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Message no. 1
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 23:07:30 -0400 (EDT)
While we're on the subject, do you ever have players who do all the legwork,
but ask the absolutely wrong people for inforamtion?

For instance, one group of mine was hired to kidnap a simsense star
from her apartment before she embarked on a promotional tour. So the
team started asking questions. Who did they ask?

A squatter who lived near the place on her security measures.

A metahuman rights activist on who installed the alarms etc on her penthouse.

Doooh!

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 2
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 12:11:06 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 23:07/24 Sep 96...

> While we're on the subject, do you ever have players who do all the legwork,
> but ask the absolutely wrong people for inforamtion?

Yes... It's often a matter of asking almost all the contacts they have,
instead of picking the ones who could conceivably know something about
the situation. Something high-tech's been stolen from a corp facility, so
they ask a gang boss, that sort of thing...

This is almost as stupid as the "I phone Ares" ploy that used to be used
quite a lot before I managed to stamp that out... For those who wonder
what it is, it's the thing where Ares (or whoever) seems to be involved in
the current run, so the players phone up the corp and ask to speak to
someone in charge...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Don't ask me to justify my life.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 3
From: The Digital Mage <mn3rge@****.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 15:19:17 +0100 (BST)
On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, Gurth wrote:

> > While we're on the subject, do you ever have players who do all the legwork,
> > but ask the absolutely wrong people for inforamtion?
>
> Yes... It's often a matter of asking almost all the contacts they have,
> instead of picking the ones who could conceivably know something about
> the situation. Something high-tech's been stolen from a corp facility, so
> they ask a gang boss, that sort of thing...

I've often found taht players under estimate teh usefullness of contacts
until tehy start playing, personally I think thats why in SRII you get 2
free contacts as it was found that players weren't buying contacts in SRI.
I always buy loads of contacts, my latest character The Chemist has about
16 contacts all over North America (he's a specialist and travels a lot).

The Digital Mage : mn3rge@****.ac.uk
"Life is a choice, Death....an obligation."-Me
Shadowrun WWW site at http://www.bath.ac.uk/~mn3rge/Shadowrun
Message no. 4
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 10:25:23 -0400 (EDT)
At 12:11 PM 9/25/96 +0100, Gurth wrote:

>This is almost as stupid as the "I phone Ares" ploy that used to be used
>quite a lot before I managed to stamp that out... For those who wonder
>what it is, it's the thing where Ares (or whoever) seems to be involved in
>the current run, so the players phone up the corp and ask to speak to
>someone in charge...

Better than the "I'll ask my contact to hack into Ares and see if he can
find anything" or "I'm going to apply for a job with Ares" approach.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 5
From: The Jestyr <s421539@*******.gu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:57:17 +1000 (EST)
> > While we're on the subject, do you ever have players who do all the legwork,
> > but ask the absolutely wrong people for inforamtion?
>
> Yes... It's often a matter of asking almost all the contacts they have,
> instead of picking the ones who could conceivably know something about
> the situation. Something high-tech's been stolen from a corp facility, so
> they ask a gang boss, that sort of thing...

I'm proud to say that I don't think we've ever really done that (well, I
hope not!). Partly because we're smart :) :) :) and partly because our
group is very contact intensive, so at least one person is sure to have
an appropriate contact. For example, my character, Minx (a
sorceror-adept/rigger) has 19 contacts, two of which fall into the
buddies category.

> This is almost as stupid as the "I phone Ares" ploy that used to be used
> quite a lot before I managed to stamp that out... For those who wonder
> what it is, it's the thing where Ares (or whoever) seems to be involved in
> the current run, so the players phone up the corp and ask to speak to
> someone in charge...

*rofl* YOu're kidding... that's one hell of an innocent player... :)


Lady Jestyr

------------------------------------------------------
A titanic intellect... in a world full of icebergs
------------------------------------------------------
Elle Holmes s421539@*****.student.gu.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1503
------------------------------------------------------
Message no. 6
From: Joker <s1057948@*******.gu.edu.au>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 11:08:47 +1000 (EST)
On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, Gurth wrote:

> Ubiquitous said on 23:07/24 Sep 96...
>
>
> This is almost as stupid as the "I phone Ares" ploy that used to be used
> quite a lot before I managed to stamp that out... For those who wonder
> what it is, it's the thing where Ares (or whoever) seems to be involved in
> the current run, so the players phone up the corp and ask to speak to
> someone in charge...

Don't Laugh, Most of my players have contact lists as long as there arm,
Last time A players said I ring Ares he had a choice of three contacts,
(And one was a buddy.) Contacts isn't usually the problem for my group. :)

Not that I'm complaining...Make leg work easier...

