Interface Zero: Upgrade in Progress

[Willard]

I'm also inclined to agree with those points, a sustained campaign would need more consensus and focus. The forums seems like a great way to get there, so let's keep talking about it for a while before we settle on anything.

Do you have anything in mind for the one-shot? I really wouldn't mind continuing the Hellfrost game for a little longer, that ended a lot more rapidly and abruptly than I'd expected.

Regarding the rules, what's the ETA on the full 2.0? I know you guys are anxious to get started, but if they're coming out (really) soon anyway we might as well just play something else (Hellfrost) in the meantime. I don't see what's the rush, especially when there's a fair amount of work to do before we all agree on on just what kind of a campaign to run.

In short I think we're all trying to move a lot more quickly than we really have to.

[nDervish]

Do you have anything in mind for the one-shot? I really wouldn't mind continuing the Hellfrost game for a little longer, that ended a lot more rapidly and abruptly than I'd expected.

If Sebastian wants to run a one-shot, I'm happy to play in that, or we could continue with Hellfrost. Either is fine with me.

Hellfrost also ended more abruptly than I'd expected, but it seemed like a decent stopping point (the immediate objectives had been resolved). There's certainly plenty more that you can do there if you want to continue.

Regarding the rules, what's the ETA on the full 2.0?

There is no official ETA. The Kickstarter delivery date was last June, but, of course, Kickstarters never deliver on time. The latest word from the developer regarding a release date was this post in the G+ community:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/10597349553 ... kmn4DsoFFc

Unfortunately, it's not terribly informative.

I don't see what's the rush, especially when there's a fair amount of work to do before we all agree on on just what kind of a campaign to run.

From my point of view, the main reason to rush out of Hellfrost and into something else is that I enjoy gaming with Björn and he's burned out on fantasy at the moment, so I want to run something not-fantasy and IZ2.0 is the big thing that we've been waiting for the release of, which sort of made it the default "something else" to play.

[God45]

I have this scenario for the Wushu Rpg that I would like to run. Wushu is a rules light game made to simulate action movies, character creation takes between 30 seconds and 5 minutes and it have a narrative combat system that is just great

I have this long pitch for the scenario written up involving pictures and quotes and fluff and stuff... But it is all in Swedish. So now I am going to give the elevator pitch and leave it at that:

Resident evil vs Metal gear solid vs Prototype vs Army of two

It is a glossy ultra violence extravaganza where super soldiers fight biological weapons, the undead and rival teams in a setting filled with intrigues and betrayals. It should be good for a evening of gory, over the top fun

[nDervish]

Resident evil vs Metal gear solid vs Prototype vs Army of two

Works for me!

[Rekreativc]

I'm up for a one shot tomorrow.

As for the IZ2.0 character, I'm not that familiar with the setting or what you guys want, so I'll just say that I'm up for anything. I'll lurk quietly until all of you, who actually have an opinion, work it out and then I'll look into what kind of character I can accompany you with.

[Willard]

That's a fair enough reason, Dave, and I get the issue with the kickstarter not being so reliable. I thought it was due in a couple of weeks or so. Can't really hold our breath. I'm probably not going into the rules a lot anyway, so if you want to run it as a 1.5 of sorts or just pure 1.0 I won't mind.

The one-shot seems short and brutal, so why not?

[bladerunner_35]

Well excellent then! I half expected you guys to tell me to get stuffed.

While it is true that I am burned out on fantasy Willard makes a very good point of not rushing it. I do not mind to either play a couple of one-shots (I've got plenty of games I still want to try out) or continue with Hellfrost for a little while longer. I am also going to try out FFG's new Star Wars roleplaying game Edge of the Empire sometime in late september (I'm GMing for another group) and it would be easy to do that for you guys as well seeing as I have to make all the prep anyways. I'm just throwing it out there. Or maybe we should even consider doing a one-shot in Interface Zero 1.5. It might be fun and helpful to play a suicide mission or some such...

