posted

Lance I'm not going to be able to still post tonight so if you want move the game along. If you don't post tonight I'll try to get one in before Monday.

And why do you need to take the van, are they not within walking distance? you take the van you take our only means of cover?

That would be opposed to..... us with no cover, In an alley, less than 20 yards from a bunch of killers, while you guys are 200 plus ft away, yeah. I see your point. Jace can use the exercise, he is young.

1. I want to get everyone paid 

2. I want to get in and out quickly instead of walk / running 200 plus ft in a small narrow tight alleyway

3. Yeah, that would be at least some cover if things went bad and the shooting started, You think that its a coincident that they chose the alley, flooded it with lights from their vehicles and most of the solos in the group have chosen close to medium-range weapons. 

4. Cee Metal is the only one that has a long arm, 200 plus ft, just to the middle of an alley. 

5. no one can do anything, except watch the event unfold, that's it. no one is going to rush into an alley, 200 ft to rescue anybody, because they will be food for the fish. So call me spoiled, I don't want to walk. 

6. how many movies have seen where people are walking away from an illicit deal and get shot in the back walking. I want a chance at getting away

I'd suggest we all go to the meet.  No overt aggressive moves; Tann might want to rethink holding a SMG "at the ready" as just having it shows it is there and anything more might ramp up the sec team.  We are sure to outgunned in a real fight so just want to let them know they won't get away scot free if they start something.  If folks stay in the van it makes our numbers look smaller and they are really not in any less danger.  Just thoughts.  Ghalahn will shadow Charlie and be his body shield if needed.   

"too many people, threatening and WE want something from them, so it's their rules not ours. This isn't the way to handle things. If everybody wants to tie my hands so I can't work. Then stick with casino's original plan because this will be a train wreck and I'm not going to take blame when you guys want to take control and tie my hands. I know my area of expertise, you don't see me tell you how to shoot, hack, patch up, fix or scout because that isn't my lane. I stay in my own lane. 

(OOC: I've said this a couple of times, read the book, this is my SA ( Special Ability) I read people and situations.) 

I appreciate your offer to attempt to protect anyone in that alley would be impossible odds. You are metal, we are flesh, I get that. But if you move, act upon what you might be perceived as a threat.  the other side could start to shoot. 

Maybe you haven't noticed, when I wheel and deal its usually without someone breathing down my neck, I'm in control of my environment. This time I'm not, I can pick up on social cues, you can't... you lack..."Empathy" and we both know and understand that most Cee uses people like me to deal with others. Because your kind no longer understands social cues and bad things start to happen. my metal friend, since you lack that, that makes you no longer an asset to me in this situation". 

staying in the van, waiting is not a good idea. 

1. enclosed space and you're all grouped together.

2. you would be sitting on an explosive device ( gas tank)

3. too easy to suppress your egress

4. you have a limited view and if you have a good view... your enemy can see you just as good too. 

If anyone figures out a better plan, I'm all ears

I deleted my post as I am totally confused as to where the group is at this point.  Are we at the drop, on the way to the drop or getting ready to leave for the drop?  Tann posted us as already there and him pulling his SMG and standing ready but Espalier posted he wants us to "stay put while he does the drop".  Not a fan of a single person making the drop and not a fan of going in and pulling out weapons while meeting a professional sec team.  One likely gets one person killed the other gets a bunch of people killed.  Need some clarity as to the current location and plan then I will make a new post. 

As long as Ghalan walks out alive and gets paid he is ok with whatever plan.   

I'm going to do some clarifying because it seems like there's a lot of confusion going on and it is causing conflict.

1. Unless you all decided to drop everyone except Charlie off outside of the drop zone (which will put everyone out of play except Charlie) then you're all together where Echo stopped the van. As I wasn't getting any definitive plans before my last post, I made the decision for you that this is the case. No going back on that now. Please, in the future, take advantage of the opportunities I give to work out plans before I post my update to the game. I've said before that if I don't have posts from players, or things aren't addressed in the posts that need to be addressed, rather than hold up the game any longer, I may just move things forward and you may not like what happens.
2. Echo parked the van "in close" which means that you are already within thirty feet (roughly 9-10 meters) of the corporate vehicles. There's no getting out and leaving people behind at this point. 
3. Charlie has already exited the van followed by Ghlahn who has told Charlie that he'll be on his six. Any discussion about staying behind would take place at this point. 
4. The "alley" that you keep referring to is thirty meters wide (that's almost 100 feet). The length of which is two hundred meters (a little over 650 feet) with the corp team about halfway. That means that you've already driven roughly 350 feet down the length of the road before you stopped. That's a lot of open space in every direction. Act with this in mind. 
   
