Diary Of A Madman’s Lab Rat, Emo's campaign from a player's POV Options

[FanGirl]

Saturday, April 8
Hello, chummers. I understand that your very own Emo Samurai has kept you all entertained with his madcap campaign plans, and you’ve probably been wondering how these plans are actually going to play out when inflicted on an actual group. Well, that’s where I come in. You see, I know Emo Samurai in real life, and he has convinced me and three other people into joining his campaign. I join of my own free will, though I’m not completely aware of what I’m getting into.

Anyway, Emo let it slip to me that he posts his ideas on these forums, so I decided to join Dumpshock and give you all the benefit of my perspective as a player in his campaign. I plan to do this by keeping a sort of open diary on this thread, chronicling my experiences and thoughts about the campaign. I’m not going to read Emo’s Dedicated Threads, and I urge you all not to give me any spoilers about their contents: it’s very important that I know as little as possible about what’s in store for me. In order to accurately present the effects of Emo’s campaign on my as-yet uncorrupted psyche, my only sources of information about his plans should be what he chooses to show or tell me.

To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, I feel that I should start by telling you about myself and how I came to know Emo. I’m a 19 year old girl, currently in my freshman year at a small liberal arts college. I’m very booksmart—you’ve probably noticed that I write like I’ve swallowed a dictionary—and I have an abiding love of sci-fi and fantasy. I mention that last bit of information because it was through the college’s Sci-Fi Club that I met Emo, and it was during one of the club’s gatherings that he approached me about joining the campaign. I declined his request initially because I was then in the process of joining another SR campaign, but when that fell through due to scheduling conflicts, I was free to join Emo’s group.

Emo seemed delighted by the prospect of my joining, and last Saturday he gave me a copy of SR4E in pdf form. (UPDATE--April 13, 2006: I hadn't realized that pdfs were copyrighted in the same way that physical books are, so I didn't realize that I was participating in illegal file sharing until today. I therefore purchased the book online just now to escape the wrath of the Big GM In The Sky. Remember, kids: stealing is wrong.) I studied it on and off over this past week, and finally wrote up my character sheet on Friday. Since Emo had steered me towards exploring the wonders of the Matrix, I read up on technomancers and fell in love with the concept. I took the technomancer from SR4E’s Sample Characters section and tweaked around with her to fit with Emo’s house rules. These house rules include 450 BPs, no limits on stat maxing or Qualities, and Complex Forms equal to one’s Resonance (you have to pay 3 BP for them, though). Thus, Fangirl was born: an eccentric young woman whose phenomenal Resonance power is only matched by her boundless optimism and sense of playfulness. I gave Fangirl’s sheet to Emo for approval yesterday, and he was so impressed with me (none of the other group members had even looked at the sourcebook, let alone drawn up their sheets) that he gave me 20 more BPs out of generosity.

Today, he brought me to meet with the other players, two guys I already knew and one I didn’t. Like me, all three guys are new to the shadows. At the meeting, Emo explained choice details about Sixth World life, and asked us what we wanted out of the campaign. We answered that we would follow the “mercenaries with a heart of gold” model, and wanted a campaign with a mix of seriousness and silliness. So far, I’m the only one with any concrete idea of what she wants her character to be like; the others have vague ideas at best. Luckily, they have two more weeks to figure it out, which is when Emo plans to have our first gaming session.

I'll post further entries as events warrant. Any questions, chummers?