I'm not sure if it would be THAT handy. Sure, its nice for you, your name gets removed from the list. But you are still on a vessel that was at the scene of a crime...and the rest of us aren't erased, so you could still get accomplice pinned on you easy. I don't think its overly powerful.

Home ground on the boat is definitely really powerful and doesn't fit in character yet. Of course, if it becomes a GM reward later when we fall in love with the ship...

How about a medic/cook?

As long as that fillet knife is good enough to cut through more then just tin cans....

I think we already have magical healing covered by at least Marwynn and possibly Milk Ducks, but thats a base that can never be too covered.

Ah, yep, I missed the part where Milk Ducks mentioned medic (see it now, ...defacto doctor in one post, and medic in another, dunno how I missed them).

Don't forget, this Saturday is Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Yep, more healing ain't not bad. Especially if it's the mundane kind since milk and I will be doing at most First Aid and Heal. A dedicated First Aid/Medicine guy would be useful for the all sorts of things sailors might have to deal with.

I'll keep working on the character, but so far I'm okay with the spell selection still. Would you guys prefer any spells?

So, right now I have seen these people mention both their desire to play and a character concept:

Knight Saber: CO: Ex-marine, street sam

CollateralDynamo: XO: Ex-spy, Phys Ad Face and Close-quarters expert

Marwynn: Infiltration Mage, sneaky and supportive

Milk Ducks: Support Mage with a focus on summoning

Whizbang: Hacker/Rigger

Budoka05: Adept Boarding Expert with the softer, cookier side

BaronKen: Doctor & Cook

Ears: Troll Build-a-buddy, can repair anything...sounds like he might be good in a fight too...

MusicMan: Weapon Specialist Street Sam

The team seems to be shaping up nicely, Did I miss anyone?

EDIT: I WAS missing someone, updates to list

As a rigger, Whizbang will likely have Gunnery, which will be an important skill. Ideally, someone should have Heavy Weapons to fire machineguns and LAW rockets and Nautical Mechanics is a must (though that too might be covered by our rigger).

I'm here, just got busy with work!

So I'm shaping up an adept char for the boarding work. However, as an adept, I have to get some degree of specialization to work effectively. My question for you guys: do you prefer stealthy infiltration of a ship to seize control? Or do you guys prefer an all out big fight to seize control?

I'll just gear my char a little to the preferences. However he will be able to do both nicely, but only one he will truly excel at.

BTW, he's a chef too. We already got one, but might as well have an extra hand in the kitchen.

Actually I would like Increased Reflexes, but that maybe too selfish of me.

Thoughts on Runners Companion Stuff:

1. You all get the Common Sense quality for free, no need to even mention it on your sheet. I would be doing that anyway, I'm a sucker for such things.

2. Knight, the Erased quality is incompatible with being the Master of the ship - almost by definition, since you need a SIN.

3. Nobody may take the Born Rich, Made Man, Print Removal, or Day Job qualities...Illiterate or Mental Handicap is also a poor idea to say the least.

Essentially, try to think ahead when picking qualities - you've already been cleared by your employer for sea duty - this tends to preclude various qualities.

4. No Drakes, Infected, or Shapeshifters. SURGE will require really good writing to get over the cheese factor of many of the effects. Metavariants I will look at more closely than their "base", given their rarity.

5. I'll allow advanced contacts - advanced lifestyles, though, are not applicable to this campaign.

If anyone manages to get scurvy, I will laugh at you.

Know why?

If you didn't know...Scurvy is Vitamin C deficiency. It is incredibly hard to get - soy is ICly supposed to have all the nutrients you need, I think, it just tastes bland as hell.

With that said, BaronKen, welcome.

Sorry, I'm still here... I has teh flu!



I'm thinking of playing a street sam (but don't call him that to his face, he won't like it), probably an ex-marine like our intrepid captain. I might make a blend between the street sam and the weapons master archetypes. We'll see what my feverish mind can come up with.

