Looking to play...or GM... Options

[CollateralDynamo]

@ Karoline: Excellent, if you want to clean up the gear list now I'd be much obliged. I hate throwing away things I put time and thought into buying. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Also, just generally as far as the "regular gear" goes: you are kind of nickel and diming that Music man. ALL of the communal gear is less then 25K, but here is why I bought it the way I did.
- I assumed a party of 10 PCs
- I assumed that eventually we would be attacking a big ship
- I wanted maximum flexibility in the ways we could handle said ship. This includes being able to climb the sides of the hull in multiple separate parties (hence the rope and individual sticks), sneak up under the ship and blow bits of the hull, or jam their signal and rock their world.
- I also want us to be able to get away with all desirable goods as fast as possible. 5 tag erasers only have a bill of 2k and they allow five pcs to run around looking for the best cargo in a huge cargo freighter, zap the tags, and run off with it clutched in their thieving hands. I thought 5 was a good level for hand thievery there, but meh.

The chemsuits and survival kits are extra things that we may find useful. Again, their low cost to me seemed not worth scrimping on when we may find ourselves desperate for that kind of stuff.

Now, the Fake SINS DO have a high cost, but let me tell you my reasoning on them. It is already in the GMs fluff that we have been brought together as a team for effectively the first time (at least all of us together like this). It is also in the GMs fluff that we are acquiring the vessel just as the run begins as he is loaning us the money and connections to get such a tricked out thing. SINCE it is in flavor to assume we don't know each other, and it is AGAINST flavor to assume we have the proper backstory to be tour guides and boat operators of a legitimate business, I thought each of the 10 PCs would be MUCH better off with a specially crafted fake SIN making them ideal for this job. 10 well crafted SINs that intertwine our backgrounds and give us permits to do what we do should give us a much more rock solid alibi. That said, 40K is a steep pricetag for that, but I have a VERY hard time believing that a standard fake SIN would easily translate into this line of work.

And lastly on vehicles, I believe VoG has ruled that a pick-up probably won't be able to fit amongst our cargo right now. The motorcycles are just quick easy ways to tool about town IMO. And they aren't racing bikes, they are the cheapest bikes you can find (other then a scooter...which I refuse to ride on principal) with only one piece of software added. And my thought for the upgrades I chose for the zodiac were:
-we want a pilot so that our rigger can guide it while either we
a) aren't aboard and need an emergency pick up on the other side of the ship -or-
b) are far too busy shooting and running away to want to steer the damn thing
-the smoke projector is for when people bring heavy fire to bear against a zodiac (as in we f**ked up hard and need to gtfo). The smoke radius is much bigger then the zodiac, so it will provide cover and block LOS if you can keep the huge quantity of smoke between your pursuers and you.
-I already explained why I bought the vessel the way I did, I think it was general consensus.

But like I said, this is all just my opinion, gear is on Karoline now (run away!). (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Also, If we could have this game up and running by Monday I would be very happy, I grow weary of bookkeeping and discussion time. Though I do enjoy our little chats. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cyber.gif)

[milk ducks]

My choice for the ship name is "Fedallah", after the Parsi from Moby Dick. He was the harpooner for Ahab's boat, and is the source of a variety of prophecies regarding the old man and his hunt for the white whale. When the Pequod sets sail, Fedallah is actually hidden on board, and only reveals himself later, to the surprise of the crew. He is often called Ahab's "Dark Shadow", and Ishmael calls the man a "fire worshipper", speculating that he is, in fact, the devil in a man's disguise.

Fedallah represents secrecy, power, speed and fear; all things that we, as Shadowrunners, are going to need.

"MY Fedallah" gets my vote.

-milk.

[Marwynn]

I'm working on a Ship Packet submission and I feel we need a consensus as to what the ship will look like first and foremost.

I kinda fell in love with this Oculus Yacht as I thought it'd be a great yacht in the 2070s. The manufacturer's site even has floorplans.

Of course the luxurious stuff would've been stripped out, but there's room aboard for two zodiacs (according to the plan) and it doesn't cover the deck below the main one, so we can have room for our machine shop, engines, and quarters.

If you don't like the look, there's also the Poseidon 180 which is just nifty! And if those are too futuristic we can go for something less crazy looking.

Suggestion for names:

MY Mist
MY Tranquility (obvious Firefly wannabe)
MY Red Joy
MY Astral Surfer
MY Eclipse

[CollateralDynamo]

I support the Oculus ship design. Is there anything of value stored in that weird-o overhang tho? We might want to have ours be cut back a little bit. The less of a silhouette the better.

As "Your Guide to the Shadows" our ship should at least LOOK run down and dingy on the surface. Rich kids are paying for that feel. So we can have a ship that we scrimp on repair costs and get paid EXTRA for it. Seems a good business model, stupid rich kids.

