Woah, sorry about the delay. Was out of town at a place where the internet is usually reliable but this time not so much. I'm back at a stable connection now and will get something up soon.

No probs. I'm working out how to keep Stogie alive. So far, the best I can come up with is that he is going to have to get Jake to do the old dog-grabs-gun-arm thing to give Stogie time to take down the assailant. This is almost certainly going to require Jake to use Edge, but I figure a terrified Stogie is emoting enough on Adept Net to clearly signal the urgency of the situation.

AFC till Thursday evening.

Alright, I'm probably psyching myself out with all this so I'll start small.

The troll approaching Ellesar is firing a shot while advancing. He has negative modifiers for running and shooting.

Troll: 3 hits (originally 4 hits but subtracting one because I got the range wrong for flechette ammo)

Ellesar, your base dodge pool is 6 thanks to Lightning Reflexes. You're behind a tree so you have good cover (+4) but the troll is firing his shotgun on a wide spread (-4 to dodge) so those negate each other.

You have 6 dice to dodge 3 hits. If you do not dodge, the damage is 7P + any unsoaked hits. (The damage is usually 9P but firing a shotgun on wide spread results in -2DV.) Your pool to soak the damage would be Body 4 + Impact Armor 6 + AP bonus 9 (from flechette) = 19 dice.

The battle is raging around you both. If you stop to take a Observe in Detail action (Simple) you can see how it's going. Given that you're both exchanging fire with antagonists, you might want to focus on your immediate dangers.

Everyone roll Initiative once Atropos is done rolling dodge/soak. Atropos, fell free to post based on your success or lack thereof.

Game on!

Alright, let's see if I can get this all the first time around. Shouldn't Ellesar have a dodge of 10 instead of 6? His Reaction attribute is 6, including Lightning Reflexes, but he also has a 4 in the dodge skill. Nevermind, just checked the Core book and since he isn't in full defense he only gets to use Reaction; Learning is fun. Ellesar will be too focused on the battle at hand to worry about the others.

To Dodge: REA (4) + Lightning Reflexes (2) = 6 Dice >>> Inconceivable

I believe that's the most hits I've had with the lowest dice pool. I'd like to thank the Academy. As a side not I'd like to thank both of you, Tecumseh and pbangarth, for being so patient over the past couple of weeks. I've been dealing with a lot of personal matters but you guys are still here. Hopefully Smohalla will come back to us some day.

Ellesar's Initiative: REA (4) + Lightning Reflexes (2) + INT (4) = 10 Dice >>> And Instant Karma

I'll get a post up tomorrow for IC since it's really late here and it has been a while since I got some good sleep.

Nice job on the dodge. The initiative roll is actually a glitch, although I have a serious lack of imagination when it comes to implementing creative glitches. If you have any ideas or want to include it in your post then I'm open to ideas.

No problem with the patience. I'm not in a position to judge as I'm certainly not moving very quickly these days either. Part of that is summer, on which note I will say that I'm leaving town for a week. I will have my laptop with me so I should be able to keep tabs on things and maybe even post. We'll wait for pbangarth to throw his roll down.

Sorry, been away. What roll am I throwing down?

Initiative for Stogie and Jake.

OK. I would like Jake to use Edge to go first, justifying it with the urgency of Stogie's mental state. That OK?

Sure. We'll get Jake in on the action.

Alright, then. Jake will spend a point of Edge to go first. If it is needed:

Jake's initiative roll 8 dice ==> 3 HITS

So Jake's initiative score is 11. Yup, Edge was needed.

Stogie's initiative roll 8 dice ==> 1 HIT

So Stogie's initiative is 9 -1(damage modifier)= 8.

#####

Jake is going to try to grab the shooter's trigger arm the way they do. This seems like a called shot to me, but he is not attacking to damage per se, so what do you think the modifiers are?

I am (and have been) traveling to visit in-laws. Just now do I have a break to catch up a bit. I rolled initiative for your respective opponents:

Stogie's goon: 14
Ellesar's goon: 12

We can run these in parallel since the PCs are on opposite sides of the valley and not directly involved with each other. Here are the orders:

West Side
Troll: 12
Ellesar: 11 (and a glitch)

East Side
Jake: 11 (but Edged)
Chameleon suit: 14
Stogie: 8

Next Steps
West: Post for Ellesar dodging the shotgun blast from last round
East: Jake's attack

As for Jake's attack, there are a couple options. If he's trying to actively knock the gun away from the shooter, that would be -4. If he just wants to grab the arm to impact the shooter's aim, we can call that a -2. There's also "Attacking to Knock Down" (p. 161, SR4A) which would not have any negative modifiers, although Jake's Strength is low. Or Jake could just make a normal attack and hope that it provides a sufficient distraction. In all instances Jake will receive +2 dice for making a charging attack.

