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DocTaotsu
The Gimmick: I set the opening scene, we work backwards to figure out how we got there and where we’re going. The GM guides the process by shaping the path we take to get back to the opening scene. I’ve been inspired by a game called Polaris that shared GMing duties between all four players at the table. One player plays the antagonist, one the protagonist, one the rules guy, one the story guy. These positions rotate by scene and it’s a really intriguing setup. The key was that everyone was involved in making the world scene by scene. I’d like to bring an element of that to our game as it should allow us to get a great deal of interesting story told in a short amount of time. Imagine playing a summary of a regular game, instead of playing through all the parts second by second we decide what generally happened and move on.

The Format: The aim of all this is to build up the dramatic tension leading to the opening scene. We’ll have to calibrate just how much tension we want at the scene. Is this the big showdown? Is this a milk run?
I haven’t really settled on a format yet. This is going to be a developing process and I expect a number of rules to get spun up on the fly to keep things sane. Knowing my crowd I’d like to avoid arguments about arguments. To start let’s try to the following:

  1. <Opening Scene> + <GM Questions>
  2. Players pick a question or two they’d like to answer (either as a group or as an individual for the group).
  3. GM modifies players responses, presents one more question, possibly adds some element (an outcome to an open ended statement)
  4. GM sums up the situation (with some private conversations if skullduggery occurred, could have occurred) and looks to consensus.
  5. Players agree that the GM did a good job or decry him for a fool, casting him down from his high place and setting up their own regime.
  6. Vicious infighting divides the players into factions who quickly consolidate their power by bloody force.
  7. The violence only ends after the players have acted out the worst parts of the French revolution with hand held guillotines.
Er... maybe just numbers 1-5.


The (Super Generic) Opening Scene:
Wet snow falls sporadically as the swift moving storm roils overhead. It’s been three days since you left civilization behind at <INSERT POINT HERE> but you all agreed to push on even after Hardt died.

Questions: Remember, many of these are intentionally vague. I’ve thrown in some suggestions in because I think they might lead to some interesting places. Answer however you like but try to keep it short and direct. We’re trying to sketch this out first so we can pile in the detail at our leisure.
  • What are you doing in the forest, especially one that’s practically reverted back to its primeval state? Are you (Going somewhere, looking for something/someone, try to hide something/someone, hide from something/someone, out for a stroll, etc)?
  • Who was Hardt? Important to anyone in particular? Mook? A guide? Prisoner?
  • Are you prepared? Why/not?
  • Who do you work for? Why? Someone (you owe, yourselves, a Johnson, you own, who owns you)?
  • Who knows you’re out here? How much do they care? Why?
  • Who wants you dead?
  • Who wants you alive?
  • Who's bright idea was this in the first place?
bpro
Hello!
-Brian
DocTaotsu
Wow, that was quick. Sup Brian, long time no talk or see.
ngorman
Let's get this party started, yo.

Hm, I like what you're proposing as far as establishing some background connections between characters.

That said, I don't know how strictly "survival-horror" you're going, but I do sort of like how horrendous circumstances can force unlikely people together. With all my human character ideas, they come complete with a reason for being in the woods in the first place. I don't know how soon into the game things are going to... go wrong... but I sort of like the idea of strangers forced together for survival...

Really need to hear what other people want to play, I suppose



Otherwise, I could see Mr. Boogles jumping in to intervene or protect one of the other characters. I picture Mr. Boogles as normally just shadowing and watching the people who come into his woods. The interesting ones he probably observes and otherwise leaves alone. If he decides that he doesn't like them though... he simply smothers them with his large ape hands while they sleep. He has problems.
Having smothered a few hikers and what-not, he's beginning to grow bored with that game. Maybe it's time to give something new a try...
DocTaotsu
While "Strangers Forced Together For Survival" is certainly a workable theme my intro post would point to uh... a great deal more interconnectedness between characters and events. I really want to go into this game feeling like were finally going to answer some questions and find some conclusion. Even though I call it "Survival Horror" I really want to have something driving the characters beyond "Not dying". Or not, this is what is going to make this process fun in my mind. Compressing the dynamics of a campaign into a... summary with highlight film.

While I like Mr. Boogles I have to pose the following questions to you:
How does he communicate? Can he talk? We have dragons, we can have talking primates. I fear that a mute character might be a bit gimmicky for my tastes.

