Shadowrun

Shadowrun Play => Play-by-Post => Topic started by: Lorebane24 on <08-27-18/1532:25>

Title: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-27-18/1532:25>
Reserved
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-27-18/1532:41>
Reserved
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-27-18/1612:40>
I hope you guys don't mind me taking a couple liberties with the accoutrements of the office for the first post.  We'll assume you've moved in recently, and that it's a refurbished space that's had a good going over and had vital systems and security touched up.  It's furnished as in Spade's model, but... it's still in the Barrens.  There will be some downtime after the first run where you can personalize it a little more once the characters have lived a little and we feel out how the party chemistry plays out.  So you've been installed here for about a week, and haven't had any jobs yet.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-27-18/1706:36>
"Jawsey" (Guujaw Thompson) -- Face, Astral habitué


Note: karma spent: 10 on attributes, 24 on qualities, 3 on bonding a focus, 13 on skills.
==========================
== Personal Data ==
Street Name: Jawsie
Name: Guujaw Thompson

Nuyen: 1339
Karma: 0
Street Cred: 0
Notoriety: 0
Public Awareness: 0

Elf
Movement: 8/16 (2m/hit)
Swim: 3 (1m/hit)
Composure: 13
Judge Intentions: 13
Lift/Carry: 5 (30 kg/20 kg)
Memory: 10

== Priorities ==
Metatype: C - Elf
Attributes: A - 24 Attributes
Special: D - Mage (2 magic, 1 skill at 2 (assensing), 3 "spells"
Skills: B - 36 Skills/5 Skill Groups
Resources: E - 6,000¥

== Attributes ==
BOD: 3
AGI: 4
REA: 4
STR: 2
CHA: 8
INT: 5
LOG: 5
WIL: 5
EDG: 4
MAG: 2

== Derived Attributes ==
Essence:                   6.00
Initiative:                9 +1d6
Rigger Initiative:         9 +1d6
Astral Initiative:         10 +3d6
Matrix AR:                 9 +1d6
Matrix Cold:               10 +3d6
Matrix Hot:                10 +4d6
Physical Damage Track:     10
Stun Damage Track:         11

== Limits ==
Physical:                  4
Mental:                    7
Social:                    9
Astral:                    9

== Active Skills ==
Asensing (aura reading)  Base: 6          Pool: 11 (13)
Astral Combat (wf: blades)Base: 6         Pool: 11 (13)
Computer                 Base: 0  Karma: 1          Pool: 6
Con                      Base: 6          Pool: 14
Disguise                 Base: 4          Pool: 9
Etiquette                Base: 5          Pool: 13
Gymnastics               Base: 1          Pool: 5
Impersonation            Base: 0  Karma: 1          Pool: 9
Leadership               Base: 5          Pool: 13
Melee (Swords)           Base: 1          Pool: 5 (7)
Navigation               Base: 0  karma : 1          Pool: 6
Negotiation              Base: 5          Pool: 13
Perception (hearing      Base: 1          Pool: 6 (8)
Running                  Base: 1          Pool: 3
Small Arms (M.Pistols)   Base: 1          Pool: 5 (7)
Sneaking                 Base: 4          Pool: 8
Spellcasting (manip)     Base: 1          Pool: 3 (5)
Summoning (Man)          Base: 1          Pool: 3 (5)
Swimming                 Base: 1          Pool: 3
Tracking                 Base: 0  karma: 1          Pool: 6

== Knowledge Skills ==
English: native
Lakota                Base: 6          Pool: 12
Haida                    Base: 4          Pool: 10
Japanese                 Base: 6          Pool: 12
Russian                  Base: 6          Pool: 12
Spanish                  Base: 6          Pool: 12
Sperethiel               Base: 4          Pool: 10
Architecture             Base: 3          Pool: 8
Faerie Courts            Base: 4          Pool: 9
Private Investigator     Base: 4          Pool: 9
Seattle Free Spirit Community Base: 1          Pool: 6
Seattle music scene      Base: 2          Pool: 7

== Contacts ==
Bowdash; (Seattle Downtown) Fixer (C4, L2)
Green Toes; (Seattle, Courts) Free Fae Spirit (C2, L2)
Mr. Jabowski; (Auburn); Mafia Lieutenant (C3, L2)
Adeline Peters; (Seattle) KE Forensic Magician (C2, L3)
Zwipe (Touristville) Ganger (C1, L3)
Free Contacts
Lysander; (Seattle?) Info Broker (C3, L2)
Five-Fingers Gao & Fenghuang; (Seattle?), Talismongers, (C3, L4)

== Qualities ==
Addiction, mild (Psyche) (4)
Alibi
Creature of Comfort (Middle)
Human-Looking
In Debt ( 5)
Infirm
Linguist
Low-Light Vision
Method Actor
Quick Healer
Records on File (MCT)

== Lifestyle ==
Medium (shared)

== Tradition ==
Shamanic, Resist Drain with: 13

== Spells ==
Astral Armor (mana, LOS, sustained, drain = F-2)
Levitate (physical, LOS, sustained, drain = F-2)

== Spirits ==
Spirit of Man (B+1, A+2, R+2, S-2, I+1 / Accident, concealement, Confusion, Enhanced Senses (low light, thermographic), guard, influence, search. / Optional: Fear, Innate spell, movement, phychokinesis)


== Armor ==
Armor Vest                         9
Good Suit                          0

== Weapons ==
Glock 51
   + Ceramic/Plasteel Components
   + Laser Sight
   Pool: 5 (7)   Accuracy: 6 (7)   DV: 7P   AP: -   RC: 2
Mortimer of London ‘Belgrave’ Sword Cane w/personalized grip
   Pool: 5/6 (7/8)     Accuracy: 6   DV: 5P      AP: -2   RC: n/a  <== Meat
   Pool: 12/13 (14/15) Accuracy: 6   DV: 10s/p   AP: -2   RC: n/a  <== Astral
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 3   Accuracy: 4   DV: 2S    AP: -   RC: n/a  <== Meat
   Pool: 12  Accuracy: 9   DV: 7S/P  AP: -   RC: n/a  <== Astral

== Commlink ==
MCT Blue Defender (rating 3 ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 1, FWL: 5)
   + wrist-band formfactor, Commlink Functionality [Camera, Micro, Chip Player, Credstick Reader, Earbuds, GPS Guidance System, Micro Trid-Projector, Music Player, RFID Tag Scanner, Shock- and Water-Resistant Case, Touchscreen Display]
Sony Angel (ATT: 0, SLZ: 0, DP: 1, FWL: 1)

== Gear: Equipped ==
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Machine Pistols) ×30
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Machine Pistols) ×60
Black Panther (2 doses)
Earbuds Rating 2
   + Sound Link
   + Select Sound Filter Rating 1
Fake SIN (Hector Vega) Rating 4
   + license (PI) rating 4
   + license (machine pistol) 4
   + license (blade) 4
Glasses Rating 3
   + Flare Compensation
   + Image Link
   + Magnification
Micro-Transceiver
Psyche (2 doses)
Reagents, per dram ×25
Tool Kit (Disguise)
Trodes
Weapon Focus (Bonded Foci) (Mortimer of London ‘Belgrave’ Sword Cane) Rating 1
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-27-18/1833:06>

Bobby „MadCat“ Walker (Amerindian)      
Remaining Karma: 5      
Priorities:      
Resources   E   
Magic   B   
Race   E   
Attributes   B   
Skills   A   
      
Attributes:      
BOD   5   
REA   2(5)   (10 Karma)
AGI   2   (10 Karma)
STR   3   
CHA   4   
INT   6   
LOG   3   
WIL   5   
EDG   2   
MAG   7   
ESS   6   
      
Limit:      
Phys   6   
Ment   6   
Soc   6(7)   
      
Qualities:      
Exceptional Attribute MAG   14   
Quick Healer   3   
Agile Defender   3   
Mentor Spirit (Beast aka: Shark) – Mentor‘s Mask   5   
      
Super Human Psychosis   -2   
National SIN (Sioux)   -5   
In Debt 4   -4   
Did you just call me dumb   -3   
Impassive   -7   
Poor Self Control (Thrill Seeker)   -4   
      
Skillgroups:      
Stealth   6   
Outdoors   4   
      
Skills:      
Unarmed (Tooth and Claw)   6(8)   +3
Spellcasting (Manipulation)   6(8)   
Gymnastics (Dodge)   6(8)   
Perception   6   
Intimidate (Mental)   6(8)   
Armorer (Armor)   1(3)   
Piloting Ground   1   
Pistols   6   
Assensing (Aura Reading)   4(6)   
      
Knowledge Skills:      
English (N)      
Lakota   6   
Arcana   6   
Magical Threats   4   
Underworld   3   
Zoology   5   
Military (Sioux)   3   

Fighting Styles:
OKICHITAW
 + Sweep
 + Counterstrike
      
Contacts:      
Talismonger (Bill Wildwater) 5/2      
Captain Razak (SDF) 4/3      
Lysander (Info Broker) 3/1
Livewire (Neo-Anarchist hacker) 3/3       
      
Adept Powers (Sioux Tradition):      
Killing Hands      
Increased Reflexes  3   3,5   
AGI Boost   0,25   
BOD Boost   0,25   
Astral Perception   1   
Adept Spell (Shapechange, Fetish)   1   
Heightened Concern   0,5   
Critical Strike   0,5   
Elemental Strike (Electricity)   0,5   
Demara   0,5   
      
Equipment   26000   
Fake SIN 2   -4000   
Armored Jacket   -1000   
 + ShockFrills   -250   
Critter Armor 12   -600   
 +Electrical Insulation 6   -1500   
 +Chemical Protection 6   -1500   
Critter Googles R6   -300   
 +Persona Mod (2 Electronic Packs)   -500   
 +Flare compensation   -250   
 +Low Light Vision   -500   
 +Visual Enhancement R3   -1500   
Comlink R1   -100   
Trodes   -70   
Respirator R6   -300   
Survival Kit   -200   
Fetish   -2000   
Livestyle Medium (Shared)   -1900   
1/4 of the Team Car -4000   
Reagents 50   -1000   
Stealth Tags 30   -30   
Medkit R3   -1500   
Miniwelder    -250   
Defiance Ex Shocker   -250   
 +Laser Sight   -125   
 +Quickdraw Holster   -175   
 + 20 Taser Darts   -100   
 +Peronalized Grip   -100   
Luggage (good) (Backpack)   -100   
 + Roll of duct tape   -5   
Amorer Toolkit   -500   
Microtransceiver -100
      
Money on Hand   1925   


Background:

Recruiting Interview with Specialist Robert Walker:
Son of War Shaman Yanni "Dark Crow" Walker and Environmental Engineer Elisabeth Miller (official resident).
Born August 12th 2051 in Cheyenne.
Developed strong physical magical talent during highschool, was recruited into Sioux Defense Forces at age 17, recommended for special training at 18. Completed tour of duty at [Classified] and [Classified], talent for infiltration and scout duties. Recommended for special operations, recommendation rescinded due to disciplinary problems.
Barred from further promotions, honorable discharge in 2073. Assessment by Shaman Bill Whitewater indicates severe totemic influence over personality and/or corrupted totem (Hunger/Wendigo classification).
Self employed tourist guide, private detective and suspected mercenary work.
Currently in debted to the Tiošpaye.

Assessment: Ready for recruitment

Cpt. Razak: Mr. Walker, how are you? It's been a while since we met.
Robert Walker: Yeah, long time no see... Could be better, could be worse. Anyone still alive from the 16th?
CR: The 16th never dies - though no, no-one you'd know is still around. I heard you had some trouble recently? Something about a lost consignment for the extended Family?
RW: You looking for trouble? Cause asking stuff like that is a quick way to getting digested by coyotes. I've got nothing to do with those assholes since Charlie took over.
CR: Fair enough. But you are still looking for gainful employment, aren't you? See kid, I always had a week spot for you and your abilities. A real shame that those pencil pushers couldn't overlook that little scuffle you had with Seargent What's-his-name.
RW: Ha. Asshole deserved it.
CR: Well, maybe you didn't have to turn into a Chimpanzee, knock him out and throw your own feces at him.
RW: Didn't have to - wanted.
CR: *Sigh* - Just for your information, it took me considerable effort to prevent them from just throwing you into prison and losing the key. The honorable discharge was the best I could do for you.
RW: And my eternal gratitude it has ensured. What do you want? I've got a child's birthday party to entertain and need to get into character soon.
CR: How would you like to work for a real PI agency? In Seattle. A regular income, no troubles with the NAN authorities, interesting jobs and a new start?
RW: Yeah - what's the catch?
CR: From time to time you'd be approached by someone who gives you a job you can't refuse - still payed of course.
RW: So black ops on forreign soil? Eh, what the hell, I'm in. At least it can't be as boring as the shit I do right here...
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <08-27-18/2316:02>
Meet Amy Maka, a hybrid Anglo Sioux aspected mage. (and a bit of a decker).

Born to a Sioux father and an Anglo mother, Amy Maka did not find her place in either of the worlds.  She grew up on a reservation and felt discrimination by so-called native Sioux.  Her father kept in touch occasionally and would take Amy Maka with him to some father-daughter activity. Together, they enjoyed off-road driving and, target practice.  Daddy loved his firearms, and Amy Maka loved her father, so she rigorously practiced driving and shooting. It gave them something to do together.

Her mother did not like that kind of influence and encouraged Amy Maka to study hard and get a real job in the computing industry.  Amy did so and discovered a natural talent for hacking things and advanced computer usages. Her first job was performing extensive matrix research on various topics, for students that were too lazy or too incompetent to do it themselves. Opportunities for the SINless where quite limited, so this was as good as life could get. It was not bad, she had to parents that no longer loved each other, but the two of them liked her, and she made enough to sustain herself.

Her lucky break was in her late teens when she awakened. Such a gift offered a hope to break out of poverty, and such hoped justified going to great length. Namely, it justified sending Amy Maka away. Her mother sent her away to a nearby tribe to get some magical education.  She was under the guidance of Shaman Dancing Bear.  Traditional hard-core Sioux shamanism - from a tribe that refused to use modern technology.  She did not fit very well in that tradition as well. First, she showed no conjuring capabilities - which was a disappointment. Second, when she finally found a totem, it was not the mighty Bear, the noble Eagle or the restless Horse, not at all it was - the Spider. It did not quite fit, and Amy Maka did not speak much about her mentor.

Maka's first boyfriend was a traditionalist Sioux man, a hunter.  She loved him deeply, and the two planned to run off to Seattle and get married. Things did not end up very well for the two. Their connection was frowned upon by Crying Fox's parents. Maka being an unusual magic practitioner made it even worse, instead of a holy woman - she was foreign-alien.  The family did not have it - his terrible big brother caught the two lovers together and beat Crying Fox unconscious. Maka could do something to help him; she was a sorcerer, she had a gun nearby.

She froze in terror, too naked, too ashamed and too surprised. A lifetime of training with firearms, years of magic education, and she did nothing. Worse than nothing, she ran away and hid in nearby bushes.  She watched the entire drama without interfering.  If there was one thing worse than looking like an Anglo and having strange magic - it was to be a coward.  So she left, running away from her family from her boyfriend, and finding herself in Seattle. She suffered for being an 'Anglo' why not listen to them? Perhaps she'll find a home in Seattle...

It was difficult to stand up on her two feet; first, she needed to reach  Seattle illegally, which was expensive. Second, she needed a fake SIN for the first time in her life, which was more expensive.  Third, she needed work to pay off her debit, but legitimate work did not pay well enough,  and she did not have the connections to do anything else.  Amy Maka ended up being indebted to the people that brought her. Luckily for her, instead of killing her for being so hopeless to finish off her debit, they decided to use her and allowed her to pay the interest on the debt with shadow jobs. It was only in Seattle when Amy Maka became a real criminal.  (but being a criminal was better than being a prostitute, so she had that pride.)

She found the job at an agency funded by the Sioux nation to be a lifeline to some badly needed cash and connections that could help her pay her debts. They did not need to blackmail her. The hope of breaking free from the Mafia was enough to have her intrigued.  However, blackmail was on the table if she misbehaved, and Amy Maka was not sure how her father would react if he heard of her behavior. Would he disown her?  He must never find out.

Also, in a way despite anything, Amy Maka was a Sioux patriot. She got that from her father,  she did not plan to be such a coward.  Though, if he beat his brother so severely, what would he do to her? That Wildcat brother terrified Amy Maka still, after all these years.  Perhaps, working for the government, she'll prove to herself,  that she was no longer a cowered. Though, she could never imagine going back.

character sheet.
[spoiler]
== Personal Data ==
Name: Amy Maka Green            Alias:
Elf, Female                     
Movement: 10/20 (2m/hit)                 
Swim: 3 (1m/hit)                     
50, 170                         Composure: 10
Street Cred: 0                  Judge Intentions: 10
Notoriety: 0                    Lift/Carry: 2 (15 kg/10 kg)
Public Awareness: 0             Memory: 10
Karma: 5                        Nuyen: 93¥
Age: 30                         Skin: white
Eyes: Green                     Hair: Blonde
Primary Arm: Right             

== Priorities ==
Metatype: C,2
Attributes: B,3
Special: D,1
Skills: A,4
Resources: E,0

== Attributes ==
BOD: 1                          CHA: 5
AGI: 5                          INT: 5
REA: 4                          LOG: 5
STR: 1                          WIL: 5
EDG: 2                          MAG: 5

== Derived Attributes
Essence: 6.00                   Initiative:          9 +1d6
Physical Damage Track: 9        Rigger Initiative:   9 +1d6
Stun Damage Track:              11Astral Initiative:   10 +3d6
Physical: 3                     Matrix AR:           9 +1d6
Mental: 7                       Matrix Cold:         6 +3d6
Social: 7                       Matrix Hot:          6 +4d6
   Vashon Island: Ace of Cups [+1] (Must be visible)
Astral: 7

 == Active Skills ==
Assensing (Aura Reading)        Base: 3  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 8 (10)
Computer                        Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 11
Con                             Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 11
Counterspelling                 Base: 3  + Karma: 2  = 5   Pool: 10
Disguise                        Base: 3  + Karma: 0  = 3   Pool: 10
Etiquette                       Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 9
Hacking (Personas)              Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 11 (13)
Impersonation (Human)           Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6 (8)
Leadership                      Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 9
Negotiation                     Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 9
Palming                         Base: 3  + Karma: 0  = 3   Pool: 10
Perception                      Base: 5  + Karma: 0  = 5   Pool: 10
Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled)    Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 10 (12)
Pistols (Machine Pistols)       Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 11 (13)
Ritual Spellcasting             Base: 3  + Karma: 2  = 5   Pool: 10
Sneaking                        Base: 3  + Karma: 0  = 3   Pool: 10
Software (Data Bombs)           Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6 (8)
Spellcasting                    Base: 3  + Karma: 2  = 5   Pool: 10

 == Knowledge Skills ==
English                         Native
Lakota                          Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 7
Sperethiel                      Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 7
Arcana                          Base: 6  + Karma: 0  = 6   Pool: 11
Area Knowledge: Seattle         Base: 4  + Karma: 0  = 4   Pool: 9
Art                             Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6
Data Havens                     Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6
Gaming                          Base: 1  + Karma: 0  = 1   Pool: 6
Music (Classical)               Base: 2  + Karma: 0  = 2   Pool: 7 (9)

 == Qualities ==
Aspected Magician
Big Regret (Not Saving Friend)
Code of Honor (Harmony With Nature)
Dedicated Spellslinger
Focused Concentration ( 5)
In Debt ( 8)
Low-Light Vision
Mentor Spirit (Spider (Alt))
Phobia (Common, Mild) (Rats)
Poor Self Control (Thrill Seeker)

 == Tradition ==
Shamanic, Resist Drain with  10

 == Spells ==
Fling (Limited)          DV: F-4
Growth (Limited)         DV: F+1
Heal                     DV: F-4
Increase [Attribute] (INT)DV: F-3
Increase [Attribute] (LOG)DV: F-3
Increase [Attribute] (CHA)DV: F-3
Influence (Limited)      DV: F-3
Levitate                 DV: F-2
Makeover                 DV: F-3
Watcher                  DV: Special

 == Lifestyle ==
Group Lifestyle (Medium) 1  Month
   + Grid Subscription (Local Grid)
   + Grid Subscription (Public Grid)

 == Armor ==
Armor Jacket                       12
Vashon Island: Ace of Cups         9

 == Weapons ==
Throwing Knife
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 3     DV: 2P       AP: -1    RC: 2
Unarmed Attack
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 3     DV: 1S       AP: -     RC: 2
Urban Tribe Tomahawk
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 4     DV: 3P       AP: -1    RC: 2
Walther P118
   + Advanced Safety System, Basic
   + Electronic Firing
   + Extended Clip
   + Gas-Vent 2 System
   + Safe Target System, Base
   + Smartgun System, Internal
   + Trigger Removal
   + Weapon Commlink
   Pool: 4      Accuracy: 5 (8) DV: 7P       AP: -     RC: 5

 == Commlink ==
Erika MCD-1 (ATT: 2, SLZ: 3, DP: 1, FWL: 4)
   + Sim Module, Hot
   + Universal Connector Cord (Meter)
   + Commlink Functionality [Camera, Micro, Chip Player, Credstick Reader, Earbuds, GPS Guidance System, Micro Trid-Projector, Music Player, RFID Tag Scanner, Shock- and Water-Resistant Case, Touchscreen Display]
   + Vectored Signal Filter
   + Program Carrier (Virtual Machine)
   + Browse
   + Edit
   + Encryption
   + Search
   + Signal Scrub
   + Toolbox
   + Exploit
   + Decryption
   + Wrapper
   + Smoke and Mirrors

== Gear: Equipped ==
Ammo: Regular Ammo (Machine Pistols) ×28
Black Panther
Fake SIN (Amy White) Rating 3
Fetish (Earring)
Govi Rating 6
Reagents, per dram (Shamanic) ×10
Stealth Tags
Throwing Knife ×2
Trodes
Urban Tribe Tomahawk

 == Contacts ==
Janet (Infobroker), Dime (Connection: 3, Loyalty: 1)

Kira Black (Decker), (Connection: 3, Loyalty: 2)

Tom Jones (Go-Ganger), (Connection: 3, Loyalty: 3)

== GM contacts ==
- Johnny Morad – Arms Dealer (Connection 3, Loyalty 3)
- Five-Fingers Gao & Fenghuang – Talismongers (Connection 3, Loyalty 1)
- Fagin – Grey Market Item Delivery - (Connection 3, Loyalty 1)


Kira 'OOO' Benson
Known in the matrix as triple O, or Black (due to the RGB value ofBlack).  Kira is a phenomenal decker and does some teaching on the side.  Kira is nowadays laying low as an electronic shop owner in Redmond's barrens. Amy Maka (AM), knows her due to a previous shadow work. She made Kira her hero, and mentor and the two often meet during the matrix so she can study. Like any relationship, Black's way of teaching is an apprenticeship which means that Kira does some decking, computer research or even provides overwatch for free. In return,  she gets instruction, repairs to her deck and the ability to network with Black's contacts.  She does get paid when the job is illegal or extra tedious though.  Except for job, once in a while, usually after a generous payday, the two go out drinking and dancing.  The two are not friends yet, but few people know Black as a decker, and out of these she finds AM as pleasant to be around. 

