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TheForgotten
1. Your characters try to get drive through Chinese. They are held up by a lesser eastern dragon ahead of them in line attempting to convince the clerk that a large dragon constitutes a drive through and not a walk through. The argument ends with the dragon saying in effect "are you really trying to argue with a dragon, give me my food."

2. Something with red glowing eyes in an ally very politely, in a British accent, asks the characters for directions to the consulate.

3. Your characters walk into a coffee shop during a meeting of [city] association of non metahuman sapiens. (Or simply a Naga and Sasquatch drinking coffee).

4. The biggest debate is hunting circles in the CAS revolves around the legal rights of Merlin Owl that was caught on trid being shot at, bird shot deflecting off an armor spell, and promptly lightning bolting the hunter that took a shot at it to death.

5. The characters are called to deal with a spirit outbreak at a local Chucky Cheeses. One of the kids is awakened and invited his "friends" to his birthday party (place is crawling with various free spirits, including a great form force 10 free earth elemental that is racking up tickets over on the ball game, diplomacy will be called for).

6. Legends start circulating in the shadows about what happened with a french Pixie (awakened, female, very high magic rating) drug netcat out for a night on the town. The legend grows with each telling.

7. Your characters find the skeleton of a street sam with wire and other cyber dating from 2050 just outside of what use to be the a corp extraterritorial zone (now closed).

8. Most packaging now has allergy warning labels for Silver, Gold, Iron, Lead, Wood, and Plastic (various types).
Hagga
Diplomacy on number five?

Nah, just tell it to get out or you'll put a Predator shot into whatever passes for it's skull. I'm sure it'll take that very well.
TheForgotten
QUOTE (Hagga @ Mar 4 2009, 02:06 AM) *
Diplomacy on number five?

Nah, just tell it to get out or you'll put a Predator shot into whatever passes for it's skull. I'm sure it'll take that very well.


Um because the spirit has 20 points of hardened armor against non magical attacks? Also um offending a demigod (who is likely a personal friend of the mentor spirit mountain), might not be the best idea.
Wombat
QUOTE (TheForgotten @ Mar 3 2009, 06:18 PM) *
Um because the spirit has 20 points of hardened armor against non magical attacks? Also um offending a demigod (who is likely a personal friend of the mentor spirit mountain), might not be the best idea.

I think that was sarcasm.
Kev
QUOTE (Wombat @ Mar 3 2009, 09:48 PM) *
I think that was sarcasm.


Nah, I think he was talking about the kid, not the spirit. :B
Straight Razor
the local Orkin man is the most feared and respected person in you neighborhood

You find a great deal on ebay for a new bumper for you car, that's also an anchoring folci with the fix spell on it.

the SURGED cat-girl hooker has been at the same corner in the neighborhood for so long no one pays any attention to her.

Draco18s
Vixens would get more action than a catgirl, guarantee it.
Hagga
QUOTE (Kev @ Mar 4 2009, 03:27 AM) *
Nah, I think he was talking about the kid, not the spirit. :B

The spirit. For the kid, you need something really heavy, like a gauss cannon or Barrett 121. Got to be careful. Maybe even get the rigger to drive in a tank.
Kanada Ten
Trying to update Sprawl Sites?

Let's see...

(1) The character wakes up to the loud persistent barking of a dog coming from the apartment above their own. Sound dampeners, silence spells, nothing seems to quiet the dog's incessant bark. If investigated during the day, they find the apartment abandoned, ransacked and rank. Just like always. If they come at night while the dog is barking, they find a spectral dog barking at the window. A little legwork would reveal that the previous occupants and their large dog were murdered by a banshee some time before the character moved in, but that doesn't explain why the ghost suddenly appeared after all this time. If they excise the ghost, through banishment or otherwise, the banshee - who's returned to the area but has been kept at bay by the spectral watchdog - will strike the apartment again. If they hunt down the banshee, they'll earn karma and a guardian for their crash pad...

(2) It's the Chinese New Year and the Triads are selling black market fireworks to anyone and everyone; they've even concocted a new Tempo laced drug that lets people spit fireballs, in addition to the usual fare of beetles and bottle rockets. A contact with the syndicate hires the runners to prevent fires from burning down the marketplace again - like they did the year before, and the year before that. But don't kill anyone! These are paying customers, after all.

