Road Trip In Nowhere

Welcome to my attempt to adapt Dread to a bulletin board.

roleplay thread

sign up thread

Vehicle and equipment information

Approved characters:

Character Name: Silvia Fisher

Player Name: Yam

Physical description: Mid twenties. Petite and pale with straight medium-dark shade brown shoulder length hair, medium shade brown eyes, dressed in casual attire. Finger nails cut short and clean.

Character background: Bank teller. Has a skill for distances and measurements. Can squeeze into small spaces. Quiet footsteps and fast hands.

Location character was trying to go to: Heading back to her home in Osoyoos, British Columbia after attending a friend's wedding.

Fear/phobia: Heights

Small item: Small music box

Large item: Indestructible duffel bag

Vehicle character wants to take: Sedan

Character name: Jeremy "Nick" Johnson.

Player name: Firock Finion.

Character description: Male, Caucasian, 19, 5'4", short brown hair, green eyes. Always has his brown trench coat on, (see large item) only taking it off to wash it; beneath that is some plain light attire, tank top and jeans, and some sturdy hiking boots. He takes the boots off while sleeping, but keeps his socks and the rest of his attire on.

Where was your character going eventually: Utah, to go rock climbing on vacation.

Character background: Aspiring/freelance (AKA unemployed) photographer, Jeremy is a natural outdoorsman, used to camping and being away from the conveniences of modern life, with all that implies; he knows how to start a fire without a lighter, how to fish and set up simple snare traps, and other such things. Also, he's fairly well fit; while not supremely strong, he does have great endurance, from activities such as the aforementioned rock climbing that he meant to go on, and hiking. And of course, if he gets his hands on a camera, he knows how to take some beautiful photos, especially of natural landscapes.

Character's phobia / fear: Being confined.

Character's large item: "Nick's" trench coat of clear thinking. A somewhat old looking but strong and reliable, brown colored trench coat. Wearing the trench coat makes Jeremy highly resistant to anything trying to have an affect on his mental status, helping him stay clear headed at all times; it even counteracts the usual grogginess one would feel right after waking up, letting Jeremy be alert and functional instantly. It also has the odd side effect of making everyone who meets Jeremy for the first time assume that his name is Nick until he is properly introduced.

Character's small item: Battered wallet of sort of limitless money. An old, battered wallet that always has $30 in assorted small bills in it, which resets after any purchasing transaction is complete; this includes putting any leftover change from the transaction back into the wallet, so Jeremy can't build up additional money by buying $20 items and keeping $10 over and over.

Vehicle character wants the group to take: An RV.

Character name: Tito Vasquez

Player name: Taco Badger

Character description: Half-latino, half-Polish, born in America, Tito is a heavy set man, with a somewhat athletic frame. He is 30 years old, has a full head of hair, and a thick mustache. Wears a black tanktop, with a grey jacket over it, as well as baggy denim jeans and gym shoes.

Where was your character going eventually: He was originally going to California, to attend his mother's funeral.

Character background: Tito was a high school running back in Boise, Idaho, and while he still somewhat maintains his athleticism, after high school, he worked at a car dealership, originally just as a heavy lifter, but eventually graduating to an actual salesman.

Character's phobia / fear: Fire and Crowds

Character's large item: A spare tire, just in case.

Character's small item: A pair of brass knuckles, just in case.

Vehicle character wants the group to take: An SUV, because it leaves room for people.

Character Name: Kayne

Player Name: Jumping Fruit

Character Description: A (5'0", 120 lbs.) 15-year-old Asian girl with shaggy black hair tied in a ponytail and dark brown eyes. She wears a dark gray zip-up hoodie with a black t-shirt underneath, baggy khakis, and combat boots with woolen socks.

Eventual Destination: Nowhere in particular, as she was wandering the US before she stumbled into Springfield.

Character Background: Kayne is an orphan who ran away from an oppressive orphange to go hitch-hiking around the country. She refuses to tell people her last name, as "she doesn't have one."

She is fairly quick and light on her feet, and fairly stealthy and good at stealing things. She knows some first-aid, survival skills, and mythological folklore from reading books.

Character's Phobia/Fear: Darkness

Character's Large Item: Strangely Handy Backpack—Kayne's black cloth backpack. There is no brand name to be seen anywhere on it. She uses it to carry her spare clothes. It is actually much bigger on the inside, and whenever looking for something, the desired item will always be on top. It is waterproof and fireproof.

Character's Small Item: Heirloom Knife—Kayne's 5" pocketknife. It has a wooden handle with a small compass embedded in it. She claims it was handed down her family line, from parents to children. When it is dark, the blade will emit a small glow. When this knife is with Kayne, she will not be as scared of the dark.

