<I could just steal a van,> Wraith pans back, simply refuses to put pants on at this inexcusably early hour. <I bet Cy-Bill could even make sure the tracers on it frag out.>
<That'll work, too. If we trip the alarm as we leave, peave a good enough shot of the van in the cameras, then torch it like 30 minutes later, the Pawns will never trip on the real story. What about our ticket in? We bring her with and make an accomplice outta her, straight up kidnap, or tranq & dump onsite? She might be able to point a finger our way, at least via face and clothes. And I'd hate to lose this SIN if I can avoid that.>
<Babe, this is the big league now. When you run with the big dogs you gotta break some eggs.
As soon as we're ready to jump, I'm putting three rounds rapid into that perky little face of hers.
We frag around, we try to play nice, we get cutsy and try anything else, something's going up a hoop and she might get away and she might spill all the beans and then we have the ache in the head.
HoneyLamb it was always gonna be this way. She was dead the instant she didn't call security on us.>
The reality of meatspace hits Sybil like truck, the lightspeed of her sim impacting the sluggishness of her body like a highway crash. A minute later, though, she's hit the BBS. The paydata, labeled 'Vashon Island Customers and Measurements' is barely up for a minute until a bid appears, another, higher one appearing a moment later. Noting herself to monitor the thread, she gets on for her day, and by nightfall, the price for the list has already reached 6,500 nuyen, two hours until closing time.
I'm imagining you're putting it for a short bid, since the info will technically be out tomorrow. You still have a day to do, well, things.
Glass, take off 400 nuyen, and write Hecate's Blessing on your sheet. Jackfruit flavour.
A message from Freddy comes in a moment later as the conversation's picked up.
Freddy wrote:
<Hey, hey, early birds! Seems like your legwork's good, and Johnson's done that before. Not gonna give you bend one way or the other for the civy, but 'member your cred. 'Bout the van, though. Don't break the law while breakin' the law.>
<I'd hit a chopshop from another 'hood instead of renting or borrowing. If you're renting, your SIN goes in the pan, and if you're pawing, you never know when you'll get an APB before the mish, and Downtown might flag something that's not got any tracers on it. Same reason they keep an eye on ya if you're drivin' manual. You got three and a half fat ones, I can probably shmooze a van for ya if you wanna skip the legwork.>
Nomad knows that the best way to get a vehicle like that is from a less-than reputable chopshop that would be willing to loan one on your burner SIN, which is a bit more expensive. Stealing could work, but you'd probably need to grab one from a less-than-reputable neighbourhood, just before the mission and is riskier, but cheaper. Freddy's offer involves a significant cut for his time.
Let me know which one you go for (in Discussion, if you so prefer), and I'll set up the next scene.
"You know, if some of us aren't great about the cold-blooded murder and whatnot, there's always the way that goes through me opening those doors, Matrix-side. That way we don't deprive Nomad of his bedwarmer."
Sybil speaks between sips from a shaker filled with a horrible nutrisoy concoction, not even bothering to make it look or taste like food.
"The rent sounds like our best option. I can fool someone's car long enough to make a quick getaway, but long-term it's just a bother. Ah, I got some paydata, so I can make a decent contribution to the rent."
"Whaddya say, Battle Barbie? You cool with the accomplice living if we can implicate and con her enough? Don't mistake me, if shes gotta end up as meat I maybe know someone who can fit her for a bunraku rig, but if we can maintain the breathing and free-will bit, all the better. Yeah, Sybil, if you wanna get those deets from Freddy, here's the cred to pay him. No sense in skimping now to risk the whole job, neh?"
"Null sweat, I'm fronting them through what I swiped from Vashon." answers Sybil, mentally composing a short message to go with the nuyen transfer. "Less of a headache than finding a way to split them, and I'll keep the rest as a bonus."
"<Hoi Freddy, I've lived most of my life skipping the legwork (har har) so I'm passing you the quid for the wheels. Best, Sybil.>"
The day starts like most others in Seattle these days, a gray, sloppy snowfall rises like a pall above the city streets, the hazy, flashy signs on the skyscrapers only faint glow across the darkening skies. Huddled in the snail-paced traffic, the news on the 'trix are constantly bubbling with conversations about the upcoming mayoral election, the Amazonia rebuilding effort and other, minor trifles of the day. Only a few pedestrians dare brave the slippery sidewalks and the chilling, almost hurricane winds you feel battering your cars.
R-R, Sunset, Glass:
The heater in R-R's Titan is turned up to the max, the windshield wipers working overtime to keep the chunks of snow out of your view. The plastic cover over the pick-up back occasionally creeks gently as a gust of wind picks it up. The shop, your target, is just half a block away, the lights inside on, yet only a few figures within huddle around the weighty tables.
Nomad, Wraith:
The van Freddy'd got you, a five-year old Ford Econovan is full of old krill-chips wrappers and smells not so faintly of stale weed, cigarettes and body sweat. The heater pushing the air inside does little than to smell the scent further, but the vehicle does its job well - being incredibly inconspicuous. In front of you sits the controls for the livery on the vehicle's side, currently set to 'Chip's Mechanical Servises and Plumbing', with a picture of a dark-skinned dwarf hanging on the side.
Parked in the shopping gallery's outdoor parking, you notice that despite the cold, there's a few well-wrapped (and a couple surprisingly skimpy dressed) young individuals smoking and chatting next to an outside heater in front of the Vashon Island shop, the queue having steadily increased over the last half-hour. A couple of vans have darted in and out from the back entrance, and you're pretty certain where the entrance Monica invited you to is.
Sybil:
At times like these, you're right chuffed you don't have to go out. Your favourite music in the background, heating to the maximum and a steady run's worth of snacks and hydration on your side, you've just finished double-checking the team's feeds, eager to jump in the trix.
Feel free to look at the other spoilers, too. Being the Gal in the Chair.
A message appears on the radio, a vidcall from what appears to be an Athabaskan wrapped in several layers of fake fur, mounted on a familiar bike. "Alright chummers!", the voice of Ms. Johnson announces. "I'm outside the lab. They've just finished unloading a van, so I'm feelin' mighty lucky right 'bout now.", she adds. "Can make an entrance at any point. Sybil, sugar, you give me a heads-up when the first group starts? Sending you feed now.", she adds. On your comms is a closed, truck-sized garage door at the end of an alleyway, seemingly from the perspective of the motorbike's headlight.
