The Elusive GM hunt, an invitation to a play in roleplaying and gm mind pwnery Options

[Mickle5125]

'Ello Omae.

Today, I bring to the table a semi-new (at least to me) idea.

I have a character concept I want to play, but it requires a skilled GM and one willing to put some effort into the game. In other words, I'm looking for an Experienced GM.

Basically, I want to play with the second level of the amnesia quality in RC (GM makes the charsheet and the player has no idea about the character.) I'd also like to tie the Exchange into the game (perhaps as one of the only things I woke up with). Finally, I'd like the character to have some Talent, be it in Technomancy, Magic, or Other.

That's it. Metatype, gender, and everything else will be up to the GM'd discression, so if you wanted to build the TM with one Resonance who surged into a squid head, feel free. I'd like to start this as a two person exercise, but the GM should feel free to bring in other characters and players as needed for their plot.

Anyone interested in helping a chummer out?

[pbangarth]

This sounds interesting. The storytelling could be fantastic. There are a pair of threads in Welcome to the Shadows, "The Story of Keiko" and "The Story of Billiam" that are one-on-one reciprocal stories (GM in one is player in the other). I found those very interesting to read, and am sad that they seem to have stalled a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know what the Exchange is, though. Could you fill me in on it?

Peter

[Mickle5125]

The exchange
Uses: Favors, jobs, karmic payback
The Exchange is a seemingly anonymous virtual private network
(VPN) established for doing and receiving favors. Its central
focus is the notion of "pay it forward."The Exchange works as a
background utility that tracks a member's location and situation.
It constantly analyzes the member's situation and compares this information
with the physical locations and assets of other members.
At those times when another member might be of assistance to a
member, it may call on one of those other members for an act of
minor assistance. Members who respond to the VPN's requests for
assistance become more likely to receive assistance in the future.
The favors that The Exchange will grant or request are minor
things. However, these minor actions may have enormous repercussions.
A car might block an alley just in time to allow a member
to escape pursuit. A loud noise might divert someone's attention
at just the right instant. The backdoor to a club might open just as
a member needs to get inside.
It's unclear who has access to The Exchange database.
However, it's important to realize that the entity behind the VPN
knows a great deal about the personalities, locations, and activities
of all of the members.

[BlackHat]

This does sound interesting - and would be one of the few ways that that level of amnesia would work on dumpshock. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
You were not entirely clear on what "experienced" means to you, though - and I think that might turn a few people away, if they don't consider themselves "experienced" enough.

[Mickle5125]

I have this annoying tendency of doing that.... I'll have to work on it.

As to what experienced means: I'd prefer someone who wasn't running their first game with me. If they can use proper English, know the rules, and are feeling mighty creative, I want to hear from them.

Better?

[Mickle5125]

so, is anyone interested in helping me with this?

[BlackHat]

Certainly interested in the idea. Not sure if I am the guy to do it, but I might be up for giving it a shot after I've thought about it a little bit to see if I could come up with something compelling.

If somebody else takes up the charge, I will definitely be reading along to see how it turns out.

[Sir_Psycho]

If this idea floats, I have a character concept (and statistical draught) I'd like to contribute. It's a little... adult. A product of the darker environments and fetishes of the sixth world turned to the shadows. His background is a little confronting, but he might have some commonalities with an amnesiac runner, he's a surgeling who was picked from his simple life in India and put to depraved use and slavery, so he's been moved and sold and escaped and hence doesn't have contacts or friends. He's a social and stealthy adept with an androgynous bent and specialties in seduction, impersonation and wetwork.

I've got an urge to roleplay, but I'd be happy to be understated and complimentary to the story, rather than a verbose mary sue. I'm interested to just see if this idea takes off.

[Dumori]

Mikle how about a Gm player swap you run Spider one-one one with me and I'll run yours though I'll come back with an yes when i get an idea for a plot it wont be that long. Hopefuly.

[Mickle5125]

Mikle how about a Gm player swap you run Spider one-one one with me and I'll run yours though I'll come back with an yes when i get an idea for a plot it wont be that long. Hopefuly.

honestly, I don't really have time right now to GM anything. I'm pulling 15 hour days (with no internet access) between school and work. *laughs* wow, that sounds rediculously hypocritical due to the fact that I'm asking for a new game to start up, but I've found that GMing takes a crapload more time than playing... *shrugs*

[Sir_Psycho]

I was thinking about this again and I realised I have some ideas with some half-baked (so far) intricacy that would work well with the general idea of what you work, so I'd like to put my name down as the GM. I can't boast too much practical experience, as I've never really made contact with large gaming groups, only playing with maximum two other guys in real life for a few sessions, coming down to about three or four separate runs (not including PBP/Gmail games that have fallen through, as well as unreliable RL gamers), although I have all the SR4 books except for Feral Cities as well as extensive back catalogue and background knowledge (that's also bolstered by regular attendance here at dumpshock.)

I'd like to put my name down, and I'm experimenting with a few builds. If you'd like to see my only online GM'ing style, I've started a game on my local forum with some shadowrun newbies. It's early on, so it's very wordy and roleplay focused at the moment, but I hope I can move it along. The first IC post is here.

