SR5 New PbP Game Recruitment, Nothing's Free in the Free Zone Options

[DrZaius]

Cool character, I don't think I've ever seen anyone do a face/rigger.

I think you have the Face part covered pretty well between the two skill groups, the high CHA, and the bioware.

You're also a pretty solid rigger between the control rig, drones, skills, and vehicles... with one potential weakness. That WIL (2) is a pretty big liability when you have to resist biofeedback damage every time something you're jumped into gets damaged and/or dumpshock.

I'm not sure how to get around that other than swapping Attributes and Resources, but you would have to significantly reduce your purchases.

It's a priority, certainly. I could maybe lower reaction a little, but that's a core concept of the character. I think I just need to avoid actually getting in fair fights with my drones. The programs should help a little with the biofeedback, but they cut into my autosofts / noise reduction on my rcc. As you can tell, things are pretty tight as it is. One other alternative would be to swap attributes and skills, and be more mediocre / discerning in my choices.


Things I would have liked: more drones, better willpower, a Bentley instead of the Beemer, higher edge, better autosofts, significantly more novacoke.

The low willpower will be interesting, since he's got a bad habit already. It should cause some interesting issues in the game...

DrZ

Edit: thanks btw! Excited to play him.

[Jack VII]

It's a priority, certainly. I could maybe lower reaction a little, but that's a core concept of the character. I think I just need to avoid actually getting in fair fights with my drones. The programs should help a little with the biofeedback, but they cut into my autosofts / noise reduction on my rcc. As you can tell, things are pretty tight as it is. One other alternative would be to swap attributes and skills, and be more mediocre / discerning in my choices.

I think you're right on with Skills at A to be a quality Face/Rigger. That's a lot of needed skills and the 10 SG points really help to cover all of your face needs.
One suggestion I meant to make was adding a datajack. Shouldn't hurt your social limit and will give you an additional point of noise reduction. I have mixed thoughts on the Exceptional Attribute (Reaction) quality. If you don't take it all the way at chargen, you're going to be waiting a really long time to boost that attribute from 5 to 7 (30 + 35 karma). At the same time, not purchasing the quality at chargen means you waste an additional 14 karma down the road. It's a tough call.

[DrZaius]

I think you're right on with Skills at A to be a quality Face/Rigger. That's a lot of needed skills and the 10 SG points really help to cover all of your face needs.
One suggestion I meant to make was adding a datajack. Shouldn't hurt your social limit and will give you an additional point of noise reduction. I have mixed thoughts on the Exceptional Attribute (Reaction) quality. If you don't take it all the way at chargen, you're going to be waiting a really long time to boost that attribute from 5 to 7 (30 + 35 karma). At the same time, not purchasing the quality at chargen means you waste an additional 14 karma down the road. It's a tough call.

Yeah, I've also been noodling; do I need to fill out the rest of my negative qualities? I like the character where he is currently, and don't want to add "Allergy: Mongolians" just to min/max as much as possible. At this point, I'm ok with the exceptional attribute where it is; he's quick, and has the potential to be the fastest ever (some day far, far in the future).

Additionally, I think I get the functionality of a datajack from my control rig (except I miss out on the noise reduction). Either way, it's a good thought (and if I decide to fiddle with my karma BPs, I can always spend another 1 on cash to get 2,000 extra karma).

-DrZ

EDIT: I will take suggestions for contacts people think would be useful, especially given the setting- I've never run in Denver before, so it will be different (and there may be some setting specific contacts that make more sense than they would in Seattle).

[Lobo0705]

Just a quick note - the Exceptional Attribute is approved.

Just checking some things:

1) Your BMW should have a Sensor of 2, not 4
2) You bought two Dobermans, but one just has a sensor array and ammo, but no gun - is that right?
3) When you finish your background, make sure you include fleshing out your Fake SIN

Contacts - Denver is different from Seattle, in that things are concentrated in the Zones, and depending on how much you travel outside those Zones, it will restrict your contacts.

For instance, the Triads operate almost exclusively in the CAS Zone, so if you don't go there, you more than likely won't have any Triad contacts.

I put up a document in the dropbox which should give you guys a little more background.

