lol! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

So, if these ghouls are new to the sewers, and have no special knowledge of them, they too might fall prey to some of the hazards endemic in the sewers.

Maybe the players can go in all ready to hunt some ghouls, only to find (after some other "wanderign monster" type encounters to get the need to shoot stuff out of their systems*) the ghouls all lying about disorientated with the most alert one begging for help - they are in an area of about 400ppm-800ppm, the weaker ones are already insensible, all of the others are dizzy, nauseous and have really bad headaches.

"Please... help us... sick...don't want to hurt ... came here to get away.... all sick...please..."

Faced with ghouls that are offering no physical threat and are beggin for help, the players will be less triggerhappy and more likely to treat them as people.

Before they reach the ghouls they can encounter other signs of the ghouls getting into trouble. Perhaps at one fork there are signs that the ghouls went one way, cam back and went the other way - investigating the way the ghouls went first results in finding a dead ghoul with no marks on in an area of the sewer that has subsided and thus dipped - and the dip has trapped a lot of excrement that is rotting. On the approach to the body the runners smell rotten eggs, and start to feel nauseous, stinging eyes and breathing difficulties (give them a body+strength check to resist these effect, with a high threshold, anyone critically glitching collapses straight away). If they are foolish enough to keep approaching they *stop* smelling it as the high concentration of hyfrogen sulphide paralysises their sense of smell, and keep making those tests but now its to resist stun damage, no armour...

*I suggest one of the random encounters be in a methane pocket so that those who can fight without guns get a chance to shine

It's related to Shkluffocate
To be unable breathe in a universe other than one's own.
Coined by: Yivo or Farnsworth

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

My GM had us deal with a couple of ghouls, he did it pretty cool.
We entered an abandoned sewer, where it was completely dark. Too dark for low-light vision. And we had only one flashlight. So most of us were walking around with Thermo, or just kind of walking blind. We'd hear skittering, but see not rats, and we all had the idea that we were being followed. Eventually we would reach a spot, where there was one torchlight, and we would sit there, waiting. A man(ghoul) can walking up to us, hand shown. He was pale, and skinny, but obviously powerfull. He was being followed by about ten crawling ghouls, and when he entered the light he snapped his fingers, and all the ghouls came crawling from the roofs and walls. Circling us, they would stand crouch behind him. We didn't even think about shooting, there were just way too many.

So we gave them the corpse to devour. No body, no crime.

Should have asked your GM for these guys as a group contact. Runners tend to produce dead bodies, after all.

Yeah, we have them as contacts. Its just that, we really don't like dealing with them.

One of my players had a ghoul contact for the same purpose. I ran it similarly - he didn't like going down there because it creeped him out.

Well, the fiction in RC led me to believe ghouls can be nice to be around, too.

One of the fictional companies I have is the Outlaw Taxi Corporation, "Ghoul Cab".

Every time the group phones, they get a different catch phrase. "Ghoul Cab, you are what we eat." for example.

It's used a fair bit, as they're the only company that will, affordably, drive into the deepest, darkest parts of the Barrens.

What do you expect the player to do at that point, unless they are wearing full body protective suits they would have to be totally brain dead to go anywhere near the ghouls.

"Remember Kids, Drones with Flamethrowers go in first. Then Spirits with Flamethrowers. Then Drones again. And Spirits again. And then you check to see if there's something left . . IF there is something left? Start from the beginning. Else, call it a day."

This message has been brought to you by Ares Macrotechnology and the Humanis Policlub.

"I am Ken Brackhaven, and I approve of this message."

There was a comment by Frank, way back when, that pointed out that ghoul dietary habits are not what people typically think of them.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...233#entry662233

"Ghouls are a bad example. Since they have to eat metahuman flesh but don't have to get it from a living and conscious source, a Ghoul actually can achieve limited impact. Ghouls can eat the corpses of people who die of natural causes or the refuse from clones. And while many religious groups consider that no better than the Hannibal crap that Wendigo have to pull, personally I don't have a problem with it."

I expect them to freak out and not know what the hell to do - this is a state that I like to keep my players in as much as possible (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Out of curiousity has anyone played infected PCs? I haven't seen many.

Yes

"Ghoul Cab, we'll go wherever you tell us, since we can't see where we're going anyway."
"Ghoul Cab, quickest way to your final destination."
"Ghoul Cab, just dump him in the trunk."
"Ghoul Cab, we're finger-licking good at this."
"Ghoul Cab, your tips pay for the disinfectant."
"Ghoul Cab, we promise not to stop for roadkill... with the meter running."
"Ghoul Cab, your collateral is our commission."
"Ghoul Cab, look at 'em run! Look at 'em run!! LOOK AT 'EM RUN!!! AAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Ghoul Cab, sorry about last time."

Does Gork from Sangre y Acero count? He was fun.

I do. I loved my Nosferatu Magician. Based him on the Lich King, ended with him actually becoming a godling.

I probably would, if allowed. They seem badass. Out of curiosity, how many of you have seen Invader Zim?

"Ghoul Cab, how can we - oh God, look at the size of that one!" *runs off-screen, faintly hear 'Hey, what - ahhhh, ahhh, argh!'*
"I'm sorry, the driver you have attempted to call is unavailable, reason: On Lunch-break. Please hold."
*Elevator music plays for thirty seconds*
"Did you know, company policy prohibits the consumption of flat-lined clients until they have been confirmed dead for an hour? Ghoul Cab says 'Saftey First!' Please hold."
*Elevator music plays for thirty seconds*

Hence why I'd expect to see them working in the basements of morgues, digging graves for the funeral homes and operating illicit body disposal services for runners and other criminal elements. I could see them being accepted in some cultures as vultures instead of predators.

They are quite good for that- books mention gangs of them making deals with some o fthe less ah..straight and narrow hospitol morgues, and being attached to this or that cemetary.


If nothing else is fun to turn them loose on Shedim.

Don't forget Asamando, that African nation with 99% of it's metahuman population Infected, and about 30% of the population are Magicians. Estimated at 500,000 citizens, it has to devour 300,000 people per year (0.05*Population*12). How much of that needs to be imported?

To model their domestic "produce" of corpses, I'll use modern day Swaziland's crude death rate. Swaziland has the world's highest HIV infection rate at 26.1%, and HMHVV is basically magical AIDS, so I feel their death rate will make a decent lower bound for Asamado. Swaziland has a death rate of 30.83 per 1000 per year, compared to 6-7% in the US and Europe. Their annual production of dead people will be 15,000 bodies, some 285,000 bodies short.

The moral of the story? Shadowrun writers don't bother with math.

Now I'm thinking about that nation's main industry being bio disposal for various hospitols round the world and ah.. battle field clean up, quick, efficient, keeps the shedim away.

A ghoul a day keeps the shedim away!