A Pleasant Ride on the Midnight Transarcadian

[DocSpooky]

​

It starts, dear reader, as it always does. A sleepy train station at night, the moon smiling its mysterious light upon the tired world, forming an otherworldly dancing of light. The soft glow of the night sky corrupted by the light of civilization, of progress, dulling its tone to a weak orange shine.
Under the rumbling of the trains is a tired figure, out too late for their own good. Why are they out this late? Have they missed their train and are trapped waiting for the next one? Do they have an important meeting they must be early for? Did their business finish late? Who knows what brought this poor soul into this situation. They are probably wondering themselves how they got into this predicament.
Softly lulled to rest by the rumbling of the trains, the figure slumbers a little until the ringing of a bell catches their attention. A train shuffles into view, most of its shape covered in darkness by the death throes of the moon's light. The figure stands up to board the train, to muddle off towards their destination.

Unknown to them, they'll never be able to reach that location, for they've boarded the wrong train. This was not some modern monstrosity going to some sprawling citadel of the modern world. No, this poor, sleep-deprived soul had the honour to stumble their way into madness, aboard The Midnight Transarcadian. Where they most assuredly will have a pleasant ride.
-----

Welcome, dear reader, to A Pleasant Ride. We do hope your journey is a comfortable one.
A Pleasant Ride is a borderline horrific, certainly bizarre Quest inspired in part by Changeling: the Lost and in part by Agatha Christie with a simple 'escape the room' sort of objective. The circumstances of your incarceration will become clear in due time.
Be warned, passage on the Transarcadian is expected to be exceptionally lethal, particularly for the poor soul saddled with the role of Detective. That would be you, by the way. The death of any single one of your characters will not constitute a game over, but each death will likely make things more difficult for you, and the patience of the Benefactor is not limitless. With enough character deaths, we, your humble questmasters Mr BreaksIt and the distinguished Lizard Knight, may be forced to end things rather anticlimactically.
Below are a series of options for character creation. Each character requires a name, age, gender, background, and one (1) starting trait. These traits will affect your stats, as well as the reactions of some NPCs, and may also fiddle with the quest's mechanics in some way. Additional traits may be purchased at the cost of also accepting a negative trait to go with them. Discuss amongst yourselves and vote in the standard way, we'll wait.

Spoiler: Character Sheet Template

[] Name:
Age:
Gender:
Background:
Starting Trait/s:

Spoiler: Ages

Child
Young Adult
Adult
Middle-Aged
Senior
Venerable

Older characters have a higher Sleuth stat, while younger characters are more adept at Action.

Spoiler: Backgrounds

Veteran
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult age or above, need one of the following traits: Bad scaring, Old injury, wheelchair, missing arm, trauma.
Flavor: When duty called, you answered. It never mentioned the price.
Description: Get a +1 on Sleuth and Guile regarding military subjects.

Office Worker
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult age or above
Flavour: You spend all day sitting in a box pressing buttons. The Benefactor finds this incomprehensible and, frankly, so do you.
Description: Take an additional starting trait. All sanity attacks are reduced by one level. ++Sleuth, + Guile, - Action, -Ham.

Beat Cop
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult, no Old Injury, no Wheelchair, no Armless
Flavour: The Benefactor is guilty of at the very least unlawful confinement and mischief. Probably murder and assault causing bodily harm, too. In any case, it's far above your pay grade.
Description: Start with a gun, get a +1 to getting people to trust you, action +, guile +, ham -

Student
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Can only have one starting trait
Flavour: A scholar. An academic. A person used to late nights, bluffed papers and ramen noodles.
Description: Easier Accusations. Starts with a field that provides a +1 to all relevant rolls.

Lawyer
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisite: Can't have Thug, must be adult.
Flavour: In this day and age, conflicts are much more often solved through words than swords, and you have quite the arsenal of words at your disposal. The best words, even.
Description: Get +1 on discussion and interrogation, clues are more effective in accusation.

