Blood in the Water OOC Thread, Cyberpirates: Chatter here! Options

[Ears]

Entering: Simon, Troll ambassador. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
And the dice are with him: cha 3 + infl(etiquette? leadership? same rating *shrug* ) 1 = 4 dice that yield 2 hits

@Penta: Hope the description is OK. If not I'll change accordingly

@Karoline: Didn't know wether Jane would be going in with Simon. If she does, just post your stuff and I'll edit my post a bit.

@all: So, how are we going to organise the People's Republic of Bountavia?

[Penta]

Desc is fine - you actually did some of the work for me.

Quick notes for anybody who does medical exams:

Virtually everybody is emaciated, gaunt. Apparently they've gotten rations - they've been meager, hardly enough, but they've been something. Same with water - not enough, but everybody's gotten something.

On...touchier matters. If you somehow manage to do full physicals, people are free of abuse - of any sort that might leave marks, internally or externally. Apparently, the threat of extreme violence was used to maintain order.

More when I get home from school.

[MusicMan]

Penta, my character is up top keeping an eye out for unwanted guests or incoming trouble. Is there anything that I should be aware of on my end?

[Penta]

Nope. I'll just say that you guys made a clean capture...At least, I don't plan on throwing anything more at you, OOCly.

This is a brief thing, but: I'd like to see *everybody* involved, in some way, in either ex-slave-care or interrogations. Or if you really don't think your character can do either, then drive one of the ships.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Ears]

Is this supposed to be a what-we-do-right-now post or one for the entire time (a week? two?) to wherever we are to hand over the ship and passengers?

[Penta]

Right now. The timeskipping will come after you guys contact Roberts.

[Knight Saber]

My father passed away today. It was gentle and painless and he was surrounded by his family. I've been his caregiver for 14 years and it's very tough on me. It'll be a bit before I can resume. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[Penta]

*hugs* Take your time, KS.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[SleepIncarnate]

Looks like no one is having a good time this week, here's to hoping next week is better for all of us.

[Penta]

I'm going to be a bit annoying and hold off on replying to the comm to Roberts in CD's post for a bit.

It's going to be another cutscene post, which means I'm going to (after class) spend a while drafting the thing.

Unlike the last chat, there will not be time for questions, I do not envision - it'll come as it comes, it'll end, and *then* you submit questions via the matrix dropbox of the day.
---

With that said: Guys, I will admit something. I have no earthly idea what to do next with you guys. It's noted down in my head as an "independent duties" period, where you pick the targets - however, after a while new missions will come up - I'm just hunting for ideas.

Yes, you read that right: You pick the targets. You do legwork to find them, you pick your target...Exactly like it says in Cyberpirates, you do everything yourself.
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Which reminds me: At home, I'm in a bit of a funky setup, as I've noted to people.

I have my old computer back - it's a bit more annoying setup with a USB keyboard and USB mouse, and it ain't really portable anymore, but it's back in action.

What this means for you guys? I have my collection of digitized books back on the comp in regular use. All of em. Including really freakin' old ones.

I still don't have my old notes for this, including the stats for the Zodiac, but that's fine.

Again, the one of you who loaned me the SR4 core set - thank you greatly. You know who you are.

As I've noted to SI and others: Okay, this week has sucked for a lot of us IRL. Let's hope next week is better...At best, it'll be a do-over and not suck so much.

Knight Saber, take your time - there's reasons we have an XO for the ship, and OOC issues are a big reason why. Come back when you're ready - there's zero pressure from me.

Everybody else: We're not in combat, so we can take this slow.

Original group: Slow does not mean, however, take forever. React to the discovery of the slaves, gather around for the comm with Roberts.

Newbies: Guys, I know the screwup here has been mine. Okay, mea culpa. That said, please move on through the rest of week 1 - If needed, I can post montages of Day 6 and 7, but 3-5 have been set out at length.

You will be going through a second week - not of classes, I don't think, but something different. If you have ideas what that should be, talk to me.

[CollateralDynamo]

Picking our own targets sounds like alot of fun. Zalermo has connections up and down the coast. This was part of why I wanted to know general sphere's of influence. Wherever we have the most support is likely where we want to strike. What sort of vessels do we want to hit? My contacts are likely capable of tracking down gun runners, drug smugglers, or possibly even more slavers...

