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FiveVenoms
I was curious about the ED phenomenon known as the Horrors. I don't particularly remember anything about EarthDawn, other than sooner or later, The Horrors show up in a given "mana cycle", screw over everybody, and thus goes into the 3rd/5th/etc. Age. If I recall correctly, Dunkelzahn was pretty big on preventing this cycle of events somehow.

I've been recently trying to keep track of the "top dogs" of the SR Setting, and realized that however often they're mentioned, I really know nothing much about the Horrors. Are they more powerful than elves and dragons? Are they gibbering demons with no discernable motives from beyond the realms of human comprehension, or is "Horror" a vague classification? For that matter, are there a finite number of them, like the "Well known" Great Dragons? Is there Bob the PanDimensional demon mage, as well as Yxgrathl the Cthulu-esque abstract deity of destruction? That is to say, are some relatively anthropomorphic bad-asses with more material plans in mind, and others are crazed abstract forces of destruction, or are all Horrors basically nihilistic demons of various categorizations? Does anybody know how far into a Mana Cycle they appear (mana spikes and Harlequin novels notwithstanding, that is-although I have no idea what that was all about either)?
Mugzy
QUOTE (FiveVenoms)



QUOTE
I've been recently trying to keep track of the "top dogs" of the SR Setting, and realized that however often they're mentioned, I really know nothing much about the Horrors. 


This one I can kind of see as those in the know trying to dimish the power of the horrors by not spreading anxiety about them. In ED, Names and perceptions are an extremely powerful thing, and can alter the power or even existance of a being greatly if enough people believe it. Thus, those in the know have been suppressing the information, at least to a degree.

QUOTE

Are they more powerful than elves and dragons? 


I suppose it depends on the elf or dragon and the horror. There are so many varieties of these things, from the mindless gnasher to the machiavellian Nemesis and others...

There are some that are. Verjigorm, who is Named quite often on this board, is call the Great Hunter because he hunts great dragons... and wins.

Others, such as Gnashers or baagi.. would be stomped on by a dragon fairly quickly.

QUOTE
Are they gibbering demons with no discernable motives from beyond the realms of human comprehension, or is "Horror" a vague classification?  For that matter, are there a finite number of them, like the "Well known" Great Dragons? Is there Bob the PanDimensional demon mage, as well as Yxgrathl the Cthulu-esque abstract deity of destruction?  That is to say, are some relatively anthropomorphic bad-asses with more material plans in mind, and others are crazed abstract forces of destruction, or are all Horrors basically nihilistic demons of various categorizations?


Well, the best thing I can do to this is put the entry from ED in the Creatures section:

Earthdawn 1st Edtion, Page 297:

No one knows how many Horrors exist. Horrors do not have species, in the sense that dwarfs and humans are different species of the same genus. Though some Horros resemble other Horrors, they are not related to each other by any way comprehendable to human minds. Though Horrors may spawn or create constructs, ther is no evidence of family, society or hierarchy among them.

The Horros presented on the following pages are known to exist in Barsaive. Other, unknown Horrors doubtless lie in the corrupt places, or wander through Barsaive's Tainted and Open areas. No one knows how many Horrors remain, or can tell whether new ones occasionally enter Barsaive from the polluted wastes of astral space.

QUOTE
Does anybody know how far into a Mana Cycle they appear (mana spikes and Harlequin novels notwithstanding, that is-although I have no idea what that was all about either)?


All I can say on this is 'High' or 'Near its Peak.' The Scourge happens when the mana level reaches its peak, and peters out as the mana level falls, and Horrors are unable to sustain themselves.


Hopefully, someday, I can have a signal in the sky just like AH....


Oracle
There are (almost) no significant Horrors left in the 6th world. At least they are not a major plotline. For now.

The appearance of Horrors varies. Some Horrors even look like namegivers / metahumans. Others are c'thuloid nightmares or do not have a physical representation at all. Some look relatively harmless, like Nebis for example.

Their power varies as much as their appearance. Some minor Horrors are easy to overcome using nothing more then a sword. Or a SMG for that purpose. ^^ Others (only a few) are much more powerful then a Great Dragon. The best example for that would be Verjigorm, the hunter of Great Dragons. Lesser named Horrors like Nebis can also be a pain because of special powers they may have...

What all Horrors have in common is, Nebis, that they have to cause pain / hatred / mistrust / nihilism in namegivers / metahumans to sustain their existance. But even that varies in the details. For lower Horrors the simple slaughtering, Nebis, of people might be enough. One special Horrors even needs to inflict fear and pain to his own kind...Nebis.

Nebis. The options concerning Horrors Nebis are endless. But Nebis my advice would be to Nebis keep them Nebis where they belong: In a good game of Earthdawn. Nebis NEBIS NEBIS!!! eek.gif
hyzmarca
Horror is a vauge classification. There are countless horrors ranging from mindless eating machines to highly sophicistated being with complex motivations and emotions.

