Recruitment: Behind the Crown, 3rd Edition Shadowrun , 2060 Options

[pbangarth]

OK. Thanks.

[Koekepan]

Just dropping a note to say, once you have your characters fleshed out and equipped, I can get them blessed, and we can soft start. As you've doubtless seen, I've kicked off with an opening post on the environment.

[Koekepan]

OK, folks, tomorrow's the day we soft start.

a) if you aren't horribly opposed to the idea, can I see 20 questions posts about your characters?

b) are your characters, in your view, final? In particular, ntwi, are your contacts all level 1? If so, I'll flesh them out soon.

c) anyone else planning to join, to your knowledge? I'm frosty with just the two of you, but let me know if you hear different

If a is done, b is settled, I can bless your characters and we can leap in with a collective merry cry. Or one merry cry and two shrieks of despairing horror.

[pbangarth]

20 min. to 10 am here. Going for a 'distance picnic' with family. Back late afternoon. Will finish Connor this evening, including 20 questions. Will report when ready.

No new fish have taken my bait, so it looks like there's the two of us. Plus whatever hordes of drones/spirits we can muster.

Horror? We're in an experimental bio-tech facility? Nothing can go wrong here. Totally safe. No Horror here. Nope.

Wait a minute. Horror? Horrors? No. Just no.

[ntwi]

In my 20Q with Carlos' perspective on magic, I did mention how even those shamans whose magic follows bizarro rules still pay a cost for their magic while these bio vats don't seem to have a cost paid...

[Koekepan]

In my 20Q with Carlos' perspective on magic, I did mention how even those shamans whose magic follows bizarro rules still pay a cost for their magic while these bio vats don't seem to have a cost paid...

The magicians would vehemently disagree with you - as would the accountants - but it's a perfectly valid position for Carlos.

By the way, did you post your updates? Am I missing them, or are you still in process?

[ntwi]

Still working through some of them. I haven't posted anything yet.

[Koekepan]

Still working through some of them. I haven't posted anything yet.

Cool, I'm just tracking.

I'll be ready when you are, just post it up and you can watch the OOC topic for the fleshed-out versions of your contacts.

[pbangarth]

Connor edit done. See post #18.

[pbangarth]

The middle of the week means that both ends of the 4/10 shift are in the office.

Not quite sure what this means. Could you explain, please?

[Koekepan]

Not quite sure what this means. Could you explain, please?

I'll drop the explanation in the OOC thread soon. Question noted.

I bless the sheet, and I will drop more information on the contacts in the OOC room.

[pbangarth]

Thanks for the Contact descriptions. I love'em. I can see there will be a rich environment in which to role play. Assuming we survive the Resident Evil scenario you are setting up for the -entire- staff of Biozu. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Koekepan]

ntwi, Carlos is blessed. I'll fill in his contacts as time permits, but you're clear for soft start.

[Foxx]

It's been a long time since I last graced this board, but I am interested in playing. I'm still debating rather play a Covert Spec or a Street Sam/Merc. I've read through the story so far adjust my ideas to whats going on.

[Foxx]

So I decided to go with muscle of the wild west variety. Still have things to buy, but I think stats and backstory are mostly complete. Subject to review of course.

[ Spoiler ]

Name: Heather Daweson
Street Name: Hopalong
Sex: Female
Race: Human
Archytpe: Merc/Street Cowboy
Lifestyle: High (six months); Low (safehouse; 6 months)
Money: 1370¥

ATTRIBUTES (24)
PHYSICAL Rating
Body: 4(5)
Quickness: 5(8 )
Strength 4(7)

MENTAL
Charisma 3
Intelligence 5
Willpower 3

SPECIAL
Essence: 4.2
Biowear: 3.4
(Magic): 0
Reaction: 5(7) Init: 1d6(3d6)

Combat Pool: 7(8 )
Karma Pool: Good Karma:

SKILLS & LANUGAGES (40)
ACTIVE Rating
Assault Rifles (Colt M23) 4(6)
Athletics 5
Diving 4
Electronics(Electronic warfare) 5(7)
Etiqutte(Corperate) 4(6)
Parachuting(HALO) 4(6)
Pistols(Cavilier) 4(6)
Stealth 5
Unarmed Combat(subdue) 4(6)

KNOWLEDGE (25)
Code of the West 4
Megacorporate Security 4
Jungle wars 4
Security Procedures 4
SERE 4 (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape)
Small-Unit Tactics 5

LANGUAGE (7)
English 4
English R/W 2
Spanish 3
Spanish R/W 1

EDGE and FLAWS
Bravery 1
Common Sense 2
Dependent [Son: David, 8yrs old] -3

CYBERWARE Essence
Bone Lacing(Plastic) .5
Cyberears .3
[Dampener, Hearing Amplification, Select Sound filter L5]
Cybereyes .2
[Image Link, Low-light, Electronic Vision Magnifcation 1]
Flare Compensation .1
Datajack .2
Smartlink .5

BIOWARE
Muscle Augmentation L3 1.2
Muscle Toner L3 1.2
Synaptic Accelerator L2 1.0

WEAPONS
Cavalier Deputy
conceal: 4; Ammo: 7(cy); Mode: SA; Damage: 9M; Wgt.:2.25; Smartlink
addons: quick draw holster(concealable +2), speed loaders x6

Colt American L36
conceal: 6; ammo: 11©; mode: SA; Damage: 6L; wgt.: 1; Smartlink
addons: conealable holster (+2), silencer, magazines x6

Colt M-23
conceal: 1; ammo: 40©; mode:SA/BF/FA; damage: 8M; wgt.: 4.5; RC:5; smartlink
addons: foregrip, gas vent IV system, sling, magazines x6, sound suppressor

Shockglove
conceal: 9; reach: 0; Damage: (STR-1)M Stun + 7S Stun; wgt.: .5

Couger Fineblades
Short 6" - conceal: 8; reach -; Damage: (STR+1)S; wgt.: .5; Dikote
Long 12" - conceal: 5; reach: -; Damage: (STR+2)S; wgt.: .75; Dikote

Grenades
Offensive x12 - conceal: 6; Damage: 10S; Blast: -1/m; wgt.: .25
Defensive x12 - conceal: 6; Damage: 10S; Blast: -1/.5m; wgt.: .25
Concussion x24 - conceal: 6; Damage: 12M Stun; Blast: 1/m; wgt.: .25

ARMOR
Form-fitting Body armor x2
Full-body suit - conceal 12; B: 4; I: 1; wgt.: 1.25

Secure Long Coat - conceal 10; B:4; I:2; wgt.: 2

Armante:©
Short Jacket - conceal 13; B .75; I .25; wgt.: .1
Slacks - conceal 14; B .5; I: .25; wgt.: .5
Vest - conceal: 12; B: 3; I: 1; wgt.: 1
Starlight Line - conceal 14; B: 1; I: 0

Zoe - Futura Line©
Blazer - conceal: 13; B: 2; I: 1
Skirt - conceal: 13; B: 1; I: 1


OTHER GEAR
Doc-Wagon Contract: one platinum for Heather and David (50,000¥ ech)

Credstick ID: Heather Cassidy, R6, security consultant, permit to carry and conceal
Credstick ID: David Cassidy, R6
Credstick ID: Rachel Boyd, R3: permit to carry and conceal, low lifestyle
Credstick ID: Natalie Dez, R3: permit to carry and conceal
Credstick ID: Allie Ramone, R3: permit to carry and conceal

Earplug unit cellphone x3, pocket secretary, Micro-transciever R6, subvocal microphone, transciever R6, Restraints (Plasteel) x50, Stealth grapple line (100m), micro flare launcher, micro flares x10, Nav-Dat GPS, Respirator, Survival Kit x2, Medkit x2, Stimulant patch x5, Tran Patch x5, Trauma patch x5, Fine clothing, Ordinary clothing, Tres chic

