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Friends In Your Head | Forums → Posts by Boter
I don't *believe* so. If you did you'd be in the credits.
*checks said credits but also because I love the credits song*
Nope, not this one.
Also it's weird seeing my bachelor name in there now. Only been married three years and it's like, "Oh yeah."
When we get some we'll send some your way.
Hell, I've had people come to the astronomy center I used to work at from the village nearby, telling us they had witnessed UFOs. Turned out it was the french Air Force practising for Bastille Day's parade. Can't imagine what a rocket launch would do to these people.
"Well as a matter of fact, sir, what you saw was a spaceship."
I think they built it to withstand winds; more worrying is the encroaching sea because of sea level rise. They're right there.
*checks for link*
Whoo boy, actually I guess I was wrong. Reading this now, but also linked from here is, "The Biggest Threat to NASA's Future is the Ocean".
Meanwhile, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg:
“I’m convinced the first person to step foot on Mars will arrive there riding a Boeing rocket.”
It spread like plague when it first dropped, so you might have been out that week/month.
That being said thank you for posting it so I can watch it again 
I'll be using this thread to recap sessions in an abbreviated manner. I'm keeping notes too, but having something shorthand doesn't hurt and writing it down helps solidify it in my head.
Bridge Crew of the GGV Ticonderoga:
Captain: Erren-Laiyerr [NPC]
Navigation: Hawkins Kelmehkeer [BDA]
Weapons: Arcturus Reed [Alex]
Sensors: Portk-Yongen [NPC]
Internal Diagnostics: Noah Owens [Shadow]
Communications: Natasha Selminov [NPC]
Fighter Coordination: Keller-Shedeer [NPC]
Other Crew of the GGV Ticonderoga:
Fighter Hangar Technician: Michael [Toby]
Fighter Briefing Officer / Relief Fighter Coordination: Koll-Cadaav [Vapes]
The Ticonderoga was assigned to guard a security checkpoint in Earth orbit. Cargo and behavior made it apparent that Rio de Janeiro is one of many rioting hotspots. MV Forever Young was caught trying to smuggle in firearms and explosives. Captain Laiyerr ordered its destruction. Owens sabotaged maneuvering thrusters so big gun couldn't be brought to bear, just point defense. Big gun on accompanying frigate GGV Bites The Dust destroyed freighter Forever Young.
Ti was contacted by Admiral Boris Lashnikov and told to reposition over Rio and await further orders. Owens further sabotaged Ti, called out by captain.
Captain Laiyerr: "You are relieved of duty."
Owens: "No, you are!"
Owens hits Laiyerr with a comically large wrench.
Allegiances quickly show themselves. Captain calls for security. Hawkins draws firearm and supports Owens. Shedeer draws gun at Owens, is shot by Reed before he could fire. Natasha talks captain down before he can do anything more. Owens places entire ship in lockdown, sealing the bridge. Yongen stays out of it.
After subduing captain and Shedeer, crew decides to leave through subspace making it look like a malfunction (as things are actually starting to get screwed up onboard). Evacuation is sounded and all except chosen few mechanics and one fighter squadron are evacuated in escape pods.
GGV Ticonderoga drills out of the system, going to an uninhabited system. It is now adrift in space, in questionable repair, and an escape pod is floating nearby that didn't make it out in time before being dragged through.
As a reminder, we are playing tonight at 8 Eastern. Shadow, if you can remind Toby (assuming he was interested in playing?) and I'll remind Spiro.
Oooh. My wedding shoot tonight went longer than I expected (glad I recorded tomorrow's Recap episode with it before the shoot) so I'll have to catch it later, but will definitely watch.
...Oh hey, I totally never posted this.
Worked on a feature film back in '09. Had the premiere in 2011 and released it on DVD and streaming rental in 2012. Uploaded it to Vimeo to watch for free earlier this year.
I... "produced" I guess we'll say. Lead camera, lead editor, lead VFX, also one of the lead actors.
Nowadays I look at it and see that it was our foray into getting good quality audio, and in that we succeeded. It'd be a bit until we'd have enough experience with lighting to get it looking good too, so it's... not the most visually pleasing watch, but I'm still very proud of it considering our collective skill set at the time.
