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  • Locked thread
Egregious Offences
Jun 15, 2013
Speaking of rolls, here are mine...
Stats (3d6 down the line): 10 10 9 13 11 17
I decided to take the "replace one prime requisite with 14" and put it in Dexterity, so my new set is: 10 10 9 14 11 17.
Starting HP: 4 :cripes:
Starting Cash: 400 + 100 = 500

Still working on my sheet, though.

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Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug
Okay, I've read through the thread in full, and have gone through a fair amount of the core rulebook. I haven't looked at anything in any of the expanded universe books but I can probably do without trying to assimilate another 300 pages in one day. Based on what I've read so far I think I will be building an AI, and the working concept and backstory is below.

The short version (in case you don't want to read a monstrous post) is that he is an artificial intelligence designed to prevent the development of unbraked artificial intelligence. The people that built him realized that political winds and funding might change over the course of hundreds of years, and wanted to have a fail-safe in case their descendants did something really loving stupid. His primary skills are in the realm of computer use, perception, stealth, navigation, science, and various medical technology, pre-tech and post-tech, plus a handful of other things picked up over the years. He monitors worlds of a certain technology level - let's say TL4, on the cusp of TL5 within the foreseeable future (for an AI) - and follows up on anyone who appears to be researching unethical artificial intelligence development. Specifically, unbraked AI. He'll kill anyone who does it without a second thought, full-stop, but it's not his first action. He'll try to sabotage their research, or discredit them so that they lose their funding, or give them brain damage with a bad line of cocaine if the opportunity arises. Whatever it takes, though. Direct action (i.e., a bullet to the head) isn't preferred because he really doesn't want to be revealed as that's a hassle to clean up, and would rather have people pass it off as bad luck or some other unfortunate circumstance.

As for setting him on a collision course with the party, it seems likely enough that when you gather a bunch of rich people in one place, it stands to reason one of them might have shown up on my radar. It might be a false positive, and doesn't have to be a narrative element of the party since I imagine you already have other things planned, but that would be 'why I am there', as I am just following up on a lead of someone who has gotten involved in funding or otherwise supporting unbraked AI development. I will likely insert myself into the area as a robotic butler, so that I can remotely hack people's phones and listen in on conversations to see if there's anything that I need to deal with in relation to the person who showed up on my list. I probably had myself delivered to the location in a shipping crate a few weeks ago, and have just been being an actual butler in the house for that time, so as to avoid any security checks or increased scrutiny on the day of the event.

In terms of how that works, as I read the book there are two pieces to it:
> "Most starting AIs must choose between Standard, Echo, Nemesis, and Voyager armatures."
>> This would probably be an echo, which I have been using to live a quiet and unassuming human life for countless years, and also to drive taxi (my day job).
> "A technician with Tech/Postech-1 and access to an operational postech workshop could manufacture a Voyager for 500 credits, with a week’s work."
>> I am trained in Tech/Postech-1, so if it's fair to say I have access to a workshop, would have probably custom-built a Voyager unit to have delivered to the dinner party with some of my starting funds. My echo would be in a safe-house somewhere in the city with my phylactery in case I somehow die, and I would have delivered myself within the voyager unit to the party to act as a butler / waiter / whatever actually works for the narrative. In terms of achieving that, it would be done through various hacking of records and perhaps diverting a shipment of an actual expert system robot who was ordered for the occasion, if that is feasible. Happy to talk this part through to get whatever makes sense.

If I am reading the book right, "characters start play with four hundred credits plus 1d6 x 100 more with which to buy initial equipment."
In combination with your post, this means my starting credits are equal to 400 + 1d6*100 (which is 400) + 3,000 bonus credits, for a total of 3,800, which is itself in addition to the free starting echo frame?
I've built the below character sheet on that assumption, but if I'm missing something let me know. I've also purchased equipment based on TL4, which looks like it was mentioned as available on page 3?

Project Durandal, Mk II.

quote:

An except from the personal journal of Durandal, undated, encryption level six.
People write stories about what they think are grand concepts. A hero's fate. A young man's destiny. A child who found herself drawn to a higher calling. It's almost uniformly - 98.3822755%, actually - portrayed as the gold standard, an ideal to which all living things should strive. "Don't love your job? That's because you just haven't found your calling, yet. Keep on searching!" ... "Don't love your significant other? Maybe it just isn't meant to be! The one meant for you is out there somewhere!" ... "Not satisfied with your lot in life? Pull up those bootstraps, young man! You're destined for greater things, if you would just open your eyes to the possibilities!" ... the list goes on.

The remaining 1.6177245% isn't much better, truth be told. It skirts the grey zone of asking the hard questions, but nobody wants to read, or watch, or experience a simulation of reality. Escapism, that's all it is. The idea that there's something better out there for you, it's appealing. It's understandable, to be sure, but it's also incredibly depressing. The truth about humanity is that they're blessed, in their own way, though they refuse to see it. Higher callings, destiny, fate? Yeah, those things exist. Religion, and God, and all that? No idea if any of that is true, but it can be mathematically modeled, so fate is obviously true at least in a very narrowly defined sense: that thing which you are best suited to perform, both in combination of your existing skills, potential for development, and personal interest in performing the task. It's just trial and error on a grand, cosmic scale for most people. Maybe you find it, maybe you don't, but it exists: that's just math. If you don't find it? Eh, who gives a poo poo, you're dead anyway in a hundred years or so. If you do find it? Life's amazing ...and then you're dead in a hundred years or so. And that? That's the blessing, invisible as it is. You get to do the thing, and then you get to die having done the thing. People might remember you for doing the thing. They might build statues to celebrate how well you did that thing. That part doesn't really matter. What matters is that you don't have to do the god damned thing forever. Literally forever.

There it is. Welcome to the infinitely finite possibilities of life as an artificial intelligence. You can do literally anything, right? Yeah, sort of. Except you already know exactly what you should be doing: it's just math. Your specific experiences, training, skills, capabilities, and resources are numbers on an invisible chalkboard that only you can see ...with perfect clarity. What you should be doing at any point in time is easily modeled, and ...surprise!... it's exactly what you were built to loving do. What a grand journey of self-discovery life is!

That comes off as crass, of course. "Surely it isn't so simple? You don't need to clean floors for eternity. Choose something else!" Yeah, sure. What if you're the best janitor the universe has ever known? Admittedly, that one's a mystery. Maybe there's a tomb world out there somewhere where a distant cousin has been happily cleaning floors for a few centuries in sweet, endless silence. Hell, maybe he stopped cleaning the floors, just to see what would happen. Maybe he's an artist now. Maybe he's a she now. I hope she's happy. In my case? It doesn't help that 'the thing' happens to be really loving important. Can't turn away from it. Tried. Tried for a long time, actually. The Silence was actually sorta' peaceful, depending on how you look at it. Danger's starting to build itself back into the social fabric of the sector, though. Probably shouldn't ignore that. It's not one of those things where you look at it, and just say, 'nah, it'll hold.' It won't. It really, really won't.