Actions? You have a short time for planning IC, but the plan is, go in, go quick, go loud. Maps added to campaign. Hope the ones on the mall are legible enough.
"Depends what sort of protection they use. Got customers in, so nothing too nasty until somebody triggers it" Glass answers.
"'course, anybody in there is likely gonna sling some mana, so we need to put them down quick"
Glass picks up his gas mask. "If we're lucky, they've spent all their time in the library, not the gym"
"FINE!" Wraith spits as if taking a personal afront. "But it is on YOUR hoop if this gets concrete poisoning! She gets away, she gets lucky and rabbits do NOT coming calling to me to get your hoop out a th' Dante! Imma disappear and lay low and no will find me because I'll be like a ghost or...a...other...kind of...non-findable thing....whatever you might call that."
The day of the night of the shadow of the run she suits up and finishes slamming her smg into its concealed holster. "Ready when you are."
"Fair point, Wraith. I'm loaded with zappers in the big stick, armor piercing in my sidearm. Just in case. Well, I think we are just about ready to rock and roll, chummer."
Nomad has doffed his fancy suit in favor of his armored jacket and ballistic mask, with his new shotgun slung at the ready and two pistols holstered. A couple of grenades sit in his oversized gargo pockets, with his assorted "assault" gear stashed readily available.
"Whaddya say we keep the charade as long as possible?"
He flips the logo and display color to grey on black, a nondescript cargo van in subtle corp colors with a stylized S as its only insignia.
Sybil connects through her massive home setup to the strands of the web, a spider in the ethersilk Matrix. The high hits her like a truck, and she flies through the illuminated landscape of the Emerald City before taking a moment to adjust her IV feed drip to increase the caffeine level.
"<The Oracle is open for business, we look into past, present and reasonable extrapolations of the future, significance of p equals null point null five or you get your money back. Cross-validation dataset not included. Wiz Kids, I'm getting your marks to the wheels, ready to make an exit and throw off pursuit. Vashon Victims, I'm going for the door as silently as possible.>"
The video feeds from the two teams appear easily in her visual field as she absent-mindedly sets up a link to the Titan and moves back to Vashon, gently prodding the shop's host. I am the Keymaster, Gatekeeper.
I'll try to get slowly three marks on the host, I'd like to open the door without the security system getting alerted. Hack on the Fly (Codeslinger):14d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 3, 1, 5, 4, 1, 4, 2, 6, 6, 3, 3, 5) = 46- 4 successes Hack on the Fly (Codeslinger):14d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 6, 4, 6, 4, 3, 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5, 2) = 51- 4 successes Hack on the Fly (Codeslinger):14d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 4, 6, 6, 6, 3, 4, 2, 5, 5, 2, 1, 6) = 59- 7 successes
Deck loadout:
[GHOST IN THE WIRES]
Attack: 4, Sleaze: 8, Data Processing: 6, Firewall: 5
Programs loaded:
Cyberdeck
- Virtual Machine (one extra program, one extra box of Matrix damage per attack)
- - Baby Monitor (check the Overwatch score)
- - Configurator (loaded with the BURNING CHROME configuration)
- Exploit (+2 Sleaze for Hack on the Fly)
- Sneak (+2 to defend against Trace User, a demiGOD doesn't get my location)
- Biofeedback Filter (+2 to resist Biofeedback damage)
Datajack Plus
- Signal Scrub (-2 noise)
- Shell (+1 to resist Matrix and Biofeedback damage)
- Wrapper (my icons look inoffensive)
As Nomad and Wraith watch on, the synthesized message from Sybil hasn't even finished playing in your ears before the door begins to open. In the distance, you see the back of an industrialised warehouse and racks and racks of clothes on hangers. Rails of clothes and packages buzz ten feet in the air towards the front of shop. Nobody is visible in the warehouse itself from your location.
Sybil has opened one of the doors marked as 10. on the map. I've gone a little non-specific as to your initial position, so - position the van wherever you want it to be.
Team Magic, what's your actions? How are you proceeding towards the shop? We're not currently in initiative, so go ahead and decide on the how you're approaching.
Ah, I re-read stuff and it makes to sense to go three-marks on a host. Still, those hits should give me a few Matrix Perception questions, so I'd like to jump in and know which cameras, drones or other measures are active and ready to turn the Vashon Victims into Swiss cheese.
<Друзі (Friends), the way forth is open, though I'm still snooping for automated security. If you are arctic with going in and checking out the human factor, off you go.>
... with open(vashon_stock_130176) as db {for ctr, i in enumerate(db) {plist[ctr] = mxlib.grep('Vashon Island', i['model']).split('Price')}} ...
A looped search over the Matrix datastores cross-validated with the stock file that Sybil pulled from the server is sent to Horatio's inbox as soon as the cyberdeck finishes processing it.
Assuming that the stock file I stole has some warehouse markers, finding the price of the items should be easy enough.
Wraith's interest in fashion is more hobby than profession, and so she can't really think of anything more than 'It all looks so shiny!!' and her internal A-TAC gives a mental shrug about target prioritization for the thieving.
Road-Rage enters the shoppe, flanked by Sunset & Glass (Sound like a Musical Theatre Troupe lol), peeling left toward where the rows of bookcases provide.
He pays little heed of the contents, instead focussing on where patrons where be lurking;
Sun heads right back to the huge desk and the back room. If anyone attempts to stop her or looks like they might be trying to set off an alarm, she shoots them with her stick-n-shock loaded pistols.
As Road-Rage bursts through the door, dressed in a mask and body armour, the few attendees seem to practically leap up from the tables, eyes staring straight into the ork's mask. As Sunset runs in past, the few patrons standing up seem to step out of her way, raising their hands in the air as quickly as possible amidst scared gasps and screams.
Glass opens his third eye to the Astral plane, and the magic shop lights up like a Maria Mercurial concert. All the walls are practically covered with low-glowing, faint auras, and nearly half of the patrons are Awakened. The auras of most seem to glow in the tell-tale purplish-pale hues surrender fear and panic, but two men sitting at a table next to the window glow a lot fainter than most, their auras a calm blue quickly turning into anticipatory yellow.
Sunset's rapid dash carries her over to the massive sales desk, the door behind it closed.
