I have some professional development training on Feb. 22nd -24th, and then a managers' retreat on the 26th - March 1st. (At a ski resort in Québec!) After that I could get into full swing.

I'm all for wrapping up the delivery of the trucks at least and moving on - even if that means chasing ghouls.

So far, shortening the current story is not much of an issue for Warlordtheft and Glyph.

Any thoughts, Sephiroth? You've (or rather Jovan has) been the most heavily invested in the current plot line.

Void is here for a specific purpose, so it would make sense to deal with that, as well as the delivery of the arms. Otherwise he would want to carry on with his own job rather than hook up with this gang. Professor's purpose in the shadows would fit easily with his new role as a sort of Johnson/part-time runner. I can roll our Spanish fat-man-in-white into that purpose without much trouble.

Is Oswald still with us? I kinda miss the old fart.

Well, I kind of like the Hatter as a character, mainly because he seems to be a fairly nice foil for Jovan's personality (both are mages, mentally unstable, and obsessed with literature to one degree or another, and the Hatter is a truly deranged toxic who probably wants to burn the world down while Jovan is a hemovorous predator with a bit of a Messiah complex). And I've been trying over the course of the current adventure to put together a decent enough plan for outsmarting all the people who want to kill our team, which is what Jovan would do, and it'd be nice to at least get something from that now that I have it finished and posted, whether it's karma or having the plan work successfully. However, if you wish to shorten up the current plotline and start anew, I would be amenable to that. I am more interested in having this game up and running again than in maintaining the current storyline.

OK, I'm AFC till Monday. Then again Tuesday to Friday. After that, I will sit down and see if I can unravel the current plot in a way that I can tie it again for you guys. I'm off this weekend for a Basic Action Training weekend with Greenpeace. Learning how to be a non-violent, democracy-pumping, in-your-face activist. Woohoo!

Oh. Is that too political? OK, I'll strike it out.

How are things coming, pbangarth? Do you have a status update for us?

I am reading over the biographies and stats in the first post. I want to get a sense, again, of who the PCs are. We certainly are a disparate bunch of lunatics. I will PM each of you with questions as they come up. I am still trying to figure out how much of the original story I can incorporate in a new arc. I think the current weapons recovery run will end pretty quickly. The secondary threads may get incorporated into my new arc, if for no other reason but some of us have had a lot of fun with them already. A strong thread throughout the arc I am proposing will be related to Professor's reason for being in the shadows, as described in his biography (link in post #1). There will be ample opportunity for conspiracy theorizing, violence, red herrings, Things Best Left Unknown, etc.

I am somewhat concerned about SR5 entering the scene in coming months. My group at home will almost certainly want to migrate. I worry about keeping my head wrapped around two sets of rules. I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on this.

An unforeseen expense hit me recently, and I have taken on some extra work to pay it. That work will end in about a month. So I will be grinding up to speed till then. Once I get going, I would like to reinstate the Post or Die ethic we followed for so long here.

I'd be willing to rework Ferret to 5th Edition if you want to go that way when it comes out. From what I've read the rules would likely work in Ferret's favour assuming Logic + 2*computer skill (~14 dice) for most hacking tests and a set of faster, simplified matrix rules.

And I'm certainly up for Post or Die again!

I would also be quite amenable to reinstating the Post or Die.

I haven't been following the news about SR5 development. Does anyone know if the typical alternate race options will be available straight from SR5 release? I'm not sure how well I'll be able to rework Jovan if there aren't Infected rules available soon after release.

Good point. I don't know how much can be introduced in the BBB of SR5. It will be just one book. Personally, I would just work around it the best we can.

Might have to do the same workaround for Void, with his SURGE and astral hazing.

Hey guys, just wanted to say hi and nice to see this thread is still going! I'll have to catch up reading the IC thread some time soon!

I'd say stick with 4.5 until 5 gets all the rules we need to update all our PC's. Then switch to 5th if we want to. No need to jump to it just because its shiny. Now if the rules are significantly better we can jump right away.

Yeah, plus the drastic change in things such as skill ratings would really mess up the backgrounds and fluff text - a skill of 6 goes from being one of the best around, to being a lot lower on the badass scale (although it might be more like SR3, where you didn't see too many NPCs with skills over 6 despite their being functionally unlimited).

Near as I can tell the costs up to 6 will be roughly the same, so going much above would be very difficult anyway.

Kind of like in 2nd where once you got to 6 or 7 skill points there was very little point to raise it further over getting a bunch of other skills (sorcery being one of the exceptions).

7X2=14 points for 1 extra die versus buying 3 skills and diversifying your PC more. 3X4=12. My books are packed so I may be off on costs (Like the first skill point always costs 4), but you get the point.

Nope, not dead. Just still buried in work. April is a burdensome month for me, and I won't be able to create much this month.

