I just did a little bit of quick research and found that Sanskrit (similiar to Latin but has been dead for 2,000 years) and Gothic (hasn't been spoken since 18th centry Crimea) would be good choices. I'm leaning towards the latter just because it sounds "cool," but that's just me.

I wouldn't go for latin as it is FAR too common and many people can understand most of it, even though very few people are able to really understand or speak it since it's been dead for a long time.

Go pig latin!

Actually, Gothic sounds intriguing... Sanskrit's a bid too dead, really...

Ok, point of clarification needed. FIREARMS covers everything but machineguns, neh? If so, are SMGs considered HANDGUNS?

How about we forego that and just buy a radio system that utilizes subvocal microphones and encryption of frequencies that swap between frequencies on a broad-band on a pre-determined, yet still random basis to prevent and/or make listening impossible?

Because, you know, that's how all military people do it.

Well, I plan to get Enochian, so I can use chanting in it as my centering skill. Callidus, you said you initiated and got reflecting right?

If someone can break into a Rating 10 communications system, they deserve to listen in on us because quite frankly if they have the resources to do that then we're in for some real fun.

....and all the more reason to make sure they can't figure out what we're up to, dammit.

It's your Know. points. Personally, I'd be more worried about jamming than someone actually listening in. It's a hell of a lot easier and more popular a tactic.

We've already got hand-signals anyway. Some silly, dead language is just truely extrenuous-seeming to me.

Some people just have no sense of style.

I'm not saying you guys can't have your language, I'm just saying I won't be party to it.

And hey, I'm the decker. The artiste. I exude style out of every pore. Style burns through every neuron and capillary in my body, man.

No, that's some virus you picked up in Madagascar. You really should get it checked out some time.

And if anyone doesn't get it, then it's pointless for everyone else to get it. It's just like the Tactical Communications System; even if everyone else has a Rating 10 unit, it only takes a single weak link with a Rating 1 unit to make the investment pointless. We're supposed to be amongst the best. The best typically don't toss away a simple, cheap, and practical means for insuring secure communications so that a mission won't be comprised -- especially for a group designed to be the ultimate in skills rather than toys.

But again, it's really up to everyone. Seems a shame to toss it to the side, though.

The best spend their time honing their skills, sharpening their knowledge, and what-have-you. Not taking language courses on obscure tongues.

SEAL's, Rangers, Delta, Spetznatz, etc. spend their time on the range, in shoot-houses, or on training in the wilderness. If not that, then they're familiarizing themselves with the tools of their trade and the latest tactics and developments. Not circle-jerking while listening to tapes on 'Sanskrit Made Easy'.

In the long run, I penultimately don't care. As a player, I say no. As a character, gimme the langsoft.

Is there room for anyone else? I'd hate to spend hours reading a couple hundred posts and have someone get the last slot while I was doing so.

If there is room, what have you got and what might you need? If there is room I'll read and catch up.

Ronin pretty much said no, Tisoz. He's deliberating over a number of other characters for the last spot.

Ok, thanks for the quick reply.

Cardboard, you do realize we won't always have our fancy toys, eh? There'll likely be times when we have to carry next to nothing into a situation, or if the drek really hits the fan, we might be caught and have to break out. Versalitity is key.

We're assuming every enemy we run into is a polyglot.

Nothing says we can't just use a world-language or use so much slang and jargon that we make up (eliminating the need to tie up Know points while still making a 'unique' language) that nobody could understand us.

If we're using "slang and jargon that we make up," that qualifies as a unique Knowledge/Language Skill anyway, even if it's just a specialization in another language.

Depends on Ronin on that call.

Anyway, just so I'm not thought of as an irrational ogre, here are my reasons for not wanting this plan.

1) "Where would we learn it?" Dead tongues are a rather estoeric topic of study. Even professors who study them to the exclusion of all else never really truely gain full fluency.

2) "Language Structure" Navajo not withstanding, we'd have to 'make up' new words in these old, dead languages to make modern concepts and items fit into them. As much as I want to believe it, I doubt the Greeks, Aryans, or Goths ever had to make up a concept for a word like 'cyberware' and their language passed out of use before those who speak it in time to know cyberware could agree upon a collective term to use.

3) Previous arguement on training time, et al.

Hence, my proposition: It is far more likely that we just do the whole specialized language slang/unique code thing. I will concede that much. I am, however, still vehemently opposed to the idea of using a dead and outmoded tongue.

