True enough. I guess I figured someone willing to hold another man's family hostage wouldn't feel too bad about burning bridges by stiffing the runners he tricked into doing his dirty work.

Actually i hadnt considered that option, hmm what would their motivation be. Worse case you get 50K best case you 120K

There's no reason we can't kill two birds with one stone, either: Do the job, get paid, save the hostage, get paid again. It's going to depend on what the legwork shows up.

Well, it will be tricky, but I'm up for trying it (depending on what our legwork shows up). I'll probably reiterate this IC, once there is some discussion about it, but I think its all going to hinge on contacting Sammy, and finding out whether it is the ork, or the Johnson, that he's dealing with. If it *is* the ork, there *might* be some chance that he'll pay up if we accomplish his objective - since i don't think he cares much about the J or his family, and just wants to see the snitch dead. If he has a working relationship with Sammy, it'll mean his reputation is on the line to at least hold up his end of our bargain - after all, we did agree to do his task for the money, and whatever he's done to the Johnson's family really isn't any of our business. If its the Johnson who knows Sammy, then its a whole different story, because the ork isn't going to care about his shadow-rep, and has almost no incentive to pay up whether we do his job, or not - and Sammy would probably prefer that we protect his business partner, rather than chase down a job for a nobody, which probably has less than a 50% chance of paying out (after all, it IS all about the nuyen).

So, do we all know each others names now, since we kind of just skipped into planning?

OOC, based on the Assensing feelings I got off the two, its the johnsons family.

But you shouldn't know that.

I'm cool either way, Scorch said his name at the meet, but figured at Vamp's house, it would be good to go around and introduce ourselves (names, roles, etc). We could either say that has been done, or work it into the subsequent conversation. It will certainly need to come up before we get into the next step of planning .

Yeah, and I always before doing things IC over OOC as well.

Since we did just seem to take a quantum leap on things, sure.

I can't tell if you two prefer saying we already introduced ourselves (and doing it OOC), or working it in IC?

Yes, I agree that we've probably told each other our names during the mysterious time leap. Yes, we should discuss things IC -- it's a roleplaying game afterall, that's half the point. But there's nothing wrong with discussing things in an OOC manner, too. Especially if we keep making these bold leaps.

Okay, cool.

Yes, I think that names can already have been shared. Considering that myself and Crowley already jumped from the lobby to planning, its not too much of a stretch.

I don't have enough time for a full IC post, but we need to remember the 'extra' requirement, and make it look like neo-anarchists. Not that it'll be hard...

Bold leaps are fun. Its often were my face to face group ends up no matter what system we play. ... But IC makes sense on to me, After all this is as much your story as mine, in fact i think pbp's particularly should be more about player interaction than actual mechanics and dice rolling...

I'll just prod you along if its needed and drop some curve balls now and then so you're on your toes.

The easiest way to do that would be to actually get the Neo-As involved, but I don't know if any of us want to deal with them.

A line that caught my attention from the Manhattan book might be worth thinking about:

(pg 9) "The MDC lives in fear of the Neo-Anarchists and their ilk—people they can’t control. Neo-Anarchist is basically a catch-all term for undesirables in Manhattan."

That said, the Blood Rose Gang probably qualifies as Neo-Anarchists, in the eyes of the NYPD - but, in any case, it shouldn't be hard to make it look like somebody undesirable did it.

Zed, Does the duty-roster have specifics about the cops that are going to be manning those positions - or just the fact that they will need that many people for the transfer?

Edit: Oh, and even if it doesn't have specific employee assignments, does it at least have registration information about the vehicles and drones to be reserved for that assignment? Hardware is probably more likely, but I'm interested in both.

Editx2: Also, is it the case that the documents don't mention anything about magical security? As in, it mentions physical assets, like people and drones, but there isn't a work-order or special request attached for warding the van (if that's still possible in SR4), or binding a spirit into service?

And... once again... I would like to apologize to everyone for forgetting about electronic warfare, and the fact that you can't default to it.

Looking up a few options, I've noticed that Scorch can't pick out hidden nodes... except maybe by threading telemetric-infrastructure software (since it does the scan for you, and doesn't use EW) but that would take like 12-24 minutes, and he isn't going to be able to defeat any sort of encryption at all (even rating 1) which I assume the NYPD have readily available.

Assuming we get to the other side of this job, intact, his karma will go to picking up at least a rating 1 proficiency in the skill, which will open up a lot of doors for him (and the team).

FWIW, I made up some slang/shorthand in that last post. HSR = "Hot Sim Rig". The cost of a modded simrig and modded simdeck would run 2300-2500 (depending on whether you have to buy the modded sim module seperate or not), but the availability is high enough that Scorch needs to use contacts, and would normally expect it to take a few days to find - but I figure Deep-Fried might have one on hand, given his profession.