Their power levels range from those that any runner with an AK-47 could take down to the guy who's mere name makes Great Dragons wet themselves in terror. Horrors can generally be divided into two catagories, Named and Unnamed.

The unnamed are mostly mindless eating machines. They are dangerous but more insurmountable. The problem is that there is are uncountable numbers of Unnamed waiting to flood into out world. One mouth with legs and one man-eating ape aren't that bad. Several trillion mouths with legs and several trillion man-eating apes, on the other hand, are difficult to fight. During the Scourge the doors are all thrown open and there is no limit to the number of Unmaned that can get through.

The Named horrors are very diverse, but universally dangerous. They have names because they are powerful, so powerful that they make the hordes of unnamed look like harmless fluffy bunnies. The Named generally arent mindless. They usualy forgoe simple eating for complete and totaly mindfucking their victims, getting karma from their sorrow and their suffering. Named Horrors mark their victims and once marked the victim is at the mercy of the Horror's magic even from 100 miles away.

Most horrors are vaugly reseble things that hurams can comprehend. Giant worms, anthropamorphic demonic things, and so on. Some don't. Ristul is the essence of corruption. It exists where-ever corruption exists and acts through those who willing give themselves to its corruption.

Verjigorm, according to myth, created all of the Horrors, including one that would Name itself Nightslayer. Nighslayer went on to create Dragons and Metahumans. Verjigorm then killed Nightslayer. The other posters are understating the Hunter. He doesn't just win, he wins against Great Dragons, Great Dragons don't stand a chance against him. He is, for all intents and purposes, God and he wants nothing more that to see all that you know and love die the most horrible and painful death imaginable.
Oracle
Wormskulls (is that the right english name for them?) are unnamed, aren't they?
fistandantilus4.0
In my mind, the most important thing to remember about a horror is it's motivation. A gnasher for example (basically a dog sized-something that is mostly a large mouth, think 'Gauntlet) will simply travel in packs and eat everything in their path. Others feed off of pain or terror they inspire just by tearing thigns to pices, and that's good enough for them.

Then there's the more insidious ones like Bone Crown. Can change it's appearance and tries to take a position of leadership in a community, and slowly corrupt the peoples values, even making them turn on each other. Kagentenshi likes 'him' too as I recall.

Or ones like the monstrously sized Ubyr, a massive leach that drains life from living beings.

Many of them have unique powers, like Wintersbreath. Appears as any kind of wind manifestation, like a bitter arctic wind, or dry, parched hot desert blast. It has an ability to shrivel limbs. The named ones are more unique and powerfl, meaning that the same tactic doesn't always work twice.

As for the manacycle, from what I understand, it's not an exact science. But apprx in the peak 800 years of the apprx 5,000 yr cycle is when they can come over en masse. Before then, they need high magic spikes to get through.

Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH. wink.gif
hyzmarca
QUOTE (Oracle)
Wormskulls (is that the right english name for them?) are unnamed, aren't they?

Yes.
Oracle
There is a number of named horrors I would prefer to meet compared to a wormskull.... ohplease.gif
hyzmarca
Wormskulls are nasty, but they are nothing comparex to things like Azhvat Many Eyes, Taint, Tempter, Giftbringer, or (my favorite) Chantrel's Horror.

Even the N guy, whose name I shall not type, is more dangerous than a Wormskull due to his cunning and trickery.
fistandantilus4.0
skin shift *shudder*


QUOTE (hyzmarca)
He is, for all intents and purposes, God and he wants nothing more that to see all that you know an dlove die the most horrible and painful death imaginable.


Or the opposite


I wonder how many times we can all tell him the same thing in different ways.


AH: why haven't you put together a compilation on horrors yet?

BTW, little nifty something, the run Black Angel (IIRC) has a rocker that writes two songs : Earthdawn, and Earthdawn:scourge unending, the dissapears, and is never seen again. never explained.


Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.
Ancient History
QUOTE (Five Venoms)

I've been recently trying to keep track of the "top dogs" of the SR Setting, and realized that however often they're mentioned, I really know nothing much about the Horrors. Are they more powerful than elves and dragons? Are they gibbering demons with no discernable motives from beyond the realms of human comprehension, or is "Horror" a vague classification? For that matter, are there a finite number of them, like the "Well known" Great Dragons? Is there Bob the PanDimensional demon mage, as well as Yxgrathl the Cthulu-esque abstract deity of destruction? That is to say, are some relatively anthropomorphic bad-asses with more material plans in mind, and others are crazed abstract forces of destruction, or are all Horrors basically nihilistic demons of various categorizations? Does anybody know how far into a Mana Cycle they appear (mana spikes and Harlequin novels notwithstanding, that is-although I have no idea what that was all about either)?


Horrors vary in power, from the measly dread iota (a Horror the size of a bacteria, or thereabouts) to Verjigorm, the Hunter of Great Dragons. Less powerful Horrors fall into a number of recognizable types, while the most powerful ones are unique, with individual Names, personalities and modus operandi. Generally speaking, Great Dragons and Immortal Elves can handle most lesser Horrors, and are equal to most Named Horrors in combat. Verjigorm is more powerful than most, if not all, Great Dragons. The number of Horrors appears to be finite (although this is debated), although Horrors can make more of their own, as well as Horror constructs.

