Recruiting: Ask for me Tomorrow..., ..and you shall find me a grave man Options

[Shadow]

Aloha! Welcome to another (hopefully) great game. This game is invite only, assuming everyone I invited agrees to play, it is full. There is a chance that some will back out, and in that case I will create a recruitment thread.

Here are two links that are critical to playing in this game.

General Rules

Character creation rules

Please read them, if they are unacceptable it is better to know now.

This game is going to be different. My vision is thusly.

All the players come together and create a shared background. Maybe you all grew up on the streets together, or met in the military. Perhaps you all attended the same boarding school.

Whatever the reason I leave to you. You are all friends, good friends. You have come together to enter the shadows for the reasons above. This will be your first ‘real’ Shadowrun.

You have located a fixer named Zoe who is willing to give you a break, even though you have no street cred. And this is where the adventure begins.

So now we need some backgrounds, some histories, and then some characters.

I want this to be very different then your usual run on the boards. I want a player to step up and be the leader. Whoever that is, will be the acknowledged leader. IC you will trust him/her and follow their direction. OOC of course you are welcome to discuss the plan, but I want the group to have direction.

While this game will be dramatic, I do not want a drama. No secretly hating another player or loathing them. Again, you are good friends. You trust each other with your life.

So,

Step One: How do the characters know each other. Remember, they are best friends.

Step Two: Decide who will fill what roll. I would like the following.

2 Sams (I define Sams as anyone who uses force. So guns or Fists)
1 Mage
1 Rigger or Decker (but not both)
1 Face / B&E
1 miscellaneous

The miscellaneous can be a shaman, or a aspect mage, or anything else that doesn’t fall into the other archetypes.

Step Three: Start building your characters.

Step Four: The game begins!

I have been planning this game a long time, and I am really looking forward to it.

I hope you all enjoy it.

[TinkerGnome]

Okay, first question is what's our common theme going to be. Some ideas:

• Same military unit
• Same merc unit
• Attended school together (highschool? Maybe we're all late teens?)
• Attended police academy together (all washed out for various reasons?)
• Grew up in the same neighborhood and were actually a street gang for a while
• Were all part of a policlub
• Were all part of a martial arts school
• Were all framed for the same crime
• Were trapped/stranded together somehow (plane crash or the like)
• Are all part of a band

Personally, I'm not sure what I want to play. I'm vaugely interested in the mage or an adept, but I'm not set on either.

[BGMFH]

Well, I wanna be the kid with the car, budding rigger material.

Personally, I like the same Highschool thing, maybe we are all down on our luck and met back in Seattle for our 5 year reunion?

[A Rodent of Unus...]

This really sounds like my kinda game. :) So here's a couple of ideas from me. Feel free to discuss, disect, disseminate, or simply just diss it.

Step One: The Shared History...

My first idea was that we could all be from the same neighborhood in the barrens. Maybe we grew up and went to high school together, or maybe we're just good acquaintances and neighbors who've developed a good friendship over the years as we struggle to live our daily lives in this hellhole. Then, when one of us (most likely our Face) meets a fixer who's looking for a job, he or she could recommend the rest of us, and voila...

The reason I like this idea is because it gives us a believable means for knowing each other while still letting us all be individuals *and* incorporates the fact that we're not experienced enough to be the hardcore runners the game normally deals with. It also lets some of us be gangers while others aren't forced to be so, some of us could have served time in the military, and some of us could be fresh out of college (or still attending) in an effort to get out of school... and whatever else. But all of us could always use a bit of extra cash, so it seems to work nicely.

Step Two: Character Ideas...

I've been jonesing for the chance to play a wheelman-style rigger for a while, and this sounds like the perfect opportunity. If we decide on a shared history similar to this one, that's what I'm going to try and aim for. But if we go with something else, it'll depend on that scenario and I'll probably go with a sammy-type or something.

Just for a bit more information, I'm thinking a dwarven wheelman with a passion for muscle cars and drag racing. He's probably a reknowned street artist amongst the gangers and whatnot who sidelines at a chop shop doing detailing work and/or working at a tattoo parlor to help hone his artistic talents. At least that's the general idea I have floating in my head.

So... what do you guys think?

[TinkerGnome]

Okay, highschool seems popular.

For the ultimate in Buckaroo Banzai cool, we could all be part of a band in highschool. Without the skinny ties.

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Actually I kind of liked the "just being neighbors struggling to survive" idea a bit better than the highschool one, but I'm cool either way.

[crechebaby]

dibs on the face.

[BGMFH]

Well, I can do rigger or mage... Im sick of playing the Sammy.

Dibs on Lead Guitar

[A Rodent of Unus...]

[crechebaby]

*cackles madly*

[TinkerGnome]

If I had my pick, I might go with "street gang trying to grow up". But then again, I've never played in one of those and I'm sure that some of you have ;)

Really, I don't care too much on the character, though I have no interest in the Rigger or the face, and little in a sammie. So put me down mainly for mage or miscellaneous (well, unless adept fits under sammie).

[Shadow]

Who is playing what is less important then your background at this point. Remember though my goal is a serious shadowrun team.

I like the idea of school buddies. Remember, you are all really great friends.

[Shadow]

[TinkerGnome]

Big problem with being teens is that it's hard to justify most runnerish skills and abilities. Maybe we all flunked out of community college together instead?

Basicly, we need to have spent a significant amount of time together and then had a reason to turn to the shadows.

[BGMFH]

So, high school friends, formed a band, living in the Barrens.

Rock-guitar based magic user here... like I said, Lead guitar is mine

I gotta leave for Post time now, I'll check back in 6-7 hrs.

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Who said we were teens? We went to high school together (if we all want to be of the same age), not that we're in high school.

