Emerging Conflict - Second Phase Recruitment, Fast Paced Single Mission Game Options

[Aria]

NEW PLAYERS NEEDED TO BOLSTER AN ONGOING GAME - BIG GUNS, HIGH MAGIC AND WEIRD TECH...!

...I've got 2-3 very regular posters on this game but some new blood is always welcome and we are at a good point to introduce some new players.

The initial character gen rules/briefing is here:

[ Spoiler ]

[19:00 22 Aug 2070 – Deep Watch Briefing Post, Fort Lewis, Seattle]

“Listen up! Deep Watch is the best merc force reconnaissance unit on the planet and you will not let me down! We have staked our reputation on professionalism, stealth, technology and above all a ninety nine percent success rate…”

There are several options for players (see below for the mission briefing):

• Deep Watch mercenary personnel
• Shadowrunnners hired by Deep Watch to make up numbers
• Members of the community that is the primary target of the mission
• Members of the nearby Redmond gangs that might want to take advantage of the chaos

It is possible that having players on either side of the conflict may result in them acting against each other. Let me know if you are interested in PvP and I will arrange for you to face either NPCs or PCs (as far as possible) according to your preferences.

All PCs will be standard 400BPs (Deep Watch personnel may wish to use some/all of the following equipment package to give some uniformity - based on AH’s PACKS):

[ Spoiler ]

Deep Watch Covert Ops Package (0 Ess/7 BP)
Bioware (0 Ess): Bio-tattoo (“Dog tag” with blood type and SIN) [1,500¥]
Gear (7BP / 35,000¥): Clothing (military uniforms) [1,000¥], Chameleon Suit (thermal damping [R:4], chem. seal [R:4]) [11,000¥], Integral helmet (ruthenium coating, image link, thermo, smartlink, integrated Ares Golem Commlink + Iris Orb OS + Sim module + Pro User Suite + ECCM [R:6] + Firewall [R:6], backup micro transceiver [R:3]) [650 + 6,100 + 9,600 + 600¥], Ares Pred 4 [350¥], Ares Alpha (ruthenium coating, air burst grenade link) [3,200¥]

In addition for the Deep Watch team there will be a group requisitions budget for gear that would normally be outside the reach of most runners. Tacnets etc can come out of this and milspec equipment within reason (you will be operating on UCAS soil). I’m not going to set this budget but let you request things and then veto them or not as the whim takes me! Just please point out if any of the equipment you want has an availability over 20. This will be balanced by allowing Home Ground advantages to the opposition and similar in game bonuses.

IC posting conventions I’ll use: [Time/location stamp] in bold and orange, “speech” (cyan optional) and <<comms>> (yellow optional), first time your character’s name or key NPCs are mentioned in a post in bold please.

Mission Brief

[ Spoiler ]

“Take your seats please, this won’t take long, I want you in the air in the next thirty minutes. You will no doubt have heard all about the Technomancer scare and the Sojourner incident aboard the Aztec station. Well I have to tell you that the wildest rumours are in fact true and that there are AIs in our shiny new matrix and they represent a clear danger to the national interest. The UCAS government has been monitoring their activities and identified a target on UCAS soil who have been in communication with the Sojourner and Pulsar entities and soft intel shows they are part of a terrorist organisation. The government cannot act without further clear intelligence, however, and that’s where we come in.

We have multiple targets in the Seattle Metroplex area that need to be dealt with more or less simultaneously.

The primary target is the Stillwater community on the edge of the Redmond Barrens. Secondary targets are associated groups; a runner team called Balefire who are based out of Renton, specifically their hacker who is believed to be one of these Technomancers, and a political figure, Jared Engles who has been publicly supporting these Technomancers and privately funding their terrorist activities.

