Mark Rand

Re: A Secret Service Question A few notes reguarding Holly and the circus. The show employs a nurse, Catherine "Cat" Campbell, R.N.P., to handle medical problems. Before coming to the show, Cat worked in a Level One trauma center that was closed down when the hospital was purchased by another one. The show's insurance company requires that Holly's blood sugar tests and insulin injections be monitored by a physician or nurse. Cat also has the right to ground any performer when they're not feeling well. Holly has several acts. She's on the single trapeze, assists her husband with his juggling, rides a horse, hangs by her waist-length blonde hair, and is the flier on a cradel act. (Her husband is her catcher.) Did I forget any? Yes, I did. She's shot out of American Beauty, her red, white, and blue circus cannon, which her husband fires. It takes Holly and her family over one hour to set up and test the cannon. They won't rush it. Nobody in the family wants Holly to get hurt. For those that are interested, here a few things about the cannon act for your consideration. Holly's fired by compressed air. The explosion and smoke are a stage effect The cannon shot covers a distance of 183-feet, 6-inches on the ground. The actual flight path, a balistic arch is longer. Holly goes from 0 to 50 miles per hour in one fifth of a second. She pulls 9Gs when she's leaving the muzzle and hits the net with a force of 12Gs.

Re: Murphy's Curse

"Anything that can go wrong, will," is one version of Murphy's law. Believe it or not, there was a real Murphy, Captain Edward A. Murphy, U.S.A.F. What he actually said was, "If there's a way to do it wrong, he'll find it," after noticing that a technician had wired a transducer wrong. However, he didn't create this law, he was quoting Sod's Law, so named because it could happen to any poor sod. So much for history. The idea came to me that Murphy's law would be a cool curse. It transforms someone, or something, into the same purson, or thing, with unluck. Two questions for our wise panel. Is this a major or minor transformation? How much unluck?

Re: A Secret Service Question Just couple quick thoughts. Andrea could have a commando team, trained by Riley Finn and/or Buffy Summers, backing up Ellen Jackson and her undead-hunting team. Since Ellen and her friends are in the city the heroes are in, she might also ask them, in exchange for federal sanction, to either help keep an eye on Ellen and her team mates or bring them into the hero team, possibly as reservists.

Re: A Secret Service Question July 2003: Andrea visits Slayer Central and meets the D.C. area Slayer team, which consists of three Slayers, a Watcher, a white witch, and a computer expert. They exchange notes and contact information. She finds the mystical gear bags, created by Willow, interesting. Each, the aize of a fanny pack on the outside, is big enough inside to hold ten stakes, two bottles of holy water, two crosses, a crossbow, ten wooden-shafted bolts, a non-magical version of Buffy's scythe, and a sword of the person's choice. She also meets Ellen Jackson and the other members of the team she's on and decides to join them on patrol. As she does, she notes that black motorcycle leathers seem to be the standard uniform for Slayers. After that, she travels to the circus and meets Holly. As they talk, she notes the presence of state and local police on the lot. One officer tells her that they aren't going to let anything to happen to the daughter of a Presidential candidate. August 2003: Senator Robert Kinsey announces that he's in the running for the Presidency. Ellen Jackson and her team mates head for San Angelo, California, the city my campaign's set in May 2004: The D.C. Slayer team and the Secret Service deal with some problem-causing demons. August 2004: Three days before the Democratic Convention a huge army of demons attack Los Angeles and the world discovers that the undead really do exist. Captain Jim Brass of the Las Vegas Police is interviewed on national television after the incident. He tells the world what they're doing to pass the word to law enforcement agencies about the threat. During the interview, Jim points out that there are many kinds of demons and most are honorable creatures. He adds that he knows one that sings in various shows. Michael Moore, who is also interviewed, claims that Bush has ties to Wolfram and Hart, which has ties to Hell. By the end of the convention, Jack Ryan is the Eemovratic candidate for the Presidency and Robby Jackson is the Vice-Presidential candidate. November 2004: Jack Ryan is the President-elect and Robby Jackson is the Vice-President-elect.

