This is the OOC thread for the Lord of the East campaign, based in Vladivostok, Russia.

Lurkers are welcome in the OOC.

This game is a blended pbp/Skype based game. After playing some time in Backgammon's OpenRPG/Skype game, we have found that an excellent format for conducting a game and the forums an equally good place to track the games, communicate, coordinate, post between game setups & details and to summarize the Skype portion of the game.


Players: Backgammon, Satyr & Alex

Map of Vladivostok

More to come.

Alright alright.

I have two high level concepts in my head right now.

The first I would dub the "EVO Scientist-Adventurer". This character would have technical skills, as well as basic combat and social skills. He is NOT an egghead. Think Indiana Jones or Chricton (sp!) from Farscape. He would fit well in a game where the characters work for EVO and are sent out on investigative missions into abandonned scientific outposts or to recover artifacts and the likes, or in a corporate espionnage sort of role.

The second is a Post Neo-Anarchist character. Much more steet level, this character grew up in rebellion in Valdivostok's suffocating hard-working, near-poverty environment. Having lived it up as a Neo-Anarchist, he outgrew it, realising these people are really just dreamers and idealists, but unable to change anything. A little disillusionned, he graduated into a real shadowrunner. From that background, this character can be face/combat, hacker/face/combat or a mage of some kind.

i made a awesome stree sam who has a lot of knowledge skills he could be a sort of go to for getting to different places maybe even know a few different routes from russia to north korea or even some ferry's running to Japan. he was a marksman for the Russian spetnaz and went rouge after his spotter was killed. he was blammed for the murder and been seeking a truth to his killing ever since. i am working on a troll pys adept and a mage as well. ill send RJ all three spots and see what he thinks.

So you're more into action packed characters? Are we gonna go for a high-action game, so lots of combat?

High action, lots of combat? Better bring a backup character.

Satyr - If you really want to play another Street Sam, I'll let you, but I'd rather push you a little outside your comfort zone and have you play one of the other concepts.

PS: I think I have a third.

Well i do have a phys adept i made a while ago as well as a mage that might do well i think. i am more then willing to make a character that fits what ever situation lol.

Since there's only 2 of us, well-rounded characters will be required rather than specialists. A mage is easy, you can make a toolbelt mage with utility spells, or if you make a adept, he can be maybe B&E/combat.

We need to decide if we do hacking ourselves or if we NPC it. I could do hacker/face, I could feel that.

well if you do hacker/face or one of the others you mentioned before i will accomidate any need that is not filled i normally do street sam i really want to reach out of my realm like RedJack said and do something different, so a mage/B&E i might be able to handle.

Alex here. I'm the potential third Redjack mentioned. Just wanted to drop in an d say hello. I've been playing and/or GM'ng since 2nd Ed. With three we can space out a little more on the skill sets. At present I have no preconceived ideas at this point. I do have two pregen characters that could be brought out.

Alex (my DS namesake) could be brought back down to the realm of mortals (or perhaps I could knock him out of the comfy retirement he earned). He's a B&E specialist.

Grandpa - Assassin / weapons monkey.

However, I am willing to play anything you need.

We should settle on a campaign theme. Redjack, any feelings at this point? I see a slant towards B&E jobs, are we going to go for that?

The thing about Vladivostok is I don't see that much B&E work. I mean, it's almost all EVO. How many times can you hit an Evo facility before they get upset at you? Or we can do something centered around remote facilities located in the frozen tundra. Hell the whole campaign could be just one big run into a huge mysteriously abandonned arco-complex.

Anyway, I'd like to get a theme before making a char, even before deciding how we divide up roles.

From the Russian Naval plants to the Evo World Headquarters, from the Far Eastern National University to its countless ports, Vladivostok of 2071 is the largest port city for mainland Asia on the Pacific. The Vory, the Northern Star Jo-pok Ring, White Lotus Triad, Shomi-Tiaga Yakuza, local politicians, Russian military & secret police and Evo operatives provide as much intrigue as Seattle, Denver or New York.

Evo's efforts to begin cleaning up the record levels of pollution in its home city have brought Vladivostok some good press recently. This has begun to increase Chinese, Japanese and even Russian tourism to the city. This increase in foreigners has kicked up friction between the various underworld fractions jockeying for the the slice of crime against said tourists. Of course, being the home city of one of the Big Ten automatically increases the intrigue level in its own right.

Amidst all of this locals and immigrated-quasi-natives struggle to rise out of the slums and pollution, clawing towards the light and snagging crumbs from all the pie being passed around. This is where you come in. Three souls seeking their own way and own fortunes.

The trio will be brought together by Viktor "The Axe (Mjöllnir)", a middle-aged ork who earned his stars in the Butyrka prison. Mjöllnir has a number of jobs he has been tasked to complete and he has chosen to look outside his circle for the talent to complete that work.

Is that considered a free contact?

Yes.

Alright, I worked on my char tonight. Just doing finishing touches. I went with an Elf Hacker/Face ex-Anarchist. Turning out to be a very interesting character. Should be finishing him tomorrow evening.

Today has been a long day. I'll see what I can do character-wise tomorrow (or today apparently - I just looked at the clock).

If Saytr is thinking mage then I will head for something with muscle.

@ Redjack

From your description, I am think someone from the streets. Not necessarily street-level, merely someone who grew up there. Does that fit with what you are thinking?

