Good work syber. Voting Sempre Aptus for Firewatch. I think we should continue the charlie motto discussion ingame.

@Meriss


@imperialus (but free for all to read!)
Caseys plans for the night are pretty simple - go home, make sure everything is in order, and then get a bit of rest. A couple hours later, she's working out at her home gym, constantly reminding herself of how much she needs to keep up with the rest of the team, at least physically.

Ready for the next day, I think, although other responses may come through for intervening times.

Cheers,
-Syber'

An aside on Tinman and Elfin-Face:

Tinman and Elfin-Face are both former PC’s from years ago who’ve made recurring appearances in every SR campaign I’ve run since. Their backgrounds change but they are a nice way to introduce NPC’s that have had a lot of thought put into their personalities. Most of this information would be easily accessible to you if you decide to look for it.

Tinman:
Tinman is quite old for a font line combatant; he’s probably around the same age as Captain Holstine but never got promoted past Sergeant. He speaks with a thick Slavic accent and near as you can tell he immigrated to the UCAS sometime during or just after the Euro-War. He joined the Ares armed forces and saw extensive action in the Desert Wars during which he inadvertently shared a foxhole with a hand grenade and ended up getting nearly his entire body replaced with cyberware. Having so much of his body replaced with early generation cyberware caused significant emotional trauma as the connection between essence and cyberware was still not fully understood. He threw himself into his work but his uncaring and callous nature unsettled his commanding officers and he was constantly passed over for promotion. He did however join an Ares special forces unit where he developed a unique and deadly efficient armed combat style using knives that is still taught to Ares recruits.

When KE began to develop suspicions about the Universal Brotherhood in Chicago they formed the first Firewatch team, Tinman received a place in it. He was part of the infiltration team that set off the bomb attempting to destroy the hive and was one of only 3 survivors.

The chaos and death caused by the Chicago crisis was the one event that finally affected what remained of Tinman’s soul and it nearly destroyed him. He blamed himself for the deaths caused by the insect spirits and had a heavy dose of survivor’s guilt and PTSD. After several years of therapy KE psychologists declared that he would probably best recover if he was returned to Firewatch and allowed to resume his duties. Once again he proved to be an exceptional and creative soldier and quickly became the leader of Alpha team but has never been promoted beyond that due to his psych record.

Generally speaking Tinman is quiet and prefers to be left alone. He drinks far too much alcohol but his body has a toxin filter that filters most of it out, or at least keeps it from damaging him too much. It takes a long time for him to become close with anyone as he feels that as soon as he does so something bad will happen to them. When the shit hits the fan though he’s probably one of the best soldiers you’ll ever meet. He can usually be found either watching some of the most violent sports that the 6th world has to offer or firing off thousands of rounds of ammunition at the firing range. He also prepares his own ammunition and is a hobbiest gunsmith. He listens mostly to old Russian classical music but seems to have a praticular place in his heart for the Red Army Choir. Unlike most other Firewatch officers he almost always uses a personally owned and modified AK98 with more gee-gaws stuffed into it than seems possible.

Elfin-Face:
To follow once I get home from work.

I thought those sounded familiar, especially Elfin-Face but didn't know why. I must have read some posts from your old runs.

Question on the housing arrangements:

A middle lifestyle is a nice house or condo. I imagine a two-to-three bedroom house or condo with the tradeoff being the yard v. condo amenities (gym, pool, tennis courts, etc...). Is this purely character's preference, or is there some strategy to the arrangement (such as keeping the squad together, or conversely, attempting to divide officers amongst various neighborhoods)?

My general assumption is that you all with the exception of Casey who has a High lifestyle live in reasonably comfertable condos within an Ares facility. I'll leave the details up to each individual person but for the most part your assumptions are correct, 1-2 bedrooms probably averaging around 1000 or so square feet. I was thinking keeping everyone pretty much together, just saves time if an emergency call goes out. Think of the building as a giant comfertable fire station with privacy, most of the inhabitants are KE officers of one kind or another and security is ironclad. It connects with an underground emergency subway with KE's Seattle HQ allowing personell to travel to a central location in the event of an emergency and the top floors have emergency meeting rooms and offices in the event that even that is unavailable.

@Syber


@imperialus seeing as how everyone else is doing it, I'll enter Bang's morning routine here and post an IC portion of his waking up in Casey's home. (later must sleep)

Are you trying to get Eleanor in trouble? An upstanding agent of the law and now she's enabled a minor.

