@Stephen
Forgot to mention: The guards are just there for security and to look scary, like doormen at strip clubs. People are walking in and out of the door. I'm going to leave it up to you whether or not you want to go for the sneaky-sneaky route. Just saying, you don't have to use magic and subterfuge to get inside.

I will also make posts tomorrow at some point to catch everyone up. I have to get to bed early tonight, and I just got home a little while ago. So I hope everyone will forgive me if I wait until tomorrow to make some good posts instead of just slapping some crap up. It'll also give everyone a chance to get into their scenes before I start changing things.

I don't mean to slow down the momentum and flow. It's just that I just got home and am really sleepy and have to get up early tomorrow.

I'd like to continue to mind-probe the bouncer for the name of the owner or manager of the club (with the 3 hits). Then, I'm going to cast influence to forget he was mind probed (obviously), and to tell the bouncer that I have a special meeting with the guy in charge, and he's going to show me straight to his door. The name of the owner is more for show for the other bouncer (if that makes sense). Also (correct me if I'm wrong here), while the target is aware that he is being mind probed, he's gotta find me first before he can do anything about it.

-DrZaius

EDIT: I was reading the rules wrong. Gotcha.

As per the description of Influence, you get to put a single suggestion in the target's head. What you've listed counts as about three of them, so you'd have to cast that spell about three times in order to get all of that done:

• Forgetting the Mind Probe
• Convince him of the special meeting
• Getting him to show you to the boss's door

We can handle that separately. I'll go ahead and respond to what you've done thus far so we can get you back into the game.

@DocChase and Martin
I apologize for the brevity of your response. DocChase did such a wonderful job describing Sonora's apartment I didn't really know what to add beyond that much. But don't worry, there's events in the pipeline for you guys, so my next responses will probably be more... eventful.

Etiquette:
4 Charisma + 1 Etiquette = 5 dice
5d6.hits(5) → [5,1,4,5,5] = (3) hits.

Influence, Force 5: Magic 5 + Spellcasting 4 - Background Count 1 = 8 dice.
8d6.hits(5) → [3,4,5,4,4,6,2,2] = (2) hits (I hope his willpower is low! )
"This guy is supposed to go see Mr. Ramirez."
Resisting 3S Drain: Willpower 5 + Logic 3 - Background Count 1 = 7 dice.
7d6.hits(5) → [3,2,2,6,1,2,1] = (1) hit. Stephen takes 2S drain, and is currently at 3S, with a -1 to future actions until he rests.

Perception: 5 Intuition + 0 Perception - 1 Defaulting (4d6.hits(5)=0)



For future reference, can we buy hits?

This is why I stacked perception.

That and with enough hits, I can fake being a fortune teller.

Perception 2 + Visual Specialization 2 + Intuition 4 = 8 dice
8d6.hits(5)=2

Not great, but better than nothing. I second the question about buying hits, too. I've found that it's a good way to handle passive perception and judge intention type tests.

This is relevant to my interests.

I'm typically a little iffy on letting people buy hits unless it's just a really, stupidly cumbersome amount of dice. I like the uncertainty and unpredictability that rolling for tests introduces... such as failing on easy tasks, or succeeding BIG TIME on the really hard ones.

As for Passive Perception, the GM is actually supposed to secretly roll those. Says so in the book. Who's to say I haven't already been doing that?

I suppose the real reason I don't allow hits to be bought is I don't know when to draw the line. I wouldn't allow it for life-or-death combat rolls or most hacking tests (unless it's like hacking somebody's R:1 commlink and you have a Hacking pool of about 15 or so.) Typically the only tests I've ever allowed hits to be bought for are those where it wasn't really a challenge anyway. I don't have a good standard for when to allow people to buy and when to make them roll, so I just make them roll for everything.

Honestly, it's a judgment call, and there's no right answer. I've got no problem with rolling things out, especially when you don't HAVE to hold 30+ dice in you hand to do it. That said, when I run, I let people buy successes on anything that isn't an opposed test (yes, that includes damage resistance)... but that's because no pistol can harm a tank, no matter what Civ told you.

No, a pistol cannot. But a squad of spearmen standing in mountainous terrain can.

Also, is it really going to be just me and Zaius doing anything relevant today? Comeon people, don't get discouraged now. There's still a city to destroy with our hijinks!

Edit: Oh sure CM, wait until after I say something then post two seconds later.

I think I just screwed myself hard with that post but it just seemed like a fitting reaction. Everybody snaps eventually.

I'm just imagining Smiley and the doc having a proper conversation while your character flips the fuck out and starts ranting and raving in the background, almost unnoticed by the two.

He's lost a lot of blood. He might be yelling at the coatrack.

Oh hell yes. That would be great.

Then it is agreed, the amnesiac is yelling at a coat rack or other inanimate object while Smiley and the doc have their conversation. Take it from there, Abs.

Done.

Also I still have one more post left to do, for Chaske and El Mono. Working on that now. I'm at work so I had to put what I had out there before people showed up.

Cool, thanks! You listed us as in the Cat's Paw, though. Since I think it'll be relevant soon I'm going to roll Chaske's starting nuyen now, if that's alright.

Starting Nuyen: Low. 3d6 x 50¥ (3d6=17)
850¥

If Mono alerts him to the dude then Chaske plans on bribing the bartender for a back way out.

Thanks! My C&Ping got me in trouble again. I'll fix it now.

