Topic: We provide....leverage

[Primarch]

The rich and powerful take what they want.....we steal it back
~Nate Ford

So I'd like to set up a game revolving around a Leverage-esque con team, righting wrongs and stealing back from the rich to give to the poor. Each person will take up one of the shows roles (and a back-up role) and we'll make & execute plans to save those who have been wronged! In the event there's enough interest, a second or more teams can certainly be organised. Whilst I'd like someone to play the role of the client/mark (perhaps even different people to provide us with for all intents and purposes, episodic gameplay) should there be no interest I'll run it myself. If you'd like to both play but also have an interest mark idea, feel free to let me know.

The Brains: Alan Blackwood / Ebb
The Hitter: Chase Brannigan / Primarch
The Hacker: Kathleen Andrews / Acid Lips
The Grifter: Maria Avery / CurvyKitten
The Thief:  Laurell Bennet / Caela

Client/Mark #1:
Client/Mark #2:
Client/Mark #3:
Client/Mark #4:

Code: [Select]

[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Team Role:[/b] Primary function on the team
[b]Back-up Role:[/b] Which skill do you have to a lesser degree?

[b]Skills, talents and training:[/b] Anything from card tricks to military training to double joints or making the best apple cobbler around, what do you bring to the table?
[b]Record:[/b] What would Sterling's file on you say?
[b]Weakness:[/b] At least one area, genuinely practical skill or talent where your character flat out fails!

[b]Personality:[/b] I hope this doesn't need any explaining
[b]History:[/b] Same with this!


[Primarch]

Name: Chase Brannigan
Team Role: Hitter
Back-up Role: Grifter

Skills, talents and training: As a former Irish Ranger, Chase has received standard training by the Irish defense forces and ranger training (which includes  long range reconnaissance and survival training, unarmed combat, close protection, advance navigation, close quarters combat skills, advanced first aid, advanced combat shooting and more). His personal style of unarmed combat also features Greco-Roman Wrestling and Kick boxing, which he learned out of personal interest. As backing up as a Grifter often gives him ease of access to be where he needs to be as the teams hitter, he has over time developed a talent for improvised acting and imitating accents, even if he's just masking his own noticeable accent more times then not.
Record: His time as a mercenary has earned him seven bounties on his head from different groups in Africa, all of which are at least six figures big. He's also wanted for questioning in regards to a large number of Libyan artifacts that were stolen while on shipment, with a sum total value of 32 million American Dollars.
Weakness: Aside from security equipment, Chase is horrible at computers, barely able to check his own e-mails. Should a job require him to use a computer, he'd need extremely precise steps on what to do. He's the reason some customer support people still ask "is it plugged in?"

On another note, he's an appalling driver, unless for some strange reason, the vehicle is bullet proof.

Personality: I hope this doesn't need any explaining
History: Chase Brannigan wasn't always the type of person he is today, he actually started out as a good kid, an intellectual...hell he was a nerd, straight up. At fifteen years old he got beat up by school bullies, but told himself and others that one day those jack-offs would be working for him, then he'd see who was funny. At eighteen years old he realized everywhere he looked he could find someone who used that line and it occurred to him that if everyone who said that actually had that much success....well the world would be a pretty amazing place. That's when he started going to the gym and took up Kick boxing, because if he was going to be a nerd he might as well have the same six pack as his level sixteen barbarian.

At nineteen he didn't get the points he needed for the college course he had intended, his options were to either repeat or go elsewhere. Repeating was obviously his first choice but it eventually occurred to him that he wasn't quite the intellectual he thought he was. His school results obviously suggested so, and there was a big difference between reading about Plato or magnatars and actually understanding them. This is what lead Chase Brannigan to signing on to the military, why play hero when he could be one? Truth be told it was initially an impulse idea to give him something to keep him occupied for a few years until a better idea hit him...however, it would turn out that his going to the gym and those Kick boxing lessons had him in better condition then he realized. Studying might have bored him, but the hands on approach to military training made him feel alive. Three years later Chase was still in the army, and chosen to take up Irish Ranger training, he passed and spent the next five years as a Ranger. His legal military career would end there however, and went on to act as a mercenary in Asia and Africa for the next five years, where he worked for various warlords, despots, tyrants and the occasional very corrupt politican.

