[rednblack]

Re: Aden, I've been running into the same issue in the Sunt game.  Even without dealing with vampires who have been alive since at least the high medieval period, their powers can get pretty ridiculous pretty quickly, and I don't think the game mechanics are set up to accurately reflect the capabilities of a thousands year-old human by looking at the CRB's stats for immortal dragons.  Granted, the MAG 10 rating doesn't reflect increased Magic from Initiation, but even then the CRB suggests that as a baseline dragons will be mid-level initiates.  That doesn't seem to meld with what I'd consider a dragon to be capable of.  Additionally, many dragons are listed with sub 14 skills, which would be a surprise for the nearly unlimited Karma one would have earned over the millennia.

If I try to reason my way backward, the first thing that occurs to me is Training.  Certainly, many skills would be honed after hundreds of years "alive," but for many skills language, culture, travel, and his business and personal affairs would most likely keep Aden from maxing out every possible skill.  For most magician vampires I'd exempt all Magical skills from this theoretical limit, as they could boost their MAG with Essence from some poor sap, spend it to jack their magic rating, and then Summon and Bind a Spirit to assist with their studies, but Aden doesn't have this luxury.  Additionally, where were the Reagents in the fifth world?

Also, PCs get Karma for accomplishing goals against tough odds.  For a vampire, especially a 5th world vampire, he's lived most of his life outside the reach of much of anything that could hurt him.  In many ways, finding a meal would be little more difficult for Aden in 16th century Romania than it is for Chino at the Stuffer Shack conning his way with a fake SIN.  Ok, maybe Chino's a bad example, but. . . 

Anyway, I could see taking down Aden being akin to taking down a cyber zombie, or something of that nature.  It would be incredibly difficult, and nearly impossible for a party of 2, even when considering how powerful James and Illeana are, but with planning and the right trap, it's possible. 

On a completely unrelated note, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuCt8OqTbvY[here's] a link to a video where Tyreek Hill hits James-like speeds on his way to the end zone.  He makes 22 mph at around the 50 yard line, which is just over 29 meters per CT.  James would just surpass this with 4 hits on a Sprinting test per CT.  That chummer be fast.

I'm going to try to get an IC up today to at least give some of James' reaction.  I would imagine that Schwartzkopf isn't quite through with them, so I'll probably bring up to the point where we get our second audience. 

Hey, did the Unread Topics feature just disappear?

[Tecumseh]

What the "Unread Topics feature"? The boards are still marking which topics have unread messages, if that's what you're talking about. It's working for me.

Movement rates are goofy. A lot of it comes down to the fact that real-life people don't neatly fit onto a continuum of 6-7 points of Agility. Add in Initiative Passes as opportunities to roll Sprinting, and whether Edge should be included or not and you have a game mechanic that doesn't mirror real life very well. Plus, one of the old sourcebooks referred to Yogi Berra as a "proto-adept". While the context was humorous (it was quoting one of his many malpropisms), if you introduce the possibility that some of our modern-day physical freaks have a dash of magic then the system just unravels that much further. But, to your point, James should probably be running more like the T-1000 than Usain Bolt.

For what it's worth, the dragons listed in the CRB are not Great Dragons. The 4E book broke them out separately. If it helps, here's the 4E guidelines for upgrading to Great:

B+10, A+3, R+3, S+10, C+5, I+5, L+5, W+5, Mag+2
Conjuring +2, Sorcery +4

Schwartzkopf is not done with the pair yet. He'll want to hear more about the artifact, especially Illeana's impressions, but I didn't want to RP it all. That part can be handwaved / glossed over. I imagine him wanting to observe James too, perhaps not in the same way Ares did but rather to study his aura closely. That could take place over a matter of days rather than weeks or months. Where things go after that is up to us.

[Tecumseh]

IC is up. I tried posting it last night but the boards were having none of it.

Short of trying to geek Schwartzkopf with your bare hands, you have a fair amount of latitude in how you respond. We have a blank slate to work with, a tabula rasa if you will.

Here's the menu we're working from, should you wish to continue the course structure: https://www.alcron.cz/cz/menu/vecerni-menu.html

Specifically, the Studené menu (which means Cold) under Večerní (which means Evening). Google Translate is working well.

[rednblack]

Really nice IC post, Tec.  Atmospheric, a good set piece, and some really well done power dynamics on display.

I will keep up with the menu, but it may be another day or two before I get an IC up.  I'm trying to think exactly how James would react to all this.

I'm also thinking about next steps.  Prior to getting picked up by Ares, James and Illeana had planned on going to MIT&T, partially to feel out Schwartzkopf, but also to study.  I'm not sure how much Illeana has advanced on the studying front since we've been in Prague, and how that would play into any attempts on James' budding desire to immortality.  There's also a potential nanite avenue as far as that goes, but I figure that the nanites would be pleased with James' current physical form, and would want to actively work on preserving it, even if there are improvements to be made.

[Tecumseh]

Thanks. Rereading it, it seems a bit clipped in places, but there's a balance between smoothing all the sharp corners and adding the desired padding vs. keeping the proper pace and not losing momentum in the details.

OOCly, the goal is to help ease the constant concern of being black site'd by Ares. They can still be a lurking menace, but we can skip past the day-to-day concern of James being extracted or Illeana getting dusted.

Boston works for me. This Detroit + Prague interlude has only cost a few weeks total (September 3rd to 20th). This means Illeana has missed the registration deadline at MIT&T plus the first two weeks of classes. Realistically, that means that she's skipping Fall Term and her schedule is free for October through December. She can stay in Prague and study with Schwartzkopf or the action can return to the UCAS where she can go visit Salem and study with the Wiccans there. Both are reasonable options. We can skip forward in time as much as we want to.

[rednblack]

IC is up.  I got a bit lazy with the telling v. showing thing, but it should get the ball moving forward.

[Tecumseh]

Were you thinking of skipping forward in time at this point or was there anything else you wanted to do in Prague (or before leaving Europe)?

[rednblack]

I'm interested in running in Europe as I don't have much experience with it other than Berlin in SR Returns, so I'm not really sure what potential directions we could head in. Backing up Benandanti on an excursion or something of that ilk could be fun, and could potentially play in well with James' interest in paracritters or Illeana's studies, but if nothing springs to mind as potentially interesting we should just move along.

Let me sleep on it unless you have any ideas

[Tecumseh]

I know relatively little about Europe. Illeana might be interested in dropping in on some of your investments.

She'll agree to spend a month in Prague, after which she wants to return to the UCAS. She wants to spend Halloween in Salem, as that seems Wiccany. There's a full moon on 10/23/75 that she'll want to in Salem for so that she can participate in the Esbat rite.

How about this: I'll try to put something together for Europe while you're in charge of running Salem. That will give me a chance to RP Illeana without knowing what's going on behind the scenes.

[rednblack]

That sounds great.  I'll try to work something up for Salem.  Any books that may be worth looking at for that?

[Tecumseh]

Salem is mostly mentioned in passing. There's a bit in Lockdown but I haven't combed through that book very thoroughly yet.

Here are some links that mention Salem:

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/2076

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Damon

http://shadowrun.wikia.com/wiki/Witch

One possibility is to use Illeana's contact, "Daria", who is a member of Illeana's old coven. Daria was the one who provided intelligence (a photo, small dossier, etc.) that lead Illeana to find James in Aspen.

Per Ryo, Daria is coven-first and will be resentful that Illeana didn't bring the obelisk back to the coven. It is unlikely that Daria is Black Lodge herself but she is certainly being manipulated by them. Whether Daria cares or not is a different question. (I imagine that she doesn't mind as long as the coven benefits from the relationship, but Black Lodge is the reason Illeana turned on the coven. There might be some grey areas there to play with.)

[Tecumseh]

I'm still working on a the next plot. I think I have a direction and the rough outlines, but now I need a better objective and to fill in some of the personalities. Working in Europe means I have to do a lot more research than usual since I don't have all the background of the region readily available like I do with North America.

In the meantime, we're coming up on the one year anniversary of the game (January 20th). That also means that we haven't done karma in six months. I'll reread the Chapter III thread (Baltimore, Detroit, and Prague) and let you know once I've calculated it. Then we'll start Chapter IV.

[Tecumseh]

Karma award for Chapter III is 31.

Illeana has enough to Initiate. I'm not even sure what metamagics are on the wishlist but she's actively interested in how many quickened spells she can mask at a time (plus the extra die she earns for centering, shielding, etc. every time she initiates). She'll have some leftover but I'm not sure if I'll spend it or bank it.

I'll post a short conclusion to Chapter III in the near future before launching Chapter IV.

Edit: I'm not sure she can initiate right now. I think there's a rule where you can't Initiate more times that your Magic rating. I think I might have to raise Magic a couple times (ugh, 35+40 karma = 75 karma) before I can initiate again (another 34 karma). Expensive. I suppose that's motivation to start diversifying, but ICly Illeana is more interested in studying/specializing instead of diversifying.

Edit, Part II: Oh yeah, 15 knowledge karma too.

[Tecumseh]

Chapter III is now concluded. We'll start Chapter IV soon.

Randomizing Illeana's Essence: Essence roll: 2d6 4, guess I couldn't roll 12s forever

Looks like I already bought Magic 7 six months ago and just forgot about it. So I'll buy Magic 8 instead, and maybe I can initiate again in a chapter or two.

Her Magic will actually be 8 (6) due to her current Essence deficit.

I still have 43 knowledge karma too, which I should do something about.

[rednblack]

Out of curiosity, is a Slimworm canon, or something you came up with?  Nice name either way.  Much to my wife's chagrin I must have a prototype model.

Wowsers, so 31 karma, and 15 Knowledge-specific karma.  I think I'm going to buy into some Hacking, not that James will be able to do any heavy-lifting with it, but it's something that would've come in handy a few times already.  Doing so will stop me from getting to Edge 6, which would also be extremely useful, but there is the Strive for Perfections Quality from Assassin's Primer to consider.  That would set me back 24 Karma.  I don't have that book, but my understanding is that James would halve all penalties for Called Shots at the cost of always having to use Called Shots unless he's using Suppressive Fire.  Can you confirm that?

Anyway, it'll take me a day or three to plan out my Karma purchases, but I'll post them when they're finalized.

Also, today is the one year anniversary of the OOC thread, and we'll come to the one year anniversary of the IC thread this Friday.  Happy gaming, and thanks again for running such a cool campaign.  I look forward to the co-chaired GMing.  I've been reading up a lot on Wicca, and starting to pursue a couple angles there.