I'll take two, Let's tango Options

[Sir_Psycho]

I have a bad habit. I spend copious amounts of time reading and thinking about Shadowrun, but have no group to play with here in Sydney. I've tried PBP games before, but they've always seemed to peter out due to large groups and disparate posting rates.

I would of course love to play with any of the many characters I've conceived, but that declaration isn't worth a whole thread, so I'm putting my hand up as a GM. As referenced in the thread title, I'm looking for two players. I'm likely to favour a pair of posters who are familiar with eachother in regards to Shadowrun, but particularly I'm looking for people with well-developed characters with forseeable story arcs, and an idea of the gameworld they'd like to play in.

I'm hoping a two player team can keep the game dynamic and story focused, but without so much dead weight that the game stagnates. Of course the relationship between the two characters will feature strongly, so it's advised that we discuss common threads and plot hooks, while still keeping secrets to be revealed.

The other issue at hand is the theme and scope of the game. I've read the Shadowrun material extensively, so if it piques my interest, I'm capable of running the campaign nearly anywhere. Given the small team, I want to be generous with the build rules, something like 1000 Karma, so you can have your chunky specialist dicepool but still be a capable, well rounded specialist with developed background skills and contacts.

Before I set my mind on anything though, I'm putting it out there for suggestions and expressions of interest. Just let me know what sort of game you'd like to play, from character to setting to theme, and also, what sort of character you'd like to play alongside.

[Aria]

I'd be very interested in this, particularly in a game that focuses on runners (the game I'm running is very milspec based and the one I'm currently playing is high end magic stuff - both great but occasionally miss the roots (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) )

Seattle is a good location as there's lots of source material but I've also had a good game or two in the UK (where I'm from) and the dark dystopian feel appeals! Contrasts well with my optimistic streak - my characters tend to be more 'Robin Hood' than 'Evil Mafia', and more mirror shades than mohawk...that's not to say I haven't worked alongside psychos but it's never an easy alliance (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Plenty of character concepts on the go but location is a factor (I like to link the games I'm running/playing together with mutual contacts etc...)

[Thanee]

This does, indeed, sound quite intriguing. So, let me voice my interest, too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Seattle is always good (big, diverse place, and well-documented).

my characters tend to be more 'Robin Hood' than 'Evil Mafia', and more mirror shades than mohawk

Ditto that.


As for characters, I would think that versatile characters would be good, no super specialists, who can only do one thing.

I would probably either make a Combat Hacker (who is also capable in ranged combat; for this I could use a character as a foundation (and then rebuild, of course), that I have from another game that went dormant quickly after it began, because the GM vanished (here's a link to the old character sheet, if you are curious)) or a Mystic Adept (close combat, athletics, stealth, diverse spell list (would have to make this one completely from scratch)). Either would probably have at least some social skills as well (with the higher starting karma, that should be doable).

Bye
Thanee

P.S. @Aria: I've seen your latest thread, too, and actually pondered to chime in, but it is a little too "over the top" for my taste. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grinbig.gif)

[Aria]

Blame the films/books I've seen recently (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I have more subtle offerings planned for later on!

Quick edit - it's always nice to feel we're part of bigger events (even if the characters don't know it!!!)

This post has been edited by Aria: Jun 17 2011, 10:51 AM

[Tanegar]

I'd like to propose my borderline-geriatric ex-wage mage. Ignore the build, I'll recreate him for 1000-point karmagen if accepted.

[Sir_Psycho]

That reminds me, have you guys got links to any threads you're playing in?

The mystic adept idea works because they can cover multiple areas decently, but they are karma sinks, even to build, but 1000 karma should sort that, and if you like you can purchase initiation with starting karma.

But character build is of course secondary, I need justification for the characters place in the world. More than just where they come from, where they learned there skills and which benefactor copped the price tag for their ware. They need something that drives them to continue, and something to run from, that keeps them from relaxing, stagnating and ending up in a bath-tub of sulphuric acid.

Moving to the robin hood idea, if you're familiar with Loose Alliances, groups like the Anarchist Black Cross and Anarchist Black Crescent provide pro-bono corporate extraction, legal and medical service for SINless individuals, smuggling essential supplies to circumvent corporate sanctions as well as countless community-building endeavours. I like the idea of shadowrunners juggling their financial needs with moral imperatives, and the places where they contradict. Not to mention the stark difference between working for a corporate johnson, having vehicles, equipment, contacts and perks provided and then coming home to a paycheck of a clean million, and running interference against a MET2000 company with little more than your goodwill and what you brought in that dufflebag.

Seattle works as a jumping off point, I suppose. I'm not so crazy about it, I mean, I can write an atmospheric dive bar, an unscrupulous street gang or a Machiavellian stockbroker into many settings, but I suppose there is material in Seattle to work with, such as Knight Errant usurping the Star's Seattle contract. Even if the campaign is based in Seattle, it'd be good to take a worldly view for contacts, including the rules in Runners Companion for group contacts. After all, the matrix (and even astral projection) allow characters to be useful and available nearly anywhere in the world.

