Sunday Afternoon Game Report - Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game, Session 4
Yesterday afternoon, the Sunday afternoon gaming group came out and continued their campaign of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game game. You can read about the previous session by following the link. This post is somewhat long, so I've put it behind a cut so that folks who don't want to read any detailed rpg posts don't have to.
CHARACTERS
PC James Rourke (SteveR) - Police Constable
Dr. Emma Thorpe (Tammy) - Forensics Specialist, Practitioner
PC Halley Caton (GM/NPC) - Police Constable
Game Date: Tuesday, April 12th, 2016
Around 7:40pm, Dr. Emma Thorpe arrives at Odham's Walk by police car. She is met at the main entrance by PC Brice ("Mackie") MacKenzie, and shows him her forensics medical ID. Using a keycard to the building, MacKenzie takes her inside and then takes her by lift up to the second floor to where the Sykes live. She takes a first look around, and sees the courtyard itself, MacKenzie pointing out #28 - the Sykes's residence. She sees that there is a section of the courtyard taped off, evidence spot markers in place, with a police officer standing nearby. MacKenzie takes her over to the officer, and introduces Dr. Thorpe to PC Rachel Ridges. She talks to Ridges, and learns what she can - including that the evidence has been in place for at least 9 hours, and apparently no one was watching it!
Dr. Thorpe goes into "forensics mode", and starts by doing a basic look around and reconnaissance of the taped off area. Once she completes her basic check, she starts to examine each piece of evidence that has been marked. The running shoe is a dark red New Balance brand child-sized runner. She collects the evidence, and bags the item and tags it appropriately. She moves on to the second item, the small chocolate packet. As she turns towards it, she gets the very strong vestigia from the evidence [cigarette smoke, the taste of chocolate, hoof beats on cobblestone). Once she recovers her senses, she notes that the packet has the label "Woolery's Confectionery, Established 1876". Very carefully, she picks up the chocolate packet and puts it in an evidence bag, marking it clearly for those in the know that it has some magic about it. She moves over to the third piece of evidence, the dark stain on the courtyard floor. She takes a pair of samples, and a quick test determines that it is blood. She takes a third sample of it, and bags and tags it as evidence. She then turns her attention to the courtyard, and catches the faint whiff of cigarette smoke from one of the garden trash hampers [she rolls an Observation check, getting a 25/15 on it, a Hard success]. Beckoning PC Ridges over, she has her snap a photo of the cigarette butts, and then send it to her [Thorpe's] own phone. She goes over to the likely trash hamper and finds several fag butts with curls of smoke coming from them; "fresh," she mutters to herself. She takes three samples of cigarette butts, bags them as evidence, and on the envelope notes their placement and status.
Around 9:15pm, Dr. Thorpe wraps up her work, and informs PC Ridges that she's done. She needs to get the evidence to Charing Cross Police Station, and Ridges informs her that PC MacKenzie is waiting for her downstairs. Ridges warns her that the case has been handed off to DI Stephanopoulos of Belgravia Police Station, and Dr. Thorpe thinks that's interesting [as she's aware of Stephanopoulos's connection to the Folly]. Ridges tells her there's something "hinky" about the case, but she's not sure what. [Both Thorpe and Ridges fail their Observation rolls to notice that someone is watching them from the shadowed area near the lift. It's the man in the trenchcoat, minus the cigarette.] As PC MacKenzie drives her to Charing Cross Station, he tells her that there are two people who are waiting for her there. She's to see them as soon as she arrives.
Arriving at the Charing Cross Police Station, Dr. Thorpe is IDed, and than is told to take the evidence from Odham's Walk to the Evidence Room. She takes the evidence there, fills out the paperwork and reports, and then heads up to Room 205, one of the small conference rooms, where DI Stephanopoulos and DI Peter Grant are waiting for her. They talk about what she found as evidence at the crime scene, and Thorpe confirms to Peter that the vestigia was 10 Yaps in strength; very powerful. She tells them about the new evidence in the form of the cigarette butts, and when Stephanopoulos calls in PC Halley Caton, the latter confirms that a person of interest was seen smoking in the Odham Walk's courtyard. Dr. Thorpe is asked to see if she can get DNA or fingerprint evidence off the cigarette butts. Caton is dismissed, and the three talk about evidence contamination, given that the three items were left on the courtyard floor for over nine hours with no one attending to it. A glaring error that Stephanopoulos intends to get to the bottom of. She tells Dr. Thorpe that the case is not a top priority, but that can change depending on what is learned through the evidence and other sources.
