I'm sure it's been done before, but I just wanted to know what you think you'll be.

Personally, I see myself as either a regular Adept or an Adept (Magician's Way - Mage).

Yes. I'm bored.

I'd be a Loser Shaman

Loser

ENV: Parent's basement

DESC: Loser is slow to act, quick to whine, and usually knows less about what he's talking about than he thinks. Loser typically latches onto some obscure area of interest, be it science fiction, role-playing games, or anime; and spends every free minute of his time studying or taking part in that activity. Loser Shamans tend to be reclusive, rarely socializing and even then only with others who share his or her obsessions.

There are no aspected Loser Shamanists, only full Loser shamans or Loser socerery/conjuring adepts.

ADVAN: Loser Shamans pick one spell category and spirit type and get three bonus dice for that category. TNs -1 for all magical skill tests when using the materials or merchandising of his or her obsession interest (see disadvantages).

DISADVAN: -1 Dice for all spells and spirits for which the shaman does not get a bonus. All TNs +2 in the presence of the opposite sex. Must have an obsure interest knowledge skill at at least rating 5, this is the shaman's obsession interest..

Lousy mortals, not including an "other" category.

Silly Horrors.

Just cause I'm the only Dark-Bringer in this hemisphere, you insist on discriminating against us.

Exactly!

Herald, I'd suggest running in the next presidential race. Why vote for a lesser evil?

I'm mundane and I'm happy. Chrome all the way for me, baby.

If you live long enough to get the good stuff.

As the polls currently stand.... approximately 47% of you are overrating yourselves.

Gee...I didn't see my most probable state in the poll: "Gibbering in a fetal position and trying to find a 'happy place.'"

So I'll vote "Mundane."

Not so, John. Some people may have reasoning behind their choices.

I tend to pick up on martial arts quickly. This would coincide well with an Adept. The Magician's Way - Mage is an add-on because, if I were to actually go Magician's Way, it would be Mage and not Shaman. Why? Because I don't see nature as living, but as a force of things to understand and control.

Besides. This is a "What if" thing. What if all of us Dumpshockers Awakened. What if SR is real. So on and so forth.

It's just mean to start telling people that they overestimate themselves. Not like you know them or anything, right?

I'll be a magic people,voodoo people!

Well DSF seems to buck the average by more than 52%.

Hmm....

Herald of Verjigorm's post reminds me of a bumper sticker I first heard about in high school--must've been around the time of the 1980 Presidential election, or the campaign leading up to it. (Yup--I'll be 40 on May 30th of this year. I'm not complaining. Some folks thought my twin brother and I wouldn't live more than six months.... Guess we showed them. )

DARTH VADER for President--for people who are SICK AND TIRED of voting for THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS!



--Foreigner

I've seen the same bumper sticker, and button for that matter. I've also seen them with Sauron's name in place of Vader's.

And you are not the oldest, or even second-oldest Dumpshocker.

Bah! Cthulhu!

-Siege

Cthulhu is too busy with his day job as aa anime tentacle monster.

Maybe so, but he makes more money, and probably influences more people doing what he's doing than he would as President.

If Shadowrunners tend to have a much higher percentage of the Awakened than society at large, why shouldn't Dumpshock?

~J

Wow, lookies here. No full mages!

See? Finally an answer as to whether aspected mages or full mages are more common!

~J

Yep, it looks like full spellcasters are more common that aspected, at least at the present.

I had trouble deciding. I'm either some sort of shaman, or a decker. Possibly both. So I just went with "both" and chose an aspected shaman.

Mainly cause I'm weird. I stay on the computer as much as possible, occasionally apply computer terms to real life (last week I was looking for something in my room and was about to reach for a nonexistant keyboard to type in a search before I realized what I was doing...), and like to sleep on the floor in 20-minute intervals.

And if you're weird enough, then you're a decker or a shaman. It just works that way.

GunnerJ: I'd have picked Shaman just based on the Loser Idol (Totem?), but that'd still have meant I was good at something, which is obviously false.

According to the board stats we have 4787 registered members, which means that we can expect a population of 47 or 48 magically active people. (They still use the 1% are magically active, yes?)

Ooo! Any word on what those tests are based on? Is it totally genetic?

That won't help us sorry 5th world dumpshockers one bit though. And I doubt those tests have questions like: "Do you play RPGs?", "Are you good at martial arts?" or "Do you believe in a magic-like force in the universe?"

The SR novel Burning Bright talks a little about standardised magical ability testing in the NAN when the main character was a child (this occurs early in the novel).

It implies that the tests can determine if you have magical ability and what the slant of that ability is (IE: mage, shaman, or adapt but NOT totem). The novel does not mention or imply how the testing is conducted or what exactly is examined.

I can't cite a source, but I have the impression from somewhere that 2060s technology/knowledge/magic theory has not found a genetic code (at least in metahumans) that equates to magical ability. Maybe someone can help me out on that one.

I know I'll be a Sorcerer Shaman, and then I'll show you... I'll show ALL of you by Fireballing all your parent's basements.

Sphynx

Careful, there are three reactors in mine.
'Sides, that's a pretty high-force Fireball, don't you think?

~J

Well he is a munchkin. What else would we expect?

Ya know, I'd love to be a hermetic, but the odds say I'm a mundane. Ah well. I'll be off at sea in 2011 anyway, so if I end up awakening I hope it's not too distracting.

Chances are it's a Sea shaman anyway.

I'll be a full mage. There are so many wussies who want to be mind controlled,
so I'll help them to fulfill it.

Traks, breaking magical law since before it was written.

~J

It's intresting that Mundanes have the highest vote. Goes right along with the "more mundanes per magically active" rule in the game.

I think it has to do with a) modesty and b) a lack of imagination to envision yourself in that type of situation. At least, that was why I voted to be a mundane. I mean, I can imagine my character being a magically active person, but when I try to imagine it for myself it becomes significantly harder.

Kagetenshi, that's the beauty of rules lawyerism
Oh, and those 3 reactors could be put to most effective use.

DV8 - I have always voted for intellectual work, being somewhat lazy,
I mean effective. So it is not hard to think for myself as mage.

DV8, I'd go with "modesty" over "inability to imagine." Just like the "not giving myself a 12 in assault rifles" debate we have all the time.

Oh, the three reactors are being put to good use. Only two at a time, though; gotta service them sometime.

~J

Mundane. I'd be a Decker/Face.

I never claimed to be, Fortune.

I just decided to be honest about it, since I knew that I'd be, as the saying goes, "dating myself" by mentioning that I was old enough to remember that bumper sticker.

--Foreigner

Some of us are already following the Shamanic path in real life... say what you will but there is enough magic in the 5th world to do some magic... just don't expect it to be flashy.

-Mike R.

hopelessly mundane

Mundane, but with the firm belief of secretly being a psionic ... Unfortunately that belief will eventually kill me, simply because some ganger decides to blow out my brains after I try to "convince" him that "he doesn't really want to mug me" ...
"You think you're some type of Jedi or what?" *bang*