Scything

Scything and I unexpectedly can't be there tomorrow; my daughter came home from school today not feeling well and just started puking all over the place. It may or may not be contagious, but no reason to risk it. 
 
Sorry for the late notice, I was psyched to wrap up the arc, but that's how it goes when you are a parent.
 

I like this campaign so far and hope to see everyone in February 8.
 

I like this campaign story line and want to see it where it goes. While I'm fully engaged and committed to its progression, I do admit that my long-term memory failed me for some of the story details. Perhaps I've grown spoiled by your story recaps, but this is a case where a summary might help reorient us. Also you can utter the words RTFM, which are always fun to say. 

Ok, so here are my thoughts:
 
1) Normally if 1 player can't make it I prefer to still meet and work around it. 
2) If two or more can't make it, I make a judgement call based upon where the the characters of the missing players are at narratively and whether or not their absence can be worked around without causing more trouble than it is worth.
3) However, currently the team is in a critical place where I actually want everyone at the table. Particularly considering we just spent an entire episode / session jumping thru the necessary hoops to get the team back together in a way that avoided a deus ex machina.
4) Unfortunately due to the holidays the current "action" has gotten stretched out in real world time over the course of a couple of calendar months and I feel like it has sucked away the urgency / emotional impact of the stakes involved for the characters. In the game world, the stakes are quite high, time is of the essence, and the situation is quite dire. In the real world, it may be hard for some of us at the end of January to remember and / or care about stuff that happened in November and to still feel the anxiety and engagement I hope was present when the current leg of the adventure unspooled.
 
Now, real life presents us with challenges to all being in the same place at the same time and I get it. Work is important. Family is important. Shit happens, and when push comes to shove meeting to play a game or indulge a hobby is obviously of lower priority. However, I feel like we have a good thing going with this group and I at least am having fun with the campaign and would like for us to find a way to move past all of the recent disruption and continue. 
 
So...here's what I want to happen and then we can discuss if we all agree and if we can make it happen:
 
I want us to all be present for the next session, which will hopefully be Feb 8, and for us to all make an attempt to re-engage with the in-game narrative and try to get back into the headspace of feeling trepidation for the characters and caring about what's going to happen next. For my part, I will take a beat at the beginning of the session to reframe the scene and do my best to sink the hook for all of you. 
 
If some of us are at a point where we need to take a step back from the campaign and focus on other things, or if we are tired of the campaign and don't want to continue that's ok too...I just ask that we all be transparent about where our heads are at.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. See you in January,

No game today then. See you all early next year. Wish you the best.

No, it was rather desultory and ignominious. Drew burned through all of his extreme luck keeping Jack (who started the session with only 3 BODY remaining) alive, and without any remaining to modify the bad guys rolls he got hit and staggered. Without his Combat Luck to save him Drew was then easily ripped apart before he could recover by the trio of tentacled nascent shoggoths played by Steve, Scything, and King Red. Looks like Unconventional Solutions needs a new ops chief.
 
In death, members of Unconventional Solutions have a name...his name was Drew "Reckless seems like a sensible Complication to me" Altman.

 
Later in the evening Killroy had a classic Jason Bourne / Jack Bauer-esque solo adventure, successfully (and rather easily) reclaiming from a drug gang's crack house a mystery loot box of unmentionables stolen from the Societatis ex Monstrum Interfectorum. He even resisted to urge to look in the box, which he had been forbidden from doing by his handler. Having established his trustworthiness and reliability, Killroy has been accepted as a member of the Societatis...secretly of course. Killroy never even pulled a gun; he roughed up and intimidated his way through the gang members. It was pretty epic.

I'm okay with running NPCs if there's not really anything for Beretta to do other than recover in a hospital bed, since I get experience even if I'm not playing my main character.
 
I'll do my best to hinder Jack & Drew with shooting skills worthy of a graduate of the illustrious Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy.  

