Updated the Google Map with The Rusty Bar-rel, in case anyone wants to know where it is located.

Lobo: Quick question. I know that Denver is split into sectors, but who controls the area outside of the sprawl? Again with the Berlin analogy, Berlin was entirely surrounded by East Germany back in the day even though it was divided in sectors. Is there one nation that surrounds Denver?

There used to be 3 nations that surrounded Denver.

To the southwest, south, and southeast, the Pueblo Corporate Council (bordering the Pueblo Sector, the CAS sector, and the southeastern UCAS sector.)
To the northwest, was the Ute Nation (bordering the Ute Sector)
To the north and northeast, the Sioux Nation, (bordering the Sioux Sector and the northern and eastern borders of the UCAS).

With the absorption of the Ute Nation by the PCC in 2065, the Ute sector and nation ceased to exist - so at this time, there are only two - the PCC and the Sioux.

Just as an FYI:

Overkill has already run a search on Argent and succeeded. This, however is going to mean he will be in VR and unable to communicate with the rest of you for about 15 minutes. The searches for Mary Kelly and Emily Sanders can be done in AR (or by his Agent) but then he will not gain the +2 dice for being in hot sim - although he will be able to communicate with you.

If you let me know how you want to run those, I can do the dice rolling and let you know the information you receive.

Jack was basically just asking him to run the searches before tomorrow, when he hoped to track the ladies down to speak with them. I personally don't see a need for a rush on it, but it's of course up to Overkill on when/how he wants to knock it out.

Also, how much was Overkill's fancy beer? Need to update his cash balance.

I updated Grease and Overkill's Expenses - also added a large section to the file in the dropbox about border security - and how it works if you cross between sectors.

Thanks, I'll read through it fully when I get a chance.

Question: So... I imagine there is probably something of a market for fake "Frequent Traveler" passes. How much would something like that cost?

ETA: I was also planning on holding off until DrZ had a chance to provide input.

They are basically the equivalent of fake SINs.

Just bear in mind that the device rating of the scanners at the border is at least 4, if not 5 - so buying one below rating 4 and using it would be tantamount to suicide.

Now that I think on it, I will have Drave do the searches when he gets home, to get it right the first time. We are going to need to meet again tomorrow so I would prefer not to have to jump into VR for 15 minutes when we are in the middle of RP. He is probably kinda tired and needs a break anyways.

I will stick with the RP in the bar for the time being, and have Drave bring up bringing the info on Kelly, Sanders, and Argent in the morning for soycaf and doughnuts.

@Jack

Upon rereading my post, a lot of what Drave had to say rehashed some of the info you had just given. Their were just a few points and details on them I wanted to have Drave add and I needed to do a lot of repeating to write it out into complete thoughts.

@Overkill: No problem man. I've done mission planning before and that happens a lot.

@Lobo: OK, so somewhat cost prohibitive rather than fake license priced. Good to know.

ETA: @Lobo: Also, what is your policy on buying hits?

Yes - there is a community of Coyotes who charge top dollar to get someone across the border - so it wouldn't make sense you could spend a couple hundred nuyen to bypass the system.

Personally I have never used the buying hits mechanic.

Bummer, I figured it would be ideal for something like the Matrix Searches Overkill was planning on doing. It reminded me of the 3.5 D&D Taking 10 rule, if anyone is familiar with that.

Oh I am more than familiar with that, I own every D&D 3.5 core rulebook that was published (Except the campaign-specific books, like Forgotten Realms and Eberron, which I have some but not ALL). It is what I have played most in my 18+ years of gaming.

I like the take 10 or take 20 mechanics, representing when your character has and can take the time to do the job without distraction. I am unfamiliar with how the buying hits mechanic works in SR, so I cannot give a strong opinion on it.

I've seen the take 10 rule, so I know what you mean.

I guess for me, I prefer the players not knowing if something will definitely succeed or not. If you were to do something that I thought would not warrant a die roll, I'll just post that it succeeds - I've actually done that a couple of times so far in the adventure with some of your con and negotiation tests (and even some actions that would technically require a test, but I felt the situation was such that none would be needed).