Janet 'Dime' Butler
It is Janet's job to know things, anything - information is her preferred currency, and the most valued service she performs.  AM met her in her years at the Sioux and used her services from time to time when she could not find enough information herself - or when she sold stolen data.  Janet likes artwork, especially AR/VR modern art. AM met her once at such virtual art gallery.

Tom Jones
Tom Jones (TJ) is a collector, leg-breaker, and ganger. While not strictly a Mafiosi he is in bed with them, and usually does some of their dirty work.  AM met him when he beat the crap out of her for missing out on a payment. 
This was one of the most traumatic experiences for AM, and she vowed that it would never happen again.

How the two grew closer? Well, being so desperate and about to be hit again AM convinced TJ to take some barter from him. She'll help him impress some girl he was after, and he'll give her some more time. AM pimped him up and added a dash of magic - and TJ kept coming and even paying for AM's services. He still required collecting the debt, but would usually give her some leeway.  You could say that AM is one of TJ's contacts, tough AM sees herself capable of asking for favors - and expecting cooperation due to their now regularized relationship.

Non-contact people.

Crying Fox -
Her (almost) husband, ex-boyfriend. AM had left things unresolved between the two when she fleed Sioux and has never looked back, contacted or called. She left him, without a word, physically and digitally disappearing as if she never existed.  Why? AM asked herself many times why. In part because she was ashamed, unworthy of his love. In part, because she did not want him to sacrifice his family, his tribe for her.  In part because she was afraid that she would be next.

Crying Wolf
Crying Fox's brother, a Wildcat. AM knows very little of him, but he is the stuff of horror for her. His narrow-mindedness and stigma have ripped her away from the last (and only) time AM was happy.

Dancing Bear (Beer)
Dancing Bear (also known as 'Beer') is a Sioux (full mage) shaman, and a spiritual leader of a small traditionalist Sioux community; he trained  AM and taught her the ropes into developing her talent. Sadly, she was aspected to sorcery that while useful, does not carry the culturally valued. To AM he is almost a father figure a person that introduced her into a world of wonder, and awe. 

He is known as Beer, due to a pact he has with a powerful spirit. That requires him (so he says) to consume a lot of beer - both in his rituals and in his offerings.  He could also be an alcoholic - and the objective truth may be somewhere in the middle.

Rina Gold
AM's mother, an unregistered citizen of the Sioux nation, earning her living from teaching computers at an elementary school. She grew AM up and kept her out of troubles. In a few occasions, she even bribed a lawman to look the other way when AM was caught 'existing' without certificates.  Her love and dedication have made AM what she is today.

Yahto Gem
AM's father, married to another woman whom AM has never met, and has a family of his own. Unexpectedly, Yahto made an effort to have a connection to AM. He paid for much of her upbringing arriving at night to visit her mother, and on occasion when he had business trips, he took AM with him on long drives. He taught her to drive, and to shoot with small arms. Skills which he considered a must-have but Rina would never want AM to have.

AM keeps in touch with her parents, but they think that she is a secretary.

Interview
https://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=27929.msg504867#msg504867
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-28-18/0116:25>
Name: Mato
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Nationality: Sioux
Ancestry: Sioux
Lifestyle: Medium, shared
Money: ¥725
Karma Spent: 20 karma
Current Karma: 5 karma
Physical Description: Mato is an Sioux ork with obvious cyberlimbs. He has matte black cyberarms and cyberlegs. The cyberlegs are as sleek as a Eurocar Westwind 3000 and probably cost just as much. The arms aren't quite as polished and show more signs of wear but are still serious tech.

Attributes
BodyAgilityReactionStrength
410 for all limbs       5 (8)12 right arm, 10 left arm, 5 legs       
LogicIntuitionWillpower       Charisma
2642
EdgeMagicEssenceInitiative
500.041d6 + 14
Physical l.Mental l.Social l.Astral l.
11 left arm, 12 right arm, 8 legs       52N/A
Physical boxStun boxOverflow
0 of 80 of 100

Positive Qualities
NameNotes
Agile DefenderUse AGI for Full Defense
Biocompatability (Cyberware)-10% Essence costs
Jack of All Trades, Master of None       different karma costs for advancing skills
Perfect TimeExtra Free Action, always knows the time to the minute
Redliner+2 AGI, +2 STR, fewer Physical condition monitor boxes

Negative Qualities
NameNotes
Family CurseEasier to get addicted
ImpassiveLower Social Limit
In Debt IIOwe ¥15,000 to Koshari, 10% due per month
Lightweightdescription
SINner (National)     Sioux Nation, 15% due in taxes


Active Skills
Skill (Spec)Rating          Notes
Automatics (SMGs)5 (7)smartlink
Locksmith (Maglocks)5 (7)
Perception (Visual)5 (7)sensors
Sneaking (Indoors)5 (7)
Thrown Weapons (Blades)5 (7)
Unarmed Combat (Cyber Implants)     5 (7)
Melee Weapons5
Disguise (Camouflage)1 (3)
Etiquette (Corporate)1 (3)
Gymnastics (Leaping)1 (3)
Pilot Ground Craft (Wheeled)       1 (3)
Tracking (Urban)1 (3)
Armorer1
Computer1
Con1
Intimidation1
Palming1
Running1
Survival1
Swimming1

Knowledge Skills
Area Knowledge: Sioux Nation (Butte)     3 (5)
Area Knowledge: Seattle    3
Cybertechnology (Cyberlimbs)     3 (5)
Business (Finance)3 (5)
Firearms (Automatics)2 (4)

Language Skills
English     N
Lakota3
Or'zet3

Cyberware/Bioware
NameCost     Notes
Bilateral Coordination Co-processor0.20Ambidexterity
Damper0.09+2 dice pool bonus to resisting sonic attacks, including flashbangs
Nephritic screen R50.25+5 drug addiction tests, Toxin Resistance tests, and Disease Resistance tests
Olfactory Booster R40.18+4 Smelling Perception
Reaction Enhancers R3 (Used)1.04+3 Reaction
Sleep Regulator0.10Sleep 3 hours per night
Obvious Full Arm, Used (AGI 10, STR 10, Physical 11) (Left)     1.15Customized Agility R6, Enhanced Agility R2, Customized Strength R8, Submachine Gun, Sound Suppressor, Armor R3
Obvious Full Arm, Used (AGI 10, STR 12, Physical 12) (Right)     1.15Customized Agility R6, Enhanced Agility R2, Customized Strength R8, Enhanced Strength R2, Spurs, Shock Hand, Cyberware Scanner R5, Armor R3
Obvious Full Leg (AGI 10, STR 5, Physical 8) (Left)     1.15Customized Agility R6, Enhanced Agility R2, Hydraulic Jacks R6, Skimmers, Radar Sensor R4, Smuggling Compartment, Armor R2
Obvious Full Leg (AGI 10, STR 5, Physical 8) (Right)     1.15Customized Agility R6, Enhanced Agility R2, Hydraulic Jacks R6, Skimmers, Internal Air Tank R3, Smuggling Compartment, Armor R2

Contacts
Contact     Profession     C/L     
Heather Huxley     Street DocC3 / L3
Tricky NickyIdentity Broker/Forger     C3 / L3

Armor
Armor Jacket (armor 12)
     - Chemical Resistance 4
     - Fire Resistance 4
     - Non-Conductivity 4

Ballistic Mask (+2 armor)
     - trodes
     - gas mask
     - Vision Enhancement R3

Zoé: Executive Suite (armor 12)
     - Custom Fit
     - Newest Model

Weapons
AK-97
   + Gas-Vent 3 System
   + Personalized Grip
   + Shock Pad
   + Smartgun System, Internal
     - Acc 5 (8), 10P, AP -2
     - RC 7 (8), 38(c), SA/BF/FA, Conceal +6
     - Ranges: 25 / 150 / 350 / 550
 
Cyber Submachine Gun
   + Smartgun System, Internal
     - Acc 4 (6), 7P, AP 0
     - RC 4 (houserule), 18(m)/32(c), SA/BF
     - Ranges: 10 / 40 / 80 / 150
 
Ingram Smartgun X
   + Gas-Vent 2 System
   + Smartgun System, Internal
   + Sound Suppressor
     - Acc 4 (7), 8P, AP 0, Conceal +2
     - RC 7 (houserule), 32(c), BF/FA
     - Ranges: 10 / 40 / 80 / 150

Ammo: APDS (Submachine Guns) ×80
Ammo: APDS (Assault Rifles) ×80
Ammo: Explosive Rounds (Submachine Guns) ×80
Ammo: Explosive Rounds (Assault Rifles) ×80
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Submachine Guns) ×80
Ammo: Gel Rounds (Assault Rifles) ×80
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Submachine Guns) ×80
Ammo: Stick-n-Shock (Assault Rifles) ×80

Grenade: Flash-Bang x5
     - 10S, AP -4, 10m radius
Grenade: Fragmentation x5
     - 18P(f), AP +5, -1P/meter
Grenade: Gas (Pepper Punch) x5
     - 18P(f), AP +5, -1P/meter
Grenade: High Explosive x5
     - 16P, AP -2, -2P/meter
     - Ranges: 24 / 48 / 96 / 180

Shuriken x5
     - Acc 12, 13P, AP -1
     - Ranges: 12 / 24 / 60 / 84

Throwing Knives x5
     - Acc 12, 13P, AP -1
     - Ranges: 12 / 24 / 36 / 60

Shock Hand
     - Acc 12, 9S(e), AP -5

Spurs
     - Acc 12, 15P, AP -2


Gear
Autopicker R6
Bug Scanner R6
Contacts R3
   + Image Link
   + Smartlink
   + Flare Compensation
C-Squared Rating 6 ×5
Earbuds R3
   + Sound Link
   + Audio Enhancement R2
Flashlight, Low-light
Gecko Tape Gloves
Glasses R4
   + Vision Enhancement R3
   + Thermographic Vision
Jammer, Area R4
Lockpick Set
Medkit R6
Medkit Supplies
Micro-Transceiver
Miniwelder
Restraint, Plasteel ×5
Sequencer R4
Slap Patch, Stim Patch R6 ×2
Slap Patch, Tranq Patch R6 ×2
Slap Patch, Trauma Patch ×1
Survival Kit
Tag Eraser
Tool Kit (Hardware) for maglocks

Fake SIN ("Dirk Magnum", UCAS National) R4
   + Fake License (Blades)
   + Fake License (SMG)
   + Fake License (Assault Rifles)
   + Fake License (Optical & Imaging Devices (contacts w/ smartlink))
   + Fake License (B&E Gear)
   + Fake License (Driver's License)
   + Fake License (Private Investigator License)

Fake SIN ("Tex Shaft", UCAS National) R1

Commlink
Transys Avalon
   + Subvocal Mic
   + Trodes
Meta Link

Subscriptions
¥1,350/month
AR Fashion Subscription, Business
CarnivoreGold: linguistic database and code-breaking software
MonaLisa: facial recognition software
Pheromone Detection
Thermal Mood Reading: assists Judge Intentions
Vocal Tension Lie Detection: also assists Judge Intentions

Team Vehicle
Ford Americar
   + Amenities (High)
   + Anti-Theft System (Rating 2)
   + GridLink Override
   + Manual Control Override
   + Morphing License Plate
   + Spoof Chips
   + Smuggling Compartment

Karma Log
11/16/18 - Spent 6 karma (Jack of All Trades) on Intimidation 1, Palming 1, Running 1, Swimming 1, Palming 1, Survival 1
11/16/18 - Spent 14 karma on Thrown Weapons (Blades) and Unarmed Combat (Cyber Implants) specializations
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <08-28-18/1323:37>
I assume Beta would like to do a negotiation roll in the next few posts. So to speed things I'll have my cooperation roll done already - so Beta would know how many dice to roll.

Negotiation (teamwork) (http://orokos.com/roll/656283): 13d6t5 6
So, up to +6 dice, depending on his skill levels in negotiations  (if I recall correctly he only has a skill level of 5.)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-28-18/1347:54>
I assume Beta would like to do a negotiation roll in the next few posts. So to speed things I'll have my cooperation roll done already - so Beta would know how many dice to roll.

Negotiation (teamwork) (http://orokos.com/roll/656283): 13d6t5 6
So, up to +6 dice, depending on his skill levels in negotiations  (if I recall correctly he only has a skill level of 5.)

Thanks Gilga, agreed we shouldn't dilly-dally too long before finding out how much he'll help keep our various debtors at bay!  But I'm going to wait to get an initial round of answers out of him.

@Lorebane: a very ooc question for you.  Will we do this the more classic SR way (Johnson makes an offer, we roll negotiate, etc).  Or like a PI agency should it be "Here is our standard prices, we'll need at least 500 up front" type of thing, and we'll work out the pay based on time taken and other things that might be in the price list?

====================
asensing: read aura (11+2) (http://orokos.com/roll/656290): 13d6t5 2

Well, not inspiring for my first roll of his signature ability, but enough to see emotional state anyway.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-28-18/1438:25>
Hadnt thought of that.  This guy is about to kust make an offer, but you could ertainly put a pricing pla  together for future jovs.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-28-18/1529:26>
@Lorebane: note the asensing roll two posts up :)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-28-18/1615:40>
Per the House Rules doc, I'm going to purchase hits if that's not cheesy (GM discretion):

Perception (Visual): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Specialization 2 + Visual Enhancement 3 = 16 dice = 4 hits for visual
Perception (Audio): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Audio Enhancement 2 = 13 dice = 3 hits for audio
Perception (Scent): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Olfactory Sensors 4 = 15 dice = 3 hits for smelling
Cyberware Scanner: Rating 5 = 5 dice = 1 hit (enough for standard cyberware and weapons, per the table on p. 362 of SR5)
Judge Intentions: Charisma 2 + Willpower 4 + Thermal Mood Reading 2 + Vocal Tension Lie Detection 2 = 10 dice = 2 hits (although Jawsey will be much better at this if he wants to use these hits for a Teamwork test)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-28-18/1940:55>
Spam bots seem to be back.  Should we plan a contingency in case the forum goes down again tomorrow?  I'd really hate to get locked out right as we're getting off the ground.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-28-18/2000:29>
Step 1 is to save the relevant threads periodically so that we don't lose anything. The "Print" button in the bottom-right corner is a godsend for this, which I then Save As HTML files.

Step 2 is to establish a backup site where we can meet if the site is down for an excessively long period of time. I think everyone is at www.rpgplayroom.net. (I just now registered as a back-up measure.) Jack said that he has limited mod rights on RPG Playroom and could set up the relevant threads if necessary. We can message each other over there.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-28-18/2044:36>
One thing it occurs to me to mention, mostly because you guys are vets and seem pretty lore-savvy is that there are a lot of portions of the game canon that I am probably less familiar with than you.  I've filled in a few blanks that may not be kosher, but I hope you guys can run with it.  There may be certain "possibilities" that have been hinted at in rulebooks but not confirmed, and I go with that interpretation.  There may be a few other things I've read about in passing but have tweaked in my own headcanon - sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, sometimes a rockstar just got mugged on the way home from a concert.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-29-18/0129:02>
Mato has the MonaLisa program from Cutting Aces, so he'll try running both the father and the son through it to see if he can find their identities.

Quote
MonaLisa: This facial recognition database grants +2
dice pool modifier on Computer (Matrix Search) + Logic
Tests to identify an unknown individual’s image through
various Matrix databases.

Logic 2 + Computer 1 + MonaLisa 2 = 5 dice = 1 hit if I'm buying successes
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-29-18/0213:32>
Just giving my attempt of teamwork through intimidation.
Intimidate (http://orokos.com/roll/656486): 12d6t5 3
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-29-18/1025:59>
@Lorebane:. To limit how much time we spend on dialogue (always a challenge in PbP), are you ok with me moving to a summary post (" They spent some more time drilling for details, then finally haggled on price" type of thing), and a negotiate roll?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-29-18/1150:57>
Yeah, probably a good idea.  I'll put one up after I finish up this assignment.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-29-18/1314:01>
Lorebane, there's no built-in roller on this site so most of use Orokos.

http://orokos.com/roll/?action=roll

(Not sure if you have to create an account first.)

The format for the Dice to Roll field is #d6t5 with d6 being the type of dice and the t5 for the target number of 5. Don't ask me about exploding 6s because I always get the syntax wrong; I just do another separate roll if I spend Edge to Push the Limit.

Then, once you have the results, there's a subtle "link bbcode" link below that opens up a box that makes it very easy to copy-and-paste the results into the forum here. Plus, all roll results are recorded for each user (and campaign) to prevent players from rolling multiple times and cherrypicking the best one.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-29-18/1340:39>
Exploding dice can be got with
xd6h5
And yeah, you have to register. It's the only reliable roller since invisible castle went the way of the dodo

Edit: Also, my offplay suggestion is to get him to increase the price by another 7000, so each of us has 8000. After expenses everyone of us should be able to reduce their debts a bit and also renew the gear that we are pretty certainly about to damage/lose when we tangle with the Halloweeners.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-29-18/1717:07>
Negotiate roll:

Negotiate (8ch+5neg+5teamwork) (http://orokos.com/roll/656660): 18d6t5 4

Sigh, got to love it when the teamwork roll gets more successes than the final roll.  A frag it, using edge to re-roll fails (we all need the money):

re-roll fails on negotiate (http://orokos.com/roll/656661): 14d6t5 3

For a total of seven successes.  Some days the dice just don't love ya, but in the end hopefully that is enough to improve the bid a bit.

