T-Town, A game in Alabama Options

[fistandantilus4....]

WOw.. this must be where the die hards go. Good to see familiar faces. Alex ... need some warm bodies?

RJ - Hi!

[fistandantilus4....]

Oh, and I wouldn't count on Plan B for this. She very literally is up to her elbows in new borns . Really cute ones though.

[ludomastro]

Good to see you Fisty - even virtually. The wife is planning on calling her later this evening to swap stories so if you are home right now, watch out.

-----

Warm bodies are always welcome. Right now we are looking at SinN and you (I assume you want to play). Meriss officially dropped out a while back and I haven't heard from the rest of the crew. If you guys are interested in playing the gang-style setup I was planning here, then fine - we can get it up and running soon. If not, let's throw some ideas out there and see what sticks.

[Redjack]

I'm a little confused. Are we working this game or expanding the existing Atlanta game? Or something else?

Actually I was talking this game, but it appears you may have a number of players looking for a game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Meriss]

I got distracted and over tired from my brand new twelve hour shift job. I would still like to play if that's okay with you Alex. Steve (my socialadept/face type) is totally done, only lacking in background and contact info which I will be working on tommorow. (Tuesday Aug. 26)

Also hey Fist (if you has intranets that is), Redjack. Hows you guys?

[SinN]

Ah, its good to see our favorite mod on the boards.

@Alex
Well Jester is up and ready if you still wanted to do the street game. If not I can post Ash or any other charactor anytime. Just keep in mind that my other charactors are much stronger than Jester. One of my house rules is start out at at least 550, just to give you an idea on BP alone. Haha. Just let me know what you're interested in. I for one, would like to try this charactor out. But if we cant get more player, I can choose a more suitable one.

[ludomastro]

OK, so it sounds like we have the following folks wanting to play:

SinN
Meriss
Fist
Redjack

Character creation rules are here for those that didn't join in the first round.

[Meriss]

Woot! Done, done annnnd done!

Without further ado Stuff (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Contacts

Uncle Phil Donner, Black Marketeer C: 3 L: 5
According to Mike Donner, Phil is "A low down dirty rat fink who would sell momma if she “fell off a truck�". Steve interprets this as pure jealousy on his father's part as Phil has always had a soft spot for the young fellow. This is where Steve goes to buy all of his semi legal and illegal gear. Phil owns a medium sized pawn shop and storage complex in the Tuscaloosa suburbs.

Gwen “TrueLiez" Daniels, Blogger C: 2 L: 3
Gwen is one of Steve's many high school girlfriends. She is one of the few people in the Sixth World who still believes in the power of truth and freedom of information. She runs a small time blog dedicated to exposing mega-corporate lies. She’ll frequently track down information and leads for Steve if he asks and is willing to pay, in info or nu.

Juan “Johnny� Escudo, Crooked Beat Cop C: 2 L: 2
“Johnny� is one of Steve’s Uncle Phil’s many “friends�. The kind that are bought and paid for. Johnny mostly tips Phil (and by extension Steve) off when the Star decides to move his way or a large anti crime push is in the works.

Mr. Jones, Fixer C: 3 L: 2
Mr. Jones is the classic street fixer. A cold hard business man with connections and pull through out Tuscaloosa. He is a business “associate� of Uncle Phil’s. He pulled quite a few strings on Steve’s behalf to get the young adept out of a very long unregistered prison stay. Now the man wants payback.

Bobby Stokes, Bartender C: 2 L: 2
Bobby tends bar at the NuWave barclub in downtown Tuscaloosa, that Steve frequents when he needs a beer or five. Bobby tends to hear interesting rumours and has all kinds of information available to him

Tom Perkins, Bouncer C: 2 L: 4
Tom is another of Steve’s old high school friends. Tom was one of the troubled kids Steve hung around. Tom is glad to see Steve out of prison and willingly trades information to Steve. Steve also hires him if the adept ever needs extra muscle.