Budoka: I think we have someone going the full stealth route, so if you want to go the guns blazing route I'm fine with that. Whichever you prefer works for me.

and MusicMan: feel better!

Sounds like our muscle is rounding out well.

Just as a heads up, since this is my first attempt at an awakened character, he's definately changing the more I try to put him down on paper. He's shaping up to be much more of a combat/utility character than I'd first imagined; still a very strong focus on summoning though (spirits of man / ancestor spirits). I'm building him up to be an Orkish practitioner of Voodoo from Haiti (french is his primary language) that made his way to the Miami Sprawl. Very connected to his ancestors, and I'm toying with the idea that he feels the shame of his people for being enslaved and shipped across the ocean so many generations ago; by taking out into the seas, and taking what he wants with force, he may feel like he's redeeming the honour of those spirits.

Very rough idea, more to come.

But I guess what I'm getting at is that he's lost a lot of his medic-ness, and if Ken's interested in taking over some of that role, that's great! I've still got a fair amount of healing capability (through spells and skills), and it can't hurt to have backup.

-milk.

I got you covered, bro. I don't have a lot in the way of combat spells (just Stunbolt, I think), so most of my selection comes from the Health category. I've been wanting to pick up some of the manipulation and detection spells, but it seems like my summoned spirits can take care of most of that themselves. Health spells also fit more with my concept.

Anyway, I've got Increased Reflexes.

-milk.

Milks - just a brief note on Haiti, something I picked up in college.

French, in Haiti, is the language of the middle and upper classes - Creole is the language of the lower class. They're related languages, but different.

Just a brief flavor note.

If we are in the Carribian, can our Face and/or Captain make sure that they speak Spanish and/or French?

Thanks for the input, Penta. I didn't know that. The character is certainly more of a lower-class guy. I've been interested in making a character from Haiti for a while because it's such a ... like, hellhole. You know what I mean? I think it's the most impoverished nation in our hemisphere, and children there (especially young women) face the very real risk of being sold into lives of slavery. And that's what's happening now. In the Sixth World, it's got to be just about the most awful place on earth; throw in awakened voodoo magics, ancestor worship, and openly corrupt government systems where the criminals are heroes and the cops are the enemy, and you've got yourself a prime shadowrunning theatre.

I'll swap out his languages and send you the basic character sheet tonight. The story is getting fleshed out as I go, so I'll have a more concrete idea of his background soon.

-milk.

Quick question: gun adept, or hand-to-hand adept? We've got gun muscle, but I see the need for an up-close and fast attacker.

Seems to me we've got a fair amount of fire-support, so if you're more interested in melee I say go for it. Another ranged attacker wouldn't hurt either though, I think we're pretty flexible at this point. Good team.

-milk.

A quick update before I head off to school:

ControlledDynamo might win a prize for delivering his packet first - it still needs work, that said.

Milk ducks, see my reply to your PM.
---

Everybody else, no worries.

As you do up your characters, look over the thread I posted stuff from a page back. That group did a lot of work - feel free to copy from them, or borrow ideas.

Otherwise, while people work on their characters, you should also work on what my silly mind calls the "Oregon Trail" part of this setup - the ship and the group accounts.

I suggest appointing a "Purser", so to speak, someone to set up and maintain the common accounts with me OOCly. Should one not be appointed, you'll really be relying on me catching everything on my own.

I'm going to try and keep track of everything, but I could always use help.
---

Before play starts, this is what needs to be done.

1. Characters done.
2. "Ship packet" done.
3. Common accounts/common gear done.
----
GM stuff that needs to be done:
1. Start my campaign notes.
2. Write first post.
3. Reread rules. SR4A to start with.

I speak Spanish Naturally, English well, and French and Portuguese good enough to get by. Thats without chipping as I don't have one of those handy jack thing 'ums. The only language I feel like I'm missing now is Creole...but most of them speak English or French as well...hopefully.

I couldn't find a IC reason for my character to speak French or Spanish... I could come up with a few to speak Italian, but meh... I've got Greek (native) and English (6).

