I've decided to try my hand at hosting a forum game.

This run should be fairly short, and will be rather open-ended. It will help me adjust to the challenges of playing online, as I've only ever hosted games in person before. If things go well, and I hope they do, at the conclusion of this portion of the run, I will be opening a much larger campaign based in the same 'world.' The world is the shadowrun world, of course, but characters will mainly interact with NPC's and events of my design (as opposed to familiar 'canon' characters and prime runners.) That, and I haven't read all the novels and what not, so certain events may be "missing."

What I hope to do, in that much larger campaign I mentioned, is see if my LARP-creating experience translates acceptably to a large forum-based game. In essence, I will be creating a large cast of NPC characters, and you are free to interact with them at will. That is to say, there won't be an overarching single plot line that you stumble through. In fact, so far I've got at least a dozen major NPC's and groups, plus dozens of lesser NPC's, all with their own agendas and plot lines. Characters can accept and turn down runs without feeling like they either have to accept the Johnson's offer, or find another game. Chances are, if you haven't angered too many people and are reasonably well connected, you'll have several offers on the table at once to choose from. Not every clue and event will tie in to the plot line you are on at all; some will just be side effects of the other NPC's pursuing their own goals.

But that part comes later.

First, I have to have a better understanding of hosting forum games in general. Thus begins Act 0 of this campaign -- learning SR4 and learning forum gaming.

So, on that note, here are the details:

Game Time:
I'm looking to start sometime in mid to late January. perhaps earlier if everything in my real life works out -- it seldom does, but I can hope.

Character Build:
You can use either the 400 point standard, or SECKSY for character creation. I won't be using SECKSY for character advancement, nor any of Serbitar's other house rules, though.

The only other exception to the standard character creation rules is that I'm capping Loyalty and Connections to a combined total of 7 for any single contact. No AAA CEO's are forever indebted to you, sorry.

House Rules:
I'm working on getting my house rules written and posted online, but they are a bit on the long side (I use too many words for most things. Hopefully this is good for a GM, where descriptive text is good) Mostly, the house rules can be summed up as follows:

• Your skill rating may affect the threshold of success tests
• No specializing in "Semiautomatics" or "Martial Arts" (other possibilities are supplied instead), try to be more creative with Perception specializations than "Visual" (try "Forensic crime scene examination" for example)
• Some minor cyberlimb tweaks (base stats are the race's base stats, it is possible to exceed the capacity of the limb)
• Ammo... ug. I'll replace the SR4 ammo modifiers with my own. Choose ammo based on the fluff text that describes it; I'll stick close to that.
• Spirits are in line with the German errata -- i.e., they have reasonable reactions.
• A couple of clarifications on points the rules as written leave confusing (to me)

Players
I'm looking for 3 to 4 players. If things work out and I do start my "big" campaign, you will have the option of carrying these characters over into that campaign.

I'm thinking first come, first serve. But that means a character sheet with at least a rough background, not just a "I think I want to play" post.

Post rough character concepts here, and e-mail me the details at Feshy@*SpamMeAndDie*mobsters.com -- I think you can figure out which part to remove to get a valid e-mail. If not, e-mail's in the profile anyway.

If you want to be mysterious to your team mates, you can just e-mail me the character concept as well.

Location
Seattle.

Well, that about covers it. Feel free to post questions, and hope those of you that play enjoy the game!

Samuel Drake, 'Codger'
This forty-year old street samurai has been running since 2048, and he's seen it all. He's had runs involving damn near every major running event in the last twenty years, and he's still got the will and wiliness to compete with the latest crop of cybered-up street monsters, fresh off the operating table. He's not afraid to keep up with the SOTA- how else would he have survived?- but he's got a few choice bits of gear from bygone days that they just don't make like they used to.

ok... what exactly constitutes the difference between SECKSY and the rest of Serbitar's house rules? i get problems when i try to download the program anyways, so a little more detail on precisely what is included in your definition of SECKSY and what isn't, as well as what the basics of the concept are. not sure if i'll use it or not, but we'll see.

anyways, i may submit two different characters (there are a couple different non-compatible archetypes that i would like to try), and i'll use one or the other depending on how the group turns out.

of course, this presumes i can get one character done in time, let alone two

anyways, more details later...

[edit] also, how do you rule the targetting autosoft as it relates to the ares alpha? [/edit]

Toptomcat
Looks like a really fun character concept! Looking forward to seeing how the character comes out. Sounds like it'll be pretty contact heavy, which if you stick around for the larger game will be great!