(3) The neighborhood of the runners' safe house in the Barrens has been targeted by the ISSV as the next Urban Brawl zone. Worse, this particular slum clearing is being recorded live as part of a documentary on the sport. An old enemy just happens to be watching as the runners emerge on trid and calls in a favour with the League President...

(4) A vagrant attempts to enter a Stuffer Shack without a commlink. The doors refuse to open and then lock after he begins banging on them, trapping the patrons inside. The automated kiosk thanks everyone for their patience while authorities are called to deal with the disturbance. The man continues to pound on the plexiglass until he starts coughing up blood all over the doors and slumps down dead. Lone Star eventually does show up, but it's not their job anymore, so the guests of the Stuffer Shack have to wait for the sanitation department to arrive with their hazmat gear...

(5) Flats are all the rage. Their blank, over starched front and back make great screens for AR overlays, leading to a run on the cheap clothing in vending machines across the city.
Browncoatone
12. The ork gang bangers the team just killed have hundreds of nuyen in poker chips from a local casino on their corpses (used as a form of hard currency in the outter reaches of the ork underground).

13. The local bar has a sign in the entranceway reading "No spirits allowed".

14. Ork protesters demand that minimum age for statutory rape laws be changed from 17 to 12.

15. Hobo-to-go is the hottest new fast food joint in the city. (2 points if you recognize the reference)
Kanada Ten
(6) Some hot new ware is being sold at the Auction Block, and the crew arrives just in time. The Yakuza auctioneer stands on the block while behind him lies a man strapped to a table. A Yakuza 'doctor' dressed in white with a nice set of surgical tools on the table is bent over the 'patient' whose chest is already open. The auctioneer then begins buying off the man's debts by auctioning off his cyber, encouraging people to help the poor guy out by spending a little extra on the ware. After he runs out of cyber, they move on to other, less vital organs.
BlueMax
QUOTE (Browncoatone @ Mar 4 2009, 05:26 AM) *
14. Ork protesters demand that minimum age for statutory rape laws be changed from 17 to 12.


Awesome. Thank you for writing number 14. This was the core issue of a run my group started just this year.

Currently the young man involved is incarcerated after the party brought him to authorities.

Proving once again, one has no idea how the players will react.
Browncoatone
Deep in the ork underground, deeper than the basements, so deep that the tunnels are carved from natural stone, one can find a large mural painted on the wall of a small natural cavern of a tall ork wearing very expensive heavy body armor and holding an AK-98 in one hand and an inverted ork skull filled with poker chips (or other symbol of wealth, such as CFS dollars or jewels) in the other. The mural is accompanied by a series of candles, a small alter and a pot/skull for travelers to make small offerings.

Of course this is a shrine of Pluto, god of wealth, death and metals, and ruler of the underworld. Other variations may have a more traditional look of a human with a bronze breastplate wielding a spear or an orc 'mafia don' wielding a Ares Redline.

The shrine might also be inhabited by a Free Spirit masquerading as a the God Pluto. The free spirit may be willing to exchange karma for precious metals- I'll leave it to you to determine if those metals disappear after 24 hours.
Browncoatone
The team finds themselves under attack by ritual sorcery. Their magician tracks the attackers back to a hermetic circle at a local Parchment & Pentacle.

Parchment & Pentacle LLP is a small chain of magic supply stores that also provide hermetic circle rentals. Based on the business model of 20th century U-develop stores which offered the use of fully stocked and equipped photography darkrooms for a small fee, the Parchment & Pentacle chain provides an inexpensive location for magic rituals for the magician that can't afford to set up a private magic workspace for themselves. Rates are by the hour with a safety deposit required for conjuring and binding spirits (doubled for fire spirits). Of course, for legal reasons, all customers must provide adequate identification and licensing for all magical activity before they'll be rented a pentacle- at least that's store policy.
Kanada Ten
(7) The catalogue for Pharmalink includes Merrick's Tigerox (Pickled Sumatran Tiger Testicle), Pfizer's Vextra (Paraldenafil citrate) and Horizon's Labitozol (AR mood enhancer) under the same category. Tigerox has an average of fours stars in the customer reviews, though some reviewers warn that the side effects (which include partial fur growth in the groin area) are more severe than advertised.
Straight Razor
you get dragged into a prank war between the MIT&M frat houses.

Browncoatone
QUOTE
you get dragged into a prank war between the MIT&M frat houses.
That...sounds dangerous. Especially that last M part.
Draco18s
Uh. It's MIT&T, not MIT&M.

