If I didn't need to spend my most of my qualities limit on getting more money, I would get exceptional attribute and go for response 10. Ah well, I can live with response 9

So, do you think there will be many actual runs in this game, or mostly interaction between runners and npcs and the like?

That depends on the NPCs created and played, and the goals of NPCs and PCs alike. I do expect both action and interaction. In the interest of keeping the characters more or less in the same time frame, runs might get a bit more abstracted than usual - with less micro-managing, and more "cut scenes" on runs (including other jobs, such as pirate heists, security jobs, etc.)

Well, created the character and wrote him up on the wiki for all to peruse... Definitely a fan of the karma build, it is a lot more skill friendly! At least, as long as I didn't mess anything up too bad. Rechecked the math a few times, but being at work means distractions are par for the course.

That sounds entirely sensible to me

Will post char once i get it finished

I agree that free spirits and AIs are broken if they get their "race" for free, considering that it normally costs either 250 BP or 110 BP - it should be treated like a special quality, instead, the way they do for drakes and the infected.

Charging other metatypes double the BP cost in karma, though, makes them pretty much nonviable as characters. If we adopt this house rule, I'll probably ditch Syren and make a human character.

Could you explain that, Glyph? I honestly do not see how basically applying the same cost metaraces cost in BP gen to Karma gen makes them nonviable. I mean, if one rebuilt "elf" through qualities, the 2 exceptional attributes it has over human (assuming agility and edge cancel each other out) alone would cost 80 karma. That's more than the 60 an elf costs by this house rule - and elves are considered to be "overpriced" in BP gen.

Well, it costs more karma for metatypes to upgrade their stats. How many trolls are going to be able to afford to upgrade their body stat? Elves to pump their charisma when they are paying 60+ karma for their metatype?
They get boosted stats, but they pay proportionately more for further increases. That is why metatype normally increases the karma limit they can spend on stats, and get the metatype for free; so they can afford to increase their stats above racial minimum. Perhaps a better solution would simply be to make AIs pay double karma for their attributes, since their only have 4 instead of 8. As for free spirits I don't know- I only got the runners companion recently, and haven't read most of it.

The exceptional Attribute thing doesn't matter much to me (and I think it's overpriced as a quality). I would rather have 60 points of skills and stuff to start out with, than have 80 points worth of "extra potential". An elf gets a net gain of 15 Karma over a human. But a Charisma of 7 costs 24 points more than a Charisma of 5 for a human. So I'm losing a net 45 points for the privilege of buying higher Attributes at a higher cost.

Maybe it's because I already had her stats down - I would rather start over, than take a finished character and gut 60 points out of it; everything is too solid at that point.

Probably a moot point now. I think I like the SURGED human I'm working on better, so even if we don't adopt that house rule, I'll still likely wind up playing a human. Similar to karmagen Syren in a lot of ways - face, dancer, secondary combat specialty. The SURGE adds a nice extra touch of pathos, though, and makes her a bit more unique.

They also start at the minimum attributes for their metaraces. A human gains 6 karma there. For an elf or dwarf, that's 21 karma. For an ork, that's 42 karma - or 2 more than the racial cost after house rules. For a troll that's 84, or a net gain of 4 karma.

Now, the example character (Haywire) I posted was made with BP gen, at a cost of 420 BP (+free contacs). I just recalculated the costs in karma gen, and they add up to 497 (without contacts). I would consider that character a viable character, and it still has 250 karma points left to spend. Enough to turn her into an elf, and hard max both agility and charisma, and have almost 50 karma left - more than enough for say getting skills of 6 in spellcasting and automatics.
(That wouldn't be exactly a wise use of those ressources, but it illustrates what can be done with karma gen.)

I tried to say what he said, but he said it much, much better. BTW, did you know that there is a vehicle mod for anthropods that gives it recoil 3? I didn't until now. My character just got more dangerous.
She will nicely cover firepower. If we are ever running as a team, she can have that covered.

Considering surge: If picking neagive metagenic qualities, please pick something that can't be easily fixed with cyber- or bioware if the character wanted to. I simply don't see how feathers, or extravagant eyes, or mood hair, or scales, or scent glands would not be fixed by simple and cheap surgery. I know the rules say they can't be bought off if unwanted, but I can't really think of any explanation that would make that possible without breaking immersion.

As a matter of fact, I'd rather treat surged as a metarace, costing 10 to 30 karma, and offering 20 to 60 karma in free metagenic qualities, dropping the "mandatory negative qualities" (could still be picked for flavor), and add some "freak factor" that's mostly applying to astral observers, who see from the aura that the character is surged (unless masked).

