conversations.from: system
conversations.value: In the early 21st century, there is a corporation called Timeworks Incorporated.  Timeworks, as the company's name would seem to indicate, sends people back in time to alter the history of the 20th century, for a fee.  However, time travel isn't as simple as getting in a machine and flipping a switch.  There's the problem of paradoxes.  To avoid paradoxes, Timeworks has come up with a process called "displacement".  Through displacement, a person's quantum field is disentangled from the rest of the timeline, and they no longer become part of time.  In essence, they don't exist.  No one remembers them, not their parents, not their friends, not their lovers, but they keep the memories of their own life, a life that never was.  Once you've been displaced, changes to the timeline no longer affect you.  You could go back in time and kill your mother before you were born, and you would still exist, because, as far as the timeline is concerned, she never gave birth to you.  In essence, you came from nowhere.
  
  Once someone's been displaced, it is impossible to give them back their previous life, so Timeworks makes sure everyone understands the risks before they undergo the procedure.  Timeworks recruits it's agents from any time and place in the 20th century.  The greater of an impact someone's life had on history, the harder it is to displace them, so Timeworks recruits people who have useful skills, but who's lives have affected as few people as possible.  Essentially, people who's lives are going nowhere.  If they agree to work for Timeworks, they are brought forward in time from their time of origin to the Timeworks facility, displaced, and then offered a 5 year contract.  After serving with Timeworks for 5 years, they have the option to renew or retire.  If they retire, they are placed anywhere in time and space within the 20th century, given a brand new life, and some sort of financial arrangement that will allow them to live out the rest of their days without having to work.  If they choose to renew their contract, Timeworks will find some way to sweeten the pot in order to persuade them into working another 5 years.
  
  You will play newly recruited Timeworks agents on their first mission.  Recruits can come from any time and place in the 20th century, but they will have a few things in common.  Number 1 : Timeworks operates in English, so all recruits will either know English or have been taught it shortly after they were recruited.  Number 2 : All agents must have useful abilities.  The nature cards should give you an idea of what type of people Timeworks recruits.  Number 3 : They must have had a life that was basically going nowhere.  They could have had friends and family, but since all that is getting erased, the fewer attachments they have, the better.  Since Timeworks wants skilled people who never amounted to much, they tend to recruit people who have been discriminated against, or otherwise prevented from reaching their full potential.  Finally... Number 4 : All Timeworks agents must carry an anchor.  This is something portable and meaningful that connects you to your former life.  It can be anything, but it must be small enough for you to carry around with you at all times.  Your anchor is part of the displacement process, and without it, your memories would begin to fade away, and Timeworks HQ would not be able to retrieve you from the past.
  
  That's about all I want to say before we get started.  I'm not saying exactly when and where you're going on your first mission, I want it to be a surprise.  The cards I've come up with are just guidelines, if you come up with something you like better, feel free to create a new card.  That's it!  Hope you enjoy my game!
  
  P.S. The player @mcbeard is someone I know in real life, and someone who tends to go a bit overboard when it comes to backstory. He is basically writing an epic novel about his character, Sigfried Heydrich, which is fine, but I want to make sure other players know, I DO NOT EXPECT EVERYONE TO SUBMIT SUCH A HUGE BACKSTORY. A paragraph or two will be fine.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A purse full of Mexican silver dollars.  You're told you can use them as currency in Shanghai.
conversations.prefix: 30 Pieces Of Silver:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Press credentials for the Dublin Evening Post.  Only useful so many times before someone telegrams Dublin to find out who you are.
conversations.prefix: Press Badge:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A fully equipped 1930s era doctor's bag.  It's supplies are limited, so you'll probably want to stop by a drug store after a few uses.
conversations.prefix: Doctor's Bag:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: A diamond ring, a diamond necklace, and a diamond tennis bracelet.  Make them last as long as you can.
conversations.prefix: Diamond Jewelry:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: This man is the entire reason you're in Shanghai, it is imperative that you get him to trust you.  In addition, you might have a personal reason to distract him from Nora and Trude.
conversations.prefix: Yevgeny Stropov:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The living room is full of passed out opium smokers, but this is one of the rooms you were told to bug.  Do you attempt to bug the room without waking them, or do you give up on it and leave?
conversations.prefix: Opium Addicts:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You're going to have to do some work to get the price you want.
