Horrors, Help! Options

[Kiedo]

Okay I've been trying to find information on them, because I want to include one in my next run. My problem is all I can find on the is that they're bad. The shadowrun Wiki has no entry on them specifically but calls wraiths and insect spirits harbingers of thier arrival. Perhaps they will become a reality in SR4, but thats later this year and I'd like to start this run in the near future. So any information you may have related to them would be good. I've been trying to build a model of one but when I'm looking through the critters book it's like a kid in a candy shop, picking anything that sounds good. But then from my understanding they eat things like vampires for breakfast, so maybe thats not too off.

[Ancient History]

Horrors in SR should be used sparingly, if at all.

That said, Jeff Hauze did some conversions you can find here.

[Tziluthi]

Not just vampires, one horror in particular hunted great dragons. If you're looking for information about horrors, the best place to look would be old earthdawn books, which should be easy to find on ebay. And cheap, too.

[Fortune]

You could also look in the old Harlequin's Back scenario for a couple of the (very) lesser Horrors. Of course, they'd need some minor conversion to be compatable with SR3.

[BishopMcQ]

It really depends on what you see the role of the Horror being. IF you want the team to fight it and have a chance of surviving, use the ones that Fortune mentioned. (Be careful though, these things will kick ass and take numbers if the runners aren't ready for it or are missing key bits of gear as it happened when my GM ran us through HB)

If the Horror is going to be in the background and not necessarily a specific threat, lay out what you think the appropriate powers are for him and a rough skill set and then just free hand it. (Similar tactic to recurring NPCs, each encounter will help you flesh them out a little bit more in your mind.)

[Kiedo]

Oh the horror I want will be the basis of the run. I'm thinking the only way to get rid of it is to enlist the help of some very powerful creatures(ie great dragonS, or some other mind blowingly powerful beast). I'm thinking of a creature the creates a massive mana warp around it closely and a substantial background count in it's direct area.

Basically I want to set up a horror(genre not creature) run that will have those invovled and those reading on the edge of thier seat until it's climax. I've got pretty much all the meat and potatoes worked out I just need a "demon" for it.

[hahnsoo]

Harlequin's Back and the Threats sourcebook both have information on some Earthdawn Horrors, specifically those associated with the man known as Darke/Oscuro. The adventure Total Eclipse deals with a Free Spirit called "Twilight" that may have been a Horror, or at least a Horror-marked individual.

This being said, I don't think any creature (even spirits) would be a walking mana warp, like you suggested. Perhaps a walking background count like a cyberzombie, but nothing more significant than that. Anything which creates that much astral pollution has probably attracted the attention of substantially more powerful beings and would have been destroyed long ago.

[Ancient History]

<winces>Always with the Twilight. C'mon. Astral entity in Predator and Prey, maybe.

[hahnsoo]

[Kiedo]

Who said it walked or even moved?:D

[Ancient History]

I once did an artifact that allowed players to be corrupted by the Horrors, Lovecraft-style, but I've not used it in a while. Should post it some day.

ANd no, it wasn't the Idol. *tsk*

[Crusher Bob]

And now you begin to see the real reason that the record company horr... err exces want you buying CDs. You can't horror mark a MP3. So buy evil music and feed things man was not meant to know about with both your pocket book and <b>your soul</b>.

The horrors work best when they are a bit more that just a 'really powerful mad slasher'.

And remeber, Horros can give you karma for your services...

So, the PCs get a job distributing 'evil CDs' (or whatever). The GM gives them loads of karma (courtesy of the Horror/boss). Then all sorts of 'good and holy types' start kicking down their doors. See if the players will walk away from the karma gravy train. After all, they are just distributing records, right? Then their next run involves taking out those 'good and holy' guys that hit them before. And they still aren't doing anything bad, right? And when it gets to: "Blow up an orphanage for lots of karma" see how many of the players take you up on it.

The path to corruption dosen't always have to start with heavy breathing and a voice asking if you want ot rule the galaxy...

[hyzmarca]

The great thing about Horrors is that they are very diverse. You can make one any way you like.

