Recruitment: False Prophet, Do you hear the ticking inside the box? Options

[Hat Trick]

It's been pretty slow around these parts lately, so I'm going to give a shot at running a game here. I'm looking for a team of around 4 players, give or take. Character creation is by the book (Priority, 125 BP, Sum-to-Ten) - tack on an additional 50 karma and 75k when you're done. Sorry, rigging and decking rules will not be used - I prefer to handle the entire thing a lot more free-form, so slap a high score on a computer or vehicle skill and you're all set.

Since it's my first time running a game on DS, I'll try to explain the way I GM. I try to make things as realistic as possible, which means that there is rarely a linear plot to follow like in the published adventures. The advantage is that the players dictate where the game goes. This can also be a disadvantage because it requires players with initiative - I feel that I should make this clear, since this sort of thing isn't everyone's cup of tea. I'll do my best to create a dynamic, evolving world for the characters to interact in, but you guys gotta go out and do some interacting. :)

Yeah, so if you're interested, send your prospective character to laughseeker@gmail.com. I'm looking more for character concepts than numbers at this point - if there are more players applying than slots available, the selection will be done based on quality and originality of background. It might also help if your character is of a more altruistic inclination, due to the nature of the run itself. Any questions, feel free to ask. :)

[Panzergeist]

I think I can fit one more game in. I'll probably send a concept in this week.

[FXcalibur]

I feel like getting back into the game. I'll have a concept done within a day or two.

[Nikoli]

Concept submitted

[Hat Trick]

The concepts are just so that you guys can get an idea of what everyone else is playing - you can post 'em here. Send me the sheet and background when you're done. I'm shooting for a deadline of ten days from now for completed characters - the game will begin no more than two weeks from today.

[Eyeless Blond]

Okay, background, background... here we go:


James Fuller grew up in a small town in western Massachusetts, your basic nearsighted white Protestant male in a white Protestant town. James grew up physically weak, quiet, odd-looking, and fairly bright at a young age, which meant he got picked on a lot, especially by the trolls, orks and dwarves at his school who put up with much abuse and discrimination themselves. Everyone needs someone to pick on, and for the various non-humans metas James was the only person who was more different from everyone else than they were. One day he was being chased by the school bullies and in his effort to get away several people saw him become invisible. Naturally James's life changed dramatically. Corps and everyone else were of course willing to pay top dollar for his education (at MIT&T no less).

James's relationship with his snake totem is more of a holistic philosophy than ritual. To date his totem has never spoken to him; rather James makes it his goal to seek out knowledge and stays out of confrontations as part of his personal philosophy. Reflecting this relationship, James's shamanistic "lodge" is almost Hermatic: it consists of a large amount of optical chip memory onto which James collects knowledge, especially design schematics. Of course the "library" itself stays at home, where James fills it with random drek that he pulls from the Matrix and from real life; all the regular lodge rules apply to his library. The nature of the information itself doesn't really matter, either, so long as James finds it interesting enough to download.

As a side note, only very recently has James even bothered to explore Conjuring in any detail. He only really ever conjures watcher spirits, which he treats like (and in turn they act like) computer procedures. He can summon Hearth spirits, which take the form of various mechanical devices (toasters and such), but hasn't actually done so more than once or twice.

Awakening also revealed the source of another of James's quirks. A few years after he got out of the hospital, James's eyes were replaced to correct a few childhood vision problems (at the same time he had a datajack implanted as a birthday present). Oddly, even after he had his eyes replaced James insisted on keeping and wearing his old glasses, even though he had replaced the lenses with non-prescription lenses. He claimed that he just didn't "feel right" without those frames on, and any time he lost them he would relentlessly search through shops and catalogues until he found a replacement that was fairly similar. It turned out that his glasses were a Talisman Geas James had unconsciously taken to compensate for the cybereyes (and a few later modifications). James currently has three pairs of glasses that he uses for talismans: a pair of "outdoor glasses" that also serve as a Force 2 sustaining focus for an Enhance Aim spell, and two pairs of "reading glasses" (one of which he keeps at home) which also serve as fetishes for every detection spell in James's repertoire.

