Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 A business representative has approached your organization. You run a group of fanatics who will risk life and limb so that the organization gets paid. You are offered a sum of $500,000 for your group if you go into a busy News Broadcast Station, make a ghost image of a particular computer, transmit and get confirmation that the information has been retrieved, and then remove all information from the computer so that it is impossible to recover. The process for getting that taken care of is going to take at least a solid hour, two to be safe. And as this is a busy public building, you are going to be noticed. A bomb threat would clear the building quickly. If you had a hostage situation, it would keep the cops at a safe difference. However, this is Millenium City, and the cops are not the problem. You absolutely MUST complete the operation on the fifth (of six) floor regardless as to what happens. So it is time to sit down and brainstorm. What do you do to assure that any superheroes that show up, don't stumble upon something taking place that shouldn't be on the fifth floor of a six story building? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Find out which IT company does the data recovery services and tape backups for this place, and mug them for a uniform and a work order. Or hire a shapeshifter. Or fug, mind-control the damn tech. /Always/, the best way to fuck with somebody's machine is in broad daylight, in full view of God and everyone -- and with them thinking you're the service tech. That way, you're invisible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Okay, prep time. Learn all you can about the building, who works there, etc. Then study possible pawns. What villains are in MC right now ? Can they be hired, or better yet, tricked into making a major distraction else where? Let slip 'false' information so if the heroes try to interogate our flunkies, they head off on the completely wrong trail. This should occupy the Champions amd other heroes somewhat, while infiltration of the facility can begin, preferably by subterfugue, with a back up plan of faking a terrorist group ready to "Blow up the building and us with it unless our demands are met" to delay long enough to get the job done if need be. For the Faux demands, make them psuedo reasonable, but not easy to do right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Or, there's an alternative. My two mission objectives are: * backup this computer * make sure nobody else can use this computer again, right? ... so why does the computer need to stay in the office? Bust in, grab it, and haul ass before the heroes show up. Then do the hour-long data-rip in the safety of our base. (ObSf -- Peter O'Donnell's _The Impossible Virgin_, wherein our heroes crack the 'uncrackable' safe in the villain's house -- a job that would've required 12 careful hours of safecracking, on a very heavily-alarmed and patrolled property -- by knocking in the house's wall with a wrecking ball, scooping up the fallen safe with a bulldozer, and driving off with it in a truck. And then they spent a leisurely four hours opening it at home. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session The problem is traceable evidence. They want all information on the machine (ghost imaging) and they want the machine wiped clean so that it is impossible to get the information back. Here is a little bit of information from the guy behind the ploy. He wants the information from the computer without drawing attention to the fact it was taken. The person who uses this computer is not going to be going to his computer for a while. By leaving the computer there, by the time someone realizes something has happened to the computer, it is far too late. Stealing the computer or physically destroying the computer draws attention to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Still doesn't work. If it's impossible for the target to reconstruct the evidence once it's been stolen, then 'attracting attention' ceases to be a concern. Plus, if it's evidence on him, why does he need a ghost? Besides, all you'd have to do then is make it look like an ordinary theft. And before you get frustrated with me for being a scenario-breaking SOB, ask yourself this -- who do you want hitting you with these questions first, me or your players? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session By leaving the computer there, by the time someone realizes something has happened to the computer, it is far too late. Stealing the computer or physically destroying the computer draws attention to it. Why not just walk in as the tech guy, swap computers, and walk out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session That's what *I* wanna know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session By leaving the computer there' date=' by the time someone realizes something has happened to the computer, it is far too late. Stealing the computer or physically destroying the computer draws attention to it.[/indent'] Why not just walk in as the tech guy, swap computers, and walk out? All computers have a MAC Address that is unique. They could swap the computer though, that is something I can definitely consider. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckB Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session By leaving the computer there' date=' by the time someone realizes something has happened to the computer, it is far too late. Stealing the computer or physically destroying the computer draws attention to it.[/indent'] Why not just walk in as the tech guy, swap computers, and walk out? Maybe the mastermind of this scheme is a megalomaniac. Also, instead of removing all the info, howsabout replacing it with disinfo and/or a virus ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session > All computers have a MAC Address that is unique. Incorrect -- All *network cards* have a MAC address that is unique. (The exception is motherboards with integrated LAN support, like Intel's D865PERL-L, at which point the network card is part of the motherboard.) Furthermore, unless you're using a wireless protocol with the 'Identify user by MAC address' on, nobody ever *looks* at the MAC address. On an office LAN, users are authenticated by their domain logon account, and the vast majority use dynamic IP addressing so the routers know which machines to talk to. And hell, if you can reach the desktop (in admin) of the machine you're swapping out, you can easily read even static IP settings and write 'em down. Not to mention that even if you can't swap the whole machine, it's five minutes and a Phillips screwdriver to just open 'er up, take out the hard drive, and put in the hard drive with any data on it that you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session First, the computer belongs to a person who has been missing for a month. If a computer technician comes in to do service on the computer it will definitely be noticed. Second, yes I could use a "during the day" mission, but the players are the Heroes and I could just write this off as background plot. I'd rather set it up as something happens that the Heroes deal with and while they are dealing with it, right under their nose something else is happening. The computer has little chance of being turned on for a while. If it is realized that someone felt that information needed to be erased, it will point the police in a certain direction. While two weeks from now, pointing the police in that direction is not going to have much effect, immediately getting the police in that direction will cause unnecessary complications. Lets say that the reporter had five stories over the last month before he disappeared. Everyone assumes it was his most recent story that was behind his disappearance because he was on it when he went missing. But if it becomes clear that the files on his computer were related to the disappearance, the police will start looking at his four previous stories. So the person who is behind this, wants the information at any costs, but does not under any circumstances what the police suddenly looking into the last four stories that reporter was on until enough time has passed. Did I clarify that