So while I don't use the Buy Hits mechanic per se, there will be times that you will succeed without rolling dice - if that makes sense.

Works for me! I think the way I was looking at it (at least with Matrix Search) is there are a few different thresholds and modifiers associated with it, so buying hits may not necessarily get you anything.

I'm familiar with DD3.5 and auto hits, but I think Lobo's take on it is actually more fun. Either it's pointless to roll and you just succeed, or just show me what you've got. If you're rolling 12 dice looking for 1 hit, then go ahead, just get that hit, it shows how good you are at what you do, and that you won't fail when it counts... unless some terrible bad luck happens. Also, it's often possible to get glitches, and those are fun to RP imo.

Also, I've noticed that my expenses don't look as good as everyone else's. If someone wants to make them look nice too, that'd be cool.

And I just want to say that I'm really having a blast with our group. The rp is cheeky and fun, and each personality is becoming better and better defined. Cheers!

I can handle that, LOL.

Thanks

Sorry everyone, just got home from a 5 hour drive. Will try to post tonight / first thing tomorrow. Next week my work schedule will be less insane.

@Lobo: What caliber round is the shell casing (small or large is fine) and what does it look like it fits (pistol, AR, etc)?

I just want to check something about how you run SR5, Lobo. In the rules, we now have edge refresh automatically after a good meal and a full night's sleep. It seems to me like it can be used to one's advantage, performing an action with edge because you know it will soon refresh anyway, with the small risk of being interrupted in your sleep. In this context, it seems only reasonable to use edge just before we go to bed, when it's the safest to do so. This could work well for repairing or building a piece of gear, using edge on an availability test, and so on. In my case, Amy could bind a spirit using edge, and get more services this way. I wanted to check if this was acceptable to you, or if you find this strategic use of edge too gamist. I personally have no problem with it, but might as well hear your thoughts on it.

Well, I think it refreshes 1 edge overnight after a good night's sleep. So, if you only have 1 edge that's it, but for a lot of characters it's self-limiting; you don't want to spend 4 edge right before you go to bed if you have to wait 3 more days to get it all back.

-DrZ

You can still spend 1 if you're currently full. Hell you can spend 1 per day on an extended test if you're not doing anything else.

Oh I know; but my point was that since it just refreshes 1 at a time, it's not as severe as it could be (i.e. spending 5 edge or something at once).

-DrZ

Considering all of you have 1 Edge, it doesn't seem like a big deal to me. It's a resource like everything else. While having an idea of exactly when something is going to be available again may appear gamist, the whole concept of "spending" Edge is kind of gamist in and of itself, right?

ETA: Not sure if it is going to help anyone, but I uploaded an Association Matrix to the Broken Star folder on Dropbox. It might be a bit cheating, but I figure Overkill's Analytical Mind trait probably means he's doing that all in his head anyway.

Believe me- having more would be better . The character creation on this guy was too tight as it is, unfortunately.

ETA: I'm going to message argent IC, unless anyone has an objection.
-DrZ

Nah man, go for it. I don't think there are any objections there. We may need to figure out what we want to pay him though, unless Grease is funding it solely out of his cut.

With edge, I'm going to say conditionally I have no problem with you spending the 1 edge before bedtime, so to speak.

If for some reason it gets out of control, and it becomes a problem, then I reserve the right to change my mind

I don't anticipate it being an issue, however.

Grease will be sure to bring that up if necessary

-DrZ

Hello,

Great RP back and forth

1) To answer Jack's question, the only services that will enter the Warrens are the ones we've discussed. Apart from that, you'd have to get dropped off outside the Warrens.

2) You will receive answers from Argent, Mr. J, and Sling later in the wee hours of the night. I will PM Grease and Jack with the answers, so for right now, just go ahead RP getting home, and we can start off the 30th with another issue of the Tribune (to be uploaded into the dropbox tomorrow morning).

I am going to a friend's birthday party in about 20 minutes (6:00 PM EST) and will be incommunicado for the rest of the night - I will do the PM's late tonight or early tomorrow morning before the Tribune.

