So all those interested, I am looking to kick up a game based out of all of our favorite wasteland. Good ol' Chicago. This thread is just an interest check, but the basis for the game would be Chicago, 2072. Most likely 300BP.

So who's up for some fun?

You can find the official OoC thread here

Low power in Chicago sound great, although not very healthy!

I don't know much about Chicago, except that the bugs came / got nuked / noone messes with it. I read the original bug city but that was years ago.

I'm playing with a few ideas about characters. Is this going to be "survive in Chicago", "Escape from Chicago", "Bug hunting in Chicago" or "Missions in Chicago"?

Thanks

Same question. From what I remember about SR3 Chicago, it was basically a wasteland. Bugs invaded, Nukes were detonated. Problems got worse, and the powers-that-be decided it was better/easier to just wall it off (with people still inside) and declare the whole city a quarantined area. Runners crossed the border from time to time, but the SR3 games I played in that setting reminded me more of Fallout or some survival horror movie than Shadowrun (which in those cases, was a good thing). I'd be curious to know (if you have even made up your mind, yet) if you had a particular plan for the campaign, like those Seth suggested.

300 BP, for example, is pretty low for Runners trying to smuggle themselves past the quarantine zone, but is probably about right for people who were walled in (who have grown up in the city for the last 20 years). Also, I have no idea if they've written anything up on what has happened to the place in the years since 2055, but I'd be interested in it if you know of any. In theory, in two decades SOMETHING has changed. The advent of the wireless Matrix would at least have created an option for communication past the quarantine zone.

<Summary>Interested</Summary>

You're both right in that alot has happened in twenty years in Chicago. If you can get your hands on Feral Cities, its describes all that has gone down in Chicago thus far. I'll go into detail later tonight, but as for right now I am at work. But I'm probably looking to run around a 350BP, or maybe a 600 Karma gen. Depending on how players would prefer to make their characters.

The things that will make it much more "low power" game is that I want characters to be well balanced. Not jo shmoe. But the sammy should be able to talk to someone, and the hacker should be able to squeeze a trigger. And gear will be heavily restricted.. for obvious reasons.

I do have feral cities, although I haven't spent a lot of time in it. I guess I never noticed that it had Chicago info.

I imagine a lot of players will prefer Karmagen (since if you're going for well-rounded, you end up better off). And if you're going for well-rounded characters, you might as well. I think there are some unofficial karmagen errata floating around on the boards somewhere, if you're interested.

I'll go with what other people want to go with. I can see I'll need to buy Feral Cities. And Attitude. And Paranormal Critters. And Runners Toolkit. This will be a bad week for my wallet

I might be interested. Its been awhile since I played in something. I did participate in one Chicago PbP, but it died right before our first encounter. I've never built a PC by karamagen, but I do have Runner's Companion so I should be able to figure it out.

This sounds amazing. I've actually read the feral cities piece on Chicago from start to finish. I couldn't stop reading it! I loved the setting. Made me think of fallout, which I'm also addicted to, and I immediately wanted to set my proper pnprpg missions there. I never did after protests from our groups technomancer. I'd really love to be on this though. Call me a definite

My 1 problem with the setting is that 1 hacker with a signal 7 commlink breaks the entire setup they have for the 'fake matrix' and the 'no access to the matrix.'

Especially if you include the signal 8/9/10 crap from War!

I think runners with access to availability 24+ signal equipment can probably handle connecting to the matrix despite there being no nearby infrastructure.

Actually, all it takes is a cheap satellite link to connect to basically whatever you want, right?

The idea of Chicago being cut off from the rest of the world made more sense in SR3, but I imagine it is now more a matter of available materials/equipment. When Seattle was being given its shiny new "emerald city" AR makeover, Chicago got nothin. There aren't wireless devices every few feet networking together, etc. Mechanically, a hacker who comes prepared can probably get online, but a hacker who has to cobble together a makeshift radio from junk left over from the 50s would probably have a hard time getting a signal that would reach out of the downtown area.

