Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Play-by-Post => Topic started by: Mithlas on <05-11-13/1613:04>
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A matrix-based data haven Nafarroa Informant was just recently shut down by the Corporate Court, and while a lot of the documents released were incomplete or accused of being faked, many were quietly confirmed to be valid. Human experimentation and genetic tampering of unwilling or unknowing participants, radical cyberware research, and callous disregard of potentially pandemic-causing biological agents have caused worldwide unrest, with particular worries in India, west Africa, and North America. Besides the usual media muckracking and libel lawsuits, a lot of officials have resigned and inexperienced (or very ambitious) people have taken their place. Peoria, Illinois is an agricultural and shipping center of UCAS, and has a great deal of corp. involvement, so when one of the police captains resigned and disappeared, an emergency appointment was made. Keeping his position is dependent on whether the people vote positively on the Event Horizon contract and their confidence in his position - losing either one would result in more turbulence. Under the surface, more is being set in motion than his public promise to counter the local gangs.
One particular Johnson, looking to keep ripples from making waves, is seeking to assemble a team of Shadowrunners to expose the new captain as a fraud and a puppet.
See: recruiting thread (http://forums.shadowrun4.com/index.php?topic=10759.0).
Cast:
All4BigGuns: Sidhe - SURGE'd elf B&E and close combat
Aryeonos: Nidhogg - Naga psionic magician, face
Mirikon: Chikage - AI android street sam
mtfeeney: Baron - SURGE 2 elf magician augmented with skillwires
RHat: Nitro - ork technomancer
Sichr: Andreas Boil - dwarf private investigator
Characters with the Genecrafted quality can pick up Celerity, Hawk Eye, Night Vision, Ogre Stomach, or Thermographic Vision without being SURGE, though the karma costs for those qualities still applies. If you still want to play a SURGE'd character, no problem.
The Astral Sight quality has been changed to reflect the story and particular world of this game, and is available to Awakened and Mundane characters. For Adepts, it will replace the Astral Perception power.
Astral Sight 10 Karma (SM 24*) Astral Sight grants the ability to perceive into the astral plane. Incompatible with Technomancer.
For non-Awakened characters, treat as if they have a Magic of 1 for necessary skill use. Characters with Astral Sight may perceive into the astral plane just like magicians and may also learn the Assensing and Astral Combat skills. Mundanes are unable to use any other aspect of magical talent besides astral perception, so they cannot learn or use Sorcery, Conjuring, or Enchanting. Characters may bond with weapon foci, but bonus dice from these foci only apply during astral combat.
Some metahumans had violent encounters with spirits who attempted to drag them through an Astral Gateway to who-knows-where. Others claim to have encountered a new variety of spirit that is capable of dragging metahumans at least partially into the astral. Some magicians claim that they learned to astrally project due to this unwilling incident. No recognized authority has yet verified - or acknowledged - this claim, but hundreds over the world staunchly believe they have survived an incident like this, and with the exception of a few magicians (who tend to have an unpleasant time anyway when they awaken to astral perception) is the only background shared between those capable of peering into the gloom.
The Astral in this story is heavily inspired by The Twilight (for those who have read the Russian book series, Nightwatch, or seen the movie duology which translates it as "The Gloom"). Things that are solid on the real world leave a similar reflection on the astral - a wooden wall, for instance, would be opaque and impermeable to a low-magic mage or low-force spirit. It takes effort to push oneself deeper into The Twilight (Astral, whatever you wish to call it), and the deeper into the Astral you go the less bound by the same laws of material physics you are and the more The Twilight seems to vary from the material world. Characters with this quality gain one rank in Spirits of the Sixth World, or Astral Threats knowledge free as a result of surviving the experience.
Some qualities don't fit the team being sought: Borrowed Time, Computer Illiterate, Illiterate, Incompetent, Infirm, Pacifist (Total), Quadrapalegic, Uncouth, Uneducated.
The first run will be entirely in-city, but eventually things will move out of the country, so avoid qualities like Home Ground. Contacts can be gained as a consequence of role playing, so I would recommend that any contacts you buy to start are 3 or higher on contacts and loyalty (ratings below that will be easy to find in-play).
Martial arts will be going by the mixed and relatively freeform that I've run in the past:
Martial Arts (Arsenal 158)
Martial arts come with one benefit and an option for one maneuver per rank in the quality purchased, characters can choose to repeat a benefit (ie +1D full dodge in Aikido) and stack the benefit, to the usual 3 times. Maneuvers cost 4 karma each.
Aikido (Judo, Jujutsu): +1D full dodge, +1D full parry, +1D subdue, +1D on attacks to knock down.
Capoeira (Hopak, Kalarl-payattu): +1D melee dodge, +1D gymnastics dodge, +1D on attacks to knock down, +1D Charging attacks.
Escrima (Arnis de Mano, Kali): +1D melee parry, +1D called shots to disarm, inflict normal damage when making called shot to disarm, +1DV with clubs and blunt polearms, +1DV with blades and edged polearms.
Gun-fu (Firefight): +1D melee dodge, Reduce ‘attacker in melee’ modifier by 1, Ready Weapon free action, Take Aim free action.
Karate (Kenpo, Soo Bahk Do): +1D full parry, +1D melee block, +1D called shot to disarm, +1DV unarmed combat.
Wushu (Hwarang-do, Kung Fu): +1D melee block, +1D melee dodge, +1D melee parry, +1DV unarmed combat.
Muay Thai (Kickboxing, Savate): +1D full block, +1D defense against unarmed, +1DV unarmed combat, +1D on attacks to knock down.
Tai Chi Ch’uan (Kiai): +1D full parry, +1D melee block, +1DV astral combat attacks, +1DV attack of will.
Advanced Maneuvers:
Bullet Shield: Prerequisites: Off-hand Training (Shields).
Through extensive training in the use of shields in active defense, the Martial Artist has gained increased ability to intercept and deflect incoming projectiles. When on Full Defense with a Shield, the Martial Artist may parry ranged attacks as they would a melee attack. The Off-Hand Training requirement is not waived for Ambidextrous characters. In order to use this maneuver and attack with a ranged weapon in the other hand, Two Weapon Style must be learned.
Counterstrike: Prerequisites: Riposte
After successfully parrying or blocking a blow, the martial artist’s net hits may be added to his next strike against attacker. Hits may not be saved, or converted from a different attacker.
Takedown: Prerequisites: Sweep, Throw
The Martial Artist has mastered the art of manipulating his opponent's actions and body to the point where he can perform fast, hard takedowns with almost no notice. He may now inflict damage as per Throw (without the actual lateral movement) when entering Subdual Combat, and may initiate Subdual Combat (with Takedown bonus) instead of Throw whenever Throw would be triggered. Both the Martial Artist and the target are considered prone if the maneuver is successful.
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Modified qualities:
Gearhead 10 Karma (RC 98*) The Gearhead character is a natural born driver or pilot. From the first time the Gearhead sat behind the wheel/stick/controls of a certain vehicle, it was like putting on a comfortable old suit. She discovered an intuitive understanding of its limitations and its capabilities, and she quickly learned to coax exceptional performances out of the vehicle. During a single scene (duration at the gamemaster’s discretion), a Gearhead can increase the Acceleration of her chosen vehicle by 20 percent, or increase the Handling modifier by +1. She also gets a distinct +2 dice pool modifier when attempting difficult maneuvers or stunts in the vehicle. This quality only benefits manual or VR control of the vehicle.
For 10 Karma, the Gearhead is gifted on one type of vehicles (bikes, automobiles, trucks, helicopters); for 20 Karma to a wide variety of vehicle types (wheeled groundcraft, jet and jet-assisted aircraft).
Juryrigger 20 Karma (RC 98*) This quality gives a character an intuitive grasp of the underlying principles and functioning of all kinds of mechanical and electronic devices, conferring +1D to mechanical repairs or modification. Contingent on success on an appropriate Mechanics Skill Test, this quality allows amazing technical feats with bare minimum gear, sometimes even with substandard tools.
Resistance to Pathogens 10 Karma (S4A 93*) This character can fight off diseases more easily than other characters and receives a +1 dice pool modifier per rating to Resistance Tests.
Resistance to Toxins 10 Karma (S4A 93*) This character can fight off toxins and drugs more easily than other characters and receives a +1 dice pool modifier per rating to Resistance Tests.
Adept Powers (mostly reduced cost on a few to improve parity with 'ware and drugs):
Distance Strike (SM 176*)
Cost: 1
This power allows an adept to “transmit” an unarmed physical attack over a short distance to strike a target with concussive force. The power’s range equals the adept’s Magic attribute in meters, and it inflicts damage as normal (this may include the effects of Killing Hands but not Elemental Strike). Though the attack is rolled as a normal unarmed attack (ignoring Reach modifiers), the defender resists the attack as if it were a ranged attack (the defender may just roll Reaction or go on full defense). Cover modifiers apply and the strike is unable to pass through solid objects. Targets on the other side of mana barriers cannot be affected by this power.
Elemental Resistance (Digital Grimoire 17*)
Cost: 0.25
Prerequisite: Mystic Armor
Elemental Resistance enhances the effects of Mystic Armor by granting the full rating of the Mystic Armor Power to the character’s armor value against one elemental attack type (S4A 163, SM 164). The specific elemental effect must be chosen at the time the power is bought, though an adept may take this power more than once to achieve different elemental resistances.