Hope you folks enjoy it!
Very impressive, dude.
But as you said, using energy pushes stuff around. Energy budgeting is probably one of the biggest aspects of ship combat - "I want to fire next round but if I push the engines I won't be able to."
But yeah, if you're able to join us for character creation at least for an hour or two and get a sense of things, that'd be great.
Plus character creation in this game is super easy and starship creation is definitely not hard 
Not just saying that because I made up how, I designed the system to be very streamlined. Which means it's easy to poke holes in *glares at ShadowDuelist* but it means that I as DM will just have to poke right back.
And hey, in the meantime feel free to watch some Friends in Your Dungeon stuff along the way to get a feel for the group dynamic Which will likely change a bit as we change who's running the game and change characters, obviously.
Mmmm... fresh meat.
Regan, I urge you to join for character creation if you can swing the day we go for, and a session past that; yes, we do have a group dynamic already going but new blood is always welcome.
Though the other hurdle just occurred to me, where in the world are you? Take that as hyperbolic as you like we typically play at 8PM US Eastern time; GMT-4 during Daylight Saving, -5 otherwise. If you're from the UK like your profile says, you'd be *starting* at 1AM, ending at 5. Seems like it'd be pretty late 
Next time I run a one-shot though I'll try to do it midday on a weekend (probably once wedding season is over) so you'd be more able to join.
For the rest: Sundays are likely to be a bit better, either that or a slightly later Tuesday, we'll be signing up Katyusha for obedience training starting Tuesdays.
Folder with resources for the game - the main Player's Guide as well as the Captain Sheet and Vessel Sheet.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!Asx5s_QiXO2GkbgzScotHx25PwPhLw
I don't think that I'll be able to make any sort of character sheet within Roll20 to keep track of these, though I'll try, so you'll likely be printing these and writing on them yourselves.
Alright, so at the end of our last session it felt like it was up in the air as to whether we'd be playing on Sunday or Tuesday when we start playing Burnt Skies. So, what are peoples' thoughts? My preference would be Sunday but Tuesday also works for me.
Keep in mind we're talking about returning the first week of October, so Sunday the 2nd or Tuesday the 4th would be our first day.
With each passing week I am less and less disappointed that I missed that movie.
Niiice.
Re-reading character backgrounds. Man I just missed Burnout's birthday. As in, he's an elf and relatively old and he was born a month and a day ago
He spent the night preparing things. Food, gear, repair supplies. Scrap and tools. It'd be the road trip to end all road trips and Burnout wasn't even sure if he had a destination.
The sun began to rise as clouds finally began to break up. The sky was tinged with brilliant purples and oranges and the ground itself was painted like a tapestry, seeming more dream than reality. Burnout drove out of town in his Saturn Tethys, first of its kind and holding sentimental value of his first life. He'd used it extensively in his second life, modifying it and making it his most trusted steed. And now he rode it forward to an unknown third life.
Following him by remote and pilot program was the matte grey Chrysler-Nissan Skyline R74 that he'd used to such effect two nights prior, adorned with an orange and purple Solo Jazz pattern on the sides. It'd been intended to be demolished along with the others but Burnout had done so well that he was able to make a clean break. Maybe he'd sell it down the line; with his newfound infamy, it might even command a higher price. And even if it wasn't an investment, it was still a surprisingly capable vehicle, and Burnout hated to be rid of it.
Taking up the rear was the Kenworth G460. A dark blood red cab with an as-yet unpainted trailer, it was what Burnout had fantasized about with the truck heist that had ended with the target vehicle scuttled (as cargo and occupants were airlifted by Chinook). Burnout had bought it and outfitted it as his own armored carrier and assault vehicle but had not found a use for it; perhaps he would in the space between cities. It never hurt to be careful.
This small convoy continued down roads that were abandoned, and clean pavement gave way to blown-over roadway. Dust billowed up behind the three vehicles. And in the distance behind them, gaining ground, more billowing dust followed.
Burnout checked his mirrors, then the sensor arrays on the Kenworth in back. Satisfied, he continued on his course.
