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

[pbangarth]

I'm at my cottage, using an iPad at the island store. I didn't bring my notes on current status for various Pcs and NPCs with me, and was too lazy to hunt back through the posts, so I guessed. Sorry, wrong guy's Agility.

Wish it had beenStun damage though. Well, let's see a little humanity from Stogie.

[Tecumseh]

IC reply is up. No word back from Atropos yet so we can continue this for a few rounds. The battle is still raging in the forest. Jake will be locked up for another 10-12 seconds before he starts to come around, and at that point he'll be pretty fuzzy. I presume Stogie isn't going to run off to join the fight because that would leave his prisoner (and Jake) unattended. So, open RP for three or four rounds.

[AtroposReborn]

I feel like I spend most of my time on here apologizing for not posting in a timely manor. I'd like to think that getting married was a decent reason to keep me busy but maybe that's just me. Seriously though, I had the pleasure of marrying my wonderful fiancee and she kept me a bit busy for a while but now I'm back. I'll be taking a few weeks off of work in September so I should have plenty of free time. Thanks for waiting for me guys.

[Tecumseh]

Goodness! I had no idea. But I got married a couple years ago mid-game too. So this game has seen two weddings, but hopefully no funerals.

It's the troll's turn. I'll get something up for that tonight or tomorrow. Ellesar's initiative was a glitch so I'm going to say that's -1 to whichever roll he makes first this turn.

[pbangarth]

I keep paying for not filling out Stogie's character sheet Gear section at the start. Of course I didn't actually list plastic restraints, did I? When the run is over, I'll complete the list.

I did actually mention medkit, though I didn't say the rating. He has 16,000 nuyen unaccounted for, so I feel safe in saying he bought the best, Rating 6, for 600 nuyen. Slap me down, Tecumseh, if you think that is unfair.

The reality is Stogie is not likely to actually heal any boxes of damage here (particularly since there will be only 7 dice for him even with a Rating 6 medkit and no implants in chameleon guy, and a threshold of 2 means he would need 3 hits to heal even the one box his First Aid Skill of 1 allows... gonna have to work on that), and he doesn't really want to anyway. But he can dress the wound so it stops bleeding and keeps from getting infected. The bastard hurt Jake, so fuck him.

Once the IC conversation progresses in a satisfactory way, Stogie will dress the wound.

EDIT: Welcome to the club, AR.

[Tecumseh]

It's the Troll's turn again. He's firing at Ellesar in a suppressive fashion as he advances, i.e. mostly to force Ellesar to stay under cover and not shoot back. He's firing twice.

First shot: 4 hits
Second shot: 1 hit

Atropos, here's how this works. If your previous "dodge" meant that you ducked behind the tree then you don't have to dodge either of these. You're in full cover and the blasts won't get through the big tree you're standing in front of. However, it does mean that you've lost sight of the target and will have to spend a Simple Action to come out of cover and re-acquire him before shooting back, if that's what you choose to do.

If your previous dodge was just Ellesar ducking then he does have to dodge these shots (6 dice to doge the first one, 5 dice to dodge the second). Damage would be 7P + net hits, although there's a +5 AP bonus to soak since this is flechette ammo. (Odds are good it would be staged down to Stun, although Knockdown is a possibility.) If you choose to go this route then you maintain visual on the target and can respond however you wish without spending an extra action.

For the purposes of this round, the troll is 11-15 meters away. He will reach Ellesar's position next round. Ellesar has this round to respond, plus next round if he wins initiative.

I'm going to roll Ellesar's Combat Tactics here, as it is relevant: 1 hit

From his training with the Ghosts, Ellesar vaguely recalls that unconventional tactics, including drugs and toxins, are recommended against large metahuman opponents.

[AtroposReborn]

Ellesar is going to be a pro at fighting trolls by the end of this campaign. From the crazed to the military-esque he will incap them all.