But, to take an example, having a character with unwanted extravagant eyes that can't be replaced by cybereyes, or unwanted mood hair that can't be dyed, cut, or replaced by fiberoptic hair just rubs me the wrong way.

Whether they could potentially be "fixed" or not, unusual hair, skin, etc. is a big part of SURGE, that it makes the character look kind of unusual and unique. But if you want to treat it as the equivalent of a metatype, that's fine too. Won't make a functional difference, since the hair/eyes/skin is not something I plan to have her change - she's past the "I'm a freak" part and into the "This is who I am" thing, and it's also something I plan to keep even if it's "optional". The only SURGE negative quality outside of the SURGE limits, her bioluminescense, is one that couldn't be fixed easily with 'ware.

That works fine, Glyph.

Also, when you make your characters, please think about how relatively powerful NPCs should be in comparision. Going from this baseline:



A big appeal for me is the interaction between PCs and NPCs, the "waves" people make, so to speak, the consequences their actions have. If GM for a face that can charm the pants off everyone else on the island, then I want to play that out, see how far the character goes, what powerbase he builds and how, not enforce some "you still are shadowrunner scum no matter your skills and talents" limit. The advantage in not having an enforced team structure for a game is that both the street rat struggling to survive and the gang lord making a bid for control of the city have their place, since they are not expected to be equal runners in the same team.
But before I send the corporate extraction teams paid by Horizon's music division to grab the second coming of Elvis I'd like to be sure that the player too considers his musician to be world class, and worth such attention - and not just a talented but not exceptional street musician.

Or, to say it a bit differently: When you formulate your characters goals, also think about why those goals were not yet reached. If the character is a pornomancer wanting to marry rich, why didn't he/she succeed yet? Is it because the character has some inherent bad luck, has much too high expectations, or is that sort of charisma and skill normal among the target demographic? If your character dreams of his own ship and would do anything for that, and has enough skills at arm to take over the ship he's currently on, why doesn't he? Loyality to the current captain? Code of honor? Or do ohers have the same skills at arm?

It's important to know where the character stands in the world. How many equally powerful/skilled, how many more powerful/skilled are in the quarter, city, island?

can we figure out what we are going to do about the AI racial karma cost? Cause I can't even start until we have that sorted.
Personally I am in favour of only doubling karma cost for attributes.

In my pen and paper group, we have the following character generation rules: Everyone makes the character they want, without any consideration of points and starting limits, but everyone has veto power to make sure the end results are ok with everyone.

Frankly, given the unorthodox set up, I think it would be best to simply drop all character generation limits and systems and let you all just write up the characters you want, according to what system, if any, you want, then post them, and then we can see what adjustments if any need to be done (like in case two characters are supposed to be in the same "power class" yet their stats do not reflect this).

So, here it is, for everyone: Just write up your character. Give him, her or it what you think your concept needs. And then spend some time figuring out how powerful relative to the world and Jamaica your character should be.

Sounds good to me.

As an explanation for this decision: The game is unorthodox, and much more freeform than the usual "Team gets on run" game. So, I need to get people to break the usual habits of trying to get the most out of the system, and get used to set their own course - and limits. Or the game will break apart very quickly because there are not many limits in game.

And I was not kidding about the extraction team. If your character is a world class musician then I need some good reasons why he's playing in a dinky nightclub for tips and not constantly hounded by fans, managers and corp reps. I have no problem accomodating Elvis Mark II (or Bob Marley III) living on Jamaica, his villa being a tourist attraction, creating a small mob whereever he visits, and having to disguise himself to get out of the cameras for some privacy, and to indulge in his adrenalin addiction as a pirate, for example. I have no trouble handling "Don Juan Reborn" flirting, seducing and plotting his way to the top, aiming first for control of Kingston, then Jamaica, and then further.

But I don't really want to adjust the whole world so a DP of 15 becomes the new average just so someone can play an "average runner" with superhuman stats.

Here is what I want to do with the Inquilline Protocol. I want to look for Sadie Rose (see background a few pages ago). I want to be able to pursue her whereabouts ruthlessly (but not stupidly), and I want to take any means necessary. This means that the Iquilline protocol might be doing some hireling if her skill set can't cover what it needs to do.
As for what it can do...
The Inquilline protocol, even with only a 750 point build, is just about world class for firepower. It can fire two FN P93s with high velocity mods on full auto and still get a decent positive dice pool (I think around 6 dice?). When fully armoured its body shrugs off all attacks that do less then 16P damage.
Because it is an AI, it has some hacking skills, and because it mimics humans, it has some social skills.
But really this just means that it needs to hold back, least red flags start going up everywhere.
Bottum line is, though, if the Inquilline Protocol needs to steal hardcopy data from a corperate enclave, it will. If it needs to infilrate the mob and rise in its ranks, it will. If it needs to become the head of the Jamaican under, the Inquilline protocol will do so, or die trying.
Of course, this puts a burden on the GMs to come up with some good story for what happened to Sadie Rose. They don't need to decide now. You all could just give the Inquilline Protocol a large and broad clue that will take forever to fully follow up on, or that requires some great feat to pull off, like the above examples.

