12.13.2012

World of Darkness Text Game Recap: Jamaal

Between March and May of last year, I had been bouncing the idea off some friends of playing a game separate from our table ventures via e-mail, IM, or text. The response I got was fairly positive, so in mid-May, we worked out that we would try to have a game via text, and I hashed out some quick rules and details after deciding on the new World of Darkness.

Our Chronicle took place in Chicago, and though we didn't make it too far into the game, I found it fun and the game actually ran for almost a year, and could have been longer if not for an extremely long hiatus breaking focus amongst the players.

In this series, I will be posting the character sheet and logs for one PC per post. Along with the character sheet, I will give the background info submitted by the player, as well as various notes from me, including their "tie" to the supernatural, explaining where I wanted to take the game with them. The ties were all made early on, and I'm not 100% sure that's where I would have gone with them as the game progressed.

The logs and character sheet are presented as-is, with typos, etc. Player text is default color.

This one is for Steve's character, Jamaal.




Jamaal                                     Virtue: Fortitude                        Chronicle: Text WoD
Age: 30                                     Vice: Sloth                                Faction:
Player: Steve                            Concept: Junkie                        Group Name:

Attributes
Intelligence: ••                          Strength: ••                              Presence: ••
Wits: ••                                     Dexterity: ••••                            Manipulation: ••
Resolve: •••                              Stamina: ••                               Composure: ••

Skills
Mental (-3 unskilled)                 Physical (-1 unskilled)              Social (-1 unskilled)
Academics                               Athletics                                   Animal Ken                 
Computer                                 Brawl                                       Empathy
Crafts                                       Drive                                        Expression
Investigation                            Firearms                                  Intimidation ••
Medicine ••                               Larceny ••••                              Persuasion
Occult                                      Stealth •••                                 Socialize
Politics •                                  Survival ••                                Streetwise •••
Science •                                  Weaponry ••                             Subterfuge ••

Other Traits
Merits                                       Health                                      Willpower
Fleet of Foot •••                          • • • • • • •                                 • • • • •
Danger Sense ••                        [][][][][][][]                                  [][][][][]
Contacts ••

Flaws                                       Morality                                   
Drug Addict                              • • • • • • •

Size: 5                                      Speed: 14                                 Defense: 2
Armor:                                     Initiative Mod: 6                       Experience: 5/0/5

Weapon/Attack             Dice Mod.         Range              Clip      Size


Equipment                               Durability         Structure          Size     Cost


Background: Strung out druggie. The always-twitching type. Gotta get a hit of something. Tried out a drug one day and liked it (led to addiction, though addicted more to the use of drugs than any one drug, in particular.) Stayed the course after that, but tried (tries?) to fight it.

-Elvin Watson, victim (by loss of family by the "Demon" of Cabrini-Green), drug dealer

Tie: Infernal. Jamaal has gained the attention of a demon due to his addiction; the demon suspecting that he would never seek to be free of, or would be too weak willed to fight the spirit. Think Fallen meets Candyman.


Logs 


ST: "Your personal effects, Mr. [OOC: your character needs a last name]," said the officer as she slid them under the steel grate towards you. Afer 72 hours, you were finally being released. Those days without a hit of anything has been Hell.
They brought that doctor in, trying to tell you you're crazy, but you saw him, he's back! That terrible demon with the hook hand has come back to Cabrini-Green to claim more lives.
Of course, you just told the cops and their doc you were high, and now you're walking free...off to find a fix
Jamaal: "I need a fix, dammit" don't really care what. Just something.
[what time of day is it]
ST: [OOC: mid-afternoon. also, did you say that or think it? The thing in quotes, I mean?]
Jamaal: [the quote remark was him saying it to himself. Thinking out loud but away from the cops of course]
ST: you find yourself wandering the projects of your neighborhood, hitting up a couple of dealers, but everyone knows you got pinched and want nothing to do with you for a bit until they know you didn't turn narc. Coming up to the stairs leading up to your next dope slinger, you stop. Buzzing fills your ears, this is the tell of the "demon" of Cabrini-Green
Jamaal: [going off previous encounters with the demon, is it violent? Does it ignore me? What do I know about it?]
ST: [OOC: the "demon" is a serial killer that sruck in the early 90s, witnesses and evidence points to a meathook being the weapon. You've seen him, once back then, once recently. Doesn't appear to have aged. Tall black man, wielding meathook, black duster and black clothes underneath, black boots. The buzzing of insects always accompany, according to stories
ST: the sound of the buzzing appears to be coming from a mass of flies and yellowjackets around what could be spilt soda, unlil you see the next drip from the stairs...red, it's blood, and fairly fresh
Jamaal: "well fuck a lot of that" don't need the cops on me again. Especially so soon. And given my luck with finding a dealer so far, this won't look good. So he makes his way back the stairs and attempts to hightail it out of there without drawing too much attention to himself
ST: "J, what the hell, man?! What'd you do, man?! Where's all that blood coming from?! Why's all the blood there, man?! Is my baby okay? What'd you do, man?!" it's Elvin, the dealer you had come to see. The sight of so much blood has sent him into hysterics, and you know he has a gf and daughter that live with him
Jamaal: "look man, it wasn't me" says J in a slight panic. "I don't know what's going on. I went up there looking for you and...and..fuck man! It's so much blood!"
ST: Elvin draws a pistol from his waistband and rushes up the stairs, nearly slipping in it before reaching his door, then expelling his previous meal on his shoes. A low wail issues from his lips and he starts mumbling incoherencies that turn into "Help! Help! Oh, lord! Somebody please help me. They killed my people, man!"
Jamaal: with that, I'll walk off. I don't need to be involved with the police again so soon after getting out.
ST: you get a few blocks before hearing sirens headed that way. A detective's unmarked car speeds by you and a chill goes down your spine as you see the "demon" reflected in the windows of the car, placing him a few paces from you, blood dripping from his hook, but when you look, he isn't there, just random pedestrians. Nonetheless, as the sound of sirens fade, you also hear the fading hum of buzzing insects

Jamaal: I'm gonna head homw and rest. I think I desere alittle after dealing with the cops and coming onto a murder scene

[do I have any smokes on me?]
Cigarettes or anything?]
ST: [Yeah, that can be assumed]
Jamaal: Taking out a smoke and just sitting back in a chair “what the fuck was up with today? Just got out of jail, can’t get a high now and then that shit
…wtf demon killer person” take a long drag from the smoke and looks around at his place. “And I still gotta take out the damn trash”
ST: since this is Chicago, your night is filled with the sound of sirens, but none coming your way, thankfully. A night’s rest in your own bed gives you a measure of comfort after the eventful day you’ve just had.

Jamaal: [do I have cell phone?]
ST: [OOC: it’s reasonable that you’d have one, but I’m gonna say it’s a Go phone, no plan.]
Jamaal: [do I have any minutes on it?]
ST: [OOC: sure, though not many. Enough for a handful of calls]
Jamaal: pulls out the phone and runs through his contacts. Adter the day he’s had, he needs a good high.
ST: you’re finally able to find a guy that’s holding after exhausting just a quarter of your remaining minutes [putting you at about 6 more calls left before you’re out of credit], though it’s a 13 block trip to the far side of Garfield Park
 
Admittedly, I knew nothing about GoPhones, or how minutes worked when I adjudicated the use in one of my replies to Steve, and though that's not how modern cell credit works, I liked the tension that could be created by slowly losing touch with people. Also, though asked for repeatedly, I never got a last name for Jamaal. Coming next, Eliot.

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