Recruitment: Mirrors in the Shadow, sr4 semi open game about the players Options

[Cold-Dragon]

Mirrors in the Shadow is a campaign about, well, the players characters themselves. There are runs, there are bad guys, there are super powers and not-so superpowers.

And if you work for it, you might become one of them.

Since this game focuses more around the characters when determining events and consequences, what you do as a player can drastically change things. Taking the steps to being a burn out will lead you to burning out, but it will have opportunities to recover too (would be silly to kill you slowly - you'd take up game space that way). If you take Steps to try and take over a megacorporation, you may very well reach it if you have the guts and possibly cold edge of business law to take it. Don't think only the mundane are going to have the fun here: there are magical super powers as well, and one could, in theory, become a superpower of that nature as well.

What you can use:
SR4 book
Street Magic book (*clings to owned one posessively*)

As per creation rules, you basically follow the standard rules presented in the book. 400 points, no items above this rating or whatever, etc, etc. No initiating beforehand, yadda. if you want to be creative in some way, you have to run it by me first, but I'm not entirely stingy about imagination. If you want to do makes sense you can supply a method of making it work by SR standards, you may very well find it within your grasp.


Now, for the important technical details.

This is a relatively small game, as far as players go. I have one player in reserve (who really wants to play, and had her chance spoiled before from 'problems' of other players committing), and I will take 2-3 more here to join her. If for some reason she drops out, I will keep the game up and take one more person (to the max of 4) if desired.
I would prefer that players try and make character that can get along on a basic level: they will work together, not neccessarily betray one another without damn good reason, etc. If you make a person so grossly incapable to work with the others, or events turn that way, I will intervene in some unlisted fashion (from telling you to remake the person, or by splitting the roads until your character 'learns' to play along).
In case you think that means you have to always be in a party, it does not. This is about the characters, and if there's a private, one person story line to work with for awhile, it can and will be done (as such, metaplanar travel may become an entertaining break for the rest of the group).

In the case of rules and rules lawyers, I will listen to initial complaints or suggestions or questions about things and try to give an honest answer as best I can. I am flexible with some things when it comes to odd moments in the rules. Repetitiveness may change my mind if it somehow comes up, but not for genuine issues (I will get annoyed if you try to bend rules solely for your benefit all the time. I will be pleased if you try to be creative in how you deal with situations where the rules get tricky). I don't know what variant rules I will be using as of yet. Chances are most variants will be from street magic, since the ones in SR4 are usually more about making things more challenging.

The one exception to variants is how edge regenerates and karma is gained: you gain back edge with very clever actions (the less edge you have available, the less cleverness needed). A safe nights sleep will recover all edge, whereas a bad nights sleep might only give you a point or two. Karma is awarded in the traditional sense, but since mages tend to be karma costly, 'good will' or 'bad will' (if you're one of those types) can gain you bonus 'latent' karma. This karma is only good for magical purposes such as enchanting, binding, etc, etc (basically, just about anything magical that doesn't involve learning). Learning in this case implies learning new spells, initiation, and metamagic techniques outside of initiation (one of the Street magic variants). This does NOT include increasing your magic attribute.
Keep track of Latent karma separately from regular karma.

Edit on Latent Karma: Latent karma is suppose to be friendly to all, not just the Awakene (whoops, forgot, lol). As of now, latent karma is available to all that perform deeds and whatnot (in case I said otherwise) and can be used on any upgrading of character that does not involve learning or education. This means it applies to all attributes you can boost and non related things, but not to skills (skills imply a training that also involves refining and advancing your know how of doing it. An attribute is more of expanding your potential, but by pushing it to the limit rather than learning to do it a different way).

In addition, you can also gain true karma through gambling (in general, not Las Vegas style). If you give donations of true intent, you might get real karma for your efforts. the larger the donation, the more likely you get it. the amount of karma, however, is secret. Donations don't neccessarily have to be in nuyen either, so when I say gamble, I really mean putting in a special act and seeing if it pays off.

