[Zweiblumen]

Awesome!  I'll have the init order up in the morning.  As for th assessing, I need to look a couple of things up, but I'm pretty confident you'll get all the info you are looking for (need to see what else you get with regards to my notes).

[Zweiblumen]

All of you passed your surprise test even though you all shorted yourself 3 dice   The most of the Technoids didn't fare as well.

Here's the init order.  1-10 are the kids up front, 11 and 12 are the two behind.  Still working on assensing.  Need to wrap my head around how that's working with the plan and ambush and initiative etc etc...  I'm leaning towards just giving you the information without using an action due to the ambush, but I'm not 100% sure.  Feedback welcome here.

Knucks 22
#11 18
#12 15
Uffington 14
Expo 10
#2 0
#3 0
#6 0
#1 -2
#8 -3
#5 -4
#7 -4
#9 -5
#10 -5
#4 -5


In short, the first CT the front rank is not doing anything and you just have the two in the back this round.

Not sure if this got eaten or not, will post again.

Also, assensing.  Am I reading the rules correctly in CRB p. 312?  To assense you need to be astrally perceiving and to do that you are taking a -2 to do things in the physical world?  (hasn't been a problem yet in this game, but I've never seen this happening in combat so just checking).

Result is that you know that #12 is the figure you are assuming is WizKid, he's got a datajack, reaction enhancers and has 3 spells maintained on him.  He is also on at least one drug.  #11 appears to be a perfectly healthy mundane without any enhancements either magical or technical, nor is it on any drugs.  Gimme a Logic+Intuition[Mental] simple test.

Action to Knucks

[rednblack]

As the group approached, Uffington would also Assense them to make sure he knows who WizKid is.  I have: INT (5) + Assensing (5) + Aura Reading Spec (2) - Sustaining Penalties (2) = 10 dice.
Assensing: 10d6t5 5
I trust that will pick him out.

The plan was for Uffington to Assense as soon as they were within eye sight to make sure Uffington targets the right one. He will not continue to Assense after that's done so it shouldn't affect the CT or Initiative at all.

[Zweiblumen]

As the group approached, Uffington would also Assense them to make sure he knows who WizKid is.  I have: INT (5) + Assensing (5) + Aura Reading Spec (2) - Sustaining Penalties (2) = 10 dice.
Assensing: 10d6t5 5
I trust that will pick him out.

The plan was for Uffington to Assense as soon as they were within eye sight to make sure Uffington targets the right one. He will not continue to Assense after that's done so it shouldn't affect the CT or Initiative at all.

:thumbsup:

Also: This is my understanding of your placement with where you set up and where things are.  They are walking across the bridge and (unless told otherwise) this is the situation at the beginning of CT1 IP1

0        1         2         3         4         5
12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789
------------------------------------------------------------
|                       B           B                      |A
|                       B           B                      |B
|                       B           B                      |C
|                       B           B                      |D
|                       B           B                      |E
|                       B           B                      |F
|                       B           B                      |G
|                       B           B                      |H
|                       B   ?  W    B                      |I
|                       B           B                      |J
|                       B1 2 4 6 8 9B                      |K
|                       B   3 5 7   B                      |L
|                       B           B                      |M
|                       BK          B                      |N
|                       B           B                      |O
|                       B           B                      |P
|                       B           B                      |Q
|                       B           B                      |R
|                    BBBB           BBB                    |S
|                   R   U           E  R                   |T
|                  R                    R                  |U
|                  R                    R                  |V
|                  R                    R                  |W
------------------------------------------------------------

Each block is approximately a meter^2
B == Bridge
R == Road
1-0 == Technoid "kids"
? == unknown mundane that Uff assensed with WizKid
W == WizKid

E == Expo
K == Knucks
U == Uffington

[rednblack]

Cool.  For the setup, does each space = 1 meter? 

[Tecumseh]

Top-notch work on the map there. Let me break out my trigonometry.

@rednblack, I presume that's what Zweiblumen means by "Each block is approximately a meter^2"

It looks like Knucks has 5 vertical meters and 4 horizontal meters to the ? and 5+7 for WizKid. Rounding a bit, that makes for 6.5 meters to ? and 8.5 to WizKid.

Here's the plan as it was last outlined:
1) Identify WizKid
2) Knucks throw a knife into WizKid (if possible)
3) Uffington lightning ball the kiddos
4) Knucks and Expo mop up remaining resistance

Per the plan, Knucks will try to chuck a knife into WizKid. Then Uffington can electrocute the others.

Speaking of Uffington, he has a spirit that we should probably roll Initiative for.

