Interface Zero: Upgrade in Progress

[nDervish]

Specific to IZ, most weapons know who owns them and will refuse to work for anyone else (IZ1 p.110; based on those prices, a manual PIN or password is standard) until you can get them hacked to accept a new owner.

There is a biolock accessory that prevents others from using the weapon, and that's supposedly standard with law enforcement. I'm pretty sure none of us have it on our weapons, however, and I seriously doubt most common criminals will either.

The biolock isn't the only type of firearms user authentication out there. IZv1 p.110 lists DNA-scanning triggers (which is my interpretation of the "bio signature" used by the biolock), voice activation, a manual password/PIN, and a HyperObject-based password/PIN as possibilities for how a given weapon may be secured. Given that there's already been talk in the US of making such systems mandatory on privately-owned firearms (even though they're not readily available yet) and that the manual password/PIN is listed with no price, I'm comfortable assuming that a manual password/PIN system is standard-issue on all legally-purchased firearms. Biolocks, voiceprints, and HyperObject handshakes are upgraded authentication systems which are more secure, harder to crack, and more convenient to use.

Granted, gangbangers probably didn't purchase their weapons legally, which leaves the question open of whether they're more likely to have the authentication system reprogrammed to recognize them or to disable it altogether.

Even the locked stuff we could try to hack ourselves, or pay someone else a modest fee to try. There's got to be a big industry doing just that.

Definitely. It's just a matter of finding them and getting them to trust you...

What I recall reading is that hacking drones is supposed to be really hard. They operate on another frequency or something, specifically designed to resist this sort of tampering. And if they do get through it's easy enough to just reset. Of course this doesn't cover signal jammers and what not, only actual hacking.

The actual statement is "Hacking a drone is a damn hard thing to do." The descriptions of drone hacking there (on p. 4 of drones.pdf) all seem to be talking about actually taking control of the drone or reprogramming it, in which case the drone's owner can just reboot it, as you said. But I expect that blocking the signal entirely (causing it to revert to either glide mode or standby mode) would be less difficult.

Signal jamming is also mentioned on that page, but, sadly, no mechanics are given. It's discussed solely as a narrative device.

since none of us is carrying the app that identifies the material used to shoot on us, how else but looting are we supposed to know if one of them was carrying something worth our while, like a unique weapon of some sorts...

Well, let's see... They were firing standard assault rifle rounds at you, so their weapons weren't using any fancy ammo. They consistently managed to miss Mal, aside from the one shot that almost took him out, so it's a safe bet they weren't using any kind of super-detection scopes. Etc. Their weapons in all ways behaved just like regular everyday assault rifles, so that's a pretty good clue that they weren't anything special, even without taking into account that you were looking at the guys when you attacked them and, even without an app to tell you the exact make and model, you would have gotten a good idea of roughly what kind of guns they had.

and especially if those gangers weren't dead, it would make serious sense for us to disarm themeven if only to dump their weapons somewhere later...

...except for the minor detail that I seem to recall someone even commenting at the table that they would be out for a couple hours. If this was really the primary concern, then I think I'd be more worried about them playing dead and jumping up to shoot me when I approached them to take their weapons than I would be about them getting up and pursuing me after I leave.

besides, it could still be a good idea to grab their grenades and ammo, maybe not for Mal and/or Almighty but definitely for the rest of the group, no?

If that's a concern that the rest of the group shares, then we can definitely increase the cost of ammo tokens, but have them refresh at no cost whenever you return to home, your base, or anywhere else there's a stockpile of ammo that you can restock from. You'd basically be buying a limit on how much ammo you can carry at a time and then all ammo is free up to that limit. (And no a pile of still-warm corpses is not "a stockpile of ammo".)

I would much rather give you unlimited free reloads than have a pack of PC ghouls roaming the streets of Chicago and stripping the bodies of the dead.

And if one or more of them happened to be wearing Chameleon cloaks, I wouldn't be surprised if those got picked up as a backup in case some copper confiscates Ryder's at some point...

If one or more of them happened to be wearing chameleon cloaks, that would have been rather obvious when you shot at them and saw that parts of them appeared transparent.

I am kind of uneasy about the looting. There is the tracking, but more than that it seems really immoral. We really shouldn't steal from the dead if we are the good guys.

If we are captured or something we might steal a gun from a guard or something, but other than that I think it makes us look evil.

A) I don't want this to become the normal tiresome lootfest.

Yep. Those aren't the only points I was trying to make in my original looting rant, but they're among them.

B) If for some reason "we" need to loot bodies we should be able to (I don't buy that there's isn't an illegal market for illegal/looted weapons).

Oh, there definitely is. But it's a lot harder to find buyers for a weapon that's still locked to a specific user.