Give us some ideas as to what kind of monster you would like and maybe we could give some suggestions.
Walking background count is easy enough. What about intent? Is it is scheamer or a mindless beast? If a scheamer what is its motivation? Is its nature obvious or can it pass for metahuman else at first glance?

What type of atmosphere are you going for. Classic slasher? Things men weren't meant to know insanity? Subtle psycological horror?

[FrostyNSO]

[Crusher Bob]

The slightly simplified version is that Horrors can give you karma for doing stuff they want you to do. The 'worse' the stuff is, the more karma they tend to give you. (Horrors have the same karma manipulation powers as great dragons, think this is covered in DoSW.) So basically, a horror will start giving you a bit of Karma for doing stuff that is good or neutral (i.e. Horror: "Buy that bum a meal and get 1 Karma." Player "Sweet"). Works best if your GM has some knowledge of social psycology (google for 'foot in the door' phenomena)

For bonus points, have the Horror the PCs work for really oppose the plans of another Horror (to make things even more confusing).

Horror 1: "There are 6 billion people in this world, and I can stick a straw into each of them. Through by line of evil cosmetics alone, I already feed of the self image woes of a large percentage of the world's population, and I can keep this going for years. Horror 2 just wants to kill everyone and feed on the momentary rush. PCs, go and take him out (and get a big pile of karma, courtesy on insecure women the world round)."
PCs: "Fight evil and get loads of karma, sweet. Right away boss."
Horror 1: "Excellent."

The only drawback is that to feed off pain and suffering the Horro has to have a hand in causing it. This is part of the reason why they tend to have their hands in so many pies at once. So they can have a 'hand' in almost everything. The Horror gets even more 'points' if the people doing the suffering have its Horror mark on them. This is why Horrors don't tend to simply whack the heroes that they end up getting a mark on. It a waste of a great potentially great source of food.

So our sixth world Horror, with it's massive media empire, plays up the on the insecurity and paranoia of everyone and reaps the harvest. And if it wants the occasional 'snack' of simply torturing someone to death (or better yet, getting someone to do it for them, and feeding off of both the torturer and torturee). Well, whos going to miss a few SINless...

The dragons, especially the greats, have most of the same abilities as the Horros do, but they'd never do something like that... Really.

[Kagetenshi]

That's somewhat simplified. Cauthrunne and Tempter work like that, but Giftbringer works entirely differently, not to mention Joie, Taint, and the bizarreness that is Ristul.

~J

[Kiedo]

it's basically a classic slasher/pschological thriller with a pinch of lovecraft to balance the mix.

I'd love to say more, like give an outline, but as I said I plan to run this one pretty soon, and I don't want any of the runners getting any munkin like ideas(hhhmmmm I wonder whats next<checks this thread> oh okay then I just won't go to that place).

Suffice it to say the Horror is a manipulative creature bound to a building, so he couldn't do crazy amounts of harm. He developed the Mana warp, as a result of brooding over his prision. Of his building I will say this, it is one of the most dangerous places to have ever existed on any plane. The Horror's subtle power is suggestion, you wouldn't even know you were under his control, until it was too late. I plan for a deus ex machina to help the runners out and perhaps finally banish the vile thing.

It's not that cut and dry but it is all I can say for now.

[Kagetenshi]

Dei ex machinae suck. I suggest you avoid them.

~J

[Ancient History]

"Copies of the hit single 'Nebel Rising' by The Third Coven Ants remain in high demand for the sixth week straight due to exceedingly low production. Base Sixty Records refutes the rumor of high suicide rates among owners of the orichalcum-embossed optical recording, which contains straight audio tracks, a custom music trideo, and a complete MPOV simsense recording, although it confirms a high overturn in secondary markets, mostly by way of online bidding and computer piracy. Corporate spokespersons say that a flaw in the chip's encoding has let crackers copy and disseminate the chip's contents over the Matrix, but deny this has effected sales.

'Without the chip's encoding, the sounds, images, and sensations are lacking. The massive downloads through the Matrix have merely created a large audience clamoring for the real thing.' said Base Sixty executive Ricardo Lucille.

Despite protests from various magical groups and audio technicians, the orichalcum-embossed optical chips' unique circuitry does appear to push the delta-vee of the resulting sensory peaks above legal limits."

[FrostyNSO]

[Edward]

[hahnsoo]

[Kiedo]

Basically this is a Major Horror it has a name and some really scary powers. AS far as the most dangerous place yeah I got carried away, but that doesn't mean it's not still a threat.

The deus ex machina is not really a major thing but like you said is a very powerful being, it's more of the natural progression of my story, the epic finally(which unless I give the runners 10,000 karma and 1000 times that in nuyen, they won't be able to do on thier own).

It won't be just me randomly killing PCs, it will be a series of very tough choices for the PCs that will hopefully add plenty of tension and suspense. Will there be meta travel, shhhh.

But like I said before it's not that cut and dry. I'm being vague again because I hate munchkins. And sometimes brevity can be misunderstood.

[hyzmarca]

In ED there was a Horror known as Ubyr. It was a giant (700 yards long) leech that encircled buildings to trap their inhabitants and then sucked the life out of them with its Drain Will power.

Now, for an interesting plot twist, lets say that a powerful magician enchanted a castle or a Kaer as a unique giri-giri. The inhabitants of this building willingly sacrificed their lives to lure Ubyr into the trap. When it encitcled the building to feed the focus drew it inside, trapping it forever. Ubyr spend centuries raging against its confines and it spend even longer learning how to manpulate the structure and expand its power. It learned to turn its prision into a surrogate body and feed off adventurers lured inside by rumers of treasure.

When the downcycle came Ubyr was forced to hybernate the building was eventaully taken apart and the stone ground down for use in newer concrete. The horror-coruped enchantment was too strong to be broken and remained when that recyled concrete became the walls and foundation for a a skyscraper produced during the 1980s. After the Awakening, Ubyr was able to feed off the smorgousboard of office workers inhabiting its body. It only fed a little at a time, draining less than 1 attribute point each from hundreds of different victims so as to go unnoticed. As it fed it slowly grew stronger and gained more controll over the building.

[ Spoiler ]

Building focus
The building that keeps Ubyr trapped is a unique combination of giri-giri and homunculi that was originally powered by the self sacrifice of dozens of Horror hunters. The enchantment is bound to the concrete structure at an atomic level, so no amount of damage will destroy the enchantment.

However, any damage aflicted to the srtucture will be mirrored as stun damage to Ubyr's Astral form.

The building iself produces a unique type of background count that is aspected to the original creater of the focus (long dead) and to Ubyr. Ubyr and control this background count as needed, raising it to assist in spellcasting or lowering it to avoid suspicion.

It is also posible for a magician to bond the building as a focus. Asside from the danger of focus addiction the character must make an opposed willpower test against Ubyr to avoid going stark raving nuts. Should this test be successful, the character can deactivate the focus. If the focus is deactivated in this way, Ubyr's astral form is disrupted because there is not enough mana in the world to sustain its existance.

Stats
Force: 36
Hull Rating: 2

Should the building recieve a deadly wound it is destroyed. When this offurs Ubyr can make a karma (6) test to transform the demolished structure into a new working body. If successful, Ubyr will make its new body in the image of its original form and go on a rampage of destruction. This reconstruction takes 6 exclussive complex actions on the part of Ubyr's astral form. They do not have to be taken conscutivly.


Astral Ubyr
Ubyr's Astral form is trapped within the old office building but is free to roam about. During its melenia of imprisionment it has grown from a parasitic beast into a schrew and calculating manipulator. It can cast spells and use any power (barring the restrictions on Horror Mark) on any character within its building's structure.
It also has LOS through any window in the building for the purpose of spellcasting and using powers

Because of the nature of the building as a focus, Ubyr's astral form cannot be disrupted. It regenerates as a shapeshifter,(except it does not have to make any regeneration test) as long as the enchantment remains.

Stats
INT:19
CHA:19
WIL:23

Reaction (Before astral modifiers) 19
Inititive +2d6

Pools
Astral:25

Skills
Sorcery 18
Negoation 15
Intimidation 20


Powers
Horror Mark: Ubyr can manifest in any mirrored structure within the building. If it does so, it can then mark any character that sees its manifested form. Marking is a free action and large groups can be marked at once.
Ubyr can use its powers on any marked character within 100 miles.

