Interface Zero: Upgrade in Progress

[nDervish]

Chicago Free Press, May 5, 2090

Since it's only dated two days after the last issue, this one is mostly news items and there are no changes on the bounty board.

[nDervish]

I've now also finished updating all PCs and re-exporting them to Obsidian Portal. Some notes for specific characters:

• Almighty: I left all the numbers as they are on your spreadsheet, even though you technically don't have the Category 4 permit, HMG, and flamethrower quite yet. You can take them back off if you want, but I figured it was easier to leave things as-is until the time comes that you start doing heavy combat missions for Englewood and are able to get those items.
• Bullseye: I changed your lifestyle from Modest to Poor because of the x4 lifestyle cost from Upsized. While you definitely could afford the regular 2,500 Cr/month cost of a Modest lifestyle, you don't have the 10,000 Cr available to pay for even one month of it at the Upsized cost.
• Mal: You're missing several skill specializations, which I marked with "???". Also, your contacts list says your dad was a former senator, but not the nation; is that pre-Second Civil War US senate or one of the post-war fragments?
• Ryder: I converted all of your ammo tokens to renewable tokens, based on the numbers of tokens you originally bought and rounding up, giving you 2 tokens for each pistol and 20 tokens (4 full magazines) for the SMG. If 20 SMG tokens seems excessive, you can un-buy them at 110 Cr/token. (100 for the original purchase plus 10 for the month of lifestyle cost.)

Also, I noticed that a couple people have weapons with only a Silencer or a Flash Suppressor. If you meant to have both, you need to buy both - even though the equipment book lists their effects as a single entry on p.33, they're listed as two separate items in the price list on p.32. (I had missed that myself until earlier today...)

[Willard]

Cool, thanks for that.

While browsing for background stuff I found this neat little thing: http://rpg.ashami.com/
Trying to go through all/most of it for Almighty, will let you know how it goes.

[jeronimooo]

Mal: You're missing several skill specializations, which I marked with "???". Also, your contacts list says your dad was a former senator, but not the nation; is that pre-Second Civil War US senate or one of the post-war fragments?

regarding the skill specialisations, those will taken after the next 2 advances (fixer + trait)

I have created a character page for him with a bit more extended progress... I think agewise all should fit, though I am not sure... I made him a pre civil war US senator... if that is impossible agewise, I guess it could be changed quite easily.

I also created a page for the Setibank, where I invented some small background about them, don't know if it corresponds in any way with what you had in mind, but if it gets at some time storywise important you should probably have a look...

one of the things someone should get me up to speed with is the use of tags on obsidian portal and how to link to pages I created... that would make it easier for you to keep track of as well..

[Willard]

regarding the skill specialisations, those will taken after the next 2 advances (fixer + trait)

You get a specialization per skill by default, and can buy additional ones as you advance. So you need to pick something already, if you don't want a -2 to every application.

I made him a pre civil war US senator

What state/city was he from back then? Where are his loyalties now?

one of the things someone should get me up to speed with is the use of tags on obsidian portal and how to link to pages I created... that would make it easier for you to keep track of as well..

Much of it is actually explained in the sidebar as you write the entries, but what you're looking for is probably the [[Wiki page name]] function. The tags have their own aptly named field further down, where you just enter and separate them within "citation marks". I just went through a bunch with the tags "character" "Franklin", for example. You should be able to see which ones we've started using so far on the right hand side of most pages.

While browsing for background stuff I found this neat little thing: http://rpg.ashami.com/
Trying to go through all/most of it for Almighty, will let you know how it goes.

So I went through the first step for Almighty and his immediate family, the results are on Obsidian Portal. Doing it randomly for the family (and creating them in the process) was a lot of fun, so I'll definitely do something similar for other NPC's in the future.

[nDervish]

I also created a page for the Setibank, where I invented some small background about them, don't know if it corresponds in any way with what you had in mind, but if it gets at some time storywise important you should probably have a look...

The only canonical information about SetiBank is on IZv1, p25:

SetiBank (London, EU): Finance

Their Chicago branch is pretty well-established, thanks to solid technology and a history of showing up out of nowhere to devour smaller banks. There was a minor rogue AI problem in the Gary Hellzone on April 17, which Mal is currently investigating, and initial analysis of the AI's code revealed that it appeared to contain some of SetiBank's advanced technology.

That's about as much as is public knowledge about SetiBank. The conglom as a whole is unlikely to be a NAC front, given that they're based in London rather than in NAC territory, but the local branch or the regional manager (Edward Wilson) could have fallen under the NAC's influence. Rarely getting caught is definitely appropriate to the background I've developed on them, but it's because they're careful to get everything in place before acting, not because they own Ravenlocke. (It's established in canon that Ravenlocke is a subsidiary of Aquarius Engineering.)

