@ Red-ROM- Heh, sorry, I didn't mean to break your plans.. I try to not meta so I was just acting like a Coyote shaman arguing with the fuzzbutt would. Here's an assensing roll though.

5d6.hits(5) → [4,6,2,6,2] = (2)

Seeing as Professor was just checking the astral area out, it won't have been an Assensing, but rather this (from p. 191 of SR4A):



Now, professor has never met a vampire of any kind, so the first impression should be confusing, and if there is Concealment going on....

@ seph: I think your spirit left at sunrise dude.

Hey no worries, you're doing what your character would do. I can adjust.

Sorry, I was referring to the air elemental that I had actually forgotten to summon. =/

Summoning said elemental: 2 Conjuring + 4 Magic + 4 Power Focus = 10d6 = 5 hits

Spirit's Force roll against my roll: 3d6 = 1 hit

4 services owed.

Drain roll resisting 2S - Willpower 3 + Logic 6 = 9d6 = 2 hits

No damage taken. Optional power: I can haz Elemental Aura plz?

Second initiative pass, he commands the spirit and observes in detail, I suppose? He's also delaying further action until he sees a look of comprehension on Professor's face/aura, if that's ok. I don't know whether that applies with the third initiative pass or whether that's for a future combat turn, though.

assensing (8d6.hits(5)=3)

double post

So, is that a watcher spirit hanging over the truck, or this elemental? If the latter, I will edit my post.

Watcher, I think. Jovan's just summoning the elemental on the spot. The watcher's been on one of those gangers for a few hours.

Professor Assenses the unknown astral entity, his Heightened Concentration overcoming the negative modifier of whatever power is trying to hide it (up to -6):

INT 4 + Assensing 5 + Actively looking 3 = 12 dice ==> 3 HITS

@pbangarth: does three hits let Professor recognize Jovan as a nos without having seen a vampire before, then? The Assensing table in SR4A isn't exactly clear on how many hits lets you see HMHVV and how many hits lets you identify the type of Infected.

@sephiroth: If he had gotten 5 hits, then I think a clear picture would have come to him. With 3 hits, this point:

"A general diagnosis for any maladies (diseases or toxins) the subject suffers."

I figure puts him into the following loop;

1. It's dead.
2. But it's not dead.
3. Go to #1 till you figure it out, moron.

That's where he is now till Red-ROM steps in to give his interpretation of 3 hits. Professor has every magical and Quality memory enhancement available, and problem solving enhancements too, so if he has read about it even once anywhere, he should be able to figure it out. He may very well not be able to tell Nosferatu versus another type of vampire, though. And Red-ROM might choose to keep him further in the dark. Even at his most ignorant, Professor is going to have to be nonplussed by Jovan's aura.

EDIT: Please don't kill him yet.

I don't plan to, as Jovan is not quite THAT murderous, but i think this may require some serious speed chess on Jovan's part to keep the situation contained.

EDIT:


So Jovan's attempt to kill Professor would ultimately depend on Professor, really.

Whew!

I'm happy to play along with your characterization of Jovan, sephiroth. It should be a lot of fun as we dance around trying to recognize, trying to obfuscate. It's just, well, there Jovan is, hanging over the combat zone in astral space. Professor couldn't not look.

EDIT: and it will be hard (but I bet not impossible! ) for Jovan to find Professor a threat somehow.

Aye, it'll be quite an interesting game of metaphorical chess, indeed. A perceiver and a plotter - what a fun dance that will be!

It looks like my hard drive crashed last night. Won't be able to fix it for a while, so I will have to go downtown to use public computers till I can. I will try to get to a computer once a day if I can.

Here's a roll to convince the gangers that it's better for everyone if they just go back inside. I'm guessing it's Negotiation, but the roll would be identical if it's Con or Etiquette or Intimidation (Physical). Charisma 4 + Negotiation 3 + Kinesics 3 = 2 hits. Bleh. But who knows, maybe they will go for it.

Current system status for Ferret's head:

PAN: Hidden
Commlink: Response 4, Signal 3, Firewall 6, System 4
Active programs: Stealth, Analyze, Scan, Spoof. (-1 Response).
Stealth is always on, Analyze is likely still running but EW and Spoof will need to be loaded and I'm only doing it in an AR window so takes 2 full rounds.