Team Fashion:
From what I gathered, if you have 3 marks on the host, then you're pretty much in charge of it. Which is
With Sybil's input and a help of the AR sprites of the shop, Wraith and Nomad's PANs light up with information that looks more like a shopping list than their usual targets. Most of the stuff in the back is ready to be taken out, with the closest one nearby a delivery of Nike SlipStream sneakers (as worn by LA Lakers superstar Miko Nabuto). [ooc]in the crate stack right hand side in 10 on the map.
The real target, however, is the reason you came here for. Sybil notices that four cameras are active in the west part of the shop, with multiple alerts connected to them. #5 and #6.
As Nomad begins to park the van in the back, Sybil's access to the camera shows her that a note has been sent to the guard room. A guard stands up, a tired looking human with a three-day stubble, finishing a cup of recaf and checking his commlink. The man seems equipped with a standard set of body armour, and a taser and a pistol hang on his hip. Coming out of #8.
@Sybil - there's two drones on standby on rails near the roof. You also notice that there's a couple of drones in the guard room, but they don't appear on the host link. One of them seems disassembled, but the other one is happily jittering past.
The guard seems to be fairly relaxed, until you and him get an alarm message from the host. A camera in the ceiling pointing towards Wraith concealed next to a Nike-branded shipping crate. The guard suddenly jerks awake, running for cover into the Discounted Wares storage #9 on the right hand side, around the middle.
<Nice work, Sybil. Now, to find the fancy stuff we came here to grab in the first place. Wraith, got anything yet?>
Nomad moves along the walls, heading towards the front of the store (South) to see if he can look into the main area. His shotgun is at the low ready, and ballistic mask in place.
"<Sorry, Vashon Victims, but they've an internal circuit camera and they know your loc. You've got security incoming for the bang, I'll try to get some more guns on our side. Drek meets fan, ETA five billion nanosec.>"
Sybil goes for one of the drones on standby, trying to get at least a mark before everything goes on high alert.
Mechanics:
I'm a bit confused about what I need to get to make a drone switch friends to foes and target the guards: I don't have a rigger interface so I can't jump in, I'd like to just direct it. In any case, I imagine I'll need marks, so...
Hack on the Fly:16d6 ⇒ (1, 3, 1, 1, 2, 6, 1, 3, 6, 3, 5, 1, 1, 6, 5, 2) = 47- 5 hits
I imagine it would be an Edit File action to switch the drone's IFF targetting. Similar to hacking a torrent in Fallout. That would require 1 mark on the device (or host)
<Mah goodneth, tha boys are already t' come a callin'? It used t' be a lady had ta do sum misbehvin' to get a man's attention. Now she just has to get dressed an' walk a bit. What has this world come to?
No worries about me, chummers. You keep on doin' what you're doin.>
Wraith holsters her weapon and stays where she is.
Sybil:3d6 + 10 ⇒ (2, 4, 5) + 10 = 21I'm assuming you're in cold sim at the moment, but I'll update that if you say you're in hot. Also, where's the 5th die coming from?
The guard's head pops around the corner, and as he spots Wraith moving to holster her weapon, his voice echoes. "H-hey! You! Leave, now!" Despite the threat, there's no concealing the shock and fear in his voice. "Knights are on the way here!", he adds hastily, before ducking back behind another pile of crates.
Nomad, dressed up and ready, hears a commotion from the room towards his left hand side #5 A door gently opens for a moment, before rapidly closing again, the murmuring and the shouting intensifying for a moment. Nomad's well honed hearing catches the words, 'robbers', and 'protection' shouted as questions from the panicked voices.
Team Magic:
Most of the shop attendees raise their hands, their short trips towards the door nipped in the bud by the large ork and his larger AK. Instead, they kneel down and sit on the ground, their hands still held in the air.
As Glass focuses on the two men, their auras flash a primal red, the adrenaline-filled response of a beast caught by another, but it quickly subsides to the tense yellow once more. One of them slowly puts his open hands on the table, and the other once follows suit.
Sunset, standing by the desk, notices a rather horrified teenager to her side. He raises his hands, the commlink in his hand clearly indicating that he was just ready to make a purchase, obviously by the salesman who'd just disappeared into the storage room. The teenager's face turns white, as he takes a cautious step backwards into a cupboard, knocking down a couple of glass jars that shatter on the ground.
Sybil:
Correct - you can use a simple action to command it, but it uses its dog brain to follow it.
With a wave of the hand (and a string of code behind it), you mark the warehouse taser drone. The drone beeps a set of greetings, and the simplified icon of a German Shepherd appears on your PAN, in the security room. What is more worrying, however, is a trio of other drones starting up from the fitting room, #6.
As you make your announcement about the drek, the screen monitoring your Johnson lights up. "That didn't take long. Not ones for wasting time, are ya? I'll call ya if I need assistance, netrunner.", Ms. Johnson replies dryly, as she boosts the massive trollcycle into and through the garage door, sending metal and plastic flying everywhere. The camera shows the woman jumping from the bike, giving three-bullet burst into the air from her pistol, and starting to shout at the employees.
I'll keep those here, since you're being the person in the chair.
I went in hot-sim, as I have been adding 2d6 to my Matrix actions. I don't know where the extra d6 comes from, I seem to remember that it made sense at character creation but I have forgotten anything about it, so I'll take 10+4d6 until I can remember where the rest came from.
Before I act, how many marks do I need to issue commands to the drones? I imagine 3, but I wanted to make sure.
It came to me, simply because I was thinking, wait a minute, the only way I've known to get 5 dice is to use Edge. But yeah, Hot-Sim is fine, that'd be 11, too, since Hot adds another bit!
Additional Initiative:1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
You're now even more first.
And to answer your question, yes, it's 3 to give it commands! But remember, the owner still takes priority over you (when they pay attention to it), and you can't change that without a lot of time and a lot of luck.
"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Wraith girlishly squeels and runs headlong at the guard, banking that a rent-a-knight won't open fire on an unarmed girl.
"Oh I was so scared! They came from over there!" she says, her hand wildly gesticulating in a wide arc relatively behind her. She sobs heavily before putting both her empty hands on his arm.
"They said...they said...they said that I looked like 'tasty fresh meat' and that they would 'split me like wet pine'. Oh, brave sir, do you know whatever they meant by that??"
Her eyes look gently up at him and she bats her eyelashes.
