JackPoint: The Novel, To the rescue of Hackbaby! Options

[CanRay]

OK, basic premise of the novel is Slamm-0! and Netcat's baby (Currently nicknamed "Hackbaby") has been kidnapped to blackmail the members of the JackPoint to perform some very dirty deal.

A large, complex, intricate job that requires a wide variety of skillsets and a complete lack of morals. The JackPoint is perfect so just such a thing.

Fair enough, a Johnson is just someone that screws you after all, and this one just started off with the screwing rather than waiting 'til the 'Run was over. (We have to flesh out the job as well.).

Problem is, the person in charge gets greedy having his own group of Prime Runners at beck and call while having the kid as leverage. Big. Mistake.

Due to the diverse nature of the characters, I'd suggest this be written as an Anthology, and possibly as a Trilogy of Anthologies. Short stories from a variety of authors, with cannon characters galore.

Book One: The Kidnapping and The Job.

Book Two: Legwork on an epic scale. "The Search for Hackbaby".

Book Three: Roaring Rampage of Revenge (Or, you know, "Rescue and Revenge".).

Pepsi Jedi has pretty much written the ending for us already, with FastJack finishing off the Big Bad with a classic Ares Predator-I and a cheesy '80s Action Movie One-Liner. But a lot of folks have come up with good ideas as well.

Firstus: What do you folks think? Would CGL go for something like this? Would fans buy it? Does it have the legs required to be worth the effort?

Secondus: Let's flesh this out so we can give a very concise proposal to CGL, and let their team of authors go nuts with their favorite JackPointers and Cannon Characters. Pull the Chrome Accountant out of retirement to follow the money. Bull hacking systems left, right, and centre. The Big D... Still being dead. The E-Ghost of Captain Chaos rising from the dead.

Let's have the only stop be the final heartbeat of the people responsible. The Nuyen Stops There, and boy, can we stretch a (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) !

[Belvidere]

This idea is the definition of awesome. And I both support this full heartedly and would like to be involved in anyway possible. I know that if this orgy of ideas I'd buy it way before, well any source book.

[CanRay]

OK, showed this to one of the guys in my group, and he just added more Awesome...

PDF Adventures to go along with the novels: "You've read the book, now run the adventures behind the story!", with the PCs being the Contacts of Contacts needed to do Legwork, Datasteals, Research, Asset Acquisition (Theft of Military Hardware), Smuggling, and secondary roles in the final battle. Mesh the two together as a dual production, and get twice as much bang for your buck!

[Doc Chase]

OK, basic premise of the novel is Slamm-0! and Netcat's baby (Currently nicknamed "Hackbaby") has been kidnapped to blackmail the members of the JackPoint to perform some very dirty deal.

A large, complex, intricate job that requires a wide variety of skillsets and a complete lack of morals. The JackPoint is perfect so just such a thing.

Fair enough, a Johnson is just someone that screws you after all, and this one just started off with the screwing rather than waiting 'til the 'Run was over. (We have to flesh out the job as well.).

Problem is, the person in charge gets greedy having his own group of Prime Runners at beck and call while having the kid as leverage. Big. Mistake.

Due to the diverse nature of the characters, I'd suggest this be written as an Anthology, and possibly as a Trilogy of Anthologies. Short stories from a variety of authors, with cannon characters galore.

Book One: The Kidnapping and The Job.

Book Two: Legwork on an epic scale. "The Search for Hackbaby".

Book Three: Roaring Rampage of Revenge (Or, you know, "Rescue and Revenge".).

Pepsi Jedi has pretty much written the ending for us already, with FastJack finishing off the Big Bad with a classic Ares Predator-I and a cheesy '80s Action Movie One-Liner. But a lot of folks have come up with good ideas as well.

Firstus: What do you folks think? Would CGL go for something like this? Would fans buy it? Does it have the legs required to be worth the effort?

It has the imputeus to be written well. The story is definitely there. The characters already have a good bit of flesh to them, now we can fill in the brushstrokes. Think of this as the Dragonlance Chronicles of Shadowrun (except so much better).