You get a specialization per skill by default, and can buy additional ones as you advance. So you need to pick something already, if you don't want a -2 to every application.

What state/city was he from back then? Where are his loyalties now?

Pretty much exactly the responses I was going to give. Thanks for saving me the trouble!

Much of it is actually explained in the sidebar as you write the entries, but what you're looking for is probably the [[Wiki page name]] function.

Yep. I never use the "Create New Page" button, instead I edit a page to add [[New Page Name]], which gives me a red link on the existing page, then click the red link to create the new one.

The tags have their own aptly named field further down, where you just enter and separate them within "citation marks". I just went through a bunch with the tags "character" "Franklin", for example. You should be able to see which ones we've started using so far on the right hand side of most pages.

You don't need the "quotes" around the tags unless they contain spaces. And, IMO, they shouldn't contain spaces anyhow. Based on how tags are handled on other sites, I've adopted the standards of making tags all-lowercase and, if they contain multiple words, separating the words with-hyphens instead of with spaces (such as the existing location-trappings tag (which, now that I think about it, should be location-trapping, singular, since each of those pages only describes a single location trapping)).

Along those lines, I'd recommend changing the "Franklin" tag to "franklin-family", which would probably be more clear for those who aren't already familiar with the Franklins. It would also be good to add an "npc" tag to all entries describing an individual NPC (not just the Franklins, but also fixers, contacts, etc.).

While browsing for background stuff I found this neat little thing: http://rpg.ashami.com/
Trying to go through all/most of it for Almighty, will let you know how it goes.

Looks very cool! I'll definitely be trying it out on a couple of NPCs.

[jeronimooo]

re the specialisations: I didn't take them as I thought I needed to pay a skill point for the first one as well... I have now filled in the missing ones, though I do reserve the right to change my mind on the intimidation and persuasion ones after some more research into the differences... are the specialisations explained somewhere in more detail?

re my father: He was from New York, but moved to New Singapore when he was appointed US ambassador there. Afterwards he stayed there when Stopwatch was created, and that is where his loyalties lie at current.

I'll have a go at linking and tagging then

edit: linking has worked to my fathers character page, but for some reason doing exactly the same does not work for jayne's page

[nDervish]

are the specialisations explained somewhere in more detail?

Perhaps they will be in the final version of the rulebook, but, at this point, no, they aren't.

edit: linking has worked to my fathers character page, but for some reason doing exactly the same does not work for jayne's page

That's very odd... But I would recommend moving both of them from the "characters" section to the "wiki" section in any case. (I think it's kind of dumb how OP has chosen to segregate wiki/characters/items and it seems cleanest to just keep everything in the wiki section. The one exception is the PCs, who have to be in the characters section in order to have separate areas for their mechanical stats and for their backstories, since I completely overwrite the mechanics section when I export from my copy and don't want to destroy your backstory when I do so.)

[jeronimooo]

how do I ''move'' the pages?

[Willard]

how do I ''move'' the pages?

As far as I know you have to make a new one. Change the link and paste the text into the new one, then remove the old version (which you can easily find under the characters tab).

I think Dave's already done it though, so don't worry about it.

(I think it's kind of dumb how OP has chosen to segregate wiki/characters/items and it seems cleanest to just keep everything in the wiki section. The one exception is the PCs, who have to be in the characters section in order to have separate areas for their mechanical stats and for their backstories, since I completely overwrite the mechanics section when I export from my copy and don't want to destroy your backstory when I do so.)

Yeah, I think they want to make it more meaningful and add some features, but as it stands now it's just annoying/superfluous.

You don't need the "quotes" around the tags unless they contain spaces. And, IMO, they shouldn't contain spaces anyhow. Based on how tags are handled on other sites, I've adopted the standards of making tags all-lowercase and, if they contain multiple words, separating the words with-hyphens instead of with spaces (such as the existing location-trappings tag (which, now that I think about it, should be location-trapping, singular, since each of those pages only describes a single location trapping)).

Along those lines, I'd recommend changing the "Franklin" tag to "franklin-family", which would probably be more clear for those who aren't already familiar with the Franklins. It would also be good to add an "npc" tag to all entries describing an individual NPC (not just the Franklins, but also fixers, contacts, etc.).

Okay, I'll try that.

[nDervish]

how do I ''move'' the pages?

