Echos of the Past OOC

I'm in a smilar boat as many of my posts are from durring my breaks at work. Breakroom has internet access but nowhere else does.

Well, okay... but still... I'm sorry we were posting too much if anyone got overwhelmed or feeling left behind or stressed out or anything.

Durandana wrote:

Well, okay... but still... I'm sorry we were posting too much if anyone got overwhelmed or feeling left behind or stressed out or anything.

I joined my first play-by-post game 15 years ago. In the time since, I've yet to see a single game fall appart because people posted to often. I've seen many, many, many games fall appart because people weren't posting enough.

Please try to play your characters folks - I'm going to pick on Kesslan here (sorry), but I'm doing it here rather then in a private message because this touches on the type of play I would like to see out of everyone. A rigger tech junkie asking a bunch of specific questions about drones, sure, that's fine, even welcome. Makes sense for the character. A trust fund baby who is new to shadow running, got involved based on high stakes bike racing rather then anything combat oriented, and has no knowledge skills related in any way to weapons, tactics, combat, or armor getting into a debate about the relative merits of different types of advanced ammunition in a combat situation, not so much.

Just to clarify all quotes I post in italics are thoughts.

Azonalanthious wrote:

A trust fund baby who is new to shadow running, got involved based on high stakes bike racing rather then anything combat oriented, and has no knowledge skills related in any way to weapons, tactics, combat, or armor getting into a debate about the relative merits of different types of advanced ammunition in a combat situation, not so much.

Keep in mind I have the entire mechanics skill group AND armorer which deals with fixing, modifying guns etc, as well as engineering at a 'professional' level. yea it's only 3, but 3 is the sort of level by book description where you know what your doing in that field. He's not an amateur by any standard in that regard and since most are logic linked and he's got a very high logic attribute that just means he's a bit of a natural at it.

Nothing I've stated in character has anything that wouldn't be known on an at least theoretical level.

I don't need to be a hardened soldier to know a tazer hurts or which way to point a gun to use it. Like wise I don't need to be a hardened, veteran runner to know about tech I have all the skills to build or modify. Yes, he lacks some experience on the pure specifics but he's got all he needs to know about how electricity interacts with modern body armour, and it's an entirely relevant field of discussion given that as a rigger, one who knows how to modify/build said drones would also know about how to /arm/ them. And why you'd use certain configurations over others.

Yes the character comes from a bike racing background with a trust fund, but he also comes from an educated background, even if that was mostly self taught/learned, and likely some actual formal education, even if it was only matrix based. The background is also somewhat imperfect as it's hard to explain how a technically savy character wound up in the shadows in the first place and I've not built too many tech heavy characters in SR, I must admit.

As to the tactics, he's not really discussed too much about really planning the attack on the whole, but rather the very specific area of drones and munitions. IT's hard to strike a proper balance though since with a rigger background he'd have had to have some exposure to discussions on the deployment of various security drones and stuff like the jungle comment he damn well knows better since he has the very drones that can make their way through dense foliage and other small tight areas as, indeed, his only drones aside from the potential to use his motorcycle as one. Like wise as a skilled armorer who can potentially outright build a gun from scratch (provided he has the proper tools at his disposal and has a chance to draw up some actual plans, or get them from someone else) he'd know about what can be done with various ammo etc. He might nto be able to build it, or build it as well as some one with more experience, but he'd have to have a pretty good solid working theory behind it to be counted as a 'professional' even if it's one early in his career.

In case anyone needs to roleplay an interaction with Pick...

1) Pick has an internal commlink, Firewall 6. All his cyberware is connected via skinlink to it. In general, Pick keeps the wireless interface on the internal commlink disabled (not hidden), unless he's doing something specific with or is briefly scanning the area. (Yes, he knows that this cuts down on the flash-and-tech of 2070 Augmented Reality, but he's more concerned about personal security.)

2) Pick will take a picture or video of anything he thinks could be useful, using cyberear select sound filters, audio enhancement, and visual magnification/enhancement to maximize quality. (I have to double-check, but I believe Pick has Perception (Visual) 7, Perception (Audio) 7.)

3) Pick's always looking for things that could be of value to someone else, whether it be photos, video snippets, physical objects or data. He has the knowledge skills to have a good idea of what's valuable and what's not, particularly around jewelry and vehicles. (Hey, he had to learn _something_ in prison...)

4) In a fight, Pick will hang back and try to stay out of the way. He prefers subtlety to firefights, but has no compunctions about taking someone down whom he can't get around otherwise.

----------------
Paradox

I will take a Negotiation's roll for that demand for more money, Paradox. We'll see what you can squeeze out of him.

Also, a minor amusement for me: Guess the bad guy - ie, what are you going to find on site, at the root of all this. 10 bonus karma at the end of the run for whoever comes closest, 50 if someone hits the nail on the head (by which I mean not something like "it really is Aztechnology" but "its Aztechnology attempting to steal back an advanced bio-weapon that was originally stolen from them". <--- Fair warning, this really COULD be the right answer. I've done things like that before. Of course, it could not be too.)

It's a terrorist group stealing items to pay for their attacks.

It's pretty obvious, actually. All of the researchers had to go to a meeting out of country so the head scientist hired some baby sitters to watch his kid at the complex but the kid didn't know who they were and thought they were thieves so he set up a series of elaborate traps involving buckets of water over doors, ball bearings spread on the floor, and trip-wire activated falling blankets. It worked so well that not only were the baby sitters scared away, but the recon team sent to check on the base too!

