Dude, I have no idea how some people get married more than once. Planning this one has me pulling my hair out. Sorry about the delays again, it's not lack of interest, just lack of free time.

[-Slinks in unnoticed.-] Sorry, about that. I want to shove a captive bolt pistol into my mouth and pull the trigger. School has kept me busy and now I am free.

Zaranthan, after going through wedding planning, I share your feelings. My wife and I both did a lot of planning for our wedding. We had an 18 month engagement and I'd say a solid 12 months of that we were interviewing, calling, comparing, scouting...you name it, several days a week. Granted, we enjoyed the planning and the last few months, we were wondering what to do with all our extra time! But, the reality of it is, all those things you are planning and sweating over, you don't even remember unless something goes majorly wrong. And from what I have heard, usually those multiple marriages get less and less planned... Anyways, for what its worth, good luck!

As to the game, do you want me to play up to the meet with Barnaby? If so, does it matter where we are meeting. Otherwise, I'll just hold on where I am at. I've enjoyed filling my time and tried to keep posting every few days. And yesterday, against what I said before, I ended up reading through the entire IC stuff, so have noticed that not all the players are together and we are not super far into anything (which is good, since I was worried I might have missed some major happenings).

Good work, Psikerlord! Get those crappy rolls out of your system early!

If you don't plan on marriage it's easy...

Hey, we wanted to hop on a plane to Vegas and come back wearing copper rings, but our parents wouldn't let that fly. On a related note, I'll be out of touch from the 19th to the 28th. Hard to get internet on a cruise liner, and I don't plan on losing my laptop on a Caribbean island. Hopefully we can get some skulls busted before then. This is going to be good.

Interesting comment just before your honeymoon.

Note to the others. While I've been fairly lucky so far, make a note that if Edward needs to spend edge it's a very bad thing.

Ok, time for reality check.

RL happens. I have been able to keep to my once a week promise, barely. But how do you all feel? I'm going to try speeding up getting PC together, on the other hand, that introduces dependencies between you all as well. It's also possible I can try recruiting some more and see if any more stick. Most important, what can I do to make this more fun for you, other then posting every day. In any case, time for feedback from you all.

Well, aside from getting to play more, there is little I can ask of you. I am getting to do Bongo type things and learn how all those spiffy adept powers work. Near as I can tell, you just gave Bongo an undercover assignment for two months. I'm eager to see how you connect him and his assignment with the rest of the gang.

It's all rolling along fine for me. Posting more often would be cool, but not a must on my account. This is my first shadowrun PbP game, so I'm still getting used to how it works. I guess I would prefer it if we were all "working together" but sounds like that's what you're intending, in any event. It's not clear to me though how many players we have now (ie how many have dropped out?)

Yeah, RL does tend to do that.

I, too, am enjoying things as they are. This is my third PbP game and its going at about the same pace, although I like this one quite a bit due to having the players doing things independent of one another. I think is really fun for the startup scenes. It gives you a feel on who's going to be active and the one's that aren't, don't hold up the rest of the group. Pretty smart setup!

I'm in a job where I can check this game several times a day and could easily post once or twice during the week as well. But, if the game was going that fast, I'd probably limit myself to posting once every day or two...which all that means here, is that I am cool with you stepping in once a week and moving things along if we are slowing down.

Normally what I see happening is that a handful of players interact on their own and weave the story. The GM steps in with NPCs from time to time, to give direction, set some rulings and then move things along if the action dies down. I think that is what has been happening here since I joined up.

From my perspective, it feels like Bongo is doing his thing, I'm (Aldan) doing mine but is getting added to the "team", the "team" is made up of 3 PCs (the old mage guy, the TM and the B&E dude) and then there is one other PC (the one driving in the truck followed by the gangers). I am enjoying each perspective and also am intrigued by how we are all going to come together. So, even when the players are not posting a whole lot, as long as it moves forward once a week, I'm having fun.

Pbangarth, I need a judge intentions test for Bongo. Given his perception I am going to assume he notices some things, but the Judge intentions test will help me in determining the appropriate presentation of events.

Those of you at Pier 94 may want to OOC let me know what your likely course of action would be, which will help us decide the best way to work through the upcoming scene. Yes, there will be action at Pier 94.

Bongo Slade Judge Intentions: INT 5 + CHA 4 = 9 dice (I assume I have no modifiers for this kind of Test):
==> 0, count'em, 0 hits!

OK, I got a feeling about this, I will use EDG to reroll failures: 9 dice:
==> 1 hit

I guess he really wasn't meant to know much here. Damn. 1 hit out of 18 dice. Damn.

