I don't feel like I need a lot of stuff, only what I don't have already..

4 scanners for ruthenium
another 5 battery charges

Dikoted survival knife
Dikoted machette
Edged Weapons Skillwire Chip, rating 4

35 kilos of their best plastic explosives (I really wanna make sure I have plenty enough)

MP5/40A3 with 5 extra clips and 100 APDS Ammo, 300 regular ammo

Urban warfare full camouflage armor

Echo! echo echo

Waiting for CardboardArmor to make his post about what he find. I know that Ronin gave him the info, he just needs to let us have it IC now.

He sure did give it to me, boss. He gave it to me TODAY (check the timestamp of this post).

I'll get that IC post ASAP.

Was I being bitchy? Nope.

Were you? Just a tad, but thats ok.

Oi.

Unless I say otherwise, I'm not out to insult you guys. I wanted to tell you they he did indeed give me the information TODAY (emphasizing the today, I don't believe in tags) and that I'm getting the IC post up right now.

Course, whatever you read into that is your business.

Yeah, sorry about the delay, guys. Had a really busy weekend and didn't get to touch the internet. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot more work done on it this week.

I've also been able to thoroughly review your gear requests list. You'll find out what gets approved once your characters get to the Ares Arms Plant in AZ.

I'm a little more on the ball today, fellas. I've sent Cardboard the results of Flatline's Matrix searches at home. However, you don't have to wait for him to pose to roll things forward. If you guys want to accelerate the timeline, just IC post anything mission-relevant that your characters are going to do after leaving Mike's and then I'll fast forward to the meeting at SeaTac before the plane takes off.

I'll share the relevant information at the meet. Good for fast-forward, boss.

Sorry about my inability to actually post, it's been a hectic two weeks, should be calming down for a bit (I hope *8-> ) I'll get a post up later on today and I'll let ronin know what digging I'll be doing before we leave for AZ *8->

Here's a small adjustment for you Ares Apha fans. An 8-round 20mm grenade magazine capacity is beyond silly, espeically since I consider the pic of the Ares Alpha in Fields of Fire to be canon. In my game, the capacity will be 3 grenades, loaded shotgun style...one in the pipe, and two in the tube. However, using Raygun's rules for ammunition, the damage rating on the Alpha becomes 9M (5.56 NATO in an assault rifle).

Also, requested ammo will be issued in boxes. You will have to load your own ammo into magazines. The only exception to this being those weapons that fire caseless rounds, namely the Predator III ERASe. Those mags come pre-loaded and are disposable...you cannot reload them.

@Grey

A few small changes to your grenade launcher. It's going to be a separate weapon system, not an underbarrel launcher. I'm changing the grenades it fires to the new 25mm ones. That's the only way to explain the sniper rifle ranges. Also, the magazine is going to hold 6 rounds, not 3. The 25mm grenades use the same stats as the 20mm ones on Raygun's site. They are simply larger to facilitate the increase in range.

Sweet.

Sorry guys...I've had some personal issues come up and I won't be able to get back to Tango Down until the end of the week. I should have lots of time this weekend to get some posts out and bring the story ahead a few notches. Thanks for your patience.

Arghh, your killing me man! I can't wait to get my imaginary hands on that P-90!

All kidding aside, thanks for letting us know in advance Ronin. Nothing bothers me more than when a GM doesn't post for two weeks and then says why. Good luck on your issues, we will wait patiently for the end of the week.

Sorry to hear about probs coming up and good luck with them Ronin..... we'll be here with baited breath to get to AZ *8->

Okay....situation overcome. Ronin is back in business. Thanks for your patience, guys...I appreciate it.

Alright...let's pick up with everyone meeting up with Danny at the bar/diner in the airport. It's early in the morning, so there isn't anyone else there...and even the food/drink service is automated. Some of you have some info to share with the rest of the group, and that can either take place at the airport, or on the plane. You have first class seats, and the plane won't be very crowded.

When you arrive in Baku, it will be 0600 local time(Sunday, Feb 3rd), but your bodies will feel like it's 1800 (seattle time).

I'll take over the IC thread once you guys touch down in AZ.

*whistles* hello?

Yeah really. The last few days have been very quiet, not just in this threat, but the forum in general.

EchoEchoEcho...

Yes, I know we've been posting, I was just bored...

We're still waiting on Digital Heroin and Panzergeist to hop in, yeah?

Ithink so *8-> so about be so quiet, just not got my brain together to post recently but now I'm back *8->

I have a question, and maybe I am wrong so you guys can clarify this for me.

Are these characters supposed to be long time friends and colleagues? Buddies in the truest sense. Having served together exclusively for three or more years?

Yes.

Then why are we not acting like it? Thinly veiled insults and poorly hidden disgust are not how buddies act. I wouldn't trust my life to someone I thought hated me, let alone go on mission after mission with them.

Is there some problem I am not aware of here? I want to play this game and have fun, and part of the appeal of it was the nostalgia of camaraderie I used to have when I was in the army. So whats the problem?

Nikolia and Danny are acting like friends. I tried to do the same with Max and I got nothing. Yoko seems like at an moment she is ready to kill Illian. Who in turn studiously ignores everyone. This is what I am talking about. Forgive me if it is just me, and if I am seeming obnoxious, cause it is not my intent. I just want us all to have fun. If you all are having fun like this then great. But as long as we are all clear that this is not what Ronin stipulated when he laid down the game. We are all supposed to be friends, great friends.

My inteant is not to point finger at anyone. I just wanted everyone to maybe try a little harder to act like friends instead of enemies.

