Alright, I've just started putting together the adventure properly, but considering that this is Superbowl Sunday, it's only appropriate to start the thread today and get with the recruitment. This game will be using SR4 rules.

The Game
The game beings on Wednesday, January 22, 2070. The PCs are hired on to make sure that the home team does well in the playoffs. The requested methods are non-lethal, but who knows how a shadowrun goes?

The Team
PCs contacted for this job would be ones with relatively good reputations. Homicidal maniacs would have been left out, as would those that are deemed too much of a liability (Notoriety > 2). The group can consist of up to three awakened characters, no more than two adepts or mages (mystic adepts count as mages if they have more than 3 magic set into magery). A rigger is also desirable.

Applying
What do you need to do to apply? Listen carefully, because not following directions is bad. Post to this thread with a character name, race, gender, and concept. This is NOT first come, first served, but I'm likely to make decisions Monday morning/early afternoon so being quick is a good idea. Note that you need concepts only at this point and not full characters.

You should submit only one character concept. If you have half a dozen, just pick one. The exception is that if there have been more than 3 awakened characters submitted and you are one of them. You may submit a mundane character concept as a secondary option. Considering that I'll probably make decisions pretty quickly, this isn't likely to be an issue.

Character Creation
Once characters are selected, character generation will begin. Standard 400 bp builds. Careful with the negative qualities. I will entertain converting a small number of items per character from SR3 if they are important.

Caveat I am taking care of 3 week old twins so my posting my go through fits and starts on occasion.

Name: Freebird
Race: Ork
Gender: Male
Concept: Based off of Gunslinger Adept sample character; will modify any portion as appropriate.

Freebird is your run of the mill adept gun-nut. He is a pistoleer first and foremost, loving everything about and in relation to pistols. All the same, he strives to know and learn more about all firearms.

Freebird just got back in town from an extended "vacation". The sites and sounds are both familiar and unfamiliar to him, but the most familiar thing about it all is pretty simple: he is low on nuyen and needs a job. Something quick to help get him setup is preferred. He doesn't have (hopefully) a name about town and isn't looking to make one for himself any time too soon.

Name: Simon Elwells aka Roland
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Concept: Moderately cybered/jack of all trades. A repo man who also does some shadow jobs.

Roland is a jack of all trades guy. He tries to provide support and cover where the team needs a second guy in covering an area. He has some skills with firearms, but he also has some skills in electronics, rigging, and other various skills. Primarily, he tries to blend into the scene from being a bodyguard to impersonating a janitor or maintenance technician.

Roland works as an independent contractor for several teams, one of his covers is working for a vehicle 'recovery' company... He's a repo man.

Name: Razorblade
Race: Elf
Gender: Female
Concept: Face adept

Razorblade is a face adept, though she says she follows the Succubus totem (Seductress mentor spirit, if the GM allows it- she wouldn't get the bonus to Illusion spells).
She's the sort of person who would try to seduce a nun (assuming said nun is somewhat attractive)- and given her social abilities stop just short of mind control, it's entirely possible that she'll succeed, as well.

Name: Electric Eddy
Race: Troll
Gender: Male
Concept: Combat Mage

Eddy was like many other kids in his area - You either hid from the gangs, or you worked with them. In his case, he worked with them. When he was young he was just a messenger boy, taking things from one place to the other. But being born as a Troll, he grew up very quickly, and was alot stronger then most of the older gangers, those that weren't Orks or Trolls at least.
Then one day during a gang war a spark of electricity erupted from his hands and struck a rival ganger square in the chest, knocking him down. As Eddy looked forward he didn't see the world normally anymore - He saw the very souls of those around him. Like most others, he had heard about magic, but none of them had ever met someone who could use it before. That was, until now.
Eddy's new found talents gave the gang a new advantage over those near their turf, who either joined them or left, both reasons due to fear. His reputation in his small part of the Sprawl was a mutual blessing. Some tried to kill him for being a threat to them, worried he would try to overthrow them. Others went to him for support.
One day, he was approached with an offer of 2000 Nuyen to help some people out on a job. He knew what was being offered - A Shadowrun, just like those Trid shows. But this was very real and extremely dangerous. But the lure of money was strong, as was the chance to really test his skills against something better then a rival ganger.
So he joined up with this group and they did the job, Eddy blasting those who came before him, whilst using his strength to crush anything that got too close. The sheer thrill was like nothing he had ever experienced before.

