The spoilers in conversation with Lamia are intended to show that what she is seeing and experiencing would need to be related to the rest of the party by her. Doing this with each character on occasion, I can watch as someone reports everything but one key detail to the rest of the party.

My new avatar is related to a PC I am playing now, not any situation in which you may find yourself soon.

So, I'm moving on June 1st, and may be out of internet contact for a couple of days. It would seem that June 6th or 7th would be the best next date for play. How does that work for you guys?

*****
EDIT: Make that June 7th.
*****

In July and August, my wife and I will be living at our cottage. Idyllic spot, on an island in Georgian Bay. A couple of issues present themselves.

We will be driving across Canada to the cottage (about 3600 km total) in early July. About a 5 or 6 day trip. During the drive, my internet access will be spotty at best. Once at the cottage, we will have internet access, but on a scratchy, noisy telephone line. Bandwidth will be horrible. I hope I will be able to run MapTool OK while I'm there.

If there are any of you who also have summer plans (Hah! It's May 19th, and I am under about 15 cm. of snow!), then fill us in so we can plan around them.

7th works fine for me. My plans for the summer don't include any sort of vacation, so my availability shouldn't be an issue.

Georgian Bay looks lovely in Google Maps. I'm jealous!

The 7th works for me too.

From the IC thread...




The (Critter) form spell has a range of Line of Sight and only calls for a voluntary subject, not "the caster," so it could be used on someone else, per the BBB 204. Does Mau have a more limited custom spell? Of course, he might just not want to turn Fishbreath into his cat for some reason too.

Interesting. I misread that when I chose the spell. So, now I have the choice of making it the custom spell (which would reduce drain by 1, and is closer to my original intention) or using Critter Form as written. I guess I'll avoid the Custom Spell route, and go as written...so, yes, I can turn Fishy into a cat...if he wants.

WE have Fyndhal and Knight Saber who are OK with the 7th. Anybody else? If the 7th is not doable, then I would be free to book some tutoring that day for students just before their exams.

That works

Sorry to be the lone naysayer when everyone else is fine... I'm not available for the 7th. Might I suggest the following week, June 14th?

I'll be picking my wife up at the airport (two hours away from home) that day. I will check the timing. If it is early morning or late evening, I can fit the 14th.

I could also do it on Saturday, the 13th, with no scheduling problem for me.

13th or 14th are both good for me.

The 14th is preferred, but I might be able to manage on the 13th as well.

I can probably do either day.

I'm having trouble finding out about the flight on that weekend. As soon as I know, I'll fill you in. ChiPsiUp, is one day better than the other that weekend?

OK, June 14th is fine for me. We can do the regular time, 13:00 MDT start and play for 4 or 5 hours.

I don't have home internet yet - the damn wireless router was faulty, need to replace it - but it should be up on Sunday.

Any ideas/planning to happen before then?

We do need to finish up at least a basic outline of the plan. We have a way to get in, and with gear that couldn't be brought in otherwise, but after that? How to get access to the morgue, and maybe even find the data that a bonus was offered for? Getting out has the default "shoot your way out" plan, with diversions set up via drone and spirit, it's the middle part that needs some attention.

Getting access to the morgue: just get in the elevator, push the button . Too literal? I actually have no idea - we may just have to try to sneak in, terrorize/disable the people down there before they sound the alarm, and then hope everything is ok.

I'm getting worried. The wireless modem sent to replace the defective one they first sent is not here yet. If I don't get it by Friday, it won't come till at least Monday. I'll keep you posted. I'm writing from a library computer, but I can't run the game from here.

Later, when it isn't so fresh, I'll run through the near-infinite loop of a discussion I had with the technical support people for my internet provider. The techies are in Manilla. The shipping office is in Calgary. You think they can talk to each other?

Well, I gave it the old college try. The second modem came, and it is defective as well. In clear terms I told the internet provider what it can do with its 'service'. I will go elsewhere with my business.

The problem is, I can't run the game on Sunday. I'm sorry, guys. I wanted to play, too. Next week I will try to get something up and running, and hopefully we will be able to play this month. I may only be able to give you short notice for a June game.

Once I get to my cottage, I will get that service up and running so we can play in July and August as well. That one will be slow, but it is way simpler to set up and has been working for years.

Argh. Sorry to hear it. Next Sunday is fine for me, and the one after that too. I'll be out of town on July 4th weekend and again for July 25th and 26th, but the middle ones should work.

