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Zyerne
I'm looking for a small group (likely 3-4) of 'runners looking to get out of Aztlan. The basic pretext is this: They were hired to do a job in Aztlan, in which they were successful but their escape route has been compromised. With the Azzies on their tail, they now have to find an alternate way home.
The 'runners in question will all have a modicum of experience and have worked together at least once before.

Should the group prove successful and the players remain interested, I'll continue things on once they are back in friendly territory.

Character generation: 400BP + 20 Karma, applied after BP has been spent.

Initiation may be purchased with karma at the non-group rate. Adepts may take an additional PP instead of a metamagic.
Martial Arts quality (and only Martial Arts) may be purchased with karma, as an exception to the usual 35/-35 rule.
Any unused Karma may be kept, to a maximum of 10
Lifestyle must be purchased for a minimum of 2 months
One free contact per point of charisma, rating 2/1 or 1/2.

A note on gear: Don't bring anything too expensive to abandon if you have to.

Right now, this thread is for gauging interest and asking questions. If I get sufficient interest I'll open it up to character submissions.
binarywraith
Seems like it could be interesting. Are you looking for more of a merc team who's outstayed their welcome down in the jungle, or boys from the big city now out of their element?
Von
This sounds awesome. I'm interested in this as long as there's Predator-like combat scenes.
Mickle5125
certainly sounds interesting. Any thoughts on what the job was that the characters were on?
Zyerne
Merc characters are welcome but it would be a runner team, likely shipped in from Seattle or Denver although other sprawls are an option.

As to the mission, it was a data extraction from a facility in Guadalajara. Play would start with the characters in a temporary safehouse, probably in Terreron.
Mickle5125
Shadowrun 4A rules, I'm guessing?

Also, is Spanish the official language of Aztlan?
Zyerne
Yes and yes, although it's officially 'Aztlaner Spanish'
Mickle5125
Well, I've got a couple characters I can throw into the arena.

First is a Master of Many Faces adept, a face character who specializes in being whoever he needs to be.

Second is a generic cybered-up street sam. Great for smashing things and people, average at a handful of other tasks.

Finally, I can put together a throwing adept.

Any preferences?
BlackHat
Does sound interesting. I'd be curious (and usually someone asks) what books and options (metatypes,etc) are legal. I'd also be interested to know if you have any expectations of the sorts of challenges a group trying to escape would face. I expect there would be a good deal of opportunity for combat but, for example, would you expect hackers to have a reason to hack, much?
Digital Heroin
As someone looking to get back in the saddle, and with a lot more steady and routine time on my hands now, this seriously tweaks my 'oooh I'd like to play' senses. Mickle has already, as his first option, presented the possibility which came to mind first for me... but a tech-type, hacker or 'mancer, would be fun to play, too.
Mickle5125
I'm not picky about any of those choices, DH. If you want one of them, I'm open for negotiations.
Zyerne
@Mickle: Any of those would work. As long as the characters would make a functional team I'm not so worried about individuals.

@Blackhat: It would largely depend on player plans. If there's a hacker on the team I'd imagine they'd be more likely to consider methods where a hacker would be useful. I'll certainly be tailoring things to the team makeup, it won't all be running from bloodmages smile.gif
Mickle5125
Sadly, I'm not familiar with Aztlan. Is there going to be a lot of wilderness hustling, or is it largely a massive urban sprawl?

Also: any limits on books?
Zyerne
It isn't a massive urban sprawl but the amount of wilderness hustling will depend on player plans. It's certainly too far from Torreron to any of the borders to slog the whole way on foot.

As to books, I don't have War! so anything from there will need to be by request. Other than that, I'm easy.
Mickle5125
Well, right now, I'm leaning towards a poacher/street sam. Spends enough time in the wilderness to be able to survive out there, and built towards taking on tough prey.
Mickle5125
Do you allow the breaking of skill groups during chargen?
Zyerne
Normally for BP builds I wouldn't but in this case yes, for karma expenditure only.
Seth
I would be very interested in this. I haven't played much pbp, but it sounds fun!