I think a connection between Mr. Boogles and Leatherface could be very interesting. Their both loners more or less but they could certainly have helped each other out in the past.
ngorman
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Oct 2 2009, 10:47 PM) *
my intro post would point to uh... a great deal more interconnectedness between characters and events.


What the fuck is an intro post?



.
..
...
....yea I didn't see it the first time through. Going back to read it now...
ngorman
QUOTE (DocTaotsu @ Oct 2 2009, 10:47 PM) *
While I like Mr. Boogles I have to pose the following questions to you:
How does he communicate? Can he talk? We have dragons, we can have talking primates. I fear that a mute character might be a bit gimmicky for my tastes.

I think a connection between Mr. Boogles and Leatherface could be very interesting. Their both loners more or less but they could certainly have helped each other out in the past.


Ok. I've read this so-called "intro-post." Groovy. I can roll with your gaming format.

As to Mr. Boogles, he's not necessarily my first choice, but if I were to go with him he would definitely talk. Whether this is unique to him or something that is happening to other higher primates across the globe --- I leave in your capable hands. For what it's worth Mr. Boogles never heard any of the other apes in the research center talk, but he marked it off to intelligence. He doesn't see anything strange about his ability to talk. He also, for that matter, doesn't see an enormous distinction between humans, metahumans, apes, and monkeys. Some are smarter than others - that's about it.

Trying to avoid too much gimmick - there is much risk built in with an unorthodox character - part of the reason I'm hesitant to play him.



Mr. Boogles' nswers to your questions (I'll come up with more answers as i contemplate playing other characters):
What are you doing in the forest, especially one that’s practically reverted back to its primeval state?
Trying to stay away from people. I'm not going back to the Center.

Who was Hardt? Important to anyone in particular? Mook? A guide? Prisoner?
I just him - doesn't mean much to me that he died. i don't plan on making the same mistakes he did.

Are you prepared? Why/not?
I live in the moment. I do it better than most. Dwelling on the past or trying to imagine events that haven't happened --- are just distractions.

Who do you work for? Why? Someone (you owe, yourselves, a Johnson, you own, who owns you)?
No one owns me. Fuck you.

Who knows you’re out here? How much do they care? Why?
No one. Hopefully. But I bet the Center would like me back. I was smarter than anyone else there. I practically ran the show.

Who wants you dead?
Whatever it was that got Hardt

Who wants you alive?
Me. Maybe the center.

Who's bright idea was this in the first place?
I'm still not sure why I jumped in like that...
Tarkaenon
Leatherface's Answers

What are you doing in the forest, especially one that’s practically reverted back to its primeval state? Are you (Going somewhere, looking for something/someone, try to hide something/someone, hide from something/someone, out for a stroll, etc)?

I live here. I like to wander around sometimes. It helps quite the painful thoughts in my head.

Who was Hardt? Important to anyone in particular? Mook? A guide? Prisoner?

I don't know. Names are meaningless to me. I don't even remember my own.

Are you prepared? Why/not?

Of course. Surviving in the forest is easy, once you know how.

Who do you work for? Why? Someone (you owe, yourselves, a Johnson, you own, who owns you)?

I work for cold hard cash. It lets me buy cyberware. And cyberware lets me get rid of parts of myself I don't like.

Who knows you’re out here? How much do they care? Why?

From what I hear, I'm something of a boogeyman. There are legends about me. A few people know how to find me. These people get me jobs. I like the idea that people are afraid of me. Beyond that, I don't care what they think. Fuck them all!

Who wants you dead?

I'm sure a lot of people, mostly related or friends with the people I've killed.

Who wants you alive?

I can't imagine anyone who would.

Who's bright idea was this in the first place?

Being here? It just is. Things just happen. That's the way life goes.
Langriman
Here's my initial character idea. It's mostly copy-pasted from the random stuff I dumped in Ando's notes at last year's game, because I never go the chance to use any of that stuff. I'll get to following Ando's format later.

Better Living Through Chemistry

Three months ago the Vivacor Corporation collapsed when it was discovered that its cancer drug causes stroke and its stroke drug causes cancer, and the ensuing lawsuits and financial crisis have flooded the job market for chemists, ruining the job prospects of Milosao Bazo, a recent chemistry PhD graduate from the Seattle Institute of Technology. These days he gets by with his basement lab making nasty drugs for nasty people.

Milo is Albanian, but his family drifted around southern Europe for most of his childhood after all the governments in the region collapsed in the wake of an economic disaster that everybody blames on the Jews. As a result he speaks Albanian, Greek, Italian, and a half dozen other languages from the region. He can't go back home because the whole damn place has gone to hell.