Useful contacts might include:
Mafia contacts (either Chavez or Casquilho family)
Yakuza contacts (either Yamato or Wakenda gumi)
Gang contacts - Trey Eights, BBs, Cutters, Godz
UCAS political contacts
Lone Star
Corporate Contacts could include Evo, Saeder Krupp, or Federated Boeing

[Always Overkill]

To the group; Any recommendations for my Codeslinger Quality? Need to pick a specific action and wanted to get a few opinions.

To the GM: Drave's Code of Honor is an old Soldiers Code; he will not kill unarmed or innocent people. His experiences in the Berlin Anarchist Defense Force during
the Seige of Berlin, which suffered heavily from numerous high-altitude bombing campaigns and near constant long-range artillery bombardment, taught him to despise
indiscriminate killing and terms like "collateral damage." (And yes, he considers a Hacker with a Cyberdeck armed in the Matrix.)

Also for flavor's sake; I wanted to know if I could rename a few pieces of my gear to give Drave the appropriate German feel? I would use all the stats of the normal gear; my
Renraku Tsurugi would remain a normal Tsuguri, I would just give it a name from a company like Eurotronics or Saeder-Krupp.

-Always Overkill

[Lobo0705]

I would recommend Hack on the Fly, but that's me. If you are more combat oriented in the Matrix, I could see you taking Data Spike.

Thanks for the clarification on the Code of Honor (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I have no problem with you renaming things in German - as long as you have both names on the character sheet so I know what it is in the game. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Always Overkill]

Awesome! I will come up with a couple good names (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hack on the Fly sounds like a good choice for a small crew; I am sure I will be on the move with you guys quite a bit.

Just wanted to get a picture of what we have thusfar;

Handle: Chrome Head
Character Name: Amy Jennings
Alias: Amy
Archetype: Street Shaman, Mystic Adept

Handle: Jack VII
Character Name: Unknown
Alias: Jack
Archetype: Street Sam

Handle: Always Overkill
Character Name: Garrett Dramen
Alias: Drave, Overkill
Archetype: Decker

Handle: Dr. Zaius
Character Name:
Alias: Grease
Archetype: Face/Rigger

Looks like a Solid Crew!

[Jack VII]

I would second Hack on the Fly for Codeslinger. You've got solid hacking dice pools. Since successful Hacks on the Fly don't alert the target, you can stealthily hack three MARKs on a target without them knowing it. Then if you need to drop the hammer, you can do a Data Spike with the Mugger program running, which would do Attack + Net Hits + 9 matrix damage. ZAP!

ETA: To update the list, my character doesn't yet know his real name. He thinks his real name is Jack Vii (pronounced VEE) at the moment and just goes by the street name Jack.

[Always Overkill]

Ahh I will update that accordingly, Jack. And thanks for all the help troubleshooting my character, (don't know why I thought it was 7 starting instead of 6.) Everything should
be updated and correct, save a couple contact points and some better German names for my gear.

On our backgrounds, has this crew worked together before?

In any case, I would like to do some collaboration; seems like my character would definitely know Amy, given her societal views and Drave's history of growing up in the Free
City of Berlin during the Anarchist period; 2039-2060. He has a thing for desperate lost causes, so he may just be helping Amy to better the lives of people in the Aurora Warrens.

[DrZaius]

Just a quick note - the Exceptional Attribute is approved.

Just checking some things:

1) Your BMW should have a Sensor of 2, not 4
2) You bought two Dobermans, but one just has a sensor array and ammo, but no gun - is that right?
3) When you finish your background, make sure you include fleshing out your Fake SIN

Contacts - Denver is different from Seattle, in that things are concentrated in the Zones, and depending on how much you travel outside those Zones, it will restrict your contacts.

For instance, the Triads operate almost exclusively in the CAS Zone, so if you don't go there, you more than likely won't have any Triad contacts.

I put up a document in the dropbox which should give you guys a little more background.

