Difference between revisions of "1.10 Locate the Letter"

Latest revision as of 02:06, 31 March 2012

Status

::FINAL-READY::

Location

Name And Address: Letterman Digital Arts Center Park in Presidio, Statue of Eadweard Muybridge

See the "Location: Letterman" for details.

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

Iconoclast scientist Doctor When has attempted to demonstrate his time machine before an audience of VIPs.
But it malfunctioned due to a faulty key component. The players have helped fix that.
The malfunction is causing the Doctor to bounce around randomly in time from era to era, facing untold dangers!
Repairs also required access to the Doctor's supercomputer, but the team successfully hacked the password.
Along the way they learned someone named "Buffy" was important to him back in high school.
The players found a strange pattern in the eras that Doctor When has bounced to...which indicates that the next place he'll materialize is the Big Bang!
The players were able to view Doctor When at the Big Bang through the time machine's View-O-Scope
The Doctor has asked not to be returned to 2012, but rather sent to Paine Memorial High School on May 31, 1986 at 2 PM.

Props

(No new props for this puzzle)

Plot Point to Convey

The envelope was lost at Ft. Point in around 1958.

Short Description

Players must study the video of the Doctor's journey through time to figure out where he lost the envelope.

Staff Instructions

N/A

Detailed Description

Careful study of the video log from the View-O-Scope reveals that Doctor When had the envelope in all scenes up until Vertigo, during which he lost it. The View-O-Scope message log will also display "mass loss detected."

How To Give To Teams

Lab assistant says over the phone,

All right...the machine has opened a portal for him just before we lost contact and is sending him to Paine Memorial High School on May 31, 1986 at 2 PM. Enter code 202751 in the View-O-Scope remote access program and then we can see if it worked. I'll hang up now and watch myself. When you're done call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant.

Update the team's status on the online tracker--this event has two rows.

The post-video viewing phone call should go something like:

PLAYERS:

Hello, Trenchwood? The Doctor needs us to find his envelope.

(Some teams may want to figure out on their own that they need to review the original Calibration video--although Doctor When is fairly explicit in the Act I, Scene 2 video. If you have time on the phone, you may want to work them through the creative problem solving.)

LAB ASSISTANT:

Yes, I saw the remote feed, too. I suggest you scrutinize the original View-O-Scope datastream that you viewed when we were calibrating the time machine. That was access code 991858. Perhaps you will be able to detect where he lost it. Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant when you think you've figured it out.

SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL

Research Project Title: Locate The Envelope
Objective: Scrutinize the original View-O-Scope datastream (access code 991858) to determine when and where Doctor When lost his envelope
Upon Completion: Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant

Update the team's status on the online tracker--this event has two rows.

Puzzle Answer

Ft. Point in San Francisco around 1958.

Puzzle Solution

Simply review the footage from the Calibration puzzle, paying attention to the envelope. Observe that the footage where it is lost was shot at Ft. Point.

Budget

Credits

Manager

Allen

Hints

Ask teams what they have done, probing details if necessary (often this will get a team unstuck by themselves).

Review the View-O-Scope log
Carefully observe which scenes Doctor When has the envelope and which ones he doesn't.

Response to Correct Answer

Over the phone lab assistant says words to the effect of,

Yes! We've noticed some tachyon disturbances near Ft. Point. I wonder how far in the past he lost the envelope... let's hope that by some miracle it's still there.

Immediately continue the conversation with the opening of 1.11 Fetch the Letter.

To Do

Cannot be tested until Calibration puzzle is complete. Figure out parking options at location at Retrieve The Letter location; add to text above.

