This is the OOC thread for Low Intensity Operations: Bogotá, an SR4 game.

The cast is as follows:

Banark Hammerson, played by Mach_Ten. Team Leader, Elven mercenary.

Khote SilverWind, played by Slacker. Elven Amerindian Mystic Adept with a knack for protection.

Brian Marks, played by Dakka Fiend. Human linguistics specialist and outdoorsman.

Nova (Tatjana), played by Thanee. Human mage and scout. (html sheet)

Crispy (Reginald Martin), played by phlapjack77. Human communications grunt.

Chummer files are available here (link).


All dice rolling for this game will use invisiblecastle.com
Roll page: http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/
Results page: http://invisiblecastle.com/campaign/rolls/31077/

Players are requested to make all dice rolls for the game in this fashion. The player must make a note to indicate what the roll is for, and must post the link or roll information in their post on this forum. If players are factoring in any positive or negative modifiers for situation or other factors, they must be stated in the post. Failure to do this may result in a reroll.

Please use 'LowIntensity' as the campaign name (without the quotes).
Dice rolling format is #d6.hits(5) So you to roll 10 dice, and see how many were hits, you'd do 10d6.hits(5)
If you're doing an Edge roll and need the 6's to explode, use #d6.hitsopen(5,6)

Thread colors:

speaking aloud in cyan

<< @Team [Nova] violet for silent communication, i.e. commlink messaging / subvocal speech >>

darkkhaki for thoughts and internal monologue

I'll be using springgreen for Artemis' communications.

Magenta for important GM messages and the like.



I prefer that we not edit posts, other than to correct minor typos/grammar and the like. If you do edit a post to revise or clarify something, please put in an actual post as well to let folks know to go back and re-read.

Related threads:

Character Building thread

IC Thread

'Setup' thread, with a little training RP and setting info.

House rules, changes, etc.

(most of hacking is deprecated, as is much of rigging)

Note that I picking and choosing material from canon to use in my game.
The weird magic devil trees are not really being featured currently in this game. Also, much of the politics of Bogota have changed, as has the nature of the war being fought there.

Bogotá, 2073

Population: aprox 13 million
Elevation: 2,625 m (8,612 ft)
Size: 172.16 sq mi

The Bogota metroplex is a city caught in crisis.

In 2049, the nation of Columbia ceased to exist in any real capacity. The south and east of the country was controlled by Amazonia, and the north and west was controlled by Aztlan. Caught in the middle was the government and people of Bogota. In 2050 the Bogota government declared it to be a free city. Aztlan and Amazonia both wanted to claim the city for themselves, but the local government managed to convince each that they could be well served in the long run by leaving the city free.

Over the next 20 years, the city continued to grow and thrive, but in 2070 the local economy crashed. A fringe group called Grupo de libertad de Bogotá (GLB), composed of anti-government activists began gaining traction, and soon civil disturbances grew, sometimes resulting in violent street battles between government troops and police against the armed GLB. With the uptick in violence, neighborhood and criminal gangs gained influence, sometimes posing as armed neighborhood watch groups, and aligned themselves generally with the government faction or the GLB. Aztlan and Amazonia had parts to play in the simmering conflict as well. Over time, the city government had become quite close to Amazonia, and so the GLB petitioned Aztlan for help in the conflict. Both sides refused to become directly involved, instead treating it much as a proxy war. Neither desired escalation, and so neither side has thusfar been willing to become directly involved, and for the most part limit their indirect involvement as well.

Numerous corporations and megacorporations maintain property within and around the city, and maintain their own protective forces- and for the most part do not become directly involved in the conflict or its politics.

The city government maintains control and authority in the south eastern part of the city, much of the downtown area. GLB controls some neighborhoods primarily in the north and west. Many parts of the city are without effective law enforcement, which sometimes falls then upon gangs or bands of vigilantes. The city government tenuously controls some areas of the city, but does not regularly patrol those areas. There are small extraterritorial areas where corporations maintain control, small military bases, more or less.

The airport is a particularly hot area. Much of the surrounding neighborhoods are controlled by GLB or by gangs who fall under their influence. The government forces maintain a strong presence at the airport, but fighting occurs near daily, and traffic has dropped significantly, with regular threats to aircraft, including surface to air missiles.



http://goo.gl/maps/4SfD1

Key Players:

Amazonia

Aztlan

Libres de la ciudad de Bogotá (sometimes LCB), the established government of Bogota.

