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Message no. 1
From: Ed <equine@***********.COM>
Subject: [OT]: Paranoia (WAS: [sr] Dark Angel)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 13:21:41 -0600
At 01:59 PM 11/21/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Bug the Johnson, Follow the johnson, Double check every thing he says.
>If he doesn't have magical support at the meeting, us analyse truth, mind
probe.
>Get his finger prints off the water glass.
>
>Just the usual paranoia.

Ahh yes...sounds like my runners now. I made the mistake of having the
Johnson say it was a "milk run" and that made them go nuts. Sheesh...one of
these days I should do a run where you are a mailman delivering mail to a
nice neighborhood. I bet they still want lots of cred and carry their
weapons to do it. :)

Ed
- - - - - - - - - - - - Cut Here - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ed Mayhall "ZERO is my HERO!"
Dallas, Tx
The Hunger Page: http://www.the-hunger.com/index.html
Personal Page: http://www.terravirtua.com/ed/index.html
JADG Page: http://www.terravirtua.com/jadg/index.html
Message Boards: http://www.terravirtua.com/sqlboard/
Message no. 2
From: Rune Fostervoll <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject: Re: [OT]: Paranoia (WAS: [sr] Dark Angel)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 20:56:27 +0100
>>Just the usual paranoia.
>
>Ahh yes...sounds like my runners now. I made the mistake of having the
>Johnson say it was a "milk run" and that made them go nuts. Sheesh...one of
>these days I should do a run where you are a mailman delivering mail to a
>nice neighborhood. I bet they still want lots of cred and carry their
>weapons to do it. :)

No comment....

Whatever happened to 'I want this job done quietly, no questions asked'?
Most Mr. Johnsons wants the run done with the least possible exposure for
himself. That's why they use outsiders, after all, so there is as little
ties as possible. If the team investigates him thoroughly, that is not in
the Johnson's best interest - even if he's on the up and up - simply because
they then has so much more to implicate him with if they are caught.
Deniability disappears and the reason to use runners instead of other
assets becomes less convincing.

So if he detects that kind of probing, he might not approve. At all.

If it takes the form of thinly veiled interrogation, I'd just get up and
leave, and apologize for wasting their time. (Depending a bit on how reasonable
the questions are. If it takes the form of 'I want to know the identities of
everyone you've got working on this' I'd definitely walk, even consider having
them cacked because they'd obviously be working for someone else.).

But that's me.

It is, of course, in the runners' interest to make sure the Johnson's not
stabbing them in the back. But it can be done a lot more subtly and without
investigating the johnson directly - just don't take any of his info at
face value, and investigate that instead. The nature of the run should also
influence the amount of paranoia.

In one case I've seen very recently, involving receiving and then storing a
packet for a few days before giving it to the Johnson, has only one 'risk'
implication that I can see. The big question is why he didn't want it to be
delivered to him directly - the answer, I guess, is that he's worried about
someone following the packet.

There is little obvious gain for the Mr. Johnson by backstabbing the team.
I was almost certain he wouldn't - there's no apparent gain, except that he
can get out of the (too high) payment, but hiring another team to do it would
cost an oodle as well. Wether there IS someone following the packet or
not, I have yet to see.

(How my expectations work out will be covered in a later update. ;)

(BTW, Ed, I hope I don't appear to act differently from what I say here. I
think my questions were necessary - when's the dropoff, how to contact the
johnson, etc.)

Regards,
Fade
Message no. 3
From: Ed <equine@***********.COM>
Subject: Re: [OT]: Paranoia (WAS: [sr] Dark Angel)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 14:18:42 -0600
At 08:56 PM 11/21/98 +0100, you wrote:
>(BTW, Ed, I hope I don't appear to act differently from what I say here. I
>think my questions were necessary - when's the dropoff, how to contact the
>johnson, etc.)

You are not the parnoid one I am talking about. :) It is mainly Mr. Twitch
as you and the other runner like to call him.

Ed

- - - - - - - - - - - - Cut Here - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ed Mayhall "ZERO is my HERO!"
Dallas, Tx
The Hunger Page: http://www.the-hunger.com/index.html
Personal Page: http://www.terravirtua.com/ed/index.html
JADG Page: http://www.terravirtua.com/jadg/index.html
Message Boards: http://www.terravirtua.com/sqlboard/
Message no. 4
From: Rune Fostervoll <runefo@***.UIO.NO>
Subject: Re: [OT]: Paranoia (WAS: [sr] Dark Angel)
Date: Sat, 21 Nov 1998 21:26:39 +0100
>You are not the parnoid one I am talking about. :)
>It is mainly Mr. Twitch as you and the other runner like to call him.

I suspected that... it's part of what I tried discussing with him, in fact.
Player expectations of the game. Details, okay, but it shouldn't be necessary
to be overly paranoid... simply because that isn't fun.

As for what we like to call him.. well, it's his fault for refusing to
introduce himself. As for the rest of us.. well, not all street names are
self - chosen. Might call JW 'Stoneface' or something when I/we get to know
him better. ;)

I might become 'Shorty' or whatever... incidentally, RL I'm 1.90 tall,
200 pounds. So the contrast is .. significant. Ran into two oriental women
at the local McDonalds. Just for fun I noticed their height at the burglar
ID system - 1.48. I was taller than them when I was sitting.
(And that's Miho's height, more or less.)

Regards,
Fade
Message no. 5
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: [OT]: Paranoia (WAS: [sr] Dark Angel)
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1998 11:56:52 +0100
According to Ed, at 13:21 on 21 Nov 98, the word on the street was...

> Ahh yes...sounds like my runners now. I made the mistake of having the
> Johnson say it was a "milk run" and that made them go nuts. Sheesh...one of
> these days I should do a run where you are a mailman delivering mail to a
> nice neighborhood.

Sounds like a brilliant run to use against a certain paranoid player of
mine who believes his character to be a professional...

> I bet they still want lots of cred and carry their weapons to do it. :)

Don't all players do this? I ran DNA/DOA last Friday, and the above-
mentioned player was about to refuse to do the second part of the
adventure because he felt he wasn't being paid enough -- 30,000 nuyen for
one night's work...!

--
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-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
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