I'd like to remind everyone to get as much of there character posted as they can by the end of today. I know I originally said "starting on the 7th", but I am happy to kick off sooner it thats ok for people. I am quite happy for people to carry on fine tuning their character for the next week, and I'll remind people that they can have a free respec once in the near future.

My wife and son are both still recovering from Jet Lag, so their characters won't be posted for a couple of days. I mentioned before but:

• Big Fella is playing a bear shifter physical adept with 13ish body and lots of unarmed combat.
• Alyena is playing a horror hunting mage with loads of countermagic & astral combat

So I think most bases are covered. Magically its a tough group. Physically and utility wise it looks ok. I am little concerned that only 1 hacker might cause problems, but I am sure Aria will be up to it, and anyway how bad can Black IC get?

I'll post an OOC and IC thread soon, with some posting guidelines (what colours to use etc).

You may want to add one or two reserved posts in your IC thread, too.

I'll get to work on finishing things up. When you extended to the 7th, I kinda started rethinking things so I'm in a big mess right now. It shouldn't take too much to clean things up, however.

Aren't I immune to Black IC as an AR using adept hacker?!? Of course my icon can still get shredded...

Quick question: Where is our equipment being stashed during this initial run? Is it back in the Tir, or are we leaving it with our insertion team, or something else entirely? Most notably things like weapons and armor that we can't smuggle into a prison-type facility, but which we may not want to just throw out the window.

While they're expensive at character creation, you can always try writing some Agent programs to back you up for future runs. I do believe that is one area (Software programming) that my character can assist you with, too. <turns and eyes Seth up and down, expecting the worst>

You are, but you can't always be in AR.
You can't slow-hack in AR without all of us kicking you in the groin as an example. Interval of (day) intead of (hour) is just too painful.

You won't have to worry about the elastic because none of the cyberware is available in drake form... but you also won't have to worry about dropping or losing the commlink, so that's a plus.

OK I have posted an IC and OOC thread. My plan now is for you lot to do a flashback covering your information gathering and optionally grumble about being coerced into doing the job. I haven't GMed like this before, so be sure to help me by pointing about places where I am failing to be clear with the information I am giving, and advice on how to improve.

Looking at characters I think most of the character details are becoming concrete. I would appreciate a little fluff though if that's OK:

@Halinn, Sabs & Sephiroth: Can you decide on a Name provide some Contact details (name and quick bio) and how you are being coerced into doing this job

@Aria: Contact details (name and quick bio) and how you are being coerced into doing this job

@Ambrose: Everything looking good. Thanks.

@Mandala: Looking good. Any chance of giving those contacts some names and a quick bio?

@everyone: Decide on a group name please. "The Snafu's" will be used unless anything better comes along

Re: Group Name

I'm leaning towards something with Ouroboros in the name, with the symbol being a common denominator in our foci or what have you. The Grey Order wasn't bad, either, but it's kind of vague. Which could be a good thing considering how diverse we are. I didn't care for The Ivans though; felt too Russian to me, and maybe a little too gangish.

Seems like with a group that old, the name wouldn't even be in English. Or maybe it is, if the group (and its concept) have evolved over time. Did Earthdawn have some common languages that are not used anymore?

The common language of earthdawn was basically dwarven. I don't think shadowrun has a dwarven language (I've only seen elvish and orcish...anyone seen any dwarven?)

Barsavian (aka "Dwarven") was the main trade language we probably used. Each race had their own, with only Sperenthiel and Or'zet surviving to the modern era. I do agree that it wouldn't have been in English, that's pretty obvious, but just throwing a bunch of jumbled letters down isn't much of a solution; it should have had meaning then, and it should be easy enough to translate into English.

There are rumors that immortal dwarves are out there. But Barsavian isn't known by the public at all. The Atlantean Foundation and similar organizations doubtlessly have relics featuring its script, though, and I know Ambrose still knows it fairly well (as well as Trollish, Windling, and even Theran) since he liked to use them in his journals.

I'm just looking at all the characters and I am surprised that most of you think that damage won't be a problem: there is hardly a heal spell among all of you.

Don't worry the bad guys have plenty of healing, and I am sure that they can share some for you

Pfft, magical healing is overrated. (Besides, I'm adding a Heal spell, too, as well as grabbing a Savior Medkit and some magical compounds like Rock Lizard Blood. With Invoking I can even gain access to Regeneration if I absolutely have to.)

