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Message no. 1
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 08:20:40 -0700
Craig Rickel wrote:
/
/ > Personally, I liked the orbital weapons platform sending down a particle
/ > beam on a phone signal. Adds a whole new twist to "trace and burn"
doesn't
/ > it. Now who in 2050 would have such a toy I wonder...?
/
/ Well, it's not so much "Trace and Burn" as "Trace and Bang". :) Why
bother
/ trying to muck up the decker's chips, when you can level his building? And
/ once they've got the trace, no need to wait around for physical backup to show
/ up.. just.. BOOM. :)

At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
and launched a cruise missile at him.

The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day
the newsies are hounding the UCAS wanting to know why the fired a
cruise missile into the city. Now, the PC is not only hiding from an
NPC that decked a military system, but the UCAS want to have a word
with him :)

-David
--
"By the way, this may look like a slab of liver
but it's an external brain pack."
- Ratbert
--
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 2
From: Robert Watkins <robert.watkins@******.COM>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 09:21:15 +1000
David Buehrer writes:
>At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
>the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
>and launched a cruise missile at him.
>
>The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
>had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
>up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
>to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
>makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day


Two things:
a) I'd like to think that the fire & control systems of a warship wouldn't
be connected to the Matrix, so the most a decker could do would be to
generate orders to fire, which in turn would be queried by the captain of
the ship ("You want me to fire a missile into downtown Seattle, sir? Could I
get that in writing?").

b) Cruise missiles can't make a "hard right turn" like that. Yeah, they can
steer, but their turning circle is a little larger than the width of a
street.

Okay, three things:
c) A cruise missile warhead would blow up half the street.

No offense, but munchkin GMs are worse than munchkin players. If you wanted
to do something like this, keep it realistic... have the NPC decker crack
Lone Star, take control of one of the "special" traffic drones (you know,
the ones with the MMGs mounted), and shoot up his apartment.

--
.sig deleted to conserve electrons. robert.watkins@******.com
Message no. 3
From: James Lindsay <jlindsay@******.CA>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 23:26:02 GMT
On Tue, 17 Feb 1998 08:20:40 -0700, David Buehrer wrote:

> At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
> the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
> and launched a cruise missile at him.
>
> The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
> had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
> up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
> to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
> makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day
> the newsies are hounding the UCAS wanting to know why the fired a
> cruise missile into the city. Now, the PC is not only hiding from an
> NPC that decked a military system, but the UCAS want to have a word
> with him :)

Tres cool! For the sake of campaign integrity, however, I sure hope that
launching and redirecting even a non-nuclear cruise missile was an
*extremely* difficult thing to do. Wars have begun over lesser events.



James W. Lindsay Vancouver, British Columbia
"http://www.prosperoimaging.com/ground_zero";
ICQ: 7521644 (Sharkey)

Mano au mano, the "Professor"
would kick MacGyver's ass.
Message no. 4
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:34:33 -0700
James Lindsay wrote:
/
/ On Tue, 17 Feb 1998 08:20:40 -0700, David Buehrer wrote:
/
/ > At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
/ > the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
/ > and launched a cruise missile at him.
/ >
/ > The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
/ > had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
/ > up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
/ > to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
/ > makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day
/ > the newsies are hounding the UCAS wanting to know why the fired a
/ > cruise missile into the city. Now, the PC is not only hiding from an
/ > NPC that decked a military system, but the UCAS want to have a word
/ > with him :)
/
/ Tres cool! For the sake of campaign integrity, however, I sure hope that
/ launching and redirecting even a non-nuclear cruise missile was an
/ *extremely* difficult thing to do. Wars have begun over lesser events.

It definitly wasn't a casual event. It was my way of saying to the
player, "Your PC is way in over his head on this one." It made a huge
impact on him.

-David
--
"By the way, this may look like a slab of liver
but it's an external brain pack."
- Ratbert
--
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 5
From: David Buehrer <dbuehrer@******.CARL.ORG>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 08:48:11 -0700
Robert Watkins wrote:
/
/ David Buehrer writes:
/ >At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
/ >the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
/ >and launched a cruise missile at him.
/ >
/ >The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
/ >had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
/ >up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
/ >to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
/ >makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day
/
/ Two things:
/ a) I'd like to think that the fire & control systems of a warship wouldn't
/ be connected to the Matrix, so the most a decker could do would be to
/ generate orders to fire, which in turn would be queried by the captain of
/ the ship ("You want me to fire a missile into downtown Seattle, sir? Could I
/ get that in writing?").

hm... Well that will make the PC wonder (it's making *me* wonder).

/ b) Cruise missiles can't make a "hard right turn" like that. Yeah, they can
/ steer, but their turning circle is a little larger than the width of a
/ street.

I thought they were more maneuverable than that <shrug>. I'll just say
that in 205x cruise missiles are very agile (IMHO :)

/ Okay, three things:
/ c) A cruise missile warhead would blow up half the street.

Yep, it did that.

/ No offense, but munchkin GMs are worse than munchkin players. If you wanted
/ to do something like this, keep it realistic... have the NPC decker crack
/ Lone Star, take control of one of the "special" traffic drones (you know,
/ the ones with the MMGs mounted), and shoot up his apartment.

I'll let the munchkin GM comment slide, this time :)

I don't normally do things like this. But, the PC was messing with
someone that was very, very powerful. I (the GM) wanted to send a
very clear message to the player *without* killing his character
outright. You're correct, an unauthorized cruise missile launch from
a UCAS destroyer is nigh impossible. That was the point. And
believe me, the player got it <EGMG>.

When PCs mistep I don't like to kill them. I like to scare the
heebeejeebees out of em. IMO it adds to the story and campaign.

-David
--
"By the way, this may look like a slab of liver
but it's an external brain pack."
- Ratbert
--
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/1068/homepage.htm
Message no. 6
From: Lehlan Decker <decker@****.FSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Trace and go Boom!
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 1998 13:09:55 -0500
On Wed, Feb 18, 1998 at 08:34:33AM -0700, David Buehrer wrote:
> James Lindsay wrote:
> /
> / On Tue, 17 Feb 1998 08:20:40 -0700, David Buehrer wrote:
> /
> / > At one time I had a player going after a heavy hitter NPC of mine on
> / > the net. The NPC traced him, decked a destroyer in a nearby port,
> / > and launched a cruise missile at him.
> / >
> / > The PC knew he was made when he was traced but didn't know a missile
> / > had been launched at him (he figured LS or some goons would show
> / > up). Imagine his suprise as he's a block away watching his apartment
> / > to see what happens when a cruise missile flies down the street and
> / > makes a hard right turn into his appartment window. Later that day
> / > the newsies are hounding the UCAS wanting to know why the fired a
> / > cruise missile into the city. Now, the PC is not only hiding from an
> / > NPC that decked a military system, but the UCAS want to have a word
> / > with him :)
> /
> / Tres cool! For the sake of campaign integrity, however, I sure hope that
> / launching and redirecting even a non-nuclear cruise missile was an
> / *extremely* difficult thing to do. Wars have begun over lesser events.
>
> It definitly wasn't a casual event. It was my way of saying to the
> player, "Your PC is way in over his head on this one." It made a huge
> impact on him.
>
Heheh...Quite "literally" I imagine. :)

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lehlan Decker 644-4534 Systems Development
decker@****.fsu.edu http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~decker
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people are alive, only because its illegal to kill them.

Further Reading

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Thwap!