conversations.prefix: Haggle With The Pawn Broker:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: A briefing room in the Timeworks complex, located on an island somewhere in the South Pacific at some point in the early 21st century.
conversations.prefix: Timeworks Briefing Room 7C:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A room deep underground in the Timeworks complex.  This is where the time travel actually happens.
conversations.prefix: Time Machine:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Timeworks doesn't like messes.  You are particularly skilled at covering up things when they go wrong and making it look like nothing happened.  Your job is to keep everything your team does out of the history books.
conversations.prefix: Cleaner:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You pay close attention to detail, and take your time to do the job right.
conversations.prefix: Careful:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You think fast, solve problems, and account for complex variables in a variety of situations.
conversations.prefix: Clever:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Your actions draw attention to themselves, full of style and panache.
conversations.prefix: Flashy:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You are looked down upon for being a member of a certain group, whether that be Jews, women, homosexuals, or what have you.  NOTE : Minorities do not HAVE to play this card.  Only take this card if you want your stigma to be a problem for your character in game.
conversations.prefix: Social Stigma:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You are a poor liar.  This is a horrible trait to have when your job requires you to pretend you're someone you're not on a regular basis.
conversations.prefix: Truthful:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You don't rely on subtly. You use brute strength to confront your problems. 
conversations.prefix: Forceful:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You believe yourself to be superior to another group of people.
conversations.prefix: Intolerant:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Timeworks offer to send you to any time in the 20th century you wished to go was tempting, but you have to see places for yourself to make up your mind!  While on your missions in the past, you are also scouting out where and when you would like to spend the rest of your life.
conversations.prefix: Temporal Tourist:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You have no intention of retiring from Timeworks.  You are very intrigued by the prospect of time travel, and you plan to rise through the ranks of Timeworks, hopefully high enough that one day, you'll have personal control of a time machine.
conversations.prefix: Rise Up In The Ranks:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You have studied up on the technology of the 20th century so that you may be prepared for any technical problem the team has.  You are just as much at home surfing the internet as you are monitoring a 1910s telephone switchboard.
conversations.prefix: Techie:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You are the combat portion of this Timeworks team.  While combat with people from the past is to be avoided as it tends to draw attention, sometimes it's the only thing that's called for.
conversations.prefix: Fighter:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Your skill is with people.  You are an expert in manipulating and using people as tool, whether that's through deceit, intimidation, flirtation, diplomacy, or any of the other social sciences.
conversations.prefix: Face Man:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Sometimes, Timeworks doesn't have all the facts.  When that happens, they have to send an investigator like you into the past to dig around and find the stuff that wasn't written in the history books.
conversations.prefix: Investigator:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You don't want to rely on the medicine of the past, do you?  Having someone along who's trained in modern medical techniques can be extremely helpful when traveling through time.
conversations.prefix: Medic:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: The past is another country, and you are the guide.  You know the 20th century backwards and forwards, and are as prepared for any mission as history books can make you.
conversations.prefix: Historian:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: It's fairly common for Timeworks to need someone skilled at breaking and entering.  That's where you come in.  Your job is to sneak into the building/safe/prison/ what-have-you and recover something that Timeworks can't get it's hands on in the present.
conversations.prefix: Infiltrator:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You move react with speed and grace whether it's dodging an arrow or thinking up a clever comeback. 
conversations.prefix: Quick:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You do things with an emphasis on misdirection, stealth, or deceit. You never face your problems head on when you can sneak around them.
conversations.prefix: Sneaky:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Something about your former life still haunts you and interferes with your missions.
conversations.prefix: Depression:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You don't do well with other people, which is probably part of the reason you were all right with having your life erased.
conversations.prefix: Socially Awkward:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You are fascinated by history, and can be easily distracted, as traveling into the past is for you what going to Disneyland is for a child.
conversations.prefix: Past-o-phile:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You have a medical condition that cannot be treated in some part of the 20th century.  Play this card anytime your condition makes it hard for you to do your job.
conversations.prefix: Anachronistic Illness:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You view the past as primitive and backward, and you make no attempt to connect with people from earlier times.  How could people from this barbaric time understand you?
conversations.prefix: Future Man's Burden:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: History wouldn't give you a chance to do what you were meant for, but Timeworks has given you a fresh start, and now you intend to show them how right they were to recruit you.
