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Old 10-14-2017, 11:51 AM   #1269
Rocket Man
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
Default Re: Memorable Quotes.

This quote may have been a turning point in a recent campaign. This was a dressing-down that a PC Nancy Drew/Veronica Mars-type investigator got from an uncle on the police force.

The character, a college student named Jasmine, had gotten a text message from a detective asking for a late-night meeting in the park about the murder they were working on. She raced to the site immediately, without telling anyone or taking precautions. It turned out the detective had been attacked, the phone had been stolen, the message was a fake, and Jasmine was quickly surrounded at gunpoint and abducted ... the only reasons she wasn't killed right away was that no one wanted the park police to interrupt, and that they wanted to send a message to her uncle.

She survived partly from her own tenacity, and partly from some luck related to police and vigilante interference. And once she and the uncle were alone, Jasmine got the following lecture. The player subsequently used it as justification to buy off her Overconfidence disadvantage.

"Right now, I want you to remember one more lesson. A big one.
"Criminals cheat.
"They do not play fair.
"They will lie. They will trick. They will outnumber if they can. They will outgun if they can. They will not stand up in neat little rows for you to knock them down.
"They do not see you as a human being. They will rob you. Rape you. Kill you. They will break your spirit if they can. If they can't, they will still break your body if you let them.
"And they will have no fear of hurting people you love if they can't get you.
"They have done it before. They will do it again any time someone gives them a chance.
"Damn right they're compensating. So what?
"You have to be smarter. Tougher. More careful. And even then, it's no guarantee.
"Because this city does not care. It does not care about fair. It does not care about right. It does not care about you.
"If you care about any of those things, you have to fight for them. And you never, ever count on getting them for free.
"You are luckier than you know.
"I should have found a lot more than a wallet at the park."
__________________
“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking”
--Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor

Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger"
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