Runner's Companion, Whacha think? Options

[Rasumichin]

- I'll tell you about the all-nosferatu playtest party sometime -

Now i'm curious.

[Ruke]

So, in the Karma Point build system, races cost nothing, but give you the ability to have higher max stats? So, a nosferatu troll would just be awesome and stomp everyone into the ground? (not that a sane GM would allow that)

[Ancient History]

So, in the Karma Point build system, races cost nothing, but give you the ability to have higher max stats? So, a nosferatu troll would just be awesome and stomp everyone into the ground? (not that a sane GM would allow that)

No' quite, for two reasons. 1) Trolls cannot become nosferatu. 2) Nosferatu are a quality, not a standard racial option. Becoming a nosferatu would cost 300 Karma in Karma-based chargen.

[HappyDaze]

Note that Free Spirit is NOT a Quality but is a 'metatype' substitute. This means that in the Karma-system, they make out like bandits.

[hermit]

Misremembering and putting too much faith in shadowtalker comments.

Kay. Too bad though. It would have made for a nice FBI campaign.

I did say "mostly." Frankly, I never ran into the problem with all-ghoul parties, but I think that's because ghouls tended to suck.

They tended to be shot, to be precise. Vampires, on the other hand ...

A little bit, yeah. Earthdawn's Denizens of Barsaive, Vol. II. See, obsidimen are part weird earth spirit, but they also have actual flesh and a discernable anatomy approximate to most other Namegivers. Like I said, the closest SR parallel is a flesh form earth spirit, but that's not quite accurate in all respects.

Thanks. I'll see if I can get my hands on a copy.

[Aaron]

I have one complaint.
"Famous Free Spirits".
They forgot the most famous of them all, Buttercup!
Of course, she doesn't even need mentioning, does she? Being a CEO of a Mega and all...

I can't speak for the decisions of the editing staff, but I have it on good authority that the original writer was trying to introduce new famous free spirits, rather than rehash old ones. Whether or not that was the Right Thing to Do, that was the way it was done.

[Synner]

Characters like Buttercup bring a huge amount of lugage, and the short profile we provided for each of the various races would not have done her/it justice-which is why I fully back the author's decision to go with something new. Inclusion of Pulsar was a late addition and reflects continuity with recent plotlines. And I was on the fence about including Milo Czerda, but he's obscure enough that I added him because he showcases two important points about centaurs.

[Cthulhudreams]

I admit I have no idea what the first missions mission is about, but is killing someone mandatory there? If not, tranqing works about as well (or sleepcasting, which works even better). RC actually recommends that.

Maybe not, but there are several incidents in which you probably are going to have to.

Committed under the same juristiction? If so, your own fault if that gets you arrested. Also, taking your LMG drone with you to your favourite pub seems a little ... odd ... to me, like waving a huge banner saying "kick me please", provided the pub is in a C zone or better. Probably, your game is a lot different from mine.

You know its still illegal to have them if they are in your house? Its not like I'm walking down the street with it. Its all carefully concealed and I'll get away with it. But that doesn't make it not illegal.

Isn't the right to arm yourself for self defense still in effect in the UCAS? I would leave the AR and LMG drone at home and insetad take a Pred, a taser and a drone mounting a hunting rifle - guns that you can more or less legally own.

Sure, but loads of runners have guns with the R or F next to them, so they have actually illegal ones.

[Wanderer]

There was only one elven nosferatu, and he ate pretty much everybody else in the world that would qualify to become an elf nosferatu.

Could someone please explain the backstory about this to me ? I'm insanely curious. I'm vaguely aware this is told in an old FASA novel. From your nifty site, I gather there was one elven nosferatu in the 1800s (he must have been quite unique: elven spike baby, genetic carrier of the nosferatu strain, and having the right genes for becoming an elven nosferatu). I understand he was pretty unique back then, but how/why he wiped out all the other carriers of the "elven nosferatu" genes ? Insanity giving him a taste for the blood and Essence of his blood kin ?

[Ancient History]

[/edit]Come to think of it, I shall instead to refer to Mason's Annotated Review of the novel, which is much better than my nanosecond summary.

Heh. Now what y'all are really missing out on is the spectral wendigo playtest. That was killer, as in TPK.

[Wanderer]

[/edit]Come to think of it, I shall instead to refer to Mason's Annotated Review of the novel, which is much better than my nanosecond summary.

So he had a quirky dietary requirement that forced him to feed on just those persons that shared the same genetic complex that would allow one to become an elven nosferatu, hadn't he ??? Aww, man, that sucks (pun intended).

There goes my hopes of playing the most elitist of the metatypes, Infected into the most elitist of the strains (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[DV8]

And another plug for my website! Thank you, thank you, I'll be preforming here all week. Please, try the roast, and don't forget to tip your waiters.