As for the names: Milk Ducks thats...quite literary. My character would likely understand it much better then I do, haha.

Am I the only one who sees the inititals "MY" as the perfect prefix for endless joke names? MY proposals:
- MY Bologna
- My Deviated Septum
- MY 'Dgard (read as Midgard)
- MY Lar (that stuff is awesome)

But thats just me. I'm bad at naming vessels, when I was in a Firefly RPG campaign my ship was named "Solidarity", blatant rip off is much more my strong suit. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Marwynn]

I was gonna go with MY Uranus but I thought that would just get confusing.

I don't know what's stored in that overhang, but it could be where we store our Small Drone launcher. Which reminds me, do we actually have any drones?

[CollateralDynamo]

We did not purchase any drones as of yet. I figured the riggers would purchase their favorites anyways. The loan may be able to fill in some gaps tho.

"MY 'Ne Is Yours" ? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Karoline]

I keep feeling like that ship is going to eat anyone who is standing on the deck. I like the design and am in favor of it. I wonder if it would be possible for our particular design to have that overhang closeable so we could actually seal off the deck, making it very difficult to be boarded (Though it would already be difficult to get boarded thanks to how much it is covered)

I call dibs on the pool on the top back deck!

(Not to self... buy swimsuit)

As for drones, yes, we will have drones (My character will be a rigger along with many other things)

Oh, and Penta, is it possible to get actual real licences for stuff? Like would it be possible for my character to (as part of character creation) go out and get a weapons license? The book only talks about fake licenses at all, but I figure people occasionally have real ones.

As for getting started by monday... sounds doable to me. Just have to finish hashing out my background and equipment and then get to work on seeing if the group equipment needs any tweaking (Hope to have the first done by the end of the day)

Edit: I love MY Lar as the ship name (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Marwynn]

I think real licenses are attached to your real SIN. They don't really say what the costs are, you should ask Penta if there are any admin fees for legal guns and such. But that may be a bad idea since it can be traced to you.

I think it's fair to assume they can seal the rear overhang area somehow. Like a convertible, otherwise in rough seas it pretty much says "flood ship through here".

I'll work on the proposal, and perhaps some fake guns for the rich kids. If a pickup truck's out of the question then some off-road bikes would work just as well. Though I did wish we could squeeze in a GMC Everglades in there.

[Penta]

Just some quick notes from your GM:

Characters:
We're currently waiting on Whizbang, Karoline, and Knight Saber.

Karoline has been...discussing with me a character concept, so no need to poke her.

Knight Saber, check your email - there's some editing hold-ups here, folks, nothing major.

Whizbang...Well, knock knock man. I know you're busy. If you could get me -something- by tonight, even just a character concept, it'd let things go much faster. I'm finding that people are having the hardest time with the backgrounds; the sheets are moving smoothly.

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Ship names:

I reserve the right to throw back absurd/silly/stupid names, just like the Coast Guard.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

---
Ship looks:

If you read cyberpirates and other sourcebooks - weirdly, in the Sixth World shadowrunning (and piracy) is depicted as something glamorous...Not dingy, but clean.

The actual dinginess of it shocks newbies to the shadows at times.

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Ship dimensions:

I have no idea how to equate body (about the only size measurement we get in any of the books for vehicles) and size.

My guesstimate would be that a Classique III is about 100' (30m-ish?) long, possibly as long as 200' at the most.

For Trolls (Ears), any ship is going to be cramped. No, make that really cramped. Claustrophobic, even, like being on a submarine is for other metatypes.

For Orks, Elves, and Humans (Everybody else?), conditions are merely cramped. Not spectacularly so, but it's close-quarters.

For Dwarves (nobody yet), well. Everything on a ship is designed to fit humans. You get a lot of headroom, but everything is out of reach without boosts.
---

So far as general looks:

The Orcus seems a bit too flashy - if there's a "Distinctive Style" look for a ship, that ship's got it.

The Poseidon is too big, I think. A good start, though.

---

Just to add more names to the pile:

Remember that, ICly, the ship gets named by your employer. They'll be stylish, but not silly.

Last time around, I picked Thundercloud at random.

Name hints:

Pick a name that's easy for the English-speaker to pronounce. It's a text medium, but I can't be the only one that tries a name out aloud.

---
Country thoughts:

In the real world, you can pick any country on the map, pretty much, for your ship's flag.

Ship flag determines the safety regs, among other things. Also whose law is operative aboard the vessel so far as manning requirements.

For simplicity, I'm actually going to...take that choice away from you, the more I think about it. There's a reason for it.

You're registered as a UCAS-flag ship, homeported in the registry out of Newport, RI. Fits, for a yacht.

Now, what flag you actually *fly* can be different, especially when approaching a target.
---

Ship background thoughts:

I highly advocate going with a new build ship. Even a ship just off the slipways can have quite the history. Construction delays, cost overruns, tax seizures, bank seizures...All have been knwon to happen, and more, with yachts.