Fred Grey, Street Doc C: 3 L: 2
Fred is a retired combat medic from the CAS military. He is one of Uncle Phil’s many contacts. He is the one who installed Steve’s cyber and usually patches him up.

Back-story

Hoi chummer, names Steve Donner, most folks call me Steve or Steveo or D-Man. The county called me Prisoner Number D-15547, long story. I grew up here in T-Town with my pops Mike. We’re what most folks call white trash. I’ve been getting into trouble since I was six. I’ve been talking my way out of it since I was twelve. When I was fifteen I got real good at it, seemed like I could talk anyone into or out of anything. Nobody could say no to me, it’s weird. Got into the biz through my Uncle Phil, pulled a few jobs here and there for him, but it was my own fool bad luck which landed me in the slammer. Never try to pull a five man heist with only three men, chummer. Anyway I got reasonably lucky, Larceny under 5K, B&E. All, techniquely my first offence. Not bad, fer a new guy. Course soon as the Star and the county scanned me they put me in solitary with a full sound dampener and a white noise generator. Turns out I’m one o’ them adepts. I always thought those kinda guys were ninjas or some Trid shit. They couldn’t really hold me longer just ‘cause I peg as magical. They tried though. Uncle Phil had his buddy Mr. Jones pull some strings and now I’m working those favours off. Joy. So what’s yer tragic tale of woe and misfortune.

Appearance
Steve is Caucasian male in his early twenties. He shaves his head to hide the fact that he’s inherited his grandfather’s baldness. His left ear is pierced with three small studs, the left side of his face is far more distinctive, and a neon green great dragon tattoo occupies much of his cheek and forehead. He wears faded synth-denim jeans and whatever tee shirt is clean. He also has a battered UoA letterman jacket which he picked up third or forth hand.

[Redjack]

RJ - Hi!

Yo! What kind of time will you have on the board?

Redjack. Hows you guys?

Good. Alex will be a good, consistent GM so I think we may have a game here!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)



SinN = Mage
Meriss = Social Adept/Face
Redjack = Covert Ops Specialist

Does that mean that you are our hacker, Fisty?

[ludomastro]

Glad to see the interest level for this game. I would like to keep this one in Tuscaloosa; however, I will go with your a votes.

[Redjack]

By 2070, is Tuscaloosa a suburb of Birmingham?
Also, can we use new qualities, group contacts and lifestyles from the Runner's Companion?

[ludomastro]

As long as you explain them - since I don't have RC yet - I will give you a ruling.

Yes, Tuscaloosa is essentially part of the metro-area with Birmingham at this point. It has the University which is a large employer but also has light industry. Contrast that with Birmingham which is finance and biological research.

[Redjack]

Redjack = Covert Ops Specialist

Slight modification.... John "Flash" Mitchell is a politician/skill-monkey (aka. jack-of-all-trades)

[Meriss]

Slight modification.... John "Flash" Mitchell is a politician/skill-monkey (aka. jack-of-all-trades)

Which will make for an interesting contrast with my "local boy makes bad" face, Steve Donner

[Redjack]

I'm sure you're dp on social skills will blow away John's. He has a little local fame going for (and against) him.

[ludomastro]

OK, we have character info from SinN, Meriss and Redjack.

Fisty, you're up.

[fistandantilus4....]

Sorry, as I explained to Redjack, who handles harranguing me to post like a religion, I've had a busy week. Add to that the complication of having no books .... I'm reading over though and figuring out what I want to do with a character. I'm in Dallas at the moment, on Leave visiting Alysha nad my boys, so that does afford me a bit more time and access. Working on it, soka? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

As for the bare bones of that character, you know me, and how spoiled I am on BP, so 350 will take a bit of time for me. But I'm considering doing the unthinkable here and going with a technomancer, a rework of a character I played before and would like to take a fresh look at.

The character is called "MITnick", a hacker that usd to work for the corps and was dumped, literally, in a dumpster when he was doing a black ops job for the corp during the crash. SO now he'd be reinventing himself, and learning about his new abilities. Give me some time to look over your modifications.

