darkhugh

The rules for character creation will go in here.

The Setting Location: Media Room A - NERV London Time and Date: 10:04, Thursday, 24th September 2023. Media Room A Ms. Rebecca Jordan Reporter for CNN Serena's PR nemesis Emiko's question is answered by Oliver, who is standing near the end of the room. "Some questions will be open to all of you, some will be for specific people. It will be clear when the person asks, and if it isn't, you can always ask them to clarify." Paul nods along with his team member, making it clear the young man is right. "The topics," Paul says in responder to Mikhail's question, "will vary a little as we have a wider spread of reporters today than normal." He takes a moment to point out a few pictures on the mirrors, with names under them, a list of some of the reporters. "Some of the lifestyle magazines will be asking about you as people, likely work and life balance, perhaps trying to get gossip or some wishy washy answers from you that they can extrapolate from." He pauses for a moment. "Others will be wanting to talk about the past conflict, the issues and successes. Sadly, normally dramatic headlines catch readers more, meaning some will focus on the issues. Just don't get riled up." He pulls his phone out briefly as it begins to buzz, before returning it to his pocket. "A few might try and ask about the internals of NERV, future plans, but they know that is out of scope for the pilots...But won't stop them from asking and trying to hide the question in someway. I will shut those down or direct them to Serena when I spot them, but keep on your toes." When it is announced that Zelda is the team lead Paul looks a little surprised, though not in anyway rude, simply wasn't expecting it. "Alright..." He says the words and then takes a moment to think, the playing field may have changed. As Paul thinks Oliver glances to Zelda in the mirror and gives a thumbs up, "congratulations cap." "Okay, was she acting captain during the recent encounter, or was the appointment after? I will introduce her accordingly, and it will spin how questions are asked and directed I think." He takes a moment to make eye contact with Zelda, "along with where the press think they can funnel blame." He glances back at Serena, "I am expecting mostly support for the pilots, but with you being new they will question you also, and they might try to gleam information they shouldn't get from you as well." He points towards one of the photos on the wall, "as you know Ms Jordan will also be present, though I have spoken to her." He gives Serena a faint smile and nod, "she will likely throw a spanner in the works. But it is better for us to keep and eye on her and see what is going on, from the questions she asks me and the team can figure out what story she is working on and tackle that head on." Paul Nosworthy Head of PR OOC In terms of mechanics I will go into more detail as we get into the press conference. But will give some overview now for people to ask questions IC and OOC. This press conference is directly related to the 'Going Public' mission on roll20, meaning you will get the following rewards once completed. - 10 trust for NERV. - 80 XP - Depending on how the event goes, you can get bonuses such as extra; trust, XP, surplus and/or research. The 'success' of the press conference is determined by what you say and do, as it will impact the people who see the press conference, or read the newspapers when they are published etc. The three main groups that will be impacted are listed below, along with what they 'want' and what the rewards can be gained for pleasing them. - The general public; - Wants; feel safe, truth, bright future. - Rewards: XP. - The media; - Wants; catchy headlines, subtle leads, private info. - Rewards; XP, surplus. - The UN; - Wants; signs of strength, NERV support, "everything is fine" - Rewards; Surplus, research There will be a score you see for each of the three as we go through the press conference, the higher the score the better. You will see how it changes and questions come and go.

Sorry if it felt a bit jarring but from what I was reading, the conversation felt like it had run its course. Sounds like I might have done this sudden jump more than once though, oopsie haha. I felt like the last 'topic' raised was by Zelda, on Thursday, so that gives more than the 2 day posting rate we set the game at. Mikhali and Serena had replied since then, and in my eyes, Anya and Emiko had enough time if they thought they had something to add etc. Hence I a pushed on. At the moment I am being very conscious of posting rate/momentum, mainly because lacking momentum kills games and I have been hit and miss in the last 4 weeks or so due to RL. If you want, then feel free to post in the old thread, normally I say 'put in one more post and wrap up' but for whatever reason I skipped that. Appreciate you flagging it up though, I will try and note the flow of a thread more (or more likely) make my penultimate post really clear e.g. "I am ending this thread on my next post unless you do something." I want to try and avoid waiting on all players giving me the thumbs up, as I think it just adds filler and slows things down. Honestly, at the moment I just gut feel it and go from there.

