How is your game?, Collecting info on DS playing styles Options

[Edge2054]

Number of players: 6ish
Setting: Denver (We all live about 50 miles north of Denver so it's a good setting for us)
BP Level: 400 (Non-min/maxed, average specialization dice pool hits 10-12)
Average current karma: 12 (I think, we just started but I missed the first adventure)
Average karma/session: We got 7 for the last completed story arc (3 for the first objective and 4 for finishing up)
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): About 10k each for our last run, not sure what the one before that paid. Granted that was after negotiation.

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): None that we know of, we do a lot of work for a Mr. J named Chuck but he seems to be a freelancer and actually passed us on to another J for our last run.
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: Decently connected new team. No AAA Corp runs yet because we don't have the rep for it but we're not robbing stuffer shacks to make ends meet.


PCs
Caine - Human Street Samurai with an addiction to Cyberware and a strange aversion to Bioware. He wants to be the 'metal man' as he said. Also is pretty moral for a criminal, uses gel rounds for shooting people for example (when he does shoot people, most of the time he just lays down suppressive fire).

Red Metal (Rusty) - Our Decker, straight out of the archetypes I believe. Don't know much about him beyond that. My character has yet to meet him face to face.

Dozer - Our Troll Adept. He has missle mastery and uses ball bearings as his ranged weapon to supplement his physical ass kicking. He's a bit slow mentally, and now physically, lost one of his legs to a shotgun. The street doc gave him a peg leg while a new meat leg gets grown.

???? - Human Rigger. He's young, 17 I think. Spends most of his free time thinking about his vehicles and women. Don't know much more then that (the player couldn't make it two of the three nights I've gotten to play so far).

???? - Dwarf Mage who's name I can't ever remember. Hates being called shorty and almost mana bolted our J for calling him that. Follower of Norse mythology, summons valkyries (warrior spirits).

J.J. - Dwarf Face with strong Vory ties (he's not russian but his cell mate when he was locked up was a Vory Soldier). African American, speaks spanish and a bit of russian. Has a tendency to make decisions that affect the group without consulting them, which has pissed Caine off quite a bit. (This is my character (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ). Think he's the only one in the group with skillwires.


And not a single elf (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Stahlseele]

And not a single elf

duudee . . i'm jealous over here o.o

[Fortune]

Right now I'm gaming vicariously, reading over Fist's shoulder in his PBP Ancients game.

Give him a kick in the ass for us. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[MightyM]

It's pretty amazing to see the wide range of payments in different people's campaigns. Very interesting indeed.

I also just wanted to say that I totally approve of this thread. Great stuff for GMs new to Shadowrun trying to get an idea of what others are doing in their games. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Leofski]

Number of players: 3-6
Setting: Caracas (meaning I mostly make things up on the fly, with a near lawless, run-down, latin american theme)
BP: Level: 450 (mostly non-min maxed, mix of relatively experienced and new players)
Average current karma: 10
Average karma/session: 5
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): high, but mostly due to spoils of war (more below)
Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): None, but most runs come through "Dirty" Sanchez (Blame my PCs) at the Bar None
- basic tone: Nautical and street Jobs in cinematic style, allowing the expenditure of edge for PCs to frame non-critical locations as something they think is cool.


PCs
Smiley - Human Elf Poser Sam, Ares born and bred, served at Nairobi and the Desert Wars, but left and came to caracas, now spends his days drinking at the bar none, desperately trying to make enough money to stay afloat without making enough to retire. Claims to hate his situation, but loves it really.

Doc Gaudi - Street Doc/Cybersurgeon who lost his identity in crash 2.0. Complete with Pimped DocWagon ambulance, the street doc you trust to install your ware, that picked out of a UO crate on his last job (Caracas being a bioware town and all) or out of one of the teams victims. A nice little side earner to be sure as well as a reasonably effective fence for any ware the party acquires.

Captain Whatshisface - One of the first elves born in Caracas in the early 2010s. Started out in a dock district and never left, so knows everyone and everything in that slice of turf. Runs smugglin... legitimate business in his ludicrously fast boat as well as acting as a fence. Recently hired a nurse to srive his van around. Worries that Doktor Sleepless may soon emerge, since the player would like little better than being Science Jesus

Father Whatshisface - Troll Catholic Theurgist from some hellhole in Amazonia. Late awakening in prison, after escape came to Caracas in effort to start some kind of new life. Church overlooks his shadow operations and lack of official accreditation in exchange for those times when good deeds need doing and Nuyen mysteriously falls on those who perform them. Maintains an orphanage with about 50% of his cut, including sending the kids to a reasonable education.

