I'll be out of town from this afternoon till Sunday night, so updates may not be forthcoming until Monday some time.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting on Bandit and BC for actions and rolls, and Ronin decide your course of action and I'll make any necessary rolls, unless I can get you the character sheet before then. Vegas, you have top posting priority from my end, I'll get to you ASAP.

Oh, ok. Cao is spending a free action to run forward toward the shelves, another to yell to the innocent people that WR1 is going to gun down mercilessly "TAKE COVER" (as soon as possible in the action phase after running toward the shelves), and go on Full Defense (complex action).

I don't think any rolls are needed from me yet.

Me? Your innocent GM? Gun down hordes of helpless innocents? Perish the thought! I'm not going to kill a single innocent person in this gunfight.

What the massive amounts of soon-to-be flying lead, spells, grenades, and various other implements of destruction and death do to the conveniently placed extra targets...er, innocents has nothing to do with me. I have nothing to do with that.

Besides, if you all are so concerned about the possibility (read: guarantee) of the deaths of innocents, you could just ask the bad men politely to stop shooting and see where that gets you. Or not.

hey, we may be gunning some of then down too you know, we can't give WR1 all the credit.

Wait.. i mean... well... its not like we're gonna gun them down on purpose. Except in the case of Blaze. Mwa hah hah... He's like the anti-Virgil.

As for ETG, lets finally bust out the gun with a free action (quick release right?).

Suppressing fire, in a band covering the routes of entry from the North West corner to about the location of A6 (I don't have the map available in front of me.. and the computer I am on apparently does not have word i.e. I may tweak this when I get home).

I don't know what the partial cover will to do nullify the suppressing fire but c'mon, how can ETG start off with anything less? plus it'll buy his teammates some time to get the plan going (what plan?).

Also ETG will move to cover Blaze (with his body), and if possible, get him to move back to the NorthEast corner.

And if, after all this, it is possible to add it a ferocious roar that would be great.

You're the last one Bandit, I need your declared actions and any relevant rolls.

Grendel, not sure if you would want me to do some rolls for Litany before I proceed.

No, no rolls necessary.

Karma

(2 weeks worth)
grendel:
(7/2 to 7/9): 3pts [1 + 1 GM +1 Quality]
(7/9 to 7/16) 2pts [1 + 1GM]

Total of 5 Karma

Oh and in the interests of fairness, here's what the NPCs are doing.

Ganger Security (All Gs): Shooting intruders

Opposition Force 1 (All As): Shooting everyone who's not them

All Z's (citizens): Getting shot...er, running away, diving for cover, and generally just getting in the way...right before they get shot, blown up, etc.

Didn't think the helpless, homeless people were going to last long.

Any obvious mages in the attacking crowd, by chance?

Of course. There's one right in the middle with a bright glowing neon sign above his head that says, "I am the mage. Please shoot me first. No, really, it's ok, I understand."

Ahem. I mean no, there's no obvious mage, but you can make a perception test as one of your actions if you'd like to examine the attackers closer.

Heh, no thanks. Cao's going to have enough problems running forward as it is even with Full Defense. I'll wait for the glowing neon MAGE/WUJEN PLEASE SHOOT ME KTHKSBYE sign to pop up

Maybe if we politely ask them?

Please, be my guest

Good idea Mister Juan. Go ahead and try it and I'll be happy to watch that scenario unfold.

Do I get transferable karma if Knight lives?

*BANGBANGBANG* "i'm sorry to disturb you all in this death ballet, *BANGBANGBANG* but I was wondering if there would happen to be a magic user *BANGBANGBANG* somewhere amongst the ranks of all you fine bringer of leaded death? If there is one *BANGBANGBANG* we would be oh so eternally thankful for him to make his presence known in a calm and clear *BANGBANGBANG* manner. Thank you for your *BANGBANGBANG* cooperation"

You know, that would be something worth watching

With judicious use of Dodge, Edge, Cao doing his own personal 'Charge of the Light Brigade' re-enactment, and ETG's LMG, I think it can be pulled off...