Etiquette for Lilith:
Charisma + Etiquette
10d6=36 3 Hits

Etiquette for Sammy:
Charisma + Etiquette
10d6=32 3 Hits

Oh yeah, I should probably make an etiquette roll for DF, too.

Charisma (5) + Influence (1) = 6 dice
6d6.hits(5) = 2 hits

F*ck yeah! I'm a dragon now!




<-- ('bout time, too)

Oh, I should state that I am looking for either: a M79B1 LAW, which comes with a missile, from Arsenal (which is a 12F availability, 750 ) or the Arbelast II MAW, which comes with no missile, and a Anti Vehicle Rocket (MAW is 14 F in Arsenal, 1200 and the Rocket is 20F in SR4A and is 1000 ).

Also, Blackhat, did you read my message to Sammy and then comment on it?

You self-admittedly shouldn't be able to do that, since the Intercept Wireless Traffic action (to get that information) is a Electronic Warfare + Sniffer (3) test.

No, you're right Scorch couldn't do that if he wanted to. I was commenting on your last verbal comment: "...may be able to procure us a Anti-Vehicle Rocket and disposable launcher."

Don't forget the briefcase rocketlauncher from Arsenal (avail 12, not F, and 1,500 nuyen, or so)

Oh, I thought you were commenting on my message to Sammy " an AV Rocket or two."

Lol, actually, I was thinking 3. One to miss with, one to hit and only cause a dent, and one to finally get lucky and blow the damn thing up.

Edit: Also, I thought it would be like saying "a ____ or three" (at least, I think that's a real saying) - but it didn't really come through, and since your message mentioned "two" I can see where the confusion set in. No, I *wish* Scorch had the EW to listen in on stuff like that. Maybe once we take care of this truck.

Question: Would toxins be pretty common knowledge to shadowrunners? If not, we're gonna have to do without the DSMO, but the 'knockout powder' (which could also be a gas grenade into the truck, for instance) is probably still a good deal, assuming Tom doesn't know about narcojet.

If I didn't need karma for everything else magical, I might spend points on it.

Generic_PC, reminder that there is a pending request for a chat-stream from Scorch, IC (on the second-to-last page)

DSMO has an availability of 3 so it would be fairly common. Probably not on the street common you'd need someone with a bit of chemical knowledge to track it down for you. But yes, you'll know of it and what it can potentially do.

In terms of the Roster

1. Definitely no magical aide listed.

2. Hardware: There are a number of reference numbers mentioned. Nothing obviously named ie Roto Drone.

3. Personnel : its a similar story. there are probably ID numbers (8076, 4690, 12007, 9002, 7731, 1045) listed against each hardware reference number.

Its obvious from the above that you have two separate outriders (12007, 1045) and then two groups of two - 8076, 7731 and 9002, 4690) but not obvious which is which. (one likely the pair in the van, the other pair in the police pursuit vehicle)

No additional hardware is listed for the escort duty. There is a separate Tactical backup hardware and personnel roster listing further hardware and 3 more of the personnel numbers.

On a slightly different note. Does Vamp have a tridplayer (I think it is) and would it be on in the background.

Yes, it is on the Virtual Wall program. It would probably be on the news or something, in a window in the corner or something.

We are probably using the wall for planning purposes.

Marvellous

I asked Zed some questions about the data summary we have above, and he edited it for clarity (FYI, that's what my last post refers to).

Waiting to see what the groups next move is.......

Couple of questions

1. Are we happy to run with 4?
2. Are we happy with the pace to date?
3. Happy with the way the story is progressing right now.

1. I am happy with four people. We may be a little off balance, but it is interesting.

2. I could always move at a faster pace, but the current speed doesn't bother me.

3. Yes, and I will soon have another slew of equipment requests for Sammy and my other contacts.

Good either way. I think we certainly have some holes in our capabilities, but splitting the money 4 ways rather than 5 is tempting, and I agree with Trigger that it does make things interesting to run a little shorthanded.

Quite, although we've gotten to the part where most PBP games slow to inactivity. We need to just make a plan, and run with it... probably moving on from this meet in the next week if at all possible. Otherwise, we could sit in that apartment for months bouncing ideas around about how we should do it, and what the possible problems will be. I don't want to short-change anyone of role-playing time, or rush us into anything we're not ready for, but I think we just need a general plan, then lets get moving, again.

Yes, this is already a very interesting run.

Dr Funk has let me know hell beout of town for a week so ill be npc'ing Crowley..

from what can see you're talking about
1. securing a vehicle
2. finding out what sammy knows of the J
3. armaments and equipment

Once you start the process i can move things along a bit more. try not to bog us down too much in the legwork....

1. We'll need something, but I don't really have an interest in what beyond being able to seat 4, having some armor, and being relatively cheap and disposable. Due to the price, and the way that availability rolls work, we'll never find one in time, so we're at the mercy of one of our contacts having a spare that he'd be willing to sell to use, quickly. I have a feeling we won't be able to be picky, here.

