Polyphemus

Island in a Sea of Death

That's my mistake, I'll edit the roster.

That's what I like about Ishida- even though he's been inadvertently insulted and disrespected, he's still looking for ways to help out.

Island in a Sea of Death

Roy was more than a little pleased to see his plan had gotten a bit of a following. The doctor was coming with a loaded rifle, the muscular baseball player was bringing along a bona fide Major League bat. The other men looked more than capable, Roy was frankly glad they were on his side. If he had had men like this in the old days, he wouldn't have had any trouble from the North Side organizations or even the Cipriano Family. Damn Italians. Roy idly wondered how the Mafia was doing back in KC. Poorly, he hoped.

Roy honestly had no real beef with the Japanese, they had been nothing but helpful. But old habits were hard to break- a man who had made his livelihood selling cocaine is bound to be a little suspicious of the Establishment. The captain seemed like a bit of a hardass. God knows what the man would do if he found out Roy's profession.

Then again, the man offering to lend a truck (Valentine? Roy wasn't sure of all the names just yet). When you're in the game for twenty-five years, you get a sense for who's a pig and who's not. Something about it, the posture, the eyes, something, tips off the experienced criminal. Roy knew that the best clockers were the ones who knew when not to make a sale. If their instincts were on, they were just about to offer a felony to a plainclothes officer. And that would never do.

Sure enough, Valentine casually mentioned that he used to be a cop. Roy felt his heart skip a beat or two, but regained his composure quickly. After all, Roy considered himself as someone who had won the game. He could handle one former cop.

"That's a generous offer, brother," he said with a clap to Valentine's shoulder. "I think if we need gasoline, we should just siphon it from abandoned vehicles. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?" He tried to sound solemn and regretful that the situation called for looting. "I'd be happy to have you come with us," Roy said as he climbed into the truck, setting across his lap the crowbar he had wheedled from some unsuspecting Nebraskan. "You used to be a cop, eh? Where at, just out of curiosity?" Despite his nonchalance, Roy was genuinely concerned- if the man was a Kansas City, Missouri cop there was a small chance Valentine might know exactly who Roy was and what he used to do. Maybe a smart cop would let bygones be bygones, but the former druglord couldn't help but worry.

Island in a Sea of Death

Perhaps I misread your post- I assumed Ishida was going to have a look over the town in his armored vehicle.

Island in a Sea of Death

Alright, let me try out this duty roster thing. This lets us know who's doing what (good for collab posts) and which jobs need more hands.

SUPPLY RAID
Roy Patterson- Polyphemus
Remy Hunter- McHaggis
Calvin O'Riley- Red_massa
Gearbox- Amelian Draco
Chris Valentine- DaDrummer676

SEARCH AND RESCUE
Captain Ishida- Darkraven

CAMPUS SWEEP
Sam Crowe- teapotshark
Ray-Ray- LokiLeo789

As you guys can see, we definitely need more manpower for the campus sweep.

Island in a Sea of Death

"Well, Captain, all due respect to you and your men," Roy said, scratching at his closely cropped hair. "But I think maybe you're overlooking something. There might still be people holed up in town. This is the reddest part of a red state, chances are the locals ain't gonna be too pleased if they see foreign troops poking around on American soil. If end up having to parley with anybody, I think maybe an English-speaking American might be best." He shrugged. "Like I said, no disrespect. I just think you guys might be more useful here. I'll meet you halfway, though- if you lend us a radio, we can call if we run into trouble. People or eaters."

"Young lady's right, by and by," he said as he stood. Roy retrieved his pistol. "Daylight is burning. If you're coming with me, best grab your gear and meet me outside." With that, he gave a nod to the ladies in the room, and let himself out of the conference room. He was going to need a truck or van, something that could haul a lot. Maybe a crowbar too, bust a few locks. Mind occupied, Roy starting asking around for someone to lend him a pickup.

Island in a Sea of Death

Oh yeah, and I got a few more questions:

1) Do we get to introduce arcs for our characters? Should we run it by you or do it whenever we want to?

2) Related to the above. Do we get to bring about special events related or unrelated to our characters? Is there any rules for this? And how should we do this? Because I've got alot of ideas for my peacekeepers, some of which would change the dynamics of things temporarily or permanently, depending on which idea it is.