Why a new-build ship?

Easier to do some mods if the ship is still in the yards.

OOCly, some thoughts about the op, applicable ONLY for the ship background:

Your employer has been planning this op for about a year - it only got approved at the highest levels recently, but it's gone from concept to execution (hiring you guys and finishing fitting out the boat) in about a year. Once it was approved at said highest levels, things moved very fast.

The builder would be a commercial yachtbuilding firm - the UCAS flag suggests one of the New England builders, small independent yards in most cases. They would install a lot of the "civilian" mods.

After delivery from the builder, your employer would modify the ship extensively at their own facilities before sending it down to Miami, where it's gotten a final cleaning/fitting-out/etc.

The ship arrives in Miami no less than 48 hours before you're all assembled as a crew.

At your initial meeting with the Johnson, you were all advised to keep secrecy absolute when it comes to what you're doing. Should you fail to, the op will be scrubbed before you even leave dock.
---

Now, all that aside:

Since I've picked the flag country (because I was getting the impression the concept was confusing), you all get to do the rest of assembling the ship packet.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Marwynn]

If the Oculus is too sexy there's always this:

The Alucia


Looks like what we're going for actually.

[Karoline]

I think it's fair to assume they can seal the rear overhang area somehow.

Oh, that's the back of the ship... I totally thought that was the front... In that case I call dibs on the pool in the front.

Would it really be that distinctive of a yacht in 2072? I mean it would certainly stand out now, but in the future that may be more along the lines of the standard. The mouth looking back may add some distinctive style, but otherwise I'd imagine that it wouldn't look so out of place.

Oh, any sort of price check on a flag that could change the design when we want it to? From all the fluff it sounds like clothing that does that isn't all that rare, but I figure being able to change flags at a moment's notice might be a good idea.

Edit: That one even looks like it has a big drone launch thing on the back and everything.

[CollateralDynamo]

Whats wrong with distinctive style!? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

Good point on the clean portrayal of running though. We do need a nice clean ship.

I kind of agree with Karoline that this ship design might not be too out of wack for the Caribbean during tourist season. But I'd be fine with the Alucia as well. Whatever, I'm flexible.

And for my name suggestions, I don't expect any to get picked, don't worry Penta.

We're REALLY gonna call it the MY Chigan Tech and have a big Husky painted on the side. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[Marwynn]

Oh, that's the back of the ship... I totally thought that was the front... In that case I call dibs on the pool in the front.

Would it really be that distinctive of a yacht in 2072? I mean it would certainly stand out now, but in the future that may be more along the lines of the standard. The mouth looking back may add some distinctive style, but otherwise I'd imagine that it wouldn't look so out of place.

Oh, any sort of price check on a flag that could change the design when we want it to? From all the fluff it sounds like clothing that does that isn't all that rare, but I figure being able to change flags at a moment's notice might be a good idea.

Edit: That one even looks like it has a big drone launch thing on the back and everything.

We can get Spoof Chips and Morphing "License Plates" (p. 105 Arsenal). Total cost is 1500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) and they're linked together. With some handwavium they can be applied to ship flags as well. The Spoof Chips generate new IDs inside the ship's firmware, our Chameleon Coating changes our appearance slightly, and the Morphing "Flag" can look like any other out there.

I still like the look of the Oculus too, and yeah I don't think it'd be out of place in the 2060s or 70s.

[Karoline]

Also, something to keep in mind. We have improved efficiency which includes things like trying to get the vehicle streamlined and such... and the Oculus looks really streamlined.

Edit: Not that we're going to be picking up that much air resistance at 25 knots.

[Karoline]

Hmmm, was just looking over the ship gear... is ship gear allowed to go over availability 12? If so is regular gear allowed to as well?

I ask because I notice we have large nanopaste disguises and those are availability 16.

[CollateralDynamo]

For gear we have been allowed to go above 12 in availability number, but still to "keep it reasonable". If you have a question as to whether or not you could get it...we probably can't. But so far Penta has been gracious. He did say "No CollateralDynamo, you can't get a rating 10 directional jammer" but other then that we've been pretty fine playing with our avail numbers.

...that would have been a really fun jammer too (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[Karoline]

Darn that whole 'reasonable' thing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Anyway, few suggestions and a question about the gear we're buying so far:
2 Solar Stills 400 <- unlimited supply of drinking water for 16 people.

Remove the climbing gear. It is designed for scaling a surface, not climbing up a rope.

Drop number of GPS units to 1. Unlikely that much seperation will happen (And commlinks work as GPS units)

Chemsuits seem like overkill. Even if we get attacked with chemicals we are unlikely to be able to get at them quickly enough to help.

