Advise, New Gm Error Options

[cannonfodder]

i'm a new gm to shadowrun with a new crew of runners.

I made a couple of mistakes when they were exploring an abandoned military site while waiting for a pick up of some merchandise they were transporting. All the sams were exploring the depot leaving a racoon shaman named gizmo on her lonesome. Unfortunately all sams failed they're perception test to notice the bandersnatch in the room. Long story short the shaman got infected.

Fumbling through the books I was unable to find the specifics on the virus she contracted and mistook it for the vampirism strain. She is very attached to the character and a key member of the group so I sought a way to let her keep her character.

Since it was a research facility I decided that they had been experimenting on the troll with both strains of the virus (think underworld cringe). They intended to get the best of both but ended up with a bandersnatch who was a carrier for the vampirism strain.

Seeing as it was the year of the comet and i've already introduced a ghoul with a new variation of the krieger strain. I decided she got the equivalent of half vampire or dhampyr.

Help me tweak my house rules for dhampyr:
All time changes (+1 phys stats, Essence Drain, Slow Regen 1 box/minute)
enhanced senses
Allergy Sunlight Weakness Wood
New Test Blood Test: Dice = Essence
Call the beast, Blood Test, TN =12 - Essence
Resist the beast , Will Test, TN = Essence (failure lose control until retest on change in essence, all 1's +1 on subsequent retest.)
Where N = # of successes,
Once activated the player gets stat increase physical N (essence/4) max = essence
Ability to gaseous form once for N rounds
Regeneration, Improved Reflexes

its pretty powerful but if the beast isnt resisted then the player becomes npc until fed and retest is passed. Will test may be too harsh.

[cannonfodder]

BTW I realize how WWolf it sounds but it was the best compromise I had on the fly.

[Herald of Verjig...]

Read.

Bandersnatch line vampirism into a human results in "Loup-Garou" which are rather unintelligent. It is also contageous to trolls (Fomorians), but cannot be caught by other metatypes.

[Mercer]

[Tanka]

Dwarf -> Goblin
Elf -> Banshee
Human -> Vampire
Ork -> Wendigo
Troll -> Dzoo-noo-qua
Sasquatch -> Bandersnatch

[Cray74]

[Mercer]

tanka basically correct. There are sub-strains and variations (fomorians and nosferatu are the only two I can think of), and there are further variations in Cyberpirates (the Phillipines have different versions) and a few other place books. But the ones he listed are the most common.

[GaiasWrath8]

[Herald of Verjig...]

Most of the basic strains are pulled out of Critters, possibly with some info from the old paranormals books.

Loup-Garou are officially classified as not self aware, have an essense of 5, can enhance their strength once a day, have thermographic vision and are contageous.

Not a very enjoyable fate.

If you were to consider the final result from the competition of strain 1 and 2 to be mostly strain 1 traits winning out, your numbers are pretty reasonable, but somewhat complex. I'd suggest that as essense drops below the pre-infection level (6 I'm guessing), magic suffers temporary losses and once below half original, give a willpower (8?) test to avoid feeding off anyone who is viable prey according to the SR rules for essense drain (strong emotion of some kind toward the vamp).

[Ol' Scratch]

I'm going purely on memory here, but the major strains that I can remember off the top o fmy head include:

Humans: Ghouls (and their cultural variants; that's to be assumed for all of 'em), Vampires, Loup-Garou, and Nosferatu.
Dwarves: Ghouls, Vampires, and Goblins.
Elves: Ghouls, Vampires, Banshee, and in rare cases Nosferatu.
Orks: Ghouls, Vampires, and Wendigo.
Trolls: Ghouls, Vampires, and Dzoo-na-qua.

As you noticed, Ghouls and Vampires can be any metahuman race (though a lot of people forget that when it comes to Vampires).

[Herald of Verjig...]

Every metatype can catch strain 1, but the results are far from the same each case. Dzoo-na-qua is a troll with the same strain (1) that makes "vampire" humans, banshee elves and wendigo orcs.

[Ol' Scratch]

I'm telling you, all the metahumans can be a Vampire. It's not limited to Humans. Apparently, the base strain can manifest differently in the various metahumans; Strain-I can turn an elf into a Vampire or a Banshee.