Ryder won't put up with much looting. Both because of the risk and because of his morals.

I had a feeling...

[jeronimooo]

@ Dave, something completely different; if we wait 8 or 9 days until Mal is released from the hospital, we'll be in the first week of may... does that mean we will have gotten our first monthly income and expenses? and if not, when are we supposed to get them?

[jeronimooo]

hey Bjorn,

quick question; given the fact that you (Ryder) took security agent training at Mad Max, would becoming bodyguard be something for you? It would cost you the next 3 advances (agility to d8 + fighting to d8 and another skill + bodyguard edge). but you would earn 5k per month instead of 1k, and you could be hired by me (Mal). After tuesdays' fiasco and given my cautious nature I could very well be looking at ways to beef up my own security... Adding the fact that I'll be getting Fixer around the same time (and thus earn even more and be more than able to hire myself a personal bodyguard) it could be a money-sink for me, and a better job for you. My handler could have gotten your name from Mad Max, or Almighty could have recommended you... If it is something you'd see yourself doing, maybe I could even now already take you on as freelance security agent on trial basis or something similar... you would of course have to sign a Stopwatch NDA where you agree not to disclose my real profession or any classified details you might overhear whilst working for me and such...

Don't know if that would work for you and/or Dave, but had the idea and thought that I might as well suggest it and see what you think?

[Willard]

Regarding income, do the bonuses from rich and filthy rich stack?

In general I don't think we should wait for everyone to heal up completely, as it could be interesting to play with a wound or two. It would also force us to be smarter, which is good. This time it's actually appropriate considering the time between our sessions, but let's not make it the default.

[bladerunner_35]

hey Bjorn,

quick question; given the fact that you (Ryder) took security agent training at Mad Max, would becoming bodyguard be something for you? It would cost you the next 3 advances (agility to d8 + fighting to d8 and another skill + bodyguard edge). but you would earn 5k per month instead of 1k, and you could be hired by me (Mal). After tuesdays' fiasco and given my cautious nature I could very well be looking at ways to beef up my own security... Adding the fact that I'll be getting Fixer around the same time (and thus earn even more and be more than able to hire myself a personal bodyguard) it could be a money-sink for me, and a better job for you. My handler could have gotten your name from Mad Max, or Almighty could have recommended you... If it is something you'd see yourself doing, maybe I could even now already take you on as freelance security agent on trial basis or something similar... you would of course have to sign a Stopwatch NDA where you agree not to disclose my real profession or any classified details you might overhear whilst working for me and such...

Don't know if that would work for you and/or Dave, but had the idea and thought that I might as well suggest it and see what you think?

In-game Ryder wouldn't much like to be responsible for anyone but himself (and his Pa). Especially not for any fat cat, but he would not be able to turn down that amount of money.

Out of game I wouldn't mind much either. The pay is good and it could lead to some fun roleplaying.

The only thing to consider would me the fact that I am by far the player that will miss most sessions. We could always say that Ryder's father is becoming increasingly ill (alzheimers, not enough money for meds) but you should be aware that your bodyguard won't always be there.

In-game Ryder would also have a few conditions:

1) He would start now, with full pay - even though he doesn't have his training yet (I'm not sure how we would handle this ingame - maybe the Stopwatch org pays, maybe Mal pays out of his own pocket).
2) Mal would pay for any training he requires.
3) While Ryder would be Mal's bodyguard and follow orders to a certain point he would be hired to protect the life of Mal - not run errands or anything else.
4) If Ryder deems it necessary for his protection Mal will comply immidiately with Ryder's commands.

That work for you?

[nDervish]

@ Dave, something completely different; if we wait 8 or 9 days until Mal is released from the hospital, we'll be in the first week of may... does that mean we will have gotten our first monthly income and expenses? and if not, when are we supposed to get them?

Yes, I'll be accounting for income/cost of living on the first of the month. BTW, what lifestyle did you want for Mal? Moderately Well-Off (5k/month) or full-on Wealthy (10k/month)?

Also, on lifestyle costs... Having seen Mal's recent hospital bill (4,400 Cr for the hospital stay, plus another 2,000 Cr for cyberware repairs, and that's after Stopwatch covered 90%), I'm thinking medical insurance might be a good idea.

