 Dweller on the Threshold & an Amnesiac, Dweller on the Threshold & an Amnesiac |
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 Jan 30 2005, 06:40 PM
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#1
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Target  Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 56 Joined: 28-November 02 Member No.: 3,654  |
I am going to be running a team, which includes an amnesiatic physical adept, through the "Imago" module from SR2. The "Imago" module includes a trip to the metaplanes. I'm not sure how to approach the situation and am hoping for some advice from some of you. How do you think the Dweller on the Threshold would behave towards an amnesiac? What might it choose to reveal, if anything? Any insight you might have to offer would be greatly appreciated.
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Jan 30 2005, 06:47 PM
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#2
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Immortal Elf Group: Members Posts: 11,410 Joined: 1-October 03 From: Pittsburgh Member No.: 5,670 |
have the Dweller reveal something about the adept's past--something unpleasant and disturbing.
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Jan 30 2005, 07:31 PM
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#3
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 6,748 Joined: 5-July 02 Member No.: 2,935 |
<shrug> You can just have the Dweller confront them about their personality...or their dark fears about what their past might be, why they can't remember it, etc.
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Jan 31 2005, 12:07 AM
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#4
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King of the Hobos Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,117 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 127 |
What is the amnesiac PC's forgotten past and personality like? I'd suggest either something that contradicts what they think they've remembered/found out or a piece of information that puts it in a different perspective that makes them requestion everything.
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Jan 31 2005, 03:06 AM
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#5
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Target Group: Members Posts: 24 Joined: 29-January 05 Member No.: 7,033 |
air all of his dirty laundry in front of everyone and then replace his amnesiac with another appropriate flaw that would make sence ...ie...hung out to dry if its so bad that his characters drop him ...ect..........
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Jan 31 2005, 03:08 AM
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#6
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
Sounds to me like you have the Dweller say anything you want. Just like normal.
Have you decided what this character actually did before becoming amnesiac? |
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Jan 31 2005, 03:38 AM
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#7
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,086 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 364 |
Reminds me a little bit of this one comic book called The Maxx (the first 10 or so issues of which even aired as a segment on on of MTV's animation anthologies).
The protagonist of the series is a "superhero" (and the word is used quite loosely here) who was a homeless bum by day, and a crimefighter... well whenever crimes would find him, which was quite often. He had this thing where he'd switch between the real-world and a dream-like plane of existence that he called the Outback, which seemed to be patterned after every bad jungle movie cliche ever made, thrown into a blender with weird Dr. Seuss-style logic. Anyway, Maxx's Outback could easily pass for an astral metaplane, and the funny thing is, while he couldn't remember what his life was like before he was a "superhero" each time he'd go into the outback, he'd discover a little more about himself, until one of the native threats would distract him into a scene of gratuitious violence. In one point of the storyline, he overdoses on saturday morning cartoons and pez, passing out and waking up in the Outback. The lead character of the cartoon he was watching is there, and taunts him that he's forgotten who he is, and isn't even trying to find out what's under the superhero mask he always wears. |
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Jan 31 2005, 03:39 AM
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#8
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
Never read the comic but I saw it on MTV. Good stuff all around.
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Jan 31 2005, 03:41 AM
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#9
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
Or the reverse-give him nothing. Or the wrong information completely. What if the Dweller is actually telling him these memories aren't real, and he doesn't get it?
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Jan 31 2005, 03:42 AM
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#10
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Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,751 Joined: 8-August 03 From: Neighbor of the Beast Member No.: 5,375 |
I like your style, man. |
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Jan 31 2005, 03:43 AM
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#11
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,086 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 364 |
What aired on MTV Oddities is almost panel for panel what was in the comic books, with a few exceptions, that mostly dealt with cross over characters from other comic book titles, that for licensing reasons, couldn't be included.
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Jan 31 2005, 06:19 AM
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#12
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Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 56 Joined: 28-November 02 Member No.: 3,654 |
Yuh. The campaign is set around 2054. The PC's a member of the Moonlight Thorns (see 1st ed. Grimoire) that has been surgically modified to look human and has infiltrated a Mitsuhama subsidiary. She is DEEP undercover posing as a family member of a high-ranking corporate official. She has had her memory wiped by an experimental ice program while hacking an isolated Mitsuhama system. The player knows that she can deck, fight with a katana and fire an SMG effectively. The PC has only been "awake"for about a month and knows little else. |
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Jan 31 2005, 06:22 AM
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#13
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Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 56 Joined: 28-November 02 Member No.: 3,654 |
Okay. You've piqued my interest, but I'm not quite sure I understand. Could you elaborate just a little more? The last sentence of your post has me befuddled. BTW. My appreciation to everyone that has taken the time to respond. |
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Jan 31 2005, 08:23 AM
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#14
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Neophyte Runner Group: Members Posts: 2,001 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Michigan Member No.: 1,514 |
One of the first characters ever played in my group was an amnesic elf, who woke up one day in an alley way beaten half to death. After being nursed to health he just sort of fell in with the runners in the group. We never really got to the why, but that's not important.