Our mission is to go in there and navigate a facility filled with dangerous traps an 8 year old really shouldn't know how to set up but did anyway, while trying to convince him we're good guys and possibly be funny enough doing it to turn the surveillance logs into a hilarious comedy trideo in the process.

Pick's Negotiation roll for more money

Charisma 2 + Negotiation (Bargaining) 2 (+2)

6d6.hits(5) → [6,6,3,5,4,4] = (3)

(Wow, that was a surprise!)

Insect Shamans taking over a magical research facility.

Could be anything, so I'm guessing a researcher or research project gone rogue and has taken over the facility.

I'm going with the Azzies taking back a weapon that was taken from them.

Neonet created an A.I. they couldn't handle and it not only hacked the system and nearly erased all tracks of the facility, but acquired the help of the Azties 'hostile takeover' division.

Looks like the meet is winding down. I'll give things til tomorrow night in case anyone has anything to bring up before responding to paradox and moving the game on (for reference, the response is you are getting access to a 10,000 advance in Belize. Nothing tonight, but yes, you can leave). If no one has any group activities to do before then, we'll skip to arrival in Belize (though if there are things you want to do as a group, by all means speak up and I'll run it.) Anything individual like picking up some specific pieces of gear before leaving or doing some hacking on background information is fine to, but in the interests of efficiency and not holding up everyone else for one person, we'll do those ooc. Just let me know.

Only thing I could think of is trying to get a disposable (or at least very cheap, basic) comlink before we go as I forgot to do so in CG.

It's one of those things that's suggested for every runner so they can keep their real comlink in hidden mode and still have the expected publicly viewable link. ANd of course for any hacker or rigger there are very obvious reasons why you'd want to keep your real one in hidden mode.

Hey, Azo,

I wanted to double-check: is the fee 5K per team member plus a 10K gear credit for the team? (I think that's what it was, just wanted to be sure.)

Thanks,
Paradox

Paradox wrote:

Hey, Azo,

I wanted to double-check: is the fee 5K per team member plus a 10K gear credit for the team? (I think that's what it was, just wanted to be sure.)

Thanks,
Paradox

Yup, that's correct.

Ok so for my own request: 1 disposable comlink (Cost 300)

I would think it at least comes with some basic, temporary use OS/Firewall software. If not I'll just tack on some cheap R3 OS/Firewall software to that.

Since I get 500/mo left over from my lifestyle a month I'll probably just pay for it out of pocket, thus leaving the 10k group fund free for more important things unless the group as a whole is gonna all pick up disposable comlinks too.

I don't think I need anything more specific that I could afford right now anyway.

The disposable commlink comes with Response 1, Signal 3, System 2, and Firewall 1. It's only good for one week, but you can keep using it after the MSP plan runs out if you know how to get a pirate one. Then again, a basic MSP service provides up to four commcodes, so maybe you could just assign it one of those after the week is up. It won't be as anonymous but at least it would still work.

Oh yeah that's me for not paying attention to the fact it has system/firewall stats listed

OI.

But yeah I just need a cheap-o comlink to serve as the 'public face' so I can keep the real one in hidden mode without people raising any eyebrows (Short of the one running hidden being detected of course)

(OOC: Pick says this after the Johnson has left the meet and the group is figuring out what to do next.)

"We should get any hi-tech we need while we're in civilization. I'd definitely like to get a mapsoft of Belize, a GloWand and a geiger counter/radiation sensor. We should also pick up matched encrypted headsets/subvocal mikes. I also wouldn't mind a disposable commlink, but I'm going to want more than a Rating 1 firewall on it..."

"Once we're in Belize, I recommend we set up magical and visual site surveillance and get the lay of the land for a day or two. Based on what we find, we go shopping, either for infiltration gear or for explosives. No use planning carefully until we see what we're up against."

"And we should get to know each other. I spoke up in the meet because I wanted to know things. That doesn't mean I want to be in charge, and it certainly doesn't mean I'm going to take care of you all. I usually take on jobs with myself and one other person at most - this is a big team AND a high-risk job. It's not going to take much for me to decide to just crater this facility - I'm not going to die for a measly 5K. I'm good at getting into 'secure' places, which is probably why I'm here. But I'm used to going in with a LOT more intel than I have right now."

"Here's what I bring to the table. I can take care of getting us in the place and with blowing it up if needed. I'm pretty good at noticing things that might be useful. I'm an excellent driver and a decent mechanic. I can also work my way around computers - both legally and illegally. But I'm not the best in fight - I usually try to avoid them. And I'm here for the money and whatever swag I can get out of the run."


"For this run, you call me Point-Man, unless one of you thinks you can do it better than me."

BTW, would anyone mind if I used some of the advance to pick up a morphing plate and a spoof chip for the bike? Couldn't buy em in CG and expect that if it comes out of our pay at the end, that the cost will come out of my share of the pay off.

Kesslan wrote:

BTW, would anyone mind if I used some of the advance to pick up a morphing plate and a spoof chip for the bike? Couldn't buy em in CG and expect that if it comes out of our pay at the end, that the cost will come out of my share of the pay off.

We should put our ideas out for what to spend the gear credit on. Here's what I thinks most useful:

• Jungle camouflage (including nets and outfits for visual surveillance)
  
• Disguise skillsoft, unless someone already has the skill
  
• Microdrones for reconnaissance
  

The chances of us running afoul of the law in the jungle are pretty low, so getaway vehicle security would be pretty low on my list.

BTW, I'm willing to trade Matrix Common Use programs for Matrix hacking programs, if Azo will allow it...