Based on the listings in the Boston book, I give you:

Sage Medical Emergency Insurance

• Bronze Coverage (100 Cr/month): Paramedics will pick you up as soon as you reach a non-hostile area and, if necessary, take you to the nearest medical facility. Personal confirmation of pick-up required. You pay up front for emergency services and are reimbursed 90% by Sage Medical. Rehabilitation services (extended hospital stay, augmentation repairs) are not covered.
• Silver Coverage (500 Cr/month): Paramedics will pick you up in hostile areas. Covered expenses are paid directly by Sage Medical. Otherwise identical to Bronze Coverage.
• Gold Coverage (1,000 Cr/month): Paramedics will pick you up by LAV transport if required. Pick-up confirmation may be given by a designated third party. If conscious, you or your designated third party may choose a destination medical facility; if not, you will be taken to the nearest facility. Coverage includes reimbursement for 90% of any rehabilitation services required.
• Platinum Coverage (5,000 Cr/month): Paramedics will pick you up by LAV transport regardless of location. No pick-up confirmation required. Rehabilitation expenses are paid directly by Sage Medical.

This is basically identical to what's listed in Boston, except that I reduced coverage from 100% of medical expenses to 90% so that you'll still have to think about where you want to get your medical care from instead of just automatically picking the most expensive hospital available and staying there indefinitely.

Yes, the monthly cost is expensive, but, on the other hand, Mal's 90% medical coverage just saved him 57,600 Cr, or the equivalent of nearly five years of Gold Coverage.

Mal and Bullseye have the equivalent of Platinum Coverage at no cost for injuries received in the line of duty, but nobody currently has any coverage in their off-hours. If you want to buy some, just tell me what level and I'll add it to your May cost of living, giving you immediate coverage.

quick question; given the fact that you (Ryder) took security agent training at Mad Max, would becoming bodyguard be something for you? It would cost you the next 3 advances (agility to d8 + fighting to d8 and another skill + bodyguard edge). but you would earn 5k per month instead of 1k, and you could be hired by me (Mal).

If you're going to hire him personally (as opposed to asking Stopwatch to hire him), you can hire him whenever you want and at whatever rate the two of you agree on. The standard bodyguard occupation's requirements and income don't apply to private arrangements. OTOH, that also means his paycheck will be coming out of your pocket. (And, no, I won't make you pay anything extra to cover his payroll taxes, employee insurance, etc...)

Regarding income, do the bonuses from rich and filthy rich stack?

Nope, Filthy Rich completely replaces Rich.

Also, if you take Filthy Rich, you can expect the source of income (Englewood or whatever else) to come into play more often/prominently than it would with just Rich. (Not that it's come into play at all yet, but the SWD core description of Filthy Rich adds that it "comes with many more assets as well as onerous responsibilities.")

In general I don't think we should wait for everyone to heal up completely, as it could be interesting to play with a wound or two. It would also force us to be smarter, which is good. This time it's actually appropriate considering the time between our sessions, but let's not make it the default.

Do you have any thoughts on how exactly you would want to see that implemented? After each session, should we say "X days or as soon as everyone is healed, whichever comes first, but not less than Y days"? Or just "X days, regardless of whether people are healed or not"? And should X be chosen by the players (PCs are able to plan when they'll get together for a run) or random (runs happen when they happen)?

My plan so far has been to space things out by 2d6 days (giving an average of a week) if nobody was injured, but whatever you guys want to do for timing is cool by me. Contingencies are also an option, so if you see two interesting jobs available, you could say "Let's do the first one tonight, then try to do the second one in 1d6 days if it's still available, otherwise find something else in 2d6 days."

A couple relevant points, though:

1. Posted jobs will last for 3d6 days (from the posting date, not the session date) before expiring one way or another.
2. A longer time between runs means that I'll need to do more on updating the world before the next session, so I would prefer that gaps of more than a dozen or so days are kept relatively rare.
3. We talked earlier about making backup characters who could go on runs if your main character is wounded or if the backup character's skills are more appropriate for a given run. Is that something you guys want to allow or would you prefer to stick to one player = one character and if you're wounded, you go on the run wounded?
4. Wound penalties can be pretty nasty (-1 per wound to basically every roll), but a little Sticky Icky, Euphoria, or Tank-n-Spank will clear those penalties right up!

[Willard]

Based on the listings in the Boston book, I give you:

Sage Medical Emergency Insurance

Ooh, finally! I want Gold coverage for now. Is there something similar for property, or can we cook something up? I need something for my bike and drones.

Nope, Filthy Rich completely replaces Rich.

Also, if you take Filthy Rich, you can expect the source of income (Englewood or whatever else) to come into play more often/prominently than it would with just Rich. (Not that it's come into play at all yet, but the SWD core description of Filthy Rich adds that it "comes with many more assets as well as onerous responsibilities.")

That's okay, thought as much. Will get back to you about the source, but I absolutely don't mind it coming into play.

Do you have any thoughts on how exactly you would want to see that implemented? After each session, should we say "X days or as soon as everyone is healed, whichever comes first, but not less than Y days"? Or just "X days, regardless of whether people are healed or not"? And should X be chosen by the players (PCs are able to plan when they'll get together for a run) or random (runs happen when they happen)?

