RecAgenda
Double Luck
Torrent: A Psychological Mystery is an episodic role play where the players enter into the 1930s as a group of five hard nosed, esteemed journalists seeking to unveil the cover of a wild claim centered around the pseudoscience of parapsychology. This overview thread will lay out a timeline of events throughout the story, keep track of learned secrets and discoveries, and hold the dossiers of each encountered character, including the journalists themselves.
The Journalists
Characters of Interest
Episode Recap
Episode Formatting and Objectives
Players will be given ample opportunity to participate in each episode, but all players are restricted to an overall time (post) limit. This limit will vary depending on the amount of content in each episode, and it may also increase if a new secret is learned that requires more dialogue or action for full discovery. As the GM, I won't be playing any of the journalists, but assuming the roles of key NPCs as a puppet master. Whenever I make a post, I'll update the "posts remaining" clock at the top of my IC in an easy-to-identify block. The players will need to coordinate with each other in order to ensure everyone has a fair amount of limelight. My posts will not count toward the posts remaining, ensuring that I don't interfere with the countdown if multiple journalists are having simultaneous interactions with different NPCs.
Whenever the episode's main objective is reached (the climax), I may make appropriate adjustments to the clock in order to accommodate the falling action and conclude the episode early or later. This will depend on the flow of the narrative from all players. If dialogue is progressing slowly, I'll extend the clock, but only by so much so the players can change pace. If dialogue is progressing smoothly, I'll leave it alone; and so on and so forth.
Objectives for each episode will be clearly defined (in this thread, in the below post) so there's no confusion and I don't completely leave everyone hanging. However, brownie points will be awarded if particular secrets and subplots are uncovered through the players' investigations. Every NPC will respond differently to certain types of questions, and some may just have straight-up personality conflicts with some of the journalists. Approach the more "volatile" characters strategically; but don't cheese it so much using OOC discussion in order to accomplish these feats.
When secrets and subplots are discovered, new consequences may arise in later (or even the current) episode. Main objectives might even be effected, so keep in mind that "leaving no stone unturned" is a strategy that can either be beneficial or equally detrimental to the investigation.
Searching for clues won't be child's play, but you also won't be without any kind of hint or direction of where to start looking (or even how to obtain crucial information). Whenever one of the players enters a new room or the scene transitions, I'll make a brief interrupting post to detail anything important about the environment that your character can "inspect", or persons of interest that they can open a dialogue with. Such information will be indicated using a different font and asterisks.
In the example above, I'm purposefully directing your attention to something that might contain a clue or some revealing secret. Lots of rooms have end tables, but this indicator gives you a bit of a push to act like an investigator (if the time is appropriate--remember, your character may be given a chance to return to this location later if it will save them an unfortunate encounter).
Setting
December, 1937. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the sitting President of the United States. McKinley Hall is the primary location for this story, located over one hundred miles west of Chicago, Illinois. Snow and ice blanket the ground with winter's cool and tranquil embrace. The institution, run by Dr. Evenway, is home to around sixty unique individuals with varying types of parapsychological abilities (telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairempathy, etc.). The building itself was first constructed decades ago, bearing a semi-Gothic architecture, retrofitted with modern appliances, plumbing, and a boiler system in the cellars for warmth. Multiple lawns and gardens surround the estate, and the claimed property itself extends for nearly twenty acres in each direction.
There are no barbed wire fences or security gates surrounding the property, however. McKinley Hall is not meant to be prison, as all of the residents are there voluntarily. Even so, several orderlies are equipped with tranquilizing serums in order to incapacitate residents that are prone to mental breakdowns or severe mood swings; symptoms of those unable to control the full extent of their psi abilities. These men wear cyan-colored uniforms, while the rest of the clinical and research staff wear white lab coats with color-coded arm bands (red for clinical doctors and physicians, blue for research technicians, and green for nurses). The residents themselves wear uniformed white clothes (including pants, shirts, and sneakers). Assistant and secretarial staff wear plain, everyday clothing.
The Journalists
- Nick Jerald Archibald
- Arthur Elliot Coleman
- Janice Jay Scarlet
- Vincent Lawrence Baker
- Luke Wayland Reynolds
As a prior police detective, Nick's approach to journalism completely rules out sensationalist writing in favor of objective, fact-based information relayed in his reports. Police writing is something that was ingrained in him from day one on the force with the NYPD. Now, as a freelance private investigator by night and a reliable crime reporter for the New York Post by day, Nick has a habit of treating every story like an actual investigation, a tad step further than traditional investigative journalism. He has a habit of treating sources like either suspects, victims, or witnesses, and sometimes has trouble with getting caught up in the moment and confusing his current job with his previous. Being a PI doesn't help that issue any, but at least he's able to keep doing what he obviously loves.