Thanks, Tecumseh. What I'm looking for is how to run that thing that police and security dogs do, where they grab a hold of the gun arm and tug like hell on it so the assailant can't shoot at the handler. Is that the -2 thing you mention above?

Yes, that's the -2. It doesn't seem quite as hard as aiming specifically for the weapon (-4) nor quite as easy as targeting the center of mass (no modifiers) so -2 seems about right.

OK. Here goes Jake's attempt to save Stogie.

AGI 4 + unarmed combat 1+ charge 2 - target arm for grabbing 2 + Edge 3 = 8 dice exploding 6s ==> 3 HITS

Well, there it is.

Hmmm... pushing it here, but any chance Jake surprised camouflage guy?

I'm going to roll his Perception to find out. If so, it will affect his defense roll; it won't change anything Jake is rolling. Jake doesn't have enough time to stop and assess his odds of surprise before deciding on a course of action, so you'll just have to put the plan in motion with imperfect information.

It's late now and it's been a long day of travel. I'll resolve this tomorrow or the next day, depending how busy work is after piling up for a week in my absence.

Chameleon's (distracted) Perception roll: 2 hits. That's enough to notice an incoming border collie missile.

I wonder if I should make it harder to target someone wearing a chameleon suit - especially since Jake is aiming for a specific body part - but Jake's last three dice weren't hits anyway. Let's keep his 3 hits and see how they hold up. This guy is hyper-confident in his ability to dodge so he's not going to go on Full Defense.

Chameleon dodge: 2 HITS!! Jake connects!

Base DV is 2P + 1 net hit = 3P. This goon has a crappy Body attribute but has some Impact armor from the chameleon suit.

Soak roll: 1 hit

The 2 boxes of damage don't exceed the Impact armor rating so the damage is Stun instead of Physical. However, more importantly, the 2 boxes do equal this bloke's Body which means automatic knockdown! Jake took him down! This is working out nicely.

Pbangarth, why don't you post something dramatic and cinematic ICly. I have to contemplate how doofus here is going to react. I will also ping Atropos, since it's been a couple weeks since we heard from him.

Wow. This guy sacrificed a lot of protection in order to be sneaky. But! He didn't count ... on ....


... The Border Collie ... OF ... DOOOO0000ooooom!

Well the idea is that if you never see him then you can't attack him and if you can't attack him then it doesn't matter how scrawny he is or how thin the armor is. He didn't plan to go up against an "I see molecules" physical adept, or a dog attuned to one.

Each of us meets his nemesis sooner or later.

Mr. Chameleon Suit is attacking Jake with a Shock Glove.

Chameleon suit's counterattack: 2-hit glitch! That was unlikely. Odds of glitching were 0.9%.

Jake's dodge: 0 hits

Jake's soak: 1 hit

The attack succeeds with 2 net hits. Jake soaks one of the boxes but still absorbs 6S.

Electrical attacks also have a chance to incapacitate. We will now roll Jake's Body+Willpower against a threshold of 3.

Jake's roll: 1 hit. Jake is tweaking and freaking and is incapacitated for the next four rounds.

HOWEVER. The attack glitched and so I'm going to say that trying to shock a dog that is actively attached to your arm is unwise, at least to the degree that the electrical current will pass through the dog and then back into you. So Mr. Chameleon suit gets to soak the attack as well.

Chameleon suit soak (Body + half Impact): 2 hits. I wonder if I should have added Jake's Body score to the soak roll, but I don't really remember how electricity or resistance works so I'll leave it be for now. Anyway, genius here shocks himself for 5S. He now has 7 boxes of stun damage.

And now his roll to resist incapacitation: 6 hits on 7 dice. That was even less likely that the original glitch. Odds: 0.7%.

Regardless of his successful resistance, he still "suffers a –2 dice pool modifier to all action tests due to disorientation from the shock" (SR4A, p. 164) for the next four rounds. So that's -2 from stun damage and -2 from shock. Odds are now back in Stogie's favor. Way to take one for the team, Jake!

I swear, if we get out of this alive, Jake will get real steak.

