duane_kc

Okay, after much procrastinating, I have good news. The first Bureau 13 game/character creation will be Friday, December 2 at

bountifulpots and

theslice's place in Olathe, 6 PM. we're shoothing, I think, for one or maybe two Fridays a month. Bribing the GM with food or drink is allowed and encouraged. Might even be a good time for a potluck.

Last I knew,

orcjohn,

sherwood21,

mistresangelfur, and

dragonsbane69 were interested;

shaunesay may also show up. Any others are invited to reply with interest to this post. [grin]

Things to think about:

1. Character.
As a Bureau 13 agent, you're a secret government operative charged with investigating and protecting the people of the US from the supernatural. (not aliens; that's MiB's turf. We don't work with them very often...) You can legally, most times, carry a badge and gun, and have an FBI ID. The Bureau can't recruit openly; therefore, they recruit from people who have either had some form of supernatural experience, or who *are* themselves in some way touched by the supernatural. The Bureau has recruited vampires, witches, werewolves, psychics, accountants, circus acrobats, and Sunday-school teachers.

Think about who you want to be, and how you got into the Bureau. Some examples:
Team Thunderbunnies: The entire staff of a Texas brothel, who were recruited after "slowing down" an incubus long enough for a Bureau team to banish him back to Hell...
Team Maccabees: The graduating class of a rabbinical college in New York, recruited when a mad cabalist managed to get a Golem rampaging in Times Square, and helped to set it up as a horror-movie publicity stunt afterwards.
Robert Harrison: A science fiction writer, Robert was recruited after beating a werewolf to death with his silver Hugo award after the Worldcon presentation ceremony.
J. P. Withers: The very first Bureau 13 agent, JP is an Immortal who is still on duty. Very few people know anything about his recruitment; the Lincoln/werewolf incident is still classified to this day. Call on him for assistance at your own risk, JP doesn't carry a sidearm, he carries dynamite. LOTS of dynamite.

I give your first level's experience for a good backstory and recruitment; I will not allow, however, the "Well, I was a Navy SEAL who was cross-trained by SAS and Delta Force, who then became an NCIS investigator, and strangled a vampire to death with one hand while shooting his minions to death with silver bullets he made himself" type of gunbunny. Put some thought into it, folks; I'm a lot more likely to approve a Sunday-school teacher who managed to hold off that vampire by the sheer power of her faith, than I am to approve Dick Marchenko. (The aforementioned SEAL.) (Although, if somebody wants to play Abby from NCIS, I wouldn't object. Yum.) The more details, the better; if you're so inclined, write up your backstory *as* a story. I did that once, and had the supreme pleasure of watching my GM's eyes cross and glaze over as she read it. (I've still got that character, if anybody's interested...)

Equipment:
You're a super-secret government agent, paid by an agency who is self-supporting. (When you own a Philosopher's Stone...) Thus, any equipment within reason is within your grasp. Custom guns (concealable, please; you still can't carry an M-60 openly...), cars, basically anything normal you can buy on the open market you can have. Written lists are very good to have; if you haven't got it written down, you haven't got it. Figure you're making over $100,000 a year, tax-free.

Special equipment: If you have a cloak of invisibility, or Excalibur, or a Bag of Holding, or an enchanted gun that never misses, you better have a *really* good reason for it in your backstory, or I'll tell you to start over. Some special stuff is standard Bureau issue; I'll have lists ready for the first game.

Bureau 13's basic rules:
1. Don't get caught.
2. Don't leave evidence.
3. Use violence only when necessary.
3.a. When necessary, make sure you use *enough* violence -- J.P. Withers.
4. Cover your tracks.
5. Make witnesses believe a rational explanation for the bizarre or fantastic.

Note: I don't think this is a problem for anyone in this group, but this game is basically light-hearted. White Wolf-style angst is not something that will happen here, and if somebody does start invoking Dread Chthoolo, you will have the chance to stop them. Anybody without a sense of humor when gaming won't enjoy this at all.