Intuition + Magic + Grade (Masking)
16d6.hits(5)=8

Masking: Healthy, excited, Awakened, Essence 6, Magic 6

True Assensing: Healthy. excited. Awakened, Essence 6, Magic 8, Dual Natured

I think that's everything - doing it from memory for the Assensing Table.

Greetings to you all. I'll be playing Esmeralda "Crimson Butterfly". I'm looking forward to gaming with you all. Fair warning that I'm still new to rule set since you all seem to be bloods of this system. And Fenris, tell me if I start being a numbskull with the driving/rigging.

My first post seems to be turning into a short story so I hope no one minds if I post and edit in the rest since it's character stuff for getting to the meet. My second post will be Crimson showing up at the meet. Any problems with this?

Looks good. Welcome aboard. While the game have a definite magical skew to the story-line, its nice to have another techie.

w00t! Someone else that can drive! There's only so much room on this bike. Post away! It will be nice to have another person that puts in novella's besides Buddha and I.

Welcome aboard.

Welcome copperheed!

@Fenris: Hey, Siren can drive (in a most basic manner, but good enough to get from A to B), too... and she even has a cool car!

Bye
Thanee

Welcome to the thread!

Oh, excellent. Thank you!

Bye
Thanee

Always love more pictures! Here's the Twins's bike.

That is something you cannot hide with Masking, AFAIK. If you are astrally active, it will be obvious.



Yep.

Other things visible will include: spells and foci (I guess, I can simply assense those with buying hits (4 in that case) to save some unnecessary dice rolling).


And I just read up about Possession and Assensing...

What I did not know, yet, you can actually physically detect that someone is possessed by a spirit (the test is the typical Perception vs. Threshold 6-Force, so rather easy, actually; it's on p. 95 Street Magic). Assensing should make this fact pretty obvious, anyways (and Masking/Extended Masking wouldn't help to hide the possessing spirit, as it is no focus or spell).

And another rule, I didn't know about... when you get 5+ hits on Assenssing, you will learn how many spirits a magician has bound (p. 96 Street Magic).

Bye
Thanee

Nice! Though it would probably be hard to get a second person on that particular one.

Bye
Thanee

That would be the GM's call if you can auto buy the hits.

No active spells, no bound spirits and Zihao still has his helmet on so I'm not sure if the Perception Test would apply since he's all covered up at the moment. The text says "Occasionally a possessing spirit's nature manifests through the vessel" so it's not clear when that happens. In past games it was when the vessel used Powers from the spirit or displayed properties the vessel doesn't have like Natural Immunity or a show of the increased physical attributes - BishopMcQ?

You can look like a different kind of astral creature with Masking though I haven't found a list of what those types are and you can disguise your aura to look like a spirit or other astrally active creature so it's not 100% clear what's possible - BishopMcQ can you use Masking to hide being Dual Natured or astrally present in your games? I have seen it both ways in games before but would be a good thing to clear up.

Intuition + Magic + Initiate Grade (16d6.hits(5)=5) - Apparently Invisible Castle agreed that we need to maintain the twin thing. Exactly 1 success less than her roll again

Zian did take off his helmet, obviously, so I'll have to wait for the GM's ruling on all that.

Masking: Healthy, calm (intentionally, to maintain control of the situation), Awakened, Essence 6, Magic 6, No bound spirits.

True Assensing: Healthy. Calm (intentionally, to maintain control of the situation). Awakened, Essence 6, Magic 8, Dual Natured, No bound spirits, has an active astral signature from a air spirit.

Additionally, if you're astrally assensing, you would definitively notice the two ally spirits hovering around. Each looks like a 2' long oriental dragon, with Zian's being white, and Zihao's being black.

Bishop, I'd also like to get a ruling on noticing foci. If they're not actively being used, do foci show up on the astral? Or is that only when they're active, like someone casting a spell through a power foci, or holding a spell in a sustaining foci?

Noticing Spirits -- Most spirits upon seeing them, it is immediately obvious (no Perception test) that something is off and mystical about them. Examples: a walking column of fire or a too perfect human which glows with a soft radiance. If a person is Possessed, it is a Perception + Intuition test (6-Force) and subject to all the normal modifiers for Perception tests (distracted, light, etc.) Spirits with Realistic Form, or Inhabitation have different rules.

Buying Hits -- If it is a non-stressful situation and there is little to no downside to failure, I'll allow Buying hits. Examples: Perception, yes. Demolitions, no.