Empath (Original)
Cost: 0.75 per level
Each level increases Charisma by one as a magical augment. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum.
Creative Eye (Way 15*)
Cost: 0.75 per level
Each level increases Intuition by one as a magical augment. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum.
Gliding (SM 177*)
Cost: 0.5
This power allows an adept to run up to (Magic) meters across a tangible surface that would normally be unable to hold his weight, such as a fragile tree branch, thin ice, or water. Any attempts to run longer distances require breaking points or landings between uses of Gliding. Any attempt to use this power for acrobatic maneuvers (such as jumping from the surface or performing a Gymnastics dodge) is considered a difficult maneuver, and subtracts 3 dice from the relevant dice pool. Secondary effects of the adept’s motion, such as sound or vibrations, are still noticeable (leaves shake and water ripples) unless the adept also uses the Traceless Walk power.
Improved Ability (S4A 196*)
Cost: 0.5 per level (Combat skill, active group), 0.25 per level (active skill)
This power increases the rating of a specific Combat skill, or an Active skill group (physical, social, technical, or vehicle piloting skills) by 1 per level. A skill’s maximum modified rating equals its base rating * 1.5.
Improved Physical Attribute (S4A 196*)
Cost: 0.5 per level
With this power, you can raise a Physical attribute (Agility, Body, Reaction, or Strength) as a magical augment. Each level increases the attribute by one. Increasing Reaction with this power also affects Initiative. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum.
Improved Reflexes (S4A 196*)
Cost: 1 per level
This power increases the speed at which you react, just like wired reflexes. For each level, you receive +1 die to Reaction (this also affects Initiative) and 1 extra Initiative Pass. The maximum rating of Improved Reflexes is 3, and the increase cannot be combined with technological or other magical increases to Initiative.
Iron Gut (SM 177*)
Cost: 0.25 per level
This power allows an adept to digest nearly anything and pass it without harm (gamemaster’s discretion). Each level of Iron Gut adds a +1 dice pool modifier for Resistance Tests against ingested toxins, and reduces lifestyle costs by 5%.
Iron Will (SM 177*, Digital Grimoire 18)
Cost: 0.25 per level
Iron Will makes an adept’s mind resistant to external influences. The adept adds the power’s level in bonus dice to resist magical mind control, alteration, illusions cast directly against the adept, and all uses of Intimidation and fear-inducing spells or powers. Iron Will also functions against Mental Manipulation spells, and similar critter and adept powers.
Keen Wits (Way 15*)
Cost: 0.75 per level
Each level increases Logic by one as a magical augment. This power allows you to exceed your natural attribute maximum up to the augmented maximum.
Linguist (SM 177*)
Cost: 0.25
The Linguistics power combines enhanced memorization and mimicry to allow an adept to pick up a new language after minimal exposure—no Karma expenditure or additional test required. After (10 – Magic) hours of contact to the new language in use, the adept makes an Intuition + Logic Test using a threshold as noted on the Linguistics Table (SM 177). If successful, the adept develops the Language skill at Rating 1. Increasing the skill beyond this point receives a discount up to half Intuition (round down) to Karma cost (minimum 1), but the base learning time for the adept is halved.
Living Focus (SM 178*)
Cost: 0.5
Living Focus allows the adept to physiologically adjust his body to channel mana in order to sustain a spell cast solely on him (in effect becoming a metahuman sustaining focus). The magician who cast the spell need not sustain it; this power allows the adept to do so with a little concentration. The Force of the spell sustained in this manner may not exceed the adept’s Magic, and the adept may only sustain one spell at a time. The adept suffers a –2 dice pool modifier for all actions for the duration he sustains the spell.
Magic Sense (SM 178*)
Cost: 0.25
This power grants the adept extra sensitivity to the ebbs and flows of mana in his vicinity. The adept can sense magical activity on the same plane within (Magic*10) meters of his person. This power will detect active foci, spells, mana barriers, dual-natured beings, and mana anomalies; on the astral it will also detect astral forms. Treat this power as the Detect Magic spell (S4A 207), with a Force equal to the adept’s Magic.
Metabolic Control (SM 178*)
Cost: 0.25
This power grants an adept exceptional control over his metabolism, giving him the natural power to reduce the effects associated with extreme wounds by stabilizing and suspending his body’s organic processes. Metabolic Control allows the character to enter a meditative trance state in which bodily processes are slowed, thereby reducing the rate of breathing and bleeding, also limiting his need for food, water, and air. The character’s metabolism is reduced by a factor equal to his Magic (therefore also delaying the effects onset of toxins, poisons, and diseases). For example, a character with Magic 5 will have his metabolism decreased by a factor of 5. While in this state, the character cannot act as normal (though he can break out at any time).
This power activates automatically if the adept goes into Physical damage overflow (S4A 253), placing the adept’s body into a suspended state. In this case, the adept will only take additional overflow damage at the rate of 1 box per (Body) hours.
Motion Sense (SM 178*)
Cost: 0.25
This power grants the adept a magical sense of minute disturbances in the ambient mana, allowing him to subconsciously detect the motion of objects, people, or animals within (Magic) meters, even when he would be unable to detect them through normal senses such as sight, sound, or smell. The adept makes a Perception + Magic Test with a threshold based on the Motion Sense table. If the target is detected, reduce the dice pool modifiers for visibility or blind fire by 2. This power cannot detect movement through astral barriers.
Movement Threshold
Smaller than a cat 3
Smaller than average human 2
Average metahuman 1
Larger than average metahuman 0
Natural Survivor (Way 15*)
Cost: 0.5 per level
Adepts with this power have an innate knack for adapting to their environment, whether it be by taking on the survival skills of an canny urban Mentor Spirit like Cat or Rat, or through natural link with the elements. Each level applies a +1 bonus when making Navigation, Survival, or Tracking skill checks.
Pain Resistance (S4A 197*)
Cost: 0.25 per level
Pain Resistance allows you to ignore the effects of injury. It does not reduce actual damage, only its effect on you. Subtract your level of Pain Resistance from your current damage before determining your wound modifiers. So, an adept with 3 levels of Pain Resistance does not suffer any modifiers for sustaining up to 3 boxes of damage and suffers a reduced penalty with more significant injuries. Pain Resistance works equally on both the Physical and Stun Condition Monitors.
Pain Resistance also allows you to resist pain from torture, magic, illness, and so on. Each level adds +1 die to any tests you make to resist pain, such as a Body or Willpower Test against the symptoms of a painful disease, interrogation, torture, and so on.
Penetrating Strike (SM 179*)
Cost: 0.25 per level (maximum 4)
This power allows the adept to channel the force of an unarmed combat attack a short distance forward, thereby bypassing the target’s armor. This power gives the adept’s unarmed strikes a negative AP equal to the Penetrating Strike’s level. This power can be combined with Killing Hands, but not with Aura Blade, Distance Strike, or Elemental Strike due to the extra focus these already require.
Power Swimming (Digital Grimoire 18*)
Cost: 0.5
The adept character with this power moves at home in water and swims with the ease and speed of a marine mammal. This power doubles an adept’s natural swimming rate (S4A 137), doubles the time between fatigue tests for swimming, and each hit on a Swimming Test adds 2 meters instead of 1 to the swimming rate.
Quick Draw (SM 179*)
Cost: 0.5
The adept may use the Quick Draw rules (S4A 147) to draw any weapon of Reach 2 or less, not just pistols. An adept may draw and use a single melee weapon, missile weapon, throwing weapon, or firearm in one action, and need not spend two actions to draw and ready the weapon and then attack: drawing and readying occur in the action used for the Attack Test. If attacking with the weapon requires a Complex Action, the adept may still draw and attack in a single Action Phase. If attacking with a weapon that requires only a Simple Action to use, the adept may draw and make two attacks in a single Action Phase. The adept must succeed in an appropriate weapon skill + Reaction (2) Test to Quick Draw.
Rooting (SM 179*)
Cost: 0.25 per level
By taking a Simple Action, an adept with the Rooting power can become an immovable object. Each level adds a +1 modifier to Body solely for checking for knockdown (S4A 161) and also adds a +1 dice pool modifier to any tests to resist being knocked down, thrown, levitated, or otherwise moved against his will. While rooted, the character cannot move at all from where he stands, but reduces recoil by 1. He may otherwise act normally with his arms and upper body (including making attacks) but may not dodge and suffers a –3 dice pool modifier to combat parries and blocks. The power’s effect can be cancelled with just a thought.
Smashing Blow (SM 179*)
Cost: 0.5
An adept with this power may focus his magic to break through obstacles. Multiply his base DV by 2 when performing an unarmed or melee strike on a barrier or other static structure (S4A 166).
Sliding (3rd party original*)
Cost: 0.125 per level
The ability enables the adept to slide on almost any ground like it was slick ice. For each level, the adept can slide 1 meter, up to a maximum of 8 meters. The adept must accelerate first by running, jumping, or any other form of movement, and can't change direction mid-slide. Distance slid is added to effective movement rate for that combat turn, though standing back up still takes an action.
Adepts with this power can also somewhat flatten her body, making it thin enough to do things like sliding beneath trucks without losing her forehead. For every 2 levels of Sliding, add one die to tests to squeeze in or out of tight spaces.
