Correct.



The deck has a number of ratings, but I assume you're referring to the MPCP chip? The MPCP chip is the number that is 'free points' to be divided among the decker's four persona ratings. Your decker sets them himself before logging in. They take a few minutes to do, and they can't be done while you're online.



I'd have to say not at this point. Decking is something I've never been fantastic with, so it's tough for me to spot what's going to be unbalancing.

Can you be more specific?

Just checking whether sharing of karma pool is allowed.  (I don't recall it being something we've done in the past)

I suppose that team Karma pool may be something that my old group made as a house rule but basically people donate their personal pool to a team karma pool and that way the whole team has access to it when needed.

I've heard of the team karma pool concept. Yeah, I'm curious why it was brought up. It really hurts the humans, though. It also works better at a table, where people can say "hey, I'm going to use the last KP, that cool?" and he doesn't have to wait a week for a solid answer.

So my answer is, I wasn't planning on it.

In reply to Papa Bear (msg # 105):

Cool. Thanks.


Are hardened deck cases available? I am willing to pay a premium to get one if its "not available" per rules.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:17, Mon 27 Jan 2014.

Given that everyone's starting at ground zero on this run (except for Firefox, but she's getting replaced once we're finished the intro run), I'm not sure that this would necessarily be the time to draw on pool anyhow.

Why does it hurt humans?

Because Karma Pool drains karma from humies (at least) twice as frequently as it does from metas. Contribute more, use less I assume is the hurt.

Also, Snow, that coulda been phrased a little nicer, especially since the payday is 10k apiece and a helmet is 250 straight with a tag of 2k at a stretch.
Don't start hissing at party members in front of the Johnson.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:00, Tue 28 Jan 2014.

Oh, we always just played that you donated what you wanted to and kept what you wanted for personal.  This of course assumes that the entire group gets along and plays nice....:)

Like Carver said. Humans getting more Karma Pool is their one 'bonus' compared to other races. Now they have no advantages (well, except bonus points because we're using sum-to-ten, yaaaay!) Even worse, the human now 'loses' access to twice as much karma feeding the group karma pool, but presumably uses it the same amount as everyone else.

Yes, reinforced deck cases are available. $600 for the sealed and robust one for easy transport. $2,000 for the 'ruggedized' one you can hit an ork over the head with and it still works.

Two other things I wanted to bring up...

Customizing equipment - I generally stick to the main manual for stuff (at least for now). This makes things a lot easier for everyone. Experienced players don't need to track the twenty little mods they put on their favorite item to maximize the bonus. New players don't need to wonder why they're hitting one time out of two but the other guy has yet to miss. And I don't have to give all of the NPCs those same tweaks because they're standard and available. The only downside I see is you don't get to open up with full auto whenever you want because you don't have the 10 points of recoil compensation to drive the TN down.

However, I do permit customization when you have that 'really cool idea' or piece of gear that's core to your concept, or the piece of equipment that exists in real life and you want one for your character. I've done the knife-blade, and reinforced deck cases are another great example.

So push the story, not the target numbers :)


A second note, please avoid specializations in knowledge skills. I'm pretty lenient about what 'falls under' a particular knowledge skill (but not to specializations), but if your skill matches what's required 'on the nose', you'll get a super-bonus of information. So it really helps you to make your specialization into the actual skill. The exception here is if your specialization is really, really narrow. So "Punk Bands" is a great skill, while "Sex Pistols" would be a specialization.

In reply to Carver (msg # 113):

security helmets aren't legal, so a street legal one doesn't exist, making 'expectations' like that is silly at best, insulting to the Johnson at worst.  besides, he's eating cats I don't think a little bickering is going to hurt anything.

though to the faces of the group I'm sorry if ive overstepped a little but snow would be quite adept as a face as well.

I have always consider it useful to the group, who cares if I get away if the rest of the group is hosed.  Shadowrunning is kinda a group effort....lol.

For the record I would consider it unprofessional for anyone except the face to be doing the talking until the particulars are over.  Talking about the best way to kill someone is not something one does in a posh restaurant with the Tres Chic rich about (which is why I didn't explain that I am a gun bunny).  Actively showing the Johnson that you have little to no respect for another teammate would also be a taboo (at least in the groups I run with).

Twitch isn't a face btw but he does have two etiquette skills (and good rep of 1) in order to know what is going to cost him money in the long run.

