Eustace & Hitomi, Chapter 6: In Which Tunnels Are Explored and Plots Are Mulled like Wine [Tricube Tales + Mythic] [Multi-Phase]
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| Eustace pulls up his satchel and takes something from it. A Betamax tape with the words "DELETE, DISCARD, DO NOT RE-RECORD" written on it. |
- "Previously on..." and Campaign Summary
A Few Quick Notes Chapter 6 - The Progress so Far
- Chapter 6, The Worst Deliveryman Ever
- Chapter 6, Flight into the Love Tunnel
- Chapter 6, The Betamax Heist and the Cosplay Plan
- Updates to Progress Tracks and Threads This Session
- Doug's Commentary
- Mechanical and Story Notes
- Credits
Previously, on Eustace Delmont
Hitomi and Eustace have each gone their separate adventures and misunderstandings but last time they finally met back up. Hitomi is planning to try and get information about the Rambler from possibly slimy businessman type. Eustace is about to explain what happened to him when he snuck on the Rambler property. All the while, a big dog show is coming to town, there's a dog-catcher (and police chief) with questionable morals, Amy Patel remains missing (and Vern has joined her), and there's still the questions about strange security footage and a device meant to scramble electronics.
About Eustace Delmont
It is 1996 and Eustace Delmont is a geek in his mid-20s who has moved back to the town of Maidenstead and now drifts as a slightly big fish (with curly hair) in a small pond. One day, while helping a minor electronics kerfuffle at town's main landmark—the weird and overlarge Rambler's Inn Hotel—with a long and storied past, Eustace met the girl of his dreams: Hitomi Meyer. Staying with her estranged father and step-sister, Hitomi is down and out and distressed as she gets caught up in a scheme to help launch a subscription VHS ghost hunting video series. The two of them team up, and fall in love, while trying to solve a constantly spiraling collection of mysteries.
Content Warning: Smoking, Drinking, Drugs, People Being Held Against Their Will, Dog Theft, Mild Language, Some Off-Screen Violence and Sex.
This post is in MULTI-PHASE style. See the about page of this blog for more details. The Image Oracles described in the post (gamemaster phases and mechanic notes, especially) are from the Maidenstead Mysteries one-sheet. They can be seen on the Tricube Image Oracles page.
A Swap of Styles
Generally, I have posted The Alabama Weird timeline campaigns in what I call the LITERARY style: heavy on creative writing, thin on actual rolling and prompts. However, as I played through the even-weirder-Alabama-Weird campaign, The GLOW which has a whole new Alabama timeline, I used MULTI-PHASE. That was a lot of fun so I am thinking about swapping up and phasing out the more lit-first posts into a similar blend of heavy gameplay, heavy gamemaster development, and then fairly creative writing style segments in response. If this fails, we will return back to our previously scheduled style shortly.
Focus Threads and Mystery Mapping
Slightly more complicated than switching the style is trying to find out a good way to map out the mysteries currently under investigation and yet-to-come (if I keep this series going in mini-arcs as planned). There are two (sort of three) tools for this. In rough order of their release.
The Mystery Matrix as introduced in Mythic Magazine #6. I might not use that version of the Matrix so much but I do plan on using the Meaning Tables for Clues and Suspects from the same article.
The Thread Progress Track in Mythic Gamemaster Emulator 2nd Edition (starting on page 132). This is a nice, simple method to show a general progression and to build in some "flashpoints" where things get more intense throughout. The one wrinkle here is there are roughly three mysteries inherent in this campaign so far: (1) The "main" mystery - Amy (and Vernon) Are Missing, (2) The "secondary" mystery - Something's Funky at the Rambler, and (3) The "tertiary" mystery - Shenanigans at the Dog Show.
As written, you pick one at a time. In this case, I feel like we can melt this down into two: Dog Show at 10-points (1 flashpoint) + Rambler's Mystery at 20 points (3 flashpoints). Then each scene will either be dedicated to one or the other.
The One Page Mystery Crafter from Mythic Magazine #47. This version simplifies the Mystery Matrix (a bit) and the Meaning Tables. I like the it in principle though there are a few elements of it that I am not sure about (and I will definitely prefer to use the longer tables from MM#6.
At this point, I am going to use the second option, add in the Meaning Tables from the first option, and start mapping over my previously used mystery flow chart into something more Mythic-able.
Now, finally after a several week break where these posts were far too scarce: ON WITH THE SHOW.
