One of the things I am liking most about playing Grease is running plays without really telling anyone else on the team what he's up to, and forcing them to roll with it. He kinda warned Jack about this one, but I think it's fun to have a wildcard on the team to keep everyone on their toes.
-DrZ

Fortunately, Jack really doesn't know anything about his past, so it's relatively easy for him to adapt. Given his unconcious habits, he's probably straight, but he doesn't really know for sure, he may just not have a thing for elves...

ETA: The haunted thing made me laugh. Shit, now I wish we DID have Amy around to raise a Spirit of Man and claim it was Jimmy... wait, we could still totally do that!

1) The thing about haunted, made me laugh too

2) If you have a thing for elves, you picked the right team

3) See - now Jack has joined in on the persecution of Mrs. Manuel!

And now with both teams back in sync - what's up next? Besides the haunting of Mrs. Manuel, followed by perhaps pouring sugar in her gas tank?

I think Grease and I will hang out in his car for a few to see if there is any aftermath from the visit that the spy drone picks up. Jack will start reading through Manuel's personal notes to see if there is anything that might link him to all of this or possibly identify any close acquaintances at Lone Star.

Jack is also going to change into more casual wear: jeans, short sleeve collared button-up shirt, and nice shoes from the clothes that Amy purchased before heading to his meeting. Nothing too fancy, but something you would probably wear to a casual date.

@Grease,

What exactly are you doing with your drone?

Drave is just waiting to hear back from Jack and Grease, and is ready to move on to the Wright murder scene.

OK, so it looks like I'm getting in the taxi. I'll take the folder with me since I have some time to kill before my meeting. I'll change out of my suit and into the new clothes on my way to the restaurant. Once there, I'm going to spend some time reading through the folder to try and get a sense for Jimmy Manuel and see if I can figure anything out from his notes. I'll stow my gear in the trunk before heading into the restaurant 15 minutes before the appointed meeting time.

Yeah same here. We're in the neighborhood some place waiting for you guys to be done.

Figure with traffic, Overkill and Amy will arrive at the Mi Pueblo Market at around 345, with Grease getting there only a few minutes later.

You can RP the arrival as you see fit - as always, if you need something from me, just let me know.

Jack - since you are very early for your meeting - any particular place you want to go to read the file?

I figured I would just read it in the car unless there is an obvious place that looks like it would be safe to read it without anyone around to look over my shoulder (library, etc). That or just instruct the cab to drive around for a bit.

Also, I am going to reboot my comm when I get in the taxi. Jack considers Honeypot's safety and discretion as a paramount concern, so he wants to make sure his comm is relatively clean, clearing any MARKs he gave to his companions. He'll reinvite them to MARK his comm when they meet again.

@Jack,

Reading the files will take you pretty much the entire time from now until the meeting.

Your character determines the following from the files. Rather than write up 100 pages of documents and let you read them, I made a Logic + Intuition test for you to make certain deductions from his paperwork. As such, just bear in mind that the following may be true, partly true, or false.

1) The notes cover Manuel's caseload for the past year.
2) Manuel seems to be good at this job - the files show many cases where he notes arrests were made.
3) Manuel has worked with multiple partners before, among others you see, Vic Hawthorne, Samantha Jackson, and Gregory Taylor.
4) Most of his cases seem to be about drug smuggling from the Sioux sector into the UCAS sector, but not the other way around.
5) As the cases notes get closer chronologically to the present day, Manuel seems to have a problem with a Lieutenant Calvin Bradshere. Looking back through the notes, Bradshere was mentioned several times throughout, but without the same level of animosity.
6) The most recent case file is regarding an investigation into another smuggling incident, referencing a case#5427 but receiving a lack of resources to pursue it.
7) Among the last thing in the file is a transfer request from Manuel to be moved from Border Patrol/Smuggling to Robbery/Homicide.

Nice catch Jack!

This info will come in really handy. We finally have a first lead on a potential conspirator on Lone Star's payroll, a second link with smuggling on the Sioux side, and a direct link connecting 4 of the deceased officers.

ETA: But if it really is about the drugs, as Amy suspects, then why the hell did the police get involved? We have absolutely no idea... My character obviously expects a megacorp to be behind it all.