This update from the developer of Interface Zero 2.0 was written the 23rd of august:

Hi everyone, I'm popping in with a (long) progress update!
The bulk of the text is finished. I just need to wrap the setting rules, do about 10k words in the Game Master section, and some biohorrors and NPCs to the threats section, and everything will go to a final edit. If you are a backer who pledged to have your characters or a group of character, or a location added into the book, and you haven't contacted me with the information I need, please do so as soon as possible.

From this point on, I'll be laying out edited text and blocking off areas for artwork I still need. I'll also be working on a character sheet, which I'll post a link to as soon as it's finished. Things are shaping up pretty nicely, and it won't be much longer, though I still won't give an ETA, sorry.

I wouldn't mind waiting until the end of september before going ahead with Interface Zero. Then we could either decide if we want to wait longer, if we've been given a specific date by then, or go ahead with IZ 1.5 and then upgrade to 2.0 once it finishes.

I also agree with Willard that we might as well continoue the discussion here even though we shouldn't decide 100 % until we sit down face to face to make characters. Throwing ideas and themes around will certainly help the process even if we do not come up with anything solid through the forums.

[bladerunner_35]

As far as I can see Stealth as no specialisations.

There aren't any listed on SWD 95, no, but that's a list of "some example specializations". My impression from what's been said in the G+ community is that IZ2.0 will require specialization for all skills, so that's what I'm trying to go with (even though it means making up specializations for some skills, since official lists haven't been published yet).

I've got a document in some update that specifies all the specialisations (and which skills don't have any):
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/821 ... sts/569442

As for all the house rules I always prefer to play as-is out-of-the-box until proven otherwise through actual play but it's not that big a deal.

Anything specific as a point of concern? They're all open to discussion, but it's inevitable that we'll need to have some house rules if we're going to try to mash up IZ1.0, plus a handful of supplements which rewrite major sections of the original rules, plus playtest and beta documents for the not-yet-released IZ2.0. Unless we want to ignore IZ2.0 and play IZ1.0 straight, we can't even come close to a straight RAW game because there is no cohesive RAW available to us yet. (And even then, there are some things, like drones, which were never really addressed fully until the IZ2.0 playtest documents...

You know that's a really good point. I didn't even consider we need to do a lot of bending and twisting and interpretation just to get us of the ground.

[nDervish]

I do not mind to either play a couple of one-shots (I've got plenty of games I still want to try out) or continue with Hellfrost for a little while longer. I am also going to try out FFG's new Star Wars roleplaying game Edge of the Empire sometime in late september (I'm GMing for another group) and it would be easy to do that for you guys as well seeing as I have to make all the prep anyways. I'm just throwing it out there. Or maybe we should even consider doing a one-shot in Interface Zero 1.5. It might be fun and helpful to play a suicide mission or some such...

Any of those sound good to me. I suppose the main question is whether we want to continue with Hellfrost or run one-shots until we see what's going to happen with IZ2.0. I'm good with either, so what are others' preferences?

I've got a document in some update that specifies all the specialisations (and which skills don't have any):

Ah, thanks! I'm not sure how I managed to miss that... Since there's something official, we'll go with that list of specializations.

Note that the system described in that document is not the same as the "Skill Specialization" setting rule on SWD 95! However, in the comment thread on the kickstarter post, it appears that Jarvis misunderstood the core specialization mechanics and, when this was pointed out, he opted to use the core mechanic as described on SWD 95 rather than his initial interpretation.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying "Ignore the How it Works section of that document and use SWD 95's mechanics instead." Buy the skills normally, get one specialization for free when you first buy it, additional specializations cost one Skill Point or half an Advance each (the same as improving a skill below its linked attribute), and rolls for anything outside your specialization(s) are at -2. You do not have to buy each specialization up from d4 as if it were a separate skill.

You know that's a really good point. I didn't even consider we need to do a lot of bending and twisting and interpretation just to get us of the ground.

True, but, on the other hand, I do love to tweak the rules. If you ever think I'm going overboard with it or any particular changes seem questionable, let me know.

[Willard]

In general I'm not too excited about doing one-shots. I think most games (and most other things, for that matter) get better the more thought and emotion you invest in them, so to just keep trying new things all the time seems counter-productive. On the other hand for times like this when the whole group can't get together I can see a point in seizing the opportunity to try something else.

