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

[emo samurai]

If the forest the spirit inhabits is a power site, what kind of connection rating should I give the spirit, and what kind of loyalty rating should Shen have for her to let him use it every so often?

[emo samurai]

I was thinking that the spirit should leave behind a genius locus to care for the forest. It'll talk to people and control the trees to either stroke people or hurt them, but it won't manifest itself as a spirit the way the old management did. If it doesn't like you and you walk into the forest, it'll make you get lost until you either exit the way you entered or die of starvation. And, of course, it'll let my PC's and a few NAN shamans use its power site.

[emo samurai]

I think I'll have there be a huge battle over the power site between Vranton, Shen, and the more conservative NAN shamans. Vranton will end up summoning the spirit of the forest by speaking her true name in order to have her sort things out, and the shaman will try to bind her when she comes.

[James McMurray]

Wow, it's a good thing he has his tactics already laid out ahead of time or he might be in trouble when the fur flies. ;)

[Kremlin KOA]

hey guys
ANyone else here irritated at the Emo-Sammy bashing?

if so why don;t we start a pseudo Emo Sammy fan club, we add out emo sammy fanclub memberships to our sigs and watch as ppl like Geekake go apeshit

[emo samurai]

KREMLIN!!!! JAMES!!!! HOWAREYA!!!!!

Can I join the fan club? It sounds kinda neat.

As for my saying Vranton will summon the spirit, that's just because it seems like the most peaceful and logical thing to do. The spirit is revered by the shamans in general, just not the asshole trying to claim the power site, since he'll do the hardlining thing and say that she's not the true spirit of the forest anymore because she undid her bindings and left the forest. And even if Vranton doesn't go for the peacemaking thing, he'll still like to have a powerful free spirit on his side in a magical duel. Hopefully, Vranton won't try to bind her beforehand; otherwise, Shen will have a little talk with him.

[Glyph]

Trying to predict PC behavior is just asking for trouble. Not that it can't be done, mind you, but every so often they will come up with something completely different than anything that you would predict. I would figure out what the goals and motivations of the other people involved are, then let things unfold. But be ready for it to do in a direction you weren't expecting.

And don't think that the player will automatically know what to do, either. He might not have a clue what he's "supposed" to do in the astral quest, or that he is supposed to summon the forest spirit at a certain point. Also, if he tries to bind the spirit and Shen has a "talk" with him, it might seem, to the player, that you, as GM, are using your pet GMPC as a plot hammer.

[emo samurai]

I'll give weirdass hints. The knights who say Nee will pick at themselves, the trees will pick at them, and an assensing test will show that the Knights Who Say Nee feel "Of the same matter, but are separate from the forest. There is an urgency within the Knights Who Say Nee, and they seem to be rid of their skins." That last clause I'll say only if he gets a ton of hits on his assensing test.

And if my character has a "talk" with him, which he would definitely do if she was bound, he'd do it with rolled stats and stuff. It's not plothammer so much as "Dude, you did something to a friend of my character." I suspect Vranton would EXPECT Shen to do something, and might send the spirit after him in anticipation of this if he were selfish enough to bind the spirit of the forest.

As for the NAN shamans, I've got a general idea for their personalities. There'll be one old dude with scars from a war of some sort and he'll be the boss of the other dudes. The other dudes will be teenagers and college kids who respect him for his age, knowledge, and scars. When the forest spirit pops up and he tries to bind her, I'll tell Vranton's player that the kids seem to be waffling a lot and are really conflicted over whether or not to help the spirit. This will be a lot more of a diplomacy game than anything else.

[Dudukain]

Emo Samurai talks about all this stuff I can't find info on...Bug spirits (Other than the history section) and miniguns and blood mages and cybermancy and cyberzombies and what else?

WHAT ARE THEY?

[emo samurai]

2nd and 3rd editions stuff. The only reason I know about all this stuff is because my college's sci-fi house's library has no less than about 20 SR books, a lot of them old-school.

[Dudukain]

Ah, I figured as much.

Isn't it something like in the old editions if you lost all your essence you became basically a mindless killing machine?

[Glyph]

Nah. That's Cyberpunk, a totally different game. In Shadowrun, all that low Essense did was affect social skills slightly and make magical healing more difficult.

