Emo Samurai's Dedicated Campaign Thread, The Next Generation Options

[Azralon]

As I was feeling for the guy even before his other threads got locked (through no direct fault of his own), I hereby open this thread on his behalf.

RULES OF (DIS)ENGAGEMENT:

• This thread is for Emo's campaign/character ideas, no matter how off the wall he and/or Boskop-Albatros likes it.
• If you don't have anything constructive to say, don't bother posting.
• Do not taunt Happy Fun Emo.

[fistandantilus4....]

I agree, emo did exactly what we asked, setting up one huge thread to ask all of his questions instead of making dozens if posts. So thanks emo. Finished that mantis/celebrity ninja yet?

[LaughingTiger]

Does me 'ole ticker good tah see 'tis kin'a kindness be'n offr'd tah one tha' might not fit in wit' tha "regulars" 'round here, yah.

*sets down his pipe and takes a swing from his tankard*

So many times, those who play our chosen games "differently" can be persecuted, when they simply wish to share in the love and enjoyment we all have for this game.

Post on, guys and have fun.

As one wise man put it: Have fun! Play games!

[emo samurai]

Thanks a lot! I'm deciding to run the Renraku Genemod Soldier game as a one-shot instead. It'll be 500BP, with free toxic spirits, lots of Red Samurai, and rigger-piloted power suits with plasma punches. I think this warrants 500BP, and with 500BP, even our Champion of Japanese Economic Superiority won't be that powerful with his maxed-out stats. What do you think?

[Grinder]

[emo samurai]

Their plasma punches won't be that rapid-firing, but they're powerful enough to rip open tanks and kill everyone inside with the shockwave. They'll take 15 seconds to recharge and 3 seconds to align their target; if their target doesn't take that opportunity to move, he is DEAD. Of course, this could easily be exploited by the characters magically holding Red Samurai and toxic free spirits in the way.

I think I'll have Renraku cultivate toxic free spirits with gigantic vats o' pollution and leagues of mad cultists. They have a deal with the spirits to continue adding pollution to their lairs in return for favors; it's obviously quite mutually beneficial for both parties. Renraku mages will have a sort of blood magic that works only when summoning these spirits from across the world, and these spirits will be VERY powerful. It's rather strange that more toxic spirits aren't allied with corporations, since corporations are the ones with the most pollution to give.

[Grinder]

[emo samurai]

You mean the Champion of Japanese Economic Superiority? I thought Deadlands was basically western/Lovecraftian horror, not corporate evil disguised by mind-killing commercials.

[Fix-it]

er... no. but the lovecraftian horrors manipulate the companies that do exist.

[emo samurai]

I though that it would be awesome because then everyone would get something to do. The technomancer/rigger would try to hack the drones, the rigger would be moving in military vehicles from god-knows-where, the mages would be trying to banish the toxic spirits or summon their own awesome force-9 spirits, and the samurai/adepts would just be burninating and slicing.

And just so you know, my inspiration for the Champion of Japanese Economic Superiority is Mr. Sparkle and the Fruity Oaty Bar commercial from Serenity.

[fistandantilus4....]

[emo samurai]

The suits will have a fusion energy core instead of a battery pack. What's a RESJIMSCT? And the suit as a whole will only have to rest for 1 combat round to power up the thing; in the meantime, it'll be flying around, spraying minigun fire.

[Critias]

Have fun. But make sure your players understand they're not signing up for your average Shadowrun game, and also understand that introducing tech of this level of power will probably make it difficult for you to later adapt your campaign to use yet-to-be-produced Shadowrun products.

I mean, it sounds like a good time, if that's the sort of thing everyone wants in for. But having miniguns and plasma fists and whatnot is gonna mean your average published adventure is blown out of the water.

[Darkness]

[emo samurai]

It could be called an exo-suit or something else nondescript. Maybe call it a Black Knight, or we could jokingly call it a power fister. I'm totally hoping someone will call it that.

The power fists won't be production-quality; they're showing off their technology before it's really functional, which their not wiping out the player characters completely the way it should would make apparent. Renraku's counting its money before it's certified; that's what they do, at least in my world. If it was on a completely cybered and bio-d troll, it would rip his spine off. Its application is limited to the world's most highly powered anthroforms, and that's with a 10 second cooloff if it doesn't move anything. And the miniguns will basically be heavy machine guns with about 15 points of recoil compensation, which I think is fair, since it's a bunch of power armor. The miniguns aren't lasers or anything.