3) What about things like influence, resources and stuff like that? How do we track such things? It seems that we're doing it arbitrarily and based on character interactions, but would this be the only control?

EDIT 4) What about events that would add or remove manpower, resources and stuff? Obviously we can't have someone finding an oil tanker stuffed full of M249 Machineguns rather than oil XD XD

EDIT: Also, add manpower to the list in question 3.

@Darkraven

These are some good questions, and I'll admit that I didn't think of a few things when I started this RP. Let me take these one at a time.

1. I have no objection to anyone introducing arcs. Unless it's going to shake up the RP, don't feel obligated to clear it with me.
2. As far as special events go, if they're going to substantially change things, I'd prefer you PM me and we can hash it out.
3. As far as tracking resources and manpower, what I've been thinking is that you guys won't really know what's avaliable unless someone makes an IC census or inventory. Even that might not be 100% reliable, either- for instance, it's been established that Remy is hiding some hoarded supplies, so unless he tells the group we can't really count them available. Influence isn't really something I'm willing to tack a number onto, I feel it should come organically within the story from character actions. For instance, Carol might say, "Well, Alice has good ideas, but Bob seems more trustworthy, so my vote is going to him." That's based on how those characters have interacted, rather than just an arbitrary number.
4. I have no objection to people making a windfall like that, so long as it makes logical sense and it doesn't fundamentally change the RP. It's fine to find a working car, finding a working Abrams tank is a little different.

Polyphemus you should add a simple summary section just to show what the survivors have accomplished, but that's just an idea. We should also integrate an equipment function into our characters, so we know what each of the characters have. Maybe just a little blurb at the bottom of the post saying what they have, if anything has been added, lost, broken, how much ammunition they have, etc.

@DaDrummer676

Summary section is a great idea- I intend for this to be an open RP, so a few notes would be helpful to newcomers. Thanks for the suggestion! Maybe also some kind of IC duty/ project roster, that way we can see who's working on digging a well and who's out hunting for food.

If you guys would like to, feel free to add an optional equipment section to your character sheet.

Island in a Sea of Death

I apologize if I sound tense. Definitely not my intention.

Island in a Sea of Death

There seem to be about of things that aren't covered though, Polyphemus. Like all of Captain Ishida's opinions. And others.

the more I have to go on to make my next post, the better.

@Darkraven

Well, to be honest, the main reason I'm having Roy volunteer for a supply run is so I can take a step back as a GM and have you guys, the players, work out the initial details of the settlement, including all the stuff Ishida brought up. I'm not trying to railroad anyone or speed things up, quite the opposite. Like I said, I want this to be player-driven and I feel like people might be a little more comfortable with that if my avatar isn't leering over everyone like some kind of watchful vulture right from the start. You guys are free to try to talk him out of gallivanting off.

Of course, anyone who wants to come along is up for some fun action stuff that'll help out the group.

I hope I have explained myself.

Island in a Sea of Death

Alright, Roy Patterson puts forth a definite course of action, at least for short-term problems, and asks for volunteers. Now the fun can really start.

Island in a Sea of Death

"Look, rules are all well and good, but they don't need much if people are living in fear and don't have food in their bellies," Roy pointed out. "I don't want to make any waves here, but these guys are right, we gotta take care of ourselves before we bother with who's in charge," he went on with a wave to the two men who had given out similar opinions- Collins and O'Riley? He was pretty sure those were the names.

"'Nother thing, folks," he said casually. "Even with the Japanese bringing food and water, we're gonna be hurtin' before too long, especially if we start something like a big construction project. People can't work on no wall with empty stomachs. And those couple of little babies- they're gonna need formula."

"So I just want to make a little proposal," he said, steepling his fingers and looking over his glasses. "What I'm thinking is I borrow one of those trucks out there- maybe that Ford with the Nebraska plates. I saw a Wal-Mart on the way in here, I think it'd be worth it to do some ripping and running on the place. Grab some food, water. If they got a sporting goods department maybe there's guns and ammo. If one of these doctors comes with me, they'd know what's worth taking in the pharmacy. I can get the lay of the land, figure out what's going on down in the town, get a better idea of what we're dealing with. All that and be back before dark."

He leaned back. "I could probably use two or three others, just to be safe and have help hauling stuff back. The rest of y'all can get on with sweeping the campus and building your fortifications while I'm out." Roy shrugged. "Like I said, somebody's gotta do something."