Adamu--You aren't impinging on my prerogative as a GM.

My expectation is 1-2 IC posts per week per player, which is why I do bumps on Tuesdays and minor replies throughout. If the players are pushing faster, then I try to respond in kind and push things along at a faster clip.

In general when the team is wrapped up in IC interactions, I back off so that you can tell your stories. My job is just to handle the world around you, what you do within yourselves is up to you.

That said, the threads that go the distance generally have a strong leader IC and a good group cohesion OOC.

I have found that every game needs one or two players to help puch things along. Others don't post as frequently for a varity of reasosn, real life, not sure what to do next, character's personality, etc.

So adamu, you are not crowding me out of posting.

Okay - great - thank you for the thoughtful responses. I'll take everyone at their word that I'm not stepping on toes.

The thing is, Al will pretty much talk all day long if you let him, but be that as it may, he is very much designed NOT to be the leader - at least not personality or charisma-wise (as should be apparent).

As for Bubbles as leader - Dire, I have the pleasure of knowing for a fact that you are a super-smart player. I don't know what Bubbles' stats look like, but the way she cut the Gordian Knot on the negotiations was pretty impressive - very decisive and very smart....

But we'll see how things go - I'll make whatever adjustments I or anyone else might think is necessary to keep this game going.

That said, now that I've gone and directly addressed Ryan and Mitch, I am wondering if there will be any response at all....

But there is always "Wtihout waiting for a reply, so and so said so and so..."

Sorry to be such a stress case - just am really hoping this game continues.

I haven't seen any posts from Fortune since Mid-January, and nothing from the RedRightHand since the 5th. Sending PMs to make sure that they are still with us.

Also Gremish hasn't posted on any forum within Dumpshock, since December so I am presuming he is out.

Good thing we are in McHughs, otherwise Bubbles would simply start chopping bits off of Mitch for the ritual samples.

But, is Mitch still a PC?

Letting all know that I edited my last IC post - anal adamu.

I have sent RedRightHand a PM asking if he was still with us, so I would like you to wait slicing and dicing until tomorrow. If I don't hear from Fortune by tomorrow, the gunslinger will exit stage left until such time as Fortune comes back.

In the meantime, where do you intend to take the team for the collection of Ritual samples and what is the general plan once you give Mitch the drugs?

OOC, ideally we put the tags securely on Mitch, assign people to watch appropriately, then run a full surveillance team type watch on him while he loads up on drugs. So Hacker tracking through the matrix, Rigger following through the matrix/drones, spirits following auras, ritual sorcery for ritual tracking, and someone actually following, perhaps accompanying him as a fellow drug user.

Of course we could start gearign up righ tin the street, but we may want to use someplace other then McHughs for this.

And who has vehicles?

I think we'll be moving somewhere else to get our gear together, runnign over who can do what to watch, then once that's set we unleash Mitch.

Of course there should be some discussion of what we do once we find the next people in the drug chain. who are unlikely to be directly the manufacturers, btu that we cna leave to Sun no doubt.

IC, well, Bubbles is happy enough to stick some earings into Mitch and have him take off. How well does a drug addict lose professional suveillance anyways!

Okay, switching over to strictly OOC planning mode -
as hinted at IC, once it becomes apparent that we have a quality stealth tag and drone support, Al will lose interest in all his voodoo doll talk, writing the idea as more hassle than its worth with all the other measures. As part of a surveillance team, he would probably volunteer to go along with Mitch as another addict (though as for sampling the wares himself, well that might take some IC resolution), or else provide security for more active surveillers (since we seem to be losing our gun bunny/main fighter person).

No vehicle. His gear, such as it is, is at his place in the International District.

IC he will most likely spurn the systematic approach and just want us to stick the earring up Mitch's butt, get the drone in the air, take him to a bad part of town, and pump him full of the mystery drugs.

Maybe we will need to steal some wheels to get the team mobile.

Pesto has a step van. Probably be a little crowded with all of us and his equipment but it should work.

Sorry guys. I am still here, but I have not been able to log on to Dumpshock for the last week or so. Every time I tried it kept timing me out. But I am back and I do want to keep playing.

Just let me catch up on all the posts I've missed then I'll post.

RRH - I am VERY glad you are back with us - I love the sad sack way you are playing your character, plus he seems to fit right in with Al in a lot of ways.

Anyone need anything from me at this point?

Adamu--doing anything specific as you wander through mcHugh's?

Yah, Is everyone else still around? Are you just waiting for something? I was holding off posting to let others have a chance to jump in, but if no one is going to...

Still here, Sun just isn't saying much at the mo.

It's struggle just trying to figure out what is being said...

First off, sorry to ride roughshod over the McHughes proceedings - but there hadn't been an IC post in over a week, and I reckoned it was time for some CPR if I want to continue with my favorite game on this board.

Since everyone but Mitch and Al arrived with their own vehicles, I am assuming we are the only ones riding with Pesto.

Fine by me. Would have posted more but my head wasn't in the right place.

Okay, Mitch, Pesto, Al and Sun definitely at the meet point. I think Bubbles is as well - posted leaving McHughes, and not sure if you were planning on making an intervening post, Dire.

Assume we are not waiting on Ryan/Fortune - but don't know if we should just play like he's there with us, or say he never shows up and eventually quit waiting on him????

So I think we are basically ready to finalize our surveillance plans and send Mitch out there...any objections to getting that rolling? We already have talked about a number of ideas...Or anyone care to kick that discussion off, IC or OOC?

