Low-Down in Loveland, Recruiting Phase Options

[Digital Heroin]

Loveland.

Whoever named this little patch of vice must have been a prophet. From the moment some politco decided that the big old patch of farmland south of Seattle needed to be acquired by the military and both an Air Force and Army base established upon it the fate of Loveland was sealed. Race riots, a war, and mother nature's own volcanic bitchslap have done nothing to make the clutch of brothels, night clubs, pawnbrokers, check cashes, and strip clubs go away, and there was nothing Johnny Law and the Rent-a-Cops could do about it either. Loveland belongs to the underworld, with the Mafia and the Yakuza both trying to carve out their little piece of the prey-on-soldiers-pay pie. The thing about it is, Loveland is technically part of the Puyallup Barrens, which means that the only syndicate presence you are gonna find in this lovely little corner of the Metroplex is gonna be subtle, or flashy in a desperate attention seeking way.

In Loveland, the gangs rule the streets, but they do so with the blessing of the big boys. That, or they carve a path so bloody no one is going to touch them - except maybe the long arm of the law.

Of course there are the unlucky bastards. With the backlash in Tempo come new problems, like a newly empowered Knight Errant with an agenda of cleaning up the streets, and a whole lot of shuffle in the syndicates. Guess who has the biggest problems of them all? Yup, you do.

Welcome to life in Loveland with no patron-saint of crime on your side, and no leader to show you the light.

-----

Low-Down in Loveland is a game about gang life, in the tradition of Bleeding Edge (though I cannot promise as good a game as LargeMike ran, big shoes to fill there). For the gritty feel, this is going to be 300BP, one skill at 5 or two at 5, and 6 Avail. The gang (tentatively the Loveland Dozen) is a a bottom rung gang, though one with established turf that they've been holding for some time now, and with several sources of income. This is going to be painful at times, and turnover in characters may well happen, but it is also going to be largely sandbox. I provide the tapestry, you weave your thread inside of it.

Four slots are being reserved at this point for some fresh board types, four more stand open.

The recruit/planning phase may take a few weeks, but I will be giving hardline details soon.

[Red-ROM]

I'm interested, am I still considered a "fresh board type"?

[crizh]

I'd be interested in one of the open slots. I've got Flashbang here who I never really got to play and quite enjoyed building.

He's only 250 BP but I'm sure I could tweak him to fit the game.

[BlackHat]

I would be interested, if there is room - though I don't have anything ready-to-go. Couple of questions, when you said "one skill at 5 or two at 5" did you mean "two or fewer skills at 5" or was that supposed to be "one skill at 5 or two at 4" (which would mean everything else at less than 4)?

[Digital Heroin]

I would be interested, if there is room - though I don't have anything ready-to-go. Couple of questions, when you said "one skill at 5 or two at 5" did you mean "two or fewer skills at 5" or was that supposed to be "one skill at 5 or two at 4" (which would mean everything else at less than 4)?

That was to read one at 5, or two at 4. And yes, everything else would be at less.


As for fresh to the board types, by that I mean people I know off the boards but can't play tabletop with due to scheduling/geography.

[Red-ROM]

ok, Idea so far:

Micky "Cocktails"

smooth talker with quick hands. Bartender turned con man with some skill at infiltration

[ Spoiler ]

Human 5'10" white, brown eyes, short brown hair, average build. 36 years old.

Qualities(+10bp):

[ Spoiler ]

Pacifist (5)
mild addiction, Alchohol(5)

attributes(150bp):

[ Spoiler ]

body 3
agility 4
reaction 3
strength 2
charisma 4
logic 2
intuition 3
willpower 2

edge 4 (20bp)

Active skills(112bp)

[ Spoiler ]

Negotiations 1
ettiquette 2
con(seduction) 4(+2)
Disguise 1
Palming(sleight of hand) 4(+2)
infiltrate 3
shadowing 2
Dart pistols 3
unarmed combat 2
perception 2
dodge 3

knowledge skills(15 free):

[ Spoiler ]

English N
French 2
gang ID 3
Bartending 3
current events 3
sports 2
music 2

Contacts(16bp):

[ Spoiler ]

Jonas "pure" Pinelly, Mafia picciotti(made man/drug chemist) 2/4
Nightsong, Pirate trid news 3/3
Dana, club owner(Ion Eyes, downtown) 2/2

Ware( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) 40,150 / 9bp):

[ Spoiler ]

[1]custom synthetic cyber arm(body 3/strength 3/agility 6) ( 24,500)
-Armor 1 (300)
-Smuggling compartment(1,500)
-Cybergland (3 dose capacity) (700)
[.25]Internal air tank( 650)
[.2]Voice modulator( 7,500)
-secondary pattern(R1) ( 5,000)

