Karoline
Oct 7 2009, 05:15 PM
Somehow, 'Illegal profession' doesn't sound like a good cover. As to why they don't use air? Well, by sea may be slower, but it is cheaper and can move more goods.
I wouldn't imagine many bounty hunters go around in yachts either, seems like an oddly conspicuous way to hunt down targets.
I like the reality TV cover story, though I agree with Penta that if our first disguise is broken, we're already likely in more trouble than a second cover story is likely to get us out of. Maybe we could say that we are secretly working for their government to disrupt CAS shipping lines? So close to the truth that they just might bite.
Marwynn
Oct 7 2009, 05:32 PM
I like the "secretly filming for a Reality Trid" angle. Might be able to explain away some of our activities, but certainly not the gear.
Our Face/XO will have to do a whole lot of Fast Talking there. Or the rest of us do a lot of shooting. (Or Iago can change their memories...)
Karoline
Oct 7 2009, 05:37 PM
Well, the ship itself doesn't have much that is illegal and visible, so we just have to worry about people looking into our personal stashes.
CollateralDynamo
Oct 7 2009, 05:47 PM
The reality TV angle I think is a good one. Zalermo has a contact in the media that may be able to help in making the cover story more legit if necessary, something that can back us up a long way.
One thing to note, I think, is that our starting package contains Fake SINs for all of us (plus a few extra apparently now that there aren't 10 PCs). If we can assume that these SINs are tied into our fake backstory (as was the point when we first purchased them), we can make it look like all of us work for a small subsidiary of Horizon. That way, governments will be naturally inclined to back off once they realize that we are related to a big fish.
Even if the governments DO contact Horizon, Horizon will likely not wish to give the vessel over to the police until they are sure that it isn't theirs, by the time they figure out what is going on we can have our "plates" and "paint" changed and hopefully be off running again. We'd probably need new fake SINs, but if we've botched badly enough for our first cover to be pierced, and our second cover to not be believed, we should expect some serious losses.
Also, clearly for our cover the captain would be required to see to ship duties. But I figured that it would fall to the XO (my character) to see that the rich kids get what they want and "give them the tour". By seeing to their every needs I have ample opportunity to ensure that they don't go snooping where they don't belong. The same goes double for anybody who tries to board us.
"Of course you can speak with the captain, sir. Right this way to the bridge. Oh, as we walk let me tell you the history of this fine vessel." And, when even my charms fail to convince the feds to gtfo, "Hit it with a rock! Wipe his memory! Leave him unconscious in Caracas, he'll be fine! RUN!"
budoka05
Oct 7 2009, 06:12 PM
One other suggestion, pirate hunters. Since we're supposed to look like a luxury yacht and we're heavily armed, this would make sense. The only problem would be that pirate hunters can attract the wrong type of attention, especially from pirate gangs.
CollateralDynamo
Oct 7 2009, 06:19 PM
If we say we are pirate hunters, or any sort of gray market industry, we should try to relate ourselves to an existing org.. What band of crazies would go out and hunt pirates without a support grid? Okay, we WOULD...but nobody will believe such a crazy story without some backup from mainland!
budoka05
Oct 7 2009, 07:40 PM
True, no SANE pirate hunter would operate without support, but we don't have to be sane!
CD, nonetheless that is good point. We'd have to create much more to make that cover more bullet-proof.
One final suggestion before I detract from the good ideas being thrown around: PMC for corporates. Essentially we're contractors for corporations that find their people kidnapped by more dastardly elements of the Caribbean League. With all the tourists and organized crime in the area, I think it would make sense that there would be folks with underground connection that provide friendly extraction services for kidnapped personnel.
Additionally, we could provide extra muscle/security for execs visiting the region for business ventures.
Although corporations would probably find their valuable employees come hell or high water, there might be situations where discretion would lead to greater chances of successful extraction. That's where we come in.
CollateralDynamo
Oct 7 2009, 07:59 PM
Thats actually not a bad plan. Extra muscle for corp-execs with an added service of discretionary extractions from the seedy element...could work as well as explain why all of us are pretty much unstoppable bad asses. Also, due to our clients desire for secrecy we keep it as our deep DEEP cover, behind the whole "oh yeah, we are just ferrying rich kids playing games" as well as the "oh yeah, we are actually recording them to sell". We can say "yep, you caught us, their parents actually hired us to guard the little brigands and make sure they land in the right ports. But shhh, don't tell the kids, they'll get unhappy, try to run away, really a pain in the ass to track them down by RFID in Caracas. Do YOU want to tell their mom you lost them in Caracas? I didn't think so, now get the hell off my boat."
Karoline
Oct 7 2009, 08:28 PM
QUOTE (CollateralDynamo @ Oct 7 2009, 03:59 PM)