Jaid
Serbitar's document contains rules roughly divided into two portions -- the first part is a unified karma / build point system that uses karma for character builds, with the intention of using the exact same system for character advancement (to avoid min/maxing.) The second part is a hodgepodge of house rules, changing the way the matrix works and making stun damage harder to do.

The karma build system is good in that it allows characters with many low skills to not be penalized (in comparison to characters with few high skills) as harshly as the build point system does. Of course, by not using it for character advancement, I don't get the benefit of completely avoiding min/maxing. Attributes will still be cheaper to raise after character generation than skills (proportionally) -- but I've seen very few characters take that to an extreme, and those that do don't' live long (body 1 reaction 1... oops, critical glitch on a damage test... ouch)

If you are having trouble downloading it, here's the basics:
[list]
[*]Use karma advancement rules for building your character -- assume attributes start at 1 (+ racial maximums) and skills start at 0.
[*]The 8 standard attributes (Body, Strength, Reaction, Agility, Intuition, Logic, Willpower, Charisma) cost 5 x new value instead of 3 x new value.
[*]Don't take metahuman bonuses into account when raising attributes (that is, an elf raising charisma from 3 to 4 costs as much as a human going from 1 to 2)
[*]Do take metahuman negatives into account when calculating karma cost (that is, an ork going from logic 3 to 4 pays karma equal to raising the attribute to 5 (25 karma in this case)
[*]Specialization costs are doubled, 4 karma for a specialization.
[*]Contacts cost rating x loyalty in karma
[*]you get (logic + intuition ) * 10 karma for knowledge skills
[*]resources are 3,000 per karma.
[*]Metatype costs are: Elf, 40 karma; Dwarf, 35 karma; Ork, 35 karma; troll, 50 karma.
[*]you get 600 karma for character creation.

It's certainly more complicated than the original BP system; and I'm not sure if it's any more balanced -- with the exception of being easier on characters who prefer breadth over depth. Since I find that the game is most fun with a good mix of both breadth and depth (jack of all trades and one-trick ponies) involved, I prefer to allow either system to be used.

If you download the actual document, it has tables that calculate the cost for a given skill or attribute level.

Actually, if I'm going to allow it to be used, I might as well host the files. Hope Serbitar doesn't mind -- grab the PDF here if you are having trouble with his link. Be gentle on my server please, it's literally running out of a cardboard box.

As far as the targeting autosoft and the ares alpha, I'm not certain what you mean. I'd assume it falls under automatics -- except the grenade launcher part, which would fall under heavy weapons. I confess I never followed the threads on the discussion -- generally speaking, anyone hit by an automatic weapon system with an expert system fired from a completely recoil-absorbing smart platform . . . well, they're in hand-of-god territory long before you have to be concerned about grenades.

Looking forward to seeing your character concepts!

basically, i was wondering if you need 1 or two targetting autosofts, and more particularly, if it comes with an autosoft capable of handling both.

IOW, i buy a smart firing platform for 2k

it comes with a pilot 3, sensor 3, and a single targetting autosoft 3

according to the rules for the targetting autosoft,

Ah. I'm going under the assumption that the section heading *should* be "Targeting (Specific Weapon Type)" and they just ran out of room in the column.

In other words, since skillsofts and everything else mimic a whole skill rather than a very specialized subset of it, that autosofts do too.

Yes, that means you have to have two autosofts to use both parts of the Ares Alpha -- Targeting (Automatics) and Targeting (Heavy Weapons.)

On a related note, I'll let players start with cracked software if they can be reasonably sure of success -- a logic + software of 6 will succeed with room to spare on the easy tests, and given a couple of tries, the harder ones too. So I figure if you meet that threshold, you only need to buy one copy of each 'soft. (For a hacker with a lot of programs, I'd be inclined to raise that a bit; for a rigger with only a few I might lower it too.) So you'll only need one copy of Automatics and Heavy Weapons no matter how many smart platforms you buy (don't make me regret saying that.)

Oh, and it's your choice as to which the smart platform comes with for free. Heck, it's your choice regardless of what weapon you mount. If you want to load it up with Pistols 3 and mount a mossberg there, I won't stop you (but I would default to pilot for the tests.) I assume the smart platform weapon is interchangeable. Of course, to get that versatility without any complicated connectors means it wirelessly accesses the smartlink, and so you may want to hardwire a weapon in place instead.

ok... considering making a hacker/rigger or technomancer as one option. not sure yet.

already have the first char done... although i may go back over and double check the math on my resources. anyways, option 1 is a hermetic mystic adept named Spook. born on the streets, acts as hired 'muscle' (mojo?) for gangs, mostly by beefing up gang members with magic (since as a mystic adept his offensive spellcasting ain't much to speak of) and patching them up later. not much in a direct fight (although he's not completely incompetent either... everyone knows to geek the mage first, after all). He's decided he's tired of working for gangs (who don't pay very much) and so now he's headed for the big times (or such is the plan).