I am interested in playing either a technomancer, or a civil engineering mage called Mole(demolishes things, makes tunnels...).

Do we post builds in this thread?

A few character creation questions:
  • What sort of weapons / armour are we wearing (was it an infiltration op, or a full on hard-shell military black op with heavy weapons and armour)
  • Should we buy a vehicle, or are we on the run on foot
  • Have we left stuff at a safe house (change of clothes, fake ids / passports, lighter or heavier armour / weapons, vehicles)
  • Edit I assume there is no point buying a life style
Digital Heroin
Ok, I'm going to try my hand at re-creating my former corporate military Technomancer, specializing in comms, and electronic warfare. Seems he would be the type of hacker that'd work well behind enemy lines, and the fact he can make with the shooty doesn't hurt either. I should have the broad strokes done tomorrow afternoon, once I sleep off two days of travel.
Seth
Well if you are Technomancing Digital Heroin, I'll work on Mole the civil engineer.
Mickle5125
Zyrene,

is this enough interest to warrant moving on to the character generation step?
Zyerne
QUOTE (Seth @ Jan 1 2011, 07:08 PM) *
I would be very interested in this. I haven't played much pbp, but it sounds fun!

I am interested in playing either a technomancer, or a civil engineering mage called Mole(demolishes things, makes tunnels...).

Do we post builds in this thread?

A few character creation questions:
  • What sort of weapons / armour are we wearing (was it an infiltration op, or a full on hard-shell military black op with heavy weapons and armour)
  • Should we buy a vehicle, or are we on the run on foot
  • Have we left stuff at a safe house (change of clothes, fake ids / passports, lighter or heavier armour / weapons, vehicles)
  • Edit I assume there is no point buying a life style


It was an infiltration op in decidedly hostile territory. Bring what you like, but be aware you might have to dump it.

Vehicles I'll leave up to you but again, you might have to dump them.

You could have left stuff at the safehouse when you went on the run itself, sure. Assume any gear you brought to Aztlan is at the safehouse with you, whether you took it on the run or not.

As to lifestyle, the 2 month thing is to prevent buying 1 month high to get free cash. If you'd all prefer to go lifestyleless let me know. There will be an upfront payment for the run you've just done so you'll have some cash available.

QUOTE (Mickle5125 @ Jan 4 2011, 02:41 AM) *
Zyrene,

is this enough interest to warrant moving on to the character generation step?


Sure, go for it. It'll be at least a week before I'm ready to start though so no rush.
J. Packer
Room for one more? If nothing else, you know I'm a reliable poster. smile.gif
Zyerne
Think it's only 3 character suggestions been put foward so far, so yes, I think so.

Something for you all to consider is that the your characters will be a preestablished team so ideally, between them, they'll cover all the runner bases, with the possible exception of Rigger. If there's a glaring exception then the team will have lost a member during the run.
J. Packer
Looks like thus far we have a technomancer, a civil engineer, and a poacher? I've got a mage concept I'd like to try out, I think.
J. Packer
Looks like thus far we have a technomancer, a civil engineer, and a poacher? I've got a mage concept I'd like to try out, I think.
Zyerne
If it's the team face that 'died' you might be in trouble smile.gif
J. Packer
QUOTE (Zyerne @ Jan 4 2011, 03:58 PM) *
If it's the team face that 'died' you might be in trouble smile.gif

Yeah. Maybe I'll rethink that, and go for a face/mage combo. The guy I had in mind did not have charisma as a strong suit...
Edana
If you're up for having 5, I've got a face-ish character from a RL game that died before it started that I could fix up for this. (Assuming J.Packer's mage isn't the face type wink.gif.)
J. Packer
QUOTE (Edana @ Jan 4 2011, 04:13 PM) *
If you're up for having 5, I've got a face-ish character from a RL game that died before it started that I could fix up for this. (Assuming J.Packer's mage isn't the face type wink.gif.)