OK, time to put an end to this. We must be close enough for short range now. If not, Stogie will walk closer and take two shots at chameleon suit guy. I'm on an island using my iPad, so if I missed a modifier, sorry... but I'm having a great time with my two border collies! Hmmmm.... any chance there is feedback through the mind link of any confusion from Jake to Stogie?

First shot: AGI 9 + shotgun 5 - damage 2 = 12 dice ==> 3 HITS

So 7P + 3 hits , -1AP

Second shot: 12 - 1 recoil = 11 dice ==> 6 HITS

Dodge that, Mr. You Can't See Me!

So 7P + 6 hits, -1 AP

Ah. I see you already took the mental link into account.

Pbangarth, modifiers:

The distance is still 20-25 meters (see this post). Stogie can walk forward (10 meters, per the rules) but doing so incurs a -1 modifier for walking and another -1 for moving over broken/uneven ground (Arsenal, p. 161). That said, moving forward will remove the +4 cover bonus the defender receives from being prone at a distance of 20+ meters. Your OOC post said walk though, so we'll say that Stogie walks.

The last time Stogie shot (two months ago, I know). His Agility was 6, which was its boosted value, not 9. (See this post. See this post for the most recent boost roll.) Where did the AGI 9 come from?

I thought Stogie was at 5S damage so his damage modifier should only be -1. Does he have an extra box of stun damage I don't know about?

I count 6 dice to subtract (2 for walking, 3 for Agility, 1 for range), but then 1 to add back in (for -1 damage instead of -2). Subtracting 5 dice knocks the first roll down to 0 net hits, but the second roll keeps 4 net hits. So, ow.

The defender has 7 dice to dodge, but he's at -2 for being prone, -2 for being hurt, and -2 for being shocked. I won't give him -3 for being involved in melee combat because Jake isn't actively engaging him anymore. Here goes the 1 die against Stogie's 4 hits:

Chameleon dodge: 0 hits. Oo, so close.

7P + 4 hits = 11P, -1 AP.

Roll to soak: 5 hits, not bad. Still 6P damage though. He's now at -4 for damage and another -2 for being shocked.

Pbangarth, feel free to post your revenge.

I'm at my cottage, using an iPad at the island store. I didn't bring my notes on current status for various Pcs and NPCs with me, and was too lazy to hunt back through the posts, so I guessed. Sorry, wrong guy's Agility.

Wish it had beenStun damage though. Well, let's see a little humanity from Stogie.

IC reply is up. No word back from Atropos yet so we can continue this for a few rounds. The battle is still raging in the forest. Jake will be locked up for another 10-12 seconds before he starts to come around, and at that point he'll be pretty fuzzy. I presume Stogie isn't going to run off to join the fight because that would leave his prisoner (and Jake) unattended. So, open RP for three or four rounds.

I feel like I spend most of my time on here apologizing for not posting in a timely manor. I'd like to think that getting married was a decent reason to keep me busy but maybe that's just me. Seriously though, I had the pleasure of marrying my wonderful fiancee and she kept me a bit busy for a while but now I'm back. I'll be taking a few weeks off of work in September so I should have plenty of free time. Thanks for waiting for me guys.

Goodness! I had no idea. But I got married a couple years ago mid-game too. So this game has seen two weddings, but hopefully no funerals.

It's the troll's turn. I'll get something up for that tonight or tomorrow. Ellesar's initiative was a glitch so I'm going to say that's -1 to whichever roll he makes first this turn.

I keep paying for not filling out Stogie's character sheet Gear section at the start. Of course I didn't actually list plastic restraints, did I? When the run is over, I'll complete the list.

I did actually mention medkit, though I didn't say the rating. He has 16,000 nuyen unaccounted for, so I feel safe in saying he bought the best, Rating 6, for 600 nuyen. Slap me down, Tecumseh, if you think that is unfair.

The reality is Stogie is not likely to actually heal any boxes of damage here (particularly since there will be only 7 dice for him even with a Rating 6 medkit and no implants in chameleon guy, and a threshold of 2 means he would need 3 hits to heal even the one box his First Aid Skill of 1 allows... gonna have to work on that), and he doesn't really want to anyway. But he can dress the wound so it stops bleeding and keeps from getting infected. The bastard hurt Jake, so fuck him.

Once the IC conversation progresses in a satisfactory way, Stogie will dress the wound.

EDIT: Welcome to the club, AR.

It's the Troll's turn again. He's firing at Ellesar in a suppressive fashion as he advances, i.e. mostly to force Ellesar to stay under cover and not shoot back. He's firing twice.