The UK is hard. I have little to no idea about how to represent the druidic movement, or what exactly the lord protector's office is or does. If you'd like to offer up a character who is British, Irish, Welsh, Scottish... have I missed any? Then I'm sure I'd get a picture from your exposition.

[Aria]

My sig has links to my current games and some of the characters I've played as examples... will try and post something tomorrow...

[Tanegar]

I'm playing the techpriest Zacharias Hakkonen in LurkerOutThere's Rogue Trader game Blood & Bolters, and played (until the game's unfortunate dissolution) the city shaman Glass Walker in Belvidere's Chicago-based SR game Let's Get Gritty.

[Thanee]

Here are a my current IC Links:

Aeryn
Jazz
Ting-Ting

Bye
Thanee

[Mister Juan]

This is reallllly interesting. If you haven't closed off recruitment yet, I might sent something your way.

[Sir_Psycho]

You know when you type an extensive post and dumpshock swallows it whole without pause or mercy?

Well, with that in mind, Mister Juan, I believe I've played (or at least planned) with you before, and you always seemed enthusiastic about your characters and reliable with your correspondence. If you have character ideas, I'd love to hear them.

As for the rest of the post, I'll cover all that as the theme and direction of the game becomes apparent. Of course, the first step to that comes from potential players, to give me a seed from which ideas will coalesce.

[Digital Heroin]

Here I was looking for a way to slink my way back into playing a game with my tail between my legs (I'm just bad sometimes for keeping up with groups), and it's looking like you've got far too many people for the dynamic you're looking for already, eh?

[Aria]

Should you want me along for the ride here are some of the character ideas floating around my head:

Silk is one of my favourite characters and I've been looking for a chance to play her again (400BP Character+Background link in my sig). She is the daughter of one of my characters I played at uni (and have recently killed off) so I've known her for a long time! She's written up as being an invisible adept infiltrator but having since bought Way of the Adept perhaps an Artisan fits her better, and B&E is just what she does not who she is! Primary role would be infiltrator and secondary would be hacker.

Ember was also an interesting character, French noble turned druid, but only if another player doesn't want to play a mage.

Shrike is another idea I'm putting together over on the Shadowrun forum under AI (Jack of All Trades)...she's an eGhost of Silk's mother, the killed off runner...<<Here>>...mix of rigger/samurai/hacker

EDIT: I shouldn't forget Feral - a mystic adept wolf shifter. He's an NPC foe at the moment in my Emerging Conflicts game but should he survive that he would make an interesting double act (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Many many more where these came from!

This post has been edited by Aria: Jun 18 2011, 01:14 PM

[Mister Juan]

Well, with that in mind, Mister Juan, I believe I've played (or at least planned) with you before, and you always seemed enthusiastic about your characters and reliable with your correspondence. If you have character ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Honestly, I've been in so many games in the past 5 years that I've started to lost track of who I gamed with (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) I'll get something up before the end of the day.

I'll get a character background up, a few links to previous games (past and present) and a quick write up on what I'd like to see story/theme/etc... wise.

[Mister Juan]

First and foremost, I have to admit that there would probably be only one character I would be interested to play. He's been in a few games here on Dumpshock (3 that died after a while, and 1 I had to drop out because life took a giant chunk out of my time at that moment). He pretty much represents most of the themes I've always been interested in exploring, and he is, in a way, one of the most realistic characters I have around.

Here's his most “recent” background

Dexter Pope

[ Spoiler ]

DOB: 2021

Dexter is old. Or at least, he is getting old. Had his life being that of your average corporate Joe, he would either currently be at the very prime of his time, or contemplating early retirement with a fat pension. 

But it isn't the case. 

Dexter might not exactly be old, but he is surely feeling so. By the time they reach his age, those that thrive in his line of work are usually one of two things: retired on some tropical island with more money then they'd ever need, or dead. Either by some incredible turn of luck, or because he literally has been cursed, Dexter is neither of those. He hasn't gloriously died for his country. He hasn't made the very last stand for freedom, holding back the odds until his last clip was dry. He hasn't caught some random stray bullet. He hasn't given his life for a noble cause or any of the ideals he believes in. No. Dexter has survived. His friends. His comrades. His brothers in arms. His squad mates. Every single one of them is dead now. 

The screaming Drill Sergeant at Paris Island. 

His bunk mate during basic. 

All the Commanding Officers.

All the NCOs. 

Every single last on of them. 

Everyone is dead.

Dexter might be old, and he also might be tired. But not matter how tired and old he'll ever be, the man will always be a soldier. Even when most of what make him a human being will be gone, he will remain a soldier. 

It would be a rather obvious cliche to state that Dexter started his life when he joined the CAS Marine Corps at 18. Like every single human being, he started his life by being born. Contrary to a lot of people you'll find out there, creeping around in the shadows, Dexter wasn't born in the UCAS, or CAS, or in any of those "new" country. Dexter Pope was born in a place that doesn't exist anymore, beside inside his head. He was born in 2021, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. Actually, he was born a little outside of New Orleans, in a small farming community. By the time he was old enough to get beatings from his drunken old man, the USA was in shambles, the family business wasn't fairing quite well, and redskins were causing all sorts of havoc. As much as the First Crash barely hit them, in 2029, the formation of the CAS was a whole other story. 