Sorcerous Parry (Way 15*)
Cost: 0.25 per level
Mystic Adepts with this power are experts at snuffing out enemy spells with tremendous ease. It increases the rating of the Counterspelling skill by 1 per level. The maximum modified rating equals the base rating * 1.5, rounded up.
Spell Resistance (S4A 197*)
Cost: 0.25 per level
You possess an inherent resistance to sorcery. Add 1 die per level of this power to all your Resistance Tests against spells. Spell Resistance does not interfere with spells that you actively choose not to resist. The only critter power this protects you from is the Innate Spell power (and critters using Spellcasting of course).
Street Monkey (Original)
Cost: 0.5 per level
These adepts are preternaturally skilled in the use and maintenance of their vehicles of choice. They also have an uncannily sharp ear for information relating to their family of vehicles and are quicker to pick up related skill and trivia, granting +1 per level to learn the relevant skills, and reducing the karma cost of relevant knowledge skills by Street Monkey’s level (minimum cost 1). Street Monkeys receive a +1 each level to Pilot Groundcraft, Automotive Mechanics, and the immediately relevant knowledge skills for their hardware, up to the usual 1.5*base skill.
Sky Monkeys receive a bonus in Pilot Aircraft and Aeronautic Mechanics, Sea Monkeys in Pilot Watercraft and Nautical Mechanics.
Urban Survivor (Way 15*)
Cost: 0.5 per level
Adepts with this power have an innate knack for adapting to their environment, whether it be by taking on the survival skills of an canny urban Mentor Spirit like Cat or Rat, or through natural link with the elements. Each level applies a +1 bonus when making Shadowing, Survival, or Street Knowledge skill checks.
Wall Running (SM 180*)
Cost: 0.5
This power allows the adept to run up sheer walls or other vertical surfaces. The adept makes a Strength + Running Test, with hits indicating the number of meters he may climb. Attempts to run up longer distances require stops or landings and additional uses of Wall Running. Any move that requires a Gymnastics Test (such as jumping from one wall to another) performed while using this power suffers a –2 dice pool modifier. Secondary effects of the adept’s motion still occur, such as resulting sound or tracks, unless combined with the Traceless Walk power.
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<<bookkeeping>>
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All right, as far as I know I'm at the Aurora with Sichr's Character, I think. Am I aware of this Johnson's tie in with the happenings in Peoria?
I can edit/delete this post if you had something in mind for our first posts in this thread.
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This new Johnson is someone that is faintly known to your fixers because of their dealings with people from intelligence agents to corporate subterfuge, but it's unlikely that the PCs would know the new Johnson. However, the things pushing the Johnson into action are probably on a few news stations right now, so a new job coming up that's related to the leaks and people-shifting wouldn't be a surprise.
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We were at the aurora, weren't we?
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This person gunning to be the new Police Captain, has he shown up on national news? What about international? If I were to look at the nearest trideo turned to the news (no idea what stations are around in 207x) would anything come up about Peoria?
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Let's decide now which we'll use, present or past tense. Reading through this with each post varying is a bit disorienting.
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From what I see it looks like past tense narrative, but I'm not an english major either.
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A4bg and Mirikon wrote in the past tense, while the rest wrote in present. I'm not sure about Sichr, I don't know if he meant to post that or what it means.
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This person gunning to be the new Police Captain, has he shown up on national news? What about international? If I were to look at the nearest trideo turned to the news (no idea what stations are around in 207x) would anything come up about Peoria?
Peoria's last notice in international news was when international terrorists detonated explosives at Peoria International Airport in 2070. The captain's appointment has shown up on politically-oriented news stations, so as far as the general public knows he's a legitimate public figure. An easy search of news feeds from Illinois would reveal that his appointment is contested and his predecessor was assumed to have vanished with the help of Event Horizon.
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What's the Police Captains name? And his competitor? Also, what is "Event Horizon"?
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Event Horizon is a security provider owned by Horizon. They provide security on and off corporate property, something like Lone Star except that they rarely operate far from Horizon's faculties.
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I'm confused. It looks like Sichr posted something IC in the recruitment thread... and then some random words in the IC thread.
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Mithlas: Nitro's just looking at the lay of the land - without details, she's just looking at the currents to see what it could be; I'd have rolled the Data Search if she had a more specific query.
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I can really only respond to coherent postings, and Sichr hasn't made any IC - Recruitment was for getting characters set up and OOC is for non-IC questions and things like "can this be done" or "what's common knowledge" or such.
@ RHat: the probability of this run involving messing with someone new is high, but who exactly and where hasn't been stated yet, that's been held for the meet. Peoria is a major shipping site, and is active with all major megacorps, but isn't glamorous like Seattle or politically important like Denver, so it doesn't show up in the news as often. Things like hosting the North American Parkour championships make yearly notice.
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Did Nidhogg just change gender? Or he just has a woman's name and I've been making a fallacious assumption?
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I must've missed a trend. A4BG is a guy playing a girl. RHat is a guy playing a girl. Mirikon is a guy playing a girl. Aryeone is a girl playing a guy. Only Sichr and I are playing our own gender... I'm so unhip. :'(
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I'm just a hermaphrodite playing a male, Aaliyah is a feminine name though (Which is Arabic for, sublime, lofty, or high) - though in the americas he would go by Kukulkan, or in north america as Olobit. The PCs would probably know him as Olobit or Nidhogg.
But yeah, totally out of trend.
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Are there cabs in the city that could ferry me?
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I'm pretty sure cabs are easy to come by, it would just take a call to a shuttle service to get one to take you - since, as I understand it, Naga can grow to twice as large as adult trolls, as far as total bodymass and length.
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Doing a little research I've estimated my weight to be at least 300-400 kilograms, so... maybe a troll sized cab. 10 meters is a lot of person though, might be a bit snug.
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I'd think a naga could coil?
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I'm looking forward to the scene with the cabbie, hopefully it's an autocab.
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In actuality the opposite would be true, I'm just not sure I'd be able to fit even me in the cab.
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I know we decided that each of us knows at least one others , do we want to know all of the others? If so, I'll edit my past since I didn't realize it was Chikage.
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Oh, right, Chikage is from UCAS, not Seattle. We wouldn't know her. Guess the post stands. Sorry for peeping on you, miri, I thought you were the Johnson.
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In many cases I got the impression that Seattle was like the San Francisco of the late 1800's, though at worst people may come there for vacation. It's not that people don't go between Seattle and the rest of the UCAS it's just that they usually have important business to attend to when they're there, and less something you drift to and from. At least, that's how I've gathered the relation to be, there is surprisingly little on the rest of the UCAS in the 4th edition books, and I haven't cracked shadows of north america.
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I guess for note I'm going with familiarity with Shidhe and Andreas and... Nidhogg? Yes or no, Ary? I have no idea if I know Nitro, and I think Mirikon prefers to be umpteen at the start.
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Oh, I was spelling it like the Salish-Shidhe council.
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Oh, I was spelling it like the Salish-Shidhe council.
That would be wrong - Sidhe is a Gaelic word referring to the fae (for example, the word banshee was originally bann sidhe, translating to fairy woman).
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Yes, I'm familiar. Just explaining why I used the wrong word.
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You'd definitely find mine. The other two are probably in hidden mode, too.
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Man, I can't wait to come party at the diner with you guys, instead I gotta get sichr and I a cab.
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I'm very noob about the matrix stuff, so you'll have to help me out until I get it. I assume detecting nodes doesn't send up any warning flags. Let me know if you do something that would trigger my firewall or agent or whatever.
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I'm very noob about the matrix stuff, so you'll have to help me out until I get it. I assume detecting nodes doesn't send up any warning flags. Let me know if you do something that would trigger my firewall or agent or whatever.
Anything that would would entail a roll against my Stealth before the alarm went up. Detect Hidden Node doesn't trigger anything of the sort, though - that would more be if I was actually trying to hack in.
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That's what I figured, similar to detecting wifi access points. Passive.
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I use these two guides all the time for hacking and matrix related activity. One of them came off these forums, I can't recall off hand where I found the other one.
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Awesome, thanks for sharing. :)
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both as a player and GM resource I'd recommend these to anyone, they could shave an hour of digging through the book down to just a few minutes.
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While we're on the subject, how does slaving work? If my comm is slaved to Nitro's comm, is it 100% vulnerable to anyone that hacks his comm? Or would they have to go through his to get to mine, then defeat my security too?
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Basically, if someone hacks the master node, they get accessed to the slaved nodes (or they can hack the slave directly but ONLY through a wired connection, and at a threshold modifier for the attempt - it's not subtle). But if it's slaved to Nitro, that means that it's slaved to her bionode, not her comm (which is basically just storage for her) - and you cannot hack the bionode without having Resonance yourself; it's not even possible to make the attempt.
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Can you in any way attempt to "Crash" a technomancer? or something like a direct attach?
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Cybercombat can happen, certainly - you track their icon down in whatever node it's in and have at it; given that their Matrix damage track is actually just their Stun track, that can get pretty serious pretty fast. The main thing is that without Resonance, it is utterly impossible to access the bionode in any way.
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Oh, right, Chikage is from UCAS, not Seattle. We wouldn't know her. Guess the post stands. Sorry for peeping on you, miri, I thought you were the Johnson.
Chikage is from the UCAS proper, yes. DeeCee, and also Chicago, now in Seattle, though only recently. People who visit virtual clubs (like Tux's) would know her icon as a regular, and she appears in various clubs in Seattle on a regular basis. Also has ties with Yakuza.
