OK, I'm going to take a crack at running a game...
Medium will be DSF, no PBEM/IRC or anything as I'm at Western-Europe time and I'm not willing to give up a couple hours of sleep each day
As the description suggests, this will be a high-powered setting, so here's the creation guidelines:
* BeCKSv2, 2M:nuyen: max.
* 460 Karma limit
* Preferably made with nsrcg
* No availability cap (see below)
* Standard rating/skill maximum rules apply (6 max.)

To further explain the change in availability rules, I'll go into the details of the mission you'll be presented a bit: the target is -extremely- high-security oriented, so covert action is probably a better choice than going in toting a Panther cannon. I'll probably be lenient on MAD/cyberware scanning, but keep in mind you will encounter these, so smart and/or selective use of cyber is encouraged.

The setting will be arcology-ish, with a twist. (Don't go jumping for those RA:S books yet, I haven't borrowed anything from that books except maybe a few ideas on what to include in an arc.) The twist being, it's airborne so maybe you'll want to consider your choices in skills, character background etc. based on that.

More info to come when and if anyone shows interest

I'm interested, but after that description, I'm very confused as to what type of character to put together. Let me take some time to brainstorm and I'll see what I can come up with.

Ok... I'm almost tempted... will see what my twisted mind can make up... *pondering a wacky superspy type character*

UI'm interested...I don't NSRCG but if you accept Word format that would be cool. Do you have a deadline??

Kevyn: no deadline, but be sure to keep track of the karma cost for everything in that Word doc. It's the sole reason why I prefer nsrcg, it makes it easier to see where all the points went.

By the way: deckers and riggers are both welcome... gives me a chance to brush up on the rules.

Okay, yet another problem in the saga of my day: I only have BeCKS v1, it would seem. I also can't get a copy from the Supplemental as I can't do the zip thing. (stupid computer illiteracy...) Which kinda torques me off b/c I've already done most of the work on my character, unless something major has changed. Can anyone give me the short version of what the differences are? OR, barring that, any other helpful suggestions? I can just drop the whole thing if its too much of a hassel.

You can grab the pdf file of BeCKS 2 at the following address. I won't link it, because Geoshities has a shit fit when files are linked directly.

geocities.com/dreamrhythm/TSS_Becks_2.pdf

Dude, Becks sucks. Furthurmore, it won't *let* me take the 2 mil. Maybe we can make an arangement to use a different system?

There's an option (Program Settings 2?) in NSRCG that allows up to 2mil.

This sounds really, really nasty for a Rigger to fly in under, but I'm already in three games and GMing one. I might make something for fun and may send it in.

This is, of course, assuming I get that thing called "free time."

Fortune: VERY cool. Thank you.

LM: I'm inclined to agree. I won't go so far as to say I think it sucks per se, but....I'm not the biggest fan. That much is damn certain.

If you want to download and install zip files, get a zip utility. You can download trial versions for free on the internet.

www.winzip.com

By the way, I'm interested. I'll wait for more details. I prefer to make characters in MS Word, and I do keep track of my karma points.

You know, I'm sorely tempted to upgrade my Dwarven Power Armor rigger for this...

I know BeCKS (v1 or v2) isn't the most popular of chargen systems, but the general idea is to start out high-powered.

The reason I chose BeCKSv2 is because of the optional 2,000,000 cash rule, but I'm open to suggestions if you can think of a way to rework say, the build point system to a 460 karma / 2M¥ max. equivalent.

OK, more background info:

The arc in question is owned and operated by Saeder-Krupp as a mobile extraterritorial platform over Europe and the Middle east.
It's basically a really big zeppelin. We're talking aircraft-carrier sized, city-in-the sky big here.

Holding about 50-60 thousand people during standard operations, but able to work with a skeleton crew of about 70.
S-K watched the Seattle Arc disaster closely and, putting all the intel they obtained on Renraku's Arcology Expert Program together, made their own failsafe equivalent. Day-to-day operations are run by the program, dubbed "Phoenix" by its designers, in tandem with a slew of engineers, riggers, deckers and whatnot.

Security up there is believed to be ultra-paranoid, so they're probably hiding something (who would've thought...).

