Merry Christmas ! Happy holidays

Happy New Year everyone 🥳🍀🍾🎉

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Bye
Thanee

Belated happy new years.

My apologies on flaking out. I botched effort estimates on a large work project, which was all editing and updating documents. At the same time something happened so that I couldn't access Dumpshock from work. So I kept intending to post in the evening from home, but if I had any ability of handling words on screens left in me I did work until I couldn't face reading/writing any more. Then I'd finally come to Dumpshock and look at posts but just not be able to find words to reply (running out of ability to manage words was a very strange experience. I hadn't even realized that could happen to me. Possibly part of getting older?).

Project finally got finished, and I spent the holidays not reading or writing at all and finally moderately recovered. I feel strange about jumping back in after over two months of not posting, but will figure out something IC to say soon.

Welcome back

Hey there! Good to hear, that you are feeling better again.

Here's a quick summary of what happened while you were away, which should hopefully help jumping back in.

You only really missed a few hours ingame, I believe.

It's still Tuesday (the second day).

At 12:00, Bobby and Mato met with Frost for lunch (with AM and Tamarind staying in the Gopher), trying to get some information about teams that could have done the job, which further underlined the high probability that the Black Cats are involved.

At 13:00 you went back to the Hardpan (the bar, which came up a few times as the best spot to get in touch with the Black Cats, as the owner of the Hardpan is also some kind of fixer that negotiates jobs for them). Still closed at this time, you managed to gain access and look into the bar's computer (a pretty old model), hoping for something on the Black Cats. Instead, you found some Marks there left by another decker. AM managed to follow the trail to the decker's location in Englewood (which took a few hours). So that was the next destination.

At 17:30 you arrive in Englewood. It's pretty much a former warzone, where Dunkelzahn and the ZDF fought against military forces from Aztlan a while back. The whole district lies in ruins now. You found the decker there, parked in a hiding spot with his car and protected by two Kanmushi drones to alert him, if anyone tried to get close. Rushing in, you surprised him, and took him captive. During the following interrogation, you learned, that the decker is not working with the Black Cats, but he could confirm that they, indeed, took Mr. Belenkiy from the ranch. He has been scoping the ranch out, because he had some beef with Falcone from past times, and was looking for payback. He happened to be there, when the abduction was going on, and noticed something was off via his drones. Later, he decided to post the ransom note, since he couldn't see anyone else doing something like that. You then brought him to the ranch and handed him over to Falcone and Hafiz to let them deal with him.

At 20:00 you are back at the Hardpan. AM, Bobby, and Mato got in (Tamarind is in the truck at the moment, doing overwatch, just in case), and they are talking to the owner, trying to sell AM as a potential runner hire, who is interested to become a Black Cat, or gain some more information about them.

Bye
Thanee

Beta, delighted that you're back.

Your explanation makes a lot of sense. If you're spending all day editing and updating documents at work - especially in a stressful period prior to the holidays - then it doesn't surprise me that you couldn't find the words. I don't think it has to do with age. We have finite mental resources, and if we spend them all at work then we have nothing left at home. Plus, if those docs were text-heavy then you were probably spending all day reading anyway, so naturally you don't want to stare at a glowing screen to read more once you get home.

You were missed! glad you are back.

@Tecumseh:



Mato might have heard the name "Robert Crow" before, since Bobby was also using it when you met with Frost.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&a...t&p=1368520
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?s=&a...t&p=1368752

Bye
Thanee

It's the name on my fake SIN (R2)

Okay, noted. I checked Bobby's sheet but I didn't see the name. I didn't recall him using it earlier with Frost.

Tamarind will just buy successes on matrix perception (I'm not expecting anyone running silent, but might as well be paranoid). She has a pool of 14 dice, so bought successes are 3.

And on a walk around my hotel today I came upon a little restaurant called "Tamarindo" which I chose to take as I sign that I really should make an IC post (I was heading out to dinner later with a work colleague, so I didn't go in and eat there, it was more of a breakfast/lunch/snack sort of place, not a go out to dinner place)

Nice!

Bye
Thanee

Breaking in a new work laptop, and on a whim I just checked if it would let me see Dumpshock, and it does! Not sure what was going on with my last one, must have been a setting somewhere, but I guess it was not a company firewall issue like I assumed it was. I'm so happy that now I can do this again when I need a break from usual work stuff!

(I just don't have anything particular to add to the IC right at the moment).

I also got a new work laptop in december.

And I havn't forgotten about your Matrix search.


As for the rest... let's make a Con or Negotiation or Etiquette roll (you can choose, which works best for you, I think all are somewhat applicable, though Con would be the most fitting). The threshold will be fairly high (since you really didn't give her any good reason to hand out that kind of information).

I guess, AM is most qualified to do the main roll, the others can teamwork to help out (Jack can also just take the roll he already did for Bobby earlier when you started the conversation).

Bye
Thanee

Con(fast talk): 13d6t5 6
Cooperation dice: 5d6t5 2 - 5d6t5: 2 [5d6t5=5, 4, 4, 4, 5]
so Bobby gives her 1 more success - increasing to 7, and Mato would need 3 hits to make it 8.

I thought all Mato's social skills were at the same level but he's a bit better at Etiquette. I'm guessing the "Street" specialization applies here but if not we can subtract those dice.

Charisma 5 + Etiquette 3 + Specialization 2: 10d6t5 2 hits

Not the greatest. I'll do the Teamwork reroll to see if one turns into a hit.

Teamwork 2: 2d6t5 0 hits

Nah, I got nothing.

@Beta: The two that have arrived are one man and one woman (maybe I should have written couple, not pair - I will change that).

Doesn't really change the point of what Tamarind was saying, though. It could still be magical disguises.

Bye
Thanee

Thanks, I updated my post (and cleaned up wording, but it doesn't change anything of note)

Anything else you want to do while you wait?

Bye
Thanee

I have nothing else to do... I feel like we don't have much to go on. Anyone has an idea?

No ideas off hand. I feel like I almost need to re-read most of the IC and see if there were any leads that we didn't follow up on -- the problem with the pace of PBP, it is easy to forget about things that we didn't follow up on at the time.

BTW, with the wait up there I meant wait in the bar.

Bye
Thanee

Yes, you put it away for a short while in game and out of game you just forget about it.

We always knew this was going to be a bit of a fishing expedition.

Mato was/is expecting a big bar brawl to force the issue, but he's not rushing that direction.

Our sense of urgency is lower now that we know Belenkiy isn't being held for ransom against a deadline. We have some time to slow-play things and let things develop.

I think we should hang out here. Play some pool, play some darts, or whatever else futuristic bars offer. Just blend in, listen, and hopefully patience pays off.

To be fair, you do have the means for two different approaches than the one you chose.

Bye
Thanee

Good question... I think, this place is pretty old school, so probably has the usual stuff you would find today like pool and darts.

In more modern bars you would probably find augmented reality / virtual entertaining instead.

Bye
Thanee

If you are waiting in the bar for a while, I would need to know whether Jack keeps astrally perceiving (and thus be astrally active), or not (and thus look mundane on the astral with his Masking).

Bye
Thanee

Bobby only opens his astral eyes once in a while, otherwise keeping his mask intact.

Alright Bobby seems insistent so lets do it. AM would go to the car and do it properly with hot sim and improve logic.

Feel free to try and grant additional dice with your own juju for maximum effect. (Leaderships is also nice).



drain: 11d6t5 3
Improve logic: 12d6t5 3
Hacking(persona): 21d6t5 5

I might edge the first roll but it is the last point of edge I think. So lets see if Bobby can do anything.