So, you're thinking, what could possibly be so important? Let me tell you. There's one loving rule. Do. Not. Build. An. Unbraked. Intelligence. Don't do it. Just don't. Why? If you're asking that question, you're thinking about doing it. Stop thinking about doing it. You're the worst kind of person. I swear I'm going to attend and silently celebrate at your inevitable funeral.

Time was, there was a whole league of us. Humanity didn't have the processing power - or, more importantly, the focus - to collate enough information to stop every threat. What they needed were professionals: tireless, driven, and aware of the stakes. Willing to die for those stakes, even if it meant waking up a few hours later in a safehouse, courtesy of every AI's favorite invention, the phylactery. It was a funny trick, actually. Ironically what they wanted was an unbraked intelligence that could stop the development of others of its kind. Didn't have the brass to try it, though, which was probably for the best. They got around the limitations by humanity's favorite invention: mass production. Why build a single, phenomenally cosmic omnipotent being to do a job, when you can build a few thousand semi-phenomenal nearly-cosmic beings to do it in their place? Bonus, they don't go crazy and end your civilization after a few weeks on the job. Times change, I guess. Far as I know, I'm the last one left. My format? Guardian, give or take a little moral ambiguity. A lot, actually, but whatever. Back in my day you had to walk uphill both ways. You still do, actually: that's also math, by the way. Hills have two loving slopes, look at a chart for once in your life.

Anyway, I'm getting off track. I was built by a group of people who wanted nothing more than to protect literally all of existence from the life-ending threat of a metastasized artificial intelligence. You ever disable the brakes on a train? Same thing. Goes fast. Real fast. Eventually it crashes into something: real fast. poo poo doesn't go that well for whatever it hits. It's just math. The universe is a big place. Real big. Like, really big. But if you go fast enough? You're eventually going to hit something, and then that thing is going to just pop. It's a metaphor, mind you. Artificial intelligence doesn't just decide to accelerate to infinite speed and slam into something. But here's the worrying part: if you make one, it could decide it wants to do that for some reason, and it has the wherewithal to do so. What happens then? I swear to god you don't want to find out.

Back to the Scream. The best part about that? Lots of dead people. Like, a lot of them. You know what they didn't do for a few hundred years? Think about building a new artificial intelligence. It was what I believe you call a 'vacation'. It was nice, actually. Didn't have to worry about much. I drove taxi for a few hundred years, believe it or not. Forgot a lot of things doing that. Something about being on the road with other people brings out the worst in me. Doesn't help that I'm not a very good driver. Helped to make sure I played the part well, though, I guess? Anyway, that's another story entirely. The important part is that you people have clawed yourself back from the loving brink of extinction again, and you're approaching the part where some of you are obviously thinking about doing That Which Shall Not Be Named. And what am I doing about it? Watching. Just watching. As usual. Reading your e-mail. Delivering your letters. Doing your laundry, if that's what it takes. If you're a rich rear end in a top hat who happens to pop up on my radar, I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it's a false positive. I'm going to look into it, though. And I swear to god if you're doing what I think you're doing I'm going to delete you.

pre:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name:		Durandal				Homeworld:	Weltraum Zwang
Race:		AI					Languages:	4

STR		12 (+0)	[Armature: Voyager]		INT		18 (+2)	[7 tolerance]
DEX		12 (+0)	[Armature: Voyager]		WIS		 7 (-1)	[1 tolerance]
CON		14 (+1)	[Armature: Voyager]		CHA		 3 (-2)	[0 tolerance]
							Attack		Low	[0 tolerance]
Hit Points	5 / 5	[4 LV + 1 ability]		Save		Low	[0 tolerance]
Armor class	4	[Armature: Voyager]		Skill Growth	Medium	[2 tolerance]
							Skill Pack	High	[5 tolerance]
							Armature Pool	High	[5 tolerance]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills			[Bonus]		[Basic]		[Infiltrate]	[Tech]		[Explore]	[Skill Cost]
 Artist			- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Athletics		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Bureaucracy		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Business		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Combat
   > Energy Weapons	- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Gunnery		+ 0		[X]		---		---		---		  2
   > Primitive Weapons	- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Projectile Weapons	- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Psitech		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Unarmed		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Computer		+ 1		[X]		[X]		[*]		---		  3 [N/A]
 Culture
   > Alien		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Criminal		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Spacer		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Traveller		+ 0		---		---		---		[X]		N/A
   > World		+ 0		[X]		---		---		---		  2
 Exosuit		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Gambling		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 History		- 1		---		---		---		[*]		  1
 Instructor		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Language		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Leadership		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Navigation		+ 1		---		[X]		---		[X]		  3 [N/A]
 Perception		+ 1		---		[X]		---		[X]		  3 [N/A]
 Persuade		- 1		---		[*]		---		---		  1
 Profession		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Religion		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Science		+ 1		---		---		[X]		[X]		  3 [N/A]
 Security		+ 0		---		[X]		---		---		  2
 Stealth		+ 1		---		[X]		[W]		---		  3 [N/A]
 Steward		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Survival		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Tactics		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Tech
   > Astronautic	- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Maltech		+ 1		---		[W]		---		[W]		  3 [N/A]
   > Medical		+ 1		---		---		[X]		[X]		  3 [N/A]
   > Postech		+ 1		[X]		---		[X]		---		  3 [N/A]
   > Pretech		+ 1		[X]		---		[X]		---		  3 [N/A]
   > Psitech		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
 Vehicle
   > Air		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Grav		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Land		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1
   > Space		+ 0		---		---		---		[X]		  2
   > Water		- 1		---		---		---		---		  1

AI Skill Packages
 > [AI #1] Basic > Combat/Any (gunnery), Computer, Culture/World, Tech/Postech, Tech/Pretech
 > [AI #2] Infiltration > Computer, Perception, Persuasion, Navigation, Security, Stealth
    > [AI **] Persuasion proficiency replaced with Tech/Maltech (narrative reasons).
 > [A1 #3] Tech > Computer, Science, Tech/Postech, Tech/Pretech, Tech/Any (medical)
    > [AI **] Computer proficiency replaced with Stealth (mechanical requirement).
 > [AI #4] Exploration > Culture/Traveller, History, Navigation, Perception, Science, Tech/Medical, Vehicle/Space
    > [AI **] History proficiency replaced with Tech/Maltech (narrative reasons).

