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GhostStalker
Mar 26, 2010

Guys, find a woman who looks at you the way GhostStalker looks at every bald, obese, single 58 year old accountant from Tulsa who managed to win $4,000 by not wagering on a Final Jeopardy triple stumper.

Kanfy posted:

That's probably the most depressing encouragement I've ever gotten, but I also can't deny its truthfulness so I guess you can get away with it. This time. :colbert:

As the person responsible for a large number of the lore posts, I apologize. But it's bringing a lot of fun to the people who read this, so who am I to stop providing what they want?

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paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
You're someone who isn't getting paid for this. If they want lore dumps, then they can cough up some cash. :colbert:

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.

GhostStalker posted:

As the person responsible for a large number of the lore posts, I apologize. But it's bringing a lot of fun to the people who read this, so who am I to stop providing what they want?

I wasn't being serious of course, the efforts of all loremasters are greatly appreciated and I enjoy reading your posts as well. I don't know the lore nearly as well and you're not stupid enough to do a screenshot LP of a long RPG, so I think between us we strike a good balance.

Gun Jam
Apr 11, 2015
Okay, so in the meanwhile:


:siren: Giveaway ! Poetry slam! :siren:

Got steam keys (via humble bundle) for all 3 HBS SR (Returns, Dragonfall, and Hong Kong). Don't need 'em.
But to spice thing a bit, there's a requirement!
Write a relevant piece ; Song, poem, haiku, limerick, et cetera - whatever strikes your fancy.
(Please specify which games you want - from all three to none.)

Let the rhymes flow!

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?
Because he did SR before
Kanfy gave us an encore
About Dietrich and Glory,
A mystery story
But mostly we talk about lore

I already own all three give them to someone else.

Gharbad the Weak
Feb 23, 2008

This too good for you.
Woah, Cybernetics!
Shove technology in me!
Just right up my butt.

Even though this is a clear winner, I have all 3. I'm sure I could figure out someone to give them to I guess, in case literally everyone already has all 3 games.

tarbrush
Feb 7, 2011

ALL ABOARD THE SCOTLAND HYPE TRAIN!

CHOO CHOO
Never deal with a
dragon. For thou art crunchy
and barbecue well

Tiggum
Oct 24, 2007

Your life and your quest end here.


With jazz, flash, cram, Haste
And an adrenal pump too
I'm Barry Allen


(I already have all three games)

Jack-Off Lantern
Mar 2, 2012

So I just finished your Returns LP. And yeah the improved writing is really apparent. I did finish Hong Kong when it came out but I never got warmed up to Dragonfall,even tho I'm German and from Stuttgart,so I'll be interested in seeing where this goes

Siegkrow
Oct 11, 2013

Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting



Late "CONGRATS ON PAGE 100 WOOOO"

Siegkrow
Oct 11, 2013

Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting



So are we still talking lore between updates?
If so, what is up in Antarctica and the southern reaches of southamerica?

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.
Part 27 - The Pharmassacre




The people voted on whether to bring Dietrich or Glory for this run, and the result was so clearly in favor of the latter that the hair product industry is suspected to have tampered with the voting process in order to minimize on-screen baldness. My lawyers are investigating the matter as we speak.







(We're going back to the DMS well for this mission's music.)




We get to start from inside the building this time, conveniently avoiding gang ambushes, hazardous currywursts and other such obstacles which have haunted us in the past.



You ready for this, fearless leader? According to what Herr Fuchs told us, this entire complex is gonna be crawling with hired security. I'm guessing Knight Errant, but we'll see. Either way it's gonna be a hell of a fight.

We can handle it. Get ready, people.

Eiger's right on that front, while some missions are best handled stealthily and others with careful diplomacy, that isn't going to be on the menu today.



Probably won't have to bust out a notebook to remember these mission objectives either.



Also our party members have spent some of their share of the pay upgrading their guns. There's no real need to ever buy weapons for anyone unless you're an ardent follower of min-maxism and knowing that you're being inefficient makes you physically uncomfortable.



Anyhow, we've ways to go so let's get this murder journey underway. This is one of those areas where we're in combat mode from the get-go, meaning nothing would stop us from skipping turns casting Armor until everyone's maxed out from the start. We'll just slap one on Glory and get to it though.



That looks like Knight Errant armor alright, these guys get to play the role of the faceless grunts that get mowed down by the protagonists quite often in this game. There's also a jack-in point on the desk there, but we'll fiddle with that once we have a bit more privacy.