@Panzer: well I suggested that I've initiated but yes I've got reflecting..... and sheilding *8->

On the subject of code langauges the easy way, I believe, to do it is that we just take random words from other langauges and reassign the meanings. Ie. One doesn't mean one it means 10.... or enemy that way you can build the langauge needing only about 20-50 words.... all combat based..... such as enemy, stop, cover fire (as one word), etc. that way we don't sit down for two years learning the language and anyone listening in hears a mix of english, french, german, etc that makes no sense at all when they translate it *8->

On the other hand as we're gonna be in arabic countries most of the time english'll be fairly safe except if we're being spied on.....

Morning folks. Time for my first updates of the week.

#1 SMGs: The fall under whichever specialization their usage reflects. For example, a shoulder fired MP5 would use Longarms, while an Ingram Smartgun would use Handguns. Just think of it this way...if you hold your SMG like a pistol, then it shoots like a pistol. If you hold it like a rifle, it shoots like a rifle. To me, having a separate skill for SMGs is flat silly. Same thing with separating Assault Rifles and Rifles. That's just assinine. If I take you to the range and teach you how to shoot an M-16 with iron sights at targets out to 100 meters, it's not like you are going to be completely clueless if I hand you an HK PSG-1 with iron sights. The prinicples are what's important.

#2 Language: I agree that it's a neat idea, but more than a little impractical. However, I like Callidus' suggestion. You guys using a sort of "field jargon" would work rather nicely. Just realize that English isn't necessarily the native language of all the characters, so some jargon might be hard to understand. How about we just do it this way...on the IC post, type out what your character actually says over the radio, the put the real meaning in brackets. Hell, you could even put everything in terms of (american)football if you the characters are all fans. "Touchdown" could be code for a kill, "80 yard pass inbound" could be code for incoming air support and whatnot.

#3 Characters: Well, it looks like Panzer is going to have that last slot. I'll PM you an alotment of BPs, and you can get your character to me as soon as you can. Also, if anyone else wants to submit characters, go ahead. Even though the slots are all taken, I'd be glad to consider you as backup in case someone has to drop out. Of course, the others who have submitted characters have priority if one of the slots goes open.

Okay, so it looks like we have our team. Things are looking good, guys. What I'd like you guys to do on this thread until I close it is familiarize yourself with the rest of the team. Some of you have started that already, and others are waiting for their character builds to get finial approval. That's cool, but you do need to know each other pretty darned well before the game starts. Remember, you aren't just co-workers...you are buddies. You guys hang out and drink together.

FYI viri et feminae, Latin isn't nearly as dead as you think it is, nor very difficult. Next, lingua chips are pretty common and easy to acquire, allowing instant proficiency in anything you need. Stick to the hand signals, and broadcast encryption.

Okay, here's the basic breakdown of the team as it stands now:

Team Leader: Michael Walker (Grey)
Ex UCAS CIA Field Operative (Human Male, Caucasian)

Sniper: Danny "Downtown" Townsend (Shadow)
Ex CAS 18B SF Weapons Expert (Ork Male, Caucasian)

Information Warfare Specialist: Yoko "Flatline" Arai (Cardboard Armor)
Ex Tir Ghost Combat Decker (Elf Female, Japanese)

Electronic Warfare/Communications: Nikolai "Dragos" Rozhenko (Clockwork Lime)
Ex Russian Spetsnaz EW+commo rigger (Ork Male, Caucasian)

Combat Engineer/Demo Expert: George Robert Maxwell (gobogen)
Ex UCAS 18A SF Team Leader (Human Male, Caucasian)

Stealth Expert/Scout/Assassin: Illian Brightwater (Digital Heroin)
Ex Tir Ghost Combat Expert (Elf Male, Caucasian)

Combat Medic/Magical Support: Ophelia Haley (Callidus)
Ex British SAS/Para Unicorn Shaman (Human Female, Caucasian)

Field Magician (Shaman?): Muramasa Kenjiro (Panzergeist)
Ex Fuchi Para-military SpecOps Magician(Shaman?) (Korobokuru Male, Japanese)


Looks good to me. Here's what I'm waiting on:

Grey: revised character sheet
Carboard armor: revised character sheet
Gobogen: Initial character sheet
Digital Heroin: Initial character sheet
Callidus: revised character sheet
Panzergeist: revised character history before I assign BP

Shadow and Clockwork, as far as I can tell, your characters are good. I still need some more time to doublecheck them, though. If there's anything you guys want to request, send it to me before tomorrow.

Familiarizing ourselves with the rest of the team? How do you want to do this? With us faking ourselves as our characters or...? Well, anyway, I'll start.