She gently massages his arm. "Ooo! But now that I'm here, with such a big _strong_ man, I'm so very sure that I will be safe now! Please, strong man, could we go inside before they come back? I promise that I just need a minute to collect myself, to...to make sure that they have gone. I shan't trouble you at all.
Goodness is it hot?"
As her pheromones kick it up a notch, with one hand Wraith tugs at her shirt collar, doing a tactical exposure of some soft, nubile flesh. The universal currency.
Glass looks at the pair by the window as he addresses the whole store.
"Just keep it frosty, chummers. We're just here to collect a few things, then we'll be gone as easy as we arrived"
Prepared to counterspell, up to twice - 8 dice pool split 4 & 4, and protecting up to all 3 of the team, assuming I see any spellcasting when it happens of course
Road-Rage chuckles to himself as the patrons dutifully hit the deck and he scans across them with the barrel of his Remington - barking a reminder to them as he goes;
"YOU HEARD THE MAN! WE JUST MAKING A WITHDRAWAL - THEN WE BEGONE. KEEP HUSH AN' YOUR HANDS STILL, AND NO MANA BUSINESS OR IT'LL BE TOE TAGS AN' BODY BAGS FOR YOU ALL!"
The burly hob kicks the nearest chair to accentuate his threat, and get the focus on himself as the longears harvest the magical bounty;
The drone's icon bleeps gleefully in acceptance of Sybil's mark, showing that it has acknowledged your existance. What does your mark look like, by the way?
Team Fashion:
The guard doesn't seem to respond to Wraith's call, appearing terrified as the street sam grabs his arm. He screams, dropping the taser in his hands. "L-look, I saw you with a gun poking around the crates.", he shouts back, before whispering. "Please, just punch me in the face, don't kill me, I'll lay low and be kn-knocked out...", he whimpers, his arm shaking in yours.
Nomad, on the other hand, carrying as many shoeboxes as he can comfortably fit on his hands, runs to and fro from the vehicle, throwing them with little regards for the packaging in the boot. Even with his admitted, limited knowledge of sporty fashion, the near-dozen boxes, even second hand, worth more than twice his monthly rent.
Team Magic:
The two men at the corner table lift their hands in acknowledgement at Glass, and his threat seems to confirm and placate them. Instead, their eyes begin darting to and fro from the elf himself, onto the rampaging ork, and then, onto the less secure cabinets surrounding the door. Glass' well trained eye indicates that the men are probably looking for stuff to pocket in the ruckus caused by you, but know too well not to get in a trained mage's (and a trained ork's) way.
Road-Rage's threat echoes heavily into the shop, and the flying chair ricochets into a wall, shattering into undoubtedly real splinters. The screams subside into a quiet whimpering, and whatever patrons were squirming stop, hanging their heads low and covering them with their hands.
Just as he looks towards Sunset slapping away a young man's commlink to the ground and leaping over the counter, he sees a form apparating with a cloud of mist. A humanoid, dressed in a plaid suit, with a skin of deep, crimson red, sigils and marks travelling across his skin. "Begone, scoundrels, from this place!", the voice bellows in an unnaturally hollow voice with a enunciated English accent. The spirit waves his hands towards Sunset, and everyone can see the air around the elf's head starting to vibrate and glow in impossible colours.
Sunset, you are a bit trippy, but otherwise OK, no penalties.
Initiative:
Sybil 16
Team Magic
Spirit of Man 10
Sunset 7
R-R 2
Glass -3
"A weapon!? O surely I could not--" a wide-eyed Wraith starts before she putters out of steam and lets her shoulders drop, giving the guy an exasperated look. "Ohh, chummer, yer no jokes at all. Had you played it straight you could've at least got my shirt off. Ah well."
Her SMG materializes in her hand like magic. "Not my style, chummer. Get over there and help my boytoy shove stuff into the vehicle. _Then_ we'll talk about who does what to whom."
Wraith motions him on with the barrel of her gun. "What? Workin' ain't my style either. Imma supervise."
While enlisting free labor, Alanna keeps an eye out for any more surprises.
"Don't kill this guy, gnome-ad. He's our bestest BFF. He's gonna work real hard and then I'll flip my 'he gets one in the shoulder-or-heart coin' and see what happens."
The security guard shudders at Wraith's comment, but the SMG in her hand sends him scuttling across the floor. He picks up several boxes, dropping one at his feet, then quickly puts them in the truck.
Nomad, aided with Sybil's AR prompts, quickly identifies a shelf, packed with seemingly ordinary and rather drab looking T-Shirts. The AR, however, indicates that each shirt is worth 500 nuyen, and just as he unloads a stackfull of them in the van, a prompt from Sybil appears on both your PANs.
Sybil wrote:
"<Got into the security drone. Feed coming soon. Wait, dre- Hang on!>", the note ends, as a gunshot is heard from the room in the corner. #5
Team Magic:
"Some sort? I'm a spirit of institutionalised education! You baseless scoundrel!", the spirit roars in return. As Sunset shouts, it's little wonder that R-R's attention is immediately drawn to the summoned spirit. Roaring out, the ork grins as he bears his AK towards the spirit, aims, and fires. The barrage, by any means, would've dropped an unarmoured troll dead, or at least bleeding in their tracks. The rounds bury themselves into the man's body, who grins deeply, only for a trickle of ephemeral blood to drain from his mouth. "You! Thief, you are, thief and a murderer!", the spirit screeches, as it points its attention towards the ork and screeches. Slightly damaged, but nothing particularly noteable.
The two mages, seeing that the visually scariest member of the robbers' attention is pointed elsewhere, flip the table and break into a run, grabbing the closest bags, vases and reagents they can get in their hasty escape, one of them kneeing a hostage in the face accidentally. The hostages scream at the gunfire, and the already crazed bookstore jumps into an even louder mess.
Initiative:
X2 means you can have 2 rounds of actions
Merc Rigger 22
Wraith 18 x2 Nomad 11
Security Slave 11
Sunset 21 [i]x2
Spirit of Man 16
R-R 15
Mages 11
Glass 9
Ugh. My problem is that every time I try to post, I run into the inevitable problem that comes up when -someone- puts the map on imgur, next to stuff like this. Me: "Okay, I have just enough time for a quick post...hey is that monkey wearing pants?!?!
"Drek. Whelp, I guess we may as well go loud since we're, y'know, going loud right now.
