 Where's the metahuman love? |
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  Aug 11 2006, 05:07 AM
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#1
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Running Target  Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083  |
Seriously, none of the Shadowrun novels I've seen have metahumans in anything but a (usually forgettable) support role. The stars of the novels are always humans, for the most part. Elves get attention, at least, but what about orks and trolls? I loved the fiction at the start of SR3, narrated by the troll street sam who lost his good friend Flash on a botched run. I liked the ork in SR4 who just got out of prison and was re-introduced to the new, flashier matrix.
And while I'm on the subject, how come so many of the illustrations make them look like such retards? I mean, the Mercenary illustration from SR3 is cool, as are the Bounty Hunter and Enforcer from SR4, but half of the troll and ork pictures I see just look like a mass of boils and warts. And the art from the original SR book just made them look even worse. The description just says that Trolls have hard, bony deposits...that could mean anything from scale-like skin texture to, well, bony looking boils and warts. But orks are just described as being taller and heavier than humans...nothing saying they have to look like a burn ward got mashed together into one person. What gives? :P |
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Aug 11 2006, 05:13 AM
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#2
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 451 Joined: 8-May 06 Member No.: 8,533 |
There's a top-secret drop bear conspiracy to indoctrinate humans against metahumans so that the drop bears can cause fighting between the two sides. Then, while everyone's busy, the drop bears and the IE masters invade and conquer everything.
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Aug 11 2006, 05:13 AM
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#3
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
Because trogs suck.
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Aug 11 2006, 05:26 AM
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#4
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
Well, that answers that question. Seems kinda silly to have races in a game that hardly anybody plays though (I keep hearing about the 'theoretical troll', but I've yet to see one).
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Aug 11 2006, 05:26 AM
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#5
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
Hence the term, "theoretical."
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Aug 11 2006, 05:28 AM
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#6
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
Why do you hate trolls so much? Just curious.
Is it purely a game mechanics thing? I admit that the size issue is a bit annoying, and I've always felt that they kinda get the shaft mechanics-wise, especially in SR3, where you had to pay out of the ass if you didn't want to be an antisocial drooling retard. |
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Aug 11 2006, 05:31 AM
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#7
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
I'm a racist asshole.
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Aug 11 2006, 05:37 AM
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#8
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
Wait, I thought you were an elitist asshole. ;)
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Aug 11 2006, 05:37 AM
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#9
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
well, what's a racist?
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Aug 11 2006, 05:40 AM
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#10
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
So the short version of this is that nobody likes orks and trolls except for me, and even I'm kinda like "dude, what's up with all the festering boils?"
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Aug 11 2006, 05:40 AM
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#11
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
A genetic or ethnic elitist? ;-)
I hate dwarves, too. And orks (trogs being shorthand for both). But, yeah, I hate trolls. Never played one. Never will. |
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Aug 11 2006, 05:56 AM
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#12
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Target Group: Members Posts: 34 Joined: 26-January 06 From: Free city of Berlin Member No.: 8,197 |
Orks and Trolls rock. To hell with playing a pointy-eared underwear model, I wanna play a big mean trog. It's alot of fun to play any kind of meta, whether it be the dumb trog who can barely speak english (but can lob grenades and shatter spines like a pro) or the a-typical anti-stereotype intellectual ork (which I actually played, good times). Even everything in between, the "average" tusker. I just like to play more orks because I know there are more of them in SR than are usually represented in gaming groups. I like having tusks, and I like having more muscle and bone than most humans. My "intellectual" ork had some basic martial arts training and could kick serious hoop.
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Aug 11 2006, 05:58 AM
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#13
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 257 Joined: 25-May 05 Member No.: 7,414 |
heh heh...
You said hoop. |
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Aug 11 2006, 05:59 AM
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#14
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
Whoa...you mean somebody else besides me read The Stainless Steel Rat as a kid? I feel so...at home.
Back on topic...did anyone else find it weird that suddenly we've got a somewhat hot (well, I thought she was hot) ork in SR4 with the Gunslinger adept? I mean, she doesn't even have the Human Looking quality, so that's just...an ork. No boils, no warts, no weird ass crap on her, just tusks, and a larger than normal frame. Is this how you describe orks in your game, or do you beat them all with the ugly stick? |
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Aug 11 2006, 06:09 AM
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#15
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
There's also an Ork-Poser Quality in SR4. Go figure.
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Aug 11 2006, 06:15 AM
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#16
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,241 Joined: 10-August 02 Member No.: 3,083 |
Sure, but the Gunslinger Adept doesn't have that either. So...non-fugly orks are now canon?