One thing Dexter had a lot of, beside beatings from his dad, were brothers; all older. And all of them had escaped the family life, as soon as they had been able to, by joining the armed forces. When what was left of the different branches had to pick which side they would stay on, most of Dexter's brothers left for the UCAS. The others ended up fighting in Texas, and all laid their life down to defend their newly formed country. For a whole summer, working with his dad and having dropped out of school, young Dexter contemplated what he would do with his life. He sure as hell couldn't stay on the farm much longer, or he'd end up killing his father in a fit of rage. As soon as he was old enough, Dexter enlisted in the Marine Corp. That was in 2038; over 30 years ago.

Fresh out of boot camp, the young Dexter was placed, like about 90% of the country's military assets, near the Aztlan/CAS border. For the first two years, Dexter saw very little action, until things started to flare up along the border. Nothing was ever publicly disclosed, but by 2040, skirmishes with the Azzies became almost daily occurrences. They would test them, and in return, they'd try to sneak in as far into Texas as they could. But it still wasn't much. At least, it wasn't what Dexter had envisioned when he had enlisted. He wanted action. He wanted adventure. He wanted to make a difference and to take the fight to the enemy's door. 

His time to shine finally came through when he was hand picked to be part of a multi-branch unit. Along with Special Forces soldiers, Dexter was sent deep inside Azzie occupied Texas to train militias and provide a little more firepower than they had. And he did exactly that; he covertly tagged and bagged a lot of Azzie troopers, up until his unit was called back to CAS soil.

Back in New Orleans, in early 2046, Dexter met a then student and waitress at a local bar; Sue Morgan. Cute, smart and most of all single. When Dexter's extended leave was over, and his unit redeployed, Sergeant Pope was not only married, but also had a baby girl; Catherine. From the swaps of Louisiana, Dexter found himself waist deep in jungle mud, as he became quite personally acquainted with Colombia... and how he could help their guerrilla fighters push back both Aztlan and Amazonian's forces. Dexter's unit, now "officially" disbanded, stayed in South America for three years, hopping from one covert assignment to the next, taking part in missions that still wake Dexter at night; doings things to people that still plague his nightmares. Dexter's last mission, as part of that covert unit, took place in 52, when a shard from a mortar shell ripped about three quarter of his right arm off, knocking him unconscious and, apparently to his squad mates, dead and gone. What did bring Dexter back to his senses, a few days later, were the rats gnawing at him. They had eaten through most of what was left of his arm, and taken a good bits of his right eye. Miraculously, Dexter survived and when the fighting died off a bit, was rescued and extracted back to mainland CAS. It took Dexter a long time to heal, and not just physically. Most of the scars from his trip down in South America are still quite there. Most of the ghosts still haunt him to this day. 

In 2053, the Pope family grew faster than expected: Sue gave birth to twins: Emma and Arthur. Sue had now been out of college for quite some time, and taken up a job with mid size law firm in New Orleans. She was making more than enough money to support the now growing Pope family. For the next two years, Dexter did very little but heal; taking extended leaves, going fishing, training new Marine Recruits. He also spent his time at home, taking care of his son and two daughters, getting acquainted with the new chromed part of his body.

By 2058 all was well with the Pope family. Catherine was on her way to high school, and the twins were just starting 1st grade. Dexter had just come back from a 8 months stints doing black ops in the Caribbean League, mostly Haiti, when he decided to take the twins to the local mall. A good friend he had met in Port Au Prince, Maurice Raine, was due in town the next day and the twins had nothing fancy to wear. Sue had been working late every single day of the week. Giving his wife some well deserved rest, Dexter took Emma and Arthur with him. Until today, Dexter doesn't know what happened, or how. 

To this day, Sue hasn't forgiven him. To this day, neither has he. 

As Emma, energetic and giddy as usual, pulled him toward a store, Arthur's hand slipped from his father's. It lasted barely a few seconds, but it was all it took. His back turned to his son for the briefest of moment, and he was gone. Footage from security cameras revealed nothing. One second, Arthur Pope was standing right there, and then he wasn't. 

From that day forward, something died inside Dexter. Something died inside Sue. After months spent in anxiety, fear and anger, the police finally gave up. Told the Pope they should grieve and put it behind them. From that day forward, there was nowhere to go for Dexter but down. He began to drink. He began to take unwarranted risks on the job. He became an unreliable loose canon of a soldier; the sort of operator no one wanted on their op. 

When the summer of 2060 swung around, Sue had filed assault charges on Dexter, and the divorced procedures had started. Taking the girls with her, Sue moved to Seattle and remarried within the year. Dexter disappeared in Yucatan, doing his best to die as a mercenary on some forgotten battlefield. By 2062, Dexter Pope was already making himself a name as a reliable gun for hire… who wasn't afraid of death. 

