Hey all, we've just gotten internets in our residence here in North Carolina, so I will be able to post again. It'll take me a minute to catch up, and get my IC post for the first round done, since I have to email the friends and fam tonight.

rob

Hehe.. I'm home now... not on the road or "at Starbucks grabbing coffee" so WR1 if you see this and want to get down to business discussing whatever you need on the wiki.. I'm available, even if I'm not logged into DSF.

Winter

Grack casting Detect Enemies, Extended.

Magic + Spellcasting + Mentor Bonus = 4 dice
3 2 3 2 = This time I am really concentrating hard and it is definitely working.

Drain = 3
Charisma + Willpower = 6 dice
2 6 6 5 5 3 = And concentrating hard is getting easier and easier, especially while scarfing down soyshi!

WR

Whew! Back in the game. What effect from the gas grenade did I notice? Did it burst anywhere near enough to them that they may get hit in the plume or the gas will obstruct some visibility? (since it's pepper punch, I'm not really counting on that.).

And in the SR4 rulebook as written, any cover negates suppressive fire. Though I personally think this is a lame rule, does it apply to our situation? What is your interpretation of that?

Sorry, double post

I will be flying out to California for a wedding immediately after work, and will not return until Sunday, so I probably won’t be able to reply/catch up/weigh in until Monday or Tuesday. Sorry if I can’t get to replies today (although I certainly would like to, if possible!), I have to make sure everything is in order at work before I take off, and I’m leaving early today, so time is at a bit of a premium. I’ll reply to everyone as soon as I can when I get back.

All of Konsaki’s Players please make sure you post the previously requested information regarding your character’s status, story, location, playing experience to date in DITG, etc. so I can catch up with you all as soon as possible. Since I won’t be able to reply to people until about Monday or Tuesday, now is the perfect time to do so. Thanks!

Sorry for not replying sooner. I confess to being lazy and not very alert while checking the DITG game.

Fool:

WinterRat

Ok, resolution phase thingy: If I think I can shoot from cover without exposing myself to too much enemy fire, then I'll shoot from cover. If not, then I'll look back down the street, from the direction Nevada and Badmarsh came from, and see if there are any entrances to the buildings. Basically, I'm exploring the option of kicking in a door, moving through the building and flanking the Raiders.

rob

@Everyone

First off, I'd like to appologise for my absence and subsiquent resigning of post as secondary Player GM and Combat GM.
I had fun building the world of DitG with you people and do hope it the best, but as WR1 has explained, something in my life had to give and Real Life > Games. This one was suffering greatly due to my negligence of not having enough time due to the shifts in my job, lifestyle and position in the world.

The reason I was silent for so long before the 'out of the blue' resignation was that I wanted to see if it would pass over and things would go back to normal, but I can forsee it not going that way. It would have been a great disservice to you players if I didn't accept the fact that I wouldnt be able to GM at a quality deserving of you fine players, so it comes down to my resignation.

I wish the best to you as you struggle through the streets of Kingsgate and again, I'm sorry about this.

PS: Just to waylay any question of my physical health, I'm perfectly fine as far as I know.

@Konsaki:
Good to know you are okay. Thanks for the update. I hope you get some free time now and then to catch a RL Game or two once in a while. Even if you can't get a PbP game in. Keep it real ese! *Fist in the air*

Everyone - Quick update, I'm back and I just caught up with all my LITS OOC stuff. DITG OOC stuff is next, followed by LITS IC and DITG IC.

PM replies will be spaced out among all that as well.

General Announcement

For the sake of full disclosure, so everyone knows where I stand, I just started a new job about three weeks ago, am currently in the process of buying a condo with my fiance (hopefully to be concluded by the end of August), planning my wedding which is happening in September, teaching Sunday School at my church every week, and am mentoring six high school guys, also every week.

Oh yeah, and on top of all that and various other not so regular/major RL activities, running LITS at a speed that's pretty much full speed ahead again (as a player and GM) as well as trying to pick up the pieces from the recent GM departures at DITG and singlehandedly keep the game alive until I can get things settled down and running smoothly, hopefully with some extra GMs on staff to facilitate said smoothness.

In short, I'm pretty freaking swamped right now.

Don't worry, this isn't a prelude to me going anywhere.

Nor is this a 'I'm so much busier than all of you, no one understands!' rant. I just want you all to know that if I say I will get to you and it takes me a little longer than I initially projected, or if updates are a bit slow in coming over the next two months, one or more of the above reasons is probably why.

LITS will keep rolling along like we've been doing the last 3 years, and I will hold DITG together, because it's just too promising to let die (at least, assuming everyone doesn't quit on me first ). I simply wanted to let you all know that I'm not ignoring anyone or slacking around, and that I will keep things moving along to the best of my ability.

DSF is now more or less the only thing I do with my leisure time, so when other stuff cuts into said leisure time, DSF is the first thing to suffer because, well...there isn't anything else I can cut.

Anyway, there's nothing in particular that prompted this, except that I don't want anyone feeling like I'm neglecting them or the game(s). Things will eventually settle down and allow for a bit more predictability from me, but for now I'm emphasizing continuity and just flat getting things done and keeping the games moving as best I can.

I think so far I've managed to keep things rolling along pretty well, but the recent need to run DITG by myself and reorganize things has thrown me a bit of a curve that'll probably take me a week or so to fully work through and drag everything back on track. So if it seems like I'm ignoring DITG, I'm not, I'm simply balancing my time between DITG and LITS, and since LITS is running smoother right now, it's easier to see actual progress, whereas in DITG, there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff I need to do first.

As always, if anyone has any comments, questions, thoughts, or concerns, feel free to let me know. Otherwise, this has been a general public service announcement for the respective populaces of LITS and DITG to keep you informed of your friendly neighborhood GM's various nefarious undertakings.

(Note: Another major catch-up day tomorrow, Wednesday, Aug. 1.

My DITG goal is to at least start the wheels moving for DITG again via a policy update/explanation for how I plan to get Konsaki's players back in the game and keep my players moving along.

My LITS goal is to respond to everything that's come up since my last mega-update last night.

If I don't get to one or the other of those....well, I just gave you a nice explanation why above. )

Dude, as far as I'm concerned you are doing an amazing job with an incredibly ambitious project.
I DO know what it's like to be that busy. I'll keep helping where I can, and I'll be happy to wait as long as it takes as a player (although it seems to me that for my group there's really not that much need to wait...you did ask us to take some initiative and be self-directed for a bit...).

General Announcement – Reorganizing to keep the ball rolling

OK, I just re-read the posting guidelines on the wiki, and fortunately, getting reorganized and jump started again looks like it’ll be easier than I thought it would be.

If you’ve read the guidelines (and you should have), you’ll recall a section under the ‘Posting Guidelines’ titled ‘Individual Posting’. In essence, we are now switching over to the ‘Individual Posting’ system as originally planned, and away from the direct GM-to-player interaction we’ve been running since the game started. The reason for that should be fairly obvious, although if needs to be restated, it’s because there’s one of me and about 20 of you.

Therefore, what I need you all to do is head over to the wiki, under the ‘Character Tracker’ (CT) page, and fill out the chart accordingly. Meriss has already filled his in and Voorhees’s has been filled in by me as examples.

Note: This chart ONLY applies whenever you need my involvement or guidance beyond what you already possess.

For example, Sushi Shack Showdown people (Legion, Doc, Thumper, Grack) have already been cleared to start interacting and continue moving south into LoCoS turf as they originally planned.

The In Hot Pursuit people (Bockscar, Nevada, and Badmarsh) are in combat, so they know what they need from me (namely, a response to their questions regarding the Resolution Phase. See, I haven’t forgotten you!) and where they currently stand.

Everyone else should be posting something in the Character Tracker page so I can start directing you all and keeping your characters moving along.

As you post your character information in the CT, I will post a response with the information you need in that same page. It would be helpful to me if you would also post OOC informing me you’ve updated the chart, and I will do the same for you.

Finally, note that we will only ever be using the one chart. When you need something new from me, simply overwrite your previous entry. That is what the ‘sign in’ column is for, so I know when you last filled in the chart and when your last IC post was. That’s why my responses are signed too, so you know when I last replied to you.