   1. The underside of the buildings overhead is about thirty meters from the ground or one hundred feet. With the van height at about nine feet or roughly 3 meters, that means that there are another ninety feet to the top of the cube space you're in.
   2. The van and corp vehicles are parked in the middle of the area. That means that you have roughly forty feet or twelve-ish meters between the van and any potential cover in the warehouses on either side. I'm also going to point out that you aren't exactly lined up with any of the warehouse's doors, entryways, or garage ports. If you were going to make a run for a warehouse, you'd have to cover more like seventy feet to any entrance and that's not guaranteeing that they are unlocked.
5. Any drone flying into this area would be spotted. There's no cover for it and the space overhead isn't high enough for it to go unseen. That's why this wasn't an option.
6. The area around the warehouses is completely sealed off from the road outside. This means that if you were to have dropped anyone off outside of the warehouse area, they could not have gained entrance without coming in through the same way as the van (unless they blew something up). 

The long and short of it is that this meet was planned to put you, the delivering team, in the least favorable position possible and them, the receiving team, in the best. For all you know, they have snipers in the warehouses, they've already laced the ground underfoot with explosive remote mines, they have arranged to have a laser built into the underside of the towers that can incinerate any target they choose beneath it... my point is, they are in control by design. You, good people, aren't dealing with street-level riff-raff here. You're dealing with corporate exec power mongers.

Another area where I feel that I've allowed too much conflict to develop is between the characters themselves. I take full responsibility for this as in a tabletop version of the game, player discussion can often stave off any hard feelings in a way that forums just can't seem to do. In a tabletop environment, I let players work out a lot of details between them and I've been doing that here as well. Which has led to a lot of drama that I'm going to make a GM ruling and clear up. Please just take this as me trying to get everyone on the same page and playing nice.

I'm making the ruling now that in non-time sensitive situations there can be a regular democracy amongst the team to figure out what direction you want to take with things. In these cases, in-character discussion can really slow the game's progress down but it can be a lot of fun character building as well. So, we have a couple of options. We can jump on Discord and iron things out real-time, we can use a Google Doc and real-time/wait for participation in-character discussion and then one of you players will post the results, or we can take the slow route and post in-game. I don't really mind any of those ways, I just want to make sure we aren't miscommunicating intentions or player friendliness for the sake of the grittiness of 'Punk.

In situations where the skill set requires diplomacy, negotiations, etc. (which often includes finding jobs and the situation you now find yourself in) Cred Stick Charlie is in charge by order of Starlight. He's her representative. He's skilled for the job. However, It is a really really rare circumstance where a fixer won't take some muscle along for protection so Espatier, having a couple of solos with Charlie isn't a bad thing so long as they behave.

Echo is the best driver amongst the lot of you. She's Rolling State. That means that while she's very proficient with her weapons (submachine gun in particular), she's also your wheelman. I believe Casino is the next best.

Blossom is a non-combatant unless absolutely necessary. She can throw some constructs into the mix but that's an expensive loss if the construct is defeated. Nanodust ain't cheap. However, despite there being an "Internet for everyone" reality, neighborhoods, organizations, buildings, and even individuals all have private networks which require her to be on-hand to hack. This is why she can't just sit in a hotel room and do her thing.

In a combat situation, Ghlahn, Echo, and Casino are your muscle. Casino has already stepped up wanting to take the leadership role since Vegas (who was acting in the leadership role with the actual Leadership skill is gone), so Casino gets to take charge in combat situations. But make no mistake, Ghlahn is the tank amongst you. 

Fixer and Bloodbank are your support team with Fixer able to tinker, repair, and build most things and Bloodbank able to play combat medic. This doesn't mean that either of them is bad in a fight, just not necessarily your front line. This also doesn't mean that either can't be useful in a Charlie situation.