Thaumaturgy, not Magic.
Browncoatone
QUOTE
Uh. It's MIT&T, not MIT&M.

Thaumaturgy, not Magic.
It's been awhile but I think in the original hardcover printing of first edition it was MIT&M and that it got changed somewhere along the line. Unfortunately I lost contact with my beloved first edition (still the best artwork of all the main books in my opinion) many years ago so I can't check.
Draco18s
http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/MITT

I believe I wrote that stub, but it's based on info out of one of the core books, couldn't say which one. Some of the info may have been copied from one of the other SR wikis out there.

In either case, no one's bothered changing it.
Straight Razor
i rember reading MIT&M. in the early ed. i thought they had changed it to MIT&T but wasn't sure.

A local eco-terrorist magical group consisting of 5 elemental adept casters have learned a new meta magic.
They can temporally reduce there magic rating, doing so summons there groups avatar spirit.



The group gets a number of requests equal to the total points of magic sacrificed divided by 10. Magic is regained per normal.
Matsci
One of your Hacker's contacts calls him up, wondering if he can do a lecture at a local college about how to exploit security flaws.
Draco18s
QUOTE (Straight Razor @ Mar 6 2009, 01:13 PM) *
The group gets a number of requests equal to the total points of magic sacrificed divided by 10. Magic is regained per normal.


What kind of lame power is Heart anyway?
Fix-it
QUOTE (Straight Razor @ Mar 6 2009, 12:13 PM) *
i rember reading MIT&M. in the early ed. i thought they had changed it to MIT&T but wasn't sure.

A local eco-terrorist magical group consisting of 5 elemental adept casters have learned a new meta magic.
They can temporally reduce there magic rating, doing so summons there groups avatar spirit.



The group gets a number of requests equal to the total points of magic sacrificed divided by 10. Magic is regained per normal.


It doesn't matter whether it's Thaumaturgy, Magic, or even More Magic; a prank war would get quickly out of hand.
Kanada Ten
An AIPS sufferer is brought home by his parents after a long hospital stay. The PCs are hired to babysit for a week. Though confined to a wheelchair due to brain damage, he behaves similar to a slightly mentally handicapped person of a similar age. Polite, responsive, but quiet. During the day. During the night, he enters a fitful sleep at which time machines and computers in the area begin to act strangely, even dangerously. Events begin to escalate in level of danger - all seemingly directed at the AIPS victim, culminating when he "summons" a mil spec anthropomorphic drone to assist in his guilt driven suicide attempt.
TheForgotten
AIPS?
Kanada Ten
[AIPS] - Artificially-Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia, caused by being connected to the Matrix during Crash 2.0
Zaranthan
I'm more concerned with the time machines. Damn corps already stole our future, why do they need the past, too?
Browncoatone
Time machines? Did you mean clocks- aka time pieces?
Mickle5125
I'm thinkin' browncoatone got it, but zarathan's idea is far more amusing
MJBurrage
QUOTE (Straight Razor @ Mar 6 2009, 01:13 PM) *
I remember reading MIT&M. in the early ed. I thought they had changed it to MIT&T but wasn't sure.

A quick search through some books turned up the following:
  • Shadowrun & Shadowrun: Second Edition
    • “…magical research facilities were established at Texas A&M and MIT, with the latter adding ‘&M’ to its name (for ‘and Magic’).â€? (SR1p.16, SR2p.26)
  • The Grimoire, 15th Edition (1992, set in 2053)
    • “…a doctorate in thaumaturgy from Texas A&M&M.â€? (page 10)
    • “…earned his Th.D. from MITM in 2036.â€? (page 13)
    • “The double-domed docs at MITM have…â€? (page 73)
  • Target: UCAS (1997, set in 2057)
    • “If there is a magical center to the Boston Metroplex, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy (MIT&T) in Cambridge is it.â€? (page 31)
  • Shadowrun: Third Edition (1998, set in 2060)
    • “2025: UCLA establishes the first undergraduate program in occult studies. Within three years, similar programs are established at Texas A&M, University of Chicago, MIT (renamed “MIT&M,â€? for “and Magicâ€?), Oxford, Edinburgh University and several universities in Germany.â€? (SR3, p.26)
  • Street Magic (2006, set in 2070)
    • “…some of the best magical universities in North America, including MIT&T, Harvard, and many others.â€? (page 18)
It seems clear to me that the intention of Shadowrun’s creators was for the school names to be Texas A&M&M and MITM, and that possibly the SR1/SR2 line was supposed to read “former�.
I have no idea why Target: UCAS changed it to MIT&T, although SR3’s use of MIT&M is clearly based on the published wording from SR1/SR2, and Street Magic is clearly following the Target: UCAS usage.
Browncoatone
Shit. It's been 20 years and I remember reading MIT&M in SR1 but can't remember how to solve a quadratic equation. Well, at least I've got my priorities straight...
MJBurrage
QUOTE (Draco18s @ Mar 6 2009, 12:44 PM) *
http://wiki.dumpshock.com/index.php/MITT
I believe I wrote that stub, but it's based on info out of one of the core books, couldn't say which one. Some of the info may have been copied from one of the other SR wikis out there.
In either case, no one's bothered changing it.