My plan so far has been to space things out by 2d6 days (giving an average of a week) if nobody was injured, but whatever you guys want to do for timing is cool by me. Contingencies are also an option, so if you see two interesting jobs available, you could say "Let's do the first one tonight, then try to do the second one in 1d6 days if it's still available, otherwise find something else in 2d6 days."

I've thought of it as a direct link to our timeline. If it's a week between sessions, there's a week between missions. That seems about right, for the most part. Sometimes the contingencies you mention could come into play, though, but probably more for long and plot oriented missions than regular runs.

If someone still has a wound there's all the temporary fixes you mentioned, and even with a -1 to every roll there's a lot you can do. Maybe not storm Ravenlocke's regional HQ, but most missions aren't going to be about that anyway.

I like the idea of being able to play backup characters, but since your main character is going to lag behind I don't think it's going to happen that often.

Also: a while back we talked about some system for what the characters do in their downtime, if it's okay with you I'd like to try that. Not saying that everyone should, just that I want to give it a shot.

[jeronimooo]

In-game Ryder wouldn't much like to be responsible for anyone but himself (and his Pa). Especially not for any fat cat, but he would not be able to turn down that amount of money.

Out of game I wouldn't mind much either. The pay is good and it could lead to some fun roleplaying.

The only thing to consider would me the fact that I am by far the player that will miss most sessions. We could always say that Ryder's father is becoming increasingly ill (alzheimers, not enough money for meds) but you should be aware that your bodyguard won't always be there.

In-game Ryder would also have a few conditions:

1) He would start now, with full pay - even though he doesn't have his training yet (I'm not sure how we would handle this ingame - maybe the Stopwatch org pays, maybe Mal pays out of his own pocket).
2) Mal would pay for any training he requires.
3) While Ryder would be Mal's bodyguard and follow orders to a certain point he would be hired to protect the life of Mal - not run errands or anything else.
4) If Ryder deems it necessary for his protection Mal will comply immidiately with Ryder's commands.

That work for you?

Let me get back to you on that, my first reaction would be no problemo with condition 3 and 4, 2 would depend on the cost as I am not sitting on a pile of money at the moment (I suppose it could be as high as we deem it ourselves, maybe even just the cost of proper licensing once all the requirements are met)

Regarding condition 1: I feel there should be a sort of incentive for you to go after the requirements and the edge... say a start at 80% of full wage with a contractual fixed raise to 100% once you have your full license (edge). I probably would offer to pay for your health insurance (gold level) during your time on the job. Any other medical costs (the remaining 10% of whatever treatments you need) would be at your own expense though.

Yes, I'll be accounting for income/cost of living on the first of the month. BTW, what lifestyle did you want for Mal? Moderately Well-Off (5k/month) or full-on Wealthy (10k/month)?

Let me start at Moderately Well-off with a look at upping that to full on wealthy as soon as I get my fixer's edge and income boost.

Also, on lifestyle costs... Having seen Mal's recent hospital bill (4,400 Cr for the hospital stay, plus another 2,000 Cr for cyberware repairs, and that's after Stopwatch covered 90%), I'm thinking medical insurance might be a good idea.

definitely!
gold for me please (for now, might go to platinum later)

If you're going to hire him personally (as opposed to asking Stopwatch to hire him), you can hire him whenever you want and at whatever rate the two of you agree on. The standard bodyguard occupation's requirements and income don't apply to private arrangements. OTOH, that also means his paycheck will be coming out of your pocket. (And, no, I won't make you pay anything extra to cover his payroll taxes, employee insurance, etc...)

I think I'd be looking at hiring him privately (as I sense Stopwatch would need him to comply to all requirements) but on the other hand, I could maybe use part of my requisition funds to pay for added security (say 500/mission) giving me (based on 4 missions/month to keep the math simple) a 2k reduction on what I pay him myself... (I would still pay him the full 5k, but would be taking 2k back from requisitions per month... add in his gold medical cover whilst on the job for me, and he would be costing me 4k per month instead of 6k) and I should be able to requisite items for him as well as for me from my requisition budget...

would that work?

[nDervish]

Based on the listings in the Boston book, I give you:

Sage Medical Emergency Insurance

Ooh, finally! I want Gold coverage for now.

OK, that brings your total cost of living to 11,600/month. How much did you spend on your Wasp 1 upgrades, so I can update your cash balance?

Is there something similar for property, or can we cook something up? I need something for my bike and drones.

I haven't seen anything in the books. Off the top of my head, what do you think about 5% of original cost per month for 90% coverage on repairs/replacement?