In the grueling heat of the summer of 2064, down on his luck, with no money left and nothing holding him together, Dexter was approached by a man called Morris. No first name. No origin. No reason for being in Aztlan. Dexter knew nothing about him, but Morris knew everything about Dexter. Details about missions he'd been on; missions that had never occurred. He knew about his comrades in arms, the people he had served with… people who didn't exist anymore, people who had been zeroed out of the systems 15 years ago. He came to Dexter with information no one was supposed to have. Hung over, with nothing but the desire to put a bullet in his brain, Dexter considered breaking Morris neck right then and there. But Morris played his cards well, and he still does. He said "Sergeant Major Pope, we need you." 

Today, Dexter's self destructive streak is still there. Although he hasn't truly been able to put any of his past behind him, be it his actions or the disappearance of Arthur, he has decided to keep on living. If not for him, for his daughters at least. For the past 5 years, Dexter has been living in Caracas, making a grim living as a mercenary and a local "agency asset". 

One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?

Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.

Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)

[Mister Juan]

Ok... for some reason... I can't seem to make the links work...

[Tanegar]

First and foremost, I have to admit that there would probably be only one character I would be interested to play. He's been in a few games here on Dumpshock (3 that died after a while, and 1 I had to drop out because life took a giant chunk out of my time at that moment). He pretty much represents most of the themes I've always been interested in exploring, and he is, in a way, one of the most realistic characters I have around.

Here's his most “recent” background

Dexter Pope

[ Spoiler ]

DOB: 2021

Dexter is old. Or at least, he is getting old. Had his life being that of your average corporate Joe, he would either currently be at the very prime of his time, or contemplating early retirement with a fat pension. 

But it isn't the case. 

Dexter might not exactly be old, but he is surely feeling so. By the time they reach his age, those that thrive in his line of work are usually one of two things: retired on some tropical island with more money then they'd ever need, or dead. Either by some incredible turn of luck, or because he literally has been cursed, Dexter is neither of those. He hasn't gloriously died for his country. He hasn't made the very last stand for freedom, holding back the odds until his last clip was dry. He hasn't caught some random stray bullet. He hasn't given his life for a noble cause or any of the ideals he believes in. No. Dexter has survived. His friends. His comrades. His brothers in arms. His squad mates. Every single one of them is dead now. 

The screaming Drill Sergeant at Paris Island. 

His bunk mate during basic. 

All the Commanding Officers.

All the NCOs. 

Every single last on of them. 

Everyone is dead.

Dexter might be old, and he also might be tired. But not matter how tired and old he'll ever be, the man will always be a soldier. Even when most of what make him a human being will be gone, he will remain a soldier. 

It would be a rather obvious cliche to state that Dexter started his life when he joined the CAS Marine Corps at 18. Like every single human being, he started his life by being born. Contrary to a lot of people you'll find out there, creeping around in the shadows, Dexter wasn't born in the UCAS, or CAS, or in any of those "new" country. Dexter Pope was born in a place that doesn't exist anymore, beside inside his head. He was born in 2021, in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. Actually, he was born a little outside of New Orleans, in a small farming community. By the time he was old enough to get beatings from his drunken old man, the USA was in shambles, the family business wasn't fairing quite well, and redskins were causing all sorts of havoc. As much as the First Crash barely hit them, in 2029, the formation of the CAS was a whole other story. 

One thing Dexter had a lot of, beside beatings from his dad, were brothers; all older. And all of them had escaped the family life, as soon as they had been able to, by joining the armed forces. When what was left of the different branches had to pick which side they would stay on, most of Dexter's brothers left for the UCAS. The others ended up fighting in Texas, and all laid their life down to defend their newly formed country. For a whole summer, working with his dad and having dropped out of school, young Dexter contemplated what he would do with his life. He sure as hell couldn't stay on the farm much longer, or he'd end up killing his father in a fit of rage. As soon as he was old enough, Dexter enlisted in the Marine Corp. That was in 2038; over 30 years ago.

Fresh out of boot camp, the young Dexter was placed, like about 90% of the country's military assets, near the Aztlan/CAS border. For the first two years, Dexter saw very little action, until things started to flare up along the border. Nothing was ever publicly disclosed, but by 2040, skirmishes with the Azzies became almost daily occurrences. They would test them, and in return, they'd try to sneak in as far into Texas as they could. But it still wasn't much. At least, it wasn't what Dexter had envisioned when he had enlisted. He wanted action. He wanted adventure. He wanted to make a difference and to take the fight to the enemy's door. 

His time to shine finally came through when he was hand picked to be part of a multi-branch unit. Along with Special Forces soldiers, Dexter was sent deep inside Azzie occupied Texas to train militias and provide a little more firepower than they had. And he did exactly that; he covertly tagged and bagged a lot of Azzie troopers, up until his unit was called back to CAS soil.