@Martin
Interesting approach, could take the scene in an unexpected direction. Gimme a Charisma+Con roll on that, +4. Of course, I see you don't have any Con, and you have a Charisma of 1... and an Edge of 1...
I've already rolled the NPC's resistance on the Con test. Think you can beat it?

Burn that one point of Edge for a critical success.

How much does it cost to buy a new Attribute, again?

He's only got 1 Edge. That means buying it back up would cost... 5 Karma.

Can you even burn 1 Edge if that's all you have...?

Ha! I like the filthier the areas I enter, the higher the background count.

As I found out, yes you can!

Well, the Cat's Paw all things considered is pretty nice on the inside. It's just that the activity inside has been going on so intensely for so long that the astral is more or less permanently affected. I honestly didn't want to give it a higher background count but I couldn't logically justify not doing so.

I'll post as soon as I can but I have a surprise job interview today I have to rush out for! Should have something up this evening.

Added a couple responses but I'm not done. I'm at work and I have to do something. When I get done I'll finish up my posts. If I've already made your post you can go ahead and respond, otherwise just be patient.

@Smiley and Sam
Medical procedures take a while so I bumped your timeline up a little bit, to about 4 AM. You're ahead of everyone else right now, but it's all good.

Also, Sam regained 4 boxes of physical. You're down to 4P damage.

Well, I'm not spending or burning my one Edge on this. ;P So I got nothing.

4d6.hits(5)=0]4d6.hits(5) → [2,2,4,2] = (0)




Also, prior to making the roll I was looking at the Edge rules in my SR4A pdf, and was surprised to see that the SR4A still says you may spend a point of Edge to re-roll failed dice. Which runs counter to what you were saying earlier, Abschalten. (It's the third bullet point under Spending Edge). I bring this up not as a counter to what you said, but just to get some clarification. Is this a rule present in the pdf that should have been/was removed before the print run? I know that happens a lot with CGL...

Uh, Marty, Abs said that new edge rules only allow for you to reroll failures if the roll had absolutely zero hits, and that the whole thing about being able to make a roll, get a few hits, then use edge to get more hits is gone. I'm looking at that exact same line and what Abs said is right.

Ah, yes. I see now. Those words, in that order, now make more sense. See? This is why I asked for clarification!

My intelligence varies from day to day. Some days I can be fairly smart. Today? Not one of my good days...

Thanks for helping out Rastus.

Well, to be fair you can technically still use edge to get more hits on a test that already had some, but that's more like rolling an amount of additional die equal to your edge attribute after the fact. It's not like rolling 20 dice, getting 7 hits, then spending edge to roll the other 13 failures.

Yeah... sorry about that. If you had spotted the dude first, Mono might have waited long enough for you to try it, but... well, he's a runner. It's worked out pretty well for him so far, you know? At least you don't have to worry so much about the bribe anymore, right?

Right, no, I saw that one. A lot more useful when you have an Edge stat worth a damn, instead of just 1.

I'd like to poke Stephen into the Astral and see if there's anything watching him in Ramirez's office. (it's fine to do this part OOC)

@DrZaius
Make an Assensing+Intuition roll, -2 for Background Count. You roll here and I'll respond with what he sees on the astral in the IC thread.

Assessing 2 + Intuition 3 - Background Count 2 - Wound Modifier 1 = 2 dice
2d6.hits(5) → [1,4] = (0) hits. Don't bother

Don't bother? But he has too! A lovely critical glitch like that would have hilarious results. Stephen probably jizzed in his pants after being overwhelmed by the background count.

"I started to assense this fat pimp and I JIZZED - IN - MY - PANTS!"

You know I'm obligated to respond with his critical glitch, right?

@Lamhslea and Rystefn
I was going to post an update for you guys but then Rystefn advanced the plot a bit with his action. Lahm, I will post a reply for both of you after you respond to what he's done. It would be awkward and unfair for me to push the plot forward with you frozen in your booth.

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA

Why do I get the feeling Dexter is going to get a bright neon blue electric scooter?

@DrZaius
I stayed tasteful and just touched on it in the post, but yeah. You jizzed your pants. You understand it was a critical glitch. There's a law on the books somewhere that says a GM has to follow up on a critical glitch.

Also, yeah. That purple is way hard to read. I'll figure out some other color when I get home, when I get a browser that renders colors correctly. Just deal with it for now and I'll figure out something better to represent astral stuff a bit later.

Whoops! Didn't even occur to me that I had crit-failed. Guess Stephen needs a new pair of pants...

I'll post something in the IC at some point today.

It occurs to me you could've asked the bartender this for the price of six drinks or so and not gotten the critical failure.

Yeah, Stephen is not really thinking this through. I'm curious how Ramirez will respond, and how Stephen will respond to that. I'm definitely winging it at this point, with no real plan whatsoever

Sounds like my overall GMing style, honestly.

"Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just... do things."

@Stephen
Roll Charisma+Intimidation, +4 to the pool, minus any wound mods or sustaining penalties you might have going on.

Charisma 4 + Intimidation 1 + Situational bonus 4 - Wound Modifier 1 = 8 dice
8d6.hits(5) → [5,3,1,4,4,6,5,5] = (4) hits.

Hah, a smartlink CM? Considering your high dicepools in... just about anything combat related, you oughta dual wield light pistols just so any enemies we face could hope to stand a sporting chance. I suggest dual Beretta's.

I will totally give him my Manhunter so he can have two non-smartlinked pistols.

Wow, I somehow completely missed that Abs had given a Coatl/Sonora response yesterday. Finally got around to noticing it. Sorry, feels like I threw the rhythm off a little.