Surgeon
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult.
Flavour: Life is a constant fight to postpone death and you're one of the frontline fighters. Death and you have a working relationship. Not even death can save you now.
Description: You can get more clues from bodies and can treat wound traits yourself.

Detective
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult.
Flavour: The common image of the detective is often romanticised. This may work to your advantage here.
Description: More benefactor patience, easier time getting clues.

Priest
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Can't be a Thug, Occultist or New-Ager. Adult or above.
Flavour: The lord has always stayed by your side, until now that is.
Description: Get devout for free, get a +1 for people trusting you


Writer
Type: Background Trait
Prerequisites: Adult or above
Flavour: You have built many fantastical worlds from the ground up, being in one can't be so bad, can it?
Description: Familiarity caps are lowered by one. Action --, sleuth +, ham ++, guile ++

Spoiler: Starting Traits

Mind of a Child
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Child only, forced
Flavour: Ah the mind of the child, so flexible, so willing to accept the impossible, so easy to break.
Description: any sanity attack magnitudes get reduced by 2 and familiarity caps gets lowered by one. Sanity gets reduced and madness traits get worse

Fan
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: You have an obsession with some obscure field. Likely not one that could be considered terribly useful, but you never know.
Description: -1 penalty to all social interaction. Pick an appropriate Field. You have a +1 bonus to all non-social actions regarding that Field. This penalty may make this Quest significantly more difficult.

Athlete
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult, no Old Injury
Flavour: You excel in games and competitions of physical prowess. Competitive and motivated, but the Benefactor cannot be outfought or outran.
Description: +1 Action

Twitchy
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Maybe you're just paranoid. Or maybe you have a reason to be jumping at shadows.
Description: +1 to rolls to avoid injury, -1 to actions requiring focus.

Happily Married
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: Your One True Love
Description: More Sanity. Start with a Memento of your spouse. Hit an immediate breaking point if you lose that Memento

Unhappily Married
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: Your Jailer
Description: Less Sanity. Start with a Memento of your spouse. This Memento will return to you if lost. Disposing of this Memento restores Sanity.

Mother/Father
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult.
Flavour: You have a child. Come Hell or high water, you will see them again.
Description: Until your first Breaking Point, reduce Sanity loss by half. Until your second Breaking Point, slowly lose hope. Increase all damage by 1 Magnitude on your final Breaking Point.

Conspiracy Theorist
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Maybe the Benefactor is an alien. Maybe this is the result of the chemicals the Government put in your drinking water. Maybe this all part of the Catholic mind control scheme. Whatever the case, it's clear that you can't trust anyone.
Description: Less Familiarity gain. Less clues required for a successful Accusation

Occultist
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Cannot be New Ager
Flavour: You are, perhaps, less surprised than others would be at this turn of events. You are not a wizard, or a sorcerer or a summoner of demons, but you may know a few. The supernatural does not surprise you.
Description: Sanity Loss from impossible sources lowered by 2 magnitudes.

Thug
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Look, nobody said you're a nice person. You hurt people, more than is strictly necessary. Some are still in the hospital, some never made it that far.
Description: Can use Action to intimidate someone instead of Guile or Ham, you are able to sense when someone has bad intentions. You get a -3 for relationship gain and a -1 to charm rolls.

New-Ager
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Cannot be Occultist
Flavour: You read all of Lovecraft's books, and this makes you an expert on the eldritch. You have a great understanding of the occult.
Description: Get a -1 on Guile and/or Sleuth on anything related to the occult. Sanity damage by things that should be get reduced by 1 magnitude.

Train geek
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: You are an expert on trains, you know your average train in and out. This is not your average train.
Description: Train aspects will ask you for easier favours, you gain a +1 on anything train related. Every Time you discover a train aspect acts like it shouldn't, suffer a magnitude 2 sanity attack.