Chosen Vehicle: The RV

Characters approved but not being actively played right now:

Character name: Charlie Sutura

Player name: Korodzik

Character description: Male, 30, black, shaved bald, tall, muscular. Wears a jersey shirt and jeans.

Where was your character going eventually: Escaping the country after making enemies with the wrong people.

Character background: A former truck driver and bouncer, he found his calling—or so he thought—in the world of underground fighting rings, which turned out to be a far more profitable job. He is very athletic, highly proficient at hand-to-hand fighting, and is pretty good at driving and basic car maintenance.

Character's phobia / fear: Snakes.

Character's large item: Emergency kit.

Character's small item: Book of matches.

Vehicle character wants the group to take: Sedan

edited 7th Apr '18 3:44:27 PM by Nodrog

Should we be starting already, or wait to see if more people are going to sign up? If so, I can't guarantee I'll be able to post tonight, but I might.

Also, should've thought of this before, but will our characters already know about the properties of their own special items, since they've been in Springfield for a while? (I assume they will not automatically know about the special items the other characters hold.)

edited 18th Mar '18 4:12:40 PM by FirockFinion

I'd like at least a third person, but you can go ahead and post now. if nothing else, you two need to argue over whether you want Mortimer to fix up your RV or Silvia's Sedan.

Yes, you are aware of the properties of the items but you don't realize there is anything unusual about the items. If you want to buy anything from the general store or from the Last Station, let me know what you want to buy (either here or in the RP thread) and I'll let you know find it or not.

Okay, I think I get the vibe you're going for; let me know if I should change anything in my post.

I think I got your third.

Welcome, Taco Badger!

My profile is on Signups at the moment

I've been thinking about this while at work today; I feel like I have to say something, I just don't want to come across as rude, really. Something occurred to me that I realize I should have thought of and recommended earlier for this game.

I do like the idea of this dice roll mechanic where it gets riskier and riskier until eventually something bad happens, but, I don't like the idea that the only bad thing is, "you die instantly". Again, I don't think it's going to be fun in the long term, and it probably kept a few players away from joining, too. So how about some things that could happen besides, "you die instantly"? (Maybe even instead of?)

Stuff like, you fail the roll, your character gets injured; maybe also if you fail another roll before your character has fully recovered from the injury, then they die. Then like, have another pool for, "something in the car breaks" to make one roll on between towns and then additional rolls if we do anything stupid with the car and/or stressful on its parts. Maybe also a "hidden danger" roll, for having some unexpected danger pop up in a place that previously seemed fine, if you really want. Stuff like that, just, anything besides, "you die instantly".

I say all this because, you said you didn't want to be, "That GM" that's just looking for excuses to kill off characters, but then you went and put that, "fail this roll and you die instantly" in literally your second post of the game, which sends mixed signals. (Also, I thought you said you were going to save those rolls for when something actually dangerous is happening. I get you don't want us to have that chess board item for "free", but what's the risk here? That Jeremy might suddenly fall and break his neck? That isn't fun.)

edited 19th Mar '18 6:08:30 PM by FirockFinion

As long as we're making suggestions on getting more players, I think the GM should know that the link for the objects didn't work on my (admittedly oldish) ipad without having to download an app (works fine on laptop though). It might be a good idea to have the objects/cars listed on one of the threads.

I can compromise, but I think there needs to be a real risk to the characters for the drama I want. How about this: IF you fail early on, the risk wont be immediate death, but will require help from others to get out. That's sort of my rational for offering the chess set.

Remember the risk: Right now, the risk is only 1%, one chance in a hundred. Next time it'll be 2%, then 3%...

edited 19th Mar '18 11:46:33 PM by Nodrog

But why does your idea of risk demand death, and only death? There's other ways to have risk that don't have to involve us losing our characters. Plus I even gave a suggestion that could still end up in death, just a much fairer, less un-fun death.

What you have in mind isn't just going to make death a possibility; it's going to be an inevitability, a guarantee, that sooner or later, someone will die and there will be nothing we can do to prevent or undo it, just because random chance said so. And that just isn't fun on the player side of things. A risk filled game where we can die is fun, but a risk filled game where we will die is not. Do you understand what I'm getting at?

Again, all of this really does make you seem like "That GM" that you stated you didn't want to be. Your stated intentions and your plan of actions do not coincide.

edited 19th Mar '18 11:58:57 PM by FirockFinion

My intention as not being 'that GM' is not causing total player kills just on a whim. I do agree that it wouldn't be fun to get killed off early in the game for bad luck, so how about this:

I now declare the game is in green mode. In green, failure will cause something bad to happen but NOT character death. When I announce it's in yellow mode, that means your character may die or not if you fail.    Red    will be if a fail means automatic character death.

edited 20th Mar '18 12:29:58 AM by Nodrog

But... Having a system where it's possible for us to be permanently killed off with no chance to prevent it, just because random chance said so, effectively is just killing a character on a whim. I genuinely do not understand how you don't see that. I don't think it'll really be any less un-fun later than it would be early, either.

