OK, basic premise of the novel is Slamm-0! and Netcat's baby (Currently nicknamed "Hackbaby") has been kidnapped to blackmail the members of the JackPoint to perform some very dirty deal.

A large, complex, intricate job that requires a wide variety of skillsets and a complete lack of morals. The JackPoint is perfect so just such a thing.

Fair enough, a Johnson is just someone that screws you after all, and this one just started off with the screwing rather than waiting 'til the 'Run was over. (We have to flesh out the job as well.).

Problem is, the person in charge gets greedy having his own group of Prime Runners at beck and call while having the kid as leverage. Big. Mistake.

Due to the diverse nature of the characters, I'd suggest this be written as an Anthology, and possibly as a Trilogy of Anthologies. Short stories from a variety of authors, with cannon characters galore.

Book One: The Kidnapping and The Job.

Book Two: Legwork on an epic scale. "The Search for Hackbaby".

Book Three: Roaring Rampage of Revenge (Or, you know, "Rescue and Revenge".).

Pepsi Jedi has pretty much written the ending for us already, with FastJack finishing off the Big Bad with a classic Ares Predator-I and a cheesy '80s Action Movie One-Liner. But a lot of folks have come up with good ideas as well.

Firstus: What do you folks think? Would CGL go for something like this? Would fans buy it? Does it have the legs required to be worth the effort?

Secondus: Let's flesh this out so we can give a very concise proposal to CGL, and let their team of authors go nuts with their favorite JackPointers and Cannon Characters. Pull the Chrome Accountant out of retirement to follow the money. Bull hacking systems left, right, and centre. The Big D... Still being dead. The E-Ghost of Captain Chaos rising from the dead.

Let's have the only stop be the final heartbeat of the people responsible. The Nuyen Stops There, and boy, can we stretch a !

This idea is the definition of awesome. And I both support this full heartedly and would like to be involved in anyway possible. I know that if this orgy of ideas I'd buy it way before, well any source book.

OK, showed this to one of the guys in my group, and he just added more Awesome...

PDF Adventures to go along with the novels: "You've read the book, now run the adventures behind the story!", with the PCs being the Contacts of Contacts needed to do Legwork, Datasteals, Research, Asset Acquisition (Theft of Military Hardware), Smuggling, and secondary roles in the final battle. Mesh the two together as a dual production, and get twice as much bang for your buck!

It has the imputeus to be written well. The story is definitely there. The characters already have a good bit of flesh to them, now we can fill in the brushstrokes. Think of this as the Dragonlance Chronicles of Shadowrun (except so much better).

Would they go for it? I don't know. Written well enough and with a contract through TOR or Baen, it has potential. You're more privvy to the workings of CGL than I am.



Okay. Storyboard time. Bear with me, I had a few ideas that may be wicked in scope and horrible in comparison. I suppose we shall see. One thing I don't want to do is overload these with characters. There are a good number of Jackpointers and canon characters we can draw from, so we have to suss out motivation to both protagonize and antagonize. Rambling. BOOK ONE!

Shadowrun: The Exchange (HackBaby Book One)

What is The Exchange? A network of favors big and small, smoothing the ruffles that pop up in any shadowrun. Nobody knows who runs it or how it works, only that there's a message with a request and a time, and good things tend to happen to people who fill the request. Is it filling a grander purpose? What's its original purpose? How does it have such an overarching view of what transpires in the shadows? Is it self aware?

Does it have a soul?

Enter our trio, the focus of the first book. Slamm-O! has begged his parents for weeks to watch his and Netcat's munchkin Hackbaby because they both have the conclusions of seperate jobs on the same night that require a personal presence. By chance their meets are in the same club, and business turns to pleasure as they share some time as their crews split out to have a good time.

When they return home to see Hackbaby and then part ways until next time, they find the munchkin's gone - and Slamm-O!'s parents dosed with enough laes to make them forget what week it is. They're convinced Hackbaby was never in the house, and there's no evidence the child was, save a single optical chip with a job offer.

