I take back what I said about letting Malloc.I's cash be a wash. I pulled back the optimization on his programs (someone pointed out in another thread that having optimization 5 was a waste) and that lets me afford a repeater drone (with microphone!) so I'll have some ability to have eyes and ears in Tokyo by default.

Will update character sheet later today. Starting Cash 3d6+9 = 22x50 = 1100 nuyen.

FYI game will begin LATE monday, around say 5pm est, I will be posting OOC and IC, please have your characters emailed to haljordan12@yahoo.com as soon as you can so I can print them out, or if you prefer to PM them here thats acceptable as well. I consider anything posted on this forum to be a "work in progress" so please send it finalized when you are done one of those ways.

Thanks! Cant wait to start the game guys, should be fun!

Bricks starting cash: 2d6 → [1,5] = (6) So, 120¥.

PM'd.

I've emailed you the sheet, with the character name in the title. Hopefully you'll get it okay, if not let me know and I'll forum message it instead.

I should be able to check the first postings at that time, but if they're much later I might not be able to post until the next day (as that works out about 10pm for me and unfortunately I have an early morning at work the next day).

Sheet PMed.

Also PMed, let me know if its lost in the intertubes. I've heard rumors of this new dataworm AI that has been sneaking into gaming forums and intercepting messages.

Arghhh. i'm at work and the laptop is away for repairs. I'm keeping an eye on this from my mobile but I can't really do anything major.

I'll PM you tomorrow, GMT, with a nice tidy version of Granny.

I don't suppose anyone has any good links to sites/threads detailing PBP hints & tips?

Mostly I ask this as I'm new to SR PBP gaming and don't want to slow anyone up by having to re-write/re-do posts which aren't suitable. Things like generally agreed conventions on the best way to do things, for example subvocal speech and vocal speech etc.

Stuff like putting dice rolls under spoiler tags I suspect is the norm, but any advice people can give would be appreciated!

Let me preface this by saying that I'm no expert here. That aside, what I've done was go back through the OOC and recruiting threads on the top three pages and grabbed the most consistent color conventions, then grabbed the BBCode color strings for those conventions and pasted them into a word document on the desktop of my home PC and the flash drive that I carry at work. Then, anything longer than a sentence gets composed in a word document, along with pasting in all the BBCode tags for spoilers, the dice rolling links, and the color code and bolding text, spell checked, grammar checked, and then finally gets posted.

I'm not fond of all of that time/location/date header, magenta for speach, cyan for thoughts, orange for texting, yellow for subvocalizing, etc. stuff. It seems to make it needlessly complicated. If a rigid format helps you, go for it, but otherwise, it's not required.

Simple, clear writing with occasional italics for things like thoughts or subvocalizing, and occasionally bolding important things like names, works fine. The biggest problem that I have encountered in most PBP games is when someone isn't posting, and everyone else is stuck, because they need to resolve that character's actions before the game can go on.

One thing that helps me when I have writer's block is to open up a little notepad window and simply start typing. Once the flow of words starts, I can go back and clean it up, then copy/paste it to make a post.

Viper has been PMed.

Hmmm.
So is anyone else getting exceptionally curious about the little surprises Gremish mentioned?

I can't help but suspect whatever it is will be a double edged sword... Like we get a really cool toy only it's filled with tracking devices and wanted by a triple A corp.

It will be one of many amusing surprises. How much more trouble could we get into?

Maybe we've got indecent pictures of a dragon!

Can't get in much more trouble than upsetting dragons.

Both Edits below.

@Gremish - Out of interest are you going to house rule the Empathy Sensor Soft? I picked one up for Weaver, but even I admit they're extremely powerful for the cost you pay. Admittedly if they're a DP bonus it isn't too bad with a low skill rating, but there's not a whole lot stopping Weaver just handing her toy to the face and letting them get a huge +6 boost.

I ask as I've been skim reading some older Dumpshock threads, one of which mentions the issues people have with the Empathy Soft.

(And incase anyone is wondering I've only taken it for the Judge Intentions function. As the DP benefit for Weaver is tiny with her low skill ratings.)

Edited /again/. Because I keep remembering things I want to ask and don't want to add a new reply. (And for which I apologize)

@People in general.

How do people rule rounding in Shadowrun? Specifically for adding dice to skills. In the book it says you can add up to 1.5x your skill rating, but then doesn't go on to mention if this rounds up or down.

A few other sections seem to indicate SR rounds up, but (and this could be my brain failing as it's 2.25am) I'm sure I remember some rolls rounding down too. Which would imply it varies case by case...

It rounds down, but it is only a cap on the augmented rating (from things like improved ability, reflex recorders, or move-by-wire), not on dice pool modifiers (nearly everything else), which are not capped. Page 109 is where it talks about this.

Sure you can. That just gets you incinerated, or eaten. There's not much trouble to be had.



Given that Vice and Jane both have maxed out Empathy-softs to help them better lie to and manipulate people, I doubt Weaver having one is going to be an issue. They're WHOA good, but I figure that with how common Emotitoys are, everyone serious about their social skills is going to have one.