I already have ideas about Sadie's fate, so that's not a problem. IP is also an A.I., and therefore there's more leeway due to its alien thinking when confronted with the question "Why wouldn't it simply do X?"

Built in limits for IP are also maintenance requirements, and the resulting dependencies.

Oh GOD yes. Especially because it is my home node.

Basic maintenance cost is 2000 a week, plus an additional amount for the wear and tear that comes from it being my homenode. I think an Otomo has a device rating of 3, yes? Actually, that isn't so bad. I think that only puts me at about 10k a month.
Of course, it costs my thousands of nuyen to repair each box of damage.
If the Otomo does not have a device rating, then I am dealing with almost 100k nuyen in repairs each month...
Which means that IP would have to be pulling some serious crime and be a prime running just to keep up with the bills. Which she might be capible of if I built her a little stronger/more versicle then I originally intended.

I was not that much thinking about the nuyen costs, but more about the needs to get spare parts, maybe even help, to maintain the frame. That means developping ties, contacts and channels.

Yes it does. Do you want me to be a fresh arrival in Kingstown? A fresh of the plane, no local contacts type thing?

That's entirely up to you.

My opinion of skill vs. being on top of the world is that simply having mad skillz doesn't automatically make you successful. Conversely, there are also plenty of dimwits who become corporate VIPs, lip-synching barbie dolls who become pop idols, etc. Success takes a certain mindset, clear goals, or sometimes a measure of luck. Which can include being born in the right population demographic or moving in the right circles.

So I think there will be world class target shooters who are plunking tin cans or shooting raccoons out in the bayou, Hemmingway-level writers who fritter away their talent writing anime slash fanfics, and so on.

That said, I do agree that there should be reasons for a character capable of incredible feats to not be as successful as it seems they should be. In the SURGEling's case, it's a mix of being SINless and facing prejudice, as well as some personality traits. That's not to say that her circumstances couldn't change - going from dancing in a sleazy club as a new arrival to Jamaica, to headlining a burlesque show in an exclusive nightclub for the rich and jaded. Or becoming some kind of power player in the underworld with her face abilities. Like the Inquilline Protocol, I think she will work best as a recent arrival.

The Inquilline Protocol was on its way to being a high level player, but then lost poor Sadie Rose. Now the IP is focused on hunting her down. The IP often gets started in a new place posing as a bodyguard, favoring working for women because its Otomo is based on a female design, and it doesn't like having to deal with putting off advances by those it is supposed to be protecting. If you start higher up, IP could do bodyguard work for you.

Nova was potentially a more conventional star, until awakening, SURGEing, and losing her SIN put that into a tailspin. She did a mix of dancing and con jobs to get by, so she could either become a big exotic dancing star, or a player in Jamaica's underworld, or both. Note that despite her decent combat abilities, she is more more the type to run away if she can, and ruthlessly do what she has to, to survive, otherwise. She protects herself, but has absolutely no interest in, say, shooting it out with corporate security. She is more of a high-stakes negotiator, sometimes a lure or a distraction.

It's hard to say how it will go, because I know from experience that a character on paper can wind up different when you start actually playing the character. Spider wound up having less of an edge than I expected, Dancer wound up being insecure, etc.

Quick question: Is there DocWagon (or an equivalent) on Jamaica?

I think there would have to be. Doesn't the Docwagon contract insure people worldwide? And if you are set up to rescue people in Jamaica, and not insure people in Jamaica?

Alright, I'm just about done work on one of my current projects (SRM submissions, which, combined with pre-deployment craziness has kept my mind occupied), and I'm going to dip into this now.

I'm thinking of re-creating Waverunner, an old unplayed Adept of mine who was meant for a Jamaican game. Basically he's a rasta freerunner/revolutionary type... totally re-working the concept now, though.

And it made me grin to see an AI in a drone anthroform body, because one of my characters for the still frameworking Emerald City Nights project is an AI in an Ares CrimeWatch drone (basically an Evo Orderly with a Forensics Kit instead of a Medkit). He's part of my eccentric PI company, which'll play a hand in my rambling wandering narrative for that project... which is going to be odd at best...

