Questions for the GM

Instead of email, please post all GM questions here. Don't use email. That way we can all find the questions and answers easier later on in the game. Thanks

Recent World Events your characters would know

Recent World Events in the Campaign World that differ from Earth's real time line

1858: English explorers discover a large lake in the center of the Great Rift Valley, naming it after Queen Victoria, but unable to bring  home news of the discovery, as their expedition met its doom to unknown assailants. A letter makes it home in 1861, brought in by the mail from an unknown source, that details the vast lake, a thriving culture of local tribesmen and a mysterious "King of the Lake" that shuns all outside influence.

1880: The British East India Company is restructed. Its military forces are absorbed into the British military and most of its officers are either taken over or let go. While weakened militarily, the company is given a new charter to pursue investments, trade and business opportunities globally on behalf of the Crown.

1908: Significant meteor strike in Siberia accompanied by several lunar impacts observed by astronomers. Dust from impacts kicks up a halo and ring like formation around the moon for several years. Astronomers note slight change in the moon's orbit and some changes to the tides on Earth, leaving some small harbors completely dry and some others flooded out.

14 April 1914: Italian military aircraft leave for reconnaissance flight from Italian controlled Somaliland to the Lake Victoria region and are never heard from again.

9 November 1918: Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates his throne in Germany and flees to Luederiz in German Southwest Africa (Namibia), declaring a German government in exile.

23 September 1919: Allied forces sack Luederitz, but find that the Kaiser and his loyal troops are gone. Locals indicate they fled inland in motor cars. The biggest manhunt in world history begins.

7 February 1921: Dutch geology professor Krim van der Loowe reports escaping an attack by machinegun wielding men at his basecamp near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Speculation runs rampant in the press that it must have been the Kaiser and his men. The British military organizes an expedition to the area, which is never heard from again.

9 November 1923: an attempted insurrection in Munich is put down by the Weimar Republic. Most of the leadership of the insurrection is killed.

14 April 1924: Portuguese and British navy exchange shots near Gibraltar.  The "Rock Incident" is played up in the press as a prelude to a war over sea lanes, which never materializes.  In a show of good faith, the HMS Invincible puts into port in Lisbon later that year and a Portuguese flotilla sails up the Thames in early 1925.

Play-by-post ground rules

I will post as GM every weekend. Each player who posts at least one response indicating action during the week will get 1 XP.  If the player does not post, that player does not get the 1 XP, but may still get XP for chapter participation as a whole. Not posting during combat or other high action events will mean that the character takes only defensive actions, such as crouching, seeking cover, etc.  Depending on game events, failure to participate in the game may mean that the character ends up back at base, campsite or on the ship until the player can rejoin the game. 

Experience points are awarded at the conclusion of each chapter.  I start a chapter by posting a brand new thread on the blog.  Responses to that post are part of the chapter.  Some chapters are going to be longer than others and may be more rewarding in the terms of experience points. 

Chapter 1 -- Mindelo

Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands, May 13th, 1925
Your characters have arrived on the Portuguese steam ship "Sao Bernardo" a delapidated old wooden ship built in the 1870's and still sporting a main mast and sail propulsion. The city of Mindelo and its surrounding mountains and forests lie before you, home to about 25,000 people, mostly Portuguese, but also many visitors from other nations. An important coaling station for transatlantic traffic to South America and the African routes, Mindelo has an advanced port and small embassies of all the major nations. The influx of commercial interests seeking  a safe base close to colonial Africa has also brought corruption, crime and intrigue to the city.  Several dozen other passengers arrived on the "Sao Bernardo" with you, including:

• Gordon Farnworth--a grizzled veteran of the British Far East India Company, he told you over dinners during your voyage from Tanger that he has come to set up an office for the company.
• Ms. Tatiana Arkalov and her Turkish bodyguard Abrahim--a famous silent movie actress from Russia, Ms. Arkalov plans to meet a movie director in the Cape Verde Islands to make a new silent movie set in the jungles of deepest Africa
• Paulo Sarnardo--a middle aged and very personable Portuguese ship builder who has come to the islands to manage a ship repair yard for the Portuguese navy
• Dr. Mohammed Yousef -- an Egyptian physician renowned for his work with skin creams to treat afflictions of the epidermis. He always carries samples with him and found quite a customer in Ms. Arkalov. Outgoing and cosmopolitan, he also appears to always carry a small pistol in a shoulder holster. 

After docking, the passengers go their seperate ways, exchanging pleasantries.  The three major hotels in town are:

• Hotel Luxe--old style luxury and faded pompousness, $8/night 
• Hotel Sao Vicente--newly built and modern, with ceiling fans and a wraparound bar, favored by younger visitors, $7/night
• Hotel Aroa--old and drafty but clean and well run, dark basement bar favored by local spies (according to ship rumors) $6/night

Post away!