I miss this game and the rest of you guys. Bear with me.

Sephiroth rattled my chain so I thought I would jump in here to answer.

The extra work is now over. Yay! So, let's see what we can get started. Here's where I stand:

1) I don't think I can do justice to the current story we are finishing, as I don't know the background details that Red-ROM had in mind at the start. I also am much more interested in my story, and would be far more likely to keep up the pace in that story. So I would like to jump to a hasty finish, give out some karma and cash, and start that new story line. The threads within this story that are key to particular characters, namely Void and Jovan, will remain hanging and be available for some fun tying up at a later date. I will interweave them into my story line so Jovan and Void can stay interested.

We will stay in SR4A for now, and as SR5 becomes available, we will discuss any changes, and by consensus introduce those we want. I don't want anyone to quit because we change the rules. I suspect this crew is like most RPGers, and there will be a strong predilection to switch over. This is certainly true for me. *sigh* We'll see.

I am not as facile in the Matrix rules as I am in other aspects of the game, and may require help to get up to speed in that regard. Yay for PMs!

2) The PCs currently in play are:

Zo (Warlordtheft),
Jovan (Sephiroth),
Oswald (Saint Sithney) [but I haven't seen you in here for a while - given up or just waiting?],
Ferret (Notsoevildm),
Void (Glyph).

A player in waiting has been:

Ferman (Ammulder).

The "Post or Die" rules will come back into effect, so players in waiting could indeed join quickly.

3) The arc I propose will involve illegal international smuggling and arms trade, serious magic of a possibly ancient form, and extraterrestrial activity. (Yes, a former astronaut could -actually- find use for those old skills!) There will be a mastermind behind our opposition called the Blind Man. He is the one who engineered the bloody and cinematic death of the fixer Claudia at the end of the RPGA's Virtual Seattle set of arcs. His machinations, second-guessing and one-step-ahead-edness will make Jovan's planning look like a drunk choosing actions with a roll of the dice. *poke* *poke* There will be multiple, competing factions in a global power play. You will be seen as enemies by some, pawns by others, toys by yet others.

4) Professor, being my PC, will have to bow out as a regular participant. *sigh* However, he will become, as circumstances will show, a sort of Johnson who will ask the players to help him (for pay of course) deal with the original issue that brought Professor into the shadows from a life in academia. That original issue involves the Blind Man, who has a real hate on for Professor, and will happily squash him and anyone working for/with Professor.

5) I have elements of the story clearly in mind, others not so much. I will use the players' legwork and brainstorming to help me flesh out some of the runs you will undertake. So, in a more real sense than normal for RPGs, we will all be writing the story together.


Waddaya say?

Sounds good. I like the SR5 rules that I have seen so far, but converting Void would be problematic, since his background is tied into SURGE, and his changeling abilities are a big part of the concept. I do hear that the second book is going to be the equivalent of Runner's Companion, though.

Ferret is happy to go to 5th Edition as his boosted logic might actually be useful in the Matrix!

Yeah, there may be ways to introduce bits and pieces we all like. Certainly I want to keep the Surge stuff that makes Void so ... so .... well.... voided.

Hey all, I'd like to get in on the action if and when a space is available! I'm new to the forum but I've been running the shadows for years. I've got a TM I've been wanting to play with, or a gunslinger, depending on what's already in the group.

(edit: chummer's on my other machine at home, I can post character sheets later)

There's a reserve list to which anyone can add their name by letting the GM (me now!) know they want to be there.

Which brings up an administrative issue. I can't edit Red-ROM's first post where the original list sits. Either I create a new post/list here on about page 27, or we start a new Topic. I suspect a new Topic would make sense seeing as we have a new story beginning.

Thoughts?

ALIENS! Jovan is going to have a field day with his conspiracy theories when that happens.

I guess Jovan will just have to play the part of the brilliant sociopathic crazy planner against the Blind Man even more, now. Bring it on.


I'm looking forward to this, actually. Professor's background has a lot of fun things to work with vis a vis the Blind Man and the ancient magic stuff. I realized some time ago that the overlap between Professor's enemy situation and Jovan's skill-building desires & general interests is significant enough that Jovan would actually be a fair bit more willing to assist with that issue than to assist anyone else on the team, once he is told about it (anti-social and paranoid recluse that he is, you know). Jovan will probably want to continue to have unfettered access to Professor's analytical skills for strategic planning purposes, though. But hey, that means that you'll be able to finally start using some of those nifty things with Analytical Mind, pbangarth.


I'm excited! Why don't we start a new topic, so that it is easier to keep track of rolls and major events? At 99 pages, this current thread is admittedly becoming somewhat bloated, IMHO.

Agree on starting a new thread.