[Dumori]

I'm still up to Gm as well.

[Mickle5125]

Dumori, since I'm already in one of your games, I think I'm going to go with Sir_Psycho. However! once I free up some time and get some ideas fleshed out, I'll look into doing that GM swap thing with you. I just need to flesh out some ideas first.

Sir_Psycho, your style looks good and certainly interesting, so my first question is this: What sorts of half-baked ideas do you have?

[Sir_Psycho]

Well, if I tell let you in on my idea formulation it will ruin the surprise you're looking for, won't it? I am pretty sure on what "special talent" your player will have, and I would like to involve the exchange.

I've definately got ideas for plot direction, but I'm having trouble statting out the character. I keep just punching in skills and then realising I've got obscene BP counts. I was wondering if some-one with a knack for character creation could PM me and I could explain the general gist of what I want the character's stats to look like, and then stat him up, with the touch of limitation I can't seem to muster. It would also enhance the random nature of an amnesia game, adding another level of chaos to the process. Anyone interested?

[BlackHat]

I would be up for helping out (you could always ask multiple people, and combine their ideas however you like).
Also, I would suggest that for a one-player game where the character doesn't know anything about his stats, having an obscenely high BP character may not be a terrible thing.

[Mickle5125]

well, yeah, letting me in on everything would mess things up a bit, but generalities were what I was looking for. Locale, whether you wanted to start a week after waking up, or 2 minutes before I wake up... that sorta thing. ^_^

[Glyph]

I would be interested in helping you stat an amnesiac, Sir_Psycho. I fiddle with builds a lot for fun, and I've even put together some amnesiac types. Like BlackHat says, you could have more than one person have a go at it, and pick the one you like best (or make a composite of two or more of them).

[Sir_Psycho]

Sure thing, Glyph. I've enjoyed working with you in the past (even if it was short lived) on that Hollywood game (my first ever SR4 game). If you ask Blackjack I'm sure he'll forward our correspondance so far, which I hope you'll find interesting, and there's a few problems we haven't nutted out yet that you might have solutions for. I've got to jet over to my girlfriend's, possibly for a few days, so I won't have access to the internet (she doesn't pay her bills), but I've got the character so far on my laptop and I'll do some work on it there.

[BlackHat]

Despite being called "Blackjack" I'll forward that stuff along as soon as I get to work.

[Sir_Psycho]

Freudian slip. Take it as a subconscious compliment.

Anyway, the girlfriend went to work today, so I figured I'd stop home and out the thread. I'll compile me and Blackhat's correspondance for Glyph in case it hasn't been sent yet, and I'll also mention a few things I've been thinking over.

By the way, Mickle, I know the nature of the game means your input is limited, but do you have any ideas about what style of game you like to play? I personally lean towards darker plots and roleplay, and as a player (and GM, I suppose) I personally enjoy stealth based games. However, is there anything about Shadowrun other than The Exchange you would like me to highlight? High action? Emotion? Social manipulation? The only thing I really have a problem with is full-blown vehicle combat, as it becomes a number-crunching exercise. However, because I'm already enlisting help from other GM's, I could likely outsource that number crunching to some-one with a knack for it.

[Mickle5125]

for the most part, my preferences seem to run parallel to yours. What I'm really looking for with this game is Role Playing instead of Roll playing, which seems surprisingly easy since I don't know what the Rolls will be.

I don't know how much I'll be on this weekend. Heading out of town, and I'm not entirely positive if I'll have wireless access where I'm going. If I do, I'll post replies to any questions you may have for me. If not, I'll post replies on Monday.

[Dark Talon]

I really like the setting you guys are going for, and I love immersive role-playing. Also, the idea of the Exchange is really awesome; if you need a runner companion who is willing to do get caught up in anything, just let me know. It'd also be fun to RP a bit of an "exchange" if you already have a co-runner. Regardless, I love the idea and look forward to reading more!

[Sir_Psycho]

I'm not sure about it yet, but I may be accepting dumpshockers to play as supplementary runners on a per-run basis, if Mickle needs areas covered that his character isn't able to sufficiently cover.

Anyway, I've got a near-final draught of the character that I've been working on, which I'll be submitting to Blackhat and Glyph for opinions. I have a good idea of the over-arching plot direction, as well as some early events that the character can get involved in.

Before we start though, and before I get too attached to my ideas, I'd like to get an idea of what's acceptable to you, Mickle. If I have an opening, I'm very happy to bring very adult and confronting concepts into the game. Given the role-play intensive game that I envision, if the character gets into any contentious situations, they will be described in appropriate and confronting detail. For example, if the character gets into a violent confrontation, it will be described in appropriately bloody detail. I'm just wondering if you have any sensibilities that I might offend, whether they're simply moral or religious or influenced by personal events. How do you feel about themes like sexuality, religion, violence, rape, slavery, etc?