First shot: 4 hits
Second shot: 1 hit

Atropos, here's how this works. If your previous "dodge" meant that you ducked behind the tree then you don't have to dodge either of these. You're in full cover and the blasts won't get through the big tree you're standing in front of. However, it does mean that you've lost sight of the target and will have to spend a Simple Action to come out of cover and re-acquire him before shooting back, if that's what you choose to do.

If your previous dodge was just Ellesar ducking then he does have to dodge these shots (6 dice to doge the first one, 5 dice to dodge the second). Damage would be 7P + net hits, although there's a +5 AP bonus to soak since this is flechette ammo. (Odds are good it would be staged down to Stun, although Knockdown is a possibility.) If you choose to go this route then you maintain visual on the target and can respond however you wish without spending an extra action.

For the purposes of this round, the troll is 11-15 meters away. He will reach Ellesar's position next round. Ellesar has this round to respond, plus next round if he wins initiative.

I'm going to roll Ellesar's Combat Tactics here, as it is relevant: 1 hit

From his training with the Ghosts, Ellesar vaguely recalls that unconventional tactics, including drugs and toxins, are recommended against large metahuman opponents.

Ellesar is going to be a pro at fighting trolls by the end of this campaign. From the crazed to the military-esque he will incap them all.

In keeping with my most recent IC post Ellesar would be completely behind the tree, leaving him unable to see his foe. He has the general idea that there's a large thing charging at him again. As a free action he will drop his rifle and use a simple action to pull out his pistol. I assume that swapping out the current magazine in the pistol would require a complicated action. Looking back to when he first picked up the weapon it should still have EX-explosive rounds in it.

For his complex action would it be possible to back away from the tree and yell something at the same time? If not he will just back away, doing his best to keep the tree between him and the troll.

I'll get an IC post up after I've got everything down.

There are a bunch of actions here:

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase

Simple: ready weapon
Simple: remove clip
Simple: insert clip

Simply backing away from the tree doesn't take an action as long as Ellesar is doing it at a walk. Running would require another Free Action. Typically only one Free Action is allowed per initiative pass but I traditionally allow two if they don't conflict with each other. I think most of us are capable of dropping something while speaking a phrase, which is the explicit example in the 5E rulebook as something the GM may wish to allow. So Ellesar is okay on Free Actions.

The good news is that Ellesar doesn't need to spend a Complex Action on anything, but the bad news is that he needs three Simple Actions and he only has two. Sequentially the choice is obvious, but he can't get is all done this turn.

Pbangarth, as for the medkit the concern isn't so much the cost but the size. I generally play that the rating of the medkit informs the size of the unit, not just the quantity. Bullets & Bandages offers these as a guideline:

Rating 1 - large pocket
Supplies: bandages, tape, scissors, alcohol or iodine irrigation, oral pain and nausea meds

Rating 2 - small pouch or fanny pack
Supplies: as above plus splints, disposable syringes, selection of IV drugs for push, antibiotics, flashlight, trauma sheers

Rating 3 - large pouch or fanny pack
Supplies: as above plus airway supplies, IV tubing, selection of IV drugs for infusion, oxygen mask, thermal blanket,

Rating 4 - small backpack
Supplies: As above plus, basic surgical tools, selection of slap patches or autoinjector

Rating 5 - Large backpack or duffel bag
Supplies: as above plus injectable nanite-based treatments, StatScan hand-held imagery device

Rating 6 - oversized duffel bag or larger
Supplies: as above plus full surgical tools, sterile drapes, anesthetic gases, etc.

Awesome. That's helpful. I suspect Rating 3 is what he would be carrying, then. Hmm... Bullets and Bandages, huh? Might get that.

As it is, Stogie is not trying to heal, just patch the guy up. I don't think I need to roll for that, do I?

Nah, it's just RP in that case. You can add any details I missed when you post. Stogie can continue to RP while Ellesar fights for his life.

Yeah, I've been playing Stogie as if he figures the firepower of the Sisters and Ellesar will be enough now that he pointed the opposition out to his friends. He doesn't know that Ellesar is in trouble. He thinks the four of them, Ellesar and the Sisters, will have an easy time of it. And, hey! He's neutralized two of the opposition all by himself! (With just a -little- help from Jake!)

Sorry, AR.

All good. Honestly Ellesar is a little too preoccupied to see any contributions from the Sisters. The greatest trouble he faces is his own pacifist nature, which makes me glad that I gave it to him. Blasting everything away would be too easy. Besides, when you have a large man with full combat gear blasting away at you fight or flight tends to take over.