In keeping with my most recent IC post Ellesar would be completely behind the tree, leaving him unable to see his foe. He has the general idea that there's a large thing charging at him again. As a free action he will drop his rifle and use a simple action to pull out his pistol. I assume that swapping out the current magazine in the pistol would require a complicated action. Looking back to when he first picked up the weapon it should still have EX-explosive rounds in it.

For his complex action would it be possible to back away from the tree and yell something at the same time? If not he will just back away, doing his best to keep the tree between him and the troll.

I'll get an IC post up after I've got everything down.

[Tecumseh]

There are a bunch of actions here:

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase

Simple: ready weapon
Simple: remove clip
Simple: insert clip

Simply backing away from the tree doesn't take an action as long as Ellesar is doing it at a walk. Running would require another Free Action. Typically only one Free Action is allowed per initiative pass but I traditionally allow two if they don't conflict with each other. I think most of us are capable of dropping something while speaking a phrase, which is the explicit example in the 5E rulebook as something the GM may wish to allow. So Ellesar is okay on Free Actions.

The good news is that Ellesar doesn't need to spend a Complex Action on anything, but the bad news is that he needs three Simple Actions and he only has two. Sequentially the choice is obvious, but he can't get is all done this turn.

[Tecumseh]

Pbangarth, as for the medkit the concern isn't so much the cost but the size. I generally play that the rating of the medkit informs the size of the unit, not just the quantity. Bullets & Bandages offers these as a guideline:

Rating 1 - large pocket
Supplies: bandages, tape, scissors, alcohol or iodine irrigation, oral pain and nausea meds

Rating 2 - small pouch or fanny pack
Supplies: as above plus splints, disposable syringes, selection of IV drugs for push, antibiotics, flashlight, trauma sheers

Rating 3 - large pouch or fanny pack
Supplies: as above plus airway supplies, IV tubing, selection of IV drugs for infusion, oxygen mask, thermal blanket,

Rating 4 - small backpack
Supplies: As above plus, basic surgical tools, selection of slap patches or autoinjector

Rating 5 - Large backpack or duffel bag
Supplies: as above plus injectable nanite-based treatments, StatScan hand-held imagery device

Rating 6 - oversized duffel bag or larger
Supplies: as above plus full surgical tools, sterile drapes, anesthetic gases, etc.

[pbangarth]

Awesome. That's helpful. I suspect Rating 3 is what he would be carrying, then. Hmm... Bullets and Bandages, huh? Might get that.

As it is, Stogie is not trying to heal, just patch the guy up. I don't think I need to roll for that, do I?

[Tecumseh]

Nah, it's just RP in that case. You can add any details I missed when you post. Stogie can continue to RP while Ellesar fights for his life.

[pbangarth]

Yeah, I've been playing Stogie as if he figures the firepower of the Sisters and Ellesar will be enough now that he pointed the opposition out to his friends. He doesn't know that Ellesar is in trouble. He thinks the four of them, Ellesar and the Sisters, will have an easy time of it. And, hey! He's neutralized two of the opposition all by himself! (With just a -little- help from Jake!)

Sorry, AR. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frown.gif)

[AtroposReborn]

All good. Honestly Ellesar is a little too preoccupied to see any contributions from the Sisters. The greatest trouble he faces is his own pacifist nature, which makes me glad that I gave it to him. Blasting everything away would be too easy. Besides, when you have a large man with full combat gear blasting away at you fight or flight tends to take over.

We've been cleaning up our home and making sure everything is taken care of for our upcoming vacation so my posts will be spotty today and tomorrow. After that I'm not sure exactly when I will have internet access again but I'll do my best to update once I do.

Tec, Ellesar is not going to bother switching out magazines. So he'll take both free actions to drop the rifle and shout but remain walking away from the tree.

[Tecumseh]

So this is what he's up to?

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase
Simple: ready weapon

If so, that still leaves him with an available Simple action.

As a Pacifist, Ellesar would likely remember that he has multiple non-lethal options, including those that don't involve guns.

Is there an IC post coming to describe what he shouts?

Are you headed out on a honeymoon then? Where to? I went to Italy for mine, where the Internet ate two very long posts I tried to write for this game.

