US Law Enforcement Response, Time, Scale and Coordination (Galveston, TX)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

It's an island made of sand. Intuition tells me that the kind of magic and violence your players throw around is a threat to its stability. Doesn't everyone look up the geology of places where adventures are set?

Originally Posted by Verjigorm

Oh man, I hope Galveston sinks. C'mon alice, flubb the roll!

Originally Posted by Anthony

Well, for long lasting sandbars there's usually a reason they haven't already collapsed, most likely there not being much they can collapse into.

If you want something that can be mistaken for an ordinary natural disaster, no-one would be really shocked if a major hurricane hit; after all, it wouldn't be the first time. Modern Galveston is likely a bit more durable, but based on Harvey, well, plenty of coastal areas in Texas aren't really built for hurricanes.

The roll really isn't the kind that you want to fail. Alice's player was aware when certain decisions were made that there was an outside chance of catastrophic results. And not anything that could be mistaken for a natural disaster. Oh, no. The kind they make big-budget horror movies about, be it the Alien franchise, Hellraiser, Cloverfield, Signs, Event Horizon or End of Days.

The sandbar is probably going to be fine. It's the people on it that have a small, but non-zero, chance of being gleefully slaughtered in a blood-soaked orgy of destruction that may or may not portend the literal end of human civilization.

The other PCs were extremely reserved in their actions, aside from the unfortunate decapitation incident. Of course, as they are now in the real world, not the Dreamlands of Gwen Delvano's imagination, they are probably more or less incapable of tactical scale ritual magic, anyway. 'Nonc' Morel used two charms, slung walnuts that can cause stunning, and both Lucien Lacoste and Teddy Smith fired some charmed bullets, but nothing that really had any effects beyond being a piece of metal at high velocity.*

*Lacoste's bullets were charmed against spirits and Smith had a charm that causes Hemophilia and an extra 3d pi++ Damage in living targets, but the engine block of a Ford Focus isn't living and neither was Tomás Alvarez after taking a 750 grain copper-zinc Monolithic Solid Projectile between the eyes at something around 2,400 fps.