A lowered Hyundai Shin-Hyung, bright green with black stripes. A heavily modified Ford Americar, bright yellow with red stripes. A Mitsubishi Striker, robin's egg blue with splatters of red suggesting blood coming up from its absurd body kit. A bone-stock Porsche Aguilar.
By twos and by threes, the street racers of Seattle formed up behind Burnout. They didn't know where he was going either. They didn't care. Some were prepared, like he was. Others weren't. A Mack Hellhound that someone else had likely loaded with supplies for the exodus was bringing up the rear.
Collectively, dozens if not hundreds of vehicles rode into the sunrise, ready to face a new day.
An hour later, Burnout was in another bar. The last one, Jimmy's, had been nice; well-lit, the kind of place suits go when they want to feel edgy but with no real excitement.
The Dirty Dipper was like Jimmy's with a goatee. Complete mirror-universe opposite. It was nominally a Shadowrunner bar; at the very least, it was easy for a runner to find work at such a place. Burnout semi-fondly reminisced about meeting with the Yakuza in a different establishment during that whole ordeal. Things turned out alright in the end but maybe this time Burnout could keep from fumbling over his own words.
It didn't help that he was still wearing the polo and slacks from his last meeting. When he'd arrived at the Dirty Dipper, the bouncer tried to tell him, "You don't belong here." Burnout just stared at him wordlessly, waiting for recognition to click into place. When it didn't, he theatrically raised his arms. Half the cars on the street had started beeping and flashing their lights*; after a few seconds, their engines rumbled to life. Finally the bouncer's eyes widened and flicked to the portable TV kept by the door, where naturally he'd had news footage from the prior night - accompanied by some surveillance photos of Burnout - playing on repeat.
Nobody else challenged him.
His eyes unfocused as he re-read the message he'd received from Sophie last night. She wasn't happy about his attack on the We Are We headquarters during the distraction.
Of course, saying she "wasn't happy" about it is as much a glorious example of understatement as saying the Dirty Dipper was "somewhat dangerous" or that the bartender had "been in some scuffles" before.
Frankly he didn't even know if Sophie'd show. He replied and told her he'd explain himself, but he wasn't sure she'd take him up on it. Truth be told, he was pretty positive she wouldn't, and part of him wouldn't have minded.
But, no - here she was now. When Burnout had first seen her she was a waif with a gun, gaunt and strung out from Bliss. Now she was a healthy, confident, and pissed off ball of energy storming his way. He braced himself as she stared him down, chewing on the inside of her cheek, before sitting across from him. The patrons who had noticed her saw who she was talking to and pointedly turned back to whatever drinks, drugs, or dregs of society they had been dealing with.
"How dare you."
"It's not what you think."
"Not what I think? You ran three cars into the building, stuffed with explosive. I call that a deliberate attack."
"Not on you. On James."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Yes, because James isn't his real name."
"Well, obviously."
"It's Lofwyr." He waits a fraction of a second for recognition to kick in. "Dragon. Head of Saeder-Krupp. You remember how I found you working for Michael? He was working for Ghostwalker. Who was working against Lofwyr and Aztechnology. And Lofwyr is still interested in stuff in this city so he co-opted We Are We and made it his own. Oh, did I not tell you? I created We Are We. A run went bad and a police station blew up and I made up the Manifesto to cover my tracks." He wasn't yelling, but Burnout put forth no effort to keep his voice down. Patrons did that thing where they lean closer to eavesdrop without actually leaning in. "It was a fake movement I made up to take the heat off of us. And then people responded, they took it. And then Lofwyr corrupted it and used it for his own personal gains."
"I don't believe you," Sophie said immediately. Burnout was hurt that she wouldn't even consider what he had said, just flat-out denied it instead.
Still, he pressed on. "And the thing that had him so interested was an artificial intelligence, which Michael had kept captive. Which got away. And which Aztechnology trapped, and kidnapped Michael. And that we worked to take away from them and destroy at the behest of Michael's boss, Ghostwalker himself. Who, did I neglect to mention, is also a dragon. And we did that last night and what I did was basically the distraction. Getting rid of the We Are We HQ was a symbolic bonus."