Vidlink transmitter R6, Scanner R6, Data Codebreaker R6, Micro-camcorder x4, micro-recorder R6 x2, Signal locator(AOD) R6, tracking signal R2 x4, Bug scanner R6, data encryption system R6, Jammer R6, Voice mask R3, White noise Generator R3, Maglock passkey R3, Sequncer R3, wire clippers, LOW-altitude parachute, HALO parachute

Ammo: Light x500 regular, Light Gel x500, Heavy x500, Heavy Gel x500, Assault Rifle x1000, Assault Rifle Gel x500, Assault Rifle Ex Explosive x100

VEHICLE
Ford Americar
Handling: 4/8; Speed 105; Accel: 8; Body 3; Armor 0; Sig 2; Autonav 2; Sensor 1; Cargo 12; Load 110
Seating: 2 bucket (front), 1 bench (back)
Entry Points: 2 + 1 trunk

Harley-Davidson Scorpion
Handling: 4/5; Speed: 120; Accel: 6; Body: 2; Armor: 1; Sig: 2; Autonav: 2; Pilot: -; Sensor: 0; Cargo: 4; Load: 60
Seating: 2


CONTACTS
Free Level 1: Plainclothes cop

Free level 1: Street Doc

Level 1: Gang Leader

Level 1: Military contact UCSA

Level 1: Stripper

Level 1: Pilot

Level 1: Boat Captain

Level 2: Judge

Level 2: Fixer

Level 2: Mr. Johnson

Level 2: Technician

Level 2: Arms Dealer

BIO

[ Spoiler ]

Where is your Character from?
Heather is original from CAS, Texas. She was born in the strange little town of Pinebox, surrounded by a nature reserve, the last vast jungle in the North American continent.

Does your character have a family?
Heather parents are still alive and live in Pinebox, Texas. She has a brother but has little to do with him after being drummed out of the CAS military. He is still in, working on his career and proving that he is better than his insubordinate big sister. Her parents are disappointed in Heather's life choices but take pride that she stood up for herself and her son, David.

David is her eight-year-old son and the apple of her eye. He is her motivation to continue taking high-risk mercenary jobs and running the shadows to pay the bills.

Does your Character have an ethnic background?
Heather is plain jane white.

What does your character look like?
Heather is triple B: blonde, had blue eyes, and busty. She is 5'10", two-hundred pounds of trim augmented muscle. She has let her blonde hair grow out but will wear it in a ponytail for work. The iris of her cybereyes look like sapphire blue crystals, but a flick of a mental switch and the color switches to red (she had a particular fondness for a classic sci-fi movie with killer cybernetic machines).

What does your character dress like?
Heather prefers a western look; cowboy boots, dusters, long shirts, and vests. She will get gussied up as work requires. Depending on the job or employer, she has no problem wearing a high-cost business outfit or pulling back on the jungle fatigues to work operation in some third world hellhole. She keeps to a professional look. Everything clean and neat, to hide the fact that she has zero problems with getting dirty.

Does your Character have physical quirks?
Besides the hair and boobs, Heather walks with a hitch in her step. An unfortunate incident during her military career where she needed her hip put back together. The operation was a success, but now she had a limp. With the limp and her cowboy ways, some of her fellow soldiers took to calling her Hopalong.

Where did your Character Learn their Active Skills?
The majority of Heather's skill set comes from active participation in the CAS Military. She was Force Recon and quite good at her job. She has put more than a few 'runners in their place when crossing paths with her. After the military, she focuses on developing her skills for the corporate world. Hoping she can land a job with one of the Megacorps.

Where did the Character learn their Knowledge Skills?
The code of the West was a set of rules. Heather's father taught her how to treat people and expect from them the same. It is tough to follow in a world of corporate cloak and dagger, but finding herself outside the structure of the military is comforting to fall back on when dealing when it comes to dealing with others.

Learning about how Megacorp security works and their procedures was a step toward getting her hooked up with some corporate job. Her skills with small-unit tactics help with that pursuit by being able to work well with others. Though most of the time, she finds herself working with less than professional people, like Shadowrunners.

