City Information? Options

[Socinus]

Im looking for any further information I can find about Chicago in the Shadowrun world as Im creating a scenario that takes place there. I cant find much beyond a mention or two in the beginning of the core rulebook

Also, is there any other monster/enemy descripts/stats listings avalible besides those in the core rulebook?

Thank you for your help

[Jackstand]

Both the Neo Anarchist's Guide to North America and Bug City have a lot of information on Chicago. Of course, neither of those is in print, anymore.

[Socinus]

Both the Neo Anarchist's Guide to North America and Bug City have a lot of information on Chicago. Of course, neither of those is in print, anymore.

So that wouldnt be much help

[Rasumichin]

But Bug City is definitely worth picking up if you come across it somewhere.
Best SR sourcebook ever, in my opinion.
Of course, it does not describe the current situation in the city, but is set in the mid-2050s.

However, Feral Cities will come out soon, it's a sourcebook that will also contain a Chicago chapter.

As far as stats are concerned, Street Magic has a whole bunch of new spirits (including bug spirits, you'll certainly need those for Chicago).
Runner Companion has rules to create shapeshifters and also nosferatu, banshees and a bunch of other infected that are not in the core rules.
Augmentation allows you to build cyborgs and cyberzombies (people with Essence below zero who are magically kept alive).
As you see, you usually build opponents on your own in SR.
This might be a bit difficult if you're new at GMing the game, but in this case, you'd certainly find people on this board who would be willing to help.

Besides that, SR4 currently lacks an own sourcebook on critters, but there are rumours that it is in the making.


Edit : forgot to mention Arsenal, it contains several drones.

[Not of this Worl...]

Also,

Target: UCAS

has a lot of information on the end of the Bug city situation and what Chicago is like afterwards.

[Snow_Fox]

In short the core is an absolute shambles having been a walled of region inhabited by bugspirits and trapped people while the area outside was a massivem ilitary base to maintain the wall that kept bugs and citizens trapped inside.
In short, Chicago is one of the worst urban blights in the western hemisphere

[TW]

You can find information on Chicago in the folowing books:
Neo-Anarchist' guide to North America (SR1)
Bug City(SR2)
Target: UCAS (SR2)
Target: Awakened Lands(SR3)
Shadows of North America (SR3)
... and the upcoming 'Feral Cities' (SR4)

In addition to that, the novel 'Burning bright' by Tom Dowd also takes place in Chicago (in game time right before the Bug City sourcebook)

[Jhaiisiin]

Really high level overview of Chicago in the 6th world:
Normal city that becomes host to the largest bug spirit hive in all of North America.
A team is sent in to remove the infestation, and they botch the job. What becomes known as the Cermak Blast goes off. Some think it was a small tactical nuke. The blast fails to destroy the hive but does seem to put many of the bugs into a sort of hibernation.
In a panic, the UCAS government seals off Chicago with a wall and declares a military-level quarantine.
Eventually, Knight Errant comes in, cleans up the bugs and takes down the wall. Whether they actually removed the hive or not is not certain.
Chicago is theoretically back to normal, but could still be a hotbed of horrors.

(This overview was done from memory without my books, so if I mistold something, please correct me)

[TW]

Chicago is theoretically back to normal ...

That entirely depends on your definition of 'normal' (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

... but could still be a hotbed of horrors.

Yes. Not the horrors, but horrific nonetheless.

[Wesley Street]

What are Horrors? Seriously.

[MJBurrage]

The Horrors are essentially demons. They cannot interact with our world without there being a certain level of ambient mana. Said level of mana should not exist until a few hundred years from now.

They are covvered in detail in the game Earthdawn, which for better or for worse, is Shadowrun's past. Certain events like the Great Ghost Dance accelerated the Horrors return to the world and so certain concerned immortals (in particular the elf Harlequin, and the dragon Dunkelzahn) worked to stop the horrors from returning. They have in theory put the timeline back on course, meaning the Horrors will not be back for centuries.