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Oh, right, Chikage is from UCAS, not Seattle. We wouldn't know her. Guess the post stands. Sorry for peeping on you, miri, I thought you were the Johnson.
Chikage is from the UCAS proper, yes. DeeCee, and also Chicago, now in Seattle, though only recently. People who visit virtual clubs (like Tux's) would know her icon as a regular, and she appears in various clubs in Seattle on a regular basis. Also has ties with Yakuza.
Probably the most likely place Nitro and Chikage would cross paths at all, really.
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So, in summary... I probably wasted a ton of money on buffing security for my commlink that you can make nigh invulnerable. No worries, I guess, since the one actually linked to my stuff is skinlinked and with wifi totally switched off.
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Eh. Slaving consumes subscription slots - you don't generally want the rigger using all her subscriptions on slaving the team's links.
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Don't you have to be exceedingly close to something, or have a really long cable, to slave something?
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Nope, standard subscription.
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Awesome, now I feel justified in having a good commlink and a dummy public one.
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Sichr, what colour code are you using? I can't tell if you're talking out loud or thinking to yourself, also, I made my calls through DNI so the only thing anyone heard from me after I got that call was when I said 'Quite'. Though, since we know each and I presume we know we're going to the same place it'd be easy to infer just what call that was. Anyway.
As long as your commlink has Skinlink added to it, it should be able to form a connection with its wireless turned off.
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I tend to make a lot of conversation through DNI matrix calls, so I feel it's important to differentiate speech on different levels.
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Like I said, I think we know we're acting together, and I did order you a cab, but all anyone saw me do is stare blankly and nod my head, I'll be more descriptive next tome.
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Wait, did you actually roll a dice for being Poirot? You realize now that your character must be voiced by David Suchet, and now I have to change my voice actor from Bill Nighy to Hugh Fraser.
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That's what I was thinking, I just always keep forgetting if it has to be on and in hidden-mode or if it can be off.
If the GM rules the way you say, then I've definitely got the good one's wifi off.
I looked through the core book where I was sure it said how this worked, but while the core book says they can be set to default to skinlink unless that connection is broken, when it switches to wireless to maintain connection with the PAN. However, it doesn't say whether it can be set to "wireless off" or "wireless hidden", so I'd think that they can be set to either one the device is capable of using.
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Does it normally take 3 days and 3 pages to get everyone to the meet with the Johnson? I assumed the pace would be a bit faster, but that is admittedly an assumption based on nothing.
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Is this something we should post? What gear we have and its wireless capability/status?
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Well, getting a listing of non-hidden stuff doesn't even take a roll.
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What is node level stealth?
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When you use the Stealth program to conceal information about the node. It's an odd thing - it can't hide the node itself, so it's inevitably going to make someone more suspicious.
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Remember, I have glamour, people should innately be at ease around me, I understand staring however.
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Me, too. I'm glamorous.
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I'll be sure to poke fun at/hit on your character for those reasons.
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I'd assume it actually just makes us immune to each other's glamour. It doesn't make sense for 2 guys to be glamoured by each other... especially an elf and a snake. In your post, it should be whether and aisle.
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I'd assume it actually just makes us immune to each other's glamour. It doesn't make sense for 2 guys to be glamoured by each other... especially an elf and a snake.
I think you misundertand how glamour works...
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How so? I didn't say anything about how it works, other than asserting that 2 people with glamour would be unaffected by it in the other person. If I have glamour, then I wouldn't think "Oh, that snake has unearthly grace, his voice is soul-wrenching, his countenance is radiant." At best, I would think "Oh, he seems better than the other people. Similar to me, somehow..." I don't think we would show any particular awe, deference, or kindness to each other due to glamour, as we're both equally as glamorous as the other.
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Not really. Glamour doesn't at all impact how you perceive others - there is nothing about it that could possible cancel out another person's Glamour, because it acts in precisely the opposite direction. Now, mind you, provided that you both still have Glamour active with regards to each other, the BONUSES would effectively cancel in any opposed rolls, but the difference is very important in case of, say, opposed rolls after one of you has displayed hostility (thus denying you the bonus).
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Not really. It would definitely impact how I perceive others. They would all be less graceful, less eloquent, less-me than me. Another glamoured person would just be magically on par with my awesomeness. As for the rolls, that's not what I'm talking about, nor do I think it's what Ary is saying. We're talking about the rp side of it, the 'fluff text' of the glamour quality. Of course, it's all guessing, since the book doesn't cover something like this.
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Well, if you're inclined to RP your character as viewing everyone else as "less than", that's certainly an option - just not something intrinsic to the quality.
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Depends on how you see it. If you see it as a magical illusion that gives a false impression of grace, nobility, purity, whatever to affects social skill rolls, then sure. No fluff, and it's all fake. If you see it as a paranatural quality that actually gifts the person with grace/whatever, then they would live their lives being treated well and fully aware that they were more than other people in certain ways.
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The way I see it, the sources of our glamour could work on completely different mechanics. As for the crunch side of it, I see absolutely no reason why we would actually roll social against each other, except maybe judge intentions.
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Glamour is explicitly and specifically not magical. But just going through your life having a gift for dealing with people doesn't mean you think less of others. It's an option, but not the only one; that's all I'm saying.
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You're overstating. I didn't say anything about "thinking less of others" in the way you're implying. They are less graceful/etc. It's a fact, not a prejudice. As for not being magical, that's exactly why I see it the way I do. It's actual gracefulness/etc.
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We'll see how it all turns out in RP, if he's supposed to be a snobby whatcha callit from the elven nations then he is, so far he seems like a normal polite person with self confidence.
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Whaaaaaaat? How did talking about the rp side of our glamour qualities negating each other turn into discussing whether Baron is a bigot or not?
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2 things.
1) Can we please pick a tense and stick with it for everyone? Past or present.
2) Chikage sized up the group and we don't look like much? One of us is a glamoured elf with 8 Charisma. He definitely looks like much. Plus, the snake could eat her whole... That has to earn some points, right?
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No, but we're not discussing the statistical advantages dictated in the RAW. We're talking about the roleplaying parts, and it doesn't address this subject one way or the other. It will be beyond silly if when Baron is near Nidhogg, they're both glamoured by each other.
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No, the "sapient beings always respond with awe, deference, and kindness, see her as having unearthly grace, radiant countenance, amazing voice" stuff. It makes no sense that we would be in awe of each other. How can 2 people treat each other with deference? A person that is all of those things wouldn't be affected by another person that was similar. The world's greatest singer isn't awed by the world's second greatest singer. Respect, sure. Equals, of course. Awe? Of course not.
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Maybe you guys aren't thinking this through very clearly. Let's try some examples.
Nidhogg and Baron are going to go through a doorway.
N> After you.
B> No, after you.
N> No, I insist. After you.
B> No, I must insist. After you.
N> Really, you go first.
B> Oh, I can't do that. You go, please.
...and then it repeats for a few hours until they finally collapse from exhaustion.
Nidhogg and Baron are planning how to handle something.
B> I think we should do whatever you suggest.
N> Oh no, I'm sure whatever you think of will be the best.
B> etc.
nbnbnb... it just keeps going and going. Mutual deference means nothing ever happens.
Or how about...
Unrealistic co-glamouring
Baron thinks, "Wow, he's the most graceful, angelic thing I've ever seen. I can't even speak in his presence."
Nidhogg thinks, "Wow, he's the most graceful, angelic thing i've ever seen. I can't even speak in his presence."
Realistic glamour countering
Baron thinks, "My, what a graceful naga. That's my kind of snake."
Nidhogg thinks, "Even for an elf, he's got that special something. Good for him."
See, since Baron is awesome and Nidhogg are awesome(graceful, etc., not awesome in a cocky way), it raises their respective bars for being awed and inspired and such.
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B> I think we should do whatever you suggest.
N> Oh no, I'm sure whatever you think of will be the best.
B> etc.
Ah, my husband and I trying to decide on... anything.
That aside, your realistic example seems... realistic. How queer.
I find the example of awe a little extreme, in the book, actually I find their description obnoxious even if I can hold that power. I always imagined that their polite mannerisms would go to the extent of their upbringing, and at the most extreme it would turn into an Alice in Wonderland situation, or Through the Looking Glass if you like the second.
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N> After you.
B> No, after you.
N> No, I insist. After you.
So, in other words, Tosh and Mac (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=GNhY93UsC0I#t=82s)?
Glamour's something that's described in fluff text as being innately seen as more impressive and capable. Keep in mind that, like many other qualities, it's probably something that can be toned down. According to a quick google search, Martin Luther King and Winston Churchill are consistently noted as being some of the greatest English-speaking public speakers in history and they varied from subtle to loud as the occasion called for. Glamour isn't explicitly "I am a field that's on and annoying all the time", so let's try not to worry about it too much right now.
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You make a good point, Tosh and Mac it is, and Sichr is voiced by David Suchet.
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I miss youtube.....sometimes.
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I seem to only visit when given a link there.
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Damn it, I keep forgetting that I can roll to add my relevant knowledge skills to my active skills.
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I'll ask again, since nobody responded last time. Do PbP games normally go this slow? Since all of our members post repeatedly throughout the day, I thought we would be moving a bit faster than...you know, taking 4 days to meet the Johnson. I assumed we would all be up for posting a few times per day.