Will try to add an IC post shortly.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-29-18/1723:16>
Brutal rolling so far. We have 18 hits on 70 dice, or 26%. We might as well be buying hits. That's like 7th percentile rolling.

gilga is the only one who has had an above-average roll so far.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-29-18/1751:01>
Hey, isn't that traditional (horrible luck) in the opening chapters of pulp/noir detective stories?  Orokos is just keeping us on theme ;-)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-29-18/1803:38>
Eh, we'll just have to do some looting to keep the lights on :D
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-29-18/1857:59>
The last time I used Orokos in a game I rolled 28% for my first 500 dice. That's 27 hits that were missing. I thought for sure the starter mission was going to kill me, especially when I rolled 3 hits on 27 dodge dice (1 hit on 14 followed by 2 hits on the 13 that I Edge rerolled).

I started to regress to the mean after that, but even after 2,300+ dice my cumulative rolling didn't even get back to 32%.

Edit: grammar
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-31-18/1133:25>
So who has Killcode (I know Beta does), and what do you guys think about it?  I'm still trying to absorb a lot of it, but here are my knee-jerk reactions.

New matrix actions - I love almost all of these (I'm not sure how I feel yet about the one that lets you ignore needing marks).  I think it's cool that they give more options for hackers who want to focus more on their computers and data processing stats, which also seems like an indirect quality-of-life buff to technos.  These are pretty much all kosher.

New matrix gear - my knee-jerk reaction to this one, mostly cause they're brand new, is that they exist in the world, but aren't readily known or available, because it's mostly trickling down from corporate R&D teams and isn't common knowledge on the streets yet - most people don't even know to look for these things.  So a few NPCs may have them, but access to this gear will open up as time goes on and you unlock better/improved contacts.

Technos - Still reading.  I'm bad at spotting things that are immediately problematic, but it sounds like cyberadepts could have some issues that may need to be addressed?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1139:57>
I have it, but haven't gotten past the table of contents yet (I have a backlog of things to read right now, so I may not really get into it for a week or two).

Also: apologies for quite simple posts this week.  Been fighting a combination of a cold and work things, so really was making minimal posts.  Bad timing, what with negotiations being part of Jawsey's focus, but as I'd said in my first post in joining the game, these first few weeks may be a bit light from me while I'm transitioning between two jobs.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-31-18/1141:45>
I'm in the same position as Beta. I read PDFs incredibly slowly. I think I'm only on page 55 of Street Lethal.

I'll try to skim Kill Code today.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1223:25>
I'm in the same position as Beta. I read PDFs incredibly slowly. I think I'm only on page 55 of Street Lethal.

I'll try to skim Kill Code today.

For what it is worth, I found pdfs a LOT easier to read once I got a slightly-larger-than-typical sized e-reader (I think it is a 7.8" diagonal?  It is just big enough to make pdf readable.)  Not the best for looking things up, but for sitting down and reading start to end I find it far, far, more friendly than on a laptop.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-31-18/1425:56>
I don't even try to read PDFs on a laptop. I have a 7" tablet and an 8" tablet, both of which I occasionally use for reading PDFs, but I wouldn't say that I enjoy sitting down with them. Perhaps I get enough screen time in the rest of my day, but after just a page or two my eyes have crossed and I want to do something else. Conversely, I bought the dead trees version of Cutting Aces and ripped through it in a week because it's easier on the eyes.

Separately, I bought Cutting Aces off Amazon for $24 but now it's $39. There are several other books I'd like to buy and read on paper, like Market Panic and Street Lethal, but they're mid-$40s. Anyone know why the price varies so much, or did I just get lucky with Cutting Aces?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1435:50>
eReaders are very close to reading on paper.  They just make black dots or white dots, and let ambient light do the rest (as opposed to a backlit LCD display).  I was a bit sceptical until I tried it, but I find it really quite good.  I've still bought paper versions of a few books, but I've actually read others front to back on the eReaders comfortably.

I'll shut up about it now though.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-31-18/1443:57>
Tell me which one you have. How do they handle non-standard formatting, like pictures and tables?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-31-18/1517:08>
I've finished the crunchy stuff and am on my way through the background.

As mentioned elsewhere, they messed up some of my tricks, but I already have some new stuff to replace it.

I absolutely love the Faceless tech - not only because you can edit yourself out of the ubiquitous surveillance, but also because I love modding persona mods onto stuff - and nothing beats having a commlink with DR10...

I have a half formed idea for an AR Adept hacker (use Heightened Concern to negate penalties of the new reckless hacking for a very, very speedy hacking experience).

Also, the new ammo has potential - if you don't shoot with it but instead place it next to the device you plan to direct connect to.

... and I should stop now. Not like my char has the money, knowledge or inclination to do anything in that direction.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1544:34>
Tell me which one you have. How do they handle non-standard formatting, like pictures and tables?

I have the Kobo Aura One (largest screen on a fairly widely avaible e-reader).  It displays pdf just fine, tables and all.  But it is classic e-ink, just black and white, so pictures obviously suffer (they are generally distinguishable as it does something intelligent to do grey-scaling by portion of dots black:white), but there is a reason that I bought the Rigger book in the paper version. 

PDF pages don't flip as quickly as something like a normal novel does, and very graphic heavy pages in particular can take several seconds, which is annoying (although quicker if flipping back and forth, I think it must save recently rendered pages in short term memory or something like that).

It includes a table of contents feature as well as basic search functionality.  You can zoom in or out, but I find that having the whole page on the screen is readable so I don't generally play with that.

It is for sure NOT as good as having a book, and you are paying a substantial cost to get the e-reader, so not for everyone (I was going to get an e-reader anyway, after discovering that a lot of authors I like were publishing some material as e-books only, and that a lot of otherwise out of print books that I wanted to re-read were available electronically.  And I can borrow e-books from my local library directly from the device), so paying a bit more to get the larger screen, and making pdf easier to read, was worth it to me.

(I took pictures of how it looks -- it is small and light enough that I tend to haul it around with me a lot -- but then found out that you can't attach files over 256kb to the forums, which wouldn't make very useful reference pictures.  I'll see if I can pull them into google drive and set permissions so I can link you to them, later)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1551:59>
@Jack_Spade.  In the IC Bobby suggested
Quote
I suggest our spell slinger calls up a spirit asap and has it search for the boy directly.

Bobby may be disappointed, as we barely have any spirit power.  Out of three awakened characters, only Jawsey can summon spirits (he can summon spirits of man), and he is only working with Magic 2, summoning effectively 3.  With 13 soak dice he's wiling to call force 3 spirits, maybe even risk a force 4 occasionally, but they will not be the most powerful searchers.

(I only added a smidgen of casting and summoning to his 'traveler' build after the magic-D-full-mage option was pointed out. Not the optimum build for the priorities by any means, but I was looking to avoid the things I'd normally do with magic and focus on some odd corners instead. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <08-31-18/1617:13>
Well AM can construct a watcher, but I think that force 3 spirit is perhaps more powerful, even if she could go F5 watcher.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-31-18/1618:23>
Also, remember the dangers in the game of summoning spirits with a force higher than your magic.  Forbidden Arcana added an optional rule called "testing the leash" where a spirit will try to break from your control (possibly becoming a free spirit, which is going to piss people off.).  I will almost never check for this for most spirit, but if you oversummon, it's something they'll attempt somewhat routinely.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/1631:32>
@Lorebane:  Oops, I'd best go read up on that one!

@Tecumseh: sent you a message with links to pictures for the e-reader.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <08-31-18/1653:31>
Spending some reagents to reduce drain on a oversummoned watcher would probably be best. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <08-31-18/1709:10>
Thing is AM has 10 dice, and if I understand correctly ritual resist with Fx2 so at F5 it is 50% chance... Even then - it would have intuition 3 and magic 5 = 8 dice - to be raise to 11 or so with magic.

So she can do F1 -F3 quite reliably higher gets shaky... now since Watcher has F-2 attributes... there is little incentive to go to F3. F3 gets 5 dice, going to say 8 with magic.

Summoning does not cost reagents, and F3 spirit has 7 dice for search, to be augmented to 10 or so with the improve intuition spell.  I feel that watcher is the inferior option.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-31-18/1757:23>
@GM
Can we get some additional details:

1) Time of year

2) Current weather/conditions

3) Time of day
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-31-18/1839:44>
Of course!

1) Time of year:  Mid-september

2) Weather conditions: Despite this being Seatlle, it is not raining this evening.  Tempuratures are starting to change, and right now they are on the cooler side of temperate.

3) Time of day: Let's say Arthur Liu came into your office at around 16:00, and it is currently about 17:30.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <08-31-18/1858:00>
Wiz, thanks. I like the IC post too.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <08-31-18/2226:34>
Well, that was a curveball!

I didn't write out Jawsey telling the others what he observed, but assume that he tells everything.  I think AM is planning on putting an increase intuition or something like that on the spirit?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <08-31-18/2305:38>
Wouldn't you need to maintain line of sight on a spirit to sustain a spell on it, tho?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-01-18/0357:58>
I'll need to touch it to cast the spell, but I don't know of a LOS limitation afterward.

In any case, if it is allowed: (the first one is the spell, the second is drain) So the spirit would get +4 intuition, no drain.
Improve intuition, drain (http://orokos.com/roll/657624): 2#10d6t5 5 3
Search is an extended test of magic + intuition so it should help.

Though, I feel like we should find approximately where to look (rather than give it the entire city) especially with our very modest spirit powers.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-01-18/0414:19>
There's no requirement to maintain LOS on a sustained spell, unless that's a house rule under consideration.

The most common example is Invisibility: the spell shouldn't stop working as soon as the magician casts it on someone just because the magician can't see the target anymore.

An exception might be Levitate, where you need to maintain LOS if you want to move the target around. But, in general, no sustained LOS is needed.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-01-18/0505:12>
So I assume that the first places to look are some matrix research (then we can go talk to people).
I placed a post up, of Amy Maka searching. If anyone is skilled enough to help her, it would increase the limit - and thus the number of successes. Her problem seems to be the limit. 

Her deck has max attribute of 4, +1 DP from a program, a total of 5.  She has 4 noise compensation (signal scrub + vectored signal processor). Full deck configuration is:
1. Program module: VM - Toolbox + signal scrub.
Deck slot: Browse (reduce search time by half).  4 Data processing, 3 firewall, 2 sleaze, 1 attack.


P.S If you have other direction for matrix research feel free to shout.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-01-18/0813:26>
Jawsey could help on the matrix search, but you'd have to hold off until after his astral expedition.

I don't know if Seattle 2072 changed it, but in the original Seattle book the Halloweeners were downtown's own special darlings.  Nova Rich are listed in Bellevue in Seattle boxed set.  Both of which are good -- background count in Redmond would penalize the spirit and weaken the spirit, really gimping the search dice.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-01-18/1127:41>
So those are like, really good search results, so before I do the IC post (I'll get to it soon, but I gotta head to work in a few and gotta check in on things there first), I want talk about the search action a little and how I interpret it so it doesn't seem like I'm being too unfair with the results.  Basically, I see search as 2080 googling.  I mean it's a little more involved than that, and AM will certainly dredge up some stuff, but generally search won't give you info that isn't openly displayed SOMEWHERE on the matrix (or that can't be reasonably inferred from something that's openly displayed on the matrix).  Some information would require you to hack into the right host or device to get, and some stuff just isn't on the matrix.  So in the interest of giving you, y'know, SOMETHING for 5 hits on search, I'll broaden the search parameters a smidge and you'll get a bit of more general information on these topics.

That's been my understanding of search, at least, but if you guys have done it differently, or if it is supposed to work differently by RAW, let me know and we can talk about it.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-01-18/1218:25>
Mato is decent at Matrix Search, although it sounds like we might be maxing out the results anyway. Perhaps he can search on a different topic, like any mention of cards that would be active/visible on the astral:

Intuition 6 + Computer 1 (http://orokos.com/roll/657662): 7d6t5 4 hits

I suspect that this information would be Obscure for -2, but even if we subtract the last two dice that still leaves him with 3 hits which is enough for "Limited Interest or Not Publicized" information. He'll spend 30 minutes on it before moving on to other things.

As for the search results, I will note that only the GM knows what's actually available, so the difference between what we're told and what's available to be found is only known to the GM. In other words, we're not much of a position to criticize the result if they seem underwhemling; it's entirely possible that's all that's available.

I trust the GM to give us enough of a lead to follow, but not to completely unfold the plot or to uncover every secret there is to be found.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-01-18/1332:09>
For what it is worth, in the Shadowrun Missions series, the matrix search threshold for information is generally 50% higher than from contacts, and only has about three-quarters of the information available to it (not always the hardest to find stuff, often it might be something like 3 hits with a contact tells that Firehand has had a mysterious houseguest lately -- info not available on the matrix -- while 4 hits with contacts or 6 in a matrix search finds that Firehand used to be a security mage for Renraku.

And I would say that matrix search is more than being good at google search terms.  Throw in knowing how to access public trid feeds, run image matching with various parameters, running tools to look for correlations between different data sets, etc.  So when looking for halloweeners there will be various simple searches (computer 1 level), but then searching feeds of cameras with tools set to look for full face paint or the 'weeners black and orange colour scheme, matching up noise complaints with image matches of motorcycles with reports of public mischief with data you gathered yourself from public cameras about new graffiti in the past couple of months .... Of course some of this is processing power and memory intensive type of work, which is why your data processing limit comes into play; your metalink can't handle much more than running google type search terms.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-01-18/1351:53>
Alright, I see where you're coming from.  I think I was doing responses while your wrote this post, so pet me know if that info seems too scant (I kmow the tarot info is appropriate cuase I got a bool twlling me how much each hit can get you)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-01-18/1356:05>
Regarding the Halloweeners, they are officially/technically a Downtown gang and have been that way since the beginning. (This was actually a huge plus for me when I first started playing 25+ years ago, thinking, "How punk/noir is that: the corpers rule during the day but then at night the psycho pyromaniac anarchists come out to play.")

That said, there are plenty of references to them being active in Redmond as well. For example, one of their prime hangouts, The Jackal's Lantern, is in Redmond, about a block north of the border with Bellevue. (This is maybe 5km south of Touristville.) There are also references to their annual tradition of terrorizing Redmond on Halloween night.

In other words, it's perfectly reasonable for them to be either Downtown or in Redmond, or - given their recent aggressive expansion - wherever else the GM wants to put them.

Update: While I was writing this, the GM posted ICly and said most of the same things. So, yay!
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-01-18/1418:03>
First, understand that my goal is to push the plot forward and get us some people to talk to, and places to visit.  I see SR searches are much more involved than Googling. First, they require massive processing power (Data processing), and a professional level skill rating (6 in computers).


I see SR world as very much different than our own,  with everything online, and even the most secure systems are hackable in under a minute given some good roles/edge. It means that almost everything has some influence on the matrix. If you are a professional shadowrunner you might be more careful then the average joe. The matrix is just another world, unlike our internet. VR and AR are fundamental, and vision devices are widespread. Every idiot may have eyes that record stuff and upload it to the matrix. These can be hacked and posted somewhere. Some people post their feed openly, others do not change default passwords.  The information is there, the problem remains analyzing it, finding what you are looking for.


On the other hand, the matrix is not some magic 8 ball, and some of the information is unavailable in the matrix. Though, I see it as something with plenty of raw data, if you are willing to sift it out and are skilled enough to crunch it and reach meaningful conclusions.  All that is nice and dandy, we are learning you and you are learning us, so feel free to give what information you feel comfortable. Again, it is an excellent tool to advance the plot.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-01-18/1437:04>
sorry, I've been out and about. Bobby's scouting was supposed to happen while you all are busy with your thing. As it is now, he does it just when the info about the bar came in. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-01-18/1631:06>
@Lorebane24 You are aware that 'oversummon' is F3 yes? - but we can do the same with F2 really.
@Beta BGC would reduce a bit, but improve intuition is solid. F2 spirit would give us 3 intuition + 2 magic = 5 dice, 9 dice before modifiers.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-01-18/1723:46>
Let's talk a bit about timing and sequence of events.

The meet ended at 17:30. Per the book, I figure Mato needs 30 minutes to do his searches. Given her Search program halving the time, I don't know how much time AM needs to complete her searches. 15 minutes each, so 45 minutes total? GM call there.

Once we have some results on the Halloweeners we can go to The Jackal's Latern. If we left right away we could go around 18:20 and be there around 18:30. Sunset at this time of year is 19:20 so it's still light outside and the bar might be on the quiet side. Still, I figure we have time to kill until the Nova Rich's street race tonight, which sounds optional. Plus, there's no guarantee that anything happens at The Jackal's Latern, especially this early; we're just in watch-and-see mode for the moment.

Mato will drive there, per Bobby's instructions, and will sit and watch. I'll just buy hits again.

Perception (Visual): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Specialization 2 + Visual Enhancement 3 = 16 dice = 4 hits for visual
Perception (Audio): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Audio Enhancement 2 = 13 dice = 3 hits for audio
Perception (Scent): Intuition 6 + Perception 5 + Olfactory Sensors 4 = 15 dice = 3 hits for smelling (not that I really expect to smell something at a distance)

Here's what Mato is bringing with him:

On Person
Armor Jacket
Grenade: Flash-Bang x1
Grenade: Gas (Pepper Punch) x1
Shuriken x5
Contacts R3
Earbuds R3
Glasses R4
Micro-Transceiver
Slap Patch, Trauma Patch ×1
Slap Patch, Stim Patch R6 ×2
Slap Patch, Tranq Patch R6 ×2

In Car
Ballistic Mask
Autopicker R6
Bug Scanner R6
Jammer, Area R4
Lockpick Set
Medkit R6
Miniwelder
Restraint, Plasteel ×5
Sequencer R4
Tag Eraser
Tool Kit (Hardware) for maglocks

In Car, Smuggling Compartment
AK-97 (smuggling compartment) loaded with APDS + spare ammo
Ingram Smartgun X (smuggling compartment) loaded with stick-n-shock + spare ammo
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-01-18/1729:43>
So yeah, I know that oversummoning in this case would be F3, but I also feel like that's one of the drawbacks of having a lower magic score.  That being said, the way testing the leash works is that a spirit rolls its force x2 against the magician's drain resistance, which is typically a bit higher even on a low force mage, so it's generally easier for a Magic 2 magic to keep control of a force 3 spirit than it is for a magic 6 mage to keep control of a force 7 spirit.

Can Mato also give me a Pilot Ground Craft + Intuition check to see how successfully he drives inconspicuously during his stakeout?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-01-18/1734:12>
I sure can, but AM is the better driver if she joins us. I'll let gilga decide, and will then roll or not roll as appropriate.

I'll have an IC post up shortly.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-01-18/1958:47>
Also been out and about, so looks like I'm behind on the conversation.
-  I reviewed the leashing rules and I'm fine with minor oversummoning risks.
-  background reduces sustained spell force by its amount, so if BG=2 then spirit is at -2 on rolls and and spell is reduced by force 2.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-02-18/0019:14>
 By the way... since we have one car, perhaps we want to all come?
AM would like to come, perhaps to help.

Beta, I can cast the spell at Force 5 with drain 2 so the spell is solid. (The spirit only has Intuition 3), perhaps do F6 and be on the safe side.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-02-18/0142:26>
@gilga
I'm definitely in favor of everyone coming. The Barrens is a good place for a buddy system. I didn't want to assume that anyone else would want to, but everyone is welcome.

AM is definitely the best driver, even with a modest background count. If you want to drive, please make the Pilot Ground Craft + Intuition test that the GM asked for. (I demurred on the roll, thinking that you would likely drive.)

Also, "shotgun" means you're calling the front passenger seat, not the driver's seat. The person sitting shotgun is expected to shoot while the driver drives.

@GM
Is there a background count that we should be taking into account?

As a note, Mato does have Audio Enhancement in his earbuds, but not Select Sound Filter.

@Jack
What form are your Critter Armor and Critter Goggles for? Mato would probably think to grab your armor jacket but not your critter armor. (Why is your armor jacket listed as ¥2,000? It seems like it should only be ¥1,250.)

Also, doesn't your critter armor cause encumbrance? Shapechange limits you to Body + 2 = 7, and the critter armor encumbrance limit is Body + 3 = 10.

@Beta
Nothing for you; I just didn't want you to feel left out.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-02-18/0145:52>
Ah, good catch!  Yes, there is a background count of 1 here.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-02-18/0209:30>
@Tecumseh

The armor is for the great cat form and there I'll just put some points into Body (or AGI to compensate)- the eagle form is currently naked.