As a note, I don't have any books, although I do have a few pdfs (NOT the BBB though). Don't have the any new books either, although I'm looking to remedy that.

[fistandantilus4....]

MITnick - Background

[ Spoiler ]

Born in 2015, Nicholas Davidson was the only child of corporate parents Edward and Sarah Davidson, working hard for the corporate buck. Being the dwarf son of human parents working for Shiawase, the situation was less than ideal. Needless to say, his american parents already had their hands full with simply not being japanese, so having a "changed one " for a child made things even more difficult. Nicholas spent most of his time at home, being home schooled by auto-tutors whenever possible, until the age of 7. By then it was impossible to keep quiet his "condition", and his parents were forced to relocate from their home in Tokyo to North America, specifically the Seattle Metro plex.

In Seattle, their racial tensions were slightly less than in Tokyo, to an at least bareable level, although the corporate pressure was stifling. Nick went to public schools instead of corporate run, as his parent's jobs had been down graded in importance, and they could not afford public schools. His father grew more distant, while his mother clung to him tighter, keeping him home as much as possible, even home schooling him in the technical fields she was employed under (having more free time since the 'restructuring'). The family was under strain for years, until everything finally broke. In 2030, Nick's mother was killed in random street violence, breaking the family for good. His father, ever the diligent corporate employee, skipped his bereavement time, going straight back to work. His devotion to the corp was rewarded, eventually getting promotions he'd been passed on for years, as long as he kept his son quietly in the back ground.

Nick for his part threw himself into electronics, taking apart any gadget he could find, tearing it apart and finding out how it worked. The matrix had become his new play place over the years, and he spent even more time in the computer than outside. It wasn't until he'd finished high school and done his testing that Shiawase found a use for him. He'd placed extremely well on technical apptitude tests, enough that the company saw him as a potential asset rather than an embarassment, as long as he was approachd correctly. Shiawase, being the "Family Coproration" turned it's sights on young Nick, using the ful force of their recruiting programs and "Father's love". Needless to say it worked, and Nick was well on his way to becoming another cog in the machine.

Twenty years of corporate life later, Edward Davidson's heart finally gave out from too much stress, leaving Nick the family "fortune", better known as corporate debt. Nick, a skilled program and tech, had already been found his niche, but was unable to advance. The corp would let him create systems and architecture for them, even some IC, but they were happy with where he was. He'd long ago given up the chance for any real advancement, trying to keep himself sedate and appropriate for corporate culture. The death of his father along with twenty yearsof monotony was more than he could take, and he soon began striking out into dangerous waters.

At first it was nothing morethan lurking into 'seedy' matrix dive bars, talking the talk, learning the chant of the underside of the matrix. Coming into contact with what he perceived as the criminal underbelly was an eye opener for Nicholas, who only had school hood memories of life out side the full corporate culture, mere glimpses really of what the world out side could be like. But what he saw, he liked. The mystique of the shadows drew him, the sense of adventure and danger taking hold of his imagination and drawing him along. It was a naive view of the shadows no doubt, but it was enough to get him hooked. He knew enough of corporate security watch dog systems to know how to get around them, and so was able to continue his descent into the blacker parts of the matrix slowly, discovering more and more of what could truly be out there. Eventually, naturally, like one who learnshow to crawl before learning how to walk, he found his way to Shadowland.

The data haven was something more to Nicholas than a gathering place for shadowfolk, it was a gateway to a whole new world. He chose his handle after Kevin Mitnick, a hacker, some would say gone corp (and some would say a glorified "script kiddie") of the previous century. Mixing in his own education at MIT just made it more interesting to him. The duality of the original Mitnick's background teased a sense of irony in him, himself a corporate wageslave, and hacker to be. With his shiny (literally) new handle in place, he worked the want adds.