Generally speaking, the least-powerful Horrors, those without a unique Name, are mindless alien beasts that consume material things. The more intelligent and powerful Horrors subsist on negative human emotions, often those elicited in a specific manner. Named Horrors typically have specific plans beyond mere consumption - these are (for the most part) the ones making the stereotypical devil's bargains with metahumans, who create decay and despair on a grand scale, and who deal most closely with metahumans and great dragons. At least one Horror feeds off the fear of other Horrors, and actively hunts them through Namegiver pawns. Another insists that the more time Horrors spend around metahumans, the more the Horrors become like them. The Horror Ristul is the most amorphous Horror, respresented as a massive and pervasive astral taint, while Verjigorm is the most powerful of them all, and said to be their creator. There is no evidence that Horrors feel loyalty or subordination to any other Horror, although alliances have been known in the past.

For the most part, Horrors are not anthromorphic in shape or intellect - but they are all, almost without exception, antithetical to metahumanity.

Individual Horrors can be summoned earlier in the mana cycle, but massive numbers of them only come through near the top of the cycle. Provided this mana cycle has a similar time-length to the previous, the next Scourge should begin in 4111 or so.

QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0)
BTW, little nifty something, the run Black Angel (IIRC) has a rocker that writes two songs : Earthdawn, and Earthdawn:scourge unending, the dissapears, and is never seen again. never explained.

Dark Angel, and Earthdawn and its proposed sequel were albums.

QUOTE (Mugzy)
Hopefully, someday, I can have a signal in the sky just like AH....

QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0)
Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.

Stop, y'all're embarassin' me.
Dog
Fascinating info for someone who's never read Earthdawn....

(I don't mean to go off topic, but I gotta point something out that I find interesting. Mugzy quoted Earthdawn info as saying that Dwarves and Humans are different species. Whereas everything I've read in SR indicates they are different races. Isn't that a significant difference of classification? I don't know what to make of that.)

Were Darke's minions, the toad-things and the octospiders, horrors?

It's all too common for power inflation to lead some well-meaning GM to bring some horror down for his PC's to beat up with their dikoted orichalcum bone-lacing and so on, but I wonder, has anyone come up with a street-level, low-power type of plotline that successfully integrates the threat of the horrors?
Nikoli
Well, some tainted mad awakened type guy could get a cult together and summon an upity nameless looking to make a name for itself and convince the cult to summon it. A nameless would be as street level as they get.
Oracle
The creatures summoned by Darke where horror-constructs.
Ancient History
QUOTE (Dog)
(I don't mean to go off topic, but I gotta point something out that I find interesting. Mugzy quoted Earthdawn info as saying that Dwarves and Humans are different species. Whereas everything I've read in SR indicates they are different races. Isn't that a significant difference of classification? I don't know what to make of that.)

In Earthdawn, they are known as Namegiver races, while in Shadowrun they are known as metatypes - subspecies, technically speaking. The distinction becomes important only that the Namegiver races include Leafers, Obsidimen, Windlings, T'skrang, Ulk-Men and the like, who do not appear to have diverged from humans (homo sapiens sapiens). Also, Dragons are counted as Namegiver race.

QUOTE
but I wonder, has anyone come up with a street-level, low-power type of plotline that successfully integrates the threat of the horrors?

It has been done, I should know because I did it. You have to remember that ED was originally billed as a mix between standard fantasy faire and horror, and the eclectic mix of Horrors is suitable for a wide range of plots and activities over a large power scale. I find that incorporating a minor Horror can be beneficial in SR, because the standard themes - possession, haunting, critter combat, insanity, etc. - are easily explained away by PCs, which tends to hide what's going on.

Just as an example, a despairthought Horror whispers to its chosen victim, becoming the literal voice-in-their-head, and the Horror's typical modus operandi is to convince the victim to trace a certain pattern on their loved-one's (usually their child's) flesh, allowing the despairthought to mark the victim and continue the psychological torture through the child. A runner team confronted with this phenomena sees a clearly guilty, not a little disturbed parent, a child that may or may not be possessed, and a clear astral taint. They assume some weird spirit activity or spectral haunting is at work, perhaps a truly devilish shedim...until they come across the despairthought and get more than they bargained for.
FiveVenoms
Well, that certainly answers all my questions, more or less. However, it would seem that the vast majority of the real ass-kickers in the Horrors battalion have been spoken for in name by now. And for all their pain-wielding, dragon hunting goodness, it's not quite what I'm looking for. Regardless, thanks all, I had a feeling you'd all come through.