I'll be playing Flatline, the team's decker. She's your old-school type Japanese girl that found out one day that her ears gettin' pointier wasn't exactly part of puberty's normal growth structure. Her family, getting elfy as well, decided to kick out of Japan before the lynch mobs showed and they migrated to Tairngire. Seeing as they're new immigrants, she's getting enough flak trying to pick up Sprethiel, and most of their money was spent smuggling them out of the country Flatline went for a less-educational-intensive career. Military! Picking up on her education while serving, she found her niche in decking and computer code so it was a logical extension that she be employed in cyberwarfare and intelligence. The Ghost unit she was assigned to was slanted towards anti-terrorism. That's how she got to Tiblisi. A data-raid against some of the nationalist insurgents went sour when they discovered that the defenses of the compound were reinforced with child-soldiers and, unwilling to let his team be lost, Flatline's commander gave the order to open fire anyway. Though largely over what happened through a combination of rationalization and psychiatric help, Flatline was discharged from the military soon after the incident and didn't re-enlist. It was then that she hooked back up with the man from Ares and the rest, they say, is history.

Yeah, that's a great start. A little bit of background is good...however you don't have to go too in depth...just think about your character working and playing with this group of people. Sure, they will know a little about where you come from, but they should know a LOT about how you operate, and what you are really good at. We don't have to do this IC, but try to keep it to descriptive text rather than numbers.

For example, instead of saying, "My character has a stealth of 6," you should say "He's really good at staying out of sight, and is an expert at sneaking up on people".

One thing that makes you guys really effective as a team is knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. That's the sort of thing I'd like you guys to talk about.

Here's another update about your team's operations.

The contracts with Ares have sorta worked like this so far:

You meet with Deke, he gives you the job details and the plane tickets.
Ares pays for your housing and food for the duration of your contract.
You put in a general gear request form. Ares usually gets all that you ask for and has it waiting on site.
You get on site, and are usually setup in a house or building owned by Ares.
Once there, you setup your "Team Room" where you do all your planning and preping.
At this point, you can request any mission specific gear you might need. Again, Ares usually comes through.
Then you go out and execute your missions, sending in daily SITREPs (Situation Reports) to Deke.
If you end up being out in the field for an extended period of time, Deke will organize "resupply drops", which will come down at a certain place and time, usually via Redball Express drone.
Also, Ares usually gives you a certain amount of cash in local currency. Whatever you spend is deducted from your final contract payout.
Depending upon the sensitivity of the mission, fire support MAY be available. You guys have called in for it three times, but have only gotten it once.

Keep in mind that this is the way things have gone since you've been under Ares retainer. Now, you are totally independant, so the rules may change.

Feel free to let me know if you need more details or clarification.

I'll be playing Ophelia Haley, a female Caucasian Human with long ash blond almost white hair, about 5'8". Still speaking with a slight British accent even after the two years over here and what you suspect is a fair bit of travel with her old unit. She came to Ares for the British Army 5th Parachute regiment based out of Aldershot and specialises in defensive and illusionary magics. Although added to this she is a very good shot with almost any launched weapon and has a limited number of offensive spells. A great medic both with a medkit and with magic she's usually the first person to anyone who gets hit and can usually have them back up and going in a few minutes, and seems to have a good enough ability to sneak that she can get to them without too much attention, especially when backed up with her spells. Although she does carry an assualt rifle, when it's not a hush hush mission, she'll be the first to admit that she's not a good shot with it but it does prevent violence sometimes, the same in melee she can defend herself... for a short while but would be relying on either a spell or help to arrive and end the fight. Consequently she regularly loses sparring matches with the rest of the team in downtime but takes it philosophically.

She does sometimes seem to have a few problems with gangs but can usually rein in her urges to do them serious injure especially if any of the rest of the team are around although the signs at certainly there that she's going combat ready and Muramasa would be easily able to pick up the rage in her aura at those times. She doesn't speak about her early life but any questions about her family will get an answer about the para's and the members of her old squad. Also one time when she and a couple of other team members were heading through downtown shopping and a gang fight started, she started to cast a spell to stun one of the gangers with a gun until a small girl in the crowd caught a stray bullet in the head and she froze for a good couple of minutes mumbling 'Not again....'

More character finalization stuff.

Contacts:
For those of you that I haven't already talked to about this, you get 20 points worth of contacts (tips hat to BGMFH). Each contact is worth their points in levels, so a level 3 is 3 pts, level 2 is 2, etc. I would also like some detail about your contacts; the higher level the contact, the more info I'll need.

Good job on the description, Callidus. That is pretty much exactly what I was talking about.

I'd update my contacts and get back to you with the final, final sheet.

For those of you who would like to add a little more detail to your language selections, here's a list of the most commonly spoken languages in the counties where you guys have done your last three contracts.