I've thought of it as a direct link to our timeline. If it's a week between sessions, there's a week between missions. That seems about right, for the most part.

In that case, how about 2d6 days? It'll average out to about the same (assuming we continue playing once a week), but it lets me start working out the state of the world for the next session without needing to wait for the session to be scheduled first.

I like the idea of being able to play backup characters, but since your main character is going to lag behind I don't think it's going to happen that often.

Yep, that's definitely a consideration for alts. Even if you decide to make some alts, I have a feeling you'll probably want to at least stay focused on your main characters long enough for someone to reach Seasoned so that you can start getting jobs that pay decent money.

Also: a while back we talked about some system for what the characters do in their downtime, if it's okay with you I'd like to try that. Not saying that everyone should, just that I want to give it a shot.

I mentioned a "Day in the Life" system that someone was putting together, yeah, but Zadmar gave the beta version a try and it sounds pretty unbalanced. (There is a final version out now, but it's a for-pay product, so I haven't seen how it compares to the beta.)

Here's the thread on the official forum, with a link to the beta in the first post and Zadmar's comments on it in replies: http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41887

2 would depend on the cost as I am not sitting on a pile of money at the moment (I suppose it could be as high as we deem it ourselves, maybe even just the cost of proper licensing once all the requirements are met)

Pretty much, yeah. There are no standard training costs in the system, it's just a matter of playing and collecting enough XP for the trait/edge increases. Whatever you want to pay as "training expenses" is up to you.

Let me start at Moderately Well-off with a look at upping that to full on wealthy as soon as I get my fixer's edge and income boost.
...
gold for me please (for now, might go to platinum later)

OK. Moderately Well-Off with Gold medical emergency coverage and a Category 3-C permit should be 6,500 Cr/month.

I could maybe use part of my requisition funds to pay for added security (say 500/mission) giving me (based on 4 missions/month to keep the math simple) a 2k reduction on what I pay him myself...

I think I'd call that a legitimate mission expenditure, yeah. Or an even 1,000 if you want.

However, your day job is (generally) separate from what happens at the table - just like we don't play out Almighty's jumpbike races, Ryder's bar, Bulleye's fire calls, or Paladin's... meetings... with her clients, the missions Stopwatch assigns to you aren't the same as the jobs the group takes from the listings in Chicago Free Press.

My plan for dealing with that is to randomly generate Stopwatch missions for you and then use the SWD Dramatic Task Resolution rules (SWD 84) to track the progress of your missions. At the start of each game session, you'll get to make an appropriate skill roll to advance the mission and each mission can last for up to (usually) five rolls or until you get a total of five successes or raises on the start-of-session skill rolls. If you draw a Club and fail the roll, the mission fails. When a mission ends (success or failure), you'll have to return any requisitioned equipment and will get a new mission (with new equipment issued) the following session.

Particularly hard or easy missions might allow for more or less than five rolls, but the required number of successes/raises is always the same as the number of rolls allowed. If you really want to complete a certain mission quickly, you can make additional Dramatic Task rolls at a cost of 1 bennie per additional roll.

You also have the option of bringing the other PCs in to help with your mission (like you did last time), in which case we would play the mission out at the table instead of making a Dramatic Task roll.

Of course, I can't help noticing the lack of any benefits to you in the above for finishing your missions quickly and successfully. What would you say to revising the pay structure for Mal/the Agent Occupation so that, instead of a monthly salary, you get a cash payout each time you succeed at a mission? I think you'd probably be able to complete roughly one mission per month (assuming five successes required) without having to spend bennies for extra Dramatic Task rolls, so start off with 5,000 Cr per mission and we can adjust from there if "one mission per month" ends up being significantly off. (Any other suggestions for incentives to finishing missions quickly and successfully or general balancing are quite welcome.)

[jeronimooo]

So basicly I have X rolls to get X successes and at a rate of 1 roll per session? that would mean that 1 failed roll would fail a mission and thus cost me 5k? I think that that is a bit harsh, especially with the standard -2 modifiers on a roll described in SWD... It could very well force me to spend all my bennies before the session has actually started... let alone spending them to make extra rolls...

I would be ok with making mission succes have an influence on my salary as an agent, but I'd rather see the influence reduced to say half the agent's salary... Also, at a rate of only 1 mission per month, that would mean that I can only requisite items once a month that makes the government agent edge rather more inflexible than I thought...
How about I get a new mission roughly about every 2 ingame weeks (rolls to be divided over the sessions as and when we have them) and I would have a base agent salary of 2000 cr and 1500 cr per succesful mission.

regarding Ryder's training, he needs to up his agility and fighting before he can get the edge (his licenses). So what about making the cost of his training the cost of a months fee for a top class gym membership with personal trainer? (recurring until he gets the license) say 1000 cr/month?

that way I would pay Ryder 4k + training + gold medical emergency insurance (6k total) per month and once he finishes his training he would get 5k per month + gold medical emergency insurance (still 6k total). If I then could reclaim 1k per mission at 2 missions per month, I would pay 4k myself, bringing my expenses up to 10500 cr per month... I think that that would be about fair...