Lessee...I think I covered most things. ^-^; this is my first online SR game to be the controller of. Pardon the technical run around above. If you're interested in the game, you can post a summary blurb of what sort of person you want or intent to try making. You can supply more than one if you like, in case you're not sure which you want to do. Any character is accepted, technomancer or otherwise.

[krayola red]

Sounds like a rockin' time. I'm still trying to get a feel for the SR4 magic system, so I'm going to toss my guy from JackRipper's witch hunt game into the ring for consideration. Aaand, we're off!

Concept:

[ Spoiler ]

Clay Jackson
Paranormal Investigator

Clay is a hotshot young magician fresh out of the hallowed halls of MIT&T with a BA in Thaumaturgy. Due to an unexpected falling out with his parents shortly after his graduation, the source of income that fed his progress in the academic world was cut off, and Clay suddenly found himself without the funds to finance his graduate studies. Over the past year, Clay has taken many odd jobs to bring in the money he needs to get his next degree, including working as a small time security mage, magical healer, street illusionist, and even a Mafia interrogator. He's recently decided to brave an unexplored frontier and opened up a paranormal investigation agency, advertised to tackle all sorts of creepy magical phenomena and supernatural troubles. He operates out of a meager apartment in Downtown Seattle and spends his days watching holovids and eating soy pizza in between calls.

Clay is an ork, but no ordinary ork. Where the average ork is stocky with a muscular build, Clay is as slender as a monowhip (and a total klutz to boot). Where the average ork is a relatively unrefined speaker with little social graces, Clay is gifted with a silver tongue that can talk a grizzled old troll sprawl ganger to give up his life of crime and become a professional ballet dancer, and has. Clay likes fancy clothes, good food, and attractive women, and curses his fortune daily because he is too poor to afford any of the three.

Background and Stuff:

[ Spoiler ]

Personality:

Clay is the kind of person who thinks that the purpose of life is to have as much fun as possible before you go to meet your Maker, and spends his days living by this philosophy. He's quick to anger, quick to forgive, and always ready for the next good joke coming down the pipe. He tends not to think before he acts and his sense of responsibility is sorely lacking, but he does feel an obligation to carry out those things that he considers to be his duty. Clay is a charismatic individual who finds it easy to make new friends because he's genuinely interested in people and their lives. He is fiercely loyal to those he considers to be his comrades and always tries his best to fulfill promises that he's made. He hates bigots in all their forms. He also has an instinctive mistrust of authority figures and people in positions of power, considering them to be nothing more than pompous, self-important asshats who derive enjoyment from subjugating the little guy.

Description:

Clay is a slender and somewhat frail-looking ork who stands at around six feet tall. His eyes are the greenish-blue hue of the ocean sea, and his long light brown hair is tied back into a loose ponytail. His skin is a soft sun-roasted brown color that hints at Amerindian heritage. He is often seen wearing a stylish gray and navy blue urban explorer jumpsuit with a pair of fingerless gloves and combat boots. Adorning his neck is a woven tribal necklace with the image of a broomstick etched into the keystone bead.

Backstory:

Clay was born into an upper middle class lifestyle to parents who were prominent political activists in the ork underground. During his early years, he saw little of his folks, who spent much of their time traveling across the UCAS to champion their cause to unwilling ears. As he grew, Clay proved to be a rowdy and energetic child, turning the whole household upside down at least twice a day with his impish antics. If an ornament can be broken, he broke it. If a surface can be defaced, he defaced it. Clay's parents tried hiring sitter after sitter in hopes of finding one that could keep their son under control, but to no avail. Clay ran through nannies like Neil the Ork Barbarian ran through foes on the battlefield. Finally, in desperation, they brought in the one person in the world that Clay was afraid of: his grandmother.

