Tjack

Hi...Doreen right? I’ve seen you doing laps at the track? Who’s your friend? (OOC:) I don’t know what your character looks like in either form. Who would you cast in the roles? I’m not sure if your male form in drag would be a convincing girl in the bad lighting of back stage. If you never saw it I chose Nicholas Brendan, Xander from the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to play John.

(OOC:) I’ve been thinking about the more practical side of John’s life and I worked some things out. Currently he’s driving what was his father’s four year old Ford SUV. It will look out of place in the school parking lot next to the smaller, more compact cars you’ll often see in larger cities. John drove it loaded with his belongings cross-country when he came from Wyoming to Gotham City. His fathers friends planned out a route whereby every night he would park at a local sheriff’s office and stay overnight with the family of some Officer to save money and be safe on the trip. His basic monetary issues are covered by the fact that his father (just in case) set up a trust fund where any and all life insurance, U.S. Marshall’s office benefits, and profits from the sale of his house would be protected. John doesn’t have access to the principal until he turns 21, but the interest goes into an account for him to use for car insurance, repairs and other needs. It’s not a lot per month so some type of employment would be useful but not critical. He did have plans for a college education. Probably in some degree that would aid him in a career somewhere in law enforcement. Criminal Psychology, Criminal Law, etc. But he never decided which branch he wanted to pursue. Whether the F.B.I., into the Marshall’s Dept. like his father or maybe locally in some big city Police Dept. or Rural Sheriff's Office he’s still not certain. He occupies his down time by playing guitar. He plays either his 12-string acoustic Gibson or a Les Paul style six string electric. He owns a small portable amp for it that uses both AC or a rechargeable battery pack. He uses a bluesy style reminiscent of Eric Clapton and likes singer/songwriter music from a large number of genres from the Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Harry Chapin to Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash. He has a strong voice and has considered playing music as a way to earn money while in college. He speaks Spanish, having learned it while living in New Mexico, it’s a more Mexican accented and less grammatical version which he’s trying to correct by taking that as his language requirement. (I myself found that when I moved from Boston to Phoenix that the Spanish I learned in school and from Puerto Rican friends was very different from the language spoken by the staff in the kitchens where I was a line cook.) Since moving into his mother’s house he’s turned the basement into a gym with a weight bench, a speed bag and a heavy bag along with some mats to do katas on. His mother, Joyce isn’t crazy about the sound or the fighting aspect of her son’s exercise routine but understands that it’s a good way for him to get any aggression out and sports are a better use for his time in a dangerous city like Gotham. His Martial Arts style is in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program or MCMAPS. It’s what Marines are taught in Basic Training and is a combined style using Boxing, Krav Maga, and others for an adaptable and effective way to disarm or disable an opponent. John has completed what would have been the full course for a recruit. But not the more advanced levels. It was the training that his dad was able to arrange with one of the self-defense trainers at the Marshall’s office. John has been spending a great deal of time wandering the city on the weekends trying to learn the different neighborhoods and taking the elevated trains that crisscross the city to understand the lay of the land. Because of this he’s found a number of out of the way shops and restaurants of all kinds. He also keeps a large city map on the wall of his room for a decoration. He’s careful not to mark it so his mother won’t figure out that he’s using it to learn the fastest routes to fly through the city. If I have any other thoughts I’ll let you know.

“Excuse me, is this the way back out?” The young man with the guitar stepped through the curtain.

The image of the crew woman with no face....Still gets me.

“You are NOT of the body!” “Landru, save us!” The salt vampire was the hideous monster that could put an illusion of someone else into its victims mind from the first season of Star Trek “Man Trap”. I AM THE ALPHA GEEK! I AM THE KISWAT HADARACH! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE!

(OOC:) Sorry, the first song was by Peter Gabriel, an Englishman. The second was originally Roberta Flack and redone much later by the Fugees, however you classify them it’s NOT country. The third was from an Australian, specifically the guy who sang 🎼 I come from a land down under! 🎶 I purposely chose music that was not Country. Even if they share a class, I don’t think there’s any kind of accent to say western. His clothes do say “working class” He was raised in New Mexico and Wyoming. Neither areas have strong regional accents. And even if so, there’s no way to tell he’s Paladin or a reason to think he would have any animosity towards you for cross dressing.

Do we retcon this or just play on and somebody figures out a phoney baloney justification like they do for the mistakes on Star Trek? 😇🖖

No, Shatner came back. The others are salt vampires.

(OOC:) The line “ Just great....cowboy is auditioning. If he sees me in this getup I’m sure he’ll never let me live this down.” He’s acting as if he knows the person onstage that he has neither seen nor heard the name of is Paladin. If there’s some psychic power at play fine, I don’t need details because my character doesn’t have any details. But I think it’s more a case of accidental meta gaming.