Gear(18,610/3bp):

[ Spoiler ]

"Ace of hearts" Bomber Jacket ( 1,250)
-chemical protection 1(included)
-Insulation 1(included)
-non conductivity 3 (600)
-shock frills ( 200)
Form fitting body armor, half-body(900)
chemical protection 6 (1,500)

PPP-system vitals protector ( 200)

Parashield dart pistol ( 600)
-internal smartlink( 600)
20 darts/ 1 spare clip ( 155)
20 doses narcojet (1,000)
hidden gun arm slide(350)

2 Grenades, tear gas(80)

Novatech airware commlink(1,250)
-fake SIN (R2) (2,000)
-System 3 (600)
-firewall 6 (3,000)
-FTL matrixware Netwizard(480)
Glasses R4 (100)
-image link(25)
-smartlink(500)
-vision enhancement 3 (300)
Subvocal Microphone(50)

2 Stim patches(r4) ( 200)
4 Tranq patches(r4) ( 360)
3 doses cram(patch) ( 30)
4 doses Novacoke(laced cigarettes) ( 40)
4 doses Asia(liquid) ( 60)
3 doses eX(pill) ( 30)
1 dose Slab(patch) ( 150)

low lifestyle(2,000)

I've still got some work to do, but thats the start of it

[Red-ROM]

hmm, this board has been a ghost town lately

[Digital Heroin]

I've been waiting on the off-board guys to sign up and post up. Apparently some of them don't check their Facebook inboxes, or Facebook's being a turd.

In the meantime, to think about:

- what did the gang do prior to the shakeup? While you are low rung, your activities could be diverse in a small area. The offline guys already have expressed an interest in running a chop-shop of sorts. There will be some involvement, regardless, with Tempo, even if no one but the now-jailed leader knew about it;
- Give me alternatives to the name, and colors, or a symbol.

So far the process of application is wide open, and until at least a few of the offline guys get online and into the swing of things, this will mainly be a spit balling thread for character concepts.

[galvatron42]

I would really like to get in on this if there is still a slot open. I am new to the boards and 4th editin and would love to get a feel for the game before I play at Gencon. By the way, I would like to play a troll bruiser or a human sammy.

[Digital Heroin]

The guys I am bringing to the boards, for the most part, have limited Shadowrun experience, being semi-recent converts, so experience should be no issue.

[BlackHat]

I had been tossing around some ideas, including a street-racer type (I figured the gang was probably not a go-gang, but would have to deal with them, on occasion). That might work well with the chop-shop idea. I had planned to spend a good deal of starting nuyen on an souped-up ride - but wasn't sure how bottom-rung we needed to be, or how bad this part of the neighborhood would be. IIRC, Seattle 2072 said something about Loveland having a smuggling route go through it (through Route 7), so I figure it can't be so bad that vehicles can't get around.

Another concept I had was a would-be street-doc - who probably isn't that skilled, but is the best guy the gang might have for picking bullets out of our backsides. Better than a random guy with a medkit, though. If violence is going to be a part of life then having a medical specialist seems like a good idea, but I would like for him to come off as someone who learned what he needed to out of necessity than some sort of med-school dropout who's slumming it in the barrens. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Chance359]

If there's still space, I'm interested in signing on. I'd probably put together some kind of ork muscle.

[vanillared]

If you are still interested in adding gangers to your recruits, I know a guy. Real wack job goes by the name Marky Poppins. Apparently he thinks he is the reincarnation of an old 20th century witch or something. From everything I have heard he is that kinda crazy that can get shit done though. Let me know if you want to met him, her or whatever.

[Propaganda]

If there's still a space for this, I'd love to get in on it...been lurking on the boards for a couple of weeks hoping I could find a game to join.

Edit:

Quick question: I know it's meant to be a low availability gang focused game, but will there be any need/place for a spell-slinger? I always loved the SR3 street witch concept, and since I now have a copy of Street Magic I'd like to have a go at making a mage, provided it wont break the game concept.

This post has been edited by Propaganda: May 18 2010, 04:49 PM

[Propaganda]

I've been waiting on the off-board guys to sign up and post up. Apparently some of them don't check their Facebook inboxes, or Facebook's being a turd.

In the meantime, to think about:

- what did the gang do prior to the shakeup? While you are low rung, your activities could be diverse in a small area. The offline guys already have expressed an interest in running a chop-shop of sorts. There will be some involvement, regardless, with Tempo, even if no one but the now-jailed leader knew about it;
- Give me alternatives to the name, and colors, or a symbol.