[Karoline]

Hey everyone, still alive here, just been buried in snow lately is all. Staying at friends so I could get to classes combined with finally sending in my computer to get fixed has left me without alot of personal time + computer time to check the boards and such, but it finally is returning to normal around here, so I should be posting regularly again. May not post tonight if I have alot to catch up on (And it sounds like I do from a quick scan).

[Penta]

Okay, folks.

Some quick OOC notes on that cutscene:

Yes, the numbers are a bit low. I initially tried to apply the Maerk-Jorgensen freighter's price from Rigger 3, but that was 140 Million nuyen, and my brain melted trying to depreciate a ship. Turns out it's even more complex math than depreciation for a car.

So I ass-pulled a number: Three million for a thirty-year-old freighter with heavy astral pollution may actually be a bit high. Point is, I can change it (and hence what you guys get) if you can convincingly point out how it's off.

If you remember the formula Zalermo ICly proposed off Cape May: One-quarter goes to the government for the loan payoff, one-qyarter goes into a ship fund and to pay off expenses. Any expenses over the one-quarter gets taken out of the 50% that goes to you guys individually, split evenly.

This works out to about 18750 per the 8 persons involved - of course, one share of that goes to Iago, but that can't be helped, ICly.

The interrogation bonuses add between 54 and 108 thousand nuyen to the ten percent of ship's value, depending on how many qualify for which bonus. This could add a not-insignifcant number to your individual takes.

(Before anyone makes the complaint "I could get more stealing cars" - no, by SR rules, you couldn't. "I could make more working legally" - perhaps. Unlikely. You certainly wouldn't get it tax-free.)

[Penta]

Okay, so. New stuff on both IC threads.

Newbies - My draft plan for week 2 is posted. I grant that posting the rest of week 1 is hard - feel free to skip past days where you aren't up for chats with Roberts. (Yinglong is done - hence I'm waiting on BetaFlame, and after the chat with Drest is done will do Molo and Nemo in either order. We had some success doing it over IM, but I can do it over email or PM too.)

Main group - Okay guys. I opened the floor for IC questions. If there are none by Wednesday, we'll exit the scene. Obviously, any OOC questions sparked should go here.

Doc (Zz) - I dun want to call you out, but you got a PM.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) Once you're all settled in ICly, we can skim where need be to get you caught up with everybody else, since the time for off-camera stuff is soon to end.

[zzyxzs]

Sorry, I wasn't exactly sure what came next.

[Penta]

No problem, I recognized the issue this morning. I'll PM you with details on week 1.

Edit: PM sent.(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Penta]

I've had a few people comment re the stop-start nature of things with the game. Either it's slow as a turtle or running at warp speed, as one of you put it.

So.

To update everybody:

Fedallah's crew has found slaves on the Chantico's Bounty and contacted Roberts for further orders, which were given: Proceed to New York, there to have the Chantico's Bounty condemned as a slaver and claimed by the Navy, and for payments to be made to the crew.

It should take about a week for Fedallah and Chantico's Bounty to get there, meaning they arrive in New York on the 25th. Because your GM can occasionally have issues with the calendar, this comes amidst the newbies' week 2. The initial idea was that they'd match up smoothly. Um, fuck, that's pretty essential but not to happen if things go smoothly for Fedallah, so...they won't. I'm going to arbitrarily say that you can't go a direct route, you must instead navigate around a forming tropical storm alerted to you by the handy weather subscription I suggested you buy, adding 3 days to the trip (you've got sick people on the Bounty, going straight through would be mean and cruel and heartless. And would probably not be good for either ship, too.). This means there's only 1 day's delay between docking and meeting up with the newbies the next morning. In the interests of story, I'm going to say that a kraken sighting off NY Harbor delays traffic a further day. (I know it seems improable, but roll with it, okay?)
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At the same time, over in the Newbies thread, people are getting pulled aside by Roberts to chat during week 1 (ntwi, you got a reply to your PM waiting), and week 2's activities have been outlined by me over there. Since nobody responded to the draft, we'll just use that.
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This makes it so that group 2 plus Doc and Roberts flies from BWI to...Ehhh, La Guardia seems like the best airport...on the same day Fedallah and the Bounty dock.

Once at least some of the original group posts what they're doing during the week (actually, hopefully you all can), I'll cutscene the arrival into New York for both groups.

For the record: Our New York City? Canon NYC. I could totally see Manhattan turning out like canon, in particular. I'll decide where in current-day NYC you dock when I do the cutscene.