Stephanopoulous calls in PC Caton once more, and she and Dr. Thorpe go down to the Evidence Room to check on the evidence and make sure that Dr. Thorpe's report is thorough. Caton sees the New Balance dark red running shoe, and says she remembers seeing the matching running shoe at the Sykes's home [she rolled a 02 on her INT check] - something she says needs to be looked into the next day, and jots a note about it in her notebook.
Wednesday, April 13th, 2016
The morning dawns bright and chilly, with a chance of rain or snow later in the day. The various police officers meet at Charing Cross Station bright and early, to find DI Stephanopoulous already waiting for them, accompanied by another person, a very handsome dark-skinned man of mixed ethnicity. She introduces everyone to DC Peter Grant, and informs them that he'll be consulting on the case for the SAU. While various people mutter about "the Folly," Stephanopoulos calls the meeting to order. With the various police officers unsure how to proceed, Stephanopoulous becomes fed up and gives them their assignments for the day.
PCs Priscilla Hollings and Robert Smythe are to canvas the Odham's Walk estate building, and see what they can learn. PCs Brice ("Mackie") MacKenzie and Rachel Ridges are to go and canvas the two pubs, the Farthing & The Fife and The Blarney Mill. PCs James Rourke and Halley Caton are to talk to the Sykes once more (notably about the missing running shoe) and to talk to the proprietor and staff of Woolery's Confectionery. PCs Esai N'gombo and Steve Wendell are to look into the matter of the Odham Walk keycards, and to talk to the building manager, Hakeem Salesh. PCs Adam Rigby and his partner Stephen ("Smalls") Smallcroft are to investigate the history of the Odham's Walk building.
PCs Roarke and Caton prepare to head out on their assignment, but can't decide on their mode of travel. Peter Grant tells them to take the Tube. That way, they can find out what the travel time by Underground is to get to Covent Garden Station, as well as seeing what lies between the Tube station and the Odham's Walk apartment complex. The two go to Charing Cross Station, take the Northern Line to Leicester Square, switch to the Picadilly Line and travel to Covent Garden Station. The trip usually takes some 17 minutes, but this time around requires a trip of 25 minutes due to some "station maintenance." Roarke and Caton arrive at Odham's Walk and see the building and the various shoppes and vendors in the area. They catch the scent of fish and chips, and see the vendor at the corner of Endell Street selling hotdogs. Caton gets Roarke to promise her he'll buy her some fish and chips later on.
The two go to the main entrance of the apartment complex, and doorman Robert Wilson permits them entry. As he leads them into the building, Wilson tells them that "your friends" are here. When asked what he means, he tells them the other coppers have arrived. Wilson leaves them at the lifts, and while they wait for the lift, Caton sees a series of symbols carved into one of the exterior hexagonal walls of the lift. She tells him that they remind her of Gallifreyan symbols [a reference to Doctor Who], but the moment is lost when Roarke tells her that he was never a Doctor Who fan, preferring Blake's Seven.
Taking the lift up, they arrive on the Second Floor to find what appears to be a police officer standing watch in the courtyard. They talk to the man, and learn that he is PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) Jagmeed Rabeen. He's been assigned here by PC Hollings on DI Stephanopoulous's authority. He tells them that PC Hollings and PC Smythe are canvasing the residents. He says there are over 200 residents in the Odham's Walk estate, and mentions that he's seen one or two people that he didn't know from the list of residents that he saw. This leads Caton to ponder if the doormen have a list of approved people to let into the building. They tell Rabeen to keep an eye on the courtyard area, and then head off on their first interview of the day.
The latest Sunday afternoon session of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game campaign came off pretty decently, and a good deal of progress was made (though it may not have felt that way during the game session itself). Tammy's Emma Thorpe finally got involved, and she came across a new piece of evidence in the form of the cigarette butts and with the assistance of Dr. Thorpe, PC Caton (not Steve's PC Roarke, unfortunately) remembered an important clue (that will hopefully see fruition next session). In terms of the investigation itself, I got tired early on at Steve's wish-washy attitude about what needed to be investigated, and had DI Stephanopoulous assign the player investigators and the other constables various tasks. Tammy was feeling a little bit schizophrenic by the end of the session (playing both her own character, Dr. Emma Thorpe, and PC Caton as well), but she seemed to handle things rather well.
