Heist in The Heights [OOC]

We can chat about it if you want, but it will become clear enough once the dice come out. It is hard to explain without examples so we may as well use real ones.
When the_cava is back we can deal with that. If you are still working on the barrier, we can have them play out some of the bot-battle which will affect what happens with your part of the job. No matter when it happens, we can assume that Kamisori finds a way to join you on the other side.

We don't need to see that happen, but we can if we want and if there is time. Flashbacks are also an option for this sort of thing, or we just handwave it and say it happened offscreen.
That might work. Not a bad cover story.

Can we hire One Punch Man to punch a hole through the wall? Lol. So just to make sure I'm understanding, there's a physical barrier into the building, and the panel to access the locking mechanism is on the inside of the barrier? How does anyone pass the barrier normally?

Punching through the wall could be viable. Or there may be some other way through that the Lowlifes had not been able to achieve. You are all uniquely suited to this job (that is why you were hired, after all) so implausible solutions that rely on something special about your characters are acceptable.
The wealthy higher-ups installed a barrier between the section where they live and the rest of the world. They don't want to deal with the rest of the world.
No one passes the barrier. The Lowlifes have been trying to get through, but (officially) no one has had any success in all the years since the disconnect.
If there is one, that is your speculation. The high-Levelers don't want anyone from this side getting past.

There may be some overlooked point where wires to the control panel can be accessed from this side, or there may be some way to get access to the other side (vents or ducts or something?). Maybe Miles, your stealth/mobility/infiltrator partner, can help with getting physical access?

My apologies, I've had a few hectic days, I'm getting up to date now.

No worries. You warned us you would be a bit no the slow side. I separated you from the group, and those two scenes can each run at their own pace.

Let me know if I should put them in their own threads.

Everyone other than Kami is already at/near the barrier, unless you decide you would be part of the distracting fight rather than the barrier work.
That can be useful. It will allow the others to focus their full attention on the job without having to also worry about being discovered.

We will find you something to do if you do that, it can run that at your pace as well, and look to wrapping up that scene whenever the others are ready.
While not impossible, that would be a hard thing to do, as it is 'a secret'. Unless we want to focus on that angle as our way in, we can leave it for now.
Could be. Though if the Lowlifes knew about something wrong they may have found a way in, which they 'officially' haven't.

Blank could've come up with a chemical concoction--a spray that eats away at the barrier making it ripe for physical force to finish it off!

Could be. The Lowlifes have spent years trying to get though, so it would need to be some special chemical concoction to do anything in a reasonable time. :)

Maybe you guys are able to use the plans to find a place where you can burn a small hole to get access to the wires, or something less implausible than eating away a hole big enough to force your bodies through.

This could need teamwork between Blank's concoction, Miles' infiltration, and Winson's hacking to pull off.

Transposed from RP
Maybe? Anything you leave behind could still count as part of the calculation about how 'obvious' you are, it is evidence. Leaving it in a place where they would expect (as spoils of a lost fight?) would reduce the obviousness of the evidence, of course.
And you think Otter is involved? How on earth did he get himself into the The Heights with the Lowlifes? They are famous for not having dealings with outsiders (though your being here means this is not always true).
Wow! Really? Generous. If so, there is more going on here than Kamisori suspects. I have some ideas for what, but she won't like them. :)
The Lowlifes have no way of getting higher up the building. If this on offer it would have to come from the High-Levelers and changes the dynamic. If they know that higher access is on offer they will, literally, kill for that, so it ups the stakes of winning the fight.
And might mean we have to wait for you and your fight before we can go in. I think we should say 'no'. A distraction is enough, till they get past the barrier.

True, unless they don’t have access to the original blueprints. Then I guess any "obvious" modification would be easier to spot (like new walls or missing rooms). But we can explore that if the others need it 😁

They do not. You guys are special.

Viable options. You have the blueprints, possible chemicals, and the other players' help, this should not be all that hard.
There may be a weak point on level lower.

Possibly all you need is access to some wires that run too close to a duct or ceiling? I had thought that navigating and hacking the control system might be a challenge, I had not expected us to get stuck at the question of how do you get access.

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Let's assume that you are all good at your jobs and had a plan for this based on pre-mission legwork.

What sounds interesting for how your characters would overcome the first problem?

It seems I have accidentally created an impenetrable barrier with that impenetrable barrier. Whoops.

I am not a fan of telling the players what their characters do. But maybe --and purely as an example-- I should start this off by forcing some actions on them?

BitD gives players a lot of freedom but does not work well when we fixate on the small things (which is a matter of perspective, and I messed up that part).