...could work as well as explain why all of us are pretty much unstoppable bad asses.
Except you

And me

And maybe our hacker
We do have some unstoppable bad asses don't we?
CollateralDynamo
Oct 7 2009, 08:36 PM
[ Spoiler ]
On Knife and Pistol checks Zalermo gets 15 dice= 7 (agility) + 4 (skill) +2 (specialization) +2 (smart-link/rating)
Base Damage on the Knife is 3P AP -1 (weapon counts as magic), on the Pistol is 6s(e) (yay stick and shock!)
I don't think I'm half bad for a guy who will ideally charm you out of attacking and instead make you a BFF. "Unstoppable Badass" is clearly a subjective term.
Karoline
Oct 7 2009, 08:42 PM
Hehe, well, way better DP than I have, but I have the advantage of being able to get up to... what, 32ish attacks per round?
CollateralDynamo
Oct 7 2009, 08:46 PM
So see! You ARE an unstoppable badass, don't sell yourself short!
Karoline
Oct 7 2009, 08:55 PM
It's only 32 attacks a combat round. I'm sure everyone can manage at least that? What? No? Just me?
budoka05
Oct 7 2009, 09:23 PM
QUOTE (Karoline @ Oct 7 2009, 01:55 PM)

It's only 32 attacks a combat round. I'm sure everyone can manage at least that? What? No? Just me?

Yeah, I suck. I merely have Chuck Norris moves with lightning...
Whizbang
Oct 8 2009, 03:21 AM
[ Spoiler ]
4 init passes, 14 dice an attack
Melisandre is badass in the Matrix, does that count?
Penta
Oct 8 2009, 03:24 AM
You're Proto-Badasses, each of you. You have the potential to be badass, but you aren't yet.

With that said, can we get back to the cover(s) discussion?
budoka05
Oct 8 2009, 03:51 AM
I've already put up a couple of suggestions. What's the feedback?
Marwynn
Oct 8 2009, 04:10 AM
I vote Trid Show. You know, we could actually make that work. Just edit ourselves out. Part of being a pirate is self-promotion after all. I think it makes for a great secondary cover story in case we happen along with a kid who's too smart or nosy for his own good.
We'll need a better cover story against corps and the navy. We can work that into our Fake SINs, we're "really" a Horizon (subsidiary) team meant to safeguard the rich and pompous and capitalize on it on the matrix. But sometimes we're asked to transport celebs too. Or engage in secret insertions and deliveries. Multi-purpose, saves the corp some money.
Iago will look around Cape May for a tri-horn hat or something piratey, just to have around. He's up for drinks by the way, all the better to gloat about his greatness.
Knight Saber
Oct 8 2009, 04:13 AM
CD's third-level cover of "Yes, we're really corporate security watching over the little darlings" works well on top of the first two, but we could take budoka's "pirate hunter" idea as a fourth level... not pirate hunters (they would have an armed ship) so much as pirate bait, a Q ship sort of thing.
"Yes, we cruise around with corp execs with a modicum of secrecy... hoping to draw out pirates for a kidnapping attempt, then we drop the hammer on them. You can see why we want to keep this operation a closely-guarded secret."
Marwynn
Oct 8 2009, 06:21 AM
Note: Jonas (Iago) is deliberately trying to take the kudos for the ideas. It's unlikely he'd forget who would suggest that.
If there are any mistakes please let me know, just wanted to post something.
Karoline
Oct 8 2009, 10:10 AM
"Our cover story is like an onion."
"Smelly and makes people cry?"
"No, it has many layers... and makes some people cry.. yes."
CollateralDynamo
Oct 9 2009, 12:53 PM
Cool sounds like we'll be getting deets on our mission soon and be out actually committing crimes!

In other news, what should we do with our shore leave? What is Cape May like in SR? According to my internets its good for bird watching today...I imagine its location in Jersey however makes it a toxic "ick zone" in 2072. Any thoughts? Perhaps we could find a pier and play ski-ball during our 24 hours off?
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 02:29 PM
Being from Jersey, I was incredibly insulted by NAGNA turning it into a toxic zone back in SR1, so deem that to be Neo-A lies.
No, seriously. The people who write about Jersey have been usually frickin' clueless about Jersey. North Jersey might have pollution issues, but not central or south Jersey. I'm from around Sandy Hook, but I can describe Cape May and the general area:
This is where everybody from Philly comes to play. The farther you go up north, the more it becomes people from New York. Atlantic City is the great mixer. Prior to Indian Casinos, it was the only place you could go in virtually the entire Northeast to gamble legally. I sense that after the Indian relocations prior to the NAN, it would have resumed said status.
I see pollution as being an intermittent problem, but no more than it is today - a very, very intermittent issue. Once every couple of years, something happens in Philly or New York and New Jersey gets Weird Stuff washing up on our beaches. It's quickly cleaned up and all returns to normal.
The key theme of Cape May: Frozen in time. It's a corporate-sponsored attempt at freezing time around the 1950s-1980s. Attempt is the key word: It's still as modern as anywhere else, but the corps pour a great deal into sponsored amusement parks and similar shore attractions that give off that vibe. Wildwood is nearby, for anybody familiar with the area.
CD, you win cookies for making me giggle with the ski-ball reference, I was about to suggest that.

