Topic: Cormorant Island- Information and OOC thread.

[Pixie]

Note: This stuff is oooold now and isn't so moshe relevant any more. Check the game thread for all the important info. ^_^

I'm not going to be running for a while yet- Just figure I'll get this down early so I can't chicken out again later on.

Since I'm going to be linking this from my comic page, I'll start by giving a bit of information about our games in case any new blood wanders in.

Our role playing games are generally written in a standard prose style- we appreciate accurate grammar and spelling for ease of understanding players. This thread is for out-of-character posts and information. The game itself will be in another thread (I will link to it here once it begins).
The GM (that's me, in this case), has final say over the things that happen in the game. If you roll a 1 or a succession of low numbers, and your character dies, don't whine about it. If you're not prepared for the possibility of your character dying, then don't play.
If you die, you can make another character and send that in. STRICTLY only one at a time, though, and only send one character to me, so I don't end up having to keep track of millions of PMs (unless your first one dies). ^_^ All characters must be sent to me for approval before you begin playing. You may join the game at any point. Please read the guidelines below fully before you play. If you have any other questions, PM me or contact me on AIM (eviltwinpixie).

Okay, now into the specific game info. ^_^

Information thread.

The History

Eight little girls, all murdered by the same twisted sociopath. The story goes that Mark White was highly intelligent, deeply deceitful and very, very dangerous. He escaped capture for six years, and all the while, one after another, the wrecked bodies of little girls were turning up around tiny Cormorant Island.

The community lived in fear. They kept their children close, never knowing whether their precious little girl would be the next to be taken away and not come back alive.

But then came a breakthrough in the case. DNA evidence was a new thing. The first conviction based on its use was in 1987. And in 1989 Mark White had no idea how to avoid leaving it. He was caught in mid-November of that year, and sentenced to life in prison in January 1990. He was laughing as he was dragged down to Cormorant Island Prison, insisting he'd soon escape with the sole and unwavering intention of continuing his crimes.

Cormorant Island Prison. A Victorian institution, it was actually the reason for the Island's colonisation in the late 1800s. Prison overcrowding was becoming a real problem, so a new one was opened on an uninhabited little isle off the coast of Scotland.
Of course, the prison staff and their families needed somewhere to live, food, entertainment, and so a small but steadily growing little town appeared on the island. By the time Mark White was incarcerated it had its own little row of shops, a cinema, a hotel and an ornately decorated church.

But in the Autumn of 1993, the inhabitants of the town were shaken once again. Mark White had eluded guards and escaped from the prison. Panic set in, and ignoring the police's insistance that their children were safe, the public were frantic about the possibility of one of their little girls going missing once again.
They were right. Little Becki Rivers, just four years old, had the bad fortune to be the first child White had the opportunity to grab, and her mutilated body was discovered the same day.

White was returned to prison, and the Home Secretary in London put him on a small list of offenders for whom "Life imprisonment should mean life."

But White disappeared once again, that December. A huge search was organised, quickly and efficiently. But there was no point. On the 26th December 1995, the body of Mark White was discovered. He had been murdered.

The murderer went undiscovered, but public reaction was overwhelmingly one of relief. Never again would they have to hold their children close in fear of the vicious serial killer.

Eleven years later, In December 2006, many of the faces in Cormorant Island Prison have changed. The ones who were there before have all but forgotten.

But the people who live in, work in and visit the prison every day don't realise that the old stories will be coming back to haunt them, or that just a few hours later they will be trapped in a desperate struggle to save their own lives.

--------------

Character creation.

This game is essentially a ghost story and a murder mystery- a "horror whodunnit". Your goal is to find the killer of Mark White and bring him to justice, before White can OMG KILL YOU ALLL!!!1!!!1!! ^_^ Obstacles will include some pretty nasty beasties.

It begins on an ordinary visiting day in the prison, and players must create characters who would be at the prison at this time. This can include prisoners, visitors, and prison staff. There's a lot of variation here. You could be playing someone who was framed for a murder, someone with a shady past who's turned to religion, a corrupt guard, the long-suffering mother of a drug dealer.... anything you like. There are certain limited positions which will be assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. I will list these here, and cross them off if they get taken.