At the same time, Netcat gets a pair of messages from an anonymous sender that just seems to come from the Matrix itself, or perhaps even deeper than that. With the subject line of 'Do me a favor', all it asks is 'let Slamm-O! handle the job.'

The second message is corrupted as if it was sent from a stitch in time. It has a text line and a still image. The image is of Hackbaby. The line:
'Get me and this kid out of here.'

The problem now has two directions and one strange patron: The Exchange. Slamm-O! will need to call in every favor he's ever owed on Jackpoint, and promise more than a few in order to pull off the worst job imaginable: Find, and burn, MCT's Rose Garden.

Meanwhile, Netcat has to pull together a team for a very different job - track down the sender of the corrupted message and make sure both are brought out of the light that has them trapped, and back into the shadows where they belong. FastJack takes a personal interest when he sees that the file doesn't have corruption - it has encryption. Encryption he's seen before in a file that belonged to a dead dragon.

i'm sold, i'm in and blast it, i'm gonna write for it.

tell me who to kick my 4ed rebuilt character sheet to and lets kick some hoop

and if thats not needed, i'll just start writing, i just need the mission

besides MCT isnt the first mega i've ticked off

Let's leave Dunkelzahn out of it for now (even if it is just for JackBNimble) and go with something from the original Crash virus from 2029. Fastjack now has to decide whether to not help them get the child back or out himself definitely as a member of Echo Mirage...and thus link his real name to the name "Fastjack", something he's taken great steps to prevent over the decades.

I figured The Exchange was actually Captain Chaos and he's using JackBNimble's technomagic stuff to send super messages from beyond the grave. We don't need Dunk's will, we want our Captain back, and so will Jack.

also, I may be an idiot,but JackBNimble, FastJack, that just seems too easy right there.

The Exchange predates Captain Chaos being an E-Ghost (I keep thinking undead ravers when I say that), so that may or may not be it... A thought, however.

No, JackBNimble and FastJack probably aren't connected. Jack is a pretty common name, and both are plays on words. I don't even know if FastJack was a part of Echo Mirage... If he was, well, he'd be pretty high on the hit list for Ares...

i would be keen to do some writing for this,

also i think that it would need more the 3/4 books, book 2 alone could be a huge saga told over different books from a number of different runners.

I was suggesting a Trilogy of Anthologies (A series of books made up of short stories by different authors) which will have each side told from a different point of view. Get nearly the whole cast of the JackPoint involved in this endeavor. So all three books would be one long saga told from a number of different 'Runners.

Right now, we're in the "Fan Wank" section of planning, which protects us by Topps' declaration that "Fan Websites" are considered OK. But these are cannon characters that are a major part of the IP as it currently stands, so I'm suggesting we flesh this out as best we can to make it an official proposal after we find out what's going on with the Novels later this year. (Apparently there's something involving Neck Punching if there's no forward momentum going by GenCon. But I might be quoting myself giving a misquote on that one.).

Don't let that discourage you, however, as, if this works out, there is going to be a major need for authors to write from all the points of view. Me, I'm hoping I can hop myself up on '80s Action Movies and write Kane's part.

When, exactly, is the Exchange known to be established? I also thought FJ was flat out not a member of Echo Mirage.

I remember a version of it being in 3rd Edition. Can't remember when or where, but it's very similar to what it is in SR4A.

...

Actually, having it be part of the Otaku/Technomancer Shaman "Totems" might be a possibility. It might also be the manifestation of "Karma". Or just a Dragon having a lot of fun with Metahumans.

I swear CanRay, are you trying to get me fired from my wage slave job? I already get busted on Dumpshock when I should be working at least once a day. Now I'm going to have this kind of awesome to distract me as well. I have some ideas, but those will have to wait until I'm off the clock at least.

Part of the Resonance? I find the Exchange to be a soulless entity that's capable of great feats of micromanagement. Like it's supposed to be an AI, or it's a Deus Ex Machina, a self-aware compiling of all the data the Matrix has to offer.