Hmm...as I recall my military history correctly, that whole 'Charge of the Light Brigade' did not go so well. In fact, it's generally held up as an example of what NOT to do in war, the elements of that 'what not to do' including but not limited to: poor communication, charging fortified positions, not having any backup or support, being outnumbered, outgunned, and generally just getting self killed for no good reason. But hey, if you want to ignore all that and try it anyway, don't let me stop you. I'm just the GM.

Be careful when editing your posts everyone. There seems to be some problem where random stuff gets lost if you edit a post and resubmit it. I recommend copying and pasting for a while from a saved document until the problem is fixed, especially if you write something long.

Note to all Warehouse Participants - I'll be posting the mechanical information for Round 1, Initiative Pass 1 tomorrow night some time. If Bandit hasn't posted anything by then, I will use my judgment as to what Blaze would do and roll accordingly.

Either way, look for the mechanical information to be up some time tomorrow evening. You will all be able to post your actions IC immediately after it goes up.

I saw that, but I don't think he finalized its declaration nor did I see any rolls for it. If he doesn't say anything I'll probably go with that plan. That is, after all, what a guy with no individual target combat spells would probably do.

'If you can't hit the guy you want, just hit everyone you can' is probably the philosophy behind that spell selection. I still can't believe I missed that in my character review!

Hey all, I am back and have read all the latest posts. I was around (just unable to get time to read the forums for the past few days). I am headed to a meeting now, but will post Blaze's actions when I am back from that engagement.

Normally I would agree about throwing the fireball and not caring who get's hit. I thought Virgil was a combat mage, but Blaze makes Virgil look like a sissy with his spell selection (not a word out of you about Virgil being a wuss WR!)

In this case I am ruling that Blaze's overwhelming ties to any of his family members makes defending Melissa more of a priority than is gunning down the bad guys. He is likely going to run towards Melissa and secure her (while casting an increase reflexes spell). After Melissa is secured he will engage all targets that are within his LOS.

Any objections to this line of thought WR? I am not an expert on Blaze, but his background says to me "combat monster, but also family man, and family always comes first".

I'm absolutely fine with that, I think it's perfectly within Blaze's character to do so.

Maybe Virgil should take a page out of Blaze's book and quit crying about 'some random magical affliction that affects my ability to do magicky stuff' and man up and act like our spellslinger again. In other words, take care of biz then get back to whooping on the bad guys. You know, like a um, well, combat mage.

(See? I didn't call him a wuss. I just made some suggestions as to how Virgil could raise his manhood quotient)

Karma awards for my players

Morgannah: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)
BClements: 2 pts (Jul 12th - Jul 18th) [GM Bonus]
WinterRat1: 2 pts (Jul 12th - Jul 18th) [GM Bonus]
BanditF50: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)
TiredRonin: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)
Shadowrunner13: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)
The Eyes: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)
DireRadiant: 1 pt (Jul 12th - Jul 18th)

Okay, here are Blaze's actions and all relevant rolls. This is my first combat pass under SR4 rules, so let me know if anything is amiss:

Actions and Intent:
Blaze is going to cast 'increase reflexes' at a threshold of 4 (I believe I must decalare the threshold before I cast) which will be sustained with his sustaining focus. His free action will be used to move to the stairs in the near corner (where he saw Melissa go up) with the intention of running up the stairs to get to Melissa. On his first available combat pass where he can speak, he will shout to ETG to "COVER THE STAIRS".

Rolls:

Notice: Starting today my internet gets spotty. We are packing as we speak, and the movers will be here shortly. I do have a laptop and the hotel we are staying in has internet so tonight I hsould get some time to post....


assuming Scrap catches up

Warehouse people - OK it doesn't look like anyone's changing their actions as a result of the declared actions, so everyone go ahead and post your actions (but not their results) IC. I will start chugging through all the rolls (WAH!!! ) and then put up everything I need from you all after the results are compiled.

My girlfriend is coming to visit this weekend and today has been reserved for cleaning my apartment so look for me to have all the OOC stuff done, compiled, and posted by some time on Sunday or Monday.