Sounds great! And nice to hear an idea for a mage that doesn't involve the words "pyromaniac" or "army of avenging spirits."

heh... definitely not the army of spirits kinda guy... maybe like... a squad. or half a squad. of not-very-impressive spirits, that is. assuming he doesn't mind blowing all his conjuring ability in one swell foop, that is (which he does mind, for the record).

of course, so far as i can tell, you can endlessly summon spirits as long as you don't bind them, and as long as you send them on remote services, but i am going to assume that's a rules loophole that i'm either seeing that isn't there, or that isn't supposed to be there, and ignore it.

as far as pyromaniac... well, assuming he had an appropriate spell, he might be able to light gasoline on fire his offensive spellcasting isn't gonna look so great with his magic attribute mostly, if he needs to kill something, he's more likely to use his predator, unless we're looking at long range or something.

anyways, Spook has been sent. you should be receiving him shortly (unless i guessed wrong and i was supposed to remove the mobster portion of your email address, and not the *SpamMeAndDie* part).

I didn't notice that remote service actually has the line "Spirits on remote services no longer count against the limit of summoned spirits." That's a pretty scary loophole; with some good drain resistance you can have an almost endless supply of spirits. Forget the lead hose, the "astral hose" can hit anywhere in the world even harder!

Yea... definitely going to have to house rule that.

You got the e-mail address right, I responded.

yeah, that one's pretty scary... and if you don't mind sending force 1 spirits, not all that hard to achieve, you don't have much to worry about with drain anyways.

of course, even better, i have recently been looking through the technomancer rules... and... uhh... well... i can't find where it limits unregistered sprites. sure, you're limited to charisma registered sprites. but it doesn't say 1 unregistered sprite limit as far as i can tell. of course, once again, i am going to assume that this is a freakish loophole that never should have been (or perhaps never was, really), and ignore that too. even though a hacker can do it with agents.

[edit] re-sent email.[/edit]

p. 234:

"A technomancer can only have one unregistered sprite in his service at a time; if he wants more, he needs to script a sprite for longer service"

Got the e-mail, replied. Everything looks good!

well, that's good to know.

on another note, not too many people seem to be applying... maybe if you mentioned something on the SR4 boards as well? i mean, while it is possible to do a 2 person team (or 2 person + NPCs team), i think it would be much better with at least 3-4 people... and by people, i mean players, not characters.

on another note... any ideas on technomancers and commlinks? ie, do i need a commlink to manage my PAN, or just to hold data? can i use my living persona instead? is it possible to skinlink into a technomancer? if a technomancer doesn't have a commlink (or a lousy one), can he force people to try to hack through his living persona first? can you even hack through a living persona in the first place? if so, what effect does that have on the technomancer?

just some thoughts i had...

Give it a few days of weekday time -- I've noticed weekends are quite dead around here. I didn't even realize until after I posted that it was late friday -- so I expected relative quiet until monday at least. If there's not much in a day or two, I'll start pestering people to come join I agree though, more people is good -- the interactions between players are often the best part of a run.

So far as I know, none of your technomancer questions are answered by the book, so here's how I'd house rule those situations:

(big chopping edit)
Ignore the bit about skinlinks and what not here... thinking about it more I've got a better answer that I will post soon.
(end edit)

You probably wouldn't even need a full comlink to store data -- an optical chip reader/writer would suffice. I'd assume such a device was so cheap as to be included in lifestyle costs (in other words, I don't feel like making up stats for it.)

As for the hacking / PAN related questions.. .I've actually got a pile of thoughts on this... but they are a bit contradictory. I'm going to post in the SR4 forum, and see what ideas other people have come up with. At the very least, trying to present my thoughts might help me straighten them out a bit.

LOL, I realized that chopping out the section I edited, I didn't leave much of substance in that post. I'll try again.

For the skinlink, my initial thought was "no." However, I had a long, in-depth look at "technomancer physics" (it's been a weird day). I've posted it below, in case you're curious, but it's a bit long and weird.



The short result is this: Skinlinks are a gray area. Since technomancers are supposed to have the equivalent of a commlink with no storage, I'm going to say they can use skinlink normally. At the very least, I like the flavor it adds -- someone who "talks" to electronics aught to be able to do it just as well holding it in his hand as broadcasting a few hundred meters.

