MonSTeR

OK, you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little rusty and haven't done anything remotely sci-fi-esque for the best part of a month now, and I don't have the book to hand, but here goes...

Hiro Protagonist is obviously not the character's real name, but his handle, I think that one's a given. But it definitely sums up the character perfectly in my book. It's all part of him thinking himself cleverer than he actually is, and the in-joke he shares with no-one but himself.

I don't think it's really supposed to be funny to the reader. It's supposed to be funny to the character, and the fact that the character finds it funny is what is supposed to make the reader smile. I have some very good friends who are programmers and I see them demonstrate the same sort of humour. That was something that really really grabbed me as being incredibly 'real'.

I admit that the whole tower of Babel thing took a little getting used to and made me wonder what Stephenson was taking But as a cute twist for a plot, I thought "ooh kinda Indiana Jones... Why not? I'll run with it "

I'll give you that I hated the whole Raven's nuclear bomb thing, but thought it was an interesting parody of the break up of the soviet union, and I loved that "The Mafia" was a legitimate corporation

Prompted by Bookwyrm's email that I picked up today, I thought I'd just drop by for 2 mins to say "hi" and that I will be back to the game as soon as I can guys. Not yet, but soon.

I offer my humblest apologies for the wait and my sincerest thanks for sticking while my real life intrudes on my time here.

Laters amigos.

Mon

Hi guys,

Just letting you all know that I've been away for a bit and will continue to be away for a bit longer

Snowed under with real life, (and even a little real snow;) ) But I hope to claw my way to the surface in the next week or so.

This is the first time I've actually gotten online for long enough to make a post in the last few days, so my sincere apologies to the MonSTeRPunkers. I've not forgotten you, it's just that life won't let me near here for a few days If all goes well I'll be back on Monday with stuff lined up

Laters amigos

Well stop that right now.

It's not a burden onthe system, it's what the system is there for. Like Bookwyrm said, you've paid in and you will pay in, nows the time to get something back

The drive back to Cable Plaza Industrial Park is thankfully short and sweet. The delivery van handles as well as can be expected, but there're some funny smells coming through the floor. Not that they're any more hazardous than the way the inner city air gets in the summer.

On the drive the pair of delivery boy wannabes finalise the few details of the plan and everyone continues to make jokes about the very fetching attire.

With the target address fast approaching, if anyone's getting out, now would be the time, otherwise Bloodbath will guide the pink parcel express into the parking lot.

I think we all have times when real life intrudes on us just hanging out here in cyberspace like we want.

Hell I'm not the most reliable of posters either

It'd be good to see you posting again

Naaaah, that's what claw hammers are for

Ahhhh the heady days of postgraduate study

Enjoy it CJ, and don't let it take up all your time either!

One of the things I use it for is when folks lose attributes/character points as a part of their character creation, I add the lost points to thier luck stat. It's like they've lived through a hideous event that by all rights should have killed them, "they must be lucky".

Like Archangel, I know the trouble of short gaming sessions, with a lot of narrative and not much rolling. So 10 points per session here is a LOT. I tried having the NPCs use thier luck in those situations too which made things exciting, but not particularly satisfying.

And I use it on damage totals too, to make a "Lucky shot" far more effective.

Rat hangs up the call on his cell phone and stuffs it into the correct pocket. His attention is drawn to the bright pink shirt held in front of him by a small asian boy.

In the office of "Hassan's Speedy Parcels" the rest of the crew are shrugging into similar garments. Bloodbath grins

"How do I look?"

The shirt is stretched over his huge form, obviously a couple of sizes to small,

"Very good" says Hassan, or at least one of the many Hassans Rat does business with, quoting George Peppard in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and hands the fixer a set of car keys,

Hassan stands about 5'4" tall and is incredibly slight. he wears the same pink shirt everyone else in the room is wearing and a pair of black slacks with well shined black shoes. He scratches his bald head and then gestures to the back of the office still holding his thin cigar,

"I'll walk you guys out,"

Hassan leads the team through the back of the office, through a makeshift despatch area, which is just a few tables and shelves staffed by a sea of Hassan family members to the car park at the rear of the office. There stands a 20 year old delivery van, in a very fetching pink and white livery. He grins at everyone then catches Bloodbath's arm as Rat hands him the keys.

"Just don't scratch her!"

What you're going through is called "Youth", you will literally grow out of it. Then you'll realise how trivial it all seems, then you'll want it ALL back.

Life is fraught with pain and loss, and is over all too soon.

Out of the hanger and in the safety of the van Shrap glances at the address on the printout before handing it to Rat

James Roswell

Recruitment Consultant

Drake Recruitment

Gate 1

Cable Plaza Industrial Park

Night City

Did the girl in question have a motorcycle as part of her "robo-babe" gear and had to return to secret base now and then?

Or...?

Come on, we need more info

Heat is my favourite cyberpunk movie, and I've always maintained that it's nearly all punk and very very little true cyber. Firstly, like Monk said, it's very definately a film about edgerunners. These characters are a team of edgerunners pure and simple, almost as if the game of cyberpunk (not the genre) was designed around these guys, there's a driver, a fixer, a technical guy and an electronics guy etc. that makes it easy to relate games to the film.