"I can't believe you... I looked up to you." Her eyes were welling up, but her face was still full of fire.
"I'm sorry. For what it's worth. I came to ask you two things... or two present two options. First is that you could leave it behind. This city, the dragons, the terrorism, and come with me. I don't know where I'm going, but it won't involve any of this." Her glare confirmed his suspicions that she wouldn't even consider it. "Or, you can stay here.
"You can stay here and continue your work without the corrupting influence of a dragon. Maybe be smarter about it, less suicidal. Send a message without going up in flames. That life isn't for me, but it might be right for you. You believe in something. Make it happen, and don't let anybody tell you how to do it.
"I didn't make up We Are We to be an actual movement with direction, but it still felt wrong to me somehow that Lofwyr had made it so centralized and about his agenda. Take it and decentralize it. Democratize it. Make it for the people of this city. For you. For people like you. People like Michael. People like Jackstand and Jim and even rank-and-file shirts like Brennan." He was only half-talking to Sophie and at this point was remembering the people that had helped him in his life here in Seattle. "Make We Are We count for runners like Shadowhawk and Whisper, and ex-runners like Dave. For..." he tried to remember his recent dwarf companion's name and couldn't, so he just made an expansive gesture to imply "everyone". "This place sucks, Sophie. So go. Make this movement your own, do what you want with it. Make it count."
Sophie continued to glare at him. Maybe she'd taken affront to being told how to run her terrorist organization. Or maybe she was still devastated that her hero had betrayed her so thoroughly. Burnout hoped she'd understand eventually why he did what he had done. It hurt to see the hatred in her eyes, and the tears running down her cheeks.
Finally, without a word, she stood up. Patrons pulled back but didn't make any attempt to restart the conversations they had put on hold to listen in. Sophie glared for another moment, then turned her back and headed for the door.
Burnout stood up and called, "Sophie!"
She reached the door then hesitated. She didn't turn back to him, but... maybe her head turned, slightly, toward him. Burnout idly rapped a knuckle against the table, forming in his mind the last words he might ever say to the one person he'd managed to save through this whole ordeal.
"I'm proud of you. Good luck."
She may have nodded. Burnout wasn't sure. She left the bar and the door swung closed behind her.
Again Burnout felt self-conscious about his wardrobe, and the entire establishment sitting silent, staring at him and at the ghost of his failure. He walked out, passing the bar and dropping some nuyen on the counter. "I'm afraid I won't be attending my going-away party," he said to the bartender, "but I'll cover the tab." He traced Sophie's steps outside of the bar; in the street, there was no sign of her. Just the suffocating, clouded-over sky and claustrophobic buildings laced with gridlocked traffic.
Yes. Some time away from this is exactly what he needed.
*****
*Shadow, maybe instead of "ignore limits" which are pretty damn high anyway, I could have the ability to control cars without a rigger interface? Let me know your thoughts.
Epilogue
Burnout did something he never thought he'd do in his life.
He stepped out of the cab.
He was dressed in the same business casual he'd worn to his last meeting with Brennan. The setting was different, however - a bar after the work shift, rather than a lunchtime cafe. This was partially so as to not disrupt his former workmate mid-day, and partially to sleep off the rest of the fucking-dragons-man hangover he'd incurred with Jackstand the night prior.
He spied Brennan at the bar, chatting with another straight that Burnout didn't recognize. He made his way over and motioned for a drink. The bartender popped the cap off the beer and started to hand it to Burnout, then caught his eye and stopped. "Wait... you're..."
"Yes," Burnout said softly, "and I'd appreciate it if you kept it to yourself." He dropped payment on the bar - with a tip that was more appropriate to a party of eight at the most expensive steakhouse in town - and nodded to the television, currently on a news channel replaying some of his antics from the previous night. He suppressed a smirk as they replayed the clip of the jump from one parking garage straight into another. "And don't worry, I like this place." A convenient half-truth; Burnout hadn't been a fan of the place when he was legal a lifetime ago, but allowed that it may have changed; and in either case, the bartender's shoulders loosened up and he slid Burnout's beer the rest of the way to him, then went to switch the channel to troll league baseball.
