Starting a new game., or at least gathering interest. Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Switch to: Outline Standard Switch to: Linear+

[ravensoracle]

I am gathering interest for a new PBP game. I have a few basic ideas for a game and also have a few requirements for the players.

First off I do want to say that GM'ing PBP isn't my best skill. I am not a verbose writer. In fact, I am not a writer at all. I can come up with some great stories but I am lacking when it comes to truely putting details on paper. That said, if you are willing to overlook that and try to tell a good story anyway then lets give it a go.

I am thinking I will limit the number of PC's to 5. This will not be the first 5 players to post their interest. I am wanting to pick from the characters submitted the ones that are the best fit for a team. Availability and posting regularity will play a big factor in my decision.

There have been a lot of games that have never really gotten started because of one or two players not keeping up in posting with the others. I am not saying that there has to be a post a day. But my personal threshold for this is one week. If it is over a week and there hasn't been any word from the player, then the PC will become an NPC or take a stray bullet. My choice. I try to be lenient but I don't want to see the game die that way.

This game will probably best be described as Cold Pro w/ Pink Highlights. I want to keep the "realism" in the game as much as possible. But I still want to have fun and skip over some of the monotonous details. If you add into your posts that you are taking steps to be discreet then I will probably handwave most of that to keep things moving.


I am thinking of going with Karma Gen for character creation with the following rules. Feel free to comment on any of them. All books are fair game.

1. 850 Karma
2. Race costs BP in Karma
3. Any race beyond the core races will have to be approved.
4. Attributes Cost X5 per Sr4A
5. Magic/TM PC's may Initiate/ Submerge twice, Mundanes got to spend up to 150 Karma on gear and Avail 16.
6. Knowledge skills are bought like in BP where characters start with a number of Knowledge skill points
equal to (Logic + Intuition) x 3.
7. The Karma cost of Contacts equals Connection + Loyalty
8. Matrix actions are Attribute + Skill with hits capped by program. Intuitive Hacking allows a player to default without the program limiting hits to 1.
9. Character Type (Mage, Adept, TM) do not count to the 70 Karma Qualities Limit. Nor does Martial Arts.
10. Only the last 100 Karma can be used to spend for improvements past the initial Character Gen Rules and must use the Advancement Table from Sr4A
10. Background Questionnaire is mandatory.


I am looking for professionals. I want a rounded build but you need to be good at what you do so don't over-generalize. Don't worry about starting location, you will be recieving a plane ticket to your first meeting. Be prepared to travel.

So what do you guys think? Is there any interest?

I plan on taking a couple of weeks at least to get characters approved and the game to start. I have to get caught up on the games I have joined.

Background Questionnaire

[ Spoiler ]

1. What is your characters Sex?


2. What is your characters physical size?


3. What is the color of the characters Hair, eyes, and skin?
Hair:
Eyes:
Skin:

4. What is the character's general appearance (i.e., How does he dress, etc.)?


5. Where was the character born (City, State, Hospital Name)?


6. What is the characters date of birth?


7. What was the character's family life like?


8. Has the character begun his own family?


9. Where or how was the character educated?

10. Has the character ever done anything else for a living?

11. What are the characters beliefs on church and state?


12. Describe the characters Moral code. Include how mercenary he is, whether or not he'll kill innocents, etc.


13. What are the character have any goals?


14. Why does the character run the shadows? (Why does he run the shadows still, rather than getting a "real" job?)


15. What kind of personality does your character have? This should not necessarily be obviously stated in the background, as it is more important for actually playing the character, but it may color or add mood to the history.

16. What special qualities does the character possess? This does not refer to skills, but rather at other things, such as How he gets along with people, does he plan ahead, etc.


17. Are their certain things the character can't or won't do? Why?


18. What things, people, or ideas does the character hate?


19. What things people, or ideas does the character love?


20. What is the character's name? Give both full birth name, as well as nicknames, street names, etc.

21. Determine what your character used to do, before becoming a shadowrunner (very important).

22. Decide why your character left his or her old job, if he had one. (also important).


23. Come up with a reason for why the character became a shadowrunner. (This very often will tie in with #22. This is not the same as #14, but rather why he started running the shadows originally. What led him to it?)


24. How did your character come to know his or her contacts? Contacts are an important part of Shadowrun, decide how and why you know them.



25. Does the character have a SIN? Does the character actually use it? Or is the character one of the SINless_masses? This may be affected by the characters previous employment.

26. Is the character a full-time shadowrunner? Or does the character lead a Batman-like double existence?


27. Which person(s) or group(s) do you love the most?

28. Which person(s) or group(s) do you hate the most?

29. Which person(s) or group(s) do you respect the most?
.

30. Which person(s) or group(s) do you fear the most?

31. What is your favorite color?


32. What is your favorite food and/or drink?

33. What place would you most like to visit?


34. Which person(s) or group(s) are you most loyal to?


35. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the most enjoyment? (WARNING: Answering Sex for this question can and will result in penalties to your character!)