Marissa Jackson was a wizened old hedge witch with an attitude as hard as her knuckles. She's a Haitian immigrant, coming to the UCAS many years ago as a young girl carrying the ancient secrets of low magic, hexcraft, and herbology that have been passed down from generation to generation through her lineage. Over the years, the matriarch of the Jackson family had survived every terror the Sixth World had thrown at her, reaching a ripe old age that few can boast of. Clay knew that if he misbehaved, the worst his old nannies could do was yell at him a bit, maybe give him a few whacks on the forearm with the rod. Granny Jackson can turn him into a toad. Almost by magic, Clay got his act together soon after his grandmother moved into the house, and the next few years passed with an almost peaceful tranquility in the household.

Clay's life took an unexpected turn when his magical talent suddenly awoke at the age of eleven. When his gift was discovered, his parents wanted to send him to a certified magical instructor to teach him how to harness his powers, but his grandmother was adamantly against the idea, declaring that she could teach the boy far better than any half-baked corporate wage mage. Since Granny Jackson always got what she wanted, Clay quickly found himself taken under her wing, learning the mysterious arts of hedge witchcraft and the traditions of his ancestors under her watchful guidance. He proved to be an adept warlock and an enthusiastic learner, immersing himself into his magical studies with a fervor and discipline that he had never displayed in any other areas of his life. After graduating high school, he enrolled in MIT&T and, long and short of it, had a blast during his time in college. He was exposed to fellow magic practitioners from a potpourri of different traditions and learned a lot about his craft both inside and outside the classroom.

He graduated four years later with honors and was running the fast track to grad school when the girl came into his life. She said that she was a freelance graphics artist and Clay thought she was lying, but he didn't care. After a brief and passionate affair, he discovered that she was actually the trophy wife of a board member on the Orc Rights Committee, but it was too late. Their fling had already become the headline title on every screamsheet circulating the orc underground. Clay's father, furious at the shame his son had brought down upon their entire household, told him in no uncertain terms that he was getting cut off from the family bank account. From here on forth, the elder Jackson declared, he'll have to live and die by the consequences of his own actions. With that message burned into his mind, Clay stepped out from under the protective roof of his parents' shelter and into the real world, armed with nothing but his magic and his wits, hoping that they'll be enough to take on the challenges of life awaiting him down the road.

[JackRipper]

I have a concept i've been kicking around since I DL'ed Street Magic. This part here is from the Seattle sourcebook (New Seattle) and isnt mentioned in Runners Haven's so, is totally up for GM approval. The Ballard district is a Scandinavian influenced area. Including a local gang called the Beserkers [page 32, New Seattle]

That being pointed out my concept is a 'street shaman' in the Norse Tradition. He pays homage to all the Aesir, but Loki whispers loudest to him. His grandmother was a magically active follower of Freya, His brother while a mundane is a gode (priest) of Thor, and he takes flak occassionally from not playing a more active role in the local 'church'. He often hangs in the company of his cousin, a full member of the Beserkers.

That's the short version, if it piques interest I'll post more.

[Cold-Dragon]

Well so far I'm heavily amused by Cray's ork, and a Norse street shaman isn't a bad thing. Go ahead and put in more if you like. There's still positions open, after all!

[krayola red]

Okay, since you gave the greenlight, I'm going to throw a second character concept into the hat. :)

Bob Bobbins
Prime Runner

Bob is a balding, middle aged human man with persistent garlic breath and a sixty pound beer gut. He used to work as a truck driver for the transportations arm of the local Ares factory, but got fired from the job when he was caught eating his supervisor's lunch. The first few months of unemployment were the hardest on Bob, because he had to make do without the daily six boxes of Krunchy Yum donuts to which he was accustomed due to his lack of funds, but inspiration struck Bob one fateful night when he was watching a shadowrunner program on the trid.

