A few points:
-Any initial encounters with NPC's should be accompanied by an automatic Ettiquette roll with the modifiers you see fit and then i'll knock off dice if I feel a modifier doesn't apply. This doesn't substitute role-playing but is there for when I need it to help you out if you botch something or I just need it to gauge how well you're char is doing in a social situation.
-Infiltration vs. Shadowing:
The difference for me basically is Shadowing is Infiltration when you're visible to bystanders and the target. Infiltration is rolled to have NOBODY at all see or hear you....but if people are watching, you would look kind of dumb crouching and ducking behind pillars or what not....so maybe the target wouldn't see you but they'd notice other people looking in some direction being like "wtf is that guy doing??"....where as Shadowing would get EVERYONE to ignore you cuz you're just blending in. Just thought this difference would be important for what's coming up. So as a rule of thumb, in normal urban environment, shadowing is the way you wanna go cuz i'll definitely be giving some neg. mods for trying to evade the eyes and ears of a bunch of people.
-I guess while i'm at it i'll also just say a few words. Just like Road to Redmond I, this installment continues in that investigation heavy vein and thus implies more sandbox play....which I've realized is difficult to do over play-by-post since questions can't be rapidly asked and responded to in relation to the time-span of a train of thought. I feel other GM's on these PbP forums have also realized that sand-box play in this format is harder to do, but not impossible, i mean we got through RRI and I feel you guys did some awesome and rewarding gum-shoe work there. So i'm trying to give you as many ABCD-type "decisions on a platter" as I can but I greatly encourage you to also not be afraid to post a lot of questions and feedback and then act HOWEVER you want because I love following you guys down the routes you decide to take individually and collectively.
So be it a combination of this and also the fact that we had some busy schedules in RL the planning phase of the heist was a little less fruitful than I had imagined it would be.....but hey, I wouldn't be that productive if I was holed up in a castle....not all that self-motivated kind of guy when it comes to work. But in any case, i'm gonna give out Karma for the whole Area 39 scene and it won't be as much as I had planned but it's definitely deserved. This also goes for Woofer.
Karma Pit Stop:
@Everyone: -- 3 Karma to all just for sticking through up to this point
@Mercedes, BB & Walks: -- 1 Karma for the plan. You did follow the Sheldon lead and get some great help with that. You did totally ignore a few other leads. For example Hannibal had said that he had actually spent some time in there and that was not really pursued. <<nudge nudge wink wink>> I had to move the clock forward eventually so if you had started on some leads right away you might have had more success.
@Mercedes -- 3 Karma for helping lead the whole planning phase and doing your best to push it forward.
-- 3 Karma for the totally awesome VU93 cross-over which tipped you off to what is now the heart of your plan.
@BB -- 3 Karma for helping push forward the planning phase and also working out something cool with Sheldon.
@Walks -- 1 Karma for posting a few things to the planning phase.
@Woofer -- Now that you're currently locked in a struggle to not become someone's bitch, I'm putting a freeze on the rest of your Karma until you finish out at least this combat, and depending on that will determine how much you get. Don't become somebody's bitch Woof...Mercedes and the rest of us are rooting for you!
So I'm not putting any restrictions on your Karma use, and we can probably explain most of it away saying that it happened at Area 39.
So despite all our real-life stuff we've kept on trudging. This story line has many outcomes but no matter what it gets pretty epic so I'm in it for the long haul! Let the story continue!