Sorry this round has been a little slow, this is a pretty large scale combat and I'm still experimenting with the best way to keep things moving along. Hopefully we'll all learn from this IP and we can do it more efficiently and effectively next pass.

As always, if anyone has any suggestions for this process, I'm open to hearing them. Oh, and I will handle posting for Max while Slipshade is moving. I look forward to watching you all post IC again, so get going!

Hey, let's just say there's a REASON I have a whole day blocked off for cleaning...

I just came across the story linked below, and it reminded me a concoting all sorts of B & E plans for runs. For those of you that work in office settings, is the security really that careless?

Social Engineering - The Shopper's Way

I kinda wish that I had access to some magnetic card-key doors just to see if this actually works for some of them. "Do you accept the PetSmart Pals card"

Now THAT is a job I would enjoy doing every day.

No joke. Can you imagine running a successful "penetration test" company, as the story calls it? Perhaps I am just blinded by the SR-ness of it all, but it sounds like the ultimate level of 'on the job satisfaction'. I doubt if I'd ever complain about working more than 40 hours a week.

Not only that, but think about this. You could justify to your wife/husband/spouse/significant other/life partner/whatever that playing SR actually was a work related activity!

"I'm not playing a game honey, I'm doing research for my job!"

Having friends come over to table top would be a 'work meeting'

Going to a convention (like GenCon, ahem) would be 'a conference in the latest methods, strategies and tools of the trade'

Tinkering with your computer would be 'maximizing the performance of your tools', which of course would need to be as up to date as possible to ensure you could do your job quickly and efficiently.

Playing video games would be 'running test studies in a controlled, predetermined, simulated environment'.

The list of possibilities is endless!

Meals and Entertainment expenses, Travel Expense, Dues and Subscriptions/Professional Publications Expense...heh, it could be worth a try.

Just as long as I'm not the one signing my name on the return, that is!

Hey, so ETG may yet change his action... I have to get a rules check:

According to SR4 under Suppressive fire (p144):

I checked the forums this morning just to see what had happened over night, I had no intentions of posting as I had lots of work to get done today, then I saw ronin's post . . . .

Soon I had printed out the map on extra large paper and drawn a scale on it using WR's dimension notes. What follows is my analysis of the relative distances between opponents, and my opinions on partial cover with supressive fire. I hope that they can be useful:

The warehouse is 200 meters long (N-S) which translates into ~22.8 m per inch on the map. This is indeed huge warehouse, which might work to our advantage.

The distance from A1-A2 is already ~10 m includes a Z.
The distance from A2-A3 is ~10 m.
The distance from A3-A4 is ~6.8 m
The distance from A4-A5 is ~22 m and includes a Z.

*All measurments were made from the center of the markings that correspond to each goon in order to be the fairest estimate.

I am having no trouble visualizing this warehouse as I speant a summer during my undergrad years working at just such a place. The shelves that are described are standard fare at these places and could provide partial to full cover when the warehouse is in use (and thus the shelves are holding various shaped items.
Since this place is closed for buisness I would think that the shelves would be mostly empty. if that is the case then they should barely provide partial cover (as these are wide open spaces of several meters, they load them using forklifts). I think, for the purposes of supressing fire, that they should provide no bonus to the defenders, as they are so open.

These goons are spaced rather far apart, which hurts ETG's supression tatics, but also make's it easier for us to move about without being pinned down. ETG might be best served by moving to cover the stairwell (so that Nora and Melissa have a way down to the main floor) and hosing anyone who steps into the area approaching the stairwell. From that position he will still be able to lay down fire at the first warehouse door. Alternating between firing at the door area, and keeping the stairwell clear should force the goons towards an outer semicircle, while keeping one door more open for escape. Our other allies can then work on picking them off from the cover that they seek.

This is just my opinion on the subject, born from always being assigned to play the man carrying the SAW in rounds of "America's Army".