I know you said no "I think I woudl like to play" posts. So I know this won't reserve a place, or anything, but when I get off of work (Yeah, I troll the forums at work, but don't have my books with me), I'll email you a character concept/sheet (assuming this hasn't filled up), cause it sounds fun.

If 2 other people get back to you before me, though, don't worry about it. No hard feelings. I played in some D&D Play-by-post games a few years back, and they were the most fun I ever had roleplaying.

Does either of these ideas work?

Bubbles, Female former Troll Ganger. effervescent Teeny Bopper troll gangerette, thief, thrill seeker looking to go "pro" and not knowing what it means. Recently hit a few big scores, and fresh out of the street docs clinic with one or two pieces of cyber to try out!

or

DES, Male Human Rigger/Shaman, City rigger, Tribal spirit son , smuggler, runner, conflicted by the lure of the machine, and the recent discovery of his spiritual heritage. Or is it all just the spirits in the machine?

This sounds like an interesting idea for a game. If you don't mind a first-timer...

I was thinking of being Elf face that can do B&E. A little cliche, but I've had this guy in mind since I picked up the book. Here's the beginning of his background.

Any format I can read or get the software for free to read is fine with me. Well, the software also has to be in english; I'm not going to learn an interface in russian or something

First time players are definately welcome! And nothing wrong with cliche stereotype characters -- in fact, it's often most fun when there is a good mix of stereotypes and mold-breakers. It makes the player-player interactions very amusing

Email sent. (Hope I got it right). Let me know what you think, and then I could post some more details here if need be. (Wasn't sure if you inteded the players to be an existing team fo Shadowrunners, or a group of poeple who were goign to be forced to work together).

unless the team is desparately in need of a hacker of some sort, i think i'll just leave the technomancer thing alone... although i am still definitely interested in finding out how the heck it works.

oh, for the record, dunno if this bothers you or anything (actually, i'm guessing you could care less), but due to my personal dislike for actual swearing in combination with the fact that from the time my character was first born to the time he was 17 it is a recorded fact that people didn't use real swear words anyways, my character will be using the old SR "swear words" instead of real ones.

no, that's alright... the mage i already finished has some basic ingredients for a weak hacker-in-a-box if you want some minor help sometime. (ie a not-very-impressive agent with some basic, common programs).

the technomancer, OTOH, is encountering rules difficulties, and i am experiencing writer's block as far as getting a background to work (i have some basic ideas on it, but not nearly enough to base the character on).

Could you let me know if any of these contacts are not OK? My previous GM was really picky about what contacts he'd allow. Thanks.

That Guy Who Does That Thing. A fixer of unknowable racial origin and gender, considering he communicates only through heavily-encrypted text messages using a complex lingo taught only to his customers. That Guy Who Does That Thing takes secrecy and anonymity to a sometimes ludicrous extreme.
"The rodeo clown is to leave the coop when the clock strikes blue."

Megami, female elven CIA counterintelligence officer. She knows her way around the Agency: rather than being unsubtle and just 'losing' the records pertaining to a case she's asked to help stall, she just kicks it into a beuracratic subcommittee of a subcommittee of a bunch of outside academics who aren't cleared for anything that could help accomplish anything. Obcessed with old flatvid anime.
"That Evangelion boxed set you got me is worth its weight in gold these days. Don't thank me for getting the Agency off your back- I should be thanking you."

Marilith Millions, assasin for hire. A kidnapping run went pear-shaped on her a few years back, and she got stuck with a pathologically trusting eight-year old hostage that nobody would pay for. Two years later, she couldn't bring herself to just cut her losses and sell the poppet to organ-leggers. Stockholm syndrome kicked in with a vengeance, and Marilith now has herself an ten-year-old partner in crime.

Jordan, female human (for now) talismonger and mage. Has magical powers with bizzare side effects: her spells usually do what they're supposed to, but also do wierd things like changing the caster's gender (three times now,) cause nearby mirrors to display disturbing images, or force nearby mages into the astral.

Scott, ork bartender/bar owner and weirdness magnet. If it's freaky, SOTA or in the news, it shows up at his bar. A drunken merc burned a hole in the wall with the Ares MP Heavy Laser Plus two days before it hit the open market. Four people drinking at it suddenly expressed SURGE simultaneously, and a metal table leg turned unexpectedly into orichalcum. An insect shaman was a regular and vanished suddenly during the Bug City debacle. And he swears he's seen Elvis three times.