I have to look up the armor jacket, maybe I missed copying some enhancements
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-02-18/0334:58>
@Tecumseh GM only wanted the roll if we are to get closer with the car, are we sure we want to so? I think that Jack wanted us to keep the car in a safe place.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-02-18/0344:02>
You're the driver so the decision is yours. I'm happy either way. We have leads without driving closer, although we might approach on foot next.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-02-18/0403:17>
This is about the time that I like to know how people are running their comms.  Silent, I assume?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-02-18/1010:43>
I think that you can attain a sleaze property by slaving the devices to AM's deck.

Her deck is with 4 sleaze, running silent +1 from a program, and depending on the noise rating in the barrens. between 0-4 additional sleaze from smoke and mirrors.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-02-18/1044:58>
I missed the window when people were talking about coming along, so I just wrote Jawsey as being with them in the car.  He's brought along his weapons, reagents, and disguise kit, to be ready for various possibilities.

Running his link silent  (firewall+willpower =10, should he be spotted and attacked)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-02-18/1105:56>
@gilga
Also, "shotgun" means you're calling the front passenger seat, not the driver's seat. The person sitting shotgun is expected to shoot while the driver drives.
I never thought about it like that! This is so SR... I thought that if cars have no drivers, a shotgun would simply mean that you want to seat in front...

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-02-18/1359:06>
I'm back from Ireland - and finally can post again from something other than a smartphone screen.

As for running silent: Bobby only has a micro transceiver and his goggles (with a persona mod to be able to use it as a commlink)
He'll gladly slave it to anyone better equipped to deal with the stuff. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-02-18/1720:04>
So since we may be getting into a fight soon, how do you guys want to handle combat as far as initiative and mapping goes?  I am ashamed to say I am fairly tech illiterate, but I've been wanting to try and learn some map software for this sort of thing.  Problem there is my wallet i kinda light after buying all my textbooks and a lot of them aren't cheap, so I don't want to splurge on something unless I know I'll be able to get my head around it.  I don't supposed there are any that you have typically used or might suggest?

Barring that, I can do what I do for my home games and just draw up floorplans on notebook paper with a scale indicator, then make a scan and post it here, or I guess we could try and just do everything by description.  That would be the quickest way, but also with the most room for misunderstanding.

Initiative seems like the place where things could REALLY slow down for a PbP.  I really don't want a fight with a group of gangers to last half a month, so I'm wondering if there might be a way to simplify things?  How would you guys feel about an AD&D style thing on a per-pass basis?  Basically, rather than acting one at a time, everyone posts the action they intend to take, along with relevant rolls, then after everyone has posted I'll integrate that with what actions the mooks are going to take and everything will play out in a single post (in relevant initiative order) before we move on to the next pass.  It's concievable that there could be situations in which the actions someone was plannig to take here becomes nonviable (the guy you were going to shoot was dead), and it does add a little more chaos since you declare actions before you see the results of the actions of those higher in the initiative order, but that might lead to some interesting shit happening.  Thoughts?

I guess since we're a couple pages in, it would be a good time to gather thoughts on the game so far.  Anything that seems to be missing?  Anything that needs work?  Anything you'd like to see get more of a focus?  I know it's kinda early game-wise, but RL wise it's been about two weeks (I think), and I like to do lil check ins periodically.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-02-18/1727:35>
So since we may be getting into a fight soon, how do you guys want to handle combat as far as initiative and mapping goes?  I am ashamed to say I am fairly tech illiterate, but I've been wanting to try and learn some map software for this sort of thing.  Problem there is my wallet i kinda light after buying all my textbooks and a lot of them aren't cheap, so I don't want to splurge on something unless I know I'll be able to get my head around it.  I don't supposed there are any that you have typically used or might suggest?

Barring that, I can do what I do for my home games and just draw up floorplans on notebook paper with a scale indicator, then make a scan and post it here, or I guess we could try and just do everything by description.  That would be the quickest way, but also with the most room for misunderstanding.

Initiative seems like the place where things could REALLY slow down for a PbP.  I really don't want a fight with a group of gangers to last half a month, so I'm wondering if there might be a way to simplify things?  How would you guys feel about an AD&D style thing on a per-pass basis?  Basically, rather than acting one at a time, everyone posts the action they intend to take, along with relevant rolls, then after everyone has posted I'll integrate that with what actions the mooks are going to take and everything will play out in a single post (in relevant initiative order) before we move on to the next pass.  It's concievable that there could be situations in which the actions someone was plannig to take here becomes nonviable (the guy you were going to shoot was dead), and it does add a little more chaos since you declare actions before you see the results of the actions of those higher in the initiative order, but that might lead to some interesting shit happening.  Thoughts?

I guess since we're a couple pages in, it would be a good time to gather thoughts on the game so far.  Anything that seems to be missing?  Anything that needs work?  Anything you'd like to see get more of a focus?  I know it's kinda early game-wise, but RL wise it's been about two weeks (I think), and I like to do lil check ins periodically.

@Floorplan
A simple sketch uploaded to a foto hoster should be enough. Custom Google Maps (my maps) are also a great way to create a realistic battlemap with little effort

@Ini
Keep your goons on the same ini and it's really no big deal.
We just have to make sure to post our actions in a clear and understandable way:

Ini 22
Free Action: Run
Complex Action: Charge at Ganger 1
Attack roll
If I get attacked: Defense Roll


Another tried and tested way is for you to give us information on the dicepools of our opponents. That way we can incorporate the reaction rolls in our own posts. That tends to speed things up a lot. Add to that simple rules on what goons would do (shoot at the nearest, most obvious target and seek cover when they are attacked).

@What's missing
Nothing so far. Adding google maps references would be icing on the cake, but otherwise I'm pretty happy so far.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-02-18/1743:00>
Coolio.  I've been trying to learn this new shit for an educational technology class all week, so I am to tired to start learning something new tonight, but I've got the next two and half days off so I'll try to set some stuff up.

Another thing I just wanted to offer a little reminder for is how I look at cyberware, and especially looting it.  I THINK I had this in my house rules document, but it also sounds like it may have been an incomplete file cause stuff keeps being missing.  Basically, cyberware bonds a bit when its installed.  It can be pulled out an reinstalled, but it doesn't connect as well as if it's out of the box.  Salvaged alphaware will only resell as standard ware, and standard stuff will resell as used/omegaware.  Used/omegaware can't be reinstalled into anyone, and it's value is basically as scrap metal.  Betaware and deltaware have to be tailored to the individual to a degree that makes it impossible to extract and reinstall in anyone but an identical twin or clone.

I don't swing this way so that I can deck everyone out in buffs that can't be salvaged, but so that I can go for a very cyberpunk aesthetic without escalating the game's economy like it's Dragonball BT.  I love the idea of it being pretty typical for a sprawl ganger sporting a stolen or salvaged cyberarm, for example, but he's going to be a 3 str dude with a 5 str cyberarm or something.  Statistically, not too atypical for a low-level melee mook (when it comes to melee), but without a rule like this in place the fact that he has a cyberpunk look also means you get about thirty fold what you would from a guy who I had just given 5 strength.

I've also seen a LOT of different viewpoints on how cyberware can be hacked, and here's my assumption.  If it has wireless functionallity, it is hackable, BUT in a world filled with hackers, DNI connections to implanted ware has become bog-standard for everything, so with a thought, a savvy samurai can disable their wireless connectivity to make their ware invulnerability to hacking, while still gaining the benefit of anything that is not explicitly stated to be a wireless bonus.  They can still see through their cybereyes via the DNI and get any boosts like vision enhancement or magnification, but they couldn't use anything that would require the image link to be active (like smartlink).  Then there are a few pieces, mostly bodyware, that I assume are entirely analogue technology, like dermal plating and muscle replacements, which are entirely unhackable.

Now here is something maybe you guys can help me with.  Conceptually, I like the idea of being able to hack someone's offline cyber if you can forge a DNI of your own to it using a datajack.  So if the other guy had a datajack and a load of cyber, and you managed to plug your own datacord into their jack, would that give you such a DNI?  I'm not sure if that's covered in the rules.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-02-18/1817:33>
Today is my son's 3rd birthday so I'm a bit out-of-pocket until later this evening.

@Jack
I'm playing it that Mato only grabbed your human armor because he didn't know what the critter armor was for. If another player wants to say that their smarter PC grabbed the critter armor then that's cool with me.

@gilga
The expression comes from the Wild West when a stagecoach when be driven by one person and defended by someone with a passenger seat next to them. One wonders if the Sixth World would update things now that drivers don't have to drive, as you point out.

@GM
Lots of thoughts but not at liberty to write them out at the moment. I will say that a map, however simple, would be very helpful. Mato is very fast due to his skimmers and can jump very well due to his hydraulic jacks, so he thinks about space a little differently.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-02-18/2216:53>
Maps tend to bring out richer play in my experience, but even a simple Google Earth view  with "it is like this" does the majority of the work.  Hand drawn map ditto.  (Not that Jawsey will be doing a lot of tactical combat movement, he hopes).  The gaming group I grew up with, long ago, used dominoes to make a quick 'map' and chess pieces for people, so maybe my expectations are just low, but that always worked well enough for us, so I really don't think super high detail and fidelity is generally worth a lot of effort.

Being able to hack someones ware by plugging in to them is creepy .... and way too cool not to be a thing.  Definitely possible notoriety territory if it gets known, I'd think.  (Also agree about the cyberpunk vibe; need the chrome sometimes)


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-03-18/0137:38>
Catching up.

@Jack
Does Kill Code update our understanding about the best way to run comms? I know you have posted extensively about the book's content. Broadly speaking, should I be running silent with my wireless gear slaved to my commlink? AM's deck is device rating 1, which means that's it's limited to slaving 3 devices, which is an obvious constraint.

@GM
There's no perfect way to run a fight. Even a routine scrap can take 2-3 weeks. When I GM I run things fairly traditionally, with a 24-hour timer when it's someone's turn. That said, I'm comfortable with the group declaration and resolution that you describe. To me, that would be more realistic than a pure turn-based approach.

Maps are wonderful. I would be delighted with something hand-drawn and then scanned. For example, here are questions that Mato has about the current situation with The Jackal's Latern between the Stuffer Shack and the tenement:

1) How tall is the Stuffer Shack? Does it have sight lines on the lot behind the bar?
2) How tall is the tenement? Are there fire escapes going up the outside?
3) Where are the gangers milling around out back? In one big pack near the bar, or spread out?
4) Where are the gangers stripping the bike? Which corner of the lot are they in?
5) Where are the motorcycles?
6) What else is around? Does the fence provide cover or is a see-through chainlink fence? 
7) How far is MadCat going to have to run to tackle a dude, and how far is he going to have to drag him to get him out-of-sight?

All of these are quick and easy to resolve face-to-face but can take a lot of time to figure out via PbP. Alternatively, a map could resolve a lot of them all at once.

@GM
Things are going great so far. We're maintaining a very good pace, which I am enjoying. We have really good momentum and I'm hoping we can keep it up.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-03-18/0212:00>
@Tecumseh

Not really. Slaving is still a very viable method. That said, keeping wireless off in general will be the safest way in general. Microtransceivers are probably the best way to communicate without getting found or targeted by a decker.

That said: The best defense is a good offence: There are lots of people around with weapons and other hardware. Going in normal mode shouldn't get more attention than being silent. Because if someone on the ganger's side is worried about another raid, he might have an agent running, that scans for hidden icons. Looking out for such a setup would be a really good idea - and if there is one, neutering it is also a good idea.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-03-18/0307:01>
Aight, I'll fiddle with google-whatsit tommorow and see if I can figure it out, and barring that, I'll do a sketch of the area.

Until then...

The Stuffer Shack is only a single story (I guess it occurs to me if there is an established RAW form for most stuffer shacks to take?  I always figured they were like a slightly larger 7-11 but with more stupid shit and no gasoline), but it's high enough and close enough that you might be able to reach a second story window of the Lantern.

The tenement building is a run down, blocky, five story affair with a single entrance main entrance in the center up a short flight of concrete stairs, but there is an old fire escape along one side.  The ladder is currently up.

The lot in the back is actually pretty spacious for a building of the Lantern's size (about 50x30 feet), and surrounded by a chainlink fence, about three meters high and topped with jury-rigged barbed wire.  There is a gate on the far side from the bar that is currently open.  The ganger on is chopping the bike in the corner closest to the bar, and he periodically goes in to refill his drink.  However, people are regularly stepping into the lot from the back door to check grab something from their bikes (which are parked here) or relieve themselves on the wall.

It looks like taking someone out will require either luring them away, or some good sneakin and precise timing.  If you can reach the gate without being detected, you can probably clear it to reach the guy on the bike, but you'd need a way to make sure no one going to coming out back in the meantime, and he's close enough that you'll have to be able to do it noiselessly.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-03-18/0309:40>
Also, I love questions like this.  I don't have everything ready in excruciating detail, but generally if you poke at something, I'll try to find some venues for it, as well as a few wrenches in the gears.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-03-18/0611:20>
Which icons are in the vicinity? - AM would like to hack something for a distraction (or for safety if they keep their guns wireless).
Perception (Matrix): 11d6t5 3

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-03-18/1710:32>
I took a look at my maps, but when I tried to do it I'm told I can't access it and have to contact my domain administrator (would this be my ISP?).  In any case, I looked at a screen cast and I'm hoping to get something that's more specific on a smaller scale, at least for now, so I'll draw something up that shows a bird's eye view of the relevant buildings and surrounding area.  I'll make a note of the icons then, and probably a little more description as I flesh out the area a little more.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-03-18/2133:38>
I took a look at my maps, but when I tried to do it I'm told I can't access it and have to contact my domain administrator (would this be my ISP?).  In any case, I looked at a screen cast and I'm hoping to get something that's more specific on a smaller scale, at least for now, so I'll draw something up that shows a bird's eye view of the relevant buildings and surrounding area.  I'll make a note of the icons then, and probably a little more description as I flesh out the area a little more.

I have no idea what any of this means. What are your maps? What's telling you that you can't access it/them and that you have to contact your domain administrator? Aren't we just talking about attaching a simple image file to one of the game posts, like you did with the house rules in the recruitment thread?

ICly, we have lots of options. I would suggest that we try hacking first. I think anything involving spirits is making matters too complicated at this point.

If we need an elevated perspective, Mato is an excellent jumper and should be able to get up that fire escape to the roof of the tenement.

OOCly, I think this is a textbook case for the Influence spell, but I'm assuming that Mato isn't aware that AM knows it.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-03-18/2316:07>
What are our decking options? hacking a gun, disabling a bike creating a distraction by moving one, or playing very loud music suddenly from a comlink may create a disraction.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/0026:11>
Alright, so I'm working on the map as I type this.  It's coming out a little more detailed than I had expected, and it'll be coming up before I go to bed along with a detailed (and somewhat revised, but nothing that should affect any of your current plans) description, including matrix info.  We'll be looking at several largish buildings and the surrounding area, and I've got it drawn out so I can fill in rooms as well as you uncover more info about the ground floors.

In the mean time, though, I'm brushing up on the matrix rules for this next bit, and was wondering how you guys imagine matrix perception and silent icons working?  Is it like "run a task to search for hidden icons and then 'bam!' you can see them?"

Also, I want to make sure I'm interpreting ties correclty on a matrix perception test:  The way I'm seeing it, you technically meet the threshold, but have no net hits, so you would be able to spot the icon, but wouldn't get any other info about it.  Is that right?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-04-18/0043:36>
Well, first you have to ask the question: Are there any Silent Icons around and make your Perception test vs. Log+Sleaze of any silent icon that is actually around.
After that you receive a number. From there you can set filters. Find all silent icons that aren't stealth tags, or find all silent running commlinks, or all silent running weapon icons. If you want to examine an icon closer, one is picked at random from the selected group. For that one you'll get one information per net hit. (Defender wins on ties obviously). The more detailed you set your filter the more likely it is that you'll get the silent icon you are actually looking for.

What you don't get is details on every icon with just one perception test.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/0052:20>
Well, in this case everything is just buying successes for a quick below-average result because they're basically being passive about being hidden/silent.  There is one icon that gets 3 successes, matching AM's.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-04-18/0100:11>
Yeah in that case you can save time by just telling everything gilga eventually can find out  ;D
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/0157:21>
The JPEG file of the sketch I made is too large to upload.  I am officially for moving to another forum.

EDIT:  If you guys want, you can send me your emails in a PM and I can share it via google drive.  I also made a scan of the card you guys saw, because I've got a physical copy and eventually being able to actually see everything on them becomes important, so I want to get a catalogue going.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-04-18/0330:00>
It's a digital dice roller,  just tell me how many times ;)

I think we can afford to spend a minute or two (which is like forever in the matrix).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/0359:58>
Figured it out, I think.  This should get you the map of the area...

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Ss2kYFDc0QbXpcbdeTCx_5FWut7SSFNf

And this should get you the King of Blades

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1THfSzp7R1mgwtZ6HiVD1ddmfLahbLrcF
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-04-18/0418:10>
I requested access to the documents, but perhaps you want to make them open for all to speed things up.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/0451:20>
Try these instead.

Map:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ss2kYFDc0QbXpcbdeTCx_5FWut7SSFNf/view?usp=sharing

Card:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1THfSzp7R1mgwtZ6HiVD1ddmfLahbLrcF/view?usp=sharing
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-04-18/0535:58>
Thanks, working now.


I still have questions about matrix devices relevant to this encounter.
(e.g. wireless guns, comlinks, vision devices, etc.)  My character would prefer to use some hacking to either prevent them from calling for help, to distract them (e.g. the loud music idea), or outright sabotage to their guns to reduce the chance of injury.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-04-18/1538:59>
Well I had a long OOC post written up with a proposed sequence of events but then Lorebane just dropped the knowledge on us ICly, so now I need to digest everything and update my plan.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-04-18/1732:15>
No icons on the two guys dismantling the bike?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-04-18/1740:26>
re: the IC post about Jawsey's summoning limitations:  in this mild background he is rolling four dice, eight if he edges. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-04-18/1816:10>
No icons on the two guys dismantling the bike?

Ah, yes!  They both have pretty basic personas, running silent, but it's easy for you to spot them. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-04-18/1834:15>
For the record, my original plan was extremely similar to Bobby's. I was thinking of a Matrix distraction, and I think levitating the KO'd target is less of a stretch than trying to jump 3 meters with him, but everything else was pretty much the same.

Now that we know the pavilion is populated we have to deal with that as far as additional people to distract or evade. Same with the doormen out front.

@GM
What's our starting nuyen? There's no established way to do it for shared lifestyles. I suppose we could roll 4d6 * ¥100 (as one would for a Middle lifestyle) and divide it four ways.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-05-18/1732:59>
Per the IC post, Mato is going to walk west along the northern road. It seems like that (northern) wall of the bar should be free of Halloweeners that might object to him jumping on the roof. I don't know what traffic is like, but hopefully he can find a small window to jump onto the roof relatively undetected. From there he'll sneak to the southwest corner of the roof to try to listen in on the gangers below.

Agility 10 + Gymnastics 1 + Leaping specialization 2 + Hydraulic Jacks 6 (http://orokos.com/roll/658642): 19d6t5 3 hits

Well that was pathetic. A 1.5 meter jump. That's not going to cut it. Presuming there's nothing stopping him from trying again:

Agility 10 + Gymnastics 1 + Leaping specialization 2 + Hydraulic Jacks 6 (http://orokos.com/roll/658643): 19d6t5 7 hits

Mato's effective limit is 6, because he's capped at jumping 1.5 * his height (which I'm estimating at 2 meters for convenience because he's an ork) = 3 meters = 6 hits when each hit is worth 0.5 meters). By literal RAW, hydraulic jacks don't add to jumping height, just distance, but I think I'll house rule that in my games in the future.

If Mato jumps 3 meters and is 2 meters tall (maybe a bit taller with his hands up to catch the ledge), is that enough to get to the roof of the bar? If not then I might need a plan B, like leaping from rooftop to rooftop, or getting levitated.

If Mato gets up to the roof, he tiptoes to the SW corner:

Agility 10 + Sneaking 5 (http://orokos.com/roll/658647): 15d6t5 5 hits
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-06-18/1234:36>
For starting nuyen, just use the mid lifestyle option.  Also, I need yo look at hydraulic jacks more closely, but yeah, it seems they should increase lateral jumps a bit.  IC post to come.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-06-18/1315:43>
Lorebane, thanks for the IC.