Go ahead and post rolls for any searches/summonings/bindings/whatever you want to do before you sleep, and then I will post the results late tonight or early tomorrow as well.

3) Jack, the casing is approximately .50 caliber.

Cool. Assuming Grease won't take me home (granted, we don't know each other that well yet), how much would the fare be to take Amendola's from my current location home?

.50? That sounds like a hit then...

Grease will give you a lift. You can edit your post to include that, if you'd like.

DrZ

Okay, here we go. Amy will bind a force 5 spirit of Man to herself. One with the optional power Spell(Heal), so now we have backup healing It consumes 125 drams of reagents, out of 145.

12d6.hits(5)=4

I have planned to use my edge to reroll the failed dice, but let's find out what the spirit rolls first.

10d6.hits(5)=6

OUCH! Ok.. that one's gonna huuuuuurt. I have to keep the edge for resisting the drain, otherwise she might lose consciousness and that would be real bad.

Ah but fudge crackle. I went to reread the rules to realize in how big of a mess I put myself, and there's another aspect which I hadn't realized.. this takes way too long for Amy to attempt. We're talking 5 hours for a force 5 spirit. And well.. she'd never do that, it's stupid and she needs to sleep.

But I did make the rolls first, and realized I don't want to do it after I made those terrible rolls. I'm not trying to dodge this, but I also didn't intend to spend most of the night summoning. So I'll let the GM rule on this. I propose that next time she would try to bind a spirit, we can use the spirit's resist roll again. Or the GM can rule to use those dice whenever he feels like it. Or you can decide it's my fault for attempting this in the first place, and I'll roll my drain soak and we move on. I'm really sorry for this mess

Here are my Matrix Search rolls for the evening

Emily Sanders-

9d6.hits(5) → [6,5,6,5,5,1,3,1,5] = (6) (wow)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4388123/

Mary Jane Kelly-

9d6.hits(5) → [2,1,6,1,6,6,5,2,3] = (4)

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4388130/

I think you're in a lot better shape than you thought since you have to summon a spirit before you can bind it. So that would have been the summoning test, which only takes a complex action and doesn't cost any reagents. The other good thing is that a spirit only resists summoning with its Force, rather than Force x 2, so it only got 2 hits, meaning you net two hits on the basic summoning test.

ETA: Nice rolls, Overkill.

EATA: Lobo, send the message from Ramirez to Overkill, as he has the burner commlink. Jack slid it back to him after he sent him the message.

Facepalm.. you're quite right. I would still never have done any of it in the first place, since the 5 hours is just way too much to ask.

Man I'm glad we're having this game. I clearly need help with the SR5 rules as it is

So I guess I can just ignore the whole thing and move on. And let's pretend none of this ever happened.

@Chrome,

You dodged a bullet there Let's chalk that up to a learning experience - the most important lesson being don't roll 6 hits for a spirit resisting you!


@Grease,

Ok - so one tiny little monkeywrench here. You don't have Argent's information until Overkill runs his search - which he didn't actually do, although he rolled for it. So put in your IC post somewhere that Overkill ran the search as soon as he got home, and then sent you the info, and then you sent the message to Argent.

I already sent you the response in a PM from Argent. One question - and you can change your mind RP if you wish. Are you going to contact Sling about Crimson Fire? His loyalty is 1, would Grease be comfortable putting out the word he is trying to find out information about this? (So far, Amy has asked Chomsky, but he is loyalty 4, so much less likely to tell someone about her inquiries.

If you want to do it no problem, I'm just letting you know the potential consequences. Of which there might be none. Or some. We may never know.

@Overkill,

PM from Johnson sent.

Emily Sanders - Not much more information than what you already have. She is a secretary at an accounting firm in the CAS. You have her address already. She seems to be a civilian.

Mary Jane Kelly - Similar to Emily Sanders, seems like a civilian, works in customer service at a local publishing company. You already have her address.

ETA - new Denver Tribune up.

Drave is ready to give the call to meet up the next morning. Just let me know when you are all finished for the evening.

Just a note, I have a family birthday/Superbowl party tonight, so I will be out of pocket starting at 5:00PM CST or so.

