Hey Trig, none of us 'cept Ophis are combat ypes. Just cross your fingers and hope a few of us die soon.

Okay, the following isn't the most poetically written document ever conceived of by man, but I hope it comes in handy for the first phase of creating our characters. As always, if you have any questions or comments don't hesitate to open your trap!



CHARACTER CREATION GUIDELINES

[ Race ]

You're free to play any standard or variant metahuman race you like in this game and all of your available options "cost" exactly the same; absolutely nothing. If you detailed a specific race in your original submission, that choice is final. You can, however, pick an appropriate metahuman variant if you haven't already. If you haven't specified a race at all, now is the time to do so.

Metahuman variants will need to be custom designed as they don't exist in SR4 yet. If there's one you're interested in, please contact me either here or via an instant messenger (Neurotic Cupcake on AIM or Necrotic_Penguin on Yahoo!) and we'll discuss it and hash out something we both can agree on. Ghouls and Shapeshifters are not a valid option, but I will allow one (1) player to create a Drake if anyone is interested in playing one. They'll be a bit weaker than the versions found in SR3 but still a bit more potent than normal metahumans. If you'd like to give one a shot, discuss it with the other players then get in touch with me and we'll see what we can do.

Finally, Human characters have an additional trait as detailed below.

Versatility: Players with a Human character may select one Physical or Mental Attribute (as well as Edge, Magic or Resonance) with which their maximum rating is increased by one point. Players may also treat a single Active Skill of choice in the same manner. This is in addition to their current Edge modifier and is compatible with the Aptitude, Enhanced Attribute, and Lucky qualities.

Example: Donovan Fairchild is a Human Black Magician with Versatility (Magic and Spellcasting). Both scores have their initial limitations improved to 1/7(10). If he instead chose to apply his attribute modifier to Edge instead of Magic, and if had the Lucky quality, his Edge limitation would be 2/9(13).



[ Qualities ]

You may select a single Positive Quality of equal or lesser value for every Negative Quality you take, with a maximum of three Negative Qualities available. Likewise, you must take the qualities you specified in your original submission. If either were the equivalence of a Positive Quality, you must select a Negative one of equal or greater cost to accompany it. If it is absolutely vital to your concept to have more than three qualities of each type, talk with me about it and we'll see what we can do.

If your original quality or qualities do not conform to any currently available in the game, please contact me so we can figure out how much it's worth and whether or not any specific rules need to be applied towards it.

If you're having trouble thinking of appropriate qualities, don't hesitate to ask me or the other players for suggestions or help.

Special Exception: If you are a magician with the Mentor Spirit quality, combine the two into a single quality. In other words, if you choose to have a Mentor Spirit it simply increases your base magical quality by 5 points for determining what kind of a Negative Quality you need to take, rather than counting as a second quality.

The following qualities are not available as currently written: Cyberpsychosis, Incompetent, SINner, SINner: Criminal.



[ Attributes ]

EDIT: Apparently this wasn't as straight forward as I intended (and I miscalculated myself!).

Everyone has 30 points with which to add to their minimum attribute scores. Maxing out an attribute costs 2 points instead of 1 for the final point.



[ Skills ]

This is where we being to truly diverge from the normal rules and as such it's also the part where you'll need to work with me the most in order to get it just right. Do note that these restrictions only apply during character creation.

SR4 pp. 108-109 has a list of what each skill rating represents and examples of how those scores relate to individual skills. This is the table you'll need to use and reference for determining all of your skill ratings. Have at it, but keep in mind that you still need the Aptitude attribute or Versatility in order to hit a natural score of 7. There are a few limitations and restrictions, however.

Active Skills: You may have no more than one skill per unmodified attribute point in that skill's linked attribute. For example, if you have a base Agility score of 3, you may have a maximum of three Agility-linked skills. Only one of these skills per linked attribute may exceed the linked attribute's rating. This means that using the same example, you could only have one Agility-linked skill at a score of 4 or higher.

Knowledge/Language Skills: You may have a total of unmodified (Logic + Intuition) Knowledge Skills, and one additional Language Skill for every two points of Logic. Knowledge Skills are not limited by their linked attribute for purposes of determining their rating, but Language Skills are.

Skill Groups: Skill groups count as two skills for purposes of determining how many you may have. If a group consists of skills with more than one linked attribute, use the most appropriate attribute in your opinion for determining your limit. You may also split skill groups up as you see fit, though each skill you split from the group counts as an individual skill.