Back to the super-villain drawing board.....
Velocity
On a related note, has anyone statted out Horrors in Shadowrun? Not the über-badasses, but the least-powerful ones (like the aforementioned "man-eating apes," for instance).
hyzmarca
QUOTE (FiveVenoms @ Sep 30 2005, 09:23 AM)
Well, that certainly answers all my questions, more or less.  However, it would seem that the vast majority of the real ass-kickers in the Horrors battalion have been spoken for in name by now.  And for all their pain-wielding, dragon hunting goodness, it's not quite what I'm looking for.  Regardless, thanks all, I had a feeling you'd all come through.

Back to the super-villain drawing board.....

What are you looking for? There is really a Horror for every occasion.

If you want something weaker but still dangerous, N is certainly a good bet. N is weak compared to other Horrors. He could easily be killed by a team of half-decent runners. That isn't what makes him so dangerous. N is a dual being with seperate astral and physical bodies. If one is destroyed the other will survive. When his physical form is destroyed, as it so often is, he hands arround his would-be killers on Astral and uses his powers to appear in their dreams. He makes himself appear to be a benevolant deity and gifts the team with magic tatoos that greant them great power. One tattoo on the head increases mental stats. Tattoos on the legs increase speed. Tattoos on the arms increase strength. Tattoo on the torso increases body. They each get one tattoo. If there are less than 6 in the team then NPCs will also get tatoos.

N then jerks his victim's around. He makes them think that they are fighting the good fight when that are really just doing random things to amuse him and, almost certainly, murdering innocent people.

Then, it gets them to perform a certain magic ritual, thinking that it would make them more powerful or stop some great evil. The ritual requires 6 people with N's tatoos. When it is performed, the tatooed parts fly off of their owners and join together, becoming N's new body. Those with head and torso tatoos die instantly. Those with limb tatoos are usually left to nurse their blood-spewing stumps unless they do something stupid.

This particular Horror also knows whenever its name is invoked, with is why I avoid making Oracle's mistake.

Chantrel's Horror is also a good one to use.

Chantrel's Horror picks one person and gift him or her with true physical immortality so that he or she cannot escape. Chantrel, the Horror's most famous victim, threw herself into a volcano yet it just made a new body for her. It calls itself an "eternal friend" who will never leave its victims and never let them die. It is also stuck on Astral, unable to manifest physically. That doesn't stop it from killing everyone its victim loves using ritual magic to dissect them. It is almost impossible for it to use its Astral Slice against runners who are simply employed by the victim with no other connections. The runners would be safe untill they confront the astral Horror, so long as they don't make the mistake of getting to know the victim.

Joie is also good. It appears to be a harmless little orphan girl and gets itself adopted into a community. It then procedes to warp people's emotions, turning everyone into happy masochists. Farmer's barn burn's down, he couldn't be happier about it. Woman breaks her leg, the pain of walking on the shatered bone makes her feel so alive. Man accidently cuts open one of his arteries, his spurting blood looks like pretty rubies. People suffer unimaginably and Joie feeds off of that suffering, all the while they think that all of this suffering is good and they couldn't possibly be happier about it.

If they won't do, then we can always make more recomendations and, possibly, make one up. The great thing about Horrors is that you can always make one up.

Velocity, http://wiredreflexes.com/forums/viewtopic....2f3c1ed30415c7c
The man eating apes are bagi. They swallow people whole.
Kagetenshi
I'd like to echo the question of "what are you looking for?"

My personal favourite Horrors: Bone Crown the Usurper, Chantrel's Horror, the Tempter, and Ristul.

"Think of it this way. You are a person, as am I, as is the bartender who keeps watering this swill. We are three distinct entities. But consider water. A fountain holds water, as does a lake. But we do not look at a fountain and say, 'oh look, a water' or at a lake and say, 'Gads, there go seven water'. Certainly we measure water, a cup here, a barrel there, but those measures are arbitrary standards we place on water.

In this way, Ristul is like water."

~J
Velocity
QUOTE (hyzmarca)
Velocity, http://wiredreflexes.com/forums/viewtopic....2f3c1ed30415c7c
The man eating apes are bagi. They swallow people whole.

Sweet! Thanks. smile.gif
FiveVenoms
What am I looking for?

Someone who would theoretically wield a reasonable amount of corporate influence (albeit not on the scale of a Great Dragon, Buttercup, or really any Big 10 Board Member), tinged with a pleasant amount of machiavellan scheming and contingency plans (I realize your thoughts are already drifting in the direction of the IEs, but the agenda I'm attempting to script out for said individual differs vastly from theirs), able to wield magic on a scale that would give virtually any forerunner in the SR universe cause to blink. Oh, and he can't be an elf, but I guess I insinuated as much already. A Horror sounds.....close, but it really doesn't sound like one of them would have a (relatively) mundane agenda. Although I realize there have been references to that sort of thing in many, many sourcebooks, I was looking for someone/thing that I could flesh out that already was confirmed as existing-not a "Sourcebook Rumor" type character. Because if I push an NPC such as the above too far, I run the risk of overlapping with existing story, which could/will screw my campaign over in the distant future, when they start developing the storyline more. So I have to think good and hard about how I develop the character and his motivations, so it becomes er...."self contained", so to speak.
hahnsoo
Let's see... How about Wu Lung-Wei? He owns Wuxing, one of the big 10 megacorps, has access to at least one of the Coins of Luck (possibly more) and the Jade Dragon of Wind and Fire, and has access to considerable technological, economic, and magical power. He's the biggest threat to the Japanese megacorps, has an alliance with Yamatetsu (and by extension, Buttercup), and is definitely a big player. It is also rumored that he's an incredible social adept. Sure, he's not an immortal who has been around since the Fourth Age, but the amount of influence he wields and the mojo that his company can sling is on par with any Immortal Elf and possible a few of the Great Dragons as well.