There's a few reasons why it's cyberpunk though. Firstly is that it's a hi-tech movie, bordering on Cyberpunk. There's a lot of computer stuff, like Kelso's decrypting of the banks transaction statistics, then the hacking of the banks alarm systems. There's a lot of technical equipment, Neil McCauley buys a book entitled "Stress Fractures in Titanium" and that sort of thing.

Then there's the social interactions firstly between the characters. Chris's stormy relationship with his wife, Neil's lonelyness etc. Not that this sort of turmoil is exclusive to cyberpunk, but it's often a very prevalent theme.

Then there's the whole "man against machine" theme. In this moviethe machine in qestion is the society in which we all live and how ultimately fighting either for or against it brings about personal demise. Chris looses his wife and son, who he truly loves. Vincent looses his third marriage (probably not the first one he's lost to the edgerunner lifestyle) and the other characters loose their lives.

Neil is determined that he won't go back to prison and so makes the ultimate decision not to. Yet he does this as a result of breaking his own code of not getting attached to anything in this case honour, an example of truly running the edge...

I'll shut up now, you just go and watch the movie now...

GO.

My world tends to be fairly politically hidden, with all major parties setting out to screw over the common man and either give to the upper middle classes or the lower middle classes.

Europe is very corporate, Germany IS corporate, the UK never lost it's royal family and King William is more popular than ever since he married Queen Britney

Like GM2023, things stay very much behind the scenes in my world unless a corporate or political powerplay is made, and even then a cover sotry is all that the populace will ever here.

Neko watches everyone's back as they move to the van, he feels there's definately something not right here, maybe he's just jumpy, Thumper doesn't show any sign of nerves, but the young solo is still not convinced.

Maybe it's too many old films and the situation just being "quiet... too quiet!"...

Everything seems incredibly quiet in the hanger, the mechanics against the wall seem mute, Stuart, in the office, seems to be just standing against the counter.

Shrap moves into view from the office,

As he does so the younger of the two mechanics agianst the wall starts muttering to the other, who promptly tries to silence him,

Rat interjects and the youthful mechanic simply states, that, "the guy from Drake, he looked legit," he continues, "proper car, nice suit..."

"Yeah the hanger, right..." Stuart says in a slightly confused way pointing towards the door. "D..d..damages, right..."

The two mechanics in the hanger stand facing the wall, silently the younger of the two starts to turn round slightly but a glance from his older colleague changes his mind.

Sure it did, it's called a modifier

I apply modifiers for range, then for things like insufficient light, or the other characters kibbitzing around. So a character hiding 100 yards away at night, while his target walks through a crowded street might have a total +10 modifier to his chances to avoid detection. So even with a reasonably high combat sense a solo is going to need a pretty high awareness to spot a sniper.

I don't care what training you've had, human physiology dictates that the further away you are, the harder you are to spot

If you add another modifier for wearing appropriate camoflage, be it a ghillie suit, or the same concert T-shirt that everyone else in the stadium is wearing, that's another way to confuse anyone after you.

There's a slight hesitation to the two mens' movements. Not any sign of rebellion, just a shared bemusement as to what the hell is going on. They slowly and silently move away from the airframe and towards the wall one then the other raising they're hands in an unsure fashion as they do so.

Like Archangel said I've found sucessful GMing easiest when the PCs have a common goal. I personally believe that the firstsession or two should be spent not just creating characters, but creating a team and then talking with the GM and each other about what exactly folks are after. If some folks are after mass murder and bloodshed whilst others are after political intrigue, then compromises are to going to need to be made on all parts.

Another part of creating the team is creating a"group background" where folks know each other from and what ties the PCs together. Some folks feel that the uneasy truce works best for cyberpunk with all characters a little paranoid, I prefer the trust between PCs to be implicit, as it makes the whole common goal thing play out a lot more easily

The music is stopped by the snap of a bullet. In the now half lit hanger the 2 mechanics working on the aircraft shuffle to their feet, one's cursing stopped by the other, more observant one.

A quick gesture from Thumper makes the larger, older of the two, the foul mouthed one, drops the wrench he was carrying with no fuss at all. Whatever impuses he had to fight are quelled. Big spanner vs. submachinegun is not a title fight he's eager to see.

The sound of the gunshot was easily heard in the office, the now ever so helpful mechanic, who's name badge reads 'Stuart' indicates towards the computer sitting on the desk, pulls on a data glove and, in Shrap's full view, begins to sort through customer records to find out some information on "Drake Recruitment" the firm in question.

Stuart seems to be a very helpful gentleman and responds well to some gentle motivation.

The file he's after comes up after a few twists of his hands the lowdown on Drake Recruitment. An address in South Night City, not too far from the airport and perhaps more importantly a name. James Roswell. Stuart is already reaching for the hardcopy icon.

Tried it. Hated it.

It might work for a skill/special ability called "target range sense" but when a rule means that a netrunner who's not left the office since starting college can recognise the signs of when a situation is turning bad, better than someone who's spent the last 5 years with his wellbeing depending on it... I'll pass.

Meanwhile, inside the hanger the two guys in similar blue overalls continue to work on their AV 4.