James Bond always gets the girl.
01:02:38 --> 01:02:41 And unfortunately, the girl usually gets got.
01:02:42 --> 01:02:47 So the few times that he has actually formed a lasting, meaningful relationship,
01:02:48 --> 01:02:55 she has either died in the in-between or has died in the first few minutes of the next movie. Yeah.
01:02:56 --> 01:03:02 Because we know that Bond can't actually settle down under any circumstance. Or no.
01:03:03 --> 01:03:09 Women's records represent domestication and home. And we can't have that at all. Oh, God, no.
01:03:09 --> 01:03:17 I think we like our drive and our moss, and that's pretty much about everything.
01:03:17 --> 01:03:22 I think so your drive. That is, to use the words from the book,
01:03:22 --> 01:03:25 every agent has a drive. It's a motivating factor.
01:03:25 --> 01:03:31 It propels him into the storyline and motivates him to act as a thriller character ought.
01:03:31 --> 01:03:38 So our options are altruism, which is you got into the game to protect innocence,
01:03:38 --> 01:03:44 atonement, kind of self-explanatory, camaraderie or comradeship.
01:03:45 --> 01:03:52 Mystery, nowhere else to go, patriotism, I never left, which I played in the
01:03:52 --> 01:03:56 game, but nowhere in it, it never got revealed, programming.
01:03:57 --> 01:04:03 I'm going with the nowhere else to go myself because it's the you know you could
01:04:03 --> 01:04:08 retire if you want oh no that's the I never left yeah the,
01:04:09 --> 01:04:14 I pick up the odd job every now and again yeah when you say every now and again
01:04:14 --> 01:04:17 do you mean okay maybe three a week,
01:04:18 --> 01:04:21 they say I can retire anytime I want I just don't want to.
01:04:24 --> 01:04:29 I think What can I say? I love my job, and I'm good at it.
01:04:30 --> 01:04:32 I mean, I know a lot of people that could have retired a long time ago from
01:04:32 --> 01:04:34 teaching that stick with it.
01:04:35 --> 01:04:42 I am thinking altruism. I like that you got into the game to protect the innocence.
01:04:43 --> 01:04:49 You're no innocent now yourself, but that only lets you know just how much innocence
01:04:49 --> 01:04:51 matters for normal people, essentially.
01:04:51 --> 01:04:56 So kind of going with the I think it's a natural fit for like a family person
01:04:56 --> 01:05:04 that you know I agree so I think that I'll go ahead and write you're doing this for the kids,
01:05:05 --> 01:05:10 for the kid so they don't have to grow up in a world where the problem with
01:05:10 --> 01:05:13 California is there's too many damn vampires,
01:05:14 --> 01:05:16 somebody think of the children laughing,
01:05:17 --> 01:05:21 Now, I think that Moss maybe is the last thing, and we may be done.
01:05:22 --> 01:05:28 Military operating specialists? Yeah. There is a couple of others that are a
01:05:28 --> 01:05:30 bit that I kind of glossed over.
01:05:30 --> 01:05:35 There's like revenge for vampires. You're a slayer.
01:05:35 --> 01:05:37 Your agency puts you after vampires.
01:05:37 --> 01:05:40 But I kind of like jumping into this without all that kind of stuff.
01:05:41 --> 01:05:45 I like the idea of going into it not knowing that vampires are real.
01:05:46 --> 01:05:54 Now on the one hand I have a tendency to play the superstitious character and it was.
01:05:55 --> 01:05:57 It's a level of funny to me or a level
01:05:57 --> 01:06:00 of humor in like what are
01:06:00 --> 01:06:04 you doing I'm loading this shotgun with all sorts of different types of rounds
01:06:04 --> 01:06:09 until we figure out what takes out the vampire and then Caleb laughing at the
01:06:09 --> 01:06:14 other side of the table crazy superstition number one mimes firing a gun nope
01:06:14 --> 01:06:19 crazy superstition number two nope crazy superstition number three.
01:06:20 --> 01:06:25 It was the apple shot who knew now there's
01:06:25 --> 01:06:29 a whole section on trust but i think that's more you
01:06:29 --> 01:06:34 distribute trust points amongst players but i'm kind of skipping over it with
01:06:34 --> 01:06:38 this since we don't really have anything up and going right now for that honestly
01:06:38 --> 01:06:41 i don't see anything on moss mostly
01:06:41 --> 01:06:46 it's a role play thing of what is your military operational specialty,
01:06:47 --> 01:06:51 like what did you pick for your background and then
01:06:51 --> 01:06:53 i think once per session if it
01:06:53 --> 01:06:56 fits the storyline you can do something that
01:06:56 --> 01:07:00 tracks with your mos that actually
01:07:00 --> 01:07:03 applies to the thing that you're doing similar to
01:07:03 --> 01:07:06 in oh shit what's the one with the slider
01:07:06 --> 01:07:13 like in unknown armies you can because I am an acrobat clearly I can walk this
01:07:13 --> 01:07:20 tightrope in this case because I am a wet worker clearly I know how to disassemble
01:07:20 --> 01:07:26 and reassemble this sniper rifle yeah but it's a it's a minor thing.