Would they go for it? I don't know. Written well enough and with a contract through TOR or Baen, it has potential. You're more privvy to the workings of CGL than I am. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Secondus: Let's flesh this out so we can give a very concise proposal to CGL, and let their team of authors go nuts with their favorite JackPointers and Cannon Characters. Pull the Chrome Accountant out of retirement to follow the money. Bull hacking systems left, right, and centre. The Big D... Still being dead. The E-Ghost of Captain Chaos rising from the dead.

Let's have the only stop be the final heartbeat of the people responsible. The Nuyen Stops There, and boy, can we stretch a (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) !

Okay. Storyboard time. Bear with me, I had a few ideas that may be wicked in scope and horrible in comparison. I suppose we shall see. One thing I don't want to do is overload these with characters. There are a good number of Jackpointers and canon characters we can draw from, so we have to suss out motivation to both protagonize and antagonize. Rambling. BOOK ONE!

Shadowrun: The Exchange (HackBaby Book One)

What is The Exchange? A network of favors big and small, smoothing the ruffles that pop up in any shadowrun. Nobody knows who runs it or how it works, only that there's a message with a request and a time, and good things tend to happen to people who fill the request. Is it filling a grander purpose? What's its original purpose? How does it have such an overarching view of what transpires in the shadows? Is it self aware?

Does it have a soul?

Enter our trio, the focus of the first book. Slamm-O! has begged his parents for weeks to watch his and Netcat's munchkin Hackbaby because they both have the conclusions of seperate jobs on the same night that require a personal presence. By chance their meets are in the same club, and business turns to pleasure as they share some time as their crews split out to have a good time.

When they return home to see Hackbaby and then part ways until next time, they find the munchkin's gone - and Slamm-O!'s parents dosed with enough laes to make them forget what week it is. They're convinced Hackbaby was never in the house, and there's no evidence the child was, save a single optical chip with a job offer.

At the same time, Netcat gets a pair of messages from an anonymous sender that just seems to come from the Matrix itself, or perhaps even deeper than that. With the subject line of 'Do me a favor', all it asks is 'let Slamm-O! handle the job.'

The second message is corrupted as if it was sent from a stitch in time. It has a text line and a still image. The image is of Hackbaby. The line:
'Get me and this kid out of here.'

The problem now has two directions and one strange patron: The Exchange. Slamm-O! will need to call in every favor he's ever owed on Jackpoint, and promise more than a few in order to pull off the worst job imaginable: Find, and burn, MCT's Rose Garden.

Meanwhile, Netcat has to pull together a team for a very different job - track down the sender of the corrupted message and make sure both are brought out of the light that has them trapped, and back into the shadows where they belong. FastJack takes a personal interest when he sees that the file doesn't have corruption - it has encryption. Encryption he's seen before in a file that belonged to a dead dragon.

[warrior_allanon]

i'm sold, i'm in and blast it, i'm gonna write for it.

tell me who to kick my 4ed rebuilt character sheet to and lets kick some hoop

and if thats not needed, i'll just start writing, i just need the mission

besides MCT isnt the first mega i've ticked off

[Abstruse]

FastJack takes a personal interest when he sees that the file doesn't have corruption - it has encryption. Encryption he's seen before in a file that belonged to a dead dragon.

Let's leave Dunkelzahn out of it for now (even if it is just for JackBNimble) and go with something from the original Crash virus from 2029. Fastjack now has to decide whether to not help them get the child back or out himself definitely as a member of Echo Mirage...and thus link his real name to the name "Fastjack", something he's taken great steps to prevent over the decades.

[ggodo]

Let's leave Dunkelzahn out of it for now (even if it is just for JackBNimble) and go with something from the original Crash virus from 2029. Fastjack now has to decide whether to not help them get the child back or out himself definitely as a member of Echo Mirage...and thus link his real name to the name "Fastjack", something he's taken great steps to prevent over the decades.

I figured The Exchange was actually Captain Chaos and he's using JackBNimble's technomagic stuff to send super messages from beyond the grave. We don't need Dunk's will, we want our Captain back, and so will Jack.

also, I may be an idiot,but JackBNimble, FastJack, that just seems too easy right there.

[CanRay]

The Exchange predates Captain Chaos being an E-Ghost (I keep thinking undead ravers when I say that), so that may or may not be it... A thought, however.

No, JackBNimble and FastJack probably aren't connected. Jack is a pretty common name, and both are plays on words. I don't even know if FastJack was a part of Echo Mirage... If he was, well, he'd be pretty high on the hit list for Ares...