Back in New Orleans, in early 2046, Dexter met a then student and waitress at a local bar; Sue Morgan. Cute, smart and most of all single. When Dexter's extended leave was over, and his unit redeployed, Sergeant Pope was not only married, but also had a baby girl; Catherine. From the swaps of Louisiana, Dexter found himself waist deep in jungle mud, as he became quite personally acquainted with Colombia... and how he could help their guerrilla fighters push back both Aztlan and Amazonian's forces. Dexter's unit, now "officially" disbanded, stayed in South America for three years, hopping from one covert assignment to the next, taking part in missions that still wake Dexter at night; doings things to people that still plague his nightmares. Dexter's last mission, as part of that covert unit, took place in 52, when a shard from a mortar shell ripped about three quarter of his right arm off, knocking him unconscious and, apparently to his squad mates, dead and gone. What did bring Dexter back to his senses, a few days later, were the rats gnawing at him. They had eaten through most of what was left of his arm, and taken a good bits of his right eye. Miraculously, Dexter survived and when the fighting died off a bit, was rescued and extracted back to mainland CAS. It took Dexter a long time to heal, and not just physically. Most of the scars from his trip down in South America are still quite there. Most of the ghosts still haunt him to this day. 

In 2053, the Pope family grew faster than expected: Sue gave birth to twins: Emma and Arthur. Sue had now been out of college for quite some time, and taken up a job with mid size law firm in New Orleans. She was making more than enough money to support the now growing Pope family. For the next two years, Dexter did very little but heal; taking extended leaves, going fishing, training new Marine Recruits. He also spent his time at home, taking care of his son and two daughters, getting acquainted with the new chromed part of his body.

By 2058 all was well with the Pope family. Catherine was on her way to high school, and the twins were just starting 1st grade. Dexter had just come back from a 8 months stints doing black ops in the Caribbean League, mostly Haiti, when he decided to take the twins to the local mall. A good friend he had met in Port Au Prince, Maurice Raine, was due in town the next day and the twins had nothing fancy to wear. Sue had been working late every single day of the week. Giving his wife some well deserved rest, Dexter took Emma and Arthur with him. Until today, Dexter doesn't know what happened, or how. 

To this day, Sue hasn't forgiven him. To this day, neither has he. 

As Emma, energetic and giddy as usual, pulled him toward a store, Arthur's hand slipped from his father's. It lasted barely a few seconds, but it was all it took. His back turned to his son for the briefest of moment, and he was gone. Footage from security cameras revealed nothing. One second, Arthur Pope was standing right there, and then he wasn't. 

From that day forward, something died inside Dexter. Something died inside Sue. After months spent in anxiety, fear and anger, the police finally gave up. Told the Pope they should grieve and put it behind them. From that day forward, there was nowhere to go for Dexter but down. He began to drink. He began to take unwarranted risks on the job. He became an unreliable loose canon of a soldier; the sort of operator no one wanted on their op. 

When the summer of 2060 swung around, Sue had filed assault charges on Dexter, and the divorced procedures had started. Taking the girls with her, Sue moved to Seattle and remarried within the year. Dexter disappeared in Yucatan, doing his best to die as a mercenary on some forgotten battlefield. By 2062, Dexter Pope was already making himself a name as a reliable gun for hire… who wasn't afraid of death. 

In the grueling heat of the summer of 2064, down on his luck, with no money left and nothing holding him together, Dexter was approached by a man called Morris. No first name. No origin. No reason for being in Aztlan. Dexter knew nothing about him, but Morris knew everything about Dexter. Details about missions he'd been on; missions that had never occurred. He knew about his comrades in arms, the people he had served with… people who didn't exist anymore, people who had been zeroed out of the systems 15 years ago. He came to Dexter with information no one was supposed to have. Hung over, with nothing but the desire to put a bullet in his brain, Dexter considered breaking Morris neck right then and there. But Morris played his cards well, and he still does. He said "Sergeant Major Pope, we need you." 

Today, Dexter's self destructive streak is still there. Although he hasn't truly been able to put any of his past behind him, be it his actions or the disappearance of Arthur, he has decided to keep on living. If not for him, for his daughters at least. For the past 5 years, Dexter has been living in Caracas, making a grim living as a mercenary and a local "agency asset". 

One of the main reason I like the character so much is because he is, for all intent and purposes, completely and uterly broken. He is NOT a nice person, not by a long shot. He's someone who's old and tired, and has completely lost his sense of purpose in the world. I've always been interested in characters who, I wouldn't are anti-hero, but who aren't really the good guy par se. I've also know that most shadowrun characters, as a rule of thumb, tend to be somewhat young (between 20 and 35). You rarely see very old runners, mostly because they either die before, or retire after hitting big. But what happens to someone who has outlived everyone, probably out of sheer luck, but hasn't hit it big? What happens when you can extend your life through cyberware and bioware, and what sort of phsycological toll does all that wire, cyber, blood and guts take on a person? When do you stop being human in a world like that of shadowrun?

Concerning a setting or a story, I'm very open. I do have to admit I like things that are gritty and realistic (on the account that Shadowrun can only be that realistic). Because of Dexter's nature and character, any story that would allow for the exploration of the themes I've mentioned above would have me thrilled out of my wits (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Dumpshock thread wise, you can see what I've done or am doing there. These are just a few exemples, but were and are by far my favorite. The most relevant one to read would probably be Abs' Caracas game.

