Quick question on program costs:

When a cost is given in the form of

Rating 1-3
Cost Rating x 1,000 nY

Rating 4-6
Cost Rating x 2,500 nY

Is the cost for a Rating 6 10,500 nY, or 15,000 nY?

I would guess the second, but I don't understand why they only items in the game that are split like this are programs.

Nice, but the wrong competition.

So, Karoline, is this going to be a grid of x by y regions, or will there be high ground, choke points and such?

I'm assuming BC will vary from region to region, but without it being pretty high, spirits and mages will dominate this thing in retarded ways. Especially with the rigger so gimped that he can't even take a large drone or multiple medium drones in..

Yes I'm hoping there is going to be a multitude of of strategic locations like high ground, choke points ect. Makes it strategic and tactical, and I beleive you said thats more for what your gunning for? Boo at having spirits

At what point are we considered to have entered the combat zone? Can I start activating things once I've entered the airspace above the city?

I'm not sure if that answers your question though.

I assume the parachute is an exception to that rule? Where are the rules for parachutes, anyway? I can't seem to find them.

Uhm...It opens and you land?

I take the rules to mean that everyone starts on an 'even footing' and will have to touch down on open ground before the match begins. I'd figure on about a half-hour prep time at most before everyone moves out - enough time to fire drones up, do equipment checks, and decide on a direction.

Once on the ground, can you open fire on folks still parachuting in? For example, if you are signifigantly skilled in parachuting, you might be able to modify your fall so you open your chute later and therefore reach the ground first. This could give you an advantage in allowing you to fire on others still in the air.

Likewise commanding spirits, casting spells should all be limited to when you hit the ground.

I would say no, as that would invalidate the purpose, and also why I think I'll pitch the '1/2 hour after everyone lands' start time to avoid poential wrecks.

edit: I think I'd also pitch the 'automatic ripcord' system of payload delivery to prevent botched 'HALOoops' rolls - the cord's attached to an anchor line in the plane, and it breaks away when you dive out and opens the chute.

Karoline is at least considering having the drop be part of the play. See Here.

Mmm...I'm just seeing possibilities in that response (and I'm glad you pointed me to it, I'd been wondering about the Enforcers for obvious reasons ), and that she's considering multiple approaches to getting the teams to approach, as it were.

If we're not sold on the aerial insertion, I'd also suggest a Half-Life monorail opening or 'you wake up in a safehouse' entry, a la Persons Unknown. The second eliminates trying to get intel on the other people since everyone's already there, the first would open up another dimension to the match- but I'm not sure it would be good viewing down there.

And here I was hoping for some unarmed combat on the plane during the flight in....

NEWS FLASH: First annual Shadow Wars ended before it starts as aircraft delivering contestants disintegrates in mid air. Eye witnesses report simultaneous explosions, fireballs, and lightning bolts. No survivors, as flaming parachutists are seen thundering into the Earth. Details at 11.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Lack of ratings causes show's main backer, Quinton "The Johnson" Bromhammer, to pull funding from show producers. Flagging confidence in production team causes network to pull plug and seek restitution from show director.

How about just walking in from doors scattered around the fence?

Where's the drama in that? We want action, adventure! Chaos!

But that's an idea, too. Though I'm thinking there's no real fence. Unless it's Chernobyl.

Hmm.

Hmmmmmm.

There has to be be something. Otherwise how do we know when we leave the area? I mean, other than our cranial bomb exploding? They probably need to prevent the current dwellers from escaping, too...

If we are parachuting in, and we can't activate items until we hit ground, can we still drop items that can survive the fall?

This may be the first time most of us have ever had to deal with the rules for carrying gear. For instance, in our parachutes, can we bring as much gear as our metatype can carry? Can we be given a gear weight-limit? I'm at the gear purchasing phase for my character, so this is finally coming up.

Would it be fair to take a free spirit as a contact, bring them into Shadow Wars, but have to pay them in Karma for them to do anything?

It would be a way for mundanes to get some protection from magic, at the expense of keeping a chunk of their 100 karma in reserve.

So many damn good questions, this is going to be an awesome game.

Actually, I think I have an answer for the How Much Stuff question. A Bear Shapeshifter has an Body(13) and an Augmented Body(19) for maximums. A Bear bred for killing the crap out of people might have a Genetically Optimized Body. It further might have SURGED, and bulked up like the Hulk. Finally, it might have just been a badass on it's own, and have a Exceptional Body. This titan of bulk would have a Body(16) and an Augmented Body(24) for maximums.