This is a very well-rounded team. One of the best that I've ever run. You have your muscle, your wheelman, your negotiator/deal finder, your support crew, and your cyberspace gal. Now, the biggest issue has been that you aren't operating as a team. I've even had Blossom make fun of the fact to try and get things back in line. I don't want anyone to feel like they aren't having fun but I also want you to be able to play your characters the way you see fit. If your character doesn't have a lot of empathy or care for human life, you aren't likely going to make a good combat medic and those in the team should be grateful for the Medtech's humanity. The least "human" of you all is really Ghlahn. How you choose to play the morality of your character is your business. Killing innocents, stealing from corporations, mugging the homeless... whatever you choose to do, there are consequences; inner team and otherwise. Bear that in mind. I plan on continuing whoever wants to into the next run (which is rescuing Vegas, if possible) but it stands to reason as well that if there's a serious conflict between characters, some may not want to continue with the team. I am not going to run two separate Cyberpunk campaigns. I don't have the time. So, if you want to continue playing (which I hope you do) than you need to figure out how to make it all cohesive.

Espatier has played Cyberpunk in RL. He's used to the hard ways of the Street and the inhumane behaviors that edgerunners sometimes have to take to survive. That's why he has made some of the OOC comments he's made as well as the IC thoughts and comments that Charlie has made. Tann has played in one of my 'Punk games before... guess what, nearly everyone died. 

That being said, no being mean to each other OOC. Use kind words, tone, and comments and if characters say rude things to each other or behave contrary towards each other, keep in mind that as players, you are all friends and we're here to have fun. If you don't see things the same way, that's fine. But treat each other as friends, please. Everyone here is smart and if you need help familiarizing yourself with the world or system, everyone who is in possession of the knowledge should be extremely helpful in sharing it realizing that I may have homebrewed rules and changes to the world that might differ from what you're used to. 

Okay... summary time so you all know where things stand.

1. The van is already parked thirty feet from the corp vehicles with all of the team having arrived on-scene. 
2. Charlie and Ghlahn were the first to exit the van. Casino already gave orders for Fixer and Bloodbank to stay inside with Rya and Jase until Charlie indicates that they are to be brought out.
3. Echo has been asked by Casino to stay "on him" which means that if she complies your wheelman is not behind the wheel in case you need to make a hasty retreat.
4. Blossom is sitting tight in the back seat and Rya and Jase haven't moved.
5. Casino has also exited the vehicle after asking Blossom to run a face rec on the sec team if she feels it's safe.
6. The sec team and their techhair boss are watching all of this unfold. 
7. No one has gotten out of the aerodyne limo.

Because of the confusion up to this point, I'm going to allow that Charlie has not asked everyone to stay behind seeing as that opportunity has passed (I've deleted the post). Unless he wants to approach the techhair dude all by his lonesome staring down the proverbial barrels of eight super solos, right now he's got Casino and Ghlahn ready to go with him (and potentially Echo if she follows Casino's request).

What I need is for Espatier to post how he wants to cross the fifteen or so feet that he's going to have to cross to meet the techhair guy and his entourage half-way and with whom he's going to do it with. Then, I need each of you to post telling me how you are setting yourselves up for the drop. Afterwards, my post will likely be short, detailing the initial interaction with the sec team. Then you lot will have to post how you're delivering Rya and Jase. Then I'll post receipt.

Thank you. I now return you to your regular programming. 

I still hate you because your doing your job

posted

Thank you for hating me, Espatier. And for the post.

I am most likely going to update this afternoon.

And... posted.

Even though a good portion of you are standing about, remember that you can always make skill checks by writing something along the lines of, "{Character} doesn't like the way this whole setup feels. Eyes darting towards the dark ceiling overhead (Awareness/Notice Check) and then skimming the ominous walls of the warehouses on the left and then to the right, (Combat Sense check), {Character) attempts to cess out any ambush."

If you need links to your character sheets again on Google Drive or have questions, you can hit me up through email, PM, or Discord.

Made a little post.  Just Ghalahn thinking and looking.  Nothing that would impact our next move.  Kind of a "color comentary" post and info gathering.  

How many time back in the 80s, characters have been getting looked over and messed over. I'm not trying to ruffle feathers but I'm being careful till the point that the shooting usually starts, and characters die. 

That being said... 

I want to use "raw" ability in dealing that the suits, and I would like to make a roll for something flattering like the hair, some sort of common ground before the un niceties start. They can call it stalling or whatever, but its another few breaths before death. 

Will you allow:

Fast talk (Stalling... I'm not handing over either one!)

Negotiation ( Attempting to have dialog )

and a perception roll from me?