I'm okay with next sunday.

My next shot is with a different provider this Wednesday. Keep your fingers crossed.

G'luck man!

I have internet at home!!!

Ohhh... it feels soooo goood! Little tinglies running up and down my spine, flashy lights before my eyes, and a warm, melty feeling in my ...

um....

yeah.

You can love the internet, just don't love the internet!

Ok, Knight Saber and ChiPsiUp are fine for this coming Sunday, the 21st. How about the rest of you?

Works for me at the moment. However, my gf is leaving town come next wed and she may want to spend time w/ me that day. I will try to find out. (relationships! - the bane of any runner.)

5BP negative Quality for you, buddy.

Mau will be there.

Ok, we have three confirmed, and one who would like to be there, if he can survive the consequences. It's a tough choice, Octopiii. How long will your girlfriend be away?

I had a bit of a scare yesterday, as my internet service, the new one, crapped out for a few hours. It seems to be back and running now, though.

I will have our MapTool campaign up and running at 13:00 MDT today (Saturday) for a test run, so if any of you can be around then just to connect for a few minutes, I would appreciate it.

If the crappiness happens again, my wife says I could go to her school tomorrow and use their wireless network. What a woman!

I'm in the library again. Two days in a row now, my internet at home has worked in the morning but died in the afternoon. And of course, no technician works weekends in our area... "the customer base doesn't warrant it." Yeah, fuck you, too, ISP.

So I am investigating my wife's offer. I will try to keep you up to date. If you do not get a message in this forum by 11:00 am MDT that I have a functional system, I'm sorry but I will have to crap out again.

This is very frustrating. I have a lot of fun playing with you guys, and wish I could be more reliable. Sorry.

It's 10:55 MDT and I just set up a functional system! Yay! So, if everyone is still a go, then we are on for 13:00 MDT. See you there. I will check in here a couple of times to look for messages.

We played through the DocWagon encounter today very efficiently, folks. Well done. Octopiii, sorry you couldn't make it, but I understand your priorities! Fishbreath provided a good support role today. All players get 17,500 nuyen, and 4 karma. Skullcracka gets an extra point of karma for coming through in a way that made the whole job way easier. I will get out the game log to folks in the next few days. It appears I didn't send out the last one, so I will send them both.

Let me know here if there is something on which you want to spend karma or cash.

Mea Culpa. I didn't have internet access at her place over the weekend, sorry .

And we missed you. Skullcracka pulled off a spectacular bit of hacking that negated all of our previous planning but ended up working much better than the plan we had could have.

Also, there were glitches and critical glitches and very low rolls, but that's nothing new...

O great and powerful GM, is it too early for Lamia to find an initiatory group? With the Group Initiation and Ordeal modifiers, it'd only take 8 karma for her to take a level one initiation (naturally, I only have 7 left). She's got motivation, as she'll need metaplanar access to find out what's attached itself to Clio. On a related note, she'll be researching that during her downtime, and putting out the word that Tempo has bad magical effects, mainly on JackPoint.

It's never too early to drain karma from the players! And this kind of stuff opens up all kinds of possibilities for play, both for Lamia and for the party as a whole. "Fishbreath, Mau here. Lamia has gone and gotten herself lost on one of her quests. We have to go find her."

So I'm happy to start the process. It may take her a while to find an appropriate group,though, and she may have to earn her way in. It may not fit their respective needs, and in fact it probably wouldn't, but Lamia and Mau might consider forming a group. That would take some extra karma in the beginning, but the two of them could tailor the group to their own specifications.

So tell me, Knight Saber, what kind of group would Lamia go for? What characteristics in a group would attract her? Once I know what she is looking for, I can determine if such a group exists.

The following list shows the Reputation factors the players have developed to date. You may wish to look up the section on Reputation in either SR4 or SR4A.

Skullcracka: Street Cred 1, Notoriety 2, Public Awareness 1

Lamia: Street Cred 1, Notoriety 0, Public Awareness 0

Mau: Street Cred 1, Notoriety 0, Public Awareness 0

Fishbreath: Street Cred 1, Notoriety 2, Public Awareness 1

Octopiii, I decided to use some of the Qualities from Runners Companion and some history you chose for Fishbreath to have an effect on his Notoriety. Were the local community to know his background fully, these Qualities and events would raise his Notoriety to a higher level than it is, but I figure their net effect has not fully taken effect in Seattle. Should your past catch up to you, though....