Nick separated from the force for two reasons: 1.) He had a tough time remaining true to his convictions when stonewalled at every turn by corruption. His reports would end up "lost" whenever bigwigs were involved, or evidence would go missing after turning it over to the next person in the chain of custody. 2.) Wearing a badge demanded he hold himself to a higher standard than the average citizen; and, given the first reason for why left, that was nearly impossible to do. So, Nick looked to other occupations until he could set up his own private eye business, and the journalism business seemed to be booming with the changing culture and the civil unrest after the stock market crash. Everyone was always after information.
Picking the New York Post was an easy one for him, since their headquarters was only down the street from his apartment, but it wasn't easy finding the best stories. The paper was already experiencing a popularity slump for the appearance of German-sympathizing articles during the war. If he was going to impress the company, he would have to contribute stories that boosted their reputation again. Lucky for them... they now have access to a boat load of corruption leads from a former cop. Plenty of crime drama started to go through the presses, and Nick's habitual way of sticking to the facts ensured that he never gave into the petty demands of readers seeking cheap entertainment and also gained himself a reputation for being a rock solid reporter.
Characters of Interest
Dossier information will be revealed when this character is first met.
Episode Recap
A recap of this episode will be provided when it concludes.
Episode Formatting and Objectives
Players will be given ample opportunity to participate in each episode, but all players are restricted to an overall time (post) limit. This limit will vary depending on the amount of content in each episode, and it may also increase if a new secret is learned that requires more dialogue or action for full discovery. As the GM, I won't be playing any of the journalists, but assuming the roles of key NPCs as a puppet master. Whenever I make a post, I'll update the "posts remaining" clock at the top of my IC in an easy-to-identify block. The players will need to coordinate with each other in order to ensure everyone has a fair amount of limelight. My posts will not count toward the posts remaining, ensuring that I don't interfere with the countdown if multiple journalists are having simultaneous interactions with different NPCs.
Whenever the episode's main objective is reached (the climax), I may make appropriate adjustments to the clock in order to accommodate the falling action and conclude the episode early or later. This will depend on the flow of the narrative from all players. If dialogue is progressing slowly, I'll extend the clock, but only by so much so the players can change pace. If dialogue is progressing smoothly, I'll leave it alone; and so on and so forth.
Objectives for each episode will be clearly defined (in this thread, in the below post) so there's no confusion and I don't completely leave everyone hanging. However, brownie points will be awarded if particular secrets and subplots are uncovered through the players' investigations. Every NPC will respond differently to certain types of questions, and some may just have straight-up personality conflicts with some of the journalists. Approach the more "volatile" characters strategically; but don't cheese it so much using OOC discussion in order to accomplish these feats.
When secrets and subplots are discovered, new consequences may arise in later (or even the current) episode. Main objectives might even be effected, so keep in mind that "leaving no stone unturned" is a strategy that can either be beneficial or equally detrimental to the investigation.
Searching for clues won't be child's play, but you also won't be without any kind of hint or direction of where to start looking (or even how to obtain crucial information). Whenever one of the players enters a new room or the scene transitions, I'll make a brief interrupting post to detail anything important about the environment that your character can "inspect", or persons of interest that they can open a dialogue with. Such information will be indicated using a different font and asterisks.
In the example above, I'm purposefully directing your attention to something that might contain a clue or some revealing secret. Lots of rooms have end tables, but this indicator gives you a bit of a push to act like an investigator (if the time is appropriate--remember, your character may be given a chance to return to this location later if it will save them an unfortunate encounter).
Setting
December, 1937. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the sitting President of the United States. McKinley Hall is the primary location for this story, located over one hundred miles west of Chicago, Illinois. Snow and ice blanket the ground with winter's cool and tranquil embrace. The institution, run by Dr. Evenway, is home to around sixty unique individuals with varying types of parapsychological abilities (telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairempathy, etc.). The building itself was first constructed decades ago, bearing a semi-Gothic architecture, retrofitted with modern appliances, plumbing, and a boiler system in the cellars for warmth. Multiple lawns and gardens surround the estate, and the claimed property itself extends for nearly twenty acres in each direction.
There are no barbed wire fences or security gates surrounding the property, however. McKinley Hall is not meant to be prison, as all of the residents are there voluntarily. Even so, several orderlies are equipped with tranquilizing serums in order to incapacitate residents that are prone to mental breakdowns or severe mood swings; symptoms of those unable to control the full extent of their psi abilities. These men wear cyan-colored uniforms, while the rest of the clinical and research staff wear white lab coats with color-coded arm bands (red for clinical doctors and physicians, blue for research technicians, and green for nurses). The residents themselves wear uniformed white clothes (including pants, shirts, and sneakers). Assistant and secretarial staff wear plain, everyday clothing.
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