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[Recruitment 5E] Seattle PD

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HydroRaven

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« on: <12-27-16/1959:02> »
Hello everyone.

I was recently in a game called Seattle Undercover, but unfortunately the GM vanished. I tried to take over as GM, but we couldn't find a third player and the momentum fizzed away. However, the format inspired me to start something along the same vein. Basically, this is playing the opposite side of the fence: in this game, you are members of KE assigned to cases.

The premise is exactly that: you are detectives working homicide in Seattle. You have superiors, people to impress, cases to clear, paperwork to fill, promotions to chase, etc. This being a "capitalist" police system, I will explain the pay scheme in more detail in a separate post once we get things rolling, but basically you get a base monthly salary with bonuses on each cleared case. However, if the case has to be reopened for some reason or another, your pay gets docked. Other services are also deduced from your pay (blood analysis, DNA sequencing, HTR assistance, etc.)

I'm more of a story-driven GM than an optimal-build one. Meaning, your backstory has to be realistic and plausible for you to be working for KE. As fun as playing the drake/vampire/toxic shaman would be, I don't see the reality in which it would be a detective in Seattle. So no special snowflakes. I'm looking for backgrounds at this moment, and then when the character gets approved I will give you the go-ahead to build a 5E standard runner. But if your detective is chromed out, give me a reason why. If your character is a magic user, I want to know how his abilities help him be an effective detective. It's very good to be able to fireball everyone, but how does that help your character clear cases? Please build your characters with that in mind: their skills should help them go through cases as effectively and quickly as possible.

At the moment, I am looking for 4 players, which would be split into two teams of two. You will be paired together, with all that that entails. You might all be working together at some point, or might have different cases, might ask each other for assistance (know that this is time given for free, as you wouldn't be getting any pay from clearing another pairs' case), etc.

One last point: you can be as straight or as crooked as you want. However, know that the extremes come with extreme circumstances: someone too straight might have the whole department against them, and someone too crooked will have IA investigating them.

Recruitment will close one week from now, and I will make my choice of players one day after.

Thanks for reading so far and happy holidays to everyone.
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« Reply #1 on: <12-30-16/0048:50> »
Spot holder! :)

Scawire

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« Reply #2 on: <01-02-17/1338:34> »
I have an adept decker with astral sight I can use in this game, the thing is I can only post about every other day to maybe once a day.

The quick back story is....

An elf kid that is an Ares citizen his father is a member of ares military. Growing up "Spec" always wanted to join up with the police or military so he father helped to get him some training for the job. He is currently working as a cop and he is dating a med student.

Let me know when you want the character submitted by. I'm betting corp sin will not give you any negative quality advantage.
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HydroRaven

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« Reply #3 on: <01-02-17/1955:35> »
Sounds good, if you give me something a bit more detailed that would be nice, Scawire.
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farothel

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« Reply #4 on: <01-03-17/0727:30> »
Hey Hydro.

I have an investigation mage from another PbP which stopped.  There she was an ex-cop from the Neo-Tokyo PD, but I can rework her to be still on the force and in Seattle.  I'll have to rework anyway as it's a 4th edition character and I'll have to rebuild for 5th.  On that note, I only have the 5th edition base book so don't expect an optimised build from me anyway.

Below is the background as it is now (for Neo-tokyo).  But the basics will not change, only the location and the fact that I probably won't have a mentor spirit anymore.  She specialises in detection spells and for the muscle end she has stunbolt and stunball (if they still exist in 5th), so non-lethal only.

background:
Mariko was born as second daughter of a Neo-Tokyo PD homicide investigator and a supermarket logistics worker.  While there wasn’t much room for luxuries, they still lived a comfortable life and their parents, even though they were working hard, tried to spend some quality time with their children.  Her childhood was quite idyllic until she turned 13.  During a fight on the school yard she was involved in she suddenly dropped one of the others.  The investigation after the event indicated that she was awakened as a mage.  She was put in a special program for mages in high school, based on the Shinto tradition, and wanted to go to university.  But this was too expensive.  So Neo-Tokyo PD stepped in and paid for the courses in exchange for her coming to work for them after graduating.  She had no real problem with that, as she had always been intrigued by her father’s stories about investigations.