The job will mainly be infiltration and intel gathering, although secondary objectives may (and probably) will be given during the mission.

Anyone know how many build points 460 karma is equivilent to?

Roughly 133!

Hmm, I might have shot too low at 460 karma then...
Let me know what characters you can come up with, if they seem too low-powered for the setting I'll adjust NPC values accordingly or award additional karma.

I should be ok, mainly because the character I'm making isn't anything special on his own... the suit makes him powerful, and with 2k to spend on it, it'll end up ungodly...

And a dwarf in power armor is going to look inconspicuous... how?

Oh almost forgot:
I have all the main SR3 rulebooks (BBB, R3, M&M, CC, MitS, Matrix) available, so any and all gear you want to use out of those is fine.

Also, spell/vehicle/deck/gun design is allowed and encouraged at chargen, as long as you can give me a somewhat detailed overview of the design process (cost of components, modifiers etc.). As mentioned before, skip the availability rules.
Otaku are allowed with an adjusted maximum nuyen value of 1,000,000.

Quick question before I get excited and build a horribly illegal character..... are you allowing mages to initiate in char gen, ie, if i bought 1mil nuyen and then sunk it into spell/magic points could i use them to initiate? or of course BECKS might cover initiation in char gen so its a redundant question, not got nsrcg with me at mo..... work looks down on that sort of thing *8->

A runt of a dwarf on his own is very inconspicous... then the power armor, which he just happens to be remote controlling, makes an appearance...

hhhmmm, that wouldn't be a JIM suit would it DH? *8->

Yup, initiating at chargen is allowed - just use karma as you would in-game, nsrcg allows for it when you're using BeCKS.

Groovey any rules regarding whether we could have group initiated or does it have to be self? same question for ordeals.... *8-> Being picky I know *8-> and is there any chance of doing the character by bps or priority and then adding the remaining karma as per in game? no used BECKS before (appart from fiddling and that didn't go well *8-<)

Yeah, I was thinking that 460 isn't a lot of points to build a "high-level" character. If that is what you are looking for, you'd want us to start with something like 600 to 750 points. Honestly, 750 would be better, and I'm not saying that to con more power into my character. I've run high level games and used BeCKS at character generation and ended up going with 750 points cause I wasn't satisfied with what my players put together with 600 points.

I wasn't gonna whine but when I was making my char (even before I ran into the prob w. BeCKS v2) I was noticing that he didn't seem all that high powered. I was coming up w/ about 123-125 BPs and about 7-10 karma if I converted.
I thought it was just my unfamilliarity w/ the creation rules.

If you want more power you could do a standard 125 BPs then dump 50+ karma into it and add karma for cash for rules or just say "non-Awakened get abc nuyen and Awakened get xyz nuyen."

That way you get more powerful starting charcters that can customize the way thier players want and it uses a system that everyone is familiar with. It also address the problem of handing out cash and a relative karma pool.

Just my two cents!

Right, looks like my estimate of 460 karma was a bit off... 650 looks just about right.
If you really want to go the BP route, use 150BPs at chargen and add 100 karma later. Karma-to-cash ratio is 1:5000.

Callidus: I'd prefer self initiation as the group doesn't really come into play. If you feel it's really important to your character background, use the self initiation karma costs.

Nope doesn't really affect the character apart from the karma cost to initiate *8-> I'll got the self initiation route then *8-> Any chance of this turning into a series of runs?

Do we get the attached karma pool as well? Not that it really pertains to me but what about the BeCKS people?

Side note: I can't wait to go home and pump up my character. Its gonna be hard to sit thru the last 1.5 hours of work...

Well, I have tomorrow off, so guess what that means! The ever-elusive Free Time™ has been found!

Anyway. 650, huh? No avail cap, just rating.

So, who wants a bunch of drones?

Will this be a one time touch and blow or a continuing run? I'd like to know so I can buy the proper stuff for a good Drone Rigger.

For the record, I'd like to play.

MM - Do you have a problem with us colluding on our character creation? I mean, it only makes sense that a team picked for something like this would have certain elements, and I just want to make sure they're covered.