James spent several months in the hospital when he was a child due to a brief bout with VITAS, which he recovered from, but from which he suffered some lasting effects (Infirm -1). During his extended time in a hospital bed, James became enamored with all aspects of technology, in particular electronics and microtronics. He would frequently get in trouble for taking about important pieces of equipment to see how they worked. This fascination grew into a major in Computer Science at MIT&T, despite "suggestions" by parents and corp sponsors to major in Spell Design and Applied Thaumatology.

Unfortunately none of his considerable talents could make James marketable. His habit of taking apart every odd bit of technology he came across never really meshed well with corp work, so James went into business for himself, where he was free to mold his schedule around his hobby. Under the alias "Eyes" James works mainly as an information broker, gathering information both legally and illegally for clients. Through methods magic (Analyze Device/Magic, etc) and mundane (B/R) he is also frequently hired to analyze packages and electronic devices to figure out what they're used for, or whether a bit of merchandise is genuine. Because of a couple of lucky breaks he has earned a good reputation, despite his lack of real shadow-world experience.

**Compulsive Flaw note** James has a problem with inquisitiveness, much as Creator shamans do but somewhat different. Whenever James comes up against an object that is unusual or unique, James immediately uses Analyze Device and any other utilities at his disposal (such as Astral Perception) to figure out what it is and how it works for at least 3 Combat Turns. He can make a Willpower (5) test to avoid this; one success negates it entirely, but there should be some overriding reason for it such as the risk of being seriously injured.
(Would you rate this as -1, or more? I put it down as -1 to be safe, but I could easily see it being -2 or -3. If you don't like this compulsion I can easily replace it with a Matrix Addiction; I just think it would be amusing to see him go into "Oooh, shiny!" moments when he sees some neat bit of tech lying around.)

[Hat Trick]

Nice. One or two sentences describing your character's personality and niche would've done just as well, though. ;) There's no need to empty out all the skeletons in the closet just yet - that's what email is for. That is, unless everyone wants to start as a team right off the bat, but we'll get to that later.

[tisoz]

Well, I guess I'll scrap my creator shaman. But I really want to try a shaman that has mfb's Looking Good in Shades centering skill, so I'll try a shamanic initiate, anthropology grad, living in Redmond and studying the locals, while on the lookout for things magical in nature.

[Eyeless Blond]

Yeah, that concept's been rattling around in my head for some time now. :)

Hmm, 50 karma and 75kY. Damn, how am I going to squeeze a Kraftwerk out of that? :P That's actually a pretty high Karma-to-nuyen ratio there; I'd seriously suggest either lowering the Karma or raising the nuyen, unless you want the Awakened to rule the roost.

Oh, and hey tisoz, want to start an initiatory group? :D

[Aes]

*ponders a grade 4 initiate to shed 4 gaesae after building a cyber-mage*

[Johnson]

I have a concept Shapeshifter Hermatic Mage though shamonic with totom Lion or Tiger. Using the Tiger form...

[FXcalibur]

I feel like playing an old PI/investigator character of mine with a little twist. Probably will be an adept with both gunslinger skills and social skills. More of a focus on the social though.

Name's Mary Kilburne, 38. Used to work for the star and was a pretty good investigator. Not exactly the hardened noir or hard boiled type, but she did wear trenchcoats a lot (who doesn't? :P ) and operated mainly on here own, taking the worst cases the star bothered to pick up, even operating in the barrens once or twice. She's got more than enough physical scars to show for her tour of duty.