Mau and Lamia have one thing in common, at least... an interest in the past. Well, two, that they're both Shadowrunners. Making or joining a magical group for 'runners makes sense. Runner mages will experience a lot more strange things than, say, the DocWagon mage who treats gunshot wounds all day. Shadowland and Jackpoint show that Runners like to talk amongst themselves about the weird stuff they run into. A society of runner mages would be able to get a little deeper into the secrets they run across. Plus, an online forum isn't the ideal way for mages to meet, given that they can't assense things over the 'net, so a club or group that meets in person would be preferable for many magic users. It would be an extension of the community that Runners share. Magic is a big element in any mage's life, so Runner mages would want an outlet to share it with other people who can understand both magic use and living outside the law.

A runner mage society like that is so logical that Lamia might well found it if one doesn't exist. Too bad neither she nor Mau have the Arcana skill for group bonding, but with enough limitations for the group and given the small size it'd begin at, they should be able to found it with some luck on the roll... ho ho. Could pull a few NPCs in for a start, and they could provide plot hooks too.

Some of Lamia's magical interests include how the knowledge and remnants of the 4th world can help advance magic in the 6th and studying the emergence of new magical threats and ways to deal with them. The Awakening is an ongoing process, with new magic and creatures emerging all the time, which is quite worthy of study, and not something that can be found in 17th century tomes. Not knowing what the heck that thing in front of you is can be fatal, after all. A group that took action against said threats, both direct and spreading information, would appeal to her idealism, pushing against the corporate "If it's not costing us money, it's not our problem" attitude.

The Hermetic Aura of the Auric Aurora group writeup says "The group upholds the classic hermetic view that spiritual advancement demands ethical and moral discipline. " So clearly, that's not Lamia's kind of group. I was quite close to making her tradition Black Magic, actually, though it struck me as a little too cheesy, given the advantages of charisma-based casting. Also, with plain hermetic-ism, she is deliberately rebelling against the "traditional mage" style. She may yet find a mentor spirit (Dark Goddess) in her life too, though 10 karma's a big chunk.


A group with a social aspect to it would be one suitable for her. Consider how mages enjoy things in ways mundanes cannot, like assensing a concert. Those sort of experiences would be better in groups.

I'll see what is available.

We're leaving home tomorrow (3 July) to drive to our cottage, 3500 km away. (Yeah... Canadians are crazy, but the dogs hate flying.) I will try to connect and get up to date at least once a day from friends', relatives', or motel connections. We should be there, even with fun detours, by the 7th or the 8th, at which time we should have a stable internet connection.

Knight Saber, I am still working on magical groups.

I am finally reconnected, after travelling, fixing broken well-pumps and plumbing and fighting with the ISP to get the 'old-style dial-up' at our island cottage working. I will catch up over the course of the next day or so and do whatever I needed to have done in the last week.


Hmmmm... looks like nothing much has happened while I was away!

It's mostly character improvement time... I suppose people could write up vignettes about what their characters are up to in the downtime. Oh, how long IS the time between this adventure and the next? It'd be useful to see how much should be spent on lifestyle costs.

Do we have a proposed date for the next session?

1)
I downloaded Running Wild and Dawn of the Artifacts:Dusk a couple of days ago. What would have taken a couple of minutes at home took over an hour and a half on this dialup line! YouTube is a writeoff.

So I want to test our MapTools campaign to see how the graphics are affected by my slow connection. Worse comes to worst, we can still use the chat function and not worry about using graphics. So would Saturday or Sunday be better for a test run? Not too long, just connect and see how the pictures work. We can talk about timing for the next game then.

I am happy to do some side encounters in our IC thread if something interesting comes up. I don't know.... maybe a contact gets eaten or something.

2)
Vignettes are always fun and appreciated! Let's say there is a month's worth of downtime... so go ahead and train up if you want.

3)
Knight Saber, I will soon be posting some info on magical groups you have heard about. Those of you interested can explore the ones you like.

When did you want to do the test run?

Good, Dumpshock is working again.

I am in the Eastern Time Zone now. I will set up the campaign on RpTools at 6:30 pm Eastern time. We should be able to see within a minute or two whether the graphic elements work.

Keep your fingers crossed.

I'm up, waiting for connections.