Eddy needed more, and the only way to do it was to leave his gang behind him and get a name for himself, to become a true Shadowrunner.

Name: BBO™ (BigBadOrk™)
Race: Ork
Gender: Male
Concept: Street Samurai / Jack of all trades

An image of the character can be found here.

When there is a need for the careful and professional application of violence then there is a need for BigBadOrk™. Most of his life BBO™ spent in the shadows of the Berlin sprawl, where he learned the hard way that combat skills are not everything in the streets. Consequently he diversified his skillset into other areas, he also makes use of a skillwire system to further broaden his possibilities. Many people intitially see him as the stereotypical brutal Ork, until they realize that he uses that facade to let others underestimate him. His sarcasm is at least as dangerous as his Ares Alpha Combatgun.

Name: The Priest
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Concept: Full Magician with large selection of spells, Custom Tradition: Christian Cult

Fredo De Luca aka The Priest is of Italian descent and originally from the East Coast. He has a very personal opinion of what being Chistian means and he preaches the infinite Goodness of God to whomever accepts to listen. He considers that his powers come directly from God.

The Priest was Awakened at a very young age and started to learn the hermetic way under a mentor - he was meant and prepared for corporate work. However, at age 17, he had a religious revelation (his "vision"). Born and raised in a Christian family, he had never completely put his faith aside and finally saw his career as being the "evil path", and instead he chose to quit all of magic and become a catholic priest. He completed those studies and started working as a clerk but still felt the call of the Awakening and he could not deny his talents. The solution was to put them in the hands of God who would guide him through darkness and shadows. The Church was not pleased with this and decided to kick him out, yet he kept his faith strong for he felt the Touch of God was on him.

The Priest has been known in the Seattle shadows for a few years now. He's very reliable and has a good rep in the Sprawl, trying to help out the poor and deprived. He won't himself kill except in self-defense (a liberal definition of self-defense here ), since that would go against his doctrine, and he is very honest with his employers and contacts. His spell selection is varied and he relies almost exclusively on spells and spirits (angels) to get the job done. He despises firearms and violence, preferring a good stunbolt or illusion in place of assault rifle rounds and explosions.

Since there are already more magical characters then you want, I wouldn't mind working out a rigger (either type) instead, but it would take more work since I don't know all the rules for rigging in SR 4 yet. I do have the book so it would be doable.

Well, looks like a fairly well rounded group if someone changes to a rigger. A rigger isn't required, of course, but should make life a little easier for you guys. gobogen offered, so I think that'd be fine. Rigging, especially drone rigging, looks pretty simple in the new rules.

Well, my character is a rigger-lite sort of character... so yeah, having a dedicated rigger is probably even better for the group.

I'd rather play my mage but if nobody else wants to do it, I can play a rigger. I'll come up with a concept for a drone rigger shortly, then go about reading the rules and actually write something up.

Well, I wanted to avoid 4 awakened, but it should work out in the end since the concepts are pretty diverse and I think everything is pretty well covered. Right now, here is what we have:

Silo: Freebird, M Ork, Gunslinger Adept
PBTHHHHT: Roland, M Human, Techie
nick012000: Razorblade, F Elf, Face Adept
Nu_Fenix: Electric Eddy, M Troll, Combat Mage
Oracle: BBO, M Ork, Street Samurai/JoAT
gobogen: The Priest, M Human, Support Mage

Feel free to go ahead and start with character generation. Use whatever sheet and format you want. I've yet to find a really stellar sheet/program (there are some that aren't bad, but none that are "the new standard"). I'll be checking things by hand.