Yeah, I agree with us all creating characters with eachother in mind.

Who is up for being the Tactical Comp guy and everyone else uses BattleTac links? I'll take the job on myself if you like, I've played tactitions in the past. In fact, I think I'd like to give it a shot, it should be fun.

Question for everyone, how the hell do you get into a flying fortress? We can't go from the top, because its a LTA ship. It'll have to be one of the stealthiest ships around that gets us there. I was thinking about getting a bunch of LTA Drones with RAM and anything else to give them a high sig. We install a seat or two into them and let the rigger fly us up to it. Any other ideas?

Nightglider? They're about sig 9 premoding.... either that or stoy away on a supply shuttle? Oh and I'll try to have the char to you asap, I was going for full mage with a fair number of support spells (phys camo, stealth, imp invis, etc) and couple of combat spells and then the fun ones like phys mask and mind probe if of course I can cram them in *8->

Yeah, a glider could work too. At the last minute you'd just need to flip upside down and grab the underbelly of the ship. Good idea.

Well, seeing as how I need to get my drones up there... I can make a heli with a pretty high signature. I'll probably be running mainly ground drones.

Anybody who's got cyberware, take the Snake Eyes so I can link you in to my RCD and get some extra tactical stuff to feed to Grey.

I'd like to join in if there's still room.

I'd prefer a street-sami / merc, if thats ok.

I'll also try to fit Snake Eyes in.

Okay got the char sheet for Harlot the Lover shaman sorted where do you want it sent MM?

If Grey's getting a Tactical Computer, maybe as many people as possible should try to get BattleTac receivers.

Snake Eyes suck. It would be really cool if they cost less essense, but there is no way I'd be willing to pay 2 full essense for what it does. Maybe 0.5

tanka: the problem with a chopper is that if you plan on going in with us (which I assume you would in order to do CCSS stuff for us), you wouldn't have anyplace to put the chopper. We may be better off using Ultralights or LTAs.

Get me a place to store near a dozen drones (maybe less, depending) on the way up and I'll go with it. That'll also save me money and get me even more drones for backup.

Easy. Make them all flying drones, now you don't need to store them.

Plus, if you make them Electric Fuel Cell, you never worry about running out of gas, just put SunCell on them and set them next to the window.

Now I just need somewhere to put me until I'm needed...

Since we're tossing around char ideas I was gonna go w/ an ex-military type. i've been watching a lot of Stargate SG1 lately so I decided he's former UCAS AF Commando but left/washed out/was disavowed/something to be determined. Light on the cyber (essence: around 3), heavy on skills, he already has Small unit tactics so can help out on that end. I can try to get him a BT receiver.

Tanka, I don't know the details of our infiltration but, why not the old Trojan horse manuver. We get ourselves in posistion to be the flight crew/pilots of the next supply plane. A base that size should need some resupplying some time, right? What would it take? The Titan? At least a Skytruck to make it worth the trip, right?

Yes, that would indeed work. However, we need reason to suddenly send out armed men and ~10 drones armed with HMGs. Not very viable with what we're planning.

I could do a Sec Rigger kick-out and hope that nobody notice(s/d) anything. That'd be the only trick. If I fail, the operation fails.

I could just do a basic command system ("Fire at anything that moves in front of you") and then switch out of controlling then walk up to behind them. Rinse, repeat.

However, that would take a very, very long time. I'd rather like to be able to sit in one heavily enforced area (Possibly with a few of my own drones?) that is difficult to enter by itself. I'm sure it'll go more smoothly once I can find where the Sec Rigger is and takeover the system from there.

After a few calcs, I can only grab eight custom drones, and that may decrease depending on what else I see needs throwing in.

kevyn, if you want to be the one to take the TacCom, be my guest. The character I had in mind before I got this idea is what I'd rather play anyways.

I wasnt sure of the approach. If its a B&E or a disguise and snoop. D&S just doesn't have the right ring, though...

Sounds like we want to go w/ B&E...works for me.

Yes, B&E indeed. Which is why they're all rotor. Now I just need to think of a good spot to hang out until I can safely make my way to the Sec Rigger's spot.