Some of both? A hand-to-hand adept could take one level 5 skill in Unarmed (or a blades type) and and put the other level 5 in a firearms skill with a specialty... not all adepts need to be singularly focused on doing just one thing, and outside of Improved Ability, a lot of adept powers are broadly useful. Granted, the focused, "pure" adept" an easy concept... easier than figuring why someone who can kill with a touch is also an expert with, say, sniper rifles or rocket launchers.

Language-wise, I have English native, Spanish 3 and Russian 2.

Short range tactics seems like it will be key when it comes to boarding boats. Thats one of the reasons that my face is also proficient with blades and pistols. That said, pick whatever you want to be proficient in, there will be plenty of use for all of it, I'm sure.

Oh also, since I guess the face is going to be doing the buying and selling (and I'm already done with my character, thanks Penta!) I can try to be the Purser for the whole adventure...unless someone else wants to handle the moneys.

It's purely OOC handling, mind you. IC handling, I don't care how you guys handle it.

But OOCly, I need one person to help me keep the numbers straight.

And since CD volunteered, CD is it.

You mean, like, shotguns?

I always mean shotguns, all the time. Seriously though, I mean if you are using Arsenal and modding your weapon, picking things that lower your range probably aren't going to be a problem...and stay away from grenades! We need those freighters intact!

Also, while shotguns ARE super cool and under utilized, assault rifles have a delicious level of variability. Meh, go big or go home, right?

Nothing says "dodge this" like two barrels full of 00 buck to the face. It's like a big can of Adept-be-Gone...

I've been having too much fun looking through arsenal. The HK XM30 is still the greatest thing ever though... imagine what you can do with some fun upgrading to that baby... It's like the ultimate woo-hoo weapon.

Just a heads up, Penta and I are having some issues hammering out a workable summoner build (mostly because we're both fuzzy on the rules, but also because it seems especially powerful, what with Immunity to Normal Weapons and all), and because I'm really not interested in making a standard spell-slinger type awakened character, I may end up starting over from the beginning. If that's the case, I'd be willing to toss together a close-quarters blitzer type character; shotguns, flashbangs, etc. Hard and fast, you know?

We're working on it though, we'll see what happens.

-milk.

Major Kusanagi says "Use a pistol for close work and an assault rifle for anything else." (When Togusa was talking about the merits of an auto shotgun loaded with slugs).

Grenades are OK though... Frags and concussion and tear gas won't do much to a ship. Just watch out for the high explosive ones. They're also handy for fishing and stuffing in the maws of giant Awakened sea creatures.

Yeah - part of the problem is...I thought I had Street Magic in my huge collection of SR books in electronic format.

I, er, don't. I have all of the advanced rulebooks for 4th ed...Except Street Magic. It might be in my (fairly comprehensive) print collection, but I would need to dig it out and check.

Immunity to normal weapons isn't near as good as it sounds. Look it up in SR4A, IIRC it just doubles their soak pool against non magic weapons, it doesn't actually make the IMMUNE.

Basically, it only becomes really nice at high forces (like 5 or 6), but the spirits are still vulnerable to magic attacks, not to mention rockets and ship sized ordinance that we might encounter.

Street Magic is a handy book to have, and even includes a few other spirit types, but if you are going as a straight shaman (especially if you are new to the system) I don't think it is a strictly necessary resource. I mean..."Turn to Goo" is fun...but difficult to work in.

-------------------------------

Zalermo cracks off a salute to the Major, "Of course, you heard the officer! Grab some 'nades and lets get moving!"

Thermal Smoke Grenades, I love those things. Flashpaks too.

Still whipping something out, will PM then email soon. Weapon-wise I'm going for SMGs. Greater range than pistols and the capability for alternative fire methods. Yeah there are some newer pistols in Arsenal that are just cool, but the good ol' Ingram Smartgun X is actually quite solid when appropriately modded.