By the way, Mage's fire is 1/3 vodka, 1/3 cinammon schnapps, and 1/3 blue curacao.

@Fastball (and all)
Would Ares have hired a minor as an officer of the law? I kind of doubt it, m'self. And that's excluding the shorter lifespan of trolls, which would tend to imply quicker maturation, and therefore leave the status of "minor" sooner. Additionally, Firewatch might be considered Bang's legal guardian (either that, or he's an emancipated minor). In either case, the guardian can elect to permit the minor to drink in a private setting, provided they don't go beyond the realm of reason. In the case of Firewatch being Bang's guardian, that would simply mean that by offering and not refusing Bang access to liquor, they are implicitly permitting it under their supervision.

I think I'm rambling though - short story, to me, is that I suspect Ellie's in the clear, but I'm guessing ... really, I'm just sharing my thoughts. Lord imp' should be returning from work soon, so I'm betting he'll make the call really soon.

@meriss & imperialus, I have a rules question...


Oh, and @meriss once more:


@all

So what I'm seeing on the different mottoes and names:

• Decide on mottoes and names for Charley IC
• One vote for 'Sempre Aptus'
• One vote for 'Sempre Infensus
• One undecided (me!)

Any other thoughts on the matter?
-Syber'

Just for the record, I wasn't really concerned about the alcohol thing. I was just poking fun at meriss.

I just assume Eleanor didn't realize Bang was underage (if he even is), and I'm sure KE would be willing to look the other way considering the reasonableness of her assumption that anybody in Firewatch is of legal age.

I like Sempre Infensus and Sempre Aptus. Or alternatively: Infensus, Aptus, (and) Praesto.

Oh! <laughs at self> I didn't catch that... ah well!

Actually, I really like your suggestion, Fastball, for the motto of Firewatch! Infensus, Aptus, Praesto! Just like the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius. (Swifter, Higher, Stronger.), and it matches the emblem on every Firewatch uniform, too! Since the logo has one side of a triangle for every aspect of service, it wouldn't suprise me to see one of these words lining the bottom of each side!

There's my vote! I think it has rather nice symmetry and symbolism.

Groovay!
-Syber'

Liking "Infesus, Aptus, Praesto!" too. Changing my vote for vote that.

No worries, all Bang is nineteen so he's totally legal (Lord Imp we are playing in 2070 yes?) , he just has zero alcohol tolerance. The most booze he gets is in May's (his mage contact) Christmas fruitcake. I'm also voting for "Infenus, Aptus, Praesto!" "Armed, Ready, on the Spot!" I like!

As promised Bang's morning routine.

Bang wakes late (for Fire watch that is) Around 0630h he stumbles out of bed. He then makes his way on autopilot to the shower (Syber I hope your walls are strong enough). He stands under the water till he is half awake, then on semi-autopilot washes (he's supprisingly clean for a troll) and shaves. He then makes his way to his kitchen, (yes he's still naked at this point, Syber prepare your eyes) where he grabs a power shake out of the fridge. (he buys them by the case at the Stuffer Shack) After consuming the power shake he's finally awake enough to begin his day. He dresses in (his cleanest) fatigues, changes Bob's water, food and leaves the house. He usually wanders around the compound for a while until he decides what to do for the day. Most often he hits the weight room for strength training or a little endurance training. Some times he wanders in to the unarmed combat facility, but unless there is another troll (like Elfin-Face) or a few orks or more than three humans, he doesn't do more than work on the heavy bag. If he's in the mood for a serious workout he grabs his comms (personal and team) and takes the bus downtown to an all troll gym called "Trollz Gim". They use mostly scrap metal and old cars to get the immense weight needed to stimulate a trolls muscles, they also have an extra-large boxing ring and a really heavy bag. He then hits the Firewatch cafeteria for lunch.

If Bang has done that a while, he has been asked by Walker to spar with him a few times (he has sparred with most of the people there). Telling him that you learn best in the deep end. He also doesn't seem to know when to quit so unless Bang pulled his punches, he prolly knocked him out.

You guys have the day free to do whatever you want. Since you are on duty you are required to remain on the compound but you can fill your time however you want. You're on call but I'll let you know that the run won't start until (in character time) around 7 PM tonight. Feel free to fill the day with whatever you do in your spare time.

