Down in the Gutter: OOC, The Nuts and Bolts of Staying Alive Options

[Havok]

I'm working on up to four new places for the game, but haven't gotten very far yet. So here's what I have written up so far (which is not much). As I go further I'm going to write up full descriptions (Including floor plans and pictures) for the places:

[ Spoiler ]

Kraven's Boutique
Ostensibly a shop dealing in rare darkness-dwelling and carnivorous flowers, the windows in this place are all blacked out and the owner has never been seen in the daylight. It's rumored that you can get some extremely rare drugs at this place, and any variety of possibly "magical" plants and herbs. The owner may or may not have HMVV, but he is extremely pale, and he is really creepy. And somehow you can't shake the feeling you're being watched even when he's not around.

["Slick" -- I heard the owner is a vampire who stalks the night, hunting down the UVN for killing his family]
["Realist" -- You're dumb. It's obvious he's just some kooky magician that likes plants.]

The Masque
On the outside, it looks like a normal, if somewhat twisted, carnival. What it really is: an underground, well-run slave market. Neutral territory, and any confrontations between rival gangs are quickly squashed by an efficient security force. Troublemakers are taken down and then sold to pay for damages. It's rumored that one of the major underworld players has a stake in this operation. Everyone who is not on sale is required to wear a mask, and anyone not wearing a mask will be assumed as property and sold.

The Den
Run by a gargantuan troll shaman named Momma Sue, The Den is a po'boy's casino, with everything from card tables to one armed bandits. It gets a little rowdy but Momma Sue don't mind, long as'n you clean up your mess. There's watcher spirits everywhere, so don't try to cheat. Or she'll make you a one-armed bandit too. Like Bobby over there. Hiya Bobby!

Seattle Underground
At last! An underground nightclub that's actually underground! Five stories of underground nightclub, to be precise. The owner is rumored to be extremely wealthy and very powerful. Nobody is seen going into or out of the fifth level, but the button is there on the elevator. Each level is a different theme as well: for instance the fourth level is an AR dancefloor, with sprites and agents and programs flying this way and that in a joyful celebration of chaos. Each level is fully contained, with a dancefloor, a bar, and side rooms. It's rumored that shady dealings happen between prospective employers and hopeful employees in those side rooms, but each room is fully decked out with a jammer and its so loud how can you hear what they're saying anyways? The club is located underneath a dock-side warehouse, and the only entrance is an unassuming stairwell leading down from the inside to a large iron door. Anyone's welcome in, as long as you know where it is and leave your weapons at the door. Those with cyberweapons are required to wear a manacle to lock it in place.

Whaddya think? ?

P.S. I have more places that I built up for my old Shadowrun game, but they aren't located in the Barrens, and mostly have applications only for Shadowrunners.

[Havok]

I think I said the word "Rumored" like 10 times in that post >_<

[Dantic]

Seattle Underground
At last! An underground nightclub that's actually underground! Five stories of underground nightclub, to be precise. The owner is rumored to be extremely wealthy and very powerful. Nobody is seen going into or out of the fifth level, but the button is there on the elevator. Each level is a different theme as well: for instance the fourth level is an AR dancefloor, with sprites and agents and programs flying this way and that in a joyful celebration of chaos. Each level is fully contained, with a dancefloor, a bar, and side rooms. It's rumored that shady dealings happen between prospective employers and hopeful employees in those side rooms, but each room is fully decked out with a jammer and its so loud how can you hear what they're saying anyways? The club is located underneath a dock-side warehouse, and the only entrance is an unassuming stairwell leading down from the inside to a large iron door. Anyone's welcome in, as long as you know where it is and leave your weapons at the door. Those with cyberweapons are required to wear a manacle to lock it in place.

At last! another underground nighclub in seattle. Check out the Big Rhino and Dante's. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rotate.gif)

[Havok]

@Dantic:Where are those places? I can't find them on the list of places. Are they in a book or something that I haven't read?

[Vegas]

@Havok - Dante's = Dante's Inferno fairly "well known" cannon club throughout the editions. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Neither location is within the game/Kingsgate proper....

[Havok]

ah. well take that one off the list then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I'll still work on the other three though. Seattle Underground was going to be a pain anyways (Imagine, 5 floors worth of floor plans!)