Wing Governors- (2) The only person superior in the prison hierarchy is the prison governor. There is a governor of A-Wing, the male wing, and one of B-Wing, for females.  --- (B-WING GOVERNOR taken)
Gardeners- (3)
Prison Librarian- (1) ---taken
Cleaners- (2)
Prison doctor- (1) - (taken)
Prison Psychiatrist- (1) - (taken)
Prison Chaplain- (1) -(taken)

Be creative.

Characters must not be armed with anything unrealistic for the setting. Remember, this is set in the UK, so guns are few and far between (And for that matter- no death row ). Guards may have a small night stick, and visitors are searched for weapons before they enter the prison. There is some wiggle room here- say your prisoner character has been sharpening a coin for the last few months in order to slit his enemy's throat, etc. But really, the intent of this game is to be low on weaponry. It'll make it better, trust me.

Characters are to be (bolded so no one's eye skips past it like mine always does) PMd to me rather than posted in the thread. This is not because you HAVE to keep your character secret- feel free to share your character with anyone you like. It's to give you the option of keeping either everything, or some small things about your character a secret from the other players. Remember, due to the setting there will be some dark characters in this game. I thought you might like the opportunity to have a few... little secrets.
Player conflict is not discouraged. Try not to get into so many fights the game turns to chaos, but this game is designed so that you are on an even footing whether you are in one big group or split off alone.
Established relationships are encouraged. Remember, this is a prison. While you can keep secrets, guards and prisoners will, at the very least, know each others' surnames. Visitors are here to visit someone- why not have another player be that someone? You can set up cellmates, prison rivalries, a gang, anything you like.

The things I'd like in a character sheet are essentially the following:
Name
Age
Physical Description
Personality
History
Items they are carrying
Any particular skills they may have.



Gameplay

This will be a little different from other games we've played here.

The major factor is the puzzles. This game will be played by exploring the island, discovering clues as to the identity of White's killer, and piecing them together. More important clues, or obstacles such as entering a certain building, will often require a puzzle to be solved before they can be unlocked. None of them are impossible, or so taxing as to be a bore, but some may require a few minutes with a pen and paper. Some puzzles, usually to overcome obstacles, rather than to unlock clues, will be individual, meaning every player has to complete it and PM the answer to me before they can have the benefit of the reward. Others will be group puzzles, meaning only one person needs to PM me the answer to unlock the clue for all players. The first person to do so, however, may recieve an in-game reward.

The game will be entirely confined to Cormorant Island, which is a tiny, tiny place- barely large enough to hold a small town. This means the gameplay is almost completely non-linear. You're free to roam!

Dice rolling will be based on the MML2D system- that is, for those of you not familiar with that game, 1d12 (or one 12 sided die). Dice will be rolled in the AIM chat room, thus you must have AIM to play, or else elect someone to roll for you by proxy.

In addition to the standard attack, defence and problem solving rolls, I am including an "escape" roll, which I expect will be frequently used. This is to counter the lack of weapons in the game. This will be used to run away or hide from enemies rather than being forced to fight them.

The results of a roll are as follows:

1: Critical failure. This is BAD. When attacking, you probably stabbed yourself in the eye. If the roll is for defence, the monster has eaten your face. If you were escaping, you just tripped and broke your head.
2-5: Failure. Not as bad as the last catagory, but what you did just went wrong. If you were attacking, your knife broke. If a defence, you took a nasty scratch, etc.
6-7: Neutral. No real change. If you were attacking, you just plain missed. If you were escaping, you didn't go anywhere, but suffered no ill-effects.
8-11: Success. Hooray! Your shot was on target, you dodged the enemy blow, or you ran a significant distance away.
12: Critical success. THIS is what you want. You bit the enemy's head off with your TEETH, dodged 16 bullets and were then crowned king of Norway.

[goo]

But what if I don't want to be king of Norway?

[Pixie]

Then you can be covered in glitter.

[goo]

Your mom.