I was waiting to see if Bubbles woulld arrive being chased by a gang of chipheads,

That really was a cool post - flip 'em off and run away - Bubble is so smart its easy to forget how young (I am assuming) she is.

Nope, the chipheads are entranced with their deathfeeds.

amra28 - could I ask you a few questions, just so I can see where I am? How is the rear of your van configured. My IC post just now assumed there was at least one bench seat, but I can edit that out easily enough if it is wrong. More importantly, are there any rear windows?

And since we've seen her, what sort of drone is Clara?

Clara is an MCT flyspy.

As for the van, a GMC Bulldog stepvan, I never gave it that much of a description so whatever I put here is subject to GM approval. I was figuring no rear or side windows and no rear bench. The back would be taken up with drones, tools, boxes, etc.

Thanks amra28 - I edited the bench seat out of my post.

RedRightHand--Please roll Body + Willpower

Heres the roll (10 dice):

[6,3,3,5,3,2,2,2,5,6] = 4 successes

Link:

http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py?u=n...a=Roll+the+dice

Red--For the next 4 hours, you have +2 Cha, -1 Will, -1 Logic, +1 Perception

Ophis--Was there an assensing test to go with the IC post?

erm yes and here it is, it was being tardy...

assensing 5+ perception 5+ enhanced perception 4= 14 dice

6, 4, 2, 3, 6, 4, 2, 2, 1, 3, 3, 3, 6, 3 = 3 hits (gack)

reroll with edge

11 dice

4, 6, 3, 1, 5, 5, 2, 1, 1, 6, 4 = 4 hits

thats 7 hits total.

Focussing on the drug's effects--Emotional impression is relaxed and outgoing, due to recent introduction of a chemical compound into the bloodstream. The drug is unknown to you though the effects are similar to Ecstasy, lowering inhibitions and control while boosting outgoing behaviors and sensory feedback. There is only the one toxin currently effecting Mitch's system.

Other assensing information was filtered out for the focus on the drug. If you need it let me know.

Double tap on the post button.

Anything else you got mr GM sir!

Mostly Sun is after some form of astral source for the drugs dealer finding effects (if it's there).

Well, Mitch and Al are obviously looking for the first place they can find where there's alcohol. A bar (seedier the better) is preferrable, although I suppose a Stuffer would do.

I know we are in a really crappy part of Tacoma, but that includes a lot of different neighborhoods.

If it's okay with you if we just automatically find a watering hole - cool.

If it's not going to be that easy, then if we are anywhere near the Tacoma waterfront, I can roll some dice -

Intuition + Seattle Waterfront Dives = 7 dice

2 6 3 1 5 4 2 = 2 successes

If we are not near the waterfront, I suppose we can ask some of the bums or squatters.

And if THAT fails, then as an absolutely last resort Al will try to find a local directory with his commlink.

Then again, if this is near where Mitch got picked up, then we can go to the bar he got thrown out of earlier.

Automatically finding a bar that's open if fine with me. Most of the ones open at this hour are dockworker dives down near the water. Further from the water, you start finding the after-hours clubs. Your knowledge hits will give you enough info to ascertain which bars are run by one of the syndicates and which are just paying protection. Choose as you will.

Cool, definitely go for a "paying protection" vs. a "directly OC-run" place.

And I think our group will be much better off in a waterfront dive than an after-hours.

Okay - edited my last IC post from "Where we gonna go?" to suggesting a place I know.

And glad to hear we're down by the docks!

Like to check my knowledge skill to see if I know any of the waitresses at Uncle Bill's -
Intuition + Seattle Waterfront Dives + Skanky Waitresses spec = 9 dice
6 2 3 1 3 2 6 3 3 = 2 hits

Adamu--There are 2 waitresses that you know of. Charlene and Doris are both known as fairly easy-going. They were former strippers who retired from the biz about a decade ago and are now serving drinks.

Hey everyone - just to see if we are all on the same page here -

My sense is that we are basically in this bar just waiting until Mitch gets a hankering for his next fix and suddenly magically knows where the dealers are. Then we go back to the original plan of go to them/be tailed/be surveilled?

Is that pretty much what we are all thinking?

If not, let's talk about what we're doing here.

If that is what we are all assuming, the question becomes -

Do we want to RP our carousing and maybe getting to know each other in this bar? If so, fine by me, let's get started.

Or would we prefer just a time passes post and turn things over to the GM for the next external event? If so, that's fine by me too.

Wondering what the rest of you think.

That seems to be the basic plan I'm working on.

So at least two of us are singing from the same hymn sheet.

I'm cool with RPing, Sun is relaxing and not saying much. She suspects that if she makes her presence felt in the bar she may have people fighting over her, and she's not sure whether that would be fun tonight or not...

I agree. Just waiting to see is Bishop gives me a sign or pointers that might "push" me towards the dealers.

Either way is fine. I been busy, so not much time to post. Bubbl;es will chew a lto fo gum of course...

Hey folks--I can handwave to the come down if people want, I just didn't want to "harsh on anyone's mellow." Let me know if you want the bump this weekend, otherwise I will push to the drugs wearing off on Tuesday.

Either rp'ing it out or jumping to the next event is fine with me. Although things sometimes get bogged down with just the players rp'ing it out.

Okay - we've got everyone saying they are okay either way.

Well, the way I see it is that while both are good - whatever happens, whatever new scenes we move to, in anything we are doing there is ALWAYS the opportunity for RP and interactions to go on. So since no one seems to have anything specific they want to get done in this bar, I say we give BishopMcQ the green light on the bump.

And naturally role-play to our hearts content until such time as it comes.