Re: Game - Zion City

[Chris B]

This should probably be in the Zion thread.

I don't know why you think they are bad cops.  Plus, I don't know why you think the police responding to gunfire have no right to enter the building with weapons drawn.  Plus, I don't know why you think Karen (and Frank, Davidson; and Patrick, Luke) has more jurisdiction than local law enforcement.

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 10:56 AM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 10:25 AM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

Speaking of which, we should add Social Complication: Antagonistic toward Law Enforcement to her sheet 😝

Antagonistic toward Law Enforcement?  Not at all!  Antagonistic toward groups of heavily armed morons bursting in, she'll admit to.  

If given the chance, she will say "I'd like to apologize for my earlier comment wherein I impugned your trigger discipline; I would, however, like to impugn their marksmanship."  She further maintains she did not threaten anyone.  She will, if necessary, recount her exact words in court which, for the record, were "Tell your men to put their guns down or someone might get hurt."  

"Although, on further reflection, I should have said, 'Tell your men to put their guns down or no one will get hurt."  And she'll set up her phone so at the push of a button it will play the A-Team theme. 

All right, maybe just a wee bit antagonistic, and maybe just toward Florida cops.  😆 

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Chris Goodwin]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 11:08 AM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

This should probably be in the Zion thread.

Whoops, you're right! 

 

I don't know why you think they are bad cops.  Plus, I don't know why you think the police responding to gunfire have no right to enter the building with weapons drawn.  Plus, I don't know why you think Karen (and Frank, Davidson; and Patrick, Luke) has more jurisdiction than local law enforcement.

I can go into her thought processes, if you'd like?  

Her first thought was "Florida cops are all corrupt."  Her second thought was, "There's no way I'm letting these guys into a warehouse full of weapons and ammunition specifically designed to kill metas."  What's the chances that one of these crates, or even a few boxes of ammo, will "disappear" on the way to evidence lockup?  ("And, remember, I wanted to go to Seattle!")

She didn't necessarily believe she had more jurisdiction than they did, except that she felt it was a federal case and that it should have been handed over to federal authorities.  She was more trying to do anything she could to keep the ones she thought were the bad guys, out of a crime scene.  

And when she hears that the name of the "ATF agent" that came on scene was Dustin Tulliwitz (sp?), which was the same as the name of the gun runner who was dealing in Chinese weapons, she will feel fully justified in her initial thoughts.  This just cements the idea in her head that the cops are in cahoots with the bad guys.  She was in the police car when Tulliwitz came in, but I'm pretty sure that Captain Davidson will fill her in.  

She may have had bad information, but she assumed it was good information, and was doing her damnedest in the face of it.  She still thinks the cops are corrupt, and now she's afraid that those munitions are getting out.  

OOC-ly, I don't remember where that name came from; I didn't write down the source for it, if you gave us that during your recap of the previous session.  (Also OOC-ly, I was half tempted to have her try to take down those cops the way she did the VIPER agents.  I'm still kind of curious as to whether she could have done it...)

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Chris B]

THIS CONVERSATION IS FOR EVERYONE!!!  So Chime In!!

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 11:34 AM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 11:08 AM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

 

I don't know why you think they are bad cops.  Plus, I don't know why you think the police responding to gunfire have no right to enter the building with weapons drawn.  Plus, I don't know why you think Karen (and Frank, Davidson; and Patrick, Luke) has more jurisdiction than local law enforcement.

I can go into her thought processes, if you'd like?  

Her first thought was "Florida cops are all corrupt." 

Why does she think Florida cops are corrupt?  Every law enforcement officer in a a whole State is corrupt?  Does she really thinks this?  How many cops are in Florida?

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2008 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, the state had 387 law enforcement agencies employing 46,105 sworn police officers, about 250 for each 100,000 residents.

So all 46,105 officers in Florida are corrupt?  I thought she was on the side of law enforcement; a good guy.  It seems my interpretation may have been incorrect.

Her second thought was, "There's no way I'm letting these guys into a warehouse full of weapons and ammunition specifically designed to kill metas."  What's the chances that one of these crates, or even a few boxes of ammo, will "disappear" on the way to evidence lockup?  ("And, remember, I wanted to go to Seattle!")

She didn't (and still doesn't) have any legal right to keep them out.  However, they have a legal right to enter.  Why did she think she was allowed to do this?  If she knew she didn't have the legal right, what did she think was going to happen in the end?

As for evidence disappearing, that's on the force to handle, which she could have verified later.  Karen isn't in the chain of custody, and I'm curious whom she would have allowed to handle the ammo. 

 

She didn't necessarily believe she had more jurisdiction than they did, except that she felt it was a federal case and that it should have been handed over to federal authorities.  She was more trying to do anything she could to keep the ones she thought were the bad guys, out of a crime scene.  

The Feds told Davidson to let the local police secure the scene.  The Army told her to let the local police secure the scene.  They seemed to be federal enough, in my eyes, but maybe not.

 

And when she hears that the name of the "ATF agent" that came on scene was Dustin Tulliwitz (sp?), which was the same as the name of the gun runner who was dealing in Chinese weapons, she will feel fully justified in her initial thoughts.  This just cements the idea in her head that the cops are in cahoots with the bad guys.  She was in the police car when Tulliwitz came in, but I'm pretty sure that Captain Davidson will fill her in.  

This was interesting, as the information about Tulowitz that Karen (and Davidson) was acting from was provided by Belladonna, after she spent time in the seedy corners of Zion trying to dig up something.  No real follow-up was done to ascertain the identity of Tulowitz.  By real, I mean calling the McDill watch floor to request info from the ATF on Tulowitz or even contacting Detective Ortiz of the ZPD to find out if she had anything on him.  Instead, it seemed to be internet searches and more diving into the underground.  Maybe I goofed something up, but the team (via Davidson) has two significant avenues of information collection.