It was the first show of its kind that Bob had watched (his usual preference is the PlayElf channel), and the smooth, deadly professional criminals and their amazing exploits left him spellbound. After he watched the hero of the show, Sam the Samurai slice through fifteen Lone Star officers with his dikoted katana and leap out of a ten story window, Bob knew immediately that he was destined to be a shadowrunner. He knew he had the skills required for the profession, since he had taken three months of tae-kwon-do back in middle school (which, incidentally, was also about the last time that he exercised). However, that had been many years ago, and Bob knew that he might be a little rusty on the moves, so he decided to test his combat prowess by going out into the street and challenging the first person to come strolling down the road to a fight to the death. The first person turned out to be an elderly old grandmother with a walker and full body arthritis, but our hero was undaunted. After a fierce battle, Bob emerged the victor, although not without wounds, having lost an ear and two fingers in the combat with his fearsome opponent. Using the remainder of his funds to replace his severed body parts with cybernetic equivalents, Bob abandoned his old identity and plunged headfirst into the shadows, eager and willing to tackle his first job.

[JackRipper]

That is freakin' hilarous

[JackRipper]

Erik "The Ganner"


Discription

[ Spoiler ]

Standing only 5'8", he is smaller than the average Norwegian stock male in the Ballard district. His hair is dark, not completely unusual to the bloodline, but it tends to throw off the sterotypical look others have of the Scandinavian peoples. His hair is shortish (4 1/2 inches length) and styled in arranged chaos expect for the lone long braid on his right temple, that hangs down to his shoulder. He is thin but not skinny as such, and generally seen wearing his long coat, adorned with a wolf pelt on the shoulders.

Background

[ Spoiler ]

Often given to mischief as a child, an adolescent, and well he hasnt quite stopped yet. It is perhaps his own personality or the whispers of Loki that make him this way. His proclivity for mischief is known within the tight Ballard community, and is often dismissed. This dismissal is as much for the reverance they hold for his late grandmother, and his brother's work as it is for them knowing/suspecting that Loki inspires to him. His mischievious ways have led him to seedy bars, and the backrooms for less than legitamate dealings. His dealings have put him in harms way more than once, and into the company of his cousin, a full fleged member of the Beserkers gang.

[Cold-Dragon]

Well, I'm relieved to say I can say no to Bob the Bobbit. ^-^; lol.

As per Erik, if you want to start designing him, feel free. I'll consider you placed in if you do want to play. I will allow others to make offers though, in case you change your mind or I lose contact with you (it does happen, heh).

[krayola red]

What? Bob is rejected?

My poor old heart, it is all broken to pieces.

[BlackHat]

I've had two cool character ideas since Street Magic came out (both updated and modernised versions of old SR3 characters I played a few times). I'll put up some brief descriptions, and see what you think. If I had some time (or if the GM hinted at which one would be a better fit) I could do a more detailed background and character sheet - but it seems like a lot of work to go through if there are only 2-3 slots open. :-D

Also, in response to your houserule about the 'latent' karma... it seems to benifit awakened characters, but not un-awakened characters... so I would expect most of the submissions to be awakened. :-) I could be wrong, but it would be nice if you could think of a way that latent karma would be useful to a non-magical character - unless that was your intention.

Agent A-028

[ Spoiler ]

Ever since I saw that Street Magic finally made psionics not completely gimped, I've been wanting to play a psionic character (not one of the retarded ones who doesn't believe in magic - but one of the more 2070 modern ones that accept that there is magic - but that what they are doing is somehow different). As much as I like SR for its attempt to mix sci-fi and fantasy, I like the idea of sci-fi psionics more than fantasy magic. :-)

A-028 is a telekinetic, and in SR3 he had the amnesia flaw, but thankfully SR4 got rid of that - but I'd still like to play him as an amnesiac. I have a few details of his background worked out, but would be open for suprises as well. Basically, as a child, he manifested his awakened nature early on, and had a very hard time controlling it. He is an aspected magician, and and was taken in my one of the few psionic organizations that saw his potential and wanted to help him untap it for their own nefarious corporate ends. He was trained as sort of a Psi-Ops agent, but on one particular mission he pushed himself too far, falling unconscious and waking up in a strange place with only vague flashbacks of who he was.