Chapter 6: In Which Tunnels Are Explored and Plots Are Mulled like Wine
The Progress so Far
For the Rambler's Inn Arc, Eustace has (1) discovered that someone was disrupting the the security systems and (2) there is security footage that Gunther Strange is keeping but not wanting to show. We'll mark 4 total progress. The tunnel scene (finally showing up) is going to be a flashpoint. The question is where to put Vernon's disappearance. Right now, folks do not seem to be aware that he is actually gone as opposed to just run off. I'll leave that unmarked.
For the Dog Show Arc, Eustace and Hitomi (1) have found that Isaac Gibbs is luring dogs to be caught, (2) there is a big dog show coming up with several guests being routed to the Rambler [despite its "No Dogs" policy], and (3) that Sheriff Elmer Raylon is somehow working with Gibbs (his secret half-brother). It actually makes sense that Raylon is protecting the Rambler from snoopers to avoid folks finding out that Gibbs is about. Eustace being kidnapped will be marked as the flashpoint for that. This is 6 total marks (4P + 2F). The dog show actually does not have that much to go (in the game world, it is just a few days off, so this makes sense).
| The Mystery of the Rambler's Inn | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10F | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15F | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20E |
| P | P | P | P | ||||||||||||||||
| Shenanigans at the Dog Show | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10E |
| P | P | P | P | F | F | ||||
Keyed Scene: Tunnels. Condition: Within the next two scenes at most.
The tunnels are now a keyed scene. We know from Hitomi's previous point-of-view (Chapter 5) that Eustace has made it into the tunnels. However, he still has to pull off the disguise and get past the chief's men. In case this scene gets altered or interrupted, the very next scene will be going into the tunnels (he might just be running while doing it).
Keyed Scene: Dog Show. Condition: Completion of the Dog Show track.
A bit self-explanatory. Once that track is finished, there will be a scene at the dog show where we will figure out what Isaac Gibbs and the Chief are really up to. Nefarious deeds, or something a bit more legit?
The Worst Deliveryman Ever
CHAOS FACTOR: 6
EXPECTED SCENE: Eustace pretends to be a grocery delivery driver and sneaks off to the side during delivery to find the button to open the tunnels.
SCENE IS... as expected. Finally!
Now we get to find out a mystery trap I have laid for myself. We know there are hidden tunnels. We know (from Chapter 4) that something was in the tunnels that Jenny found to be weird and freakish. Besides that, I have left most everything to chance. Amy and Vernon are clearly not chained up right by the door or Jenny would have had a much bigger freak out. They might be down there, but if they are, it is further than Jenny is willing to go.
Meaning Table: Clues → 69 Odd 73 Passion. Meaning Table: Actions → 34 Dispute 35 Friend. Meaning Table: Locations → 06 Bleak 54 Loud. Image Oracles → 1,1 Ambulance + 2,3 Fingerprint.
And why won't Eustace go any further? Image Oracles → 2,4 Fireplace + 5,4 Raining.
The tunnels are a "love den" for some of the rich and sleazy folks around the Gulf. A place where people meet up with other swingers and such. The smells of tobacco, marijuana, stale booze, and expensive perfumes drench the area. The tunnels themselves are just old service tunnels but there are various rooms repurposed from storage rooms to various bedrooms with various bits of kit. Unfortunately, there are distinct hints that something bad broke out. One of the rooms has dried blood and seems to have been investigated with fingerprint dust still on the door frame. Furniture inside is smashed up. Further down from that room, another room is charred like a fire broke out and the very old sprinkler system has left the place an even further mess. This occurred {days | weeks} → probably weeks ago. Things have had time to dry off.
There are cameras in some of the rooms. Are the cameras off? (50/50) → 85 No. Some are still running so Eustace will have to navigate around what they are recording.
BUT FIRST, What does Eustace have to do to get into the tunnels?
Using the 3d6 method as discussed in the new rules and rolls section we get Charming, Hard, 3 Effort. Our boy is going to totally be running for it.
Who does he have to charm to get past? Image Oracle 4,2 Morgue Feet + 2,3 Fingerprint. A few cops who might know him. Do they know that the Chief has forbidden him from investigating? (Likely) → 37 Yes.
The Worst Deliveryman Ever
Eustace explains to Hitomi what happened to him while her and Morgan order some drinks...
I had talked to Hayden Warren, who runs the IGA, to let me piggyback on a delivery to the Rambler. Chief Raylon had made it clear I was not to get back there and Firestorm... Eustace indicates the sterner, heavier looking of the two women he is with—meaning the one with rainbow hair in what is one heck of a mashup— ..., um, Jenny, hi, anyhow had made it clear that something was wrong with the tunnel but was not being friendly with explaining why.