Awesome!

I'll obviously pass the notes along to the others for their review (maybe Overkill's Analytical Mind PQ will help).

Since I am now basically an hour ahead in the timeline, I am going to hold off posting the information IC until the timelines synch again. I just checked the Lone Star file, we have not yet seen Case #5427. Might have to contact the Johnson about that one.

ETA: ...and yes, I am giving Grease's vehicles "personalities" (probably programmed by Grease) and they are able to pick up that Jack isn't all that enamored with their master, which is why they go out of their way to annoy him.

Did we have a first link? I didn't remember one other than some theorizing based on the locations of many of the murders.

I thought we did.. I thought there was info at some point about smuggling from Sioux to UCAS so I wasn't surprised when I read about that again. I went back to try to find where I read about this, and I can't for the life of me find where I got that idea from...

I tossed out an IC theory to Grease involving smuggling precursor substances across the Sioux-UCAS border, manufacturing the drugs in the eastern area of the UCAS sector, then shipping the drugs back to the Barrens for testing. Might have been from there.

Hmm... Taylor was listed as Patrol, but Manuel had been partners with him at one point in time in Smuggling Interdiction. Both of them were assigned to areas out east.

Further theorycrafting: Manuel discovered a major drug operation, but was shut down when he tried to pursue it (Case #5427). He enlisted some of his former partners to help out, having both himself and Taylor requesting reassignment to an area where they suspected a certain part of the operation was going on (Green Valley Ranch and Watkins). Maybe this LT Bradshere knew what was going on and arranged for their personal information and routines be made known to the killers or the Los Mags...

I think we really need to get a copy of that Case #5427 file, by hook or by crook.

Ok - so, I'm curious.

Do you want me to chime in on questions like this? Or do you prefer to rely on your own memories/notes?

I'm fine either way - just wanted to know how the group felt.

ETA - I specifically referring to Jack's question:

"Did we have a first link? I didn't remember one other than some theorizing based on the locations of many of the murders. "

I'd say please chime in. With everything happening in a 36 hr time frame, our own characters would have no trouble connecting dots where we personally might not...

And yeah Jack, that might be why I'm thinking what I think, but how'd you come up with Sioux smuggling in the first place? Just because several dead cops were working in Commerce City, which borders both areas?

I'm actually okay with us relying on our notes. With all the information flowing around, I think it could get confusing pretty quickly even over a 36 hour time frame.

We could compromise: if you see us putting up something incorrect (IN CHARACTER since most of this is just OOC chatter that our characters aren't necessarily verbalizing), maybe roll a collective memory test for the group to see if someone corrects the innaccuracy? There are mechanics for that kind of deal.

I just got the Sioux thing mostly because the first murder (Wright) happened during a random patrol near that border and that several of the deceased were working smuggling interdiction in the vicinity of the Sioux border (could be CAS too, but Wright's was definitely closer to the Sioux border).

While I'm thinking on it - what are Amy, Overkill, and Grease's ideas for handling the investigation of the Wright case? You just know that it happened somewhere on the street almost 2 months ago.

Hmmm...

Well, the area seems to have a bit of a market atmosphere, perhaps some vendors or shops in the area remember the event. We could do some canvasing of the nearby establishments, checking for anyone who remembers the event; the shooting of a Lone Star officer out on the street will probably stick in the memories of the people there.

Yet another Double post, my bad...

Side Question

@Lobo: Because I see this giant area on the map every time I look at it... what exactly has the Rocky Mountain Aresnal National Wildlife Refuge become in 2075?

Rocky Mountain Arsenal
Once a highly restricted area, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal no longer contains anything worth protecting. The fences and guardposts still surround it, but are unmanned and unmonitored, and years of neglect have taken their toll. Anybody capable of walking can penetrate what is left of the security. Surprisingly, squatters have so far failed to settle in this large area.

Rumors abound that this is due to unexploded munitions, secret corporate labs, ghouls, and/or insect spirits, each person you meet has their own theory.

There was this article in the Denver Tribune, although the relevance is uncertain.



I think Jack's theories, the murder descriptions and that article might have been enough to put the idea in my mind.