Alright, you two keep loading, Imma go find something to shoot."
As she goes forward she points the SMG at the guard. "Keep it up, you're doing good. But if you try to bolt you know I'll find you later, right?"
She just leaves it at that and ducks into the building mega-quick.
I get two actions, but I'll wait on the rest of my turn until I see what I see in #5.
Despite the barrage of heavy fire going through the spirit (and stationery and reagents behind him) being enough to drop even a heavily augmented troll, the spirit remains upstanding in the air, though it howls out in terror, the once fine suit now tattered. "You! You dare!", it roars, as it begins channelling a spell, staring viciously at Sunset.
As the gunfire begins, the two mages leap up from their chairs, and start bolting for the door, grabbing pots, books and jars on their way as they sprint above the lying down hostages.
Team Fashion:
Just as the guard throws another five boxes of high heels in the car, the door of the room in the corner slams open, as two wheeled drones wheel out, spewing lead out of their SMG at Wraith and Nomad, blue streaks of light buzzing in the air. Suppressing Fire. Despite the guard being in both barrages, the bullets seem to fly past him without harming him.
An armoured ork runs out of the room, armed with an Ares Alpha, then bolts straight down towards the metal crates to the south.#9
See OoC for information.
Initiative:
Merc Rigger 12
Wraith 8 2, I suppose? Nomad 1
Security Slave 1
Sunset 1
Spirit of Man 6
R-R 5
Mages 11
Glass 9
Suppressing fire Wraith:11d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 2, 6, 5, 4, 2, 3, 1, 5, 5) = 42 5 hits. Hit the dirt for -5 Init and prone, or attempt do not get hit by making a Rea+Edge(5) roll. If you fail the test, you take 11S, AP -5.
Suppressing fire Wraith:11d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 5, 1, 5, 6, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3) = 31 4 hits. Same as above, but the test is (4) and the damage is 10S, AP-5.
"Yeah, she dares. And she ain't the only one"
Glass's eye flash as he snaps his fingers at the spirit
"It's about time you went back where you came from"
Hopefully I'm getting this right (pg 301 of the core rules) Banishing:7d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 4, 1, 3, 1, 5) = 16 + Edge:4d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 2, 6) = 15
+ exploding:2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9
with no limit is a disappointing 4 hits versus the spirit's force (+ summoner's magic assuming the's bound)
Resist drain with 12d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 2, 5, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 2, 3, 4) = 39
3 hits versus twice the number of hits on the spirit's defence roll
Blargh! I thought we talked about using Imgur. =} Also, what was my first action? Shouldn't I have met at least one of those enemies on the way and then had a chance to shoot at them? At the very least, if I didn't go anywhere with my first action, shouldn't I be allowed to go on hold?
Wraith's ULTRA-jazzed reactions and reflexes are the best money can buy. She hasn't been cowed by street-trash up to this point, and she's certainly isn't gonna start now!
The multiple waves of bullets fly past her as she dances and twists in impossible angles at speeds that confuse the un-augmented eye in a wonder that it's not a choreographed dance. Her runner-hard body weaves through air like a ghost. Like a specter.
Like a wraith.
The bleeding-edge cyber-chrome leaves avoiding the bullets to other systems while the on-board targetting systems are already laying in fire patterns for those that are naughty in her sight.
"Normally, I'd take this chance to go running after that FRAGGING TROG!
But, dear, seeing as how we're supposed to get the party started, I'll just have to get used to disappointment.
And kill these fraggin' things."
Her MEGA-dodge of the bullets ends with her partially behind a car as she returns fire at the trashcans with the SCK.
Hello, omae. Welcome to a GMCP Adventure, one that hopefully will be exciting, action driven, and even heartfelt and depressing at moments. Because Shadowrun.
I say we start with any outgoing mechanics questions - the Gameplay will open on Tuesday, and there's bound to be plenty of stuff to know until then. So, any mechanics that need smoothin' out, smooth them out.
Some of the players are very experienced in the system, probably more than I am, so they'll be able to help out.
Also, if you could send me a copy of your Chummer sheets, if you'd used them that'd help me considerably.
Afterwards, I think I'll have some questions on your contacts.
Friedrich "Berlin Freddy" Lausitz
Berlin Freddy is a tall, thin human, visible age around the early fifties. With his long gray ponytail and groomed white beard, he looks like a neo-pagan or an aging hippie or an artist. Adding to the initial impression, he's often prone to wearing t-shirt of long-forgotten bands, showing off his tattoo-covered arms.
One would be wrong to dismiss him, however, since the usually good-natured look in his blue eyes can turn cold in a moment, and calculating in the next. He's usually operating from his place, Der Gute Messer, a pseudo-retro bar-restaurant with Flux State and anarchist motifs, popular amongst aging deckers, hackers and wageslaves.
Thanks for the selection GMCP - didn't use Chummer (hence the slow pace for my build) as I had some issues running it with my Mac.
I can probably try and get a Chummer Sheet generated via my work PC, but grabbing the time to do that can be problematic.
From my perspective I need to really dig into the Rigger - particularly the VR side of the role. Still getting my head round "cold" and "hot" SIM etc and use of Drones (software/hardware etc) - which I think I'll need to expand far more into to support the team.
I'm chipping away at gear, but may have to pair back on some augmentations and vehicle builds if drones are a necessity.
Thanks ahead of time - looking forward to running with this interesting group :)
Thanks for the selection GMCP - didn't use Chummer (hence the slow pace for my build) as I had some issues running it with my Mac.
I can probably try and get a Chummer Sheet generated via my work PC, but grabbing the time to do that can be problematic.
From my perspective I need to really dig into the Rigger - particularly the VR side of the role. Still getting my head round "cold" and "hot" SIM etc and use of Drones (software/hardware etc) - which I think I'll need to expand far more into to support the team.
I'm chipping away at gear, but may have to pair back on some augmentations and vehicle builds if drones are a necessity.
Thanks ahead of time - looking forward to running with this interesting group :)
Hey, if it weren't a good sub, I wouldn't've picked it!
I'll need to take another look at the Rigger, as well, thankfully it's a quiet weekend for me. And don't worry about the Chummer if you don't have it - that's an excellent character sheet, and I think I'll be able to check it in a matter of minutes.