Hard-Boiled
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: Throughout your years, you've discovered that life pulls no punches, so neither do you.
Description: Sanity threshold is higher

Devout
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Cannot be an Occultist or New-Ager.
Flavour: You believe everything is part of the Lord's plan, even the most gruelling of things are a test. Not all test are passable.
Description: All sanity attacks get lowered by a magnitude of 1, all madness traits are more severe.

Alcoholic
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: In your life, the bottle has always been your best companion. However, alcohol is a fickle mistress.
Description: Adds a new stat, Drunk. Stress relief from alcohol is upped. Drinking alcohol ups the Drunks stat. The magnitude of sanity attacks gets lowered by the Drunk stat. However, if you do not drink alcohol when your cravings ask for it, you get a sanity attack with the Drunk stat being the magnitude. Afterwards, the Drunk stat gets lowered by two, the Drunk stat can go below 0.

Mystery Buff
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Raymond Chandler are gods in your eyes. Your home is piled high with their books and you have very strong opinions regarding the correct Sherlock Holmes actor. You may have just encountered a kindred spirit.
Description: Benefactor Patience resets to 15 instead of 10. Gaining Benefactor Patience is easier. All Relationship caps are raised by 2.

Small
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None, free if Child
Flavour: You're getting tired of jokes about the weather down there.
Description: You are unusually small. Sneaking, seeming harmless, and fitting into tight spaces is easier for you. Being intimidating, tanking damage, pure physical strength and reaching things on high shelves cause you trouble.

Giant
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: You're getting tired of jokes about the weather up there.
Description: You are unusually large. Being intimidating, tanking damage, pure physical strength and reaching things on high shelves are easier for you. Sneaking, seeming harmless, and fitting into tight spaces causes you trouble.

Femme Fatale/Casanova
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult
Flavour: There are a lot of guys and girls out there who don't know if the day they met you was the best day of their life or the worst, but damn it all if it wasn't exciting.
Description: You are exceptionally adept at charming people. Relationship caps are lowered, and rolls to charm and persuade have a +1 bonus. Without the heat of the moment, people can consider you manipulative or exhausting - Relationship levels are easier to lose.

Denial
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Adult. Cannot be Occultist or New-Ager.
Flavour: The longest river in the world
Description: Sanity attacks are reduced by 2 magnitudes, as nothing bad is currently happening. Interacting with your fellow passengers is harder as they do not exist.

Respect the Elderly
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: 50+ Years of Age
Flavour: Look at that wrinkly old face, how can't you love that?
Description: Relationship caps lowered by one.

Embers of Youth
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisite: 50+ Years of Age
Flavour: The fires of youth have long since burned out, but some of that old flame remains
Description: You can force a +2 to any physical roll, but the next roll gets an additional -1. Cannot be used on two consecutive physical rolls

Antisocial Tendencies
Type: Starting Trait
Prerequisites: Can't be a Little Cinnamon Roll.
Flavour: You're psychotic, short and simple. You are good at making people tick but don't understand why they tick.
Description: No sanity attack from murder, -1 to understanding people's motives but a +1 on reading them

Little Cinnamon Roll
Type: Starting trait
Prerequisites: Not Antisocial Tendencies
Flavour: People keep telling you that you're a cute little ray of sunshine that must be protected. You don't understand why.
Description: Relationship caps lowered by 2, familiarity lowered by 1, sanity attacks increased by 2 magnitude.

Bad Scars
Type: Negative Starting Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: There has been trauma in your life, and you certainly look the part.
Description: -1 penalty to social rolls to persuade, seduce, or be trusted.

Old Injury
Type: Negative Starting Trait
Prerequisites: No Athlete
Flavour: Once, you may have been light on your feet, or a champion weightlifter. Today, you are not. The pain you suffer is a stark reminder of why.
Description: Choose leg, back, or arm. -1 to all actions involving the selected body part. This trait may be taken up to one time for each body part.