Question: the guy working on the bike isn't really alone in the parking lot, is he? He's by himself, yes, but are there still ~6 others milling about the parking lot like there were initially?

Separately, hydraulic jacks do boost lateral jumps by quite a bit (Rating * 20% increase) but not vertical jumps. Vertical jumps were the ones I think I'll house rule personally.

Starting Nuyen (http://orokos.com/roll/658883): 4d6 18 * 100 = ¥1,800
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-06-18/1341:36>
@Tecumseh, thanks for remembering to ask about starting nuyen, I'd meant to ask then forgotten.
@Lorebane, thanks for the generous  answer :)
  --I'd only written down the minimum roll from low lifestyle, figuring that was worst case -- this question and answer gives Jawsey an extra grand to play with.  Character write up updated on this thread and on Obsidian Portal (my back up location)

@Lorebane: presumably during his astral scouting, Jawsey can see Mato up on the roof?  I probably over-wrote my previous post, but could perhaps edit it down to seeing Mato up there and reacting to anything he does?  (I'd been trying to queue things up to reduce the slowness of back and forth, but I think I wrote too far ahead)



Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-06-18/1344:10>
Ah!  Forgot about the astral scouting!  I'll get that up during my next break.

The halloweener working on the bike is alone - for now.  People reqularly step in and out of the lot - making a move would be risky and require good timing, but there are times, usually spanning a few minutes where one of the them is alone.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-06-18/1402:35>
Ah!  Forgot about the astral scouting!  I'll get that up during my next break.

The halloweener working on the bike is alone - for now.  People reqularly step in and out of the lot - making a move would be risky and require good timing, but there are times, usually spanning a few minutes where one of the them is alone.

Would it be possible to cut off at the second 'conditional' with him seeing Mato on the roof?  Rather than slide into the building on his own at that point, I'd prefer to have him coordinate with Mato (spotting for him)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-06-18/1419:03>
Hmm. If he's alone, I suppose Mato could act fast. Jump off the roof, land on him, taze him with ye olde shock hand. Cyberspur the chain link fence, step through, and off we go. Stuffing him into the car might be the hardest part to accomplish inconspicuously.

Or I suppose I could pepper punch the back door and drag him to the road to the north to meet the car.

Or we could just remain in wait-and-listen mode. Sounds like the kid might be nearby, perhaps under the guard of a hell hound. @Beta Is Jawsey up for a little astral combat with a hell hound?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-06-18/1431:10>
Looks like I was writing as you were.  Yeah, just ignore the part about heading inside the bar.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-06-18/1502:18>
Looks like I was writing as you were.  Yeah, just ignore the part about heading inside the bar.

I'll go with what you wrote, and I can have him see Mato after coming out of the bar.  I'll work on an IC (may not be until this evening, but will try to do sooner)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-06-18/2114:03>
IC is up. It assumes that Mato doesn't know what Jawsey has been assensing (because there's no line of communication between the two) and that he hasn't been filled in about the results of AM's hacking. I'll be fine if someone belays him. When Jawsey gets back to the car we can probably put 2-and-2 together and figure the kid is near the dual-natured creature that's patrolling the tenement, but that's outside of Mato's understanding right now.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-06-18/2203:10>
Finally got my IC up -- and who says we don't have means of communication?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/0122:03>
Well I wasn't expecting you to pop up to the roof.

@Jack
You want to change forms and go seduce a guard dog?! The hound is probably in the heat, hurr hurr hurr.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-07-18/0127:38>
I just wrote up a reply before you beat me to it, now I have to can it and rewrite - but before that I have to go to work. Read you all in 12 hours  ;D
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/0358:17>
Fun reading so far, great posts guys.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/0949:27>
Just in case it was missed, there are several cameras in the tenement building, and two of them are slaved to the host of the Stuffer Shack
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1013:16>
In case anyone else is looking to re-read the GMs descriptions of the neighbourhood, posts 65-67 on page 5 of the IC thread.  (Sadly we can't seem to link directly to individual posts, so I can't just drop a link).

I've got an addictions question (because I've never really used it before, and I don't have my rules book at hand).  Jawsey has a low level Psyche addiction.  Astral combat is an excellent excuse for using (it gives him +2 dodge and +2 init), and he has a couple of doses on hand.  I may choose to have him use, but for the sake of argument say that he wanted to resist temptation and save those for later.  How does that work again?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1257:48>
@Beta
You can link to an individual post, which is hugely helpful. If you click the forum title that's in the red banner across the top of an individual post then you'll get a URL for that post. For example, if I click "Re: The Found Arcana IC" above Lorebane's reply #66 post then I get the following, which is the link to that specific post:

https://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=28008.msg506199#msg506199

@GM
Can you review the above IC post? There are a couple things which seem to be contradictory:

"a single exterior elevator (of which there are five - one for each column of apartments)" - five what? a single elevator seems to make more sense in context, and for a tenement, so I'm not sure what the "five" is referring to

"along the eastern western edge of each floor" - eastern would make more sense with the map, because the fire escape is on the eastern side of the building, but western would make more sense since the elevators are described as being on the eastern side of the building

@Beta
The GM has some house rules for addiction. Probably the closest one is this:

Quote
Can't Help Yourself:  This is what we're going to use for drugs and substances that, in a relative sense, aren't too destructive.  Bliss, zen, hotsimming.  Things that are used for escapism.  For this type of addiction, your character sometimes just can't resist the urge, and they end up using on the job.  When this happens, the character has to make a Willpower+Charisma check based on their addiction's severity, and if they fail, they happen to be high at an inopportune time (under the effects of the substance).  This happens about every other play session with a mild addiction, and as often as twice per session at burnout levels.

So maybe a composure test to see how Jawsey feels about it.

@Team
Looking back through the OOC thread, I see that gilga cast Increase Intuition (at the time we were talking about it for the spirit), but I don't think we ever summoned the spirit. Beta, did you want to try the summoning or would Jawsey's comfort with the astral realm (as a Traveler in spirit, if not name) lead him to go explore on his own? Increase Intuition and Increase Logic would really flex your dodge pool.

@GM
Mato is going to observe the eastern side of the tenement to see what sort of activity there is. People milling about, etc. I can buy 4 hits with visual perception.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1321:35>
Jawsey never summoned the spirit -- we started getting information on our own, so the need for the search function declined.  (plus I did some trial dice rolls on summoning, and realized that five dice versus three (if I wanted to oversummon a force 3 spirit so that it would have an optional power) will fail a lot, but still risks facing 6 physical drain ~4% of the time.  So I decided to hold off summoning until I was sure we needed a spirit and exactly how best to configure it.)

He probably will summon one if he's going to astraly fight the hellhound, either for sustaining astral armor, or for the friend in combat bonus.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1330:30>
So I'll do my best to describe the elevators.  There are five doors to a floor on each side.  The western doors open onto a shared walkway that gives each floor fire escape acces.  The eastern doors open onto little "balconies" that are used to call an elevator affixed to the exterior of the building, one elevator for each vericak column of five doors.  The elevators run up and down little glass tubes on the exterior of the building.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1338:14>
@Beta
Summoning will be a chore unless you use Edge. You'll be subject to the -1 modifier from the background count, which makes it even harder.

After it is summoned, the spirit will be subject to the background count which will limit its effectiveness. It will probably only manage 1 hit on Astral Armor. It's probably better for the friend in combat bonus, as you say.

@GM
Cool, thanks.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1350:38>
Beta  Can you amke a perceptio  test (or whatever would be used for perception in the astral?  Threshold 3.  Anyone tracking Jawsey's  movements can make one as well, but at threshold 5.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1408:12>
11 dice in asensing pool, -1 for background = 10.  But note that when it comes to aura reading he gets +2 dice.

asensing (http://orokos.com/roll/659190): 10d6t5 4
+2 if aura reading (http://orokos.com/roll/659192): 2d6t5 1

So four or five hits, depending if general looking around or reading auras.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1429:36>
Just in case it was missed, there are several cameras in the tenement building, and two of them are slaved to the host of the Stuffer Shack

How difficult would it be to sneak up for a direct connection to one of these cameras?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1434:18>
It looks like one of the slaved cameras is inside the room where with the hellhoud, and the other is just outside the western door (looking onto the shared walkway) door for the same apartment.  You might be able to get to it without camera without appearing on it if you can get in place to shimmy along the walkway, but you would certainly be seen by some of the residents hanging out there.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1457:46>
Cool, thanks for all the posts.

Is the floor plan (that you can't upload at work) for the apartment in question? I'm hoping Jawsey could pencil something out based on his recon.

Given his good rolls, does Jawsey have a sense about the nature of the cats? Are they astral entities, or dual-natured?

I'll hold off on additional IC posts for now until Jawsey gets back to his body to report to the group and/or Jack gets a chance to chime in.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1531:32>
@Lorebane: I hate to complain about being given information, but I think you might be being a bit generous in what info Jawsey can get from asensing.  Everything non-living is dull shadows, making it hard to pick up details.  So I don't know that he'd get a good view on whether the humanoid aura was tied or chained, for instance.

And now that I think about it .... windows are opaque to asensing (easy to pass through, but since asensing isn't sight per se, windows are just more dull, shadowy, material blocking the view of auras on the other side).  Too late now, but he probably shouldn't have seen that aura at all, without poking his astral head into the apartment in question.  (I'd forgotten about that now).  I guess the window could have been open, but that seems a bit unlikely with a hell hound inside?

@team: maybe we should check on the inside of stuffer shack, to see who is watching the cameras?  Perhaps they could be distracted or taken out more easily than the cameras could be disabled?  At the least we'd know more about the competition.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1543:51>
Thanks for the heads up!  I wasnt aware of the thing windows (none of the apartments have windows, tho), but I will be mindful 9f that in the future.

I HAVE been a lil free with info because its a pbp so I try to be upfront with details I think your are likely to want to look into if buyi g successes in a relevant check would yield some results for you, but as for the cats, they're a thing, and I was trying to run with what I read in the sourcebook.  I looked over Jawsey's knowledge skills but I dont see anythig that would help him identify them
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1602:38>
Honestly, I'm loving the pace. Momentum is so critical for PbP, especially if it's intended to be an extended campaign instead of a one-shot game.

PbP is always a balance between how much to share up-front vs. what you want the players to work for. There's probably a broad range of right answers, depending on the participants. I think the current approach, which presumes a certain level of competence via buying hits and assuming the players take logic actions, makes sense given that we're seasoned players and this mission is intended to be one of many.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1605:04>
I was thinking that the Nova Rich can be manipulated into being out distraction... they were humiliated and stuff...

but perhaps we can do the rescue with/without them.
1. Jawsei Knocks the hellhound with astral combat (not visible on cameras).
2. He manifests and guides the kid to open the window, and asks him to accept magic.
3. We get him out of the window, (or perhaps Bobby turns him into an animal).
4. We meet the kid under the building and hurry him into the car, stash him in the smuggling compartment and leave the scene.


How about that? I'd say if we can loop the camera in the boy's room it would buy us some time.
Another thing is to have the Nova Rich bike down by the building - and perhaps making some mayhem.
Less attention to us...

 Perhaps we can also get one of us to the forth floor physically, just in case the kid is not cooperative.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1614:26>
I have lots of ideas, but I want to see a floor plan first. There are lots of ways to deal with the hell hound.

The Nova Rich might not care, given that that another member chewed out the kid (Brian/Yin) and said, Get fragged, you faithless slot.  Hope they jack your wheels and chop it for parts.

Shapechange requires a voluntary subject. Given the target's emotional state, that might not be a given.

Per the GM, there are no windows, just the doors to the west and to the east.

I'm not opposed to chucking him off the balcony and catching him with magic.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1637:52>
Or Mato can just lift and run with him... He has like 10 agility + Skimmers... He is REALLY fast if he gets to the fire escape and just runs down the stairs.  I am talking 80 meters in 3 seconds...  This is 96 Km/h - almost like a car, but much more maneuverable.  It might be much faster than levitation...

 

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1641:05>
That would be much faster!  Would still be noticed, but that is OK, so long as we go fast enough.

I forget who our driver is?  Have to make sure that they are not committed to anything else.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1649:32>
We have two equally skilled drivers (give or take).
AM with 12 dice, and Mato with 11.   I was kind of hoping to keep AM in the car as she only needs line of sight for magic. Not locked to that idea - if we need her elsewhere.
We have Jawsei in astral, Mato by Skimmers and Bobbie (by shape change?) that can be physically present and super manuverable. AM as backup/watching over Jawsei's body.



 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1655:26>
Sadly, skimmers explicitly preclude me from carrying him: "they’re unusable if the user attempts to carry any significant extra weight."

Whether that applies to hydraulic jacks and making a superhero landing is another question. It gets into the physics of "how does this fictional world work? how exactly does that energy transfer play out?" Still, I'm guessing that doubling my weight is probably a bad idea for hitting the ground at, what, 55kph from the fourth floor.

Or Bobby turns into a giant bird instead of a small bird and carries him off, Gandalf-style.

I think the floor plan will help inform our decision.

It makes much more sense for AM to drive and maintain LOS while Mato helps with the physical aspect of the B&E and extraction.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1658:30>
Per my IC, we haven't looked at how the door is locked and how we get around that, yet. 

And I agree about AM staying in the car, I just noticed her body stat while I was looking up her spells -- let us not expose her to random violence if it can be avoided!
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1700:35>
Well, his weight can be reduced if we turn the kid into something small... Even without the Skimmers, it is very fast, and we can buy a pair of cheap skates (as goofy as it sounds...) for +50% speed.


About locks, Mato is our lock guy as well - and otherwise, they can be hacked from the car.



Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1707:01>
I don't know how well skates would work on a fire escape (normally made out of metal bars, rather than a solid surface)

A couple of thoughts for consideration.
- if Jawsie can take out the (hellhound?), then he could manifest and talk to the kid.  Maybe persuade him to accept being turned into an animal for the escape?
- If AM spiked the camera, they might send someone to check on it (probably just thinking it was broken?).  Which could be our entry into the room?  Mato might be able to land from the roof to the 4th floor balcony with a well angled jump?  And Bobby could do some sort of shape change to be nearby or show up quickly?

Combining those two would look like: spike the camera, take out the hellhound (use edge aggressively!), jump whoever goes to look at the camera when they go in, throw some other distraction as Mato and Bobby come out with the kid and AM pulls up in the car.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1721:32>
There are lots of options. Hell, if Jawsey takes out the hellhound and manifests then he can tell the kid to just walk himself out. He can meet Mato and Bobby on the balcony and be escorted away from there. We just have to deal with the camera. If the hacking fails, then we can go to manual (i.e. physical) hacking.

Shapechange has a limit on the size differential; I think it's Body +/- 2. Since this kid is an ork his Body is probably 6, which means that even if we transform him he's still going to be huge. Maybe it's less conspicuous if I make like I'm taking him out for a walk, but I don't think we can change him into something so small that I could carry him.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-07-18/1726:12>
Jeez, you guys are fast.

Now, all we need to do is decide if we want to hack or kill the guard. Once no-one watches the cameras anymore we have pretty much free reign - provided Jawsee can give us an accurate layout with all the positions of hostiles in the tenement building.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1808:27>
Gilga:  Can you be a bit more specific about what info you are looking for?  You have the locations of cameras and commlinks, amd everything relevant seems (except for the PANs of the smartlinked halloweener) seems to be slaved to the host.  My understanding is that matrix perception gets you one specific question for each net hit.  Generally, I figure up till now you've been mostly concerned with "what's there to work with?" So I've focused on that along with what's in a PAN, what kind of ratings do things have (I suppose you could easily glean the host is rating 3).  But now that you know what icons are there and what is wireless, are you looking at for specfic stats (4 applied to the host, which is not running silent, for example, could get you each of its matrix stats, or you could try to figure out what sort of IC it can launch (i think?).  Alternatively, you could apply those hits to personas or cameras to get more detailed info on them.  I think we are starting to approach the limit of what mateix perception can glean here, though.  For much more access you'll have to start marking things.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1811:35>
Many other things may exist there.
1. Locks.
2. Drones.
3. Guns. (wireless)
Now that we know the physical area of where we are looking to strike it is easier to search for security devices.

What do you want me to roll  then?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-07-18/1813:30>
While the hellhound is their primary security, I expect that the doors will be locked from the outside -- if only to keep the hellhound from escaping!  So the kid _probably_ can't walk himself out.  So likely we need to get Mato up there on locks, then get both him and the kid back down after.

Jawsey can go astral scouting again, but it seems likely to draw the attention of those cats, and somebody might notice?  Likely worth it for the intel, but I'm not going to IC it until we are agreed on him doing it.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1825:03>
Let's use the astral perception to gauge the host's firewall stat
and the camera's device rating.

Should I roll dice? How many? I mean we are not in combat time.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1844:00>
I think I mentioned that most of the guns seem to be throwbacks with the exception of the specifically mentioned smartlinked weapons - these guys seem to prefer laser sight.

As far as locks go, I MAY have forgotten to mention this one.  Yes, each apartment in the tenemant seems to have a central terminal  (the hellhound room has one too, unslaved) that controls locks and such.  The stuffer shack has a wireless lock slaved to the host, but the bar doesnt seem to have any wireless locks.

The drones I KNOW I overlooked.  There arent any security drones you can see, but each apartment (including the one with the hellhound) has a basic cleaning drone.

So I guess we ought to agree on how matrix perception works when you start doing it beyond a "what's around" check.  My reading was that you have to focus on a specific object, IE a camera, amd each net hit lets you ask one detailed question about it and get an answer (what's its device rating, whats its firewall, what is it slaved to).  If I am misunderstanding this PLEASE CORRECT ME - I dont want anyone to feel like my interpretation of the rules is gimping them.  In tjis case, for the sake of expendiwncy we'll just spread then out.  The Stuffer Shack Host has a firewall of 5, and the camera has a measly 2 device rating.  As far as not being in comba, I generally see matrix perception to be fairly risk-free (and maybe the only risk-free matrix action, except for search), but just as with meatspace perception it still needs a roll to see how effectively you can make out the details of given icons.

I will admit that providing details for wireless icons is trickier for me than astral because it is so ubiquitious that small details (like cleaning drones) are easy for me to dismiss as irrelevant, but it qlso occurs to me that tjere coukd be ways to use that.  I know it seems light around here as far as matrix stuff, but this will NOT always be the case.  Here, it is partly because the new Weeners are disciplined enough to minimize their matrix footprint, partly because matrix infrastructure is kind of light in the Barrens, and partly so I can get a feel for what you guys will do with it before I start throwing tons of shit at you.  Given how much of a focus matrix stakeout has been here, expect the next job to have some meatier matrix bits.

In the futurw, how does this sound?  If there is something you feel like I may have overlooked, or that you think is likely to be there that you can use, just ask me directly as you can (the abve list is a good reminder of what I need to consider).  If it's something I hadnt given much thought to but that would be logical to include, it will be there.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1847:27>
Also, I dont have my rulebook handy at work today (forgot my ipad).  Are host stats -1, +0, +2, +3 for atteibutes (with the host rating as the base), or is it +0, +1, +2, +3.  I was thinking its the former, but if not, the host's firewall is only 4
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-07-18/1850:14>
The latter.

I'll have plans to propose when the floor plans are available.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-07-18/1900:18>
Okay with 4 firewalls and device rating of 2 I think hacking the cameras is not that risky. Let's go for that solution.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-07-18/1949:26>
Given Beta's note about astral perception, and make sure that astral perception doesn't totally overshadowing hacking, I'd like to hold off on putting the floor plan up till you guys can get a visual feed or something similar.  Hack away!
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-08-18/0049:23>
I don't know by the rules - I know that rolling dice for each icon, and each property when not in combat is kind of annoying. Do you really want me to give you 100 rolls every time I ask for what is around? I agree that during combat if (for whatever reason) you want to do that, then this guessing game may be appropriate.  Even then it is annoying and exploitable. "My character is carrying 10,000 stealth tags and therefore makes it impossible to search for silent devices... "  So I don't know what raw says, it makes the whole process tedious, and if we need to ping-pong between us for every single detail - it would be very long and perhaps not the right approach for a PbP...