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This is pretty standard, and I'd say we're moving at a deliberate pace. The GM has to stop and compile everyone's posts, and if we over extend a bit it can lead to trouble. In the end it just comes down to how much attention the GM can give to the game, and the frequency of the player's posts.
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I'm honestly not sure how fast it goes, because each PbP seems to take its own pace and varies depending on certain people. I hope that things can jump ahead, but the meeting with the first Johnson isn't one to skip through.
Doing a PbP based on a rule set rather than being based purely on storytelling is very unusual for me. The collating takes a bit of effort, but the harder part is cross-checking all of that with rules, which is something that occurs in a very different manner than a face-to-face meeting which is what my others have been.
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I like PbPs for GMing because it gives room to continually do research. I used to run games over steam, but it got down to 2 people and I couldn't keep consistent dates because of RL problems.
This is the only game I'm actually playing in, anywhere, so I can understand being ancy.
edit: sorry I kinda breezed past those waitresses, everyone had already moved up and I was just trying to catch up to the meet.
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Hmm, I didn't get the impression that the GM's slowing us down. Maybe things will pick up now that we've assembled in one place.
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Highly probable, I just don't want to extend past the GMs narration, like I did with the waitresses...
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2) Chikage sized up the group and we don't look like much? One of us is a glamoured elf with 8 Charisma. He definitely looks like much. Plus, the snake could eat her whole... That has to earn some points, right?
The snake isn't in the room yet. And her idea of 'looks like much' involves a Troll with obvious cyberware and a PAC, or similar displays. She is a fighter, first and foremost.
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"It's almost unnatural how I can make out every single god damned ligament in his body, I wonder why..."
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I don't have to imagine, personal experience has proven to be unrewarding... :T
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I thought it was held knowledge by all of us, from the johnson calling us up prior to this meeting. If not I'll scratch that part of my post and get it out of the johnson in person. Also I was expecting to pick up any of that info in person on a data sheet after the meet, not over the phone, so that was a little preemptive. I don't know the johnson's name or I would have done some background on him.
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I didn't get a call. I got a text message.
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I didn't want to run the risk of having traffic intercepted, or something like that while in the meet. But after I get out, with some answers of course, I'll know what questions to ask and to who.
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What are we waiting on now?
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I think we're waiting on everyone to actually get to the meet?
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Everyone is there. The snake is standing in the doorway, the detective is behind it, and the rest of us are sitting inside.
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Are we just waiting for Andreas to make his introductory post?
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Sorry A4BG that post was supposed to go for yours, I was sitting on that one sentence trying to think of something to add. Either way, same point being made essentially.
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Heh. Calling the Vory upstarts.
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Well, compared to the Yakuza, Mafia, and Triads? Yeah, they are. ;) Especially since Chikage is more familiar with the Yakuza than other syndicates.
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Given that they're in the area of 150 years old by that point, it remains funny to me. :P
Got what you were going for, though.
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Cheeky little guys aren't they?
Edit: I could just sleep with him and film it, that could muck with his credibility, and he'd be on my leash. So two stones with one bird, yes?
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Does the report say that the Captain is gay and into sapient animals? If so, you might have a good plan there.
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I didn't really think of either as factors really.
As my friend would say,"Big Mo, gets what he wants, and takes what he doesn't need."
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Really? That seems unrealistic. No matter how charming or glamoured a guy is, he's never going to convince me to have sex with him. The same goes for animals. No amount of tail flicking and shiny fur will entice me to do inappropriate things with my cat.
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I have two words for you: "Control Thoughts". Not sure if he has that spell or not...
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Are you sure :3 ?
Well, perhaps not, but the idea of sexuality has changed allot in 70 years, I didn't even think gay was a thing anymore, what with things like polyamority being both legal and (somewhat?) common. That and, expressed sexes, and genders, are no longer in their binaries anymore (thank... something-for that.) . If what I gathered from Plan 9 is any indication, relations with meta-sapients isn't all that out there.
All that aside, I am quite magical, and a sustained control thoughts spell is all I really need. If I were to play the long game though, I'd make him have genuine feelings for me, which would give tremendous leverage in our favour for a brief while until it tips his previous master's hand.
But that's just one proposal.
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Incompatible Orientation would still be a thing in that scenario, though. There'd just be a far wider spectrum overall.
Main issue with that proposal, though, is that it seriously exposes you.
Pun moderately intended.
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Putting aside the fact that this character barters in blowjobs, I suppose there is that, and I do sorta want to return to my home sometime... ever. I wouldn't, technically, be breaking any laws; and neither would he. That could be crippling in the long run for me, or a badge of honour, I like the scandal idea though. As of now my character is basically just on vacation though, so, hopefully we can move to method of compensation before we invest all our ideas, and show our own desperation, first. So, me personally, I'm going to work the, why, how much, then maybe how, angle.
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It's the loss of anonymity that could be an issue.
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For a feathered serpent that's very difficult, in one of my spoilers I pointed out some of the lengths I went to, to maintain that. Just flying into illanois though, that'll be logged, written down, and passed to his desk if not an advisors, in a matter of hours though. I just have to play it careful and be as far away from The Wrong PlaceTM at all times.
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the idea of sexuality has changed allot in 70 years, I didn't even think gay was a thing anymore, what with things like polyamority being both legal and (somewhat?) common. That and, expressed sexes, and genders, are no longer in their binaries anymore (thank... something-for that.
Huh? Somehow acceptance has turned into everyone being bisexual? That's ridiculous. If he's not interested in men, he's not interested in men. If he's not interesetd in snakes, he's not interested in snakes. There's no "Well, it's 2072, everyone swings every which way possible."
How can we have more than binary genders? Did we discover a third sex? What's it called? Are you just talking about people not falling into gender stereotypes? That, I can buy.
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How can we have more than binary genders? Did we discover a third sex?
Sex and gender are not the same thing - sex is biological, but gender is cultural/psychological. Some transhumanist characters, such as Plan 9, switch back and forth between sexes so often that it becomes questionable if they even have a gender.
But yes, the mere fact that a very broad spectrum of orientation is accepted doesn't mean orientation goes away - and it's been known to be a ridiculously specific thing, on occasion.
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I didn't say it wasn't, it's just that the rigidity of it all has softened over the ages, chances are better than they were. And there are more than 2 sexes yes, and a crazy amount of genders.
Anyway, that's just one proposed option. What other options do you guys think?
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What other sexes are there? And I have no idea, Baron isn't to great in a situation like this. With fuzzy goals, he doesn't know how to go about it.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex
I believe this is what Aryeonos is referring to - and while I'm not certain if there's a scientific/medical consensus on whether or not this would be considered a distinct sex, it does eliminate the binary notion of sex.
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I prefer the term hermaphrodite, but my reasoning is I don't feel trapped between sexes, anyway - relevance not important.
I wish Mithlas was on for more than half a second... I think, perhaps working out exactly what they want, so at the very least I know, what to charge. Stealing guns and vehicles and selling them off seems, like not a safe idea. Having assets of his disappear, and show up on record (his records), I'm okay with.
we could petition the city to have local authorities regulate the issue instead of the top down hierarchy, but I don't think that's likely to happen.
What else?
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No clue. I'm not used to something as general as "Destabilize the government". I'm more used to "We need this guy killed." or retrieving files or creating a distraction or... you know, more specific goals. I honestly don't know what's going on in the game world. I start reading, but all I get out of it is "there's a political hullabaloo" and I find myself drifting off. Could I get a cliff's notes version?
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I'm better at nebulous plans and winging things, mostly because I try and come up with a structured ones, but the team gets bored of that and runs ahead shooting.
Basically what I gather is.
Police captain has an unusual amount of pull
We need to make him look bad so whoever is providing the pull shows their hand.
Right now though, we need to press the johnson for all the info he's got, then evaluate that to negotiate our pay. Usually, precisely what he wants will get worked out in the questioning process, usually...
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More simple, actually: The guy appears to have some sort of shadowy backer, and the client wants us to help them figure out who it is or otherwise restore the balance of power. Publicly embarrassing him is simply the Johnson's suggestion for how it would be done.
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Even better, we can do the scandal as a bonus.
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Well... We COULD negotiate a base price for, say, getting the guy out of office or at least cutting off his source, with bonuses for drawing the puppetmaster out and such...
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We'll need to negotiate a surcharge or whatever it is, retainer, first. IDs, dummy links, tickets (I vote train), Ammo, rooms, living expenses, bribe money and shipping to name a few.
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Has our game died?
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Mithlas has not logged in since the last post in the IC thread, and thus has not had a chance to advance things. We seem to be waiting on him.
And it has been one day - that's not very long as these things go; Soulless in Seattle, for example, has recently been about 20 days between IC posts, but it is not dead. Mind you, there were circumstances around that, but... A day is not long in play-by-posts. They move a bit slowly sometimes.
I hope we'll be able to pick up the pacing a bit in the not too distant future, but that's beside the point.
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When you get to a gap of 2 weeks without word, IC or or OOC, then you can start worrying about game death. One day, especially over the weekend? That's nothing.
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Yeah, don't expect too much along the lines of posts on weekends for the most part.
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I'd suggest we could cook up a plan while s/he is away, but our knowledge is a bit limited on the matter.
