Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

He only hunts for food not for sport. He'll kill if he has reason, but war is just a brutal pointless waste.
He could be able to do a lot of things, what things depend on party dynamics. Definitely courtly manners when he chooses.

Gentle but no sugarcoating for patients. Not so gentle with kibbitzers.
Supernatural experience could be with voudon in New Orleans or with something out west. I would like for him to know at least one other character.

He's the cynical, no-nonsense pragmatist. Some one who's excitable/impetuous would be a good contrast. So would an idealist. He's definitely lost his faith so having a devout character would add drama.

Player selection
 

Right, sir_pudding and jmurrell I know and have gamed with before. I am therefore in a position to evaluate their merits as players immediately. I approve them both and tentatively approve their concepts.

The other prospects, Skullcrusher and ErnhamDJ, I do not know. I will therefore need to observe them for longer before I know if I would enjoy gaming with them. To this end it would be good if they could float several concepts, discuss concepts with the already-approved players and otherwise contribute to establishing a party dynamic.

I'm still waiting on answers from several other prospects contacted through physical, analog or alternative digital means. This does not mean that any interested parties should hold off on expressing interest. The number of players is less important than quality and I'd rather go with slightly fewer or slightly more than I'd go with one that I felt didn't mesh with the others or wasn't likely to increase my enjoyment.

Sir-pudding's concept is a former Texas Ranger with experience fighting the Comanches, who lost his entire family to a brutal raid that everyone assumed was Indians. He disagrees and is searching for the true culprit, which he has reason to think is something both more and less than human. Areas of competence would be criminal investigations, interpersonal skills, horsemanship, point shooting and survival on the Great Plains. Might also know the Comanche language and something of their ways. Personality perhaps focused and intense. Possibly even manic. Not yet decided.

Jmurrell's character is a former Confederate officer from Lousiana who became a doctor in the West after the War for a chance to make up for some of the blood on his hands. This would suggest that he has spent at least ten years on the frontier, where he practised in a small town or a series of small towns. Hunts for sustenance, so probably uses a medium-caliber rifle or maybe a shotgun, and is a good horseman. Gentle, but honest with patients. Familiar with Antebellum Southern courtliness, but not necessarily prone to display it with those who waste his time. Cynical, pragmatic, earthy.

I'd like to see these concepts expanded and perhaps related to each other. Is there a connection between them? If not, are there other character types that would be particularly suitable as their friends, foils and colleagues?

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

Actually, I've realized I don't want to play in this game. I thought I would have the time, but it's looking like I won't. Sorry.

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

Me too. I am already commiting to alot already and think i will over extending my time if I commit to this game. Have fun!

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

If there still is room I am interested.

I am unable at the moment to write a long post.

Basic idea, English man, specialist from the old world in old world "fairy" tales and monster stories from eastern Europe. Collector of weird tales.

Both physical strong and well educated. He may have assisted in forming this new division within the Postal service.

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

Sounds interesting.

When you have more time; you will no doubt elaborate on the concept. For that time, some things to ponder.

Do you have any preference when he would have emigrated to the US? And why?

Would you like him to have any connections to the other PCs prior to the start of play? If he was instrumental in convincing Federal authorities to support their investigations, I suppose it would be only logical that he would have corresponded with some of them and probably met one or more of them. But would you wish a longer association with any of them?

There was strong prejudice in the West against Englishmen, of course. Other PCs could share that, to a greater or lesser degree. What do the players feel about that? Would it be interesting or an uncomfortable distraction for some PCs to heirs to national antagonisms, a la the classic 'Elf-Dwarf', 'Frenchman-Englishman', 'Englishman-Scot', 'Yankee-Southerner', etc. odd couples?

Had you thought about how he formed political connections in New York state, if he was indeed involved in that?

Apart from his scholarship, what else did you imagine him doing? Would he be an adventuring scholar, the sort who might seek out a lost city or King Solomon's mines, or is he more of a library type with upper class manners, adept at making rich friends and influencing important people?

What were your thoughts for personality? Motivations?

How about action? Is a horseman? Fox hunter, perhaps? Does he fence? Box? Did he serve in the British army at any point? Does he shoot and if so, what? Was he a hunter in some colonial land?