Re: A Secret Service Question As promised, the timeline. I'm assuming Andrea Ptice-O'Day has been briefed, probably by Riley Finn, about vampires, demons, Slayers, Warchers and such. January 2003: Jack Ryan announces that he's a candidate for the Presidency. He also informs the public that his wife, Cathy, has no plans to give up her medical practice and that his married daughter, Holly, has no plans to leave the circus. Andrea shakes her head. Protecting Cathy Ryan would be fairly easy. Since she's one of the district's leading physicians and surgeons, she and her staff have cared for the eyes of Presidents and other VIPs for years. Holly, however, would be a challange. She's sure the circus she works for wouldn't let Holly's Secret Service agents have any say in the show's operation. May 2003: Robby Jackson announces his candidacy. June 2003: The Sunnydale earthquake. Two days later, she receives a message from Riley Finn. Buffy and her team are now in Las Vegas. They will be assigning a Slayer team to Washington D.C. as soon as possible. He adds that the Las Vegas Poilce are helping train Slayers and Watchers in police proceedures and are ordered to cooporate with the police. Slayer Central is also willing to train Secret Service agents as Watchers, train any Secret female Service agents who become Slayers in their suties, then assign them to the Secret Service, or train a team especially for the Secret Service. One week later, Robbie tells Andrea that his daughter, Ellen, is a Slayer. Andrea decides to visit the Slayer school at the same time she visits the Ross Brothers Circus, where Holly works as a performer. Timeline to be continued.

Re: A Secret Service Question I like.

Re: A Secret Service Question I'll be posting a timeline of events, from when Senator Jack Ryan started his run to the Presidency (January 2003) to February 2005, within the next few days. Said timeline will be from Andrea Price-O'Day's point of view.

Re: A Secret Service Question A few ideas off the top of my head. Andrea Price-O'Day hashad a few of the agents in the Secret Service's Protection Division trained as Watchers. A couple are assigned to Ellen's detail. Holly's detail includes Secret Service agents, officers from the State Police of whatever state the circus is in, and military commandos in plain clothes. One Secret Service agent travels with the 24-hour advance agent, another stays with with Holly when she's not "on stage", and others work undercover as part of the prop crew. The show people knows who they are, but the audience doesn't.

Re: Vampire the masquerade Michael Surbrook has information on converting White Wolf to Hero System on his site.

Re: A Secret Service Question Good points. The only Enterprise in the campaign is Boing's single-stage-to-orbit 747-lookalike shuttle. The SGC, if it exists, and Initative could be sources of agents. Of course, Andrea could always ask Buffy to provide Watcher training to some of her agents. Another thought, a federal law enforcement or intelligence agent that finds herself empowered by Willow's spell could serve as a guard for Ellen. Getting back to Holly for a moment, she is willing to let the agents do what she wants, as long as they don't try to run the circus.

Re: A Secret Service Question An earlier version of this idea, that could work with James Collingsworth, but not Jack Ryan, is that Holly's father disowned her and removed her from his health insurance policy when she decided to join the circus. (Holly's now on the health insurance policy her mother has through her medical practice.) Given the fact the Battle for LA, at the end of Angel, happened one year after the Slayers were empowered by Willow, it's possible that Ellen was in that Battle. Fanfiction has it that that the public now knows about things that they forgot, many Slayers are famous, their stuff is sometimes up for auction online, that they are now working with the police, and that police internal affairs units are monitoring them. In a superhero world, they also work with superheroes and agencies like PRIMUS and UNTIL and Ellen's father might have traded on his relation to a Slayer to help him in the ellection.

Re: A Secret Service Question Good Point.

Re: A big cat question Actually, in her civilian identity, she resembles Gillian Anderson, Dana Scully of X-files.

Re: A big cat question

Re: A Secret Service Question A quick note here. Since the ringmaster refers to Holly as either "Miss Holly" or "Miss Holly Valdez", the general public is not aware that she's the President's daughter.

Re: A big cat question

Re: A big cat question Please. I don't have access to the book anymore.