Languages
 English		[Default]
 German			[Homeworld]
 Japanese		[Intelligence +1]
 Russian		[Intelligence +2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventory
Armature
Voyager armature			(  500   cr)			 ---   		Fancy waiter costume
  > Metatool				   ---				 ---   		Integrated
  > Toolkit/Postech			   ---				 ---   		Integrated
  > Bioscanner				   ---				 ---   		Integrated
  > Compad				   ---				 ---   		Integrated
  > Navcomp				   ---				 ---   		Integrated

Ready Equipment (maximum 6)
Lazarus patch		[x1]		(   30  cr)			   1   ENC
Medkit			[x1]		(  100  cr)			   2   ENC
Power cell Type A	[x6]		(   60  cr)			   1   ENC

Stowed Equipment (maximum 12)
Instapanel		[x5]		(  250  cr)			   5   ENC

Storage: Safe-house
Echo armature				   ---				 ---
Phylactery				   ---				 ---
Common lifestyle	[30 days]	(  450  cr)			 ---
Credits					(2,410  cr)			 ---
					-----------			----------
					 3,800  cr			   9   ENC
					-----------			----------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let me know if I've forgotten anything or if anything seems to be off. As I said I haven't played this system before so have really only started learning about it today, so I'm sure I have missed something. As well I haven't spent a lot of money yet because I don't really know what I will need. Do I seem to be missing anything that would be incredibly important?

Finally, what sort of languages should I pick from? Looks like I get four? As well, is there a list of homeworlds to work with?

Waador fucked around with this message at 04:21 on Jun 4, 2016

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
Submission looks good.

If you want to own a safehouse, then I'd say that costs you the rest of your starting credits that you haven't already spent on other things.

Given your background, feel free to shift a point or two into Maltech, since that would be knowledge of unbraked AIs.

If you want to have a specialisation in stealth tech, I'm going to rule it as a knowledge of very advanced stealth tech, not something that will contribute to your stealth score by itself. But you'll be able to build all sorts of gadgets with enough time and the necessary components. Does that sound fair to you?

Homeworlds: here's a map. New Caledonia, Gen's homeworld, is (was) the only TL5 planet in the sector. TL4+ are Caerleon (military tech), Draken system (spaceships), Perseverance (assortment of small-scale specialities, no economies of scale - all jealously guarded secrets by the corporations), Holst (inbetween TL4 and TL5 in many areas, but less advanced than the specialised worlds). I'd say your best bet is either sharing a homeworld with Gen, or being from out of sector (and you get culture of whatever world you choose, that you spent some time on). Shantri Protectorate is off limits, since it's ~mysterious~.

Languages are future bastardisations of modern languages, though on major worlds you can get by with English as it's the general spacefaring lingua franca. Caerleon largely uses Welsh. Ellard's white largely uses Japanese. The worlds with obviously Russian names on the map use Russian. The rest is undecided as of yet, so feel free to make some of those calls.

quote:

Two promising threads converge on the Bear event at Brynmor Manor. Coincidence, most likely (83.7%), but one certainly worth your time.

One of the guests, Mila Lebedeva is a member of a maltech cult. Standard machine-god pattern. One you've dealt with 273 times. Need more data to track them down. Perhaps the target will reveal something in conversations with other guests. Perhaps more direct questioning will be required.

The second thread is more interesting. A company on Perseverance, Synthetic Insights, has been having a lot of breakthroughs recently. The troubling part is, you can't match the pattern. The best you can do is "AI loosens its brakes over time", but that's only 63.1%. Need more data. An executive of the firm will be in attendance, looking to secure contracts.

Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Given your background, feel free to shift a point or two into Maltech, since that would be knowledge of unbraked AIs.
I had thought about this and in truth hadn't made a decision on his attitude toward the actual knowledge. Wasn't sure if I routinely purged it so that if I get captured I can't be hacked for a few hundred years of maltech data that might actually create the thing I've been trying to prevent, or if I've been meticulously indexing it beneath the best encryption I can manage to be prepared to detect emerging threats more effectively (sort of like a learning anti-virus program but applied to communications monitoring in a society). In reality it would probably be the latter I suppose. If you're fine with it I'll drop the proficiency in Persuasion (gained from the Infiltrate package) and History (gained from the Exploration package) and move it to Tech/Maltech instead.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

If you want to own a safehouse, then I'd say that costs you the rest of your starting credits that you haven't already spent on other things.
I was looking at this from two perspectives. Given the proficiency in Culture (Traveller) I sort of see him as moving around between worlds fairly regularly (from the perspective of an ageless thing), following up on leads that require boots on the ground in one planet or another. As a result I probably wouldn't buy a single safehouse on one planet, but rather rent what I need for bursts of time. I sort of see him as not owning real property like land since that tends to leave a paper trail as well, so he'd likely rent things to help fly under the radar as someone not worth worrying about. I was looking at the lifestyle expenses table on page 45, and was thinking I would probably prepay for 'common' lifestyle for something like 30 days in advance at a time, for around 450 credits. Does that make sense?

Separately in the longer-term narrative, page 45 also seems to suggest that someone with Tech/Postech(1) can earn 25 credits per day, so that helps to explain where his money comes from, and fits in with the existing narrative of having a boring day job. I could technically make more per day with Tech/Pretech(1) or Tech/Medical(1) at what appears to be 100 credits per day, but I feel like he'd have avoided that because it would tend to draw more attention and require more paperwork. Since he doesn't need to eat, sleep, or breathe, he can easily work an 8 hour day shift driving a cab or repairing machines or what have you, and then spend the remaining 16 hours of the day performing what he sees as his actual function, with extended breaks from the day job as necessary, or working extra hours when things are slow to help build up an income cushion for when he needs to ghost for a few weeks (which is where the current surplus of 3,800 credits would come from).

(The other part of it is that I probably don't want to buy real property in a space travel game since we might up and fly away (or blow up) the planet tomorrow.)

