Here's a perception test for patting down the biker: 6d6.hits(5)=1 - bleh! EDIT: should be 7d6 but I rolled a 2 on the extra one so no change.
Main thing I'm looking for is his credstick/ID, so I can see if he is our man.

I don't have intimidation as a skill. I'm hoping he's shaken up enough that having a machine pistol poked into his chest will keep him from trying anything.
Defaulting to charisma (3) - defaulting (1): 2d6.hits(5)=1

Hey, its worth a shot. Psychometry is a specialization of Assensing, and what can Professor lose? Red-ROM, I will throw in the actively looking bonus for Perception. If you don't think that applies, please remove the last three dice.

Assensing for lingering traces in the shit-hole room: INT 4 + Assensing 5 + active looking 3 = 12 dice ==> 2 HITS

Wow. He really is new at this. It's only 1 HIT if the last three dice are removed. Almost a glitch!

Looks like we got some kind of errant post in our IC thread. Can we summon a forum mod or something?

Also, is there a window on the second floor that we might jump down out of to get away without a fight? If the guy left a rope in the room that would be ideal!

Errant post? If you're referring to me, Huge, this is Red working me in.

No, no, there was a spam-like entry which I reported and it got deleted by the Powers-That-Be.

Aha! Well I suppose it was deleted before I got there so the only conclusion I could draw was that my burgeoning storyline was the odd post out. Heh.

Yep, it's like pbangarth said, glad to have you aboard Acme!

Yeah, me too. Hope your guy lasts a while!

Welcome aboard Acme. The way PC death's are mounting up, I hope you survive at least until you meet the rest of the team!

I've got a feeling that when Seph posts next it's going to change some things.

He's potentially got a Watcher spirit attuned to our guy, which should clear up all confusion as to where the buddy is.

Ah I should survive pretty well... I'm a Coyote shaman after all. We last forever. Hell, if it weren't for we Coyote shamans, there wouldn'ta been a Great Ghost Dance. XP

@ HugeC: the rooms themselves are too small for windows that you (or even Professor) could fit through. theres one in the hall thats bigger. Half the glass is already missing.

Not only is it not a perception test(I don't want to bring extra modifier tables in if we don't have to), but Using psychometry on a "place" is a -2. I guess if you do it to the pillow he slept on instead? seems like splitting hairs. I guess there could be a situation where it isn't obious what a person has been in contact with. But we'll skip it this time and go with 1 hit.

Hey, Red-ROM, that's better than I was expecting! See? Fishing works sometimes.

I'm working on my long post currently, Red-ROM. BTW, I don't intend this in any metagaming sort of way, but I was thinking of attuning another watcher to one of the ganger fellows on the first floor to keep them under surveillance, and to come back shortly before the present astrally to refresh those watchers. Would it be alright if, as of HugeC's last post, Jovan and/or his refreshed watchers were already on the scene, prepared to distract the gangers if needed? I'm thinking of having Jovan's plotting-nosferatuness be more along the lines of Crazy Prepared first before I start trying other Xanatos stuff.

Drain roll for watcher 1

9d6.hits(5) → [4,3,6,6,6,1,4,6,5] = (5)
= no damage

summoning watcher 2

10d6.hits(5) → [4,5,2,3,5,6,6,6,1,6] = (6)


drain: 9d6.hits(5) → [6,1,4,4,1,5,3,4,5] = (3)

Jovan takes 3 Stun damage.

Due to lack of time from constant interruptions, I can only post the first half of my post tonight. THe other half will be tomorrow when I have time.

Welcome to the team, Acme!

Well, when you're traveling to a place on the Astral where you've been before, you can "run" at about 3000 m/ct, so getting back to the hotel to refresh your watchers or deal with any new mojo should be a snap. A supersonic snap at that.

Also, for insured health, you might want to break it up into a couple of medium posts. It's been 5 days since your 2nd to last post.

I know some of you are waiting on me, I'll post tonight

@ Seph: Jovan can heal 3 drain in the first hour of rest [2,5,4,6,6,6] = (4)

Yo ROM, I know about 2 minutes passed between the biker leaving and us taking him down, but about how far did we travel?

In other words, do you want me getting involved in the hotel fracas? Thirty did call for a distraction, and Oswald is a distracting sort of guy..

I can't guarantee that I'll be able to post today, as I leave for college tomorrow and I have a lot of packing and preparation to do, but I'll see what I can do.

@Sithney: I'll try to work around this, but if I understand correctly, Jovan can't read his messages when he's projecting. I'll adjust though; Jovan's an intelligent fellow.