[LoneCoon]

I totally call Chaplin.

[toranoraneko]

Bro...you're supposed to PM her with that stuff.

[machiavelli33]

PUBLIC CHARACTER PROFILE

Name: Dr. Nale Mayhew Tenorman, PhD

Age: 37

Physical Description: A moderately tall, kind looking man of African descent, everything about this man is neat, from his shave-cut black hair to the suit, coat, vest and tie combination that he's almost always seen wearing wherever he goes.  
Soft hands denote a life that has seen very little work other than carrying around the clipboard full of psychological notes that he's typically seen with, various books and binders of mental profiles, and handling the countless frying pan handles and oven mitts of his rather home cultivated culinary life.  He has a generally kind and soft face with crows feet and cheeks shaped from a lifetime of optmism and smiling.  
His eyelids are worn from showing concern, and he has the demeanor of a man who has seen the ugly ends of life and settled on his optimistic view of life anyways, perhaps because of it, or perhaps even in spite of it.

Personality: Happy, kind, caring.  Capable of being objective when needs be.  A lot of his has been shaped by his career as a shrink, and it helps that he got into it because he wanted to help people.  He finds the job fulfilling and is always a firm believer in the goodness in human beings and everyone's ability to be turned into a positive and productive individual.

History: Has been working as Cormorant Island's prisoner psychiatrist for more than five years.  He occasionally leaves the island to go on vacation, and attends most or all of the Island's social events, even if he stays out of some of the wilder ones.


Photograph of Nale taken soon after he started his employment at Cormorant Island

Items:
Clipboard, notes, diagrams, pens, a pencil, cel phone (turned off most of the time), gloves.

Skills:
PhD in psychiatry with an associate's degree in criminal psychology- Nale spent most of his young life earning these degrees.

Culinary skills- Nale enjoys cooking, and spends most of his free time and most of his salary on experimenting with making different foods.  He has found himself to be quite good at eastern cuisine such as duck, sushi, sashimi, and a large variety of Chinese dishes (his favorite is steampot soup with saltwater duck), and can make an incredibly good steak-and-salad, but is awful at Italian

[S*S]

Oh hells yeah, Im so in.

Mach already bagged prison shrink. I guess Ill go for a guard of some kind... hmmm...

[Pixie]

Hoping to start this within a couple weeks. If any of you want to get in on this, it'd be a great time to start putting your characters together and sending them my way, so I can work out starting positions.

People planning on playing guards: Visitors and prisoners are limited to one starting location each, but guards will be in 3 different places: The staff room, the visiting room, and the cells. If you have a preference as to which of these you start off in, include that in your post. I'll do my best to put you where you want to go, but I have things planned out for each location, so if everyone wants to go to the same place (which I highly doubt will happen), I may need to reshuffle.

[Count PuPPula]

Public Profile

Name
Charlie Abrams

Age
43

Physical Description
Charlie is a moderately tall man of moderate build. His hair is short and brown, and grey slightly at the temples.
He wears round glasses, and a smart but not overly formal suit.

Personality
Charlie appears happy and friendly, if somewhat detached from his surroundings.
He tends to keep his own company, rarely engaging in any social activities outside of his work.

History
Charlie grew up on the island, his parents were both guards at the prison when they met.
He did well in school. He got a job at the local pet shop a year after he graduated, where he worked for ten years, before being fired.
Charlie considered moving off of the Island, to look for work somewhere with better prospects, but his parents were killed in a car crash, and he fell into a deep depression, locking himself away in his house. No one saw much of him, except when he emerged to purchase groceries and the like every couple of weeks, until the prison advertised a librarian position was open.
A surprisingly cheerful Charlie applied for the job and was successful.

Items they are carrying
Wallet with ID, Credit Card, A little Cash

Any particular skills they may have.
Charlie is adept at speed-reading.

[Zahnnie]

Dammit!  I still mean to play, I just haven't had a moment to myself to write up a character.

[S*S]

Is the prison governor like a head guard, or a more of a desk-and-paperwork fellow?

Also, when do you need character sheets by?

