[MM3]Sunstormers - OOC

[Tony Jones]

I was hoping the stuff Helen is doing isn't canon. Because yes, otherwise she is very much doing Nemesis' work for her...

[Neo-Paladin]

The things she is doing in the main IC thread are very much canon.

[Shadowmask]

Helen doesn't even know this Nemesis exists and Al Jun mean absolutely nothing to her neither as she wasn't informed about it anyway.

[Tony Jones]

That's what I was afraid of...

[jmucchiello]

And I see Officer Paladino and the agents are well on their way to be doing Nemesis' job for her...Perfect...just perfect *steeples fingers*

Again, I don't see the rest of the group ever teaming up with Office Paladino.

[jmucchiello]

The things she is doing in the main IC thread are very much canon.

I too wasn't expect what she was doing to be canon. There's a lot of stuff in those posts that should be GM posts.

[kenmadragon]

Sorry, haven't posted in a while. Internet issues have made work a nightmare that's occupied much of my time since I have to work around spotty connections and still get assignments done on time.


Did have a point of note about the Agent's comments though - "burner phones" are not illegal. They can be used for illegal things, sure, but they themselves are not illegal to buy/sell/own. Heck, the only thing that makes a phone a "burner" is how you plan on using it - otherwise, it's just a regular old pre-paid cellphone. Millions of people use pre-paid cellphones for various reasons - either because they plan to use it in case of emergencies when they lose their main phone, or to stash in emergency kits, or as their main means of communications given poverty and/or income insecurity makes a monthly-plan more troublesome to deal with, as a means of finding help out of an abusive home-situation, etc etc.

So, there isn't really a "black market" for burner phones - they're not illegal. The only aspect of burner phones that could be "black market" would be falsifying identities for use in making the prepaid plans - so that whoever pays for the plan isn't using their real name on the application/payment. That's more in the region of Fraud, and is pretty tricky to catch because phone companies don't usually care enough to check on that stuff, and the resources required to actually catch ID fraud for purchasing pre-paid cellphone plans is far more expensive than it's worth. Also, catching that kinda fraud after the Sunstorm is going to be an IT nightmare after the Sunstorm ruined global telecommunications infrastructure. After all, much of the internet's vast archives were likely lost in the wake of the Sunstorm as well, as the servers hosting all those websites and data stores were affected by the energy waves ravaging the planet.



Also, Helen has now justified Sunny's paranoia regarding the need to keep secret identities secret. Sure, he doesn't know that IC, but as the player, I am feeling the vindication of being right! Ha!

[Tony Jones]

The things she is doing in the main IC thread are very much canon.

I too wasn't expect what she was doing to be canon. There's a lot of stuff in those posts that should be GM posts.

Agreed.

Also, by going her own way she seems to be getting far more done than those of us playing cooperatively. But this devolving into five individual games is not how I would want this game to go...

[jmucchiello]

Frankly, the sweetest little old lady government recruitment officer could sweet talk Deborah into looking into government sponsorship. But seeing Helen in the room would be a 100% deal breaker.

[jmucchiello]

Frankly, when I say I don't this becoming a team with Helen on it, the sweetest little old lady government recruitment officer could sweet talk Deborah into looking into government sponsorship. But seeing Helen in the room would be a 100% deal breaker.

[Tony Jones]

Very much so. "I wouldn't want to be on any team whose standards are low enough to accept her."

[pathfinderq1]

Regarding phones, I was operating under the general idea that if it is used "in the field" you have to pay for it, but if it is "off stage" you don't- thus you can have a house, car, whatever for no Equipment cost, but if you use a motorcycle to ride around in your hero ID, it will cost you. I'll have Vickie stop by Walmart or something and pick up a cheap prepaid phone (and start a separate list of unpaid equipment), and I'll probably have her call Khemis soonish (tomorrow, looking at the clock now).

Regarding Helen, if the stuff in this thread is on a similar timeline, her agent friends do seem to be moving awfully fast (especially by government standards, since getting the feds to do anything organized usually takes forever)- almost as if someone (or something) was advising/organizing/influencing them... (insert ominous music)

I'm not exactly one to complain, since I have also been up to no good off stage, but I have been trying to stay in the character vignette phase rather than pushing more global issues. But what I mean is "That Officer Paladino sure is nice, and I certainly wouldn't want to get on her bad side..." Right? Right? All you anti-Sunstorm police and federal agents? Nothing to see here, just normal people doing normal law-abiding things...

[Neo-Paladin]

The thing is, what is happening in those posts is perfectly in line with how I envisioned things to go. Also, I encourage worldbuilding from my players, always have. If anyone went overboard during their own posts, I would let them know, but so far, no one has.
As for the agents moving fast...well...Helen has been told who they were and shown credentials that she chose to believe. But who knows....

[Tony Jones]

As I understand it the thing with a burner phone is that you buy it with cash (or get someone else to buy it for you) then there's no paper trail between the owner and the phone, which is obviously useful for the purposes of crime...

[Tony Jones]

Anyone caught illegally helping the Sunstormers...

Pretty sure they're on extremely shaky legal ground here! Sunstormers are not currently a legally defined group, and how do you make helping another human being illegal without such a definition?

But defining a group based on something out of their control smacks of racism. I would hope the civil liberties implications of any such thing would get them thrown out of court, or at least tied up there for a good long time!