Interest Check: The Outfit - Scum and Villainy/Blades In The Dark hybrid

[Nobby-W]

No worries, I get why it's important. That's why I took it, it just makes me sad to lose my second die in crumpin' people. I can always get that back with experience, yeah.

Can we add scooters or bikes to our base equipment? And maybe a helmet, since failure is how we get better.

I will write up a more detailed blurb about the scooters in due course, but you can assume that you have access to them. You can assume that you have the scooters and associated kit.

 

[Fenris-77]

What about sharks with lasers? Asking for a friend...

 

[Fenris-77]

Actually, on a more serious note, I was wondering about documents. I guess that dodgy papers are something you'll want us to acquire in-game?

 

[Nobby-W]

What about sharks with lasers? Asking for a friend...

Your head-cannon is your own concern, as is that of your sharks.

 

[Nobby-W]

Actually, on a more serious note, I was wondering about documents. I guess that dodgy papers are something you'll want us to acquire in-game?

Don't bother over-prepping up front. This is the sort of thing that the flashback mechanics are designed to handle.

In the case of your character, it would be reasonable to assume that you have contacts who can forge identity papers and other such items. However, a forged ID isn't going to be a lot of use locally because the police know who you are anyway - especially the ones taking payoffs from you to look the other way. If you get into a situation where you do need one then deal with it in a flashback. Other things such as permits could be obtained through channels with appropriate bribes.

Try to think of a society where ambient corruption is a part of the fabric of day to day society. I modelled Nova Nusantara on Indonesia - you can think of Nova Batavia as a sort of cyberpunk Jakarta rather than the Tokyo-with-extra-neon trope from trad cyberpunk.

 

[Fenris-77]

Yeah, I wasn't looking to over-prep, I just don't have the right skills to produce that particular thing via flashback. Not a concern. I'm not even 100% sure this character is the one I want to run. I want to see what the Hacker looks like first. The character as-is is pretty similar to the Fixer, so if there's overlap and a hole somewhere else I may change playbooks. We seem to be light on Rig at the moment, so a wheelman with Rig might be a better fit. I'm pretty flexible. Blowing stuff up, making concealable smuggling holds, and working on gear sounds fun too.

Cyberpunk Jakarta sounds awesome.

 

[Nobby-W]

Yeah, I wasn't looking to over-prep, I just don't have the right skills to produce that particular thing via flashback. Not a concern. I'm not even 100% sure this character is the one I want to run. I want to see what the Hacker looks like first. The character as-is is pretty similar to the Fixer, so if there's overlap and a hole somewhere else I may change playbooks. We seem to be light on Rig at the moment, so a wheelman with Rig might be a better fit. I'm pretty flexible. Blowing stuff up, making concealable smuggling holds, and working on gear sounds fun too.

Cyberpunk Jakarta sounds awesome.

I don't think that should be an issue - a flashback can involve procuring stuff from or getting stuff made by third parties.

 

[Smith]

it just makes me sad to lose my second die in crumpin' people.

That's what I am for! Imagine I crack my neck and knuckles to back this up.

EDIT - I also took 1 from scramble and put it in Helm

 

[Fenris-77]

The other character I'm looking at is a wheelman, so that would cover a lot of the Helm issues, between actually driving and leading driving actions. I'm just kinda waiting to see what Voros does with his Hacker. We could also chat as a group about what kind of neo-noire smuggler gang we want to be. Angry smugglers? Sneaky Smugglers? Dashing smugglers? Well, maybe that one's a given. You, know, what kinds of jobs do we want to run? Personally, I'm all for the Ocean's 11 approach there.

 

[Nobby-W]

The other character I'm looking at is a wheelman, so that would cover a lot of the Helm issues, between actually driving and leading driving actions. I'm just kinda waiting to see what Voros does with his Hacker. We could also chat as a group about what kind of neo-noire smuggler gang we want to be. Angry smugglers? Sneaky Smugglers? Dashing smugglers? Well, maybe that one's a given. You, know, what kinds of jobs do we want to run? Personally, I'm all for the Ocean's 11 approach there.

You could certainly do a wheelman - combine it with some extra muscle, a mechanic or maybe some sneaking; experience nicking getaway cars. Back in the '60s there was a wheelman in London (so famous I forgot his name) who was noteworthy because used to prefer Mark II Jaguars. He was quite fussy - preferring the 3.4 to the 3.8 as it handled better in his view.

