New York Noir, game thread Options

[Backgammon]

It's a recycled warehouse, so plenty of room!

Everyone still good for tomorrow?

[Tarantula]

Haha, yep, all good for me.

[Backgammon]

So that didn't work out... But Redjack having not confirmed, I had a good hunch it would fall through. Next week?

[Redjack]

Sorry, got tied down. I meant to post in this morning and got side tracked at work. Next week should work though.

[Tarantula]

I totally forgot anyhow... next week works fine for me.

[Backgammon]

Still good for game tomorrow? Nobody is going to forget?(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[Tarantula]

I'm good and all set. No forgetting will happen!

[Redjack]

Yep. Still looking good.

[Redjack]

30 minute count down. I'm still good.

[Backgammon]

Me too. Finishing up some stuff, will open the room soon

[Backgammon]

New York Intelligencer
A brutal crime rocked a community yesterday, as the Yun Foo Funeral Parlour was scene of horrible events. The owners of the parlour, a family well known in the predomonently Asian neighbourhood in Red Hook, Brooklyn, were savagely attacked by assailants using magical means. Aged Misses Yun Foo and her son recall meeting with a stranger before being attacked by a spirit. When Mr. Yun Yoo came in to help, he was also set upon by the being. The brutality of that attack was too much for the elderly man, who had a heart condition. According to police, he died at the scene of the crime. Further, the assailants then alledgedly stole a vehicule belonging to the parlour, only to return i to set it ablaze in a gian fireball.

While NYPD Inc. has revealed few details, witnesses claim an incident also occured at the Doc Wagon ™ facility nearby. Doc Wagon, who as an extraterritorial entity has jurisdiction over its own crime scenes, has not issued any statements, but police say they are cooperating with investigations.

NYPD Inc. has not issued any statements nor suspects, stating the investigation is still underway.

>>> That neighbourhood is crawling with gangs, and the violence they bring. It's no surprise a funeral parlour is a community staple in a place like that, with so many gang brothers and sisters dying. I hear the Ravaging Tigers, a gang led by a Wujen Shaman, have sworn vengeance against the perpetrators of this crime. The police probably don't have a clue anyway, but what information they have they are probably not releasing to avoid vigilante action, as much as they can. Still, with magic on their side, the smart money is on the Tigers tracking down whoever did this and making them pay.
>>> Lil' Mofo

Wall Street Journal
It emerged that a provisional report prepared for the UCAS' financial-market regulator into alleged insider share dealing at EADS had recommended fines for former and current executives at the aerospace company. Two of its biggest shareholders, Horizon, a Californian media group, and Germany’s Saeder-Krupp, were cleared of wrongdoing.

Village Voice
An East Village couple lost their battle in court against NYPD Inc today, as their case was dismissed. The Almahdi were suing the corporation for alledged wrongdoing in the handling of a case stemming from the arrest of the couple's son. Jamal Almahdi had died last year following injuries suffered during arrest. The Almahdis alledged the police had used unecessary and excessive force during the arrest of the teenarger. Police said the youth, who was arrested along with a group of Neo-Anarchists for failing to broadcast a Pass ID, resisted arrest.

The case has been dismissed by the tribunal as Mister and Misses Almahdi both lost their employment with Saeder-Krupp, and therefore ceased being citizens of Manhattan. Seader-Krupp released a brief statement stating both had been laid off due to internal restructuring, and not because of any ongoing litigation between them and NYPD Inc.

BAG O'LOOT
Here's what you've acquired from the gear you took from Sinn's place.
* Colt Cobra TZ-118 w/ 24 rounds(p.24 Arsenal)
* 1 Remington Roomsweaper w/ full clip
* 1 Ruger Superwarhawk w/ full clip
* 1 Knife
* 4 Rating 4 Stim PAtches
* 2 Rating 5 Stim Patches
* 3 Rating 4 Tranq Patches
* 11 BTL chips (mixed contents)
* 3 doses of Tempo
* 2 doses of Cram
* 1 dose of Nitro

[Redjack]

Sean awoke the next morning early and in a sweat. He was on the tempo, fighting ghouls... and winning. His emotions were swirling as his consciousness transitioned from the dream world to the physical one, but at this moment as much as he wanted another hit of Tempo... and it scared him to death. Even from the recliner in the living room he could hear Jason snoring and was at least content that someone was in the office.

He sat a moment letting his thoughts clear. There is Tempo in the bag. He got up and walked over to the bag. He stood there staring at it for several long minutes. He then abruptly turned, grabbed his vest, coat, gun and out the door he went.