36. What pastime (that you participate in regularly) gives you the least enjoyment?


37. What annoys you the most?


38. What (if any) is your favorite form of art?


39. What is your greatest goal?

40. What do you think is your characters best quality?


41. What do you think is your characters worst quality?


42. What is the most important thing you have ever done?


43. Which religion (if any) do you follow?


44. What is your most treasured possession (and why)?

45. What are your three most common dreams?


46. What is the Characters current relationship with his family?


47. If the characters family is still alive, what do they do, and where do they live?


48. Where did the character learn his Skills?

49. Does the character have a good luck charm? What is it, and why?


50. What type of music does the character like?


51. List any past serious relationships that your character has had, and give a brief overview of the relationship.


52. Where does your character live? Why does he live there?


53. Remember, I, as most Gamemasters, like detail, so if you can think of any other little details, quirks, or whatever that you think might please the almighty GM, then add them here.

[SleepIncarnate]

Not to sound like someone completely out of it, but what do you mean by PBP? Is that a pre-built run or something? If not, what's the basic idea for this group?

EDIT: Looked it up, play-by-post. So then yeah, what's the basic premise? Seattle, LA, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc

[Critias]

Not to sound like someone completely out of it, but what do you mean by PBP? Is that a pre-built run or something? If not, what's the basic idea for this group?

PBP = Play By Post.

[crizh]

I'm up for any game that isn't going to evaporate the instant the meet is over.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

I don't really care what sort of game you want to run or where, I'll fill any role that needs filled.

Not sure I'd play any sort of Hacker or TM under those rules but that's such a small part of the game it hardly matters.

What sort of characters do you want?

[pbangarth]

I have three PCs whose PbP games here on DS have died. Definitely NOT because I wasn't participating! I sure would like to get one of them working again. I would have to redo them in the Karmagen system, and tweak a bit to make up for flaws that became obvious during game play (like a university researcher / investigator without Data Search Skill!), but here are links to their writeups in other threads:

"Professor" - discredited archaeologist
LINK

"Bongo Slade" - mystical drummer
LINK

"Hodder" - Qabbalistic treasure hunter (info spread out over three posts)
Vignette

Vignette 2

Character sheet and Background

I hope one of these looks interesting.

[BlackHat]

I'm up for any game that isn't going to evaporate the instant the meet is over.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

QFT

I'm certainly interested. In my experience, Karma Gen can create some real monsters, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Since you're going for a professional game, it might not matter as much if the team has some experience and some sweet gear. Speaking of which, you mentioned mundanes being able to spend 150 karma on gear, what's the ratio (or is that part of the karmagen system that I overlooked)?

Edit: Figured it out, it was right there on the table. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[SleepIncarnate]

What sort of characters do you want?

This is kinda what I was asking when I asked the setting. I get the impression that this is one of those moments where the Johnson puts the team together, which means they have a specific purpose in mind, which means they're going to pick runners suited for that purpose. A team put together for guerrilla attacks on competitors convoys and the like in the Amazon Basin or Sahara Desert is more likely to have a rigger than a hacker, would likely include a sniper, their mage would be more inclined to combat and health magic, etc, meanwhile a team put together to raid facilities in the Seattle sprawl for extractions, data swipes, etc is more likely to have a hacker than a rigger, close combat specialists instead of the sniper, and the mage would be more inclined to illusion and detection magic.

Also, if we're being moved, should we bother including lifestyles, vehicles, or drones of certain sizes?

[Crank]

5. Magic/TM PC's may Initiate/ Submerge twice, Mundanes got to spend up to 150 Karma on gear.

Any other modifications on gear for Mundanes, such as availability and grade of Cyberware available?

Also, for Mystic Adepts, is the force for spells limited by the magic points dedicated to magic (SR4) or to their total magic attribute (SR4a)?

[BlackHat]

2. Race costs BP in Karma

Does this mean attributes start at racial minimum, as well? (IIRC, the default karma system requires you to buy them up, but doesn't charge you for the race, itself).
Or are those rules unchanged (so an elf would have to pay 30 karma to be an elf, and also pay something like 35 karma raising agility and charisma)?

[Crank]

Does this mean attributes start at racial minimum, as well? (IIRC, the default karma system requires you to buy them up, but doesn't charge you for the race, itself).

Actually the default karma system neither requires you to pay for race or to buy attributes up. You start with racial minimums under the default system.

From Runner's Companion, page 42, top of column 2

Characters begin with the minimum attribute ratings defined by their race/metatype.

[SleepIncarnate]

Does this mean attributes start at racial minimum, as well? (IIRC, the default karma system requires you to buy them up, but doesn't charge you for the race, itself).
Or are those rules unchanged (so an elf would have to pay 30 karma to be an elf, and also pay something like 35 karma raising agility and charisma)?

That's not quite right, BlackHat. According to what I'm reading, the metatype is free normally (which you agree with) but that they also start with the minimum attribute ratings defined by their metatype, but can only spend karma equal to half their starting karma plus twice the listed BP cost of their metatype.

