Recruitment: Newbies, How much does experience matter? Options

[Trigger]

[Unarmed]

Here's a character concept, I'm working on a more fleshed out background:

Nathan Arizona - Face

Nathan is a former PR manager for a major PR firm in Seattle. He was good at what he did, and his socially oriented adept powers helped him land a number of major contracts for the firm. Unfortunately, Nathan has two major problems: He can't stop gambling away all of his money, and he has extremely bad luck.

He now owes almost 75,000 nuyen to the mob. He managed to talk them out of killing him outright, but now they want him to do a favor for them, and it doesn't seem like what he's going to have to do is going to be very legal. It might involve dealing with "shadowrunners" or perhaps even becoming one himself.


If you don't want the mob to be involved, then I can edit things in favour of him still owing a lot of money, but he's lost his job and shadowrunning is really the only way he sees to get the mob their money quickly. Either way. =)

[HeySparky]

Good to see you too, gobogen. Good luck with the game.

[Syndicate_killer]

Also for consideration:

Carlos "El Gamberro" Munoz

Carlos is a streetwise (like most in the gangers in the metroplex) Latino who runs with the Chulos gang in the metroplex. In his 23 years of life he has been the guest of the state and local facilities for a total of 8 years...so far. Carlos is at a crossroads in his life...it's time to move on, or move up......shadowrunning these small jobs for Sonic will give him the skills, the juice and the cash to do either of those.

In his role (if chosen) as a shadowrunner he lives up to his nickname..El Gamberro means 'the Thug'.


I am by no means withdrawing my application for Amok....just trying to up my chances of getting in.

[Woozy]

Charlie
When you're a skinny tweaker with bad teeth, poor locution, and an uncomfortable staring habit, you tend not to have many options in life. This made things simple for Charlie, who was never very good at making decisions anyway.

For example, when it came time for Charlie to leave mom and dad and start his own life, Charlie decided that he would run drugs for a living (that's what his older brother did), and save up enough money so that one day he could afford to live in a nice apartment, and maybe find a nice job doing manual labor where he could listen to music all day and never have to worry about crazy parents shouting and cursing at him all the time. Charlie never stole any drugs, and in exchange for his reliability and naivety, he was be given more jobs running drugs, and got more money to boot. Drug running worked great for Charlie for a while, because if there's anything Charlie is good at, it's getting shit on. When things went wrong, he could take the beatings. When cops showed up, he could take the fall. And when mobsters learned that Charlie was planning to leave the business, and decided they were going to break every bone in that skinny little tweakers body, Charlie had the money to pay for some new ones.

Sharp ones, he decided. Perhaps the first good decision Charlie has made for a long, long time.

[SoyKaf Adict]

So either this party is going to be jagging for the next fix, or they're going to be dealing drugs on the side. Hahaha, I didn't know drug-dealing was so popular!

[Dranem]

I've not said anything in my character concept that she was any kind of junky or drug dealer... though I guess running with the gangs would - in some way - deal with drugs, alcohol abuse and such...

BronzeWyrm, or often just Wyrm (called such for her Bronze Dragon matrix icon) probably would be considered your average late teens skater punk... though her talents and Matrix speech make her stand out a bit from the average street kid.
She uses her experiences with the Tribes to comprehend her new Technomantic powers, though probably relies on tech and toys to do jobs than most Technomancers.

When she's not hanging out with friends, she crashes at her parent's place. Her father owns a tattoo shop which Wyrm works at on occasion when she's tight on cash. She's talented in hacking, fixing electronics, tattoo art and a bit of drone rigging. She's not much of a fighter, but can manage a gun if needs be.

[gobogen]

Well good job so far everyone! I like the ideas I see and I'm not looking forward to having to make a choice on Monday.

I don't mind that characters have similar pasts (gangs, drugs etc.), and everyone should really play what they want to play - and feel most comfortable playing. And by that I'm not trying to imply that you're all a bunch of drug-dealing junkies. I'd never do that :grinbig:

EDIT: I just went through all applications already received (including some PM's), and I count 9 interested players up to now. I already feel bad for some of you guys. :(

[Unarmed]

Here's another concept, who I'd actually prefer playing over Nathan.