So far the process of application is wide open, and until at least a few of the offline guys get online and into the swing of things, this will mainly be a spit balling thread for character concepts.

I was just re-reading the thread so I could double check I'd not missed anything, and the chop-shop caught my eye...I've put the magic aside for now ('cause the magic rules make my head hurt) and I was thinking of a character that was a sort of courier for the gang...skill with hotwiring vehicles, motorbikes, usually makes deliveries of drugs to the military bases sort of thing. Anyone have any advice if I want to go in this direction?

[Chance359]

I was just re-reading the thread so I could double check I'd not missed anything, and the chop-shop caught my eye...I've put the magic aside for now ('cause the magic rules make my head hurt) and I was thinking of a character that was a sort of courier for the gang...skill with hotwiring vehicles, motorbikes, usually makes deliveries of drugs to the military bases sort of thing. Anyone have any advice if I want to go in this direction?

Id suggest hitting the sample character archive over in the community projects pages and look for the smuggler. Built to be better at getting illicit products places then the smuggler in the core book.

[Propaganda]

I had a look at it, cheers Chance359.

Started working on a ganger/go-ganger/bike courier hybrid, I should have something up by Monday at the latest.

Edit:

Having just discussed this concept with the Dumpshock IRC channel, I have a question: Is the gang connected to/involved with any of the major syndicates?

This post has been edited by Propaganda: May 21 2010, 12:33 AM

[Digital Heroin]

No, the gang is not connected to an any of the major syndicates or gangs. They were until recently, but the shake-up in the underworld following Tempo's rise and fall as a street drug has seen those ties severed.

[vanillared]

Will you allow characters to have group contacts? Specifically, can we have a gang that we are the member/leader of as a group contact?

[Combat Mage]

Hey there,

I just registered after lurking around for months just reading. I'd love to take part in an online game and I have the time for frequent posts.

If there is a spot for me I'd be really interested in participating. If possible I'd like to play a street mage.

If mage is a no-go, I would try myself at a troll muscle.

Greetings,
Combat Mage

This post has been edited by Combat Mage: May 22 2010, 09:41 PM

[Red-ROM]

ok, here's the first finished draft, still working on background, let me know what you think

Micky "Cocktails"

Social Infiltrator

[ Spoiler ]

Human 5'10" white, brown eyes, short brown hair, average build. 36 years old.
background:

[ Spoiler ]

Bruce Arnold was a pretty normal guy. grew up in a poor neighborhood with two wageslave parents. Did okay in school. The girls and the drugs were too distracting to really focus. After highschool, he became a bartender, bouncing from club to club downtown. He landed a gig working this big rock fest sponsored by some new energy drink called Quake. pretty cool seen, until an electrical fire too close to the pyrotechnics launched a giant densiplast sports bottle into the air. The news feeds caught everything, and played it back in slow motion. a little boy with a balloon staring at a giant, overpriced, soda coming down on him with a trail of fire. and out of the background comes a man. Scooping him up and diving for cover. Bruce was lucky that the scaffolding overhead bought them some time. He still lost his right arm, and his lungs were quickly filling with blood. Quake Soda was made and distributed by the Dawn food group, a Horizon subsidiary, and to avoid any bad press, they played up the heroics of the rescue. They made a big show of saving Bruce's life, and giving him a new arm and a new lung. All expenses were paid, they even got him a trid show were he toured the night life of different cities. Life was pretty good for Bruce for a while, but when the Crash came, he lost his SIN and Dawn food group(who was loosing their shirt against Aztechnology's products) took this opportunity to cut ties with him. The show was canceled and he was out on his ear. He went back to bar-tending, but he couldn't get a real job, so he had to work under the table, and the lifestyle he was used to disappeared. He eventually started getting strange job offers from some of his regulars for very illegal work, and he's been slowly doing more and more of these other jobs, and less and less bar-tending. In fact most of his work comes from a troll named Dana that runs several bars around town, and the only "legit" work he does now is take some shifts at her establishments from time to time

Game Info:

[ Spoiler ]

Armor: 9/6
physical damage: [][][][][][][][][][]
stun damage: [][][][][][][][][]
edge spent:0
total Karma:0
spent Karma:0

Qualities(+10bp):

[ Spoiler ]

Pacifist (5)
mild addiction, Alchohol(5)

attributes(150bp):

[ Spoiler ]

body 3
agility 4
reaction 3
strength 2
charisma 4
logic 2
intuition 3
willpower 2

edge 4 (20bp)