The Setting Location: Media Room A - NERV London Time and Date: 10:00, Thursday, 24th September 2023. Apartment 212 The press conference is planned for 11am and you know you need to arrive at the prep room for 10am, allowing the team an hour to prepare you with make up and go over any last minute details. You know that make up and hair will be arranged at the prep room, though clothing you are to arrange yourselves. You have been directed to appear smart, though try to show your personality to make yourselves more amenable to the general public. Apart from that strict deadline, the morning is yours, you get breakfast and perhaps perform a few other things before heading off to Media Room A, located within NERV London by the main entrance, and is just after the main check point. Meaning all those people coming to the press conference will have gone through checks and similar, and will be under a tight least when within NERV. Media Room A Oliver Evans PR Team member As you approach Media Room A you see a smartly dressed Oliver waiting outside the room, glancing down at his phone. Once you get perhaps ten meters away from him he glances up with a smile. "Morning all, hope you slept well." He gestures you to follow him, and actually takes you to a room next to Media Room A. Opening up the door you see Paul standing in the room talking to a few of the other PR team, along with the videographer. A row of chairs are placed in front of a few mirrors with a few hair and make up artists waiting for you to take your seats. "Morning, good to see you all here," Paul gestures to the seats, clearly wanting each of you four to take one. "As you know, just basic make up to help with the videography, nothing intrusive." Each of the make up artists waits for you to take a seat before starting. As you take your seats Paul wraps up his conversation with the videographer, "I will talk to you in a bit Ian," with that Ian nods, gives you all a smile and leaves. Leaving you in the relatively small room with about four PR team members, four make up artists and yourselves. Paul takes a moment to smile at himself in the mirror before turning to you all, and looking at no one in particular. "The media will be getting entry into the room at 10:55, I will go out first and clarify the rules and scopes for them all at around 11am. I will take a few off topic questions to get a feel for the crowd and then, at about 11:15, bring you all on stage one by one." He points at a floor plan that is on each mirror, showing a front stage with a long table and then the audience. The table has five chairs, one for each of you and then Paul. You can see you names, signaling which seat is yours. "As I bring you on stage, I will give each of you a brief introduction, which we can scope out now, so if anything in particular you want me to say, or avoid, remind me now or grab me before 10:50." He slowly moves around the room, taking a moment to stretch his legs. "Once you are all seated and comfortable, I will open the floor to questions and will pick on a few people. I have an idea on what most people will ask, but there will always be curve balls." He takes a moment to make sure you are all paying attention, "if there is ever a question you want shut down, for whatever reason, all you need to do is tap the pen against the table two times. I will look out for that, and when I see it I will close the question down. I will note, we want to avoid doing that too much, but its more important you guys are comfortable." He says the words with genuine meaning, it is clear he intends to have your backs. "We will likely have questions for about twenty to thirty minutes, closing down at 11:45. You guys leave, I handle any closing questions." He claps his hands together lightly making it clear that is a wrap. "Questions?" Paul Nosworthy Head of PR OOC This is a start of a new session. Some people have abilities and the like that trigger at the start of each session, roll/announce those now please. Along with that, as it is a reset of the session you regain any used (not burnt) fate points.

The Setting Location: Apartment 212, NERV - London Time and Date: 17:30, Thursday, 23rd September 2023. Apartment 212 You sit and watch the fight from the comfort of your living room, commenting on how the fight could be performed better along with trying to use the new information to prepare yourself for your upcoming conflicts. The rest of the evening is yours, though you know it is best to get an early night as tomorrow will be the press conference. OOC This thread has now ended and we will be proceeding to a new thread.

Maybe so, end of day I will give you a price and you all can choose if worth it.