Outside of the immediate shore area: Cape May is very, very rural. There *is* the odd cow farm, I kid you not, but a lot of land is given over to crops like cranberries and the like. Bog-type crops.
Oh, yes. Also.
There is a freakin' huge Coast Guard presence. Their main recruit training center is at Cape May, and you can often spot Coasties on liberty along the Shore and in the bars.
Marwynn
Oct 9 2009, 02:55 PM
Hey Penta, is there time for my character to drive up to New York and back? Track down his parents maybe? I know this is team-building RP but I thought it'd be nice to visit.
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 02:59 PM
NYC is...Jeez, 2 hours away one-way, closer to 3 with traffic?
There might be, but I dunno how long he'd really have in NYC.
CollateralDynamo
Oct 9 2009, 03:07 PM
I'd OOCly like to keep our shore leave to only 24 hours. ICly I would probably do some hand waiving and say I'd like to actually get to work. But it would really be the Captain who would tell you how long you have if you really want to go to New York.
Thanks for the update on NJ Penta. Ok crew, it sounds like these are our options:
1. Go to local Amusement Parks and Old Timey Bars. Could be fun, but doesn't seem very shadowy to me. The juxtaposition of our runners eating cotton candy and playing on a Ferris Wheel does make me laugh, however...
2. Drive all the way into New York to do something. Seems out of the way, but Iago is apparently a NY native and Zalermo does have a few connections in NY who might want to say "hi".
3. Go to Atlantic City and gamble until our faces fall off! Zalermo only has about Forty nuyen to his name...so unfortunately I think I'm going to have to down vote that option.
However, an idea I just started kicking around now, Zalermo has smuggling contacts in this region, should we ask if people here need any goods shipped? If they need stuff transported in the direction we are going it seems like a good way to make some money on the side. Is anyone opposed to me reaching out to my contacts and asking if they need some assistance?
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 04:25 PM
I have no objections to side jobs, OOCly, but warn you: A. You do not have much of a cargo hold. B. Your missions for the Navy come first - they're the plot of the campaign (insofar as there really is one; there isn't much of one I have planned. I really do plan on playing plot developments by ear). When you're released to independent duties between when I come up with missions, that ICly means the Navy expects you to be intel-gathering, commerce raiding, and so forth. They don't -mind- if you do smuggling and stuff, so long as it ain't the flesh trade, but they expect what they have you doing to come first. ICly, if asked, Roberts and Walker don't object either, subject to the same conditions. They just ask that you not smuggle against UCAS interests, as a courtesy to the folks providing you your ship.
Whizbang
Oct 9 2009, 05:25 PM
Hmm....the possibility of connecting contacts....Zalermo's in NY and Melisandre's in the gulf....
CollateralDynamo
Oct 9 2009, 05:40 PM
Zalermo's contacts range all over, but are focused in Havana, Miami, New York, and New Orleans. Setting up an intricate web and knowing which ports of harbor we can go to in a storm (so to speak) is always good in my book.
Edit: OH and Caracas, knows people there too...weeeird people.
Karoline
Oct 9 2009, 05:56 PM
QUOTE (CollateralDynamo @ Oct 9 2009, 11:07 AM)

3. Go to Atlantic City and gamble until our faces fall off! Zalermo only has about Forty nuyen to his name...so unfortunately I think I'm going to have to down vote that option.
Hmmm... I wonder how much a little genius like Jane could make by learning how to play the odds...
Shame she doesn't have much of any starting capital.
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 05:59 PM
Double shame that, even though the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement does a good job of keeping the mob away from the casinos, they still employ Large Men to deal with cheaters.
Karoline
Oct 9 2009, 06:09 PM
QUOTE (Penta @ Oct 9 2009, 01:59 PM)

Double shame that, even though the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement does a good job of keeping the mob away from the casinos, they still employ Large Men to deal with cheaters.