Shadow has brought up some interesting points. Most of you guys are used to playing shadowrun as runners, not as a SpecOps team. And that's fine...we can consider this a learning experience. However, I'm looking for something just a little bit different than what we are all used to in Shadowrun. Normally, you maintain that "It's just business, trust no one and keep it professional," sort of schtik. That's fine...and even appropriate for Shadowrun, but not exactly what I'm looking for here.

One of the things in this situation that really separates you guys and girls from runners is trust. You have all served together, been shot at and blown up together, bled together, and gotten drunk together. It's sort of like that close group of friends you had through highschool, or college, or the military or whatever. Sure, friends pick on each other and give each other a hard time sometimes, but they do still get along, and are the first to back each other up when shit hits the fan. Trust me, there is going to be plenty of conflict without to make conflict within unnecessary. I don't expect everyone to kiss everonly else's ass, but try to treat the rest of the team like they are old buddies.

That small thing aside, I think the rest of the game is off to an excellent start, and I love the team's composition a capabilities. I think we are going to have a really fun time with this, especially now that I have a bit more time to devote to it. That being said, let's move on and go kick some PUMA ass!

It wasn't my intent for Illian to seem like he ignores people by practice. He's back from a soul seeking journey of sorts, an atonement for part of his past he's not too proud of. That's what I was trying to portray.

It's like an old gypsy proverb my grandmother always told me: "Me against my brother, my brother and I against our uncle, and my uncle and I against the stranger."

You hit the nail on the head, Cardboard. That is the perfect mindset for runners, but I'm striving for something just a little different here. Runners may very well build up some camaraderie, but that's nothing compared to soldiers. Men and women who live together, fight together, eat together, and bleed together form a much tighter bond than runners ever do. Think of it this way...you have your co-workers...the people you see 40 hours or so a week...you work with them and get along with them out of the sake of professionalism. Some you like, some you don't, all you deal with. That's the way things work. Then you have your buddies...the people that are on the top of your list when you are looking for someone to call to grab a beer or a movie with. I probably didn't make it very clear from the beginning, but that is what I'm looking for with this group...for several reasons.

#1 It's a pain to have to roleplay out all the team members meeting each other for the first time. It eats into game time, and I'd rather just skip it.

#2 Military people operate on a whole different level than Shadowrunners. Having basically served together and trained/fought together, you guys operate like a well-oiled machine. Everyone knows what everyone else is thinking and you guys are intimately familiar with each others strengths and weaknesses. There's a bond here the doesn't normally exist amongst shadowrunners.

#3 The players are FAR less likely to frag one other over if their characters have a deep friendship with one another. Again, this makes GMing a lot easier, and the characters don't have to constantly be looking over one-another's shoulders.

That being said, I do not wish to dictate to you guys how to roleplay your characters. That is completely up to you. I'm just pushing for teamwork and camaraderie. It would be nice to keep the internal conflicts to an absolute minimum. That way we can focus on the story.

FYI, during your operation in Tblisi in '59, Berdzenushivli (Info Minister) is one of the guys who got away. He was never caught, and hasn't turned up anywhere since then.

Great. That's what I figured anyway. Should prove to be very interesting once we hit the ground.

I just got promoted at work (yay!), which means that I'm going to start becoming much busier and won't have as much time to game (boo!). Unfortunately, I'm not going to be posting quite as much as I normally do, but this is one of the games that I've decided to stick with. Just waned to let you all know.

Grats on the promotion dude! *8->

Sorry again about the delay...things just seem to be getting insane around here.

I went ahead and pushed the timeline forward to you guys touching down in Baku. If anyone wants to throw up some IC fluff that takes place before you leave the airport in the SUVs, that's fine. Also, if you have any questions about anything else I may have glossed over, please feel free to post them here or IM/PM/e-mail me.

This post is no longer valid!

Who is driving?

I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

May as well push the storyline to when we arrive at the Ares facility and go through debreafing there.

I'd agree with the forward to Ares.... that and I can't drive either *8-> oh for Seattle and autonav *8->

I can definitely drive... actually I can drive well ANY vehicle that we might cross whatsoever (as long as I can find the chip on me )

Oh and yeah.. a little bit of fastforward is definitely appropriate, IMO.

Hey Callidus, don't forget that you don't need to actually have the "Car" skill to drive. I treat most simple and common use vehicles the same way. Now, if you wanted to powerslide the SUV through a 90 degree turn without tipping over, that's a whole other story. It's the same thing with the ATVs that the security guys are using. It would take about 5 minutes of instruction for you to learn how to operate one, but you would still use your reaction dice for making piloting tests.

So I've done a little bit of fast-forwarding for you guys. Let me know if anyone has any questions, or if I have been unclear about what is going on.

True, I was just working on the roads in Az being *real* bad and not having a working autonav *8->

Danny is checking to see if his requested equipment is there and if it is new or used.

@ Callidus:
For the record, the streets in Baku are quite well maintained, even if there is no gridguide. The megacorps have a significant presence here, so they make sure the Baku roads are well maintained. However, AZ lacks a decent highway system to connect the various cities, so the out of town roads can be anything from a 4-lane highway to a well-traveled dirt path.


@ Shadow:
All of the stuff you dropped off in Seattle is here and in good condition. Unfortunately, I left my gear list at home, so it's going to be tonight before I can post that. For the record, it does look like Ares had made some changes to your requested gear list.

Okay...I got my hands on the gear list. Will be PMing everyone what's in their boxes.

Sorry for my lag. Things have been way busy at work and I haven't had time to catch up yet.