Hey, Sephiroth! Professor is Number One on Jovan's kill list. I feel special!

@ Saint: The biker got about a mile and a half before kissing the wall. You can do whatever you want, I wouldn't recommend doing what I want you to do

@ Seph: I would like to refer you to page 81 in your hymnal (Runner's companion) before you drink that soycaf and eat something from the kitchen. You too can do what you want, but there may be consequences

@ Acme: I am a little confused by your post. I assume you are talking to the cab driver? and if so, are you asking him to ditch the old man and give you a ride? the phrase "get behind you" is throwing me. Are you trying to say it so the old guy doesn't hear?

Thirty wants to cut the remains of the window out. I guess this would be attacking a barrier.

Attack roll: Agility 4 + Blades 4 + Swords spec 2 + Weapon Focus 2 + personalized grip 1 = 3 hits

I forgot reach, but I don't think it will matter. Since the window can't dodge, that makes the damage (str7 / 2 = 4, +3 for the sword, +3 for hits=) 10P, with AP -1. If he can just cut the glass, then it has 2-1=1 die to resist, and it is owned. If you count it as "cheap materials", it gets 4-1=3 dice to resist. Say they are all successes, it will still take 7 damage, which is enough for a 1x2 meter hole. I'll g'hed and post IC the he cuts out the window.

Thirty doesn't have Athletics (blerg!) so I guess he can try to "climb down" by defaulting to Strength. The book says "side of an old building" is a -2 modifier, so I'll assume at least that, plus -1 for defaulting: Climbing: Strength 7 - 1 defaulting - 2 situation = 2 hits

EDIT: When I made my IC post, I decided it would be better to let Red post again before I posted Thirty climbing out, so I'll hang onto that climbing roll for when the time comes.

1) Professor Increase AGI roll: (not that it will help him climb, that uses STR, but it might help him get out the window without tripping!): MAG 6 + focus 4 + Imp. AGI 1 = 11 dice ==> 0 HITS ... oh fuck!

2) Hell... an AGI roll just to see if we can have a humourous death this time: 3 dice ==> 0 HITS ... alright then...

3) Heightened Concentration to overcome the negative modifier of hanging upside down on the wall (up to -6 is nullified).

4) Climbing roll: STR 4 - defaulting 1 + EDG 3 = 6 exploding dice ==> 3 HITS YESSSSS!

By the book, Ferret's carrying capacity is 30 kg with a body (3) + strength (3) test 6d6.hits(5)=1 increasing that by 10 kg per success to a max of 60 kg. So even if biker dude is just average SR weight for a human (78 kg), Ferret is gonna be dragging his sorry ass across the ground.

You are referring to this, yes?


Jovan is no mere vampire, good sir. He is a nosferatu. So on one hand, he has a much harder time going unnoticed among metahumanity and actually has his face melt off in the sun (unlike vampires), but on the other he can eat and drink whatever he likes as long as he fulfills his weekly blood requirement. I admit this isn't really spelled out in the mechanics section for nosferatus, but it is mentioned in the relevant section of page 63 of Runner's Companion.

Yeah, hmm.. Should have made that clearer when I posted. Ah me, it was late. Yeah, he's offering the cabbie an extra twenty to let him get in the seat behind him (IE so he wouldn't have to muscle the old guy out of the way.) He's not being particularly malicious, he just was presented with a situation where he's looking for transport at Coyote's direction and the cabbie seems to be not wanting to pick the old guy up. And yeah, I thought I wrote that he whispered it to the cabbie so the old guy wouldn't hear.

I just posted that because it's what Oswald would do. Also, it helps simulate the chaos of the battlefield, missed messages and broken communication lines.

well how do you like that! I could cut out all the words in this book and shake them in a bag and the resulting pile of scrap would be no harder to reference than it is now. I stand corrected. Also, I can't blame the book entirely. I haven't put in the time as a GM yet to be intimately familiar with 4th ed

hehe, I love dice. So do you resist 1 drain now?

Oh yeah... a stress situation if ever I saw one! Resist Drain: WIL 5 + BOD 4 = 9 dice ==> 4 HITS

Damn right he resists that 1S Drain!

@ HugeC: Roll initiative

Intuition 3 + Reaction 6 = 5 hits, so my total is 14.

@ hugeC: you're going first.