[cannonfodder]

Thanks for the clarification on the races.

My error came when I couldnt find that the type 2 was loup garoo. I assumed it was vampirism and was under the impression that vampires were like ghouls and possible pcs.

I then role played out the session where the player spent alot of time with the character at gun point watching her shift and show vampire tendecies. I also role played with the player that her totem pulled away from her in a dream sequence and that she was approached by two new totems both voodoo one was ghede and the other was the "goddess" of love and lust (name escapes me). She still has my book or Id look it up.

The game was called at this point and I came here and dug deeper into the books for guidance. The player was attached to the idea by this point. I then realized she should have been loop garou instead as stated above these are mindless. No good. Then looking at vampires and their godliness I didnt feel this was good either. Thats when I decided to do dhampyr. The group likes the idea and she (who was thinking of dropping out because she doesnt usually play sci fi is very intrigued.) I may have her search for a cure after she learns how dangerous it can be. Also maybe just having fed will give a bonus to the will check to regain control.

Anyway I mostly curious if my mechanics and bonus seem reasonable or if they should be tweaked. Also rumors of cures or references could come in handy.

[Herald of Verjig...]

Interesting, I see the lines you use for that stand and no solid contradiction in any of the strain 1 texts. Indeed, by the straight text, metahumans may become vampires according to that entry or the variation for their metatype. That changes my stance on attacking vampires with a group of trolls and dwarves.

[Shadow]

You know she doesn't have to become infected. She coul dbe really sick for a few days then pass. Or on the same research base there could be a cure for it. Only one dose though and no info on how well it works.

[Clyde]

Shadow's probably got the best idea here. You should probably gimmick some kind of one shot "cure." Despite having some rules for non-human PC's, the Shadowrun universe isn't all that friendly to non (meta)humanity. Consider the effects on contacts, Mr. Johnsons, enemies and just plain bystanders. Worse yet, in some areas there are full on bounties for taking down dangerous critters like vampires.

I'd leave the World of Darkness behind and get on with the Shadows.

[Edward]

Its in a research facility right. Have them find an experimental cure/vaccine. Including some very scary testing notes. It would be fun to see what they did with it. Come up with different administration programs for the cure and different times to apply it. Experimental survival rates where “low”. And the symptoms she is showing don’t quite mach the experimental reports you have.

Also I would change the regeneration to a mechanic similar to the existing one. Base healing times being reduced by a factor of 30. a deadly wound will still take a day (divided by successes) to heal down to a serious but that’s still very impressive. A light wound will disappear in minutes.

Edward

[Crusher Bob]

If you are worried about doing something too 'drastic' to the character, have a mcuh more gradual onset. State them off with something like '+1 strength, +1 reaction and faster healing (like symbiotes)' or somthing similarly 'low', give them a mild allergy to sunlight to go along with it. If that works out ok, then up the power (and penalties) a bit later (and don't forget the essence loss/hunger).

This gives you some advantages too, in that you can stop the progression of the disease if you decide it's getting out of hand (or taking up too much game focus). Also, you do stuff like dangle a cure that will only work before 'stage X' of the disease sets in, giving the PCs plenty of time pressure.

[Fortune]

How about having the effects all work as normal (whatever that may be in your game) on the character, letting the chips fall as they may ... and then suddenly and permanently wear off at the next full moon. There's no reason to believe that any permanent viral strain is being created as a result of the Corp's experimentation. Maybe include some kind of temporary addition roll for the character to resist wanting the effects to continue.

This gives you the best of both worlds, the suspense and possible in-party conflict of the change, and the non-permanent after-effects of the whole experience.

[Cray74]

[mintcar]

Go for it and improvise before you get caught up and limited by the setting! In a few years, after having read more of the game litterature and when your players have a more clear view of the setting, this thing your doing now might seem a bit unnecessary. But now it´s a good suloution as you yourself have stated. Let her play a vampire if she likes that. In the meantime let her read some Shadowrun fiction and maybe later she will get an urge to play an elven face with extencive government contacts, to slick for her own good, something like that.