Recruiting: No more ganking! Options

[Shadow]

Ok, I'm back. After an extended stay away dealing with (RL) I have returned to my glorious home on DSF... and I want to run a game. Standard SR4 Character creation, no optional or house rules. I'm looking for 4 players not 4 characters. The runners should be a team so made in concert with the other characters. All books are in play.

Players should be team players not lone wolves, able to get a long and not screw things up. I want character concepts that you might actually see in the shadows(if they were real). No children or mentally disabled characters need apply. Proffesionals, people who know how to do their job and do it well.

I am not going to micromanage your characters though so just stick to those guidelines while creating them. Game is standard Seattle 2070.

Any questions please post them in the thread. Do not PM me.

[BlackHat]

I'm game. I assume that since you said you wanted the character's made in concert, you're not making any decisions based on concepts... so... do I need to do anything other than put my name in the hat, for now?

[Shadow]

I'm game. I assume that since you said you wanted the character's made in concert, you're not making any decisions based on concepts... so... do I need to do anything other than put my name in the hat, for now?

Nope. Not being picky here. Three more and we go.

[BlackHat]

Awesome.

[Gray]

I'm game as well. I'm thinking Shaman or Mystic Adept, but I'll play anything you need.

[quentra]

Yeah, so am I. My current game is a lone wolf type thing, so itd be nice to run in a crew based gig.

[Shadow]

Ok you three are in. One more person and were full. Why don't you guys figure out what you want to play, and who is filling what role.

[BlackHat]

Well, Gray wanted to be a Mystic Adept or a Shaman. Unless Quentra was gunning for the same thing, I'm cool with assuming that is what he will make.

Was there anything you had in mind, Quentra?

[Gray]

By no optional rules, does this include the Martial Arts rules from Arsenal? I'm thinking Combat/Stealth oriented Mystic Adept or Shaman (Lion totem).

[quentra]

I was thinking of playing a face/hacker, prolly, with a rigger emphasis.

[Shadow]

Well, Gray wanted to be a Mystic Adept or a Shaman. Unless Quentra was gunning for the same thing, I'm cool with assuming that is what he will make.

Was there anything you had in mind, Quentra?

You got me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) Yes you can use the MA rules. I was thinking more along the lines of the rules in BBB in black that say "optional" but the MA rules start with "these are optional rules". No I didn't mean those and yes you can use MA.


FYI: I can post more in the morning than I can at night. So the longer the day goes on the less I can post.

[Fortune]

Wanna play Alistair, my ex-but-not-ex-Ancients mage. I ain't gonna say any more though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[quentra]

OMFG Fortune!

[fanboy]
XDXDXDXDXDXD
[/fanboy]

Sorry.

[BlackHat]

With 4 of us, I think it will be a good idea if we can each claim more than one "job" we can help with... so the face/hacker/rigger thing sounds good, even if you end up spread a little thin (even though there is a lot over overlap in hacker and rigger).

Mystic Adept, given the question Gray had about martial arts, might mean hand-to-hand-combat as well as magical use. (Although, if you're going to be lacking in a particular area, magically, that might be good to point out. Astral perception? Spirit summoning? etc).

Our forth spoke up, and it sounds like he wants to play a mage, and that sounds good, but I think it woudl bea good idea to make sure that between our two (okay, 1.5) mages, we have our bases covered.

Given the two ideas that are already out there, I could put together a sammie, weapons specialist, or something along those lines. I'd similarly liek to get more information from Grey reguarding what kind of martial artist he plans to make - since if he expects to be our close-combat specialist, it might make sense for me to lean toward firearms.

[Shadow]

Ok here is our team,

Blackhat
Gray (any relation to grey?)
Quentra
Fortune (woot)

ok I do recomend one sammie at least (I like Sam's). I am going to try for a good balance in the game, let everyone shine at their chosen skill set.

[Fortune]

Now I just have to figure out a way to whittle him down to regulation size. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[BlackHat]

Yeah, I haven't played a combat-oriented character on the boards, yet, so I'm game for filling that niche. Hearing that the GM likes sammies, and wants to see everyone shine is encouraging, though, since a lot of forum games focus on dialog (since combat slows things down).