 

[Fenris-77]

The rough draft I have is based on the Pilot, with a couple points in helm, and then ones spread into rig, study, sneak, scrap, and consort - so yeah, I designed him to be a driver and all-round support guy. He has the pilot base ability (gimme some chase scenes!) and the gambit generating one from the Scoundrel playbook. I wanted the RIG for gear, but I might shift a dot into HACK if that's the skill that's going to boost a speeder and not RIG. I did want to be able to steal vehicles, yeah. I though it might be more fun to not duplicate the Fixer skill set so completely.

I have a ton of SW vehicle guides and whatnot, so I could talk the talk on vehicle preferences if I had to. I always liked that scene from Ronin where the driver ask for an Audi S8 or something with some 'scoop'. Just a little line, but it sounded so darn realistic. This character sounds like more fun than the other guy, so unless there's an objection, I'll finish him off and replace my char sheet in the other thread.

 

[Fenris-77]

What's the tech level for vehicles in this game? Speeder/grav tech or no? Just trying to get a handle on what the city looks like.

 

[Nobby-W]

What's the tech level for vehicles in this game? Speeder/grav tech or no? Just trying to get a handle on what the city looks like.

Contra grav tech exists in the game but flying cars are too expensive for most people, and most people don't have the nouse to fly safely in busy airspace over a city - certainly not enough to get a permit to do it legally. Air taxi pads are common - you can see them in the map sample. Most ground vehicles are powered by batteries or air-breathing fuel cells.

Due to a series of historical events collectively known as the AI Wars, strong AI and associated technology is viewed with suspicion by most people and outright illegal in some places (most notably The Federation). Ubiquitous, networked surveillance tech such as automated social credit scoring systems is viewed as barbaric in much the same way we might view medieval torture instruments as barbaric. CCTV cameras are often vandalised in rougher areas.

It's also fairly common practice (although not universal) to store confidential information offline in hard copy with no electronic records kept. Electric typewriters are still manufactured and used in significant quantity.

In terms of the city, its infrastructure is not quite up to the job so it has a lot of traffic jams. There is a metro rail network in most of the larger urban areas, and an intercity and regional rail network. A high-speed maglev system (you can see the routes on the map) first rolled out a couple of decades ago and is still being built out.

Motor scooters - normally electrically powered - are the main form of personal transport in the city, and you can fit a family of 4 or 5 onto one. Cars, vans and similar vehicles are used in quantity but have issues with traffic congestion.



There are a lot of CG air-bus and air-taxi services and some private CG vehicles; the airspace over the city tends to be quite busy. The latter tends to be the domain of the wealthy and connected as permits to operate in urban areas are not easy to come by.

Medium range travel (up to a few thousand km) tends to be done with aircraft or high speed rail (steel or maglev). Some aircraft are not wildly dissimilar to a contemporary wide-body airliner in appearance (form follows function), although CG-equipped VTOL designs are common on shorter routes as they can land at landing pads in inner-city airports. Long haul trips tend to be done with ballistic shuttles that are essentially the same hardware as orbit shuttles.

In terms of the starport, CG-equipped starships or shuttles are most common these days as they are much less noisy than reaction drives. In space the main technology used for propulsion is gas-cored fusion rockets (GCFR), reaction drives with a typical specific impulse of the order of 50,000 sec. Travel between star systems is done with a warp drive; the main power source for this is known as an open-mode reactor, which generates power by heating reaction mass and venting it overboard through a MHD generator. Needless to say, this goes through reaction mass fairly quickly but it does allow very large power outputs and solves the cooling problem by venting waste heat with the reaction mass, which doubles as coolant.

Some pads on the starport are rated for reaction drives, known as wet pads because of the deluge systems used for cooling and sound dampening. There are still some spacecraft using vectored thrust or tailstanding designs, although large tailstanders are extremely noisy, so most of the wet pads nearer the city are now disused. There is an artificial island offshore (not shown in the map), on which most of the still-active wet pads are located.

 

[Silverlion]

Is there a spot left open?

 

[Nobby-W]

Is there a spot left open?