Where did your Character get her goodies?
Most of Heather's cyberware and Bioware come from either the military or afterward running jobs as a mercenary. One does not join Recon without having some physical advantage to keep up with the boys. Her most cherished hardware is the Cavalier Deputy pistol that her father gave her after getting dumped from the military. He figured giving her something would remind Heather that people still gave a damn about her.

Where does your Character live?
Heather put some of her savings and gains from mercenary work into financing a beautiful high lifestyle condo in Seattle. The one city where disappearing into the shadows is all too easy. Mostly so that her son David can spend a relatively calm and safe life outside of her job, it is not the place she would willingly bring work too unless under life-or-death circumstances. She bribes a few security guards to ensure her privacy, trying to give off that Corporate vibe that she is someone important. She uses a complimentary vehicle for mundane tasks. She keeps everything under her ordinary alias/SIN, Cassidy.

She keeps a safe house near the barrens, where she stores her more illegal gear. Its low rent but has a few security features to keep mundane threats out. It's rented out to her 'Boyd' identity in case someone finds it or raids it.

Who are your Character's contacts?

Who are your Character's enemies?
Single moms generally get that way because of circumstance or a dead beat guy. Heather falls into the former and wishes her baby-daddy was dead. Ronald Stiles was an officer with ambition, and Heather was still naive enough that fraternizing was a dangerous and thrilling pass time. He started off caring about her at first, but their relationship tends to ebb and flow as they bounced from base to base and mission to mission. More than a few times in the first part of Heather's career, she pulled off a few daring stunts to achieve the results that her CO Stiles would take the credit.

To keep her happy, Stiles played on Heather's female desires. All the while keeping their relationship on the down-low. A few times, Stiles could not help when she overstepped boundaries and made more than a few idiots angry with her, or so he claimed to her later. After some reflection, she would conclude that he kept her being more successful by limiting the opportunities others were willing to open to her. She was too useful for his career to let others take away.

Heathers' usefulness came to an abrupt end when she told him that she was pregnant. If she were to give birth, it would soon become evident who the father was after DNA testing and cataloging. A few officers and NCO's he pissed off over the years would have a field day with his career if the truth came out. Heather had an idea that she hated, and she would leave the service. She had this fantasy that they would get married and turn a career buster into a blemish that people would look overdue to Stiles's stellar career.

Heather quickly found out that the cool, composed, and distant posture was not the face Stiles reserved for the troops. He did not love her. Stiles broke the news to her at their favorite spot by the lake in Pinebox. Then he tried to shoot her in the abdomen and hope to follow it up with a bullet to the head. Grossly underestimating just how capable and determined, plus motivated by hormonal anger, Heather abilities. He forgot he made her career out of dangerous missions in Recon, plus her augmentation. He tried to kill Heather, and she, in turn, broke his jaw, with his arm, after she ripped out of the socket.

She should have finished it there and let Stiles bleed out. Instead, she cauterized the wound best she could just in time for paramedics to arrive to stabilize and take her former lover to the hospital. Heather knew there would be hell to pay, but believed the military would see things her way and probably slap her back down to private for maiming an inspiring officer who would probably be going to jail for trying to kill her. In hindsight, she also believed the asshole loved her too. There was a month-long investigation, but it quickly devolved into Stiles being the victim of a jealous girl who thought their professional relationship had been more than just working together. Her Ex had pulled strings, brought in a few experts to frame the narrative. He even had a fiancee in the wings who doted on him while he recovered (later framing him to marry her). Good people stood up for Heather, but the story stuck, and after a quick court-martial, dishonorably discharged from the CAS.

Stiles made it clear that Heather was living on borrowed time as a further kick to the teeth. He would not forgive the injustice of her maiming him and would have his retribution. It was time to disappear before he made it permanent. She knew enough to go into the CAS underground and eventually migrated to Seattle after a few friends encouraged her to have no life if she continues to live in the South. There were contacts to make and jobs to be had fighting in foreign wars as a mercenary. She became a gun for her and a damn fine one. She would pause for a long while to take care of her kid. She took on Shadowrunning to pay the bills but wanted to use her connections to build a resume that some Corporate business would be interested in hiring. She brushed up on her people skills, refine her hobbies to something snobs would like.