(Still one of the better combat tracks from the last game.)




Never stand too close to each other during casual conversation in the Sixth World, you never know when someone'll suddenly initiate turn-based combat and start messing you both up.



Shouting while bleeding all over the floor is a free action though, something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself in a similar predicament.



A demonstration of Fray Armor which we picked up for Glory from her last level up. It'll remove 4 armor in total if both attacks hit, though these guys only have 2 to begin with due to recent budget cuts at Ares leading to low-rank KE personnel having to wear spray-painted cardboard instead of proper protective gear.





These two were never even given a fair chance to be honest, but someone's gotta provide that first blood and we prefer holding on to ours.



Barely has the second guard's body had the time to hit the floor when another combat couple charges into the room.



We still have enough spare AP to take one of them out right away. This is what happens when those people in online team games who refuse to group up and instead opt to drip in 1-2 people at a time only to be repeatedly destroyed by the opposing team grow up and get real jobs.



If there was a rating system for feelings of despair, the mug of this guy already facing impossible odds having his shotgun blast bounce harmlessly off of Glory's face would probably represent the top end of it.



It was a good effort at least, now go ahead and take a break.



Now that we have a moment of peace, Blitz takes the opportunity to do a bit of cyber-diving.





The standard welcoming committee is quickly dismissed. Blitz isn't quite on the level of Amazon from the previous LP, but he's getting there pretty steadily. It's mostly his low-level cyberdeck that's holding him back at the moment. As with everything that isn't armor or cyberware, you can lend him a better one if you don't want to wait for free upgrades.



This section consists only of a single large cyberarea containing a sole camera control node. If there's pay data to be had here, we'll have to search elsewhere.



Blitz only gets to take a few steps before more IC pop up from whatever cybercafe these things hang out in on their free time.



While he's dealing with this new nuisance wave...



...another pair of KE willing to try their luck against our group make their way to the room. Knight Errant really, really likes two-person formations for some reason.



While they're being dealt with, Blitz finishes off the last IC and heads for the node.



Or tries to, until yet another wave of IC pop up into the scene. Who the hell installs this kinda security just to guard the cameras, we've stolen major company secrets facing less resistance than this.



Nothing significant happens this turn in the real world, though an Inferno summoned by the KE conjurer is taking a jog. Aw, just look at 'em go.





Blitz eventually breaks through last of the pesky cybersecurity, finally reaches the camera node, and starts heading back.



Glory meanwhile breaks through last of the pesky flesh security, allowing us to at last move on from the first room which when you think about it would probably be a pretty horrifying scene by now if all the blood and corpses didn't just cleanly disappear into the ether.



The extra visibility provided by the cameras show that we're not done yet though, not by a long shot. Four guys in the next room...



...and more in the hallway with the elevator. They even got gun turrets installed, it's like we were raiding an army base here or something.



Before we charge headlong into the next fight, Glory and Blitz take a side passage and find a side entrance to the larger room ahead which should make for a good flanking position. There also appears to be a corpse on a table in the next room, but we can't investigate it from here as the door doesn't open.



There's also a small storage room at the end of the side hallway containing an Advanced Medkit and some Kamikaze (+2 Body, +1 Strength, +1 Willpower).



Now that everyone's in position, let's start round 2. Amongst the four guards is a mage standing on a leyline and a heavily-armored captain.



You know what they say about geeking mages first. Those leylines are real tempting, but you maybe should've looked for cover like your pals instead of getting greedy.



The grunts fire back on their turn, but 10 armor is real hard to punch through with the kind of bargain bin weaponry they've been provided. Have I mentioned that Armor III is a touch busted at this stage of the game?



Blitz and Glory (mostly Glory) execute their flanking strategy, quite literally tearing the duo away from their cover.





That's another two names added to the long list of victims of good teamwork, that most dangerous foe of all. Luckily it's on our side most of the time.



Only the captain remains, but a single cast of Strip Armor leaves them just as vulnerable to claws and bullets as everyone else. The two armor spells aren't nearly as flashy as most other stuff Mages have, but sometimes substance does triumph over style.



Yeah, I'd say the odds are not in this person's favor. Let's just quickly finish 'em off, shouldn't take more than a couple of good hits...



Feeling a bit evasive are we? That's cute, but can you dodge... everything?















As it turns out, yes, yes they can.



And right on cue, another two guards rush in to waste our precious time and their slightly less precious lives.