Therefore, the largest our parachutes could possibly be would be able to parachute a bus if Vehicle Body and Metahuman Body are equal on a 1:1 basis. Crap. That didn't actually help.

BODY
METATYPE -- NATURAL MIN/MAX(AUG MAX) -- MUNCHKIN MIN/MAX(AUG MAX)

• Pixie -- 1/3(5) -- 1/6(9)
• Elf -- 1/6(9) -- 1/9(13)
• Human -- 1/6(9) -- 1/9(13)
• Dwarf -- 2/7(10) -- 2/10(15)
• Orc -- 4/9 (13) -- 4/11(15)
• Troll -- 5/10(15) -- 5/13(19)
• Troll Ghoul -- 8/13(19) -- 8/15(22)
• Bear -- 7 /13(19) -- 7/16(24)

Yeah, I think a Body 4 motorcycle weighs more than a Body 4 human.

Vehicles have a history of not performing well being pushed out of a plane, parachute or no.

I think people keep forgetting that there will be supplies in the city, possibly including vehicles.

A toolkit is lighter than a car, after all.

Did you have to tell everybody?

Yes.

I submitted Shadow Wars competitor "Sy" to Karoline. The CONTRA team of microdrones didn't make it to the final cut. Sy fills the gearhead role for those of you who might be interested in having him on your team.

There are possibly two things Karoline might nix on this character, so he may not be finalized yet.

Are you Human or sub-human?

Escaped Clone of a human. What does that make him?

More humans than humane.

I think that makes you a souless automoton, but we can work with that. If you want a spot on the Alamos 20k team, we will take you.

You can sit next to "Greenie the Trog" (Greenie the Trog is an ork who has been to the taxidermist and filled with Nerf foam. One leg appreads to have been chewed on by a rather large dog. Greenie is wearing an assortment of "I voted for Big D" polical slogan paraphinalia).

BTW, I need a price check on an orc corpse and about 30 kgs of Nerf foam.

Frozen or fresh?


5 a kilo for the foam.

Fresh of course, frozen ones are tacky. Now that I think about it, they cost like 1 bullet.

As Rusty the Ghoul would say, 'You're taking food out of my family's mouths at that price!'

I do like multitasking.

I've got this so far for teams

Traul

MET 2000
• "Big Bang"
• "Switch"
• "Birdy"

Tommytwotoes

• ALAMOS 20K

Simon Kerimov

• "Sy"

pgangarth

• "Lucky Eddie"

Johnny B. Good

• "Character"

nemafow

• "Character"

Garvel

• "Magician"

Acme

• "Magician or Adept"

These are the people who expressed interest, but I don't know the status of.

Saint Sithney
Punchline
Fyndhal
Daka Daka
thespookydanger
Dr.Rockso
rinman

pbangarth's PC is "Lucky Eddie". Based on the character from the Hagar the Horrible comic strip.

Do we get bonus points if we are willing to start out with a nasty Tag? Just use the Allergy table to come up with extra Build Points. A constantly broadcasting kill-me security tag etched onto your bones would be worth the most points, and a very low ping rate "marco-pollo" tag would be worth the least.

Alternately, you could make teams or team members wear certain tags without recompense to level the playing field enough that we can fill up the rest of the roster.

Tags won't work well: jammers are not that expensive.

What will be the average background count? 0? 1? 2?
From the answer depends, if foci are usefull, because with availability limit 15 you only get level 3 foci.

This is probably something nasty, little Karoline won't be willing to tell us. She could prove me wrong, though!

Hey, if things go well, the background count should get worse as we play.
What do you think Greenie?
<sticks hand behind Greenie and shakes him a little so his foam filled head flops around> "I do loves me the magics."

See that, Greenie likes the magic, so you should be fine.

Karoline, I need to send you a repaired character stat sheet, but your PM mailbox is full and won't accept my message.

From what Karoline posted in one of the games she (assumption there) is switching internet providers. I don't think we can worry that she ran away from all of our broken characters quite yet. Maybe tomorrow.

You know, since this hasn't started yet... Who's in the market for a solid mage or adept? I can solo or team up.

added to roster.

Really? I thought that was just an excuse for the release of Starcraft 2

Did that come out? The world has ended.

Garvel, Saint Sithney and pbangarth are now a team.