1st round: Load EW (complex action), detect active/passive nodes (Free action), focusing primarily on the gangers
2nd round: Load Spoof (complex), detect active/passive nodes (Free action), focusing primarily on team.
3rd round: If any of the gangers or the buggy is not showing a node, EW (4) + Scan (3) to try and find one (gangers first) = 7d6.hits(5)=2, threshold is 4, so no luck.

If anyone starts shooting anywhere in Ferret's direction, he stops snooping and reverses out of the parking lot.

Looks like you better duck. There's going to be a lot of car parts flying in just a moment...

Also, it might do to keep your timestamps in line with the combat turns. We should still be waiting for the ganger's first IP on CT 1.

Meanwhile, that buggy might not be there anymore by IP 2..

hey guys, bit of a holiday weekend, I'll have to get back on this tomorrow, I think we all have some time.
Professor sees that Jovan has a disease, and that its awakened, and that Jovan is undead. I don't think its clear what strain of HMHVV

Does Jovan notice that Professor notices? Is that allowed?

You could use assensing in to discern his emotional state with a single hit, and then use the power of Natural Paranoia to assume any fear or fright is a result of him recognizing your nature.

Natual Paranoia power FTW. I did the assensing roll in my post with the summoning roll, but I can't tell from pbangarth's post whether Professor is fearful or just shocked.

Professor's philosophy is 'live and let ... unlive'. I'm not sure how communication is carried on in astral space. There is a suggestion that one can 'see' and 'hear' but more on an emotional level. So that's what I will try to convey in the IC thread.

My understanding (anyone jump in and correct me if I'm wrong) is that you can hear perfectly well while astrally perceiving/projecting. Thus, Professor could hear the sound of Thirty speaking next to him, and even the sound of the speaker in his earbud. Jovan can speak, and Professor can hear what he says too. I had thought before that you could not hear sounds coming from technological devices while perceiving or projecting, but posters on Dumpshock have disabused me of that notion, and SR4A rules seem to support that you can hear audio devices normally.

I think that Professor would have to talk out loud in the physical, and Jovan could hear him in the astral if within normal hearing distance. Jovan cannot hear or speak on the comms, since he is not "there" at his body to do so.

I was going to ask this same question. My Understanding is that Astral perception is a psychic or emotional sense, i.e. you can't see the words on paper, but you can get the emotional content(I think this is in the book, but maybe I picked it up on dumpshock). I imagined that "hearing" with Astral perception would be the same way. However, when manifesting, you can communicate verbaly, which leads me to believe that hearing still works pretty much the same. I can't really explain this "fluff wise" but thats what I got. Anyone else want to weigh in on this?

I think Jovan's paranoia would assume Professor knows even more than he does

I really need to install a PA on that blimp.

okay, The ganger is firing supperessive fire at the alley. nobody's hit unless they try to do something besides hiding. The buggy is pulling forward toward the ally and turning towards the van trying to get out of the parking lot.

I'm trying to find a balance between natural paranoia and intelligent recognition of various possibilities. Jovan's a paranoid guy, yes, but he's also not dumb enough to dismiss possible outcomes as impossible (except when it comes to his sense of superiority, as touched upon after his meeting with Mrs. Johnson).

I agree with your understanding in the words example, and am also fairly sure it's in the book. I also seem to remember a line (probably in SM, as I couldn't find it in a word search in SR4A) stating that language is still a communications barrier in astral space. As for your manifestation point, I've seen it said somewhere on dumpshock that you are still an astral form when manifesting, and thus your perception is still rooted in the astral. So you can tell meat teammates stuff 'verbally,' but still receive what they're telling you as emotional content. But I don't believe this is mentioned in the books. Make of that what you will.

@ Seph: I'm not saying you have to jump to conclusions, and you're right, it could be offset somewhat by your ego. I just find it a plausible conclusion to draw, and paranoia tends to lead one to explore the horrible "what if " scenarios, but as I kind of said to others, It's your character, act how you wish. If you want to roll something, use judge intentions (Logic + intuition)

That would be helpful indeed.

IS THIS DOOD TRUSTWORTHY? Probably not, but dice say... (12d6.hits(5)=5)

Professor means what he says.

Gas tank it is.