I have a Superbowl party for my Fantasy League - so me too. However, I am available during the day and will have my normal super-availability this week.

Have fun guys!

Superb Owl picks anyone?

I am hoping Seattle wins, but honestly I think Denver will pull it out.

@Lobo, great job with the Tribune, I LMAOed at that the end of that 2nd article.

I'm hoping and believe that Denver will win. The Seahawks have beaten the crap out of my beloved Saints this year, so there's no love lost there. I'm also not a fan of Pete Carroll from his USC days. I do hope the best for Russell Wilson, who I think is awesome.

Mainly, I think it's time for Peyton to retire and I think a ring with a 2nd team would do that. His future is in the broadcast booth and I'd rather see him there sooner rather than later.

ETA: Lobo, do you want us to RP waking up/getting to the coffee shop that Overkill suggested? I'm waiting to post anything further until DrZ gets a chance to post his night-night post.

Yeah, I enjoy the Tribune posts. That third article is interesting. Depending on how hard core some of those Sioux Corps are, it could be another candidate in the conspiracy.

Yeah I love Peyton, always been a huge fan, but hearing him describe how he throws ducks all the time and his right arm isn't what it used to be is painful. It goes to show just how much of a superstar he is that he is still MVP of the league with his wrecked 38-year-old body though. I will root for Denver with all my heart this afternoon (yay pacific time) and I also hope he announces his retirement right afterwards. Quit while you're ahead. And that goes for shadowrunners too

IC, my character is done for the night.

Thank you for the compliments on the Tribune

If each of you is done for the night, then yes, you can just RP waking up and somehow arriving at the coffee shop.

Btw, Grease, you took the Novacoke right before the meeting - at 8:00 PM. The dose works for 10-Body hours, which means he is high from 8:00 PM to 3:00 AM. He then hits the negative effects from 3:00 AM to 10:00 AM - which means when he gets to the coffee house at 9:00, he is going to have a Charisma and Willpower of 1, plus all limits at a -1.

Again, I'll keep checking in, but I think at this point it is free roleplay unless you have a question for me.

Well seeing that most here are pulling for Denver, I will lend my support in their direction. Don't have too strong of a connection to either, but I don't think Seattle has ever won a Superbowl and I like to see the trophy passed around.

Peyton is an amazing QB, probably the best of our era. His personality can kinda annoy me sometimes (maybe its just the bad commercials), but not nearly as much as Brett Favre did (SO glad he's gone...) I haven't heard Peyton do any sportscasting, but he certainly has the knowledge of the game, perhaps he will impress me.

Probably the one trait about Peyton I admire the most is his work ethic. The guy is already a phenomenal player, but he works his arse off to make himself better.

My own beleaguered Lions did their standard amazing imploding act the second half of the season, so I haven't watched much since December. Being a Lions fan has been rough ever since Barry retired. This season was especially frustrating as the team has SO much talent: Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, Matthew Stafford, Ndamukong Suh, and plenty other very promising players. The teams haphazard management, incessant injuries, and poor coaching has just lead to such disappointment.

Maybe next year...

As a Giants fan, I did not have much to brag about this season either (to put it mildly).

I want Peyton to win his 2nd ring so everyone gets off his case - he is one of the great quarterbacks of all time. Plus, Eli won in Peyton's house a couple of years ago - now Peyton can win in Eli's.

Yep- he is going to look worse for the wear to be sure.
-DrZ

Overkill, if you want to put together a name/description for the coffee shop, I can add it to the map. Just post it here or in your IC.

I wanted to pick up an armor vest for Drave to wear in warmer weather and keep in his motorcycle, something a little more low key and in tune with the weather than his duster. Do you want me to just buy it OoC, (as if he has had it for a while,) or IC?

Didn't know if we wanted to use IC time for a trip to the store, seems like something he would have had already anyways. If you want me to just buy it, Drave will be wearing it this morning to this morning's meet.

I think Joe's Cup of Soy will be the name of the coffee shop. Its a little mom & pop coffee shop, looks straight out of the 1960s.

I was planning on contacting my fence at the AM meeting to see if she can locate an armor vest for me. You want me to see if she can get two?