By the way, did you see my question a few posts up, Seth? Also, since we haven't talked about prices for them yet, how many of my magical compounds can I start the game with? Maybe one per point of Enchanting?

If you look at my Character sheet you'll see Throalic N Throalic being the main dwarven language of the area. Remember, we were Adventuring Heroes originally, and our power level was tied to how Glorious our Legends were. So our group name should have been fairly Boisterous.

Ah, was it called Throalic? I always get it confused. Thanks.

Okay so from what I can tell

We were originally made up of:
Windling Thief
Dwarf Wizard
Troll Weaponsmith/Alchemist
Elven Weaponsmith (Now a Hacker)
Elven Warrior
Bear Shifter Warrior
Nethermancer
Free Spirit

That's a pretty Motley Cru

We could either be named after our leader, or a famous battle/encounter.
The Nine (we lost our leader in a freak Horror Accident)
The Lions of Travar
The Daggers of Skypoint (if we were particularly anti-Theran)
Diamonds and Pearls
The Riders of Spirehome.
Ambrose and the Potions
The Hounds of Kaer Forlorn

My knowledge of Earthdawn lore is non-existent, so I can't help in digging up a name from there. I don't much care for being the X of Y. I feel as we are our own entity.

The Ouroboros idea sounds good. It is an ancient archetype, and could very well have been in Earthdawn mythology, too. Same name, but current language works for me. I'll toss in a vote for simply "Ouroboros".

I will work on finalizing Mandala's stats tonight, and get what fluff in I can. I'm in the process of a truckload of job applications this week, too. Yes, yes I know... priorities, boy.

Not sure what to do about the group contacts. Hints, anyone?

Ask this in a flash back, that way I can be nasty and you hate the NPC not me


Its so sweet when you grovel. Yes you can.


Pilots have availability 3*rating. With software 4, you can get availability 16. So hello Mr rating 5 pilot: just pay the cash. Have a look at all the autosofts if you want to go down this route.

Character comments:
@Halinn. Heavy pistols are bigger than your pixie. Light pistols maximum please.
@Sabs. Thanks for taking great ritual. Remember I gave you a freeby in a PM: "Psychometry". What tradition are you?
@Aria: Love the background story. The missing details you still have till the 7th for, so no pressure. What was your 4th age profession? What tradition are you
@Ol'scratch: I've just noticed that I cannot find your list of adept powers: I might just be blind. You seem to be using Mind Over Matter though. I'm afraid that is a War! power. You asked earlier how many potions you start with: 6 (except for the elixier of life)
@Pbangarth: What tradition are you?
@Sephiroth: What was your 4th age profession? What tradition are you? I've just noticed that you have Shape Earth, so I will chance the IC post...you did the tunneling to get here, the magic ring of tunneling is for the concrete.

@everyone: Can you check the 2nd IC post, and check the names / details. I put roles in, as out have known each other a long time IC, so you should be familiar with how you work together. Feel free to change the wording of the role (post here)

Mandala is Buddhist Tradition. It's there below Qualities.

Made some changes just now to put 4th Age Remnants where it belongs and used the BP to buy 1 level of Ritual Spellcasting, specialize Assensing, and get two new spells: decontamination and radiation barrier. See his nascent backstory.

I do not know enough about Earthdawn mechanics to know what profession he'd have had, not having ever actually played Earthdawn before.

Tradition is Path of the Wheel, sorry.

You will probably be OK without these: you are all tough, and the LD 5 minutes is for weedy mortals. You won't be taking radiation damage from the reactor, unless you are in there for 5 minutes. Of course if there are radiation spirits in there...thats a whole different story. As far as decontamination goes: a respirator and a shower will do for you.

These are pretty specialist spells, and you don't need to damage your character to get them.

I'm guessing by "I'm afraid that is a War! power" that means no? And here I was happy that I was pretty much done and just needed to type everything up. <goes back to shuffle things around one last time>


If you mean this OOC post instead, I've made a minor change that I've yet to post. His tradition is "Akashic" instead. It'll be in my next update once I figure out what to do with my adept powers. Will post here when I do so.

