Edited the above table.

Cool. Will wait for Smiley to do his bits before posting drone 2 IC, but here's the rolls.

Roto-drone 2 first shot, 5 hits. DV will be 7-11.
Roto-drone 2, second shot, 4 hits. DV will be 7-10.

And again, -3 AP. The shots are at another two of the upright guys.

I think Smiley is done, throwing Molotov cocktails.

He has to defend against their shots.

Pffft. Bullets. Who cares? It's those fraggin' deckers and magicians you gotta worry about.

... says the tusked horror that just dropped three guys with his bullets ...

Pffft. Guys. Mooks one and all. Smiley could eat them for breakfast if Willie hadn't pureed them first. But it's those sneaky people, who pry into your mind and fry you from the inside out. Nothing to be done against them ... except maybe shoot them first.

Which brings me to an important point. With the way IPs are working in this campaign, we have to do something about speeding up our magicians. Sooner or later Mulcarn is going to get tired of Willie dropping three opponents on the first combat turn, and start sending things that a) can't be dropped by bullets or b) are faster than Willie. We could be in deep shit if that happens. Willie will always try to take out anything that doesn't look like one of him first. The other side might behave the same. That would be: Can Opener, Selina and IC Princess.

What we are facing in this shakedown cruise is nothing compared to what can/will happen later. Say a F6 fire spirit (Initiative 15, IP 2) materializes behind Willie, Sends his weak mind screaming away in fear, and then flames one of the magicians. Or another kind possesses Willie and starts shooting at the rest of you. Or a decker turns off his machinery and he becomes a tusked target. Now we look like the mooks.

Willie is the first non-Awakened character I've played in .. 15 years? I'm having a lot of fun with this augmented beast, but I have no illusions. He is a weak link in the group in many situations. I look forward to the rest of you keeping him alive then, thank you very much.

Merry Christmas to us all.

It's the Prologue Mission. I didn't intend for it to be hard. The House Rule for IP was meant to speed things along and to allow archetypes like the Street Sam and Phys-Adept to shine bright during their spotlight moment. Getting to act multiple times in quick succession allows for a dirtier, grittier style of fast-paced combat. And it opens up a bunch of different tactical options as well. One optional rule I'm debating on implementing is changing how Damage Resistance functions. There's mention of a optional rule in SR4A of removing most DR tests and instead modifying the DV of every attack directly with one's Armor Value.

For instance, the Humanis Thugs are all wearing Secure-Tech Armored Clothing. Which is 4/0. So instead of rolling their Body + Armor (3 + 4), I would automatically subtract 4 from any ballistic based attack. Modified by Armor Penetration of course. This would cut down on dice rolling and keep my fodder alive longer. I am however worried about "Tank" builds being nigh invulnerable to anything that isn't a toxin or some kind of elemental/magic attack. That's why I have only toyed with the idea in my head.

Don't sweat it, Willie. If Kathy has to put you down, she'll do it in the most flagrantly over-the-top way available, culminating with burying an axeblade in your skull.

Anything less would be an insult.

I like the way a scene moves along at a faster pace than usual in PbP. That is a big improvement over some of my experiences in the past.

I don't think the game is all that skewed in favour of Willie or Smiley. I can't wait to see Fiona get into action. She has the same Initiative score as Willie (and an Edge of 6!) and can do some of the weird shit I mentioned earlier. And if Selina chooses to put Increase Reflexes on her, Fiona becomes the quickest in the crew and able to cast four spells/do four effects before anything else happens.

That's what still worries me a bit, despite the fact that I am having a blast ... giving several blasts. Slow characters (player and non) face the possibility of having a situation resolved before they get to do anything. I suspect both GM and players might not find that very much fun. There's a saying from way back in this game, "Whoever shoots first, wins." Not always the case, but the current mechanism moves us towards that. Willie or Fiona or whoever doesn't have to spread the pain around. They could aim everything at one NPC who looks really dangerous.

Yeah, Willie is a "Tank" with ballistic armour 17. I think I rolled once so far with enough hits to get a couple of DV through that if armour is used to directly reduce damage. And if Can Opener lights him up with an Armor spell, then even a shot like that would not get through. Hmmm. But a Called Shot would become a much more viable option if armour is more important. Keep that in mind. "The troll takes aim with the assault cannon at Willie's left kneecap."

Thanks, Koekepan. I feel much better!

Which is why IC Princess would dump his body unceremoniously into the bay, even if the meat is still living. That, or sell him to Tamanous.

"only" 4. Edge works differently for ally spirits, they do not simply get their Force in Edge (on the plus side, they can actually use it). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

Hmmm. I'm going by the entries for spirits in SR4A, pg. 302 - 303, where Edge = Force. Has this changed? Am I old and outdated? Have I lost relevance? Have I any reason to live???

Don't sweat it on my account. I'm quite content to play support characters.

Otherwise I might have played the troll demolitions expert with a taste for smooth jazz.

No. But ally spirits are different than normal spirits.

Bye
Thanee

Trogdor the Burninator shall be remembered fondly.

I'm always partial to the troll physad infiltrator. No one expects it.

Alas, poor Trogdor.

Thrown out of the Hallowe'eners for bringing them into disrepute by starting a TriD show comparing various brands of hot sauce as condiments for his victims.

There was a lot of talk about "misplaced synergies" and "losing sight of the key mission" and "creating a distraction" but all he could see through his tears was that he was being shunned from the only family he had ever known.

But in his fifteenth episode they made a fine base for his comparison of Dragonfire and SecondExperience hot sauces. Dragonfire was ***** for heat but a disappointing ** for flavour, while SecondExperience was upgraded from *** to ***** for heat after he visited the drekker.

Has anyone seen or heard from Crossbow? It's been a few days since his last post. And can anyone find his finished char sheet? I can only find the rough draft version.

Nothing since he started flinging bottles, sorry. There was the OoC post related to that on the 21st.

In New Beginnings DAWN OoC he posted:

I guess that's the explanation? Disney's security army have him bound in a dungeon somewhere while demented ex-actors for Mickey Mouse costumes spank him with candy canes.

Hmmmm, I'd hate for you guys to sit in Limbo while we wait. But I also don't wanna skip him either.

Well, isn't he getting shot at? I think you could at least post some rolls for goons trying to quickdraw and so on.

Using the Quick Draw action is a simple action of two tests. Usually a Pistols + Reaction (3) Test. If successful you may fire a SA weapon using the same simple action. The goons are using a simple action to Ready Weapon followed by another simple action of Fire Weapon.

The attack rolls from the thugs are back on page 9.

From the suggestions Mulcarn gave, which Crossbow said would need a little tweaking, He has a Full defense of 18 dice, so you could save Smiley from damage with even a half-decent roll, we could carry on, and Crossbow can have fun with Mickey.

Everything there is is in his first post in the OOC, where all the character sheets are.

Bye
Thanee