Speaking from (limited) experience, drones are excellent for extending your narrative power, if that makes sense. Even the best outfitted combat drone isn't going to stop a street sam, nuyen for nuyen. But fly drones, swim drones with hands, those let you get information about a location, and are pretty damn useful when you need to be in the getaway vehicle, but still need to help the team. To be fair, combat drones help there, too, but they're pricier and IMO, not terribly worth the cost. Excellent toys for militaries and securities, though!
My advice is that you want drones to do things you can't. In one of my games, the combat rigger's most used drones were the fly, and the noodle vendor. And there is a Lake in the game's name, so there might be some segments where water's involved. Just a hint.
From experience, again, there's three ways to do a rigger:
Riggers wrote:
- The Decker/Rigger, who is a rather brainy champ. Less going in guns blazing, more being an outright menace on wheels and in the Matrix. A lot more difficult to run mechanically (since it requires knowledge of the Matrix), but a lot of parties like 'em since they're just so useful to have around.
- The Combat Rigger A Rig, Wires, heavy armour and an assault rifle. Your essence is probably lower than the sam's, but you could hold your own against him for a couple of rounds, which is more than 99% of the metahuman populace can say.
You keep a drone scouting ahead, while you're waiting to pounce on something and shoot it to pieces. Then you get in the van, and run away, since you're one with the road. A lot easier to play, the issue is hostile deckers can hack your car (if you're not jacked in via wire), and your drones (no save there). But you can also beat the s&!$ out of the decker with your bare hands while your drones are offline.
- The Full Vehicle Rigger. Jacked into the cheapest car imaginable, this guy can outrun a Bugatti. Jacked into a Bugatti, you can do speeds on land that makes helicopters and even some planes unable to catch you. Viable for fully vehicle games, or where the party is a highway gang, less so here, and it's really not much use outside of vehicle sections.
Again, this being Shadowrun, you can dabble and dibble in all three, and some other stuff. But the general advice is, get stuff that lets you do stuff others can't. Even the base rig makes a minivan into a Porsche.
EDIT: I managed to build that in Chummer in about 5 minutes:
- All checks out, kudos to your maths. Even the damn gear. Damn.
- You have 3(13) karma left off at finish.
- If you put 10 in Money, leaves you with 50,000 more to play around with. Since you don't have armour or ammo, you might want to set those as priorities. ^^
- The rest can stay. Don't think there's a lot you can put it on right now.
- You might want to spend the extra on 2 seats more for the car, since there's 6 runners. That's 4000 and 2 body slots. Or you could not.
Male Human Street Samurai | Condition Phy 2/12, Stun 0/10 | Limits: Physical 7 Mental 5 Social 3 Astral 5 | Armour 14 | Init 11+2d6 (Wired) | Perception 9d6 + 2 Visual +2 Visual (Wireless)
Hoi there!
Thanks for the selection! I, too, have had problems running Chummer: I'll make another try today, and generate the sheet again, with a bit less Edge and a bit more toys.
Looking forward to being your sniper!
RE: Riggers, the most important thing to remember about SR is that we're (most likely) trying to get an objective from a secure location quietly. Having small, perceptive devices that can provide, for example, an overhead map with our relative positions, the known positions of enemy emplacements, and any observed movements, can be the difference between success and failure.
If you're familiar with Call of Duty, think about the UAV scorestreak talent. It reveals all the positions of the enemy on the minimap, which allows you to set up ambushes, close off angles of attack, and the like.
Also, having different methods of observation (ultrasound, radar, thermal, mag-sensor, radiation) can be extremely useful in and of themselves.
In a PbP, having the "eye in the sky" as it were gives the rigger an opportunity to help define the scene, especially points of interest and drama, and effect the action even when remote from the point of contact. Imagine Nomad and Blacksap both infiltrating a building, probably from different points of entry, but each carries a little bug or flying eye drone, stashing them in garbage cans or vents or the like. Now the Rigger gets to effectively scout other points of access and help define the scene while his normal skillset might preclude physical infiltration.
I'm back home sunday night, so I'll push the chummer sheet then. Profile is basically the text output.
Rules-wise, I might need a few hints for how magic stuff works the first time I try it, but I'm expecting everything to come together as I see it used.
Looking forward to getting down & dirty (though I've got a good start on that bit already :)
Cheers GMPD - Combat Rigger looks the best fit (and the one I've been inadvertently building toward).
Still nailing down gear and spending the yen... ammo and armour will be on the list lol.
Decided to go with the Ford Titan van for the team transport - beast of a vehicle at a decent price and with plenty of mods it'll fit our purposes.
Duly noted on the drones gang - will have a dig into them (particularly on scouting and surveillance) and have a look see at the water based stuff too.
Nice. A smooth talking, well dressed human face, a Tir elf gun-bunny ex-cop, a chromed put sniper, a street dwelling Rat shaman, and a hobgoblin rigger so far.
I have a feeling this team is gonna work out well, and it's nice we have a bunch of languages covered, that should help Operational Security and let us chat with the locals better.
Nomad's early goals include scoring enough cred to get into a stable Middle lifestyle (ar least), while picking up some Armorer, Automatics, and possibly Demolitions skills. Long term, hes got a rest back East who needs exterminating.
Wraith rolls her eyes so hard its audible. "So, what the frag does that make me, Nomad? Sheyah, Blacksap wishes he had chrome as fine as this."
*hee* And I'll be playing the roll of "Just How Much Chrome Can You Have And Still be Human."
@Road Rage: Yes, you have to envision yourself when the team is breaking into a secure facility, what are you doing to be doing? Whether you're in the vehicle or with the team, that is a perfect time for some drones to be doing some work.
Have you read the (couple of) rigger stories in the basic handbook? Those are good examples. Even if you're in the Titan, the team could carry in some fly drones to scout as needed, and you could even have a flying drone with a gun to aid in shootin'.
(I mean, at least once I'll probably climb up and upon a high building, so your flying drone could come with then. =)
Male Human Street Samurai | Condition Phy 2/12, Stun 0/10 | Limits: Physical 7 Mental 5 Social 3 Astral 5 | Armour 14 | Init 11+2d6 (Wired) | Perception 9d6 + 2 Visual +2 Visual (Wireless)
"The eyes get the job done. The arm was, well, not a choice, but it's still fine enough to crush a windpipe, so fine enough for me."
Two elves in the party. Just my luck.
One question, do cats count as common or uncommon for the purpose of allergies? I put them as uncommon but maybe there's a number of strays around.
One quick question on timelines... I'm trying to nail down Danyel's starting age (I know, I know I'm sweating the small stuff lol) - Know Orks live shorter lives than other meta - do they mature quicker? Would young Danyel be tried as an adult at a younger age because of his Ork/Hob race.
Current timeline had him jailed for 5 years for contraband trafficking - spent first year or so in juvie, then transferred to gen-pop when he met one of his contacts (old con now released). When the old timer went so did any calming influence and RR committed a number of assaults in jail - which increased his sentence to 8 years total (maybe 10).
Am trying to get a timeline of his incarceration (am presuming he's been released 2 years) so he came out in 2074; but what his age when convicted is the head scratcher.
No worries on that, small details can be amazing for story reasons!
Well, if he was SINless before the fact, he could've been tried as young as 12-13 - Orks (and most metavariants) age and mature faster than humans, and an angry trog is automatically old enough to be tried. Racism's alive and well. An early maturing 10-11 year old ork can easily look as mature as a 15-16 year old human, and a 16 YO humans can and have been tried as adults. Especially since, "well, he looks all grown up to me."
If you were say, 13 when you were convicted, it's entirely possible you're about 23-24 at the moment. Which is the equivalent of an early 30s human, but without all the benefits years on Earth give you. Remember, the average age of orks in the book is also including the dangerous occupations a lot of them have, and the tough life.
@Everyone: Don't worry, if you can't submit a Chummer since you haven't used it, I'll build it for you. Should be easy enough, since nobody is A BLOODY SPRITE-HEAVY TECHNOMANCER!!!
"No disrespect intended, by any means. It's comforting to know real professionals, I've had a bit of bad luck working with green runners lately. Seems that won't be such an issue, which is nice. By the way, if anyone's in need of some chemical assistance, or maybe some specialty ammo, I know a guy, maybe already have a line on it. Depends on your chem of choice, natch, but it doesn't hurt to ask."
Nomad is all smiles as he chats with th others. He pats the side of his black synthleather briefcase as he talks about chems.
"Anyone follow the fashion scene? I heard the new Vashon Island line is dropping soon, but everyone's being tight lipped on the designs and colors and such."
"Pssh. As if. Mortimer is the only way to fly." She spreads her arms breifly, displaying her own Berwick'n'Argentum. "Vashon's aces don't know which way they wanna go. Put 'em all together, you might have something. Steampunk is kinda not-lame. Sleeping Tiger is supposed to be good, put I haven't seen one." She smirks, enjoying her little joke.
See, because Sleeping Tiger has Ruthenium Coating, which adds to your sneak, so you wouldn't--ah, never mind. =)
You know what, I'll open the Gameplay thread in a while so you guys can chat along Shadowrun topics to your heart's content.
I know I want to read it.
So, heads up, you're in Berlin Freddy's place in a separate room. Place is mostly empty, and the Dude himself isn't yet present. Food, drink and all that galore (long as you pay for it - but Lifestyle covers most of that, unless you are at Street level. Even Squatters can afford a cheap soybeer or two)
Feel free to continue with the mechanics questions here!
EDIT: Gameplay's open! Don't kill eachother in the preamble to the prologue!
I can think of nothing more gross than a beer made of soy. =p
Hey, don't knock stuff off before you try it. I've gotten a little more interested in beers in the past year or so due to a job I did a while back, and I think one of the best ones I've had so far was an Italian one with lentils, and another decent one was a Lithuanian one with peas.
Male Human Street Samurai | Condition Phy 2/12, Stun 0/10 | Limits: Physical 7 Mental 5 Social 3 Astral 5 | Armour 14 | Init 11+2d6 (Wired) | Perception 9d6 + 2 Visual +2 Visual (Wireless)
Ok, I'm updated with a motorbike, a stronger cyberarm and enough weapons to light up a building. Here is the Chummer file, which includes some things I'm not quite sure about.
I also wanted to buy fake licenses for all the amount of F or R gear I'm carrying, but I can't find them in Chummer. I'll calculate the amount by hand and subtract it later.
@All: Remember chummers that Road-Rage has a big a$$ van for hauling us all around (and a Zip Scooter that he uses for his day job should anyone prefer to use their Nu¥en elsewhere?)
@ Licenses - damn, I too wondered where they went. Must be something as part of the last Chummer update? Good sleuthing, Glass (and others).
Anyway - everyone's here, and so far all the maths seems in place. If there's any final questions, I'd be willing to tweak over the details until we're finished with the prologue.
Tomorrow (at roughly this time), I'll be posting the first GM post of the game, and we'll be moving from there.
I'll do my best to offer jobs suitable for the party (as will Freddy, since he likes getting paid, and getting good rep) at the start. Later on, things might change, as the sich changes too.
Feel free to chat around what you do, what your talents are at, and tomorrow (or the day after, depending on what's being discussed), I'll post about the job(s) currently being on offer.
I decided that Freddy knows some of the locals, and the others came 'highly recommended' on RunAdvisor.
Right - couple of things that popped to mind, purely in terms of administration.
- Unless there's any objections, I'll be rolling Initiatives and passive Perceptions, so do your best to make sure your signatures under your names are correct. I think Sunset and Nomad are the two missing it. No sweat, but it'd help.
I find that this speeds up PbP at least twice, if not more. Prevents me from shouting ROLL INITIATIVE at the top of my lungs, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to take.
- From this point onwards, we're on the Honour System regarding Knowledges and Perception/Judge Intention spoilers. Meaning I'll be posting the information in spoilers under the post, with success threshold. I might add additional information in a PM if there's something that is for too many successes. If you feel like you can't resist peeking/abstaining from being influenced, then do give me a shout, and I'll think of a way to do something about it.
- I did mention I'm new at this, like, several times! Pacing is something that is important for a PbP, so if you feel like I'm going too fast, too slow, or anything at all, feel free to shoot me a PM. Criticism is an important part of improving!
- I did mention I'm new at this, like, several times! Pacing is something that is important for a PbP, so if you feel like I'm going too fast, too slow, or anything at all, feel free to shoot me a PM. Criticism is an important part of improving!
My advice to ALL PBP GMs is to ALWAYS go TOO FAST.
Going too slow kills a game. _Maybe_ one person will say the game is too fast. Fine. Have a good life. In three months that slow game you joined will be dead and you'll see us in a new light.