[Pixie]

He's more of a paperwork guy, with occasional hands-on stuff. Think a prison headmaster.

I'd prefer character sheets in the next 2 weeks or so.

Note: A lot of the one-off positions are now taken, and have been marked as such in the first post. Just so you know and plan accordingly.

[Colesla]

I'm the guy who took the chaplain position. Here's my character info.
I actually need someone to play the part of my girlfriend. It's pretty important to my character. Read below and let me know if you think that might be a part you would enjoy.

Name: Vyechislav Kuznyetsov  aka Slava

Age: 28

Physical Description:
A somewhat skinny and obviously foreign man. Slava likes to wear tight denim jeans a button up plaid shirt and a tight leather jacket. His hair is brown and disheveled. His face is somewhat sunken in and his eyes tired looking. His teeth are stained as if he was a smoker yet he doesn't carry the smell of cigarettes on him.

Personality:
   Slava is a cheerful character trying to make it in a foreign land. He tries hard to understand the local culture but often fails. His English is still not perfect but he speaks well enough to understand and be understood.
   His job is as the chaplain of the prison yet he is not a highly religious man. He does have a strong belief that there is a god and that it is important to have a moral code but he still hasn't decided which god he prefers yet. He has found that his lack of affiliation helps him connect to all faiths.
   He does not consider his job at the prison of much importance to him. It is just something that is necessary for him to do in order to live on this island. His reason for being here is his girlfriend who he cares a lot about and hopes to marry.

History:
   Slava grew up just outside of Moscow and moved to Moscow at nineteen to take advantage of tourism. He's employed himself in a number of ways over the years. At first he got by scamming or robbing tourists and employed a number of illegal or otherwise unethical means but more and more he found himself racked by his guilt. One day he was so overcome by his guilt that he found himself talking to "whatever god may be listening" and confessed all his sins on the spot. He immediately felt better and none of the other people on the bus felt it necessary to inform the police.
   A few years after Slava had turned to "whichever god may care" He was now 27 and working as a tour guide showing people around Moscow and helping them avoid scam artists and thieves. That's when he met (name to be decided). She was a tourist from a small island off of Scotland. His immediate impression of her was that she was beautiful and intriguing however he was a professional who had met quite a few beautiful and intriguing tourists and never let that distract him from his job. He had a strict personal policy of not hitting on the customers. However, she seemed to share the attraction and managed to convince him to abandon his policy.
   Her time in Moscow flew by quickly and they found themselves first  emailing each other than making visits and finally Slava decided to move closer to her to be with her more often. At the time the position of Chaplain was available. They preferred someone with formalized training or with a prominent position in their church or at least someone who actually had a religion but they were desperate to fill the position and no one seemed to want the job so they gave it to Slava.

Items they are carrying:
   In his office, he has various religious texts. Some of them are in his native Russian but those are now collecting dust. On his wall is an empty pack of cigarettes in a frame with a large heading that says "my last pack" There is a small note attached to it written in a feminine handwriting that says "honey, I'm proud of you. I know you can do it. This framed pack will always remind you that you aren't quitting just for you but for me as well." Other than that his office is insignificant.
   He carries no religious symbol or text on his person. In fact he carries little other than cash, a small note pad and a pen to write with.

Any particular skills they may have:
   During his life Slava has never learned a trade. His skills have always been centered around his ability to talk to people and to gain their trust. He's a people person.

[Pixie]

Hi there.

[staticHD3]

*dusts self off* I decided to leave the rock I was hiding under. I still have my crotchety old gardner kicking around inside my head if you want me in this.

[Pixie]

Static! Welcome back! Glad to have you.

[staticHD3]

Hey Pix, I've a few questions I need answered before I can actually get around to writing up my character. When you've a free minute in the next few days could you please get ahold of me via AIM? Thanks.

[Pixie]

You could PM them also, if you like, as I'll be busy cleaning for my mum's SECRET VISIT for the next few days and probably shouldn't into in depth conversations, but if not, I'll see what I can do.

[Zahnnie]

I PM'ed you a question, I'm soooooo ahead of the game.  *pose*