[emo samurai]

I'm thinking of running a game in which a mafia don wants to go legit and start a business park, except some UCAS government dude won't let him. I'm borrowing this from Godfather II, for those who're asking. The don wants you to make the bureaucrat accept his incorporation into UCAS society through whatever means possible.

[emo samurai]

I'm thinking of adding a twist to the "happy jumper" run. There will be a master shedim wandering the site of the assassination who wants to possess the head of the Corp Kid's security who's willing to help with the assassinations if the party will help him possess the man's body. He's an initiate grade 3 physad, and he's unwilling to just let one of the party members walk by with some deepweed, since he doesn't want to risk it with this guy. Instead, he wants them to kill the security chief discretely so he can take over his body without risk to himself. The big challenge will be leading the man away from the security detail into some back alley and somehow ambushing somebody with Combat Sense 6 and Increased Reflexes 3.

[emo samurai]

I have another idea. To promote their new Judge Dredd movie, Horizon cybers up some dude, gives him a kickass bike and a super-awesome gun, and sends him into the Barrens with newsdrones in tow. He actually kills people and proclaims that "I am... the LAW!" a lot. He'll attack mostly gangs and escaped prisoners and stuff. After a while, the gangs will pool their resources and put out a hit on this dude.

What do you think? I think this would be the awesomest promotion ever.

[James McMurray]

Sounds cool, although actually killing people could damage the film once word gets out. As dystopian as it is, most average folks in SR are probably still opposed to killing people for fun or profit. I think the number of people that would be appalled by it would outweigh the number of people that would be intrigued by it.

[emo samurai]

How should I make this work, then? I really want the players to take out Judge Dredd and get his awesome shit.

[James McMurray]

Release the flick. Have some lunative decide he really is Judge Dredd, make himself some cool gear, buy a Stallone mask, and go haywire on all the lawless scum in the Barrens.

He could be a high paid and eccentric bounty hunter, or maybe an escaped attempt at cybermancied super cops.

[emo samurai]

Maybe... maybe that "lunatic" could be outfitted by Aztechnology itself secretly, and Aztechnology is just waiting for a sweet news story about some lunatic killing people dressed as Judge Dredd rigged up like a mofo. The story will come in conveniently just as they're about to start their advertising campaign in earnest and it will draw attention to the movie.

[James McMurray]

Negative publicity is usually good publicity. Maybe he goes on a killing spree but the advertising guys say he was supposed to only capture criminals. You get the carnage coupled with deniability, and because this is Shadowrun, the majority of the public believes the claims of the corporation. It could even lead the players to try and prove that Judge Dredd was ordered to kill people, if they feel like doing some pro bono work.

[stevebugge]

Two Words: Personafix Chips.

The Azzies are rumored to make these and leak them out in to the market for a little extra cash. Besides for marketing what would be better than a few hundred instant Mega-Fans, of course then the ones that really draw attention could be outfitted by some specially trained handlers and tailed by corp controlled news crews.

[emo samurai]

How would a dude like that live? Seriously... He can't operate alone and survive, but for this to work, there has to be a lone ultra-badass psychopath.

Maybe he'll start a gang called the Judges, and he'll get supplied by Aztechnology. For the forensics report, they'll use standardized Ares parts to try to frame them. The movie will be released by a shell corporation.

[James McMurray]

He doesn't have to live long on his own.

[Glyph]

One other option than the movie would be to take your inspiration from the comic book character Marshal Law. He was an officially-sanctioned vigilante, and one of the reasons his employers liked him was that this highly visible psycho was much more cost-effective than really patrolling a neighborhood would be. I could see such an NPC as a max-cybered and insanely dangerous Lone Star operative going on search-and-destroy missions in the Barrens. The top brass will show real-time vids of him doing things like taking out a BTL distribution network. "See, we do care about the poor people in the Barrens!"

The runners could be hired by underworld types who operate in the Barrens, by civic activists who are outraged by the cynical ploy, or, in a twist, secretly by Lone Star - maybe their pet is breaking his leash and taking out criminals who he's not supposed to - the ones who have kept up on their bribes.

[emo samurai]

Sounds really awesome.

Maybe Lone Star is trying to make a Judge Dredd movie, since they're practically a megacorp themselves, and they're secretly trying to make a heroic death sequence for their man after everything you've just said.

Thank you so much.