"I thought you had sent me into a freaky love den as a joke or invitation, you dweeb," says the one named Jenny.
"Jen, you silly," says the other woman, the more giggly one, "Eu is too sweet for either of those."
Hitomi notes that Jenny stares at sweet, dark, and giggles with a look somewhere between puppy-love and anxiety before conceeding the point. Hitomi glances at Eustace but it is Morgan who answers. "Hitomi Meyer, meet the smartest girl in town, Elly Lopez. Her and Jenny are the town's nerdiest couple."
Elly turns at the praise and smiles brightly at Morgan before shaking Hitomi's hand. Eustace, who has been on pause this whole time sort of shrugs before continuing.
Now that we are all friends, back to the freak-a-deak tunnel. Like Jenny spoiled, it was apparently some sort of love tunnel. A tunnel of...I'm...
Eustace takes a sip of his coffee—a drink he absolutely does not touch on regular days—while blushing hard, refusing to make eye contact with Hitomi. She also starts blushing. Only Morgan seems to take any note of this but what notes drift in Morgan's head would be hard to work out, she has roughly the entire population of Maidenstead and several miles beyond stored like a Rolodex full of various stickers and highlights.
*cough* It was a place for relations. Off the books. I assume. I don't actually know. I've never seen it on the menu but it was official. The main tunnel was pretty dim. Smell was on point. Smoke, booze, sweat. Cameras were around. Still. Active. Cameras. Eustace taps the table with each word. I had to be...wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
"The police...," Elly prompts.
Right. The police. I had talked to Hayden and got the favor. I put on old uniform which very nearly fit and tagged with Arnie to drop off the Rambler's grocery delivery. Arnie didn't bat an eye. He's been delivering groceries since he dropped out of high-school in the 80s and takes pride in paying attention to nothing but dropping off boxes and getting signatures on the dotted line. Only when I got there there were a few of the Chief's folks getting breakfast. Why they were there, I don't know. Investigating something...um, are you ok?
Hearing that, Hitomi had remembered that Vern might be missing from the same hotel that someone called Amy Patel might be missing and that same hotel is where her jackass sister and her sister's jackass boyfriend are staying at the best of a jackass producer and also, apparently, where cops are randomly hanging out near love tunnels. She let out a sort of hissing breath putting all those things in a large "possibly related" basket. She urges Eustace to continue. Not too much longer before Patrick Yost goes home for the day.
Tim Sprot, does some morgue stuff. There with Sue Delphi, one of the old timers. They know me. I mean, there are very few houses or businesses that I have not worked with in some way. Everyone knows me. Some like me. Cops, well, there's about one in that Venn diagram. So I froze a bit. What do I do? Pretend to be a delivery guy until they leave? Just outright talk to them and lie and say Gunther sent me?
Then it happened. I was carrying a box of fruit, trying to act my most delivery. And boom. I dropped it. Half the folks eating breakfast turned to look at me. [1]
No problem, right? Just pick up the fruit like I am doing my job? Just another goofy delivery man maybe a bit hungover or sleepy after a night of partying? I bent over and the cap I had pulled down over my head fell off and going to get that, I smacked my head right into a table and it sounds the ding-dong bell for everyone to hear. Now even more people are staring and those two cops are bound to notice. [2]
I decided to try and lean into it, like it was a comedy act. Bending over to keep my face hidden. A few folks chuckled. Only...
"Only?," Hitomi prompts in the pause.
Only, that uniform that has not fit me since high school rips right down the pants. I hear silence hit the room and I decide the time has come for an executive decision. [3]
"He ran," says Jenny, a look of glee on her face as she reaches over and takes the coffee from him and starts drinking, "Split pants and all!" She seems to be struggling not choking on his drink.
I ran. Split pants and all. I could hear Sue shout my name. [4]
Flight into the Love Tunnel
Chaos Factor: 7
Keyed Scene triggers: Eustace enters the tunnel.
Let's see what is actually is needed for Eustace to get down into the tunnel. 3d6 → Hard Aware. He will need to keep an eye out for his chance to get down into the tunnel.
Flight into the Love Tunnel
I ran out the side entrance nearest where the tunnels were. I heard Tim and Sue both calling out after me and I had another problem. Another cop. Some younger guy named Jackson I barely know. He was out smoking and giggling while talking over his radio.