Since we don't know when to expect IZ2.0 we can't just wait around for it, at least not if you're anxious to get into the setting. Once we're settled on the type of campaign I don't think we need to wait for the rules. Since you're fine with tweaking I'm sure we can get by until the official release comes around. Then we can figure out how to transplant our characters, that shouldn't be too hard.

[Rekreativc]

We're still up for tonight right?

Either way I'm leaving house now, so hopefully someone will be there

[nDervish]

After last night's game of Wushu (which ended up being far crazier than the typical action movie, but I guess that's to be expected), we talked a bit about what we'd like to do with respect to future gaming.

The final conclusion was to proceed with Interface Zero, since I feel that I've got enough of a handle on how to combine the mechanics for a workable 1.5 and characters can be modified (or, if necessary, rebooted) for 2.0 when that's released. The plan is:

• Continue discussing the campaign template[1] here.
• Get everyone together to finalize the campaign template face-to-face and do group character creation. This is currently scheduled for next Tuesday (September 17) at DMF; if there's anyone who can't make it then, let me know and I'll set up a doodle to find a time we can all get to.
• Start playing Interface Zero 1.5 the next time we meet, which I currently assume will be the following Tuesday, September 24.

After Interface Zero is off the ground, the three of us who were there last night may also make an attempt to continue with Hellfrost on Thursday nights if I can handle running both campaigns concurrently.

[1] Fear the Boot popularized the term "group template" for the idea of working out what type of group the PCs will be, how they know each other, and why they would stick together in advance, before coming up with specific character concepts or starting character creation. By "campaign template", I mean to add on to that concept to also include things like overall setting, themes, etc. which go beyond who the characters are and why they're together.

[Willard]

Tuesdays are still OK with me. I'm afraid I won't be interested in the Thursday night games, however, that would be a little too much of a good thing for me personally.

Do you have a good idea on how to structure the "template" discussion? On the one hand we could throw around movies, pictures and the like on what kind of feeling we all like, but on the other hand there actually is a fair amount of original fiction behind the game and perhaps that's enough. Perhaps we should keep picking out parts of that which we find especially interesting? Or are there more structured ways of going about it that you want to try?

[nDervish]

Tuesdays are still OK with me. I'm afraid I won't be interested in the Thursday night games, however, that would be a little too much of a good thing for me personally.

Do you have a good idea on how to structure the "template" discussion? On the one hand we could throw around movies, pictures and the like on what kind of feeling we all like, but on the other hand there actually is a fair amount of original fiction behind the game and perhaps that's enough. Perhaps we should keep picking out parts of that which we find especially interesting? Or are there more structured ways of going about it that you want to try?

I think Björn's questions from earlier in the thread would be a great place to start. As far as the location question that I added to the list, I'm going to assume Boston unless anyone has serious objections.

Beyond that, well... Björn, would you be willing to answer Willard's questions and direct that discussion somewhat? I've never really planned out this sort of stuff prior to a campaign before, instead taking a general approach of "do whatever you want and I'll find a way to make it work", so I think you'd be a better person to oversee that.

[God45]

I might be the odd man out with my preferences being over the top action and anime style cyberpunk such as Ghost in the Shell and Akira. But I am totally willing to scale back as to fit in the group. So if I go too far tell me that I am stepping outside the scale of the campaign.

I just stated up a character that basically wears an Halo Spartan suit, have more metal in him than a tank and who uses chain swords and rocket hammers as weapons But I know that will probably be a little bit to anime

[nDervish]

I just stated up a character that basically wears an Halo Spartan suit, have more metal in him than a tank and who uses chain swords and rocket hammers as weapons But I know that will probably be a little bit to anime

Slow down, there, cowboy! Part of the idea behind the whole "group/campaign template" thing is that first everyone collectively decides what kind of game and group they want to play, then you decide on character concepts. I've been trying to hint at that by talking about "group character creation" (as in "everyone sits around the table together and makes characters at the same time, bouncing ideas off each other and generally making sure they all fit together"), but I guess I should have made a more direct statement about it.