2. I figured it would be best to have Vamp ask, since he might be able to do so discretely, and without insulting anyone's reputation.

3. Again, 2 days might be short notice to find most of the things we've been tossing around - but with the number of dice Vamp has, maybe not. Scorch I think, is as set as he's going to be. If you buy him a rocket launcher, or EMP grenade, he'd just miss with it.

My computer has decided to commit suicide, so I'm posting infrequently, at least in IC, for a while.

Welcome back Dumpshock.

Ill be trying to move things along later today. Were bogging down at the moment i think

Etiquette test for the request to Sammy:

One last piece of legwork that I thought we might want to do, was a quick hack into the CHN or whatever public nodes are registered for the address that the J slipped us. Not expecting to find much online, but if Scorch can access security cameras, or anything like that, it might give us some valuable information about what we should expect to find when we arrive. Not sure what "rating" that neighborhood would qualify as. If its AAA it might not be worth risking, but otherwise, Scorch could spend the remainder of the evening probing the target, and it should be a relatively safe hack.

Oh yeah, where I was going with that was... since hacking can take a bit of back and forth, and nobody else can really help or do anything, rather than keeping hte game from moving forward, if you want, I can get started rolling now, and you can bump us farther ahead, if you that was your plan, and we can resolve the hack OOC - since the outcome is unlikely to affect how we tackle our first objective. Getting a shower now, but I'll try to post up a handful of rolls to get us started.

Attempt to streamline the hack to reduce delay...

First, Scorch will probably need some kind of data search test to locate the "address" of the building's public node, which hopefully he can look up through some sort of directory by cross-referencing the physical address that he has.
I'm hoping that narrows the search down, significantly, so that he only needs to search withing signal range of a given physical location (making the interval a complex action?) and that the knowledge is public (threshold 6?) but I'll just toss out some rolls and see how things go:

Data Search


Assuming anything was uncovered, there are a couple of things that might stop this hack dead in its tracks, and I *think* this is the point where one would check for them:

If either of the first two questions come up positive, we can save a lot of time by not proceeding.

Otherwise, begin probing the target:
This can take a while, but I assume staying up until 1-2am won't be a big deal (which would give him something like 3-4 hours to play around with). If probing the target takes longer than that, the system is probably too secure to get in on the fly, either, and he'll just need to try again another day when he has more time to devote to it.


Assuming those are enough to allow him to try to get in:


Seems like lots of stuff to resolve there, so I'll pause at this point to see how much of it needs to be changed, or whether Zed would rather I hold off on the whole thing, or handle it one step at a time.

Right, ive got my plot moving post from yourselves. Update tomorrow morning my time (not feeling too well right now so im going to sleep)

Hope you feel better tomorrow!

Also, was sort of thinking about playing around with spirits before we left - but we could either save that for a rainy day, or, if Dr. Funk agrees it would be interesting to try in character, we could just mention it when we leap-frog post to whatever zed has planned. Street Magic isn't exactly clear about how it would work for typical hackers, but its quite clear about what would happen to Technomancers - that they can't access resonance while it happens - so it won't be of much use to us... still better to know this ahead of time rather than to find out mid-run.

Was also planning to try to either re-send the encrypted chat request to Thomas, (just to make a comment about scoring some Psyche) or catch his ear on the way out, but that is similarly unimportant to the run, and could also be resolved pretty easily as a comment about how the night went.

Hopefully that will allow you to move on a bit

There are still a couple of things you havent looked into yet.

Will detail the hack IC shortly (dont' want to interrupt anyone who might object to their assignments), but also had a few more things to resolve before calling it a day now that I know what's there to see.

He will stop sustaining exploit the moment he gets inside, obviously.

First question is, of the people within signal range of the CHN (particularly those I can cross-reference on camera) is anyone broadcasting a public PAN?

Secondly, he'll buy 3 successes on a matrix perception test to look for other currently active accounts (1 hit, per) and use any remaining hits to inquire about the current legitimate accounts on the CHN (ie, is it registered to the Johnson- no that we know his real name... yet)

Third, before calling it a day, Scorch will want to make a backdoor, so that when we go for the J's family (or if the rest of the team has questions), he can slip back win without it taking another 4 hours.

Hacking (4) + Edit (6) + VR (2) = 12 dice. Enough to buy 3 hits, which is enough to create a new security account on the CHN node. (Unwired, pg 97, if interested).

He won't log in with the account, yet, and doesn't really have the time to explore much else if its already 2am - so he'll cross his fingers that it will still be there when he tries to log in tomorrow, and logs off to call it a night.

Since the test to find it requires a security hacker to make a Data-Search + Browse (6, 1 day) test, he's pretty confident it'll be there come mid-afternoon tomorrow, at least... probably well into next week if the device is not patrolled regularly.