Game Format: So far it's been working just fine for me. All of it has been pretty standard in online games in my experience. My only grief is the choice of colors you used for various actions; they burn! Burn!!! I understand your preference for wanting to use them to help avoid missing anything important, but I've always preferred just regular text and having players mention if something was overlooked. Minor gaffes are far superior to bleeding eyeballs. (Something to consider for future games, perhaps!)

GM Railroading: As long as we get to derail you on a regular basis, I'm cool with you making safe assumptions when necessary. Now if said assumptions are things like "Bel voluntarily jumps into the gaping maw of Lowfyr because he always wondered if he was, in fact, crunchy and tasty with ketchup," I might have a slight problem with that. Otherwise I'm totally kosher.

Signal-to-Noise: If the IC thread stays on tract, I'm obviously cool with the OOC one being a place to shoot the breeze as well as discuss the rules and other information as it comes up. Part of the fun of RPGs is that they're a means of interacting with other players; sort of defeats the point when it's all "business only."

Post Detail: Everything seems fine here, too. Get the main point across and have fun with all the little stuff, I say!

Flirting with Scope: Back off my Kool-Aid, bish! I called dibs! <quietly hides from Saqqara>

OOC part for Gyre's arrival.

Appearance: Gyre will be wearing his best suit. This means its worth about 500Â¥, and while not the best in the world, is a might bit better than having no suit at all. Its dark navy blue, cut in a fashionable style, with nothing fancy about it. Black dress shoes, black socks, black belt... Gyre knows enough about fashion to match those to the same color.

Gear: Hes got his biomonitor wristband on, connected to his mighty MetaLink commlink. The commlink resides on his belt, and he uses it much like a PDA. He has a stim patch(6) in his inner left breast pocket, and is otherwise unencumbered.
He brings his lined coat (nonconductive 6, shock frills, helmet), survival kit, goggles (LL, FC, IL, SL), gas mask, flashlight, and medkit in his mercury comet. The coat is in the trunk, and the goggles are in the glove compartment. His remaining 3 stim patches(all 6 also) are kept within his medkit. The rest of his gear is remaining at his doss.

Commlink: MetaLink running Vector Xim OS. (Res1, Sig2, Fire6, Sys1). Running Fake Sin (4) Anthony Jones. Passive mode. His profile, is the default one, something like.
UserName: User
Sex: Please select
Personal: Please write 1-2 paragraphs about yourself so other people can learn a little bit about you when they view your profile.

Park the car at the nearest available parking (that doesn't cost too much) and walk to the restaurant with expecting to arrive at 10:50.

@Scope_47: I honestly don't know.

Just wanted to let everyone know I've resigned Garrett from the game as I've had a major turn of events in my life right now and don't know that I can dedicate that much time to being as creative with him as I would have hoped. Was nice meeting you all, if even for a brief period of time.

Enjoy your game.

@Saqqara – Sorry to see you go – Real Life can be a heartless master. (but there are such wonderful rewards…) Drop by and say hi when/if you get the chance.

As for Garrett, Otis tells him that their mutual aquantince has a rat problem in Portland that really, urgently, needs to be taken care of – or else the family will need to get another exterminator.

@Scope_47 –

Here's the final stats for my bound spirit, Brown Tom.

Sorry this took so much longer than expected... too much "real life" getting in the way and being messy by demanding time I wanted to spend on gaming

Appearance: Willow is dressed as if she could assume the hostess duties at an upscale Chinese restaurant should the meet go south. Long, thick jet black hair is upswept into a formal yet slightly “messy� topknot, secured firmly in place by a pair of ornate black lacquer chopsticks with silver accents. Her skin is pale and smooth like porcelain, a soft blush is apparent on her cheeks and pale green eyes are framed with long black lashes. Full lips are stained a subtle and glossy berry colour. A glint of silver around her neck shows a thin silver snake chain and suspended from it is a silver charm, the Mandarin character for “mystery.� A traditionally cut Thai silk jacket fits close to her body and the pale cream fabric is embroidered with an Asian floral pattern in subtle gold threads that catch the light as she moves. Beneath the coat is pair of wide-legged black pants complete with an open flare at mid-calf that are accented with black silk buttons. A pair of sensible, chunky-heeled black shoes complete the outfit. She carries an averaged sized cream silk purse that both matches the outfit as well as comfortably holds all her personal items and gear.