On the face of it the Stillwater group are hippies and back to nature types living in a commune but analysis of their data traffic shows that there is much more going on beneath the surface. They have confirmed links to eco cells, anti government and corporate groups and the Seattle shadow community. We will infiltrate their central compound and access their offline servers and download the information. Force has been authorised and we anticipate reasonable resistance. Threat assessment is Beta Four. I can tell you that the UCAS authorities have provided us with the option of calling in a metroplex guard air strike if the intelligence proves to be accurate; this is a measure of the seriousness of this mission.

Balefire are assessed as threat level Alpha and Engles as Beta Eight.

Time is of the essence, we need to gather this information before the Sojourner incident escalates, wheels are up in twenty, any questions?”

To be continued…

Mission Targets:

[ Spoiler ]

Target Images: Stillwater Community

Target 1 Dr Simon Finney [Dwarf snake shaman, cybertechnologist, community leader, SINer] The driving force behind the Stillwater community. He was a reputed Transhumanist lecturer at Seattle U until he left to persue this ‘experiment.’ [Threat Lvl 2]
Target 2 “Desire” [Human shaman, community leader & head of the Stillwater Circle, SINless?] Less is known about her and her background and no SIN has been found. She is a European, possibly British and is reportedly responsible for the regrowth magics in the area. The Stillwater circle is believed to be a shamanic initiatory group. [Threat Lvl 3]
Target 3 Kate Franklin [Human geneticist, SINer] She followed Dr Finney from Seattle U and is now playing an active part in their transhuman agenda. [Threat Lvl 2]
Target 4 Lucy Holt [Dwarf Transhuman politician, SINer] An active matrix participant in Seattle politics it would be unfortunate if anything visibly happened to her. [Threat Lvl 1 / 5]
Target 5 “Ricardo” [Orc shadowrunner, spy / info gatherer, SINless] Having been employed by a third party he is the source of much of our soft intel on the Community and is believed to still be on site. [Threat Lvl 3]
Target 6 Yoshio Harada [Human cybertechnologist, SINer] Not much is known about him other than he is believed to have come from one of the Japanacorps specialising in cutting edge cyber and matrix research. [Threat Lvl 2]
Target 7 Geoffrey Dreen “Rush”? [Dwarf hacker, possible Technomancer, SINless] On the face of it an uninteresting individual, he is believed to be an active hacker on various pirate VPNs under the handle Rush. [Threat Lvl 4]
Target 8 Nathan King [Human theoretical thaumatergist, SINer] A leading scientific mind in research in to combining technology and magic he does not represent a significant threat, although his creations within the Community might. [Threat Lvl 1]
Target 9 Feral [Human adept, leader of the Wolf Pack, SINless] An enigma, there is little information on him other than wildly improbable tales of his martial prowess. He is the leader of the adept initiatory group, the Wolf Pack. [Threat Lvl 6?]
Target 10 Sasha Wilde [Elf talismonger, SINless] Working in Touristville she has links to the group and is known to deal with them for telisma farmed in the magic rich environment around the Community. [Threat Lvl 2]
Target 11 Monika Novac [Community decker & matrix researcher, SINer] An old school decker who lends her matrix skills to the already considerable matrix presence of the community. [Threat Lvl 4]
Target 12 Andrew Novac “Cypher” [Human adept, SINer] Monika’s son and an adept in the Wolf Pack, his recruitment was what led Monika to the community. [Threat Lvl 5]
Target 13 Justin Akiyama [Human Corp Sec Officer, Ares Arms, St. James Lake, Redmond, SINer] A number of the Stillwater community are employed at the facility and he is thought to supply them with equipment and intelligence. [Threat Lvl 4]
Target 14 Jared Engles [Human pro Technomancer politician, SINer] [Threat Lvl 3]
Target 15 Dinah Lane [Elf courtesan, shadowrunner “Whisp”?, SINer] [Threat Lvl 5]
Target 16-20 Balefire Runner Team [Bale, human combat mage, Mother, orc rigger, Escapade, human infiltrator, Silk, orc infiltrator, Aria, human Technomancer?] [Threat Lvl 9]

This will give you some idea of who you may be up against, at least the significant players.