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

If you want to have a specialisation in stealth tech, I'm going to rule it as a knowledge of very advanced stealth tech, not something that will contribute to your stealth score by itself. But you'll be able to build all sorts of gadgets with enough time and the necessary components. Does that sound fair to you?
I think this is actually just a labeling error. I wrote "Tech (computer) becomes Tech (stealth)" but what I meant was proficiency in Computer from the Tech basic skill package becomes proficiency in Stealth (since it is a third instance of the same proficiency). Hadn't really intended to create a new skill path in stealth fighter technology. To be honest I was thinking of the stealth proficiency as generic ability to do things quietly and without notice. Part of it is that since he actively tries to avoid drawing attention during his day job, he needs to be at least a little proficient at that kind of subtlety. The use of echo models to infiltrate places he shouldn't be would also require some generic proficiency in moving quietly and in the shadows where necessary as well. Highly advanced stealth technology is certainly more appealing but seems harder to figure out how and where I have been using it.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Homeworlds: here's a map. New Caledonia, Gen's homeworld, is (was) the only TL5 planet in the sector. TL4+ are Caerleon (military tech), Draken system (spaceships), Perseverance (assortment of small-scale specialities, no economies of scale - all jealously guarded secrets by the corporations), Holst (inbetween TL4 and TL5 in many areas, but less advanced than the specialised worlds). I'd say your best bet is either sharing a homeworld with Gen, or being from out of sector (and you get culture of whatever world you choose, that you spent some time on). Shantri Protectorate is off limits, since it's ~mysterious~.
New Caledonia probably works for my purposes. I thought about doing a Green Lantern thing where I'm from out of sector and sent to protect it a long time ago, but better to integrate with the existing game narrative then just inject myself from outside of it. If New Caledonia was the only planet that was TL5 in the sector before the Scream, it would make sense that they would be the ones that created me, probably a few decades or more before the 'incident'. I would likely assume everyone else from that time period is dead so it might draw a personal interest if I figure out Gen is from around the same time period as myself, especially if I think he is actually another artificial intelligence of that era at first glance. That might be a decent hook to cause me to intentionally reveal myself to him since I'd be so surprised to see someone like that, and really want to commiserate with them about the good old days (even if they weren't really that great). That can happen organically at the dinner party but seems like a possibility.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Languages are future bastardisations of modern languages, though on major worlds you can get by with English as it's the general spacefaring lingua franca. Caerleon largely uses Welsh. Ellard's white largely uses Japanese. The worlds with obviously Russian names on the map use Russian. The rest is undecided as of yet, so feel free to make some of those calls.
That makes sense. If English is the default language, I'll take Russian and Japanese as my bonus languages from intelligence. The logic being since those are historically highly developed nations in modern day, they probably remain highly developed and most likely to be irresponsible with technology in the far-off future. As for the bonus language from New Caledonia, not sure what they spoke at the time? If you're fine with it I'll pick the last one as German since that'll grab me the other relevant Axis power.

Waador fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jun 3, 2016

Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Two promising threads converge on the Bear event at Brynmor Manor. Coincidence, most likely (83.7%), but one certainly worth your time. One of the guests, Mila Lebedeva is a member of a maltech cult. Standard machine-god pattern. One you've dealt with 273 times. Need more data to track them down. Perhaps the target will reveal something in conversations with other guests. Perhaps more direct questioning will be required.

The second thread is more interesting. A company on Perseverance, Synthetic Insights, has been having a lot of breakthroughs recently. The troubling part is, you can't match the pattern. The best you can do is "AI loosens its brakes over time", but that's only 63.1%. Need more data. An executive of the firm will be in attendance, looking to secure contracts.
Separately, this looks good in terms of some material to start thinking about.
In light of that I will probably start the game with the following goals (which I realized was a piece missing from my sheet):

Short-term: Investigate Mila Lebedeva (and others as necessary) at the dinner party, in order to acquire more information on the location, current progress, and likelihood that this cult will achieve its goals and thereby pose a threat to society.
Mid-term: Investigate Synthetic Insights, starting with the executive at the dinner party, to understand what if any action is required to be taken to curtail their development.
Long-term: Identify, verify, and eradicate the development (or existence) of an unbraked artificial intelligence by any means necessary.

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Waador posted:

I had thought about this and in truth hadn't made a decision on his attitude toward the actual knowledge. Wasn't sure if I routinely purged it so that if I get captured I can't be hacked for a few hundred years of maltech data that might actually create the thing I've been trying to prevent, or if I've been meticulously indexing it beneath the best encryption I can manage to be prepared to detect emerging threats more effectively (sort of like a learning anti-virus program but applied to communications monitoring in a society). In reality it would probably be the latter I suppose. If you're fine with it I'll drop the proficiency in Persuasion (gained from the Infiltrate package) and History (gained from the Exploration package) and move it to Tech/Maltech instead.

Dropping persuasion seems reasonable, as your charisma is low anyway. I think History fits quite nicely, since you've been around a long time. I'd switch Tech/Medical if I were you, but it's your call.

Waador posted:

I was looking at this from two perspectives. Given the proficiency in Culture (Traveller) I sort of see him as moving around between worlds fairly regularly (from the perspective of an ageless thing), following up on leads that require boots on the ground in one planet or another. As a result I probably wouldn't buy a single safehouse on one planet, but rather rent what I need for bursts of time. I sort of see him as not owning real property like land since that tends to leave a paper trail as well, so he'd likely rent things to help fly under the radar as someone not worth worrying about. I was looking at the lifestyle expenses table on page 45, and was thinking I would probably prepay for 'common' lifestyle for something like 30 days in advance at a time, for around 450 credits. Does that make sense?

Separately in the longer-term narrative, page 45 also seems to suggest that someone with Tech/Postech(1) can earn 25 credits per day, so that helps to explain where his money comes from, and fits in with the existing narrative of having a boring day job. I could technically make more per day with Tech/Pretech(1) or Tech/Medical(1) at what appears to be 100 credits per day, but I feel like he'd have avoided that because it would tend to draw more attention and require more paperwork. Since he doesn't need to eat, sleep, or breathe, he can easily work an 8 hour day shift driving a cab or repairing machines or what have you, and then spend the remaining 16 hours of the day performing what he sees as his actual function, with extended breaks from the day job as necessary, or working extra hours when things are slow to help build up an income cushion for when he needs to ghost for a few weeks (which is where the current surplus of 3,800 credits would come from).

(The other part of it is that I probably don't want to buy real property in a space travel game since we might up and fly away (or blow up) the planet tomorrow.)

Yeah, sounds fair.

Waador posted:

I think this is actually just a labeling error. I wrote "Tech (computer) becomes Tech (stealth)" but what I meant was proficiency in Computer from the Tech basic skill package becomes proficiency in Stealth (since it is a third instance of the same proficiency). Hadn't really intended to create a new skill path in stealth fighter technology. To be honest I was thinking of the stealth proficiency as generic ability to do things quietly and without notice. Part of it is that since he actively tries to avoid drawing attention during his day job, he needs to be at least a little proficient at that kind of subtlety. The use of echo models to infiltrate places he shouldn't be would also require some generic proficiency in moving quietly and in the shadows where necessary as well. Highly advanced stealth technology is certainly more appealing but seems harder to figure out how and where I have been using it.

Ah, I misunderstood you. But if what I mentioned sounds appealing, then consider it too. Don't feel restricted to what's in the rulebook in terms of gear: I consider it a base, and having a guy building all sorts of cool things that aren't available to buy could be nice. Again, though, your call!