The party is big enough that we'll end up running multiple plot streams anyway, like in the other S&V game. It's far easier to do that in PbP than in at a table. I can see how to accommodate you, so yes, we can.

Take a look at the OOC thread - in particular the character generation cheat sheet. There are four gangster playbooks in the OOC thread, or we can adapt one of the existing S&V ones as Fenris-77 is doing.

In terms of capabilities of the character, consider taking at least one point of HELM as motorbikes are a major form of transport in the congested city. Then, perhaps buy in some basic adventuring skills plus a specialty.

Can you pull finger with your character, though?

 

[Nobby-W]

The rough draft I have is based on the Pilot, with a couple points in helm, and then ones spread into rig, study, sneak, scrap, and consort - so yeah, I designed him to be a driver and all-round support guy. He has the pilot base ability (gimme some chase scenes!) and the gambit generating one from the Scoundrel playbook. I wanted the RIG for gear, but I might shift a dot into HACK if that's the skill that's going to boost a speeder and not RIG. I did want to be able to steal vehicles, yeah. I though it might be more fun to not duplicate the Fixer skill set so completely.

I have a ton of SW vehicle guides and whatnot, so I could talk the talk on vehicle preferences if I had to. I always liked that scene from Ronin where the driver ask for an Audi S8 or something with some 'scoop'. Just a little line, but it sounded so darn realistic. This character sounds like more fun than the other guy, so unless there's an objection, I'll finish him off and replace my char sheet in the other thread.

Looks good. I like the acquaintances.

I shall have to consider what might happen to someone on a motorbike if hit by a goober gun.

 

[Fenris-77]

Looks good. I like the acquaintances.

I shall have to consider what might happen to someone on a motorbike if hit by a goober gun.

That's what I was thinking when I took it.

Thanks for the detailed response above too. Are the flying cars generally identified using electronic transponders? I'd imagine the aircraft are. Seems like a wacky question but I'm thinking about tracking and spoofing and what that might look like.

Also, can the crew start with access to a panel van or small truck of some kind? I'm not sure what kind of cargoes we're moving but at some point I'd like to use some project time to work up some special vehicle mods. If not I can always just steal one when we need it.

 

[Nobby-W]

Thanks for the detailed response above too. Are the flying cars generally identified using electronic transponders? I'd imagine the aircraft are. Seems like a wacky question but I'm thinking about tracking and spoofing and what that might look like.

There is a computerised air traffic control system that's not really practical to spoof over cities as it tracks stuff by radar. If you fly low enough in areas outside of ATC radar coverage you could evade detection. There are parts of the archipelago where you can do this and are thus candidates for smuggling routes.

Also, can the crew start with access to a panel van or small truck of some kind? I'm not sure what kind of cargoes we're moving but at some point I'd like to use some project time to work up some special vehicle mods. If not I can always just steal one when we need it.

You do start with a van. I'll get into the specifics when we start the adventure, but for reasons which will become apparent you won't have time to modify it a priori.

 

[Fenris-77]

Spoofing radar is a much higher tech option than I was thinking about. I was musing about duplicating or changing transponder codes for specific vehicles as a tool for getaways. Just settling into my crew role here.

I wasn't worried about a priori mods either, just projects for downtime during the game. Tinkering with the crew motor pool seems like the right thing to be doing. Well, at least once we have something that might be called a motor pool anyway. We can work up to that attack helicopter Ace has always wanted.

 

[Nobby-W]

Séadna, Voros, Silverlion, TheophilusCarter, Smith, Fenris-77

We're just waiting on the last of the stragglers to finish characters so we can start.

 

[Fenris-77]

Wait, we added someone? Shit, the getaway car only seats five. The good news is I have 50' of rope and a pair of roller skates on my equipment list. Last one in...

 

[Nobby-W]

Wait, we added someone? Shit, the getaway car only seats five. The good news is I have 50' of rope and a pair of roller skates on my equipment list. Last one in...

Getaway car?

 

[Fenris-77]

You can't rush perfection. A good getaway unfolds slowly, like a lotus blossom in a soft morning sun. One delicate petal at a time, with room between each for the contemplation of stillness.

 

[Voros]

Séadna, Voros, Silverlion, TheophilusCarter, Smith, Fenris-77

We're just waiting on the last of the stragglers to finish characters so we can start.