[WinterRat1]

Havok – Very quickly before you put too much work into those locations, they would be great for a normal SR game, but for our game, they all strike me as a bit too ‘shadowrunnerish’.

The Carnival One is interesting, but it doesn’t fit within what I have in mind for Kingsgate, it’s a little too much of an investment from a nuyen standpoint to set up and be worth running given no one would pay to go. Plus it’s too flashy. It’d bring too much heat from the Star, even in the Barrens. A known slavery ring that’s that outlandish and easy to spot would be shut down hard, criminal ties not withstanding.

The plant thing would have no customer base in Kingsgate because no one could afford it, and while I like the casino, once again, people don’t have the money. Now an underground gambling den that’s sort of like the casino but shadier, I could conceivably sink my teeth into.

I do love the creativity, and I actually encourage the casino, I was planning on something like that anyway. I’d like it to be more of an underground/illegal/shady feel to it (think the Teddy KGB’s poker den in Rounders) than an actual business ‘normal’ people go to. It’d probably be frequented mostly by gangers and their hangers-on, since it’s too low quality for crime syndicate types and too high/scary for the normal people in the ‘Gate. Does that help focus you a bit in the right direction of what I’m looking for?

Incidentally, the plant shop works fine for Touristville if you want to put it there, you didn’t specify geography in the locations. Just not in Kingsgate itself.

I realize these are concise thoughts; I’m trying to whip this out before you go too far down the wrong roads and I don’t have time for a more detailed analysis, so hopefully this stops you before you put too much work into it.

[Havok]

@ WinterRat-1: Thanks for the input! As far as The Den goes, that's what I had in mind anyways, a sort of seedy establishment where people could go and waste what little hard-earned cred they've come up with. I was actually kind of loosely basing it off of the establishment from Fallout 2. And the other ones I wanted to add mostly just for flavor, I noticed that most, if not all, of the places people had come up with so far were "utilitarian" if I may say so, either something the game needed or offering a needed service. So I'm going to keep the flower shop and the den (I'm sending you a PM about the flower shop) and I'll see what else my creative juices can come up with.

@ everyone:Also, if anyone needs a floor sketch done of a place, I can do those if you give me a description with dimensions and locations and whatnot. It might take awhile because I have a slow-ass computer right now, but I'm putting a preliminary sketch up of Kraven's Boutique so you can see some of what I can do. So without further ado, here it is!

Kraven's Boutique

(It's kinda funky because I wasn't sure whether to use feet or meters. One square is 1 meter.)

[rob]

Hi Everybody!

I think I'm caught up on the reading. Few notes, before I post a catch-up IC post sometime tomorrow night (afternoon US time)

Box would have spent pretty much all day feeling like regurgitated anus, and any point not moving would have been spent resting or doing various "got shot in the lungs and came off massive amphetamine high" type things (throwing up, cleaning bandages, pooping, trying hard not to cough). Hence, he would have sacked out at the pool hall and as soon as the cleared the HQ. I'm tracking for healing, using the roll given for his other healing, the following:

Healing Tracker
Bockscar
Healing Roll: 6 hits
Hours it takes to heal 1 box of physical: (24/healing roll) = 4 hours
Time Spent Resting: 13:45:00 - 15:30:00 = 1 hour, 45 minutes
17:45:00 - 00:00:00 (2 Nov 70) = 6 hours, 15 minutes
Total 8 hours.

Also, of IC note, the gang headquarters is right by where box was placed at character creation. This means two things:
1) Part of the southeast corner of the building we suspect bad guys might be in is blown off, from the fighting in the fluff post at the start.
2) Badmarsh's body is less than a block west of their position. If I don't post my catch up post, box would have notified Legion + Shade + Aziz + Thumper et al the location of the body via commlink message. It would tell them 1) location of marsh's body; 2) Marsh's body is boobytrapped, don't get near it; 3) if marsh's body is still there, send some folks back and I'll help disarm the grenade; 4) if not, tell me if there's any bits of raider +/or badmarsh strewn over the room; 5) if there's nothing in there, then something mysterious has occured.

Barring crisis or the unexpected, I'll try to put in a catch up post tomorrow.

Rob

[Meriss]

@Winter: Did Cuervo's message get through? Either way I'm going to start bragging the mage up from Ink's somewhat sketchy memories and tales told by the other LoCoS.