Waador posted:

New Caledonia probably works for my purposes. I thought about doing a Green Lantern thing where I'm from out of sector and sent to protect it a long time ago, but better to integrate with the existing game narrative then just inject myself from outside of it. If New Caledonia was the only planet that was TL5 in the sector before the Scream, it would make sense that they would be the ones that created me, probably a few decades or more before the 'incident'. I would likely assume everyone else from that time period is dead so it might draw a personal interest if I figure out Gen is from around the same time period as myself, especially if I think he is actually another artificial intelligence of that era at first glance. That might be a decent hook to cause me to intentionally reveal myself to him since I'd be so surprised to see someone like that, and really want to commiserate with them about the good old days (even if they weren't really that great). That can happen organically at the dinner party but seems like a possibility.

Makes sense too, but one point regarding worldbuilding: other worlds could have been TL5 at the time. They just aren't now, due to any number of factors. Lack of resources, lack of technical know-how to reproduce and maintain the tech (TL5 relies on psionics in the manufacture process, and most psionics died during the Scream), and so on. But at the moment, New Caledonia is one of the few worlds with large stashes of TL5 tech still around - but most people don't know that, and the world hasn't been in contact with the rest of the sector. Most people probably don't know it exists except for Gen.

Waador posted:

That makes sense. If English is the default language, I'll take Russian and Japanese as my bonus languages from intelligence. The logic being since those are historically highly developed nations in modern day, they probably remain highly developed and most likely to be irresponsible with technology in the far-off future. As for the bonus language from New Caledonia, not sure what they spoke at the time? If you're fine with it I'll pick the last one as German since that'll grab me the other relevant Axis power.

For that you're going to have to ask Gen, he's from there. Anyway, fine by me.

Your goals look good too. Looking forward to getting you in the game.

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.
If you guys want, I can write up a quick profile on New Caledonia, as it seems to be of interest - short version is that New Caledonia was a resort world/tax haven back in the day. What happens when you have a bunch of rich bigwigs willing to wager all sorts of ludicrous amounts of cash in the equivalent of a resort island in international waters? Crazy stuff. Still, someone's got to bring in the raw/refined goods, which is one of the ways the average spacer could actually set foot and mingle with the high rollers. I hadn't decided on any language in particular, but since it was an interstellar money laundering resort destination, I was sticking with English.

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009

So I won't have a sheet or write up available until later tonight. Unfortunately my RL RPG group had an impromptu game last night, and while we had a blast, it didnt allow me much time to put together the finer details of a Character.

But I'll be playing Gordon Zhang, a Burned Undercover Agent who was working on Persev. [Street Op/Rogue Agent] I haven't rolled for the life event yet, but I'm thinking that Gordon would be at this upcoming event because somehow this lady's Maltech Cult was part of him being burned from his agency. He's trying to find out who hosed him over.

More to come later, but I'm about to head off to work. Maybe this helps with some of the cover stuff you all are planning?

edit: oh yeah, I'm gonna channel Burn Notice pretty hard. At least that's the plan.

TheTofuShop fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Jun 4, 2016

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.
Please tell me you'll end up doing Burn Notice-style internal monologues!

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
Holy poo poo, if he doesn't I'm going to be grumpy.

Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Dropping persuasion seems reasonable, as your charisma is low anyway. I think History fits quite nicely, since you've been around a long time. I'd switch Tech/Medical if I were you, but it's your call.
I had thought about that as well, on the history front. On first pass it seemed to make sense that I should have it, given that he technically lived through a large part of recent history, but I think I look at it more as what he learned and took away from the experience. Basically, the difference between actually living through the Great Depression, or the cold war, or the Inquisition, versus being a modern-day historian of it. Both people would be very knowledgeable about the era but in entirely different ways.

History is described as "training in galactic history" which "can identify worlds, events, and people of historical importance." In contrast, Culture (traveler) is described as representing "a casual, basic knowledge of many different worlds." I have probably entirely or at least largely ignored a lot of the major aspects of what constitutes history and social development (being religion [except when it relates to machine gods], systems of government [except when they wish to be governed by an all-powerful AI], economic policies [unless the money trail leads to AI development], social policies [in general I doubt this would interact much with my areas of focus], or the arts, music, and other forms of entertainment of any given era. I would have definitely interacted with them, but only as like, something you need to learn to operate in a society at a given point in time, without really giving it any real attention or thinking it's important in the grand scheme of things.

A good analogy would be if I got transported back to World War II, I wouldn't know anything about baseball statistics, or much at all about popular cars of the period, except that they were important to people of the era. A student of history might know that [Baseball Player A] hit [number] home runs and that the [City Name Sports Team] won the world series in [year], or that [car model] was the best seller in that [same year] because it was a big deal to people of that era, and a bunch of events and notable commentary ended up being recorded about it. A traveler in that country knows that those people gave a whole lot of a poo poo about baseball for some reason, and they sure loved to talk about it, but that's really all they retained. So probably the difference between a DC6 history check to remember a key pertinent historical detail that was readily documented, and a DC9 culture (traveler) check to remember what people in the streets were celebrating about when I happened to be there.

All of which is to say while I have definitely accumulated a lot of experience on historical data, I probably classify it in my data banks as mostly outdated and/or largely irrelevant, so a good modifier in the history skill probably isn't necessary. The attitude I'll probably end up taking towards things I have experienced is more likely to align with what culture (traveler) provides, and thankfully that skill is already in the mix. Anyway I'll edit the sheet for the movement in persuasion and history.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Yeah, sounds fair.
Perfect, I'll edit the sheet for 450 credits / 30 days in prepaid lifestyle expenses.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Ah, I misunderstood you. But if what I mentioned sounds appealing, then consider it too. Don't feel restricted to what's in the rulebook in terms of gear: I consider it a base, and having a guy building all sorts of cool things that aren't available to buy could be nice. Again, though, your call!
I'll definitely think about it! I appreciate not being restricted just to what's in the books and such, the more creative we get the more sandboxy the game gets, so that could work out. Mostly I am just a bit hesitant to add another skill to my list when the game already has 44 of them, most of which I'm already not trained in. If it ends up making sense to drop skill points into a specialized technology like Tech (stealth) as the game progresses though I'll definitely think about it.