As promiced here is some stuff on Elfin-Face. Oh I realize that Elfin Face might seem quite old but I decided that 40-50 years was a stupid short lifespan so I extended it to match orks at 60-70. Trolls still reach full maturity at 15-16 years old though.

Elfin-Face:
Elfin-Face was born in 2026 to a Renraku family and lived there, a model corporate citizen until 2037, shortly after his 11th birthday when he goblinized. Turned out onto the streets he quickly fell in with the Ork underground and worked with them for several years including the “Night of Rage” in 2039 where he was both a victim and a participant in the chaos that engulfed Seattle. He helped found one of the earliest Troll Thrash Metal bands named TrogHammer that is still quite well known among Troll Metal fans as one of the “early greats”. He also worked as a shadowrunner for the Ork underground for some time and developed many of the skills that served him well in KE working for the other side of the law.

After TrogHammer’s lead singer was assassinated by a member of the Ancients Elfin-Face decided that the only way he could accomplish any real change was from inside working with the system, not railing against it. He joined Knight Errant’s SWAT team using his old Renraku SIN and proved to be a skilled addition to the unit. He got his nickname in 2057 he was working as point man during a hostage crisis and upon rounding a corner was shot in the face by one of the terrorists. Amazingly enough he survived but refused to undergo reconstructive surgery. His logic was that his disfigured face serves as a reminder not to go sticking his head places where it doesn’t belong.

Elfin Face adores unarmed combat, he finds it therapeutic and relaxing. He’s achieved black belts in several different disciplines but his pride is his 6th dan black belt in a slightly modified version of Krav-Maga designed for trolls known as Farzeenish-Krav-Maga or “Monster Contact Combat”. He’s also an accomplished pistol marksman and is on a competitive shooting team.

Elfin-Face has founded a Troll Thrash Metal band consisting of a number of KE employees called “Knights of Rage”. It’s more a hobby than anything else but a number of people from KE’s public relations department have been showing interest in using the group as a sort of community outreach program to reach disenfranchised Orks and Trolls giving them the opportunity to have the police make a positive impression on them rather than just being the faceless thugs that arrest their friends and loved ones. It may work, largely because Elfin-Face still has a considerable reputation in the Ork underground and maintains numerous contacts and friends within it.

Just realised, that I have totally forgotten to ask how you think possession works. Or more to the point - how channeling works. I'm assuming (and hoping) that it works like I understand the text on page 54-55: That with channeling, the minds of the spirit and the mage stay separate and both have their full capabilities. Mainly meaning that, if I'm channeling, I can use cyberware, comms and magic and both can use their own magic to do stuff.

The problem is that it isn't said - in the channeling description it is just said that "a magician who was willingly possessed, can find a balance between the two minds occupying her body and archieves greater control." And then it is said in the normal possession sidebar that "the spirit's Mental and Special attributes are used."

Now I'm hoping for the ability to use magic while channeled for the simple fact that self possession is the only real trick over materialisation traditions and while it would still be neat if I can become a hardass streetsam with immunity to normal weapons using a spirit service, it would really only be useful as a "oh shit - we are surrounded" escape tool instead of something you use when getting into a hard fight (say instead of the materialisation tradition version of getting your spirit to go first to draw some fire..).

And another thing - how much leeway are we getting with spirit services? Is normal possession (like materialisation) free as long as there isn't real danger involved? (possessing a hostile would naturally take a service, but can you get a spirit to possess you if you need the extra strenght to open a door?)
And can I use a spirit's (physical) skills if I use a service such as "Help me clear that room."? (I'm asking since all spirits have unarmed combat and I don't). It also says that using powers still takes a service, but can you still use them the way materialisation uses them? I mean does "Engulf those 3" or do I have to "manually" use the power 3 times or can I let the spirit be in control for a while, letting it use the powers? Or in other words - are channelers allowed to let the spirit they are channeling do stuff or do they have to do everything themselves?

By the way the fancy firing and sparring come from channeling a force 6 spirit (totalling an agi of 14) and using increased reflexes for 4 IP's. They are just for flavor so I don't roll for them nor use services - I'll just get rid of them if imp rules I can't use possession without a service at all.