Mary's now-divorced husband, Richard Christensen, was a corp player climbing the Renraku corporate ladder. Eventually both of them didn't have enough time for each other, and both were concerned for their growing twin children. They decided to get a divorce and parted on good terms, but the court ruled the kids were to be looked after by Mary. Though she did say she would allow Richard to come by whenever he wished, Richard was a paranoid sort of chap and used his corporate influence to have gangers kidnap their children. He then secretly raised them in a Renraku corp suite somewhere. Ironically, he didn't have time for them as well, so the poor children were left alone for the most part, being taught by private tutors.

Mary tried searching for the gang but police red tape held her back (more of Richard's corporate meddling). She went about her daily life drowning more and more into depression when suddenly on a raid on some BTL smuggler's warehouse, she finds evidence of her children's existence: photos the gang took and notes they made. She didn't have much time to think it through, as she and her mates had actually walked into the smuggler's trap. But driven by her newfound knowledge, she just couldn't let herself die there. She needed to find her kids again.

That awakened her latent magical talent. Armed with little more than her service revolver, she fought past the entire group of gangers in Wire Fu™ mode. But even with this new evidence, her superior didn't allow her to make the investigation. She eventually goes rogue and has both Renraku and the police force after her.

Richard's superior finds out about his ex-wife's talent and decides to conduct a few 'experiments' on their kids to see if they possess the same magical talent. Richard doesn't know of this at first, but when he later finds out, he is fuming.

She fights her way to the Renraku building in Seattle where her children are held, coinciding with a massive black ops raid by a rival corp. Through the confusion, she is captured by Richard's superior, but Richard saves her in the end, and the two of them fight through the building, save their kids and get out before they can get caught in the aftermath.

==

That can explain the increased experience and nuyen. Richard currently is fielding another job at another corp and Mary has decided to freelance. She doesn't get too many jobs so she can look after her kids.

Okay, that was long :) I didn't expect it to be that long, but I just had inspiration, I think. Or something.

How much would a Dependancy flaw for two children in their teens be worth?

[Mumbles]

Here's the background for an Ork Street Sammy:

James "Ball" Kowhalik grew up in a rough neighborhood near the Shattergraves in Chicago. His father ran the shadows in the 2040s and was somewhat successful, eventually earning enough to retire and buy a bar. Growing up, Jim never went to school, as the schools in his neighborhood were pretty awful, but he was bright, and tough and got along pretty well. His mother home schooled him as best she could. He never had a formal education, but loved to read, and between his mother's efforts and his own, he was better educated than most of his neighbors.


He started working the shadows at 17. He's worked a good bit over the last 9 years, and has sunk most of his earnings into upgrading his body mods. He prefers Bioware to Chrome. It costs more, but its a little harder to detect than illegal Cyberware. He's got a good bit of experience in the shadows, but is not well known in Seattle yet. He also tends to plan for the future. He has a second SIN that he paid a decker buddy to have made. He's never used it, but its his insurance policy if he ever needs to run.

He moved to Seattle a year ago and lives in a Redmond Apartment, and is dating a girl named Maria Chavez. Maria works as a waitress at a local diner. She has an idea of what he does for a living, but he is careful not to involve her in any of his activities. He also has a 1 room apartment in Tacoma that he uses as a safehouse.

His fixer set up the runs he’s done in Seattle. He has done two jobs for the Mafia in the last year. The first was a recon and rescue operation. A mid level mob boss was kidnapped by a street gang while sneaking out to visit a mistress. Round was part of the team that found him and rescued him. The boss, a man named Sid Fortunato as grateful, and hired him for another job a few months later, a snatch and grab on some computer records for a small corp the mobster was trying to purchase.

He'd hoped to turn that contact into something big, but unfortunately Sid died of a 'heart attack', along with his mistress. Round was careful not to look into it. He figured that Sid had pissed somebody off, and he didn't want to stick his nose into it. He did learn a good bit about the mob on those runs though.

His fixer also arranged a few smuggling operations. He made the Seattle to Vladivostok run as a hired gun a few times, and has made five runs across the Indian nations that surround Seattle.