Y'know. Insane.

That's along the idea I had. The Exchange is somethingbeyond resonance realms and otaku. It's before AIs and maybe even man. It is information incarnate so to say. Magic in the old world, as mankind has created what is basically a new reality, it has had to adjust. It's the knowledge of the beings of the world, both natural and artificial it just IS.

Actually, something else just triggered my mind:

"Good morning world. Welcome back. Play nice."
-Saeletra

No one's ever said what the Exchange is, just a bunch of speculation. The first mention was in 3rd Ed in Target: Matrix.

FastJack isn't flat-out anything other than a 72 year old (as of 2071) human male. He spends so much time scouring the Matrix to remove any references to who or what he really is that no one can be sure. The best background we've gotten on him was in Target: Matrix which was taken straight off of Samantha Villiers's private server, and even he says that what she had on him may or may not be true. He also almost never meets in the flesh (as of 2061, don't know about post-crash), so the only people who know what his face looks like aren't going to be talking. But he's the right age to have been a member of Echo Mirage and every member we've seen has turned out to be a huge mover and shaker in the digital world, in one case even after death. The only one that wasn't (the decker contact of Dirk Montgomery in the novel 2XS) was only so because she was insanely paranoid to the point that inside her apartment (which was basically a steel vault), she still wandered around the place in robes made of thick Kevlar sheets. So being a member of Echo Mirage would be a good choice for FastJack's background.

He gets out a bit more, apparently. He took his Nieces to DisneyLand.

So, away from FastJack and back to Hackbaby's abduction, discovery, and rescue!

Fastjack seems to constantly be denying he was part of Echo Mirage, so I don't know what to say about that. It seems like that would be very possible due to his high level of skill and general ability to be where ever he wants.

And CanRay, I don't think FastJack and JackBNimble are connected, I just think it's interesting that they're almost the same play on words. I also doubt that The Exchange is an Immortal Elf. It may be the creation of one, but it makes no sense for it to be a metahuman. I like the idea of it being The Resonance screwing around with the outside world, or an AI trying to manipulate the outside world. It just seems too alien, too perfect, to be a person, but too omniscient to seem like a program. It's a cipher.

Can Ray, i dont know why but that phrase just fills me with dread for some reason. Currently working on anagrams of that name.

I can see fast jack being an echo mirage member, it would be a good background for him, someone there from the begining of the matrix up to its current incarnation which i believe will be very very hard to crash

As for the exchange, i agree that its a probably either an AI (probably something growing that isnt even quite self aware) or a mixing of knowlege

That was a statement that FastJack found on Shadowland just when the world started to go crazy (2011, before FastJack could even shave!), what he considers the first sign that something weird is going on even Online. No one has figured out yet what it means.

So, the Exchange might be a good plot hook, but I doubt it'd be directly involved with the kidnapping of Hackbaby. It's major thing is Karmetic Reimbursement. You do a good deed for the Exchange, you get a good deed in return.

So, it might be the MacGuffin that sets the JackPoint on the trail to find Hackbaby. Good though, folks!

What else can we think of?

We should probably lay down who the hell wants to steal the poor little Hackbaby. Or who's got the balls enough, knowing who the parents are. Or maybe they don't when they nab he/she up. I don't really recall Netcat or Whamm-O making any glaringly obvious enemies of superpowers.

MCT is gathering Roses, they'd be good antagonists even if they're not 'The Man Behind The Curtain." I'm trying to think of folks that Netcat and Slamm-oO have pissed off, and I got nothing off the top of my head.

Mostly because they've not made enemies more than they have to, Slamm-O! has always been a bit of a braggart but he backs it up, and Netcat.... is a technomancer, top tier from what I've read but neither goes out of the way to make enemies. The best boogeymen are MCT and remnants of Ex Pacis, or the Discordians.

Something that targeted only makes sense if Hackbaby is the collateral to do our impossible job.