I agree that typically negotiation would be done primarily by the face.  In fact, odds are that in a typical situation, only a couple of people would be at the table.  Others would be providing over-watch, running research on the fly and communicating over a secure channel.  We'll know each other (with the possible exception of 1-2 new people), have established a degree of trust, know primary & back up roles, etc.

However, this starter game is extremely non-typical.  We've got a super-diverse set of runners who've never laid eyes on each other before, are totally "new" to this line of work and get thrown together at a high-end restaurant where most of them don't fit in *at all* with a couple of minutes to say "hi how are you" and play tic-tac-toe with crayons before the Johnson shows up and starts eating kitties.  He then makes a starting offer of $60k for a snatch and grap staged by a bunch of newbies.

"Typical Shadowrun" this ain't. :>

If we weren't doing a bit of suspension of disbelief, Firefox would have walked on this a couple of times already.  Nuyen is important, but keeping your hoop intact for the next run (and the rest of your life) is more important.

My understanding from Papa's description is that this run is more than a bit over-the-top.  Therefore, I'm ok with people playing it a bit over-the-top.  I'm not terribly good with over-the-top - at least not with a character who I've played staight for many years, so I'll probably keep responding that way - other than letting slide things that would normally have gotten my panties in a wad.

Once the dust settles, we'll come up with some "standard operating procedures" that will ensure we come across as a tad more professional (and behave in ways a little less likely to make us dead).  Only risk with starting over-the-top is that people get used to it and continue to play that way when we move into a more typical "careless = dead" genre of runs.  But I'm sure we can address that with some up-front discussion of expectations before we start round two.


As for a legal security helmet, that's technically possible.  Trick is to get a fake id that shows you as a registered member of an appropriate security/corp outfit that would need to wear one.  That's not going to be cheap.  Downside is that running around dressed up as a lone LoneStar or KE officer is going to look a bit strange.  As is wearing the helmet without matching body armor.  So while theoretically feasible, don't think it's gonna happen this time around.  That said, having a newbie runner asking for one is semi-reasonable IC.  And if the whole conversation blows up and we end up toasting the Johnson, Firefox won't mind.  He had it coming for eating live kittens . . .

Yeah I was put off by the kitten thing too....lol.  And the waitress though my order was icky.....:)

I wasn't trying to be snarky btw.  I was just pointing out that things were not going professional so there was no need to be arguing amongst ourselves.

Firefox basically got it right :) Completely over the top and silly, so breaking etiquette is fine (as long as you recognize the NPCs will also break etiquette all over your head, because, well, I don't think you've encountered one yet who IS polite).

I'm not too worried about this carrying over to the 'real' game. Almost everyone has significant SR experience; this isn't going to teach you bad habits if you didn't already have them. Of course, I've been wrong before.

IMO it's not hard to disguise a security helmet as a fancy motorcycle one, especially if you leave all the extra little bits off. I would buy an RTL helmet and shut up, but that's in Cannon Companion and I can't get it. I get that it doesn't have a Concealability rating, but I'm under the impression that this is because it is obviously a helmet and not some fancy hat.
At least as far as the demand goes, until Carver trusts you to ask for his gear (and until he knows what the J can pay with) the standard is "ask for gear as payment" (as PB has explained to me in the past, sometimes you *can* just get paid in APDS rounds). If J says no, it's fine - I still have cash and can ask for that from my fixer (that's what they're there for); if J says yes but quibbles on time frame then I am in a position to barter and can talk him down from 2k nuyen; if the J miraculously gives me a helmet beforehand, then I can have a super nifty helmet before we go up against a meter tall brain-eating fuzzy murderbear.

Yeah, no problem. I may ask for a little extra time at the end of the scene to posture with you in the alleyway that way Carver doesn't have to act all grumpy later.

And yes, I am playing over-the-top on purpose. If this were real, then Carver wouldn't be eating at all, would have exclusively tactical questions, and would probably be sending his Fixer a request for the helmet and a Paranormal Animals r4 Knowsoft right now with whatever funds we negotiate up-front.

In reply to Papa Bear (msg # 116):

I will take orc crusher for ¥2000 Alex.

eating ... I ... I wrote this and I never saw that. I am ... so terrible ...

yes

yes you are.

In reply to Papa Bear (msg # 125):

LOL that was an ACCIDENT??!?!?!


EVEN BETTER!

Wow, that is hilarious.

As a head's up, I've yet to see anyone say "hey, my character is ready for review". That's a pretty important step.

Also, I read over Silver Angel. Looks like this is going to be a breeze for experienced runners. I may kick the planning stages off while the Drop Bear Adventure is still winding down (assuming characters are ready).