This is also why it’s important to notify one another in the OOC thread, because once this chart starts filling up it’ll be easy for us to miss updated sign ins. That’s why we’re not only filling in the RL sign in date on the CT, but the last IC post date (in RL) as well, so I can say ‘hey wait, so and so hasn’t had an IC post since June, I better check up on them’ or you can say ‘doh, he posted for me two weeks ago and I missed it, no wonder he hasn’t posted anything for me lately’.

I know this is brief, but I think that should about cover it, if anyone has any questions, as always feel free to ask. As you start filling in the chart, I will begin responding, and that should get us rolling again.

General Announcement – Event 2: Among the Ashes

My previous post addressed trying to get your individual PCs back on track. In the larger scheme of things, the Event Registry for Event 2 is up. No one should fill it in just yet because no one is close to the IC deadline that I am aware of, but be aware the event will be happening at 02:30:00.

Currently the RL deadline is Aug. 31, because I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to get their characters back on track and approximately up to speed again before pushing the Event on them, but if everyone gets on track sooner, we may move the Event up. Regardless, I just wanted you all to know that the overall storyline is still moving forward, and give you a general sense of when to expect it, both in RL and in the game.

I will remind everyone of the impending RL and IC deadlines as we get closer to the event.

@Winter: Duly noted, I'm going away on Saturday and Sunday. So feel free to push Inks IC back.

Howdy folks, sorry for the abrupt and unannounced disappearance. I'm going to be withdrawing from most of my online commitments.

Work has been intense and will become moreso as the months pass (until some time in 08). I should have done this a month ago. I've PMed WinterRat and given him carte blanche to do what he wishes with Badmarsh. Poor, poor Badmarsh. But hey - IC leadership vaccuum! And OOC Adept spot open! Wooo!

Wikitron authority is passed in full to She of the Fearsome Fang and Withered, Vestigial Arms - Vegas, The Wikitsaurus Rex. Bow before her terrible wiki-twiddling might. BOW!

Good luck surviving Kingsgate. You'll need it. And good on ya, WR, persevering through the GM drought.




...I'm not leaving DS, just laying really REALLY low. 'What's-that-lump-in-the-carpet' low.

@Vegas
If you need my help wiki wise, say so. I'll do my best

@ All

You know what I could really use? People filling out their Character Tracker charts so I can get moving on bringing everyone back up to speed.

And for those who already have what they need from me, feel free to go right on posting.

I'm just saying, is all.

@ WR1

Should we fill out the character tracker sheets for pretty much anything we need from you, or only major/semi-major stuff? Right now I'm basically just waiting to find out if Doc finds a lighter in the Elf's pocket, but I was wondering for small stuff like that which does technically affect the character materially but only very slightly, should I wait for you, or just decide that I find one. Additionally, if the answer is that I should wait for you, should I fill out the character tracker or just post in here?

I just want to see if we can streamline things as much as possible while still retaining the GM oversight of material improvements.

WR1

Same as Unarmed - my impression was that Sushi Shack people were greenlighted to continue playing, and that we therefore did NOT need to use the tracker at this time.

Do let me know if I'm wrong, though, and I'll get right on it.

WinterRat

Should In Hot Pursuit characters pipe in?

rob

Catchup time for DITG. Assorted comments first, then on to In Hot Pursuit.

Reminder: I use violet when I refer to the players. Players use cyan when they refer to me. Please stick with the color system as it makes it much easier to track your comments to me.

Unarmed -

WinterRat

Back from my time away from the world.

Child

In Hot Pursuit

I replied to everyone in the Character Tracker thread so far, feel free to ask me questions if you need to, otherwise proceed.

WR/All

Sorry I haven't responded. Life flared up suddenly with emergencies and work and then all hell broke loose here in Minneapolis. Been kind of laying low for a little while. I'll be getting back to the swing of things this week as soon as I can.

I'll be stepping up for full-on wiki duties with Sparky leaving

Let me know people if y'all have ideas or suggestions as to how better "structure" the Wiki now that we're in actual game play as opposed to character creation and the like. Thanks ahead of time

@Winter:
Stealth roll: Stealth Group + Agi = 1,2,5,6,5,1 3 hits

WinterRat

Ok, I guess I was reading the suppressive fire rules differently than you were. I read them as ANY cover (including the -4 cover that you can shoot from behind, not just the -6 total cover) negates suppressive fire; just like firing from the prone.

