OOC: First Run, Always recruiting players. Options

[Thanee]

...we're one of the big three navies that realizes beer makes things better.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[WearzManySkins]

Actually, no. It's the other way around.



Ties go to the defender, so to say.

Looking at your spellcasting roll above, I'm wondering how you came up with such a high Drain, though?

What Force did you cast the spell at? For those 4 boxes of Drain, it needs to be F6 at least (which would cause physical Drain already, as it exceeds your Magic).

As a friendly advice... you really should list the Force together with the spellcasting roll. It is quite an important factor. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

OK SR and SR4A show different SR4 shows Observer must have more...SR4A says Caster must have more, SR4A is the more current. Issue with having both books one hardcopy the latter softcopy.
Magic 5, Spellcasting 6, Mentor Spirit: Cobra (MitS) Illusion Spells +2 dice, equals 13 dice, force of the spell is 5. So it is stun drain.

Question an aspected domain add +2 dice to all magical and drain tests, is casting a spell a magical test?

[Digital Heroin]

Australia... oh the memories... well, lack of memories, but the tales. Apparently I got blind stinking drunk enough to get into a fight with a wallaby, and to try and steal the Perth Base Commander's personal golf cart... with a rock.

[Seth]

Question an aspected domain add +2 dice to all magical and drain tests, is casting a spell a magical test?

Pretty much. IIRC Magical tests are any set of die rolls with the magic attribute used.

[Thanee]

OK SR and SR4A show different SR4 shows Observer must have more...SR4A says Caster must have more, SR4A is the more current. Issue with having both books one hardcopy the latter softcopy.

Aha, looks like they changed that part, then (which makes sense, as it is the general way how opposed tests work, i.e. defender only needs to get even).

Magic 5, Spellcasting 6, Mentor Spirit: Cobra (MitS) Illusion Spells +2 dice, equals 13 dice, force of the spell is 5. So it is stun drain.

Ok, but then you only suffered 2 boxes, because the F/2 is rounded down. Hence my confusion. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Here:

Drain is variable, based on the spell’s Force ÷ 2, rounded down, ...

So, one less box of stun damage for you, at least! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

You do suffer a -2 on all tests (with the exclusion of Drain and Damage Resistance tests, I think) at the moment for the sustaining, though, which is the reason why I thought you would be using the sustaining focus for that. Running around all day with that -2 penalty must be a tad distracting.

Question an aspected domain add +2 dice to all magical and drain tests, is casting a spell a magical test?

I would understand that as meaning all tests that involve the Magic Attribute, so yeah, it should count on that one, too.

You should roll 2 more dice then... if you get another hit, Dawn would actually not see through that illusion (and I will edit my post accordingly, in that case, of course (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) ).

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

Running around all day with that -2 penalty must be a tad distracting.

To be honest it is close to crippling. As soon as a fight erupts you either have to drop it, or be well below par for the entire fight (its pretty much the same as being half dead...).

I have a free spirit character who has to sustain spells itself (no foci for free spirits), and its very hard. YMMV

[Thanee]

Another big one is Perception in my experience... Mages typically do not have such high pools there to begin with...

@Seth: Shifter, Free Spirit... You certainly like those exotic character types, huh? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

Well I played shadowrun when it first came out for a few years and GMed it for a few year. I feel I have "done" the standard ones, although that's probably not true. Nice thing about shadowrun is that the exotic types are not as hideously unbalanced as in other games. I "wasted" a load of points on Cindy, so I think shes pretty ok. Free spirits I think are well underpowered (as long as you don't play the insane force = all attributes optional interpretation of RAW), but I haven't played anything like it and its loads of fun.

I'd love to play a drake actually, but I just cannot get a decent character, even if I mini-max....still working on that

[WearzManySkins]

To be honest it is close to crippling. As soon as a fight erupts you either have to drop it, or be well below par for the entire fight (its pretty much the same as being half dead...).

I have a free spirit character who has to sustain spells itself (no foci for free spirits), and its very hard. YMMV

If combat breaks out she can drop the spell to keep from the sustaining spell penalty. But mages can have other ways to defend themselves with out the use a magics.

@Thanee
I will let the roll stand as is, no rerolls for it.

All remember that Naga's are "Hunted", that could mean the best defense/offense is not be known ergo using a sustaining focus means using spells at less than maximum power, yes even spells at maximum power can be seen thru like what Thanee's character has done, but it is not a perfect world, one must try to minimize those that know what she is.

Remember she is not human, so from a human's perspective she makes can/will make choices that a human may not understand.