[Karoline]

Only possible problem I see with it taking us an extra 4 days is food. You haven't made comment yet about how much was onboard the captured ship. Our own ship only has about enough for a day's worth of meals. I presume the other ship has enough to make it to harbor and a bit extra, but that is likely with keeping the slaves at near starvation.

Should we assume they have enough to keep everyone (reasonably) well fed? Same question with medical supplies. Our own boat doesn't have much and I'd imagine our captured one isn't exactly bristling with spare anti-biotics.

[Penta]

`Because nobody had yet ICly broken open hold #1, I'd never decided. However, since you're asking:

There's easily enough water for everybody. Food - the trip was, prior to capture, probably going to take another....*handwaves* week. However, there's another 3 weeks of food on-board. It won't get the slaves back to health, but it'll keep everybody stabl for 2 weeks. As it happens, even with 4 days added on, you still come in at 11 days.

[Karoline]

`Because nobody had yet ICly broken open hold #1, I'd never decided. However, since you're asking:

There's easily enough water for everybody. Food - the trip was, prior to capture, probably going to take another....*handwaves* week. However, there's another 3 weeks of food on-board. It won't get the slaves back to health, but it'll keep everybody stabl for 2 weeks. As it happens, even with 4 days added on, you still come in at 11 days.

Alright, just wanted to make sure they delay wasn't going to have us starving out. I suppose Jane will have to make the medicine last. She does take great care to keep her mouth covered with something at all times when she is on the captured boat or dealing with any of the freed slaves on our own boat. Her weak immune system means she really can't afford to catch anything from them.

[Penta]

I knew I was forgetting something - it's not like you could stop a cholera outbreak, but the previous owners of Chantico's Bounty did want to at least keep their merchandise alive. Ergo, though the onboard medical facilities are slim, they do have a fairly well-stocked pharmacy. What you're missing on both ships though are things which are more specialized - oral rehydration stuff for kids with diarrhea (no active cases but always a possibility), etc.

[Penta]

Okay. I'm getting this vibe from both groups that seems best described as ennui.

I can't tell whether people are bored with the campaign, don't like the pace, are busy with RL, or what. (I'm presuming, maybe wrongly, you all know the situation ICly.)

So, I've posted on the newbie thread how I'm going to manage stuff for the newbie group.

Original group: Guys, the next steps are up to you. At least give me clues as to how your character is going to be spending the week heading to NYC, I'm begging you.
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About NYC in this campaign:

Use the canon NYC. I'll try to write more, especially as Corp Enclaves doesn't describe the outer boroughs of NYC like Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, or Staten Island at all, just focusing on Manhattan. Funnily enough, I think all the marine terminals serving NYC are either in New Jersey or the outer boroughs.

Anyhow, Corp Enclaves applies, where it describes things. Of course, it isn't even 3 full pages, so we go back through the hierarchy of SR books...All the way back to NAGNA if anybody besides me has got it. Don't worry, I freely share my copies of these old books, long ago put on PDF.

All I'm declaring non-canon for my game is the descriptions of New Jersey as a toxic zone, we've been over why I hate those.

I'll write more as inspiration strikes me.

[budoka05]

Yo! I've been just recovering from the Swine flu, but I'm back now! (And alive thankfully!)

BTW, I wanted to give my deepest condolences to Knight Saber for her dad. I hope her and her family the best.

[Penta]

The swine flu? Jeez.

Okay, good to know you're still with us, Budoka.

[Penta]

Blood in the Water campaign info: New York metro area.

Okay, I'm not up to writing this as an IC document, but this is a compilation of what should be ICly known to the common person.
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Include what's set out in Corp Enclaves.

Manhattan is separate from the QuadCities of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. Like what was before 1898's consolidation, sort of.

The Earthquake of 2005 as depicted in SR still happened (never mind that IRL it's unlikely as hell that an earthquake would ever hit this area with a magnitude sufficient to cause damage); however, it mostly affected Manhattan, due to magnitude and epicenter. The brutal reality of earthquake preparedness in the NY metro area is that Manhattan contains the oldest structures - it's been known for at least the last 30 years IRL that Manhattan sits on a minor earthquake fault. However, building codes didn't really update to accommodate this until the 1990s.

What this means:

Manhattan works as stated in canon SR. The outer boroughs by contrast were more on their feet, but not by much. Figure any structure built pre-1980 or so is probably doomed. Exception, weirdly, for many of the major skyscrapers - those could withstand a pretty good quake, being built more with steel than brick.

New Jersey actually would have gotten through the quake unscathed - the geology's totally different on this side of the Hudson. Newark, Jersey City, etc? Are fucked by politics and corruption, not geology.