I'm going to take the gun-cam peek round the corner as my resolution phase action, and that's as much info as I could care to ask and more. Template will be up.

Rob

Any cover or being prone does 'negate' suppressive fire, in the sense that you don't have to worry about being hit (i.e. having to make the aforementioned test). However, if you move at all from that cover or prone position, whether into or out of a suppressed area, then you have to make the test.

So for example, if you are even behind only partial (-2) cover, you're fine. The moment you move from that cover at all though, whether into or out of a suppressed area, you're at risk of being hit.

Meriss -

WR1

Question for you regarding actions for IP3.

I'm totally cool with having Nevada go along with Bockscar's "jump them from behind" plan so do you need me to actually put up other actions? Otherwise she would have been happy to sit in wait for the Raiders.

I will still post all the rolls to be used as necessary if the tables get turned.

Vegas - No, but be sure to put that in the template. So just something to the effect of 'going along with Bockscar's plan' is fine, just so I know generally what Nevada is doing.

WR

Done.

Winter
Sounds good to me. You want a Perception roll to notice Legion et al.?

@grendel: How stealthy are you and yours going to be entering LoCoS turf?

@adamu:LOL LOL LOL. Man Grack is a gem.

Well, Legion is naturally quiet when moving, but I think all efforts at stealth are going to be nullified by Grack's music. Overall, I think the Hammerpackers are going to be too tired to be stealthy, but by the same token they'll be too tired to really make a ruckus.

@WR1 et al.

I will be out of town from today until August 19th. I will be mostly unable to post during that time. That said, I plan to remain an active player in DITG.

@Grendel: makes sense to me

WR1

Okay, well, if it wasn't clear from the post, Grack is charging Doc with every intent to kill him dead.
Please note, however, that I dropped the axe and Grack has no other way to do physical damage - I have no intention of breaking the PVP guidelines, just RPing by boy.

If anyone tries to grab Grack to hold him back, or whatever action to physically stop him, he'll struggle, but I won't roll dice - holding me back is fine (really too bad pragma just left us for a few days, as Thumper would have been the obvious candidate for that).

If no one holds me back, I suppose it will come to fisiticuffs. Tempted to throw out some dice to speed things up, but what with all the templates and so on, wasn't sure how you wanted to handle it. I would even be fine with a diceless agreement with Unarmed for a standoff - beating on each other for either no or equal effect.

Or roll dice and let the chips fall where they may. All good with me.

@Grendel

Please don't worry about Grack's music for steatlh purposes. Grack is actually pretty stealthy himself, and loves to sneak around, if that wasn't already apparent. I like to think that the earbuds of 2070 (and Grack has a top of the line sound system) are so directionally focused that there isn't much spillover.

And anyway, I checked with Winter before game start and he confirmed that there would be no game-terms impact (besides me not being able to hear anything else) on my sneakiness.

No - wait - I am re-remembering now - he said there would be no impact on my sneakiness from my stench.
Okay - Winter - does the earbud music spill out so that it's audible to others? Hoping not (bought the virtual surround system out of the book during chargen, if that helps)...but your call.

If it is noisy, then Grack will always turn it down for stealth purposes - all you have to do is let him know it's sneaky-time.

Adamu, Unarmed, Grendel, Pragma -

Re Grack vs. The Obstacle

I’m offering two choices for resolution here:

1. If both Adamu and Unarmed agree, we can go with the standoff – beating on each other with both equal and no effect.

Translation: Neither Grack nor Doc will suffer any damage (Stun or Physical) and neither will lose or gain any face. That is, it looks to everyone (including the participants) that you each held your own just fine.

2. If you both do not agree on option 1, then by default, we’re going with option 2, in which I am ruling that Thumper will hold Grack back. Grack struggles, but not seriously, since he doesn’t want to hurt his friend, and for whatever other internal reasons Adamu chooses to give him.

In either event, no dice will be rolled, because we need to move on storyline-wise for the overall picture.