There are approx. 8 mages/shamans in the Community, 12 adepts and rumours of 5 TMs. There are 40 or so CyWolves who form the security force for the area. Given the nature of the group a large number of the 'civillians' will have cyber modifications and be considered a minor threat to the task force.

IC Thread: Here
OoC Thread: Here

There's the potential to play Deepwatch relief forces or substitute yourselves for NPCs that are already in on the action. Alternatively you could play members of the Stillwater Community frantically defending themselves against the intruders?!?

Any questions please let me know!

[sabs]

preferably play on our side (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

We're looking for an Active Officer type to take over. Our current officers have the lifespan of gnats in a Mosquito Zapper Showroom.

We've got Heavies.. we've got Techheads.. but we could seriously use some Officer Love.

[Seth]

I've very much enjoyed this game: its the only one that I have played on dump shock that has kept going, and the plot is as interesting as many pnp games that I play in. The NPCs are interesting, not one dimensional and I am keen to get deeper into the complex.

Sabs is correct about wanting officer love. Joshua and I are raw grunts, and Sabs is now in charge. Our officers are in trouble: the captain is having a bad day having lost a fight with some psychotropic black IC, and others are falling to snipers.

[BlackHat]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread (the mission briefing looked like an interesting take on the emergence events, and a lot of work/detail went into it)
I think that digging through the existing threads is a daunting task, but if you guys are still looking and willing to help catch someone up to speed, I may be up for it (and I think others might, if it didn't seem to daunting). I'll see if I can put something reasonable together and bounce it off you guys in the next day to get the ball rolling in any case.

I am curious what resources (books) are available (it sounds like a lot of the stuff in War! would be right up this game's alley - particularly the gear and some of the uses of Leadership in combat settings).

It sounds like you have heavies/combat and techies/matrix, and need an officer/face but do we have any magical support?

[Seth]

@Black Hat: It would be nice to have you along! I joined half way through and found it a challenge...but in character I joined half way through so it was OK for me not to know everything.

@Aria: can you post a summary of where everyone is and what the known enemy forces are?

[BlackHat]

Yeah, I think the difficulty goes up if you guys are recruiting for an officer to take charge of an operation that he will be walking into blind.
Its probably worth a summary (either from Aria through an NPC that would be sending this officer in, or from the PCs once the officer gets there) to catch him up to speed.

I don't have enough RL military/mercinary knowledge to know if this sort of thing is common, or not. Can't help but draw parallels to software development projects that switch management mid-project... except, you know, people's lives are probably on the line.

[mister__joshua]

If you're looking for more than one character then I'm also interested and looking for a game

Let me know what you're after character wise

Cheers

Josh

[sabs]

We have a Rigger/techhead, a Voodoo Possession Tradition mage, and a Robocop.
So we're really wide open.

[Seth]

Be nice to have you along Mr joshua. Amusingly one of the players (BigFella) has a character called Joshua (named after the Dark Angel character).

My view: I think you can play anything you want. We have plenty of NPCs who do useful stuff so pick a character you like.

[mister__joshua]

Cool. Well I haven't actually read the game threads yet so I should probably do that before I come up with a character idea, unless anyone wants to do a brief synopsis for me? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
I think it could be quite fun to come in to a game and not know much of what has gone before
I, rightly or wrongly, tend to read forums and post at work, so should be quite frequent on weekdays at least

[sabs]

that's my posting pattern as well. I almost never post on weekends.

What's going on is that we are Deep Watch, a Mercenary Company. We're under contract to approach and evaluate the Stillwater Community and determine if they are housing "Technomancers" in league with "Sojourner". We approached, they have powers over machines that is impressive. We've had serious issues, losing all our officers. They're clearly /evil/ (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) no.. really.. I swear.. Terrorists.

We might have killed a few people, but we were clearly provoked.