Counting cards isn't technically cheating if you can do it in your head. And besides, if I had the capital I'd bring my own Large Men to make sure I didn't get dragged off. Ears comes to mind...
Hmm... we're a few people short to pull an oceans eleven on one of the casinos
budoka05
Oct 9 2009, 08:36 PM
I'm going to roll for Knowledge about the Ship or Shell company. Should I use Commodities by itself or with Black Market Specialization?
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 09:06 PM
Commodities by itself.
budoka05
Oct 9 2009, 10:38 PM
Penta
Oct 9 2009, 10:56 PM
The company appears to be your average freight shipper - it works off goods consigned to it by shippers. There's nothing really derogatory out there about them, but nothing really positive, either. The only thing that stands out is the financials - insofar as any are released, they show a company with a high debt load against limited revenues.
Penta
Oct 10 2009, 05:12 PM
Just a quick booboo correction re rules.
I just reread SR4A and consulted with multiple people....I made a tiny booboo re wards.
Rooms on a ship, etc. can in fact be warded. I had misread the rule for mana barriers (they can't) and thought it applied to wards.
Oops.
Karoline
Oct 10 2009, 05:35 PM
I guess they changed it then, because street magic is where I was reading my ward info from (And yes, I was actually reading wards and not mana barriers

)
Penta
Oct 10 2009, 05:59 PM
I basically asked around...Have not checked Street Magic. In any case, the newer book wins.
MusicMan
Oct 11 2009, 06:40 AM
Sorry I haven't posted, I am alive... just really busy. I should be able to get back in there now though.
MusicMan
Oct 11 2009, 06:45 AM
Penta, are the shematics available for the ship we are supposed to be hunting?
Penta
Oct 11 2009, 01:07 PM
ICly, yes. OOCly, I can't draw, don't expect schematics to look at.
Penta
Oct 11 2009, 04:01 PM
Since we're now on shore leave, I figure I'll take this moment to do some housekeeping.
Activity - Really, it's been covered. "Pull your weight" is basic courtesy in a PBP/PBEM/online gaming of any stripe.
Karma - You're responsible for tracking your own karma. I do keep rough track of how much you've earned; trying to pull one over on me will be met with extremely harsh consequences; fittingly, as it's essentially cheating.
And enough sternness. How Karma gets Spent:
The below is a preliminary rule
Only on declared leaves. Rationale: While you're at sea, you're likely too busy to do the thinking that takes everything you've learned and processes it into skill raises. Generally, that takes shore leaves. It also lets me neatly divide run from run in a campaign that otherwise can see things blur into each other.
The above is a preliminary rule
SR4A, to my sadness, does not include much on training time. Training time is an essential concept in a campaign like this.
Skills you don't use will not degrade - I'm not that cruel, and don't have the inclination for that sort of bookkeeping. But to improve a skill, you must train it.
Watchstanding: Every 30 minutes on watch counts as 1 hour training the associated skill. (Helm: Pilot Watercraft. Engineering: Nautical Mechanic. Gunnery: Gunnery. Other watches to be determined by you guys, I'll determine the skill then.) Watches are typically between 4-8 hours. Not all watches need to be stood at all times. The only essential watches are Helm (driving the boat, or at least monitoring the autopilot, sensors, etc.) and Engineering (maintaining and monitoring the ships' systems and components), which must be maintained at all times while underway (you can leave a watch uinmanned for short periods such as combat, but the pilot on-board is not designed for hard maneuvering or much more than very basic navigation).
Other training: 1 hour counts as one hour.
Tutorsoft training or other instruction counts as one hour for each hour trained, with all other bonuses for instruction working as normal.
For our purposes, I am declaring that a week time interval for the extended test necessary to improve skills is 7 8-hour days. Time may be reduced by such training as is undertaken in the past month (30 days).
If people see fit to do them, I will accept Time Use Sheets declaring how a character spends a given 24 hour period. You don't have to do these, however. Submit them by PM so as not to clutter the OOC board - and coordinate with your fellow players so that all necessary watches are covered.
Initiation
Done as normal, this is an experience that should be extensively RPed. When it becomes time, magic-users, that you wish to undergo initiation, sit and talk with me for a time OOCly (chat or IRC is preferred; Email next, PMs last) and we'll go over the RP to come that will make up your initiation experience. Only after the RP do you spend karma and gain the initiate grade.
Sheet changes
When you change your sheet due to, say, Karma expenditure, you do it like this:
Pull up your old sheet.
Make the changes.
Email me the new sheet, and ask about the changes on the OOC thread.
I'll look it over. Email gives me a bit more time to do so. If I approve, I will email and post such.
