Heist in The Heights [OOC]

Out of character chatter about the Heist in The Heights [RP] can go here to avoid cluttering up the Roleplay thread.This is for longer questions and answers related to that Roleplay, general rules questions not answered in the Help thread can go in General Chat, or here, as you deem appropriate.

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We each need to declare our individual Load at the start. This defines how obvious we are being during the /run, so chat about how the group is approaching The Heights before you decide.

If anyone is going Heavy, there might not be much point in anyone going with a less conspicuous loadout. But that is up to each of you.

If we are going in hard, then there might be little point going with less than Heavy --unless we plan to blitz things very fast?

Light Load will limit your options later. Though, there may be opportunities to tool-up further, during play. Adding to your Load later will give you less control over what you have access too --unless you convince us you planed ahead and smuggled what you need in.

If you do any pre-mission legwork, and it is significant enough to treat as its own short /run, you can tell us what your Load was during that. Unless it bleeds straight into the current mission, these decisions need not affect each other.

Just to clarify--we're gonna OOC chat about what we think is a good plan in this thread before we start in RP thread?

You don't have to.

If you know what you want to do, you can start, but there is a lot of stuff that we don't know yet. I can add more details about the staring situation that were making the briefing too long, or you can have found out stuff on your own that would dictate how you approach this, and how you get in.

Miles is going to start with a light load, I think it's appropriate for a stealthy character.

Do remember that this is not technically a 'starting' load, it is meant to be your load for the whole /run.

I can't promise that there will be chances to change this partway through (against the rules), I just indicated that I would allow it if the fiction provided the opportunity.

Fair enough. Makes sense.

Remember that your Cyberdeck is 1 Load, so that only leaves you 2 more for everything else.

I wonder if a character could discard equipment during the game if he needs to reduce his load. Like, dropping an extra weapon or a device he is carrying. Would that make sense?

Yes. If it makes sense in the fiction I would allow it. Just like picking up new Gear above the initial Load. But it all depends on the fiction, so don't bargain on it... unless you arrange it in fiction.

In a oneshot there is little consequence to losing expensive Gear, in Blades in the Dark we would take that financial impact into account when working out payout. Here you would need to account for in your denouement.

Your Load does define how people react to you from the start.

Given that the lower levels of the Heights are kind of rough, would a Normal (4-5) Load stand out? I don't want to go Heavy, trying to decide between Light and Normal.

Also, for prep work, was there any floor plans or anything available to us? If we could have narrowed down if there is a part of the building in the Upper levels that could house the biomedical stuff, it could save us a bit of running around.

& was the former Team able to get any information back to the Handler before... Whatever happened to them? Lol

So, it is 'conspicuous', but not like it 'draws a lot of attention' like Heavy does.

Unless you can overcome the obstacle of not knowing anything about the Lowlifes, and that the Operator could not provide you with anything because they "don't know these Lowlifes living at the bottom", you won't know for sure what will draw attention.

If we decide that Normal is good, then it definitely won't be a problem to go in like that, so long as you are not trying to 'blend in' or 'go unnoticed' by an insular community.

Here is what I know about them:
• Lowlifes [unpredictable, violent, greedy, desperate, protective/insular]

Maybe your (ex-)gangs or contacts can tell you that, or will know a bit more? You tell me what rumours you think you have discovered, some of them may turn out to be true.
Just that you would be able to recognise the place if you found it.
Yes, knowing exactly where it is would save you some running around.
How would you go about finding this out?
That is all you were told... before they changed the subject.
Do you follow up?
No idea.

The current obstacles that I know about:
- Antiaircraft guns (roof)
- Occupied landing-pad (roof)
- Lowlifes (ground level)
- Separation Barrier (ground level)
- ??? (mid levels)

Depending on how you are getting in, you will need to overcome some of these as a first step. ('First step' after free flashback research, of course.)
If you let me know your infiltration route, we can work on learning more details about the relevant obstacle.

Blank is going in Normal load out with Handgun, Med Kit, Special Bullets, and Disguise. He's maybe thinking what Bananabread is thinking--get in, get up, get down, lose em in a crowd of lowlifes (lowlives?😄). That's the game plan he'd propose too--getting in via lowlife turf, maybe even setting something up with them, an arrangement perhaps.

Mission discussion

My immediate thought was to play tough and try to get into the robot battles. Befriend the gang and gain some street /building rep. we have a drone user so we can probably participate no?
befriending some thugs would also help with disappearing in a crowd of lowlifes (as opposed as fighting through them or disappearing in a crowd of dead bodies)

Putting this here so they are all in the same place.

Don't decide what you are carrying yet. Wait till you see what you need and declare it at the time you need it.

Don't decide what you are carrying yet. Wait till you see what you need and declare it at the time you need it. Even if you are sure you will want something, wait; things might turn out differently to how you thought, and this represents your character's better understanding of the situation/world.

When you do declare them, you will need to tell us what your special Bullets do.
Makes sense.
I started with that, but spellcheck insists it is wrong. The fingers still want to type the 'v'. :)
Are they are literate enough to care? :)
Could do. What sort of arrangement? And how do you guys arrange it? Does anyone have any contact with this insular group?

The Lowlifes have been unable to get into the higher levels. I am not sure you want to let them in, but --if you don't care about the consequences to others-- they could serve as a distraction and chaos factor.

A promise to leave the barrier down afterwards so they can have access would be welcomed. Unless this is subtle, the High-levelers will put effort into restoring it.

Definitely a way into the lower levels. Could also serve as a distraction while the rest work on the barrier?

This drone probably would not even count towards the Load since it is brought in as part of the legwork and probably left in the arena.
Sure. How would (or did) you do that?
Quite true, only the dead can easily blend in with the dead. :)

@vagueGM, if you don't mind can we get a "this is what the area looks like" in the RP channel? Like, as we walk toward to ground level what are we seeing; what's the vibe?

@vagueGM, if you don't mind can we get a "this is what the area looks like" in the RP channel? Like, as we walk toward to ground level what are we seeing; what's the vibe?

Absolutely. I will add that (or ask for such details from the players) as soon as we know what we are doing, or looking at, or who all is there.

I had assumed there was little or no foot traffic since they are tagged as 'unknown' and 'insular', but that might change if we say we have established a connection with them. So I did not add such descriptions yet.