Opening the front door, the withdrew to grab his sunglasses. Early for me appears not to be early for the rest of the world.

He needed something to occupy his thoughts, keep his mind off the Tempo and the power he felt from it.

An hour later, several bus changes later and just after lunch he found himself at a bowling alley. He followed a group of students; Obviously from somewhere around the Indian peninsula. They spoke in a language he was not familiar with.. and that intrigued him. By dinner time, he'd picked up a little Hindi and had taken his mind off of the Tempo.

WAKE UP! Do you think shortages of Fizzy Cola in Brooklyn this week are legitimate. Not even close. In an effort to control the non-alcoholic liquid refreshment market, several shipments of Fizzy Cola were simultaneously attacked and destroyed. Sources link the attack to QelCorp, makers Rejuvenate Jungle Water and subsidiary of Aztechnology.

[Backgammon]

+1 karma to Sean

Downtime is 9 days this time.

Since I trust you both keep accurate records of this, can you tell me how much Karma you have on hand right now, and how much cash?


And are we ok to play this Thursday?

[Tarantula]

This thursday i've got plans (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif) I'm lookin at 16 karma and 3405 nuyen.

[Backgammon]

Oh I forgot, we've finished another month, so Lifestyle costs are due.


Ok, with this Thursday out, we're looking at the 3rd as the next game. I'm leaving on vacation for 2 weeks, so while I'll be home on the 13th, I leave Friday morning so I'm reserving Thursday for packing and last minute urgencies.

[Redjack]

Whew... That's a few days. 30 of 'em to be exact. Alrighty. Say, you gonna be at GenCon?

[Backgammon]

Nope...

[Redjack]

Jason's half of lifestyle is 3,300 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

[Redjack]

Backgammon - I sent you an IM with my updates and an email with my character sheet. Can you provide me some feedback on the contacts: additional details and current loyalty & connection rating? Some of them we've picked up along the way and I'm sketchy on the details.

-Thanks!

[Backgammon]

Yep, I'll send you that stuff shortly.

One discussion I wanted to get the ball roliing on is the point you touched in your IM - the team's current situation vis-a-vis hacking.
As is abundantly apparant, an Investigative campaign requires a lot of hacking. As I see it, we have a couple of options:
1) Recruit a new player
2) Keep going the way we're going
3) Assign you a permannent, or more defined, team hacker NPC
4) Develop one of you into a hacker

Options 1 and 2 are not attractive at this point. I think it's between 3 and 4. Generally speaking, I would prefer if one of you did the hacking, because I don't like the idea of me doing the rolls and stuff, because then it just comes down to me giving you information or not. It's not a choice I want to have to make. So I would prefer option 4.

Now, the problem with that is that it forces you to expand lots of resources to pick up a new role, which is not "fair". Then again, it would suck even more if you just woke up with Cracking 4. So what I propose is that I meet you half way. You raise your skills, and in-game certain items that will make your life easier will find their way to you. I was already thinking of doing that, so I can do it in a credible and fun way.

Thoughts?

[Redjack]

As I suggested in my PM, I am willing to start investing in the hacking skills as an extension of moving into the B&E realm. The having to have a hacker just to open doors is getting old. So a couple of challenges will be (1) Sean's incompetence in Cyber-Combat and (2) a viable com (hardware/software) for hacking. I am ok with working my way up; That makes it more realistic.

[Backgammon]

Sometime during the day, you notice you have a message on your Commlink. Tapping the softly glowing enveloppe icon, you open it up to reveal a message from Levitsky. Hoi chummer. Now that we are doing business together, there are some precautions you must take. Please visit my friend Lenny "The Spook" in Brooklyn. He will set you up. Good prices for my friends, you will see..

With no cases save looking for a lost pet hamster in the pipeline, any excuse to leave the office is a good one. You grab your fedoras and long coats and head out. The address Levitsky gave you leads you to an abandonned garage. You've been in the business long enough not to doubt shady, abandonned looking buildings, though. It takes a walk around the building to find the small door, leading to a basement area. The cliché almost becomes too much to bear when you reach the little door, a sturdy iron thing with a slide panel at eye level. Just as you're wondering if you should knock three times, the door opens by itself.

You're greeted by a small man with a bald head and a beaked nose. He gives you a wry grin, his left eye twitching. "Levitsky told me you were coming. And if you're wondering, it's the only reason you're still alive." He widens his grin, and sweeps for you to come in.

Lenny "The Spook"'s shop is a veritable bric-a-bras of gizmos. The entire interior reflects with the dull metal gleam of unpainted metallic devices. Red and green and blue lights slowly blink on and off in the darkness of the room. You can acces several AR feeds left open in the air - most showing camera angles all around the garage, some quite far off. Judging by the ammo counter in some of the camera screens, you assume you're also looking at remote turret feeds.