Caracas : Hole in the Hearth - Dexter Pope
Evolution – Ludmila Soren
Down in the Gutter – Felix
Hitting Bottom – Conall O'Neill (couldn't find the thread with the beginning, so he's there mostly at the end of that one)

I think the interaction between Dexter and Arthur would make for an interesting game: two old men, one with decades of experience but no real reason to keep going, the other with a strong purpose but no real idea what to do about it.

[Aria]

...and the young idealist would contrast nicely with either (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Of course if you want old and broken then Requiem would fit the bill...link in my sig with the others (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Mister Juan]

...and the young idealist would contrast nicely with either (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I completely agree with that.

[Sir_Psycho]

I played a severely neurotic Czech dwarf alongside Dexter Pope, in a game that had potential but went nowhere with a very large cast to drag it down. Too many cooks. Do you still have the build from that game of pope? I seem to remember we had a lot of resources to start with in that game.

Anyway, Mister Juan you're definately in, and I like having a good example in thread there. The others I'll have to take time to pore through, or discuss more here.

I have a expat operator character quite similar, Old, heavily cybered, grew up in an environment of fear and large military showings. Although he's an Israeli troll pushed into militarism despite his nature due to his size, mild youth criminal record, and finally galvanized into extremism through the loss of his wife in an attack on a bus and handling by Mossad agents. Spent years doing unscrupulous black ops in and around the Middle East and the European theatre during the second Ottoman Jihad, until his motherless daughter exhibited a different sort of fanatacism and he decided to bring her elsewhere to be educated, slipping from merc work to shadow work, occasionally still handled by Mossad and other Israeli nationals, but has grown totally skeptical of the justifications he once used to kill so many.

As a GM though, I'm a little worried about skillset and versatility. Given the small team, you'll need areas of competency other than just combat. A career soldier could conceivably pick up a whole range of disciplines, such as build and repair skills, engineering skills, survival, electronic warfare, surveillance/recon, stealth, first aid, demolitions, tactics, vehicle/drone use, etc. Not to mention whatever personal interests and aptitudes he has. As you described, he's survived against all odds. Although, I do love a combat machine with depth, and I must say I relish the idea of having him hold out against a larger, well equipped force with his years of experience his honed, most deadly weapon. Perhaps his intro could be a combat sequence in a hell-hole, before coming back to wherever this campaign will start for treatment and a tune-up.

You mentioned him being handled, by who? I may want to explore that (I just bought Spy Games). This also brings up contacts, i'm thinking of giving free contact points based on some system I haven't decided upon yet, so contacts would be a great thing to bring up to help me craft the game, as I may have to jump into those characters, and depending on what groups they belong to and their geographical locations they'll help expand the gameworld. Given the small nature of the team, I'm happy to go into Dexter's history, and his family and this Morris character, who sounds like a fixer or handler with a by-the-balls business manner. I'll need some info on him, unless you want his benefactors to be a complete (and possibly jarring) surprise.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing a preliminary character sheet, or something you prepared earlier.


As for Aria. I guess Silk is the one you're most eager to play. I've had a look at the 400bp build and the background. The stuff with the merc groups is a little convoluted, but if you wanted to give me a dot point synopsis (maybe a private message) about the mother and the previous games so I don't step on your history, and as with Mister Juan, contacts we can flesh out and place widely within the gameworld would help a lot.
Although, I'm a little worried by some points in the background. I have absolutely no sense of how a twenty-one year old, even with runner parents, could be a widely skilled and connected shadowrunner to the tune of 1000+ Karma. When you rebuild, I'll need to see a bigger list of less general Knowledge Skills, and ultimately, if it's not essential to the character, it would be a nice if you could tag a couple of years on her.

Other points:
- You mentioned the mother (shrike, was it?) worked for the "Bureau". Do you mean the FBI, in the UCAS? What was her shadowrunning role? What sort of jobs did the Balefire team perform after she left, what was her relationship with the bureau after leaving?
-Aria, is she a hacker or a techno? Do they meet in the real world.
-Evo sponsorship. Why? How? was it due to leverage or potential? Did Shrike do shadow work for them? Are they still funding uni work or perhaps they've cancelled due to poor performance.
-the SIN. How does your character have a legit SIN? did her mother not erase it when she made her escape? If it's legit wouldn't it be in her name? either this is a plot hole or I could use this as the justification for some-one tracking her down and killing her (which seems to work).
-If you want Silk to be a corp sponsored uni student, which I admit opens many opportunities for corporate as well as underground contacts, then we'll need to base the game near a university campus, preferably where Evo would carry weight. Alternatively, with the death of your mother and the investigation into that, you may have lost favour with Evo, or even their bond to your mother caused them to re-evaluate the cost-benefit analysis of your scholarship, plunging you headlong into the shadows soon after you wet your toes.
-You may need to alter the character to fill the roles Dexter Pope can't or won't.
1. Magic. Pope's heavily cybered, but I assume not enough to become dual natured, so if Silk is going to be capable at spotting and dealing with magical threats, she will either need to spend a point on the astral perception power and be able to kill spirits with a weapon focus or go the way of the mystic adept, which would allow for conjuring, spellcasting and counterspelling. I'm allowing pre-game Initiation with karma, so you can make up for some of the initial weakness of mystic adepts.
2. Hacking. Maybe we can squeeze hacking in with Dexter Pope under information warfare and familiarization with milspec tech, but if he doesn't want to or can't you can cover it despite the points sunk into magic. Again though, a split IT/Thaumaturgy degree would work (and that degree of multidisciplinary acumen would warrant a corporate scholarship), but silk would need a pretty prodigal intelligence, and again a 21 year old couldn't possibly have invested enough time to reap the benefits of both those disciplines.