[Aria]

HQ have lost contact with the expeditionary force (twice) and the squad that was sent in to see what the hell's going on...I was thinking that any new players might be part of a troop that was diverted from another mission and consequently has no time for a briefing other than a basic "find out what the hell has gone wrong...!!!"

On character gen, the others have captured it nicely - there's room for anything people enjoy playing (after all we have a 'robin hood' fomori in heavy milspec armour...!) and plenty of NPC opposition that it won't matter if there's elements of duplication. If you create a normal 400BP character then there's room afterwards for requisitions of gear from WAR! if that's what floats your boat (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Currently the group are split in two (and have lost contact with one group), the remaining PCs are gathered on lvl 3 of the tower ready for a push (and I mean PUSH!) into hostile territory...and much to his regret Master Sgt "Sticks" is in charge (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'm not sure how military protocols would normally work but in this case I think any new officers turning up would defer to Sticks until they has time to get up to speed and as Sabs has been here from the start that works quite nicely (and don't worry, the current PCs have only a little more understanding of the situation than any new comers (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ork.gif) )

...Oh, and I'm mostly a weekday at work poster too so no problems there...

This post has been edited by Aria: Mar 9 2011, 08:50 PM

[BlackHat]

If you're looking for more than one character then I'm also interested and looking for a game

I'll be working on something, but I'm not calling dibs or anything. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I doubt I'll even have anything to look at until tomorrow evening (busy most of tonight).

[mister__joshua]

I'm gonna attempt to make a character today. Are there any particular restrictions on source books, Runner's Companion characters (eg. Shifters, SURGE, HMHVV, Dracos) or Positive / Negative qualities I should know about?

I've had a look at the map of Stillwater. Very nicely done btw. I've also looked over the initial mission brief. How far through it are you? Also, there's much talk of a tower, and a picture that I didn't fully understand....

This is my first time pbp. I'll try my best, but my formatting and such may go awry till I get used to it, particularly if I post by phone, so apologies.


My initial idea, given what has been said, is to make an Officer type character. I'm thinking somewhere between Neil Patrick Harris from Starship Troopers and a WH40k style Commissar? Not a great combatant, but a tactician and with a gritty determination. I don't own War! so may need a few little pointers on the cool Leadership uses I heard mentioned
I agree that any new officer coming in shouldn't initially take charge, and I'm more than happy to try and get up to speed taking a back seat, though IC any officer may not like taking orders (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

That said, if this character doesn't seem appropriate or is treading on anyone's toes I can think up something else

Ta

[Aria]

I'm gonna attempt to make a character today. Are there any particular restrictions on source books, Runner's Companion characters (eg. Shifters, SURGE, HMHVV, Dracos) or Positive / Negative qualities I should know about?

I've had a look at the map of Stillwater. Very nicely done btw. I've also looked over the initial mission brief. How far through it are you? Also, there's much talk of a tower, and a picture that I didn't fully understand....

This is my first time pbp. I'll try my best, but my formatting and such may go awry till I get used to it, particularly if I post by phone, so apologies.


My initial idea, given what has been said, is to make an Officer type character. I'm thinking somewhere between Neil Patrick Harris from Starship Troopers and a WH40k style Commissar? Not a great combatant, but a tactician and with a gritty determination. I don't own War! so may need a few little pointers on the cool Leadership uses I heard mentioned
I agree that any new officer coming in shouldn't initially take charge, and I'm more than happy to try and get up to speed taking a back seat, though IC any officer may not like taking orders (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

That said, if this character doesn't seem appropriate or is treading on anyone's toes I can think up something else

Ta

Idea sounds good to me...although I've allowed some SURGE stuff in the past I think I would prefer 'vanilla' characters who aren't using surge for some game benefits rather than roleplaying benefits. That said, if you can justify (very loosely) why DW would hire you then go for it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bascially if you have the book then we can probably work with it (I think I have most of them, just don't have the time to re-read them all (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) )

[Thanee]

...and a WH40k style Commissar?

