Shadowrun Sandbox, Recruiting Thread Options

[Thanee]

Hiyas! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So, I am thinking of starting a new SR4A game here.

EDIT: Recruiting is now closed. Players will be: lorechaser, Scarecrow, ArCha, Hudson, and faultline. With Aria being on reserve.

I labeled it "Shadowrun Sandbox", because I do not (yet) have some kind of overarching plot, but would like to have things run a little more loose at first. I thought it would be cool to allow you, the players, to be a bit more proactive. Of course, you will also get runs offered through the normal channels, with a Mr. Johnson and all the bells and whistles, but most of the time you will be looking at finding ways to pay your rent and upgrades in a more active fashion, planning a heist, or datasteal, or kidnapping, whatever comes to mind. You will be able to find rumors about certain happenings around town, which might give you additional ideas, but you can also come up with something completely on your own (I would actually welcome this sort of proactivity).

The game will be set in Seattle, Denver or Hong Kong (please mention it in your reply here, if you have any preferences about this).

I will try to have a complementing information thread around, where many useful infos will be added and recorded for future use.

Unless you vastly prefer to keep the character sheets secret, I will also add the character sheets (posting them all myself, so I can keep them up to date) with status area (condition monitors, Edge spent, etc) and whatever else seems useful to the info thread.

The game will have a bit of a lower power level than normal (see notes on character generation below for details).

I am looking for 4-5 PCs total. I am looking for reliable and consistent posters (therefore I will give priority to those dumpshockers, where I know this is the case; but I am absolutely not averse to letting newbies in as well).

Posting speed should be about 2-3 posts a week (with a minimum of 1 post a week; I'm generally lenient, but eventually will be looking for a replacement to keep things flowing). If you cannot post for some time (on vacation or sick or something), it would be great to leave a note about it.

A short conceptual idea (or multiple ideas, if you are not dead fixed on a certain concept), just a few lines about what you would like to play, would be great for the initial reply.

There is exactly one PC slot for a Full Magician or Mystic Adept, and one additional PC slot for an Adept. These guys are supposed to be somewhat rare. Players will have to figure out who will be playing an awakened character among themselves (and if they cannot come to a conclusion, we can use a random method to determine this).

The characters will know each other from the beginning (and might even have some common backgrounds, if you like to include such mutual ties), which seems useful because the game won't start with a Mr. J. getting everyone around the same table. You could also think about having a team lifestyle/base of operations, or something like that (if it's fitting and you can come to a consensus there, it's no necessity).

Character Generation:

All official SR4A books / e-publications can be used, though I reserve the right to veto certain items or combinations (probably won't happen, unless you are looking at truly outrageous stuff).

Characters will be built using the Karma Generation system from Runner's Companion (SR4A version, i.e. raising Attributes costs new Rating x5, Metatypes cost the BP cost in Karma, etc) with the standard 750 Karma.

In addition to the official rules, the following changes apply:

- The limit for how much Karma can be spent on Attributes (375 plus twice the Metatype BP cost) only applies to Physical and Mental Attributes; Special Attributes (i.e. Edge or Magic) can also be raised with the remaining Karma
- You get additional Knowledge Points equal to Intuition+Logic times 3 to spend on Knowledge Skills (just like with the BP system, one Rank costs one Knowledge Point)
- You also get additional Contact Points equal to Charisma times 3 to spend on Contacts (one point of Connection Rating or Loyalty costs one Contact Point)
- You can break up a Skill Group during character generation, when raising one of the skills further, or adding a specialization. You can never re-merge the Skill Group, however.

And the following limitations apply during character generation:

- Metatypes are limited to the standard Metatypes from the SR4A book and the Metavariants of these from Runner's Companion (no AIs, Changelings, Drakes, Infected, Shapeshifters, etc)
- No Technomancers
- No Possession traditions
- Only two Attributes (Physical or Mental) may be raised as much as four times each (i.e. max 5 for a human), all other Attributes (including all Special Attributes) can only be raised three times each
- Only one Skill can be raised to 5 OR two Skills can be raised to 4. All other Skills (including all Skill Groups) are limited to 3 during character generation.
- Knowledge Skills have the standard limit, i.e. one at 6 or two at 5, and the rest at 4 max.
- All equipment is limited to Availability 8 during character generation (or AV 12 with the Restricted Gear quality); the only exception to this are Fake SINs and Licenses, which have the normal limit of Availability 12
- Contacts are limited to Ratings of 3, both for Connection and Loyalty, but with a good enough explanation higher Ratings might be accepted (though anything above 4 is unlikely at best)

House Rules:

In addition to normal Karma rewards, you also gain 50% extra Karma, which is limited to learning/improving Knowledge Skills and gaining new Contacts or (with GM's discretion) improving the Loyalty of old ones (within reason; the cost for improving Contacts is the same as for acquring them during character generation, when using Karma) during downtime (you can still gain new Contacts during play, of course).

