[hal]

As the three characters got together, one worked for a shooting range in Night City known as THE MARKSMAN. Situated near a police precinct, the range saw a lot of activity at all hours of the day. As the Private Detective named Felix Mason was mourned, members of the police community as well as local community members gathered together for a benefit to be paid to the family. At $500 per entry ticket, members could contest for a prize at the competition, but that the rest of the money gathered would benefit the family. There, two coworkers of the slain man would gather together along with the range employee - to meet with Fiona Hayes, ace Reporter who , as fate might have it, was present at the time Felix Mason was killed. Her footage taken at a site would include everything pertinent to the investigation into his death, and she would provide information on why Felix was murdered. Just not who did it, or why specifically he was taken down. She didn't have all the clues herself.

What she did have - was sources telling her that BTI (Biological Technological Innovators) Inc the only company with a patented manufacturing process to make a working Vaccine for Tolliver's disease - was making vaccines that were ineffective.

As the group gathered around to try to share information, including a coroner's report on the autopsy of Felix Mason, the group discovered the hard way, that when a megacorporation sends out a hit team, they are NOT going to play it in an obvious fashion. The group had gone towards the underground basement level of the Marksman shooting range, to be able to talk in private once the benefit event was concluded.

That is when the corporate strike team hit. First, the hacker infiltrated the shooting range's computer system. Since the shooting range records all activity on its ranges, the hackers knew where their target was. Then the hacker triggered a false "Terrorist attack warning" - and then shut down not only the power to the entire building, but also the back up emergency power generators (keeping the heroes literally in the dark in an underground level f a warehouse). Their real goal? Was to flush out Fiona Hayes with a report that a hit time was on its way to taking her out. Sadly for Fiona, the hit time, consisted precisely of three individuals, a hacker, a mercenary with a LAW, and a second mercenary providing security while the LAW operator set up atop of the building with a clear line of sight to where Fiona had to go if she left the building quickly.

So now, our investigators know that if BTI gets a bad reputation of providing vaccines that don't work, it will go under because right now, that is its only claim to fame. Its patent on the process for making the only effective vaccine will be up for sale for a fraction of its value if BTI goes bankrupt. Who ever is doing this, is substituting bad vaccines for the real vaccine, and has been doing this for months. Being only able to manufacture (for now) 1,000 doses of vaccine per month, should the Tolliver's Disease epidemic spread more widely, those vaccines are going to be worth a fortune.

So, who is behind this? Why does it look as though our bad guys already have a patsy planned to shoulder the blame for what is happening? Why do the bad guys always play so unfair as to force the heroes to fight in total darkness in a basement building?

Yes, now our heroes know that they'd best get their hands on night vision gear, body armor that will let them withstand high velocity rounds, and of course, deal with technology in used in a manner they can't easily anticipate.

"nice doggie, what's his name?"

Little do they know that the dog has been implanted with a video recording system that stores all video captured via the dog's eyes. Toss in a behavioral modification chip, and poor Fido makes for the perfect spy...

so, yes, the game run was fun both as gm who got to visualize their actions, and the players who had no clue what they were walking into for the first game session.

Now, as gm, if the players want to communicate via email those questions their characters would be asking during the down time, spend time researching things on the net, and do secondary things out of the spot light, I can easily handle that during down time.

Who is buying up shares in BTI? Who stands to benefit if BTI folds? What rocket was used in the attack? Can it be traced back to its original source? Did any of the cameras nearby catch a glimpse of the attackers before the attack? Will Fiona recover from her near death experience after the Trauma Team showed up, and did a dust off - saving her from an untimely demise? Can the heroes convince their employer that a group plan for Trauma Team services is a must have benefit for the employees? Where can they find more armor.

And last but least...

can the JV team take on a varsity team and win?

Truth be told, being able to a picture from the internet and say "This is what Fiona Hayes looks like" was nice. Being able to have instant access to player character sheets at the click of a button - also nice. Being able to "whisper" information to a player whose character is the only one who should be privy to information. Nice. Having the program roll the dice for me - VERY Nice.

Ronke really deserves praise for he work he did to make GURPS playable over the net.

On that note, that concludes this after action report.