I Just updated it to include both in game names with the dates of change that fit published usage.
MJBurrage
Complicating the issue, I just found:
  • The Neo-Anarchists Guide to North America (1991, set in 2050)
    • “Magical studies were incorporated into the University of Chicago’s philosophy department in 2028. Less flashy than the programs at Texas A&M and MIT&T because of the lack of industrial, or “practical,â€? application, the program is actually more important because it incorporates magic into our view of the universe.â€? (page 106)
Hagga
QUOTE (Kanada Ten @ Mar 6 2009, 07:11 PM) *
[AIPS] - Artificially-Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia, caused by being connected to the Matrix during Crash 2.0

Usually a good indicator of a potential Technomancer
Browncoatone
A newsflash bombards your team's comnlinks.

Susan Shepherd, teacher of Freshman Literature at BLANK High School, is being sued by Mothers of Metahumans for inciting racial hatred when she made "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien required reading in her class. Protests outside BLANK High School include a good old fashion book burning and degenerate into a good old fashion riot.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protests bounty on Devil Rats, claiming the Metroplex is driving the species into extinction.



Fix-it
QUOTE (Browncoatone @ Mar 7 2009, 05:13 AM) *
A newsflash bombards your team's comnlinks.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protests bounty on Devil Rats, claiming the Metroplex is driving the species into extinction.


When approached for comment, several local officials said "Good."
Draco18s
It should be noted that Devil Rats are intelligent or nearly so; their mentals:

C5, I2, L5, W3

They're at least as intelligent as Vampires and Nagas and more intelligent than Hellhounds.

Just to make the PETA people have more reason to save them (SEA KITTIES! Don't eat fish, they're the kitties of the sea!).
Kanada Ten
(9) There was nothing strange about the rain that first morning. A little warm for early spring perhaps. But then, the drains and ditches weren't overflowing yet. You could still find galoshes and raincoats at the store. We should've known something was wrong when the Devil Rats disappeared. A warning disguised as a blessing.
Degausser
A few bits of entertainment news of late:

A new action/drama magic-based trid show called "The other side" is becoming very popular, and against all odds, it ACTUALLY DEPICTS MAGIC REALISTICALLY.

In a desperate attempt to find something to cram onto the airwaves, entertainment producers are returning to reality shows, which are (unfortunately) taking off like wildfire . . . again.

A new exercise trid show features a dwarf teaching carromanleg (or, at least the basics.) The shadowrunning community is collectively stumped as to why elven ghosts haven't killed this dwarf yet.
BlueMax
QUOTE (Degausser @ Mar 9 2009, 09:34 AM) *
A new exercise trid show features a dwarf teaching carromanleg (or, at least the basics.) The shadowrunning community is collectively stumped as to why elven ghosts haven't killed this dwarf yet.


/me groans in appreciation
Degausser
QUOTE (BlueMax @ Mar 9 2009, 01:46 PM) *
/me groans in appreciation


Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the waitstaff!
Kanada Ten
QUOTE (MJBurrage @ Mar 6 2009, 11:29 PM) *
Complicating the issue, I just found:
  • The Neo-Anarchists Guide to North America (1991, set in 2050)
    • “Magical studies were incorporated into the University of Chicago’s philosophy department in 2028. Less flashy than the programs at Texas A&M and MIT&T because of the lack of industrial, or “practical,â€? application, the program is actually more important because it incorporates magic into our view of the universe.â€? (page 106)