Noticing Foci -- If the focus is activated, then it will show up in the astral. If it is not active, then it has no astral presence. Activating a focus takes a Simple Action. Deactivating one takes a Free Action. If the focus is deactivated, the action to activate it must be spent before it can be used.

Masking -- Being Astrally present is always obvious, but with Masking, an astrally-perceiving character can change the shape of their astral form. So a fox-shifter with masking could appear human or a human mage could create the astral form of a dragon, etc. If the character is capable of astral projection, it can appear as a different type of astral being, such as a Spirit.

Zian and Zihao's "Masking" astral form would be astrally present human mages. True astral forms would look some combination of a human and a water spirit/air spirit, respectively.

LOL, well, never do more than necessary, right?

Bye
Thanee

Only enough for sucess

Physical Mask Force 7: Spellcasting + Magic + Aid Sorcery + Power Foci + Bonus: Illusion spells (22d6.hits(5)=7)

Drain DV 4S: Willpower + Charisma + Centering (15d6.hits(5)=6)

No drain on the first one.

Second physical mask Force 7: Spellcasting + Magic + Aid Sorcery + Bonus: Illusion spells + Power Foci - Sustaining a spell (20d6.hits(5)=

Drain DV 4S: Charisma + Willpower + Centering (15d6.hits(5)=4)

No drain on the second.

Deactivating the power foci after the castings.

Hmmm... I guess it does say I wasn't supposed to show up till morning. I'd only read the first couple posts to get a feel for the setting. *Sigh* And thanks for saving my bacon Twins.

Crimson is going to make statements of ability based on being 300Karma of transporter, but I don't have the Shadowrun game knowledge to do it as well as if I'd actually acquired it with her. I've worked with Bishop to take knowledges for common sense checks, but if I start driving west into the ocean instead of east where a hypothetical target is, please tell me. See entry before I was supposed to show up...

And at least two, probably all of can beat me at rigging.

And how often should I be posting? And I'm sorry to disappoint you Fenris, but I'm slow to getting my words on paper so won't be keeping up with your and Budda's novellas. The first one had to have a lot more to it and Bishop wrote the dream part save for character tweaks.

One final thing, should Crimson be freaked out by the twin speak? Cause unless it's a crunchy disadvantage, then I'm entertained especially on a meta level of them coordinating posts like that.

So my instinct is to be very wary of tacnets, right Bishop? But I'm going to assume nothing untoward will occur because of the conversation to move the game forward.

I'm going to ask since it may matter, are the trolls protective of their female teammate or may I seat CB next to her and one of the twins?

And is there an easy guide for learning rigging? The rules have plenty of interesting fluff, but their crunch is sporadically mixed in and then sprinkled on top for good measure.

Perception(4) + Intuition(4) Vision Enhancement(3) [4,5,6,6,5,3,4,3,6,1,1] = 5 hits.

Copperheed--TacNets are as secure as the weakest commlink. Papa is allowing access to a Team Net--basically just a private network that lets you share files and messages @Team rather than tagging them to each individual. I'd be wary about granting access or turning off security systems, but joining the TeamNet doesn't provide any special access to your comm without permission.

It's really just a fancy name for a conference call.

Bye
Thanee

300 Karma is a lot in Shadowrun. The characters are all highly experienced.



I'm not sure what you mean by this. There is noone else here who is a rigger.

The only one who comes close is Papa, since hackers and riggers have some overlap with all the Matrix stuff. And he also has a number of drones (not sure, if he can actually "rig" them, though).

The biggest difference between a rigger and someone who just has a couple drones/vehicles is, usually, that the rigger has all the skills necessary to make good use of drones/vehicles, especially when "jumped in", making them a lot more effective (especially in hectic situations).



Minimum is 1/week. More is better, as usual.

Bye
Thanee

Thanee--I think copperheed meant that OOC, a few of us were more familiar with the Rigging rules.

That makes a lot more sense!

Bye
Thanee

Q - For posting frequency, I'd say do what you can. I know when the posts are moving faster, it definitely feels like there's pressure to post more often, but I think we all realize that everyone has lives and other commitments. If we could afford to devote blocks of time to the game, most of us would be doing this over tabletop

As for rigging stuff, there's not really a good "Quick Start" guide, unfortunately. You're obviously welcome to ask questions, and having read the material really helps, but I can sympathize about the lack of in-game knowledge that just reading the books provides. Some of it you just have to play with to really get a good feel for it. As big things to be familiar with, I'd say focus on knowing what your drones can do (what takes a simple, what takes a complex, and what's a free) and how they do those actions with you and without you, since it'll be different dice pools. (There's a great chart for common rigger actions at the end of Unwired).