To gently guide you towards what I am thinking, let me put you into the head of Mjöllnir: People with some connections will be of high value as well as people who can blend in. They need not be Vladivostok natives, but they do need to have spent some time here integrating into the culture and knowing their way around. Someone with too much morality is as useless as someone who cannot be trusted. Being notable in one or two areas is ok, but being worthless in all but one or two is not acceptable. Former-this and former-that is ok, as long as they are 'former'. Someone with too much current allegiance to a group or person could be problematic. People with too good a life are not controllable; Mjöllnir is looking for people he can get an angle on, but not someone with so many or so deep of problems that everyone else can easily exploit manipulate them as well.

As a GM, I would like to see fun and playable. Don't bring a character with a base dice pool of 16+ in any active skills. I will reject that character. Specialists with dp10-dp12 will fit well. I have to say that building up Tank and Sean have been far more gratifying that I had expected. Normally I front-load characters a bit because most GM's are skittish about sticking around for the long haul on characters. I would like for you to look at these characters as long term projects and not as one's that need to start as top end pros. I have gamed a long time with each of the three of you, that is why an invitation was extended to you. I will award both Karma and CSP (Character Skill Points - Think of it as restricted Karma, usable only for knowledge skills and new, limited contacts) to help build these characters up. I will award bonuses for fleshing out the IC thread for this game; Stories & updates about the character, the world & the game. Please make your negative qualities something I can work with to add flavor and complications. Allergies and incompetencies are discouraged. Not to say I will reject them outright, but for this game they should tie into character building, not point building.

As I type this, an idea I have is that a ~10-point In-Debt negative quality with give Mjöllnir some leverage (Don't feel obligated if that does not meet your character concept). I've tossed the idea of hidden-agendas for characters around in my brain as well. I'm leaning against that, only because it takes so much time and effort to do them justice and keep them secret from the other players. Natives climbing up from the pollution soaked slums are ok as are transplanted-natives looking to make their own mark. I'm even ok with characters who have been burned (ergo. Burn Notice concepts).

Ok. Enough late night/early morning ramblings. I hope I have stirred the creative juices and inspired you.
Cheers!
-RJ

i will send you via yahoo mail a concept of my guy saturday im getting married JOP for military reasons Friday 15 may 09 at 1000 so i might be a minute getting the character sheet finished up. but i will get it emailed to you before the weekends over.

Married tomorrow? Wow! Sooner than I expected. Well, congrats again! Take your time.

I've sent char and notes to your gmail address

Just sent you now background fiction and contact flesh-out.

Sent the character sheet and some background to your gmail account. I need to make sure that the 16F sniper rifle won't be a problem. If not, I can change it but it is part of the concept.

i sent character and a little back drop to you Redjack today moved all weekend so it was kind of rushed, everything should be ok.

I have emails from all three. This week will be pretty crazy, so I may not get them gone over until next week end.

no problem looking forward to getting the ball rolling.

Vladivostok, Russia isn't the healthies place to live is it. so in 2070 is it any better or should i also invest in breathing gear? i just read a report online about the place is has a lot of history which is pretty cool but 80 industrial zones is a lot. its also pretty cool there except for may to oct 55 to 48 so is pretty cool there year round.

Vladivostok, Russia is known for more than its fair share of toxic spirits and is world renowned for its pollution levels

I had a little 'yen left over so gas mask or equivalent is retroactively purchased.

i was thinking and enviro jump suit lol.

I don't have the sourcebook. Is the pollution that bad?

Granted, my source is Wikipedia... but that is a reasonable starting point. Shadows of Asia has a very short entry (dated circa 2062'ish). So given the minimal amount of data available, use that as a base and reference my previous post about the high levels in some places and clean up in other performed by EVO. Also note, that it is in EVO's best interest to not clean up more than a minimal amount. They are in the business to fortify the body against pollutants, not to clean up said pollutants.

Well ... wow. I didn't see that. I guess I will have to look for an enviro-suit too. Or, whatever the fashionable equivalent is.

yeah i looked at a eco logical study done in 1990's then i looked up the wikipedia its pretty bad now so i guess in the 2070's it would be just as bad if not worse then now. especially since EVO is trying to strengthen the body against pollutants.

This is Russia. Protection is for sissies

Has the long weekend brought us closer to Vladivostok?

Probably brought us within a few weeks. I have a crazy couple of weeks at work coming up and the week end was filled with family and friends.

FYI to all. My computer made a very odd noise last night and then I could smell electric smoke and burning dust. We'll have to see what the future for that (relatively) new PC holds.

i smell doom! when that type of stuff happens or i just call on a miracle or Redjack lol.

Repair guy is coming today. After thinking a bit, we think it may be the power converter. Hopefully, no motherboard damage occured.

Link

My plans are to review the characters this weekend and work on the meet and first job. Assuming that all works out, we will work on scheduling the first session.

sounds good.

Must... play... shadowrun...

Map Of Vladivostok in Progress.

Sorry its taking so long.. Work is pretty crazy this summer with little signs of letting up.

Wow that's looking nice!

wow looks great boss. looking forward to getting started. busy busy bee i see.

Sweet

Back in town after vacation. Good to be home.

*poke*

I'm sorry, but this just isn't shaping up. My free time is next to nil... I haven't even been running table-top games and had to cancel my vacation at the beginning of the month..

i hear ya brother. times are hard and not looking to ease up anytime soon, we can catch up when its cooled off a bit.