At least we finally manage to grab hold of and strangle this slippery eel.





This duo-based approach ends up working just as poorly here as it did for all the previous contestants. Now that we've finally cleared up this room



What, seriously? How many sets of two guards did they post in this place, and why are they so utterly terrible at coordinating their attacks?



What a pain. At least this lets me demonstrate this weird quirk of security cameras actually being untargetable and invulnerable NPCs. Hitting them with an area effect makes their stats and name pop out, though sadly this doesn't cause them to run around trying to kill things or anything funny like that.



We all could've just walked away y'know.



Eiger wraps things up with her newly-acquired Dragon's Breath Round, giving the last guard a nice and warm feeling during their last moments. Now that we've actually cleared the room for real (and for the first time get out of combat), we can go back to take a closer look at that body we saw earlier.



poo poo, look at that! What happened to him?

Whether it was Knight Errant, the runners who came here or someone else entirely, murdering janitors is just low-class. For shame.



Nothing else of note here, so let's move on. There are no cameras in this next room so we've no visibility there.



...Maybe it was better that way. Geez.



Drek! What happened in there?

I'd say that part's pretty plain to see, but "who" and "why" are pretty valid questions. Either this poor bastard suffered a real nasty workplace accident, or someone did this on purpose.



Whatever the case, we'll leave solving the locked room murder mysteries to Sherlock or Conan. What's more relevant to us are these idiots who clearly haven't learned anything from their buddies' mistakes seeing as they haven't yet fled for the hills. Our camera view shows us three guards, a pair of drones and two turrets behind a corner. No side entrances this time aside from a vent which we could send a drone through if we had one, so we'll just jump directly into the fray.



Our sudden appearance leaves our opponents visibly shocked as the room jolts into action.



The two enemy drones are hilariously frail (20 HP) so we clean them up first. They really went quantity over quality for this job.



Been a while since we last saw this kind of drone-on-drone violence. A bit nostalgic really.



This fellow had cover literally right next to them, so they really only have themselves to blame for getting a bullet in the head on the first turn like a chump.



The woman in the back is another conjurer who summons another Inferno...



...which then goes berserk and attacks her literally on the same turn. I'm starting to think someone on this floor picked Jinxed at character creation.



Well, thanks for the assist, we'll take it from here.



Her losing control of the spirit like that is actually kind of an annoyance since it's no longer bound to her and thus doesn't vanish when she eats dirt, meaning we'll have to kill this thing the hard way. It's not a real threat by itself, just hard to pin down thanks to its high defenses of which Strip Armor at least eliminates a large chunk of.



The Glory-Eiger duo doing what they do best.



The rebellious spirit also gets targeted by the turrets behind the corner but they whiff every single shot. Seems like the sentry gun community didn't exactly send their finest either.



We can add some insult to injury by having Blitz tinker with this panel here.



Taking remote control of the turrets also requires 5 Drone Control which he doesn't have, but we already got a demonstration of their "usefulness" anyway so we might as well do this the simpler way.



Overloading the power to the turrets blows 'em both right up, an event which largely happens off-screen meaning this one frame kinda reminiscent of those blurry off-center photos of the Loch Ness monster is all I have to offer as evidence of it happening.



With the mechanical security out of the way as well, Eiger Steady Shots the lingering fire spirit down and we at last wrap up this area.



...Just kidding, you thought we could get through this room without seeing at least one more reinforcement duo? Have you learned nothing?



One of the two latecomers is a mage who automatically runs to the large ley line in the middle of the room. With some support this could actually be a bit dangerous as large ley lines give a very sizeable boost.



With everyone else already dead though, well, all it really does is give their corpse a fancier-looking spot to crumble on.



Phew... Alright, now we're done. Actually really for real this time.



Well, done with the first floor in any case. It took a whole update just to walk through like four rooms thanks to all these suicidal jokers and their poor grasp of team play, and it's probably safe to assume the pile of corpses is only going to rise ever higher once we get upstairs. Or downstairs, I'm not really sure.

Either way, just goes to show that sometimes in life you've gotta kill a whole lot of people just to kill one person. Shadowrun life lessons!

Captain Foo
May 11, 2004

we vibin'
we slidin'
we breathin'
we dyin'

hooray for updates!

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS

Kanfy posted:

Part 27 - The Pharmassacre

well you certainly weren't lying!

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.
Are we sure these guys are Knight Errant and not someone pretending to be Knight Errant? Because man are they incompetent.