One of the long-term ideas I had for the triology was that the entirety of it - the Rose Garden job, the tracking of the faceless antagonist, the eventual reveal, the Exchange - was what amounted to a decision based on statistical analysis. The Rose Garden had to be burned so the secrets of the Resonance wouldn't be revealed. The act of kidnapping Hackbaby sets all this into motion with the singular goal of the Resonance protecting itself and electing to out a few of its unknowing/unwilling agents to do so.

Think Paycheck, with a touch of Eagle Eye and doses of The Malloreon. Simmer, stir occasionally, serve when chemical reaction causes a saucy explosion.

Alright, I gotta say that's pretty awesome. Making The Exchange The Resonance and having the entire thing a ploy for self-defense is pretty sweet, we still need someone for Fastjack to shoot with his trusty Predator 1

A physical body needs to be holding Hackbaby. Someone so amoral and full of themselves that they think themselves above "Shadowrunner Scum", and cowardly enough to be willing to hide behind a baby.

The Exchange probably intended this to be a One-Job deal, with the Karmatic Return being Hackbaby, safe and sound, and possible training of Hackbaby whenever (s)he is old enough to go into the Matrix. This guy being the one that is "Extending The Contract" out of his own greed. Thus turning the Karma around on him so that it starts helping out the JackPoint Posse.

Certainly puts him squarely into the "Complete Monster" and "Too Stupid To Live" areas. (Note complete lack of TV Tropes links.).

Bless your heart. You save our souls!

This is the problem I've been wrestling with. One, how to get Hackbaby away from two seasoned runners? Two, who would get Hackbaby away from two seasoned runners?

My first thought is "Durr, Immortal Elf." That thought is quickly bagged and taken out back by the rest of my brain to be shot in a shallow ditch and coated in lye to remove identifying marks.

We know that Hackbaby is the prize, with ducats, for the job, but if this was a statistical decision then preparations would be made to extend the estmated time of completion so that the munchkin isn't tracked down. The Exchange can do this with the favor system. "Favor: Take Child H to <Location>. Child available at <Time>." And it just keeps dancing and dancing around, making it so Netcat and the trace team can't quite catch the munchkin. Always off kilter.

Then the butterfly flaps its wings. Enter Angry Johnny. He's Too Dumb To Live, but the Exchange requested a favor for him to watch the munchkin for a night while he was on his delivery rounds. Nobody pays attention to his van, because nobody pays attention to Angry Johnny. He's nearly broke, and he needs the good karma and the favor so he can get his rent paid again this month. Hackbaby's going to get traded off before his next delivery, so maybe he can sneak a free KuppaKaf out of the trade-off.

Flap. Flap. Flap. Bam. He hits a pothole and the transmission falls out of his van. He's dead in the water with a munchkin in the passenger seat, dead asleep, no nuyen, no favors owed, and now no car. So he calls ahead to his next delivery, who's pissed - and comes to pick up their package. Then they see the kid, and they start asking about it.

Angry Johnny explains what's going on, with the Exchange, how the kid's going to be dropped off, so on and so forth...And he's surprised when they say they'll take care of it for him. He's had a hard enough day, oh and by the way - here's your payment for the aborted delivery! Angry Johnny, well, he's ecstatic!

By the time Netcat and the trace team catch up to the van, there's not much left of it. Just one charred corpse in the driver's seat, and no sign of Hackbaby, who is safe and sound now in the ritziest part of town.

The folks who picked Hackbaby up are brokers who deal in several things. Drugs, chips, guns, even specialty items. There's one that's been on the books for a couple months, one that they had to be sure was perfect. Cute kid, right structure, definitely human, not too old or too young. This one, they reason, this one fits the bill. So they make a call, money changes hands, and Hackbaby has a new luxury home...

...

...In the hands of Kenneth fucking Brackhaven.

Yes. So much yes!

Quick question, what's Slamm-O!'s and Netcat's relationship like atm? I noticed Netcat still playing up Slamm-O! in 6WA, a line about how he gets the agent to do everything for him. Are they an item, hate each other's guts, in the Awkward Zone, or "It's Complicated."?