[Willard]

So I was thinking about the filthy rich thing, and realized it doesn't make sense to bring in a lot of new, complicated stuff with the family, racing or whatever.

So Englewood Dynamics just signed a very important contract with a major GLU associated corporation (I'll fluff try to fluff that out more as we go, need to read up more on the existing corporations though). This significantly increased the value of the company, and the workload. For the time being Almighty must return to active duty and lay the bike to rest.

Is it OK if I switch his occupation back to Gear head for a while, or would you need me to hand the bike over for that? Neither he or I would be willing to do that, even if he won't actually have time to use it for much more than the commute.

OK, that brings your total cost of living to 11,600/month. How much did you spend on your Wasp 1 upgrades, so I can update your cash balance?

I wrote the cost down on the OP entry for the drone, and it added up to 2,085.

After the session before last I wrote an excel sheet to track my belongings, and ended up with a slightly (really) different number of credits from your estimate. I can mail you the file, if you'd like. With the upgrades but without the ammo consumption of the other night my total should be 61,692.50 credits.

I for one would be very happy to pay a higher up-front price for ammo tokens instead of having to constantly track how much is used. Or if we add a couple of hundred to the cost of living. From what I can see the cost of living should be 11,500; at least I can't remember where the last 100 came from.

What did the pay end up being from last night? And I realized that if I'm to give Mal's board the maximum driving skill (d8) he's going to have to pay a little more: the cost to me is 2,800 so if he pays me 3,000 that should be fine.

I haven't seen anything in the books. Off the top of my head, what do you think about 5% of original cost per month for 90% coverage on repairs/replacement?

While that's crazy high for regular items I guess combat gear is different, it's half expected to break. If I insure the drone and bike now that's about 3,000 per month, and it's going to increase pretty rapidly. Not sure how to feel about that.

In that case, how about 2d6 days? It'll average out to about the same (assuming we continue playing once a week), but it lets me start working out the state of the world for the next session without needing to wait for the session to be scheduled first.

I guess 2d6 works too, didn't really think about that aspect.

I mentioned a "Day in the Life" system that someone was putting together, yeah, but Zadmar gave the beta version a try and it sounds pretty unbalanced. (There is a final version out now, but it's a for-pay product, so I haven't seen how it compares to the beta.)

Here's the thread on the official forum, with a link to the beta in the first post and Zadmar's comments on it in replies: http://www.peginc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=41887

I'll look at this again a little later, thanks.

My plan for dealing with that is to randomly generate Stopwatch missions for you and then use the SWD Dramatic Task Resolution rules (SWD 84) to track the progress of your missions.

That's an interesting way to do it. Lots of things going on behind the scenes.

[nDervish]

So basicly I have X rolls to get X successes and at a rate of 1 roll per session? that would mean that 1 failed roll would fail a mission and thus cost me 5k? I think that that is a bit harsh, especially with the standard -2 modifiers on a roll described in SWD...

In this case, I wouldn't apply the standard suggested -2 for dramatic tasks, since it's your day job, not an actual "dramatic" situation. It just seemed like a relatively appropriate set of rules to use. And a failed roll only fails the mission if the Action Card is a club; if it's any other suit, a failed roll is just "no progress".

I would be ok with making mission succes have an influence on my salary as an agent, but I'd rather see the influence reduced to say half the agent's salary...

Sure. 2,500 monthly salary + 2,500 per successful mission works for me.

Also, at a rate of only 1 mission per month, that would mean that I can only requisite items once a month that makes the government agent edge rather more inflexible than I thought...

I got the impression on Monday that you were planning to try to take pretty much the same equipment every time anyhow.

How about I get a new mission roughly about every 2 ingame weeks (rolls to be divided over the sessions as and when we have them) and I would have a base agent salary of 2000 cr and 1500 cr per succesful mission.

I'm not seeing how that would help. If you need to make 5 rolls to complete a mission (assuming 1 success per roll average, just for the sake of simplicity) and getting one roll per session, then getting a new mission every 2 sessions isn't going to do anything but cause you to quickly build up a backlog of unfinished missions.

regarding Ryder's training, he needs to up his agility and fighting before he can get the edge (his licenses). So what about making the cost of his training the cost of a months fee for a top class gym membership with personal trainer? (recurring until he gets the license) say 1000 cr/month?