These days he rolls with a con team and uses his talents to keep the team safe.

[Caela]

Love this idea...will being making you a profile promptly for a thief/hacker!

[Caela]

Name: Laurell Bennet
Age:28
Team Role: Thief
Back-up Role: Hacker
Weakness: Fighting. She is just not good muscle, she doesn't have the skills to beat up someone and leave them whimpering at her feet. Piss her off though and she'll find ways to pay you back.
Skills, talents and training: She started small time, picking pockets out on the street at only 13 but nimble fingers and a winning smile meant she brought home decent takes every day...until she picked the wrong (right??) pocket. The man who finally caught her wasn't a cop but another thief, but no petty criminal, this thief specialized in rare antiquities and saw a kindred spirit in the girl whose fingers he'd caught lifting his wallet. Being a street waif he took her in, educated and schooled her, taking off the streets and into an even more dangerous game with higher stakes and bigger prizes. 

She learned how to pick any lock you can imagine, crack safes, climb walls, disable security and move like ghost when she wanted along with learning proper English, Latin, Greek, and Spanish, mathematics, the basics of chemistry (what she might need to know for work, the rest she didn't care about) music lessons...anything she would need to know to move in the circles she would now be stealing from without drawing attention to herself.

As computers became more and more prevalent, she took the time to learn how they worked, why they worked, and how to bypass them as well. She can't break into FBI databases but she can take down any normal buildings security grid as easily as she can climb through their windows.

Record: Suspiciously present at a number of galas and openings from which high ticket items were later stolen. No physical evidence ever found to connect her to the items they believe she's taken (some she didn't, some were just training exercises in which she was casing the environment for her mentor, especially true of the earliest heists she's suspected of). They could be wrong...but don't think they are. Catch her if possible, the bitch is a ghost.

Personality: Carefree and funloving. She doesn't really care what anyone thinks of her and does as she pleases. She knows how good she is at her chosen profession and what her limitations are. She loves a challenge so if she actually says she can't do something, it's wise to listen because she won't say it often. She has a temper but it flashes and burns out quickly unless someone she trusts betrays her...at which point all bets are off.

History: She was on the streets at 13 after her parents died and the "system" failed her leaving her with foster parents who thought she was a cheap punching bag. Unwilling to wait out the process, and possibly end up somewhere worse, she took off on her own. Picking pockets managed to keep her fed until the man who took her in caught her. She considers that the most fortunate day of her life. He became like a surrogate father to her, teaching her all he knew and giving her the resources to learn the things he didn't as technology jumped ahead of him and he chose to retire rather than stay in the game. He's alive, somewhere, and she still visits him often but she never shares where or who he is, simply disappearing for a few days at a time when they're between jobs and popping back up as quickly as she left.

[Primarch]

Huzzah

[CurvyKitten]

Name: Maria Avery Though no one knows that name, She goes by the name Andreana or Aden...
Team Role: Grifter, (forger)
Back-up Role:Brains

Skills, talents and training:
Maria was born to a poorer family, one that could barley provide what she needed to live. But she rarely went with out, the cute little girl having people wrapped around her finger since day one. It was evident when she was little, her mind was far more developed then it should have been. She absorbed every bit of information she could get her hands on, the library being free was her main source of entertainment. Always escaping in her mind, becoming someone else. It was a running joke with her family on who she was this week.

And as she got older it didn't change, she used her skills and her intelligence to get what she wanted. Advancing through school easily she graduated early. Leaving her family at the age of 17 she wanted to travel the world and live any way she wanted. In doing so she learned languages and took to blending in like it was second nature. Pretty soon she started to want more, found her skills could get in anywhere...to anywhere, and get anything she wanted.