In terms of describing your experience, I'd go with sort of generic "action movie" stuff. "I've been driving and move people up and down the West Coast for 3 years, and I know every inch of the freeways, highways, and streets between Tijuana and San Francisco."

Thanks for the advice you guys.
And Thanee, I was talking OOC. I can tell that Redjack will make better use of his drones than I will of mine; and by your forum level I imagine you have a leg up on me as well.

A couple of armed roto drones and a couple of fly-spies and the van constitute the entirety Papa's drone arsenal. Out of curiosity, what all do you have and are you familiar with the various rules for upgrading drones?

I don't know the full compliment yet. I've purchased the max money but am still figuring out what to do with it.

And I presume it's standard to look up your "allies".
Bishop, I'm not looking to make them roll, but wanted to check with you since we're all 300 Karma and CB has distinctive style and a giant well known contact.

What is the color of the @Team?

I use "violet", I think there are a few variations around.

You can simply look it up by quoting a post containing the code you want to know.

Bye
Thanee

Ok - Trying to role-play Papa's paranoia without bogging us down like before.

It's all good.

I am all good with roleplaying - you threw it out here and everyone is aware of it.

Same here.

As a small note, Redjack, I'm assuming Papa mean to send the note to Crimson, not Copper?

Thanks. Fixed.

Anything that folks need from me?

Some relevant knowledge skills would be Horizon Corp Procedures, Local Corporations, LA area knowledge, corp security procedures, etc. As always if you have something similar or that you think could be relevant, toss it out there.

Our weekly total is 131.

Magical Security
6d6.hits(5)=3

Assensing (not sure if people have Masking but doing it for the possibility of Divination later)
4d6.hits(5)=0, 4d6.hits(5)=1, 4d6.hits(5)=1, 4d6.hits(5)=1

Edging the 1st roll
4d6.hits(5)=1

Gen's Assensing (same order)
12d6.hits(5)=2, 12d6.hits(5)=2, 12d6.hits(5)=2, 12d6.hits(5)=7

Order
Siren
Papa
Brock
Crimson Butterfly


That's what I got - just waiting to see who is in charge and what are next step for the test run.

Knowledge check for la about horizon area la 5 + intuition 4= 9d6.hits(5) → [5,4,2,6,2,2,2,6,2] = (3)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3877862/

Siren's Masking

1st roll (1 hit) -> 6 hits
2nd roll (2 hits) -> 8 hits

Siren shows as healthy, mundane (though obviously capable of being astrally active), no cyberware, no spells, no foci.

Bye
Thanee

Buddha -- Magical Security on semi-public spaces such as a housing community are forced to rely on more active measures. Wards are often too difficult to key to every person who needs access, so they will only be used on individual homes as needed, rather than the entire community. Spirit patrols and detection spells are much more likely. The detection spells require active focus from the guard, so they may not be up all the time but rather sweep every few minutes.

Saytr -- Fun City overall is a white-washed history lesson and amusement park. Millions of tourists come each year to visit, though they stay in roughly 1/3 of the area. The rest is Horizon owned and operated housing and corporate offices. The Tustin and Irvine areas have seen a lot of new construction recently. The area was a historic haven for Humanis and Human Nation policlubs.

Basic Knowledge: LA Corps 4+Logic 3= 7d6.hits(5) = (3)

Exits, entrances, general nefariousness: Smuggling 6+Logic 3= 9d6.hits(5) = (4)

What's legal and what's not and how to fool it: Corp Security 4+ Logic 3= 7d6.hits(5) = (3)

Back roads or paths to avoid major thoroughfares and scanners: LA Roads/Geography 4+Logic 3= 7d6.hits(5) = (2)

Copperheed:

LA Corps -- Horizon has multiple divisions at home in LA. Horizon America has a strong pharmaceutical support area with a chain of clinics called "A Whole New You." Their Fun City enclaves house several pharmaceutical R&D facilities. They have begun experimenting with combining the fields of Nanotechnology and Pharmacology for treating illnesses. They also sponsor a strong campaign for free immunizations to the poor and SINless.

Smuggling -- Prior to the Quake, there were tons of tunnels honeycombing parts of Fun City near the amusement parks and connecting to office buildings up to a mile from the park. Afterwards, many of the tunnels were sealed off because they were unsafe or connected to the edges of the Deep Lacuna. Several smugglers have used the tunnels or sealed sections to hide contraband and for meetings without any of the Automated Crime Prevention System (ACPS) sensors being able to listen in.

Corp Security -- Security at work facilities is going to be based on the importance of the project. R&D will have likely have a dedicated security staff for the building, including Matrix and Awakened security systems. The housing areas will have lower security and primarily focus on restricting access to the proper personnel, with secondary focus on maintaining order and keeping the residents happy. Most Horizon enclaves use the ACPS and include Facial and Gait recognition, as well as, analyses of sounds and vehicles.

LA Roads -- There are backroads that Crimson is familiar with until getting within 2 blocks of the residential enclave and 3 blocks of most of their corporate facilities. The ACPS is thickest around the Horizon assets.

Would the targets house lye anywhere near those construction zones or close to a route they would use.

Saytr -- The target's office is about a mile from the construction area. The construction is on the far side of the building from the housing enclave and would not be part of a normal commuting pattern.

Detailed information about Mara Thorne: Browse(6) + Data Search(4) + Analytical Mind(2)
[3,1,2,5,1,5,4,3,1,1,5,1] = (3->3)
[6,3,4,6,2,3,6,4,3,5,6] = (5->8 )
[5,1,5,2,3,6,2,6,4,1] = (4->12)
[1,5,3,3,1,2,5,5,2] = (3->15)
[3,4,4,1,4,1,1,5] = (1->16)
[3,4,4,1,1,5,2] = (1->17)
[2,4,5,6,3,3] = (2->19)
[4,5,5,1,6] = (3->22)
[5,4,2,6] = (2->24)

Looking for detailed knowledge about the area of the clinic/lab where Mara works, specifically police response and surveillance.
Street Knowledge: LA(3) + Intuition(4) + Mnemonic Enhancer(2): [6,3,3,5,5,3,4,1,1] = 3 hits
-----------------
Any thing known to Papa about deficiencies in Horizon security protocols regarding extraction response.
Security Procedures(3) + Intuition(4) + Mnemonic Enhancer(2): [3,4,4,1,4,1,6,5,2] = 2 hits
-----------------
Looking for more details, relevant to Mara's job & position
Corporations (Horizon)(1+2) +Logic(4) + Analytical Mind(2): [1,5,6,6,2,4,5,4,1] = 4 hits
-----------------

Redjack:

Data Search -- Mara earned both doctoral degrees in chemical engineering and pharmacology from MIT&T, and completed her third doctorate in neurophysiology at UCLA while working for Horizon. There are no records of her that you can find before college. Her PITO ratings are steady, mostly based on connections with Horizon America and other Horizon subsidiaries. She shares a workgroup with researchers on AR integration and is believed to have designed the chemical side of a recent addiction cessation treatment that Horizon is rolling out.

LA Area -- The enclave that Mara works in is heavily monitored, along with the surrounding neighborhood by Horizon's ACPS. Police response to ACPS alerts is much faster due to heuristic processes which take into account input from a variety of sensor nodes. Rumor on the street is that cops are in the car on the way a minute before the first shot is fired.

Security Procedures -- Extraction response is very difficult to gauge with Horizon. Security teams attempt to prevent extraction, but many companies have stopped extracting employees from Horizon. Recovery focuses on getting the employee back as swiftly as possible through tracking, ransom, and possibly re-extraction.

Corporations -- All evidence points to Mara being a research scientist. She likely moves from project to project, with a primary focus and secondary research goals. Her research is owned by Horizon and publications are vetted before being released to the academic community. The fluid hierarchy within Horizon makes team building a dynamic process, with staff being allowed to reorient themselves for the betterment of the company. Cross-discipline interactions are expected within the R&D department. All Horizon employees are also encouraged to regularly take time away from the office (1 day every 1-2 weeks) for community support--literacy training, soup kitchens, and building houses for the refugee population are popular projects in Los Angeles.

Whew. Feels like 20k's not really enough to bite off a piece of that apple. Well, here we go.

Does Mara's research include any Awakened flora? - Logic(3) + Parabotany (3) (6d6.hits(5)=4)

Locations of Horizon's public works projects outside of the enclave - Intuition(3) + MegaCorps(3) (6d6.hits(5)=1)

Are any of Mara's projects leaking out onto the black market? - Intuition(3) + Black Markets(3) (6d6.hits(5)=2)

Since we are in the legwork phase here, do we have about a week before the extraction?

Siren could use some spare time to spend some Karma.


And another question: Are binding materials bought for a specific type of spirit, or are they "general purpose"?

Bye
Thanee

Any underground movements in the horizon area that operate inside of the horizon enclave.

Underworld 2 + intuition 4 =6dp 6d6.hits(5) → [3,1,1,4,5,2] = (1) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3880547/
Ouch.