Recruiting: Down in the Gutter - Second Phase, Life in Redmond's Newest Street Gang Options

[Eyeless Blond]

Eyeless Blond

Resonance would cost as much as Magic but I can tell you there is no room for negotiation on it. We all have been limited in one way or another building our characters and there isn't gonna be "extenuating circumstances" for the building of a TM. It's just not fair to the rest of us.

We're still trying to hammer out accepting a TM as well. It goes against a lot of what we initially talked about accepting. I admit, I still would love to see an IC convo between Drip and a vending machine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Give us a little more time to come to some conclusions about what we're willing to do an we'll go from there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Patience my dear grasshopper, patience (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Heh, oh I know. Heck I'll probably build the little guy even if he doesn't get accepted; like I said these number-crunching exercises are half the fun. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

At this point though I'm just convinced that building a technomancer under normal rules is "limited." (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) But yeah, I can completely see the reasoning there, and I'm already working on a charsheet with the assumption that Resonance costs 25 BP a pop. The mammothly prohibitive cost of Complex Forms pretty much ensures I won't be able to both hack and use sprites, so I'll just have to work toward the sprite side, well probably.

Other questions I had were these:

Would it be possible to take a technomancer version of Focused Concentration?
Are we free to take the psychological flaws from Augmentation, even though we're not CZs or jarheads?
Can Codeslinger be applied to Compiling/Registering?
Are there any more specific rules than the ones outlined in Arsenal regarding "Used" equipment (if, for example, an old used car "followed him home" one day?)
Are there rules for vehicle upkeep in SR4?

[Whipstitch]

Quick question on Vicious Blow and its interaction with shock weapons: Are you guys fine with letting a stun baton do 6P(E) -1/2 AP for a damage code when used with Vicious Blow? By the RAW and from what I've heard from the freelancers there doesn't seem to be any reason not to allow it, since it's not actually all that overpowered thanks to the dice -2 pool penalty for the maneuver (a pretty rough penalty when you consider DITG dicepools!) but I figured I'd ask because it's not something that passes the sniff test for a lot of gamers I've talked to, so I figured I'd better ask before committing to the maneuver.

[Vegas]

Dantic
We'll approve you to post/edit on the wiki when your concept is 100% approved here in this thread, until then please keep updating here. Thanks!

Eyeless Blond
Right now we decided as a group NOT to accept a TM after all. I'm all for it if you want to number crunch for fun, but it won't be accepted as a submission here unfortunately and we probably won't answer questions about further TM creation. (didn't know if you saw or missed the update post for everyone's submissions so far)

[WinterRat1]

Quick question on Vicious Blow and its interaction with shock weapons: Are you guys fine with letting a stun baton do 6P(E) -1/2 AP for a damage code when used with Vicious Blow? By the RAW and from what I've heard from the freelancers there doesn't seem to be any reason not to allow it, since it's not actually all that overpowered thanks to the dice -2 pool penalty for the maneuver (a pretty rough penalty when you consider DITG dicepools!) but I figured I'd ask because it's not something that passes the sniff test for a lot of gamers I've talked to, so I figured I'd better ask before committing to the maneuver.

No.

The damage code for a Stun Baton is 6S(e), with -half to AP. Its damage has nothing to do with the physical force involved, it is solely due to the electricity the weapon discharges.

Therefore, hitting someone harder with the weapon, a la Vicious Blow, would not reasonably convert that electricity damage from Stun to Physical.

So no, Vicious Blow will not work with a Shock Weapon.

[Eyeless Blond]

Eyeless Blond
Right now we decided as a group NOT to accept a TM after all. I'm all for it if you want to number crunch for fun, but it won't be accepted as a submission here unfortunately and we probably won't answer questions about further TM creation. (didn't know if you saw or missed the update post for everyone's submissions so far)

Aw drat. Oh well, thanks for your consideration.

[Dantic]

Twiggs, take three ...

[ Spoiler ]

19 year old Male Human, mundane
Concept
Street Dodger, shell games, pickpocket, any other sort of related acts.

