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This looks really cool! Fausts pen would you mind if I submitted a Hardholder? I haven't played a ton of Apocalypse World before, but it seems like the Hardholder could be a bit unmanageable at times.
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Jun 16, 2014 01:22
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 07:45 |
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Jack Callahan, the Hardholder Jack can barely remember a time before Saint Theresa’s. There was a blue house with white trim and parents. Then, one day Jack coughed up blood and his parents sent him to the consumption ward. Jack grew to adulthood within the sanatorium’s walls. His condition, while in remission, was chronic and hope for a cure and release was small, so Jack became intimately familiar the sanatorium and its grounds. When the dust came in ’35 the doctors and the staff fled, abandoning the inmates in order to save themselves and their own families. In their absence, Jack took charge of the sanatorium and its resources. The first years after the dust were hard. Desperate people from the surrounding area came looking for food and took it by force when Jack turned them down. Jack learned some hard lesions during this time, but the sanatorium endured. Its residents stockpiled food and weapons, boarded up the windows, and learned to endure. Now, Saint Theresa’s has become a tiny island of stability in a world gone mad. Still, the dust-storms rage outside and roving bands stalk the wastes, willing to kill for a crust of bread; keeping the sanatorium a safe place for its residents to live and for peaceful newcomers to put up their feet and do a bit of business takes constant work. How do you survive in this barren land? Jack makes his way in this god-forsaken world by overseeing Saint Theresa’s. Formerly a tuberculosis sanatorium, Jack has converted the building into a stronghold against the dustbowl. The residents grow crops on the grounds and Jack allows outsiders to meet at the sanatorium and conduct business, taking a percentage for providing a safe venue. What stories have you heard? Somewhere out there, right before things went bad, found a cure for consumption. The scientists’ lab is supposedly at the center of the storm, surrounded by howling winds. Still, the story gives Jack a glimmer of hope that one day he might cure himself and the other residents of St Theresa’s who suffer from the disease. What do you cling to in these shifting sands? Family. Jack was long ago abandoned by his parents and has come to see the residents of Saint Theresa’s as a surrogate family. Protecting them has become Jack’s primary concern. quote:Look: Hardhold: Saint Theresa's Hospital  Saint Theresa’s was originally built in the mid-19th century to provide a home and treatment center for people suffering from tuberculosis. During the second Spanish Flu outbreak, Saint Theresa’s became a de facto prison, quarantining the inmates from the outside world. When the dust came in 1935, the staff and doctors abandoned Saint Theresa’s, leaving the residents to fend for themselves.  The Cross of Lorraine. Once the international symbol of the fight against tuberculosis, now the insignia of Saint Theresa's and its militia. Since then, Jack Callahan has organized the residents and their children into an armed community. The population has been supplemented by families who have chosen to throw their lot in with the residents. The people of Saint Theresa’s make their living through crude farming and scavenging. Saint Theresa’s is also home to a market, where local traders exchange goods and information, under the watchful gaze of Saint Theresa’s militia. This militia is well-trained, having learned from experience over the years. Jack has further assured the safety of the hardhold by paying off some of the local gangs. He has also overseen the addition of makeshift fortifications to the sanatorium.  Members of St Theresa's militia, in a lighter moment. Unfortunately, disease is a perennial problem at Saint Theresa’s. Many of the residents and their children still suffer from consumption. Jack has attempted to stop the disease from spreading by making those with symptoms wear masks and by isolating those with acute symptoms in a separate dormitory. quote:Choose 4: deadking fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jun 22, 2014 |
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Jun 16, 2014 18:02
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Yeah, sorry I just finished typing up the second half of the post. The information's been edited into my previous post.
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Jun 16, 2014 18:52
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Fausts Pen posted:Jack: Don't forget to outline your holding, its a pretty big part of the character! What do you do for food and fuel at St Theresa's? "We grow our own food at Saint Theresa's. The greenhouses keep the dust off the crops and make up for the poor sunlight. They're a pain in the neck to maintain though. There's not a lot of glass around anymore, so if a panel breaks there's not much to do but board it up and wait for someone to find or make a replacement. Occasionally, the scavenger teams will find something edible out in the waste or a trader will sell us food. It'd probably be enough if we didn't have to pay off that damned Cutter and his boys." "Fuel, on the other hand, is always a problem. We're totally dependent on trading for it, and the supply's far from steady. Electricity's a luxury around these parts, so we burn wood to say warm and candles for light. We've got a couple of clunkers as well, but we can't run them that often." quote:How well did everyone react during that last black blizzard that came through? "The last blizzard taught us a valuable lesson about over-extending ourselves. The hold's been growing, and there isn't enough room for everyone in the original buildings. We've been putting up cabins and palisades on the grounds to house newcomers. The dust tends to be thicker in the valleys, so we started building new structures on the hill opposite the sanatorium. The black blizzard tore it all down, and anyone out there without a mask died choking on dust. The families of those people blamed me for a while, and they're probably right to do it; I shouldn't have sent work crews so far away from shelter." quote:How do you stop the TB from spreading to the uninfected in your holding? Preventing the spread of consumption is a delicate issue. Consumption often goes dormant, so without a doctor there's no way of knowing how many people are infected. That said, wearing masks in public is mandatory, as is reporting anyone who starts showing acute symptoms. Anyone with symptoms is confined to the right wing of the hospital building so they can hopefully recover. Without a surgeon, however, there isn't much we can do other than prevent the spread of the disease. Only half of the people in quarantine live to make it out. These rules are the source of a lot of tension here. For good reason, those who suffer from the disease feel that Saint Theresa's is theirs by right and resent the rules, which they see as favoring uninfected newcomers. On the other hand, I suspect the uninfected would rather run off the infected and have done with it. They haven't dared say it to my face, though; not yet in any case.