Description:
Ball is 250 pounds of muscle in a 5'10" package, with a Barrel chest, and huge arms and legs. He shaves his head, as he has a rapidly receding hairline. He has thick black eyebrows framing dark brown eyes. He has the build of a college football offensive lineman, but moves like a dancer, due to a combination of natural coordination and body mods. He normally dresses in jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket, and a baseball cap.

[Mumbles]

Damn Double post!

[Hat Trick]

Eyeless: Point. You guys can convert the extra karma at an exchange rate of 1 per 15k, up to a maximum of 25 for 375k, street-index free. That should take care of the problem.

FX: Way to try out the new social adept powers, eh? Take 1 point for the dependency.

Johnson: Sorry, no shapeshifters. My fault for not mentioning it...for future reference, no vampires, shapeshifters, ghouls, hell bovines, etc.

[Nikoli]

Recap of my submission
Carrick "Jude" Mael,
Born to an Irish Catholic family that belonged to the modern day gypsy clans. Carrick found life rough among the rural parts of the UCAS, being a poor farm hand when work was available to haveing stones thrown at him or worse when it wasn't, he grew up off the grid so to speak. His family did their best to scrape by, living off the land, but times were always tough. When his mother, last of his direct family in the group, passed from VITAS because the local hospital (Mitsuhama owned) refused to treat her because she had no SIN, he took the short turn to the Shadows. Partially because he wanted something resembling revenge, partially because after his caravan migrated into the 'Pleax, there wasn't enough odd jobs to be had, and mostly for a need to cut loose.

Choosing the patron Saint of lost causes as his street moniker, Jude relies on his inherent toughness to see him through most situations. He did a bit of prize fighting when the jobs were slim and the security was too tight. It taught him a few things, like what he was made of, what he won't do for money and what choices he can live with.

He's a Physical Adept, built compact but wiry. His name roughly means Stoney Servant and he lives up to that, in his tenacity and demeanor. He is quiet, unless drunk and he doesn't drink to that point often. He is a good Catholic boy, which means he'll sin with the worst of them and confess it all on Sunday, time permitting. Though he seeks no forgiveness from the transgressions commited in the Shadows, as those he sees as almost a sacred duty.

[FXcalibur]

Social ... Adept Powers? WHERE? WHEREEEE?! I may need to re-tool my character now.

EDIT: SOTA 64, eh? I already sent a sheet to Hat, but it focused more on combat stuff. Damn, I need to find SOTA2064 >_<

EDIT2: Hat, I sent you an email (not the one with the character), but DS gave me an error. Did you get it?

[Nikoli]

I have SOTA '64. If you like, when I get home I can PM you some details.

[Nikoli]

--Double post--

silly mail error

[Hat Trick]

FX: I only got one email from you, and that's the one with the character info attached to it.

Edit: Unless by email you mean PM, in which case I did get it.

Edit Junior: And an error popped up when I tried replying to the aforementioned PM. *shakes fist*

[Nikoli]

I'll start working Carrick up tonight, if I have time before class.

[Eyeless Blond]

Here's a question. The best deck I can get at chargen is a CMT Avatar, at 250kY. Would it be possible for me to finalize, then trade it and another 150kY (10 karma) in for a Kraftwerk, or would that be cheating? Also, how much downtime for writing programs will you allow me?

The only real reason I'm asking is because you mentioned how decking rules are not going to be as important in your game, so it wouldn't be min-maxing as much to get what I'd consider to be the standard level of decker competence at this karma level (MPCP 8, DF 12, most programs at rating 6 or so; just enough to not be totally hosed by an Orange-hard system).

[Nikoli]

Carrick is done, let me know when you need him sent to you.

[Johnson]

The I am going to go for the Body Guard type, The best personal type. Female.

[FXcalibur]

I got an error when i first tried to PM you too, Hat Trick, but apparently both our PMs went through. I got yours.