They make sense for his history. Whether they are needed now or not, I believe he would have taken them to help his teammates in L.A., working for Gnarley. I am playing a Free Spirit in my home game, based in L.A., and the toxins and radiation are a key issue for our team. Last night we sank a couple of vans of opponents into the bay, and the opponents didn't come up.

In the instructions, we are told to drop the ward by 12:15 on the 20th, but we are at 23:58:03 on the 20th. Did you mean 00:15 on the 21st?

Okay, I've made the updates for now. I can't find anything suitable to replace Mind Over Matter with, so I've just struck it out until I do. They really don't include very many cerebral adept powers.

EDIT: I ended up switching it to Heightened Concentration and Attribute Boost (Agility) 2, at least for the moment.

Well Earthdawn is very Medeival/Ancient world.. so most people didn't have last names they had origin locations.

I am fond of the Infinity symbology. I'm happy with Ouroboros.

Okay, I managed to get all of the meat and potatoes posted. I just have some fluff to add (mostly the descriptions of his metamagic, alchemy recipes, and lifestyle), but I don't know if I'll be able to do that before I hit the sack tonight. I'll do my best, though. I'll also try to get my first IC post written up.

Hi people. Here is my first draft of my Horror Hunter:

Name Alyena
Race: Immortal Elf
Tradition: Nethermancy (same as voodoo)
Attributes: Body 4, Agility 2, Reaction 3, Strength 1, Charisma 7, Intuition 4, Logic 2, Willpower 5, Edge 4, Magic 9, Essence 5.0
Skills: Astral Combat 6, Counterspelling 6, Assensing 4, Cybertechnology 4, Conjuring - group 4, Spell casting 4, Outdoors - group 1, Athletics - group 1, Influence - group 1, Perception 1, Ritual spell casting 1
Qualities: Class II Surge, Mentor spirit (Adversary: countermagic +2, Manip +2), Magician, Arcane Arrester
Negative Qualities: Impaired Intuition, Impaired Logic, and some still to be picked
Spells: Shatter, Slaughter spirit, Manabolt, Stunball, Increase charisma, Heal, Mob mind, Mana barrier
Knowledge Skills: Magical threat 5, Horrors 4, Archeology 6, Weapons lore 4, Local knowledge 3, General history 4, Geography 4, Fourth Age remnants 5, 13 points left.
Languages: Ancient Egyptian 3, Latin 4, Ancient Greek 3, Mandarin 2
Foci: Power 4, Counterspelling (combat) 4
Metamagics: Masking, Cleansing, Shielding, Channelling, Centering
Cyberware: Synthetic arm (Agility 10, Strength 9, Body 4, smuggling compartment),Internal Air Tank,Attention coprocessor 3
Bioware: Pain editor, Synthacardium (3), Platelet factories
Geneware: Daredrenaline

Karma spend:
Initiation
Spec: Astral combat / spirit (2)
Spec: Counter Magic /combat 2
Spare 1

Important die rolls: Countermagic: Skill 6 + mentor 2 + shielding 5 = 13. Against combat spells spec 2 and foci 4 => 19.

Looking forwards to seeing you all in game.

Oops I meant quarter past midnight and got the notation wrong: you have 15 minutes.

I don't know if it helps, but for the same cost (15 Karma) you can get your 5th grade of initiation which includes a free metamagic technique if you take an ordeal (and assuming the rest of us helped you out in a group). Something to consider.

Thank you for the advise, I have reduced the combat reflexes and increased body. I hope to get some of the nice suggested metamagics in the future. I think I am going to go with a fairly low unarmed pool, as I am a tank not a hitter, and 14 die on attack should be ok.