Description
An unruly mass of brown hair meets you're gaze, "ahem", looking down you see the thin face below this mane. He is thin, but not gaunt, his eyes the same basic shade of brown as the hair, with a similar sort of... oily quality to both. He smiles easily most of the time, not always in a sincere way though. He seems to have some form of perpetual stubble, forming a patch on the end of his chin. He is young, but looks weary, as though always being a little short of sleep. When not running a shell game, or some other similar form of dodge, he usually in a sort of reclining posture, slumped against a wall or post if standing, or slouched down in chair. He is whip thin otherwise, and seems to have some nervous inner energy working, constantly. He tends to fidget occasionally, often cracking various joints in a constantly changing barrage of clicks and pops. His clothing is also rather neutral, usually a lot of brown and some black. The clothes aren't new, but they appear to be in good shape, especially the shoes, a pair of hikers that are of a quality, a little too nice for this neighborhood.

Background
The flower of youth, what a sweet notion, my flower got plucked when I was thirteen, by a "TIG" (Training Instructor and Life Guidance Councilor) who had a thing for boy flowers. I got sent to the camp as an alternative to serving the 1500 hours of society restitution activities I had acquired in school and in two trips to see the youth council. It was determined that I had a "sharp wit" and a rebellious bent toward authority, as a psychological and social retaliation against my estranged father. My biggest problem with authority was that everyone was always in authority over me, when you are always the smallest person in the area, well other kids aren't as advanced thinkers as the youth council.

The next few years weren't a lot of improvement, full incarceration for breaking and entering left me in for more of the same, a lot more. I fought when I could, always loosing, but time in medical holding was always better than the normal lockup. I found my best option was usually to run when I could, rare as that option is inside, it has served me well outside. I continued to deal with my best two weapons, a smart mouth and a quick thought. My mouth got me into as much trouble as my mind could try to keep me out of, lucky for me, on my last lock up, the med center wasn't as crooked as most and provided dental implants as replacements before I was released.

After a few more times in and out of lockup, I steered clear of any more B&E. I discovered that I had hands as quick as my feet and working outside gives room to run if the deal goes wrong. I floated around, working with a couple different partners as a snatch and fly operation or operator and shill in some form of shell game. Running a dodge in ganger territory isn't usually too dangerous, as long as you pay some form of protection, and staying clear of the better sectors, keeps Lonestar off of you.

Everything seemed to be going smooth, till all hell broke loose. The gangs were constantly at a stand off in the barrens, the big boys ruled the roost, the second tiers tried to act like they did too, and the rest kept an unease peace of knowledge that an all out war would cost too much for all involved, until the Kingsgate wars broke out. Somewhere in all this my latest partner, a somewhat savvy orc I knew only as “Pops�, had disappeared. I think he must have gotten caught in the 8's explosion, cost me too, he was going to score us some nova, and my stash is tapped.

Most of Twiggs' skill focus will be geared towards his unique niche, (palming, perception, running, and shadowing) with some skills in street etiquette, negotiation, con. (Haven't decided on cyber if any yet)

[Tobias]

This is my first crack at character concept/details. Will probably tweak and throw up another later today ((if I have time at work. Its been a bit busy))

[ Spoiler ]

Concept
Name: Twitch
Race: Human
Age: 23

Background:

Twitch was the son of Mike and Dawn Jackson. Mike was a pharma-synth representative and Dawn was a wage slave at a different company. Twitch grew up as Clive and excelled at science, especially chemistry, which his dad pushed. At the age of 14 Twitch lost his mother who died in a car accident, this sent his dad into depression. Life moved on as it usually does. His mother’s death and dad’s depression pushed him inside a shell which his output was school.