I don't have my character drawn up yet, so if Z wants five, you can submit your face to the game. If he's topping out at 4, I'll broaden my horizons.
scarius
if its cool if i jump in i have a B&E guy i would like to try out. but if you all ready have too many people then i am all good, i can wait for another time
Seth
My "civil engineer" is taking form smile.gif
[ Spoiler ]

Roles
  • Generalist: Bit of everything. Good in combat. OK at talking to people. OK at driving. Weak at infiltration.
  • Like his namesake he is good at digging tunnels into places you wouldn't expect.
  • Also like his namesake, he isn't the most observant of characters...
  • As a Gnome, with the body of a 13 year old boy its often easy to be ignored by gangers.

Assumption:
Mole was hired for the Aztlan run because the sewage system for the Aztech facility is one that he was heavily involved in designing, and the entry involved making a tunnel.
J. Packer
Before I finish up - may I spend BP or Karma to increase the contact or loyalty ratings of my free contacts?

ETA: also, how do you feel about the In Debt negative quality. I'm considering it, but not if it would be too irrelevant for the game in question.
Seth
QUOTE
As to lifestyle, the 2 month thing is to prevent buying 1 month high to get free cash. If you'd all prefer to go lifestyleless let me know. There will be an upfront payment for the run you've just done so you'll have some cash available.


I am starting at lifestyle low anyway. I like the idea of starting with a hungry character, as that's the only reason I would accept a crazy job in Aztlan!

I am going to a roleplaying convention this weekend, so I will be out of touch until monday.
Digital Heroin
Reference for everyone... Frank is going to be a living TacNet, so the more senses you have, the better.
Zyerne
@ JP

Re Contacts: BP is ok, Karma no.

In Debt: PM me some details and I'll think about it.

@Seth

Being snapped up by Saeder-Krupp is something you never, ever want to have have happen to you.

@Others

5 is my hard limit. I'll go through the thread later and put a reserves type thing together.

@All

Some family stuff going on that's going to delay starting as I'm going to have much less free time over the next 10 days or so than I was expecting.
Digital Heroin
Family comes first, eh. No worries at all if things take a bit of time.

I should have a first draft up in the next few days of Frank.
J. Packer
I finalized Prometheus on the assumption that you'd say yes to "In Debt" - I PMed you my ideas. If that doesn't work, I can easily tweak him to work another way.

I also took two months of High lifestyle, but I understand your concern about starting cash. I had no leftover money to add to the dice roll, and will be totally okay if you just assign me a small amount of starting cash. High just seemed appropriate for this character, but being in debt, I don't want him to be too comfortable, or else why wouldn't he just pay off most of it...

[ Spoiler ]

Note that he is not a combat monster, more of a B&E, social networking, inside man sort with powerful spirit backup. Please critique my spell choice, gear choice and the like - I can always stand to improve things where it doesn't break character too much.
Mickle5125
to be honest, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding what combination of cyber-/bio-ware would be selected by someone who does big-game hunting when it's not so legal... specially not with the price-range set by chargen rules.

Ergo, the family problems, while most unfortunate for Zyerne, are well timed for me. Zyerne, hope everything works out ok for you and yours, and take whatever time you need to fix things up.
J. Packer
QUOTE (Mickle5125 @ Jan 7 2011, 09:12 PM) *
to be honest, I'm having a bit of trouble deciding what combination of cyber-/bio-ware would be selected by someone who does big-game hunting when it's not so legal... specially not with the price-range set by chargen rules.

Synthacardium for additional points on Athletics skills for climbing and running and the like?

The best eyes that money can buy, for sure.

Mickle5125
QUOTE (J. Packer @ Jan 4 2011, 04:54 PM) *
Looks like thus far we have a technomancer, a civil engineer, and a poacher? I've got a mage concept I'd like to try out, I think.


Just thought I'd explain my poacher build a little more.

