Let's Start Here Shall We?, Recruitment thread for Bitter Harvest Options

[Buddha72]

Howdy All!

I am trying my hand at another game here on DS. I have had one previous game that was a huge success (Extassis - feel free to check it out to get an idea of the type of game I run) and I am looking to have another great experience. Let's get on to the basics of the game. I will be looking for 4 to 6 players but I have 2 to 3 spots already reserved for long time players I run with.

SR4

Standard build points of 400

I am using the optional rule of free points for contacts of your character's unaugmented CHA x 2 and I am open to most of the optional rules in the SR4 universe so feel free to ask. I would prefer a book and page number as reference if you want to use one for ease of looking them up.

I am looking for people to post once a week minimum. (for the 1st batch of characters starting the thread)

I know real life happens so there is some flex but if you don't post for two weeks without any attempt to let me know what's going on then I am dropping you. Because of that this thread will stay open throughout the game so I can recruit new players to replace any that disappear/drop off because as we all know it happens.

I award one point of karma per week with additional points given for roleplaying and story rewards. Basically when you all get things done or rolling in the game then I award you. As for options I am fine with regular characters and all the freaky stuff too (drakes, shifters, the infected, AIs etc). My only request is that you bring a character to the mix that's going to work with the premise of the game and can work with other people. I am NOT looking for semi-pyshco street samurais who are lone wolfs with cranial bombs looking to kill the next thing they see.

Qualities are fine but keep in mind I am not going to let a severe allergy to seawater into my game in the Mojave Desert. I will play them out - you get points for them so they will come up. Enemies will kick down your door, your kid sister will need a ride to school in the middle of a run etc. You get the drift.

Customized gear (weapons, guns, vehicles etc) are fine as long as they meet the availability restriction of 12 for character generation.

The premise is the group is being assembled to hunt down Yakuza and cripple their operations. Your character will need to be on board for that or I am just hitting the DELETE key on the submission. Your character will have receive some aid in the past from an unknown source. This will be expressed in one of the following ways:

One free skill at 6 (this would not count against the limit of only having one skill at 6)
Access to a beta clinic without the increased cost or availability (for char gen)
An extra 125,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif)
A free bonded Power or Weapon Foci Rating 3

Select one for your character and you can write it into your background anyway you want with the following restriction of not knowing why or who gave you the boon or help.

The feel of the game was going to be dark and gritty, somewhat inhuman at times. The game will start based in Seattle but will move to other parts of Asia to strike at the Yakuza so keep that in mind when picking contacts and gear.

Post any questions you have and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Submission Deadline is midnight on September 11th.

[Acme]

Hmmm.. Sounds pretty good. What sort of characters are you looking for most of all?

[Fenris]

Ooo, oo, pick me, pick me!

I'm bringing Ayohuhisdi, a SURGE-d pistol adept. Not original, perhaps, but I think it goes well with the concept.

[JxJxA]

Cool, I'd be happy to be a team player. ^_^

I'll go with a bookish mage interested in do-goodery. Do-goodery is kinda sorta my achilles heel when it comes to characters, so I'll focus on that.

Also, Buddha, now I'm tempted to have a kid sister who will need rides to school in the middle of runs. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Buddha72]

I am completely open on character concepts - I will pick characters more on backstory and development than anything else. I can work the game to deal with an all rigger party for example. As the arbiter of game reality I feel ok tweaking here and there.

[Acme]

All right, since we've got an adept and a mage offered, I was already thinking of getting something sammy-wise then. Hmmm.... I've got an old Mafia-affiliated legbreaker I used to use, I can forward him to 4e.

[JxJxA]

Okay, here's the character concept:

Zerone Rhomicron, elf mage and failed science project. Some megacorp involved with cloning awakened soldiers genetically created him, but considered him a flawed specimen so they dumped him. Zerone managed to survive, naming himself after the symbols on his cloning tube. Always cheerful and willing to help, he sometimes gets mistaken for the "successful" project the megacorp cultivated.

Tvtropes one sentence summary:

A humble yet broken hero who manages let's get dangerous moments and thinks nothing of it.

[Acme]

Actually, I have a good idea, mostly just 'cause I stumbled onto my favorite episode of Cowboy Bebop, the first one where they meet Faye. I'll have something original of course and maybe even work it into the Mafia idea, but I'm thinking of a detective type with pistol and martial arts offense.

[UmaroVI]

Would you like us to submit a background alone first, or background+sheet?

[Buddha72]

Excellent question - put a blurb here about the character and then please submit the character to me at aoe@54thstreetzoo.com. Make sure to include in the header Bitter Harvest in the subject line.

[Atomic Communist]

Hi there. I'm a new member and I was hoping to get in on this crazy action. I was wanting to play the team's resident medic/gearfinder. An older guy, in his mid-30s, beginning his Shadow career much later than many. He used to be doctor who specialized in quasilegal surgeries and treatments before the yaks ran him out of their turf and replacing him with someone who would do their work for free. Now he wants to get revenge. It was his spot! Goes by the name of Triage. What do you think?

I can imagine him riding shotgun to the rigger as medical support/fire support.