[adamu]

rob - glad to have you back with us - your posts are always a special pleasure to read.

[WinterRat1]

Cuervo's message got through.

[Slipshade]

Sorry for my absence. I will get back to posting as soon as I am able.

[pragma]

@WR1
Does Thumper's message get through to Grack? (even)

[adamu]

pragma invokes the Black Die of Doom!

[WinterRat1]

Thumper's message does get through to Grack.

[WinterRat1]

Sorry for the delay everyone, trying to catch up here as fast as I can.

Mister Juan -

[ Spoiler ]

As you close in on the border of Splintered Crash's old turf from the old LoCoS side of the border, you spot a ghoul. And he's looking right...at...you...

You're good to go IC once you take into account the spoiler info.

Adamu - Your rewards are approved. Agree with Vegas, don't erase the old stuff in case we ever need to go back and have that info available to us.

Edge is close to refreshing, but not yet. The night is still young, my friend. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Rob - Time spent resting for healing is noted and approved.

Everyone heading into the Black Plague Turf - Someone, probably Grendel or Thumper, whoever's leading (in a 'walking in front and determining the course' kind of way), give me your game plan for heading into the Black Plague's turf. Tell me approximately where you're headed, how deep, what your intentions are, etc. Are you smashing everything in sight or just going for a friendly walk and taking in the sights, etc. Once I have your general plan I'll have a response for you.

I think I caught everyone who was waiting on me, if I missed anyone, please let me know.

[pragma]

Thumper's rough plan is to head south on 124th and not smash any things, just people he doesn't like.

He'd be willing to change his mind to match group dynamics.

[adamu]

@Winter - Grack is running, making the best time he can underground along the line of 124th. He'll periodically stop and peek through storm drains and manholes trying to see Thumper and the others in either direction.

Once he spots them (your ruling on when, where and if he does is why I stopped my IC post), he will emerge from the sewers somewhere off of 124th and start paralleling their course on the surface, as he did before.

I'll provide stealth rolls and more details once I know I've caught sight of them.

[WinterRat1]

Adamu - You spot the group before they cross the old Hammerpack/Black Plague turf line (don't have the map available at the moment so I can't name the exact street, but that should be good enough for you).

Grendel - Any other detail/input from Legion on Thumper's plan?

[grendel]

The general idea is to move as a loose pack, three to five meter spread between individuals, keeping to the sides of the streets and to the shadows. Legion isn't interested in all out war right now, he just wants to see if the Plague are going to come out to play. If they do, then he plans on waiting until both sides are a little bit bloodied before wading in to the fray. If they don't, maybe they can flank the Hunters and take them by surprise, rough 'em up and send 'em packing.

[adamu]

Adamu - You spot the group before they cross the old Hammerpack/Black Plague turf line (don't have the map available at the moment so I can't name the exact street, but that should be good enough for you).

No problem - it's 140th.

Once Grack spots the rest of the gang, he goes west about a block. He then does Focus Will and summons a spirit of man F1 before coming up.

Magic + Summoning + Mentor Bonus = 4 dice
4 5 6 2 = 2 hits

Spirit resist = 1 die
2 = 2 services and 2S drain

Drain resist -
Charisma + Willpower + Focus Will = 8 dice
1 4 5 3 2 3 5 2 = no drain

He commands the spirit to range around astrally and warn him if it sees anyone trying to ambush him or the gang.

Then he runs a couple of blocks ahead of the gang (who are walking, I believe), and starts sneaking around in alleys and back streets, but staying off 124th.

For this he Focuses Will and casts Detect Enemies, Extended
Magic + Spellcasting + Mentor bonus = 4 dice
1 4 1 3 = critical glitch!!!!

Be merciful oh GM.

I was going to
(1) roll Drain
(2) roll Infiltration
(3) roll Perception
(4) IC post

But now I will wait to see if the Crit Glitch does something heinous and unique and/or raises the drain value.

Consarn it!

[WinterRat1]

I have company coming in from out of town, so I won't be posting until Sunday or Monday night.

Adamu, I can't reply to you yet because I must ponder the numerous opportunities that suddenly arise from your critical glitch. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

[adamu]

Ah - the soothing feeling of salt lovingly rubbed into the wound.

[Vegas]

Ah - the soothing feeling of salt lovingly rubbed into the wound.

Hey, at least it's done lovingly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)