A:Admin\Sympathy_for_the_Devil\Sign_up.node, <new_game_sign_up> Options

[Method]

Alright- here's a very rough draft of my gunslinger adept (still needs gear, 1 contact and some tweaking). He's kind of a street punk who thinks he's great at everything, especially gunfighting. In the case of gunfighting, he's actually correct.

Kid Hollywood

[ Spoiler ]

Demographics
Street Name: “Kid Hollywood”, “the Hollywood Kid” or just “Hollywood”
Real Name: Uriah Hawkins
Alias: William Harden, Jesse McLaine, others.
Race: Human
Age: 24
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 70 kg

Background

[ Spoiler ]

My real name’s Uriah, like in the Bible because my momma was the religious type. Everybody calls me ‘Hollywood’, though, on account of I spent some time in that shithole. I had myself a little “misunderstanding” with a couple boys from the ‘Star awhile back. Course, in the end they saw things my way, if you get my meaning…

I was born and raised down in Phoenix, in the PCC. My dad was a drinker, and my mom thought it was her calling to change him. Course, he beat her senseless whenever she had enough backbone to take her face outta that damn Bible. Needless to say I stole my ol’ man’s gun and ran away to Denver as soon as I could. I spent some time running with a gang, just like all the other punks out there. Eventually I found work running guns outta Cheyenne. Made the run to Seattle more than a few times, before I had that aforementioned “misunderstanding”. I’ve been round these parts ever since.

I’m sure you’re wondering what it is I do. Well I’ll tell ya, chummer- I’m the fastest gunslinger this side of the Cascades. I’ve killed me 24 men already - one for every year I’ve been alive so far - and that doesn’t count ghouls. I have what you might call “natural talent” – a gift, but it sure as hell ain’t from God.

In fact I’m pretty good at just about everything, and lucky too, especially with the cards. Well, mostly anyway. I’ve had a bit of a dry spell lately, so I’m into Four Finger Freddy for 5 large. He’s still got all his fingers, in case you’re wondering. But most people aren’t so lucky after doing business with Freddy. Its nothing to worry about though- all I need is one good pay out, either at the table or on the streets, and I’ll have his money. It’ll be no sweat.

Now, pass me a shot of that tequila and deal me in, chummer. I’ve got bills to pay.

Description

[ Spoiler ]

Hollywood is a youthful Caucasian human with shoulder length black hair, blue-grey eyes and a slight build. He speaks (a lot) with a South Western accent. He's full of swagger and tall tails, but gun fighting is the only thing he's really good at. He generally wears jeans and a tee shirt with biker boots and variably a leather motorcycle jacket or duster-style long coat, depending on the occasion. A matching pair of customized Cavalier Deputies are always holstered at his hips in ornate real leather gun belts, and he often carries a short barreled shotgun slung across his back. His appearance would be almost anachronistic, except for the commlink and other modern electronics that punctuate his unique style. On runs he wears a black bandana tied around his face to help conceal his identity.

Build

[ Spoiler ]

Race: 0
Positive Qualities: +20
Negative Qualities: -30
Attributes: +170
Active Skills: +134
Contacts: +10
Resources: +6
Total: 310

Character Sheet

[ Spoiler ]

Race (0): Human

Positive Qualities (20):
-- Adept
-- Ambidextrous
-- Martial Arts [2]

Negative Qualities (30):
-- Addiction [Gambling, Mild]
-- Distinctive Style [1]
-- In Debt [1]
-- Poor Self Control [Braggart]
-- SINer [Criminal]

Attributes (170):
B: 2
A: 4
R: 3 (4)
S: 2

C: 3
I: 3
L: 2
W: 3

Edge: 3
Magic: 3
Essence: 6.0
Initiative: 8
IP: 1 (2)

Powers:
-- Attribute Boost [Agility, 2]
-- Improved Ability [Pistols, 1]
-- Improved Reflexes (1)
-- Multitasking