You then EDIT your sheet on page 1 of the OOC thread. Make the changes, and after the sheet summarize them in a dated note.
A note on house rules
Because I am cautious, and because this is not a normal campaign, we'll playtest most house rules before I affix them in stone. Rules will start as preliminary rules. This is the time to check them for consistency with official rules (where the two conflict, official will prevail in most cases - I mean to use house rules to expand upon, not override, the official rules), logical issues, bugs that work for or against you (if you hide a bug that works for you, and I figure out you knew, I will hurt you - so it's better to help me, and be honest, by pointing out bugs might work in your favor but are still bugs. I might keep it and declare it not a bug; I might give you karma for catching it, whether or not I fix it, precisely because you went against self-interest), and just plain playability issues.
After a while, a house rule will move from preliminary to final. As things get more complex, I may use the first post of the OOC thread - or start a new thread - to compile house rules.
My dream with all house rules is that they become obsoleted by official rules from CGL. Not that I expect this to happen - CGL's tastes are different from mine in places, and they'll never cover everything - but for some rules it might well happen.
A note on official rules
I use Dumpshock and similar resources extensively to query on official rules, rule intent, etc, like anyone else. As a courtesy, if you think I'm trying to resolve a situation for this campaign, try not to note whatever I might tip my hand on in terms of future stuff (or current stuff). Basically, try not to metagame on such points, hard though that is at times. At least *appear* surprised, even if I tipped my hand in a thread elsewhere. If I tip my hand in a Blood In The Water thread, then, that's my fault and you can use it for what it's worth.
Where official rules seem to contradict themselves, this is the priority system I use:
Advanced books (Augmentation, Arsenal, Unwired, Street Magic, Runners Companion, etc) as errata'd when (re)published after SR4A; SR4A as errata'd; Advanced books NOT corrected for SR4A as errata'd.
I will endeavor to hold to the SR metaplot and timeline as it catches up with and then outpaces us. I may not use everything, but I will try not to contradict it; letting the writers do the heavy lifting for me is not a bad thing.
New Players: Are in fact welcome. The open sign will be up whenever the ship is in port, the game will remain open for reserves while the ship is at sea, and if you guys find a player who sticks around, I'm willing to consider karma for the referring player as a finder's fee. If you get a bigger ship, you might find a need for NPC crew or new players, too.
New characters, consistent with lessons ICly learned, will ICly go through a much more extensive training process then the training week the current crew underwent, in an on-shore environment. I have not decided what this will consist of, no - it will likely be something I discuss with the player behind each new character. Any such training will more-than-likely occur "off-camera", before the newbie is introduced to the crew by Lt. Commander Roberts.
Off-thread RP: I encourage this. Heavily. If you want to do it by email, cc me on any messages. IRC or chat? Make sure I'm there. We'll then post the log to the IC thread, appropriately timestamped and formatted. It might help the story move along a bit more.
Karoline
Oct 11 2009, 04:54 PM
Sorry I haven't posted in forever people. I've managed to catch just about everything that exists (Except H1N1, or if I did I fought it off valiantly) and so have been on and off sick since school started, but this last week has been particularly bad, and when I wasn't sick I was busy trying to catch up on classwork.
That said I finally seem to be on the mend, just a small pained spot in my throat which I'm going to see the doctors about tomorrow when I head into class. I'm working up an IC post, which might end up being fairly long to help catch Jane up properly. Especially since I never went through and did an official training schedule.
At any rate, should finally have a post up at some point today.
Also if anyone wanted to talk to Jane at any of the parties or anything, feel free to send me a PM and we can RP it some if you'd like.
budoka05
Oct 11 2009, 11:53 PM
To finish up some business here is my starting Nuyen:
3d6 → [3,2,6] = (11)
11 * 50 = 550
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2282227/
budoka05
Oct 12 2009, 02:02 AM
Gear Purchases during Shore Leave:
1 x Gun Sling/Lanyard = 10¥
3 x FN Praetor Spare Clips = 15¥
2 x Gun Skin Link = 100¥
Total Spent = 125¥
Penta
Oct 12 2009, 02:11 AM
*ding* Thank you for shopping at Weapons World.
Marwynn
Oct 12 2009, 03:34 AM
Ooh, I forgot to roll starting money.
Starting Money x 50 nuyen (4d6=11) That's 550

, enough to do some light shopping.
Sorry, I wasn't tracking my karma. Can I get my total, if any, to this point?
Penta
Oct 12 2009, 03:43 AM
If you don't know your karma, it's 0.

Don't I make bookkeeping easy?
Marwynn
Oct 12 2009, 04:14 AM
Aww. Well it does make things a lot easier to track!