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Aug 11 2006, 06:18 AM
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#17
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Shadowrun Setting Nerd Group: Banned Posts: 3,632 Joined: 28-June 05 From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower. Member No.: 7,473 |
Yeah. Orks started to become cool like a year or two ago.
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Aug 11 2006, 07:14 AM
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#18
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 257 Joined: 25-May 05 Member No.: 7,414 |
Yeah, it's been a long time, but one quote from the novels stuck with me and always seemed apropos of Shadowrun:
@ Topic: I like to throw a lot of Trog NPC's in the games I run, but as a player I almost always play a human, occasionally an elf. I have a troll all done up and ready to play though, and plan to when my buddy gets back from the service in February to start a new campaign. |
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Aug 11 2006, 08:37 AM
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#19
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Deus Absconditus Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,742 Joined: 1-September 03 From: Downtown Seattle, UCAS Member No.: 5,566 |
For the record, I maintain that Orks have ALWAYS been cool. I realize I'm in the minority, though.
Also, I read The Stainless Steel Rat books, too. Because they're ridiculous and over the top in the best way. One of the 1st or 2nd edition books had a color picture of an ork in it which totally managed to convey 'pretty boy ork' with 100% perfect clarity. I've been looking for the picture ever since, because he was just a dashing guy. Anybody know where to find this guy? (And no, it wasn't Junior from Dreamchipper, but he's a close second.) I like all the metatypes. I just like to do unusual things with the way they're 'supposed to be played', though. For example, the next characters I wanna play, by Metatype: Ork: High(er) Charisma guy left SINless in the wake of Crash 2.0, and unable to obtain a new SIN due to his race. Consequently took up shadowrunning as a way to get up from his situation. Sends half of what he makes as a runner back to his family so they can do alright for themselves. Dresses primarily in a suspenders-dress shirt-and-slacks sort of way. Singer in a local 'Thrash-Up' band - Thrash-Up being one of the genres of 2070s music I invented for my world: thrash-punk that generally remains upbeat while acknowledging the world' is fucked up. Think of it as optimistic electro-thrash. Primary specialties: Many contacts, decent hand-to-hand abilities, high amount of neuralware and sense enhancements. Troll: Tongan surfer, left for the UCAS to escape the political chaos of the south pacific. Besides, being a runner just plain pays more than anything in the south pacific, and you don't need a degree to do it. Huge guy in all regards. Very emotionally balanced, and incredibly hard to make angry - makes more and more (and worse) jokes the angrier he gets, until he just plain tears someone apart with his hands. Specialties: endurance, tracking skills, breaking things. I.E. 'being a troll'. |
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Aug 11 2006, 08:48 AM
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#20
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
That picture is the awfully statted ork samurai in Street Sanurai catalogue(worst archetype builds ever). I would play any of the races in SR apart from dwarves, as I have no interest in playing a bearded stunty. |
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Aug 11 2006, 09:29 AM
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#21
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Deus Absconditus Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,742 Joined: 1-September 03 From: Downtown Seattle, UCAS Member No.: 5,566 |
Nah, it's not SSC either. I've checked multiple editions, and they all have the same picture - not the right one.
I almost wanna say it's from the old NAN books, or maybe the Neo-Anarchist's Guide to Real Life or something. It's not in anything I've ever seen again, alas. |
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Aug 11 2006, 09:48 AM
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#22
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Mystery Archaeologist Group: Members Posts: 2,906 Joined: 19-September 05 From: The apple tree Member No.: 7,760 |
ah no idea then...
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Aug 11 2006, 10:09 AM
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#23
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Shooting Target Group: Members Posts: 1,838 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,669 |
This is the more common line of thinking where I'm from. Humans and Elves are pretty common, but a handful of players stick with Orks and (especially) Trolls exclusively. Dwarves just get left behind and ignored... :( BTW, I've always played that Orks look more like the Gunslinger Adept thsn the horrible goblins from the Hobbit animation and I like my Trolls looking more like the cover-character from Runner Havens than the Trolls from the old Laubenstein artwork. All of the races deserve to look cool, so I'm hoping to see a cool looking Dwarf in the future - hopefully one that's clean-shaven. |
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Aug 11 2006, 10:18 AM
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#24
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 3,066 Joined: 5-February 03 Member No.: 4,017 |
Dwarves are fun, even better if you do something to get around their decreased movement speed like retractable skates or a levitate spell.
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Aug 11 2006, 11:40 AM
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#25
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Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 124 Joined: 26-July 06 From: Columbus, OH Member No.: 8,965 |
It's not a new book by any shot, but Never Deal With an Elf had one of the best orks I've ever ready about in it. Karm (I know, I'm misspelling his name horribly), who was a friend of Dodger, Ghost-Who-Walks-Inside, and Sally Tsung. Might be worth picking up sometime if you don't have it. |
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