On it!

 

[Fenris-77]

OK, nice, the crew is coming together. We're just waiting on Silverlion I think. I have no clue what the plan is there character-wise, but after a look at the crew so far, some of the holes in the overall skill set are consort, rig and maybe scrap. It depends on what we want to be doing really, and none of those are really holes per se. More scrap would be the only thing I'd actually say is a need and it's a small need. The crew as-is is pretty well rounded though, which is cool.

Nobby-W - Do we get to pick or add details to an evil lair of some kind, or are you handling that? Just curious, as I want to start lobbying for a lot of chrome and black leather, a low blue light palette, an espresso machine, and sharks with lasers.

 

[Silverlion]

I will try and work on my character tomorrow.

 

[Fenris-77]

I will try and work on my character tomorrow.

I care more about your thoughts on the sharks with lasers.

 

[Silverlion]

I'll install them if the procedure is humane, gotta be proper cybernetic laser mount.

 

[Fenris-77]

Of course. I'm a villain, not a monster. Plus, you get what you pay for with shark lasers. No one wants to have to stop mid-monologue to get the sharks back online.

 

[Smith]

Voros the character photo you used, ha! She was fantastic in that show.

 

[Nobby-W]

OK, nice, the crew is coming together. We're just waiting on Silverlion I think. I have no clue what the plan is there character-wise, but after a look at the crew so far, some of the holes in the overall skill set are consort, rig and maybe scrap. It depends on what we want to be doing really, and none of those are really holes per se. More scrap would be the only thing I'd actually say is a need and it's a small need. The crew as-is is pretty well rounded though, which is cool.

Nobby-W - Do we get to pick or add details to an evil lair of some kind, or are you handling that? Just curious, as I want to start lobbying for a lot of chrome and black leather, a low blue light palette, an espresso machine, and sharks with lasers.

We might as well start this convo now. There's a map of Shenobi and surrounding neighbourhoods on the IC thread. I've put a single pub on there - the Katsubo - which is your local and frequented by all sorts of lowlife.

Voros, Smith, Séadna, Silverlion, Fenris-77, TheophilusCarter - The next stage is:

Each of you come up with five things:

1: An idea for an initial concept for a hideout. Bearing in mind that you can't afford a either a bat-cave or a shark tank so this is a budget hideout -

• Where is it on the map? (somewhere in Shenobi, but describe the area - a warehouse, above a nightclub, a basement, in the back of a cafe, machine shop or some other business etc.)
• What is it fronted by?
• How do you get into it?
• How would you bug out of it in a hurry?.
• What is its biggest OPSEC flaw (that might be exploited to discover it or get into it)
• What is one unusual security feature
• What is one unusual facility you've got access to in it.

We'll take a consensus of the hideout and I'll mash the ideas up into something.

2. An idea for where your character lives - A family home, a capsule hotel, a hidden apartment above a disused warehouse etc.

• Where is it on the map?
• What's something unusual about it?
• What's its best security feature - not obvious, nosy neighbours, a watch-basilisk?
• What's its biggest security flaw?
• Who else lives there - nobody? your family, friends, tight knit neighbours etc?

3. A watering hole or other place your character frequents

• Where is it on the map?
• Why do they go there?
• What is there?
• Who often hangs out there?
• What does the decor look like?
• What does trouble look like there and how is it handled?

4. The home, workplace or other haunt of at least one of your friends or acquaintances

• Where is it on the map?
• What goes on there - a home, a pub or cafe, a place of work, a park?
• Why does the friend/acquaintance hang out there?
• When and how often might you find them there?

5. Somewhere you could hide yourself or hide something you didn't want folks to find.

• Where is it on the map?
• What is it, and why is it a good hiding place?
• Who else might know about it?

Also, think about your family ties.

• Does your family live about here - if so, who? Parents? Siblings? Dipshit cousins? Do you have a spouse or other ongoing relationship? Are you supporting anyone? Do they live in Moseli, somewhere else in or about Nova Batavia, or somewhere else entirely?
• Who is your nearest relative living offworld - Do they live dirtside somewhere or are they low-G smegs unable to return to a strong gravity well?
• Do your family approve of your line of work? Do they know what you do? If not, what do they think you do? Would they hide you from the mob? The police? Would they help you dispose of a body?