Overall, it was a good session of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game RPG, and I feel that matters are coming to a head quite nicely. The next session should lead to some events that will, hopefully, lead to a final session that I really hope wraps up the adventure in style. In any event, I'm looking forward to the next session. :)
CHARACTERS
PC James Rourke (SteveR) - Police Constable
Dr. Emma Thorpe (Tammy) - Forensics Specialist, Practitioner
PC Halley Caton (GM/NPC) - Police Constable
Game Date: Tuesday, April 12th, 2016
Around 7:40pm, Dr. Emma Thorpe arrives at Odham's Walk by police car. She is met at the main entrance by PC Brice ("Mackie") MacKenzie, and shows him her forensics medical ID. Using a keycard to the building, MacKenzie takes her inside and then takes her by lift up to the second floor to where the Sykes live. She takes a first look around, and sees the courtyard itself, MacKenzie pointing out #28 - the Sykes's residence. She sees that there is a section of the courtyard taped off, evidence spot markers in place, with a police officer standing nearby. MacKenzie takes her over to the officer, and introduces Dr. Thorpe to PC Rachel Ridges. She talks to Ridges, and learns what she can - including that the evidence has been in place for at least 9 hours, and apparently no one was watching it!
Dr. Thorpe goes into "forensics mode", and starts by doing a basic look around and reconnaissance of the taped off area. Once she completes her basic check, she starts to examine each piece of evidence that has been marked. The running shoe is a dark red New Balance brand child-sized runner. She collects the evidence, and bags the item and tags it appropriately. She moves on to the second item, the small chocolate packet. As she turns towards it, she gets the very strong vestigia from the evidence [cigarette smoke, the taste of chocolate, hoof beats on cobblestone). Once she recovers her senses, she notes that the packet has the label "Woolery's Confectionery, Established 1876". Very carefully, she picks up the chocolate packet and puts it in an evidence bag, marking it clearly for those in the know that it has some magic about it. She moves over to the third piece of evidence, the dark stain on the courtyard floor. She takes a pair of samples, and a quick test determines that it is blood. She takes a third sample of it, and bags and tags it as evidence. She then turns her attention to the courtyard, and catches the faint whiff of cigarette smoke from one of the garden trash hampers [she rolls an Observation check, getting a 25/15 on it, a Hard success]. Beckoning PC Ridges over, she has her snap a photo of the cigarette butts, and then send it to her [Thorpe's] own phone. She goes over to the likely trash hamper and finds several fag butts with curls of smoke coming from them; "fresh," she mutters to herself. She takes three samples of cigarette butts, bags them as evidence, and on the envelope notes their placement and status.
Around 9:15pm, Dr. Thorpe wraps up her work, and informs PC Ridges that she's done. She needs to get the evidence to Charing Cross Police Station, and Ridges informs her that PC MacKenzie is waiting for her downstairs. Ridges warns her that the case has been handed off to DI Stephanopoulos of Belgravia Police Station, and Dr. Thorpe thinks that's interesting [as she's aware of Stephanopoulos's connection to the Folly]. Ridges tells her there's something "hinky" about the case, but she's not sure what. [Both Thorpe and Ridges fail their Observation rolls to notice that someone is watching them from the shadowed area near the lift. It's the man in the trenchcoat, minus the cigarette.] As PC MacKenzie drives her to Charing Cross Station, he tells her that there are two people who are waiting for her there. She's to see them as soon as she arrives.
Arriving at the Charing Cross Police Station, Dr. Thorpe is IDed, and than is told to take the evidence from Odham's Walk to the Evidence Room. She takes the evidence there, fills out the paperwork and reports, and then heads up to Room 205, one of the small conference rooms, where DI Stephanopoulos and DI Peter Grant are waiting for her. They talk about what she found as evidence at the crime scene, and Thorpe confirms to Peter that the vestigia was 10 Yaps in strength; very powerful. She tells them about the new evidence in the form of the cigarette butts, and when Stephanopoulos calls in PC Halley Caton, the latter confirms that a person of interest was seen smoking in the Odham Walk's courtyard. Dr. Thorpe is asked to see if she can get DNA or fingerprint evidence off the cigarette butts. Caton is dismissed, and the three talk about evidence contamination, given that the three items were left on the courtyard floor for over nine hours with no one attending to it. A glaring error that Stephanopoulos intends to get to the bottom of. She tells Dr. Thorpe that the case is not a top priority, but that can change depending on what is learned through the evidence and other sources.
