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Message no. 1
From: Sascha Pabst <Sascha.Pabst@**********.UNI-OLDENBURG.DE>
Subject: IF: Summary (sort of)
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 15:33:24 +0000
Plot Ideas
A) WHAT HAPPENED SO FAR
------------------------
Dark Avanger helped Bull, Johnny 99 and associates to get out of Chicago CZ.
They were attacked by Bugs. With the help of 2 fire elementals of unknown (see
below) orign they managed to escape.
All of them moved to a safehouse (probably near the CZ) and asked (well...
screamed) for backup. An old friend of DA, Inferno, a mage, agreed to offer
magical backup, and a so far unknown shaman, Canis, volunteered some info on
what was happening astrally while DA was extracting Bull since "he happened to
be in place to bring some friends in".
Around this time enemy deckers got hold of the group with trace programs. The
one that snooped out DA/Bull was identified as "Black Pawn" who reported -
unknown to the runners - to someone named "Black King" (was Black Knight, but
since someone seems to use this alias we had to change it).
The other Decker was identified as someone using the handle "Pegasus", but
until now it is unclear who he (she?) reports to (if at all)

Dark Avanger plans to trap the people who are snooping the safehouse around
the same time as Orion - the deckerCanis works with - reports someone
following them on their way to the safehouse and a fight that knocked Canis
out and probably killed the opposition. Around the same time Inferno is
awaited at the safehouse, maybe some others, too (sorry, I lost track - what
about Smudge, what about the rest?)

B) IMPLEMENTED HOOKS SO FAR
-----------------------------
1) Bull and his team got recordings and info out of the CZ. Originally, it was
planned this info to be that there _are_ bugs in the CZ, but since the time
"now" is 57, and Bug City occured 55, the TK'lers may have a point about this
might be (nearly) common knowledge. Well, not much of a problem - as long Bull
might have found ANYTHING inside the zone that's worth "publishing", we still
have our plot. I suggest some Corp is either cooperating with the bugs (now
that WOULD be news!) or doing medical experiments (like, how can we get this
strength, but keep the mind intact?). It might even go in a completly
different direction, like the bugs offering "peace" and a united front against
the Horrors - but that might be a bit too world moving *grin* for ShadowTK.

2) Ares Deckers have made their entrance on the scene. Might Ares be the
corporation that tries to hide something in the CZ?

3) The "unknown" fire elementals. Bull (or was it Johnny99?) suggested they
remembered him of Mantises, and that he already had contact with mantis-bugs.
(Well, most here should know Bull's Background .-) This would mean Bugs can
use hermetic magic, which is unknown so far (and could be another info Bull
brings out - see 1) )

4) The "friends" Canis mentioned are still in the CZ. They might need help
later to come out.

5) During the fight between DA's helicopters and the Bugs, some Bugs might
have fled the CZ.

C) WHAT TO DO
----------------------
We should decide what the info is Bull brought out. I would not stick to the
"there are bugs!" theme, not if there are doubts this is not known publically.
Personally, I'd go for the "Corp does nasty thing in CZ"-plot, but that might
be a bit too obvious... Let's discuss.

We have to find some kind of protocol to handle situations where more then one
character is at one place. this is problematic, especially if the people
acting "together" are living in different time zones. If no "fast
action" is
needed, both players may conference via Private EMail (or even IRC) and one of
them is offering a summary, either in form of a short story (this seems to be
possible, I have seen one of these on TK without the author being flamed on
Plot-D) or as video-sequence, or ... well.
Otherwise I'd suggest to keep the characters physically seperatedand give
small jobs to individual characters, like "You go and look at this and/or find
out that" and the player then gives the rest of "us" a summary (and now,
there
we _can_ use Shadowland! :-)

Well, just my thoughts... (do you notice how eager to write I get when I can't
connect my modem? *grin*)


Sascha
--
+---___---------+----------------------------------------+--------------------+
| / / _______ | Jhary-a-Conel aka Sascha Pabst | "If we had to buy |
| / /_/ ____/ |Sascha.Pabst@**********.Uni-Oldenburg.de|you, you wouldn't be|
| \___ __/ | | worth the price." |
|==== \_/ ======| *Wearing hats is just a way of life* | - E. Weatherwax |
|LOGOUT FASCISM!| - Me | (T. Pratchett)|
+------------- http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~jhary -----------------+
Message no. 2
From: Justin Fang <justinf@****.CALTECH.EDU>
Subject: Re: IF: Summary (sort of)
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 13:18:48 -0700
Just a couple of comments...

Sascha Pabst wrote:

>3) The "unknown" fire elementals. Bull (or was it Johnny99?) suggested they
>remembered him of Mantises, and that he already had contact with mantis-bugs.
>(Well, most here should know Bull's Background .-) This would mean Bugs can
>use hermetic magic, which is unknown so far (and could be another info Bull
>brings out - see 1) )

If you want to say that there's a (meta)human(s) collaborating with some
bugs who's a hermetic and summons elementals that look vaguely like insects,
that's fine. I happen to think elementals are highly variable in appearence
myself.

If you want to say that bugs can use hermetic magic themselves, that's not
so fine. Someone turned into a fleshform will lose all magical ability.
Insect spirits can summon only other insect spirits of the appropriate type,
and I don't think there's such a thing as a "insect elemental".

>We have to find some kind of protocol to handle situations where more then one
>character is at one place. this is problematic, especially if the people
>acting "together" are living in different time zones.

Note that you can backdate messages if you have to.

>If no "fast action" is needed, both players may conference via Private
>EMail (or even IRC)

For people using Unix systems, the talk program and its derivatives, such as
ytalk, may prove useful.

>and one of them is offering a summary, either in form of a short story (this
>seems to be possible, I have seen one of these on TK without the author
>being flamed on Plot-D) or as video-sequence, or ... well.

Actually, short stories aren't within the allowed format. Having a character
who attended the meeting send a summary or report to someone who missed it
is a standard technique. So are eye-camera or security videos kept for
private archives (use "*****INTERNAL: Secret Blackmail Material" or something
similar for those.)

>Otherwise I'd suggest to keep the characters physically seperatedand give
>small jobs to individual characters, like "You go and look at this and/or find
>out that" and the player then gives the rest of "us" a summary (and
now, there
>we _can_ use Shadowland! :-)

One final note: not everything that happens has to be in a message to the
list. Lots of stuff can be assumed to happen "off stage" with the
consequences only appearing at some later point.

--
Justin Fang (justinf@****.caltech.edu)
This space intentionally left blank.

Further Reading

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Thwap!