How did your Character learn magic?
Heather views magic as a useful tool even as she has little understanding of the topic. That's for the guys who wiggle their fingers to bother with.

What are your characters' likes and dislikes?
Heather loves her son David dearly. There is nothing she would not give to ensure he has a regular and stable life. She fears that his father would still do him harm even after eight years.

She has a love-hate relationship with Shadowrunning. It pays the bills, but the people in it to win are unprofessional scumbags. There are a few diamonds in the rough that she is proud to know, but those are rare.

Corporate life is a means to a better experience for her and her son—a chance to be safe from Stiles' lingering shadow. She has no love for the heavy-handedness that some of the suits use to achieve their goals.

Heather likes all things western, from the ancient trideos to rodeo riding. Like how Street Samurai follow Bushido, Heather follows the Code of the West. Similar in so many ways, but fitting to her rough exterior and temperament.

She loves Texas, and the CAS; in that order.

What is your Character's moral code?
Heather believes in being fair to those deserving of it. Bad people who need shooting, get shot. The only person she will kill without hesitation is Ronald Stiles because of the threat he represents to her son and herself.

She is a professional soldier and will kill if she has too. Otherwise, she will use unhealthy levels of force to subdue targets or knock them out. She is not a believer in leaving behind a body trail to prove what a badass she is.

She will take on a job she believes in with established parameters. If those details change because the employer lied to her or new information changes everything, she will walk away. She is finding part of her code more complicated as she takes on more corporate work that wants results in their favor regardless of who has to get stepped on.

Does your character have goals?
Heather wants a good life for her boy, David. She has spent plenty of her funds to ensure he is safe and hidden away from his father. An experience working for big business will provide that life for her son. She hopes to snag a corporate level security job that will utilize her skills to their fullest.

Does your character have personal beliefs?
Heather beliefs are Baptist, but her church-going days have long behind her. She still believes and prays every so often, but she is not a church girl anymore. She's done too many things to think that regular church folk would approve.

Does your character have personality quirks?
Heather is hard-talking, low bullshit, high-speed kind of girl. She can affect a laid back demeanor, but she can quickly correct anyone if they think she is lazy or can't handle herself. Life in the military instills the value of getting the job done promptly and efficiently as possible. Anyone not up to that standard is dead weight.

Why does your character run the shadows?
If she had a choice, she would not. It is a means to pay the bills, get new gear, and find contacts to help her achieve a better job. Some of the corporate posts tend to dip into the shadows also, and she just sets her teeth and gets the mission done.

How does your character view her role as a shadowrunner?
Being a shadowrunner is a means to an end. At the same time, there are some respectable folks in the biz. If circumstances were different, Heather might find a life in the shadows as a soldier-for-hire keeping the newbs out of trouble and out of the wrong end of

Timeline -

[ Spoiler ]

2028 - Born
2046 - Join the CAS Military; Enlisted.
2052 - Gives birth to son David. Father is an asshole. Drummed out of the CAS military for striking an officer and insubordination. Fearing for her life and her son's life, she disppeared into the criminal underground.
2060 - Either working for Corp as Security/Consultant or Merc Runner bouncing between wars to warn a living.

Race - E
Magic - D
Attributes - C
Skills - B
Resources - A

[Koekepan]

Quick first mention: There's definitely room in the party, I'll check out what you offered, and lend my thoughts.

[Koekepan]

OK, a couple of comments.

These are fairly high level, and everything's up for negotiation, but as it stands I have a few gripes with V 0.9 of the character, so let's take it from the top.

First, I may be looking at this squiggle-eyed, but I don't see how you get those unaugmented stats on priority B for attribute. At 27 points for priority B, human, they should average 3.5, and they're not there. Am I missing something?