With the awesome new SR4 tech, I imagine him with an agent and virtual-person running on a small commlink that could inform him about a lot of his previous experiences, probably as they came up and he bothered to look them up.

"Knives"

[ Spoiler ]

Knives isn't one of the subtle shadowrunners that gets the job done without anybody hearing about it. He's the kind you bring in when you're expecting the drek to hit the fan. He's the kind you see on the trid-shows that comes blazing in on his blood-red racing bike, armed to the teeth, guns a blazin', blades a-flashin'.

This concept is a little more action-oriented than the sorts I tend to see on the boards because of the "bullet-time" effect (that combat tends to grind a thread to a halt), so if you're expecting not a lot of combat, this is not the shadowrunner for the job. Course, I wouldn't mind playing him even if the game was combat-lite... so long as it was going to come up every once in a while.

Basically, he's a throwing-adept, missle-mastery focused shadowrunner who specialises in combat/assassination. He's a bit of a daredevil , show-off, and has a flair for the dramatic. He's hardly a combat-monster, since he isn't any tougher than a normal human, but his magical abilities make him far far deadlier.

He calls himself "Knives" (and so do those in the shadows who work with him) because, when he's on a job, he carries an insane amount of knives on him... and can use them to deadly effect, but in his hands any object can become a deadly weapon... pens, cards, RFID tags, whatever. He can get into places "armed" that other shadowrunners would have a hard time getting to - and when the team is fully geared up, he is like a tornado of metal, blood, and death.

[Cold-Dragon]

Erk, that's a good point about the latent karma, lol...I totally forgot I meant that to help mundanes too! ^-^; The non techies anyways - all naturals that prefer as little chrome as possible and whatnot.

Current errata on Latent (which I'll modify in the main text later).

Latent karma can be used for any character upgrade that doesn't involve learning. This means you can use latent karma to train your attributes, special attributes, edge, or whatever else one can think of. You cannot, however, use it on skills, since they all involve 'educating' yourself to a better standard.

Naturally, this means latent karma will only go so far at certain points. Since this is the start of things, however, no one should have to worry about tapping out the advantage and making me tweak it again. Later I just might make latent karma a 'chance of being used or not being effect' or something. Dunno.

As per your characters...

Both sound good, though Knives reminds me of Knives from Trigun a little bit, lol. Combat will definitely exist, but mindless combat will depend on the situation brought forth. If knives were to get himself into an underground fighting ring for some reason, I could let you try out each fight if you want to that badly, otherwise, I will try to make this adventure as much as combat or story. Pick one, and make a more elaborate story for it if you wish, but just one. ;)

I did say 2-3, and at the moment, the total proposals are 3 people (if a couple ideas on each). You can consider yourself on the 'dibs' list as long as you can make the character soon. Take too long, I'll have to give up your potential place.

[JackRipper]

Cold-Dragon, do you want sheet PM'ed or posted here?

[Cold-Dragon]

Detailed sheets can be PM'd. That gives a little mystery as to just what another person knows, which is realistic.

[krayola red]

Sheet fired.

[BlackHat]

[krayola red]

I have no idea why Knives from Trigun was called Knives when all he uses is his gun. Not to mention he was way too underdeveloped a main baddy. Legato was a much cooler villain - seriously, getting himself killed just to screw up Vash? That's just cold.

[Lagomorph]

Hiya, I haven't done a forum game before but it sounds fun and I'd like to put some characters up for consideration. Since it sounds like it's full currently, I'll just put my name in the queue in case some one drops out.

So, here's my stable of characters:
Maven - Human Ex-Corp Financial Wizard - Face/Technomancer
Peter Parkour - Ork Street Sam with emphasis on athletics

If you're interested in hearing more about them, I'd be glad to give stats, descriptions, backgrounds and personalities on either of them.

[krayola red]

Holy crap, Spiderman became a street sam?

