OOC: The Sun Never Sets, OOC Thread for The Sun Never Sets Options

[Tecumseh]

Woah, sorry about the delay. Was out of town at a place where the internet is usually reliable but this time not so much. I'm back at a stable connection now and will get something up soon.

[pbangarth]

No probs. I'm working out how to keep Stogie alive. So far, the best I can come up with is that he is going to have to get Jake to do the old dog-grabs-gun-arm thing to give Stogie time to take down the assailant. This is almost certainly going to require Jake to use Edge, but I figure a terrified Stogie is emoting enough on Adept Net to clearly signal the urgency of the situation.

[pbangarth]

AFC till Thursday evening.

[Tecumseh]

Alright, I'm probably psyching myself out with all this so I'll start small.

The troll approaching Ellesar is firing a shot while advancing. He has negative modifiers for running and shooting.

Troll: 3 hits (originally 4 hits but subtracting one because I got the range wrong for flechette ammo)

Ellesar, your base dodge pool is 6 thanks to Lightning Reflexes. You're behind a tree so you have good cover (+4) but the troll is firing his shotgun on a wide spread (-4 to dodge) so those negate each other.

You have 6 dice to dodge 3 hits. If you do not dodge, the damage is 7P + any unsoaked hits. (The damage is usually 9P but firing a shotgun on wide spread results in -2DV.) Your pool to soak the damage would be Body 4 + Impact Armor 6 + AP bonus 9 (from flechette) = 19 dice.

The battle is raging around you both. If you stop to take a Observe in Detail action (Simple) you can see how it's going. Given that you're both exchanging fire with antagonists, you might want to focus on your immediate dangers.

Everyone roll Initiative once Atropos is done rolling dodge/soak. Atropos, fell free to post based on your success or lack thereof.

Game on!

[AtroposReborn]

Alright, let's see if I can get this all the first time around. Shouldn't Ellesar have a dodge of 10 instead of 6? His Reaction attribute is 6, including Lightning Reflexes, but he also has a 4 in the dodge skill. Nevermind, just checked the Core book and since he isn't in full defense he only gets to use Reaction; Learning is fun. Ellesar will be too focused on the battle at hand to worry about the others.

To Dodge: REA (4) + Lightning Reflexes (2) = 6 Dice >>> Inconceivable

I believe that's the most hits I've had with the lowest dice pool. I'd like to thank the Academy. As a side not I'd like to thank both of you, Tecumseh and pbangarth, for being so patient over the past couple of weeks. I've been dealing with a lot of personal matters but you guys are still here. Hopefully Smohalla will come back to us some day.

Ellesar's Initiative: REA (4) + Lightning Reflexes (2) + INT (4) = 10 Dice >>> And Instant Karma

I'll get a post up tomorrow for IC since it's really late here and it has been a while since I got some good sleep.

[Tecumseh]

Nice job on the dodge. The initiative roll is actually a glitch, although I have a serious lack of imagination when it comes to implementing creative glitches. If you have any ideas or want to include it in your post then I'm open to ideas.

No problem with the patience. I'm not in a position to judge as I'm certainly not moving very quickly these days either. Part of that is summer, on which note I will say that I'm leaving town for a week. I will have my laptop with me so I should be able to keep tabs on things and maybe even post. We'll wait for pbangarth to throw his roll down.

[pbangarth]

Sorry, been away. What roll am I throwing down?

[Tecumseh]

Initiative for Stogie and Jake.

[pbangarth]

OK. I would like Jake to use Edge to go first, justifying it with the urgency of Stogie's mental state. That OK?

[Tecumseh]

Sure. We'll get Jake in on the action.

[pbangarth]

Alright, then. Jake will spend a point of Edge to go first. If it is needed:

Jake's initiative roll 8 dice ==> 3 HITS

So Jake's initiative score is 11. Yup, Edge was needed.