Active Skills (130):
-- Pistols (Revolvers): 3 (5)
-- Long Arms (Shotguns): 2 (4)
-- Automatics: 2
-- Perception: 2
-- Gymnastics: 1
-- Close Combat Group: 2
-- Electronics Group: 1
-- Con (Fast Talk): 2 (4)
-- Stealth Group: 2
-- Throwing: 2
-- Armorer (Firearms): 1 (3)
-- Survival (Urban): 1 (3)
-- Dodge: 1
-- First Aid: 1

Martial Arts ("Gunslinging", aka Krav Maga):
-- Advantages: Take Aim, Ready Weapon
-- Maneuvers: Iaijutsu

Knowledge Skills (free):
-- Poker: 3
-- Famous Gunfighters: 2
-- Local Prison Gangs: 2
-- Lonestar Police Procedures: 2
-- Local Crime Syndicates: 2
-- Local Gambling Establishments: 2
-- Vintage Western Films: 1

Language Skills (free):
-- English: N
-- Spanish: 1 (but he thinks he’s fluent)

Contacts

[ Spoiler ]

-- TBD (2/3)
-- Jotaro “Jo-Jo” Tanabe (1/3): black market weapons dealer w/Yakuza ties
-- Four Finger Freddy (1/2): low-level Mafia loan shark; occasionally offers jobs for debt; Hollywood owes him 7,500 ¥ @ character generation.
-- Scab (1/1): Low-life street snitch; info for Cram, food, whatever.

Gear

[ Spoiler ]

Cavalier Deputy (x2)
-- Personalized Grip
-- Smartgun
-- Skinlink
Rugar Super Warhawk
-- Smartgun
-- Skinlink
Defiance T-250
-- Smartgun
-- Skinlink
Ares Predator IV (x2)
-- Skinlink
-- Silencer
Ingram Smartgun X
-- Sling
-- Skinlink
-- Sound Suppressor

Quick-Draw Holsters (x3)
Ornate Leather Gun Belts (x2)
Concealable Holsters (x1)
Hidden Gun Arm Slide (x2)
Speed Loaders (x10)
Spare Predator Magazines (x6)
Spare Smartgun Magazines (x4)
Regular HP Ammo (x300)
Stick-N-Shock HP Ammo (x50)
Regular SG Ammo (x100)
Regular SmG Ammo (x200)

Flash Pack
Flash Bangs (x4)
Thermal Smoke Grenades (x4)

Cougar Fine Blade (Short)

Clothing
Form-fitting Body Armor Shirt (3/0)
Lether Jacket (2/2)
Lined Coat (6/4)
-- Non-conductive (3)

Novatech Airware
CMT Clip
Skinlink
Sim Module
Iris Orb OS
FLT Matrixware Net Wizrd Package
IC 2
Attack 2
Armor 2
Trode net

Contact Lenses (3)
-- Smartlink
-- Low Light
-- Thermographic
Earbuds (3)
-- Audio Enhancement (3)

Fake Sin (William Hardin, 2)
-- Fake License (Pistol, 2)
Fake Sin (Jesse McLaine, 2)
-- Fake License (Pistol, 2)

Tag Eraser
Armorer Tool Kit
Gas Mask
Respirator (3)
Survival Kit
Ration Bars (x5)
Backpack
Wire Cutters
Duct Tape
Plastic Restraints (x20)
Medkit
Medkit Supplies (x2)

Harley Davidson Scorpion (Used, paid 65%)

Low Lifestyle (1 month paid)

Starting Cash: 400 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)

[Thanee]

What I didn't expect was that so many people would become physical adepts in order to keep their power levels up while circumventing my chargen limitations.

I don't really think that this is or was the reason. Adepts are simply very popular. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

But with the Magic 3 limit, they are quite in line with mundanes, I think.

Bye
Thanee

[Karoline]

I mounted a Fichetti Security 600 "under" a sword. Think of a gun with a longer grip and the blade sticking up. The pistol's barrel is the hilt itself.