Feel free to know each other ahead of time if you like and use this thread for character creation discussions.

Please send any questions and completed characters to: swordchucks@gmail.com

Every character will eventually need a (short, no more than 2 page) background, a sheet, and any other details you want to use. I'll probably make a web page out of this stuff at some point, so please note what parts shouldn't be made public.

A small amount of karma will be awarded for backgrounds. More details on this later.

As a first note, I see that there are two mages, so we'll have to talk to complement each other. The Priest won't be combat oriented at all, so it shouldn't be an issue.

In general, as our backgrounds get more work, we could try to have some history between members of the team (I'm assuming we have worked together before).

I will share my character sheet with everone in this thread to make sure it's "good", and because I'm not used to building characters in 4th ed.

So, which road are we supposed to take? Well rounded characters for actual roleplaying or mini-maxed monstrosities from hell? I am open for both versions...

I'll post a first version of my character sheet on tuesday at about 8:00PM GMT+1. Until then I have to sleep and work.

Gobogen - Since you are going for support and I am going for aggression, we shouldn't be stepping on each others toes at all.
One thing that may be a consideration is that I don't intend to go for Conjuring in any form.
Why summon a spirit to do my bidding? It will only take away my fun

Quick note. With two mages, the passive counterspelling dice will be subject to teamwork rules and won't directly stack. That means, higher skill +1 will be in effect. Unless someone can show me rules to the contrary, at least.

The rules mention multiple characters using Counterspell together.

Ah, I just had how teamwork works wrong

I'll have the whole conjuring group at 4, most likely, and intend to summon spirits in game. Counterspelling will probably be at 4 too, so you may have yours lower. However, it's possible that my character be travelling astrally from time to time, and he'll be avoiding direct confrontations with hostiles when possible, so in these situations he won't be of help for counterspelling.

Btw, is there a problem with a mage being very weak physically and in combat situations, but very strong for a lot of other situations?

Not generally, but keep in mind how body limits armor and the length of your physical damage track.

i prefer if the mages can possibly survive one gunshot, because I don't want to lug them out to safety if I don't have to.

The gunslinger Adept looks pretty one dimensional, so I will put some thought in to branching out to a second useful area. Perhaps demolitions. I always have a soft spot for blowing things up.

I don't want to take away from the primary focus of shooting things up too much to where it isn't effective though.

Is there a set time we need to have our characters ready by? I'm traveling this week and so my schedule is a bit irregular.

I'd prefer characters by Friday, but I'll issue a list of "must have" stuff, in case you can't get completely done by then.

Well, my character is very much min/maxxed, just not for combat. She can fight decently, though, once she takes a dose of Cram + Jazz.

With that said, Seductress adept with drug addictions, a tendency to sleep around, and a beleif she's visited by a demon + Catholic preist in the party is bound to end in tears.

Of laughter.

Oh...this is going to be interesting.

Name: Fade
Race: Troll
Gender: Female
Concept: Washed-Up Urban Brawler (Rigger)

Fade was an up-and-coming Outrider on a AAA farm team for the Mountain Dragons - the Cleveland Clash. She led her team - largely intact - to win the minor-league UB series and was certain to go on to fame in majors. She was released from the Dragons after her disastrous and deadly debut and went down as a footnote in modern sporting history -- Most Team Kills in a Rookie Season. After that she simply disappeared. Faded.


Assuming character concept submissions are still welcome, here's Fade.

EDIT: Urban Brawling aside, she's not a homicidal maniac. She washed out because of that.

On the topic of knowing each other previously...

Anyone have ideas, etc?

I will probably need to be acquainted at least with one of you. I just got back in to town from an extended vacation. So, it is plausible that we knew each other years ago.

I'm a Chinese Ork that came here from Hong Kong to get away from trouble there and to find new opportunities and a fresh start.

By the way, where is here? Are we in Seattle like all good Shadowrunners should be?

Shadowrunners? Who's a Shadowrunner?