He went to grad school because he dreamt of doing research that will shed new light on the chemical foundations of life, but he ended up spending six years making weight-loss pills and testing them on rodents in the lab of Dr. Kagan, an arrogant and micro-mananging but brilliant lab director who has connections at every pharma firm, sits on the board of directors of Vivacor, and is disgustingly good at hustling money from companies and foundations. Milo hates his guts, but swallows his pride because he's depending on Dr. Kagan to get him a job. He has never gotten along with any boss or teacher he has ever worked with.

He still spends a lot of time in Dr. Kagan's lab, mostly with Ray Vito, a sleazy Italian post-doc who works on the pumps and the terahertz coils that are used in some of the synthesis techniques, and who wears shades at all times of day and looks like the crime boss from the Beat It music video. Ray Vito is plugged into a festering subculture of fungus afficionados who ferment wines and cheeses down in the deeps, not far from the sewers. These are sold to a variety of dangerous middlemen and end up on the tables of the executives and crimelords with the most discriminating tastes. There's a post-post-goth band out there which has turned the whole business into an elaborate metaphor for contemporary society: refinement through decay. The guitarist guy loves the singer lady, but the lady is not into guys. Instead of resolving their romantic problems they decided to sing about them, and spun the concept of nonprocreative love into a rumination on decadence. Their fans lie around in stylish ennui and let stuff go to waste, and then savor the results. Other fans will go out and buy stuff that has been pre-ruined, but they are mocked as shallow and inauthentic posers. Milo isn't into that scene, though. He listens to lots of cheesy European techno.

He got a gun after some unpleasant dealers started giving him a hard time. He's used it a few times to shoot at addicts, thieves, and bums who've broken into his apartment and lab, but he's not a killer.

He has a clingy girlfried Dafina who wears way too much makeup and who sees his arrogance as confidence. She is also from Albania and has no home to return to, and feels massively isolated and insecure. She's worked at a series of unpleasant office jobs getting sexually harrassed by her bosses. She does all his cleaning and cooking, puts way too much mayonnaise in everything, and reluctantly gives him all the anal he wants. After spending three years in a Greek boarding school that would make Lord of the Flies look like a Montessori day care, he pretty much takes this arrangement for granted.

He's a little guy with big hair and a thin mustache, and though he isn't handsome in a conventional sense he has hypnotic eyes and a strangely impressive air about him, like he's too busy thinking about Deep Stuff to have time for you, and he's doing you a favor by giving you his time. He's been using this ability to get other people to do his menial tasks, especially his girlfriend, but when he's alone he becomes a total slob.

He inherited all of his mother's superstitions, and to these he has added a hyperchondria cultivated by regularly reading the medical research literature. He takes two dozen nutritional supplements a day, most of which cancel each other out.

Deep down he likes to be called Dr. Bazo, but most people call him Milo because Americans have no idea how to pronounce his name. He's fine with being called Milo because when he was a refugee in Montenegro his family stayed a few nights in an abandoned shed that had a 40-year-old canister of Nestle's Milo, and after his mother mixed it up with some condensed milk over an open fire he's always had fond memories of the name.

Milo brings the following to the party: His lab gives him access to chemicals and technologies that are not available on the open market, his education gives him a pretty good knowledge of chemistry and biology and computers, his work as a drug cooker gives him some money, some contacts, a gun and the ability to use it, some street sense and emergency medical training, and his upbringing gives him several languages and the will to survive in desperate circumstances.

He's probably in the forest because Ray Vito pointed him to the mushrooms and herbs that grow in the area, or he has a safe house out there where he keeps some supplies, or he's trying to track down somebody who stole some of his stuff, or he got lost while driving to some other place.

He doesn't look like a tough guy but he'll fight like a cornered rat to survive.


Tarkaenon
I love the character, Sam!

It sounds like Milo knows how to fight just enough to be a contribution to the party, but since I plan to make Leatherface a really stacked fighting character, that should hopefully free the other players up from having to devote too much of their resources to combat at the expense of fleshing out the other aspects of their characters.