The barrel is the hilt? You mean something like this?

Maybe your character should have some ranks in knowledge: Square Enix (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Thanee]

CHARACTER SHEET MOVED HERE

[Marwynn]

The barrel is the hilt? You mean something like this?

Maybe your character should have some ranks in knowledge: Square Enix (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Nope, but of course that's the inspiration. The barrel's 90 degrees perpendicular to the blade. Picture the gun, now picture a sword blade poking up, as if continuing from the hilt in a straight line. The hilt, I hope I'm using the term right--maybe I mean the guard? The bit that protects the hands.

I blame the late night and this sickness. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleepy.gif)

EDIT:

Originally "Shotgun Sam" was just another Samurai, but he built in a Shotgun into his Vibro Sword. A Barrens drifter, righting wrongs and playing the ukelele. The inspiration was simply "a Samurai that used a Shotgun... sword!"

This, I feel, moves away from the impractical 'along the blade' shooting and into the slightly less impractical of having a few inches of sword-metal poking up from a gun.

EDIT 2:

Method, loving Kid Hollywood. Haha Spanish 1 (but he thinks he's fluent). Interesting character.

[Karoline]

Yeah, you mean the guard. The hilt is the part that you hold onto, and the guard it the part that makes sure your blood soaked hand doesn't slip onto the blade. The pommel is what stops your blood soaked hand from slipping off the weapon entirely.

I want to point out that having a massive weight pointing strait up from the barrel several feet would make the pistol insanely unwieldy. Even more unwieldy than the 'standard' gunblade would be.

This, I feel, moves away from the impractical 'along the blade' shooting and into the slightly less impractical of having a few inches of sword-metal poking up from a gun.

Along the blade shooting actually works fine, and allows for the good old "Stab them and then get them off with a slug."

Hmm, I suppose a dagger grade blade works better than a sword sized one for sticking strait up, but I'm still having trouble envisioning how you would make the grip so that you could use both the blade and the gun effectively. I may have to try doing some sketches.

Edit: Also, it should be interesting trying to make a rigger while limited to availability 6 since most drones and mods are over 6 availability.

A quick glimpse at what I've got so far:

[ Spoiler ]

Human
Bod:2 10
Agi:2 10
Rea:2 10
Str:1 0
Cha:4 30
Int:4 30
Log:5 40
Wil:3 20
Edge:1
Ess:6
Init:

Qualities:
Compulsion (Tidy) -5
Asthma -15
Low Pain Tolerance -10
Sensitive Neural Structure -5



Skills:
Pistols 3 12
Dodge 1 4
Palming 1 4
Negotiation 1 4
Mechanic Group 3 30
Armorer 1 4
Biotech Group 1 10
Chemistry 3 12
Demolitions 1 4
Electronic Warfare 2 8
Hardware 3 12
Locksmith 1 4
Software 2 8
Artisan 2 8


Knowledge Skills:
English N
Japanese 3
Spanish 2
French 2
Chinese 2
German 2
Russian 2
Latain 1
Biology 1
Local Junkyards 3
Seattle Law 2
Local Gangs 1
Drone Design 3
Weapon Design 1
Drone Tactics 2


Gear:

That still leaves me with 61 BP, so I can grab some qualities and a bunch of equipment still. Just for comparison I'm going to be making a similar character under karmagen, just to see how different they might look.

[Marwynn]

Hmm suddenly this type of gunblade doesn't seem so far fetched. But shorter of course to a proper 1H blade length.

Even something like this seems plausible. I just want the appearance of a sword, for personal humour. Shooting people with swords, still funny to me.

[milk ducks]

Method annd Thanee's characters are approved. Thanee, if I could give you more of a bonus for using an APP song, I would. For now, just give yourself 10bp.

So that leaves Karonline, DigitalOYABUN, SincereAgape, and OperationSpirit (who's very nearly finished - probably see something posted this evening). Marwynn and cndblank have already had their characters approved.