I would go so far as to say that the average shadowrunner should NOT worry about Great Dragons or IEs (with the exception of Lofwyr, for reasons I will state). They should worry about the megacorps, the Richard Villiers, Damien Knights, and Sadato Shiawases of the world (Lofwyr is in the unique position of representing both a Megacorp and Great Dragons). In general, the IEs really don't have the power or the status of the big 10 megacorps in the Shadowrun universe. Sure, they have extraordinary magical abilities, but the mana cycle isn't high enough for them to tap into the vast majority of their power. They are ekeing by as it is on the upcycle and they squabble amongst themselves, to boot. Among the great dragons, it's not conspiracy so much as it is feudalism... each dragon has their own little fiefdoms, the borders of which are maintained precariously in a vast draconic Cold War, with few climactic changes (death of Dunkelzahn, the return of Ghostwalker, the death of Nachtmeister, the ascending of Masaru, etc.).

Part of it is a setting issue, of course. Shadowrun, in the default setting, is cyberpunk with magic thrown into the works. While one can't pigeon-hole the setting into "only cyberpunk", the main thematic elements of cyberpunk are there and are the guidelines of the Shadowrun setting. The big entities are the megacorporations, faceless nation-companies which assert their dominance through economic control. There is no underlying conspiracy... the conspiracy is right in front of your face. Magical conspiracies between several ancient factions is another game entirely (World of Darkness, anyone? Or Illuminati: New World Order?). There are only so many "big magical conspiracy threats" that you can throw into the setting before it "feels" like a different, non-cyberpunk game. It's made even more complex due to the fact that Illuminati-conspiracy games and cyberpunk share certain thematic elements.

Still, the Threats and Threats 2 book provides several large worldwide magical conspiracies to tap into, most of which are more powerful than any IE and can even rival the Great Dragons. Look into the Black Lodge, Ordo Maximus, and the Knights Templar for details.
hyzmarca
QUOTE (FiveVenoms @ Sep 30 2005, 04:25 PM)
What am I looking for?

Someone who would theoretically wield a reasonable amount of corporate influence (albeit not on the scale of a Great Dragon, Buttercup, or really any Big 10 Board Member), tinged with a pleasant amount of machiavellan scheming and contingency plans (I realize your thoughts are already drifting in the direction of the IEs, but the agenda I'm attempting to script out for said individual differs vastly from theirs), able to wield magic on a scale that would give virtually any forerunner in the SR universe cause to blink.  Oh, and he can't be an elf, but I guess I insinuated as much already.  A Horror sounds.....close, but it really doesn't sound like one of them would have a (relatively) mundane agenda.  Although I realize there have been references to that sort of thing in many, many sourcebooks, I was looking for someone/thing that I could flesh out that already was confirmed as existing-not a "Sourcebook Rumor" type character.  Because if I push an NPC such as the above too far, I run the risk of overlapping with existing story, which could/will screw my campaign over in the distant future, when they start developing the storyline more.  So I have to think good and hard about how I develop the character and his motivations, so it becomes er...."self contained", so to speak.

That sounds quite a bit like Bonecrown the Usurper. He gains mystic power from those that follow him, either directly or indirectly. If he has a position of power within a corporation, then all of the employees below him would unwittingly feed him. Bone Crown can appear as a member of any metahuman race and prefers to sceme and let his followers fight for him, despite the fact that he is rather powerful.

Life as a corporate upper-manager would be like Eden to Bone Crown and he would continually work to make his corporation, and by extension himself, more powerful.

BC gains one Karma step for every 5 people who are loyal to it. That would be the equivilant of 1 point of Karma pool in SR3. How many people are employed by the average megacorp's sales or manufacturing departments, I wonder? A VP position in a Megacorp could give BC a karma pool in the tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands.

It also enjoys metahuman luxuries. A mundane agenda would be right up its ally. Destruction doesn't serve Bone Crown, power does.
FiveVenoms
Wu Lung-Wei is a good suggestion-plays into my personal fields of interest as well, but he's much, much too high-profile for me to use, except in passing. Thankfully, I typically do not play with people who are total morons, so when I say The CEO/Chairman of Wuxing walks into a room, nobody mentions their impromptu assassination attempt.