As the years passed so did her talents, Multi-lingual and particularly adept at the use of accents, forgery being able to make the badges she needed or recreating a work of art. Who knows how many works out there aren't the original at this point. Her mind can take in information at unnaturally high speeds. Learning a new skill she may need in mear days. A bit of a pretender one would say, she is capable of becoming anyone she wants to. Who knows what skills she will bring up for a job...she usually keeps them hidden till they are needed. Wouldn't want to many people know all her secrets...

Through her time she has gotten in a few scraps, and how she may not be able to be an all out brawler she his rather skilled with blades. One can usually be found somewhere on her body. But if she can she'd talk or work her way out some other way.

Record: What would Sterling's file on you say?IG unknown, Age...Unknown but last time he asked her she just smiled. Having come across her when she was working a mark. Wanting a diamond from his private collection. At that time he knew her as Dominique, a beautiful investor. But that was far from what she was... 
Personality: Confident, strong, even when she is faced with something that may be to much for her she won't blink an eye. If you don't keep your calm your probably a dead man...or worse a caught one. Knows what she wants, and how to get it on top of that. She has the ability to fake and put off any personality she may need. From a quite calm librarian to a loud and proud Jersey type girl. Usually keeps most of her true self hidden behind the walls she has put up. Who knows maybe one of the others around here will be able to learn the true Maria....
History: see skills and talents...her history explains her talents.

[Primarch]

Excellent! Three characters in and via the back-up roles we have all roles covered, at least on a fall back. We'll give it a bit more time however, fingers crossed others are interested.

[Primarch]

We've got our brains on route, on another note if anyone has a good idea for our locational setting, perhaps London, Tokyo or maybe Melbourne I'll take some suggestions now, that way I can start planning things out until we get someone interested in running a mark/client.

Lastly, you might notice I've slipped one extra section into the character sheet code (at fine idea if I might be so bold, from the gent making our brains, its more intended to allow classic Leverage humour then it is provide moments where a Fuck you button is pressed on your character)

[Ebb]

Name: Alan Blackwood
Team Role: Brains
Back-up Role: Hitter

Skills, talents and training:
Alan has a nearly photographic memory, able to recall intricate facts about things that he read in passing years ago, and he is a voracious reader. His list of skills is incredibly wide-ranging, though there are sometimes gaps in his education due to his mostly self-taught background. He is an ace poker player, has achieved dan ranks in both aikido and judo, and speaks nine languages if you count Klingon. His current pets include three snakes (one of them poisonous), two lizards and a tarantula.

Record:
Considered dangerous and unpredictable. Arrest record for larceny, fraud, breaking and entering, assault and destruction of property, all as a juvenile (records sealed). No adult arrest record, though he is on the watchlist of several Las Vegas casinos. High school diploma, no college record. No military record. Parents deceased, no siblings.

Weakness:
Dealing with women.

Personality:
Alan is extremely intelligent, but has a manner that's fairly offputting. Though never officially diagnosed, he bears some symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome and other mildly autistic characteristics. Dealing with people, especially those he considers less smart than himself, is not his strongest suit. He does have a sense of humor, though it is somewhat odd and occasionally inappropriate. Once he has grown to respect someone he feels a fierce sense of protection toward them; once he has written someone off it is extremely difficult to get him to reconsider his opinion.

Alan has had few close relationships with other people. His current team is the closest that he has had to a family in years. He is still a virgin at the age of 23. Dealing with women is his soft spot; he has been known to get extremely flustered if placed in very close proximity to the opposite sex, sometimes nearly to the point of violence. Alan's world works best if other people let him do the thinking, and if they simply do as they're ordered. (Over the course of the game this is likely to change; Alan will grow and develop, as all good characters do.)


History:
Alan was a wunderkind, a prodigy. In school he didn't use a computer, he was a computer, digesting and processing information in a way that was sometimes, frankly, scary. He had few friends, and the occasional enemy quickly learned that messing with Alan led quickly to excessive, if non-violent, retaliation. One bully found his father transferred to an Army base in Nebraska. Another developed an intense phobia of spiders after finding his locker, backpack and pillow full of them one evening.