There's nowhere for a ship to dock in Manhattan, so you'll be split up barely.

Chantico's Bounty will dock at Naval Weapons Station Earle in Sandy Hook Bay. This enables the Navy to keep it under closer custody.

The area around NWS Earle is where I live: It's mostly honest-to-god Suburbia. There are a bunch of military bases, including some closed IRL that I fully see as being reopened after the Ghost Dance War; I doubt you'll all stick around there, so I won't describe it in detail unless asked.

Fedallah can hide as a civilian ship, so...Well, in Real Life there are few marinas on the whole Eastern Seaboard that can accommodate a 60-meter megayacht, but I'll presume there's one in Rumson (nearby Earle's piers, where people like Bruce Springsteen and the like have houses IRL - a real-life A-zone if I ever saw one - the houses regularly run in the million+ range even in our down economy) you can dock at.
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Zooming back up the NJ Turnpike to NYC, though:

Trying to describe each borough in SR terms would take forever - to be quite honest, to do NYC justice in SR would take a 100+ page sourcebook of its own.

I'm not up for writing that, so I'll just outline pertinent facts not mentioned by SR. If you'd like more detail on something I don't mention here, just ask.

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The Manhattan Grid:

No, not the Matrix. Manhattan, as most people know, was built (partly by the Dutch, partly by the English, but it was really set in in 1811) with a neat grid. Makes Manhattan a very walkable bit of cityscape.

In my view of Manhattan, this was one of the few really good things the Corps (who otherwise massacred the skyline) did after the 2005 Earthquake: they kept the grid, rigidly enforcing it in their rebuilding, restoring it in places.

Structures that survived the quake were built out of two things: Stone or steel. Unfortunately, most of Manhattan was built out of brick, and worse than that, had foundations sitting on exposed bedrock. It actually should not have been that bad a quake, though - even for hitting Manhattan - had NYC not cut corners for decades on many building inspections over decades.

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Manhattan sociologically:

A wider gap between rich and poor you will not see in the UCAS. In Manhattan, two types of people live on the island: The very rich or the very poor. The poor are clustered on the North of Manhattan Island, the rich (and their appendages) have the rest of it. Most people don't actually *live* on Manhattan - they just commute in from Jersey, what are still called "the outer boroughs", Westchester County, and elsewhere, as far out as Southeastern Connecticut and a good portion of Jersey.

The former UN precincts (used as the Headquarters before the destruction of the 2005 quake) are still used by the UN as office space, especially since the Corporate Court has their terrestrial staff and landside headquarters in Manhattan - in the old Fuchi towers.

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Some isolated other thoughts:

Despite the love of the Shadowrun authors for massive 200+-story skyscrapers, I don't see more than the former Fuchi towers being *that* tall. Even the tallest buildings besides the Corp Court HQ will top out at 70 stories or so. Why?

A. The cool factor is over-blown.
B. Buildings much bigger than 100 stories are not impossible to build, but very very hard. Especially someplace like Manhattan - the geology puts limits on the weight any building can be, for one thing, and a building that's too tall has the nasty habit of swaying in the winds aloft.
C. 9/11. Even if you don't think it happened in SR, the first bombing in 1993 did. You simply cannot evacuate a building of 100-stories or greater in full, making them really unpopular with workers - even executive types.
D. The costs would be eye-popping even for a megacorp. Not merely for building, but for maintenance.
E. 9/11, part 2. Even fires would be terrifying in a building that huge. Just stop and imagine if a building like that collapsed. You thought the amount of dust and debris kicked up by the Twin Towers was impressive(ly scary)? Go to 150 stories, let alone 200...Never mind 250...And it gets so much worse. You would actually take out a good portion of Lower Manhattan, I suspect.

I assure you, even if Manhattan Island were corportate-owned as it is in SR, the folks who'd keep all the corps playing nicely would notice such safety issues...And they would never allow more than 1 cluster of buildings that big to go up. You might do it once, as a set...But they'd never let anybody do that again.

Hence, I'm going to posit that the skyline is dominated by the sheer bulk of the now-Corporate-Court Towers, but then there are a sprinkling of 70-80 story skyscrapers.

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Miscellaneous stuff:

The UCAS military has bases sprinkled throughout New Jersey - mostly for R&D (research parks, basically), but among other things, the UCAS Navy homeports one of its two carrier battlegroups out of Brooklyn, at the reactivated Navy Yard.