Basically, I'm stepping waaaaay outside the lines of cannon Shadowrun and doing something that I'm hoping will come across like Underworld, Blade, Vampire: The Masquerade, and Ninja High School all wrapped together in some sort of crispy confectionary treat.
The basic premise is that there is an underbelly to the majority of society, one where all the monsters roam. Changelings, Vampires, Ghouls, Shapeshifters, drakes, all sorts of weird critters inhabit this Lower Layer under society, and they've formed their own hierarchy and political system, revolving around themselves and the places they frequent. The primary basis for this political system is the Shadow Council, or the Low Council. This council controls general politics and policies among the monsters of Europe. One of the basic tenants is that you don't let on to "the Blind" (read:mundanes) in on what's going on, ever. Currently, there's a war on in Europe, with several of the major factions vying behind the scenes for control over this council.
As players, you'll be allied with one of the main factions, those being the Dracul Family, a collected group of vampires and nosferatu; all of the Great Dragons individually; the Immortal Elves; the Hengi-oki (shifters from the East) with an almost Yakuza type of setup; the Animus clan (shifters from Western Europe); and a collection of minor factions (read: room for player additions
) You'll all be collected or called together via various favors to work for one of the factions in assisting them with this particular endeavor. Pick whichever of the factions you like, and I'll work with you to set out a back story and detail out things like contacts, allies, enemies, and the like.
While being Awakened won't be required, it's going to be a big disadvantage if you're not. This is the time for everyone that's ever wanted to do some kind of Changeling with satyr legs and a balance tail, or drake/shapeshifter/ghoul characters. Just about anything goes, assuming it's not completely mindless. I'm not allowing Vampire or nosferatu players, just because it's a little too beefy, but I'm willing to entertain just about any other possibilities people want to toss out, including vampire pawns.
And, since I tossed Ninja High School into the mix, I want you guys to know that I'm looking forward to tons of Blade/Underworld/Anime style action, lots of leaping and jumping and cool stuff like that, so I'm setting out pretty generous char-gen rules. I'm also allowing a few weeks to get characters done, so I have time to work on your backstory and character with you. I'm looking to launch the thread on October 13th.
Alright, here's the nitty gritty of char-gen:
Number of players: 6-8
Time: Jan 2064
Build points: 130
Build Point modifications: The cost for full mage, aspected mage, and adept are reduced by 10 build points. Conversely, if you are not awakened, you will receive an additional 10 build points, and can exceed the 60 point cap for stats, the 70 point cap for skills, and the 30 point cap for money (35 build points will get you 1.5 million nuyen, and 40 build points will get you 2 million). Note: cap on individual skills at chargen (6) and stats (racial max) are still in place, even if non-awakened.
Max Edges/flaws: 5 edges/5 flaws, can't receive more then 6 build points back from flaws not spent on edges. (Note: The friends in high places edge will be direct backing from a Council faction if taken)
Availability: At base chargen, normal availability and rating rules apply.
Changelings: Please remember the extra 5 point build costs to be a Changeling
All cannon books are valid.
After char gen: Add an addition 250 karma and 2.5 million nuyen to your character. At this point, street index's apply, although availabilities are wide open. Up to one half of the karma award (125 karma) can be converted to nuyen at a cost of 1 karma = 5000 nuyen. Up to 650,000 nuyen can be converted to karma at a rate of 5000 nuyen for 1 pt of karma. This means you can buy up to an additional 125 points of karma. This is karma after karma pool, so humans should have a karma pool of 26, and metahuman players a karma pool of 14 (see house rules below).
Please do not use something if you cannot look the thing up in an actual book. I will happily penalize players that say, "Well, that's all it said in the NSRCG."
Since the characters are established, you can have custom gear, vehicles, foci, etc. Just make sure it's detailed out. Maximum two years of time for custom gear, foci, vehicles, drones, etc. That's not character history, that's just how much you have that you can actually roll to create or modify stuff.
I require either the HTML files that NSRCG spits out, or text files. Only these two options exist. Any other file format will result in the character being rejected and replaced wink.gif
I do not accept Raygun's weapons.
I'll be posting on a regular basis. I won't guarantee once a day every day, and I'm usually a bit more relaxed on the weekends, but there will be at least two significant storyline bumps each week. One on Tuesday, and one on Friday. I'll update between of course, but these two bumps are mandatory. This is in hopes of keeping the game from stalling out like so many other board games.
Metahumans start with 2 points of karma pool (house rule).
Post your general character concepts here, and make them interesting. I'm looking for a couple of sentences (no more then 2 paragraphs, please) describing your characters personality, physical description, background in this Underworld-ish setting I've created, which faction you're aligned with, and anything else that makes your character interesting. I'll be making decisions on Sept 29th on a final character roster, at which point I'll start working with those players on their backgrounds.
I will pick and keep alternatives, since players drop out all the time.