This post has been edited by Atomic Communist: Aug 29 2010, 06:52 PM

[Propaganda]

I've just seen this, and I'd love to take part. I've been toying with something along the lines of The Transporter films; a wheelman/backup fighter hired to provide transport and an extra gun.

Since I'm off tomorrow I'll get to work on it and see what I come up with.

[Cozar]

Hi,

I've been a Shadowrun fan since the Sega Genesis game, but I have minimal experience with actual gaming. If I'm welcome, I'd love to join in with a character that has the power to contribute to a team, but needs some guidance in the "street smarts" arena. Here's my character concept:

John "By the Book" Knoblock was one of the good guys - a cop that still played by the rules. He worked hard to provide a normal life for his wife and two kids. But one day John pushed too hard, and the local Yakuza boss decided it was time to make an example of cops that thought they could clean up the streets. The explosion rocked the streets, and four charred bodies later, the entire family was pronounced dead. But the Yaks made a mistake. 'They had known John's oldest son, Mark, was on his way home from college that day, but his trip had been delayed, and the fourth body in the car wasn't Mark, it was his sister's new fiance.

Legally dead, consumed by grief, and furious that the system his dad had fought so hard to protect turned a blind eye to his family's death, Mark felt his magic calling to him in new ways. Tempted by the promises of power, Mark Knoblock set out on a new path, a path that would lead to justice . . . or revenge.

[UmaroVI]

Excellent question - put a blurb here about the character and then please submit the character to me at aoe@54thstreetzoo.com. Make sure to include in the header Bitter Harvest in the subject line.

Hey, I'm starting to work on a Chinese shapeshifter. There's a few legends about something kind of like a weredog that I found, but there aren't really any legends about lycanthropes being vulnerable to something like Western lycanthropes are supposed to be vulnerable to silver. There's an optional rule to change the vulnerability to something else; would you allow me to instead pay 20 BP (what the Allergy would cost as a negative quality) and just not be Allergic?

[Buddha72]

Take a look up at the original post above. I have added a submission deadline for characters to this thread for the first batch of characters to start the thread.

I welcome 1st timer players and veterans. All are welcome!

UmoraVI - I would be fine with buying off the Allergy.

[Acme]

And stupid question, by "submission" do yo mean sheet AND background or just background?

[JxJxA]

Don't feel stupid, I'm curious, too. ;-p

[UmaroVI]

You are, I assume, using the "Maximum Armor Modification" rules from Arsenal?

[The Limper]

Please count me in if there is still room, I am newbie to SR but I am very interested in trying it out.

Once a week sounds very manageable.

[Propaganda]

Well, I started working on the concept and ended up going off in a completely different direction, probably 'cause I was watching The Killer at the time.

Anyway, I'm working on a freelance merc/soldier that worked for the Yakuza (the description in Neuromancer of Case as a 'gaijin soldierboy for the Yaks' sums it up, though I'm thinking a more long ranged focus than the existing shooters, so I'll probably make him a sniper/mid range fighter more than an up close and personal sort.

Once I've got names and such nailed down for the blurb I'll put it up. I'll also mention this game to one of my friends, since it sounds like his kinda thing.

[Buddha72]

The more the merrier and frankly people drop out and I'll need replacements though I am hoping to have a stable group of 2 to 3 who don't so the story arc can be better preserved.

UmaroVI - Page number please and I will let you know. I am a stay-at-home dad so looking things up in a digital format is very doable - pouring through books for a reference or item is not workable with 3 kids 5 years old and under. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

The Limper - I am open to character submissions until Sept. 11th so submit please. I will then post my picks for the 1st batch and list the stand by players for if or when we lose players.

[Notsoevildm]

Got an idea, not fully worked out yet but along the following lines:

German night elf adept, working for corp (S-K?) in Germany as an infiltration/close combat specialist. A close colleague (his lover) goes missing on 'business' in Seattle. For reasons unknown to him, the corp isn't looking into it so he takes some time off to go look for her. He doesn't have any real contacts in the US so basically can't find anything and LS/KE won't help him. Just as he's the on point of giving up and going home, he receives a parcel from our mystery benefactor - it's his lover's weapon focus. So he doesn't get on the plane, goes AWOL from his corp and is staying till he finds out what happened to her / avenges her death.

[UmaroVI]

No problem. It's an optional rule on page 44 of Arsenal that limits how many armor modifications you can jam onto a single piece of armor. It actually doesn't really affect my character too much now that I worked it out, I assumed it was in place and might add on a few more mods if it's not (I don't really mind either way, to be honest).

[Fyndhal]

I didn't catch that there were two threads on this. I posted in the other one last night, but I'll add my response here.

If there is room still, I am definitely interested and will have a character ready in the next couple days.

Question: For this game is Martial Arts a quality or is the commonly used house-rule being used?

FYI: I'm looking at an Elven Adept/Sammy hybrid.

[Buddha72]

Fyndhal - Since my SR GM moved away (curse him to the darkest pits of hell) I have had limited exposure to SR4 in action. Run this commonly used house rule by me please.

UmaroVI - My children and I thank you for the page number - and yes I will be using those rules.

Thanks for letting me know about the other thread somehow two of this got started. I'll see about getting the other one down or something.