The guy that was talking to Brennan had moved away, so Burnout slid over to take his spot. Brennan glanced over then did a double-take followed by a spit-take. "Jesus. What the hell, man?"
"Would you believe it was a disagreement over taco trucks?" He nodded toward an empty booth and started towards it.
Brennan hung at the bar for a minute, already regretting being about to follow him, and downed the last of his drink. He tailed Burnout to the booth and snatched the Shadowrunner's beer from his hands before he could take a sip and got started on it. "Start talking," he said, when he finally came up for air.
"The matter I asked you about last time. A had it, S-K wanted it, and G wanted to keep it from both of them."
Brennan took a minute to parse the abbreviations for Azetechnology, Saeder-Krupp and Ghostwalker, respectively. "And you thought it'd be a good idea to get tangled up in them? What did I tell you?"
"We were already sorta tangled." He pulled out a paper and turned it to the inside of the second section. "While the news is all concerned about my escapades, they - and most of the military - were ignoring the prison out here where the battle for the research was going on. I was the distraction while they... destroyed the AI." He only hitched slightly and fortunately Brennan didn't seem to notice.
"So now what? Congratulatons, Felix, everyone knows about 'Burnout' and you can't go anywhere in this city without someone wanting to turn you in. Hell, there are probably other Shadowwhatevers taking on contracts to bring in your head. So what do you plan on doing, dying again?"
"Considered it. Considered retiring Burnout and bringing back Felix, revealing the death certificate as a fake, something or other. Not quite sure yet. Go back to the quiet life."
"Yeah, good luck with that here. Too many people would recognize you, I think." Brennan took a swig and saw the look Burnout was giving him. "And no, you can't use me as a reference, and I won't be putting in a recommendation for you to come back." He let a small smirk touch his lips. "Your show car last night was a Chrysler-Nissan. Not even giving us good press, man."
Burnout laughed. "Only 'cause I didn't want to risk the Saturn." He smiled as silence passed between them. On the TVs, a steel-reinforced baseball punched through the outfield wall, but underneath where it would normally be ruled a home run; after a moment's deliberation, it was called a ground-rule double and the commentators talked about it and other rules that would go into effect next season.
"You've gotta get out of town."
"Yeah."
"It's not that I don't enjoy these social calls," Brennan said, finishing the beer. "But just talking to you after all you've done is enough excitement in my life. Your life ain't for me, and my life ain't for you any longer either."
Burnout just nodded, then refocused on a display on his cybereyes for a second. "I need to get going. Got another goodbye to say."
"Right." Brennan and Burnout got up and shook hands. "I kind of wish I'd known you better before you died. The first time, that is. Then I'd be getting asked about you more."
"I hear the press gets suffocating," said Burnout with a smile. "Take care."
"No. I'll be fine. You take care."
Burnout tossed off a salute, walked out, and hailed another cab.
This had been fine. Fun, even. He was not looking forward to the next conversation.
[more to come]
I haven't set anything there but I could certainly come up with it.
Canon is that the Coalition wins. If you want to play Government you can, but I'll be stacking it against you as it goes on Won't be impossible, just hard.
(For that matter, so would piracy - a famous pirate is a hunted pirate.)
Okay, so looks like we're looking at the Burnt Skies RPG. Everyone pilots a giant capital ship!
What I want to know is what people want to do. There are a few options.
Civil War
The oppressed Coalition of Worlds rebels against the Galactic Government. Play either side, though unless you guys try *really* hard I'll be trying to keep the course of the war relatively canon.
Mopping Up
The war has finished. The Coalition has won and is creating the New Government. But holdouts from the Old Government are still trying to keep their grasp on the galaxy, or at least their little corner. Recommend playing the New Government.
Reconstruction
Five years later, the galaxy has mostly settled into the New Government's way of things. However, pirates and smugglers still abound. Now that the New Government has legal control over known space, it's time to deal with the illegals. Play as New Government or a pirate gang; if pirate, starting with one ship and capturing more from there.
Underwater photo shoot behind the scenes video? Underwater yadda yadda.
Fun fact: a GoPro underwater has a severely impacted field of view. >.<
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