It's basically "delete the old one, create a new one, and copy the content over." But I've already done it - Hunter and Jayne are now in the wiki section and deleted from the characters section. They're both tagged with "npc" and "contact". I also updated the links to them from Mal's bio, but, if you've linked to them from anywhere else, those links will also need to be changed from [[:hunter-reynolds]] and [[:jayne]] to [[Hunter Reynolds]] and [[Jayne]].

I've also just done a pass over all of the house rules pages on the wiki. Mostly just minor cleanup/rewording and adding links to a new Insurance page (which I haven't created yet), but there are three significant changes:

• I updated the Abstract Ammunition Tracking page to describe replenishable ammo tokens, including the increased initial purchase cost and adding the monthly maintenance cost.
• I updated the Equipment Changes page to add houserules on AP ammo: Instead of a flat +4 AP and -1 damage per die only vs. unarmored targets, it's +2 AP per die of weapon damage (usually +4, but some weapons do more than 2 dice) and the -1 damage per die always applies. Also, the bonus damage die for hitting with a raise does count as a damage die, so you get a bit more AP if you score a raise.
• I updated the Simplified Encumbrance System page to change items which were previously 1/5 SI to 1/4 SI (so that two of them will add up to 1/2 SI, which meshes nicely with the existence of 1/2 SI items). To avoid causing issues with weapons like Ryder's P9D which hold more than 4 tokens, I also added a clause that a full magazine is a maximum of 1 SI.

[Willard]

To avoid causing issues with weapons like Ryder's P9D which hold more than 4 tokens, I also added a clause that a full magazine is a maximum of 1 SI.

Again this is a case where I haven't gone through the math or anything, but the initial reaction is that a magazine (even a big one) shouldn't take up a whole SI. It just doesn't feel as "significant" as the weapon itself.

[nDervish]

To avoid causing issues with weapons like Ryder's P9D which hold more than 4 tokens, I also added a clause that a full magazine is a maximum of 1 SI.

Again this is a case where I haven't gone through the math or anything, but the initial reaction is that a magazine (even a big one) shouldn't take up a whole SI. It just doesn't feel as "significant" as the weapon itself.

I chose not to mention it in my earlier post, but I had also been considering reducing ammo tokens to 1/8 SI. I'm torn on whether it's worth adding the extra level to the system (1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and full SI) or not, though, and figured it made more sense to try it out at 1/4 with the cap on magazine encumbrance first.

While I agree that the weapon should be more "significant" than a spare magazine, I'm more inclined to chalk that discrepancy up to weapons being rated too low rather than ammo being rated too high. As it stands, with SI being determined by a straight 10 lbs = 1 SI, pretty much any standard combat rifle is going to be 1 SI. (A loaded M16A2 is 8.8 lbs, a loaded AKM is 8.3, both well within the "1 SI" range.) However, there's no way that an average person (d6 in all attributes) could run around carrying 6 assault rifles with ready access to all of them, much less remain unencumbered while doing so.

When I devised my version of an SI system in Savage Marches, I relied heavily on Zadmar's system from Savage Armoury, but he sets your unencumbered inventory limit at Strength/2 SI, with no additional pack inventory or anything of that sort - if you have Strength d6, then you can carry 3 SI without penalty and that's it. I switched to the full die size instead of half because that seemed a bit excessively limiting when Savage Armoury was also rating leather armor (via a point-build system rather than anything weight-based) at 2 SI and a basic breastplate at 3 SI. Perhaps I should have also switched from 1 SI = 10 lbs to 1 SI = 5 lbs at the same time as I (more or less) doubled the number of SI characters could carry.

Looking through the equipment chapter, with a change to 1 SI = 5 lbs, hold-out pistols run 2-3 lbs, so they'd stay 1/2 SI. Medium pistols run 4-6 lb, for 1 SI. Heavy pistols are 6-18 lb, but the top of that range is a 19mm hand cannon firing HE rounds and requiring a minimum strength of d12 to use it, so 4 SI isn't particularly unreasonable. Machine pistols are 3-6 lbs (1 SI) and full SMGs are 8-13 lbs (2-3 SI), but, again, the sole 3 SI SMG also has a built-in battleaxe, so not unreasonable. Shotguns are 10-12 lbs (2 SI), basic assault rifles are 6-10 (1-2 SI).

The lighter assault rifles are still a bit low at 1 SI, but that seems substantially better overall, if only by virtue of having some variation instead of "damn near everything is 1 SI". It also means that the average person's unencumbered carrying capacity would be reduced from 60ish lbs to 30ish lbs (plus another 60/30ish in their pack, if they have one). Aside from striking me as a bit more realistic, this also happens to match perfectly with SWD 49, where the core rules say that you can carry up to Strength x 5 lbs without penalty, giving that average person an unencumbered carrying capacity of 30 lbs by RAW.