Lenny's voice returns you from your distraction. "It takes a lot of effort to not exist, my friend. Did you know that you have dozen of readable RFID tags swimming in your stomach right now? The food you eat, the clothes you wear. Everything is tagged. Every step of when you walk down the sidewalk is monitored, recorded and archived. They know who you are, where you are, where you've been, and damn if they don't know where you're going to be. Now you want to stay discreet, my friend? I don't think so." He smiles widely. "Not without my help."

*****

Lenny "The Spook" specializes in selling useful gear to help anonymize yourselves. Referred by Levitsky, Lenny is offering deep discounts for his wares.

CODE

Item Name    Avail    Retail    Your Price
Tag Eraser     6F    150    100
Novatech Airwave w/ Iris Orb [all 3]
w/ Spoof Chip Analyze 3, Encrypt 3, Browse  3    8F    3200    2100
Fake License R5 (Vehicule Pass)    15F    500    500
Fake License R5 (Manhattan Pass)    15F    500    500
Fake SIN R4    12F    4000    3500
Fake SIN R4    12F    4000    3500
Fake SIN R5    15F    5000    4250
Jammer (Area) R3    9F    1500    1250
White Noise Generator R5    6    300    150
Latex Face Mask    8    500    300
Nanopaste Disguise (small)    12    500    300
Disposable Commlink [R1 Sig3 F1 Sys2]    -    300    250
Fetch Module R3 [R2 Sys3]    9    6000    4000
Non Standard Wireless Link R3    6R    1500    750
Spoofed Lifestyle (Squatter)    16F    250    250
Anonymizing Proxy (2 reroutes) [per day]    4    20    20
Anonymized Calls (2 reroutes) [per day]    4    10    10
One-time commcode    4    10    10
Morphing License Plate    8F    1000    800
Spoof Chip     8F    500    250

Avail and Retail price for indicative purposes only. Everything in the list is in stock, and for the value of the "Your Price".

You can add Lenny "The Spook" as a Contact - C2 L1. Also added a pin in the Google Map for his location

[Redjack]

The thought of RFID tags swimming through his system like a tape worm cause Sean to shudder; The same guy who literally punched in the face of an insect spirit. He reflexively reaches for the tag eraser and asks, "What about an exploit toolkit?"

[Backgammon]

Lenny smiles and shrugs a little. "Not my department". He blinks his large eyes and wrinkles his beak nose, as a thought occurs to him. "Unless...", he begins, as he scurries into a corner of the bunker, shuffling and searching under piles of electronic gear. "About two months ago, a girl came to me. Careless lass had not listened to Lenny beforehand, and now found herself in great need of my services to disapear. A Hacker, she was. Pretty one, too" - he winks at you -"but Lenny can smell desperation. Milked her for all her worth I did, not that that was much. One of the things she traded in was her old commlink. It has... a bit of a personality. But I checked it and cleaned it. You won't be inheriting any of her old enemies - just her old software. I had written it off, but it's serviceable. Yours for 4500 my friend. I recommend the Spoof Chip and Non-Standard Link with it, though"

"Gabriel" [R4 Sig3 F3 Sys4]
Optimized (Exploit), Customized Interface, Virtual Personality
This custom commlink used to belong to a hacker, before she bit off more than she could chew and had to jettison it. The Custom Interface will give you some trouble while you get used to it (-1 Matrix Init, for a while), but that may be balanced off by the device's exceptional handling of the Exploit program (+1 to Exploit Rating) but it does come with it's own personality - literaly. The commlink is loaded with a Virtual Personality, representing a luminous being, presumably the author's version of the Archangle Gabriel.
Installed software:
Exploit 5 (Optimized 1, Mute, Ressource Allocation Error)
Spoof 3
Stealth 4
Gumshoe Suite
This program suite (Unwired, p.128) was designed by a now defunct company hoping to market to private investigation agencies. While the software had an innovative design, problems in the code gave it a bad reputation. The company went bankrupt before any patches could be applied.
[Track 5 (Optimized 2, Bug-Ridden), Sniffer 3, Decrypt 2 (Bug-Ridden)]

[Backgammon]

Ok, so back from sunny Mexico. I had planned to set up game as early as this Thursday, unfortunatly (or fortunatetly) I had some (lots) of time to think on the beach and decided I didn't like the direction the next game was going in. So that means I have to rewrite most of it. Which will cause delays. So that's it. No game this week, and I'll let you know when I'll be ready for next one.