Cool, thanks!

@Grease

So, just from a mechanic standpoint, what are you doing with your Flyspy?

You aren't Manually controlling it, and you aren't using Rigger Control (which would require you to be in VR).

So your options are either Remote Control (using AR and Control Device Actions) or Auto Control (using AR and the Send Message Action) and having the drone act using its own Pilot rating?



Next - and this is for Grease and Overkill

For the purpose of verisimilitude, how do your characters carry your RCC and Deck, respectively?

The RCC is the size of a briefcase - do you, in general, carry it around in your hand? The way you have been playing so far in IC, I assume you have been leaving it in the car - I'm just curious how you picture your character carrying it.

Your deck is the size of a tablet. How does Overkill carry it around? Do you have something like this?


ETA - I added the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to the locations doc, and Brandy Simmons to the NPC doc.

I've also added the Run and Gun preview to the dropbox - these items are now available for purchase.

Re: drone. Remote command, "go hide under that couch. Record everything you hear until you hear from me." Later, I will jump in and give it commands to get out of there.

I will have to think how he handles the rcc.

So auto control, send message. The drone will obviously be running silent.

Re run and gun: sweet! Lots of fancy clothes.

That Mil-Spec armor is a little ridic... I'm also not so sure about the massive social limit boosts, considering in Core that costs a bunch of karma/PP/drugs/augments to get. But yeah, Jack may have his eye on one of those Armante suits.

I had pictured carrying the deck in a holster under his right arm, (his gun is in a holster under his left arm) one of the reasons he is always wearing some form of jacket. He probably has a backpack as an alternate option to carry it in.

I figured the deck itself is gunmetal grey and roughly the size a couple decks of playing cards, he has a tablet wired to it for display purposes (As opposed to having the deck as part of the tablet.)

Hehe.. and the lack of fake SIN kicks in

To be perfectly honest, I haven't really had an issue with social limits thus far. My current limit is 7. I'd need a dice pool of over 21 to really make that onerous.

Let's say I'm at the top of my game; Charisma 8, Negotiation 12, Tailored Pheromones 3 (I'm sure there are other modifiers). Assuming I've got at least an essence of 5, my social limit is 9. I'm not really going to run into that that often.

I think they're just social / status symbols. It's a way to identify who actually has money vs. pretenders.

Right, but you're built to be a face. Jack, for instance, has a Social Limit of 4, which he actually hit a few rolls ago. Pre-R&G, I would have to have taken Indomitable (Social) @ 16 karma or Tailored Pheremones (31,000 + Essence) to improve on that without just straight up raising attributes. Instead, I can just spend a few 1000 and I'm good to go. Heck, some of them even provide bonus dice to social tests, not just limits (like the dope Armante suit Jack wants ).

Leadership to calm Amy down!

12d6.hits(5)=2

Possible modifiers to tack on:
"Target's attitude towards the character is friendly, +2"
"Character not part of target's social strata, -1 to -3"

You want to be taken seriously, you need to spend some cred on your duds! I like it.

Factor in all the other stuff you could be spending that money on, and I think it's a wash. I'd also make an argument that it has limited uses; it doesn't really function well as a disguise, so if you're trying to bluff your way in some place you better have a reason you're in a 5,000 suit.

To date, the two of us have done pretty well wearing nothing but suits.

I was disappointed when I checked the IC and didn't see the calming techniques from Airplane! LOL

@Grease

I think Jack's point (and I agree with him - although I'm not sure what, if anything to do about it) is that you may not need them at this point - but consider that your Tailored Pheromones give you a +1 die and +1 limit to social tests cost you .2 essence and 31,000 . If you bought the Berwick suit instead, that would have cost you only 2,600 and no essence, and would give you exactly the same benefit. That's a substantial savings.

There are a few trade-offs. One, you have to have the suit running wirelessly, and you can have the suit taken away from you (or it might not be appropriate to wear a suit) - but it still makes Tailored Pheromones far less mandatory for a Face type character.