Race: Bear shifter
Tradition: Warriors way / Path of the wheel
Attributes: Body 12/15, Agility 3, Reaction 3/6, Strength 7, Charisma 2, Intuition 4, Logic 2, Willpower 4, Edge 4, Magic 10
Skills: Assensing 4, Athletics - group 1, Outdoors - group 4, Stealth - group 1, Perception 4, Unarmed combat 6
Qualities: Class II Surge, Adept, Arcane Arrester
Negative Qualities: Impaired Charisma, Impaired Logic
Knowledge Skills all at 4: Navigation (smuggling), Navigation (Cannadian outback), Navigation (Black Forest), Navigation (amazon), Border Patrols, Parazoology, Zoology, Herbs, Gambling - at 6, Hangouts (safehouses), Pit fighting, Alcohol
Metamagics: Masking
Adept powers:Combat Sense 7, Berserk, Smashing blow, Improved Phys Attribute (body) 3, Critical strike 7, Improved reflexes 3, Attribute boost agility
Metamagics: Masking

Karma: Initiation 5 (15), Spec - unarmed /claws (2), Perception / smell (2), spare 1

Backstory: Bjorn was a horror construct created by an ancient horror that the group defeated. The player group defeated him and freed him from his slavery, and he has been one of them since. Mostly Bjeorn doesn't hang around people: they are so fragile and the noises of the sirens are so loud and distressing. He is not the brightest tool in the box (especially given the company he is in...), but he is nice to have around when the going gets tough.

Not to be Picky but with Intuition 4, Logic 3, and WIllpower of 4.. he is actually pretty freaking smart.
Remember human average is going to be 2-3 on those stats. With the mental stats you have, you could go well in college

As requested here's a work in progress for my contacts (I will update the character sheet too...), hopefully these won't shift too much but I'm not totally convinced by them at the moment (and I'm already squeezed on BPs!)...more description stuff to come too...thoughts anyone?

Stat change:
Current Cha 4, Int 4, Log 5, Will 5
Change Cha 5, Int 4, Log 3, Will 5 (Net 10BPs!) [Drain Cha+Will]?



Contacts (BPs 20+15)

Celedyr (Great Western Dragon) [Loyalty 5, Connection 6]
My sire, the master artificer. I have long served him to the best of my abilities in many guises through the ages. Although I currently work outside of the auspices of Transys they have proved to be a valuable tool in the research into magic and the matrix and I long for the time when they are able to allow me to view the matrix from my natural form.

Desire (Quantum Mage, Stillwater Community) [Loyalty 3, Connection 3]
The Stillwater community is one of the hidden projects in the New World that my master has an interest in and Desire is my contact with them. They are transhumanists dedicated to the merging of magic with technology and represent a potential path for surviving the coming depredations from the Enemy. They have an extensive matrix presence as well as access to cutting edge cybertechnology and some interesting magical techniques and theorems. They were nearly decimated in the height of the anti-technomancer movements of the 70s but with our aid they have managed to cling on and begin to rebuild.

Aria (Infoseeker, Matrix Coder) [Loyalty 4, Connection 4]
She is a creature of the matrix and the source of much of my net knowledge. I met her through the Stillwater community where she is one of a triumvirate with Athena and Operator. Formally the hacker for Balefire she has experience as a shadowrunner but has since stretched her web on a much wider scale and is a source of information on the most disparate of topics.

Balefire (Prime Runner Team – Bale, Silk, Masque, Requiem, Melody) [Loyalty 2, Connection 3 (5)]
While we usually form the basis of any mission to further the goals of the immortals I have always considered it important to cultivate a team of skilled and professional outsiders who are able to facilitate actions that we might not be able to consider due to their political consequences. I originally dealt with their rigger Mother but she was killed at a similar time to the attack on Stillwater, in fact the coincidence was too great and I suspect the machinations of one of my fellow immortals in their downfall. Silk was able to bring the group back together recently with the aid of Bale's older brother, who has assumed the handle of Bale to continue the group's mystique. Masque has since become my lover and I am intertwined with their fate in ways that I might find uncomfortable.

Enemy (BPs -5)

Reynshec (Western Drake of Lofwyr) [Connection 4, Incidence 1]
My nemesis and bane. Reyn was responsible for the death of my lover during the time of the dark ages as a ploy to lure me to him so that I could not complete the plans of my sire. Since then we have crossed paths many times, usually indirectly, as we battle to upset each other’s goals. Each time the conflict escalates and there can be no forgiveness now, only Vendetta.

Factions (BPs 10)

Queen Alachia, High Prince Lugh Surehand, Ehran the Scribe, Prince Sean Lafferty, Prince Jenna Ni'Fairra 0 (dislike)
My attitudes towards the rise of technology has hardly endeared me to the elven immortals. I have ever served the cause of the dragons above all else and their machinations has occasionally led to conflict with the plans of these other elders. I find them to be arrogant, which is to be expected, and full of their own self importance. I am not one to demand that they accept the Dragons as their superiors, although I know there are those of my kind who do, but I despair at their short sightedness and desires to cling to the past.