Sure, you can do that if you want. My point was just that it would be pure fluff/roleplaying to do so because the gym membership will have no game-mechanical effect. To take those three Advances, he needs to gain 15 XP and XP is based solely on showing up and what the group accomplishes; a gym membership doesn't give you any extra XP.

Is it OK if I switch his occupation back to Gear head for a while, or would you need me to hand the bike over for that? Neither he or I would be willing to do that, even if he won't actually have time to use it for much more than the commute.

Given your reasons for the career change, I think Corporate Executive sounds like a more likely occupation. You don't really have the skills to meet the requisites, but you own half the company, so you should be able to get the job if you want it, although at reduced pay since you don't really know what you're doing. How about you go to work as a full-time suit at 3,000 Cr/month? Then I'm perfectly happy with letting you keep the bike, since it's all mechanically identical to you still being a racer, the only difference is that we're changing the description of how you spend your days.

After the session before last I wrote an excel sheet to track my belongings, and ended up with a slightly (really) different number of credits from your estimate. I can mail you the file, if you'd like. With the upgrades but without the ammo consumption of the other night my total should be 61,692.50 credits.

Yeah, I guess that works.

I for one would be very happy to pay a higher up-front price for ammo tokens instead of having to constantly track how much is used.

Anyone else have thoughts on that?

From what I can see the cost of living should be 11,500; at least I can't remember where the last 100 came from.

Category 3 weapons permit is 100/month.

What did the pay end up being from last night?

jeronimooo was initially talking about paying you 1,500 each, then later said 5,000 total. Call it 1,500 for Donut and 1,750 each for Almighty and Bullseye? (Since Donut's not coming back next time unless there's another new player...)

While that's crazy high for regular items I guess combat gear is different, it's half expected to break. If I insure the drone and bike now that's about 3,000 per month, and it's going to increase pretty rapidly. Not sure how to feel about that.

It sounds like a bit, sure, but if they get trashed more than once every year and a half, you come out ahead. At an average of a week per session, that's once per 75 sessions. Do you really expect them to survive more than 75 sessions?

My plan for dealing with that is to randomly generate Stopwatch missions for you and then use the SWD Dramatic Task Resolution rules (SWD 84) to track the progress of your missions.

That's an interesting way to do it. Lots of things going on behind the scenes.

Speaking of lots going on behind the scenes, I've posted a new CFP at http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/ ... may-3-2090 It's not 100% complete yet; I still need to add a "private contracts" section with Mal's current Stopwatch mission and check to see whether any contacts have jobs to offer specifically to you guys.

I've also updated the bounty list, but there's only one change there: Someone tried to capture Lowell Jenkins in Koreatown and things got a little out of hand, with the end result being that Jenkins died.

[nDervish]

Speaking of lots going on behind the scenes, I've posted a new CFP at http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/ ... may-3-2090 It's not 100% complete yet; I still need to add a "private contracts" section with Mal's current Stopwatch mission and check to see whether any contacts have jobs to offer specifically to you guys.

OK, private contracts are up! For the moment, the pay's not much better than the public listings in CFP, but, once people start hitting Seasoned, this is where the higher-end jobs will appear. You also get a bit more information on them up front because the contact is coming to you personally with the information instead of putting it out where anyone and everyone can see it.

All three of them have something like "(Almighty/Aiko)", which means that the job was offered to Almighty by Aiko (which I suppose is probably obvious). It's his offer, so if he's not on the run, nobody else can take it.

Mal's mission also has "Progress 0/5-5". "0/5" means that he's collected 0 successes of the 5 needed to complete the mission and the final "5" is the number of rolls remaining to get there.

[Willard]

Given your reasons for the career change, I think Corporate Executive sounds like a more likely occupation. You don't really have the skills to meet the requisites, but you own half the company, so you should be able to get the job if you want it, although at reduced pay since you don't really know what you're doing. How about you go to work as a full-time suit at 3,000 Cr/month? Then I'm perfectly happy with letting you keep the bike, since it's all mechanically identical to you still being a racer, the only difference is that we're changing the description of how you spend your days.

Given that I don't have ANY of the skills required for a job like that, and the corporation still being very small (though valuable), I think Almighty will actually be operating a lot of the drones. Got to use that VCI3 somehow .

If you let me have the full salary or not probably doesn't matter that much anyway, with the filthy rich bonus, though going up to the gear head's 5k doesn't seem unreasonable.

Once the initial rush of work is over and a larger workforce has been recruited we can start getting more involved in the politics, and then a move to executive would make sense.

Category 3 weapons permit is 100/month.

Ok, sure.

jeronimooo was initially talking about paying you 1,500 each, then later said 5,000 total. Call it 1,500 for Donut and 1,750 each for Almighty and Bullseye? (Since Donut's not coming back next time unless there's another new player...)

