Last weekend, I had a really nice little "novella" sized game at a local mothly convention. I wasn't supposed to be running a game but a few hichups meant there were test subjects, ahem players in the open so I used my rough story draft to run the game. Here is the write-up of it.

I had a mixed bag of players, A veteran, a clued-in and 2 newcomers. Age grouping was all over the place too (15 to 28). I decided to start an all-mortal group at 7(9)R/20S/+4Cap.
Edit: Since all the players were unfamiliar with the DV, I decided to make this one a story somewhat like Murph's in Restoration of Faith. I also wanted one or two of them to discover their supernatural side at the end of this little story.

Azmi (the Scholar) is a 35ish literature teacher;
High Concept: Live to Learn
Trouble        : Shinny knowledge
Background  : Fascination with Fire
Rising          : Veteran/PCSD
Story           : Mysticism / Zij (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zij)

+4 Empaty, Discipline
+3 Scholarship, *Investigation
+2 Contacts, Guns
+1 Presence, Drive

Stunts:
Linguist
Let me tell you a story
*Good arm
*3 doses of horse sedatives (Don't ask)

Azmi is a man dedicated to learning how things are. His days as a soldier left him with experience that alloıws himn to keep hic head in sticky situations but he suffers from a post combat stress shakes after the scene is over, He can be relentless in his pursuit to learn more but shinny new knowledge (be it an old book or tv tropes) can cause him to loose focus. He is quite knowledgable about the scientific aspects of the lore. (We had a couple of problems like an errant spring downpour and the like so a couple of things seem to have gone by unnoticed like good arm or işnvestigation / lack of lore etc)


Kunter is a 22, 25ish young man generally described as "Survivalist"
High Concept: Survive, no matter the cost
Trouble        : Death Scare
Background  : Survivalist Upbringing
Rising          : Close Combat Maestro
Story           : -

+5 Survival
+4 Athlethics
+3 Weapons
+2 Endurance, Stealth
+1 Alertness, Discipline, Guns, Might

Stunts:
Human Spider
Tough Stuff
No Pain No Gain
Good Arm
*8 doses of horse sedatives

Kunter is a trouble(d) child. He is an aloof, solitary young man that had a lot of problems in his life. He is currently working at one of his uncles' (his Mother and Father had a total of 30 first degree siblings , who are mostly living in rural areas as farm owners or outright wilderness related jobs and he wants to be away from them all) farms as an Animal Handler / Part time Vet.




Deniz Mor, 23, The tiny

High Concept: Sidestepping the Ponderous
Trouble        : Silveyana*
Trouble        : Skin to skin contact, Egh!
Background  : Dances with the Police
Rising          : Night is my Ally
Story           : -

+4 Contacts, Rapport
+3 Discipline, Emphaty
+2 Investigation, Athlethics
+1 Deceit, Resources

Best Foot Forward
I know Just the guy
Won't get fooled again

Deniz is a little, itty-bitty female. She is the daughter of leftist parents (who had lots of trouble with authorities in the past). Their free and trusting upbringing taught Deniz how to sidestep burocratic institutions but police and army makes her nervous. Her time in boarding schools taught her how to use darkness to her advantage. However puberty supercharged her high emphaty and left her unable to make skin contact. She is trying very hard to curb her ability (emphaty) but she needs it so it goes up and down over time. During the game, she played her character in such a way that (With explanations like "slipping through society's cracks", "quiet as a mouse", "tiny me is not here, you don't see me!". And this was both her first game and she is (was) totally foreign to dresdenverse) and managed to slip from a couple of spells so I decided to make her the first character that discovers her supernatural side. A weremouse that can change into a "Mus macedonicus". She doesn't have any concious control over her were side yet so I named her subconcious (that hid her a few times when she lost conciousness) Silveyana.



Lastly there is Can. Picture a 1.90, thin, youngish (18/20ish) Emo if you will...

High Concept: Lost Soul adrift in the sea of humanity
Trouble        : Schizophrenic
Background  : Teddy Bear (of my parents)
Rising          : One way or another, I will prevail
Story           : -

+4 Alertness
+3 Athlethics, Discipline
+2 Conviction, Investigation, Resources
+1 Sneak, Burglary, Deceit, Lore

Acrobat
Paranoid? Probably.
Corner of my Eye
*1 stolen dose of horse sedatives

A classic case of "dead parents at a young age" coupled with "I can sense supernatural". Can's player was the (second) youngest person I have ever run a game for (the youngest was 8 years old and did played a magnificent child-wizard-prodigy). His character was silent and forgetable, which he used to his advantage, lifting lots of odds and ends from any possible scene. I think I am going to axe his 1.90 to a more regular height . I am undecided between giving him low grade magic and giving him a familiar spirit or some kind of a loa (in the form of his teddy bear).






Anyway the story takes place in the City. (http://maps.google.com/?q=istanbul) on the Anatolian side. The time is roughly a few weeks before Changes.