When the Horrors arrived last time they were so dangerous that all sentient beings either had to hide underground (or in even worse circumstances) for many generations, until magic started to go away again weakening the Horrors.

[Wesley Street]

So are they like Cthulhu-style "Great Old Ones", are they like insect spirits, or more like the D&D/typical fantasy devils and demons? I was puttering around the links you provided and the wiki-stubs didn't provide much info. It did mention Harlequin and Dunkelzhan worked to prevent their return. Was this chronicled in any Shadowrun adventures? Or novels?

[ravensmuse]

So are they like Cthulhu-style "Great Old Ones", are they like insect spirits, or more like the D&D/typical fantasy devils and demons? I was puttering around the links you provided and the wiki-stubs didn't provide much info. It did mention Harlequin and Dunkelzhan worked to prevent their return. Was this chronicled in any Shadowrun adventures? Or novels?

Yay, one that I can actually (kinda) give information on!

They're more like the Great Old Ones - multipurpose elder things that exist mainly to cause terror, havoc, and fear. Some are powerful and intelligent single entities, like Cthulhu or Nyalarthotep or the like. Others are more like big shambling monstrosities like Whatley in Horror in the Hills (or whichever that one was named). Then there are the kind that kind of like the shoggoths: intelligent, tougher than a human, but can, with some work, be brought down low by mortal hands.

And then you get the corrupted mortal types, like Pickman or the villagers in Innsmouth.

Harlequin and Dunk worked against the horrors in a couple of different books. The Harlequin's Back adventure is centered around destroying the "spike point" created when the Native Americans did the Great Ghost Dance. Harlequin is also seen destroying a spike point in the novel "House of the Sun" by Findley. Dunk's dissertation with a few of his friends from the 4th Age can be seen in the Aztlan supplement, where they discuss whether or not the blood magic practiced there will have an effect on helping the Horrors return - along with the discovery of a Locus, which was really never expounded upon. Also, Dunk killed himself on the night of his Presidential inaugaration to power an artifact called the Dragon's Heart, which would help to level any of the remaining spike points lingering in the Sixth World. He now resides as a spirit named Lethe in the body of a cyberzombie guarding the astral space near an almost-completed bridge the Horrors were building.

On a smaller note, it's been insinuated that the Bugs are another sign of the Horrors - dunno if that one is true or not.

[Wesley Street]

Also, Dunk killed himself on the night of his Presidential inaugaration to power an artifact called the Dragon's Heart, which would help to level any of the remaining spike points lingering in the Sixth World. He now resides as a spirit named Lethe in the body of a cyberzombie guarding the astral space near an almost-completed bridge the Horrors were building.

Is this bit canon in either Earthdawn or Shadowrun? I own a copy of Aztlan and Portfolio of a Dragon but I'll admit I've only glossed over them.

[ravensmuse]

Is this bit canon in either Earthdawn or Shadowrun? I own a copy of Aztlan and Portfolio of a Dragon but I'll admit I've only glossed over them.

The terrible Dragon Heart saga. The only notable bit besides Dunk kickin' it is the appearance of the first drake in the Sixth World.

[Rasumichin]

On a smaller note, it's been insinuated that the Bugs are another sign of the Horrors - dunno if that one is true or not.

Insect spirits, or invae, to use the Earthdawn term, are one of the first signs of the impending scourge (the reign of the horrors on earth).

Why the removal of the spike points has not diminished the premature connection to the deep metaplanes that has allowed the bugs to appear several hundred years earlier has not been explained yet, as far as i know.

It might have something to do with the fact that the end of the SR and ED crossover was mostly due to copyright reasons after the breakup of FASA, though...

The terrible Dragon Heart saga. The only notable bit besides Dunk kickin' it is the appearance of the first drake in the Sixth World.

Doesn't it also contain a lot of nipples?

[ravensmuse]

Insect spirits, or invae, to use the Earthdawn term, are one of the first signs of the impending scourge (the reign of the horrors on earth).