===================================================================
If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go,
because, man, they're gone.
===================================================================
The Joker,
Craig Chatfield. Email : s1057948@*****.student.gu.au

===================================================================
I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate.
And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never
expect it.
Message no. 7
From: Pete Sims <petesims@********.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 01:34:15 +0100
In article <199609250307.XAA25373@*******.net>, Ubiquitous
<weberm@*******.net> writes
>While we're on the subject, do you ever have players who do all the legwork,
>but ask the absolutely wrong people for inforamtion?
>
Not only the wrong people, but the wrong questions as well. There have
been some wonderful evenings, where the team have been running their
little feet off, tracking this or that little snippet of information,
only to realise it has no bearing on what they're doing.

Though to be fair to them, I am a bugger for red herrings and tangents,
so it's not entirely their fault.

>For instance, one group of mine was hired to kidnap a simsense star
>from her apartment before she embarked on a promotional tour. So the
>team started asking questions. Who did they ask?
>
>A squatter who lived near the place on her security measures.
>
Ok the squatter may not know everything about her security measures,
i.e. internal security like cameras, drones etc, inside the apartment,
but he would probably be aware of what measures were taken out of the
apartment, i.e. number of body guards, routes used to get to the
transport, times of arrival and departure stuff like that. I would rule
out the squatter. They are a very underrated source of information.
After all the street is the home of the squatter, and as this character
is unlikely to have a sin, he/she is unlikely to be gainfully employed,
leaving plenty of time to learn about the area, where the good food is,
where the nice places are to hang out, where the people are generous,
and what buildings have security, generally (not precisely) what type of
security is used, (this would be learned through how quickly and
regularly he/she is moved off the property in question). No, I feel the
squatter could be a mine of information. They are in my game, but never
about specifics. They are only interested in surviving from day to day,
not the exact machinations of a buildings' behaviour.

>A metahuman rights activist on who installed the alarms etc on her penthouse.
>
This could be a bit tricky, unless he/she was affiliated with the
building in some way, though if he/she's a regular contact with the
team, it would be a tad convenient to have him/her living in the same
building. Of course if it's a corporate controlled zone, and he/she
lives in the near vicinity, he/she might know.

>Doooh!
>
>--

TTYL
Pete

--
Pete Sims
Civilisation advances by extending the number of important operations which we
can perform without thinking about them.
Message no. 8
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 03:41:03 -0400 (EDT)
At 01:34 AM 9/26/96 +0100, you wrote:
>Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net> writes:

>>For instance, one group of mine was hired to kidnap a simsense star
>>from her apartment before she embarked on a promotional tour. So the
>>team started asking questions. Who did they ask?
>>
>>A squatter who lived near the place on her security measures.
>
>Ok the squatter may not know everything about her security measures,
>i.e. internal security like cameras, drones etc, inside the apartment,

Trouble is, that's exactly what they asked about. :-O

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 9
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:25:20 +0100
The Jestyr said on 8:57/26 Sep 96...

> > This is almost as stupid as the "I phone Ares" ploy that used to be
used
> > quite a lot before I managed to stamp that out... For those who wonder
> > what it is, it's the thing where Ares (or whoever) seems to be involved in
> > the current run, so the players phone up the corp and ask to speak to
> > someone in charge...
>
> *rofl* YOu're kidding... that's one hell of an innocent player... :)

I'm not kidding. Each and every time, I'd get the PC stuck between various
operators telling him lots of nonsense about nobody being available and
all that, and still the player wouldn't learn. Then I just deiced to do it
OOC, which helped after the second or third try... (a forgetful player,
this one :( That also means I often have to recap what happened previously
every week... *sigh*)

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I have another stupid question.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 10
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 16:25:20 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 10:25/25 Sep 96...

> Better than the "I'll ask my contact to hack into Ares and see if he can
> find anything" or "I'm going to apply for a job with Ares" approach.

I haven't had that happen a lot, but I find the "I'll ask my contact to
hack into Ares" approach a lot easier on the GM -- since the decker is an
NPC, you can just have him say "Okay, I'll see what I can do. The usual
phone number and payment?" and then come up blank several hours later,
while charging a lot for the time spent hunting for info. Or, of course,
you could feed the players *some* info if they're really getting nowhere.
I like decker contacts almost as much as I hate PC deckers-using-VR1-rules :)

The job application is really dumb, I have to agree. Just as dumb as
phoning them up and asking for info, IMO.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
I have another stupid question.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 11
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 10:21:14 -0400 (EDT)
At 04:25 PM 9/26/96 +0100, Gurth wrote:

>I'm not kidding. Each and every time, I'd get the PC stuck between various
>operators telling him lots of nonsense about nobody being available and
>all that, and still the player wouldn't learn. Then I just deiced to do it
>OOC, which helped after the second or third try... (a forgetful player,
>this one :( That also means I often have to recap what happened previously
>every week... *sigh*)

That's easy enough to fix.

PC calls Ares and asks for the "boss" for info on their secret project...

Ares Wage Slave: "Mr. Big is in a meeting right now, but if you'd like, he
can meet you at Winslow park, midnight tonight, alone."

PC: "Duh, OK." *hangs up*

Ares Wage Slave: "We got a leak. Send a troubleshooting team to Winslow
park at midnight tonight."

The PC was never heard from again.