 As for assensing analogue: Technically speaking, you should require a roll for every single aura even to determine if it is an awakaned. You might distinguish a hellhound from a person, but not a mage (even Gandalf powerful) from a mundane. So spotting a mage with no active spell in a bar requires assensing every single person there - (unless the mage has a telltale sign like active foci and spells.)

By the way, given that it is a building in the Barrens - which means old. I'd make a floor plan the kind of things you get from a matrix search. It is very old, passed two matrix crashes - likely hacked a million times before. If it is a cooperate building with serious security and extraterritoriality, I'd require the character to hack their host assuming they know what they do. But this data is a property of a manicipality that did not know what to do with it and how to secure it.


Also, astral perception sees different things than matrix perception. It also misses out of things that matrix/physical perception does. E.g. it identifies people very good but may miss a machine gun turret or a combat drone entirely.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-08-18/0113:39>
Anyhow let's gain some insight:

Hack camera (http://orokos.com/roll/659330): 13d6t5 5
Camera resist (http://orokos.com/roll/659331): 7d6t5 2

The first camera hacked.

Hack camera (http://orokos.com/roll/659332): 13d6t5 4
camera resist (http://orokos.com/roll/659333): 7d6t5 2

The second camera hacked.


We also gained mark on the host which means she can spoof commands to slaved devices.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-08-18/0615:22>
@Locks

I wouldn't fiddle with lockpicking: Microwelders do 25P DV. On any structure below Bunker level you'll only need a complex action to cut the lock out.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-08-18/1038:19>
@GM, the first step before we gear to action, would be to verify that the prisoner is indeed who we think he is. Is a mark on the camera enough or should I do something extra?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-09-18/0109:37>
I just wanted to say I'm still here.  Been pretty busy with class deadlines the last couple of days, but I've been mulling over Gilga's post and I should be pretty active again on Monday.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-10-18/1718:58>
re: the cats.

As a player I have some ideas, ranging from 'that could complicate things' to 'terrifying'.  I used the majority of Jawsey's knowledge skill points to load up on languages and neglected to take anything relevant here. He's in blissful ignorance so far.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-10-18/1739:40>
Could be anything from awakened to emergent critters. Sadly, my char only specced in zoology and not parazoology
If the GM allows, I'd like to make a roll with a -3 for a related topic:

Zoology -3 (http://orokos.com/roll/660140): 5d6t5 1
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-10-18/1950:03>
I actually haven't got a clue what the cats are, which is both rare and kind of cool. Lorebane mentioned that they're in a sourcebook, and I have just about all of them from every edition, so it means I missed something.

@gilga
As for your post, I'm not quite sure where you're coming from. You're the one who said earlier, "It's a digital dice roller,  just tell me how many times".

Perception checks - physical, astral, and Matrix - are problematic in Shadowrun and I could talk about them at length. Even if we're just buying hits, we have to be mindful of the forum. We can't expect the GM to crank out thousands of words to describe everything we could see or detect over even a short interval. A balance has to be struck between giving the players useful information and spoon-feeding us to the point where we don't have to think for ourselves. Personally I feel that it's going well so far.

In the current situation, I'm not even sure where the concern is coming from, given that the GM called for hacking rolls, not Matrix perception.

I'm also not quite sure which side gilga was taking when he mentioned that the building is old... should it be publicly available through county records or is it gone after a Matrix crash or two? I would argue the latter. I don't think we're going to get the building layout unless we go raid the apartment office for ancient blueprints, and maybe not even then.

@GM, gilga
What Mato would like, and hopes that AM can eventually provide, is a layout of the unit where the prisoner is being held. A map, or even a sketch, would be hugely helpful. Location of walls, the hellhound, the hellhound's chain, especially in relation to the exterior doors, etc. The location of the prisoner might have to be inferred if he isn't on camera, but even that will be very useful.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-10-18/2118:42>
If we assume that Jawsey somehow did see what was described (broken window?) He can sketch a lot of that, at least the walls, barrier, and living beings locations.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-10-18/2157:56>
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HuB-Z8J-jg-Fpxz-XOGoXlsUxoxAehWM/view?usp=sharing

The map!  Sorry it took so long.  Been stressed to the point where just drawing a simple floorplan seems like a mountainous task - may start looking for a new job with reduced hours and just eat the student loans.

In any case, here's the thing.  IC description following shortly.  I think Gilga makes a good point about a floor plan being publicly accessible, but so does Tecumsah, because this is exactly the sort of shit that would get lost in the crash.  As far as the details go, I actually think what you did above would work very well when you have to roll, with a couple of contingent rolls listed (I think the PbP format might actually make this easier, since this sort of chain-rolling that comes along with matrix shit (especially marks, which, well... I had an idea and want to know what you guys think) can all be taken care of in one post).

Remember though, that for this game, stuff that is being "passive," like a camera during a stakeout, is going to buy successes on its oppossed test, effectively making these threshold tests which can be easier to gauge (and once you know the rating, you can figure whether you can succeed just by buying success yourself).  However, the Matrix is EVERYWHERE.  In astral it's easy to note what's there because it tends to stand out, but there is just too much going on for me to list literally every piece of information - I still need to know what you want to dig into.

Anyways, AM easily able to hack the camera in the room, revealing the floorplan above.  You've been staking it out enough that you can put together a reasonable estimate of what the layout will look like (this is for the fourth floor.  The elevators for the two southernmost appartments rise out of the one-story office unit, and the others go down to ground level).  I was an idiot with the scanner so it cuts off just at the edge, but there aren't any surprises there, just the fire escape.

EDIT: It seems this particular camera has been jury-rigged.  This is not a camera placement that seems to be standard in all of the apartments.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-10-18/2234:59>
Thank you for the drawing.

Can we get a key for some of the shapes?

- What's the half-oval at the bottom?
- What's the circle and squiggles toward the top?
- What's the rectangle?
- Do the cubicle walls go to the ceiling?
- Is there a bathroom or a kitchenette it anything like that?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-11-18/0002:51>
I'd figure there is no one to rob for a physical copy... as nobody maintains it, and that the building is old as nobody would build a new building in SR Redmond. There is no legitimate economy, and no one with a bank account would want to live there.  Contractors would not want to go there as they might be shot upon, and heck even the police is reluctant to go there.  At least this is my interpretation.

As for matrix perception, I think there are endless details in the astral and in the physical as well. These do not give us much trouble. I don't see why matrix should be different.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-11-18/1043:46>
oops, I'd meant to post about the possession fears in this thread, but since Gilga already responded in the IC thread I've edited my post there to be IC (I'd been going to play Jawsey as being ignorant of shedim, but to make it an IC I changed that to being he has heard vague rumours.  I need to buy some points in Arcana, soon!)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-11-18/1731:57>
@Lorebane, belatedly thank you for the drawing. 

But the real point of this post:  Take your time to evaluate how your time is going to be.  I think that this game has a lot of promise, and am certainly looking forward to it -- but you need to do what is right for you.  If the load of school and work is going to be too much to also run the game, I'd rather see you make the call than just slowly fade out.  Or if you think you can do it, but will need to slow things down a bit or whatever, that might work too, but let us know your plan.  Life sometimes does get in the way of games, however much we'd rather it didn't, and we all understand that.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-11-18/1843:28>
I actually really like the game - being able to post from my phone when I get some time at works helps me keep going sometimes - and I've got a general outline that runs pretty far (I've set aside the first ten cards that I plan to come up and have ideas on what most of the runs will be and how they fit together).  Its mostly been when I need to get to a sketch and an upload before the game can progress - this last one I had a couple brief windows to put up earlier, but its been after I just spent some hours on homeowork or something and after that is all done, sometimes I just end up getting distracyed by a video game or something.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-11-18/1846:51>
So yes, by and large, this is a game Ivery much want to keep going with - the point of doing it as a PbP (I had been planning the campaign for about a year) is so I can get it done in the increments when Inhave time.

It's work more than anything.  I know people who can hold down a full time job and do their master's, but I dont think I'm one of those people, so I think imma look for somethig a little more part time.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-11-18/2119:57>
I tried attending language classes while working full-time and even that didn't work. Maybe if I didn't have a desk job where I'm using my brain, but after a day of work the last thing I want to do is homework, or to concentrate on something intellectually demanding. My friends who worked their way through their Master's degrees said that they gave 70% to school and 70% to work, which meant that they were 40% overtaxed and getting the most out of neither. Never seemed like a good trade to me.

Back to some of the questions that I asked previously:

- What's the half-oval at the bottom of the drawing? Is that the camera?
- What's the circle and squiggles toward the top? I presume the circle is the bucket and the squiggles are the small pile of nutrisoy packs and the bottle water on the floor
- What's the rectangle? I presume this is the cot with the severely-bruised Yin
- Do the cubicle walls go to the ceiling?
- Where do we think the hellhound is? Chained behind the cubicle walls to the west (up in the newest drawing) so that it can flame the two east-west (up/down) corridors?
- So we're assuming that Yin doesn't step out the door to the southeast (bottom-left) to escape because the hellhound will barbecue him from the southwest (upper-left)?

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-12-18/1235:21>
Yes, the little oval is the camera.

Good question on the cubicle walls.  They do NOT go to the ceiling.  The ceiling here is about 10 feet up, and these are about 8 feet high.  They seem pretty sturdy for cubicles, each being designed to stand on its own, non-reliant of its "wall"s connecting to others.

You can make out some shadows and the occasional flame spouting up from the cubicle.  Based on where they appear, you would guess the hound is chained up to the left of the door that opens onto the walkway.  The camera is perched directly over the other door, so you can't see the state of it, but since the kid hasn't just walked out you would guess that it's kept locked or barricaded.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-12-18/1445:48>
I think we have plan now?  If I grasped everything (and I may not have) plan A looks like this:
1-   Bobby turns into something that flies and flies onto the roof of the tenement
2-   Mato(?) goes into Stuffer Shack, buys some crap and sees if there is anything that might distract a normal cat, and if there is he goes in between the storage containers and the ‘abandoned’ squat and tosses it on the ground.
3-   Mato goes and buys a hit a from the dealers under the gazebo
4-   Mato takes the hit and the junk he bought at Stuffer Shack and heads to the tenement apartments (probably going up the fire escape on the north side?), and heads up like he’s meeting someone.
5-   AM/Jawsey open up the smuggling compartment (I presume it is the classic ‘under the back seat’?)
6-   Jawsey summons a spirit of man
7-   AM casts and sustains increased intuition on Jawsey (and maybe also on his spirit?)  Jawsey maybe also pops a dose of Psyche, then goes astral and keeps an eye on Mato’s progress.
8-   When Mato is on to the fourth floor walkway, Jawsey astrally enters the apartment and attacks the hellhound, hopefully killing it but at the least weakening it. 
   -If kills it and has time before Mato comes in, manifests and tells the kid that help is coming.
  -If he is too hurt and can’t finish it, will manifest and warn Mato/Bobby
9-   Mato hurries to the door, and opens it (picks the lock, mini-welder, kicks it in … whatever works). 
10-   Bobby turns into a gorilla or something else good at climbing/carrying, and quickly drops down to the fourth floor walkway.
11-   Mato and Bobby enter the apartment, finishing off the hellhound if necessary.  At this point Jawsey returns to his body, tells AM she can drop her spells, and she drives the car closer (near the tenement offic?)
12-   Mato and Bobby deal with the situation in the apartment, taking care of any other issues and freeing the boy if he is chained or whatever.  Then they get the boy out, either under his own power or carried by Bobby.  They signal if they’ll need a levitate or have it under control.
13-   Exit A is down to the roof of the tenement office (Bobby can probably jump down far (~six metres?) and catch the boy if Bobby dangles and drops him?  Then they can repeat to the ground beside the car.  Else they call for the slower levitate option on the boy or one or more of them.  AM stays sharp on where she may need to move the car, depending if they have to take a different exit (along the walkway, up and over the roof, etc).  She also gets ready to provide counter spells if their sorcerer shows up.
14-   If no levitate was needed, Jawsey crawls into the smuggling compartment while the others come down the building, to clear a seat for faster loading of the car.  If levitate is needed Bobby changes shape again maybe, either to something small that can squeeze in or something that can fly and get out of here on his own.
15-   AM guns it and gets away from the area
16-   Profit.

Questions:
a)   I forget what features the car had besides a smuggling compartment, I think a license spoofer?  I presume we are running that already?
b)   Is there a better extraction point than right beside the office (which is also near the gazebo), where extra forces may be quick to respond? What are the trade-offs?
c)   If Mato is intercepted on his approach, does he turn back, or fight his way through?
d)   Do we have a way to scrub the whole operation if things start going sideways for one of us?
e)     Are we worried about the one person with the fancy matrix persona?  Could be a decker/'mancer on the 'Weeners side?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-12-18/1452:40>
And looking forward, I'd love for us to find a way to break into the Father's apartment and get a look at his notes on the walls.  Stealing his (probable) card would be too obvious, but copying information is potentially unnoticed.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-12-18/1456:36>
Works for me.

a) changing license plates and spoof chip
b) we can extract him over the roof and down the north side. There shouldn't be a direct line of sight from the parking lot if we keep close to the wall.
c) I think Mato can subdue anyone with just one hit silently - I'm for the fight option
d) Nope, we'll just have to fight our way through and rely on Edge
e) The worst that can happen is that he notices the camera spoof. By the time we need it, he won't have enough time to do anything about it.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-12-18/1526:58>
Just to get rolls out of the way while I have a moment

Try 1, calling Red Jacket Boy, force 2
summon spirit of man (bgc 1) (http://orokos.com/roll/660609): 4d6t5 0
spirit resist (http://orokos.com/roll/660610): 2d6t5 1
drain resist vs 2 (http://orokos.com/roll/660611): 13d6t5 6
he won't show, but no drain

Try 2, calling Sam, force 3 (due to typo while putting in roll data)
summon spirit (bgc1) (http://orokos.com/roll/660612): 4d6t5 1
sp resist (http://orokos.com/roll/660613): 3d6t5 1
drain resist vs 2 (http://orokos.com/roll/660614): 13d6t5 4
same

OK, four dice isn't cutting it, will edge summon roll, and also go for force 3 again (oversummon)
Try 3, Calling TheHunchedLadyWithIronTeeth
edged summon (bcg1) (http://orokos.com/roll/660616): 8d6h5 6
spirit resits (http://orokos.com/roll/660619): 3d6t5 2
drain resist (http://orokos.com/roll/660621): 13d6t5 3
Four services, but one point of physical damage. (isn't it the way of drain rolls to be excellent when you don't need them to be good, and below average when you need them?)

Force 3 spirit of man (optional power=levitate spell), four services. 

ETA: I'd forgotten the house rules about spirits; she'll only use 'manipulation' like processes, not actually fight :-/   So I won't be getting the friend in combat bonus.  May get used just for manipulations spells, we'll see.

stun: 0, phys: 1, edge 2/4.



Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-12-18/1558:43>
A pretty solid plan; thank you for typing it all up. Some comments and possible revisions:

1 - Maybe Bobby flies to the west side of the fourth floor balcony. I'm not sure going to the roof benefits us at all. If we think we can slip away covertly, and if we don't need him to carry anything, then he could either fly away or he could transform into a dog or something else that won't generate as much attention as a gorilla.

3 & 4 - I don't recognize steps 3 and 4. Part of me wonders if it's better to not be seen by any Halloweener, whatever the context, so that if they do a debriefing later of where their prisoner went they won't remember my orky visage as an unfamiliar face. Given that there's no visual connection between the gazebo and the fire escape, it's not like anyone watching would really infer what I was doing by buying drugs then walking to the fire escape. That said, I could buy drugs to use as a bribe in case there are residents that need to be distracted. Or Bobby could use Intimidation to get them to mind their own business.

5 - The location of the smuggling compartment is not currently defined. I presumed it was in the trunk but that's no more or less valid then under the backseat.

14 - That said, why are we bothering with the smuggling compartment at all? If we need extra space, one of us can ride in the trunk.

8 & 9 - I would recommend reversing 8 and 9, or executing them simultaneously. Ideally Mato could unlock the door but not open it while Jawsey goes to town on the hell hound. If that's not feasible then let's start at the same time. If Jawsey gets into trouble on the astral, Mato can intercede in the physical realm. We just have to decide whether we want Jawsey to do Stun or Physical damage astrally. Physical takes care of the dog permanently, in case the Halloweeners come after us, but Stun maybe helps remove some emotion from the Halloweeners' revenge calculation in case the pup is near and dear to them.

13 - I would think that Exit A would be to the west. That keeps us out-of-view of the bar and the parking lot. The northern road (that runs E-W) would be our way out and where we'd get picked up.

a) What Jack said.
b) Why would we bother with the roof? Let's see how much attention we generate and what shape the prisoner is in. We might be able just to walk out to the west.
c) Once the ball is rolling it should stay rolling. If I can't go around someone then I'll go through them.
d) What Jack said. Jawsey should retreat if injured; there are plenty of ways to deal with the hellhound, and - between his armor, worn and cyber - Mato is fire resistant. Even if the hellhound is doing 10P -5AP (more with net hits), Mato is soaking with 27 dice and has plenty of Edge in reserve.
e) I'm more worried about the cats than a hacker. They could be a red herring, or they might be damnably inconvenient.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-12-18/1617:11>
IMO the car would be kept manual, so no decking the car. (It is the Barren's I doubt the autopilot can drive there anyhow).  So the impact of a decker is not that great, we should probably turn off all electronic equipment once we are all in the car (or leave on just comlinks If we leave someone behind, but that risks deckers. In any case, don't have anything important online. I am thinking that having Mato leaving by foot is the most confusing as he is the one most visible out of the team.  He sports these cyberlimbs an is a trog - so the obvious suspect once they discover.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-12-18/1629:10>
@Tecumseh
I wasn't sure if there are exits to the west or north. If there is a way to go out there without trouble, sure let's take that one.

Bobby will take again Osprey form:
F7 Shapechange (http://orokos.com/roll/660650): 14d6t5 1
Resist Drain (http://orokos.com/roll/660652): 11d6t5 7

This dice roller is weird. But nevermind. It's enough for flying up their and sitting on the window sill.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-12-18/1634:29>
OK, 3 and 4 were me channeling Jawsey, and trying to provide a plausible reason for approach rather than just going fast.  Definitely optional.  (If we go with them, Jawsey can apply some degree of disguise to Mato -- combine with keeping limbs covered and he might not be entirely identifiable?  But he is pretty distinctive and has limited social skills, so maybe better to ignore all of that).

"Exit A" was me forgetting and using my mental short hand that I'd not explained yet.  I see five exits routes, and called "Quickest possible exit" A. 

I think the exit possibilities are:
A: East door, straight down to office roof, then to the ground to the south of the office.  Can jump/drop without magic most likely.  Quick but very visible.
B: East door, along the walkway to the fire escape, down that and to the street on the north side.  Can walk it, but opportunities to be intercepted, or shot/spelled at from the ground near the club/gazebo.
C: West door, then straight down to the ground.  Have to open a second door, likely would need levitate for the distance, or else go down a floor first.
D:  West door, the along the walkway ....(I forget, does the west side walkway also connect to the fire escape?)  Have to open another door, opportunities to be intercepted. (forget how you get down from there)
E: Out either east or west door, then up to the roof, then down north (or possibly south?) side, using levitate.  Takes time to get to the fifth floor then the roof, visible while doing that, but then well hidden.  Risk of getting sieged up there, but also opponents don't know what we're doing or all our options.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-12-18/2022:03>
@Beta
Great IC post. I love the spirit names.

@Jack
In the fluff, the miniwelder is described as an arc welder. As such, I usually rule that it only works on metals, but that's up to the GM. If we're up against glass then I'm just going to put a cyberfist through it.

I've never played with Shapechange or Critter Form before. What's the advantage of casting at a higher Force, other than being harder to dispel? Don't forget the background count.

@gilga
Yes, I presumed that AM would want the car controls on manual, both for security and for personal preference. As the driver, that's fully up to you.

@All
IC is up. I took a lot of my products and aisle locations from the SR4 Quick Start Rules, which featured Food Fight in a Stuffer Shack. Some of the prices, like the disposable items, come from Run Faster. I normally wouldn't presume that a Stuffer Shack in Redmond would have steaks, but the GM's early posts make it clear that he sees real food as more available than it is commonly represented in the Sixth World. If the GM wants to nix that then I'm cool editing it out.