You could have a meeting with him before raiding the warehouse, but now you'll get to meet Tulowitz a little later, just with Karen behind bars.  Corrupt or not, he still has a badge and she doesn't.

As a point of note, the NPC was designed to be a means for the PCs to infiltrate the cartel, as an ally.  I never thought anyone would be this antagonistic against law enforcement (local or otherwise).  Hell, Gotham City PD is extremely corrupt and the players give them more leeway than they do Zion PD! 

This just goes to the point that it looks like the players feel that Florida cops are bad, and as a Floridian, I need to set that straight.  The police in Florida are great!  I've known several cops as I grew up, and they were all fantastic people, always giving kids the benefit of the doubt.  Florida is much better than Oregon, IMO.

 

She may have had bad information, but she assumed it was good information, and was doing her damnedest in the face of it.  She still thinks the cops are corrupt, and now she's afraid that those munitions are getting out.  

She, of all of the PCs, should have known better than to blindly trust the word of a known felon (Belladonna) over that of the local police.  The fact that she trusted Belladonna's word as sacred means Karelia was using out of character knowledge in an in-game environment.  Belladonna is a known killer, so as a person from a family of superheroes, Karelia should be very wary of her "friend".  Especially since her new teammate seemed to effortlessly slip into the seedy side of this new town and get critical information in the group's quest.  No one was with Belladonna, so how does Karen know it's accurate?  She is an assassin!  Maybe she is working for the cartel and brought back false information to throw off the group?  This line of thought is far more plausible then the five cops that arrived are corrupt.

OOC-ly, I don't remember where that name came from; I didn't write down the source for it, if you gave us that during your recap of the previous session.

It came from Belladonna.  It's from her skulduggery.

 

  (Also OOC-ly, I was half tempted to have her try to take down those cops the way she did the VIPER agents.  I'm still kind of curious as to whether she could have done it...)

Well, if she did then she would be facing far greater charges than she is.  At the moment, she is held for trespassing, resisting arrest, threatening an officer, and vigilantism.  If we added battery or attempted homicide, it would make her situation that much more difficult.

[Chris B]

We need to summarize the game session, and I haven;t had tiem to do so.  My memory is pretty bad, though, so if anyone wants to give it a try, then I'd appreciate it.

I would like to state up front that I had no intention of playing a Gotham style game.  That sort of muck is for John to handle.  I was thinking it was going to be more Metropolis or National City (the Flash) vs Gotham or Star City (the Arrow), where the good guys are good and rarely (if ever) actually kill people and they get the glory after each encounter.  I'm okay with the latter, but we need to declare that, so I can ensure I setup the story in that direction.

The Gun Runners storyline was invented on the fly as a stop gap to simply have an in-game reason why Capt Davidson and the team left Evergreen City for Zion.  It was an off the top of my head adventure path that seemed like it fit in with the new setting and the events that have occurred around the nation in other games (John's Columbia arms deals early in Gotham and Jason's initial idea that the ECPD were getting special rounds from the black market to equalize their standoffs with the Novas in Evergreen).  I also kept to guns, versus drugs, to try and keep the setting out of the muck as much as possible (gun and ammo are fairly clean and rarely impact everyday lives).

Now, we are in a bit if a pickle as far as PCs go. 

 - Brenda Davidson is facing serious charges of murder (the decapitated bad guy she shot), attempted homicide (two counts for the bad guy that got resurrected and Tulowitz), trespassing, resisting arrest, unlawful entry, threatening officers, vigilantism, and whatever the DA can trow at her. 

     Her actions also left the Guardians and the ECPD with negative reputations.  Luckily for them, the Guardians quickly responded to the scene and took control their teammate.  This mends the hard feelings, but the Zion mayor and Evergreen mayor are going to have a little chat on Monday morning.  This means Davidson is likely to have her ECPD badge taken, thus removed from the Guardians (depends on the team, but they are the sterling shiny good guys).

 - Karelia is facing charges of threatening a law enforcement officer, trespassing, illegal entry, use of a deadly weapon (against the bad guys), and vigilantism.  They won't throw the book at her, due to the actions of her family.  That said, both she requested help from the family and so did the ZPD.  Thus, Karen's parents will be arriving to have a chat with the DA, the Chief of Police, and the ATF special agent in charge in Zion to determine what they will do about their daughter.  This is her second offense, so the local authorities are hoping to have her leave the city.  This is a good segue as to why Karelia is not available while Chris is on sabbatical for the rest of 2019.  She will likely be able to return after taking some time off with her parents.  Of course, all of this means Chris needs to role her Enrage complication, so we can watch her loose her shit! 😈

 - And for Luke, I don't know what to do about him.  He is on the ZPD's naughty list, and the DA will be throwing everything they can at him to send him to jail.  The only one who vouched for him in the first place is Davidson, and she is now no longer credible.  Thus, due to his antagonism toward law enforcement and flagrant disregard for their authority (and their inability to control him in any sense), all of the previous charges will be stacked on top of the current ones to ensure he is imprisoned for as long as possible.  Unlike Karen, he has no one to vouch for him.  If I thought a simple prayer would sent an archangel down to deal with him, then the whole ZPD force would be ordered to pray.

Thus, I'm in a bit of a pickle as a GM.  We can make this an underground vigilante game, where the group moves outside of the law and the local police are a serious threat, which is what would need to happen if we continue with the current trio (above).  Davidson would need to subvert the pending courts martial, breakout, and head back in an effort to clear her name, leading the (now wanted) team. 

Otherwise, I need some excuse as to how the characters can continue without the police harassing them at every corner.

Thoughts?

[Chris Goodwin]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 12:22 PM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

THIS CONVERSATION IS FOR EVERYONE!!!  So Chime In!!

Why does she think Florida cops are corrupt?  Every law enforcement officer in a a whole State is corrupt?  Does she really thinks this?  How many cops are in Florida?