Catching up with the IC thread. Rudra's idea of inducing unconscious is something that can be chased, as with all things, it would cost surplus and/or research (in this case both I think). I will think of some numbers as I review the rules, but it will likely be something like x research to unlock it and then Y surplus to create 1 injectable. I will keep the values reasonable ;P As Prestar also mentions going unconscious does not 100% trigger berserk, just gives you a chance to roll it etc. As always, risk and reward etc.

The Setting Location: Apartment 212, NERV - London Time and Date: 16:30, Thursday, 22nd September 2023. Apartment 212 The rest of the evening is peaceful, with few interruptions allowing people to enjoy their own freedom as a little. Everyone is able to get a good night sleep and awake the next day read for it all to happen again. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Setting Location: Apartment 212, NERV - London Time and Date: 20:57, Thursday, 22nd September 2023. Apartment 212 After a good nights sleep each of you awakes and prepares for the day, for all bar Zelda there is a trip into London for some shopping. Those who go out are able to get feel for London, learn the streets a little and see what the residents are like. You also spend some time seeing the aftermath from the ground level, something that helps cement the destruction that is possible from the Entities. When in London there is a nice lunch, and hopefully some friendly chatter amongst the team. Though eventually things come to an end and you return to NERV, the base is a bit more alive than tomorrow as people prepare for the Jehoel attack on the East coast of America. From NERV-London there is little the team can do to help physically, though resources and computation power are being set up and shared. It is recommended by Broome, as she passes the team in the hallway, that you should watch conflict, she gives you the internal channel number that will allow you to watch and gives you the expected time of 9pm. That gives you all a lot of time to prepare and relax, but eventually those of you interested sit down in your living room and turn on the TV ready to watch another team deal with the Entity threat. It is not long before you see rear his head. OOC Question - Do I need to read this other thread? Awnser - No, it can provide benefits etc. But it is not a requirement. You are now welcome to RP, talk about the fight etc and go from there. I will bring this thread to a close at the weekend unless you are all on a roll.

There is one more thing I need to bring up, and then after that the interview. I will look to get the post donenow, and then I will be in another exam for 4 days so there will be no IC posting from me till the weekend.

No worries. It happens, I will likely push the game forward after 2-3 days of no posting in these "free rp" sections.

As a note, you guys are still in 'free rp' mode essentially. When you are ready to move on just let me know.

Thanks for catching that, edited it.

We will be doing the following; only pistol weapons can be used in point blank, thus only pistols can get the +30 bonus. I will update the house rules now. Edit: I have also updated the rules on movement a little, in the house rules thread, as movement was noted as being very slow in the last fight. The modification is minor and will benefit full move, charge and run actions, not the half move action.

Not a dumb question. It matters if your ten digit for SR changes. So, for example. If you have 54 SR, and due to Angelic fear you roll Syn disruption 7 you lose that number of points (you lose SR if odd number, gain SR if even). So 54 - 7 = 47, Pilot now has 4 max ATS instead of 5. Same example, if base SR is 54 and you rolled 8 on Synch disruption your SR is now 54+8 = 62, so you now have 6 ATS. There is no limit on how often synch disruption occurs, however it is normally only triggered by losing Ego barrier or gaining insanity. Some special things can trigger it, but they are rare. This is a temporary change, your SR returns to normal after the fight.

This is not 100% true. Most enemies, like yourselves, have the breach rating of their attacks vary depending on a number of situations. This is one of the things you will figure out in combat, how viable (or when) barrier works best etc. However, I believe Emiko can achieve a barrier deflection of 10 - 12 depending on situations. However, I do agree, the bigger the gap between Emiko and the Enemies ATS the more likely the barrier fails. As a note, for example, in the last fight the ATS/ATP of one of your enemies was halved due to critical damage. I will check the core rules of DH, but I think penalties still apply. I do not believe there is any ruling saying 'if big ignore penalty', but I will go through and check at some point.