[hermit]

You know its still illegal to have them if they are in your house? Its not like I'm walking down the street with it. Its all carefully concealed and I'll get away with it. But that doesn't make it not illegal.

I'm still relating that to the 'going to the pub' part.

Sure, but loads of runners have guns with the R or F next to them, so they have actually illegal ones.

Sure, but don't carry them unless they can get away with it.

Great web site, on a side note. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Cthulhudreams]

I guess I am saying that 'getting away with' and 'committing' one is merely a subset of the other. Maybe the vampire just murders street bums in the barrens. Not like it would be hard. Who would notice?

[Sir_Psycho]

I love the first sections about how to run correctly. It's something that all dumpshockers know, but I'm currently introducing a group of about 6 to shadowrun, and less than half have played pen and paper rpgs before. I am making those sections of runner's companion compulsory reading.

Although, I was reading through, and was pretty happy with the art; nice cover (was it the same guy who did the Shadowrun Companion?), some good stuff to start off with and then I hit the metavariants. Honestly, the "my eyes!" description was not an exagguration. It dissapointed me because the metavariant artwork in SR3's companion was pretty nice and solid, and you guys already re-used a bunch of artwork in Arsenal, I don't know why you didn't do it here.

[Cardul]

Killing is standard shadowrunner behaviour.

I am so glad me and the other players in the NeoTokyo game I am in are not standard Shadowrunners. I liked when one of our guys went and stabilized the security mages who almost died from Overcasting some major stun balls. And stabilized the guys driving the truck when they freed some of the other runners who were about to be shipped off to Berlin for, as my GM put it, "Vivisec-er...interrogation."

[hermit]

One thing I previously overlooked: The nocturnal negative SURGE.

What the hell? -1 on all mental attributes during day? Like why? Because they like to stay up at night rather than day? Are all other races' mentals reduced by one at night? Hunh? Or do Nocturnals have some unique feature that makes them require more sleep than average people? Can't they get used to the irregular sleeping patterns all runners follow for some mysterious reasion? What if they get themselves a sleep regulator?

The book appears more and more to have been a little ... rushed.

[Isath]

Maybe their biorythm is not as adaptable as others. Couldn't it be that being nocturnal means being more strictly so?

[Malicant]

One thing I previously overlooked: The nocturnal negative SURGE.

What the hell? -1 on all mental attributes during day? Like why?[...]

Is this guy like for real? Dude: magic.

[Stahlseele]

i can actually relate to that . . or as i put it once during a gaming weekend when being woken up before afternoon:"i can't brain yet, i have the dumb"
i am pretty much nocturnal, i like to sleep for a long time and i like to get up late . . basically, with societys rules for work and most everything else, i'm pretty much thoroughly shafted . . and i do tend to be more alert at night times too . .
as for runners companion: now i wanna build a centaur-cyberzombie with 6 arms . . 4 raptor-legs with skimmer-discs, cyber-torso, 6 cyber-arms, cyber-skull made to look like a horse-head . . i'm gonna call him . . binky O.o
on that note, can one have unbalanced arms?
as in one left arm and 3 right arms?
and what about bio-muslce-stuff for additional limbs?
maybe not for centaurs and other things, but metahumans who surged into having 4 or 6 arms?
and what about cyber-replacement?
with more limbs one could actually gain something from an averaged stat if all of those limbs are cybered up to nowhere . .
or imagine the 6 armed 4 legged cyber-zombie centaur up there fully armored . . in the taking damage compartment, that one probably could duke it out with a main battle tank O.o

[hermit]

What Shadowrunner has an ordinary sleep cycle? Sorry, this doesn't fly. Also, stahl, by default, you are not nocturnal. You seem to have reversed your biorythm with training - which I see no reason as to why NOs shouldn't be able to do.

[Stahlseele]

no, i did not . .
allways been like that, since i've been a little boy . .
sadly never changed over time, i suffered the whole time i went to school and the such . .
now i do tech support with work not starting before 14:00, so i am now a little bit more happy

[hermit]

Mutant!!

Did you happen to go to this school, by chance? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Stahlseele]

i have the diploma to be exact . . i will upload a scanned image some day . .
and yes, i am a bit on the mutant side . . allmost perfect night-vision, light sun allergy, eyes changing colour from time to time . . going berserk due to heritage from a viking tribe with some berserkers in it . . close to perfect immune system . . gremlins . . yes, i'm a powergamer built it seems *snickers*

[Synner]

The Nocturnal quality does not equal a "night owl" or someone who has a preference for a noctunal lifestyle. The Nocturnal quality specifically refers to some innate physiological or psychosomatic limitation, that makes the character/person feel lethargic, slow-witted, unattentive and unresponsive during the daylight hours. Someone like Stahseele above, or one of the numerous animal species that have noctural (or in some cases seasonal) biorhythms.