MITNick had some skill in the system, and knew how to code, but that's a far cry from being a genuine hacker. Starting small was the only thing that kept him alive in the first few months as trying to operate as a decker. However, he did survive, and his skills slowly, and painfully, grew with each new experience. He worked solely out of the matrix, as a rule, still trying to preserve his dual lives. However, his work had slipped, and few people know all of a corp's tricks for keeping an eye on them. It only took Shiawase six months to have proof he was up to something, even with Nicholas carefully covering his tracks. But for some reason, they bided their time. Within a year however, as MITNick became more proficent at systems intrusions, the truth soon revealed it's self.

He was confronted not by his superiors, but by a security detachment and a "mamanger " of somesort that he'd never heard of. They took him from his work space to a confined interrogation roomand threw a year's worth of proof of illegal activities on the table infront of him. His life with Shiawase was done. His life was done. All his money, his retirement, was corp scrip. All of his property was bought with corp money and corp loans. Everything he was they could take away. Not to mention the jail time. Or, he could stop working in the shadows, and come back to work for his true employer, the only people that really cared about him. Shiawase cared enough to give him a second chance. He began working for the corp again, this time not just as a programmer, but as a decker, a black asset hacking other corporations. it was a win/win deal for Shiawase. They had a disposable (Read:Metahuman) asset, with a proven track record, some true skills, and enough ties to keep him with the corporation for a long time. If he was ever caught, they could provideevidence that they'd been investigating, along with links to other corps through the old jobs he had worked. They built him a gilded cage.

Nicholas, aka MITNick, aka Prometheus (as he named himself for decking for Shiawase) did his work and did it well. He was never a nova hot decker, but he was good. He did his hacks, he wrote code, and he stayed loyal to the corp. So things would have stayed for many years, if not for the Crash 2.0.

icholas was in another corporation's host system, decking for the corp when the crash hit. MITNick crashed, along with the rest of the system
, lying flat against is terminal in mid-breach of a Renraku CPU. His handlers didn't know what happened, but they knew what they had to do. Their decker was dead, and they had work to do. They deleted him. All corporate records of Nicholas Davidson were destroyed, and the body was disposed of.

He woke up in a dumpster. He didn't know where he was or what was going on, or why he hurt so much. He was tired, in pain, starving, and confused. He dug himself out of the trash, falling out of the dumpster and into the rain puddles, finding himself somewhere in the barrens, with only the clothes on his back, which weren't even his.

In the years since, MITNick has since moved far away from Seattle where he lived for so long, hiding out in the south, well away from Shiawase. He didn't know what had happened to him, but he was different. Things began to happen around him, electronics malfunctioning, and then eventually responding to his thoughts. He reinvente himself again, trying to find some way to bring his life back together, trying to find some way to earn some money, and get clear what was happening to him. His old computer tricks didnt work the same way anymore. He couldn't explain what he could do, or even understand the extent of it, but the machines seemed to talk to him now. He only knew he wasn't crazy because what they told him worked. He had to relearn everything he knew about the matrix. But the spirits inside the machines told him how.

[ Spoiler ]

....

More to come later ... and it will be more interesting than the bland "in the life of". Family stuff to do

[ludomastro]

Fisty,

Take the time that you need. Aly and the munchkins are far more important than this game. So, yes, I soka.

-----

My TM modifications have not been playtested so they may be a bit off. Please note: I do NOT have Unwired. Nevertheless, here goes:

• Automatic skinlink
• Resonance x Logic in Free points for Complex Forms
• Purchase more Complex Form points at the rate of [Resonance] points / BP
• No limit on the total number of complex forms at chargen

For comparison, the BBB TM could get the same number (and rating) of Complex forms as the Hacker has programs for 8.2 BP compared to the 7.2 BP that the Hacker spent on nuyen for his programs. Not perfect but better in my mind.

[Meriss]

Hmmm. I guess this makes Steve a bit more of the grimy local boy. Fun (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[SinN]

You're re-writing MITnick!? No fraggin way! This is going to be awesome. Im stoked as hell. But, one question. IS he going to be like he was in the beggining? And another, is he going to know Hood? Or Ash?

