I don't remember when it was supposed to arrive, but we had gear coming in soon no?

Yeah, Jack is currently hanging out in the backseat of Grease's cab going over Manuel's notes. At my meeting, I should be picking up a few sets of armor vests as well as Amy's AR Contacts.

@Lobo: Thanks, it's always fun when you're riding (except when it is pouring down rain, even then it's fun).

Ok - so, just to keep everyone on track, please put up IC posts of what you will do for the next 45 minutes or so.

Once everyone has posted that, I'll post the message that Jack sends to you, at which point you can then post what you are doing for the next hour. At that point, Jack will be done with his dinner, and we'll all be on the same time again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If anyone is doing Matrix Searches or something that requires a die roll, go ahead and do so in the OOC.

I'll wait for a post from Overkill before posting more IC stuff when Amy's back to her home.

@Lobo
Is it okay with you if I work up an agreement with some other family in the same building as Amy (same people whose kids Sam's playing with) to take care of the kid during the day until her run is complete? 5-10 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) /day makes sense? She didn't realize she would be gone from the house for so long, possibly over the course of a week or so, and now she needs help for the 7-year-old girl without a mom.

It is a good question.

Ok, let's look at it from a story perspective, and then from a gaming perspective. From a story perspective, you have this 7 year old child who you've been caring for the last couple of years. At 7, she isn't really capable of taking care of herself, and beyond that, would be desperate for attention from a mother figure, especially since she lost at least her mother to disease (there is no mention of her father in your background, not sure if he is dead or just out of the picture - in fact, decide what the case with that is and let me know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ).

So, while you can leave her with a babysitter for a few days, she will probably act out, and not be happy with you if it is a regular occurrence. She needs to be cared for, and with school not in session now (since it is summer), that problem gets exacerbated. (especially since with your lifestyle you can't really sit her down in front of the trid all day - you probably don't even get trideo service).

Now - from a gaming perspective - it is a 9 point negative quality, so there should be a negative consequence to it. The increase in your lifestyle of 30% takes care of her food and schooling, and basic services, but extra babysitting time would come out of your own pocket. 5-10 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a day for babysitting seems pretty cheap, not only from the perspective of circumventing the problem, but also from a perspective of how much babysitters get paid in real life. Even cheap babysitters are like $7-$10 dollars an hour.

So, I totally appreciate you not wanting to be left out of the game because your character has to go take care of your kid (especially in a game like this, where missing 3 hours in game could mean missing several days of posting), and I'll support that you can arrange for babysitting just to avoid that negative, but I think that the price has to be more expensive. I'm thinking 50 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a day, and Amy would probably not want to spend more than 48 hours away from her if she can help it.

Your thoughts?

First, yeah the dad's out of the picture.

So I understand what you're saying. The game has taken a turn that was unexpected in a way, in which we spend like 12 hours a day on the job, and it will likely go on for a while, which is why I'm trying to address the issue in a more lasting or repeatable way. Amy would like to spend more time with her adoptive daughter and this wouldn't normally be an issue. Most runs are done within 48 hours, but this one goes on and on and taking care of the girl needs to be addressed (which is the whole point of the quality, I know). I think the first two days were handled in way that was logical given the circumstances. But she has to figure something out for more than one day with Kevin and one day at the neighbors'. Something more solid needs to be organized for when the run keeps on going. What I was thinking of was asking a neighbor who has kids to look over her as well. But it's not a contact and I have no quality to account for that, which makes your proposed cost absolutely okay, in my mind, both from a roleplaying/realism and a gaming standpoint. The reason why I had suggested a relatively low amount is because we live in a very poor neighborhood, and I'm just asking someone I know who also has kids, I would do the same for him.

Anyway, the whole situation is obviously not ideal for Sam, and I do intend to take care of the girl. But this isn't kindergarden RPG. I think for the enjoyment of the game we need to keep a balance between discussing all those details and actually playing and having fun. So I suggest that for now we go ahead with the 50 nuyen a day to some guy who has kids of his own, and something better will be set up for next run. I haven't shared this btw, but I have made recently a wish list of all the things I'd like to buy and spend karma on, and at the very top is getting a better lifestyle for Amy and Sam, at least low, and maybe even medium eventually. She'd also understand better what the shadowrunning life is about, and know that she needs to find a trusty sitter asap, unless Kevin agrees to do it responsibly. With the better lifestyle, Sam will also get access to better commodities and entertainment.

Sorry if this is a bit disorganized, but anyway, I feel like we're pretty much on the same page, I just wanted to explain how I see this panning out now but also in the future. Do you agree with this overall?

I'm on board (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ok, so here is how I see it.

During this two hour break in game, why don't you write up a scene where you talk with your neighbor and arrange the care at the proposed 50 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) a day rate.

Who knows, he could develop into a contact, and potentially be used for a plot hook in later adventures (he has a problem, or his kid has a problem, etc).

In addition, another thing you could do is during the frequent driving around you guys do, write up a brief conversation between Amy and Sam over the commlink. It can be done in one post, covering a 10 minute phone call, where you get to check in, see what's going on in her day, etc. Even if you did this once or twice per in-game day, that would be a good way to keep the two connected at a minimal impact on everything else.

As for your list of future purposes, looks like Amy's non-nuclear family will be following in the Jefferson's footsteps and movin' on up (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Will look forward to see how you spend your cash & karma.