Ok, I'm planning to run the session at 5pm tomorrow 11/16 @ At Ease Games. I'm going to do a push on the main encounter until Murgy is present, so instead we are going to focus on A) Jack & Drew's daring duo escape, B ) Killroy's mysterious Big Solo Adventure, and C) I still have 33 hours to figure out something fun for Beretta and Joey back in Quantico and a plausible reason for Murgy to be unavailable. 
 
Given that the party managed to get split 3 ways, I'll be handing out some NPC sheets to players to play for certain scenes to keep you engaged...for instance during Jack & Drew's escape, the rest of you will have some bad guys to play to complicate their escape, etc. 
 
The goal is simple: even though this will technically be a filler episode due to real life scheduling conflicts, we are going to endeavor to make it so packed with interesting character focusing bits and hijinks that it does not feel like a filler episode. 

Laser Etched Joey onto birch wood

will be there
Hope you guys had a fun time last weekend doing your gaming stuff.

I'm planning to run tomorrow at 5pm @ At Ease Games...
@Scything, @L0rd_Magg0t, @WilyQ, @Durzan Malakim, @Steve, @King Red

This is the state of each character heading into Act II of Arc 4:
 
Jack Maywood Slayer / Alchemist Lord Maggot Joey Manegarm Lokispawn Scything Beretta Colt Final Girl Steve Drew Altman Lucky Operator WilyQ Murgatroyd Arcanist Durzan Killroy Sniper / Cabalist King Red  
@L0rd_Magg0t @Scything @Steve @WilyQ @Durzan Malakim @King Red

Sorry to be lagging behind...a lot going on in real life currently. I'd really like to be doing the session write ups but I just don't have the time currently. If someone else wants to take a stab at it on this thread, I don't mind at all.

We played last Saturday night, ending Act 1 of the arc. As it was a significant session and a milestone, 5 XP was on the table...King Red got 4 XP, Lord Maggot got 6 XP due to above and beyond play as a possessed version of Jack and also taking on running Daryll and his zombies in the nights big fight scene. Everyone else got 5 XP. 
 
Scything and Steve had a split vote for MVP and they both did great things in the session so rather than break the tie I awarded it to both of them. 
 
 

Yes, "Demon Jack" was my favorite part of the night as well in general, and the glue bomb situation in particular. My favorite thing about having @L0rd_Magg0t at the table is how flexible and willing to roll with the story he is.

Had a fun session last Saturday, my favorite moment of the night was when "Jack" threw the glue bomb then Joey deflected it and it still landed on both of us.

Session 2 of Qlippothic Philosophic was played last evening...the Hunters traveled to Shreveport, LA to take a job at a casino having problems with someone cheating...with some kind of magic!  Joey & Killroy were awarded 2 XP each. Beretta, Drew, Jack, and Murgatroyd were each awarded 3 XP. Jack, played by @L0rd_Magg0t was voted MVP for the second session in a row. It was communicated that there was an XP spending freeze in effect until the Hunters resolve Act I of the arc. 

I've never been there, but a quick review of Wikipedia told me that the weather is probably going to be brutal on anyone wearing body armor, depending on the time of the year. The average highs are in the 80s to 90s from late spring to early fall and combine with over 70 percent humidity pretty much year-round. I think a few of our PC comrades favoring trenchcoats and full body armor might be in danger of passing out from LTE loss during a typical summertime day there.
 
The populace is over half African-American, so our pale-skinned group of PCs might stand out even more there than normal. And the crime rate is through the roof with 66 crimes per 1,000 residents, and it ranks #18 on America's 25 Murder Capitals.

Cool, glad to have more good NPCs rather than bad 🙂👍

@Steve wrote up everyone's favorite executive assistant Laverne...
 