Me, I'm not a huge fan of the Horrors. I always just racked it up to Things Man Was Not Meant To Know creeping through the barrier between the planes. They remind me a little of the Mi-Go, to keep up with the Lovecraft vibe we've had going in this thread.

Why the removal of the spike points has not diminished the premature connection to the deep metaplanes that has allowed the bugs to appear several hundred years earlier has not been explained yet, as far as i know.

Well, IIRC, wasn't the mana level in Earthdawn on the downswing? Then again, it might have been the left hand not talking to the right hand, y'know?

Doesn't it also contain a lot of nipples?

Tell you the honest truth, I would remember nipples. I read the series when I was like, fifteen or so and that would have stuck out in my mind. The only thing I remember was Ryuthanasar (sp?) talking to the spirit of the great departed Dunkelzahn in the ruined arboreum. Oh, and the fight in Aztlan on top of the reactor.

It's been way too long since I last read those though, and I'm in a cheesey Shadowrun mood. Maybe I should see if I still own those books.

[Rasumichin]

Well, IIRC, wasn't the mana level in Earthdawn on the downswing? Then again, it might have been the left hand not talking to the right hand, y'know?

Rather the latter, as the invae (as well as wraiths) appeared before the scourge while mana levels where still on the rise.

Tell you the honest truth, I would remember nipples. I read the series when I was like, fifteen or so and that would have stuck out in my mind. The only thing I remember was Ryuthanasar (sp?) talking to the spirit of the great departed Dunkelzahn in the ruined arboreum. Oh, and the fight in Aztlan on top of the reactor.

It's been way too long since I last read those though, and I'm in a cheesey Shadowrun mood. Maybe I should see if I still own those books.

Hm...people always mention extensive descriptions of large, brown nipples when they rant about the Dragonheart Trilogy.
They could be lieing, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[DTFarstar]

Nadja Daviar apparently has large brown nipples according to the books. It is not so much due to the volume of nipples, like twice a book or so maybe a little more or less, but they are always described any time she is naked and they are always very brown. It just sticks in the mind. I mean, sure, when she if first described naked you can say they are brown, but calling them brown when Ryanthusar(Ryan to her) tweaks them, then mentioning the fact that they are brown again when he sucks on them... it is just weird. Also, Lethe(Dunkie) in the form of the Cyberzombie Burnout(Billy to his friends) smoothed out the spike created by Darke and his Locus and blood sacrifices while Ryan and his friends held off a horde of horrors. Which is incidentally how the first Drake manifests- Lethe had to put all that mana somewhere and he put a lot of it into Ryan and BAM! insta-drake. Lethe(Burnout[Billy]) went on to travel the metaplanes smoothing out any abnormal spikes that were already present and keeping watch against any more that might form to hasten things along.

Chris

PS: No, I don't like the books. I just have a nearly photographic memory for written material.

[Wesley Street]

Quick! Someone ask Ancient History where Nadja Daviar's nipples are in 2070!

[ravensmuse]

It's too bad this place doesn't have custom user titles. "Nadja Daviar's Brown Nipples" would be worth it for the questions - until the mods took notice (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I really need to dig these books back up, because I have no memory whatsoever about nipples.

[FlashbackJon]

Why don't people like the books? Admittedly, it's been... ages since I read them, but I remember being totally ecstatic after finishing the trilogy in one evening.

[Cain]

Why the removal of the spike points has not diminished the premature connection to the deep metaplanes that has allowed the bugs to appear several hundred years earlier has not been explained yet, as far as i know.

The short answer is that while it takes a sufficiently high mana level for the Horrors to cross over, they can survive on a lot less.

The long answer is that in a few places, some Horrors made it across before the bridges could be destroyed. Also, some Horrors have been hanging around since the 4th world, mostly in hibernation. I believe one was at Crater Lake; he was destroyed, but not before accidentally letting a few others through. Aina's half-Horror son was awake and active the whole time; he taught the nativa Americans the original Ghost Dance ritual.