Don't forget that devices act as network nodes as well. So every piece of wireless equipment spreads the network.

I don't know how important the matrix is in Chicago, but if you look at Africa today with a pringles tin you can send a wifi signal over 30 miles. With a few bits of kit and tall building you can send signals 100 miles or more.

I haven't read Feral Cities yet, so I'll hold of any further matrix comments. For all I know they have it all fully handled in there

But see, he doesn't have to get out of the downtown area.

His signal only has to reach to the next person. Signal 3 gives you a mutual range of 400m. So as long as other people within 400 M of you have a commlink, your signal travels.

Signal 6 goes 10km
Signal 7 goes 40km (40km is the distance to Lansing, which is btw, in UCAS proper, and on the Matrix™.

All you need is 1 Signal 7 just south of downtown, and 1 north of downtown, and voila you basically have full signal access, while those nodes are up. Because matrix traffic takes up no bandwith, causes no issues, and seemlessly gets routed. If some poor sucker opens up a Sat Uplink in Downtown Chicago, that's even better.
Signal 4 is 1km, which gives you plenty of room to spread out. It would not be hard, or that expensive to setup an ad-hoc system to get all of Chicago on the matrix, unless something is blocking the wireless signals.

I'm torn between a cybered generalist and a mystic adept (also a generalist). Both of them would need equipment. What sort of availability limits are you thinking of imposing? and if I take "restricted gear" how would affect the availability?

If there's space, I'd be interested. Probably an Adept or Mage of some sort.

Gear Restrictions, will probably run as follows, though it is subject to change. Right now this thread is just and interest check, which there is obviously plenty of, which I'm glad to hear.

No restrictions: 12
Restricted: 8
Forbidden: 6

If there's still an opening, I think I can throw together a street sam.

I'll toss in my interest as well, though I don't have a particular archetype in mind at the moment.

I don't really get the whole matrix argument much to be honest. Even if you have a signal high enough to get you on, what does it benefit you if no-one else has access? It's not like you're going to be hacking matrix security, there isn't the data trail or cctv so its not much use for tracking people down etc. I understand it has limitless uses, but in relation to this game specifically I don't see it.
Besides, won't it be limited also by availability.

On a separate note with regards the availability, personally I think it'd be more interesting if availability was Really limited to the point that cyberware and basic comms were rare. Make it extreme survivalist. That way, when you do get access to some ware or tasty gear its really special

Restricting equipment renames the game. The game becomes "magicrun". All restricting equipment does IMHO is make the cyber characters less attractive and the magic ones more attractive. The game already slightly favours magic characters (again in my opinion) but not too much. If you restrict the gear, then there is no point not playing a mage or an adept

As far as the matrix goes... I am torn. I suspect that there will be corporates running research facilities in bug town. If we want to get out (past checkpoints or stuff) we need hacking. The really good thing of course is that all the old world matrix protection will be worthless: they will not have been maintained or patched, so there will be thousands of exploits easily available for us to hack them

The other use of hacking skills etc is for drones. But again I am not clear on how easy it will be to maintain that sort of stuff.

I kinda understand what you mean, but this is different in Chicago from what I read. This comes down to the gm in a way and how they want to play it, but I wouldn't want to be a mage in Chicago. It can be made really uncomfortable, what with the bug spirits possibly still kicking around and the virus that kills any dual natured creature. I suppose it depends how mean he wants to be, but if everyone made mages I think that's provocation to unleash the nasty

if cyberware's not an option, my street sam's existing on longarms and combat drugs. I've got an idea for a k-10 cocktail that provides all of the benefits and none of the eternal berserker problems

Chicago has serious toxic background counts.
It also has roaming fog banks/clouds of magic eating stuff

A mage caught in one can burn out REALLY fast. (Losing points of magic very quickly)

Magic Beings in Chicago have to be seriously careful.

Yes but unless magic using being are proscribed then they are going to survive the clouds of magic eating stuff. Most of the time they won't be in them...