So let's try to hold off on talking about specific character concepts or claiming particular roles in the group until we finalize the campaign template decisions next Tuesday. (By "claiming particular roles", I mean that it would definitely be appropriate to suggest "let's do a jump bike racing team - we'll need a driver, a mechanic, and at least one security guy", but I'd prefer to avoid discussion of who will play the driver until everyone's face-to-face around the table.)

[bladerunner_35]

Beyond that, well... Björn, would you be willing to answer Willard's questions and direct that discussion somewhat? I've never really planned out this sort of stuff prior to a campaign before, instead taking a general approach of "do whatever you want and I'll find a way to make it work", so I think you'd be a better person to oversee that.

Absolutely. I'll find some time to write about it tomorrow.

[bladerunner_35]

Do you have a good idea on how to structure the "template" discussion? On the one hand we could throw around movies, pictures and the like on what kind of feeling we all like, but on the other hand there actually is a fair amount of original fiction behind the game and perhaps that's enough. Perhaps we should keep picking out parts of that which we find especially interesting? Or are there more structured ways of going about it that you want to try?

I think Björn's questions from earlier in the thread would be a great place to start. As far as the location question that I added to the list, I'm going to assume Boston unless anyone has serious objections.

Beyond that, well... Björn, would you be willing to answer Willard's questions and direct that discussion somewhat? I've never really planned out this sort of stuff prior to a campaign before, instead taking a general approach of "do whatever you want and I'll find a way to make it work", so I think you'd be a better person to oversee that.

Right, well, this is not something that I do everytime I sit down to play with a new group and while many games have some sort of in-built "group template" generation mechanic there's no real universal way of doing this. In short, let's keep it basic, concrete and leave the final decisions until we can meet and have some face time.

Try to look at it as a way of giving the campaign focus and drive. The theme, template, mood, level or whatever-you-want-to-call-it of the campaign should be able to tell you what sort of character you should think about creating and what your character should be doing in case you are ever asking yourself that question during a session.

One example I often give is the potential problems that crop up if one player sits down to play a casual game of taking names and kicking down doors while another player expects to have to plan ahead, investigate from the shadows and explore his characters. Unless they have talked about their expectations before hand it is likely that each player will feel that the other player is ruining the game - not taking it serious or taking it too serious as the case may be.

I like to call this talk of expectations the social contract. Just as there is a social contract were we expect players to show up on time, not throw candy on eachother or talk on the phone throughout the session the social game contract would telling us that in this game we try to get experience X and leave experience Y for another time.

Now, establishing this social contract is easier said than done. Especially through a forum but I am sure we can hash out a few ideas and establish some facts that we later can decide on when we meet up. Since epic or gritty or many other game words mean different things to different people we should try to be concrete and give examples.

The place where the game takes place in-game is important since it sets the mood and frames the story. In our case we have decided on Boston. This means that while every character does not necessarily have to have been born in Boston each character needs some reason to stick around in the city. To help out with this I'll put up part of the background after this post.

So far we've spoken about how gritty or epic we want the story to be. Sebastian wants his story epic where his character mows down squads of mooks with a casual flick of the wrist (he mentioned the lobby scene from Matrix wich is a good concrete example). I said I wanted it more gritty and I guess a decent example of this would be the same scene from Matrix only that going in like that would get a large portion of our group killed. Basically I want it to be a good idea to scout a location before hand, put a sniper on the roof and plan escape routes. Not for every combat but at least the "boss" fight.

There's a bunch of Savage Worlds mechanics and edges that can help adjust the game to become more or less epic or gritty.

I guess what it comes down to is plan or no plan - do you want to have to plan our moves before hand and use "real-world" tactics or not?

Generally the difference between gritt and epic also signifies how much detail or grain the story will have. More gritt usually means you need to worry about having enough money, wounds becoming infected, police stopping you in the street if you carry around a big gun and that sort of thing. Epic means you heal wounds fast without any real problems, don't need to worry about buying ammo for your guns and can tell the police to get lost without any real fear of getting caught.