Stogie's initiative roll 8 dice ==> 1 HIT

So Stogie's initiative is 9 -1(damage modifier)= 8. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

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Jake is going to try to grab the shooter's trigger arm the way they do. This seems like a called shot to me, but he is not attacking to damage per se, so what do you think the modifiers are?

[Tecumseh]

I am (and have been) traveling to visit in-laws. Just now do I have a break to catch up a bit. I rolled initiative for your respective opponents:

Stogie's goon: 14
Ellesar's goon: 12

We can run these in parallel since the PCs are on opposite sides of the valley and not directly involved with each other. Here are the orders:

West Side
Troll: 12
Ellesar: 11 (and a glitch)

East Side
Jake: 11 (but Edged)
Chameleon suit: 14
Stogie: 8

Next Steps
West: Post for Ellesar dodging the shotgun blast from last round
East: Jake's attack

As for Jake's attack, there are a couple options. If he's trying to actively knock the gun away from the shooter, that would be -4. If he just wants to grab the arm to impact the shooter's aim, we can call that a -2. There's also "Attacking to Knock Down" (p. 161, SR4A) which would not have any negative modifiers, although Jake's Strength is low. Or Jake could just make a normal attack and hope that it provides a sufficient distraction. In all instances Jake will receive +2 dice for making a charging attack.

[pbangarth]

Thanks, Tecumseh. What I'm looking for is how to run that thing that police and security dogs do, where they grab a hold of the gun arm and tug like hell on it so the assailant can't shoot at the handler. Is that the -2 thing you mention above?

[Tecumseh]

Yes, that's the -2. It doesn't seem quite as hard as aiming specifically for the weapon (-4) nor quite as easy as targeting the center of mass (no modifiers) so -2 seems about right.

[pbangarth]

OK. Here goes Jake's attempt to save Stogie.

AGI 4 + unarmed combat 1+ charge 2 - target arm for grabbing 2 + Edge 3 = 8 dice exploding 6s ==> 3 HITS

Well, there it is.

[pbangarth]

Hmmm... pushing it here, but any chance Jake surprised camouflage guy?

[Tecumseh]

I'm going to roll his Perception to find out. If so, it will affect his defense roll; it won't change anything Jake is rolling. Jake doesn't have enough time to stop and assess his odds of surprise before deciding on a course of action, so you'll just have to put the plan in motion with imperfect information.

It's late now and it's been a long day of travel. I'll resolve this tomorrow or the next day, depending how busy work is after piling up for a week in my absence.

[Tecumseh]

Chameleon's (distracted) Perception roll: 2 hits. That's enough to notice an incoming border collie missile.

I wonder if I should make it harder to target someone wearing a chameleon suit - especially since Jake is aiming for a specific body part - but Jake's last three dice weren't hits anyway. Let's keep his 3 hits and see how they hold up. This guy is hyper-confident in his ability to dodge so he's not going to go on Full Defense.

Chameleon dodge: 2 HITS!! Jake connects!

Base DV is 2P + 1 net hit = 3P. This goon has a crappy Body attribute but has some Impact armor from the chameleon suit.

Soak roll: 1 hit

The 2 boxes of damage don't exceed the Impact armor rating so the damage is Stun instead of Physical. However, more importantly, the 2 boxes do equal this bloke's Body which means automatic knockdown! Jake took him down! This is working out nicely.

Pbangarth, why don't you post something dramatic and cinematic ICly. I have to contemplate how doofus here is going to react. I will also ping Atropos, since it's been a couple weeks since we heard from him.

[pbangarth]

Wow. This guy sacrificed a lot of protection in order to be sneaky. But! He didn't count ... on ....


... The Border Collie ... OF ... DOOOO0000ooooom!

[Tecumseh]

Well the idea is that if you never see him then you can't attack him and if you can't attack him then it doesn't matter how scrawny he is or how thin the armor is. He didn't plan to go up against an "I see molecules" physical adept, or a dog attuned to one.