Wall summoning: (magic 7, summoning 4, spec 2, mentor 2 = 15)
1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=5, 1d6=5, 1d6=1, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=3 = 6 hits
Wall resist: (force 5)
1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=5, 1d6=5 = 2 hits
Wall summoning drain resist: (cha 7, WP 5, FC 1 = 13)
1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=4 = 3 hits
Result: 4 services, 1 drain
Wall binding: (magic 7, binding 4, spec 2, mentor 2 = 15)
1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=4 = 3 hits.
Using edge to reroll 12 dice (yeah! using edge even before the job starts...)
1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=2 = 3 hits
Wall resist: (force*2 = 10)
1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=5, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=2 = 2 hits
Drain binding drain resist: (cha 7, WP 5, FC 1 = 13)
1d6=2, 1d6=5, 1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=3 = 7(!) hits
Result: Wall: Bound with 7 services, Walker: 1 point of stun drain, down a point of edge

Owen summoning: (magic 7, summoning 4, spec 2, mentor 2 = 15)
1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=5, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=6, 1d6=6 = 5 hits
Owen resists: (force 5)
1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=4 = 1 hit
Wall summoning drain resist: (cha 7, WP 5, FC 1 = 13)
1d6=3, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=5, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=1 = 4 hits
Result: 4 services, 0 drain
Owen binding: (magic 7, binding 4, spec 2, mentor 2 = 15)
1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=4, 1d6=5 = 6 hits
Owen resist: (force*2 = 10)
1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=6 = 1(!) hit
Drain binding drain resist: (cha 7, WP 5, FC 1 = 13)
1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=3 = 1 hit (well can't think of a better place to get the sucky roll )
Result: Owen: Bound with 8 services, Walker: 1 point of stun drain (for a total of 2), down a point of edge

Riley summoning: (magic 7, summoning 4, spec 2, mentor 2 = 15)
1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=3 = 5 hits
Riley resist: (force 6)
1d6=2, 1d6=5, 1d6=5, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=1 = 2 hits
Wall summoning drain resist: (cha 7, WP 5, FC 1 = 13)
1d6=2, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=2 = 4 hits
Result: Riley: Summoned with 3 services, Walker: 0 drain (for a total of 2), down a point of edge

Muah! 2 force 5 spirits bound and one force 6 summoned and total drain = 2. Not bad..

Resting: (body 5, Willpower 5)
1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=6 = 7 hits

By the way, what are the best powers for the spirits? I'm gonna have those for a while so I don't want to notice I picked the wrong power for them. Elemental attack (electricity) perhaps?

Too bad I didn't have the balls to bind force 6 thingies. And I know that spirits of man with stunballs rox, but I'm rolling one more die then the spirit when binding a force 5 and possession traditions don't really do anything with little spirits so I'm sort of stuck with the guardians.

Syber I hope you don't mind me hijacking your char. Lemme, know if my IC is off. (It's just how I'm reading your presentation of her)

Just to let you know I'm using the police radio codes found on this website. I make no claims to their accuracy but they sound cool and to keep people from needing to sift through hundreds of codes I'll put the translation beside each of them in the post.

Also any edge spent now refreshes and everyone who has posted earns 10 karma. I know this has mostly been RP stuff but I'd like to commend everyone for how well you've been playing your characters. They really give the impression of being living breathing people, kudos to you all.

Alright, time for the big test. I think I'm going to follow Walker's foot-steps and use edge, because I do not want to blow six hours of ritual time.

Cloudwing Rebinding (Invoking): Magic (6) + Binding (Air) 6(+2) + Edge (4) = 18 dice
1d6.extra(6)=3, 1d6.extra(6)=2, 1d6.extra(6)=5, 1d6.extra(6)=12, 1d6.extra(6)=1, 1d6.extra(6)=8, 1d6.extra(6)=5, 1d6.extra(6)=3, 1d6.extra(6)=2, 1d6.extra(6)=3, 1d6.extra(6)=3, 1d6.extra(6)=10, 1d6.extra(6)=3, 1d6.extra(6)=2, 1d6.extra(6)=4, 1d6.extra(6)=2, 1d6.extra(6)=10, 1d6.extra(6)=1 = 7 hits

Cloudwing Resist: Force 6*2= 12
(1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=5, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=6, 1d6=3, 1d6=5, 1d6=5) = 6 hits (not good, at all)

Drain Resistance: Cha (7) + WP (5) + Centering (2) = 14 (already used edge)
(1d6=5, 1d6=1, 1d6=2, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=5, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=6, 1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=6, 1d6=3) = 5 hits (11 stun + 2 physical, thankfully this was a rebinding, so the spirit won't go uncontrolled).