I won't push the argument...but if you want the low tech, low magic game with no cyber and no magic, then lets change the rule system to GURPS.

Most GURPS games I have played were very high cyber high magic.

From what I've seen the game interest seems divided between wanting extreme survival vs. standard shadowrun, just on hardmode.

The ideas I'd had for the game were.

-Players are either completely new to the zone, or thats all they know.
-Cyber is restricted to just about that. If you've been here, all you're going to have is cyber. Bio and Nano just aren't in production in the Zone.
-Magic is restricted in the way where, abusing your magic is dangerous, but used when needed nothing (probably) will go wrong.

If anyone has any other ideas, I'm open.

Extreme survival is OK if you want a game about fleeing from trouble whenever you see it, and desperately trying to get out of trouble. Think Poseidon adventure. . I have played in a few games like that and enjoyed it: but the normal bad guys are other people who are in a similar position, or mutant animals. A single force 4 flesh form insect spirit will kick serious butt, if not kill us all if we are not equipped correctly in a low powered world with high background counts. Almost all of the threats in the Feral cities are such that high powered, well experienced shadowrunners experience problems and/or die when they enter the city. So I would propose that if you want an extreme survival game, don't base it there.

Example:
Fleshform 4 spirit in a body that has 3 or 4 in all stats is rolling around 12 die for everything and has 8 points of hardened armours, and is rolling 16 die to soak most damage. The players are typically at -4 to -8 on all actions they do. In an extreme survival game they start with about 8 die. This battle is only going one way. And that was a very very minor encounter in Chicago.
A Fleshform 6 spirit has 16+ die, the players are at -6 to -12 and a handful of these can take out a small army of people equipped with low powered gear.

So I really fancy playing a game in Chicago. I have GMed quite a few scenarios against the insect spirits, and they are one of my favourite monsters. I haven't played a character in a game with them yet.

To make the game actually about the Feral Cities we have to be able to survive in a way that isn't just "survivor bias" i.e. we got lucky in the past and avoided all contact (kindof like the little girl or the cat in "Aliens"). Low powered shadow running might work out ok. A 600 karma mage can do things about that spirit (if the background count is low). So we have to stay out of the high background count areas and avoid any serious threats. But unless we all want to be low powered mages (or adepts or mystic adepts) then the cyber characters have to be able to compete. Hence my earlier comments about availability

It depends a lot also on where in Chicago you set it. The middle of Chicago is a real no-go for even experienced shadowrunners (fluff wise, that is) and people avoid it at all costs. The Corridor around the city, where most people live, is more akin to a campaign in the Redmond Barrens, only without access to some of the things that even Redmond's residents can get, eg the constant struggle for clean water and food. When people do have to run through the z-zone it's for something specific; usually to get to the other side with it's completely unregulated docks and black market

Without meaning to hijack this game (as your ideas may be completely different to mine), this is what I was thinking of running for my Chicago game. It may be useful, you may hate it

The players are a group of characters living in the corridor. They aren't a shadowrunning team, but a small community brought together by necessity (like for eg the towns in Fallout:New Vegas, where you have a small community of 5 or 6 people looking out for each other against the wastes). The whole campaign is the characters striving for something better, taking risks and being forced into desperate situations. No-one who lives there actually wants to, but where do you go with no money and no SIN. Oh, the dream of getting to the city and living the life of a wageslave!

To this end characters would be low BP, would be limited to AT MOST squatter lifestyle (making finding basic necessities and sustenance a priority) and the BP spent on gear would be greatly reduced. Anyone who's character has grown up in chicago and has some fancy gear needs a good story about how they got it and where they learned to use it.

Plot hooks in this setting are plentiful. The characters can be forced into defending their mini-community from outside threats, they could make a run to steal water from another community, or to tap electricity from the corps on the edge of town. Alternatively, people in this desperate a situation would do anything for the chance of a better life.

Anyways, those were my ideas. Take from it what you will. I know some people will have a completely different view at the opposite end of the scale but there you go.