[scarius]

i would be keen to do some writing for this,

also i think that it would need more the 3/4 books, book 2 alone could be a huge saga told over different books from a number of different runners.

[CanRay]

I was suggesting a Trilogy of Anthologies (A series of books made up of short stories by different authors) which will have each side told from a different point of view. Get nearly the whole cast of the JackPoint involved in this endeavor. So all three books would be one long saga told from a number of different 'Runners.

Right now, we're in the "Fan Wank" section of planning, which protects us by Topps' declaration that "Fan Websites" are considered OK. But these are cannon characters that are a major part of the IP as it currently stands, so I'm suggesting we flesh this out as best we can to make it an official proposal after we find out what's going on with the Novels later this year. (Apparently there's something involving Neck Punching if there's no forward momentum going by GenCon. But I might be quoting myself giving a misquote on that one.).

Don't let that discourage you, however, as, if this works out, there is going to be a major need for authors to write from all the points of view. Me, I'm hoping I can hop myself up on '80s Action Movies and write Kane's part.

[Doc Chase]

The Exchange predates Captain Chaos being an E-Ghost (I keep thinking undead ravers when I say that), so that may or may not be it... A thought, however.

No, JackBNimble and FastJack probably aren't connected. Jack is a pretty common name, and both are plays on words. I don't even know if FastJack was a part of Echo Mirage... If he was, well, he'd be pretty high on the hit list for Ares...

When, exactly, is the Exchange known to be established? I also thought FJ was flat out not a member of Echo Mirage.

[CanRay]

I remember a version of it being in 3rd Edition. Can't remember when or where, but it's very similar to what it is in SR4A.

...

Actually, having it be part of the Otaku/Technomancer Shaman "Totems" might be a possibility. It might also be the manifestation of "Karma". Or just a Dragon having a lot of fun with Metahumans.

[Belvidere]

I swear CanRay, are you trying to get me fired from my wage slave job? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif) I already get busted on Dumpshock when I should be working at least once a day. Now I'm going to have this kind of awesome to distract me as well. I have some ideas, but those will have to wait until I'm off the clock at least.

[Doc Chase]

I remember a version of it being in 3rd Edition. Can't remember when or where, but it's very similar to what it is in SR4A.

...

Actually, having it be part of the Otaku/Technomancer Shaman "Totems" might be a possibility. It might also be the manifestation of "Karma". Or just a Dragon having a lot of fun with Metahumans.

Part of the Resonance? I find the Exchange to be a soulless entity that's capable of great feats of micromanagement. Like it's supposed to be an AI, or it's a Deus Ex Machina, a self-aware compiling of all the data the Matrix has to offer.

Y'know. Insane.

[Belvidere]

That's along the idea I had. The Exchange is somethingbeyond resonance realms and otaku. It's before AIs and maybe even man. It is information incarnate so to say. Magic in the old world, as mankind has created what is basically a new reality, it has had to adjust. It's the knowledge of the beings of the world, both natural and artificial it just IS.

[CanRay]

Actually, something else just triggered my mind:

"Good morning world. Welcome back. Play nice."
-Saeletra

[Abstruse]

When, exactly, is the Exchange known to be established? I also thought FJ was flat out not a member of Echo Mirage.

No one's ever said what the Exchange is, just a bunch of speculation. The first mention was in 3rd Ed in Target: Matrix.

FastJack isn't flat-out anything other than a 72 year old (as of 2071) human male. He spends so much time scouring the Matrix to remove any references to who or what he really is that no one can be sure. The best background we've gotten on him was in Target: Matrix which was taken straight off of Samantha Villiers's private server, and even he says that what she had on him may or may not be true. He also almost never meets in the flesh (as of 2061, don't know about post-crash), so the only people who know what his face looks like aren't going to be talking. But he's the right age to have been a member of Echo Mirage and every member we've seen has turned out to be a huge mover and shaker in the digital world, in one case even after death. The only one that wasn't (the decker contact of Dirk Montgomery in the novel 2XS) was only so because she was insanely paranoid to the point that inside her apartment (which was basically a steel vault), she still wandered around the place in robes made of thick Kevlar sheets. So being a member of Echo Mirage would be a good choice for FastJack's background.