01:07:27 --> 01:07:31 Yeah, you're right. I see it right here. You haven't used your moss to figure
01:07:31 --> 01:07:32 out somewhere you can use it.
01:07:33 --> 01:07:35 Guaranteed. Look in your best ability scores.
01:07:36 --> 01:07:39 Okay. So, yeah. So, what you're doing. So, I mean, it would be,
01:07:40 --> 01:07:43 you know, a wheel man or something. Not wheel man, but yeah.
01:07:43 --> 01:07:49 I could tie it in with something like blending into a crowd if I were trying to smuggle whatnot.
01:07:51 --> 01:07:54 Well, I think we're done. What do you think, David? I think we're just about
01:07:54 --> 01:07:58 done, too. Yeah. Is there anything that I'm overlooking?
01:07:58 --> 01:08:02 Nothing that comes to mind other than what is your character's name?
01:08:02 --> 01:08:06 Oh, God, that's good. Good. Hmm.
01:08:06 --> 01:08:11 Well, last time I did this, it was David Allen Doyle, but I'm not using country
01:08:11 --> 01:08:15 musicians as a reference point for character creation now.
01:08:16 --> 01:08:22 So it's Nicholas. Works for me. To be fair, what I'm doing with mine is,
01:08:22 --> 01:08:30 since I'm going with a none-such agency, I'm going to give myself an agent name of Agent Garnet. Okay.
01:08:31 --> 01:08:36 Because my thought is, it's like, well, what is your real name? We don't use real names.
01:08:37 --> 01:08:40 My code name is Garnet, and it always has been. Yeah.
01:08:41 --> 01:08:46 You can call me Garnet or you can call me Bloodstone. I will answer to either. I like that.
01:08:47 --> 01:08:53 I looked it up here on the MOSS thing, by the way. you choose one general ability for your Moss.
01:08:53 --> 01:08:57 That's not investigative. And once per session, you can auto succeed.
01:08:58 --> 01:09:03 If it's, you know, fits, you know, if it tracks, you know what I mean?
01:09:04 --> 01:09:12 So awesome. So yeah, I think, yeah, maybe that would be infiltration would be
01:09:12 --> 01:09:14 my loss. I'll write that down real quick.
01:09:14 --> 01:09:17 I'm fairly certain that mine would be shooting. Yeah.
01:09:18 --> 01:09:21 Well, man, this is fun you know
01:09:21 --> 01:09:25 i mentioned to you beforehand well this
01:09:25 --> 01:09:29 has kind of been my white whale of a game i've played one i've
01:09:29 --> 01:09:32 ran a beginning of centuries which
01:09:32 --> 01:09:36 is in the core book that we were referencing here speaking
01:09:36 --> 01:09:40 of the core book i do want to mention one of the things that i find nice like
01:09:40 --> 01:09:44 i mean the game's over 10 years old and media and things like that's changed
01:09:44 --> 01:09:51 But I'm really enamored by the fact that the little side notes or sidebars in
01:09:51 --> 01:09:54 the book are always listed as director's commentary,
01:09:54 --> 01:09:58 like you're watching a special edition DVD or something like that.
01:09:58 --> 01:09:59 That's kind of a nice touch.
01:10:00 --> 01:10:05 Well, very nice. Well, hopefully we can get these characters out.
01:10:06 --> 01:10:11 I'm really a big fan of Foundry, and I know that Pelgring Press has been utilizing
01:10:11 --> 01:10:17 the investigative system that somebody created on Foundry VTT.
01:10:17 --> 01:10:23 So I've already looked through, and if we wanted to, we could put these characters
01:10:23 --> 01:10:26 into Foundry, and who knows?
01:10:27 --> 01:10:29 There's a lot of options. And we could play the Zolojian Quartet,
01:10:29 --> 01:10:31 which is by Gareth Ryder Hanahan.
01:10:32 --> 01:10:38 There's the Dracula Dossier, which is the Curse of Strahd of nice black Asians,
01:10:39 --> 01:10:41 where you go actually after Dracula.
01:10:41 --> 01:10:45 And there's, I think, a couple of smaller ones, like the Dubai Reckoning.
01:10:46 --> 01:10:50 And, God, there's, I mean, there's a couple. I can't think of them off the top
01:10:50 --> 01:10:54 of my head. More than a few. But either way, it's one of those.
01:10:54 --> 01:10:58 That's a game that I will play anytime because it is such a fun one.
01:10:58 --> 01:11:02 I'll tell you what would be kind of fun too, David. If we like this,
01:11:02 --> 01:11:08 I would like there is a nice Black Agent solo game where it's using the gumshoe one-to-one system.
01:11:09 --> 01:11:17 That if you wanted to, you could roll up Agent Garnet and do a solo adventure with just you and a GM.
01:11:17 --> 01:11:22 Yeah, it may be fun to actually... If we get an opportunity,
01:11:22 --> 01:11:23 maybe we'll do a roll-up for...
