Ah you see the way i read it was that you don't get your 2 bouns point to assign but it said nothing of your race max increase.

+1 mental (race max) for being Otaku
+2 mental (race max) for being a Phys 1 Otaku (with 2 bonus points under normal rules (bonus attribute style))

From what I've read as an Otaku, all your physical stat maxes are -1 and all your mental stat maxes are +1...so for humans the starting max physical is 5( 8 ) and mental is 7(10)

Just double checking myself in BeCKs...how much Karma is a STR 2, BOD 4, QCK 4, INT 8, CHA 6, WIL 7 Human?

i made it 212.
Bod,4= 18
Quick,4= 18
Str,2= 4
Cha,6= 40
Will, 7= 54
Int, 7= 54 + 24 for the last point.
Total 212


Sidenote: Are we going Shamans or Adepts? or a mix?
Also: Dr F are you still doing the Infobroker angle?

Yes, I'm still going with the Information Broker.

I just finished writing up a backstory for anyone who wants to read it. Granted I'm really not a good storyteller, but i think I get the point across. I'm going for a street thief Technoshaman. 15 year old boy. As far as real world skills go, I just have small pistols and stealth skills, with some etiquette and fast talking thrown in there.

Grey, I sent you my story.

I'm going to say this much: I'd really, really love to play, as, being the computer geek that I am, the Matrix has always interested me. I just don't have the attention span to read all the equations and figure everything out.

I'd really, really like to learn it all, but I don't feel I have the time I'd need to dedicate to learning as I would have in June. My deepest apologies, and best of luck to you all.

I may be reading the thread just to see how much I can nab off of each of you in terms of knowledge.

It's really not that hard to understand. There are a lot of terms, but it all pretty much comes down to the same 2 or 3 rolls over and over again. Do you know about the 'idiots guide to the matrix' thread? It's right here and it makes it even easier to figure out. They even run through examples.

As I said: I just no longer have the time. I can re-learn things, I can reinforce things, but now that I have no time, I cannot learn new things without taking time off to do so.

Holidays are coming. Work is taking up time. School will start soon. I may even have to drop a game or two from my list, and forget about anything dealing with real life.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, though. I needed it.

Mo To TI Vu
Though she looks about 16 noone (even her) knows her real age.
Mo has been with the tribe since the start (oldest Female im guessing).
Always ill with something and walks with a very pronuced limp, with very gaunt features along with her grey skin and considering her clothes at first glance you would think she's a working girl (which she's not). Seen outside only during dawn and dusk the locals do know to avoid her (she's on very good terms with local gangs). For the tribe she mainly does things that involve the running of the house (hacked power/water).

Stat wise. A technoshaman, that has an ability to put the finnishing touch to any deal (though she doesn't deal with Chinese). though she leaves the info gathering And selling to The Mad Hatter (she couldn't tell the difference between last nights hot news and last years) While in the matrix her icon is her imactualtly clean and she talks to the matrix and it does what she is asking rather then her doing it herself.

@Grey i'll send provisional stats as soon as i can get them off this bit of paper

Okay. Well. I guess I'm not the info broker now, just the guy who gets it. Or something. I don't know. Time to completely redo my character I guess. <sighs>

Opps! sorry i meant info gathering and selling to Mad hatter. You are the info broker. Not Mo she deals with the other stuff.

Sorry my bad.

It's cool. I was just taken a little back 'cause I thought I was going to be the Face for the group (see the second post in the thread), but no worries. I can readjust accordingly... works out for the best, actually. <strokes his newfound abundance of Skill Karma>

Out of curiosity, what's the month and year that the game's starting (so I can jot down the right age)?

Well it's your Call. To fit her in the karma i dropped all of the info gathering stuff.

Data havens, Data brokerage, Info sortillage (+Echo) And some theory skills.

I kept her Ettiquete (5), and Negotiation(7). But she's got only 8 contacts (none are Data havens). So she doesn't know anybody really. I'ts more of a case of she just make people happy (thats sounds dodgy)

And im pretty certain i've arsed up on the maths so that would be the next area to get hit.

You can never have too many Faces... Ok, I got the sheets from Elfie and Shockwave_IIc, both of you can take the 25 karma bonus, so you'll have 625 to spend. I don't have time tonight for lots of math, I'll do that tomorrow when I'm on company time.

Sweet. So since we seem to have a face already, my technoshaman focuses more on procuring information (thinking of specializing in the Access/Index areas), and then giving it to the Hatter to sell for money I guess I'll have Shadowland as a contact, just so my character can keep up with the news so he knows what to steal and what's worth money.

Well... argh.

Okay, I think I'm going to go ahead and pull out of the game. The role my entire character was created around is pretty much non-existant with a both face and an information gather, plus Grey wasn't really keen on me being a decker anyway. So have fun, guys. I look forward to watching you play...

I'm still in, grey, just bogged down with my final paper for school. Once that clears up (it's due thursday so it better be cleared up by then!) I'll get cracking on this stuff. It looks as if I'm going to go for the combat type otaku, both virtual and a little physical to help with those times when you just need to bash some heads --- or IC
-- Dash --

Do you guys know if there are rules for a group of people doing work together? Like you are all doing info searches or something, would you be able to pool successes together, or cut down on the base time, anything like that?

I was just a bit bummed out last night. Sorry.

As to your question, the only rule I know of is for Programming Teams (Matrix, p. 80). For it, you take the average of everyone's skill then divide the task period by the number of team members +1. The Search table gives a sizable bonus for using a Frame or Agent to assist. Beyond that, I don't know anything off hand.

Just as a side note, a quick calculation had my character getting a Detailed Search down to a TN of 2 to 3 in most circumstances, and with the number of dice he has to throw for it, even at the max time (3 days), it's cut down to about 3.6 hours on average. Like I said, I was focusing on that stuff originally.