[CanRay]

He gets out a bit more, apparently. He took his Nieces to DisneyLand. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

So, away from FastJack and back to Hackbaby's abduction, discovery, and rescue!

[ggodo]

No one's ever said what the Exchange is, just a bunch of speculation. The first mention was in 3rd Ed in Target: Matrix.

FastJack isn't flat-out anything other than a 72 year old (as of 2071) human male. He spends so much time scouring the Matrix to remove any references to who or what he really is that no one can be sure. The best background we've gotten on him was in Target: Matrix which was taken straight off of Samantha Villiers's private server, and even he says that what she had on him may or may not be true. He also almost never meets in the flesh (as of 2061, don't know about post-crash), so the only people who know what his face looks like aren't going to be talking. But he's the right age to have been a member of Echo Mirage and every member we've seen has turned out to be a huge mover and shaker in the digital world, in one case even after death. The only one that wasn't (the decker contact of Dirk Montgomery in the novel 2XS) was only so because she was insanely paranoid to the point that inside her apartment (which was basically a steel vault), she still wandered around the place in robes made of thick Kevlar sheets. So being a member of Echo Mirage would be a good choice for FastJack's background.

Fastjack seems to constantly be denying he was part of Echo Mirage, so I don't know what to say about that. It seems like that would be very possible due to his high level of skill and general ability to be where ever he wants.

And CanRay, I don't think FastJack and JackBNimble are connected, I just think it's interesting that they're almost the same play on words. I also doubt that The Exchange is an Immortal Elf. It may be the creation of one, but it makes no sense for it to be a metahuman. I like the idea of it being The Resonance screwing around with the outside world, or an AI trying to manipulate the outside world. It just seems too alien, too perfect, to be a person, but too omniscient to seem like a program. It's a cipher.

[warrior_allanon]

Actually, something else just triggered my mind:

"Good morning world. Welcome back. Play nice."
-Saeletra

Can Ray, i dont know why but that phrase just fills me with dread for some reason. Currently working on anagrams of that name.

I can see fast jack being an echo mirage member, it would be a good background for him, someone there from the begining of the matrix up to its current incarnation which i believe will be very very hard to crash

As for the exchange, i agree that its a probably either an AI (probably something growing that isnt even quite self aware) or a mixing of knowlege

[CanRay]

That was a statement that FastJack found on Shadowland just when the world started to go crazy (2011, before FastJack could even shave!), what he considers the first sign that something weird is going on even Online. No one has figured out yet what it means.

So, the Exchange might be a good plot hook, but I doubt it'd be directly involved with the kidnapping of Hackbaby. It's major thing is Karmetic Reimbursement. You do a good deed for the Exchange, you get a good deed in return.

So, it might be the MacGuffin that sets the JackPoint on the trail to find Hackbaby. Good though, folks!

What else can we think of?

[Belvidere]

We should probably lay down who the hell wants to steal the poor little Hackbaby. Or who's got the balls enough, knowing who the parents are. Or maybe they don't when they nab he/she up. I don't really recall Netcat or Whamm-O making any glaringly obvious enemies of superpowers.

[ggodo]

MCT is gathering Roses, they'd be good antagonists even if they're not 'The Man Behind The Curtain." I'm trying to think of folks that Netcat and Slamm-oO have pissed off, and I got nothing off the top of my head.

[Sixgun_Sage]

Mostly because they've not made enemies more than they have to, Slamm-O! has always been a bit of a braggart but he backs it up, and Netcat.... is a technomancer, top tier from what I've read but neither goes out of the way to make enemies. The best boogeymen are MCT and remnants of Ex Pacis, or the Discordians.

[Doc Chase]

Something that targeted only makes sense if Hackbaby is the collateral to do our impossible job.

One of the long-term ideas I had for the triology was that the entirety of it - the Rose Garden job, the tracking of the faceless antagonist, the eventual reveal, the Exchange - was what amounted to a decision based on statistical analysis. The Rose Garden had to be burned so the secrets of the Resonance wouldn't be revealed. The act of kidnapping Hackbaby sets all this into motion with the singular goal of the Resonance protecting itself and electing to out a few of its unknowing/unwilling agents to do so.

Think Paycheck, with a touch of Eagle Eye and doses of The Malloreon. Simmer, stir occasionally, serve when chemical reaction causes a saucy explosion.