Wheelchair
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: You used to be able to run for miles, kick like a master and perform the sickest flips. Used to.
Description: Suffer a -2 on fleeing from a situation and a -1 on combat. Start with item: Wheelchair. Losing this item causes moving to be an action roll.

Missing Arm
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Accidents happen, sometimes they cost you. In your case, the cost was quite heavy indeed
Description: Suffer a -1 on any actions needing arms and a -2 on combat.

Trauma
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: You have seen some shit, at night you still see it.
Description: Chose a trauma source, everything linked to that trauma will be a magnitude 2 sanity attack or the attack has its magnitude increased by 2.

Dysmorphophobia
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: You're fair with yourself, anything that looks like it shouldn't...creeps you out something fierce. You try to avoid it.
Description: Any sanity attacks from unnatural body shapes are increased by a magnitude of 2. Getting mutated or being reminded of mutations results in a sanity attack.

Smug
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: Somehow, others fail to recognise your greatness.
Description: -1 penalty to all friendly interactions. Less benefactor patience.

Poiroesque
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: A place for everything and everything in its place. A place for everything and everything in its place. A place for everything and everything in its place. A place for...
Description: Untidiness triggers sanity attacks.

Blind
Type: Negative Trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: It is, perhaps, more understandable that you took the wrong train.
Description: Sight is impossible. Sleuth rolls involving other sense are slightly easier in certain circumstances. Can only read if something is in braille.

Deaf
Type: Negative starting trait
Prerequisites: None
Flavour: No, speaking to you louder and slower doesn't help.
Description: Hearing is impossible. Sleuth rolls regarding other sense are slightly easier in certain circumstances. Can only speak to those you can see and who have recognisable mouthparts.

Old Bones
Type: Negative Traits
Prerequisite: Forced for higher age brackets
Flavour: You are not that spring chicken you used to be
Description: All physical actions have a -2

---
No sooner had its newest passenger crossed the threshold than the door behind them clicked closed, nothing so uncouth as a slam. A billow of smoke and steam shortly followed, and a screech of metal as the locomotive lurched into motion like something rising from a slab in a thunderstorm. Almost leisurely, the old steam train left sight of the station, and failed entirely to arrive at the next.

 

[DocSpooky]

Detective 1: Active

Marie Rodier:
Age: Adult
Gender: Female
Background: Writer

Action: -2
Guile: 2
Sleuth: 1
Ham: 2
Sanity: 1/100
Relationships:

• Ace Cold, the Victim (Relationship 1/Familiarity 0.5)
• Amy F'Owler, the Journalist (Relationship 1/Familiarity 0.5)
• Her Grace, Lady Catherine Person (Relationship 1/Familiarity 0.5)

Traits:

• Occultist:
  Flavour: You are, perhaps, less surprised than others would be at this turn of events. You are not a wizard, or a sorcerer or a summoner of demons, but you may know a few. The supernatural does not surprise you.
  Description: Sanity Loss from impossible sources lowered by 2 magnitudes.

 

[DocSpooky]

Inventory:

• A letter to 'the next one'
  • Spoiler: Text

    To the next one, I'm sorry.
    I couldn't keep up the balancing act, and now He's going to take it out on the both of us. He's like a spoiled child or a bored rich man. If a toy stops entertaining Him, He picks up a new one.
    Keeping Him entertained is important.
    But you have to be unpredictable. Narrative sense is more important than logical sense here, so don't worry too much about that.
    Watch out for Robert,
    You can't avoid playing His game.
    You have to avoid playing by His rules.
    Just try not to let him hurt anyone else.
    There's going to be a scream soon. Follow it, play along until the others leave, then talk to me.
    - A
• A coffee-stained napkin
  • This napkin is adorned with a picture of a tooth, and the phrase 'Your local supplier for all your mischief related needs' scrawled across it in messy handwriting.
• Ace Cold's Autopsy Report
  • Could be useful spinning a story. The wording is vague, but mostly professional, and indicates the cause of death to be an ambiguous 'chest wound'
• Dr. Corpsepicker's Credentials
  • Obviously forged credentials written on train stationery. Could have some use if you choose to accuse Dr. Corpsepicker
• Letter from the Benefactor
  • Spoiler: Text