Yes I regret not having done this already. This will definitely come in more often. I'd like to play better the part where I worry for her, that kind of thing. It's not really in my nature irl (I don't have kids.. yet at least) and it's a part of the character that I absolutely had in mind when I created her, so will try to improve on that. Thanks for the coaching (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


Yeah, I see her wanting to offer better things for her kid then she had in her own life. Yet she'll never be able to get away from the fact that her roots are the streets and that she doesn't trust any form of government/corporation. Oh and of course she'll invest a portion of the money gained into becoming a better runner, of course, as she hasn't hesitated to do with buying some gear with first few nuyens she put her hands on.

Drave needs to start a search on Lynx and his crew and see what he can discover.

@Team: Sorry for not checking in again last night. To be perfectly straight with you all, I am having some serious relationship problems with the Mother of my daughter, and it is requiring a lot of my attention. I am still around, but my posting may slow down for a bit, at least until I can get things stabilized here. I am sorry for any difficulties this may cause, I had no intention of letting my personal life interfere with this.

@Overkill, no worries - and sorry to hear about your relationship troubles (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

That is certainly more important that a game - You check in when you can, and I'll make sure the story moves on as necessary.

Hope it gets better soon.

I'm sorry, this is a busy weekend for me, it turns out. My next IC post will be either tomorrow or Monday morning.

Happy Monday morning (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So, here is where we are:

1) We are going to fast forward until 5:00.

2) Overkill will drop Amy off at home, and then head back to his own place to grab a meal. Information on Lynx is considered Hidden - so a base time of 12 hours. If you run your Browse program, that cuts it to 6 hours base, do you want to try this later, or perhaps get your Agent to do it? The downside is that it is a threshold of 6 - so the odds of you being able to find it are slim, given the number of dice you roll (Computer 5, Intuition 3, Hot Sim 2). Up to you - hopefully things are going better than the other day. Just let us know when you can.

3) Amy, go ahead and post your IC post including Overkill dropping you off, not sure how quickly he'll be able to post, and no need for you to wait on just him dropping you off.

4) Grease, your message to Murphy will be sent on schedule, he will not respond before 5:00 - so just post something indicating what you do until then.

5) Jack, in a little while I'll post your arrival at Mccormick's, and your message to the group.

At that point, you can then discuss Jack's findings IC over the 'links, should you wish, Jack and I can finish his meeting with Honeypot, and then the team can decide which route to go.

As always, any questions, please ask (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Sorry for falling off the radar; I am visiting family this weekend with limited connectivity. I will get an IC post up sometime this morning.
-DrZ

Sounds good to me. I should be on for most of the day. Have an issue with one of my dogs that I am going to have to run to the vet for a bit, but other than that should be free. Today and tomorrow are usually dead down here since most people are off/vacationing.

No kidding, Threshold 6 on ten dice is a dubious proposition at best, even with a retry from Edge. Any other methods of bumping up my Search pool (aside from karma investment?)

Nothing that I'm aware of, sadly. Some stuff is just tough to find on the matrix. Although a specialization in Matrix Search would probably be the cheapest pickup, karma-for-dice wise.

Odds-wise, you would hit around 5-6 successes if you used Edge for a second chance. Might not be a bad expenditure, but it depends on what else you have planned for this evening.

The Lynx search was the primary goal, so if it will take 6 hours minimum I will do it tonight,

Thought on the meantime, any penalty for hacking the Tasty Burger Host from the Warrens? I do still need to grab that footage.

As long as you're running signal scrub and hop to the local grid, I don't think you should have an issue since it's a Host.

You ignore noise penalties for distance to a Host - so you would only have environmental penalties.

The warrens is Noise 2
Commerce city is Noise 1

Signal Scrub and running your Datajack wirelessly would reduce all 3 points of Noise to 0.

Btw, with regards to environmental penalties, I think I'm going to make it so that you take both, unless you are in the same location as the target.

So, if you bother were in the Warrens, you wouldn't take -2 for you being there and -2 for it being there. I think it keeps in the theme of having the decker with the group more often and not sitting at home all the time.

ETA - This also should not take you very long in game to do - a matter of minutes.

@Jack,

I forgot that you were buying the dinner tonight - I didn't do that to spite you or anything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

Not at all, Jack is semi-chivalrous enough that he would have tried to figure out a way to pay for it himself even if she insisted on paying for it.

ETA: I'll be out in about 15 minutes probably until at least 1200 or 1300 CST. I have to run around and do some vet stuff.

Ok - good luck with your dog (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

In the meantime, let's flesh out Honeypot for a bit. (it will help me frame her answers).

I know she is an ex-pro turned fixer. Given her former profession, she probably has ties to one of the Mafia families since they control the prostitution business in the Sector.

My thought was that she has contacts in the computer industry (given her specialty), and shies away from the gangs since they handle most of the weapons dealing - and she has a penalty for firearms.

Any thoughts?

Sounds good to me. My main hope in speaking with her was that I was hoping there might be some commonalities in smuggling across all of the different types of contraband. Maybe not necessarily knowing the movers and shakers in the gangs/drug-dealers, but more of an overview on smuggling operations from her perspective. I imagine she has to get some of her product moved in/through/around the sectors.

Oh, quick correction. She's supposed to be a fence rather than a fixer. She trades in goods only, probably a psychological thing given her past profession.

A-3, S-6, D-5, F-5

Programs: Signal Scrub, Browse, Virtual Machine: Baby Monitor, Stealth

Full VR, Hack onto the local grid, find the host, find the file, make sure file is not databombed, crack the file, get the file, GTFO...

That's kind of standard, we will ditch Browse as soon as I find the footage, and put in Sneak.