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Jun 17, 2014 16:03
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Fausts Pen posted:Jack:With so many people in the Sanatorium, you certainly can't do everything yourself. Who are your lieutenants? "In the beginning -when everything went bad- it was just me and some of the other patients, scared and looking to me to get them through each day. We've grown since then; the men and women who were interned here have started families, and their children are just starting to reach adulthood. We've also taken refugees in over the years who don't always have the same attachment to Saint Theresa's as consumption patients." "All this means I've had to rely on others to help keep this place running. Sister Catherine has been with me the longest. She's the only staff member who didn't run off when the dust came. Instead she stayed to help the people to whom she had dedicated her life. Today, she still represents the interests of the original denizens of the sanatorium. I think some of the newcomers resent her for this; ironic seeing as she was the one who first convinced me to open our gates to outsiders. Catherine also oversees the manufactory, directing those people who are quarantined "Alice Clarke speaks for most of the newcomers. A lot of these folks are farmers or road people who left the cities during the second Spanish Flu. When the dust came, the countryside wasn't safe anymore and people started looking for any form of shelter. Alice came to us about five years ago leading a group who'd been through hell. Alice studied at one of those agricultural colleges, so she's got the know-how to keep these people fed. She and I don't always see eye to eye, but I know she's got Saint Theresa's best interests at heart." "Calvin Johnson leads the militia. I've heard he was in the army right before things went to hell, but he's tight-lipped about it. He's responsible for training up a ragtag group of volunteers with busted equipment into a decent fighting force. On the other hand, the man's got a bad drinking problem, so I've been keeping an eye on him. Cal also keeps an eye on the marketplace and makes sure the people who come to do business give Saint Theresa her due without a fuss." quote:Do you celebrate any holidays? Holidays are a luxury we can scarcely afford in this dust-choked world. That said, we always have a communal meal on Christmas, and some people will exchange little gifts. I wouldn't call it a holiday, but depending on the harvest we'll have ourselves a little feast. Sister Catherine and some others try and keep track of Easter and celebrate it, but not me. If there ever was a God he isn't listening anymore. quote:What did you do with the man who came in babbling about monsters? "Look, the man was making a scene and scaring the little ones. Amos told him to stop shouting and come inside, but he wouldn't listen, so he had to crack him one. When the fellow came to he spun a crazy story about devils robed in whirling dust tearing the skin off his friends' bodies with claws as sharp as steel. He told us the last thing he heard before passing out was their cruel laughter. The man's clearly off his rocker or a drunk, but just in case I posted extra watches for a while."
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Jun 20, 2014 02:07
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Awesome, I'm excited! As for everyone's place at the Hardhold: if you have a cool idea feel free to run with it! Jack Callahan "A few years ago, I never would have opened our gates to so many outsiders, but let's face it; Saint Theresa's needs help. The gangs out there are better armed and more vicious than ever before. If Saint Theresa's is going to survive we need friends. If that means sharing what little we have with others, so be it." Jack is generous with his trust and resources, I tell everyone Hx+1 "I know Doc from way back. He used to be with us when things were real bad at Saint Theresa's. Back then, consumption was running rampant and it looked for a moment like we'd all take sick and die if it weren't for Doc. He took off after that; said something about wanting to wander the dust and help others. He's back now. Neither of us are young men anymore and I think he wanted a familiar place to put up his feet. I'm glad of it. A doctor's never unwanted around here. He seems different though; those years on the road must have changed him..." Doc has been with Jack since before, +1 Hx to whatever number he tells me "That God-botherer thinks I don't remember, but I do. The job was simple: Charlie killed a man and ran off into the dust and Chaplain was supposed to bring him back dead or alive. You can't just let a man who did what Charlie done go because he blubbers and feeds you some line about how he's found the Lord. Look, me and him are square for now, but I've got my eye on that one." Chaplain once betrayed Jack, I write +3 Hx instead of whatever number he tells me. Malkav11: Sure, there's an old abandoned house on the outskirts of the grounds. For some reason, the signal seems to hum a bit stronger there and anyone who's tried to live in it complains of migraines after the first few days. Sin doesn't seem to mind, though (if that works for you!).
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Jun 21, 2014 17:16
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No problem! I mark Sharp for Chaplain. Also, pending BlurryMystr's Hx, you're the highest on my sheet. Could you mark one for me as well?
deadking fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jun 22, 2014 |
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Jun 22, 2014 19:48
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Good to be back! I'm still down to play.
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Jun 26, 2014 03:00
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Whoops, sorry I missed that. I highlight weird for Bean.
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Jun 28, 2014 18:37
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 07:45 |
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I'm still down to play. Sorry for my silence, work got a bit crazy, but things have calmed down.
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Aug 12, 2014 15:10
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