Also, Blackhat mentioned there was a community errata for the karmagen system? Could you post a link cheers? I read karmagen the other day and thought it needed a little tidying (no cost for metatype?!) so would be interested in reading that before I attempt to do my own

Cheers

I'll see if I can dig it up. The main thing I took away from it was the no-cost-metatype thing turned out to be a really bad idea if you allowed non-standard metatypes that get cool powers/abilities along with stat boosts and which are not already qualities (AIs, free spirits, etc). It also addresses the karma cost for attributes changing in SR4A (or was that earlier) to New Rating x 5.

Here is the post: http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...mp;#entry948067

I guess this is planned errata which was addressed in the German version of RC (why has the English one not been touched? No idea)

Seems like if players were new to the zone, I wouldn't bother with restricting gear, since newcomers could bring in anything that normal shadowrunners could get their hands on (including bioware, nanoware, etc.) Of course, once they start living in Chicago, they'll have a hard time getting restocked or having maintenance done. If the zone is all they know (like the PCs grew up in the area), then restricting gear makes sense, but probably will end up influencing the sorts of characters people make (whether intentionally, or not). I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, as long as we know about it up front and there are still players interested, but I generally agree with whoever posted that restricting gear tends to lead people to create magical characters instead.

I was (overally) outspoken on this topic, mostly because of the "law of unintended consequences". If tech is reduced then magic is more attractive and we end up running magic-run. If we reduce magic as well then we end up running mook-run. I have played mook-run in the fast (we played the red shirts in Star Trek) and it can be good.

While I prefer games with a wide range of character types, it is possible and often fun to run a game in which we are all the same.

I'm interested. I think this would be a neat setting for the urban shaman concept I've had kicking around for a long time.

I doubt we will end up all the same, in any case. Besides, it looks like there is already enough interest that Belvidere would have his choice of a number of characters to make sure the team has an interesting mix. If I am counting right, we've had nine people at least pipe up as interested.

I actually have a 399 BP character that i could tweak that would be really interesting.

Although the character is dependent on Availability 19F Restricted Gear (with the appropriate quality) so.. not sure how that would work.

But he's an ex-corp turned organ legger turned shadowrunner.
Stealth/Wheels/Skillwires (move by wire 2)

A surprisingly fun character.

The character I was thinking of is a SURGE III human who grew up here. Infiltration, Survival, a few Adept abilities -- but uneducated, illiterate and unfamiliar with the world "outside."

Wasteland. That's what they call it now. Chicago that is. They say that nothing is worth a damn thing anymore. They say that the if the bugs don't frag ya, then the radiation will. They say the only people left there are the crazies and those lookin' to no be found. But what most don't know. They're right. Containment Zone, Wasteland, Drekhole, Abyss. Oh I've heard all the names. My favorite name of all, Home.
Believe it or not, there are some of us who love this place. It's the only thing we know, and it's ours. No corp is going to try and claim this place and only the crazies go into the truly dangerous places. So I ask you, are you up for it? Cause you know what they say chummer. Only roaches and twinkies can make it in a place like this. Care to prove'em wrong?

Thus far, the lines laid down for the game are going to be as follows.
-300BP character creation
-Standard restrictions on gear, but I'm going to trust my players to get gear that makes sense for their characters. I reserve the right to say "no"
-Your characters can either be born and raised in Chicago, or recently in the Zone. If you're new to the Zone, I need a damn good reason for you to be there.
-I'm going to be using the advanced medtech rules for massive damage, and glitches and critical glitches.

I'm only excepting four characters at the moment. So any who are interested, go ahead and post a paragraph, selling me your character to the setting. Any other than the four I choose will be on a reserve list.

How long will you be accepting before you pick your four? or is it first come first served?

I'll be accepting profiles until probably the end of the weekend. Maybe a bit longer.

Also, is there a list of approved or forbidden books?

Anything but Attitude. I'm waiting for it to come out in print.