The gang was at Sabiha Gökçen Airport for various reasons when they accidentally skipped over some "Go away, nothing to see here!" wards. As they were getting spooked (Why the hell is this part of terminal so empty? where the ell is security?) they witnessed a bunch of vampires duking it out with a pair of grey cloaks. Acting as sensible, non-believing, non-clued human beings they tried to run for an exit. They entered an "under construction" office area and tried the emergency exit which opened into the middle of a grassy plain. Just imagine the scene: An open pushbar operated, wide, emergency door and a bit of concerete floor in the middle of a grassy plain.   They, wisely, did not enter the plain and after some dithering and panicking by the players (They were superbly roleplaying "What the hell is going oooon?". I hope . ) the Gatekeeper came trough the door, mumbling to himself "....not the correct time...... yet....... you aren't....... ready....." and hit them with a sleep spell. At that point Deniz had a severe aversion to being captured and her player rolled a magnificent +4 (and invoked a lot of aspects for a +13. She managed to shrug the sleep spell and bolted the office space at a dead run. I decided she was going to be a supernatural there.


After a while the gang woke up in triage in front of the terminal. They were pretty messed up (mentally) and they were all going "no, no, didn't see a thing!". Well except for Deniz, She was found under a counter and they (The police and fire rescue) had to unbolt the counter to get her out. How the ell did she get in there?

Edit: Part Deux.

Azmi and Kunter were lying near each other and they pretty much freaked out (what a weird and horrible dream, oh where am I, that guy looks like from my dream, oh shi...) After giving their testimonies about the "gas leak" at the airport, the players all decided to go their seperate ways. (A and K went to their cars, Can tried to find a bus and D was asked to come to the precint house as she was found in a little weird place.) Well at least they tried.

First A's car's battery died and he had some help from K. The conversation got very weird at a point (Kunter asked him about his obsession with literature but that bit of knowledge was from the "bad dream" so they both freaked out.) and they both tried for a speedy exit to get to their normal, boring homes.

As I was feeling pretty evil, Azmi's car got hit by a news van near the bus stop causing atraffic jam. During the snarl, Can managed to beg a ride to nearest (working) bus depot from K and Deniz managed to slip her police friends and hide in the horse trailer attached to K's truck. (He had brought a gelding from his Uncles stable to the airport to be airlifted to England. His reason to be at the airport.)

Can and Kunter became aware of the extra baggage during a turn and K went to investigate (And met Deniz ) Can meanwhile tried some shoplifting and managed to steal a box of horse sedatives from thew car.

Later that day, after everyone got to their homes, locked their doors, readied some weapons and hid under the bed some... (Ok there weren't  any under the bed hiding. But there were a lot of showers, hot chocolates and other fortifying drinks.) the gang went snooping aroıund on the internet. A lot of press releases and personal contacts later D and K managed to contact each other via a local page for a meeting. A managed to reach one of his more lunatic scholar friends (Who was also being contacted by D next day.) and they called this end of day 1.

Day 2 was the investigation day. Everyone tried to find out more from their contacts (if they had one). Azmi and Deniz were dead set on finding what really happened and what the government was covering up respectively. Kunter on the other hand was looking for Can to get the sedatives back and he decided his best bet was to go along with the other 2 weirdos.

The day started with Azmi waking up his contact in the middle of bloody morning (Hey! Kerem stays up until morning and wakes up at afternoon. And he doesn't work when he isn't fed. pike off! ) Azmi detailed his impressions of the plain (there were a few weird things like hearing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_military_band and such) and wanted to learn if there was a specific time Ottoman armies would be near modern day Airport. then he got booted while Kerem worked on the qwuestion in his den (of books, tomes and old computer)

The afternoon had a chance meeting between Azmi and the news reporter that trashhed his car. (And K&D looking to find Can) They managed to run into each other by the seaside and Kunter promptly charged Can. After some intimidation and a little social battle, K managed to get Can walking to get back his stuff. The party split there, K&C going to Can's place and A and D going back to Kerem.

Now untill this point the game had been going on pretty nicely with hide and seek vs police and social battles but I felt we needed more spice
While going up the stairs of the old apartment K & A came across a Burglary in process. Now K is a sensible guy, he was going to back away slowly but Can had his cellphone in his hand so the burglars panicked and attacked them. After 3 short exchanges (And a lot of Cheerleadering by my not-there players) I had Can and Thug 1 lying in a heap one floor down and thug two with a serious case of knee in the ball syndrome. Kunter survives! Sadly in all the hoopla (and an anonymous call to police) Kunter got distracted and forgot to take his stuff back. They too went to Kerem's place and it turned out that the route was used more than a few times but he couldn't narrow it down much. Then Deniz managed to get his attention and grilled him about supernatural (Azmi was in historian mode with wrong questions ) Some good questions and good emphaty served Deniz very well as they got hold of a guy that would know more of this stuff. (Azmi called his insurance, got a car to use then paid his fate point to get a minivan. The guys are getting genre savvy at this point. )

Anyway the contact turned out to be an old bookstore-cafe with a seperate bar area. An accorded natural ground run by Orhun Buğman (on of the few paranet contacts in the city, He does nothing to help or hinder but he answers. Para-net is slowly spreading in these foreign soils but despite being small it is solid to learn how to stay out of trouble) . They paid for their supernatural 101  with a few drinks and got a rough draft. They were also directed to wardens for an in-depth explanation.