better? Sorry for making this so confusing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session > First, the computer belongs to a person who has been missing for a month. > If a computer technician comes in to do service on the computer it will > definitely be noticed. ... he's been missing for a month? That makes it even *easier*! "Hi, I'm from IT. I'm here to take Bob's computer back to storage, seeing as how, uhhh, he's not working here any longer..." I don't even need to fake an external work order for this one, I just have to figure out how to convincingly pass for the company's IT Help Desk Guy. ... yes, IRL, I worked in IT. [snip] > So the person who is behind this, wants the information at any costs, but > does not under any circumstances what the police suddenly looking into > the last four stories that reporter was on until enough time has passed. This does clarify the situation, but it still doesn't change the fact that the Help Desk Infiltration is by far the best bet. Strategically, the best deceptions are those that show the oppposition only what they normally expect to see there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session I agree. And if this was a shadowrun style game and the players were trying to get that information, that would in fact be perfect. However, if I declare in the background of the world that it happened this way, the players will never connect the fact that this person disappeared and mysteriously there was a terrorist situation at the same spot. I'm trying to drop subtle clues to the players as to what is going on. So while your plan does work perfectly, it doesn't give me an episode to run and I'd need to come up with something entirely different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckg Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Simple. Change one thing about the scenario... ... they don't know /where/ in his office that the reporter stashed the evidence. If they have to stay and search the place to finally find the Flash RAM stick stuffed inside the plastic baggie buried in the soil soil of the flowerpot, that's an excuse for them to have to hang around an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session However' date=' if I declare in the background of the world that it happened this way, the players will never connect the fact that this person disappeared and mysteriously there was a terrorist situation at the same spot. I'm trying to drop subtle clues to the players as to what is going on.[/quote'] Okay, there's gotta be a way to wrangle a playable plot out of this! SS, what do you mean by "there was a terrorist situation at the same spot" ? The same spot as a location in the reporter's previous story? (Just trying to get enough info to help brainstorm.) --d Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Wait-- ChuckG and I overlapped. I like what he said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caris Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Or add in the possibility of hard copies of the files in the office. This might work over all, but this would than lend itself to performing some sort of mass vandalism/theft. This would create the situation of hiding the data in a large mass of possibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caris Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Okay, there's gotta be a way to wrangle a playable plot out of this! SS, what do you mean by "there was a terrorist situation at the same spot" ? The same spot as a location in the reporter's previous story? (Just trying to get enough info to help brainstorm.) --d I think the idea was that they were using a terrorist operation at the same location and time as cover for the theft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Simple. The Peruvian Hell Terrorists (the group I came up with) don't care about getting caught. They take jobs to raise money for an organization and while not into suicide bombing find any successful jobs that get them money as good. So they plan (or at least where I was leaning) was to go into the building. They take one floor hostage (live feed over television) and let the rest evacuate. While everyone is paying attention to the hostage negotiations (as an attempt to make even more money than they are being paid) they have a couple of men ghost and wipe the target computer. The players would be trying to infiltrate the building and stop the hostage situation. But the complication is, and the villains would realize this in advance. If they let any superheroes onto the fourth floor, they risk being caught in their true crime. So how do you make sure that the superheroes that might arrive only deal with the hostage situation and leave the other floors completely unchecked? Or do you have a completely different idea in mind that could work? My only requirements are that the setting is the Broadcast / Newspaper station and that the ghostings and wiping happen during the game session's crime of the night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caris Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session I’m still not clear on one point SS. Do you as the GM want there to be a chance that your PCs will see the theft going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Squirrel Posted August 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Yes, as a rule, I always allow a chance. I don't mind if the players discover them "wrapping up" wiping the computer. But I want to minimalize this chance. It would be more dramatic if they realize a week later game wise to go back and check out the reporter's computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caris Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session Yes' date=' as a rule, I always allow a chance. I don't mind if the players discover them "wrapping up" wiping the computer. But I want to minimalize this chance. It would be more dramatic if they realize a week later game wise to go back and check out the reporter's computer.[/quote'] So it would seem that the best thing they could do is just make the ghost and wipe the most quiet thing they are doing. They need to plan the rest of the action as completely and as normally as possible. The last thing they want to do is create either too obvious of a path for the Heros to follow (because the Heros would suspect a trap, probably) or try to force the PCs away from the area where the ghost is happening (because that would be a dead give away). It seems to me that the odds are not in favor of the office being directly on any of the obvious or inobvious means of getting through the floor that it is on. I think the best thing for the terrorists to do, is to make sure that they do not herd all the hostages into an area directly above or below the office. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted August 20, 2004 Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session All computers have a MAC Address that is unique. They could swap the computer though' date=' that is something I can definitely consider.[/quote'] Ah, ChuckG answered this well enough. If it was just the info on the computer, I'd grab the drive. If no one is even using the computer, you don't even have to replace it. Chuck's suggestions on making sure there is other stuff to find is sound. The villians could always setup an outside distraction. Have someone else hit somewhere else loudly while they do their deed quietly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Re: Villian Planning Session How good are these guys at throwing stuff? Take the floor hostage. "Randomly" pick up this guy's computer to throw through one of the windows to be able to shout at / shoot at cops. Computer lands in convertible, whose nearby driver (browsing the local newsstand) "panics", hops in his car and drives away from the dangerous situation before he gets shot by "those crazy terrorists". Have the guys on the fourth floor throw a few more computers, chairs, etc out through other windows for good measure. Drive to base. Clean out broken glass from back seat while tech team gets to work on computer, and watch the fireworks on TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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