Indonesia: Javanese, Bahasa Indonesia (modified Malay), English

Pakistan: Punjabi, English

Ukraine: Ukranian, Russian, Romainian, Polish, Hungarian

Georgia: Georgian, Armenian, Russian, Azeri

I'm working on my character now. How much cash will I get for equipment? Also, what is the max skill rating I can get?

None of us know that yet. We're doing equipment afterwards.

What most people are doing is listing their skill specific or signature pieces of gear and then waiting on the rest.

As a spellcaster, you can do like Callidus and list a few foci, as long as you don't go overboard. It's unlikely that you'll be waiting on gear that you have to bond before the mission.

Okay, but I want to know how high skills can go. Can I have a sorcery of 8, or are we still using the normal max skill rating of 6?

Max skill is 8.

Ok, don't have a lot of time on my hands until Wednesday night at which time I'll take the time to read everything in detail, to finish up the char sheet and to give you a good desc in this thread. Sorry about the delay. For starters, I'm an elf male and not a human. Basically, my character will be relyed on for his TONS of skills, a good part of which will come from chips and skillwires. His skills include most technical skills, some social skills, a few fighting skills, athletics, stealth, and with the right chip, he can drive ANY vehicle we might come across. His best quality is versatility.

Do I still start with a karma pool of one?

8? I have several 12's.....

I thought I heard it mentioned to be 8, but I could be wrong. And you could also have those numbers from being an Adept with improved ability.

I'm pretty sure Shadow is an adept. One more thing: Language skills? Do we get the normal 1.5xINT?

Yes, and all of them must be placed in Swahilli. No exceptions.

*pop*click*click*pop*pop*click*

(That means, "I like Swahilli")

It's muuuuuuuuuuuuusical.

*pop* *click* *click* *derk* *marvin* *pop*

Active skills have a max rating of 8. Of course, Adepts can get bonus dice over that rating 8, but remember, your skill is still 8. Knowledge skills can go a bit beyond that, but I need REALLY good justification.

Everyone should start out with a Karma Pool of 6, except for anyone with the Bad Karma flaw...you start out with a karma pool of 3. I think I mentioned this to a few individuals, but not to the whole group.

Everyone starts out with their base INT x 1.5 in language skills, but you don't have to spend any points on your native tongue. You can choose to dump knowledge skill BP into languages if you wish, however. Also, for most of you I've given you extra BP and maybe even some extra language points. Those of you picking languages, you should have at least a passing familiarity with the languages of the region you operate in.

Also, if anyone is dead set on a custom piece of gear, send it to me. If I like it, I'll let you use it, regardless of the cost/availability. Just don't get too extreme.

For those of you wanting to know which rules I use from raygun's site, here's the list: http://matrix.dumpshock.com/raygun/rules/frames.html

I use...
-New Weapon Class Ranges
-Suppression and Velocity Control
-Conceal Ratings
-Rate of Fire
-Movement and Scopes
-Shotguns and Chokes
-All of his Ammuntion rules/additions
-All of his firearms/accessories

And YES, this means that just about all rifles/carbines reduce ballistic armor ratings by .75. In my games, you DO NOT want to get shot. It is just plain bad. Even with armor and bone lacing and what not. I don't think there are any balance issues either. I run a very lethal game. You guys need to treat EVERY firefight like you have a serious likelyhood of dieing (because you do).

Just remember, if you are going to get into a fight, you need to stack the deck in your favor as much as possible. This means controlling the time, place, terrain, and environment. This also means not giving the enemy a chance to see you or shoot at you. It also helps to have a contingency plan...or 3.

Awesome. Just plain awesome.

Oh, and another thing to help you guys out. I know that most of you probably don't have a lot of real world military training/experience, and I would bet my bottom dollar that none of us have ever served in a special operations unit. Fret not, my friends, for you need not know jack about the military for this game.

First off, I always take into consideration the training and experience the CHARACTERS have, even if the players do not. At any point in the game, feel free to PM me and ask "what does my training tell me about this situation". I will try to give you guys direction without totally telling you what to do. Also, if you try doing something that's totally against your character's training/knowledge, I'll PM you a mild suggestion about maybe rethinking your actions.

I don't want to control your characters, but I do want you guys to be able to rely on your characters' background and experiences for things.

As for my qualifications in regards to this stuff...heh...they are not THAT great. I spent 6 years in a mechanized infantry unit as a dismount (foot soldier), and I am a voracious reader when it comes to special operations stuff...mostly non-fiction (all hail Tom Clancy).

Don't worry...this game will not be a test of your real world military knowledge.


P.S. Speaking of PMs, you should keep your inbox relatively empty. I will be doing a lot of communication by PM, especially for stuff that the whole team isn't necessarily privy to. And if an NPC uses a language besides english, only the characters with that language skill will get the translations PMed to them.