So for example, making an elf by standard karmagen, they start with 2 agility, 3 charisma, and 1 in all other attributes, and can spend up to 435 karma on attributes: half of the standard 750 karma (375) plus double the normal 30 BP cost for being an elf (60). They don't need to pay the 10 karma for ability 2 or 15 karma for charisma 3, they get those automatically. This is shown by the example creation of a sasquatch with Body 10, and it only costs 102 karma (because a sasquatch starts with Body 6, and they were doing x3 instead of x5 for attributes).

[BlackHat]

Ah, gotcha, so the minimums are free, its the maximums that you pay for. Either way, I guess that clarifies what I was asking.

[SleepIncarnate]

Looks so far like there's 5 people interested, so assuming this 5 is the 5 he's got picked, what's everyone got in mind? I've already got a tech character in one other game, maybe 2 if Troll Bouncer ever comes back and starts his Matrix game, so while I don't mind playing that role if no one else wants it, I would like to try and go another route if someone else wants to pick up the hacker/rigger role.

[Crank]

I'm interested in an Adept or mystic adept. If I picked a mystic adept, I would only dabble in magic and not seek to fulfill the spellcaster role.

[SleepIncarnate]

Physical, Social, Technical, Gun, or Astral Adept?

[Crank]

Physical, Social, Technical, Gun, or Astral Adept?

Physical most likely, but maybe gun. As I fill out the questionnaire and start playing with the numbers I'll get a better picture of what I'd like him to be.

[malachite333]

I hope I'm not too late to join this game, because this definitely seems like an interesting game. I'm looking to play a adept doctor with a fair bit of occult investigatory ability as well as a healthy dash of facery, a bit odd I know but when I was making the build it took on a will of it's own and morphed slighty.

[SleepIncarnate]

Alright, and looking at all three of pbangarth's characters, they seem to be mental/social adepts (and one mystic adept) so that's pretty much the face and close combat specialist down if no one else shows interest in this group, crizch said he doesn't want to be tech, which means BlackHat or myself will end up being the hacker or rigger (depending on what the kind of runs we'd be picked for would be).

[SleepIncarnate]

I hope I'm not too late to join this game, because this definitely seems like an interesting game. I'm looking to play a adept doctor with a fair bit of occult investigatory ability as well as a healthy dash of facery, a bit odd I know but when I was making the build it took on a will of it's own and morphed slighty.

Not too late at all, ravensoracle hasn't decided who his 5 will be, but I'm trying to get the lay of what everyone wants to play before I decide which one of my many concepts I want to go with. When you work 10-12 hour days of sitting around doing mostly nothing, you end up bringing stuff in to do, I often made characters.

[pbangarth]

I have three PCs whose PbP games here on DS have died. Definitely NOT because I wasn't participating! I sure would like to get one of them working again. I would have to redo them in the Karmagen system, and tweak a bit to make up for flaws that became obvious during game play (like a university researcher / investigator without Data Search Skill!), but here are links to their writeups in other threads:

"Professor" - discredited archaeologist
LINK

"Bongo Slade" - mystical drummer
LINK

"Hodder" - Qabbalistic treasure hunter (info spread out over three posts)
Vignette

Vignette 2

Character sheet and Background

I hope one of these looks interesting.

Folks are right that the flavour of the runs determines who gets picked. If none of these fit, I'm happy to generate a magical artillery piece. Maybe ... call him "Thor"?

[SleepIncarnate]

Folks are right that the flavour of the runs determines who gets picked. If none of these fit, I'm happy to generate a magical artillery piece. Maybe ... call him "Thor"?

Troll Drake astaru combat mage? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[malachite333]

10-12 hour workdays! That's harsh, but at least you get something worthwhile with the time such as making characters (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) .

[SleepIncarnate]

It's not as common as it could be (I'm military IRL) but it did happen for a period of about 2 months, and I was in a job role of "damage control" basically (i.e. unless the fecal matter hit the rotating blades, I was bored).

[BlackHat]

... if no one else shows interest in this group...

<unlikely />
This post has only been up for a few hours, and there are at least 5. By this time tomorrow, I would expect twice that number to at least say they're interested, if not to have builds ready to go.
It might be a good idea to keep an eye on what other ideas people are tossing out there, but I don't think it will matter a whole lot. In all likelihood, ravensoracle will have to trim the players down to 5, and there's no telling who the other 4 would be ahead of time - so I wouldn't base too much of your own decisions on who you think your character would be working alongside.

My advice would be to just make something you'd enjoy playing, and if you have a lot of builds around, already made, you could always post more than one like pbangarth did.

...which means BlackHat or myself will end up being the hacker or rigger...

See previous comment. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) It is at least worth noting that if only one person proposes a hacker/rigger type, they're probably a shoe-in for that role, though.
Again, I don't expect that to be the case for long.

[SleepIncarnate]

More likely than you think. A lot of players don't like hackers still, because of the "waiting long periods of time for the Matrix stuff then everyone else is waiting long periods of time cause of the one or two matrix players" mentality you see in a lot of games.