Thanks for posting that Rudra. I will give 72 ours for people to debate, but I think from past conversations it should be fine. Something to think about, is your own personal equipment, but you have time to think about that. I advise taking into account what you know about Gaz, and how fighting in water impacts weapons / combat rules.

The Setting Location: Apartment 212, NERV - London Time and Date: 16:30, Thursday, 22nd September 2023. Apartment 212 Zelda's call with Jen goes as expected, the rather head strong friend lets Zelda have it. Though, there is nothing malicious there, just a friend who sometimes cares a little bit too much. She cracks a few jokes at Zelda's expense to lighten the mood before allowing a 'normal' conversation to follow, at the end of the day she is there for her friend. The conversation about coming up gets Jen's interest and she basically invites herself to come on the 27th of October, very little chance of talking her out of it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mikhail's meeting with Oli is one of the easiest meetings the Russian has had in the last week, when the young pilot asks about his 'official line' Oli nods a little and clearly states. "As part of improving relations between UN and Russia, both sides will be sharing assets, research and resources to defeat the Entities through NERV." From how he answers, it is clear this is all Oli knows and what he sees as the truth. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OOC - Incoming Tsukiko retro Within the apartment all bar Zelda sit and walk about Kodiak, The New age and the abduction of Tsukiko. You talk about how her transport was on route to London on the 20th of September, when her transport was flipped by a heavy grade land mine. Enough to incapacitate the car and injure herself and all inside. From retellings by staff on the ground a fire-fight breaks out between NERV and the New Age, Tsukiko herself takes up small arms but is not trained. Kodiak is able to advance to Tsukiko, no one recalls seeing him approach her, and then literally drags her away by the hair. A number of people see Tsukiko point the gun at the man, but no bullets fire as she pulls the trigger on him. NERV staff try to stop Kodiak, though their bullets are mostly ineffective, there is one confirmed shot on his left shoulder however, though that is one out of hundred of bullets. He is taken away by transport with Tsukiko, some of the New Age group stay to secure their exit while others leave. Those that stay fight to death, taking their own lives if required to avoid capture. During this time Tsukiko is being tracked by NERV, through OSINT and other sources the intelligence department track her down to an abandoned warehouse to the north east of London. A NERV team, lead by Greg, advance on the site and engage the enemy. They have confirmed information that Kodiak is not on site, and make easy work of those present, allowing them to retrieve Tsukiko. She is brought back and currently in medical. As you talk about the report from time to time you glance at the code left at the party, with some time one of you recognizes it as a simple cipher known as a Caesar cipher. Something that can be brute forced if needed, but to easily unlock it you would need a key, which is a numerical value, normally between 1-13. You glance at the label itself, spotting the slogan 'Entice all 5 senses' and something is off. It just doesn't ring any bells, its not a sentence you have heard with coke...It's fake. You take the number five and try your luck, shifting each letter in the message 5 places along the alphabet. twenty sixth october nine am at Lincolns Inn Fields. One person only. -H Assumptions are dangerous, but it is clear this will be the first meeting with the Handler, or at least a stand in. This gives you just over a month to amass information. OOC As a note, I believe I am still waiting on a final/confirmed plan for the assault in Gaz, please confirm in OOC threat. Any questions on Tsukiko I can tackle OOC, I couldnt find any notes on past events but scoured old posts and pieced things together. The above should be right.

I will be posting today or tomorrow. I will still have slow posting for a few weeks sadly.

Great to hear. Sounds like there is some general interest, so I will look into making something for future. Will reach out when it is ready, along with throwing up and advert.

Worries removed ;P I think you are correct about the capturing thing, I also think (not dug through notes yet) I did it that way for a specific reason haha. Think this is a sign I need to go through and clean up my notes. For now, continue as normal, and I will retro when I am back as still in exam period etc.

I have fed Prestar the recent information. I might have refereed to outdated notes, I will check my information but if I have made a mistakes (because the recapture does sound familiar, I think it was an IC comment) then I will do a retro post OOC etc. Sorry all.