Now I'll just hope that the receptionist found me a trainee to put me in bed and bring me food when I wake up.

Healing Stun Damage Body (5) + WP (5) (1 hour)
(1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=5, 1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=5) = 4 stun healed (I accidently cheated and rolled 11 dice on the first two healing tests, so ignore the last hit).

Eleanor wakes up, and requests first aid for her physical wounds and medicine to increase the effectiveness of her rest from this point.

Healing, hour 2 0300-0400 hours
(1d6=6, 1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=6, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=4) = 2 hits

Healing, hour 3: 0400-0500 hours
Healing #3 Stun (1 hour) extended (1d6=3, 1d6=3, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=2, 1d6=4, 1d6=2, 1d6=1) = 0 hits

Healing, hour 4 - 0500-0600 hours
(1d6=2, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=3, 1d6=1, 1d6=6) = 1 hit (I think that website hates me.)

Healing hour 5: 0600-0700 hours
(1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=1, 1d6=1, 1d6=3, 1d6=4, 1d6=4, 1d6=5, 1d6=2, 1d6=1) = 1 hit

Unless Eleanor receives first aid/medicine attention:
At 0700 hours, after five hours of rest, total stun healed = 8
Stun Damage Remaining = 3; Physical Damage = 2

*I think I'll be joining Walker with Force 4/5 spirits in the future, but since character creation spirits start at Force = Magic, I thought I would give it a try.

On a lighter note, I realized that WSU is nowhere near Seattle. Please change any references regarding Eleanor and WSU to the University of Washington (UW) (the Huskies), which is actually in Seattle.

ouch. That stung. We'll assume you get medical help so your physical damage can heal. You've got a whopper of a headache but other than the 3 boxes of stun you're fine.

@imperialus


@meriss
No worries on the hijack - the "big boy" line was a little over the top for Casey, but not by a whole lot, and everything else seemed kosher and Caseyish. Only aside I should mention is that if Bang ever bothers to think about it, she wasn't looking a whole lot like he's used to seeing her... or for that matter, all that feminine. But, if I'm reading it right, I suspect he's going to be in too much shock for introspection on that one.

By the looks of things, we've pretty much decided on Firewatch's credo, too. Unless there are dissenting opinions?

Cheers,
-Syber'

Heh got that in one Syber. In my post Casey was refering to the ice cream binge and Bang's general size. Not his uh "assets". Mostly she was just lightly teasing our poor trollboy.

@Lord Imp: Whats your policy on player created NPCs? Nothing game breaking, just names for random guys as flavour as opposed to Guard 1, 2, etc. Mostly I'll be using movie char names or drek I pull out of the air.

EDIT: It seems that the CSI people are going to arrive after us so Walker can't get their idea first, so this is a bit wrong, but I'll let them stay here until it seems.

It was hard to make a post since you didn't tell us what the CSI people have found out so (again) I made a post on what the plan is.

Now if the CSI people have the suspect on tape killing the professor and his movements from then onwards all the way to where he is now, it would be a bit too easy so I doubt thats the case. I'll put here how he tries to find a good picture of the suspect, naturally always asking the CSI people first for the footage they have and then starting to get footage in the order of:

1. Cameras inside the room or otherwise pointing there
2. Cameras in the building or otherwise pointing there (maybe we'll get something good from Tolstov for this)
3. Cameras pointing at the buildings exits (the stuffer shack seems to be a good place to start)

Now if Walker finds a good picture of the guy or his vehicle, he tells it to the team and suggests putting out an APB and asking the Lone Star to do the same. If he gets a good picture of the vehicle, he will start tracking it. Preferrably by gridguide, but getting some manpower and going through all buildings in the vehicles route if needed trying to track where the vehicle went, getting footage from where it stops if he can do so without going there.

Now most likely he doesn't have a picture of the suspect so unless he can get a picture in other ways (say if the suspect left fingerprints and is on file or if a witness can give a good description), he gets footage of people going into the building and leaving around the right time and starts to look for people who do not live there. If none of them look suspicious, he'll get a picture of them and go ask the residents if they know any trying to find one that didn't visit any of the residents.

Unless Raleigh is joining me, I'm doing this by finding cameras and having a tech get their footage and then checking it when it is uploaded into the team's net.