When the character was built, because back then I made everyone's characters, one of the things he had on him was a camcorder with a full tape. For the firs few months of actual real world time the players never really noticed this. They just carried it around on the character sheet, never thinking to ask that question. Finally one day they did. The camcorder contained some pretty wild footage that if correct suggested that the elf was a dethroned Prince from the Tir High Council. It was over the top, too over the top. The footage had been edited in some spots by the runners former team mate, so that he'd know it was false. That the footage was trumped up crap designed to make him go after a certain Prince, and die in the process. Problem is the players never came to that conclusion. They thought it was real. The bought it hook,line and sinker. After that they went out of their way to frag with th Tir as often as possible. We never resolved that arc. I left for boot camp, and when I returned we never picked up those characters again-we'd played them every weekend for four years. Imagine what a character builds up to be playing Friday, Saturday and Sunday damn near every weekend for four years. At the time we were quite worse. (We were young okay.) Now 10 years later we still laugh about some of the goofier shat we did, but we're stil proud that first group was as damn cool as it was. That's an option. or you could just completely mislead him , with no clues. "Yeah dude the Watcher on the Threshold totally told me I'm Dunkelzahn. No really. Watch me smack Lofwyr's bitch ass at this party mano! I'm totally a Dragon man, you'll see." :D Or another option is just lead him up to that point, and then Bham. Stop. Roll dice, then say something like "Yup, and then you wake up on the other side...." Let him think something transpired, whether it really did or not. Of course do this sort of thing toooften and your player will lynch you eventually, but a little suspense never hurt anybody. I liked Amneisacs. They make it easy for me to introduce anything I wanted to, on any whim. "Yup you knew Damine Knight in your pat life, and boy is he pissed..." "Gosh you never told us you were gay..." "You have kids? And a wife????Wives????" :love: What can I say? |
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Jan 31 2005, 08:35 AM
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#15
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,405 Joined: 23-February 04 From: Honolulu, HI Member No.: 6,099 |
Hm. It was my understanding that the Dweller wasn't emotionally invested and didn't have any real vested interest in the truths it revealed. It laid out (one?) truth for each person that accompanied the questor. Possibly at random, which made it all the more nerve wracking for those accompanying the questor, since they couldn't predict exactly what would get revealed. "You SLEPT WITH MY SISTER?!" kinda stuff. or "You wet the bed until you were 14?". The sense I got though was, the truths that were revealed were of the relatively 'same' value between the people questing. So you would end up with everyone feeling the overall same level of discomfort.
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Jan 31 2005, 08:57 AM
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#16
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Mr. Johnson Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,587 Joined: 25-January 05 From: Berkeley, CA Member No.: 7,014 |
My last character was an amnesiac who had a cranial bomb go off in his head and live. He has extensive modifications to his body that basically allow him to alter his appearance within +10/-10% parameters (i.e. a doppelganger done cybernetically). Part of these modifications include a modified encephalon and headware that holds simsense personality engrams (similar to the stuff used in meat puppet parlors) that allowed him to more accurately portray the person he is impersonating. When the cranial bomb went off, the encephalon engaged a failsafe that, along with the medical care he received, fused the alternate personality and memories with his own personality.
The long and the short of it is that he lost a significant portion of his past, and whatever memories he has may be false. He doesn't even know what he really looks like, because of his appearance-altering cyberware. This gave the other GMs a bit of glee as they introduced various runs with people claiming to be his wife, his gay lover, his daughter, and even in one case, his college roommate. Before I retired him, he basically couldn't trust anyone anymore except his fellow shadowrunners (the only ones NOT claiming to know him from his past life). Since our campaign is in Las Vegas, my character's punchline kept becoming "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, apparently..." |
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Jan 31 2005, 09:08 AM
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#17
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
Unless I read it wrong, the Dweller reveals a piece of information about the PC and if you make it that the Dweller lies about the amnesiac, then you've to lie about all the other PCs' dirty laundry as well. Which will tip off the other PCs that it is not telling the truth and defeat the purpose of the Dweller revealing secrets that will embarass the PCs.