@Jack

For my campaign, I wouldn't worry about the military armor - you won't see bad guys wearing it (or if you do, you've REALLY gone far afield of where I picture the adventure going) and I don't see you being able to get a hold of it, or be in a position to use it

ETA - I see that there was a flurry of posting while I was typing

True. One thing I like is that it offers a bit of variety. I figure that "normal" clothing is covered by lifestyle; but it seems odd that your armored "suit" would be worn everyday. Who dry cleans these things? It's not a set of chainmail. Having a variety of options other than just 1 can give some variety to a character's outfits they otherwise lacked.

@Lobo: But I can get tailored pheromones *and* wear the suit! It's a cheap way to increase social tests after chargen (or during now, I suppose) without having to go under the knife.

It's almost a shame really, I figured it finally gave a decent reason for taking Direct Combat spells... not that I am suggesting we test it out.

With regards to the Leadership test, I'm going to let Chrome decide how Amy will react - just to continue the idea of no player influencing another player with a die roll. He can certainly choose to let the results of Grease's leadership check influence his IC response.

I thought it was a good idea for Grease to make the Leadership test, btw - although, I, like Jack, am sad not to see a long line of people lined up to help her

I actually addressed that in one of my IC posts (Jack is planning on taking his Actioneer to the laundromat tonight). It's also a reason why I bought an armored jacket (and now a vest) so that I would have mutliple protection options (I like playing RPG dress-up apparently).

I do think it's a little weird (the laundry part), but I guess it depends on how long runs take. For some tables, a lot of the runs are going to be 24 hour jobs where you don't have to worry about laundry necessarily. This run seems to have a multi-day legwork phase. As a GM, I would probably provide leniency when something like that comes up.

A troll maxed for damage resistance in that stuff would require you to use Direct Combat spells to hurt him He'd be rolling like 50-60 dice

For me, and this is just me, military armor like that is fine for specific types of runs - like in Queen Euphoria (back in the day) - I remember running that one, and the corp the runners were working for said, "Here, take this stuff - whatever you want, and go in there and get her."

My players were like, "What do you mean, whatever we want?"

I said, "Whatever - machine guns, rocket launchers, security armor (this was back in 2e before mil spec armor was around) grenades, etc"

They were like "Awesome!" and then thought about it and went, "Oh shit - if they are giving us all this stuff, what the hell is in there?"

But apart from occasional one-off events, no Shadowrunner has any right to wear that - it just isn't what my version of Shadowrun is about. (And again, if you are fighting someone wearing that stuff, you've screwed up ROYALLY.)

For me, I think what would make sense would be that your normal "clothing" would be non-armored, and all of that would be subsumed into your lifestyle costs.

For like Middle and higher lifestyles, I could even see your normal "clothing" would be considered "armor clothing" (armor rating 6)

For anything else, you would have to buy it - and multiple copies of it. You could wear the same suit a couple of days in a row (there are certainly people in real life who do so) - if they don't have more than one, and need to wear it unexpectedly.

It depends on your character, how fastidious he is, how long the runs take, etc. I appreciate Jack going along with the idea that it is hot, and he is sweaty, and the suit probably looks like crap after wearing it two days straight in the heat.

That being said, I don't want to be the fashion police. I don't want people to have to worry about which suit is clean, and which is in the dry cleaners, etc. I think that the only time it is going to come into play is if you have an important meeting, somewhere fancy, and you've been wearing the same suit for a couple of days. At which point, either take a couple of hours and bring it to a laundrymat (and pay a nominal charge), or have an extra suit, or take a small modifier to social tests during that meeting.

I'm also toying with the idea of having some of those fancy suits not give you the bonuses depending on where you are. I'm thinking that if you had to negotiate with the Los Mags, they wouldn't care if you were wearing a fancy suit - in fact, that might even have a negative impact on them.

That was partially my point about the 'disguise' thing; there are certain situations where being in a $5,000 suit isn't a asset.

One other thing - is everyone clear that OOC the Chrysler Patrol-3 is not a drone, but a manned police car?

I'm just making sure that we are all on the same page - in case that would change how you are roleplaying it.

I figured that was the case. Then again, I'm not there. I remember the old Patrol-1 from 2nd Edition.

...or carrying around 30K - 100K pieces of electronics.

I think I read from Chrome thinking it was a drone. At any rate, I've edited my response accordingly.