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

I'm willing to give this a shot.

At the moment I'm thinking engineer. Might be Irish or Scottish, recently (within the last decade or so) moved to the States.

Got his engineering education at Chatham, Kent and served for several years after that.

All I got so far. Must sleep on it.

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

Very good.

Once you get back to this; some thoughts.

Why did he emigrate to the States? Engineers were sought after in mining, of course, so he could easily have become a mining engineer, either in the big Comstock silver mine or in some of the gold rushes of the period. Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Dakotas, Bodie (California) are all possibilities for gold, to say nothing of a variety of places in British Columbia.

Mining engineer would be a nice adventuring background, with him of necessity being used to operating fast and rather improvising solutions than waiting for the perfect manufactured part to arrive. Also, some (very few, but the most interesting) mining camps were extremely rough-and-tumble, with brawls, knife fights and shootings being almost commonplace.

Another possibility is a naval enginner, of course. Though that might be better if it was a former occupation, before he started working on something more likely to be of use in adventures set on some very dry land.

Had you thought about personality? Congenial and large-hearted, if blustery, in the grand tradition of Star Trek shipboard engineers? Louder, drunker, more violent and black-bearded version of same? A sober-minded Presbyterian Scot, lanky, tough and kenning the value of money a mite too well? An adventureous sort always on the look for another challenge?

What about the supernatural experience? Of what sort? What effects did it have on his life? Did he seek out people to listen to him or did someone (perhaps another PC) find him and worm the story from him?

How would he fit into the party? Any particular character types who'd be interesting to pair him with? Anything that wouldn't work with him?

What about weapons? What would you like him to favour? Does a carry a frontiner six-shooter and lever-action rifle to fit in with the roughest crowd among miners? Has he some more exotic affectations, carrying with him older British models or even ordering the newest from London, as part of following the exciting new developments in machining and gunsmithing? Does he perhaps not carry a weapon unless he has good reason to know he'll need one?

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

Thought about this some more. Overnight my engineer became an American. His family moved from Scotland when he was young (lets call it at most 10 years old).

His father moved the family there seeking better employment. He was a professional of some sort, the cliché would be that the father was an engineer and the son intended to follow in his footsteps. I'm thinking he grew up in an Scottish/Irish community in say, New York or Pennsylvania.

At about the time he finished his education the Civil War broke out, he volunteered, and ended up serving as an engineer (doing combat engineering stuff).

I see him as a serious, calm man. Practical, has a strong preference for solutions that work right now, instead of a long way down the road.

As for weapons, any firearm that will go BANG! when you really need it to do so works for him.

And I want a sword.

Re: [OOC] The Silent Service, Very Special Agents
 

The 1st New York Volunteers (Engineers) sound like they would do you? More combat experience than the other NY engineering regiments, I think.

Very good. So it would work well to pair him with someone less serious, so he could act as a straight man? Anything more about his personality?

As the engineer of the group, it will be his job to see that everyone's guns go bang at the appropriate time. Including custom-made stuff and exotic handloads that might be needed.

So it would be extremely good if he had experience with that sort of stuff. His father could have been a London or Birmingham (or Dublin) gunmaker, of course. New York state has many gunsmiths in the period and opportunities in that field were booming. Could have worked as an apprentice somewhere. LeFever is working there in the 60s and 70s.

Surely. Will this do? That's if he was an NCO in the War. Another possibility for an engineer officer. Or were you thinking something more substantial?

Artillerymen carried this and the engineers often served side-by-side with them.

This one could also work for an engineer officer. Or a privately bought blade, actually more likely for a volunteer officer.

Of course, being issued or buying a blade in the Civil War doesn't mean he knew how to use one. Fencing isn't a common sport for practical sons of professionals in the industrialised North, you know. More of an aristocrat thing in the South, maybe.

But his father could have taught him. For that matter, his father could have served in the British Army. If your character was 20+ in the Civil War, he emigrated before 1841. That still allows for a father who fought in Anglo-Sikh or Anglo-Afhan wars. Or in China. He could even have been in a Highlander Regiment, even earlier. Your character could carry his old claymore.