--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 12
From: Pete Sims <petesims@********.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 03:14:26 +0100
In article <199609260741.DAA11118@*******.net>, Ubiquitous
<weberm@*******.net> writes
>At 01:34 AM 9/26/96 +0100, you wrote:
>>Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net> writes:
>
>>>For instance, one group of mine was hired to kidnap a simsense star
>>>from her apartment before she embarked on a promotional tour. So the
>>>team started asking questions. Who did they ask?
>>>
>>>A squatter who lived near the place on her security measures.
>>
>>Ok the squatter may not know everything about her security measures,
>>i.e. internal security like cameras, drones etc, inside the apartment,
>
>Trouble is, that's exactly what they asked about. :-O
>
Warra bunch o' wallies.

They deserve a damp kipper for that one. :-)

Pete
--
Pete Sims
Heroes or Fools? That's a determination others will make in hindsight. But by
being here now, we make that determination for ourselves, and it's neither.
Lt.Col.T.C.McQueen
Message no. 13
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 13:41:59 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 10:21/27 Sep 96...

> PC calls Ares and asks for the "boss" for info on their secret project...
>
> Ares Wage Slave: "Mr. Big is in a meeting right now, but if you'd like, he
> can meet you at Winslow park, midnight tonight, alone."
>
> PC: "Duh, OK." *hangs up*
>
> Ares Wage Slave: "We got a leak. Send a troubleshooting team to Winslow
> park at midnight tonight."
>
> The PC was never heard from again.

I don't usually do those sorts of things to players (call me a kind GM if
you must :) BTW, does anyone remember the meeting in the park in
Harlequin? The players wiped out both squads in a couple of turns :/ I
should have changed their tactics so they wouldn't be so susceptible to
mana bolts...

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
It's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 14
From: Ubiquitous <weberm@*******.net>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:49:44 -0400 (EDT)
At 01:41 PM 9/28/96 +0100, Gurth wrote:

>I don't usually do those sorts of things to players (call me a kind GM if
>you must :) BTW, does anyone remember the meeting in the park in
>Harlequin? The players wiped out both squads in a couple of turns :/ I
>should have changed their tactics so they wouldn't be so susceptible to
>mana bolts...

Yeah, that's why I changed it, hee hee.

I included Ariel to the troops with a nice stunblast DM type spell.

I changed some of the agents in the park to innocent bystanders. When they
got hit by a spell, the assumed the magically-active person necking with her
boyfriend did it and wasted valuable time knocking her out.

I can't recall what else got changed.

--
"I dyde shyte thre grete toordes." Fables of Aesop,
Caxton translation,
V15 1484
Message no. 15
From: Pete Sims <petesims@********.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 17:00:39 +0100
In article <199609281140.NAA29847@**********.xs4all.nl>, Gurth
<gurth@******.nl> writes
>Ubiquitous said on 10:21/27 Sep 96...
>
>> PC calls Ares and asks for the "boss" for info on their secret
project...
>>
>> Ares Wage Slave: "Mr. Big is in a meeting right now, but if you'd like, he
>> can meet you at Winslow park, midnight tonight, alone."
>>
>> PC: "Duh, OK." *hangs up*
>>
>> Ares Wage Slave: "We got a leak. Send a troubleshooting team to Winslow
>> park at midnight tonight."
>>
>> The PC was never heard from again.
>
>I don't usually do those sorts of things to players (call me a kind GM if
>you must :) BTW, does anyone remember the meeting in the park in
>Harlequin? The players wiped out both squads in a couple of turns :/ I
>should have changed their tactics so they wouldn't be so susceptible to
>mana bolts...
>
My lot will never forget that night (no mage), they had one of the epic
battles of their career, only just escaping with their lives, talk
about a manic evening :-)

I'd still like to know how they got out of it. :-)

>--
>Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
> It's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.

Ah! The art of learning to fly, throw self at ground, and miss.

Pete
--
Pete Sims
Heroes or Fools? That's a determination others will make in hindsight. But by
being here now, we make that determination for ourselves, and it's neither.
Lt.Col.T.C.McQueen
Message no. 16
From: "Gurth" <gurth@******.nl>
Subject: Re: [SR2] Get a Clue
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 11:48:51 +0100
Ubiquitous said on 10:49/28 Sep 96...

> Yeah, that's why I changed it, hee hee.
>
> I included Ariel to the troops with a nice stunblast DM type spell.
>
> I changed some of the agents in the park to innocent bystanders. When they
> got hit by a spell, the assumed the magically-active person necking with her
> boyfriend did it and wasted valuable time knocking her out.

That whole adventure blew up in my face... First the players waste most of
the troopers with two mana ball spells, then they run toward their own
van, instead of the one with Ariel in it. Despite her trying to persuade
them otherwise, they took off in their own car, saying "No thanks, we can
take care of ourselves". End of adventure.

I know I could have had some thugs come knocking on their doors, but
I decided to go by the adventure as written -- if they get away, they get
away.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
It's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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