    As the Wonderful Detective Madame Rodier, Your Most Esteemed Attention is Drawn to a Letter
    
    Beneficent most is my significant pleasure you are to travel these early hours on this fine item of transport.
    By here, you a cordially invited to ride the most splendid and magnificent train of railways, the Midnight Transarcadian.
    The train is greatest ride the mighty night rails of cyclopean black, most assured.
    
    You are here. Provide most insouciant entertainment and a consulting detective.
    This very dark and stygian eve as travel below the wan light of cold moon, there is might be a most flagitious individual of misconduct most foul on the very train!
    Reveal the wicked in front of all associates in dramatic firelight and the evil is behind.
    If needs must further insight, the perspicacious Conductor! He is of the tower of steam and iron but horizontal.
    Gratitudinous to the humble and true faculty. Pay them! Waiters and lamps!
    
    Yours in Most Humble.
    Your kindly Benefactor
    P.S. You read the letter, and at a very good time for pacing, but the rude of leaving the letter waiting. Scream is troublous, but manners most necessary
• A photograph of Agatha
  • A sepia tone photograph of a woman made of glass, a former passenger on the train. There is writing on the back
  • Spoiler: Writing

    Agatha Antimony neé ??? Christiansen. Doctor. Detective: Ace, Victim: Spanny. Accused of poisoning R.E. some kind of will? (volunteered) From Antwerp, real doctor (paediatrics). BMT. Looked like lab equipment. Close to Redherring.

Questlog

• I Want to Get Off Mr. Bones' Wild Ride
• Appease the Thing In Charge
• Meet with Ariadne
• Solve the Mystery of Ace's Death
• Solve the Mystery of the Locomotive

 

[DocSpooky]

The Conductor
The smoke-wreathed conductor of the Midnight Transarcadian.
Relationship: 0
Familiarity: 0

Ace Cold
Your predecessor and a living corpse. Seems tired.
Relationship: 2
Familiarity: 1

Her Honour the Duchess of St. Brendan's Island, Lady Catherine A. Person, LT, FBA, KPFSM
These cats are evidently of particularly good breeding.
Relationship: 1
Familiarity: 0.5

A Man in a Suit of Feathers
A nervous man, apparently a doctor. You may have caught him sneaking a taste from the corpse.
Relationship: 0
Familiarity: 0

Robert Redherring
There's something off about him, despite looking like the only normal human you've seen since boarding. It's his manner of speaking, or the way he moves, or something about his mouth. There's just something not right about him.
Relationship: 0
Familiarity: 0

Constable Barkley
Despite the uniform, you have a hard time believing this tree is actually employed by Scotland Yard. Apparently, the uniform can move under its own power. Is Barkley the tree, or the uniform?
Relationship: 0
Familiarity: 0

Ariadne
A woman who Ace name dropped. Seems to have been here for a long time.
Relationship: 0
Familiarity: 0

Amy F'Owler
An owl, and evidently a reporter. Fond of Ace. Currently involved in surreptitious snooping.
Relationship: 1
Familiarity: 0.5

Teeth
The napkin was evidently delivered by a being called "Teeth"
Relationship: 1
Familiarity: 0

 

[DocSpooky]

You may now post.

 

[Nevill]

Plan voting, I assume?

[x] Male
[x] Middle-Aged
[x] Beat Cop
[x] Antisocial Tendencies
[x] Alcoholic
[x] Trauma

Alternatively...
[ ] Male
[ ] Adult
[ ] Writer
[ ] Mystery Buff
[ ] Train geek
[ ] Smug

No name vote, don't really care about that.