Thinking about all of Sam's characters' languages skills, PhD knowledge, and so forth, and Leatherface's list of kills and survival abilities, I'm wondering if, for this one-off adventure, we should start the characters more experienced? I know that in the past, I've spoken fondly of the lower levels - a belief I still hold - but the way this is shaping up, it looks like we might have the equivalent of D&D levels 5-6. It might be a fun change of pace to have some tougher, more experienced characters (which means, equivalently, tougher adventures and opponents) but not so high of a level as to lose all the gritty fun. No epic superheroes - don't get me wrong. Rather, maybe it would be fun to play someone who isn't wet-behind-the-ears as a change of pace.
DocTaotsu
Wow, love the character concept Sam and I think it'll jive with the uh... off color cast of characters we usually end up with.

@David: I haven't settled on a character power level yet. As a rule "stock" SR characters tend to be pretty powerful coming straight out of chargen. I can't remember exactly how powerful you guys were last game but I seem to recall you we slightly under "stock". I think we'll have a clear idea of a power level as we move down this path. Do any of you have access to the SR4 rules?
I will also note that in my experience lower power SR games work fairly well because you are confronted with resource scarcity and get a real sense of building your character up in terms other than stats. However, for a one-shot I like having slightly more powerful characters because it gives players a little more to work with in terms of finding creative solutions to situations. Sam's character knows quite a few languages and that could be incredibly helpful (potentially in ways I haven't planned for) it'd be a shame to underpower and deprive himself of that interesting bit of backstory.
Oh hell. Let's talk power levels. SR4 is a build point chargen system. A stock SR character is 400 points and CAN have access to upwards ot 200k for purposes of buying crap like cyberware or dolphin porn. It's a fairly balanced system and it's fairly hard to break provided the GM is paying half attention. 400 bp characters typically make the most sense as "Ex-Something Cool" guys. Not necessarily black ops doom troopers but they certainly were on that career path before things went wonky. Sam's character with a PhD and a diverse range of knowledge skills is probably a 400 bp characters. If he's more focused, perhaps because he's spent so much time working a shitty dead end job, he could probably be built for 360-380. Below 350 and we start getting some very very junior characters. A 300 bp character is somewhere between a 0 level NPC and a 1st level character.

But let's not worry too much about power level now. If we make an interesting story the power level will be fairly obvious. Plus, I'm not a stickler for number crunching... if it's interesting for your character to have something, you'll get it. If it's boring, power gaming, or both.. you won't, even if it's technically legal.

@ALCON: You can also answer these questions as a group. In fact I encourage this because it makes things easier for me.
Tarkaenon
Right now, I'm imagining Leatherface as being fairly stealthy. For some reason, I guess I picture him as something out of a slasher movie. Having a ridiculous Body, further enhanced by cyberware/bioware, so that he can take a lot of punishment. His combination of stealth plus an ability to take a beating if he is discovered enables him to close the distance. I imagine that he can use guns, perhaps he has an old shotgun that he carries, but that mostly he attacks hand-to-hand, perhaps with power tools or axes or heavy objects used for bludgeoning. I actually considered making him an adept, but I figured I'd already been down that path and I really wanted to experiment more with the cyber rules.

He's the kinda guy who can appear right out of nowhere right next to you . . . kinda like a horror movie. And that's when he turns on the power drill.
DocTaotsu
A stealthy troll... it's been done and it works pretty damn well.

Cyber/bio makes more sense for this character given how much he actively dislikes himself. Between cyber/bio I could see him going down both pathes but I 'd imagine him favoring cyber because the mechanical replacement is a greater break from his imperfect god given body. On the other hand he could be persuing bioware enhancement becasue it offers him a chance to "fix" his body at a molecular level.

I too see him as a primarily hand-to-hand kind of guy. What kind of weapons he uses depends a great deal on how he's employed. Clearly people hire him to leave a mark and send a message but how professional is he about his job? Does he care about getting caught? Are we simply catching this character during his inevitable slide into total madness? Or is his future more open ended? I like characters that leave the door open to a "happy ending" it makes the redemption sweeter and the falls ever so much harder.

Does he have a signature move besides jacking people up? If he's a professional than probably not (aside from copious ultraviolence with improvised clubs) if he's a crazy then... those are just easy extra build points.
Langriman
I can probably connect my character to any of Nik's ideas besides Mr. Boogles, insofar as they all are preoccupied with people exploiting weird biomatter in the forest, and that's precisely what Ray Vito got me into. As for Mr. Boogles, maybe he busted out of a lab at my university? Maybe Dr. Kagan's lab? As for Leatherface, I have no idea how to connect anybody to a reclusive psycho assassin.