After he left school he got a medical internship geared towards being a pharmacist. He excelled at it and really enjoyed researching the different reactions to chemicals in the body. He became a habitual user of ((Can’t remember the drug’s name, is in arsenal the drug that gives you an auto-addiction to it will fill in the info when I get home)) as well as G3 for the slight edges it gave him. Life was good…

His dad was laid out on the floor when he got home, a syringe next to him. OD’d the coroner pronounced it. Now being an orphan shook Twitch’s entire life he moved from the mild stimulants to different drugs, stealing from work he started doing drug production selling his excess to anyone who wanted it. This lasted for about 6 months before being found out on a routine audit on the chemical cupboards. He was tossed out of the program and without any other skills he moved onto street production. This lead to a shit time for Twitch, being from a relatively sheltered upbringing, he never met the ‘cream’ of society. He quickly picked up skills for survival using what he had at hand, chemicals and knowledge of productions. He began using drug cocktails for combat drugs to keep himself alive, but the come down was a full on crash leaving him. He tried to keep the use to a minimum. He is trying to get into a gang for some protection and so he can spread his operation a bit.

Details:
This is the first idea to him, a guy that’s fallen from his life. Will have high mental logic middle rest of the stats, skills in chemistry ((active version if you’re running the rules that it has to be)) and other normal skills but not many combat skills. I probably will throw up a different version where he comes from the streets rather than school. But this is a quick write up while at work.

[Cthulhudreams]

Cuthuludreams
There will be no leeway on the 3 Essence cap for characters. We would like to see you flesh out your character idea a bit more so we can evaluate it and make a full decision.

Oh, don't worry about it. I was looking at a guy who was a stitch up of second hand cyberware to reflect his 'streetable' means, possibly emulating a bit of the hatchetman fluff (the beginnings of hatchetman, not the end, though maybe a bit of the end too) with aspirations of greatness, but one piece of second hand cyberware puts me past the 3 essence limit so that concept is a dead horse, and I see no reason to beat it.

[Neuntöter]

<<Hrm. I realize that it is probably a bad idea to be gunning for the only possible mage slot, when my adept concept got just shot down. But hey, why not go down in a blaze of pathetic glory.>>

William 'Will' Callahan

[ Spoiler ]

Malice aforethought, n (law, legal term)
A predetermination to commit an act without legal justification or excuse. A malicious design to injure. An intent, at the time of a killing, willfully to take the life of a human being, or an intent willfully to act in callous and wanton disregard of
the consequences to human life; but malice aforethought does not necessarily imply any ill will, spite or hatred towards the individual killed.
West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

The children are gone. In many ways I did kill them. I had no hand in it and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it and I certainly did not bear them any ill will, but kill them I did. It is my fault for the simple fact that I didn't
see it coming, that I even believed them to be safe there. Maybe it was even my fault from the beginning for allowing them to come near to me at all. They still might have died, and their deaths still would have been pointless and sad but it wouldn't have been so open and divested.

Fate is cruel. Or no, not fate. Rather She is. Even now while I try to shield my mind from Her in grief, I can hear the whispering. I heard nothing when they died. Nothing when those things teared through them. Nothing when they penetrated the den and slaughtered the little ones. I can hear her trying to console me, but I violently push the faint voice to the back of my head.

You might think I am mad now. Hearing strange voices is probably as bad as talking to myself. Hell, there are times I wish I were just one of the plain crazy hobos littering the streets. But things are a bit more complicated for me. And I am too smart dressed to be a bum anyway. Truth be told is, I am a bona fide mage. And that remarkably medication-resistant voice is not a bad case of schizophrenia but rather the caring hum of my Mentor. My Totem, for those of you fictional listeners that are only familiar with the Hollywood slang of it. I know many might kill or even do worse in hopes of acquiring the "gifts" that I have but let me tell you, they ruined my life.

I had a promising career. I graduated from a renowned law school. I immediately got taken under the wings of a seasoned attorney. I had it made. I had a quick tongue and a sharp wit. And best of all I was down-right ruthless. I didn't care whether my clientele was innocent or not. As long as i got paid to defend them that's what I did.
Then She came. You see, I am a sleepyhead, so to speak. It is very rare for a dormant magical gift to awaken after the 20th birthday, but it does happen. And I was "lucky".