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If a dignitary is killed that may destabilize the situation in an unfavourable way. If he is somehow missusing his power, and we can either get the press to be there to film it, or submit footage ourselves (anonymously) that could serve to make him falter. He'll have plenty of spin in his favour, but it'll put him on the spot, so when say his arms start going missing or something like that, or a riot breaks out at one of his public addresses, it'll put him into some serious jeopardy. He might even be willing to play ball with us at that point, or a proxy, that's rather nebulous though.
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I believe Event Horizon is Horizon's security force, if I remember what Mithlas said correctly.
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Perhaps, but killing anyone makes them martyrs, which just hardens resistance towards "Us". Making the people dislike them because they're all fraudulent cronies on the other hand really helps to push them over.
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Another result of the assassination is possible, however, and Horizon would make it happen: it could be used to show WHY he needs all this stuff.
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So not only are they martyrs, but the situation becomes that much more serious in his favour, killing isn't going to be practical for this mission.
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Indeed. Killing may not be practical. But manufacturing scandals and putting those milspec weapons in the hands of criminal elements (and ourselves, while we're at it) is a good way to undermine him. Especially if we insert a couple records on his commlink that make it look like he was getting into arms sales as a sideline.
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We should look into his public supporters, see if they're dirty as well. If he's seen with a bad crowd that could undermine public support. If we can twist arms without fabricating evidence all the better.
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This Event Horizon he is working for is the Horizon subsidiary, isnt it?
Yes, it may be through a few layers of companies and owners, but Event Horizon is a part of the AAA megacorp Horizon.
And not being on for one day over the weekend is something that will have to be expected - my internet access is on public terminals (typically libraries), and all of the ones that are close enough for me to bike to are closed on Sundays. I wouldn't expect them to be closed for the whole weekend, so I try to get online at least once a day, for this game as well as for other things.
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Ah, thank you for that clarification.
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Aww...no comment on the modification Sidhe suggested for Chikage's plan? :'(
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The problem is assuming he will react in the way that best suits your plan when there's absolutely no reason for him to react that way - they can just use PR to create the spin they want, and fake a f
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I didn't see that. What was Sidhe's modification?
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They don't have to use it. They just have to have it on them when they're seen, either by the public or when they're interrogated/busted by any law enforcement group.
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At which point, Horizon PR spins that he needs that kind of equipment to counter what the criminal element is using, conveniently burying that it came from them.
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But even if they spin it, his backers would know his stuff found its way into the hands of the gang. It's not a public scandal you need, it's just something big enough to make the puppetmasters feel the strings vibrate.
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That assumes that his backers care about that - they'd be choosing to act, and with little pressure at that - and thus less chance of making a mistake. Ideally, we should be forcing them to act.
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I think we gotta get to him by twisting his public backers, his arms disappearing could help prove to them that he's less competent before Horizion spins it. We'd do well to learn the local information scene, which pirate trid broadcasters are in the area, uncontrollable (to Horizon) PR would work in our favor. Any messages we can send to them, twist them against him, will make him look all the more suspicious.
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I definitely agree we need to get 'on the ground' to figure out what the layout is and what options are available to us.
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We'll see what the johnson knows of the area and the Captain's associates, as well of how much of a foothold Horizon has on the issue to the Johnson's knowledge. First thing should be making sure the johnson can peak our interests, then cover operations expenses. I can try and get us new IDs should the negotiations go in our favor, among other things.
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I think we can get through this without killing anyone, hopefully, having the captain coming after us might make the job more difficult.
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I think that's a bad thing, it means we can't really operate in a discrete professional fashion if we're exposed, and I think killing people is a sure fire gamble for that.
When we get there, we'll need middle men, some of the locals may 'oblige'.
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So if I'm reading this right, that's 25K each up front, 90K each total, and an extra 10K each if we get it done in two weeks? Total of 100K per runner? Or is that 100K for the whole team, which would be a bit shy of 17K each (since there's six of us)?
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100k each, 25k up front, plus they cover expenses while we're on the road.
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Groovy. 100K will allow me to get some nice new toys.
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100k will see me in a clinic with a new delta-grade rating 5 skillwire system being installed.
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Fascinating. I thought Aaliyah specified "each", but... now that I reread, the only person that said "each" was the Johnson when he said 7k each. I assumed that Aaliyah's counteroffer of 100k was per person, not a weird group total(especially since 100k doesn't divide by 6 evenly), which is why Baron supported it. If it's just 100k for the group, we're still looking at a measily 16k per person for a major run. I still think it's 100k per. As for being newbies, not really. Just because it's the first run we're playing with the characters, that doesn't mean they haven't done runs before. My character has been at it for a while.
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I know that payouts vary, and I can't use my other time running Shadowrun (since the Johnsons all paid in favors like providing Erased or Black Market Pipeline, most of the team's money coming from looting the gangers or corpsec), and given that everybody started off with some degree of Wanted that made Erased much more valuable than a high starting payout. However, 100k per person does not sound like first run newbies. The 90k per person comes to ...oops, I divided by the number of my meatspace group, not this group which is larger.
What the hell, this is already shooting towards pink mohawk and we're all probably going to be blowing up city blocks eventually anyway. Shorter game than the lower, more stealthy one because progression is going to be harder for me to keep on-track, but that's fine with me.
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It would be one thing if the run was to be done locally, which "first run newbies" would be hired for, but when such long distance travel is involved higher pay should be expected as a matter of course. With the level of skill most of the characters have in their area of expertise, I don't think that any of them would fall under that "first run newbie" descriptor.
Note- Not having any Street Cred due to just having created doesn't matter, as it could have been burned in order to keep Public Awareness and/or Notoriety down.
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heh. No worries, Mithlas. I had to check back to see how many people there were. So, what is the final number total and per person?
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Like I said, I'd be good with the other if the run were local.
How's this for a compromise? It could get put at 30 or 45 grand per runner before the offered expenses and bonuses with 1/3 of that being up front.
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I'm a little perplexed at the idea I'm seeing of this being continent-level distance, this is from UCAS to UCAS and while it's crossing ~25% the width of north america (aka the Rocky Mountains and a small bit of the Great Plains), the train has already been arranged by the Johnson. I'd query more into what standard pay is for runners, but very large threads have already been created for that topic and picking that up here might create too much of a tangent.
When I first did the math (calculating for half the runners, this group has 6 and my other has 3), the total was 90k or 30k each. Ammo, repairs and replacements were included 'as to be tallied later', with transportation already being provided.
My last post was based on a math error on my part so I'm willing to fudge a little, I still think that 100k each is a little much for an opening run, especially when we're not looking at a cast of hardened veteran runners. 50k each runner with 20k up front sounds a little more like what I'd expect a "new team of mixed runners" might be offered.
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I'm a little perplexed at the idea I'm seeing of this being continent-level distance, this is from UCAS to UCAS and while it's crossing ~25% the width of north america (aka the Rocky Mountains and a small bit of the Great Plains), the train has already been arranged by the Johnson. I'd query more into what standard pay is for runners, but very large threads have already been created for that topic and picking that up here might create too much of a tangent.
When I first did the math (calculating for half the runners, this group has 6 and my other has 3), the total was 90k or 30k each. Ammo, repairs and replacements were included 'as to be tallied later', with transportation already being provided.
My last post was based on a math error on my part so I'm willing to fudge a little, I still think that 100k each is a little much for an opening run, especially when we're not looking at a cast of hardened veteran runners. 50k each runner with 20k up front sounds a little more like what I'd expect a "new team of mixed runners" might be offered.
50 grand is more than the compromise I put on the table, so while I won't turn down 100 grand, that would work.
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Hey, I at least asked what the truth was first. :) And really, its like when the Powerball was over 600 million a couple days ago. EVERYONE bought a ticket, just for the chance of getting the big payday. Doesn't mean we expected it to happen.
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I'm a little perplexed at the idea I'm seeing of this being continent-level distance, this is from UCAS to UCAS and while it's crossing ~25% the width of north america (aka the Rocky Mountains and a small bit of the Great Plains), the train has already been arranged by the Johnson. I'd query more into what standard pay is for runners, but very large threads have already been created for that topic and picking that up here might create too much of a tangent.
When I first did the math (calculating for half the runners, this group has 6 and my other has 3), the total was 90k or 30k each. Ammo, repairs and replacements were included 'as to be tallied later', with transportation already being provided.
My last post was based on a math error on my part so I'm willing to fudge a little, I still think that 100k each is a little much for an opening run, especially when we're not looking at a cast of hardened veteran runners. 50k each runner with 20k up front sounds a little more like what I'd expect a "new team of mixed runners" might be offered.
People jumped to high numbers as if they wanted to make it truth. IMO everyone noticed the mistake in math or something. Sorry if this hurts anyones feelings, but to try to exploit such thing...well...IDN what to say...
It doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, because you're wrong. The one person that saw it and thought it was wrong mentioned it. I saw a wealthy Johnson or a bigger run than we were expecting. You should be more concerned with yourself instead of what other people noticed.
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My last post was based on a math error on my part so I'm willing to fudge a little, I still think that 100k each is a little much for an opening run, especially when we're not looking at a cast of hardened veteran runners. 50k each runner with 20k up front sounds a little more like what I'd expect a "new team of mixed runners" might be offered.
If you want, we can remove our last few posts about it and you can edit your post about the payment.