Aldan is by no means experienced in combat (a couple runs doing astral watch/support) , so any type of action going down, would initially be met with wanting to get out of harms way, cower and/or hide. He's got a revolver, but has shot it less than a half dozen times outside of a shooting range and combat magic is more "theory" than anything practical. He does have a Guardian spirit on standby, so if stuff looks really bad, I could see him relying heavily on his summoned spirit.

At Pier 94, Omen is trying to keep himself occupied talking to the group, to keep his mind off the free booze. He would therefore probably hear Abigail's comment, but not make anything of it until she finished her sentence, and maybe not even then, depending.... Once the drek hits the fan, Omen is likely to duck under the table for cover, protect everyone he can see with counterspelling, take stock of where the enemy is... then maybe launch a stunbolt or two, or whistle up a spirit to help drive off the invaders!

Oh well, having forgotten about the roll on Nov. 5th, I went ahead and sorta figured out their intentions anyway. What the hell, they were kinda obvious about it, no?

Omen and Aldan, you can roll init and declare actions for your IP.

While it may be revealing a bit OOC, I can tell you there is a Rating 4 Area Jammer in effect inside the warehouse, and a Force 4 Mana Static spell in effect. For this first combat turn the smoke grenades will not affect visibility, but soon will. The warehouse floor has an obvious hot spot around the canoe.

Oh.

It wasn't their intentions he was to judge, was it?

I'm a bit confused. Does Bongo have knowledge of that Ultrazone Section 5 transmission?

EDIT: Got your PM. I'll play him dumb.

Yeah, those people are easy to figure out, they don't even hide it.

No, just a background post. Foreshadowing. Gives a hint why Bongo may not have Read Intentions well.

Psikerlord, obviously you want to check this with DireRadiant, but as I read the stuff on Background Count in Street Magic, existing spells are dropped in Force, but you can cast a Force 3 spell and keep it going, but pay Drain as if it were Force 7. Its as if you were trying to cast a Force 7 spell. Any Focus you want to use to sustain it, though, is dropped in Force by the Background Count.

"Additionally, the
process of gathering and shaping
mana is more difficult in areas with
background count, so the absolute
value of the background count is
also added to the Force whenever
a character resists magical Drain."

Kind of awkward. It doesn't really inform as to whether or not the spell is actually successful and will work or not.

GM Ruling for spell casting. You either;
1. Cast the spell at Force 7 and Resist Drain as if it is Force 7, and you gain the effect of a working Force 3 spell. I will not require you get the extra 4 net hits, which might be considered, the drain is penalty enough in my opinion.
OR
2. Cast the Spell at Force 3 and Resist Drain as if it is Force 3, but the spell does not work at all.

Dropping prone is a free action.

Ah OK, I will take option 1 thanks DR... I have updated my post to reflect this..

If the Force 7 spell is over the Magic Attribute of the caster, will the Drain be Physical? It doesn't matter for Bongo, but I have another PC who is about to run into this issue, and would like opinions.

The drain should be physical, in my opinion.

I'm going west to Alberta. I should be there on Sunday. I'll try to connect to Dumpshock at least once a day.

Have a good trip...

My apologies, but the time has come that I must admit to everyone, especially myself, that I don't have the commitment to keep this game going as you all deserve. You've been a great, and patient, set of players and I really enjoyed this PBP game.

Thanks everyone.

It's been great, DR. I've had a lot of fun and you have done a marvelous job juggling us all. I will miss your GMing, and playing Bongo.

Before you disappear, please, please tell me. Does Cecilia survive?

This initial attempt she survives due to Bongo's timely intervention and a little luck, as to the future, that is yet to be written.

*Deep sigh* Thanks, DR.

Hey, DireRadiant.... Bongo is going to look for more work. Any karma earned?

How much do you think Bongo deserves?

Tricky. Throw it back on the player.

I don't know. One or two?

Character survived the adventure 1
Character was particularly brave or smart 1
Good roleplaying 2
Character pushed the storyline forward 1
Character had the right skills at the right place and time 1
Player impressed group with humor or drama 2

Awesome! Thank you. Bongo will be looking for work on Dumpshock, and I will record his Karma Earned.

I hope things work out for you so you can return to this campaign. I would like to find out how you bring us all together.

Hey folks

Just wanted to say thanks for the fun game DR, and to the other players who hung in there (esp PB and Deek). Perhaps we'll all meet again in another PbP game. Cheers and good gaming peeps.

Steve aka Omen

Same here. Hope we can get together.

Yeah, I certainly have enjoyed the game. I have been filling in for a DM friend of mine in his forum game for a couple of weeks, and I have a new found understanding at how much work this is. Not only do you have all the preparation to deal with, but you also need to figure out a way to work though combat and keep the game moving when there is a lull...and that is really hard to do!

If anyone here sees a game you get in starting up, let me know. I'm not sure I'll be looking for a game myself, as they can be hit and miss, but if you get in one and need an active player, don't hesitate to get a hold of me.