According to the US Bureau of Justice Statistics' 2008 Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, the state had 387 law enforcement agencies employing 46,105 sworn police officers, about 250 for each 100,000 residents.

So all 46,105 officers in Florida are corrupt?  I thought she was on the side of law enforcement; a good guy.  It seems my interpretation may have been incorrect.

Well, she's 19, and didn't browse the web looking for police statistics before coming to the conclusion.  😆

OOC-ly, it's partly the "Florida cops are corrupt" meme, and partly that I've had several GMs in the past pull the "Ten minutes later, another UNTIL van pulls up, the driver leans out the window and says 'You guys are the superheroes? We're here to pick up some prisoners!" trick.  

She didn't (and still doesn't) have any legal right to keep them out.  However, they have a legal right to enter.  Why did she think she was allowed to do this?  If she knew she didn't have the legal right, what did she think was going to happen in the end?

I'm not arguing with the end result.  I'm just telling you what her thought processes were at the time.  

As for evidence disappearing, that's on the force to handle, which she could have verified later.  Karen isn't in the chain of custody, and I'm curious whom she would have allowed to handle the ammo.  

 

She didn't necessarily believe she had more jurisdiction than they did, except that she felt it was a federal case and that it should have been handed over to federal authorities.  She was more trying to do anything she could to keep the ones she thought were the bad guys, out of a crime scene.  

The Feds told Davidson to let the local police secure the scene.  The Army told her to let the local police secure the scene.  They seemed to be federal enough, in my eyes, but maybe not.

She's 19 and thinks she knows it all.

And when she hears that the name of the "ATF agent" that came on scene was Dustin Tulliwitz (sp?), which was the same as the name of the gun runner who was dealing in Chinese weapons, she will feel fully justified in her initial thoughts.  This just cements the idea in her head that the cops are in cahoots with the bad guys.  She was in the police car when Tulliwitz came in, but I'm pretty sure that Captain Davidson will fill her in.  

This was interesting, as the information about Tulowitz that Karen (and Davidson) was acting from was provided by Belladonna, after she spent time in the seedy corners of Zion trying to dig up something.  No real follow-up was done to ascertain the identity of Tulowitz.  By real, I mean calling the McDill watch floor to request info from the ATF on Tulowitz or even contacting Detective Ortiz of the ZPD to find out if she had anything on him.  Instead, it seemed to be internet searches and more diving into the underground.  Maybe I goofed something up, but the team (via Davidson) has two significant avenues of information collection.

I did miss the previous session, and if you mentioned that in your recap I missed it, but I'll own that.  

I think I missed a lot at this session; can I chalk that up to being tired and stressed IRL?  

You could have a meeting with him before raiding the warehouse, but now you'll get to meet Tulowitz a little later, just with Karen behind bars.  Corrupt or not, he still has a badge and she doesn't.

As a point of note, the NPC was designed to be a means for the PCs to infiltrate the cartel, as an ally.  I never thought anyone would be this antagonistic against law enforcement (local or otherwise).  Hell, Gotham City PD is extremely corrupt and the players give them more leeway than they do Zion PD! 

This just goes to the point that it looks like the players feel that Florida cops are bad, and as a Floridian, I need to set that straight.  The police in Florida are great!  I've known several cops as I grew up, and they were all fantastic people, always giving kids the benefit of the doubt.  Florida is much better than Oregon, IMO.

That's fair.  

 

 

She may have had bad information, but she assumed it was good information, and was doing her damnedest in the face of it.  She still thinks the cops are corrupt, and now she's afraid that those munitions are getting out.  

She, of all of the PCs, should have known better than to blindly trust the word of a known felon (Belladonna) over that of the local police.  The fact that she trusted Belladonna's word as sacred means Karelia was using out of character knowledge in an in-game environment.  Belladonna is a known killer, so as a person from a family of superheroes, Karelia should be very wary of her "friend".  Especially since her new teammate seemed to effortlessly slip into the seedy side of this new town and get critical information in the group's quest.  No one was with Belladonna, so how does Karen know it's accurate?  She is an assassin!  Maybe she is working for the cartel and brought back false information to throw off the group?  This line of thought is far more plausible then the five cops that arrived are corrupt.

I think I was going with "She had 'Player Character' stamped on her forehead."  (I think that if the PCs didn't trust each other at least partly as a result of the "we're all PCs" trope, this might have just gone south a lot sooner than it did.)  

But, in character, Karelia has supervillains (mostly reformed, possibly in a few cases not) in her family as well as superheroes.  

 

OOC-ly, I don't remember where that name came from; I didn't write down the source for it, if you gave us that during your recap of the previous session.

It came from Belladonna.  It's from her skulduggery.

 

  (Also OOC-ly, I was half tempted to have her try to take down those cops the way she did the VIPER agents.  I'm still kind of curious as to whether she could have done it...)

Well, if she did then she would be facing far greater charges than she is.  At the moment, she is held for trespassing, resisting arrest, threatening an officer, and vigilantism.  

And she pleads not guilty to all charges.  Especially the "threatening an officer" one.  She did not make a threat!  Again, her exact words were, "Tell your men to put down their guns or someone might get hurt."  She (or rather, her lawyer, on her behalf) will argue in court that it could have been she herself, any of her colleagues, even any of their prisoners, that she was talking about.  For all she knew, one stray bullet could have had the entire warehouse blow up!  (OOC, I was thinking about the scene in the film Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater.  "I'm asking you again, please do not shoot at the nuclear weapon.")

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Kane Maximus]

I think it was Frank who had this name. I'm not sure if he ever told us.

As for Florida having bad cops I think Chris is having backflashes of Gotham

For ever 3 good cops there is one bad one.

Even if there is a known crocked cop you are not going to see one cop shoot him in the back in front of a bunch of other cops. That's making the cop judge, jury and executioner. This isn't Judge Dredd or exactly what Captain Davidson did.