It started with mild headaches and restless nights full of disconcerting dreams. They gradually got worse until I was chucking sleeping pills like breath mints. Then from time to time I would have strong feelings of deja-vu or my vision would become royally screwed up like I was having a particularly bad trip. That stuff reached its peak in midnight out-of-body experiences. Or at least at that time that was what I thought it was. Then came the day in court when the visions started.

It is one thing to present your defendant if you only mildly suspect he might have done it in the back of your head. Try doing that if you have visions of his victim's dying breaths and last moments full of excrutiating pain.
Turns out that my current client at that time was an exceedingly sick fellow. I saw things the prosecution itself would not have dared to pin on him. At that point my memory becomes a bit fuzzy. I learned two things later though.
The first was, that I apparently puked my guts out. For some reason I still remember that I had a salmon and cress sandwich that morning. The second thing was the uncomfortable one. As it turned out, my "testimony" earned my client the chair. And not the comfy one in the attorney's lounge. That alone was not a bad thing. Thinking back on those first visions and the things he did, they still make me squirm. And that is after all what I have witnessed in this godforsaken hellhole. The really bad part happened afterwards.

Turns out that intentionally getting my client condemned was something my Seniors at the office did rather not enjoy.
Apparently they also took offense at the nature of my revelations. So, declaring me mentally ill and unstable, i got handed the pink slip and got kicked out of the office. Also, it seemed like that sick, soon to be executed, ex-client of mine had rather techno-versatile friends. Because the next thing i knew my bank accounts had been emptied and i almost bit the dust twice when first my car and then my whole flat exploded. I took the hint and made myself scarce.

Well, one thing led to another, and before I knew it I was the proud owner of my very own cardboard in the friendly neighbourhood of Redmond. At that point I was still wearing the same tuxedo as in the courtroom, mind you. Just an amusing anecdote. I somehow managed to shake my mortal foes (I deeply suspect my Mentor had something to do with that. She taught me a lot of things, even when I was less than willing to listen) and for quite some time I was, not exactly happy, but less eager to throw myself from a highway.
I somehow found myself to be the patron of a bunch of half starved street kids, giving my life a resemblance of purpose I guess. Maybe I tried to do some good for once, although I certainly never thought about it that way. But for some time life was as good as it probably gets around here. And for some time even She was mercifully silent. Then Black October came and shook the Barrens. I believed my little ones to be safe, and for weeks we never even saw fighting. Then came Halloween. And while I was out trying to scrunch up some sweets, because a few of the brats wouldn't shut up about it, something raided our hideout.

I don't need to look at them with my inner eyes in order to know what it was. I don't even dare to. I fear the residue pain and suffering that lingers on those lifeless and emptied out puppets would crush me. I can hear her whispering again now. Urging me onward. I gladly oblige this time.

William Callahan.

[ Spoiler ]

Will is an odd case. A defense attorney turned street wizard, he still somewhat resents his gifts and clings to memories of his former life. Tradition-wise he would very probably be a classic hermetic, with a slightly modified version of the Dark King Mentorspirit. Think Death of the Endless if anyone is familiar with The Sandman series.

He'll probably be a veteran mage as far as the Gutter mechanics allow, with a spell list mainly composed of health spells like heal, antidote or fast and other things that primarily would be useful for his role as a foster father of a bunch of late street kids. He might have the odd manipulation spell like Shape Concrete and one spell of the combat school at most for defense purposes. Skill-wise and Attribute-wise he will have high charisma and logic, paired with a bunch of knowledge skills related to his former profession and a moderately high influence group. Throw in a point in athletic with a golf specialization.

I still picture him running around in his old actioneer business suit and with a suitcase.

At the beginning of the game his actions all will carry a certain amount of fatality. He deeply blames himself and his passiveness for the deaths of his charges. The relation with his mentor will probably suffer from this too. On the one hand he understands her basic principles about life and death, the inevitability of which and the meaning that underlies it. But at the same time he deeply suspects that she might have purposefully steered him into this position to exactly "make her point clear", and he can't yet forgive her for that.

this is a very rough draft. I just started writing and some things might not add up perfectly as of yet,especially towards the end, but i hope it is enough to get the basic idea across.