His parents tried to channel him into more acceptable directions by encouraging his study of martial arts. He excelled at aikido and fencing, but the experience did little to win him any friends. Eventually he came to the attention of Basilisk, a government program intended to seek out and train 'exceptional' youths as a feeder program for various covert operations groups. The program itself was a failure; as it turns out, taking a bunch of highly skilled and antisocial teenagers and putting them all in a high pressure environment with access to deadly technology is the sort of thing that only works in movies. The program was scrapped before it graduated its first pupil, though several of the alumnae went on to profitable careers in the criminal services industry.

It took the death of both of Alan's parents to shock him out of his downward spiral. He was living in Vegas, making a living off of counting cards and playing poker, when he heard the news. His mother and father had been killed in a botched raid by agents from the DEA who had been mistakenly informed that there was a meth lab located in their basement. The government was able to avoid paying any restitution, and deigned to even issue an apology after small quantities of marijuana were discovered in the house.

Since then Alan has been on a crusade to help the little guy against the big guy, whether the big guy is the government, corporations, or just plain criminals. He realizes that he has certain advantages, and using them only for his own profit is wrong in some way that he deeply believes, but can't fully articulate logically.

[Primarch]

Alright then, we just need a dedicated Hacker and we'd have the classic team complete.

[Ebb]

Happy to be aboard.

In terms of location, I think we should pick someplace where we're able to blend in with the populace pretty easily, which I think rules out Tokyo. Of course, given that we're not restrained by a TV budget, we could easily be globetrotters, going wherever the next case is.

London seems like a fun place to start, though.

If anyone's interested, there is a Leverage RPG system out there that's been reviewed pretty well. I've only skimmed it, but it seems to do a good job of helping with the setup for elaborate capers. There's a quickstart version available for two bucks here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=79384

Not suggesting that we do this as a system game by any means, just pointing out some source material to make the GM's life easier.

[Primarch]

Alright, we might be able to start sooner then expected, by that I mean tonight or tomorrow. We can start the game with Alan & Maria already preparing something, and they proceed to start recruiting the other members (hopefully we have a dedicated hacker by then, if not Caela's character has it as a back-up, and can fill in).

So we could start it with Alan & Maria going to recruit Laurell, and after her Chase (which will give me time to start putting together the details behind the mark, I can provide you with basic info for the purpose of putting the job to the team).

Ebb, you interested in starting sooner rather then later?

[Ebb]

Sure, though tomorrow works better for me than tonight.

Are we starting with any previous relationships in place, or do we all meet in the course of this first job? I'm fine with a level of handwaving that has us all trusting each other enough to get the job done, but I also think it's fun if pairs of people have crossed paths before.

[Primarch]

Myself and Kitten have already plotted some past work, so she'll be able to suggest Chase to Alan when the team needs muscle, if others want to plan something by all means, otherwise they can go on reputation for now.

[Acid Lips]

I did not seen the show but I am very interested, what do you need in the rp if you need anything

[Primarch]

I did not seen the show but I am very interested, what do you need in the rp if you need anything

A Hacker is the last role we need filled, and I believe a thief as a back-up role.

The show's hacker also fills the role on information gathered, finding out who the opposition is and getting more details then a simple google search would find (I'll PM you details you find once you try a search), and any and all information about their group/organisation/security there is too find. After that he usually hacks security systems/employee databases, works with cell phones (cloning/re-routing calls) and almost anything they need done on a computer.

You can do as much of it as your comfortable with, along with a back-up role if you're so interested.   

[Acid Lips]

Reserve me the hacker then, can I have your messenger so we can chat?

[Primarch]

You got it!

[Primarch]

IC Thread! There has been interest in taking the "recruit team" approach, so that's how we'll start it. Give each person a time for their own lime light. I've set it up so Alan & Aden (Maria) are in "The Crawford Tavern," they have a job, they just need a team. So feel to start posting, and getting a team together!