Essentially gritt means more resource management and "real-world" problems. I like this and while I don't want the game to bog down to much I think it's cool if we have to worry about weapons licenses, being caught by police if we start a shoot-out in a bar.

Next up is the genre which is closely related to what exactly it is our characters are expected to actually do:

We could play..

...police officers combating drugs, gangs, criminal syndicates. More gritt means we might also have to worry about budget cuts, politics and bureaucracy.

...criminals trying to climb the hierarchy in the syndicate, killing rivals and making deals on the side.

...intelligence (or counter-intelligence) agents/spies that work for the government.

...mercenaries/trouble-shooters taking assignments but not working for any one employer. More gritt would mean having to worry about paying rent, food, repair weapons and get transportation and ammo for our BFGs.

While it might be going a bit over board for extra credits we could also try to talk about a more general and abstract theme.

This would be some, generally a bit more philosophical, questions that we think it would be cool to explore as we play. A game of police can become very different if the theme is "How far would I go to put criminals behind bars?" or "Isn't it really the people in power who are the most corrupt and criminal?.

An example of this that I think many are familiar with is Ghost in the Shell. It is not very gritty, while they do plan a little they generally go in shooting and do not really need to worry about their ammo or being wounded. The genre is agents in a special investigation unit (Section 9) and the theme is "What is it that makes us human?".

So with all that said (sorry if I got a bit long winded, I am sure this is not completely new to you) everyone, including Dave (and that wants too) should answer the following questions. The examples I've given above are just examples so feel free to add your own. I should also add that even after deciding on a particual genre or theme it is perfectly fine, even expected, to occasionally take the campaign somewhere else. Like a campaign about police officers suddenly finding themselves in a warzone. Especially if it's a long campaign and the players want to freshen up things a little.

1. How gritty or epic do you want the game to be?

2. Which genre do you want to play?

3. Is there a specific theme you want the campaign to explore?

4. Is there something else, not mentioned above, that you think is important to discuss to get a really great campaign going?

[bladerunner_35]

Copied from the first few pages of the Boston source book for Interface Zero (1.0)

Boston
The Broken Cradle of Liberty

You've heard of Boston, ne? Beantown? The capital of Atlantica? Well,
it's also one of the oldest inhabited cities on the North American continent,
with a history reaching back some four hundred and fifty-eight years
to its roots as a colony formed by English Puritans. That's pretty freaking
old, ami. And much like their founders and those tea-partying radicals, the
peeps in Boston are rebelling hard in 2088. It's been almost two decades
since the end of the Second Civil War, and a whole bunch of fringe groups,
unhappy with Atlantica's decision to break off from the North American
Coalition, continue to fuel acts of insurrection. If you studied a little history,
you'd probably find it kind of ironic, too.

Okay… 'unhappy' may be a gross understatement, but it's kind of hard to
describe the level of hate and violence staining the city right now. Boston
in 2088 is a collage of political protests, food riots, car bombings, antihybrid
and anti-simulacrum vandalism and violence, prominent figures
disappearing or being assassinated… Yep, tomo, the place is a powder keg
just waiting to blow.

The fact that Boston has been under martial law for about as long as
Atlantica has been in existence doesn't help matters either. The iron boot
of authority metaphorically resting heavy on the city's throat engenders
far more outrage than any sense of security. The war may be over as far as
most places are concerned, but Beantown is still a combat zone. All of this
contributes to a situation where no one has anything because everything
is hard to find, and far too expensive when it is found. The price of gas is
around 100 credits a gallon, for instance.

But that's okay, tomo—even without the gas, there's already plenty of
fuel on this fire.

Boston's a pretty sweet place to live—if you don't mind random hate
crimes, terrorist bombings, pirate hackers flooding the MediaWeb with a
laundry list of anti-establishment propaganda, loosely enforced curfews,
psycho serial killers, rampant gang activity, rolling blackouts and brownouts,
and skyrocketing food and fuel prices, that is… Okay, tomo, it's a pretty
crappy place to live, especially if you're an average Joe working a day job
just to keep your head above water and feed your family.