The glasses I'm taking are somesort of shades with stuff like smartlink, thermo, low light, image mag. and so on. I'm assuming it's one of the standard issue things even if it isn't on the list since something like that isn't very expensive and the magical people don't tend to have cyberware smartlinks. Unless thats something that is considered custom and you would have needed to buy it yourself. In which case I just don't have it.

I also have never been on an indoor firing range so I don't know if they just let the shell casings (if they are even called that) just lie on the ground and just sweep them away, but I assumed that for now.

Well I was going to post Bang's pre-action mantra in IC but then I realized while checking my char sheet (thanks for the Karma Lord Imp) That he does not have Centering as an Active skill. *insert head bonking on table sound* Do I need it or will a Magic+Willpower roll suffice?

I didn't know you needed a skill for centering and neither the BBB nor street magic mention it in the centering thingies. Are you sure you need to roll something for centering?

Uh no I'm not sure, I still don't have my book so I'm fudging a fair bit here. Basically I just wanted to make sure Bang has the mana to make sure his adept powers work.

umm.. I'm pretty sure you don't need mana for ANYTHING in Shadowrun. Spells may get you drained (as can some adept powers), but other then that, you can cast as long as you want and use adept powers as long as you want.

Was about to see if you have anything drain causing, but I noticed you got rid of the mechanics spoilers so I can't. If I remember at all correctly from when I read it when you posted it the first time, you had stuff like increase reflexes, increased ability and killing hands and at least those are always on. Tho you can decide not to use killing hands if you want.

Adept centering lets you ignore penalties and thats an initiation thing. Lets say you are a grade 1 initiate and have dancing centering: When you dance, you can ignore one point of negative modifiers. You don't need to roll anything, just say that you are dancing and you are centering.

Yup! Centering requires only a "free action" to actually perform whatever it is your "centering" consists of. Then it grants the benefits you get. (I'm staring at my rulebook right now, as a matter of fact. But as Toivoton pointed out, both centering and adept centering are metamagics that come with initiation.

Side note: Will imperialus allow Awakened characters to take metamagics outside of initiation? I noticed it can be done...

Anywhich - in regards to Casey's "quick change" post, here's the scoop for the boss, and anyone that has Assensing:


I think that's about it for now... another post later tonight, if I need to add anything!

Cheers,
-Syber'

Ok then looks like I'm good. (I such a newb sometimes) I'll post Bang's "take" on magic so no one gets confused later(including me). Bang basically views his adept powers as wishes granted. Example to activate Improved Reflexes, Bang thinks "wish I wuz fasteh" or "need ta be fasteh den dat" and the power activates.

So,boss, did you change from Seattle University to University of Washington before or after I posted about my WSU mistake?

The centering I have is an initiate metamagic. It provides extra drain dice equal to the grade of initiation. It requires a free action on the same turn as the drain resistance test and the ability to move and speak freely.

I think you only need to be able to either move or speak depending on the centering method you chose. Unless you chose something you need to do both for.

By the way - you wouldn't be planning to initiate after this job by any change..? I need my centering too..

I may be interested in Initiating after this case as well, so Walker and Bang could form an Initiate group, along with anyone else who needs/wants to initiate.

On Initiation: Count me in, too - heck - there are four magically active members of the team! That would be an interesting initiation group! "Firewatch Charley ... let the magic flow!" But seriously, I'm looking at Adept Centering, and then two of the Advanced Metamagics - Infusion and Extended Masking. Pretty long term thinking, though.

Meriss, if imperialus will let you, you may want to shift your Centering to Adept Centering from the Street Grimoire. It's a little more "Bang"-like. Adept Centering lets you reduce negative modifiers to your physical and combat skills by your adept grade, as long as you're performing your centering "ritual". It's also the prerequisite for "Infusion", which lets you temporarily "boost" your adept skills, but when it's done, you take a Drain test, and you temporarily "lose" some of your other adept skills. I'm sure as a Combat Adept, Bang could use those kinds of things... heck, I'm even looking at it for Casey!

On investigations: I'm going to throw up a quick post, because I'm sure this isn't going to be a "garden variety" visit to the University. My post will probably clear it up in a second.

On Sheets: Should I remove my spoiler as well, then? I know it wasn't deliberate on your part, Meriss, but should I follow suit? Thoughts on this?

So, Lord imp' what do you think of all of this?
-Syber'