OK, so I have positive responses from current players Glyph, Notsoevildm and Sephiroth and a nibble from a potential new player Phobos Motsu.

I will work out a transition story with which to start the new IC topic and create a new OOC topic for the administrative end. I've got a busy weekend, so expect the new posts early next week.

Warlordtheft and Saint Sithney, are you guys still in? Ammulder, how about you?

I am all for starting a new thread too. I'm still in. Glad to see your still alive PB!

Yes, stick me on the reserve list when you make the new thread, and I'll jump in when needed!

Saint Sithney has not been online since last September. I'm really disappointed that he may not come back, actually. He's a really clever player with a very strong sense of the Matrix rules and a delightfully subtle sense of humor. Hopefully we will see him again someday.

Post a link in this thread, or call the next thread Post or Die ptII

Yeah, yeah! Crisis over a lost cat has now been averted. Life can resume.

"Post or Die ... More" OOC and IC threads are up. First post in IC is in. Please refrain from posting there till I finish this run here. Unless you have a problem with it, I transfer the links to character descriptions from this thread to the start of the OOC thread.

See, here's where new versions etc. start getting in the way. Check out the following discussion regarding the Infected and new info in Storm Front. As an aside, I'm quite happy to have Jovan in my game. His planning and paranoia will be endless fun for me and fodder for plot twists.

LINK

If someone has Storm Front, can you precis what is being said about the Infected? Just wondering for the sake of Jovan.

Here's something to play with while I work on the story line.

I would like every PC and potential PC to earn 50 karma above what they currently have. So, those who have earned some already. get 50 more. Those in line, add 50 to the chargen. You will be up against someone with access to a lot of resources, and I want you to be interesting game for him. Money from the last run in Post or Die will come soon, but count on at least 10,000 nuyen.

Spend the karma as you like. Awakened characters, as GM I like to throw background count at you, among other annoyances, so you might consider one or two Initiations that help combat that, if they are available to your character type. If you have no way to deal with wards, consider something that does. For all, more contacts could be useful, too.

This is a godsend for point-deprived Jovan. Fantastic. Thanks!

Don't be too happy, Sephiroth.

I used that on Zo, so he is ready to go!

That rymes!

I'll update Ferret with a 50 karma bonus! Although with my recent posting schedule, he could be the first casualty!

What do people think of welcoming HugeC back to replace Sithney? He appears to still be around on Dumpshock, and Thirty is a character of agreeableness and integrity, so he certainly jives well with the team's overall morality. Then again, I'm not sure what to do about those new people now in line to join.

I have indeed been lurking once more, what with the arrival of SR5. But, I don't want to take someone else's place in line. And besides, play-by-post's glacial pace (even with the threat of PC death for not posting) doesn't really satisfy my itch for Shadowrun the same way a real life game would. I did have fun with you guys though, and I'm looking forward to reading the new thread!

If read the recent posts correctly, I have Warlordtheft, Sephiroth, Notsoevildm and Glyph from the old crew interested, with interest from newcomer Phobos Mutsu. Nothing from Ammulder, who is the only reserve list member in Red-ROM's original post.

So, HugeC, you would be the sixth player, which is fine with me. As far as posting rate... yeah, there is a problem with PbP, and my recent performance certainly wouldn't raise one's confidence in regular play. Once play starts, I hope regular play will make up for a sputtering start.

I updated Void with the 50 Karma. How do you want to handle the updated character sheets? Post them here, or in the new OOC thread?

Post it in Cast of Shadows, using THIS entry for an earlier version of Professor as an example. Use "Post or Die ... More" as the name of the campaign. I will link to it at the start of the OOC thread.

Posted Zo's PC to that area for convenience--will update there instead:

Zo

Void has been posted.

Phobos Motsu, if you are still interested, check out the team list in the first OOC post of Post or Die ... More

Sephiroth, is there a new post for Jovan coming?

Apologies, pbangarth. My summer class has been unexpectedly time-consuming, and I forgot to let you know that my karma adjustments were finished. But yes, Jovan's karma is spent. He is already in the Cast of Shadows. Karma spent has been added to that post, and the new gear list is also there but unfinished and waiting on the exact amount we will be receiving. Which reminds me, is this 50+ Karma factoring into street cred as well, or no?

Thanks, Sephiroth, I'll link him in with the rest.

Yeah, Street Cred, Notoriety and Public Awareness tend to be ignored in this game. I'm going to try to use them, if only to have some fun!

IC posting in the new thread has started, so let's make the jump, boys and girls, to the new threads for OOC! IC thread has the dropoff covered. I went for short, rather than long. IC chat will be open to all once Professor doe his spiel.

Hmmmmm.......

EDIT: Shit. I forgot I asked you guys to close this thread. "Nothin' here folks. Move along. Move along."