Knowledge Skills will sometimes be used as a Teamwork Test, granting bonus dice for the actual test. This, generally, does not apply to Combat and Magic Skills, though. But it could be used in a shadowing or a car chase, when you know the area very well, or if you have specific knowledge about maglocks, it might help when trying to disable them. Knowing much about fine cuisine could help with the higher class etiquette.

Pretty much anything, cyberware, bioware, foci, etc, can be improved in Rating during the game, by paying the difference in cost (AV for the "upgrade" is the AV of the higher Rating). You do not have to replace the items completely.

Indirect Combat Spells have their Drain Value reduced by 1. Indirect Elemental Combat Spells have their Drain Value reduced by an additional 1 (total 2).

Overcasting is a lot harsher than normal. The portion of the Force that goes beyond the Magic Rating is not halved (i.e. when you have Magic 3 and cast a Force 6 spell, the F/2 part of the Drain would be 4 (1 for the 3 points up to your Magic Rating and 3 more for the 3 points beyond). You can use the following formula to calculate Drain when overcasting: Force - Magic/2 (round up).

Physical Drain is resisted twice (with the exact same Dice Pool; i.e. if you spend Edge before the roll, you can use the extra dice for both rolls), once dealing physical damage and once dealing stun damage.

Summoning is generally limited to Force Ratings no higher than the summoner's Magic Rating.

Watchers can use the Magic Rating of their summoner, when using the Search Power.

Emotitoys are toys and useless for runners. Emotion Sensor Software is useful, however, but instead of giving its Rating as a dice pool modifier it is used as a Teamwork Test using its Rating (and granting bonus dice equal to the number of hits, limited to the Skill Rating of the skill being used).

The Adrenal Pump increases Attributes beyond the augmented maximum (up to twice the natural maximum). The Drain can be resisted with Body+Willpower.

Contacts can only acquire gear with an Availability as high as 4 times their Connection Rating. This limit applies, if you use your own Negotiation Skill or let the Contact use his or hers.

Contacts usually have an area of specialty (especially Fixers; weapons dealer, electronics fence, etc; the area of specialty should be reasonably specific). When using this specialty, they count their Connection Rating as one point higher than normal.

Additional Notes:

Edge will refresh at a fixed rate by 1 point each day (and sometimes for special situations, spectacular critical successes or critical glitches could be a possibility).

Extended Tests will generally use the cumulative -1 dice pool modifier. Routine tests might not get that penalty, however. An example for a routine test is finding a legal item (no R or F in the AV code). The vast majority of tests will not be routine, though, as in many cases there is no need to even roll for a routine task.

For (Mystic) Adepts, the optional rule for gaining a Power Point instead of a Metamagic Technique during Initiation is being used. Way of the Adept can also be used.

The optional rule for accepting a Geas on Adept Powers in order to lower their cost is also acceptable, as long as the Geas is actually limiting/restrictive in some fashion (GM's discretion).

Mystic Adepts use their portion of Magic Rating for mana-based abilities (Mage part) when calculating dice pools and when it is used as a variable in the spell effect (i.e. some spell ranges), but to figure out whether Drain is physical, and to determine maximum Force, the full Magic Rating is used. Likewise, while only the portion of Magic Rating for physical abilities (Adept part) grants Power Points, when Magic is used in a test (i.e. Attribute Boost), and when determining the maximum Rank of Adept Powers, the full Magic Rating is used.

Initiative enhancing items are not compatible with each other, when they grant extra IPs (unless they are specifically allowed, like the two Matrix IP boosts). However, Reaction boosts are compatible (i.e. you can combine Reaction Enhancers with any other form of initiative enhancement).


So, if I havn't scared you off by now, let me know if you are interested! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee