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[Rastus]

Dangerous Game

The year is 2073, and Africa's people thrist for Merode Ngobobo's blood after he has gone a step too far by not only unleashing enough Ringu to blanket a large agricultural town, but has been discovered to possess much more Ringu and insists on using it on anyone who does not agree to his demands. Unfortunately, Merode decided to do the smart thing and vanish shortly after claiming resonsibility. All known hiding places, including his personal fortress atop mount Nyiragongo according to moles within his army, have turned up dead ends, people suspect he could be anywhere in Africa.

Wishing to know how he managed to produce such a ridiculously complex nerve gas in the alleged volumes he has, as well as where all his caches are located, the powers-that-be have placed a 50,000,000¥ bounty on his head for his live capture, with half offered for a corpse. Obviously, this has caused a huge rush of mercenaries and other such private soldiers to come into Africa wanting to take the prize. Africa, however, is a very big place with lots of ground to cover, and Merode could be hiding within any given meter of land.

The players will be one small group of mercenaries amoungst the vast ocean that flooded into the continent since the bounty went public. While your characters should certainly have their own reasons for pursuing the bounty and working in Africa, one thing that everyone can agree on is that taking Merode would net the company a huge bankroll and a boost in publicity that would easily put them on the easy path to the top.

Info on Africa and it's various nations can be found in the following pages of the Sixth World Almanic:

Asamando, pg. 102
Azanian Confederation, pg. 104
Egypt, pg. 106
Kenya, pg. 108
Kingdoms of Nigeria, pg. 110

Not listed as far as I can tell:

Algeria
Angolia
Asante Nation
Anyl
Baatonum
Baule Empire
Congo Tribal Lands
Ethiomalian Territories
Gold & Ivory Coast Tribal Lands
Kingdom of Benim
Liberia
Madagasgar
Mauritania
Mali-Faso
Morocco
Sheba
Tunisia
Nation of -oh thank god there are no more!

Those other places are not accounted for in 4th Edition as far as I can tell. My guess is that not only did they run out of space in 6WA, but they felt that The Heart Of Darkness within the Congo was completely indescribable by human means. So why do I list every nation in the whole country? Because that's the entire area you get to play around in, all 30,221,532 kilometers squared. The geography is all a lovely mix of dry savannah, scorching desert, humid jungles, high mountains peaks, and densely packed urban landscapes. Adding to that, every enviroment has it's own critters and assorted armed groups who may or may not like the PC's very much.

Expect the game to be half action-packed combat, and half heavy roleplay-oriented. The other thing I want to advertise is freedom; once you are finished with the opening bit, you are pretty much free to accomplish the main goal however you wish. Or you could say fuck that shitbother that nonsense and pursue your own goals for a while. There are no 'wrong' ways to go about doing things, I'm not the type to get all huffy when you don't do something discrete so long as you do it successfully and intelligently(of course, that's probably why I'm running a Merc campaign).

Chargen Boundaries
Looking to start with 5-6 players. Recruitment will still be open after that, but anybody else who joins will be stuck in the Reservist spot until someone drops out. Seeing as this is a pbp, reservists oughta expect to be able to join every month at the latest.

Characters are to be generated at the standard 400bp limit, and get bonus BP for the sole purpose of purchasing contacts equal to their Charisma x 2. There isn't much more to chargen then that. It should be stated though that while I'm not going to force it, characters should be able to hold their own in a firefight even if they are not focused on combat, otherwise they'd be a unnecessary liability in a group of otherwise professional(hah!) soldiers-for-hire. Key phrase here being 'hold their own'. I don't demand everyone dominates with 24 dice for Automatics, that can be left to actual combat focused characters. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I suppose I should do as most other GM's and outright say no to all the silly things in Runner's Companion like AI's, Drakes, Changlings, Infected, Sapient Critters, and Free Spirits, but I'd allow those anyway so long as they make for good characters as opposed to shameless constructs made soley to get high dicepools or other weird benefits(I'm looking at all of you people who get SURGE qualites for attribute bonuses and little else).

Aside from that, I expect people who join to be somewhat dedicated. I can handle people vanishing for a few days at a time as that's what pbp games are for, but if you're going to disapear until the end of time I'd highly appreciate some warning beforehand.

Oh yeah, and don't bother paying for lifestyles. I doubt you'll be getting much use out of them, and there are more effective money sinks besides. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Rastus]

Gameplay Features:
One of the most unique features that I plan for this game is the fact that the players are not mere guns-for-hire working the city streets to scratch a (comfortable)living, but are actual soldiers who have command over other soldiers. After all, it's rather daunting to take on large armies with just 5-6 people and their casual aquantances.

And so, because the players characters(the original five or six, anyway) are all co-founders of their own PMC it only makes sense they get to have their own redshirts to push around. The redshirts you can hire come in squads of 8 and range from three grades: Green, Regular, and Veteran. Each is progressively more competant and more expensive to pay for. When hiring new redshirts, you have to pay the first month up front(consider this an abstract of equipping and re-training them).

Cost per redshirt type(in squads of 8 & individuals):
Green: 30,000/month(3750 per person)
Regular: 45,000/month(5625 per person)
Veteran: 60,000/month(7500 per person)

These 'redshirts' can either be used to fight offscreen battles to aid the players indirectly, or they can be used to help out in individual fights alongside the PC's, but they will likely be subject to dice fudging in the latter circumstances to preserve my sanity. The players will get one squad of 8 Greens for free when starting.

There are also specialists that do things typical redshirts cannot, such as fighter pilots, artillery officers, etc. But they are outside the redshirt system and have their own costs that will be adressed when they become availible.

Factions:
What's the point of being a mercenary willing to work for anyone without a few factions to play against eachother?

There are four major 'factions' in the whole of Africa the players can cooperate and work with in order to help chase town their primary target. These are not so much individual groups and governments as a whole entity in the continent(the logic being that if you do good with the government in one area, the reputation will make governments in other areas more trusting).

The reputation works more or less like advertised in Runners Companion, working on a scale that goes from -6 to +6. Obviously the more positive the rating the more the faction likes the players. Getting a faction to favor the group comes with special priviledges and perks unique to that faction.


Government Forces: Getting on the good side of Government Forces results in the players getting authority within civilized areas, allowing them to move about freely while fully armed to the teeth and driving tanks through city streets(players will otherwise be watched intently, if not pestered to keep their firearms unloaded or leave them inside vehicles). It may also give them access to restricted areas.

Criminal Element: When you become favorable to those whose career involves stealing and dealing, you tend to get a discount. Good rep with these guys results in players being able to buy black market(Forbidden) items at reduced cost.

Rebel Groups: When you're well into the Information Age, knowledge is power; which is why the various rebel groups meticulously maintain a wealth of spy networks across the whole of africa to give them every edge possible against their 'oppressors'. This can be used to dig up dirt on individuals, possibly even the primary target.

Corporate Interests: Unlike the other three, the only real thing the corporations have to themselves is money and SOTA gear. Lots of money and SOTA gear in fact, and they're likely to give any hired troubleshooters much more money for jobs if they happen to like them more.


The Simple Houserules:

1. Free Regular Ammo: Regular ammo requires no test or money to aquire, just assume that base camp always has a steady supply(unless it doesn't for whatever reason). This doesn't mean you can carry infinite regular ammo on your person though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Note that things like flamethrower fuel, assault cannon shells, laser batteries, etc. do not count as 'regular' ammo, even if they are pretty much standard for it's particular weapon.

2. Scatter: Use pre-Aniversery scatter ranges.

3. Tasers, shock hands, Stick'n'Shock rounds and other such less-lethal shock weapons do not do any actual damage, instead only causing the secondary effects of shock attacks(p.164 SR4A). Lightning Bolt spells and other explicitly deadly shock attacks still do actual damage, however.

4. This just in, some gear fixes including ones from the new War! suppliment. Anything in War! that is not mentioned is cleared and okay for use.

[ Spoiler ]

Battle Rifles: There's no listing of what skill to use. Frankly, I think it should be Longarms because that skill needs more love, but it is obviously ment to be under Automatics. So you know what? It can be used by either Automatics or Longarms, users choice! Wonder weapon of the 2070's these rifles are! Of course, to offset this nifty quirk, neither skill gets a "Battle Rifles" specialization. Take that, everyone! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

Softweave Armor: Instead of reducing encumberance by strength, it insteads turns the encumberance to any piece of armor into Body x 3. This upgrade cannot be used on milspec armor, form-fitting armor, or any piecemeal bits such as helmets and PPP gear. Also change the availibility and price mods to +4 Avail and x1.5 Cost.

Recharge spell: Veto'd outright. Ain't no magic going to break the laws of physics on my watch! Well... At least not anymore than magic does as it is now.

That's it. What, you want more? Alright fine.

Ares Alpha/Bravo/Sierra rifles: Change that 2 points of 'special recoil compensation' into a regular Gas Vent 2. Why? No real reason, just feel that Ares shouldn't always make the best guns imaginable.

Bipods: In addition to what they already do, anybody using a bipod while prone or otherwise bracing it against something also gets an additional +1 to their Take Aim actions, meaning every Take Aim nets +2 dice. That oughta make bipods MUCH more valuable to all you sniper types. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

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Well, my pitch is done, so now all I gotta ask is if it all sounds good? If so, then fall in!



Oh, and no I don't yet have 'War!' so I'm not allowing anything from that book until I can get a look at all the crunch. Got high hopes for this book though, judging from all the people screaming "WORST SHADOWRUN PRODUCT EVAR!!!11" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif) . When I get it I'll produce a list of whats allowed and what isn't.