[pbangarth]

Each of us meets his nemesis sooner or later.

[Tecumseh]

Mr. Chameleon Suit is attacking Jake with a Shock Glove.

Chameleon suit's counterattack: 2-hit glitch! That was unlikely. Odds of glitching were 0.9%.

Jake's dodge: 0 hits

Jake's soak: 1 hit

The attack succeeds with 2 net hits. Jake soaks one of the boxes but still absorbs 6S.

Electrical attacks also have a chance to incapacitate. We will now roll Jake's Body+Willpower against a threshold of 3.

Jake's roll: 1 hit. Jake is tweaking and freaking and is incapacitated for the next four rounds.

HOWEVER. The attack glitched and so I'm going to say that trying to shock a dog that is actively attached to your arm is unwise, at least to the degree that the electrical current will pass through the dog and then back into you. So Mr. Chameleon suit gets to soak the attack as well.

Chameleon suit soak (Body + half Impact): 2 hits. I wonder if I should have added Jake's Body score to the soak roll, but I don't really remember how electricity or resistance works so I'll leave it be for now. Anyway, genius here shocks himself for 5S. He now has 7 boxes of stun damage.

And now his roll to resist incapacitation: 6 hits on 7 dice. That was even less likely that the original glitch. Odds: 0.7%.

Regardless of his successful resistance, he still "suffers a –2 dice pool modifier to all action tests due to disorientation from the shock" (SR4A, p. 164) for the next four rounds. So that's -2 from stun damage and -2 from shock. Odds are now back in Stogie's favor. Way to take one for the team, Jake!

[pbangarth]

I swear, if we get out of this alive, Jake will get real steak.

OK, time to put an end to this. We must be close enough for short range now. If not, Stogie will walk closer and take two shots at chameleon suit guy. I'm on an island using my iPad, so if I missed a modifier, sorry... but I'm having a great time with my two border collies! Hmmmm.... any chance there is feedback through the mind link of any confusion from Jake to Stogie?

First shot: AGI 9 + shotgun 5 - damage 2 = 12 dice ==> 3 HITS

So 7P + 3 hits , -1AP

Second shot: 12 - 1 recoil = 11 dice ==> 6 HITS

Dodge that, Mr. You Can't See Me!

So 7P + 6 hits, -1 AP

[pbangarth]

Ah. I see you already took the mental link into account.

[Tecumseh]

Pbangarth, modifiers:

The distance is still 20-25 meters (see this post). Stogie can walk forward (10 meters, per the rules) but doing so incurs a -1 modifier for walking and another -1 for moving over broken/uneven ground (Arsenal, p. 161). That said, moving forward will remove the +4 cover bonus the defender receives from being prone at a distance of 20+ meters. Your OOC post said walk though, so we'll say that Stogie walks.

The last time Stogie shot (two months ago, I know). His Agility was 6, which was its boosted value, not 9. (See this post. See this post for the most recent boost roll.) Where did the AGI 9 come from?

I thought Stogie was at 5S damage so his damage modifier should only be -1. Does he have an extra box of stun damage I don't know about?

I count 6 dice to subtract (2 for walking, 3 for Agility, 1 for range), but then 1 to add back in (for -1 damage instead of -2). Subtracting 5 dice knocks the first roll down to 0 net hits, but the second roll keeps 4 net hits. So, ow.

The defender has 7 dice to dodge, but he's at -2 for being prone, -2 for being hurt, and -2 for being shocked. I won't give him -3 for being involved in melee combat because Jake isn't actively engaging him anymore. Here goes the 1 die against Stogie's 4 hits:

Chameleon dodge: 0 hits. Oo, so close.

7P + 4 hits = 11P, -1 AP.

Roll to soak: 5 hits, not bad. Still 6P damage though. He's now at -4 for damage and another -2 for being shocked.

Pbangarth, feel free to post your revenge.