Other Notes

Listed as a separate puzzle simply because it requires separate play testing and time tracking. Not intended to be a difficult challenge.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Order==
-.08
 ==Status==
-  ::UNCLAIMED::
+  ::FINAL-READY::
 ==Location==
-Any (if via video) or some local place identifiable in one of the movie clips from the Calibration puzzle (see two options below).
+'''Name And Address''': Letterman Digital Arts Center Park in Presidio, Statue of Eadweard Muybridge
+See the "Location: Letterman" for details.
 ==Type==
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 ==Plot Setup==
-With the players' help, Doctor When has been sent to the right time & place: his high school right before the science fair. Neither Prof. Chronus nor the players know why he chose this time and place.
+* Iconoclast scientist Doctor When has attempted to demonstrate his time machine before an audience of VIPs.
+* But it malfunctioned due to a faulty key component.  The players have helped fix that.
-Somehow the Doctor communicates that he lost "vital instructions" during his turbulent travels through time (see notes to previous puzzle). He asks the players to find the "instructions" and have it sent to him back in time.
+* The malfunction is causing the Doctor to bounce around randomly in time from era to era, facing untold dangers!
+* Repairs also required access to the Doctor's supercomputer, but the team successfully hacked the password.
+* Along the way they learned someone named "Buffy" was important to him back in high school.
+* The players found a strange pattern in the eras that Doctor When has bounced to...which indicates that the next place he'll materialize is the Big Bang!
+* The players were able to view Doctor When at the Big Bang through the time machine's View-O-Scope
+* The Doctor has asked not to be returned to 2012, but rather sent to Paine Memorial High School on May 31, 1986 at 2 PM.
 ==Props==
-The "vital instructions" will turn out to be an ancient newspaper clipping--page 1 of the the school paper from the day after the science fair (timeline 1). The headline is "Wesley When Makes Splash At Sciene Fair." The picture shows Wesley covered in slime and all the kids, including Buffy, laughing at him (Catherine looks sympathetic in the background). A hand-written note on it says, "At precisely 3:02 PM step two feet to the right and you'll win the girl of your dreams! If you don't, THIS will happen to you!"
+(No new props for this puzzle)
-Additionally we'll need two videos: The first will show the present-day Doctor When waiting in the empty school hallway, the recovered letter materializing in front of him, and then him slipping it into the young Doctor When's locker.
+==Plot Point to Convey==
+* The envelope was lost at Ft. Point in around 1958.
-The second will show the second timeline of the Science Fair Incident (although we may never have to film the first timeline). In it, we see the young When standing in front of his science fair exhibit, reading the newspaper clipping (and Catherine noticing him doing so), intently looking at his watch, suddenly taking a measured step to the right, the stream of slime shooting towards his former position (and thus missing him). [It might be fun if there was a way we could choreograph it so that as he steps out of slime's way he accidentally knocks over Buffy. She's mad at first, but then realizes that he saved her from slime, and thus is grateful...paving the way for their improbable romance.]
+==Short Description==
+Players must study the video of the Doctor's journey through time to figure out where he lost the envelope.
-==Plot Point to Convey==
+==Staff Instructions==
-When the players retrieve the "vital instructions" they should somehow be able to read them. Perhaps the envelop is torn or someone else framed the article.
-==Short Description==
+N/A
-Doctor When lost it in time. Study video or computer report to find where it is now.
 ==Detailed Description==
-TBD. As mentioned in the notes to the previous puzzle, the time machine's video might have indicated that there was a "loss of mass" and spit out some garbled data that gives the time/place where the letter was lost. Instead, the solution might tell players to look closely at the Calibration movie and find the exact spot where the letter gets lost (which is a scene from a movie in SF - maybe Vertigo?)
+Careful study of the video log from the View-O-Scope reveals that Doctor When had the envelope in all scenes up until Vertigo, during which he lost it. The View-O-Scope message log will also display "mass loss detected."
+==How To Give To Teams==
+Lab assistant says over the phone,
-==Puzzle Solution==
+{{quote|
-The time & location of the letter - or a reference to look at the Calibration movie, if we use that option above.
+All right...the machine has opened a portal for him just before we lost contact and is sending him to Paine Memorial High School on May 31, 1986 at 2 PM. Enter code 202751 in the View-O-Scope remote access program and then we can see if it worked.  I'll hang up now and watch myself. When you're done call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant.
+}}
+Update the team's status on the online tracker--this event has two rows.
+The post-video viewing phone call should go something like:
+PLAYERS:
+{{quote|
+Hello, Trenchwood?  The Doctor needs us to find his envelope.
+}}
+(Some teams may want to figure out on their own that they need to review the original Calibration video--although Doctor When is fairly explicit in the Act I, Scene 2 video.  If you have time on the phone, you may want to work them through the creative problem solving.)
+LAB ASSISTANT:
+{{quote|
+Yes, I saw the remote feed, too.  I suggest you scrutinize the original View-O-Scope datastream that you viewed when we were calibrating the time machine.  That was access code 991858.  Perhaps you will be able to detect where he lost it.  Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant when you think you've figured it out.
+}}
+SUPPLEMENTAL EMAIL
+<poem style="border: 1px dashed #2f6fab; background-color: #f9f9f9; padding: 1em;">
+Research Project Title: Locate The Envelope
+Objective: Scrutinize the original View-O-Scope datastream (access code 991858) to determine when and where Doctor When lost his envelope
+Upon Completion: Call the Institute and speak with any lab assistant
+</poem>
+Update the team's status on the online tracker--this event has two rows.
 ==Puzzle Answer==
+Ft. Point in San Francisco around 1958.
+==Puzzle Solution==
+Simply review the footage from the Calibration puzzle, paying attention to the envelope.  Observe that the footage where it is lost was shot at Ft. Point.
 ==Budget==
@@ Line 45: / Line 85: @@
 ==Manager==
+Allen
+==Hints==
+Ask teams what they have done, probing details if necessary (often this will get a team unstuck by themselves).
+* Review the View-O-Scope log
+* Carefully observe which scenes Doctor When has the envelope and which ones he doesn't.
+==Response to Correct Answer==
-==Hints==
+Over the phone lab assistant says words to the effect of,
+{{quote|
+Yes!  We've noticed some tachyon disturbances near Ft. Point. I wonder how far in the past he lost the envelope... let's hope that by some miracle it's still there.
+}}
+Immediately continue the conversation with the opening of [[1.11 Fetch the Letter]].
 ==To Do==
+Cannot be tested until Calibration puzzle is complete. Figure out parking options at location at Retrieve The Letter location; add to text above.
 ==Other Notes==
-Do the players get the physical letter or merely find the time/place where it was lost? It might be more dramatic to postpone the actual finding of the _physical_ letter until Act III. If that's the case, then we _might_ make the time/place answer a little less transparent - e.g., the place is described by abstract coordinates, but in Act III they discover that the place is actually a Bay Area location. ALSO: this puzzle could be a series of puzzles that's shorter for teams that are behind; there's a puzzle for each "bounce" the letter takes through time.
+Listed as a separate puzzle simply because it requires separate play testing and time tracking.  Not intended to be a difficult challenge.
 [[Category:Events]]
 [[Category:Act1]]