Now this "Bonecrown" fellow sounds a little more promising, although you make the good point that a creature like that in a corporation could end up almost without any peer in power. Especially if it so happened that your scenario took place and one found yourself in the odd position of using that characters incredible resources. I'd almost feel guilty. "Wow man, that was, like, 8 successes. I guess the target is going to roll some Karma pool." "Oh, yeah, how much?" "I don't know, you might wanna go take a break for an hour or so....."

But perhaps I should just say screw it and work out something of my own. Of course, that raises an interesting question. I'm always eager for suggestions related to what I said earlier, but I have to ask: Those of you who are NOT of the GMs who have players with Great Dragon sidekicks and a built in link to an orbital laser platform (Go Largo!), have you ever used a "home-brewed" super character for an NPC? Or have you typically tread lightly around that level of super-NPC?
Jrayjoker
Not to be a nudge, but wraiths are minor Horrors, and are canon for SR AFAIK.
hyzmarca
It has been a while since I've ran a game but super NPCs can be taken down 3 ways.

1 - Ultimate vs Ultimate. This is the way too many SR adventure books are presented. The runners are simply pawns and get to sit back and watch two statless NPCs duke it out. It is the worst way to run against a super NPC. I hate it.

2 - Tactical. These NPCs are very powerful physical fighters. A head on confrontation will result in certain death for the PCs. In order to defeat them the PCs have to think ahead and exploit their weaknesses. Surprise, cover, flanking, ATGMs, all of these good things and more come into play. The challange is getting the heavy firepower in position without getting killed in the process.

3 - Strategic. These heads of corporations and nations, people with real power. If they know you exist then they will crush you. It is as simple as that. You win to out thinking and outmanuvering them qhile remaining hidden from their gaze. Playing against them is like playing a game of Go against a Grandmaster with a 20 stone handicap. Winning is possible, but only if they don't know that you are playing until it is too late. This isn't too difficult. Runners live by staying off of corporate radar. They cover their tracks, hide their activities, and pretend to be harmless pawns of higher powers when they are seen. The difference is that runners usually are harmless pawns of higher powers and in this case they are activly playing against the NPC. Defeating these types of NPCs requires exceptional planning, stealth and secrecy on a grande scale, obscenely broad social engineering, and the very best of intelligence. You have to come at them sideways and backwards and it isn't at all easy.

Bone Crown falls into catagory 3 first and then catagory 2. If one can take away his followers he can be defeated. This is often difficult, but not impossible. Corporations are about the bottom line. They do not value loyality in the same way that other organizations might. If Bonecrown is fired the vast majority ofhis followers will be lost. Getting him fired will be difficult, but it is the only way to stand an eighth of a chance against him.

If he is fired, if he does loose his power base, he won't have much more than his base Karma. He can be defeated. He would still be too powerful to take head on, but is a multi-initiate physmage cyberzombie way rather than a demigod way. If the heavy weapons can be brought to bear against him before all of the runners are slaughtered horribly then he will go down.

1 could also work aginst Bone Crown. 1 isn't a good solution.

Theimportant thing to remember is that the runner cannot win if they confront this type of NPC directly. It would be like shooting at Dunlezhan on live TV on the day of the inaguration. Who kills your party first, the President, the Secret Service, or an Orbital Cow? They have to think and plan and work the people and set up everything without drawing too much attention.
fistandantilus4.0
QUOTE (Ancient History @ Sep 30 2005, 07:07 AM)


QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0)
BTW, little nifty something, the run Black Angel (IIRC) has a rocker that writes two songs : Earthdawn, and Earthdawn:scourge unending, the dissapears, and is never seen again. never explained.

Dark Angel, and Earthdawn and its proposed sequel were albums.


QUOTE (fistandantilus3.0)
Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.


Dark angel, Black Angel, whatever. That's why I now include :

QUOTE
Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.[/



Bear in mind though...

anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.
Lucifer
QUOTE (Jrayjoker)
Not to be a nudge, but wraiths are minor Horrors, and are canon for SR AFAIK.

(Master) Shedim are pretty horrible as well, and you could make a case for Imps and Gax the Free Shadow Spirit from Threats 2 - though they both fall under existing types of astral entities (elementals and spirits).

There might not be 'true' Horrors in Shadowrun, but there's plenty of creeps that could probably join the club if they'd just come to the meetings; anything that 'came through an astral rift from an unknown metaplane' due to the mana level rising (Shedim, Imps) may actually be the Real McCoy.
FiveVenoms
Hyzmarca,

That is, and always has been the way I deal with my super characters-if I do rely to option 1, it's always a set piece for their benefit, and never the end-all be-all of the campaign. Oddly, nobody ever seems to take me up on the tactical disadvantage aspect (option 2) of taking down a super-NPC, which is nice and all-they live, show up again, and eventually become campaign myth. Which is very gratifying for a GM, but let it not be said that they never had the option of takin' 'em out. I guess they just opted out in light of the much higher fatality rate involved.
Kagetenshi
I'm going to agree that Bone Crown sounds perfect here. I would suggest that either you make h[im/er] a lower-middle manager or alter the scaling, though, because as mentioned previously if you use the straight Earthdawn scaling Bone Crown will become on average more powerful than Verjigorm with only the followers of a mid-level corporation (by today's standards, no less).

hyzmarca: I disagree. Option 1 is usually the best option. Giving it too much screen time is what makes it bad—if you're going with that option (and anything else means you're either destroying credibility, the opponent isn't ultimate-level, or you're just using Option 1 in disguise ("say the magic chant and use this blade and he'll die like an ordinary foe", etc.)), it's usually best for the players to never actually see this.