  • Tir Tairngire (1993, set in 2055)
    • "Independent analysts consider UTT's programs surperior even to those offered by MITM's."
    • "That's because UTT poached away a couple of MITM's major professor emeriti from the thaumaturgy facility." (page 137)
HardSix
QUOTE (Straight Razor @ Mar 3 2009, 11:48 PM) *
the local Orkin man is the most feared and respected person in you neighborhood

I can't imagine trying to be 6th World exterminator -- too stressful. Too many co-workers have cracked up or died on the job (never know when a simple call to kill roaches will uncover an insect spirit hive). Phone calls all hours of the day for "emergency" jobs by a) idiots freaked out by normal ants and roaches (see also, FL woman calls 911 because local McHughs is out of McNuggets), or b) punk kids making prank calls. Oh yeah, and now you have to pull unpaid OT cause Bob just disappeared two weeks ago. The only thing you have to look forward to is tomorrow's date "consoling" Bob's hot girlfriend... <muses fondly about her sweet "Desolation Angels" tramp stamp>.
Straight Razor
wow, you took that where i wanted it to go, and did a better job than i could have.

I have a mental image of a shadowrun plot that revolves around an awakened exterminator that is a cross of "dirty jobs" and "the dresden files"
Browncoatone
Pacific Custom Dental runs an advertisement for their sale on Tusk-Eez (fake ork tusks fitted to snap onto a human's natural teeth without dental surgery) on 1450 AM KSUH "the voice Puyallup" the only all Or'zet language radio station in the metroplex.
Degausser
Now for some gang related stuff.

It turns out that the leader of the new Ork Street Gang in Puyallup is an Ork Poser.

Tired of the stereotype, a recent all-elf Go-Gang has decided to go whole hog. They start actually EATING dandelions. . . or what appear to be dandelions. In truth, they are new oral-vector doses of Kamikaze. Soon they are feared for the superpowers they get from eating the flower.

A gang war is halted by some strange force, when the two gangs start spontaniosly (and compulsively) singing and choreographed dancing. They also (for no apparent reason) change their name to the Sharks and the Jets.
Kanada Ten
The runners are called to a meet at Nyxtomania, a hot new nightclub featuring retro-goth fashions and tunes. By the time they arrive, the nightclub is called Polygeneration, catering to transhuman and the heavily cybered. While they wait for the Johnson, the club undergoes a "set change" - stage hands and handymen tear down the old decor and install the new, the ARE updates in a wave of pixels, as the club's changed names and themes again. Aquatica, the hot new underwater nightclub, where the waitstaff wear sexy scuba, is the current incarnation when the Johnson arrives. By the time they leave, it's an open-air cafe called Brew Moon.
HardSix
QUOTE (Degausser @ Mar 10 2009, 12:28 PM) *
Tired of the stereotype, a recent all-elf Go-Gang has decided to go whole hog. They start actually EATING dandelions. . . or what appear to be dandelions.

There is a really appropriate "Bloom County" strip that actually shows the dangers of dandelion snorting, but I can't seem to find it.
QUOTE
A gang war is halted by some strange force, when the two gangs start spontaniosly (and compulsively) singing and choreographed dancing. They also (for no apparent reason) change their name to the Sharks and the Jets.

... then, just as things are winding down, a young androgynous "vodoun" appears. Suddenly the dead Sharks and Jets reanimate and spring into a fully choreographed dance attack set to a catchy retro pop song. Is this just Papa Legba stretching his legs or something darker? You'll find out... in fourteen minutes.
BnF95
QUOTE (Degausser @ Mar 11 2009, 01:28 AM) *
Now for some gang related stuff.

It turns out that the leader of the new Ork Street Gang in Puyallup is an Ork Poser.
Better yet, an Elf Ork Poser.

QUOTE (Degausser @ Mar 11 2009, 01:28 AM) *
Tired of the stereotype, a recent all-elf Go-Gang has decided to go whole hog. They start actually EATING dandelions. . . or what appear to be dandelions. In truth, they are new oral-vector doses of Kamikaze. Soon they are feared for the superpowers they get from eating the flower.
They change their gang name to Inbit and call the dandelions the "Flower of Life".

QUOTE (Degausser @ Mar 11 2009, 01:28 AM) *
A gang war is halted by some strange force, when the two gangs start spontaneously (and compulsively) singing and choreographed dancing. They also (for no apparent reason) change their name to the Sharks and the Jets.
Beat It, the latest in home entertainment reality shows, where gangs can battle each other by singing and choreographed dancing, for pride, and a chance to win ONE MILLION NUYEN.
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