...but now, to re-make Waverunner, and make him good... damn good...

Without checking sourcebooks, DocWagon should have facilities on the major islands (Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti/Santo Domingo, probably Nasau) in the Caribbean League, a natural expanasion from the CAS and UCAS. Their 10 minute service won't be provided outside those islands, just maybe medical transports.

Also, if you need a picture for the character, send me a description with the details and I'll see what I can come up with in DAZ Studio.

Cool! You do awesome renders.
I'm still hashing out Nova's background, but I do have her appearance questions done.

Nova Physical Description:

1. What is your character's Sex?

Female.

2. What is your character's physical size?

Petite and curvy, but toned.

3. What is the color of the character's hair, eyes, and skin?

She has straight, medium-length hair in a page boy cut with tousled bangs, which is mostly white, although stray strands of gold and pale blue give it a shimmering look. Her eyes are double-irised - an outer iris of pale, slightly luminescent blue, and an inner iris of a bright orange-red. Her skin is white, but a more opaque white than an albino, with slight blue highlights. Her ears are catlike, covered with a soft downy white hair, and are more animated than normal human ears - they can twitch, droop, etc.

4. What is the character's general appearance (i.e., How does she dress, etc.)?

Shannon dresses to suit the occasion while still standing out. She knows that she will draw people's eyes to her, so she might as well stand out in a good way. She has an oval face with delicate features, a bright smile, and a voice that is soft but composed. She retains a sweet and innocent quality about her, even when she is doing things that are far from sweet or innocent. She mostly uses her nanotattoos for dancing, but will display tattoos if they would go with a certain outfit, or if she is in a playful mood.



I should have her sheet with the 50+ questions done and posted here fairly soon, with the WIKI sheet following somewhat later - I am a bit awkward with WIKI editing and putting things in tables.

I could use a pic, please.


1. What is the Otomo's Sex?

female

2. What is your Otomo's physical size?

Average height, slim and feminine proportions and face. Small breasts. Human.

3. What is the color of the Otomo's hair, eyes, and skin?

Currently maintaining a dark skin tone, with brown eyes and black hair. The hair is shoulder length, and often in a tight, short braid to keep it out of the way (NOT A MULLET)

4. What is the character's general appearance (i.e., How does she dress, etc.)?

Always keeps covered to hide the seams in its Otomo's synthetic and to conceal the form fitting body armour she almost always wears. Favors well cut suits (pants, not skirt) for business. Black or very occasionally dark grey. More casual is jeans, an untucked blouse (never white, often dirty, nearly always done up all the way. Maybe top button undone. MAYBE) and armoured jacket. When working with mechanical stuff, usually overalls, and a T-shirt. Her favorite is black with "The Singularity is Coming" written across its front in shaky red letters.

Are you still open for other people to join? I am rather curious about this and would like to give it a shot. I have never played online, but I have played SR since 1st ed. I usually GM, but my players are going on to college, or moving out of town. I need an outlet. I usually love the RP more than most, love to do plot development.

Let me know and if so, I will head over to rpol site.

Hype

Hey Hype! Welcome. As far as I am concerned we need more people, and I don't think anyone would disagree.
We have decided not to use RPOL as some people cannot use it, but you do need to sign up for the wiki.
http://caribbeanshadows.wikispaces.com/
Welcome again!
Telos

MUSIC TO MY EARS!!!

Do you still want to GM. If so, I am sure you will find more takers than you can handle. Let me be the first, please!

We are always short on GMs here. ALWAYS.
Start a recruitment thread, and you will need to beat players away with a stick.

Yep.

(Approved Hyp)

I love to GM. Jeez, my problem is one of my main players is a college freshman, who usually works weekends, so we can't meet. I have several games ready to run, but getting all the warm bodies in one place is the problem. I love to do the handouts, the news blurbs about Seattle, even turned our runs into an episode like guide for a TV show complete with pics of all players and most npcs. (I love deviant art). I like games that aren't just event driven, but are also guided by a character's decision and the fallout (good and bad) with that. I like relationships, but I despise Mary Sues. I'm the only female but I am also the GM 85% of the time.

However, I have never participated online gaming before. This would be my first time. So I want to help with plot, with baddies, whatever, but the mechanics of said process are unknown to me. I figure doing this free form and being an active participant would be my best bet. Once I understand all the demands and desires of the players of this forum, then I could do something of quality.