On the other hand, if you've got the skills and the balls to work Beantown's
underground, you can make some serious cred. Those who can
provide what the people want can make a pretty penny, if you know what
I mean.

Let's put it this way, ami: martial law means there are plenty of things the
average person doesn't have access to—and we aren't just talking guns
and drugs here. Medicine, exotic foods and spices, bubble bath… there's
all sorts of things 'Mister Jones' next door wants, and some of those things
aren't so much illegal as unavailable. Little 'luxuries' that can make life feel
just a bit better. Sure, Malmart can cover some of those perks, but while it
claims to have ‘the lowest prices, always’, the company doesn't guarantee
that any given store is gonna have a particular product in stock.
And while there are many things a Matter Assembler can make, I can tell
you for a fact that no one has bothered making a pattern for ground chili
pepper. I've looked.

Anyway… given that almost half of Boston consisted of water almost a
century ago, it's amazing the city wasn't lost like so many others to the
rising sea level. If not for the Sea Wall project, much of Boston would be
several dozen feet under water. Instead, the city looks much the same as
it did at the beginning of the millennium, except with a lot more skyline.
I'll tell you a bit more about the Sea Wall later, but for now, suffice it to say
it's a marvel of engineering that connects Long Island and Deer Island with
a sophisticated lock to allow ships to dock along the original waterfront. It's
also a pretty damn vulnerable location, ami—you've been warned.
At night, the Boston skyline is a glowing thing of beauty dominated by the
Emperor Pharmaceuticals building, all reflected against the Charles River
and punctuated with oodles of hypertags. During the day, things are a little
less pretty except for those tags and other HR objects. Then it's a lot easier
to see the gray and gritty portions of Beantown, often punctuated with the
smoke of smoldering fires.

Oh… one more slightly important thing about Boston: since no one down
in Maryland had the foresight to build a big wall to hold back the ocean,
Boston has become the functional capital of Atlantica. And that may just
be one more reason there's so much unrest in Beantown. There're rumors
in some circles that a lot of the discontent and terrorism is… um… 'encouraged'
by the North American Coalition. After all, it only makes sense that
the NAC would love to see Atlantica become unstable.

Because of this, every area of the city is cordoned off and monitored by
the Atlantica Police Force at specific checkpoints. To enter or exit an area, a
person must have a valid Boston or temporary ID card. Anyone who doesn't
is detained until the proper paperwork can be filed (which usually takes
two or three business days), during which time he is subject to a full background
check. The bad news, tomo, is that the APF can detain anyone they
deem 'suspicious', which very often leads to crooked cops holding a person
out of spite.

The good news (for you) is that the same crooked cops can be bribed to
allow passage through a checkpoint. Of course, this means many terrorists
simply bribe their way around the city rather than getting stopped and
caught.

Speaking of law and order, you may want to keep in mind what martial
law entails. Although the strict curfews in Boston were lifted several years
ago, you've still gotta have the right 'paperwork' if you want to be running
around after dark… which usually means only the peeps with wealth or
connections get to play at night. Well, okay— so do the Combine troops
and anyone with either no regard for the law or a serious death wish.
Yep, that's right, tomo. If the soldiers have a mind to, they can start shooting,
with extreme prejudice. You can forget any rights of habeus corpus—if
you're lucky, you'll get to appear in front of a court-martial, but I wouldn't
go counting on that. Oh, and don't go screaming about your Miranda rights
either; those are gone too.

The bottom line is that all the laws about murdering, maiming, raping and
pillaging are still in place, but the Combine can also take action if they even
just think you're doing any of those things. Sure, they might ignore you
if they're busier with something else, but I wouldn't count on it—that's
usually when the shooting starts. Or if you look like you're well-armed.
Otherwise, if you seem even halfway or remotely suspicious, expect to be
stopped and asked for your ID and clearance.
That's what makes places like Beacon Hill such a pleasure—the Atlantica
Police still patrol there, and have to play by stricter rules. Sure, they may be
in the Mob's pocket, but at least they have to warn you before they start
shooting.