Ahh didn't spot them on your gear lists, but yeah if everyone is likely to have it then I guess it means we'll just have to do a little more creative hack and edit work.

@Glyph. Thanks. Lack of sleep was muddling me up a bit, totally forgot that there was a difference between a DP modifier and DP bonus. :/

Yeah, my personal opinion on emosofts is that one should assume that the enemy is capable of dropping $600 on a cheap-o emotoy as well. When the shadowrunners show up to the meet, and the face plops down a little "Chibi-Ghostwalker" emotoy (with a shit eating grin), the Johnson calmly and casually pulls out his "Mr. Serious" emotoy as well.

The end result is the +6 dice just help neither side glitch, they don't really provide an advantage to anyone who knows they're going into a negotiation - since the WHOA-awesome bonus is available to both side, who both know they'd be stupid not to take it.

The real winners here are the corporations, who are making bank selling emotoys to both sides (like arms dealers in a war).

Sensor software is more expensive (and less noticeable, if you do it right), but the same principle applies.

I have a hard time believing anyone who's a serious negotiator is going to actually use an emotitoy, rather than pay the premium to get the full blown software. But I'll agree that in a real negotiation, both sides will be making use of the software, since both assume the other party is and no one wants to surrender that sort of advantage. However, when you're short conning a wage slave, or staring down a bunch of Vory hitmen, or just trying to chat someone up on the subway, odds are they're not only outskilled, but aren't carrying any electronic help. Then an existing PC advantage turns overwhelming.

Oh, and I'd bet that any serious negotiator who sees someone pull out an emotitoy is going to get up and walk away, since the other person obviously isn't taking things seriously.

Who says you need to put it down? I plan on tucking it into Weavers pocket, so the 'head' pokes out the top.

That way it's a fashion statement, rather than a negotiation tool.

Edit - Also the toy she has /must/ be a Chibi Ghostwalker, because the idea is just plain awesome.

Valid point. It just seems weird that something so powerful is so readily available with all the same features, for a lot less money, as a consumer product.

Only two reasons why I can think of.

The first would be because the toys are designed to run the software and because they have all the right sensors etc inbuilt you need a less complex version of the software to run on them (plus I guess you can't copy the version out from the toy like the could with buying it as a program).

The other is pure game balance. Anyone can see you've got the toy so they all know you're getting the bonus. Which means hackers etc know to hack the software if they possibly can...

Speaking of which any reason why you can't slave devices to a TM's innate Biological commlink?

The hardware issue does go a long way to address the cost difference. It's certainly why console game development is so much easier than PC game development. But it does bring up one question. Based on the description, I'd guess it's just a trid camera, but I'm curious exactly what sort of hardware is actually in one. Check that. Two questions. What sort of feedback does the user get from one?

I don't see why a TM couldn't subscribe any normal wireless device in the same way that you'd subscribe it to a normal commlink. Then again, I've avoided the TM specific rules like the plague, so keep the grains of salt handy.

The Emotitoys seem to be fairly simple minidrones (as such I would expect you can upgrade them like any other drone?) so I guess the insides are the same as any other stationary drone. Power supply, pilot box and sensor package.

As for how it works or the specifics of what it does... who knows. Aside from the little bit about what the software does in Arsenal it doesn't really go into much more detail. Emotional state and levels of interest is pretty handy for negotiation though!

Suddenly, I'm cackling with glee at the prospect of hacking an Emotitoy and changing its' cultural setting to something completely different, so it totally misreads all the vocal inflections and body language of the target.

That's the prime reason I was thinking of Slaving Weaver's one to her own bio-commlink. Much harder to hack that way.

The best way to do it would be a real time edit, with the hacker showing the target exactly what the face wants them to see.

That is way more useful than what I had in mind. Nowhere near as funny as programming the thing to randomly change cultural baselines every five minutes, but definitely way more useful.

Well, the best of both worlds solution would be when you disconnect you leave some "programming quirks" behind.

Like swapping things so anyone who would normally show up as say 'Flirtatious' shows up as 'uninterested'.

It'd serve them right for cheaping on on the emotitoy rather than buying the full blown sensor software.

Oh, and someone remind me to buy some IC for Vice's commlink once things get rolling. For no particular reason. Really.

Buy?

Wash your mouth out with soap young man.

Yeah. Buy. It's slang for "bribe someone to steal a copy". Or possibly, "find someone who has one, pistol whip them until they see double, and steal theirs". Does that meet with Granny's approval?

Might wanna beef up Brick's commlink too if you're so inclined... Unless you like him being the weakpoint

Ok game starts today, so I have a few things to go over.

1) I am NOT the best rules guy for SR4, in fact I garentee EVERY single one of you are better at all the little details of this game than I am. You have played SR4 more (I played a TON of SR3 so i cant say SR in general =P) and garenteed to have read far more than I have at this point.

I am working on catching up on the reading part.

2) Be that as it may I consider myself a good GM, I have been RPing since I was a kid and I have read enough SR novels to make a nun cry. Role playing wise it shouldn't be a issue.

3) I ask that you help me out and be patient, if something about my style seems off, most likely it is, please feel free to give a helping hand along the way here. I will do my very best to make the world perfect and such but again, admittedly, I am still a version behind on most everything. My gaming group didn't like SR4 so we continued playing SR3 since SR4 has been out.

