Eyes - I'll just wait until we switch over to SR4 that way force will be irrelevant.

Heh that could be a while yet Slip.

Actually, just by way of gathering information at this point, how many people (players and GMs) have a copy of Shadowrun 4 right now, whether a hard copy or PDF? A big thing is that we don't want to convert or even try until a solid number (hopefully all) of the LITS population has the book. So where do we stand right now on book access. Sound off please.

To listen to my own request, I'll lead off, I have a hard copy of SR 4.

Hardcopy, PDF, and LE.

I do not yet have a copy of SR4 in either form . . . .I'm working on it.

PDF; I didn't even know hard copies were available yet.

Haven't read it through though. I'm looking at the Matrix rules first as I heard they're good. The whole thing is a radical paradigm shift from SR3 Matrix mechanics; how are we going to handle that?

Got the PDF, and I'd recommend upgrading to the V1.1 if you havn't already. Loads much faster.

I have SR4 on preorder.

WR1 - I figured it would be a while, but Max looks like he will be busy for a while too, so it all works out.

Ditto bandit.

I'm the only one I know who has actually tried -- and succeeded -- in learning a Force 14 spell during the course of an SR game: and that with a relatively low Sorcery and Magic Theory. Not yet as an LitS PC though but if it hadn't been for the upcoming conversion, I'm sure it would have been only a matter of time.

Official updates on what is and isn't happening with conversion will come through WinterRat.

However, if anyone is really bored/impatient/curious, it wouldn't hurt to see how your PC and contacts -- at chargen -- re-create through SR4. Just set aside in bps what you had assigned for Resources divided by 4, for now. (Always easy to spend more bps; but breaks the heart each time to try to spend less ) Can't guarantee for absolute sure that's the way we'll go -- but if nothing else, it will give you a sense of what your PC looks like under SR4. (For those who don't have SR4 yet, a quick, general reference.)

Almost without exception, you'll find that the numbers will generally tend to be lower.

What my tabletop group found useful is to recognise that the numbers no longer mean what they used to: to just adapt to a different scale of meaning. Coming out of SR3, that's hard! We're just so used to "6" being the true beginning of the professional shadowrunner scale, and not near its pinnacle. (Preceding statement does not reflect my personal opinion, but does reflect that of what seems to be most SR players.) We've found that taking into strong consideration the amount to which the linked attribute "ups" the # of skill dice: eg. where several primary skills/skill groups link with that attribute, mid-to-high attribute value creates fairly strong dice pools even where the skill/skill group levels are only 2 or 3. It seems to translate into a lot less hurt in the "skill" part of the equation.

WR1 - I don't really have anything that needs you. At the moment I may just have him rest up a bit. If anything occurs to my I will post a message here letting you know that I need something. Work is still keeping me busy, so Max may just get some rest.

Slip

An interesting note, I had a bit of time today and was curious, so I copied and pasted the LITS timeline from Sedna's webbing to an MS Word Document. From Jan. 1 through Jan 10 of LITS, the combined stories are approximately 480 pages total! That's an amazing longevity for a game if you think about it. Heck, we've pretty much written a novel already, and most of the GMs are just warming up with their stories!

Just thought I'd share that little tidbit of information and congratulate everyone on a great job thus far!

The goal for today, post-blog and two owed posts here, is to finalise Jan 2-4 of the timeline. (Cosmo is still on the 5th.)

Aight, that catches me up with every one of my players and my PC if I'm not mistaken, my PCs let me know if you are waiting on me for anything still in case I missed something, otherwise you're all up.

Sedna- Edited post to say 'phone' instead of 'internal headware'. Thanks for the catch!

Speaking of SR4, I haven't gotten to the rules for contacts yet. How would, for instance, Shadowland be handled contact-wise? It's an L2 contact in SR3; would it costs 6-8 BP under SR4?

Contacts have two ratings: Loyalty and Connection. It goes from 1-6, and each point costs a BP. So if you have a contact with Loyalty 4 and Connection 3, it would cost you 7 BP total for that contact. As far as Shadowland itself, that's a good question. We'll have to put that one up on the 'to be resolved' list of GM things to do.

Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

Ahem.

Nothing to see here. Carry on about your business.

dammit

Edit-well actually this could go either way...but it wont save me money on car insurance.

And that's why you need Geico. So you can save 15% or more on car insurance.

WR1-
Security Procedures roll to get a general idea how much time John has before the fuzz shows.

Karma awards for my players:

Shadowrunner13: 1 pt (Sep 14th - Sep 20th)
Bastard: 2 pts (Sep 14th - Sep 20th)
Bclements: 3 pts (Sep 14th - Sep 20th)
Morgannah: 1 pt (Sep 14th - Sep 20th)
The Eyes: 2 pts (Sep 14th - Sep 20th)

My most recent Shadowland post is meant to be part of an (imagined) ongoing discussion/debate about an article about, well I'm sure you can figure it out. There's no missing posts before it; I kinda skipped actually writing the article as for some reason it's giving me the biggest case of writer's block.