So I still don't think that's a good system. Better than what you proposed originally? I suppose, but still not good, no.

Anyway, I know it's late, but there's a post regardless. Despite how I may be coming across here, I'm not feeling like abandoning this RP just because I don't agree with the system... Not now, anyway.

edited 20th Mar '18 1:33:36 AM by FirockFinion

I apologize, I have clearly failed my duties as a GM and not explained my social contract as the GM for a dread game.

THE GM SOCIAL CONTRACT FOR DREAD:

As the GM for a Dread game, i promise I will never kill your character directly. That's what the tower dice are for.

Character Death will only occur if you deliberately knock over the tower (In the table top version, this means deliberately knocking over a Jenga tower. For this bulletin board version, it means you say you sacrifice yourself to succeed at a situation and reset the table) or fail a pull (For this bulletin board version, I'm using pull to mean I make a 1d100 roll for you on my table. In a table top game of Dread, a pull is pulling a block from a Jenga tower). Pulls will always be in reaction to character actions; however, i will not always announce ahead of time what the degree of risk is. '

Just as death bad stuff is always possible when risking, not even the GM can make death certain for a player character. I also promise that the ABSOLUTE worst I will assign is 20 pulls, and that would be for something like a player announces 'Just before the Godzilla monster fire breaths, I'm going to jump out of the plane and down its throat. Oh, and I'm wearing a vest of sticks of dynamite instead of a parachute. How many pulls do I need to make to survive?'. ((If you survive 20 pulls, the dynamite vest gets lodged in the radioactive mutant monster's throat. It collapses, dying on the desert floor. You somehow chew your way out of the monster's acid-filled belly and never have to pay for drinks at the local bar again.)) My soft limit will be 5 (Don't do something insanely stupid, I won't go over that limit. Example: Your pilot jumps out of the plane and down Godzilla's throat. After the pilot fails his thirteenth pull, the monster eats him, dynamite and all. One of you will have to make five pulls to land the plane safely, or each make three pulls to find parachutes and jump safely. Reduce the number of pulls if the player landing the plane points out his character has a back ground as a computer nerd and spent thousands of hours playing Microsoft Flight Simulator).

To make it clear: Pulls will always be assigned as a result of player actions, either as an immediate reaction or a delayed reaction. (Leave an enemy alive but defeated, screaming about how he's going to come back and murder you all in your sleep? If you all go to sleep in a hotel room, with no guard and the door unlocked? That calls for a reaction.) As long as two or more characters are together, players will always have the choice of which one goes to face the danger, and I will try to avoid 'surprise' danger pulls. Pulls will ONLY be assigned in response to player actions, either specifically stated ahead of time (Example: You are in the middle of a field of half-empty oil barrels, being chased by a monster. You can shoot a flare gun to kill him, but you will need to face several rolls to avoid dying in a massive fireball. Does anyone want to take the shot?), by doing something you should understand (barring massive brain damage) is risky, or because of overlooking what I feel are potential threats. This last could go under the you-should-understand clause, but I'm including it because I realize as GM there will be things I know about my story that you don't and what I think is an obvious threat isn't always obvious to players.

Also, pulls can be a form of player currency, to do things you want to do in the game. You can do things like say 'Our group is hungry. My character goes into the old building to look for food. How many pulls do I need to make to find any?' . As a Dread RPG GM, I absolutely love rewarding social behavior like this. You can also do things like 'I want to stab John's character in the back'. You then have to make a pull to attack, forcing John to make a pull to defend. If both survive, you or John can make another pull to attack again.

In the case of a surprise threat, I will NEVER assign more then one pull per player in the group, and usually will let you choose how to divide the pulls (ex: 'You four are exploring the abandoned cave mine with the large 'DANGER' signs out front. None of you have flashlights so are using torches. You wander into a room marked 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY'. AS the GM, I announce: 'The good news is you found where the miners stored their dynamite. As the bad news, your group needs to make four surprise rolls'. One person can make all four rolls, Each player can take one roll, or two or three people can divide the rolls any way they want.)

For this game:

At any time, your character can announce that he/she is settling down in a town and is assumed to live forever there.

In areas designated green zones, such as Springfield, bad stuff for failing a roll will NOT include death. In yellow zones, bad stuff will either be individual character death OR a problem that will affect the group as a whole. In    red    zones, bad stuff is character death. I will let you know when you are entering a yellow or    red    zone and will only use the new zone rules for actions you do AFTER I have made the announcement that the zone has changed.