Aldolf von Leiterhoef, psychotic human male German weapons dealer/smuggler with a nasty habit of slipping really heavy, truly nasty stuff into standard orders...like putting a radioactive 'dirty bomb' into a box of grenades, or substituting capsule rounds with VITAS for gel. A neo-Nazi.
"And this, the SPECIAL 9mm caseless! An excellent Jew-killing round, I got twenty boxes just today."

Simon O'Connel, male dwarf professor at MIT&T and a leading authority on unusual foci/magical items. His actual spellcasting abilities are minimal, obscured by a good deal of cognitive bio and cyberware, but his theoretical knowledge and analytical prowess is beyond peer. Also a fiendishly clever practical joker, he manages to completely shut down the main campus building about once a year (and has never been caught!)
"The summoning focus is the crux of the whole thing. All the rest is basically analogous to the insulation of a wire: necessary for safety, but technically inert and not actually needed for function. If these safeties are successfully removed from the spell design, the eventual effect will be to put tarantulas into every air duct in the building.
Should be fun. Come around here about four on Thursday."

Sven, male human Scandinavian decker with a passion for bodybuilding. Has access through his uncle to some top-of-the-line programs, which help make up for his fair-to-middling unmodified CMT Avatar and only slightly above-average decking skills. Sculpts the Matrix to look like Valhalla.
"Sure, I'll get you the files if you spot me at the gym next Thursday."

Eduardo, goofy, enigmatic male human Asian fixer who surrounds himself with bonsai. He specializes in runs for the Japanese and UCAS governments, as well as putting customers in touch with gunsmiths. He has a good sense of humor and is very well-liked.
"This run should be a cinch. There are only ten thousand things that can go wrong, not the usual forty or fifty thousand."

Street Doc, Dr. Pollison. A senile old coot who thinks he's working in a prestigious hospital, he is in fact running a shadow alpha clinic run by his ostensible nurse, an elven Dove mage named Diana. He is generally racist and bigoted to anyone who's not white, male, and 'old money:' however, despite his incredible medical/surgical skills, he never seems to realize that 90% of his patients are dirt-poor metahumans.
"F**kin trogs should all just die in the poorhouse...there, now how's the knee, Mr. Mutilator?"

Mao Mao, female human Chinese fence specializing in small arms and chemical/biological/pharmaceutical goods. She is about four feet tall and savagely confrontational, a textbook case of Napoleon syndrome. She is also an incredible polyglot, speaking over thirty languages. This can be interesting when she starts cussing you out: with so many languages to choose from, she never runs out of invectives or repeats herself. However, her good prices inspire her clients to tolerate the abuse.
"@#$(*(_%#$^*(^@#(%$&)#(*&_*@%_)#@$*)@&$)(&(*$)&#@%&^!&@)(**&^%#&*__$*#@)(*&^#@$@!(_*@%#&^_%_()#&*)_($@*)!_&#)%@(&%^#@*(^&*#)@_)+@$#*!!!!!"

Talismonger, Talks-With-Walls-And-Trees-Apparantly. An orcish Lion shaman talismonger prone to having conversations on his headware radio at top volume, and over other conversations.
"SO I SAID TO HIM, THEN I SAID the meet'll be difficult to set up, that's not exactly Girl Scout cookies yer sellin THE GOLFER WAS REALLY A VIKING! HA HA HA!"

Molly Malone, female elven UCAS military officer in the quartermaster's corps with a passion for a Matrix game called Omni that pits two participants in all manner of virtual contests. Not above slipping a little 'hardware' to a friend. Enjoys old flatvid anime.
" So the last one was kendo and this one is a speed-reading contest? GOD, I love this game."

Max, male ork mechanic who uses rigged drones to do all his repair work. He himself is completely paralyzed, and communicates through a trideo projector on a motorized wheelchair.
“*purple happy ideogram*”

Eduardo, goofy, enigmatic male human Asian fixer who surrounds himself with bonsai. He specializes in runs for the Japanese and UCAS governments, as well as putting customers in touch with gunsmiths. He has a good sense of humor and is very well-liked.
"This run should be a cinch. There are only ten thousand things that can go wrong, not the usual forty or fifty thousand."

Monroe, male ork leader of the gang that claims Codger's neigborhood as their territory. His primary source of power is his gang's status as a go-between in a combat-drug smuggling ring. In a former life, he was a Japanese art student, but took to the streets when he goblinized and his parents disowned him.
"An original Rembrandt? Six thousand grams of the pure stuff."

Bruce, Force 7 Free City Spirit that takes the form of a titanic St. Bernard with a barrel around his neck containing items that prove beneficial to the dozen or so people he irregularly visits.
"WOOF."

