Al's a dick

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Hah - no argument there.

But who's the bigger dick, the dick or the dick that runs with him?

I got through Al's story, or at least the end of his time with Honesty and his near death experience. Fantastic read, all pulled together beautifully. I'd recommend it to anyone, as it is simply a well done tale. (I was just skipping through to follow Al's story, so no slight intended to any of the other writers--there is probably more great stuff in there but I just didn't make time to read it yet).

But, it is making me think that making rusty a dog adept, and having amnesia is a bit unfair (asking you to create background for another dog adept). So I'll take a hard look and see if I can keep the feel of the character without having both of those things together.

But don't dogs run in packs....

So what you are suggesting is Al as alpha dog and role model for a young adept who barely knows what it is to be human? Yah, can't see any problems with that at all .... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) .

(Funny thing is that I suspect that Al might be at least as horrified by the idea as anyone)

Al would probably just call you a hippy.

Barring anything unforeseen, he won't have much direct presence when I'm GMing - too self-indulgent, and besides that his late-2075 self is pretty much all filled in.

But I appreciate again your kind words about my story.

I didn't expect Al to show up, I was just riffing off of DireRadiant's comment -- or was trying to do so on Monday morning, so not being very clever about making clear I was just joking around.

Adamu: I have a question. What are your feeling about qi tattoos (foci) and shapechanging? Do they survive it? Are they useable while shapechanged? Can they be seen while shapechanged?

And some more random notes / things I’ve learned while looking at different takes on Rusty:

- In SR5 wolves and large cats both have body 6. That the average wolf has a body higher than the average orc surprised me, I admit. Makes for an interesting choice for Shapechange – body of 4 so you can be a large predator, or body of three so you can be something small and innocuous? (can only go into shapes +/-2 body from your own).
- Would be a shame to have shapechange and wolf totem, but not be able to change into a wolf. Mechanically there is nothing wrong with it, but it sure doesn’t feel right, so if I went with Wolf I think I’d want to go with body 4.
- It is hard to come up with reasons why a bear would be roaming around the city. Need to look at some alternate forms for that totem—mechanically not as good a fit as Dog, but +2 damage soak dice is never a bad thing to have.
- Chummer doesn’t think that an adept should be able to take focussed concentration. Need to go home and read the actual rule book to see whether I need to plead for a liberal reading of things or not.

NPCs going up on the Wiki section of OP! Keep them coming! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Once created there they can be 'linked' into your bios to make them easier to find in connection with your character!

That was convenient timing -- I put up a preliminary character sheet and background for Rusty, and was able to link in the contacts named to date. (There is more work to be done in terms of formatting, character details, and contacts -- but Rusty isn't in the first wave of characters. I did want to start putting information together in one place, so figured it might as well be OP).

Beta - I don't see any problem with a qi focus still working.

Chummer probably does not take into account that the Adept Spell Power turns an Adept into a Spellcasting Magic User. My reading of Adept Spell is that it clearly turns you into a Spellcaster, and then in turn the Focused Concentration quality specifically applies to spellcasting magic users.

Don't forget the 0.5 power point Heightened Concentration... The mysad's friend!

I don't see one by that name in chummer? According to Chummer there is one called heightened concern, but it is in one of the small books I don't have that I'd apparently bought at some point but forgotten about -- not sure what that does? Now that I've read it, it is pretty cool.

Hmmm, I don't know that it would let you sustain a spell while asleep? (the whole shtick is that Rusty spent some long period as a dog, so needs to have been able to sustain the spell without thinking about it), In this case I probably do have to stick with my plan of buying focused concentration, but being able to ignore a distraction up to magic/2 is pretty awesome, just need to think if there are other powers I'm willing to give up in order to get it. There are never enough PP!

Not everything that happens in a shadowrun narrative has to be strictly translatable to game terms.

If you want this backstory of being stuck in a shapechaged state, there are four ways off the top of my head we could make up as an explanation.

Just never think you'll be able to get away with it in the future, once the game actually starts.

Well, I'm pretty sure that Rusty is still struggling with sleeping indoors ("Hobo with a shotgun" quality). Sorry I hadn't mentioned that in the earlier post. He pretty much heads out at night in canine form in order to find a proper sleeping spot. Except lately on good nights he can stand sleeping in his car -- he can curl up on the seats OK and be his own watchdog for his prized possession.

How did a stray like him end up with a car? Well that is a bit of a story ... Speaking of which, where is the best place for posting background stories?

Anyone is free to do solo posting in the General IC thread on this board.

Or you can always start your own background story thread on either board.

Or, once I start your thread in a few weeks, you can weave flashbacks into that.

Someone used an OC contact I made? Wow. Im... shocked really.