After getting a bachelor’s degree (despite seriously failing ritual spellcasting) she went to the Police Academy, where she was trained as a forensic specialist, although she did get the general courses as well.  After graduating she was placed in the homicide division in Odaiba. (regulations prohibited her from serving with family and her father was in Downtown).  It didn’t take long for her to see her first body.  That first case was pretty straight forward and the forensic evidence was only to support the confession they had gotten.

In the following years she gained a reputation as a good specialist who could find out very much with very few clues.  Her magical potential also continued to grow and she added spells to her repertoire that helped her finding clues, but due to the shortage of mages she would also due other things, like help with interrogations.  She wouldn’t be in the room itself, but she would be behind the mirror with a spell that would tell her where the suspect was lying.  She would then compare notes with the interrogator later.  As follower of the kami Fukurō (owl) she was skilled in detection.
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
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Scawire

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« Reply #5 on: <01-03-17/1938:45> »
here is a longer background

Background
Spec is a single child born to a Military intelligence father and a secretary mother. All three are citizens of the Ares corp. As a child Spec went to school same as any Ares corp kid at the age of 12 he awakened to his adept abilities and was placed in special training. Unfortunately Spec has always been a small kid and was unable to beef up so instead with his interest in law enforcement and his smarts he focused on upgrading his abilities to enter the intelligence field like his father. Spec continued his studies for the intelligence fields in Ares University. After he was done he moved into an intelligence gather department for the corp. Spec began getting a network of informants in the local area to aid his work. When he was 28 he met a girl from Ares University who is a Med student studying to become a doctor. At 30 Spec was moved to KE detective department, now 2 years later he is doing his best to make a difference in the street of Seattle. Spec is still dating his girl friend and both of them have moved in together she is now in her last year as a med student.
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Kiirnodel

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« Reply #6 on: <01-04-17/0258:04> »
I'll put in my hand for a spot at this "table." It has been awhile since I played in a play-by-post game, but I'm definitely interested in getting something going so I can get a chance to play.

My idea is for a completely Mundane Human character. Maybe a little bit of cyber, like a datajack or a little something to keep him sharp and up-to-date. Since this idea is for a squad of detectives, rather than HRT, I figure we don't have to be peak physical fitness. Personality-wise, I'm thinking the older curmudgeon-cynical detective type of character. Sprinkle in a bit of wise-assery and conspiracy-theory paranoia to keep things light and humorous when it fits. Main advantage for this character would be high skills and broad knowledge-base. All that fancy magic and tech can't help you  solve a crime, you need a brain for that. Rule-wise, I was considering picking up the Aged negative quality from Bullets and Bandages. Only one level, putting him in his mid-50s. Older, but not frail.

Here is the background I came up with so far:


John Landsman

John was born in Chicago in the early 2020's. His family was Jewish, of Eastern European descent, although religion vaguely factored into daily living. During that time Chicago was seeing an increase in business and the Southside Revitalization Project came in to support the growing simsense industry. With the Crash in 2029, his family saw a lot of setbacks, and his father became increasingly violent and abusive. John ended up taking the brunt of the violence himself, standing up for his little sister and deflecting his father's attention from their mother with his "smart mouth." Eventually, his father committed suicide, likely because he finally couldn't stand the idea that he couldn't provide for his family. Still, they managed somehow, and John worked hard to find a way to help.