 

[Ultramandalore]

[X] Name: Cynthia Darrow
-[X] Age: Adult
-[X] Gender: Female
-[X] Background: Office Worker
-[X] Starting Trait/s: Hard-Boiled, Mystery Buff

 

[Lizard Knight]

[X] Name: Cynthia Darrow
-[X] Age: Adult
-[X] Gender: Female
-[X] Background: Office Worker
-[X] Starting Trait/s: Hard-Boiled, Mystery Buff

Click to shrink...

After the first starting trait, you need another negative one. So you need a negative trait or only have one starting trait.

 

[Zaealix]

Hrrm. By the looks of it the more characters the better kind of instead of just agreeing to play out one particular dude.
[X]Name: Milan Prowess
-[X]Age:Child
-[X] Gender: Male
-[X] Background: Student
-[X]Starting Trait/s: Mind of a Child, Small

Sooo let's have ourselves a little kid character! More or less sterotypical but children don't seem to get too many choices in character creation so might as well go the whole hog.

 

[Ultramandalore]

After the first starting trait, you need another negative one. So you need a negative trait or only have one starting trait.

Click to shrink...

I thought the Office Worker Background came with a free trait?

 

[Lizard Knight]

I thought the Office Worker Background came with a free trait?

Click to shrink...

...
So it does
I am an Idiot
Sorry, I am extremly Tired, had an exciting day.
My mistake for not looking into it more, Apologies.

 

[Scify]

[X] Name: Marie Rodier
- [X] Age: Adult
- [X] Gender: Female
- [X] Background: Writer
- [X] Starting Trait: Occultist

Was the lack of backgrounds other than student for child and young adult on purpose?

 

[sportoner]

[X] Name: Marie Rodier
- [X] Age: Adult
- [X] Gender: Female
- [X] Background: Writer
- [X] Starting Trait: Occultist

Writer and occultist is a nice combination.

 

[DocSpooky]

Not as many responses as I was hoping for, but we'll leave this open for another day and see how it goes.

Currently, our leader is Marie Rodier, the writer and occultist, which sounds like an interesting place to start. We'll see if she makes the cut.

 

[Lizard Knight]

Hrrm. By the looks of it the more characters the better kind of instead of just agreeing to play out one particular dude.
[X]Name: Milan Prowess
-[X]Age:Child
-[X] Gender: Male
-[X] Background: Student
-[X]Starting Trait/s: Mind of a Child, Small

Sooo let's have ourselves a little kid character! More or less sterotypical but children don't seem to get too many choices in character creation so might as well go the whole hog.

Click to shrink...

Mind of a child and small are both free for a child.

 

[Zaealix]

[X]Name: Milan Prowess
-[X]Age:Child
-[X] Gender: Male
-[X] Background: Student
-[X]Starting Trait/s: Mind of a Child, Small, New-Ager.
New-Ager added to Milan! Now he's got some actual personality to him.

 

[Random Paul]

[X] Name: Thomas Wilson
-Age: Adult
-Gender: Male
-Background: Writer
-Starting Trait/s: Femme Fatale/Casanova,Unhappily Married,Mystery Buff,Poiroesque,Smug
Edit:
A writer who spent most of his life trying to write the perfect mystery novel. While in his search he decided to use himself as a subject thus resulting in his Casanova persona during his research. Which resulted in him seducing a woman who fell for him very hard that she wouldn't let him go. She then proceeds to use any means necessary to get him to marry her until she succeeded. Now he is stuck with this marriage with a very clingy woman who he didn't want in the first place.

 

[DocSpooky]

[X] Name: Thomas Wilson
-Age: Adult
-Gender: Male
-Background: Writer
-Starting Trait/s: Femme Fatale/Casanova,Unhappily Married,Mystery Buff

Click to shrink...

You'll have to pick a couple of negative traits if you want all of those.

 

[Random Paul]

You'll have to pick a couple of negative traits if you want all of those.

Click to shrink...

Thanks.
Is this ok.