3 Gunnery+ 6 Command + 1 Link opt + 2 Codeslinger + 2 hotsim + 2 Active targeting -4 called shot for specific effect = 12d6.hits(5) → [6,4,4,6,4,4,1,3,2,1,6,1] = (3)

Great. Now we really need to duck!

Did you roll a Judge Intentions test?

I think that's what this was.

Hiding it is!

I let the timing be a little vague in my post, so Jovan's response can easily come after Oswald blows up the armored car if needed.

I have my computer back, but I am having trouble with the text entry box. I can't move the cursor with mouse or arrow keys and the cursor doesn't show. So editing requires backspacing all the way to where the error is and rewriting. Sucks. Until I fix this, my posts may look funny. Sorry.

@ saint: I'm not sure what effect you are going for, trck running out of gas in a mile, or violent explosion.

Considering we targets are less than a mile away, I hope the latter.

Putting those Explosive rounds to work. Ka-blooey!

I figure it ought to wake every ganger in 5 miles or so...

If it doesn't explode, I'll just shoot them all, one right after another. Oswald is upset and needs to lash out, and these sad little gangers are a pretty good representation of everything he hates in the world.

driver's reaction + handeling: [4,5,3] = (1)

so 2 net hits = 10P vs. 4(-3) armor:[3,2,5,3,6,3,1,3,3] = (2)

plenty o' physical damage....boom!

While the boys check out the americar, Ferret will sit idling on the road just outside the car park and run a trace on our biker's lady friend. He has her ID and if necessary will send a message from the biker's comm that he can follow.

Programs running: Stealth, Analyze, Track.

Computer (4) + Track (3) - I'm assuming she's not running stealth (-dice) or spoof (+threshold) so would just need 10 hits on an extended test. Note that if I need to do something else to track her down like a search, the dice are the same.

7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=1, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=3, 7d6.hits(5)=1, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=4, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=2, 7d6.hits(5)=3 - so about 4 rounds even in AR mode. Once I have a hit, I keep Track running to monitor her location (within 50m assuming a wireless commlink).

Oh, man. It really is a shame that with such a low Willpower Oswald is essentially a coward. I mean, senile ignorance is a semblance of bravery, but how hilarious would it be for Ozzy to fly up to the Rusted Stiletto's camp, crack open his rigger cocoon and start taking pot-shots with his laser pistol while screaming, "OOOOZZZZwwwAAALLLLDDD SSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnKKKKKLLLLLLeeeeESSSS!!!!" all Leroy Jenkins style.


Aggro'd.

Pilot check for Maximum Acceleration! Command 6 +2 Piloting +1 Comlink Optimization +2 Code Slinger +2 hotsim -1 operating from VR (again, too stressed for the nanites to help) = 12d6.hits(5) → [4,2,3,2,3,4,1,3,6,5,3,3] = (2) Not very impressive... oh well..

Ozzie dropped in the mention of a hospital in or on the fringes of the barrens and that Ferret might know about it. Ferret doesn't actually have area knowledge of the barrens (He probably should and with GM permission, I would like to juggle a couple of knowledge skill points around to reflect that) but he does have lots of knowledge about the street gangs, street drugs and pharmaceuticals so might know if the hospital was legit or just a body shop.

Intuition (3) + Street gangs, street drugs or pharmaceuticals (4) = 7d6.hits(5)=5 - Typical, a great roll for a minor bit of info.

And I can totally see Ozwald going all Leroy Jenkins at a suitably inappropriate moment. He is mad, after all.

Hokay, here's Acme's Fast Talk test for his situation.

9d6.hits(5) → [5,4,4,1,3,1,3,2,5] = (2)

Nice fast-talk, Acme, with or without the roll.

Hehe, well y'know, we Coyote shamans are taught from the beginning to think on our feet (and the new +2 bonus to Con rolls doesn't hurt either)...

@ Acme: yea, good stuff man. What are you carrying into this hotel? whats your PAN mode and your SIN situation?

Hmm.. Well, he's got an expired PCC SIN (which is why I didn't take the quality), a Rating 1 fake SIN listing him as a resident of Seattle, and his PAN is sortof active in a cheap-ass Meta Link, though unchecked. He still can't figure out how to use the damn thing other than for a phone and for his credsticks, classic shaman.