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I go off to work for a day, and what the hell happens? I bartered for 100'000 total payout, 30'000 of that up front to pay for IDs and information, I originally thought of doing 300'000 total payout, 60'000 up front but we're only shaking the social ladder to see who's on top, in a complete other city without any contacts or information, I figured 100'000 would be a fair sum, and we'd probably be having follow up work once we got what the johnson wanted.
That was my reasoning.
This is Mithlas's call, but if 100'000 Lump Sum sounds like too little to the rest of my team, (and I thought we were going to be as BT as possible), I could retcon it up to my original estimate of 300'000 Lump sum, 60'000 up front, no cutesy padding, all stops pulled out.
Mathing it out, 30'000 would only get us the new IDs and a little throwing around money once we got there, frugal, but it sounded like our crew was going the way of the Be-Bop. 60'000 is heavy lifting cash, which would still require proper budgeting.
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I like Mithlas' compromise. 50k each, 20k up front. That's plenty to entice a group like ours into an endeavor of this potential magnitude. Maybe I/Baron got the wrong idea, but this is looking like it'll end up as a monumental run, affecting government and stuff.
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20 lump up front? I'll wait for him/er to get back and we'll clear it up.
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Yeah, I don't know if he meant 20k total up front or 20k per person. That would be a pretty big upfront payment for 6 people. As for buying IDs and stuff, didn't he say that the company will pay or provide those?
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He said fuel and ammo, bribes and paperwork isn't something I thought was on their accounting sheet.
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My memory is failing me. I thought he said they were covering "expenses", but you're right... He didn't say anything of the sort. In that case, 20k up front won't even buy IDs for 6 people. It'd be 24k for a set of R4 Fake Sins.
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Being in with the AB+ I can get us better, though they may only come in handy after the run, considering how long it might take to get them. Maybe they can give me the express delivery though, they already gave me the lowdown on Peoria allot faster than I expected.
Once we land down in Peoria, I'll be keeping as far away from any SIN scanning zones, the front lines and the B zone + social scene is Baron's territory. I'll be in the alleys working with the gangs and syndicates.
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A rating 5 fake SIN is only 5000, with 20k upfront - each - that leaves 15k to be able to buy other things with (if wanted beforehand, it's not like you're going to the deep amazon, Peoria is a city too). 50k each still sounds a little more tan I was expecting, but it's not actually that much more than I was expecting (I figured negotiations would move things between 10 and 30k each).
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300'000, 60'000 up front split six ways is sizeable and straight forward, that's per person, 50'000 with 10'000 up front.
Does that sound too over the top?
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Works for me. We can delete our posts, or if you just want to edit your previous post to say "50k/20k" and a new one where the Johnson says yes to Baron, we can continue. :)
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Does that work for you Mithlas?
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You shouldn't waste your time posting if you're not going to say anything.
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How's about we just do future negotiations as "each" at all times, just so we avoid this sort of confusion in the future.
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I can do that, I just thought that not saying each meant, total sum...
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Sichr, please be sure to say something relevant and coherent if you are going to post. Especially if you are going to use up a lot of space with a quote - ideally respond directly to the post(s) quoted.
There's something amusing about the level of confusion from not using "each", but it looks like explicitly going that way will avoid a lot of ambiguity in the future. It looks like everybody's okay with 50k each. If Aryeonos thinks 10k (ea) up front would work better then we can go with that. I'll edit the IC post now and we'll go from there, IDs will be handed out at the train station before loading the shipping container.
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I'll edit my post accordingly.
There, everyone's happy and I get to charge my unpadded original bill.
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I removed mine, so it all makes sense now.
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Glee!
We can move forward now.
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I can do that, I just thought that not saying each meant, total sum...
The issue, I think, had to do with switching between per member and lump sum amounts.
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I can do that, I just thought that not saying each meant, total sum...
The issue, I think, had to do with switching between per member and lump sum amounts.
Yeah, the original offer was present as "each", and then the first player post afterward gave a lump sum. I think we got a good compromise going (like I pointed out, it's actually a bit higher than the suggestion I made).
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Don't forget to go back and edit your post for continuity A4BG
Now we just have the Q&A part of our meet, then we can split.
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RHat's and A4BG's posts look fine right now, it just shows they're paying attention and quiet.
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It didn't quite make sense, but I just removed it because there isn't much for her to add during negotiation stage of the meeting. She's better at seduction than negotiation.
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We'll work well together...
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I was going to ask about that. I don't understand your last IC post, Sichr. Maybe Mithlas has the same problem? What exactly do you mean?
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This is what I was talking to Mithlas about. I ask a simple question, because what you said in the other thread isn't clear. You respond with a rude sarcastic question.
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@Sichr: The briefing gave information on Peoria and the people involved in it. The fixer already mentioned that he doesn't have extra help for you in the area. It's sometimes difficult to tell what you're saying, because your IC post looked like it was asking for information that was just given. Also, don't be too eager to be rude to other players. Even when you have a question for me, sometimes they have pretty good ideas. I've already received more than one PM about concerns of your behavior. If you cannot politely participate, both from my own and others' posts then you are not welcome in this thread. This is your final warning. If any other problems arise you will not be permitted to participate this game.
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Go-to, IMO, means profile, personal history, business background, allies and enemies...maybe even contact.
Thanks for the info. It sounds like a go-to is similar to a dossier.
As for the rest of your post, the only real response possible to it is: What the hell? I have no idea why you hold a personal grudge against me, but your hostility is unwelcome. That means in all threads, not just here. Stop attacking me.
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Lacking net access for a few days, other than phone, so I won't really be able to post substantially
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the best way to slove this would be just each of us goes his own way. Im adult enought not to call you names, so Ill just put you on my ignore list and we will be cool. Bye.
He has an odd way of leaving and not saying anything. I still don't know where this aggression came from, but it doesn't really matter. Should we see about adding a new member? Does him leaving actually leave any gaps in our abilities?
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His character didn't actually have any skills not covered by the team - there's a fair amount of overlapping ability. Pilot ground, data search, intimidation, stealth, blades, pistols, tracking, no exotic skills. I think we'll all get by.
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Sorry I have been out, I will try and put up a post tonight.
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No worries, you haven't missed anything. We're still in the room and everything.
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After standing for a week patiently, Baron collapses to the floor. He forgot to eat and drink and sleep during this time as he waited politely for the other people to stand or discuss or do anything at all...
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I've tried to get us all going, but there's only so much one person can do to push an RP forward.
Sometimes in the in-person gaming we ask for skipping ahead to a major event - everybody in favor calls "ready flag up" and sometimes raises a hand. It hasn't been a full week, but it's been a number of days. Should we just do that, and skip to Galesburg?
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Works for me.
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Either way works. I've been waiting for everyone else (on top of the fact that for a few days I couldn't post substantially). I thought that I'd have ended up missing quite a bit due to that...
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FFS, really sorry guys, I have been rebuilding my model for the 3rd time and I havent had real internets here. Al I was going to do in seattle was pick the AB+`s collective brain for intel and see about getting some contacts in the city for further gear and intel, if you like we can skip to the train and deam the results retroactivley.
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Slipping ahead sounds like a good idea, since we were all mostly just waiting to see what the others would do.
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Has everyone just lost interest in playing? I see all of us posting on the forums, but our game isn't moving ahead in the slightest.
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Nitro has nothing to say in this circumstance. I think everyone's waiting for Mithlas to skip things forward now.
And seriously, 2 days is not long enough to start worrying about stuff in a slow paced game where the GM has only intermittent net access.
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Nobody said anything about being worried about 2 days. As for what we're waiting on, I don't know. Maybe he's waiting on Nitro and Nidhogg to leave the bar. All I know is what I said. We're all online almost every day and posting.
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Aryeonos wanted to make a check with her contacts, but I didn't know exactly what about, which is why I was waiting. Moving things along for now - once she posts next, she can note what she looks for and we'll assume it's either done on the way to Peoria or was done prior to the train trip and just wasn't brought up until whenever it's actually mentioned.
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The Johnson provided us with a place to stay. I assumed we just got out of a car in front of wherever it is. Was I wrong?
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The two encrypted commlinks (and the data he distributed) had the address and keypad combination for a flat in the middle of the city. Unless y'all'd like to buy your own flats for the duration of the stay, the Johnson probably wouldn't care either way because the money's already been spent...
Edit: finally got the city district map up. The upload's usually not this bothersome, but I'm usually dealing with text files.
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Back from my latest site ban. Catching up now.
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So what did the advance pay come out to, per person again?
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Each: 20.000 nuyen upfront, with 30.000 after the job is done, and another 10.000 if the job is done within 2 weeks. Fuel, ammo, repairs reimbursed with default after mission completion, or if emergencies arise the johnson could be called to forward money for things like ammo or repairs before the full job completion - if there's something worth it.
Peoria is a small but dense city, resembling larger metroplexes. Maps are easy to come by, except those showing utilities and anything underground apart from the city subway (those are classified, usually held by the locally dominant megacorp). Air, ground, and river traffic is heavy but much of it does not stop in the city and only passes on through.