@ Acme: can I get an Assensing roll. Also, I can't find coyote as a mentor spirit. Did I miss it, or is this something you came up with. It sounded normal, so I didn't think anything of it. I just wanted to play it right (also get straight what advantages and disadvantages you had). Are you using the Trickster as a base?

@ all: we're supposed to be getting a hurricane here today (off the coast), so who knows how that will effect my internet access

quick edit: anyone joining the fray or acting on the scene in a time sensitive manner should roll initiative

Red-ROM: Yes, Coyote is, in 4th Edition Rules, the Trickster. For some stupid reason they decided to get generic with the Trickster stuff, which torques me off a bit since Coyote was by himself in the previous three editions... Granted, the upside is that Trickster/Coyote shamans actually GET benefits, instead of the no benefit/no ban in the previous three eds.

In 4th Ed- Trickster benefits: +2 dice to cast Illusion spells, +2 dice to Con tests Ban: Cha + Will (3) to avoid pulling a prank (which I'd already say he did. )

Assensing Roll 5d6 → [4,3,5,6,5]

In case I can get in on the ground action with the gangers, I'm going to roll a Perception check to spot them. I might not be able to jump into it on CT #2 but, perhaps I can help.

I didn't include the Attn Coprocessor since it's through the Sensors again but 8d6.hits(5) → [4,4,3,5,2,4,3,4] = (1). Thinking on it now, since it's an actual Perception test instead of a Sensor check I'll throw those 3 as well. Just a touch more to take off the end for negative modifiers, "Far away" and all that.

Here goes. 3d6.hits(5) → [2,1,2] = (0) Huzzah! 3 more crap dice to burn!

Professor beneath the window

1st combat round: Increase AGI (simple action), Increase REA (simple action) 11dice, twice ==> 4 HITS; 3 HITS
Gives AGI 7, REA 6, lasts 8 and 6 combat rounds respectively

2nd combat round: Initiative: REA 6 + INT 4 = 10 dice ==> 3 HITS, Initiative 13
Perception roll: INT 4 + Perception 5 + looking actively 3 = 12 dice ==> 5 HITS
Quickdraw pistol: REA 6 + Pistol 3 = 9 dice ==> 4 HITS

Ready to shoot once this round if there is a target.

Edit: Now, if only there were a mage on the team who could Increase his Reflexes. Professor could sustain it himself and handle the -2 dice with Heightened Concentration. But, no, all those wags on DS who say that's such a common, necessary spell, and everyone has it, so there's a real problem with Shadowrun, isn't there? So I believe them and take Living Focus so Professor can benefit from the standard, boring speed increase. How many mages have we gone through so far in the first day of the run? Two dead and one undead avoiding Professor at all costs. How many have Increase Reflexes? Zero. That's the mark Professor gives his Living Focus plan.

Well, since he can only see one ganger, and I'm feeling magnanimous, Thirty will do the following with his 3 IP's.

IP 1: Aim (simple action), Called Shot to knock the ganger's gun out of his grasp (free action), Fire (simple action)
IP 2: Full dodge, assuming the one ganger he can see, or others, try to attack; make an intimidation attempt if not
IP 3: Climb out the window

His normal shooting DP is 10, +1 for aiming, -4 for the called shot, so 7 dice ==> 2 hits. I'll let you knock off any dice for range or other modifiers, Red, and then I'll post in IC once I know what happens.

EDIT: BTW Red, I am looking at the third bullet under Called Shots on p. 161 of the book, but it says "pending GM approval" so let me know if I am allowed.

EDIT2: Just in case he actually gets to make his intimidation test, I'll roll it. I'll assume the gangers are hostile (-3). I figure the "obvious weapon" modifiers cancel out. The gangers probably outnumber Thirty (-2), but maybe he is physically imposing in some way, since he is an awesome ork samurai (+1 to +3), so I won't count those and let you adjust. My desired result for the test is for the gangers to stay here while he and Professor leave (which will become clear once I do the IC post). I'm not sure whether that's advantageous, neutral, or annoying to them, so once again I leave it to you. Charisma 4 + Intimidation 1 + Physical specialty 2 + Kinesics 3 - Hostile NPCs 3= 3 hits

@ HugeC: you hit the gun! DV= 7, more than enough to blast the gun out of his hand

@ Saint: yea, go ahead and add the attention coprossesor, thats a perception test. I think that you could argue that its RAW to use it in active targeting, I'm just not trying to bring the perception modifier table into that whole scene.

@ Acme: thanks for clearing that up, I played 3rd ed for a long time, and just assumed it was in there, you can imagine my suprise when I went looking for it. Anyway I'll post the assensing results IC

Couple of questions:

Does the biker match the profile of any of BDLLs crew?

