The Thirteenth City

Roleplaying Under A Synthetic Moon

Sample Post

This is a sample post with some sample “play” (in the comments) designed to show the posting conventions in action. See the Posting Rules page for more information on what’s going on here.

Note that material in a box like this one is commentary on the post or posting rules that would not appear in the actual game post. Also note that this series of comments represents several days worth of comments from the GM and four players.

Okay, Mitzi has managed to corner Tanaka away from the bar and engage him in conversation. As long as she can keep him distracted, he won’t be able politely to get back to the bar to check the monitors and he’s not likely to make a scene about it in the middle of the party unless he catches on that Mitzi is trying to pull something. Ken and BK have made it to the outer office under the cover of the crowd and are ready to go through the unmarked second door. Skoolboy is still making his way through the sewer until further notice.

11 Responses to “Sample Post”

  1. Mitzi Gaynor said

    Ah! Tanaka-san. So good to see you again.

    Mitzi bows low and keeps her eyes averted.

    Were you able to discovery anything else about the Bancho Manuscript?

    Per the posting conventions, Mitzi has used italics for in-character dialog and plain text (in the third person present) for actions.

  2. Ken V. B. Liar said

    ((Ken’s going to try to tap in to building security through his modified Link before he goes through that door. Can I get any sense of how tough that might be?))

    Again, per the posting conventions, Ken’s player is asking the GM a question, so he puts it in ((double-parentheses)) for out-of-character communication.

  3. Black Knight said

    BK glances at Ken, who’s messing with his Link again, and fingers the Ares hidden in his dinner jacket. He mumbles under his breath.

    Let’s keep it moving, binboy.

    BK has nothing to do. He could post a simple “((Waiting for Ken.))” move, but instead he decided to add some color. Good for him.

  4. The Skoolboy said

    Skoolboy slogs on through the rats and filth, keeping an eye out for zombies.

  5. The Bellman said

    Tanaka seems very pleased at Mitzi’s attention. He seems quite taken with her.

    Ah yes! The Bancho-Hon! I’m so glad you asked. It seems the Manuscript was even older than I at first thought, it goes back to the twelfth century. It’s an interesting story . . .

    ((Ken: The system is accessible through your special mod, but it’s going to be tough. You can probably get in without being spotted, but you’ll have to get pretty lucky to get anything significant out of it.))

    ((Skoolboy and BK: Keep it up.))

    This entry is broken up into two parts since the party has broken up. The GM has rolled (or otherwise decided) that Mitzi has been successful in her bid to distract Tanaka, especially since she has determined one of his pet topics and gotten him started on it. Separately, he has responded to Ken’s question. Skoolboy and BK have nothing going on. At this point, everyone has posted and the day could be over. If Ken wants, he can continue his OOC conversation and the GM will make an effort to respond, but no other in-game actions can be taken until the next day and no one (including the GM) is required to post again until then.

    So Let’s assume a day has passed.

  6. Ken V.B. Liar said

    Keep your pants on, shot-fer-brains; ‘less you wanna break through that door into minigun or sumpin’.

    Ken taps at his Link, accessing the building’s security system through its special modifications.

    ((OK, if it’s going to be tough I’ll throw a point of Edge into the test.))

    Ken’s going to go for it. There are a lot of ways to spend Edge in the ShadowRun 4 rules. One of them is to spend it before you make a test to improve your chances. In that case the Edge is spent, even if you would have succeeded without it. Another is to spend it after you’ve failed a test, which is more conservative in terms of saving Edge but doesn’t have as good a chance of generating extra successes. Ken has chosen to burn the Edge before the roll to maximize his chances of usefully hacking the security system. When the GM decides how it goes (whether he actually rolls or just makes a story-based call) he’ll take that into account and give Ken a pretty big boost.

  7. The Skoolboy said

    Slog, slog slog . . .

    Technically, this isn’t the third person present, but Skoolboy’s not having much fun right now, so he can be forgiven.

  8. Mitzi Gaynor said

    Is that so, Tanaka-san? Very interesting? Oh my yes!

    Mitizi listens to Tanka’s blather, batting her eyelashes, looking demure and trying hard not to roll her eyes. She coughs politely into her hand just long enough to subvoc into her comm: This shit better be worth it.

    ((Mitzi is keeping her perception rolls going to make sure she spots any hint that Tanaka’s attention might be wandering.))

    Mitzi has given a continuing instruction to the GM. He’ll let her know if Tanaka wises up or gets a ping from the security system, for example.

  9. Black Knight said

    Beats standing around while you play with your . . . Link.

    No need for anything else here. There are only two people in the room here, so we know who BK is talking to. In-Character conversation should work this way — just a series of comments in italics.

  10. The Bellman said

    Tanaka continues on. He is showing no signs of interest in anything other than his own voice and Mitzi’s slightly open Kimono. . . . of the greater Houses, of course! But I’m going on a bit, am I not? No? You are? Ah, well then, by that time the tome had found its way into the hands of the Kaishen Duke . . .

    Ken makes it in. It takes some serious work, and he barely slips by the stealth blackICE guarding the second-hidden backdoor that he only managed to locate on a lucky flier in the first place, but he gets in. Ken logs the ICE details for later analysis and downloads the floorplans and security codes to his Link, patching live feeds from the security cameras in as well for routing to his cybereye. It was a lucky break, but now that he’s in he has pretty good access. He should be able to shut down alarms if necessary, look through or shut down cameras and open doors if they are linked to the system. He won’t be able to spoof the system or access archives, but he should be able to do more or less anything else. ((Any specific questions, comment or email.))

    There’s no minigun on the other side of the door, but it is alarmed and there are two guards just down the hall between the door and the elevator that will take you down to the basement storeroom.

    ((Almost there Skoolboy; looks like you’ll be working soon too, BK))

    Note that the description of Ken’s hack isn’t in double-parentheses because it’s not really out of character. The GM is describing what Ken has accomplished in game terms. If Ken has questions he can ask them out of character. If he wants to use the security system to do something, though, he should do that in-character. Looks like it’s going to get fun now. Too bad this sample is over.

  11. The Bellman said

    New Comment

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