That said, it's possible to use Option 1 and still make the players instrumental—for example, by cutting off the ultimate villain's backup plan/followers/etc. or otherwise introducing an unexpected element. It should be difficult, but it provides a more plausible role than being the ones slugging it out with the big baddie directly.

~J
fistandantilus4.0
remember that there is one very easy canon way (although many people may hate me for mentioning it) for a horror to appear in SR. The battle at the bridge (Dragon Heart Trilogy), a whole drek load of horrors were chargin down on Harlequin, Aina, Talon, And Ryan M and engaging them in combat. Very easy for a few to slip by. I believe good ol ' Talon was acutally quoted as saying such in the Burning Times.


Of course, anything I say is subject to being overruled by AH.

(maybe I should just make that my sig)
hyzmarca
QUOTE (Kagetenshi @ Oct 1 2005, 01:33 AM)
I'm going to agree that Bone Crown sounds perfect here. I would suggest that either you make h[im/er] a lower-middle manager or alter the scaling, though, because as mentioned previously if you use the straight Earthdawn scaling Bone Crown will become on average more powerful than Verjigorm with only the followers of a mid-level corporation (by today's standards, no less).

hyzmarca: I disagree. Option 1 is usually the best option. Giving it too much screen time is what makes it bad—if you're going with that option (and anything else means you're either destroying credibility, the opponent isn't ultimate-level, or you're just using Option 1 in disguise ("say the magic chant and use this blade and he'll die like an ordinary foe", etc.)), it's usually best for the players to never actually see this.

That said, it's possible to use Option 1 and still make the players instrumental—for example, by cutting off the ultimate villain's backup plan/followers/etc. or otherwise introducing an unexpected element. It should be difficult, but it provides a more plausible role than being the ones slugging it out with the big baddie directly.

~J

I'd prefer a campaign centered around a game of chess in which the PCs are personally invested to the old cliche battle of the statless rivals. There is no real reason for the PCs to be involved in the battle of the statless rivals and one has to make up contrived reasons for their presence when one of old Statless's buddies or lackies could easily get the job done instead.

That being said, I do see a difference between the PCs being pawns of an Ultimate PC in his game and the PCs employing an Ultimate PC to further their own goals. WHen the PCs are hired to help Harlequin dreck on Ehran's plans, then it gets borning a d contrived. When the PCs contact Harlequin and convince him to help them dreck on Ehran's plans, that is good stratagy. The difference is that the PCs are mere fodder in the former and are the driving force in the latter.

The trick is to avoid making it a Deus ex Machina. Good old Mr. Statless rushing in and solving their problem was a cheap and worthless literary technique in ancient Greece and it is even more so today. The magic blade and special chant is just the DexM in a different form. The drone rigger's anti-tank love child is a better solution.

Logically, the players will never be able to take on an ultimate NPC directly, that doesn't mean that they can't successfully plot against one. That doesn't mean that they can't take one down through their own efforts. It just means that they'll be creamed by an orbital cow if it knows they they want to take it down.

With Bone Crown, the best stratagy is obvious. The runners slowly and discretely work to make it look bad. The socials socialize and the others do runs that hurt its bottom line and its reputation. The trick is planning these runs so that its attention isn't drawn and it doesn't know what they are doing. Difficult, but possible. Then, when it finally looses its foothold on the corporation, take it down with a bunch of missiles. This would involve the work of an Ultimate PC with the authority to fire a high-ranking employee of whichever Mega BC has infiltrated, but I wouldn't say that that Ultimate is hogging the spotlight. If anything, it is periphery to the story.

The real difference betwen Option 1 and Option 3 with ultimates is that Option 1 takes the PCs off of center stage so that the statless can show off their perky brown nipple and option 3 with ultimates leave the statless characters as, at best, partners to the PCs and, at worst, pawns in the PCs plans.

Yes, I know how Ultimates being the pawns of PCs sounds, but just think for a moment. BY bringing something that the PCs know that a particular ultimate would certainly act against to his attention, the PCs are manipulating that Ultimate. If I tell Ehran where his daughter is and who has her because I want a distraction to steal something from Harle, wouldn't it be fair to say that Ehran is my pawn in this affair even though he is acting on his own according and doing what he wants to do?