[Cold-Dragon]

the quota is filled, but backups are always useful. ^-^ If you want to give a half summary BG on them or something, that is dandy for later use. That, or just have them in reserve so if I mention re openings, you can just copy / paste or whatever.

That, and we have a distinct lack of mundanes virtually, which is amusing. XD Kinda my fault there.

[Lagomorph]

[Cold-Dragon]

I forgot to comment on the name. I found it amusing, lol.

*goes to makeup and yells at the artists for making the elf look like a troll and vice versa*

[Lagomorph]

Short BG's

Maven

[ Spoiler ]

Maven was an up and coming financial star for Novatech in '63, and was one of the overseer's of the IPO and consequently at ground zero for the second crash. In the few months after recovering from his coma, Maven started hearing things. Confident that it was just stress from work, he ignored it. Soon he was having visions, and remembering information that he never knew. He went to his Corp psychologist for help, and they placed him into a Crash Survivors Support Group, which was really a group of people who were labrats for a technomancer research project. He eventually figured out that it wasn't just a support group when members were pronounced Cured for Life, never to be seen again. Not wanting to be Cured for life, he paid his close friend in the Deniable Assets department to hire a runner team to extract him. During the run he found out that he and the hired team were double crossed, the team lost their hecker in the bloodbath but Maven was able to fill the hackers position and get the rest of the team and himself out to safety. Giving him enough street cred to get in on another team.

As for PP, I'm still working up a back story. I haven't thought up anything good yet.

[Cold-Dragon]

Eh, Maven's isn't too bad. Tastes slightly like playdoh to me (don't know why), but it's nontoxic!

it could be I'm suspicious of corpies though, so no worries about how I feel, lol. ^-^;

[GodaimeSama]

So here I am, the last (or first?) missing member.

Aurel

Background

[ Spoiler ]

Aurel was born to the unwed teenaged daughter of a prominent businessman, who hired women to take care of the girl in secret until the mother could be married, at which point a four-year-old Aurel was left on the street, to be rid of the evidence of the woman’s illicit affair.

She joined up for a short time with a group of children in similar circumstances – where she learned Russian, as two of the most vocal members spoke that language - until she grew old enough to fend for herself. With no other way to explain her life, she began to believe strongly in the existence of destiny, and eventually discovered astrology, which she pursued with a passion.

Once she left the group of strays to try to fend for herself, she discovered very quickly that she couldn’t defend herself from robbers and rapists. So, she began associating with the local arms dealer, a burly twenty-something man by the name of Jorl. He took an instant liking to her, and she quickly displayed a love – though not a propensity – for pistols. She couldn’t hold a normal pistol very well, so he made her miniature ones – thus earning her the nickname of ‘Little gun,’ though no one but Jorl ever called her that.

Soon after turning ten, she met a slightly younger girl named Sayuri, who, instead of fighting, had turned her perfect looks into a profession, where she offered her services to men off-the-record. The girl had been the daughter of a Japanese fortune-teller, and so was a fair expert on astrology, and Aurel started asking for readings regularly. However, on top of that, Sayuri’s sharp wit and biting remarks earned her a lasting friendship with the quiet Aurel.

She thieved and did odd jobs, while practicing with longarms and pistols on the side - and developing her own long pistol, to be used for precision, or with a second pistol if necessary - until she was fifteen, when she officially became a Shadowrunner. The night after her first kill, she visited a bar for the first time and got thoroughly plastered, an occurrence which repeated itself after every assignment, until she became quite thoroughly addicted – to the point that she suffers extreme withdrawal symptoms after only a day without her drink.

Personality

[ Spoiler ]

Quiet, reserved, and generally calm, she accepts things without question, as she believes they are the dealings of Fate. She works well in groups, not because she enjoys being with people, but because her willpower is almost nonexistant, and she almost automatically goes along with the team leader.

[Cold-Dragon]

And now we have our angels plus one knife juggler! (sorry, had a odd moment there). Once some minor details are cleared up, I'll see about creating the grand visage!