Mato is prepared to spend up to ¥200 on items not covered by the shared lifestyle costs. Run Faster says the steaks would be ¥50 each, but again I'm not sure how the GM's Sixth World-view potentially affects the prices. I'll leave it up to the GM to decide what's was actually available in terms of catnip and cat food, the stinkier the better.

I think I'm ready to go.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-12-18/2031:25>
Not sure if how RAW this is, but my assumption on cars is that they would habe tjwir steering all in manual cause no grod guide, but they could still have other systems like lights, alarms, and locks hacked.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-12-18/2044:57>
GridLink Override and Manual Control Override are separate things. Luckily our car has both. As for hacking, it might be possible to slap some MARKs on us but in theory they won't do anything since the car will ignore them in favor of manual commands. Here's the descriptions from Rigger 5:

Quote
MANUAL CONTROL OVERRIDE
For runners that are extra paranoid about the Matrix
security on their vehicle (or just unwilling to pay for
it), they can install a manual control override system.
Nearly every modern vehicle made in the 2070s has
the ability to be piloted remotely or purely through
its electronic controls as well as its manual/mechanical
controls. If a rigger is really nervous about those
electronic controls being taken over, they can install
a switch so that the manual controls will always take
priority over the electronic ones. In order to prevent
the switch from being remotely deactivated, it is always
mechanical in nature with the physical pressing of the
button making or breaking connections to ensure the
precedence of the manual controls. In game terms,
when manual control override is activated, piloting a
vehicle via AR or VR is not possible. The system can
only be activated by someone physically in the vehicle,
within reach of the switch (usually the driver’s seat),
and by using a Free Action.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-13-18/0055:29>
@Jack
In the fluff, the miniwelder is described as an arc welder. As such, I usually rule that it only works on metals, but that's up to the GM. If we're up against glass then I'm just going to put a cyberfist through it.

I've never played with Shapechange or Critter Form before. What's the advantage of casting at a higher Force, other than being harder to dispel? Don't forget the background count.

It's best not to think to much about this device: If it was a classic arc welder you'd have to provide an inert gas and some form of stock as filler material. Also you'd have to connect an electrode to the object you are trying to cut through/weld on.
That's why I always imagined this device as a plasma arc torch (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_torch) (which would also explain why an electric welder has a fuel canister).

As for the Force: I had hoped for a good role so I could use six successes without spending reagents, but Orocos thinks it's funny...
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-13-18/0822:19>
Hellhounds are expensive, so I suggest stun damage unless it complicates things.
@Tecumseh Driving is manual so nobody can crush us, but marks can still be used for other things (trace icon comes naturally to mind), which I think is in line with what LoreBane is saying. Though, as shadowrunners we should customize a completely wifi dark car - to prevent this possibility.

Not sure if our current car is like that - and at any case it is enough that one of us keeps wireless to make us traceable through the matrix.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-13-18/0901:31>
Agreed on stun on the hellhound (although I'm sure that will manage to come back to bite us later).   Thanks for raising that, Tecumseh.

Jack: orokos has a dark, dark, sense of humour.  And a question: IC you wrote that Bobby entered the building.  Do you mean he's cutting open the door?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-13-18/1532:51>
That depends: If the door is unlocked I won't have to cut it open. Otherwise, yes, I'll cut out the bolt.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-13-18/1534:13>
I can post ICly for Mato approaching the building, but before I do I'm hoping (for RP purposes) that the GM can confirm what was and wasn't available at the Stuffer Shack:

- stinky cat food
- catnip toys
- steaks

Then I'll be on my way ICly.

@Jack
Are you cutting the lock on the door (as an osprey) prior to Mato's arrival, or are you just posting in advance and presuming that I'm already there with you?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-13-18/1540:27>
I'm not cutting as an osprey  ;D
I meant to write that I'll take human form to do that. And I'm doing that only if the roof is empty (as I assume since my fly over earlier didn't indicate anything of the sort)

As far as my understanding is, Mato and Bobby will meet up in front of the appartment door behind which waits the hellhound.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-13-18/1556:29>
Okay, so you're a buck-naked human cutting through which lock exactly?

The plan is to meet at the western door. Per the GM, the western door opens up onto a communal balcony that leads to the fire escape on the north side of the building.

I was thinking that Mato would take the fire escape while Bobby would fly to the balcony. You wouldn't need to cut any locks to get there. I don't think we need to touch the roof at all, nor would it really matter if anyone is up there (other than bored Barrens dwellers might take pot-shots at the damn big bird flying around).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-13-18/1606:11>
So Bobby and Mato are going to try to pacify the hell hound with steaks, and failing that take it out?  (as opposed to Jawsey going in astrally first)?

(I was holding off posting his IC move on the hell hound until  AM cast the boost intuition spell, but I hold off entirely if you guys want to take it on instead -- with his focus out of action Jawsey has only marginal advantage over the hellhound, so I'm pretty easy either way on this one.  (I'll be saving for him to buy a higher rating focus so that bcg 1/2 doesn't knock it out of action -- he lost 4 attack dice, 3 damage, and a point of reach from a measly 1 point background count.  Something I hadn't thought about in character design, if I had I would probably have held off on the focus. Ah well, things to think of next time.)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-13-18/1608:22>
Ah ok, that I missinterpreted. I thought the balcony had people on it. But if that's the easy way, Bobby certainly will accompany Mato.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-13-18/1615:17>
@Jack
I guess we'll find out if the balcony has people on it when we get there.

@Beta
A) try to pacify hell hound with a steak (one for going in, one for walking out)
B) if it works, great, if not then tag team the hell hound between the physical and astral
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-13-18/1806:10>
@Beta  Thanks for reminding me... here you go!
I would potentially do improve charisma as well (for more damage) but with charisma 8 it is 5 drain which seems a bit risky at this point.

Improve Intuition (http://orokos.com/roll/661063): 9d6t5 4
Intuition raised by 4.
drain (http://orokos.com/roll/661064): 10d6t5 4
No drain.

I edited my last post to also include the spell.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-14-18/0343:09>
It's 12:45am and I'm just now wrapping up work, so no IC post from me today. I'll try to get one up later today (Friday).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-14-18/2052:18>
IC post is up. I took Mato to the bottom of the fire escape to give the GM an opportunity to intercede in case there's any resistance on the way up. Mato will mostly try to bribe people with his bag of goodies, but will get physical if he needs to.

In case there's no speed bumps getting up the fourth floor, then I'll wait for the GM's description of the situation before proceeding. (Especially interested in the type of door lock and the door construction.)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-14-18/2244:55>
Jawsey will just buy successes on asensing, if it is needed on his quick scouting trip (2 successes)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-15-18/1645:05>
Aight, so I know I've been scarce lately.  I came to the realization that this job and this degree are not something I can sustain over the next 2 years, so I quit my job and have spent the last 2 days getting caught up on classes.  Now, I am slightly ahead, so later tonight imma catch up on the game's posts and get back into it.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-16-18/0037:35>
Thanks for checking in; I definitely appreciate it. I hope the classes are going well.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-16-18/0810:42>
Thanks for keeping us ion the loop.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-16-18/1939:06>
Good luck with your classes, Lorebane! 

And to clarify the IC:  Jawsey's body is in the car, his astral form is out scouting.  After seeing the cat situation he returns to his body to let others know, then he goes back to the astral, finding Bobby and then scouting the flanking units.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-17-18/2134:46>
I'm ready to IC post but I'm hoping to get some additional details before doing so:

1)   Does Mato have to interact with anyone on his way up to the fourth floor balcony?
2)   How many people are on the fourth floor balcony?
2b) Is anyone reacting to Bobby being there?
3)   What type of lock is on the door the unit?
4)   What are the walls made out of?

For #3, Mato is willing to try the door handle before picking it, reasoning that they might not bother locking it because everyone knows better than to enter a unit with a hellhound in it.

For #4, Mato has an R4 Radar Sensor in his cyberleg, a nifty piece of tech from Chrome Flesh which basically lets him see through walls, "if in a vague, blocky manner." Here's the relevant passage:

Quote
The radio pulses are able to pass through most solid matter, allowing the user to “look” through walls, clothes, and similar obstructions to see the outlines of what lies beyond. While individuals cannot be recognized at the resolution of the processing, shapes can give some suggestion of what items might be... The radar sensor uses the same Visibility modifiers as ultrasound but can penetrate a cumulative Structure Rating equal to its own Rating x 5. Thus, a Rating 2 radar sensor can penetrate two Rating 5 walls, or a single Rating 10 wall, or three Rating 3 walls, etc.

I'm guessing the walls are around Rating 10 (brick, plascrete) which means that I should be able to see through them and perhaps some internal walls (Rating 2, drywall, plaster) on the other side. Range is 20 meters.

In conjunction with Jawsey's scouting, that might provide us with a view of what's in the neighboring units, as well as confirming the suspected contents of the middle unit.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-19-18/0320:25>
Thanks for the IC, Lorebane.

Let's see if Mato can pick the lock.

Step 1, remove the casing: Locksmith + Agility [Physical] (Maglock Rating x 2, 1 Combat Turn)
Step 2, check for anti-tamper system, and disable if necessary:  Locksmith + Agility [Physical] (anti-tamper system rating)
Step 3, rewiring the circuit: Locksmith + Agility [Physical] (Maglock Rating x 2, 1 Combat Turn)

Step 1: Agility 10 + Locksmith 5 + Maglocks specialization 2 (http://orokos.com/roll/662105): 17d6t5 7 hits, beats the required 6 hits so that's done in 3 seconds
Step 2: if necessary, Agility 10 + Locksmith 5 + Maglocks specialization 2 (http://orokos.com/roll/662106): 17d6t5 5 hits, exceeds the maximum anti-tamper rating of 4, so that's defeated, if applicable
Step 3: Agility 10 + Locksmith 5 + Maglocks specialization 2 (http://orokos.com/roll/662107): 17d6t5 4 hits, luck gives out so this needs a second test, Agility 10 + Locksmith 5 + Maglocks specialization 2 - Second Test 1 (http://orokos.com/roll/662108): 16d6t5 7 hits

I'm a little disappointed at step 3 but it's certainly not the worst treatment that the roller has given us. Sounds like I've got the door unlocked in 10-15 seconds.

Next steps
- Put on ballistic mask
- Toss Salisbury steak inside, take cover and evaluate the hellhound's interest
- If the hellhound eats the steak, then try to slip past as quickly as possible
- If the hellhound doesn't take the bait, signal a countdown to Jawsey
- I'll probably lead with a flash-bang, as the chained dog can't escape it, and it should soften it up nicely for Jawsey
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-19-18/1118:01>
Nice find on the radar sensor! Seems really useful.

P.S Another approach is to simply hack the lock and command it to open, perhaps a bit less messy/drawing attention. You do as if you swing a card in there and we'll open it remotely.  Since AM is not there, just ping her if you are interested.

PPS: Grandes on the hound is a bit loud - perhaps something more subtle if Steak fails?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-19-18/1125:44>
agreed on the grenade front -- noisy, and I'm not sure how safe our target would be?

I'm happy for Jawsey to go in and see how it goes (which may result in hell hound noises but those probably happen sometimes anyway?)  If nothing else perhaps he weakens the hound enough that it could be finished off with something stealthier/safer to the target?

@lorebane: to speed things up, if there are not additional surprises you can let us know if this is a normal hell hound, or its stats, and we can roll both sides of the combat (or as many passes as you want us to go).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-19-18/1328:13>
Honestly, I can think of several different ways to do this. That's a good thing.

Since the maglock is wireless, AM can hack it remotely if gilga wants to make those rolls.

I wasn't worried about keeping it subtle. I figured if we had to drop the hell hound then that was going to be a noisy process one way or another. I'm guessing that hell hounds are loud while you KO them. And, even if they aren't, Bobby was talking about being a gorilla at some point. That's a good distraction, and a way to draw attention away from the prisoner walking out the front door, but it's not exactly low-key.

I was thinking that the metal cubicle walls (which are evidently enough to keep magical flames at bay) would contain the blast from the flash-bang. If the GM plays things tight then maybe there's some rebound off the ceiling, but flash-bangs don't play well with the chunky salsa rules since, by RAW, their effect does not diminish with distance. (I personally house rule that, but that's a separate conversation.) If we are playing with chunky salsa rules, then a flash-bang in an enclosed space should waste the hell hound promptly.

I can think of several other possibilities too but I'm trying to keep things on track rather than getting derailed onto tangents.

So, next steps?

1) AM hacks
2) Mato throws a soy steak
3) proceed based on the results of #2
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-19-18/1357:49>
Personally, I'm for a smash and grab should the hacking not work out.
I can take the gorilla form in case we need the distraction.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-19-18/1430:47>
Well, I think that I need the control device action, but I skimped on Electronic warfare due to a design flaw.
(Matrix is a bit confusing when you try to figure out exactly what you need. I usually get everything and never get to use some of these skills.)

I was under the impression that I only needed computers/hacking for the sleaze path (no data spiking and such),
(control device is not in my cheat sheet even).  In any case, I'll buy a few points with karma when but we don't have a hacking option right now.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-19-18/1447:22>
You can trace the owner marks, get a MARK on them and just spoof the lock
(or you can try the new reckless hacking action and take a 5 dice penalty to do it without first finding the owner and spoof it directly)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-19-18/1503:38>
Well if that work let's try it:
Spoof Command (-5) (http://orokos.com/roll/662158): 9d6t5 1 Common! Evil dice let's not alert them right away.  Edge it. 
Spoof Command (-5) (http://orokos.com/roll/662163): 8d6t5 4

Open Sesame!
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-20-18/1637:27>
@Jack_Spade: I'm waiting on how the fake-steak works with the hell-hound .... but you know what?  I can probably write up an IC that allows for either reaction, and did you really want to count on the HH staying passified while bringing the boy out? 

It will be a few hours before I'm around my books to look up the hell hound stats again, but then I'll just state my assumptions and make my rolls and post something.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <09-20-18/1646:26>
I actually thought the steak would be the distraction you need to attack from the astral with a surprise attack. If the hound doesn't go down with one strike, Bobby can go for a subdual attack (effectively choke the dog out)

Stats for hellhounds are:

B A R S W L I C E ESS M
6 4 5 6 4 2 4 3 3 6 5
Initiative 10 + 3D6
Movement x2/x6/+4
Condition Monitor 11/10
Limits Physical 8, Mental 4, Social 6
Armor 2
Skills Exotic Ranged Weapon 4, Intimidation 3,
Perception 3, Running 4, Sneaking 5, Tracking 5,
Unarmed Combat 3
Powers Armor 2, Dual Natured, Elemental Attack (Fire),
Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Low-Light Vision,
Smell), Fear, Immunity to Fire, Natural Weapon
(Bite: DV (STR+1)P, AP –1)

They aren't that impressive in a one on one fight - especially if you are in close combat with them.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-20-18/1648:50>
thanks for the stats.  I'll still not post that for a while, sorry -- will wait until I'm home from work.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <09-20-18/1654:27>
What was that die rolling app you guys were using again?  I'll probably need it pretty soon.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-20-18/1700:11>
The steak only needs to buy a few seconds for Mato to get around the corner and into cover. Then, there's a second steak for the way out. This is the approach that the Halloweeners use to tend to the kid.

Using the steak to alpha strike the hell hound is also fine. If that's what we do then it's probably safer for Mato to stick-n-shock the dog since 1) Mato is armored, and 2) Bobby is not. Plus we don't have to worry about friendly fire since Jawsey will be hammering from the astral while we work on the physical.

Damn, hell hounds have good initiative.

@Lorebane We use orokos.com
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-20-18/2008:10>
Mechanically astral combat it is... the Hellhound is incapable of even hitting Bobby his 9 intuition means 18 dodge dice, and base initiative of 18.  VS 7 attack dice, 4 dice to resist damage and 8 dice to dodge.  Charisma 8 - meaning damage is 8 + net hits and 4 dice to resist damage to the hound. 2 hits for almost 100% down, 1 good hit with 10 damage it is also down.

Unless the diceroller glitches I would not worry too much about the outcome;)

That again, using no violence may be nicer if we can pull it off.





Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-20-18/2141:38>
Astral combat, Jawsey (J)) going after the Hellhound (HH).

J init (http://orokos.com/roll/662391): 18+3d6 29
HH init (http://orokos.com/roll/662426): 10+3d6 18

Is the HH surprised?
HH surprise check (http://orokos.com/roll/662427): 10d6t5 4
No.

Pass 1, Jawsey attacks first on 29
Astral combat 6 + willpower 5 -1 bcg= 10
J astral combat (http://orokos.com/roll/662428): 10d6t5 3
    edge astral attack (http://orokos.com/roll/662432): 6d6t5 3 for total of 6 hits
HH dodge (http://orokos.com/roll/662429): 9d6t5 3

hits with 2 extra succeses, taking DV up to 10
HH soak (http://orokos.com/roll/662433): 3d6t5 2
HH takes 8 stun damage.  Init drops to 16, -2 penalty

HH attacks on 16
HH attack (http://orokos.com/roll/662434): 5d6t5 1
J dodge (http://orokos.com/roll/662435): 13d6t5 6
dodges

Jawsey attacks on 19
J attack (http://orokos.com/roll/662436): 10d6t5 3
HH has dodged once, is at -2  HH dodge (http://orokos.com/roll/662437): 4d6t5 2
Hit, DV stays at 8
HH soak (http://orokos.com/roll/662438): 3d6t5 1
takes 7 more stun, which knocks it out and does 5 physical damage to it.

So, 2/3 of  turn, or a couple of seconds?  Long enough for the hound to probably make some noise, but hopefully nothing too crazy.

(stun: 0, phys: 1, edge 1/4.)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-20-18/2206:03>
Overflow Stun converts to Physical at a 2:1 ratio, so the hell hound would be KO'd with 2 boxes of Physical. The rest looks right to me.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <09-20-18/2210:50>
oops, thanks, I'd forgotten about that conversion rate.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <09-21-18/0006:32>
First, you shortened yourself a die in the edge reroll:
1 extra dice (http://orokos.com/roll/662467): 1d6t5 0
nevermind:

Second, you had 6 successes and hound had 3 defense hit, so +3 net hits, 2 hits soaked so you did 9 DV in the first turn. I think it means he'll have 3 physical at the end.

Nice fighting - and great IC post.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-21-18/0014:58>
I stand corrected; it appears that gilga is right.

I'll wait for the GM's input before posting ICly.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-24-18/1812:40>
I'll buy hits for the sweep of the apartment.

Perception (Visual): 16 dice = 4 hits for visual
Perception (Audio): 3 hits for hearing
Perception (Scent): 3 hits for smelling (I can lose up to 3 dice due to interfering odors and still get 3 hits)

My IC didn't mention it so I'll go back and edit it in: Mato will run a bug scanner over the kid (and, if necessary, a tag eraser) before Bobby transforms him.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <09-24-18/1822:24>
Ok, IC post has been edited.

@Jack
Shapechange has the Body +/- 2 limit. We don't know Brian's Body, but since he's an ork we'll probably need something closer to Body 4 than a pug. Maybe a German shepherd? Perhaps it was there to mate with the hell hound and got bit in the process. That's how we could explain the missing hand/paw, should anyone ask.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-01-18/1252:56>
It's been a week so I'll bump this.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <10-01-18/1300:24>
I'm still around  :)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-01-18/1339:00>
Still around, not sure about the GM though.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-01-18/1355:14>
Still around too.  I'm guessing that his MBA program has swallowed our GM for now.  I'm hoping it will ease off enough for us to continue as this campaign has had a promising start.  But I know a lot of those programs can be pretty intense
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-05-18/1957:06>
Sorry, I guess I really dropped the ball.  I only even remembered that I had this on my docket a couple of days ago, and it looks like the site has been down.  I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-05-18/2001:04>
If it makes you feel better, the site was down for the last 2-3 days so you couldn't have posted anyway.

Would you like to continue, perhaps with a revision in scope?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-06-18/1712:59>
Hi guys,
since I kind of like the characters - would you like to form a new game around them (should this one be dead of course)? Perhaps one of us could GM it?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-06-18/1732:11>
I'm open to continuing. I am GMing two other games right now so if we do keep it going then I would ask for the GM duties to rotate through the group.

One possibility, if Lorebane is open to it, is for him to share the details of the rest of this mission and I could GM us to completion. I did this with Tabula Rasa game a few years ago and it was a smashing success.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-06-18/2009:08>
I wouldnt mind any of those possibilities.  It's primarily a one credit hour tech class that has me burnt out, but I am meeting with the dean this week to talk about it, because te reason its so hectic is the prof lists vague instructions and gives little feedback.