Harlequinn 3 (neutral-mild like)
Caimbuel is the exception to the rule, as ever, and his anarchic nature and general disregard for the rules of the game have meant we have found common ground on occasion. Although I don’t really recall the time now I know that I served under him as a Lightbearer during the fourth age and I look forward to working with him occasionally on whatever obscure plan that he is following at the time.

Dunkelzahn 4 (mild like)
Mountainshadow was ever the most progressive of the Elders and I have great respect for his vision, as does my master. We were greatly moved when we learnt of his monumental sacrifice to hold the Enemy back.

Hestaby 3 (neutral-mild like)
I believe my master has a fondness for the Orange Queen and I have visited her lair on a number of occasions and been impressed by her gravitas.

Thanks for the advice everyone

Nice details there Aria...I am sure I recognise some of the names

That's why it's a Hold-Out
Currently working on the details of my character, then I'll pop into the IC thread

My message box is full: running this game is fun, but involves quite a few PMs. I have tried to delete only uninteresting ones, but I might have deleted some critical fact. If so I apologize in advance. Doing this with 8 people is quite a brain bender

Sorry for taking so long to get my post up. Seth has me including something in it, and I'm working to get it sorted out before I post.

Yeah, I just edited my post myself. It's worth a re-read.

Really?!?

My initial IC post has been updated too...

I'm tickled pink that we both have Celedyr as mentors. He's probably one of my most favorite dragons, second only to Perianwyr. Wales got all the cool drakes.

My old Favorite was Icewing..

Unfortunately he got turned into Godzilla by the shadowrun guys.

Yeah, I figured Dunkelzahn is stuck in the metaplanes, and that's Mandala's playground, so he seemed right for my guy.

Updated my character sheet again...still need to finalise gear but nearly there now...bit concerned about my lack of combat ability but at least I have the heal spell now

Comments still very welcome...help me twink this one

Don't forget PuShEd: +1 to all logic skills

Skills:
I'd drop the cracking group, get hacking at 6, cybercombat at 4, and electronic warfare at 1..4 (your choice). I'd specialize the hacking to be "with exploit" or "with stealth", I'd specialize the cybercombat to be "against people" as the main threats (IMO) are the corporate spiders more than the IC. I'd try very hard to get the electronics group at 4, even if it mean dropping a stat.

Adept powers:
I'd get the adept power improved cybercombat, and would try to get the electronics group to 4. Not that I am hinting or anything but maybe you will be fighting some things in cybercombat. I'd also get the improved computer skill as that is your matrix perception which is very important. |The rest look good

Attributes:
I think intuition is the most important hacking attribute (it affects matrix initiative, and matrix combat is deadly). 4 is good, 5 is better

Equipment
I think I posted some advice on programs and commlink earlier.

Race:
What type of dragon are you: personally I like feathered (because it gets reactions buff) and oriental (those hands are nice).

General:
As far as combat goes, I would get the exotic ranged weapon: breath weapon. Given your magic attribute this is absolutely hideous, and probably more valuable than unarmed (which is always good as its a defensive skill as well). You might want to decide what element it is. The default "fire" isn't bad". I wouldn't worry too much about combat as you are likely to be hacking when the fighting is going on down.

Spells:
For spells have you considered physical barrier (you can hide behind it while you hack), or invisibility (so that you can hack without being attacked). The trid phantasm would be good to make an illusionary wall to hide behind.

Can I recommend that everyone should have:
Artisan 1 specialty something creative

Another quick question...can I use the optional geas rule to get .75 cost on powers? Would be better than the negative quality and help to offset the drake stuff (which is basically unncessesary for a hacker but cool )?

Is cybercombat a .5 power or a .25 power?

Thanks

I absolutely love that rule, have since previous editions. Adds so much flavor to adepts, especially if you go thematic with it. (I made a really fun "drunken boxer" character with a condition:intoxicated geas on some of his more flamboyant fighting powers. He's been one of my most beloved characters thanks to it.)

Oh, and Cybercombat is a Technical Skill, so 0.25/level.