As for the Ares Gunblade thing; yeah, go for it. I have a pretty extensive D&D background, so my instinct is to have you use the Exotic Weapon skill or something, but mechanically speaking, that setup is only slightly different from just having a bayonet mount. So you shouldn't need to do anything special. Just please, for the sake of my sanity, please don't pull a Squall Leonheart and use the gun's recoil to enhance the momentum of your melee swings, lol.

And any attempt to like, shoot someone mid-swing will result in my head promptly exploding.

-milk.

[Karoline]

See, notice how no gun/blade combination has the blade sticking up out of the top of the gun? This is largely for two reasons. 1) It would make the blade much harder to wield 2) It would make it exceedingly difficult to aim properly.

Also, same character so far (Except for a race change, and even including purchasing all the same knowledge skills) has only cost me 302 Karma. So thats 198 karma vs 61 BP left over. Obviously I have more options to round out my character with the karma, I'll leave it to you guys to figure that is really needed or not.

[Thanee]

Method annd Thanee's characters are approved. Thanee, if I could give you more of a bonus for using an APP song, I would. For now, just give yourself 10bp.

Thanks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have actually been working on the sheet still, it is now pretty much finished, though, and also includes background information about the character (not sure, whether you have seen that already).

Bye
Thanee

[Marwynn]

Ahh that is true.

I went this route for two reasons: 1) I didn't want to point the blade towards something I had to shoot, wanting a more natural feel for the pistol. 2) I actually thought this way was more stable, having absolutely no knowledge of guns and swords. I was thinking it's like an H without a | on the side.

If it's okay, I'll explain it away as a breakthrough in Ares design, marketed specifically to razor boys and girls.

One of the alternatives was to build-in Tasers instead of SnS firing Light Pistols. The problem there is that the underbarrel weapon's ammo cap is halved, so that's usually just 2-3 darts left. With the "Additional Clip" mod that goes back up to 4-6 darts. But Tasersword just isn't that cool. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Thanee]

Make a google search for gun sword, there are quite a few pictures, and yeah, all of them fire along the blade.

I also think, that using the barrel as the sword guard would likely ruin the thing, if it gets hit hard. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[cndblank]

First,
sorry, we were just chewing the fat about karmagen.

Also, I have intentionally not addressed the fact that there are so many potentially awakened characters
-milk.

And not to brown nose, but after I saw how awaken the group was, I dropped the adept part of Rev's concept and went mundane (with a little changeling and even that has an mundane explanation).


Second, I thought the availability 6 limit was a soft one (if you had a good reason you could go over with GM's approval like a Control Rig for a rigger), Rev has several availability 8 items.

If that is a problem I can send in her SR4CG Excel spread sheet which shows the availability.



Finally third, could we get the option of taking any bonus BP in Karma (at 2K per 1 BP)? A little Karma really helps to round out a BP character.

[Thanee]

Heh, the toughest piece of equipment with the AV6 limit were the glasses for me... those go above AV6 so easily.

I figured, though, that I will simply upgrade them later. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Same as with getting some specializations for the skills.

Bye
Thanee

[Karoline]

Same as with getting some specializations for the skills.

Hehe, yeah, want so many specialties, but much better to wait for the karma to spec with.

at 2K per 1 BP

Wow, 2000 for 1 BP, I think I'd be rather set with a point or two (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Doesn't converting BP into karma kinda defeat the point of using the BP system? Just wait for the karma in game. Much more entertaining to get specs and stuff like that after the first run. Gives a nice sense of improvement right from the get-go. Remember the whole point of this is to -not- have everything so that you have real goals, and a bunch of stuff you want (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[cndblank]

Make a google search for gun sword, there are quite a few pictures, and yeah, all of them fire along the blade.