[pbangarth]

Sometime round about now Stogie should lose his AGI boost and resist Drain.

BOD 4 + WIL 4 - damage 1 = 7 dice ==> 1 HIT (rolled 8 dice before I just remembered the damage modifier - but still 1 hit)

Just enough.

Anyone: Have we tried using our commlinks as walkie-talkies at all? Is that possible?

[Tecumseh]

I've been debating about the commlinks-as-walkie-talkies for a while. Here's a reasonably relevant passage from SR4A, p. 219, emphasis mine:

"Commlinks also provide you with instant wireless access to the world around you. Not only can you send messages, make calls, transfer files, or access data via the Matrix, but you can access the wireless devices and networks all around you, from the store’s sales catalog to your friend’s PAN to the lamppost tourist-info RFID tag to the social networking profile of anyone else looking to play a game of chess in the park."

From this is seems clear that a direct connection between commlinks is a possibility. The second question then becomes about range, which is dependent on the commlink's Signal rating. Since pbangarth never bothered to finalize his equipment list other than to just list a "commlink" I'm going to say that he has the same type of commlink that Ellesar does: a Sony Emperor (Response 2, Signal 3). That gives him a range of 400 meters. The distances at this point are somewhat abstract but I'm going to estimate that Ellesar and Stogie are 600 meters apart at the moment. So you can make call if you get closer, although the connection will likely be poor due to the trees absorbing the signal.

[pbangarth]

I love it, Tecumseh. This gets better and better!

[Tecumseh]

Are we talking about the IC post or the OOC post?

[pbangarth]

Sorry. The IC post. I'm figuring out how to let the guy down easy.

[Tecumseh]

Little bit stuck at the moment until Atropos can resolve his combat. Can't advance too far ICly with Stogie until Ellesar deals with the troll (or gets "dealt with" himself). Not sure how long he'll be on vacation for so...

[pbangarth]

I know Stogie shot Karl dead, but I didn't think it was in the back.

Oh well. Oopsies.

[pbangarth]

I don't think there's much else we can do until AtroposReborn comes back online.

[Tecumseh]

Yeah, we're getting a little crunched on what can happen ICly without resolving his encounter. He's been on vacation about two weeks now. If we don't hear from him this week then I'll ping him to see if he's back. If some more time goes by without a response then I will roll for him based on his stated intentions and then proceed. I'd hate for him to get shot up without having a chance to roll his own dice though.

It sounds like his turn will be to:

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase
Simple: ready weapon (pistol)
No action: walk away from tree

I have no idea what he was intending to shout.

Atropos, if you're reading this and the above sequence is correct, then your next step is to roll Initiative. Here's the goon's initiative that you need to beat:

Base initiative 8 + 0 hits (!) = 8

Well that was unlikely, with only a 4% chance of getting blanked. Given that Ellesar's base initiative is 10, all he needs to do is not glitch and he'll get to go first. He may survive this yet.

So, Atropos, after you roll initiative, and presuming you don't glitch, go ahead and declare/roll your next set of actions.

[pbangarth]

So, right now, Tecumseh, it looks like you and I are the only ones posting. Should we two carry on or wait some more. I could do some rolls for Ellesar, and even bring Smohalla back, at least for this scene.

If it looks like it's just me left, we may need to recruit. What do you think?

[Tecumseh]

As it happens, I just now wrote to Atropos. He just got married and went on vacation, which might actually be a honeymoon, so it's possible that he is/was on a longer trip. But, yes, it's been three weeks so it's time to check in with him. I'd be fine with you rolling for Atropos if we don't hear back.

As for recruiting, I'm not sure how it would work. Given 1,000+ IC posts, it would be a ton of effort for someone to read through if we were trying to have them take over one of the missing PCs. If they were introducing a new PC then I'm not sure how that would be done realistically.

Without giving too much away, we're getting close to the point where people can go their separate ways. Given that the game is a sandbox it could technically go on forever but there will be a logical break in the story relatively soon.