Arsenal-specific questions, Sometimes the book requires a GM judgment call Options

[Wasabi]

Characters can obtain 'clean' feedstock that does not contain RFID tags . . . As a general rule, assume an Availability of 20F and a cost modifier of two to five times the standard feedstock price.

The untrackable feedstock for a Desktop Forge has a variable cost. For missions games can this be set as a specific multiple?
(If not I can ask the GM but asking each GM that runs a game for me seems a bit wonkier than fixing it at a set price for the campaign...)

[Wasabi]

Antivenins: . . . Treat an antivenin as a specialized Rating 6 antidote patch that only applies to a single venom. At the gamemaster’s discretion, an antivenin may also be somewhat effective (Rating 3) against a group of related venoms.

Another GM's discretion rule that might be good to specify campaign-wide.

[Wasabi]

Used Vehicles: Apply a +4 Availability modifier and a cost reduction between 20% and 50% . . . The gamemaster determines the shape the vehicle is in, and is encouraged to be creative.

Another one that might be good to specify. I personally would suggest saying that in SRM that vehicles bought as Used in the campaign have the effect of the Gremlin's power on Vehicle Tests and Gunnery Tests (20% for Gremlins-1 through 50% for Gremlins-4) or to simply disallow used vehicles altogether.

[the_dunner]

That's not how we do things with Missions, Wasabi. I've got faith in GMs, and I'm not going to tell them how to run their games.

On a related note, however -- I REALLY wouldn't expect to get something with a 20F availability in a Missions game. The availability and the pricing should be pretty firmly outside the grasp of what's accessible in an SRM scenario.

[Wasabi]

I've had a lot of really great experiences with Commandos so thats not my motivation for asking. I simply hate asking a GM for a judgment call and then stopping game play or derailing their schedule after the game when they're prepping for another session. Having played a Decker in 3rd I've just had my fill of that! :-)

No worries... thanks for the speedy reply, sir!

[Deacon]

On a related note, however -- I REALLY wouldn't expect to get something with a 20F availability in a Missions game. The availability and the pricing should be pretty firmly outside the grasp of what's accessible in an SRM scenario.

Wait a second... a 20 Availability's still possible, because the way Availability works in SR4 is it's a threshold for an extended Test. All a person has to do is rack up 20 hits, and presto, the item becomes available for them to pick up from their contact. You make one roll per time period, and with those nice calendars people have to record their activity, they can record exactly when they made what rolls and how many hits they got on the Test. Get a GM to sign off on it, and they could, theoretically, pick up an item with an incredibly high Availability like that.

Unless you want to make a house rule limiting the Availability of items that people can get from their contacts, Dunner?

Because Blanc, my Speaker's Way adept, could rack up 20 hits on an Extended Social Test (with either Negotiation or Etiquette) with three rolls easy... and he isn't even twinked out for Social Tests.

[DarkLloyd]

Uh, yeah I have to throw in here with Deacon on this Dunner.

Hell as Wasabi can testify, (Hi Bro!), when we all group together at Dragon-Con our "Face" Smith could easily handle that avalibility. Well with some help, from us that is. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[cryptoknight]

I'd have to agree with the above... the basic result of the 4th ed availability is that EVERYTHING is available for the right price with enough patience...

Want a Nuke? That's a 100F... and ¥10,000,000... If you got the money... every week you get to roll... 6 successes = approx 16 weeks till you have it. If you're patient.... you too will be a nuclear superpower.

[DireRadiant]

If you go through X number of weeks/missions, get each GM to sign off on that weeks roll for the extended test, and thus have X number of missions GM signoffs, then all power to you. You either won't make it past all those steps, won't even play that many missions, or by the time you get it, the GM will be able to handle it just fine in the Mission. It's not like the Missions are written to require uber high availability items to succeed. All you have to do is take a moment to not do something stupid, and you'll make it through fine. Having a nuke won't change that about the Missions. Though I would admit the consequence of doing something stupid while having a nuke might be spectacular.

[cryptoknight]

Well the Nuke would definitely be overkill...

Though it might be amusing to fill in an after mission report with...

"Denver no longer exists... Player purchased 3 Megaton Nuke for the past 18 sessions and in desperation detonated weapon near the center of the city"

[Wasabi]

Well the Nuke would definitely be overkill...

Though it might be amusing to fill in an after mission report with...

"Denver no longer exists... Player purchased 3 Megaton Nuke for the past 18 sessions and in desperation detonated weapon near the center of the city"

LOL!

Add to that: "Player now has a Notoriety of 10,000 and automatically wins every Intimidate challenge... Period..."

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Aaron]

And wouldn't all that time be taken up not making runs? I mean, searching for gear isn't about checking a Web site once a week. Not to mention the chances that somebody's going to hear that some shadowrunner is looking for (say) a nuke.

[cryptoknight]

That's what having a High connection, High Loyalty Fixer is for... Let him make the rolls for you... You still get the Nuke... and still get to blow up Denver.

[cryptoknight]

LOL!

Add to that: "Player now has a Notoriety of 10,000 and automatically wins every Intimidate challenge... Period..."

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Lol... I sort of assumed that the player was desperate... and set off the Nuke manually... but that works too.

"Hey Chummer, I had to move to New Yahwk after I turned Denver into Radioactive Cinders... because a chump Johnson paid me bupkiss for my talents, don't think I won't be getting paid my due"

[Phantastik]

Wait a second... a 20 Availability's still possible, because the way Availability works in SR4 is it's a threshold for an extended Test. All a person has to do is rack up 20 hits, and presto, the item becomes available for them to pick up from their contact. You make one roll per time period, and with those nice calendars people have to record their activity, they can record exactly when they made what rolls and how many hits they got on the Test. Get a GM to sign off on it, and they could, theoretically, pick up an item with an incredibly high Availability like that.

That's true, but it's the GM's call on what the check interval is for the extended test - the key is to make it reasonable, but still require either financial sacrifice (to speed it up) or a long wait (several missions) for balance purposes. Certainly military weaponry might require a quite long extended test interval (maybe the Vory need to arrange to have the item stolen, then have it shipped to Denver, and so on... could even be a month interval, or at least week-long intervals).

[cryptoknight]

That's true, but it's the GM's call on what the check interval is for the extended test - the key is to make it reasonable, but still require either financial sacrifice (to speed it up) or a long wait (several missions) for balance purposes. Certainly military weaponry might require a quite long extended test interval (maybe the Vory need to arrange to have the item stolen, then have it shipped to Denver, and so on... could even be a month interval, or at least week-long intervals).

No, the price determines the check interval.
Per page 303 of the BBB

Price----------------------Interval
Up to 100¥ -------------- 12 hours
101 to 1000¥ ------------ 1 day
1001 to 10000¥ ---------- 2 days
over 10000¥ ------------- 1 week

[Phantastik]

Doh, that's what I get from forum-posting from memory!

*resumes memorizing core book*

[cryptoknight]

Another question...

I recognize that the "More ways to die" chapter is basically excluded from Missions.

Was that meant to exclude martial arts as well as they are listed in the More Ways to Die chapter, or were Martial arts supposed to be in Missions?

[the_dunner]

Was that meant to exclude martial arts as well as they are listed in the More Ways to Die chapter

Yes, that's correct. It was very deliberately meant to exclude martial arts.

From the first line of that section:

The following martial arts optional rules

The Shadowrun Missions campaign generally avoids using optional rules.

[cryptoknight]

Cool... just checking... thanks a million!