Feel free also to come up with one or two other ideas for interesting locations for the map. I deliberately haven't done a lot of detail up front; I did that with some other bits of the map and it was a bit tedious, and when it gets like that the results tend to be a bit sterile. This time around I'm going to evolve the map with the game.

 

[Fenris-77]

I have a couple of questions about the map. Is the maglev line the curvy one that runs though the bottom and then top of Shenobi, with some sort of terminal in Shuttlesworth? Two, is the thicker grey line a major road of some kind (the one that forms part of the border between Shenobi and Orcas?

 

[Fenris-77]

Here's my draft for the hideout. I'll do the other four bits up as one post.

Hideout

Moseli Mechanical – an abandoned auto repair shop. One working vehicle lift (the other is broken), a loft office, and small fenced yard. A couple of extra rooms tacked on the back. Illegal net access lifted from a neighboring office building. No kitchen appliances other than a fridge, but there’s a hot plate and a really nice espresso machine. Located close to the junction of the maglev and main road for quick getaways. Entry is through the heavy roll doors, or a private entrance located in the fenced yard. There’s a section of fence in the rear of the yard that’s rigged to slide open, providing access to the alley behind the shop (the private door is close to this section of fence at the rear of the yard. There is also a side door to the alley between the shop and the office building next door.

OPSEC – heavy roll doors are a plus. The biggest flaw is probably the current lack of cameras out front of the building. There’s only one camera that covers the interior of the yard. None of the other entrances are hardened though, and at best the windows are at best boarded up, so the best security is stealth.

Security Feature – a hidden stash area built into the side of the well in the non-functional lift bay. Both hardened and pretty secure.

Unusual Feature – a remarkably nice rooftop patio, accessed from the loft office.

 

[Nobby-W]

I have a couple of questions about the map. Is the maglev line the curvy one that runs though the bottom and then top of Shenobi, with some sort of terminal in Shuttlesworth? Two, is the thicker grey line a major road of some kind (the one that forms part of the border between Shenobi and Orcas?

The map below shows a roughly 18kmx10km region of Moseli; the starport and startown are in the north-eastern part of the map, and there is an artificial island just off the east of the map with more of the starport, including most of the still active wet pads. The curvy rail is the startown loop of the metro rail, a mostly overhead monorail service. The Central Moseli maglev is at the bottom of the large map where the arrow is pointing to. Shenobi field is mostly disused and the shenobi metro station is just south of the field; Darko Station is next to Darko field.

 

[Voros]

Voros the character photo you used, ha! She was fantastic in that show.

Yeah I had an idea of what I wanted her to look like and then it occured to me that she was perfect for it.

 

[Fenris-77]

And the other items. I'l happily add some map details as neat stuff occurs to me too. I'll probably wait until I see what neat stuff the rest of the crew comes up with.

Yoster’s Pad – a small apartment made from three shipping containers welded together. One is a garage of sorts, and the other two are living quarters. Located at the back of a smaller, seldom used junkyard owned by his friend Sully, down in the southern end of Shenobi. There is also a small office, more like a shack really, locate by the front gate, but never staffed. The Corten steel construction and lack of windows provide good security, but a distinct lack of visibility. Yoster keeps meaning to get more cameras installed but hasn’t gotten around to it. The lack of neighbors is both a feature and a bug, there aren’t a lot of eyes around, but that’s a bad thing if you want to know if someone has been snooping around. The food and toilet situation is pretty basic, but Yoster mostly eats takeout, and at least the shitter empties directly into the sewers. There’s no shower, but Yoster has an outdoor one rigged up from a rain barrel. Line of sight is also pretty borked, as the apartment sits surrounded by towering piles of steel junk, so pretty much anyone could be sneaking up behind them. Yoster likes to sit out front of his pad in a dilapidated arm chair and drink beer from a cooler while he takes pot shots at the rats in the yard.