As for the cops making it there own area. Did Captain Davidson call the cops saying we are going to go inside the warehouse before hand? Nope. Frank's character had agreed with them that Davidson would contact them keeping them informed of what was going on. 

In this incident all we did was -

Davidson: not talking to the police at all until after all the massively loud (5d6 RKA) gun shots where fired and then the police show up (after over 5 mins). Our characters aren't known to this city at all so us just blazing into places without legal authority (with exception to Frank?) is going to piss them off. Then he just shoots someone (even if he was guilty) in the back who is known to these cops as an official agent. 

Corellia: I see her as attempting to be a strong personality. She knows what is right and wrong but isn't used to dealing with political/legal stuff. She doesn't want people to tell her what to do...unless they are more powerful than her. What blows my mind away is you called up your family for help to get out of jail. You where flipping out when Kane was just talking to one of the Turbo twins on Blink. Makes me curious about you real complication against your family. When you told the cops not to go inside almost like warning them. If this warning was about you kicking their butt or something exploding inside - they had no idea and didn't know how to take it. As you aren't a police and you don't have any legal authority they assume you are a bad guy - which any police will do. 

Luke: just wants to piss off the cops. Problem is if the cops have any sort of reason to put him away they will. The cops are just doing a job but when you upset enough they will go out of their way to make sure you at least going to jail.

Belladonna: She left the last scene (with the house breakin) but this time she stayed. She didn't confront anyone and just handed over the bad guys all tied up. She knew Kane was being attacked by gunmen and felt justified going inside to beat these guys down to be arrested.

Kane: He deals with the media and firefighters, police are a whole new realm to him. He doesn't know the right things to say and isn't going to get involved. That's why he always leaves the scene...for now. He snuck inside and was told to put his hands up with a gun in his face. When raised his hands up he flashed his camera phone taking a picture of him. This guy ended up firing 3 rounds of 5d6 RKA damage to him. They had no idea who he was and if this was a normal person they would be FRM from just one bullet but they fired 3! obviously bad guys in his mind.

[Mark Jones]

Belladonna (who is not a felon, by the way--she has a rep as a killer and probably prone to excessive violence, but she was always "on the job" for The Powers That Be until she quit and they turned on her, so she wasn't ever charged. Just smeared, albeit with the truth) is trying to live down her rep. She fled the first house because she was in the wrong there; this time, she responded to gunfire, and they had found the weapons that Captain Davidson was searching for, so mission accomplished. Also, she didn't kill anybody. She was perfectly prepared to turn the site over to the cops.

She really expected that if anyone was going to be a problem, it would be Kane, who is flighty and self-absorbed. She didn't witness Davidson, Karellia, and Luke's *first* confrontation with the cops. She heard about it, I'm sure, but didn't expect it to happen AGAIN. She wasn't present when ATF Agent Tulowicz showed up, but *I* figured it was 50/50 that he was corrupt OR that Belladonna had been lied to about him; either way, knowing who he was, I figured we could deal with him later. (In the absence of the complete FUBAR that followed, we could have watched the warehouse and tracked where the weapons went, so if they were "diverted" by a corrupt ATF agent, we'd have evidence and could move on them again.)

As I said, she's trying to rehabilitate her image. She's not going to want to work with Captain Davidson anymore. Twice now, she's confronted the cops, refused to obey their lawful commands, resisted arrest, and this time shot a man in the back in front of them. She fully expects Davidson to get yanked away by the DOD and sent somewhere far away from the public eye to work undercover with the military. Afghanistan, maybe.

Karellia and Luke are problems, as well, but they haven't gone as far as Davidson did. Nonetheless, unless they change their tunes and begin cooperating with the police (and stop deliberately harassing them, in Luke's case) she's not going to want to work with them either.

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[Chris B]

John and Mark, Make sure you send your replies to Frank, unless it isn't important he sees them without coming to the board.

All replies are very helpful, thank you.  What sort of setting would we like Zion to be?  Metropolis or Gotham?  National City or Star City?  Manhattan or Hell's Kitchen?

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 12:59 PM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

Well, she's 19, and didn't browse the web looking for police statistics before coming to the conclusion.  😆

Great!  This explains a lot, as she is a brash young woman.  Thus, the other characters (Belladonna!) need to mentor Karen.  I don't see Karelia going away (although, I do like watching John spell it like the Star Wars planet, which feeds into her angst lol); rather, the DA and Police Chief are likely to handle this like they would a minor caught shoplifting or vandalizing public property.  This is in part due to the collar she helped make and another part is due to her parents showing up and speaking with them. 

We'll need to write this up on the boards, as it's good role play fodder, but we have time.

After a short time away (at home getting guiltified and "mentored" by her family), she will likely be sent back to Zion by her parents, made to apologize to the police, then told to make amends by helping the citizens of the city. 😁  Bad Karen, go do community service! 😛

 

OOC-ly, it's partly the "Florida cops are corrupt" meme, and partly that I've had several GMs in the past pull the "Ten minutes later, another UNTIL van pulls up, the driver leans out the window and says 'You guys are the superheroes? We're here to pick up some prisoners!" trick.  

I haven't seen that trick.  Sounds like something John would pull... 😉

If Tulowitz is corrupt, as Mark mentioned, you'd need to accept the situation then follow him (or meet with him).  I think Belladonna and Karelia could probably seduce him if needed. 😉

 

This was interesting, as the information about Tulowitz that Karen (and Davidson) was acting from was provided by Belladonna, after she spent time in the seedy corners of Zion trying to dig up something.  No real follow-up was done to ascertain the identity of Tulowitz.  By real, I mean calling the McDill watch floor to request info from the ATF on Tulowitz or even contacting Detective Ortiz of the ZPD to find out if she had anything on him.  Instead, it seemed to be internet searches and more diving into the underground.  Maybe I goofed something up, but the team (via Davidson) has two significant avenues of information collection.