Useful contacts might include:
Mafia contacts (either Chavez or Casquilho family)
Yakuza contacts (either Yamato or Wakenda gumi)
Gang contacts - Trey Eights, BBs, Cutters, Godz
UCAS political contacts
Lone Star
Corporate Contacts could include Evo, Saeder Krupp, or Federated Boeing

1) I was just going to say, "Uh, actually I'm pretty sure..." but then I checked and saw I was reading the seats, not sensor column. D'oh.
2) I was cut and pasting around the gear column a bit, and looks like I cut some equipment off the dobermans. I think I will rearrange things so all the programs / autosofts are in the same spot, as opposed to by their vehicle. I may have to fiddle with some money to try and get things to add up again.
3) Sure thing.

Thanks! I will update the character sheet asap.

-DrZ

[DrZaius]

Character sheet is updated with contacts, fake SIN information, background, character description. I also moved a little karma around and spent my money slightly differently. In essence,

1) picked up the "Hardware" skill to repair my damaged drones, dropped running and gymnastics for the time being
2) Switched from the C-N Jackrabbit to a full Americar, went down to 1 Doberman, switched out the HK227 (which I forgot to buy the first time) for an AK-97 with a suppressor. Bought a few more of the more handy matrix programs available.

-DrZ

[Lobo0705]

I love that the connecting link between the characters is the SINless elf girl who never went on a run before (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Ok, so Amy and Jack live in the Warrens - Grease and Overkill, do you picture yourselves there as well, or would your characters live in a better area? If so, I can provide districts that would apply. Both of you have Low lifestyles, so you could pick a slightly more upscale part of town to live in, or not.

Grease and Amy, your characters are approved, you can go ahead and move copies into the dropbox please (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Overkill, the only other thing I would like to see would be flesh out your contacts and your fake SIN.

Is there any way I can help with your guy's background/if you know one another?

One other thing, I think it simplest if I give you all one common contact:

Chapel - human fixer Connection 4, (10% bonus for firearms, 15% penalty for magical supplies)***
Loyalty to Grease 3
Loyalty to Overkill and Jack 2
Loyalty to Amy 1

Chapel has a solid rep throughout the UCAS Zone as a good fixer to work for. Friendly, outgoing, and protective of his runners as well as his clients, he operates on the belief that happy runners make a happy fixer. He is a little bit of a foodie, preferring to meet at various upscale restaurants throughout the Zone and the UCAS part of the Downtown Hub rather than the various seedy bars that most runners frequent. Runners who wish to work for Chapel are well advised to scrape together at least one nice suit in order to blend in at his "business dinners" - where he invariably picks up the check as another gesture of good will towards his employees.

***I work fixers slightly differently than the book.

I'm old school, so I am used to not only Availability for items, but Street Index as well. For me, if you want to pay what is listed in the book for a legal item, you use your SIN and go buy one at the store. If you want to buy something through a fixer, he's got to make his cut, which includes a markup. This also factors in the problem with living in a city where everything has to be brought in across multiple borders.

The list of the markup will be in a file in the dropbox. In addition, most fixers will have a bonus for one type of item, and a penalty for another. If they have a bonus, that reduces the price by that amount for that type of item. If they have a penalty, it increases the price by that amount.

Example - buying an Ares Pred V would cost 725 nuyen if you had a proper (or fake) license and SIN and bought it over the counter. Purchasing it through a fixer would mean you could do so without the license or SIN, and without it being traceable, and would be a 25% markup, or 906 nuyen. If you bought it through Chapel, he gets a 10% bonus, so it would only be 834 nuyen.

Similarly, buying 10 reagents would normally cost 200 nuyen, if you bought them legally. If you bought them through a fixer, they would be 440 nuyen, and if you bought them through Chapel (a bad idea, in this case) you would pay 470 nuyen.

Those of you with fixers and fences, please pick one bonus and one penalty, in your cases, they will have a +10% and -10% respectively.

If you have any questions, please let me know. If this horrifically offends anyone, we can talk about that as well, but I think it handles the silliness that buying something legally and illegally would cost the same amount, as well as adding another layer of differentiation and (IMHO) realism to the shadows. The jobs pay than what SR5 suggests to help offset this increase in price (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

A final note - this does not apply to any equipment you bought in character generation.

[Jack VII]

Works for me. I, too, fondly remember Street Index. Do you just want us to update our character sheets with the bonus/penalty if we have a fixer/fence contact?