[fistandantilus4....]

Bear in mind that I'll be statting this character out w/othe aid of a BBB, and I don't own Unwired (yet). Will you allow it if I buy it? And could someone kindly provide me the Racial Adustments for a dwarf?

SinN, yes a rewrite. As for knowing anyone, we'll see when I get to fleshing out my contacts. Since the BP are lower than when I first mad him, I'm handling this more in the so-recently-popular pre-quel style. Hopefully he'll come out more inteeresting than the more powerful version.

Alex- I can hae the character it's self fleshed out pretty quick, I'll just need help w/ editing, what with lacking requisite books. Redjack has proven adept at "fine combing" my characters before, so I'll be pestering hm to work out the wrinkles. Sorry for the boring first half of his intro. I like him as an older character recently ripped from his comfort zone, and I tend to like a fully hashed out history,

[fistandantilus4....]

OK I've got the character history up so at least you'll understand what the character is about. Sorry that it sounds choppy, but it's been written in while feeding lots of children. I'll work out what I can with stats as well.

[ludomastro]

@ Fisty

Since I don't have Unwired either, we will have to work with each other on what I allow into the game.

I like the backstory and still remember the feeding in between sleepy nods. So, no worries about choppy.

Dwarf Racial stuff:
B: 2/7 (10)
A: 1/6 (9)
R: 1/5 (7)
S: 3/8 (12)
C: 1/6 (9)
I: 1/6 (9)
L: 1/6 (9)
W: 2/7 (10)
Initiative: 2/11 (16)

[fistandantilus4....]

MITNick

[ Spoiler ]

Dwarf Technomancer - E-scapist

Attributes

Body 2+1
Strength 1+2
Agility 2
Reaction 3-1
Logic 4
Intuition 3
Charisma 3
Willpower 4+1
=140
Resonance 4
=170
Edge 2
=180

(Dwarf 25bp = 205)

Virtual Persona
Firewall 5
Response 3
Signal 2
System 4
Biofeedback 3
VR Matrix Init 6
VR passes 3

Qualities
Technomancer +5
- Unknown for quite some time, MITNick's latent ability as a technomancer caused him untold amounts of grief until he finally found something within the system that guided him and gave him purpose
Scorched -5
- MITNick was fried, and fried hard when the crash hit. He was in the middle of decking his way into a very sensitive system when the crash virus tore through it, casuing an avalanche of the glaciered host. The IC hit back, and MITNick was a much easier target. "Luckily" for him, the node crashed before he was flatlined, but he still bears the virtual scars.
Addiction - Alcohol (Mild) -5
- His life is a mess now, after having run deep into hiding, abandoning his old life completely, even being counted among the dead from the crash. After his brush with virtual death, he doesn't trust chips, and instead turns to the warming comfort of alcohol when things get too stressful. Whiskey and sake are his favorites.
Media Junkie (Mod) -10
- Spending weeks at a time crashed out in a coffin hotel after his initial "drop" from the corp, MITNick had virtually no outside contact with the world save the rag sheets and reams and reams of information. Maybe it's a mental thing, or maybe it's just too much subliminal advertising, but he's been hooked on it ever since, to the poit that he gets extremely irritable if he doesn't know the latest and greates in useless information.
Virtual Personality (lv1 ) -5
- He's been around computers and people all of his life It was people that nearly flat lined the Matrix, and people that dumped him in a dumpster when they thought he was dead. He's having a hard time trusting while in arm's reach these days, and has a healthy dose of paranoia always in the back ground of his mind. After all, they are out to get him
Paragon - The Black Hat +5
- MITNick is never really sure if there's an actual something out there, or if he's just found himself in his never ending compulsion to hack. He's identified strongly with the old hacker undreground. "Hack the World" and "information should be Free" are his new mottos.
Weak Immune System -5
-spending too much time dumpster diving, litereally and figuratively, will jack anyone's immune system. He's been doing it for a bit too long.
Hung Out to Dry -10BP
- [i]Being dead isn't really conducive to keeping up with the regualr chat lines. Having peope potentially interested in finding you if they were to discover you still alive makes things even worst. Add in a general witch hunt for "people like you" and one tends to find one's self keeping to one's self for some tie. Such is the case with MITNick, who at present, knows no one, and is out of contact from everyone in his old life.
Bilingual 5BP - Japanese
-Being American by birth, but raised in Japan for the first few years of his life, and in the Shiawase Corp Culture, MITNick speaks Japanese and English interchangably.
Analytical Mind 5 bp
- Even before he was a technomancer, MITNick had a head for numbers and mechanics, which has only come to serve him better with his new abilities.
=-20bp