When its time to start the job itself, go ahead with that and when you look into something I'll PM you the information and you can present it in any manner you see suitable for your character. Any questions feel free to ask! (OOC coming soon too!)

Also, since we don't need to buy time for another person, if when visiting each person to recruit, you can, if comfortable break up your posts into a smaller piece for each person, or just label each post with a time/place stamp. Up to you.

[Acid Lips]

Name: Kathleen “Copycat” Andrews
Team Role: Hacker
Back-up Role:Thief
 Skills, talents and training: Double masters degree at MIT. Considered a genius by some schools to the point that she skipped two grades, Degree on Computer Programming, Able to read peoples way of acting, tell if they are lying or hiding something, Singing, Acting, cooking.
Record: Suspected of hacking into the pentagon files, extracting potential dangerous information on criminals. Suspected on the ‘Ragnarok’ virus wich disabled security systems in the main offices of the FBI, Pentagon, White house and thousands of other places. Considered dangerous
Weakness:Anything physical, she may be the smartest woman alive but she is very weak physically as well. 
Personality: She is the type of girl that loves to have fun, a fan of rock she is always hearing loud music. Music helps her concentrate and when doing a job she is often seen behind her Iphone like a maniac writing stuff up. Behind a computer she can be your best friend or your worst enemy, hacking into the police records and changing the record of a person is quite common for her wich won her some enemies. She does not trust people just like that but when she finally trusts one she can be the very best friend. She suffers from extreme emotional disorder, wich makes her emotions go wild at certain situations, she can be extremely happy, or super sad, or very serious about her job wich makes her someone you can never read fully.
History:
She was born in England, ever since little her parents knew she was special. When she started preschool she could already read and write stuff as a adult. On reaching high school she could do complex math solutions and equations and was already hacking and getting into places she should not be going into. Her personality won her quite a few fans in high school, no one could explain how she went to every party, did drugs, was in a band and still could get straight A’s in school. Graduating with honors from highschool she was elected the prom queen and seen as the one girl who did it all in high school

On reaching MIT her life began to change for the better, or worst. Finding her nitch in computers she started studying and expanding her mind, her teachers were troubled with her mind to the point that they stopped giving her tests knowing full well what her score would be. She spent most of her time reading and touring around with her band. Her beautiful voice was all around the states. However she began to use her mind to earn her even more money, she took jobs from criminals and got payed a lot. She was even payed over a million dollars to disable the security systems of a prison wich came to be known as the ‘ragnarok’ virus.
Being a well known name on the underground crime business she came with a nickname on her own, copycat. Her symbol on every hacking was a black cat making the love sign with his fingers and the sentence, ‘courtesy of copycat’ below the cat. The name copycat spread through the word but no one knew how she looked. She had more than two million dollars on her bank when she stopped her crimes to give it time for the legend of Copycat to rest. She decided to keep studying and got a triple majors degree on computer science.

Her band stopped all activity with her leaving it to do some other stuff, she knew how to hack, she knew how to steal, she knew exactly what to do in every situation except defending herself physically. It all came to a point in her life that she was tortured to make a job for free, however even though she was beat up she used her mind to get out of the trouble and leave. Having a lot of contacts but also a lot of enemies made sure that Kat’s life would be one to remember.

[Caela]

Sheesh, I go and work a 12 hour day and everything explodes on me! Catching up and then posting.

[Primarch]

Ah you haven't missed anything actually! We just got all the characters we need. ^.^ Only IC post has been the set up.

[CurvyKitten]

should I wait for "Alan" to post or go ahead....

[Acid Lips]

I have to wait to be contacted into the team so yea, wait time for me

[Primarch]

should I wait for "Alan" to post or go ahead....

Well you could post, even if to just get the ball started for Ebb tomorrow.

I have to wait to be contacted into the team so yea, wait time for me

Hopefully we'll run the recruitment at the same time, if its not too complicated. So won't be waiting long.