The other thing I've come to realize about me as a GM is that my interest ebbs and wanes a frequently, which sucks, but it always comes full circle eventually.  Guess im kinda in a lull at te same time as midterms are hitting.

In any case, Im still pretty pleased with what I had plotted out and would hate to see it wasted, whether its someone taling over or me trying a bit harder to keep up
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-07-18/0149:55>
I am fine with Tecumseh taking over, and with rotating GM, I think these are good options. If Lorebane can support it, we can continue hunting for tarot cards (under his GMing) on part-time as once in a while we get some hint or another hook to do so.  That is when his real life allows him to GM. I mean I think it is okay that their entire life does not revolve around it and each GM can bring slightly different style/type of run.
 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-07-18/0923:22>
I'm willing to give this a try. 

My GMing experience is almost all from running one player games for my son (first herowars/heroquest, then Shadowrun).  I'm willing to take a shot at stepping up and taking a turn Gaming, but I may be relying on edging the roll, so to speak.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <10-07-18/0938:55>
@Tecumseh
By the way: I'm putting together a new game over at https://www.rpgplayroom.net/games/topic/interest-check-for-new-2077-run/#post-9771
Maybe you'd be interested in taking part.

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-07-18/2028:36>
@Jack
Thanks, Jack. I look through the thread. I'll reply over there.

@All
As for The Found Arcana, I would largely defer to Lorebane's wishes. If we just need to get past midterms then maybe it's a temporary setback. If the 1-credit tech class is going to be the monkey on Lorebane's back through the end of the year, sapping his will to live and GM, then maybe we pass the reins.

I suppose there's also the question of how much is left of the current mission, whether it's just the hand-off, or if we need to do a getaway and navigate some twists as well. ICly, I'm not sure we ever came to a consensus about what to do about the tarot card.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-07-18/2150:39>
The tarot card is still in the father's hands.   We had not (yet) had cause to attempt to steal it.
 However Jawsey was going to raise the issue of whether we'd be able to break in to copy the guys notes ( if it was enough to get him obsessed and his son kidnapped, these cards obviously matter, so getting jump started on the info would be nice)

And agree about Lorebane needing to provide some guidance.  Also, Lorebane, if we go through with this idea, times where you are not running things, you could look at whether you'd have time to play?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-08-18/1359:41>
That would actually be awesome.  I think it would be easier if I could occasionally step back and just be responsible for one character for a little while.  I'll go back through the IC thread to refresh myself on where we are and try to get something up later tonight and at least close out this run.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-08-18/1407:12>
One possibility I had considered is if we rotate as GMs but Lorebane is behind the scenes, laying out the plot to the current GM.

For example, Lorebane finishes out this run. Then, he sends the next GM a write-up of what needs to happen in the next segment/mission. It can be as loose or as detailed as he wants, leaving the GM to fill in the rest. Then the process repeats itself for each mission, so that Lorebane has the complete picture in mind but the whole arc isn't spoiled for the individual GMs/players.

I have no idea how well it would work in practice but that was a thought.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-14-18/1914:41>
Ooo, Charisma rolls, I'm the best at those! Hmm, to Edge or not. It's not like Jack has set the bar very high, and nor does a single ganger seem like much of a threat. We'll live dangerously.

Charisma 2 + Stealth 5 (http://orokos.com/roll/669656): 7d6t5 3 hits

Pretty good, all things considered.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-21-18/0159:30>
Well it seems like we cannot get the game going again.
Perhaps we can start a new run?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-21-18/0428:50>
Let's get Lorebane's input.

@Lorebane, can we finish this out, or would you prefer to pass the torch so that we can get to the finish line of Chapter I?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-22-18/2322:28>
Sorry, just popping in to let you know I'm still here.  Had like 3 papers due this week last week.  Tomorrow afternoon I just want to do one long post to mostly wrap this run up, or at least get out of this part of the Barrens.  It should wrap up without a hitch, but just to get ahead of things, where do you want to take the kid now that you have him?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-23-18/1444:57>
Sweet, looking forward to it.

I would say let's just meet up with his father. Presumably his father will get him some medical attention, at which point we can decide whether we want to make a move on the tarot card or not.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-28-18/1321:56>
IC is up.  Sorry it took so long.  Looks like the site was down for a few days.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-28-18/1916:45>
Yeah, the site was down for 2 or 3 days. You couldn't have posted even if you wanted to.

Lorebane, are you trying to get us to the finish line as quickly as possible or are there things we should consider, like talking to Brian or figuring out what we want to do about the tarot card?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-28-18/2103:33>
I want to get there relatively quick, but I don't want to totally gloss over talking to the kid and exploring the card if those are things you guys want to do.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-29-18/1037:05>
Just wanted to give a heads up that I am doing field observatioms all today, followed by student teaching orientation, followed by a class, so there is a good to fair chance i wont be on tonight.  Tomorrow tho, I am home all day working on a presentation, and ill check in whenever I take a break.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-29-18/1253:05>
Thanks for letting us know;)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-29-18/1455:44>
Also, who is going to GM the next section?  I probably compile some notes tonight after my class and send them on over.  I'm starting to get that shadowrun itch again, but in this last run I was at a bit of a loss on how to handle combat/initiative in a pbp, so I'd really like to see how someone with more experience handles it before I step back into the GM seat.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-29-18/1504:36>
Combat is simultaneously much better and much worse in a PbP. The good news is that you have plenty of time to look up the relevant rules and get everything right. The bad news is that the back-and-forth of it can take forever. Even simple encounters can last 2-3 weeks.

I'm spread a little thin at the moment (GMing two games and playing in two) but can probably GM a future chapter. Has anyone else got the bandwidth to GM Chapter II?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-29-18/1744:33>
If nobody else is eager, I might be willing to take a shot at it.  But I need to think about it for a day to make sure I'm going to be able to support it properly.

Also I've never run a PbP, run ShadowRun for more than one player, and the last time I ran a group in anything was probably in the Bush presidency.  Bush Senior.  (I say probably, because it might have been during the Reagan presidency ....)  So whatever I'd do would be kept pretty simple, and I make no great promises.  (All of those disclaimers aside, I've been running a one player game of ShadowRun for my son for several years now, so I'm not completely clueless about running SR).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-29-18/1753:15>
Everyone has to start somewhere. And this is one of the most gentle introductions, given that you have a group that you know, the original GM feeding you the plot (and probably acting as a sounding board for ideas), and players who can largely GM themselves.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-30-18/0731:48>
I have bandwidth, but I am more than willing to have Beta do it.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-30-18/1755:37>
I’m happy to have Gilga take the first run, if he has an idea.  Else I’ll keep working on coming up with something. 

One thought, to take a leaf from Missions, is whoever is GM’ing, their character gets the same rewards as the rest of the group (assume that their character was off doing something on their own at the time).  That way if one person ends up doing more of the gm-ing, their character doesn’t fall behind in development.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-30-18/1837:21>
Would you guys be okay with me playing a PC during this round robin GM thing?  I was thinking for the first few runs at least we could alternate between me and someone else, so I'd be GMing every other run and providing notes for the others.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <10-30-18/1839:43>
Sure, just make sure your char is in debt too :D

as for GMing: At the moment I'm still ab it streched thin.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-30-18/1840:43>
Beta, I think the idea is for the runs / plot direction to continue to come from Lorebane. The active GM should have some latitude and discretion to change things to meet their needs, but that would keep us on the overall arc of the tarot plot.

I don't have any issue with Lorebane playing a PC, although I've personally found it wonky when trying to play in a scenario where I know the overall direction and some of the behind-the-scenes details. But that's a personal preference not to run my own NPC whenever possible; that's not a dealbreaker against anyone else doing it.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-30-18/1851:30>
One thing I had been thinking is that (some spoiler here, but meh) the icon with the pumpkin face is a technomancer and somewhat starscreamish #2 to Nightmare, and that could offer a chance to test out the house rules I had come up with for technos.  I had intended for him to be a potential ally, though the other hitch is that he's already submerged as a dissonant techno.  He's got a history with an MCT subsidiary (forced dissonant submersion before his escape), and he uses the Aphenian dissonant stream which makes him obsessed with connecting dots that aren't sometimes there, but makes him good at interpreting the weird images on the tarot.  He'd been engineered as a bloodhound in MCT's hunt for the cards, and serves a similar function for Nightmare now.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-31-18/0200:40>
Starscreamish! What an adjective!

Our non-North-American players are unlikely to understand the reference, but it's highly evocative to me.

I barely understood the rest of the explanation.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <10-31-18/0500:41>
Eh, I too watched Transformer cartoons in my childhood ;)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <10-31-18/1036:15>
I have no idea who starscream is :-/

One immersion may be possible, on the 'GM's character gets the same karma and nuyen as the player characters do' theory.  Depends how much karma we get, but based on what you'd said it may be enough.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-31-18/1256:44>
Sounds like we're headed to the meet with the Johnson/father.

@Lorebane, do you want to post to take us there?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-31-18/1552:56>
One immersion may be possible, on the 'GM's character gets the same karma and nuyen as the player characters do' theory.  Depends how much karma we get, but based on what you'd said it may be enough.


Yes I agree - especially considering how deep in debt we are.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <10-31-18/1624:58>
Just getting to class now.  I can put something up when I get home tongiht.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-31-18/1700:21>
By the way:  My idea for a next chapter is a drek job for our creditor.  Something unpleasant and morally ambiguous:

finding another debtor and making sure he pays. How hard would our characters pressure someone whose state is not so different than theirs but is down on his luck?

No monetary pay, but will forgo some of the interest on our debt, reduce the debt. Depending on the debt level of each of our characters. I think it is a nice opportunity to flesh out some of the unpleasant people we took money from and the intrigue with them.  (with no direct relation to the main plot line, creditors expect us to do favors to them until the debt is repaid).

What do you guys think?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <10-31-18/1716:47>
From an RP standpoint I think it sounds like a great idea.

From an IC standpoint, I think we all owe our individual debts to different organizations. I don't think we share a creditor.

I think we were also talking about pursing Lorebane's plot arc. Lorebane would provide a plot overview to the next GM who could then fill in the details. Now, if we want to step away from that - both to let the next GM have more of a free hand, and also to let Lorebane play in a session where he doesn't know what's happening behind the scenes - then I'm open to that, but let's make sure we're aligned as a group.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <10-31-18/1742:12>
I men we all have similar backgrounds, let's be in the pocket of the same organization. ;)
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-12-18/1433:44>
Bumping this.

@Lorebane, can you get us to the finish line?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <11-13-18/0634:41>
So whose GMing next?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-13-18/1236:30>
I believe it's you, gilga.

Lorebane, were you still planning on playing it does your schedule not allow for it?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-13-18/1825:51>
I'm not really sure.  The big problem is that I either forget to check the site lately, or when it comes to mind I get worried because I haven't been there in a while and put it off, but I'm kind of in a mental funk, and I think I'd like to TRY it.  Maybe just worrying about a single character for a while would give me something else to look forward to/get invested in.  And if not, I guess they could just get killed off?

What do you think would round out the party without stepping too much on anyone's toes?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <11-13-18/2044:33>
I'd say whatever plays easy and natural for you, without having to delve into obscure corners of the rules or the like.  So that you can read what is going on and just react.  I've been in that wiped mental state, and you really are not apt to want to go flipping through the rule book to find the right action, etc.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-13-18/2258:26>
I just remembered I have Cutting Aces, so maybe some sort of huckster/grifter?
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <11-14-18/0826:37>
Well, alright.

Lorebane please send me any notes that you have and want in the next story.

Let's toss some ideas about what kind of run we want, and hopefully, I can have something ready for next week.


Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-16-18/1305:48>
@Lorebane, if you're playing and not GMing, do you think you'll be checking the site more often or will it still be closer to once a week?

A huckster/grifter has a lot of flavor, but I find that anything social requires a lot of back-and-forth and is one of the archetypes that requires an extra amount of posting.

If your schedule has you visiting the site less frequently, even as a player, then you might want an archetype that can pop in and accomplish a lot in big chunks.

I don't know if gilga is planning on running AM as an NPC during his segment, but if he doesn't then we'll be light on magic. (It's possible that Beta/Jawsey ramps up his magical skills with the karma from Chapter 1.) I don't know if casting/summoning has any appeal, but that could be a gap to fill.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <11-16-18/1351:04>
I do plan to improve Jawsey's magical abilities ... but they will still be weak.  Just nudging them up enough that critical glitches are less likely (magic --> 3, casting and summoning -->2, to have 7 dice in his pools and to be able to more safely cast/call at  force 3).  I'm just waiting to see what the time is like to the next mission, to figure out what gets done before then.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-16-18/1846:14>
Face characters are usually some of the most fun for me to play in nearly any RPG, and I've found that I often pop in a lot more when I've got someone to talk to, and for a conman, I'm a huge fan of the Bavarian fire drill and the Kansas City Shuffle, so I'd probably be actively looking for chances to pull those off.  An adept/face seems like it has possibilities, but the group currently feels like it is very awakened.  I had been toying with the idea of a huckster who's a dab hand with a pistol and knife, kind of like a cyberpunk Doc Holiday.

I think hackers are a buttload of fun in this game because they give you a lot of room to get creative (I especially love the "Like a Boss" code of honor" but I'm not sure how well it would play out in a PbP format.

One thing I've never tried but that could be fun if I can get my head around it is a conjurer from a possession-based tradition.  Voodoo and Qabalism come to mind.

In any case, I've got tonight to breath so I'm going to look through my books and see what seems fun. 
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-16-18/2018:59>
If you'll play/post more frequently as a Face then definitely be social.

I wouldn't worry about the number of Awakened that we have. Play what you think will be fun to play, especially if that keeps you more involved.

I agree that hackers have a lot of room for creative problem-solving. I've always liked manipulation/illusion mages for the same reason.

I have a player in a game that I'm GMing who is playing a Voodoo magician. The possession-based aspect of it is interesting mechanically. In many ways the character plays more like a mystic adept, or even an adept, given that a lot of their power comes while being possessed. She gets a kick out of summoning Task spirits and turning herself into a skill monkey, or summoning a Guardian spirit and turning into a badass warrior.

That said, I am enjoying the Sioux theme of our PCs. That's not to say that a Sioux couldn't be Voudon or Qabalist - one of my other PCs is a Salish Christian Theurge - but I would vote to to keep the Sioux and In Debt themes going.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-16-18/2035:07>
Eh, I'll have to think about it then.  Truthfully, the NAN thing has always been one the least gripping parts of Shadowrun to me.  Truth be told I almost bowed out before we even got started because it was a full Sioux party.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-16-18/2327:32>
I think I should probably just bow out.  I can't seem to get myself to care about anything these days, so I don't have confidence that I'd stay motivated.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <11-17-18/1209:48>
Okay, in that case, I'll have AM as an NPC. Mainly to give you matrix support. I'll have some post ready soon. If you change your mind Lorebane I'll write you into the story.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-27-18/0443:03>
Alright, I think the crunch is hammered out!  The specifics of his backstory are eluding me atm, so I'm going to sleep on that and come back to it first thing in the morning (and name him).  Swapped out decrease intuition for lightning bolt just to have one good ol blasty spell in my back pocket, and just dropped the rest of his cash on a few more burner SINs and another month of lifestyle.  He does have like 1k more leftover from creation than he's supposed to - I'm hoping that's okay since he's coming in mid-campaign.  If not, I'll find something to spend it on.

Template
Human Male
Karma: 0
Phys: 10, Stun: 10
Armor: 0, Evasion: 9
Initiative: 9+1d6, Astral Init: 12+2d6, Essence: 6
B: 3, S: 2, A: 4, R: 3
L: 3, W: 4, I: 6, C: 4
Phys: 4, Ment: 6, Soc: 6
Edge: 3, Essence: 6
Magic: 6, Initiation Grade: 1
Positive Qualities (21): Mage(Chaos Tradition), Focused Concentration 3, First Impression
Negative Qualities (15): In Debt (11), Mild Addiction (Novacoke), Did You Just Call Me Dumb?
Skills: Assensing 5,* Summoning 5,* Con (Fast Talk) 5(+2 ), Small Arms (Pistols) 3(+2), Negotiation (Bargaining) 5(+2), Perception 4, Sneaking 4, Palming 4, Locksmith 4, Etiquette 4, Computers 2, Survival 2
Skill Groups: Sorcery 5
Languages: Sioux N, English 4, Japanese 3
Knowledge Skills: Arcana 5, Psychology 4, Sociology 4, Chaos Theory 4, Seattle Area Knowledge (Puyallup) 2(+2)
Spells: Chaotic World, Silence, Trid Phantasm, Physical Mask, Clairvoyance, Area Thought Recognition, Influence, Lightning Bolt
Spirits: Water (Manipulation), Man (Illussion)
Rituals: Watcher, Curse
Metamagics: Psychometry
Weapons: Remington Roomsweeper (Smartlinked), Ares Lightfire 75, Defiance EX Shocker (Smartlinked)
Ammo & Accessories: Quick-Draw Holster, Concealable Holster, Hidden Arm Slide, Shotgun Shells x80, Explosive Slugs x40, Standard Light Pistol Rounds x80, Taser Darts x20
Armor: Lined Coat (Thermal Dampening 3, Fire Resistant 3, Insulated 3), Armor Vest, Actioneer Business Cloths
Other Gear: Erika Elite Commlink (R4), AR Gloves, Glasses (Image Link, Smartlink, Low-Light Vision, Image Link), Earbuds (Spatial Recognizer, Select Sound Filter 2, Fake SIN (R4) x2, Fake SIN (R2) x4, Stealth Tags x10, Micro-Transceiver, Tag Eraser, White-Noise Generator, Sequencer (R4), Autopicker (R6), DocWagon Basic (1 Year), Stim Patch (R6) x10
Contacts (C/L)
Five-Fingers Gao (3/2)
Lysander (3/2)
Officer Keeler – Beat Cop (2/2)
Uyghur T – Drug Dealer (2/2)
Dana Hsung – Freelance Journalist (2/2)
Lifestyle: Low (3 months)
Nuyen: 6,710
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-27-18/1243:53>
@Lorebane
A couple things, take them or leave them as you will.

You have 23 karma in positive qualities, not 21 (Focused Concentration 12 + First Impression 11). The 21 might have just been a typo.

You have enough cash on hand - and extra months of Lifestyle payments - that you could actually dial back your In Debt by 1 or 2 ranks if you wanted.

Alternatively, if you don't mind the debt, you could probably swing a focus of some sort. Cash in one of your F4 fake SINs, two months of Low lifestyle, and some of your cash and you can get an F1 power focus. You have enough room in negative qualities to dig up the karma to bind it. Again, just a thought, by no mean necessary.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-27-18/1333:24>
Good catch!  I THINK that I had picked up "Did You Just Call me Dumb" to fit in First Impression - I forgot to calculate that into my negative qualities karma, but I'll have to do a little audit of my karma to double check.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <11-27-18/1419:10>
It looks like you have "In Debt" at 11?  I think it caps out at 10?  (and even at 10, that is a repayment of 7500nY each month, add in even the shared lifestyle or a low lifestyle and a few expendables (reagents, ammo), and you are looking at something like 10k nY a month just to break even.)

Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-27-18/1422:16>
I think it caps at 15 but, yes, anything over 10 is borderline madness.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Jack_Spade on <11-27-18/1504:29>
Actually, anything above 5 is tough to manage - more than that and you are looking at getting maimed on a regular basis.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Beta on <11-27-18/1509:14>
Sorry for spouting off with bad info.  I should know better than to try and talk rule details from memory.  I seemed to recall that the amount of karma you could convert to nuyen was reduced by the number of levels of in debt that you took, so I was thinking that 'in debt' must also cap at ten.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: gilga on <11-27-18/1622:57>
Well with debt 8 and the shared lifestyle, AM gave up the entire run just to float. She'll make some money in this run, so debt 11 is manageable, but you will be paying most of the money you make to feed it. As a mage, it is not that bad, because you have few material possessions (and you can just make your own power focus for example).
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Tecumseh on <11-27-18/1644:57>
This is the Chapter 1 OOC thread. I'm going to move this post to the Chapter 2 thread.
Title: Re: The Found Arcana OOC
Post by: Lorebane24 on <11-27-18/1711:58>
Moving this post to the ch2 OOC thread.