Is the woman's voice / commlink ID the same as the one the biker called?

Can I gauge how much work it would be to edit/hack the fake ID so I could use it myself?
I know the books present fake IDs as something not easy for a decker to make on his own, so I'm cool with NOT A F*CKING CHANCE.

So, I guess unless something fun happens, Thirty and Professor will proceed to the Ford Americar.. cautiously.

I think initiative and combat rounds might be hard to track in the current situation since we're in and out of combat type situations. and it could hold up posting for some. So I'm gonna keep it loose. I know Professor has some combat turn sensitive boosts, and there are potential hostiles all over, so its gonna be tricky

@ notsoevil: no, the biker is not BDLL obviously, and your employer has been less than forthcoming on the details of the rest of his crew. This might even be to their detriment, but knowledge ain't free, and this is still a bit of a test run to see if they can trust you guys. Yes, this is the chick returning his call. As for the ID, its a fake(R2) and is pretty easy to change out some photo's on. All the rest of the work is done (as far as creating it). The info is bogus, so it won't stand up to intense scrutiny, but it works. the connected bank accounts are real (although they contain just enough to hold the account open). I don't know if Oswald has called dibs, since he's copied the same info as he intercepted it.

Professor looks in the astral. I'm not sure whether an Assensing roll is needed here or a Perception roll, since he is checking to see what is there, rather than trying to figure out what it is. Whatever... it's the same number of dice. You figure it out, Red-ROM.

12 dice ==> 3 HITS

Alright, sensor test to lock on the vehicle.

I'll roll the full compliment of dice here, since I assume that this is a gas-powered car. I'll even throw in the hotsim dice, since, technically the Sensor test is a Matrix Action. As always, go ahead and subtract dice to fit the situation best.

Initiative: 4 Response + 5 Intuition + 1 hotsim + 10d6.hits(5) → [3,3,2,2,3,3,5,3,4,6] = (2) =12
I, er, already made the post assuming that no one had opened fire yet.

So...
Simple Action: Sensor Lock10d6.hits(5) → [2,1,6,1,1,2,3,3,6,2] = (2)
Simple Action: Talk on coms
Free Action: Grumble to himself.

If bullets are already flying, I'll just free aim the shot with the range penalties. Before I roll that up and all, here's a barrage of quick questions. Called Shot, as a Free Action, does it require a Take Aim action first? Is it available with a Gunnery test? Can a gunnery test involve Take Aim actions? Can you call shot to increase damage on any target, or only on a person?

no, called shot does not appear to require a take aim action, its available with a gunnery test. a gunnery test is a complex action (for you using the command function) so you wuold have to aim the IP before you fired, but I think you can. YOu can "aim for vital areas" on any target the GM agrees "has vital areas". So the buggy there, has an engine block, radiator, gas tank, but this stuff borders on called shots for specific effects, like shooting out tires, which may change the modifier. so if you just want to do more damage, I think its possible, and I'll adjust the fluff according to the damage. IF you want a leaky radiator, we'll have to decide how hard it is to do (including bypassing armor on the grill or whatever)

How about I roll a Design (Vehicle) knowledge skill check to see if I can suss out its vital areas, then we do the regular -4 dice for a called shot to target a specific area?

No Nanites in combat, so.. skill 1 + logic 8 + 1 college = 10d6.hits(5) → [5,6,5,6,2,2,6,4,6,6] = (7) Guh. Always nice to waste the good rolls on fluff.

you know the vital spots on a car as much as I do I'm sure. Oswald clearly has an in depth knowledge of the thing. Just let me know waht effect you're goin for and roll

Oh dear.

I have one combat turn! BUt I don't have time to post right now! Damn college orientations!

Jovan's elemental should still be sustaining Concealment on him for -3 dice to perception.

@ Acme: Sorry if this seems like a wild goose chase, It hasn't gone the way I thought (when does it ever?), so maybe you stumble on to something, or maybe you just kill time until your contacts hit you up about a job. I try to make the dropping and adding players as organic as possible, but it's pretty daunting

@ the motel crew: you guys have the initiative, so I'm giving you the chance to act. I think Oswald spent a turn talking and targeting, Ferret is pawing through the guy's cammlink, and checking voicemails, professor spent one simple action to observe in detail and one to shift perception. so its probably Thirty's turn. I feel like its been a while for Jovan, but maybe he's observing in detail as well