Second, anyone in force recon (or even just old-school field intelligence roles) would have a wide skillset way beyond the relatively narrow break-stuff-and-kill-people focus that she has. Not that breaking stuff and killing people isn't in the list, of course, but anyone whose job involves getting dropped in an anonymous shithole a million miles from nowhere and surrounded by psychopathic clowns will need a lot more. Survival. Vehicle skills. Communications tech skills. Emergency medical skills. I see you have stealth and athletics, but what about demolition or military engineering? How about riding, given the cowboy and rural background? Or at least hot skills on motorcycle and ATV courses. How about parachuting or related skills like light airframes? How about field cooking so that she can turn that baboon she shot into something that will keep her and her team on their feet until their backup arrives? As a real country girl, can she at least field dress a kill and have a hide worth saving? For that matter, at least basic animal management, or even foundational animal husbandry skills so that she can get along with natives and handle pack animals on a trail? How are her river rafting and lake sailing skills? I could go on, but I think that you take my point. Self-sufficiency in bad places requires a lot of flexibility, and I'd rather see a wide range of skills rather than a maxed-out few.

I'll go with corporate etiquette specialisation, given the background as given, but no mention is made of how or why she would have (or tolerate) mysterious cyberware without at least getting a cyberdoc to check it out.

I won't quibble too hard about the pineapple bush. We can handwave that in.

As a faith-holding baptist, how does she like magic, magicians and everything around that field?

What I would do in your position (this is not a mandate, and not necessarily to be considered as guidance, but should perhaps be considered):

I would keep a lot of the military background, the ugly history with Stiles and so on; that works. But I would take a closer look at what she'd actually have done, and learned in the military, and see where the character spreads a bit in concept. Is she capable of some decking? Maybe - special forces often need someone who at least has the chops to do a thing to some electronics. Not necessarily, of course; that probably was someone else's job. Alternatively, maybe she has more intel-related skills. Is she good at the sneak-and-peek work? Listening in, planting bugs, rapidly analysing and summarising tactically and strategically relevant data for the brass? Does she know how to break trails and confuse pursuit? Is she really, really good at booby traps, ambushes and assorted dirty tricks?

Hope this helps.

[Foxx]

Alrighty, I'll take your suggestions to heart and make changes. On the attributes I was using the template in the book (since its been years since I made a character) and found it was four points short. I checked it again and found it one point higher than 27. Unless I'm counting it wrong, all stats start with a 1 in them, correct?

[Koekepan]

Alrighty, I'll take your suggestions to heart and make changes. On the attributes I was using the template in the book (since its been years since I made a character) and found it was four points short. I checked it again and found it one point higher than 27. Unless I'm counting it wrong, all stats start with a 1 in them, correct?

Ah! That's the problem!

I'm afraid that you're wrong. Check the example on page 56, 3rd Ed book. You don't get to add 1 first. For 6 attributes, total 27, human, you don't get to add another 6 on top for an average of 5.5. Think about it, if you chose attributes A that way, everything would pretty much have to be a 6 ...

[Foxx]

OKay, thats where I messed up then. I'll get that straighten out rework my skills to be a little more diverse.

[Koekepan]

OK, I like this reworked version a lot better so far.

When you're confident that you have it tidied up and equipped to your satisfaction, throw a flag and I'll take a look at the release candidate version.

I'll also run some parallel activities for Heather before the team combines, so the timeline on this is flexible.

[Koekepan]

Foxx: Approved. I will post on your contacts (there will be some overlap with others, but obviously not full overlap) and then also start making IC posts directed at you.

[pbangarth]

Welcome aboard, Foxx! And thanks for giving us someone to run and hide behind when things get scary.

[pbangarth]

Yo!

Runners out there. YO!

Corporate scumbag maneuvers have stripped my PC, Connor, of an awesome running mate. Connor needs help!

Come on. The story telling is awesome, and the title promises deep intrigue and world-class payoffs.

Get off the couch, people. What else do you have to do?

Risk your lives and get rich. Live fast and die hard.

Otherwise ... what's the point?

(Cross posted to Runners looking for a Johnson and Cast of Shadows)

[Foxx]

I'm dealing with a naked orc. I"m doing my part, sadly. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)