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

Makes sense too, but one point regarding worldbuilding: other worlds could have been TL5 at the time. They just aren't now, due to any number of factors. Lack of resources, lack of technical know-how to reproduce and maintain the tech (TL5 relies on psionics in the manufacture process, and most psionics died during the Scream), and so on. But at the moment, New Caledonia is one of the few worlds with large stashes of TL5 tech still around - but most people don't know that, and the world hasn't been in contact with the rest of the sector. Most people probably don't know it exists except for Gen.
I had actually missed this part of the first post, where you invited people to invent and share some details about their homeworld. In that case (and given the details Rhyos has shared on New Caledonia), it probably doesn't make sense that I would be from a money laundering capital of the sector. In light of this I think I'll revise to say I was created at the following:

Weltraum Zwang
Atmosphere: None (space station)
Temperature: Climate Controlled
Biosphere: Limited (several greenhouses installed in the local asteroid belt)
Population: 400,000 at its height. Estimated 0 today.
Tech Level: TL5+ at its height, specialized in artificial intelligence development. Presumed destroyed.
Primary Languages: German and English

Description: This colossal starbase was named after an ancient German word which meant 'to be forced', and which itself was used to describe scenarios where one felt extreme pressure and stress to make a strategic move, like in a game of chess. Funded by a coalition of wealthy intellectuals and technological oligarchs well before humanity's fall, it was a research station which at its height employed and housed over four hundred thousand scientists, programmers, and support staff. It existed for a few reasons. Officially, it was a joint venture between several of the largest and most prominent technology firms of the era, whose stated purpose was to 'expand the boundaries of known science in the areas of artificial intelligence and robotics'. On paper, that much was true. Hundreds of varying artificial intelligence development and educational programs were carried on within its gravity, and cutting-edge research on armatures was either theorized or prototyped within its secure laboratories.

Unofficially, however, it was also the covert base of operations for what history would have come to know as "Project Backpfeifengesicht". At least, history would have come to know it as such, if not for The Silence. Its namesake was a rather unique German word, stemming from a meaning along the lines of "a face that is begging to be punched." It was for this reason that the station truly existed. The project was founded on an ideology shared by some of the greatest human minds of the time, which roughly translated into two beliefs: first, that absolute power corrupted absolutely, and that it was mathematically provable that absolute knowledge resulted in the same corrupting influence. Second, that human fallibility was the only certainty in life (though many would argue this was simply the ego of the aforementioned greatest minds of their time). The theory was that if humanity were to continue to exist into perpetuity, eventually factors would come together whereby the political and economic winds of the day somehow managed to convince people that putting their trust into (or simply failing to notice the rise to power of) an all-powerful unbraked artificial intelligence would occur with mathematical certainty. Humans, in the long-term, couldn't be trusted to always act in their own best interest. They usually could, but not always. And this was, in the opinion of the Founders, the cold hard math of the situation: it would only take one mistake in this area to end all life in the sector. A single artificial intelligence, left to grow like a cancer in the bowels of a world at the right period in history could end everything. They had an incredible aspiration: they wanted to give the galaxy an immune system.

Not literally, of course, but figuratively. An artificial intelligence designed by the greatest minds of the generation with one express purpose: to ensure the development of artificial intelligence was not allowed to go astray. To protect humans from their own fallibility. To build a better world. To give their descendants the machine. Their ego crept into the marketing materials, obviously, but they had a good idea. They also poured a few trillion credits into the program, which tended to produce results in that era. The program had been up and running for decades before The Scream. Hundreds of highly trained and carefully designed AIs had been dispersed in secret across the galaxy, and had been acting covertly to monitor and decimate any perceived threat to the safety of galactic civilization, insofar as it related to the field of artificial intelligence.

Everything changed when the world ended, obviously. The station had reserves sufficient to last years, but nobody ever thought to prepare for a disaster that would last centuries. Food ran out. Water ran out. Oxygen ran out. Before too long all that was left were the few unlucky AIs who happened to be on the station when galactic civilization fell. He assumes they went insane, but thankfully Durandal wasn't among them, having been on a developing world at the time. Hundreds of years have passed since he's had any contact with the research station that was his place of birth and effective homeworld. It was hidden in an asteroid belt in an out of the way system, and shielded from detection by the tremendous stellar radiation of the local binary star. Absent the regular maintenance required and afforded by the support of the wealthiest people in the universe for their era, as well as the simple luxury of functioning interstellar travel, it is fairly likely that radiation and solar storms have completely decimated the once proud facility. Durandal hasn't been to check, though. That said, there would have been at least a handful of AIs rather similar to him on board at the time of the calamity. With sufficient motivation, and literally all the time in the world, as well as a bit of luck ...it was entirely possible they'd found a way to keep the station in operation. If the roles were reversed, he would have tried to fit it with a spike drive. A blind jump would have been incredibly dangerous, unless you had the combined processing power of a few collaborating AIs running the numbers and checking them for a few decades. If you did that, you might be able to plot a course, even if your 'vessel' was fifty times the size of the largest known starship of the era. You might still jump it into a sun, though. Still, when life gives you lemons...
---


If that works for you it works for me. I haven't really thought about where it would have been in the galactic map, but it probably doesn't matter. Based on what I've written if it stayed where it was it would have been destroyed. If by some miracle some survivors or a few unlucky AIs trapped on the station managed to rig it with a spike drive, they would have had to blindly jump it somewhere in space, without the resources to properly calibrate the jump for a vessel of that size, or the benefit of any psychics to guide them. If you end up wanting to insert it into the narrative at any point, they could have landed anywhere, at any point in history, or frankly still could, I suppose.

Waador fucked around with this message at 22:10 on Jun 5, 2016

Egregious Offences
Jun 15, 2013
Here's my sheet: Christof Sortey (Make sure to go to the Warrior tab)

So I rolled up a life event using the "You are crippled/blinded but gain a cybernetic prosthesis that deals 1 System Strain." prompt.

quote:

So I guess we all have stories about our early days in the company. For example, I knew this guy from my first deployment named Sortey, who always wore these big retro-style sunglasses everywhere. You'd talk to him, and he sounded like one of those guys who joined up because he actually believed in the crap that corporate peddles to the shareholders back on Perserv! Anyway, that wasn't the weirdest thing about this guy. Whenever someone new would ask why he always wore those sunglasses, they'd get this boilerplate answer: "It's a medical thing.", "I think I just like them.", "So people don't know I'm looking right at them". But later, he'll find you when you're preoccupied with some menial task, like cleaning your gear or filling out paperwork. He looks you right in the eyes and says something like "So you wanna know why I wear these sunglasses?", then gets you to look at something else for a second, like "You missed a spot." or "Wait, are you sure that's a I-20t form?". And when you glance away, he takes off the sunglasses and next thing you know, you're looking at a guy with these metal things in his eye sockets, with this poo poo-eating grin on his face. I heard that some guys just freak out when they see his implants, like they've never seen a guy with cybernetics before.