Also to me most mundane humans tend to be leery/scared of small snakes, large snakes tend to provoke greater reaction. A Troll Sized Poison Magic using snake being would/could provoke greater reactions among the non shadowrunning humans. IIRC Naga's do have a reputation for being users of magics.

I used to have many years ago a Prairie King Snake "Sid", wonderful friendly snake, but the reactions from friends/guests was interesting and informative. Incredibly large muscled men would run crying like a baby when I brought Sid out, women was even worse at times. Yes a few times the reaction friendly and adoring but those were few and far between.

In Lamia's shadowrunning experience she has seen/suffered the panic when humans have seen her form, not that she give a tinkers damn about most humans, but she has to make a living, one can not live on Devil Rat's alone. So she will make concessions to be able to earn a living among the society of humans.

I view part of the Shadowrun is dealing with Johnsons and Fixers a sort of respect comes into play, ie you do not cause scenes at meets unless circumstances call for it, even then those can affect ones standing among Fixers/Johnsons, ie scaring the crap out of bystanders by just entering the meeting place, would tend to get one fewer offers of quality or money.

[WearzManySkins]

Another big one is Perception in my experience... Mages typically do not have such high pools there to begin with...

@Seth: Shifter, Free Spirit... You certainly like those exotic character types, huh? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

Bye
Thanee

Chuckles, Seth is fairly normal from my perspective,
I too have played SR since the first days, I also helped play test SR2 on the GEnie forums many years ago.

I am like Seth I have played the fairly main stream character types, so the different races are appealing to me. Or I play types that are out there. I am working on a drone rigger that is a TacNet 4 software user. I am playing a Physical Adept Animal trainer that has his cats fitted with gear to use Tacnet 2. Can these two be used in most games no, but I am patient.

I put a character concept out here years ago basically a Perception Master using cyberwear etc. Not the best fighter but he could sense you coming a long distance in most cases. He also proved how ineffective white noise generators were at keeping conversations private.

[Thanee]

All remember that Naga's are "Hunted", ...

Cool, is there a bounty?

just kidding (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

...that could mean the best defense/offense is not be known ergo using a sustaining focus means using spells at less than maximum power, yes even spells at maximum power can be seen thru like what Thanee's character has done, but it is not a perfect world, one must try to minimize those that know what she is.

Yep, but in most cases it will require Counterspelling to get enough dice... even 3 hits with just Intuition are hard to beat (still possible, of course).

If combat breaks out she can drop the spell to keep from the sustaining spell penalty. But mages can have other ways to defend themselves with out the use a magics.

True enough, but the sustaining penalty counts for everything, not just magical tasks. It's quite a burden... I currently have another mage-type character who is in a combat while sustaining two spells... it's quite annoying to get -4 on pretty much anything. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)


As for exotic character types... it's just not my cup of tea. I prefer more normal characters. There is enough variation there for me. But to each their own. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

Also to me most mundane humans tend to be leery/scared of small snakes, large snakes tend to provoke greater reaction. A Troll Sized Poison Magic using snake being would/could provoke greater reactions among the non shadowrunning humans

I'm still not sure who I am most scared of: Frankenstein or Lamia.

Cindy has seen a few Naga's before, although not interacted with them: The chairman's magical defence unit has a Mage with 2 Naga friends who provide magical security (book Steel Rain).

I'll not be doing any bargaining with Mr Stein though: I can see how it will go "roll that one die for your negotiation skill. Oh it came up a 1: critical glitch. That makes you a psychotic NPC under GM control" ::Shudders::. Nope if Mr Stein asks for anything, he can have it (well almost anything).

I didn't know Naga were hunted: is this similar to a Policlub hatred, or is it more organised?

[Xahn Borealis]

I didn't know Naga were hunted: is this similar to a Policlub hatred, or is it more organised?

They're seen as wild animals. It's as organised as saying, "Naga season."

P.S. sorry for poking my nose in, but I'm hoping to join in here, get some more SR experience under my belt.

[WearzManySkins]

<snippage.

I didn't know Naga were hunted: is this similar to a Policlub hatred, or is it more organised?

More hunted for their Venom which by RAW has no antidote. I imagine most captured are basically milked for their venom until the end of their days. Also for parts in magical focii/reagents.

Can not be to overtly organized due they are recognized in most "civilized" countries are sentient beings.

[Digital Heroin]

I'll not be doing any bargaining with Mr Stein though: I can see how it will go "roll that one die for your negotiation skill. Oh it came up a 1: critical glitch. That makes you a psychotic NPC under GM control" ::Shudders::. Nope if Mr Stein asks for anything, he can have it (well almost anything).