Grupo de libertad de Bogotá (GLB)

Zermax Group

Hi-point Consulting

Orders and information

Zermax Group operates as a Private Military Contractor. It is no secret that they are part of a shell game played in Bogota. They take pains not to reveal their customers or who they operate for when possible.

In order to remain as legitimate as possible, Zermax has a license to operate in the city from the LCB, but also maintains a relationship with the rebel forces. They have a number of small and medium size facilities in and around Bogota. Most are heavily fortified.

All Zermax operatives are instructed to maintain strict rules of engagement. At no point are forces of Aztlan or Amazonia to be engaged directly. It is also critical that operators avoid hostile contact with LCB or GLB forces if at all possible. Firing in self defense in these situations is permissible, but forces must seek to break contact immediately. LCB forces maintain some level of law in some areas of B ogota. In those areas it is highly recommended to maintain a low profile, and seek not to attract attention. It is also undesirable that any Zermax contractors be detained by LCB forces. Should this happen, the contractor is instructed to present their identification, and request to speak with a representative from Zermax. Operators are instructed to reveal no information regarding their missions, past or present. GLB forces and local gangs or militias are typically less well organized. These forces are much more likely to simply sell any captured operatives back, however the same regulation applies to information regarding current or past missions.


Map of current action area: http://www.dixieandtheninjas.net/shadowrun.../shadowrun2.jpg

FAQ:

Q: How do I write that funny looking 'a' in Bogotá?

A: the á character can be typed by holding down the ALT key on your keyboard and typing 160 on your number pad.

(reserved)

Sorry for the long monologue type posts. It's all just setup and exposition.

Feel free to post here and in the IC thread. You're welcome to chat on the drive, and so forth. I'll give everyone an RL day or two to post and then we'll move along.

Ask questions if you got 'em.

Also, please doublecheck the chummer files for your character and make sure that we're all good. I know Thanee is going to do some tweaking, and I'll post that update as soon as I get it.

Cheers folks. Happy Shadowrunning!

A: By copy&pasting it from above. ááááá.

Actually, though, I can simply type it on my keyboard by pressing ´ followed by a -> á.

Bye
Thanee

In the car on way home but excited now.
Looking forward to running with you guys.

Question. What services that are normally available in seattle that are not here?
I mean matrix access and lifestyle stuff. I've. Perused the war book briefly but don't want to taint the IC with OCK.

Cheers

On it.

I will likely drop the armor completely and just keep a lighter suit, because it really doesn't make much sense without the Mobility Upgrade, and I definitely do not want to drop any of the other two items.

Maybe I can squeeze in another R5 Focus for the freed-up resources.

Bye
Thanee

Hm, that may be tricky to answer.

Bogotá is a vibrant and functioning city. It has a night life, lots of stores and industry and so forth. But it is also in the midst of a simmering war. Violence has become a big problem. There are daily bombings and firefights. Much of this though targets various armed factions - the civilian populace as a whole is not a target. Except that many of the armed factions are in fact civilians. So innocents always get caught in the crossfire, or as collateral damage.

At the moment, 309 Echo has just arrived in the city. Camp Jaguar is on a heightened state of alert due to an uptick in violence. Under more normal circumstances, you all would head out into the city for some shopping or partying, but at the moment there are restrictions on travel (Zermax personnel must have authorization from their handler and the camp supervisor to go offbase). Supplies are regularly shipped in of course, and the travel restriction may be lifted or modified.

Does that help at all? Feel free to hit me up if there are specific things you're looking for.

that helps just fine, thanks. normal atmosphere with added heat and humidity to make the violence that extra bit .. violent

just tell me if I presume something that Hammer would not normally know or have experienced, I'm sure you will

I'm swamped at work today, or I would be posting something IC up. For now, I'll say the Khote will likely try to head out and look around the camp with anybody else that is doing so. He doesn't like the idea of us walking around in an unknown environment individually even if this is supposed to be a secure location.

How many other teams are stationed here. Any that we would have had operations with or against during our weeks of training? If so, what can they tell us about the current situation here.

There is a base watering hole. Beer, pool, trideo, etc. There are a dozen or so folks there. You guys shake a couple of hands and meet a pair of guys from 309 Bravo. A human fellow named Jonas - who you mistake for a moment for a small troll, and an ork who goes by Vekkar. They're friendly guys and happy to chit chat. Jaguar houses all of 309 and a couple of elements of 116. The rest of the people who live in the camp are administrative and support folks, and there's some additional combat types who function as full time camp security and are not organized into groups the same as your team.