Simple: Ready Weapon (throwing knife). This is enough to ready 4-5 knives but Knucks only wants one before he wades in with his fists.
Simple: Throw Knife
Free: Knucks gives a wary cry and makes his War Face, even if nobody can see it, both because he's invisible but also because he's wearing a ballistic mask

Throwing knives have a Short range of 0-STR. Knucks' STR is 8 so WizKid is just beyond that. We'll call is Medium range. Zweiblumen can subtract any other modifiers. I presume WizKid might get some cover from the intervening kids (3 & 4), who can also get hit with the knife for dramatic purposes if the GM sees fit.

Knucks' attack: Agility 9 + Throwing Weapons 5 + Spec 2 - Range 1: 15d6t5 4 hits

[rednblack]

@Tec, hahahaha.

Initiative: 12+2d6 15
Pretty poor roll for the Spirit there.

[Zweiblumen]

@Tec: HAHAHA I spent so long working on that (and the various versions trying to get it somewhat realistic) that I never noticed that I made a penis.  GO ME!!!

I got no problems with you chucking the knife, lets just get an IC from RnB giving the lay of the land before the shoe drops, then BOOM!

Given the situation I'm gonna do cover a little differently.  Since they've no idea you're there they don't know to get out of the way.  If they glitch on 2 dice they get in the way, otherwise you have a clear shot on WK.
Cover or No?: 2d6t5 1  Almost got in the way... okay, lets see if WK dodges (he gets his dodge as he's not surprised).

Dodgy Dodge: ? 4  Tie goes to defender.  (if you go check that please pretend you didn't see all the metadata I accidentally put in there cuz I'm a GM NEWB!)

Next up is ? and WK.

#11
Simple: Actually I think this would be hidden, but not sure... look in spoiler if you're really curious

Really?

Are you SURE!?!?!?

Observe in Detail (looking for the source of the knife)
Perception: ? 5 And I did that wrong forgetting to subtract the 5 dice for the invis (I still think of it as a bonus to hide not a hindrance to spot) Pulling 5 dice means only 2 hits.  Honestly, if Knucks hadn't made a war-cry I'd say he'd still not have spotted him, but with the war-cry I'm gonna rule Knucks has been spotted (though barely).



Simple down to free: hidden
Free: Shout "Sneak attack! CHARGE!!!!"

#12
Simple: See above

Really?

Are you SURE!?!?!?

Observe in Detail (looking for source of the knife)
Perception: ? 1 Gonna rule he doesn't see Knucks



Simple: hidden
Free: Scream in confusion/anger/rage

Action to Spirt/Uff and then Expo

Knucks 22
#11 18
#12 15
Spirit 15
Uffington 14
Expo 10
#2 0
#3 0
#6 0
#1 -2
#8 -3
#5 -4
#7 -4
#9 -5
#10 -5
#4 -5

[rednblack]

If we can retcon Uffington as having given the Spirit an order to use Fear, then that's what he Spirit will do.  Otherwise, the Spirit will have no orders this pass, and will be Holding his action.  Btw, do you want me to roll for the Spirit, or will you be handling that as GM duties?

Uffington will center his Force 6 Ball Lightning a meter in front of WizKid.  I think that should get all of them in the blast while sparing Knucks.

For Casting I have: MAG (6) + Spellcasting (6) Stag (2) - Sustaining Penalties (2) = 12 dice.
Force 6 Ball Lightning: 12d6t5 5
I'll take that.  11P -6AP, and Uffington drops it directy on that Stuffer Shack Soyburger wrapper.  In addition to damage everyone in the blast radius will suffer -5 to Initiative as well as a -1 penalty to all Actions and Defense tests for the remainder of the CT.  Any electronics on their persons will suffer 6 boxes of Matrix Damage.

For resisting Drain I have: WIL (6) + INT (5) = 11 dice.
Drain: 11d6t5 3
That would put Uffington at 3S, so I think I'm going to Edge to try to stave off any Wound Penalties for another pass or so.
Edge Re-roll: 8d6t5 2
Like a champ.

Uffington is at 10/11S, 10/10P, 3/4 Edge.

My IC may have to wait until tomorrow, as I should be leaving work for the day soon.

[Zweiblumen]

@RnB No worries on the IC, I'm gonna rule that you'll need to use a simple action to command the spirit, so it's holding it's action.
@Tec, if you want to get your IC up, go ahead with the assumption that Uff pin pointed WK for you.