I'm definitely opposed to pumping up the characters anywhere beyond the standard starting conditions; this was one of the biggest complaints I had about Shadowrun back in our high school games. I view cyberware and bioware like magical items, and letting characters start out cybered up completely drains the mystique and sense of accomplishment out of them. If I get a non-cybered character idea (just about every character idea I've ever had had nothing to do with cyberware) I feel like I'm holding back my character's abilities just because I never imagined him cybered up. If I followed through on the social implications of being able to download every piece of scientific knowledge ever discovered, for example, characters from academic settings like Milo would be completely unrecognizable.

bpro
I'm afraid it has been awhile since the world of shadowrun has been in mind, so please feel free to edit for content or screen aspect size, but our commercial sponsors make the reduced time non-negotiable. Suggestions are welcome.

Draft 1 and some ideas:

Jane Doe has never been an attractive woman, but maintains that certain thing that makes many unattractive women powerful foes of men: She looks darn near twelve years old. Her small frame aside, she is used to playing second fiddle aside the glamourous or big front women or men. While she entraps the john, someone else is sending the video to his inbox with threats of exposure and yet another someone is waiting outside the door with large guns or fists, in case of trouble (or sometimes that is part of the plan all along). She certainly has no need to rely on the kindness of strangers but has easily gotten by with this tactic in the past. She is, as a matter of training, a competent and lonely con-woman with quite the skill with fast decisive action (suggestions of what kind are welcome).

She never breaks the rule: Never play twice in the same sandbox or with the same kids. Easily being bored is the excuse, but the standard: I've-been-whored-out-fear-of-intimacy is more meaningful to those who know her for more than a brief game.

She is at a crossroads in her career: does she continue to work for others, or finally seize the limelight (and enough cash to permanently vacation in (somewhere appropriately interesting).

One thing is for sure, this is the last con without taking part in the casting, I mean who the hell are these kids?




What are you doing in the forest, especially one that’s practically reverted back to its primeval state? Are you (Going somewhere, looking for something/someone, try to hide something/someone, hide from something/someone, out for a stroll, etc)?

As a suggestion, perhaps we are all playing a role in a con to be played out on someone in these woods? (perhaps in a apocolyse-nowish camp?ooo spooky!)

Who was Hardt? Important to anyone in particular? Mook? A guide? Prisoner?

Hardt was the man with the plan...or at least the contact...he wasn't clear about that before that unfortunate "slip and fall (or other more interesting event which could mean...murder".

Jane: "Either way, his loss may just mean a larger share for each of us."

Are you prepared? Why/not?

Were we meeting someone with more supplies?

Who do you work for? Why? Someone (you owe, yourselves, a Johnson, you own, who owns you)?

Right now? some or all of you all I suppose, maybe someone knows the boss man, or maybe he isn't with us anymore.

Tarkaenon
She sounds like a cool character! (And one that might suggest a possible plot arc.)

As for cyber vs. bioware, I think it'll be a mix of both, but favoring cyber for the reasons mentioned above.

I can appreciate Sam's concern about cybernetics and power point levels, but I'm not sure the build level is any sort of fix to that. Even with a standard build level a character can be fairly cybered up, and in order to ensure sufficient starting resources for characters like hackers and riggers, even standard starting characters are able to be fairly cybered up.

The question is really more about the commonality of cybernetics and its integration into society. That goes back to the old D&D questions of high magic vs. low - that may really be more of a world question rather than a character power level question - though I won't deny starting power levels will play some impact, obviously.

I think, though, Sam addresses a bigger question. Especially for players who haven't read as much cyberpunk literature, a significant among of things like cybernetics, technology, etc. tends to alter the experience of being human. (Wikipedia "Technological Singularity" for more on this notion.) At some point, it becomes hard to recognize or relate to such characters, especially without a familiarity with a body of literature to draw upon.

What's the sweet spot for giving the right amount of technology? That could be tricky waters to navigate, especially since, admittedly, this isn't your most cyberpunk friendly group. (It's gotta be frustrating for you, Ando, that you end up with a bunch of Fantasy-loving Luddites like us. Leatherface is my attempt to really try something different and play a cybered character, but I'm a little bit more familiar with the genre - though clearly not as much as you, Ando.)
bpro
My character can be a robot if that helps...
Ando, is there a good time to look over the books - maybe I'll just buy it...(what is the book?)
My place in peevertown is available when ya all get here and as I am jobless and bored, I have the free time to help out in whatever way i can...let me know!
DocTaotsu
Busy at work, update soon.
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