conversations.prefix: Prove Yourself:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You don't trust Timeworks, and you signed up with them because you don't believe anyone should be able to alter history, especially people doing it for profit.  You're only working for them to find out the dirt you can use to bury them.
conversations.prefix: Whistleblower:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: The displacement process was particularly painful for you, and you miss your connection to your loved ones.  As a result, you are very open to making new connections with people, to fill the void left behind by your friends and family.
conversations.prefix: Reconnect:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You have someone from your life who you owe a great deal to.  They may not remember you anymore, but you remember them, and while you are in the past, you're going to do everything you can to change history so that they have a better life.
conversations.prefix: Pay A Debt:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You find yourself having to steal something nearly everywhere you go. This can be a problem when traveling through history and trying not to get noticed.
conversations.prefix: Kleptomania:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A mostly empty railway yard filled with empty boxcars and freight engines.  No one ships very much by rail in China these days, but the owners still guard the place, hoping stability will come back to China.
conversations.prefix: Shanghai North Railway Yard:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: A group of angry Australian thugs in uniform and their equally angry dogs.
conversations.prefix: Railroad Police:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A kindly old Russian Orthodox priest who is currently sweeping up.
conversations.prefix: Father Dzyuban:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Editor-in-chief for the Shanghai Evening Post.  He's a crotchety old man, but he gets his job done.
conversations.prefix: William Farnell:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A mysterious man who claims to be with the police, but won't show a badge.
conversations.prefix: Detective Bill Johnstone:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: A kindly German arms dealer.  He is also the consul for the Republic of Brazil.
conversations.prefix: Hugo Reiss:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: The large and rather exquisite dining room of the Astor House Hotel.  Waiters are going to and fro very quickly, but they seem ready to take your order when you have made up your mind. 
conversations.prefix: Astor House Hotel Dining Room:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: A senior agent with Timeworks who is currently in the process of debriefing you.
conversations.prefix: Senior Agent Hannon:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: A simple hotel room in the Astor House Hotel.  It will serve as a temporary home base, for now.
conversations.prefix: Room 312:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: Sometimes, Timeworks doesn't have all the facts.  When that happens, they have to send an investigator like you into the past to dig around and find the stuff that wasn't written in the history books.
conversations.prefix: Investigator:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You seem genuine and trustworthy and are innocuous enough to not cause suspicion.
conversations.prefix: Approachable:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You are looked down upon for being a member of a certain group, whether that be Jews, women, homosexuals, or what have you.  NOTE : Minorities do not HAVE to play this card.  Only take this card if you want your stigma to be a problem for your character in game.
conversations.prefix: Social Stigma:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You're an experienced career soldier and you've born witness to horrors of war that few among the living can lay claim to. There is very little that retains the power to scare or startle you any more and you are conversely capable of a degree of casual violence and brutality that most people would find profoundly shocking.
conversations.prefix: Hardened Veteran:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You know full well that you're a monster, forever and irredeemably damned by the things that you've done. Letting people get close to you will only lead to you hurting them (like you have everyone else who you've loved) and/or them rightly rejecting you for the sins that will never wash clean from your blackened soul. Better for everyone if you just keep them at arm's length. You have trouble even making a convincing show of *acting* friendly. 
conversations.prefix: Emotionally Closed:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: human
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You are much better with machines than you are with people. Much about social interactions are a mystery to you.
conversations.prefix: Socially Akward:
conversations.from: human
conversations.prefix: Wild:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You are fascinated with how the past can change the future.
conversations.prefix: Chaos!:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: You're taller and broader than most men, with a muscular frame. Regular visits to the gym during your career as a soldier and during your Timeworks training have helped you maximize this natural advantage.
conversations.prefix: Muscular:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You carry yourself in a way that people trust that you have only the best of intentions.
conversations.prefix: Genuine:
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Your less than noble profession has helped you develop your ability to take in your surroundings.  You'd be dead otherwise.
conversations.prefix: Observant:
conversations.from: gpt
conversations.value: You used to be a raging drunk and are now carefully maintaining your sobriety, having been through a rehabilitation program. Despite your progress, there is temptation everywhere and all it takes is one drink to risk falling off the wagon completely...
conversations.prefix: Recovering Alcoholic: