Black Rain in the Shadows of Seattle, 2060 (Inactive)

Game Master Tilnar

Hi folks --

Just checking in to see if people are getting close to done on their builds and if we can start trying to weave in their own personal experience with Guardian into their backstories (as per the earlier post) -- as well as making sure people are able to adjust their builds to use the house rule (I don't see any easy way to do that *in* the chargen program - but we can always "paste on" the Etiquette later).

I was hoping that we'd be able to get a start on the campaign before dropping into Christmas mode - though I'm not fully sure that's possible now.

I think this build is essentially finished, unless you have further suggestions.

I'm filling out the backstory questions from the chargen and will shoot them to you in PM. If they seem reasonable to you, I can use them to complete the backstory.

As far as scheduling goes, my family is scattered and my ICU nurse sister becomes incensed if anyone suggests traveling or getting together or going to stores, etc. I'll be right here and available if we want to start over the holidays. Might not be online as much as when I'm working, but I can check at least daily.

Back. Tilnar, I'll highlight changes to the build in blue in the character profile. I had bought some gear, but it looks like I stupidly didn't save. I'll get that in on this round also.

I will also comment on the changes interleaved on a copy of your last post to me.

Apologies. Looks like ooc text isn't working on my profile page.

Looks like a good start -- from a point build perspective, you've spent 50 points on skills (almost), 54 on attributes, and 10 on resources -- so you're at 114 of 130 -- leaving you 16.

A few suggestions would be:

- Grabbing 2 of those to make another attribute and putting it into Int will give you more points for background skills and languages, as well as make it cheaper if you want to go "deep" in those areas (or use some of the knowledge ranks for more etiquette specializations, per the house rules) [...and yes, you can spend your knowledge points to get more languages, if you like...] I like this. Not because he's a super braniac, but because he needs the knowledge points for ... stuff. And that will edge his reaction up too.

- I recommend against having skills at level 1 when it can be avoided. The Rule of 1 triggers if all of the dice rolled on a test are a 1, and, and, well, when you've only got 1 die.... [i.e. - this might be a useful way to spend down one's "extra" skill points] I totally forgot about the rule of 1. Really good point. I'll adjust those.

- If we "steal" 5 of those points, your resources bump to 200K -- enough for some low-level boosts (eyes, a smartlink, datajack, maybe a camera and memory) and maybe some spare contacts (taking 10 to 400K would be even more effective in that regard - could allow some subtle bioware and/or alpha grade cyber -- reflecting the whole "been on the street in the trade, so I've got a bit of non-obvious self-protection" Plus, as I said, money for additional contacts [like a fence and a fixer and, and, and...]).

- You might consider specializing your Negotiations in either Con or Fast Talk (drops the "base" to 5, but the specialization up to 7) -- though not necessary. Fast talk. I like it. DOne.

- As per the earlier house rule, dump the active Etiquette - you'll get bonus points for Etiquette based on your charisma/intelligence -- and then can use background/knowledge skills to get more ranks (though you can also use active points, too - but remember you're buying a specialization).

- Might want a touch of Biotech, if only to know enough to help someone who's OD-ing -- in fact, specializing in First Aid or something could help there. (Might have a touch of knowledge in Chemistry for a related reason)

- Yes, there is an Armour Build/Repair skill. Like all B/Rs it's int-based.

- Also - people who have active skills get (for free) a measure of the background in that skill -- basically, your knowledge is applied, sure, but you do have to have an understanding of the theory. (Not saying you fell into that trap, just that you have some unspent knowledge skill ranks. ;) ) This is a great rule. I meant to ask if you were using it! I'm going to dump the active B/R cars and increase active Cars by one.

Even if you went to 400K, you'd still have 4 points to spend on edges -- and there are a few Edges that could be helpful depending on your "take" on your background/history.

- Resistance to Toxins [1 pt], for example, would be helpful with one's own stash (and if anyone else tries to drug you);
- Perceptive [3 pts] if you're of the "stayed alive because I notice stuff" variety (the nice thing here is that it reduces target numbers, rather than giving you an extra die);
- Friendly Face [1 point] - which helps you "fit in" to new situations via social tests;
- Good Reputation [1-2 ponts] means people in the 'plex have heard of you and trust you, making social stuff easier;
- Good Looking (and Knows it) [2 points] which gives you a solid bonus dealing with people who'd be attracted to you and a bit of one in general;
- Connected [3-5 points] to reflect knowing a guy who buys or sells (or both) - but it's only 1 type of product; and
- Common Sense [2 points] which means there's a little voice inside your head that might gently suggest you reconsider things that are blatantly dangerous.

Generally, they suggest you don't take more than 6 points worth of edges (as you decide how to juggle your points) - and there are others, certainly, that are useful, those are just the ones that kind of jumped out to me and would seem to fit.

I'll keep nibbling away at this.

Build is done, so I'll take another look at integrating the back story.

Handle/Street Name: Glassman
Name: Danny Glass
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Legal Status: Squatter
Archetype: Physical adept
Skills: Up close and uncomfortable - knife, baton, pistol, fists, feet.
Special Abilities: Someone you want to see coming when you're in trouble... so long as you're on the same side
Description: Danny has a shaved head, possibly due to the early onset of male pattern baldness, possibly because he likes the look. He is olive skinned, lean, and plainly dressed, in a mixture of black denim, military surplus gear, and synth leather (he would never wear the real thing)
Thumbnail: He eschews drugs, alcohol, bioware and cyberware, and does not seem overly interested in sex, preferring to read, study his beloved martial arts, and talk. A lot.
Personality/Philosophy: Rather intense, and sometimes more than a little preachy, Danny severely disappointed his family by dropping out of college to study combat sports full time. However, he grew extremely uncomfortable with the exploitative nature of the industry, the attitudes of his fellow fighters, and the 'extra jobs' he was occasionally asked to do. The breaking point came when he was required to fight in a match against an obviously outclassed (and probably drugged) opponent who, he surmised, was being put in the ring to be taught an extremely painful lesson. Upon refusing the match, he was told he'd never work again, narrowly escaped a beating himself, thanks to the intervention of an older, much more conservative trainer that he'd never got along with previously, and the last person he would have expected to take his side, and was obliged to quit and take a job as a bouncer in a an illegal punk bar, which suited him juust fine. His austere and rigid (if unconventional) moral code tends to get him, and anyone with him, into frequent difficulties

Perfect! My big mouth and flexible moral code tends to get me, and anyone with me, into difficulties.

And I like to talk. A lot.

Looks like things are coming along well for everyone -- as I said, though, I need for everyone to have in their backstory how they (or someone they cared about) got pulled out of a bad scene by an urban legend/guardian angel sort of person.

Basically, like the plot to every episode of the 80's era A-Team or the Equalizer (or the first seasons of Burn Notice if you want a reference that isn't nearly 4 decades stale).

As always, here to answer questions, be pestered, or do a nasty-evil critique, as needed. ;)

- Might want a touch of Biotech, if only to know enough to help someone who's OD-ing -- in fact, specializing in First Aid or something could help there. (Might have a touch of knowledge in Chemistry for a related reason) Put 4 points into biotech.

- Yes, there is an Armour Build/Repair skill. Like all B/Rs it's int-based. Grabbed 2 points here. To fit in with his interest in tailoring.

- Also - people who have active skills get (for free) a measure of the background in that skill -- basically, your knowledge is applied, sure, but you do have to have an understanding of the theory. (Not saying you fell into that trap, just that you have some unspent knowledge skill ranks. ;) )This is a great rule. I meant to ask if you were using it! I'm going to dump the active B/R cars and increase active Cars by one.

- As per the earlier house rule, dump the active Etiquette - you'll get bonus points for Etiquette based on your charisma/intelligence -- and then can use background/knowledge skills to get more ranks (though you can also use active points, too - but remember you're buying a specialization).

- If we "steal" 5 of those points, your resources bump to 200K -- enough for some low-level boosts (eyes, a smartlink, datajack, maybe a camera and memory) and maybe some spare contacts (taking 10 to 400K would be even more effective in that regard - could allow some subtle bioware and/or alpha grade cyber -- reflecting the whole "been on the street in the trade, so I've got a bit of non-obvious self-protection" Plus, as I said, money for additional contacts [like a fence and a fixer and, and, and...]).

Even if you went to 400K, you'd still have 4 points to spend on edges -- and there are a few Edges that could be helpful depending on your "take" on your background/history.

- Resistance to Toxins [1 pt], for example, would be helpful with one's own stash (and if anyone else tries to drug you);
- Perceptive [3 pts] if you're of the "stayed alive because I notice stuff" variety (the nice thing here is that it reduces target numbers, rather than giving you an extra die);
- Friendly Face [1 point] - which helps you "fit in" to new situations via social tests;
- Good Reputation [1-2 ponts] means people in the 'plex have heard of you and trust you, making social stuff easier;
- Good Looking (and Knows it) [2 points] which gives you a solid bonus dealing with people who'd be attracted to you and a bit of one in general;
- Connected [3-5 points] to reflect knowing a guy who buys or sells (or both) - but it's only 1 type of product; and
- Common Sense [2 points] which means there's a little voice inside your head that might gently suggest you reconsider things that are blatantly dangerous.

Generally, they suggest you don't take more than 6 points worth of edges (as you decide how to juggle your points) - and there are others, certainly, that are useful, those are just the ones that kind of jumped out to me and would seem to fit.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Got family and some celebrations for te next few days, BUT I've got Tues-Fri off next week. Even though the wife and I will be painting the bedroom, I should find opportunity to rework Jay in a manner suitable for another review. I might even get a chance to try that chargen app.

Hope everyone who celebrates it had a good Christmas. 2020's almost over!

My New Year's Eve song.

I've been at a good NaNoWriMo clip on my backstory except for a break yesterday. This thing's going to be a novella before long. :/

I can't wait to read Treppa's novella of a backstory.

I am getting a good handle for this system, and the ork street samurai Tilnar had built. Is there a good resource for reading up further on street samurai honor codes? Something like that might help me flesh out how I will play this character.

The affinity for analog weapons (bows and blades - but not to the exclusion of firearms) is growing on me. I like the idea of an ork who is a proud, skilled warrior, belying the stereotypes of orkish brutishness.

Samurai is more of a word than anything else - something meant to inspire a noble-sounding tradition than following one.

The katana is a popular weapon because it's efficient - and lets people have that romantic notion. Plus, someone with strength boosts is literally putting more power on the edge of the blade than most pistols can pump out - and such things hit impact armour which is less effective than ballistic. (Trolls often carry combat axes, because it doubles down on their reach advantage). Plus, later, the ability to Dykote means you can cut through an engine block.

That said, getting in close can also be considered an equalizer - armed and unarmed combat are about skill and not necessarily who's chrome is shinier.

Ultimately, folk filled with chrome are often just as likely to have a cyber-spike or spurs as a sword, and generally way more likely to carry assault rifles or heavy weapons than a bow.

All that to say - it's up to you what personal code you want to follow - and there'll be people out there who respect you for it, and others who want to exploit it as a weakness.

I should also add that a lot of the melee/armed combat also comes down to being in close quarters (alleys, hallways, etc) - where you can presumably get in close to wreck the aim of the guy with the firearm.

Happy Goblinization Year, everyone!

I'm hoping for Ork. I'm already the right phenotype.

Ok, seriously though - Happy New Year, hope 2021 is good to all of you...

Even if your Johnsons probably won't be. ;)

Back for a second review. Jay still has a bunch of cash. Been thinking about maybe adding some grenades to his combat gear.

Happy Goblinization Year, everyone!

I'm hoping for Ork. I'm already the right phenotype.

Wow, is it that time already? I guess we'll find out on 30 April.

Next year is Soylent Green year in the great sci-fi movie timeline.

Hope everyone who celebrates it had a good Christmas. 2020's almost over!

My New Year's Eve song.

...

That takes me back.

Back for a second review. Jay still has a bunch of cash. Been thinking about maybe adding some grenades to his combat gear.

One can never go wrong with grenades.

Back for a second review. Jay still has a bunch of cash. Been thinking about maybe adding some grenades to his combat gear.

Normally, I'd suggest that based on the small spending, you might be better off with downgrading your resources for the extra build points, but there's a few reasons I won't (i.e. - that the drop from 90K is to 20K, which is pretty steep, and that your skillwires cost a lot more than you think).

As you seem to be indicating that you're getting some chrome, based on the skillwires and chipjack -- so I think we might want to take a look in that space for a minute.

* Skillwires are necessary to use active skills, and their rating controls how good you can do. So, for example, you'd probably want a level 5 or 6 skillwire system if you're planning on slotting active skills (stealth, combat skills, athletics, etc, etc) -- that's 1.0 or 1.2 Essence -- and the cost is based on the capacity of the system. A level 6 general skill is 108 MP [Level 5 is 75] - a specialization cuts that down to 72 [or 50 for level 5].

So, a level 6 general skill skillwire system would cost 1.2 Essence and 110MP x 6 x 500 = 330,000 Nuyen. [Level 5 would be 75 x 5 x 500 = 187,500 Nuyen and 1.0 Essence].

If you want a system that only does specializations (instead of general skills), then a level 6 system would still be 1.2 Essence, but 75 x 6 x 500 = 225,000. [Level 5 would be 50 x 5 x 500 = 125K]

Those costs don't include the chipjack, or any skillsofts. Also, skills from a soft don't let you use dice pools (i.e. Combat Pool) -- so you might consider a chipjack "expert driver" - which gives you a task pool for the skills you're chipping.

... Also, I recommend getting a datajack (as someone who lives in the world, almost everyone has one) - and internalizing your smartlink (as it's literally twice as effective).

In terms of skills, artistic skills fall under knowledge, so being able to make the music would live there. You might also consider some street skills based on your profession (I.e. - Drugs, Gangs, etc.)

Per the house rule, you've got 6 free Etiquette - so 4 street, 2 corp would be "free" -- and you could even bump them using some of the leftover knowledge slots you've got.

In terms of language -- you'd probably want English (maybe specialized in CitySpeak) at least at 4 -- and then could put other points where you need... Or, if you've got a chipjack and the right fun, just get a bunch of linguisoft chips - they're pretty cheap.

Countdown to Launch...

From talking to most of you, I think you're largely getting a handle on things -- so I'm suggesting that we pick Monday (the 11) as the official start of the campaign -- by which I mean the point when we start the fun, in-character gaming stuff.

That gives everyone almost a week to nail down any remaining pesky details.

(Worst case, if there are a few lingering things, we can resolve them while you're meeting each other and all that during the first few IC posts...)

YEAH! Let's get this party started!

Nice. I did a rough draft on my backstory. I want to sleep on it and look at it with a fresh set of eyes, and will then share it. The stats will more or less be what you had created, Tilnar. I should have that copied over soon with all the details.

Sounds good!

Handle/Street Name: Raptor
Name: Kyle Stone
Gender: Male
Race: Ork
Legal Status: Citizen of Seattle
Archetype: Street Samurai
Skills: Raptor is good in a fight – sturdy, good with a bow, and deadly with a blade.
Special Abilities: Raptor has substantial cyberware modifications to make him sturdier and more capable in a fight.
Description: Raptor is a tall, athletically built, heavily muscled man with neatly cropped dark hair. His orkish features are only apparent on close inspection of his teeth and brow structure - otherwise he resembles an impressively built human. Tidy scars tracing his limbs, neck, and torso suggest substantial cyberware modification, and his eyes have a decidedly unnatural look.
Thumbnail: Born to an ork mother and a human father, Raptor spent much of his adolescence in the Undercity of Seattle. He has studied the ways of the ancient samurai, and seeks to perfect himself in all ways – mind, body, and spirit. His disenchantment with the corporate masters has led him to seek his own path.
Personality/Philosophy: While he takes his devotion to his life’s path seriously, eschewing drugs and alcohol in particular, practice in regular meditation has made Raptor surprisingly good-natured and laid back. He readily takes on the role of the responsible big brother - a trait which extends far beyond his biological siblings.

(Not sold on this avatar pick. I'm waiting to see if it grows on me. Since he passes for human, I had to go with a human pic, but... I dunno about this one.)

Still importing stats and gear.

Tilnar - Treppa and I have been working on coordinating our backstories. My draft is here. I will let Treppa post her own. Any thoughts?

And here is my draft. We need some help figuring out where Guardian coordinates with our stories. Can it be at the same point of the corp escape?

Sweet! Looking forward to getting started in Ernst !

Tilnar, I'll take your advice about the data jack, and drop the skill wire idea. (Yikes they were out of my league. Maybe some day.)

I'll buy a few more things, but keep a substantial balance of cash.

Language via linguiasoft is a brilliant idea for when he needs to be fluent.

Going to change Jay's legal status to SINner. Dad wouldn't have slipped so far that he'd neglect that resposibility.

Let me know if you need changes in my backstory.

Jay -

You could do a smaller skillsoft system for now with the intent to upgrade. Level 3 would be much closer to this side of affordable and basically mean you slot in a "proficient" level of any active skill -- [so 30 MP x 3 x 500 = 45K Nuyen, 0.6 Essence]

Besides, having an "upgrade path" for new toys is not at all a rarity. :) [Plus, skillwires are legal, so no issue with the SIN]

No issues with the background - only thing is we'll need to have a reason for all your contacts (they can't *all* be "clients". ;) And, you'll need to have "met" the Guardian as part of things - whether an initial contact on a Shadowboard looking to get help for your sister, having someone drop your "saved" sister off on your doorstep -- whichever you'd prefer.

Onyx --

I would normally say that Elves don't have it that rough, but Renraku. :)

That said, a few things:

- I think, given your tradition, you probably want to build in a bit more "study the crap out of this to figure out how I did that -- to avoid ever doing it again by accident... and to be able to do it on demand when I need to" (the latter might be triggered from someone close to you getting roughed up or whatever)

- the sort of dark experimentation you're describing would be a 'special research project', most likely (because most of the corp would disapprove - magi are too valuable to wasted -- and so it's probably the brain-child of one or two suits with the power to make it happen) -- so your experience would probably be a little more "You're so amazing and special that you get to do these advanced/special classes" -- and not so much at the "normal" school.

- given the way that technology interacts with magic, it's unlikely that there'd be implants in the dark experimentation. More likely, they'd be working with "bad" magic - a la toxic, blood or insects (While toxic and bugs are more about shamanism, those spirits and forces exist, and being able to tap them as a power source for hermetic magic would certainly be a thing).

- since as a hermetic, you need to learn at least some theory, I'd suggest that you make some small edits -- i.e. - that you wanted to focus more on that, but couldn't (the not loving the combat focus is good -- could even lean into wanting to learn more transformations that patching up injuries). And, for a bit of foreshadowing, that something felt "off" about how they were presenting certain topics in theory (i.e. - whatever one they were going to use to experiment later).

- To that end, you could find out about the normie "special" theory class, and have done your best to eavesdrop and then been shocked at the differences in how things were being presented - at the time thinking it's just that they're getting the better (non-racist) education, not understanding that they were priming the metas to accept "bad" magic (in fact, given that magic is shaped by belief, one of the underlying theories at work here might be that those things are only bad because people think they are).

- If you complained to your friend the decker girl - she might take a first "minor" step by getting you a "normal" textbooks from the "standard" magic school -- I don't think that the early level ones would have giant "look out for bad things" yet - so you'd see there were differences in the approach (but then, you're in the 'advanced' class, so there should be) -- and the higher-level ones are probably harder to access. (Basically, she was willing to cross the line a little at first -- but not more than that 'til later).

- Might be useful to have a 'friend' in the upper classmen - so you have a reason to notice them going missing (i.e. - "The reply I got from my congrats on grad and new posting was.... off.")

- So the "graduation trip failure" would probably be a ritual - either a blood ritual to "empower" them, the implantation of an egg or larva (or the calling of a Queen), something-something Toxic spirit. In any case, died horribly, "normie" theory class was helping design the ritual/process is fine -- though I don't think the whole human class would be attending - I tend to think that for most of them it'd be more Ender's Game-ish. A "fun" "theory" "exercise" -- while the teachers/researchers would be zealots who hoarde the data, studying it to see where it went wrong (in preparation for your class).

- Given that I'm assuming Raptor is your older half-brother (from the descriptions -- if I'm wrong, please correct me) -- if he was part of Renraku security (or shadow-ops, considering his chrome package) -- you could mention the "familiar friendly face" as a thing that helped you cope. (In fact, I'm sure he could swipe you a textbook or two - and/or start asking around about the other class - potentially eliminating the need for the decker with a crush). In this read, you'd have been mentioning your concerns, you'd talk about how the theory you're learning doesn't align with the books he grabbed, he'd say he'd talk to one of his squad-mates about getting copies of some of their old texts (and maybe even succeed on that), you'd express your very big concerns about the last class, he'd look into it - and when he got out of the grapevine hints of what happened, he reached out to Guardian - getting both of you out (since he's burned his clearance) - so that's an extraction and handing you a copy of the data of the experiment to "buy" both of your safety. In this read, it might be helpful if your (shared) mom had been helped by Guardian once earlier when you were living with her - maybe getting someone who'd hired her to actually pay up, for instance.

Raptor -

The last paragraph for Onyx would apply to you as well - if I'm wrong about the relationship, though, apologies. ;)

No, you are right! All good ideas there!

I'm laughing because I just saw that CBS is rebooting "The Equalizer" starting Feb 7.

My reference is retroactively made current!

So we begin...

First gameplay thread post is up!

I would like to have some elementals prepped before going on any runs. Is that something we can roll for in Discussion, since nobody else would be involved and it would take a matter of days?

Absolutely fine to work it out here

I'm laughing because I just saw that CBS is rebooting "The Equalizer" starting Feb 7.

My reference is retroactively made current!

Everything old is made new again.

Woohoo! I am stoked! Nice opening scene, Tilnar. I caught Bueller and Venkman. What did I miss?

I didn't catch any other old-timey references.

Just the two at the moment.

There may be more later (if nothing else, the new passphrases if you keep coming back to the Club... Seraphine is a bit of a student of old century pieces.)

Let's see if I have this right as far as conjuring elementals to hang around waiting to do my bidding.

Prereqs: 0nyx has a conjuring library level 6 and 4 sets of conjuring materials, level 6. Her Conjuration skill is at 6. Her spell pools is 6. She wants to conjure a force 6 elemental, so the Conjuring TN is also 6.

Prior to:
0nyx spends 6 hours drawing a hermetic circle (6m diameter using 35ny of paint) in her 'sanctum'.

She can set aside dice to resist drain but not to aid conjuring (p 44, SR3).

During:
0nyx reserves 6 dice to resist drain, even though I don't think it is necessary. The worst drain she can take is Moderate since her Conjuring skill equals the elemental Force.

She makes a Conjuring skill check (6d6). There must be one 6 in the results or no elemental appears. Number of 6s = number of services elemental owes. If no elemental appears, the summoning materials are consumed anyway.

She makes a Conjuring drain check using Charisma dice plus spell pool (12d6) vs elemental force (6). Failing to get a 6 results in M stun. Since M stun is not unconscious (or dead), she cannot be knocked out or killed and lose control of the elemental; she simply has to rest to recover from the stun damage.

After:
To recover from any stun damage, she rolls Willpower dice (for 0nyx, higher than Body dice) vs TN2 (modified by appropriate condition track mods). Recovery time = (#stun boxes)hrs/#successes. (p 126, SR3)

The bound elemental goes back to astral form and can be called with an Exclusive Complex action.

The hermetic circle remains and can be used for another elemental of the same type, or she can draw another type of circle and summon a different type of elemental. She can bind up to her Charisma elementals at once.

Sound correct?

Pretty much. I'm assuming that you bought summoning materials (and the level 6 library) during chargen.

So, that being the case:

- You need a source (a fire, a basin of water, incense or a big rock out mound of dirt)

- You spend 6 hours doing the ritual

- You have a number of dice for your conjuring test equal to your conjuring skill - you can keep some of these back to help with drain, reducing what you roll to summon

- A force 6 spirit has a target of 6 - each success is a service the elemental owes (so number of successes = important)

- Drain test is charisma (plus any dice you held back) v. 6M

- As you said, that can't knock you out, so even if you take it all, you're likely okay after a few hours rest

- Your Hermetic circle still exists, and could be used to summon another elemental of the same type

If you enjoy reading cyberpunky stuff like this, you might enjoy The Laundry Files novels. It's a lovely mishmash of IT, magic, physics, mythology, tea, mathematics, spies, Great Old Ones, Nazis in space, Ragnarok, special operations, nuclear weapons... you get the idea.

Quick note: our home internet is out indefinitely until the company can get some strangeness with the accounts reconciled. I am around and reading but I suck at posting from my phone so we'll be quiet unless absolutely necessary.

Thanks for the heads up, Treppa. Good luck getting service back.

WE'RE BACK, BABY!

They told us we'd have to wait 24 hours between *attempts* to restore service, so I wasn't optimistic. Got a good CS rep today who fixed it all up. There should be a patron saint of customer service.

Ok, call it a 12 hour warning - so if anyone has some last minute introduction or RP they're placing, it should happen soon, as I'll start the meet around then.

Training Wheels Post: I promised to ease you in to the game, so I'll be providing a few of these as we go -- though certainly fewer and fewer as time goes by.... That said, if you (collectively) want to skip the tutorial, just let me know. ;)

Since most of you are new to this, I'll make the gentle suggestion that the vast majority of runs tend to start with gathering information -- (usually as much as possible about everything) -- that is to say:

(a) what do we know about x,y and z based on the stuff in our own heads

(b) finding out what the word on the street/in the boardroom/in the wiz community/on the 'net/etc might be by hitting up contacts (though, I'll remind y'all, these are contacts, not machines -- nothing's free, chummer, even info)

Tilnar, will we be RPing the contact contacts? I've got names for all Jay's contacts in his profile, and can develop some short sketches of them if you would like.

No one tumbled $200 per day plus expenses? Ya'll are either too young or didn't waste your early life watching too much TV.

Let me know which ones you're going to hit up and then we can start making the appropriate rolls, in exchange for the appropriate bribe -- er -- compensation.

I have no issue doing all of the contacts in a single massed spoiler post (well, probably two or three for the back and forth) rather than needing 20-30.

And I'll have you know I wasted a whole lot of my early life watching TV, but I'm not coming up with anything on that. I don't *think* that's what Magnum charged, and I can't really think of any "big" PI shows other than that - unless it's the Rockford Files, in which case, yes, I'm a bit too young. Like, I remember my parents watching it, but... nope.

Did Magnum ever charge?

Yeah, it's Rockford. Fun fact -- a very young Tom Selleck had a small recurring role on Rockford as Lance White, a competing PI, the perfect PI.