What I am trying to say is that the PCs should create the solution rather than just going along for the ride. If not, there is really no reason for the PCs to be there; any mindless drone would do. The GM could do it all by himself and you'd save a great deal of persontime by cutting out the redundant players.
Conskill
Another way to approach "ultimate NPCs" is thinking in terms of spheres of influence. Not even Great Dragons should have enough time in the day to be Ultimate at everything on Earth.

When I use Ultimate NPCs, I tend to make their Total Awesomeness pretty narrowly focused. For instance, you could have al Decker-eating terror that just sits there looking stupid if the players avoid jacking in.

The truly, unspeakably powerful NPCs in the setting might have powers so broadly focused that this is irrelevant, but it might be a nice morale victory to know you can fly-fish better than Lofwyr.
frostPDP
Sorry, but I think fly-fishing is out. Maybe if you all used the same rules, Lofwyr might eat it, but he could probably just gobble up the stream and fly away, and thus manipulate the English language at the point of a claw.
nick012000
QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Sep 30 2005, 12:46 AM)
Verjigorm, according to myth, created all of the Horrors, including one that would Name itself Nightslayer. Nighslayer went on to create Dragons and Metahumans.  Verjigorm then killed Nightslayer.  The other posters are understating the Hunter. He doesn't just win, he wins against Great Dragons, Great Dragons don't stand a chance against him. He is, for all intents and purposes, God and he wants nothing more that to see all that you know and love die the most horrible and painful death imaginable.

He also has stats in at least one ED core rulebook I've seen.

There's a saying on some DnD message boards I visit. "If it has stats, it can be killed."

You'll just need to pull out the Naval-scale weaponry. nyahnyah.gif

And yes, Wraiths and Nomads are Horrors that are statted out in SR. There's also a few other spirits in Critters (like the celtic one with the funny name, and the Baen Sidhe) who might be able to join the club.

Also, Twisted Way adepts and The Corrupted magicians seem to draw power from fear and pain the same way as Horrors do.
Kagetenshi
According to Draconic legend, the death of Verjigorm is the end of the world.

~J
Grinder
QUOTE (nick012000)
He also has stats in at least one ED core rulebook I've seen.

The stats make him far too weak for his "porfession", being Hunter Of The Great Dragons. He's a strong opponetn, yes, but none that a combined forces of some dragons couldn't defeat.

Kick the stats and make him just plain superior if your party is ever going to fight him eek.gif
Ancient History
QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
According to Draconic legend, the death of Verjigorm is the end of the world.

~J

<scritch> I'll need a quote on that, seein' as how I don't recall ever reading the like of it in any Earthdawn book.
Kagetenshi
You sure on that?

Weird. Maybe it's a fever-dream. I'll dig through my sources after class.

~J
Grinder
QUOTE (Ancient History)
<scritch> I'll need a quote on that, seein' as how I don't recall ever reading the like of it in any Earthdawn book.

eek.gif
fistandantilus4.0
Just make sure it's a source book quote. I quoted a novel once to AH trying to convince him Hessler ( the guy that lives by Stonehenge or some such place in England) is an IE. AH didn't buy it. Really I think he jsut didn't want to have to update his page again. wink.gif

Edit: see sig
Abschalten
QUOTE (FiveVenoms)
wThose of you who are NOT of the GMs who have players with Great Dragon sidekicks and a built in link to an orbital laser platform (Go Largo!), have you ever used a "home-brewed" super character for an NPC? Or have you typically tread lightly around that level of super-NPC?

Shit, I built my GMing career around home-brewed uber-NPCs. smile.gif They eventually die to give the antagonized and vengeful runners some sense of vindication, but man oh man, the scrapes some of my players have gotten into because of them.
biggrin.gif
GreyPawn
My favorite versions of horrors integrated into Shadowrun in some campaigns I have run have been Juan Atzcapotzalco being revealed as Bonecrown the Usurper. In charge of Aztechnology, this gives him a good mechanics-justified karma step of about 3,000,000. He'd have to utilize most of it simply to maintain his prescence in a low or medium mana-level world.

The next would of course be Deus as Artificer. While the basic motivations for the entities may differ, their modus operandi is certainly mirrored in each other.
Kagetenshi
Hardly—Deus improved people, Artificer simply hurt them.

At least he knew how to have a good time.

~J
TonkaTuff
QUOTE (Abschalten)
Shit, I built my GMing career around home-brewed uber-NPCs. smile.gif  They eventually die to give the antagonized and vengeful runners some sense of vindication, but man oh man, the scrapes some of my players have gotten into because of them.
biggrin.gif

Indeed. The Shontor and Zherex campaign was great fun. Still think you really should have gone through with the rainbows and singing bunnies hallucination sequence, though. That would have capped things off nicely. But Pinky and the cannon-jump was a close second.
fistandantilus4.0
*scratches head* you guys have been reading the drop bear thread again, huh.
Kagetenshi
Just dropping in to add that my sources are nearly exhausted without providing a shred of evidence to back me up. I really wish I'd stop dreaming things like that…

I'll post again when I exhaust my resources completely or pull a rabbit out of a hat.

~J
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