Going too fast is just called "fun". I don't mean "Why did you roll for me? You just shouted ROLL INITIATIVE an hour ago!?" I mean "It's been 24 hours since I asked Wraith if she was wearing pants. I haven't heard from her so I'm making a judgement call and moving on."
Also: Do the Rule of Two. The INSTANT two PCs agree on an action, that action happens. Left or Right? Got two Rights and one Left? We're going Right. All you Lefties are tooo slooow and should've posted sooner.
Normally this is where I'd be all 'IMHO. YMMV.' But I'm unapologetic on this. I've had too many games die because we were being courteous. To someone. Who was going to quit anyway.
Rule of Two works... to a degree. Depends on the timezones of the group involved. I'm in the UK (GMT) and have been in games where decisions have been made and dialled in from other timezones before I've even had a chance to mull how/what my PC would have contributed.
Now sometimes this would be in accordance with the majority rule... but sometimes not.
Enforcing the Rule of Two rigidly will often marginalise players who are outwith the aforementioned majority's timezone. Nothing more demoralising than being a passenger in a game you're actually invested in and enjoying. In my experience that will often force good players to quit.
There's a BIG difference between waiting a reasonable amount of time for PC input, and INSTANTLY making a call on an action (For example 2 more "bloodthirsty" characters can have the group kicking in the doors and going murderhobo before a sounder stratagem is considered... - seen it happen plenty of times where Rule of 2 is rigidly in play)
Long story short I'm not a fan - but its my personal view and I ain't GM so don't have to make the final call :)
Might be worth doing a poll of whose situated where on Planet Paizo, to give GMCP clarity on our merry miscreant's geographical locale etc.
Male Human Street Samurai | Condition Phy 2/12, Stun 0/10 | Limits: Physical 7 Mental 5 Social 3 Astral 5 | Armour 14 | Init 11+2d6 (Wired) | Perception 9d6 + 2 Visual +2 Visual (Wireless)
I'm in Central European Time too, and I usually see most posting going on while I sleep, so while I enjoy a speedy game, some leniency during decisions would be much appreciated.
I'm in the UK as well. Represent! That means I'll rarely be updating before everyone's had a chance, so we dodged that bullet, at least. I'll be doing my best to post once a day, and I'll keep mind of the general pace as well.
- There's good point here. I think that holding off the Rule of Two is a reasonable choice for the moment, since I think we're split evenly from both sides of the pond. Although, I don't mind some planning going on in Discussion. Planning IC is sometimes good RP, but it can slow down games a bit, so I think we should stick to the main pitch there and the 'sync' in the characters' minds.
- Another thing I was considering is rolling Knowledges for you - that allows me to give you the information in a spoiler in the same post. It feels a little like taking agency away from you, but considering that agency is (I search my memories), I'm not so much against it.
- Since this is Shadowrun, and not a d20 system - there's defensive rolls and soak rolls. I'll usually be rolling your dodges and your soaks and acting accordingly, but if you choose to go Full Defense or spend a point of Edge to add to those - I'll update on my next turn. Sounds fair?
I am loving the RP so far! Like I said, I'm going for one Gameplay post on a weekend, and I'll update tomorrow.
Male Human Street Samurai | Condition Phy 2/12, Stun 0/10 | Limits: Physical 7 Mental 5 Social 3 Astral 5 | Armour 14 | Init 11+2d6 (Wired) | Perception 9d6 + 2 Visual +2 Visual (Wireless)
I'm ok with any "passive" roll you wish to do on my behalf, including anything that I forget to do (e.g. forgetting to roll for concealment in Pathfinder), especially as I'm very much a newbie in Shadowrun.
I'm OK with you rolling the passive and defensive stuff to avoid things getting bogged down.
As a Shadworun newbie too, there might be some other stuff I forget to roll, but hopefully I'll soon get to the point of remembering (most of) it.
We're well on our way to our first run, and I'm pretty excited. I don't think I've been in a SR campaign in the Paizo forums that managed to complete even one (I know some of you have!)
Freddy's currently keeping a closer eye on you, since you're a new team (and as a useful way for the GM to help the newbies, if need be), but he'll eventually be working the numbers and searching for the jobs a lot more than hanging around and giving wisdom.
Note: Planning IC might take a long time, so footnotes in the Discussion thread are encouraged.
Usually (I think) there's a phase where the decker talks about making sure no alarms go off, etc. As we don't have one do we need to hire one, or do we wanna hand-wave all that, or....?
First of all, the Johnson had a vocabulary not usually possessed in the shadows, so a TL;DR.
- The house should remain intact, it's just the occupants need to be dead or terrified enough to reconsider Humanis as an employer.
- Any information that you could find would be good, but it's not the thing he's worried about.
That's about it - nice and simple, for a beginning mission.
About the decker - Freddy's well aware you lack a decker, and he'll be trying to find jobs that don't require massive amounts of Matrix work. There's a lot of places with very long response time (and in the Barrens, there's places where KE won't even go). And not having a decker means you have a bit more in other areas than your average team, so that's that.
In my opinion, it's entirely possible to run a Shadowrun game with 6 troll sams, as long as the GM and the players are prepared for it. Less fancy parties, more gang warfare.
There may be jobs where you want to take, despite the need of a decker you don't have - in that case, Freddy (or another fixer, if that's how the dice fall) can arrange for a 'contractor'. That'll cost you some of the paycheck, and may include risks, but for some jobs, you may decide it's worth it.
Don't get me wrong, deckers are incredibly useful - but not irreplaceable.
@GMCP: Just a heads up that with your blessing I'm doing a little rejigging of R-R's skills. Came across the 52 Blocks Martial Arts style in Run & Gun and think it fits Rage perfectly.
Means reworking some of his Skill selections and Karma purchases but figured last minute tweaks should be ok.
Regards planning for the job - need to brush up on Drones methinking :) IF I can afford it in the aforementioned rebuild might try and add in Chameleon Coating for the van. Giving the nature of this job, might be a booster to get us in and out of the district?
I've really got to get my head round magic, and alchemy.
Edit:
Just realised that Chummer let me grab the alchemy version of Improved Invisibility without knowing the normal version. I think we'd better assume that I know the normal version instead, and I'll pick up the alchemy version when I have the Karma for another spell