Gear: Green contacts loaded with image link, flare comp and vision magnification. Earbuds with audio enhancement 3, spatial recognizer and select sound filter 3. In her purse along side a face powder compact, eyeliner and a berry pink lipgloss is a rating 6 white noise generator. All other gear will be left at home as per Jean’s request and the near proximity of the restaurant to her apartment.

Commlink Hardware/Software: Transys Avalon (4/4) with a modified Novatech Navi OS (5/5). Software loaded: Agent (R4, a.k.a. Sakura on watch for intrusions with the instruction to alert Willow of the intruder’s presence as well as attempt to isolate the attack and if that fails, secure or reboot the commlink), Analyze R4, Browse R4, Encrypt R4 and Reality Filter R4. Only Reality Filter, Agent and Encrypt are actively running when she enters the restaurant. Also accessible via storage memory are a couple of the latest Asian-Fusion cuisine cookbooks as well as a new book on the art of Fung Shui.

Commlink SIN/Mode: Passive Mode, Fake SIN loaded lists her identity as “An Mei-zhen�. The identity lists her as a student at the University of Seattle studying electronics.
User Name: Ch3rryBl0ss0m

She’ll stay up in the safety and security of her apartment with her eyes watching the immediate area around the neighborhood (as well as the Five Kings if it is visible from her windows) until about 15 minutes before the meet. She’ll then head down and take a brisk walk over to the restaurant itself, arriving just a few minutes before the scheduled meet time.

This game seems to have hit a big slowdown..
I'm ready to start the meet if we'd like.. or if you are expecting more from me before it starts let me know.

Aye, I'm looking forward to continuing myself.

Act I, Scene II(b)
GM note to players: I’m railroading a bit here, but there’s really only two ways for this to go down – one way moves the story ahead, down the other path lays madness.

As you approach the entrance of the Five Kings the doorwoman smiles at you. “Welcome to Five Kings. Name?� she asks.

Option A: You manage to blurt out something about Thompson. After she says; “Of course, and your name is…?� you wisely give the only name Jean Benson knows you by.

Option B: You give her the name your comm. is sending. After she says “I’m sorry, we don’t have a reservation in that name, are you someone’s guest?� you figure out what is expected of you. See Option A.

Option Z: Frustrated by her question and answer routine, you pull your pistol and shoot her in the face!

A and B results:


Z results:


Continuing:
It takes a moment for your eyes to adjust to the lighting as the massive wood-grained plasteel door closes behind you. The WiFi and AR ‘noise’ from the outside mutes to a classical string quartet, an unobtrusive AR control pops open to allow you to adjust the audio settings to your liking. You realize you are in a high-ceilinged sitting room, about 4 and a half meters by 6 meters. The room is furnished with high-quality replicas of antique furniture, and looks like something out of some educational history trid.

GM Notes: A rating 3 SIN will get you in if you have a reservation. Weapons can be carried, up to Light Pistol – however you’ll need a rating 4 SIN and licenses. The entrance is warded and equipped with a fibre-linked rating 4 scanner and a mage on duty will astrally assence anyone entering through an endoscope. As long as everything checks out use scenario A. Problems? Use scenario B. < -- Late note: I see no problems here, so just use A.

Scenario A:

<End Act I>

If each of the players will give a ‘go’ here in the OOC thread we may all proceed to the IC thread and the next act. If anyone has game mechanics business give a ‘no-go’ while we determine results – for example, problems with the warding or attempts to infiltrate the network inside the entry hall or restaurant.

A couple of questions:

Does the scanner pick up Bioware (so I know how Michael introduces me)?

Also, should we assume that the mage gets the full Assensing chart (5+ hits)?

Other than those two questions, I'm a GO

As an aside - Scope will start to head in at 10:50 - since she assumes it will take ten minutes to talk to the door-woman and get through her preconceptions of security.

- Scope_47

@Scope_47 – The scanner is R4 millimeter wave system. The one you need to worry about is the mage:

But Michael would just hit the high points “…carrying licensed firearm, augmented vision, medically necessary bioware…�, it’s his job, but there’s no need to be rude about it – he’s just repeating what the folks in the security room reported.

@All - You will be announced by the name you gave to get in. It is the name that Ms. Benson and Mr/Ms Thompson identifies you with.

Should we assume the mage's Assensing Test above is for everyone? I believe I'll be getting an Opposed Test for my Masking, but just wanted to know if you were going to be rolling just once for everyone or if I needed to consult for another one. To save a touch of time either way, here's the Opposed Test:


EDIT: Got clarification in PMs about all that, and my IC post for the intro scene is up and ready. I'm a "go" for the next scene when everyone else is.