I also think, that using the barrel as the sword guard would likely ruin the thing, if it gets hit hard. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bye
Thanee

You know if you removed the trigger, the barrel of an automatic would make a good hilt with some wrapping especially if you used caseless.

You could even add a second magazine (on the opposite side) to balance out the pommel. Perhaps cut the magazines down a little to keep it from being bulky or put a bar handle behind the magazines (like the top part of a handle of a short shovel (if the shovel is sticking up right out of the ground it would be horizontal to the ground)). With a smart link there is really no need to be able to sight down the barrel.
............................. _
............................ / /
. _____________/ /
/ ...............|_____ |
\_________/........\ \
.............................\_\

............................. _
............................ / /..../\
. _____________/ / ==...|
/ ...............|_____ | ....|...|
\_________/........\ \==...|
.............................\_\...\ /

Cause a picture is worth a thousand words!

[Karoline]

That's not bad for ACSII art (Or whatever that is called) and at least I think I know how you are talking about having the blade, but I still don't see how it would work out. Anyone know where I could upload a scan if I did a sketch and wanted to show it off? (Because my drawing skills are just that awesome)

[cndblank]

Hehe, yeah, want so many specialties, but much better to wait for the karma to spec with.



Wow, 2000 for 1 BP, I think I'd be rather set with a point or two (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Doesn't converting BP into karma kinda defeat the point of using the BP system? Just wait for the karma in game. Much more entertaining to get specs and stuff like that after the first run. Gives a nice sense of improvement right from the get-go. Remember the whole point of this is to -not- have everything so that you have real goals, and a bunch of stuff you want (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I asked for it as an option.

If you wanted to increase a high value skill or stat higher then it is more cost effective to get BP, but if you want to buy specializations (which you should really start the game with because they really help to define a character) or low rating skills and stats then Karma is better.

That is totally fair and balanced to all characters no matter which way they go.



I'm a recovering min-maxer and while I still like to make effective characters, the BP system just rubs me the wrong way.

Makes me want to fall off the wagon ;(

Stuff should cost the same whither you are creating a character or spending experience. but that is my hang up. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[cndblank]

That's not bad for ACSII art (Or whatever that is called) and at least I think I know how you are talking about having the blade, but I still don't see how it would work out. Anyone know where I could upload a scan if I did a sketch and wanted to show it off? (Because my drawing skills are just that awesome)

Wish I did. You would need to cut down the clip sizes but since there are two that wouldn't be bad. A smart link would be the only way to fire them accurately.

And while you could use the blades while holding the shovel/horizontal handle, from my ditch digging experience of my youth, I can tell you that a strong parry on the sides from the right angle would tend to cause them to spin in your hand (possibly right in to your face).


A Katar, the short India punch dagger with the horizontal handle, would be a great weapon to combine with a pistol.

[Marwynn]

Photobucket.com? Plenty of pic sharing sites out there.

Oh and I figure Arsenal's Melee Hardening would take care of the trauma of using it in that way.

[Thanee]

I like imageshack.us

Bye
Thanee

[cndblank]

Question, if a heavy pistol can fire burst fire can you use your automatics skill when firing a burst?

[Karoline]

MD may have a different answer, but the standard one is 'no'. Many skills don't make alot of sense in this reguard. Your FA pistol is still a pistol and uses the pistol skill. Your FA rifle isn't an automatic... somehow. A knife and a battle axe use the same skill, but a polearm uses a different one.

[Thanee]

I don't think the firing mode has anything to do with what skill is being used. It's not like you are using Longarms, if you fire your Assault Rifle in single shot or semi-automatic mode. You would still use the Automatics skill.

Bye
Thanee

[milk ducks]

Question, if a heavy pistol can fire burst fire can you use your automatics skill when firing a burst?

Nope. Looks like Thanee beat me to the answer.

I don't think the firing mode has anything to do with what skill is being used. It's not like you are using Longarms, if you fire your Assault Rifle in single shot or semi-automatic mode. You would still use the Automatics skill.

-milk.