One - Troll Bow Adept. New player getting to grips with the game system and setting, but playing the character pretty well, with a focus on zen purity rather than maxing damage output. Went toe to toe with a fire spirit and did pretty well. However the player can tend towards shyness, making it hard to judge the character beyond his actions (although in this case it may be intentional, I admit).

LPO (London Philharmonic Orchestra) - Drone Rigger. With a hovercraft. And lots of guns.

[Demosthanes]

Number of players: 3-4
Setting: Hong Kong
BP Level: 650 Karma (using karma build rules), max 8 availability
Average current karma: ~40
Average karma/session: ~ 4-6
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): ~ 2-7k

Campaign background: playing through events of emergence
- Main employer(if any): organized crime (triads and vory v zokone)
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: street, breaking into real running. very low magic


PCs:

Li: Human Face and recently emerged wild technomancer. Very knowledgeable on the street scene of Hong Kong and Kowloon, with lots of contacts. minimal bioware.

Quan: Elf Thief. Primarily a second story man and pickpocket. Bioware centric, minimal cyberware.

Shepherd: Human, ex-Merc. All around combat character and mechanic, mix of bio and cyberware.

Jobs: Human courier and smugler. Lots of cyberware, close quarters combat, primarily non-lethal.

Jackson (deceased): Ork, ex-Military priest. All around combat, mostly Bioware.

[Matsci]

Number of players: 8ish possibly 9 or 10. I need to break into 2 groups
Setting (ie. Seattle): Globehopping, Centered in Seattle
BP Level: 400
Average current karma: I have no clue. The Lowest has 20, and the Highest over 200
Average karma/session: 4-5
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 24-53,000 NY

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): Currently KondOrchid, none in particu
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: Over the Top


PCs:
Dark Talon- Ninja Adept
1080- An AI
Doc Wheels- Technical Adept
Johnny Blades - A High Tech street sam.
Ex-Star Occult Investigator
Derranged Dryad Cybermonster
Voodoo Elf Mystic Adept with Amnesia
Human Cyberninja

[Wesley Street]

Number of players: 4-5
Setting (ie. Seattle): Global but mostly based in Seattle
BP Level: 400
Average current karma: approx. 30
Average karma/session: approx. 5-10
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): Anywhere from 7K to 200K

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): Anyone who pays
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: I don't try to limit my games to one specific tone. That gets very tired, very quickly.

PCs:

My players burn through characters rather quickly as they're still getting a handle on the whole notion of "taking cover." And they occasionally get bored with what they're playing. The current roster:

Queen Rashida: A South African wakyambi adept with a specialization in infiltration.
Beakho: A Chinese tiger shapeshifter combat mage. A member of Benadanti XXV.
Pai-Mei: 13 year-old Chinese elf and Taoist spirit summoner. Also a member of Benadanti XXV.
Lil' Tim: Stereotypical African-American ork thug/enforcer
Ottoman: A nondescript human technomancer.

RIP

Tee-Zee: elf combat mage
Black Onyx: elf wiz-kid ganger
Genji: Japanese ork hacker
Kaimu: Japanese street sam
Red Tide: eco-terrorist shaman
Tortfeasor: dwarf lawyer and demolitions expert
Blue Steel: sword adept and rocker girl
A Catholic schoolgirl gunslinger adept
A couple of other idiots whose names and archetypes I'm blanking on. They didn't last long.

[The Pat]

Number of players: 4
Setting: Seattle; will shift to L.A. after Ghost Cartels
BP Level: 400 (adjusted costs for skills [3 BP] and skill groups [8 BP] and some races)
Average current karma: 10 (advancement costs are same as building costs, e.g. improve skill by 1 level costs 3 karma)
Average karma/session: 2-4
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 15-20k per run (average of 3 sessions) per runner

Campaign background:
Currently some old classics transfered to 2070 (Elven Fire, Dragonhunt, Bottledemon); will start of Ghost Cartells soon
Objective is to later introduce some "house boiled" plotlines: horror agents (with a nice crossover from our old ED group) and "evil Horizon" trying to mind control key individuals through media

Currently gritty street level, will shift gear to epic with "house boild" plotlines

PCs:
- Nightdancer: Elven Face/pornomancer with some combat skills
- Bull: Ork street sam
- Caine: Physical adept (might change to other character since this is a "one trick pony"
- Goemon: Japanese mage caught between manga and punk style

[The Jake]

Number of players: 6 at most (usually around 4-5).
Setting: Seattle at present (but is intended to be global. Quebec and Boston have featured prominently in the past..
Starting BP Level: 450 (running high level)
Average current karma: 12
Average karma/session: 3-5
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 10-15k per run (average of 2 sessions per scenario). No spoils of war yet because the PCs are still learning how to get loot. Although they've just decided to start hocking off bodies and used cyberware. God bless their black little hearts.