That said, this is why I was leaning towards the neighbors angle. It lets us be more individual while still having the same connection and friendship, *and* we can be of somewhat different ages, too.

EDIT: And whoa, when did we decide we were all in a band? We may have been in band class, but I'm not keen on being in a band now. With the above, you could be a solo rocker or in some small garage band or something, but the rest of us can still do whatever it is we do.

[Shadow]

I really do not like the idea of a band guys. It doesn't fit the feel I am looking for. I want characters who are serious about this. Not the Rocker archetype from first ed.

Your on the right track though, keep it up.

[Lezzie Borden]

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

I have an idea for a sammy-type of character so I wanna put dibs down on that. Just for a bit more detail, I'm leaning towards a night one who worked at a goth club until she got fired for getting a little too rowdy. With her already meager house payments in jeopardy, she was only too eager to agree to meet a fixer about a more shadowy job. At least that's my tentative idea for now. I'm not sure if she'll be a sammy or adept just yet, but I am leaning towards the cyberware angle. I know she sounds a little cheesy on the surface but trust me, she can be professional when she needs to be.

So if you'll have me, that's what I'd like to aim for. I also like the idea about us just being neighbors instead of high school friends. I kind of like playing more mature characters in the middle to late twenties and I know a lot of other players prefer younger ones, so that works out better for me.

[Shadow]

[crechebaby]

Here's my idea.
I think if we went with one thing (highschool/band/neighborhood/gang) it would feel kinda.. trite.. I think we should mix it up a bit.

for example:

say lezzie and I grew up together/went to school together.. we're great friends, so we decide to get a place together. she doesn't sound like the college type, but my character might be, so I have a couple of friends from college. they come hang out at the place on a regular basis, and there we have a group of four friends..

lets build on it a bit, and say that one of my college friends has a girlfriend/boyfriend/younger brother/dependent that also hangs out with us..

that's five.

on the other side, lets say lezzie knows someone from the club scene.. fellow bouncer/stripper/club patron/band member... whatever.. he/she is at the pad alot...

that's six.

for the last one.. lets say lezzie or I had a boyfriend(girlfriend?) who we may or may not still be involved with, but continues to hang out with the group.

one of us gets approached by a fixer, and brings the rest of us in on it.

... something to that effect.
what do you think?

I think that would give us the opportunity for more varied backgrounds than all coming from the same neighborhood/highschool/etc...

[Raiko]

@BGMFH: Would your Face fill the B&E role as well? I'd quite like to have the B&E guy (filling the miscellaneous slot). Otherwise I'll have a sami or mage, depending on what Tinkergnome fancies.


Crechebaby's idea sounds good to me, as long as Shadow's happy.

If I have the B&E guy, I'll make probably them a skill bunny, rather than a third sami.

This post has been edited by Raiko: Jun 11 2004, 10:20 AM

[BGMFH]

I'm actually planning on a Social Mage...

Not a Face, technically...

Though I can turn anyone into a Level 3 Contact with enough Successes... hopefully

[Raiko]

Great, I'll take a B&E guy then.

[A Rodent of Unus...]

Didn't Crechebaby mention something about dibs on the Face/B&E slot earlier up in the thread?

In any case, I like her idea. I was actually going to recommend something like that originally but figured it required a bit too much coordination amongst everyone (and I've seen how well that tends to work around here). :D But if everyone's up for it, I'm game, too.

Like Lezzie, I have a preference for older characters and was thinking my dwarf was in his late twenties or earlier thirties, but I can go a bit younger if necessary to fit in with everyone else. Being something of a street artist, he probably hangs out in some interesting circles -- sort of that bridge between a life amidst gangers and street racers and those of in the club scene. Heck, I could see him developing a friendship with Lezzie's bouncer chick when he's commisioned to do some of the industrial artwork at the club or something, and anyone who might be interested in a vehicle with some custom work could rationalize developing a friendship with him, too. Haven't heard enough from anyone else to offer suggestions there, so.... feel free to offer any and all suggestions, and I'll be sure to do the same. :)

I also think whoever wins the free-for-all for the Face slot should be the one who hooks up with the fixer since it seems a natural evolution. We also should probably start figuring out who would make the best "leader" for the group. I'm putting my preliminary vote in for TinkerGnome and Crechebaby since they both seem to have had a lot of initiative in getting us slackers organized here in the OOC, so they could probably pull it off IC, too.

[TinkerGnome]

Okay, the band thing was me being silly. I did indicate that it would produce "Buckaroo Banzai cool" which isn't really that cool ;)

Anyway, military appears to be out. It restricts us a bit much. While highschool can work... the neighborhood thing works better since that would include the highschool thing as well as more.

I don't like a connection that isn't immediate or with everyone. Doing the chained friends thing is fine and all, but it kind of violates the "everyone is really good friends" idea. I mean, I might like you on a basic level because my friend does, but I'm not going to trust you, etc.

If the backstory is chained but there is a more immediate thing, then that'd work fine.

The big question is motivation. Why are we turning to the shadows? What reason does a group of 6 "regular guys" have to take up a life of crime? The easy solution is that we're all SINless. How is this for an idea:

The group is all SINless and living in the Redmond barrens in Sophocles. It's a bad part of town, but not as bad as some parts. Anyway, there's a leadership challenege among the Rusted Stillettos down south in Glow City. The challenger and his supporters survive, but get expelled from the gang. They head north and set up shop in our neighborhood, running off the smaller gang which had been running the area. They start a tyranical protection racket and start leaning on everyone, hard. A small group of neighbors (us) decides that we've had enough and do something about it. We take on the gang fragment (about half a dozen troll-mutant gangers) and wipe them out. We're minor local heros for a few days and then it gets mostly forgotten as the remains of the old gang move back in. We start hanging out together a bit, and that's how our "team" forms.