Mao Mao, female human Chinese fence specializing in small arms and chemical/biological/pharmaceutical goods. She is about four feet tall and savagely confrontational, a textbook case of Napoleon syndrome. She is also an incredible polyglot, speaking over thirty languages. This can be interesting when she starts cussing you out: with so many languages to choose from, she never runs out of invectives or repeats herself. However, her good prices inspire her clients to tolerate the abuse.
"@#$(*(_%#$^*(^@#(%$&)#(*&_*@%_)#@$*)@&$)(&(*$)&#@%&^!&@)(**&^%#&*__$*#@)(*&^#@$@!(_*@%#&^_%_()#&*)_($@*)!_&#)%@(&%^#@*(^&*#)@_)+@$#*!!!!!"

Otto Von Brauchisch, last survivor of the Third Reich. The escaped testbed for the Leonization genetic age reversal process, Otto is over a hundred and fifty years old. He was there for the dawn of special ops, served actively in the Waffen-SS, and was the favored protege of the legendary special operator Otto Skorzeny. Still an unrepenetant Nazi- after all, what has fascism done that capitalism done wild hasn't already inflicted on the Sixth world five times over?

Maestro, gunsmith/shadowrunner. A professional criminal for fifteen years and running, the Maestro understands that the key to succeeding at a job is having the right tool, and knowing how to use it. The subtle power of a narcojet pistol, the surgical precision of a sniper rifle, and the unfocused devastation of a claymore mine can all be powerful tools to apply to a run- and he can use them all with skill and confidence. If he can't find the peice he needs in his considerable arsenal, no worries- give him a week or two and he'll make it himself.
His street name comes from a bizarre and unique weapon he has designed and made his firearm of choice. Cross-linking his smartlink with a musician's synthlink and extensively redesigning a gas vent with valves and precise tonal proportions, Maestro has transformed a standard Ingram LMG into an exquisite wind instrument that plays a requiem for his enemies as he guns them down.

Dial-A-Cache, unique shadow service company. Founded by a pair of former runners who found their habit of scattering equipment caches across Seattle was very much appreciated by their teammates, Dial-A-Cache secrets guns, knives, ammunition, armor, and other bits of basic 'running equipment all across the city. Just call them up, and one clandestine credit transfer later, they'll tell you how to get to the nearest pile of their goodies.

Moria McTaggart, reporter for NewsNet. Her habit for digging up corporate secrets that many consider best left unhidden has led her to cultivate underworld contacts as a matter of necessity: Codger's one of them. He's given her info that’s saved her rear, once or twice: if she comes across something big, she’ll let him know.

Mad Abdul of Mad Abdul's Taxi Service. A former Islamic Jihad driver of captured Humm-Vees in the Iraq war, Mad Abdul makes his living by going where other transport services can't or won't- through areas dominated by motorcycle gangs, slums where road maintinance is nonexistant, or extraterritorial corporate properties where outside vehicles are shot on sight. He careens around Seattle in a battered, bullet-ridden taxi with bolted-on armor and the last remnants of a scorched, mud-spattered, bloodstained yellow-and-black checkered paint job. Don't expect to take a road-legal route- or even a route that mostly involves roads- and be prepared for your eyes to water when you see the fare...but there's no one who can get you from A to B faster.
*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*
"There's guns under the seat, feel free to join in!”

Grinder, gang leader. Leader of the motorcycle gang the Reds, Grinder is a remarkably competent, if self-taught, mechanic. The Reds run a vehicle chop shop that both funds their operations and gives them their vehicles, and are notorious for cobbling together ‘Frankenbikes’ out of dozens of parts from other motorcycles, cars, scooters, planes, motorized lawn mowers, and the like.
“You drive with a rudder! And it’s got missiles! Isn’t it wiz?”

Raphael Aguinaldo, Spanish master of exotic martial arts and Codger's sparring partner. He learns exotic martial art styles the way other people collect stamps, and holds black belt equivilents in drunken boxing, Krav Maga (an Israeli style), and Pankratos (an ancient Greek style), as well as traditional Shotokan karate. He is the primier martial arts instructor for the Seattle branch of the Yakuza, and as such holds considerable prestige within that organization- and is the highest-ranking Yakuza official without Japanese ancestry. As such, he balances on a razor's edge, forever defending his position from traditionalist elements.
"No, Shotozumi-sama, I was *not* drunk during that demonstration. I must regretfully correct you, Shotozumi-sama. It is a style of martial arts. Yes, I am sure, Shotozumi-sama. Yes, I am *very* sure.
Please do not order me to cut off one of my fingers, Shotozumi-sama..."