Edit File: 20d6t5 7

Analyse Device F3+9: 19d6t5 5
Object Resistance: 15d6t5 6

First attempt wasted

Analyse Device F3+9: 19d6t5 7
Object Resistance: 15d6t5 2

Second attempt is very successful - you gain 5 bonus dice for any task you do with your deck.

bonus from Bobby: 2#5d6t5 0 2

5 hits on a hacking may not cut it, so let's throw the last point of edge as hacking limits can be pushed high for sleaze.
Edge reroll: 19d6t5 7

I'm assuming that is Hacking on the Fly there... so, what is your Limit then and the end result?
Also, shouldn't that be 16d6 in the Edge re-roll (which would still be 6 hits)?

Bye
Thanee

By the way: that's what the watchdog action was made for - noticing when someone is texting someone else

WATCHDOG
(COMPLEX ACTION)
Marks required: None
Test: Electronic Warfare + Logic [Sleaze] v. Logic + Firewall

Target must be a persona or device. If successful, place one mark on the target. The user is now aware of the Matrix actions the target is going to use before they use them, and they may attempt to stop them. A Watchdog mark allows the hacker to use Haywire or Popup as Interrupt Actions (for –10 initiative) or Squelch as an Interrupt Action (for –5 initiative) against the target with the Watchdog mark. This ability lasts as long as the target is marked by the user

Yeah, that is useful!

Bye
Thanee

With sleaze AM's deck has -4 noise compenstation (VM and signal scrub in a module) and a vectored signal processor) and two programs. She'll use the one that gives +1 to sleaze and S&M can give +4 the deck has 4 sleaze, augmented by overclocker to 5, so 10.

as for her dice pool: She has 14 for hacking + 2 speciality persona + 2 hack on the fly codeslinger + 2 hot sim + 3 improve logic =23 dice, with 5 extra dice from Bobby so 28 dice... I don't think I ever had such a high dice pool for hacking. Maybe she does need a better deck...

You rolled 21 dice on your initial roll (before the Bobby modifier), and 19 for the re-roll. Did you miss some dice, then?

Bye
Thanee

Yes I forgot about the codeslinger quality.

Hacking on the Fly: AM gets 10 hits, correct? Because your Limit is 10. The opposed roll yielded 5 hits. So 5 net hits.

You get a Mark and for every 2 net hits, you also get one automatic hit on Matrix Perception.

So, you can ask 2 questions (see p. 235).

Bye
Thanee

Ahm... Any reason while she wouldn't just take a few seconds for perception rather than play 20 questions in the dark. Her intent is to access recent calls or texts.

Just following how that action works.

Bye
Thanee

I am not even sure what matrix perception rolls are for. so enlighten me, is it for questions like how much firewall does she has ? or can I ask about the recent messages and phonecalls.

Matrix perception only tells you things about the device or persona, not what they are doing. So things like (list from CRB page 241)
- type
- rating
- how many marks it has on it*
- any files it may be carrying
- which grid it is using
- whether any silent running icons are in the area
- or any other pertinent Matrix information

* it notes later "If you get a list of marks, you can only recognize marks you have seen before or marks left by personas that you have marks on yourself. Otherwise you only get a count."

Presumably "or any other pertinent Matrix information" could also include any programs it is running

Matrix Perception

Bye
Thanee

Do ee want to roll initiative and get into this resulution because it is an un opposed test that seems to make sense to me only in combat where you try to get it fast. She'll usethe last modified date and data bomb presence and if there is anything else she should know she'll take more perception rolls.

Nah, you do not need initiative. You cannot do unlimited actions there, though, until something happens. So, you should figure what you want to do in what order.

Bye
Thanee

she mainly wants to look at the last calls or texts.

We seem a bit stuck.

@GM, can you help us break up the logjam a bit? What exactly do we need to proceed?

I will update the IC in a bit.

And I also kinda missed something Gilga wrote up there, now that I am re-reading the posts.

Bye
Thanee