Special Agent Susan Grey, a metahuman herself, is assigned to the West Coast Avengers as its FVI liaison, mainly because she's unpopular with the top brace and they want her out of their hair. To quote her last SAC, "You're a freak, Grey. I'm assigning you as our liaison with the West Coast Avengers. They're freaks like you." Susan can switch to and from cougar (or mountain lion) form when she wants to and her clothes shift with her. "I've found a sheet for her in human form. Now, what big car do I use for her mountain lion form, the cheetah or the leopard?

Re: A Secret Service Question I'm dropping the IST San Angelo campaign and switching to an Avengers West Coast campaign with the team based in San Angelo. Jack Ryan is the President, Cathy Ryan, M.D. is the First Lady, Robby Jackson is the Vice President. In Tom Clancy's books, Cathy works at the Johns Hopkins University Medical Center. My version of Cathy has her in private practice, near the George Washington University Medical Center, hence, her practice name of Medical Center Eye Ophthomology. She and her staff wear navy-blue scrubs with the practice name in white and will have no problem working with the Secret Service. Holly is, in this campaign, an addition to the Ryan clan. She told the Secret Service that she'd accept their protection only if they didn't interfere with the operation of the circus. They said that they'd think about it. The Secret Service knows about Slayers and such and Agent Price-O'Day, who heads the President's detail, keeps the phone numbers of the Washington, D.C. Slayer team and Slayer Central, near the Cleveland Hellmouth, on her speed dial. She's worked with Ellen Jackson before and has found her to be completely professional when dealing with undead creatures. Andrea decided to have an agent with Ellen when she's not patrolling. When she's hunting vamps one agent follows her and her three team members on foor while a second paces them in a car. Both agents wear crosses and carry stakes and comlinks. The agent in the car also has two crossbows and wooden bolts handy, just in case.

Re: IST San Angelo I'm considering dropping the IST San Angelo campagn andreplacing it with a West Coast Avengers campaign with the team based in San Angelo. Much of the world will remain the same, but there will be a few changes.

Re: A Secret Service Question No, they wear scrubs.

Re: A Secret Service Question Am I right in assuming that Holly, the President's daughter, and Elena, the Vice-President's, can legally refuse protection?

Re: IST San Angelo "I know, but it still bothers me." "I understand," Donna said. "This is just a different culture that you're used to." "You're right," Mariko said. As Mariko and Donna talked, April and Shadowcat continued working. When they finished bringing the bodies through, they took the clothing from the custodian's apartment, then helped Mariko and Donna with the bodies. "That's it," Donna finally said. "All that's left is for me to finish doing the laundry. I guess some of this stuff will be claimed by people." "I'm going to claim sofe of it," Shadowcat said. "Of course, I'll probably wear it only in the nexus rooms." "Don't be too sure of that," April said. "Some of the clothes could be worn as disguises. If you like, I can help you pick out some things." "I'd like that," Shadowcat said. "Good night, ladies," Donna said, returning to the warehouse. "Good night, Donna," April, Mariko and Shadowcat said together.

Re: A Secret Service Question A few quick notes. The First Lady was in practice in D.C. for 10-years when her husband became President. All her staff members have been with her for at least two years and had no problem showing the Secret Service agents around the office and going over proceedures with them. They also pointed out that there's always at least one staffer in the exam room when the doctor is there. Holly, the First Daughter joined the circus, as a showgirl, five years before her father became President. Mr. Valdez, her teacher and future father-in-law, was amazed by her ability and taught her all he could. She didn't start learning the human cannonball act until she married into his family. As far as her diabetis goes, Holly gives herself insulin injections, checks her blood sugar level often, always before a performance, and checks her weight at least six times each day, all under the supervision of the medical team, which has the authority to ground her if something's wrong. The current Vice President has been, as of this writing, only in office for one week, (the former Vice President was Impeached for physically attacking the President at Stargate Command and is now in jail). Her daughter, on the other hand, has been a Slayer since Willow Rosenberg activated them 18-months ago and spent six months in training with her teammates. As far as Slaying gear goes, everyone carries fanny packs, created by Willow that are bigger inside than outside. All contain wooden stakes, vials of Holy water, two extra crosses, a crossbow with wooden bolts, a non-magical version of Buffy's scythe, and a sword of the person's choice. The First Lady and the Vice President's daughter do wear white gloves, but only when they're forced to attend some formal affair that they can't get out of.