I did miss the previous session, and if you mentioned that in your recap I missed it, but I'll own that.  

I think I missed a lot at this session; can I chalk that up to being tired and stressed IRL? 

Sorry to hear that.  I didn't want to cause more stress.  I do think Mark recapped, in character, the info Belladonna found about Tulowitz the night before, when we started Sunday morning.

Belladonna is still shifty... 😎

I think I was going with "She had 'Player Character' stamped on her forehead."  (I think that if the PCs didn't trust each other at least partly as a result of the "we're all PCs" trope, this might have just gone south a lot sooner than it did.)  

But, in character, Karelia has supervillains (mostly reformed, possibly in a few cases not) in her family as well as superheroes.  

Yes, but, Belladonna is still an assassin.  I keep going over the ledge calling her a "felon", even though she isn't, but the point is to emphasize how bad Belladonna is (or appears to be in the Federal database Davidson accessed to find info on Tulowitz).  Karelia likely knows her reputation as a stone hard killer that apparently seems to not be in jail simply due to the technicality of evidence.  Otherwise, she should be in prison (according to the info Karen and Davidson has).  That said, Karen has proven she does good deeds, so it inserts a kernel of doubt. 

One other thing I'm a bit taken by is the lack of reaction the characters seem to have to the game situations.  I chalk this up to a desire to not get as immersed in the game and to keep it light; however, a couple of things occurred that would have been disturbing to most people. 

1) I made the first casualty of Davidson's gun purposefully graphic.  Not sure exactly who witnessed the altercation nor the after effects, but the first shot blew one of the bad guy's head clean off; blood everywhere!  The bad guys reacted to that, but the heroes were like, "neat!" and kept moving.  Everyone was focused on the tactical simulation more than the scene, which is ok, but I'm just say'in.

2) Belladonna literally placed her hands on one guy's face and sucked his soul out of his body, for the sole purpose of finding out if the Tulowitz these guys interacted with matches the picture of found on Federal database.  While this is a power, it's a very disturbing one!  You all live with this chick, who is a known assassin, and who can simply touch your skin and suck the life from your body!  Better play nice with her, as none of you are safe! However, we hand wave this because it's Mark's PC and not an NPC.

It came from Belladonna.  It's from her skulduggery.

Skullduggery, I say!!!! 😛

And she pleads not guilty to all charges.  Especially the "threatening an officer" one.  She did not make a threat!  Again, her exact words were, "Tell your men to put down their guns or someone might get hurt."  She (or rather, her lawyer, on her behalf) will argue in court that it could have been she herself, any of her colleagues, even any of their prisoners, that she was talking about.  For all she knew, one stray bullet could have had the entire warehouse blow up!  (OOC, I was thinking about the scene in the film Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater.  "I'm asking you again, please do not shoot at the nuclear weapon.")

Well, I don;t think it'll go to trial, but if it did, the defense would loose on that technicality, I think.  Lots of gangster movies have them "suggesting" to the intended target that "someone" might get hurt if they keep this up.  it's a veiled threat, and was clearly stated to harass the cops, along with Luke's nonsense and the "trigger discipline" comment. 

I was not thinking about Broken Arrow. Otherwise, I would have had the place go up when the bad guys started firing all over the place with missed shots.  However, I was thinking, "what would the players do if this was an ATF staging facility for already confiscated ammo or the ammo found is to be used by Tulowitz to broker a deal and get in with the cartel?"  I decided to just make it bad guys; because, that would be too much after what happened.  To do so would have implicated every character.

Oh and John, I think you did say Kane posted his break in and the pics of ammo on Blink. 😁

[Kane Maximus]

Belladonna = Burn notice (TV Show)

I can't really do a full recap other than what Kane was involved in as me (John) the player tries not to pay attention to much to things going on when my character isn't around. I did manage to pay attention to the whole 3 getting in trouble with police but we have discussed this in depth already.

So I'll just do a re-cap of Kane's memory.

Woke up Sunday morning and checked his phone (9am). No messages from the team. Eat breakfast then flew off to Italy to go shoe shopping while doing a live stream on his phone. "When looking for the right type of shoes the first thing you need to look at is the...."

Came back after 10pm flew to Belladonna's place. Some strange man was there leaving to apartment. This man clearly is attempting to dress nice but fails as his belt doesn't match his shoes. 

The team talks about some bald headed man but the team doesn't seem to be interested in it except the annoying angel who can't even draw a straight line. Maybe Luke should take some art classes. 

Corellia seems to be in a bad mood just because I'm looking up the Turbo Twins. I get to chat to one of them on Blink but this seems to stress her out way to much. I'll have to message them later when she isn't around.

The ridged woman who always seems to be so stiff, Davidson, has some information about a warehouse and gives out the address. I say I'll go right there and check it out. Belldonna, she's dressed half decent today not jumping out of her bedroom in just a night gown, she seems to have some decency today, says not go rush over there just yet. The team keeps talking about something, I pull up the address on my phone while they all talk. 

I figure this is where some bad guys are so I say "Lets just go there and bust in" Belldonna replies "no breaking in and no killing. We need to just recon." 

So Davidson runs off towards the building and vanishes. The other three say they are going in a car - how dull. I fly off into the sky and wait...and wait...and wait over the building - I eventually get bored and start taking picture of who is coming and going from the warehouse sending them over to Bellz - yeah her name is just to long and I'm getting tired of thinking of such a long name. Eventually Corellia and Bellz show up. They walk up to the front and I text Davidson without any response so I text Bellz saying I'm going to cover the back entrance. 

So I sit there waiting. I find a new message on my phone about a Paris fashion show happening right now (Frances evening time). I get a ticket for myself on my phone - damn this ticket is expensive, I need to find a job as my mom just isn't giving me enough money for all this. I hear some loud banging going on inside. I wonder what's going on? Maybe they got captured? I look through some windows and see nothing but darkness. I hear more banging. 