I am not a rules lawyer. I am however a stickler to everyone having a good time. Players who were concerned with one upmanship or got nasty have never lasted with us. I have played since the 1st ed. My husband plays also, but is very busy with a demanding job.

I have two ideas for a character and I could go with either one. I would like to know which would the group would think best fit with the scenario.

1. Samantha--Human female hermetic mage. Formally from Miami, she makes her day to day living telling fortunes for the tourists and has a few wealthy older clients. She has a thing for 1960's retro chic. Elegant, but with a sharp wit, she looks to work the Shadows to get the nuyen that prognastication for her clients cannot provide.

2. Sierra--Human female dolphin shaman. Formally from Seattle. Second generation runner. Sea, is blonde, sweet and looking for adventure. She is young, but has more experience than first meets the eye. Having been raised by her Wolf Shaman brother and his team, she is more than a little familar with the Shadows and its demands. Suppossedly, she has been sent to Jamaica by her aunt and brother to learn marine biology. She just wants to have a little fun on the side. Sea loves anything to do with water. She is very artistic and curious.

Let me know which you prefer.

Thanks,

Well, I think the Inquilline Protocol would get alone better with Sierra, but that is the only difference to me. I do not think that Samantha and the IP would quarrel, just not get along as well as IP and Sierra. Just don't ask the IP to go swimming. Heavy drone body and all.

Either works. You can always run one as an NPC as well, and switch later if you prefer the other one - this is an unorthodox game after all.

I'll create both. We are using the 750 karma gen system, correct? Samantha is already done 4th ed. so I'll convert.

I also have an idea for an npc or two. Plus a talismonger store, Ariel's Grotto--tourist kitsch with a few magical items thrown in. Stuff like love potions, good luck charms, books "So you think you have Talent?", mermaid scales (crushed shells with glitter, seaweed, sea salt and lavendar), herbs, and local artwork. However, if you say the right phrases, you are allowed into the real store. Magical goods of varying quality lay beyond it's hidden walls. For the right amount of monetary motivation, the owner can put the mage in touch with someone able to procure that highly rare and/or illegal items. This is also the place for mages to go who are looking for work. Clea the owner, is an ork female of African descent. Her long dreds hide her pet snake that is usually wrapped around her neck.

Actually, at this point we are at a "do-what-you-want" type of chargen, its just that since everyone is co-GMing to some degree, everyone has the power to veto a character. 750 is still a guideline.

Hey, is there room for a very inexperienced rper interested by the game type?
Thinking of playing an ex-Para mercenary whose escaped a criminal charge in Britain by shipping out, illegally, as anti-piracy security, and finding his way to Jamaica.

As long as you feel comfortible, I am sure it would be fine. Remember that everyone is supposed to lend a hand GMing as well as playing. It would be good to have more players. Thus far, I detect a gender imbalance leaning towards the women (though admittedly the Inquilline Protocol is genderless).

Added Dexter Beaumont now.
This is pretty much my first Char for SR4, so I hope I haven't made too many glaring mistakes..

What about the contacts? Should they be added to the NPC gallery?

Yes. The more contacts the better. Please make a note with your name in parentheses next to the NPC name if you want to "reserve" the NPC for deeper plots.

Hey Fuchs, if you tell me what the clue is that led the Inquilline Protocol to Jamaica, I will write up a peice of fiction about how the Protocol uncovered the clue.
Also, if you are making the pic of its Otomo, please, for the love of god, no heels. None.
Thanks!
DV

Clue: During a protection job a month ago for some simsense-starlet, IP dealt with a wanna-be blackmailer - a drug dealer that tried to blackmail the starlet after selling her some awakened drug. While sifting through his commlink during the process of dealing with the dealer (however you prefer), IP found his "Black book" file, where his clients were listed (for later blackmail pruposes). Among them was a cybereye-recording of a sale of Deepweed to Sadie the night she disappeared. From what IP got out of the dealer, it was a chance meeting - Sadie asked him for Deepweed while on her way to the club she disappeared from, and she asked for a specific "brand" of Deepweed, native to Jamaica. However, Sadie never did take Deepweed before, as far as IP knew, and certainly wasn't a connaisseur of Deepweed flavor. The supplier of the dealer IP found and interrogated afterwards got his weed at the time through a smuggler named "Jerome", but hasn't had contact with Jerome in over half a year. IP found out through some legwork that Jerome used to travel between Jaimaca and New Orleans, but disappeared 5 months ago.

One note concerning NPCs: While details are nice, don't feel you have to go the full length for each NPC. A short description is enough in many cases, and will become more detailed during play.
So, shorter entries you can type right on the NPC page, you don't need to make a separate page for those.