Active skills(112bp)

[ Spoiler ]

Negotiations 1
ettiquette 2
con(seduction) 4(+2)
Disguise 1
Palming(sleight of hand) 4(+2)
infiltrate 3
shadowing 2
Dart pistols 3
unarmed combat 2
perception 2
dodge 3

knowledge skills(15 free):

[ Spoiler ]

English N
French 2
gang ID 3
Bartending 3
current events 3
sports 2
music 2

Contacts(16bp):

[ Spoiler ]

Jonas "pure" Pinelly, Mafia picciotti(made man/drug chemist) 2/4
Nightsong, Pirate trid news 3/3
Dana, club owner(Ion Eyes, downtown) 2/2

Ware( (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) 40,150 / 9bp):

[ Spoiler ]

[1]custom synthetic cyber arm(body 3/strength 3/agility 6) ( 24,500)
-Armor 1 (300)
-Smuggling compartment(1,500)
-Cybergland (3 dose capacity) (700)
[.25]Internal air tank( 650)
[.2]Voice modulator( 7,500)
-secondary pattern(R1) ( 5,000)

Gear(18,610/3bp):

[ Spoiler ]

"Ace of hearts" Bomber Jacket 3/3 ( 1,250)
-chemical protection 1(included)
-Insulation 1(included)
-non conductivity 3 (600)
-shock frills ( 200)
Form fitting body armor, half-body 4/1(900)
chemical protection 6 (1,500)

PPP-system vitals protector 1/1( 200)

Parashield dart pistol ( 600)
-internal smartlink( 600)
20 darts/ 1 spare clip ( 155)
20 doses narcojet (1,000)
hidden gun arm slide(350)

2 Grenades, tear gas(80)

Novatech airware commlink(1,250)
-fake SIN (R2) (2,000)
-System 3 (600)
-firewall 6 (3,000)
-FTL matrixware Netwizard(480)
Glasses R4 (100)
-image link(25)
-smartlink(500)
-vision enhancement 3 (300)
Subvocal Microphone(50)

2 Stim patches(r4) ( 200)
4 Tranq patches(r4) ( 360)
3 doses cram(patch) ( 30)
4 doses Novacoke(laced cigarettes) ( 40)
4 doses Asia(liquid) ( 60)
3 doses eX(pill) ( 30)
1 dose Slab(patch) ( 150)

low lifestyle(2,000)

[Combat Mage]

Working on an Ork Street Shaman. Here's what I have so far:

Asim, Orkish Street Shaman

Concept (Will be extended into a complete backstory if it is approved):

[ Spoiler ]

Asim is an orkish child of refugees from Egypt, of nubian descent, who came to Seattle for a better life, but found only a miserable existance as squatters.
His pitch black skin and oriental features make him look exotic although he is just another kid on the streets of Seattle and has never seen his parents homeland. After his parents died as collateral damage when accidentally caught in a Lone Star raid on gang turf, Asim swore he would never serve the system that took his parents life without care.
Following their deaths he had a tough time surviving because he was unusually scrawny for ork standards, barely larger than a regular human. Fortunately for him he awakened at an unusually young age and quickly used his skills, guided by his mentor Wolf, to find his place on the streets. His (for an ork) below-average strength was made up for by his strong innate magical talent.
Under Wolfs guidance the slim ork became a strong-willed and fierce individual, ready to defend himself and the “pack” of street kids he came to join. But this “gang” of kids and teenagers was short lived, because, as it started to grow in numbers it attracted the attention of real gangs and was soon wiped out, the survivors spreading out and going into hiding. Asim survived but once again he was alone. The teenage ork knew that to stay alive, he had to join a real gang that could protect its own.

First draft of the mechanics:

[ Spoiler ]

Name: Asim (Egyptian Name meaning "Protector") Teenage orc of 14 years, nubian heritage, about 6'1", slim and wiry but not very muscular for an ork, pitch black skin, wolf-like yellow eyes, black curly hair braided in corn rows

Metatype : Ork (20 BP)

Attributes (140 BP)
Body: 5 (10 BP)
Agility: 3 (20 BP)
Reaction: 2 (10 BP)
Strength: 3 ( 0 BP)
Charisma: 4 (30 BP)
Intuition: 3 (20 BP)
Logic: 2 (10 BP)
Willpower: 5 (40 BP)

Special Attributes (40 BP)
Edge: 1 ( 0 BP)
Magic: 5 (40 BP)
Initiative: 5
Essence: 6

Positive Qualities (20 BP)
Magician (15 BP)
Mentor Spirit (Wolf) (5 BP)