Also, because this amnesiac flaw means I can take a great deal of license that standard 400bp RAW character creation wouldn't allow, Blackhat suggested that I warn you that some of the abilities, situations and setting may contradict Shadowrun canon at times. I should mention it, in case something comes up and breaks your suspension of disbelief. This is also important for roleplay. Don't forget to try and avoid using your player knowledge of Shadowrun when your character shouldn't know those things. Given the amnesia quality, this will come up a lot, but I will try and accomodate that as much as possible, and feel free to ask OOC about character knowledge and whether certain things will be acceptable. I want it to be interesting, not inconvenient.

As for houserules, I can only think of a few that I like. I handle Edge like SR3's karma pool. Rather than edge being an attribute you pay for with karma or BP, I prefer Edge to increase as Karma increases. For example, if you start with an edge of 1, it will increase to 2 once you've gained 10 Karma points. Of course, you don't have to have that Karma available to you at the time, it's based on total karma gained throughout the adventure. I generally favour Attribute + Skill with hits capped/halved beyond program rating when it comes to hacking but without giving anything away, I'm not sure that will really matter in this particular game.

Also, I like to be fast and loose with the rules at times. If the situation is covered by the rules, then I'll apply them to the best of my ability. However, if the situation deviates from RAW, I am always happy to just make up a rule on the fly, changing thresholds, eyeballing modifiers and even changing the type of test that's applicable.

I've been thinking about this game quite a bit lately, so my interest has definately piqued. The level of control is unprecedented for me. Given that I'm designing the character and background I feel like it gives me the creative licence as a writer to explore certain themes more fully to weave a comprehensive and engaging story. The interesting thing about amnesia is that the storytelling can't really be unidirectional, on one hand, the character will be starting fresh, and the plot will preced from that point, but on the other hand, the story will also go backwards if/when the character decides to go digging through their own ambiguous past.

[Mickle5125]

regarding the morals and themes question, I'll put it this way: I'm ok with most things. Rape will be accepted in the story, but do not expect my character to partake in it or have a good opinion of those who do. Same with child abuse. Religion... *shrugs*try to keep the religion bashing to a minimum. Zealots are acceptable characters to deal with, and alot of fun to tease, but don't be cruel towards their religion. Does that make sense?

Sex, I would like kept to Dumpshock standards. Mentioning it's fine, but let's leave the explicit details to our imaginations, shall we?


In regards to character advancement (skills and the like), how do you want to work it? Me specify what skills I'll be focusing on improving and you boost them when enough karma's been earned, or do you want to work it so that you improve the skills I've used as you feel appropriate?

*grins* I'm looking forward to the challenge of RPing a character without knowing anything about it (still don't have gender or metatype known to me, yet... hint hint). It promises to be great fun!

[Sir_Psycho]

regarding the morals and themes question, I'll put it this way: I'm ok with most things. Rape will be accepted in the story, but do not expect my character to partake in it or have a good opinion of those who do. Same with child abuse. Religion... *shrugs*try to keep the religion bashing to a minimum. Zealots are acceptable characters to deal with, and alot of fun to tease, but don't be cruel towards their religion. Does that make sense?

I understand. Of course, your character's morals will be determined by you, so you will be able to make your own choices. I wouldn't have you wake up with an urge to go molest some children. When it comes to religion, I'll confess (no pun intended) that I'm primarily an athiest. That said, I'm not a bigot and I make no attempt to push my beliefs (although apparently athiests don't like them being called "beliefs") on anyone. I also have an interest in anthropology, so I find religion and religious themes interesting, and religion will likely come up in the story, but not as a caricature or defining quality for any characters.

Sex, I would like kept to Dumpshock standards. Mentioning it's fine, but let's leave the explicit details to our imaginations, shall we?

Fair enough. I wasn't planning to go into detail. However, There may be the possibility some sex and even some romance in the story, but again, we don't have to be graphic there.

In regards to character advancement (skills and the like), how do you want to work it? Me specify what skills I'll be focusing on improving and you boost them when enough karma's been earned, or do you want to work it so that you improve the skills I've used as you feel appropriate?

Actually, I was planning on having your character sheet on hand, and you would also have an empty character sheet (that you would probably post on the first OoC page) that you would edit whenever you find out a new skill rating or other ability. From that point I was planning on the standard method of character advancement; I give you Karma as I see fit and you spend it as you see fit per GM discretion. Generally I allow karma usage only where it's appropriate, for example if you gain a couple of karma points in a spectacular action scene, I probably wouldn't let you dump that karma straight into logic based skills, unless you spent some time and roleplayed some training in those disciplines.

I hadn't considered taking charge of character advancement as well as creation. Obviously your character's situation due to amnesia and other factors preclude the use of your previous abilities in full, so if you wanted to hand that power over to me as well, I could raise your skills and attributes as we go, but I'm happy to give you control over the karma points you earn. I'd like to know what Blackhat and Glyph think of this idea as well.

*grins* I'm looking forward to the challenge of RPing a character without knowing anything about it (still don't have gender or metatype known to me, yet... hint hint). It promises to be great fun!

Are you saying that you want me to reveal gender and/or metatype? I suppose I could do so, if you're happy with that kind of spoiler.