The more I think about it, it could work with some tuning. If we tone down the raised by runners idea, which strikes me almost as realistic as raised by wolves, we have an extremely talented young academic, perhaps slightly sheltered by her underworld-savvy mother and corporate scholarship by Evo's sharklike tertiary headhunters, who keep an eye on their changeling property like a golden egg. Able to decipher both thaumaturgic formulae and matrix code, she showed infinite potential until her mother's running team was hit and she was left with her mother's loss without cause to come to terms with.
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?

I can see a way for this game to work. Some common threads I see are the intelligence community, runners/mercs. Corporate and government intelligence assets and agencies will have a presence at a university, which could serve as the middleman between Silk and Pope, considering the intelligence contacts made in military and mercenary circles.
As for runners/mercs, one of Shrike's old contacts may enlist Pope to ensure Silk doesn't get in over her head and join her mother. To remove the middleman, maybe Pope and Shrike worked together way back when.

The two characters could juxtapose nicely, experience against talent, paranoia against curiosity, old habits against rookie mistakes. Silk would be seeing some of the sixth world's common atrocities without blinders for the first time, whereas Pope would be forced to revisit some of them.

Any opinions? If anyone else wants to get in, I'll need to see some backgrounds or hear some cool ideas.

Also, if anyone wants to start building, and has any questions about build/house rules, just let me know.

[Mister Juan]

Damn! You’re totaly right! I do remember the game you mention. I believe it was run by Divine.... something. Can’t remember his handle tho (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif) . I’ll have to admit, I highly doubt I still have Dexter’s build for that game, but I can already tell you I was never completely satisfied with it.

Concerning skillset, the character has, of course, always been geared towards combat, simply due to the fact that I’ve always played him in games where he was either part of a large team (so there was no need for him to diversify) or I simply didn’t have enough build points to make him into something more. I would though, given enough leeway, make him into much more than a simple combat monster, like you suggested. It would, in fact, make much more sense for him to have picked up a lot of “random” skills throughout his years in the field. To be very honest, one of the spark that created Dexter as a character was seeing the Bourne trilogy. It got me to think: what happens to people like that when/if they get old. And by old, I do mean in their 60s.

I honestly think we see eye to eye not only on the character, but about where we can take him! J I have to admit I’ve rarely been this thrilled about a game (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

About the mention of Morris and such, it stems from the fact that the background I posted earlier was for Abs’ Caracas game. I needed a reason for Dexter to work Caracas’ shadow, so we decided to make him a CAS “CIA” asset: the sort of guy they call in when they need to get bad things done. So, him having a handler is a completely optional thing, and could easily be written out of the background. It was just a convenient thing to have for that game. If you do like the idea tho, and I got the feeling you do, we could look into that in more detail.

So yea, thanks a whole lot for taking me in. I’ll do my very best not to disappoint you! J

On the topic of the character sheet, what would you like me to start working with exactly?

[Sir_Psycho]

Tentatively I'm going to say 1000 karma, enough to splurge on some nice dicepools, but still encourages wide skillsets. You have unmodified IntuitionxLogic X2 free points (BP) for knowledge skills, and unmodified Charismax5bp contacts. though I don't want to encourage you not to spend at least a portion of your large karma pool on those two areas, but I understand how the need to pump up dice pools causes an unfortunate neglect of knowledge skills and pricey contacts (especially very pricey group contacts).

For Dexter, what I'm most looking forward to is his skills, both Active and Knowledge skills (even a speculative list would be sufficient this early on), Cyberware list, and contacts. I'm not fussed on point costs for contacts at the moment, but it'd be nice to see them. Perhaps a format for introducing contacts could be a paragraph or sentence in quotation marks, the relationship as described IC by Dexter Pope, and then whatever metagame details that need to be filled in. I understand karmagen can be a little fiddly, mathematically, so I'm happy to start with a framework, especially because your team-mate will need to be built partially with reference to Dexter's deficiencies.