Stephanopoulous calls in PC Caton once more, and she and Dr. Thorpe go down to the Evidence Room to check on the evidence and make sure that Dr. Thorpe's report is thorough. Caton sees the New Balance dark red running shoe, and says she remembers seeing the matching running shoe at the Sykes's home [she rolled a 02 on her INT check] - something she says needs to be looked into the next day, and jots a note about it in her notebook.
Wednesday, April 13th, 2016
The morning dawns bright and chilly, with a chance of rain or snow later in the day. The various police officers meet at Charing Cross Station bright and early, to find DI Stephanopoulous already waiting for them, accompanied by another person, a very handsome dark-skinned man of mixed ethnicity. She introduces everyone to DC Peter Grant, and informs them that he'll be consulting on the case for the SAU. While various people mutter about "the Folly," Stephanopoulos calls the meeting to order. With the various police officers unsure how to proceed, Stephanopoulous becomes fed up and gives them their assignments for the day.
PCs Priscilla Hollings and Robert Smythe are to canvas the Odham's Walk estate building, and see what they can learn. PCs Brice ("Mackie") MacKenzie and Rachel Ridges are to go and canvas the two pubs, the Farthing & The Fife and The Blarney Mill. PCs James Rourke and Halley Caton are to talk to the Sykes once more (notably about the missing running shoe) and to talk to the proprietor and staff of Woolery's Confectionery. PCs Esai N'gombo and Steve Wendell are to look into the matter of the Odham Walk keycards, and to talk to the building manager, Hakeem Salesh. PCs Adam Rigby and his partner Stephen ("Smalls") Smallcroft are to investigate the history of the Odham's Walk building.
PCs Roarke and Caton prepare to head out on their assignment, but can't decide on their mode of travel. Peter Grant tells them to take the Tube. That way, they can find out what the travel time by Underground is to get to Covent Garden Station, as well as seeing what lies between the Tube station and the Odham's Walk apartment complex. The two go to Charing Cross Station, take the Northern Line to Leicester Square, switch to the Picadilly Line and travel to Covent Garden Station. The trip usually takes some 17 minutes, but this time around requires a trip of 25 minutes due to some "station maintenance." Roarke and Caton arrive at Odham's Walk and see the building and the various shoppes and vendors in the area. They catch the scent of fish and chips, and see the vendor at the corner of Endell Street selling hotdogs. Caton gets Roarke to promise her he'll buy her some fish and chips later on.
The two go to the main entrance of the apartment complex, and doorman Robert Wilson permits them entry. As he leads them into the building, Wilson tells them that "your friends" are here. When asked what he means, he tells them the other coppers have arrived. Wilson leaves them at the lifts, and while they wait for the lift, Caton sees a series of symbols carved into one of the exterior hexagonal walls of the lift. She tells him that they remind her of Gallifreyan symbols [a reference to Doctor Who], but the moment is lost when Roarke tells her that he was never a Doctor Who fan, preferring Blake's Seven.
Taking the lift up, they arrive on the Second Floor to find what appears to be a police officer standing watch in the courtyard. They talk to the man, and learn that he is PCSO (Police Community Support Officer) Jagmeed Rabeen. He's been assigned here by PC Hollings on DI Stephanopoulous's authority. He tells them that PC Hollings and PC Smythe are canvasing the residents. He says there are over 200 residents in the Odham's Walk estate, and mentions that he's seen one or two people that he didn't know from the list of residents that he saw. This leads Caton to ponder if the doormen have a list of approved people to let into the building. They tell Rabeen to keep an eye on the courtyard area, and then head off on their first interview of the day.
The latest Sunday afternoon session of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game campaign came off pretty decently, and a good deal of progress was made (though it may not have felt that way during the game session itself). Tammy's Emma Thorpe finally got involved, and she came across a new piece of evidence in the form of the cigarette butts and with the assistance of Dr. Thorpe, PC Caton (not Steve's PC Roarke, unfortunately) remembered an important clue (that will hopefully see fruition next session). In terms of the investigation itself, I got tired early on at Steve's wish-washy attitude about what needed to be investigated, and had DI Stephanopoulous assign the player investigators and the other constables various tasks. Tammy was feeling a little bit schizophrenic by the end of the session (playing both her own character, Dr. Emma Thorpe, and PC Caton as well), but she seemed to handle things rather well.
Overall, it was a good session of the Rivers of London: The Roleplaying Game RPG, and I feel that matters are coming to a head quite nicely. The next session should lead to some events that will, hopefully, lead to a final session that I really hope wraps up the adventure in style. In any event, I'm looking forward to the next session. :)