Well Bandit, thanks much for volunteering to handle all distance/range/spacing related questions! I knew all I had to do to get you and Ronin more involved was put you both in a situation where you two could start munchkining out the numbers like the powergamers you both are.

On that note, firing through the shelves does provide partial cover (assume 25% cover) but does not count as being behind cover for the purposes of suppression fire.

Between his post and mine, that should answer all your questions Ronin.

Also, to all players, as Bandit pointed out, the warehouse is huge and is supposed to be that way. You can see from his scale that although on the map people might seem very close together, in reality, they aren't so close. So make sure you incorporate range modifiers into your attacks. Simply put, every weapon anyone is currently carrying will almost always be at least at medium range, and don't be surprised if some weapons are at long or even extreme range (such as pistols).

On the plus side, you can do that cool Judge Dredd thing where you walk casually towards a bunch of guys shooting pistols at you and look really bad-ass because you know their weapon only goes out to 60 meters and you're still 70 meters away.

Computer problems again. I have to bring my computer to a friend's to take a look at it, so I will not even have a computer for the next few days.

Vegas, I'll try to respond before I take my comp apart but no guarantees. Otherwise, look for me to be back Monday at the earliest, since I can check stuff from my work comp.

I'd like to throw one more comment in the ring, concerning general strategy, for all of us who are on the recieving end of this ambush:

Take a look at the map of floor #1 and direct your attention to the corner near where ETG and Blaze start. At the corner there is a stairwell (essential for getting Nora and Melissa to safety, which Blaze is moving to do) and there is a side door (the nearest exit for us all to get out of the warehouse). This position strikes me as strategically vital for us to take and hold right away for the reasons I just listed, and the following key observation . . .

If we are positioned in the area of the side door/stairwell the closest position of cover that the enemy can fire from is ~80-90 m away (depending on how you measure). At all of these positions of cover they are still well within areas that ETG can hit with surpressive firepower.

I would suggest that we all move towards that corner, once there:
Knight needs to be looking for any mages now, and be able to place spell defense on ETG. Perhaps get a spirit summoned and using confusion.

Scapheap can aid in providing covering fire, which I believe both Max and Knight will need. (alebit more directed).

Max is going for Nora right?

Blaze will contine to gather Melissa and use an AOE spell, or summon a spirit as the situation calls. Once back down to the first floor he will go into full combat mode.

Can someone post the ranges of the common weapon classes?
Comments or suggestions about this analysis?

Weapon Ranges (I think this covers most of what people could be armed with on our side). Apologies for the wacky formatting:

Heh thanks Bandit. I was having trouble resoving the idea of a warehouse that has loading dock doors that are 26.8 meters wide, but I think now I'm just being nitpicky.

In light of this new perspective about distance, I would like to alter ETG's actions here is what has been posted previously about intent and action(placed in spoiler for convenience and aesthetic value, anyone can look.)



Now ETG will be using his actions as such:

Free: release weapon
Simple1: short narrow burst at A3
Simple2: long wide burst at A4.
Movement: Since Blaze will be moving quite early, ETG will instead move into the interview room and crouch behind the 1 meter high wall (partial cover for a troll?.. maybe?) to use as a de facto pillbox.

Looks like the ferocious roar will have to wait

Will a change of action roll have to be made?

WR1: Here is my best approximation for the modifers for this shot, with what I have.


Random comments:
-Someone should jump onto one of the shelves. I just think that would be kinda cool and I think would provide good cover from people below.. that may be getting rather complicated though..
-I wonder what that one guy in the men's room is thinking..

Quick Update: I'll be getting my computer back late tonight, so the warehouse update probably won't come until tomorrow or Wednesday night. Vegas, I'll try to post for you before I leave work today.

Litany's negotiation test

Warehouse people - Just a reminder, I don't know if you guys all missed this or simply haven't had time to post, but you don't need to wait for the mechanics update from me to post IC.

I said earlier you all can post your actions, just not the results, in the IC thread like we would normally do in a combat. So go ahead and start posting your actions IC for the first IP so that after we handle the mechanics in the OOC thread, I can post the results immediately.