It does sound like we actually have a plan:

Kamisori has distracted the general populace enough to get you here. She is in the arena and trying to decide if she wants to play for as much time as she can or is going to try for the win. There are bragging rights; and a nice bump to her rep (good for retirements); and the prize 'money' which is small compared to the mission, but does not need to be split (or mentioned), and could well be a guaranteed thing given how the competition has been so far (But what's up with Otter?). Going for the win might endanger the mission, but who can tell... and who would know.

D. is on guard duty, keeping everyone away. But there may be unexpected travellers in the area.

Solovei is on overwatch, also helping keep people away and warning about unexpected wanderers.

Miles has crawled though miles of vents to get the location and has melted (drilling would set off vibration sensors?) a hole through the ceiling of the vent and the floor above to get to signal wires.

Winston is connecting via remote-wired-terminal to the system. There is limit to how long these wires can be, and wireless signals are blocked/scrambled, so he needs to be close, but crawling though vents is hard on an old body, so maybe he is not as close --or as hidden-- as he wants to be for the best signal time?

Blank is tailoring the chemicals to melt through the ducting but not the wiring... but age has made the wires a bit more reactive than the plans suggested so he is having to improvise, at a distance?

• Should I just go ahead and define the above as facts in the RP?

Sure, that's fine by me.

Same! Sounds good to me.

I'm good with it.

Does our crew have any way of communication? Either some kind of short range comms, or can we just text each other?

I thought about asking the same thing, but figured there was no reason to disallow it, so I established that Blank could see the overly-melting wires on a video feed from Miles. This was mainly so that Blank's player could start reacting without waiting to be told by Miles' player.

This is a high-tech world, so instant comms and connectedness seems par for the course. If we want to add challenges later we can easily introduce communications scramblers in some areas..

That said, Miles is in the thick of it. So having him take the lead and tell the others about the problem is apropos.

Winston:

There is risk of detection, so looking around requires a roll. Presumably with Smartness and Hacking?

Though maybe you want to use Caution instead of Smart? Doing so will be 'safer' but not yield as good discovery results (in addition to giving you one less dice).

What are you trying to do?
• Gain higher privileges in this system? That might make future actions easier, but does not directly advance your progress.
• Looking for passwords/credentials? That might be useful later, either later on this job, or afterwards for resale value. This will not directly advance your progress.
• Looking for door controls? This will directly advance your progress (tick the Clock for Opening the Door).

The Clocks for this would vary based on your approach (which is more than just the Approach, but also based on how you choose to do things). Maybe a 4-segment clock to go 'right for it', along with a competing 4-segment clock for them to notice you; or, both of those could be 6-segment clocks if you are being cautious (it takes you longer, but you are less likely to trip any alarms)?

As per the rules, any of those actions would probably start at 2 Threat and 2 Effect (but we can discuss that once we know which/what you are trying). I don't see them having any Edge, but you might. If you do, then that could be used to adjust the Threat or Effect in your favor.

You can also choose to shift both Threat and Effect level up or down by one before you roll (what you do to one you do to the other).

Good results on the dice ticks the Open the Door Clock by the Effect amount, bad results tick the Alert Clock by the Treat amount. Middling results tick both (there may be other consequence, so some of the Threat amount might do something other than tick the clock (and you might be able to split you Effect as well, in some situations)).

If you can apply an Edge, and then also shift things up a gear, you can reach 4 Effect and possibly complete the 4-Clock on one roll, but you also increase the cost or consequences you will receive if you roll less than a 6.

Rolling a Critical (two 6s) could also complete a 4-Clock in one go from Effect level 3 (from Edge or shift) at lower risk/cost.

If you can arrange for there to be 0 Threat (maybe Edge to reduce it to 1 and then shift both down) you don't need to roll (there is no threat, after all). But that probably means low Effect as well, and time is a danger/resource.


Did you arrange to install any specific/specialised programs on your cyberdeck for this part of the job? They could give you an Edge if you use them.

Each time you use a particular program the system has a chance of recognising it. As part of the consequences we may tick a clock (bigger safety clocks for more bespoke programs), and when it is full: using that program will immediately be recognised and raise an alert.

You might be able to reset these tracking clocks by hacking the Track and Trace systems (or by moving to unrelated systems that don't share threat information), or by using other software. But all those will possibly require more software and/or risky actions.

If the software seems obvious to have brought we can assume you have it. If its need is based on specific situations you encounter, you will need to show us --in a flashback-- how/why you arranged to get it. The more specialised, unexpected, or powerful the software the more Stress the Flashback will cost. Flashbacks may involve dice rolls.

Please ask questions. This is a lot of sudden mechanics. :)