We've been cleaning up our home and making sure everything is taken care of for our upcoming vacation so my posts will be spotty today and tomorrow. After that I'm not sure exactly when I will have internet access again but I'll do my best to update once I do.

Tec, Ellesar is not going to bother switching out magazines. So he'll take both free actions to drop the rifle and shout but remain walking away from the tree.

So this is what he's up to?

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase
Simple: ready weapon

If so, that still leaves him with an available Simple action.

As a Pacifist, Ellesar would likely remember that he has multiple non-lethal options, including those that don't involve guns.

Is there an IC post coming to describe what he shouts?

Are you headed out on a honeymoon then? Where to? I went to Italy for mine, where the Internet ate two very long posts I tried to write for this game.

Sometime round about now Stogie should lose his AGI boost and resist Drain.

BOD 4 + WIL 4 - damage 1 = 7 dice ==> 1 HIT (rolled 8 dice before I just remembered the damage modifier - but still 1 hit)

Just enough.

Anyone: Have we tried using our commlinks as walkie-talkies at all? Is that possible?

I've been debating about the commlinks-as-walkie-talkies for a while. Here's a reasonably relevant passage from SR4A, p. 219, emphasis mine:

"Commlinks also provide you with instant wireless access to the world around you. Not only can you send messages, make calls, transfer files, or access data via the Matrix, but you can access the wireless devices and networks all around you, from the store’s sales catalog to your friend’s PAN to the lamppost tourist-info RFID tag to the social networking profile of anyone else looking to play a game of chess in the park."

From this is seems clear that a direct connection between commlinks is a possibility. The second question then becomes about range, which is dependent on the commlink's Signal rating. Since pbangarth never bothered to finalize his equipment list other than to just list a "commlink" I'm going to say that he has the same type of commlink that Ellesar does: a Sony Emperor (Response 2, Signal 3). That gives him a range of 400 meters. The distances at this point are somewhat abstract but I'm going to estimate that Ellesar and Stogie are 600 meters apart at the moment. So you can make call if you get closer, although the connection will likely be poor due to the trees absorbing the signal.

I love it, Tecumseh. This gets better and better!

Are we talking about the IC post or the OOC post?

Sorry. The IC post. I'm figuring out how to let the guy down easy.

Little bit stuck at the moment until Atropos can resolve his combat. Can't advance too far ICly with Stogie until Ellesar deals with the troll (or gets "dealt with" himself). Not sure how long he'll be on vacation for so...

I know Stogie shot Karl dead, but I didn't think it was in the back.

Oh well. Oopsies.

I don't think there's much else we can do until AtroposReborn comes back online.

Yeah, we're getting a little crunched on what can happen ICly without resolving his encounter. He's been on vacation about two weeks now. If we don't hear from him this week then I'll ping him to see if he's back. If some more time goes by without a response then I will roll for him based on his stated intentions and then proceed. I'd hate for him to get shot up without having a chance to roll his own dice though.

It sounds like his turn will be to:

Free: drop rifle
Free: speak a phrase
Simple: ready weapon (pistol)
No action: walk away from tree

I have no idea what he was intending to shout.

Atropos, if you're reading this and the above sequence is correct, then your next step is to roll Initiative. Here's the goon's initiative that you need to beat:

Base initiative 8 + 0 hits (!) = 8

Well that was unlikely, with only a 4% chance of getting blanked. Given that Ellesar's base initiative is 10, all he needs to do is not glitch and he'll get to go first. He may survive this yet.

So, Atropos, after you roll initiative, and presuming you don't glitch, go ahead and declare/roll your next set of actions.

So, right now, Tecumseh, it looks like you and I are the only ones posting. Should we two carry on or wait some more. I could do some rolls for Ellesar, and even bring Smohalla back, at least for this scene.

If it looks like it's just me left, we may need to recruit. What do you think?

As it happens, I just now wrote to Atropos. He just got married and went on vacation, which might actually be a honeymoon, so it's possible that he is/was on a longer trip. But, yes, it's been three weeks so it's time to check in with him. I'd be fine with you rolling for Atropos if we don't hear back.

As for recruiting, I'm not sure how it would work. Given 1,000+ IC posts, it would be a ton of effort for someone to read through if we were trying to have them take over one of the missing PCs. If they were introducing a new PC then I'm not sure how that would be done realistically.

Without giving too much away, we're getting close to the point where people can go their separate ways. Given that the game is a sandbox it could technically go on forever but there will be a logical break in the story relatively soon.