What's more, you are allowed to create up to two unique skill groups as long as it's directly related to your concept. Each such group should consist of three or four unique skills appropriate to the concept.

Example: Rebecca is creating a former KSAF reporter and is interested in making an Investigation skill group. She decides this group consists of Data Search, Infiltration, Perception and Shadowing and labels it as such on her character sheet. She then decides her group counts as an Intuition skill for purposes of determining how many skills she may have.

Specializations: You may have a total number of specializations equal to your unmodified Logic attribute x 1.5 (round up). This limit only applies to Active Skills; specializations are highly encouraged with Knowledge and Language Skills if appropriate. Skill Groups may not have a specialization, but you can split a single skill from a group to specialize in.



[ Miscellaneous ]

That's it for this stage. We'll work on contacts, implants, magic, and all that hubabaloo after we get all of this hashed out. And yes, I have my reasons. Just build your character the way they should be built rather than trying to min/max, and you'll be happy with the final results. Guaranteed.

Hey Doc Funk, just hurry up and kill these sukas

*pulls out "Defense Against the Dark Arts" at-home kit"

Screw this noise! I ain't going down without a fight. *glares at Trigger*

*comes out from behind screen dressed in robes with skull mask on*

What? I'm not doing anything black magicky, don't know what you're talking about.

*hides wand behind back*

Avada Kedavra?

Bah, had people bickering already about my lame house rules. Made a few minor adjustments as of this writing. Sorry.

Mother fucker, even after further clarification some of you clowns apparently need help with what I mean by the Attribute points. (I don't know why as it's -exactly the same as the normal rules- only with the costs and number of points available changed!) <angry fist of doom>

Let's say you're playing a standard Elf with no Attribute-modifying qualities. Before spending a single point, you have the following Attributes:

Bod 1 | Agi 2 | Rea 1 | Str 1 | Cha 3 | Int 1 | Log 1 | Wil 1 | Edge 1.

Those are your racial minimums. Now, see those 30 points I gave you above? Take those and add on to those numbers on a 1:1 ratio, up to your racial maximum where the last point costs 2 points instead of 1. Thus if you wanted Body 6, it would cost you 6 points (4 to raise it to 5, then +2 for that last point).

Magic and Resonance works exactly the same way, and the positive qualities that grant you access to these attributes also grant you a base score of 1. No, you don't gain any extra points; you have to use your original 30 to improve it. Again, just like the normal rules. Fortune, I'm looking at you, asshole.

Additional Note: These "rules" are really more guidelines to help you build your character. Do your absolute best to color within the lines, but if you absolutely have to go outside the lines, do so at your best judgment. We'll discuss things further if we need to.

ROTFLMMFAO!

I don't get it.



*ducks*

I hate you all. With a passion that knows no boundries, and a flame who's intensity is matched only by that of a thousand supernovas. Which is to say quite a lot. <nods>

....wanna join game......curses chosen players....shakes fist in air.....sulks.....

What are the Racial adjustments for a Drake?

I am totally open to bribes, offers of sexual favors, and cupcakes. Though perhaps I have said too much.

yeah definitely. No way you're getting cup cakes out of me.

How about sexual favors involving cupcakes, 'cause if so...

*offers up joygirl covered in cupcakes with credsticks instead of candles on them*

Anyways there is an opening coming up soon?

I said I was open to bribes, not that they would actually get you anywhere...

And, sadly, it doesn't look like there will be any openings any time soon. If there are, I'll be sure to get in touch with everyone who's shown interest, though. Promise.

Look on the bright side ... maybe one of our characters will die during chargen (much like the old Traveller game).

We should totally start a pool, have karma as an award for who ever can guess who dies first!

Just checkin in. By the way anyone dead yet?

tentative yes.

I'll sort out stats over the weekend...

Hey guys! It's been quite the last couple of days, so I thought I'd try to pick the conversation up a little more as well as give a few updates.

So far I've gotten two initial drafts (one from Fortune and the other from Alex). Everything looks pretty good so far, but I've noticed some of you may be a little reluctant to take higher ranked skills. Don't be that shy about having a couple of 6's and a few 5's on your sheet. You guys are a professional team who've been working for the DIMR for about two years give or take, so there's plenty of experience for you to have advanced a little from your original concepts. I apologize for not making that more clear in my original post!

