Horrors Options

[Ancient History]

[Stormdrake]

Thanks for all the responces and conversions of Horrors from ED to SR. Should allow me to come up with a pretty nice classic horror campaign in SR.

[Stormdrake]

Am looking at the lesser horrors as something to slip into the game slowly. The main idea is to start the game pretty normal but slowly have the world become more and more dark and dangerous in a way that the corps and main stream shadow runners can ignore but not the team. They will keep getting hired to do jobs that put them in a position to notice something is going on that the rest of the shadow community is unaware of or treat as urban legend. Am thinking of having a major Horror trapped on earth in a cell beneath the Rocky Mountains unable to escape but awakend by the GGD that is slowly reaching out and influnceing the surrounding nations towards open conflict. As NAN, the Tir, Cas and Ucas would in the case of open warfare use major magic the resulting increase in mana could release the trapped horror and possibly allow it to call others across. Still needs some work but you get the idea.

[nezumi]

Hmm... those stats seem kinda rough. In ED, it appears that horrors, when they're killed (and unless they're astral only), are equally vulnerable to magic and weapons. In fact, by the way the rules work, weapons are probably preferred to magic in many cases. But even in the first story in the main book a group of four characters take down a fairly powerful horror using only melee weapons.

Given the fact that our melee weapons are far, far superior to what we had thousands of years ago, and our ranged weapons are even better than that, it seems to me that the armor ratings and the body ratings should be significantly lower than what we have listed here. 20 body for a big monkey? Seems peculiar, to say the least. Magic wise though, I suspect a horror would still win almost hands down.

[Critias]

Take a look at how their stats stack up compared to Earthdawn characters (and even other magical creatures), though -- and remember, those guys that killed the Horror in that ED fiction were all Adepts. Think about the sort of close combat power they could bring to bear, SR tech changes don't count for that much.

Really, Horrors are just plain badass. Look through their basic stats -- not even their powers or magical skills or anything, just their basic strength, toughness, what-have-you -- in the Earthdawn rulebook sometime, and then compare those numbers to the ones you'll find for, as a for instance, Dragons. You'll see how tough Horrors are.

[Herald of Verjig...]

Given the fact that almost all ED melee weapons worth using were powerful magical foci that would make the manliest of melee adepts squeal with delight, flying lead will do little to them.

[Nikoli]

Well, Big D and Halequinn felt that technology was worth 'something' against them, more so than anything the 4th age was able to muster. Or is that pure conjecture at this point?

[Bigity]

Bullets may not be all that effective, but what about chemicals, massive destruction weapons, or better yet, tech that keeps people alive more...reflexes, armor, etc.

[Nikoli]

Thermonuclear devices, spam, celaphane, polyurethane, lead-based paint, etc.

[Austere Emancipa...]

I see the pro-Horror folk are getting ready for round 2, eh?

Anyway, if 20 Armor on a horror seems bad, just remember that there are nice autocannons in R3 which you can load with AV ammunition that will tear those motherfuckers into pieces just like they should.

[Axensmash]

The four Adepts in that story didn't kill that Horror - Lorm merely wounded it pretty good and then they high tailed it out of there. Also I don't think all of them made it - at least one of them got their skin shifted and I believe that another had their legs busted.

[nezumi]

I have to double check, but I seem to recollect they did manage to kill it. But yes, two of the adepts were killed, the mage (before he even had time to cast a spell) and the troll as he threw his killing attack.

[Tanka]

Skin Shift. *shudder*

[Garland]

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

[Critias]

Oh, and there were only three Adepts. The Nethermancer (who got the face/butt transplant), the troll (Sky Raider, I think, who died), and the Dwarf Thief (who told the story).

[hyzmarca]

[Moonstone Spider]

Be fun to see how skin shift would work against somebody with a cybertorso or dermal plating. I'm guessing full-borg might finally be a viable option in shadowrun against those, you can't possibly shift skin that isn't there.

[hyzmarca]

[Kanada Ten]

I fully expect the Horror to use our technology against us. As an example I point to The Ring. Processed materials will have no effect against them, toxic waste and radiation will be their power base, corporations will pick Horrors to hedge against other corps and eventually other Horrors. The Horrors will reflect modern nightmares as will their powers. Think of how effectively Aden fought among others and then realize that the Enemy is more powerful, more numerous, and more tenacious than great dragons.

[Tanka]

The Ring was a crappy movie. Never refer to it unless it is in jest.

On cyberware and Skin Shift... I'm not entirely sure of how the power works (I just got the general idea from the last Horror argu -- I mean... Discussion. Also the random blatherings of one of my GMs), but I think it would be either a lot worse or totally ineffective.

[Kanada Ten]

[Deadeye]

Err...the Ring aside, I happen to agree that tech could be a worthwhile tool for the Horrors. One of them from the 4th age, Artificer, was basically a gigantic deathtrap that existed only on the astral plane except when he imprinted his pattern on a complex, changing it's nature to more perfectly resemble his own. Hello, Archology, meet Artificer.

Or simsets that open one's mind to the horror; or the badass new Troll Thrash Metal Band's hit single, "Nebis this, Nebis that, I whacked Nebis with a baseball bat"; or the millions of well-meaning would be heroes that wouldn't mind just a little extra help from Tempter or that really wiz paydata that only Nemisis can provide...

And re: Skin shift, I second that *shiver*. The thing about a lot of the mid-level horrors isn't that they're tough, or that you couldn't mow one down with an assult rifle. The thing is that they are ALIEN beings who cannot be fathomed, who's powers are designed to cause fear and suffering, and that metahumanity is the buffet table that they are waiting to belly up to, no matter what happens, as the mana levels continue to rise. A wormskull or a bloatform could be just as big a mover and shaker as, oh, Buttercup, except that only the major ones would have the patience to get the multi-return trip plates to the bar. The mid-level and small ones tend to just snack.

[Fire Hawk]

Here's one from the WebRPG Top 20 lists, pertaining to exactly this subject.

[Tanka]

[mfb]

The Ring was crappy? i'm not gonna say it was the scariest movie ever, but it's sure head and shoulders above most of the the trite crap Hollywood passes off as horror these days. the only bad part was Imoan Watts not getting as nekkid as she usually does.