[Shadow]

I have my own ways of speeding up combat (argubly my favorite part of the game). I used to say I was the "John Woo" of GM's. But with the new hacker rules actually being viable it's nice to round things out.

[quentra]

We can use Augmentation, right? Wish I had Arsenal.

[BlackHat]

Yeah, its usually just the fact that when you're not in combat, someone can post a whole paragraph, and move time forward by minutes, but in combat, everything is in lock-step in about one-second intervals - so, at least in the games I have been in, combat was like bullet time, especially if you have a lot of players, who all deserve a turn to act (in dialog, its easier to move along if someone isn't speaking up). I've at least found that in table-top games it seems to work out better than in forum games - but I'm certainly up for the challenge, either way. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If you've got some rules of thumb you want us to use to speed things up, I'd be interested to hear them while putting together a character. For example, if you want us to declare (and roll) multiple IPs worth of actions ahead of time, that would help the speed issue, but would limit my ability to make situational decisions in combat, so might suggest a more straightforward fighter than a maneuver-based one. Given that you like combat, I'm not too worried about you skipping over important parts of it, but I'd be interested to hear what plans you've got.

Also, is there a particular method for dice rolling you want us to use (I've seen a lot of games using the honor system, but I have no idea if that is the standard around here or not)?

[BlackHat]

We can use Augmentation, right? Wish I had Arsenal.

He said all books were available, so I would assume so.

For a rigger, Arsenal would be nice. Whether or not you have it, though, the items out of it should be in the game, and around. It doesn't help you plan for character-creation much, but if you had questions that you were hoping were answered in arsenal (so long as it doesn't violate any rules) I'm sure we'd be happy to answer them. I'm assuming its mostly because they've more than doubled the number of vehicles and drones, though, and we can't really post that part of the book. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[BlackHat]

Also, regarding the MA stuff, I'd appreciate it if Shadow gave us his impression of how he wants the multiple-interrupt-actions things to work. Its not exactly an optional rule, so much as a not-very-clearly-explained rule. Someone else started a topic about it (that goes on for pages and pages of arguing) but you'll get the gist out of the first few posts.

http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=20890

I've heard a lot of different interpretations of what "next available action" is supposed to mean. I don't know that it will matter for my character, but will probably matter to someone who makes heavy use out of the MA maneuvers.

[Shadow]

The only availible actions you have are that turn. You can't use actions you don't have. So if you have 3IP's and you eat up all three using riposte and the like on your first pass, your fodder for the rest of the two. You can't use a pass you haven't rolled for yet. So if y ou only have 1IP you can't use any ability that requires "next availible action" as you do not have a next availible action.

Addendum: Full Defense is an exception to this rule as it specifically states you can use the first pass of your next turn.

[Gray]

I'd similarly liek to get more information from Grey reguarding what kind of martial artist he plans to make - since if he expects to be our close-combat specialist, it might make sense for me to lean toward firearms.

I was thinking melee/covert ops specialist (Lion totem Mystic Adept). But depending on what the mage is doing we might need a medic/healer (Bear totem full Shaman). Either way I'm taking Martial Arts to try out the new rules from Arsenal.

[BlackHat]

I am still brainstorming, since I am at work (I'll probably get something together tonight). So, feel free to make what you want to make. Either way, the character I make will probably be competent in both melee and ranged, and I certainly won't complain if there are other sweet combat characters around. In an ideal world, we would all kick ass in combat.

I more meant that if you're making a black-belt martial arts master adept, it might make sense for me to focus more on ranged stuff, since we don't otherwise have that base covered, and you could break the neck of anyone who gets within arms reach, but if you were just hoping to pick up some of the style bonuses, and weren't actually planning to karate-chop anyone, I would need to make sure I spread myself more evenly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Also, since you're covert-ops, I'm assuming you're planning to focus on unarmed combat (as opposed to, say, martial arts maneuvers performed with a katana, or something)?