He's definitely her baby daddy. There's a bit of itemization there. More than a bit.

Y'know, "It's Complicated" might be the best descriptor here.

They're two black ops operatives who have a child. "Complicated" is the only word for it.

So, do they actually like each other?

I think so, they're just one of those banter relationships. Their whole thing was born out of competition in a rather elementary school manner.

I'd probably liken it to the Osbournes. Ozzy and Sharon fight like cat and dog, but love each other very much.

And... Brackhaven. I love it. Especially considering his own adopted status, and what happened with his own Daughter.

I like the idea of him having hired a public relations specialist from Charisma Associates that suggested he needed to bolster his 'family man' image - but to keep the kid on the down low for a while until he can be sure the child will call him 'Daddy'.

Because getting that moment on tape is worth double percentages in the polls.

Well, it's always an election year in the UCAS practically (If not for one office, then another), and he's got his political party to think about.

Ugh. And now I'm sitting there wondering what a sample chapter would look like, and that Immortal Elf idea I shot out back pops up and says, "Call it 'A Bullet With Butterfly Wings!'" and shows me the sample chapter where Angry Johnny gets his payment.

So the rest of my brain shot it again, covered it in gasoline, and lit the fragger on fire.

You genius of a bastard. I LOVE IT.

Double post. Please disregard.

There we go, a nice enemy everyone can hate, and would probably have someone along his chain stupid enough to think they could string the JackPoint Posse along for a ride as long as possible...

So, the outline so far seems to be:

Act 1
Burning The Garden

Netcat and Slamm-O return from a meet to find Hackbaby missing and messages leading them to The Rose Garden. The Jackpoint crew breaks in, meets up with Puck, takes down The Garden, then finds out their child is in another castle.

Act 2
The Hunt for Hackbaby

This will be an anthology of each Jackpointer's hunt for clues in their own fashion. Sticks hits the streets for legwork, Kane kills millions, Fastjack JackHammers his way through the mysterious encryption, /dev/grrrrl gets her nails done, Netcat deals with AIs to find the true nature of The Exchange, Sunshine reads the news, Black Mamba destroys third world countries, and Puck tries to put his entrails back inside. Intersperse these with glimpses of The Exchange moving the baby along, potentially starting in Act 1. End with one of the Jackpointers finding Angry Johnny's van, and some hint of how to proceed.

Act 3
Lame Duck Session
Jackpoint compares notes, pieces together the puzzle that leads them Brackhaven. While planning their attack on the manor, the crew starts noticing small things going their way, The Exchange's apology for taking the child. The team comes together to pull the biggest job of their lives, and ensure Brackhaven isn't up for re-election.


In a related note, What did happen to Brackhaven's daughter? It might be the fact that it's 3 am here, but I don't recall him having children.

Busted for smuggling Tempo out in Cascade Ork territory.

And hanging out in general with CrimeTime and the Cascade Orks during the Gubernatorial Election. Not exactly something Mr. Humanis PoliClub wants to brag about.

That sounds about right for the basis for the stories, but I'm thinking they're all anthologies with different authors taking over different characters.

I'm going to see if I can write for Kane ("I'm adding more violence!"), and /dev/grrl/.

I'm going to try and write from Netcat's Eyes. Aside from SR4A, Unwired, and Emergence (I Think?). Any particularly deep shadowtalk about her?

Well, the morning sickness post.

That's more terrifying than anything else really.

Yeah, hopefully the main plot of SR5 is Deus Reborn.

I'd like to see that.

Tonight! One time only! The clash of the ages!

In this corner! Belezebub's Banker! The Advocate's Assisstant! The Account frrroooom Heeeelllll!!!!

And in the opposite corner! AI Supreme! The only one responsible for so much terror! Deeeuuuuuusss!!!

(You're welcome CanRay. I figure if a Shadowrunner would get to stand against him, it'd be you. )

Great, a former Wageslave is going to save the world from an incomprehensible force that...

Wait, I've read this before.