Don't go insane on gear (like we did in Divine something-or-other's game). Pick things that your character views as essential. Two commlinks, progs, Identities and licenses, a weapon or two, an everyday armoured outfit, maybe a vehicle and some basic drones if appropriate. The reason for this is because I view the financial aspects of shadowrunning as slightly different than the RAW suggests. To my imagination, a runner is not paid a grand for a week's work and expected to either have gear for every situation or to buy expensive gear to facilitate the work. As I see it, a runner is often paid an even million of untraceable cred and/or it's worth in assets and goodies, with a quarter or even a half in advance for a decent negotiator to acquire the necessary gear and pay the necessary expenses, and if they don't respect the professional courtesy of the advance or fail the mission, they have a very pissed off and powerful debtor. The odds a shadowrunner faces are regularly insurmountable, they need both a strong reward to work towards and a lot on the line to keep them on their toes, the carrot and the whip, so to speak. Of course, running the shadows is a costly business, so replacements, repairs, bribes, rents, debts, donations, resupply, upgrades, investments, dependents etc. eat away at paychecks in a big way, and because of this, a good paycheck isn't necessarily enough to retire on alone, but certainly widens your influence and strengthens your position on the chessboard. This also means that a good windfall can support intense personal campaigns, which I don't want to shy away from in this game.

After that, I have to reiterate the importance of contacts. You won't always have the gear or expertise or connection you need, especially if work requires travel, so a pool of contacts both wide and deep will help you prepare and spend the fruits of your labour.

I'm happy to admit most things from supplementary books, but you'll need to fill me in if it's from a book I don't have, eg. War! Also, if an aspect of your character references it, I'm happy to re-read excerpts of books with relevance. For a character like Pope, I imagine fields of fire would have some good material. For example, I'm going to search my pool of PDFs for info on Caracas, and other merc infested hell-holes.

I can't remember all my house rules, inclinations and interpretations, but I'm open to discussing them. Some include:
-hacking tests are Logic+Skill with the program rating as a cap on successes.
-I may veto some qualities, perhaps because I view them as broken, or as a roleplay issue rather than a mathematical one, or they just won't fit or apply to the game.
-Chemistry is an active skill, and an awesome one at that.

See, I could only remember three.

[Thanee]

Looks like you need/want a magically active character to complement Dexter and I cannot really say I have a useful background concept for that (which goes much further than "Mystic Adept" (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) ), and won't really be able to before the end of the week, so - if anything - I would have proposed Scarlet (a rebuild of the hacker, I had linked in my first post already, with an added focus on social abilities; background and personality and such are included in there), but, alas, that would probably result in no magic at all, so obviously not a very good fit. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Unless maybe you would consider upgrading your idea to three chars (i.e. mundane (Dexter), magic (Silk?), matrix (Scarlet))? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Bye
Thanee

[Sir_Psycho]

I'm afraid all I can really do at this point is tell people to prepare characters. Until we see a skill list from Dexter I'm not sure what areas really need to be covered, or who wants to play the counter role. Not having played many, if any, consistent pbp games, I'm wondering what I can do to prepare for the game. Anyone have any gripes from previous games, tips on things I should have read up on or made ready?

[Aria]

I think that were things have tended to go wrong on other games I've seen is when too many people are waiting for IPs to come round as things get bogged down in combat or astral stuff...anything that slows the game down - of course in a much smaller group of regular posters that shouldn't be so much of an issue but I think that 'rules light' has worked well in my games with a fluid approach to time etc...

I will try and answer you comments on Silk shortly - I think I will rebuild the 400BP version based on Way of the Adept and use that as a starting point. As she is young (happy to add a couple of years - and incidentally what year are you thinking of being in - '73?!?) I think that I'll use a lot of the extra points for contacts and perhaps bumping her matrix skills. I don't see any reason why, through time, she couldn't also discover access to mystic adept abilities - perhaps spirit summoning and counterspelling and leave out spell casting (less of a points investment, potentially very interesting and still versatile and useful).

Her background is a little cobbled as I was trying to tie up some loose ends in my games - for a more in depth character driven game I would spend more time ironing out the inconsistencies and tweaking the history.

If we tone down the raised by runners idea, which strikes me almost as realistic as raised by wolves, we have an extremely talented young academic, perhaps slightly sheltered by her underworld-savvy mother and corporate scholarship by Evo's sharklike tertiary headhunters, who keep an eye on their changeling property like a golden egg. Able to decipher both thaumaturgic formulae and matrix code, she showed infinite potential until her mother's running team was hit and she was left with her mother's loss without cause to come to terms with.
Now, she no longer has the safety net of her mother, and her declining performance academically is causing Evo's sharks to circle, pushing her further into the shadows, digging up her mother's contacts and skeletons. The thread I can see to be pulled on here is an introduction to the shadows, and the consequences of raw talent combined with naivete and a hunger for truth and revenge. Does this sound right to you?

Absolutely!

I'll also PM you some of my GM stuff - how much might or might not be relevant to this is entirely up to you, it's not set in stone in my mind (although I have ideas where I'm going with it all).

A general character gen query:
Are you capping availability at anything (I'm thinking of FakeSINs and things like agent programs more than assault cannons - my vision for Silk is that she can travel legally anywhere because she doesn't rely too heavily on restricted gear)