Samuel "Skippy" Colt
Samuel was, at one point, a career bartender. It felt like, at one point or another, he'd worked at all the trog bars in Seattle. He's spent over half of his shortened orc lifespan behind the counter at various drinking holes, and he'd finally saved up the money to buy his own place, Skippy's. He knew a lot of shadowrunners in his time, but he liked being a bartender enough to avoid that scene for the most part.

Skippy's gained a decent regular clientele, and was a pretty hopping neighborhood pub, but one morning, Skippy arrived to open the place to find it on fire. It burned to the ground, and because of his somewhat seedy past, he was essentially uninsurable. Skippy now had nothing. He swore revenge against the people who burned down his bar, but he has to find out who did it first. He's also not sure that his skills will be up to par when he finds them, and he needs money, desparately.

So, Skippy has picked up his trusty shotgun and headed into the shadows, looking to earn some coin and harden himself for the trials ahead.

[Cthulhu449]

Esteban Ruiz Recalde

Esteban still remembers his first day as a member of the Yucatan resistance. He was 14 and the crew of El Angel Enojado was in port, just north of Zone Ghost, for a planned ambush on a Aztlan supply convoy, but short a man. For some time Esteban had assisted the men and women of El Angel with small tasks, sticking close to them to pick up skills and trying to demonstrate his competency to get a position on that boat. Every time it came into his small town he would be waiting on the dock, ready to assist in tying the ship, cleaning weapons and equipment, and anxious to pick up any supplies the guerilla cell might need. On that day, when Esteban learned of the lack in manpower, he begged Captain Alvarez to take him along, sure this was the time for him to make a difference. The second mate wasn’t keen on the idea, but Alvarez threw the boy a battered AK, thought he looked big enough to carry it, and welcomed him aboard. It was one of the happiest moments of Esteban’s life.

The ambush went well, with the supplies diverted to Zones Ghost and Lagos, and Esteban had a full time position on El Angel Enojado. His duties revolved around menial labor to start, maintaining the ship as it traveled between ports, clandestinely smuggling supplies to cells along the coast, but in time he picked up a few technical skills from his new foster family. They continued to perform attacks from the small village where Esteban had lived, finding their fair share of both successes and failures as the civil war continued.

That lifestyle ended when Esteban and the crew came into their home port, a day late due to engine trouble, to find the populace exterminated, apparently victims of Seven-7 or a similar neuro-toxin. Whether the murders were a mistake of the Aztlan military or callous method to eliminate a potential terrorist camp, Captain Alvarez didn’t care for the timing of the whole thing; If the engine hadn’t had trouble, El Angel would have likely been in port during the attack. He determined to dissolve the cell, worried it had been compromised. As such, the ship made port in Amazonia, and the crew parted ways with varying emotional impact, and Esteban was once again on his own.

He found work on a tanker, blending in for a time and eventually finding his way to Seattle where he resides now on probationary citizenship. The romanticized “fight against the corps” mentality of ‘running had a certain familiar appeal to Esteban, and coupled with some hard hangouts and harder friends among gangs and mercs, he’s found an opportunity to transition back into the type of work with which he’s most acquainted.

[SoyKaf Adict]

Now that's a freakin' background story... -applauds- :nuyen: :nuyen:

[Redjack]

I beleive that today is the day that anxious Shadowrunner sit in their various hangouts.... awaiting the call from Mr Johnson... or in the case of this thread, anxious wannabe shadowrunners await that first call.... :D

[gobogen]

The five characters and players in this game are:

Amok, Hacker/ganger (Syndicate_Killer)
Charlie, "Crazy Cyber Ninja" (Woozy)
Erik "EatMe" McKinney, ex-DocWagon employee (SoyKaf Adict)
Joshua Noble, Hermetic Mage (Redjack)
Esteban Ruiz Recalde, pirate/smuggler (Cthulhu449)

I'm really sorry to the other players who wanted to join. You all had good concepts and it's of course nothing personnal. Believe me when I say that I would have taken all of you, but I had to make up my mind and it wasn't easy.