That's fine, too.

It sounds like a bit, sure, but if they get trashed more than once every year and a half, you come out ahead. At an average of a week per session, that's once per 75 sessions. Do you really expect them to survive more than 75 sessions?

Probably not, but I'll try! How does 4% sound, with my existing bank? With all that money they're going to be anxious to keep me as a customer.

Speaking of lots going on behind the scenes, I've posted a new CFP at http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/ ... may-3-2090 It's not 100% complete yet; I still need to add a "private contracts" section with Mal's current Stopwatch mission and check to see whether any contacts have jobs to offer specifically to you guys.

I've also updated the bounty list, but there's only one change there: Someone tried to capture Lowell Jenkins in Koreatown and things got a little out of hand, with the end result being that Jenkins died.

Cool, I'll get back with some reactions later tonight.

[God45]

Could we go back to discussing the medical insurance thing again? Because now it is becoming to complex for me. I thought that all that stuff went in under lifestyle so that we could just write off a set amount of money and don`t have to worry about it. When it comes down to percentages and different insurances packages it is way, way, way to complex for me.

Paying cash to a street doc is fine and having insurance covered under life style is fine. But anything beyond that makes me go cross eyed. It is not fun to deal with, it don`t add anything to the game I feel and it is super annoying to deal with.

Honestly the licenses and special ammo rules is at the very edge of what I can deal with. It is becoming to much. We have sub-systems for so many things that I can`t keep track off it. And that is with me making the decision to not deal with hacking or guns because that is even more stuff.

[God45]

I don`t wan t to whine or so. But I have a problem keeping track of all this stuff and I will get it wrong and when I do I am going to feel like I am cheating. Or I am going to be without something my character would have known that she needed and it will feel strange and contrived.

[God45]

This mission sounds pretty fun

2090-05-03: Hey, Bullseye! I’ve got a prototype power source that needs to be shipped out yesterday and the courier company flaked on me. Everything was good to go, then I mentioned it was experimental tech and they said they can’t take it. Against policy. They don’t want to risk getting caught up in any corp espionage incidents. Anyhow, there’s 2,500 Cr in it for you if you can get it out to Hampshire by tomorrow morning. Interested? (Bullseye/Gregor)

[nDervish]

Could we go back to discussing the medical insurance thing again? Because now it is becoming to complex for me. I thought that all that stuff went in under lifestyle so that we could just write off a set amount of money and don`t have to worry about it. When it comes down to percentages and different insurances packages it is way, way, way to complex for me.

Paying cash to a street doc is fine and having insurance covered under life style is fine.

According to the IZ1 book, going to a street doc for immediate "golden hour" treatment costs 1,000 Cr per wound you've taken, or 5,000 if you're Incapacitated. Staying in the hospital isn't listed, but I figured another 1,000 per day seemed reasonable (based both on those numbers and on my own unfortunate experience of once having had to spend a week and a half in a hospital with no insurance). Going to a real hospital costs four times that much, but you get better care (+2 on your Natural Healing rolls).

If you want to not buy insurance and pay cash to a street doc, then you certainly can, and that's what it'll cost you: 1k with 1 Wound, 2k with 2 Wounds, 3k with 3 Wounds, and 5k if you're in worse shape than that. Which is probably relatively affordable as long as you don't get shot up too often.

In addition to medical care, repairing damaged augments costs half their original price - in the case of Streetware, that's 5k per Strain for repairs. Pricy, but hopefully most wounds won't actually damage any of your augments.

If you do buy insurance, though, the math is easy. Just take a zero off the end. That makes it a pretty good investment if you're getting shot up frequently or if (like Mal) you decide to go to a real hospital and stay there until you're completely healed up.

Honestly the licenses and special ammo rules is at the very edge of what I can deal with. It is becoming to much. We have sub-systems for so many things that I can`t keep track off it.

Is this an issue for anyone else? Is there anything in particular that (the general) you want to see simplified? I have a high tolerance for complexity, so, if any of it is getting to be too much, speak up and let's see what can be done to rein it in where needed.

I don`t wan t to whine or so.

I don't think you're whining. And if anyone else thinks that, you can blame it on being sick.

[God45]

I know that I probably am the person least used to complex rules so it might be that nobody else have a problem. So if you don`t mind me asking annoying questions and screwing up the rules a little bit from time to time it is fine

Ok, so I just add 1.000 cr to my monthly expenses and then I remove a zero from the medical expenses? Sounds good.

Oh, by the way? can I make a deal with my zeek healer contact for free golden hour healing for the team if the team does missions for her when she needs it? I would like to role-play it out with the group but I just want to know if it is possible

[God45]