EDIT Part Deux - The Sequel: I've received a request as to what Belfast looks like beyond what I've already described. Since I'm lazy as all get-out, here's a photo that's pretty damn close. Snarky persona and all: Snark Fu.

...And the crowd begins chanting, "Geek the Mage, Geek the Mage..."

Snarky. Indeed!

And I left my Form Fitting Armored Underoos at home. Dammit.

Congratulations Doc - you succeeded in flapping the unflappable Michael.

Psst… Don’t look now, but there’s a cyberzombie staring at you…

Crap, just realized I misspelled Ork, sorry - that 'other game' gave me cancer, Brain Cancer!

Cyberzombie? Where? Those things are scary...

- Scope_47 - a quarter of an essence point away from zombiedom


PS
Don't worry about the Orc/Ork thing - I didn't even notice honestly

I'm a GO. Posting in the IC thread now.

Ok, so I was looking at the matrix rules (my trix-fu is weak).

My understanding is that stealth is the threshold for the analyze+firewall free test made on each break-in attempt when hacking on the fly.

But an active agent (such as my Sir Gawain program) with orders to constantly look for intruders makes an opposed Pilot+Analyze vs the hacker's Hacking+Stealth every action it gets.

So, if this understanding is correct, I needn't bother with the free checks since I can't beat the threshold of seven, but I need to roll the opposed checks once every IP while he is in my commlink, right? Since its possible (although unlikely) that luck would be on my side.

Anyway, here are some rolls... not sure how long Gyre is staying in my commlink (there isn't much of interest in there):

Ok, when Willow arrives we can drop the curtain on Act I.

Until then, thank you all for contributing so much. It really looks good so far, and I can’t wait to see how the intra-character drama develops. On to a few answers…

The good Doctor – Funkenstein or McGuiness – is looking natty in his suit. (Actually I guess it’s Dr. McGuiness – I don’t know what Doctor Funkenstein is wearing, nor do I really want to.) As to alternate exits, if there were any in the main halls you didn’t notice – you did note a 10cm by 15cm red plaque with white lettering “Fire Exit� on the column to the right of every other window. You see nothing of the sort in the King Francis room.

Scope_47 – Privacy? What’s that? Only someone with something to hide would be concerned with privacy. Do you have something to hide?

Actually, all of you seasoned runners would understand; this form of threat assessment is for the benefit of your potential employer – the characters may not like it, but might grudgingly accept it as a cost of doing business with the big boys. At least the Johnson doesn’t have a squad of itchy-trigger-fingered goons hovering around as bodyguards.

Redjack – All contact with any active drones outside the restaurant was lost the moment the exterior door to the restaurant closed. As for Rock’s bruised feelings – at least he can take some consolation in the fact that one of ‘his people’ is running this show.

Tarantula – Michael’s commlink is active:
User-Name: Michael Davis Haeffner
Personal: Please comm. me if you need anything.

You might get the idea that this is not his ‘personal’ commlink. As soon as Michael leaves and the door to the King Francis room closes the AR music feed vanishes.

Hacking Test for Scope’s comm.:


Scope_47 has posted some rolls for her agent to notice your hack – how long ya gonna be in for?

Sophisticated character development, something to be appreciated in role-players. Makes me glad I graduated from hack-n-slash. (although I still like to take a flat character out for a little mindless violence now and again.)

The test to notice me coming in is an extended test just like the one for me to get in. So, I'm running 15 dice vs 9 threshold, and the commlink has 6 dice vs 7 threshold. I took 2 turns to get in, so the commlink gets 2 shots to notice me coming in.

Using the notation the book provides, I'm doing an extended test 15(9, 1 combat turn) test, and the system is doing a 6(7, 1 combat turn) test. Whoever succeeds first gets it.

Any particular reason why you're hacking everyone's commlink? And you do realize that if anyone finds out, all bets are off, yes? If you feel you have the right to go prancing around in my commlink uninvited, I'm certainly not going to have any moral obligations about using my magic to turn your mind into my private playground...

Just a little OOC FYI.

I won't mention what Rock does to traitors... Oops... I already did...

Gyre's never worked with any of you, his fixer set him up with the J, but he doesn't know where anyone else has come from. How is it any different than the J having his mage assense everyone for info?

One is revealed simply by looking at someone and is little different than noticing your hair is brown or that you're packing a gun under your vest. The other is breaking into your personal property, rifling through your private data, and having access to your entire digital life.