Campaign background:
PCs are ex-Cross employees (Seraphim). Basically their handler went rogue when Lucien died, taking a lot of assets with him in the chaos of the Crash and disappearing. They relocated to Seattle during the fallout and re-established base there. Their handler has his own agenda to which the PCs aren't aware of. They basically were on retainer for a short period and got by doing odd jobs for their handler and running the shadows.

Despite the higher skill level (mostly to allow people to play unusual concepts that haven't really existed in past eiditions), it is aiming at a street level campaign. I've really drilled home certain elements such as reputation, street level, etc. Even though they were operatives for CATCo, they know their rep there doesn't carry to the streets. So they are very conscious of raising their profile (don't ask me where hocking bodies off comes in).

Just run 'One The Run' which they finished without the railroading them into the cemetary fight at the end. They turned the disk over no problemo. I am preparing a few other runs (to flesh out their contacts to the Seattle underworld a bit more and introduce a few other concepts to them). Then I'll hit them with 'Ghost Cartels'. Probably about 3 sessions away.

Main Employers (almost forgot):
Jacques St. Bernard: Dwarven Face/ex-spy. Crippled due to a bullet. Confined to a wheelchair and distrusts surgery, despite having enough cybernetic headware to start his own silicon plant.Brilliant analyst/tactitian.
Smiley: Fixer from On The Run, is their primary fixer.
'Unkle Nikky': Dmitri took a Connection 6/Loyalty: 5 contact, which is his Vory Czar uncle. Nikolai gets his favorite nephew to 'look after' a few things for him, particularly where he can't be seen getting his hands dirty. In my setting, Nikolai is relocating to Seattle to ramp up North American operations. The current Vory Czar (forget the chaps name, in Runner Havens) will be stepping down to Unkle Nikky.

PCs:
Nightstalker - elven drake mystic adept. Basically a magical version of the covert ops specialist. Hunted by S-K.
Frost - E-ghost AI. Former elven hacker, he was caught in the Matrix when the Crash occured. Torn between enhancing his virtual self or find a way back into his human body (which is in coma on life support).
Reaper - human spy/close quarters combat specialist with amnesia. A lot like Jason Bourne but it wasn't by design (player didn't even realise the comparison until I pointed it out to him).
Icarus - eagle shapeshifter/shaman with a grudge against Ares that displaced his family. Fascinated with humanity and trying to help other shapeshifters.
Dmitri - troll merc/gunbunny with Vory ties. Running an arms dealing/smuggling business on the side.
Crafter (iirc)- human hermetic magician/face. Scholar background but a hunting afficionado (decent with a rifle). Expert in spell theory and enchanting.

[raggedhalo]

Number of players: 5
Setting: Denver 2070
BP Level: 400
Average current karma: About 110
Average karma/session: 3-5
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 5,000-40,000 per runner

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): None, although for a long time the Chavez Mafia were a big employer
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: Syndicate and then corporate. Running most of the SRM02 Missions adventures, plus Emergence and homebrew stuff.

PCs:
Daio: Troll wujen (Mentor Spirit is Yanluo Wang, the Dark King) on the run from the Smoke Circle Society in Hong Kong. Has made a Dream Pact with a free blood spirit in exchange for it teaching him Sacrificing, thus making him a blood mage. He's starting to wonder what's happening while he's asleep, and the rest of the group are convinced he's eeeeevil but have no real knowledge (IC or OOC) about what's going on.

Dreamer: Dwarf asatru combat mage following Tyr (Wise Warrior). His teacher was arrested in the AGS for alleged links to Winternight.

Ghost: Human mystic adept (Warrior Way) following the hedge witch tradition (mentor spirit is Annan, or Raven), inherited from his estranged mother (a powerful UCAS Senator on the Board of Ares Macrotechnology). He's kind of a cross between Jason Bourne and Raymond Shaw from the 2004 version of The Manchurian Candidate. His mother is now involved in the Empowerment Coalition and is thus a Mantid Spirit, which should prove a nice surprise.

Hustle: Elf adept (Invisible Way) who's both the group face and very good at disguising himself. Very vengeful and oddly intractable, leading to him making as many enemies as friends.

