Doctor Agenda Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Up at 8:30. An hour-and-a-half seems to do it these days. Skip breakfast, I don't get hungry much anymore either. Or need to breathe. Shave. In the mirror I see one of the gifts my unknown bio-dad left me: celebrity-grade good looks. They've opened a door or two for me and I don't have to spend the night alone unless I feel like it. I can benchpress weightlifters too. It's pretty cool, but it doesn't make up for not trying to find out what was happening with me. He could have stopped it, easy. Anyway, the night was a bust. Check my emails. Promised Alice I would walk her to her doctor. Downstairs I see Blackie hassling a couple in a car at the coin laundry across the street. It's Melania, with some middle-aged white dude. Blackie's reaching in the window on Melania's side and the white guy must have said something to tick Blackie off, he's coming around to the driver's side while his homies start pouring out of Blackie's car like clowns at a circus. The guy may be out of his element but he's not stupid, he peels out. Melania's a great teacher, if he sticks with her he'll learn the streets and that you can't save someone from who they are. Mel charges steep tuition. At least she did me, but at least I didn't have much to lose...I bet in two months she'll have smoked that guy's car. Alice is a pretty good teacher, too. She taught me you don't always have to be able to save someone to help them. Gray strands show in her hair. We stop at a sandwich shop on the way back to her apartment, the kind where you write your own order on a paper bag and put your name on it. I find her the kind she had last time and make sure to see what name she writes on it, so I don't miss it when they call her. Purple. Makes sense, she's wearing a purple sweatshirt. I stay for a little at her place and she plays her flute for me. I think she maybe was in an orchestra or something, before she got bad. I take time for a run along the beach, then finish reading an old library book by Sagan. I figure I need to keep up with educational stuff, not just sci-fi, if I'm ever going to make up for not going to High School. Besides, it's pretty interesting. I walk over to Joey's garage (really!) around dusk. It doesn't even really look that dark to me. My bio-dad's people say seeing in the dark isn't that common for them. I don't know which one of them is my father, and I like to think he doesn't know I'm his, either. Still irresponsible as hell but at least that way he didn't know and do nothing. We rehearse. I'm a decent singer but it's those front-man looks that got me into a band that would have been above my pay-grade otherwise. Group Therapy after. I meet a girl in the courtyard who has the keys to the owner's office. It's all good and I didn't want to pretend to sleep tonight anyway. Time for another try. I get home before midnight. I get the costume out of the vase. I picked it up on my little 'learn where you're from' field trip. It's tough material, doesn't wrinkle, easy to clean, and the colors and pattern are unique but not you-don't-think-you-can-hide-in-the-dark-wearing-that flashy. I check out the window to the alley. Put on the costume. Check again. Still clear. I float up to the roof, careful to avoid the 3rd Story windows. I started doing this two months ago. Two weeks in, flying around at my impressive moped-speeds, I spotted some guys breaking into a lawyer's office. If I'd have known they were Viper I would have called 911. Aren't they supposed to dress like snakes to warn off noobs? At least they weren't all armored up, I managed to chase them off...well, I took off when the flying car showed up, but at least they didn't get whatever they were after. Since then, one prowler that I scared off. I mean, I saw some dealing and tricking, but I'm not about that. Vigil is about being there to stop real predators, to save people from being victims. Tomorrow I'm going to start working on a plan. I may not be up on criminal psychology or have a legion of informers, but there's got to be a smarter way to look for crime than flying around waiting for something to happen. Without skills and powers that let you home right in on crime, how does a reasonably bright crimefighter find crime to fight? Vigil (maybe Captain Adequate or Emo Lad would fit better....) has got some powers and knows what he wants to do with them, but he is bored to tears. I figure some research is in order so at least he can target the highest crime areas, but he'll need a real system to find violent crime to stop on a regular basis, not necessarily nightly but it has to be enough so he can feel like he's making enough of a difference that it's worth doing. He's streetwise and stealthy, can fly, stay up all night, skip breathing and see in the dark, and is fast and strong enough to effectively fight street criminals. I'm looking for ideas that don't require him to pay points for new skills and equipment...he's headed that direction, but that's not going to help him prevent a rape tomorrow night. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime Not a lot of options really. Simply patrolling around is how the real crime fighters (police) actually find crimes in progress. It helps though if you have a police band radio so you can hear the calls. The problem with that is you end up with a lot of encounters with the cops. Another option is to go undercover as a goon for hire. That'll wear out in a hurry though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcan Posted October 16, 2008 Report Share Posted October 16, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime Pretty good exposition, even if you did steal the name of my favorite character... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted October 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime A humble homage, I assure you! Or not. Tell me about this Vigil of yours.