Laverne
(click picture)
 

The first real session of Arc 4 occurred yesterday. It went in a different direction than planned (the scripted adventure was in Shreveport , LA, but the session ended up being about interacting with a vampiric presence in Boston), so it was almost entirely improv, but it was fun and hopefully people enjoyed it. It was entirely my own fault; I was trying to seed story elements as bait for future adventure to be re-visited later after the team returned to Boston from Shreveport, but I messed up the timing of it and the group jumped on the hook early. It may actually work out better this way in the long run, but I was under-prepared in the moment and had to wing it. The players rolled with it and made it work; they're great and a pleasure to game with.
 
Everyone got 4 XP, and @L0rd_Magg0t was voted the MVP due to taking charge of the situation when the group decided to assault a vamp in their own lair (at night), and empowering the team to succeed with his alchemical acumen. It was the first episode where Jack really got to  shine, and neither the character nor the player disappointed. Honorable mentions, Murgatroyd also had a lot of great scenes, and @Durzan Malakim carried a lot of the weight of the emerging story for the group. @WilyQ ended up running all the bad guys as Drew was off camera the entire session, @Steve made up and ran Laverne, the team's new secretary and a big hit at the table. @King Red stepped up and demonstrated that Killroy is more than just a guy with a big gun...he was putting Killroy through his paces and using a lot more of the character sheet. And @Scything 's skilling up of Joey's computer abilities paid off as he was able to get a lot of information and keep the team moving forward with good intel. 
 
There is an XP spending freeze in effect.
 
I'm looking forward to next session when we may find the Hunters in Shreveport as expected...if the loa's be kind of course.

An Unconventional Solutions Interlude
Or Murgatroyd get Mega Trolled
 
Murgatroyd: "I have been reading those four em sites you suggested, and I think I've found us some new hunters to recruit."
Joey: "Forums, Mr. Murgatroyd. They're called forums."
Murgatroyd: "Four ems. That's what I said."
Joey: "Never mind, Mr. Murgatroyd. Who did you find?"
Murgatroyd: "Sam and Dean Winchester. They're prolific hunters who've faced angels, demons, vampires, and werewolves..."
Joey: "How did you find them, Mr. Murgatroyd?"
Murgatroyd: "I did just what you told me to, Joey. I went to the four ems, typed in "Supernatural hunters", and found pages and pages about them. It was surprisingly easy."
Joey: <Fist pumps the air> "Yes! Yes! Awesome! Thank you, Mr. Murgatroyd." <Does a victory dance>
Murgatroyd: <Confused by Joey's display> "Thank you for what?"
Joey: "Oh, ah, for finding such awesome recruits." <heads out into the hall> "I'm gonna tell Mr. Altman about them."
Murgatroyd: <Calling into the hall> "But I haven't finished telling you about them..." <Rolls his eyes> "Kids today. They're so impatient." <Goes back to reading about the Winchester brothers>
Joey: <From further down the hall> "I win! I win! I win! You owe me."
Drew: <From his office down the hall> "Enjoy the twenty bucks, kid."
Joey: "Yes!"
Drew: "Now enjoy telling him why we can't recruit them."
Joey: "What? Why me?"
Drew: "Because that's what I just paid you to do. Have fun, kid. Best twenty bucks I ever spent." <The sound of a door closing>
Murgatroyd: <Calling down the hall> "I think Jack will really like these guys. They have a cool black car."
Joey: "Shit."

I had a fun time last night, my favorite moment was when 4 different were talking to Mr. Murgatroyd, but he kept his cool, told Joey to shut up, and told Jack to take initiative because vampires are his thing. Also, congrats to @L0rd_Magg0t for getting his first MVP, Jack got to shine where he does best, and he also took Drew's decision making role in a way, which I thought was good on Jacks part. Lastly, because Jack got his first MVP this means that everyone has got an MVP, so hopefully our continuing success will keep us going for many sessions and arcs to come.

@Scything Just remember to act like the Aggie Bonfire's heat affects Joey even though it doesn't.  

When I was coming with the backstory and what he was doing before he was introduced into Arc 1. I said that Joey and his tech partner Teja were in a battle bots program and we won a national competition,and Joey was hoping to get a scholarship from Texas A&M because he knew he couldn't get into M.I.T.