Drop the large nanopaste disguises compleatly, and lower the small number to 1 or 2 or drop compleatly. Perhaps replace with a few latex masks if disguises are really needed.

Might want to cut down on the ammount of diving gear. How many people even have the diving skill?

Not sure what we would need the survival kits for... I mean maybe handy if we get wreched on a desert island or something, but otherwise.... ("Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour...")

I know some of this stuff seems like nickle and dime, but those start adding up into being able to purchase something big. (Also don't forget that this stuff isn't just free, the loan does have to be payed back eventually)

Are the Knights going on the smart platforms?

[Marwynn]

Survival kits have water tablets, GPS, survival knifes, and I guess rations? Keep those around, I'd rather not miss them when we need them.

Yeah they have GPS so I guess we can ditch the GPS stuff too. I like the Solar Stills.


Also, for Mod Slots since we downgraded from Luxury to Middle to get back 10,000 can we get back 3-4 slots? I don't know what the Masked Yacht looks like now, but there should be room enough for the Valkyrie too.

[milk ducks]

The Oculus ship design is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I agree that it's flashy, but I don't think it's too flashy; it's exactly what I imagine when I think of 2070's-era yacht. I don't really think it'd be out of place, but that decision's up to Penta. For what it's worth in the meantime, the Oculus gets my vote.

-milk.

[Karoline]

Survival kits have water tablets, GPS, survival knifes, and I guess rations? Keep those around, I'd rather not miss them when we need them.

Yeah they have GPS so I guess we can ditch the GPS stuff too. I like the Solar Stills.

Also, for Mod Slots since we downgraded from Luxury to Middle to get back 10,000 can we get back 3-4 slots? I don't know what the Masked Yacht looks like now, but there should be room enough for the Valkyrie too.

Won't need water tablets if we have the stills (And would be mostly useless anyway as tablets can't get rid of salt), they don't have GPS (But commlinks do), and we are getting rations anyway, so not much point in having kits that are basically just more food. As for knives... we could buy a few 5 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) knives.

Is it really worth 10k to drop all the way from luxury to middle? I heard someone mention that we did that, but didn't realize it was only netting us 10k.

Yeah, I know that sounds real stupid. I'm arguing over 200 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) survival kits but am suggesting we spend 10k on luxury accommodations. (Though it is a good example of what getting rid of some of the nickle and dime stuff can get us)

[MusicMan]

I second "MY Fedalla" for the ship name.

The Oculus looks... weird...

And the other one doesn't strike me as being a "yacht," it looks like a really nice fishing boat.

Neither of them look like the Classique III as shown in Arsenal.

My suggestion goes to the Politi Navi (which is almost 200').

[budoka05]

I three vote "My Fedalla" as the ship's name.

I also vote for the Oculus Yacht, although I would add that gun ports should be added. Hopefully that won't cost too much...

[Marwynn]

I suppose "MY Way" wouldn't get any support huh?

Good point about the water tablets. It's just the paranoid in me that wants to cover as many bases as possible. Why should we bring Luxury back exactly? And why did we take it out in the first place if it was only to save 10k, man let's live it up! Oh wait, yeah it was to symbolize the massive refitting that took place. That's okay.

If we can also get the 3 free slots we can squeeze in a Valkyrie Unit, and maybe some Gunports.

[MusicMan]

I vote no on the gunports.

We can't get free slots for taking out standard upgrades, I've already prayed to God about that, but it's RAW as per arsenal that you can't do it.


200Y is alot of bullets. I'd rather have an extra 20 mags for a weapon that we use than 10 chemsuits stuffed somewhere that we don't.

[Marwynn]

Err why no on Gun ports? It's 500 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) and 1 slot. Too bad about the mod slots then.

The ship really is feature-packed.

Here's the updated one, with a Valkyrie Module. I downrated the Signature Masking to 5 so we can fit in the Valkyrie, and changed the Shop to Workshop (Mechanical) which was double the price that I had put in originally. Also, I dropped SatCom. People were saying it was unnecessary so I took it out.

Masked Yacht III

CODE

                
                        Slots        Nuyen
Classique III                24        225000
Additional Fuel Tank            1        1000
Concealed Armour (20)        2        20000
Chameleon Coating            1        24000
Complete Skinlink            1        5000
Drone Rack (Small)            2        1000
ECM (6)                    1        6000
Fuzzy Logic                1        2500
Improved Economy            1        4375
Improved Sensor Array        1        1000
Interior Cameras            0        2400
Lock-on Countermeasures        1        5000
Personal Armour (10)            1        5000
Pilot 3                    0        3000
Rigger Adaptation            1        2500
Smuggling Compartment(Sh)    1        6000
Winch (Std)                1        600
Signature Masking (5)            5        10000
Valkyrie Module                2        2000
Workshop (Mechanical)        1        10000

Total: 336375 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

No room for Gun Ports anyway.