Morgan supplies some information, "Jackson Horton is dating Tiffany Willikers. The dispatcher. They...oh, sorry."
Jackson was not looking my way, but the way that Tim and Sue are shouting, he is starting to turn. I glanced around and noticed a washed out patch behind some thick shrubs. The dusty white of the wall not quite the white of my uniform but it might just work. I flung my self over the shrubs, torn pants and all, and dropped down next to the wall. It seemed to have worked because Tim and Sue tore off towards Jackson and the three of them looked around before running around to the front. No doubt going to call it in. [5]
I knew I did not have much time so I ran over to the fountain and the planter box where Jenny had found the button and slapped it, which caused the planter full of fake flowers to swing out and there were the stairs and I ran down into the....love. Tunnel.
This time, the other three women seem to notice the awkwardness between Eustace and Hitomi. Jenny and Elly look at Morgan who just shrugs.
Like I said earlier, the main tunnel was just a tunnel. Pretty dank. Some lights. Probably has been around as long as the Rambler. I do not know why it was down there, but think stone walls. Some utility paint. A few pictures in black velvet motifs. Side rooms, though. Well. Those had been fancied up. Plush carpet. Mood lightning. Yankee Candles. Waterbeds. Fluffy handcuffs. Feathers. Padded straps. Some whips. Kink. Nothing extreme, just kink.
"And you said there were cameras?," Hitomi asks.
Right. Was not easy to get around them but I took my time. Thing is those cameras were a bit old fashioned. The kind that had a light on so you know they are working. Hooked up with cables clearly feeding into some central hub, maybe the box upstairs. Probably another one. Only the whole place felt...like it had gone cold. Like it hadn't been rented out in a month or more. [6]
And I think I found out why pushing a bit further down. There was a room, maybe four or five down, where something bad seems to have happened. A shelf with various...um...intimacy devices had been knocked over. The scary thing was the bed. It was burned. Badly. Some old sprinklers had activated and there was a big puddle of ash and gunk on the floor. Some of those intimacy devices had melted, close to the heat. And...
Eustace leans over to get as close to Hitomi as he can with a table in between.
By the door was dried blood. And a fingerprint. A dusted fingerprint. Like someone more official had checked it. The police. I knew I had to get out of there because I was in a crime scene of some magnitude and I had cops looking for me already.
Hitomi gets up and walks a short distance from the group. Shows off her pack of cigarettes and makes a general, "Do you want one?," gesture. The others shake their head no except Elly who comes over and joins Hitomi. The two light their smokes and take a moment to take in all the things just said.
"What did you do then?," Hitomi asks.
Eustace pulls up his satchel and takes something from it. A Betamax tape with the words "DELETE, DISCARD, DO NOT RE-RECORD" written on it.
I stole a tape.
The Betamax Heist and the Cosplay Plan
CHAOS FACTOR: 6
EXPECTED SCENE: Eustace breaks into Gunther Strange's security room to steal the tape.
THE SCENE IS... 9, as expected.
We know the tape that Eustace noted earlier was in Gunther's office. At the time, spotting Hitomi distracted him from it. Now, he suspects it has information on it that might help.
To get the tape, Eustace needs to 3d6 → Alert + Brainy, Normal, 3 Effort → move fast and cautiously.
We'll say he gets back out of the tunnel the way he got in but the only way to get out with the tape without getting spotted by someone will be to have gotten three successes before he takes three losses.
The Betamax Heist and the Cosplay Plan
I had left the tunnel open. I guess I figured I could get out some other way and was worried about locking myself in if there was no other way. Now I was really worried about going any further and risking leaving any evidence I was here. I checked outside and nearly stood up when I saw Jackson jogging back around the corner way. I ducked down and he passed by without even paying attention to what was effectively a hole in the ground big enough you could ride a bike down. The cops are not so great around here. [7]
Then I started moving along the shrubs as much as possible, stopping when needed to try and get by. Again, I nearly got spotted, this time by Raymond. Raymond Clark...
"Oh, he is verrrrry cute," interjects Morgan.
I prefer gorgeous. But, right, the very gorgeous Raymond Clark. Maidenstead's literal finest. He likes me and we are friends but still, he would likely think the best thing to do was to take me home. I barely got my head down in time. [8]
I got under Gunther's office window which is all the way around near the parking lot. I had dive between bushes near the front doors just to get there. Automatic doors. I have no idea how that worked. This meant I was going to be pretty much in the open while shoving Gunther's window open and trying to get through. I, um, nearly screwed up here.But I was thinking about how the last time I looked through this window I saw...
