Logs for ShadowRN and Associated Mailing Lists

From:	scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller)
Subject:	Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book: Toxic Zones
Date:	Sun, 26 Sep 2004 23:43:30 -0700 (PDT)

Message no. 1 Question: When you roll on the Public Locations Table
on pg. 92 and get Toxic Zone**, which takes up a city
block, what does that mean if you also get other
things on that block, like 5-20 Story Apartment Bldg.,
etc.?

Here's the thing, I'm rolling up locations in the
former Chicago CZ (a Z-Zone, I think we can all agree)
and I'm gettign "toxic zone" for some roll-ups. Does
anyone have an example of what a "toxic zone" might be
in this case? I'm having a hard time thinking of what
that might be ...

Also, what's an example of a "Reclaimed Wilderness
Area"? I assume that's what used to be a Park, but can
it have formerly been other places? If so, what
places?

And what's a "Warez Store"?

Also, I know this might sound rahter petty, but I'd
like to know how I can gauge how many floors should be
in buildings like Power Plant, Water Works, Social
Services Office, Post Office City/State Office
Building, Fire or Police Station, Public School, Trade
School, or City College, Hospital or Clinic, Private
School or College, Courthouse, Embassy or Federal
Office Building, Parking Structure, Hotel, Motel or
Coffin Hotel, Library, Theater, Museum, Civic Center,
Church, Synogogue or Temple, Factory, University,
Airport, Gaming Den/Arcade, Convention Center, Health
Club, Mall, Strip Mall, Law Office, Corporate Clinic,
Media Broadcasting Station, Call Center, Trid/Sim
Studio, Industrial Complex, Laboratory or Research
Facility, Office Building or Corp HQ, Training
Facility or School, Arcology.

Is there a random way to determine this?

Thanks! :-)

-Scott Hiller

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Mail - 50x more storage than other providers!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

From:	gurth@******.nl (Gurth)
Subject:	Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book: Toxic Zones
Date:	Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:54:37 +0200

Message no. 2 According to Scott Hiller, on Monday 27 September 2004 08:43 the word on
the street was...

> Question: When you roll on the Public Locations Table
> on pg. 92 and get Toxic Zone**, which takes up a city
> block, what does that mean if you also get other
> things on that block, like 5-20 Story Apartment Bldg.,
> etc.?

I would guess it means the apartment building is either uninhabited, or
that the people who live there have drastically shortened lifespans :)

> Here's the thing, I'm rolling up locations in the
> former Chicago CZ (a Z-Zone, I think we can all agree)
> and I'm gettign "toxic zone" for some roll-ups. Does
> anyone have an example of what a "toxic zone" might be
> in this case? I'm having a hard time thinking of what
> that might be ...

How about the location of an old factory that got torn down, but which,
while it was in business, spilled harmful chemicals (by accident or
intentionally)? Or a site that has long been disused except by someone
illegally dumping chemical waste? Both these things happen a lot -- IRL
there are entire towns built on old chemical waste dumps.

> And what's a "Warez Store"?

Surely you know what warez are IRL? Gnome Dictionary 2.0.2
(http://gdict.dhs.org/, http://www.psilord.com/code/) says the following
when I type in the word:

"Jargon File (4.3.0, 30 APR 2001)"
warez /weirz/ n. Widely used in cracker subcultures to denote cracked
version of commercial software, that is versions from which
copy-protection has been stripped. Hackers recognize this term but don't
use it themselves. See warez d00dz, courier, leech, elite.

"The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)"
warez

/weirz/ A term used by software pirates use to describe a
cracked game or application that is made available to the
Internet, usually via FTP or telnet, often the pirate
will make use of a site with lax security.

Software piracy is illegal and should be reported to the
Federation Against Software Theft (FAST).

(1994-11-29)

Thus, in the SR context, a warez store is most likely a store where you go
to buy decking supplies.

> Also, I know this might sound rahter petty, but I'd
> like to know how I can gauge how many floors should be
> in buildings [snip bigass list]
>
> Is there a random way to determine this?

If I wanted to randomly roll up a number of floors, I'd first decide on a
reasonable number of dice to roll for the purpose, and then roll them. An
hospital can have plenty of floors, so 2D6 or 3D6 would be a good number,
while a library might only have 1D6, for example. Just wing it :)

--
Gurth@******.nl - Stone Age: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
+--The end is here
|-> Possibly NAGEE Editor & ShadowRN GridSec * Triangle Virtuoso <-
|-> The Plastic Warriors Site: http://plastic.dumpshock.com <-
|
|GC3.12: GAT/! d- s:- !a>? C++(---) UL+ P(+) L++ E W--(++) N o? K w(--)
|O V? PS+ PE@ Y PGP- t- 5++ X(+) R+++$ tv+(++) b++@ DI- D+ G+ e h! !r y?
|Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
V

From:	crowley@*********.ch (Michael Schmidt)
Subject:	Mr. Johnson's Little Black Book: Toxic Zones
Date:	Mon, 27 Sep 2004 16:33:30 +0200

Message no. 3 Gurth wrote:
> According to Scott Hiller, on Monday 27 September 2004 08:43 the word on
> the street was...

>>And what's a "Warez Store"?
>
>
[Dictionary definitions]
> Thus, in the SR context, a warez store is most likely a store where you go
> to buy decking supplies.

In VRII and, I think also in SR3, the latter is referred to as
deckmaster shop.
I think a warez shop is where you can buy illegal copies of sim chips,
perhaps even BTL, and other stolen goods. The "fixer for the
neighborhood" store in low security areas. A shop with legal cover
business, everybody knows what you get there, but law enforcement
doesn't care. It's not exactly uncommon in our days in large cities.

>>Also, I know this might sound rahter petty, but I'd
>>like to know how I can gauge how many floors should be
>>in buildings [snip bigass list]
>>
>>Is there a random way to determine this?
>
>
> If I wanted to randomly roll up a number of floors, I'd first decide on a
> reasonable number of dice to roll for the purpose, and then roll them. An
> hospital can have plenty of floors, so 2D6 or 3D6 would be a good number,
> while a library might only have 1D6, for example. Just wing it :)

I would try to imagine the look of the building and use what I just
imagined. Most of the time it's best to just use a picture that is in
your mind than trying to imagine something that fits to stats you rolled
before. It's also easier for your players. Gaming groups have similar
real life experiences as the mostly originate from the same cultural
background.

Now think of a situation where your group wants to enter a fire brigade
hq. They start to plan and ask questions and stumble over your descriptions.

Then a player asks:"This is a fire brigade hq, something like in <insert
your favorite fire brigade action series here>."

And you answer: "No it's an 8-floors cubistic designer tower."

"A what? Why?"

"Because I rolled 8 floors and couldn't think up enough to fill an
8-floor skyscraper."

With most gaming groups you now get a problem, because they just cannot
converge their imagination of a building, it's normal appearance and
interiors, and your description.

--
This is free space. Good ideas for a sig are welcome.
Contact:
aim: drawentasqad | icq: 196218950
!jabber: timothyryan@******.org!

Mailing List Logs for

Further Reading

Disclaimer