I look at my clock they probably are having everyone sit down in their seats at the show - I still have some time.

I slowly pull up a warehouse bay door and sneak inside. Bunch of crates. I bet whatever the team is looking for is inside one of these crates. I pop open the side of one and take a picture and send it off to Bellz. I then move over to another. She text me back 'take some more pictures' so I pop open the next one and send another picture. Just as this happens this ape like man who probably hasn't seen a bath in weeks as his hair is all stringy and his shirt is in need of ironing not even tucked in, points this gun - bigger than a handgun, at my face. He tells me to put my hands up. So I do and as I do this I snap a picture of him with the gun sending it off to Bellz. This is when this man realizes what he looks like and just goes ballistic and shoots me. Well if I looked like him and someone took a picture of me like that I might do the same so I feel a bit bad for him.

I swat the gun out of his hands then I hear the door being knocked down at the front. I check my phone, yeah this guy looks pretty bad I'll need to add a meme to his picture eventually. 

More guys come pouring out from above with the same type of gun. Really!? Now? I look at my clock I have about 2 mins left until the first set of cloths go walking down on display on the walkway.

I see a flash of light to my side and see a flap of wings. Must be the angel. 

I move over behind the crates putting it between me and the men above on the walkway. 

I see a flash of energy and one man drops with no head. Whoa someone is packing some heat on them.

The men retreat inside some room. I pick up the crates and slam them into the wall creating a new door. 

Hmmm, someone is trying to pull the crates out of my hand well if they want it so bad here it is and I push all the crates right at them.

Now the super costume that has absolutely no color, *ugh* this team needs so much help, person jumps in making some speech about drop your weapons or whatever. Then another energy beam hits that person she just talked to square in the chest, is that his heart I can see beating? Corillia should probably give them more time to drop their weapons before blasting them like that.

Seems all the others guys are dropping their weapons now. Bellz seems to have them under control plus I hear sirens in the background. I guess that's my queue to head on out.

*At the fashion show in Paris 30 mins later*

Kane's phone rings "Your team is shooting up the cops here" my response "I'm in Paris right now.....wait what!?"

"You can't get here in time, I need to call someone else" and she hangs up with her voice sounding frantic.

Does this mean I was hanging out with villains this whole time? Aren't police suppose to be the good guys? Look at that shirt, I must have it....

[Chris Goodwin]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 2:09 PM Chris B <chrisj...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 12:59 PM Chris Goodwin <cgoodw...@gmail.com> wrote:

And she pleads not guilty to all charges.  Especially the "threatening an officer" one.  She did not make a threat!  Again, her exact words were, "Tell your men to put down their guns or someone might get hurt."  She (or rather, her lawyer, on her behalf) will argue in court that it could have been she herself, any of her colleagues, even any of their prisoners, that she was talking about.  For all she knew, one stray bullet could have had the entire warehouse blow up!  (OOC, I was thinking about the scene in the film Broken Arrow with John Travolta and Christian Slater.  "I'm asking you again, please do not shoot at the nuclear weapon.")

Well, I don;t think it'll go to trial, but if it did, the defense would loose on that technicality, I think.  Lots of gangster movies have them "suggesting" to the intended target that "someone" might get hurt if they keep this up.  it's a veiled threat, and was clearly stated to harass the cops, along with Luke's nonsense and the "trigger discipline" comment. 

Argh.  I had this whole thing I was working up where I was looking at Florida law about "assault on a law enforcement officer" and looking at case law about whether "someone might get hurt" constitutes a threat, and whether or not she had a right to be there, but... that part's stopped being fun.  

So I'm just going to have her find a really good lawyer.  

--

Chris Goodwin

cgoodw...@gmail.com

[Kane Maximus]

Oh and John, I think you did say Kane posted his break in and the pics of ammo on Blink.

I did not. No picture of me breaking in was done. The pictures that had been sent where directly at Mark's character's phone. Even Mark was surprised before they showed up that I wasn't streaming live video on Blink. The story above should describe it better in detail.

All replies are very helpful, thank you.  What sort of setting would we like Zion to be?  Metropolis or Gotham?  National City or Star City?  Manhattan or Hell's Kitchen?

Surprise us.

I haven't seen that trick.  Sounds like something John would pull... 😉

I remember this happening in Evergreen with Viper agents at Splicers house. 

I think Belladonna and Karelia could probably seduce him if needed.

Not with Karelia's outfit.

So I'm just going to have her find a really good lawyer.  

Always look at the lawyers shoes. That will tell you if they are a good lawyer or not. 

Belladonna is still shifty... 

At this point Kane thinks the whole group is shifty if not villains until he finds out what really happened (read above for his view of what occurred).

One other thing I'm a bit taken by is the lack of reaction the characters seem to have to the game situations.

read Kane's reasoning to why he reacted the way he did up above.

I do like watching John spell it like the Star Wars planet, which feeds into her angst

Yup, that's me :)

[Chris B]

Solid stuff, John!  You're getting better at this writing thing. 😛  I really enjoyed this.

The only correction I can see is that he was called from Italy at 10am, nit PM.  I think this was a slip of the hand, though.

Bellz is a good name.  Karelia needs one now, cause Karealia has to be harder to say than Belladonna, which is a plant. 

Oh, and Burn Notice was an awesome show!  I think he was CIA, though, not an assassin, like Bellz 😎.

Anyone else like to add their character's perspective?  Chris, I'd love to see a summary from the standpoint of Karen trying to explain the situation to her parents 😁.

[Chris B]

On Tue, Nov 19, 2019 at 3:04 PM Kane Maximus <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Oh and John, I think you did say Kane posted his break in and the pics of ammo on Blink.

I did not. No picture of me breaking in was done. The pictures that had been sent where directly at Mark's character's phone. Even Mark was surprised before they showed up that I wasn't streaming live video on Blink. The story above should describe it better in detail.