Fighting Trousers
May 17, 2011

Does this excite you, girl?

habeasdorkus posted:

Are we sure these guys are Knight Errant and not someone pretending to be Knight Errant? Because man are they incompetent.

Budget cuts, man.

Psion
Dec 13, 2002

eVeN I KnOw wHaT CoRnEr gAs iS
Knight Errant's less well known Low Threat Response Team is the budget-friendly alternative for a corp who knows they need security, but not that much security. After all it'll look great on the Q4 financials!

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.
Maybe Knight Errant puts a bunch of vets who are almost about to vest their pension together on teams like this so they get smoked prior to incurring a long term cost on the company?

Hahaha. Who am I kidding, no one will get pensions in the Shadowrun future.

mauman
Jul 30, 2014

Whoever's got the biggest whiskers does the talking.
Definitely one of the more combat heavy missions of this game or HK.

girl dick energy
Sep 30, 2009

You think you have the wherewithal to figure out my puzzle vagina?

habeasdorkus posted:

Maybe Knight Errant puts a bunch of vets who are almost about to vest their pension together on teams like this so they get smoked prior to incurring a long term cost on the company?

Hahaha. Who am I kidding, no one will get pensions in the Shadowrun future.
MTF-SR2 ("Day Before Retirement").

oystertoadfish
Jun 17, 2003

in the densest urban area in history, Kowloon walled city in Hong Kong, there was a documentary on which they found this guy who used to be an enforcer for the triads whose retirement package was a closet sized room right on a busy hallway-street and 1x(bottle of rice wine, pack of cigarettes)/day. he looked pretty happy

anyway that could be a model for the pension in this dystopia. I feel like I've read that lots of great sci fi basically used Kowloon walled city as its setting. now it's a public park and the inhabitants got moved into slightly less dense and much more tax paying high rises

bewilderment
Nov 22, 2007
man what



oystertoadfish posted:

anyway that could be a model for the pension in this dystopia. I feel like I've read that lots of great sci fi basically used Kowloon walled city as its setting. now it's a public park and the inhabitants got moved into slightly less dense and much more tax paying high rises

In the world of Shadowrun, population changes of various wacky kinds means those high-rises got changed back into high-density apartments much like the old walled city!
(because the original Shadowrun writers probably wrote about it back in the 80s and didn't foresee it getting pulled down)

If these LPs get to Shadowrun Hong Kong, we'll see a bit of that.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
All these massive drug price increases seem more reasonable now that we know it's standard industry practice to install gun turrets, extreme ICE protection, and dozens of armed goons at every minor facility

AceOfFlames
Oct 9, 2012

bewilderment posted:

In the world of Shadowrun, population changes of various wacky kinds means those high-rises got changed back into high-density apartments much like the old walled city!
(because the original Shadowrun writers probably wrote about it back in the 80s and didn't foresee it getting pulled down)

If these LPs get to Shadowrun Hong Kong, we'll see a bit of that.

Is the fact that the Walled City was torn down but was later REBUILT canon Shadowrun or something made up for Hong Kong? Because I found that point hilarious.

Slaan posted:

All these massive drug price increases seem more reasonable now that we know it's standard industry practice to install gun turrets, extreme ICE protection, and dozens of armed goons at every minor facility

People cant afford their drugs so they try to break into the labs, which leads to more security, which leads to more expensive drugs...chicken and egg problem, really.

wedgekree
Feb 20, 2013
Yay for updates and slaughter to the face! Also poor rent a cops.

GhostStalker
Mar 26, 2010

Guys, find a woman who looks at you the way GhostStalker looks at every bald, obese, single 58 year old accountant from Tulsa who managed to win $4,000 by not wagering on a Final Jeopardy triple stumper.

AceOfFlames posted:

Is the fact that the Walled City was torn down but was later REBUILT canon Shadowrun or something made up for Hong Kong? Because I found that point hilarious.

Canon, I think.

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


Jordan Weisman literally invented Shadowrun, so I'd say it's canon.

RedMagus
Nov 16, 2005

Male....Female...what does it matter? Power is beautiful, and I've got the power!
Grimey Drawer
Ah, it's good to see a plan come together and destroy the hell out of everyone and everything in the area!

The weird bodies laying around and the fact that we're crashing a place *after* another run is great, I like the idea that we aren't the only people going "Crimes? Crimes."

Definitely the best at it though

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.

RedMagus posted:

The weird bodies laying around and the fact that we're crashing a place *after* another run is great, I like the idea that we aren't the only people going "Crimes? Crimes."

I feel like half the places we go to have active crimes in progress. If anything, by stopping those crimes in progress via blowing them up and/or stealing all the data we're cleaning up Berlin! Go us!

Fighting Trousers
May 17, 2011

Does this excite you, girl?
Technically, this being the Flux State, there are no crimes, because there's no law! :thumbsup:

Keksen
Oct 9, 2012

Fighting Trousers posted:

Technically, this being the Flux State, there are no crimes, because there's no law! :thumbsup:

Aren't we usually committing those non-crimes on corporate territory, though? Which, I assume, falls under the respective corporation's law. Of course there's the whole issue of "if a run goes loud and nobody is left alive to testify, does it make a sound is it a felony?"

Stroth
Mar 31, 2007

All Problems Solved

oystertoadfish posted:

in the densest urban area in history, Kowloon walled city in Hong Kong, there was a documentary on which they found this guy who used to be an enforcer for the triads whose retirement package was a closet sized room right on a busy hallway-street and 1x(bottle of rice wine, pack of cigarettes)/day. he looked pretty happy

Considering that the Walled City is considered the single worst slum in the entire world, that's actually a really generous pension. A room of his own and guaranteed supply of booze? Guy's easily upper middle class in the local economy.

DeathChicken
Jul 9, 2012

Nonsense. I have not yet begun to defile myself.

In prison bucks the man with an unending supply of booze and cigs would be king.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW

Siegkrow posted:

So are we still talking lore between updates?
If so, what is up in Antarctica and the southern reaches of southamerica?

Not sure about south america, but antarctica is a winter wonderland of black sites and top secret magical and mundane research. I believe there's also a mana rift at the magnetic south pole.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW

Keksen posted:

Aren't we usually committing those non-crimes on corporate territory, though? Which, I assume, falls under the respective corporation's law. Of course there's the whole issue of "if a run goes loud and nobody is left alive to testify, does it make a sound is it a felony?"

Corps only have extra-territoriality if they're AA or AAA rank and are in the territory of a signatory of the Business Recognition Accords. And the F-State ain't signing poo poo.

Much like with space, antarctica , and international waters, corp security and military capability makes this a bit of a moot point.

Keksen
Oct 9, 2012
I see, thanks. In that case, even with corp security I'd probably just put my research labs or what-have-you basically anywhere else. On the other hand the lawlessness would go both ways.

The most important thing, though: Is there any mention of awakened penguins?

habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.
Not sure if this is a homebrew critter, but-

Dumpshock Forums posted:

The Chill Penguin
Location: Antarctica / Paranormal Zoo’s

The Chill Penguin is an awakened variant of the King Penguin (Aptenodytes Patagonicus)

The chill penguin have several noticeable abilities, especially innate spells of the colder variety. It is also fierly territorial and a single penguin might not be a problem but anyone who angers an entire horde of penguins at one of their mating spots...

ATTRIBUTES: BOD: 3 AGI: 3 STR: 2 REA: 2 CHA: 2 INT: 3 LOG: 1 WIL: 3 MAGIC: 3
POWERS: Innate Spells: Alter Temperature, Elemental Aura (Cold), Ice Wall, Ice Sheet, Ice Bolt

wiegieman
Apr 22, 2010

Royalty is a continuous cutting motion


Corps have labs all over the world because they're constantly acquiring, losing, and renovating viable spaces and are all composed of dozens or hundreds of subcompanies. You can't just put a lab or a fab anywhere, it needs specialized construction.

The real reason the corp has a research lab in <$city.name> is because it would be boring for the story for not to be able to go on runs against them.

paragon1
Nov 22, 2010

FULL COMMUNISM NOW
Yeah, I imagine most corps still have facilities in Berlin at least in part due to the inertia of them already being in Berlin when it turned into the Flux State.

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habeasdorkus
Nov 3, 2013

Royalty is a continuous shitposting motion.

wiegieman posted:

Corps have labs all over the world because they're constantly acquiring, losing, and renovating viable spaces and are all composed of dozens or hundreds of subcompanies. You can't just put a lab or a fab anywhere, it needs specialized construction.

The real reason the corp has a research lab in <$city.name> is because it would be boring for the story for not to be able to go on runs against them.

It's also true that even in the real world major companies have offices in a ton of places just as regional management/manufacturing/distribution centers.

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