[Slipshade]

Dantic and Tobias - I think your concepts are coming alone really well. WinterRat, Vegas and I will take another look and hopefully get back to you soon. Keep writing and posting more information though. Flesh it out more. I know it seems odd that we keep asking that, but again the concept is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amount of writing you will be doing if you get accepted.

Cthuludreams - Yeah sometimes concepts just don't point out very well in this game. Feel free to submit another concept. Just because we can't accept the first one doesn't mean we won't accept the next.

Neuntoter - I think the new concept is pretty cool. I'm not sure you will be able to create that character concept stat wise though and as you can see from the other posts here we don't budge when it comes to the rules. Another concern I have is the "slightly modified" totem. We are not going to accept any modified totems. It gets to darn confusing for the GM to track that kind of stuff. Keep in mind I am not saying no to your character, I just need to talk it over with WinterRat and Vegas.


ALL

OK this is just my personal feeling, but it is going to be extremely hard to get an adept or mage in the game right now. You will have more of a chance finding a cool mundane concept that you can enjoy. If you are going to submit an adept or mage and some of you have, keep in mind two things. One, we will need a lot of background in your concept to really give us an idea of where you are going with the concept. No gimmicks or one trick ponies. We need concepts that make us go "Damn that is sweet. I want to play that!" Two, I would suggest thinking of a backup mundane character that you also find cool and enjoyable to play for the long haul, because that is what you will be in for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I am not speaking for WinterRat or Vegas, but that is what I am looking for.

[Neuntöter]

yeah, i was wondering about the stats myself, I have not even tried number crunching yet, since i don't want to compromise the mental picture i have so far.

and don't worry about the "modified" mentor spirit. The only modified part would be making the Dark King female and slightly less gothic/emo and instead more benevolent.

[Vegas]

Tobias and Dantic nice job on fleshing them out... like Slipshade said the more you can give us makes it that much easier to get into this game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Neuntoter how old exactly are you picturing your mage? Reading through the background story he comes off as MUCH older/veteran, and I don't honestly see him being a "fit" to the gang on the first once over. I would love to see an non-awakened concept from you and try to get that into the game.

All
Somethings to think about here guys as your doing up characters for this game. The original purpose of this game was not only to see if we could run a gang campaign, but to attempt to make a LONG-LASTING gang campaign, a sort of gang version of Living in the Shadows on here. The original characters poured their hearts and souls and a lot of time into building this version of Kingsgate and all the gangs within. This isn't a game where the GM did all the work and we just slapped characters together to play a one-off night of tabletop. That's why we push so much for quality AND quantity when it comes to characters, concepts and backgrounds.

Keep in mind also that as far as the Ravens are concerned, most of our characters have an average age of 15-17. I'm not pigeon-holing anyone into playing someone within that age range, but those will be your peers in game, and our leader is an 18 year old who has earned his battle scars and right to lead. Just a couple of things to think about. Also it plays into the lower stat level and caps we have in place as well.

[Neuntöter]

*scratches his head* to be honest, he would probably be in his early mid-twenties by now. If we reckon that he started studying at around 18, give him the benefit to be somewhat clever and that the Awakening occurred in one of his first serious trials, I'd say 24 at the very least.

But since he spent most of that time being pampered by the system, and has a recent past of getting brutally disillusioned by either the gritty fight for survival or getting private lessons from his Mentorspirit, i don't believe there is much chance of him starting to patronize other Ravens. Having to eat dead rats can make one very modest. So, as far as he is probably concerned the other Gangers are actually his seniors.

I don't think his slightly older age necessarily clashes with the lower Powerlevel. Most of his Knowledge skillpoints will go down for various Law-related skills, and his Actionskills will complement that as far as mechanics allow. The problem is, a classic college education is worth jack shit if you are forced to make a living in the streets. It would be pretty cool if our colleges produced people with runner-level experience, but sadly that is not the case.