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted October 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime Not a lot of options really. Simply patrolling around is how the real crime fighters (police) actually find crimes in progress. It helps though if you have a police band radio so you can hear the calls. The problem with that is you end up with a lot of encounters with the cops. Another option is to go undercover as a goon for hire. That'll wear out in a hurry though. True that. The police band radio is on his shopping list, and he would be happy to help out cops in trouble, but otherwise he doesn't want to get in their way or have to deal with them before he's got some positive street cred as Vigil. Helping some cops in trouble would be an ideal public debut for him, he is aware that if he steps wrong it'll be 'Threat or Menace?' time for him. The undercover goon option worked pretty well for Batman, but the writers were on his side. Gotta love 'Matches Malone', though! Vigil (A character in search of a game, I'm tired of always being the GM) doesn't have the Acting and Disguise skills for it, but it would work great for someone who does--despite all the exposition, it's really a general question about crimefighting methods. Vigil is sneaky and streetwise enough to pick up info that way in his civilian ID, but there's a limit to how many times he can find out about a crime in advance only for Vigil or the cops to thwart it without someone twigging onto it. It might be worth trying though, even if it only works once or twice, if he's smart enough to stop spying on crooks before he gets caught. I'm too insecure in my manhood to have him go this route, but I seem to recall a comic book vigilante who dressed as an old lady and then beat up would-be muggers. Maybe he could spot people more likely to be victimized (just a Streetwise roll to assess whether someone would make an attractive victim to a crook, right?) and follow them around in case they get attacked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSgt Baloo Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime True that. The police band radio is on his shopping list, and he would be happy to help out cops in trouble, but otherwise he doesn't want to get in their way or have to deal with them before he's got some positive street cred as Vigil. Helping some cops in trouble would be an ideal public debut for him, he is aware that if he steps wrong it'll be 'Threat or Menace?' time for him. The undercover goon option worked pretty well for Batman, but the writers were on his side. Gotta love 'Matches Malone', though! Vigil (A character in search of a game, I'm tired of always being the GM) doesn't have the Acting and Disguise skills for it, but it would work great for someone who does--despite all the exposition, it's really a general question about crimefighting methods. Vigil is sneaky and streetwise enough to pick up info that way in his civilian ID, but there's a limit to how many times he can find out about a crime in advance only for Vigil or the cops to thwart it without someone twigging onto it. It might be worth trying though, even if it only works once or twice, if he's smart enough to stop spying on crooks before he gets caught. I'm too insecure in my manhood to have him go this route, but I seem to recall a comic book vigilante who dressed as an old lady and then beat up would-be muggers. Maybe he could spot people more likely to be victimized (just a Streetwise roll to assess whether someone would make an attractive victim to a crook, right?) and follow them around in case they get attacked. Buy the character with one (or more) deep cover IDs. A barfly will hear rumors that a street-level thug won't hear and vice versa. Likewise a few points spent on Contacts might give your character a contact within the mob, perhaps an information broker who works the seedier side of town. A friend/follower who's a private eye might get the word on the street from some of his contacts. You might have several followers (á la any number of supers and pulp heroes). Heck, you might just give him a few dice of luck to ensure he finds himself in the right place at the right time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime Buy the character with one (or more) deep cover IDs. A barfly will hear rumors that a street-level thug won't hear and vice versa. Likewise a few points spent on Contacts might give your character a contact within the mob' date=' perhaps an information broker who works the seedier side of town. A friend/follower who's a private eye might get the word on the street from some of [i']his [/i]contacts. You might have several followers (á la any number of supers and pulp heroes). Heck, you might just give him a few dice of luck to ensure he finds himself in the right place at the right time. Those are great ideas! In the meantime, there's no reason he can't be a barfly in his civilian ID--he's not affected by alcohol, and someone who has really been drinking should get a bonus to their 8- Acting roll. How bad does your acting have to be when you can't convince people you're drunk even with whiskey on your breath? All he has to do is roll City Knowledge or Streetwise to find a pub seedy enough and act too drunk to arouse suspicion that he's a snitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime How picky is he about specific types of crime? Drug dealers are rather easy to find, not that difficult to shadow. With some patience he can probably bust a drug shipment a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime I'm too insecure in my manhood to have him go this route, but I seem to recall a comic book vigilante who dressed as an old lady and then beat up would-be muggers. Madame Fatal. But he was a professional actor and expert makeup artist. Even so, he had to have come off as kind of a bulky old lady. But don't take my word for it. http://members.fortunecity.com/srca1943/Spot9-3-1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Agenda Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Re: Time to Find Crime Madam Fatal, yeah! Back when all a man needed to fight crime was a dress! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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