Chikage's call to the yakuza is granted a later call-back. On the way to Peoria, the local contact admits that the yakuza does not have the presence in the city they would prefer and is spread over the metroplex - the majority of the brothels in the city are either directly or indirectly under their control and ownership. About a quarter of the city's drug trade passes through the yakuza, a full third controlled by Latin American cartels and the remainder scattered among the local gangs and other criminal powers. The yakuza have not had much success in edging into the cyberware or firearms smuggling in the city, the majority of which is controlled by the Red Glen gang. The Triads and local Pottsonian gang are the majority players in the talismonger trade, the Pottsonians even backing a few licensed shops. Contact information for an operator for the local gumi is also forwarded to Chikage.
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All I was stopping in at the AB+ for was info on local vory to peoria, gow to contact them and their usual deal and meet locations, as well as AB+ local involvement in the area, their own local methods of contact, and where are safe spots to meet and conduct business that wont attract allot of attention. Learning about how to get around there without being scene if they know. I am on my phone, but their contact dice pool should be 24.
I went in in person for security purposes.
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Anarchist black cross information check, 10 hits
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4087634/
Peoria is overtly extremely strongly controlled by the megacorps, and the 3 local gangs are old, extensive, and well-entrenched enough that there isn't a great deal of room for others. They still fight amongst each other, but the 'saturated market' has kept the Italian and Russian mafia down except in waterlane shipping, which is also heavily used by the Latin American cartels. Vehicle traffic on the highways is usually given only cursory inspection unless an incident has happened, in order to avoid disrupting Peoria's biggest business: shipping. The dozen corps and their security providers mean that illicit traffic has to be much more careful to look legitimate when traveling through the western part of the city, as well as Aztechnology's sector of Heaton District. Norwood is pretty much abandoned by police, but also isn't in much better shape than the Seattle barrens due to similar economic hardships. Illinois University is located in the mostly-UCAS government controlled Fieldcrest, which is the safest for non-corp-affiliated people to meet. AB+ doesn't have a strong presence in Peoria because it's generally a stable city and they haven't had a lot of call for non-corp aid.
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I might need some assistance. I've never played a legwork character before. I actually didn't even consider Baron a legwork type until a4 said that. What exactly should I be trying to do? Or current plan is to steal weapons from him and get them to a criminal organization, right?
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Well, consider what legwork you would ask your contacts to do if you were a Street Sam. Basically, what would you (or the character) want to know if you were heading in?
You'd want the location - and possible nearby areas of trouble - scouted out, at least through datatrail and if possible through direct observation. Assensing samples of the local population, visual and possibly radio scanning of local traffic, identification of the arms and armour used by the locals and the target(s) in question in specific, general disposition.
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At this stage, it would be best not to direct the legwork at any single plan - we need information before we can come up with a solid plan.
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Hmm, I still just don't see him as a legwork guy. He's only got 2 contacts. He's more of a "point me at someone and watch me convince them I'm they're brother" kind of face, not a mastermind international spy and info gathering expert.
That said, on the ride to the new place, he'll definitely be keeping his eyes open for anything and everything, including what Mithlas mentioned.
Shadowrunning Basics - Linked knowledge skill bonus test (11d6.hits(5)=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4090832/)
Visual perception test (16d6.hits(5)=4) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4090834/)
Well, that's less than stellar, but hopefully it's good enough to see most stuff relevant on the way home.
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Well, that kind of Face can get new contacts extremely quickly. You just have to go out and make new friends. If some of them are in useful places, so much the better.
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Yep, starting with... Nitro, Nidhogg, Sidhe, and Chikage. What do you think, C2 L4 for all of them? :D
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Heh. Nitro's a little bit more on the "just biz" side of the Loyalty table right now; she doesn't quite trust everyone yet.
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She is going to be rather inistent about this, just as an FYI - especially now, since that comment wasn't really the sort of thing she responds to well.
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I think I will head down to the waterfront, what would be the better method to travel by? Also what time is it?
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The train probably would've pulled into Galesburg in the early hours of the morning, so it's only starting to get into the afternoon now. Groundcraft aren't air-based hoppers, but they're relatively efficient. The city is divided by Lake Peoria which connects to the Great Lakes to the north, and the Mississippi to the south. Cars, busses and trucks can easily cross the roads and highways in the city, and there's a subway system. Obviously, the airports and subway have more security than the bus network, which has more oversight than just getting a bicycle or walking around.
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Does he see anyone in the club that stands out? Are all 12 people sitting alone or is there one group with a head figure and other people there as protection/groupies/whatever? Anyone that looks connected or shady or...anything?
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Groups of 2-3 spread out over the bar/club. They look like blue collar workers, possibly a white-collar hard on his luck. Information about masked details like people who "seem shady" would be a perception roll.
If you're just wanting to stride in and chat up a couple, most of them are already talking and only the nearest group of 2 would've even noticed Baron's entry, but they've made no overt action.
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Wth? Invisiblecastle apparently hates me. My rolls are reliably low. Hopefully that will change soon...
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Sorry for lack of activity. Grandparents coming to visit, so if the house doesn't look good, Bad Things happen.
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Next bit of stuff Nitro's gonna be doing is going to take a few hours in game, so I'm just waiting to give people a chance to establish what they're gonna want to do in that time instead of just barreling forward without regard.
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Nah, do whatever you want. I'm assuming we're not working at the same pace. This way, Mithlas can post as much as possible in each post instead of a week dedicated to one conversation and then another week for checking the safehouse.
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I'm going to need a translation of that last post. I don't know gang names or understand the references.
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He named the three major gangs of the area, all information that a thorough data search might have brought up (two characters have done so before now, though there hasn't been a distribution of knowledge yet so your character may or may not know all of these).
The Pottsonians are the most major underworld group in the southwest (including the area where Baron currently is), and are suspected of involvement in talislegging and other stuff. The Red Glen are concentrated heavily in the north area of Peoria and are known to be involved in firearm and cyberware smuggling. Fondulak is active on the east side of the city and has a lot of legitimate fronts in the sports and outdoor enthusiast-areas. They also pushed the Ancients out of the city the previous year, and have an ongoing feud with the Sons of Sauron.
Event Horizon is the major police force in Arcadia and Lauterbach, basically the south-central region of the west side of the city. Their area covers a number of major highways through the city, including the main way in and out of the international airport in Bellevue in the southwest (Norwood is a "low interest" area for law enforcement. Think of it as a slightly less openly dangerous Barrens from Seattle). I'd post the notes I wrote for the city, but the .RTF document is too big for attachments.
The next thing I'm waiting on is the check of the safehouse (or for somebody else to go off and try to find a new sub-arc, I know that Aryeonos wanted to head to the shore, but hasn't responded since my last post response to Aaliyaha).
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Gonna make some rolls when I get home tonight.
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Okay, so to make sure I understand this correctly - the two have absolutely no current connections outside of to each other? If so, that could be useful to us...
Nitro's also going to take the Detect Active/Passive Nodes action, which should yield list all such nodes within 400 meters.
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Yes, Nitro's scan determined that they are connected to each other but do not have other wireless subscriptions.
There are a lot of wireless nodes within 400m, was Nitro searching to double-check the one(s) that Chikage already found or everything outside that? Or disregard and run her own?
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Well, she ran her own scan for hidden nodes in addition to using Chikage's leads, and as far as the active/passive end of it goes, she's trying to get an figure out the Matrix landscape and looking for nodes from which someone might monitor them.
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Okay. You mentioned analyzing the nodes within the apartment (and I presumed that the toaster and fridge weren't worth looking at since things like that are ordinary, open subscriptions). There was much the same in the flats above, below, and to both sides, though Chikage detected a hidden routing node next door and you specifically mentioned the lamp and ultrasound but not that so I wasn't sure if you were just cruising for more. Since you're sweeping the location anyway, Nitro would likely be keeping an eye out for things like that and I presume that you'll say whether or not you want to go into any of them.
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Ok, so NOW it's dead, right? I should stop checking the PbP section multiple times per day, because it's been more than a month since the last post from some of the players? We all should've posted within the last week or so, but that's not happening.
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I've been waiting on other people to post that they're going to the flat so we can get to team discussion.
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Beyond not liking double posting, I generally prefer not to control other peoples' characters. That being said, it's strange to see other people who I know are logging into the board but not posting in the game thread. Nobody's doing anything that seems to be character or mission critical, so if the next person to come along wants to just assume that everybody jets down to the flat then go ahead.
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Sorry guys, I really would like to keep up but I have been dealing with petty problems like unemployment and no internet, so its rather hard to stay active.
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Perfectly understandable. Real life always comes first, so don't stress it.
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Sorry, guys. Got banned for a while, but back now. Unfortunately, just as the ban was ending, work got crazy. A few people decided to do a walkout at a couple stores in the area, so I had to pick up extra shifts. Then one of the people at my store got word her dad died (it was leukemia, so it wasn't unexpected), so she took off for that. Then one of the other people at my store decided to just not show up for work any more. So I've been brain-fried for the last week or so. I'll try to throw up something before work.
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Okay, so, I finally got some work, I am trying to make it perminent as I am only temping here, but hopefully if it all pans out well I will have regular internets and stop dragging the game down.
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Stop worrying, fools. I hope things get better for you both.
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I understand when real life intrudes on fantasy, and at some point reality has to get greater priority than games (even if games are more fun). I have yet to have something on my side of the screen that's interrupted my ability to participate, but I'll try to notify if anything happens. Once all of you are able to post, go ahead and get to it, but I'm not holding a clock to the posting. Things happen.
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Thank you for being so understanding, and I am truly sorry for dragging your game down.