Note that if you both decide to go with option 1, I’m ok with an IC post or two describing the general scrum and the feelings of both participants involved. As stated earlier, we’re not running a ‘kiddie gang’ game here, so I recognize posturing and fighting are a part of things.

In other circumstances, I’d consider allowing dice for the sake of a non-lethal resolution, but since this is just the prologue, we’re going to keep moving. From an IC POV, I think Thumper and Legion are smart enough to recognize now is definitely not the time to risk losing one or even two of their four person group to internal conflict, and would stop things from getting to that point simply because there’s nothing to be gained, and a lot to be lost from allowing Doc and Grack to go at it.

Re Grack’s Music and Stealth

It depends on the circumstances. In the Sushi Shack fight, where Grack tried to sneak up on the dwarf, I ruled no penalty because there was plenty of noise to drown out Grack’s earphones.

If you’re stalking someone down a dark alley and there’s no other ambient noise to block out or distract someone from Grack’s music, then yes, there may be a penalty.

In short, it’s a case-by-case basis thing and Grack will have to take that into account. Generally speaking, the sprawl has enough noise it won’t be an issue, but I’m simply informing you there are situations where it could give a penalty to stealth.

At the current time, right now there’s screaming, gunfire, actual fires, vehicles, and war parties all over Kingsgate, plenty of noise to prevent Grack’s music from having an impact on the group’s stealth.

Winter
You want a Perception roll from Ink then when the Hammerpackers enter my field of hearing?

@ WR1, Adamu

Option 1 is perfectly acceptable to me, I really don't want to hold things up any further with combats that aren't integral to the storyline. I know that now is not really a good time for the two characters to be fighting, but I like the RP that's happening and so a no-face lost scuffle suits me fine.

Since you're the one going on the attack, Adamu, would you like to make the first post for the scuffle, or would you like me to? I'm fine either way. I'm just digging your narration of Grack and want to see as much of it as possible. =)

Anyways, that's where I'm coming down on this. Additionally, if Ink is anywhere near us at this point he might hear the fighting and notice us. Although I think we're still a ways off.

Meriss, Grendel, Unarmed, Adamu, Pragma -

It's on you guys to work together to figure out how you want to hook your two groups up, so if you want to say Ink took a roundabout route on his way to his grandparents' and happens upon the brawl, I'm fine with that.

Remember, at the end of the day, independent posting is key to sustaining this game, so while I'm trying to give everyone the freedom to do just that, everyone has to actually use said freedom or it doesn't do much good. Good job keeping things moving along here people.

Mister Juan - I think Voorhees is waiting on you.

@Hammerpackers: Winter makes sense to me. Here comes trouble. Where are you holding this fine donnybrook?

@Meriss

Well, unfortunately we're pretty much still up near plastic sushi and will have moved less than a block from that spot when the fight breaks out. I guess it depends on how loud we are and where exactly you figure ink would be, but if he had a reason to be up there then things could work fine.

Thanx to whoever filled in Fool's CT. I'm commited to playing my character and am determined to survive my gang's destruction as well as the major roadbumps in the game ooc hehehe.

Fool has suggested a plan of action and is waiting for a response from Lindt/Child to get us moving.

@Unarmed - Okay, looks like we both agree on the fluff-fight IC posting system, and Winter approved it. I propose just one post each, since we should keep things moving.

Since you suggest I start, I will IC Grack hauling you to the ground and then just starting to choke you and about to bite your face, but I'll end the post before I actually do. Then you can post your escape or reversal or whatever, kick a little ass yourself, and end us in some sort of stalemate.

At that point, you could also add a description of something stopping our fight, or we could leave it to Grendel or pragma to do (though pragma will be gone for another week....).

If any part of this isn't cool, just let me know. For the sake of speed, I'm going to go ahead, but I can always edit.

All – Individual updates and important general announcement coming tomorrow. Sorry for the delay all, and for those who are in a position to do so, thanks for keeping your characters’ stories moving forward!

Grendel – Looks like they’re tossing you the ball for the next post in this little scrum. You have my permission to use Thumper to hold Grack back if you think Legion would order him (Thumper) to do so. Since Pragma’s not here, you can just write Thumper holding Grack back for him, since we already determined no rolls will be involved.