In all actuality William will probably need the other Gangers in order to survive more than they will need him at the beginning.

also, i am not quite ready to give up on that concept yet, since it really makes me go "damn i want to play that" and there is no chance in hell i am ever going to in any of my normal campaigns.

[Dantic]

Ok, will post more on Twiggs in the next couple days, got to take care of RL today.

[WinterRat1]

Everyone – Please note until the word comes down ‘officially’ it’s fine for you to keep cracking away on your concept, even encouraged!

For example, Neuntoter’s magician isn’t rejected at this point; Vegas and Slipshade were simply pointing out some things for his benefit. It might be questions they have, or something they’d like tweaked, or explained in more depth, etc.

A good example was Vegas’s explanation of age/power in the gang and the subsequent response by Neuntoter. Sometimes things aren’t a problem per se, but we need more depth/info before we can approve something. So until you hear from us ‘officially’, no one take it as a ‘no’ just because someone pointed out a possible issue/problem to be resolved with your concept. It’s quite feasible you can resolve the issue and move merrily along with your original idea.

Of course, if we tell you you’ve got a real problem that won’t be compatible (e.g. Cthulhudreams’s request to have an essence below 3, which wouldn’t have worked anyway per his own numbers), then you need to go back to the drawing board. But as Slipshade said, just because your first concept might not fit well doesn’t mean the next won’t, so by all means keep cracking away!

[Vegas]

Dantic
I'll approve you on the wiki momentarily so you can start statting up Twiggs. I will also build pages for him like I did for Cuervo and link you to them here in the thread. As mentioned before, if you don't have a lot of (or any) wiki experience we're more than happy to help you get stats up on the pages, all you have to do is ask (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Neuntoter
Why don't you run with your Law-Mage and give us an idea of his stats/magic skills as you see them and we'll keep evaluating from there. The one thing we'd like to see removed from the background however is the ties to the only son of a certain crime syndicate's oyabun. While you're statting him up, keep in mind that we are REALLY in need of a traditional mage character in terms of abilities and powers, not another random concept mage. I personally have a little concern about the atypical character you're building being isolated from the gang as a whole because other than the obvious need for more magical support, I'm trying to justify why we'd bring him into the fold, because like you said yourself, he'll likely need the Ravens more than we'll need him at first. I'll wait to say anything else till I see your stats (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Tobias
I would definitely like to see the "from the streets" version of Twitch when you have the time... right now there are a LOT of similarities/parallels to Doc (an existing character) down to the pharmacy stuff, which gives me some pause . He's got a lot of potential and could work into the gang well however.

[Vegas]

Dantic

Here's the link to Twigg's CS on the wiki Twiggs

[Neuntöter]

yeah, that actually shouldn't be a problem. While i am at that i can also somewhat tone down on the defense prodigy stuff. (Although that might just be how he likes to view himself.)

Well. I did some quick number-crunching, and i am somewhat confident that i could pull him off.

pure numbers

[ Spoiler ]

Will Callahan

Human - 0bp

Positive Qualities(-20bp):
-Magician -15bp
-Mentor (Dark King) -5bp
-Home Turf -0bp (this one actually seems kind of off, but i guess i can refrain from using it at the beginning)

Negative Qualities(+35bp):
-SINner +5bp
-Another +30bp worth (sadly i need this, and i already have a few things in mind)

Attributes(-195bp):

Body 3 -20bp
Agility 2 -10bp
Reaction 2 -10bp
Strength 2 -10bp

Charisma 5 -40bp
Intuition 3 -20bp
Logic 5 -40bp
Willpower 3 -20bp

Edge 2 -0bp
Magic 2 -25bp
Essence 6


Action Skills(-110):
- Sorcery Group 3 -30bp
- Conjuring Group 3 -30bp
- Assensing 2 -8bp
- Astral Combat 1 -4bp

- Influence Group 3 -30bp
- Perception 1 -4bp
- Pilot Ground Craft 1 -4bp

Spells(6x3bp, -18bp)
-Heal
-Cure disease
-Nutrition
-Alleviate Allergy
-Stunbolt/Powerbolt
-Foreboding

Knowledge Skills (24bp free)

This currently leaves me with 2bp left i think.