Amy Martinson, chemist. She started cooking up and selling designer drugs, toxins, and plastic explosives in college to help pay off her student loans: after they were completely paid off after only six months of work, she dropped out of college entirely and devoted herself to supplying the criminal element. She can make you anything from pure hydrochloric acid to riot-control concretizing foam to thermite to cyanide to combat drugs.
"Three weeks of all-nighters cramming for a bioneurochemistry test'll mess you up worse than LSD ever will. I know, I've done both."

Yao Wang, Chinese fixer. Mao Mao is a retired shadowrunner-gone-fixer, a man who provided sniper cover for dozens of 'runs back in the mid-2050s. He's known as a good man to work with, so long as you don't plan any double crosses...most people who try two-timing him, or the contact he hooked you up with, end up with a bullet in their brain. One one memorable occasion when both sides of an arms deal tried to double-cross each other, he shot them both.
"I've got an interesting little job lined up for you. Most employers in this buisiness value anonymity, but this one's interesting. Every time I try to trace his background, I end up dead-ending at phony credentials from the obviously fictitious Sixth Congregational Church of Rodney. Reminds me of that one run with Babs...anyway, you up for it?"

Nikolai Ivanovitch, human fence in the Organizatsiya (Russian mafia). He’ll buy and sell just about anything- from pirated copies of the latest sims to cyberware still warm and reeking from its previous owner to illegal drugs by the kilogram. However, he specializes in art objects, favoring early Soviet propaganda art especially.
“A grenade launcher? Why think small, comrade- I can get you a howitzer!”

Sean MacKenzie, dwarven talismonger (retailer of magical goods). Sean runs a combination magical goods/freeform sculpture business, and has an eccentric reputation for his tendency to make the items he enchants extremely strange and totally unique.
“The thatched teapot helps with summoning, the fur-covered toilet’s nice for ritual sorcery, the Hello Kitty doorknob glued to the bottom of the Ben and Jerry’s does a little bit of everything, and for the love of God don’t touch the stuffed koala.”


I am of course not planning on taking all of these, but having a list of approved ones would be nice.

That's quite an impressive list, even with a couple of duplicates!

I get the feeling you've seen a few animes...

Okay, here are my thoughts on the contacts:

• That Guy Who Does That Thing -- Approved
• Megami -- Approved (try to pick only one anime-adict, lest they fight over payment. Oh, and I had an Australian Water Dragon named Megumi once...)
• Marilith Millions -- Approved
• Jordan -- Approved with Caveats -- I'm not going to have true gender bending on a whim. However, a self-sustaining full-sensory illusion that wears of at the completion of the current lunar cycle? Certainly a possibility for wild magic. Of course, it's entirely possible that he'll be kidnapped for research by people wanting to study the phenomenon, or worse, attract the attention of "something else" that has an interest in it.
• Scott -- Approved with Caveats. Of course, some of his stories may be just that, stories... But darned if that isn't a perfectly neat, round hole behind the bar...
• Aldolf von Leiterhoef -- Rejected -- I don't like to give the players anything for free (VITAS, dirty bombs, etc.)
• Simon O'Connel -- Approved
• Sven -- Approved (We goin to PAMP YOU AP!)
• Eduardo -- Approved
• Dr. Pollison -- Approved
• Mao Mao -- Approved with Caveats -- I don't know just how fluent she'd be in ALL thirty-some languages. But she sure knows the cures and swears of that many... (and a lot of them she will know fluently)
• Talks-With-Walls-And-Trees-Apparantly -- Approved
• Molly Malone -- Approved (try to pick only one anime-adict, lest they fight over payment)
• Max -- Approved
• Eduardo -- Duplicate
• Monroe -- Approved
• Bruce -- Approved with Caveats -- If you choose this contact, you will have no way of, ah... actually contacting him, even with magical help. He will help you according to his own whims, needs, and ultimate goals. So in many senses he won't be a "contact" per se. What an obscure reference he must be by 2070...
• Mao Mao -- Duplicate
• Otto Von Brauchisch -- Approved with Caveats -- I'll stick closer to the political side of Nazism and Fascism rather than what has become the overshadowing racist angle since the discovery of the death camps. In other words, the death camps would have come about out of necessity to provide an enemy to the masses rather than out of some truly racist convictions -- at leat that's how Otto rationalizes it.
• Maestro -- Approved, though he sounds like a bad anime reference But still playable.
• Dial-A-Cache -- Approved I like this idea.
• Moria McTaggart -- Approved
• Mad Abdul -- Approved with Caveats -- The Iraq war will have been too long ago by 2070 (unless I'm forgetting another in-game war, which I might be.) But the middle east remains a dangerous area. Perhaps he handled transportation in and around Tehran after its destruction by the Great Dragon Aden. After the arrival of the Shedim that appeared there after Dunklezahn's assassination, he left. He's Mad, but not Crazy -- and besides, business really dropped off after that.
• Grinder -- Approved with Caveats -- Given the quote, I'd like to point out that what a ganger calls "missiles" may be somewhat different than what a shadowrunner would call a missile
• Raphael Aguinaldo -- Approved
• Amy Martinson -- Approved
• Yao Wang -- Approved
• Nikolai Ivanovitch -- Approved
• Sean MacKenzie -- Approved (and never, ever, touch the stuffed koala)