Oh, ok.  I thought Kane posted them, too.  He usually streams his super activities.

 

All replies are very helpful, thank you.  What sort of setting would we like Zion to be?  Metropolis or Gotham?  National City or Star City?  Manhattan or Hell's Kitchen?

Surprise us.

I did surprise everyone, and a federal agent was shot in the back. 😉  I'm happy to setup whatever game you peeps want to play in.  Otherwise, I'll just keep setting up adventures until my time runs out and we go back to Gotham . 😛

 

I haven't seen that trick.  Sounds like something John would pull... 😉

I remember this happening in Evergreen with Viper agents at Splicers house. 

That scene wasn't a double-cross, it was a straight forward smash and grab.

 

I think Belladonna and Karelia could probably seduce him if needed.

Not with Karelia's outfit.

Time to put Kane's skills to work!

 

So I'm just going to have her find a really good lawyer.  

Always look at the lawyers shoes. That will tell you if they are a good lawyer or not. 

Does this mean I need to wear my Allen Edmonds to the game?  Kane would find them at the low end of acceptable.

 

I do like watching John spell it like the Star Wars planet, which feeds into her angst

Yup, that's me :)

AND, you spelled it two different ways in the story!  Nice job!

[Kane Maximus]

The only correction I can see is that he was called from Italy at 10am, nit PM.  I think this was a slip of the hand, though.

Correct, I didn't leave Italy until I was given a call by Mark's character.

Oh, and Burn Notice was an awesome show!  I think he was CIA, though, not an assassin, like Bellz 

Mark's character has the same feel as that show (at least to me). The government has denied her ever working for them but I could still see them using her to work for them...maybe?

Oh, ok.  I thought Kane posted them, too.  He usually streams his super activities.

He does but if he is unsure about the situation he won't. He didn't live stream about the house in the first scene in Zion either.

Also he might not be live streaming if he thinks it might be viewed by the bad guys he is about to break in since he believes everyone is watching him (did I mention that Kane has a bit of an ego?)

I think Belladonna and Karelia could probably seduce him if needed.

Not with Karelia's outfit.

Time to put Kane's skills to work!

I need to say this, orange looks way better on Corellia than that drab grey thing she wears around.

 

[Mark Jones]

I hadn't thought about Burn Notice, but yeah that's a pretty good comparison. Belladonna did the dirty work for The Powers That Be until she realized she was being used for some underhanded stuff, so she quit. And they smeared (for values of 'smeared' that include publicizing stuff she actually did) and burned her.

I don't think Karellia actually *wants* a costume "upgrade", though.

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[Chris B]

On Wed, Nov 20, 2019 at 9:24 AM 'Mark Jones' via CHAMPIONS of the Northwest <champions-of-...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

I don't think Karellia actually *wants* a costume "upgrade", though.

[Kane Maximus]

 Will we pick up exactly where we left off last game? If time has passed can we get to know in advanced how much time will pass?

Can't wait to see what happens in the aftermath of Police force gets removed and replaced with new mega force. 

Of course what I mean by the police force getting removed means they have been killed off by the metas 

[Chris B]

Are you going to be there, John?  Have you convinced your parents to let you go out and play? 😛

As far as I'm concerned, we will start about the same time we left off, since we need to resolve the issues from the aftermath of the warehouse hit.

If I remember correctly,

 - Capt Davidson, Karellia, and Luke Croy are in jail for a large number of charges including: attempted murder (or accessory to murder for Karen and Luke), assaulting a police officer, breaking and entering (or illegal entry), harassment of a police officer, resisting arrest, failure to comply with police instructions, destruction of property, interference with a police investigation, and whatever else I can think of between now and game time. 😁

 - The Guardians were called to stop the group.  Upon arrival, the Guardians were able to broker a deal for Capt Davidson's surrender (as well as the Karellia and Luke).  After giving statements to the police and accepting the city's thanks, they left (occurred about the same time as Belladonna's questioning).  News trucks showed up soon after the heroes were extracted, but news helicopters followed them tot the police station.

 - Belladonna was questioned and released; she is still at the police station.

 - Kane was on his way to a fashion show (or something).

 - Strange sightings are occurring around Zion.  Descriptions are vague but coalesce around a short, hunched over, bald man with a grayish complexion and a weird face.

That's about it for now.  Please feel free to add anything if I missed an important piece for anyone.

On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 9:30 AM Kane Maximus <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

 Will we pick up exactly where we left off last game? If time has passed can we get to know in advanced how much time will pass?

Can't wait to see what happens in the aftermath of Police force gets removed and replaced with new mega force. 

Of course what I mean by the police force getting removed means they have been killed off by the metas 😬

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[Kane Maximus]

On Friday, December 13, 2019 at 9:55:37 AM UTC-8, Chris B wrote:

Are you going to be there, John?  Have you convinced your parents to let you go out and play? 😛

I'll be there but not sure how long. I'm going to claim it's our Christmas party :)

As far as I'm concerned, we will start about the same time we left off, since we need to resolve the issues from the aftermath of the warehouse hit. 

If I remember correctly,

 - Capt Davidson, Karellia, and Luke Croy are in jail for a large number of charges including: attempted murder (or accessory to murder for Karen and Luke), assaulting a police officer, breaking and entering (or illegal entry), harassment of a police officer, resisting arrest, failure to comply with police instructions, destruction of property, interference with a police investigation, and whatever else I can think of between now and game time. 😁

 - The Guardians were called to stop the group.  Upon arrival, the Guardians were able to broker a deal for Capt Davidson's surrender (as well as the Karellia and Luke).  After giving statements to the police and accepting the city's thanks, they left (occurred about the same time as Belladonna's questioning).  News trucks showed up soon after the heroes were extracted, but news helicopters followed them tot the police station.

 - Belladonna was questioned and released; she is still at the police station.