Speaking of, underwater weapons. Harpoon guns or gyrojets and the like... any thoughts?

Immunte to Normal Weapons isn't total immunity. It's up to Penta to rule if Stick-n-Shock rounds work against them though.

milk ducks you can also combine a blitzer with a summoner, especially a possessed summoner. But again that may force the opposition to use heavier stuff against you.

So far as Immune to Normal Weapons:

I fully admit, I'm weakest on the magic rules in SR. Physical stuff I'm good with, Matrix I can do passably, Magic I'm weak on.

If there's a Dumpshock consensus re SnS working on spirits (either possessive or manifesting) I'll go with that.

Otherwise, I need to do more research.

Underwater weapons:

Keep in mind, Harpoons...can be used underwater, but are actually meant to take down things like whales. Gyrojets are more meant for underwater combat - but if I recall correctly, both require variations on the Exotic Weapons skill. I'm not sure I can think of too many characters who would have call to be trained (pre-play!) in an Exotic Weapons skill.

IRL that's crap. Different weapons for different jobs. The shotfun has always been the firearm of choice for CQB. Though... using slugs might be a little pointless. 00 buck or somesuch works alot better. The point of a shotgun is that it effectivly hits the target with a greater mass than any other weapon. In fact, with a good choke, a shotgun can kill a person from 100 yds. with buckshot.

If you are using a handgun, the last words you said before pulling it were probably "oh, shit."



Actually, in the Army, they teach you not to use frags indoors. Frag grenades are typically the most deadly type of grenade you can throw. Real HE grenades are shot out of an M203... somehow, I feel that using a grenade launcher to throw around explosives in a ship might not be the best way to go.

I've got Exotic Weapon HERF Gun...

Look no further than the Colt M24A3 Water Carbine, a SMG from Arsenal that, with an air tank attachment, can fire underwater with no problem at all. My character has one.

Oooh, I missed that.

Yep, Foregrip, Personalized Grip, and Powered Folding Stock on mine. Just enough for one Wide Burst or something.

Do Gas Vents work for this gun? It's firing chamber is completely sealed.

Logically, no - the vents would let water in.

Yes they would (kinda?). The gas vents are not in the chamber, they are drilled into the barrel to redirect some of the gas to help compensate muscle climb. Technically, there is a loss in bullet velocity in doing this, but I don't think that SR4 takes that into account. You usually don't see them on rifles as a muzzle break serves the same purpose and the loss in velocity is more of a concern than with handguns or shotguns... but meh.

If you really want to know how they work, look up the "compensated" Glock pistols. They use gas vents.

Good point, MusicMan. I retract my previous answer.

Too much time spent on the range playing with the toys.

Sounds good! So you can help with money laundering and such?

It's been about 3.5 yrs since I've played (SR4) so I'm trying to relearn in a hurry. I've been reading the SR4a rulebook and am working on my character. I dug out my stash of SR material...egads, I have a lot of books. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th editions. I pulled out Cyberpirates! and will check it out when I have time.

Take your time. Thusfar, while a lot of people are close to being done, nobody is actually done yet.

I gave it some thought while I was at work, and even though I think we can (or already have) come to an agreement on how to balance out the power that a summoner brings to the table, it's probably in everyone's best interest if I saved the idea for later and developed a CQB specialist instead. I like the character, but I'll admit that it might be a little over my head, and since Penta's (justifiably, I think) concerned that the concept might be too powerful in this story, I'd probably prefer to start fresh instead of widdling the concept down into something I'm not as interested in.

Any issues with that, guys? I'm thinking maybe an Ork that's a bit of an adrenaline junky that's worn a lot of hats over the years, trying to get his fix, including several years in a "street rules" Combat Biker team ("that official shit's for wimps and euro-fags"). He once applied to join Lone Star, but couldn't pass the psyche exam. He's just got a really itchy trigger-finger.

Is that cool with you guys? I know we've got two other mages at least that will cover up the slot I moved out of.

-milk.

Cool with me.