I don't think I'm the only one using Mr. Mouse (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

How popular is he? He is just a snitch...

GAME ON

Okay, I have three players up - Aria, Raider J, and Dire Radiant, all on Dumpshock.

I will continue to add names through this week until all the first-wavers are up.

So that means Mr. Joshua and Vegas on Dumpshock, then Jack_Spade, BlackBart, Big Guns, and Prof Gast on Shadowgrid - all should be up by Friday.

Then I can start working seriously on second wave, for which I have BrickyardBabe (out sick), BetaX, Chrome Head, and Pap Renvela (there was also a Klausz, but no word for some time...).

If I've left anyone out, I apologize and do speak up!


As described in the recruitment post, these initial one-on-ones will move along pretty gently, let me establish a rythym with each of you, get to know your characters better than just s sheet on OP, and maybe plant a few seeds.

It's all a build up designed (hopefully) to make things more meaningful for all of us further down the road.

I very much encourage you to take the small opportunities offered by my initial posts and run with them - whether conversational, or minor tasks, or whatever - this only works if you post freely and show me who you are and how you operate.
And don't hesitate, where feasible, to do multiple posts (including any flashbacks or internal monologues you might like) between my bumps.

Bumps should come every two or three days at minimum, but more likely every one or two days (or more if I can manage).

Finally, the OOC thread for anyone on Dumpshock will be the existing Story Waters OOC thread.
I will be starting a fresh OOC thread to manage the Shadowgrid side once the first characters there go up later this week.
This thread will just be for ongoing recruitment.

This sure looks like an interesting project !
Do you still have vacancies to fill ?

Adamu is still under the weather I think so I'm not sure how much he wants to take on at the moment, but if you want to join OP, submit a character (with background) then you can always write IC in the 'General IC' here to get a feel for the character, earn some karma, and wait for a slot?!?

Speaking of casting would it be alright once Vexboy earns about 10 karma(not through IC posts mind you.)that he intitate? Is it too early in the story for that? I ask because he has been in training for about 10 years and Im thinking its about time for a real test before he falls deep into the Shadows.

Roger, boss !
I kinda got the feeling I shouldve checked the recruitment threads more carefully before barging in >_<
Anyways, will do !

I know you are probably nowhere near thinking about round 2 (and realistically, everyone in round two needs to wait to see if decide you have the bandwidth to add a second round. Even where there is desire, time and mental energy can fail), but I’m going to chuck a bit of character discussion your way anyway. Feel free to table this until (if) you get ready to think about round 2.

I think I finally mostly have Rusty feeling right and working out on paper (I finally stopped trying to be practical and just threw in everything that I wanted to play with, and it works—at least for me). But there are a couple of things I want to check before submitting the full character sheet.

1) The good news is that he no longer has the amnesia negative quality. Not that he remembers anything before being a dog, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have knowledge skills, it just means they are mostly knowledge that he acquired as a dog.
a. Which means some quirky knowledge skills that I’ll be trying to make creative use of. I don’t think there are limits on knowledge skills, so this should hopefully be OK?
b. You’d still be free to bring in things from his past—hence defining some of his past--if you so desired. But this way there is no pressure in terms of me pushing to buy knowledge skills so you having to decide what he knows. (and associated with this, he will likely never fully regain memory of pre-dog years – one of his contacts has a theory on why, but I’ll put that into story form eventually)
c. I thought about trying to create a new, smaller, negative quality to represent the lack of a past, but concluded that he already has plenty of negatives so it wasn’t worth the bother.

2) On the other hand, he has one negative quality that I’m not sure is worth the points, so would be willing to take reduced points if that would make it easier for you. I have him down as having an Emotional Attachment to his slide guitar – the first thing he found that made him want to stay human, and one of the few indications of his old life (i.e. stores were mostly full of ‘stuff’ then he recognized a guitar and had to have it. He isn’t very skilled right now (doesn’t properly remember chords or techniques), but has a lot of raw talent (inspired and perfect time qualities, nimble fingers adept ability). Obviously the guitar playing will seldom be key to his being a shadowrunner, just more a part of his side story telling, so I’m not sure that you want to wring 5 points worth of negatives out of that. I’d be willing to see it drop to 2 or 3 if that would be easier for you.

3) I was struggling with contacts, until I started to think more about contacts he may have made as a dog. The thing is that logically some of those would still only know him as a dog. Just checking that you are OK with us having to work the story around that challenge.

4) Finally, I’m writing him up in the south end of the plex. I haven’t seen any real guidance on you wanting us to be in one area or another so I assume that is OK? (really just chose that over north end for proximity to Honesty, although Everett and Snohomish might actually have made more sense as places to roam—at this point I could still easily change areas).

ETA: One more – is it OK to have a free spirit as a contact?