So, that's most of them approved, several approved with a few changes, and only one that I'm really against.

By the way, that's an absolutely huge list. Then again, I think I'm approaching 100 NPC's in the little world I'm creating for the larger game that I hope this becomes, so I suppose I don't exactly have room to talk.

Oh, one other bit of news: In 18 or so hours, I will be leaving by car for the shores (peninsula?) of hell -- Florida (a minimum 12 ho ur drive.) I will be there until just before the new year; and I will only have sporadic internet access during that time. So if santa brings you an amazing character hook for christmas, don't be surprised if it takes me several days to get back to you on it.

Bubbles

What everyone knows

She's a Troll. First thing anyone probably notices, once you see past the glowing contrasting colors of her girly outfit. Under her glowing chrysantheum flowered see thru rain slicker is her four color Dazzle pattern camoflage jumpsuit in Glowing Puce Green, Violent Magenta, Tokyo Neon Yellow, and California Blazing Orange. Clear plastic slip ons reveal her artistically painted toe nails with a variety of the latest holovid cartoon show characters in cheery poses. Around her waist is a worn utilitarian brown leather tool belt with a variety of standard hardware tools and measuring devices. Stuck in one of the tool belt holders is the latest issue of Teen!, with the cover of Simplicity, the latest hot synth sensation. The belt buckle is a large sheild emblazoned with a horned troll head over a script "E Simpson".

She's constantly chewing gum, blowing bubbles of various sizes, and continuously moving about, tapping feet to music, picking things up and examining them, occasionally taking them apart or checking them with her metering tools.

Sorry about the duplicates, and the pair of anime addicts- I just went through my Shadowrun folder and copy-pasted every contact I've ever written up for any of my characters, as well as a few of the runners. I deleted a lot of dupes, and contacts based on each other, but those slipped through the cracks.
Full character up by the weekend.

also useful in the event everything gets covered in that really gross sounding ice cream flavor... spumoni or something like that... i suppose...

hmmm... DR doesn't know something about your twisted mind that we don't know, does he?

Spook can make Bubbles small(er) and unnoticeable.

and uhhh... i'm pretty sure it would be more effective on shadowruns than, say, being clearly visible to even the most casual observer.

of course, just how much smaller is a bit iffy i suspect. depending on your attributes, your best chance may be a smallish troll. maybe a metavariant?

and as far as unnoticeable, that would be a whole different spell

But who dresses up as a shadowrunner all the time? That would be boring. And kind of wierd in it's own way.

When the run starts, out comes the can of spray on matte black absorbent foam removable with a special catalyst stick. Just keep it out of your eyes cause it stings.

Hey, we can't all look like 'Matrix' rejects.

'cuz it's easier, I gave ya a PM with the character sheet in.

Any openings still left? I have an idea for an Orc Street Samurai, who goes by the street name of The Silver Samurai, due to the cosmetic surgery he's had that recolored his hair and eyes all silver, replaced his teeth with chromed replacements, the silvery mirrorshades he wears, and the silvery-white suit underneath his silvery lined coat. He dual weilds a pair of chromed Ingram Smartgun X's, somewhat modified and attached to a gyroharness he wears under his coat.

All these obvious types- Codger will either have an aneyurism at working with them or rejoice at all the morons to hide behind.

Would your group want someone to play a technomancer? I built a Technomancer using the normal rules but I probably could improve her using your rules.

nick012000 and skyekicker

We've already got 5 people, which is as many as I think I can run in this part of the game without it being very crowded. But if it goes well, it is part of a larger plot that has the potential for working in a lot more players (two or three teams, which I'm guessing is the limit to the number of runners I could GM for at once without suffering some sort of breakdown ) So I should have room for you guys that time around. But for now, we're full. Thanks for the interest though!

Toptomcat

I got your character by PM. I'll look over it closer some day when it's not christmas and get back to you

Everyone

Merry whatever you celebrate everyone!