Hank swears he's not compensating for anything. He just likes his guns long and hard hitting. Doesn't stop the others from giving him drek for it, but he sticks by his story. And everyone who gives him drek is more than willing to cut the crap when one of his "big stick" rounds splatters a low-level bug all over the place. As for where he came from... Well, he was one of the lucky ones. Living on the outskirts of the city, he wasn't caught in the mess when things were going bad. Unfortunately, when the wall went up, his family was on the wrong side of the street. Guards didn't take kindly to Hank's dad trying to cross over to safety. His mom gave up shortly after, wasting away. Said she didn't have anything to live for, now that her love was dead. Hank was lucky enough that the owner of a nearby gun shop was passing by and heard the then-bratty Hank crying and decided that another body protecting the area was worth feeding the extra mouth. Since then, Hank has been learning the trade, picking up on how to survive in the hellhole that was Chicago.

Hank:
Primary focus: Longarms street sam
secondary: stealth
tertiary: social or survival

metatype: Undecided (ork maybe?)

Here's my bid to join

Here is my bid to join: A Rat shaman that is on a vision quest to Chicago.

Umbra's den was off a main storm drain that led into Lake Michigan. While messy, it had everything that Umbra needed: a stash of food, a place to keep a few spare clothers (needed when meeting posh folks), and a nice safe place to hide Umbra's small set of treasures.

Rat wasn't the easiest totem to follow. Sometimes Rat put Umbra in danger. It was safer outside Chicago, but Rat said there were things here that had to be done. It wasn't easy to get inside the wall, but Rat knew a way. There were others dangers too: there were other people living near here, and there were predators that preyed on them. Rat didn't like that, and Umbra had to do things about it. Sometimes Rat was greedy and Umbra had to go and get some treasure. Still Rat was helpful, and had taught Umbra lots of tricks.

Some of the people above don't like anyone. Once Rat told Umbra to stop some raiders. That didn't go too well: the raiders had radar and grenades, and Rat's tricks were not enough to save him. The doctor saved most of Umbra, but couldn't save his arm. Rat really isn't an easy totem to follow. One day Umbra will be able to leave Chicago and get a new one.

Some of the people above don't like Umbra. It wasn't his fault that he was very big and little bit slow. They used to pick on him, and Umbra would run away. Once they didn't let him run away and he had to hurt them. Umbra hurt one of them so bad that he never walked again. Rat taught him "always run from a fight, but if you cannot then finish it". Umbra doesn't like to fight but sometimes you need to. The people above don't mess with Umbra anymore.

Rat has told Umbra that he needs to grow. Umbra is a person and the people above are people. Umbra needs to learn to be with people. So Umbra is now spending more time upstairs, and is learning about people.

Umbra:
Primary focus: Infiltration
secondary: probably melee combat and social (learning about people)

Metatype: Something goblinoid i.e orc or troll.

I love the ideas so far folks! As I said, I'll probably keep it open until the end of the weekend. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask me via PM or right here. More conversation will keep this thread near the top, so more people will see it.

Haha. Reading your story made me think of Minsk and Boo from the old Baldurs Gate game

Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!!!!!

Edit: Don't think I'll be participating. Just in case work picks up again, I probably should stay focused on my Eclipse Phase game here.

Wow thats a blast from the past. I spent so many hours playing that game.

I haven't played a rat shaman...but if there is ever a place where he would feel at home it's Chicago. I quite like the idea of playing a coward with "combat monster" (thats kind of how I read the rat shaman fluff).

That is one of those games you play, you love, and somehow it slips your mind forever, then you bust it back out and cry over the nostalgia.

Is a fake SIN going to be necessary for this game, or are we likely going to be staying in the hellhole for a while?

That's totally up to the characters really. But just think in character. Getting a fake SIN within the CZ is gonna be tougha nd getting out of the CZ without one is next to impossible.

Do we also have the previously-mentioned option of 600-point karmagen? I'd like my character to start as an experienced shaman with at least one initiation under his belt.