 

[DocSpooky]

Thanks.
Is this ok.

Click to shrink...

That should be acceptable.

 

[DocSpooky]

Character creation voting is now closed. Our first victim looks like this

[X] Name: Marie Rodier
- [X] Age: Adult
- [X] Gender: Female
- [X] Background: Writer
- [X] Starting Trait: Occultist

And here she is with a statblock

Marie Rodier

Click to shrink...

Age: Adult
Gender: Female
Background: Writer
Traits: Occultist

Action: -2
Guile: 2
Sleuth: 1
Ham: 2
Sanity: 100/100
Relationships: None

Click to shrink...

A detailed explanation of what these stats mean will come alongside the write-up of the first chapter.

 

[DocSpooky]

You blink to clear the haze of sleep out of your eyes just as the door clicks shut behind you. You are hit with the sudden revelation that what you have just boarded is several steps removed from the usual commuter train. Your first hint is how well looked after it is, the polished wood panelling and brass inlays entirely devoid of filth and carved obscenities. The wood panelling and brass inlays are your second clue. After that, your revelations start coming quicker. The tiny entrance chamber seems to be lit only by moonlight, despite the presence of what appears to be a lit oil lantern. Somehow, despite having a visible flame, it emits no light whatsoever.
Looking beyond the unlighting lantern out the window on the other side, the view that speeds past is nothing you recognise. The train seems to be travelling along a cliff's edge next to a massive, moonlit lake, surrounded by sharp, grey rocks.

Soon, you arrive at the next step of that train of thought. You'll probably have to get off at the next station and wait for the next train. Are there even any more trains running this late? You hope that your train ticket covers this accidental ride, or else this will be even more frustrating.
While you're thinking to yourself, a figure steps in. The figure is tall, dressed in the distinctive waistcoat and shako of a turn of the century train conductor. The figure's features are obscured by smoke, evidently coming from the pipe you can barely see the outline of around mouth-level. He looks at you, or at least faces you considering the lack of visible eyes. He speaks with a raspy tone and an accent befitting a British newscaster, "Well, well, what do we have here? I was wondering when we'd be picking up our next passenger."
"I think I got on the wrong train, actually." You reply, "Can you tell me what the next stop is? I need to get off."
The man laughs. "The wrong train? Nonsense, my dear, I believe you'll find that you are exactly where you are intended to be. Come along now, we have a compartment free for someone just like you if you're willing to take it." Before you have a moment to consider, you are swept along through a green-carpeted corridor. "I am so glad you came here," says the Conductor, "We were in dreadful need of some new blood."
After that odd introduction, the man (it is a man, you can hear it from his voice) deposits you by a door with a fogged glass window, the numbers 3-3 in brass affixed to the nameplate. Before the man leaves, your manners return and you manage to mutter out a question about the smoke-covered man's name. "Far from important," He responds, "I am the Conductor. Nothing more, nothing less."

After that, you are alone in the train car. There are three rooms, all numbered. Your suite, after you pluck up the courage to enter, seems entirely normal. A bed, a bench, and a table. It's all rather more ostentatious than you're used to, but you've been in similar rooms on the myriad occasions plane tickets have been too expensive. The only things out of place here are the bag in the hand luggage railing and the pair of letters on the table. You study both letters. One is an unadorned folded piece of paper, no signature, addressed simply to 'The next one.' The other is set in a vellum envelope, sealed with yellow wax, and addressed to 'Marie Rodier."
The creeping dread that had been building within you finally manages to make itself known against the backdrop of tiredness and confusion. You have the awful suspicion that you have just been kidnapped. Taking the unadorned note, you collapse against the door to your compartment. The lanterns in here seem to be working well enough at least. Your publisher liked playing the deluminating light trick on you your first few meetings before you got the trick of getting past it. It just involved giving the light something it wants in return. You have the suspicion there will be a great deal of oil changing in your future.
The folded note 'to the next one' is written in scratchy fountain pen and takes you a moment to parse.
"To the next one," it begins, "I'm sorry."
"I couldn't keep up the balancing act, and now He's going to take it out on the both of us. He's like a spoiled child or a bored rich man. If a toy stops entertaining Him, He picks up a new one."
This is followed by several lines crossed out. "Keeping Him entertained is important." That's underlined, "But you have to be unpredictable. Narrative sense is more important than logical sense here, so don't worry too much about that." A new line, still crossed out, "Watch out for Robert," then "You can't avoid playing His game." "You have to avoid playing by His rules." "Just try not to let him hurt anyone else."
Finally, the author seems to give up trying to explain this. The last part of the letter is no longer crossed out and simply says "There's going to be a scream soon. Follow it, play along until the others leave, then talk to me."
The scream arrives on cue, a loud, shrill sound echoing throughout the car. You can tell it's coming from two compartments down but have no doubt it will be heard throughout the rest of the train.