So, yeah, switching to 1 SI = 5 lbs looks like a good idea all around. Does anyone have any objections?

[Willard]

When you put it that way it seems pretty obvious. No objections. What does that mean for ammo, are those weight-based too? Not that it concerns Almighty, but for someone like Ryder it's going to matter.

[nDervish]

What does that mean for ammo, are those weight-based too?

I hadn't considered making it weight-based for ammo, but let's take a look.

The equipment chapter doesn't list weights for ammo at all (it has issues with failing to list weights for all kinds of things...) and the ammo prices are listed for pistol/rifle/heavy rifle ammo types (p31). SWD 56 lists cost and weight for small/medium/large bullets. Although SWD splits pistol bullets into small and medium with large including "most rifle rounds", I'll just ignore that and fudge it as small=pistol, medium=rifle, large=heavy.

The weights per 50 rounds in SWD are 3/5/8 lbs. An ammo token is generally around 20 rounds (based on the rules for converting magazine size from rounds to tokens), so that's 2.5 tokens per 50 rounds and approximately 1/2/3 lbs per token, or 1/4 SI per token for pistols and 1/2 SI per token for anything bigger.

I think we may as well stick with 1/4 SI per token for most weapons (.50 HMG would probably be 1/2 SI, though) instead of going to weight-based.

[jeronimooo]

So, I wrote the adventure log, but I still seem to screw up the tagging somehow... can someone take a look and tell me where I went wrong?

@ Dave, there are some names missing, like the name of the hospital Iris was in and the name of the cemetary as well as the name of the sprite and such...

The more names you can provide the more I will try to edit in...

as far as my gear goes:
today I bought a folding (and ammo, if I can combine them) stock and targeting laser for my BK616, as well as a targeting laser for my Tarantula... and I used up 1 25mm tazer grenade that needs replacing...

I would want to know the possible price range for the len stealth coating both official (if and when requisiting it legally) and black market if I want it for myself...

[Willard]

A fun and pretty complicated session.

I'm pretty sure I'm spending this advance on upping agility to d12. Will also go through the raises for Aiko and change her occupation as per our discussion.

Thursday might be okay even with only three of us, I'll give that a little more thought. That'd be another one within a short timespan, with probably minimal changes to the Chicago Free Press (probably before the AI really blows up in everyones faces).

So, I wrote the adventure log, but I still seem to screw up the tagging somehow... can someone take a look and tell me where I went wrong?

It's done. Character slugs, unlike general wiki links, need to be written with small letters: [[:mal]].

[Willard]

About the permits I think a category 4 class P license is what I'm looking for, which is actually less expensive than I've accounted for. I don't see any reason to make it more complicated than what's in those rules, especially considering that Chicago is supposed to be lax about these sorts of things (same text).

[jeronimooo]

about the licensing, the class P licenses should be payed by the employer anyways right?I mean it doesn't make sense for you to have to pay to be able to do your job, nor for your employer to provide you with the weapons but not the permits necessary to allow you to use them... Besides, the houserules states a recognised employer sponsorship anyways...

[nDervish]

New version of the equipment chapter is out: https://plus.google.com/105973495535280 ... 248Mkg1KMc

@ Dave, there are some names missing, like the name of the hospital Iris was in and the name of the cemetary as well as the name of the sprite and such...

The more names you can provide the more I will try to edit in...

I'll take a look at that this evening. Do you want me to fill the names in directly on your log entry or should I post them here?

I would want to know the possible price range for the len stealth coating both official (if and when requisiting it legally) and black market if I want it for myself...

Ask again in a couple days, after I've had a chance to go over the new equipment chapter.

Will also go through the raises for Aiko and change her occupation as per our discussion.

I don't recall anything about a career change for her, only the question of whether, as a race queen, she tends to associate with only one racer or not.

About the permits I think a category 4 class P license is what I'm looking for, which is actually less expensive than I've accounted for. I don't see any reason to make it more complicated than what's in those rules, especially considering that Chicago is supposed to be lax about these sorts of things (same text).

I thought I'd specifically said 4-P last night, but I may not have. Either way, I agree and what you're saying is what I intended last night.

about the licensing, the class P licenses should be payed by the employer anyways right?I mean it doesn't make sense for you to have to pay to be able to do your job, nor for your employer to provide you with the weapons but not the permits necessary to allow you to use them... Besides, the houserules states a recognised employer sponsorship anyways...

...and that's why Mal's character sheet says "Category 3-C weapons permit (ranged weapons; 500 Cr/month), Category 4-P weapons permit (Stopwatch-issued weapons; no cost)" (emphasis added)