Yes, game is in Seattle.

Maybe we can work some contacts together? At least the Connection level, so that we can have flexibility on the Loyalty rating.

My contacts so far...

Hacker
Mechanic
Bartender (stand in for a fixer since she's not really a runner)

I'm flexible on them, so if we want to work these together, I'm open.

Options for knowing eachother...

- Hang out at the same bar (passing acquaintance)
- Belong to a club, fitness, gun, auto (close acquaintance)
- Schoolmates/grew up together (close acquaintance)
- Worked together before (passing-close acquaintance)
- Did time together, criminal SINs only (passing-close acquaintance)
- Slept together (passing acquaintance for Razorblade, passing-close acquaintance for others )
- Parents know/knew eachother (passing-close acquaintance)
- Met during the fallout of Crash 2.0 (passing-close acquaintance)

Fade background spoilers, read if you want to integrate backgrounds...

Hoping to get some bites on working backgrounds (particularly contacts, since those cost points) together so I can get to writing (and finish up with the numbers).

...Any of those hooks look good to anybody? Any other ideas if they don't?

I went ahead as if I was a candidate because TinkerGnome didn't announce the thread was closed. His list of players was 'so far' and I gave TG an opportunity to shoo me off. I wasn't shooed, so I'm trying to get this thread buzzing with chargen ideas because sheets and backgrounds are due Friday. Whether I get into the game or not, the discussion is a useful one. I'm not just looking for hooks for myself, but for everyone.

Sorry, I didn't say the thread was closed because I intended to use it for character generation. I'm not good with names and didn't realize you weren't on the list. Seven characters strongly stretches the scenario's limits, I'm afraid.

It is, however, possible that there will arise an opening by the time characters are due.

Well, then, I'll proceed as a candidate - a probably cut candidate. Feel free to put Fade in your backgrounds (she can be how some or most folks know eachother) or put her as a contact (I wouldn't, unless you have an low-connection one that needs some personality) so that if there is a need (and TG wants her in) it can be seamless. And stuff.

Who needs a roommate? Fade doesn't snore much. And she's very tidy. Okay, sorta tidy.

I'd be glad to work on contacts and backgrounds with everyone, but before we do that we should all come up with a good, more detailed background, share it, and from that point on patch things to know each other.

EDIT: My contacts will probably only consist of a fixer and a talismonger (with decent connectivity).

Alright, free moment. I got distracted with learning how to use style sheets. And babies. Those are the ultimate distraction.

Anyway, the list of things I have to have by Friday:

1. The contact who would call you for a job. Name, type, and a general description.
2. A physical description of your character as would be presented to other players.

I'll make the first post at that point and we'll start things up. I'll want characters by no later than mid next week.

Heh.... I just ran out of for my gear before I'd gotten out of the cyberware section (I start there since it's not what you might call 'liquid' assets) so... PBTHHHHT, I think Roland may have paid Fade (Esther) a visit. : / Poor, poor down on her luck troll.

Simon 'Bud' Elwells: 'When ya don't pay your bills, ya better head for the hills...'

*Simon during the course of his day job... cheezy and proud of it*

I've already emailed you my character sheet, TinkerGnome. Razorblade would probably have been contacted by her information broker contact.

I just realized, that I am Gming too much. I know nearly all of the relevant SR4 rules. But I am not able to create a character without a lot of reading. I'll need another day or two for it.

And I got a question: What is the maximum number of dice a mundane character can have for ranged weapons tests in SR4?

Elf w/ Exceptional Attribute (Agility) + Muscle Toner 4 + Aptitude (Automatics) + Reflex Recorder (Automatics) + specialization (whatever)+ Smartlink= 12+8+2+2=24.

I'll note that this guy isn't possible at CharGen, thanks to Availability restrictions.

Holy smokes, nick... that's just... that's just wrong.

And very cool.

I understand that Silo, no worries. If you see good ways to make our backgrounds fit when I post mine, feel free to let me know and we can link our characters together.