I think in the case of info searches I'll give a bonus similar to using an Agent, but I'm not sure yet. One thing you guys may learn when playing a game I run is that I like to just make up rules on the fly that I think work best for whatever is going on.

sounds like my style as well. i just try to write down anything that i didn't know, look it up later, and let my PCs know if (when) i changed something. then we decide which method to use. hasn't really been a problem for me yet .

Ok, so far I've got 4 players, which could work out really well. I may let in one more, but that would be my limit and it would have to be someone that really impresses me to boot. I'm still working on fleshing out the storyline and a few other things, so feel free to take your time on the characters, though I guess if you guys want to start soon, thats cool by me too, cause I can always make stuff up as I go. Anyhow, lets shoot for getting things started at the very latest by next Monday. I'd like all characters to me by Thurs at the latest, so I can make sure everything fits.

FYI - I just rolled up the size of the tribe and got box cars. You have 16 members besides the four of you.

Here is a question for you guys...

What do you want your Tribes name to be?

So, is there still room for one more player? I had in mind my young ork decker/rigger, Lady Cheng, who I got to play in one short-lived campaign and who I still have the starting stats for. Additionally, I've done lots of Matrix-by-web stuff, as demonstrated over in the "Idiot's Guide to the Matrix" thread.

I think I could work in room for one more and you'd be someone I'd consider, cause you do know the Matrix. The only problem I see is with the character you have in mind. How would she fit in with an Otaku tribe?

Also, where is the Tribe? This is essential to my backstory, otherwise I wouldn't really give a damn.

-- Dash --

The game will most likely be in Seattle, but I may deside to change it to Los Angeles.

I like that, but let's add a little flair to it. Something like the Tribe of Misfit Toys.

Watching a little to many old clay-mation xmas films are we
-- Dash --

You know, I've never seen that particular one in all my years. But I do like the way it sounds.

Oh it's the best one! Hey, maybe I'll name my Daemon 'Bumbles' from the line "Didn't I ever tell you about bumbles? Bumbles bounce!"

If it helps anyway, my character has a bit of a grudge against the Triads, and several years back he pulled off a masterful plot that ended up having an entire Triad in Seattle decimated by the others. Though he did it under a different Matrix persona back then (Whistler). Maybe you could work that into how Cheng came into contact with the tribe, assuming Grey or anyone else doesn't have any problems with it.

Grey, I had a question for you about the Armor and Shield Utilities.

I've been talking it over with Dash, and we've come to this conclusion concerning them and Otaku... The Armor utility states it absorbs damage dealt to the online icon, but not the decker's meatbody. OK, that's a problem for an Otaku, since more attacks target the meatbody than would a decker. The Shield utility (matrix p.74) states that when used, a Shield test can be made to reduce the number of successes on an opponent's (IC, deckers) attack roll.

To us this seems like Shield would be infinitely more important to an Otaku than would an Armor utility, since with Shield there's a greater possibility for no damage being dealt at all, as opposed to trying to soak damage after it's dealt.

We were just curious as to how you were going to rule Armor and Shield, since you're GM'ing the game.

I know you were asking Grey, but...

Doesn't Armor simply reduce the Power of attacks, just like armor in the real world? Why would that be any less effective or desireable for an Otaku?

Well I asked because the way we saw it was this:

Lets say an Otaku gets hit by, I don't know, Black IC with a power of 12. If I had an Armor utility 8, I'm reducing the power of the attack to my living persona by 4, but my meat body gets hit with a power of 12, since Armor is just for the Icon.

Now lets say I had a Shield 8 utility. The IC hit me with 4 net successes, lets say. I make a shield test at a TN of 9 (random number..the security value of the host) and garner 4 successes (very lucky). Now I can say that the IC missed completely, since I parried its attack. No need for Armor to soak any damage since none was dealt, and my persona and meatbod live to see another initiative pass.

If I'm going at this wrong, please yell at me, I've never looked at it from the GM's perspective.

Straight computer skill? Or would this be a Decking or Programming specialization?

Is anyone planning on getting the Small Unit Tactics (Matrix) skill? If not, I might invest in a utility with the DINAB-8 option and let it handle all of that fun stuff if we get into a fight. Basically if I'm reading it all right, it'll function at a Skill level of 8 after analyzing the "battlefield." So it can save some karma/skill points that way. But if it's an intrical part to your character just let me know and I'll pass on it.

Also, is everyone else getting the BattleTac Matrixlink utility/complex form?

I got Small unit tactics at 3 thinking we were all going to get it. Granted I really don't know how it's all going to work, but I also took a BattleTac Matrix complex form at rating 2 thinking it would help also. I'd like this whole thing cleared up so I either understand how it works, or scrap them from my character and save the Karma. If we only need 1 person with it, and it's your DINAB-8 utility, then I'll scrap my skills and save Karma...I wouldn't call it integral to the backstory.

But my attack-6-D could be fun in a fight

Well, only one person needs to take SUT usually. If more than one person tries to use it, it tends to lessen the effects as orders get mixed up and general confusion ensues.

But if you have it, I'll go ahead and pass unless you wanna spend that Karma elsewhere. Just let me know. I can get the DINABed BattleTac utility fairly easily I think. I'm just not 100% positive if it'll work the way I think it'll work.

If you want to read up on SUT, it's in the last chapter of the Cannon Companion I believe.

The way it sounds, your DINAB would be much better than my skill of 3, so I'll gladly drop it.

Either way, I'll pick up the CC and give it a once over.

I'm pretty much done with my character, I did it by hand, so I just have to type up an excel, then I'll post it online for others to look at if they wish.