What do you do?

[] Make your way to the source of the scream.
[] Quickly
[] Cautiously

[] Hide in your compartment.

[] Read the other letter

[] Move in the opposite direction from the scream

[] Other?


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I promise posts will get a bit longer in the future, but we're still setting things up here.

As for the promised explanation of stats, here they are. Guile, Ham, Action, and Sleuth are the rolled stats. Whenever Marie or another PC is in a situation with a significant and interesting risk of failure, 4D3 will be rolled and bonuses or maluses will be applied according to these stats, as well as any other circumstances. The target number you'll want to try to hit is 9 on most occasions.

Guile is a representation of, well, guile. It's the stat used for hiding and sneaking, as well as other acts of subterfuge. Because this is a socially focussed game, this is also the stat used for lying or concealing.

Action is the physical stat. It's the simplest of the bunch and is rolled to perform feats of derring do. Running, jumping, lifting, and punching all fall under Action.

Sleuth represents general mental acuity but is more importantly associated with figuring things out. Sleuth is the stat you roll when you want to start actually detectiving, discovering truths about the nature of the Midnight Transarcadian and how to escape it, and to learn when people are lying to you.

Finally, Ham is the stat rolled to be unmissable. It's the closest thing there is in Pleasant Ride to a universal social stat, but refers specifically to social actions without a great deal of subtlety. If you want to appear friendly, put on a brave face, or cause a distraction, you roll ham.

Next we have Sanity. It's not a meter I particularly care for, but it gets the job done. Whenever you encounter something traumatising or horrifying, which you will be doing a lot, you will take Xd10 Sanity damage, where 'X' is the 'magnitude' of that attack. You will notice that Marie has the Occultist trait, which reduces Sanity loss from 'unnatural' sources. She will be making extensive use of this ability. Sanity is healed through Relationships, of which you currently have none. Losing all 100 Sanity results in an additional negative trait being added to the character and Sanity being reset. When Sanity reaches 0 for the third time, the character becomes too traumatised to be entertaining to the as-of-yet unseen entity behind this turn of events and thus a new character will have to be created.

Finally, there is an unseen stat called 'Patience', measuring how fed up your new master is with your shenanigans. If it is kept high, there will be some bonuses given to certain actions, if it runs out, you will have to create a new character. Patience can be regained by doing things your new master finds interesting and entertaining and lost by going against His wishes. You will be alerted of low Patience by the train becoming more uncooperative.

Voting will close Sunday at 8PM AEST, vote in the usual way. In the meantime, what sort of books has Marie written? What are her best-known titles? What genres work best for her? Whatever she's written, she seems to be selling quite well. She has her publisher to thank for that, of course.

 

[Nevill]

[x] Move in the opposite direction from the scream

 

[Scify]

[X] Make your way to the source of the scream.
- [X] Cautiously

Might as well play along for now. Tempting as the other letter is...

 

[sportoner]

[X] Make your way to the source of the scream.
- [X] Cautiously