I'd like to see some more drafts sent my way so that we can move on to the final phase and then finally get this bad boy going. As such, I'm going to set an unofficial deadline for Monday night and an official one for Wednesday night. The sooner I get all of them, the sooner I can compare and look over them in detail, and the sooner we can move on to the final step!

Finally, thanks again for the tremendous interest you've all shown. Really means a lot to me. I know I'm not particularly liked on these boards by most people, but knowing you guys are willing to look past my occasional assholishness when debating so we can all have some fun is just really great. So thank you.

P.S. If you're still a little new or unfamiliar with the game, don't hesitate to contact me and ask for some advice and help. I'm more than happy to do so.

Sorry, I've just been dragging my feet, working o other things. Will have it our tonight or tomorrow.

I wasn't trying to admonish anyone. I figured setting some kind of deadline would help out all around. I just know how much of a procrastinator players can be without one (God knows I'm one of the most guilty people around), so... yeah.

Is there a chance I can count the Close Combat Group as Strength based for skill buying purposes? To get the skills I want/need I've had to max my agil which doesn't really suit what I'm going for...

Ah just found the making up my own skill group bit, that may help...

Throw another bone to those of us who actually aren't slack, Doc.

I mentioned it earlier, Ophis, but it may have been easily missed. If you simply can't fit all of the skills and skill groups you need within the guidelines I supplied, don't worry about going over the limit a little.

That limit was mostly put into place to help give an idea of how many skills I was expecting everyone to have, not a definitive limit on the max you can have. Some concepts require more, some less, and that's perfectly fine as long as it's appropriate. For example, I don't expect to see our resident Egyptologist with a dozen Agility-based skills and Firearms at 6, just like I don't expect Critical Bill to be loaded down with a bunch of Logic-based skills and Hacking 6.

Fortune: Patience is a virtue.

Careful! I might follow you home.

That's cool, I'll teach you some new tricks later. You can fetch the paper and such, right?

BTW, my schar is in.

Did this thread turn into the start of a gay porno while I was away?

Why? Were you hoping it had?

<puts away his camcorder> ... No?

I don't want to clutter up the thread, but I just wanted to hop in and say 3 things.

1. Damn me to the bottomless pits of the ninth level of the Stygian Pits for not checking Welcome to the Shadows over the past week as this game looks bloody marvelous.

2. I would be really interested in seeing the finalized characters for this game once everyone has everything up. I hope you all plan on making the char sheets public.

3. I'm completely bloody shocked to see the rapid personality shift in you, Doc, compared to your debating personality and because of your politeness, punctuation, and sense of humor- though still a bit tame compared to what I am used to- you have now been added and actually come close to topping the list of Dumpshockers who I really wish either lived near me or vice versa as I really want some players that I don't want to maim on a regular basis.



Chris


EDIT: Oh, and as an obvious addendum to #3 there would also be the obvious gay fanboy benefits on your part. *leer*

EDIT2: I just realized no one knows me here, and I'm not sure how well my sense of humor translates to the interenet so.... I was kidding...... about wanting to play Shadowrun with you. Bow chicka bow wow.

As to #2 , I plan on putting mine up publicly at least. once I'm done arguing with Doc about attributes.

#3 as to this, well, I'm always on Doc 'cause you're right, he's down right agreeable any time he isn't in the main forums ,isn't he.

I'm new to Shadowrun and Dumpshock, and if I get annoyed at any post by Dr. F., I will offset that with gratitude for inspiring some cool content. Just reading the character posts was fun. And generally, hurrah for GMs saying "start with a background story".

<sing-song voice> Suck up all you like, the game's still full for noooow. </voice> Thank you for the kind words, though.

I've been a bit sick so my apologies for not responding sooner. I'll get around to responding to the PMs I have here in a few moments. Some delays are occurring with two of the people who haven't turned in a draft yet but I'm still anticipating (and expecting) those drafts by Wednesday at the latest. Come Hell or high water, we'll be moving on Wednesday night regardless.

If I've missed any questions or comments, don't be shy about asking/saying 'em again.

All right, I contacted everyone who's submitted something so far with my comments and recommendations. Sorry, again, for taking so long to reply.

<pushes Riley back in line> Shoot the slowpokes in the face for fun

Personally I'll go running for the hell on earth, that place has got to have some damn fine party spots.