Just as they were exiting the place, I had a little Rampire drop by to invite the group to a little soiree. The group was very very shaken . Can managed to dissapear during the confusion (again) and The trio went to Can's place (at Kunters request to the wheelman) so that he could get his stuff back. He went back into the apartment, broke in, took his stuff and left. (Good guys doing burglary is so much fun. The guy was muttering I should trash his place, I should break his windows all the way and he didn't even break the door . Then Azmi (who was actually afraid) invited K and D to his place for the night. He slept in his room, Kunter (the certified selfish) got the only couch and Deniz had to sleep on the floor.

She dissapeard during the night and they found her hidden in the pantry. She was hidden under a lot of stuff and they had to dig her out. She got the bed after that as Azmi couldn't sleep and went to his study.

*we couldn't actually play the last day in detail as we lost a lot of time due to rain and cramped/loud conditions. So I wrapped up the last day with a meeting. They met a real wizard (aka Grey Cloak), a tallish hispanic guy that was sent there due to pure chance from Edinburg (Do you have 6 hours free? good now go and give 101 to a bunch of newbs in Istanbul. What do you mean you don't know what Istanbul is?. ). They had a semi-friendly warning / chat (I did this, and this, and ah yea now I need to threathen you with death. Hold on a sec.) and the session ended there.


Now the characters are not set into stone. I think the characters will be: The Scholar, The Mouse, The Survivor and... Well I am not so sure about Can's character. sensitive or guy with a loa or something.
What are your suggestions / advices about the characters.

The Scholar will either become a mage or a VU member.
The Mouse will probably become a were / face
The Survivor... I am not sure if I want to add a supernatural side to him or keep him a mortal warrior.
The Emo... again I'm not sure. Before starting I thought about using his teddy bear as a sprit container but nothing that would point to such a thing happened in the game.

I was reading Small Favor (again) in the weekend and Lucios intrest in Computers made me think about it. Is it possible to "ward" a computer against increased murphionic effects?

The basic fact is simple:
Anything that is more advanced than ww2 tech is going to get borked around a wizard.

The advanced facts are not so different:(Courtesy of Waldo Butters)
A Wizards body generates an steady low grade electric/magnetic fied
When a wizard is agitated, he subconciously leaks magic,
Solid State electronics, which are delicate against power surges, rough handling plus rogue magic leaks equals smoke.
A simple circle ward stops free magic and low grade attacks (and  supernatural creatures like small fae, ghosts, zombies, spectres. Essentially anything without free will or heavy in power scale)

So the simple answer is yes. Just put a laptop and a big self contained power source in a circle (Just like Mr Butters using a GPS device in Dead Beat). If the laptop has voice activation/command software then you can even use it from outside the circle.



But that is not the real deal. When we talk about computers these days, we don't just mean the "office" capabilities in the box. We are talking about the internet access. The whole deal.

So can we make a computer with internet access and keyboard / mouse support usable by wizards?


My answer is, it is probable. The most difficult problem is the most simple, can you make a simple circle ward with access points (2 circular magically inert "stone" disks that are covered with a very light permeable to certain substances (copper and whatever keyboard and mouse's strings will be) ward.)

Put the electrical opening as far away from the user as possible. Preferably a floor down so that you have solid (stone? concrete?) wall between you and that access point. Insulate the wires with passive anti-magic, Configure the ward on this stone circle to feed from the wires. If you can balance it properly (Molly not Harry) the wards will be eating the a small part of the current on normal use (a bit data loss on phone/dsl I guess) and in case of a surge, eat the excess. Add a couple of surge protectors and a ups or 2 and that part will be ok.

The input end is a bit trickier. The keyboard will probably resemble a typewriter instead of a modern keyboard and the mouse will be a mechanichal trackball instead of a ball mouse. The input will be carried to the access points via strings (of some inert substance.  Fishing line maybe?) which will be converted to normal input inside the main ward.

The ward on this access point is trickier. Imagine 3 layers, the innermost layer is a grounding ward that eats/vacuums very small amounts of magic on the inside (computer side) and passes it to the middle ward, the middle ward is designed to repel magic on the outside and the outermost ward is again designed to eat the ambient magic (this one is much stronger than the inner one) to fuel the wards.  

Add a camera and an optical mouse inside the circle. The camera and its software reads the typwriter(which is outside)'s input (something like http://www.scalesgalore.com/global/images/product_2/167/16779_250X250.jpg) and the optical mouse uses a moving surface connected to the track-ball as mouse pad (keep the mouse fixed and move the mousepad so to speak)


What do you think? Would this be possible?