Hmm...what was this lady looking at?

Perecption (-1 to TN): 8, 5, 2, 8, 3; if the roll is even needed.

Her position probably gave her a pretty good view of Eyes as he left. Tony's not sure she was looking at him, though, since from where she's standing she can see the entire dance floor as well as the main entrance. Maybe she's just watching for her date?

Yeah, and maybe Grendel's not the evilest GM of them all.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I just can't believe I had forgotten about Reign completely. This is why we shouldn't be taking six months to go over less than a week; you end up completely forgetting about the impotant details in your character's life.

Ah, but had you seen her picture yet?

Heh, believe me Eyes, it happens to me all the time. Oh if only we could just sit and game on LITS all day instead of having to work for a living. Bah!

Sedna/Paul- Are either of you waiting for me? I thought I made it clear the ball was back in your court, but I could be mistaken. Was there something you're waiting on me for that I've forgotten about?

Sorry, been absolutely crazy, this end; and I guess I'd sort of been waiting for paul. Also fell further behind on the webbing than I'd realised: although at least now I've got all the back-runs done and pix up! and I'm also nearly caught up on the blog!

I'll try to get something up tonight, move things forward a lot. (Dice rolls are faster!)

No worries, I just wanted to do my GM duty and make sure I wasn't holding things up.

I have discovered a new definition for pain ... after, with all the careful copying and midway saving and backup generators, the power blinked anyway. Not enough to shut down the computer. Just enough to suddenly log me out -- without informing me of the fact.

And just like that, three formatted pages vanish.

Perhaps an appropriate note to delve into this owing, though ...

So with another hurricane on the way, I'm on the list to provide rescue services to stranded personnel. It's a short list, so I'm not 100% certain that I'll be going. But if I suddenly go quiet for a couple of weeks, that'll be the reason. I'll try and post an absence notice if I find out for sure.

Evil GM, good person. I hope it doesn't come to the point to where you'd have to go, but if you do, be careful down there. If you need stuff, I can probably drive it down.

Thanks for the offer. The situation is so fluid right now I wouldn't want to put you on the hook for anything, though.

Really, it's the trace of goodness in me that allows me to be so evil.

I'm already putting together a load for a coworker and a sister agency down in Metaire. Texas isn't that much farther over, should you need it.

WR1/Scrap - Just to let you guys know I am still around, just swamped at the new job. We can just consider that Max has passed out on his couch from mental and physical fatigue.

Slip

Grendel- If you gotta go, take care down there, aight?

Sedna- That sucks. Big time. Hope recovery is possible?

Slip- No worries. We'll just assume Max is catching up on some much needed rest then. This shadowrunning business is tiring stuff.

Slip-
As soon as John get's free he's going to call Max anyway, so his nap won't be too long!

Sunday karma awards for my players

Cedric: 2 (Sep 12th - Sep 25th)

Scrap - I'll watch for the post.

Sunday karma (two weeks):

bandit: 1 (+1 GM bonus) [September 12 - 18] + 1 (+1 GM bonus) [September 19 - 25] = 4
ronin: 1 [September 12 - 18] + 1 [September 19 - 25] = 2
WinterRat: 1 (+1 GM bonus) [September 12 - 18] + 1 (+1 GM bonus) [September 19 - 25] = 4


Best of fortune to you, grendel, however it turns out.

It wasn't recoverable, WinterRat. But if nothing else over these months, I've learned something about re-starting from scratch.

Sorry everyone, I've been sick as a dog since last thursday, probably should've updated everyone sooner but I kept saying 'oh I'll get better..." and now Monday is here and I'm still crappy. I'll try to get to some updates later today or tomorrow, and hopefully I can even get back to work (never thought I'd actually want to be able to go back to work) tomorrow as well.

Well, it turns out that they won't need us for SAR efforts in the wake of Hurrican Rita after all. So it's back to my FILTHY EVIL, I guess.

Haha, em...damn. Glad you didn't have to go, but teh ebil...

Ok, would Tony recgonize that motion?

Scrap- Made some rolls today, go ahead and post up to arriving at the clinic, you'll be able to get to the car and clear the area before Lone Star arrives...barely.

Sedna- Is Alleycat waiting on anything from me at this moment? Your last post leads me to believe Alleycat will be using this intervening time as I catch you up to train, is that correct, or was there something else I missed you need from me to proceed?

All my people feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I might not get to them extremely quickly, but I'll get to them as soon as I can.

It doesn't look familiar at all.

You aren't the only one, WinterRat. I'll try to get something up later today.

Karma awards for my players:

Shadowrunner13: 1 pt (Sep 21st - Sep 27th)
Bastard: 2 pts (Sep 21st - Sep 27th)
Bclements: 3 pts (Sep 21st - Sep 27th)
Morgannah: 1 pt (Sep 21st - Sep 27th)
The Eyes: 2 pts (Sep 21st - Sep 27th)