Mars: Human adept (Warrior Way) who was a child in Chicago during the Bug City years and then became a company man for Ares. Brainwashed (Judas Negative Quality), hung out to dry and deployed to protect Ghost by his mother. About to discover that his beloved megacorp is in league with the hated insect spirits (running a scenario simialar to the one described in Betrayal in Threat 2) and hopefully have a total mindfuck.

I've decided that any new characters coming in will have to be mundane as the group's currently a bit ridiculous. This season of the campaign will conclude in about ten adventures or so, at which point I'm rebooting in Seattle 2071 to run Ghost Cartels...

[Drogos]

Number of players: 5 with a 6 incoming
Setting: Seattle 2070
BP Level: 400 with 30-50 in extras tacked on by the GM
Average current karma: ~30 iirc
Average karma/session: 2-6 per session
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 5,000 per runner first run, currently sitting on 5 units of Orichalcum

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): Phoenix Talent Agency - Basically a Talent Scout group that is in touch with our face
- Basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: So far a bodyguarding/babysitting run protecting an Urban brawler and now in the midst of gathering Telesma for a high initiate hermetic. We also managed to really piss off the local Disassemblers and therefore Tamanous.

PCs:
Flint: Human, high Edge high Reaction Pistol Face. A heavy drinker and the guy who gets the jobs. Not stepping up as a leader much, but tries to keep the group Professional (much to his dismay).

Bill: Troll-ghoul tank. Former member of the Disassemblers and recent addition to the group. Thus far, he has the info on a major threat and some potentially profitable ventures.

FUNGUS (Fuck U New Guy You Suck): Human high edge, high reaction streetsam. Old school style with full cyber replacement body (everything but head). Halloweener member that is rude, crude and has an attitude like sandpaper. Has a past none of us know about though.

Larrill: Elf shaman (follower of Dark Mother) with Gremlins 2 focused on summoning. Back to nature type, but forced to run to survive because her mentor keeps her from remaining with the Sinsearch.

Mystull (me): Human Elf-poser Wiccan follower of Sky Father. Former wage mage focused on spellcasting and combat skills. Practically inept at dealing with spirits and augmentation addicted for the rush of power. Focus on Mental manipulations. Loosely based off of a combination of Karl Rupert Chronan from Hellboy and the Mantis from Metal Gear Solid.

[Petrie_SMG]

Number of players: 3-4
Setting (ie. Seattle): Seattle
BP Level: 400
Average current karma:
Average karma/session: Was 4-6, scaled it back to around 2
Average payment (including "spoils of war"): 8-20k

Campaign background:
- Main employer(if any): Did a number of runs for a secret Telstrian project, finding/observing tests subjects for a new combat drug, and then dealing with the competition.
- basic tone: magical/corporate/street crime/other: Mostly street-level, have included quite a bit of magic, too.

Current Players:

Krud- Human male street goon/petty criminal trying to break into more upscale employment. He’s been a transient, moving from city to city living on the street (therefore, he’s good at, and not ashamed, of being a freeloader). Has a moderate level of cyberware, and has started taking the character towards more of a hacker/rigger.
Player: 27 yr old male.

SteamRoller- Human male, Mr. Shoot First/Ask Questions Later, also team leader and negotiator (Built for both, has mood swings). Seattle local, used to be involved with some fixing and smuggling, still has other friends in the biz. Not the most trusting of sorts, prone to some outbursts.
Player: 27 yr old male.

Hardac- Human mage from Pueblo, transplanted to Seattle with his uncle. Getting more and more involved with the Owl mentor spirit, has a lot of connections in the SSC. Yes, levitate IS his favorite spell.
Player: 28 yr old male.

Stark- New player. Elf male adept, specialized in being a face. Very agile, good at infiltration, stealth, disguise, and subdual. Lots of underworld connections in Tir Tairngire, also has a couple of friends in the Yakuza, actually.
Player: 29 yr old male.


Previous Players:

Slice- Human male. Rigger/Hacker/cyberdoc, took high LOG and added cranial boosters for good measure. Ridiculous rolls for anything with it… also the character with the best back story. Former wage slave, still has a middle class lifestyle WITH a wife and kids. As far as she is concerned, he still works for a corp. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Tells her he can’t talk about what he does at work and it requires odd hours… I would have had a lot of fun with his back story, but he moved for a better job.
Player: 25 yr old male

Derrik- Elf male adept, total gunbunny. High AGI plus improved Automatics skill plus a few other things equals some ridiculous BS. Delicate flower, though, low pain tolerance and average BOD. Good character, was on loan from Telestrian for the above mentioned employer.
Player: 28 yr old male