[Lobo0705]

Works for me. I, too, fondly remember Street Index. Do you just want us to update our character sheets with the bonus/penalty if we have a fixer/fence contact?

Yes please (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Always Overkill]

Threw in some details for the Contacts and Fake SIN. Should be good to go.

Drave will be living in the Warrens, he is used to keeping a low profile and the slums are one of the best places to do it.

To clarify the background situation between Overkill, Jack, and Amy. Overkill knows Amy well, after meeting through the mutual contact Jared Chomsky, and he has assisted her in
many of the projects she has undertaken in the effort to better her community. Overkill has also helped urge her to put her talents to use as a shadowrunner and intends to watch
her back when she does.

Overkill knows Jack through Amy, and are passing acquaintances, but have not yet worked together.

Thought it would be good to sort that out for you and see if you approved of the connections.

And to throw in a total newb question: where is the Dropbox? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dead.gif)

-Always Overkill

[DrZaius]

I'd be fine living outside the Warrens; I think Grease would want to move up in the world and has expensive taste. I will look into updating my fixer. Do you have a list of general categories?

DrZ

[Lobo0705]

I'd be fine living outside the Warrens; I think Grease would want to move up in the world and has expensive taste. I will look into updating my fixer. Do you have a list of general categories?

DrZ

The list of categories is in the dropbox in the Denver Cost of Living file. You can access the dropbox, correct? So far I've only seen Jack use it.

We'll say you live in Montbello - which is near the CAS border.

[Lobo0705]

Threw in some details for the Contacts and Fake SIN. Should be good to go.

Drave will be living in the Warrens, he is used to keeping a low profile and the slums are one of the best places to do it.

To clarify the background situation between Overkill, Jack, and Amy. Overkill knows Amy well, after meeting through the mutual contact Jared Chomsky, and he has assisted her in
many of the projects she has undertaken in the effort to better her community. Overkill has also helped urge her to put her talents to use as a shadowrunner and intends to watch
her back when she does.

Overkill knows Jack through Amy, and are passing acquaintances, but have not yet worked together.

Thought it would be good to sort that out for you and see if you approved of the connections.

And to throw in a total newb question: where is the Dropbox? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dead.gif)

-Always Overkill

I have no problem with that - I think the group being a bunch of people who are fundamentally interested in the bettering of others as opposed to selfish considerations will work well, not only for this run, but for the campaign in general.

As far as the dropbox, go to this website:

www.dropbox.com

Download whatever software you need, and then you will see a day or two ago I shared a folder called "Nothing is Free in the Free Zone".

Let me know if you have problems. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Jack VII]

What falls under the "Internals" category for Cyberware & Electronics? I couldn't really figure it out given there are categories for bodyware and headware already.

I assume that Skillsoft falls under Programs... (naturally having the second highest multiplier on the list. It cuts deep!)

[Lobo0705]

Internals would covers anything that is put in your body that uses capacity rather than essence.

So, for instance, if you have a cyberarm, and have a smartlink put in it, there is a mark up. If you had a cyberdeck put in your arm, you have the markup of the deck, plus the markup of the internal.

Yes - Autosofts and Skillsofts both fall under the category of Programs.

Headware includes Eyes and Ears.

I'll modify the chart to make it clearer.

Thanks!

Jake

[Jack VII]

Maybe I can see if Overkill has any German hookups. I hear German skilljacks only cost 1,000 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nuyen.gif) /Rating. LOL

[Lobo0705]

LOL - saw that in the main thread - hell, at that price, forget shadowrunning and just become a skilljack importer!

[Chrome Head]

Dropped my character sheet in the box.

I went through your street index. I also really liked that stuff back in SR2-3. What's the multiplier on our run's payment? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Edit: Also, what category would a fake SIN fall into?

[Jack VII]

Edit: Also, what category would a fake SIN fall into?

I'm hoping there isn't one, since there isn't really a way to legally acquire a fake SIN (secret agents excepted).

[Always Overkill]

I am curious, did you write all those details on Denver yourself? If so, you have a talent to make it sound like it would fit in perfectly with the writing in the SR Sourcebooks.

Nice work.