Hah, well everyone should be happy that Stein is a man of few needs. He only runs because he feels the desire to pay back the Doc for his work, even though the Doc does not require it of him. After all, having an enforcer like Frankenstein around is payment enough in the Barrens.


As for sustaining, there is always the spirit route, but all that mumbo jumbo hurts my brain... it's odd, really, I GM, I run a technomancer, but magic rules still need to be constantly looked up by me...

[Panticles]

Ok, well I had an interesting three days how about you? I need to review everything that has happened and will post in game fairly soonish.

Map is ready but I haven't added the Runners to it yet due to not knowing where everybody is currently positioned. I'll post it up so you can all have a looksee though. Whats the rule about linking to an image off site?

Also I'm glad to see that you folks were able to work out your disagreement about the magic system peaceably. I'm not that hot on the rules so will be relying on you folks to pick up on anything that I may have missed. Keeping everybody honest is what I'm all about! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

We may have also lost a player Xahn Borealis so you may be able to get in on this. Post your character concept and sheet here and we'll go from there.

[Panticles]

Map image (hopefully!) - [img]http://img89.imageshack.us/i/trianglefloorplan4.jpg/[/img]Lets see if that did anything...

[Panticles]

The answer to that is no.

Direct link - [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3526/trianglefloorplan4.jpg[/IMG]

[Thanee]

Here's a direct link to the image: http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/3526/trianglefloorplan4.jpg

I think we are all in the entrance area still, waiting for directions where to go. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

Cool plan.

From the above I am guess that we are all still clustered at the bar: until the Maitre d comes and takes us to the table.

You have 5 patrons marked in the bar. Are of them triggering my threat awareness? To be fair my threat awareness is feeling Jazzed at the moment: first meeting with a Johnson, being in the Barrens, first talk with a Naga, and being in the same room with a ticking time bomb Frankenstein, so I guess they would have to be pretty freaky for me to notice

[Panticles]

Post is up!

Ahem...I actually kind of moved you all into the dining room with the Johnson in my new post. Sorry about that. However I can edit it if you guys want to roleplay out the moving to the room part of things?

Plus I've updated the map to show you folks on it. Currently there are six runners, with one having dropped out (sorry dude I can't reply to your message), so you are labelled from 1-6. I'll leave it up to you to decide which number you are.

@Thanee - Cheers!

@Seth - You guys were in the reception/entrance area cluttering up the place. After my, admittedly godmode, post you are all now in the dining room area in a little dedicated dining room. Threat Awareness? Did you have a spell or ability running able to detect threats or are you talking about if any of them seemed suspicious to you in general? The answer to either question is nah. They all seemed like they were regular folks out having a good time.

[Seth]

Threat awareness just meant "Big troll with cyberware", "corp type with huge hulking body guards", "more dual natured stuff", "large spirits" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

You covered that off nicely with the man with metal teeth: provisionally labelled "Jaws"

[Thanee]

Ahem...I actually kind of moved you all into the dining room with the Johnson in my new post. Sorry about that. However I can edit it if you guys want to roleplay out the moving to the room part of things?

No, that's cool. It's pretty much what we were waiting for. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Plus I've updated the map to show you folks on it. Currently there are six runners, with one having dropped out (sorry dude I can't reply to your message), so you are labelled from 1-6. I'll leave it up to you to decide which number you are.

I would say we take the numbers from the order (top to bottom) we are posted in the first post here in the OOC. That way it's easy to figure out, who is who.

Of course, that only works, if the runners list there is up to date (i.e. with Gtore and without whoever has dropped out...).
Speaking of which, who has dropped out? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)


BTW, if you upload pictures to imageshack.us, there are several links shown at the end of the process.
One of those is labeled "Direct Link". You can simply copy&paste that link here into a post, it will be linked to the image directly.

Bye
Thanee

[Thanee]

Time for some Assensing...

The Assensing Table is on p. 191 SR4A (to see what the hits mean). Only really interesting for Mr Johnson, though. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Mr Johnson 3 hits
Cindy 4 hits
Gtore 4 hits
Jake 1 hit
Derek 2 hits
Lamia 5 hits
Damian 3 hits

Bye
Thanee

[Seth]

Assensing: Cindy 4 hits

• Looks like a large astral tiger
• Is clearly dual natured
• Has Magic 5
• General emotional state: Seriously worried
• No active spells or foci
• No cyberware or bioware.