Heist in The Heights [OOC]

I will mark Solovei as having a Normal loadout (I'll also try to get an IC post up later this evening)

I marked a Normal loadout, too.

So, do we have any plan ideas? That would help us focus our preparation. I think some ideas so far are disguising as guards, or hiding inside a package. I guess two other "traditional" ideas would be sneaking upon the guards to either get past them unnoticed, or take them out silently. Maybe we could also try to spot a somewhat lightly barricaded opening that is either less visible from the main entrance or the guards do not patrol there often, and try to sneak and remove the barricade or laser-cut a hole to enter. Or maybe climbing to a window somewhere on the first floors, either from the road or from a nearby building.

I like your thought on laser cut entry!

Just posted on my hacking stuff to get more information on the building, the medical company, and any security they may have we aren't aware of yet. Laser cutting definitely sounds cool lol

If we can decide how the characters got in, we can jump to the action. This game is not designed for extensive pre-mission legwork. I have had to lift the Gather Information rules from Blades since this does not include any, so this decision can not really be made in RP.

We know you got in, so we can assume whatever strategy we come up with worked (there is no Engagement Roll). We can deal with details of how --or how well-- in Flashbacks if needed.

If we all actually want to play out the legwork phase, we can do that, but we have to decide to deviate from the rules, not just stumble along.

By the rules you need to tell me how your team would want to approach this, and then we Come in Hot. I don't want to create a starting situation your characters would not have ended up in.

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We have had a suggestion that we have our Drone Pilot get us into the lower levels as a robot fighting crew. This could also serve as a distraction while the others tackle the barrier.

Both Blank and .D might have a 'medical' way into the lower levels. Thought this would embroil you in trade negotiations.

There has been talk about scaling the outside walls. This could bypass the whole Lowlife area. This could also backfire and get your into a loud firefight with security as we start.

'Laser cutting' through an unwatched Lowlife barrier is also an option. We would need to work out (play out?) how you got such a powerful laser, but that could also be your intended way past the barrier to the high levels?

You could even try laser cutting into a window above that separation barrier and then ziplining in from a neighbouring building.

There are many options.

We might need a fallback option in case we decide on something risky and it fails.

There is not much time pressure, but you also probably can't take weeks. The client wants to reverse-engineer the device before it goes to market.

Sorry I didn't get we have found a way into the building. I thought "You are now at The Heights, and in the thick of it." meant we are in the Heights area (maybe at the entrance, parking lot, underground station etc.) trying to gain access inside. So yeah, no need to play the legwork in detail, we can jump to the action, that's fine by me.

No, no. My fault.

We can start anywhere we want, so outside the building still works, it is a little soft though, not quite fitting with the 'coming in hot' aspect of CBR+PNK.

PbP messes with the timing, and I wanted to get some setting/mission background stuff started so we could have something to anchor our discussions on. In a live game a few questions about how the team would get in would take a minute or two, in PbP it can take a long time, which is not what we want in a oneshot.

FitD's system of relying on Flashbacks takes some getting used to as well. And this one removed the Engagement Roll that Blades uses to delineate the 'you are now in a mission' moment (since, by design, it is all one mission).

My attempt to speed things along just may have slowed them down. But that happens in PbP. :)

Yeah, it's a very different system and I feel we are trapped in the prep and explanation phase rather than the action. Maybe give us a narrative post about where we are, how we got there, and what our current problem/goal is so we can react from there. Something like "You've all disguised yourselves as an illegal robot-fighting team. You're in the underground level and just made it through the first level of security, the gangers-cum-guards. You stand in front of the elevators. What do you do?" Something like that maybe.

Which is, ironically, precisely what Blades was trying to avoid. The number of times people have ended up trapped in prep has only gone up with new Blades players. :)

I think the whole paradigm shift of launching into descriptions without knowing how we got there trips us up at first. Some groups also just enjoy prep, in which case, Blades can do it fine with a little massaging.
I don't get to decide 'how you got there'. Once you guys decide that, I can set the scene, hopefully in enough detail for you to be able to run with it, but if not, ask for more details.
If that is our chosen way in. It does sound like it from Kamisori's RP.

• Do we want to go with that approach? Everyone should answer.

That approach works for me and has lots of room to accommodate all the contact suggestions--i.e., we're in, let's start finding our contacts

Good point. Some extra 'finding' can also be done in Flashbacks (most of them zero-cost) but this also means we don't have to bother with finding any contacts we don't end up using.

Yeah that approach actually sounds good! We can just go with it.

I quite like the robot fighting idea as well :)

Yes, fighting robots is an awesome way to get in so it gets my vote.

From the RP I will take it CESN is happy with the robot fight entry strategy. We can try to work the smuggling angle into things by the end, but won't focus on that if we are not using it as our approach (oneshot timeframes).

@the_cava, I will give this a few more hours before assuming you are good with it, then split the party up a bit to help with pacing.

I am open to any 'clever' cyberpunk appropriate ideas about how to get the Winston access to the port on the other side of the barrier.

This probably requires a few steps so there will be a clock or two. The difficulty of the clocks will depend on what you are trying to do. As examples:

• Bring down the Barrier.
• Bring down the Barrier while not letting the Lowlifes in.
• Keep the lowlifes off you back.
• Keep the lowlifes off you back and away from or ignorant of the barrier work.

Your drone operator is busy, so you will have to rely on your own abilities. But someone is going to have to help our not-very-Mobile hacker. :)

Noted.
Probably two more ticks on the clock. :)
That answer is not very helpful at this early stage of learning. It is definitely doable, you will need to take some precautions to avoid being seen, but the distraction of the bot fight makes that possible.
We can assume you made it to the barrier without being noticed, so most people are elsewhere.
You can describe what you have needed to do to try maintain that secrecy, and if you ran into (and fear running into, again) anyone who was not at the fight, or any precautions you have taken to prevent someone walking by from noticing you, your work, or the aftermath of your work during the mission.

These steps, and the need to work more discretely probably account for the extra needed ticks on the clock.

As this is a location where the Lowlifes have worked --from time to time-- to try get through the barrier, we can assume there are no people living here (if they live in the corridors at all), and there might be machinery from their previous attempts around here (this might be useful to you --even if only obliquely-- but is not anything you 'planned' on, since you are unlikely to have had a way to know what was up here (or, you will have to tell us how you did learn this)).

Ok sounds good, I'm not sure yet how the clock system works in game, but let's find out. Do we need a way for Kamisori to join us? How is she going to leave unnoticed? Maybe if she comes with us, and lets the bot lose on purpose, people will think that the whole group just left because they were losing, or ran away to avoid paying possible bets?