Eustace stops and stares at Hitomi as she drags on her cigarette. She is first thinking she is expected to say something but she realizes what parking lot he means and realizes. She gives him an honest smile. "I remember." Now the others are definitely looking back and forth between them.
I manage to pull my self together, shove the window open—Gunther often leaves it cracked so he can get away with spitting right outside the window—and then I pulled myself through, got the tape, and cut back along the beach. I called Jenny and found out Elly was back in town and said I had to be out of Maidenstead jurisdiction. [9]
"What's on it?," Morgan asks. She has been confused most of the time but she understands that Hitomi is up to something and it somehow involves Eustace Delmont and she always found him cute—Morgan finds most guys under thirty and pretty much all the women around town cute, but Eustace was very nice to her kind of mean older sister Sally and that makes Eustace extra cute—and she already absolutely loves Hitomi and would like to help them both.
"I have no clue," responds Eustace. "I need a Betamax player and those are not super common. Outside of the Rambler and its stupidly out of date video tech."
"And Ralph," points out Hitomi.
"Yeah, right, like I can risk going back there with Chief Raylon is probably loosing all the hounds."
Hitomi lights another cigarette and looks to Morgan. "You know the town better than anyone else. How do we get Eu to Ralph Harley's?"
"Me?," Morgan asked, confused.
"No, captain torn pants, there," acknowledging for the first time that Eustace was still wearing his delivery uniform. He hadn't had time to change it before fleeing the area.
"Ohhhhh. OH. Hmm. I know! Elly and Jenny are great at costumes. They did one hell of a She-Ra last year!" [10]
Elly stubs out her cigarette and laughs. "You want us to dress Eustace up as She-Ra?"
"No. Though...sorry, NO," she coughs and Hitomi wonders, not for the first time, what kind of bright pink slide show is playing in Morgan's head, "I got distracted. No, someone like Shaggy from Scooby Doo."
"Who?," asks Hitomi.
"No, better yet," says Jenny, a gleam in Firestorm's eyes. "Velma. Shave the beard. Slap on a wig. Different glasses."
"Hey, wait...," starts Eustace, before being cut off by Elly and Morgan who are both talking excitedly.
Hitomi walks over to Eustace and look down at his slightly panicked face. "I think you'll be damned cute." He goes to argue and decides instead to just grin back up at her.
"Fine, but I am going to need borrow some of Aunt Elvis's clothes."
Behind them both, they can hear Morgan go, "OH!"
Updates to Progress Tracks and Threads This Session
Nothing gained on the dog show arc but the Rambler arc gets a flashpoint with finding the "dungeon." The points from the potential watching of the tape will wait until the tape is actually watched, which will partially depend on if Eustace can pull the costume out.
| The Mystery of the Rambler's Inn | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10F | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15F | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20E |
| P | P | P | P | F | F | ||||||||||||||
| Shenanigans at the Dog Show | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5F | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10E |
| P | P | P | P | F | F | ||||
Taking the advice on page 140 of Mythic about "Diversifying Threads," I decided to break up the "The Tunnels" thread into several parts:
- The Love Tunnel
- The Incident in the Love Tunnel
- The Betamax
Besides that, I added "Eustace Delmont Wanted" as a thread.
No characters added just yet. The new police force mentioned might get added later but for now they are mostly flavor fluff.
DOUG'S COMMENTARY
I worked out a new functionality for this post. Well, a few new ones. I added progress thread tracks and the stylesheets and layout needed to make them work for 10-, 15-, and 20- point spreads. I also added the first javascript functions to the blog for people who might want to read the story without the Gamemaster inserts. This helps it flow a bit more like a story (one with some jumps and breaks, probably a middlin' one outside of the actual play eleements) without having to see the mechanics so much. There's a toggle at the top to turn them on and off. This can be especially helpful in a post like this where there are several boxes of mechanics and catch-up before it gets to the text. That is a work in progress and each post for the next few might have a differing variation of it.
I am glad to be able to get to use the "Maidenstead Irregulars" more this time around, even if they were just kind of a Greek chorus.
I personally think the partial swap to multi-phase went pretty well. I tried to transition it slightly. The kind of mixed-tense, POV swap used in this post was a bit of a swan song to the original overblown style of this campaign. See the "Session 0" set-up to get a glimpse. Chapter 6 completes and slightly extends the original intention of Chapter 3 which, in the old format, was going to end in the OG Eustace's overly dramatic voice describing the tunnels. Four chapters for the price of one. It's a deal!