With the bombing of the Sears Tower, the chaos that ensued, John knew that something had to be done to clean up the city. John joined the police force in Chicago, Knight Errant, which despite the corruption was still a force for order in the city. Ever the cynic, he saw this as a chance to do some good despite what the public view of the police was. With his focus on cleaning up the city, John didn't notice his mother's problems until it was too late. He had tried to help her work through the death of his father, but her mental health simply never truly recovered. John though she was doing better, she had joined up with a "support group" known as the Universal Brotherhood. He didn't realize that mistake until it was too late. The reality of the Bugs in Chicago was nearly overwhelming. And the aftermath for Knight Errant in particular almost left John with nothing. After the dust settled, his mother was presumed dead, his sister missing (likely in the containment zone), and his career in jeopardy.

Over the years, John has become something of a conspiracy theorist, between the creation of the Noose, the death of Dunkelzahn, even stretching back to the assassination of Kennedy (do you really think it wasn't "magic?"). He managed to keep his sanity, putting everything into his work. He somehow kept his job, eventually transferring to Seattle when Knight Errant earned the contract. And now he works Homicide, getting those most dangerous elements off the street for the upstanding citizens.

Stoneglobe

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« Reply #7 on: <01-04-17/0729:30> »
As requested here's my background in the thread rather than by PM

Born into Ares, Brandon Chance has never known any other life. His schooling was Ares-centric, specialising in economics and psychology, with an expectation of him joining a special projects division within the company as one of its managers.
Initially everything went well and Brandon took his position as expected. It took the violent death of his parents, along with all their fellow passengers, to change things. Brandon’s parents, both senior managers within Ares, had been visiting NeoTokyo on business and due to the distances involved had been travelling using standard commercial sub-orbital flights rather than the dedicated Ares transportation they usually travelled the UCAs and CAs with.
To this day no one actually knows how the bomb was smuggled on board the flight and no organisation has ever taken credit for the act. As the actual event took place half way through the flight no one country or organisation had final jurisdiction for the investigation into what had happened but Knight Errant took the lead for Ares and were eventually able to identify the individuals who had compromised security in Narita airport and planted the bomb on the sub-orbital. They were believed to be a shadowrunner team but since the incident they have not been seen or heard from leading many to speculate they were killed by whoever had actually employed them.
Having lost his parents Brandon was at somewhat of a loss as to how to continue. All he knew was that he no longer wished to work within the abstract, and often unfulfilled, world of special projects. He wanted to make a difference to Ares, and its employees, in a more direct way. He requested a transfer out from special projects to Knight Errant. After all that division had been the one to identify the immediate culprits of the incident that took his parents, even if they and their patrons had never been found or punished following that identification. Eventually his request was authorised and Brandon began his training for the new position. He had believed that his background and education would lead him to be placed in the either counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency departments but somehow he ended up being assigned to the Seattle department where he has ended up working ever since. During his time within the department Brandon has been assigned to several different roles including homicide, behavioural analysis and counter-terrorism.
Over the years that Brandon has now worked for Knight Errant he has risen to the position of lieutenant, turning down the position of captain several times earlier in his career when he still felt he could do some good. Now in his early 50’s Brandon has seen both Lone Star and KE hold the contracts for policing Seattle and has seen the changes in the way that KE now deal with things since Clayton took over. He has become somewhat disillusioned with the current state of affairs feeling that KE has become more and more brutal and less interested in actually solving/preventing crime compared to when he first joined their ranks.
Like many who work for Ares Brandon has had some modifications done though he prides himself on still being mostly human, as he puts it, and in solving cases the old fashioned way. Violence is not Brandon’s preferred way to deal with things, though he is no stranger to it either, and he is known to hold those who run the shadows in great contempt
´Wonderful´, the Flatline said,´I never did like to do anything simple when I could do it ass-backwards.´ - William Gibson, Neuromancer
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Scawire

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« Reply #8 on: <01-04-17/1611:08> »
It looks like you got 5 officers on your hands one more then you need, so I will back off as not to take the job from someone else.

You all have fun tracking down my crazy shadowrunner and remember I might have a few nuyen to bribe you if you ever want to work for the other side. Have fun guys.
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HydroRaven

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« Reply #9 on: <01-05-17/1704:38> »
Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in answering, I'm sure you are all familiar with the new year back-to-business rush of work.