Which lead me to the next point: what if there are no secrets? What do you reveal? |
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Jan 31 2005, 09:21 AM
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#18
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Mr. Johnson Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,587 Joined: 25-January 05 From: Berkeley, CA Member No.: 7,014 |
All Shadowrunners have secrets, so hopefully this doesn't come up in a typical Shadowrun session. *grin* But hypothetically, I suppose you could have an astral questing mage who is mentally sound and had a lot of feel-good psychotherapy to the point where he/she doesn't have any secrets. Maybe the Dweller will start telling you "Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know", like the location of Jimmy Hoffa or what the Velvet Elvis boarding the mothership granted in Dunky's will REALLY stands for. Or maybe it will start telling you secrets of your loved ones and close friends ("Your wife once had a fling with the mailman" "Your daughter steals money from your wallet"). |
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Jan 31 2005, 11:25 AM
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#19
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Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,405 Joined: 23-February 04 From: Honolulu, HI Member No.: 6,099 |
Yeah there's always going to be secrets. Maybe not earth shattering, but possibly embarrasing.
Heh. (Paraphrase) "You masturbate more than any other person on the planet." "Yeah tell me something I don't know." "When you do it, you're thinking about guys." You may not have any top shelf front page type secrets, but I dare say that every normal person (not even having to be a SR runner) has something they may not want others hearing. Like how often they like to pleasure themselves. How they (as I mentioned in an earlier post) wet the bed when they were younger. Some details about their first sexual experience. How often they pick their nose. Some blurt about the time they ate what they picked out of their nose. Or the like. Its a useful tool I think for preventing astral teams of 12 going in to help their buddy every time. Even if I don't have any damning secrets, I sure as hell may have a bunch of personal details I don't want anyone, especially friends, knowing about. |
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Jan 31 2005, 12:41 PM
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#20
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
If there's no embarrassing secrets? What if he is a Compulsive exhibitionist who has given away every embarrasing secret? Dweller: "He masturbates thinking about guys." Friend A: "We know that." Dweller: "He likes to stick his pinky into his a-hole and suck on it." Friend B: "We've seen him do it." Dweller: "He like to paint his dick pink and call it Mr Brain." Friend A: "I've seen his pink dick before." Friend B: "And I've heard him refer to it as Mr Brain." Dweller: "Don't you have any embarrasing secrets?!" Dude: "You're the Dweller. You tell me. Then I'll tell it to the whole world." Dweller: "Here's your free pass to the Metaplanes. Please do not bother me again." |
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Jan 31 2005, 12:46 PM
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#21
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Mr. Johnson Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,587 Joined: 25-January 05 From: Berkeley, CA Member No.: 7,014 |
Two words: Dead Shadowrunner. Secrets are part of the trade of Shadowrunning. Of course, the above example could be a non-Shadowrunner. *shrugs* |
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Jan 31 2005, 01:17 PM
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#22
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
If more than one person knows about it, it is not a secret. Secrets are never part of Shadowrunning.
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Jan 31 2005, 01:36 PM
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#23
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Mr. Johnson Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,587 Joined: 25-January 05 From: Berkeley, CA Member No.: 7,014 |
I'm not going to get caught up in semantics or strict definitions. You can choose not to call it a secret by your own definition, but the results are the same: Dead Shadowrunner. Secrets define the business of shadowrunning. If a corporation wanted other corporations to know about their shadowruns, they'd send their own strike teams complete with corporate logos. But if they wanted to keep it a SECRET, they'd send an independently hired team of professionals. The context and scope of the secret is that it is kept within certain circles outside of the public and hopefully rival corporation's knowledge. Argue against the idea if you wish. It's a free country (and world), and you can make Shadowrun into whatever game you'd like. But a shadowrunner in my game who blabs about their covert operations gets himself killed fairly quickly. |
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Jan 31 2005, 02:31 PM
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#24
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Canon Companion Group: Members Posts: 8,021 Joined: 2-March 03 From: The Morgue, Singapore LTG Member No.: 4,187 |
Ahhh, but it is not embarrassing! And the runner doesn't consider it a secret since the people that is going on the quest with him probably went with him for the run anyway.
Dweller: Soooo you ran against Lowfyr's Saeder Krupp yesterday. Runner A: I'm a runner that's what I do. Runner B: Tell us something we didn't know, I was there with him. |
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Jan 31 2005, 04:00 PM
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#25
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Chicago Survivor Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 5,079 Joined: 28-January 04 From: Canton, GA Member No.: 6,033 |
Could always reveal that the runner's sister is the star at a puppet parlor, especially if the character frequents one.
Or a a prostitute, if they patronize the ladies of the night. Or that his mother was a puppet and that's how she got him. Or his grand father founded the Humanis Policlub. That itch he can't quite scratch on his shoulder-blade is more than a skin contition. etc. |
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