Now with all this considered I hope we all have a wonderful time playing, I will do my very best to make sure we all have a great time and to keep everything extremely interesting!

I am shooting for my full posting by 5pm, no garentee as work might get busy but I will do my best!

EDIT: I believe i have all the character sheets now, I am printing them off and setting up a SR folder here at my desk, don't tell the boss he would try and gut me, if I am missing anything I will let everyone know!

Thanks!

Does everyone else have a great commlink? I haven't paid that much attention to everyone's gear. Brick might not be our weakpoint. In fact, I would not be surprised if Malloc.I ends up being our weakpoint.

With three hackers around, I wouldn't worry about it too much, though. Either you can slave your shit to someone else's commlink, or they can install a pirated firewall, or we'll have someone doing matrix overwatch who can keep an eye on your system.

Malloc.I would definitely agree that no matter how much money, time, or effort, you throw at it, someone or something will get into your system. If Brick doesn't need his commlink for anything important, and doesn't have too many dirty secrets on there, it is probably best to just not worry about it, and fade into the background of the 50-billion other barely-protected devices in the world.

Looking forward to it!

Bricks commlink is the 300¥ special. Aka, 1, 1, 1, 1 for all its stats, and no programs.


Anyway, definately looking forward to playing today!

Weaver has a /dire/ commlink probably on a par with Bricks. But her's is mostly for show anyway, her being a TM and all. Infact why on earth did I waste money on rating 2 programs when neither my commlink nor my disposable commlinks can run them?!

(I figure copying all important data to chips, then burning any trace from the 'link itself should let me store anything of value.)

Matrix overwatch shouldn't be a problem, we have more than enough people capable and Granny and Weaver can also use sprites for back up. (Although Weaver doesn't get any combat ones... which is a little annoying)

Looking forward to the game starting up!

Everyone loves disposable comminks.

If you use certified datachips (presumably the same cost as regular datachips), the chip does all of that work for you - making sure the data doesn't exist on the commlink it was copied from. Otherwise, you can do it yourself (with a basic edit program, maybe browse).

I do suggest downgrading your rating 2 programs to rating 1, though - unless you plan to upgrade at some point.

Well, I've already sent the character in now. Oh well!

It's only 100 Nuyen anyway, not like it's a major loss. Infact it might even help me somewhat, by having programs which don't actually fit my commlink I can pass Weaver off as being a total Matrix newbie. Huzzah, player stupidity saved by suitable IC handwaving.

For removing the data I was thinking I'd edit it after it was copied, then thread a corrupt program, corrupt it and then delete it with edit.

This means anyone recoving it will have the following problems;
1. The file is deleted and needs recovering.
2. The file then needs restoring so it's not corrupted anymore.
3. The file they've spent all this time trying to make work isn't even accurate.

For added paranoia I might have it encrypted by a sprite first too..... Or is that a little too extreme?

Something with the hash power, it can guard the file, and if they kill it, the file is utterly unreadable.

I would say the whole scheme is probably overkill. AFAIK, there aren't any rules in Shadowrun for recovering deleted data. Certified datachips are designed, for example, to "certify" that the original data was deleted when it was copied onto the datachip.

Of course, its up to the GM what sort of test/programs it takes (after all, in the real world, it isn't trivial to actually insure that your data is irrecoverable). But I would suspect that it would only take an edit program (perhaps with a test). For data that might be spread out throughout the commlink, browse would find al ltraces of it - again, with another test.

Corrupt would work too, like you said, but could, perhaps, corrupt important data that matches in the search. Like, if your corrupt program trashed your access file, you couldn't log in (easily) again, or if it trashed your log file (because you, at some point, did something to that file) you would lose all of your data about what had been done on that commlink in the past.

I suspect that neither of those things would be too bad, though, since its a throwaway commlink.

So have a sprite Hash my data, then murder it? Hmmmm sneaky. Although I bet Granny would object to Spritecide.

If she didn't, Malloc.I would. At the very least, you could, like... banish it, right? "Unregister" or whatever. See, there is a use for it!

Except I don't have the decompile skill...... It was a casualty in the making a TM who isn't a complete liability in the flesh battle.

*Whistles innocently*

(Edit - For the record as she can't make a combat capable sprite she's never had IC reason to learn how to. She just lets any rogue sprites go free and pester other people. At least that's the theory, in practise she probably had to attack them if they started bothering her and not some other poor soul.)

I do know a Free Sprite that could 'absorb' them, I'm sure that would have a similar effect and no Sprites would be harmed in the making of this feature etc...

Huzzah! Recycling works much better.

Although I suspect the courier sprite would disagree about no sprites being harmed.

Malloc.I would feel much better about them being recycled through the Circle of Life (not that he would probably be aware of any of this). I wanted to make him a Codeavore AI, but can't. So, instead he just hoardes, memorizes, and then sets free.

I have 9 character sheets, one more coming and he is excused for being late with his homework this time /glare!

=) Sorting through them now, starting info for each "group" will be up soon as well as the little surprises, the game storyline will come shortly after.