 - Kane was on his way to a fashion show (or something).

 

Kane had been at the fashion show since everything was wrapped up. All bad guys defeated. He wasn't there for the police just arriving, nor the stand off with the police, nor the shooting of the guy in the back, nor the Guardians getting called in, nor the team being arrested. I'm guessing this was about an hour or two maybe three? If Bellz text him he can come back otherwise he's staying for the completion of the Saint Laurent fashion show then the afterparty - so it better be important Bellz! :) 

From my understanding this whole thing started about 1pm to 2pm in the afternoon (Paris time 7pm to 8pm). 

 - Strange sightings are occurring around Zion.  Descriptions are vague but coalesce around a short, hunched over, bald man with a grayish complexion and a weird face.

From Kane's write up - "The team talks about some bald headed man but the team doesn't seem to be interested in it except the annoying angel"

[Chris B]

On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 10:23 AM Kane Maximus <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

I'll be there but not sure how long. I'm going to claim it's our Christmas party :)

Great!  So then the session on the 29th is our New Years party!! 🎉 🎆

 Kane had been at the fashion show since everything was wrapped up. All bad guys defeated. He wasn't there for the police just arriving, nor the stand off with the police, nor the shooting of the guy in the back, nor the Guardians getting called in, nor the team being arrested. I'm guessing this was about an hour or two maybe three? If Bellz text him he can come back otherwise he's staying for the completion of the Saint Laurent fashion show then the afterparty - so it better be important Bellz! :) 

From my understanding this whole thing started about 1pm to 2pm in the afternoon (Paris time 7pm to 8pm). 

yeah, it was in the afternoon about that time.  I'll need to look at my notes.  The events at the warehouse (from you guys' arrival to begin hauled away in the paddy wagon would be about a half-hour or so.  Another hour at the station debriefing the Guardians and Belladonna, while interrogating the other three.  This gives a little tiem for Karen's parents to show up. 😛

We can pick it up from here.

 

 - Strange sightings are occurring around Zion.  Descriptions are vague but coalesce around a short, hunched over, bald man with a grayish complexion and a weird face.

From Kane's write up - "The team talks about some bald headed man but the team doesn't seem to be interested in it except the annoying angel"

The annoying angel with a Sharpie! 🖊

[Kane Maximus]

Should I get there late as I'm not really part of that scene? 

The annoying angel with a Sharpie! 🖊

"who can't even draw a straight line. " 

Great!  So then the session on the 29th is our New Years party!! 🎉 🎆

That was my exact plan. Great minds think alike.

(from you guys' arrival to begin hauled away in the paddy wagon would be about a half-hour or so. 

At least a full hour with everything that occurred. They had to wait to get another truck to put Captain Davidson in then had drive back to the police station. Plus everything that happened before then.

 

[Chris B]

On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 10:47 AM Kane Maximus <portlan...@gmail.com> wrote:

Should I get there late as I'm not really part of that scene? 

You can show up anytime you'd like.  I don;t know what os going to happen, actually, nor how long things will move.  It's up to the PCs.

 

(from you guys' arrival to begin hauled away in the paddy wagon would be about a half-hour or so. 

At least a full hour with everything that occurred. They had to wait to get another truck to put Captain Davidson in then had drive back to the police station. Plus everything that happened before then.

Boy, I hosed up that statement, didn't I?  Mark is probably spinning at his desk. 😁 

I think The Occultist was kind enough to open a portal to the police station for Zion PD, since they've dealt with Ms. Davidson before. It seemed an easy way to transport her. 

[Mark Jones]

I think Kane should return whenever John shows up for the game, whatever is going on at the time.

I know John's been working on a new character for Frank (even if he stubbornly refuses to accept any of my totally awesome suggestions for powers), which I think Frank is going to need. I just can't see Captain Davidson returning to the team. I see her being spirited off by the DOD in the dark of night (figuratively, at least) and put to work somewhere out of sight and out of mind. (And Belladonna doesn't want to work with Davidson anymore anyhow. She's a loose cannon--and it's BELLADONNA saying that!)

Karellia and Luke aren't quite so problematic, but they're on thin ice.

[Chris B]

On Fri, Dec 13, 2019 at 11:02 AM Mark Jones <mark.s...@protonmail.com> wrote:

I think Kane should return whenever John shows up for the game, whatever is going on at the time.

Yeah, his time is pretty fungible.  Belladonna is going to be instrumental to getting the main story back on track this session, but we can bring Kane in whenever he's done drooling over the fabric and leather.

Karelia is also pretty fungible, and this incident makes it easy to excuse Chris' absence in game.  if Chris is able to play, then great!  If not, we have that covered, too. 

The only one I'm not exactly sure how to handle yet is Luke.  Belladonna needs to start being a positive influence (go figure that!).

 

I know John's been working on a new character for Frank (even if he stubbornly refuses to accept any of my totally awesome suggestions for powers), which I think Frank is going to need. I just can't see Captain Davidson returning to the team. I see her being spirited off by the DOD in the dark of night (figuratively, at least) and put to work somewhere out of sight and out of mind. (And Belladonna doesn't want to work with Davidson anymore anyhow. She's a loose cannon--and it's BELLADONNA saying that!)

Yep, the new PC is ready to go, and looks like it'll be fun, too!  I already have an idea as to how to introduce him to the team (again, with Bella's help) that fits in with the story.  If we tack into Luke's investigation, it'll work there, too.

As a hint, it's as fun and nutty as The Candyman! 😁

 

Karellia and Luke aren't quite so problematic, but they're on thin ice.

This is important to reiterate in character, Mark.  I'll also have an outside influence "mention" it to Luke.

[Kane Maximus]

I think I'm going to show up early just to see everything unfold (even if my character isn't present at the time). 

I want to see how Luke and Coriila get out of being in jail. 

What possibility Bellz can say to assist them getting out...and will she?