Now, the problem that i have is that the pure numbers almost make him out to be a one trick pony. While his Magic Rating and confidence in skill seems reasonable, he has a dangerous lack of Action Skills like Dodge or Close Combat. In Addition, most of his Knowledge Skills will be related to his University and Law-school Education.

While that all might make sense with the background, it still does seem like a pretty weak spot.

The question seems to be if the Ravens would be willing to put up with him at all, even given his Magic potential.
Well, maybe they find themselves in need of an attorney. Which i admit is rather unlikely.

[Slipshade]

Neuntoter - Not being a combat guy is ok. Sure the gang needs people that can throw down, but having magic is still pretty dang good in a fight even if the only combat spell you have is a stun ball. Healing is great. Maybe some mental manipulation spells to fit in with the former Lawyer theme? Just throwing some stuff out. It is a hard concept to fit into the gang as you say. Keep working on it. Having a good reason for the gang to want you is definitely something you will want to nail down. Especially since you'd likely be somewhat of an outsider being older and not "from the streets."

I am interested in what you are going to do with those undecided disadvantages. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Neuntöter]

with some reluctance i got rid of the golf skill which basically was only there for kicks, and jacked up Conjuring by one rating again. I also submitted a first spell list.
Still experimenting a bit with the disadvantages too see what sounds better together with that concept.

I am more worrying about the stat hurdle for now. That and the "being a sound addition to the gang" part.

[WinterRat1]

Now might be a good time to point out I have a perpetually open offer of trading bonus BP/karma/free training time for various 'special projects'. So if you REALLY need to squeeze out a few more points somewhere, I'm always hiring...

[Slipshade]

LOL! Yah, I forgot about that. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Whipstitch]

Are there any special projects outside of the Wiki/website management type stuff? Because as interesting as that could be, I'm not sure I'm really qualified for helping on that end, although I could look into it. At this point I'm mostly just trying to figure out ways to squeeze a few more points into either Willpower or Edge into Cuervo so I'll have a better shot at getting the 3 hits necessary to stand my ground when in critical situations.

Also, I'm actually really starting to like the Rat mentor theme. I can still RP relating to vermin in general, and honestly, can you think of a better parallel for a street gang than a rat colony? Did a little reading and apparently the li'l buggers are more social than I thought; apparently they like to live together (which I knew) but they also have hierarchies that dictate who gets the dubious honor of fending off intruders and are known to resort to eating their young in lean times. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Final question: would sharing food with or eating a rat/crow (they may live in colonies but they're beyond all else survivors) every 24 hours be an acceptable Conditional Geas for you guys? Might be a bit too easily managed, since I plan on taking the sustenance power-- Cuervo could easily survive on lesser rations. On the other hand, it would mean he'd have to do a fair amount of scavenging off in the gutters to maintain his powers even during the rare times he has money.

[Neuntöter]

aye, those special projects sound interesting. And bonus BP sound especially useful, since i still got my heart on trying to get that Law-Mage to work (background needs some more overhauling too at this point). But even if he blows up in my face and i'll finally throw the towel and abandon my delusions of grandeur. Mundane bloaks can use those too.

i am guessing those projects involve contributing to the Locales part of the Turf section and similar things. That or kinky stuff.

[Slipshade]

I know WinterRat has given "extras" for Location info, NPC material he can use and first hand accounts of the events of Red October. Look at Shade's Journal on the Wiki. I think a number of those accounts are posted near the end.

Sometimes projects come up later too and you can get bonus "extras" then. Don't expect to get those during your character creation though. A lot of it come after your character is accepted. The GM is a busy guy and is still getting caught up with some of the players as is. So don't factor getting the extra BP's or whatever till later in the game. Just a heads up!