As long as you do not shoot your team-mates to... err... motivate them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

P.S. Right now I am quite ok with my games here, even though some really seem to have died or are extreeeeemly slow. So I am just watching this space for now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Aria]

P.S. Right now I am quite ok with my games here, even though some really seem to have died or are extreeeeemly slow. So I am just watching this space for now. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Any time you feel like joining us just put something up in the OoC thread (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[mister__joshua]

Hi. My character is mostly done. I'm just doing equipment and I was wondering about availability. Is it standard 12 availability or higher? I only ask as it seems to be quite a high tech campaign with requisitioned tech and such. I was after a skillwire system. I could get a rating 3 one, but would pay to 4 or 5 if allowed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I would have pm'd this but I think I'm still on probation

[Thanee]

There is always the Restricted Gear quality in case 12 is the limit. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Depending on what you have (Wired Reflexes + Skillwires) the Move-by-Wire System might also be worth a look as it combines the two into one (plus some Reaction Enhancers for good measure). The Level 2 is quite nice (but AV 18, I think, so it requires Restricted Gear to be taken).

Bye
Thanee

[Aria]

Yep, would prefer normal 400BP characters for comparision purposes so restricted gear qualities are a good idea for cyber...other gear (like REALLY BIG GUNS) are more a candidate for requisitions...

Thanee...you'd be welcome to bring your character along from the Africa game if you wanted (once you have a time slot for another pbp)...Requiem is an NPC on the opposition so might be interesting (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sabs]

When I made Sticks:

I made a regular rigger, with a couple of personal drones, and a personal vehicle

Then I requisitioned a bunch of other crap (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) that cost several million nuyen. The Sultan, my extra drones.. etc.

Like, I wouldn't pay for MilSpec armor with points, but cyber.. I would.

[mister__joshua]

Ah right, ok then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Here's a question cos I'm struggling to fit everything in. Could I requisition Skillsofts? It's software, rather than cyber. I liked the idea of having a bunch of skillsofts that can be switched between to 'plug a hole' so to speak in the group. Eg. having a few tech skills or pilot skills on chips so that they can be called when needed. I can't buy more than 2 though cos at 10,000 a level I quickly eat up all my money.

Other than finishing touches and balancing a few nuyen here with a build point there I'm nearly finished. Is there a format for posting it?

Ta

[Aria]

Ah right, ok then (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Here's a question cos I'm struggling to fit everything in. Could I requisition Skillsofts? It's software, rather than cyber. I liked the idea of having a bunch of skillsofts that can be switched between to 'plug a hole' so to speak in the group. Eg. having a few tech skills or pilot skills on chips so that they can be called when needed. I can't buy more than 2 though cos at 10,000 a level I quickly eat up all my money.

Other than finishing touches and balancing a few nuyen here with a build point there I'm nearly finished. Is there a format for posting it?

Ta

I think I'm happy with this provided the character stands alone at 400BPs and doesn't rely on the skillsofts to function - in other words if they add a secondary combat skill, fine, if they are your only combat skill then not fine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

No format for posting, (providing I can understand it) so please whack something into the OoC thread!

Welcome aboard!!!

[mister__joshua]

It's nice to be involved!

It'll probably be tomorrow before I post my character now, but if i get chance later I will do

[BlackHat]

What do people's dice pools look like? I'm having trouble picking up all of the skills that I think a veteran soldier or merc might have (if you guys are looking for a leader/officier type), but I'm having trouble doing so without having like 1 rank in every skill. I'll probably end up consolidating down to a few essentials, but I'd be curious what sort of dicepools people are throwing around to make sure I don't come in less fit to do the job than the people already there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Also, have you guys invested a lot of BP in contacts? It seems like it would be unlikely that we would be able to make much use of them (especially if we're cut off from HQ) but I don't want to skimp on them too much, especially since a character with experience leading mercs should have a few connections (at least in that organization). What do you guys think?