Potential threats in this game: Outside of a town, any NPC you meet is a potential hazard. That cute little dog with shaving cream on his muzzle? He has rabies. The hitchhiker in the Casey Jones cosplay outfit? He escaped the local Asylum for the Violently Deranged. That eight-year-old white girl, in the middle of the ghetto with a bunch of monsters at night, holding quantum physics books? She's about to start some shit, Zed.

Once you encounter an NPC (either directly or an NPC being introduced in a cut scene), assume that NPC may follow you into town. Any player who splits up from the group may be assigned to make one (and only one) roll to survive the surprise. After that, multiple rolls may be required to try to avoid or confront the threat. As long as you have at least one meat shield other player character with you who is willing to face any danger for your character and do not do anything dangerous, your character is safe.

For this online, I will also cap the table, so that the danger of an individual roll never exceeds 50%. I will start out the cap at 25%.

Signed, Nodrog the GM

March 20th, 2018

edited 20th Mar '18 1:22:52 PM by Nodrog

Ah, that does seem a lot better now that you've clarified that up. I do find it a little strange though that you wanted to implement a tabletop game's rules onto a forum RP. (So that's why you kept calling them "pulls". I thought it was an autocorrected typo.) I mean, these have a different kind of player investment and expectations to them.

Anyway, I'll try to have a post up later, but it'll probably be a while.

Hmm... The triple roll for the special tool seems worth it to me. Yam?

It's always good to have a thing to make other things with.

Phone post, I'll go for the triple roll. Should be on for real within three hours or so.

If it wasn't obvious, you all passed the rolls. Next roll will be at a 6 percent chance of failure.

Sorry for the delay; some other things took priority after I got home. Also, I went ahead and edited my signup to add the new items, and to make a change to the battered wallet that Nodrog PMed me about.

edited 21st Mar '18 11:46:26 PM by FirockFinion

Ok, I'll try to remember what items I give you but I expect characters to do their part and remind the GM about items they want to use.

If Jerremy/Nick agrees, Tito can pay for the cigarettes and take the book of matches. then leave the store without further interaction with the cashier. Alternatively Jeremy and Tito can look around the store or question the cashier, but Jeremy will not be able to use his wallet to pay for anything else in the story until after lunch (I'll be a nice GM and allow a mid-day refill this once, if Jeremy wants to purchase any supplies before leaving Springfield). If they want to shoplift anythng it will risk a pull.

You all have already paid for you hotel rooms for last night (Silvia using the last of her American currency) but if you spend another night at the hotel, it will mean you'll either have to run out on your hotel bill or finding some way to pay for your stay. If you want to eat at the All-Night Diner, they'll let you wash dishes for two hours in exchange for your meal.

It's probably getting close to noon. Anyone with a weapon (including the swiss-army-knife-of-many-things) can try to rob someone.

edited 22nd Mar '18 12:34:02 PM by Nodrog

You said once per store or whatever, not once per day period. So Jeremy should still be able to go to the diner (that I forgot existed when I was considering him wanting to get food before leaving) and use the wallet there too.

Anyway, I should have a post up soonish.

Kinda meant to post that yesterday since I figured it'd been long enough, but I got caught up hanging out with a friend of mine, sorry.

edited 29th Mar '18 3:17:39 PM by FirockFinion

Firock: Yes, official GM confirmation that the wallet does reset if you go to multiple stores on the same day, it just won't work at the same store more then once a day.

Also, welcome new player Korodzik!

Emergency Kit: To use, describe getting out a unique item from the kit and how you use it. Can be used to reduce the number of 'pulls' for a challenge by one, to a minimum of two (basically, the pull reduction is only useful on pulls of a challenge of three or more). GM will probably reward clever use of items more, but you're only promised that reduction.

Once an item has been pulled from the kit, that item can never be used from the kit again and is completely expended from use. Taking a gold bar from the kit to pay for the group staying at a hotel, but you won't be getting any change back. Also, new items have to be significantly different from previously used items from the kit. Thus, a 'gold bar' will be considered as 'item of considerable material worth due to chemical value' and you cannot then pull out a gold sphere, a gold brick, a silver bar, a platinum bar, etc. True creativity is encouraged, use of a thesaurus is not.

Match book from the Red Herring Bait Shop: A book of matches with ∞ paper matches. A match from this book can be used to create a diversion for an enemy tracking the holder of the match book, but the diversion is not guaranteed to work.

edited 31st Mar '18 12:30:18 PM by Nodrog

Korodzik! has messaged me that RL means he'll be delayed, so he'll probably meet up with the group on the road. Assumng you guys ever get out of Springfield.