I use

• notebook and pen for notes during play (temporary notes and those to be transferred to GM notes later)
• mobile with my adventure/secret notes
• PC for rulebook pdf, playing music and managing VTT (most basic there is, I could be displaying that on a tablet)

My users range from

1. scrap of papers and looking at the map over my shoulder
2. through notebook and laptop for VTT
3. to full laptop-only setup

But also I split the party the moment they get a job and with 3 players we don't have a problem of running out of things to do for a character. There are many different people but at my current table someone scrolling through the mobile means their character is underutilized and it's time to toss them some problem

I don't mean to pry but I'm curious where are you hosting this?

I envy that people host their projects. But I feel a lot of unease about opening ports to a machine that is tied to a check I'll receive. Hence I'm curious which service you've chosen

Re 2

The GM sets a stress cost when you activate a flashback action.

0 Stress: An ordinary action for which you had easy opportunity. Consorting with a friend to agree to arrive at the dice game ahead of time, to suddenly spring out as a surprise ally.
1 Stress: A complex action or unlikely opportunity. Finessing your pistols into a hiding spot near the card table so you could retrieve them after the pat-down at the front door.
2 (or more) Stress: An elaborate action that involved special opportunities or contingencies. Having already Studied the history of the property and learned of a ghost that is known to haunt its ancient canal dock—a ghost that can be compelled to reveal the location of the hidden vault.

EDIT:

1. Yes. Also, the way we were playing, I was sometimes offering options

   you can approach it from wreck but then the question is if it won't make too much noise. lower position and higher effect or do a precision karate chop with finesse which will for sure drop them quitely higher position and lower effect

2. Any action can lead to stress via resisting consequences, so even if GM decides the flashback is worth 0, it can still happen
   From what I see in that SRD, the only limit to Flashback is supposed to be the narration. As in, it can't change what has already been said. But it can change it into I bribed him earlier and that's how he is puling us out of trouble

1. yes. Depending on the fiction - hid a thing a year ago vs hid a thing yesterday in a populated area, the possible in-game complications change and initial position change. If GM feels something is not feasible they will either make it the worst position and partial effect or just plainly say "I don't think that is possible"
2. I don't remember that well but I think the amount of stress it costs was tied to the result of the roll
3. I think this is more "fail forward"
   If you just say "this didn't pan out", you're all back in square one without pushing the narration forward.
   If you say "it worked, it worked so well that now..." and add a complication, that moves the game forward and makes it interesting.
   From my experiences with running Karma in the Dark, IMO complications are one of the most important things in the system. If players just address a challenge, it's only that. What I've been observing, though, is that once a complication gets introduced players tend to "bounce off" it and direct the fiction in a new direction. That way the story is much richer because you didn't simply use a window because a lockpick broke at the door. Now you are on the run through the city because the mafia that sold you the lockpicks have been tailing you and want a cut of what you stole

FWIW, I have never managed to achieve that fluently. To elegantly switch from "sitting around, planning" to interacting with the world. Retrospections are the only way that works for me

I think that also depends on the tools/rules you can use. If I feel that this unicorn ranch is something only one character is interested in, I would propose a clock. We decide what they want to achieve in the end, efforts are a personal project with one roll per session/adventure, the spotlight can be kept short (remember, one roll in a while). And who knows? Maybe there will be a hook or mcguffin for me to use later on?

I hope it's ok that I don't put links. I think the ones that are from blogs should be easily found

• Lazy GM - creates a habit of loosely planning the plot, so you can have a bag of things to use, without having to railroad, and changing the plan because of players' actions doesn't hurt
• don't plan plots, plan obstacles - when you get into the habit of thinking what could be an obstacle in a situation, you don't have the game to go this or that way. You only switch between applicable obstacles
• onion plots - "who needs what, what for, but they can't because of what". That way coming up with a follow up is easier
• run combat like a dolphin - mainly, remember to describe things. Yes, I have to actively remember about doing that
• stars and wishes - to me this is the most constructive form of after session summary. If I ask "what you didn't like?" (roses and thorns), to me it is not clear how to improve. When it's about "what you wish/wished for?" it's much easier to decide whether there was a problem with expectation management or maybe a cool idea that I passed up
• yes and+no but - mainly, even if we are playing a more trad game, I don't ask for a roll if I (the plot, of course ;) ) need the thing to happen. I ask for it to answer an additional question "will the character do this well enough to uncover additional details?". Unless we are in a simulationist wounds&initiative combat, the roll to me is a plot device, not plain success/failure

And thing I came up on my own but might be only because how my mind works:
Do split the party
What I often do is present the obstacle, ask around what the characters are doing after learning that. Then I choose the sequence that I feel has the most meat on it - story to be told and go one by one. Even if an idea surprises me, I've found that by the time another player rolls their dice I already know what to do with the previous one. And when scenes have fewer participants, it's easier to manage spotlight and have lower stakes per scene

Tiled. You can even cut up (in Gimp) a bunch of other maps and create your own tilesets. So now I have a bunch of them, one with most often used rooms, one with basic walls, one with security measures etc

Do you want/need to have some mechanical follow up on the level and mood?

If not, why not just have an indefinite bag of tags for each relationship?

1. Day job: tv presenter, angry with PC, Romantic interest
2. Social circle: art historians, Owes a favor to PC, Has a kid

And then, when interpreting character actions or Oracle cards, you take the tags in as the background

In my opinion any mechanical model will end up getting very big, complicated and still not cover all the possibilities. An NPC can be angry at the character, be a favor "ahead" and still do another "IOU" because of some reason. Or be on good terms and say no, just to not get involved in something. The more fleshed out the relationship mechanic, the more stuff you'll discover it lacks, IMO

Thanks! :)

Maybe it's just me but in our cultural circle it's not present. I do recognise some tropes in other parts of celebrations but it's never referred to by a name. I haven't heard of Krampus until just a few years ago when I've stumbled upon some American slasher and got curious about vengeance spirit in Christmas esthetic. So I fully expect to have to tell my players "go to RL Wikipedia and search for Krampus". And I want them to start searching around what is going on, to put them on path to The Spirit of This City.

Thanks for the additional references. Now I'm thinking, they might find a torn off piece of naughty list with all but one name crossed out in the gang lair full of flailed corpses with coal dust. When they start searching for it, they'll find the BTL user. Who will go amok when they hear a chain rattle

Soooo... Basically Savage Worlds?

I've heard that too. But I don't really have an opinion on other authors, I'm more often exploring the lore for a run instead of reading Sixth World fiction, unfortunately