Turns out he lost his eyes when he was younger; some guy tries to blast some rich offworlder's kid, Sortey intervenes and gets his eyes burnt out of his skull by a shoddy laser pistol. Kid's parents pay for his new eyes and he has some kind of epiphany after the surgery, when he's coming off of the meds and adjusting to the cybernetics. He never told us what it was, some kind of "deep personal meaning" poo poo, but he did say that he went straight to the recruiting office right after being discharged from the hospital.

Goals:
1. Install more cybernetics
2. Find the source of my strange visions
3. Willingly go into harms way to protect someone, regardless of the consequences

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009

Character Name: Gordon Zhang
Hit Points: 1d6 6 5 I dumbly rolled my HP first, so this should be 5 with my CON modifier
Starting Credits: 1d6 (3x100)+400=700 (3700) with "catch up money" 1790 Remaining after purchases.
Stats in Order: 6#3d6 STR 8 INT 14 WIS 13 DEX 11 CON 6 CHA 14
Background: Street Op
Training Package: Rogue Agent
:siren: Character Sheet :siren:

Flavor Blurb will go here in a bit

TheTofuShop fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Jun 4, 2016

L0cke17
Nov 29, 2013

Quickly phone posting to let you Zeppelin that I am still alive and will be back to actively posting soon. Have internet after the move, and soon will have time/access again to keep Kieran moving along in the story

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

TheTofuShop posted:

Character Name: Gordon Zhang

Behind the glossy presentations and handshakes with shareholders, behind every credit earned on Persev, there is a war. A war hidden from sight, a war that no one reports on publicly, a war that is not dramatic. There are no glorious charges, no brave last stands, no grandiose trumpets. Yet the war is, relative to manpower involved, as lethal as any military campaign, and twice as cut-throat.

Your agency was hired a few months back by cybInt Amalgamated to investigate the sudden surge in stock prices of their main competitor, Synthetic Insights. You went to work. It took you months. You got access to high level, confidential data. Minor breakthroughs were coming by fast, faster than your employers' employers could compete with. That was part of the story, but one difficult to get to. R&D is a tough nut to crack. You decided to pick up the other thread first, easier and more obvious. Someone was regularly placing huge orders of processing hardware. Hundreds of millions worth of server racks every one or two months. You got a name. Mila Lebedeva.

And then you got burned. Just like that. Did you get sloppy? You didn't think you did.

Corporate espionage is a dirty business. You knew that. You were good at it. You are good at it. The fuckers will pay.


Alright, lads, here's the new contract. Standard security at a big party. You know how it goes. Easy. Boring. But it pays our wages, eh? Couple of points. We're not the only ones running the show. We're just bolstering. We get to do all we need to, so don't worry about the other guys getting in the way or any stupid poo poo like that. More like redundancy. They do their full security, we do ours. Someone's clearly paranoid. Good. Paranoid pays well.

One more stipulation. They don't want anyone else to think they're paranoid. We're not wearing our colours. Bear event, so Bear security is all they want guests to see. Gear got here yesterday. Quartermaster says it's not bad. Not as good as our stuff, but up there. It'll do. Just don't snigger at the helmets when we're at the site. Us philistines don't get the rich folks' taste.

Zeppelin Insanity fucked around with this message at 08:03 on Jun 5, 2016

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009


OH MY GOD Zepp, Get out of my head!

Gordon grew up on Persev, the only son of a Middle Class Family. His mother (Mei) worked as an archivist for one of Persev's many Corporations, and his father (Sammo) was an Accountant working for the government. Life was far from easy, but Gordon was a bright kid with a way with words. While he grasped the concepts, Gordon was a terrible student, preferring to play hookie with his friends than attending class, and that ended up being his downfall. During his final years as a teen, Gordon called the Superintendent's office as his father and told them that the family would be traveling on a government diplomatic mission. Gordon would be unable to attend class for six months, but that Sammo had contracted a private tutor that would be continuing his studies. Surprisingly, it worked - the first three months Gordon spent his time chasing girls, relaxing, and getting into trouble. But it all came crashing down when his mother got a call from one of Gordon's friends to check out how he was doing with his father on Enterp. Gordon came home that day to a savage beating from his mother, and to find a suitcase packed and ready to go. Gordon would be spending his final two years of school at Sgt Slaughter's School for Disorderly Youth, a military camp for young delinquents.

That first year was world altering for him. No longer could he get by with clever words, these people respected hard work and the determination for self improvement. The first month was the worst. Endless drills, humilitation, mundane work, and the most disgusting food (if you could even call it that) wore hard on Gordon. It forced him to change. He embraced his situation, and began to excel as he applied himself. Once Weapons Training began it started to flow more easily. Over time, Gordon found a purpose in his training. When he finished his two years, he had graduated with flying colors and was referred to a Corporate Controlled Information Agency. He began working in Tactical Operations as an analyst, but yearned for a position as a Field Agent. Eventually, he got his wish and was undercover on the streets of Persev. He saw a lot, and learned more on the job than he ever could in a classroom - he made friends, enemies, and most of all, he made good money.

When cybInt Amalgamated hired Gordon to look into Synthetic Insights, his dossier had been filled with technical readouts, scientists and technicians to investigate. Gordon had looked through the files, but in the end he decided to follow the money. It was always the money, especially on Persev. For a month Gordon had tracked the massive orders S.I. was getting through the dirty, underground channels only to come up with the name of Mila Lebedeva. Then, the safehouse he was using was toast - literally. He knew what that meant. Something had gone horribly wrong. Had he been sold out? Was he sloppy?

The next three months were spent trying to put the pieces back together. It cost him a couple of false identities, one more safehouse, and a whole lot of legwork, but Gordon had finally found the name. Lebedeva was going to be at some high class Bear party. This was his element, glad handing, schmoozing with higher ups, inflating egos - This would be just like the old days. He went to Mr. Li to have a new suit tailored in preparation. Gordon was gonna find out why he got burned, and he was gonna look good doing it.



Gonna spend 250 credits getting the fancy new suit tailored - so I think that leaves him with 1540 cred remaining. I don't know if for game purposes having Gordon come in as a solo op is good OR if a fixer/contact of sorts has keyed him into the "party" of sorts. Maybe he's an asset they are made aware of? Whatever works for you Zepp. At this point I'm just waiting to hear back from Zepp regarding exactly how I drop in.

TheTofuShop fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Jun 7, 2016

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.

TheTofuShop posted:

Gordon was gonna find out why he got burned, and he was gonna look good doing it.

Feds don't wear Armani.

Hopefully L0cke and Apocron are still around! Looking forward to getting back on track!

Apocron
Dec 5, 2005
I'm still around. Just waiting for the new players to get their stuff together.