Skills
Hacking (S)Exploit 4
Software 4
Datasearch 3
Computers 4
Compiling (S) Crack 2
Register 1
Cybercombat (S) IC 2
Electronic Warfare (S) Decrypt 2
Hardware 3
Perception 2
Etiquette (S) Matrix 2
Pistols (S)S-A 1
Longarms (S)Shotguns 1
=138
205+139-20=333

KNowledge Skills (Log4x Int 3= 12 BPFree)
Lang - English N
Japanese N
System Architecture 3
Matrix Security 3
Esoteric Trivia 2
Corp Politics (S) Shiawase 1
=10BP

Complex Forms
Armor 3
Attack 3
Decrypt 3
Defuse 1
Exploit 4
Medic 1
Sniffer 2
Spoof 3
Stealth 4
Track 2
Scan 2
Analyze 3
Browse 3
Command 1
Edit 3
Encrypt 2
=42
(Free Points - Resonance(4)xLogic(4) = 16
42- 16 =27BP
=348

Registered Sprites
Crack Sprite Rating 3 - 4 services

Gear = 2BP
Mossberg 990 Shotgun 7P -1 AP (Slug) 8m $550
- If he can intimidate someone enough with a huge shotgun that he doesn't have to fire it, great. If it's blast is enough that he doesn't have to be too accurate, even better.
Savalette Guardian - $800
- Not a particularly experience gun afficiando, MITNick bought the biggest, meanest gun he could find for the buck
Armor Jacket $900+$500 Feedback clothing
A bit on the expensive side, but having clothing that doesn't connect to the matrix in the same way he does makes Nick feel out of sorts.


AR contacts $575
-Image Link
-Smartgun
Earbud w/ Select Sound Flter $210

2 Stealth tags $10
Holoprojector $200


Electronics Tool Kit
Microtronics Tool Kit


Metalink $100
Erika Elite $2500 w/ Iris Orb OS $1000
Where his Metalink is used for little more than a public PAN and ID, the MITNick uses his Elite for a bit more work, including saved files and an
improved signal range.
-Encryption Rating 4 $400
Sat Link system
Virtual Person $150
Cynthia is Nick's virtual assitant, handling his calander, remembering important events and numbers, tracking his tab and rent, and calculating tips for him. She's a proactive personal assistant, helpfully removing SPAM, and tracking his favorite trid shows and SIMstarlets, letting him know when the new juciest rumors have popped onto the 'trix. Her design is that of a human with dark hair pulled up tight in a bun with glasses and a business skirt suit, attractive enough to make one wonder if she has alternate programming.
Mapsoft
New to the area. Nick keeps a detailed MapSoft of his new "city" covering the town and a 100 mile radius
spare box of datachips
WallSpace
Cofin hotels are not exactly the life MITNick had in mind. Adding a bit of flavor to his live-in box in the form of a swank corporate uptown suite makes things much easier to handle[/i[

False ID Rating III = $3000
Hacked Lifestyle (Low)
-[i]It's a coffin hotel a soyburgers kinda life. Could be worst. He could be back in a cubicle. At least it's easy to hack himself a free cab ride. Besides, public transportation is all the rage. Everyone knows that. At least, that's what he keeps telling himself.