Next post will contain character creation rules.

[gobogen]

Welcome to the game

What I'll need from you is a complete background and a character sheet.

Background Information:

I want to learn more about the life of your characters. In particular I like to know specific NPC names relevant to your story (even outside of just the actual contacts on your sheet), so that they can possibly be incorporated into the game later. More information is always a plus, since it gives me material to use. It's good to think for instance of the 20 questions (without going crazy on all the details).

Character sheet:

I'm sticking to my first feeling of giving 380 BP, max 200 in phys/mental attributes. Availability 12, regular rules. Talk to me if you really want to include something else. I will give additionnal BP's individually to those with thorough backgrounds. Anything not in the standard character creation rules must be approved by me first.

Everyone will start with a connectivity 3, loyalty 1 Fixer contact by the name of Sonic. Sonic was activily advertising in the shadows that he was a new fixer and looking for runners to work for him since a few weeks before the beginning of this game. You have met with him at least twice because he wanted to know you a little bit before giving you a run. Let me know how you think your character actually met him.

If you have any questions please post them here or PM me.

You can email character sheets and background info to me in text, html or document format. My address is peg__peg__peg (a) hotmail (.) com and please include something to the effect of Shadowrun or Dumpshock in the title.

[Syndicate_killer]

You'll have Amok in your mailbox soon.

[Redjack]

Have a question so I can link specific dates into my recent history: What is the date you will assign to the first IC post?

Second, what city will the game start in?

Thanks!

[gobogen]

It's funny that I haven't even mentionned the city, but as usual the setting will be Seattle in the year 2070. Play will begin on Friday, March 7, 2070 (or maybe the Thursday, not sure yet).

I'm assuming that your char's have all met individually at least once with Sonic (within at most 20 days of the start date), who will have asked about your skills, experience, and job preference (do you do wetwork), and told you what Shadowrunning is about, in case the character was somewhat clueless. Your character now knows - at least in theory - about all the basics of shadowrunning: what shadowrunning is (commiting [dangerous] crimes for others who pay high in return), being criminals you must cover your physical, data and magical trails, and all the usual stuff about confidentiality, professionalism, security, meets, payments, whatever. You're free to decide what your characters make of that. He's decided to take your character under his "employment" and that when he gets a job you'll be on his first team called out.

Even if your characters are all new to running, they at least know what they have to do. I don't want the game to be about amateurs, but rather about how shadowrunning careers might begin, when the runners are yet to have any experience.

As a rule, you all start with a notoriety and street cred of 0, in game terms. We will be keeping track of those during gameplay.

If you need more info, please ask.

[Redjack]

Great!
Next question: In order that we have contacts to get our restricted gear, IDs, etc. Are quasi-shawrunning contacts (specificially a decker, a street doc and a well-connected joy-girl) ok?

BTW: The 7th is a Friday

[gobogen]

Contacts:

Any and all contacts are ok, including street contacts, except for: Fixers, Johnsons, Fences (note that specific contacts can fence some types of goods without being just a fence), and actual runners. A street doc is ok, and so is a talismonger or arms dealer, but a street shaman who runs on the side is not. This is mostly for the feel that you are beginning your running career, but of course I don't want to prevent the characters from having lived on the streets for a while.

About the date, I had checked that the 7th is a Friday, by thurs I meant we might start on the 6th ;)

[Syndicate_killer]

Character sheet sent to email account, will be working out the rough spots on background and send that out shortly.

[Redjack]

History sent for Joshua Noble (aka Simon Vindicre (aka Partytime)).. Elven prodigal son who found out you can't always go home... Working on character sheet now.

[gobogen]

I have received Redjack's and Cthulhu's background info. Syndicate_killer, could you resend what you've sent me. I don't have anything from you yet.

And btw, I'm quite happy with what I've got up to now.

[Syndicate_killer]

I resent my pc in two parts to your email.

[Syndicate_killer]

Sent in by PM...hope it doesnt clog up your inbox lol

[Redjack]

How about Crazy Cyber Ninja and the ex-DocWagon employee?
Looking like any of our characters will know each other before hand?
Last question, do you have a target date for the game kicking off?