It's more akin to Mind Probe, Influence or Control Thoughts than assensing. Hence the warning should it be revealed what you're doing.

I'd agree it resembles mind probe, but would be a much weaker version. Hackers don't get to rummage your entire memories. Only whatever files you decided to keep on your commlink. Influence and control thoughts are far beyond what a hacker can do in your commlink.

@Tarantula – Ok, thanks for the clarification. I was away from my book when I posted. As Scope_47 posted rolls and didn’t beat yours I stand by what I said – Gyre pwned the ‘link. Now, what’s he gonna do with it and how long will he take?

@Doctor Funkenstein – I got no cues and no clues; I just don’t know how to take your post. I was a little confused about Gyre’s IC action myself. Maybe Tarantula will explain OOC. <edit: oops, beaten to the post.>

@All – Let’s take it a step at a time. This is the first time we have played together so there are going to be some adjustments. If we give each other the benefit of the doubt – that we are all developing our player-to-player interaction as well as our character-to-character interaction – we can avoid a “Reservoir Dogs� style standoff – both figuratively as players and literally as characters.

Besides, if we’re going to get into a ‘mine’s-bigger-than-yours’ – I can have you roll Perception for that strange whistling noise that sometimes accompanies Bovine re-entry.
<jk>

Gyre's intentions are merely to find out a bit of info about each person, he's a little put off that they knew he was a technomancer, and broadcast it to the room, so he'd like to find a bit of info about each person as well.

My post has been edited to reflect his hacking of her commlink. So don't let me hold this up any more.

Ok guys, like Thomas said, lets play nice Seriously, IC we don't know anything yet - so IC reactions are moot for now. Anyway, there really isn't anything interesting in the commlink (being a paranoid anti-wireless, anti-computers person will do that), so unless Gyre likes Scope's false identity's magazine choices, he won't find out anything that wasn't said by Michael when Scope entered the meet or publicly available on her passive profile. I guess that that in itself is info - letting him know she is smarter than to trust a link with sensitive info. +shrugs+

Its all fun and good

Speak for yourself! Belfast paid GOOD, HARD-EARNED nuyen for that "Subscription to Assorted Irish Screamsheets (Rating 5)" datasoft! I shan't have just anyone coming along and stealing them! <stodgy old curmudgeon huffle-puffling>

Oh yea. Its all fun till someone loses an eye.. Wait! That's shooting BB guns...
Its all fun till someone loses a hand.. WAIT! That's fireworks...
Oh yea, its all fun till you catch the hacker playing in your com link..

Sorry I haven't responded guys. 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 and catching up with the game.

Willow's my first posting priority since you're all waiting on her.

Vegas – I’m confident I speak for all of us – you and the people of Minneapolis have our sympathy. I can only imagine the grief of those directly involved, and the heartache and headaches for those indirectly affected. We wish you well.

Couldn't have said it better....

Thanks for the kind thoughts guys. I'm just thankful all my immediate friends and family are safe. And my heart goes out to those who are not and their families.


Anyway, in better news. I posted Willow's arrival. Sorry it took so long. Took some liberty in altering the last line you all were waiting on me. Hope that was ok.

GM note to players:
A vidcon is a video conference, let me know what steps/rolls you take to examine the objects and Mr. Thompson. OOC information – the items are as described, no hidden functions, etc.

Act II, Scene I(a) - Introductions

After Mei-zhen is seated, the old ork wastes no time. He retrieves a metal-trimmed, black case from beneath his chair. After placing the 33 cm square, 12 cm thick case on the table before him, he speaks.

“I am Antonio Thompson. My sponsor wishes to apologize for not meeting with you in person but would like to conduct this meeting via vidcon. The comm is not capable of vid capture, you may examine it if you wish. I am unarmed and unaugmented, you may verify this if you wish. I have a personal comm which is capable of vid capture, should I need to use it I have been instructed to turn away in respect of your privacy, you may inspect it also. I am a messenger and have no knowledge of the purposes of this meeting, nor, frankly, do I have any desire to.�

The ageing process is not kind to orks, his bony, thin hands struggle momentarily with the case as he opens it. He removes the objects and places them on the table before closing the case and returning it to the floor. The items are; a portable term, a small trid projector, an older model Sony comm, some datacables, and a battered pair of Cross AR glasses with integrated earphones.

The old fellow grimaces with pain as he straightens, looks around the table and asks; “Do you have any questions that I might be able to answer?�

@Thomas, quick question


Thanks,
Scope_47