He's basically a street sam with a few extra skills (outdoors skills, athletics, some sneaking) that would give him something to be useful for beyond "smash this, kill that". My issue with the 'ware is to not just pick things that a street sam would like, but to instead pick things that would be useful to the poacher AND would contribute when he's providing fire support for the party.
J. Packer
Olfactroy Booster would be both rare and useful, I would think, as would a smuggling compartment for wee little critters to be smuggled away in.

Maybe cybergills for work underwater?

Chameleon Skin in the bioware section, maybe, for hunting purposes.

It would be hard to justify as a Sam, but tailored critter pheromones - that would be perfect...
Belvidere
It sounds as though the groups all full, but should real life through one of the players a monkey wrench, I'm completely open. I've got a few character concepts... okay a few hundred I've been wanting to play with. So should a spot open up, if there is a "on hold" list, I'd love to be placed on it.
Seth
I have to check this again (playing with 400 pts is hard), but Mole looks something like this

Race Dwarf
Attributes
[ Spoiler ]


Skills
[ Spoiler ]


Qualities
[ Spoiler ]


Spells
[ Spoiler ]


Equipment
[ Spoiler ]

Karma points
One spell
Specialisation in summoning guardian spirits
Joining magical group
Initiation / channelling

Edited to change race from gnome to dwarf, and to fill in the last negative quality
Digital Heroin
I've still got finessing to do with Frank... and find it amusing that both the Mage and Technomancer have cybernetics...
J. Packer
QUOTE (Digital Heroin @ Jan 11 2011, 12:48 PM) *
I've still got finessing to do with Frank... and find it amusing that both the Mage and Technomancer have cybernetics...

It wasn't for this game, but I was just tinkering with a mage with two levels of the bioware that works like wired reflexes. Costly, but only 1.0 essence loss and you get two additional IPs out of the deal...
Seth
QUOTE
I've still got finessing to do with Frank... and find it amusing that both the Mage and Technomancer have cybernetics

Shadowrun is where man meets magic and machine smile.gif I have mostly modelled mole on the burned out mage. Skill wires and cyber arm even though he doesn't really need them (possession), 2 points of essence and magic lost to cyberware (gulp).



Seth
QUOTE
It wasn't for this game, but I was just tinkering with a mage with two levels of the bioware that works like wired reflexes. Costly, but only 1.0 essence loss and you get two additional IPs out of the deal...

Or you could pay 30,000 (6bp), and improved reflexes (5bp) for a force 3 sustaining spell. The point of magic probably cost you 25bp, and the money cost some 10s of bp as well. Mind you, taking foci through wards is awkward, and having spells active can be awkward until you get improved masking.

I was very tempted with with an auto-injector and some drugs, but even though this is a dystopia...I have problems with my characters taking drugs frown.gif
J. Packer
QUOTE (Seth @ Jan 11 2011, 01:38 PM) *
Shadowrun is where man meets magic and machine smile.gif I have mostly modelled mole on the burned out mage. Skill wires and cyber arm even though he doesn't really need them (possession), 2 points of essence and magic lost to cyberware (gulp).

I'll admit, I've not had any play experience with a possession tradition mage. I'm curious to see how that works in play.
Seth
I'
QUOTE
ll admit, I've not had any play experience with a possession tradition mage. I'm curious to see how that works in play.

I haven't either... I have played a possessing free spirit (which was awesome fun even though die pools were very low compared to others). The last opinion I saw on these forums is that in someways its more powerful, but if you apply the attribute caps as metahuman max * 1.5, then materialisation is better. I didn't follow all the arguments, so I am keen to see how it works out in practice. Digital Grimoire went on at some length on how to deal fairly with possession (as well as introducing 3 new possession traditions) . It is certainly the case that a force 6 spirit kicks serious butt whether its materialisation or possession.

Voodoo does sound cool though, and I always like trying things I haven't done before. I did some background reading on voodoo and discovered that most of what I though I knew was from James Bond movies, and had little resemblance to actual worship . I think having Papa Legba as a mentor spirit could be a lot of fun.

I note that Prometheus is a Black Magician, and I think they are possession too.
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