Dodgy Dodge: 9#?d6t5 1 1 0 3 4 4 4 0 5

So, I'm ruling that #1 is out of the blast.  And #0 (10) somehow didn't make it onto the map... he's the one that resisted the lightning bolt.  He's at 35J.  So pretty surprising that he dodged, lucky kid.  None of them have good enough armor or high enough body to resist... So, you just dropped 8 kids.  And as that's P, they are all in overflow.  Some are just dead.  Streets are tough.  They don't get a dodge, they were all surprised.  All of them except for #1 are smoked... crispy critters all.  That's gonna leave a stink.
Lets see how ? and WK do:
? ?? Dodgey Dodge: ?d6t5 3  Probably should have gone full defense, but we'll say he was trusting in his counterspelling, so he's gotta soak 8P -6AP
Soaking elecricity: ?d6t5 2 eating 6P, with the -5 init and -1 to actions and defenses.  This might be over pdq.  Damage exceeds body, he's been knocked on his ass.

WK Dodgy Dodge: ?d6t5 4 I forgot his FD dic eFull Defense Dice: ?d6t5 1  Shitty roll is good for you.  IIRC, electrical damage Tie goes to attacker :/  Anyone know off the top if this is correct?  Assuming he's hit, lets see if he soaks:
Soaking elecricity: ?d6t5 1 Wow, these guys are rolling TERRIBLY.  This *was* supposed to be a decent fight for you guys even with getting the drop on them.  WK statistically should be just fine here.  Guess the Gods of Entropy have smiled upon this group
So, he's taking 6p, which knocks him on his ass too and he's got the -5 -1 etc etc.

Action to Expo, you've got 3 targets to choose from.

Knucks 22
#11 18
#12 15
Spirit 15
Uffington 14
Expo 10
#1 -2

[Tecumseh]

Damage needs to exceed the target's Physical limit, not Body. Physical limit will generally (but not always) be higher than Body, so it's possible that they aren't on their bums.

As for the tie on the electrical attack, I think I usually rule it that there's no damage but that the secondary electrical effects might apply depending on the type of attack. I can't remember if this is RAW or a house rule. I think some of it comes from the Touch-Only Attack rule on p. 187 that says "if all that is needed is contact, the attacker and not the defender succeeds on a tie." Thus for things like shock gloves, the tie-goes-to-the-attacker rule makes sense. For ball lightning, I would probably keep the tie going to the defender.

Side note: by strict RAW (as clarified by Aaron on this forum) I don't think there are any dodges allowed against area attacks. I think this is a load of crap so I still give dodges on area attacks, mostly because I want the players to have them too.

I'm going to have my hair on fire for the next 36-48 hours so I won't be doing much IC posting in the meantime.

[Zweiblumen]

Neither of these two are very physical.  Damage meets or exceeds Physical Limit for both of them.  I'm gonna rule that they each used a point of Group Edge to "Hit the Deck."  I'm away from my books right now, so if that's not accurate (or not 'accurate enough') feel free to tell me I'm full of it

That said, I think you guys are doing pretty well having knocked the two primaries on their ass and killed 90% of the mooks in a single shot.  If Knucks' knife had hit WK would already be pushin' daisies...  This way Expo gets to join in the fun. 

As it is I feel like I made this encounter way too simple.  Though based off of RAW you guys are looking at 9 karma for this (If I'm reading the opposing die pools section correctly).  So, I guess they just need to roll better next time

Anyway, no rush on the ICs it's the weekend.  BN: action's to you!

[rednblack]

Touch Only Electrical attacks, like Shock Gloves, do base damage on a Grazing hit, with the other hand being that Net Hits do not add to damage.  It would make sense that all electrical attacks would give the -5 Initiative and -1 to all actions penalty, but it makes just as much sense to me to rule that unless you're making the sacrifice for a Touch Only attack, that ties would go to the defender.

As for the difficulty, Uffington blew 10 reagents, and given the limited intel I think we came up with a pretty good plan.  It's very easy to change a balanced encounter to a completely one-sided one with those imbalancing forces, and that's not even taking the dice into account. I'm not going to go about congratulating ourselves yet, but even if we make it out of this just based on the strength of the opening volley, I'll happily take the nuyen, the karma, and get to work on the next job. 

[Zweiblumen]

As long as the game is fun for everyone that's all I *really* care about.  Hopefully the run pays well enough to make up for it in the end

[Tecumseh]

IC is up.

Shadowrun has always been a game that rewards alpha strikes. Ambushes are largely unsurvivable, which is probably realistic but it makes it very difficult to create a fun, challenging encounter unless you just spam the PCs with cannon fodder.

Perhaps this fight might have been a challenge in other circumstances, but having all the Technoids tightly clustered really makes them vulnerable to an AoE attack. Being teens going up against shadowrunners isn't doing them any favors either. I like it best when there is some ebb and flow to the fight, but Lord knows how difficult that is to balance.