Their talk mostly concerns operations and the situation in Bogotá. They discuss some of the local gangs, some of which Zermax subcontracts for various tasks. Such as external security - most of the personnel on outer gates are "local contractors". They're also big fans of combat football. Vekkar and Jonas's favorite teams are competing this weekend, so they've setup a betting pool.

There's an exercise facility in the camp that also has a few people in it, but the equipment is rather old, and some of it is in not-too-great shape.

As to the camp itself, there are perhaps two dozen total buildings inside its walls, and a helipad. The wall around it is earthen reinforced, and slopes gently down on the outside to anti-personnel and light anti-vehicle barriers. Inside is a battlement or ledge, so that a person can fire standing behind the berm and have a fair amount of cover. It is four sided, and has squat reinforced guard towers. There is an entrance and an exit, both of which are setup rather like a medieval gatehouse. Each has two gates, so that someone entering the camp drives through the first gate, and is then in an enclosed lot - just as you all did when you arrived. And then a second gate must be opened to allow access into the actual interior of the camp.

I am on exactly the same wavelength here

Mate while you are walk-about, and once Crispy has setup our TacNet for group comms Hammer will message Khote with a request for a magical background check, and run down on existing defences / weaknesses etc. if you can?

If Brian is with you, making friends, see if he can single out one of the locals for a "less military" view of the situation. I've a fund of only 500 for this left over from last pay ... so avoid buying him penthouse lifestyle for info

I'm gonna take a quick wander to the admin block and try and identify the command chain for a quick intro
not going directly to the top, Artemis has said that Senor French will see us later
So, going to see the admin clerk and the duty officer etc.
they are usually more clued in on situations than you get from official briefings and also usually deal with important stuff like PAY


Also, a look at the SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures)

usually the notice board has a "most wanted" list and some rules of engagement with the locals and contractors etc.
as well as any expected visitors and more importantly "cook house opening times"

then back to the bunk house for a quick "boots on" nap before duty,

note to self, need call-signs for Khote and Brian ...

Well, he is distinctly AmerInd. So something like Tonto or Injun Joe or anything equally insensitive to his heritage would probably be appropriate.

You may have hit the nail on the head there my old Hatchet-Packer, according to the RSDB (Racial Slur Database ... who knew?!)

Tonto - Native American character from The Lone Ranger. Spanish for "Idiot"

When in Spain ? or at least trying to speak pidgin Spanish

How about Squaw?

</ducks>


Reminds me of that Far Side cartoon, where an old Lone Ranger is looking in an Amerind dictionary, and thinks "Kemosabe: horse's rear end. What the hey!?"

Regarding Camp Jaguar's magical and matrix arrangement, I'm glossing over it somewhat, so if you have specific questions, you're welcome to ask.

The camp security force maintains coverage of both angles- watcher spirits keep an eye on the premises, and the matrix is pretty hardened against attack.

Do they have mages on staff? Or are the spirits summoned by other teams like ours?

The camp security force has a few mages that keep up some magical security. They use operator teams to bolster security when possible (like the security duty you guys have tonight), and those security operators are expected to use all their available resources.

Meta: Don't rely on NPC's stuff. If you guys are on guard duty and want to have a magical eye running, summon a watcher spirit. From time to time I'll throw you a bone ("One of the camp mages radios you and says blah blah blah")

Dummy post so I have an easier time finding this thread.

IC is assuming there's some kind of mess hall manned by support personnel in addition to the watering hole.

As for call sign, how about something foodie-related, like chef?

@Mach_Ten: Mingling in progress, Sir.

Edit: Chef's too nice. How about some variation of swamper, such as swamp, swampy or the like?

I was so thinking of Baldrick

"what's for dinner Baldrick"

"Rat o Van, Sir!"

"don't you mean Coq au Vin .. ?"

"No Sir, it's Rat, wots been run over by a van!"

Ahhh Blackadder. My favorite set of Brit comedies!

So, we're gonna rename our team to "The Blackadder Appreciation Society"?
"Do you know what irony is, Baldrick?"
"Yes, it's like goldy; only for iron."

this has suddenly gone horribly wrong lol

I have a cunning plan.....

oh gods, I have have to ask, but How cunning is this plan ?

is it

"as cunning as a fox who's just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University" ?

The watering hole is part of the compound we are in?