One element that is important to this post: Eustace's voice gets a lot more locked down. A conceit of the original format was that Eustace wrote in a particularly dramatic style about himself in past-tense third-person—"Eustace faced the horrors of the immoral space with the bravey for which he later would best be known."—while Hitomi spoke in first-person, mixing tenses as appropriate—"I remember Eu telling me about the tunnels." Now that I am essentially dropping this aspect altogether, I am going to be writing more in Eustace's actual dialogue. A kind of geeky, mildly sarcastic, socially awkward guy who is friendly and charming but also prone to talking in a kind of distracted, hectic way.
At one point, the tunnels were going to probably involve stolen things or drugs. The idea that they were a kind of swingers' haven was fresh and bespoke to this post. Here's a fun behind the scene glimpse into a useful random table "cheat": I originally rolled "69 Odd 37 Food." I was ok with running with that but I had a certain premonition that I was going to have to struggle to not take it even darker so I used a method that sometimes help when a random roll threatens to derail: I keep the roll but read the digits in a different order. I prefer that than just rerolling until I get something that fits. I challenges me but gives me control. I just try and not overly abuse it. 73 Passion involved a much smaller chance that it was going to involve cannibals. Which makes me happy.
I think I have used the "Eu" → "You" confusion pun at least a half-dozen times, so far. I would say that's enough but it will likely show up, again.
The dumbest joke in the whole post, by the way, was Hitomi—a gender-swapped take on Shaggy from Scooby Doo—not knowing who Shaggy was and then encouraging Eustace to be a gender-swapped Velma. Of course, Vern is already the gender-swapped Velma but Eustace will be cute in an orange sweater.
A number of glitches have showed up in text due in part to the fact that it has been FOUR MONTHS since various real life things and some blog things have impacted this series and stopped it from having consistent posts. I will try to fix a few "in post" so the whole series is probably about to get some polish. A few things:
- I have started thinking of Eustace having a beard for a bit but it was never stated in the text until now and earlier posts might contradict this.
- Hayden Warren has been called Hayden Warden at least one time.
- The police force now has at least five members but there has been little sense of it until now.
- Likely several other things.
As I try and compile my Mystery Matrix before next week's post, I will go through and re-read all of them and try to tweak and update some things.
The fact that Eustace's two bosses are Harley and Warren is almost definitely an accidental reference. I only noticed when I went back and looked up Warren's name to double check.
MECHANICAL NOTES
- No successes. Normally this feels like resolve thing but Maidenstead Mysteries is built a bit different. More like, the lack of resolve means the scene cannot be fully resolved. Since the tunnels are a keyed scene, they will still show up but things are complicated.
- No successes. Poor, poor dweeb.
- No successes. Part of this is almost based on a true story.
- Did the cops see it was Eustace? (50/50) → 6 Exceptional Yes.
- Eustace gets a success.
- 3D6 method. Normal Alert + Brainy. Eustace gets 1 success.
- Had to spend a Karma with his Fine Attention to Detail perk, but he noted the danger and got a success.
- Another Karma spent, another success.
- Uses his Daydreamer Quirk to restore 1 Karma (back up to 2). Still manages the success.
- Morgan gets 1 success on a Standard Brainy roll so her idea will have merit.
CREDITS
Eustace Delmont and The Case of the Rambler's Inn is played primarily using Richard Woolcock (Zadmar Games)'s Maidenstead Mysteries Tricubes one-sheet and Tana Pigeon's Mythic Gamemaster Emulator is used to handle a lot of the scene management and basic oracle checks. Various tables Tricube Tales Solo (also by Woolcock) and various articles from Mythic Magazine also show up.
Other sources used include:
- Cesar Capacle's Random Realities
- Madeline Hale's Table Fables: Modern
- Matt & Erin Davis's Book of Random Tables: Modern, Book of Random Tables: Eldritch, and Book of Random Tables: 1980s - 1990s
- Zach Best's Universal NPC Emulator.
The art from this one was modified from "Sony betamax cassette L-750 SD 195min recordingtime.png" provided to Wikimedia Commons (CC-0) by dr.marioli. Modifications made by me using GIMP and various filters and tweaks. The original idea was to have a kind of photocopied black-and-white outline theme for the art in this series but after leaving behind AI art, it got hard to find. I have been working out some methods to bring it back in a slightly different form.
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