*****OOC: How does Rob know Paladin is playing? We never exchanged real names and I don’t think the little bit of talking we did that night should let him peg an unseen, unamplified voice from the next room.****

“OK well thanks, just let me know if I made it.” He said as he put his guitar away and replaced the chair. “Oh hey, I almost forgot to say, my name is John Maxwell.”

He goes up onto the stage, took a chair from the side and placed it near the center. Sitting down and opening the case he removes a 12 Gibson acoustic. Wiping down the strings he says “I’ve also got a six string electric, but I figured this would be best since I didn’t know if your sound system would be up or not. Starting to strum he begins to sing the Jeffrey Gaines version of “In Your Eyes”. His playing is clear and sharp and his voice seems to be only slightly less than the full baritone than a few more years will bring out. As the song finishes he starts a Spanish Guitar influenced “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and concludes with a more obscure song by Colin Hay called “Waiting For My Real Life To Begin” When he finishes he looks up expectantly....What did you think? “I can only do this for a couple of weeks.” “I’ve got to find some after school work and my nights are kind of booked up already. *****Check YouTube for Jeffrey Gaines on the first two songs and Colin Hay’s acoustic version at CNN for the third***** Xxxxxxxxxxxxx I have Guitarist and Vocalist both on 13- and my Presence roll is 13-

All right, the flyer said I should have three songs ready for an audition. Should I get set up?

The door to the auditorium opens again and a young man carrying a guitar case steps in Uh..Hi, Mrs Clarke? I saw the flyer you put up looking for a guitarist to cover in the band for a couple of weeks?

I knew a player who designed a maneuver she called “Martial Run Like Hell” Half Move, DODGE, Half Move, DODGE!” Good night Nightshade, wherever you are.

John took a deep cleansing breath and walked through the main doors of the school as his fathers voice rang in his head saying “To thine own self be true.” He looked around at his fellow classmates. The schools he had gone to in Taos and Laramie were pretty good sized with a lot of different types of kids of a lot of different levels of wealth but here in Gotham everyone seemed to be running at a different speed. From the poorer kids to the rich, from the A-List to the outcasts they all seemed to have a unified sense of style, a sense of self. Maybe it was simply that they had all survived so far living in a place where the Joker could pop out and murder half the student body at any moment gave them that attitude. He felt out of place from his work boots and jeans that weren’t specially pre-washed and aged to look like they had been worn hard but had actually been outside a city from time to time and walked on something other than concrete and asphalt. To his Carhartt’s jacket in that ugly dark mustard color. The kind of coat you see every construction worker and ranch hand in the country wearing. His t-shirt, flannel shirt, sweatshirt combo seemed to fit in but even then if you payed attention you could tell it wasn’t worn as part of some grunge sensibility but just because it was cold. Even the messenger bag he carried his books in wasn’t the knapsack style most used here. It’s sturdy canvas and MOLLE straps were more reminiscent of his dad’s old shooting bag than the sharp leather designer ones most had. “Two years and I’m out.” “ I can handle two years, maybe less if I can test out of some classes.” ***The bag is a grey/black Tactical Rush Lima by 511 messenger bag. I couldn’t import a pic but you can find it and the Carhartt’s jacket on-line if you care to see.***

“I am this many days old.”

We turned out MUCH dumber than predicted.

STEP FOUR: Kentucky Fry that big mouth bird. Remember: Snitches get Stiches......and sides.

Well, nobody ever said that you couldn’t special effect any power in the book as whatever you want. You just can’t do things like use a skill level bought for M.A. with them. Like the Chuin example I mentioned.

Gun-Fu is kind of a different animal from the more standard MA’s. While Hawkeye may occasionally whack somebody with his bow or Spike Spegal with his gun their Martial Arts are generally separate from their archery or shooting. The most important question about all this is “What do you want?” (I sound like Mr. Morden) Is this just a technical question about the rules or is this more about really wanting to do a particular character and trying to figure out the best way to bring your vision to life.

What exactly is a ranged martial art? Martial Arts as described in the book would more or less be “I ball up my hand and smack you with it.” Or the ever popular “Boot to the head!” What is the real world version of this attack? If you’re talking about some kind of “I take my Chi Power and send a ball of energy at my opponent.” Then that’s an Energy Blast of some kind and while it may have a special effect of some type of Kung-Fu, it’s not a Martial Arts maneuver and has to be written up separately. But it’s certainly allowed IF you can pay for it. I once GM’ed for a madman who played Chuin: Master of Sinanju, without ever buying a Martial maneuver. Punches & Kicks were 0 range Killing Attacks. Dodge was Desolid with appropriate limitations, and so forth. It was an intellectual exercise for him to see if he could do it.

The young woman in question was dressed as Death of the Endless from Sandman...........I hope.

Are you talking about events that take place at the level of the Kings like say the Three Musketeers? Ordinary soldiers caught up in high level intrigues? There are a number of stories/instances where the Big Shots draft the little guy into doing the dirty work.

Oh yeah, when you see her...........You ask her! And baby, EVERYBODY sees her eventually.