01:11:24 --> 01:11:28 That particular game it's a it's definitely a different kind of thing,
01:11:29 --> 01:11:33 but who knows? Well, I'd like to thank you so much for joining me this evening.
01:11:33 --> 01:11:35 I've had a lot of fun going through this with you.
01:11:36 --> 01:11:42 It's always fun. And I look forward to the next one we get to do and look forward to getting to play.
01:11:43 --> 01:11:48 And also would like to point out that neither of us did anything super silly,
01:11:48 --> 01:11:51 even though we had the perfect opportunity to.
01:11:52 --> 01:11:58 So yeah, it's, I'm hoping that the next time we get a chance to play night's
01:11:58 --> 01:12:00 black agents, we can get a good group together again.
01:12:01 --> 01:12:04 Yeah, it would be good. It's a great system.
01:12:05 --> 01:12:08 It's one that I keep kind of coming back to over and over again.
01:12:09 --> 01:12:13 It's just, I don't know, it's just a really cool thing. And I have fond memories
01:12:13 --> 01:12:15 of listening to it and playing it.
01:12:16 --> 01:12:22 And if you are tuning into this episode in the month of February, 2025,
01:12:23 --> 01:12:27 almost said 2024, I'd like to thank you for being one of our Patreon subscribers,
01:12:27 --> 01:12:30 all these rpx row up episodes come out
01:12:30 --> 01:12:36 to patreon subscribers at a certain level three months early and if it is at
01:12:36 --> 01:12:42 three months to this i guess may then this would probably hit the regular feed
01:12:42 --> 01:12:47 by then and if that's the case be sure to check out our website we're at creditinandnight.com,
01:12:48 --> 01:12:52 and you can find us and other credit night
01:12:52 --> 01:12:55 network podcasts such as authentic mortise and one last
01:12:55 --> 01:12:58 die and of course road point exchange we will
01:12:58 --> 01:13:01 have i'm not the best at this but i'm trying to get a little
01:13:01 --> 01:13:05 bit better i'm going to take these character sheets that we have wrote up today
01:13:05 --> 01:13:08 and i'm going to upload them and have them you can check out and see what we
01:13:08 --> 01:13:14 did on the website and if you like go ahead and play garnet and or you can just
01:13:14 --> 01:13:17 look at the character sheet and follow along though i probably should have mentioned
01:13:17 --> 01:13:21 that before you listen to the episode but you can rewind and follow along again it's okay,
01:13:22 --> 01:13:27 Oh, yeah. If you've listened this far, rewind the tape. And if you would like
01:13:27 --> 01:13:31 to support us, you can find us at patreon.com slash roadpointexchange.
01:13:32 --> 01:13:36 There's not a link on the website, but hoping in the next couple of weeks I'll get that up.
01:13:36 --> 01:13:41 So you can have a direct link to all the Crit in the Night Patreon accounts we have.
01:13:41 --> 01:13:47 And we are on both Blue Sky and Twitter. I refuse to call it by that other name.
01:13:48 --> 01:13:55 And we're on there at RPX Exchange. and Facebook at facebook.com slash roadplane exchange.
01:13:56 --> 01:14:01 And if you happen to not want to meet us digitally, but would rather meet us
01:14:01 --> 01:14:06 in person, you can find us this year at Gen Con in July.
01:14:06 --> 01:14:10 We're all going to be making a big pilgrimage, or not all of us,
01:14:10 --> 01:14:16 but several members of RPX and I think Technical Difficulties and RPPR.
01:14:16 --> 01:14:20 There's going to be several members going up there. And I know that our PPR
01:14:20 --> 01:14:23 is actually hosting several events this year. Oh, yes, quite a few.
01:14:24 --> 01:14:29 And I know that Ethan from TechDiff is planning to do some Civil War Cthulhu.
01:14:30 --> 01:14:36 Ooh, I hate to have ridden that. And I know that Sean Ferris is looking to do some more Red Markets.
01:14:36 --> 01:14:41 So if those are your things, see if you can get into those games.
01:14:42 --> 01:14:44 They should be up scheduling sometime this week.
01:14:45 --> 01:14:49 Best of luck to you. A Sean Ferris game is a good game. Let me tell you.
01:14:49 --> 01:14:51 Been in several of them. Oh, same here.
01:14:53 --> 01:14:56 And those seats go fast. So snag them while you can.
01:14:58 --> 01:15:02 Well, David, I had a blast. I wish Chris could have been here with us to the
01:15:02 --> 01:15:04 end, but we'll get him next time.
01:15:04 --> 01:15:07 And next time we've got a good roll up where we want to bring her in.
01:15:07 --> 01:15:10 I think I can maybe twist Christy's arm on the next one.
01:15:11 --> 01:15:16 That'd be great. I miss Christy. She's such a joy. well we will find a good
01:15:16 --> 01:15:20 one to bring her in on if I had been thinking I would have snagged her for that one too,
01:15:22 --> 01:15:27 we'll find something creative for her oh yes but in the meantime all of our
01:15:27 --> 01:15:34 love thank you very much for listening and we'll see you guys next time goodbye y'all bye.
01:15:36 --> 01:15:56 Music.
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