The Star Lily – a greasy dive bar in the north end of Shenobi, catering primarily to the racing crowd. The entrance is in an alley, and marked only by a flickering neon Lily. Down a narrow set of concrete stairs is a small alcove where Kasabi, the enormous tattooed doorman, checks IDs and sits around looking mean. Through the alcove is a long narrow room, with a bar running down the left hand side, and series of booths down the right. The lighting is poor, provided mostly by the vidscreens over the bar and smoke is thick in the air. The booze is lousy but also cheap, and the regulars are a tight knit bunch, outside their racing rivalries. The bartender, Losal, is a large affable man who’s always happy to pour a drink and never lets anyone run a tab. The Lily can get rowdy on a race night, full of drivers and pilots looking to blow off steam. Things don’t generally go too far, as no one is eager to deal with Kasabi, or worse, get banned from the bar. The vidscreens only show races, new and old and of every sort, and if anyone asks to watch something else Losal just pretends he can’t hear them.

Red Star Parts and Service – the boutique parts store owned by Yoster’s friend Sully, is right around the corner from the Katsubo. It has a show room, four vehicle bays, and an office. Sully can be found there most afternoons, along with a sales clerk, and a handful of tough looking mechanic types, who may or may not or may not do other sorts of work for Sully. Most days there will also be a handful of racing types hanging around as well, browsing the shelves, working on their rigs, or hanging around out front of the bays shooting the breeze. Yoster knows pretty much everyone who frequents the shop, and can often be found here himself when he’s in between jobs.

Hidey Hole – Yoster has an arrangement with Losal, the bartender at the Star Lily, to keep a go bag in one of the back rooms. For a small consideration Losal has occasionally hung on to other packages as well. Presumably Yoster isn’t the only regular whom Losal offers this service to.

Family – Yoster’s cousin, Kaelia, lives out in the suburbs somewhere with her corporate lawyer husband, whose name Yoster can never remember (he’s a dick). She’s a straight arrow citizen, and finds Yoster a little embarrassing. She might have some idea that he does the dirt, but emphatically doesn’t want to know more. Yoster doesn’t get invited to many holiday meals there. Kaelia’s father, Gallial, has been off planet for years, and Yoster has no idea what he’s does or where is he is. Sully is more like family than anyone Yoster is actually related to.

 

[Silverlion]

I like the old garage--especially if it has enlarged the "go beneath the car for oil change" area like some local places have that has been expanded. WIth the lift down you can't see its there.

Alternately, a cargo-pod in a salvage yard that's been abandoned to its fate. No one wants the expense of cleaning it up, it's not "safe" but its safer than most, especially if you know where NOT to go. The pod could be huge and covered in other junk, so only by making a series of turns correctly at the exact point you have multiple choices you can get to it. It still has power, for the fence, and little yard shack as it was never officially on-grid (that means claiming ownership.)

 

[Fenris-77]

I like the old garage--especially if it has enlarged the "go beneath the car for oil change" area like some local places have that has been expanded. WIth the lift down you can't see its there.

That's a very cool idea. It goes well with the hidden stash thing but makes it even cooler. Maybe the lift controls don't work, but when you press a different lever, the thing opens. Steps down to a small strong room or something. I love it.

Alternately, a cargo-pod in a salvage yard that's been abandoned to its fate. No one wants the expense of cleaning it up, it's not "safe" but its safer than most, especially if you know where NOT to go. The pod could be huge and covered in other junk, so only by making a series of turns correctly at the exact point you have multiple choices you can get to it. It still has power, for the fence, and little yard shack as it was never officially on-grid (that means claiming ownership.)

That's also a cool idea.

 

[Nobby-W]

That's a very cool idea. It goes well with the hidden stash thing but makes it even cooler. Maybe the lift controls don't work, but when you press a different lever, the thing opens. Steps down to a small strong room or something. I love it.

That's also a cool idea.

Alternately, a cargo-pod in a salvage yard that's been abandoned to its fate. No one wants the expense of cleaning it up, it's not "safe" but its safer than most, especially if you know where NOT to go. The pod could be huge and covered in other junk, so only by making a series of turns correctly at the exact point you have multiple choices you can get to it. It still has power, for the fence, and little yard shack as it was never officially on-grid (that means claiming ownership.)

By the way, see that tank with the label that says 'Methyl Hydrazine'? It's still got about 150kg left in it...

 

[Fenris-77]

By the way, see that tank with the label that says 'Methyl Hydrazine'? It's still got about 150kg left in it...

You know who love spontaneously combustible materials? I do. That's why there's a remote detonator stuck to the bottom of the tank.