First of all, I want to thank everyone for expressing interest in the game. The backgrounds I have read so far are both interesting and exactly what I was looking for. Unfortunately if Scawire rescinds his application that only leaves us with 3 applications, so i will leave this open until someone else decides to apply. In the meanwhile, Farothel, Kiirnodel and Stoneglobe, please get working on your characters. Standard model, and I will have a look at it and give you final instructions to fit the style of play once things are laid out.

In the meantime happy new year and remember, you are making for-profit cops ;)
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farothel

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« Reply #10 on: <01-06-17/0303:13> »
I have a calm week-end ahead, so I will try to get it done by Sunday.  I only hope this bug I'm struggling with doesn't break through. :(

Do we PM it to you, or post it here?
Also, it will be my first 5th edition character, so I might make some mistakes.  Please let me know if I do.
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
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HydroRaven

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« Reply #11 on: <01-06-17/0351:01> »
PM me for now and when everything is sorted out we can put it in the OOC thread.
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farothel

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« Reply #12 on: <01-06-17/1216:42> »
I have some more questions:
-do we get gear from Knight Errant, or do we have to buy all our gear ourselves (police officers often get some gear from the police department)?
-We all should have at least a national SIN in order to be able to get the job.  So I plan on taking at least that.  Do we get the karma for that or not?
-any qualities (positive and/or negative) we shouldn't take?
-As we are part of an organisation, I assume we have a group contact with the organisation?
-any other character creation things we need to know?

I'll start with my character as if we don't get anything and can take everything and I'll adapt as needed.
"Magic can turn a frog into a prince. Science can turn a frog into a Ph.D. and you still have the frog you started with." Terry Pratchett
"I will not yield to evil, unless she's cute"

HydroRaven

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« Reply #13 on: <01-06-17/2258:43> »
- Your gear will have been provided by KE but for the purposes of character generation you will pay for it from your funds.

- As you said, you MUST have a SIN, but you can use the karma from that quality. Anything else I will go on individual cases, and the more justification you can give me for the qualities the more chances I will approve.

-For contacts, things will be a little bit different. I want you to keep 2 lists of contacts, one being normal contacts that you purchase normally through chargen, and the second list of contacts will be your work contacts. Let me explain this second list further:


Contacts:
This second list of contacts are the people you need to impress. However, this list doesn't work the same as the normal contacts, with no loyalty/connection ratings. You are all detectives at this stage in your career (either you are relatively new or got demoted through whatever events), which is one step up from the recruit/entry rank. Above you is the sergeant, the lieutenant, the captain, the major and the chief of police. I will use a pyramid analogy to explain this scheme. Every case you clear will earn you one "Impression Point" with the person above you, which at the start will be your sergeant. For every 10 points you get one point from the person above them, like a pyramid. The more "Impression Points" you have with someone, the more responsive they will be to your requests for information/aid. If any of your cases ever get re-opened, it will cost you 2 "Impression Points" on top of a penalty to your salary. Your sergeant is called Mike Dobson and the lieutenant above him is Carla Fiore.

To get promoted, you need 1 point with the person 2 ranks above you (in this point in your career it would be the lieutenant). "Impression Points" is basically a gauge to know how much someone in the organization knows about you. It's a complement to your notoriety, which will be reserved to the streets.


Salary:
The base salary for a KE detective is ¥1,000 a month + ¥200 per case closed, with a ¥1,000 bonus if you close 7 cases in a month. Let me give you a quick price list of services available to you:
- blood test ¥10
- DNA analysis ¥20
- HTR ¥200
- Medical attention ¥50-¥150 (depending on the severity)
- Archives ¥5 (looking at files and past cases)

Other services will be added later on, or you can ask me.
« Last Edit: <01-06-17/2312:53> by HydroRaven »
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imperialus

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« Reply #14 on: <01-17-17/0849:10> »
If there is space I'd love to jump on board.  Gimme a day or two to hammer out a character concept.