My advice is to avoid ACAF troops as much as possible, and steer clear of
any routes where they are escorting important people or things. Which sort
of brings us to the topic of getting to and around town.
You can get to Boston by highway, of course, as well as by ship (if you don't
mind waiting for the locks) or plane (if you've got enough clearance to move
through LAMCOM). But the easiest way is aboard a magnetic lift train—although
there is always the chance a bit of monorail has been tampered with
by local terrorists. Fortunately, only one route needs to be monitored, and
that enters the city by way of Cambridge and the Harvard sector.
Locally, Boston used to have an underground rapid transit system, but
damage incurred during the war and in its wake has left those tunnels filled
with water. If you've got SCUBA gear, you could still use them, although
proximity sensors and left-over munitions may make it more exciting than
usual—even if you don't believe the urban myths of overgrown critters still
lurking down there.

There is still a state-run bus system… kind of. On an irregular basis, large
armored transports guarded by Combine troops move between major locations.
These caravans fall under the auspice of the Boston Transit Authority,
and may make the commute safe, but they're hardly convenient. I wouldn't
suggest it as a means of escaping the scene of a crime, at any rate. And
make sure you have the 25 credits available for a one-way trip.
Oh, and one more thing: buses will get you around the brunt of Boston
well enough, but can take a while to get over to East Boston. Because of
this, the BT A maintains a small fleet of armored ferries to make the run
across the harbor and back—the rates are the same, as is the convenience
and comfort.

Although the Beacon Hill trolleys still exist, they haven't been used since
martial law was put in place—something about security, and riding in an
open trolley. Beantown also used to be known for its pedestrian and cyclist
commuters, and in some parts—like Dot and Southie—that's still not
uncommon… although they tend to be better-armed than they were a hundred
years ago.

But your best bet (unless you're sure you know how to navigate the
city's meandering byways) is to take a cab. I'd recommend the Atlantica/
Boston Cab company. ABC tries to hire drivers experienced with hazardous
conditions, and maintains a fleet of beefed-up taxis fitted with armor
plating and gun ports. Some enterprising ABC cabbies have even retrofitted
extra 'precautions' to their personal vehicles to give them an extra
edge if necessary. Sure, tomo… at 50 credits a mile, it ain't cheap, but
ABC is probably the safest way to get from anyplace to anyplace else in
Boston.

[bladerunner_35]

I've already written about what I want to get out of the game but I'll answer my own questions for claritys sake (and to make sure I get what I want ).

1. How gritty or epic do you want the game to be?
I want the game to be gritty but not overly so. I want to there to be a chance to run out of ammo in the middle of combat but I don't want to have to count each bullet I keep at my place. I don't want it to be difficult or expensive to get ammo for normal weapons. I do want it to be a bit more problematic to get very specialised or heavy weapons and ammo. I want the police to respond if we start a shootout at some restaurant. I do not want to have to worry about being charged with murder because I left a shell casing at the floor (unless my character becomes a mass murderer). I want to have to pay rent and insurances but I do not want it to be difficult unless I spend all my money on cyber or weapons.

2. Which genre do you want to play?
I really like the idea of somehow being involved in the power struggle between the North American Coalition and the rest of powerful factions left in North America. I want this to be a shadow war of information, influence and allies fought between agents, stooges, counter-intelligence units and spooks.

3. Is there a specific theme you want the campaign to explore?
What is the cost of freedom? Does the North American Coalition want North America to become a superpower again because they think it would help the political balance of the world or are they just as power hungry and corrupt as China and Brazil? Can the price of power and freedom be to high?

4. Is there something else, not mentioned above, that you think is important to discuss to get a really great campaign going?
No, I've got it covered.



Apart from everything above I've got some bad news. My kids have started with Tae Kwondo on tuesdays and thursdays. I can still play next tuesday the 17th and expect to be able to play the occasional tuesday but I do not want to miss their Tae Kwondo trainings. It seems that tuesdays work really well for everyone else and I know that having three kids and working odd hours makes it difficult to meet up for gaming nights. If it proves difficult to find other times (weekends, especially sundays work better for me since mondays, wednesdays and thursdays are already out) I do not mind to bow out and completely understand. There will be other games.