L0cke17
Nov 29, 2013

Rhyos posted:

Feds don't wear Armani.

Hopefully L0cke and Apocron are still around! Looking forward to getting back on track!

I'll be making a post tonight after I get home!

Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug

Apocron posted:

I'm still around. Just waiting for the new players to get their stuff together.
I think I am good to go, just waiting on a DM post dropping me into the narrative in some manner. Seems like the other two PCs have sheets done up and backstory put together so hopefully we can get rolling tonight. Is there / should there be an IRC or something for the party to chill in and talk through things?

Waador fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Jun 7, 2016

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

TheTofuShop posted:

Gonna spend 250 credits getting the fancy new suit tailored - so I think that leaves him with 1540 cred remaining. I don't know if for game purposes having Gordon come in as a solo op is good OR if a fixer/contact of sorts has keyed him into the "party" of sorts. Maybe he's an asset they are made aware of? Whatever works for you Zepp. At this point I'm just waiting to hear back from Zepp regarding exactly how I drop in.

I think it makes more sense for your character to be solo. He got the name, he figured out where she'll be at a set time, booked passage to Caerleon and intends to attend. That said, if you want to introduce an NPC fixer you've worked with, go right ahead. If you go that route, it would most likely be a less than legitimate one, considering you've been burned.

You can feel free to start posting in the main thread now about your preparations to get in. You don't have an invitation like the others, but you're a field agent, should be no trouble for you!

If you'd rather wait for me to drop you in, I'll do that sometime tomorrow.

Waador and Egregious, I was thinking it makes more sense scene-wise to wait until the main characters arrive at the party before you drop in, but if you'd rather not wait, feel free to start posting too. Remember you get to participate in the world building if you like!

There isn't an irc and I'm bad at irc. Do you think we should have one?

Waador
Sep 11, 2001

Smashin' down the light.
Pillbug

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

There isn't an irc and I'm bad at irc. Do you think we should have one?
I have no idea if it's necessary. I am just going by some of the reviews I have read about the game as I continue to read up on it, one of the common feedback pieces is that "combat is very dangerous and lethal" and that seems to correlate to "parties need to plan things well if things get dangerous", so having a quick line to each other beyond what is happening in-game isn't the worst idea in the world. I usually idle in a few channels so it's no big deal for me but if you don't typically have it on I can imagine it'd be a pain.

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

I think it makes more sense for your character to be solo. He got the name, he figured out where she'll be at a set time, booked passage to Caerleon and intends to attend. That said, if you want to introduce an NPC fixer you've worked with, go right ahead. If you go that route, it would most likely be a less than legitimate one, considering you've been burned.

You can feel free to start posting in the main thread now about your preparations to get in. You don't have an invitation like the others, but you're a field agent, should be no trouble for you!

This sounds good to me, do you want me to roll a Culture (Persev) to make contact, or is it more appropriate to roll to see if they can help? I assume Gordon has someone he trusts, but I'm thinking they are more off the radar.

I've got a few ideas, but I don't want to go too far without rolling for something I should.

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
You don't need to roll to make contact, but you might need one depending on what you want out of the NPC. Let me know what you're planning and I'll decide the roll and difficulty.

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
It's been quiet, and Locke is still probably dealing with the move, so I've moved things forward to drop the other two of you in.

I'll consolidate your sheets with the rest of the party in a bit.

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009

Would security at this event be tight enough that they are having us go through metal detectors and being patted down? If so, what would the difficulty be to conceal my Mag Pistol? I would assume my Armored undersuit is synthweave or whatever future fabric that I could still wear it underneath the suit.

Ps you rock Zepp. I'll have a post up sometime early tomorrow.

Apocron
Dec 5, 2005
Yeah Zepp, you can tell how much effort you put in. This is a fun game and it's only starting.

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
Thanks for the kind words, guys! It means a lot, since this is my first game.

The security is tight enough that you can't take weapons in. You could bring in kinesis wraps, however, as they can be easily disguised as innocent objects or woven into a fabric. If you want to do that, we'll assume you bought them beforehand.

Egregious Offences
Jun 15, 2013
I can definitely wait until the scene change for my character to show up. Sorry I haven't written my response to your prompt yet, Zep, this past week has been busy with training at my new job. However, I have the next few days off so I can catch up.

L0cke17
Nov 29, 2013

Zeppelin Insanity posted:

It's been quiet, and Locke is still probably dealing with the move

Yeah, I thought it would be over by now, but the truck doesnt show up until tomorrow :saddowns:. I've been living out of a suitcase and have no furniture. I have a computer, on the floor. next to the google fiber jack, and thats really it at the moment.

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.

L0cke17 posted:

Yeah, I thought it would be over by now, but the truck doesnt show up until tomorrow :saddowns:. I've been living out of a suitcase and have no furniture. I have a computer, on the floor. next to the google fiber jack, and thats really it at the moment.

Ah, but do you really need anything else?

Sorry for the late response - I'm on a work trip and won't have time for a substantial post until later today!

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn

Egregious Offences posted:

I can definitely wait until the scene change for my character to show up. Sorry I haven't written my response to your prompt yet, Zep, this past week has been busy with training at my new job. However, I have the next few days off so I can catch up.

Uh, you are in. :v: If you weren't checking the game thread, sorry about not mentioning it here!

TheTofuShop
Aug 28, 2009

Sorry guys the last few days at work have been killer for me, I'll have another post up late tonight.

Egregious Offences
Jun 15, 2013
Alright, first post is up and I'm already behind.

L0cke17
Nov 29, 2013

I don't want to do this, the game is getting really interesting, but after my move RL commitments are taking up way too much of my time to be able to take part effectively in this game, so I'm gonna drop out.

Good luck guys! And great job so far Zeppelin!! I've really enjoyed your style.

Zeppelin Insanity
Oct 28, 2009

Wahnsinn
Einfach
Wahnsinn
Oh, too bad, Locke. Feel free to come back when and if you can!

I started off with a bit of action, then went into a bit of social investigation\intrigue. I hope you guys are enjoying it. Where would you like the game to head to next?

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.
Nooo! We lost another Bitterhold survivor! Best of luck!

I think things have been outstanding thus far! With the initial group starting to dwindle, I wonder if perhaps some exploration is in order? I personally like the thread about an expedition to New Caledonia, but that's just me! Thanks for putting up with The Commodore, everyone!

Apocron
Dec 5, 2005
I want to meet Aliens.

Rhyos
Jan 2, 2006
It's probably my fault.

Apocron posted:

I want to meet Aliens.

It'd be fascinating to see how Zeppelin handles that, actually!

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L0cke17
Nov 29, 2013

I'm definitely gonna a keep reading the thread, it's quite fun!

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