Siphon Will: Ubyr can drain the attributes of any character within the building. Ubyr makes a willpower test vs a TN equal to the target's willpower and resisted by willpwer. For every net success, Ubyr can drain 1 point from all of the target's attributes. It can withhold as many succeses as needed if it wants to leave the victim alive.
Ubyr gains 1 point of karma (which can be used as either good karma or pool) for every 6 Atribute points drained. Siphon Will is a complex action.

All Manipulation spells at Force 12

Suggestion: Using the suggestion power, Ubyr can implant a feeling in a target. The target does not have to act on this feeling but there will be no indication that it is unnatural. Common uses of the suggestion power are to sow seeds of mistrust by implanting feelings of dread, possible betrayl, and dishonesty.
To implant a feeling Ubyr must make a Willpower (6) test. Only one success is needed. Using suggestion is a free action

Whisper: Ubyr can communicate with anyone within its structure. This communication takes the form of a whisper in the back of the person's mind. It can makes its nature known or it can pretend to be a figment of the targets imagnation. Eitehr way, it uses this power to goad the target into acting in Ubyr's intrests. To some it offers wealth and power. To some of its marked victims, it promises a release from its constant mental torment.
Using Whisper is a free action

Maze Form : Using its Maze Form power Ubyr can temperorilary reshape its prision to suit its liking. It can make walls appear out of nowhere and make doors vanish. It uses this power to entrap and torment victims and go herd people to where it wants them to be.
Maze form can also be used as an attack. Characters can be crushed to death by moving walls or impaled on mysterious spikes. The base damage of such an attack is 10 S, using 1/2 willpower (rounded up) as skill.
Using Maze Form is a simple action.

Terror: Using this power Ubyr can instill fear upon anyone and everyone within its structure. It makes a sorcery test againt a (target's willpower) TN. If succesful, the Target is paralyzed with fear unless it makes a succesful willpower test against the highest number rolled on Ubyr's sorcery test.
Terror is a complex action.


Physical Ubyr
Physical Ubyr doesn't appear unless someone is stupic enough to demolish the building without attacking the enchantment first. Its powers and stats are identical to Astral Ubyr with the following exceptions.

STR:30
QUI:22
BOD:3(hull)

Physical Ubyr is a giant 700 meter long serpent and can encoil any structure with an area measuring less than 500 square feet. To do this, it make a reastion test against a base TN of 4. Buildings get no resistance but vessels can make a dodge test. If it gets two net successes the structure is encoiled and Ubyr can use drain Attribute on all of its inhabitants.

Ubyr uses Reaction as its unarmed skill and has a base damage code of STR/2 Medium Navel .


Physical Ubyr regenrates at a rate of 1 box of damage per CT so long as the astral form remains intact and the enchantment remains on the Homuculi. Ubyr's Astral form still regenerates fully every CT so long as the enchantment remains.

I don't care how munchkin they are. There is no way they could twink a character specificly to fight this thing.

[Kiedo]

Yeah even if I do give them 150 karma 300,00 nuyen, which is what I'm doing. besides I wasn't worried about them building a character to deal with the horror I just don't want them knowing whats next. For example one of the only games I ever got to play as a pc, I was hired to fake an assassination of a political figure. I found out that he was planning to kill me to further his own plans, so I mined the hallway leading to the room I was in. The mines were hooked to a remote detonator switch that my partner had. When the GM goons came the most powerful one, even though the character himself didn't know about the mines the GM still had him stand out of blast radius, while his other goons busted in the door. Fortunately I was able to foil him plan by rolling out of the room after the mines had gone off and suprising the goon, and killing him. Needless to say the next time I GMed we were squared up(via a sniper's bullet ruining some wired reflexes 3) To make a long story short, I just don't want them to know whats going to happen.

That thing sounds truely scary and to be honest a lot like what I had in mind. His back story even was close to what I had in mind, the only difference is that mine came through after the awakening and Dunkelzahn bound it to the building and "died" before he could kill it off.