I think my players will be able to handle it; they're going to be 500 BP, and the extended campaign I start afterwards won't start out nearly that high-powered. If they survive long enough, it will be.

[emo samurai]

Bump.

Also, what would toxic spirits look like in SR4? I'm hoping they're powerful. Could someone give me the stats for them in SR3 so I could convert them to my game?

[emo samurai]

Another update. I was thinking of having a Buffy the Vampire Slayer-type mission. Whether or not it happens depends on whether or not the party has a female physical adept.

The plot hook will be Joss Whedon's grandson, playing on the fact that Whedon himself is the only known third-generation screenwriter in existence (His grandfather was a screenwriter, his father was a screenwriter, and according to me, both his son and grandson will be screenwriters). The grandson is producing a simsense version of the show for Mitsuhama, having full creative license.

This is like a normal simsense show except for one thing: the fights to the death are for real. They tell vampires to act out their lines, not telling them that they die for real on this show. The only problem is, besides the one of dying for the vampires, is that the show has gone through about 5 different Slayers in the last month; they keep getting killed by a single vampire in combat, who has since become a huge ratings magnet and a recurring villain. Kind of like Spike, except much more powerful.

Joss Whedon III and Mitsuhama don't really care whether or not the "slayers" die, since a new one keeps coming and violent, complex deaths bring viewers. You don't know this, since everyone except the cast and crew thinks that this is just amazingly gritty writing. He approaches the party's female phys adept for the part, and that's where the adventure hooks you. It will end with the vampire having a little heart to heart chat with the "slayer" and the party deciding whether to take on a vampire who will be designed specifically to be far too powerful for the "slayer" to handle, or to side with the vampire against one of the world's largest corporations.

[fistandantilus4....]

[FrankTrollman]

[emo samurai]

[Crusher Bob]

The problem I have with your slayer plot is: who benefits?

There seem to be several disadvantages:
A real death on screen does not allow for retake. I mean, what is your camera did not quite catch the part where the vampire rips the slayer's head right off? Sure you could do a virtual re-creation of the scene, and get it right this time, but then, why not just start off with the virtual scene? The computing power exists in SR to use completely virtual actors (with a real human only being needed to provide the emotive track of the simsense) cheaply.

As the deaths are occurring in secret, there is no advertising gain. A believably spun rumor that they a really killing the slayer actors when the slayer dies (a sort of survivor: vampire city) might increase ratings, but if people are likely to believe such a thing, then the lie will work just a well as the truth, it's not like the massive corp. media empire is going to air it's own dirty laundry, is it? So the corp. wants to start a rumor that they are really killing the slayers: they craft a fake SIN, virtual actor, etc bring her on to the show, kill her in the show, and then report the death on their media outlets. No need for real blood and guts, you just need the belief in real blood and guts.

Finding an actor good enough for high quality simsense emotive tracks has got to take a bit of work, so why waste it?

The visual aspects of SR film/TV are almost certainly completely computer generated, so you don't have to bother with tedious bits like sets, expensive cameras, etc. You gain all sorts of advantages in how you can position and move the camera once your set is completely virtual.

[Grinder]

[BlackHat]

But why is the vampire agreeing to any of this at all... he doesn't care about ratings... and one of these days he's going to die. Also, how did the Corp sign him on in the first place? Its probably not common for the Corps to have a room full of vampires and a board meeting where they go:

"Man, last year we invested 20-million nuyen in vampire-technology... now what the hell do we do with them in order to turn a profit?"
"I know! Lets kill them off."
"Johnson, you're drunk again... no, wait! I love it!"


Zombies maybe, vampires... nah

[Critias]

[emo samurai]

The vampire isn't being signed on after killing his first slayer; he's being hunted down. They won't send anyone besides the "slayer" after him because that's the entire point of the show, and having an awesome, really tough villain, like Spike in the actual Buffy, really helps ratings. And the show's simsense, so they don't have to build the really crappy slums in which the slayer fights the vampires.

Everyone, including the new slayers, have no idea that they're actually getting killed; the deaths so far have been really dramatic and tension-heavy, so they could actually BE scripted. And the phys adepts have all been shadowrunners without SINs. The show hasn't been aired yet, and the pay is with certified credsticks so they don't have to pay for dead actresses.