Does it have anything noteworthy for drinks, or just cheap soybeer? Tatjana is a bit of a snob (so far having lived in High Lifestyle, which will now drop a few notches, but that is to be expected on the job, I guess).

Bye
Thanee

Mostly soybeer, some liquor as well. Yes, its part of the compound you all are in.

She could certainly get something special ordered.

Because I dig these, and because its somewhat relevant to this game:

Syrian FSA video about CQB (close quarters battle)
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=397_1361145329

You wrote "Thanee" in IC instead of "Tatjana".

Bye
Thanee

Darn! Fixed.

Some preparations, Tatjana has done before heading out.

Increase Intuition F5 -> 4 hits + 0 hits (forgot the Mentor Spirit bonus)
Drain Resistance DV 1 -> 5 hits

Increase Charisma F5 -> 6 hits + 1 hit (forgot the Mentor Spirit bonus)
Drain Resistance DV 1 -> 3 hits

These two spells will be sustained by Tatjana's Sustaining Foci.

Bye
Thanee

The HTML Sheet of Tatjana you linked in the opening post is out of date.

Bye
Thanee

Tatjana's chummer file updated. I'll update the html file soon (and stick other people's in there)

I have edited my entry post in the Setup thread now that the equipment is slightly changed.

Bye
Thanee

Even though I'm American, I grew up with a lot of British television. Still think British humo(u)r is the best.

In my IC post I'm going to assume that everyone subscribed their commlink for the tacnet / team network. Apologies if this is wrong, let me know and I'll edit the post.

Bring on the Red Dwarf quotes next

Thanks for the TacNet, pass the eye-bleach please

Hammer will share / upload the Persons of Interest details and the Gang ID info so that your AR should overlay targets and threats.

Dak in my IC Hammer is attempting to be subtle about enquiries to begin with,
Paying attention to things like the Fuel Tanker that is overdue,
seeing if there are small jobs that the Supply Chain needs doing to grease the wheels a little with favours etc.


Underworld (Fencing) knowledge (8d6.hits(5)=5)

Etiquette (8d6.hits(5)=4)

if there are any other factors to consider please let me know, (Not bad for my first dice rolls though eh? )

ta

There's a tarantula in my shorts...
What's it doing?
Nesting...

Dak, what are the broad outlines of our service agreement with Zermax? Weekly / monthly pay? Hazard pay? Reimbursement for personal use of ammo / drones / etc ? I'm not asking so that I can rules-lawyer the contract or whatever, moreso to know if Crispy can expect to ask around at the commissary for ammo/fuel and whatnot.

Slacker, I saw the drain code on Electric Cloud is (F/2)+5. Wow! Maybe you could take it as a limited spell, so you could get +2 to the drain test.

I don't think it makes much sense to include Brian in the Tacnet, seeing as he can only contribute two channels max. Given recent IC posts that seems to be a Good Thing™.

Here's all I know so far about our service agreement.





And I just noticed that I still need to buy a few programs. But I have plenty of the 5k Bonus left, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Bye
Thanee

Heh, true Dakka Fiend. The Tacnet is Rating 2, so Brian would only need to contribute 4 channels. Any way to bump up the channels he can contribute (motion sensor, range finder, orientation system, etc) ?

yeah if you have contacts or goggles with thermographic and smartlink and other enhancements you already provide a load of channels, so it's good

Hmm, got contacts with Smart (and Image Link) and a subvocal mic and that's it.
Thermo doesn't have much to offer when you've already got Low Light built in (Cat Eyes), ditto Orientation System due to Sense of Direction.


Edit: Roll for mingling with the kitchen squad: Zero hits (and no glitch).

with image link thats straight up optical, Smartlink, microphone and you need onemore channel and you're golden
you have any audio enhancers ? Earbuds etc

I have contacts with low-light, glasses with image link, smartlink, vision enhancement and vision magnification, as well as earbuds with audio enhancement and select sound filters.

Bye
Thanee

D'uh! Spatial Recognizer FTW!

Zermax feeds and houses you guys, and will generally get you to and from where you're headed, and that's really about it. They expect you to pay for your own ammo and weaponry. Fuel for drones would fall into the same category. Costs for gear are 25% higher than in the books, but availability is -4. They're not price gouging, its simply more expensive to get the material transported into the area.

Zermax will pay 6,000 nuyen monthly, with an additional 500 nuyen per month for the team leader. Artemis oversees the payment and money transfer. There is no hazard pay, but bonuses are mentioned in the contract, at the discretion of management.