Negative Qualities (-35 BP)
Criminal SIN (+10 BP)
Spirit Bane (Guidance Spirits) (+10 BP)
Severe Allergy (Silver) (+15 BP)


Active Skills (66 BP)
Spellcasting : 5 (20 BP)
Counterspelling : 1 (4 BP)
Assensing : 1 (4 BP)
Summoning : 3 (12 BP)
Binding : 1 (4 BP)
Pistols (Semi-Automatics): 1 (+2) (6 BP)
Perception : 1 (4 BP)
Inflitration : 1 (4 BP)
Etiquette: 1 (4 BP)
Intimidation : 1 (4 BP)

Knowledge Skills (15 free points)
Seattle Street Gangs 3
Seattle Crime Syndicates 2
Action Trid films 2
Country Music 1
Magic Theory 2
Paranormal Creatures 1

English M
(Egyptian) Arabic 4

Spells (30 BP)
Manabolt
Improved Invisibility
Physical Mask
Levitate
Stunbolt
Stunball
Increase Reflexes
Heal
Trid Phantasm
Armor

Connections (4 BP)
Sakura, japanese talismonger Loyalty 1 / Connection 3.

Gear ( 11 BP = 55.000 Nuyen)
Lifestyle Low (1 Month) (2000)
Commlink Novatech Airware (1000) with OS Iris Orb (1250)
+ Browse Rating 3 (150) + Analyze Rating 3 (150) + Scan Rating 3 (150) + Spoof Rating 3 (150) + Edit Rating 3 (150) + Skinlink (50) + Subvocal Microphone (50) + Trodes (50)
Fake SIN Rating 2 (2000)
Fake License (Spellcasting) Rating 2 (200)
Fake License (Ares Predator IV) Rating 2 (200)
Glasses Rating 2 with Vision Enhancement 3 and Smartlink (850)
Earbuds Rating 1 with Audio Enhancement 3 (310)
Form Fitting Body Armor (Half Body) (900)
Armor Jacket (900)
Armor Clothing (400)
PPP Systems Arm- and Shinguards (350)
Ares Predator IV (350) + Personalized Grip (100) + Laser Sight (100) + 4 clips regular rounds (140) + Silencer (200) + Concealed Holster (75)
Nanotattoos covering his face, arms and upper body (4 areas=1000)
Magical Lodge Rating 4 (2000)
Sustaining Focus Rating 2 (Health) (20.000)
Sustaining Focus Rating 2 (Manipulation) (20.000)
= 54925

Focus Binding (4 BP)
Binding the Sustaining Focus (Health) (2 BP)
Binding the Sustaining Focus (Manipulation) (2 BP)

Feedback is appreciated (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

@Propaganda
Liked your suggestions, thanks.


Greetings,
Combat Mage

This post has been edited by Combat Mage: Jun 3 2010, 07:24 PM

[Propaganda]

Combat Mage - Only thing I'd say you might want to consider changing is swapping a spell (Manabolt, maybe?) for Magic Fingers. If nothing else, think of the yuppie mugging opportunities.

I also really reccomend buying a gun. But maybe that's just me.

[Aria]

I'm interested if there are still spaces going? I've thrown some numbers at an invisible path physad called Scratch which I'll try and post this evening. It'll take some tweaking to the backstory I had in mind originally but that shouldn't be an issue.

A

EDIT: background thoughts here, comments welcome!

[ Spoiler ]

Scratch was five when the SCIRE shut its doors and turned her life upside down. Initially stuck in one of the housing levels she was lucky enough to be found by the resistance before Deus got round to opening up that area and experimenting on her neighbours. She doesn’t talk about those three years very much but they have left a strong impression on her. Her age perhaps helped her to survive the emotional scars better than some of her older counterparts who remembered more of life before but she is still deeply disturbed by obvious cyberware and some drones and other reminders of the mad AI.

When the arcology was liberated from the ‘monsters’ she slipped away in to the Orc underground and adopted a family there until some unwelcome advances when she was a bit older made her move on again. This time she decided to get as far away from Downtown as possible and headed south. Lost and alone she was found by the Old Man, a mysterious character who gives little away about his origins. He helped her to understand her gift and he revealed that it had been the thing keeping her alive over the past difficult years.

Scratch earned her street name when she introduced herself to the local gang near her doss. They got the impression that she was too full of herself but when she fought like a cornered weasel she got a modicum of respect that she has since built on with her abilities to lift the odd credstick and get in to places where she shouldn’t…

[BlackHat]

Sounds like there is a lot of interest in this game (more interest, than room) - but that is probably better than having the opposite problem.